Australian anti-terror police are hunting for 3.5 tons of fertiliser stolen from a warehouse in the southern city of Adelaide. There are fears the missing ammonium nitrate fertiliser could be used to build a bomb. Reports of the theft coincide with a government admission that huge amounts of explosives and ammunition had been stolen from the military since 2001. Not good news for our allies. Letâs hope they recover this material quickly.
Terrorists planning the Madrid train bombings held a secret meeting in Turkey at which an al-Qaeda operative was said by Spanish police to have given the go-ahead for the attacks which left 191 people dead on March 11. A report in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo cited police sources as saying that the alleged leader of the Madrid terrorist cell, Sarhane Ben Adbelmajid Fakhet, met an al-Qaeda operative to ask for fighters who could help in the attacks. The operative, Amer Azizi, is a Moroccan whose whereabouts is unknown. According to El Mundo, Mr Azizi rejected the request but recommended to Fakhet that he contact the Madrid-based Moroccan Jamal Zougam and work with him on the plan. Fakhet was described by Spanish police last week as the "co-ordinator and planner" of the Madrid attacks. He, along with as many as five others, blew himself up last weekend when police surrounded an apartment in the Madrid suburb of Leganes in which the bombers were preparing a further attack. Azizi is already known to Spanish counter-terrorism officials. In a 693-page analysis of the alleged involvement of Spain-based terrorists in the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, compiled by Spainâs terrorism judge Baltazar Garzon, Azizi is identified as having been recruited by the alleged ringleader of Spainâs al-Qaeda network, Imad Yarkas also known as Abu Dahdah. Abu Dahdah is currently in jail in Spain.
Judge Garzonâs report cites numerous examples of contacts between Azizi and many alleged members of the al-Qaeda network in Spain. It suggests he was a much more active member of the cell than Zougam. Zougam was arrested within days of the March 11 bombings after a mobile telephone that was to be used as a detonator failed to activate explosives and was traced to his Madrid mobile telephone shop. The meeting in Turkey - thought by several European investigators to have been in Istanbul - is alleged to have taken place in late 2002 or early 2003. According to a senior European counter-terrorism official, the meeting was convened to discuss bombing campaigns, and was one of several that have taken place in the Turkish economic capital. Reports that Azizi was able to meet Fakhet in the city and discuss the terrorist strategy that led more than a year later to the Madrid bombings, come at a time when European security officials are becoming increasingly concerned that Turkey may be a meeting place for terrorists based in the Middle East with connections to cells based in Europe. "Turkey is the interface between Europe and the Middle East, because itâs easy for the terrorists to get there," a senior security official said. "Istanbul is an easy place to go. There have been other meetings there, at which the bombings in Riyadh, Casablanca. Istanbul and Madrid were discussed," he said.
The suicide bombers who attacked two synagogues, the British consulate and a British-owned bank in the city last November, are also thought to have met expert bombmakers there who had travelled to the country from the Middle East. A key figure alleged by officials in Spain, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, to have played a role in all the bombings, and who is increasingly thought to have connections with cells ranging from Morocco to Iraq via Spain, is Abu Musab al-Zarkawi. He is said by European intelligence officers to have taught chemical weapons skills at an al-Qaeda training camp in the Afghan city of Herat in 2000-01, and he may be the central figure in the various terrorist structures now operating in Europe. "Al-Zarkawi is not unimportant. He plays a role in Iraq, Jordan, the Caucasus and Turkey," a senior European counter-terrorism official told FT.com. "He has many contacts in Turkey. And there are common factors linking these bombings, in terms of people and material, though Zarkawi is not necessarily the key figure. "For the Madrid bombings there was important contact with individuals outside Europe, and the main contacts are the people who move around a lot," he said. Investigators are now looking more closely at the role Amer Azizi may have played. According to Judge Garzon, Azizi, 24, for whom Spain has issued an arrest warrant, also uses the names Othman al-Andalusi and Othman del Espana. He was allegedly sent by Abu Dahdah for military training at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, and then established his own cell by recruiting Moroccans in Spain, the report says.
The leader of a banned Basque political party was quoted on Friday as saying he believed separatist guerrilla group Eta was prepared to give up violence and negotiate with the Spanish government. Asked by a Basque newspaper if he believed Eta was willing to abandon violence, Arnaldo Otegi, leader of batasuna, said: "I am convinced of it." "Their latest statements, taking a clear position towards the new government of Spain to sit down and talk, point in that direction," Otegi was quoted as saying in the interview,published on Deia newspaper's web site.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2004 12:18:10 PM ||
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Wise move. Even the new socialist government isn't going to have a lot of slack to cut for domestic terror.
#2
Interesting. I forget where I read it, but after the Madrid bombings someone was pointing out that 9/11 had raised the bar for all terrorist groups. How can you be taken seriously as badass terrorists if you can't mount a similar kind of operation?
That guy (and I) assumed that meant that domestic terrorists would escalate their tactics to match. If this report is true, perhaps it means that instead they've decided the standard is too high, and they no longer have the belly to compete.
This is a Good Thing. Means they're still sane. I guess it depends on whether you expect to receive your reward in this life or the next.
Bulgaria's Kintex Company helped al Qaeda activists to enter Chechnya, Turkish paper Sabah wrote Friday. The Bulgarian weaponry dealer recently got involved in an Indian scandal. The Government had awarded a Rs. 200 billion tender to Kintex, for the supply of AK-47 rifles. A Congress spokesman then claimed that favoring the Kintex bid was groundless. He also claimed that the Bulgarian company was linked to the 1995 Purulia arms drop case. His accusations were later rejected by the Government. Kintex Director Petar Karaangelov, commenting on the al Qaeda claims, said that there must have been some mistake. There is probably another company under the same name, Karaangelov suggested.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/10/2004 12:35:57 AM ||
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I heard on the radio that there was some sort of chemical attack in Bulgaria in the last few days involving chlorine [something]. Has anyone else heard that?
Posted by: Tibor ||
04/10/2004 1:51 Comments ||
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There are no operational al-Qaida cells in Italy ready to strike on a specific date. We did receive rumours but after checking them they turned out to be unreliable. The Interior ministry and the intelligence services announced that the level of alert will remain high but reckon that a level of "red" alert has not been reached. The interior ministry and the police forces came to this conclusion by examining the many reports of our secret services.
The news of an imminent "attack with explosives" in Rome, part of an intelligence report, is considered unreliable by the interior ministry, which points out that that particular report had been analysed two weeks ago during a meeting of the Technical and Strategic Committee, attended by the interior minister himself and chiefs of the secret services, the police and the carabinieri. In fact, two days ago minister Pisanu had said in parliament that "international Islamic terrorism" is "a many-sided threat which is difficult to predict and which can be perpetrated by independent characters or by sleeping cells in the country," but he had ruled out "excessive alarms," stating that "we are doing all we can to assess the actual terrorist threat in order to fight it as effective as possible."
According to intelligence sources which tapped phone conversations, Italy is not considered, at least for now, a target, not because it does not feature on the list of Islamic cells, but because it is used as a "bridge," to pass through or to leave. One wire-tap specifically mentions the fact that in Italy it is possible to move about, organise themselves and leave to become a 'martyr'. On other EU countries the law is more restrictive. The report also states that in Italy it is possible to steals IDs which can be used by proper terrorist cells which strike abroad.
The intelligence believes, in fact, that "there are no al-Qaida cells in Italy" in the sense of "strategic organisation". There are however two other levels in Italy, less dangerous but to be taken serious. The first "Input Level" allegedly consists of isolated fanatic Muslims, like the Moroccan man who blew himself up in his car (with two gas tanks in his car) in Brescia in front of a Mc DonaldÃâs; the second, more worrying level, which is defined as "widespread" consists of isolated groups of Islamic fundamentalists which could come into action, not by carrying out orders but spontaneously, "after reading an al-Qaida appeal on the Internet."
And as an act of prevention last week 161 illegal immigrants were searched and sent home as they were suspected of having links with terrorists.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/10/2004 12:32:35 AM ||
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Spanish police believe a top Al Qaeda operative in Europe put two key suspects in the Madrid bombings in contact with one another. Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet of Tunisia, the alleged coordinator of the attacks, is believed to have met with Al Qaeda operative Amer Azizi in Turkey in late 2002 or early 2003 to ask for fighters for an attack in Madrid, the daily El Mundo said. Azizi, a Moroccan who remains at large, was indicted on terrorism charges last September by Judge Baltasar Garzon as part of his probe into an Al Qaeda cell he accused of helping prepare the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Azizi apparently told Fakhet he could not supply men but urged him to contact Moroccan compatriot Jamal Zougam in Madrid. Fakhet was one of up to seven suspected terrorists who blew themselves up April 3 when their apartment south of Madrid was about to be stormed by police.
It used to be four. Now it's seven. Guess they found more lips...
Azizi is one of at least a half dozen suspects for whom police are searching in relation to the train massacre. Seventeen people, 13 of them Moroccan, have been charged in the case.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/10/2004 12:06:48 AM ||
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Quelle surprise.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/10/2004 23:54 Comments ||
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The French government firmly condemned on Friday the taking of foreign hostages in Iraq by armed groups, calling such actions "unacceptable and unjustifiable with regard to international humanitarian law". Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said that France was addressing a message of solidarity to all the governments whose nationals have been taken hostage. Citizens of Japan, Italy and the United States have been sequestered by groups suspected of allegiance to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein or of being part of radical Shiite militias loyal to Moqtada Al-Sadr. "It is important that all these civilians be freed immediately and without conditions," Ladsous said after condemning the hostage taking. The official added that France was making known its "strong concern faced with the clashes taking place in several towns in Iraq and which are provoking a serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation for civilian populations".
Ladsous, answering questions at a daily briefing, remarked that the responsibility for security in Iraq remained with the Coalition forces. He also confirmed that France had been approached by the US Administration concerning an eventual French contribution to protect a United Nations mission in Iraq. The official said that it was too soon to discuss this as the UN had not decided to send a mission there just yet and there were political questions that remained to be answered and there were many questions concerning the Iraq situation that remain unresolved, not to mention questions about the situation on the ground. France also said that it was continuing to push the idea of an international conference on Iraq before the June 30 handover of power to an Iraqi administration. "We are pursuing our consultations with all our partners," Ladsous indicated, stressing that the French Foreign Minister brought up the subject each time he met with a counterpart or other senior officials as part of his regular contacts.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2004 12:01:39 AM ||
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A mother and her paralysed son - members of a family that has been linked to al-Qaida - returned to Canada on Friday, bringing the controversy over their reputed ties to the terrorist network back with them. Maha Elsamnah and her 14-year-old son Karim Khadr, who was shot in the spine in a shootout with Pakistani security forces, pushed their way through a crowd at Torontoâs Pearson airport after arriving from Pakistan via Britain. The teen flashed a peace sign as his wheelchair was guided past a throng of reporters.
Or was that a V for Victory?
