According to the website of the embassy of Saudi Arabiaâs Islamic Affairs Department (IAD), wife-beating is permitted in accordance with Qurâanic verses and Hadiths used by the IAD to explain the rights a husband has over his wives: "The husbandâs rights on his wife are greater than hers over him." ....
The IAD explains that the Qurâan authorizes a husband to beat his "disobedient wife." ... If a woman does not follow authority, the IAD explains at what point men are allowed to discipline her: "The maximum disciplining measure is limited by the following:
a) It must be seen as a rare exception to the repeated exhortation of mutual respect, kindness and good treatment. Based on the Qurâan and Hadith, this disciplining measure may be used in the case of lewdness on the part of the wife or extreme refraction and rejection of the husbandâs reasonable requests on a consistent basis. Even then other measures such as exhortation should be tried first.
b) As defined by the Hadith, it is not permissible to strike anyoneâs face, cause any bodily harm or even be harsh.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
03/19/2004 11:39:58 PM ||
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Mar. 19, 2004 15:32 | Updated Mar. 19, 2004 15:35
Gibson planning movie about Maccabee revolt
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Hollywood star Mel Gibson is already planning his next foray into the weighty world of religious film-making - he wants to make a movie about the origins of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
According to a report on the Internet Movie Database website, Gibson - who was criticized by many Jewish leaders worldwide for propagating anti-Semitism in his epic The Passion Of The Christ - has hinted he may make a filmed account of the Revolt Of The Maccabees, the story behind Hanukkah, the festival of lights.
The 46-year-old actor-director says, "The story thatâs always fired my imagination is the Book of Maccabees.
"The Maccabees family stood up, and they made war. They stuck by their guns and they came out winning. Itâs like a western." The Maccabees led a three-year war, 200 years before the birth of Jesus, against Antiochus, a king who forced the Jews to worship false gods.
The war led to the liberation of Jerusalem. Gibsonâs interest in Jewish history concerns the Jewish Anti-defamation League.
National director Abe Foxman was quoted on the site as saying, "My answer would be, âThanks but no thanks.â The last thing we need in Jewish history is to convert our history into a western."
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/19/2004 19:45 Comments ||
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#4
IMHO, of course, since Abe Foxman's made such an ass of hisself dissing the Passion of The Christ before seeing it, possibly he should STFU about Mel's next project and ask to help consult rather than critiquing another movie he hasn't seen (and hasn't yet been made). Foxman's doing more defamation than he's prevented by his intemperance
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/19/2004 19:51 Comments ||
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#5
Mel Gibson is an idiot. When I think of Passion of the Christ I get images of a camel trying to squeeze thru the eye of a needle. I'm sorry but I have a problem with people making money off of the Bible. Jesus didn't like it either.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 20:24 Comments ||
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#6
The Book of Maccabees not being part of my Bible, I have to ask. Is this the same as Masada? I recall a movie by that name from several years ago, but I don't recall the details well.
#8
Rafael -- before the movie was released, the experts expected Gibson to lose every penny he put into the movie.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/19/2004 20:46 Comments ||
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#9
I'm sorry but I have a problem with people making money off of the Bible.
Let's face it - anyone looking to risk tens of millions of dollars on a movie is going to have to see some kind of return. This kind of thing is pretty much feast or famine - either it works or you lose your shirt. If, as projected, Gibson makes hundreds of millions off this, I see these profits being plowed back into other religion-themed movies. And the only real action-themed sequences available in the Bible are from the Old Testament. I would love to see more Biblical epics - done as reenactments rather than as weird reinterpretations in the manner of the Last Temptation of Christ.
#10
eLarson: The Book of the Maccabees is the account of the successful revolt of the Jews from the Seleucids (Syro-Hellenic successors of Alexander the Great). The general timeframe is 180-160 BC. Quick summary: Greeks oppress Jews, Jews revolt, Jews kick out Greeks.
Masada was 70-3 AD and was at the tail end of the Jewish revolt against the Romans.
#11
The general timeframe is 180-160 BC. Quick summary: Greeks oppress Jews, Jews revolt, Jews kick out Greeks. Masada was 70-3 AD and was at the tail end of the Jewish revolt against the Romans.
That's a time interval of 250 years around 2000 years ago. We only get to that point around 2026. Jeebus.
Yemen security forces captured the nation's most wanted man and another militant who escaped from prison last year after being detained for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors, an official said Friday.
Jamal Badawi and Fahd al-Quso were arrested in the mountains of southern Abyan province Friday morning, Abyan Gov. Farid Major told The Associated Press.
One of the militants and a member of the security forces were wounded in a shootout preceding the arrests, a security official said on condition of anonymity. The official said he did not know which suspect was wounded.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:15:13 PM ||
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#1
This time, chain the guy to the wall, dungeon-style, to make sure he STAYS there.
A message purportedly from Al Qaeda vowed to avenge the killing of suspected Al Qaeda chief by Saudi security forces earlier this week, a man the group identified in a statement yesterday as a former bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.
"Yar! We be Islamists with automatic weapons!"
Khaled Ali Haj, who is from Yemen, and a Saudi accomplice were killed on Monday in a shootout with Saudi police in a residential area in Riyadh.
A statement, signed by Al Qaeda network, said he had been killed while heading out on a "mission."
As opposed to a private affair given all those explosives he was carrying at the time ...
The statement was carried on an Islamic website that has often published claims of Al Qaeda-related attacks and operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen or Spain. The statement also warned Saudi police, security agents and members of the intelligence forces not to "harm the mujahideen (holy fighters) because targeting them (authorities) ... in their homes or workplace is a very easy matter."
After all, they own the religious cops and a good chunk of the Interior Ministry, plus they've got al-Hawali to run interference for them with the Clown Prince ...
Meanwhile, Yemen and Saudi security authorities exchanged 23 terror suspects, including a militant linked to Al Qaeda, a security official said in Yemeni capital San'a yesterday.
That's good. At least this means that they'll burn rather than escape from whatever prison they end up in ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:05:55 AM ||
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#1
They seem to be talking to the Royals like they're Zappy!
#2
.... they'll burn rather than escape from whatever prison they end up in ...
Or, Dan, they may burn while in a Saudi prison...
Gotta love those Saudis they made it look like an accident.
French troops set up camps in northern Haiti on Friday, paving the way for relief organizations to deliver much-needed food and aid, French military officials said. The new outposts in Cap-Haitien and Gonaives are the first set up by foreign troops outside the Haitian capital. Rebels had isolated much of the north with roadblocks during the three-week uprising that helped oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, blocking supplies of food, fuel and water. About 200 French troops arrived in Cap-Haitien and about 140 French Legionnaires were sent to Gonaives, the city north of Port-au-Prince where the rebellion started. One of their key missions is providing security so relief organizations can help the needy, said Xavier Pons, a spokesman for the French military. Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue planned to visit Gonaives, his hometown, on Saturday. The multinational task force in Haiti numbers about 3,000 troops and includes U.S. Marines, Chilean and Canadian troops. Troops are helping the interim government disarm gangs, including armed Aristide loyalists.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 12:19:48 PM ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 00:49 ||
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#1
Aha! So THAT's where Murat has gone! Did pretty well for himself, too, in such a short time! And the joined PRI - wow, not exactly your hotbed Socialist party!
But, it seems, he's gone and opened his mouth, so now there are people who wanna ice him. I know how they feel, but...
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were in hospital after being shot on the campaign trail on Friday, television reports and a lawmaker accompanying them said.
Chen was rushed to hospital in the southern city of Tainan, a presidential official said.
TVBS Television said he was wounded in the stomach. Vice President Annette Lu was shot in the leg, Wang Hsin-nan, a lawmaker from Chenâs Democratic Progressive Party told TVBS.
âThe bullet hit the vice president in the knee first, then the president,â Wang said. Chen had sustained a deep 30 cm (14 inch) wound across the stomach, said Wang, who was travelling in the presidentâs motorcade in southern Tainan.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 2:01:27 AM ||
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#1
More from the AP, 1:53 AM EST:
Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian was shot in the stomach Friday while campaigning on the last day of the presidential election, a lawmaker traveling with the president said. Lawmaker Wang Hsing-nan, a member of Chen's Democratic Progressive Party, said he saw Chen being treated in the emergency room in the southern city of Tainan.
"The president suffered a deep wound about three centimeters (1.2 inches) deep in the stomach," Wang told TVBS cable news.
Wang said he was traveling in a car behind Chen's motorcade as it drove through the streets campaigning in Tainan. "I was traveling in the vehicle behind the president when I suddenly saw his car accelerating," Wang said.
TVBS cable news showed the convertible the president was riding in parked outside a Tainan hospital.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2004 2:09 Comments ||
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#2
The Taiwanese are famous for having their Parliamentary scraps, but this goes overboard IMO.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 2:16 Comments ||
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Probe sees âdefinite linkâ to Palestinian regarded as important al-Qaida figure. WND, so salt to taste...
Counter-terrorist police probing the massive attack in Madrid one week ago see a "definite link" to Muslim extremists in Britain, according to a senior British law enforcement official.
Detained Palestinian cleric Abu Qatada, regarded by British and Spanish authorities as a key al-Qaida figure in Europe, likely will be questioned, reported the Independent newspaper of London.
"We believe there is a London link with what happened in Madrid," said metropolitan police commissioner Sir John Stevens. "There is a definite link in what has happened."
The March 11 blasts in Madrid killed 202 and injured more than 1,500 just days before last Sundayâs Spanish elections and tomorrowâs first anniversary of the U.S. led war in Iraq.
The Independent quoted a "senior anti-terrorist source" who said the man suspected of organizing the attack, Jamal Zougam, 30, is believed to have traveled to the UK to acquire funding and logistical help.
Authorities believe Zougam had connections to Qatada, known also as Omar Mahmoud Abu Omar, who received asylum in Britain in 1994.
The Palestinian cleric, born in Jordan, was given a life sentence after being convicted in absentia in his home country for 1988 terrorist attacks.
British police arrested him along with eight other people in 2001 on suspicion of terrorist activities, but all were released.
The British government froze his assets after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.
Qatada has denied any connection to al-Qaida but has expressed sympathy for leader Osama bin Laden.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/19/2004 8:36:24 PM ||
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#2
I commented on the day of the bombing that the MO looked palestinian and predicted a paleo link. Should pose some interesting dilemmas for the euros if the link is proven. Biting the hand that feeds you!
#3
Interesting you should bring up jock itch... symptoms are an irritant serb, and prescriptions ineveitably vary. Usually benign neglect works, however, sometimes drastic action is required....hmmmm. Must look up Simi Valley in mapBLAST.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/19/2004 21:42 Comments ||
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Interesting development that will help undermine the Media lie that the right is the primary source of anti-semitism.
"Our region needs something better. Our religion does too!" reads the opening line of a letter distributed in recent weeks among the Jewish community in Provence-Alpes-Cote dâAzur, one of the largest and most important regions in France. Behind the letter is Sonia Arrouas, a 42-year-old Jewish woman, and No. 4 on the regional list of Jean-Marie Le Penâs National Front party. On Sunday, French citizens go to the polls in regional elections that are viewed as a significant test of the balance of power and the National Frontâs position in the country. Arrouas has been working full tilt for her candidate, Le Pen - the only person, in her opinion, who can solve Franceâs problems, the only one who "can put an end to the authoritiesâ incompetence in the face of anti-Semitic aggression." Arrouasâs letter continues: "Has France become an anti-Semitic state? No, but anti-Semitism is dangerously on the rise in a number of regions, including our region. We must not err in identifying the source of the evil: Those responsible for the anti-Semitic incidents, for the most part, come from the Maghreb countries. These worrisome people must not be allowed to harm our community. The Jewsâ faith [in the authorities] has cracked. Therefore, I decided to fight with you for our region, for our security and for our religion. Therefore, I decided to stand as a candidate in the elections alongside Jean-Marie Le Pen. Letâs stop the disinformation!!! Come and sign up."
Arrouas, a jurist, businesswoman and a mother of three, was born in Paris to a traditional Jewish family from Tunisia and Algeria. She tries to come to Israel often to visit her relatives. She says she supports Le Pen because she grew up "in a patriotic family for which law and order was our daily lot;" because for her, September 11 was "very traumatic;" because the Muslim girlsâ headscarves affair "intensified my fears;" and because she has no intention "of being left at the mercy of the radical Muslims." Arrouas says she became "an anti-fundamentalist and was naturally drawn to the figure who refuses to allow the radical Muslims in France to get stronger. Had they listened to Le Pen, there wouldnât be so many extremists like these in France. One must not show tolerance for those who have no tolerance." Well said my friend! The rest snipped. Mostly leftist twaddle saying âbut you canât do this!â
#1
I'm not buying it.But the mainstream parties' dithering in the face of Islamic radicalism is a gift from heaven for guys like Le Pen.If,and when,Europeans find out that appeasement won't protect us,things will get ugly here.
Posted by: El Id ||
03/19/2004 19:12 Comments ||
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Concern over European security is high after the Madrid bombings
European Union ministers have agreed to appoint a single official to co-ordinate the anti-terrorism work of member states. I say promote the Fisheries Minister. If he can apply his anti-fish policy to terrorists, the war will be won in double quick time. (Although we would lose the joke about his name).
They have also asked the EUâs foreign policy and security chief, Javier Solana, to draw up proposals on how to improve the sharing of intelligence. Not telling the French, for one.
However, a proposal to create an EU-wide intelligence agency was rejected. because it would involve the French This seems to be the new European way of combatting terrorism - hit them with what Europe excels at: bureaucracy.
[snip rest of article which is boring.]
Posted by: A ||
03/19/2004 5:20:07 PM ||
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#1
Looks like Mr. Terrorism might be able to move up the ladder fast. I'm sure the bribes are flying fast and furiously.
(Hat tip - LGF)
The world is a more dangerous place because of the US-led war in Iraq, which may have toppled Saddam Hussein but also unleashed postwar violence and an upswing in terrorism, the French foreign minister said. And everything was peaches and cream, say, around 9:05 AM on 9/11/2001?
"This is a belief that I have never stopped expressing," Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told Le Monde newspaper in an interview in its Friday edition. "And never will tire of expressing!"
"We have to look reality in the face and run away: We have entered into a more dangerous and unstable world, which requires the mobilization of the entire international community," de Villepin said. Is that why the UN ran away like a nancy boy with one explosion at their Baghdad headquarters?
Assertions by the administration of US President George W. Bush that ousting Saddam would make the world a safer place proved not to be true, de Villepin said. "Non, non, non! Zat is zoo simplisme!"
"Terrorism didnât exist in Iraq before," de Villepin said. "Today, it is one of the worldâs principal sources of world terrorism." I doubt I could ever lie like that. No future in politix for me...
De Villepin called again on the United States to respect a June 30 deadline for the Americans to hand over power to the Iraqis. The State Department dismissed the statement, saying the future is more important than the past. "The United States is looking forward, not backward," department spokesman Adam Ereli said. "Our focus is on helping Iraq to build a safer, more democratic, more prosperous country and working with the international community to that end." And if France the international community doesnât want to help us out, feel free to piss off.
Ereli said terrorism existed before the war and Iraq had links to terrorists. "Unfortunately, the use of terror is a function of our modern world and to try to say that it was existent in one part and not existent in another part I think ignores the fluidity of the phenomenon," he said. Diplospeak for âSTFU, Dominique!"
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2004 16:48 Comments ||
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#2
yea whatever....just because europe does not have a backbone....from an American perspective there is less terrorism directed against 'our' soft targets because we confronting these loonies in their backyard.....status quo ended on 9-11 but not for the eurotrash!
Posted by: Dan ||
03/19/2004 16:59 Comments ||
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#3
Ever since the elections in Spain on Sunday, the Eurosocialists have been in a full-court press to put the situation in Iraq in as bad a light as possible. Villepin's statements go well beyond mere lying and well into the territory of delusion.
The French had better understand: we're damned well going to remember their backstabbing, anklebiting and weaselwording, and we're going to remember it for a long, LONG time.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/19/2004 17:00 Comments ||
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#4
"Terrorism didnât exist in Iraq before,"
Ah, those nuanced French.
Gassing villages? Not terror.
Genocide campaigns? Not terror.
Mass graves featuring entire families? Not terror.
Torture chambers in every police station? Not terror.
Government-funded rape squads? Not terror.
It's almost as if modern France looks back on their own Reign of Terror with nostalgia rather than disgust.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/19/2004 18:01 Comments ||
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#5
Hilarious. France thy name is pussy.
You need another Corsican in charge to give you a little backbone.
(JFM excluded)
Required reading for Terrorism and Dhimmitude 101. Due to the high demand for this text in Spain and France, copies are backordered. Be prepared to share textbooks until the textbook is restocked. Earlier editions may be used, it is just that examples are not quite up to date.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/19/2004 18:25 Comments ||
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#7
France is trying to reframe the arguement. They know the recent capitulation of Spain will lead to increased attacks in Europe so they are preparing to blame the war in Iraq.
Those in America see one enemy who is picking targets. An enemy still bemoaning the tragedy of Andalusia. That enemy fought America and they lost Afghanistan and Iraq. That enemy fought against Iraqi's and died in droves and gaining no traction except in the western media. Then they blew up some Spaniards and they got a change of Government more to their liking so they start threatening France, etc.
Europe cannot see the pattern for some reason. Al Queda hated Saddam and Iraq yet they blew up Spanish trains because Saddam was removed from power? They see no contradiction there at all. Every attack is a retaliation for wrongdoing. "Thank You Sir May I have another!"
#8
Clearly, Dominique has forgotten the Battle of Tours in 732 A.D. when France halted the Muslims' drive to take over Europe and end Christianity.
Betcha AlQ hasn't forgotten it, though.
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 22:55 Comments ||
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#9
Hats off to #3, #4 and #8 especially. Thanks!
"The United States is looking forward, not backward," department spokesman Adam Ereli said. "Our focus is on helping Iraq to build a safer, more democratic, more prosperous country and working with the international community to that end." Everyone should read the post by the Marine on the front lines.
#4
I agree with OldSpook and growler. Didn't understand your comment, Shipman.
The Albanian's favorite things to attack seem to be the churches and christian cemetaries. Hundreds of centuries-old churches and monesteries destroyed and desecrated (I discovered this poking around on Kosovo.com). Reminds me of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Not much news coverage, but the Moslems totally trashed it. Sick stuff. Usting the nave as a toilet, etc.
The Molsems seem to like "soft" targets. Places unfamiliar to the West. "Serbia? Sudan? Where's them thar places?" They really get away with a lot in the more unknown areas. I think they know better than to go for popular spots--at least for now. Presently it seems that hey're trying to garner liberal/left POLITICAL support. "Heck, a train , a hotel, a couple of towers? No big. We (they) deserved it anyway. " (liberal thinking)
But, no doubt, the Moslems WILL become bolder over time, and then, who knows? But, "oh gosh, oh golly," by then it will be too late. The time to act is now. Many thanks to those who are fighting the WOT. Us regular folk need to work to defeat Kerry.
#5
This is complete and total Bullshit. Where the hell is the United Nations -- oh they put their tails between their legs and ran like the little chickenshits they are.
And Europe (and SKerry) want the UN in Iraq? Where has the United Nations *ever* solved anything?
I agree with OldSpook - this is what will happen in Span and France in a few years and is just beginning.
Too bad this won't be shown on the media. Gotta have room for 'American Idol' ya know! Makes me sick.
Face it folks this is a World War we have here. Not a little skirmish or regional 'confict' or a 'police action' but World War III - not with nukes (yet -- thank God) but with terrorism and murder and entirely unlike the others. It is a worldwide conflict in asia, Middle East, Europe, Africa, and both Americas.
#7
Thanks Atomic Conspiracy. I'm glad somebody finally said it. The Moslems have had and still have their sites set on Eastern Europe, and most especially wanted to crush Orthodox Serbia. Bill simply obliged them. Some of the other E. European countries are a lot more favorable to the Moslems, and would look the other way at such encroachments. (And did.) Although there's plenty of blame to go around regarding war "atrocities," it's sad for the innocents on both sides. However, I happen to think there was a lot of bullsh-t reporting regarding the Serbs during that watch. I'm not quite sure if they were as bad as they were made out to be. Does anyone on Rantburg know first-hand?
CrazyFool: Evidently, the UN forces looked the other way during the last couple of years as Albanians trashed monastery after monastery AFTER the cease-fire.
#8
ex-lib, I don't think they've ever found the "mass graves" the "ethnic Albanians" said were there or that evidence has been found of numerous Serbian "massacres."
This Paleos have tried this "massacre" claim against the Israelis several times and of course, the Afghanis tried to say it about U.S. soldiers in Operation Enduring Freedom.
It's an old, old trick that the civilized world is getting wise to.
Posted by: Jen ||
03/20/2004 0:13 Comments ||
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Turkish police confiscated bomb mechanisms to be used in suicide attacks in Istanbul in operations staged after bomb attack on a Masonic Lodge in Kartal district, Anti-Terrorism Department stated on Friday. A statement of Turkish Anti-Terrorism Department said that Turkish police captured one person who was preparing bombs for suicide attacks by collaborating with suicide bombers. I guess that means the bomb maker had no intention of wearing his own product, must be a union thing.
The statement noted that three more people were captured as they staged operations in line with testimony of that first detainee. Bomb maker gave up three people, another outstanding performance by the gold medal winning Turkish Truncheon Team.
The statement listed terrorist attacks which were illuminated in line with testimonies of the detainees as killing of dentist Yasef Yahya in Sisli district of Istanbul on August 21, 2003, setting targets for suicide attacks and getting prepared for suicide attack, and kidnapping a person in Kartal district by gun force on January 2, 2003 for ransom. Turkish police seized two pipe-bombs, three petrol bombs, guns and ammunitions, substances and equipment used in preparing bombs, medical equipment and some communication devices in their operations, the statement added. Excellent work.
Turkish police detained 18 people till March 16, 2004. The Anti-Terrorism Department released two of them and sent the rest to the State Security Court (DGM). The court arrested three of the 16 detainees. That leaves 13, still under investigation?
Posted by: Steve ||
03/19/2004 1:00:33 PM ||
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Belgian police have arrested a man wanted by Moroccan authorities in connection with suicide attacks that killed 45 people, including 12 bombers, in May in Casablanca, the prosecutorsâ office said Friday. The arrest came as police raided about 20 houses in Brussels and two northern towns, the Federal Prosecutorsâ Office said in a written statement. Officials declined to name the suspect, but said the man is believed to be linked to a group called the Moroccan Islamic Combatants Group, which has been under investigation by Belgian police and intelligence services. There is "serious evidence" that North Africans linked to that group have received paramilitary training in Afghanistan and are now in Belgium, the statement said.
Spanish police believe there are links between the Casablanca bombers and suspects held for the attacks on trains in Madrid last week that killed 202. However, the Belgian investigation was not directly related to the Madrid attacks, said Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman for the prosecutorsâ office. The raids took place in three Brussels neighborhoods with large North African immigrant populations and in the northern towns of Maaseik and Kapellen, both close to the Dutch border. The prosecutorsâ office said there may be a link with another suspect arrested in the Netherlands.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 12:57:12 PM ||
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NATO deployed more peacekeeping troops to regain control of Kosovo on Friday and warned it was prepared to take harsh measures against rioters as ethnic violence continued for a third day. At least 31 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in clashes that have triggered fears of a potential new conflict in the volatile Balkans. Among the injured were 61 peacekeepers, three of whom were seriously hurt this week, said Capt. Athanasios Zormbas, a NATO spokesman. In the Serb village of Svinjare just north of the provincial capital, Pristina, smoke billowed from houses set ablaze in fresh attacks in the worst unrest since Kosovoâs war ended in 1999. U.N. police described the overall situation as calmer than Thursday, when ethnic Albanians set Serb homes and at least 15 churches on fire. In revenge, Serbian nationalists set mosques on fire and threatened to retaliate with "slaughter and death."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 12:32:36 PM ||
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#1
"Serbian nationalists set mosques on fire and threatened to retaliate with "slaughter and death."
According to Jen, they can't be nationalists given how they already have a nation-state. The burning of mosques must *obviously* show that they are religious fundies instead striving for Christian domination.
