Iran has quietly ordered the family of Gulbaddin Hekmatyar, the renegade Afghan warlord, to leave the country in an effort to sever its ties to an individual linked to global terrorism, as it seeks a role in a postwar Iraq, a senior Pakistani official said. The official, citing intelligence information, said that one of Mr Hekmatyar's breeding stock wives and her children, believed to be his last family members still in Iran, were ordered to leave earlier this month. Other officials said the rest of Mr Hekmatyar's relatives were now in Afghanistan. "Mrs Hekmatyar, the Islamic Republic of course regards you as an honored guest..."
On Wednesday, the Bush administration froze all US assets held by Mr Hekmatyar. "Because of his terrorist activity, the United States is designating Hekmatyar as a specially designated global terrorist under the authority of executive order 13224," said Richard Boucher, the State Department spokesman. "... but if you can't pay your rent, we're afraid you're gonna have to get the hell out."
Pakistani officials also said Iran was keen to see Iraq's Shia Muslim community emerge as a significant participant in a new post-war order. Tehran hopes a significant Shia presence in a new regime would make it more friendly towards Iran - the world's largest Shia Muslim country. "Iran probably believes its interests are best served by cutting itself off from Hekmatyar, who is certain to remain wanted by the Americans," added the Pakistani official. It's a strange situation where somebody makes the Iranians look reasonable. Luckily, Hek also makes them look subtle.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 10:03 am ||
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A Qatar Airways plane en route to London made an emergency landing in Damascus yesterday following a bomb threat but security forces have so far failed to find any explosives on board, Syrian officials said. A second Qatari aircraft bound for Doha was delayed in Cairo after a note was discovered on the plane saying it would blow up, but a search found no explosives and it was allowed to depart last night. Are the Soddies running short on money? Of course, just the threat is almost as good as a real bomb...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 01:12 pm ||
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German police have arrested two men suspected of trying to supply Iraq with missile technology in violation of a U.N. embargo and German export laws. Prosecutors in the western city of Bielefeld suspect a 60-year-old German businessman and a 49-year-old Iraqi-born German national of trying to procure electronic parts similar to those used in shoulder-launched Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. German authorities did not release the names of the two suspects arrested last month. According to a summary of a report to be broadcast Monday on the ARD channel, government military experts told prosecutors one of the parts shows "striking similarity to components in Stinger missiles." It did not give further details. Our friends the Fritzies...
Separately, a German news weekly reported that investigators have raided the offices and homes of staff at German industrial giant Siemens, seizing documents for an investigation into a delivery of telephone equipment to Baghdad. Siemens spokesman Peter Gottal confirmed that investigators had visited the Munich-based company, the Focus weekly said. Neither Munich prosecutors nor Siemens officials could be reached Saturday. According to the report, investigators are looking into the delivery in 1998 of equipment via a Slovenian Siemens subsidiary to Baghdad. Unobtrusively cleaning house, are we?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 12:56 pm ||
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But..but...to supply Iraq with prohibited materials yet oppose consequences since those materials supposedly don't exist would be...
uh...hypocritical?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/23/2003 16:00 Comments ||
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About 250 men took off their clothes Sunday and lay down to spell out the words "Peace Man" on a rugby field to protest the Australian government's strong support for Washington's hardline stance against Iraq. Like, profound, man!
Protest organizer Cameron Sparkes-Carroll said the protesters bared themselves to send the peace message to the Australian government, which has sent 2,000 troops to join U.S. forces preparing for a possible war in the Persian Gulf. "Men of all shapes and sizes laid down their weapons and overcame fears of exposure to make the protest," Sparkes-Carroll said. "Wow! Doinkers for peace!"
The protest follows a similar demonstration two weeks ago when about 750 women shed their clothes in protest on a hillside near the same coastal resort town of Byron Bay, 435 miles north of Sydney. The women disrobed and lay end-to-end on a grassy knoll to form a heart shape around the words "No War" for an aerial photograph. I found that one much more meaningful. I'm all in favor of Boobies for Peace...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 12:31 pm ||
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#1
Next time they will all get together in a performance art entitled, "Make love, Not War".
#3
I hope they didn't turn their backs on lucky Pierre...
Posted by: The Kid ||
02/23/2003 19:05 Comments ||
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#4
And, why, I ask, are there no pictures? There were pictures of the females. Sexist blokes, those Aussies.
(Then again, that "all sizes and shapes" bit probably indicates a picture I'd rather not see anyway...)
Posted by: Kathy K ||
02/23/2003 19:31 Comments ||
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#5
Overheard at the boy's only anti-war rally:
"Don't send the fleet just beat the meat"..."War is crappy so let's slap the pappy"..."Cream your khakis not Iraqis"...."Whack the schlong if you think war's wrong"..."We play with our dicks in support of Hans Blix"....
Posted by: Mark ||
02/23/2003 20:35 Comments ||
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Less well known is the fact that all the man were arrested:it was a Shrinkage Rap.
Incursions by militants across the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Pakistani and Indian-controlled Kashmir continue, a retired Pakistani general was quoted as saying yesterday. "Cross-border infiltration is continuing and while the government may not be actively participating in this, it is certainly looking the other way," retired lieutenant general Nishat Ahmed was quoted as saying by the Daily Times newspaper. "We have not upheld the commitments we have made to the world." An admission? Well, by golly. Maybe the warnings are starting to pay off... Naw.
Ahmed, who retired as a planning officer in the military's joint services staff headquarters a decade ago, made his remarks at a seminar on Indo-Pakistan relations in Lahore. President Pervez Musharraf promised top US diplomats in May and June to permanently end incursions into Indian-controlled territory. Then promptly forgot about the idea...
