About 200 people chanted "Death to Americans" and threw rocks at the US embassy in Kabul on Saturday in protest against the killing of four Afghan soldiers by US troops at the same spot earlier in the week. The protesters also smashed windows of cars belonging to the international peace-keeping force parked nearby. US special forces guarding the embassy pointed guns at the crowd but did not fire. The crowd later dispersed and there were no immediate reports of any injuries. US troops shot dead four Afghans and wounded four others outside the US embassy on Wednesday when they mistakenly thought they were about to come under attack. The protesters, who initially numbered almost 50, were joined by more people as they moved towards the US embassy. They chanted and threw rocks and bricks at the mission building. They also shouted slogans against US-backed President Hamid Karzai and called for the withdrawal of US forces. "We want (revenge for the) blood of our martyrs," some shouted.
Oooh. The usual calls for Dire Revengeâ¢. Crap like this makes me all in favor of withdrawing US forces and letting Afghans stew in their own Islamic juices. I think we've demonstrated to everyone's satisfaction that the loya jirga approach was a bad idea, which is why we're occupying Iraq instead of making the same bonehead mistake. As soon as we're gone, Afghanistan will revert to being the low-rent district of the NWFP, with gunnies beating women in public and slaughtering each other over the length of their beards. They don't want to be free, they don't want to be modern, and prosperity would be a threat to the local mullah. But it's their own choice. That's what "self-determination" is all about.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:34 am ||
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I think you're way off on this. It was only 200 people and we shot four of their soldiers. Could you imagine how much bigger this protest would have been in other countries, for example South Korea....
#2
I agree with Damn Proud. 200 is tiny. Also, the Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara districts of Afghanistan (perhaps 60 %) are in no danger of becoming the "low rent district of the NWFP." The Pashtuns, on the other hand ....
#3
I second, or actually "third," those comments. Keep it in perspective. One can find 200 kooks anywhere to protest nearly anything. Heck, I've seen strike pickets in this country that were nastier, and larger, than that.
It's also a positive sign, I believe, that they feel free to protest, and it was "jus" some rock throwing and chanting. The road to democracy will be a long one, but the fact that we didn't machinegun the protestors will register positively with a lot of people.
Posted by: Ralph ||
05/24/2003 14:01 Comments ||
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But Fred, if we just get up and leave them to stew in their own Ignorant juices, we'll just get another Taliban in charge over there.
We have to keep trying to bring them into the 21st century (or at least the 20th) for our own self-defense.
We don't need yet another 9/11 training ground.
Posted by: eric ||
05/24/2003 17:11 Comments ||
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I'm sorry those Afghan soldiers are dead, but I'm glad that our troops have got permission to defend themselves. No more Beiruts!
#7
during the afghan monarchy (pre-1974) Afghan was steadily modernizing and even centralizing to some degree. These people are not, for the most part savages. They have been subjected to horror for the last 25 years, its no wonder they have trouble building up democracy. (and we should note that much of their horror occured when they fought a war that brought down the Soviet empire, with our support. They could as easily have collaborated)
These comments do remind that the US is not naturally imperialist - the world has less to worry about from us than they think. But if we're going to win this thing we need to stick to it, and Afghan is first place. If we leave them, the people who won the cold war for us, we will have no credibility elsewhere.
Four people were killed and three others injured in a tribal revenge clashes last Saturday in Sanaâa. A Yemeni official at the Ministry of Interior said the armed clash took place at al-Hasabah area near the Ministry of Interior headquarters due to a tribal vengeance between the clans of Al-Hassan and Al-Naser from Bani Dhibyan tribe. It claimed the lives of Ali Ahmad al-Dahni and Ahmad al-Dahni, from Al-Hassan and two passers-by, Sameer Ali Abduh and Ubadi Abdu Raboo. The clash also led to the injury of Naser Hadi al-Dhebyani from Al-Nasser and Hifedh Allah al-Raimi and Ali Muhsen al-Baâadani, passers-by. The clash also caused damage to the properties of the people living in that area.
"Hey, don't mind them. They're just tribesmen. You can clean up the damage when they're done..."
The official said that police has been able to arrest three persons from Al-Hassan, seizing their cars and that investigations have revealed that the cause of the incident is an old tribal vengeance between the two clans. However, eyewitnesses said that the clashes resulted in 7 deaths and 5 injuries.
But they sure showed them, by Gawd!
In a separate incident, three men were killed and four injured â including a woman â in the governorate of Mareb also on Saturday and also in a tribal revenge fight. A tribal source said that the attackers belonged to the Bani Nawf tribe that has old vengeance with Al-Jumaan tribe. Hence, the overall total of those killed in Sanaa and Mareb because of tribal clashes in just one day reached 8 deaths. The capital and Mareb has been for a long time a good place for tribesmen to settle down their accounts and tribal revenge problems. President Saleh ordered the forming of a committee from the Shura council members to put an end to the problem. However, since then the committee has done little.
That's what committees usually do, isn't it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 12:04 pm ||
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A leading mosque preacher in Riyadh criticized those who commit acts of terrorism, saying such acts had nothing to do with the teachings of Islam. The cleric's criticism during a mass Friday prayer service came as Saudi officials hold four men allegedly tied to bin Laden's al-Qaeda group following the fatal May 12 attacks on three residential compounds. Like elsewhere in the Saudi capital Friday, tight security surrounded the Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque — the kingdom's largest — where its grand mufti and preacher, Sheik Abdulaziz al-Sheik, delivered a 45-minute sermon to some 8,000 worshippers. "Terrorism has nothing to do with Islam," al-Sheik told the congregation. "Islam should not be blamed for acts of other people. People should be held responsible individually for their own acts."
You're a cleric. You're in the fatwah business. Why don't you declare them apostate, and call for the Faithful to kill them?
Following the service, worshipper Youssef Ahmed lashed out at the terrorists behind the Riyadh bombings. "This bombing in Riyadh was not Islamic. I am very angry that actions of some nonbelievers are being linked with the teachings of the religion of peace," Ahmed, a heavily bearded man aged in his late 40s, told The Associated Press.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 09:55 am ||
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It wasn't a Christian or Jew or Hindu flying those planes into the WTC on 9-11. It was true believers following another member of the tight turban crowd who issues a Fatwah - Osama Bin Laden.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
05/24/2003 11:04 Comments ||
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It's the Fatwas themselves, or rather their being taken seriously as having the force of law that's the real problem. The west got rid of that crap about a thousand years ago - we don't think the Pope's decrees have any but moral signifigance, for example.
How worried is Jacques Chirac about the threat of being excommunicated and declared anathema - destined inevitably to hell?
JEDDAH â Somali Consul General Muhammad Elmi Omer on Thursday expressed concern over the closure of the Riyadh-based Al-Haramain Islamic Foundationâs office in Somalia. The charity, which the United States suspects of having links to terrorist groups, said it had decided to shut three of its offices abroad. The Islamic agency closed its doors in Somalia on Saturday after the Saudi government ordered its international staff to leave the country, Nur Alasow a Somali employee of the agency told the IRIN news agency. âI am deeply shocked by the news of the closure of Al-Haramainâs office in Somalia,â Omer told Arab News. âThe Foundation has continued to be the only lifeline for the Somali people despite the lack of a functioning government. In a country with no effective government, no formal education system and health care, aid agencies are essential for ordinary peopleâs social and economic well-being. The absence of these charities directly affects the very survival of many Somalis,â he added.
Al-Haramain began its Somali activities in wake of the civil war in 1992. The organization ran a total of eight orphanages â five of them in capital Mogadishu â housing about 3,500 children throughout the country. It also financed over 100 schools and distributed thousands of tons of foodstuffs annually. âSince the collapse of Somali government, Arab and Islamic aid agencies have focused on providing humanitarian assistance to the needy people in the country,â Omer said. âThe Al-Haramain foundation has been one of the largest aid groups in Somalia.â He added that the aid agencies had invested in a series of important welfare projects including the renovation of schools and the payment of salaries for health personnel and schoolteachers. The consul general said the Western allegations that Islamic charities funded local Al-Qaeda cells in Somalia were based on misconceptions about the realities in the country. âThe Western countries should study the realities in Somalia. Any misconception can only exacerbate the poor conditions in the country.â
I'm sure they'll be back, probably with another name and directors. Shipments of arms and ammunition will resume, and the madrassahs will go back to turning out jihadis.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 09:43 am ||
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Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has offered his support to Indonesia in its fight against separatist rebels in Aceh. Mr Downer says Australia is behind Indonesia in its push to quell the rebels. "Let's not have any illusions about this â you do have a secessionist movement which has opted for violence," he said. "Aceh has always been a part of Indonesia. It was part of the Dutch East Indies before Indonesian independence. We absolutely support Indonesia's territorial integrity."
