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Tater hangs it up?
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Page 1: WoT Operations
2 00:00 eLarson [] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Arabia
U.S. urges citizens to quit Saudi Arabia
Posted by: Lux || 04/15/2004 19:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Something must be coming down, and Saudi residents with US passports might feel revenge from the local Jihadians along the gulf. Ergo a warning.
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 20:25 Comments || Top||

#2  If something hits the fan, there's that little 40km wide(?)strip of land...
Posted by: Pappy || 04/15/2004 23:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Here is what Boucher said about the issue from the transcript of Thursday's press briefing:

QUESTION: The State Department is in the process of issuing a warning for non-essential staff in Saudi Arabia to leave, as it was reported?

MR. BOUCHER: We are concerned about the security situation in Saudi Arabia. As you know, recently the Saudi Government has had some firefights with dangerous elements. And I'll leave it at that, leave them to provide any details. And there have been reports of security -- potential security problems there. We take these reports very seriously, so we're currently reviewing what we might want to do as far as our personnel in Saudi Arabia, but I don't have anything to announce at this moment.

QUESTION: Are you likely to announce it later today?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything to announce at this moment. We'll just have to see. If there is a decision on this, we'll tell you when it happens.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/16/2004 3:32 Comments || Top||


Saudi fatwa urges use of ’all means’" to halt ’fierce onslaught’ on Muslims
Saudi Arabia’s religious authority issued a fatwa, or religious edict, yesterday urging Muslims to use "all means" to stop what it called "the fierce onslaught" on Muslims by "occupation forces" in Iraq.
"Guns, rockets, explosives... You guys know what 'all means' is..."
What Muslims in Iraq are being subjected to amounts to "one of the worst kinds of injustice and aggression" and is a "criminal act," said the permanent committee for scientific research and issuing of fatwas, chaired by grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh. The committee "strongly denounces the killing, terrorising of peaceable (civilians), destruction of property and demolition of mosques over the heads of worshippers, which the Muslim brethren in Iraq are being subjected to, especially in the city of Fallujah at the hands of the occupation forces," it said. The committee "urges every fair person among Muslims and others in the world to denounce this fierce onslaught and strive by all means to stop it and punish those responsible for it," said the fatwa, carried by the state SPA news agency.
Yeah. When's the bus leaving Riyadh for Fallujah?
The six-member committee, which is derived from the Council of Senior Ulema headed by the mufti, did not specifically name US forces, but called on Iraqis to close ranks and be "confident of God’s victory." The Saudi government on Monday expressed "concern" over the loss of civilian lives in Iraq, reiterating earlier calls for a greater United Nations role to shepherd the war-torn country to stability. The Saudi appointed Shura (consultative) Council also issued a statement on Monday saying it was "appalled at the killing, displacement and destruction" unfolding in Iraq and calling for an immediate halt to the bloodshed.
Posted by: TS || 04/15/2004 9:25:14 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  said the permanent committee for scientific research and issuing of fatwas,

BRahahahahaha... Love the title.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 9:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, the American Institute for the Advancement of Freedom and Small Engine Repair, issued a statement saying; "Piss on saudi arabia and their "holy men". As long as they threaten us.....WE WILL KILL THEM".
Posted by: Halfass Pete || 04/15/2004 10:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, here at the Foundation for Astrophysics and Applied Drinking, we say those guys need to pull their heads out of their asses.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 10:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, we here at the National Sarcasm Society ("Like we need your support") disagree totally with whatever nonsense these twits said.
Posted by: mojo || 04/15/2004 10:30 Comments || Top||

#5  "...and punish those responsible for it."

It is funny how we all seem to have filters on when it comes to listening to these religious Poobah types. After all the absurd rhetoric we've heard from these people, we tend to ignore the obvious. I do believe, unless I'm mistaken, that he just declared war on the United States of America and its coalition partners! At the very least we should ask the Saudi government for a clarification, does this guy speak for them or doesn't he? If he doesn't they should say so, and make it clear that they firmly and forever disagree with such declarations. The man should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, if they have such a thing as law.

If he does speak for them, well, then the burden is on us, the United States and the rest of the coalition. Do we go on the offensive against such people who wish to do us harm, as President Bush has said we will, now or some time in the extremely near future?

I don't see any other choices, it certainly seems apparent to me that ignoring "Fatwas" from Muslim clerics has done us more harm than good.
Posted by: mva30 || 04/15/2004 10:33 Comments || Top||

#6  The man should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, if they have such a thing as law.

Most likely not doable. By their laws, such declarations are probably perfectly legal.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 04/15/2004 10:57 Comments || Top||

#7  No doubt the Saudi Royals will take this moment to champion free speech, mva30. No way they could jeopardize their "reforms" with a crack-down on free speech.
Posted by: Tom || 04/15/2004 11:14 Comments || Top||

#8  LLLs ignore each and every instance like this, because they make the assumption that hostile rhetoric is nothing but "metaphor" and "emotions" doing the talking.

What they fail to grasp is that these people are a simple people. They mean every word of it when they issue fatwas and call for the killing of Jews and miscellaneous infidels.
Posted by: Unmutual || 04/15/2004 11:25 Comments || Top||

#9  "What they fail to grasp is that these people are a simple people." -- Unmutual
They fail to understand Dubya for the same reason: they just don't understand people who actually say what they mean. I feel misunderstood too.
Posted by: Tom || 04/15/2004 11:32 Comments || Top||

#10  LOL! Yeah I know, I'm dreaming.

Still, it seems to me the WoT is going to end up being fought on Saudi soil eventually. Might not be a bad idea for somebody in the Administration to be copying down and taking notes on all these Fatwas, so when the inevitable congressional commission is put together afterwards they'll have a nice, tidy stack of "smoking guns" over which to ruminate.
Posted by: mva30 || 04/15/2004 11:34 Comments || Top||

#11  mva, from your mouth to W's ear!
(I have a strong feeling that they're doing just that!)
I agree--someday, we're going to have to have it out with the Saudis once and for all.
In that the Saud government sponsors these clerics, you're also right to want to know whether they speak "officially" for the government of SA.
If not, why not?
Posted by: Jen || 04/15/2004 11:39 Comments || Top||

#12  I hate to be "Mr Guy" about this kind of thing. But this Holy piece of fake (may Moh slay the dragon) should have been dead six months ago. Along with his family, zoo animals, servants. His house and garages should be dust. The Mercedes and Masserattis just crumpled sheet metal.
Posted by: Lucky || 04/15/2004 11:57 Comments || Top||

#13  Keeper of the Two Holy Mosque Radiation Exclusion Zones.
Posted by: Tom || 04/15/2004 12:12 Comments || Top||

#14  Just kill them. After awhile, they'll run out of moonbats, and stfu. If not, sooner or later they'll run out of reproductive units, and we'll end the problem another way. Either way will work. Since they refuse to accept the fact that we're NOT going to roll over and join their wacky moonbat religion, we have no other choice. If they need someone to handle a weapon, I'm available, and my deeply-held religious beliefs will allow me to do this without suffering any lasting harm.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/15/2004 12:13 Comments || Top||

#15  Has this Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas ever issued a fatwa against honor killings? How many Moslem women are murdered every year, year after year? Don't these Moslem victims deserve a fatwa too?
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 12:39 Comments || Top||

#16  Mike: Didn't you know, all Muslims are victims!
Posted by: Spot || 04/15/2004 14:11 Comments || Top||

#17  Crazyfool, I had the exact same reaction to the name of the committee as you did. And I was wondering how busy the committee on scientific research could possibly be in that scientific desert. I'd say they probably issue more fatwahs than make proclamations about scientific research. I don't think they have a lot of scientific research going on in the kingdom (other than maybe the occasional doctoral thesis arguing for the increased use of C4 [as opposed to traditional dynamite] in Paleo suicide booms, for example, or perhaps a study on the agricultural uses of camel dung)
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 04/15/2004 15:41 Comments || Top||

#18  "Fierce onslaught," my ass. These people have never been properly calibrated, and they're confusing "mild criticism" with a "fierce onslaught."

We need to calibrate them. Nuke Riyadh.
Posted by: Dave D. || 04/15/2004 17:44 Comments || Top||

#19  What Muslims in Iraq are being subjected to amounts to "one of the worst kinds of injustice and aggression" and is a "criminal act," said the permanent committee for scientific research and issuing of fatwas, chaired by grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh...
Worse than what happened in 1991 after the crushing of the Shi'a intifada? I've not seen footage of any members of As-Sadr's Jaish al-Mahdi being trusted up like chickens & squashed under MBTs or doused in petrol & set alight for a laff. AFAIK US forces haven't yet started painting slogans like 'No Shi'a after today' on their tanks or begun tying kids to army vehicles to act as human shields. Maybe your boys should start dropping leaflets over Najaf claiming that only civilians who exit the city by a particular road will be spared, and then when said road's jamed solid send in some gunships to shoot 'em up (it was all fine & dandy when Saddam did this kind of thing, it goes without saying...)
The committee "strongly denounces the killing, terrorising of peaceable (civilians), destruction of property and demolition of mosques over the heads of worshippers, which the Muslim brethren in Iraq are being subjected to, especially in the city of Fallujah at the hands of the occupation forces," it said.
I sure as hell didn't hear any of these guys complaining when it was Shi'a mosques being shelled by the RG. I wonder why?
BTW the 'scientific research' in question may involve promulgation of the late Ibn Baz's novel theory of planetary dynamics (namely the idea that Ptolemy was right all along & the sun really does orbit the Earth - set out in a book titled Jarayan ash-Shams wa'l Qamar wa sukoun al-Ard - The motion of the sun & the moon & the stationarity of the Earth), or maybe an attempt to work out the correlation coefficient between lack of piety & lack of rainfall (apparently a recent concern of the Grand Mufti.)
Posted by: Dave (UK) || 04/15/2004 19:14 Comments || Top||

#20  Mr. Guy, I belive that the dropper of this fat boy is not a major player.

There is no god named allah
mohammed was a liar.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/15/2004 19:27 Comments || Top||

#21  The Religion of Perpetual Victims whines again... and again... and again...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/15/2004 21:03 Comments || Top||

#22  Dave(UK) very cool!

Shipman, Glad you saw that! Mohmo de fake-o.
Posted by: Lucky || 04/15/2004 23:25 Comments || Top||

#23  Saudi fatwa urges use of ’all means’ to halt ’fierce onslaught’ on Muslims

Some well lobbed nukes would end this "feirce onslaught on Muslims" almost instantly and forever.

Be very careful what you wish for because someday you may get it.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/16/2004 0:09 Comments || Top||

#24  Such a damn shame we didn't pursue the Neutron bomb and drop it all over the M.E.
Posted by: Not Mike Moore || 04/16/2004 22:02 Comments || Top||

#25  You say that like it's a bad thing, NMM...
Posted by: Raj || 04/16/2004 22:16 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Sydney man on terror charge
A 21-year-old Sydney man has been charged with being trained by a terrorist organisation, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said tonight. The university student from Glenwood was arrested by federal agents in Sydney this morning. In a statement, AFP commissioner Mick Keelty said the man had faced Sydney’s Central Local Court and been refused bail. He has been remanded to reappear in court on May 5. The man, a medical student, reportedly trained in Pakistan with the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, banned by the government six months ago. The court reportedly heard that after his initial training, the man decided not to go ahead with his preparations for a jihad in Kashmir. Channel Nine said the man moved to Australia from Pakistan in 1998 and attended two Sydney high schools before enrolling in medicine at the University of New South Wales.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 04/15/2004 6:27:47 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
The man, a medical student, reportedly trained in Pakistan with the terrorist group

His choice was either to do that or to work on his medical studies.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 8:13 Comments || Top||


Hicks was asked to be a suicide bomber
AUSTRALIAN terror suspect David Hicks turned down a request by al-Qaeda to become a suicide bomber, a United States interrogator said today. American news program 60 Minutes II interviewed a Guantanamo Bay interrogator, identified only as Tom, who said Hicks had provided a good insight into what happened inside al-Qaeda terror training camps. Tom said the Adelaide man had been moving up through the al-Qaeda camps but his progress had come to an abrupt end when he was asked to become a suicide bomber. "He only backed it off at a point where he was asked to be a suicide bomber, where he was presented with training that would involve with running a terrorist cell, and sort of being prepared to strap on a bomb, or to drive a car bomb, or to crash a plane, something along those lines," he said. "He resisted. And so it caused a big problem between him and the other al-Qaeda guys."
"Ummm... No thanks. I'd rather hang around until the Caliphate comes and have a jewelled turbans and some dancing girls. You guys go right ahead, though..."
Hicks' father, Terry, who recently returned from the US, cast doubt on the timing of the interview, suggesting it was designed to create fear among Americans. Mr Hicks told ABC radio he had never been informed about these so-called interrogations. "This may be a put up thing and it may not be, I don't know," he said. "We haven't been told anything about these interrogations. As far as I'm aware, I don't think (his US-appointed defence counsel) Major (Michael) Mori is aware of this either because he would have passed on some sort of information."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 12:45:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
10,000 Blank French Passports Stolen - FBI Concerned
Posted by: old grouch || 04/15/2004 19:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's an understatement...
Posted by: Raj || 04/15/2004 20:10 Comments || Top||

#2  10000! Sacrez-bleu!
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 20:11 Comments || Top||

#3  That is a serious problem. Guess we should bar anybody with a French passport from entering the US for the next 15 years.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 04/15/2004 21:04 Comments || Top||

#4  You could make quite a few cells, hell, even platoons (!) from such a number of phony passports. It would seem to me that the prudent thing to do would be to establish more controls on French passport carrying persons immediately. Whatever it took. If they are going to lose them, then they become a nationality of high risk, like the Saudis, Pakistanis, etc. It would also send a strong message to the French govt that if they are going to get sloppy with their own controls, we won't with ours.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/15/2004 21:18 Comments || Top||

#5  I agree. And we should require all French passport-holders to obtain visas before they enter the USA.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 21:51 Comments || Top||

#6  I agree. And we should require all French passport-holders to obtain visas before they enter the USA.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 21:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Time to round up and deport everyone with a French passport.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 21:59 Comments || Top||

#8  If they are going to lose them, then they become a nationality of high risk, like the Saudis, Pakistanis, etc.

Bingo, AP.

Something tells me that there's more than a few customs and immigration officers champing at the bit to clean the clocks of any people carrying French papers.

"Oui Monsueir, allez vous ici pour la cherche du cavite. Sil vous drais un petit du vaseline, non?"
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 22:59 Comments || Top||

#9  The passports were not lost. They just quickly surrendered to the thieves.
Posted by: VRWconspiracy || 04/15/2004 23:46 Comments || Top||


Zapatero vows to wage seperate but equal WOT
Spanish Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has vowed to wage a relentless war on terrorism as prime minister.
"Yup. Relentless. We're gonna tear 'em up..."
He was setting out his plans for the next four years in a speech in parliament to mark his investiture. "The government ... will make its priority aim the relentless fight against terrorism," he said.
"Unless we can work a deal, of course."
His PSOE party won the elections three days after the 11 March Madrid train bombings which killed 192 people. Before taking power, Mr Zapatero must win the support of parliament - but he is expected to win the necessary majority in the first round of voting. The train attacks and former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the war in Iraq are said to have swayed many voters. Mr Zapatero had long been part of the anti-war movement and had pledged to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq if elected - a promise he reiterated on Thursday. He also emphasised his support for the European Union, saying he would do everything he could to ensure a constitution was signed by the summer. He set out reform plans for Spanish political life and in the education and employment sectors. Mr Zapatero started his speech, which lasted just over an hour, by paying tribute to the victims of the Madrid attacks. He condemned any sort of terrorism and praised the people of Madrid and the rest of Spain for their heroism in the face of the atrocities.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 14:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I removed the duplicate that had the source and title reversed. No problems.

Heck, you should how Fred has to clean up after me.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/15/2004 14:35 Comments || Top||

#2  From the article:

But he reiterated that Spanish troops could only remain in Iraq under a UN mandate.

That I am sure is reassuring to the people of Iraq. After the absolutely brilliant bribery operation oil for palaces food program recently completed by the UN, everyone is feeling warm and fuzzy.

BTW, Zappy, got anything to say about the Most Mercifal Binny and his olive branch gesture of a truce to Europe if you quit bugging Muslims? RSVP.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/15/2004 15:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Wonder what the Spainish military thinks?
Posted by: raptor || 04/15/2004 16:35 Comments || Top||

#4  sure zappy has a response for binny's overtures...how much and what's the account number!
Posted by: Dan || 04/15/2004 17:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Yikes!
A Spanish Ben-Viniste.
Trial Lawyers - Don't-cha love 'em.

Bin Laden makes an offer and he has righteous indignation:
"What we want is peace, democracy and freedom. We don't have to listen to or answer the tape."
-Miguel Angel Moratinos (Incoming Foreign Minister)
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 19:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Don't worry, Zappy. I'll take good care of you...
Posted by: OBL || 04/15/2004 21:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Zapatero vows to wage seperate but equal WOT

We'll stuff them so full of paella and empanadas, they'll hurl!!!
Posted by: Zenster || 04/16/2004 0:17 Comments || Top||


Austrian Website Preaches Hate Against Americans
Want to see something that will turn your stomach? Take a look at this piece of crap.
Via Travelling Shoes.
Posted by: H.D. Miller || 04/15/2004 11:51:23 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You know how far out of touch these idiots are when you see the banner that says CNN 100% government disinformation and Report CNN lies here.
Here's to hoping he's being charged a fortune to have this garbage hosted.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 04/15/2004 12:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Far left BS. I'll bet they just get pissed more and more everyday and being the cowards that they are won't do anything but spew out their bile. Tells me Dubya is doing something right. Go Prez.
Posted by: Bill Nelson || 04/15/2004 12:31 Comments || Top||

#3  How do you say "wacko" in Austrian?
Posted by: Unmutual || 04/15/2004 12:35 Comments || Top||

#4  #3 Try verueckt or verueckte idioten, or Islamofascist.
I find it peculiar, to say the least, that an Austrian is unfavorably comparing Americans to the regime of their favorite son. During WWII, Austrians would have raised both legs and arms to salute Hitler with Sieg Heil.
Posted by: GK || 04/15/2004 14:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Laughed my ASS off! These people are more yuks per paranoid delusion than your average skin flint! Thanks for a very entertaining link!
Posted by: Hyper || 04/15/2004 14:50 Comments || Top||

#6  I second that wholehartedly Hyper.

These idiots are comparable to the like of David Icke, very entertaining though.
Posted by: Evert Visser in NL || 04/15/2004 16:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Poor TGA will have another headache to deal with!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/15/2004 16:47 Comments || Top||

#8  Perhaps there is a conncetion between these folks and the UFOs spotted over Iran?
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 17:14 Comments || Top||

#9  In Germany this site would be illegal and would not last a week. The site is hosted by an Austrian hoster, sprit.org, who claims to host Sony Music Austria, the Austrian Department of Agriculture and Ecology, and the University Hospitals of Vienna. Those important clients might not appreciate that their hoster hosts scum like this?

Maybe an email to support@sprit.org can help?
Posted by: True German Ally || 04/15/2004 17:14 Comments || Top||

#10  Oh, so that's where Boris the Serbian Lop-Eared Troll went!
Posted by: Mike || 04/15/2004 17:18 Comments || Top||

#11  Julius Streicher was lawfully hanged for similar agitation. Those who follow his path should share his fate. They should be prime targets for our new friend, Gideon Phoenix, no matter where in the world they are found.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 04/15/2004 18:47 Comments || Top||

#12  To be fair to our Austrian friends, we have a lot of these Streicherist hate-mongers right here at home, an SS camp follower and Al Qaeda bint named Carol Valentine being one.

Her main claim to fame is the role her work played in inspiring the late Tim McVeigh, who had a large collection of her material on hand when he was arrested.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 04/15/2004 18:56 Comments || Top||

#13  The most famous Austrian I can remember had to leave the country to make his mark in the world. I think he went to Germany if I'm not mistaken. Made it big from what I've read.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/15/2004 21:18 Comments || Top||

#14  Where's a red-blooded American hacker when you need one?
Posted by: Zenster || 04/16/2004 0:19 Comments || Top||

#15  They are in desperate need of a better translator! Boy that Icke guy is schizo for sure! These people remind me of this guy that used to be at my college and he would write people letters and tell them the CIA had bugged his brain and that the CIA is listening to his thoughts and stuff. He would write letters to complete strangers (I was one such person) telling them all about it...then I saw him in person several times...It's really sad that these people aren't medicated. And yes, Zenster, we are in such need. There are such people out there, too.
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 04/16/2004 4:37 Comments || Top||


Mecca Water: Purified Madrid Terrorists
The Islamic terrorists responsible for the Madrid train bombings financed their plot with sales of hashish and Ecstasy and drank holy water from Mecca in ritual "purification acts" before the attacks, the acting interior minister, Ángel Acebes, said Wednesday.
"Mecca Cola" is being peddled, three blocks from where I live. Maybe a swig of that kind of Mohammed-grog, could be taken as a license to kill.
In a final news conference before the newly elected Socialist government takes office, Mr. Acebes described the March 11 terror attacks as a local, independently organized operation led by people with "connections to other fundamentalist groups in Europe and outside Europe." He said the group might have been influenced by a supreme leader "with more experience with radical Islam." But he said much of the plot had been carried out with the help of petty criminals.
Frankly, I believe that al-Qaeda exists to inspire creation of local clone-cells. And they are succeeding in establishing bases (al-qaedat) everywhere.
Using traffickers as intermediaries, the bombers swapped the drugs for the 440 pounds of dynamite used in the blasts, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,400 others, Mr. Acebes said. Money from the drug trafficking paid for an apartment hide-out, a car and the cellphones used to detonate the bombs, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
In my wonderful neighborhood, Arabs and Somalis peddle dope. I guess it is okay to ruin the lives of kaffirs.
The explosives, Mr. Acebes added, were taken from a coal mine in the Asturias region of northern Spain and transported in a Volkswagen to a rundown property outside Madrid. The leaders of operation, evidently concerned about the effects of their plot on their souls, "swallowed holy water from Mecca," he said, adding, "They met periodically to carry out purification acts that would legitimize the committing of acts that could offend Islam..."
Where do they acquire this logic? Could it have been from one of the Saudi financed mosques? Didn’t Sheik Kabbani testify to a Congressional Committee, that "80%" of America mosques were "extremist?" I would de-purify (or whatever) the body parts of terrorists, by burying them in pig manure.
Posted by: Man Bites Dog || 04/15/2004 4:24:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Generally, when pious pilgrims from the One True Religion of the Master Race come back to my sweet country, there are always some stories about sanitary authorities preventing Holy Water from Mecca from being brought along, as it is full of feccal matter and bacterias, and susceptible to carry cholera. Purifying indeed.
Posted by: Anonymous3973 || 04/15/2004 10:10 Comments || Top||