His mother, her face partially hidden by a white veil, walked slowly behind her son, tears welling up in her eyes as she uttered: "I have no connection to al-Qaida," a statement that conflicted with her own past comments and with one of her sonâs remarks that his was an al-Qaida family. The pair was escorted by a half-dozen police officers to a van that whisked them away from the Good Friday frenzy at the airport. Abdurahman Khadr, 21, who himself was held as a suspected terrorist for a time, greeted his 47-year-old mother and younger brother. He said last month that his family had al-Qaida ties. "Iâm happy theyâre back and Iâm hoping my sister, my other sister and her daughter will get back soon," Khadr told reporters after helping his brother up a ramp and into the van. "We hope to get him into a hospital here," said Khadr, adding the family has no idea how theyâll pay for treatment for the boy, who is not entitled to medicare coverage because he doesnât meet residency requirements.
"Gotta get him back on his feet, though. He's got a jihad to fight!"
Karim Khadr had been in a hospital in Rawalpindi since last October, when his spine was shattered during the shootout at a house in Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan. The gunfight killed his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, 57, an Egyptian-born Canadian citizen and allegedly a close confidant of Osama bin Laden
Let's see Chretien get him out of that one...
The Khadrsâ return to Canada was arranged in part by Ottawa - a move immediately condemned by Conservative foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day as "outrageous."
I don't think there's any such thing as "outrageous" left in the Great White North...
Foreign Affairs spokesman Sameer Ahmed said the government contacted the Pakistani government and facilitated the Khadrsâ one-time-only exit visas because "we have a responsibility to ensure that Canadian citizens can return to Canada."
"Yellowknife needs those people!"
Another government spokesman has said taxpayers werenât paying for the Khadrsâ return, and the family instead used their own funds. However, Day said the governmentâs actions have "insulted" many Canadians. "Many Canadians are insulted that our citizenship could be diminished in this way," said Day after the Khadrsâ arrival. "Mrs. Khadr on national television not long ago claimed to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden, claimed to embrace the views of al-Qaida - views which focus on the extermination of Jews, the killing of peace-loving Muslims and attacking democracies," said Day, referring to the womanâs comments on CBC-TVâs The National earlier this year. "This whole thing is outrageous - that she (Mrs. Khadr) would be accorded the full rights of Canadian citizenship when she and her family . . . have been involved in the training fields and the killing fields of al-Qaida."
It does seem stoopid, doesn't it? But this is Canada we're discussing. There's a counterintuitive reason for everything, if you just look hard enough...
Abdurahman Khadr - who returned to Canada last fall after being released from a U.S. prison camp for terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - has said family members fought for al-Qaida and even stayed with bin Laden. At the same time, Khadr - who has been pleading with Ottawa for months for help in getting his paralysed brother and mother back to Canada - has firmly rejected Muslim extremism and terrorism.
And if you can't trust somebody named Khadr, who can you trust? They're such a truthful family, after all...
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service refused to confirm whether the national spy agency has plans to monitor the Khadrs. "Our mandate is quite clear: Itâs to investigate possible threats to the security of Canada," said Nicole Currier. "In order to do that, we do analysis, we do investigations, we meet with people, we gather information and we provide advice to the Canadian government about information and we provide advice to the Canadian government about possible threats - either from groups or activities or individuals."
So we should put you down for a "yes"?
It wasnât clear why Pakistani authorities did not want to detain the teen further in connection with the firefight that killed his father. His older brother has described him as innocent victim and lobbied to have the teen, mother and sister returned to Canada, saying he was worried they were under the spell of Muslim extremists and needed to be away from them.
"They have no minds of their own, you know. They have to borrow other people's. That's why they're not responsible for their actions..."
Another Khadr brother, 17-year-old Omar, remains in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay. He was arrested in Afghanistan almost two years ago and stands accused of killing an American soldier.
Just good, solid Canadian citizens...
Posted by: tipper ||
04/10/2004 10:40:58 AM ||
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Canadian foreign affairs officials say theyâre preparing the paperwork to enable the return of members of the Khadr family to Canada. Thatâs nice of them Abdurahman Khadr, 21, has been fighting to have his mother and injured brother returned from Pakistan for medical treatment. Yair, do you know how much those Paki doctors charge?
Nothing like free socialized medicne is there, for the ailing jihadi. Omar Karim Khadr was paralysed in a gunfight That should be worth plenty in government assistance when he gets back.
that left his father Ahmed Khadr â a suspected al-Qaeda leader â dead. Maybe the government could pay for his funeral too, eh!
The manâs wife and daughter have told CBC News they supported the elder Khadr and see him as a martyr. They have been trying for months to get a Canadian passport to return to Canada.
Because the Great White North has a shortae of people who supported the elder Khadr and see him as a martyr?
The Department of Foreign Affairs says so far they have prepared documents for the mother and injured teenager to return. "The Khadr family is using their own funds to pay for Omar Karimâs return to Canada," a spokesman for the department told CBC News. Well thatâs OK then, I suppose.
Posted by: tipper ||
04/10/2004 2:24:02 AM ||
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If the Canucks let these mooks back....seal the border
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2004 7:50 Comments ||
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There's plenty already here. One or two more won't make a difference. "They don't even have proof Bin Laden was responsible." I hear that on a daily basis.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/10/2004 7:54 Comments ||
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Rafael: There's plenty already here. One or two more won't make a difference. "They don't even have proof Bin Laden was responsible." I hear that on a daily basis.
And in the next breath, they'll say that Americans had 9/11 coming because of its "Zionist" Mid East policies.
Jerry Zovko, one of four Americans killed last week in Fallujah during a brutal attack... Many who came Friday didnât know Zovko personally, but took time to pay their respects to a man who paid the ultimate price protecting others half a world away. The family was earlier quoted as welcoming the public, saying that it is the public that has helped them through this tragic time. The funeral home has a guestbook open to anyone. Follow the links.
Posted by: Tresho ||
04/10/2004 2:36:00 AM ||
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MORE than 50 inmates, including many suspected members of a Muslim extremist group, used a smuggled pistol to escape from a southern Philippine prison today, officials said. At least eight were killed by pursuing police. Provincial spokesman Christopher Puno said 53 of 137 inmates at the Basilan provincial jail, including many members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, escaped and fled into nearby hinterlands. At least eight were killed and eight others have been recaptured, said Senior Inspector William Gadayan, police chief of Isabela city, the capital of Basilan. He said three guards were injured in the breakout, one seriously...
Posted by: Lux ||
04/10/2004 5:32:38 AM ||
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So when is the light bulb gonna go on that when you capture 'em, you put 'em up against the nearest wall and shoot them. Dead. Saves a lot of time and trouble.
The latest communique from al-Qaida calls for assassinations of world leaders, kidnappings and mutilation attacks like those carried out in Fallujah and Mogadishu, according to a translation and analysis by the Northeast Intelligence Network. The communication came in the form of the 14th edition of the Voice of Jihad, an online publication believed to be produced by Osama bin Ladenâs terrorist organization. The communique offers support for the murders of four U.S. civilians in Fallujah, Iraq, who were providing security for food deliveries in the violent Sunni triangle. They were killed by militants, their bodies dismembered, burned and hanged on display.
The four American employees of a private U.S. security firm who were killed and mutilated in Iraq last week were identified as highly trained former American military troops. The al-Qaida report linked the mutilation deaths with those of Army Rangers in Mogadishu in 1993 â deaths that resulted in the withdrawal of U.S. troops from that African nation. Bin Laden, according to some intelligence sources, was in charge of operational planning for that attack. The Voice of Jihad encourages "holy warriors" to repeat such attacks until the U.S. withdraws all troops from the Islamic world.
Blackwater Security Consulting, a firm that provides paramilitary training for private and government needs, confirmed that the four men killed in Fallujah were employees. Blackwater declined to release their identities, but sources close to the families said three of the men were former U.S. Special Operations troops:
Jerry Zovko, 32, an Army veteran from Willoughby, Ohio.
Mike Teague, 38, an Army veteran from Clarksville, Tenn.
Scott Helvenston, 38, a veteran of the Navy. His hometown was not known.
Other sources said the fourth man also had previously served in the military, but his identity was not immediately made public.
Blackwater Security Consulting, based in Moyock, N.C., recruits security specialists for contract work from elite U.S. and other special operations units worldwide. It also trains police and other government employees. Television pictures broadcast outside the United States showed the incinerated body of one of the four contractors being kicked and stamped on by people in a jubilant crowd in Fallujah, while another body was dragged down the road by its feet. Two bodies also were temporarily hung from a bridge.
Last week, WorldNetDaily reported, a popular Islamic online site, quoting a European sheik, justified the mutilation of the bodies of enemies when it is part of retaliation. Responding to a specific question about Islamâs view of mutilating bodies of enemies in wartime, Sheik Faysal Mawlawi, deputy chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, wrote "it is permissible to mutilate the dead only in case of retaliation."
And "retaliation" has such a wide definition...
"If any one cuts the ear of another, his ear is to be cut in return," wrote the sheik. "If he inflicts any physical damage on anyone, he should be retaliated against in the same manner. In case of war, Muslims are allowed to take vengeance for their mutilated dead strugglers in the same way it was done to them." The sheik cited the Quranic verse: "If ye punish, then punish with the like of that wherewith ye were inflicted. But if ye endure patiently, verily it is better for the patient."
Not that it has anything to do with the case at hand...
"This verse was revealed when the polytheists mutilated the corpse of Hamzah ibn Abd el-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him)," the sheik continued. "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) swore to mutilate seventy corpses of the polytheists in retaliation for what they had done with Hamzahâs dead body." Other sheiks offered dissenting opinions on whether mutilation is ever warranted or justified.
The Voice of Jihad communique also points to the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as an action to be emulated. âIt specifically encourages assassinations and kidnappings as a means of advancing the efforts of the jihad and taking the struggle to greater levels,â reports Northeast Intelligence Network.
In other words, whatever works or might work. It's not like there are any rules to adhere to...
Posted by: tipper ||
04/10/2004 1:37:56 AM ||
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MEMO
To:C.E.O Blackwater Security Consulting
Subject:Payback
From:Raptor,C.E.O.Vengence Inc.
It has been braught to my attention that Blackwater has upto 15,000 employees in Iraq.
As regards the murder and mutilation of Blackwater employees in Fallujah,it has been shown in the above article that assassinations and kidnappings and mutilation of the dead is acceptble under Quranic Law:
(a)14th edition of the Voice of Jihad
(b)Sheik Faysal Mawlawi"it is permissible to mutilate the dead only in case of retaliation."
Considering that the actions on the Fallujah bridge,and the mutilation of Soldiers and Humanitairian Aid workers in Mogadishu has set the precedent,then it is permisable and desirable that Blackwater can and should exact justice.
It is advised that the following actions be taken by Blackwater Security Consulting:
1)offer substaintial rewards leading to the capture of the leaders and participants of the atrocities commited at the bridge in Fallujah.
2)assassinations,mutilations,and kidnappings family members and associates of all those featured in photos and films that were participants in,or celebrated in the murder and mutilation of Blackwater employees.
By following the suggestions listed above, Blackwater Security Consulting will show to those that commit the atrocitys like those at the bridge that retribution will be wide, comprehensive,and terrible.