"'Cuz we don't need an to see Sumatra run by a bunch of fundos. What you guys have now is bad enough..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:25 am ||
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I've read that the separatist movement in Aceh is at least partly Christian. Indonesia's Christian minority has been ill-treated throughout the country. Australia is taking the wrong side in this, favoring stability for fear of change. One understands Australia's concern about a tidal wave of boat people, in the event that Indonesia fractures; but the Javanese empire is brutal, capricous, and likely to fall anyway, sooner or later.
Posted by: Alan Sullivan ||
05/24/2003 12:35 Comments ||
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When the "Javanese Empire" was strong, the Christian position was generally OK -- lots of Christian Bataks, for example, in high levels in the Indo. government. When central authority declined after 1997, the Christian position weakened greatly. This is true in Jakarta (where most Christians are Chinese), in the Moluccas, in northern and Eastern Sulaweisi, and elsewhere.
Indonesia is a an artificial state if ever there was one, and certainly the West Papuans (and many others) would, in a just world, get independence. But I am afraid that if Indonesia fails, the Christians and animists (whose religion is, by the way, technically illegal) will be slaughtered by the droves.
#3
I have to agree with Closet Neo-con on this one. Every time there is significant unrest in part of Indonesia, the Christians (and probably other religious minorities) get slaughtered. The lucky ones receive forced circumcisions (men, women, and children, from infants up through the very old) and forced conversion to Islam. Refusal means beheading or being burned alive in your home, and people aren't always even given that choice. Unfortunately, the central government or at least the military has been complicit in some of this by passively allowing this violence to occur right in front of them or in some cases actively assisting in it, but I suspect some of that has to do with the Christians being part of the separatist movement. And in other cases the government has protected them. So no, I don't think it's a good idea for the Christians to support separation. I think if they got independence, the Jihadis would wipe them out quite quickly.
#4
Yes, it's probably true that breakdown of the imperium would risk more mistreatment of minorities. Nevertheless, I think it's a mistake for democracies to support "artificial states" like Indonesia. Too often the short-run benefits of stability are eclipsed by long-term damage, not only to the subject peoples trapped in such states, but to the idea of governance by popular consent. If Anglosphere governments won't stand up for that idea, who will?
Posted by: Alan Sullivan ||
05/24/2003 20:55 Comments ||
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During the brief period of ceasefire, starting last December, I think, the first thing GAM did was institute Shariah. I hope the Indons kill 'em all.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2003 9:10 Comments ||
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JPost - Reg req'd
Norway and Jordan started talks about extraditing the leader of a Kurdish guerrilla group suspected of links to al-Qaida, a government spokesman said Saturday. Mullah Krekar, the leader of Ansar al-Islam, has refugee status in Norway, but has been sought by Jordan on charges of drug smuggling. That refugee status probably became a LOT more tenuous since the latest A-Q fatwa included Norway, hmmm?
"There has been contact established between Norway and Jordan through diplomatic channels," Norwegian Justice Ministry spokesman Gunnar Johansen said. Get this creep outta here. Let the Jordanian truncheons fly!
Krekar was released from jail last month after a court ruled there wasn't enough evidence to hold him on charges of terrorism. He has repeatedly denied any links to al-Qaida, but acknowledged that he considers Osama bin Laden a "good Muslim." In January, he was deported to Norway from the Netherlands, where a court dismissed an extradition request by Jordan. Nobody wants him and they're finding that not extraditing as appeasement doesn't work
Krekar's lawyer, Brynjar Meling, said he feared Krekar would be tortured in Jordan and vowed to challenge any extradition order as a human rights violation in Norwegian court and in the European Court of Human Rights. Hope so
He said the Jordanian extradition request was riddled with errors about Krekar.
"The only information that is correct is the color of his hair," Meling said. Riiiggghhhtt
Krekar also faces charges of kidnapping and has been barred from leaving Norway.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2003 03:29 pm ||
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"The only information that is correct is the color of his hair," Meling said.
A court in Greece has sentenced the head of the country's Red Cross to four years in jail and a further 23 members of the organisation to three-year suspended terms for corruption. Court officials say Andreas Martinis was found guilty of embezzling more than $13 million. The Red Cross director has been released pending an appeal. Greek authorities instigated proceedings against the Red Cross managers in December after a five-year investigation.
"I mean, all that money was just sitting there..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:43 am ||
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The explosion of a booby-trapped parcel in a post office in Spain's Mediterranean port of Valencia injured four people, as the country prepared for local and regional polls. One seriously injured person suffered wounds to an arm and was rushed to hospital. Valencia mayor Rita Barbera said the origin of the parcel was being investigated. "We do not know why the parcel was mailed but we do know that the intentions weren't good," she said. "But I think that (the explosion) will not scare anybody on the eve of the elections" in 13 out of 17 regions Sunday, she said. "Violence... must absolutely be rejected."
It doesn't look like the ETA is going to do that, does it, lady?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:39 am ||
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Pakistan finally cracks the whip in a bid to push for talks. But if it falters...
You could describe the crackdown on jehadi outfits as yet another U-turn by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. It could also be perceived as Islamabad's growing nervousness at the challenges radical Islamists pose to the country's interests. The anti-jehadi zeal in the Pakistani establishment could even be dismissed as a ruse to lure New Delhi to the negotiating table on Kashmir. These are aspects one could debate endlessly, even as the proverbial shadow falls between action and intention. What is indisputable, though, is what happened as soon as US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage took off from Islamabad to New Delhi in early May. Interesting read, Long article
MULTAN: A group of armed men hijacked a bus took 13 passengers hostage, police said on Friday. The nine attackers freed the driver and cleaner of the bus after seizing it on Thursday night near Fazilpur, Chaudhry Liaquat, the townâs deputy police superintendent (DSP), said. He said the bus had been on its way to Karachi when the bandits, who were wearing womenâs veils (burqas), boarded at about 9 pm. âThey took off the veils after some time and hijacked the bus at gunpoint,â he quoted the driver and cleaner as saying.
"Hey! You ain't babes!"
"Take us to Havana!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 12:19 pm ||
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"Nope. Nope. Not us. Got nothin' to do with 'em..."
Hizbul was placed on a US watch list of terrorist organisations in an April 30 State Department report, which described it as âthe militant wing of Jamaat e-Islami.â
"Hey! That stuff's supposed to be covert!"
âIt is absolutely wrong to claim that Hizb is a wing of the Jamaat,â Mr Qazi told reporters. âThere is no connection whatsoever and the US has made a false claimâ, he said. Hizbul is the leading outfit in a bloody 14-year old insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 12:16 pm ||
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PESHAWAR - Hundreds of religious hardliners allied with the ruling parties in the North-West Frontier Province yesterday tore down billboards depicting women and Western products deemed as insulting to Islam.
Ahhh... Tales of the Easily Offended...
A group of some 200 people, mostly young men, attacked the billboards, shredding them with their hands, sticks and knives. The men, activists of the hardline Jamaat e-Islamimob political party, had given a one-week deadline for the billboards to be removed from Peshawar.
They're offended by billboards, but they don't seem to turn a hair at poor old Aunt Fatimah, dissolved in a vat of acid...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 11:52 am ||
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MULTAN (Pakistan) - Five women and two children had their throats slit in a land dispute, and police were searching yesterday for two relatives who escaped the scene. The victims — all members of the same family — were attacked with daggers at their home at Rajanpur, a remote town in central Pakistan 400km west of Islamabad. Revenge killings and murders over land disputes are common in Pakistan.