#2
You asshat, AK--can't you even wait for me to make my own damn reply?
I can speak for myself.
And where are you posting from, Katsaris--America, Greece or the remnant of the old Soviet Russia?
These Albanians have as much of a country as they ever should get---these are radicalized Muslims, funded and trained by Al Queda, just like the Chechens.
The USA made 2 mistakes--we weighed in militarily on the wrong side because Clintoon was such a secret Marxist and America having joined in the battle, it attracted attention to the whole conflict, which also fit in with AlQueda's plans precisely.
All day long on 9/11, I kept thinking, "How can Muslims say we never take their side when we stepped in for them in Bosnia and Kosovo?"
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 13:40 Comments ||
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#3
His timing and motion is way off! The shot is heaing backwards towards the stands!
BOOM!
Posted by: Abu ShotPutter ||
03/19/2004 14:20 Comments ||
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#4
Jen, Aris never debates in good faith but parses the words of his opponents until he can accuse them of some racism/facsism/othernastyism or not being nice to puppies. If you're enjoying this by all means continue otherwise your just dumping gravel in the Grand Canyon (you'll never fill it up).
#5
Aris, sorry but you are really fooling yourself. I'm afraid you are in for a rude awakening this summer. Whatever happens, it will have "Albanian and/or Bosnian islamist" written all over it.
It's true that the UCK hasn't started out as islamist, but in the last years AQ and other terrorist groups control the radical factions.
We'll better act fast in that region. This is not an "ethnic" conflict anymore... this is "organized crime meet islamofascism": indeed an unbecoming mix.
#6
Is there any way in which one could search old comments? Because I remember commenting on Kosovo a while ago, explaining why I had disagreed with the bombing there...and back then it was people here that were all "Now Kosovo is a multiethnic paradise" and stuff.
TGA> We'll see. One thing is certain, that UCK needs to be crushed one way or another.
whitecollar redneck> As opposed to my own "opponents" that never bother to parse my words at all, and at various points have just accused me of being Muslim, communist, gay or all of the above?
A judge charged three Moroccans with at least 190 counts of murder in last weekâs Spanish train bombings and ordered them and two Indians jailed Friday pending an investigation that could last two years, a court official said. The judgeâs decision, which stops short of a formal indictment, is the first indication the government has strong evidence linking the Moroccans to the worst terror attack in Spainâs history. The March 11 attacks killed 202 people. During an all-night, closed-courtroom session, the five denied any connections to the bombings.
Suspicion for the bombings has centered on Moroccan extremists said to be linked to Osama bin Ladenâs al-Qaida terror network. In an unauthenticated videotape, a man claiming to speak for al-Qaida said the group carried out the attack in reprisal for Spainâs backing of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The five suspects denied having links to al-Qaida, the official said. Key suspect Jamal Zougam, a Moroccan, stared down and blubbered wept during the hearing, while another Moroccan suspect, Mohamed Bekkali, shouted: "I am innocent! I am innocent!" during his arrival, the court official said. The third Moroccan suspect is Mohamed Chaoui, according to authorities in that country. Chaoui told the judge he had few contacts with Zougam, his half-brother, whom he described as deeply religious.
The Moroccans were charged with 190 killings, 1,400 attempted killings, and membership in a terrorist group, the official said after the hearing before National Court Judge Juan del Olmo. The killings charges reflect the number of bodies identified so far. The attempted killings charges are based on the number of people injured by the morning rush-hour blasts. The Moroccan trio had originally been accused only of falsification charges when they were arrested March 13, two days after the bombings. The El Pais newspaper reported Friday that police searching the telephone services shop where Zougam and Bekkali worked found a piece of a cell phone used in a backpack bomb left on a train. The bomb did not explode and the cell phone, which apparently was set to connect to a detonator, was recovered and analyzed, the newspaper reported, citing police sources.
The two Indians, identified by Spanish authorities as Vinay Kohly and Suresh Kumar, were charged with collaborating with a terrorist group and falsifying a sales document while committing fraud, the court official said without elaborating. They also were detained March 13. The judgeâs decision to charge the five means they can be held for two years while investigators gather evidence. The judge can then extend the detention for another two years. All five men were barred from contact with lawyers and family.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 12:13:37 PM ||
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UN staff have been pulled out of the flashpoint town of Mitrovica in Kosovo where two days of inter-ethnic clashes have left 31 dead. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the decision had been taken in view of the worsening security situation. He was addressing a special session of the UN Security Council after the worst violence since the 1999 Kosovo war. Mobs of angry Albanians set alight Serbian Orthodox churches and Serb-owned homes across Kosovo on Thursday. The attacks came as Nato announced it was sending another 1,000 troops to reinforce the 18,500 already there...contâd...
Posted by: Nick ||
03/19/2004 6:50:19 AM ||
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#1
The Kosovars are supposed to be the 'good non extremist Muslims'. The article says that the drowning death of two muslim kids was the proximate cause of the violence. I can guess the kind of 'blame the Christian' stuff was heard on the muslim street.
#2
Tacitus explains,from personal experience,what is going on in Kosovo.Hint:it's an ethnic,not a religious conflict.
Posted by: El Id ||
03/19/2004 9:59 Comments ||
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#3
and Kerry wants to hand over Iraq to these cowards?? UN: "Ok, we are in charge." Bad Guy: "Boo" UN: "Run away!"
Posted by: LC Matthew ||
03/19/2004 10:05 Comments ||
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#4
UN staff have been pulled out of the flashpoint town of Mitrovica in Kosovo where two days of inter-ethnic clashes have left 31 dead.
This joke just isn't funny anymore, not that it ever was to begin with.
Posted by: B ||
03/19/2004 10:09 Comments ||
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#5
El Id, Tacitus doesn't convince me that it isn't a religious conflict.
The "Albanians" are Islamist Muslims and the Islamists are waging a political as well as a religious struggle--the goal is to not only establish Islam as the state religion, but to set up shari'a as the law of the land.
The "ethnic Albanians" would say "yes" to all of that--and Christians must be killed or subjugated as dhimmi and churches eradicated. Again, check.
After 5 years of peace and just days after the Spanish surrender to Al Queda, it's supposed to be coincidence that the Muslim-based Kosovo conflict kicks up again?
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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#6
Some peacekeepers. Trouble starts, they run away.
"..not only establish Islam as the state religion, but to set up shari'a as the law of the land. The "ethnic Albanians" would say "yes" to all of that--"
And your evidence for this, other than your belief that sheer repetition shall make your words reality?
I am surprised you didn't call El Id a pinko traitor or a communist, as you called me yesterday when I also said this isn't about Islamofascism, it's about nationalism.
#8
Yes, Aris, I think you definitely rant the rant of Lenin and Marx.
Kosovo isn't about nationalism--they got a nation-state.
Killing people and burning down Orthodox churches doesn't and shouldn't get you a nation anyway.
This is about the world domination of Islam.
Believe it or not, at your peril.
Greece and Turkey are poised to fight it out at any time, too--is that about nations?
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 11:47 Comments ||
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#9
Jen [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]
Fool! England thru the Centuries supported asiatic turks whose part are Albanians. Those were English powerful weapon against Slavs, Greeks and the fundation of European civilization. Whites are degenerated completelly thru 1000 years of judeo-christianity.
Posted by: Kunta Kinte ||
03/19/2004 11:56 Comments ||
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#10
"Kosovo isn't about nationalism--they got a nation-state."
LOL! There's a difference between chauvinism/nationalism and national independence, kiddo. Once again you don't have a clue what you are talking about.
"Greece and Turkey are poised to fight it out at any time, too--is that about nations?"
Most definitely it's about nations. Why else do you think that the Greeks have been friendly to the Kurds, though they are just as Muslim as the Turks?
Ofcourse the fact that all the orthodox churches in the region promote and encourage (and use) petty balkan nationalisms doesn't help matters. But the primary cause is nationalism.
#11
The Greeks encourage the Kurds because they're the enemies of the Turks--DUH.
I'm no "kiddo." which gives me no joy to say.
The "ethnic Albanians" are radicalized Muslims, if not Islamist killers--they say they're fighting for a "nation" in Kosovo, just like their Islamist "brothers" use the same claim in Chechnya, Kashmir and "Palestine."
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 12:40 Comments ||
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#12
Sidenote: I guess that according to Jen the Nazi invasion of Poland was all about Christian supremacy as shown by the fact that the Nazis persecuted and killed the Jews.
The rest of us think that it was a case of nationalistic imperialism, not religious one.
--
Jen, you don't have a fucking clue about Balkan nationalism, and I'd appreciate it if you would stop pretending you do. Balkan nationalisms were often aggravated by religious differences, since (as I've said already) every church in the region has sought to tighten the nation-religion connection... but it has otherwise not influenced the nature of nationalistic imperialism (or their methods) one bit.
Albanians burn churches. And the Serbs burn mosques. Albanian imperialists want a Greater Albanian, Serb imperialists want a Greater Serbia.
Albanians killed a few dozens Serbs? Serbs killed a few hundred thousand Bosnians.
Exchange the name "Albania" and "Serbia" and there wouldn't be a shred of difference in ideologies between imperialists of the one from the imperialists of the other side.
I know that Albanians would have acted the same if they had been Christian and the Serbs had been Muslims. Why I know? Because they are *already* acting the same.
--
That's a big difference with Al Qaeda -- in the case of Al Qaeda the ideology and the imperialism are religious.
#13
The "ethnic Albanians" are radicalized Muslims, if not Islamist killers--they say they're fighting for a "nation" in Kosovo, just like their Islamist "brothers" use the same claim in Chechnya, Kashmir and "Palestine."
No shit. And the Serb Bosnians were fighting for a nation in Bosnia. Ooh, and the Northern Irish were fighting for freedom from the Brits.
And you still have no point, and you are still pretty damn ignorant.
#14
Boris aka Kunta Kinte: Fool! England thru the Centuries supported asiatic turks whose part are Albanians. Those were English powerful weapon against Slavs, Greeks and the fundation of European civilization. Whites are degenerated completelly thru 1000 years of judeo-christianity.
Look at a map of Europe. Which is the biggest country there? Russia. That's right - Russia is bigger than all of the rest of Europe put together, and then some. This is why the British backed the Ottoman Empire against the Russians - if they had been allowed to conquer the Ottoman Empire, all of the Ottoman Empire, including the Balkans (Bulgaria, what is formerly Yugoslavia, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, et al) North Africa and the Middle East, would have come under Russian rule. There's just no way any the Brits could have let that happen - the Russian bear was threatening to engulf all of Europe. And this was way before the Cold War started. Richard Pipes had it right - the threat from the Soviet Union wasn't really new - it was inherited from the territorial ambitions of the Russian empire, which, today, is still the largest country in the world, by a significant margin.
#15
My point was that they all use terrorist murder and violence to accomplish their goals, including the IRA who is now working with Al Queda also.
There are none so ignorant as those who refuse to know.
Even when they're told and shown.
They persist in trying to be the masters of disinformation, which is what you are, Katsaris.
You are here to be a troll-- wordy, high-flown and semi-polite, but a troll just the same spreading lies and half-truths.
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 13:35 Comments ||
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#16
"My point was that they all use terrorist murder and violence to accomplish their goals, "
You lie. That wasn't your point, because if *that* had been your point, then you'd have agreed with me when I called the UCK a bunch of nationalist terrorists.
Instead you called me a pinko commie instead, which proves your lie when you attempt to backpedal now.
"including the IRA who is now working with Al Queda also. "
Obviously then the IRA must be Islamists also, and are seeking global Islamic domination, just as you claimed the Albanians insurgents are after.
The rest of your post is a quite ignorable ad hominem. If I've ever spread "lies" (not just differences of opinion) as you claim, then feel free to point them out for all to see.
Because I've already pointed out what I see as *your* lie.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 17:19 Comments ||
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#21
"So the UN pulls out. What purpose do they serve?"
Barry, the UN serves as a way for the third world to offload the local elites who are too stupid to be a part of their own governments...
I think it's in the Charter somewhere.
Posted by: Carl in N.H ||
03/19/2004 17:49 Comments ||
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#22
#1: The Albanians, for some weird reason, ALWAYS justify their attacks by floating (sorry) the story that "the Serbians chased two children into the river and drowned them." Always the river, always the drowning of children. They've been saying the same thing for decades. It's an oddball quirk, but it sells.
And why is a (supposed) Greek--Aris Katsaris-- defending Moslems? That's a strange thing too.
#23
Yes, I know--from all of his weird responses, you gotta wonder just what team Katsaris is playing on...or if that's his real name...or where he's posting from.
Weird guy, lame politics.
Posted by: Jen ||
03/20/2004 0:25 Comments ||
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#24
Ex-lib> Because unlike what racists want to think not everyone's behaviour is defined by their race, and unlike what bigoted little nationalists would like to think, not everyone's attitude is defined by their nations.
And btw, how the hell was I defending the Albanian Muslims, when I said that they were a nationalist terrorist organization that needed to be crushed?
Oh, yeah, I forgot -- you are one of the illiterate people that can't actually parse my words at all.
Jen> Google for my name, and you'll have full name, fandom interests, political opinions, a photo and possibly even an address, you little shit.
But I am not surprised that some of the idiots here doubt that I'm Greek when I'm supposedly "defending" Muslims. You afterall doubted that I was straight when I was defending gay marriages.
You always need to label and define people based on your bigotries.
Spain's leading Al-Qaeda detainee, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, admitted Thursday to know one of the Moroccans arrested in connection with the March 11 Madrid bombings, local media reported Thursday.
We figured as much. Yarkas was the big cheese of al-Qaeda in continental Europe pre-9/11, the only guy who was cool enough to talk one-on-one with Mohammed Atef.
Abu Dahdah claimed to know Jamal Zougam, one of the three Moroccans arrested in connection with Madrid's deadly bombings, because he had been a client to the fruit shop and the telephone-box business owned by Zougam in Madrid's Lavapies neighborhood, the report quoted Spanish judicial sources as saying.
Abu Dahdah, of course, is Yarkas's nom de guerre.
Abu Dahdah also said he had never established relations with Zougam nor was familiar with his ideology.
"No, certainly not lil old me!"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 12:51:02 AM ||
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#1
Whoa! Great color!
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2004 0:59 Comments ||
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SHHH! Its seekrit kode to throw off all those super smart agents of Boris and the ADL.
One year after waves of protesters flooded downtown San Francisco in response to the beginning of the war, a smaller group of no-less dedicated activists returned to the cityâs streets this morning to demonstrate against the U.S. presence in Iraq. "Today is the beginning of a new campaign to call out empire when we see it," cried Carwill James, an activist working with Direct Action to Stop the War, as the crowd gathered at 7 a.m. in Justin Herman Plaza. Organizers have said this is the first of a series of protests planned for the coming year. After a moment of silence, hundreds of protesters marched down Market and Mission streets, accompanied by police determined to keep a tight lid on the day and the drum-heavy "Infernal Noise Brigade." But while the protests of March 20, 2003, drew thousands and led to nearly 400 arrests before noon, police estimated this morningâs crowd at no more than 400 in all and made just 12 arrests. (A total wash!)
The crowd was a microcosm of last yearâs event, complete with hard-core "black bloc" demonstrators alongside less grim "green bloc" environmental protesters and "pink bloc" demonstrators in tutus. (Separated by color? Where have I heard of that?)
"We are disgusted with the way things are going and whatâs being sacrificed that doesnât need to be and the propaganda campaign to push this war on the American people," said Brianna Sheets, 20, a student at Chapman University in Orange County and a member of the tutu-clad pink bloc. Michael Kozart, a psychiatrist from San Francisco General Hospital, took the day off work and wore his white physicianâs coat to the protest. "I work in San Francisco in public health and I can see the ravages in our beleaguered system from resources being channeled into the war," he said. "The amount being spent every day on the war could alleviate problems here." (Yes he IS the shrink and not a patient!)
The marchers massed outside the Beale Street headquarters of Bechtel Corp., a key target for its work in Iraq, which protesters have said amounts to war profiteering. Lines of protesters linked arms, some of them using plastic tubes to make the link, and tried to block the companyâs entrances. (What no goon squads to pound them. So disappointing.)
"Iâm here today because I am troubled that the United States is spending $80 billion to occupy a country that should be sovereign," said Sunaina Maira, âa professor of Asian American Studies at UC Davis who joined a group linking arms before the building. "We should be spending money for social services here." (Note to college students: Few people (very few) make $$$ majoring in Asian, Black, Women, Hispanic studies. Takes some real courses.)
Marshall defended the companyâs role in Iraq. "Education, along with health, power, clean water and transportation -- those are the priorities weâre working on in Iraq right now,ââ he said. "Most of the demonstrators, if they actually took the time to learn the facts, would applaud that kind of work,ââ he said. (What would they do with facts?)
A man in front of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. building spent some time shouting "Support the war, not the protesters," and then wandered away. Another protester read names of people killed in Iraq. (Ying and Yang)
Protesters complained that the police presence was too heavy, but police made no apologies as they promised to keep traffic moving on Mission and Market. (boo hoo)
"Theyâre not going to have that intersection," Capt. Tim Hettrich said. "They can protest, weâre giving them an area to protest. Weâre guaranteeing their First Amendment rights." Less than 400 idiots protested today? I would think that there would be at least ten times that number of disgruntled unemployed! Maybe the economy isnât as bad as we thought. I think the SFPD should charge this whacko groups for protecting them. Send a bill to each of these Looney left organizations and if they donât pay arrest them. The there are pictures of the loons on the website, usual suspects.
#1
400! Hahaahhhaaaahahahhaaaa! Here are some of the comments made by protesters overheard at the march.
Are we in the right spot?
Where is everybody?
I feel kinda stupid in this tutu.
I think you look sooo hot, James. Do you want to go have a latte later?
400 people...snicker...haha.
Posted by: B ||
03/19/2004 19:05 Comments ||
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#2
But while the protests of March 20, 2003, drew thousands and led to nearly 400 arrests before noon, police estimated this morningâs crowd at no more than 400 in all and made just 12 arrests.
Next year the protest will include 12 people. Two of them will be cited for allowing their parking meters to time-out.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 20:25 Comments ||
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#3
Low turnout eh?
Must be the chilling effect of Bushhitler/Ashkkkroft's Zionazi/fascist campaign against dissent:
the thousands carted away to the Rocky Mountain Gulag,
the peaceful Quaker ladies machine-gunned in the streets of Cambridge,
the midnight raids in Berkeley and Greenwich Village,
the distinguished professors lynched by blood-crazed freeper mobs in Princeton and Austin, the carpet-bombing of hippy communes in the Sierra foothills.
Yes, this cataract of horror and oppression, orchestrated by the baby-bombing criminal republi-nazis with the help of the monstrous Halliburton-whore Korporate media's vile campaign of demonization against Those Who Work for Peace, must surely be responsible.
Then again, it might have something to do with the mass graves, rape rooms and plastic shredders unearthed in Iraq.
#4
And the weather in San Francisco has been perfect for the last two weeks. This means the female protesters were really ugly, also. Usually they can get over 400 to oogle at the babes.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
03/19/2004 23:57 Comments ||
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A Canadian whose family has strong ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network pleaded with the federal government Friday to help his paralyzed 14-year-old brother return to Canada from Pakistan.
Abdurahman Khadr, 21, described his brother Karim, who was badly injured in a clash with security forces that killed their father, as an innocent victim.
âAs a child, forget what his father or his mother thinks,â Mr. Khadr said at a news conference. âAs just a child, a Canadian child, I think he needs help.â
Karim has been in a hospital in Pakistan since the shootout last October.
Mr. Khadr, who lives in Toronto, also pleaded with the Canadian government to ensure his mother and sister, who have expressed sympathy for al-Qaeda, are able to return from Pakistan. He said he worries they are under the spell of Muslim extremists and need to be away from them.
The Canadian government has denied them passports because they have repeatedly lost previous ones.
âMy mother and my sister, they haven't done anything and I'm trying to save them before they do something,â he said, noting they may try to travel illegally. âThat's why I want them to come back to Canada â to be away from that influence of al-Qaeda.â
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 12:56:08 PM ||
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#1
I have some pocket lint I'll send if they pay the postage
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/19/2004 13:54 Comments ||
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So very, very sad. All I have is American Debt money.
According to court records and extensive media reports, Ayman al-Zawahiri came to the U.S. in early 1995 on a fundraising trip for al Qaeda. He stayed near San Jose, Calif., with bin Ladenâs chief of security, Ali Mohammed â who had been subpoenaed by the Justice Department about his connections to terrorism only weeks before. ....
The FBI was already well aware of Ali Mohammed, whom the Justice Department had interrogated in December 1994, according to trial testimony and published accounts. Mohammed had links to known terrorists dating back to 1989, when the FBI photographed him training some of the World Trade Center plotters in firearms .... A former sergeant in the U.S. Special Forces, Ali Mohammed had even volunteered himself to the CIA and the FBI as an informant. According to a 2001 report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Mohammedâs Army superiors suspected that the Egyptian native had been sponsored to Special Forces by the CIA. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
03/19/2004 11:48:40 PM ||
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I didn't remember seeing this posted, from Monday:
A federal judge has rejected a former professor's claims that the government infringed on his right to free speech by prosecuting him on charges he helped raise money for terrorists. U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. refused Friday to dismiss a part of the 50-count indictment against Sami Al-Arian, who is charged with using an Islamic charity and an academic think tank as a front to raise money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Al-Arian is scheduled to go on trial in January, along with Sameeh Hammoudeh, Hatim Naji Fariz and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, on charges that they provided financial and other support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Israel.
Al-Arian's attorneys were not immediately available for comment Monday. They have argued he is being prosecuted for his political beliefs and for supporting an organization that is involved in legitimate political and charitable activities. Well, when your political beliefs include blowing people up, yeah, we'll prosecute you for that.
The prosecution responded that Al-Arian was a leader of a government-designated terrorist organization and was being prosecuted for facilitating acts of violence. He "assisted in funding the bloodshed in the Middle East," prosecutors argued in court papers. "This court agrees with the government that the indictment does not criminalize pure speech," Moody wrote. "Instead the ... indictment utilizes the speech of defendants to show the existence of the conspiracies, the defendants' agreements to participate in them, their level of participation or role in them, and the defendants' criminal intent." Using their own words against them, how novel.
The defense also argued that raising money for the group should be protected by the First Amendment. Sorry, if raising money for political parties isn't protected by the First Amendment, raising money for IJ isn't either.
But Moody said fund-raising does not have constitutional protection. Moreover, Moody concluded, "Stopping the spread of terrorism is ... a compelling governmental interest." Moody also rejected defense motions to strike the words "terrorism" and "terrorist" from the indictment because it could inflame jurors. The judge said the allegation of supporting a terrorist organization is an "essential element of two of the charges." I'd say so.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/19/2004 2:45:49 PM ||
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#1
Killing and maming of children on Palestinian soil goes beyond terrorism and the world looks the other way.
#2
Shit anon, I agree. Palestinian soil of course being the Gaza Strip and large parts of the West Bank. But you forgot to mention killing and maming of children on Israeli soil. But I'm sure that's just a slight oversight on your part.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 15:17 Comments ||
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I agree with someone's prior post that this must be some form of harassment. I was looking at the U.S. Code, and since the guy is soliciting donations for his website (under fraudulent pretenses) it could well be a RICO violation, but this is not my area of specialty. I know itâs time consuming, but I wonder if a call to your local U.S. attorneyâs office might be worthwhile:
U.S. Attorney's Office, Main Office
101 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 209-4800
Since this moron is using the internet to perpetuate his harassment, it would be a federal offense if (as I suspect) the harassment can be characterized as criminal.
#6
Rafael, children on Israeli soil are not targeted, they just happened to be there; Israeli snipers target Palestinian children, see link. What would you do if God forbid that child in the picture were yours?
#7
Anon, when your chosen target is a disco filled with young people, or a bus filled with school children, or the baby's room in a settlers home, you are targeting children. You mince words or you lie, I'm betting on the later.
#8
ruprecht, suicide bombers target the IDF hiding among civilians, but the media under Jewish control and the Jewish ADL and JDL censor the truth as they censor it on Rantburg -- if the IDF cared for the civilians their movement would be restricted to military bases. BTW, Jews have been known to target their own in order to withdraw from peace talks.
