Hi there, !
Today Sun 06/27/2004 Sat 06/26/2004 Fri 06/25/2004 Thu 06/24/2004 Wed 06/23/2004 Tue 06/22/2004 Mon 06/21/2004 Archives
Rantburg
531687 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 96 articles and 487 comments as of 9:49.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background                   
Fallujah ruled Taliban-style
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 [] 
1 00:00 rex [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 Anonymous4617 [] 
1 00:00 smn [] 
1 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [] 
14 00:00 Antiwar [] 
2 00:00 Frank G [] 
2 00:00 Robert Crawford [] 
2 00:00 HalfEmpty [] 
18 00:00 Rafael [] 
0 [] 
8 00:00 The Doctor [] 
8 00:00 Frank G [] 
1 00:00 Frank G [] 
2 00:00 Frank G [1] 
0 [] 
16 00:00 Antiwar [1] 
1 00:00 virginian [] 
7 00:00 jawa [] 
0 [] 
8 00:00 Thomose Unomose9553 [1] 
0 [] 
3 00:00 Robert Crawford [] 
5 00:00 Bomb-a-rama [] 
12 00:00 Bomb-a-rama [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 jules 187 [] 
5 00:00 virginian [] 
13 00:00 Ughman [] 
5 00:00 Bomb-a-rama [] 
6 00:00 Pappy [] 
1 00:00 Chuck Simmins [] 
10 00:00 Formerly Dan [] 
9 00:00 Anonymous5333 [] 
0 [] 
4 00:00 Laurence of the Rats [] 
5 00:00 danking70 [] 
10 00:00 smn [] 
4 00:00 tu3031 [] 
0 [] 
2 00:00 RWV [] 
1 00:00 Charles [] 
0 [] 
25 00:00 Shipman [] 
0 [] 
2 00:00 Anon1 [] 
1 00:00 Anonymous5333 [1] 
0 [] 
11 00:00 Alaska Paul [] 
11 00:00 Zpaz [] 
2 00:00 11A5S [] 
0 [] 
3 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
7 00:00 BH [] 
1 00:00 virginian [] 
33 00:00 Aris Katsaris [] 
11 00:00 Frank G [] 
Page 2: WoT Background
0 []
2 00:00 Frank G []
8 00:00 Capt America []
2 00:00 Frank G []
1 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
2 00:00 Super Hose []
0 []
3 00:00 Chris Smith []
1 00:00 Pappy []
9 00:00 jawa []
7 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
8 00:00 jawa []
5 00:00 eLarson []
0 []
8 00:00 FED-UP [1]
6 00:00 RWV []
3 00:00 mojo []
1 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
5 00:00 Frank G []
2 00:00 tu3031 []
1 00:00 Anonymoose []
0 []
2 00:00 Raj []
2 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
6 00:00 davemac []
28 00:00 Shipman []
4 00:00 Edward Yee []
14 00:00 Rob Adcox []
9 00:00 Jackal []
1 00:00 Bomb-a-rama []
8 00:00 Satchel []
22 00:00 .com []
3 00:00 Deacon Blues []
1 00:00 Super Hose []
15 00:00 .com []
Arabia
Saudis crack down on tailors dressing militants
Posted by: tipper || 06/24/2004 21:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Incitement to Jihad on Saudi Government-Controlled TV
Excerpts...
Sheik Dr. Ahmad Abd Al-Latif, a professor at Um Al-Qura University, was asked the following question on Saudi channel TV1 on May 24: "Some imams and preachers call for Allah to annihilate the Jews and those who help them, and the Christians and those who support them... Is it permitted according to Islamic law?" Professor Al-Latif responded: "What made them curse the Jews is that the Jews are oppressors... The same goes for the Christians, because of their cruel aggression against Islamic countries ... while the truth is that this is a crusading war whose goal is to harm Muslims. This is why a Muslim is allowed to curse the oppressors from among the Jews and Christians... Cursing the oppressing Jews and the oppressing and plundering Christians and the prayer that Allah will annihilate them is permitted."

Allah Willing, the U.S. Will Collapse
Supporting Jihad against U.S. troops in Iraq is the topic of many Saudi TV programs. On May 10, Dr. Yassin Al-Khatib, a professor of Islamic law at Um Al-Qura University, declared on the UAE's Al-Majd TV, which frequently has Saudi guests on it, that "the honor, blood, property and mostly the fact that they entered the country [i.e. Iraq] ... make it every Muslim's duty to go out against them, not only the Iraqis. This is every Muslim's duty. Jihad today has become an individual duty that applies to each and every Muslim. It is forbidden for a person to remain silent... When the Muslims fought in Afghanistan they destroyed the Soviet Union, which was a superpower. It collapsed and Allah willing, so will this [the U.S.] collapse."

The Coming Islamic Takeover of the U.S.
Saudis often discuss the issue of the U.S. becoming a Muslim state in the future. On a March 17 broadcast on Iqraa TV, Saudi preacher Sheik Said Al-Qahtani discussed this issue, as well as the cases in which Muslims are permitted to declare a defensive Jihad: "... We did not occupy the U.S., with 8 million Muslims, using bombings. Had we been patient, and let time take its course, instead of the 8 million, there could have been 80 million [Muslims] and 50 years later perhaps all the US would have become Muslim... What should a Muslim do if he is attacked in his country, on his land? In this case, there is no choice besides defense, self-sacrifice, and what religious scholars call - Defensive Jihad... We attacked their country, and this caused them to wake the dormant enmity in their hearts... Especially since there is global Zionism, the enemy of Islam, and Judaism, and fundamentalist Crusaders... They interpret this whole incident as only the beginning and thus there is no choice but a preemptive strike."

Al-Qahtani added on another Iqraa TV show on May 5: "Allah said, 'prepare against them all the force and horsemen that you can.' What for? In order to strike fear into their hearts... At the same time, [we should] establish strategies for the future, even if only for the short term, and prepare ... so that one of these days, even 100, 200, or 400 years from now, we will become a force that will be feared by the infidel states."

America is on It's Way to Destruction
Saudi professor Nasser Bin Suleiman Al-Omar, who runs a large Islamic internet website, www.almoslim.net, appeared on Al-Majd, on June 13, 2004, to discuss the approaching collapse of the U.S. and the growing strength of Muslims within the U.S. Al-Omar stated: "America is collapsing from within. Where are America's principles of justice and democracy? ...Islam is advancing according to a steady plan, to the point that tens of thousands of Muslims have joined the American army and Islam is the second largest religion in America. Today, America is defeated. I have no doubt, not even for a minute, that America is on its way to destruction. But as Ibn Khaldoun said, just as it takes decades for nations to rise, it takes them decades to collapse. They don't collapse overnight. Because Communist Russia opposed reality it collapsed immediately. America may not collapse this way. It will be destroyed gradually. America will be destroyed. But we must be patient."
Posted by: tipper || 06/24/2004 21:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is not just TV. Even the sanitized English version of the Arab News contains articles that, although not as explicit as the talks on tv, point the finger to America or Israel as the root of their problems.
Posted by: Anonymous4617 || 06/25/2004 1:40 Comments || Top||


Opposition: Saudi security knew Johnson’s location
Hat tip: http://www.jihadwatch.org/
Explains why Moqrin was killed just hours after Johnson’s body was found.

Saudi opposition sources said Saudi security commanders knew of the location of Al Qaida chief Abul Aziz Al Muqrin at least three days before he executed a U.S. hostage. The Washington-based Saudi Institute said Saudi authorities knew of the whereabouts of the Al Qaida cell that abducted and threatened to kill Lockheed Martin engineer Paul Johnson. But the institute said the Saudi government decided not to move until Johnson, captured on June 12, was executed. "The Saudi government knew the location of a number of the terrorists but waited until they killed American hostage Paul Johnson before moving against them," the Saudi Institute said in a statement on Tuesday. The institute has been regarded as a liberal opposition group that relayed accurate information on Saudi Arabia and its security system, Middle East Newsline reported. About 15,000 Saudi troops and police searched neighborhoods in Riyad for two days before Johnson was beheaded by Al Qaida insurgents last weekend. On June 18, hours after Al Qaida’s announcement that Johnson was executed, Al Muqrin and three of his leading aides were surrounded by Saudi forces and helicopters and killed in a shootout in Riyad.
Not that they were gonna blab to anybody anyway, but you can't be too careful. On the other hand, the group did blab that they had help from the Soddy cops, so I guess they didn't kill quite enough of them. Was that a life insurance policy being cashed?
The institute cited both open-source and exclusive information for its conclusion that Saudi security forces were ordered to wait until Johnson was executed. The opposition group cited the wife of slain Saudi police officer, Mohamed Ali Al Qahtani, as saying her husband knew of what she termed an "important operation" to kill Al Muqrin and his aides two days before the attack. Al Qahtani was killed in the shootout with Al Qaida. "A Saudi security source has also told the Saudi Institute that the government knew about the whereabouts of many of the terrorists days before they were eventually killed," the institute said. "A statement by Crown Prince Abdullah three days before the shootout similarly suggested that he knew they would be killed, and was just a matter of when." On June 14, Abdullah told a Saudi delegation, "You will see good news very soon," the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
"Good news! The infidel's dead and so are the witnesses!"
A U.S. official said he could not confirm the report by the Saudi opposition group. But the official said U.S. intelligence has concluded that most of the Saudi security forces, including the National Guard, has been infiltrated by Al Qaida. He said members of the FBI and State Department team sent to Riyad to help in the search for Johnson expressed concern that Saudi security forces were avoiding suspected Al Qaida hideouts in Riyad.
"Let's search over here! The light's so much better!"
The institute said it was told by a Saudi security source both before and after the Al Qaida shootout that the government knew the "whereabouts of Al Muqrin and his associates, but chose not to arrest or shoot them. They would rather have the terrorists free to justify the widening security clampdown." On May 30, Saudi security forces were ordered to allow an Al Qaida cell to escape the Oasis compound outside Khobar after Islamic insurgents had executed 22 foreigners in the two-day hostage ordeal. Saudi officials later said the government agreed to an Al Qaida demand to allow its members to escape rather than blow up the foreign housing compound. Western governments with a significant presence in Saudi Arabia have been discussing the deployment of special forces to protect their embassies and consulates. On Wednesday, the London-based Telegraph reported that Britain has sent the SAS special force to Saudi Arabia to guard official British facilities and help in any emergency evacuation of the 20,000 Britons who work in the kingdom.
Posted by: ed || 06/24/2004 5:52:48 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In other shocking news, the sun rises in the east and water is wet.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/24/2004 20:23 Comments || Top||


Saudis royals divided over how to handle al-Qaeda
The Saudi ruling family was said to be in disarray over facing the increasing threat to the kingdom by Al Qaida. Saudi analysts and opposition sources said the Al Qaida campaign against the kingdom has failed to unify rival factions in the royal family. They said Saudi leaders have been divided into a series of factions that have isolated Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. "We are not seeing unity of the Saudi royal family," Mai Yamani, an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, said. "They have not shown a united front in dealing with security issues or the question of reform in the country." On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia offered Al Qaida a one-month limited amnesty. Abdullah said in a televised address that Al Qaida supporters would be given a final chance to surrender. The Islamic insurgency movement was said to have a support network of up to 3,000 people in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 4:53:41 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does that mean that the Saudis are no longer in agreement about continuing to finance their Al-Qaeda partners?
Posted by: A Jackson || 06/24/2004 18:36 Comments || Top||

#2  No; they're split as to how much more funding they should give.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/24/2004 20:51 Comments || Top||


Saudi amnesty yields first fruits
THE Saudi interior ministry announced today that a terror suspect had surrendered, the first reported case since an amnesty was offered the previous day to al-Qaeda militants involved in a wave of unrest against Westerners. "The citizen Saaban bin Mohammad bin Abdullah al-Laylahi al-Shihri, who was wanted in a security-related case and had been missing (for two years), surrendered to security authorities," said a ministry official quoted by the Saudi Press Agency. He did so "a few hours" after King Fahd offered an amnesty yesterday to suspects who turned themselves in within a month, the official added. "In accordance with the royal instructions, he was allowed to visit his family and stay with them until the date of his interrogation (for the charges) attributed to him is set," the official added.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 4:44:58 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is that considered house arrest or guest house arrest?
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/24/2004 17:15 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sure he'll manage to escape either way.
Posted by: Raj || 06/24/2004 17:15 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't see what good this does, even if the guy gets locked up, as rounding up terrorist personnel by whatever means does nothing to change the general MENTALITY of terrorists and their sympathizers, which is really the main disease.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 17:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Have they got him surrounded?
Posted by: Matt || 06/24/2004 17:30 Comments || Top||

#5  "The citizen Saaban bin Mohammad bin Abdullah al-Laylahi al-Shihri

Is this the Saaban bin Mohammad bin Abdullah al-Laylahi al-Shihri?
Posted by: Shipman || 06/24/2004 19:42 Comments || Top||

#6  "Fruits", you say?
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/24/2004 19:57 Comments || Top||

#7  So does anyone else feel this is really a recruitment drive?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/24/2004 20:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Watch for him, coming soon in a security service uniform near you!
Posted by: The Doctor || 06/24/2004 20:46 Comments || Top||


MEMRI news ticker tidbit
ACCORDING TO ARAB OFFICIALS RETURNING FROM VISITS TO SAUDI ARABIA, THE KINGDOM IS GOING THROUGH THE WORST CRISIS IN ITS HISTORY AND THE SURVIVAL OF THE ROYAL FAMILY IS IN THE BALANCE. AT THE SAME TIME, SOME OF THE 6,000 SAUDI PRINCES CONTINUE TO FINANCE AL-QA’IDA. (AL-QUDS AL-ARABI, LONDON, 6/22/04)
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:39:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This comes under the heading of "Well, DUH!"

They're a schizoid bunch of loons - and their oil money is in Swiss banks. They can get out if they have to.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/24/2004 11:37 Comments || Top||

#2  The Saudi royal family is a textbook example of the perils of prolonged inbreeding.
Posted by: RWV || 06/24/2004 11:50 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't know about inbreeding - the old man Abdul Aziz married very widely I believe. The current top princes are his sons by a Syrian woman, I think.
Posted by: buwaya || 06/24/2004 13:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Unfortunately, we are so tied into them, and they to us, that this will probably necessitate sending more tax dollars to prop them up.

On the up side though, it makes me believe that maybe they really are trying to go after AQ. They have no choice - either do that or the U.S. will let them fall.
Posted by: Dripping Sarcasm || 06/24/2004 16:17 Comments || Top||

#5  AT THE SAME TIME, SOME OF THE 6,000 SAUDI PRINCES CONTINUE TO FINANCE AL-QA’IDA

Either these "princes" have a personal stake in the fall of the Saudi monarchy, or they are simply feeding the crocodile...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 18:02 Comments || Top||


Saudi says infidels can pack heat!
Saudi Arabia will allow foreigners who feel threatened by the wave of militant violence in the kingdom to carry guns for their protection, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz says. "In principle a Saudi has the right to carry a weapon, if he has a permit. Likewise a foreign resident, if he felt in danger he could get a permit to carry a weapon," Nayef was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.
In principle, you can get a permit to carry in New York City. However, the reality is somewhat different.
"I mean a personal weapon which a person can have in his own country," the prince said.
"So, Americans can have their 45's, the Germans 9mm's, and the Yemenis, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis, Afghans, etc, will have their traditional islamic weapons - AK-47s and RPGs. You English, so sorry."
Al Qaeda supporters have waged a year-long campaign of violence targeting Westerners, government sites and oil workers in the kingdom, prompting some foreigners to flee the country which is the world's biggest oil exporter.
Wonder how long the waiting list for a "permit" will be?
Posted by: Steve || 06/24/2004 10:20:38 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm assuming I'm allowed my usual brace of 155 mm howitzers?
Posted by: Bitman Barth || 06/24/2004 11:19 Comments || Top||

#2  ...True on the M1911 vs. Aks - but let me point out that if foreigners can indeed start shooting back, the Brave Islamic Warriors(TM) might start going after targets that don't fight back, just like any bullies.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/24/2004 11:20 Comments || Top||

#3  AK vs 9mm... remember that old RB post about clinton Boyd, the serviceman that got a medal for having pumped full of lead a (pious) muslim screaming "allan hoo akbar" while shooting at him with an AK? This was in Qatar, in nov. 2001, when the HQ of the us air force was transferred there, and Clint was only allowed an handgun. That didin't stop him from winning this firefight (of course, that the attacker was in berserk mode and fired 60 shots at range 15 ft without hitting anything did certainly help...)
Posted by: Anonymous5089 || 06/24/2004 11:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Mike - One would hope so! Then maybe the average Soddies would finally get pissed at the right people.

Anon5089 - You're right. It takes only one bullet, properly placed, to stop the guy firing the AK, or any other weapon. The trick is to stand (or more likely, crouch) firm and take your shot. And it helps if the bad guys got their idea of how to "hose" a room (or bus, or crowd) from the movies.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/24/2004 11:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Clinton Boyd.
http://www2.hickam.af.mil/pacaf/news/2003/200301/2003005.htm

Shows what one well-trained and well-motivated soldier can do.
Posted by: Anonymous4021 || 06/24/2004 11:59 Comments || Top||

#6  I like my Ruger Super Blackhawk. I can hit a target at 75 yards with it.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/24/2004 12:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Mike, you hit that nail on the head. You can review almost ALL engagements with Arab ‘fighters’ and rarely do they stand their ground. When they encounter the miniscule amount of resistance they flee and look for some safe haven. In the West Bank the ‘warriors’ sought refuge in the Church of the Nativity. In Iraq they flee to the local Mosque cower behind the walls. Most of the ‘live’ attacks are against soft civilian targets and not Armed Troops (exception being IEDs). Arabs are not brave or dumb, they don’t want to die unless they have no other choice. If they suspect that their likely ‘hostage’ might have a gun they will go look for another target. If I were working in Saudi it would be a requirement for my staying. You feel safer and braver if you have a weapon to grab in emergencies. FYI 9mm kills just as fast as a AK47, just with fewer rounds.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 06/24/2004 12:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Which side of his mouth was Nayaf talking out of?
Posted by: mojo || 06/24/2004 12:55 Comments || Top||

#9  The Suadis must really be worried about exodus of "foreign" workers.As Steve's comments noted,this is probably more rhetoric than reality.Altho it may be possib that soon armed Western security guards may be allowed to guard compounds-after being properly accredited,by greasing right palms.
Posted by: Stephen || 06/24/2004 13:04 Comments || Top||

#10  I am impressed but, I will believe it when I see it.
It also tells me that the exodus of expats must have turned out to be bigger than they originally estimated!

Posted by: Anonymous4617 || 06/24/2004 13:48 Comments || Top||

#11  Not sure I would really want the Saudi police knowing who had applied for a permit and who had not. Call me paranoid but...
Posted by: john || 06/24/2004 14:04 Comments || Top||

#12  If there's any truth to this, then watch the violence level against foreigners plummet once they start shooting back.

Something the anti-gunners here at home should take note of (not that they would, or even care).
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 17:10 Comments || Top||


Nayef sez al-Qaeda hasn’t infiltrated Soddy security. Really.
Saudi Arabia’s security services have not been infiltrated by Al-Qaeda, the interior minister said in remarks published Thursday following reports that servicemen helped abduct a US national. "The men of the Saudi security (apparatus) are too dignified and honorable to include such (elements). Be fully confident of that," Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz was quoted by newspapers as telling reporters Wednesday night.
And if you can't believe the word of a Saudi prince, who can you believe?
"No weapons were taken from military sides (to carry out terrorist attacks). This is certain," he added.
"I mean, like, we asked and everything!"
"No thanks, we have plenty as it is!"
It was the umpteenth second official denial of a claim which appeared on an Al-Qaeda-linked website to the effect that militants from the terror group had infiltrated the security forces, who helped them kidnap American engineer Paul Johnson in Riyadh on June 12. An adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz had on Monday also dismissed the claim of infiltration, saying there was no evidence of collaboration between the security services and the terrorists. It is "very easy" to obtain military uniforms or to "take cars and paint them to look like police cars," Adel al-Jubeir said. A Saudi newspaper reported on Tuesday that security forces found planted evidence sewing machines and fabric used to sew military uniforms, as well as military fatigues "ready for use," during raids of suspects’ hideouts. Okaz said the military-style clothing was intended for use by the terrorists to pass themselves off as security forces.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:11:01 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Soddies know how to sew?
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/24/2004 11:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Prince Nayef must be taking over Baghdad Bob's old gig. He needs some fire in his belly, though, to get his act up to the level of BB's. Heh heh heh....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 11:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Seafarious, a sewing needle is lighter than a wallet, so it's (barely) possible that a Saudi man would pick it up.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/24/2004 13:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Infiltrate implies secrecy and stealth. Therefore, Nayef is correct that al Qaeda has not infiltrated the security forces. They have joined openly, however.
Posted by: Tibor || 06/24/2004 17:29 Comments || Top||

#5  If the Saudi monarchy collapses, I'd like to see Nayif's neck on the chopping block.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 18:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Soddies know how to sew?

The Indonesians they had doing the work were on a nice desert safari when the police raided the place.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/24/2004 19:05 Comments || Top||


Ministers, Scholars Condemn Terror at Yemen Conference
EFL
Ministers and religious figures from across the Arab and Muslim world spoke out yesterday against terrorism and called for an accurate definition of the phenomenon.
Oh...so...brave and courageous!
A final statement said the participants at a three-day Islamic conference, “reject terrorism in all its forms,” and stressed that “extremism is foreign to Islam.”
But!?...
They called for an international conference to be held to define terrorism to avoid confusion with the legitimate right to resist occupation.
Yes, ...just to "avoid confusion." I don’t seem confused. Do you?
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 06/24/2004 6:42:09 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


A Blind Eye to the Islamic Bomb
Excerpted and edited from a documentary shown on Australian television. It manages to touch on most of the key points of the whole sordid story behind the Islamic Bomb, from BCCI, to the Pak Generals racking of billions of dollars in aid for nuclear research and their personal back accounts. The report doesn’t mention that most of the money for the Islamic bomb came from the sale of Heroin. There is a reason the General governing Peshawar was known as the ’Noreiga of Pakistan’, or why General Aslam Beg is a dollar billionare.

JOSEPH TRENTO: Does that mean it’s clear now that some of the same accounts that were used to fund the Muj also funded the nuclear weapons program in Pakistan? Now, we made a deal with the devil. The devil was Pakistan - they wanted to develop the weapons, we wanted to beat the Soviets. In order to do that we made a trade-off. "Look the other way, otherwise it’s not going to happen."

The evidence for a US policy of looking the other way is there from the very beginning. In late 1979, Jimmy Carter’s administration was still reeling from the hostage crisis in Iran. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the whole region was in turmoil. The day after the Soviets invaded, Carter’s National Security Advisor - Zbigniew Brzezinski - penned this memorandum to the president. Under the heading, "What is to be done?" Brzezinski said it was essential to get Pakistan’s support for the Mujaheddin.
BRZEZINSKI DOCUMENT QUOTE: "This will require a review of our policy toward Pakistan, more guarantees to it, more arms aid, and, alas, a decision that our security policy toward Pakistan cannot be dictated by our non-proliferation policy. "

It appears the new policy was accepted. Billions of dollars flowed into the Afghan resistance and there was no real effort to close down Pakistan’s nuclear program. The ISI - Pakistan’s intelligence agency - was the favoured conduit and literally hundreds of suitcases stuffed with cash were given to them by both the CIA and Saudi intelligence. CIA sources suspect that up to half the funding for the Afghan resistance ended up being diverted to help make Pakistan’s nuclear bomb. But with so much cash flying about, the money trails were impossible to trace.

