#1
I suggest a visit from some Fort Benning folks, preferably in their M1 and Bradleys.
Posted by: ed ||
08/02/2004 9:46 Comments ||
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#2
RBers - I did a little Googling on Atlas and found a very likely site to assist. I don't want to post it on the Opn Give site, but here is the contact page for a Shipping Industry publisher with an on-line magazine - inaccessible without a subscription. But the contact list for their Editors is accessible: American Shipper OnLine
I have both asked them to write about this situation - and to assist in getting Atlas to refund the money to Opn Give. Drop the entire Editorial staff an email indicating that tens of thousands of people donate to Opn Give - and thus the reputation of Atlas, and everyone who deals with them, is being tainted / ruined. If enough people do it, they'll get it - and help.
Three suspected members of Greece's oldest urban guerrilla group were released on bail on Monday, promising they posed no terrorist threat less than two weeks before the start of the Athens Olympics. The suspects -- on trial for murder, attempted murder and scores of bomb attacks -- were released from the Korydallos top security jail in Athens in a move likely to embarrass the government, which has spent 1 billion euros on security for the Aug. 13-29 Olympics. The three suspected members of the leftist Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA) were released under Greek custody laws which forbid authorities to detain suspects on trial for longer than 18 months pending a verdict. Is public safety superceded by individual rights?
Angeletos Kanas, one of the three, said he posed no threat. "Why should anyone fear me," he told reporters outside the prison. My guess would center on your complicity in bombing attacks and murders.
"There are people who have been branded terrorists from the North Pole to the South Pole in the past few years so nobody should fear me." The two men and one woman join two more defendants already released on health and legal grounds, and must stay in Athens and report to police authorities three times a month until the end of the trial. If found guilty they will return to prison. Actually, the Eskimoes and Antarctic science crews have proven remarkably free of terrorists. It's the warmer climes that seem to be infested with violent fanatics. Continued on Page 49
#1
Three suspected members of Greece’s oldest urban guerrilla group were released on bail on Monday, promising they posed no terrorist threat less than two weeks before the start of the Athens Olympics.
Haaaahahahahahahaaahaa.....
Petty thief about to be released: "We promise we won't be picking anyone's pockets, even though there's a convention in town in two weeks. Honest."
Hakkari paramilitary teams on Sunday found 10 gas tubes packed with a large amount of explosives on a road between the villages of Geçitli-Pinarca. Hakkari Mountain Commando Brigadier Commandership teams defused the ready-to-explode gas tubes. Hakkari Governor Erdogan GÌrbÌz told reporters at his office that commando teams, patrolling in region, found 10 gas tubes surrounded by TNT explosives. Police initiated an investigation into the incident. Turkish police seized 23.66 metric tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT) in the southern Turkish town of Kirikhan in the province of Hatay.
23.66 metric tons? Holy sh*t!
Now, that's a boom! Blood-thirsty little bastards, aren't they?
One hundred kilograms of C-4 plastic explosives along with 10,050 bullets were intercepted on Friday in a truck entering from Iraq in the southeastern Turkish town of Silopi near Sirnak.
We heard about that one.
Terrorist attacks by the PKK have increased recently in the southeastern region of Turkey following the ending of the unilateral PKK/KONGRA-GEL ceasefire on June 1, which had lasted six years. The separatist activities of the outlawed PKK/KADEK terrorist organization claimed nearly 30,000 lives in the region up to the late nineties. However, the activities of the organization declined sharply following the capture of leader Abdullah Öcalan in February 1999.
Could be the Kurds, the Turks just nailed three of them: The officials said the three "terrorists" killed -- including a local PKK leader known as Seyit Riza -- were Iranian nationals and were suspected of involvement in the killing of a Turkish citizen, attacks on a police station and a military vehicle as well as acts of extortion in the region.
A local Islamic extremists cell linked with Al Qaeda carried out four suicide bombings against British and Israeli targets in Istanbul that killed more than 60 people in November 2003.
Or, it could be these guys. Or both together.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/02/2004 2:46:23 PM ||
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SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL: (already in progress) it's clear about al-Qaeda's intent, as well as their capability to carry out attacks both here and abroad, but the intelligence effort against al-Qaeda is a painstaking one, one that requires tremendous patience and tremendous effort on the part of many different government agencies and departments. And we had a briefing here several weeks ago regarding the information that we had about al-Qaeda's plans to carry an attack in the homeland this year.
What we have are pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and now we have some very specific, and as the Secretary said, specific and credible information regarding al Qaeda's plans to carry out attacks here in the States. Today's news, today's intelligence, is both a cause for concern as well as, clear evidence of success in the war against terrorism. Because of the tremendous detail and specificity that we've been able to acquire, the collection agencies have been able to acquire, about upcoming attacks. We frequently get this type of information after attacks take place, but this information before these attacks are able to be carried out.
The new information is chilling in its scope, in its detail, in its breadth. It also gives one a sense the same feeling one would have if one found out that somebody broke into your house and over the past several months was taking a lot of details about your place of residence and looking for ways to attack you.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 1:25:28 AM ||
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#1
The threat is real.
Our intel and law enforcement people are doing some things right and are working hard to cope with unprecedented situations.
#2
Our intel and law enforcement people are doing some things right
I agree, #1, that considering the PC obstacles our intel/law enforcement folks have to work around, they are doing a great job.
BUT they could protect our national security better if our elected politicians, including BOTH GWB and JohnF'n Kerry, would work together to stamp out PC anti-profiling, open borders nonsensical mindsets in their parties. This recent intel came up as a result of the S.African Muslim lady who was captured in Texas after snaeking thru the Mexican border and by luck I might add. The same week a handful of other ME bad boys were arrested in Dallas.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that when you're at war with Islamic terrorists that you do the following:
a)seal the borders first off[and it can be done if we had the political will, so pls. no whining that our borders are soooo looooong]
b) profile visitors from Muslim dominated countries and scrutinize them carefully before they enter the country and limit the length of their visits to no more than 1 month at a time
c) you put a moratorium of 5 years on immigration and then track down all green cardholders/temp. working Visa immigrants/refugee-asylum immigrants in the country to check their whereabouts year by year going back the last 10 years and deport as the need arises and insist that "loser" pays all court costs when deportation is challenged
d) arm the airline pilots
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 13:10 Comments ||
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#3
That might work, maybe.
The costs would be very very high, though, and I don't just mean in $$$. For an uncertain outcome, I'm not sure I would back that approach.
I say that as someone whose only offspring was not far from the twin towers on 9/11, and who works every day in a high-profile target for an attack, so no flames please.
#4
That might work, maybe. The costs would be very very high, though, and I don't just mean in $$$. For an uncertain outcome
a) the only other costs are political and what do Republicans get for catering to the Muslim/Hispanic vote? ZILCH, ZERO. Even moderate Democrats who have families might switch their votes to Republican if the borders were secured and immigration were more focused and tightened up generally.
b) worries about financial costs as well as trying a new tact with uncertain outcomes??? LOL...what do you think regime change/nation building in Iraq is but a VERY EXPENSIVE "experiment" with "uncertain outcome"???Get real. You're on board for the latter aren't you? Securing our borders and immigration procedures would be a spit in the ocean in terms of what we're doing with Iraq and all the other foreign aid crap that gets us nothing but hatred and contempt in return.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 13:44 Comments ||
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#5
Securing borders and completely sealing them are two very different propositions.
The biggest problem with profiling is the false sense of security we could lapse into. Some degree of profiling is just prudence; thinking it's a panacea is dangerous, because it means we won't find the threats that don't match the profile.