#9
Alright Anon, we got it. It's okay to kill jooooooos. Drive them into the sea. blah blah blah. etcetera. etcetera. No one here is buying what you're selling so please move along.
Posted by: Scott ||
03/19/2004 16:52 Comments ||
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#10
Hey, anonymous -- why are you so afraid to put a name to your posts? Is it because you're a coward?
Yeah, I thought so. You're just a pussy, hiding behind your screen, trying to make yourself feel like a man by spewing hatred from the safety of your parent's basement.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/19/2004 16:55 Comments ||
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#11
RC, it's pretty obvious it's Boris again. Cingold, I agree. This seems like harrasment to me. From other posts, it also looks like Boris has a history of doing this at other forums.
Posted by: Lil Dhimmi ||
03/19/2004 16:59 Comments ||
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#12
Scott, that's not funny; it's never OK to kill anyone, but Jews must extend respect for Palestinian lives on Palestinian land before they can expect the same on Israeli soil -- we know that Islrael took Palestinian land by force and truth can not be censored forever.
#13
we know that Islrael took Palestinian land by force and truth can not be censored forever.
I might be sketchy on my history, oh brave Anonymouse one, but wasn't the state of Israel created by a UN mandate back in 1947? Why isn't that legitimate?
Oh, and what's the cause of Palestinians losing land? Losing wars started by Arab aggressors. That, my sackless friend, is called reality. You ought to get acquainted with it.
#16
Anonymous, the folks that inhabit this board are too informed to fall for your baiting or partial facts. Try the Democratic Underground, facts don't bother them, you'd have a swell time.
#17
With regard to Boris, I am amazed that this troll has so much time to post all stuff. Successful street beggars have plenty of time to frequent the libraries that are not protected by ''smell of urine" abatement ordinances. Overall this person consistently demonstrates a level intelligence, eloquence and coherence well below that which would be necessary to survive by one's wits as an urban storyteller. This person's ability to communicate effectively is consistent with someone who would have to invest a considerable time dumpster diving for their three square meals.
Even if he/she has staked out a primo area zoned for commercial use and heavily populated with fast food joints, this person should not have such consistent access to wireless technology. Its not like the shopping carts at Walmart, that this person uses for his or her doublewide on casters, come with neutrino equipped with laptops.
The only plausible explanation I can fashion for this person's actual occupation is that he or she is a denizen of a college or university's Education Department - either instructor or student. Oh, this person would also have to dabble in inhaling ether available to a person who works part time in a veterinary clinic.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 20:39 Comments ||
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#18
...I am amazed that this troll has so much time to post all stuff. Successful street beggars have plenty of time to frequent the libraries that are not protected by ''smell of urine" abatement ordinances.
Well, I also hear prostitutes also have plenty of time since they don't usually start work until evening...
#19
Dr. Sami is probably rethinking his decision to go on the Bill O'Reilly show last year. Among other things O'Reilly questioned him about this: In -- in 1988, you did a little speaking engagement in Cleveland, and you were quoted as saying, "Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel. Revolution. Revolution until victory. Rolling to Jerusalem." Did you say that?
O'Reilly ended the interview with, ....I appreciate you coming on the program, but if I was the CIA, I'd follow you wherever you went. Apparently they took the hint.
Someone should suggest that O'Reilly invite Boris for an interview.
But Spanish surrender has made us safer!More inane ramblings from our favorite dupe
The invasion of Iraq has polarized the Middle East and may have worsened the threat of terrorism, former United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix charged on Thursday. On a tour of the United States to promote his book, which has lots of pictures and was written with a crayon
"Disarming Iraq," Blix criticized U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for engaging in a "witch hunt" to justify the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq one year ago. In a speech sponsored by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Blix listed the negatives he believes have resulted from the war: polarized societies in the Middle East, a rift in NATO, damage to the U.N. Security Council, and no easing in the threat of terrorism. "The terrorism threat has not abated," he said. Do these UN weenies live in the same world the rest of us do?
Asked to expand on his comments in light of the March 11 train bombings in Spain that killed more than 200, Blix said "itâs clearly an increase in the terrorism. "It was ... al Qaeda or some related terrorist movement trying to tell states that they should not participate in the actions in Iraq," he said. Genius
Blix said his task of seeking weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was undermined by the Bush and Blair governments, which probably knew they were exaggerating the threat to justify the invasion. "(The war) was more punitive than preemptive," he said. Excuse me Hans, if you donât have anything informed to say, please STFU.
Apart from removing Saddam from power, Blix said he saw no benefit from the invasion and was skeptical of U.S. claims that Libyaâs subsequent decision to disarm was based on a fear that it could be next. Ugh!, This guy is just clueless! Iâm sure Kadaffey was more afraid of Blixâ boyâs tearing up the hotel bars.
What bothered him most, he said, was the manipulation of intelligence on Iraq and the lack of support for the weapons inspections process and the UN in general. "They are politicians, and we understand the need for hype. But still, as citizens, as voters, we want critical thinking, we want sincerity, not advertising hype," he said. And the UN is comprised of America hating, career bureaucrats who will sink to any low including being complicit to mass murder in order to prevent their gravey train from drying up
Blix said the UN could play a key role in a fight against terrorism. "First of all, the struggle against terrorism must be a multilateral one, and I think the United States realizes that," he said. "This is not just an alliance of the willing, of big industrial states, but must have the rest of the world behind it." Disgraceful, sour, bitter old fool.
Posted by: JerseyMike ||
03/19/2004 7:54:13 AM ||
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#1
As Romano Prodi said,terrorism is "infinitely" more powerful now than three years ago.Shows you how big an impression 9/11 and the 3000 dead made here.
Posted by: El Id ||
03/19/2004 9:55 Comments ||
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#7
Better to be a "Jew-serving Gentile" and rewarded in Heaven by the God of us all (Christians and Jews) than a servant of SATAN, like you hate-mongers and Devil-worshipping terrorists!
And Anon, buddy, it's Fred's site and he can delete what and whom he chooses.
As for the latest example of Blix babbling, I'm convinced that Saddam either bribed, tortured and/or drugged every single one of the UNSCOM inspectors;
Blix, Ritter, Butler and Kay all belong in a mental institution with a drool cup and a lifetime supply of Depends and baby food.
Sad, but true.
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 10:21 Comments ||
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#8
Jersey Mike, just like a typical Jew you can't spell -- want to pay for some tutoring?
#9
Its all cause of these fuckin jews that there is no peace in this world. They believe in world domination. They were the ones who crucified jesus, and they are ones that are suckin us dry by getting 4 billion dollars aid every year, since 70's. I say kill these bastards....
Posted by: Mike Morris ||
03/19/2004 10:35 Comments ||
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#10
Yo Attentionstarvationsyndrome, what is it little boy? Cant you find a girlfriend? Hint: Its you B.O. not the Jews that carries the blame for that.
Oh, and if you find any spelling-mistakes in my post, dont bother posting about them cause i simply do not give a flying f*** about the opinions of people who spend all their time putting together nonsense websites like yours.
#11
MM, the Bible clearly says and this is God speaking,
"He who blesses Israel, I will bless.
He who curses Israel, I will curse."
When the Almighty says something, you can take it to the (eternal) Bank.
God has blessed and will continue to bless America for standing by Israel and God's Chosen People.
(And I was born and raised a Southern Baptist!)
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 10:39 Comments ||
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#12
Jen [http://www.greatestjeneration.com] writes:
this is God speaking, "He who blesses Israel, I will bless. He who curses Israel, I will curse."
But, Jen, this is your god. And he is full ofdogsht! My God is of Universe and infinite intelect. If you say that you are moron, I trust you but if you say that you can think, then you prove that you are moron.
#14
Oh, great--funny how the most persecuted group in history is always accused of "world domination". Are you wearing your Reynolds Wrap hat today?
Posted by: Dar ||
03/19/2004 10:57 Comments ||
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#15
man all of this racist bullshit! look i don't care who you are ,jews or muslims,or buddist..whatever - but people have the right to live in peace and prosperity. no one should be held accountable for their fathers deeds - especially shit from decades and hundreds of years ago.
as for the terrorist threat - this threat has hung over the world for 3 decades and especially since 1979 islamofacist revolution in iran. we were under the gun before and after 9/11 - the only difference now is the perpetrators of these acts are feeling the heat big time. it is natural for a reaction (which we are seeing in the increased acts of terror)- it is really about survival of governments. but we are winning, look at iran. irainians go to iraq and see their freedoms and nascent prosperity, they are treated with respect and dignity by our troops and take this back to iran. now you have iranians in open defiance. Freedom is addictive and the regimes of the Middle East status quo know their survival is at stake. that is why syria and iran actively support terrorists in iraq - it is also why the goddam sods cut opec production - squeeze the American economy so Bush can be blamed.
so yes there is more terrorism but more of a desperate type!
Posted by: Dan ||
03/19/2004 10:58 Comments ||
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#17
Oh, not another troll with schizophrenia! Do you really think your little Army of One is going to fool us with your made-up pseudonyms? F'ing troll.
Posted by: Dar ||
03/19/2004 11:00 Comments ||
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#18
Blix is Svedish Jew same as Kohn aka "Kerry" is Czech Jew.
Only idiots do not pay attention on details which are crucial to control judeo-christian cattle.
Posted by: Kunta Kinte ||
03/19/2004 11:01 Comments ||
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#19
Boys and girls, "anonymous" is a troll, pure and simple, perhaps it's Boris or CSerb, whoever, whatever.
Ignore him.
Fred, we got a leak in the boat! Got a patch handy?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2004 11:09 Comments ||
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#20
Come now folks, Jews weren't run out of every country in Europe because they were loyal citizens -- that's hardly "persecution". Unfortunately for Jews and Gentiles when the latter get hungry there could be a real Holocaust and censorship of truth will put the blame where it belongs, on the Jews.
#23
I wouldn't be so quick to assume he isn't spoofing someone else's identity online. This Boris Pribich may be some completely innocent guy that this scum bag has something against or just decided to steal his identity for on line purposes as an alias and post his hate rhetoric...
I'm tempted to track down who he is and get the FBI involved. I have a feeling this scumbag is actually a danger to society... defintely mentally disabled and possible capable of lashing out. He should be in a loony bin getting sever shock treatments.
Boris Pribich is a Serbian Hate Monger. People like him should not be
permitted to use a computer! He thinks he's a Serbian patriot working
behind a computer!
Boris was born in 1946 in Okucani (Nova Gradiska), Croatia. He was raised
a Serb Nationalist and throughout his youth would hate all Croats. This
despite the fact that his family was saved by a Croatian family during
WWII. He joined the young communists in his early 20's. Despite his
average marks, he was sent to institutions of higher education in
Yugoslavia and the US by the "Communist Party" only because he was a
Serb.
Later on in life, Boris Pribich moved to California where he began
working as a design engineer. He did not loose his hatred for Croatians
though! It was rumored that Boris even went on to work for the Yugoslav
secret police in California as an informant.
#25
Nothing wrong with jews but there is everything wrong with zionists and their Entity. Bush is a piece of work and a warmongering waste of space.The world is very much unsafe since the coalition of the silly invaded Iraq.Look at Spain the terrorist attack came after the war.So Bush is full of shite and needs to leave the presidency
#27
I'm tempted to track down who he is and get the FBI involved.
Maybe the proprietor can provide you with all the IP numbers from where the postings orginated so you can contact the domain owners to see if they have further information?
Boris Pribich, uses and distributes for a price
pirated copies of Kintex's 3D Max, Metacreation's Ray Dream Studio, Adobe's
After Effects 4.0 production bundle, MicroSoft's Soft Image and more. Mr
Pribich also goes by the name Ivan and the handle "FOSI" which he uses to
freely distribute lower end software (in order to get one to inquire AND buy
the above mentioned products and to garner $$$ from Porn) at sites he runs
with the aid of his Russian pals see:
http://ivanopulo.rz.ru/cracks/entrance.html then go to:
http://ivan.softsoft.com/
or his other site:
http://fosi.ural.net/
About porn, he makes a nice living off of their Porn banners, some of which
are linked to Child pornography. See for yourself if you have the stomach for
it.
I believe there is a reward for turning them in but you would have to contact:
http://www.spa.org/piracy/homepage.htm
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/19/2004 13:02 Comments ||
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#31
I suppose you will vote for GWB well the world isnt safer really is it?
You want safe? A handful of re-entry vehicles with their nuclear payloads falling into Damascus, Riyadh, Tehran, the Bekaa Valley, and Peshawar would do the trick. That's the quick and dirty way. The less dirty way, which requires time and patience, is to tackle the problem areas one at a time. Which do you prefer?
#36
Rafael--Don't forget the USS Cole, the Marine barracks in Beirut, the Achille Lauro, Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, etc., etc. This started a long time ago--Blix, Anti, Boris, and their ilk are just upset because we've finally decided we're not going to sit here and take it anymore.
Jen is right. The world is more dangerous for terrorists now. The gloves are off. Run, cowards!
Posted by: Dar ||
03/19/2004 14:34 Comments ||
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#39
You are truly becoming sad antiwar. No facts, arguments, logic, reason. Not even decent hyperbole. Have you ever really been challenged to examine your beliefs or plumbed the motives for the things you do in life? Try it some time and see how it weighs up. LIGHTWEIGHT.
#40
Apparently "Boris" is hosted on "Godaddy.com" (or through it). I just sent a very NASTY note to the president (president@godaddy.com). This guy needs to be hung out to dry. And Boris - I'm also a God-loving Christian, raised a southern Baptist, and trained by the Air Force and a ROK Marine to be one of the nastiest SOBs on the planet. Even with my bad back, you're toast, you piece of brain-dead fecal matter.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/19/2004 14:45 Comments ||
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#41
Odd Duck indeed. Go into town and vist/or make some friends antiwar. You will be happier and feel younger.
#44
Antiwar, how was Bush responsible for 9-11? I'm not baiting you, maybe you have some new information that I don't know about. BTW, saying that Bush "knew" about it is not the same.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 14:59 Comments ||
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#45
Dan is right in his post (#15). Everyone is accountable for themselves--not for what their ancestors did. Also, freedom is a huge threat to oppressors, because true freedom (springing from a foundation of responsibility, morality, and justice) empowers the individual. Freedom is the BIG DOG!
REGARDING POSTS #1-#18
Well, well, well. The neo-nazis have discovered Rantburg! Iâm a newcomer myself. Canât wait (yawn) to hear what they have to say, I mean spew. Whatever they come up with, it is certain that they will now attempt to garner experiences on this site that help them feel that they are powerful people. As top members of the âclubâ they've invented, they pretend to possess expert knowledge of world affairs! Get ready to be impressed! Not. The feelings they get from conforming to each other and uniting against an self-invented common âenemyâ ever bolsters their individual and group commitments to the âsubstitute for realityâ they have selected--i.e. their crazy mindsets.
These guys only post because they can--not because they have anything useful to contribute (obviously). Saying audacious things simply gives them a FEELING. The feelings then give them a false sense of affirmation. This helps them feel less alone in what they perceive to be the void of what they consider an existential universe. They will say anything, and teach themselves to believe anything, that will take their minds off their own, individual, personal places of discontent. They are mad for distraction. They absolutely MUST distract themselves. Otherwise the enveloping emptiness is too much for them to bear.
The silver lining is that their posts do serve to educate the rest of us about them and their disturbing mental states. (Know your enemy?) Some of them, sadly, will never find their way out of the hate and lies they adhere to. They are a blank, boring, dismal lot underneath all of the poison, the vitriol, the impotent screaming. Those who can think clearly will be able to recognize their pitiful plight fairly easily. They really need to figure out who theyâre truly angry at. If they would only think back through their own lives, beginning with their earliest memories, they might discover the truth about what motivates them.
Mike Morris is an interesting case in point.
First, I find it very suspect that Mike is at all seriously interested in discussing either politics or religion. But since heâs portraying himself as jumping into the soup, Iâll jump on in too. Besides, Iâm really sick of the neo-nazis reiterating their usual nonsense--ad nauseum--and would like to shut up their stupidity.
(NOTE: For those who do not wish to expose themselves to discussion with religious content--bail out here.)
On we go . . .
Mike tries, like all of his neo-nazi cohorts, to make the age-old argument that "the jews crucified Jesus" and that jews are now the quintessential bad guys of the world. ( I don't think he believes a word of what he's talking about, but, again, let's take him at face value for the sake of discussion.)
It is an interesting misconception, but a misconception nonetheless, that the "jews" ever crucified Jesus the Christ. According to the record, there were, in fact, jewish leaders that wanted Jesus dead because His words of freedom threatened their power base, their social position, their self-importance, and their chosen estrangement from God. But it was actually the Romans, under Pontius Pilate, who crucified Jesus. Roman soldiers were the instrument used. Mike Morris, if he were to be intellectually consistent, would therefore need to be carrying a grudge against the Italians! He also is overlooking the fact that there were plenty of jewish people who did not support the actions and intentions of their corrupt religious hierarchy, or of the Romans. When the jewish writers of the New Testament wrote that âthe jews crucified Jesus,â they were speaking only of those whose will was set against truth, those who allied themselves with corruption. Itâs therefore silly to say âTHEâ jews, like they are, or were, a standardized human conglomerate âunitâ of some sort.
Next, Mike, and the rest of his group, ignore the fact that almost all of the early christians were righteous (you guessed it) jews. Mary, the mother of our Lord, all of the disciples--Andrew, Paul, James, John, Peter, etc.--the common people, the writers of the Holy Scriptures--each and every one was of jewish origin. In fact, itâs kind of funny that the only reason Mike knows anything about Jesus at all (and I don't think he knows much) is because of what righteous hebrew men wrote, under inspiration from the Holy Spirit. So, again: the âjewsâ did not crucify Jesus, even though there were some jews--a minority of jews at that time--who supported it.
Thirdly, Mikeâs purported objection to the death of Jesus is but another misinformed inconsistency. He framed his point in such a way as to suggest that some very bad people killed someone of great importance to him. While the importance of Jesus is not being disputed in this post, the correct THEOLOGICAL understanding is that no one actually took Jesus' life. No one âkilledâ Jesus. No one could. According to the Scriptures, He gave His life willingly as an atonement for the sins of every individual, in order to restore them to right relationship with God (if they will accept it)--including âMike Morrisâ, âInchu Chunaâ, âKunta Kinteâ, âBorisâ, âantiwarâ, âmuck4dooâ, âdanâ , âDarâ, âJenâ, âBulldogâ and âex-libâ etc. It was the original âNo man left behindâ policy. And for those who have the inclination, the door is still open. The point is to figure out where each of us stands in relation to this Friend of Man--because, interestingly enough, according to the record, Heâs not dead after all.
Finally, if Mike has a serious beef about financial aid to Israel, or Iraq, or any other of the many countries the US helps out--great! Iâd like to learn more about what weâre giving to who and why. I imagine the neo-nazis will be curiously silent, however, on any discussion of merit . . .
#49
Funny how the "German Defense League" carries no German text or link to German text on their website. And of course "whois" takes us right back to Boris Pribich.
Yeah, Boris, you're world-*yawn*-wide. Ho hum...
Posted by: Dar ||
03/19/2004 16:05 Comments ||
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#50
"you are signing everyones death warrant by voting for Dubya. I suggest you think (for a change)and do not vote for him. "
Antiwar, you make me regret that I will never be able to vote for Bush even if I moved now to the US. This has been a constant itch since 9/11 but never as much as when I saw your abject post.
My country has emblazoned the words "Liberty, Equality, Freternity". Liberty as in having freedom of religion, Liberty as in not having to bow to a caliph, Liberty as in not having to accept barbarous, inhuman laws and as in being able to tell what I think of them. Equality as in women having same rights as men. Equality as in the testimony of a non-Muslim having the same value as the one of a Muslim, Equality as in not having Christians put to death for striking a Muslim in self defence while a Muslim murdering a Christian or a woman has his sentence halved (that is Sharia, ie Al Quaida's dream). And then there is Fraternity as in not seeking the extermination on people whose only crime is not regarding Mecca as the center of the world. I think such ideas deserve to be defended and, if necessary, to die for them: I don't want my daughters live in the world dreamed by wahabis.
But you, you are ready to abdicate all of your ideas as long as bin Laden spares your life. It is abject. It is stupid. Such people as bin Laden, Saddam or Hitler never keep their world. They could kill you to set an example or just for the fun of it. Do you know the meaning of "Vae Victis"? It means that once you have surrendered, everything can happen.
#52
Good post ex-lib. Your parts about posting should give us all pause to search our motives for being here. I learn something here everyday.
On another note "The Jews killed Jesus" is just stalking horse for these people to insert themselves and their politics into the discussion.
They should be ignored, mocked then banned.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/19/2004 16:24 Comments ||
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#54
whitecollar redneck: I agree (ignore, mock, ban), and I know they probably didn't even read it. I wasn't reålly writing for them, but for others who may be confused by their rhetoric. But I try to hold out hope for them nonetheless. (There, but for the grace of God, go I . . . )
Operatives like antiwar and the neo-nazis aren't for real. They believe if they keep telling the lie long enough people will believe it. And they're right, somewhat. It worked for Hitler, and it works for the terrorists now (consider Spain, American /Euro liberal nonsense thinking). Their job is to go on websites like this, find out what they can, and keep pushing the same "drug." I've only been on this site for a week, and I really don't think they're simply average people with wacky ideas. They never really respond to critical inquiry and discussion.
#58
For decent Rantburgers, please, skip or excuse the following insensitive address to Boris.
Wake the hell up Boris. Are you trying to convince us or entertain us when you regurgitate the canard-filled CAIR stump speech.
If you actually believe the drivel that you post, then your talent is truly being wasted by whatever your current occupation you are currently engaged in. Your guidance counselor should have encouraged you to harness you gullibility by seeking employment as Michael Jackson's wet-nurse.
You might be one of the rare individuals capable of rationalizing showing selections from Michael's private video collection to children. I doubt that you would even notice that Michael's copy of "The Muppet Movie" features anatomically correct sock puppets in the roles of Kermit and Miss Piggy? Most people would question whether Jim Henson ever scripted a movie for children that including puppets bumping, grinding and disrobing to a cheesy soundtrack. If you can ignore the warts on Senor Arafat, certainly, your exaggerated cognitive dissonance reduction reactions should allow you to walk right on by Jackson's "eccentricities."
Note - some of his pre-CTW experimental shorts like the cult classic Time Piece are edgy, though.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 23:39 Comments ||
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#59
Note - Those who tolerated my last ad-hominem attack on Boris, should be OK with the way I now address Antiwar.
Antiwar, You come off as a woman with residual prom trauma. Take some personal responsibility for the hygiene choices that repelled all suitors. If you had taken a weed-whacker to the steel wool staging a jail-break from your underarms, at least eight-fingered Billy Jo with his 2.0 average in a manual arts concentration would have been interested.
Lets face facts. The boys weren't checking out your booty; they had formed an anchor pool that involved speculation on when you might change your underwear next. Suzy who used to look at you getting dressed post-gym class wasn't bi-curious. The boys hired her to judge the competition.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 23:43 Comments ||
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#60
[/cruel shoes]
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 23:44 Comments ||
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Authorities said Friday they have arrested a Muslim guerrilla who confessed to kidnapping an American man in the southern Philippines four years ago. National police chief Hermogenes Ebdane said Alkis Asari Alih, 28, also known as Abu Jarin, was arrested March 13 in southern Zamboanga city. During initial interrogation, Alih, a member of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, confessed to participating in the abduction of Jeffrey Schilling, a Muslim convert seized in August 2000 after traveling to an Abu Sayyaf camp on Jolo island, Ebdane said. Schilling, of Oakland, Calif., escaped after almost eight months in captivity. His abduction initially set off doubts whether he was a hostage because he voluntarily traveled to the camp with his Filipina girlfriend. But Schilling later testified that Abu Sabaya, one of the group's leaders, had refused to let him go on suspicion that he worked for the CIA.