In Srinagar, police said paramilitary soldiers killed four suspected militants in a 10-hour gun battle yesterday in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and two civilians died in other incidents, police said. The soldiers raided the Dalri Forests after receiving a tip that rebels were hiding thereid. The area is approximately 100km north of Srinagar. Elsewhere, the paramilitary Border Security Force arrested a suspected guerilla in the town of Baramulla, recovering arms and explosives including a dozen grenades, police said. Sure sounds like he's a snuffy, doesn't it?
Police said suspected rebels shot and killed a villager, Ghulkam Hassan, southwest of Srinagar, as they suspected him of being an informer for security forces. The jihadis don't intend to ever let this horror stop, and they intend to keep enough pressure on Perv personally — to the point of having him killed — to make sure he does nothing of substance to stop it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 01:19 pm ||
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hate to say it - but if Perv doesn't find and confederate with like-minded military minds who would prefer an alternative to the NWFP Sharia scheme or smoking-radioactive-hole-in-the-ground-martyr scheme, then I'm afraid this land is destined to be off-limits first to functioning brains then to functioning life
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/23/2003 19:45 Comments ||
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Enraged mourners smashed cars and shop windows on Sunday during a funeral procession for two victims of a massacre at a local Shiite mosque in this southern port city. Some 5,000 people gathered in central Karachi for the prayer session for two men killed Saturday when gunmen opened fire at the Imam Bargha Mehdi mosque, a Shiite house of worship near the city's airport. Many of the other seven victims had moved to Karachi from cities in northern Pakistan, and their bodies were being sent home for burial. A traditional Pakistani funeral, in the wake of a traditional Pakistani theological discussion...
After the prayer session, mourners slowly made their way by car, bus and motorcycle toward the massacre site, where the men were to be buried. "Arrest the killers," many mourners shouted, adding in a warning to the unknown gunmen, "We will take out our rage on you!" That's what they're supposed to do...
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but suspicion immediately fell on Sunni extremist groups that often target members of Pakistan's Shiite minority. They mean Lashkar e-Jhangvi...
Some in the crowd turned violent, ransacking at least five bank branches and four gas stations, setting parked motorcycles on fire and burning tires. The windows of dozens of shops were shattered by rocks. The procession gradually dispersed after Shiite community leaders urged marchers to return home. No injuries were reported. Meanwhile, more than 100 people led by a Shiite student group held a loud but peaceful demonstration in the central city of Multan in sympathy for the victims. Many marchers shouted slogans against the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, saying it had not done enough to provide security at the mosque. Seems to be something going around in Pakland. But don't worry about it. Remember to vote for the MMA ticket.
Suckers.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 12:42 pm ||
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I believe this same report was used to describe Raider Fan, following the Super Bowl
The authorities beefed up security in the Indian capital after intelligence agencies warned of a possible terrorist attack during the weekend. A senior army official told The Associated Press that the authorities were warned that Islamic militants may target the India Gate — a 42-m-high stone arch built in the memory of Indian soldiers who died in World War II. Thousands of New Delhi residents usually visit India Gate, surrounded by big lawns and a children's park, for weekend family outings. But on Sunday the park had been closed. The official said that troops have been called in to for day and night patrols of areas of New Delhi, such as where government buildings — including the prime minister's office and parliament — are located. There was also a bomb scare at the American School. An anonymous telephone caller to the school said a bomb was planted inside its complex. Police found no explosives, the duty officer of the local police station said. Children of mostly American diplomats and officials study at the school, which is located behind the US Embassy. The school was closed Sunday. I wonder if this is the jihadis trying to set up another war between India and the Paks, or if it's a Pak response to the warnings they've received from the U.S. recently? If it's the latter, it's the dumbest thing they could possibly do...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 11:45 am ||
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Iraq has made no decision yet on a U.N. order that it destroy its Al Samoud 2 missile program, Iraq's chief liaison to U.N. inspectors said Sunday as inspectors visited plants involved in producing the missile. Gen. Hossam Mohamed Amin told journalists that destroying the missiles would hurt Iraq's defenses, but not fatally so. It "would affect our fighting capabilities, but it would not finish them or affect them greatly," he said. "This missile represents only one aspect of our defensive capabilities." "They're short-range missiles. Our SCUDs will go much further..."
Baghdad's decision on the Al Samoud 2 missile will likely be a factor as the U.N. Security Council weighs a new Iraq resolution that Washington and London are expected to present Monday as they seek support for possible military action. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that if Baghdad refused the order on the Al Samoud, "the Security Council will have to make a decision." Oh, no! Not a decision!
He said he was optimistic Iraq would comply. "I don't see why they would not destroy them," the U.N. chief told reporters in Turkey. Amin repeated Iraq's claims that it is "clean" of weapons of mass destruction and insisted no new U.N. resolution is needed "because Iraq is cooperating with the inspectors." "We're expending the absolute minimum effort to give the impression we are, anyway..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 12:18 pm ||
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Matt Yglesias made a point, Blix only asked that the weapons be destroyed, not the facilities and/or the testing ramp which can handle bigger motors.
INA Fractured syntax courtesy the original article...
