It has been claimed the suspected leader of the deadly July bombings in London may have had links with those who planned the 2002 Bali bombings. Al Qaeda analyst Rohan Gunaratna says a suspect held in Asia told him after the London bombings that Mohammed Siddique Khan, 30, had travelled to South-East Asia. Mr Gunaratna told the BBC that Khan had met senior leaders of Jemaah Islamiah, including the suspected Bali bombings organiser Hambali.
The BBC also claims Khan was secretly filmed and recorded speaking during a British intelligence operation more than a year ago, but was not deemed a sufficient threat to warrant further monitoring. It is also claimed Khan went to Pakistan in 2003 to meet with a senior Al Qaeda organiser. Khan is thought to have been the ringleader in the London attacks that killed more than 50 people.
Posted by: God Save The World AKA Oztralian ||
10/26/2005 18:18 ||
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Four Arab men accused of planning attacks on Jewish targets in Germany have been sentenced to jail terms of between five and eight years. Three members of the group were convicted of supporting a terrorist organisation, al-Tawhid - which is said to have links to al-Qaeda. Al-Tawhid is led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is wanted for leading insurgent attacks in Iraq. The three Jordanians and an Algerian denied the charges against them.
"Lies, all lies!"
The Jordanians - Mohammed Abu Dhees, Ismail Shalabi, and Ashraf al-Dagma - were convicted of plotting attacks and belonging to a terrorist organisation. The Algerian, Djamel Moustfa, was found guilty of plotting attacks and supporting a terrorist group.
Much of the case against the four was based on evidence from Shadi Abdellah, who was arrested at the same time, in 2002, and confessed to plotting to attack Jewish targets. Abdellah, who was jailed for four years on similar charges in 2003, said the group discussed targeting Berlin's Jewish Museum and a Jewish-owned discotheque or bar in Dusseldorf. The prosecution described the defendants as the "most important members" of the German cell of the Islamic group al-Tawhid. Judge Ottmar Breidling, giving the verdict said: "In this case, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi should also be sitting on the defendants' bench."
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2005 08:50 ||
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#2
There would have been no terrorists if it wasn't for the Iraq invasion. Zarqawi's terrorists were arrested in 2002? Nevermind.
Posted by: ed ||
10/26/2005 12:55 Comments ||
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#3
After a few wobbly years, it seems to me that the Western court systems are not nearly as likely to let terrorists walk as they once were. Most of the trial news we've carried lately shows that more evidence is being allowed, fewer objections are being tolerated, and more jihadis (and their enablers) are being jailed for longer terms. I look at this as a positive sign.
#4
Now all we need is advanced torture methods to be used freely by western police when questioning Muslim types and we'll be making progress.
That's why I'm a progressive.
#5
and more jihadis (and their enablers) are being jailed for longer terms
5 to 6 years a long prison term? I'm not sure of Germany's probation system if they have one but in the US these guys could be out in a couple of years ready to go again.
The court is back in session and the prosecution is putting on its final witness today. Yesterday, the judge sent the jury out and allowed the defense attorneys to make their case for dismissal. He was not moved by their arguments:
A day before prosecutors finish presenting their case against Sami Al-Arian and three other defendants, the federal judge sent the jury home early Tuesday and asked defense attorneys to make their arguments for dismissing counts.
As a result, spectators got a preview of what may well be the closing arguments for and against Al-Arian, who is charged with conspiring to raise money for the terrorist acts of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
"In the United States, we punish actors not speakers," said Al-Arian's attorney Bill Moffitt, insisting that "insulting and outrageous speech" was protected under the First Amendment and that "there was not one act associating Dr. Al-Arian with the military wing (of the PIJ)." Moffitt said that Al-Arian affiliated with the PIJ "to feed hungry people" in the occupied territories. "He hasn't persecuted anybody. He has taken an opposite position to our government," said Moffitt.
But federal prosecutor Terry Furr said that the case wasn't about free speech or charity but about the former "USF-professor-by-day spending his nights trying to keep the PIJ alive." Furr characterized the charitable contributions to the occupied territories this way: "Giving that money ... doesn't amount to a hill of spit. The money goes to help people die." The prosecutor did not elaborate on how Al-Arian kept the PIJ alive, or how money raised in Tampa went for violence.
But U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. said he had heard enough, and denied the motions for dismissal.
Earlier, defense attorney Stephen Bernstein told the court that evidence didn't show that his client, Sameeh Hammoudeh, was ever part of Palestinian Islamic Jihad or any agreement having to do with it. "Not one in 80 witnesses testified about Mr. Hammoudeh's knowledge of conspiracy," said Bernstein, who asked that the conspiracy counts be dismissed. But, without hearing counter arguments from prosecutors, the judge denied Bernstein's request.
A hunger striking detainee at Guantanamo Bay wants a judge to order the removal of his feeding tube so he can be allowed to die, one of his lawyers has said. Fawzi al-Odah of Kuwait asked his lawyers during a meeting last week to file court papers seeking the removal of his feeding tube "out of desperation" over his imprisonment without charges, attorney Tom Wilner said on Tuesday. "He is willing to take a stand if it will bring justice," Wilner said.
The lawyers have not filed the motion because they first want al-Odah to get the approval of his family and doctors not affiliated with the US government, Wilner said. Al-Odah's family does not want him to starve himself to death and they are "frantic" about the situation, the attorney said. Al-Odah, a 28-year-old who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, weighed 139 pounds three years ago and is now down to 112 pounds, according to government records cited by his attorneys in court papers.
Not as much fun being a con in Gitmo as being a big shot back in Afghanistan, is it?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh, heck; I'm just an old softie. Let him have his wish.
#6
Don't pull the tube!?!?! Tatoo a big "I spilled my guts at Gitmo" on his forehaed in Arabic and send him back to Afghanistan with new clothes and money in his pocket and bank account.
TWO al-Qaeda members, one a cell leader accused of taking part in at least three videotaped beheadings, have been killed in Iraq, the US military said. The suspected cell leader was killed during a raid on a house in Mosul on Sunday, while the second al-Qaeda member, identified as Abu Duaa, was believed to have died in an air strike near Qaim in western Iraq overnight. "Intelligence sources indicate that Abu Duaa, who helped Syrians and Saudis enter Iraq to intimidate and kill Iraqi citizens, was in the house at the time of the strike," the military said in a statement in Baghdad. His body had not been recovered, but the air strike effectively destroyed the building, it said.
The US military identified the cell leader killed in Mosul as Nashwan Mijhim Muslet and said his chief of security, Nahi Achmed Obeid Sultan, or Abu Hassan, also died in the raid by US-led forces. "Muslet, also known as Abu Tayir or Abu Zaid, was a senior operational al-Qaeda cell leader who operated specifically in the Mosul area," the military said. It said he personally assisted in the beheadings of three Mosul citizens and that a number of beheadings by his cell were filmed to intimidate Iraqi citizens.