The al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf is notorious for kidnapping and beheading hostages. About a month after Schilling's escape, the guerrillas seized three Americans — Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Calif. and missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kan. Sobero was killed by the guerrillas and Martin Burnham died during a rescue raid. Gracia Burnham was wounded but was recovered by soldiers. Two of those captured, including Martin Burnham, died during a yearlong ordeal. Ebdane said Alih also confessed to having been one of the Burnhams' guards. The kidnapping spree prompted the United States to send troops and military instructors to help Filipino troops dislodge the rebels from their stronghold on Basilan island, near Jolo. The government says the Abu Sayyaf is now a spent force, down from about 1,000 members four years ago to about 300 now.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 6:18:04 PM ||
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Authorities said Friday they have arrested a Muslim guerrilla who confessed to kidnapping an American man in the southern Philippines four years ago.
National police chief Hermogenes Ebdane said Alkis Asari Alih, 28, also known as Abu Jarin, was arrested last Saturday in southern Zamboanga city.
During initial interrogation, Alih, a member of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, confessed to participating in the abduction of Jeffrey Schilling, a Muslim convert seized in August 2000 after traveling to an Abu Sayyaf camp on Jolo island, Ebdane said.
Schilling, of Oakland, California, escaped after almost eight months in captivity. His abduction initially set off doubts whether he was a hostage because he voluntarily traveled to the camp with his Filipina girlfriend. But Schilling later testified that Abu Sabaya, one of the group's leaders, had refused to let him go on suspicion that he worked for the CIA.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:11:53 PM ||
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A Malaysian oil-and-gas company whose subsidiary manufactured components for Libyaâs clandestine nuclear weapons program announced Friday it is selling some of its businesses, but did not say which ones. A wholly owned subsidiary, Scomi Precision Engineering Bhd., or SCOPE, was recently linked to a black market network that supplied Libya, Iran and North Korea with weapons-making technology. Scomi is controlled by Kamaluddin Abdullah, the only son of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
SCOPE manufactured some 25,000 centrifuge parts for enriching uranium that were seized last October en route to Libya. That operation uncovered a network led by Pakistanâs top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. Malaysian police cleared SCOPE of knowing the parts were bound for Libya, or intended for nuclear use. The company says it thought they were destined for the oil and gas industry in Dubai. Scomi built a factory to manufacture the parts between 2001 and 2003, but it said the deal âvalued at $3.42 million â amounted to a tiny fraction of its business. The deal was brokered by Buhary Abu Syed Tahir, a business associate of Kamaluddin who has been identified by President Bush as the chief financial officer of Khanâs network.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 12:41:53 PM ||
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Thailandâs national police chief and a regional army commander were fired Friday for failing to control growing unrest in the Muslim-dominated south. The dismissals were announced hours after unidentified arsonists set fire to about 40 sites in two southern provinces Thursday night. On Friday, a gunman on a motorcycle fatally shot a village headman at a tea shop. The violence highlights the growing ease with which assailants have been carrying out hit-and-run attacks in the south. More than 50 people â mostly security personnel and government officials â have been killed this year. Government officials have blamed Islamic separatists affiliated with to international terrorists, possibly the al-Qaida-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-Ngam said national police chief Gen. Sant Sarutanond and Lt. Gen. Pongsak Ekbanasing, the army commander of Region 4, which is responsible for the south, have been reassigned to work in the office of the prime minister. "The removal is mainly because of the unrest in the south," Wissanu told reporters. Deputy police commander Gen. Soonthorn Saikwan was appointed acting chief of police. There was no immediate word on who would replace Pongsak.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 12:05:20 PM ||
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Unidentified arsonists on motorcycles set a string of fires targeting mostly deserted police checkpoints in southern Thailand. The attackers set fire to nearly 40 sites in the provinces of Pattani and Songkhla late Thursday, Police Maj. Gen. Paithoon Pattanasophon said in a telephone interview. Paithoon reported no casualties from the blazes, adding that they caused panic but no major damage. Three government-owned trucks, five houses and at least 30 deserted police checkpoints were set on fire, he said. Many police checkpoints, the prime targets of attacks, were left unattended following a Jan. 4 raid on an army armory by suspected Muslim separatists. The fires were set between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. (1400-1500 GMT) in Pattani and about an hour later in neighboring Songkhla province. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks but police said eyewitnesses told them young men riding motorcycles set fire to the police checkpoints and then sped away.
A prominent lawyer, Somchai Neelahphaiji, who is defending five Muslims accused of participating in the raid and four suspected Thai members of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, went missing last Friday from a Bangkok hotel. Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh told reporters Thursday he has been kidnapped by unidentified people but denied state involvement. "The government has to take responsibility for the disappearance of lawyer Somchai,'' said Waedueramae Mamingchi, chairman of the Pattani Islamic Council. "If the government does not give priority to this, the violence will inevitably intensify ... I fear that this matter will sow discontent among the Muslims.''
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 2:31:51 AM ||
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Fires still burned on the outskirts of Qamishli on Friday, eight days after the start of Kurdish-Arab riots that spread to three other north Syrian towns and killed 25 people. Faisal Youssef, an executive of the Progressive Kurdish Party, said the city, 450 miles northeast of Damascus, was returning to normal, but local Kurdish groups have canceled their celebrations to mark Nowruz, the Kurdish New Year, which falls on Sunday. The festivities, which usually feature bonfires and folk dancing, will not take place "to prevent infiltrators from undermining historic relations between Kurds and Arabs," Youssef said Thursday by telephone.
Kurds in Syria, Iran, Turkey and Lebanon and Iranians mark Nowruz on March 21 every year. The feast, which symbolizes purification of the soul, dates back to the pre-Islamic religion of Zoroastrianism. Clouds of smoke that could be seen in neighboring Turkey rose from barns of fodder set alight last weekend during the riots, Youssef said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 1:55:34 PM ||
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#1
kinda is what happens when a people who have been subjucated for centuries see's the stirring of freedom and democracy next door...hahahahaha
Posted by: Dan ||
03/19/2004 16:14 Comments ||
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A website linked to the terrorist organization Hamas has been hosted in Sweden. It has moved to a host in Russia. The security police has had this site on its radar for a long time, but hasnât done anything about it... Instead it was the Internet provider TeliaSonera that shut down the site after receiving complaints from e.g., the Jewish Community in Gothenburg.
Click here for some examples from the website. You will find excerpts from The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, fatwas, and stories by suicide bombers. I wonder who the guy is on the right side of the Hamas leader Abd al-Aziz al-Rantissi.
The web host company has received about $2650 per month from a group of Palestinian students in Lebanon. Ousama Al-Mardini has most of his customers in the Middle East.
Trimmed to one paragraph; I suggest reading the whole thing.
The Serbs will flee and the UN with them. The US offensive in Pakistan and Afghanistan, unrest among Syrian Kurds and continued resistance to the Mullahs in Iran against which the Islamists can mount no military riposte has naturally reduced them to attacking civilian targets wherever they can -- attacks which the press represents as great victories -- and there are no softer targets than those in Europe. The dreadful strokes which will now descend upon the Old Continent will not, as some imagine, bring down the New. They will simply smite the Old, passing easily through their Maginot Line of treaties and accords with the same ease as an icepick through a sheet of paper. Reiterating some comments on my âblog: There was a 48 hour turnaround between the new Spanish Governmentâs declarations and the upsurge in violence there. Thatâs pretty fast; theyâve either planned this or are adapting very fast. I think theyâve been searching for a while for a place where their attacks are effective, not in a tactical sense of being able to massacre civilians, but in being able to turn it to strategic advantage. You see, the terrorists, as far as the Iraqi theater of operations go, are having problems, unless something changes soon (and it might): they can kill a lot of civilians but it doesnât get them anywhere. Contrast this with the Tet Offensive, which did have strategic (or perhaps the better term is moral? Hmm, too many different meanings there) effects despite the fact that the VC sufffered huge casualties and lost the battles. Giap wrote that they thought they had lost the Tet Offensive, until they saw the TV reports of demonstrations in the US. Al Qaeda needs a place to fight battles where theyâll have a strategic effect even if they lose. I suspect they think theyâve just found it.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/19/2004 6:02:26 PM ||
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contrast this with the tet offensive, which did have strategic (or perhaps the better term is moral? hmm, too many different meanings there)
the word you're looking for is morale.
Posted by: robert crawford ||
03/19/2004 20:10 Comments ||
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When I first saw how Dan had titled this, I thought he was alluding to the unusual use for toothpaste the the Gitmo Islamikooks were developing.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 20:30 Comments ||
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Robert: you're probably right; it's just that morale gets used in other ways than the meaning I'm thinking of, too.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/19/2004 20:50 Comments ||
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Good post, Phil!
This Belmont Club guy is very good--the blogosphere's own Victor Davis Hanson.
I,too, posited on my blog that the new violence in Kosovo was linked to Spain's latest events.
Looks like it's open season for IslamoFascist terrorists in EUrope.
Damn. What an awful week.
If only the US, UK and NATO troops would change sides and help the Serbs!
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 21:43 Comments ||
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#5
PROUFOUND PROUFOUND!!! How short sighted can we we be! We must MUST take a lesson fron the history books of the communist agenda to "take over the world" Lets all look at the profile that is now history "and remember history repeats itself" and take some pages out of Lennin for he was the "fire-brand" on the revolution ; Karl Marx was just the philosopher which agitated the masses: QUESTION? are we experiencing a parallell to the communist revolution but now in the name of dogmatic islamic (note the non capitalization) fundemalatist who belive that WORLD DOMINATION will be achived through murder and mayhem against civilized populations. In the early 19'hundreds Lennin, Trotsky, Bulganin, Beira, Stalin et-al would love to have been in the position al-quida is in today; the possibility of WORLD terrorisim, all they could hope for was what ended up as the ex "soviet-"NON" union" and that is all al-quida and their "rag-head" followers can hope for. I have but one lasting wish for them "GO TO FU%$#&)-HELL" JUST LIKE ALL YOUR FRIENDS: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Idi Amin, and all the many others who thought that they could take over the human will to live and be free.
@ century The sxn perptrated erl Marks
Posted by: Barry ||
03/20/2004 3:12 Comments ||
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The Internet has replaced Afghanistan as the main meeting place for radical Islamists, according to experts studying Al Qaeda's presence on the web.
We've noted that here from time to time, I think ...
They say the Internet is one of Al Qaeda's key survival tools, through which it is waging a relentless propaganda campaign to incite war against the West. Thomas Hegghammer, who researches Islamist websites at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, last year found a 42-page document detailing how terrorist attacks timed for the Spanish elections could damage the Western coalition in Iraq. "Spain can stand a maximum of two or three attacks before they will withdraw from Iraq," the document said. With hindsight, it suggests a further possible link between Al Qaeda and the Madrid blasts. "What was surprising both to us and to other analysts was the level of sophisticated analytical thinking in the document," Mr Hegghammer said.
That's because a lot of people make the mistake of assuming that just because they're crazy they aren't also exceedingly ruthless and sophisticated SOBs. I don't.
"It is very informed about the internal political situation in Spain, in Britain, as well as in Poland. This is quite unique in the Al Qaeda literature which we've seen so far."
The reference to the UK and Poland may be a clue about other future attacks. My guess is that the UK's safe for now and will remain so as long the Tories are more hawkish than Labour. Not too sure about the Poles, though.
Mr Hegghammer says there may now be tens of thousands of Islamist web sites inciting violence.
I'm not sure there are nearly that many, at least in terms of which ones have ties back to the official propaganda line from the media committee. ICT pegged the figure in the low dozens in early 2002 and let's say it's doubled since then, but that still only makes it ~100 websites that we're talking about here. The rest are just wannabes, though they still do the wetwork of recruiting and indoctrinating new krazed killers.
He says Al Qaeda is not just a terrorist organisation but sees itself as a global movement, an ideology out to win over the Islamic world. "The Internet is important in maintaining a certain cohesion among like-minded radical Islamists," Mr Hegghammer said. "It has, in a sense, replaced Afghanistan as a meeting place." But how easy is it to log on to Al Qaeda? It often has to shut down or move its websites but Lateline reporter Margot O'Neill yesterday found Al Qaeda's main website functioning freely, off an Internet server in Germany.
That would probably be al-Neda (the Call), though Farooq.net has replaced it in recent months. My guess is that whichever one it is it won't be there tomorrow - these sites move fast.
The site is not just religious tracts. Al Qaeda now videos many of its actions and puts them online, like the horrific murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Mr Hegghammer does not believe the West should try to shut down such websites, saying it could learn from them instead.
I would agree, except that orders are now being issued online. That was how both the An Najaf crowd and Istanboomers got their marching orders and my education takes second fiddle to people being killed.
"The thing that we, the West, might do with the Internet and with all these radical Islamist websites is not to close them down or track them down but rather to read them more in detail and to try to understand the ideology," he said. "That is where you really get the early signs of the ideological developments, which are later going to affect us, or might affect us, physically." Former Reuters journalist Paul Eedle is one person who has been examining radical Islamic websites closely, who has become one of the world's leading experts on Al Qaeda's use of the Internet. In an interview with Lateline's Tony Jones, the award-winning reporter says Al Qaeda is using the Internet to spread a sophisticated propaganda campaign, as well as using it for training and operational purposes. And he says it is virtually impossible for intelligence agencies to track down Al Qaeda messages because of their simple approach.
It's the same reason we can't shut down the kiddy porn business, more or less. Or these idiot spammers that we've been dealing with recently.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 12:27:36 AM ||
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Argh. I tried to change the font color for me and it didn't work.
Back to the drawing board, I guess ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 0:52 Comments ||
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#2
Ah, there we go.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 0:58 Comments ||
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#3
Ummm... That's pretty hideous.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 0:58 Comments ||
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#4
Really? It looks like dark orange on my comp.
But then again, Steve's color looks pinkish to me ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:07 Comments ||
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#8
It looks like dark orange on my monitor. Let me get my daughter's Crayola-256 set out and I'll see if I can give you a better match :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2004 1:15 Comments ||
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After a long day on screen between work and RB, the burning orange highlight gives me brain the effect that the comments are standing out of the screen, like 3-D. I am going for one of the fine beers my dentist gave me when he called me back to fix a mistake. A six pack. No S--t!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/19/2004 1:15 Comments ||
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#10
Steve's comments are in a salmon color background, black foregrund.
Dan - yours are navy blue on black on my browser (on Linux). Could be some non-standard Microsoft-IE-ish things the code is putting out. Or else Konqueror has a rendering bug I can report. Be sure your RGB is in the proper order and isnt exceeding boundaries.
#14
That's not any better, Dan. I get a nasty mustard color with black type. It's almost billious... I've cleaned stuff that color off the backside of sick babies.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/19/2004 1:37 Comments ||
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Dan
Looks great.
What's happening in Wazzirriland?
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
03/19/2004 1:40 Comments ||
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...I am NOT joking when I tell you that on My computer, it's chartreuse.
And I cannot find chartreuse on my Homeland Security Color Code Decoder Ring. I am so darn confused...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/19/2004 2:02 Comments ||
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I can take chartreuse. It's the pepto that's making me sick *ugh*
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 2:11 Comments ||
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I'm getting that mustard color. How about a nice lime green?
#19
Okay, enough! Call in the Web Decorators, Fred. The pros will pull out theur color wheels and do magic so that it looks the same on every monitor for every browser (yall know about browser-safe color values, right folks?), but most importantly it won't look like baby-shit or something from a bachelor's refrigerator or -- heaven forbid -- clash!
I have just listened to President Bushâs speech on CNN. I just couldnât leave the keyboard without saying something. Because the warmth of the Presidentsâ words of friendship and commitment to our people really did make my eyes moisten. Not even the openly hostile report by the CNN reporter could spoil the feeling.
God will be on the side of good men, and it is clear for this middle-aged man who the good men are.
Hail dear El Bush. Thanks to you and all the Coalition men and women. Long may live our alliance and friendship. Victory by the Grace and Help of Allah is assured.
#1
Wow, Sherry! Thanks for posting.
As well as making our own country more secure, hearing what liberation and freedom means to Iraqis like Alaa make our efforts worthwhile, doesn't it?
Posted by: Jen ||
03/19/2004 20:57 Comments ||
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DEBKAfile Reports Exclusively: Pakistan red-faced on discovering âhigh valueâ terrorist target its troops surrounded in Waziristan was not bin Ladenâs No. 2 Zuwahiri but chief of Pushtun Ahmadi tribal federation. DEBKA sources estimate that any harm to Pushtun chief would spark wholesale tribal war offensive against Pakistan
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/19/2004 3:38:02 PM ||
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#1
DEBKA... about as reliable as the Iraqi Info Minister.
#3
If Pakistan can't control their own territory they might as well pack it in as a nation. They should have taken over the tribal areas long ago when they propped up the Taliban and were the big players in the region.
If Debka is right I'd guess this is all a cover story by Mushariff to cover the fact that someone got away, or he let them get away, or by the Pushtuns hoping to get the heat turned off.
#4
Sometimes they hit the nail on the head, other times, DEBKA can give Ol' Bagdad Bob a run for his money.
Makes me suspect they have a tap somewhere early on in the intelligence pipeline, before things get sorted out more exactly. Either that, or they're just really good at making stuff up.
"Kabul - Britain has sent about 100 special forces to Afghanistan as the hunt for Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri heats up, an airport official said on Friday.
The British soldiers arrived at Kabul International Airport on March 10 and left the same night for an unknown destination, said the official, who asked not to be named.
British special forces "looking like SAS" embarked from their plane and waited on the tarmac until nightfall before taking off in their vehicles, said the official, referring to Britain's elite Special Air Service.
A spokesperson for the British embassy in Kabul said he was unable to comment on operations involving special forces.
Britain has a small number of troops serving as part of the 13 500-strong United States-led coalition in Afghanistan.
However, there are about 420 British soldiers working as part of the Nato-led peacekeeping international security assistance force here.
The news comes as Afghan, Pakistani and United States-led coalition forces beefed up their operations along the Afghan-Pakistan border to capture Al-Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies.
Jordan sent a contingent of about 100 special forces to the southeastern border areas of Afghanistan this week, an Afghan military official said on Friday.
The Arab-speaking soldiers will try to infiltrate Arabs working with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, said the official."
I hadn't heard about the Jordanians.
Posted by: Tibor ||
03/19/2004 16:52 Comments ||
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Underling: "General Musharraf! You know that 'high value' target we were pursuing? Well it turned out to be Ahmadi Masoud of the Pushtuns. What should we do now?"
#7
NZ also sent in a few dozen SpecOps three weeks ago...
New Zealand sends 50 SAS troops back to Afghanistan
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-03/09/content_1355436.htm
WELLINGTON, March 9 (Xinhuanet) -- New Zealand Special Air Service(SAS) troops are going back to Afghanistan as American efforts to find Osama bin Laden intensify, Auckland-based New Zealand Herald reported Tuesday.
The paper quoted Prime Minister Helen Clark as saying Monday that up to 50 SAS troops would go to Afghanistan from April 1 for "long-range reconnaissance and direct action missions."
Helen Clark said the six-month mission followed talks with the United States, but she stopped short of saying the New Zealand hadbeen asked to send special forces.
"We've been talking with them for some time ... Everybody is stepping up now," she said.
#8
yeah, yeah...I'm not impressed. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but it seems to me that these "high value targets" always seem to miraculously slip away (or, doh! weren't there in the first place) only to get caught again a few months later...looking like they haven't bathed or changed their clothes for the entire time they were gone.
I think they got him. It just feels like they did.
Posted by: B ||
03/19/2004 18:26 Comments ||
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#9
Fred Pruitt beware, Zionists with patriotic aliases are setting you up for Treason against United States; they post here to give the appearance of unbiased discussion while inducing you to censor the truth while Americans die on basis of Zionist lies, see link.
http://AmericanDefenseLeague.com/iraqr454.htm
Posted by: Patriotic American ||
03/19/2004 18:30 Comments ||
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#9, you are an idiot.
Posted by: Scott ||
03/19/2004 18:34 Comments ||
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Scott, truth hurts if you're a Zionist, doesn't it?
#12
[ignoring looneyman trying to raise his google numbers cause his site is too pathetic to attract anyone with an IQ over 75]
Futhering my post...that's how I'd do it if I were pres.
I choose to believe that we went in there and snatched him last night. But now we pretend we don't have him so amnausea interwaah!tional and the media don't have the option of complaining 24/7 that his wrist bands are too tight and he's not getting enough sleep...isn't that Bush such a meeanie.
That's what I choose to believe. I like it.
Posted by: B ||
03/19/2004 18:52 Comments ||
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You know, I wouldn't put it past the CIA or whomever to get a group of guys to dress up like special forces and go around from airport to airport in the turd world freaking people out and keeping them off guard.
#14
FWIW, Fox News commentators (incl. Monsoor Ijaz sp?) say: a) it is Zawaheri and he may be seriously wounded, b) the Chechens and others defending him tried to crash armored cars through the line of attackers to spring him but failed, c) the Pakistanis underestimated the defenders and some senior Pakistani officials / officers are probably being held hostage and d) Task Force 121 are there trying to clean this up and free the hostages.
Posted by: laid up and watching TV ||
03/19/2004 20:25 Comments ||
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#15
Monsieur Monsour (hah - I always wanted to say that) is a lot like DEBKA. Salt needed often.
#18
I was just struck with a totally irrational thought, but the damned thing won't go away. With this attack, a lot of people who have been skating by under the radar are suddenly committing themselves, mostly AGAINST Perv. I wonder if some of this might be a ploy by Mussarif to flush his enemies out in the open, where he can whack 'em. At the same time, I'm also assuming there IS someone in there they want, or they just want to show overwhelming force, so the tribes understand just who is boss in Pakiland.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/19/2004 23:10 Comments ||
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#19
On Fox they (Ijaz and a American named Col Hunt) just reiterated that Al Zawahri is believed in there. The guy who tried to break through the cordon is being DNA-checked, they said. They also indicated that, though we have a deal with Perv and all credit will go to him / Pakis, Task Force 121 is, indeed, on the ground there. So sayeth Fox guests.
LMAO, we must be doing a number on these asshats... someone should let them know that begging for us to stop pounding them is not the most effective way to inspire fear in us ;)
DUBAI (Reuters) - A Taliban spokesman vowed on Friday the group will attack U.S. and Pakistan forces if they do not stop hunting Taliban and al Qaeda militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan (news - web sites) border.
"We will carry out more attacks against international coalition forces if they continue to chase us," the spokesman, identified as Abdul Latif Hakimi, said in taped comments translated into Arabic by Al Jazeera television.
"The Pakistani government has betrayed us in a way that history wonât forget and this is why we will launch attacks against them," said Hakimi, whose face was covered when he appeared in the broadcast.
#3
I hope that by us "hunting" them that he means "shooting and killing" them. If that's what he really means, then I'm all for more hunting of Taliban/Al Qaida members.
#7
Let me get this straight: they'll kill us if we do, and kill us if we don't. Guess what, it's hunting season!!!
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 15:02 Comments ||
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Quagmire! Quagmire! It's so bad even the guys have to wear burkas.
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2004 15:24 Comments ||
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#9
hakimi has now reportedly denied the statement. "we dont care what happens in Pakistan, we're afghans" Thats the problem with interviewing guys in masks.
#10
The "Big Men" of the world are runnin' from lil' ol' us? Well, I never . . .!
I think we better stop CHASING them. They might get a self-esteem complex or something. They might have to cover up their faces and go on tv, or something. They might have to die or something . . .
#11
1)Hard to use that fake passport if you've just gone on TV showing your face.
2)George Bush may speak Spanish,but he thinks Texan.In other words you idiot,this ain't Spain!
Posted by: Stephen ||
03/19/2004 15:40 Comments ||
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#13
Aren't they just SKERRY with that mask on? When I was growing up only the BAD GUYS wore masks! Exception being the Lone Ranger and buddy you aint riding a horse! I bet Abdul would put up a good fight like Saddam did: 'Don't shoot! I wet myself!" Step on their neck and shoot em in the head!
#14
hahahahahaha! bunch of dumb asses...we said we going in big time in the spring (so spring starts a few weeks early).....should've gotten your rotten asses out before...but then again not too many places left to go......hahahahahaha...could go to china--- i am sure you will be treated with respect and diginity by the chicoms..hahahahahaha
Posted by: Dan ||
03/19/2004 16:08 Comments ||
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Who do they think they are talking to? Spain? France?