Spain hunting for Amer Aziz
The hunt for the masterminds behind last month's train bombings here has targeted an accused Al Qaeda operative who, although a fugitive wanted in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, may have returned clandestinely to Spain to oversee the train plot, investigators said Tuesday. Witnesses told police they saw Amer Azizi, a Moroccan and longtime associate of several suspects in the train attacks, here after the March 11 bombings that killed 191 people.
"Turn him in? Why should be do that?"
Intercepted communications detected Azizi last year in Iran, where he was allegedly with Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian accused of leading an anti-U.S. bombing campaign in Iraq, Spanish investigators said.
Yet another Iran link, eh? No doubt just a coincidence that that was where Zougam was headed right after the attacks ...
The recent sightings of Azizi in Spain are a potential breakthrough in the train bombings. Since seven suspects blew themselves up during a shootout with police nearly two weeks ago, the investigation has centered on identifying lead figures who could have transmitted directives from the Al Qaeda network abroad to the train bombers, thought to be a predominantly Moroccan group based in Madrid. New evidence suggests that Azizi was daring enough to return from the Middle East, sneak into Spain and oversee an attack by a relentless network that has widened its terror campaign to Western Europe in order to weaken the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. They added that if Azizi was involved, his orders probably came from Zarqawi or others in Al Qaeda's core leadership.
Likely Zarqawi. He appears to be the commander of European operations...
"There are people who have seen Azizi here in Spain after the attacks," a senior Spanish investigator said. "It looks like he came back and may have directed the others. If he was here, his background would make it likely that he was the top guy. We have reliable witness accounts that he was here in significant places connected to the plot. The idea of Azizi as a leader has become more solid." Like several other suspects, he was an immigrant married to a Spanish woman and dabbled in export-import ventures in the late 1990s, according to court documents. He is charged with recruiting militants, acting as a point man for fraudulent documents, and serving as an accomplice of the Sept. 11 hijackers over a six-year period, according to court documents. Telephone intercepts raised suspicions that Azizi helped set up a key meeting of Sept. 11 plotters Mohamed Atta and Ramzi Binalshibh on Spain's northeast coast in July 2001, according to court documents. During that summer, the accused head of the Madrid cell was in close touch with Azizi and had conversations allegedly related to the mysterious sit-down with him and with others in which he said "Amer" was handling the arrangements, documents show.
Equating Amer to the nameless Señor Grande?
Nonetheless, Azizi escaped a police roundup in late 2001 and fled the country. Subsequently, U.S. agents told Spanish investigators that Al Qaeda captives interrogated at the American base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, implicated Azizi as a direct accomplice of the Sept. 11 hijackers, according to a senior Spanish law enforcement official. The investigation has established ties between Azizi and Moroccans implicated in both the train bombings and last year's suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco. Azizi met in Turkey in 2000 with Salahadin Benayich, who was arrested in Morocco after Casablanca, and Said Berraj, an alleged train bomber who remains a fugitive, according to authorities and court documents. Azizi allegedly operated in Turkey, Iran and possibly Iraq. That region is the turf of the Zarqawi organization, an increasingly autonomous network of Al Qaeda that has a presence throughout Western Europe as well.
Ansar al-Islam and al-Tawhid, the lines between which are becoming increasingly blurred...
Investigators had recently said they thought Azizi had returned to Morocco, a conduit for illegal immigration and smuggling into Spain. He also has relatives and associates in France, according to court documents. The focus on Azizi reinforces a portrait of the train bombers as a group who pulled off the catastrophic attack despite being well known to law enforcement — and, in the case of some of them, under investigation at the time of the Madrid bombings.
That's a black eye for the Spanish cops. If they didn't have their new government, they'd probably be looking at revamping their procedures now.
The longtime extremists joined forces with others recruited from the criminal underworld, authorities said. Ahmidan, described by investigators as a drug dealer who is thought to have converted to Islam while in prison in Morocco, was known by the alias "Mowgli," rode a motorcycle and had a flashily dressed Spanish girlfriend. He trafficked in hashish smuggled from his native Morocco, police say. "They were a group of converted drug dealers who financed the attack with money they made selling drugs in Spain," the senior investigator said. The suspects used a load of hashish as part of the payment for the explosives they obtained from a Spanish ex-convict contacted through a jailhouse connection, the investigator said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 12:42:28 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Fifth Column
Humanitarian Law Project
In January, the Humanitarian Law Project scored a legal victory it had long been seeking when a Los Angeles Federal District Court judge struck down parts of the Patriot Act. The section of the Act in question barred American groups like HLP from providing advice and non-military aid to known terrorist groups across the globe.
"We have a right to provide advice and non-military aid to terrorist groups!"
As a result, the HLP will now be able to aid the two Marxist terrorist groups that were the subject of the lawsuit. One of the groups, the Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is responsible for over 200 suicide bombings, including attacks on mass transit and other civilian targets and the assassinations in the early 1990s of the prime ministers of India and Sri Lanka. The other, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fought in the name of Marxism and Kurdish nationalism, for an independent state in southeast Turkey in the 1980s and ’90s. It was one of the first groups to use suicide bombers and, with the backing of Syria, the PKK engaged in the massacre of civilian villages where its dogma was opposed, eventually leaving an estimated 30,000 dead.
Any humanitarian law apply to the 30,000 dead folks? I thought not...
Despite this, most of the media described the HLP as a “human rights” group in its coverage earlier this year. HLP could better be described as a vehicle of the most extreme elements of the pro-terror Left – and of the United Nations, which are increasingly becoming indistinguishable from each other. As a United Nations nongovernmental organization (NGO), the HLP has consultative status, receives its funding from the UN and reports to the UN’s commission on Human Rights.
I was wondering where these kinds of groups get their money...
For more than a decade, the American leftists who run the HLP have been “monitoring” their own country on behalf of the UN and making damning reports before the commission and on the floor of the UN, most of them about “atrocities” supposedly committed in or by the United States, particularly during both Iraq wars. The HLP is the creation of Los Angeles real estate magnate Aris Anagnos, who has spent the last three decades bankrolling Marxist causes across the globe. From the Nicaraguan Sandinistas to Marxist rebels in Chiapas to Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro, Anagnos seems to never have encountered a Communist he didn’t admire. In 2000, Anagnos told the Los Angeles Times that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was “one of the outstanding statesmen of the world today. He has served his people faithfully and unselfishly and is a model for presidents to imitate. And I’m not being funny.”
That's okay, Aris. We don't think it's funny...
No leftist cause is apparently too radical for Anagnos. The last major lawsuit Anagnos got behind, to the tune of at least $600,000, was the now infamous Christic Institute RICO case in 1985, which alleged that the CIA had dabbled in assassinations funded by drug money and that the agency was in cahoots with the Nicaraguan Contras, using drug money to finance their war against the Marxist Sandinistas – and to assassinate Communists across the globe. The media quietly dropped the story after it turned out that most of the witnesses named in the case weren’t real people. The Institute was forced by a judge to pay the legal expenses of the high ranking CIA officials and others named in what he called a “frivolous” suit. Anagnos and his wife were also heavy financial sponsors of the Christic Institute itself, which was largely responsible for other well-known conspiracy theories, including accusations that the CIA sold drugs in American ghettoes, a discredited theory still widely held among American blacks, including Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Anagnos founded the HLP the same year the Christic suit was filed, for the purpose, it appears, of helping Marxist rebels and terrorists around the globe. It shares an address with Anagnos’ real estate company and dozens of other loosely intertwined leftist groups in the Los Angeles Peace Center, at 8124 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles. The Center is funded by the Carolyn & Aris Anagnos Peace Center Foundation as a rent-free home for progressive organizations and has become a hub of leftist activity in L.A. It is home to the Coalition for World Peace (CWP), a member of the United for Peace & Justice Coalition. Among CWP’s five member organizations is the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, a Communist Party spin-off group co-chaired by leftist organizer Leslie Cagan, head of UFPJ, longtime Communist Party member and one of the main forces behind last year’s national antiwar protests. For years, Anagnos has also been a major donor to the Pacifica Radio Network, a group of donor-funded stations that advocate Marxist ideas and radical conspiracy theories – like Jewish doctors injecting black babies with the AIDS virus. At times at 8124 West 3rd Street, it’s hard to tell where the HLP and Coalition for World Peace end and Pacifica Radio begins. Until recently, Pacifica station KPFK’s local advisory board held its meetings at the Peace Center. HLP Executive Director Lydia Brazon sits on Pacifica’s Board, which Cagan chaired until this week. The Center is also the home to the West Coast offices of such groups as the Democratic Socialists of America, the National Lawyers Guild and Americans for Democratic Action.

Like Anagnos, HLP’s president, University of Southern California Assistant Professor and former Freedom Rider Ralph Fertig, appears to dabble in paranoia, as well. Fertig is a supporting member of an international group called Campaign Against Criminalizing Communities (CAMPACC), a group that opposes anti-terrorism laws here and abroad. According to a statement on its website, the group believes that the crusade against terrorism is part of an international plan by the “secret security state” to exploit national insecurity. The group alleged this Big Brother wannabe is creating fictitious enemies in much the way the government did in Orwell’s 1984. The goal of this secret entity both here and abroad, they believe, is to intimidate immigrant communities from participating in the political process, “harass and prosecute” activists like themselves and give governments unlimited access to information on their political activities.

Over the years, the “torture victims” whose causes the HLP has taken up have included Los Angeles gang members targeted by the Los Angeles Police Department and jailed Whitewater figure Susan McDougal. In 1997, Parker and the HLP called McDougal a “torture victim” and a “political prisoner” for refusing to testify against President Bill Clinton and petitioned the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Group on Arbitrary Detention to investigate McDougal’s case. The group was also behind well-publicized international accusations that the U.S. might have committed “atrocities” in both Iraq wars by using bombs tipped with depleted uranium. (However, HLP has never been able to produce any evidence to this effect.) “Our organization considers the Iraq situation an atrocity followed by a catastrophe,” Parker testified. “The international community simply must respond or risk being overtaken in every way by a power (the U.S.) that did not and does not intend to abide by the principles of humanitarian law carefully carved out since the first Geneva Convention.”

In fact, the United States is the Great Satan to HLP members. Hence, it must be weakened, neutered and rendered of no effect. Hence, it should come as no surprise that chief among the HLP’s aims is disarming the United States. In July of 2003, while testifying before a UN Commission on Human Rights subcommittee, Karen Parker, a Los Angeles attorney who has represented HLP before the UN for years, claimed that the fate of the whole world lies in being able to carry out the “true disarmament” of the U.S. “The smaller, poorer countries cannot possibly keep up with ‘arm-chair’ wars or they will bankrupt themselves,” she said, urging the UN to give America’s enemies a fighting chance in their war against the United States. “Even the other developed countries are far, far behind this technological madness. If the United States is allowed to use and develop these weapons, all other countries are reduced to peonage at the mercy of the United States.” As Parker explained in an interview in Human Rights Action, the HLP newsletter, the group considers the World Court – formally called the International Court of Justice – to be “the highest legal body in the world.”

In addition to their paranoia about America and their hope that Third World countries will stand up to the U.S. in battle, HLP’s supposedly humanitarian leaders possess and amazing tolerance for brutality when it is committed by fellow Marxists. In 1988, before a scheduled summit between U.S. and Soviet leaders on human rights, Parker led a press conference in New York to assure Soviet leaders that despite U.S. rhetoric, the real human rights problems weren’t in Russia, but in America. American human rights violations had reached “truly mass proportions” Soviet leaders were told, including the tragedy of “the starving the homeless.” Meanwhile, a recent tour of the USSR by lawyer William Kunstler (founder of the Center for Constitutional Rights) had proven that the U.S. government’s allegations about violations of human rights in the Soviet Union, including the persecution of Soviet dissidents, were “absolutely unfounded.” (Tell that to Sakharov and Solzenitsyn.) Sixteen years later, Fertig displayed the same dismissive attitude about the trail of blood – to say nothing of the human rights violations – that the LTTE has left in its wake. In an interview with Sri Lanka’s Sunday Leader newspaper about the HLP’s Patriot Act suit, Fertig said the LTTE’s history of violence was “quite irrelevant in this case.” He then explained that the suit was really about the right of any individual to send aid for “non-violent humanitarian projects” of the LTTE. According to media reports, a spokesperson for John Ashcroft said that the Justice Department is considering an appeal of the ruling in the case. Americans concerned about the threat terrorists pose to their own nation – and Western civilization as a whole – can only hope the decision is appealed, and HLP follows its Communist heroes into the dustbin of history.
Posted by: tipper || 04/15/2004 11:38:06 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This would be funny, if it wasn't so sad.
Posted by: B || 04/15/2004 11:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I have said this before and I will say it again - the Left is the party of the really really rich.
Posted by: Phil B || 04/15/2004 12:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Ok, I admit that I am not up on the finer points of Marxism versus Communism. Any RB'ers care to give a brief comparison for me? I'd appreciate it. TIA.
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 04/15/2004 16:27 Comments || Top||

#4  AllahHateMe
Try this for a summary
Posted by: tipper || 04/16/2004 5:21 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Sadr supporting cleric arrested yesterday is Vancouver Imam
A Muslim cleric from the Vancouver area who was arrested in Iraq on Tuesday is a staunch supporter of the high-level Iraqi cleric currently locked in a bloody showdown with U.S. troops, say two B.C. Muslims.
But Imam Sayed Hazem al-Araji -- who was released by U.S. forces after five hours -- generally did not preach in favour of controversial Iraqi leader Moqtada al-Sadr while he was in B.C. because he didn’t want to exacerbate conflict in the local Iraqi community, said a former board member at the Surrey mosque where al-Araji served.
Posted by: TS || 04/15/2004 9:34:10 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...generally did not preach in favour of controversial Iraqi leader Moqtada al-Sadr while he was in B.C. because...
a. He didn't know al-Sadr as well as OBL?
b. He wanted to distance himself from his "let's bomb LA in the new millenium" friends?
c. He was fleecing peaceful Muslims to fund the fanatic cause?
Posted by: Tom || 04/15/2004 9:50 Comments || Top||

#2  THANK YOU, TOM!
Posted by: Anonymous4187 || 04/15/2004 10:03 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Ben-Veniste’s Behavior Indicates Urgent Need for Increased Dosages and Frequencies of Meds
... Richard Ben-Veniste’s conduct has grown wilder as the Nielsen ratings attached to the proceedings have increased. Democrats thought they were getting a skilled prosecutor with Watergate and other fine show trial credentials, but the sun is setting on BV’s career, and that does funny things to a man in D.C. The same syndrome of packaged outrage and bad hair cuts has affected Bob Kerrey as well. But in Ben-Veniste the histrionics-cum-political vendetta have been most obvious.

A week ago, Ben-Veniste tried to rattle Condoleezza Rice and failed. "I thought ben Veniste was terrible," said the New Republic’s Peter Beinart on my [Hugh Hewitt’s] show after Rice’s testimony. "Ben-Veniste is the most partisan Democrat on the commission, and I wish he wasn’t on the commission."

When reliable pundits of the center-left are throwing bricks at Ben-Veniste, then it’s clear he’s not fooling anyone. But it’s too late to stop him from sabotaging the commission. .... he raised the paranoid theory that John Ashcroft had stopped flying commercial airplanes prior to September 11--and just before John Ashcroft blew away the slander with a detailed account of how often he and his wife did in fact fly commercial aircraft before September 11 ....

From the moment that Ben-Veniste launched into an unscripted fit over the release of the Predator drone’s video of bin Laden from the fall of 2000, his mission has been clear--to protect the Clinton administration from accountability. The video was proof that the United States had bin Laden in our sights well before September 11, 2001 and had refused to pull the trigger, so Ben-Veniste attacked the evidence, not its inescapable implication. And so he has also attacked every Bush administration figure with a partisan fury that stuns the people of goodwill on the left.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 11:27:59 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mr Slick in a double knit. The guy has 'hit me' written all over his pasty face.

The whole 911 commission is a farce.
Posted by: Lucky || 04/15/2004 23:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Considering Ben-Veniste's mention of email sent to the committee, be sure to drop by their site and send them a note regarding your views.

For instance: Jamie Gorelick should be sworn in as a WITNESS to discuss why she thought it would be helpful to ignore intel when pursuing terrorists.

(To answer my own question, it might have been to keep the intel from being sealed along with other grand jury testimony. But that's being charitable.)
Posted by: eLarson || 04/16/2004 2:26 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
6 United Airlines uniforms stolen
Chicago police are looking for a buglar... who got away with some flight attendant uniforms... Happened over the weekend on the northwest side... near Sacramento and Irving Park. Police say the burglar took three United Airlines male flight attendant uniforms... three Delta Airlines flight attendant uniforms... and a flight attendant manual. No word on a possible motive.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 04/15/2004 3:16:07 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Three United (male)
Three Delta (female)
One flight attendant manual

http://www.wlsam.com/shownews.asp?ID=84439
Posted by: growler || 04/15/2004 15:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Eh, who cares? John Kerry says Bush is over-stating the dangers of terrorism.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 15:29 Comments || Top||

#3  When flying Delta, watch out for that ugly female flight-attendant, with poorly shaved legs, 5-o'clock shadow, strange bulge under the blouse, and a heavy Mid-Eastern accent.

You will also know someting is wrong when the in-flight meal menu has been changed by hand, and all pork containing dishes are scratched out.

"Coffee, tea, or milk, Sir?"
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 15:50 Comments || Top||

#4  What is so damned hard about having the pictures of the real scheduled pilots available to security and boarding personnel? Hello! Are we so inept that we can not solve this simple problem? Personal computers with a database including pictures is straightforward and easy to implement.
Posted by: VRWconspiracy || 04/15/2004 16:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Look for Leo DiCaprio - I saw this DVD
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 16:41 Comments || Top||


Army wipes Yee's record clean
Army general cleared Capt. James Yee's military record of a formal reprimand that alleged for adultery and storing pornography on his government-issued computer. The decision Wednesday by Gen. James T. Hill, commander of U.S. Southern Command, ends the military's case against the Muslim chaplain, whom government officials initially had linked to a possible espionage ring operating at the naval prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. While Yee's conduct was wrong, the public stigma he'd face if the appeal of the reprimand were denied "would not serve a just and fair purpose," said Hill, a former Fort Lewis commander. "I believe in justice and I believe in fairness, and given all that has transpired, in all fairness I believe I have given Chaplain Yee justice," Hill said.

Yee, 36, a Chinese-American and West Point graduate, returned to his permanent duty station at Fort Lewis last week. He, his wife, Huda, and their 4-year-old daughter live in Olympia. Yee did not return a phone message seeking comment Wednesday. No one answered the door at their Olympia apartment. One of Yee's civilian attorneys, Eugene Fidell, reiterated that Yee deserves a formal apology from the military for its treatment of Yee, which included placing him in pretrial confinement for 76 days. Fidell said he hopes a higher authority will agree that an apology is overdue. "If the buck has to stop there, then let it stop there," he said. A spokesman for Southern Command has said an apology won't be forthcoming because Yee placed sensitive information at risk, the spokesman said.
And I bet his career advancement is at an end.
I'm wondering what he traded for this...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/15/2004 11:59:48 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They should some of this on TV here in seattle. There was a large CAIR banner behind him while he was speaking.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 12:24 Comments || Top||

#2  ..Better than at an end - carefully watched...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/15/2004 13:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Either that or he's been 'turned'......
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 13:22 Comments || Top||

#4  I understand Yee is a Wahabiist. Therefore his wife is obliged to walk around in public like a Saudi woman, covered head-to-toe in black, face hidden.
What are we doing here?
The bio of his attorney,Eugene Fidell, brags about an ACLU service award!
Fidell Bio

Enough said.
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 13:24 Comments || Top||


Senator Al-Clinton: Deporting Terror Suspect "Disturbing"
Hey, that’s a nice burka you’re wearing.
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has gone to bat for a suspected terrorist who was arrested a month after the 9/11 attacks when he was caught photographing an upstate New York reservoir. In a letter sent to federal immigration officials this week, Clinton called attempts to deport Ansar Mahmood "disturbing," asking that the INS consider requests from Mahmood’s former neighbors in Hudson, New York to release him and allow him to stay in this country. The 26-year-old terror suspect told U.S. terror probers at the time that he was photographing the Hudson reservoir to show the pictures to his family in Pakistan, the Associated Press said.
Dear Mom and Dad, Enclosed are pictures of the infidel’s water reservior. They even pump water into the homes of Jooos!
While not charged with committing any terrorist acts, the Pakistani immigrant was convicted in January 2002 of harboring illegal aliens [Haitians, no doubt] and was ordered deported.
Clinton acts like it’s a witch-hunt even though this guy had his day in court over two years ago.
During her Senate campaign, Mrs. Clinton developed close ties to the Pakistani-American community. At a Feb. 22, 2000 fundraiser that featured $1,000-a-plate dinner of barbecued chicken kebab, spicy goat curry and rice, she accepted $50,000 from a group that was lobbying for President Clinton to make a trip to Pakistan. Mrs. Clinton told the dinner that she hoped her husband would make the trip, even though the Secret Service had objected on grounds that it was a security risk. The next month President Clinton made the trip.
Hope you had a good time, President Al-Bubba.
Posted by: Unmutual || 04/15/2004 10:56:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I find this "disturbing," Senator. What's the point in having laws if they are not enforced? Why don't we just run a free shuttle back and forth from the Middle East with no questions asked -- so the rest of us can fly without lines and delays. You pandering, taxpayer-fleecing moron.
Posted by: Tom || 04/15/2004 11:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Good..this is the kind of stuff that will lose votes for Kerry that already 100% in his pocket.
Posted by: B || 04/15/2004 11:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Dear Mom and Dad, Enclosed are pictures of the infidel’s water reservior. They even pump water into the homes of Jooos!

OK, admittedly I've taken some odd pictures while on vacations, and I've heard of foreign tourists getting excited over grain silos, but...
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 12:26 Comments || Top||

#4  That last paragraph implies that the Clintons are for sale. Really? Who wudda thunk it.
Posted by: GK || 04/15/2004 14:11 Comments || Top||

#5  she's for sale - he's for low rent
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 14:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Crap like this pisses me off. He's a visitor in our country - presumably legally - and he breaks our laws. Get his ass on a jet back to wherever home is. Let him ride in the cargo hold, just like the illegal aliens he was harboring.
Posted by: The Other Mike S. || 04/15/2004 16:17 Comments || Top||


Prosecutors claim Al-Hussayen lied on visa application
Government prosecutors claim a University of Idaho graduate student hid his connection to an Islamic organization they say has terrorist ties so his application to remain in the United States would be approved and his terror-linked activities continued. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Lindquist claims that had Sami Omar Al-Hussayen revealed his involvement in the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Islamic Assembly of North America, immigration officials would have been tipped off to the possibility that he might be involved in fostering terrorism. The defense maintains Al-Hussayen, who was only months away from earning a doctorate in computer science when he was charged, was a mere volunteer and charitable supporter of the assembly and its religious outreach programs with no connection to terrorism.
He's a member of the Religion Of Peace, don't ya know.
A pious lad, a credit to his family.
But Lindquist told jurors that he was a key official in the organization and ran the web site the government says is the foundation for an Internet network that recruits and funds terrorists around the world. "Mr. Al-Hussayen was one of the primary, if not the primary, decision makers," Lindquist said. Veteran federal immigration official Bruce Gawtry was returning to the stand on Thursday to bolster the government's claims that Al-Hussayen violated the law by hiding his association with the assembly. But the defense team contends the government is misinterpreting the immigration law in claiming Al-Hussayen was prohibited by terms of his student visa from becoming involved with the assembly. David Nevin and Scott McKay argued that the student visa does not restrict a person to study only but permits activities that foster cultural exchange, including volunteer participation in a religious organization like the assembly. "Sami was not an employee of this organization," Nevin said during opening statements on Wednesday. "He volunteered, and he is allowed to volunteer." The defense also emphasized that while Al-Hussayen may not have listed his assembly connection on his visa form, he filed a declaration with the state as the assembly's Idaho representative -- a record available to the public. "He made no affirmative attempt to hide that," Nevin said, pointing out that Al-Hussayen changed nothing in the way he lived or worked even after a published report in August 2002 that federal agents were investigating terrorist ties in the Moscow area. "He knew he was not doing anything wrong," Nevin said.
Or thought because he was a member of the Master Race the law didn't apply to him.
Or that daddy's connections would protect him.
Or that us infidels are too stoopid to notice such things...
Al-Hussayen, 34, the son of a wealthy Riyadh family headed by the country's retired minister of education, was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on his Moscow home on Feb. 26, 2003.
Ah, a member of the ruling class of the Master Race.
He was initially charged with visa fraud and making false statements. But in January and again in March, the government added three counts of fostering terrorism by running Web sites that support the violent Palestinian organization Hamas and groups allegedly promoting terrorism and by funneling money to the Islamic Assembly. "He was the means by which large sums of money flowed from outside the United States to his bank accounts to the Islamic Assembly of North America," Lindquist said. Nevin said the money came from Al-Hussayen's great uncle, the president of the mosques in Mecca and Medina, Islam's most sacred cities, to help support an attempt by the assembly to propagate Islam through the radio.
A member of the Holy Ruling Class.
More to the point, Nevin told jurors, the Islamic Assembly of North America "is still operating today. They have never been designated as a terrorist organization."
Well, not yet.
"Thanks for pointing that out, Nevin. ... Marvin!"
"Yes, Mr. Secretary?"
"Get those jokers on the list of terrorist organizations! Now, dammit!"
The terrorism counts are punishable by up to 15 years each, the visa fraud charges by up to 25 years each and the false-statement counts by five years each. Al-Hussayen has been declared subject to deportation.
In other bad news for the defendent:
One of the so-called Portland Seven will join members of two other U.S.-based jihad cells to testify against a Saudi graduate student accused of setting up a Web-based network to recruit terrorists and jihad fighters. Ahmed Bilal is scheduled to testify with others that they were inspired by jihad videos they watched on Web sites run by University of Idaho student Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, according to federal prosecutors. Members of jihad cells in New York and Virginia also are expected to testify during the eight-week trial that opened Wednesday.
Posted by: Steve || 04/15/2004 9:19:27 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ahmed Bilal is scheduled to testify with others that they were inspired by jihad videos they watched on Web sites run by University of Idaho student Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, according to federal prosecutors. Members of jihad cells in New York and Virginia also are expected to testify during the eight-week trial that opened Wednesday.

*cue in Dragnet signature dum-de-dum-dum here*
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 04/15/2004 11:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Tag-team snarkiness at its' best.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/15/2004 11:58 Comments || Top||


US facing ’massive’ Iraq occupation costs
The United States will have to approve a "massive" new spending bill of an estimated $1083 billion to meet its obligations in Iraq, a prominent US military analyst says. "We have to face that reality, and we did not face it last night" in US President George W Bush’s prime-time news conference on Iraq, Anthony Cordesman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said. Taking issue with White House insistence that no new money would be needed until next year, Cordesman said with a recent upsurge in fighting and possible additional US troops, there was a need for a massive supplemental, or emergency funding bill in Congress. "Virtually everyone in Washington knows this," he told a gloomy CSIS programme entitled "Iraq: On the Precipice of Failure?" For the military budget alone, that meant "a minimum of $US50 billion. If we add aid and external costs, that supplemental will probably be $US70 billion," he said.

The Bush administration has publicly ruled out sending a new Iraq spending request to Congress before January 2005, after the November presidential election. "With the information we have currently, we are still planning on coming to Congress with a supplemental request in calendar year ’05," Chad Kolton, spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, said. But Cordesman said the government would have to act sometime in the next four months and that additional aid would be needed next year as well.

Bush won approval from Congress last year for two war supplementals - one for $US79 billion and another for $US87.5 billion for military operations, homeland security and reconstruction efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The wartime spending drew fire from Bush’s Democratic challengers, and analysts say the $US87.5 billion request helped erode Bush’s approval ratings in some polls as Americans suffered high unemployment and sluggish economic growth. A Republican congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that even before the latest violence in Iraq, some on Capitol Hill were wondering if the administration would seek another Iraq supplemental earlier than the beginning of 2005. The White House had offered assurances that would not be necessary. "After the recent events, I would expect that the talk about the need for a new supplemental might pick up again when Congress comes back (from a spring recess next week)," the congressional official said.
Posted by: tipper || 04/15/2004 3:53:44 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hate to rain on anybody's parade, but it is almost certain that the "freedom" that Bush is bringing to Iraq, will manifest itself in the election of a pro-Iran government, that will lay waste to the Kurd, Turkemen, and Assyro-Christian
minorities in Iraq. Who wants to pay for that?
Posted by: Man Bites Dog || 04/15/2004 4:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Not so sure. It is my sense that most Iraqis see what is happening in Iran and ain't too happy. Did you read about the protest in Tehran yesterday?
Posted by: Ben || 04/15/2004 4:52 Comments || Top||

#3  If we can't afford to occupy a country like Iraq, how will we ever be able to pursue a broader war against the alliance between nuclear-capable states and Islamic terrorists? The problem appears to be that people are not really afraid of terrorism, and so don't see the need to spend the money. I wonder what it will take for people to understand that this war is ultimately about survival.
Posted by: virginian || 04/15/2004 7:30 Comments || Top||

#4  $1083 billion??? A trillion dollars? Somebody can't either type or calculate here.
Posted by: True German Ally || 04/15/2004 10:38 Comments || Top||

#5  well - as usual, it's pay now or pay with interest later.

It would have been much cheaper to keep our military and security agencies properly funded prior to 911 than it is to pay for just one day, 9-11, not to mention all of the increased security measures we are taking nationwide and abroad.