The statement on the overnight air raid said "Duaa was linked to other al-Qaeda in Iraq and terrorists and foreign fighter facilitators in the Qaim, Karabilah and Husaybah areas". Intelligence sources indicated he was connected to intimidation, torture and murder of civilians in the Qaim area, it said. "Duaa held religious courts to try local citizens charged with supporting the Iraqi government and coalition forces. He would kidnap individuals or entire families, accuse them, pronounce sentence and then publicly execute them." The US statement said Abu Duaa's al-Qaeda connections extended to Syria and Saudi Arabia, where most of his foreign fighters were reportedly recruited.
Posted by: God Save The World AKA Oztralian ||
10/26/2005 20:03 ||
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"He would kidnap individuals or entire families, accuse them, pronounce sentence and then publicly execute them."
Judge, Jury and executioner. I suppose that's allowed in that book somewhere. He's probably trying the patience of his 72 virgins though...
In other news from Iraq, two terrorists are dead and one is in Iraqi police custody following what appeared to be a failed suicide car-bomb attack on coalition forces Oct. 25. Three people were seen in the vehicle before it exploded, officials said. One bomber was wearing a suicide vest, which apparently detonated early, killing the bomber and another occupant, while a third terrorist jumped from the moving vehicle in time to avoid being killed. Iraqi Police arrested the surviving insurgent. Iraqi explosive ordnance experts later cleared the scene.
#4
Yeah Creque Cloluth4444 , your right. But we don't wnt to make people like Ted Kennedy look like a liar. After all, he did say something to the effect that we have just changed caretakers of Abu Garib. Saddamm was the caretaker, he would of killed the insurgent.
1) the best medical therapy available. Heal him up.
2) the best interrogation available. Extract the information.
3) the best defense lawyer available.
4) the best judge and trial available.
5) the best jury available. Might not be able to find 12 jurors in Iraq who haven't suffered from the jihadis. Oh well.
6) the best punishment available, as determined by the judge and jury.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2005 18:10 Comments ||
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#7
7. The best rope available, with the hangman's noose knot tied according to Hoyle.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/26/2005 19:29 Comments ||
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#8
And televised on Al Jaze - no, never mind.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2005 20:04 Comments ||
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#9
I'll bet the survivor was REAL surprised when the bomb went off on the guy with the vest--that's not in the Jihad script. He was probably the guy's coach and cheerleader and was supposed to get out at the next traffic light. He may even have been the guy with the remote that activated the bomb. Be funny if he was the one who accidently pushed the button. They do love their booms though, I suppose it was it real rush for him to have it go off in the front seat.
Fort Wainwright soldiers in Iraq spent the weekend arresting at least 35 suspected terrorists and uncovering more weapons storehouses, according to U.S. Army news releases.
Activities began Friday and involve three units of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team posted in western and northern Iraq. No soldiers were reported injured or killed... No longer MSM newsworthy, this article appears in the Fairbanks, AK newspaper. Anywhere else?
DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said on Tuesday it had abducted two Moroccan embassy employees who had gone missing on their way from Jordan to Baghdad, according to a statement on a Web site. "Your brothers in the military wing of Al Qaeda Organization in Iraq have captured the two Moroccans working at the Moroccan government's embassy in Baghdad. Their interrogation is continuing," said the statement, without giving further details. The statement could not be authenticated, but it was signed by al Qaeda's spokesman in Iraq and posted on a main Web site used by insurgents.
Way to win friends and influence people
Morocco's foreign ministry earlier said driver Abderrahim Boualam and assistant Abdelkrim El Mouhafidim, both working at the chancellery in Baghdad, went missing on Thursday after returning by road in an embassy car from a brief trip to Jordan.
Earlier this year, two Algerian diplomats working in Baghdad were killed by al Qaeda in Iraq. Guerrilla strikes have driven diplomats from the Iraqi capital, undermining the U.S.-backed government's efforts to gain support among Arab countries.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2005 10:57 ||
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Such abductions are proof the Americans cannot provide sufficient security and therefore must give up and leave. They also show the Iraqi government cannot provide security for foreign diplomats and therefore should not receive support from foreign governments. Or at least that's what AQ wants.
So, will Morocco act Spanish and tuck its tail between its legs and run, or get p***ed off and send troops to help the Iraqi government fight the thugs?
Spc. Coby Harris was spitting Copenhagen tobacco into the dirt as he flew his plane over a desert road looking for any sign of insurgents. "Weâre just checking it out, making sure nothing is moving around," said Harris, a 20-year-old Ohio native, as he sat on a rocky hilltop at night, staring at a hand-held screen and nudging a joystick lightly with his thumb.
Several hours before dawn, Harris and Spc. David Sinclair, 29, of Atlanta, were out navigating one of the latest tools in the fight against roadside bombs: a three-foot long, radio-controlled airplane. Known as a Raven, the unmanned aerial surveillance device is helping soldiers keep watch over a treacherous stretch of rural road where bombs killed one U.S. and two Iraqi soldiers in the week before the Oct. 15 elections.
The Oct. 11 death of Staff Sgt. Matthew Kimmel, 30, a Special Forces soldier from Paxton, Ind., set in motion the two-week focus on the road, a secondary route used to access polling sites in the Muqdadiyah region. In addition to the Raven flights, soldiers from Task Force 1-30 have used a mix of Bradley patrols, scout teams with snipers, and Apache helicopter sweeps to root out the small band of insurgents behind the attacks. "We are hunting them," said Maj. Marc "Dewey" Boberg, the chief operations officer for the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment at Forward Operating Base Normandy. "Weâre going to find them and eliminate the cell."
The operation killed five insurgents last week after soldiers spotted them digging holes in the road or setting roadside bombs after curfew, soldiers said. A sniperâs bullet killed one man. Heavy artillery fired from the base here killed the others in two separate assaults after surveillance teams targeted the men and relayed their location to the commanders, soldiers said.
In one case last week, Lt. Col. Roger Cloutier called an Army lawyer at nearby FOB Warhorse to ask whether a man seen behaving suspiciously after curfew should be shot. The sniper posted near the road retained radio contact with the commander through his platoon leader and tried to keep the suspicious man in his sites while the shot was approved. The Army lawyer ultimately approved the shot, but the process took nearly 10 minutes and by that time the insurgent had disappeared from site. "I donât want to kill anybody unless Iâm absolutely sure," Cloutier said afterward.
The road under surveillance was completely silent before dawn on Monday as Harris and Sinclair watched through the infrared camera. Soldiers in Iraq began widespread use of the Raven last year. It requires line-of-sight contact, making hilltop launch sites and navigation ideal. The images captured by the small aircraft can be relayed to commanders at the tactical operations center if needed.
After finding dozens of roadside bombs on the road before the elections, soldiers have seen none this week. After killing five insurgents last week, soldiers have seen virtually no activity there this week, Boberg said. Itâs unclear if all those responsible for the recent roadside bombs are dead or whether they were just temporarily scared away. "Thereâs a certain fear factor for them â they know someone is watching them," Boberg said.
#1
The Army lawyer ultimately approved the shot, but the process took nearly 10 minutes and by that time the insurgent had disappeared from site. "I donât want to kill anybody unless Iâm absolutely sure," Cloutier said afterward.
