Atomic energy officials said Monday that a substance seized by police near the Syrian border was not weapons-grade uranium as Turkish authorities first reported. Atomic Energy Institute chief Guler Koksal said the material was harmless, containing zinc, iron, zirconium and manganese. The announcement ended days of speculation that the substance might have been destined for neighboring Iraq, which the United States accuses of trying to smuggle in nuclear material for a secret weapons program. Police, acting on a tip, recovered the material in a taxi last week near the Syrian border. Two Turks who were trying to sell the material as uranium were released from custody. That was a setup. It sounds like they either got a decoy while the real stuff got through, or it was a run by the Bad Guys to see if they were leaking â and where. Now they know. Unless it was funny isotopes, none of the stuff was radioactive, so why the shielding? Or did they get gypped by the sellers?
The seizure alarmed intelligence agencies around the world when the Turkish police at first said it weighed 33 pounds. On Sunday, police said the material weighed only 5 ounces. The disparity occurred because authorities initially included the weight of the lead container. Duh.
Thanks to Steve for the headzup on this one...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:06 am ||
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If the CIA isn't running scams whereby useless material is sold to various terrorist or "great leader" suckers as "weapons grade material", then we are missing a good opportunity. Poison the marketplace as much as possible and use the money we make to fund additional operations. Sounds like a winner to me.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
10/01/2002 9:24 Comments ||
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Another one from Steve...
An Iraqi opposition group said Monday that 15 political dissidents had been executed in a prison west of Baghdad. The claim by the Center for Human Rights, which is linked to the Iraqi Communist Party, could not be independently confirmed. The Iraqi government does not comment on such allegations. What're they supposed to say? "Yeah. We dunnit, and we're glad!"?
The center, citing unnamed sources inside Iraq, said that the executions took place in the Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, on July 21 and the bodies were buried at night in a mass grave at al-Karkh cemetery in Baghdad. A statement faxed to The Associated Press in Cairo said the men had been executed for opposing President Saddam Hussein's regime. So far, the center has reported 33 executions of political prisoners during July. I'm surprised the number's that low...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:59 am ||
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Expect that number to go up and to include some of those currently seen as close to Saddam. One of the first "projects" in psyops prior to regime change is to sow paranoia among the current regime...what's the Baathist version of Mahmoud the Weasel? Uday, Qusay or ?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/01/2002 10:09 Comments ||
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Saddam is dangerously paranoid all ready. He has recently fired all his Republican Guard commanders and taken direct control of the formations.
Now Saddam thinks, and heck, a lot of Americans think Bush II has commissioned assassins for Saddam as payback for what Saddam tried to do with Bush I. This should pretty much push Saddam over the edge. We played the same game with Abu Nidal in the 1980's.
By 1987, a fearful Abu Nidal had turned his terror campaign inward...Accused followers were tortured to confess, then executed on the basis of that confession...Over three hundred hard-core operatives were murdered (in Lebanon) on Abu Nidal's order. On a single night in November 1987, approximately 170 were tied up and blindfolded, machine-gunned, and pushed into a trench prepared for the occasion. Another 160 or so were killed in Libya shortly thereafter...Abu Nidal's paranoia, fed by our crusade against him, caused him to destroy his organization."
Posted by: Dave ||
10/02/2002 6:30 Comments ||
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Dave,
Shhhhhhhh! (grin)
Posted by: Kathy K ||
10/02/2002 7:02 Comments ||
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Just curious, but how do you suppose they get these numbers? The same guys that counted the dead at Jenin?
Wow, the Iraqi Communist Party. There's a concept that truly boggles the mind. Just how could things get worse than they already are in Iraq? The Iraqi Communist Party.
After two days of anti-globalization protests that saw hundreds arrested, a regime change in Washington instead of Baghdad was only one of the slogans digging at U.S. foreign policy made at an anti-war rally, September 29, in Washington. "Some people are talking about a regime change in Baghdad," said Damu Smith, head of Black Voices for Peace, at the start of the rally in Dupont Circle. "I'm beginning to think we need a regime change right here in Washington, DC!" It's the execution of dissidents that bothers him...
Protestors and police differed over the number of demonstrators present for the rally and march up Massachusetts Ave, past several embassies, to the home of Vice President Dick Cheney. D.C. police chief Charles Ramsey put the number flatly at 1,500, but organizers said as many as 5,000 people came out to protest the impending attack on Iraq and the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush. Takes a lot of people to lug those puppets around. Another bunch is saying it was 10,000. In Peacetalk, that means "a whole lot"...