Murders for any reason you can think of, even while high on crack, are common in Pakistan...
Police official Tahir Musatafa said the men who had killed the family and were being searched for were related to the victims. Further details on the attack this week were not immediately available.
"Yeah. We'll get around to finding them. Nothing to worry about. No mullahs were hurt..."
Meanwhile, four brothers slaughtered their stepmother, two stepbrothers and four stepsisters and dissolved their bodies into acid over a land inheritance dispute in southern Pakistan. The murders took place four or five days ago in Rajanpur, some 200km west of Multan, but police recovered the bodies yesterday when a man related to family went to visit them and informed police about it.
"Yeah. I just stopped by to read the Koran to Aunt Fatimah and the boys, and there they were, bludgeoned to death and dissolved in an acid vat. So I had a sandwich, then came right down to the cop shop..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 11:48 am ||
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Mumbai - Saquib Nachan, the prime suspect in the Ghatkopar and Mulund bomb blasts, has been now booked in the Vile Parle blast that occurred in a crowded vegetable market on January 27, just a day before the visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This latest development is another step in what the police say that there is a likelihood of all the four bomb blasts in the city during the last six months may be interconnected. Nachan has already been implicated as one of the prime conspirators in the bomb blast on a Karjat-bound train at Mulund railway station that killed 11 people and injured 70 others. He has also been accused in the bomb explosion on a public bus near Ghatkopar railway station in which three persons were killed and 32 were injured.
Busy little fellow, isn't he?
Following the Ghatkopar blast was another explosion in a restaurant in Mumbai Central station on December 6, 2002, a day that marked the tenth anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition.
That kind of implies the involvement of a turban...
And only recently was another crude bomb found on a cycle in Dongri. Police say all these blasts could be interconnected and a part of a larger terror module of the Lashkar e-Taiba to strike at crowded places to cause a large number of deaths and thus create a communal divide. Meanwhile, two more persons have been picked up in connection with the Mulund blast. They are Haroon Rashid Mohammed Yamin, 27, and Rashid Ahmed Abdul Malik, 35, who were picked up from Kurla. The judge in those cases also extended the police remand of Noor Mohammed Abdul Ansari, the accused who was trained in Pakistan and arrested in Malegaon, Maharashtra, besides Wahid Ansari. Other main conspirators in the serial blasts are Anwar Ali, a temporary Urdu lecturer at the countryâs prestigious National Defence Academy in Pune and Noor Mohammed Abdul Ansari who had been trained in Pakistan. Following the arrest of Nachan, police were able to pick up several accused in the conspiracy case, through information from the confession of Nachan. Most of them are activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 11:31 am ||
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A nine-year-old Christian girl from Pakistan claims to have been beaten and sexually assaulted by her Muslim employers whenever footage from the war in Iraq was shown on television. The girl from Faisal Town in Lahore claims that when she cried for mercy, they would ask her to call for the Americans to help her, according to a report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The girl said the couple told her they were taking revenge for the American bombing of Iraqi Muslim children on her because she was an "infidel and a Christian," according to what she told CSW partners, the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), a human rights NGO based in Pakistan.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/24/2003 01:21 am ||
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more heartwarming moments from the "religion of peace"
#3
In some parts of the world it is common for children to work in sweatshops and elsewhere, sometimes they are the sole breadwinners for their families.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/24/2003 8:12 Comments ||
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"A preliminary medical report from that hospital stated that she had suffered a fractured right arm, multiple burns, and bruises and lacerations to her face and body. She was later treated at Jinnah Hospital, Lahore and is suffering from depression and trauma.
The APMA has helped the girl's family register an official complaint against her employers with the Faisal police. The APMA reports that so far no action has been taken on her behalf by the authorities"
Whadya want us to do? She's an infidel. It ain't like she's, ya know, human, I
mean, muslim
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2003 8:51 Comments ||
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I suppose some mullah issued a fatwah saying 9 year old girls were fair game. What a bunch of crap.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
05/24/2003 13:51 Comments ||
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Yes, in Pakistan young girls often work in the homes of their employers. Christians aren't allowed to have education like everyone else, or even work in anything but menial jobs. Sexual assault by Muslim employers of Christian girls and women in Pakistan is all too common. For that reason, some of the human rights orgs that work in Pakistan train the girls and women to do things like sewing, which they can do from home and not put themselves at risk.
If you read the whole article, you'll see that this sort of thing is not so uncommon in Pakistan. No fatwa was necessary. Any "good" Pakistani (or Egyptian, or Saudi, or [fill in country here]) Muslim knows that Christians and Jews are dogs and dogs are unclean and deserving of killing. If you feel like doing other things to them first, well, that's ok too.
Obviously, some Muslims don't feel that way. But knowing that some, or even many, of their neighbors don't actively wish them harm doesn't help these poor people when someone is raping them or throwing acid on them and no one is doing anything to stop it or to bring their attackers to justice.
MMA and English schools
According to Khabrain, the son of chief minister NWFP, Akram Durrani, was attending St Maryâs High school Khyber Road Peshawar, while he was issuing edicts to schools to abandon the wearing of pants under orders. The son of the NWFP senior minister Sirajul Haq studied at FG Public School Khan Qayyum Stadium, Peshawar Cantt, which was English-medium. A daughter of the senior minister also went to an English-medium school.
Azam Tariq achieves wisdom
Maulana Azam Tariq of defunct Sipah Sahaba told Khabrain that a one-sided terrorism had been unleashed on Iraq. If he chose to make a speech on TV all the people of Pakistan will come out and go to jehad in Iraq. But he said that he had learned to be realistic and would not make the dreaded speech on TV. He said no good results were achieved from pur-josh (fiery) speeches. He said he had learned his lesson from Afghanistan where thousands went as a result of fiery speeches but thousands were martyred and the rest were made prisoners. He added that Majlis Amal (MMA) was fanning the fires of Shia-Sunni conflict. Sounds like Azam Tariq has been completely 'rehabilitated' and is being used by the establishment to atract the Jihadi vote from the MMA
Hunt down Qadianis!
According to Jang, at the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat rally in Multan Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, leader of the MMA, said that the hunt of the Ahmedis must go on and the new page should be turned to the jazba (passion) that informed the 1974 apostatisation of the sect. Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the LFO was the completion of the Qadiani agenda (joint electorates and womenâs seats) and that Qadianis should be removed from key posts.
Hameed Gulâs stubborn wisdom
Quoted by Jang, famous war expert General (Retd) Hameed Gul said that Saddam Hussein had raised the morale of the Muslims and that the Americans would meet their Vietnam in Iraq. He said this on the 21st day of the war against Iraq when the government of Saddam Hussein had fallen. Daily Pakistan quoted him as saying that Pakistan army had been reduced to the status of khasadar of the Americans. He said the FBI had recruited some army officers as informers.
Pakistan responsible for fall of Iraq
Great leader Hafiz Saeed said in Nawa-e-Waqt that Pakistanâs government was responsible for the defeat of the Muslims in Iraq the same way it was responsible for the defeat of our Afghan brothers in Afghanistan. He said Pakistan would be punished for the silence of its rulers. He said Allah was herding the infidels towards Pakistan where they would meet their end.
Rejoinder to Qazi Sahib!
Columnist Baig Raj wrote in daily Din that Qazi Hussain Ahmad of Jamaat e-Islami had said that to confront America there was no other way than jehad. The columnist said: for Godsâ sake stop this routine of getting other peopleâs children killed in jehad and tell the nation that to confront America the only way was education, knowledge and hard work.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/24/2003 01:13 am ||
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Another Vietnam. This guy could work for the BBC or the New York Times. I like the guy Baig Raj calling the Jihadis ignorant fools and calling for hardwork, education and knowledge. I like it so much that I'll disregard that the ultimate goal is still confrontation with America. We can offer our own destruction as a motivational tool to get Islamic countries to work towards development and reform. On the other hand, do you think the mad Jihadis will fall for it? Destroying America means that we all have study and go to school and get jobs?! Nah. We prefer riding around in pickup trucks with AK-47s, threatening dire revenge and beating up women.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
05/24/2003 2:42 Comments ||
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RECORD LAND HAS BEEN BROUGHT under poppy cultivation in Pakistanâs Balochistan and North West Frontier Province this year breaking the 1998 figures of 950 hectares, which were the highest in the last four years. Much of the crop is ready to be harvested or has already been harvested in some parts of the NWFP. UNDCP sources say the law-enforcement agencies could destroy not more than âone-thirdâ of the total standing crop in the NWFP until the first week of May. Meanwhile, the Frontier Corps claims it has destroyed the entire crop in Balochistan.
