Afghan security forces have discovered 55 pounds of explosives at a power plant here, averting a potential attack on the city's electrical supply, a spokesman for the force said today. The explosives were found on Monday in the generator room of the Sarobi Dam in the city's east, said Maj. Mike Edwards, a British spokesman for the multinational force that patrols Kabul, the capital. Someone's getting better at picking targets. This is a step up from bombs in the marketplace. Didn't work this time, but I'm sure they will keep trying.
The Afghan authorities arrested several people in connection with the find, Major Edwards said. The Turks left their truncheon's behind when they went home. I'm sure they are being put to good use.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2002 01:47 pm ||
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Source: CNN
Two U.S. soldiers in Kuwait are in serious but stable condition after being shot and seriously wounded by a policeman Thursday morning, the U.S. military said. The assailant is a junior level Kuwaiti policeman who fled to Saudi Arabia, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior said. Kuwaiti and Saudi officials are working to get the man back to Kuwait. I consider it significant that he beat it to Soddy territory...
Sources told CNN it's still unclear whether the incident was an individual act or linked to terrorism. No shots were returned toward the assailant. I'd call it terrorism. Just another incident in the Armed Struggle™...
The shooting took place as the U.S. soldiers were traveling between Camp Doha and Arifjan, the spokesman said. The Interior Ministry said the two soldiers were shot after their car was pulled over by the policeman. The gunman shot one of the soldiers in the face and the other in the shoulder. Their injuries are not considered life-threatening, the spokesman said, adding that they were able to drive themselves to the town of Oraifijan, where they were flown by military aircraft to a military hospital in Kuwait City. After the two soldiers were shot, the attacker returned home, got some money, and fled across the border to Saudi Arabia, Pentagon sources told CNN. Where there was no doubt a committee waiting to welcome their Hero...
The shooting is the latest in a string of violent attacks and threats by ingrates against U.S. soldiers stationed in Kuwait and comes on the same day as a U.S. missionary was shot and killed in Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/21/2002 12:01 pm ||
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The fact that the assailant packed his bags and fled strsight to the "save haven" of Soddy speaks volumes.
Source is Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily. Sorry no link...
The GCC foreign ministers gathered in Doha to discuss both routine matters and the growing regional tensions, but the apparent calm of Doha â and the meeting itself â belied significant animosities between GCC member states Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The animosity was over the fact that Qatari officials were aware that the coup attempted against the Government on October 12-13, 2002, had been undertaken by Iranian-trained and directed assets, who were given Saudi land-access to Qatar and Saudi funding to attempt the mission. We were wondering about this reported coup.
This has been confirmed to GIS by a number of well-placed Saudi and Qatari sources. Specifically, the key Saudi official behind the attempted coup was named as Deputy Prime Minister and Crown Prince âAbdallah bin âAbd al-âAziz al Saâud. You heard it here first, folks. Crown Prince Abdallah tried to overthrow the Emir of Qatar.
Very senior US officials were reportedly extremely angry that Prince âAbdallah was directly involved, specifically in order to ensure the removal of US forces from Qatar. Gee, I wonder why?
Meanwhile, the Crown Princeâs actions were only part of the move to suppress Qatar and its relationship with the US. Crown Prince âAbdallah and Arab League Secretary-General were, according to reliable GIS sources, behind the funding of a new international broadcasting venture â Arab Broadcasting Company (ABC) â designed to rival and eliminate the Qatari-based al-Jazeera satellite TV station. Trying to shut them up. Guess they don't like what they are hearing.
In the climate of concern over the Iraq issue, and over GCC member statesâ concerns over US plans vis-Ã -vis Iraq, the US embassy in Qatar announced in late October 2002 that it had been decided to postpone the week-long military maneuvers set for November 2002 with Qatar, ostensibly to ensure that the necessary time was available for the full arrival of equipment in order to carry out these maneuvers. We heard about that.