Failure to take military action when neccesary will get a commander sacked in no time. Why doe this JAgGoff fella get a pass on his own imcomptence?
#2
What the hell kinda Colonel(s) is the USDOD making these days - just tell the sniper to shoot to wound in the foot/legs iff the man refuses to stop, shoot to kill or wid discretion iff he's armed. Furthermore, where's the sniper's spotter in all this as you don't send a sniper out by his lonesome - one man doth NOT a sniper- or recce- team make. You don't need lawyers as snipers are trained to wound, as they are also trained to shoot as warning shots wid out either wounding or killing.
#4
I can kinda-sorta understand this. Iraq is a sovereign nation with a constitution and its own army and police force. I love dead terrorists and supporters, and this policy is of course way to constricting, but I
#8
i am still wondering about the "...digging holes in the road or setting roadside bombs after curfew," phrase; does that mean ther are approved hole digging times???
/sarcasm off
#9
As I was saying, I can understand the rules being different when we are occupying an enemy state from when were are helping defend a semi-friendly state.
[I had to quit because I got called; they wanted 225 people to get a jury of 12 (+2). I wasn't one of them.]
A suicide bomber struck an open-air market Wednesday in the northern Israeli town of Hadera, killing four people and wounding at least 30, police and medics said. Israel TV reported that the Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
#2
time to up the ante in ordnance and severity of reaction. No f*&king mercy!
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2005 11:11 Comments ||
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#3
Boom the nearest Palestinian markets with artllery.
Posted by: ed ||
10/26/2005 11:48 Comments ||
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#4
First they say it a woman that splodydoped herself. Now they say its a guy.
Should we assume he's a cross dresser or transexual splodydope? If he is will the 72 virgins want anything to do with the girlyboy?
#6
Someone needs to tell Condie Rice what she can do with her insistence that Israel open its border crossings. They have ZERO obligation to do anything but snuff more of these cretins on an increasingly rapid schedule.
Abbas refuses to contain those elements which seek to derail the Road Map. So be it. If the Palestinians do not realize that Israel's only fall-back is to resume capping any and all terrorist leaders that make themselves available, that's their lookout.
There is little reason for Isreal to resist large-scale military retaliation at this point. They have done everything that can be expected of them. All parties involved must now anticipate the unexpected. And it most likely will not be pleasant.
#7
Arab Muslim Nazis are continuing the offensive. The American media parrots Arab Muslim Nazis' statement that this attack on civilians was a "retaliation," for something Israel has done or not done. Not true. Arab Muslim Nazis are, as we know, consistent, on ALL FRONTS.
#8
End the Palestinian occupation of Israeli lands! Push all Arabs out of Gaza, Judea & Samaria, back to their homes in Egypt, Jordan & Lebanon. There will be no peace until Palestinian occupation ends!
Thousands of Palestinian mourners buried one of Islamic Jihad's top leaders Tuesday, a day after he was killed during a shootout with Israeli troops, sparking a new round of violence. Hours after Luay Saadi, the leader of Islamic Jihad's military wing in the West Bank, and a lover close accomplice were killed in a gunfight in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank, Islamic Jihad militants launched two homemade rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Early Wednesday, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired another rocket into southern Israel, but there were no reports of injuries. An Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile into an open field in the northern Gaza in response, the army said. The army said the airstrike targeted an area used by militants to launch rockets. No injuries were reported. Several sonic booms caused by Israeli warplanes also were heard in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2005 00:00 ||
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Another representing the Paleo's best and brightest.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2005 11:04 Comments ||
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Israel needs to seriously consider using cluster bombs that scatter time-delayed mines over any area used to launch attacks. As increasingly larger areas become off-limits to civilians because a few psychos continue launching mortar and rocket attacks, maybe they'll start repulsing them when they show up to use their property as a launching pad.
If not, maybe all of these morons will have yet another chance to savor the halogenic tang of chlorine in their gene pool.
Israel's air force has carried out a bombing raid against a rocket launch-pad in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military says. It said the aircraft fired "warning shots into an open area from where Qassam rockets were launched" to prevent further attacks. Wednesday's raid occurred some two hours after Palestinian resistance fighters fired rockets from Gaza into the southern Israeli town of Sderot. There were no reports of casualties in either incident.
Palestinian witnesses said fighters fired two rockets from Bait Hanun in northern Gaza. Israeli military aircraft were spotted flying overhead immediately afterwards. An Israeli military source said troops found the remains of the rocket near a college in Sderot, a southern Israeli town targeted in rocket attacks on Monday after Israel killed a leading Islamic Jihad commander. Palestinian fighters had launched rockets at the same area on Monday in retaliation for Israel's killing of the Islamic Jihad commander in a West Bank raid. Israel had responded on Monday with air strikes in Gaza, wounding a Palestinian woman and her two daughters, medics said. The strikes destroyed two buildings linked to Islamic Jihad and fighters from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah party.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2005 00:00 ||
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The US has abandoned controversial plans to develop a nuclear "bunker-buster" warhead, a key Republican senator has said. Sen Pete Domenici said funding for the bombs - part of the Energy Department's 2006 budget - had been dropped. He said research would now focus on conventional penetrating weapons. The warhead had been the focus of intense debate in Congress, with opponents arguing against the US developing new nuclear arms. An administration official, speaking on condition on anonymity, confirmed the move to the Associated Press news agency.
The Senate had approved $4m in funding for the programme, but it was subsequently blocked by the House of Representatives. Sen Domenici, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the Department of Energy's budget, said the request for funding had been dropped at the request of the department's National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons programmes.
The proposed nuclear "bunker-busters", also called mini-nukes, would have penetrated bunkers deep underground, including those tunnelled into solid rock. The small nuclear charge would be buried in the explosion, and the fall-out contained. However, critics doubted whether the weapon could go deep enough to contain any fall-out.
Well, this sucks. I guess we'll just have to use the big city-busters instead.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2005 08:34 ||
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Warning: LONG. Is this "Iraq, the model, NOT?" We have tried to do Iraq with the lightest footprint possible, and things have not exactly been a smashing success. I have a simple hypothesis: Dictators' success generally involves using the LEAST amount of terror possible, and generating the MOST support possible consistent with staying in power and realizing the goals of the dictator. Prediction: it is simply not possible to overthrow a dictator by killing or capturing the major players in the regime. I am certainly not alone in believing that it may be less costly to change a regime when an unfortunately large number of people among the favored to recognize that they have indeed been beaten. The favored, looking at the bunker-buster, might expect that even a nuclear attack would be met with extremely limited retaliation that they would be able to ride out safely. By getting rid of the mini-nuke, we take this option off of the table -- a nuclear attack met with even a relatively small nuclear response would therefore threaten the favored much more, which could actually constrain the dictator's behavior.
Posted by: Curt Simon ||
10/26/2005 10:32 Comments ||
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#2
Politically the cost of these proposed weapons was simply too high IMO. If part of the justification for the Iraq War was WMD's then the US persuing small nucs is not a way to curry the world's favor in some people's opinion. Personally I think in the long run nuclear weapons will be used by the US at the end point of this World War. Sometime, somewhere the Islamofacists will wind up with nucs (either in Pakland or Iran) and will use them. I would rather see us have the option of a measured and the absolute minimum response needed to do the job.