The FC claim, however, has drawn a question mark. According to home department sources in Quetta, poppy was cultivated on a total of 2,000 hectares of land. The FC told the UNDCP it had destroyed the entire crop. However, armed resistance in Balochistan was much higher than in the NWFP, particularly in the Gulistan area where the paras had a standoff with armed tribesmen using RPGs (rocket-propelled grenade launchers) and other small arms and light weapons to prevent FC troops from destroying their crop.
Sources say the prime reason for unusually high acreage for poppy this year behind temptation among farmers to bring vast land under poppy cultivation was the pre-season high price of poppy per kilogram by the buyers. The pre-season price of per kilo poppy was reported around Rs.50000 [around 900 US dollars]. Insiders say the international drug mafia hiked up the price to induce more farmers into poppy cultivation. Interestingly, once a bumper crop is ensured, the buyers drop the price to half the original price knowing the growers will have little option but to sell the crop at the end of the season. In some cases, the buyers provide the poverty-stricken farmers with poppy seeds and also cash money to maximize chances of good production every year. Sources in Bajaur Agency told TFT that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islamâs (Fazlur Rehman group) Salarzai area president Maulvi Fazel decreed that poppy cultivation was âIslamic.â Since his decree, the political administration of Bajaur Agency has issued his arrest warrant which forced him to avoid visiting Khar, agency headquarters of Bajaur, to escape arrest.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal MPAs in NWFP Assembly have also backed farmersâ bid in the Kohistan district to grow poppy. The district has seen cultivation for the first time. Malik Fazle Haq, PML (QA)âs Kohistan district president, told TFT that local mullahs issued a fatwa in support of poppy cultivation.
Malik Faiz Muhammad Khan of Dogram, an influential chieftain of both Sultankhel and Paindakhel tribes in Upper Dir district and also an active Jamiat-e-Islami leader, defended poppy cultivation during an interview with TFT. âGeneral sahib [President Pervez Musharraf] has got us in the crosshairs to appease the United States,â he said, defending the growers. He said his people would continue to grow poppy unless the government helped them financially. Growing anti-US feelings also seem to have contributed to the increase in land under poppy cultivation. Mr Khan called upon the Muslims to use drugs as an âatom bombâ against the US âsince it attacks only the Muslimâ countries. âMany people think the Muslim world can use drugs as a weapon against the United States,â Jehanzeb Khan, Whari Union Council nazim, told TFT at his residence in Whari in the Dir district. A former councilor, Humayun Khan advocate, told TFT in Chakdara that the mullahs âdid not oppose poppy cultivationâ and also blamed the bureaucracy for encouraging people to grow poppy. He also went on to accuse leaders of different political parties of âusing the poppy issueâ to gain political points. He recalled that the Jamaat-e-Islami in the past used to describe poppy as a âweaponâ against the United States.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/24/2003 01:09 am ||
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Of course, it wasn't destroyed. How do you expect the Pakis to develop the hard currency or something that can be converted into hard currency so they can buy shiny new missile from the Nkors. Jeez the news has been replete with new allegations that the Nkors are using their diplomatic missions as drug depots.
Drugs for missiles with an overland route through that good ol' country - China.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
05/24/2003 10:49 Comments ||
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Time to bring back napalm. Nothing gets rid of noxious opium poppies (and their growers) like napalm at daybreak! Even Round-up isn't THAT good. Gotta stay upwind, though...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/24/2003 12:40 Comments ||
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Rival Sunni Muslim groups traded heavy gunfire in Pakistan's restive city of Karachi on Friday over control of a mosque, killing a teenage boy and wounding six people including two policemen, police said. Dozens of armed militants belonging to one radical Islamic group attacked the mosque in northern Karachi in an attempt to seize it from their rivals, they said. Residents and businessmen shuttered houses and shops and took cover as the militants exchanged gunfire for more than an hour.
Followup, from Daily Times (Pakistan)...
A teenager was killed during an armed clash between two religious organizations on Friday over the control of a mosque, police said.
Among the three people injured in the clash between Sunni Tehrik and Tehrik-e-Ahl-e-Hadith was Karachiâs DIG Operarions, Tariq Jameel. Fourteen-year-old Farhan was passing by when he was caught in the firing. The mosque, Masjid-e-Rehmania, is under the control of the Tehrik-e-Ahl-e-Hadith. But the New Karachi industrial area, where the mosque is situated, is dominated by people of the rival Barelvi school of thought, to which Sunni Tehrik belongs.
See? That explains it.
Tension had intensified between the two groups in the past two days, police said. The DIG received a bullet in the leg when he went to take charge of the situation, after receiving reports of the serious clash, in which, according to police, sophisticated weapons were openly used. There are reported to have been some arrests. Shops were closed and traffic suspended in the area after the clash.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/24/2003 01:07 am ||
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the Religion of Peace⢠- jeebus
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2003 8:45 Comments ||
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KARBALA - Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, one of Iraqâs top Shiite Muslim leaders, returned to the holy city of Karbala on Saturday for the first time since ending 23 years of exile. Hakim, who made a triumphant return to Iraq this month, was greeted by thousands of cheering faithful whose shouts kept him from beginning a speech he was to deliver at the Imam Hossein mosque, one of the holiest Shiite shrines. âWith our souls and with our blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you Saddam Hakim!â the ecstatic crowd chanted. Photos of the cleric were displayed everywhere along with banners reading âFreedom, Independence and Justice.â
They got lots of practice, doing similar rallies for Sammy...
Hakim, who lived in neighbouring Iran, was to make what aides said was an important address to the Iraqi people. He returned to the country earlier this month amid talk of building an âIslamic Iraqâ but has since toned down his criticism of the presence of US and British troops in the country.
"Hakim, you didn't give up your lease on your apartment back in Teheran, did you?"
While seen as a hero for his position as an influential spiritual leader among Iraqâs majority Shiites, many are sceptical about a future role for him as a political leader who could push for an Iranian-style Islamic regime. Hakim heads the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), a former anti-Saddam Hussein opposition group which has emerged as a leading political force in post-war Iraq. SAIRI holds one of the seven seats on a leadership council that has been working with the United States to help prepare a post-Saddam government.
SAIRI's primary accomplishment before we got there seems to have been making faces, waving guns, and issuing fatwahs, all from a safe distance...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 11:42 am ||
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A top Shiite cleric warned the United States yesterday that it risked violent confrontations with Iraqi citizens unless it improved its understanding of how Iraqi society works.
And vice versa. Maybe Iraqis should learn how American society works, too...
The Americans lack knowledge of the people whose country they will be occupying for some years, Sayyed Fateh Kashef Al-Ghata, the representative of the top Shiite theology college (Al Hawza) in Baghdad, said in an interview. "If they continue to misunderstand our reality, the result will be bad for America first and bad for my people second," Kashef Al Ghatta said.
So maybe you should get on it...
He said Iraqis had hailed the U.S.-led invasion to end Saddam Hussain's autocratic rule, but were angered by the United Nations resolution that gave Washington and London â not the Iraqis â the mandate to run Iraq and control its wealth.
Iraq was running itself and controlling its wealth. That's how it got into this mess...
"America wants to control Iraq and seeks to make it America's regional policeman," said Kashef Al Ghata, a renowned cleric who belongs to one of the most important families in the holy city of Najaf. "In 2003, we have no choice yet but to confront the occupation through peaceful means... But I am saying yet, because we are waiting to see how the occupation will behave. I really hope the occupying powers will not force the Iraqi people to resort to violence, and that could be achieved through understanding and respecting the Iraqi political, social, religious and economic reality."
They tried violence twice. That's what happened to the elite Republican Guard.