I disagree. I'm strongly in favor of proactive disruption of the terror networks. I'm also strongly in favor of coming out of this with as much of our national identity intact as possible, consonant with effective national security.
The costs of completely sealing our borders -- even if that were possible -- would come out of our national soul. I watched it happen to Israel, don't want it to happen here.
The unannounced capture of a figure from Al Qaeda in Pakistan several weeks ago led the Central Intelligence Agency to the rich lode of information that prompted the terror alert on Sunday, according to senior American officials. The figure, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, was described by a Pakistani intelligence official as a 25-year-old computer engineer, arrested July 13, who had used and helped to operate a secret Qaeda communications system where information was transferred via coded messages.
A senior United States official would not confirm or deny that Mr. Khan had been the Qaeda figure whose capture led to the information. But the official said "documentary evidence" found after the capture had demonstrated in extraordinary detail that Qaeda members had for years conducted sophisticated and extensive reconnaissance of the financial institutions cited in the warnings on Sunday.
One senior American intelligence official said the information was more detailed and precise than any he had seen during his 24-year career in intelligence work. A second senior American official said it had provided a new window into the methods, content and distribution of Qaeda communications. "This, for us, is a potential treasure trove," said a third senior American official, an intelligence expert, at a briefing for reporters on Sunday afternoon.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 1:28:56 AM ||
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A computer engineer, son of a high level official and a college professor --- the creme of Pakistan society.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/02/2004 8:55 Comments ||
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#3
Howard, do you think the Beeb would let us borrow Dr Who's time machine for, say, a couple of years? I don't think they're using it much these days, are they?
The reason I ask is that we could "deport" the jihadis back in time. They want the 7th Century? Fine. We'll tell 'em that's where they're going, but I'd like to scatter them out in the 66-70 million years ago range - dino appetizers. I think that'd be the "green" thing to do with them, don't you?
#4
A fantastic idea, .com - I believe you refer to The TARDIS ('Time and Relative Dimensions in Space') - I'm sure it will be lying around some warehouse in White City - shall contact friends at the Beeb to see what they can do for us. I'm sure that I could think of a more suitable intergalactic destination for them.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/02/2004 9:28 Comments ||
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#5
Mr. Khan was in contact with the brother of the Indonesian Qaeda leader Hambali, who was studying in a religious school in Karachi, and who was deported in December 2003.
And IIRC, it was Steve who noted that al-Q is like the pre WWI royals--they educate their kids together in the same schools and marry them off to each other.
#6
Asked about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mr. Khan has told interrogators that even the top Qaeda commanders do not know, the Pakistani intelligence official said.
I guess they did not mark his grave.
...the rich lode of information...
What a dilemna. Announce the alert to prevent the attack or play dumb to penetrate further into Qyduh. Every time you declare what you know, the jihadis go to ground and reorganize. If you don't announce what you know, then maybe you can own the asset - "Mr. Khan" - which can eventually lead to owning all the assets. It strikes me that we have a strategic weapon in that Qyduh thinks there are things we simply won't do such as letting our own people get hurt to further a greater goal. We should turn that belief around on them and use it to penetrate their network. Present to them a possible recruit. Let him pull off an attack. Then he gains trusted access. Figure out the network from there, then own the network. Use it to recruit other jihadis, except they work for you without knowing it. Play dirty.
#7
Zpaz, the goal is to stop terrorism not run it.
Posted by: jojo the amazing circus boy ||
08/02/2004 15:46 Comments ||
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#8
Don't be such a choir boy JJ. To beat Qyduh, you must be a bigger prick than them. How do you think we won WWII? By being bigger pricks than Hitler. (Ponder the implications of that will you.) You do not beat Qyduh by not penetrating their network. It is a time honored way to further your goals. The British played this very game to perfection in WWII (see "Bodyguard of Lies"). First, they penetrated German communications. From that they learned of every Nazi agent in the UK. That brought those agents under their control. They then used the same agents to feed info to Herr Adolph. From Winston's mouth to Adolph's ear. From that they were able to finesse Adolph's actions during the D-day campaign until they were able to close him and crush him. ("Sometimes the truth is so precious that it must be protected by a bodyguard of lies." - Winston Churchill) In order to protect the agent's credibility they had to give a certain amount of real info away via these agents. Also to protect just how much they knew of the network, they choose not to stop every hit. Churchill knew in advance of the raid on Coventry and did nothing to stop it. (Isn't that cruel and horrific? Such are the requirements of wartime leadership.) So JJ, in order to stop Qyduh, we must be willing to get our hands dirty and penetrate their networks by whatever means works. Welcome to The Circus JJ. Did you think you could have victory and a clean consciense? Perhaps you should become John Kerry's National Security Advisor.
Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi, regarding as the leading foreign insurgent in Iraq, was believed to be shuttling between Iran and Iraq. Western intelligence sources said the United States has quietly determined that Al Zarqawi has not been in Iraq for more than a month. The sources said Al Zarqawi left the Sunni Triangle for the Iran-Iraq border and has been moving in an arc from Iran in the east to Syria in the west as he continued to relay orders, plan operations and relay funding. "Much of the time he is in Iran, where he has been given safe haven," an intelligence source said. "The United States won't cross the Iranian border to get him."
The sources said Al Zarqawi was last seen in the Iraqi town of Dour in the area of Baghdad on June 18, where he held a meeting with a senior aide to deposed President Saddam Hussein, Izzat Ibrahim Douri. Douri, regarded as a major financier of the Sunni insurgency, was said to have provided the Al Qaida-aligned insurgent with a large amount of weapons and equipment. From Al Dour, Al Zarqawi traveled to Iran and was said to have been in Marivan in northern Iran through late July.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 5:42:56 PM ||
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sounds like we are getting closer.
Posted by: B ||
08/02/2004 21:38 Comments ||
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#2
hellfire-laden predator, anyone?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/02/2004 23:46 Comments ||
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Jordanian terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, believed responsible for a series of attacks, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq, has been trying to communicate with Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden, a senior defense official tells FOX News. Within the past several days, the anonymous defense official said, a courier had been intercepted inside Iraq bearing a message from Zarqawi to bin Laden. The official would not reveal the contents of the message or exactly when and where its bearer had been found. A Los Angeles Times story on Aug. 1 cited U.S.and French intelligence sources as saying Zarqawi and members of both Ansar al-Islam and Al Qaeda had benefited from a close relationship with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (search), a hard-line paramilitary force that operates outside of the control of the elected Iranian government.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 5:40:26 PM ||
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#1
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Binny, you da man
Now send me some more shahids, a coupla cases of C-4, the definition of the word "Azimuth", and a be-yoo-tee-ful jeweled turban second only to the one worn by your most holy and pious self.
Pakistani intelligence agents found plans for new attacks against the United States and Britain on a computer seized during the arrest of a top Al-Qaida suspect wanted for the 1998 twin US embassy bombings in East Africa, the information minister said. The plans were found in e-mails on the computer of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian arrested on 25 July after a 12-hour gunbattle in the eastern city of Gujrat, information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said today. "We got a few e-mails from Ghailani's computer about (plans for) attacks in the USA and UK," he said, adding that the information has been shared with Pakistan's allies — a reference to the USA.
Mr Ahmed said authorities have also arrested another top suspect believed to be a computer and communications expert, and that that man was cooperating with investigators. It was not clear if the man was linked to Ghailani, and Mr Ahmed would not say when or where he was captured. "He is a very wanted man, but I cannot say his name now." An intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man was a computer engineer who would send messages using code words to Al-Qaida suspects. PTV reported that his name was Noor Mohammed, but the official said that was just an alias. The New York Times today reported that a 25-year-old computer engineer named Md Naeem Noor Khan was arrested in Pakistan on 13 July, apparently a reference to the same man.