The US-led coalition and insurgents in the Sunni bastion of Fallujah agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire beginning today at 0600 GMT (1600 AEST) after six days of fierce clashes which claimed the lives of hundreds of people, an Iraqi mediator said.
However, the insurgents threatened to kill a presumed American citizen unless the siege of the Sunni Muslim town was lifted in the latest example of their new tactic of kidnapping foreigners to win concessions on the ground and put pressure on US allies in Iraq.
"The two sides have agreed to observe a 12-hour ceasefire tomorrow, Sunday, at 10am," or 0600 GMT (1600 AEST), a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Hatem al-Husseini, said.
"This will pave the way for the gradual pullout of US Marine troops from Fallujah," Husseini said after a meeting with coalition officials in Baghdad on his return from the mediation talks in the town west of the capital. I doubt it. My assessment is complete disarmanent of the entire city is the objective.
A senior coalition spokesman had no comment on the negotiations but said a statement would be issued later today.
The apparent breakthrough came after the coalition suspended offensive operations in Fallujah and offered the talks.
A 35-member Iraqi delegation, led by members of the US-installed interim Governing Council, entered Fallujah and held meetings to mediate an end to the bloodshed.
However, a group calling itself "the mujaheieen of Iraq to US forces" still threatened to kill a presumed US national identified as Thomas Hamill if the siege was not lifted.
"If this is not heeded within 12 hours starting at 6pm on Saturday, April 10, 2004, (0100 Sunday AEST), he will be treated worse than those who were killed and burned in Fallujah," the group said in an audiotaped message read on Al-Jazeera satellite TV. I very much doubt it will hold for 12 hours, but we shall see.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/10/2004 9:26:07 PM ||
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Pullout? Bullshit! "We" finally got a clue about winning the same territory twice in Vietnam! "Take the hill!" Lose 25 people. Leave. 2 months later: "Take the hill!" Whoa there, Birdy Actual-6, if you wanted the fuckin' hill why the hell did you order us to leave last time?" Fuck that noise - you keep territory taken by force.
Corollary issue:
Anyone else here surprised that there are any civs running around solo anywhere near Fallujah? Unarmed - or just unable / unwilling to fight? I know one thing - there's no way I'd let myself be taken alive if I was conscious - cuz I wouldn't do whatever it was without being well armed. Something's not right about this.
#2
AFP, Fisk, Pilger, and the other usual suspects will hail a US pullout as a great victory for the heroic freedom-fighters of Fallujah and their tactics of butchery and terrorism.
They will gloat about it for years, as they gloat about the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
Those who worry about how "the world" (actually meaning the murder-apologist authoritarians who presume to speak for the world) will respond to our actions seem oddly unconcerned with this.
#3
check out Den Beste on whether we're "pleading" for a cease-fire...BS spin
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2004 23:07 Comments ||
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Man, this is deja vu all over again! Where have we seen this movie before?
We have now been in Iraq long enough to know what the situation is, namely this: The Kurds are very pro American and appreciative of what we have done for them. The Shiite south also is generally supportive, Badr's goons not whithstanding. The problem is the Sunni middle. They seem to be heavily supportive of the insurgency. Why should we stay in an area where the people are hostile just to say we control it? We shouldn't be in the business of forcing people to accept an ideology (liberal democracy) if the population is not interested, or are more interested in driving you out. Iraq needs to be split in three. What is Iraq anyway? It is just an arbitrary line in the sand drawn up by the colonial British administration.
We should make it plain that the ICDC must do the fighting in the Sunni triangle and drive the militants out. We would tell them that it is their country and they must be the ones who control it. We would of course help them, but without supplying significant combat troops. The ICDC is more numerous than the insurgents and better armed, and should be able to rout them. If they can't then they are just not committed to their country Iraq. Why should we be more committed than they are? They will fail miserably, of course, but that should be our game plan. Then when we evacuate out of the Sunni areas, the splitting of Iraq will follow naturally. The Shiite and Kurds won't allow the Sunnis to dominate then again like they used to, and the Sunnis won't allow themselves to be a minor player in a democratic Iraq (which invariably they would be).
I don't agree with those who say we should wipe out the insurgents period, because after we do that, whithin a few months they will reconstitute themselves with foreign help, and we're back to where we started. The Sunni triangle is becoming Lebanized. We had better start coming up with a winning game plan pretty quick before this war turns out to be an unmitigated disaster like Vietnam was. If things get worse and worse, and GWB loses in November, then it's game over. Not only will all those Amrican lives and treasure have been for nought, but Iraq could turn out to be worse than it was under Saddam as far as the WoT goes.
#5
"If things get worse and worse, and GWB loses in November, then it's game over."
It's game over if Iraq gets divided up in three, with Baathists controlling one part, Islamofascists the other, and a tiny Kurdish nation, that'll be too weak to do anything at all to benefit you in a "War on Terror" and would possibly get into conflicts with Turkey.
If Bush loses in November, it's nothing but a governmental change in a democratic country. The sky won't fall.
An Iraqi group holding three Japanese citizens hostage has reportedly said it will release them within hours. Arabic al-Jazeera TV quoted a statement from the kidnappers saying they would free the three after mediation by a Sunni Muslim organisation. The insurgents had previously threatened to burn the journalist and two aid workers alive unless Japan withdrew its forces from Iraq. Japan has refused to withdraw its troops from Iraq despite the threats. Very strange. Has somebody managed to locate any official news releases relating to the supposed anti-war stance of these Japanese hostages? That an unnegotiated hostage release is happening in the face of Japanâs defiant stance makes zero sense. Anyone else have a read on this?
#1
from the JPost:
The kidnappers, identifying themselves as the "Mujahedeen Squadron," said they made the decision after mediation by the Islamic Clerics Committee, an Iraqi Sunni Muslim organization, Al-Jazeera reported.
possibly someone realized Japan wasn't going to give in and played them a film about Nanking?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2004 20:31 Comments ||
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Frank,
Excelent, rotflmao.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
04/10/2004 20:44 Comments ||
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Something still doesn't add up, Frank G. No matter how much I'd like to think that the Iraqi fighters are all uneducated guttersnipes, they must have some organization behind them. Even a poorly informed group would still have a good chance of knowing that Japan has no intention of sending combat troops. Ergo, a fear of further Japanese reinforcements isn't exactly on the table.
In light of this, there's no real gain unless damage is inflicted upon the coalition via a withdrawal by Japan. Executing the hostages was the only avenue towards this end. I also maintain that even if the hostages were willing participants, the captors would have had no compuncitons about torching them anyway, just so long as their message got out.
Japan's successfully facing them down is the very last thing they want and it's rather difficult to imagine that the insurgents had a change of heart. In light of their defiance, it's equally difficult to think that Japan back-channeled a ransom payment, so there must be another explanation buried in this somewhere.
#4
In responce to the kidnapping, there was a recent protest in Tokyo about Japan's involvment in the war and the handling of the 3 hostages. I don't know how the iraqi militants would know anything about that.
#5
Maybe the terrorists are trying to manufacture some positive PR. That would explain such a move on their part.
Perhaps the rumors floating on the internet are true: The kidnapping was a set up from day one and the Japanese peaceniks were never in jeopardy.
Posted by: Mark ||
04/10/2004 21:09 Comments ||
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#6
Whether or not the Iraqis were even vaguely aware of those Tokyo protests, most likely they still knew of Japan's standing refusal to post combat troops to Iraq. Something's fishy.
#7
Maybe the terrorists are trying to manufacture some positive PR.
That's the first time I've ever seen the words "terrorist" and "positive PR" appear in the same sentence before. Backing down is the very worst thing they can do in light of the momentum they had going with Spain and Thailand. This would represent the exact opposite of "positive PR" for them. Being "nice" = being weak.
I also refuse to believe that the insurgents would even blink about capping those hostages. That sort of honorability just isn't in their playbook.
#8
Here's what zayed had to say about the 'kidnapping' of the Japanese: There have been rumours on the Internet that the three Japanese hostages faked the video that was displayed two days ago with the help of Iraqis in an attempt to pressure the Japanese government in withdrawing their troops. All three of them are anti-war activists. Noriaki Imai was in Iraq researching the effect of Depleted Uranium on Iraqis. Nahoka Takato works with an NGO helping Iraqi children orphaned from the war, and Soichiru Koriyama is a freelance journalist who has been in the Palestinian occupied territories recently. I find it hard to believe they would go this far. The fear and horror in their eyes was very evident in the video, if it is a hoax then they certainly have a promising future in Hollywood.
I also received an incredible number of emails and appeals from Japanese citizens and organizations asking me to spare the lives of the Japanese hostages (do they think I have something to do with the kidnapping??) and to tell the 'mujahideen' that the hostages were all against the war (as if that would make any difference to the kidnappers).
#9
GK - Thx! The fake-kidnapping rumor makes far more sense than any other reason I can think of for the Japanese being "released." I was puzzled, to say the least, when I heard the report. Obviously Zayed has the same problem!
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr...issued demands to the coalition through his deputy on Saturday. Al-Sadr accuses the coalition of starting the violence, and said the coalitionâs shutdown of a pro-Sadr newspaper was the catalyst. Clerical deputy Sheikh Raed al-Kadhim, interviewed by CNN, said the al-Sadr people "have a peaceful position" and al-Sadr is a peaceful man...Al-Sadr had called on his followers Friday to go on a three-day hunger strike if they choose as a protest to their treatment by the coalition, al-Kadhim said. "The attacks began by the occupying forces. It all started with the false accusations and the shutdown of the Al Hawza newspaper," al-Kadhim said, referring to Coalition Provisional Authority administrator Paul Bremerâs two-month shutdown of the Baghdad newspaper, published by al-Sadr supporters, for inciting violence. Al-Kadhim said coalition forces "have killed innocent people, women, and children...and still our position remains one that is trying to be peaceful, but they donât let us. The occupying forces have attacked al-Kufa, Najaf, here in Baghdad, and in many other cities, and they are the ones who initiated everyone of those attacks by the orders of (President) Bush and everyone till the last official representative they have here."..."We are in the position of defending ourselves against all those who confront us," al-Kadhim said. "What are we supposed to do when the helicopters shoot at us? We say and we advise that all they need to do is to stop what they are doing and this problem will be solved."...But al-Kadhim said al-Sadr is a "symbol" of the Iraqi people and all attacks again him are wrong. "They still threaten to arrest Sayid Muqtada al-Sadr and make false accusations against him. They say that Sayid Muqtada al-Sadr is representing a minority but I am telling you that Sayid Muqtada has an army of 26 million people and anyone who accuses him or attacks him is attacking and accusing all of the Iraqi people," Al-Kadhim said. "Muqtada has not ever committed attacks against anybody he has always been a symbol of peace and he always says that he is responsible for the safety of all demonstrations.
Al-Kadhim passed along these demands from al-Sadr.
Referring to the Iraqi people, he said "I demand in your name":
"To get back the voice of Iraq and for the previous dictator and have Saddam Hussein tried in a Supreme Court.
"For a stop to this terrorism and to release all those of al-Sadr followers who have been arrested. They are not guilty of anything but accepting Allah.