Kashef Al Ghata did not say what the U.S.-led administration was doing wrong, but noted the importance of finding a balance between Iraq's different ethnic and religious groups. Kashef Al Ghata said the United States should not be worried about the possibility that the Shiites would try to transform the secular country into an Iran-style state. "We do not seek an Islamic state in Iraq, and whoever says this doesn't understand politics. We would have wanted to set up an Islamic state in 1980 but not in 2003."
"This year we want, ummm... something else."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 11:23 am ||
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A U.S. military intelligence team in Iraq has uncovered a dozen French passports, and defense officials believe other French passports from the same batch were used by Iraqis to flee the country. The ones that France denied issuing?
Defense officials are still investigating whether the passports were provided covertly by the French government, or were stolen or forged by Saddam Hussein's regime. Yeah, that's the ticket
France's government has denied that it provided any passports to fleeing Iraqi officials and called news reports of French collaboration with Saddam's regime U.S. "disinformation." Disclosure of the passports comes as Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is in Paris attempting to repair Washington's strained ties with France over its opposition to U.S. military action in Iraq. Oooooh bad timing!
Mr. Powell said yesterday that ties between the two allies are "excellent" but that differences over Iraq remain. Mr. Powell told France's TF1 television that the Bush administration is disappointed with French opposition to the war in Iraq. He said Washington is reviewing its relations with France to see whether changes are needed. On your side Dominique
According to the defense officials, the French passports found in Iraq were obtained by U.S. military teams in the country within the past several weeks. The official said the passports themselves do not mean that France provided the documents and that the passports may have been looted from the French Embassy. "And if embassies are looted, blank passports would be a great commodity in the right hands," the official said. "The French had a lot of business interests in Iraq through the [U.N.] oil-for-food program." So did Russia and the U.N. - see any of their passports?
According to numerous U.S. press accounts from Iraq, however, the French Embassy in Baghdad was not looted. The Embassy was protected by armed guards and barbed wire in the days after the fall of Baghdad to coalition forces. A French cultural center in Baghdad was sacked by looters, but officials said it is unlikely that the center had blank passports. A second defense official said he believes that the French passports found in Iraq were part of a batch used by some former Iraqi officials to flee the country to avoid being captured by coalition forces. The Washington Times first reported on May 6 that U.S. intelligence agencies had uncovered information that the French government provided Iraqi officials from Saddam's government with passports that allowed them to escape the country.
Reports of France providing passports to Iraqis led to an investigation of the matter by the Department of Homeland Security. The probe was requested two weeks ago by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Raj Bharwani, a spokesman for Mr. Sensenbrenner, said in an interview that the Judiciary Committee was notified Tuesday by the Homeland Security Department that there was "no indication that France supplied passports to Iraqis" fleeing from coalition forces. A Homeland Security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the investigation involved checking with "our intelligence sources" about the matter. "All of our sources indicated that the allegations were incorrect," the official said. Asked whether the department knew about the French passports found in Iraq, the official referred questions to the CIA. "Ummm check with the CIA - that's who I asked"
The official suggested that if the Iraqis had French passports, the documents may have been forged. "The Iraqis are adept at forging passports," the official said. Defense officials said the CIA had no report about the French passports and was instrumental in the Homeland Security Department probe coming up empty. Joe at the CIA Dept of Official Denials said "no"
French government officials have denied that they in any way assisted fleeing Iraqis. Other intelligence reports in recent months showed covert French collaboration with Saddam's government. A defense intelligence report in early March showed that French oil companies were working with Russian oil firms to conclude deals with Saddam's regime that both companies hoped would be honored by any successor government. Iraq also succeeded in obtaining spare parts for its Mirage jets and Gazelle helicopters in January from a French company working through a firm in the United Arab Emirates. A French broker also helped a Chinese chemical manufacturer ship a chemical used in making solid missile fuel to Iraq, according to intelligence officials.
Not that any of that did Sammy's regime any good...
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2003 08:28 am ||
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The Indonesian Red Cross said on Saturday it had found about 80 bodies in western Aceh province, where a military offensive against rebels began earlier in the week. "Up to today the Red Cross has evacuated about 80 bodies" as a result of clashes or from areas where there has been fighting, Marie Muhammad, head of the PMI (the Indonesian Red Cross), said. Mr Muhammad, a former Indonesian finance minister, said he did not have details on how the victims were killed and also said it was not the PMI's job to try to determine whether they were civilians or Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels.
"They're deaders. What's it matter to them? If it doesn't matter to them, why should it matter to us?"
The military said separately on Saturday that soldiers and police had killed four rebels in three battles overnight and in the morning. That would take the military's toll of GAM fighters killed since the offensive began on Monday to 62. Military sources also say two government soldiers and five civilians have died.
"Yar! Kill the rebel scum!"
For their part, the rebels say at least 53 civilians have been killed, along with 12 GAM fighters and 43 soldiers and police.
"Yar! Kill the gov'ment oppressors!"
The casualty tolls could not be independently verified.
Since both parties have been known to lie through their teeth...
Meanwhile, the Indonesian military said it is investigating reports its soldiers had killed civilians during the operation. Lieutenant Colonel Yani Basuki, spokesman for the six-day-old operation, said two soldiers and two journalists from the respected Indonesian publication Tempo had begun their investigation on Saturday. The probe was sparked by media reports of killings on Wednesday in a cluster of villages near Bireuen town.
"Yar! Kill the innocent bystanders!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:23 am ||
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In the case of economics, it is the word "viable" which is the operational term for the 3.2 million Palestinians residing in the West Bank and Gaza. The Levantine region that includes the state of Israel and the fluctuating territories that constitute Palestine — never, perhaps, the most prosperous of regions to begin with — have suffered a variety of economic ills since the formation of Israel, primarily brought on by endless geopolitical strife since the late 1940s. Israel has had its own economic problems but for its neighbor and often enemy, the Palestinian territories, the economic problems have always been more profound.
In the case of the West Bank and Gaza, always an economic underdog compared to Israel, there was, however, something of an economic renaissance starting in 1996 during the post-Oslo peace accords era. This economic rebirth came to a screeching halt when the Palestinian uprising began in 2000. While not so much in Gaza, the evidence of economic momentum post-Oslo was obvious in the West Bank, where there was a steady building boom in Palestinian cities such as Ramallah, with new buildings and satellite dishes dotting the horizon, and roads going in by the day. Although the Palestinian economic performance was uneven in the post-Oslo years, and described by the World Bank as "modest at best" compared to some expectations, it was still going forward.
That has changed. For the last two years, Ramallah and other Palestinian cities and towns have become war zones, as the Israelis have reacted to a seemingly endless spree of deadly suicide bombings in their cities and towns. The ongoing political instability — at best a euphemism — between the Israelis and the Palestinians, along with economic sanctions imposed by the Israelis, have reduced the economy of the Palestinian territories to one of almost zero activity and mass unemployment. According to the Palestinian Trade Center, of the 232 Palestinian companies, which were engaged in export activities before the 2000 intifada, only 46 still export regularly. Prior to the 2000 outbreak of hostilities, an estimated 120,000 Palestinians went to work in Israel, while 500,000 Palestinians worked in the territories. The numbers of those actively employed keeps fluctuating, depending on border closures between Israel and the territories and limitations of movement within the West Bank and Gaza.
Blaming various Israeli measures, Palestinian Labor Minister Ghassan al-Khatib said at the end of last year that strife had "increased the unemployment rate to 70 percent in the territories (West Bank and Gaza) and made more than half the population live below the poverty line." World Bank estimates are that before the September 2000 uprising, unemployment was hovering below 10 percent in the Palestinian territories.
In particular, limiting Palestinian worker passage to Israel has damaged the territorial economy because of the much higher wages earned by Palestinians in Israel which are then spent on goods and services back home, helping the economy. Gross domestic product in the territories is estimated by the CIA World Factbook at $2.1 billion (purchasing power parity), the year the ongoing uprising started. The World Bank notes that GDP fell 6 percent for that year and by an additional 12 percent in 2001. Per capita income plummeted by 10 percent in 2000 and another 19 percent in 2001. Political and the economic issues are inextricably intertwined in the region. Provided that hostilities can be quelled, it would seem the only economic path for the West Bank and Gaza is upward, as in a crashed stock market. It is hard to get any lower.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2003 09:55 pm ||
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It is hard to get any lower.