"Al-Qaeda had a First Strike policy, too," one sign held up by demonstrators proclaimed. Others demanded more simply, "No blood for oil," "Don't bomb Iraq," and "End the sanctions." Originality's just running rampant among these guys. How about "U.S. troops out of Vietnam!"...
Smith, whose group was established after September 11 last year and has since been active in collaborative demonstrations for peace and civil liberties, encouraged listeners to unite across racial, cultural and gender lines, saying, "We cannot be divided." Sure we can. Y'see, all us, who believe in this country and don't hate the things she stands for, we're over on this side. You, and your buds, and the people who give you money so you can be a professional activist, you guys stand on that side. See where the division is?
The rally's speakers included singing artist Michelle Shocked, an Iraqi representative from the group "Seeds for Peace," Institute for Policy Studies fellow Phyllis Bennis, and many others, including musical performances. I liked the bongos best...
Speaker Mike Zmolek, with the National Network to End the War Against Iraq, warned that military action against Iraq could be a repeat of the Gulf War in terms of the impact on Iraqi society and infrastructure. "Let us call for inspections to proceed," he said, "because it's the only way forward right now." No it's not. We can go in, beat them up, hang Sammy, and let them start screwing things up in a different manner entirely...
And Bennis said that the "moment of choice" had come to decide between democracy and empire. "We need the U.N. to be calling the shots, not Washington," she said. Ummm... Why? So far Washington's been doing a better job of it than the U.N. And they've been right more often than the U.N. has.
The march led demonstrators, carrying everything from signs to giant puppets and drums, to a barrier blocking their path to the gate guarding the vice president's house. At the front of the barrier, where police formed a second barrier with their motorcycles, the chanting became zealous. "This is what democracy looks like!" the demonstrators shouted about their expression of freedom of speech. "That is what hypocrisy looks like!" they said of what Cheney symbolized. Not really. That's what a bunch of kiddies with nothing better to do looks like. Cheney's what a successful person who knows something looks like.
As with the last several anti-war and anti-globalization protests in Washington, the protest brought all kinds of people together under the collective anti-Bush administration cause. Rachel Solomon, a Jewish student who leads a Near East Club at her Rockville, Maryland, high school, said that "fighting Bush" was the only way to work against the rising violence in the Middle East. "You can't really get rid of the problems in the Middle East until you get rid of Bush," she told IslamOnline. She knows that, because she's in the 10th grade, where you start knowing everything. She'll retain her knowledge of everything until she's in her twenties, probably, at which point she'll become an adult. It will seem like a long time to her, because children really hate it when adults ignore them. Everything she knows for certain will become uncertain, murky. Black and white will become shades of gray. Either she'll get married and/or have a family and forget about all this, or she'll become depressed by the knowledge of her own limitations and die by her own hand, an embittered, lonely woman with 17 cats...
Another protestor, Anne-Claire Marshall, volunteered to help hold a sign in front of the Egyptian embassy with a message of support proclaiming, "Egypt rejects any military action against Iraq." That's what they said the other day. They didn't paint it on a sign, though. When it's all over, assuming we win, they'll have been on our side from the beginning. That's the way it usually works...
"I think it's appalling that we're using our power across the globe," Marshall said. "We feel like our problems are more important than people's problems across the globe." That implies that people's problems across the globe aren't ours, have no effect on us, have nothing to do with us, in fact...
University of Maryland student Ariel Vegosen was one of those arrested on Friday; after spending 26 hours in custody wearing plastic handcuffs, she came out again to protest the use of military force against Iraq. "I think it's really important that people use their voices to stand up against this war," she said, "because this is not what our country is supposed to be about." "The handcuffs were kinda kinky, though. I'm thinking of buying a pair..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 11:12 am ||
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"Regime change in Washington?"
It's called an "election". It happens every four years in this country (two years, in the case of the House). It's part of that thing called "democracy" that these guys were yelling about, but don't really seem to understand.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
10/01/2002 12:13 Comments ||
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"... embittered, lonely woman with 17 cats."
Ouch!
Remind me not to find myself in yer crosshairs, Fred.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/02/2002 8:53 Comments ||
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"... embittered, lonely woman with 17 cats."
I would amend that to read, "... embittered, lonely woman with 17 paranoid cats."
#4
"We feel like our problems are more important than people's problems across the globe." satis dixit.