However, this merely masked the fact that the Iranian- and Saudi-led coup attempt in Qatar had caused a major clampdown in the Emirate. Senior Qatari and US sources confirmed to GIS that the postponement of the planned exercises was, in fact, determined by the preoccupation by Qatari troops with maintaining internal security measures in the wake of the attempted coup dâetat on October 12-13, 2002, against the Government of the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. Internal security is the primary mission of all arab armies.
The attempt was allegedly led by several members of the Qatari Royal family, Islamic organizations and several army officers of Yemeni and Pakistani origins. The usual band of suspects.
It was also reported, but not confirmed, that US forces from al-Udaid provided support to Qatari forces in containing the threat, as a result of which some 140 military and civilian men were reportedly arrested. No info on this, but I'd bet US Forces were guarding the Emir while his hard boys went after the plotters.
Qatari sources had reportedly told some Arab journalists that they believed Saudi Arabian funding and planning were behind the attempted coup. GIS sources have confirmed the Saudi rÃŽle, and specifically that of the Crown Prince, but also highlighted the Iranian involvement. That's all the info about the coup I have seen. This did not go over very well with President Bush, I'll bet. That move to Qatar by CENTCOM appears to be bothering the Crown Prince. I wonder why? I bet the Emir of Qatar will be happy to let us launch a few strikes from there in the future. Guess which direction.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2002 01:49 pm ||
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Looking forward to relocation of all our facilities to Qatar from Saudi...
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/21/2002 15:10 Comments ||
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The mafia has a saying "When you set out to kill the king, you better get him, because if you miss, he will stop at nothing to get you"
Looks to me that somebody missed. It must be getting close to time to have a few more saudi royal princes get 'lost' while returning from a picnic in the desert.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
11/21/2002 17:19 Comments ||
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Next to the Bali bombings and the Moscow hostage circus, this is the most significant event of the past three or four months - and it's another story the press has missed almost totally. World Tribune's carried it, and Arabic News, StratFor, and Khilafa, but UPI carried it on their "UPI hears ..." page. If it made the NYT or WaPo, I missed it.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2002 13:33 Comments ||
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Let's not forget Iran.There's a revolution going on that's unfortunately not being televised.
Posted by: El Id ||
11/21/2002 14:17 Comments ||
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Soon to be the late Crown Prince? Heck of a car wreck.
Saudi Arabia has declared an alert and bolstered security around Western installations after a gunman set fire to a U.S.-owned McDonald's restaurant near Riyadh that stayed open during the daytime Ramadan fasting period. Saudi officials said an unidentified gunman torched the McDonald's restaurant in Al Kharj 80 kilometers south of Riyadh. They said the gunman fled and nobody was injured. No Happy Meal for you!.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2002 01:38 pm ||
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Pardon my proper use of English, but wouldn't a "gunman" be more qualified to shoot things up rather than torch them? I thought the latter was the job of the "arsonist", which perfectly describes what he was doing.
The United States is offering a fast track to American citizenship for Iraqi scientists willing to blow the whistle on Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Under the Iraqi Scientists Immigration Act of 2002, passed by the Senate on Wednesday, up to 500 scientists could be given green cards if they reveal critical information on weapons programmes.The bill, which could be passed by the House of Representatives as early as Friday, applies to scientists, engineers and technicians. This is so devious, I love it! It fits right in with the part of the U.N. resolution that lets us take scientists and their families out of Iraq to interview them. They have had this in mind all along.
It is hoped that the bill, which was proposed by Senator Joseph Biden in October, could have a two-fold effect: Firstly, it would reveal details of weapons of mass destruction, which Washington firmly believes Iraq has been developing. Secondly it would drain Iraq of key experts, vital to any such weapon programme that might be underway. To be eligible for the scheme arms specialists must have worked in a programme to deliver WMD since 16 December 1998. They must also volunteer "critical, reliable information" which could provide evidence that despite its denials Iraq is working to build or deliver chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. If so, they and their immediate families would be able to bypass normal immigration procedures and take up permanent residence in the US. But the number who could be accepted has been capped at 500 scientists, and anyone failing to meet the requirements will fail to qualify. They are only taking the first 500 guys to spill the beans. Line forms on the right, stop pushing.