President Saddam Hussein has said that the US goal in Iraq is to target the ideal symbol of principles in Iraq. He added that he views triumph now as clear as he was sure before. The President addressed the ministers in the sixth session of the cabinet meeting that this conflict would be crucial for many aspects and would retain the nation its dignity and position in the world. The President remarked, âIn 1991, they have been committing aggression on us and no one utters, however now there are somebody object in Germany, the US, Britain and elsewhere, yet peoples will hear us and not them (the enemies)â. I think that translates as something like "I'm as confident of victory now as I was in 1991... Iraq will maintain its dignity, such as it is, and its position in the world as a pariah state... In 1991 nobody took our side, but this time around we have some useful idiots hollering in Germany, the U.S., Britain, and wherever else they can grab a few people who aren't too fastidious or too bright..."
The cabinet was briefed on Deputy Prime Minster Tareq Azizâs last visit to Ankara and meeting Turkish officials. Another brief presented by Acting Foreign Minister, Higher Education Minister Dr. Humam Abdul Khaliq on Arab foreign ministers meeting held in Cairo recently. A report from the diplofront. No details...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 11:25 am ||
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Islamabad, Feb. 22, Ina
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has stressed the significance of resolving Iraq's issue peacefully. Meeting a U.S. congressional delegation, President Musharraf said that Iraq's issue should be settled down by peaceful means. It is to be mentioned that massive demonstrations had swept different Pakistani cities in solidarity with Iraq and in protest against the U.S. threats to launch new aggression to achieve economic and political objectives. Another rock/hard place situation for Perv. The fundos are unanimous in their support for Sammy because... ummm... he's not us.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 11:18 am ||
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Didn't the fundos do the same thing when we went after the Taliban?
Either you are with us or aginst us.If you are aginst us then you are the enemy.
#2
Didn't the fundos do the same thing when we went after the Taliban?
Either you are with us or aginst us.If you are aginst us then you are the enemy.
Baghdad, Feb. 22, Ina
The evil warplanes of the U.S. and Britain launched on Friday 54-armed sorties coming from Kuwait territory aided by AWACS and E-2c planes. A spokesman for the air defence command told Ina that the enemy ravens flew over Basra, Nasiriya, Samawa, Qal'at Sukkar, Imara, Hai, Diwaniya, Hashimiya, Talha, Rutba, Traibeel and al-Waleed. This brought the total figure of armed sorties conducted by the Aggressive ravens coming from bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey over the period Dec. 17, 1998-Feb. 21, 2003 to 49,186, the spokesman said. Busy little beavers, ain't we?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 11:16 am ||
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Odd. Normally when we make 54 sorties, they somehow manage to shoot down 58 aircraft.
Revelations by Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) senior official Hoshyar Zabari that a recently arrested Turkoman Front intelligence chief Amir Izzeddin worked for Iraq to sabotage the upcoming Iraqi opposition meeting in Salahaddin was the first direct accusation by the Iraqi Kurds against Baghdad and showed the growing rift between them and Saddam Hussein. Zabari made the accusation during a press conference in Erbil Wednesday. The Turkish Daily News learnt that four members of the Turkoman Front who were closely watched by the KDP security service were interrogated and the information they provided led to the arrest of the Turkoman Front intelligence chief. KDP said he was arrested red handed in the process of preparing a terrorist attack. Sammy's guys are so clumsy lately. I wonder if they're feeling rushed?
KDP sources said the intelligence chief lived in Baghdad until two years ago when he came to Erbil and settled there. The interrogation of the intelligence chief is continuing. KDP sources said American security officials were also invited to the interrogation of the suspect, since he was allegedly preparing to make a terrorist attack against a hotel where correspondents and staff of CNN stayed in. The Americans reportedly presented a report to their administration about the interrogation. They were going to attack CNN's hotel? That would have gotten them lots of coverage.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 10:11 am ||
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German newspaper reports that Iraq has deployed missiles near its border with Kuwait to threaten British and U.S. troops massing in the Persian Gulf nation for a possible invasion of Iraq. The Frankfurter Allgemeine reports in Sunday editions that the missiles pose a grave threat to the allied troops and that they violate a 1994 United Nations resolution that forbids Iraq from threatening its neighbors. Btw a threat to the 59 German soldiers stationed in Kuwait. It gets personal now, right?
The Ababil-100 missiles reportedly have a range of 200 kilometers, which would violate other U.N. resolutions banning Iraq from having missiles with a range of more than 150 kilometers. The newspaper said German intelligence agencies informed the Defense Ministry early this month about the deployment, and that the United Nations was notified 10 days ago. So that was when? 13th of February? Before Valentine's Day meeting? Did Powell know? And if so, why didn't he say a thing?
Posted by: True German Ally ||
02/23/2003 09:29 am ||
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#1
These sound like the missiles we blew up.
Powell didn't have to say anything, because the confirmation of their location was already in the pipeline.
#2
my, my, my, isn't that timing convenient. So now Germany can spring a Yes vote at the UN with no loss of face and we can all hoist a Lowenbrau to good US/German relations. It's not all that surprising really, Germany has been truly helpful in the fight on terror and Schroeder only benefits by yapping at us, he never wanted to get bit. I think he'd love (make that needs) an opportunity to kiss and make up.
I'd even think that ChIraq would get on board but considering his emotional meltdown, I wouldn't put money on it. I suspect he will either melt down further, or suddenly get on board (for Germany's sake, of course).
I'd say we still are on for the New Moon. Heh heh. Clever :-)
#3
Well Powell has nicer words for the Germans lately. Another thing is that the Germans aren't that fond of Chirac either and didn't appreciate his Napoleonic behaviour towards the Eastern European countries. (The East is seen as German playground, not French).
Also it seems that the Germans have enough of being bashed by the U.S. and are not too unhappy that Chirac gets hammered now.