#16
Fred, I just figured out a way to provide unlimited financial support for your site: Issue Wahabbit hunting licenses at a buck or two a pop. Require that they be renewed annually. No bag limit, no possession allowed. Any type of weapon, including humor and porn, are acceptable, but limited to "good taste". Wahabbits cannot be taken between 12:49:45 and 12:50:00 AM, alternate full-moon Fridays, otherwise there are no limits. I'll drop a check in the mail on Monday.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/19/2004 17:36 Comments ||
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Old Patriot, do we have to dress up like Elmer Fudd and have that annoying chuckle. Where do I send the money! Or we could do a take off of the Trix comercial. "Silly Wahabbit, dicks are for Chicks!"
President Aleksander Kwasniewski told President Bush on Friday that Polish troops will stay in Iraq ``as long as needed, plus one day longer,'' his national security adviser said. I knew the Poles had balls.
The comments came one day after Kwasniewski said Polish troops might leave Iraq months earlier than planned and that Poland had been ``misled'' by intelligence concerning Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction arsenal. That's how the press quoted him.
Kwasniewski pledged to keep the troops in Iraq during a phone call from Bush marking the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the adviser, Marek Siwiec, told reporters. Siwiec said Bush thanked Kwasniewski for Poland's military involvement in Iraq. Poland commands a multinational force of some 9,500 troops - including 2,400 of its own - in south-central Iraq.
``President Kwasniewski confirmed our further involvement in the Iraqi mission and that we will be there as long as needed, plus one day longer,'' Siwiec said. Nice to know who you can count on.
The White House moved quickly to underline Poland's commitment, distributing a statement from the Polish embassy in Washington that cited `misinterpretations' of Kwasniewski's earlier remarks.
``Poland will not withdraw from Iraq until the mission of stabilization is successfully accomplished and counts on effective cooperation with the United States, Great Britain, Spain and other NATO and UN members states,'' the embassy statement said. Ooooh, do I detect a bitch slap in there?
It said Saddam Hussein had ``misled the world in believing that he had had the weapons of mass destruction and might use them. This was the essential reason to take up the mission in Iraq.'' The statement quoted Kwasniewski as saying that a decisive factor in fighting terrorism was for democratic states to maintain unity and solidarity. ``Demonstration of weakness in the face of terrorist attacks aims at the foundations of democracy and security of all nations and world peace,'' the embassy said. Amen
Siwiec said Kwasniewski's Thursday comment about being ``misled'' was meant to criticize intelligence failures in general, not Washington. ``It was not a complaint by Poland addressed to the United States,'' he said. On Thursday, Kwasniewski told French reporters he felt ``uncomfortable due to the fact that we were misled with the information on weapons of mass destruction,'' according to a transcript released by his press office. Ahhh, French reporters. That explains the spin.
He then told a separate news conference, ``This is the problem of the United States, of Britain and also of many other nations.'' True.
Kwasniewski had also said Poland might start withdrawing its troops from Iraq early next year, months before a planned withdrawal. He had cited progress toward stabilizing Iraq.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/19/2004 2:03:28 PM ||
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If only. Poland's place is in Europe, not in North America (Zbigniew Brzezinski). Sadly, they will learn that the hard way, sooner or later. Poland's help in Iraq, not to mention their antagonism towards France et. al. will soon be forgotten. My advice is to cozy-up to the UK instead; there's no chance of being left stranded in the middle of the Atlantic.
Background: Kwasniewski went to Washington to ask Bush to remove visas for Polish citizens, and for a couple of contracts in Iraq. Bush told him to fuck off. Even the Mexicans, as it now turns out, and Austrians, who vehemently opposed the Iraq war, got a better deal. This did not go over well with the public, as recent polling indicates nationalism is on the rise.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 14:47 Comments ||
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I think people need to remember, the Poles faced Nazi tanks on horse back. They were part of the very few who held backthe Nazi bombing campaign during the Battle of Britian. They parachuted behind enemy lines during Operation MarketGarden.
Yeah, I think they've got the backbone to stay the course. They certainly are a more steadfast ally than some other people (read French, German) we saved in WWII and with the defeat of the Soviet Union.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
03/19/2004 16:34 Comments ||
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Rafael,
I agree that not relaxing the visa requirement for Poles (and other friendly Eastern Europeans) was wrong. If the US is worried about illegal immigration, then a pilot project of 12 months of visa free travel could be implemented and statistics taken on the visa overstay rate. A permanent decision could then be taken. The US already has 10-12 million illegal immigrants.
I don't know enough about the reconstruction contracts and I don't know what Poland produces. What contracts was Poland hoping for (i.e. electric generating plants, machinery)?
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2004 18:30 Comments ||
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#4
now if the french were under the communist yoke for 50 years they would have a better understanding of what is means to be free.
rafael - Bush did not tell the Polich to fuck off - instead they were told to bid like everyone else. but that is not what the left wants you to know - they want you to believe that halliburton got all the contracts - when in reality it is open to all, unfortunetley in my opinion.
and no Polands help will not be forgotten - did we forget the help of Australlia, Korea, Britain ect with thier help over the years? no we did not and we are still standing with. we are still standing with the Koreans over 50 years after the cease-fire. we have stood by the Chinese of Taiwan also for over 50 years..so i must say your reasoning is full of holes.
the Poles have a good reason to be antagonized by the french - especially when their leaders act as if the rest of the EU countries are their french poodles..do you remember the comment about keeping their mouths shut?? doesn't make for any endearment...and plus the Poles (as do the countries of Africa,Asia, Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East) know who they can count on when the shit hit's the fan. the eurotrash only pay lip service to defense and the countries of the world see right through this.
Posted by: Dan ||
03/19/2004 18:36 Comments ||
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#5
What contracts was Poland hoping for
Poland lost a big contract to supply the new Iraqi army and police. Kwasniewski's Washington visit would have been a waste of time under the best of circumstances, but what pissed people off the most was that countries (like Austria) who actively opposed the war, in the end, got better deals.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 19:50 Comments ||
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#6
i can see bumar's bid was 70% more than the winning bid. is the problem that the bid requirements were changed and bumar did not have enough time to make a new bid?
also most if the $18.5 for iraq reconstruction that the us will spend this year has not been bid.
what about bids to supply the occupation forces in iraq and the new iraq army?
in some area's eastern european countries should have an advantage since iraqis are more familiar with their equipment.
a dispute erupted in poland over why bumar lost the tender. bumar's bid was for $554 million, while the winner asked $327 million. perhaps the issue was not to have a specific company win the tender, but to give preference to companies already well rooted in iraq and the middle east as well as companies operating in the united states, an observer said.
in the course of the tender procedure, the americans changed the terms of the tender, including the quantity of equipment ordered, the list of countries admitted to the tender, the deadline for submitting bids and the criteria of selecting the winner. this raised protests from bumar. a source knowledgeable on american relations but wishing to remain anonymous has told gazeta wyborcza daily that bumar either jacked up its costs or set excessive profit margins and agent fees. one other factor that might have determined its failure was that 95 percent of the production was to be handled in poland, while the offers of its rivals were more international in character.
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2004 20:11 Comments ||
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#7
The more I read about it, the more I suspect that someone saw an opportunity to get super rich and f'cked up the deal. In which case they deserved it. I think I need to re-evaluate my sources.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 20:48 Comments ||
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U.S. and Afghan troops have captured "semi-senior" terrorist leaders along the border with Pakistan, an Afghan government spokesman told The Associated Press on Friday. The news came as border officials said Pakistan appeared to have blocked roads leading from the showdown in the South Waziristan tribal area, where Pakistani officials said forces had trapped al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri in a massive four-day offensive. The arrests were made somewhere in Afghanistanâs lawless border provinces, Jawed Ludin, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told the AP. He said it was unclear if those detained had fled the battle in Pakistan and declined to give any details of who might be in custody. "In recent days, there have been arrests, there have been encounters," Ludin said. "Some of the arrests have included semi-senior leadership within the terrorist elements on the Afghan side, possibly with strong links to al-Qaida."
The Afghan government considers holdouts from the ousted Taliban regime terrorists, but Ludin declined to give details or comment on their nationality. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said he did not know of any such arrests in the last few days, though several members of the Taliban had been detained in recent weeks. None was a top leader, Hilferty said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 1:50:56 PM ||
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#4
Bagging mid level management is OK, but Top Level Management is going to need a big game tag. However, they can be had after the hunt, if the situation requires a timely response.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/19/2004 17:56 Comments ||
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#5
Top of the heap, "mid-level management", or lowest go-fer, it doesn't matter to me as long as they whack 'em all, and they don't get reincarnated at anything higher than pond scum. The more we kill, the fewer there are to breed.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/19/2004 19:33 Comments ||
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Hardline Islamic clerics in Pakistan denounced on Friday a military operation against al Qaeda militants and said it could breed more terror strikes.
"This operation in Wana will ultimately increase terrorism in reaction to the government's oppression on innocent civilians," said Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, head of the pro-Taliban Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam party.
"The army can make a government tremble by using the power of the gun, but they cannot control resistance."
Rehman accused the government of succumbing to U.S. pressure and "irrational use of force against civilians".
"It will lose support for its war against terrorism by killing its own countrymen and those blamed for terrorism will only gain," he said
Rehman said the foreigners the Pakistani army was hunting were mostly central Asian origin and had lived in the tribal belt since the mid-1980s when they fought the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
"They fought against the Russians and they have lived in Pakistan's tribal belt since then. They have married here and they are now mixed with our people," he said.
"They were considered heroes during Cold War by our army, but now they are labelled as terrorists by the same army -- it's U.S. pressure and nothing else."
Mufti Nzaimuddin Shamzai, a senior cleric at Karachi's radical Binori Town religious school, also accused the government of caving in to U.S. pressure.
"The operation will only create more hatred and reaction in the country, it will not resolve the problem of terrorism," said Shamzai, who called for a holy war in 2001 in response to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that overthrew the Taliban.
"They are resisting because they have no option other then to resist," he said of the militants under attack. "I fear the operation could threaten the very fibre of the state."
Shamzai was once a close associate of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the leader of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban movement that has re-emerged as a guerrilla force being hunted by U.S. forces.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:24:03 PM ||
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#1
This war will be significantly shortened if we just start whacking a few of these "imams", "mullahs", and their mouthpieces. You're just as guilty if you incite a riot that kills people as the ones actually doing the killing. Hang their heads from the minarets, and bury their bodies in mass graves, alternating with layers of porkers.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/19/2004 19:36 Comments ||
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Cutting out all of the stuff we already know to get to the new info.
The operation was launched in Shin Warsak, Zha Ghondai and Kaloosha villages to flush out suspected Al Qaeda militants, Taliban and their local protectors, officials said.
Inter Services Public Relations chief Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said he had no figures about casualties suffered by troops, but highly credible sources said that six soldiers were killed and as many wounded in the fighting.
Casualties among the militants were not known but one official source said this could be 'very high' given the fact that civilians in the area had been evacuated to safe locations.
Officials said that 7,000 regular troops of the Pakistan Army and paramilitary Frontier Corps were pressed into action backed up by Cobra helicopter gunships and F-7 fighter jets to capture or kill foreign militants and their local protectors.
"We are taking extra care to ensure that unconcerned people are not troubled. As for the militants; we had given them ample time to surrender peacefully or leave the area. They and their local protectors have brought this upon themselves. They asked for it," South Waziristan administrator Muhammad Azam Khan told Dawn on phone from Wana.
The area was cordoned off at around 0700 hours and residents in the entire stretch of operation were given three hours to evacuate to two designated places in an obvious effort to what an official described as separate the 'good from the bad'.
Locals in Wana said about 1,200 families had taken shelter in the dusty town to escape shelling in the embattled zone. "There is chaos and panic. It's been a hellish day with shells falling and guns booming all around," said a resident reached on phone.
Officials said the troops engaged the militants at 10am once the three-hour deadline given to civilians expired. Locals in Wana said a shell hit a house in Kazha Panga killing 13-year-old Din Muhammad and wounding 13 others, including three women and five children.
The bodies and the wounded were taken to a private hospital, they said. Officials said that troops mostly used heavy artillery and fired mortars and rockets on militants holed up in compounds.
"We believe that some foreign militants are still out there, probably making their last stand," Brig Shah said. But most militants had left Kaloosha after putting up a bloody resistance to paramilitary troops on Tuesday, he added.
In Kuth Kali, a small village near Karikot, militants believed to be foreigners were offering tough resistance, officials said. "Our guys on the field who have engaged them say militants don't seem to understand Pushto," said one senior official.
Troops were firing mortars into Kuth Kali till after midnight when this report was filed. "I can still hear explosions. I have lost my sleep," said Muhammad Dilawar, a resident in Karikot.
Officials said that fierce winds and cloudy weather prevented helicopters from taking full part in the operation. Fighter jets were usedonly to provide cover to ground troops, they added.
But while troops battled militants at four different locations, the major thrust of the operation was Shin Warsak, a relatively plain area surrounded by small hillocks with a population of about 10,000.
Dawn has learnt on good authority that one of the men who had broken through a paramilitary security cordon in what looked like a bulletproof double-cabin pick-up truck amid hails of bullets on Tuesday could be Ayman Al Zawahiri.
Sources said the truck, which had survived bullets, was later found abandoned after it had rammed into a wall. "He seems to have been wounded and appears to be holed up somewhere in that area," claimed two different sources. "It is Shin Warsak where troops are facing the stiffest resistance," said these sources.
One source familiar with the Tuesday's operation said the truck that had broken through the cordon was closely followed by two other speeding pick-ups. Both, however, were blown up by paramilitary troops with mortars and shells.
A credible source said the sheer number of foreign militants - between 500 and 600 - who had put up a big fight on Tuesday, had raised suspicions of the likely presence of a 'high-value target.'
Another source told Dawn that the Egyptian surgeon was believed to be hiding in Shin Warsak. A senior security official acknowledged his men in the field too had picked up the same intelligence but said it was still too early to say anything with certainty.
"There is this perception. Let's hope this is true. If he is there, nothing like it," said the official. He, however, thought that Ayman Al Zawahiri and his men, if they were there, would rather want to put up a last stand and die than give themselves up. "Unless, of course, they run out of ammunition," he added.
Officials said troops surrounding the area were not going into the villages due to darkness and fierce resistance by the suspected foreign militants holed up there.
"Our men have also picked up these reports from the field but I don't think this is true," one official said. Officials said the operation was likely to continue for the next couple of days.
"We are determined to finish this business as quickly as possible," said Brig Shah. "There will be no let-up until we have wiped out the militants and cleaned the entire area."
Haji Pazir adds from Miramshah: An army major and a soldier were killed when a convoy they were accompanying was ambushed in the Shawal area in the North Waziristan Agency.
Maj Waheed, company commander, and Musa Khan, a nursing orderly, died and three others were wounded when attacked by suspected militants near Dabar Miyami.
There was an exchange of fire that lasted for about two hours, officials said, adding both sides used heavy weapons. In another incident, two soldiers were injured when a military truck hit a landmine on the Mirali-Miramshah road. The injured were taken to the agency headquarters hospital in Miramshah.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:07:36 PM ||
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#5
Pakistani's won't go in at night, very wise. Still, a few Yank Special ops with nightvision, sniper rifles, and whatever they use to contact airpower could certainly keep the bad guys entertained throughout the night.
Gunmen attacked a paramilitary rangers' patrol in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday, killing one officer and wounding six other people. The gunmen sprayed the vehicle with bullets from their own car on the main Faisal Road before fleeing. Two officers were critically wounded while four bystanders were also injured, police said. "It could be a reaction to the Wana operation," police chief of investigation, Fayyaz Leghari, told the Associated Press.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:06:05 PM ||
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General Shaukat Sultan told reporters in Islamabad that it would be ``speculation'' to say the target is Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top aide in the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
The fighters, armed with machineguns, mortars and rocket- propelled grenades, are putting up intense resistance that has caused many casualties among the Pakistani troops, Sultan said without providing details of casualties. The Pakistanis have responded with strikes from Cobra helicopters, while so far holding off on the use of warplanes, he said.
``From the preparedness and the hardened fortresses that they have built, we assume the presence of a high-value target but we are not sure who it is,'' Sultan said.
Pakistanis and foreigners are among the fighters being hunted in the operation, Sultan said. Two of those killed by the military today were identified as a Chechen and an Arab, he said without elaborating. Twenty-six fighters were killed on Tuesday.
The Pakistani operation to hunt down the fighters ranges across an area of 50 square kilometers (20 square miles), taking in mountains and lowlands, Sultan said. The assault on their positions began Tuesday.
``The operation will continue until the mission is accomplished,'' he said.
The militants are completely surrounded by the security forces and there is no chance of anyone escaping, Sultan said. No one has sighted Zawahiri in the region and, on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, ``your guess is as good or bad as mine,'' he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:03:47 PM ||
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#1
"The militants are completely surrounded by the security forces and there is no chance of anyone escaping"
More than 100 women have been raped in a single attack carried out by Arab militias in Darfur in western Sudan. Speaking to the BBC, the United Nations co-ordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, said the conflict had created the worst humanitarian situation in the world. He said more than one million people were affected by "ethnic cleansing." He said the fighting was characterised by a scorched-earth policy and was comparable in character, if not in scale, to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. "It is more than just a conflict. It is an organised attempt to do away with a group of people," he said.
Mr Kapila said 75 people were killed in the attack on the village of Tawila at sunrise by Arab militiamen two weeks ago. "All houses as well as a market and a health centre were completely looted and the market burnt. Over 100 women were raped, six in front of their fathers who were later killed," he said. A further 150 women and 200 children were abducted. This attack a fortnight ago is one of many across the arid territory. Village after village is being razed to the ground by the militias, he said. To compound the problem, aid agencies can only reach small parts of Darfur and are subject to attacks. Mr Kapila called for more aid and for urgent international intervention to bring about a ceasefire in the war. "I was present in Rwanda at the time of the genocide, and I've seen many other situations around the world and I am totally shocked at what is going on in Darfur," he told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "This is ethnic cleansing, this is the world's greatest humanitarian crisis, and I don't know why the world isn't doing more about it."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 12:59:08 PM ||
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Posted by: Dan ||
03/19/2004 16:17 Comments ||
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#3
ex-lib:
Frankly because African problems are really, really hard to deal with in any meaningful way. African tribes have been murdering each other off for thousands of years. In some areas of the continent colonialism temporarily put an end to this never ending cycle of genocide, while in others it only accelerated the process. Modern medicine and agriculture has caused the population of Africa to boom in spite of this violence and the presence of AIDS. The number of victims has grown accordingly.
The boarders of African nations have been largely drawn up by western colonial powers who no longer want to deal with the problems created by their ancestors, such as Belgium, France, Germany, and Portugal. The English Commonwealth system has a slightly better track record and the United State's only historical creation is Liberia, proving once and for all that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. These lines have no real meaning to actual Africans whose politics are based on tribalism, clan loyalty, and occasionally religions such as Sunni Islam or Coptic Christianity. What Africa really needs IMAO is to "devolve" at bit politically away from the nation state so that it can "evolve" its institutions into something that better suits the needs of the people. Decentralized Jeffersonian democracy would be a godsend to the people of Africa.... if you can keep them from chopping each other's heads off with machetes, that is.
#4
Thanks for the info. But isn't it true that the African Moslems are being emboldened by the actions of their "brothers" in Al-Quackhead and so forth, and are on a rampage that's not actually based on ancient tribal pay-backs? Just wondering.
Thousands of Pakistani army reinforcements joined a major offensive today in tribal border villages where al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is believed surrounded, while Afghan authorities reported the arrests of midlevel terrorist leaders on their side of the border.
If true, it looks like this was the al-Qaeda mother lode. Yet another indication that Ayman may be nearby ...
Townspeople said heavy guns fired through the night and jet fighters were visible in the area, as fighting spread today to two more villages in South Waziristan, where Pakistani paramilitary forces began an operation against al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives four days ago.
Helicopter gunships fired rockets at houses in Shin Warsak, nine kilometers (five miles) southwest of the main town of Wana, said the villagers, who were streaming out of the besieged region in pickup trucks loaded with families and possessions.
"More people are moving than I could imagine," said Rahman Wazir, a 25-year-old man who runs a telephone call box in Wana, where the market was eerily quiet. "Men and women are crying. They have left their homes and they have left their orchards."
Residents reported seeing scores of army trucks, carrying troops and weapons, including light artillery and heavy machine-guns, and some armored vehicles. Army troops took up positions on rooftops of private homes to provide security for the convoy of troops moving from Wana to the target areas.
U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said a "fierce battle was raging" but the United States did not have any independent confirmation that al-Zawahiri is surrounded.
Asked if the United States was dismissing the Pakistani claim, she said, "no, not at all. I think the Pakistanis know their business."
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, also responded cautiously, but added al-Zawahri's capture would be a major victory.
"By itself it's not going to stop plots that are already under way," Myers told CNN. "But when you take the head off an organization it's obviously going to have an impact."
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai said U.S. and Afghan troops have captured "semi-senior" terrorist leaders along the border with Pakistan, as they tightened security along the rugged frontier.
The hammer and anvil strategy seems to be panning out rather well ...
Presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said it was unclear if those detained had fled the battle in Pakistan, and declined to give any details of who might be in custody.
"Some of the arrests have included semi-senior leadership within the terrorist elements on the Afghan side, possibly with strong links to al-Qaida," he told AP in Kabul.
A Taliban spokesman, Abdul Samad, told AP in a phone interview that both al-Zawahri and bin Laden are alive and hiding inside Afghanistan, far from the Pakistani guns.
"Muslims of the world - don't worry about them, these two guests. they are fine," he said.
Villagers around Wana reported a lull in the fighting this afternoon, amid reports that tribal elders were attempting to mediate with local authorities and establish a cease-fire. A noon deadline to surrender passed without further fighting.
This appears to be the second cease-fire attempt today. They're sure giving Ayman plenty of chances to mount an escape attempt if he plans on doing it ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 12:51:07 PM ||
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#1
Mostly shooting in the air I'll wager. Don't like to be cynical but 3 gets ya 7 that half the heliochopters are ISI evacuating the seniors.
Thousands of Pakistani army reinforcements joined a round-the-clock offensive Friday in lawless border villages where al-Qaidaâs No. 2 leader was believed to be surrounded along with hundreds of other militants hunkered down in heavily armed mud fortresses. The troops set up a cordon around a 20-square-mile area, as residents _ many said to be sympathetic to the militants _ streamed out of the besieged region in pickup trucks loaded with their families and possessions. Afghan authorities reported the arrests of midlevel terrorist leaders on their side of the border. Army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan said the army believes a mix of foreigners and local Pakistani tribesmen are holed up in several villages in South Waziristan, where Pakistani paramilitary forces began an operation against al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives four days ago. "From the type of resistance we are getting ... the militants could be anything from 300 to 400," he told a news conference.
Sultan said authoritiesâ intelligence assessment was that a high-level fugitive was among the fighters, although he had not been seen and it was unclear whether it was Ayman al-Zawahri, who is Osama bin Ladenâs deputy. "The type of resistance, the type of preparation of their defensive positions, the hardened fortresses they have made means we can assume that there could probably be some high-value target there," Sultan said from the army press office in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital, Islamabad. But he disputed claims by four senior Pakistani officials that captured militants had revealed that al-Zawahri was among them, and possibly injured. "So far, whatever people we have apprehended, we have not got confirmation from them," he said _ but quickly added the army could not share such intelligence anyway in an ongoing operation.
Villagers in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, said heavy guns fired through the night and jet fighters were visible in the area, as fighting spread Friday to two more tribal villages. Helicopter gunships fired rockets at houses in Shin Warsak, five miles southwest of Wana, the villagers said. Residents reported seeing scores of army trucks carrying troops and weapons moving from Wana to the targeted areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2004 12:02:26 PM ||
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#1
"Hey Lana--- Ya Wana?"
Western decadent song from the late 70's.
DJ got the 411 on that lyric?
Operation Iraqi Freedom Coalition Forces have successfully liberated 25 million Iraqis from the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. These highlights provide information regarding the accomplishments of the Coalition throughout the past year.