Maybe so, but I'm sure the Paleo will figure out a way (probably involving explosives paid for by the Europeans).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/24/2003 23:13 Comments ||
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A group of 127 Iranian reformist MPs yesterday launched a blistering attack on their powerful hard-line rivals, warning supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the political deadlock was threatening the very survival of the Islamic republic. In an openly-distributed letter addressed to the all-powerful leader, the reformist members of the 290-seat Majlis blasted the conservative-controlled institutions for violently stalling reforms and denying the will of Iranâs voters.
âPerhaps there has been no period in the recent history of Iran that was as sensitive as this one,â warned the strongly-worded letter, citing âpolitical and social gaps coupled with a clear US plan to change the geopolitical map of the region.â They noticed
âIf this is a glass of poison, it should be drunk before our countryâs independence and territorial integrity are put in danger,â the letter said in its call for âfundamental changes in methods, attitudes and figuresâ. The letter charged that since President Mohammad Khatami won his first term in office six years ago, his camp had been undermined by an orchestrated campaign including serial murders, arrests and crackdowns targeted at reformists, students, journalists and dissidents. S.O.P. for the religion of peace crowdâThis was to show Iranians and the world that nothing has changed and nothing will change in Iran, and to prove that the vote of the people whose major demand is change ... has no effect,â stated the letter. âNot much time is left,â Khamenei was told. âMost people are dissatisfied and disappointed. Most of the intellectuals are either silent or leaving (and) foreign forces have surrounded the country from all sides,â it added in a reference to the menacing presence of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Menacing? Little ole us?
âThe destiny of our country can either be dictatorship, or a return to the constitution and the respect of democratic rules,â the MPs said, calling on âregime officialsâ to âapologize to the people over their shortcomings and mismanagement.â Right after hell freezes over
Singled out for attack were the Guardians Council, a conservative-controlled oversight body that vets all legislation in line with Islamic law and the constitution. The letter said the council - key barrier to Khatamiâs reformist policies - was âresorting to strange and bizarre interpretationsâ to block laws and had thereby âdiscredited religion and the constitutionâ. Also attacked was state media and the judiciary â a bastion of the religious right whose âillegal pressures have reached an intolerable level.â Referring to the rejection of reformist calls for a referendum on boosting the powers of the embattled president, the MPs complained that âwe cannot proscribe a referendum for the Iraqi people and call for free elections in Iraq and then deprive our own people from this lawful right.â Common sense rears its head
The MPs concluded by calling on the all-powerful Khamenei â who has been openly critical of the reformist camp â to steer the Islamic republicâs hierarchy toward ârespecting real democracy and introducing a method which is compatible with freedom and dignityâ. A whole lot of turbans will need to be shot first
Iranâs political crisis has reached a head in recent months, with Khatamiâs allies pushing through parliament twin bills that would strip the Guardians Council of its right to vet candidates for public office and enable the embattled president to challenge the judiciary. You can push through all the bills you want, the Guardian Council will either veto, or just ignore them.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2003 04:50 pm ||
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JPost - reg req'dIDF kills armed terrorist near Gaza border fence (UPDATE)
By JOEL LEYDEN
A Palestinian terrorist, who had cut through the border fence near Nahal Oz in Gaza, fired several anti-tank grenades at an IDF patrol this afternoon, a military source told the Jerusalem Post.
IDF reservists returned fire and killed the gunman. Both reserve and Givati brigade troops discovered that in addition to the Kalashnikov automatic rifle which was used in the border attack, the terrorist had been carrying a flak jacket, four anti-tank grenades and several automatic rifle magazines.
The IDF stated that none of it's forces were wounded in the attack.
Elite Givati and Combat Engineering soldiers, supported by tanks and IAF helicopters continued their extensive anti-terror sweep in Beit Hanoun in Gaza, searching for Kassam missiles and the terrorists responsible for launching these rockets at the Negev town of Sderot.
"There have been no reports of Kassam missile attacks in the last few days and the anti-terror operation in Beit Hanoun appears to have been a success," stated an IDF Spokesperson. Cause - Effect, Cause - Effect, .....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2003 03:25 pm ||
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Mom & Dad,
Well if you are reading this, then things didn't go well for me over in Iraq. I'm sorry for the pain that I have caused you because of this. Please do not be upset with the Marine Corps, the military, the government, or the President. It was my choice to go into the military. The President and my higher commanders were just doing what they thought was best. Realize that I died doing something that I truly love, and for a purpose greater than myself. There is a paragraph that I read from time to time when I lose focus. "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." John Stewart Mill Now there is a little Marine Corps bravado in there, but I do believe in the basic premise. I want you to know that I could not have asked for better parents, or a better family. ..... I'll never forget that one of my friends in elementary school said that if he could trade places with one person, he'd trade places with me because of my parents and home life. I truly feel that I've had a blessed life thanks to you two. Please give my love to Alyse & Ryan, Kari & Matt & the girls, Chris & Brandy, and everyone else in the family.
All my love,
Ryan
Marine Capt. Ryan A. Beaupre, 30, of Bloomington, Ill., was killed March 20 in a helicopter crash in Kuwait.
I want to know that Michael Moore has read this, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, Jeanine Garafalo. Capt. Beaupre died so that you could be, both in public and private, loud mouthed idiots. Enjoy it, you'll never be half the American he was.
Comments from the original page (YOU BIG MOUTH, YOU).
#2
Those idiotarians - and others of their ilk - will never be half the human - the man - he was. I admire him, and his family. I wouldn't even waste my disdain on the Hollywood-idiots (and you can bet I'll never spend a dime of my money on anything they're involved in).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/24/2003 14:05 Comments ||
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As the Pentagon deploys more Stinger missiles around its perimeter to guard against new al-Qaida threats, an Army fort out West plans to issue axes to beef up security. Actually, axes isn't quite accurate. Some sentries at Fort Huachuca in Arizona will only get the wooden part of the ax — sans blade. "No firearms for sentry duty. They get ax handles!" said a U.S. official, who finds the plan ridiculous.
Indeed, a post-wide memo, "Operations Order for Force Protection Delta Procedures," advises: "Soldiers ... will be issued a flashlight, batteries and an ax handle to be used in case of an emergency." The March 6 memo obtained by WorldNetDaily adds: "Any detained personnel will be controlled by the mere threat of being struck by a wooden ax handle."
Another memo, distributed March 17 under the subject line, "FP Con Delta Reactive Procedures," details equipment for guards at the fort. "Guards: Battle Dress Uniform (BDU), sleeves down, Kevlar, LBE [load-bearing equipment], weather appropriate over garment, and axe handle club," it states.
A spokesman at Fort Belvoir here, where all guards are issued firearms, chuckled at the axe-handle contingency at Fort Huachuca. "I've never heard of such a thing," Don Carr said. A spokeswoman at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, also was amused, saying guards there always carry loaded weapons. A spokesman at the Department of Army was equally incredulous. "I'm not aware of any policy regarding ax handles, and I have no idea why any post would have such a policy," said Army Maj. Chris Conway. He notes that fort security is the responsibility of each fort commander. "It's not a cookie- cutter thing," Conway said.
Fort Huachuca, home to a U.S. Army Intelligence Center unit, will not issue the ax handles unless there is a major event of stateside terrorism, which would trigger the security upgrade to Delta, the highest warning level. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, however, has raised its warning recommendation for all military facilities to Delta, after al-Qaida leaders this week issued threats against U.S. military installations. "We have not changed our plans," said Fort Huachuca spokeswoman Tanja Linton. "We're at Bravo-plus."
In response to terror warnings, commanders can raise force-protection levels at their bases at Alpha, Bravo, Charlie or Delta. The Pentagon is at Charlie. Fred - this probably needs to be snipped, but I'm not very good at that.
