The Saudi police in the holy Muslim city of Mecca arrested a group of Nigerian immigrants on Monday who were distributing leaflets carrying a big photo of Osama bin Laden. According to Arab newspaper al-Hayat, before they were detained by the security forces, the Nigerians had handed out many copies of the flyer in at least five areas of the city, which is the most important in the Islamic world.
The contents of the leaflet were highly critical of the Saudi government and close to the Jihadist thinking, the newspaper reports. During the interrogations it emerged that the young Nigerians had been approached by an unknown man who, in exchange for a large sum of money, had asked them to distribute the flyers everywhere. Taking advantage of the Nigerians' scant knowledge of Arabic the man had told them the document merely contained advice and direction of a religious nature.
Also on Monday, Saudi police uncovered a terror cell in the Kharaj area, 100 kilometres to the south of Riyadh, finding explosives and weapons in an apartment there, which had been rented out recently by militants who escaped a gun battle with the security forces in the northern city of al-Rass in April. At least fourteen militants were killed in the stand-off, which lasted three days. One of the dead was reported to be local al-Qaeda leader Saleh Al-Oufi, but this turned out to be false, as al-Oufi was then killed in Medina in August after another three day stand-off with the security forces.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 13:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
How much time shall pass before the Nigerian terror-peddlers end up either within the prison whose prisoners Saudis often refer to as "the people behind the Sun" [translation: They're about 100 feet below the ground and probably will not be heard from for some time] or somewhere very deep in the Red Sea?
âListed criminalâ killed in police âencounterâ in city
A top âlisted criminalâ was killed yesterday in an âencounterâ between the members of Detective Branch (DB) police and a gang of armed miscreants at Mirpur in the city. Two cops, including a police inspector, were also injured in the encounter.
The dead was identified as Omar Faruque alias Killer Faruque (26), son of Yasin Sikder and a resident of Uttarpara, Kaundia under Savar police station.
I'm sure his dad was real proud of "Killer"
The deceased was an accused in over a dozen of criminal cases, including eight murder cases, with different police stations.
A dangerous man, wanted on 12 systems
He was also an accused in the Commissioner Newton murder case. Earlier, a team of the DB police arrested Faruque from Dhaka on October 13.
The injured policemen are Inspector Abdul Awal and police constable Ashraful. They are now undergoing treatment at Rajarbagh Police Line Hospital.
Tripped over each other trying to get the last doughnut
According to the police sources, a team of the DB police along with Faruque went to Nawaberbagh Embankment area under Shah Ali police station to arrest criminals and recover arms and ammunition from their possession at around 1:35am.
Dark, deserted river embankment at 1:35am, perfect place to stage a "encounter"
Sensing the presence of police, the criminals fired gunshots on the law-enforcers prompting them to retaliate.
"It's da law! Open wild, ineffective random fire!"
Faruque and the two cops received bullet injuries during the shootout.
"If I told you once, I told you a dozen times, Inspector. Try not to hit the guys holding the suspect down!"
Later, the police recovered a pistol loaded with one round bullet and four rounds of bullet from the spot.
The bullet-injured Faruque was rushed to the Emergency Department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the attending doctor declared him dead.
"He's dead, Jim"
Police torture in medieval way
Oct 18: Police in medieval style tortured 5 alleged dacoits in the town in presence of scores of people evoking strong resentments.
Went medievel on their asses, huh?
Witnesses said the victims were hanged from branches of tree in front of the thana and beaten mercilessly in presence of scores of onlookers. The medieval style barbaric action of the police evoked strong resentments of the people.
But, I'll wager it got their attention
Yusuf, Delwar Hossain Rana, Rabiul Alam, Mainuddin Manik and Mofizur Rahman â all aged around 20 â were arrested by the police from Pathanpara in the town Monday midnight when they were allegedly preparing for dacoity in a house. A pipegun, 3 homemade bombs and a knife were recovered from them, police said.
Lucky they didn't have an "encounter"
Posted by: Steve ||
10/19/2005 13:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
in front of the thana
Is this the scene of last weeks bananna apostasy?
And more importantly for long-time readers, what happen to re-write man? Where's the Upazilla?