A compelling condemnation of the Anti-War Left. Self-centered and justifying that self-centeredness as social conscience. America doesn't want to be the policeman, but we're the only ones that can.
Eighteen people died in the bloodiest polling day yet in Indian Kashmir as a third round of elections were held in the troubled state. Elections are what delegitimizes gunnies. Can't have that...
Gunmen killed eight people on a bus on Tuesday, and six troops died when their vehicle ran over a land mine, believed to be planted by Islamic militants. Two militants, a political activist and an Indian soldier died in separate incidents. India has blamed Pakistan for the surge in violence which has killed more than 600 since the polls were called on August 2. Islamabad denies encouraging the militancy and says it gives only moral support to the Kashmiri "freedom struggle." They said, piously...
Despite the violence, India's independent election commission said turnout was 41 percent, slightly lower than the 47 percent and 42 percent recorded in the first two rounds. Turnout was swelled by heavy voting in Hindu-dominated areas in the south of the state, while in the separatist heartland to the north, as few as 25 percent voted. That's because they didn't want to get killed. Without the gunnies, they could have voted against whomever, thereby voicing their legitimate aspirations to do whatever it is they want to do.
India sees the election, which ends on October 8, as a means of enhancing the legitimacy of its rule in its only Muslim-majority state and has hailed the good turnout as a victory of the bullet over the ballot. Holding a plebiscite would be a better idea...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:06 am ||
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A car explosion that killed a German man in Riyadh over the weekend was not a terrorist act, but the result of gang rivalries, the kingdom's intelligence chief said Monday. Alk runners again?
"The incident was extraordinary and isolated and is the result of a struggle and disputes among traders in illegal matters," Prince Nawwaf said in remarks distributed to the media. It was not "a terrorist (act) against foreigners in the kingdom." That line's looking pretty thin by now...
Saudi authorities have blamed a string of bombings targeting foreigners in the past two years on disputes between gangs dealing in alcohol, which is forbidden in the kingdom under Islamic laws but is not difficult to obtain. Western diplomats, however, have been increasingly concerned the attacks are the work of Muslim extremists. "There are no extremists in Soddy Arabia. Here, they're all mainstream."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:42 am ||
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Steven DenBeste has an interesting letter on his site (http://www.denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/09/MeanGreenMeme.shtml) talking about the "root causes" argument and spiral dynamics. The gist is that societies, or memes, evolve and incorporate what came before them (duh). The writer notes how "blue" societies, theocracies, eventually evolve to "orange" societies, descartian modernists who are interested in logic and the material world.
Why mention this? Because the Soddis inadvertently are displaying one of their greatest fears: the alk runners, to the extent that there ARE alk runners (and not just a convenient excuse), demonstrate that some part of Soddi society is moving toward the modern world, and hence a desire for some of the usual accoutrements of said world -- e.g., likker. Next it will be nekkid wimmin. And just try to put the genie back into the bottle -- no matter how hard the theocrats try, they're eventually doomed.
So the Soddis not only are inadvertently proclaiming their greatest fear, but are using it as an excuse to cover up terrorist acts in their country. They're using their greatest fear to try and buffalo us from ours. It's hilarious.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/02/2002 9:07 Comments ||
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So, was it the Capone mob? Yes, it's true. All our alky runners up and moved to Saudi Arabia when Prohibition ended.
The family of a Palestinian legislator, whose home was fired at by masked men last week, yesterday appealed to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to order an inquiry into the incident. No one was wounded in the attack on the home of former cabinet minister and Palestinian Legislative Council member Nabil Amir, in the a-Tira neighborhood of northwest Ramallah. It was just a warning. They didn't care if they killed anybody or not...
Amr was involved in a series of meetings held in Ramallah to discuss reforms in the PA and a proposal to appoint a prime minister in a future cabinet. The meetings were held at the home of Arafat's deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, while Arafat was under siege. The attack was reportedly carried out by members of Fatah's military wing, and was aimed as a warning to Amr and other officials not to establish a new leadership that would replace Arafat or undermine his power. The Euros haven't said anything about this little incident. Have they not noticed? Or don't they care that this is a bunch of gangsters running things?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:06 am ||
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Courtesy of Steve...
The Palestinian Authority has the strength but not the will to smash terrorist groups and their support networks in the Gaza Strip, a top PA security official said yesterday. Brig.-Gen. Muhammad Masri, head of the Political Security Department at the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, said the long-awaited crackdown on Hamas promised by former PA interior minister Abdel Razek Yahya will likely never happen. We guessed that. But we appreciate the old guy trying...