But outside of the ISI money trail, there was another method of financing Pakistan’s nuclear program. The BCCI, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, was the first global bank for the Islamic world. Founded by a Pakistani and funded by Arab Gulf states, it was used by criminals, governments and intelligence agencies to fund activities they wanted to hide. But the bank’s illegal activities began attracting attention, and when BCCI collapsed in 1991, its books were thrown open. Jonathan Winer was part of a US congressional inquiry, led by Senator John Kerry, which began probing BCCI’s criminal activities in the early ’90s. It became clear that the BCCI trail led directly to Pakistan’s nuclear program.
JONATHAN WINER: What we knew at the time was that BCCI officials believed that BCCI had been used for Pakistan’s nuclear program to handle the funds. We knew that BCCI officials believed that the bank had been used by British intelligence, by US intelligence. We documented its use by certain terrorists.

It was here, through the BCCI’s former London headquarters, that much of the external financing for Pakistan’s nuclear program was channelled. Although we can’t reveal his identity, Dateline has spoken to a former executive manager of the bank who’s confirmed the links between BCCI and Pakistan’s nuclear quest. According to the source, who would not appear on camera, two years before the bank’s collapse, key executives querying a $400 million loss on a cotton project in Egypt were told that the loss didn’t exist and were informed that one of the bank’s Arab owners had directly contributed the $400 million to Pakistan’s nuclear development. What is disturbing about BCCI is that the links between the Saudi and Pakistan governments and terrorist networks were never investigated and Jonathan Winer believes they continued well into the ’90s.
JONATHAN WINER: What’s interesting is what happened to the BCCI people afterwards and did any of them continue to engage in the kind of activities they engaged in for BCCI after the bank collapsed? Some of the underlying cast of characters in Saudi Arabia, in Pakistan, continue to turn up after the bank goes under.
I personally believe that the same people behind BCCI are now the ones behind Al Qaeda and the entire Islamist movement. A bunch of Saudi Princes, Dubai Sheikhs, Pak Generals and Muslim Brothers turned businessmen. One level up from the Learned Elders of Islam perhaps. And I bet most of them truly don’t give a damn about Islam either.

Almost a decade after BCCI collapsed, some of the family names linked to it turn up in the now well-established Khan nuclear network. Despite the evidence of extensive Saudi involvement in BCCI, former spymaster Prince Turki al-Faisal denies the links. Prince Turki’s denials may be disingenuous. His uncle, Kamal Adham, was a BCCI shareholder and John Kerry’s Senate investigation uncovered loans worth millions from a BCCI controlled company directly to Prince Turki.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/24/2004 12:26:54 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I remember when BCCI got into trouble, the pres was named something Kashogi. It became known as Bank of Crooks and Criminals International.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 1:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Keep mentioning John Kerry's investigation as if we should be impressed. All that comes to my mind is that if he had done more than a half-assed white wash - these people might have been stopped sooner.

Looks like there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides. But I also notice this piece is fast and loose with the dates re: Kerry's heroic endeavours - "early 90's", "well into the 90's" Hmmmm...
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 7:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Also...with Kerry as the lead Senate investigator of a project that has oodles of cash floating around, it would be interested to see if there are any correlations to the campaign donations in the "early 90's".
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 7:23 Comments || Top||

#4  The news media very gently and with great anguish reported on the involvement of Clark Clifford, noted Democrat.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose...

Posted by: eLarson || 06/24/2004 10:02 Comments || Top||

#5  I remember in the mid-80's,walking past the BCCI branch in Panama City at 9pm, seeing the clerks and managers still slaving away, and thinking, "man those ae some hard-working bankers!"
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/24/2004 12:18 Comments || Top||

#6  LOL, 11A5S. Your story is familiar. I did two days of work on an Enron power generation site near Ponce, Puerto Rico before the scandals hit. I thought at the time, "these guys are the nicest, funniest, most squared-away, can-do go-getters I have ever worked with. I should buy some of their stock." Its a good thing I am so lazy. I never did. They were something else.
Posted by: Zpaz || 06/24/2004 12:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Yeah, I bought an early model (20 gig) TiVo and it beat my expectations all to hell so I bought the stock at 12.00.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/24/2004 13:26 Comments || Top||

#8  Last TIVO trade: 6.60. Ouch. Speaking of insider trading, I would buy my own company's stock but I know some of the employees.
Posted by: Zpaz || 06/24/2004 13:36 Comments || Top||

#9  Zpaz: My personal experience has been that crooks go way out of their way to recruit bright, hard-working, aggressive young people. The corruptable ones get promoted. The others leave after a few years and never talk much about the experience. I only work for old, staid firms without much turn-over now!
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/24/2004 13:39 Comments || Top||

#10  Despite the evidence of extensive Saudi involvement in BCCI, former spymaster Prince Turki al-Faisal denies the links. Prince Turki’s denials may be disingenuous.

This son-of-a-buck keeps turning up like some sort of bad riyal penny. Since it seems to be news for some folks around here, I'll continue to post my favorite link about Prince Turki al-Faisal.

This turd is dead center in the House of Saud's terror network.

I remember when BCCI got into trouble, the pres was named something Kashogi.

That would be Adnan Kashoggi.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/24/2004 13:43 Comments || Top||

#11  "Khashoggi sold his yacht and creditors impounded his jet. He lives mostly in Spain, is still fighting his legal battles, and was down to his last $54 million."

I feel your pain.
Posted by: Zpaz || 06/24/2004 14:35 Comments || Top||


Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Bomb
Part 2
Manhattan immigration lawyer Michael Wildes has carved a niche in representing high-value intelligence defectors to the United States. One of them, Mohammed al-Khilewi, was a first secretary to the Saudi mission at the United Nations. He was a specialist in nuclear non-proliferation. In the weeks before his defection in May 1994, al-Khilewi began copying thousands of top-secret intelligence dossiers to take with him. Armed with the documents, al-Khilewi attempted to set up a meeting with the FBI. It was a dangerous time. According to Michael Wildes, the Saudis were already looking for the defector. The documents al-Khilewi had in his possession were simply staggering. Information on assassination plots against Western ambassadors in the US and covert Saudi intelligence operations on American soil. Also amongst them, evidence of Saudi Arabia’s efforts towards nuclear proliferation.
MICHAEL WILDES: Diplomats, according to Mr al-Khilewi, were trained, not only in intelligence operations, but how to take bomb-making material through border post and diplomatic pouches. He showed me, actually, a diagram - which I can provide you if you like - of an individual, how you can sneak in bomb-making material through diplomatic posts.

But incredibly, the FBI agents who debriefed the Saudi diplomat were instructed not to accept any of the documents he was offering - presumably to avoid any embarrassment to the US-Saudi relationship. Even the Saudi Ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar, wanted the affair dealt with quickly and quietly.
MICHAEL WILDES: We were told repeatedly by the Saudi ambassador, "Let’s work this out as gentlemen. If your client wants to get a green card, I can get it for him, no problem."
I couldn’t get the FBI to take a piece of paper off the table and give me a straight report without 12 people being consulted but the Saudi Ambassador can get him an American green card. Go figure.


In 1994, London’s ’Sunday Times’ published details from al-Khilewi’s documents, showing how, during the 1980s, Saudi Arabia spent billions on Iraq’s efforts to build a nuclear bomb on the condition that the technology be transferred to the kingdom if it was successful. The author of many of al-Khilewi’s documents, the former head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki al-Faisal, rejects their existence. He says al-Khilewi was fired for incompetence. As Saudi Arabia’s spymaster for over 20 years, Prince Turki al-Faisal probably knows much more than he’s prepared to talk about on the record. He resigned as head of Saudi intelligence just days after the September 11 attacks. He’s also named in a lawsuit brought by victims of the 9/11 attack over his alleged past links to Osama bin Laden. He’s now the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Great Britain. He insists the Saudi kingdom has never pursued a nuclear agenda.

The Saudis opened their first nuclear research centre in an isolated stretch of desert in 1975. But the move which first attracted attention in the West was their purchase of CSS-2 missiles from China with a target range of nearly 3,000km and specifically designed for a nuclear payload. All they needed now was a bomb. Non-proliferation expert Leonard Weiss has followed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s relationship closely for many years. He says the Saudis helped pay for Pakistani nuclear weapons so that they would come under the protection of their nuclear umbrella.
We've heard this before here, the Paks didn't have the money to fund their own program. No one else want's to talk about it.

Weiss was one of the authors of America’s 1978 non-proliferation act under the guardianship of Senator John Glenn. He says, even back then, anti-proliferation efforts were often stymied. Now Weiss believes that America’s failure to deal with it properly may have a terrible price.
LEONARD WEISS: You should never lose sight of what the consequences are of making non-proliferation a lower objective in your foreign policy. And especially when we look at what the world situation is like today, where terrorism is playing such a high role, one can see that the failure to have dealt with non-proliferation problems in the past is now coming back to haunt us and particularly with respect to Pakistan.

By turning a blind eye to Pakistan’s bomb and the efforts to set up a worldwide Islamic nuclear network, has America seriously misread the real threat? Could short-term strategic expediency have blinded them to what could turn out to be the ultimate case of blow-back?
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/24/2004 12:26:26 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hindsight is always 20/20 (sometimes even better).
Posted by: Rafael || 06/24/2004 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Rafael is right. "Blowback" is a meaningless term. Every action has unforseen consequences. Not taking action has unforseen consequences, too.

Thanks, Paul, for posting this. It confirms my suspicions (as I commented here once) that the Saudis are the lienholder on the Pakistani bomb. Seen in this light, OBL's actions make more sense. There's a movement. Let's call it the Khalifa Movement (KM). Within KM there are conservatives (Abdullah and Matathir), moderates (Naif), and radicals (OBL and his Alliance against the Crusaders and Zionists). All have the same goals:

* Khalifa
* Sharia
* Islamic bomb
* Destruction of Israel
* Weakening of the West
* Spreading Wahhabism and its allied theologies of Salafism and Deobandism
* Preservation of core Arab culture (there may or may not be heartfelt reasons for these last two bullets. In the case of the moderates and conservatives, cultural and religious issues may only be levers to control the ummah)

The means and time horizons are very different for the three factions:

Conservatives - Means: Dawa, money-favoring, and immigration; Time horizon: multigenerational

Moderates - Means: Same as conservatives plus proxy war in Israel, Chechnya, Kashmir, Thailand, and any other target of opportunity; Time horizon: One generation (20-25 years)

Radicals - Means: Immediate armed confrontation with the West; Time horizon: Less than ten years.

All three factions make temporary alliances of convenience with one another since their ultimate goals are the same (just as the goals of most Western political parties are fairly well aligned). All are funded by oil, drugs, weapons proliferation, and other criminal activity. The centers of gravity are pretty obvious. The real question is how do we generate the political will in the West to attack them.
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/24/2004 12:54 Comments || Top||


Saudis Offer Limited Amnesty to Rebels
The Saudi government announced a one-month amnesty on Wednesday, starting at once, for anyone involved in extremist activities. The offer suggested that the country’s rulers, while shaken by two months of terrorist violence, believe their grip on power to be firm.
riiiight
It's their grip on reality that worries me...
In a speech broadcast across Saudi Arabia and the Arab world, Crown Prince Abdullah vowed that those who turned themselves in over the next month would face no state prosecution, although he left open the possibility for relatives of the victims to demand justice under Islamic law.
Does that include Nayef?
"We offer a chance for whoever belongs to the misguided group and is still at large following involvement in terrorism operations to repent,
the day of judgment must be near
plead guilty and voluntarily surrender," said the crown prince, who is the country’s effective ruler, according to the translation provided by the Saudi Press Agency. "We, government and people, want to open the door of penance and security for whoever is wise enough to take it; and whoever takes the chance will be safe," he added. "But should he be obstinate, he will face a resolute force."
Not very competent, but resolute...
The kingdom has made similar offers in the past, although few have responded. But it has never made such a gesture with quite the same emphasis.
Wonder how much that sentence cost the Saudis? Do they have to pay the journalists by the sentence, the story, or are they just on salary.
Saudi PR flacks experts saw the move as a quick follow-up to the success the security forces had last week in failing to surround killing or capturing major members of the most violent cell linked to Al Qaeda in the country within hours of its announcement that it had beheaded Paul M. Johnson Jr., its American hostage.
Yeah. That's a quick followup: "We won't do nuttin' to yez if yez just stop!"
snip. I couldn’t stand any more. Sounds like dire consequences if you don’t turn yourself in.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 06/24/2004 12:12:32 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Great and Powerful Islamic Warriors as role model... cute
23 June 2004 - Muslim children play at beheading. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does.

A video located today on Sheik Abu Hamza’s website, www.shareeah.org, features four children, doing what as children the world over do: pretending. But what is completely unnerving about this video is what they are pretending. One young boy kneels in front of three other children, in the same manner of the condemned man; Three other children stand behind him in the same way that the terrorists stood over the men prior to their beheading. The three standing children are armed with pretend weapons. One of the three children is a girl. The tallest of the three standing children pretends he is Zarqawi, and reads a list of demands. The film clip ends with the pretend beheading of the kneeling child.

Chilling.
Pics and vids at the link; also, vid of the korean beheading, if you’re feeling macabre enough to want to see it.
Posted by: Anonymous5089 || 06/24/2004 8:37:17 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great post.

Sheik Abu Hamza’s obviously in solitary confinement inside Belmarsh as he's still alive. We should go after the rest of the twisted raghead f*cks that associated with him and deal with them accordingly - start internment camps and the like. Had to be done in WW2 - send them to the Isle of Man.
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/24/2004 9:34 Comments || Top||

#2  I believe it was pointed out on jihadwatch that in order to re-enact this, they had to have seen it.

I'd add: and thought it was a good thing.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/24/2004 9:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Strange that they let the "female vessel" play with her betters.
Posted by: RWV || 06/24/2004 11:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Great and Powerful Islamic Warriors as role model

For organ donors, maybe ...

That children should be reenacting such violence isn't "chilling" so much as downright hideous. Their parents have essentially primed them for criminal acts and death (not necessarily in that order). However much I detest PC thought, exposing kids to such vile thoughts and deeds is tantamount to child abuse.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/24/2004 13:06 Comments || Top||

#5  I went to Abu Hamza's site to look up this video (icky and I know it will take weeks to wash the stench off) but I couldn't find the video.

That would be the most appropriate link, not "HomelandSecurity.US"
Posted by: danking70 || 06/24/2004 13:35 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Anti-Iraqi backlash in Sth Korea
EFL
An unexpected reaction was Wednesday’s wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Iraqi sentiment. In South Korea, where nationalist feelings often cross into chauvinism, virtually all men perform military service. "An innocent son of our nation was murdered," read one of the mass of messages that crashed the Web site of the South Korean Defense Ministry. "If you allow me to volunteer for Iraq, I will fight terrorists to avenge his death." At a rally in Seoul, conservatives waved placards reading: "We should declare war against terrorists." Protesters argued that the government should send combat troops to Iraq, instead of military doctors and engineers. "We want revenge for Kim’s killing," protesters shouted, burning portraits of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Islamic militants who beheaded Kim and dumped his body and head on a road.

After 40 callers in four hours threatened to blow up Seoul’s main mosque, in the Itaewon neighborhood, the police sent 150 riot officers to defend the building, frequently urging angry young men to move along. Amid fears of a backlash against the country’s 30,000 Muslims, largely immigrants, police tightened security around 30 other mosques in South Korea. The nation’s radical mood swing could be documented in Busan, the port city where Kim grew up. On Monday, when Koreans believed that their pleas would be heard, Kim’s neighbors strung up a banner outside his house that read: "The South Korean people have never fired a single bullet at Iraqis. Please send back Kim Sun Il alive." Minutes after news arrived that the kidnappers had cut off his head, angry neighbors tore down placards saying: "Koreans are friends of the Iraqis."
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/24/2004 5:06:09 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Protesters argued that the government should send combat troops to Iraq, instead of military doctors and engineers.
Damn straight.

Looks like the Korean street has been inflamed.
Posted by: someone || 06/24/2004 5:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Good for the South Koreans to show their outrage against Iraqi citizens who have allowed savages to live with impunity in their midst. Maybe this will be a wake up call to Iraqis to get with the program. Thank goodness somebody has the courage to be politically incorrect and honest.
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 5:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Compare this to the American reaction to 9/11. The left stumbled over itself declaring us hateful racists, yet the South Koreans have issued as many threats against a single mosque as there have been "incidents" in the US.

Not that I blame the Koreans. Oh, no. I think anger is the right reaction.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/24/2004 8:11 Comments || Top||

#4  It is a righteous anger. What will they do with it, though? That is the question.
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 06/24/2004 8:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Heh. Don't piss off the Korean street. Their protests are bloodless battles, and their riots bloody drills.

Piss 'em off enough, and the Korean universities might send their own coalition contingent of student stormtroopers.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 06/24/2004 9:01 Comments || Top||

#6  All a matter of personal taste, I'm sure, but I think it's possible that South Koreans (at least a good chunk of them) may be even more contemptible clueless ingrates than much of western Europe. Here's a country that wouldn't exist without thousands of American dead and support from other countries as well -- people rescued from impoverished tyranny by a distant country which in return has asked so little that it's even indulged the beneficiary country on its predatory trade practices. Now when another tortured land is struggling to start on the path that has brought South Korea prosperity and freedom -- and many South Koreans show their colors by showing cowardice, indifference, and inexplicable resentment toward their benefactors in the US. Despicable.
Posted by: Verlaine || 06/24/2004 9:42 Comments || Top||

#7  An unexpected reaction was Wednesday’s wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Iraqi sentiment. In South Korea, where nationalist feelings often cross into chauvinism, virtually all men perform military service.

Um, doesn't the second statement sort of contradict the first? I mean, if SK nationalism borders on chauvinism, how foolish would one be not to expect this reaction?
Posted by: BH || 06/24/2004 9:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Much heat and fury will be generated, but no light or action.
Posted by: ed || 06/24/2004 10:03 Comments || Top||

#9  "If you allow me to volunteer for Iraq, I will fight terrorists to avenge his death."

What? Haven't the South Koreans read about how a country is supposed to react to terrorist intimidation? Spain wilted under the glare of barbarism. Isn't that how a country is supposed to react? Maybe it takes a higher level of sophistication to understand how retreat, appeasement, and surrender are really the best ways to confront rampant terrorism, and the poor South Koreans just don't understand.

When are Iraqis, Muslims, Arabs going to get tired of seeing their own people murdered by fanatics? Another 69 murdered today in Iraq. The signs are there, and time will show that the Iraqi people will turn their backs - not on the government as some predict, but on the fanatics who prey on innocents to intimidate the weak. The graphic, public display of gratuitous barbarity will work against the terrorists, because the human spirit is repulsed by it, and the instincts of survival harden the determination to prevail. It is playing out painfully slow - too slow for 24 hours news play-by-play - but in the end, the human quest for freedom, and the preference of freedom over tyranny will prove true, even in Iraq, even for Muslims.
Posted by: Jake || 06/24/2004 10:18 Comments || Top||

#10  BH,

The terrorists didn't expect the reaction. The terrorists are fools.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 06/24/2004 10:29 Comments || Top||

#11  "It is playing out painfully slow - too slow for 24 hours news play-by-play - but in the end, the human quest for freedom, and the preference of freedom over tyranny will prove true, even in Iraq, even for Muslims."

Jake, that is a true statement - and a bit eloquent for our Texas friend.
Posted by: Sam || 06/24/2004 10:32 Comments || Top||

#12  Thank goodness somebody has the courage to be politically incorrect and honest.

Right on, rex. Their reaction is REAL, not some PC ploy to make sure the rest of the world isn't offended and keeps liking them.

Verlaine has a good point, too, and I don't see it as a contradiction, but rather a catalyst for a changed mindset. Yes, South Koreans have been freeloading on American sweat and bucks. We know that a good chunk of the populace is against Korean deployment in Iraq. But how much did playing by the international relations rulebook help out Mr. Kim-Il?

The international community has been telling us that we should do to try to defuse the Muslim anger in the region by dealing with even Islam's most evil characters with respect for their equally held beliefs and values. We are to find resolution by not becoming violent and relying on dialog and negotiation.

He was humble, not violent (he begged for his life to be spared-a submissive, respectful approach), diplomats worked their tails off to try to negotiate a release (don't go to war, just behave civilly with dialog and negotiations)- still he was murdered savagely. Time for the notion of playing nice to go down the toilet.

This international delusion that, if we only behaved properly and had dialog/negotiated with Muslim extremists, we could bring peace and cooperation between peoples is an out-of-date and disproven notion in the face of Islamic jihad. Koreans are getting it, perhaps the rest of the world will start to get it.

For the Muslims in Korea, be safe, but also be honest and brave about confronting the flaws in your religion.
Posted by: jules 187 || 06/24/2004 10:33 Comments || Top||

#13  "The international community has been telling us that we should do to try to defuse the Muslim anger in the region by dealing with even Islam's most evil characters with respect for their equally held beliefs and values. We are to find resolution by not becoming violent and relying on dialog and negotiation."

That is the higher level of sophisatication I was talking about - and in the end, it means retreat, appeasement and surrender. South Korea may yet go the way of Spain, afterall there is international pressure to do so. They sound civil, and reasonable, and peaceful as they call for appeasment of barbaric fanatics. But deep down, the sophisticated international view is comforted by their understanding that the United States will step to the plate when necessary, so they don't really have to be right.
Posted by: Jake || 06/24/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||

#14  I'd be happy to see more ROK Marines in Iraq, but I'd also be happy to see the South Koreans thank Uncle Sam for the help defending the South and take over their own foreign policy and defence 100% instead of playing good cop to our bad cop and getting a bizarro world view in the process.
Posted by: Yank || 06/24/2004 11:08 Comments || Top||

#15  I see this story is getting serious coverage from.....NYT...no....ahhh....Wash Post.....ahh, no....mmmm....Oh, I know. The LA Times....Ops, no....
Posted by: Sean || 06/24/2004 11:11 Comments || Top||

#16  "But deep down, the sophisticated international view is comforted by their understanding that the United States will step to the plate when necessary, so they don't really have to be right."

In the end, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the US. This was true in WW2, Cold War, and all the little ones since. Maybe that deep down understanding that "they don't really have to be right" carries with it a deep down resentment because they do have to rely on the US.
Posted by: Sam || 06/24/2004 11:16 Comments || Top||

#17  You know, all of our recent experiences with the South Koreans, Germans, UN, Afghanistan and Iraq have taught us a valuable lesson that will hugely benefit our future American war efforts. We Allies spend our blood and money in the hopes of helping to keep others free, yet it’s shocking how quickly their gratitude turns to resentment. Rather than graciously accepting the support, they start acting like spoiled, ungrateful, adolescent teenagers, complaining because mommy and daddy gave them a VW instead of a Porsche.

But what we have finally learned is that they will CONTINUE to act like adolescent teenagers as long as we allow them to. They will just get surlier, more demanding and increasingly resentful– that is until they realize that the support will be ending on a set date - – at which time they immediately become grateful, once again, for any assistance that can be provided.

With the very real deadlines now looming, it seems that the world is finally grasping that the American free ride is over. Here’s your country back, good luck to you. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 11:23 Comments || Top||

#18  love their food
love their women
now I love their politics
Posted by: Anonymous5075 || 06/24/2004 11:34 Comments || Top||

#19  To get some idea of what is going on in SKor concerning the Kim murder, see the Marmot' Hole weblog site here.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 12:03 Comments || Top||

#20  Yonhap News got a hold of and released some of the victim's last e-mails that were sent to a friend of his. Lots of homesickness, was looking to get out of Iraq real quick. Wasn't too fond of the U.S. military, apparently -- said he experienced what it was like to be underdog in Iraq, and told his friend he would bring pictures of "brutality" committed by U.S. soldiers that would "give you goosebumps." He said he would never forget the brutality of Bush, Rumsfeld and the U.S. military.

Until the terrorists started to work on him.

Bile just rises and adrenaline surges wildly whenever I think what these men had to go through in the executions. It's horrible that this man, begging and pleading for his life, met the same fate as Nicholas Berg and Paul Johnson.

(Thanks for the link, Alaska Paul.)
Posted by: jules 187 || 06/24/2004 12:26 Comments || Top||

#21  Don't piss off the Korean street.