Police in Bangladesh uncovered on Wednesday a workshop for manufacturing small bombs on the top floor of a mosque in the northeastern Sylhet city, a television news channel said. Police raided the mosque belonging to the banned group Jamaatul Mujahideen and seized a large quantity of explosive material, batteries, wires and other materials used in making crude explosive devices, the privately-run ATN channel reported.
Local residents said the factory had been supplying explosives to Jamiatul Mujahideen militants for carrying out bomb attacks across the country. The police detained a suspected militant from the mosque after forcing entry to the building and also seized publicity materials belonging to the militant group.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 13:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
b-b-but a mosque is a house of worship! how can this be! it CAN'T be.....this must be some kind of horrible mistake!
#5
The police detained a suspected militant from the mosque after forcing entry to the building and also seized publicity materials belonging to the militant group.
Having established the mosque as the location of a bomb-making operation, the people associated with it can probably be safely called terrorists instead of "militants".
#7
Hi ... welcome to the Abu Hanbanili Mosque .. here bee are keeping menny books like the Qu'ran and the Koran so dat dee beoble can read and ...oh, what dis dat smell ... smells like smoke ... KABOOM!!!!!
Officials reported that today's mosque explosion resulted in fifteen deaths but fortunately, NO QU'RANS WERE DESTROYED OR DAMAGED.
In the wake of the recent spate of terror attacks including the August 17 countrywide bomb blasts, the government yesterday banned all activities of another Islamist outfit, Harkatul Jihad Al Islami Bangladesh (HJAIB), for its involvement in religious militancy in the country. Earlier, the government had banned Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) on February 23 this year for their involvement in "killings, robberies, bomb attacks and misleading youths by exploiting religious sentiment". A press note issued by the Home Ministry said that the action was taken against the Islamist outfit because its activities are "very sensitive" and "it is identified as a terrorist organisation." Harkatul Jihad is a self-styled militant organisation, the press note added.
Jihadi activities started in the country with the emergence of Islamist militant group Harkatul Jihad in 1984. Religious zealots Matiur Rahman, Maulana Abdur Rahman Faruki and Mufti Abdul Hannan formed Harkatul Jihad and later they announced the launch of the extremist outfit at a press conference at the National Press Club in 1992.
Harkatul Jihad Al Islami Bangladesh (HJAIB) was involved in the August 17 cross country bombings in which two people were killed and more than 200 injured. The Harkatul Jihad planted a powerful bomb near the dais of an Awami League rally at Kotalipara in Gopalganj on July 20, 2000 in a bid to kill the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who was the chief guest at the rally. Police recovered 76 Kg explosives from near the stage. HJAIB was also involved in the bomb attacks on a cultural function at Ramna Batamul marking Pahela Baishakh on April 14, 2001. Some 10 people were killed and about 50 injured in the bloody attack. Harkatul Jihad also carried out bombings on Alalpak Darbar Sharif in Faridpur and Ahmadiya mosque in Khulna. The Islamist outfit also bombed Baniarchar Catholic Church in Gopalganj district on June 3, 2001 leaving 10 people dead, sources said.
The activities of militant groups have spread across the country, especially in the northern and south-western regions since 1998. Abdur Rahman formed JMB in 1998 after returning from Afghanistan. The Ahle Hadith Andolon Bangladesh (AHAB) was the first open organisation of the JMB.
Jagrata Muslim Janata (JMJ) came to the surface in 2001 and the jihadi activities of the dreaded Islamist outfit, including public execution of its rivals in Rajshahi, had sent shockwaves through the country in mid-2004. Its militant campaigns were geared up after the formation of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in 1998, sources in intelligence agencies said.
Bomb blast incidents have been plaguing the country since 1999 following the emergence of the JMB. The most dreaded four Islamist militant groups in the country are Harkatul Jihad, Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMJ), Ahle Hadith Andolon Bangladesh and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB).
At least 150 people were killed and about 1,000 others injured in major terror attacks in Bangladesh since 1999. Sources said, the four Islamist militant outfits carried out subversive activities in the country through 500 guerrilla units. Nearly one lakh religious zealots are active in the country for establishing their rule.
Terrorism Research Centre, a research organisation under the supervision of CIA (Central Intelligence Agency of America), revealed that Harkatul Jihad, Jamaatul Mujahideen and National Liberation Front of Tripura were responsible for the terror attacks in Bogra and Sirajganj on February 17, 2005, and in Habiganj on January 27, 2005. The three groups were also involved in the terror attacks in Tungipara on October11, in Rajbari on September 28, in Dhaka on September 1 and 6, in Dhaka on August 21, in Sunamganj on June 22 in the year 2004. The three groups were also involved in the attack at Rangamati on February 16, 2001.