It's always cheaper to do maintenance than to wait until things fall apart.
Posted by: B || 04/15/2004 10:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Given that this is essentially WWIII, it's essentially a drop in the bucket. We spent 50% of GDP annually, every year of WWII. $120B is less than 1% of our annual GDP. Even in terms of casualties, our numbers are low - about 300 per day on average in WWII, and about 3 a day today. In fact, it's been 2-1/2 years since 9/11 and we have lost less than the number of dead in those airplane attacks alone. At the 2-1/2 year mark after Pearl Harbor, we had lost 200,000 men KIA compared to about 3,000 KIA during Pearl Harbor.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/15/2004 11:40 Comments || Top||

#7  #6,
I'd venture to say that the GWOT is WWIV.

In WWIII we stomped the Russians. (I still think we shoulda forcefed them a nuclear sandwich back in '62 and ended it sooner, but I guess this works out fine too.)

:D
Posted by: Anonymous4021 || 04/15/2004 11:48 Comments || Top||

#8  I wonder what it will take for people to understand that this war is ultimately about survival.

Probably one or two more 9/11/2001 WTC events, unfortunately. And even then, there's no guarantees that everybody will be on board. (some people have rather thick skulls)

Even in terms of casualties, our numbers are low - about 300 per day on average in WWII, and about 3 a day today.

All the news outlets' wailing about "increasing casualties" and a "rising death toll" sure could've fooled me.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 04/15/2004 12:05 Comments || Top||

#9  The occupation of Iraq puts 100,000+ U.S. soldiers in the geographic center between Iran, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, etc etc. If you have ever studied Napoleon, you would recognize this as the strategy of the "central position". It allows unprecedented flexibility and is intimidating to neighboring terrorist nations. They know this and are reacting. They cannot defeat the U.S. militarily, only politically with mini versions of the Tet Offensive.
Posted by: Anonymous4192 || 04/15/2004 13:07 Comments || Top||

#10  First, if we were actually hemorrhaging cash, then how is our economy recovering in a much more sensible fashion that during the .com bubble? Now let's calculate the alternative. Can we slap a cost on:
1. Adopting a defensive footing allows jihadis to swarm the borders through Canada and Mexico instead of the Iraqi borders. Resulting attacks cut the domestic economy in half.
2. Having the entire US military camped in the desert watching the perpetual Hans Blix show while we are whacked repeatedly by boomers at home.

Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 13:22 Comments || Top||

#11  I continue to harp on the fact that someone needs to kick George Bush and Don Rumsfeld in the ass, and get them off dead center about rebuilding the United States military to fight this damned war. We need a MINIMUM of two new active Army divisions and one new Marine division, two new Air Force fighter wings, another transport wing (or two), and a significant increase in the Reserve and National Guard. This is a WAR, dammit, not a "police action". It's time we started acting like it, and creating a military to fight it. Clinton cut too deeply, and now it's time to rectify that error. We should have started rebuilding on 9/12/01, but any time is better than never.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/15/2004 13:56 Comments || Top||

#12  $1083 billion??? A trillion dollars?

Actually it is, if you define 1 billion as 10^9, 1 trillion as 10^12, 1 quadrillion as 10^15, etc.

That's the working definition in the States, but not so in Europe, as I recall, where 1 billion is 1 million times 1 million (10^12).
Posted by: eLarson || 04/15/2004 15:16 Comments || Top||

#13  It differs from country to country -- in Greece for example, a billion means 1000 million. And a trillion is 1000 billion.

(by that I mean the equivalent Greek words ofcourse - disekatomirio, trisekatomirio)
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 04/15/2004 16:14 Comments || Top||

#14  $1083 billion??? A trillion dollars? Somebody can't either type or calculate here

must be thinking bytes?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 16:17 Comments || Top||

#15  I don't understand the number 1083 billion... that's absurdly high... is there a comma lacking?

In Germany: Eine Billion
In America: A trillion

108,3 billion makes more sense
Posted by: True German Ally || 04/15/2004 16:39 Comments || Top||

#16  Or does the author mean that 1083 bn is the grand total of ALL spending (including Iraq?). Then it's poor wording.
Posted by: True German Ally || 04/15/2004 16:42 Comments || Top||

#17  Super Hose posted:

"Now let's calculate the alternative. Can we slap a cost on: 1. Adopting a defensive footing allows jihadis to swarm the borders through Canada and Mexico instead of the Iraqi borders. Resulting attacks cut the domestic economy in half. 2. Having the entire US military camped in the desert watching the perpetual Hans Blix show while we are whacked repeatedly by boomers at home."

Thanks Super Hose -- smart and concise, so I posted it twice! =)
Posted by: docob || 04/15/2004 16:47 Comments || Top||

#18  Glad to see Rantburgers are economically literate and strategically sensible. Maybe OS or SH should be the ones lecturing at CSIS instead of a partisan lefty like Cordesman.

Cordesman's numbers are suspect as they are unlikely to be the true incremental cost vs. a baseline of the same force structure but no war or reconstruction.

And the RB commentors are correct that, even if the true cost is $1 Trillion (less than 10% of 1 year of US GDP), it may well be worth it. Iraq is the center of gravity of our enemies and being there (and not in Arabia) dramatically improves our strategic position in the region. Moving our core strength there may well create "value" in excess of $1T.

Ask baby Assad, the Soddies or the Mullaz if you don't believe me. That's why they have been trying to hard to drive us out. They perceive a major 1st order military threat and an even greater 2nd order threat from unleashing liberty into the region. Cordesman would be on firmer ground if he explained why this was undesirable or unsustainable (valid arguments).

The comments also correctly assess the true costs of the 'do nothing' alternative and the 'play defense, not offense' alternatives.

OP is quite correct that we are trying to execute our strategy on the cheap. This is risky. We need to increase our strength at least until we can extricate ourselves from the Korean peninsula where our next war (if, God forbid, it happens) ought to be fought with strategic weapons delivered by the Navy and Air Force. Our soldiers there are hostages to an ungrateful ally.
Posted by: JAB || 04/15/2004 19:05 Comments || Top||

#19  Coredesman is on firmer ground when he criticizes the conduct of the occupation, though it is not clear that he has a prescription for success.

Here is an informed opinion of excellent account of what we have messed up so far.
Posted by: JAB || 04/15/2004 19:22 Comments || Top||


More Details of FBI takedown of Ilyas Ali and pal
EFL - update of previous post
Admitted felon Ilyas Ali, who once ran a butcher shop in Minneapolis, Minn., is also a master of political spin. When a reporter visited Ali in a Hong Kong jail last year after Ali had been arrested for trying to trade heroin and hashish for shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles that he intended to resell to al Qaeda, Ali posed as the victim of Attorney General John Ashcroft and his over-zealous Justice Department. American law enforcement "screwed up 9/11 and now they’re arresting innocent people for political purposes," Ali, a naturalized citizen born in India, told the Associated Press. "I’m very, very sad that they got an innocent person and they don’t care. Ashcroft just used me," he said. "They just want to make something out of me to prove to the taxpayers they are doing something. "Nine-eleven, me and my wife cried," said Ali. "We cried for three days."
"Why, why couldn't it have been me! Now I'll never get those 72 virgins! What, no, nothing, honey, just you never mind, and remember your place around here."
But last month in a federal court in San Diego, Ali pleaded guilty to felony charges of conspiring to distribute hashish and heroin and conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda. What happened to the defiant victim of Justice Department persecution? He ran into the facts developed in a remarkable undercover investigation carried out by daring FBI agents, who were helped along by legal reforms incorporated into the Patriot Act, which was not enacted until Oct. 26, 2001, more than a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "The FBI’s investigation began in 2000 and focused on Ilyas Ali’s connections to individuals in Pakistan who had an interest in selling narcotics and obtaining weapons," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Skerlos told me. "The investigation was at a preliminary stage prior to the 9/11 attacks and didn’t resume in earnest until approximately March 2002."
"We were... ummm... distracted."
Justice Department officials both in Washington, D.C., and San Diego say the Patriot Act provision that allows information that has been gathered in intelligence investigations to be shared with criminal investigators was particularly helpful here. The basic facts of the case were revealed in five points that both Ali and one of his co-defendants, Muhammed Abid Afridi, stipulated as "true and undisputed" in the plea agreements they signed last month in federal court. A third defendant, Syed Mustajab Shah, has pleaded not guilty and now awaits trial. According to Ali’s and Afridi’s plea agreements:
1. On April 11, 2002, in Southern California, Ali, "acting on behalf of defendants Syed Mustajab Shah and Muhammed Abid Afridi, negotiated with an undercover law enforcement officer for the sale of ton quantities of hashish and multiple kilogram quantities of heroin."
That would finance a few shoulder fired SAMs allright.
2. On Sept. 15, 2002, Afridi, Ali and Shah traveled from Pakistan to Hong Kong "to meet with undercover law enforcement officers from the United States and to negotiate for the sale of ton quantities of heroin."

3. The next day, Sept. 16, 2002, "at a hotel in Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China, defendants Syed Mustajab Shah, Muhammed Abid Afridi, and Ilyas Ali negotiated with undercover law enforcement officers from the United States for the sale of 5 metric tons of hashish and 600 kilograms of heroin."

4, That same day, "defendants Syed Mustajab Shah, Muhammed Abid Afridi, and Ilyas Ali agreed that the purchase price of the 5 metric tons of hashish and 600 kilograms of heroin could be offset against the cost of 4 ’Stinger’ anti-aircraft missiles, which the defendants stated they were interested in purchasing from the law enforcement officers."

5. Two days later, "defendants Syed Mustajab Shah, Muhammed Abid Afridi, and Ilyas Ali told undercover law enforcement officers from the United States they intended to sell the ’Stinger’ anti-aircraft missiles discussed during the meeting on Sept. 16, 2002, to members of the Taliban, an organization the defendants knew to be the same as Al-Qaeda."
Shah, innocent unless proved guilty, will have his day in court. But Afridi and Ali have admitted guilt to conspiring to distribute heroin and hashish and, as their plea agreements put it, to conspiring to "provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, to wit, Al-Qaeda." Thanks to courageous FBI agents -- who worked undercover here and abroad -- and thanks to aggressive prosecutors in John Ashcroft’s Justice Department, and thanks to the Patriot Act, which U.S. law enforcement did not have at its disposal before September 2001, Afridi and Ali never made big news. Nor did any special committee need to investigate how al Qaeda got the Stingers that shot down our 747s.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 2:47:45 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
We cried for three days

Now they'll cry for 30 years. I hope the US Government is trying to make a case to strip his US citizenship so that he'll be deported on the same day that he's released from prison.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 8:21 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
UN rights body rejects attempt to criticise abuses in Chechnya
The United Nations’ top human rights body on Thursday rejected an attempt by the European Union to urge Russia to prevent executions, torture and other human rights abuses in war-torn Chechnya.
In short: its not the Yanks or the Joooooos so we are not interested in what these guys do to other people.
Twenty-three countries in the 53-member commission
At least 7 of those countrys are considerd dictatorial by the standards of the commision
voted against the draft resolution, which had sought to "strongly condemn the ongoing serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Chechnya". Russia effectively escaped further pressure to allow UN human rights specialists to probe the situation in Chechnya, as well as to open up the breakaway republic to aid agencies and human rights groups, which were key demands of the text. The draft resolution, filed by the EU <--this surprised me though and backed by several central and Eastern European <--this didnt states that were once in the Soviet orbit, had listed "forced disappearances, extra-judicial executions, torture, ill treatment, arbitrary detentions and abductions." It had also urged Russia to "urgently... stop and prevent violations of human rights" in Chechnya and to prosecute offenders. But only 13 countries approved the proposal, while seven states abstained in voting. Russia hailed the vote. "This fact has once again underlined that all attempts to present the situation in Chechnya as a problem from the point of view of human rights are made-up attempts that do not reflect the reality," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in televised comments.
and his lips fell off
The vote "convincingly showed that the world community regards the situation in chechnia as not suficiently in the media spotlights with care the moves Russia is undertaking to restore order in Chechnya, moves it is taking in the fight against terrorism and steps that are being taken to ensure a political solution on the republic’s territory," Interfax quoted Lavrov as saying. Thursday’s vote was the third time the UN commission has rejected censuring Russia over Chechnya, "with an ever larger number of votes," Lavrov said. Rebels have fought Russian forces in Chechnya on and off for the past decade. During the first Russo-Chechen war in 1994-1996, separatists drove back Russian forces and the mainly Muslim republic received de facto independence. The Kremlin poured back its forces in October 1999 in what it called a very, very, very slow lightning anti-terrorist strike, but the conflict has turned into a guerrilla conflict that continues to claim on a daily basis. Rights groups have documented thousands of cases of kidnappings and torture of civilians during the conflict, most of which they blame on Russian forces.
Posted by: Evert Visser in NL || 04/15/2004 4:44:50 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the skerry solution to iraq - bring in the UN -
Posted by: Dan || 04/15/2004 17:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Wasn't goin' anywhere, anyway. Vladie knows how to ignore people.
Posted by: mojo || 04/15/2004 19:58 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian President Criticizes USA for Closing Down Newspapers and Banning the Press in Iraq
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a 14 April speech in Tehran that "an alien power" invaded Iraq in order to fill the pockets of oil companies "and the Zionists," state radio reported. He went on to say that nobody is inciting Iraqis to acts of violence. "There is no need for anyone to incite the Iraqis," he said, adding, "You [Americans] yourself are the biggest and the filthiest inciters of the Iraqi nation." Khamenei said U.S. policy in Iraq is like Israeli policy in Palestine. In an apparent reference to the closure of Muqtada al-Sadr’s "Al-Hawzah" newspaper that disregarded the nearly 100 press closures in Iran, Khamenei said, "They close down newspapers. They ban the press." He predicted, "Sooner or later, the Americans will leave Iraq in wretchedness and humiliation." Khamenei said the Iraqi people can facilitate this through unity and reliance on Islam, and by heeding the clerical authorities.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 7:30:18 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pot, meet kettle, heh...
Posted by: Raj || 04/15/2004 20:13 Comments || Top||

#2  It's not a newspaper if all it prints is fiction.
Posted by: Tom || 04/15/2004 21:06 Comments || Top||

#3  These Black Turbans need a complete cerebral rewiring job. They honestly believe their own s--t.

It would sure be nice to have the opposition get the kettle a-boiling in Iran. Sure would help.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/15/2004 21:28 Comments || Top||

#4  I have a good friend, wonderful woman, born in Iran -- full blooded Persian. She and most of her family left after the Black Turbans took over. Three months ago she was fearful but optimistic over events in Iran. Saw her Tuesday; she's real depressed. Apparently a lot of steam has gone out of the student movement.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/15/2004 22:03 Comments || Top||

#5  These Black Turbans need a complete cerebral rewiring job. They honestly believe their own s--t.

AP, this is what's known in the trade as "breathing your own exhaust." Less polite people might put it as "sucking on your own butt."

Iran's Ayatollah complaining about lack of free speech in Iraq is like the Palestinians whingeing about Israeli aggression. I say; "Suck it up @ssholes. If you want to play hardball, look for the fast pitches." Yassin must have blinked on that last low-and-inside strike.

Incidentally, in view of how intensely suppressed Iran's dissidents are, it may require outside intervention to oust the Guardian Council. Such intercession must occur before Iran assembles its first nuclear weapon. There remains no other option to this scenario unless a credible deterrent to terrorism is devised.

I opt for a not-so-subtle holding of all Islamic Holy sites hostage against further mass atrocities, but that's just me.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/16/2004 0:59 Comments || Top||


Mullahs Build New Airport; Excellent Place for Skateboarding, Go-Carting, and Roller-Blading
Nearly three months after its grand inauguration by President Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami and other Iranian and foreign dignitaries, the Imam Khomeini International Airport remains unusable, Radio Farda reported on 14 April. Construction of the facility cost some $500 million, but the work is substandard and the airport does not conform to international standards, the station reported. The original engineers quit after the Foundation of the Dispossessed and Disabled (Bonyad-i Mostazafan va Janbazan) took over management of the project. The foundation changed many of the original specifications, so that now the runways must be repaved, neither the electrical power nor the runway lighting function properly, and the aircraft-refueling equipment is inadequate.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 7:26:36 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well I guess they expect everyone else to conform to their 'new' standard.......
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 19:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Comment from AntiGum bitching at us Freeper bastard types that we shouldn't criticize them for shoddy workmanship because it's a different culture!!! in 5, 4, 3...
Posted by: Raj || 04/15/2004 20:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Perhaps the Secretary for the Air Force might be interested. Minor makeover, name change...
Posted by: john || 04/15/2004 20:14 Comments || Top||

#4  I would not get my jet refueled at a Mullah FBO.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/15/2004 21:30 Comments || Top||

#5  ... the Foundation of the Dispossessed and Disabled

Sounds like just the team to oversee a half-billion dollar civil engineering project. Why aren't these skilled professionals managing Iran's nuclear weapons program?

Confess, doesn't the Foundation of the Dispossessed and Disabled come across like some sort of outfit Ma Chalmers is supposed to be running in Atlas Shrugged?
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 23:44 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Osama Bin Laden's Golden Oldies
Tapes of Osama bin Laden:
Available from Caliphate House Records
Dec. 13, 2001: U.S. Defense Department releases videotape in which Osama bin Laden is shown at a dinner with associates in Afghanistan on Nov. 9, 2001, saying the destruction of the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded even his "optimistic" calculations.
This was the dinner party video found in one of the Afghan camps. I believe the previous videos of Binny in the hills and in front of a cave were released by al-Jaz before this was found.
April 15, 2002: A videotape broadcast by the Arab satellite television Al-Jazeera includes what appears to be a man identified as a Sept. 11 hijacker giving a farewell message along with clips showing bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. Only al-Zawahri is shown speaking; he calls the terrorist attacks on America a "great victory."
Old video clip of dead hijacker, note Binny doesn't talk.
November 2002: Al-Jazeera broadcasts a brief audiotape in which a voice attributed to bin Laden says the "youths of God" are planning more attacks against the United States. U.S. experts say the tape can't be authenticated because of its poor quality. The recording warns countries not to side with the United States.
First of the bad audiotapes.
Feb. 11, 2003: A voice purported to be bin Laden calls on Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against Americans and defend themselves against a U.S. attack in a tape broadcast on Al-Jazeera. The voice urges Muslims to rise up against several U.S.-allied governments in the region. U.S. counterterrorism officials say the audio message was probably authentic.
Another audiotape
Feb. 13, 2003: An audiotape purported to be of bin Laden reads a poetic last will and testament in a recording first obtained by the British-based Islamic Al-Ansaar news agency. Bin Laden says he wants to die a martyr in a new attack against the United States. It wasn't possible to verify the authenticity of the recording.
Nothing to date when this was made, may have been Binny after we started Afghan attacks.
April 7, 2003: In an audiotape obtained by The Associated Press in Pakistan, bin Laden exhorts Muslims to rise up against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other governments it claims are "agents of America," and calls for suicide attacks against U.S. and British interests. The CIA determines the 27-minute tape is likely authentic.
Still more audio, CIA can't prove it isn't Binny, so they take safe position.
Sept. 10, 2003: In the first video image of bin Laden in nearly two years, he is shown walking through rocky terrain with al-Zawahri.
Looking younger and in better health than the earlier cave video.
Two taped messages accompanied the video — all aired on Al-Jazeera on the eve of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. In one, a voice purporting to be bin Laden's praises the "great damage to the enemy" on Sept. 11 and mentions five hijackers by name.
Most likely recorded right after 9-11.
In the other tape, a voice said to be that of al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans.
Being still alive, he can do that.
Jan. 4, 2004: A speaker thought to be bin Laden says on an audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera that the U.S.-led war in Iraq is the beginning of the "occupation" of Gulf states for their oil. He calls on Muslims to keep fighting a holy war in the Middle East. Officials say it is probably authentic.
Audiotape again.
April 15, 2004: A man identifying himself as bin Laden offers a "truce" to European countries that do not attack Muslims, saying it would begin when their soldiers leave Islamic nations. The tape gives the countries three months to start pulling out its troops. It vows revenge against the United States for the Israeli assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin. The CIA is reviewing the tape's authenticity.
Another audiotape that the CIA just said is "probably authentic". The fact that every other jihadi on the planet has no problem mastering a video camera just confirms to me that Binny has been worm food since Tora Bora.
Posted by: Steve || 04/15/2004 12:39:59 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I expect I'm going to be in the minority on this one, but I tend to be of the opinion that bin Laden is alive but that he is at the same time quite happy to keep up the appearance that he was dead either for security reasons or because he's altered his appearance.

All of the reasons for why he just doesn't use a video camera can also be argued against al-Zawahiri or Saddam, both of whom we're sure are alive but yet continue to rely upon audio rather than video tapes from which to spout their rantings.

In addition, if it his unaltered voice on the more audiotapes there's no way that he could have known in December 2001 about a number of things ranging from the summer 2003 US budget figures to the 3/11 attacks that have been referenced in recent tapes.

Just my $0.02.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 13:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Andrew Sullivan on the truce - "Go fuck yourself."
Posted by: Raj || 04/15/2004 14:01 Comments || Top||


’Bin Laden’ offers truce with Europe
In a recording broadcast on Arab satellite networks Thursday, a man who identified himself as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden offered a "truce" to European countries that do not attack Muslims. "I announce a truce with the European countries that do not attack Muslim countries," the taped message said as the stations showed an old, still picture of bin Laden The message said the truce would last three months and could be extended. This truce, the message said, was to deny "the war mongers" further opportunities and because polls have shown that "most of the European peoples want reconciliation" with the Islamic world.
Y'gotta watch those polls, Binny...
The message also vowed revenge for Israel’s killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. "We vow before God to take revenge for him from America for this, God willing." The message said that American policy ignores the "real problem," which is "the occupation of all of Palestine." The message also denounced the U.S. was on Iraq, saying it was making "billions of dollars" for companies, "whether those that make weapons or those that take part in reconstruction," naming the American firm Halliburton.
Sounds like a great deal. We all know how much they honored their truce with Spain.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 2:36:11 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bin Laden Tape Says He’ll Negotiate with Europe but not U.S.
Alleged bin Laden tape offers truce to European countries
Says Madrid bombings were payback, vows revenge for killing of Hamas leader
Arab television stations aired a new audio tape purportedly from Osama bin Laden on Thursday offering a truce with European states if they stop attacking Muslims, but not with the United States.
Hmmm, sounds an awful lot like 1938 doesn’t it?
Posted by: RMcLeod || 04/15/2004 3:22:26 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey! Here it says that France rejected it.
French President Jacques Chirac said there can be no "bargaining with terrorists."
Posted by: B || 04/15/2004 13:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Of course the French won't bargain. They'll surrender unconditionally!
Posted by: Chris Smith || 04/15/2004 15:02 Comments || Top||


US against the World
Posted by: Long Hair Republican || 04/15/2004 02:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  US against the world?