The Germans still want to be friends with everyone: The U.S., France, Russia, Israel, the Arab countries. Kohl managed to do that, Schroeder is as mediocre as Chirac but not a crook like the latter. His problem: He is deeply discredited in Germany for his dismal economic performance so his peacenik attitude is his last stand in Germany. But with his party at 28% right now it might not matter anymore.
Wise strategy? Give Chirac a break, too, or his inflated ego will make him use a veto he probably prefers not to cast.
#4
If the Germans were really smart, they would oppose the war effort by abstaining. Let France throw itself off the cliff if they want to, and have so far been very effective at doing it. The Germans could pick up whatever contracts France will leave behind. The French are effectively shutting themselves out of any involvement in post-Saddam Iraq.
#5
They don't want to be caught between a rock and a hard place either. The French came to their rescue when they faced total isolation. If they now vote against France that would leave the French-German "mariage de raison" in tatters (and the EU in a bigger mess). I guess they favor German and French abstention. Schroeder wasn't THAT dumb. He never said that Germany would vote against the war, just that it wouldn't vote in favor.
There is another thing that doesn't get much attention. The Germans covered 16% of the costs of Gulf War I (they could afford it then). With their economy dipping back into recession they just panic when somebody mentiones money.
But whatever happens: The Germans may not back the war but they will certainly be on board when humanitarian aid is needed after the war. And the U.S. knows that.
#6
There's not going to be any yes-vote by Schroeder or Chirac,not even if Saddam nuked Jerusalem tomorrow.The Franco-German plan is to turn Europe into an effectively anti-American superpower,led by,you guessed it,France and Germany.To achieve that end,they feel USA must be opposed,regardless of merit of cause.The alliance is OVER.
Posted by: El Id ||
02/23/2003 16:47 Comments ||
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Anti-independence militia have launched a 'terrorist strategy' to undermine Timor Leste's government before the planned United Nations withdrawal from the country next year, a top UN peacekeeper says. Brigadier-General Justin Kelly, deputy commander of the UN peacekeeping force in the world's newest nation, said the killing of five former pro-independence campaigners in a mountain region last month pointed to a new militia threat from Indonesian West Timor. Those bastards just don't give up, do they?
He said a group of men recently arrested in the town of Liquica claimed that they and a group which carried out those killings were sent into Timor Leste in December from West Timor, along with five other groups. They named their sponsor as Master Sergeant Tome Diogo, a Timor Leste national working for the Indonesian military in the border town of Atambua. The men said they were among some 300 trained for a guerilla campaign against former pro-independence activists and Suco chiefs, the influential local chieftains. I won't be at all surprised when it comes out that these beauzeaux have Pak military advisors...
Pro-Jakarta militias organised by elements of the Indonesian army organised a brutal intimidation campaign before Timor Leste's August 1999 vote to break away from Jakarta, and a revenge campaign afterwards. Gotta have that Dire Revenge™...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 11:49 am ||
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Muslims believe that any land taken in jihad, is god-given (inshallah). That is why al-Qaeda has been making claims on "andalusia" (Spain).
The separatist Free Aceh Movement(GAM) on Sunday accused soldiers of several serious violations of the peace pact signed in last December. Amri Abdul Wahab, a GAM representative in the Joint Security Committee (JSC), said that dozens of soldiers raided a GAM base in Linge, Central Aceh district on Wednesday, killing one GAM member and injuring five others. Yep. That sounds like a violation, assuming the charge is true. Since it's made by somebody named "Wahab," there's probably a 50-50 chance that it is..
The incident has been reported to the JSC which is supervising the implementation of the peace accord signed in Geneva on December 9. Amri also said that the Indonesian and international representatives at the local JSC monitoring team had declined to come to the site of the base to help evacuate those wounded. The GAM members of the JSC monitoring team, he said, had to go themselves to the base and evacuate the wounded using an ambulance of the state hospital in Takengon on Saturday. Amri also cited the abduction of two GAM members. The military or representatives of the government within the JSC could not be immediately contacted for comment. Both sides seem to violate the agreement regularly, which means it's nothing but vapor. Prediction: The festivities will resume at full speed within the next year.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 11:36 am ||
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THE Armed Forces of the Philippinesâ arsenal is running out of supplies, but military officials are undaunted and remain hellbent on neutralizing Muslim extremists in Mindanao through the Balikatan exercises. Given the state of the militaryâs armory, can the military armory sustain the ammunition requirements of what could be a protracted war in the troubled southern Philippines? Do they have a choice?
A well-entrenched source told The Manila Times that the AFPâs armory badly needs replenishment, but the delay in the passage of the 2003 budget makes it impossible for the military establishment to refill its arms stockpile. âThat is why, they are trying to let the US Forces join in the hot pursuit of Muslim rebels and bandits so that they can stay for long because they are already running out of bullets,â the source said. So they can borrow ammunition? The budget's held up in committee? Somebody's not taking this seriously...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 11:31 am ||
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Not long ago, angry chants of "murderous American GIs" and the somber flicker of anti-U.S. candlelight vigils filled the downtown streets of Seoul. But as tension builds over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program, pro-American rallies are drawing big crowds in the South Korean capital. "The majority has been silent too long," said Kim Bum-soo, who is helping organize a major pro-U.S. demonstration March 1 urging Washington to keep its troops here. Starting to feel a little naked, are we?