"Not to bury the voice of the Iraqi people under the ground of the politicians and the diplomats. You must organize an Iraqi constitutional government away from these occupation forces or any other wing.
"To choose who you want and not to let anyone impose on you who your leader is.
"The investigation of the crimes of the occupation forces and bring justice to those who have committed the crimes.
"A guaranteed date of departure of the occupying forces.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/10/2004 5:51:13 PM ||
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#1
Crap. This is hard to read. If one of the editors could do a better job, please do so. Thanks.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/10/2004 17:57 Comments ||
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#2
Of course, he's not going to come out and say that he's an agent of Hamas or Hezbollah... except last week he did... but now he wants to claim to be the Voice of the Popular Resistance? I guess whatever plays on the allegedly western news networks. When do we get real news networks of our own?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/10/2004 18:47 Comments ||
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#3
Really, its not our fault. The Devil made me do it. Blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah
blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah
blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah
blahblahblahblahblahblah ad infanuaseum
#4
Let's not forget this guy is a murderer of political rivals, his thugs terrorized the police and neighborhoods, bombed businesses and stored he considered immoral, and he's secretly back up by Iran to promote revolution after June 30th. This guy wants to be the new dictator, don't fall for this sweet talk.
#5
If the press reports of the IGC negotiating with Sadr are true, it is crystal clear they're not capable of running Iraq. France or Spain, maybe, but not Iraq. They wouldn't last 2 months against a hard case.
Pray tell, who empowered them to negotiate? The last time I checked, they are not only not yet the civil administrators of Iraq, they most certainly do not control the security aspect. Nor will they anytime soon. What A Load.
We don't want a ceasefire with the Fallujahn Sunnis nor do we want one with Sadr's Wadhi Wrmy. Sure, it's tough going, but it is a 24K golden opportunity to kill these people. All negotiations are a joke - they'll never meet their obligations and their word isn't worth warm spit. Kill them now, while we have the obvious reason and will to do so.
If we allow any of these cretins to escape Fallujah or if we cut some kind of deal with Sadr, we are repeating precisely the same mistake that we made by declaring an end to the war before we had fought and killed these people. And it will come back to haunt us yet again. Stupid.
#6
Sure we can negotiate.........we can negotiate your unconditional surrender. If that's not good enough for you we can negotiate your death by direct or indirect fire.
More from Wretchard at Belmont Club on the alleged entry of Hizbollah into the war. (I say alleged because as I pointed out on my âblog, Hizbollah has been committing acts of war against the US for much longer than the "War on Terror" has been going on). He links to a Jerusalem Post article here. One newspaper connecting the recent fighting in Iraq with Syria and Iran is the Jerusalem Post. They maintain that the general staff behind the current anti-coalition activity is Hizbullah, working through their agenda Moqtada al-Sadr.
This week it finally happened. Hizbullah has come out of the closet and launched a full-scale military campaign against US-led forces in Iraq. Two weeks after the US shelved its sanctions against Hizbullah sponsor Syria, and as the US remains silent in the face of increased Iranian assertiveness in advancing the mullocracyâs Manhattan Project, the cat jumped out of the bag. Ushering in his fight against the US, Hizbullah-Iranian front man Moqtada al-Sadr told his followers last Friday, "I am the striking arm for Hizbullah and Hamas in Iraq because the fate of Iraq and Palestine is the same." Under the spell of Sadrâs call to "terrorize" the Americans, Shiâite militiamen launched attacks in several cities at once. Militarily, the results have been mixed but have served to cause a political maelstrom by spooking US coalition partners into reconsidering their involvement in Iraq.
Hizbullahâs appearance in Iraq is not a surprise. Although Sadrâs offensive has been sudden, it followed a year-long buildup of Hizbullahâs organizational, propaganda, and military apparatuses in Iraq. In the weeks before the US-led invasion last March, Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah was already calling for suicide bombings against US forces in the event that they went through with the invasion. Shortly after the fall of Saddamâs regime, Hizbullah opened offices in Basra and Safwan. While press coverage of Sadr has portrayed him as a young firebrand who acts autonomously, his connections to Hizbullah and to Iran are long-standing. Nasrallah is personally tied to Sadrâs family. In 1976, he studied under Sadrâs father Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr in Najaf. Back in Lebanon, Nasrallah joined the Shiâite Amal militia when it was led by its founder, Sadrâs uncle Musa. Aside from his personal ties to Nasrallah, Sadr takes his direction from Ayatollah Henri, one of the most ardent extremists in Iranian ruling circles. And on the family level, Sadrâs aunt is reportedly the first lady of Iran, Mrs. Muhammad Khatami. Iranian Revolutionary Guards reportedly comprise the backbone of Sadrâs fighting force.
Hizbullahâs modus operandi was perfected in Lebanon, where it used astute political warfare to force the Israelis to withdraw from Lebanon, abandoning their Christian allies, and retreating behind the Green Line, which Hizbullah swore was their final demand -- and which they now claim is insufficient. EFL; RTHT. To the editors: if the way Iâve tried to format a nested quotation isnât working for you, please suggest something better. Iâm out of ideas at the moment.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/10/2004 1:34:55 PM ||
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#1
if this is true, would Sadr also be the one behind the abductions (in cooperation with Hezbollah elements like Imad Mughniye) ?
#2
Well, I thought that kidnapping was a standard Hizbollah tactic.
I forgot to mention: I wrote my own response to Wretchard's comments here.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/10/2004 17:10 Comments ||
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#3
This is one of those "f**kin' duh" moments. Sadr is a puppet of the Mad Mullahs - so is Hizbollah. What's surprising? Hey, you can bet they tossed in some Rev Guards for professionalism in kidnapping techniques, too. Sadr's their boy and he's been tossed on the table like a $2 chip.
#4
Phil, interesting comments on your fine blog...
The formal designation of a group of IslamoNazis has long ceased to interest me...Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al Queda, Jemayah Islamalayah, Islamic Brotherhood, yadayadayada...
They're all radical Muslims intent on waging violent jihad against Christians, Jews and the Great Satan (and sometimes Shiites).
What is rather interesting is the fact that the Baathists (in Fallujah, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Lebanon) can make common cause with the Shiites to try and kill us in Iraq.
(I think the "lab" for all this kind of coordination and cooperation among "rival" IslamoFascist groups--as inept as it is--has been the Paleostinian areas.)
Posted by: Jen ||
04/10/2004 21:41 Comments ||
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Iraq's US-appointed governing council urged Saturday an immediate ceasefire in the flashpoint town of Fallujah, criticising the US drive against Muslim assailants as "collective punishment" of civilians as well. "We call for an immediate ceasefire and for resorting to political solutions for situations in some parts of the country, particularly in the city of Fallujah," the interim council said in a statement. The statement, issued after six days of fierce fighting in Fallujah that has killed more than 400 Iraqis, denounced what it called "military solutions to the problems and the collective punishment of innocent civilians."
It called for speeding up the process of transfering power from the US-led coalition to Iraqis and an end to all armed presences across the country. The statement said the council held an extraordinary session late Friday to discuss "the complicated and painful situation in the country and the necessary measures to adopt in order to resolve the crisis." The council urged the adoption of policies to fight unemployment and resolve social and economic problems in Iraq, instead of "facing security problems with military and police ways." Angry members of the interim council on Friday threatened to resign if American forces did not halt their bloody offensive in Fallujah west of Baghdad that has also left 1,000 Iraqis wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2004 12:16:59 PM ||
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#1
These guys are starting to sound like some of our own home grown defeatists.
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report... Salt to taste.
On Friday, April 9 â Day Six of the Shiite radical uprising - the tide turned in the Iraq war. US-led forces in Iraq were thrown back to the point they had reached exactly one year ago when Saddam Husseinâs colossal statue was toppled by joyous Iraqis. They were faced, according to DEBKAfileâs exclusive military and intelligence sources, with a row of devastating setbacks: ministers were quitting the provisional Iraqi Governing Council set up to hold the fort of government until the handover of sovereignty on June 30; large parts of the New Iraqi Army, police, border guard, protective units for oil installations and intelligence, trained and financed by Washington, were breaking down. Some Iraqi units were handing their weapons and surrendering to the nearest insurgent militias, whether the rebellions radical Shiite Mehdi Army or other guerrilla groups, including al Qaeda.
The third element of the picture flowed from the first two: US troops were ordered to de-escalate military action and pull back from the major fronts of Baghdadâs sprawling northern Shiite slum known as Sadr City, the northern oil city of Mosul and Ar Ramadi at the western tip of the Sunni Triangle. They were told that further coalition troop advances were bound to cause an unacceptable level of civilian and troop casualties. This was the real background to the unilateral US suspension of hostilities on April 9 in the hotbed town of Falllujah, scene of the brutal lynching of four American contractors on March 31.
Saturday, April 10, US Brig.Gen Kimmit called on Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah to join the ceasefire declared unilaterally by US forces and negotiate a way out of the crisis. The call went unheeded as guerrillas continued to attack.
Most surprisingly, American and allied forces were stopped in their tracks not by a popular Iraqi revolution or a mighty army, but by the spotty âstrike and scootâ tactics of a radical militia, the ragtag Mehdi Army led by a fringe Shiite leader, 31-year old Moqtada Sadr. His tactics, meticulously plotted by masterminds in Iran and the Hizballah, proved capable of breaking up the military, political and economic edifice the Bush administration had created at great cost on the road to a future democracy.
The impact of the Iraqi reverses on US standing in the world and the Middle East and George W. Bushâs re-election prospects will not be long in coming. Americaâs allies in the region are aghast. Their leaders are witnessing a stage in the Iraq war in which US-led forces are falling back against the combined strength of terrorists and their sponsors, Iran, Hizballah, Syria, al Qaeda and Iraqi Shiite radicals. The thought has occurred to Jerusalem that this anti-American coalition may well decide to sidestep a direct military confrontation with the American army and follow up its Iraq successes with a newly invigorated military-terrorist offensive against Israel. This sharpened threat looms at the very moment that Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is working against all odds to sell President Bush and his own Likud Party a plan for Israelâs unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians and renunciation of all Gaza and a handful of West bank settlements. This plan would render Jewish state extremely vulnerable to enemy action, a fact that will not be lost on the winning coalition in Iraq which also sustains the extremist Hamas, or on the Palestinian terrorist movement as a whole.
Israelâs withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would be a gift to Hamas, delivering into the hands of the terrorists threatening to overrun Iraq the further gain of an open enclave, haven and base, on the Mediterranean, that would hem Israel in from the south. They would acquire this asset on top of the Lebanese and Syrian bases on its northern border where the terrorists and their Iranian backers are already poised to strike.
DEBKAfileâs military sources uncover for the first time the sequence of events unfolding in the last 48 hours that brought the US-led coalition army to its present impasse:
1. Thursday night, April 8, US forces, diverted to regain the southern town of al Kut from Sadrâs militia, rolled into the town center. They rolled out again with all speed once they saw the steady barrage directed against them could be halted only by a heavy bombardment of the streets and residential districts with resultant heavy civilian casualties.