#3
Also as an aside maybe we should be dusting off the plans for the Grand Slam, Tallboy and the US developed equivilants. These equiped with GPS or laser guidance would be be the next best thing
#5
I wouldnt sweat this I think I have heard this things last nail in the coffin, this is the 2nd or 3rd time now. It is a political hot potatoe no body wants to hold the Mill will just black op it. Besides I kinda like the idea of having no small nukes because when the terrorist or one of our enemies hit us with WMD chemical or bio or dirty bomb, I think nukes are doubtfull at least for awhile yet, I dont want a limited reaction I want total devistation and if we had say mini nukes more than likly the only retaliation would be a hit on a leadership bunker or two but now with the big boys we are looking at at least one city in full.
The opponents of the mini's are crying about the fallout issue which in the 60's 70's was considered insane Mad Max nuke winter crap, of course reality has long proved that overblown remember Chernoboyl estimates were in the thousands for the fallout death of course I think last I heard it was in the tens yes tens not tens of hundreds or thousands either. Of course that is not counting the couple of hundred cough"volunteers" and prisoners the Soviets sent in to put the concrete cap on ground zero. We are considering fall out not the actually hot spot anyway.
#6
Lets replace it with a GRAZER either in space or in a warhead. Burning through the bunker and to the center of the earth (and maybe out the otherside) should solve the problem of any bunker at anydepth.
#7
I'd rather we were putting neutron weapons into production. I agree we'll probably have to use nukes before this is over. But no need to break things we may need later andleave a big rad footprint.
Anything we develop will be stolen by the ChiComs and passed onto the Islamofascists. Do we really want a mini-nuke coming our way?
#9
Anonymoose, AFAIK we don't have any launchers capable of handling the freight tonnage at the cost rates needed to make "rods from above" a going concern.
Posted by: Phil ||
10/26/2005 14:47 Comments ||
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#10
here's a Rand Corp. discussion of the physics involved in space-based kinetic weapons.
A key parameter is the ratio of fuel needed to launch the weapon vs. mass of the weapon. Space-based payloads are, by and large, too expensive by this measure. For a liquid-fueled ballistic missile Rand estimates this ratio to be 16-40:1. Satellites require anywhere from 30-140:1 depending on the orbit chosen. And the better end of that range is achieved with highly elliptical orbits at the cost of long periods when you might not be able to target a specific location on Earth.
Rand reports estimates that in Gulf 1 the ratio for bombardments was approximately 40:1, FWIW.
#11
Rather than putting the launch vehicles into operation to orbit the "Rods From God" aka "Thor" build the production facity on the Moon and launch from there with an electro-magnetic rail gun (hey its my fantasy so I make the rules). Not only do we get a real Moon Base out of the deal we have a real worthwhile reason for the Space Program beyond national prestige.
#16
Actually, with the Air Force talking about anti-matter weapons, those are probably more suitable than uranium/Plutonium versions anyway. And since Anti-Matter weapons are not Nuclear weapons but simply "High Energy" weapons, you can buypass the nuke part.
#17
We possess the ability to design bunker busters without nuclear warheads. Again, our first use of nuclear weapons OF ANY SORT is a really, really bad idea. Imagine a hyper-sonic third stage missile hitting solid rock at Mach 10 or 40. Something's going to get through the rock ... or crack it.
The novel all of you are referring to is "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress."
I still laugh at how Heinlein wrote about tourists gathering at the announced impact sites, only to be obliterated and how the Earth government used their deaths as a cause for war with the moon.
Authorities in the Philippines say they have arrested at least eight suspected militants accused of having links with past attacks in the country's south. One of those detained was Ahmad Santos, the head of a group of Islamic converts called the Rajah Solaiman Movement.
A military spokesman said the suspects were arrested in pre-dawn raids in the southern city of Zamboanga. He alleged that they had been planning bomb attacks in predominantly Christian cities around the Philippines. Weapons, explosives and maps of the capital, Manila, were reportedly seized during the raid.
According to police intelligence officials, the Rajah Solaiman group is believed to have forged an alliance with two al-Qaeda-linked organisations - Philippine-based Abu Sayyaf and the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). "This is definitely a big catch," said Lt Gen Edilberto Adan, commander of the army's Southern Command.
Ahmad Santos - also known as Hilarion del Rosario - is believed to have founded the Rajah Solaiman Movement in the late 1990s, after he converted to Islam. He is then thought to have received bomb training from members of JI on the island of Mindanao. Members of the Rajah Solaiman group are also suspected to have been involved in the sinking of a ferry near Manila in 2004 - an attack that killed more than 100 people. Abu Sayyaf has claimed responsibility for that attack, but one of the self-confessed bombers was a Muslim convert from the Rajah Solaiman Movement.
According to security officials, converts are often used to carry out attacks in the Philippines because they can easily blend in with the majority Christian population. The authorities are concerned that the emergence of convert groups such as the Rajah Solaiman Movement could expand the reach and strength of Abu Sayyaf and JI.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2005 08:47 ||
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We'll have to force these guys to talk, call my dentist. See what he wants for a house call.
Two Lebanese brothers, both members of a Sunni Muslim fundamentalist sect, have been charged in connection with the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, Lebanese judicial sources said today. "The prosecutor general, Said Mirza, has charged the two brothers, Mahmud and Ahmed Abdel-Al of involvement ... concerning the assassination of Rafiq Hariri," a source has told the Associated Foreign Press.
According to a United Nations report into the killing released last week, Mahmud Abdel-Al telephoned Emile Lahoud, the Lebanese President, minutes before Mr Hariri and 22 others died in a truck bomb explosion in Beirut on February 14. Mr Abdel-Al, a member of the El-Ahbash sect that is believed to have close ties with Syria, was arrested on Saturday. His brother Ahmed, a prominent figure in a pro-Syrian Lebanese charity, was arrested more than a month ago for alleged illegal possession of arms.
Today's announcement followed a meeting between Saad Hariri, the former Prime Minister's son, and Jacques Chirac, the French President, at the Elysee Palace in Paris. The UN has accused Syria of leading a plot to assassinate the Lebanese premier and subsequently attempting to block its investigations. Saad Hariri has appealed for France, the US and Britain not to push for sanctions against Syria if Damascus fails to co-operate with a UN investigation into the killing. "No, Iâm not for sanctions against Syria," he told reporters in English.
Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN special envoy on Syria-Lebanon, said Lebanon is witnessing a "momentous transition" following the withdrawal of Syrian troops which came in the aftermath of Mr Hariri's murder.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2005 15:15 ||
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According to a United Nations report into the killing released last week, Mahmud Abdel-Al telephoned Emile Lahoud, the Lebanese President, minutes before Mr Hariri and 22 others died in a truck bomb explosion in Beirut on February 14.
Ooooh. Not good news for Emile. Not good at all...