As part of a sweeping set of reforms that began in late June, the PA has sought both to centralize its myriad security services and to rein in Hamas, responsible for more than half of all Israeli deaths due to terrorist attacks in the past two years of conflict. "We have enough men and arms, but not political horizon and no incentive, to enter into bloody conflict with other Palestinians," said Masri from his office at the PA's GIS building just north of Gaza City. The PA security establishment sees no compelling reason to confront either Hamas, whose popularity is soaring, or the other Palestinian rejectionist groups. For this reason, Masri does not anticipate the ending of terrorist attacks in Israel in the near future. Abject fear has something to do with that reluctance, plus the philosophy that all Arabs are above any kind of reproach and can't be held responsible for their own actions. Add in the feeling of being on the same side, and the result is a determined inertia.
Taking on Hamas at this juncture, with January's Palestinian elections looming, would be political suicide, added the general. "The Palestinian street shows great support for Hamas and other groups opposing the PA, so we prefer to use other, more democratic methods," he said. Like shooting up people's houses...
"Capabilities and principle are two different things. Besides ending the occupation, our major goal is not to be labeled collaborators," said Masri. That's the abject fear part. We know what happens to collaborators...
For this reason, he added, his men are much more actively engaged in protecting themselves â against both Israel and the opposition groups â than they are in breaking the terrorist infrastructure, which many Palestinians consider the backbone of the Gaza Strip. "Why should we be responsible for security in Tel Aviv," asked Masri, "when we have enough trouble protecting our own people against Israel?" There's no concept like "duty, honor, country" to be found in this bunch. They will never be anything but street thugs with uniforms until there is.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:06 am ||
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The Palestinian cabinet met Tuesday amid the ruins of leader Yasser Arafat's compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said Arafat would ask the Palestinian legislature to give him more time to replace the cabinet forced to resign due to legislative pressure for administrative and power-sharing reforms. Despite the requested delay, "We will continue with the reforms," Erekat assured. "Anybody know a good contractor?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:06 am ||
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Early Tuesday, a Palestinian was killed by tank fire in Gaza after militants threw grenades at Israeli forces just outside the Gaza Strip, witnesses said. The man, 50, was a guard at a garage. Islamic Jihad, claiming responsibility, said the attackers returned safely. Bet that hurt. I take it he wasn't one of the grenade artists, since they "returned safely." Tough, being a human shield, ain't it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:12 am ||
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Israel's army confirmed Tuesday that at least 32 Palestinians had been arrested overnight and said 23 of them were "wanted suspects" in attacks on Israel. Many of them were captured in Jenin in the far northern part of the West Bank. Wonder if anybody got "massacred" this time?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:12 am ||
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The U.S. Congress bill demanding the American Embassy in Israel be moved to Occupied Jerusalem, and signed by U.S. President George W. Bush Monday raised anti-U.S. sentiments in the Arab and Islamic worlds to a dangerous level, with observers lashing out at what they termed the "Bush-Blair hypocritical games". Since anti-U.S. sentiments are in the Arab and Islamic worlds are always "at a dangerous level," what else is new?
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) warned Tuesday, October 01, that the U.S. move would only heighten Muslim resentment. OIC Secretary General Abdul Wahed Belqeziz voiced "particular concern because of the political and legal considerations stemming from this legislation which harm Islamic interests." Undies are in a real knot, aren't they?
"This decision is in total contradiction with (UN) Security Council resolutions," Belqeziz said in a statement in the name of the 57-member Islamic body based in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah. "Such an attitude from the American administration at a time when Israel is waging an unprecedented campaign against the Palestinian people is liable to exacerbate resentment among Muslims ... and is not liable to facilitate the role of the United States as co-sponsor of the Middle East peace process." Since the "Arab and Muslim" world bitches and moans continuously about the U.S., no matter what the U.S. does, what incentive is there for us to go out of our collective way to avoid hurting their tender little feelings? If there was a bit of balance in discourse between the two sides, things would probably be different. But there isn't, so there ain't.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 10:14 am ||
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U.S. counterterrorism officials believe Hambali, an Indonesian cleric whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, the operations chief of an al-Qaida affiliate in Southeast Asia, played a key role in a failed plot to bomb at least one American embassy in the region to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Hambali is one of the top two leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional Islamic extremist network with cells in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Thailand, according to U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Hambali seems to be into bombing embassies. His henchmen aren't very good at it, but he wants to blow something...