Mr Ahmed would not confirm whether the information from Ghailani or the computer expert is what prompted US Homeland Security Secretary Mr Tom Ridge to issue a warning yesterday about a possible Al-Qaida attack on prominent financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark. Mr Ridge specifically thanked Pakistan for its help in the war on terror during his press conference. Interior minister Mr Faisal Saleh Hayyat confirmed that Ghailani was sharing "vital" information, but would not comment on what it was. An intelligence official said on condition of anonymity that the information about a US attack appeared to be centred on New York. The Home Office in London, which is responsible for policing and security in Britain, said it didn't believe the computer seizure revealed a "specific threat" or that the British public needed to take any special action as a result. The department said the threat from terrorism is "real and serious" and its position was unchanged.
Since the operation's blown, it's likely nothing will happen. Michael Moore and Al Franken can then complain that the alert was for political purposes.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 7:13:37 PM ||
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#1
Democrats can have it both ways. Too little, too late, too much too soon. Voting for and against. If GW is really a moron, then anything we suggest must be better, even if it completely wrong.
Any lie spread in the support of Jx2 is the right thing to do.
Posted by: john ||
08/03/2004 14:26 Comments ||
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Turkey's truckers association said Monday it would stop delivering goods to U.S. forces in Iraq, in what appeared to be a direct response to insurgents' brutal, videotaped killing of a Turkish hostage and an attempt to win freedom for two other captives. We'll remember this, Turkey. How nice that the EU didn't admit your sorry @ss. It's beginning to look like Turkey is not really any sort of moderate Muslim country at all. Collaborating with the terrorists, honor killings murders, marrying rape victims to their attackers, repressing the Kurds. It's all very clear now.
A video posted Monday on the Internet showed militants pumping three bullets into the head of a Turkish hostage, identified as Murat Yuce, who was kidnapped in Iraq. It was not clear when the shooting took place. Before he was killed, the man said he worked for the Turkish company Bilintur. In Ankara, Bilintur told The Associated Press that the catering firm has an employee named Murat Yuce in Iraq, but had no knowledge that he had been killed. I guess he got off easy with the headshots instead of the hacksaw. Continued on Page 49
#3
Let's see, as I recall Turkey is up to 3 strikes and the phony pro-US batter is now out. First they let us down at the last minute with pre-Iraq War. Then they've interfered whispering sweet nuthings in Bremer's and Powell's ears causing us to treat the Iraqi Kurds like second class allies. Now they won't supply our troops though they signed a legal document.
Stop foreign aid to the Turks as of yesterday. We can still do trade business with them, but take them off the US taxpayers' tit. I am tired of these fair weather allies who are there with their hands out when they need us but when we need them, it's a cold shoulder.
When is the WH and Congress going to wise up about Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, all of Africa, the Phillipines...sheesh, the list of foreign countries at the trough is too long to recite here.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 18:11 Comments ||
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#4
It wasn't the government, but it's still stupid and wrong.
Then if the Turkish gov't is our true ally, they should help us sue the Turkish company for not living up to the contract the company signed.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 18:12 Comments ||
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#5
Then if the Turkish gov't is our true ally, they should help us sue the Turkish company for not living up to the contract the company signed.
#7
As much as I'd like to slam Turkey, this makes much more sense than having civilians in a war zone and then having to pull out troops later to save them, ala Phillipines. If you can't stand the heat.. well do what Turkey did.
I don't think any business contract is valid if it could bring about the death of civilians.
#8
I gotta go with 5974 on this one -- awfully hard to ask a civilian truck driver to risk his life to deliver a load of goods in a war zone. They sign up for the pay, not for being taken hostage and then being shot.
If we want the goods delivered, we have to ensure proper convoy security, route security, and driver security, or (better yet) kill the people who would kill innocent truck drivers.
I don't blame the truckers and the trucking association at all.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2004 19:12 Comments ||
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#9
Steve White, anybody going into or living in Iraq knows their life is on the line every minute of the day. I doubt the Turkish truck drivers had any illusions about this as well. In light of how Turkey has benefited from America maintaining the no-fly zone and thereby helping to quell Kurdish unrest, what was to stop them from sending in troops to protect their foreign nationals from harm?
Oh, I see, that would have required a putative American ally to actually provide material support for a conflict on their immediate border that has only served to increase Turkey's stability. Silly me.
#10
Zen, what Turkey's government does is separate from what the Turkish truck drivers do. The drivers are a bunch of regular joes just out to do a job and collect a day's pay. There's a difference, and most people doing a regular job would see this, between understanding the risk of driving into Iraq to deliver a load of goods, and having one of your pal's executed by a bunch of thugs.
Sending Turkish troops into Iraq to protect their drivers? You might want to ask the Iraqis, especially the Kurdish ones, about that.
The best security is to find the thug-boys doing this crap. And kill them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2004 22:10 Comments ||
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#11
The best security is to find the thug-boys doing this crap. And kill them.
No argument there. And, yes, the Kurds might get a tad squirrely with Turkish troops in the realm. Mine was merely a point regarding Turkey's lackluster overall performance vis Iraq.
U.S. troops on Monday detained a prominent member of an influential Sunni Muslim group believed to have links to insurgents, officials of the group said. Dr. Muthanna Harith al-Dhari, information director for The Association of Muslim Scholars, was detained along with two of his guards, said Hassan Jumaa, an official in the group's information office.
Sunni Muslim scholar, huh? Why does the word "saudi" come to mind?
I think we might have something big going on. This bo is the guy who was doing the "negotiating" with the Fallujah hard boyz. And we've got Tater surrounded. Wonder who else is feeling heat?
Al-Dhari was returning home when he was detained by U.S. troops just after midnight. "Eight Humvees were waiting for him," Jumaa said, adding that troops searched al-Dhari's vehicle and another car escorting him for over two hours before taking him and away.
"Welcome home, assume the position."
It was not clear why al-Dhari was detained and the U.S. military had no immediate comment. A statement from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's office condemned al-Dhari's arrest and threatened "decisive measures" if he was not released.
Which could be difficult if Tater's toasted, too...
"What measures?"
"Decisive ones!"
In an interview with the Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera, one of the men accompanying al-Dhari when he was arrested, said U.S. forces dealt with them "aggressively." Ammar Abdul Kareem said U.S. troops forced them to get out of the car, searched them, then said they detected traces of explosive materials on the hands of al-Dhari and two other companions.
Well, he is a muslim scholar.
The association was founded last year to promote the interests of Iraq's Sunni minority. Al-Dhari is the son of the group's secretary-general, Sheik Harith al-Dhari.
Of course he is.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/02/2004 1:40:20 PM ||
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It was not clear why al-Dhari was detained...
Okay, folks. Any wild guesses? Speculations? Hypothesis? Theorys? Deep thoughts?
#2
lets see -
1. his group has been opposing the holding of a national conference to select a Consultative assembly - a proto parliament.
2. Yes, AFAIK his group IS heavily Wahabi
3. Though his group is not openly connected to violence, it seems to be the closest of the legal sunni groups to the insurgency.
The fact that he was caught with explosive residue on his hands suggests to me that intell had shown a direct connection to the insurgency, and it was decided that this was an optimal time to deal with an enemy of both the Allawi govt and of the coalition.
It may well be that Sadrs threatened reaction to this move is the reason for the violence in the south today.
#4
A statement from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's office condemned al-Dhari's arrest and threatened "decisive measures" if he was not released.