2. Later that morning, Shiite and Sunni militias turned their guns on Al Ghraib the hub northwest of Baghdad of American supply routes from the capital to Fallujah, Ramadi and on to the Jordanian capital of Amman. Their gunmen blew up and set fire to an American fuel and food truck, causing casualties, and went on to seize the Al Ghraib semi-military airfield.
3. Conflicting statements issuing from US authorities on the state of play in Fallujah created hours of confusion on Thursday. Administrator Paul Bremer announced a unilateral suspension of military action for humanitarian aid to enter the besieged city and for Iraqi mediators to begin talks with Iraqi guerrilla chiefs; Deputy Director of Operations Brig.-Gen Mark Kimmit countered by stating fighting was continuing, while the US command ordered the troops to hold their fire. Hostilities were halted in Falluja for the same reason US forces redeployed outside al Kut and, as we shall see below, Ar Ramadi: The only way to forcibly seize control of the town centers was to mow down entire civilian populations. Already, the six-day Falluja battle had reportedly claimed 478 Iraqi lives and a civilian exodus had begun, threatening further disorder. US casualties were also climbing too fast â 45 in a week.
4. The same deadly cause-and-effect spiral caused the US command to check its military advance in Ar Ramadi, a key point on strategic route known as The Corridor between the Tharthar and Habbaniyah Lakes. Held in place, American troops had to forego their planned offensive against the mixed Shiite-Sunni forces overrunning large areas between Ar Ramadi and the southern outskirts of Kirkuk. DEBKAfileâs military sources reveal that, several weeks ago, Mehdi Army commanders struck a deal with local Sunni and Turkomen tribal chiefs to allow several hundred secretly trained Shiite fighters to cross their lands en route from Baghdad and Samarra to points north. The militiamen have joined up with the Sunni guerrillas and al Qaeda bands. The have fetched up together outside Kirkuk. The American non-advance leaves this dangerous enclave in northern Iraq free to build up its strength â but for another factor:
5. To meet the encroaching peril, the Kurds of the north have moved military units out of Suleimaniyah and Kirkuk and redeployed them further south at the Turkoman town of Tuz Khumato. The two Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani have warned Washington that if Shiite and Sunni militias move any further north towards Kirkuk, the Kurdish armies will push southward and smash them - a threat that raises the dread specter of an ethnic bloodbath.
6. Friday afternoon, intelligence reached the US command that a combined Shiite-Sunni-al Qaeda attack on Mosul was in the offing. US forces were ordered to evacuate bases in the city area and barricade themselves in camps outside. The immediate result was the breakdown of Iraqi administrative and police authority in this part of northwestern Iraq. Iraqi police and security officers began surrendering to the various militias including al Qaeda and handing over the weapons distributed by the Americans. The breakdown touched off the flight of tens of thousands from the Sunni suburbs of Mosul. This exodus together with the refugees heading out of Fallujah adds up to a swelling stream of more 100,000 Iraqis moving on the highways of northern and western Iraq to escape hostilities and find safe havens.
7. US forces withdrew from Baghdadâs Sadr City suburb at the same time as they left Mosul. By Friday nightfall, the last US patrol had left the hostile suburb to the control of Sadrâs militia in the hope of stemming further bloodshed on both sides. Saturday morning, however, the Shiite militia turned their guns again on US troops in Baghdad.
8. The breakdown of the US-designed Iraqi security apparatuses in Mosul and Baghdad is catching on fast in other apparently stable parts of the country. According to DEBKAfileâs military sources, a wave of desertions is sweeping the 150,000-strong command and rank-and-file levels of the Iraqi army, border guard and police.
9. Faced with these desertions, the Iraqi Governing Council is beginning to fall apart as one minister after another abandons the government and security ship painstakingly built by Bremer. Turning on its maker, the IGC demands that the US halt its military offensive in Iraq without delay.
10. The hostage-taking campaign waged by the lawless militias is part of a campaign of terror to drive Americaâs allies into withdrawing their troops from Iraq, so stripping the United States of its international allied support.
Posted by: lyot ||
04/10/2004 6:38:48 AM ||
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I wish we had some alternative "exclusive military and intelligence sources" to provide a more level-headed analysis. Surely a lot of these claims are easily fact-checked.
#2
I don't dismiss Debka out of hand and all the journalists are holed up in Baghdad. So who knows what happening but the report of Sunnis fleeing Mosul in large numbers has a certain verisimilitude, if the Kurds are mobilizing. Scores will be settled. And facts on the ground created.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/10/2004 11:53 Comments ||
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#4
Journalistic situation normal: sky is falling, doom impending, all is lost.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/10/2004 12:21 Comments ||
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#5
As with all Debka posts, there is likely an element of truth.
The sad fact is that our relatively small occupation force (vs. Army projections) was based on the idea that the Iraqi Police and other security forces could pick up the slack. It's clear that they're doing nothing to help maintain order and are, at least sometimes, joining the insurrection.
We are in a bad negotiating position now that that IGC, which we are attempting to prop up as a legitimate sovereign authority, is opposing us rather than optting for order.
I presume our troops can get to safety and protect themselves, but there is no way we can maintain total control without the IP, etc. contributing to civil order.
#6
Some of this is just Israeli chauvinism - they think know best. And to Israelis that means using limited force to kill limited numbers of terrorists. The reality is that Israeli indecisiveness has encouraged terror for literally decades. Instead of paying the bill at once, they've been paying this bill for decades, with the attendant negative consequences for the Israeli economy.
#7
JAB: I presume our troops can get to safety and protect themselves, but there is no way we can maintain total control without the IP, etc. contributing to civil order.
I think the problem has been the IP in Fallujah. Instead of contributing to order, they've been contributing to chaos. This is why we have the kind of situation we're encountering there. We've been trying to buy them off, and this hasn't worked. It's time to purge the Fallujah IP, and perhaps impose direct American rule there. The solution may be to hire IP from the Kurdish part of Iraq - people who don't have local ties and are harder for local mobsters to intimidate.
#8
What is DEBKA? I read about half of this report, freaked out, and scrolled down to the message section. I'd like to know before I invest any time into reading this post. Enlightenment is requested. Thanks.
#9
Debka is, just like Stratfor, a private compagny that 'sells' intelligence on the web.. It's an Israeli compagny, and there often a bit biased. As long as you keep that in mind, it's often a usefull source of information.. (for instance , regarding the abductions in Iraq.. They wrote this already 2-3 months ago..)
#12
I believe this entire experience must make the western democracies (U.S. and Europe) really review what it takes to fight and pacify these Quasi-Mob style groups. Put yourself in the shoes of somebody in Iraq. If the cross the Insurgents what happens? They capture, rape, and murder your family and then you. If you cross the Americans what happens? You may get captured and put in a nice prison with 3-square meals. If you talk bad/back to the insurgents? You get killed. You talk back to the americans, you get on TV.
This same problem has caused the US and the U.N. problems in most of the peacekeeping operations around the world. This is why the U.N. has been found standing around while atrocities happen.
If the world was honest and really wanted to combat this type of despotism it may be time to revisit the Geneva Convention and what rules should be in place during a occupation (i.e. peacekeeping operation). If you truely trust your armies (as I believe most the western armies can be trusted) then we should review what worked after WWII. The local commanders were given wide powers to be the local constable, judge, jurry, and executioners. I believe the current lack of punishiment for fighting the americans right now is why this thing is escalating out of control. I also believe that is why they want some form of government up and running that can start trying and executing the people we catch.
Keep in mind that at the point Japan surrendered the island was highly armed to repel a invasion. Once we started occuping we went around and not only rounded up all the Firearms, but we even took their Swords. If you understand anything about Japaneese culture at that point you would know that this was highly offensive. And I don't buy for a minute that soley the coorporation of the Emperour is what made this work. The military had already shown that they would do what they wanted. I am guessing some heavy handed tactics is what did it.
It seems to me the Iraq war is not over. At this point I would work with the Kurds to develop an army, screw the rest of the country. I would then deploy a special division (like we have at falloga) and work from town to town just like we did with Tikrit and we are doing with Folloja. First establish that we are collecting weapons. Give it a week. Make it know anybody found with weapons will be shot. Plain, simple. This is the same thing we did in Germany. When the week is over start thru the town. Anybody found with weapons is given a quick on the spot trial and is shot.
Unfortunately the rest of the western countries either do not understand this is what is required and will not allow it. Therefore I see no choice here but eventually loosing. Unless of course another major attack is carried out in a western country. Then maybe?
Posted by: Patrick ||
04/10/2004 14:12 Comments ||
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ex-lib: Debka is a rather interesting source of intel rumors. Maybe about 50% of every sentence they write turns out to be true; however the wrong part is often hugely important and changes the gist of the info 180degrees.
They also have a wierd obsession with Imad Mughniyah, blaming him for everything from 9/11 to fleas on dogs.
#15
Patrick> "It seems to me the Iraq war is not over."
Ya think??
You can choose to see this as the halfpoint of the war, start of the second half, the *important* half... or you can choose to see it as the starting point of a whole new war.
What you can't do is think that Sadr is but a detail. A couple days ago I said he's as important as Saddam -- I'm revising this now to say that he's *more* important than Saddam.
Saddam wasn't allied with the global Islamofascists and Sadr is.
Up to now the whole war on Iraq and Saddam's overthrow had been utterly trivial in relation to the WOT, except only in the way it paved the path for *this* offensive by the Syria-Sadr-Iran axis.
EFL
A U.S. general on Saturday called on Sunni militants in the besieged city of Fallujah to join in a bilateral cease-fire. "Today what we are seeking is a bilateral cease-fire," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad. "This is an aspiration." He added that he was "hoping to get this message to the enemy through this press conference so they can join the cease-fire." Kimmittâs call came after the council passed a unanimous decision calling for a cease-fire. Anger has been growing on the council over the U.S. assault on Fallujah, where more than 280 Iraqis and at least five Marines have been killed in heavy fighting.
I think there's some anger growing here, too, that we haven't flattened the city yet.
Military hesitation over the halt in fighting was clear. After initially being ordered to cease all offensive operations, Marines quickly demanded and received permission to launch assaults to prevent attacks if needed. "We said to them (the commanders): âWe are going to lose people if we donât go back on offensive ops.â So we got the word," Marine Maj. Pete Farnun told The Associated Press. The Governing Council early Saturday issued a statement demanding an end to military action and "collective punishment" â a reference to the Fallujah siege. Abdul-Karim Mahoud al-Mohammedawi, a Shiite on the Governing Council, announced he was suspending his council seat until "the bleeding stops in all Iraq." He also met Friday with al-Sadr, whom U.S. commanders have vowed to capture.
Decided to change sides, did he?
A Sunni council member, Ghazi al-Yawer, said he would quit if the Fallujah talks fell through.
Quit and be damned, then.
One of the strongest pro-U.S. voices on the council, also a Sunni, Adnan Pachachi, denounced the U.S. siege. "It was not right to punish all the people of Fallujah, and we consider these operations by the Americans unacceptable and illegal," Pachachi told Al-Arabiya TV.
It was not right for the people of Fallujah to slaughter and mutilate our people, either. Nor is it right for them to be in rebellion against U.S. forces.