Under the bill the US Secretary of State and Attorney General would control the resettlement programme. "Hello, my name is Colin and this is my good friend John. Welcome to America."
OK, no way Saddam lets those scientists out. That's a major violation of the resolution, and that's war!
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2002 01:45 pm ||
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I agree. A terrific idea!
And the number 500 is pretty liberal: its 500 SCIENTISTS, not 500 scientists and family members. Most of these people would be fluent in English or some other foreign language, and wouldn't take long to hit the ground running here in the good ol' U.S. of A.
One of my suspicions is that some of these guys may have deliberately drug their feet building the WMD, either by creating obstacles or maybe citing other difficulties and roadblocks, hoping to buy time for the cavalry to arrive.
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What do you know, old Joe Biden put up a good one. I like this one as well. Does it extend to family members who come along with the scientist?
But on a darker note: how many scientists are going to be disappeared in the next couple of weeks? Want to bet that Kofi wouldn't consider such a thing to be a material breach?
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/21/2002 20:33 Comments ||
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"But on a darker note: how many scientists are going to be disappeared in the next couple of weeks?"
Dead scientists do not work on WMD, at least not very well. So either way, Saddam loses key scientists for his program.
The issue paper "Why Not Eritrea?" pushes the country's plan for the United States to take advantage of its strategic location in the Horn of Africa as a military staging ground in the buildup toward a looming war with Iraq. After all, the surrounding nations are members of the Arab League and not what one would call very supportive of U.S. interests, the paper says. Even Djibouti, already host to about 3,200 U.S. troops who are being trained in desert warfare, has voiced reservations about U.S. intentions. Besides, the French are there.
U.S. officials are considering Eritrea's offer, and Gen. Tommy Franks has visited the country. But to help make sure its message gets heard -- and accepted -- Eritrea has hired Greenberg Traurig, the law firm that includes a lobbying team headed by Jack Abramoff, who has close ties to the new House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). Somebody there knows how to pick their lobbyist.
"Their biggest issue is they want to reach out to America and have better relations," says Padgett Wilson, director of governmental affairs at Greenberg Traurig. Wilson notes that having a U.S. base in Eritrea would bring in much-needed capital and encourage U.S. companies to do business there, helping the country develop a middle class and "providing economic stability for U.S. companies." Works for me.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2002 01:51 pm ||
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But wait, wont this destabilize the region?
( I certainly hope so, said he)
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
11/21/2002 17:14 Comments ||
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"American bases wanted! Best sites, will build to suit. Call Hamid today, BR-549."
50 Die Over Miss World Article Riiiight, they didn't die at the hands of crazed Islamaniacs observers of the great faith of Islam, they died because of an evil newspaper article.
Rioters stabbed pedestrians and torched churches during violent demonstrations Thursday in the northern city of Kaduna. The Red Cross said more than 50 people died and 200 were wounded. The protests were triggered by a newspaper article suggesting Islam's founding prophet might have chosen a wife from among contestants in the Miss World beauty pageant in Nigeria. You can't have anyone suggesting that Mohommed might have wanted a beautiful wife - what a repugnant idea!
More than 50 people were stabbed, bludgeoned or burned to death and 200 were seriously injured in the violence in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods, Nigerian Red Cross President Emmanuel Ijewere told The Associated Press. At least four churches were destroyed, he said. Ah, the Religion of Death Peace(tm) just doing what it does best.
Many of the bodies were taken by Red Cross workers and other volunteers to local mortuaries. Many others remained inside homes that were set afire by the demonstrators, Ijewere said. Ah, the Red Cross - a terrorist's best friend. They're always willing to bury lament the innocent dead or to act as human shields for those doing the killing.