UNITED NATIONS - Lebanon has yet to achieve "tangible results" in disarming militias as called for by a U.N. Security Council resolution, a top United Nations envoy said in a report Wednesday.Terje Roed-Larsen's report said considerable progress had been made toward meeting other parts of Resolution 1559, which called for Syria to withdraw all military forces and intelligence operatives as well as the disarmament of all Lebanese militias.
The report is likely to increase pressure on Syria as the United States, France and Britain challenged the rest of the U.N. Security Council to adopt a tough resolution threatening sanctions against Damascus if it doesn't cooperate fully with a U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. There are allegations Syria is continuing to smuggle arms to Palestinian militia groups in Lebanese refugee camps, in violation of the September 2004 council resolution.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2005 10:27 ||
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And I'm pissed about this in no uncertain terms! Get Kofi on the hotline and prepare the stern warning!
But first...lunch!
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese military increased pressure against pro-Syrian militants in Lebanon on Wednesday, surrounding a mountain militia base and deploying hundreds of soldiers to another base following the killing of a Lebanese contractor. The show of force comes amid weeks of increased tensions along the Lebanese-Syrian border and hours before a report by the U.N. special envoy on Syria-Lebanon, Terje Roed-Larsen, on disarming Lebanese militias is released.
Dozens of soldiers took up positions around a base of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in Sultan Yacoub, a village some 3 miles from the Syrian border, witnesses said. Soldiers using loud speakers demanded the Palestinians leave the base, but several militants could be seen holding their weapons within the heavily fortified camp, which is surrounded by sand bags and walls.
Army checkpoints were set up, stopping and searching all cars entering the area, witnesses said.
It was not immediately clear why the Lebanese military action was taken on the base, which has been hit several times previously by Israeli warplanes. The base is also equipped with several tunnels dug into the mountain and used by the dozens of militants based there. It was also unclear if the Lebanese action was linked to the deployment of nearly 400 Lebanese soldiers to another Palestinian militant training camp outside Helweh, a village 5 miles east of Sultan Yacoub and also close to the Syrian border.
The Lebanese military accuses militants from the pro-Syrian Fatah Uprising group in Helweh of shooting dead a Lebanese contractor working with the military on Tuesday. Dozens of elite commandos supported by tanks are among the deployment, which started moving into place late Tuesday near the remote southeastern village, said a Lebanese security official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to the media.
Lebanese authorities are calling on the group to hand over the killers of the civilian contractor, who was identified as Mohammed Ismail, said the official. But Fatah Uprising, one of several Damascus-based radical Palestinian factions with bases in Lebanon, has so far declined to turn any of its members over, claiming the group did not kill the contractor, the official said. Fatah Uprising broke with the mainstream Palestinian Fatah faction in 1983 and is led by the Syrian-based Col. Saeed Moussa, better known as Abu Moussa. It was unclear if the Lebanese army plans to storm the bases.
Tensions have increased along the Lebanese-Syrian border since Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April, ending a 29-year military presence, amid the crisis that followed the Feb. 14 assassination of ex-Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Lebanon has alleged in recent weeks that pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrillas have brought weapons into this country with the aim of causing disturbances. The Palestinians have denied the accusations.
At a summit in Paris last week, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the smuggling of arms to Palestinian militants in Lebanon and discussed disarming Palestinians living here. Lebanon's government and Palestinian factions have formed a committee to arrange for the eventual removal of Palestinian weapons outside refugee camps and for their regulation inside camps.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2005 09:06 ||
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How about "kill them and take back your country"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2005 10:11 Comments ||
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Start shelling the place, deport the survivors. QED
Take back your counrty.
A Lebanese civilian army technician was shot dead Tuesday night while surveying the Lebanese-Syrian border in the eastern Beqaa Valley. The shots came from the Syrian side of the border, shortly before the UN Security Council convened in New York on the UN Mehlis report on the murder of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
DEBKAfileâs military sources report they were fired from a forward position of Ahmed Jibrilâs Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine â General Command, revealing for the first time the presence of Palestinian terrorist positions along the Syrian-Lebanese frontier.
In Beirut, a security official said the shots came from a position used by a Syrian-backed Palestinian group firing from Syria.
DEBKAfile first exposed the transfer by the PFLP-GC of hundreds of armed men from Syria to Lebanon in advance of the Mehlis reportâs publication. In his presentation to the Security Council Tuesday UN investigator Detlev Mehlis expressed a wish to interview Jibril, his son Faras and other Damascus-based members of his organization on their involvement in preparing the Hariri assassination. The interim report cites the Palestinian group, financed from Iran, as abetting the assassins with logistical support such as surveillance, the securing of the crime scene, weapons, explosives and cell phones which were critical elements in the murder plot.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2005 08:59 ||
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You don't think Syria has anything to do with this, do you ?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2005 00:00 ||
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Resign? Why not arrest and hang? No one could actually believe "his top four security chiefs" could or would be involved in such a deed as bumping off a Premier without his knowledge and approval - especially as it made him the biggest man left standing. Nah. This asshole needs the dirt nap - along with his Boyz, Assad, and his Boyz.
Three suspects who were arrested in connection with a string of bombings in Lebanon confessed Tuesday that a Syrian officer had attempted to hire them to plant explosives in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The suspects also revealed the names of additional accomplices.
Is this like a satire of the Godfather? Don Corleone with brain damage? What would have happened if Sonny had lived?
Acting Lebanese government delegate to the Military Tribunal, Jean Fahd said Tuesday that during questioning the three had confessed. They said former Syrian intelligence officer in Beirut Brigadier General Jamaa Jamaa, who they met through an unidentified third party, offered them money in exchange for dumping explosives in Beirut, particularly in the central district and at the entrances of the capital.
Jamaa Jamaa's my nominee for the most unlikely name in the entire WoT.
But the suspects said they did not follow the order, which they claimed was an attempt to delay the Syrian troop withdrawal under the pretext that Lebanon needed Syrian forces to maintain security and stability.
We guessed that. Even the dumbasses guessed that.
Security forces have already begun a search for the other collaborators, and the three suspects have been sent to the security forces, with their files, for further interrogation.
"Put these suckers on ice, Boutros. We'll be back with more in a little while."
"Right, chief! Awright! Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!"
The suspects said they were hired to stir panic among citizens, who were preparing for the March 14 demonstration. A bombing would also create the need for a Lebanese Army blockade, which would stop the demonstration and reduce the number of visitors to the tomb of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
"Honey, let's not go down to the demonstations today. There's things exploding."
"Good idea, dear! What's playing at the movies?"
Judicial sources said the confession did not uncover any concrete threads in the case. But security sources said a video broadcast on television about the recent clashes in the Taamir neighborhood between the disbanded Jund al-Sham Palestinian militia and Lebanese armed forces in Sidon contained a new lead. A Lebanese woman identified one of the armed men, who she said resembled the suspect who planted a bomb under a car in the Jeitawi area, in Achrafieh on September 16. According to the sources, the security forces immediately initiated a search for the suspect.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2005 00:00 ||
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I wonder if the Syrians are involved in any of this.