Before the rest of you laugh, there are a few things to understand about Fort Huachuca. First, it's not too far from the Mexican border, and in an area where lots of Mexicans cross, routinely. Secondly, there's a lot of really SPOOKY things going on in the area - like, long-range recon training, counter-intelligence, escape and evasion kind of stuff, and just plain old spook-training. It's not nice to kill the guys you're trying to train because you mis-identify them.
There's one more thing - an axehandle, in the hands of a trained opponent, is a very deadly weapon. It'll kill a wild boar instantly if you hit him right. Secondly, if you're having problems with someone trying to run, a good swing in the right place stops that cold, without doing any 'structural damage'. If you come up on someone who has a knife, it doesn't matter whether it s a 2.5-in pocketknife or a 3-foot machete - you're more heavily armed. The key, as with any weapon, is training. Good training can overcome anything but a firearm.
And in case anyone's wondering, yeah, an axehandle is what I use for personal protection in MY home. Hard for kiddies or other idiots to do much accidental damage, while the bad guys get a lick right across the neck. And I'm a very light sleeper.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/24/2003 12:10 pm ||
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There's one more thing - an axehandle, in the hands of a trained opponent, is a very deadly weapon.
That sounds like CQB. Personally, I'll take my .45 and plug you twice in the brick at 25 feet. Plus I can engage your buddy as well. With an axehandle I'll have to wait until your inside my personal perimeter.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
05/24/2003 13:45 Comments ||
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Personally, I use a tee-ball bat with a wrist strap at home. I'll yield to your .45, but anyone with a knife or less will find that I have a mean swing with the hardwood.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/24/2003 15:37 Comments ||
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Iran sees no need to immediately revive a dialogue with arch-foe, the United States, following the latest round of talks to discuss who should govern postwar Iraq. âThis dialogue has stopped now and we see no reason to revive it for the time being,â the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat quoted Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi as saying. âWe entered into an honest dialogue with the Americans to create a government in Iraq that has popular support but they kept on changing their minds and also changing their representatives in Iraq.â
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said earlier this month the Geneva talks were the latest round in a dialogue under United Nationsâ supervision which he said dates back to the time of the US campaign to topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities. Khatami described the differences between Iran and the United States as âserious and hugeâ, but said it would repeated in the future. He did not rule out an eventual improvement of ties with the United States, severed following the 1979 Islamic revolution, if Washington dropped what he called a US penchant for aggression and threats.
I'd guess we'd maybe do that if Iran drops is support for an international line of fine terror networks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 11:36 am ||
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JERUSALEM: A former Palestinian cabinet minister yesterday said Yasser Arafat's bodyguards recently intercepted a mailed package containing anthrax in what he described as an attempted assassination. An Arafat adviser dismissed the claim as baseless.
I would, too...
Hani Al Hassan, until recently interior minister responsible for security, said Arafat's guards received a package from the Far East three weeks ago. The package raised suspicion and was sent to a laboratory for examination, Al Hassan told the Lebanese TV station LBC. "They found that the box contained anthrax," Al Hassan said. "It was an assassination attempt committed against our president."
Oh! Poor Yasser!
Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rdineh denied such incident had occurred.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 11:15 am ||
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If any of these Paleos can stand the stench of the Ramallah standoff, when Yasshole and fellow terrorists were confined without showers for weeks....then they're immune to inhaled diseases
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2003 16:14 Comments ||
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Why try to kill Arafart surreptitiously? Just land a JDAM right on top of his roof. Simple as that.
RABAT: Morocco's investigation into suicide bombings in Casablanca last week has revealed clear links with international terrorism. Interior Minister Mustapha Sahel, expanding on similar comments he made earlier this week, said "The methods, the type of almost military organisation, the way the group was highly compartmentalised and operated underground, are methods used by international terrorism." A 17-year-old boy died from his injuries yesterday, Map said, raising to 42 the number of people killed in the co-ordinated attacks.
Since nearly all the Bad Guys were trained in the same place, by the same people, that's hardly surprising. It's entirely likely the group that did the Morocco bombings is an al-Qaeda wannabe, rather than an affiliate. The end result is the same, but if it's a purely local organization it can be killed in place â if the Moroccans are willing to see the blood flow. If they're not, they might as well change their name to Algeria-West.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 11:11 am ||
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The Palestinians have welcome an announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he has accepted the latest Middle East peace plan. Mr Sharon has told US President George W Bush he will present the "road map for peace" to the Israeli Cabinet after assurances from Washington that it has committed to Israel's security. Mr Bush has also said he will consider holding a summit meeting with Mr Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen to further the peace process. Michael Tarazi, a close adviser to Abu Mazen, has welcomed Mr Sharon's announcement, but admits some scepticism remains on the Palestinian side. "Certainly we're cautiously optimisitic, it's certainly not bad news," Mr Tarazi said. "We've pushing Israel to accept the road map the way we've accepted the road map now for the past few weeks, and so this is certainly encouraging although many Palestinians are quite sceptical. They say this is Israel's way of getting credit for accepting the road map when in reality what they're really trying to do is gut the road map of its most salient positions, first and foremost to end settlement construction, to evacuate those settlements."
I'd call Sharon's acceptance of the roadmap a propaganda move at this point. A year in the making, with input from the "Quartet," it became Bush's when it was presented, and it was DOA — Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser won't let it happen. If peace ever came, even a semblence of peace, they'd have nothing to justify their own existence.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:53 am ||
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"It may be the proper thing for America to take up the matter of Israel and the Palestinians; it may be a debt owed the stalwart British Prime Minister Tony Blair. But we should know the Arab world for what it is today and entertain no grand illusions about the gratitude the road map would deliver in Palestinian and Arab streets. We buy no friendship in Arab lands with pro-Palestinian diplomacy; we ward off no anti-American terrorism. There is no possibility the rancid anti-Americanism of Hosni Mubarak's Egypt would be assuaged with a big push for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. The highest religious authority of that land, Sheik al Azhar Muhammad Tantawi, recently called the American-led coalition's effort against Saddam a "crusading war" and said that Muslims everywhere were obliged to take up arms against the 'invaders.' This kind of sentiment can never be stilled with a diplomatic effort on behalf of the Palestinians."
North Korea has denied what the United States calls the communist state's "blackmail" tactics in a stand-off over its nuclear weapons drive, state media reported.
Denouncing the US claims as "far-fetched" and "sinister," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) held Washington responsible for the global as well as regional nuclear tensions.
"Yeah. It ain't us. It's them! It's always them!"
"The conception of absolute denuclearisation on this planet is quite meaningless unless the US, the nuclear weapon state, proves its anti-nuclear policy by dismantling its nuclear weapons and abandoning its nuclear threat," KCNA said. "This is the stark reality today created by the US nuclear blackmail policy."
Actually, that's going to happen someday. But you'll never be sure, will you? And when we develop a 250-pound MOAB, it won't even matter, will it?
The comments followed a joint pledge Friday by US President George W Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi never to bow to North Korean "blackmail" over the nuclear impasse. After meeting with Mr Koizumi at his Texas ranch on Friday, Mr Bush said: "We will not tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea. We will not give in to blackmail. We will not settle for anything less than the complete, verifiable and irreversible elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons program." But KCNA, reiterating Pyongyang's long-held position, demanded on Saturday that Washington first take a reconciliatory step to settle the nuclear crisis.
"Yeah. You imperialists better roll over for us..."
"If the US officially drops its political, military and economic hostile policy toward the DPRK (North Korea), intended to destroy its state and system, and approaches negotiations with it from a fair and equal stand, it will take the US touted 'security concern' into full account," KCNA said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:49 am ||
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You have to be impressed with the Norks' consistency, though. You'd think the boiled grass and tree bark would be getting to them by now.
Posted by: The Marmot ||
05/24/2003 12:41 Comments ||
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The problem is, these idiots have gotten away with this posturing and screaming like spoiled children for fifty years. It's time to put an end to NKor. We need to give China an ultimatum: pull the plug on NKor, or we pull the plug on ALL trade agreements with Beijing.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/24/2003 12:52 Comments ||
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Chechen rebels have attacked two convoys of Russian troops in the region's mountains, killing 14 servicemen. Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Chief Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky as saying the convoys were halted in the past two days by booby traps set by separatist fighters who then opened fire on the troops. Seven died in each incident. Mr Fridinsky said rebels attacked a column on Thursday near the village of Vedeno and staged a similar attack on Friday, further north between Vedeno and Kurchaloi.