"A lot of people died. We don't know yet exactly how many ... more than 50," he said. Shehu Sani of the Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress said he watched a crowd stab one young man, then force a tire filled with gasoline around his neck and burn him alive. Sani said he saw three other bodies elsewhere in the city. Alsa Hassan, founder of another human rights group, Alsa Care, said he saw a commuter being dragged out of his car and beaten to death by protesters. Schools and shops hurriedly closed Thursday morning as hordes of young men, shouting "Allahu Akhbar," or "God is great," ignited makeshift street barricades made of tires and garbage, sending plumes of black smoke rising above the city. Others were heard chanting, "Down with beauty" and "Miss World is sin." "Down with beauty." That about says it all right there, doesn't it? Sad.
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Mohammed married Aisha when she was six years old, and consummated the marriage when she was nine. The "prophet" was in his mid-fifties at the time. Miss World contestants would be too old for the Nabi.
Pakistan's new parliament today chose a prime minister from the main pro-government party, rejecting a candidate of fundamentalist religious parties and ending a protracted struggle over the shape of a new ruling coalition more than five weeks after national elections. They're not putting the lunatics in charge of the asylum? Bet they're frosted over that! Zafarullah Khan Jamali, a hack career politician and tribal leader from the province of Baluchistan, captured a narrow majority in the National Assembly with 172 votes of 328 votes cast. Fazlur Rahman, a bloodthirsty firebrand cleric opposed to Pakistan's cooperation with the United States in the war on terrorism, ran a distant second with 86 votes. So what'd Perv do?
The outcome came as a relief to the military government of President Pervez Musharraf. It signaled the emergence of a ruling coalition led by Jamali's party, the pro-government Quaid-e-Azam faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, and including independent lawmakers as well as defectors from the opposition Pakistan People's Party led by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The new coalition, analysts say, is unlikely to challenge Musharraf's alliance with Washington or his domestic policies, including gradual economic reform. They noted, however, that the coalition's slender majority means that the new government could prove unstable and prone to early collapse. Qazi should be firing up the ol' spittle machine any time now...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/21/2002 01:05 pm ||
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Reminder: only ten parliamentarians took their oath of office in reference to Mushareff's shariah hopping, "Legal Framework Order." The others took oath under the 1973 shariah' constitution. Pakistanis wanted an extremist Muslim government, and they got it.
Up to 11 Israelis were killed and forty-one others wounded when an explosion rocked an Israeli bus in West Jerusalem early Wednesday morning. Israeli officials say that the bus was the latest Palestinian suicide bombing and vowed retaliation. Retaliation sounds appropriate...
A civilian bus was reportedly traveling through the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood in Jerusalem when a bomber detonated explosives he carried, killing himself and up to eleven others. The precise number of casualties is yet to be determined, although news reports and medical sources say that the number of those killed ranges between 8 and 11. Israeli sources say that most of the dead were civilians, including school children. An Israeli spokesman, Yeruham Mandola, for the Megen David Adom paramedics service told Israel Radio and was cited by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz saying that there are students among the wounded." Schoolkids are legitimate targets to Paleos, of course...
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharons office, David Baker told AP Palestinian terrorists continue to cling to the bloodshed agenda and they are satisfied only when innocent Israeli lives are taken. Sounds like an accurate assessment of the situation...
The Palestinian Authority, unlike Israel, often condemns the killing of civilians from both sides. This is usually after gangs associated or allied with the PA have intentionally slaughtered large numbers of civilians — like today. The Israelis don't intentionally target civilians...
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a leading Palestinian official and human rights activist told Al-Jazeera satellite television that the Israeli right-wing governments policies are responsible for the bloodshed. Barghouti cited the latest carnage in Tulkarm, where human rights groups claim extra-judicial assassinations took place Tuesday, November 19. The death toll stands at 5 in Tulkarm, including one child. Ten other Palestinians were arrested, including five children, and were taken to an unknown destination. Two more Palestinians were killed in Tulkarm today, and two others in Gaza. The "one child" seems to have been the 15-year-old who was shot when he climbed on top of a tank. His name in Arabic was "Dumbass"...
The Jerusalem bombing is expected to generate another escalation in Israeli military violence, although Palestinians say that Israel needs no excuses to go on a rampage in the Occupied Territories. The Paleos sure seem to give them plenty of excuses, though...
Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a top leader in the Islamic Movement, Hamas in Gaza, called Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television and stated that the suicide bombing is justified by the right of Palestinians to defend themselves. He asserted that daily Israeli killings of Palestinian civilians is hardly viewed with the same level of outrage in the West as are killings of Israeli civilians. He vowed that more attacks would be carried out in retaliation of the Israeli armys brutal treatment of the Palestinian population. In a just world, that single statement would be Rantissi's death warrant.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/21/2002 12:01 pm ||
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On his way to Damascus to attend a special Arab foreign ministers session, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa denounced Israelis latest West Bank killings, saying that such violence is only a part of Israels usual policy. He means killing the people who're trying to kill them...
In response to reporters questions in Cairo, Moussa said that mindless violence resistance is the only method to end the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Nothing would bend steal but steal [sic], and violence but counter violence, and occupation but resistance, Moussa told reporters. He spends all his time yakking, but his yak is that violence, not yakking, is the solution. Why doesn't that make any sense to me?
Arab foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Damascus to plot discuss a unified Arab strategy toward the issues of Iraq and Palestine. Regarding Palestine, Arab ministers are expected to construct a unified Arab position to derail in response to the United States latest peace initiatives, Road Map for Peace, aimed at ending the Palestinian uprising and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from parts of the occupied territories. The plan also calls for a Palestinian statehood in later years. The Paleos find the statehood part of it okay, but the part about ending the killing spree doesn't sit well. I think we can guess Moussa's opinion...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/21/2002 12:01 pm ||
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As eyewitness reports become available, it is becoming clear that the killings that were carried out in Tulkarm On Tuesday, November 19th may be categorized as extra-judicial assassinations. According to residents who witnessed the following events, Israeli forces invaded the West Bank town of Tulkarm at 4:40 pm, when the daily fast for the holy month of Ramadan was coming to a close. According to eyewitness reports, a group of Mustaribeen, (Special Israeli forces who disguise themselves as Palestinians) infiltrated the center of the town. Ooooh. Damn. Using the Paleos' own tactics against them? Bet that causes the old kefiyeh to smoke...
The disguised soldiers, wearing civilian clothing surrounded an apartment inhabited by Palestinian crazed killers activists, members of Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of the Fateh movement. According to eyewitnesses, a group of cannon fodder youth gathered to defend the tough guys activists inside the apartment and began hurling stones at the disguised soldiers. The soliders immediately responded with gunfire, killing 16 year old Alam al-Zalqa. He was shot in the chest and died instantly. Hardly felt a thing, did you, Alam? Enjoy your virgins, now...
According to the human rights group, LAW, the activists attempted to flee, "I quit! I ain't playin' no more!"
when the Mustaribeen opened fire on them, shooting 20 year old Tareq Zaghal, who fell on the ground. The Mustaribeen surrounded him, and once they had confirmed his identity, they shot him in the neck, killing him instantly. Medical sources at Dr. Thabet hospital confirmed that Zaghal's hands were tied behind his back. It appeared that he was shot in the neck after his hands had been tied behind his back. Terrible. Just terrible. It doesn't make much sense, but I believe every word of it...
After a short amount of time, Israeli troops arrived to assist the Mustaribeen, and opened fire at any moving object. At that time, they opened fire on 30 year old Ziyad Mashaqi a security guard. He received a bullet wound to the neck and was killed instantly. "He was just sittin' there, mindin' his own business, when all of a sudden..."
At around 5:30 in the evening, Ahmad Jayyousi (37) was returning home in a taxi driven by Shaban Badeer (30). Israeli forces also opened fire on them without warning. Jayyousi was shot in the neck and hands. Badeer was shot in the chest and shoulders. Both were killed instantly. Just opened fire on them for no reason at all, huh?