Can anyone else hear al-Dhari screaming "STFU already, al-Sadr!" right about now? Sadr's squawking about dire revenge "decisive measures" carries all the weight of a threat by Yasser Arafat. A protest from Sadr is merely confirmation that we're on the exact right track. Muslim "scholars" are beginning to exhibit all the credibility of Soviet era "trawlers," Palestinian "security officers" and UN "sanctions."
Five Moroccans detained in the United States military camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for more than two years after their arrest in Afghanistan have been handed to Moroccan authorities, MAP state news agency said on Monday. The men, captured during the US-led war against Taliban rule in Afghanistan, arrived in Morocco on Sunday and were handed over to justice authorities. MAP gave no details of their whereabouts or whether they would face charges in Morocco, but named them as Mohamed Ouzar, 24, Mohamed Mazouz, 30, Radouane Chekkouri, 32, Abdellah Tabarak, 49, and Brahim Benchakroun, 24. The Moroccans were among around 600 suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban members still held at Guantanamo after being taken prisoner during the Afghanistan war. Their imprisonment began in January 2002 and nearly all of them have been held without charges or access to lawyers.
And gained weight, and got de-wormed.
It was not immediately clear if other Moroccans were still being held at Guantanamo.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2004 1:07:40 PM ||
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Morocco promises they'll do their best not to lose these men like last time.
Posted by: joe ||
08/02/2004 14:07 Comments ||
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US troops surround Najaf home of Shiite militia leader
US troops surrounded the home of wanted Shiite Muslim radical leader Moqtada Sadr in the central Iraqi holy city of Najaf, an AFP correspondent witnessed. US armoured vehicles, backed by Iraqi security forces, cordoned off the Al-Zahra neighbourhood, where Sadr's home is located in the eastern part of the city. Smoke was seen rising from the area Monday amid the sound of heavy gunfire, mortar fire and rocket-propelled grenade explosions.
More from the Scotsman at 12:15 PM CDT:
American forces fought with gunmen protecting rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's house in clashes that killed one woman and wounded three others in the Iraqi holy city of Kufa. At least six US military vehicles entered the Zahra area in Kufa near al-Sadr's house, which is protected by his militia, the Mahdi Army, witnesses said.Barrages of gunfire and mortar rounds set cars on fire before Iraqi police intervened and the US forces withdrew, witnesses said. "One woman was killed and we have three injured," said Ajwak Kadhim, director at Al-Hakim Hospital in Kufa, 100 miles south of Baghdad.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
08/02/2004 12:25:43 PM ||
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I'm pretty sure he already ate South Beach. Or was that Michael Moore?
Posted by: remote man ||
08/02/2004 12:46 Comments ||
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Armoured vehicles were used to help seal off the neighbourhood in the Iraqi city of Najaf where al-Sadr lives, before the US troops, backed by Iraqi security forces, began exchanging fire with the cleric's Mehdi Army. The sound of heavy gunfire, mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenade explosions were heard before, one hour later, the US troops withdrew as dozens of armed insurgents, spread out around the house.
The violence comes two days after the arrest by multinational forecs of Sheikh Mithal al-Hasnawi, a senior lieutenant of al-Sadr in Karbala.
Huuummm, just a wake-up call?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/02/2004 12:50 Comments ||
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#5
Gee, I hope this really pisses of his "army" so they come out to fight, and DIE!
#7
but AP says the fighting in in Kufa, NOT Najaf.
"KUFA, Iraq - U.S. forces clashed Monday with gunmen protecting the house of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Kufa. One woman was killed and three people were wounded, a hospital official said.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment.
At least six U.S. military vehicles entered the Zahra area in Kufa near al-Sadr's house, which is protected by his militia, the Mahdi Army, witnesses said. Heavy gunfire and a mortar barrage set cars on fire before Iraqi police intervened and the U.S. forces withdrew, witnesses said. "
is one of the news services confused, or is fighting taking place in BOTH Najaf AND Kufa?
Sounds like its not an attempt to arrest Tater, but to get more aggressive with him. "Look here, Mr. Tater, we CAN arrest your lieutenants and we CAN send patrols onto turf you think you own - this time we have the Iraqi govt behind us, and you have lost most of your hard boyz - whatcha gonna do about it - fight and lose MORE hard boyz?"
#9
Got a feeling the "hard boyz" he's got left aren't nearly as hard as he, or they, think they are.
BTW, don't say "hard boyz" around those Iranian mullahs. They just go NUTS!
#14
Maybe Allawi and the govt are starting to crack down on the violent opposition and gave us the go-ahead to work with Iraqi forces to start housecleaning. I have a feeling that there will be more and more housecleaning operations initiated as these terrorists are rooted out. If this is so, it is very encouraging.
The Job Will Be Done Despite What the Media Sez.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/02/2004 13:54 Comments ||
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#15
comparing Kerry to Al Sadr? How do you feel when an idiot like Michael Moore or Ted Rall off handedly compares Bush to a terrorist? Im getting tired of this kind of thing from BOTH sides. (wake me after the election)
AP - I think youre right, the Allawi govt has probably given the go ahead for a tougher policy.
#21
Stratfor sez our troops clashed with some of the Tater Tots, then disengaged shortly after militia reinforcements arrived. Stratfor's take is that it was more of a show of force at this time.
Maybe just sending a friendly message for now?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/02/2004 21:27 Comments ||
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#22
I would not be suprised to find out many of his boyz are actually Revolutionatry Guards and members of the INI.
EFL: Five masked men broke into a hospital Monday and shot dead a convicted Palestinian collaborator who had been wounded in a grenade attack in his prison cell just hours earlier. After the shooting, police questioned one of the suspected gunmen who claimed to be a relative of the victim avenging the shame the collaborator had brought to his family, police said.
"Yeah, I killed that dirty rat and I'm proud of it, see!"
It was not clear if the gunman was arrested, and the fate of his four accomplices was not known.
It's Paleostein, do you have to ask?
The Israeli military said a group of men were spotted approaching the settlement's perimeter fence and soldiers opened fire. A joint announcement from militant groups Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades said three of their men were killed in what they called a "heroic operation." There were no Israeli casualties.
Now that's my kind of "heroic operation". More please.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/02/2004 9:56:06 AM ||
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Five masked men broke into a hospital Monday and shot dead a convicted Palestinian collaborator who had been wounded in a grenade attack in his prison cell just hours earlier.
A grenade attack in prison. Nice to know that serving time isn't the only punishment someone in a Palestinian "prison" can expect.
Assassinations like that of Mahmoud al Sharef, accused of helping Israel, are relatively common. But this one came amid growing lawlessness in the Palestinian territories that has highlighted police helplessness to rein in violence.
#4
The barrier seems to be having an additional effect in denying the Palestinians their violence fix. This sort of "house-cleaning" will continue in the absence of other murderous sport and should easily occupy these thugs for some time as they continue to kill anyone whom the least treason can be pinned upon, which is pretty much all of them.
It's sort of ironic to see how all of these world-class stone throwers have ended up living in glass houses. Israelis can sleep easier tonight knowing that the Palestinians are far too busy falling on each others' swords to go out and bomb anyone.
Russian forces fired on an apartment block in a southern region bordering Chechnya on Friday, killing three rebels suspected of shooting dead two policemen the same day, an interior ministry spokesman said. Police fired heavy machine guns mounted on armoured vehicles into the block in the town of Kizlyar. Two other policemen were lightly wounded when the rebels returned fire. "The operation is over, the bandits have been destroyed. There were three of them, and they were destroyed on the spot," said the spokesman. Kizlyar, near Dagestan's border with Chechnya, has often suffered the overspill of the Chechen war. In 1996, it was the scene of a massive raid, when rebels seized a hospital and hundreds of hostages.