The heavy fighting for Fallujah was prompted by the March 31 slaying of four U.S. civilians there. Their burned bodies were mutilated and dragged through the streets by a mob that hung two of them from a bridge.
Cause, meet effect.
Posted by: Kirk ||
04/10/2004 5:16:43 AM ||
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#1
We probably aren't getting all the information, but from all outward appearances, these jerks all want to have their cake and eat it too. That's not how it works, and quite frankly, this act is getting old. I'm coming to believe that the solution I put forward previously would be the best one: give the south of Iraq to Kuwait, grant the Kurds their own nation, move all US forces out into the areas that have changed hands (which are no doubt going to be friendlier to our presence), and leave the rest to whomever is left, AS IS. No U.S. financed reconsruction, and no U.S. assistance (other than the occasional smackdown when the inhabitants get their frequent "jihad itches"). Let them rot in their own self-created hell.
#3
Sounds good Bomb-a-rama. Just one correction: they wouldn't be rotting in their own self-created hell for very long. The EUropeans would be in there like a dirty shirt faster than you can say Volkswagen. They didn't get applauded by the Arabs for nothing you know (at the UN).
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/10/2004 17:01 Comments ||
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#4
#1 ..but that would be a total defeat for the US in the war against terror..Then the whole Iraq invasion would have made things worse, instead of kickstarting the reform in the ME..
#7
I would link to earlier comments I've made, but Rantburg's search facility doesn't allow for the searching of comments (as opposed to articles), unfortunately.
Now, there's indeed no choice. There was no choice from the point US forces entered Iraq, to try and stay for the duration.
#8
Given the sizes of the populations involved, giving "the south of Iraq" to Kuwait, in reality means giving Kuwait to Iraq.
Nope. Redraw the boundary if necessary. The oil-rich regions are separated as much as possible from the heavily populated cities in the south. Set up a means to patrol the border area and implement iron-clad enforcement. If the Shiites in the southern region can't get their act together, then there's no reason to trust them with control of a precious commodity like crude oil.
Then the whole Iraq invasion would have made things worse, instead of kickstarting the reform in the ME..
This is where the interesting part comes in - separate those who genuinely want to build something new from those who don't. How to do that? I don't know at the moment, although one way to get going in that direction would be to bump off insurgents when they are found. Not captured, or arrested, but killed. That way, their poison is less likely to be spread around, and whomever is left understands that we are pissed off and damned serious. Those who are interested in a better beginning aren't likely to be toting AK-47s around and covering their faces with nicely colored towels.
A delegation of Iraqi officials entered the besieged city of Fallujah on Saturday for talks on reducing the violence after a U.S. call for a bilateral ceasefire. Explosions and sporadic gunfire were heard as Marines moved into residential neighborhoods to prevent firing on their forces. Hundreds of women, children and elderly men fled the city for a second day, taking advantage of a relative lull in the fighting. They piled into pickups and clung to the outside of packed minivans. U.S. forces were not allowing "military-aged men" to leave.
The fighting Saturday was restricted to small pockets of the city. Some Marines moved a few blocks into the Nazzal residential suburb from an industrial zone in the cityâs southeastern region that theyâve been using as a staging post for several days. The troops broke into homes in an attempt to clear out gunmen firing on them, witnesses said. "Today what we are seeking is a bilateral cease-fire on the battlefield so we can allow for discussions," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad. "This is an aspiration," he said. He added that he was "hoping to get this message to the enemy through this press conference" and the Arabic press "so they can join the cease-fire."
I'd rather see them killed, each and every one.
A Marine commander in Fallujah said he had no orders to stop fighting, and there was no immediate response from insurgents to Kimmittâs call Saturday to join a cease-fire. "Iâve got no direction of any kind on a cease-fire, so I will continue to fight until Iâm instructed to do different. I donât know what the word is from Baghdad, but Iâve got word from my higher headquarters, and if they wanted me to hold up they would tell me," said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Earlier Saturday, the Governing Council demanded an immediate ceasefire across the country and a halt to military operations that punish civilians. The rest cut. Looks like Fallujah is still an object lesson. BTW I like not allowing miltary age men to leave a lot.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/10/2004 10:41:15 AM ||
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#1
I hope we've made a lot of Iraqi widows this week. A hard lesson but one even an Arab can learn.
#4
This is a mistake.
In the wake of the barbarous atrocities last week, and the upcoming atrocities that will follow the kidnapping of foreigners, any attempt to negotiate with these savages will be perceived as weakness.
The fight should be pressed to a conclusion:
1. Resumption of offensive operations in Fallujah with no immunity for religious sites being used by the enemy.
2. A complete lockdown on inter-city transport, regardless of hardship. No traffic except in vetted and escorted convoys. All vehicles moving on highways outside convoys to be attacked on sight. All convoys to have heavy air support, A-10s or Apaches, overhead at all times.
4. Captured foreign jihadis to be tried by field court martial, as permitted under the Geneva Convention, and executed on the spot.
5. All fighters captured with American equipment or personal effects to be executed on the spot.
6. Targeted killing of insurgent leaders regardless of location (no hiding in mosques)
7. Presidential authorization for a Gideon/Phoenix program to liquidate enemy leaders, sympathizers, and major supporters all over the world.
8. Civilians seen aiding the enemy are legitimate targets of war and should be dealt with as such.
9. Expulsion of enemy-controlled media such as Al Arabiya, Reuters, and AFP.
10. Transfer to Iraq of whatever forces are required for this program, ahead of any other priority or consideration, except Afghanistan or South Korea.
The bastards and their supporters want war, give them war.
If the cordon is airtight, this is a great move, politically. It's a lot like what happened before the US decided to go after the Taliban in Afghanistan. The US govt told them what was necessary to get out of trouble, and the penalty for non-compliance was death or captivity. It crystallized in their minds why the US was going after them and provided them with an out if they wanted it. If Fallujans want to give up the bad guys, we should give them every opportunity to do so. Otherwise, they should get the mailed fist.
#6
ZF is right. I we went after them relentlessly the world would call us barbarians. This way, we not only allow the innocent (most of them since some military age men will be innocent too) to reach safety, but we play the political card of "goodwill". Now nobody can say we didn't give them a choice.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/10/2004 14:05 Comments ||
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#7
I we went after them relentlessly the world would call us barbarians.
This would be the ultimate joke.
Saddam's henchmen kill and commit mayhem in his name, Palestinian terrorists and their followers intentionally kill Jewish civilians, the Hutus and the Tutsis go after each other, and WE are the barbarians?
#8
No, Charles, the world calls us barbarians if we do anything short of abject surrender, and they will easily deny that we gave the Fallujans a chance.
The enemy media, especially AFP and Al-Jazeera, are already spinning this as a concession forced on the US by the heroic Fallujah freedom fighters.
Remember Jenin? Israel's restraint, which cost the lives of a number of Israeli soldiers, did not keep a demonizing lie about the "Jenin massacre" from becoming part of Palestinian and Fifth Column folklore. I believe it may even have incited it.
For our enemies, the bigger the lie, the greater the power.
CAIR is already whining and bitching about the "desecration" of a mosque without regard for its use as an enemy staging area and firing position in actual combat.
Like I said folks, the finish line is in sight, and the strategy is to get there with the least amount of casualties.
The U.S.-led coalition is seeking a bilateral cease-fire with enemy combatants in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah to take place Saturday, the U.S. military says. The move is an effort to implement Iraqi control of the restive city, U.S. Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said. "If the cease-fire holds, talks regarding the re-establishment of legitimate authority in Fallujah will begin," Kimmitt said. "This action is being taken with the expectation that enemy elements in Fallujah will also honor the ceasefire. Coalition forces will always retain the inherent right of self defense." ...On Friday, Iraqi Governing Council members met with Fallujah leaders and leadership of the anti-coalition forces to try to bring calm. ..."We will fight the enemy on our terms. May God help them when weâre done with them," said Maj. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division. According to what has been said above, you might not get the chance to fight at all, on your terms. I wish it were so.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/10/2004 8:05:04 AM ||
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A very bad development. It looks like we blinked and this will encourage the enemy. We have to maintain the offensive pressure across Iraq. If we're not willing to take and inflict casualties, we've effectively surrendered the towns. That would be game over.
#2
Hopefully this is just for the sake of appearance -- if we are genuinely seeking to negotiate, and not follow through on our best chance to pursue our advantage (and despite what the defeatist press is reporting, we hold the ADVANTAGE), then we have dropped the ball in the worst and most disastrous way imaginable.
#3
Agree, we hold the advantage, which makes this cease fire so inexplicable. The only way we can be defeated is by political pressure from our own side. A later post here says a Marine commander has received no orders to cease fire, which is a hopeful sign.
#4
This would be so STUPID! Do they honestly think that they would keep their word? This better be for 'appearances' only - a condition must be that they turn over the people responsible and involved for the ambush of the 4 contractors last week.
And what about the 4 contractors who were murdered and their burned bodies hung from the bridge?
#6
I am growing anxious over these developments. It reminds me of being in the DMZ while the politicians are celebrating Ho Chi Minh's birthday with a BS ceasefire. Bad memories have a way of returning.
#7
I have no doubt this is a lot like the strategic pause on the road to Baghdad - a time for the troops to rest up before clearing the rest of the city, and for additional troops and ammo to be brought up. It's also politically wise - give the oppo a chance to surrender before he is completely wiped out.
#9
im knowing you guys arnt going like this but with all this bullshit going on with this iraqi peple alway fighting us im starting think maybe saddam was an asshole for a reason.
#11
..im starting think maybe saddam was an asshole for a reason.
Saddam's not dead yet. He can always be put back, so why not give the Iraqis a choice? They can either take their freedom seriously and fight for it, or go back to the way things were.
#13
"Saddam's not dead yet. He can always be put back,"
No he can't. Even if you were so insane as to let Saddam go and withdraw all American troops from Iraq that still wouldn't mean that Sadr would peacefully submit to Saddam's broken authority.
Iraq has found its new fascist ruler, this one not isolated from the other regional powers but in close alliance with them.
"They can either take their freedom seriously and fight for it, or go back to the way things were."
'Back to the way things were' is not an option. They'll either be better off with a secular democracy, or worse off than even under Saddam, with the Islamofascists now in command.
Iraq has found its new fascist ruler, this one not isolated from the other regional powers but in close alliance with them
Are you serious about this ? This Sadr doesn't even have a political organisation to back his ass ? And do you think he will be able to muster support from real Shia clerics ?
#15
muck4doo: with this iraqi peple alway fighting us im starting think maybe saddam was an asshole for a reason.
Actually, no. Fallujah was where Saddam recruited a lot of his secret police and palace guard. Now that the US is running the place - a lot Saddam's goons from Fallujah are out of work. Iraqis are probably more neutral than anything else. Bearing down hard on the rebels at Fallujah will encourage non-rebels to stay neutral - and that's probably the best we can hope for.
Why are Iraqi Governing Council members defecting? I doubt it's out of principle. I suspect it's because they believe what they're hearing from the Western media and al Jazeera and al Arabiya, which is that the operation is a complete disaster. They're defecting so that they can prepare for the next administration - perhaps under Sadr - after the US withdraws. Too bad for them the media are wrong - for the 100th time.