Supporters hope to attract 500,000 people. It follows two pro-American rallies last month that each attracted tens of thousands to support South Korea's top ally. The more vocal pro-American mood swing is a turnaround from just months ago. At that time, pro-U.S. counterrallies managed to muster only dozens. Now with the tide shifted, anti-U.S. protests are now small and localized, such as a recent one opposing a construction project at a U.S. base. Giving impetus to the turnaround is talk in Washington of cutting back on the 37,000 U.S. troops based in South Korea as a deterrent against a North Korean attack. Not only are they facing the prospect of having to duke it out with the NKors themselves, but those 37,000 paychecks are walking away, too. And so are all the jobs associated with the 37,000 paychecks. Tusk, tusk, as the elephant said. I still haven't forgotten this. I don't intend to, either...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 01:07 pm ||
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You know, it's oddly pleasant to see something other than an American, Israeli, or British flag being burned for a change, isn't it?
Posted by: Paul ||
02/23/2003 17:57 Comments ||
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Fred, I'd forgotten that little bit of cherry atop the sundae of "pissed off at the ungrateful adolescents". I'd say the SKors are adept enough to ensure they achieve whatever future they really want and far be it for us to intervene - pull out now, yet bolster our coordinated defense of Japan. Screw the ingrates...NKorea will teach them the definition of slavery and oppression. Hope they like the taste of bark and grass
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/23/2003 21:17 Comments ||
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This might get a little long,but it's neccassry to prove a point.
In 1975,I was young,dum and full of c.. and stationed in Korea.Twice I got into hassles with Korean Nationals,(1)While in a bar in the local Vill 3 Koreans cae in one started to cause a fight with me,after a short time I was going to stomp him silly.But his friends got in the way,they drug his little ass out of the bar and apologized for thier friend's behavior.(2)A friend and I where walking from one night club to another(in city outside of Osan AFB),a Korean attacked my friend,before it got totally out of hand a KNP(Korean National Police)undercover cop(pretty one at that)came to our assistance.She got us a cab and sent us to the Osan AFB main gate.The guy followed us,and keep trying to get on base.Finally 2 big ol'corn-fed AP's grabbed his butt and drug him to the Korean police station,when they tryied to hand him over he fought with the KNP's(they slapped that poor guy stupid).I looked over at the KATUSA(Korean Augumentation to the U.S.Army)gate gaurd.He shrugged his shoulders and said"Supposed to,nothing but a trouble-maker".
This story is just to show that while there are some who object to a U.S.military presence(as is thier right).Most Koreans are friends to American military.
Israeli troops raiding Beit Hanoun town blew up five homes of suspected militants Sunday, battled masked gunmen and shot from tank-mounted machine guns toward dozens of stone throwers. Six Palestinians were killed and 28 wounded. Elsewhere in Gaza, an Israeli soldier and two more Palestinians were killed, including a 16-year-old boy. In Beit Hanoun, people in one of the homes targeted for demolition threw hand grenades and fired shots at Israeli soldiers — marking the first time a demolition was met by serious resistance. The seven adults in the house surrendered after several hours and troops blew up the building. "We're runnin' low on ammunition, Mahmoud!"
"Maw! Rustle up some more hand grenades, wouldja?"
The Israeli military repeatedly has targeted Beit Hanoun, a northern Gaza town close to Israel because militants have fired short-range rockets from there at Israeli border towns and villages. In response to Sunday's raid, Palestinians fired three homemade Qassam rockets toward Israel. Israel's rescue service said one landed near a bank in the Israeli border town of Sderot. That made a lot of sense, didn't it?
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday that Israel would keep up the pressure on Islamic militants in Gaza. It's just that it's a lot messier than the operation on the West Bank last year...
Sunday's raid of Beit Hanoun began at about 1:45 a.m. Two dozen tanks and two bulldozers, backed by three attack helicopters, entered the town from two directions. Troops searched homes and the municipal building using dogs, witnesses said. Throughout the day, small groups of gunmen, some wearing black ski masks and camouflage gear, fired at tanks, drawing return fire. Tanks also fired in the direction of stone-throwers, including children and teens, who dropped to the pavement at the sound of gunfire. Usually a pretty bright move...
In all, six Palestinians were killed in Beit Hanoun, including a policeman, two stone throwers, ages 20 and 17, and a 27-year-old cow farmer, Palestinian security officials said. All, of course, were just standing around, minding their own business...
Two border guards also were found dead near their post, hospital doctors said. Both had knife marks, in addition to bullet wounds, and one had no eyeballs, the doctors said, suggesting the corpses had been mutilated. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said that "these repeated lies and accusations of mistreatment and misconduct have been part and parcel of this war from the minute it was launched."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 12:27 pm ||
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An inmate has committed suicide by beheading himself in a penal colony in Krasnoyarsk Region, Siberia. Aleksandr Roppel, a 30-year-old resident of the Krasnoyarsk Region, had been serving a 7-year sentence for drug trafficking. He was already two years into his sentence. According to investigators, the inmate entered the prison workshop, dismantled the safety housing from a circular saw, switched the tool on and beheaded himself. The colonyâs director has said that there was no evidence of foul play and has recognized it as suicide. The colony administration has stated that would have been up for parole after serving two-thirds of his term. The head of the penal colony has put the incident down to a ''psychological breakdown'' â it was the first prison sentence Roppel had served. ...And the head of the inmate was not available for comment...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 11:12 am ||
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Hamas has upgraded the organization's equipment for terror in Israel. Hamas had up til recently used triacetonetriperoxide (TATP), which is highly explosive, for its major ingredient, but has now begun using urea nitrate. Informed sources said that this would make a significant improvement, particularly in helping to reduce accidents that occur in bomb-preparations, and to allow for larger and more devastating explosives. The method has also since been copied by other Palestinian organizations. Fewer work accidents? Too bad...