It was not clear if the rebels killed on Friday were Chechens or local fighters. Chechen rebels have fought for independence from Moscow for a decade, and many Dagestani sympathisers have fought with them. Kidnappings, killings and bomb blasts have been rife in the Caspian Sea region for a decade. The two policemen had been killed earlier when they were investigating reports of an armed group, officials said. Russian news agencies reported the policemen came under fire when they stopped a car to check documents. The people in the car then ran into a nearby five-storey building. Police surrounded the building and attempted to negotiate with those inside before storming it, agencies reported.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 9:43:08 AM ||
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Chechen separatist leader Shamil Basayev has worked out a detailed plan of attack against several cities in Dagestan based on the deadly Ingushetia raids June 22 that killed 90 people, the Vremya Novostei daily reports, citing a source in Chechen law enforcement. Chechen separatists are planning to attack three major residential areas in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, including the city of Kizlyar where police fought separatists who had barricaded themselves in a building Friday.
Next, according to the plan obtained by law enforcement authorities and Chechen federal intelligence, the separatists plan to attack Chechnya's capital, Grozny, and the city of Gudermes. The separatists thus plan to distract federal forces with attacks in Dagestan, and hit major Chechen cities. A source in Chechnya's FSB confirmed reports of the plan in a statement to Vremya Novostei. Chechen intelligence also has reports as to who will lead the attacks in Kizlyar. These are the Yelgushiyev brothers that led the invasion into Dagestan that started the second military campaign in Chechnya in 1999.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 9:44:10 AM ||
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Iraq's government blamed al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Monday for a series of church bombings that killed at least 11 people, saying the aim was to spark religious strife and drive Christians out of the country. Muslim leaders condemned the car bombings that were timed for Sunday evening services in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul. The attacks were the first on churches of the minority Christian community since the start of a 15-month insurgency. "There is no shadow of a doubt that this bears the blueprint of Zarqawi," said national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie. "Zarqawi and his extremists are basically trying to drive a wedge between Muslims and Christians in Iraq. It's clear they want to drive Christians out of the country," he told Reuters.
An Islamist Web site showed photographs on Monday of what it said was the killing of a Turkish hostage by a group linked to Zarqawi. But a Somali held by militants also linked to Zarqawi is to be freed after his Kuwaiti employer agreed to halt operations in the country, Al Jazeera television said.
Rubaie said Iraq's national security council would hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the blasts that hit at least five churches in the country, including four in Baghdad. Iraqi police defused two more bombs outside other churches, one in Baghdad and the other in Mosul. The car bomb attacks near the Baghdad churches killed 10 people and wounded more than 40, the U.S. military said, adding the blasts occurred within a 30 minute period. At least one person was killed and 15 wounded by a bomb at a church in Mosul. Christians make up three percent of the Iraqi population and have generally had good ties with the Muslim community, although several recent attacks have targeted alcohol sellers throughout Iraq, most of whom are Christians.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 9:09:35 AM ||
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The terrorists may have been ticked that so many Iraqis condemned them when they murdered muslims.
They figured, well if we can't get public support murdering muslims, let's see if the public will support us if we murder christians.
After a video posted on the Internet showed a masked gunman shooting three bullets into the head of a Turkish hostage, the Turkish truckers' union said Monday hat it would stop bringing supplies to U.S. forces in Iraq, bowing to terrorist demands in hopes of saving two other captive Turks. Also Monday, Iraq's top Shiite condemned as "hideous crimes" the co-ordinated bomb attacks on five churches in Baghdad and Mosul that killed 11 people and marked the first major attacks on Iraq's minority Christians since the insurgency began. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani said in a statement that Sunday's assaults on Christian churches "targeted Iraq's unity, stability and independence."
The videotape, posted on an Islamic Web site used by extremist groups, shows a man identified as a Turk kneeling in front of three armed men. The man reads a statement in Turkish, identifying himself as Murat Yuce from Ankara. He says he works for a Turkish company that subcontracted for a Jordanian firm. "I have a word of advice for any Turk who wants to come to Iraq to work: 'You don't have to be holding a gun to be aiding the occupationist United States. ... Turkish companies should withdraw from Iraq." At the end of the statement, one of the men takes out a pistol and shoots the Turk in the side of the head. The Turk slumps to the ground, and the kidnapper shoots him in the head twice more. Blood is seen on the ground next to his head. A black banner on the wall behind the kidnappers identifies the group as the Tawhid and Jihad, which is led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist linked to al-Qaeda. It was not clear when the video was posted or when hostage was killed; his name did not match those of the two Turkish truck drivers kidnapped by Tawhid and Jihad last week.
The head of Turkey's International Transportation Association, Cahit Soysal, said Monday that by agreeing to stop working with U.S. forces in Iraq, Turkish truckers hope the kidnappers will free the two other drivers. He said trucks carrying supplies not destined to the U.S. forces would not be affected. Turkish trucks mostly transport fuel and jet fuel to the U.S. troops, an official from the group said. Mr. Soysal said 200 to 300 Turkish trucks had been bringing supplies to U.S. forces in Iraq daily, among the many vehicles crossing the border with goods for the military and contractors involved with Iraqi reconstruction. Many of the more than 70 foreigners abducted by terrorist have been truck drivers, more vulnerable to attack than heavily armed troops.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 9:14:27 AM ||
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Is 'Murat' a common turkish name? Just curious, since we had a regular Murat.
Pakistani authorities have arrested an Al-Qaeda-linked computer engineer and discovered significant information on his computer and email, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said. "We've arrested a computer mastermind. He is linked to Al-Qaeda. We got information from computer and email," Rashid told AFP Monday, amid US press reports that the information outlined fresh plans to attack financial institutions in New York and Washington.
If he was a "mastermind", you wouldn't have been able to crack his hard-drive so easy.
Refusing to reveal the computer expert's nationality, the minister said he was captured either in the eastern city of Lahore or nearby industrial town Gujrat, where a key Al-Qaeda suspect in the 1998 east Africa bombings was picked up July 25. The capture was around the same time as the arrest of Tanzanian-born Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Rashid said, but would not specify the date. The arrest of Ghailani, which was only announced late on July 29, also yielded valuable information, the minister said. Ghailani is wanted for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
But his Mom sez he's innocent, so they should let him go. Who would know better than his Mom?
Senior US officials told the New York Times and Washington Post that the information found in Pakistan late July led to the latest terror alert in the United States.
Ok, that kicks the credibility up a notch.
The Washington Post said documents uncovered in Ghailani's hideout in Gujrat show specific information on the Citigroup Center in Manhattan, the World Bank in Washington and other financial institutions, including parking arrangements and whether guards are armed. The documents also describe the use of phony couriers and delivery people to get inside the buildings to collect information, intelligence officials told the Post. The Times said the computer expert, whom it identified as Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, 25, used and managed an Al-Qaeda communications system where information was transferred via coded messages. A senior US intelligence official told the newspaper the information was more detailed than any he had seen during his 24-year career in intelligence work. The contents of the evidence was urgently relayed to Washington Friday afternoon, which immediately increased the importance of other intelligence gathered over the past weeks from Al-Qaeda suspects held in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the Times reported.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 9:11:45 AM ||
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Mastermind does not necessarily equate to techno-geek. "Computer mastermind" could refer to big on al Qaeda network information and small-to-moderate on computer prowless.
Posted by: Capt America ||
08/02/2004 10:56 Comments ||
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#3
Besides, as "tu3031" infers, "mastermind" could be the eyes of the beholder or the minimal judgment of the person stating the phrase.