Counterterrorism officials learned of the bombing plot when a suspected al-Qaida leader now in U.S. custody gave up the plan. His threats led to the closure of embassies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. Hambali's precise role in the plot has also not been laid out, but terrorism officials suspect him of organizing other terrorist attacks as well. The prisoner, Omar al-Farouq, has been identified as al-Qaida's top operations chief in the region and a liaison between al-Qaida's senior leadership and Hambali. Al-Farouq was captured by Indonesian authorities on June 5, and turned over to U.S. officials. He recently began talking to his interrogators. I love it when they sing...
His interrogation has provided a clearer picture of Jemaah Islamiyah, a group U.S. officials say has a twofold purpose: to create an Islamic state in Southeast Asia and to conduct acts of terrorism against U.S. interests. Jemaah Islamiyah resembles al-Qaida in organization and, like al-Qaida, operates across international boundaries. This is unlike many other groups affiliated with al-Qaida, many of which are focused on overthrowing the government of a single country. They're more ambitious. It's that old Domino Theory thing, uniting all the Malay-speaking peoples and grabbing off some territory from the adjoining infidels...
Leadership of the group is split between Hambali, who handles operations, and Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, another Indonesian cleric who denies links to terrorism but is believed to be the group's spiritual leader, according to U.S., Singaporean and Malaysian officials. The group has sent people to Osama bin Laden's Afghan camps and received money from al-Qaida. He also hangs around with the Indonesian vice president, so his protection comes from the top...
Hambali's whereabouts are unknown. According to Singapore's Home Affairs Ministry, Hambali also gave the orders to Jemaah Islamiyah operatives who were arrested in December 2001 in connection with plots to bomb the U.S. Embassy in the city-state and American naval targets. In addition, Hambali is tied to two Sept. 11 suicide hijackers. He is believed to have arranged the January 2000 meeting of Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi with a senior al-Qaida operative, Tawfiq Attash Khallad, one of the masterminds of the USS Cole bombing later that year. The subject of the meeting remains a mystery. We can guess, though...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 04:01 pm ||
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Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said today that Ramzi bin al-Shibh, the suspected member of Al Qaeda captured in Pakistan earlier this month, was providing American authorities with "valuable information." It's the giggle juice. Does it every time. Well, most of the time...
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-Pakistan Business Council, Mr. Wolfowitz thanked the Pakistani government for seizing Mr. bin al-Shibh, who "is not only off the streets now, but in fact is providing us with valuable information." Mr. Wolfowitz did not elaborate in his brief remarks, and aides later declined to give any details. It was the first time an administration official had publicly confirmed that Mr. bin al-Shibh was cooperating. "I wouldn't quibble with that," said one American official familiar with intelligence reports when told of Mr. Wolfowitz's comments. Doesn't matter whether he's singing or not, actually, as long as we're saying on a regular basis that he is. Even if he digs his way out of jug in Morocco or Uzbekistan or wherever the hell he is, using his nails and a plastic fork, they won't be able to trust him again...
The official said Mr. bin al-Shibh was giving American officials "general information" about "the war on terror," and not necessarily information on possible links between Al Qaeda and Iraq. Last week, several senior administration officials made statements suggesting there was new proof of links between Al Qaeda and Baghdad, but did not offer any details to back up the assertions. Thanks to Steve for the headzup on this one. I almost went right past it...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 09:25 am ||
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Police have detained three suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network who allegedly planned to set up a training camp in Lebanon, an official said Tuesday. The three - two Lebanese and a Saudi - were detained Sept. 28 after authorities were tipped off about the plans. Two locals and a Soddy. Guess which one's the controller?
The official said the camp would have trained al-Qaida fighters and members of a Lebanese extremist Muslim group known as Dinniyah. Investigators have evidence that several al-Qaida operatives may have arrived in Lebanon to help train recruits at the camp, the official said. If the three are confirmed to be members of al-Qaida, it will be the first such arrest in Lebanon. The Dinniyah group is named for a region in northern Lebanon where it is thought to have originated. Dozens of suspected members were arrested after bloody fighting in the region in January 2000. More members are thought to be hiding in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near the southern city of Sidon. I think that Ein el-Hilweh is Arabic for "festering sore."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2002 04:13 pm ||
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We should drop the hint that Ramzi (see the next post) gave these guys up. Who cares if it's true? It keeps the bad guys nervous and (even more importantly) pissed off about how all the big shots who get captured immediately rat them out to the infidels.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
10/01/2002 16:27 Comments ||
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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.