Earlier on October 1, the elite strike force RAB arrested Mufti Abdul Hannan, the Harkatul Jihad supremo and the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina, along with his wife and four children from a house in the city. Later, Hannan was placed on a 10-day police remand on October 2 in connection with the August 17 bombings in Mohakhali area in the city. He was also taken on a five-day remand for the second time on October 12. The members of the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) are now quizzing Mufti Hannan about his involvement in the August 17 bombings and also his links with Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai.
According to intelligence sources, Hannan disclosed a dozen names of influential political leaders including lawmakers belonging to the ruling four-party alliance under whose supervision he conducted the activities of his terror outfit. But the source declined to give details. During interrogation Hannan said that Dr Asadullah Al Ghalib, chief of Ahle Hadith Andolon, Bangladesh (AHAB), Shaikh Abdur Rahman, supremo of Jamaatul Mujahideen, Bangladesh (JMB) and Siddiqur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai, chief of Jagrata Muslim Janata, Bangladesh (JMJB) had visited his village home at Kotalipara several times, sources said. Hannan said that he himself planted the 76-kg bomb near the dais of the Awami League rally at Kotalipara in Gopalganj on July 20, 2000 in a bid to kill Sheikh Hasina. Hannan also gave information about the possible hideouts of Abdur Rahman and Siddiqur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2005 00:03 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
UNB from Chittagong reports: A Metropolitan Magistrate Court yesterday granted five days' fresh remand to eight suspected militants for further interrogation as intelligent agencies found their links to the October 3 bomb blasts at Chittagong courts. Metropolitan Magistrate Akram Hossain granted the remand on a prayer from Detective Branch (DB) of police who told the court that the eight were involved in carrying explosives and supplying money to execute the blasts in two courts. Those who were taken on remand are: Haji Abul Kalam, Abu Taher, Mohammad Ishaq, Osman, Nurul Islam, Ashraful Alam, Noor Mohammand and Saiful Islam.
Police on Friday arrested 25 suspected militants from Aziz Chamber in the port city. Of the suspects, 17 were sent to jail and the others remanded. The investigators said the eight suspects, traders by profession, had been maintaining links with the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) for a long time.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2005 00:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Jhenidah police yesterday arrested two charge-sheeted accused of JMB at Chandipur village in Sadar upazila. The two were involved in the August 17 blasts in Kushtia. The arrestees are Habibur Rahman alias Sahid of Daulatpur upazila in Kushtia and Masudur Rahman alias Bablu of Harinakundu upazila in Jhenidah.
Our Gopalganj correspondent adds: Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested JMB member Abu Taleb at Sonakur in Sadar upazila yesterday. Taleb, 25, hailing from Garfa village of Mollahat upazila in Bagherhat, was involved in the August 17 serial blasts in Gopalganj, police said.
BDnews reports from Comilla: Detectives arrested suspected JMB cadre Mohammad Nurullah, 20, at Darmapur of Comilla town on Sunday night. Police also seized a number of books on Jihad from his possession. Police said Nurullah of Chandpur was involved in the August 17 blasts. Nurullah admitted that Bangla Bhai and Maulana Abdur Rahman gave them training in firearms such as AK47 rifle and making bombs at three mosques in Comilla and in the deep forest of Sitakunda in Chittagong district.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
A report says two suspected militants and one police officer have been killed in an armed clash in the southern Russian Republic of Daghestan, which neighbors Chechnya. The ITAR-TASS news agency quotes police as saying the two militants died during an antiterrorism operation by security forces in Khasavyurt. The operation is reported to have ended this morning. The report says one police officer was killed and four other police were wounded in exchanges of fire. The report says two other armed militants were detained by security forces on 18 October in Khasavyurt.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 13:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Five Russian soldiers and four pro-Russian Chechen policemen have been killed in Chechnya within 24 hours, a local administration official told foreign news agency.
Russian positions came under fire 20 times all over the republic, with five soldiers killed and seven wounded, the official said.
Another soldier committed suicide near the northern village of Shelkovskaya, he added.