Posted by: Capt America ||
08/02/2004 10:57 Comments ||
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#4
I'm tired of Masterminds™. Jihadis have masterminds crawling out of the woodwork. Can we have some International Men of Mystery™?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/02/2004 13:03 Comments ||
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#5
Yeah John Kerry, International Man of Mystery. Millions want to know his position on critical issues of the day, but he keeps them guessing with his righteous rejoinder, "Did you know I served in Viet Nam?"
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
08/02/2004 13:11 Comments ||
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#6
You have the chance to own one of their communication nodes, but instead you announce it to the world. I guess Mr. Khan will not be getting any more saucy e-mail pictures from Osama. Are we stupid or are is this a shaggy dog story to mask where the info really came from?
#8
I've seen plenty of "computer masterminds" who don't even know how to clear their Internet Explorer history. Just hit CTRL-H and voila, you see every asian teen sluts porn site he ever went to. REAL computer geniuses seldom use the WWW for their porn.
Anyway, anyone who's serious about operational security wouldn't use Microsoft Windows anyway. Why aren't we infecting every computer in .pk with worms that transmit all information to Echelon?
At least two Afghan soldiers and two suspected Taliban militants were killed in clashes near the Pakistani border on Monday, and aircraft from U.S.-led forces were circling over the area. Another soldier was killed on Sunday night when suspected Taliban militants opened fire from a motorcycle on a car being used for voter registration in the southern province of Helmand, officials said.
Motorcyles Of Doom strike again!
The fighting south of Khost, in the district of Gurbuz just a few kilometres (miles) from the Pakistan border, lasted for more than eight hours. "Two Afghan soldiers were wounded and two killed, and on the Taliban side we found two dead bodies and captured one," General Khialbaz Sherzai, commander of the Afghan army's 25th Division, told Reuters. He said the captured militant appeared to be a foreigner, possibly of Arab extraction.
"Say, ya'll ain't from around these parts!"
Sherzai said his forces saw dozens of wounded militants crossing into Pakistan, where members of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban as well as foreign militants with links to al Qaeda are said to be active.
Wounded, sepsis, slow-painful lingering death....
Gut shot... Sucking chest woonds... Sucking head wounds... I like it!
Too bad for Mahmoud that all the better Pakistani docs emigrated to America; I bet that sucking chest wound could have been fixed.
And then they bumped off all the leftovers because they were Shiites. That's planning ahead...
Pakistan denies Afghan accusations that its territory is being used as a sanctuary by militants.
"Nobody here, we asked."
Taliban official Mullah Abdul Samad said U.S. aircraft were involved in the fighting, and eyewitnesses said they were flying over the area an hour or so after the clash ended. The drive-by shooting in Helmand's provincial capital of Lashkar Gah was the latest in a series of attacks on election workers in Afghanistan. The two gunmen carrying AK-47s escaped on a motorcycle, said Haji Mohammad Wali, spokesman for the Helmand governor.
More details here: More than 100 Afghan and American troops supported by U.S. warplanes clashed with 50 militants near the Pakistani frontier Monday, inflicting "heavy losses" on the rebels in the fiercest border skirmish in months, the U.S. military said. An Afghan commander said the fight began when the militants attacked a border post near Zhawara, 40 miles south of Khost city, early on Monday morning. Maj. Rick Peat, an American spokesman, said U.S.-led troops and more than 100 Afghan militia soldiers engaged the militants at about 2 a.m. A B1 bomber, two A-10 ground-attack aircraft and four Cobra helicopter gunships provided support.
When you care enough to send the very best!
"The militants retreated in panic and were pursued by the attack aircraft," Peat said.
"Feet, don't fail me now!"
Gen. Khial Baz, the provincial military commander, said four Afghan soldiers were wounded. However, Peat said only two were hurt and that they were evacuated to a hospital for treatment. Four hours later, U.S. and Afghan forces, supported A-10s, fought about 20 of the militants in a renewed battle. "Again, the militants retreated after incurring heavy losses," Peat said. One Afghan soldier was killed and three others wounded in the second clash, he said. He didn't give a specific figure for the rebel deaths.
Still counting body parts
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 9:21:31 AM ||
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Footage of what appears to be a Turkish hostage in Iraq being shot dead has appeared on the internet. The videotape shows a group of masked men standing over a figure, who is then shot in the head three times. The man identified himself as Murat Yuce, an employee of Turkish company Bilimtur. The company has confirmed it had an employee by that name.
Murat? You Ok buddy?
It is not clear when or where he was kidnapped, or when the apparent killing took place. Following the tape's release, a Turkish lorry drivers' association announced it had stopped the transport of cargo to US forces in Iraq. In the video, the man said to be Mr Yuce reads a statement in Turkish, saying: "I have a word of advice for any Turk who wants to come to Iraq to work: You don't have to be holding a gun to be aiding the occupationist (sic) United States... Turkish companies should withdraw from Iraq."
Then the leader of the three masked men takes out a pistol and shoots him.
How very brave of them, assholes.
The men are standing in front of a banner which resembles that of Tawhid and Jihad - a militant group reportedly run by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian accused of a series of attacks in Iraq.
The fresh intelligence that led to yesterday's extraordinary terror alert comes from documents discovered after Pakistani and U.S. forces broke up an al Qaeda cell in Gujrat, Pakistan, eight days ago, U.S. intelligence officials said yesterday. One of the men arrested in that raid led authorities to the documents, which contained the startling details of al Qaeda surveillance of corporate and government targets in Washington, New York and New Jersey.
Officials from several U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies huddled virtually round-the-clock Friday, Saturday and Sunday to discuss the fast-emerging information, government sources said, assembling intelligence from the arrested al Qaeda operatives and translating and culling through the documents. "This is definitely a nail-biter," one law enforcement official said.
The information that emerged confirmed that al Qaeda continues to plan operations and conduct surveillance against targets inside the United States. It buttresses the warnings of law enforcement and intelligence officials that al Qaeda has operatives in the United States and that U.S. financial institutions -- particularly ones in New York and Washington -- remain favorite targets of the terror network.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 1:38:50 AM ||
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Pakistan has broadened the scope of search for criminals who planned last week's assassination attempt on Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and law-enforcement agencies have been directed to probe into links between militant groups and the Islambouli Brigade of Al Qaeda. This was stated on Sunday by Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat talking to Dawn, he said he would not rule out Al Qaeda's possible involvement in the attack and said that law-enforcement agencies were also looking into possible involvement of other militant groups including 'Arab-Afghans' allied to Al Qaeda and having links in Wana. When asked about Islambouli's linkages, the interior minister said: "Islambouli, the terrorist group which claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Shaukat Aziz in Attock was also involved in the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981."
Mr Hayat said the government of Egypt, Pakistan's embassy in Cairo and other concerned quarters were being contacted to get information about the terrorist group and its linkages. He said that Islambouli had become an ally of Al Qaeda some time in the 90s. According to US State Department's 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' reports, the Islambouli Brigade of Al Qaeda is an offshoot of Egypt's terrorist group Al Jihad with several hundred 'Afghan' guerillas. The group is headed by Mohammed Shawqi al Islambouli, brother of Khalid al Islambouli who assassinated Anwar Sadat in October 1981. The Al Islambouli established a base in Jalalabad, from where hundreds of its operatives participated in the Afghan Jihad.