Always has been.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 04/15/2004 14:25 Comments || Top||


Full text: 'Bin Laden tape'
The following is the text of the tape as broadcast by al-Arabiya:
Praise be to Almighty God; Peace and prayers be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and companions.
Hello to you, too...
This is a message to our neighbours north of the Mediterranean, containing a reconciliation initiative as a response to their positive reactions.
Brought to you by the good folks at Mecca Cola...
Praise be to God; praise be to God; praise be to God who created heaven and earth with justice and who allowed the oppressed to punish the oppressor in the same way. Peace upon those who followed the right path:
Okay, can we get done with the PBUYs and get on with the message? (Windy bastard!)
In my hands there is a message to remind you that justice is a duty towards those whom you love and those whom you do not. And people's rights will not be harmed if the opponent speaks out about them. The greatest rule of safety is justice, and stopping injustice and aggression. It was said: Oppression kills the oppressors and the hotbed of injustice is evil.
Ummm... Like, yeah. Profound, man. (Maybe it sounds better after a turn on the bong?)
The situation in occupied Palestine is an example. What happened on 11 September [2001] and 11 March [the Madrid train bombings] is your commodity that was returned to you.
Uhuh. The two are tightly intertwined. Anyone can see that... I guess.
It is known that security is a pressing necessity for all mankind. We do not agree that you should monopolise it only for yourselves.
"We don't think you should keep all the air for yourselves, either..."
Also, vigilant people do not allow their politicians to tamper with their security.
They prefer that they knuckle under to troglodytes with tight turbans? This is the wave of the future?
Having said this, we would like to inform you that labelling us and our acts as terrorism is also a description of you and of your acts.
"So there!"
Reaction comes at the same level as the original action. Our acts are reaction to your own acts, which are represented by the destruction and killing of our kinfolk in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.
You forget Chechnya and Kashmir. Or are those for the next tape? Or were they on the last tape? I've forgotten. They all sound alike...
The act that horrified the world; that is, the killing of the old, handicapped [Hamas spiritual leader] Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, may God have mercy on him, is sufficient evidence. We pledge to God that we will punish America for him, God willing.
"We will punish America for all the murderers executed anywhere in the world! And for all the burglars imprisoned! And for all the child molesters locked up!"
Which religion considers your killed ones innocent and our killed ones worthless? And which principle considers your blood real blood and our blood water?
Don't ask me. You're the ones that explode without warning...
Reciprocal treatment is fair and the one who starts injustice bears greater blame.
You mean we should start suicide bombing Mecca? I dunno...
As for your politicians and those who have followed their path, who insist on ignoring the real problem of occupying the entirety of Palestine and exaggerate lies and falsification regarding our right in defence and resistance, they do not respect themselves. They also disdain the blood and minds of peoples. This is because their falsification increases the shedding of your blood instead of sparing it. Moreover, the examining of the developments that have been taking place, in terms of killings in our countries and your countries, will make clear an important fact; namely, that injustice is inflicted on us and on you by your politicians, who send your sons - although you are opposed to this - to our countries to kill and be killed. Therefore, it is in both sides' interest to curb the plans of those who shed the blood of peoples for their narrow personal interest and subservience to the White House gang.
Starting to run low on gunnies, Binny? Getting harder to recruit boomers?
The Zionist lobby is one of the most dangerous and most difficult figures of this group. God willing, we are determined to fight them.
God willing, they're going to continue walking all over you. But go on...
We must take into consideration that this war brings billions of dollars in profit to the major companies, whether it be those that produce weapons or those that contribute to reconstruction, such as the Halliburton Company, its sisters and daughters.
He forgot to mention Dow Chemical. And Bechtel. And McDonald's...
Based on this, it is very clear who is the one benefiting from igniting this war and from the shedding of blood.
Was it the ones who sent the airliners crashing into the buildings?
It is the warlords, the bloodsuckers, who are steering the world policy from behind a curtain.
They were flying those planes, weren't they, Binny?
As for President Bush, the leaders who are revolving in his orbit, the leading media companies and the United Nations, which makes laws for relations between the masters of veto and the slaves of the General Assembly, these are only some of the tools used to deceive and exploit peoples. All these pose a fatal threat to the whole world. The Zionist lobby is one of the most dangerous and most difficult figures of this group. God willing, we are determined to fight them.
God willing, they'll continue tromping you. But you said that before and I said that before. So get on with it, fergawdsake!
Based on the above, and in order to deny war merchants a chance and in response to the positive interaction shown by recent events and opinion polls, which indicate that most European peoples want peace, I ask honest people, especially ulema, preachers and merchants, to form a permanent committee to enlighten European peoples of the justice of our causes, above all Palestine. They can make use of the huge potential of the media. The door of reconciliation is open for three months of the date of announcing this statement.
Oboy. A three-whole-month hudna, during which the clerix and their horse-holders are gonna harp on how tough Yasser has it.
I also offer a reconciliation initiative to them, whose essence is our commitment to stopping operations against every country that commits itself to not attacking Muslims or interfering in their affairs - including the US conspiracy on the greater Muslim world. This reconciliation can be renewed once the period signed by the first government expires and a second government is formed with the consent of both parties. The reconciliation will start with the departure of its last soldier from our country. The door of reconciliation is open for three months of the date of announcing this statement.
"Is that enticing enough? C'mon! Let's have a government or two treat with me, a private citizen. Let's lend me some Islamoprestige!"
For those who reject reconciliation and want war, we are ready. As for those who want reconciliation, we have given them a chance. Stop shedding our blood so as to preserve your blood.
"Give us what we want and we'll leave you alone. For now. Until we're stronger."
It is in your hands to apply this easy, yet difficult, formula. You know that the situation will expand and increase if you delay things. If this happens, do not blame us - blame yourselves. A rational person does not relinquish his security, money and children to please the liar of the White House.
A rational person doesn't run a worldwide organization devoted to killing and maiming innocents without warning, does he?
Had he been truthful about his claim for peace, he would not describe the person who ripped open pregnant women in Sabra and Shatila [reference to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon] and the destroyer of the capitulation process [reference to the Palestinian-Israeli peace process] as a man of peace. Reality proves our truthfulness and his [George Bush's] lie.
Guess it all depends on how you look at it, huh?
He also would not have lied to people and said that we hate freedom and kill for the sake of killing. Reality proves our truthfulness and his lie.
"Muslim countries are noted for the freedumb of their citizens! No one is ever killed in Muslim countries! They all live happily and die happy, natural deaths, secure in the bosoms of their families..."
The killing of the Russians was after their invasion of Afghanistan and Chechnya; the killing of Europeans was after their invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan; and the killing of Americans on the day of New York [reference to 11 September] was after their support of the Jews in Palestine and their invasion of the Arabian Peninsula. Also, killing them in Somalia was after their invasion of it in Operation Restore Hope.
... which started out as delivering groceries. Remember the teevee pix of the little Somali kids, eating their meager ration of glop out of a bucket, their pathetic little ribs standing out, the flies walking on their faces? The friggin' Muslims didn't feed the little bastards, did they? They spent all their money on guns and bombs to use on us when we delivered the GODDAMNED GROCERIES! Asshole.
We made them leave without hope, praise be to God. It is said that prevention is better than cure. A happy person is he who learns a lesson from the experience of others. Heeding right is better than persisting in falsehood. Peace be upon those who follow guidance.
Maybe it's just me, but I think Binny hired a western speech writer. Note the profiteering charge against Halliburton. Doesn't sound like the old Binny, more like the BBC.
Doesn't that answer your own question? :-)
Posted by: Steve || 04/15/2004 9:09:41 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Note the profiteering charge against Halliburton.

They're listening to the Democrats. Remember that Sadr starting talking about "Vietnam" after Teddy.

They know who their allies in the US are.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 10:24 Comments || Top||

#2  after the reaction of eruo leaders i just may have to stop calling them euro whimps! they showed a backbone not seen in many years.
Posted by: Dan || 04/15/2004 11:22 Comments || Top||

#3  If the French won't even surrender to you . . . you must really be pathetic.
Posted by: Mike || 04/15/2004 11:43 Comments || Top||

#4  How about "no", okay?
Posted by: Dr. Evil || 04/15/2004 11:53 Comments || Top||

#5  after the reaction of eruo leaders i just may have to stop calling them euro whimps! they showed a backbone not seen in many years.

Words are one thing...
Posted by: Pappy || 04/15/2004 12:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Administrative Appendix to the 30-Day Truce Between the European Union and Al-Qaeda

1. Communication Procedures: The European Union will publish notifications and proposals in the European Union's Official Registry. Al-Qaeda will blow up a random train and then within the following week will distribute a cassette tape to various Arabic grocery stores in Europe.

2. Archival Procedures: The European Union will store its copies of all relevant documents in a climate-controlled vault in the European Union's main administrative headquarters. Al-Qaeda will store its copies of all relevant documents in a burlap sack in a cave somewhere in the mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

3. Adjudication Procedures: Disputes about the proper implementation of this truce will be adjudicated by the Mullah-on-duty at the most radical mosque in Hamburg.

4. Renewal Procedures: This truce expires about 90 days counted from about now. The truce can probably be considered to be renewed if the European Union is not attacking Moslems and if there are no terror attacks that can be blamed on Al-Qaeda beyond a reasonable doubt.

5. Mutual Writing Format: The European Union and Al-Qaeda mutually agree any written communication or document will include the phrases "Peace be Upon the Prophet" or "Peace be Upon Osama Bin Laden" at least once every ten sentences.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 12:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Reciprocal treatment is fair ...

Great! So bin Laden finally agrees with me that if he's going to hold the world hostage with terror, we get to hold Mecca, Medina and the Dome of the Rock hostage too.

This really works for me rather well. All Muslims world-wide will be prevented from completing the Haj until they have identified for authorities the violent jihadists and Imams within their communities.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 18:03 Comments || Top||


Arafat Bin Laden Tape offers Hudna to the really gullible Europe
From Drudge
Arab television stations aired a new audio tape purportedly from Osama bin Laden on Thursday offering a truce with European states if they stop attacking Muslims, but not with the United States.
"... 'cuz they're nasty..."
The voice on the tape, broadcast by Dubai-based Al Arabiya channel and then by Qatar-based Al Jazeera station, said there would be no truce with the United States. The taped message also vowed revenge on Israel for the death of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin, killed last month in Gaza.
He and Binny were such good friends...
The tape said the March 11 train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people were payment for Spain’s actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and "Palestine." "What happened on September 11 and March 11 are your goods returned to you so that you know security is a necessity for all," the voice on the tape said.
Some of us took it as killing bad guys is a necessity for all. We'll see if it eventually sinks into the thick Spanish head that way...
Madrid sent troops to Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled and also has a contingent in Afghanistan.
They don't have any troops in Paleostine, but that doesn't matter...
Militants claiming links to al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for the Madrid bombings, which have raised pressure on the government to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 2:31:58 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wow! A truce for Europe. They really ought to jump on this. Just look at how well that "truce" worked out for Spain.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 2:40 Comments || Top||

#2  This will resonate with large sections of European society. Recall the Socialists won the Spanish election. AQ and Islamic terrorism may well result in splitting the west, and arguably the process has started already. It will be interesting to see on which side various countries choose.
Posted by: Phil B || 04/15/2004 2:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Its really time to implant RFID microdots on all Al Jazeera employees.
Posted by: 3dc || 04/15/2004 2:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Won't do any good, Binny owns the Qatari interior minister. As long as he's on the payroll, we'll never get any cooperation from the Qataris on where these tapes come from.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 2:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Mr Caveman (Osama) speaks from the cave ...again informing the E.U. to cave in to his insane demands of jihad.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 04/15/2004 3:05 Comments || Top||

#6  No way beardie. ESAD.
Posted by: Howard UK || 04/15/2004 4:12 Comments || Top||

#7  I expect France to really go for this along with the rest of Old Europe. Given any chance to surrender they will be at the head of the line.
Posted by: Michael || 04/15/2004 5:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Did anyone hear Zapatero say thank you yet???
Posted by: Rafael || 04/15/2004 6:59 Comments || Top||

#9  The EU would probably be happy to surrender but for all their diplomatic expertise they can't find a suitable venue and guest list for this since Bin Laden doesn't get his mail thru a diplomatic pouch.
Posted by: mhw || 04/15/2004 8:32 Comments || Top||

#10  This Sky News article is headlined Europe Snubs Truce Offer. Unfortunately, there's little meat to back up the assertion.
Posted by: GK || 04/15/2004 8:33 Comments || Top||

#11  In the title: is that a "Hudna" or a "Hundai"? :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 8:58 Comments || Top||

#12  You can trust me, infidels! I'm not like the others!
Posted by: OBL || 04/15/2004 9:04 Comments || Top||

#13  Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain quickly spurned what they suggested was an attempt to drive a wedge between Europe and America

No word from France?
Posted by: B || 04/15/2004 9:20 Comments || Top||

#14  All these "alleged" audiotapes have done little to prove that the turd is still alive. If Rich Little calls your house using Nixon's voice, does that mean Richard Nixon is still alive?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 04/15/2004 10:14 Comments || Top||

#15  "Germany will never negotiate with terrorists and criminals. Together with the international community we will continue to fight against international terrorism." (German gov spokesman)

Just scanned the major French newspapers.
RIEN, NADA, NIENTE
Posted by: True German Ally || 04/15/2004 10:29 Comments || Top||

#16  Just scanned the major French newspapers.
RIEN, NADA, NIENTE


Excepting Germany, I'll wait and see if the actions complement the words, TGA.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/15/2004 12:13 Comments || Top||

#17  TGA, didn't the Germans negotiate with the Palestinians in Munich 1972? And didn't the Germans (and others?) pay a ransom to the Salafists in Algeria for the release of the kidnapped European tourists? I hope the German government spokesman is not B.S.-ing.
Posted by: Tibor || 04/15/2004 12:25 Comments || Top||

#18  At this point, "talk is cheap" should be invoked here, unless its Blair, Berlusconi, or the Polish leader. I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for the rest of them.
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 12:41 Comments || Top||

#19  Good for Germany!

Chirac is now being quoted as saying there will be "no bargaining with terrorists." I assume that means he's going to accept OBL's deal as offered.
Posted by: Matt || 04/15/2004 12:43 Comments || Top||

#20  There is a rumor - the French anthem, "Marsiellese" will be changed to , "I Surrender, Dear", and old 1940's dance tune. With new French lyrics by Dominic de Villepin, and the title changed to "I Surrender, Osama"
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 12:58 Comments || Top||

#21  on the other post above by Long Hair Republican - it does say that, "French President Jacques Chirac said there can be no "bargaining with terrorists."

whoda thunkit
Posted by: B || 04/15/2004 13:45 Comments || Top||

#22  Ok, I found Chirac's statement in Le Monde:
"Jacques Chirac a déclaré, jeudi à Alger, qu'"il n'y a pas de tractations possibles avec des terroristes", lors d'une conférence de presse à l'issue d'une visite de travail en Algérie. "Rien ne peut justifier le terrorisme et, à partir de là, rien ne peut permettre une discussion quelconque avec des terroristes", a-t-il ajouté."

Tibor, Munich 1972 were different times, terrorism was still new and the biggest nightmare of the Germans then was that Israelis would be killed on German soil (which happened because police at that time simply wasn't prepared for such things).

When it comes to hostages, there is probably no such thing as "not negotiating at all". Even Israel does negotiate from time to time, sometimes even for the return of dead IDF members.
Posted by: True German Ally || 04/15/2004 13:51 Comments || Top||

#23  TGA and others. It doesn't matter what governments say. The lesson of Madrid was that electorates can be swayed by terrorism to elect governments that are (percieved or actual it doesn't matter) soft(er) on terrorism, particularly Ismalic terorism. That to my knowledege has never happened before, and we will be living with the consequencies for a very long time.

And BTW, just because the media are too stupid or craven to connect the dots, it doesn't stop others from doing so. And also BTW I told you so!
Posted by: Phil B || 04/15/2004 20:54 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
"Marines are awake 24 hours. Stop hiding behind your women’s skirts and fight"
Sporadic gunfire between US forces and Iraqi insurgents interrupted a tenuous ceasefire around the besieged Sunni Muslim city of Fallujah, an AFP correspondent said. Iraqi rebels hit earlier Thursday the Jordanian hospital grounds outside eastern Fallujah with two mortar rounds, US Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne told AFP without giving further details of the attack. Byrne said his men were "definitely in the killing business now".

As dusk fell US forces exchanged machine gun fire and bombarded parts of the city, west of Baghdad, with grenade launchers. In a weapons cache first discovered Wednesday forces unearthed 200 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), a US-made (TOW) missile, and improvised explosive devices -- including Pepsi cans rigged with explosives -- Byrne said. On Wednesday night, gunships had fired on rebel positions in Fallujah and more strikes were expected through the night Thursday. "I intend to use AC 130 gunships every night," Byrne said.

A shaky five-day-old truce in Fallujah was extended for 48 hours on Wednesday to allow for two hospitals to open. But despite the deal clashes continued on Wednesday and Thursday between US forces and Iraqi guerrillas there, and Byrne said US fighters were trying to draw insurgents out into battle. US military trucks had begun blaring taunting messages and heavy metal music at suspected rebel sites in the hopes of luring out guerrillas to kill them. "Marines are awake 24 hours. Stop hiding behind your women’s skirts and fight," loudspeakers stacked on trucks blared out. At least two rebels with RPGs came charging out to fight Wednesday night and were killed after being taunted by the announcement and music, Byrne said.
Suckers. How's it feel to be dead?
"We’re not going to defile a mosque but we’re definitely in the killing business now," he said. Fallujah’s second-largest mosque, Hadret Mohammediya, was shelled earlier on Thursday by US forces. The strike at about 6:30 pm (1430 GMT) destroyed the top of its minaret and religious school, while parts of its outer wall were also hit and most of the windows shattered. US military commanders have said they will not shy from firing at mosques in the city if they are being used by insurgents to attack troops. Byrne also said that at one site marines had found drug paraphernalia scattered around, fueling suspicions that some insurgents might be sedating themselves before heading into battle. "They may have sedated themselves on morphine or other stuff," Byrne said.
That should make them alert and ferocious...
There were no indications when the ceasefire in Fallujah would end although officially the truce was expected to end Friday. US marine officers said on condition of anonymity it could be "a number of days" before the situation changes. Hospital sources said earlier on Thursday that five Iraqis had been killed and three others wounded in clashes between US troops and insurgents in Fallujah despite the truce after days of clashes which have claimed hundreds of lives. In Washington on Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld described the situation in Fallujah as "largely stabilized".
Posted by: TS || 04/15/2004 8:39:48 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The word "assasin" comes from the word "hashishin". In early Arab times certain fighters would get hopped up on hashish and fought very hard. It's not really strange that they would revive the practice using more modern drugs.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/15/2004 20:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Why would they sedate themselves before battle?
Wouldn't that make you not want to fight?
Posted by: TS || 04/15/2004 21:33 Comments || Top||

#3  "Marines are awake 24 hours. Stop hiding behind your women’s skirts and fight," loudspeakers stacked on trucks blared out.

>F*'n beautiful.

>I made the heavy metal prediction about three days ago. During Gulf I our armor and vehicles rolled in w/Metallica blaring from procured loudspeakers. "Seek & Destroy" was the song of choice at the time.
Posted by: Jarhead || 04/15/2004 21:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I think the idea's that you get a leg up on any impending pain. If you can stay awake, of course.
Posted by: Fred || 04/15/2004 21:37 Comments || Top||

#5  TS> depends on the drug. Marijuana is a mellow stimulant whereas morphine may numb the senses w/out the mellowing side affect. Morphine + Alcohol may be interesting but since the muzzy's are too stupid to drink guess we'll never know.
Posted by: Jarhead || 04/15/2004 21:38 Comments || Top||

#6  Jarhead - how about Alice in Chains' "Man In The Pine Box"?
Posted by: Raj || 04/15/2004 21:39 Comments || Top||

#7  Raj, there are so many good ones:

>AC/DC "Hells Bells"
>Black Sabbath "War Pigs"
>Nugent "Stranglehold"


For the Muzzy's > the Ramones "I wanna be sedated" would prolly be appro.
Posted by: Jarhead || 04/15/2004 21:42 Comments || Top||

#8  I've been reading a great deal about Muslim culture since 9/11. I've come to the conclusion they're genetically predisposed to duplicity, stupidity, and most of all cowardice. Regret to advise I'm drawing closer to George Will's admonition the Muslim's cannot democratize due to their cultural inferiority (which, for any libs out there reading this, is not an opinion but rather an objective and demonstable fact).
Posted by: Mark || 04/15/2004 21:45 Comments || Top||

#9  Didn't the head of the assassins consider himself to be the Mahdi?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 21:57 Comments || Top||

#10  The only time those raghead pussies come out from behind their women is to throw acid in their face.
Posted by: anymouse || 04/15/2004 22:01 Comments || Top||

#11  RC> you might be right. I'd have to google it but I think the assassins put up a few good fights as a quasi-militia or army group.
Posted by: Jarhead || 04/15/2004 22:03 Comments || Top||

#12  Fred, Jarhead,
Well this makes sense...I suppose thats what they do when they suicide bomb. Alot of the jihadis do have strange glazed looking eyes.
I thought it was just the brainwashing and/or evil.
So Bin Laden aint nothing but a damn pimp then.
Arafat too..he's like the OG of jihad pimps.
Cept they deal in death.
Crazy.
Posted by: TS || 04/15/2004 22:08 Comments || Top||

#13  How about Outkast's "Bombs Over Baghdad?" Jennifer Capriati used this as her warmup music at a tournament around the time the war started. I never liked her before that, but I do now.
Posted by: Tibor || 04/15/2004 22:11 Comments || Top||

#14  That's on a religious take, right? (Since Bush nearly called your assumption racist ...)

Not to mention there're plenty of pro-American, fully Western bloggers ...
Posted by: Edward Yee || 04/15/2004 22:17 Comments || Top||

#15  One more, Jarhead - Sabbath's 'Electric Funeral'. I was cleaning my bike chain with gas one time and decided to light the remnant gas on fire with that blasting in the background. I think the neighbors 1) thought I was fucked (no argument here) and / or 2) thought I was doing a satanic ritual.

To paraphrase John McClane, "The only thing better than being a psycho is making everybody think you are!"
Posted by: Raj || 04/15/2004 22:26 Comments || Top||

#16  I like the way Lieutenant Colonel Byrne talks.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 22:39 Comments || Top||

#17  GW I: we played Appetite for Destruction Guns-n-Roses -Welcome To The Jungle blasting out. That and Van Halen, etc. Armored Cav and Tankers, what did ya expect?

You remember what the first song on AFN Saudi was?

Rock the Casbah by the Clash.

Laughed our asses off on that one.
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/15/2004 22:43 Comments || Top||

#18  I recommend bagpipes and bass drums, giant ones you can hear 10 miles away.

Islamo-fascists are genetically predisposed to shit themselves at the sound of these instruments. It is a matter of practical evolution. In former times, those jihadis who failed to flee at the first notes often found themselves on the sharp end of British steel before they had a chance to breed.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 04/15/2004 22:43 Comments || Top||

#19  Maybe we can bring some Orange bands in from Northern Ireland. It would keep the peace in the north as they would not be marching through Catholic neighborhoods, and the booming bass drum would give the jihadis a thrill. Do it on the 12th of July and you have a happening, with the marchers shouting "No Surrender!" Just a thought...
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/15/2004 22:56 Comments || Top||

#20  Editors, some bozo is commenting on a post that is three days old - and its not NMM.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 23:09 Comments || Top||

#21  Little Sheet Heads on Dope!! Cool, some of the ganster rap makes me crazy. I wonder if we can get the "Hero's of the Hood", to create some wonderful Hip Hop tunes about Allah!!
Posted by: Long Hair Republican || 04/15/2004 23:24 Comments || Top||

#22  As for the music, 6 words: Wesly Willis: "Rock saddam husseins ass", as for the stoned jihadis running out to the marines with RPG's: "Come on Mahmoud, I got the munchies lets run to the store and get some Dorito's pronto"
Posted by: Evert Visser in NL || 04/16/2004 0:23 Comments || Top||


Kurdish Snipers Spread Throughout Fallujah, Shooting Civilians from Mosque Minarets
From Jihad Unspun
Shaykh ‘Abd as-Sattar ‘Abd al-Jabbar, member of the Board of Muslim ‘Ulama’ and a representative of the team mediating in negotiations between the al-Fallujah Resistance and the American Marine aggressors, confirmed that the Peshmergah were fighting alongside the American invaders and that they wear the uniforms of the newly-constituted American puppet army of Iraq. The Americans have given them the role of sharpshooters, using the Brno rifles with which the Kurds are familiar. This report confirms an earlier story carried by Mafkarat al-Islam (www.islammemo.cc) that 12 Peshmergah militiamen had been killed at the al-Fallujah front, and that they were serving as sharpshooters for the Americans. They would hunt down civilians and others from rooftop positions and mosque minarets.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 7:19:36 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ya know, as much as I admire the Kurds, I hope the ones helping us over there have gotten very careful lectures about the laws of war. Given the way the Baathist government treated them, I can easily imagine them wanting to get revenge on its heartland.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 19:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Now I'm confused. The American snipers are shooting kittens and the Kurdish ones are shooting the ducklings? Or is it the other way around? And who gets to shoot the bunnies? And do they always use mosques for snipers nests or do they sometimes use clinics and preschools? The mind boogles!
Posted by: 11A5S || 04/15/2004 19:34 Comments || Top||

#3  And they're shooting little puppies and baby bunnies and baby quails......
Posted by: Valentine || 04/15/2004 19:51 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm a big fan of puppets. Are they going to have parades?
Posted by: john || 04/15/2004 20:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Are we sure it's not Israeli snipers disguised as Kurds wearing US uniforms?
Posted by: Stephen || 04/15/2004 20:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Boy, we better let Al-Sadr fire up his newspaper and set the story straight for the millions.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/15/2004 21:34 Comments || Top||

#7  How many have they killed? I want to know if they're any good or not.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/15/2004 21:51 Comments || Top||

#8  It's time to pull a Stalingrad on the Iraqis. Line up every damned artillery piece we can find, line 'em up ten deep, axle-hub to axle-hub, and just start shelling until there's nothing left. MAKE SURE THE AL-JAZ REPORTER IS IN FALLUJAH AT THE TIME, AND HAS AN OPEN LINK TO QATAR. I want him to give a running account of the receiving end of the carnage. Maybe the next bunch of raving lunatics will have second thoughts.

It's worth a try - nothing else seems to get their attention. And at the same time, somebody give Chalabi a chin-whiskers haircut.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/15/2004 22:23 Comments || Top||

#9  Kurdish Snipers Spread Throughout Fallujah, Shooting Civilians from Mosque Minarets

Aren't paybacks a b!tch?
Posted by: Zenster || 04/16/2004 0:13 Comments || Top||


American Snipers Spread Throughout Fallujah, Targeting Most Steets
From Jihad Unspun
Member of the Board of Muslim ‘Ulama’ Muthanna Harith ad-Dari told the Syrian News Agency SANA that .... Ad-Dari said that US sharpshooters have not stopped shooting since the cease fire was first announced and that most streets of al-Fallujah are targets of the American snipers who have spread out throughout the city. More than ten people have been gunned down in the last two days alone, ad-Dari said, to say nothing of many wounded. Whole families are stuck in their houses and haven’t been able to come out for more than a week.

“We in the Board of Muslim ‘Ulama’ know perfectly well that what’s going on now on the ground in al-Fallujah is simply an American plot to completely slaughter our people there,” he said.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 7:08:52 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well this is bullshit. If they've been working for the last 2 days, they'd have blown away a lot more then 10.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/15/2004 21:54 Comments || Top||


Pesticides, Precursors, and Petulance
It has become established conventional wisdom that “no stockpiles of WMD have been discovered in Iraq.” But this reading of the evidence uncovered to date is premature at best, and highly questionable. A closer look at the data, and at the uses made of it, is essential for those who wish to understand the genuine state of Iraq’s WMD threat at the time of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Another Congressional committee hearing has come and gone for the head of the hapless Iraqi Survey Group (ISG). Charles Duelfer has testified that he did not know how much longer the weapons hunt might take, but that the "picture is much more complicated than I anticipated going in." In addition, he also figured out that pinning hopes on getting information from frightened Iraqi scientists was probably not the best way to find the locations of all those WMD stockpiles. (see my previous article Cased Not Closed: Iraq’s WMDs).

Despite contracting out for assistance in document exploitation last October, only a small fraction of the seized documents have been analyzed. Keep in mind that the ISG is largely composed of personnel from the CIA, State Department, such as Duelfer, and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), such as the deputy, Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton. These are the same organizations that are currently getting raked over the coals for bureaucratic bungling of intelligence prior to 9-11.

In turn, the beleaguered agencies are deflecting this criticism to the President and his national security advisors, by essentially complaining the “devil made me do it.” In other words, their technical and tactical incompetence and/or their motivation to embarrass the administration has allowed the ISG to make proclamations about WMD stockpiles that minimize the significance of their findings, or deliberately downplay and contradict the findings of Coalition forces in the field. Such is the case with chemical weapons (CW) precursors.

The anti-war left and the media continuously shift the goal posts about WMD stockpiles. But what does the term “stockpile” mean for WMDs? One nuclear bomb is not really a “stockpile,” but it would only take one, set off in an American city or dropped on US forces in the field, to make everybody wake up and smell the coffee.

What did we expect to find in Iraq, the equivalent of the Pantex Plant? In fact, we did find hundreds of metric tons of yellowcake and low-enriched uranium. But I digress.