More to the point, don't piss off the ROKs - you'll end up very dead.
Posted by: mojo || 06/24/2004 13:38 Comments || Top||

#22  Jules, yes yes all the good lefty slogans are included in the article. Now we have confimation that it was indeed a Zionist sponsored killing and not the peace-loving muslims. This was to cover up the multitude of crimes committed by the evil U.S. military. Now the setting is complete for the conspiracy to unravel.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 06/24/2004 16:29 Comments || Top||

#23  Every muslim or middle east people in east asia including china, taiwan, Southe korea and Japan should be kicked away. Those uneducated muslim and persians should not live in that part of the world. Chinese, Taiwanses, South Korean and Japanese are peaceful people not like those Iraqi and the people from middle east.
Posted by: jjokocha || 07/14/2004 20:01 Comments || Top||

#24  Come on! Korean, Japanese and Chinese government should not let any foreigners to go to their countries. They should kick all the muslims or middle-east people out of their countries and the americans too. All whites from America should be kicked out from there. They don't deserve to be living or working there. Get your ass out of there.
Posted by: jjokocha || 07/14/2004 20:05 Comments || Top||

#25  Darling Jkocha... ye are posting on a dead thread.

Come join real time and vent thy rage.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/14/2004 20:08 Comments || Top||


Beheading Stirs Debate in South Korea
The stunned nation awoke Wednesday to television images of a blindfolded Kim Sun-il kneeling in an orange jumpsuit before his masked captors and news that he was later decapitated. President Roh Moo-hyun denounced the killing and stood by his government’s plan to send 3,000 additional troops to Iraq beginning in August. But the slaying underlined divisions on the domestic front. "This incident was shocking and tragic, but it mustn’t shake our decision and principle to send troops to Iraq," the country’s biggest newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, said in an editorial. "In times like this, the president and the government must focus and not allow the deployment issue to once again divide the public." But civic groups called for a cancellation of the deployment, and students hung black-and-white mourning banners and built funeral altars on campuses while pledging to step up their campaigns against the troop dispatch.

About 2,000 protesters rallied at a candlelight vigil Wednesday night to mourn Kim and oppose the troop dispatch. Many held placards reading "Bush and Roh killed Kim Sun-il" or "We don’t want to die. Korean troops get out." A group of 50 lawmakers, many from Roh’s ruling Uri Party, submitted a resolution to parliament Wednesday urging the government to reconsider the deployment. "The government was irresponsible," said Park Bong-ju, a 28-year-old office worker. "This tragedy happened because of the government’s plan to send troops. We must cancel a dispatch plan and withdraw soldiers who are already in Iraq." For others, the killing seemed to strengthen the backing for the military mission. "I don’t think the government should cancel its troop deployment," said Cho Hang-duk, a 42-year-old office worker. "This is time for the nation to tighten its unity and show to the world we stand together in a difficult time."
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/24/2004 5:00:53 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But civic groups called for a cancellation of the deployment, and students hung black-and-white mourning banners and built funeral altars on campuses while pledging to step up their campaigns against the troop dispatch.

South Korea - the next Spain of the Far East? Stay tuned.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 10:32 Comments || Top||

#2  that's right, it was aimed specifically at the populations of democracies to make them pressure their governments to crack the alliance so they can take us on piecemeal.

give them what they want and you'll encourage them to do it again and again and again and again.

SKor will stay strong or the US will close its bases. Period.
Posted by: Anon1 || 06/24/2004 10:41 Comments || Top||


U.S. Proposing Aid in North Korea Talks
The United States proposed on Wednesday that North Korea agree to a series of nuclear disarmament measures over a three-month period in exchange for economic benefits and an easing of its diplomatic isolation. The proposal, unveiled at the start of six-nation talks in China, would ultimately lead to the end of North Korea's nuclear program. It was the most detailed U.S. proposal for bringing about a diplomatic solution to the North Korea nuclear impasse since it surfaced almost two years ago.
I'm hoping this is just more 'engaged apathy.'
During the three-month "preparatory period," North Korea would disable its nuclear weapons and remove key weapons ingredients. "The permanent and verifiable dismantlement and removal of North Korea's nuclear programs would follow," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. During the initial period, the nations in the Beijing talks would be willing "to ease the political and economic isolation of North Korea," according to the U.S. proposal. Outside assistance would focus on deliveries of fuel, particularly from South Korea. No lasting benefits would be provided to North Korea until after the disarmament had been completed, Boucher said. There would be no American assistance until the later stages of the process.
So we don't ante up til they do.
A shrill North Korean response to the proposal was expected on Thursday, said a senior administration official, asking not to be identified. Under the U.S. proposal, some form of security guarantees also would be offered to give North Korea the confidence that disarmament would not trigger an attack. The senior official described the U.S. proposal as a repackaging of the government's previous stance, mostly to make it more appealing to partners pushing for a more flexible American approach.
'Engaged apathy' is alive and well.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/24/2004 12:18:17 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So long as the requirements implementing the "permanent and verifiable" dismantlement are absolutely comprehensive and overwhelming, OK.

This would include, at a minimum, US participation in every step of enumerating and documenting each location and facility, dismantlement and removal of equipment and materials, perpetual go-anywhere no-warning inspection rights and in-country personnel and facilities supporting same, and especially -- transfer (documented by ongoing US presence) of every single scientist, engineer, and technician involved with the nuclear program to non-military pursuits. The pervasiveness, flexibility, and intrusiveness of the verification arrangements should make it impossible for the NoKos to do any significant nuclear work. Their personnel should have us essentially looking over their shoulder, indefinitely.

Think of the production-site verification arrangements of the INF Treaty -- but multiplied by a factor of 100, and extended to personnel as well as places and things.

We'd have to be deep in their shots in every imaginable useful way. The merit and beauty of this approach is that is simultaneously the only technically acceptable one, and the one that will provide front-end confirmation of NoKo seriousnes, i.e. surrender on this issue.

Clueless process-obsessed types are always dreaming up impractical new arms control "fixes" for political and strategic conflicts. Well, here's a new approach that just might work, if it's intrusive and relentless enough. Anything less than this sort of unprecedented approach, I think, just constitutes another game in which the risks are all down-side for us.
Posted by: Verlaine || 06/24/2004 1:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Exactly how is this proposal different from what the dynamic duo ie. Carter and Clinton had offered N.K? We're going up the same street-throw $ at the problem and hope it straightens out. N.K. should get ZERO US tax money, sorry. It is a rogue state and the more N. Koreans starve the greater likelihood that they will rebel against their demented leader. If the US puts food in their bellies, they will love him and still hate us. Give me a break...this is not an "original" approach to dealing with Pingpong Whatshisface. It's the same old, same old ineffectual cave-in on the part of Uncle Sam.
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 1:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Agree to all the goodies NK wants, as long as China picks up the entire bill. If SK wants to bride Kimmie, then pull out our all troops and let SK learn just how expensive the US defense commitment to SK was. Hell, pull out the troops anyway.
Posted by: ed || 06/24/2004 1:55 Comments || Top||

#4  There would be no American assistance until the later stages of the process.
Posted by: Edward Yee || 06/24/2004 1:55 Comments || Top||

#5  I may be mistaken, but the NORKS will never agree to us deeply and systematically rooting around in their Nuke industry. So it is a pseudo generous thing that we offer aid. The NORKS do not want to change. They have had the same sick modus operandi and society for over 50 years now. Who knows, maybe after Kimmi dies, but I do not know all the nuances of Head Nork succession. I do not think that this will go anywhere. Which is fine by me.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 2:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Heil no, sheit! Fark the felchers, they've never measured up under similar arrangements, why should we trust them now? Unless it's election year posturing to try and win over some of the moderate lefties.
Posted by: therien || 06/24/2004 2:42 Comments || Top||

#7  I hope that Kim undestands that although he is giving up nukes, the PRC still supports his prerogative to drive tanks over his citizens and run biological experiments on his dissidents.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/24/2004 3:34 Comments || Top||

#8  On a serious note - if a proposal is made by the Bush Administration, there will be teeth to it. W doesn't do window-dressing.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/24/2004 3:37 Comments || Top||

#9  Alaska Paul, I agree with your assessment -- I was just laying out what I thought were the minimum elements of an acceptable verification/inspection regime. It ought to be done in a very high-profile manner -- so any "critics" of our approach can be b*tch-slapped and it shown that we are not the problem. This would not resemble the folly of '94, which used the approach of a trade agreement with a friendly neighbor to halt the determined nefarious activities of a closed, hostile, bizarre distant enemy.

I'd say odds of acceptance are a bit less than 50/50. Chances that thinking people would settle for anything less than this are zero.
Posted by: Verlaine || 06/24/2004 9:22 Comments || Top||

#10  Screw Kim and screw North Korea. When they disarm/dismantle all facilities/programs and allow to be put in place a method for positive verification then they get the assistance they need. Until then, zippo.

No compromises, no bargaining.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 11:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Verlaine---appreciate your comments. For verification to work, Kimmie will need an epipheny, like G'Daffy of Libya, and I just do not see that happening in Nork-Land. If China wants to pick up the tab for his madness, they can do so. Anything we do in aid for Nork is enabling the govt to carry on its destruction of its citizens, just like Bob in Zimbabwe. The sooner these psychopathing govts are toppled or allowed to implode, the more people will be saved in the long run. It is ugly arithmetic, but true.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 12:15 Comments || Top||


Europe
Swiss arrest 10th al-Qaeda suspect
Swiss authorities have arrested a man suspected of furnishing al Qaeda members with false identities, bringing to 10 the number of arrests in the case, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Thursday. The false identity case is one of three Swiss investigations which show the country was used for support but not as a major base for al Qaeda, said Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher, delivering a progress report on Swiss terror probes. "Switzerland has so far not played a central role as a location for the activities...of the international terror network al Qaeda, although it is suspected that offences in logistical and financial support were committed in the country," Roschacher told a news conference.

The three cases will now be passed to the criminal courts, he said. The false identity probe was launched after the deadly attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May last year. Investigators discovered 36 Swiss telephone numbers used in connection with the attack, which led to the initial nine arrests. None were Swiss. The 10th arrest was made in May but revealed only now for security reasons, officials said. Of the 10, six remain in pre-trial detention under suspicion of running a false identity network for Middle Eastern terror activists, who entered Switzerland illegally and then were furnished with falsified papers. Four have been released but remain under investigation. "The investigations revealed that once in Switzerland, the smuggled individuals, some of who could have had close contacts with al Qaeda, either disappeared or were illegally moved on to other European countries," the prosecutor said in a report.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 4:52:00 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fuck the Swiss
Posted by: Bulldog || 06/24/2004 18:37 Comments || Top||

#2  And the dawg what pull they cart!
Posted by: HalfEmpty || 06/24/2004 19:48 Comments || Top||


Italian cell added to list of terrorist financiers
The United States has added six more members of an Italian cell of al Qaeda to its list of designated global terrorists and their financiers, the Treasury Department said on Thursday. In March, Italy and the United States had designated 10 other individuals associated with the cell, operating primarily in the Lombardy region. The United States has alleged the Italy-based cell was engaged in the trafficking of arms and chemical materials, as well as supplying false documentation and other support to other al Qaeda members. Treasury said the six individuals were designated for criminal activities, including supplying false documentation to illegal aliens. "The international community continues its drive to identify and financially isolate al Qaeda supporting cells and members in Europe around the world," Treasury said in a press release.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 4:46:34 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


After seeing Muslims celebrate 9/11, citizens protest Mosque plan
Milos Kejzlar angrily recalls the reaction of visiting Arabs in Teplice following the events of 9/11. "The people of the town were very surprised to see a great number of Arabs here celebrating in the parks and the restaurants after they learned what happened in the U.S.," he said, downing shots of slivovice at his well-kept house in a leafy suburb. Shocked by some Arabs’ response to the destruction of the World Trade Center and flooded by constant media coverage of terrorist plots, Kejzlar concluded that a mosque a few blocks from his home was a bad idea. "It seems that terrorism often springs from those who gather at the mosques and from those who preach from them," said the 41-year-old high school math teacher.

Last spring, after learning of a private company’s plans to erect a temple to cater to the thousands of Arabs, mostly Saudis, who seek extended medical treatments in this historic spa town, Kejzlar launched a petition against the mosque, which would be the country’s second. An informal prayer house already exists on the proposed site of the 132-square-meter (1,467-square-foot) mosque. "Islam is a strongly orthodox religion that is based on principles that are contrary to our cultural environment as well as the development of our society," the petition reads. "At the time when Arab terrorism is growing all around the world, it would be very dangerous even to consider granting a permit for such a building. ... Recently there have been many cases of mosques becoming centers of radical Muslims who preach about the necessity to physically liquidate people of different faiths." In this north Bohemian city of 53,000, the petition received 4,500 signatures. The petition -- and its timing (it was presented to City Hall April 12, one day after two Czech TV reporters were kidnapped in Iraq) have led to charges of xenophobia and even greed against the mosque’s detractors.

Sleiman Kantar of Kantar Trade, which represents the Dubai investor who donated the funding for the mosque, said he has met with Catholic, Evangelical and Hussite leaders who all support the project. Teplice’s construction-permit office must reply to Kantar’s application by the end of July. Town officials insist the proposal will be evaluated impartially. However, protest groups have in the past successfully held up construction projects in the Czech Republic, particularly for major roads. Kantar, a native of Syria who has lived in Teplice for more than two decades, said he suspects the petition is really aimed at stopping the construction of a 68-suite luxury hotel that his client, Naijiba Abdulsamad Al-Kaitoob, wants to build next to the mosque, along with a business center and three restaurants. The Oriental Center, as Kantar has dubbed the project, would involve the reconstruction of an empty farmhouse on the grounds of an impressive Baroque chCteau. "The people who signed the petition are afraid of competition. These are people who rent their homes to Arabs in the summer and they are afraid the hotel will cost them business," he said. Kantar said Al-Kaitoob is very disappointed that the proposed mosque has attracted controversy. "We all thought it would be a way to show Islam in a positive light," he said, speculating that the mosque’s design -- it will feature the only minaret in the country -- would attract tourists as well as worshippers. The country’s only other mosque, in Brno, is architecturally indistinguishable from the surrounding buildings.

A few minutes’ walk from the planned site of the mosque -- where a park, a Lebanese restaurant and a monkey house draw visitors -- there are the five 18th-century spa buildings that evoke Teplice’s former grandeur. Beethoven, Mozart and Wagner were among the town’s many celebrity guests. Once a rival to popular spa towns such as Karlovy Vary, Teplice suffered from communist-era rebuilding schemes but the spa buildings, all run by the Spa Teplice company, are well preserved. "Their newly painted facades are a direct result of Arab money," said Spa Teplice Chairman Karel Wiegl. Arabs started frequenting the town about 15 years ago, and they are now coming in ever-greater numbers. Last year about 2,850 Arabs sought treatments in Teplice, often accompanied by large families and spending 5 million Kc ($192,307) at the spa facilities, according to Spa Teplice. "Many of our Arab clients stay in private homes, and there was no more room for them in the spa prayer halls," said Wiegl, whose firm supports the mosque plan. "There are people in Teplice who think the mosque will attract terrorists. We think this is very funny because if terrorists wanted to gather here, they wouldn’t need a mosque," Wiegl said. Wiegl blamed the anti-mosque sentiment on old-fashioned xenophobia. "Under the totalitarian regime our country was closed to foreigners. So without thinking people sign a petition keeping out the foreign element," he said.

Teplice Mayor Jaroslav Kubera also attributed the petition to a fear of outsiders, but he said the fear was grounded in reality. "In the times [in which] we are living, people see something about terrorist attacks every night. People in Saudi Arabia are killing each other and in Iraq. Many people think of Islam as a radical religion that causes the violence," he said. The mayor, chain-smoking in front of a "smoking allowed" sign in his office, said he wants Teplice to be known for its atmosphere of tolerance. "I have no problems with a mosque. I think it would be great if we could build a synagogue too, and how about a church?" he said, noting that before World War II Teplice was home to one of the largest Jewish temples in Central Europe. Kubera acknowledges that the behavior of Arab visitors doesn’t always endear them to the locals. "They like to stay up late and make more noise than Czechs are used to," he said. "Also, they often leave their trash in the park." Zdenek Briza, a 56-year-old technician who signed the petition, said he knows that not all Arabs are terrorists, "but you never know. There are 100 to 200 mosques under state surveillance in Germany because of suspected terrorist ties. We don’t want that here. Look what happened in Madrid."

Kantar said the Islamic preaching done in Teplice so far has been anything but inflammatory. "Last year the man who led services gave a sermon about how to behave in Teplice, telling guests to pick up their trash and maintain quiet in the evenings." Ramiz Ahmadie, a Beirut native and owner of the Lebanese restaurant that would abut the controversial house of worship, said he doesn’t care if the mosque is built because he is a Druid, not a Muslim. However, he scoffed at the notion that the mosque would attract terrorists. He said most of the spa-going visitors are over 60 years old. "I thought there was supposed to be freedom here. If I want to go to the disco, I can go to the disco," Ahmadie said. "So what’s the big deal if someone wants to go pray in a mosque?"
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 06/24/2004 2:36:51 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It seems that terrorism often springs from those who gather at the mosques and from those who preach from them,"

If only our media and the LLL could add two and two and come up with four.

"So what’s the big deal if someone wants to go pray in a mosque?"

Because you're likely to come out of the mosque with a bandolier and a gun that goes with it?

Good for these guys. Fight The Power.
Posted by: Raj || 06/24/2004 15:06 Comments || Top||

#2  So, I guess it was the over-sixty crowd that was having a big party after 9/11? Okay. Such a peace loving, prayerful bunch of senior citizens. And I'm sure they do leave trash everywhere. Arabs are dirty people. BTW: the Arabs like to bitch about how "intolerant" we are, because, as societies with roots in Christianity, tolerance and love is encouraged. So bitch they do. BUT, how many Moslem countries will allow large, well-funded churches and synagogues to be built in prominent areas in their cities, along with hotels and eateries? The answer is that they won't allow them to be built at all. As for Ahamadie: he's just happy to get more business if more tourists come there. His "it's okay, everyone is just overeacting" speech is fake.
Posted by: ex-lib || 06/24/2004 15:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Math teacher or whatever, U.S. citizen or not, I don't care: I'm writing in Milos Kejzlar for President this November!
Posted by: Dave D. || 06/24/2004 15:43 Comments || Top||

#4  maybe they just don't wanna hear the caterwauling five times a day from the minaret?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 15:58 Comments || Top||

#5  However, he scoffed at the notion that the mosque would attract terrorists.

Nah. That'd never happen.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/24/2004 20:05 Comments || Top||

#6  A Druid from Beirut? He would be a Druze.
Posted by: Grunter || 06/24/2004 23:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Finally someone has the guts to say it like it is. Muslims dancing in the streets celebrating 9/11...yea, we know, they did it here too. The problem is that after people saw it with their own eyes, they still are so stupid. The muslims had barely caught their breath from their dance of death when they began the taqiyya (lie) of the worldwide islamic party movement,"we are a religion of peace, we condemn this terrorism". islam is the problem. Why won't people believe that they say what they mean when from their own mouths they state their desire to take over the world? Every conflict across the entire world taking place right now involve muslims...ALL of the conflicts. The sermons coming from these so-called peaceful muslim imams rival any given by Hitler or popular KKK spokesman. Islam is hate and intolerance.
Posted by: jawa || 06/24/2004 23:37 Comments || Top||


Turkish Bus Blast Possible "Work Accident"
Long article, EFL:
A percussion bomb blew up on a young woman’s lap killing her and at least three others on an Istanbul bus today – creating panic in a city that is to host a Nato summit attended by world leaders including George Bush and Tony Blair on Monday. Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said the bomb exploded in the lap of a young woman in her early 20s who was most likely transporting the bomb when it accidentally went off. “It was apparently a bomb that was being carried,” Guler said. “It is understood that the target was neither the bus nor the passengers aboard.” A hospital doctor said the woman was killed in the blast.
Pity others were killed, no pity for her.
Guler said the bomb was a percussion bomb – a type of bomb that makes a lot of noise but causes little damage unless it goes off in a confined area.
A really big firecracker, that's what I thought they were.
About a half-dozen small percussion bombs have exploded in Istanbul in recent days, injuring several people. Left wing groups have used the bombs in the past. “We are considering the likelihood of a Marxist-leaning organisation,” Guler said when asked who could be behind the attacks.
The islamic-leaning organizations tend to wrap their bombs with nails and ball-bearings.
Ankara Police Chief Ercument Yilmaz said officers in the Ankara blast were injured when they approached a package containing explosives to verify a tip that a bomb had been placed nearby. One officer lost a foot in the blast.
What did he do, kick it?
A small Marxist group, MLKP-FESK, claimed responsibility for the Ankara blast, private NTV television reported. Police would not comment on the report.
"We can't comment right now, call back later."
The Ankara bomb exploded some 75 yards from the entrance of the hotel where President Bush is due to stay, shattering windows of nearby buildings.
Posted by: Steve || 06/24/2004 12:33:02 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Spaniard arrested for selling Madrid massacre explosives
MADRID – Police investigating the Madrid terrorist bombings arrested a Spaniard Thursday in the Canary Islands. The man, nicknamed 'Jimy', was detained in Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria. Sources close to the investigation said that it was understood the suspect was linked to the gang in northern Spain who were thought to have supplied explosives to the Islamic terrorists. The suspect was being taken to Madrid for questioning. His house has been sealed off and was being searched.

Eight people were arrested in Asturias in northern Spain last week in connection with allegedly stealing explosives from a mine and selling them to the Islamic extremists behind the bombings. Three have already been released. One Spaniard has already been charged with causing the deaths of the 192 people who were killed in the attacks on 11 March and supplying the Goma 2 explosives. No more details were available about the latest arrest, Interior Ministry officials said.
"I can say no more."
Posted by: Steve || 06/24/2004 10:38:42 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Second Bomb Blast Reported In Turkey
Police in Turkey say an explosion has been heard in a residential area of Istanbul. They report several casualties.
This is bomb #2.
Earlier, an explosion outside a hotel in Ankara injured three people, including two police officers. They were investigating the bomb, which was reported as a suspicious package. It's the same hotel where President George W. Bush is expected to stay during a visit to Turkey this weekend for a NATO summit .
I guess we can cancel that, I hear the BOQ on Incirlik is very nice. Bet you can get a reservation if you call ahead.
In the latest blast, news reports say a bomb went off on a bus, killing at least two people and injuring seven others. Additional: A bomb attack in Istanbul has killed three people and injured at least seven others, hours after an earlier explosion in Turkey's capital, Ankara. The blast ripped through a bus outside a hospital on the city's European side. Ambulances rushed to the scene.
As they say, so many suspects.
Posted by: Steve || 06/24/2004 9:08:29 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Was this second bomb at a hospital or not? I saw a comment on another site this morning that said it was, but I could not locate a news article to link that confirmed this.

This caught my attention (the hospital) since I believe a suicide bomber was stopped at an Iraqi hospital a day or two ago.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 06/24/2004 9:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Such admirable security.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 10:30 Comments || Top||

#3  What, they had a bus full of Jews riding around Istanbul?

/sarcasm

Wonder if the LLL will condemn this bus bombing, since it didn't murder Jews? Or will they excuse it because Turkey is "occupying" some land some place?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/24/2004 11:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Bus outside a hospital

That explains my confusion. And gee, it sure was nice of them to blast a bust rather than a hospital. Real humanitarians.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 06/24/2004 12:03 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
The Threat of Dirty Bombs
From The Journal of the Federation of American Scientists
.... Our analysis of this threat has reached three principle conclusions:

1) Radiological attacks constitute a credible threat. Radioactive materials that could be used for such attacks are stored in thousands of facilities around the US, many of which may not be adequately protected against theft by determined terrorists. Some of this material could be easily dispersed in urban areas by using conventional explosives or by other methods.

2) While radiological attacks would result in some deaths, they would not result in the hundreds of thousands of fatalities that could be caused by a crude nuclear weapon. Attacks could contaminate large urban areas with radiation levels that exceed EPA health and toxic material guidelines.