The US 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' reports cite linkages of Osama bin Laden and Afghan militant groups to Egypt's Gamaa al-Islamiyyah, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the the Islambouli Brigade of Al Qaeda. Sources said Egypt and Pakistan signed an extradition treaty in 1994 after Cairo's request for help in the hunt for 'Arab-Afghans' believed to number some 1,200 in mid-1990s. A high-profile extradition by Pakistan in 1994 included 26-year-old Ali Eid who represented the Al Jihad group of Egypt in the region. However, an interior ministry spokesman said: "Our intelligence agencies have found no evidence about involvement of any Egyptian group in terrorist activities in Pakistan, except a suicide attack on Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad in 1995." The spokesman said a top Al Qaeda leader, Egyptian-born Canadian national, Ahmed Saeed Khadr, was involved in the embassy bomb blast which had claimed nine lives. The attack on the embassy was the first suicide bombing in Pakistan. It is confirmed that Ahmed Saeed Khadr was killed by the Pakistan Army in a military operation in Wana in October 2003.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 2:02:52 AM ||
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#1
I keep hearing about these clowns for the "So and so angry Arab Brigade" and the "Abu Hafs al get you my pretty . . . and your little dog, too, Brigade." What does it take to become a brigade these days? Now that the US Army is The Army of One, why don't we just change the nomenclature to declare each soldier a brigade of one? This would give us an astonishing 1.4 million active duty brigades and another 1.1 million reserve and national guard brigades. That ought to strike fear into our enemies. Just picture the headlines -- "300 Army Brigades Surround al-Sadr's House" or "Army Brigade Beats the P*ss Out of Michael Moore After Moore Attempts to Steal Brigades's French Fries and Blame Bush."
Posted by: Tibor ||
08/02/2004 14:32 Comments ||
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Pakistan has made several arrests in the attempted assassination of the prime minister-designate and has found the head of the suicide bomber, officials said Sunday. Shaukat Aziz, the finance minister tapped to take over as prime minister, escaped unharmed Friday, but nine people were killed and three dozen were wounded in the bombing. The dead included Aziz's driver, an indication of how close the bomber came. Pieces of clothing believed worn by the bomber also were found at the blast scene. The clothing included a tag from a tailor in Attock, the main town near the site of the suicide attack. The tailor was being questioned by authorities.
"Ootch! Ouch! Hey! Stop that! No! Not the women's underwear! I'll talk!"
"We have a lovely lavendar bomb vest in a 38 short. And it has your name on it!"
On Sunday, the government promised a reward of 10 million rupees — the equivalent of $17,500 — for information about the bomber's identity, state-run Pakistan Television said. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said security officials made "some progress" and had arrested some people in the attack against Aziz. He would not say how many or whether any were considered suspects. Ahmed has said the attack bore the fingerprints of al-Qaida — which would make it the latest attempt by Osama bin Laden's terror network to take out Pakistan's leadership.
A militant group calling itself the "Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaida" said in a Saturday statement on an Islamic Web site that it was behind the blast. Lt. Khaled Islambouli was the leader of the group of soldiers who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. "One of our blessed battalions tried to hunt a head of one of America's infidels in Pakistan while he was returning from Fateh Jang, but God wanted him to survive," said the group's Arabic-language statement.
Does that tell you anything, you superstitious bastards?
The statement said the suicide attack was a response to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's handing over captured militants to the Americans and warned him "this operation yesterday will be followed by a series of painful strikes if you don't stop what you are doing by complying to the wicked (President) Bush's orders." The group said the message was "the last warning" and "within the coming few days, our brigades will speak with the language of blood which is the only language you understand."
Pakistani television showed gruesome footage of Friday's bombing, with the camera capturing the suicide attacker approaching the driver's door of Aziz's armored Mercedes, raising his hand and then blowing up. Aziz was already in the car, but the driver had not closed his own door and was among those killed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 1:55:24 AM ||
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The attempt to kill Pakistan's prime minister-designate could be retaliation for the capture of a key Al Qaeda suspect in the deadly 1998 bombing of two US embassies in east Africa, a minister said yesterday. Friday's assassination attempt on Shaukat Aziz could be in "retaliation" to the arrest of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian Al Qaeda suspect on the FBI's most-wanted list, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said. "Ghailani was a big catch as he had trained many militants for suicide bombings," the minister said.
A militant group calling itself "Al Islambouli Brigades, Al Qaeda organisation" posted a statement on an Islamist website claiming responsibility for the attack. The attack was a response to Musharraf's handover of Islamist militants to the United States, it said. The purported group is named after Khaled Al Islambouli, an army officer who assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat during a military parade in 1981. The statement went on to threaten more "painful strikes" if Pakistani leaders did "not stop taking orders from the despicable US President George W Bush". "This is for the first time Al Qaeda has claimed the responsibility and its authenticity needs to be examined," Rashid said. "Al Qaeda had not even claimed the responsibility for the attempt on President Pervez Musharraf in December, why they have now come out with such a statement? Terrorists are creating terror in different parts of Pakistan, but we will continue to play our positive role in the international war against terrorism."
"Pakistani security agencies have arrested several wanted militants and they must be getting frustrated and in retaliation attacking security and government officials," Rashid added. Ghailani who was hiding with four men, three women including his Uzbek wife, and six children in a house in Gujrat, 160km southeast of Islamabad was caught after an eight-hour shootout last month.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 1:43:25 AM ||
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A member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement shot and wounded an official of a pro-Syrian faction Saturday in a refugee camp of south Lebanon, Palestinian sources said.
Yummy popcorn. More, anyone?
According to the report, Fatah member Hussein Seyyed burst stormed into offices in the Ain el-Hellhole Hilweh camp to demanded the immediate release of his son, was being questioned on suspicions of rape.
"Rape? You call that a crime 'round here? Let 'im go!"
Seyyed whipped out a rod and began shooting when his demands were not met, wounding Abed Makdah, an official of the pro-Syrian group Al Saiqa and the head of a committee holding the rape suspect. Seyyed's son was also wounded, it was reported.
"Th-th-th-on! I'm th-orry!"
"Oh, father! What will I ever tell the boys back at the Fatah camp?"
Tensions have risen in the camp since Thursday when four people were wounded in a dispute between a member of a small Islamist group and Fatah members. Some 367,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon, more than half in a dozen terrorist camps dotted around the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Iraqi commandos freed a Lebanese hostage, a Lebanese foreign ministry source said, but there was no word on another Lebanese seized in a growing wave of kidnappings of foreigners in Iraq. "Iraqi commando forces carried out a military operation on the kidnappers of Vlad Damaa and released him half an hour ago," the source said in Beirut, declining to give any more details. Damaa was seized at gunpoint on Friday from a construction concern he runs with a brother that sells prefabricated buildings to US forces in Iraq, his family said. No comment was available from Iraq's interim government, which is building up its own forces but remains heavily reliant on about 160,000 mostly US foreign troops for security.
The second Lebanese hostage, Antoine Antoun, was kidnapped from his Baghdad dairy along with a Syrian trucker by gunmen, relatives said. Antoun's tearful parents pleaded from their home in northern Lebanon for the safe release of the 29-year-old, who was also seized on Friday. "I say to the Muslim clerics and the Iraqi people, I am willing to sacrifice myself for my son and Iraq," said his father Robert. A growing wave of hostage-taking has hit Iraq since April as guerrillas wage a campaign to undermine US-led forces and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's interim government.
Aided and abetted by Arroyo's caving in to them.
Scores of foreigners from two dozen countries have been seized, most of them truckers working for foreign companies delivering supplies to US forces or Iraqi companies. At least eight hostages have been killed, four by beheading. In the case of the seven truckers, Kenyan Foreign Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere told a news conference in Nairobi all of them had been freed and were at the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad. But the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company which employs the seven truckers said they were still being held hostage. "They have not been released ... We are still negotiating," said Rana Abu Zaneih, a company spokeswoman.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 7:58:15 PM ||
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#1
Usually Iraqi Commandos = Kurds.
