Jonah Goldberg discusses the differences between Islam and Wahhabism, and in passing asks a quick parenthetical question:
Why does it seem like so many Islamic scholars, particularly the nasty ones, are blind? Does the Koran say that you can't ingest vitamin A? I'm sure I'm missing something, but rabbis and Franciscan monks don't seem to go blind more than the general population.
Ask a simple question, get a simple answer. Proper Salafists aren't into women, cuz women are just breeding stock. So think hard: What is it that makes you go blind?
Do you ever wonder how many of those eminent scholars issuing their fatwahs have hair on their palms?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:50 pm ||
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as in "Fast Times in Ridgemont High" - "thank you Mr. Hand?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2002 20:14 Comments ||
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Jeff Goldstein reminds us that Godless Americans⢠are marching on Washington. Godless Americans⢠claim to represent the 13% of the population that
has no religion. This includes millions who identify themselves with labels such as Atheist, Freethinker, Humanist and others. There are over 30,000,000 of us, a figure larger than most American religious denominations. And it's time for us to be heard!
Jeff, who doesn't attend services at the same Cathedral of Agnosticism that I don't, does them the favor of hollering their message so they can save the busfare. I'd point out that most of those 30 million probably aren't atheists, but our fellow congregants (or non-congregants, as it were...); but I'm overwhelmed by strong feelings of apathy. I think I'll go lie down instead.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 08:57 pm ||
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President George W. Bush urged Tehran Friday to abandon "uncompromising, destructive policies" and pledged that a reforming, modernizing Iran would have "no better friend" than the United States. "As we have witnessed over the past few days, the people of Iran want the same freedoms, human rights, and opportunities as people around the world. Their government should listen to their hopes," he said in a statement. Bush said that a "vast majority" of Iranian voters "voted for political and economic reform" in recent presidential, parliamentary and local elections. "Yet their voices are not being listened to by the unelected people who are the real rulers of Iran. Uncompromising, destructive policies have persisted," said the US leader. Bush cited repression of students, journalists and lawmakers who push for reform or criticize the regime; suppression of media; and rampant joblessness that drives "talented students and professionals" out of Iran. Just a little nudge â can't get too deeply involved at this stage, or it allows the theocrats to paint all the domestic unrest as a product of "outside parties"...
Followup:
Iranian state radio on Saturday denounced US President George W. Bush's "open interference" in the Islamic state's internal affairs after the US head of state urged Tehran to abandon its destructive policies. "How does Mr Bush, who has no legitimacy back home, allow himself to openly interfere in Iran's affairs and speak of reforms," the radio said in a first reaction to the US president's comments Friday. "Americans have until now been careful not to directly interfere in our affairs, but this is flagrant (interference)," it said. See what I mean?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:11 am ||
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The Judiciary has suspended the reformist Azad newspaper, accusing it of ignoring a coverage ban on the resignation of prominent cleric Ayatollah Jalaledin Taheri, whose fiery criticism of the Islamic state has sparked nationwide political tension. The reformist daily had carried a front-page report Thursday headlined: "A resignation that led to tears." Deputy Culture Minister Shaban Shahidi-Moadab confirmed Azad had been suspended and urged other newspapers to respect the coverage ban. Mention this to the next goober who complains about the USA "stifling dissent"...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:11 am ||
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Exiled Iraqi officers and opposition groups gathering in London to discuss the overthrow of Saddam Hussein were upstaged last night by Prince Hassan of Jordan. Surrounded by TV cameras, the prince made a theatrical entrance moments before the meeting began but said he was only attending as an observer. There have been conflicting claims about Jordan's willingness to be used as a launch pad for a US attack on Iraq. Prince Hassan, brother of the late King Hussein, was heir to the Jordanian throne until the terminally ill king removed him from the succession and replaced him with his son, the present King Abdullah. He took a seat at the front next to Sharif Ali, leader of the Iraqi monarchist movement, who is a descendant of Iraq's last king. Leaving after 45 minutes, the prince gave a press conference where he said he had not intended to attract so much media attention. Arab journalists said it was unlikely that the prince would have made his high-profile intervention without the king's permission. Some suggested that King Abdullah, who has been making frequent trips to Washington, may have decided that President Saddam is doomed and that it is time to build bridges with the Iraqi opposition. The conference, held in Kensington town hall under a banner proclaiming One Army for a United Iraq, was planned as a private meeting of exiled officers to discuss Saddam's overthrow. Are we thinking in terms of a constitutional monarchy in Iraq? A job for King Hussein's brother? Sounds like a good trade...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 11:07 am ||
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We need Jordan's Hashemite king to take over Arabia when we toss the towel-heads out. By now all but the closest Saddamites are asking each other, "You mean if we get rid of the Beast of Baghdad and our Germ-bombs, and let US troops enforce UN declarations, then we can have peace? And if we don't, cruise missiles will squash our infrastructure, again?" If Saddam is alive on Aug 31, 2002, I will swim to Cuba and cut sugar cain for Fidel.