3) Materials that could easily be lost or stolen from US research institutions and commercial sites could contaminate tens of city blocks at a level that would require prompt evacuation and create terror in large communities even if radiation casualties were low. Areas as large as tens of square miles could be contaminated at levels that exceed recommended civilian exposure limits. Since there are often no effective ways to decontaminate buildings that have been exposed at these levels, demolition may be the only practical solution. If such an event were to take place in a city like New York, it would result in losses of potentially trillions of dollars.

The article continues and includes illustrations showing hypothetical areas of damage caused by a dirty bomb exploded in Manhattan and Washington DC.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/24/2004 10:51:30 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


WND: Schumer Demands better Mall security
EFL
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D.-N.Y., says the government’s indictment of Nuradin Abdi for plotting with al-Qaida to bomb shopping malls, coupled with recently uncovered documents showing the March 11 Madrid train bombers also planned to attack Parquesur, a large suburban shopping center there, are "clear proof" the U.S. is not doing enough to protect the nation’s shopping malls from terror attacks.
-snip-
"More and more evidence is mounting that if they want to attack again, they’ll do it someplace closer to home like a shopping center. We’ve gone all-out to shore up air security, and now we have to catch up with mall security as well."

According to a press statement, Schumer’s proposal includes:
1. Installing high-tech radiation detectors at malls in high-risk areas like New York.

2. Building a new generation of portable detectors and accelerating research into low-cost chemical agent detectors.

3. Creating evacuation plans for shopping centers.
However, when New York’s WABC-TV interviewed shoppers Sunday on the mall fear-factor, most didn’t sound too worried. "I’m aware that it’s a problem," J. Grier told WABC. "I feel very confident that we’re not any more safe than we were prior to 9-11; in fact I think we’re in greater jeopardy and I can’t let it stop me because life goes on."

"Ya know there hasn’t been anything happening in a while around here and I think people have sort of put it out of their mind. I feel safe," offered shopper Bruce Heron.

Schumer reportedly wants to spend about $1 billion on his plan.

After the Madrid attacks in March, Schumer says, he asked Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Commerce Secretary Don Evans to find a way to expedite development of devices that can detect traces of explosives, biological weapons and chemical weapons, without requiring that individual shoppers be screened. "One thing the 9/11 Commission showed us this week is just how detailed al-Qaida’s detailed plans to attack us were. The terrorists are smart enough to hit us where we strongest, not where we are weak. That means we have to move on mall security, and do it now," Schumer said.
I think we’ll do OK here in Fort Wayne, without beefed up CBR defense at the mall. I would appreciate it if Schumer would protect the Spencer’s on his own dime. Personally, I demand beefed up security at barber shops, automotive parts stores and Blockbusters.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/24/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I bet part of his plan calls for mall security guards to become federal employees.It's worked so well at airports.
Posted by: Stephen || 06/24/2004 2:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Someday there will be a suited athletic-looking gentleman behind the counter selling you an Orange Julius or vending Clinique products. You will know for sure that he is a Mall-marshall.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/24/2004 3:41 Comments || Top||

#3  OK Schumer, are you willing to support tighter immigration procedures?
Posted by: mhw || 06/24/2004 7:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Schumer is the most blatant self promoting, grandstanding, attention whore I've seen outside of Billary. Don't think for a moment he is even remotely serious about this. He has a weekly press conference designed to put himself in front of a camera. I enjoyed the one about breakfast cereals being too expensive. They say the most dangerous place in the world is the spot in between Schumer and a TV camera - its all to true.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 06/24/2004 12:00 Comments || Top||

#5  JerseyMike,enquiring minds want to know:how cold does it get when Schumer and Clinton share a room?
Posted by: Stephen || 06/24/2004 12:54 Comments || Top||

#6  "...find a way to expedite development of devices that can detect traces of explosives, biological weapons and chemical weapons, without requiring that individual shoppers be screened. "

Gee, I dunno, Wally, maybe put them in the fucking entrances?
Posted by: Raj || 06/24/2004 13:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Stephen, its quite chilly according to the dailies. Its widely reported around here that the Jr. & Sr. NY Senators don't have much use for each other. Who knows if thats true or not, but it seems there is a fair amount of fake smiling and feigned commeraderie going on.
I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them, but to be fair, I say that about politicians in general.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 06/24/2004 15:02 Comments || Top||

#8  How about we let law-abiding citizens carry concealed weapons for self-defense, Chuckles?

(chirp, chirp)
Posted by: mojo || 06/24/2004 15:03 Comments || Top||

#9  I wait with bated breath for his jobs program: hiring unemployed Muslim males as mall security guards (based on recommendations supplied by their imams, of course)...
Posted by: Pappy || 06/24/2004 21:14 Comments || Top||

#10  The terrorists are smart enough to hit us where we strongest, not where we are weak. That means we have to move on mall security, and do it now," Schumer said.

Umm, if they were smart, they'd have hit us where we were weak.

Shumer, Senatorial idiot.
Posted by: Ptah || 06/24/2004 21:57 Comments || Top||

#11  quickest way to sustain a debilitating injury: get between Chuck Schumer and a TV camera
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 22:41 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Azahari still in Bandung
Intelligence suggests that key terror suspect Dr. Azahari is still in Bandung, according to the Bandung metropolitan police. Sr. Comr. Hendra Sukmana, the chief of Bandung Police, said the city’s security status had been increased to top alert and he had advised Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada to instruct all neighborhood chiefs in the city to enforce the registration of all guests staying at people’s homes for more than 24 hours. Hendra also suggested that Bandung residents revive nightly patrols in their neighborhoods to maintain security. "We recently received credible information that he is still in the city. We cannot afford to miss another arrest and are hunting for him," he said. Hendra refused to disclose the source of information.

Two other accomplices, Tohir and Ismail, were arrested and testified in court that both Azahari and Noordin had planned the Marriott bombing while living in Cigadung, north Bandung. Asmar Latin Sani, who died in the Marriott bombing, also attended meetings at the house. After the bombing, Azahari and Noordin moved to another rented house in Tamansari, Bandung, near the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Police raided the house in October, but the two had already fled. TNT was found in the house. Hendra said all Bandung residents should help search for the two suspects, as they were a threat to the community. If they are not arrested soon, they could recruit more bombers and target public areas in the city. Last year, police distributed leaflets bearing the photographs of two of the most wanted men -- Azahari and Noordin -- in hotels and public places in Bandung, as they appealed for the public’s help to track down the terrorist suspects. Hotel managements in Bandung, meanwhile, blamed Azahari and Noordin for the sudden drop in hotel occupancy rates in the city. Besides the two suspects, other fugitives include Dulmatin, who allegedly helped in the Bali bomb construction, and Zulkarnaen, whom police have called a "mastermind" of the Bali attacks. Dulmatin, who remains at large, is an explosives expert who was trained by Azahari and also allegedly played a prominent role in the bomb attacks.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 4:26:06 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
British Sailors To Swap For 40 Iranian Volunteers for Suicide Missions
Posted by: tipper || 06/24/2004 21:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ohh, how I would love to hear PM Blair warn the Iranians of a 48 hour deadline to release the hostages...naw...no way,they couldn't take the Faulklands without our help.
Posted by: smn || 06/24/2004 23:45 Comments || Top||


Satellite images raise doubts as to Iran’s nuclear program
A newly obtained satellite image shows Iran has almost completely scraped clean a suspected nuclear site in Tehran, which Washington says is proof of an attempt to hide a weapons program.

A satellite image from May 10, taken by the GlobalDigital satellite firm and provided to Reuters on Wednesday by the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, shows clearly that Iran has almost completed the task of razing the Lavizan-Shiyan Technical Research Centre.

Satellite photos from last August and last March showed Iran had been demolishing buildings and carting away topsoil from Lavizan, which the US said was proof Iran was trying to hide nuclear activities from the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Tehran said last week that no nuclear activities had taken place at Lavizan.

However, US officials pointed to the presence of a radiation detector - which a diplomat and a nuclear expert said a US firm had made and sold to Iran - as proof that nuclear activities were under way at the site.

Comparing the images from May 10 and March 22, experts said it was clear that in less than two months Iran had nearly completed erasing the research centre.

"What I see is the removal of roads and curbs and some vegetation," said Corey Hinderstein, deputy director of the Institute for Science and International Security.

"These measures could make it more difficult for the IAEA to detect particles of significant [nuclear] material at the site if they were there before these measures were taken."

The identification of the radiation detection device - called a whole body counter - as having been made by a Connecticut firm, Canberra Industries, could prove embarrassing to Washington, which has called on countries to crack down on exports of even seemingly innocent machinery that could be used in weapons programs.

Last year the IAEA found particles of enriched uranium at sites in Iran, raising fears Tehran had been enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons.

Last year Iran carried out significant reconstruction work at the Kalaye Electric Company before letting UN inspectors take environmental samples. When the inspectors gained access after several months’ delay they found traces of highly enriched uranium.

The US accused Iran of trying to sanitise the site before the arrival of UN inspectors. Last week Washington said Iran was doing the same at Lavizan.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:44:13 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  US turning up heat on Iran?

Give back the Brits or we'll tell the world you have nukes and begin the process of pursuing a casus belli against you?

After all you don't need to fight them straight away or even threaten them with war. Just threaten them with moving to stage one of the process towards war should be enough: still plenty of bargaining space.

Not enough troops/homefront will for too many wars

Bush gotta get re-elected: don't bite off too much before 2005, W.
Posted by: Anon1 || 06/24/2004 11:16 Comments || Top||

#2  i would say 2005 is the year planned for iran all along..and if Bush is not re-elected you gotta bet the asshats in iran will get a big dose of balls and do something really stupid...causing even a dem admin to take military action...
Posted by: Dan || 06/24/2004 12:26 Comments || Top||

#3  causing even a dem admin to take military action...

Not unless you think "surrender" counts as a military action. We ARE talking about a potential John F. "Negotiated with the Cong" Kerry administration.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/24/2004 13:25 Comments || Top||


8 Detained Servicemen in British Custody
Eight British servicemen who were detained after their boats strayed into Iranian territorial waters have been turned over to British diplomats, officials said Thursday. Protesters angry about the occupation of Iraq tried to approach the six Royal Marines and two sailors as they arrived at Tehran’s airport accompanied by British consular officers, but they were kept away by police. The eight were detained Monday after their boats apparently strayed into the Iranian side of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, or Arvand River, that runs along the Iran-Iraq border while delivering a patrol boat to Iraq’s new river police. "I’m told that they are in very good spirits and were well cared for," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a brief statement.
snip
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 06/24/2004 9:55:20 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Next time, there needs to be a heavily armed escort for any Allied craft and if the Iranians try this shit again, their vessel and its crew should be promptly dispatched to sit alongside Davey Jones' locker.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 10:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Howard, Shep, Bulldog...I'm glad your servicemen have been freed.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/24/2004 10:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Allahu Akbar... and just in time for the soccerfootball too. ULULULULULULULULULULULUL!!!
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/24/2004 10:47 Comments || Top||

#4  I think this goes back to that bayonet charge by the Argylls. -
Posted by: Matt || 06/24/2004 11:10 Comments || Top||

#5  They'll be keeping the boats and other equipment? Thank God the men are safe - but wouldn't it be nice to turn the boats into navigational hazards in those waters? While we are at it, I'd really like to see the USS Pueblo turned into a pile of smoking steel along the NKOR coast. IIRC, she was turned into a museum. That still p*sses me off.
Posted by: Doc8404 || 06/24/2004 11:23 Comments || Top||

#6  I admit that Thatcher quite rightly would have kicked off some kind of major escalation at this point.
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/24/2004 13:45 Comments || Top||

#7  cooler heads prevailed. Lucky for the Mad Mullahs.
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 14:14 Comments || Top||

#8  The real news is that: "protesters angry about the occupation of Iraq tried to approach the six Royal Marines and two sailors as they arrived at Tehran’s airport."

Posted by: ex-lib || 06/24/2004 15:51 Comments || Top||

#9  woo hoo! So it's finally true! Time to party!
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/25/2004 4:09 Comments || Top||


Iran Postpones Talks on British Sailors
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran is no longer holding eight British troops in custody, but they haven't yet been handed over to Britain, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. A ministry spokeswoman did not say where the six Royal Marines and two British sailors were located but insisted they were "free to leave."
The Iranian government never held our embassy personnel hostage either, it was all done by rowdy students.
In a day of confusing statements by the two countries, Britain said Wednesday night that the troops were still in Iranian custody, and expressed confidence that they would be released soon. Earlier in the day, both Iran and Britain said the men would be released Wednesday. Those words came after Iranian officials announced that the incursion appeared to be accidental. Iran said it would keep their boats, weapons and equipment. But later Wednesday Iran's Arabic-language TV channel Al-Alam broadcast an "urgent" caption on its screen reading: "The second round of talks on the British detainees is postponed until tomorrow, Thursday," according to a translation provided by the British Broadcasting Corp. The Iranian state channel had previously reported that British and Iranian officials were negotiating in the southwest Iranian town of Mah Shahr, near the spot where the British servicemen were detained. When told of the Al-Alam caption, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said: "The sailors are not in detention any more. They are free to leave. The issue of handing them over to British authorities is merely a formality issue that has to be sorted out between Iranian and British officials."

In London, a British Foreign Office spokesman rebutted the Iranian claim that the troops were not still detained. "They are still in custody in south-west Iran," the spokesman said. However, he added the agreement to release the men "still stands and there is no reason to believe there is any problem." The Iranian spokeswoman did not say where the British troops were. But a Foreign Office spokesman told Britain's Press Association that the men were in Mah Shahr, and had been visited by British diplomats. Late Wednesday, the Foreign Office said it had not been told officially that the release had been delayed to Thursday. It said that three British diplomats were traveling from Tehran to Abadan, a port on the Shatt al-Arab and 56 miles west of Mah Shahr, to receive the eight servicemen.

Iranian officials were quoted Tuesday as saying they would prosecute the British servicemen for illegally entering Iranian territory. But after two telephone conversations between British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi, and constant dialogue between the British and Iranian officials, Tehran announced Wednesday that the men would be released. Britain has said the eight servicemen were delivering a new patrol boat to Iraq's river police when they were detained. Iran will keep the three boats in which the British troops were traveling, as well as their weapons and other equipment, Al-Alam has reported.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/24/2004 12:01:34 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Iran will keep the three boats in which the British troops were traveling, as well as their weapons and other equipment."

Isn't that so like them. Will come in handy for future terrorist attacks no doubt.
Posted by: ex-lib || 06/24/2004 1:14 Comments || Top||

#2  let's see them try to leave Iran with no passports

hm, seems to work OK for some armed folk and not others, I wonder why that is
Posted by: Gromky || 06/24/2004 1:30 Comments || Top||

#3  sorry for the duplicate posts....rantburg didn't respond when I hit submit. Evidently it did, but didn't tell me about it. It just sat there forever and didn't do anything.

This seems to happen more often these days. Do we need a server fund-a-thon to get better hosting?
Posted by: Gromky || 06/24/2004 1:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Bastards.
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/24/2004 3:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Iran has blinked, now the eight are free.
Posted by: Lux || 06/24/2004 4:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Thanks for the good news link, #7. Super!
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 5:04 Comments || Top||

#7  rex, didn't you read the Rantburg policy on precognition? It tends to rattle some of the old-timers.
Posted by: BH || 06/24/2004 9:50 Comments || Top||


Iran wants to Swap Brit. Soldiers for 40 Iranian Suicide bombers
From MEMRI and The London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat:
"A source close to the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat of the real reasons and factors in the apprehension of the three British Navy vessels and the arrest of the sailors by Iranian Coast Guard patrol forces on Monday [June 21, 2004]. He indicated that the British Army command in Iraq had understood the message sent them by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards command by their capture of the ships."

’Detention of 40 Volunteers for Suicide Operations Was Great Concern to the Revolutionary Guards’
"According to the source, the content of the message was very simple: ’Release our comrades, whom you are holding, and we will release your soldiers.’ The source clarified that the detention of 40 volunteers for suicide operations by the Ukrainian forces acting in Iraq was of great concern to the Revolutionary Guards command, because they [the 40] constituted the first group of volunteers participating in the Organization for the Commemoration of the Shahids, which was established recently by Revolutionary Guards Commander Col. Dhu al-Qadr.

"Al-Sharq Al-Awsat was informed that one of the senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guards, who had formerly held the post of head of the Committee for Iran-Ukraine Military Cooperation, had gone to Kiev for talks regarding the Iranian detainees. However, it turned out that the Ukrainian units had already handed the volunteers for suicide operations over to British forces acting in southern Iraq.

"Despite contacts between the Iranian and British military committees at the borders and daily contact between them in small conflict resolution - [such that] this has become routine since the British forces entered southern Iraq - the British command has so far refused to acknowledge that it is holding 40 Iranian volunteers in one of its detention camps. According to the Iranian source, this caused the Revolutionary Guards leadership to seek a semi-military solution to bring its men back from Iraq."
Does this now become a proper causus belli?
Posted by: George || 06/24/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does Israel have any operatives inside Iran that can provide valuable information? I'd say it's about time to contact the Israelis and get some target info/coordinates and get this show on the road.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  George, it works for me.
And frankly, as I just stated on a related thread, I'd almost prefer for the Eye-Rainians to start it as the Liberal Left (both here and in the UK) have made it virtually impossible for us to take the UN-sanctions-WMD causus belli route that we did with Iraq.
The Left did such a good job (dammit!) convincing the public that Bush either "lied" or was misled about WMDs in Iraq and that Saddam wasn't working with AQ and Islamist terrorists, that making the case for Iran will give us all a hernia.
Posted by: Jen || 06/24/2004 0:38 Comments || Top||

#3  The Muslim terrorist are going to make a major mistake and murder someone the Left cares about.

So far the ongoing bombings & beheadings have not reached into their treasonous ranks.

The Iranian hostage taking of the British Navy men is an act of aggressive war and should be treated as such, opening the door wide for the British & American governments, & then the conservative media to inform the public of Tehran's deep involvement in murdering Coalition troops through their planted agents along with Syrian & other pro-Axis jihadees.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/24/2004 0:58 Comments || Top||

#4  How 'bout this for a deal, Iran:

You turn over the 8 brit Navy men, or we will kill all 40 of your suicide bombers and air drop them on Tehran.

Turn the tables on 'em.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 2:15 Comments || Top||

#5  The Left did such a good job (dammit!) convincing the public that Bush either "lied" or was misled about WMDs in Iraq and that Saddam wasn't working with AQ and Islamist terrorists, that making the case for Iran will give us all a hernia
President Bush said the CIA info about the WMD was faulty, not the Left. Yes, the Left tried to float the idea of Bush lying, but it did not fly. The WH made zero effort to develop the connection between Al Queda and Saddam. I think we need to be careful about blaming the Left for everything under the sun. There are several instances wherein the WH was too lazy to help its cause. Put blame where it rightfully belongs, so errors will not be repeated in the future.

As for Iran's action being an act of war...I think Iran is preening now and is not being bellicose. Preening is not an act of war.

Look, I am a hawk and I would love nothing better than to flatten Iran, in fact, I'd love to have the entire ME flattened, but alas, my dream is a dream and will never be a reality.

Listen up, this is an election year,so, we need to swallow hard and grin and bear it. The UK lads will be fine. Let the diaperheads have their 15 minutes of aping in front of the cameras, and everything will be fine in the end. The time for follow through with Iran is AFTER we have a Republican in the Oval Office in January, 2005 and a HUGE majority of conservatives[not Arlan Spector RINOS] in Congress. We have our hands full now with Iraq and Afghanistan. Unless we want to nuke Iran, we do not have the manpower to take on Iran.
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 2:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Having "prisoners" suddenly converted into "hostages" seems a very good cause for belligerence.
A war on two fronts might not only split our forces--it might also split the violent Islamist's numbers into more managable quantities. But perhaps I'm hoping for the best with the reform movements in Iran.
Posted by: therien || 06/24/2004 2:50 Comments || Top||

#7  You are hoping for "reform" in Iran, #6? Err...wasn't it Iran that had the Shah and Western opportunities and these same Muslim dolts threw all these possibilities in the trash so they could wear burkas and ride camels to work everyday? Sorry, but I've about maxed out on cheery rose colored visions of democracy in the ME, ESPECIALLY in Iran. Not one GI life is going to ever be sacrificed by the US on behalf of those losers in Iran. Forget about it. Don't even think about it. It makes me and most Americans crazy to string together words "Iran" and "liberate." I think "Iran" and "parking lot" is more like it.
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 3:01 Comments || Top||

#8  'I think "Iran" and "parking lot" is more like it.'

That's just silly, rex. Whoever heard of a parking lot made of glow-in-the-dark radioactive glass?
Posted by: SteveS || 06/24/2004 3:30 Comments || Top||

#9  rex, the fact that you argue the WMDs issue the way you do shows that the Leftist press was successful in brainwashing you!
The issue was not whether Bush "lied" or had bad info on the WMDs.
The issue was whether or not Saddam had complied with the standing 16 resolutions--he didn't.
We regime changed him by military force to make sure he had disarmed.
And I really don't think that Iran is just posturing.
These are diaperheads with nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach our troops in Iraq certainly and/or Israel.
And there are too many nuke plants in Iran for Israel to take out alone.
Nor is Bush the kind of man to tailor how he fights this war according to his re-election campaign.
Bush is going to do what's right to defend America and Americans.
(Quit being such a smug little prick, rex.)
Posted by: Jen || 06/24/2004 3:41 Comments || Top||

#10  We took a calculated risk by invading Iraq first. Now that we have our hands full liberating all those wonderful peace loving Iraqis, [not] Iran is taking advantage of the situation and making googoo eyes and sticking its tongue at us. Big deal. Iran knows it can go only so far with this charade. Why drag Israel into your paranoia about Iran? Israel can take care of itself, especially if we don't stick our compassionate big noses in Israel's defensive policies. Iran would never pull this stunt on Israel because it knows better. But because Uncle Sam and the UK misjudged how easy Iraq would be to "liberate", Iran is pulling our chain. We need to grin and bear it. We have too many irons in the fire.

As for lecturing me about the 16 UN resolutions business, puhleaze, Uncle Saddam needed to say bye bye, and the 16 UN resolutions was as good an excuse as any to have him pack his bags.

As for George Bush not tailoring actions for re-election...I sure hope he does or he will not get re-elected, pure and simple. Bush and Kerry are running neck and neck in case you have not noticed. This election is for George Bush to lose and he has lost alot to Kerry even though Kerry has as much charisma as a door knob, according to recent polls, largely because of the Iraq War. Americans are sick of war. They have had it with GI deaths and Americans being beheaded. If Bush puts one toe into Iranian territory to "rescue" non American soldiers whose lives are in no danger, Kerry will be given the Oval office on a platter.
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 4:19 Comments || Top||

#11  So, they think the British are as stupid as Israelis.

Why not, after all?
Posted by: someone || 06/24/2004 5:30 Comments || Top||

#12  Now we have them back, I say we execute these 40 suicide bombers - give them their wish so to speak. Blowing a couple of their ships out of the water may also help persuade the Mullahs not to f*ck with the Brits. If the moderates have finally lost then cut all ties and bomb that power station.
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/24/2004 6:06 Comments || Top||

#13  Quit being such a mindless bimbo Jen. Someone's off her meds.

The diaperheads are just preening, they don't have any freaking nuclear weapons(yet). That's an ignorant statement saying they do. It will be obvious when they do. A deterrent only deters if BOTH parties know it's there. They'll test one when they have it to show the world they've got big dicks now. And Bush better fucking start tailoring everything he does to win the election. Otherwise we're going to be up shit creek with that idiot Kerry (who happened to float a boat in Vietnam) at the helm. That's somewhere I sure as hell don't want to be. Bush lost control of the argument (because the media hates him) and allowed the lefties to frame the argument around two reasons out of a plethora of reasons to invade Iraq. You can't wish that fact away.

Not sure where the situation stands now. I've heard they've been released and I've heard they are still being held. If the latter, I absolutely agree with Howard. Great Britain should sow some fear in hearts of the diaper heads.
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 06/24/2004 9:08 Comments || Top||

#14  I think that this is a perfect opportunity to point out that the government of Iran is negotiating for the return of their terrorists.