The OIF Coalition is comprised of 34 countries, including 11 NATO countries, and they have provided over 22,000 troops to support the efforts in Iraq. There are two multi-national divisions in Iraq: one led by the United Kingdom in central-south Iraq, and one led by Poland in south Iraq.
The international community has pledged at least $32 billion to improve schools, health care, roads, water and electricity supplies, agriculture and other essential services. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and 38 countries have pledged to extend loans and grants to Iraq. Other nations are contributing humanitarian assistance, extending export credits and reducing Iraqi debt. The UN Security Council on Oct. 16, 2003, unanimously approved Resolution 1511 that calls on member states to support the work of the multinational force in Iraq.
Security:
Americaâs armed forces are taking the offensive against remnants of Saddam Husseinâs regime and foreign terrorists, leading more than 1,600 patrols a day and conducting an average of 180 raids a week.
45 of the 55 most wanted Hussein regime members have been captured or killed, including the brutal dictator himself, whose capture sent a powerful message to the Iraqi people that the tyranny of the past will never return. The capture of Saddam Hussein provided a boost to intelligence throughout western Iraq.
The quality of intelligence is cascading as a result of the Saddam capture: the intelligence is of higher quality and allows a higher level of captures. Saddamâs capture is allowing the Coalition to apprehend more mid-level financiers and organizers.
More than 230,000 Iraqis now provide security for their fellow citizens, and Iraqi security forces now account for the majority of all forces in Iraq. These forces include Iraqi Police, Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, Iraqi Border Police, Iraqi Facility Protection Service and the New Iraqi Army.
Law/Governance:
Since July, the 25-person Iraqi Governing Council has had the authority to: name interim Ministers; exercise government oversight; prepare policy initiatives on Iraqâs national security, including reform of the armed forces, police and courts; lead development of a constitution; and approve Iraqâs national budget. 24 Iraqi Cabinet Members also contribute to the business of the government.
First time in 13 years, an ambassador to the US was appointed to restore diplomatic relations.
90% of Iraqâs districts have municipal/government councils with more than 19 million Iraqis engaging in local political discourse
Ministry of Justice has established a Council of Judges to oversee the judiciary and prosecutors. Also, defendants are now provided lawyers.
Public Health:
240 hospitals and most of Iraqâs 1200 clinics have reopened. 70 private hospitals are operating
800 tons of high protein biscuits have been delivered to 15 Governorates for malnourished children and pregnant/nursing mothers.
1.09 million humanitarian daily rations have been distributed to date.
22 million children and 700,000 women have been inoculated against diseases since the war; 90% of all Iraqi children now receive routine vaccinations
Pharmaceuticals distribution improved from 0 to 12,000 tons today,
more than $210 million approved for the Iraqi Ministry of Heath for pharmaceutical supplies and equipment, basic health care services, medical equipment and power generators for hospitals
Schools:
Nearly all schools are open and 5.1 million students are attending class
25 Fulbright Scholarships awarded for the first time in 14 years; Fulbright Office added 2 new programs for Iraqis
Over 13,500 school buildings in Iraq; $4.4 million spent to complete 2,299 school renovations; UNICEF and other NGOs are rehabilitating 105 schools; 183K desks, 57K chairs, 61K chalkboards and 25K metal cabinets have been distributed
33,000 teachers and 3,000 supervisors trained in instructional practices and classroom management strategies
Commerce and Trade:
Iraqis use a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years; 4.6 trillion new Iraqi dinars in circulation
Iraq Stock Exchange will open in April; Iraq Central Bank is fully independent and has been opened since Sept 03;
83% of all pre-war bank branches are open
Umm Qasr Port turned over to Iraqi control in Jan 04
Telephone service continues to expand with 95% of service outside Baghdad.
More than 170 newspaper are published in Iraq
Power:
4400 megawatts per day is the current seven-day average, this is up from 300 megawatts per day in 2003.
USAID will spend more than $250 million infrastructure repair funds on power rehabilitation and an additional $75 million allocated to power reconstruction.
Water:
Coalition programs have cleared over 16,500 km of irrigation canals, helping over 10,000 farms
Water storage in most Iraqi reservoirs is approaching historic averages
Rehabilitated water treatment plants will treat nearly 800 million liters/day, benefiting 3.5 million people
90% of Iraqis will have potable water by Apr 05
Quality of Life:
Religious rites are being re-established for all sects.
New Ministry of Housing and Construction has started 1,008 new homes and is working with the UN to start 7 housing projects with 3,528 units
#3
Looks like we got quite a bit done for our money. How does this stack up against the Oil-For-Food Program?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 14:25 Comments ||
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#4
Damn $7.00 for MRE? Hmmm. Got excellent value in body armour tho.
Instead of MRE I suggest $40.00 a day meal money. I expect a squad could find some willing cook and local A rats for $15 day per head. Costs more but the food would be better and the locals would get some dough.
Always had a certain ambition to be a company cook in the "old" army. Circa From here to Eternity.
#5
Looks good, but the vaccinations for 22 million children statistic is suspect. If they mean 22 million individual dosages, that sounds more acceptable.
Posted by: Dar ||
03/19/2004 15:01 Comments ||
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#6
Fred, thanks for the editing help. I posted it just as it came off the news release, so maybe CentCom would like to hire you. I woulda, coulda done it but our server at work crashed Saturday (fried firewall, UPS, and PCI slots), and all we have back at this point is e-mail. Damn you, Microsoft, and your little dog, too!
Wow, Iâm kind of surprised. Makes you wonder whoâs reading your blog too Fred, most likely you have some visitors in high places...
AFTER the horrific March 2 bombing that killed 170 at Shiâa shrines in Baghdad and Karbala, one Iraqi had an answer for those in the West who wonder if such tactics can work. His words speak to the horror of the events in Spain last week and in Baghdad on Wednesday. His name is Ali and his Web log said this about the terrorists and their allies: "They are spitting in the face of the wind." Btw, if youâve never been to Iraq the Model then you should check it out.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American ||
03/19/2004 10:52:13 AM ||
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#1
I would guess that he has staffers sweeping the blogs or citizens forward links to him. The CPA may have someone monitor all the Iraqi blogs.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 11:29 Comments ||
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#3
SH, those that need accurate information obviously do not go the CNN/BBC/AlJ route.
Posted by: john ||
03/19/2004 12:28 Comments ||
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#4
The BBC website's "Have Your Say" feature has a topic up on whether the Iraqis are better or worse off now than they were a year ago. The comments read like a Monthy Python script:
Iraqis: "We're much better off, you know."
Leftists: "No, you're not. F--- off."
One guy from France actually said that whether the Iraqis are better off was "a moot point."
My favorite comment was from Baghdad:
"When I was roughly searched by a soldier and complained, his officer came to my house to apologize, and did it in my language. I'd be dead for even complaining under Saddam."
Posted by: Matt ||
03/19/2004 12:29 Comments ||
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King Abdullah of Jordan on Thursday paid a secret visit to Prime Minister Ariel Sharonâs Sycamore Ranch in the Negev, where the two leaders met over an extended lunch. Chefâs nightmare - how do I make this kosher AND halal?
The Prime Ministerâs Office declined to comment on details of the conversation, but a senior political source said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the kingâs concern that Palestinians would flee to Jordan. Arab/Islamic nations and leaders have bitched and moaned for so long about "the plight of the Palestinians" while doing absolutely nothing to relieve that plight. At last, one of them is admitting why: theyâre not really concerned about the Palestinians, only with using them as an issue with which to bludgeon Israel. Now that the time has come to put up or shut up...
"The visit was meant to allay King Abdullahâs fears that construction of the [West Bank] fence will prompt a flight of Palestinians over the border into Jordan," the source said. Jordan also fears that Israeli disengagement from the territories will encourage Palestinians seeking work to come to Jordan instead. It should be fun to see how they justify refusing Palestinians entry into Jordan in light of that "ummah" thing. "Islam means we are all a community of believers, but ... quick, Muhammad, does it say anything about sharing our jobs?"
Expect other "Islamic" nations to follow suit.
Posted by: Sofia ||
03/19/2004 9:52:07 AM ||
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#1
nobody wants these thugs - remember Black September?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/19/2004 9:59 Comments ||
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#2
.. I don't want 'em, you can have 'em, they're too Arafat for me...
#4
arik was born on a kibbutz (yup, it was a long journey from left to right for him) I doubt he eats kosher.
BTW did you know that during camp david 1 Sadat got his food from a Kosher caterer in Baltimore (Begin, IIUC, didnt care about the kashrut, old secular herutnik that he was)
BTW - Jordan has taken in plenty of Pals, and is the ONLY arab country that gave them citizenship - the kings concerns should be taken seriously.
#5
Maybe he just wanted Sharon to provide him with wall blue prints. :-)
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 11:31 Comments ||
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#6
Nobody wants them, I remember a Kuwaiti friend said her country expelled huge groups of them because their too wild and too many crimes were commited by them. They're mentally off, even in other Arab's eyes.
#8
Kuwait kicked the Pals out because they supported Saddam during the Kuwait occupation. Personally I don't think that's unreasonable.
Jordan kicked out the PLO after Black September but they didn't kick out the Pals. Jordan is 90% Pals with a Beduin Arab leadership ontop. That is why many Israeli's say the Pals already have a state and that now they want two.
#9
Jordan should take the west bank and dismember the Palestinian Authority (or force them to flee to Gaza). They should clean house as only Arabs can due to Arabs and they should settle the problem for good. They can complain diplomatically about the fence/wall.
Otherwise they might want to start building a fence of their own about now.
They kicked the PLO out. They did NOT kick out the ordinary Palestinians, who still make up about half the kingdoms population (many moved to the "East Bank" while the West Bank was under Jordanian rule, since economic prospects were brighter there.
2. Re Jordan taking the West Bank. That was called "the Jordan option" and was Israeli Labor party policy upto 1988 or so. At that point, under pressure from Pal activists on the West Bank during the first intifida, Jordan dropped any claim to the West Bank, and residual ties to the West Bank. Basically the West Bank is a mess, and Jordan dont want it. OTOH, if conditions got so bad that it looked like the population were about to flee en masse, Jordan might change its mind, preferring to take responsibity for the Pals in the West Bank rather than have them run to Amman. Jordan seems to be taking the position that the security barrier is a way of threatening just that, and forcing their hand. Israel presumably will deny that, while at the same time suggesting Jordan take a larger role in the West Bank.
#11
if conditions got so bad that it looked like the population were about to flee en masse, Jordan might change its mind,
Things are never so bad on the West Bank that they can't get significantly worse. I like this option LH. Pay off the Jordanians for this act of great decency.
#13
This is what Wikipedia now sez about Jordan & Paleos:
"The 1967 war led to a dramatic increase in the number of Palestinians living in Jordan. Its Palestinian refugee population -- 700,000 in 1966 -- grew by another 300,000 from the West Bank. The period following the 1967 war saw an upsurge in the power and importance of Palestinian resistance elements (fedayeen) in Jordan. The heavily armed fedayeen constituted a growing threat to the sovereignty and security of the Hashemite state, and open fighting erupted in June 1970.
Other Arab governments attempted to work out a peaceful solution, but by September, continuing fedayeen actions in Jordan -- including the destruction of three international airliners hijacked and held in the desert east of Amman -- prompted the government to take action to regain control over its territory and population. In the ensuing heavy fighting, a Syrian tank force took up positions in northern Jordan to support the fedayeen but was forced to retreat. By September 22, Arab foreign ministers meeting at Cairo had arranged a cease-fire beginning the following day. Sporadic violence continued, however, until Jordanian forces won a decisive victory over the fedayeen in July 1971, expelling them from the country."
Note that since they were bombarded by PC Arabists over the last year, Wikipedia has been "cleaned" - in this case there are no longer any named references to what group the "fedayeen resistance elements" belonged. Isn't that "special"? Talk about cowards - this used to be a terrific reference source.
And JFM is right - they can pay for / build that Eastern section if they want to keep them out.
#14
Makes you wonder whether King Abdullah might be looking at the Israeli security wall.
And making notes.
And turning to his advisors, "allrighty now, we need a fence on the east side of the Jordan River, and you idiots, build it just like the evil Zionists Israelis are doing theirs. Only I want ours to be TALLER!!!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2004 15:37 Comments ||
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Jordan wouldn't dare build a fence. They would be put on trial by the ICC. College campuses (campi?) would have "teach-ins." Governments all over the world would threaten sanctions.
No real suprise that the IDF is conducting more Gaza raids.
Israel Defense Forces troops resumed offensive operations in the Gaza Strip before dawn Friday, in which two soldiers were lightly wounded near the settlement of Netzarim. The IDF troops, backed by helicopters and tanks, engaged in heavy exchanges of fire Friday morning with Palestinian gunmen, Army Radio reported. Sounds like its a major operation. Expect a nice body count.
An explosive device was detonated near one of the tanks in the Netzarim area, causing the tank to overturn and lightly wounding two of the soldiers in the tank, Israel Radio reported Friday. A Hamas activist was arrested during the ongoing operation, which started Tuesday, Army Radio said. Military sources told Israel Radio the troops were searching for Hamas suspects and other militants. Earlier in the week, the decision was taken to reinforce IDF deployments in the Strip, in response to recent terror attacks. In the West Bank city of Bethlehem, IDF troops destroyed the house of a Tanzim man who carried out a suicide bombing in the West Bank settlement of Efrat that wounded four people about two years ago, Israel Radio reported Friday. In addition, Palestinian security forces in Bethlehem transferred to Israel seven bombs and a large amount of explosive material they found in a weapons laboratory in a hotel in the city, the radio said. I had read this several times, because I was sure I had misread it. If true it must mean that some paleo factions want to align themselves with the Israelis. Some of them must have figured who is going to win the coming paleo civil war (Hamas) and want the Israelis to protect them.
Posted by: phil_b ||
03/19/2004 3:12:21 AM ||
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"Palestinian security forces in Bethlehem transferred hidden in an ambulance to Israel seven bombs and a large amount of explosive material they found in a weapons laboratory in a hotel in the city"
sounds like somebody wants a stable Paleo society, hope they're the winner in the free-for-all to come
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/19/2004 10:48 Comments ||
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A plot to replace Pakistanâs President Pervez Musharraf with the nuclear engineer who sold the countryâs secrets to Americaâs self-avowed enemies is being organized by politico-religious leaders, said one of the leaders present at a recent meeting of religious and political parties.
Oh boy! Plots! Deep-laid plots!â¢
After U.S. and British intelligence services confronted Musharraf with the evidence of an international mail-order business for nuclear weapons secrets run by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistanâs nuclear bomb made a full confession on national television. But A.Q., as the countryâs most popular man is known, was allowed to keep all his ass assets, including lavish homes in Pakistan and Dubai. A.Q. Khan is a religious fundamentalist with a penchant for the good life. As a national icon, he shares co-equal status with Jinnah, Pakistanâs founder. The secret meeting to promote Dr. Khan as Musharrafâs successor took place in Akora Khattak upon the death of the wife of Senator Sami ul-Haq, Vice President of MMA, a coalition of six politico-religious parties, said one of the politicians present who requested his name be withheld.
"Mahmoud! Whatta ya doin' here?"
"I know nothink, and you don't know me! Now shaddup!"
The mastermind promoting A.Q. Khanâs candidacy was his close friend Gen. Hamid Gul, a former head of Pakistanâs Inter-Services Intelligence agency who is "strategic adviser" to MMA. Gul and most of the countryâs politico-religious leaders journeyed to Khattak to present their condolences to Sami ul-Haq. Sami is also the President of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam, an extremist party, and Chancellor of the University for the Education of Truth. The University, where nine out of Talibanâs top 10 leaders were educated, is located in Khattak where the secret meetings took place in late February. Apparently other activities take place at the madrassa, between the Mullahs and the young boys enrolled.
Gen. Gul, according to one of the participants, explained how he was assembling "a strong team of faithful Muslims to take control of the country to enrich themselves serve the nation and the Muslim world with true Islamic spirit." Gul then added, "A.Q. is our natural leader." A corrupt lunatic, sounds like Gulâs soul mate
A.Q. can wear the bejeweled turban, and Gul can be the right-hand man.
The UPI informant strongly doubts ISI reported this meeting to Musharraf "though they must have known about it as the University is where ISI recruited some of its best agents when Pakistan was helping its Taliban ally in Afghanistan." Hamid Gul frequently expresses strong anti-American views in Pakistani newspapers. He has accused Musharraf of "selling out" to the United States and "betraying" Pakistanâs national interest.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/19/2004 4:02:14 AM ||
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A Pakistan army offensive against a group of militants on the Afghan border, possibly including a top al Qaeda member, is underway, a military spokesman says. "The operation is on," said military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan. He did not refer to a 7 a.m. deadline which another officer had earlier said had been set for the militants to surrender. Sultan declined further comment.
Is this another one? Or the same one we've been watching with bated breath since yesterday?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 3:00:24 AM ||
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Sultan better not fuck this up and end up letting them slip through the net I wouldn't say they've been bumbling about so far but i'm still far from confidant on them cleaning this up properly.Guess thier keen to show the world otherwise.Time will tell i suppose.
#2
No military op is certain, but Sultan's behind is on the line on this and every Pak soldier knows that if they don't get the big cheese they will never get another promotion. Besides that, the Pak soldiers dislike the local folk. Motivation will not be a problem here.
#3
Details on why they think it's him: Dawn has learnt on good authority that one of the men who had broken through a paramilitary security cordon in what looked like a bulletproof double-cabin pick-up truck amid hails of bullets on Tuesday could be Ayman Al Zawahiri. Sources said the truck, which had survived bullets, was later found abandoned after it had rammed into a wall. "He seems to have been wounded and appears to be holed up somewhere in that area," claimed two different sources. "It is Shin Warsak where troops are facing the stiffest resistance," said these sources.
One source familiar with the Tuesday's operation said the truck that had broken through the cordon was closely followed by two other speeding pick-ups. Both, however, were blown up by paramilitary troops with mortars and shells. A credible source said the sheer number of foreign militants - between 500 and 600 - who had put up a big fight on Tuesday, had raised suspicions of the likely presence of a 'high-value target.'
500 - 600 fighters and a bulletproof truck, got to be somebody big.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/19/2004 9:06 Comments ||
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nice shot with the morters from the paks if they hit the pak-ups as they were racing away.could it just be 500 local nuts as such all gathered into one big shit army, surly a warlord or whatever would have a nice moter for himself and a small crew of now dead bodygaurds.
#5
I worry that this fight is really a feint designed to draw attention away from other areas of Pakland or Afghanistan where Binny or al Zawahiri are sitting watching CNN and laughing at us. These two aren't above sacrificing a few hundred of their followers for their own safety.
Posted by: Tibor ||
03/19/2004 10:21 Comments ||
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Tibor, I would think that it would be silly to waste so much cannon fodder so many adherents and resources in one action. They have adopted a strategy of attrition so far, which usually means eschewing all pitched battles. If I were the Taliban commander for this operation, I would have set up shop right on the other side of the Afghan border, had my troops exhaust their ammunition as effectively as possible and then surrendered my forces in mass.
The Americans would have then fed and clothed my troops and improved their espirit-de-corps in Cuba for a year or so, before releasing my force in time for a new offensive. I would have trusted that human rights groups would continually badger the Americans until release was achieved.
I doubt that the Paki's are neither interested in taking prisoners, nor are they interested in taking casualties.
Sort of OT - I understand why we don't provide F-16's to the Paki's, but what about selling them warthogs and C-130 gun ships. I think those airframes would assist them in decimating groups of hardcore kooks without being a danger to the neighbors. The C-130's might also make effective patrol aircraft for the sub-Saharan militaries we are trying to assist. No Hercules to the Sudanese, though, they seem plenty capable at massacring unarmed civilians without the extra capability.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 11:48 Comments ||
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#7
We have reached the point where we have heard everything from " They checked out Tuesday" to "It's all over, but the DNA"...
Isn't it amazing that you could have this wide a range of views without the main stream news networks having boots on the ground???
#8
Sultan better not fuck this up and end up letting them slip through the net I wouldn't say they've been bumbling about so far but i'm still far from confidant on them cleaning this up properly.
If this event is something worth covering, the U.S. military command would do well to put a covering force on the Afghan side to catch whomever tries to retreat into Afghan territory.
I worry that this fight is really a feint designed to draw attention away from other areas of Pakland or Afghanistan where Binny or al Zawahiri are sitting watching CNN and laughing at us.
I'm sure that mechanical U.S. snoopers aloft are looking down at the battlefield and the resulting pictures being snapped and transmitted back are being examined thoroughly. If it's a wild goose chase, the spooks will figure it out.
#11
Shipman, it's a new 2005 option package on the Silverado. It comes with XM radio, Onstar and a parallel hybrid engine. We waiting for Bin Laden to call in to announce that he needs his doors unlocked because he locked his keys in the ignition. We have a predator at the ready to open his doors for him.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 14:13 Comments ||
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Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government on Thursday asked the federal government to immediately stop the military operation in South Waziristan.
"The on going operation in FATA has created unrest and fears among the people and it could engulf the entire region if it was not stopped forthwith," Senior Minister Sirajul Haq told the NWFP Assembly.
The apprehensions of a guerrilla war in FATA were increasing and the burning flames in tribal areas, he said, would spread to the settled areas. He added that it was the need of the hour to halt such military operations and use of force for the resolution of the problem. He said the invisible forces have created instability in tribal areas by interfering in the tribal customs and traditions and the consequences of imposing decisions on tribesmen would be detrimental. He suggested to the federal government to take the tribal elders and elected representatives into confidence.
The senior minister urged the government to withdraw ban on the entry of MMA leaders including Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad and others in tribal areas since FATA was part of Pakistan and the ban on entry of MMA leaders was unjustified. He said some people after committing crimes in settled areas usually take shelter in tribal areas but the government had never launched any operation in the past.
Sirajul Haq observed that the recent reports from FATA were badly affecting tourism and creating a bad impression. He asked the government to take tribal elders into confidence and allow the MMA leaders to visit the troubled areas and it would largely solve the problems.
Earlier on the suggestion of Maulana Mujahid of MMA, the House offered fateha for the martyred in the recent operations in Wana. On a point of order, the MMA MPA Pir Mohammad Khan said they were not spending billions of rupees on army to use it against tribesmen but to protect the countryâs borders. Criticizing US interference in Pakistanâs internal affairs, he said it has endangered the Pakistan and NWFP government. He asked the MMA government to take up the issue with federal government to stop operations in tribal areas, which could engulf the NWFP as well.
The opposition leader Shahzada Gustasip opposed clashes in FATA saying they want peace and unity among Muslims. He asked the representatives of major political parties in National Assembly and Senate to take up the issue at proper forum to stop military operation in FATA. Maulana Haqqani expressed concern and asked the government to find out solution to the crisis through talks instead of using force.
The parliamentary leaders of PPP-P, PPP-S and ANP, Abdul Akbar Khan, Sikandar Sherpao and Bashir Bilour, opposition leader, Shahzada Gustasip, Qalandar Lodhi, Wajihuzaman, PML-Q, deputy speaker, Ikramullah Shahid, Ghazala Habib and Riffat Akbar Swati, continued serious debate on the ADP amidst exchange of Urdu and Pushto poetry.
Almost all the speakers including the deputy speaker, Ikramullah Shahid criticized the projections and allocations of schemes, funds in the ADP on the papers without any proper planning which they said were resulting in problems for them in their respective constituencies. All of them reminded the governmentâs promises and commitments, made during their speeches and on the papers.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 2:56:51 AM ||
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"Sirajul Haq observed that the recent reports from FATA were badly affecting tourism and creating a bad impression"
It's certainly changed my spring-break plans
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/19/2004 4:42 Comments ||
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Lol! I forgot my calendar! Heading for Lake Mead and dyeing your hair green this year, Frank? ;-)
The first two occurred in Midal, over 600 km north of the capital, Niamey, and in the Air Mountains in the extreme north. The latest clash came after the armed forces received a tip-off that GSPC members were about 100 km from a military outpost in the northeast. âAfter troop reinforcements were sent,â Bonto said, âour forces pursued the GSPC elements to the Chadian border, around Tchigai regionâ in the extreme northeast. He said 43 GSPC militants were killed and five were taken prisoner, including one Niger national. Three Chadian soldiers died and 18 were wounded, while the Niger armed forces did not register any casualties, according to the minister. Caught between the Chadian and Niger armies, the militants fled, leaving five vehicles - four of them equipped with 14.5-mm anti-aircraft guns - six mortars, six Thuraya satellite phones, two night-vision binoculars, mortars, AK-47s and a sizeable quantity of other arms and ammunition.