Pakistanâs paramilitary rangers said on Saturday they had foiled a major attack bid in the restive port city of Karachi, recovering a huge cache of weapons but making no arrests. The weapons seized in a raid on Friday at a house under construction included a Russian-made mortar, shells and rockets. "This is the first time ever we seized a 82 mm mortar gun in Karachi," senior ranger officer Colonel Zafar Iqbal Awan told a news conference. Officials said the mortar could hit a target at a distance of five km (three miles). Karachi has seen a spate of assaults, including suicide bombings, targeting Westerners, government officials and the religious minorities in the last couple of years. Police blame most of these attacks on Islamic extremists furious at the governmentâs support for the U.S.-led "war on terror" following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Awan said, however, that it was too early to blame any group for bringing the weapons to Karachi.
Posted by: Lux ||
04/10/2004 6:06:59 AM ||
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The firepower involved may be enough to keep an army brigade in fighting fettle for a year, but one week after the chance discovery near Chittagong of a massive illegal arms shipment, Indian and Bangladeshi officials have no idea who shipped the weapons or whom they were intended for. The fact that the Bangladesh coast has emerged as a major point for arms smuggling is known, but the nature of last weekâs arms seizure has sent intelligence officials in India reeling. "1290 AK-47s, 1.1 million rounds, 25,020 grenades, 840 rockets - weâve never seen anything remotely this big before," an official said. Officials said that there was no way any one insurgent group in the region - not Ulfa, not the Nepal Maoists - could afford to pay for the shipment by themselves.
Posted by: Lux ||
04/10/2004 5:27:10 AM ||
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somebody's REALLY pissed
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2004 7:49 Comments ||
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Yep. I think it's mostly cash up front in these deals.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has arrived in Iraq to visit Italian troops, Italian news agencies report. Ansa news agency quoted Paola della Casa, spokeswoman in Iraq for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) as saying the prime minister was in Nassirya, where the troops are based. Pretty ballsy of him
Posted by: Lux ||
04/10/2004 5:10:56 AM ||
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But..but..but there's a quagmire going on! How can he do this and still survive?
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/10/2004 7:36 Comments ||
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Bravo, Silvio!
Stay the coursa.
(I imagine he's laughing his head off at the not-macho Zapatero, too!)
Posted by: Jen ||
04/10/2004 20:15 Comments ||
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#3
Good for him!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/10/2004 23:06 Comments ||
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A Marine from Indiana whose smiling, cigar-smoking image helped symbolize the fall of Baghdad a year ago suffered severe head injuries in fighting this week in the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah. Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch, 36, of Terre Haute, marked Friday's one-year anniversary of the fall at a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Surgeons removed a piece of shrapnel that lodged near his optic nerve when a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into his tank Tuesday in Fallujah, his wife said Friday. ``He had to have his right eye removed. He's very concerned about that,'' April Popaditch said from Twentynine Palms, Calif., where her husband is based. She said they spoke for 45 minutes after his surgery ended. ``I cried to him like anyone would to their loved one. Everything just came out,'' she said. She said she told him, ``I thank God that you have your two arms and two legs. I thank God for the wonderful Marines who were right around your tank to get you off to safety.''
And we thank him for his brave service.
April Popaditch spent their wedding anniversary a year ago watching video footage of her husband's tank in Baghdad. An Associated Press photograph captured him smiling and holding a cigar in his hand with a statue of Saddam Hussein looming in the background shortly before it was toppled. His company finished its Iraq tour last year, but he joined another company that left for the region at the end of February, April Popaditch said. It was sent to Fallujah, where four Americans were killed and mutilated last week. Fighting this week in Fallujah has killed four Marines and more than 280 Iraqis. ``He is one of those Marines who has his hand raised anytime there's something overseas,'' April Popaditch said. ``He says he goes for the people we lost on September 11.'' Popaditch probably will be moved to a hospital in the United States within a few days, said Maj. Daniel Smith, executive officer of the 1st Tank Battalion based in Twentynine Palms. Losing an eye will end Popaditch's tank career, Smith said. ``He's been in the tanks enough, so he will be fine with that,'' April Popaditch said, but she added she hopes her husband can continue in the service.
What a good man.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2004 1:17:40 AM ||
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I agree with your comments, Steve, but I would also add "what a great lady!" Her husband has been deployed to Iraq 3 times in two wars and was badly wounded only days ago, yet she says that "she hopes her husband can continue in the service."
Posted by: Tibor ||
04/10/2004 1:47 Comments ||
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My sincerest thanks and deepest respects to this fine NCO.
Here is a link to the photo from last year (link function at RB is not working): http://bushsupporter.org/war/09slide6.jpg
I think I saw the newsreel footage of this crewman coming out of the hatch of his tank, near a railway or highway embankment - bleeding from a head wound.
Here's hoping the maggots in Falujah pay 10,000 times the price that this Leatherneck paid.
Two U.S. soldiers and an unknown number of civilian contractors are unaccounted for after a fuel convoy was attacked Friday near Baghdad International Airport, a senior Pentagon official said. Another 13th Corps Support Command soldier and an Iraqi driver were killed in the incident, and 12 people were wounded. The official said "unaccounted for" means that U.S. troops are looking for the soldiers and contractors. The senior Pentagon official said a search is under way. The four-truck convoy was hit with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades and exploded into flames, the official said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2004 1:03:23 AM ||
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Is it just me, or does it seem like there's a shit load of RPGs laying around in Iraq. Almost makes you suspect someone's bringing them in from outside.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/10/2004 7:40 Comments ||
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Two residents of Shelkovskaya in Chechnya will be paid 300,000 rubles each within a few days for having alerted special services to the presence of a notorious separatist field commander and mastermind of terror attacks, Abubakar Visimbayev, in their village, Col. Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the regional joint command in the North Caucasus, told Interfax on Thursday. Federal Security Service (FSB) officials checked the tip off and found that Visimbayev was indeed staying in the village at his parents' house, Shabalkin said. Visimbayev was killed while resisting arrest, he said.
FSB officers found a cache of $72,370 and 237,500 rubles in the house that Visimbayev probably intended to use to pay separatist fighters, Shabalkin said. Together with Rustam Ganiyev and Danilkhan Elikhadzhiyev, Visimbayev took part in abducting, brainwashing and training young women for suicide missions in Moscow and the North Caucasus, in particular Zuliakhn Elikhadzhiyeva, Zarema Muzhikhoyeva, and the Ganiyev sisters, he said.
Visimbayev and Ganiyev have also had a hand in staging the terrorist attacks in Iliskhan-Yurt and at the Mozdok hospital, Shabalkin said. Shamil Basayev had appointed Visimbayev to command operations in the Vedeno area, he said. "Investigators are trying to identify Visimbayev's accomplices. It is known that he had about ten separatist fighters under his command," Shabalkin said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/10/2004 12:43:36 AM ||
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Four people, a woman and three children were injured after an explosion in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, RIA Novosti reported Friday. The explosion took place on Thursday. The injured were hospitalized. The type of explosive is still being identified.
Another blast took place on the same day in the village of Avtury in the Shali district of Chechnya, in a police building. Three policemen were injured, the agency reported. It is thought the explosion was a result of careless handling of a grenade by a policeman. All three policemen were hospitalized. The case is being investigated.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/10/2004 12:41:19 AM ||
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A spokesman for Hamas denied Friday that the movement demanded participation in the current Palestinian National Authority (PNA) institutes, announcing determination to resist the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Member of Hamas Political Leadership here Saeed Seyam commented on the statement made recently by Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabeel Sha'ath who said "we did not demand participation in the PNA, but we talk about the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza".
"Naw. We don't want to participate unless we can be in charge..."
Sha'ath, in his statement, considered that "if Israel withdraws from Gaza, then the participation of Hamas in the PNA dictates full commitment to a ceasefire". Seyam stressed "as long as the Israeli occupation continues, the resistance will continue", asserting that "during the resistance period, we do not compete for ruling". He added "if the Israelis withdraw from Gaza, then we may participate in the arrangements for managing the strip". Seyam accused the Israelis of "practicing the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians on a daily basis", noting that "when Israel stops targeting Palestinian civilians, Hamas will make an appropriate decision". The US announced rejection of Hamas' participation in the PNA, though Palestinain President Yasser Araft welcomed the idea of participation in a unified national leadership for the Palestinian uprising.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2004 12:14:07 AM ||
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An influential tribal leader has unleashed scathing criticism of political partiesâ interference, asking them to stay out of the affairs of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) while eulogising President Pervez Musharrafâs development schemes for tribal areas. âLeave us alone. We can handle the problem of foreign elements without the interference of these parties,â Malik Khan Marjan Wazir of North Waziristan Agency who is also central president of the Tehrik Ittehad-e-Qabail (Movement for Tribal Unity), told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club on Friday. He said the tribesmen did not need the support of political parties â Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz â since they could handle any crisis in their areas themselves. He also did not spare the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam for interfering in the internal affairs of the tribesmen. Mr Marjan argued that since the Political Parties Act had not been extended to FATA, the interference of political parties was uncalled for. He alleged that the politicians were doing this for their own interests and not for the interests of the tribesmen.
No! No! Say it ain't so, Mahmoud!
Slamming the Awami National Party, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl parties for their so-called tribal jirgas to highlight military operations against Al Qaeda, Mr Marjan said that no tribal elder had been allowed to speak during these jirgas. âLiaqat Baloch, a Punjabi, represented the tribesmen at the JI-organised tribal jirga,â said Mr Marjan.
Oh, tell me that's not hypocrisy!
The tribal leader also asked the federal government to keep Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed âin checkâ, saying that their media statements could damage President Musharrafâs credibility among the tribesmen. âWho are they to speak about military operations in the tribal areas?â he asked.
Ummm... One's the information minister. He's supposed to give information. The other's the military spokesman. He's supposed to give information about the military. Maybe you need a tribal spokesman?
He said that if Islamabad were trying to sort out âdifferencesâ with Kabul it should send a tribal jirga instead of involving Khan Abdul Wali Khanâs sons.
Or maybe even an ambassador?
He praised President Musharraf and said that he was the only leader who had taken an interest in the development of the tribal areas. âWho else did anything for the development of the tribal areas since Pakistanâs independence?â he said. Mr Marjan said the tribesmen of North and South Waziristan Agencies were strong enough to drive out undesirable people. âNo force can withstand the pressure of the tribal lashkar. The alleged terrorists can be driven out if outside interference is stopped,â he asserted.
So when's this gonna take place?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/10/2004 12:12:45 AM ||
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"No force can withstand the pressure of the tribal lashkar"
I'm guessing that was rhetorically speaking?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2004 13:11 Comments ||
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âNo force can withstand the pressure of the tribal lashkar. The alleged terrorists can be driven out if outside interference is stopped,â
Yeah, and hillbillies want to be called "sons of the soil." But it ain't gonna happen anytime soon.