10 other civilians were injured, including five children, one of whom was arrested and taken to an unknown destination. I have the vision of five 6-year-olds being dragged off screaming to some Israeli dungeon. More likely, the "children" are 15- and 16-year-olds with minor explosives...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/21/2002 12:01 pm ||
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An American missionary was murdered shot and killed Thursday morning at a Christian center that provides medical care and aid to Palestinian refugees in southern Lebanon. Bonnie Penner, 31, was shot three times in the head as she opened the Unity Center, which houses a chapel and a clinic, police said. It was believed to be the first targeted killing of a U.S. citizen in Lebanon in more than a decade. A colleague found Penner in a pool of blood, police said. Police officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appeared she was shot as she opened the door. The gunman used a 7 mm pistol, police said. Police had no suspects, and it was not clear whether the killing was politically motivated. The center's director, the Rev. Sami Dagher, said there had been no threats before the killing. The clinic provides medical care and help to local people and Palestinian refugees in camp nearby. "Bonnie died because she loved the people of Sidon," he told reporters outside the center. "May God forgive them," Dagher said of the attackers. So, somebody harmless, who was doing something nice for the locals is bumped off. It wasn't clear that the killing was politically motivated, but just by coincidence...
Muslim clerics have criticized the Unity Center in the past, accusing it of preaching Christianity and trying to indoctrinate Sidon's youth. "You can't do that! Only Islamists can do that!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/21/2002 01:09 pm ||
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to carry out a "wide and extensive operation" in response to Thursday morning's suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem in which 11 people were killed. During the discussion it was decided that Israel will no longer recognize the "Bethlehem first" understandings reached with the PA, which led to the IDF's withdrawal from the West Bank city in August. So much for that deal.
A senior security official told Army Radio on Thursday that if reports that the suicide bomber came from Bethlehem were correct, the IDF would operate in the city. The bomber was named as Na'al Azmi Abu Hilayal, from the village of al-Khader, just south of Bethlehem. Close enough, it appears.
Thursday afternoon, IDF troops arrested Hilayal's father and brother. The house will be next to go bye-bye.
IDF troops withdrew from Bethlehem on August 19, as part of an attempt by former Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer to put in place a gradual truce in exchange for a PA commitment to track down militants. A similar plan was implemented in Hebron, but the IDF retook the West Bank city earlier this week after 12 Israelis were killed in a shooting attack over the weekend. This is what being nice gets you.
"All our efforts to hand over areas... and all the talk about a possible cease-fire, that was all window dressing because on the ground there was a continuous effort to carry out as many terrorist activities (as possible)," advisor to Sharon Ra'anan Gissin said Thursday. Getting close to scorched earth time.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/21/2002 02:22 pm ||
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Police arrested an alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings that killed nearly 200 people last month, Indonesia's chief of intelligence said Thursday. Imam Samudra, an Afghan-trained militant with alleged links to the al Qaeda-affiliated Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, is said to have planned the Oct. 12 attack and helped build the bombs that exploded outside the Sari Club nightclub and in Paddy's bar. Samudra was arrested in the western port town of Merak on Indonesia's main island of Java, said A.M. Hendropriyono, chief of the national intelligence agency. Using information from Samudra's arrested guards, police captured him on a bus pulling up to a ferry bound for the western Indonesian island of Sumatra. Police were searching for eight other suspects, spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang said. The Indon coppers don't seem to do badly, with the Aussies looking over their shoulders, anyway...
Samudra's arrest could give authorities information into the workings of Jemaah Islamiyah, which has planned a series of attacks against Western interests in Southeast Asia. Samudra, a leading member of the group, was responsible for carrying out the Bali blasts on the orders of Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged operations chief Riduan Isamuddin, known as Hambali, an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity. Hambali has been implicated in operations ranging from logistical support for the Sept. 11 hijackers to bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines. "We hope that through him we can get Hambali," Hendropriyono said. "I also am confident that the rest of (the suspects) will be caught soon." It would be extra-fine to get Hambali. I get the impression he's the brains in the operation, while Bashir provides the arrogance...