Russia had better get to work on reforming its military soon, and put the first batches of reformed military in Chechnya. This reads like Afghanistan circa 1983.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:37 am ||
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This is Afghanistan all over again. When I did the research for ROGUE STATE, Russia had something close 150,000 troops tied down in Chechnya (circa 2000). They were chasing down about 3000 Chechen rebels and doing a piss poor job of it.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
05/24/2003 10:41 Comments ||
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Russia is getting the same lesson the US got with the 507th's lost platoon. The difference is, the US made the necessary corrections - embedded armed convoy escort and air cover. Somehow, the Russians just don't seem to get the concept.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/24/2003 12:04 Comments ||
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The Israeli army has raided at dawn the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm and its refugee camp, Palestinian security sources said. A column of 50 tanks, troop transport trucks and jeeps, carrying several hundred soldiers, poured into the camp and town, the sources said. Israeli military radio said the operation, codenamed "pulling out the roots", was aimed at netting militants from the hardline Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, which carried out a string of suicide bombings last week.
To Paleostinians, of course, there's no reason for this...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:18 am ||
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They did bag two illegal ISM American women:
from the JPost -
IDF troops arrested two American citizens and a Palestinian in the West Bank city of Tulkarm Saturday afternoon. The two American women, members of a pro-Palestinian activist movement, were arrested by troops after it was found that they were in the area illegally. The pro-Palestinian activists were handed over to Police after consultations with the Interior Ministry, who will most likely have the women deported.
The IDF's anti-terror operations in the West Bank city of Tulkarm continued Saturday morning, focusing on the city's refugee camp.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2003 15:15 Comments ||
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As expected Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan named the global organization's High Commissioner for Human Rights to serve as his special representative for Iraq. Mr. Annan has sent a letter to the Security Council nominating longtime U.N. diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello as his special representative for Iraq. Thursday, the council opened the door to a larger role for the United Nations in Iraq's reconstruction when it adopted a resolution lifting more than 12 years of crippling economic sanctions. The resolution specifies that the U.N. envoy will "work intensively" with Britain and the United States, the occupying authority, to restore Iraqi institutions and monitor judicial reform and human rights issues. He will also sit on the advisory board which will monitor Iraqi oil sales to pay for the reconstruction effort. Mr. de Mello, a Brazilian national, served as the U.N. special representative to East Timor in the late 1990s when that nation first gained its independence from Indonesia after years of civil conflict. He has headed the U.N. Human Rights office, based in Geneva, since July.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 10:15 am ||
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Sounds like anothing bleeping spy for Vlad and Jacques.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
05/24/2003 10:45 Comments ||
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Robert Mugabe, the Zim-Bob-Wean President, has encouraged his ruling Zanu PF party to openly discuss his successor, adding to speculation that he might be considering retirement.
"Talk among yourselves. It'll be interesting to see who's the most ambitious..." Bob's retirement's been rumored, it's been talked about, and I doubt it's going to happen. Bob's a toes-first kind of dictator...
The veteran leader, in power since God was in knee pants independence from Britain in 1980, first hinted last month that he was ready to relinquish power and meet the main opposition over a deepening political and economic crisis if it recognised his disputed re-election. "The issue of my successor must be debated openly although I would urge you not to allow it to create divisions within the party," Mugabe told about 7 000 party supporters. "I am well aware that there are people keen on the position and some have even consulted traditional healers to enhance their chances, but I want to warn them that a successor can only be chosen by the people," he said in the local Shona language.
"Not all the people, of course, but people. Like me. And maybe Grace..."
Mugabe's government has dismissed a report in the private Daily News last week that the international community was preparing an economic package for crisis-ridden Zimbabwe, which hinges on his resigning before the end of the year.
"My people love me. They'd rather starve than see me step down..."
The report came a week after the leaders of South Africa, Nigeria and Malawi met Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, in a bid to resolve the country's problems of spiralling prices, shortages, low employment and unrest. The talks added to speculation that Mugabe (79) may be ready to retire after 23 years in power. However, earlier Mugabe vowed that Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which he accuses of being a puppet of Western nations, would only rule in the southern African state "over our dead bodies".
Toldja. He's a toes-first kind of guy...
The MDC has launched a court challenge against Mugabe's election in March last year six-year term. Western countries and the Commonwealth condemned the poll as fraudulent. Mugabe accuses the West of sabotaging Zimbabwe's economy as punishment for the government's seizure of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/24/2003 09:34 am ||
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"Let a thousand flowers bloom. Then I'll bring out the lawnmower."
France, South Africa, Pakistan and Nigeria, as well as Canada and Britain, have expressed interest in contributing troops for an international force to help quell fighting in north-east Congo, the UN said yesterday. Will wonders never cease?
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, has appealed for a multinational armed force for Bunia, the capital of north-east Congo's Ituri province. By UN estimates, the Ituri conflict has killed 50,000 and displaced another 500,000 since 1998. Aid groups estimate that the war in Congo has killed 3.3 million, most through famine and disease. About 800 Uruguyan UN troops already are at Bunia to protect UN observers and property. The goal of further deployments would include the disarming and demobilisation of combatants. This suggests that the US will be involved: we're about the only ones with the heavy lift capacity to get a brigade-sized force of peacekeepers, with the attendant logistics train, into the deep Congo.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2003 02:00 am ||
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It would be hard to find a region of the world more difficult to get to, considering the distance from Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the deteriorated infrastructure in the region. I doubt there will be much more that a token force there anytime soon.
Considering that most of these militias and the ones active in surrounding areas are armed by the governments of Uganda, DRC and Rwanda as part of a 3 way war, it might be better for all of these countries to put presure on them to restrain the rabble. Rwanda and Uganda are close African allies of the United States, so there is a roll that you can play without too much difficulty.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/24/2003 2:16 Comments ||
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The Kyrgyz and Uzbek authorities have tightened up border security following daylight raids on two police stations in southern Kyrgyzstan, prompting speculation that Islamic extremists were involved. Kyrgyzstanâs interior ministry said that early on the morning of May 15 a group of eight masked and armed men stormed into the regional police headquarters in the centre of Jalalabad. They beat up the officers on duty, grabbed several dozen automatic rifles and pistols, and left. Didn't even kill them? Sounds more like some local criminals trying to upgrade their weaponry, not that there is much difference between Jihadis and gangsters anyway.
The attack followed closely on another violent incident in the south of Kyrgyzstan. On May 8, one person died when a money exchange office was blown up in the city of Osh. Both Jalalabad and Osh are located a few kilometers from the border with Uzbekistan. Kyrgyz police arrested seven people after the blast, and seized explosives, two pistols, false passports, and extremist Islamic literature. In their first reaction to the attacks on the police, the authorities hinted that they thought Islamic extremists were behind them, saying they had âthe same rootsâ as the Osh bombing. First deputy interior minister Rasulberdi Raimberdiev had earlier blamed that explosion on groups based outside Kyrgyzstan. He did not name any organisation, but local observers said it was clear that he was talking about the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, IMU. Some say the Kyrgyz government is concerned that too much talk of Islamic terror would cause a scare and damage the countryâs reputation. A source in the Kyrgyz government told IWPR, âTheories about evil plans by international extremist forces on Kyrgyz territory might scare off international investors.â And RFE/RL reporter Burul Sarygulova said, âThe summer season will soon be upon us. Itâs a time when Kyrgyzstan can boost its budget from tourist revenues. It appears that the authorities have decided not to lend an international flavour to these incidents.â So nothing well get done until another Bali occurs..
Whoever was behind the latest attacks, the Kyrgyz government continues to face a dual headache in the south â protests from the political opposition built around the Aksy tragedy, and the potential threat of IMU insurgency. Summer can bring more than tourists â it melts the snow in the high passes, which in recent years has brought IMU guerrillas slipping through the mountains and across borders.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/24/2003 01:48 am ||
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seized extremist Islamic literature? A Quran?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2003 8:37 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.