“Stockpiles” of biological weapons? A stockpile of bio-weapons can be kept in a fridge in a scientist’s house. Ricin and botulinum toxin have already been found in sufficient quantities to regenerate a biological weapon (BW) capability in short order. No, the standard established by the left and their allies in the media is that we must find chemical weapons (CW). That is, if the US has not found pallets of CW projectiles in ammo dumps or munitions factories or at Iraqi Army unit areas, well then that George Bush flat-out lied to us. In a fashion, the critics are correct concerning CW stockpiles. Here’s why.

Chemical weapons are very potent in small amounts in a sterile setting. Hence, the bit in movies where the leading man dips a pen into a glass of water and says something to the effect that “these few drops of nerve agent are enough to wipe out hundreds of thousands of people” is correct, but only if those people are crammed into the Silverdome. Chemical weapons have very important weaknesses: They can be destroyed by light, heat, water, and wind -- that is, the weather -- not to mention the heat from the explosive charge designed to disperse the agent. It is for this reason that CWs are employed en masse with strict targeting protocols, when attacking an army in the field.

Even if done properly, depending upon the equipment and training of your adversary, the killing and incapacitating effects may not be tactically significant. For these reasons, Saddam initially “tested” his CW on unsuspecting Kurd civilians to gain an accurate medical picture of chemical agent effects. Simply put, anyone contemplating use of CW needs a lot of it, and it must be delivered at the right time and place.

UNSCOM inspectors understood these factors when they concluded in 1995 that, at the time of Operation Desert Storm in January of 1991, Iraq had largely solved key technical issues. The problem of precursor storage and stabilization for VX, a powerful and persistent nerve agent was solved by Saddam’s scientists. In addition, UNSCOM noted the development of prototypes for binary sarin (non-persistent nerve agent) artillery shells and 122mm rockets. Binary rounds consist of two non-lethal substances that combine upon detonation to form a lethal agent.

The technically advanced binary nature of these projectiles was amazing enough, but they also had developed “quantities well beyond the prototype levels.” The DIA concurred with UNSCOM that Iraq had retained production equipment and chemical precursors to reconstitute a CW program absent an inspection regime.

Specifically, the DIA noted that Baghdad had rebuilt segments of its industrial chemical infrastructure under the “guise of a civilian need for pesticides, chlorine, and other legitimate chemical products.” Pesticides are the key elements in the chemical agent arena. In fact, the general pesticide chemical formula (organophosphate) is the “grandfather” of modern day nerve agents. Pesticides are also precursors of many other chemical weapons including Mustard-Lewisite (HL), Phosgene (CG) a choking agent, and Hydrogen Cyanide (AC) a blood agent.

It was not surprising then, as Coalition forces attacked into Iraq, that huge warehouses and caches of “commercial and agricultural” chemicals were seized and painstakingly tested by Army and Marine chemical specialists. What was surprising was how quickly the ISG refuted the findings of our ground forces, and how silent they have been on the significance of these caches.

US forces participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom had the latest chemical detection gear, including chemical detection paper, chemical agent detector kits, improved chemical agent monitors, and sophisticated Fox Chemical Recon Vehicles. Some American GIs remembered well the shortfalls of this equipment in Gulf War I. Now all of these older devices had been improved, and new and more accurate devices had been issued. In fact, some mobile Army labs had highly sensitive mass spectrometers to test for suspicious substances. Who could argue the results of repeated tests using these devices without explaining how DoD had apparently been ripped off by contractors for faulty products? Apparently, the ISG could and did.

One of the reported incidents occurred near Karbala where there appeared to be a very large “agricultural supply” area of 55-gallon drums of pesticide. In addition, there was also a camouflaged bunker complex full of these drums that some people entered with unpleasant results. More than a dozen soldiers, a Knight-Ridder reporter, a CNN cameraman, and two Iraqi POWs came down with symptoms consistent with exposure to nerve agent. A full day of tests on the drums resulted in one positive for nerve agent, and then one resulted in a negative. Later, an Army Fox NBC [nuclear, biological, chemical] Recon Vehicle confirmed the existence of Sarin. An officer from the 63d Chemical Company thought there might well be chemical weapons at the site.

But later ISG tests resulted in a proclamation of negative, end of story, nothing to see here, etc., and the earlier findings and injuries dissolved into non-existence. Left unexplained is the small matter of the obvious pains taken to disguise the cache of ostensibly legitimate pesticides. One wonders about the advantage an agricultural commodities business gains by securing drums of pesticide in camouflaged bunkers six feet underground. The “agricultural site” was also co-located with a military ammunition dump, evidently nothing more than a coincidence in the eyes of the ISG.

Another find occurred around the northern Iraqi town of Bai’ji, where elements of the 4th Infantry Division (Mech) discovered 55-gallon drums of a substance that mass spectrometer testing confirmed was cyclosarin and an unspecified blister agent. A mobile laboratory was also found nearby that could have been used to mix chemicals at the site. And only yards away, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, as well as gas masks were found. Of course, later tests by the experts revealed that these were only the ubiquitous pesticides that everybody was turning up. It seems that Iraqi soldiers were obsessed with keeping their ammo dumps insect-free, according to the reading of the evidence now enshrined by the conventional wisdom that “no WMD stockpiles have been discovered.”

Coalition forces continued to find evidence of CW after major combat operations had concluded. The US unit around Taji, just north of Baghdad discovered pesticides in one of the largest ammo dumps in Iraq. The unit wanted to use the ammo dump for their own operations, when they discovered the pesticides in “non-standard” drums that were smaller in diameter but much longer than the standard 55-gallon drums.

Then in January of this year, Danish forces discovered 120mm mortar shells with a mysterious liquid inside that initially tested positive for blister agents. Further tests in Southern Iraq and in the US were, of course, negative. The Danish Army said, “It is unclear why the initial field tests were wrong.” This is the understatement of the year, and also points to a most basic question: If it wasn’t a chemical agent, what was it? More pesticides? Dishwashing detergent? From this old soldier’s perspective, I gain nothing from putting a liquid in my mortar rounds unless that stuff will do bad things to the enemy.

Virtually all agencies concerned with Iraq’s WMD programs have reached the conclusion that Saddam was an expert at delay, dispersion, and deception. His nuclear program had restarted as reported earlier this year by Dr. Kay, the previous head of the ISG. Also, “seed agents” and other bio-toxins had been dispersed throughout Baghdad and Iraq to form the basis for the regeneration of a full-fledged BW program. This modus operandi was no different for the regeneration of Saddam’s chemical weapons program. Operating under the guise of legitimate industrial and agricultural chemical production and storage, Iraq would have gone into full-scale conversion of its stockpile of chemical precursors into weaponized agents, had the Coalition not attacked and seized Iraq.

What is stunning is that the ISG seems incapable of connecting the dots to present to the American people the clear evidence of Saddam’s flouting of 12 years of UN resolutions, and the grave consequences if we had failed to act. The ISG also owes a detailed explanation to DoD as to how 12 years of research, development, and money has apparently gone down the drain in the effort to upgrade the military’s chemical detection capability and NBC training regimen. That the ISG can consistently contradict other technical specialists, while ignoring years of UNSCOM and US intelligence assessments, without accountability is unconscionable, and must be rectified as soon as possible.
Posted by: Daniel King || 04/15/2004 5:53:10 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Daniel King - This is a extremely detailed document of some of same arguments I and others were making in, "Iraq Nuclear Gear Found in Europe".

Thanks
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 19:07 Comments || Top||


Iran diplomat is shot dead in Iraq
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
An Iranian diplomat was gunned down in central Baghdad yesterday as Washington ordered more troops to Iraq to tackle deteriorating security. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday the United States had also extended the stay of some 20,000 troops in Iraq who had been due to return home. The assassination of first secretary Khalil Naimi came a day after Iran sent a delegation to attempt to broker an end to a stand-off between the US-led coalition and Shiite fighters.
A little help here? My Frink-O-Matic Irony Meter just exploded! Anyone want to bet that the Iranians are beginning to feel like they have a wolf by the ears? It must of been the Kurds, right?
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 6:30:03 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Black Flag® Roach Killer (now with BAYGON®)
Posted by: mojo || 04/15/2004 19:47 Comments || Top||

#2  O Bretheren! What we have here is a failure to communicate! *ththththththwaaaaak!*

Uh, oh, Mamoud, better call for the second secretary, the first secretary is indisposed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/15/2004 21:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Leave the turban. Take the canoli.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/15/2004 21:57 Comments || Top||

#4  the first secretary is indisposed.

Maybe this guy was carrying Sadr's plane ticket to Tehran.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 22:00 Comments || Top||

#5  As one may say, Zenster, they punched this fella's ticket.

Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week, try the veal ...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/15/2004 22:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Don't shoot, Mahoud...Don't Shhhh

ththththththwaaaaak!
Posted by: anymouse || 04/15/2004 22:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Keep 'em coming folks. This is doing me a world of good on tax day. I suppose it's time for me to cook some wienerschnitzel in honor of all the pork that's going to be served up after this.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/16/2004 1:07 Comments || Top||


Iraqi priest sez al-Qaeda's behind all the hostage-taking
The Vatican news agency Fides launched the possibility that "the Italians were kidnapped by a group tied to Al Qaeda. The method of the killing would make us think of this organisation," said Father Nizar Semaan, an Iraqi. According to Father Semaan, "if the Italians were in the hands of Sunni Iraqis, perhaps there would be some more hope. If they had been kidnapped by Shiites, I think the outcome would have been different, because in this phase they seem willing to negotiate with the provisory government, and they are trying to calm the waters after the clashes caused by Moqtada al Sadr." According to Semaan, who expressed his condolences for the Italian killed, "this barbarian execution would probably not have happened if Arab countries had taken a clear stance against terrorism. "I still haven't heard the Arab League and the Islamic League condemn terrorism. They always make distinctions, but violent and senseless acts, such as killing an unarmed hostage or people at a bus stop, are never condemned in a clear way." Father Semaan also denounced the fact that "many Iranians of Iraqi origins have asked for citizenship, and therefore the country is more exposed to foreign influences." According to Semaan, "in this way, the demographic balance of the Iraqi population is tipped towards the Shiites, who are already the majority, and Iranians are buying houses, terrain, and hotels, especially in the south of Iraq."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 5:49:08 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Brilliant Holmes! How do you do it?
Posted by: Steve White || 04/15/2004 18:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds like Father Semaan heads up CSI: Vatican.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/15/2004 21:59 Comments || Top||

#3  al-Qaeda's involved? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/15/2004 22:46 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
IDF arrests Paleo woman with 25 Kg (55 lb) bomb
Edited for brevity.
A Palestinian woman carrying a bag containing a 25-kilogram explosive device was arrested Thursday evening outside the West Bank settlement of Ariel. Israel Defense Forces reservists noticed 28-year-old Fatan Dararmeh, trying to hitch a ride near the Ariel Junction in the West Bank at around 7 P.M. Upon searching her bags they found the explosive device. Sappers later dismantled the bomb. A preliminary investigation revealed that Dararmeh was not meant to serve as a suicide bomber but rather to transfer the explosive device to another person. The device was likely meant to serve in a suicide attack in the Tel Aviv area. The woman operated on behalf of an Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades cell in the West Bank city of Nablus, headed by wanted militant Nader abu-Leil. Abu-Leil’s cell has lately attempted to execute numerous suicide attacks in Israel, but the attempts have so far been averted.
Lugging 55 freakin’ pounds? Must be built like a pack mule.
Posted by: Dar || 04/15/2004 4:14:27 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  another strike against the Paleos - build the wall faster, and take another 100 acres
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 16:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The Arafish may get his aquarium bombed sooner rather than later if he keeps his lackeys running errands like this.

The US has finally come out on Sharon's side after the Paleos screwed the pooch for the last time. I imagine that booming the 3 US security personnel in Gaza and the BS way they arrested and tried the "perps" did not endear GW to the Paleos. Patience has run out. Actions, meet Consequences. "How do you do, Moron?"
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/15/2004 16:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Does this bomb make me look fat?
Posted by: Denny || 04/15/2004 23:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Must be built like a pack mule.

Nah, you're just confusing her with the women who smell like one.

Does this bomb make me look fat?

Bwahahaha! What on earth prevented me from coming up with that myself? Effing good one there, Denny!
Posted by: Zenster || 04/16/2004 1:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Huge Blow to Al Gore -- [The Real] Web inventor wins major new technology prize
The inventor of the worldwide web, Tim Berners-Lee of Britain, was awarded the first Millennium Technology Prize worth one million euro ($A1.63 million), the jury said. Berners-Lee created the first server, browser, and protocols central to the operation of the web: the URL address, HTTP transmission protocol and HTML code. In 2003, he was named a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his pioneering work.
This competition for invention of the WWW (from some unknown upstart, no less) will probably cause a new fact-distortingfinding commission to be launched.
Posted by: cingold || 04/15/2004 1:37:43 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OK since it gets quoted that often: Can I have a source where Al Gore said he "invented the web"?
What he actually did (and took credit for) was to push for legislation (from 1991 onwards) that promoted the use of the internet in schools and colleges.
Posted by: True German Ally || 04/15/2004 14:01 Comments || Top||

#2  From CNN 3/9/1999 Intervireview with Wolfie B.

BLITZER: Why should Democrats, looking at the Democratic nomination process, support you instead of Bill Bradley, a friend of yours, a former colleague in the Senate? What do you have to bring to this that he doesn't necessarily bring to this process?

GORE: Well, I will be offering -- I'll be offering my vision when my campaign begins. And it will be comprehensive and sweeping. And I hope that it will be compelling enough to draw people toward it. I feel that it will be.

But it will emerge from my dialogue with the American people. I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.


Whole quote as to be in context. He was doing his Al Gore listing exercise. He might have misspoken, but it sure sounded as if he took credit as a Senator for internet creation.

Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 14:27 Comments || Top||

#3  "Huge Blow to Al Gore..."

Sounds like he's finally getting to follow in Clinton's footsteps.
Posted by: Bulldog || 04/15/2004 14:49 Comments || Top||

#4  LMAO
Posted by: Matt || 04/15/2004 14:55 Comments || Top||

#5  TGA -- 1991 was about 20 years after the Internet was developed. It was quite popular already; I started college in 1989, and everyone who wanted one had an Internet email address and access to FTP and Usenet. Three quarters of the student body had Internet access in their dorm rooms; by 1993 that access was via 10MB Ethernet. Granted, that school had some sweet deals with AT&T for hardware, but by 1991 any college student who wanted to could access the Internet.

The very small rural grade and high school I went to had a website (and probably full-time access) by at latest 1995.

Al Gore's bills and Senate votes had very, very, very little to do with the Internet's growth.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 14:58 Comments || Top||

#6  TGA - unless Al was crucial to funding DARPAnet in the late 60's (unlikely), he was jerking us off with that self-serving statement. Voters tend to notice when pols start fondling our private parts for political gain, and he got called on it, then became a widly-known joke for trying to claim he had more than a general funding role - along with every other member of congress.
Posted by: Dr. Evil || 04/15/2004 15:16 Comments || Top||

#7  I demand a recount!
Posted by: Al Gore || 04/15/2004 15:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Thanks Robert Crawford, that explains it for me.
Posted by: True German Ally || 04/15/2004 16:14 Comments || Top||

#9  Gawd, I hate to defend Gore, but there is a way in which his claim is true, depending on your meaning of "is". Sigh.

What happened in 91 was the creation of the current independent groups that administer the Internet - ICANN etc. Prior to that, the allocation of IP addresses was done by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, who inherited the ARPANET with the specific charge to promolgate it among the wider university and research community.

Gore had a role in that move from NIST to ICANN. He didn't conceive it or accomplish it, but he did have a peripheral role in making it official policy so to do.
Posted by: rkb || 04/15/2004 16:25 Comments || Top||

#10  I'm not sure who exactly this gut works for, but the main idea of the internet was, I thought, created by physicists to help them better communicate across countries and transmit data that they needed sooner. I think. Or something like that. I'll do some more research (read-ask dad) and correct later.
Posted by: S || 04/15/2004 17:23 Comments || Top||

#11  *guy

my bad
Posted by: S || 04/15/2004 17:23 Comments || Top||

#12  I thought it was a DARPA project circa 60... tho lord only know where TCP comes from.
Posted by: LinePrinter || 04/15/2004 17:43 Comments || Top||

#13  Okay, I'll bite on this. I've been at least tangentially involved with the Internet from the early 70s .... wrote a book about some of the technical aspects of the protocols. So if this is boring to you, skip by!! LOL

Early data communications were built on dedicated phone circuits. A big company would lease a line from HDQTRS to a regional office; the hdqtrs computer would dial the other computer via modem, using a connection much like a voice call sets up. The resulting circuit is dedicated to that call (or to several calls all sharing the same connection). Only large organizations could afford this because they were in essence reserving a chunk of the phone system for their own use.

Worked okay for those big companies, at least at first. But what about DOD - especially in the event of a nuclear attack that might wipe out half the circuits in the country?

What was needed was an approach to networks that could adapt if part of the infrastructure was destroyed.

The result is what is called "packet switching" (as opposed to the circuit switching which is at the base of the old telephone voice system, and hence of the earliest data comm that used that system).

In packet switching, your email (or this comment) is broken down into little pieces, each of which gets a to/from stamp and a time stamp on it. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) software sends those off and makes sure it gets an Acknowledgement for each one within a certain period of time. If not, it sends that packet again until the entire message has been Acknowledged as received.

Now, to send off those packets, TCP actually uses the services of the Internet Protocol (IP). IP takes each packet and (lots of details skipped here) checks to see if it knows which of the router computers that make up the Internet knows how to ship that packet to its destination.

If none of them do, they ask THEIR neighbors etc. Eventually the answer filters back and the IP software on my computer sends out that packet. Then it does the same thing for each other packet the TCP software gave it to ship.

Since many routers are closely linked in the Internet, as the Internet backbones (fiber optic cables, now) are developed, there is almost always a number of different routes that packet might take. The first router passes it to another, and that one passes it to another etc. until it arrives and the recipient Acknowledges receipt.

Pretty soon, DARPA research labs and universities doing DOD research were exchanging information over an experimental packet-switched network called the ARPANET. Everybody had to know the IP address of the computer they wanted to talk with. New software protocols were developed either in parallel with TCP or that used TCP to facilitate different kinds of data sharing: email, ftp (file transfer protocol) etc.

Then, Berners put together two existing ideas with one new one to make the World Wide Web a possibility. The two old ideas were a) hyperlinks and b) a markup language. Hyperlinks had been around for a while, in some then-new attempts at user-friendly database management. And DOD had created a powerful Structured Graphical Markup Language to allow, say, the designers of the F-16 to create truckloads of documentation that could be printed out by computers using different software packages.

Take a few basics from SGML. Add the idea of hyperlinks, only instead of linking to other data records, LINK TO A NETWORK ADDRESS, and call the result HTML. Define a new protocol similar to ftp and call it HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol).

Finally - Berner's powerful addition - make those network resource addresses *virtual* rather than *physical*. That is to say, instead of a user having to know the actual IP address where a web page or photo would be stored, let her specify a name like "www.rantburg.com/index".

Then, add some special computers to the Internet infrastructure which would look up those Universal Resource Locators and translate them into the IP addresses that the IP software / routers use.

Bingo - add in a advances that led to cheap personal computers, stir in pointing mechanisms and graphical user interfaces (i.e. Windows and the like) and, when there is sufficent mass of capability and interest, spin it out for public use.

I left out a lot of stuff, like the way that DOD paid UC Berkeley to make a version of Unix incorporating TCP/IP early on, and seeding university computer science & engineering departments with free copies. It took nearly a decade of slow growth, with the convergence of a lot of other technologies (like fiber optics and digital communications switches etc.) before it all took of in the early-mid 90s.

Okay - boring history lesson over!! LOL
Posted by: Robin Burk || 04/15/2004 21:12 Comments || Top||

#14  Argh - lots of typos in that long spiel -- but if I try to correct stuff I'll be tempted to add all the OTHER info related to the development of the Web.

Must ... put ... keyboard ... down .....
Posted by: rkb || 04/15/2004 21:16 Comments || Top||

#15  Thanks, Robin. I read your entire article and learned a lot.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 04/15/2004 22:14 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Iraqi Nuclear Gear Found in Europe
One has to wonder, how and why this is happening
Large amounts of nuclear-related equipment, some of it contaminated, and a small number of missile engines have been smuggled out of Iraq for recycling in European scrap yards, according to the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog and other U.N. diplomats. Mohammed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned the U.N. Security Council in a letter that U.N. satellite photos have detected "the extensive removal of equipment and, in some instances, removal of entire buildings" from sites that had been subject to U.N. monitoring before the U.S.-led war against Iraq. ElBaradei said an IAEA investigation "indicates that large quantities of scrap, some of it contaminated, have been transferred out of Iraq, from sites monitored by the IAEA." He said that he has informed the United States about the discovery and is awaiting "clarification."

After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, U.N. inspectors discovered, inventoried and destroyed most of the equipment used in Iraq’s nuclear weapons program. But they left large amounts of nuclear equipment and facilities in Iraq intact and "under seal," including debris from the Osirak reactor that was bombed by Israel in 1981. That debris and the buildings are radioactively contaminated. The U.N. nuclear agency has found no evidence yet that the exported materials are being sold to arms dealers or to countries suspected of developing nuclear weapons. But ElBaradei voiced concern that the loss of the materials could pose a proliferation threat and could complicate efforts to reach a conclusive assessment of the history of Iraq’s nuclear program. "It is not clear whether the removal of these items has been the result of looting activities in the aftermath of the recent war in Iraq, or as part of systematic efforts" to clean up contaminated nuclear sites in Iraq, ElBaradei wrote. "In any event these activities may have a significant impact on the agency’s continuity of knowledge of Iraq’s remaining nuclear-related capabilities and raise concern with regards to the proliferation risk associated with dual use material and equipment disappearing to unknown destinations."

Richard Grenell, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said, "We have seen the reports and are obviously concerned, and as we told the IAEA we are looking into the matter." ElBaradei’s letter is dated April 11 and was circulated privately this week among members of the Security Council. Evidence of the illicit import of nuclear-related material surfaced in January after a small quantity of "yellowcake" uranium oxide was discovered in a shipment of scrap metal at Rotterdam’s harbor. The company that purchased the shipment, Jewometaal, detected radioactive material in the container and informed the Dutch government, according to the Associated Press. A spokesman for the company told the news agency that a Jordanian scrap dealer who sent the shipment believed the yellowcake came from Iraq.

ElBaradei did not identify the European countries where the materials were discovered. But U.N. and European officials confirmed that IAEA inspectors traveled to Jewometaal’s scrap yard to run tests on the yellowcake. The search turned up missile engines and vessels used in fermentation processes that were subject to U.N. monitoring. The U.N. Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission informed the council about the finds in a letter, according to diplomats. The IAEA, meanwhile, ordered up satellite images to assess conditions at Iraq’s former nuclear weapons sites. A senior U.N. official said they discovered that two buildings at one former site had vanished and that several scrap piles contained weapons-related materials were also missing. "In Europe, stainless steel goes for $1,500 a ton," the official said. "And that is worth transporting for the purpose of recycling."
Posted by: Sherry || 04/15/2004 12:42:39 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  have been smuggled out of Iraq

So much for the 'Where are the WMD's?' argument.

ElBaradei did not identify the European countries where the materials were discovered.

My guess - Phwrance & Germany.
Posted by: Raj || 04/15/2004 12:59 Comments || Top||

#2  How are they going to deny this? Every chemical weapons find was passed off as "insecticide". All bio stuff has been passed of as "pharmaceutical research". Now this? What are they going to say now? Waste from a cancer hospital radiation treatments? These rumors are getting tiresome, to be turned into "Dual Purpose". Dual purpose my a**!!!!! Let us have someone have the balls to say, "Geez- This is really from Saddam's A-Bomb research."
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 13:13 Comments || Top||

#3  this is not true - ole teddy and skerry - plus hans and the coalition of the greedy at the un say's so, say's iraq does/didn't have wmd..it's all a Bush lie...
Posted by: Dan || 04/15/2004 13:13 Comments || Top||

#4  How many of those scrap metal companies are fronts for EU nations covering up their deals with Saddam?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 14:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Evidence of WMD? What are you guys smoking? The article states that this is equipment from former nuclear sites that we knew about.

"It is not clear whether the removal of these items has been the result of looting activities in the aftermath of the recent war in Iraq, or as part of systematic efforts" to clean up contaminated nuclear sites in Iraq, ElBaradei wrote.

Geez, talk about grasping at straws....
Posted by: The Other Mike S. || 04/15/2004 16:05 Comments || Top||

#6  oh! sorry other Mike, must not forget that they were never WMDs in Iraq. yeah, sure there weren't ;)
Posted by: capt joe || 04/15/2004 16:11 Comments || Top||

#7  It is not clear whether the removal of these items has been the result of looting activities in the aftermath of the recent war in Iraq, or as part of systematic efforts to clean up contaminated nuclear sites in Iraq"

Other Mike S. - I have never smoked...

But, It is not clear. . ., seems a clear ballet by ElBaradei
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 16:19 Comments || Top||

#8  Hey, Cap, READ THE ARTICLE! It talks about how this material was from the nuke the Israelis bombed in 1981.

...from sites that had been subject to U.N. monitoring before the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

Of course there were WMD in Iraq. Just not when Bush 43 went on his fishing expedition.
Posted by: The Other Mike S. || 04/15/2004 16:22 Comments || Top||

#9  The other Mike S-
Seems to me capt joe is talking about:

including debris from the Osirak reactor
and other sites monitored by the IAEA

Besides - AlBaradei said they cleaned up a lot of stuff.
Where did ther uranium oxide come from? and What is this : The search turned up missile engines and vessels used in fermentation processes that were subject to U.N. monitoring.

Where'd they come from?

Remember : the inspectors were handcuffed and spied on by Saddam. And those monitoring efforts have been reportedly undermined by the French who were building the original reactor when the Israleis did their own remodeling of it in 1981.
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 16:44 Comments || Top||

#10  Nine comments and no one has made a crack about Iraqi nuke debris from Osirak being found in scrap metal purchased by JEWOMETAAL.

You folks are slipping. Sheesh!
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 17:22 Comments || Top||

#11  bah and i thought the scrap metal industry had died a sorry death .
Posted by: biggus || 04/15/2004 18:47 Comments || Top||

#12  Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the yellow cake discovered in Europe originally from Iraq no big deal and disappeared down the IAEA black hole?