An urgent two-hour meeting was held at the Hariri residence in Majdalyoun Tuesday to try and find a solution to the deadly skirmish that broke out near the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp Sunday. On hand were MPs Osama Saad, Bahia Hariri, Hizbullah representative Sheikh Hassan Ezzeddine and Amal representative MP Ali Bazzi, in addition to local political, religious, security and commercial personalities.
Participants highlighted the importance of lifting any political cover off of the perpetrators of the attacks, and urged the government and the Higher Relief Committee to compensate residents for any losses incurred in the firefight and to create a committee to follow up on the issue. The clashes, which left one man dead and four wounded, broke out Sunday between members of the disbanded Palestinian militia Jund al-Sham Brigades and armed Palestinian men from the neighborhood of Taamir.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Hariri stressed the government must exert its control over Taamir, which is located just outside of the refugee camp. "Making such a request signifies holding a dialogue; this is why a committee of joint parties was created," she said. Hariri indicated that the committee will soon convene and meet with all Palestinian parties that have expressed a willingness to hold discussions. However, she also expressed the participants' opposition to any form of a self-imposed security apparatus in the area. Meanwhile, shop owners in Taamir returned to business Tuesday, as things seemed to be returning to normal.
Jund al-Sham official Ghani al-Sohmorani rejected responsibility for what he called "the passing individual clashes," and called for patience. Sohmorani, also known as Abu Ramez, denied allegations that there would be renewed violence if the wounded, currently in the hospital, should die. The imam of Al-Quds Mosque in Sidon, Sheikh Maher Hammoud, said talks are being held with Palestinian Islamic forces to secure the deployment of the army in the area. He added all parties in Sidon are discussing the deployment on the basis that the government only fills the security vacuum and does not exacerbate the problem, considering the concentration of forces from Usbat al-Ansar al-Islamiyya, Jund al-Sham and the Popular Nasserite Organization in the area.
Abu Ramez ruled out accusations the government was prodding his group to stir tensions, stressing it was the government's role to arrest any individuals responsible for violence. Explaining the clashes broke out while he was in a meeting with representatives of MPs Saad, Hariri and Usbat al-Ansar, Abu Ramez said he had immediately ordered the attacks to stop and called for the arrest of those involved. However, Sohmorani accused some Taamir residents of collaborating with the army to create a security gap to demonstrate the necessity of disarming the Palestinian camps. He refused to allow the army into the camps, pledging that he will fight "to the death."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2005 00:00 ||
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Not just a meeting, an "urgent meeting".
This should solve everything...
Syria is prepared to launch its own probe into the murder of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq al-Hariri, a Foreign Ministry official has said, after Damascus rejected the UN's investigation as politically biased. "I will tell you that (UN chief investigator) Detlev Mehlis wants a special Syrian inquiry. We are ready to carry out this investigation," the Foreign Ministry's legal adviser Riad Daudi told Aljazeera on Tuesday.
Want to bet they discover the Zionists did it?
"But Mr Mehlis, who has never made this kind of request before, must tell us exactly what kind of inquiry he wants us to do," he said.
"We've never done an inquiry before. We've always just taken people's word..."
"We will examine with Mr Mehlis what kind of cooperation he wants during our next meeting ...
What part of "full" cooperation don't you understand?
"We don't have any problem with this as long as it is done in a manner that respects our sovereignty."
"That means none of the head cheeses get investigated, okay?"
I recall Saddam had similar concerns about 'sovereignty' when Blixie was snooping about. Worked out well for him, too.
Earlier, Mehlis invited Syria to launch its own investigation into the killing to deal with unanswered questions. The German prosecutor on Tuesday addressed the UN Security Council on his written report, released last Thursday, that found evidence of Syrian involvement in the 14 February killing of al-Hariri in Beirut. He had also faulted Damascus for a lack of cooperation with his commission.
"Just saying you're cooperating doesn't mean you actually are. You have to show up."
Mehlis said the extension of his commission's mandate until 15 December would provide another opportunity for Syria to "show greater and meaningful cooperation, and to provide any relevant substantial evidence on the assassination".
Or to try and find some way to pin it on Zionists...
"For this reason, the Syrian authorities may wish to carry out on their part their own investigation into the assassination of Mr Hariri in an open and transparent manner," Mehlis said. "This would enable the commission to fill in the gaps and to have a clearer picture about the organisers and perpetrators of the 14 February terrorist act," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2005 00:00 ||
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methinks chinless and his wife go on permanent vacation in cannes as his uncle rifat comes back to try and restructure the family business--didn't that happen at coca cola?
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
10/26/2005 1:55 Comments ||
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KABUL - Fourteen Taleban prisoners were extradited from Pakistan to Afghanistan on Wednesday, including two leaders of the hardline militia removed from government four years ago, the presidentâs office said. The prisoners also included the ousted militiaâs one-time spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, who was captured in Pakistan this month, presidential spokesman Khaleeq Ahmad told AFP.
âFourteen Taleban prisoners were handed to Afghanistan and Hakimi is included in the 14,â Ahmad said. âThey include two Taleban leaders and regular Taleban.â He said he did not have other details about the prisoners.
President Hamid Karzai demanded the extradition of Hakimi immediately after Pakistan announced in early October it had captured him in its southwestern province of Baluchistan, which shares a long and rugged border with Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/26/2005 15:19 ||
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no amnesty, Hamid. Hard time for hard boyz - don't buy contrition. In fact, kill them now
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2005 23:54 Comments ||
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Iran is permitting around 25 high-ranking al Qaeda members to roam free in the country's capital, including three sons of Osama bin Laden, a German monthly magazine reported on Wednesday. Citing information from unnamed Western intelligence sources, the magazine Cicero said in a preview of an article appearing in its November edition that the individuals in question are from Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Europe. They are living in houses belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the report said.
"This is not incarceration or house arrest," a Western intelligence agent was quoted as saying. "They can move around as they please."
The three sons of Osama bin Laden in Iran are Saeed, Mohammad and Othman, Cicero reported. Another person enjoying the support of the Revolutionary Guards is al Qaeda spokesman Abu Ghaib, the report said. Iran first said late last year that it had arrested and would try a number of foreigners suspected of having links to al Qaeda, a loose network of military groups that Washington blames for the attacks of September 11, 2001 and bomb attacks in Spain, Indonesia, Egypt and elsewhere. The report in Cicero also accused the Revolutionary Guards' secret service of offering logistical support and military training to senior al Qaeda leaders. Iran has repeatedly denied any link to or support of al Qaeda. Britain and the United States suspect Iran of supporting insurgents in Iraq, a charge Tehran has vehemently denied. tick. . . tick. . . tick
#3
no, theyve been there for a couple of years, according to Dan Darling. This is the first time its been picked up by the MSM (not counting Wash Times, Weekly Standard, etc) I note the German mag cites western intell sources. I presume its not only US or Israeli sources. So probably UK, France, or German intell. Who have in the past not been eager to point fingers at Iran. I suspect the behavior of the new hardline Iran prez has them pissed.
#4
Citing information from unnamed Western intelligence sources.