#2
that's a BIG "if" RG - while I actualy agree with you - Usama has proven how hard it is to concretely define "dead" if the target isn't easily pinned down - I actually think
Usama's dead - his ego wouldn't let this much time go by without a mocking "nya nya" video..what about Saddam, with an unknown number of body doubles/targets?
Posted by: Frank ||
07/13/2002 20:21 Comments ||
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I wonder what ever happened to the dozen or so doubles Binny was supposed to have?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2002 20:52 Comments ||
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Sharif Ali has a much more defensible claim to the throne -- he's sort of a first cousin once removed of the last King. Hassan is more like a third cousin twice removed. I'd have to look over the family tree again ...
Hassan, in other words, was there to support his cousin, not to claim the mantle for himself.
Posted by: Dan Hartung ||
07/14/2002 2:30 Comments ||
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Which do you think'll get the throne in Riyadh? Hassan or Abdullah?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2002 16:28 Comments ||
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Seven foreigners were arrested for allegedly supplying fake passports and documents to members of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, Milan anti-terrorism police said Friday. An eighth suspected eluded capture and is being sought, said Massimo Mazza, head of Milan's anti-terrorist squad. He's probably the head cheese...
The arrests occurred Thursday night in Milan and its suburbs. Police seized false passports, stolen identity cards and blank documents that could be used to issue papers giving foreigners permission to live in Italy. Police said the suspects â six Moroccans, a Tunisian and a Romanian â were part of "vast trafficking in false documents." All were accused of criminal association and counterfeiting documents. The suspects include two Moroccan brothers â Mohammed Kazdari and his younger brother, Said â who allegedly supplied documents to Essid Sami Ben Khemais, bin Laden's alleged European logistics chief. The brothers were described as the operation's ringleaders. "There were sure links between the Kazdari brothers and Ben Khemais," Mazza said. "But at the moment we can't confirm which documents were given to Ben Khemais and used by Ben Khemais." Ben Khemais was convicted earlier this year in Milan of helping Al Qaeda recruits and now is in prison. This is the actual support network that makes the boomers and gunnies and other types of killers possible. It's a pity they don't receive the same kind of hard sentences the cannon fodder would. They cause the same damage, just second-hand...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 01:13 pm ||
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Years ago, I saw two comments posted on the mil.sci newsgroup that had quite an impact on me. The first said, "Amateurs think tactics, professionals think strategy".
The second read, "Amateurs think strategy, professionals think logistics".
I'd rather arrest one logistics guy than two fighters. The fighters are usually only good for one operation; the logistics guys last much longer, and get more experienced as time goes on.
Posted by: Mike Jackmin ||
07/14/2002 8:00 Comments ||
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A court must reconsider an order allowing an American-born Taliban to meet with his lawyers because the judge did not adequately consider the government's position that the prisoner is an enemy combatant, an appeals court ruled yesterday. A three-judge panel of the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned US District Judge Robert G. Doumar's ruling that Yaser Esam Hamdi could meet privately with attorneys from the federal public defender's office. Hamdi, 21, was captured in Afghanistan in November after a prison uprising by Taliban and Al Qaeda members. He was held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, until it was discovered that he was born in Louisiana to Saudi Arabian parents. He was moved to the jail at the Norfolk Naval Base in April, where he has been held incommunicado as an enemy combatant. The appeals court rejected the public defender's argument that Hamdi, as a US citizen, had a constitutional right to legal representation. Doumar's order ''was not merely a garden-variety appointment of counsel in an ordinary criminal case,'' Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote. He didn't have a lawyer with him when he was shooting at Americans at Qala-i-Jangi. And a mere ten years ago, I don't recall any great public concern over the few Iraqi-Americans who were drafted by Sammy and sent to Kuwait with the rest of the cannon fodder. We won't even mention what occasionally happened to allied nationals who were swept up by the draft for the Wehrmacht.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:31 am ||
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A federal grand jury is investigating a group affiliated with two defunct mosques for possible ties to the Al Qaeda terror network, a lawyer for a former mosque member said yesterday. Semi Osman, 32, is charged with trying to obtain US citizenship fraudulently and with owning a handgun whose serial number was removed. Osman was born in Sierra Leone, holds a British passport, and has lived in the United States since the late 1980s. Osman had attended the Dar-us-Salaam mosque, which closed after it was damaged in an earthquake in February 2001. He was part of a group also affiliated with a second mosque nearby, a group now under federal scrutiny. Osman has refused to cooperate with federal investigators. [Insert comment here about vipers in bosom]
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:17 am ||
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The Seattle Times reported yesterday that investigators in the city have identified a half-dozen core members of the suspected terror group but have gathered information on more than 100 others who had dealings with the Dar-us-Salaam mosque. The newspaper said members of the group have ties to Egyptian-born Abu Hamza Al-Masri, a suspected Al Qaeda recruiter who runs a London mosque and is wanted in Yemen on terrorism charges. Actually, there's a rope waiting for him...