The possibility that Hamas or Hezbollah may have managed to smuggle unknown agents into Israel or the territories cannot be ruled out. Last June in Hebron, Israel arrested a Hezbollah agent, Fowzi Ayub, who had entered the country on a forged American passport. Ayub, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim, holds Canadian citizenship. Ayub flew to Israel from Europe and spent some time in a hotel in downtown Jerusalem. He was arrested by the Palestinians in Hebron, but later released. At some stage, he lost his passport, and was captured by the Israel Defense Forces. Just by coincidence, of course... Dontcha hate it when that happens?
It is known that Ayub had at least one person accompanying him in Israel, helping him on his mission. The agents that Hezbollah has attempted, sometimes successfully, to smuggle into Israel are apparently members of the Islamic Jihad Squad, headed by Ahmad Muhanna, one of the most wanted men in the world for his involvement in mass terror attacks in Lebanon and Argentina in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Islamic Jihad Squad (Tanzim al-Jihad al-Islami) was a small group of Islamic Jihad militants led by Ahmad Muhanna. These militants were imprisoned in Israel for violent activities in the framework of a PLO off-shoot, the Palestinian Popular Liberation Forces (Quwat Tahrir al-Sha`biyyah al-Filastiniyyah), who became Islamists in the late 1970s under the leadership of Jaber `Ammar. Ahmad Muhanna split from this group and during the 1980s was active mainly from Sudan and was also involved in Islamist militant activity in Egypt. The faction carried out a terrorist attack in Egypt against an Israeli tourist bus in Northern Sinai, on February 4, 1990.
This offshoot of the Hezbollah is given a free rein in assisting the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel. In the summer of 2001, three Hezbollah activists were arrested in Jordan for their involvement in trying to smuggle Katyusha rockets into Israel. The three are the most senior active Hezbollah cell that has been caught. The links between Hezbollah and Hamas are becoming more clear, or maybe they're becoming tighter as Hamas snuggles closer to Iran...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 11:06 am ||
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Oh my. The Islamic Jihad Squad. Where do they get these names?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/23/2003 13:41 Comments ||
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A member of the European Parliament has accused the Palestinian Authority of abusing European Union funds and allowing at least some of it to fall into the hands of terror organizations. "There is reasonable and solid suspicion that a considerable part of the 1.4 billion euros the European Union has transferred to the Palestinian Authority since the Oslo Agreement has been abused by senior PA officials and in part reached terrorist organizations," said Francois Zimeray of the French Socialists Party at a meeting with the heads of the World Jewish Congress in New York on Friday. You mean the money didn't go for groceries? Wotta surprise.
Zimeray said that apart from the EU funds to the PA, which went to unknown destinations, considerable contributions the PA received separately from European states did not reach their designated destination and disappeared. Zimeray told WJC members that in the years in which the EU sent funds regularly to the PA, the EU did not receive orderly reports of how the money was used. Some of it went to pay the wages of teachers and policemen, he said. "But a lot of money reached private and secret bank accounts that senior PA officials had in Swiss banks, and some of the money found its way to terrorist organizations," he said. According to Zimeray, "only recently has the EU become more alert regarding the funds going to the PA. Until three or four months ago the EU did not show special interest in what the PA was doing with the money." "It's only money, after all. Taxpayers have lots of it..."
Zimeray initiated the legislation which was recently passed in the European Parliament to hold a comprehensive inquiry into the PA's use of EU funds, following suspicions the money was deposited in private accounts of senior PA officials. He told Haaretz that despite the hostile European attitude toward Israel, the status of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat has seriously deteriorated in the EU. "Arafat is no longer the icon he was in Europe until recently," Zimeray said. He's no longer the icon he was in Paleostine until recently, either. And they say Bush is stoopid...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 10:52 am ||
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If the EU begins an investigation and undercovers evidence of the use of EU funds for terror, they leave themselves wide open for beaucoup lawsuits.
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I wouldn't want to be the auditor, given that the EU goes through mistresses accountants like Mugabe goes through French wine judges.
I'm waiting for this story:
Greasing the Weasels
12 billion in escrowed oil for food funds lost in the fray to peace
During the past year, Hamas has been forced to seek closer ties with Iran in order to compensate for a loss in funding from other sources. The financial war appears to be working, then...
Intelligence sources describe the intensifying links between Iran and Hamas as "significantly increased," particularly the frequency of visits to Tehran by leading members of the organization. Following the September 11 terror attacks in the United States, there has been increasing pressure on traditional pools of funds in the United States and Arab countries. The pressure exercised by Washington on Saudi Arabia, a major source of funding for Hamas, did not have the desired results and the flow of money continues. However, a serious blow has been dealt to the money-trail from Islamic and Palestinian charities based in the United States. Thank you, Soddy princes...
The American decision to initiate [a financial] offensive is a direct result of the terror attack of September 11. For example, Israel had tried to persuade the administration to shut down the Holy Land Fund, an Islamic charity based in Texas, for more than three and a half years, with no success. Last January, President George W. Bush ordered the closing of the fund, which received as much as 15 percent of the cost of a purchase from major retailers, as a contribution from buyers who wished to make a donation. That makes me so happy...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 10:43 am ||
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And very soon the post mortem welfare checks from Iraq won't clear anymore either.
Posted by: The Postman ||
02/23/2003 11:08 Comments ||
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Islamic Jihad said Friday it will not attack American targets to retaliate for the U.S. arrest of four alleged members and the indictment of four others on terrorism-related charges. Abdallah Shami, the Gaza leader of the Palestinian group, condemned the arrests but said Islamic Jihad will continue to focus on its fight against Israel. "We are not going to open any new fronts," Shami said. Islamic Jihad is small, compared to Hamas or Fatah, and the IDF virtually wiped it out in the West Bank over the summer. They're probably too busy trying to rebuild to have the resources to devote to dire revenge™ against us — right now...