This isn't some shadowy group, it's the "government" of Iran.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 06/24/2004 9:17 Comments || Top||

#15  good point Laurence!
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 9:38 Comments || Top||

#16  With no malice to the soldiers or the British – I’m glad they picked on them instead of us. Nice of the Mullah’s to spare Tony all that pre-emptive BS. Of course, it won’t stop the moral equivalence crowd from saying that our soldiers, are really, terrorists too.

One thing I never get about the moral equivalence crowd is why they think we should care what they say. If one idea is no better or worse than another, and if evil doesn’t really exist – then why shouldn’t everyone just do whatever he/she wants to…including George Bush? By their own standards, Bush’s hegemonic paradigm is as good as their own.

Because of all the confusion as to whether or not the soldiers would be released, it’s clear that they are hving an internal “debate” inside Iran. Obviously, some of the Mullah’s think this is stupid and fool hardy and have tried to stop the insanity….but unfortunately it appears that the insane ones prevailed.

It begins.
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 9:51 Comments || Top||

#17  One word: heads.
Posted by: mojo || 06/24/2004 10:35 Comments || Top||

#18  #6 Having "prisoners" suddenly converted into "hostages" seems a very good cause for belligerence.
A war on two fronts might not only split our forces--it might also split the violent Islamist's numbers into more managable quantities. But perhaps I'm hoping for the best with the reform movements in Iran.

I just had a bright idea (probably floated here before, but I'm new on the scene). We need to rotate our troops in between Afghan and Iraq! But, to give the enviros a boost, we'll do it via land, instead of flying them. Then, the Spec Ops and 1st ID can meet and have coffee in Tehran en route to the others' former combat zone!
Posted by: BA || 06/24/2004 11:34 Comments || Top||

#19  Americans are sick of war. They have had it with GI deaths and Americans being beheaded. If Bush puts one toe into Iranian territory to "rescue" non American soldiers whose lives are in no danger, Kerry will be given the Oval office on a platter.

This sounds weird, but I'm almost hoping that Kerry gets elected. All these assholes that are "sick of war" don't understand that they have by default a vital stake in our current efforts to clean up the Middle East. They're a bunch of spoiled little pricks. I mean, where's the logic in getting all worked up about the current casualty count that took a year to reach, when in Vietnam it took only a COUPLE OF MONTHS to reach the same point? (assuming an average of 100 KIA each week around '68 or so)

And what's the deal with the beheadings? Well those people in the ME that got dismembered chose to go there and they knew the risks. We can't fully protect Americans everywhere in they go on OUR soil, so how in the hell are we expected to protect them on foreign soil? If anything, these beheadings prove that Islamofascism and the modern world are incompatible, and that any ideas of coexisting with it are delusional.

At the risk of sounding very mean-spirited, if Kerry is elected I can only hope that some of these same people that weren't inclined to see our current efforts through to their logical conclusion become victims of the terrorism that they are so unwilling to confront and exterminate.

Bush lost control of the argument (because the media hates him) and allowed the lefties to frame the argument around two reasons out of a plethora of reasons to invade Iraq.

Well that's pretty much his fault. If one is going to make a case for action, it makes sense to lay out all the valid reasons up front instead of pinning all hopes on one or two. And it pays to make sure everybody's clear on it, by explaining it in no uncertain terms, and doing so promptly.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 11:46 Comments || Top||

#20  So are these guys free yet or not? Not very clear with all the contradictory stories, especially since the media seems to be in no hurry to really cover agressive behavior by anybody other than the US.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 06/24/2004 12:06 Comments || Top||

#21  Re #7:

"You turn over the 8 brit Navy men, or we will kill all 40 of your suicide bombers and air drop them on Tehran."

Hey AP, should we set the 40 suicide bombers for air bursts before we drop them on Tehran ?

Posted by: Carl in N.H || 06/24/2004 12:37 Comments || Top||

#22  If you want to be evil like the Islamist we are fighting you can parachute them down with boomer belts, which arm on deceleration upon hitting the ground. Then they become live ordinance, like the Korean was when they found his body. Though somehow it all strikes me as barberic.
/end fantasy
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 13:39 Comments || Top||

#23  AllahHateMe, what you say about the Bush doctrine and his "selling" of it is true only if you believe what the MSM is telling you, which I don't and which a lot of the American people don't.
And saying that someone with whom you don't agree is "off their meds" is a juvenile retort not worthy of this forum, IMO.
I frankly think that people who "order" Bush to do things they think he's not doing are grandiose, arrogant and controlling.
President Bush and his team are on the job.
And by calling these killers "diaperheads" you make them perjorative and harmless, which they're not. Not now.
Thank God these Brits are back in British custody, but the fact remains that the Iranians tried it on--so both sides are no longer "virgins" in that respect.
And there's another story here about Afghan forces taking back Herat which is right next to Iran and has been an Iranian entry point to Afghanistan, so Iran is now being squeezed from the east and the west.
All in all, we need to have more faith in God and in President Bush.
(Only political asshats like Bill Clinton are obsessed about their re-elections.)
It's going to be a long week until the Iraqi handover and we need to keep the Faith.
Posted by: Jen || 06/24/2004 14:43 Comments || Top||

#24  rex - have some paitence...the Bush doctrine (as in the Monroe and Truman doctrines) is long term..iran will be dealt with but we need to get over our prez election's...and we do not have to do a WWII style invasion to begin to deal with iran...diplo pressure...naval pressure..covert assistance to the iranian people (must remember there is another voice in iran unlike iraq - they do need to be helped and it could end up like romania ), strikes agaisnt strategic sites, missle batteries in the stait of hormuz, marines could take some beach front property..all of these will put extreme pressure on the regime...and force them to focus back on their homeland instead of exporting their bullshit..

and if kerry wins i firmly believe iran will think they have won and begin to exert themselves and try and muscle us out of the region..if so then a kerry admin would have no choice but to respond with force...
Posted by: Dan || 06/24/2004 15:45 Comments || Top||

#25  ..if so then a kerry admin would have no choice but to respond with force...

Not really. The other choices are to respond in a symbolic manner (read: meaningless), or to not respond at all. I'd figure the symbolic gesture would be right up Kerry's alley.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 15:51 Comments || Top||

#26  Bomb-a-rama - Well then we will have lost and once the ramifications of this has settled on the public i do believe there would be political consquences for a kerry admin. This is a different war than vietnam and we could not just walk away and assume our position is the world would stay stable. Our economy, the bond markets, oil prices would all spiral out of control and the american public would feel the pain - in their pockets. And we would have to put our tail between our legs and leave the ME and with it 50 years pax americana. And to the majority of Americans both dems and replubs (at least 80%) this would be unacceptable. Maybe i am putting too much faith in the american public but i just cannot see it another way. I do believe the in the american spirit is still alive and will fight to my last breath to ensure this.
Posted by: Dan || 06/24/2004 16:33 Comments || Top||

#27  Trading the 40 back to the Iranians would be an excellent choice as long as it is not specified whether the suicide bombers should be returned in the unexploded state.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/24/2004 17:14 Comments || Top||

#28  If one is going to make a case for action, it makes sense to lay out all the valid reasons up front...

But in reality there's was only one that was workable: the WMD, and non-compliance with previous UN resolutions.
Those in opposition of the war would have still opposed it no matter how many valid reasons you lay out before them.
Posted by: Rafael || 06/24/2004 21:15 Comments || Top||

#29  And I guess you calling rex a smug little prick was all mature? Pot meet kettle. You still skirt the issue. At issue isn't what I believe. I know what the Bush doctrine is and I fully support it. At issue is what the majority of Americans believe. And if you read the polls, unfortunately they beleive the MSM. As for the taking of the Brits, it's not the first time something like this has happened, and it won't be the last. That's reality. Try it on for awhile.
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 06/24/2004 22:12 Comments || Top||

#30  AllahHateMe> Since Jen has not yet accused anyone of fucking goats, or found kindergarten insults to match their names (e.g. Katsaris-Catshit), Jen has been a paragon of maturity in this thread -- using her normal standards as a baseline of comparison, that is.

--

As for the belief that "Iran will be dealt with" it seems there's nothing more than blind religious faith to support it. Keeping the faith that Bush will "deal" with Iran seems to me rather akin to the idea of keeping the faith that Jesus shall return to reward the innocent and smite the wicked.

Sure, Bush *might* deal with Iran, and Jesus *might* smite the wicked, but for those of us who don't already have iron belief in these personas, the odds do seem a little bit slim of it happening any time soon.

But, by all means, keep the faith.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 06/24/2004 23:19 Comments || Top||

#31  ...the odds do seem a little bit slim of it happening any time soon.

Funny, it's always us Yanks that get accused of not having any patience (wry grin)

The "Shatt" has been a long-contested waterway.
I suspect this was a local Revolutionary Guard (IRG) unit that took matters into its own hands. Tehran decided to back them (not that they could do anything else).

I would postulate the next time there are RN/IDC ops in that waterway, there will be back-up. If it comes to blows, no worries. The IRG aren't known for their professionalism. From personal experience, Boghammers can be sunk...
Posted by: Pappy || 06/24/2004 23:36 Comments || Top||

#32  Aris, truly, this is well meant:
Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!
Posted by: cingold || 06/24/2004 23:38 Comments || Top||

#33  LOL!
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 06/24/2004 23:39 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Attacks attributed to Zarqawi
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/24/2004 05:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
shooting at the US sitting ducks'
Posted by: tipper || 06/24/2004 22:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's haram [forbidden by Islamic law] to support an infidel, even when he is right, against a brother Muslim." the picture is totally blurred, and no one in Falluja can figure out what the new arrangement actually means...The city is now like a loose federation of Sunni mosques and mujaheddin-run fiefdoms. These have become the only successfully functioning "civil society" institutions, although the only form of civil society they are interested in is a 1,400-year-old model.

two shaking Iraqi ICDC are handing flyers to Fallujans driving into the city. The leaflets are designed to advise how to file a complaint for compensation...One of the local muj cell leaders, Abu Tahrir ("father of liberation"), is complaining how part of the muj corps has deserted and joined the Americans...Ten minutes later, another muj comes into the room complaining that different muj groups haven't shown up to take their positions. The mayor makes a few phone calls using his mobile phone - "We have cellphones now, you know" - before returning to his thesis of where the American invasion went wrong...The commanders of the mujaheddin cells are going to have a big meeting in Falluja in 15 minutes, and soon there will be muj checkpoints everywhere. As we leave the mosque, he waves to a passing police car and orders them to follow, so that we drive out of Falluja escorted by both the muj and the police...Sadr City is an easy job for a journalist: all you have to do is cruise around looking for trouble. It is a Soweto kind of slum: rubbish-filled streets, ponds of sewage, and thousands of unemployed kids. The target is a police station and three Humvees parked in front. Masked like a western cowboy, the shooter, or the "expert" as they call him, takes measure of the angle and shouts to another fighter: "Give me one!" The other guy produces what looks like a rusted, 2-ft long shell. The fighters here are also Mahdi, and the fighting in Sadr City often feels like one big carnival. All the kids are by now doing their cheering chant: "Ali wiyak, Ali!" "Ali with you, Ali!" If I were an American soldier, I would be expecting a flying shell every time I hear kids cheering in Sadr City. After all, this is the only fun they get, shooting at the sitting ducks. In all, the firefight lasts for an hour, at which, after a few more rounds and a few more civilian houses destroyed,the fighters jump into their car and drive away. Then the RPG session starts, kids aiming at the Americans and hitting whatever target they fancy. As one prepares to fire his RPG, the rusted rocket doesn't launch. "Come, you can use mine," says a man who is standing by, watching. Helpfully, he goes to his nearby home and returns with his RPG, as if he were lending a neighbour his Hoover.


I'm sure this is merely Guardian left wing bias and made up fantasy to sell newspapers, because we know Iraqis are peace loving peoples.
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 22:48 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Palestinian children rally against U.S.
Chanting "Death to America", scores of Palestinian children have launched a boycott of U.S.-funded summer camps in the Gaza Strip. A 60-strong crowd of children from the Rafah refugee camp, which was invaded by Israeli forces last month,pelted the office of an aid organisation in Gaza City with eggs on Thursday. "Our kids need protection against death by American Apache helicopters, not summer camps," said Abdel-Raouf Barbakh, an activist in a Palestinian children’s rights group that organised the protest. The group targeted a Palestinian non-governmental institution funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which helps organise summer camps and other childcare projects in the Gaza Strip.
How nice to see our tax $ given to such a wonderful good cause. Calling Colin Powell and Richard Boucher-I think some fine young people are trying to get your attention. But take those rose colored glasses off before you speak to them-egg yolk is tough to remove from lenses.
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 3:32:39 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Antisemite--

When are you going to move to Gaza with your jihadi boyfriend and help these wonderful people? You already have experience with the mentally challenged.
Posted by: BMN || 06/24/2004 18:43 Comments || Top||

#2  So fuck 'em. Break the camps down and head home. Use the money for something constructive.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/24/2004 19:52 Comments || Top||

#3  donate the camp money to extend the wall
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 20:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Take the funds earmarked for Paleostine to purchase amenities for our soldiers in Iraq, Jordan, Djbouti, and all the other s**t-hole places they are at working to protect this country.

Shut off the money totally to the paleos until they come out of the holes they dug and are still digging for themselves.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 20:33 Comments || Top||

#5  We should really take these people at their word. When they chant death to America, kill them, if they talk about war with us, destroying us, announce we accept their declaration of war, invade their country and stomp them repeatedly under our bootheel. No mercy and no quarter for our enemies.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/24/2004 20:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Build the wall. Cut the funds. And let them stew in their own juices until their present criminal leadership dies or kill themselves off.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/24/2004 21:30 Comments || Top||

#7  "Nablus continues to be the ’Palestinian terror capital’ that knows how to produce attacks daily," said Lt.-Col Itzik, commander of the 101st paratrooper battalion.

Pummel the entire city with an intense aerial bombardment, set the remaining buildings on fire, then raze everything to the ground that's left standing. That outghta send a nice, clear message.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 21:35 Comments || Top||

#8  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Antiwar TROLL || 06/24/2004 22:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Of course they were arrested, Antiwar, dear. They had on bomb vests, and were being escorted to their targets by their fathers.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/24/2004 22:41 Comments || Top||

#10  by your religion of peace, Antimorals. At least get a f'n clue if you wanna try and troll here. Jeebus, we used to get the best of trolls, now we're dogged by the boy from Deliverance all grow'd up and with a keyboard, but with the same level of intellect.
Antisemite, why aren't you ashamed of your lack of preparation, presentation, logic and morals? Living with Islamists lowered your standards and expectations? Loser
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 23:01 Comments || Top||

#11  DEATH TO PALESTINIAN CHILDREN!!!
Posted by: BH || 06/24/2004 23:06 Comments || Top||

#12  WTF? Sinktrap candidate!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 23:13 Comments || Top||

#13  Yes, look at the darling little hypocrytical paleo children wearing their American clothes...come now, what would you wear if that happened?
Posted by: jawa || 06/24/2004 23:59 Comments || Top||

#14  2 fifteen year old Palestinian girls have been arrested bt the Israeli army. They are now in an Israeli prison. I am not making this up.
Posted by: Antiwar || 06/24/2004 22:18 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
MMA defies Musharraf on Waziristan operations
Pakistan’s religious parties Thursday defied President Pervez Musharraf and refused to attend the first meeting of the National Security Council. Musharraf had called the meeting to consider the current security situation, saying religious extremists posed a great threat to Pakistan’s stability. A seven-party religious alliance, which is also the second largest group in the Pakistani parliament, rejected Musharraf’s agenda, saying there was no such threat in Pakistan.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened."
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, a key leader of the alliance, claimed Musharraf was targeting "good, peaceful Muslims" in the country’s tribal areas to please Washington.
You can tell they're "good, peaceful Muslims" by the corpse counts...
Musharraf rejected the allegation and said it was in Pakistan’s interests to fight al-Qaida and Taliban suspects hiding in a tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. The alliance not only boycotted the meeting, it also the prevented chief minister from the northwest frontier province from attending. The alliance controls the government in this key province, which borders Afghanistan. "I take a strong exception to the chief minister’s absence," said Musharraf who also urged the alliance to stop supporting extremists.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 4:54:56 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perv Musharraf is the Pakistani equivalent of the myth of Sisyphus.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 20:14 Comments || Top||

#2  "religious extremists posed a great threat to Pakistan’s stability"

Ummm, MMA? He's talking about you, asshats
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 20:21 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
US intel led to Fallujah strikes
When U.S. forces launched two strikes on alleged Fallujah safehouses of Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search), they relied on significant human intelligence to identify their targets, senior defense officials told Fox News. Pentagon officials said they haven’t yet been given any data on who was killed in the raids on Saturday and Wednesday, or what might have been found in both locations after exploitation teams were sent in to survey the damage. But Zarqawi is not believed to have been killed, the officials said.

Senior defense officials continued to talk up the value of the intelligence that led to the strikes. One official told Fox News that much of the information was of the ’human’ intelligence variety, coming from both U.S. and Iraqi sources. Fallujah is seen as being a haven for Zarqawi and his allies, although senior officials said they don’t know if Zarqawi himself is there now. Officials also believe the city is a safe haven for other foreign fighters, secular Sunnis, former Baathists and Saddam loyalists. Each group, despite their disparate interests, is aiding the other, they say, creating a well-controlled terror network that is coordinating action not only in the Fallujah area but also in other hotspots like Baghdad. In an audio tape released by Zarqawi on Wednesday, the terrorist refutes reports made by the U.S.-led coalition that he operates from Fallujah. "The American strikes at Fallujah are being carried out based on their allegation that I am in Fallujah -- these are lies," Zarqawi said, according to a translation. "They do not know that I am able to move in Iraq freely as a guest."

The name Izzat Ibramhim al Douri came up Wednesday as this terror network was discussed. Al Douri, the highest-ranking of the coalition’s most-wanted 55 Iraqis still at large, was the deputy chairman of Saddam Hussein’s Revolutionary Command Council, and was cited for several months as the most capable and dangerous Baathist for his ability to coordinate, plan and finance attacks, as well as his ability to recruit fresh insurgents. Al Douri had fallen off the radar screen as coalition and media focus has shifted to Zarqawi and his ilk, but now senior officials are telling Fox News that al Douri — whom they describe as an avowed and "fanatic" Islamist whose two sons have sworn ’fealty’ to Usama bin Laden — is in league with Zarqawi and Al Qaeda elements. Fallujah is the center of their universe, officials said.
Al-Douri’s is/was a Sufi, though I presume that that much has changed given how little love or use Binny has for them. The only question as far as the sons are concerned is when the swearing took place.
Fallujah, being the significant, dangerous, urban area that it is, is still being patrolled by the Fallujah Brigade -- a force of several thousand Iraqis charged with maintaining order there. One senior official told Fox News that the growing frustration with the Fallujah Brigade’s effectiveness is "coming from the Iraqi side, and we’re hearing about it." But another described the long-range Fallujah strategy as a "slow squeeze" on the many dangerous elements in the city, saying politics and public perception are keeping U.S. forces from heading back into the city to clean it out. Citing Arab media reports of the situation inside the city when U.S. Marines were engaged in action there — a time, the official said, when the rate of bomb attacks in the rest of Iraq was significantly decreased — the official said "we blinked." Now, he said, the strategy is to wait all of them out.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 4:50:31 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is the story I was trying to link to in the other thread.
Posted by: Tibor || 06/24/2004 17:07 Comments || Top||

#2  The Sufi tend to be the mystics of Islam - which is why the hard-core allan-botherers don't have much use for them.
Posted by: mojo || 06/24/2004 17:08 Comments || Top||

#3  we discussed this the other day - that there had to be something happening on the ground to get intell for the strikes.

The article references exploitation teams - seems to me that SOMEONE has to also be going in on the ground to do that.

And cant beleive the USMC will leave informants hanging out indefinitely, with the hostiles combing the population for "collaborators". It smells to me like the USMC will be advancing into the city again.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 06/24/2004 17:43 Comments || Top||

#4  There is some serious disinformation going on, here. First of all, every strategy and tactic employed in Fallujah has played out precisely to out advantage. From setting up kill zones in an industrial park to lure bad boys out of residential areas, to letting the hateful populace experience the joys of Taliban rule. Everything that has been done has been calculated to four decimal places. There haven't *been* any mistakes.
Second, unawares to our blind enemy, we gather intelligence in *3* dimensions. Satellite, very high, high, medium and ground level intel *collated*, and frequently. We have been able to do this since the 1980s. We can and do track every single person in the entire city from house to house. Every vehicle, even if moving, its location, direction and speed.
When an incident happens, we go back in time--following them back to their hideouts, assembly points, arms storage and headquarters.
When we *don't* kill, it's because they surround themselves with women and children. And, last but not least, we do encourage human intelligence, because you can learn the most interesting gossip that way.
But pretending we only fight "mano-a-mano" with Marquis de Queensbury rules like you might see in a movie is way outdated.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/24/2004 17:54 Comments || Top||

#5  They may well advance into the city again, but so what?
This is why this adventure in Iraq is doomed to fail:

"Officials also believe the city is a safe haven for other foreign fighters, secular Sunnis, former Baathists and Saddam loyalists. Each group, despite their disparate interests, is aiding the other, they say, creating a well-controlled terror network that is coordinating action not only in the Fallujah area but also in other hotspots like Baghdad."
Posted by: Rafael || 06/24/2004 17:57 Comments || Top||

#6  First of all, every strategy and tactic employed in Fallujah has played out precisely to out advantage.

Oh yeah?? Go to cnn.com, click on "Gallery: wave of attacks in Iraq", and take a look at the last photo showing the militants on the streets of Fallujah. Some advantage. That's a big f*cking advantage we have.
Posted by: Rafael || 06/24/2004 18:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Rafael: Oh yeah?? Go to cnn.com, click on "Gallery: wave of attacks in Iraq", and take a look at the last photo showing the militants on the streets of Fallujah. Some advantage. That's a big f*cking advantage we have.

Any moron can kill civilians by the hundreds. (Abu Nidal's men killed dozens of civilians in airport raids in Europe, and he wasn't even on home ground). Note that the Iraqi rebels have not been able to kill very many security forces - over a dozen, perhaps - compared to the incident in Ingushetia, where almost a hundred Russian security men were killed. Follow-up raids in Iraq will kill many of the participants in this latest attack. Photos are not a bad thing - they are an aid in ID'ing the people involved.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 06/24/2004 18:29 Comments || Top||

#8  Note that the Iraqi rebels have not been able to kill very many security forces.

Because there haven't been any major engagements. Although one Cobra was brought down around Fallujah (according to CNN). The problem is, we've seen this before. We move in, kill lots of militants, then pull out and give them time to regroup. Useless. Utterly useless.

compared to the incident in Ingushetia, where almost a hundred Russian security men were killed.

That's not saying a lot. There are too many variables in the Russian case to make a good comparison.
Posted by: Rafael || 06/24/2004 18:45 Comments || Top||

#9  Don't feed the the trolls. They have a hard time digesting evidence, and they get their panties all in a bunch.
Posted by: anymouse || 06/24/2004 19:21 Comments || Top||

#10  Who's the troll?
Posted by: Rafael || 06/24/2004 20:01 Comments || Top||

#11  rafael: Here's a clue: if you have to ask....
Posted by: anymouse || 06/24/2004 20:09 Comments || Top||

#12  You're new here, right?
Posted by: Rafael || 06/24/2004 20:11 Comments || Top||

#13  Rafael's no troll, But he's a lot more pessimistic than I, my Canuck friend. Hold the course, whack the shit out of the lil' heads that poke up to cause trouble, safety's off!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 20:16 Comments || Top||

#14  Rafael: Because there haven't been any major engagements.

That's the whole point. Rebels in Ingushetia / Chechnya are able to mount large operations in spite of the Russians having fought there for the better part of a decade. In spite of the fact that US forces have only had one year to root them out, which means they should be plenty strong, Iraqi rebels aren't having much success attacking security forces, so they're focusing on civilians, which doesn't win them a lot of goodwill. These kinds of attacks will eventually doom them to defeat, as more Iraqis start ratting them out.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 06/24/2004 20:24 Comments || Top||

#15  But he's a lot more pessimistic than I

True. Plus, my Calvins are in a knot today, as anymouse pointed out. Too much bad news all around.