Iran permitting al Qaeda members in their country is certainly plausible. But I'm seeing a hell of alot Iranian stories attributed to "unnamed sources" lately. Personally I wonder if some of these "leaks" are legit or are for more dubious reasons. Found this quote from a 06.10.2005 "dw-world" article about Cicero magazine somewhat interesting.
Police searched the offices of the monthly political magazine Cicero and the home of journalist Bruno Schirra in an investigation launched by the federal police agency regarding the leak of a confidential document on al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Schirra, 47, had used the leaked police document as one of his sources for a story on Zarqawi in April.
#6
whats a "legit" leak, pray tell? All such leaks are nominally illegal, and all are done cause the leaker has an agenda. I presume the leaker has an agenda here, which is even MORE interesting if its a Euro intell agency. Hell, its even interesting if its the CIA, given how reluctant they have been on this story, IIUC. Its only uninteresting if the leak is from US Dept of Def or White House, or from Israel. Would this mag describe it as a western intell source in that case? I dont know.
#7
LH, I couldnât agree with you more that âleaksâ by their very definition are agenda driven. But the same can be said about speculations and deliberate falsehoods fed to the press in the form of classified information. The distinction is the former is based on legitimate intelligence and the latter is simply packaged propaganda. Are the Iranians giving safe haven to AQ big-shots? Are the Iranians supplying technology for more sophisticated IEDâs in Iraq? Like I said itâs seems possible, even plausible. On the other hand there is quite a push to get the MEK off the terrorist list. All Iâm saying is, given the climate regarding the speculated Iranian weapons program itâs only prudent to view these reports with more discern then usual.
#8
Why wouldn't they laugh in America's face? The dhimmi President has alliances with the Ayatoilet's Iraq puppets. Up to 20,000 Persians - including fanatic Basijis - are permitted travel daily into the Iraq dog's breakfast by the US Jackass-in- Chief.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/008706.php
Unless you haven't been paying attention, support from Bush is not issuing from his former media strongholds. In fact, the Washington Times and Jihad Watch have been openly challenging Bush-Rice' doormat-coexistence policies with the Syrian and Iranian terrorist entities. Those bozos still spew homicidal 2-State invective against Israel.
Faith-debased question: if some of the visible lights in the sky were generated over 3,000,000,000 light years ago, then how can the universe be only some 8,000 Bush-Falwell years? Religion is fodder for the mirth class. snicker...
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
10/26/2005 21:01 Comments ||
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I'm sure there's some rational explanation. The Arabs love conspiracy. Let's make something up. How about this:
Did you ever wonder why Jimmy Carter did virtually nothing to stop kohmenni (other than the fact that he was Jimmy) ? Perhaps the whole Iranian Islamic Shiite revolution was meant to put the breaks on Whabist visions of world domination for their brand of Islam. After all, if the Shah had continued down the path that he was on, there would now be a namby pamby Euro type state smack dab where the Islamic state of Iran is now. Nothing to stop the Sunnis in that case, we all know Europe won't do it.
Sudanese refugees released 15 aid workers they had detained in a crowded camp in the violent western Darfur region, the United Nations said Tuesday. But five Sudanese nongovernment organization employees are still being held. U.N. spokesman George Somerwill said the workers were abducted Sunday inside the vast Kalma refugee camp in South Darfur city of Nyala. Intensive efforts to release the hostages began immediately after the abductions were reported, Somerwill said. No details were available on the nationalities of the aid workers. The refugees abducted the aid workers in retaliation for the government's recent arrest of a popular tribal sheik in the camp, Somerwill said.
So why didn't they kidnap somebody from the government?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2005 00:00 ||
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Nobody would negotiate for government workers. No MSM reporting, either. But snatching aid workers generates sympathy all around.
SRINAGAR, India - Indian troops have killed six more terrorists militants in Kashmir, four of them in quake-hit districts bordering the Pakistani zone of the divided Himalayan region, police said on Tuesday.
Three of the terrorists militants were killed in two separate gunbattles with Indian troops in northern Kupwara district late Monday, a police spokesman said. Kupwara districtâs Tangdar area was one of the areas hit the hardest by the devastating October 8 earthquake.
The fourth terrorists militant was shot dead on Tuesday in the southern district of Poonch, also hammered by the massive quake that killed more than 53,000 people in Pakistan and 1,300 in India. Police said two more terrorists militants were killed by the security forces in southern Anantnag district late Monday. One of the slain terrorists militants was identified as Pervaiz Tantray, a battalion commander of the hardline terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami, police said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2005 00:00 ||
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Meanwhile, a Canuck journalist gets it
No URL available
Canadian National Post (Canada)
Forcing Hindus into exile
By Geoffrey Clarfield
On Oct. 10, just two days after an earthquake killed tens of thousands in South Asia, Islamist terrorists belonging to Hizb ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar e-Tolba killed 10 Hindu civilians in the Rajouri district of Indian-controlled Kashmir. The attacks were part of an orchestrated campaign designed to cleanse Kashmir of its indigenous Hindus and bring the area entirely under Muslim governance -- either through a union with Pakistan, or as an independent, Sharia-based Islamic state. Apparently, not even the massive devastation wrought by mother nature has slowed the terrorists' murderous campaign.
Kashmir is the only state of India -- there are 27 states and seven union territories in the nation -- where the majority of inhabitants are Muslim. Indian law prohibits migration of Indians from other states into Kashmir, in order to preserve its Muslim character. In 1947 and 1948, when Hindus and Muslims were slaughtering each other on either side of the Punjab, Kashmir was remarkably peaceful, its Hindu minority lived without fear and the Kashmiris welcomed the Indian army, which protected the population from invading Pakistani tribes.
How was this spirit of tolerance created? The answer lies in the nature of Kashmiri Islam.
Islam came to the Kashmir valley during the late middle ages. Some scholars argue that the slow and gradual conversion of the inhabitants was the result of an indigenous version of Islam promulgated by local mystics, or Sufis, called Rishis.
Rishis were celibate and pacifist mystics. Like the Kashmiri Yogis and Buddhists who may have been their models, they were tolerant of non-Islamic faiths such as that practised by the indigenous Hindus of Kashmir, the Pandits, whose most famous son, Jawaharlal Nehru, founded the modern state of India.
Rishis established centres of pilgrimage graced by beautiful buildings called Ziarat. Many of these places were honoured by Hindus, and many Rishi saints were venerated by Muslim and Hindu worshippers alike. Until the early 1980s, the Hindu Pandits of the Kashmir valley generally lived peaceably with their neighbours of the Muslim majority.
The basis of this mutual toleration is called Kashmiriat. Roughly translated into English, it means "the Kashmiri style or way of life." Unlike the Salafist or Wahhabi Islam of Osama Bin Laden and his followers, Kashmiriat versions of Islam tolerate dance and music. (The Kashmiri musical tradition has more than 180 local ragas and myriads of dances that local musicologists are trying to record and disseminate.) For those looking to reconcile Islam and democracy, Kashmiriat provides an example of how a tolerant Islamic religious and cultural tradition can lay the groundwork for secular democracy.