Governing Council (IGC) member Iyad Allawi on Friday suspended his membership in the council and resigned from the IGC's security committee. Security sources told KUNA Allawi, suspended his membership in the council and resigned from his post as president of the IGC's security committee upon a decision by the National Wifaq Movement. Allawi is the secretary general of the movement, which also announced withdrawal from all Iraqi ministries and departments. The sources said the movement will release a statement Saturday about the reasons for the decision.
Guess we know which side he's on...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2004 12:08:27 AM ||
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This is, actually, rather astounding. In publicly declaring himself in this manner, he forfeits the standard Arab option of utter duplicity - actual text of the NWM's "announcement" notwithstanding. The most he can do now is be smarmy and disingenuous - and, at best, only partially successful as a back-stabbing pro-chaos fucktard. This might just put him in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize, Most Honest Arab Division.
#2
Whoever the "National Wifaq Movement" is, we need to offer this seat to their opposition, just to make clear that you either support the IGC, or don't.
Some of the suspects allegedly involved in a wave of suicide bombings and attacks on police in Uzbekistan last week received military training from Arab instructors who also taught al Qaeda fighters, the country's top prosecutor said Friday. Prosecutor General Rashid Kadyrov, who also said the suspects were linked to two Uzbek extremist groups, did not offer any evidence or take questions from reporters at a news briefing. The prosecutor said investigators found computer files at the home of an alleged terrorist with documents on training in "Pakistan and other states." He asserted the militants had underground contacts in four countries, which he did not identify.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/10/2004 12:08:46 AM ||
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After the Pakistani army's failure in its recent operation in the South Waziristan tribal area to deal a significant blow to foreign resistance fighters poised for action in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States have concluded that they have no alternative other than to undertake "mission impossible:" the capture of the "Shawal" base that straddles the border. To date, US-led forces have respected the Durand Line that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan, waiting for Pakistani forces to drive foreign militants, Afghan resistance fighters and Taliban into their hands from across the border in a "hammer and anvil" approach.
That's worked well, hasn't it?
This has proved ineffective, and security forces have told Asia Times Online that, with great reluctance and trepidation, Pakistan and the US will soon launch operations designed to secure the Shawal area. As Asia Times Online has described, "Technically speaking, Shawal falls on the Afghan side of the Durand Line that divides Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Editor's note: The border area inside North Waziristan is also called Shawal.) In reality, Shawal is a no-man's land, a place no one would want to go to unless he were as tough as the local tribespeople, a guerrilla fighter taking on the US, or, perhaps, Osama bin Laden. Shawal is a deep and most dangerous maze."
"It's the kinda place where the cops'd only go in by the platoon, if there were any cops..."
The Shawal area has for centuries given protection to people, explains Senator Syed Murad Ali Shah, one of the most low-profile Jamaat-i-Islami leaders, though he has been a major player in the region of Afghanistan and Iran since 1967. "The reason why descendents of the Prophet Mohammed's family are found in huge numbers in Afghanistan and along the Indus river has an historic background. After the assassination of Husein in Karbala [in 680] and subsequent clashes between members of Prophet's family and the Umayyads [Husein's killers] several members of the family fled into what is now Iraq, and they also took refuge exactly in this area where Pakistani troops are fighting to arrest foreign fighters. The Arab armies failed to access the area, and later on the Afghan tribes struck a deal with Abu Mosa Ashari that these 'foreigners' under their protection would not move anywhere. The foreigners married into the local population and spread all over the region along the Indus," the senator explained.
Yeah, yeah. All those beturbanned goobers are descended from The Prophet. That's why they're so holy...
Now US commanders believe they are capable of seizing this natural fortress of Shawal, where thick jungles and mountains can swallow many dozens of people without a trace. A blueprint for the Shawal action has, according to those close to the planning who spoke to Asia Times Online, has been chalked over several meetings between Pakistani President and Chief of Army General Pervez Musharraf, the vice chief of army ataff, General Mohammed Yusuf, and top US commanders, including General Abizaid, commander of the US Central Command. The Shawal targeted in the present campaign is situated in Afghanistan, but the controversial part of the plan is realization that it would be impossible for US troops not to transgress into Pakistani territory in hot pursuit of targets if the mission is to have any success. It is near impossible for any army to conduct "search and seize" operations in the jungles of Shawal. Therefore, US patrols will disappear into the jungle, and attempt to track down fugitives with satellite technology backed with helicopters. As admitted by Musharraf, few of the foreign fighters have the equipment needed to jam communication systems.
Jammers also present a certain value to the guys with the helicopters as targeting beacons...
According to the Asia Times Online sources, Pakistani authorities are deeply concerned over the losses incurred in the last operation in South Waziristan. Officially, the government has admitted to the death of about 50 soldiers. But independent sources and witnesses reckon the number could be as high as 800, including both military and paramilitary forces. Yet as the situation stands now, Pakistan can be expected to incur more losses. Already troops have been ordered to take up positions around the Shawal area, but in Pakistan territory. The locals are unhappy about this presence. They will be a lot less happy when US troops show up on their doorsteps.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/10/2004 12:03:29 AM ||
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#1
Whatever works without actually transgressing. That's good with us right, I mean no harm done, right?
#2
I don't know; Asia Times' Pepe Escobar claimed that the American KIA's in Afghanistan was in the thousands based on what 'independent sources' said.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/10/2004 1:34 Comments ||
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#3
Check out this really cool zoomable map of the area.
BTW in this area forest is at high elevations and its definitely not jungle. Alpine forest would be a better term.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/10/2004 2:56 Comments ||
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#4
"A blueprint for the Shawal action has, according to those close to the planning who spoke to Asia Times Online..."
Uh, huh. OpSec is discussing your plans with the Asshole Times.
"They will be a lot less happy when US troops show up on their doorsteps."
No doubt, but if this story is factual and actually relates to this Universe, no doubt "they" will be kept fully informed regards the precise when, where, who, how many, how equipped, etc. details so important for making a good first impression.
#5
"One crosses the first mountain and sees a similar mountain emerge and after crossing another mountain he feels a spin in his head and thinks the whole world in this area is the same and leads the way nowhere."
Another moron who can't read a map or use a GPS.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/10/2004 6:46 Comments ||
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#6
Ah, for the days when intrepid British explorers hiked through the daunting Hindu Kush, earning the respect of the wily and fierce tribesmen who hold the only key to finding one's way .....
Globalization strikes again, alas. Maybe the UN should outlaw all positioning satellites and airplane fly-overs -- clearly a culture is endangered by them.
Posted by: Gone is the Romance ||
04/10/2004 10:07 Comments ||
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#7
thks for the map link Phil - I was thinking the same thing "jungle"? I think it was a cheap way to say "ooooo Viet Nam! Quagmire!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2004 13:18 Comments ||
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A notorious tribesman wanted by Pakistan for harbouring foreign militants from al Qaeda and the ousted Afghan Taliban regime has said he had no plans to give himself up.
"Nope. Nope. Ain't gonna do it..."
The government has given leaders in the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan until April 20 to hand over foreign fighters and local tribesmen sheltering them, or to come up with an alternative plan.
"We're givin' youse guys a deadline! Again."
Senior elders gathered in the western town of Wana on Friday to decide how to ignore respond to the ultimatum, which Islamabad hopes will pave the way for a political solution after dozens of soldiers were killed in fierce clashes in the region last month. But comments from Nek Mohammad, a tribal commander involved in those clashes and believed to be sheltering al Qaeda guerrillas, suggested more fighting loomed. "We are still in this area. Where else can we go?" Mohammad told the News daily, after contacting the newspaper from an undisclosed location.
"I'll continue doing whatever I damned well please, and ain't nobody gonna stop me!"
Mahmood Shah, FATA's security chief, said Mohammad was the most wanted among Pakistani tribesmen who have close military and family ties to foreign fighters from Arab countries, Central Asia, China and Russia's breakaway region of Chechnya. The links go back more than 20 years, when Pakistan was used as a launching post for attacks on Soviet forces in neighbouring Afghanistan. Mohammad told the News he did not know of Tahir Yuldashev's whereabouts.
"I dunno. Why't yez go find him yerselves?"
Shah told Reuters that senior tribal "maliks", or elders, had gathered in the South Waziristan town of Wana, some 380 km southwest of Islamabad, on Friday ahead of formal deliberations over the weekend aimed at ending the crisis to pass gas. He said Mohammad was one of five Pakistani tribesmen, all from the Zalikhel sub-tribe, wanted by the authorities. Troop movements around Azam Warsak in South Waziristan and Shawal in North Waziristan have led to speculation of fresh operations in the area. "We will not announce the location of an operation in advance," Shah said. "Shawal is the adjoining area to South Waziristan, so the whole area is one where we have troops."
"As soon as we have some idea where we're gonna hit, if we do, I'm sure Mahmoud the Weasel's gonna spill the beans..."
Some analysts have questioned the wisdom of setting deadlines for the handover of militants or their protectors, saying it gave suspects the opportunity to escape or hide in time.
I thought that was the whole idea?
Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said the political process should be given time to work, and that "the movements (of militants) are also being watched."
I'm just oozing confidence in the Pak military...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/10/2004 12:02:13 AM ||
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An Afghan strongman whose forces have overrun a northern province issued a stark warning to the US-backed president yesterday â fire the defense and interior ministers or your government will fail. Even as a delegation led by Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Mohibullah met Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum to urge him to withdraw his fighters from Faryab province, the militia advanced further having taken the provincial capital on Thursday. Speaking to Reuters for the first time since his forces attacked Faryab on Wednesday, Dostum complained he had not been consulted about the deployment of hundreds of National Army troops to the province to restore order. âI will help with the national army and I should be trusted,â he said.
Ummm... If you're the problem, you're not usually the solution, are you?
Dostum, who has continued to angle for a top position despite losing favor since helping US forces topple the Taleban in 2001, called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sack officials including Defense Minister Muhammad Qasim Fahim and Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali. âIf he does not, his government will fail,â he said. He said Fahim was only interested in extending his power, while Jalali had been out of the country working in Washington while Dostum and others were fighting to overthrow the Taleban. Dostum, an adviser to Karzai, also complained that US planes hovered over his house in the town of Shiberghan on Thursday night. âMy kids were frightened, but let me say that I am not the type of man to be afraid,â he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2004 11:54:03 PM ||
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Dostum might want to stock up on earplugs. Sounds like he can look forward to a lot more sleepless nights.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
04/10/2004 0:05 Comments ||
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Up to 20 people are dead in eastern Sri Lanka as thousands of civilians flee the worst fighting the country has seen since a cease-fire took effect more than two years ago. Tamil Tigers loyal to their northern leader have attacked the forces of a breakaway Tiger commander. Doctors in hospitals in the eastern city of Batticaloa say that seven child soldiers are among the 15 wounded now in their care. Since March 3, Tamil Tiger forces have been split in two across the small Verugal River crossing in Sri Lanka's east. Sri Lanka's recent parliamentary election passed without incident, even as young Tiger fighters dug into positions preparing for war. Yesterday, the main Tiger force in the north attacked, killing the rivals they now call traitors and causing thousands of civilians to flee. This the worst violence since the beginning of a two year cease-fire between the Tigers' leaders and Government troops has the potential to force an end to the peace process.
I love it when they eat their own...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2004 11:48:25 PM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