These kinds of attacks will eventually doom them...

Without an offensive by either the Iraqis themselves or the US, the attacks on civilians will continue until kingdom come, and Fallujah will remain a thorn in the side (or a stone in the shoe for you Godfather fans) of the good guys.

That's the whole point.

Agreed. That is the point. And it's not good, IMO.

Chechnya is a different animal. The Russians are in control (if you can call it that) of the flatter northern areas while the rebels are free to reign in the mountains to the south. Plus the Russians are...well, Russians. Who knows what's going on in their heads.
Posted by: Rafael || 06/24/2004 20:57 Comments || Top||

#16  Rafael: You are missing some very important strategic factors, here. For example, more and more Iraqis are being trained and deployed, not just as police and military, but border patrol. As they enter the picture, the US can pull further and further back, only going in after the "heavy weapons". Soon the violence will almost entirely against the Iraqi police and military--trying to overthrow an increasingly powerful government.
Nothing succeeds like success. And come June 30th, a LOT of money, billions and billions, will be freed up for the Iraqi government to spend on security.

Eventually, and I mean after the elections, which I expect to have a run up even worse than this, Iraq will become constructively xenophobic. By this, I mean all foreigners must have visas. This simple thing is a terrible burden for a trouble maker.

The Iraqis will by then also have a federal police, call them "secret police" if you like, who unlike uniform police and military are dedicated to stomping out militants.

And no revolutionary movement without popular support has ever succeeded without a foreign power sponsoring it with money, leadership, and logistics.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/24/2004 22:56 Comments || Top||

#17  rafael...I apologize if I misdiagnosed you. I am not new, but do not post especially often.

I am in the military and am not nearly as pessimistic as you. I certainly do not have divine insight, but I can assure you that there is a lot more going on than ever reaches CNN. I am sure you know that.

How the end game plays out is not certain...but who gets checkmated is.

r/anymouse (an old Nasal Radiator term)
Posted by: anymouse || 06/24/2004 23:57 Comments || Top||

#18  Hey no prob. Something pissed me off today.
I just wish Fallujah would be taken care of once and for all. But hey, I can be patient if I want to. Lots of people made good points today on this subject, so let's see how this turns out.
Posted by: Rafael || 06/25/2004 0:12 Comments || Top||


Today’s corpse count now at 100, Zarqawi claims credit
About 100 people have been killed and several hundred wounded in Iraq when insurgents launched bloody assaults in five cities to disrupt next week’s formal handover to Iraqi rule. Three U.S. soldiers were among those killed on Thursday in bold assaults on Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and the mainly Sunni Muslim cities of Baquba, Falluja and Ramadi. Iraq’s third-largest city Mosul was the worst hit, with suicide bombings killing 62 people and wounding 220, said a senior coalition military official. He said the attacks showed signs of loose coordination between various groups intent on destabilising Iraq and warned of more bloodshed before and after the June 30 handover of power to Iraqis by the U.S.-led administration. "We would expect to see more activity like this as we get closer and closer to June 30, we don’t think this was a one-off, we don’t think this was an exception, we think we’re going to see more of this," the official reporters. "There’s no reason to expect it will stop after June 30."

A group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, who Washington says has links to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement on an Islamist Web site. "Your brothers in Jama’at al-Tawhid and Jihad launched a wide assault in several governorates in the country which included strikes against the apostate police agents and spies, the Iraq army alongside their American brothers," it said. "Your brothers in the martyrdom brigade also carried out several blessed operations including five in Mosul on Iraqi police centres, two in Baquba and another in Ramadi," said the statement, indicating that suicide bombers had carried out attacks in Mosul and elsewhere.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi blamed a group linked to Zarqawi for multiple car bombings in the northern city of Mosul. But he told a news conference that "remnants of the ex-regime", meaning Baathists loyal to ousted President Saddam Hussein, were behind attacks in Ramadi and Baquba. But witnesses said some of the black-clad gunmen who attacked a police station and government buildings in Baquba, 60 km (40 miles) northwest of Baghdad, proclaimed loyalty to Zarqawi and wore yellow headbands linking them to his group. It appeared to be the first time members of Zarqawi’s underground network had surfaced in street combat. "We think the Mosul incident was committed by Ansar al-Islam, which is a parallel organisation to the infidel Zarqawi," Allawi said of the bombings in the northern city. At least seven large explosions shook Mosul, and local television stations ordered residents to stay at home. Police blocked all major roads and announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew. The U.S. military said an American soldier had been killed and three wounded in the blasts. It said a security guard was killed in a separate attack on a private security firm. Gunfire rattled across Mosul as insurgents fought running battles with U.S. troops and Iraqi police.

Fighting in Anbar province, which includes Falluja and Ramadi in the Sunni heartlands of central Iraq, killed at least nine people and wounded 27, the Health Ministry said. Four Iraqi national guardsmen were killed and two civilians wounded by a car bomb blast in southern Baghdad, an officer in the force said. Hospital staff put the death toll at five. The U.S. Army said two soldiers had been killed and seven wounded in an ambush in Baquba. The Health Ministry said 13 people had been killed and 15 wounded in the town. U.S. air strikes destroyed three buildings that guerrillas were using to fire on 1st Infantry Division soldiers and Iraqi security forces near Baquba’s sports stadium. Many fighters wore headbands marked "Saraya al-Tawhid wal-Jihad" (Battalions of Unification and Holy War), a name that closely resembles Zarqawi’s Jama’at al-Tawhid and Jihad group. They handed out leaflets warning Iraqis not to work with U.S.-led occupation authorities. "The flesh of collaborators is tastier than that of Americans," the leaflets said.

In Ramadi, insurgents fired mortars at two police stations and the governor’s house in Ramadi, 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad. Allawi said the governor was not there at the time. The U.S. military said seven Iraqi police and 12 insurgents had been killed in the fighting. Fierce clashes raged for two hours in Falluja where U.S. Marines called in air strikes by planes and helicopters on guerrilla targets in the rebellious town west of Baghdad. A U.S. Cobra helicopter was shot down during the fighting but the crew walked away unhurt, Marines said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 4:33:02 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One thing I forgot to add but should have - I'm not sure if this has come out in the English press just yet, but Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri has sworn bayat to Zarqawi, converted to Wahhabism, and formally merged his followers with Zarqawi's.

Those are the former regime elements that Allawi is referencing.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 16:40 Comments || Top||

#2  What is bayat? I'm not familiar with the term...
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/24/2004 16:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Bayat is an oath of unconditional allegiance.

It's a common enough practice in al-Qaeda training camps, which in turn got the idea from Hezbollah.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 16:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Dan, this foxnews.com story mentions al-Douri's pledge of fealty to bin Laden (and Zarqawi's ties to bin Laden:



As I mentioned previously, John Loftus claims that while al-Douri's sons are in Fallujah, Izzat himself is being given sanctuary in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Tibor || 06/24/2004 17:01 Comments || Top||

#5  The link was supposed to be there. Let's try again:



In case the link doesn't work, here's the URL: HTTP://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,123656,00.html
Posted by: Tibor || 06/24/2004 17:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Kindly note that in the snapshot of today's casualties, the "popular revolt" has spent a great deal more time killing Iraqis than it is killing American soldiers.

We should adjust our tactics to fit.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 06/24/2004 20:48 Comments || Top||

#7  the "popular revolt" has spent a great deal more time killing Iraqis than it is killing American soldiers

Phil - Have you (or anybody else) seen any site that's tried to keep a count of this? I mean, the numbers of Iraqis killed by these animals since the war ended has got to be getting pretty high.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 06/24/2004 22:10 Comments || Top||

#8  I bet CentCom has a tally, even if the alphabets ignore it
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 22:44 Comments || Top||


Africa: North
GSPC massacres 5
Suspected Islamic rebels killed five civilians when they attacked two vehicles at a fake roadblock in southern Algeria, state media reported on Thursday. The ambush on Wednesday night occurred near Medea, about 110 km (70 miles) south of the capital Algiers, state radio quoted security forces as saying. The youngest victim was aged 8.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 4:27:20 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Hey! We're still here! Slitting the throats of defenseless women and children and infirm men! Pay attention to us Islamic Heroes™!"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 20:25 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Major operation in Nablus yields fugitives, bombs
JPost- Reg Req’d
A major force of four crack battalions moved into the narrow warrens of the Casba in Nablus Thursday on an open-ended hunt for Palestinian terrorist leaders and bomb factories.
Rock the Casbah!
The operation, dubbed "Close Pressure," came a day after security forces intercepted a suicide bomber and a 10-kilo bomb dispatched from the West Bank’s largest city.
nice catch
"Nablus continues to be the ’Palestinian terror capital’ that knows how to produce attacks daily," said Lt.-Col Itzik, commander of the 101st paratrooper battalion. The operation came while in the northern Gaza Strip alert guards at an outpost spotted two armed men attempting to sneak into the nearby Jewish settlement and shot them dead before dawn. In a search after daylight, troops located the bodies of the Palestinian infiltrators just 30 meters away. They discovered they had been wearing IDF uniforms and were armed with Klashnikov assault rifles, ammunition clips and hand grenades. One apparently had a flak vest. Military sources also said the pair could have been headed to a nearby crossing which Palestinian laborers use to enter the Jewish farms in the region.

Earlier, IDF forces apparently killed a Palestinian man who was detected digging under the fence surrounding the Gaza Strip settlement of Bedolah. The soldiers fired warning shots and then direct fire at the man who appeared to be planting a bomb, the army said. Back in Nablus, a joint task force made up of the 101st, the paratrooper auxiliary battalion, special forces from the Border Police and the Haruv battalion, slowly moved into the populous urban center before dawn Thursday. There were sporadic exchanges of gunfire and at least four Palestinians were reported wounded after hurling petrol bombs and makeshift explosives at troops. But there was no major bloodshed as the IDF placed the city under curfew. The army also took the rare step of dispersing leaflets in Arabic calling on residents to turn over six specific fugitives, wanted members of the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade and from the PFLP. "These terrorists are only a source of suffering and trouble for the people of Nablus who want to live their lives in dignity," the leaflet said. Soldiers with their faces smeared in camouflage paint that mixed with sweat went house-to-house searching for wanted terrorists. Moving the civilians to one room, they swept through the homes, in one case nabbing two fugitives hiding under a sink.
two? under one sink?
"We love these operations because this is what we have been trained to do. I want to bring down a gunman and make a notch on my rifle," said one paratrooper called Kfir from Kiryat Tivon.
nice attitude Kfir! (Kuffir?)
Troops from the Haruv battalion located a 20-kilogram bomb. Sappers detonated it, causing the house where it was found to be demolished.
"sorry!"
Haruv battalion commander Lt.-Col. Nochi said operating very slowly to prevent any casualties. "The Casba is a very central focus point from which terror attacks are launched against Israel," Lt.-Col. Nochi told reporters. He said that the operation was "open ended" involving a large number of forces for an unlimited period. According to Lt.-Col. Nochi, they have witnessed local residents and merchants confronting the fugitives not to seek sanctuary with them and disrupt their lives. In the past five weeks, Israeli troops have staged quiet raids in the city and have arrested or killed 16 senior fugitives in the Casba. Palestinians said at least three people were wounded in the ongoing sweep. They said that they had been hit when soldiers opened fire to disperse youths throwing stones at them. Palestinians reportedly complained that the action prevented many students from reaching end of school examinations. From inside one living room, cautious to avoid Palestinian snipers, Lt. Sagiv paused after sweeping the house for an Islamic Jihad terrorist. "You smell that?" the platoon commander said. "That is the smell of the Casba of Nablus. You can come back here almost every night for a year and a half and you won’t get used to this smell. Every soldier returning from the Casba knows it and talks about it. It’s the smell of a place where life’s sweet moment don’t exist."
"It’s the smell of defeat Arafat"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 4:27:16 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You smell that?" the platoon commander said. "That is the smell of the Casba of Nablus. You can come back here almost every night for a year and a half and you won’t get used to this smell. Every soldier returning from the Casba knows it and talks about it.
I hate these JPost joooooooo patriot writers! Imagine Dan Rather reading that.... jebus.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/24/2004 20:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Ship - it's a story about a US ally conducting successful operations against Paleo terrorists. What makes you think Dan Rather would EVER read this, especially aloud?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 20:23 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Fallujah ruled Taliban-style
...U.S. and local Iraqi officials struck a deal in May that allowed the all-Iraqi Fallujah Brigade to take control of the city. But according to city residents and U.S. military officials, the Brigade has little influence and the experiment has turned Fallujah into a hotbed of radical groups. Some of the groups are affiliated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who has claimed responsibility for the beheadings of U.S. contractor Nicholas Berg and South Korean translator Kim Sun-il.

Besides conducting summary executions of suspected American sympathizers, various groups of Fallujah Mujahideen (holy warriors) have imposed harsh interpretations of Islamic law much as the former Taliban regime did in Afghanistan. They have banned liquor and pop music and have threatened to cut off the hands of thieves, dispensing justice through a six-week-old "Mujahideen court." ...Fallujah resident Saad Najam Abdullah visits Baghdad so he can drink alcoholic beverages without fearing arrest and said as many as 14 alleged collaborators have been shot dead on the streets for giving information to Americans...Despite his own lapses into vice, however, Abdullah talked approvingly of the militant crackdown. "The Mujahedeen are applying Islamic laws very precisely against the criminals," he said.

This chaos in Fallujah was alluded to by Hamurabi blogger in "A Bloody Day in Iraq", which was posted today .
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 3:23:56 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The Mujahedeen are applying Islamic laws very precisely against the criminals," he said.

When they came for the Jews I said nothing because I was not Jewish....
When they came for the Protestants I said nothing because I was not protestant..
When they came for the Catholics I said nothing because I was not Catholic....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/24/2004 16:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Well of course the poor sap spoke approvingly...he wants to make it to the next day in one piece. Fallujah will have to be made an example of if there is to be any true hope of success.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 06/24/2004 16:35 Comments || Top||

#3  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Antiwar TROLL || 06/24/2004 16:48 Comments || Top||

#4  "This would never have happened with Saddam."

Antiwar: what do you care? Your friends are in power in Fallujah. Isn't that what matters?
Posted by: ex-lib || 06/24/2004 16:53 Comments || Top||

#5  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Antiwar TROLL || 06/24/2004 16:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Auntie (sigh)--Lord, you are tiresome.
This wouldn't have happened under Saddam because he had his own Taliban going, only it was Baathist, which is shari'a+Marxism.
But even more importantly, it's not happening now under the about-to-be assumed sovereign government of a free Iraq.
Posted by: Jen || 06/24/2004 17:00 Comments || Top||

#7  This would never have happened with Saddam

Of course it would have - the difference would be that it wouldn't have been reported in the news, you stupid little twit.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 17:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Antisemite--

You are calling for the US to level Fallujah right? Finally, something you say I can agree with!
Posted by: BMN || 06/24/2004 17:31 Comments || Top||

#9  This would never have happened with Saddam

Saddam was never able to gain full control of Fallujah. Instead of a "Taliban", organised crime ran the city. Baghdad's control boiled down to bribing the reluctant, accepting 'taxes' and favors from the criminal, and rewarding the collaborators.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/24/2004 19:28 Comments || Top||

#10  Hi antiwar! Glad to see you are back and full of it! I'm ready to fight these RB necks to the end! Let's find NMM and make a Troika!

Posted by: Junifer || 06/24/2004 19:54 Comments || Top||

#11  the three stooges
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2004 20:09 Comments || Top||

#12  *channeling Murat* Appearance in 5,4,3,..
Posted by: Rafael || 06/24/2004 20:18 Comments || Top||

#13  Antiwar is AGAINST the people ruling Fallujah! (no friends there) Wait until Antiwar's mosque finds out!

Junifer says to Antiwar: Glad to see you are back and full of it!

Well, I agree with the "you are back and full of it" part. Islamics never understand our idioms! : ) Too funny.
Posted by: ex-lib || 06/25/2004 1:02 Comments || Top||

#14  Antiwar, normally I don't pay much attention to your manifestos, but I am curious about what you and your ilk think about Dr. Jim Cairns. I assume that you have heard of him if you are from Australia.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/25/2004 2:20 Comments || Top||

#15  This would never have happened with Saddam
Posted by: Antiwar || 06/24/2004 16:48 Comments || Top||

#16  Ex lib what the hell have you been taking lower the dose before you give yourself more brain damage. My friends are in power I don't think so. As I said before Saddam would never have allowed a Taliban style government to take over and he would have been absolutely right
Posted by: Antiwar || 06/24/2004 16:57 Comments || Top||


Africa: Horn
Eritrea ’jihad’ attack planned from Sudan
A young Eritrean man has confessed on state television here to carrying out last month’s bomb attack in western Eritrea which killed five people, and said radicals based in Sudan had planned the operation. The man, whose confession was shown on EriTv late on Tuesday, was identified as Segid Mohamed Kelifa Mentay Ali, born in 1983 in Sudan. Several sources said Ali was arrested shortly after the May 25 bombing in Barentu, which wounded nearly 90 people and was blamed from early on in Asmara on radical groups based in Sudan. The state television said his brother, identified by his nickname Jama’y, had also been arrested.

Ali was shown on television describing the planning of the attack and, using props, demonstrating how he made the bomb. Ali said the blast was ordered and planned by the Sudan-based "jihad" -- holy war, in Arabic -- but did not specify whether he was referring to the Eritrean Islamic Jihad, an armed opposition group. Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed told AFP early in June that the attackers had the support of the Tigre People’s Liberation Front, the majority party in Ethiopia’s ruling coalition. Eritrea, which fought a bloody two-year border war with Ethiopia from May 1998, has accused the governments in Addis Ababa and Sudan of forming an "axis of belligerence" together with Yemen.

Ali also confessed to staging several other explosions in the western region, including a bombing on January 20 which targeted the camp of the UN mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea. He said "Abrahaley, an Ethiopian security agent" had ordered that attack. Ali’s brother Jama’y was badly burned at Tesseney, near the Sudanese border in the west, on May 24 when an explosive charge he was carrying blew. He also was shown on television Tuesday, with part of his body visibly burnt and his face hidden by bandatges. EriTv was late on Wednesday to air the second part of the report on the Barentu bombing, which came as locals were celebrating Eritrea’s independence day.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 06/24/2004 2:43:10 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another front in the jihad, no doubt caused by anger over US policies.
Posted by: virginian || 06/24/2004 17:54 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
A Bloody Day in Iraq
Report by Iraqi Blogger Hammorabi:
Today the 24th June 2004 was a bloody day in Iraq in which hundreds of innocent Iraqis have been killed and more were wounded in several parts of Iraq by the Fucking whore terrorist thugs. In Baqouba the terrorist controlled some IP stations and many Iraqi Police have been killed in fire exchange. Al-Jazeera TV showed pictures of masked animals with RPG7 in their hands waving while the bodies of the innocent people laying down in the street.

In Mosel hundreds of innocent people have been killed and their bodies ripped into pieces and the terrorist attacked many government building. Fighting still continued in many parts.

In Falluja an American Helicopter has been downed and other American convoy have been attacked. The thugs threatens to kill all the Iraqi officials and burn all the oil pipelines if Falluja attacked by the US forces!

It is the count down for their death as it is the count down for the Iraqis to butter their bread from the side they know it well! The days of the terrorist are counted and they know that very well. This is why they try to rock the boat for the last chance in the last minute. It is over for them and so soon their filthy bodies will be executed publicly.

Now Mr Iyad Alawi and his government need to take certain action as urgent as possible. First the capital punishment should not only be to the terrorist but to those who assists them by any way at all and sever punishment for those who keeps silent about their places or activities. The other thing is to execute them in public. Those who kill should face the same destiny by the same method. The other important thing is to impose a curfew on all areas where terrorist hide and attack. There are special areas like Falluja and Baquoba should have Military rulers and military curfew with strict sanctions and no reconstructions or ordinary services until they clear themselves from the sin of the terrorist. More strict action from the coalition needed now to isolate Falluja before the 30/6/2004. It needs complete blockade now and attacks for the terrorist sites. Zarqawi days counted and he know that soon.
Posted by: Steve || 06/24/2004 11:26:32 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The first thing to do is to realize that Al Jazzera camera and sound personnel in the field are accessories to this murder and part of the terrorist personnel. In that sense, they are unlawful combatants. These media people are a key part of the terrorists's war effort, so they are legitamate targets for allied troops.

They also should be the first targets. Taking them out will send a message back to Al Jazzera HQ and studios in Qatar that their propaganda game in Iraq and other places will cost them dearly. They will think twice about sending field people for propaganda into hotspots like Fallujah. To win the WoT it will be necessary to do this.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 12:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Could you imagine Gen. Kimmit in a press conference announcing a change in policy on the treatment of media in a war zone in Fallujah? Kimmit would say that cameramen feeding Al Jazzerra's news videos would be targeted from this day on in combat situations because they are aiding and abetting the enemy? /fantasy
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/24/2004 13:43 Comments || Top||

#3  It's kooky how Americans--especially the LLL--debate and shrug about what to do with the terrorists when their fellow countrymen know exactly what to do with them (the bad guys were "given" Fallujah and now look: they are threatening to kill all the Iraqi officials and burn all the pipelines if they are attacked in Fallujah by America or pro-Iraq forces). The pro-Iraq forces say give the terrorists no quarter and hold public executions. That's how it works over there. That's how it used to be here, in the Old West, too. People have just forgotten. Civilization doesn't come cheap.

May the good guys win.
Posted by: ex-lib || 06/24/2004 14:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Fallujah is a safe haven, and I'm beginning to think that's deliberate.

First, the city isn't really that important to the economic health of Iraq.

Second, it can be cutoff at will.

Third, by giving the terrorists a sense that they have a safe haven we can take away their primary strength: mobility.

I can very easily see a scenario where we cut off the city while the terrorists are concentrated there and then hit very hard. As the Belmont Club recently reported, this strategy has worked effectively in both Algeria and in Peru...
Posted by: RMcLeod || 06/24/2004 15:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Im with RMcLeod on this one.
Posted by: Cardinal Fang (Evert V. in NL) || 06/24/2004 16:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Ooh, And dont miss todays Belmont Club
Posted by: Cardinal Fang (Evert V. in NL) || 06/24/2004 16:18 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm with Hammorabi about Fallujah. No one can claim with a straight face that there is rule of law in Iraq if Fallujah is allowed to be run by Islamic terrorists. State Dept. brokered the deal in Fallujah. Pretending there was method to this diplomatic madness is drawing a happy face on a high profile failure. Fallujah is a perfect example of what Anonymous from the CIA suggests should be addressed with overwhelming force.
...should have Military rulers and military curfew with strict sanctions and no reconstructions or ordinary services until they clear themselves from the sin of the terrorist. More strict action from the coalition needed now to isolate Falluja before the 30/6/2004. It needs complete blockade now and attacks for the terrorist sites
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 16:23 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm with alaska paul..
Posted by: Thomose Unomose9553 || 11/10/2004 3:52 Comments || Top||


Caucasus
Ingush mujahideen leader works for Basayev
In an ominous sign of the instability in Russia’s southern Caucasus region, authorities said Wednesday that the coordinated raids earlier this week in the republic of Ingushetia were conducted by a mix of local and Chechen fighters and led by an Ingush commander. The description came after a pro-Chechen Web site reported that Ingush rebels had claimed responsibility for the attacks against what the rebels called Russian occupation forces and the puppet militia. The rebels claimed to have worked with mobile Chechen forces, and vowed more attacks. The NTV television channel reported that witnesses said that the masked attackers spoke Ingush and that fighters had called the raid revenge for official persecution of relatives and friends. The network attributed the attacks to an Ingush group led by a veteran Ingush fighter answering to a Chechen commander, Shamil Basayev.