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said authorities' first break in the case came Tuesday, when they arrested two of Samudra's guards near his hometown, Serang. The men led them to Samudra, who was arrested Thursday afternoon. "We'll die before we betray our holy man!... Uh... Hey! Those aren't, uh... hooked up are they?... We'll talk! We'll talk!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/21/2002 12:56 pm ||
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A radical London-based Muslim cleric who supports al Qaeda warned that the group would probably stage a major attack against the United States and Britain if they launch a war on Iraq. Remind me again why this guy is not in jail.
"If Britain and the United States attack Iraq they will suffer heavy casualties back home," said Syrian-born Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, leader of the radical al Muhajiroun group. "If they fire their missiles on Iraq an attack against Britain is inevitable," he told Reuters on Thursday.
Bakri said a recent warning by British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the threat of terror attacks on Britain was "real" and that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda could target the country should be taken very seriously.
"Blair correctly warned the British. Never before has there been such Muslim rage against the United States and Britain. It is not al Qaeda's style to carry out small attacks. They always select a powerful attack," he said. "Al Qaeda proved its abilities on September 11. They will do something big." They'll try.
Bakri said it would not be difficult for al Qaeda to operate in Britain because it has been actively recruiting supporters by sending agents to mosques and urging holy war through audio tapes and Internet sites. He said al Qaeda wanted to enlist both ideological supporters and "freelancers" who it can inspire to carry out attacks against Western targets.
"What they are trying to do is recruit supporters and influence groups to take up their cause and imitate their actions," he said. "The idea is that these groups become freelancers who decide on their own to join the al Qaeda phenomenon and carry out their own attacks modelled on al Qaeda." "Freelancers" means they can deny all responsibility when there is a attack. I'm thinking that MI6 has this guy under constant surveilance 24/7. Otherwise he'd be in the jug by now.
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11/21/2002 01:55 pm ||
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"Remind me again why this guy is not in jail."
Exactly. I mean, Jesus Christ, they just bagged this reporter in Britain for "hate speech"; I'd love to know what the difference is, freakin' hypocrites.
Al Qaeda leader Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the network's chief of operations in the Persian Gulf, has been captured, senior U.S. government officials said Thursday. Al-Nashiri, a suspected mastermind of the USS Cole bombing in October 2000, was captured in an undisclosed foreign country earlier this month and is in U.S. custody, officials said. Let the celebration begin!
He is the highest-ranking al Qaeda operative captured since the CIA, FBI and Pakistani authorities captured bin Laden's operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March. Al-Nashiri is suspected in a number of other al Qaeda terrorist plots, including the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings. One of the suicide bombers in the attack on the Nairobi embassy, known only as Azzam, is believed to have been his cousin. Al-Nashiri is said to be either Saudi or Yemeni. The capture of al-Nashiri is the latest reported success in the U.S. effort to capture or kill top al Qaeda chiefs. On Nov. 3, a CIA Predator drone fired a missile at a car carrying several suspected al Qaeda operatives, killing six, including al Qaeda's top Yemen operative, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, who is also suspected of involvement in the Cole plot.
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11/21/2002 02:07 pm ||
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{does Snoopy dance}
According to the article I read, this guy has a real hardon for the US Navy, multiple plots against our ships. One of which failed because they put too much explosive into the boat and it sank. {Damn, there goes those laws of physics again!}
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11/21/2002 14:51 Comments ||
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From Straits Times a mere two months ago:
"Al-Nashiri is more of a mystery. A Saudi who is also known as Umar Mohammed al-Harazi and Abu Bilal al-Makki, he is considered a step below Mohammed in the Al-Qaeda hierarchy.
He seems to have a particular hatred for the US Navy and is suspected of involvement in plots on four naval targets in the past three years.
Al-Nashiri is believed to be a mastermind of the October 2000 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole, which was hit by a small boat full of explosives in Aden, Yemen.
US officials believe he was in Afghanistan when the war began last October. He is thought to have moved to Pakistan when the Taleban fell."
The bad part about pulling these jobs is that you've got to pop your pointy little head up to see what you're doing. Having somebody there with a mallet looks funny in a kiddy game, but it hurts when it actually hits your turban.
I'll be outside ululating for the next hour or so...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2002 15:00 Comments ||
Top||
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.