The Times also said federal investigators believe the Seattle group may have scouted a ranch near Bly, Ore., in the fall of 1999 as a possible site for a terrorist training camp. Tim Evinger, the sheriff in Klamath County, Ore., said federal agents briefed local investigators on the ranch in 1999. They weren't even subtle about it, even a couple years before 9-11. There are probably a lot more fifth column "mosques" like this in the country, and unless we start cleaning them out we're going to lose the war. You read it here first...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:22 am ||
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The United States today firmly told Pakistan to dismantle terrorist camps in its territory and permanently end infiltration of militants in Jammu and Kashmir, which has shown a significant decline. "There has been some easing of tensions, there has been a significant decline in the level of infiltration along the Line of Control. We continue to look for that be made permanent in accordance with the pledges that President (Pervez) Musharraf has made," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We are continuing to look for the kind of actions that both sides can take (to ease tension) ... for example, ending the camps on the Pakistani side," he said briefing reporters on Powell's eight-nation tour of South and South East Asia, including India and Pakistan likely to begin on July 27. That's probably not something Perv can publicly pledge to do at this moment, since the fundos are screaming for his head on a platter. Assassination attempts aren't going to make him feel any less threatened.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:12 am ||
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President Pervez Musharraf yesterday defended his plans to change the constitution, saying parliamentary democracy has never worked in Pakistan and arguing for a strong role for the armed forces in future governments. General Musharraf, a key US ally in the war on terrorism, appeared on national television to explain constitutional changes he plans to make before October's elections, which will mark the restoration of civilian rule. The changes would include creation of a National Security Council that would have the power to fire the elected prime minister, Cabinet, and the entire National Assembly. Critics say the changes would institutionalize a leading role for the military in Pakistani politics. Contrary to what the headline says, I think Perv is trying to work out some sort of system of checks and balances that will allow democracy to actually work in Pakistan. What they've had up until now has been so unstable that it's amounted to organized chaos. Occasional interludes of parliamentary looting have alternated with military takeovers when things got unbearable. Pak's problem isn't too much government, but too little and too ineffective. It's one of the better arguments against anarchy as a political system.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:29 am ||
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Looks like itâs the Attaturk solution. Hey, itâs worked in keeping Turkey secular, safe from the religious fanatics. But havenât Pakistanâs problems been more with corruption?
Posted by: Mike Cakora ||
07/13/2002 12:43 Comments ||
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Perv is reported to be an admirer of Attaturk. Pak's main problem has been corruption, which was kind of epitomized by the Bhutto and Nawaz regimes. I think the more severe problem is the fundos - but it's like trying to decide whether the nail in your forehead is a more serious problem than the foot you just cut off. Take away the problems of corruption and religious lunacy and they're still left with ignorance (50% literacy rate) and disease (polio, sky-high infant mortality, and a couple months ago rumors of smallpox outbreak).
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2002 20:46 Comments ||
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Allah Ditta Mastoi, the fourth rapist wanted in the Meerwala gang-rape case, was arrested on Friday from Rajanpur district. Now all the six main accused - Faiz Bakhash Mastoi, Ramzan Pachaar, and rapists Ghulam Farid, Abdul Khaliq, Fayyaz Hussain, and Allah Ditta - are in police custody.