In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Kadyrov said a local Muslim emir and commander had instigated the violence and was believed to be hiding in Ingushetia. The authorities identified him as Magomed Yevloyev and said he had fought alongside Chechen separatists, and had been linked to the murders of two senior rural administrators here. Maj. Gen. Alu Alkhanov, Chechnya’s interior minister, said the fighters were Chechen and Ingush gunmen seeking to destabilize the region prior to a special presidential election in August to replace the late Mr. Kadyrov. General Alkhanov is the presumptive front-runner. The pro-Chechen Web site, www.kavkazcenter.com, said the rebels claimed to have an extensive reconnaissance operation, and to have attacked ministries and law enforcement officials involved in the kidnapping and deaths of Ingush Muslims and Chechen refugees.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:32:43 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Ingush corpse count now at 98
NINETY-EIGHT people were killed in this week’s militant attacks in the southern Russian region of Ingushetia. A top Russian military officer said three militants had been detained on suspicion of taking part in the spree of violence. The Itar-Tass news agency quoted Ingush Prime Minister Mogushkov as saying that the majority of those killed were from law enforcement bodies. Twenty-nine of the dead were police, 19 were soldiers, 10 were from the Federal Security Service and five were prosecutors, he said. Sergei Artemyev, an adviser to Vladimir Yakovlev, President Vladimir Putin’s envoy in southern Russia, said 125 people had been wounded.

Three days after the Monday night attacks, questions still swirled about where the militants came from. Ingush President Murat Zyazikov, a former high official of the Federal Security Service, said in an interview published in the Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta today that "it was, so to speak, an international squad" intent on destabilising Ingushetia, which borders on war-shattered Chechnya. As a rule, he said, destabilising forces come from outside.

Chechen Interior Minister Alu Alkhanov, the Kremlin-backed candidate to replace slain Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, denied that a large number of the attackers were Chechens. "The evidence we have suggests that most of the gang members that attacked Ingushetia were ethnic Ingush, but it appears there were some ethnic Chechens and foreigners in the group as well," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, the spokesman for Russian forces in Chechnya, said three of the alleged attackers had been detained in an Ingush town and belonged to a gang led by Doku Umarov, who has previously been accused of serious crimes in the region. "Measures are being taken to prevent rebel attacks on other North Caucasus regions," he was quoted as saying by Interfax.

While authorities tried to piece together the events, a human rights group claimed yesterday that Interior Ministry forces were sweeping through a settlement of Chechen refugees in Ingushetia. Such sweeps, called "mopping-up" operations, are despised by Chechens because of their alleged abuse by troops. Usam Baisayev, of the Memorial human rights group’s office in Nazran, the republic’s main city, said organisation staffers alerted to the operation saw male refugees forced to lie face-down in the rain during the sweep. Mr Zyazikov, however, told the news agency Interfax that "there are no sweep operations whatsoever. All this is just made-up."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:29:32 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabs involved in Ingushetia violence
Arab mercenaries participated in the rebel groups which attacked Ingushetia in the early hours of June 22, an Ingush law enforcement source told Interfax on Thursday. "There were Arab mercenaries among them. It was an attack of international terrorism," the source said.
"Arabs! In Chechnya!? Quick, Ethel, my pills!"
He said that several suspects had been detained in Ingushetia. "We have already detained suspects who had equipment, grenades and military uniforms. Most of them lived in the republic under the disguise of refugees," the source said. "The majority of rebels hightailed it left for Chechnya" after the attack ended, he said. The source denied media reports claiming that rebels had been growing active lately in Ingushetia. "They seem to have forgotten the situation Ingushetia had several years ago - it was a transit point for rebels who freely abducted and executed Ingush policemen. The incident on Tuesday morning is a result of the inertia of the past. A great deal has been done in Ingushetia to provide for order, and many are dissatisfied with that."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:26:18 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmm. Interesting. I'd love to hear from some of the military strategists on Rantburg:

Looks like Asia is pretty much entangled in this WoT, choice or not: NE Asia (Korea), SE (Malaysia, Thailand), south (Afghanistan, Iran, India/Pakistan), SW (Iraq, Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, etc), W (Ingushetia/Chechnya, Kosovo).

What is going to happen long-term, do you think, with Russia, China, India, and Pakistan? And what about Japan--I haven't heard much about Japan in this WoT and would like to learn more.

Even though they have a huge backbench of martyrs waiting to replace "lost souls", does it look like the Islamicists might be spreading themselves a little thin here?



Posted by: jules 187 || 06/24/2004 13:34 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Cheers as Afghan army retakes town
To cheers and applause, hundreds of troops from Afghanistan’s fledgling national army took up positions on Thursday in the capital of a remote province overrun by a renegade commander a week ago. The green-bereted soldiers, sent to the central province of Ghor from neighbouring Herat to reassert central government authority, positioned themselves at Chaghcharan’s airstrip and key governmental buildings taken over by Commander Salaam Khan. There was no sign of resistance. Ghor governor Ibrahim Malikzada said Khan’s soldiers had left the town on Wednesday ahead of the arrival of the Western-trained national army troops. Khan’s men forced Ghor’s police chief, General Zaman, and military commander General Ahmad from the town last week after resisting central government attempts to disarm them and demanding their leader share in local power. Combatants said 18 people had been killed or wounded in the fighting.

Residents lined the dirt roads of the impoverished mountain town to applaud the arrival of the government troops. "Our job is to bring security here," Lieutenant-General Aminullah Paktiyanai, commander of the Afghan National Army battalion, told reporters. His troops were initially deployed in March to Herat to bring that city under control after heavy clashes in which the cabinet minister son of the city’s powerful governor was killed amid another dispute over disarmament of regional militia forces. Paktiyanai said the army had enough resources to prevent any further fighting in Chaghcharan.

A member of the central government delegation sent to probe the fighting said that Khan, Zaman and Ahmad had all now shown willingness to disarm their forces as part of a faltering nationwide drive intended to improve conditions for elections due in September. Delegation head Taj Mohammad Wardak said neither Zaman nor Ahmad now threatened to try to retake the town by force. Malikzada, who said after the fighting he was willing to work with Khan, called on President Hamid Karzai to replace both men and also called for more troops to provide election security.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:19:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  cool
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 10:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Just more proff the Tali-whackers have no street cred in their own backyard.

They can kill unarmed civilians, and terrorize children.
Posted by: anymouse || 06/24/2004 13:34 Comments || Top||

#3  what are you talking about?
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 13:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Freedom and the rule of law, is on the march, in the Middle East.
Posted by: Halfass Pete || 06/24/2004 14:42 Comments || Top||

#5  I thought the CIA's Anonymous said we were failing in Afghanistan.
Posted by: virginian || 06/24/2004 17:47 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Zarqawi’s wife sez he’s a good man
The wife of al Qaeda activist, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, was quoted Thursday as saying he could not kill women and children. Al-Zarqawi has been blamed for several deadly attacks in Iraq, including the beheading of foreign hostages. But one of his two wives, identified just as Umm Mohammed told the Jordanian daily Addustur: “There’s no way that my husband could be a terrorist. He is friendly and a good man. “He would not recommend the killings of children, women and elderly people as they’re trying to portray him,” she said at the family’s home in Zarqa, near the Jordanian capital Amman. His wife said she has not heard from her husband since he left Jordan for Afghanistan in 1999.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:14:10 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But one of his two wives, identified just as Umm Mohammed told the Jordanian daily Addustur: “There’s no way that my husband could be a terrorist. He is friendly and a good man.

Well, a lot of similar things have been said by people who are related to felons, so.....

"He couldn't have done that. He seemed like such a nice kid."
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 10:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "He was such a quiet man, with fire burning in his eyes."
Posted by: ed || 06/24/2004 10:25 Comments || Top||

#3  “He would not recommend the killings of children, women and elderly people as they’re trying to portray him,” she said cowering from behind her burka.
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 06/24/2004 10:34 Comments || Top||

#4  I heard Eva Braun-Hitler said really nice things about her husband too.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 06/24/2004 10:37 Comments || Top||

#5  He is really such a good man. He just has this thing about knives and cutting things. . . .
Posted by: BigEd || 06/24/2004 10:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Uh, do you imagine she would have a tongue left, or would still be drawing breath, if she said otherwise?

I don't know if the women over there have any concept of what a good man is--if you're treated by everyone like dirt your whole life just for being a female, how would you even conceive of a better model of a husband?
Posted by: jules 187 || 06/24/2004 10:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Gentle--

When did you marry Zarqawi?
Posted by: BMN || 06/24/2004 11:20 Comments || Top||

#8  And I bet he raises baby ducks and bunnies, too . . .
Posted by: The Doctor || 06/24/2004 12:19 Comments || Top||

#9  "He is a friendly and good man. Too bad he's got a 2 inch penis and can't satisfy me. I feel guilty having to have sex with infidels and Jooos, but they really know how to "wield a blade" if you know what I mean. Just last week I met this handsome American Special Forces soldier. He was black, 6' 4" and built (if you know what I mean). He just touched me in ways (and places) I've never been touched before. We did it every which way, praise Allah. I mean, his penis was like Abu-Musab cubed + 1 for good (and I mean good) measure. Now don't get me wrong, I love Abu-Musab and all, but I have needs. I mean, sometimes a girl just has to let her hair down (after taking off her burqa). Just the other day I was lounging around with one of Osama's younger wives, and we were fixing each other's hair and one thing led to another. I know Abu-Musab wouldn't approve of me sharing a magic carpet ride with another woman, but it's just been so long since I've seen him and, as I said before, he does have a 2 inch penis. What's a girl to do?"
Posted by: Tibor || 06/24/2004 13:03 Comments || Top||

#10  Tibor - LOL!

No, he is a very evil man and needs to be stopped.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/24/2004 13:49 Comments || Top||

#11  Tibor, you're going to bring the evil Mr. Ashcroft down on Fred!
Posted by: Steve White || 06/24/2004 13:53 Comments || Top||

#12  As I was reading Tibor I kept telling myself: STOP! DON'T! DON'T STOP! LOL Good one! Maybe our guys need to show the Arab women some lovin? Couldn't hurt.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 06/24/2004 14:04 Comments || Top||

#13  I actually wish Tibor-esque comments would be heard by freaks like Abu-Musab. That would piss him off like nobody's business, the shame of it! One thing bullies ike Abu can't stand is to be mocked and laughed at.
Posted by: Ughman || 06/24/2004 18:29 Comments || Top||


Russia
Russian deputy foreign minister warns about Iraqi WMD
Components of weapons of mass destruction possibly remaining in Iraq could fall into the hands of Al- Qaeda terrorists acting on Iraqi territory, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov told Interfax on Thursday. "It is difficult to ascertain that the previous Iraqi regime had links with Al-Qaeda. At the same time, it is obvious that Iraq has become an appealing magnet for terrorists of every kind, and Al-Qaeda is feeling quite comfortable in Iraq now. Therefore, the threat that components and materials which may possibly remain in Iraq could fall into the hands of international terrorists is quite high," Fedotov said. This is why "it is so important to completely clarify Iraq’s disarmament dossier," the deputy minister said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:12:20 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like ass-covering to me...
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/24/2004 13:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Can Russia be waking up to the fact that some of Saddam's WMD's could end up in Checnya, even Moscow?

Posted by: danking70 || 06/24/2004 13:15 Comments || Top||

#3  After that offensive in a neighboring province, Russia is afraid the next step is WMD. It's a valid fear, considering many Jihadi's go to Chechneya to train and gain experience.
Posted by: Charles || 06/24/2004 13:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Sounds like ass-covering to me...

Probably. There's never been a satisfactory explanation from Russia why 'retired' generals made a trip to Baghdad during the UN meetings. Maybe not all the programs and materiel they recommended be disposed of, was.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/24/2004 20:13 Comments || Top||

#5  "..Therefore, the threat that components and materials which may possibly remain in Iraq could fall into the hands of international terrorists is quite high," Fedotov said.

But, but, Iraq didn't have any WMDs!!!!! All the lefties said so!
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/24/2004 21:38 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Likely Zarqawi offensive kills 83
Insurgents launched simultaneous attacks in four cities across Iraq on Thursday in a bid to cause chaos before the transfer of sovereignty in less than a week, a senior US-led coalition military official said. "This morning we started seeing simultaneous attacks in different cities," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. From 02:30 to 07:30 rebels started to launch attacks on police stations, Iraqi security offices and government buildings in the northern city of Mosul and central cities of Baquba and Ramadi, he said. "There was even a small attack in Fallujah" the official added, referring to the rebel Sunni bastion 50km west of Baghdad. At least 83 people were killed and 233 wounded in the wave of attacks. Mosul was hit particularly hard, with at least 30 people killed and 170 people wounded. "We have said for a long period of time that we speculate there is a loose co-ordination going on here" the official said. "We suspect that these were co-ordinated attacks, simultaneous attacks, looking at the timeline" he noted.
Brilliant.
Included in the day’s death toll are at least 18 Iraqi police officers and three Iraqi Army personnel. Despite reports of continuing clashes in the hotspot zones, the official said he believed things were calming down and the military, working with Iraqi security forces, were in charge. "It appears they are in control of most of the cities now; the attacks have gone over their peak" the official said, while acknowledging the situation could change very quickly. The attackers appeared to target institutions that represent the so-called new Iraq created under the US-led occupation. "What they are trying to do is not hold up a police station, they are trying to get the symbolic effect of being able to go to a democratic institution ... make a bang, make a show and then run away" the official said. "What does that really affect? It looks good on television and sounds good in print but does it really have a significant effect over time and the answer in no."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 10:08:35 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The next week will probably see the worst terrorism since the Liberation of Iraq. Already today some seventy people are dead, murdered, by those who do not want to see a free Iraq. It will get worse.

You'd have to be close to insane to defend the terrorists. Iraq is about to become self-governing, in a way that it hasn't in thirty years or more. The terrorists' solution is to murder Iraqis. Why? Just to make a statment that they want to be the ones in power, I guess.

The Michael Moores of the world will fail to see that these terrorists are the same thugs and criminals that enslaved Iraq for so long before the Liberation, or they are religious fanatics determined to drag Iraq into the twelfth century. Nothing about this campaign says "progress" Nothing is intended to make Iraq a better place for all its citizens. The murders that we will witness over the next week are solely intended to prevent Iraq from becoming free and successful as a nation.

It will take a firm resolve on the part of all Iraqis. The terrorists can make life so miserable that Iraqis demand a strong leader. It's what they know, and the security that a dictator brings could become very attractive amidst the coming carnage.

Iraq needs our support more than ever. Not just our money and our military, but our resolve that the Iraqis deserve everything we have, freeedom, economic success, hope. Iraqis need to know that we believe in them and their future. This will be Iraq's "Battle of Britain", the biggest test of their will, and our will as well.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 06/24/2004 11:26 Comments || Top||


Africa: Horn
Photos Show Destruction of Sudan Villages
EFL - sorry no link to pics...
NASA photos of the Darfur region of western Sudan show destruction in nearly 400 villages, and there have been reports of fighting or threatened attacks in every camp for displaced people, the U.S. aid chief said Wednesday. Andrew Natsios, administrator of the Agency for International Development, warned that time is running out to help 2 million Sudanese in desperate need of aid in Darfur. He said his agency’s estimate that 350,000 could die of disease and malnutrition over the next nine months "is conservative." Fighting between Arab militias and African residents has killed thousands of people and forced more than 1 million to flee their homes. International rights groups say the arab government has backed the Arab fighters in an genocide ethnic cleansing campaign against the black African villagers. Natsios put the blame for the crisis squarely on the Sudanese government, saying U.S. and U.N. reports from the country show clearly that the Sudanese military is directly connected to Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, that are fighting in Darfur.
Inpossible! Why Sudan is a proud member of the UN Human Rights Comission!
Last week, Annan said the United Nations had asked the Sudanese government to take steps to contain the Janjaweed. The government denies any complicity in the militia attacks against the black African population, blaming the trouble in Darfur on rebels and criminal gangs, but Annan said "from all accounts they can do something about the Janjaweed."
Meanwhile the genocide, gang rapes, and murder continue....
Natsios said the United States had NASA take photographs of the destruction of villages in Darfur. "We’ve now analyzed 576 villages, 300 of which are completely destroyed, 76 of which are substantially destroyed," he said. "When we checked them on the ground, we confirmed what we found. We are going to watch them, using aerial photography until all the blacks are killed or rapedfor the duration to track what’s happening."
They like to watch.....
U.S. officials have been highlighting the plight of the displaced Sudanese, mindful that the world’s inattention to Rwanda a decade ago may have contributed to the genocide that occurred there. Natsios said the U.S. government has spent $116 million on the relief effort in Sudan - more than all other donors combined - "and we pledged $188 million between now and the end of next year." The United States is moving "with a maximum sense of urgency to try to save lives," said Ranneberger, who accompanied Natsios. "We don’t have time to sit around also and decide, is this ethnic cleansing or is this genocide, or what is it."
Which is Annan’s excuse for sitting on his hands....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/24/2004 10:03:31 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The UN has become a venue for politicians from the third world who were too stupid to take power in their own countries. Everywhere the UN is in operation we see incompetant management, kleptomaniacal financial controls, and rank and file workers demonstrating the manners and morals of minks.

Maybe at this stage of world history the US has to be the sherriff of the world. Maybe we should act like my dad did when my sister and I fought, wade in and announce that the next one that did anything wrong would get slapped hard enough to make his grandkids dizzy.
Posted by: Dan || 06/24/2004 12:21 Comments || Top||

#2  guess i have to come up with another name for rantburg - my own name is too generic...
Posted by: Dan || 06/24/2004 12:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Evidence is meaningless to the UN. The UN, as usual, will be ready to move in once the population has been exterminated and all that remains is booty to divide.
Posted by: jules 187 || 06/24/2004 12:49 Comments || Top||

#4  guess i have to come up with another name for rantburg - my own name is too generic

We maxed out on "Steve" a long time ago.
Posted by: Steve || 06/24/2004 12:50 Comments || Top||

#5  From your first post - how about Dizzy Dan (not to be confused with Dizzy Dean)?
Posted by: Raj || 06/24/2004 13:09 Comments || Top||

#6  raj - the first post is not mine - i have used my own name - Dan for the last year...just noticed in the last few days someone else has started posting with Dan...so i guess i need to come up with a name - not too sure about dizzy dan (do not get the context of it)...
Posted by: Dan || 06/24/2004 13:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Still have room for some Joes.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/24/2004 13:58 Comments || Top||

#8  doh! just re-read Dan's post #1 and now i get the context of raj's suggested screen name...
Posted by: Dan || 06/24/2004 13:58 Comments || Top||

#9  Let's just hope this doesn't become Bush's Rwanda.

Hello, Genocide, Islamic-Fascists,....

Posted by: danking70 || 06/24/2004 15:33 Comments || Top||

#10  Indentity theft is a terrible thing. However, whenever I'm warned about it I wonder why somebody, having a choice of identities, would want mine.

As the second Dan I will concede the name to you.
Posted by: Formerly Dan || 06/24/2004 15:50 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Minister says army helped Karuna
The Sri Lankan Government has admitted members of the army helped a top rebel defector escape and wage a covert war of attrition against the Tamil Tigers. The Information Minister Mangala Samaraweera said an informal inquiry was being held into the incident. He described it as "rather disturbing" and an attempt to sabotage the peace process.
They're real peaceful when they're dead.
The whereabouts of Colonel Karuna, who until recently was second in command of the Tigers, is still not clear. He broke from his organisation four months ago and, after a brief spell of internecine fighting, vanished. Now an opposition MP has admitted he transported Colonel Karuna from his jungle hideout to the capital. Rebel fighters who were with Colonel Karuna, but escaped, say he has been in hiding in army safe-houses in Colombo for more that two months, masterminding a series of killings of rebels and their supporters in an attempt to weaken the Tigers.
And this is a bad thing, how?
All this while the government has been trying to re-start the peace process.
Of course, the fabled Peace Processor.
Lot easier to restart the Peace Process™ when the rebels have had the fear of death put into 'em.
After repeated denials from the army that they had anything to do with Colonel Karuna, the information minister has now admitted military personnel were involved. However, he stressed this was without the knowledge of the government. Indeed, the minister says this assistance to a rebel defector was actually a plot by the opposition to sabotage the government's chances of doing a peace deal with the Tamil Tigers.
Sigh, sounds like our State Department.
For its part, the opposition has denied any knowledge of what its MP was up to, and the MP in question, Ali Zahir Mowlana, has resigned.
Posted by: Steve || 06/24/2004 9:21:15 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Insurgents strike across Sunni Triangle
Looks like it’s going to be a long week.
About 70 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in a wave of attacks across Iraq - less than a week before the handover of power. The worst attacks were in the city of Mosul, where at least 44 people died and 216 were hurt in a series of car bombings, Iraq’s health ministry said. At least 22 people died in attacks in the towns of Baquba, Ramadi and Falluja. A statement on a Saudi web site on behalf of Jordanian-born Islamist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed his group carried out the Baquba attack. Arabic TV channel Al Jazeera showed insurgents in Baquba claiming to be al-Zarqawi followers.

There are reports of between four and seven bombings in Mosul. In Baquba, 55km (35 miles) north-east of Baghdad, witnesses described how masked men dressed in black took control of the main road. They attacked a police station with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. US military spokesman, Major Neal O’Brien, said a US patrol had been attacked in Baquba. "The patrol returned fire, killing two insurgents. There also have been reports of indiscriminate fire, landing in populated areas. They’re firing mortars indiscriminately," Major O’Brien said. Two US soldiers died in the Baquba fighting and seven were wounded, the US army said.

In Ramadi, 100km west of the capital, similarly black-clad insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at two police stations, police said. "We discovered later on that the police station was attacked from all around." Seven people were killed and 13 were wounded in the attack, hospital officials said. Two other groups of insurgents attacked a second police station and a government building.

In Falluja, the US military said a Cobra helicopter had been shot down but there were no casualties. US warplanes and helicopter gunships were flying low over the city in response to gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. Residents were seen fleeing towards the main road out of the city. Four members of Iraq’s national guard died and two people were hurt in the Baghdad car bomb blast. The attack took place at a checkpoint in the southern district of Dora. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the US army in Iraq, said clashes in the affected cities had subsided by noon (0800 GMT). "With the exception of what we are seeing in Baquba, most seem to be under control right now," he said.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/24/2004 9:03:07 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perhaps I have missed something (no, a lot) due to the usual media non-coverage and CENTCOM's impenetrable cone of silence, but does anyone else wonder why there haven't been large, sustained offensives starting last week to disrupt/attenuate exactly this sort of thing? CENTCOM's been predicting this sort of upsurge for months and months. I recall coalition offensives in the past seemed to have quite a bit of success. Why the sound of crickets chirping from coalition forces (exception: Marines around Fallujah) when we long knew this was game-time?
Posted by: Verlaine || 06/24/2004 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  not sure about military ops in last week. I dont think Coalition forces have been idle, although they seem to have been focusing on training Iraqi forces.

points
1. todays Zarq offensive is largely in Mosul - most of dead and wounded there, multiple carbombings
2. Apparently Zarq used up several suiciders to accomplish this
3. Ongoing street fights in Mosul and Baquba - a chance to bleed the jihadis.
4. While media focus on IP being outgunned and needing American backup, key point is that IP IS fighting.
5. USMC apparently on offensive in Fallujah at last
6. Belmont, via Hammurabi claims to have nationalaties of foreign fighters killed in Fallujah air attack. Not clear on Hamm's source.
7. Allawi is front and center - telling the press who's behind which attacks, confirming governor in Ramadi is safe. This is the big change, and the one that frightens Zarq the most.
8. Note -whereas a month ago Sunni IGC members resignation threats stalled the Fallujah offensive, now Allawi is approving attacks in Fallujah. As June 30 approaches, the friendly Iraqis and Coalition are taking off the gloves - expect this to accelerate after June 30. Thats why Zarq is hitting with all hes got now - it use it or lose it time, no point in conserving force.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 06/24/2004 11:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Apparently Zarq used up several suiciders to accomplish this

Any speculation as to what the cycle time is for recruiting, indoc and training of "martyrdom operators". Is the supply unlimited? Are these Iraqis or foreign nationals? Makes more sense to me that the slodeydope pipeline is being filled in Syria and Saudi along with some Palestinian consulting rather than being a primarily Iraqi operation. And why do we never hear any discussion of these topics?
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 06/24/2004 12:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Is the supply unlimited?