Bonto said the GSPC, a splinter faction of Algeria's Armed Islamic Group, arrived recently in northern Niger after being dismantled in southern Algeria and Mali as part of efforts to fight terrorism. The group, he said, was working hand-in-hand with armed bandits from Niger and was using hideouts and caches left over from a rebellion in the 1990s by Tuareg nomads. The minister told parliament it was âimperativeâ to provide Nigerâs army with the resources it needed to ensure peopleâs safety and fulfil the countryâs regional and national obligations in the fight against terrorism. Niger needed to coordinate action and exchange information with its neighbours, deploy mixed patrols in the north on a permanent basis, and set up advance military outposts so as to control the area better, he suggested.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 2:55:02 AM ||
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So the battle was actually in Niger, but Chadian forces helped from their side of the border?
The United States fears hardline Islamic militants moving around the Sahara desert could try to topple the Algerian and Mauritanian governments, senior diplomatic and military officials said.
The U.S. ambassador to Mali, Vicki Huddleston, said a leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an Algerian group allied to al Qaeda, could be looking to re-arm and link up with other militants in the region.
The leader, Amari Saifi, known as el Para and widely regarded as the GSPC's second-in-command, claimed responsibility for kidnapping 32 European tourists in the Sahara last year.
"There is a worry that he is looking for arms to continue terror action and that he could try to overthrow the government (in Algeria)," Huddleston told Reuters in a telephone interview late on Wednesday.
Except that el Para was supposedly killed in Chad last week, so either he's back from the dead or Huddleston hasn't gotten the memo yet.
Military experts and diplomats in Algeria are concerned the GSPC may carry out more spectacular and desperate attacks now military offensives have sharply reduced rebel forces. But unlike the 1990s, experts do not believe the Algerian state is threatened, largely because of the huge security in place.
Huddleston also said plotters behind an attempted coup in Mauritania last June were believed to be hiding in northern Mali -- a state five times the size of Britain -- and they could link up with the Salafists to threaten the country again.
The United States has taken an increasing interest in the Maghreb and the Sahel regions -- which lie to the north and south of the Sahara respectively -- since the suicide airplane attacks on New York and Washington two and a half years ago.
"Part of this (interest) was September 11 -- the fact that there are vast spaces up in the north of these countries that could be used by terrorists and others who are against the West," Huddleston said.
U.S. Special Forces finished training Malian troops in Timbuktu, on the southern edge of the Sahara, on Thursday. U.S. military experts will also go to Niger and Chad to help tighten border security in one of the world's most inhospitable regions.
A Malian army commander in Timbuktu said his troops had chased GSPC units out of the country in January.
Brigadier General Douglas Lute, deputy director at the plans and operation centre of U.S. European Military Command, said the presence of groups like the GSPC had boosted instability in the Sahel but posed no immediate threat to the United States.
"We do not perceive an immediate threat on American interests beyond the threat to Algeria itself, which is an ally in the region," Lute told Reuters.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 2:51:33 AM ||
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The caravan driver seemed to slow for a moment, but jumped at the sound of gunfire and herded his camels away as a line of Kalashnikov-wielding soldiers ran across the sand shouting "boom! boom!"
"You're already dead! Lie down!" came a shout from behind a sand-coloured jeep, as Timbuktu's 512th Motorised Infantry Company bore down on their imagined enemy.
Thursday marks the final day of training with U.S. Special Forces for Mali's troops in the Sahara desert, patrolling a region roughly the size of Texas where Washington says Islamic extremists are roaming freely along ancient trading routes.
"They've run out of blank ammunition," said the U.S. Special Forces Detachment Commander, as the soldiers imitated the sound of rifle fire. "Limited resources make it challenging."
U.S. military experts have been in Timbuktu since January, giving basic weapons training and teaching Malian troops how to move effectively in platoons and ambush the enemy.
The aim is to help the former French colony's army to police massive swathes of sand and stop what the United States calls terror networks criss-crossing the desert and setting up cells.
The armies of Mali, one of Algeria's southern neighbours, and Chad say they have clashed with GSPC members in recent months.
"What you see is fundamentalist preachers coming through trying to seduce a peace-loving region in Mali and the Sahel into a more fundamentalist branch of the religion," Vicki Huddleston, U.S. ambassador in Mali, told Reuters by telephone.
She said the idea was to "empower the militaries" in West African countries on the southern fringes of the Sahara, and get them to work together.
Colonel Younoussa Barazi Maiga, who heads the Malian forces that cover the huge region north of Timbuktu, said his troops had chased up to 100 GSPC members out of Mali in January.
"They had some bases towards the west and we attacked them. There were about 20 vehicles with around four or five people in each," he said, watching his troops complete an ambush exercise.
"They have never done any harm to our people but we don't want them here," he said, adding they had fled to Niger and Chad.
The armies of Chad and neighbouring Niger will receive U.S. training, like their counterparts in Mali and Mauritania.
U.S. satellites are also helping pinpoint suspected militants.
Brigadier General Douglas Lute, deputy director of the plans and operations centre at U.S. European Military Command (EUCOM), which is responsible for most U.S. military operations in Africa, said the GSPC was the main concern in the Sahara.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 2:48:39 AM ||
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All four Sahelian countries where we are training troops are part of the French Community of West Africa, almost as firmly in their "sphere" as the Central Asian republics are in Russias. Presumably we got at least an informal nod from the French to do this, as we did from the Russians?? Presumably there are things going on in Franco-US relations that havent hit the press? Though Im sure the French are not particularly happy about this US presence in their sphere (like the Russians) i presume this was negotiated and they will get something in return.
Armed Islamic extremists attacked two ambulances on the highway linking Algiers with the desert south of the country, killing eight people and injuring two, security forces said Wednesday.
The gang machine-gunned the vehicles on Tuesday evening near Berrouaghia, 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of the Mediterranean coastal capital, the security forces said.
The region is the zone of operations for about 60 men known as the Salafist Group for Jihad, led by Abdelkader Souane, a dissident from the Armed Islamic Group.
The GIA has declined in influence since its leader, Rachid Abou Tourab, was killed by one of his companions, a source in the security services said.
I thought he had been captured? Or is he back to being dead again?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 2:45:06 AM ||
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"Armed Islamic extremists attacked two ambulances on the highway linking Algiers with the desert south of the country, killing eight people"
Somehow the Algerian Islamists manage to be even more hateful than the general run of Islamists.
Egypt has detained three extradited sons of Muslim militant leaders, one of them the son of a senior member of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, a London-based Islamist said on Thursday.
"Egyptian authorities were handed two in the past few months... The third was seen at Lazoghli (headquarters of Egypt's state security police) a few days ago, but it was not known when he was extradited," Yasser al-Sirry told Reuters.
Sirry, speaking from London where he runs the Islamic Observation Centre rights watchdog, named the three juveniles, all under 18, as Hamza Medhat Mursi, Ismail Sayyed Imam al-Sherif and Khaled Murgan Salem.
He quoted relatives as saying that Pakistan handed over Hamza and Khaled during the past four months, while Ismail was thought to have been extradited by Yemen.
He did not say what charges they faced. Egyptian Interior Ministry officials were not available for comment.
Islamists and lawyers say all three were born outside Egypt, while Hamza's mother was Pakistani. They said the three did not have organisational duties within al-Qaeda or the Egyptian Islamist group, Jihad.
Hamza's father Medhat Mursi, known by the nom de guerre Abu Khabab, is the number three at al-Qaeda after bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, Islamists say. Abu Khabab, a chemical engineer, is reported to be responsible for the development of chemical weapons for al-Qaeda.
Ismail's father, Sayyed Imam al-Sherif, was a former leader of the secretive Jihad group before bin Laden's right-hand man Zawahri took over in the early 1990s. Zawahri then left the group in 1998 after joining al-Qaeda.
Khaled's father, Murgan Salem, is the third man at Jihad, Islamists say.
"The three are under 18. They are juveniles but held in adults' jails... This is a flagrant violation of Egyptian and international laws," Sirry said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 2:26:11 AM ||
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Sirry said that although he had been unconcerned about the children raped in front of their parents in Sadaam's rape rooms, and unconcerned for the many children in mass graves or for the many orphans of the WOT, he finds the witholding of these 3 particular children suddenly have awakened his humanity.
We knew they split in 3 after Sammy was jugged arguing over who was going to be the next Maximum Leader. Looks like things didn't turn out quite the way they planned it.
U.S. military commanders across Iraq say that a combination of foreign and indigenous Islamic extremists have eclipsed loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party as the dominant organizers and financiers of attacks on American and Iraqi security forces and civilians.
The Islamic radicals have been deemed by the commanders to be largely responsible for not just a series of high-profile suicide car bombings that have killed more than 1,000 people, but also a spate of recent attacks on U.S. troops, foreign civilians and Iraqis working with American forces. In many cases, the commanders said, religious extremists have begun to exercise leadership over cells of low-level Baathist fighters whose superiors have been captured or killed, by offering money and weapons to conduct mortar strikes, drive-by shootings and assassinations.
So not only are Zarqawi and Co allied with the Baathists, now they're giving them orders too. And yet we're still supposed to discount any possibility that an alliance to this degree existed pre-war because of ideological differences?
On the eve of the Iraq invasion's first anniversary, Islamic extremists have emerged as "the principal threat" to security in Baghdad, said Brig. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, commander of the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division, which controls the capital. Officers based in restive areas outside Baghdad, including the commander of an Army battalion in Fallujah and the commander of a brigade in Baqubah, said the same trend has emerged in their areas.
In the intelligence operations room at the 1st Armored Division's headquarters, wall-mounted charts identifying and linking insurgents depict the changing battlefield. Last fall, the organizational chart of Baathist fighters and leaders stretched for 10 feet, while charts listing known Islamic radicals took up a few pieces of paper. Now, the chart of Iraqi religious extremists dominates the room, while the poster depicting Baathist activity has shrunk to half of its previous size. Smaller diagrams identify what is known about foreign Islamic extremists who have set up operations in the capital.
Military officials said evidence and intelligence from informers and interrogations suggests that foreign fighters still constitute a relatively small component of the insurgency. Dempsey said he estimated there were only about 100 "foreign terrorists" in Baghdad, organized into about six cells. In Anbar province, which stretches across western Iraq and includes the strife-torn cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr. of the 82nd Airborne Division said he believed there were a total of 50 to 80 foreign fighters in eight to 10 cells.
Military officials said they suspected that the foreign fighters were making up for what they lacked in numbers by plugging into networks of Iraqi Sunni Muslim extremists who adhere to the same radical Wahhabi brand of Islam as Osama bin Laden. The officials believe the foreigners are bringing money, technical expertise and encouragement to get hundreds of Iraqis to plant roadside bombs, assassinate people collaborating with occupation forces and detonate explosive-packed vehicles.
"We see a large connection between them," said Lt. Col. Ken Devan, the 1st Armored's senior intelligence officer, referring to indigenous extremists and foreign fighters.
Devan and other military officials said foreign fighters were trying to join several cells of indigenous religious extremists around the capital. The officials said they believed these cells drew inspiration from a handful of hard-line clerics in Iraq, but making precise connections has proved difficult.
"We know they're there based on the intelligence we've got, but we don't have, with any degree of granularity or precision, enough intelligence to be attacking them as our principal focus," Dempsey said.
Military intelligence officials said they believed three linked groups of foreign extremists were the most dominant actors in Iraq today: Ansar al-Islam, Ansar al-Sunna and an organization headed by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi.
My suspicion is that all 3 (Zarqawi's mob is al-Tawhid) are all separate subgroups within the same division of the International Front that ultimately answers to Saif al-Adel over in Iran.
Ansar al-Islam, a terrorist group with links to al Qaeda, was based in the autonomous Kurdish area of northern Iraq before the war. Intelligence officials believe many Ansar al-Islam operatives have relocated south and have affiliated themselves with other extremists, although it is not clear how large a role they have played in the recent run of suicide bombings and even whether Ansar al-Islam still exists as an organization. Some military officials believe its operatives were responsible for the car bombings of the headquarters of both the United Nations and International Committee for the Red Cross in Baghdad, as well as several attacks on Iraqi police stations last year.
Ansar al-Sunna is a newer group of foreign and indigenous militants that is suspected of being linked to remnants of Ansar al-Islam. The group has asserted responsibility for several suicide bombings, including attacks on the offices of two Kurdish political parties in the northern city of Irbil on Feb. 1 that killed more than 100 people.
Lately, however, intelligence officers have shifted their focus to Zarqawi, once linked to Ansar al-Islam. U.S. officials allege that he wrote a 17-page letter claiming responsibility for two dozen bombings in recent months and outlining his plans for future attacks aimed at sparking civil war and disrupting a planned June 30 handover of sovereignty. Although Zarqawi has worked with al Qaeda, intelligence officials now believe he operates independently of bin Laden's organization and has developed his own network in Iraq.
Zarqawi is about as "independent" from al-Qaeda as Hambali was over in Indonesia. It's the franchise system approach to terrorism and I honestly fail to see how any of this remains even remotely unclear amongst the punditocracy ...
Senior U.S. officials in Baghdad have named Zarqawi as a prime suspect in several recent bombings, including that of a Baghdad hotel Wednesday night, but they have not presented any definitive evidence to link him or his organization to the blasts.
"Whether it was Zarqawi's group, Ansar al-Islam, al Qaeda -- we don't have definitive proof of that yet," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. military's deputy director of operations in Iraq, said of Wednesday's bombing of the Mount Lebanon Hotel, in which at least seven people were killed. The death toll was revised downward Thursday based on new information from Iraqi officials.
The U.S.-led occupation authority has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of Zarqawi. But some U.S. intelligence officials in Baghdad question whether he is as central to the bombings as spokesmen for the military and occupation authority have suggested.
"To think that Zarqawi is organizing all of these car bombings is a little much," said one U.S. intelligence officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He is probably just one of several ringleaders. There is no single organization that's behind all this. It's far more decentralized than that."
Another intelligence officer also cast doubt on the role of Zarqawi or bin Laden lieutenants as the chief organizers of the violence. "Are al Qaeda operatives here? Certainly. But are the remnants of al Qaeda directing the attacks here? We don't have clear evidence to suggest that is the case," the officer said.
I'd call Saif al-Adel calling the shots from Iran pretty strong evidence, myself ...
Devan, the 1st Armored's intelligence director, also said the presence of al Qaeda operatives in Iraq was small.
That's because they all belong to local affiliates, a la Ansar al-Islam.
The intelligence officers said the most significant impact of al Qaeda involvement may be funding foreign and Iraqi extremists, who in turn have paid low-level Baathists to conduct non-suicide attacks. The Baathists are willing to work for the Islamic extremists, military officials said, because many of their leaders, who had been paying them between $100 and $5,000 to mount attacks, have been arrested, killed or forced to run.
"The Baathist money has dried up, and the leadership is largely gone," Devan said. "The new money and leadership is coming from the extremists."
As a consequence, Dempsey said, "Baathist operatives and trigger pullers are now working, in many cases, for the religious extremists."
"It's a marriage of necessity," he said. "The religious guys have the money. And both share the goal of trying to drive us out."
One of the clearest indications of the new alliance occurred last month in Fallujah, where military officials believe a combination of former Baath Party operatives and Islamic radicals attacked the police station, killing 23 people. "There was a collaboration," said Lt. Col. Brian Drinkwine, an 82nd Airborne battalion commander who is responsible for the city. "It appeared to be directed by the extremists, but many of the guys who attacked had a level of training that goes beyond your average Islamic extremist."
Military intelligence officers said identifying cells of religious extremists is proving to be much more difficult than tracing the flow of cash and orders among the Baathists. In Fallujah, for instance, Drinkwine had identified the chief Baathist financier by early fall. The number of attacks fell dramatically after the man was caught in January, he said.
"The Baathists had a clearer structure," he said. "It was easier to know who was in charge. But now, it's a whole new structure -- and it's much tougher to determine who the enemy is."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 2:05:26 AM ||
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just find ANY sunni who prays five times a day and has a beard and SHOOT him
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
03/19/2004 3:22 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe we could stuff and mount the last one in the Smithsonian right next to the North Carolina parakeet.
The death toll in the ongoing operations in the South Waziristan Agency, bordering Afghanistanâs Paktika province, is increasing everyday. In the wake of growing friction in the area, TFTâs correspondent Iqbal Khattak revisits key events that have taken place in the area. Following is a chronology of operations against Al Qaeda suspects and their local supporters in the South Waziristan Agency:
June 27, 2002: Army conducted its first operation at Kaza Punga in the Azam Warsak area, close to the Afghan border. This was the first operation of its kind as part of the war on terror. The army contingent came under fire and the exchange left 12 army jawans, including an officer, dead. The suspects managed to escape.
October 2, 2003: The second operation was launched in the Baghar area, just one kilometre away from the Afghan border. The army killed 12 Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects and netted 18 other suspects.
October 9, 2003: The Zalikhel sub-tribe of the Wazirs was served notices by the political administration for sheltering Al Qaeda. The administration also demanded the tribe handover its wanted men charged with sheltering foreign terrorists.
January 8, 2004:The army went to the Kalosha area near Wana, agency headquarters of South Waziristan Agency, to search houses of local tribesmen believed to be sheltering foreign terrorists. No one was found during the search operation, but houses of four tribesmen demolished.
January 10, 2004: Four army soldiers were killed and two injured when suspected terrorists attacked the military base outside Wana. The incident happened just a day after the army operation in Kalosha.
January 12, 2004: A âstray bulletâ killed an army jawan in the Azam Warsak Bazaar.
January 18, 2004: The political administration announced new measures to step up pressure on Wazir tribesmen to give up support to the Al Qaeda and Taliban elements. They included seven years imprisonment and a fine of Rs1.5 million if a tribesman was found sheltering terrorists. The tribe itself was to fined Rs1 million if a suspect belonged to it.
January 26, 2004: Sixty-six new names were added to the list of wanted tribesmen accused of sheltering al-Qaeda and Taliban elements. The political administration demanded the tribes hand over a total of 123 wanted men.
February 20, 2004: Tribal elder Malik Behram Khan warned Pakistan and the US against launching operation in Waziristan saying: âIf the day belongs to the cruel, the night belongs to the poor.â
February 25, 2004: Troops backed by helicopter gunships and artillery launched another operation in Azam Warsak. They claimed arresting 20 foreign terrorists.
February 27, 2004: Fresh reinforcement of paramilitary force arrived in Wana for operations against Al Qaeda.
February 28, 2004: 14 civilians were killed when army opened fire on two vehicles after they did not stop at a checkpoint near the Zeri Noor army base outside Wana.
February 29, 2004: Unknown militants fired two missiles at an army-manned checkpoint in the village of Shulman. The attack, which caused no losses, came a day after the killing of 14 civilians.
March 2, 2004: The political administration slapped a Rs5.4 million fine on the Ahmedzai Wazir tribe for attacks on the army. President Pervez Musharraf ordered inquiry into the February 28 killing of 14 civilians.
March 3, 2004: Sixteen tribesmen, including four key tribal elders and Ahmedzai Wazir chieftain Malik Bismallah Jan, were arrested and sent to Dera Ismail Khan prison for not cooperating with the government in the war on terror.
March 4, 2004: Two tribal policemen were injured when their vehicle was blown up in Wana bazaar.
March 7, 2004: A group of five tribal senators brokered a peace deal between the political administration and the Wazir tribesmen and a tribal army was formed to help the government secure custody of seven wanted men and flush out foreign terrorists from Waziristan.
March 10, 2004: Tribal army, locally called the lashkar, gave the wanted men a two-day deadline to surrender or face serious consequences.
March 13, 2004: The wanted Wazir tribesmen ignored the deadline to surrender. A 10-man delegation was formed to meet them.
March 15, 2004: President Pervez Musharraf addressed a grand jirga of tribesmen from all the seven zones seeking their help in the war on terror and warning that failure to purge Waziristan from foreign terrorists and their local supporters will not be in the countryâs interests.
March 16, 2004: Eight Frontier Constabulary jawans were killed and 15 injured during an operation to search the home of Sharif, one of the most wanted men. Twenty-four terrorists along with Al Qaeda supporters were also killed in the shootout. This operation took place on the eve of the visit to Pakistan of US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/19/2004 1:54:10 AM ||
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I count 90 hostiles killed or captured in South waziristan from October to March 16, based on above.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/19/2004 13:41 Comments ||
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Locally, they have a celebrity golf tournament named the Mad Anthony's. Maybe they will invite Tommy Franks this year.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 14:16 Comments ||
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Crazy Tony was a pretty good soldier. The short lived unhappiness of the Pennsylvania Line was mainly due to harsh hunting regulations imposed from above by the Satanist Proprietors.
An al-Qaeda spokesman has claimed responsibility for this week's deadly Baghdad hotel bombing, as South Korea joined Spain and Poland in rethinking troop commitments to Iraq. "Al-Qaeda's lions, who are experienced in destroying the seats of Russian leaders and are in Iraq to encounter their enemies, planned and carried out this operation," said Abu Mohammad al-Ablaj, in charge of al-Qaeda training.
That would appear to coincide with reports we've seen that Zarqawi may be importing Chechen boom boys to do his dirty work.
South Korea said it had cancelled plans to send troops to northern Iraq because of security concerns and was considering deploying them to other parts of the country. "The United States and South Korea have agreed that it is inevitable to change the location for South Korean troops as the security situation in Kirkuk has become worse," the defence ministry said. "The two countries agreed to reconsider a possible location putting the whole of Iraq under review."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:58:01 AM ||
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#2
One thing we don't need is SKor troops when their political leaders want to pick where they go in Iraq. It's not their troops we don't want, it's their LLL politicians. Roh's removal seems appropriate, as long as they don't replace him with Trotsky Soon Park and beg Dear Leader for guidance..
It's certainly time for them to defend themselves. The question is, "Will they?"
#3
We're tired of your anti-democratic spewings. We did a GOOD THING to destroy and pull down a tyrant, and you're pissed because we did. FOAD, miserable, selfish troll.
#5
he adressed it to the first reply to this news,the Anon guy whos to gutless to argue properly or even leave a proper name!I think hes ashamed of himself thats why hes left no name.
#6
I am tired of the killing. Tired of our boys having to die attempting to pull someone else out of the morass of their own mistakes. Unlike Anonymous2U I am willing to do something about it.
I have joined the military and will put myself in the way, attempting to actually _do_ something to help bring things to a _successful_ conclusion.
Whining abuot how bad things are and saying we should pick up our toys and go home is a very juvenile response to a difficult situation. Leaving Iraq any time in the next year sans established and functional government (which might take somewhat longer than that) would leave that country as a hotbed for development of terrorism and WMD. Only the weapons are missing, not the expertise to build them.
Vote Bush, let's finish the job we started.
Benjamin L Silver
Posted by: Benjamin L Silver ||
03/19/2004 8:30 Comments ||
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I think A2U was saying keep the S.Kor's at home and btw pull all our troops out of S.Kor as well. Sounds reasonable to me. As for Iraq, we obviously need to finish what we started. We have the potential to have a relationship w/Iraq on par w/what we have w/Japan. Like in 1945, to think we'd be allies w/Japan was inconceivable. The main factor is if Iraq actually modernizes and moderates the islamic equation through time, I see potential but will always be cautiously optimistic.
#8
Apoligies to A2U for my dimness.Very nice to hear Ben Silvers view and what hes done about it,must say i think you've done the right thing by signing up. I think alot on the left realised thier mistake in thier antiwar ways but are simply either to proud,to stubborn or to stupid to admit they were wrong on this one,I certainly think 50% or more have dropped out of thier antiwar stance over here anyway
#9
I agree with A2U. Pull out now. Our troops can be better used elsewhere. The remainder deserve to come home and get a rest.