A 50-count indictment was unsealed Thursday in Washington against eight alleged members of Islamic Jihad, including computer engineering professor Sami Al-Arian, the alleged U.S. leader of the group who is on paid leave from the University of South Florida. Four of the eight, including Al-Arian, were arrested in the United States. Four others are abroad, including Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah, who is in Damascus, and Abd Al Aziz Awda, 52, a founder of the group, who lives in the Gaza town of Beit Lahia. Awda was not available for comment Friday. Shami said Awda left the group a decade ago after falling out with other members, and that he has withdrawn from public life. Awda is a member of the Palestine National Council, the Palestinians' parliament-in-exile, and in 1997 voted in favor of revoking sections of the PLO founding charter that call for Israel's destruction. Let him turn himself in, then, and explain it all. Dontcha hate it when all the people you killed when you were young haunt you when you're old?
Another Islamic Jihad leader, Khaled Batsh, said that of the eight men indicted, all except Shallah "either left the movement or the movement froze their membership more than 10 years ago." "Oh, yeah. Sure. They're all innocent now. Just a youthful indiscretion."
The indictment says Al-Arian directed the audit of all the group's money and property throughout the world from his home and workplace in Tampa. Al-Arian has denied he has ties to terrorism. Only to its finances...
Shami, in a speech to about 800 Islamic Jihad supporters in Gaza City, dismissed the U.S. indictment as "a big lie" but not a provocation for attacking American interests. "Lies! All lies! We should, uhhh... not do anything."
"We raise our voice in protesting this American measure but our operations will continue against the Israeli occupation only," he said. Ely Karmon, an Israeli counterterrorism expert, said he believed Shami. Karmon said Iran, which provides major funding for the group, would be unlikely to support attacks on U.S. targets. "They (Islamic Jihad leaders) know that Iran is today cautious in its policies ... because they know the United States will pressure Iran very hard after Iraq," he said. "I don't think Iran will permit the Palestinian Islamic Jihad at this moment to do anything against the United States." That saves them for later and prevents any last minute changes of target...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 10:37 am ||
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Smart thing, doing nothing. Responding to the arrests would only strengthen the case against their captured members.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that it was quite justified to call US officials fascists or compare them to Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler. "People of the world have the right to call the American officials fascists and Hitlers since they frankly say that they are only attacking Iraq to secure their own interests, just as Hitler said before attacking any country", Khamenei said. We said that? I must have missed it...
He was speaking live on television to cheering crowds of Brownshirts in the southeastern city of Nuremburg Zahedan close to Iran's border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Was it followed by a torchlight parade of goose-stepping mullahs and a book-burning? Oh. Sorry. That's us. We're the fascists, right?
Iran officially opposes what it terms a unilateral US-led attack on neighbouring Iraq, but has no objection to Iraq's disarmement within the terms of a United Nations Security Council resolution. "If and when the United States attacks Iraq, then they will face so much trouble because the interest they thought they would gain will turn into menaces threatening them," the conservative Iranian leader who rejects the the resumption of ties Washington added. "We're working hard on setting that up now..."
"We as a Muslim nation stand against the oppressors, but are against the war and we call upon all Muslims to adhere to Islamic teachings," he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 10:02 am ||
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"the interest they thought they would gain will turn into menaces threatening them." Wonder if this is in reference to the WMD's that will supposedly go off when they blow up their oil interests. You know, those WMD's they DON'T have.
A pro-reform journalist arrested after attacking Iran's leadership, Mohsen Sazegara, was taken to hospital late Saturday after being freed from jail, his wife told IRNA on Sunday. "He is ill, he was freed from Evin prison (in Tehran) after five days of detention and was immediately hospitalized by his family", his wife said. Yeah. Wonder what made him "ill."
Sazegara, who wrote open letters to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was arrested on Tuesday by plainclothes police, who took away video films, cassettes and the hard disk of his personal computer. In his last article headlined "First step, last talk" published on his Internet site All Iran, he called for a "profound change of the constitution", questioning the preeminence of the supreme leader. That's the way to get jugged in Iran. Matter of fact, the way to get jugged in any dictatorship is to question the preeminence of der Fuehrer...
Sazegara has held several posts in the Islamic republic, including director general of the Organisation of Development and Industrial Modernisation, which controls major state industries. He launched a newspaper last year called Golestan-e-Iran, which was shut down after a few editions. The journalist is close to the reformist camp in Iran but considered an independent figure not linked to the major movements which support President Mohammad Khatami. Wonder what he's going to do when he recovers? If he recovers.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/23/2003 09:56 am ||
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Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group has said for the first time that it is holding three US citizens who vanished when their plane crash-landed on 13 February in a remote part of the country. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) accused the three of being CIA agents and said they would be held until the military stopped operations in southern Colombia. A fourth American and a Colombian army sergeant who were also aboard the US Government Cessna plane were found shot dead at the jungle site in Caqueta province.
Washington is actively supporting the Colombian Government's operations against drug-running and rebel groups.
The FARC's statement, broadcast by Colombian radio, described the captives as "American officers". "We can only guarantee the life and physical integrity of the three gringo officials in our power if the Colombian army immediately suspends military operations and overflights in the area," it said.