Posted by: Anonymous2U || 04/15/2004 22:39 Comments || Top||

#13  "Jewometaal," yuk yuk yuk.

Sorry, as convincing as this evidence is, i can't believe it -- why hasn't our government come out about it? aren't they all knowing and all powerful? they knew he had WMD's beforehand, anyway. why even bother with all this post-war nonsense? we all knew that john kerry and the rest of the DNC hid the WMD's to make bush look dumn.

that's my story and i'm sticking to it.
Posted by: cappy || 04/15/2004 23:23 Comments || Top||

#14  Like the enemy body count that was, ultimately used agaist us, perhaps the administration has learned not to say anything that can be challenged or misinterpreted.
Posted by: W. E. Wallis || 04/16/2004 9:31 Comments || Top||

#15  Anybody who says that Iraq NEVER had WMDs has lost touch with reality. Have we forgottten, or did you never know about the thousands of dead Iraqis killed by Suddam Hussein with chemical weapons during the 80s and 90s? he used the things against his own damn people! There are pictures of this, this is recorded fact! And now because we don't find any that haven't been used yet, people actually defend this psycho?! How long did he have to hide this stuff because some countries were too pussy to go in and do anything about it?! It's like the friggin police calling a crack-house 2 months before a raid letting them know they want to check things out! Of course it's no going to be there!
Posted by: Brian the Great || 04/16/2004 16:53 Comments || Top||

#16  When Israel bombed the Osirak, it was still under construction..i don't even think they got any superstructure, just the foundation. Certainly there wouldn't have been any radioactives anywhere near.

Possible BS?

dave
Posted by: dave fitz || 04/17/2004 12:11 Comments || Top||


A Wrong Turn, Chaos and a Rescue -- Marines fight heavy in Fallujah
Since I think, the WaPost is a registration site, here’s the article -- Marines refuse to leave any behind, but find 50 - 100 enemy. Protrays a highly orgainzed enemy
It began as a routine supply mission to the front lines, in a volatile but largely becalmed city. It ended as a fiery and chaotic rescue mission, with a small force of Marine tanks, Humvees and ground troops surrounded and attacked as they fought their way through a hostile neighborhood to save the crew of a burning armored personnel carrier. Marine officials said the three-hour battle that erupted at dusk Tuesday on the streets of Fallujah, and was recounted Wednesday by several of the key officers involved, exemplified the bravery and resourcefulness that Marines are known for, even when surprised and surrounded by a host of enemy fighters on alien urban turf. By the end of the tumultuous encounter, the charred personnel carrier had been towed to safety by a tank and most of its 17 crew members -- several of them wounded -- had been rescued from a house where they had taken shelter.

But the incident also revealed some startling facts about the insurgency that the Marines are facing here, officers said. More dramatically than any armed confrontation since U.S. forces surrounded Fallujah nine days ago, it showed the tenacity, coordination, firepower and surprisingly large numbers of anti-American guerrillas who still dominate much of the city. "We definitely stumbled into a wasps’ nest. They were definitely a lot more organized than we thought," said Capt. Jason Smith, 30, commander of the company whose armored supply vehicle made a wrong turn into insurgent territory and was immediately inundated by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades from all sides.

Marine officials here said offensive operations in Fallujah would remain suspended, extending a pause that was ordered Friday to allow civilians to leave the city and let political leaders in Fallujah and Baghdad attempt to negotiate a solution to the conflict. Just before dawn Wednesday, however, AC-130 Spectre gunships launched a devastating punitive raid over a six-block area around the spot where the convoy was attacked, firing dozens of artillery shells that shook the city and lit up the sky. Marine officials said the area was virtually destroyed and that no further insurgent activity had been seen there.

According to accounts by Smith and two other officers, a supply convoy of Humvees was heading toward a command post at the edge of a Marine-controlled industrial zone around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when it came under small-arms fire. The convoy backtracked, and its cargo was shifted to two Marine amphibious assault vehicles, which resumed the mission. Those carriers were hit by rocket-propelled grenades, known as RPGs. One turned back toward friendly territory, but the other caught fire and the driver lost his way in the unfamiliar neighborhood. Suddenly, the crew encountered a large number of armed men milling in the streets. Within minutes, they were being attacked from all sides. "They started taking RPG fire and tried to get out of the area, but we lost communication with them," Smith said. "Their engine was on fire and they were heading away from our zone. . . . I saw a huge plume of smoke and I knew something was very wrong."

Officers dispatched a quick-reaction squad whose members had already been in battle earlier Tuesday. While guarding the site of a helicopter crash in a marshy area southeast of the city that morning, the outfit was ambushed by insurgents. The rescue squad rushed four tanks and six Humvees to the area, where they fought their way through several blocks to reach the burning carrier. Surrounded by 25 Marine riflemen on foot, the armored vehicles advanced, firing machine guns from their turrets. Overhead, Air Force attack planes repeatedly strafed the area. Marine officials here said at least 20 insurgents were shot dead during the fighting. "Within the first 500 meters, we were shooting 360 degrees," said Lt. Joshua Glover, 25, who commanded the rescue force. "When we finally saw the [armored personnel carrier], it was a piece of burning metal."

The carrier’s crew had managed to escape and had taken shelter in the nearest house, where they were pummeled with gunfire from the surrounding houses. Under covering fire from U.S. tanks and planes, Glover’s team was able to get the crew into Humvees and race off to safety. "People were tossing grenades from the houses on either side," Glover said. "I could hear small-arms fire, and I even saw people running across the street to try and enter the house." He and Smith said they saw only armed men in the area.

Senior Marine officials here, who plan to seek commendations for valor for four men involved the rescue mission, said the most important aspect of the incident was the courage that the Marines displayed in battling their way through heavy fire to reach the disabled carrier and rescue its crew. "This is a story about heroes. It shows the tenacity of the Marines and their fierce loyalty to each other," said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. "They were absolutely unwilling to leave their brother Marines behind."
Take that, Andy Rooney, you old fart.
At the Marine base in Fallujah and at command posts along the front lines Wednesday, troops recounted the rescue story to one another, relishing every detail and braced by the display of fighting spirit during what, for many Marines, has been a period of frustration and inactivity since Friday, when offensive operations were halted. But Smith and other officers said the incident also offered sobering insights into the sophistication and size of the insurgent force, which the Marines have characterized as a combination of Iraqis loyal to toppled president Saddam Hussein, foreign Islamic guerrillas and local criminals. In the past several days, Marines have also recovered hundreds of weapons, including rocket launchers, machine guns, sniper rifles and explosive belts for suicide bombers, while searching the deserted industrial zone. Many of the weapons were wrapped in plastic and buried under sand piles or other debris, suggesting they had been hidden some time ago for use in battle. Until Tuesday’s firefight, moreover, the Marines here had never been attacked by more than five or six insurgents at once, Smith said. This time, when the personnel carrier strayed just a few blocks into enemy territory, "there were 50 to 100 guys. It took a great deal of fire for us to get there, and I saw much more coordination than anything I seen before," he said. "They’ve been preparing for this the whole time."
Posted by: Sherry || 04/15/2004 12:27:21 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "They’ve been preparing for this the whole time."

Is this comment about the Marines or the jihadis?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 12:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "In the past several days, Marines have also recovered hundreds of weapons, including rocket launchers, machine guns, sniper rifles and explosive belts for suicide bombers, while searching the deserted industrial zone. Many of the weapons were wrapped in plastic and buried under sand piles or other debris, suggesting they had been hidden some time ago for use in battle."

I heard an interview on the Sean Hannity show a few days ago with a Marine Major in this area. He, the Major, said they had intercepted humanitarian aid convoys in Red Crescent vans and trucks that where stocked with munitions, RPGs, mortars etc. Anyone seen any reference to this?
Posted by: TomAnon || 04/15/2004 12:55 Comments || Top||

#3  TomAnon -- I did read somewhere yesterday about this!
Posted by: Sherry || 04/15/2004 12:56 Comments || Top||

#4  You mean like reported in the Terrorists Use Humanitarian Convoys posting in Rantburg today?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 13:11 Comments || Top||

#5  "Sunni insurgents are smuggling weapons and fighters into Fallujah in aid convoys and ambulances, making it difficult for U.S. troops to stem the flow of weapons, Marines said Monday. On Monday alone, U.S. troops in Fallujah uncovered anti-aircraft guns buried in a load of humanitarian aid and saw an ambulance pull up to two shot insurgents and take away their weapons — leaving the casualties lying there."

http://rantburg.com/popArticle.asp?ID=30371
Posted by: WUZZALIB || 04/15/2004 13:38 Comments || Top||

#6  On Monday alone, U.S. troops in Fallujah uncovered anti-aircraft guns buried in a load of humanitarian aid and saw an ambulance pull up to two shot insurgents and take away their weapons — leaving the casualties lying there.

This is reason enough to shoot out the tires of that "ambulance" and grab the people inside; someone not doing their obvious job is a good indicator that they likely are not who they appear to be.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 04/15/2004 14:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Why does Fallujah still exist???
Posted by: Rafael || 04/15/2004 15:41 Comments || Top||

#8  BAR -- the moment they saw the "ambulance" pick up weapons, that "ambulance" lost its protection. It SHOULD have been shot to hell, then any survivors inside interrogated to within an inch of their lives.

(Oh, and it's not just the TARGET that loses its Geneva protections; it's also THE PEOPLE INVOLVED. The only way the "insurgents" can avoid that is to prosecute those who violate the laws of war; I think that's as likely as my being selected as People's "Sexiest Man in the World".)
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 15:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Let's see . . . our guys get ambushed . . . and the quick-reation force sent to rescue them fights its way there through a second ambush . . . and everyone on our side gets out alive.

Damn! These boys are good!
Posted by: Mike || 04/15/2004 16:17 Comments || Top||

#10  Just before dawn Wednesday, however, AC-130 Spectre gunships launched a devastating punitive raid over a six-block area around the spot where the convoy was attacked, firing dozens of artillery shells that shook the city and lit up the sky. Marine officials said the area was virtually destroyed and that no further insurgent activity had been seen there.

This part has a really nice ring to it.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 18:22 Comments || Top||

#11  Yeah, Zenster. I like urban renewal by kinetic energy tools. The people of Fallujah need to tell us where the bad guys are, or we will have to take the place apart. I hope that they allow the Marines to systematically take care of business and we will be rid of alot of bad guys after this operation is completed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/15/2004 18:29 Comments || Top||

#12  Old Spook, do you notice the impossibility of the 600-killed count? What I think we are doing is allowing the jihadis to throw themselves against our wall of steel. One of the problems with previous sweep tactics is that the bad guess can act like good guys while the sweep goes through the area. If they really looked at what they were losing, they would pull back. The mujahadim mentality is being used against the enemy in a way that I have not seen before. The have become lemming like victims to their own stupidity. I'm sure Caesar has used this tactic. Why would you manufacture suicide belts to attack dug in marines? It's like the charge of the light-on-brains brigade.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 22:53 Comments || Top||


Iraq 'Caretaker' Plan Proposed
Iraq should set up a caretaker government made up of respected figures, with a prime minister, a president and two vice presidents, to govern the country from the U.S. handover of power on June 30 until elections set for Jan. 31, U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Wednesday. Brahimi said he was "confident" that a government can be set up but said security in Iraq must "considerably improve" before elections happen, he said. Brahimi's proposals represented a stripped-down alternative to previous, more complicated systems for a new government, a subject that has caused sharp divisions among members of the Iraqi Governing Council and U.S. administrators. The differences were so difficult to overcome that the United States and Iraqi leaders called in the United Nations to find a solution.
Bad move -- should have locked the Iraqis in a cigar-smoke filled room with no food or water, and tell them to come out only with an agreement.
Past ideas had included expanding the 25-member Governing Council to make a body that could then create an interim government. But under the ideas outlined by Brahimi, the council would be disbanded once the June 30 target date is passed.
I actually think that's a good idea...
Brahimi said the caretaker government would be "led by a prime minister and comprising Iraqi men and women known for their honesty, integrity and competence. There will also be a president to act as head of state and two vice-presidents." A "consultative assembly" should also be created, but not an interim legislature, said Brahimi. "I am absolutely confident that most Iraqis want a simple solution for this interim period," he said. "You don't need a legislative body for this short period."
Sure would make it easier for the UN, France and Russia to deal with such an authority, wouldn't it?
He called for a conference of "national dialogue" to be convened after the June 30 handover to create a "consultative assembly." Brahimi said legislative elections set for Jan. 31 would be "the most important milestone." There is "no substitute for the legitimacy that elections provide for," he told a news conference.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/15/2004 12:06:07 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terrorists Use Humanitarian Convoys
A convoy of humanitarian goods bound for Fallujah residents contained weapons and ammunition for enemy forces. The convoy was near the city of Saqlawiyah, just west of Fallujah.
So they learned from the Paleostinians!
Some of 'em are the Paleostinians...
In the joint operation, Marines and Iraqi Armed Forces discovered armor piercing rounds, aiming sights for rockets and rifles hidden in bags of grain, rice, and tea. The man detained for transporting the weapons was wearing a poorly made fake Red Thingy Crescent uniform in attempt to make the convoy look legitimate.
I do hope he's explaining it all now to the nice men with moustachios and truncheons...
Marines in Fallujah also engaged an enemy sniper in their zone. The enemy sniper fled the scene in an Iraqi ambulance. Enemy forces have repeatedly used ambulances and humanitarian aid to smuggle combatants and weapons in and out of Fallujah. By using ambulances, they put wounded and dying Iraqis in harm’s way, preventing them the services they need to reach medical care. By hiding weapons in the humanitarian convoys, they slow down the much-needed supplies from getting to the residents of Fallujah.
They also demonstrate that they're savages, but we knew that when they mutilated those guys after ambushing them...
Yesterday in Al Kharma, near Fallujah, a significant number of anti-Iraqi forces assaulted defensive Marine positions close to a residential neighborhood. Marines repelled the assault, with lethal, accurate fire. When the fighting ended, residents came out of their homes and informed Marines that the fighters had moved into their homes recently, virtually holding them hostage. The residents were able to then move about freely in their own neighborhood and beyond. The Coalition will continue to help humanitarian and medical aid get to the city of Fallujah, despite these attempts by the enemy.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 04/15/2004 11:12:06 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In a sane world, we would follow this with an announcement that the Red Thingy is no longer a recognized symbol for non-combatants or humanitarian efforts, at least in the area around Fallujah.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 12:20 Comments || Top||

#2  The enemy sniper fled the scene in an Iraqi ambulance. Enemy forces have repeatedly used ambulances and humanitarian aid to smuggle combatants and weapons in and out of Fallujah. By using ambulances, they put wounded and dying Iraqis in harm’s way, preventing them the services they need to reach medical care. By hiding weapons in the humanitarian convoys, they slow down the much-needed supplies from getting to the residents of Fallujah.

When these assholes are found, a quick shot to the head should do the trick.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 04/15/2004 12:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Why don't we have any videos of this type of shit? We should video tape all of this and show it at the press conferences.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 12:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Absolutely right -- this stuff needs to be documented. On the current ICRC website:

"Alleged misuse of Red Crescent ambulance

The ICRC has seen media reports that coalition forces were attacked from a supposed Iraqi Red Crescent Society ambulance. The ICRC was not in the area at the time and has received no additional information on this incident: it cannot therefore comment. If this incident were to be confirmed, it would constitute a grave abuse of the red crescent emblem protected by the Geneva Conventions. It would also considerably increase the risk for all those of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement working under the protection of this emblem."

One of the many PR failures in Iraq, including even during the major combat phase, was the inattention to this sort of thing. Just mentioning these abuses in press conferences wasn't sufficient. The resources should be devoted to documenting the ongoing violations of humanitarian law by the enemy, and the evidence relentlessly applied to the ICRC and media -- we'll never get even the ICRC to be reasonable, but it will seize the initiative, and will even bleed over into Arab media coverage if we're persistent enough.
Posted by: IceCold || 04/15/2004 14:27 Comments || Top||


No U.S. Soldier Died in Action in Mosul
Reuters wire service in Baghdad reported on April 15 that one U.S. Soldier was killed in action in Mosul over the past 24 hours. This news report is false. No U.S. Soldiers have been killed in action in Mosul since an improvised explosive device incident more than one week ago.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 04/15/2004 11:09:13 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reuters + false report = redundant...
Posted by: Raj || 04/15/2004 13:04 Comments || Top||


Criminal Court of Iraq Convicts Three
Three Iraqi men were tried and convicted April 14 by a three-judge panel of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq for actions against Coalition forces. The men were each sentenced to 10 years in an Iraqi prison. The men were detained near Balad Nov. 20, 2003, after being discovered by Coalition forces in the act of burying an improvised explosive device alongside a road consisting of 12-14 pounds of C-4 explosives in a coffee can-type container. "The defendants were tried in an Iraqi court with a prosecutor and defense counsel," said Army Col. Dwight Warren, chief liaison officer to the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. "This marks another step forward in the establishment of an independent Iraqi judiciary. "As a result of their vigilance, the Coalition soldiers not only saved lives by discovering the IED, but their apprehension of the three perpetrators will prevent these terrorists from attempting to murder other soldiers or civilians," he added.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 04/15/2004 11:10:20 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I suggest chain gangs. Use them for things like cleaning up roadside trash...
Posted by: Kathy K || 04/15/2004 14:29 Comments || Top||

#2  the job of landmine clearance comes to mind(and booby traps!)
Posted by: Chris Edwards || 04/17/2004 9:33 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Palestinian Prime Minister threatens to resign (it must be thursday then)
Sources close to Palestinian PM Abu-Ala say he is considering passing the torch back to Arafat. Abu-Ala wants to eliminate role of Palestinian PM completely.
What a coincidence I know some Israelis who are thinking along the same lines
"Palestinian Prime Minister Abu-Ala is seriously considering stepping down from his position after U.S. President Bush’s speech last night," sources close to Abu-Ala told Maariv Online.
GO DUBYA!
According to the sources, Abu-Ala was considering resignation before the speech was delivered, but the speech "accelerated" his desire to step down. In fact, since Wednesday night he has been considering the option "very seriously". Those close to Abu-Ala say that he is considering taking action to eliminate the role of Prime Minister, thereby returning complete control of the Palestinian Authority to Chairman Arafat.
Which is gonna do the Paleos enormous amounts of good...
At a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Bush promised that Palestinian refugees would not return to Israel, but rather to the Palestinian state which will be established in the future.
If they don't, there's no reason to establish it, is there?
In addition, in a letter to Sharon, Bush expressed support for the security barrier and for leaving pockets of settlements after Israel’s withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. Following Bush’s speech, Abu-Ala said: "Bush’s statements are destroying the peace process."
Bwahahahahahahah
At a press conference which was held following an emergency meeting of the Palestinian Government, he said that all the American statements are unacceptable to him and that the Palestinians will not agree to give up their rights.
Posted by: Evert Visser in NL || 04/15/2004 10:52:42 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too bad Ali Bubba is quiting, he has made great strides towards the homocide bombings peace process. Call me crazy but if I were living in one of those UN sponsored 'refuge camps' I would be happy just to live somewhere other than there. So here is the plan: Israel leaves Gaza and most of the West Bank. The Pals stay on that side and the Israelis stay on the other. The Pals have as much a chance as returning to Israel proper as a Jews has of moving back to Syria and owning a home.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 04/15/2004 11:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Those close to Abu-Ala say that he is considering taking action to eliminate the role of Prime Minister, thereby returning complete control of the Palestinian Authority to Chairman Arafat.

Since when has "complete control" of the PA been in anyone else's hands besides Arafart's???
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 04/15/2004 11:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't let him fool you: he just wants to get around the wall while there's still time.
Posted by: Tom || 04/15/2004 11:28 Comments || Top||

#4  (Great post and comments, Evert!)
Scuse me, but who the hell is Abu-Ala?
What happened to Queria?
He take "sick leave" (Arafish gave him explosive diarrhea and no Baby Wipes?)?
Posted by: Jen || 04/15/2004 11:35 Comments || Top||

#5 
Palestinians will not agree to give up their rights
I'd be satisfied if they'd just give up their wrongs.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/15/2004 18:38 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
2 more Japanese believed abducted in Iraq
The government is trying to confirm a report that two more Japanese nationals have been abducted in Iraq, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday. The two are believed to be freelance journalist Junpei Yasuda, 30, and Nobutaka Watanabe, 36, a member of a citizens organization, according to a journalists’ organization that received the report. (cont.)
I looks like the terrorists needed some less cooperative subjects for their little blackmail drama.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 1:06:02 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is this going to be another one of those crazy Japanese fads again?

(Sorry couldn't help myself.)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Journalists? Who cares?
Posted by: Ptah || 04/15/2004 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Like Hello Kutty?
Posted by: Shipman || 04/15/2004 12:00 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Seven shot dead in Afghan attack
Seven people, including government employees, have been shot dead in south-eastern Afghanistan by suspected Taleban militants. Local security officials said it was an execution-style killing and that a woman and child are among the dead.
That's the way you can tell it was Islamists...
They were killed after their car was stopped near the Pakistan border in Paktika province south-east of Kabul. The seven dead were all from the same family, according to the regional military Commander, Mohammed Hussain, and at least three of them were local government officials. He told the BBC that suspected Taleban gunmen held up their car in Birmal district in Paktika province. The gunmen demanded to know if they backed President Hamid Karzai, and when they replied that they did, all except one woman member were shot on the spot. The Paktika governor has admitted he does not control Birmal.
... since it's just across the border from South Waziristan...
The area is so isolated that it has taken several days for news of the shooting - which happened on Monday - to emerge.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 04/15/2004 03:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Mediator says hostage takers don’t plan to kill [Japanese] captives
The group that has taken three Japanese nationals hostage in central Iraq does not plan to kill them, a self-claimed "mediator" in the hostage crisis has told the Mainichi. Mazhar al-Dalaimi, head of an Iraqi human rights group, said during an interview with the Mainichi here on Tuesday that he had met the three hostages on Sunday, and that they looked quite healthy. The hostage takers promised not to kill the three, Mazhar said. However, they said in a message to Qatar-based broadcaster Aljazeera that they would kill the hostages unless Japan withdraws its troops from Iraq ...
So, which is it? Do these terrorists, "not plan to kill them" or are they going to "kill the hostages unless Japan withdraws its troops from Iraq." It’s just so confusing when these rutbags flat-out lie. Let’s just kill them and say we couldn’t figure out what they meant.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 12:44:02 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The group that has taken three Japanese nationals hostage in central Iraq does not plan to kill them

Tell that to the dead Italian hostage.
Posted by: Charles || 04/15/2004 11:14 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Daily Roundup of Paleo HiJinx
JPost - Reg Req’d
  • An IDF operation is underway Thursday morning in Rafah in the south Gaza Strip where soldiers and Border Police are searching for tunnels used to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian controlled areas. IDF forces operating in Rafah spotted a number of armed Palestinian and an IAF helicopter fired a missile towards the group, wounding a number of them. Palestinian reports claim 22 were wounded in the incident.
    "Yeah! Most of 'em wuz baby ducks, too!"
    Two anti-tank rockets were fired and five bombs detonated near the security forces. IDF officials said that since the start of the operation last Wednesday night, security forces have been confronted with Palestinian resistance that included anti-tank rockets, bombs and grenades that were thrown at the troops.

  • In the southern part of Rafah, the Bedouin Desert Patrol uncovered a six-meter-deep tunnel located in an abandoned barn. IDF has entered the camp often in the past few months in search for tunnels.

  • In the West Bank security forces arrested a total of 14 Palestinian fugitives overnight Wednesday.

  • During an arrest raid in the [aptly named] village of a-Dik, south-east of the West Bank city of Kalkilia, two fugitives attempted to evade arrest were shot by and wounded in their legs by IDF troops. The two were taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment. IDF officers said the two would later be taken to the Shin Bet for investigation.

  • In Jenin an IDF soldier was lightly wounded from gunfire during an operation to arrest a fugitive in the city. The soldier was transferred to hospital.

  • In Silwad, north of Ramallah, where two fugitives were arrested, another soldier was lightly wounded when Palestinians opened fire at security forces conducting the raid.

  • Other arrests took place in Jaba’a north of Nablus, Nablus, Beit Dajan east of Nablus, Iktaba east of Tulkarm, Mizra A Sharkia north of Ramallah, Ramallah, in Bethlehem and the surrounding environs.

  • Shots were fired at soldiers deployed near Kafin east of Jenin.

  • During the night security forces demolished the homes of two terrorists in Beit Jalla near Bethlehem and Shuweike north of Tulkarm. In Beit Jalla north of Bethlehem security forces demolished the home of Mahmud Shakker Alan Muala, a member of the Hamas who recruited and dispatched suicide bombers including the terrorist who blew up on bus 20 in Jerusalem in November 2002 killing 12 Israeli civilians and wounding 40. Muala also planned to launch suicide bomb attacks in Judea and Samaria and abduct an Israeli bus and hold the passengers hostage. In Shuewike, security forces demolished the home of Issa Mahmud Ismail Batat, a member of the Islamic Jihad involved in the planning of suicide attacks in Israel. Bata was involved in the bomb attack in Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road in May 2001 in which 29 Israeli civilians were wounded and the attack in Jerusalem’s Rehov Melech David in December 2001 in which five Israelis were wounded.
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 9:17:53 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arafat warns Palestinian resistance will continue
JPost - Reg Req’d; Train just left station - Paleos and their baggage left seething on platform
The Palestinian people will continue to strive "for an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital," Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said in a press conference in Ramallah Thursday morning.
"Denial is a national theme for Palestine"
Arafat called the conference following Wednesday night’s press conference in the White House in which US President George W. Bush expressed his full support of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s unilateral withdrawal plan from the Gaza Strip and four other West Bank settlements. The Palestinians have a right to return to their homeland, Arafat said, thus countering Bush’s statement that the refugees would be resettled only in the areas of a future Palestinian State and not within the boundaries of Israel.
Another reason the fence is a good idea
Why have a Paleostinian state if you don't want to live there?
Arafat threatened that Palestinian "resistance" will continue, and said that Israel will not achieve security as long as it exists continues the occupation of Palestinian territories and the assassination of Palestinian leaders, referring to the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin last month. Prior to Arafat’s press conference, the Palestinian leadership held an emergency seethe fest meeting in the Mukata headquarters in Ramallah to discuss the outcome of the meeting between Bush and Sharon.
Ooooo another Emergency Meeting©
The Organization of Islamic Conference plan to hold an emergency meeting in the near future to discuss the latest developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict following the meeting in Washington between Sharon and Bush. Arafat requested the OIC to hold the special meeting prior to the organization’s planned meeting schedueled for next month.
That's a Double-Emergency Meeting, by Gawd!

Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 9:06:18 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Y'see what happens when you "send a message" to the Americans by blowing up their diplomats, Yasser? They get pissed and "send a message" right back. And because we're nice guys at heart, you even get to survive receiving the message.
Posted by: mojo || 04/15/2004 10:54 Comments || Top||

#2  One cruise missile should do the trick - right through Arafart's window.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 04/15/2004 11:13 Comments || Top||

#3  I hope that at the meeting they decide to blow themselves up in protest! Come on guys, make a statement!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 04/15/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||

#4 
Arafat warns Palestinian resistance will continue
And this would be different from it is now how, exactly?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/15/2004 20:43 Comments || Top||

#5  From the State Department Daily Press Briefing for Thursday:

QUESTION: Richard, what can you do, or has anything been said about the -- both the influence and negativity of Chairman Arafat? Apparently, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is agreeing with him and there seems to be a split with the moderates and --

MR. BOUCHER: Oh, that's much too tempting, but I won't comment on it. I think we've made clear all along our view of Mr. Arafat, of his failures in the past, his failures to achieve what the Palestinians want, which is to create an apparatus that can control terror and build a state. We hope that other leadership will emerge in the Palestinian community that has the capability, as well as the determination, to create the institutions of a state that can take over in these areas, that can create peace in these areas, and that can negotiate the final status issues with the Israelis.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/16/2004 3:48 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Italy says hostage died like hero
An Italian hostage shot dead in Iraq tried to look his killers in the eye and died like a hero, says Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
A man, unlike the savages who killed him...
Frattini told reporters that Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted outside Baghdad, was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head. "When the murderers were pointing a pistol at him, this man tried to take off his hood and shouted: ’Now I’m going to show you how an Italian dies’. And they killed him," Frattini said. "He died a hero." Quattrocchi’s kidnappers handed over a tape of the killing to the Arab news channel al Jazeera which refused to broadcast the scene, saying it was too bloody.
Oh, c'mon. Savages like that sort of thing...
However, an Italian diplomat viewed the tape and relayed the details to Rome. Quattrocchi left for Iraq in November to work as a security guard. The 36-year-old, who was specially trained to guard oil pipelines, was earning up to 10,000 euros (6,700 pounds) a month and saving to buy a house with his fiancee, Italian media said. But until his kidnapping, his mother thought the former baker was working in Kosovo. His kidnappers, a previously unheard of group, threatened to kill the other three Italian hostages if Italy does not withdraw its troops from Iraq and its support from the United States. Rome has rejected bowing to such pressure.
Posted by: Phil B || 04/15/2004 7:59:18 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Amazing: ’Now I’m going to show you how an Italian dies.’ No doubt, they do so with boots on.
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 04/15/2004 8:29 Comments || Top||

#2  ’Now I’m going to show you how an Italian dies.’

Now they'll find out how the Italians invented Dire Revenge.
Posted by: Steve || 04/15/2004 8:41 Comments || Top||

#3  May God bless him & his loved ones. That is a hard core quote. I hope his killers are hunted down like dogs and dispatched the same way.
Posted by: Jarhead || 04/15/2004 9:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Can't add anything to JH 's comment.
Posted by: Anonymous3973 || 04/15/2004 10:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Does the word "vendetta" ring a bell?
Posted by: mojo || 04/15/2004 10:37 Comments || Top||

#6  It seemed odd that the ghouls at Al Ja-zero would refuse to broadcast a snuff tape.
Now we know why: In his dying breath Quattrochi exposed their heroes for the cowards and animals they are.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 04/15/2004 10:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Bless this man and his family. And now, it's time to go Roman on the kidnappers.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/15/2004 11:24 Comments || Top||

#8  agree with AC
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 04/15/2004 11:25 Comments || Top||

#9  Love the quote. God Bless the man.

May it be the Italian version of "lets roll"
Posted by: peggy || 04/15/2004 12:09 Comments || Top||

#10  ..Definitely agree with AC, and add this - the bastards probably didn't shoot him, but tore him apart because he defied them..not even All-Jizz is going to risk showing that. The Italians would come over on their own and clean the place up.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/15/2004 13:22 Comments || Top||

#11  I agree with AC. Al-jitzz would not want to show that the victim had real balls while their buddies the kidnappers were too cowardly to even show their faces.

God bless this guy and his family.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 13:28 Comments || Top||

#12  Mike, he was shot in the head. They wouldn't have the guts to tear apart a man like this, even trussed and hooded. His murderers are the most contemptible type of cowards.

How many Italians are going to sit on the fence, now? In trying to intimidate Italy, militant Islam has simply given that country a martyr in the real sense of the word - a man wanting to live, yet brave, defiant and resolute when facing death.
Posted by: Bulldog || 04/15/2004 14:02 Comments || Top||

#13  Bulldog - you are assuming that the media has the balls to report his last words.

I dont know how the media in Italy is but here in America Peter Jennings and his clones probably would be scared of offending someone (cowards? CAIR?).....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 14:13 Comments || Top||

#14  If I am ever (God forbid) in that situation, I hope to be as brave as Mr. Quattrocchi. Viva Italiano.

Perhaps Italy should pull out its troops...

...after making sure nothing living remains.
Posted by: Jackal || 04/15/2004 15:48 Comments || Top||

#15  I am speechless, but nevertheless awed.

May God bless him and his family.

As for the scum that killed him, may they burn in hell along side with their allah.

I hope the news does not forget to report this.
Posted by: Michael || 04/15/2004 18:52 Comments || Top||

#16  I see an Iranian dip took two in the head today.
Payback, or have I seen too many of those movies?
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/15/2004 22:05 Comments || Top||

#17  Agree with AC...
Fabrizio, true hero, true patriot, portrait of courage. God be with you.
Posted by: jawa || 04/16/2004 0:06 Comments || Top||


Japanese hostages freed
Posted by: Lux || 04/15/2004 07:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  freed huh? Was this all a charade?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 8:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Was this all a charade?

-methinks yes. It will all come out in the wash, I bet w/in the next year one of them will slip up and divulge that it was all a hoax.
Posted by: Jarhead || 04/15/2004 9:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Saw a story on this on TV. The media were all fawning on the 'hostages' and 'cleric' who secured their release. No mention that it might have been all a hoax.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/15/2004 10:22 Comments || Top||


Iranian diplomat shot dead in Baghdad
An Iranian diplomat was shot and killed close to the Iranian mission in Baghdad Thursday, Iraqi police and diplomatic staff said. A Reuters correspondent saw a car apparently used by the Iranian diplomat with at least two bullet holes in it. A body was lying inside, covered by a blanket.
One of the Iranians that turned up recently for the Sadr ’negotiations’?
Posted by: Lux || 04/15/2004 7:23:02 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An Iranian diplomat was shot and killed close to the Iranian mission in Baghdad Thursday, Iraqi police and diplomatic staff said. A Reuters correspondent saw a car apparently used by the Iranian diplomat with at least two bullet holes in it. A body was lying inside, covered by a blanket.
Posted by: Lux || 04/15/2004 7:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Gee, thats, um, too bad.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 04/15/2004 8:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Just two bullet holes? Sounds like a sniper missed and hit the target.
Posted by: Charles || 04/15/2004 8:11 Comments || Top||

#4  More here.
This certainly is an interesting developement
Posted by: tipper || 04/15/2004 8:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Remember, it's not just the jihadi nutbags with guns over there. I suspect there are a lot of Iraqis with grudges against Iran.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 8:46 Comments || Top||

#6  so was he a "reformer" or a hardliner?
Posted by: B || 04/15/2004 9:05 Comments || Top||

#7  yes
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 9:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Perfect answer, Frank! =)
Posted by: docob || 04/15/2004 10:27 Comments || Top||

#9  My sources tell me that Black Flag, the Iraqi anti-terrorist vigilante group, has been threatening Sadr supporters, as well as Baathist left-overs and jihadist media, and has probably been responsible for a number of recent killings under cover of the fighting in Shiite areas.
All this, naturally, has received very little notice from the defeatist media.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 04/15/2004 11:03 Comments || Top||

#10  let more iranians come and die. this guy deserved it. they are the hands pulling the strings with thier puppet sadr, they give him assurances of support! once things go bad they come in as a neutral player to mediate. what a crock!
Posted by: Dan || 04/15/2004 11:19 Comments || Top||

#11  From tipper's link: "The hood of the Naimi's car was crumpled and bullet holes pockmarked the windshield." Sounds like the sniper was standing on the hood. That's a real message!
Posted by: Tom || 04/15/2004 11:39 Comments || Top||

#12  Black Flag? After the band, or the insecticide (or something else entirely)? I like the idea of them naming themselves after a cockroach killer...
Posted by: Kathy K || 04/15/2004 14:37 Comments || Top||

#13  My source tells me that he's been told that it is the roach killer, for real. It's apparently a popular product in Iraq. They are not anarchists at any rate.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 04/15/2004 16:01 Comments || Top||

#14  Who are these Black Flag guys - This shows that there are some folks on the right side with humor and style. Black Flag squished a cockroach!
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 16:09 Comments || Top||

#15  Naming a paramilitary group Black Flag sounds like something a SF/retired SF working for MR. Smith's Company(with that special SF sense of humor)"advisor" would do.
Posted by: Stephen || 04/15/2004 17:14 Comments || Top||

#16  There you have it, proof positive of clandestine American involvement. I don't suppose any Iraqis are smart enough to come up with it othewise, especially since the BBC and Michael Moore assure us that all Iraqis are united behind the resistance.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 04/15/2004 21:09 Comments || Top||


Sadr calls it quits
London Telegraph. EFL.
Brave Moqtada al-Sadr
Rode forth from old Najaf
He was not afraid to die
Oh, Moqtada al-Sadr!
He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways
Brave, brave, brave Moqtada al-Sadr . . .
The fiery radical at the heart of Iraq’s Shia revolt sued for peace yesterday, buckling under the twin pressures of a massive build-up of American forces near his base and demands for moderation from the country’s ayatollahs. Moqtada al-Sadr, who raised the standard of anti-American revolt 12 days ago, sent out envoys from the holy city of Najaf carrying his peace terms. Well within 155mm artillery range of Barely 13 miles from his hideout, United States tanks and heavy artillery began to enforce an "exclusion zone", apparently a first step towards an assault. Sadr despatched an envoy, Abdul Karim al-Anzi, from Najaf to Baghdad carrying his terms to end the stand-off. . . . Haider Aziz, one of Sadr’s translators, disclosed the radical leader’s peace terms: "He does not want to be attacked, he wants his personal safety and he wants coalition forces to withdraw from Najaf."
"The terms are this: 1. You don’t kill me. 2. I quit. 3. I get to not die, okay? 4. When you see me, you don’t shoot me or anything like that. Did I mention that, like, no-one is supposed to kill me or anything? ’Cause that’s like the most important part."
He added that if these conditions were met, Sadr would agree to disband his militia, the Army of the Mahdi, which has provided US troops with live target practice proved itself a formidable military force. "He will dissolve the tattered remnants of the Mahdi Army and it will become another social or political organisation for improving the condition of the Iraqi people," said Mr Aziz. Sadr himself told a German news agency that he sought to free Najaf "from the claws of the occupiers", but he was open to "not dying anytime soon" "well-meaning" negotiations.

Brave Moqtada ran away
Bravely ran away away
When it appeared he would be fragged
Like the French, he flew white flags
Yes brave Moqtada saved his skin
By giving up and giving in
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat . . .


While "Mashed Tater" would have psychologically satisfying, if we can win by intimidation, without having to kill people, so much the better.
Posted by: Mike || 04/15/2004 7:17:39 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Umm ... "formidable military force" ???
Posted by: rkb || 04/15/2004 7:30 Comments || Top||

#2  [The Mahdi army] will become another social or political organisation for improving the condition of the Iraqi people

ie. Sharia law implemented by AK47's and RPG's - what a nice chap.
Posted by: Howard UK || 04/15/2004 7:37 Comments || Top||

#3  RKB -- remember, that's a reporter's assessment. They get nervous around toddlers with squirt guns.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/15/2004 8:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Unacceptable. We already laid out our terms and he accepts those or dies.
Posted by: Charles || 04/15/2004 8:12 Comments || Top||

#5  He started this fight, let the Marines end it. Then we'll know this dirt bag is having a long dirt nap.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 04/15/2004 8:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Sounds to me like our plan involves letting this chubby, semi-retarded loudmouth make a complete fool of himself--and his cause--before bagging him.

Good. It'll help drive the point home.
Posted by: Dave D. || 04/15/2004 8:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Totally caving in and being shown to be a coward after all his words about wanting to die is much better than his becoming a dead symbol. He can always have a heart attack, later.
Posted by: Steve || 04/15/2004 8:53 Comments || Top||

#8  Once he's a crying mess, expose his ties to Iran, threaten the mullahs with retaliation, follow through. Sounds like a plan
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 9:07 Comments || Top||

#9  RC: lol!
Posted by: B || 04/15/2004 9:09 Comments || Top||

#10  But...but..but...I thought he wanted to be a martyr.
Posted by: Denny || 04/15/2004 9:26 Comments || Top||

#11  Let's give Sadr a Grant (Ulysses S Grant, that is):
No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.
Posted by: Dar || 04/15/2004 10:21 Comments || Top||

#12  sure hope this guy is finished. if he is not the arab street will only see weakness.
Posted by: Dan || 04/15/2004 11:16 Comments || Top||

#13  I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!
Posted by: Unmutual || 04/15/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||

#14  There was a mullah thug named Sadr
who didn't want to die like his fad'r...

(sorry, too much coffee and not enough sleep)
Posted by: Pappy || 04/15/2004 11:56 Comments || Top||

#15  Shia didn't back him up enmass and the Iranians probably didn't like all the open talk about their involvment. Run, run, run away and try to start trouble another day.
Posted by: ruprecht || 04/15/2004 11:59 Comments || Top||

#16  Haider Aziz, one of Sadr’s translators, disclosed the radical leader’s peace terms:

Sadr's dictating "terms"? I say finish the turd off already. Find out where he's hiding and put a 2,000 lb. delivery right on the roof.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 04/15/2004 12:15 Comments || Top||

#17  My response would be: Nuts!
Posted by: Raj || 04/15/2004 13:10 Comments || Top||

#18  Beg for mercy tater! Beg for it.....NOPE!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 04/15/2004 13:11 Comments || Top||

#19  I wish to defer my virgin account for now.

Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 13:48 Comments || Top||

#20  To continue Pappy's thought:
There was a mullah thug named Sadr
who didn't want to die like his fad'r...
But he said, "Virgins must wait.
Tell them that i'll be late."
I'm avoiding aims of Blackhawk choppers

Well- I'm close - Not written many limericks in my 51 years.
Posted by: Anonymous4052 || 04/15/2004 13:57 Comments || Top||

#21  CNN just put up an article saying that McDonald's is going to start offering adult-sized "Happy Meals." Don't tell me this is a coincidence.
Posted by: Matt || 04/15/2004 13:59 Comments || Top||

#22  I'm sure there are at least a dozen groups actively working on his 'accident' as we sit here typing... maybe more.

Bye, bye, monkey-pie. Say hello to Yassin for me...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/15/2004 14:04 Comments || Top||

#23  Top US commander in Iraq Ricardo Sanchez said "the mission of US forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr."

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt is vowing to "destroy" the militia loyal to al-Sadr, accused of killing a rival cleric.

Mission accomplished?
Posted by: Anonymous4210 || 04/15/2004 15:43 Comments || Top||

#24  Can I play?

There once was a mullah thug Sadr
Not nearly as brave as his fad'r
He isn't a martyr
But prefers to barter
With the lives of his dumb cannon fodder
Posted by: docob || 04/15/2004 17:11 Comments || Top||

#25  Nice docob.

May I interject a haiku:


sadr tater

about to take long nap

in dirt
Posted by: Jarhead || 04/15/2004 17:27 Comments || Top||

#26  Who the hell is he too give his terms for peace
Posted by: smokeysinse || 04/15/2004 17:28 Comments || Top||

#27  Smokeysinse. He's a member of the Religion of Peace, they are gonna learn a lot about Peace. Resting in Peace.
Posted by: ruprecht || 04/15/2004 19:52 Comments || Top||

#28  I bow to the master, docob.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/15/2004 20:04 Comments || Top||

#29  Looks like Sadr lead the Bad Guys™ into trouble and his will, not of iron, crumpled like a tin can when he faced the steel resolve of our troops.
Posted by: Korora || 04/15/2004 20:20 Comments || Top||

#30  1:1 odds that he will end up in Iran or have some Army medic shining a penlight into his mouth.
Posted by: Anonymous4226 || 04/15/2004 20:50 Comments || Top||

#31  I just followed up on your idea, Pappy, but thanks, and to you as well Jarhead.
Posted by: Anonymous4227 || 04/15/2004 21:06 Comments || Top||

#32  "He does not want to be attacked, he wants his personal safety and he wants coalition forces to withdraw from Najaf."

Yeah, now that his tit's in the wringer. He was talking real brave a few days ago. Wanted to die for his cause and all that.

Like I said; ALL TURBAN AND NO SHEEP.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/16/2004 0:02 Comments || Top||


Put Saddam on trial sooner than later
Poison. That’s the word. "A lot of poison in Iraqi society built up over the years of Saddam Hussein’s rule, a poison in the body politic," Coalition Provisional Authority chief Paul Bremer said in a recent televised interview. "And we’re going to have to deal with that. ... It’s got to come out."

Bremer’s right. Saddam’s Baath fascist regime not only poisoned Iraqi society, its cruelty embedded, en masse, the human emotional poisons of bitterness, distrust and constant fear. Other toxins churn and sicken Iraq. Syria and Iran pump death into Iraqi streets, as they arm and finance Baath fascists and extremist militias. Al-Qaida, behind the mask of Ansar al Islam, adds another terrible venom. The defeat of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi militia crimps Iran’s attempt to ignite a proxy war in Iraq. Democracy — the antidote to Iraq’s, and for that matter, Iran’s systemic illness — frightens Iran’s theocratic dictators. Some day, Iran’s clerical and Syria’s secular tyrants will be held responsible for the destruction they have brought to their own people.

But Iraq must heal first. In order to heal, Iraq must have courageous Iraqi leadership. It is no surprise that Iraq, at the moment, has no unifying political leader. Saddam used fear to fragment his opposition. The break goes beyond the ethnic and religious cleavages. The Shia, Kurd and Sunni communities are all split internally, for Saddam and his secret police pitted Sunni against Sunni and Kurd against Kurd. Other factions — Turkomen, Arab Christians, Yazidis — further complicate the broken kaleidoscope. The Iraqi Governing Council has undertaken several leadership initiatives, including nurturing bilateral foreign relationships. These are the first steps in developing a foreign policy for "New Iraq." IGC involvement with the Fallujah cease-fire discussions is another step forward.

Ironically, there is one unifying figure in New Iraq, a man who reminds everyone of tyranny and its consequences: Saddam Hussein. It’s a bitter paradox. The divided Iraqi people share the common scars of suffering from Saddam’s cruelty, theft and barbarism. Baathist corruption and theft impoverished a country rich in natural resources and human talent. Kurds and Shias got the worst of it, but the Baathists oppressed Sunnis, as well. Moreover, two generations of Sunni intellectuals and technocrats were either jailed or corrupted by the Baath regime. Like East European intellectuals in the Cold War, educated Sunni Arabs entered "internal exile" in order to stay alive. They kept their mouths shut and eyes averted — morally damning compromises, but the life or death choice made by all but an exceptional few trapped in dictatorships.

So perhaps it is time to put Saddam on trial, sooner instead of later. Saddam in the dock — in an Iraqi court, not an international forum — pinpoints the central source of poison, and begins the process of reconciling cure. Saddam’s trial would open up common wounds, reminding the Iraqi people of the hell they shared and have escaped. Mass murder of Shias, the destruction of mosques in Najaf, chemical weapons used on Kurds, for that matter, chemical weapons used on Iranians — public trial addresses these crimes and their lingering effects. Other subjects of common interest would receive a global airing, such as the United Nations’ thoroughly corrupted Oil For Food program. If the trial exposes a slew of anti-American politicians and critics as being little more than paid flacks for Saddam, so be it. France’s sweetheart oil deal with Saddam, the details of which remain murky, will also interest Iraqi prosecutors. Iraqis paid for the oil fiascoes with their blood — that’s the poisonous "blood for oil" scandal a trial will examine.

In fact, New Iraq and the CPA should have moved on the internal "judicial front" much more quickly. Democratic judicial processes provide a stark, confidence-raising contrast with Saddam’s ancien regime and the violent whims of Fallujah’s thugs. British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote in an essay for The Observer that a democratic Iraq would deal a blow "to the poisonous propaganda of the extremists." Saddam’s public trial, under the rule of democratic law, would help treat the effects of the anti-American and anti-Western lies spread in Islamo-fascist-funded madrassas, that global source of poison.
Posted by: tipper || 04/15/2004 3:44:40 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Saddam’s trial would open up common wounds"
Sometimes you have to open the wounds to drain the pus.
It's time to start putting these bastards on trial,trial by Iraqis.
Posted by: raptor || 04/15/2004 8:15 Comments || Top||

#2  I suspect we've been waiting for the June 30 hand-over so that the trials can be done under Iraqi sovreignity. And, as we release these mutts to the Iraqi authority, there will be no issue of Geneva Convention protection -- they've been repatriated to a civilian authority who will now try them for war crimes.

I agree with the thrust of the article -- getting the top 20 Ba'athists in the docket in efficient trials (no Carla Del Ponte nonsense) will help focus Iraq and the Arab world on what happened, and why.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/15/2004 11:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Except we can't institute the death penalty until an Iraqi government is in place.

Of course, they could always release him, publicly, in the Kurdish region.
Posted by: Kathy K || 04/15/2004 14:39 Comments || Top||


Encore - Boucher deals with Fallujah attrocity allegations
QUESTION: Human Rights Watch called for an investigation into allegations that the U.S. forces have used excessive force, using -- causing undue -- and undue collective punishment on the population. Will the U.S. comply? And what is the status of Fallujah? I mean, how does -- technically, what is its status? It’s occupied? It’s hostile? It’s what?
MR. BOUCHER: The second question I, frankly, don’t understand. Fallujah is a city in Iraq. It needs to be administered by the government of Iraq. It needs to be peaceful for the sake of its local population, and we and others are making efforts to bring security to the people of Fallujah; we’re making efforts to exercise -- help the government, the Iraqis exercise good government in Fallujah. And I think we’ve pointed out that much of the trouble in Fallujah, including recently, has been the result of foreign fighters and Iraqis who might be working with them and supporting them, not necessarily the general population of the area. So Fallujah is an Iraqi city which, like other cities, needs to have peace and security for the sake of the people who live there, and needs to let the people who live there run their own affairs without interference from other foreigners and without violence caused by other elements coming in.

QUESTION: About on the allegations?
MR. BOUCHER: On the allegations, I think I’d have to leave that to the Pentagon; that when there are allegations involving U.S. forces, obviously, we’re aware of those. Whether the specific thing with Human Rights Watch is something that needs to be looked into or not I’d leave to them. I would point out though that U.S. forces always follow very high standards of professional conduct, and when there are difficulties that arise, it’s often our own internal -- their own internal vigilance that discovers them, investigates them and rectifies them.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 3:25:26 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is my understanding that if one side refuses to follow the Geneva convention, the other side is no longer bound by it. Since the Fallujah gangsters were not following it, we don't have to.
Posted by: Ben || 04/15/2004 4:49 Comments || Top||

#2  The Jenin Massacre was some time ago, there has been time to prepare for the inevitable false claims that everyone knew would be made.

There were a lot of claims of Police brutality in the US so the cops started putting cameras on their cars so they'd have evidence against false claims. Time for the military to start thinking along those lines as well since they don't want journalists in the way.
Posted by: ruprecht || 04/15/2004 12:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Ruprecht, how many kids, women and old folks will we find in he graves on the two football fields? After this is over I call for them to be exhumed and for the tally to begin. I speculate that we won't even find bodies in all of the "graves."
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 13:11 Comments || Top||

#4  I agree to some extent the graves are designed to hide numbers, nationalities, and methods of execution. I imagine any women or children found will have been excuted with an Ak-47 round not by a marine weapon. My point is the seeds of doubt will still be out there among the conspiracy addled minds of the Islamic world and among our own LLL who think the US capable of such crap. Video evidence helps somewhat.
Posted by: ruprecht || 04/15/2004 19:50 Comments || Top||

#5  I agree with you ruprecht. The military does use video in cases like the specops rescue of that girl soldier. In most combat situations you would have a tough time convincing me to trade a weapon for a camera, though. Certainly videoing the exhumation would be a must. Don't forget that video does lie, though, usually when al Jezeera or a Palestinian is holding the camera. It's better to count the really dead bodies so they don't get up and walk away when the director yells, "cut."
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 23:05 Comments || Top||


Egypt visit was apparently about Iraq not Gaza pullout
QUESTION: High-level academics and ex-U.S. diplomats have said during a forum that was held by the Egyptian-American Council on the Relations of the Egyptian-American Council, they said that they predicted that the United States was going to use its partnership with Egypt during Mr. Mubarak’s visit in order to employ that partnership to have Egypt contribute in helping the new Iraqi government develop a new system and trainings for the military, Iraqi military, and security people there. And they indicated that the recognition of Egypt of the new Iraqi government is very essential for the United States in order to give legitimacy to the new government in Iraq. Is that the United States position? And what has the United States asked Mr. Mubarak to present, you know, for Egypt to give? What kind of help did you ask them?
MR. BOUCHER: I think the first part of your question I can only answer in a general way. I think the Egyptians will have to answer what their capabilities might be, what their willingness might be, to take on certain tasks. But, certainly, we encouraged Egypt and any other governments in the region or elsewhere to try to get involved in helping, as best they can and in ways that they can, in the reconstruction of Iraq. We’d certainly welcome such a role and we work with a great number of countries who do work in Iraq already. As far as the other part of your question -- what was the other part of your question?