My Korean mother can't believe the vile crap being spewed by their press and educated younger class. The older folks lived through and understand the nature of communism and war. But they are now dying off. The young only know prosperity and peace, but have been bombarded by propaganda that it is the US fault that a state of war exists and ALL of Korea is not united. They ignore the little fact that the world's worst dictator is right on their border. They are some of the most inward looking and outward blaming people on earth.
I say let's pull out, get rid of Most Favored Nation trade status, and treat then as another nonalighned country. They can either grow up and take responsibility or let Darwin cull the weak and stupid. The SK has twice the population and 40 times the GDP of NK. If they can't defend themselves with that kind of superiority, then they are not worth any more American blood and treasure. 50 years is enough.
#10
Jon Shep, I think you need to apologize to A2U for calling her a guy also. Rantburg - where the women are more hardcore hawks than the overly sensitive men.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 12:02 Comments ||
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Great comment half-n-half! I think the SKs really do believe that if only the big, bad USA will leave their fair country, they can finally achieve the peace and harmony of a united Korea. (start music) Bet the North's up for that one! (And NK gets kudos from evil empires everywhere for an amazingly successful propaganda victory. Who woulda thunk it!)
Al Qaeda has claimed the responsibility for Wednesday's blast in a central Baghdad hotel. The al Qaeda letter also hints at even more violence against the US and their allies in Iraq.
The e-mail was sent said in an e-mail sent to the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, on behalf of Abu Mohammad al-Ablaj, who is in charge of training in al-Qaeda.
"Woe to the Americans and their allies from what awaits them in Iraq," the message said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:56:35 AM ||
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Why cant we get their ISP and from them get their address, go knock on their door and when they answer blow the SOB's away
Posted by: Barry ||
03/19/2004 2:02 Comments ||
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'The e-mail was sent said in an e-mail sent to the London-based...'
geez, if only my wife could see this, she's an english teacher
#3
...more violence against the US and their allies in Iraq.
Like the Iraqis killed at the hotel, I guess. Hint to Iraqis: you need to find these assholes and force-feed them their own toes. You can't wait for the US to find them.
#4
You mean those brave, misunderstood, freedom fighters actually blew up the hotel? Well, they must have had a darn good reason, I can tell you that! They certainly don't want to kill innocent people. They're not like that at all. They're so cute. If they even did do it, it's because they just want the evil western empires to stop bullying them around. Look at all the bad things we've done to them. I mean, some people think "once a terrorist, always a terrorist," but people can change. Really they can. All who agree with me, stand up and say, "A chicken in every pot, and a burka for every woman! " Yea! (antiwar--this one was for you).
#5
Seriously, and I mean that!! How come these E-mails float around in the "ether" and as we all know each one MUST have a server that is able to place and/or send that particular document: and by doing so, that "server" is, I would think,is "aiding supporting and abeting" the WORLD WIDE ENEMY!!! Find out his/or their clients and eliminate them from GODS green earth!!! Maybe this is too simple, but for crying out loud, they "communicate" with "their" outlets such as Dan "B"lather and his ilk so let us eliminate or better yet reveal tham for what they are absolute "HATERS OF AMERICA" What a sad time we are living in: But take heart it can only get better, and a WHOLE lot better!!
Thanks for reading this but wow am I Pissed off!!
Posted by: Barry ||
03/20/2004 0:22 Comments ||
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Sudanese leader Hassan al Turabi, who knew Osama bin Laden and once organized an international alliance of radical Muslims, said in an interview on Thursday that Washington was exaggerating the reach of Al Qaeda to frighten people.
Nice to see his European intellectualism is still in form.
"I don't think he (Osama) has a worldwide network of (Al) Qaeda. The Americans are looking for ghosts. Whenever they are fighting or they are hit (they say) ''Ah, Qaeda is there'," Hassan Turabi said in an interview at his Khartoum home, where he has lived quietly since his release from jail in October. "The word Qaeda has become just like in the old days when you try to frighten the children. There is a ghost they are fighting," he added. Hassan Turabi said the exaggeration of Al Qaeda's reach was part of a pattern of using Arabic words to instil a fear of the alien among Westerners.
Looks like he's been reading Chomsky while he was in the jug.
"Even the word 'jihad', they don't translate it into English as 'struggle'. Because it's foreign, it frightens everybody. It's alien. Anything that refers to God, they call it Allah, as though Allah is a foreign god. But it is just God," he said.
I'd take a stab and say our disagreement with Binny goes a bit beyond mere word definitions. He said as much in that declaration of war you praised a couple years back.
Hassan Turabi knew Osama when the Saudi exile lived in the Sudanese capital in the early 1990s, and Sudanese say Osama saw Hassan Turabi as a spiritual mentor, despite ideological differences between them. "I understand whatever he is doing," said Turabi, but added that he and Osama were not on the same wavelength because of their different backgrounds.
"I used to do the same sorts of things myself, after all. Just ask the SPLA."
The Sudanese government expelled Osama under US pressure and closed down Turabi's Popular Islamic Conference Organization, which hosted regular gatherings of militant groups in Khartoum, including organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. But three years in jail appear to have mellowed Hassan Turabi, who said the Bush administration was advocating democracy in the Arab world in the genuine belief that autocratic government in the region gives rise to extremism.
Color me unimpressed. Turabi's a snake and if he's riding the pro-democracy train, it's only because he thinks he can pull a FIS and become Maximum Leader through the "one man, one vote, one time" ballot box trick.
"Before, they preferred an autocracy. But now they realize that there is an upsurging spirit in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and every country and if you suppress them too much then you develop a spirit of extremism. So they are opening up a little bit now. They think democracy is better," Turabi said. But he added: "They are campaigning also for oil and this confuses their thought." Hassan Turabi declined to endorse the concept of a US campaign against Islam itself and attributed US policy to ignorance rather than malice. He recalled that when he went to Washington in an official delegation in the early 1980s, President Ronald Reagan was under the impression that Sudan was in Latin America. "They (the Americans) don't know much about issues. They are learning but not fast enough," he added. The Sudanese government, which remains broadly religious despite the rift with Turabi, has restricted the politician's activities, but Turabi said he keeps in touch with like-minded people around the world by using other people's telephones.
I trust the NSA is tapping his line ...
He has acted as informal political adviser to the Islamic Party of Iraq, part of the US-appointed Governing Council. A delegation from the Iraqi party wanted his advice on how to deal with the Kurds and the Shias and on drafting the recently approved interim constitution.
If Turabi's involved, as a general rule it's bad news. Better keep an eye on them, just as we do with SCIRI.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:40:48 AM ||
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i wonder if his friend osama called him an "abeed" behind his back--the all purpose arabic "n" word--used to refer to blacks but means slave--osama is a racist as are all arabs and had faux respect for hassi the twit
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
03/19/2004 3:04 Comments ||
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Turabi's air has a heavy aroma of methane with a tinge of hydrogen sulfide. He must be allergic to something in his diet.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2004 9:59 Comments ||
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interesting point on Arabic words, though wrong. Using untranslated Hebrew words - Hashem, Torah, Shalom,kibbutz, even Tzahal, Likud, doesnt seem to "frighten everybody" the same way. Funny, that.
#4
Funny, I define Crusade much the same way the Islamic types define Jihad yet they got all bent out of shape when Bush used the term crusade and want us to respect their definition of Jihad as a struggle when its used 98% of the time to mean infidel bashing.
Also funny how the US sees Al Queda in every attack, but also that Al Queda takes credit for every attack, including power outages and earthquakes. Whos fault is that. I don't care if you are innocent, if you try to take credit for a horrendous act you should be treated as if you are at least partially responsible for that act.
Pakistani forces surrounding a group of militants on the Afghan border, possibly including a top al Qaeda member, have given them a deadline of noon (7 a.m. British time) to surrender, an army officer says. "We've given them a deadline of 12 noon to surrender," the army officer told Reuters on Friday in the town of Wana, near the scene of the battle.
This is bringing back all too many memories of Tora Bora and they aren't the good kind. If bin Laden did manage to make his sorry hide out of there in one piece, it was during that idiotic cease-fire the local militias decided to have. We know at least that Ayman and lesser al-Qaeda leaders like Khalid Jehani did make it out of Tora Bora in once piece during that basic time frame. If Ayman is holed up in Kaloosha and planning to make his escape, this'll be when he does it.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:31:10 AM ||
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Relax. I knew we were in good hands when I saw that Pakistani army guy with a motorcycle helmet manning the m60 on the back of that jeep (CNN footage).
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/19/2004 1:51 Comments ||
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Kill them all....NOW!!!! If they escape, you'll have lost what information they have anyway..... Just keep pluggin' away at 'em, until they're all gone.
Posted by: Danny ||
03/19/2004 1:52 Comments ||
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I'm actually optimistic on this. I think the Paks want Al ZwaHairBear alive, but realise they lack the ability to forcibly snatch him. This is their one shot. Once refused, they turn the place into a smoldering ash heap and call in the forensics team.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/19/2004 2:10 Comments ||
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Perfect set-up for a JDAM Surprise. Let the US across the border JUST THIS ONCE, and then go in and clean up what's left. Of course, the Pakis may not want to do that kind of tweasers and sponge job, but it would be the best solution.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/19/2004 13:11 Comments ||
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An official of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime said today he doubted the deputy leader of their al Qaeda allies was among militants cornered by Pakistani troops in a border battle. "According to my information Dr Ayman al-Zawahri is not in that area," said former Taliban defence minister, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund.
And who can you trust if not a former Taliban?
"It would be a speculation to say where senior al Qaeda leaders have taken shelter because they keep on changing their hideouts," Akhund said by telephone from an undisclosed location. "Even if he is there it would be very difficult to get him alive. He has support among Muslims everywhere. The people will help him get of the area," he said. "But if he is unable to escape, he would prefer to become a martyr," he said.
I have mixed thoughts as to whether or not Ayman would go down fighting. His experience in Egyptian jail was hardly a pleasant one and he knows he'll be a jihadi hero if he kills himself rather than be taken prisoner. All the same, he won't take the Hitler as long as he believes he still has a chance of saving himself.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 1:26:00 AM ||
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ahahhaha
Posted by: john ||
03/19/2004 1:54 Comments ||
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"Hey Ayman, you here?" "No, I'm not."
"See? He ain't here. Now go 'way."
The United Nations will send a team to help guide Iraq's transition to self-rule "as soon as practicable", Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general said yesterday. His decision followed invitations from both Iraq's Governing Council and the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, delivered earlier in the day. The UN, which claims it is not actively seeking a role, had insisted on the formal request.
In a letter signed by Mohammed Bahr Al-Uloom, the president of the Governing Council, Iraqi leaders said they continued to believe "the UN must play an important role in Iraq", according to one diplomat, and would appreciate its "advice and assistance as we look to the next challenge in the political transition: the formation of an interim Iraqi government".
Diplospeak for "y'all are welcome to sit in as long as you don't cut and run on the next boom."
The Council also invited UN assistance in ensuring direct elections would be held before the end of January 2005, calling its experience "invaluable" in creating the necessary infrastructure, and overseeing the conduct of elections. The coalition expressed hopes that UN election experts would arrive in Iraq early in the week of March 21, amid growing fears that the time for adequate preparation is growing increasingly tight.
The political team will be led by the veteran UN troubleshooter Lakdhar Brahimi. He faces a daunting task as Iraqis jockey for power ahead of the handover of sovereignty at the end of June. It still has not been decided what form an interim government will take, or how it will be chosen. One option, diplomats say, is to expand the current Governing Council to include a wider membership. The coalition hopes the UN's assistance will help provide legitimacy to the new body, amid some Iraqi fears that the new sovereign government will be little more than a group of coalition appointees.
But the past week saw some reports that a number of Iraqi Shias opposed the return of the UN, following disappointment that it had deemed elections could not be held before the end of June. Mr Brahimi this week sought to quell that speculation with the announcement that Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Shia spiritual leader, supported a UN role.
Sistani's playing these guys.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2004 1:08:48 AM ||
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kofi should send his son-kojo-he knows something about the oil industry --and corruption--good middle eastern skills
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
03/19/2004 3:27 Comments ||
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watch the UN arrive under a blaze of media whooping and cheering,then watch then lift thier skirt and run when the first bomb goes off like last time,some things are just so predictable
#3
It WILL be fascinating to see how they decide to manage their security, this time. Think they'll hire a bunch of Ba'athists and tell the CA Military to buzz off this time? Heh.
I'm just worried they won't be able to find adequate facilities (Like an Ex: The lifestyle to which they've become accustomed...) inside the Green Zone - 5-Star Hotels must be rather thin on the ground thereabouts!
#4
So we let the UN back and they proceed to whine and bitch about how much the US & UK have mucked things up for the poor Iraqi people, how is that different from last time?
This world would be a better place without that hopelessly corrupt and pointless debating society.
BATUMI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili Thursday defused the worst crisis since he came to power, lifting an economic blockade on the rebellious Adzhara region in return for more of a say in local affairs. The agreement, reached after three hours of talks, leaves the pro-Moscow leader Aslan Abashidze still in charge of Adzhara on the Turkish border, where Saakashvili accused him Saturday of acting like "a feudal lord from the Middle Ages."
The 36-year-old U.S.-backed president, who swept to power after a people's revolution last year, struck a more measured note Thursday, but made clear he intended to unite all of Georgia including separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "I believe we have achieved full mutual understanding," a beaming Saakashvili told a crowd of several thousand after the talks. "There is no conflict in Adzhara."
Unless Abashidze back-tracks.
In return for lifting a blockade that crippled the 200,000 barrel-a-day port from midnight, Saakashvili will appoint a personal representative to watch over the Black Sea port and customs officials, according to a statement released by Abashidze. Abashidze will also guarantee free election campaigning for a parliamentary poll on March 28, allow citizens to move freely, disarm his supporters, and revise with Georgian prosecutors the cases of people who had been imprisoned under controversial circumstances, the statement said.
An unsmiling Abashidze told the crowd: "This meeting shows that there are no issues which cannot be resolved." "It's clear what Georgia gains and what Saakashvili gains, and what Abashidze gains is more time for his smooth departure," said political analyst Temuri Yakobashvili, vice president of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.
Time to cash in those Kruggerrands, Abashidze!
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2004 12:59:07 AM ||
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"There is no conflict in Adzhara"? I guess that depends on what the meaning of "is" is.
It's WaPo and moderately EFL, though it does give a little more info from US sources.
Pakistani security forces backed by U.S. spy planes were engaged in a pitched battle with tribal fighters and Islamic militants who were believed to be protecting key members of al Qaeda, senior Pakistani and U.S. officials said yesterday. "There are indications someone important" has been surrounded by the Pakistani troops, said a senior U.S. counterterrorism official. U.S. and Pakistani officials said they could not confirm reports circulating in Pakistan that commanders had evidence the cornered militants included Osama bin Laden's chief deputy, Ayman Zawahiri.
"I can say no more!"
Hundreds of Pakistani troops backed by artillery and helicopter gunships were on the attack around the villages of Azam Warsak, Kaloosha and Shin Warsak in remote southern Waziristan province, officials said. Witnesses in Azam Warsak described artillery barrages and intense crossfire. Supporting the U.S. and Pakistani troops is a newly refined technology that allows for the quick processing and analysis of images and communications intercepts from U.S. Air Force spy planes, CIA drones and National Security Agency satellites. New techniques allow for speedy transfer of the information to commanders in the field, said counterterrorism officials. The springtime operation, called Mountain Storm, has also focused on capturing people suspected of having knowledge of bin Laden's support system -- a technique that paid off in the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Captives are being questioned by CIA and military interrogators with the aim of identifying and apprehending individuals with direct knowledge and access to bin Laden and Zawahiri.
Military officials and others have expressed optimism that they are closer to bin Laden than they have ever been. "Operations are underway and the difference between coming up empty-handed and having [bin Laden] and Zawahiri are quite thin," said J. Cofer Black, director of counterterrorism at the State Department. "It's not a linear problem; it's more like a net," said Black, who headed the CIA's counterterrorism center until last year. "The net is wider and longer, and the mesh is finer, and we're moving at a higher rate of speed." Officials said local commanders believe they may have surrounded a key figure because of the intensity of the resistance from tribal fighters and Islamic militants, whose usual tactic is to fade away when confronted with significant force. "We have no reports whatsoever to claim that Osama or Ayman al-Zawahiri have been trapped," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan's chief military spokesman, said late Thursday. One tribal elder reached in Azam Warsak said some of the fighters were residents who could not leave the area when combat began. "Those who have been trapped are longtime Uzbek, Tajik and Chechen residents of the area," said Malik Behram Khan. "No way to go, they have no other choice but to fight."
Aren't the Chechens a bit far from home, though? And all of the assault weapons and explosives a bit much, even in Pakland?
A senior Pakistani army officer in Peshawar described the fighters as "trained combatants." He said there were "solid reports" that Zawahiri was in the area about three months ago. "We are not sure if he was still hanging out there." On Thursday, the House of Representatives doubled the reward for bin Laden's capture, to $50 million.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/19/2004 12:59:10 AM ||
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#1
focused on capturing people
Heh heh.
Uzbek, Tajik and Chechen
Anyone wonder why they don't trust the locals anymore? Press never stops to look at the implications of that little tacit fact behind the news. but there it is. ... grin ...
#2
OS-very curious string of comments on the subject. Soon I hope we'll all know. Even if there is no senoir leadership in the area a good rug shaking should get the vermin moving.
Posted by: theo ||
03/19/2004 9:37 Comments ||
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Two American soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in fighting Thursday in central Afghanistan, the U.S. military said. At least five terrorists were killed in the battle, officials said. In a brief statement, U.S. Central Command said the American soldiers were accompanied by troops of the Afghan National Army when they were attacked by "anti-coalition militia" in a village near Tarin Kowt. The Americans were not identified by name or military unit.
Damn. Deep condolences to our guys.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2004 12:21:54 AM ||
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#1
This hurts, as does every single loss of an American soldier simply trying to help these people have a future better than warlord warfare.
What bothers me most about stories like this is that nagging suspicion that, simply put, the Afghans haven't earned my / our trust. I would be outraged, but not surprised, to find that it is common for Afghan "Army" troops to either shoot US soldiers themselves when the opportunity (such as a firefight) presents itself, or to collaborate with "anti-coalition militia" by leaking info which sets us up.
Yeah, I know, call me paranoid. But the Afghanis aren't the Hmong - and I don't trust them at all.
#3
Did we earn the Afghan's trust?? Did we do anything for the Northern Alliance, when the Afghan people were oppressed by the Taliban - EVEN when Al Qaeeda blew up two US embassies? Even when they attacked a US Navy ship (blame Clinton if you will, im not making a partisan point, but looking from an Afghan point of view)
How many Afghan Army troops have been killed fighting the Taliban? Do THOSE deaths warrant headlines in our newspapers?? How many Afghan troops have to die to earn our trust??
#6
LH -
We've armed them for, what, the last 25+ years? Would there have even BEEN a Nortern Alliance without our help and support? No. The Soviets would still be rattlin' around Kabul.
We inserted irregulars (CIA, etc) to work with the Alliance long before we decided the Taliban had to go.
We provided the tipping power, air power, and then a lot of boots on the ground once we decided to take the Taliban out.
We poured money into Karzai's coffers so he could wear spiffy shawls and hats and begin buying off various warloards - the Afghan way.
We were (still are?) the only force who works outside of Kabul area to try to bring the warlord society into the fold - to create the first ever (including when they had their "king") inkling of a national entity.
We poured money into their military, including pay scales which (finally) rivalled what the warlords were paying. Because that's the Afghan way - power goes to the highest bidder.
I would question your statement about headlines as being a red herring. One, they usually DO report Afghan deaths when their Army acts jointly with US troops - US papers tend to report US activities, no? Two, I doubt whether any Afghanis besides (and this is only a maybe) Karzai gives a rat's ass about being mentioned in the US press.
As for them dying to earn our trust, the answer is when they are not a "For Sale" society. When they decide they want modernity and civility and rule of law and to BE trusted because the CAN BE trusted, then I will trust them - it's called honor. I submit without hesitation that they lack honor as long as their services are for sale.
You know what, LH? It seems to me that you've just decided to declare war on everything I post that falls outside of your view - which seems to be narrowing. Is the election season upsetting you? I've often tried to meet you half or part way. I've made my case and listened to yours. I don't find dick overlap in this Venn diagram anymore. Thanx, but no thanx. I said what I meant and I meant what I said and I consider your commentary lame and reactionary, not thoughtful.
Well, since I advocated nuking the country, we have done them a big favor by putting them back in charge.
I am not exagerating about the nuking either. A saturation nuclear strike would have made it very clear who was going to give the orders, and iraq could have been settled without invasion, pakistan would have been quiet, and saudi would be cleaning house right now.
#8
Is there such a thing as an Afghan? There are Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Nuristanis, etc. -- and that's what really counts. Different languages, different cultures, different codes. How much of the present-day Taliban is Pashtun? Close to 100%, no?
South Korea canceled plans to send troops to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, citing U.S. pressure to participate in "offensive operations," but still plans to send the forces to help rebuild the country, the Defense Ministry said Friday. The ministry said it was looking for another location to send the promised 3,600 forces. Seoulâs dispatch, which would make South Korea the biggest coalition partner after the United States and Britain, was scheduled to come as early as next month. But Fridayâs decision means the mission might be delayed. South Koreaâs Defense Ministry said the "United States cited inevitability for offensive operations to keep security in order in the Kirkuk area," and proposed that a certain number of U.S. troops remain in Kirkuk to operate under South Korean control. South Korean said the U.S. proposal does not jibe with South Koreaâs intention to "keep its own independent operational command system and conduct peaceful reconstruction."
More fallout from Madrid.
A U.S. Defense Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the United States values "South Korea's contribution in fighting terrorism as we value the contributions of the more than 90 countries that have joined the coalition in fighting terrorism. "It is up to each country to decide what type, duration and scope of support it may provide the coalition," the official said.
Staunch U.S. allies Australia and the Philippines said Friday that the coalition should not abandon Iraq in the face of possible terror attacks. "Iraq is now on the cusp of a positive new chapter in its history," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. "Now is not the time for the international community to succumb to terrorist threats and to abandon the Iraqi people."
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo rejected calls by some opposition politicians in her country to withdraw its 96-member contingent from Iraq and distance her country from the U.S.-led war on terrorism. "What the opposition is suggesting is that we just silently cower in fear and hope the terrorists won't strike at us," Arroyo said in a statement. "This will not work. Terrorists are bullies and the more you cower, the more they will hit you.
Filipinos know this first-hand, too.
South Korean Prime Minister Goh Kun, acting president after the National Assembly impeached President Roh Moo-hyun last Friday, assumed duty over the weekend promising to follow through on the Iraq mission. But his government has warned that the country must prepare for possible terrorist attacks as its plans to send troops. Since the Spain bombings, Seoul has stepped up security at airports and elsewhere. "We plan to maintain close consultations with the United States and select an area where we can effectively conduct our mission of peaceful reconstruction under a more stabilized condition, and decide on the timetable for the dispatch," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing an unnamed ministry official, said the dispatch would be put off until June and that the military was considering sites in central or southern Iraq where things are more stable. One ministry source told Yonhap a new strong candidate site is Najaf in southern Iraq, where the Spanish troops are currently stationed. A South Korean survey team, led by Lt. Gen. Kim Jang-su, was to return later Friday after a weeklong visit to Iraq, possibly with suggestions on a new site, Yonhap said.
That would fill a need, wouldn't it?
Posted by: Fred & Steve ||
03/19/2004 12:46:06 AM ||
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that's ok...when can just pull some of our own troops out of Spain and SK to fill in the gap.
#2
South Korea canceled plans to send troops to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, citing U.S. pressure to participate in "offensive operations," but still plans to send the forces to help rebuild the country, the Defense Ministry said Friday.
What this really means, is that they want to reap all the benefits (largesse from rebuilding) without assuming any of the risks. That's okay. Whatever U.S. forces that are stationed in South Korea can simply be shifted appropriately.... (ALL our forces shifted away from SK would be preferable)
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