A White House spokesman denied that the men were attached to the CIA, saying they were department of defence contractors. And he rejected the rebels' demand to stop military operations in the area. "We will continue to work closely with Colombia and its government and its military and its police on how to combat the FARC," spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
Colombian Defence Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez said on Friday that her government was working with Washington to find the missing Americans and "hopefully be able to conduct a rescue operation". The Washington Post has reported that President George W Bush has sent an additional 150 troops to Colombia to assist the search. Mr Bush condemned the killing of the other two men. "One man had a bullet hole in the back of his head - clearly an execution," he said this week. "So we are dealing with cold-blooded killers that need to be treated as cold-blooded killers."
The Colombian Government has offered a $345,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of the missing men who have not been identified. Correspondents say that if the FARC's claim is confirmed it will mark the first time that US Government employees have been captured during Colombia's four-decade-long civil war.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/23/2003 09:32 am ||
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A excerpt from an interview given by an Iranian Revolutionary Guards defecter to a London based Arabic newspaper, the whole article is worth reading, and I hope he has 'defected' to a Western country, and not Russia or somewhere. Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: "You said that you participated in teaching and training courses abroad. Where was this?" Zakiri: "I went to North Korea twice, as our relations with it are special. Over the years, we sent a number of groups of Revolutionary Guards personnel and security [forces personnel] to North Korea. Among those who received combat training were Revolutionary Guards Commander Rahim Safavi and his deputy Dhu-Al-Qadr. Among the personnel of the [Revolutionary] Guards were units of pilots who received training in flying and parachuting operations, among them Brigadier-General Kalibaf (now military forces commander). Our group included intelligence officers. The first time I went for 40 days and participated in special courses on psychological warfare and counter-espionage, and the second time, I stayed in North Korea again for 40 days and participated in a special course for protecting nuclear and other secret installations." Seems to strengthen that whole Axis of Evil doesn't it? Throw in Pakistan (ISI, Qazi, Nukes for Missiles, madrassas) and Saudi Arabia (Mad Mullahs and Petro-Dollars) and you start to get a real picture of the enemy. Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: You say that you were in important security centers. It is natural that people ask you whether there really is a connection between Iran and Al-Qa'ida. And what do you say about Sa'ad Osama bin Laden (Osama bin Laden's son) being in Iran?" Zakiri: "The subject of the connection of the intelligence of the [Revolutionary] Guards, not of the [Iranian] government, with the Al-Qa'ida organization and other fundamentalist groups such as the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad goes back to the 1980s. After the assassination of [Egyptian president] Anwar Sadat, a number of Egyptians who were responsible for the crime came to us, and the [Revolutionary] Guards intelligence established relations with them. Later, we went to Lebanon, where we got acquainted with many non-Shiite revolutionary activists." And let's remember, the brains of al-Qaeda are the Egyptians led by Ayman al-Zawahiri who made use of the Saudi money to shift their Jihad from the Egyptian government to America, and according to this article:
Zakiri said that Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, leader of the Egyptian Jihad organization and Osama bin Laden's deputy, established close ties with current deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier-General Muhammad Bakr Dhu-Al-Qadr, and with current commanders of the Iranian and Al-Quds Forces, part of the Revolutionary Guards
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: "Did you know about the plans to attack the World Trade Center in New York?" Zakiri: "No, but we had in our headquarters models of the [WTC] two towers, the White House, the Pentagon, and the CIA building at Langley. Thus, Imad Mughnia came to Iran, met with a number of top officials in the security apparatus of the Leader [Khamenei] and gave them a letter from Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, which said: 'We need your help to carry out a most important mission in the land of the 'Great Satan.'' The issue was presented but his request was denied. Afterwards, it was decided by the head of our department and Natiq Nouri's deputy, head of the investigations section in the Leader's [Khamenei's] Office and his representative in the Higher Council for Security, to entrust Mughnia with keeping the relations with Al-Zawahiri and his comrades, provided he did not get involved in their activity." Imad Mughniyeh is a Lebanese of Palestianian descent who used to be in Arafat's Force 17 before becoming the head of Hezbollah's military-terrorist wing and an Iranian intelligence asset. He is the most wanted non-Qaeda terrorist with a $25 million price on his head. Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: "Where is Imad Mughnia today?" Zakiri: "He is still in Iran and is continuing his activity. I think that he planned the escape of dozens of Al-Qa'ida men to Iran, some of them with their families. Before that, bin Laden's wife arrived, the young Yemenite woman with her son, and we handed them over to Yemen. Perhaps Sa'ad Osama bin Laden [too] entered Iran through Mughnia."
We knew it was happening. I'm also pretty sure the official Iranian government wasn't involved, but the unofficial government â the one run by the ayatollahs that's in conflict with the Khatami government â was. The question is whether the official government didn't want to see it happening, which is probably the case.
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: "There are many more questions concerning activities and secrets that you have not so far revealed." Zakiri: "I ask to put off these questions for a while. After I arrange my situation and that of my family, and set myself up in a safe place, I will be willing to answer all your questions." Looking forward to it..
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/23/2003 09:28 am ||
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You could present an authentic photo showing Khamanei, Saddam, Osama, Assad, and Kim Jong Il signing an agreement to coordinate and the nay-sayers wouldn't believe it. There's been active and covert assistance for a long time. The enemy of my enemy....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/23/2003 10:09 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.
Not long ago, angry chants of "murderous American GIs" and the somber flicker of anti-U.S. candlelight vigils filled the downtown streets of Seoul. But as tension builds over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program, pro-American rallies are drawing big crowds in the South Korean capital. "The majority has been silent too long," said Kim Bum-soo, who is helping organize a major pro-U.S. demonstration March 1 urging Washington to keep its troops here.