And just to stir up LH: calling themselves the Black Banners Division of the Islamic Secret Army
Let's form a secret army at RB a cross between the Skull un Bonz and the Salvation Navy and get it for you WholeSale Salvation Shoppe.
My nom de guerre is abu Hatfield code name Preshawar.
Pakistan vowed on Sunday it would not be deterred by Al Qaeda threats of further attacks after the terror group claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt on prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz. "It strengthens our resolve to continue our fight against terrorism," military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told journalists on Sunday. He said Al Qaeda's claim of responsibility for the suicide bomb attack on Mr Aziz, which killed seven people on Friday, confirmed Pakistan's assessment that the group was involved in terrorist acts in Pakistan. "It only confirms our assessment of their involvement," he said referring to the third attempt on Pakistani leaders in recent months blamed on Al Qaeda-linked militants. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told journalists the attacks on the president's motorcade in Rawalpindi and the attempt on Mr Aziz's life could be linked.
Has anybody considered the possibility that certain organizations making up the MMA might be involved? Or do we not mention the elephant in the living room?
Shahzad Malik adds: Lawmen have arrested three more people, including private secretary of the murdered Member of the National Assembly and head of a defunct religious outfit Maulana Azam Tariq, from Attock suspecting that they may be involved in the attack on prime minister in-waiting Shaukat Aziz. Sources told Daily Times that intelligence officials arrested Rashid Mahmood Farooqi late Sunday night from his house. He was taken to an undisclosed place for investigation, sources added. "It is premature to say that the detained person is the mastermind and motivator of the suicide attack," an investigating official told Daily Times.
I dunno. Does he laugh maniacally? Does he rub his hands together while gazing lecherously at cringing young women? Does he have fanatical minions? If he does, you've got your mastermind...
Investigating officials said they traced Mr Farooqi through a tailor, Tariq Mahmood, who stitched the suicide bomber's clothes. The tailor told the officials that Mr Farooqi also visited his shop for stitching. The investigating officers believed that the attack plan was made locally and the bombers might be residents of the local area, sources said.
The Jihadi's Wearhouse; "You're gonna like the way you explode, we guaranty it"
Mahmoud's Man's Warehouse: "Big and tall, we explode them all."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 7:51:55 PM ||
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#1
1.it sounds like the Pakistanis are really serious about this.
2. Rather more so than the Saudis, I might add.
3. It seems like the Wana and other NWFP operations may have been more productive than previously thought, particularly in terms of disrupting AQ and driving them to the cities.
4. Whatever role Saif el Adel and others are playing in Iran, at least some operational planning is happening in Pakistan. Perhaps Teheran is the base for actions in the middle east - KSA, Tawhid in Iraq and elsewhere, other ops in Iraq, Turkey, etc, while Pakland remains the global HQ, with planning for strikes in CONUS.????
After the attack on Federal Minister Shaukat Aziz, police has tightened security and raided many religious madrassas. Police raided Jamia Maddrassa Muhammadia on GT Road, near Kangni Wala, and inspected the students. Thirty-five out of seventy students were found to be Afghanis, living in Pakistan without any legal approval.
A little far from home, fellas?
Police raided Member National Assembly Qazi Hamidullah's madrassa called Jamia Mazaharul Uloom on Ferozwala Road and also found Afghani students. The madrassas' administration said that the students had no links with Al Qaeda or the Taliban. The Police asked the students to register themselves within two days.
Boy howdy these Afghani students are hungry for an education.
Two terrorists arrested:
Chowki Mandiala Taiga police arrested two important members of a jihadi organisation after an encounter and confiscated two cars, a motorcycle of Doom™ and unlicensed weapons. District Police Officer Saud Aziz had been informed that two members of a jihadi organisation, who were reportedly trained in Afghanistan, were seen near Ferozwala road. Ijaz Ali Bhatti, in-charge of Chowki Mandiala Taiga, chased a car driven by two terrorists. The men opened fire on the police jeep. After the exchange of fire, Mr Aziz was able to arrest the men who were later identified as Maulvi Muhammad Arif and Maulvi Qadeer Anbalvi from Sialkot.
Shooting them would have been easier, Officer Aziz.
They had rented the car from Mujahid Hotel Muridke and later abandoned the driver on Ferozwala Road. The accused had allegedly also snatched a car on Ferozwala Bridge, Lahore two months ago. After their arrest, they reportedly confessed involvement to many robberies and abductions for ransom. The DPO announced a cash prize of Rs 5,000 and a graduation certificate for Mr Bhatti.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 7:54:40 PM ||
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The former Civil Lines Police Station house officer (SHO) told reporters on Sunday that unidentified callers had been threatening him for the past week after Al Qaeda terrorists were arrested near his police station and he was now asking for protection. "I suspect that the callers might have links with Al Qaeda and my life is in danger," said former SHO Zafar Hanjra. "I appeal to authorities to protect me." He claimed that his police force had completed an operation against Al Qaeda terrorists under the command of District Police Officer Raja Munawer Hussain. Mr Hanjra was the Civil Lines Police Station SHO when Al Qaeda terrorists were arrested in Islam Nagar on Sunday near his police station, where 64 policemen from the Shaheen and Larri Adda Police Posts were suspended on Wednesday.
The SHOs of the 16 police stations in the district have ordered property dealers, landlords and foreigners to get registered at the nearest police stations. Mosques in the district are using loudspeakers to help the police spread the message. Police registers case against 13 Qaeda activists: Civil Lines police has registered a case against 13 Al Qaeda activists, who were arrested in Islam Nagar on July 25 after a shootout. Police registered cases against four men, three women and five children, including a 10-day-old infant. Six other people are being interrogated in the case.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 7:53:17 PM ||
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Jihadies, can't take them anywhere without having to make an excuse.
Had cousins like that. It was always like, sorry Ted, cousin Bill's just doing vacation. Yeah Tonya sorry, they're just a bunch of young'ns. Oh, hey bro, no big deal, Joes just a little lit up, he's cool.
U.S. forces on the trail of Osama bin Laden and the leaders of the Taliban in late 2001 didn't worry much about elderly, pious-looking men like Haji Juma Khan. A towering tribesman from the Baluchistan desert near Pakistan, Khan was picked up that December near Kandahar and taken into U.S. custody. Though known to U.S. and Afghan officials as a drug trafficker, he seemed an insignificant catch. "At the time, the Americans were only interested in catching bin Laden and [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar," says a European counterterrorism expert in Kabul. "Juma Khan walked."
That decision has come back to haunt the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan. Western intelligence agencies believe Khan has become the kingpin of a heroin-trafficking enterprise that is a principal source of funding for the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists. A Western law-enforcement official in Kabul who is tracking Khan says agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan, after a tip-off in May, turned up evidence that Khan is employing a fleet of cargo ships to move Afghan heroin out of the Pakistani port of Karachi. The official says at least three vessels on return trips from the Middle East took arms like plastic explosives and antitank mines, which were secretly unloaded in Karachi and shipped overland to al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. Khan is now a marked man. "He's obviously very tightly tied to the Taliban," says Robert Charles, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. Mirwais Yasini, head of the Afghan government's Counter-Narcotics Directorate, says, "There are central linkages among Khan, Mullah Omar and bin Laden."
#2
Regardless of whatever lies the Taleban spewed while in power, they have always controlled the opium trade to their own direct benefit. Despite millions paid them by the current administration to abate this problem, they have never done anything more than pay lip service in addressing their principal source of funding.
Absolutely zero news here. Merely a rehash of what was known well before we ever invaded Afghanistan. The White House's willing blindness to so much of the Taleban's domestic repression and abuse enabled them to believe the Taleban's lies about poppy crops. Now the chickens come home to roost, that's all. Pure cause and effect.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