Police have yet to arrest two of the three wanted in the sodomy case lodged by the 12-year-old Shakoor Tatla (Mukhtiaran Mai - rape victim's brother). The boy was accused by the Mastois of having 'illicit' relations with sister of the rapists Abdul Khaliq and Allah Ditta. Young Shakoor had alleged that Jameel, Punnu and Manzoor sodomized him. As cover up of their crime the Mastoi tribe convened a panchayat which ordered the gang-rape of Shakoor's sister as punishment, and implemented their verdict on the spot. Punnu and Manzoor are still at large.
On the orders of Dera Ghazi Khan range DIG police, Asif Nawaz, Muzaffargarh city police DSP Shaukat has replaced the investigation officer Jatoi SDPO, Saeed Awan, who had pressured the rape victim's family to record statements which favoured the Mastois. The SDPO Saeed Awan would now assist the DSP. Seems to me Saeed should be sitting in clink with the rest of them.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 12:14 pm ||
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Pakistani authorities have arrested an alleged financial adviser of Osama bin Laden and two other militants believed to be from his Al Qaeda terror network. "Three Al Qaeda men have been arrested here including Sheikh Ahmed Saleem, who was acting as a financial adviser of Osama in Pakistan," the officer told AFP. The three were arrested during an overnight raid on a suburban apartment in Karachi. Saleem, a Sudan national, apparently fled Afghanistan for Pakistan after the US-led military campaign began last October, the officer said. The arrests were based on information gleaned from interrogations of some of the scores of local militants who have been rounded up since the June 14 suicide car-bomb blast outside the US consulate. I'd guess that the religious loons are taking the gas pipe of this continuing roundup. I'm impressed. I didn't think the Paks had it in 'em.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 12:27 pm ||
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Paramilitary forces used artillery fire on Friday to break up heavy fighting between two tribal clans in Pakistan's northwestern region bordering Afghanistan. The warring sides were using surface-to-surface missiles, rocket launchers, mortars and light weapons against each other, local officials said adding that at least five people had been killed on Friday. A paramilitary trooper was also wounded in the conflict between fighters from the Dawar and Wazir tribes. With the fresh outbreak of violence, blamed on a land dispute, officials said at least 1,000 local villagers had fled the area, adding that 12 people had died in similar clashes last week. Islam is a religion of peace... Everybody knows that...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 12:42 pm ||
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An explosion Saturday possibly caused by a grenade injured about a dozen tourists at an archaeological site in northern Pakistan. Authorities said the incident occurred in Mansehra, about 170 miles north of Peshawar. The area is on the ancient Silk Road between China and Europe and is rich in archaeological and culture sites. Just the sort of site to lure infidels intent on grinding Pakland under the heel of secularism and oppression...
Police said the blast occurred as about 21 tourists were leaving their van to view ancient inscriptions associated with the 3rd Century B.C. Mauryan emperor Ashoka. Police said the injured included seven Germans, three Austrians and three Pakistanis. Those are the best kinds of infidels to target. Less likely to be able to shoot back...
The tourists were headed to Islamabad under police escort. All the injured had been treated at an area hospital and released. Officials said they were uncertain what caused the blast, but a news agency quoted a senior Interior Ministry official as saying it was likely caused by a crude explosive device thrown at the tourists. Small grenades are sold openly in parts of Pakistan. Those, the Koran, and a chamberpot are the only items any household really needs...
Police said they had brought an undisclosed number of people in for questioning and were interviewing witnesses.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 12:51 pm ||
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Political leaders have strongly criticized the condition of 'graduation' for all candidates for national and provincial assembly seats and said that it was an attempt to deprive the people of their genuine leaders. The PPP leader, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, and the president of the party's Women's Wing, Dr Yasmeen, said on Friday that such a curb appeared to be unparalleled in the political history of the country as well as many of the other states. They pointed out that literacy rate in Pakistan was remarkably low and such a condition was bound to deprive the voters of their favourite leaders. They criticized the rulers for 'playing with the Constitution' and said that the retime had no mandate to bring about amendments. The PML leaders, Syed Pir Ali Shah, Miss Shamim Razzak, Aqeela Naz and Abdul Razzak Aasi said that the proposed amendments to the Constitution, including the clause of graduation, were part of the government's attempt to achieve the results of its own choice in the forthcoming elections. Or it might be an attempt on Perv's part to try and pack some people into Parliament who are capable of rational thought...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 05:31 pm ||
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The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Saturday the group was not connected to the al Qaeda network. "There is no relationship with al Qaeda -- not previously and not now -- and not for religious or ideological reasons but for political reasons," Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told the Arabic satellite television channel MBC. "The issue is linked to the political program and the battle priorities," he said, without elaborating. He means Israel is an easier target at this point, while al-Qaeda's trying to take on the U.S. directly...