QUESTION: What kind of help did the United States ask Mr. Mubarak to --?
MR. BOUCHER: No, that was the first part of your question.

QUESTION: You asked them to recognize --
MR. BOUCHER: Oh, recognition for Iraqi interim government, certainly, that is important to us. As we have worked very hard with the Iraqi Governing Council to get its acceptance in the Arab League and the Islamic Conference to have representatives of Iraq be able to appear at the United Nations, it certainly is important to us to have the world recognize and work with the Iraqi interim government as the sovereign government of Iraq responsible for running the day-to-day affairs in Iraq after June 30th. And I think, one of the things I noted at the press conference this morning by Ambassador Brahimi, was he said that the UN would be looking forward to engaging with the interim government as the legitimate government of the state of Iraq, and we would hope that everybody would be willing to do that as well.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 3:20:44 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Boucher cuts through the bu@@ Sh$$ denuances US position on Tater
QUESTION: Have you heard about Muqtada al-Sadr now saying that he is dropping his preconditions for negotiations with the U.S., even though the U.S. apparently didn’t ask for negotiations directly with him? What’s your reaction to that? And does it open the way?
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, it’s kind of what you just said. We, as you know, first of all, in terms of how to work this situation, those decisions and who to talk to and all that needs to be worked out by the people on the ground in Iraq, and they are the ones who are working it. So I can’t give you any particular course of action or discussions or lack thereof or intermediaries [inaudible]. U.S. position though, U.S. policy, has been that we’re quite open and willing to look for a peaceful resolution of the difficulties around Najaf and easing of tensions. We have made clear all along, however, that Mr. al-Sadr needs to face Iraqi justice since there is an Iraqi criminal indictment or criminal charge against him; second of all, that as described in the Transitional Administrative Law, that militias need to be disbanded; and third of all, the government needs to be restored, legitimate government needs to be restored and the government needs -- government property needs to be returned. They need to return to the police stations and be able to exercise legitimate government authority in that city as elsewhere in Iraq.

QUESTION: And likely, the President’s affirmation that U.S. -- or coalition forces will pursue Sadr to arrest him or kill him, and so on, is it your impression that the Iranians will not be sort of affected if that happens? [inaudible]
MR. BOUCHER: That would require a level of political sophistication from me that I’m not prepared to offer because I don’t think I have it. There are different elements in the Shia community. There are some that are closely tied to Iran, some opposed, some secular, some religious, some -- you know, there are different, different people within that community. It’s not a single bloc as you point out. But exactly what the effects of this or that might end up being, I wouldn’t want to speculate.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 3:16:57 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Boucher answers questions about the Iranian Delegation
EFL from State Department Daily Press Brief
QUESTION: Richard, two, hopefully, brief things. The President also said last night that he was sending Deputy Secretary Armitage out to the Middle East to talk about the transition and get this board of the -- Iraq’s neighbors. Can you be a little bit more specific about where Mr. Armitage will be going? And I’ll stop there.
MR. BOUCHER: I can be a little more -- give you a little better idea, but right from the start, I’ve got to say that given the security considerations involved in the travel, we don’t expect to be able to put out an itinerary or to be able to link specific stops and the specific dates. He’ll be leaving Friday night; he’ll be in the region from then into next week; he’ll be visiting Gulf States; he’ll be visiting some of Iraq’s neighbors.

QUESTION: Okay, and on that line, you wouldn’t expect him to go to Iran, though, would you?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I wouldn’t.

QUESTION: Okay. On the subject of Iran, Foreign Minister Kharazi seems to be under the impression that the United States has made a formal request to the Iranians to mediate the dispute with -- the standoff in Najaf and deal with al-Sadr. Is there anything -- is he correct in his -- in his impression? And if he is, or if he isn’t, what do you make of the fact that the Iranians have sent a team now into Iraq?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, I’d say a couple things. First of all, the U.S. did not invite Iranian officials to Baghdad for those purposes, or did not invite Iranian officials to Baghdad. On the general question of the remarks that I saw, I would say that we have made clear to Iran, as we’ve made clear to others of Iraq’s neighbors that they need to play a helpful role, they need to play a positive role and calm the situation, help Iraq achieve the goal of a stable transition on July 1 and help with the reconstruction of a stable democratic and peaceful neighbor. We have been concerned about the role that Iran has been playing, and it’s something that we monitor very closely.

QUESTION: Well, if you didn’t invite Iranian officials to Baghdad for that purpose, did you invite them for any purpose?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I then added a sentence after that. We did not invite Iranian officials to Baghdad, period.

QUESTION: Oh, well then --

QUESTION: You’re getting an invitation. Did you ask the Iranians to use their good offices to help the situation?
MR. BOUCHER: We -- I’m not -- the United States did not ask the Iranian officials to go to Baghdad to do that.

QUESTION: I’m trying to take the "go to Baghdad" out of the --
MR. BOUCHER: We made clear to Iran, as we have made clear to other neighbors, that all countries need to try to play a helpful role in stabilizing this situation, do what they can to stabilize the situation, and avoid any sort of interference or any actions that might increase tensions. That has been made clear to Iran, I’d say, all along, but also recently.

QUESTION: Well, forgetting -- forget about the invitation or not, what do you think of them sending this foreign ministry delegation there, ostensibly with the aim of easing the tensions?
MR. BOUCHER: I think I had no particular comment on a particular delegation. What I would say is, in general, we do monitor Iranian activities and the role that they play, and we want that to be a helpful role as we have said to Iran and as we have said to other neighbors.

QUESTION: Well, is it a good thing? Is it not a good thing? I mean, you said you don’t want them to -- you said to avoid any sort of interference. This certainly seems to be something that could be construed as (inaudible) interference.
MR. BOUCHER: The answer is not the delegation. The answer is what do they do, and if they do. If they help stabilize the situation, that would be good -- if they don’t, that would not be good.

QUESTION: Without asking them to go to Baghdad again, did you specifically ask them to try and mediate the current kind of tensions with the Shiites and see if they can -- say if they can do specific things to calm the tension, rather than, you know, just asking all of Iraq’s neighbors?
MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: Well, is it conceivable that this trip could be a good thing? You said only if they help save lives, but you’re open-minded about their purposes until you see --
MR. BOUCHER: I don’t think I know enough about their purposes and they’re -- what they’re going to do yet, to be able to describe it one way or the other.

QUESTION: Can you say when the last time it was that you made clear to Iran that they need to play a helpful and constructive --
MR. BOUCHER: As you know, we have various channels of communicating with Iran when we need to, and we have made clear that we’re willing to do that on practical matters, on matters that are of importance to us. We’ve done that all along. I think rather than getting into any specific messages or dates, I would just say that we have done that all along and recently, as well.

QUESTION: Well, okay. And recently?
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: I know you’re going to tell me to ask him. But since I’m not in Tehran and I can’t ask Foreign Minister Kharazi, is it your impression that what he was talking about today would have referred to your most recent discussion or your most recent message to Iran that they should play a helpful role?
MR. BOUCHER: I don’t really know. I just don’t know what he was referring to.
I don’t think we invited the Iranian Delegation.
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 3:06:13 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  LOL!

Whatever they're hiding, they're hiding it.
Posted by: someone || 04/15/2004 3:10 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't think the State Department wants to admit that somebody wandered off reservation & did something spineless.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/15/2004 7:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Someone is taking notice of the Iranian delegation though, and "not in a good way".
Posted by: Charles || 04/15/2004 8:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Rumor has it that the Brits invited Iran. (I'm off to eat my pound of salt.)
Posted by: Kathy K || 04/15/2004 14:44 Comments || Top||


In Iraqi villages - Business Booms for Arms Traders
...According to a youth who peddles in bullets in the village's main market, the community's wealth of weapons comes from a Republican Guard brigade base that was abandoned during the war. "We sell weapons, but we don't get involved in the resistance, and we don't care if our buyers use the weapons to resist the Americans, to rob or to murder," the youngster said.

Diala provincial police are trying to shut down the weapons vendors but are not having much success. "We caught some of the arms sellers in Diala, but there are others out there," said policeman Khaled Rahman. Unreliable officers may be warning weapons traders, as the police force no longer requires the tight background checks that the former regime insisted on. "Anyone can join the Iraqi police in this current situation," Rahman said. "It's possible that some members of the resistance are also members of the police."

Many locals are proud that Diala is serving as Iraq's arsenal. As a result, said money-changer Hamed Hussein, locals do not inform the police about the trade, and let the vendors know if they hear of any impending raids "so they can quickly clear out". But Diala is not just a market for arms, it also is a showcase for their use. At 9.00 pm, the main market in the provincial capital of Baaqouba empties as US forces respond to the apparent discovery of a bomb. Minutes later, a pop, a shrill hiss and a blast signify an RPG-7 attack. This time, no one is hurt. Traders say it's a common tactic employed by insurgents is to issue a fake bomb threat, then ambush the Americans when they come to defuse it. "The Americans clear out the place, then gather together in an easy target for a rocket," said local Jasem Halim. He says it is "the best way to attack a large number of US vehicles while keeping the citizens safe".
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 02:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Traders say it's a common tactic employed by insurgents is to issue a fake bomb threat, then ambush the Americans when they come to defuse it.

"The Americans clear out the place, then gather together in an easy target for a rocket," said local Jasem Halim.

He says it is "the best way to attack a large number of US vehicles while keeping the citizens safe".


Maybe it's time to stop responding to bomb threats and let folks at the location defuse them on their own.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/15/2004 2:17 Comments || Top||


Iraqi commentator seesTater reliving dad’s fight with Sadaam
EFL from Journalist Dhiya Rasan is an IWPR (Institute for War & Peace Reporting) trainee. IMO, the article provides a refreshing non-rabid, objective insiders view of the conflict.
Muqtada Al-Sadr’s uprising recalls revolt triggered by the assassination of his father five years ago.
By Dhiya Rasan in Baghdad (ICR No. 58, 13-Apr-04)
Seven US M1A1 tanks, brought in to put down a revolt by members of the Mahdi Army of Shiite preacher Muqtada al-Sadr, stand a few hundred metres down a broad dusty avenue from northeast Baghdad’s Mohsen Mosque. This, however, is not the first time the neighbourhood has seen an insurrection. Five years ago, local residents rose up against Saddam Hussein’s security forces after the assassination of Muqtada’s father, the widely venerated Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammed Sadek al-Sadr. The image of the murders - Sadr and his two elder sons machine-gunned in their car as they left sunset prayers - is now the subject of religious imagery. Saddam blamed other Shia clerics for the triple slayings, but few Iraqis doubted that the dictator’s henchmen killed the outspoken ayatollah.
Sounds like Tater is serious about his bid for suicide by Abrams.
Local Sadrist representative Adel al-Shara, grey-bearded despite his age of 29, was a cleric and follower of the elder Sadr in this sprawling slum, then known as Saddam City but renamed Sadr City following the dictator’s fall.
When it's renamed Riverview Gardens or something similarly innocuous we'll know all this is over...
The day after the murders, Shara was in the Mohsen Mosque where shocked residents gathered on hearing the news. The crowd, which eventually spilled out into the street, "prayed in the spirit of its leader", Shara said. Meanwhile, Baathist militia and security forces gathered outside. They called for the crowd to disperse, but the mourners chanted the ayatollah’s popular slogan, "No, no to Satan."
And the obvious result:
As tensions rose, the security forces opened fire. Inside the mosque, weapons were handed out, and a pitched battle soon raged.
Is there a mosque anywhere that's not chock full of weapons? I've never seen an arms room in a church or synagogue, though I guess that's why they get burnt down and mosques don't...
Several security vehicles were set on fire. But Saddam’s forces eventually shot their way into the mosque, killing some 200 people inside and arresting Shara along with many of his fellow clerics. Several of his colleagues were executed and at least one was tortured to death. To ensure no further trouble from congregations, the mosque’s doors were welded shut. Sadr’s assassination and the Mohsen Mosque uprising ended a two-year renaissance of Shia religiosity, but it did not snuff out the movement altogether. In the 1990s, as part of a general strategy of encouraging religion to bolster the legitimacy of his regime, Saddam allowed Sadr to introduce communal Friday prayers. If Saddam was expecting a pliant cleric, however, he was mistaken. Sadr was steeped in the philosophy of his relative, Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, a pioneer of Shia political Islamism killed by the regime in 1981.
Anyone notice the pattern? Tater thinks he’s Lt Dan from Forest Gump.
Sadr dubbed his nascent movement the "al-Hawza al-Natiqa" or "the Outspoken Seminary". Sadr also encouraged his followers to study religion, to introduce it into their daily lives and to turn to the marjaeya, or clergy, for guidance...
Hey, that plan sounds vaguely familiar.
By then Sadr’s sermons had taken on a more political tone. He addressed pan-Islamic concerns like Palestine and the sanctions on Iraq, but also indirectly criticised Saddam - who was collaborating with the Americans against Iraqis. At the time, the sermons - recorded on cassette tapes and widely distributed across the country - were one of the few voices the regime could not control. Indeed, as Shara puts it, Sadr’s prayers "threatened the throne of the tyrant", and as a result "they spread rumours saying he was a spy and collaborator with Saddam". But Shara says the public ignored these stories and followed Sadr’s orders to go to Najaf and Karbala on foot to mark Shia religious holidays, a practice banned by the regime since the 1970s to squelch political activity. In February 1999, the ayatollah delivered his 45th Friday sermon. Wearing a white burial shroud - which has become a symbol of the Sadrists and the unofficial uniform of the Mahdi Army - he addressed his followers for what was to be the last time. The next evening he was assassinated.
Note to Coalition Soldiers shoot the guys decked out in white cheese-cloth.
The younger son, Muqtada, was spared, and after the fall of the regime he inherited his father’s movement. As chaos gripped post-war Baghdad, Sadrist preachers across Sadr City organised vigilante committees to guard neighbourhoods and prevent looting of public institutions. Others distributed food and water. Meanwhile, Muqtada al-Sadr continued his father’s pan-Islamic rhetoric. He criticised the US occupation, although always staying just short of a direct and unambiguous call for violence, and in the summer of 2003 he created his Mahdi Army as an alternative to the newly formed US sponsored New Iraqi Army. Sadr’s followers contrast Muqtada with the US-appointed Governing Council, which is composed largely of Iraqis who lived outside the country during Saddam’s regime. "Sayyid Muqtada is not like the Governing Council. He lived through our situation and our suffering, and knows what we want," said a young man in Shara’s office who identifies himself as Abu Moataz. I want to be with Sayed Muqtada, even if I’m crushed by American tanks," said Moataz...
Be sure to record a video asswipe.
A few rooms away from where Shara speaks, his followers display the wreckage of an AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile, which they say smashed into a small mosque next to their office. The Sadrists say they are the only ones standing up against the Coalition.
No there is plenty of Iranian, Syrian, and Saudi cannon-fodder that wants to grease th treads of our tanks as well. Let’s not forget the AQ-ites, dregs of Baathism and general crimanals as well.
"There is no other political trend facing tyrants and unbelievers," said a self-proclaimed Mahdi Army soldier in Shara’s office. "There are lots of other scholars and preachers but they don’t confront anything."
Posted by: Super Hose || 04/15/2004 2:02:31 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus
Basayev ditches Maskhadov's men
It's from RIA Novosti via Pravda ...
Terrorist Shamil Basayev has removed the stooges of the Chechen separatists' leader, Maskhadov, from commanding bandit units. RIA Novosti was told about it in the regional operational headquarters for controlling the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. "The law enforcement bodies have received information that Basayev made reshuffles in the high command of the illegal armed units. In so doing, he dismissed from high posts the stooges of Maskhadov, former president of Ichkeria," the official information of the headquarters reported. Notorious terrorist Rappani Khalidov has been appointed the so-called commander of the Daghestan front, and the ringleader, known as Megas, the so-called commander of the Ingush front.
Neither Dagestan nor Ingushetia is part of Chechnay...
Apart from that, Basayev has sent emissaries to some regions who must establish contact with former militants and make them actively recruit young people into the ranks of illegal armed units, the document says. Since Basayev relies in his actions on the support of the militants who have stained themselves with the blood of civilians and who are staunch advocates of Wahhabism, the law enforcement bodies are taking measures aimed at finding out the recruiters and at explanatory work with the population. According to the information given by the local inhabitants to the law enforcers, two men show obvious signs of recruiters of youngsters of 14-15 years of age. The information is being checked. The local authorities are conducting an explanatory work among the local population with the aim of raising their vigilance and convincing them to cooperate with the local militia.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 1:03:14 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dan, what is Ichkeria supposed to be?
Posted by: beer_me || 04/15/2004 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  It's what the Chechens call Chechnya.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 04/15/2004 1:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Further reports include the method of removal as being a sharp turn while carrying a board...
Posted by: flash91 || 04/15/2004 12:52 Comments || Top||


Chechen hard boyz surrounded
Russian federal forces together with Chechen law enforcement agencies are carrying out an operation in a mountainous region in eastern Chechnya to surround a guerilla unit that killed policemen in the community of Ishkhoi-Yurt and on a road running from this village to Meskety early Tuesday. Spokesman for the regional operational headquarters for the antiterrorist operation in the North Caucasus Col. Ilya Shabalkin told Interfax on Wednesday that various federal units were brought in to surround and wipe out the guerillas immediately after they killed the policemen.
Russians won't worry about their own losses much as long as they get every one of these jokers. Compare and contrast to Marines in Fallujah.
"Intelligence information indicates that the guerillas suffered considerable losses during the pursuit, but exact information about the number of guerillas killed is so far unavailable and will be known only after the area is examined," Shabalkin said. Reports about the policemen killed by the rebels are also conflicting. It is also known that guerillas burnt down five houses in Ishkhoi-Yurt and vandalized other houses belonging to local residents.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 1:02:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  russia doesn't have to worry about her people changing their mind about the whole 'defend the nation' thing either
Posted by: Dcreeper || 04/15/2004 18:08 Comments || Top||

#2  So wht you're saying Dan Darling is that the Marines in Fallujah are risk averse?
Posted by: Not Mike Moore || 04/16/2004 22:15 Comments || Top||

#3  That's Steve's comment, NMM. Implicit in that comment is that we care about our troop's well being. Too bad you don't feel likewise...
Posted by: Raj || 04/16/2004 22:19 Comments || Top||


8 hard boyz iced in Chechnya
A fight between the Vostok special battalion and a rebel group is currently taking place in the mountains in southern Chechnya. Eight rebels have been killed, battalion commander Sulim Yamadayev told Interfax. He said the battalion launched a special operation to isolate and eliminate the rebel group in the early morning outside the villages of Kazen-Kale and Ersenoi. He also said that the rebels had tried to break away from the area, but federal servicemen surrounded them and are attempting to eliminate the group. Two servicemen were killed in the fight, the commander said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 1:01:03 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus Corpse Count
Scouts of federal troops are continuing the search for one of bands of Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev that attacked the village of Ishkhoi-Yurt on Tuesday, army spokesman Colonel Ilya Shabalkin told Itar-Tass. “Yesterday a fire strike was dealt to the bandits. Escaping from the pursuit – and there were about 30 of them, they broke into small groups and are moving in the direction of Daghestan,” he said. The rebels wore uniforms of servicemen of federal troops. Leaving Ishkhoi-Yurt, they burned down their three minibuses and went into the woodland. Three Chechen policemen died and three were injured in a clash with the band. Troops blocked the woodland near the village. Local residents said the band incurred losses in killed and wounded.

Another rebel group shot up a police jeep that rode on a road in the Nozhai-Yurt district. The attack left dead eight policemen, including a chief of the regional interior department, 36-year-old Lieutenant Alexander Ilyasov. Shabalkin said helicopters were used in the search for the bands in woodlands.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 12:51:22 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
One of Hek's lieutenants held in Kabul
A suspected senior ally of renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and five of his followers have been arrested in Kabul, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced Wednesday. The militants, described as a “threat” to Afghans and foreigners, were held in a joint raid by peacekeepers and local forces at a compound in the capital’s Charasyab district on Tuesday, ISAF spokesman Commander Chris Henderson said. “The principal subject of the raid is believed to be a senior commander of Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin,” he told a news conference, referring to Hekmatyar’s militant group. Henderson did not identify the man by name.
They don't usually, which makes for pretty weak tea when trying to follow the events...
The arrested militant was “an imminent threat to the people of Kabul, international aid workers, UN and ISAF troops,” he said. “That threat has now been removed from the streets of Kabul. He is suspected to be a senior member of Hezb-i-Islami.” An Afghan security official said the arrests followed last month’s detention of another Hekmatyar ally, identified only as Amanullah from neighbouring Wardak province. “They were arrested over links with Amanullah,” the official, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP. “Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin is one of the three main organisations that are seeking to destabilise Afghanistan,” Henderson said, listing the two other groups as Al Qaeda and the remnants of the ousted hard-line Taliban militia.
Of the three, the Hezb is the only one consisting of Afghans...
He said he believed the latest arrests would help the Afghans in holding elections scheduled for September. The polls originally planned for June have been delayed due to security and logistical reasons. “Removing senior commanders of these three organisations is a key element in broadening the security blanket so the elections can be held . . . well,” he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 12:47:37 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  see if he can throw a grenade like a little girl - if so, he's one of Hek's
Posted by: Frank G || 04/15/2004 8:34 Comments || Top||


Joint tribal operation against al-Qaeda
After talks between the political administration of South Waziristan and grand tribal Jirga, the Utmankhel, Yargulkhel and Kakakhel clans of Zalikhel Wazir on Wednesday agreed on joint operation against foreign terrorists and the locals, who sheltered them.
"Yup. Yup. We're gonna get right on it..."
The meeting was informed that since the most wanted four tribesmen - Haji Sharif, Nek Muhammad, Maulana Abdul Aziz and Noorul Islam belong to Yargulkhel — the clan would be responsible for any guarantee needed by the government or fine under territorial responsibility. The grand Jirga and Zalikhel tribe appealed to the administration to get the support of Ahmadzai Wazir as their help would bring positive results. Talks between the political administration and Ahmadzai Wazir would be held here today (Thursday).
"They're expected to last until three or four weeks after Doomsday..."
Meanwhile, fresh contingents of army jawans from DI Khan have reached the agency headquarters. As the April 20 deadline for surrender of wanted tribesmen becomes nearer, uncertainty among tribesmen has increased.
"Y'don't think they really mean it this time, do yez, Mahmoud?"
According to reports, the 50-member Jirga of Mehsud tribe were also passing gas also met with the grand Jirga and played vital role in the agreement. The grand Jirga members, including Muhammad Ali Mohmand, Haji Khanazar Wazir, Waris Khan Afridi and Zarin Gul Mengal, hoped that the Wednesday breakthrough would bring positive results and the Jirga would soon achieve its objectives. Tribal elders promised to set up a 1,500-strong armed force this week to search for five local men wanted by authorities for allegedly sheltering al-Qaeda suspects. The government has given tribesmen in the South Waziristan region and in neighboring North Waziristan until April 20 to evict foreign terrorists and hand over their local sympathizers or face military action.
"Youse guys are gonna get it! We're warnin' yez!"
Inhabitants on Wednesday reported seeing a convoy of dozens of trucks and jeeps, some carrying heavy weapons and troops, headed toward a military base in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, near the focal point of the March operation. Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan, however, said the convoy was "routine logistics" to supply troops based in Wana, and denied suggestions of a new operation. Authorities have said any new operation was likely to be carried out in Shawal, a mountainous, forested area in North Waristan straddling the Afghan border, where officials suspect al-Qaeda fugitives might have found sanctuary after fleeing the Wana operation. Shawal lies about 40 kilometers north of Wana.
Within spittin' distance. You'd think somebody'd have noticed any foreigners skulking around, but nooooo....
On Wednesday, about 300 elders from the Zalikhel tribe met in a Wana mosque with government officials and mediators from other tribal regions who hope to ward off another military operation by cooperating in the hunt for the five wanted men. Malik Ba Khan, a Zalikhel elder, said they will gather 1,500 armed men from the three main Zalikhel sub-tribes on Thursday who will help the authorities in the search. Tribal mediator Malik Mohammed Ali Halimzai said the force would probably increase to 2,000 men because they are likely to be joined by other local tribesmen.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/15/2004 12:41:38 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This sounds like a sham. These tribal guys sound like half-assed monkey boys. They are likely to be paying lip service to the Musharraf government. I am not confident that we can count on them.
Posted by: Tibor || 04/15/2004 1:40 Comments || Top||

#2  I have a question about these local reports from Pakistan...I read these almost daily and I just hate the linguistic rhythems of the reports. My question is for the poster of these reports; Are these reports written in English originally? It almost sounds like they're translated using one of those translating software programs. Anybody got an answer to this question, please?
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 04/15/2004 8:53 Comments || Top||

#3  The whole point of the much-hyped loyalty of the Pak tribes is survival. If they can be convinced that harboring foreign terrorists is detrimental to the survival of the tribe, they might be more enthusiastic about purging these foreigners from their lands.
Posted by: BH || 04/15/2004 10:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Kentucky Beef, can't speak for Dan, but if Software/online translation tools were used, it really wouldn't make much sense. Those programs don't work well, but they will give you the general idea.

Posted by: jn1 || 04/15/2004 12:41 Comments || Top||

#5  You are all missing the brilliant subtext of the tribal message. foreign terrorists could be their term for Americans. What sounds like an anti-Al Queda pledge could in fact be defiance of the Pak government.
Posted by: ruprecht || 04/15/2004 19:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Sounds like the CIA check cleared. Now to burn the candle at the other end and shakedown the alleged prey. Remember Tora Bora?
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/15/2004 20:54 Comments || Top||

#7  KB, this is fairly typical of English on the subcontinent. What I think is happening is they get the vocabulary but don't get the grammar and the many unwritten conventions in the English language.

Incidentally this demonstrates why Chomsky was completely wrong. He said that grammar is hereditary and we all share the same basic grammar. The truth seems to be that most of us have difficulty learning more than one grammar and carry forward the grammar we know when we learn a new language.
Posted by: Phil B || 04/15/2004 21:06 Comments || Top||



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