But during the 1980s, Kashmiriat was dealt a blow from which it may never recover. Moderate Kashmiri Muslims woke up to find that their mosques had new preachers, many of whom had been trained outside of the country. They preached against the old versions of Islam and insisted that their intolerant Wahhabi strain must be adopted by all Kashmiris. Women were to adopt the veil and music was proscribed.
They also preached that indigenous Hindus should be forced to leave, so that Kashmir could become a land reserved for Muslims. No doubt, they were inspired by the world's silence following the near total expulsion of the 50,000-strong Hindu community of Kabul after its conquest by the Taliban.
After a decade of preaching and fulmination, words led to action.
In 1990, the local Urdu-language press in Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir, published a press release from Hizb ul-Mujahideen demanding that the Pandits of Kashmir leave so that Kashmir could join Pakistan. A poster campaign followed demanding that Kashmiris obey an "Islamic" dress code and that video parlours and cinemas be banned.
Shops, businesses and homes of Kashmiri Pandits were marked out, and notices were placed on their doors demanding that they leave. In villages throughout the region, hit lists of Kashmiri Pandits were distributed. Within a short period, gangs of young men carrying Kalashnikovs began random and indiscriminate killings of Pandit families and any Kashmiri notable who opposed the terror.
The state government of Kashmir collapsed, the Chief Minister went into hiding, and both the regional and national security forces sat idle while a flood of Pandit Hindus were driven out. On Sept. 12, 2004, The Times of India put the case mildly when it ran a story under the headline "Hindu population in decline in Kashmir."
The American and British governments have confirmed that more than a quarter of a million Pandit refugees have been driven out of Kashmir into neighbouring states during the last 15 years. Yet the Indian government has yet to call these people what they are: victims of terror. As a matter of political convenience, it has labelled them "migrants." They languish in refugee camps, in squalor and disease -- people who were once famous for their pacifist version of Saivite Hinduism and who were once an inspiration to Mahatma Gandhi.
Meanwhile, the new Chief Minister of Kashmir has asked the Pandits to return. But each time such announcements are made, there is another terrorist attack against the remaining Hindu stragglers in Kashmir. The Oct. 10 attack was of this type.
Pakistan was created as an Islamic state. India was created as a secular democracy. Although Hindus outnumber Muslims in India by 10 to 1, the media and the government have always been fastidious in ensuring that their rights are honoured and protected. Allowing the expulsion of a quarter of a million indigenous Hindus from their ancestral homeland in Kashmir is not only a hateful, collective crime -- it is also a betrayal of the tolerant creed that has allowed Muslims themselves to prosper. Qudsia Shah, former president of the College for Women in Srinagar put it bluntly: "The exodus of Hindus is not good for Kashmir. We Muslims are the losers."
The Indian government must first recognize the Pandits as legitimate victims of terror in Kashmir. They must then give them back their stolen property and they must win the war on terror in Kashmir. By doing so, they will also allow the moderate Islam of Kashmir to return to that once fabled Himalayan paradise. Kashmiriat is good for democracy.
Posted by: john ||
10/26/2005 18:13 Comments ||
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Another example that the wahabi imperialist quest has nothing to do with grievances over American foreign policy, and everything to do with restoring the Caliphate. Lefties take note.
Posted by: jolly roger ||
10/26/2005 20:20 Comments ||
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#3
good followup John, thx
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2005 21:39 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
It has been claimed the suspected leader of the deadly July bombings in London may have had links with those who planned the 2002 Bali bombings. Al Qaeda analyst 
Four Arab men accused of planning attacks on Jewish targets in Germany have been sentenced to jail terms of between five and eight years. Three members of the group were convicted of supporting a terrorist organisation, 
A hunger striking detainee at Guantanamo Bay wants a judge to order the removal of his feeding tube so he can be allowed to die, one of his lawyers has said. 
TWO al-Qaeda members, one a cell leader accused of taking part in at least three videotaped beheadings, have been killed in Iraq, the US military said. The suspected cell leader was killed during a raid on a house in Mosul on Sunday, while the second al-Qaeda member, identified as 
In other news from Iraq, two terrorists are dead and one is in Iraqi police custody following what appeared to be a failed suicide car-bomb attack on coalition forces Oct. 25. Three people were seen in the vehicle before it exploded, officials said. One bomber was wearing a suicide vest, which apparently detonated early, killing the bomber and another occupant, while a third terrorist jumped from the moving vehicle in time to avoid being killed. Iraqi Police arrested the surviving insurgent. Iraqi explosive ordnance experts later cleared the scene.
In one case last week, Lt. Col. Roger Cloutier called an Army lawyer at nearby FOB Warhorse to ask whether a man seen behaving suspiciously after curfew should be shot. The sniper posted near the road retained radio contact with the commander through his platoon leader and tried to keep the suspicious man in his sites while the shot was approved. The Army lawyer ultimately approved the shot, but the process took nearly 10 minutes and by that time the insurgent had disappeared from site. "I donât want to kill anybody unless Iâm absolutely sure," Cloutier said afterward.
A suicide bomber struck an open-air market Wednesday in the northern Israeli town of Hadera, killing four people and wounding at least 30, police and medics said. Israel TV reported that the Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Thousands of Palestinian mourners buried one of 
Israel's air force has carried out a bombing raid against a rocket launch-pad in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military says. It said the aircraft fired "warning shots into an open area from where Qassam rockets were launched" to prevent further attacks. Wednesday's raid occurred some two hours after Palestinian resistance fighters fired rockets from Gaza into the southern Israeli town of Sderot. There were no reports of casualties in either incident. 
Authorities in the Philippines say they have arrested at least eight suspected militants accused of having links with past attacks in the country's south. One of those detained was Ahmad Santos, the head of a group of Islamic converts called the Rajah Solaiman Movement. 
Acting Lebanese government delegate to the Military Tribunal, 
Syria is prepared to launch its own probe into the murder of Lebanese ex-premier 
KABUL - Fourteen Taleban prisoners were extradited from Pakistan to Afghanistan on Wednesday, including two leaders of the hardline militia removed from government four years ago, the presidentâs office said. The prisoners also included the ousted militiaâs one-time spokesman, 
Iran is permitting around 25 high-ranking al Qaeda members to roam free in the country's capital, including three sons of Osama bin Laden, a German monthly magazine reported on Wednesday. Citing information from unnamed Western intelligence sources, the magazine Cicero said in a preview of an article appearing in its November edition that the individuals in question are from Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Europe. They are living in houses belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the report said.
Sudanese refugees released 15 aid workers they had detained in a crowded camp in the violent western Darfur region, the United Nations said Tuesday. But five Sudanese nongovernment organization employees are still being held. U.N. spokesman George Somerwill said the workers were abducted Sunday inside the vast Kalma refugee camp in South Darfur city of Nyala. Intensive efforts to release the hostages began immediately after the abductions were reported, Somerwill said. No details were available on the nationalities of the aid workers. The refugees abducted the aid workers in retaliation for the government's recent arrest of a popular tribal sheik in the camp, Somerwill said.
SRINAGAR, India - Indian troops have killed six more 