U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham called Hizbollah the "A-Team of terrorists" earlier this week after returning from a regional tour to gather information for the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Yeah, but that's just campaign talk, isn't it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:12 am ||
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The Israeli army said Saturday it had intercepted a car bomb in the West Bank city of Qalqilya. According to Israeli reports, troops had already intercepted three car bombs and arrested 15 would-be Palestinian suicide bombers since they reoccupied nearly all the West Bank three weeks ago. The IDF carried out a controlled explosion of the vehicle, which carried Israeli licence plates. The car had been spotted on a road leading out of the West Bank Friday evening and a search had revealed it contained four bombs connected to gas cannisters. Nails added to the bomb inside the vehicle, whose passengers fled after troops fired warning shots on the road near Qalqilya. This town is one of two West Bank towns on which the Israeli army had lifted curfews earlier Friday. Guess they'll be complaining about having their curfew back soon...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 05:40 pm ||
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The Lebanese army was laying siege to a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, demanding the handover of a man accused of killing three of its intelligence agents before taking refuge with a militant Palestinian group inside. The army, which sent reinforcements into the Sidon area and around the camp, called on camp leaders to seek out and surrender Badih Hamade, a Lebanese Shiite. Palestinian sources said that Hamade was hiding in the Ain al Helweh camp with Sheikh Abdullah Shreidi, leader of a splinter group of the fundamentalist Usbat al-Ansar, which has many supporters in the camp and is branded as "terrorist" by the United States. Coincidentally, Usbat al-Ansar is reputed to have close ties with al-Qaeda...
The popular committees, which include the camp's political and military leaders, issued a statement Friday ordering Shreidi to "hand over the author of the crime who is hiding with him ... otherwise a joint security force will go and winkle him out." The Lebanese army doesn't do a lot of armed winkling these days. Guess they're going to make an exception in this case...
Hamade, also known as Abu Obeida, is accused of killing Thursday three military intelligence agents who were watching him on the road between the Ain al Helweh and Mieh-Mieh refugee camps, east of Sidon. He is also accused of being responsible for bomb attacks on military checkpoints around Ain al Helweh in the past few months. A Palestinian source said Hamade was wounded in the shoulder in an exchange of fire Thursday. Bumping off three agents and popping into the local nest of al-Qaeda sympathizers would seem to imply that there's something going in in south Lebanon that bodes ill. Obviously somebody's watching, since there are agents being waxed in the process. I'd be really interested in knowing what they're watching, though...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 06:07 pm ||
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Winkle? what the hell is that???
sounds nasty....I'd give myself up in the face of threatened serious winkling
Posted by: Frank ||
07/14/2002 5:21 Comments ||
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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has written a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell on reforms being undertaken by the Palestinian Authority, but officials say he is unlikely to get a high-level U.S. reply. At a briefing here, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed that Secretary Powell has read the Arafat letter but has no plans to respond to it. "The letter that you're speaking of is a letter that we received earlier this week from Chairman Arafat for Secretary Powell," he said. "In it, he discusses recent moves at reform by Palestinians. We're reviewing the letter, the secretary has read the letter. The staff is examining it and considering it. We will consider the ideas that are presented. The secretary, as you know, has stated that he doesn't have any plans for contacting Chairman Arafat. That remains the case." Dear Mr Arafat:
Thank you for your letter of the 12th instant. While we appreciate your interest in bringing peace to the Middle East, we are unable to reply immediately to all the correspondence we receive on the subject. A member of our staff has been assigned to examine your concerns and you will receive a reply in the near future.
Sincerely,
The United States
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 06:35 pm ||
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Agus Dwikarna, an Indonesian national arrested in the Philippines on suspicion of terrorism in March, was sentenced to up to 17 years in jail on Friday for illegal possession of explosives. In Jakarta, Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said "Our main concern is to ensure that Agus' rights are not violated during the whole process. We do support him appealing the verdict, but will not interfere in the legal process." Hassan's statement came amid mounting public pressure on the government to secure Agus' release or at least to have him tried in Indonesia. The crime was committed in the Philippines, he was tried in the Philippines. Butt out...