The $64,000 question. A. Yup, there are millions of muslims who hate the west and love violent Jihad B. No, ROP or not, the attraction of AQ and of suicide is quite limited C. When we're too tough it creates more would be martyrs D. When we're too weak it creates more would be martyrs.

Answer - damned if I know. My sense is that whatever the long term prospects, the amount available at any one time is finite.
Are these Iraqis or foreign nationals?
The friendly Iraqis tend to say theyre all foreigners (not surprisingly) while the dovish media tends to focus on them being Iraqis - and its almost linear, the MORE dovish on the war, the more a given outlet focuses on Iraqis, rather than foreigners.
Seems that theres a sense the ex-baathists in Tikrit and the Tigris valley side of the triangle go in for IED's etc, not inclined to suicide. The foreigners are inclined to suicide. The wild cards are the native Iraqi wahabis, thickest on the ground in Anbar province, esp, Fallujah and Ramadi. Not clear if theyre suiciding.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 06/24/2004 12:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Belmont, via Hammurabi claims to have nationalaties of foreign fighters killed in Fallujah air attack. Not clear on Hamm's source.

One of the commenters on Hamm's blog sez he found them posted on a jihadi website. They do like to give credit to their martyrs.
Posted by: Steve || 06/24/2004 13:02 Comments || Top||

#6  a jihadi website is undermining the claim that it was all women, children, and baby ducks? I suppose they dont think anyone here reads Arabic or checks their sites, but it still sounds odd.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 06/24/2004 13:17 Comments || Top||

#7  To the jihadis it doesn't matter if we killed baby ducks, women, or actual jihadis -- it's all wrong to them. Furthermore, dead jihadis are martyrs, so they're still going to get praise in the Arab world.

When speaking to Western reporters, the dead are all innocents. When speaking to jihadis, they're all brave warriors.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/24/2004 13:30 Comments || Top||

#8  #4 Is the supply unlimited?

Nope, but notice sense before the war the bombings have pretty much dried up in Israel. I believe there is a limited number and they have mostly been assigned to Iraq leaving little available for attacks in Israel or anywhere else for that matter. This again adds fuel to how connected all these terrorists groups really are.
Posted by: Patrick || 06/24/2004 19:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Patrick, I believe Rummy called this "draining the swamp" awhile back. He was derided by the usual suspects, but events have since proven him to be right.
Posted by: Scott R || 06/24/2004 22:19 Comments || Top||

#10  It doesn't matter...Zarqawi, Al Sadr, and the remaining free 'Deck Of Cards', are using the oldest trick in the book, "bait n' switch", diverting our focus so reinforcements and buildups can occur! They (the insurgents) don't want us to leave; only to stay put while they 'sting' us to death over the coming months. Sad, we have to wait till November 3rd for 'balls' in Washington to drop!
Posted by: smn || 06/24/2004 23:37 Comments || Top||


Summary of Pentagon Discussions About Treatment of Prisoners
From The Washington Post
.... Rumsfeld played a direct role in setting policies for detainee treatment in Afghanistan and Guantanamo .... He signed seven orders from January 2002 to January 2003 establishing the interrogation center, placing the Army in charge, allowing access by the Red Cross and foreign intelligence officials, and even deciding how detainee mail would be handled. Unlike the CIA, which vetted and won approval from the Justice Department and National Security Council for its aggressive interrogation tactics after Sept. 11, 2001, the Pentagon has worked largely on its own in promulgating new questioning methods. The White House and Justice Department were "completely uninvolved with" reviewing the interrogation rules in Afghanistan and Iraq, said a senior administration official involved in the process.

The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Lawrence T. DiRita, portrayed Rumsfeld as largely responding to requests from commanders and interrogators in the field rather than pushing a certain interrogation policy. "These things tended to come up through legal channels," he said in an interview. Part of the Pentagon leadership’s drive for more leeway in interrogations can be traced to a historic change during Rumsfeld’s tenure: the military’s dramatically enhanced role in collecting and analyzing intelligence that can be used to thwart terrorist networks worldwide. To accomplish this, Rumsfeld has begun an unprecedented drive to build a Pentagon-based human intelligence apparatus that could one day rival the CIA’s clandestine case officer program. This intelligence-gathering mission trumps most other priorities, including the desire to bring alleged wrongdoers to trial for their role in terrorist plots. ....

The debate over tactics at Guantanamo appears to have begun in December 2002 when two Navy interrogators heard young military intelligence personnel talking about using techniques that they described to their superiors as "repulsive and potentially illegal." Navy general counsel Alberto J. Mora brought the issue to the attention of [Pentagon general counsel William] Haynes. Mora’s appeals were ignored, however, until he threatened to put his concerns in writing for Haynes, several senior Pentagon officials said. Mora’s questions led to the discovery that among the list of "counter-resistance strategies" at Guantanamo were such tactics as using scenarios "designed to convince the detainee that death or severely painful consequences are imminent for him and/or his family," according to an October 2002 memo, and wrapping detainees in wet towels or dripping water on them to make them believe they would suffocate.

Lt. Col. Diane E. Beaver, the legal counsel at Guantanamo then, ruled that those and other techniques -- including 20-hour interrogations, light and sound assaults, stress positions, exposure to cold weather and water -- were legal. She said they could be used with proper oversight and training of interrogators, as long as "there is an important governmental objective, and it is not done for the purpose of causing harm or with the intent to cause prolonged mental suffering."

Interrogators at the detention facilities were particularly interested in using the techniques against two prisoners -- one of them Mohamed al Qahtani, a Saudi detainee who some officials believed may have been the planned 20th hijacker on Sept. 11. Both detainees were considered to have important information about potential future terrorist operations, defense officials have said. Maj. Gen. Michael Dunlavey, the commander of Guantanamo, agreed, and sent the list of tactics to Gen. James T. Hill, head of the U.S. Southern Command, for approval. Hill was not as convinced, and wondered in a memo about the legality of some of the techniques. He asked Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for guidance. In December, Rumsfeld approved the use of dogs and stripping, but threw out other controversial items.

Rumsfeld also set up a working group of military lawyers and others to deliberate over the range of techniques that might be useful and appropriate. The group came up with 35 techniques. Among the most severe were 20-hour interrogations, face slapping, stripping detainees to create "a feeling of helplessness and dependence," and using dogs to increase anxiety. ...

The president’s directive in February 2002 that ordered U.S. forces to treat al Qaeda and Taliban detainees humanely and consistent with the Geneva Conventions does contain a loophole phrase: "to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity." The working group’s report discussed when the "military necessity" exception might be invoked, citing two factors. One was when government officials felt certain that a particular detainee had information needed to prevent an attack. The other factor was a likelihood that a terrorist attack was about to occur and the attack’s potential scale. But the report also noted that "military courts have treated the necessity defense with disfavor and in fact, some have refused to accept necessity as a permissible defense." The rejections have come from judges who objected to the notion of weighing one evil against another, or who feared that acceptance of the necessity argument would open the door to "private moral codes" substituting for the rule of law, the report said.

Other cautionary flags were raised as well. The report warned that use of exceptional techniques could have "adverse effects" on the "culture and self-image" of the armed forces, recalling the damage done in the past by "perceived law of war violations." It argued that use of such tactics in some cases but not others could create uncertainty among interrogators about the appropriate limits for interrogators. It also noted that, if the tactics became public, the disclosure could undermine confidence in the war on terrorism and in the military tribunal process that was developed for putting detainees on trial. Rumsfeld eventually pared the list of 35 methods to 24. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/24/2004 8:57:25 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I get the feeling there's a hell of a lot of creative editing in Mike's summary. For example, that last sentence...
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/24/2004 9:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Ah. Here we go. That sentence wasn't part of the paragraph Mike puts it in, and that paragraph is:

Rumsfeld eventually pared the list of 35 methods to 24. Most were part of standard military doctrine. Seven, however, went beyond that, including: removing a detainee from the standard interrogation setting and putting him in a less comfortable room; replacing hot rations with cold food or military Meals Ready to Eat; adjusting the temperature to uncomfortable levels or introducing an unpleasant smell; reversing sleep cycles from night to day; deceiving detainees into thinking they were being questioned by people from a country other than the United States.


Let's see:

1. A less comfortable setting. Wow. That's horrible. Can't imagine how much moral anguish interrogators have to go through to implement that one.

2. Cold food. The inhumanity of this one is unbelievable.

3. Uncomfortable temperature/unpleasant smells. It'll be just like they're married or have a roommate!

4. Reversing day and night schedules. I had no idea working the night shift was a violation of human rights.

5. Making them think they're being interrogated by a third country. Oh! The horror! You mean we lied to terrorists!

Oh, and Mikey, think about this:

Rumsfeld also set up a working group of military lawyers and others to deliberate over the range of techniques that might be useful and appropriate. The group came up with 35 techniques. Among the most severe were 20-hour interrogations, face slapping, stripping detainees to create "a feeling of helplessness and dependence," and using dogs to increase anxiety.

Everything listed there was rejected by Rumsfeld. Yet you constantly put forward stories -- some of them carefully edited, like this one -- trying to blame the entire chain of command for Abu Ghraib. This story completely destroys your theory -- will you have the honesty to admit it?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/24/2004 10:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Let's see: 1. A less comfortable setting. Wow. That's horrible. Can't imagine how much moral anguish interrogators have to go through to implement that one. 2. Cold food. The inhumanity of this one is unbelievable. 3. Uncomfortable temperature/unpleasant smells. It'll be just like they're married or have a roommate! 4. Reversing day and night schedules. I had no idea working the night shift was a violation of human rights. 5. Making them think they're being interrogated by a third country. Oh! The horror! You mean we lied to terrorists!

Bob, thanks for the early morning chuckle.
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2004 10:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Here's a solution for you. Don't take any fuckin' prisoners.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/24/2004 20:18 Comments || Top||


RFE/Iraq: Kidnappers Preying On Wealthy Locals, Not Just Foreigners
EFL- just the summary the article is good.

Dozens of foreigners have been taken hostage in Iraq over the past few months. Most have been freed. Many are still missing, and at least seven have been killed, including a South Korean who was beheaded by Islamic militants this week. But foreigners are not the only targets of kidnappers in Iraq. Wealthy Iraqis are also becoming victims, and many are paying thousands of dollars in ransom to regain their freedom.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/24/2004 3:29:28 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Fallujah - Iraqi Truck Drivers executed as well
EFL: from RFE/RL

Relatives of six Iraqi truck drivers abducted earlier this month in Al-Fallujah accuse foreign fighters and Muslim radicals of torturing and then killing their loved ones. They say local Iraqi police and Iraqi troops based in the town did nothing to stop the killings.

-snip-

Al-Khaj Khairi is the uncle of Basim Muhammad Tahresh, one of the Shi’a drivers killed in Al-Fallujah. He told RFE/RL that he went to the city seeking to negotiate the release of his nephew and saw Iraqi radicals in control and armed fighters from all over the Arab world. "Some of them are from outside Iraq -- from all Arab countries," he said. "I heard that Omar al-Hadidi, the head of [the radical Islamic movement] Al-Jama’a al-Salafiya al-Mujahida had [the drivers], and he is an Iraqi. All the groups are under his command, and with them are Arab groups. I saw them with my own eyes -- Tunisians, Sudanese, Yemenis. I saw them with my own eyes."

Khair Abas Abid said his son Ylais and his brother Hammad were also killed in Al-Fallujah. He said he and his relatives went many times to Al-Fallujah to negotiate their release and saw what he described as many armed foreigners roaming the town. "We found Syrians, Palestinians, and we found suicide bombers in the houses, and they call themselves Muslims," he said. "And Al-Fallujah is isolated from all Iraq. The police and the army are collaborating with [local Sunni leader] Abdullah Janabi."

Abid said he spoke with Janabi several times and that Janabi explained that the drivers were being interrogated. But Janabi insisted he did not know who was interrogating them. Negotiations to secure the release of the truck drivers dragged on for more than a week until Abid lost his patience.

Several days later, after the talks collapsed, Abid said he was informed that the bodies of his loved ones were in the morgue in the city of Al-Ramadi, some 100 kilometers west of Al-Fallujah. He said his brother had six daughters and two sons. "These people call themselves mujahedin, but can a mujahedin perform this kind of cruelty if he is fighting for a cause of God?" Abid asked. "They are outside of Islam."

Janabi has denied any involvement in the deaths of the truck drivers.

-snip-
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/24/2004 3:49:13 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think this is the fourth time we've seen this story.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/24/2004 8:49 Comments || Top||

#2  The perspective of time doesn't improve this story. One can only hope that the new Iraqi government starts out by encircling this pestilential sty and separating the sheep from the goats.
Posted by: RWV || 06/24/2004 11:57 Comments || Top||


At Least 11 Dead in Attack on Iraq Police Station
At least 11 Iraqis were killed
(note; each time these Muslim terrorists increase their toll of ’fellow’ Muslims)
Thursday when insurgents attacked a police station in the town of Baquba with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, witnesses said. They said the black-clad gunmen continued to roam around Baquba, 40 miles northeast of the capital, and had taken control of the town’s main intersection, attacking any Iraqi police or U.S. troops they encountered. Gunmen attacked a police patrol car carrying at least three policemen, witnesses said. The number of casualties could not immediately be confirmed but they were mainly police and civilians.
(Smells like Iran once more)
Residents said they did not know the gunmen, many of whom wore yellow headbands bearing the name of a Muslim militant group called "Saraya al-Tawhid and Jihad" (Battalions of Unification and Holy War). The name is close to that of the Jama’at al-Tawhid and Jihad group led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which has claimed responsibility for many attacks in Iraq, including this week’s beheading of a South Korean hostage.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/24/2004 2:04:08 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fox news reports that several other attacks have raised the deathtoll to 69, including three US soldiers. 270 reported wounded.
Posted by: Charles || 06/24/2004 9:04 Comments || Top||


Korean Hostage Likely Kidnapped in May
The South Korean hostage beheaded in Iraq was likely kidnapped at the end of May and not June 17 as initially reported by his employer, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday. In early June - before it was widely known that Kim was missing - a videotape was delivered to Associated Press Television News in which Kim says in English that he liked the Iraqi people and criticized the United States for the war in Iraq. APTN did not broadcast the videotape because it was unclear if Kim was being held against his will. But in the first week of June AP asked the Foreign Ministry in Seoul about Kim and was told that the government had no reports of a South Korean in captivity.

Kim identifies himself as a 33-year-old math teacher on the tape. No gunmen are shown, and no demands are made. There are no signs that he was being held hostage. The tape delivered to the APTN office in Baghdad in early June by an unidentified courier shows Kim, an employee of a supplier to the U.S. military, seated before a bare beige wall. He is alone, clean-shaven and his hair is cut short. A voice off camera asks him questions, and he replies in halting English. He gives his name, says he was born Sept. 13, 1970, and gives his place of birth as Busan. When asked his occupation, he says he taught mathematics. He says he came to Iraq about six months ago and that he wanted to study Arabic. Kim also describes President Bush as a "terrorist" and says the United States is "killing the Iraqi people." "I saw George Bush attack here because of Iraqi oil," he said. "So I don’t like George Bush or America." Kim says he went to Fallujah and that the Americans searched him. He stands up, turns around and puts his hands on the wall as if he were being searched. "I like Iraqi people. The Iraqi people are very kind," Kim said. "I think they are poor because of war."
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/24/2004 4:57:16 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, at least two weeks went by and no one would admit he was missing? This revelation is disturbing on many levels.
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 6:57 Comments || Top||


Caucasus
Concerns over Ingush role in attacks
The blazing rebel attacks in Ingushetia herald a renewed attempt by militants to carry the Chechen war into neighboring regions, drawing Russian troops deeper into the troubled Caucasus even as the Kremlin was trying to distance itself from the military morass in Chechnya. Some 1,000 fighters participated in the near simultaneous assaults Monday night on 15 police and border guard facilities and other targets in Nazran, Ingushetia’s main city, and a handful of other settlements, regional officials said Wednesday.

Ingushetia had seen little of the fighting raging in Chechnya, its neighbor to the east. The last time the nearly 5-year-old war spilled into Ingushetia was an incursion in a remote area in October 2002. Ingushetia once was united with Chechnya in a single republic, but it broke off as leader Dzhokhar Dudayev whipped up separatist fervor in the 1990s. It declared itself firmly a part of Russia. As Chechnya plunged into two wars interspersed by three years of lawlessness and de facto independence, Ingushetia appeared comparatively stable and progressing in fits and starts toward a degree of prosperity. The Ingush government built a new capital city, Magas, including a gleaming airport. Tens of thousands of Chechens fled to the republic after the second Chechnya war exploded in 1999. In an effort to bolster Ingushetia’s role as an antidote to Chechnya, the Kremlin made the republic a free economic zone to boost investment. It also threw its support behind Murat Zyazikov, a former high official of the Federal Security Service, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, who was elected president of Ingushetia and entrusted with bringing order.

But beneath Ingushetia’s thin glaze of stability, the republic’s residents have been plagued by increasing fear. Scores of mysterious abductions and disappearances have been reported in recent months, and suspicion has fallen on Russian security forces. After a short lull this spring — apparently sparked by some media attention — the abductions resumed about 10 days ago, and Ingush say that for the first time young women have been among those seized. The Monday attacks targeted Ingush law enforcement agencies that many speculate are connected with the kidnappings. Officials say many of the attackers were Ingush rather than Chechens — a possible indication the attacks were revenge for abductions, as well as a sign that Ingush are increasingly finding common cause with Chechen separatists. Like Chechnya, Ingushetia is predominantly Muslim, and the radical Wahhabi strain of Islam that has increasingly dominated the Chechen insurgent forces could be a banner under which discontented Muslims would rally. "It is likely that many Ingush are becoming more and more militant as a response and, in what is a novelty for Ingushetia, perhaps they are also becoming more separatist because of the action of the Russian authorities," said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent defense analyst.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/24/2004 1:27:53 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
British Courts-Martial May Be Held in Iraq
LONDON (AP) - Some of the courts-martial planned for British soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners could be held in Iraq in front of the families of the alleged victims, a senior British official said Wednesday. Four British soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are scheduled to face courts-martial on charges of abusing prisoners in Iraq, and other cases of alleged abuses by British forces are being investigated, the government says.

Martin Howard, the Ministry of Defense's director general of operational policy, also told a House of Commons committee Wednesday that the number of cases under investigation by the Royal Military Police had risen to 79, four more than announced by the government last month. Howard said that while there was no fixed policy on where the courts-martial should be held, they "would ideally be held close to the scene of the crime." If held in Iraq, such proceedings would have to be conducted at high-security sites, he said.

The deputy chief of defense staff (operations), Maj. Gen. Nick Houghton, told the legislators that it could be difficult to hold the courts-martial in Iraq. But he said some of the judicial officials involved could visit Iraq, or hold related hearings there. No date has been set for the trials, which will be held in public, whatever the venue.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/24/2004 12:14:10 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Kimmitt Says Saddam Humanely Treated
Saddam Hussein "has the gall" to complain about the conditions of his treatment, but he is being treated with "dignity and respect," a senior U.S. military officer said Wednesday. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told Associated Press Television News that the deposed Iraqi dictator "is being treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions." Still, Saddam "has the gall to be whining like a yippy little cocker spaniel complaining," Kimmitt said. "We don't have him in one of his palaces," he said. "We don't have him in one of his luxurious apartments that he used the oil money of the people of Iraq to buy. He is being treated like any other security detainee according to the Geneva Conventions, with dignity and respect. This is a man who is responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of his own countrymen."
I'm sure the French will still offer him asylum.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/24/2004 12:08:50 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Saddam should have been offed yesterday for all the "intelligence" he has given us. I thoroughly resent Brig. General Kimmet having to waste his value time on addressing these ridiculous questions about Saddam's welfare. Kimmet has more important things to do.

Just once, I'd love for the journalists to be told to buzz off and stick their "elite" minded questions up thir well travelled wazoos.
Posted by: rex || 06/24/2004 1:38 Comments || Top||

#2  I think it is important to assure that Sadaam is treated properly. It says more about us than about him.

However, I think anyone, without direct responsiblity or involvement in Sadaam's detainment, be it in Iraq or DC or some little NGO, who spends their time wondering or caring if Saddam is treated well...seriously needs to get out more and find better ways to spend their time.
Posted by: Anonymous5333 || 06/24/2004 7:31 Comments || Top||

#3 
Saddam Humanely Treated
Too bad.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/24/2004 11:48 Comments || Top||


Caucasus
Russians battle large force of Chechens
Chechen policemen have clashed with a group of up to 50 rebels, a source in the staff of the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus told RIA Novosti on Wednesday. Interfax says the local authorities have confirmed by telephone reports that eight rebels and three members of the Chechen presidential security services have been killed in the clashes. Residents of the village of Avtury said they witnessed the rebel gunmen leaving their village carrying the bodies of eight of their comrades, Interfax reports. The news agency also quoted the local authorities as saying that three members of the republic’s presidential security force were killed while resisting the rebel gunmen.

The source in the military headquarters for the North Caucasus said the gunfight erupted at about 2300 Moscow time on Tuesday night near Avtury in Shalinskiy District. “A group of up to 20 people attacked policemen from the Khakassian Interior Ministry manning checkpoint No 116. Chechen policemen and officers from the Chechen president’s security service arrived at the scene to help the Khakassian policemen,” the source said. They then located another group of some 30 rebels and engaged in a clash with them. Reinforcements from special-purpose police units (80 men) and 100 officers from the Chechen Interior Ministry’s traffic and checkpoint police have been dispatched to the scene.” The source added that Russian Defence Ministry helicopters were involved in the engagement. The operation to destroy the rebel gunmen was continued after dawn.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/24/2004 12:04:37 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
Kashmir infiltration on the way up
Looks like the snows have melted enough for the Kashmir Korpse Kount to pick up again.
The infiltration along the Line of Control (LoC) and international border in Jammu and Kashmir has picked up considerably this month with the figure recording three times the number of 26 witnessed last month. The militants have again been using their traditional routes of Neelum valley in north Kashmir and Poonch sector in Jammu to infiltrate into the valley, official sources said, according to a report submitted to Union Home Ministry. The sources said so far till June 20, an approximate number of 85 militants mostly Pakistanis had infiltrated into the state and the number was expected to go up.

An earlier report of the Union Home Ministry on militant camps in PoK and Pakistan had said that ISI had initiated a new action plan to launch militants into the state without taking help of Pakistani army so that international criticism could be avoided. The fresh report on infiltration said that Neelum valley in Kupwara district and Poonch and Mandi in Jammu region were being used by the militants to slip into the valley.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/24/2004 12:05:48 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No doubt this increase in activity is due to anger over the US occupation of Iraq.
Posted by: virginian || 06/24/2004 17:52 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
96[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2004-06-24
  Fallujah ruled Taliban-style
Wed 2004-06-23
  Saudis Offer Militants Amnesty
Tue 2004-06-22
  Korean beheaded in Iraq
Mon 2004-06-21
  Iran detains UK naval vessels
Sun 2004-06-20
  Algerian Military Says Nabil Sahraoui Toes Up
Sat 2004-06-19
  Falluja house blast kills 20 Iraqis
Fri 2004-06-18
  U.S. hostage beheaded
Thu 2004-06-17
  Turks Nab Four In Nato Summit Bomb Plot
Wed 2004-06-16
  Hosni shuffles off mortal coil?
Tue 2004-06-15
  Zarqawi sez jihad's not going great
Mon 2004-06-14
  Somali charged in plot to blow up Ohio mall
Sun 2004-06-13
  Iran sez no to nuke oversight
Sat 2004-06-12
  Brahimi hangs it up?
Fri 2004-06-11
  Dagestani Duma turns down ban on Wahhabism
Thu 2004-06-10
  UN experts find evidence of WMD

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
44.202.209.105
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (35)    (0)    (0)    (0)    (0)