Agus was arrested at Manila airport along with compatriots Abdul Jamal Balfas and Tamsil Linrung while about to board a flight to Bangkok. Philippine police found explosive devices in their luggage. During their brief Philippine visit, the three were said to have met with associates of another Indonesian, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who is now serving a 12-year-jail sentence, also for illegal possession of explosives. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo in April ordered Tamsil and Abdul freed after the Indonesian government protested. Philippine police said evidence against the two was lacking. Nothin' there but a few kilos of explosives. Somebody coulda put them in those bags when they weren't lookin'...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 07:45 am ||
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The head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency said in an interview published Saturday that he believes Osama bin Laden is still alive and hiding along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. There's a vote in the "alive" column. There haven't been that many of them lately...
August Hanning, the head of the Federal Intelligence Service, also estimated that more than 5,000 supporters of Al Qaeda and Afghanistan's ousted Taliban militia remain in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, while many others have returned to their homelands. "They are preparing attacks from their new locations â they will try everything to strike again,'' he was quoted as saying in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "We must be prepared for that.'' He referred to no specific plans. Only to the fact that they've got to do something, if only to keep their morale from splashing into the toilet.
"As our knowledge stands, we are convinced that bin Laden is still alive, in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan,'' Hanning was quoted as saying. "He is still the symbolic figurehead of Al Qaeda, but apparently moves around little and when he does, in a very secretive manner,'' Hanning added, without elaborating. He means at night, by ambulance...
Last Monday, President Bush said he does not know whether bin Laden is dead or alive. That's a pretty good indication he just doesn't know. If he did know he was dead, he'd say so if only for the propaganda value at this point. If he knew he was alive he'd have an idea where, and we'd be very busy there.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 01:00 pm ||
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In a question and answer session, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed launched into an hour-long lecture into his Islamic beliefs. The "worldwide" leader of the militant Al-Muhajiroun group said as a Muslim he could not condemn the September 11 attacks on America or even offer his condolences for what happened. "I do not support the bombing of September 11 ... he said, piously...
because it is against the Islamic principle but I do respect the views of other people," said the sheikh. Gesticulating, he said he must support the acts of fellow Muslims - "the brotherhood"- even if he would "always act within the margin of the law". In other words, no matter what they do, no matter how depraved, how brutal, there's no condemnation because they're Brothers. But if you take that position, and accept any benefit that will come from their lawless acts, it would seem that you should also accept the consequences of those acts...
"You see what happens when you let the government carry out its evil policies throughout the world," he said, underscoring his vehement belief that arrogant US and British foreign policies triggered the attacks. Targeting the Taleban and al-Qaeda in retaliation for September 11 without fair trial reinforced this stance, he said. Nations don't start wars after a "fair trial." And nations do retaliate when attacked without provocation...
"Bin Laden is a great man," he said, before a backdrop of brightlypainted community centre walls plastered with pro-Islamic and anti-democracy posters. "He has earned his leadership. They are Muslims and they are on the right course." You can tell by the trail of corpses left in their wake...
The bearded sheikh, however, denied he was a terrorist or that he had sent UK Muslims to fight in Afghanistan, although he said he knew of many that had gone. I'm surprised this bunch is still around â though I recall reading a warning about them on Taliban-On-Line (now defunct) a couple months ago. Unfair as it may sound to someone like the Sheikh, if you're going to run an overt fifth column organization, I guess you can expect to have it infiltrated by government agents...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 08:09 am ||
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No less than 4,000 Britons have received training at al-Qa'ida camps in the past 10 years, security sources say. Far greater numbers of British Muslims volunteered to fight for Osama bin Laden's organisation and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan than was previously known, and the vast majority of them are back in this country. Many of those returning from Afghanistan have been traced, but others have disappeared. The security sources stress that most of the former volunteers are not seen as threats. "Those boys aren't threats. They're just cattle, following the herd..."
But some are believed to have retained their terrorist loyalties. Oooh. It's a statement of the obvious...
The recruitment of Muslims happened at mosques around the country. The training took place mainly at camps in Afghanistan, and many of the British Muslims fought in the Taliban ranks against the Northern Alliance. Other recruits are believed also to have seen action in Bosnia and Chechnya. Ummm... Does anyone propose do actually do anything about it? Or are we simply observing a natural phenomenon, like an earthquake?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/13/2002 08:19 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.