Two Chechen policemen were killed in a shootout late Monday near Roshni-Chu in southwestern Chechnya, and a police vehicle blew up on a landmine in the south-eastern Shali district, killing one police trooper.
Another, member of the republic's vice-president Ramzan Kadyrov's militia, was killed in Grozny in a clash with rebels, the source said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 13:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Gunmen are reported to have staged an assault early today targeting the houses of law enforcement personnel in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported.
Up to five attacks were reported in the village of Yandar, with the attackers firing assault rifles and grenade launchers and reportedly setting several houses on fire. No injuries were reported from these attacks.
In the nearby town of Karabulak, the brother of a police commander was reported wounded as the result of an assault on a house.
The unidentified attackers -- reported by the ITAR-TASS news agency to number up to 60 -- fled into the forest and security forces were searching for them.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 13:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
60 gunmen
Is it my imagination, or are the units of Muslim attackers getting bigger in that part of the world, even as they are getting smaller in Iraq and Afghanistan? At what point does it invert, so that we call the Russian experience an insurgency, and the Iraq/Afghanistan situation banditry?
#2
With numbers I think Yes and No, TW. They are getting ambitious and a little more active than usual it seems in Ingushetia. The exact "who" is unclear though KavKaz will provide credit where due usually. The Chechen jihadis were quite active in staging attacks and ambushes on military targets using groupings of upward of 50 to 100 people armed with light weapons and the customary videographer years ago in Chechnya. They had quite a PR machine going. There has been precious little of that in Chechnya for years though. It may be a product of the differences in the level of police and military activity between the two regions.
Russian security forces shot dead two suspected Islamic rebel fighters in the city of Nalchik and mounted a new sweep for insurgents involved in last week's widescale assault. Police said a man was shot dead overnight while attacking a paramilitary police post on the outskirts of Nalchik but gave no further details. Early Tuesday, soldiers and police backed by armoured personnel carriers closed off the same neighbourhood. Another man was shot dead when he allegedly put up armed resistance to officers trying to check his documents. Two more suspects fled, police said.
Five days after large numbers of Islamic guerrillas simultaneously opened fire on government and law-enforcement targets throughout Nalchik, security remained heavy. Police reinforcements arrived from other Russian regions and armoured personnel carriers were on patrol. Schools in the neighbourhood sealed off by police were shut. Others in the city, while officially open, were mostly deserted.
Meanwhile, about 50 mostly female relatives continued a demonstration demanding the authorities return for burial the bodies of suspected guerrillas. Under Russian law the corpse of anyone suspected of involvement in terrorism is not returned to the family but buried in secret on prison grounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Dutch police arrested seven young Muslims last week after the man considered to be the main suspect made a video to say farewell to his family and friends. Justice officials claim the video made by Samir A., 19, referred to an act he 'had carried out'. The eight-minute video tape is in Arabic and it is unclear what "act" Samir was talking about, informed sources told the media. Police suspect he was planning a suicide attack. He is under investigation for plotting attacks on politicians and a government building.
The Dutch intelligence service AIVD got a copy of the video and gave it to the national detective service, which ordered the raids in several Dutch cities last Friday. The authorities claimed afterwards that Samir was trying to obtain automatic weapons and explosives prior to his arrest. No weapons or bomb-making materials were seized during the raids. Seven suspects were held in Almere, Amsterdam and The Hague. Six are men, aged 18 to 30. The seventh is a 24-year-old woman. Samir was cleared by a court earlier this year of plotting terrorist attacks on key installations in the Netherlands. He is considered the main suspect in the latest investigation. His lawyer, Victor Koppe, expressed doubts about the police claims in relation to the video.
Posted by: Flash Gordon ||
10/19/2005 10:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Pity for the Perp, he won't have this man's assistance for trial...
MADRID, Spain - A judge has issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the Iraq war, killing a Spanish journalist and one other, a court official said Wednesday.
Judge Santiago Pedraz issued the warrant for Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, all from the U.S. 3rd Infantry.
Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network Telecinco, died April 8, 2003, after a U.S. army tank crew fired a shell on Hotel Palestine in Baghdad where several journalists were staying to cover the war.
Reuters cameraman Taras Portsyuk, a Ukrainian, also was killed.
The Spanish judge said he issued the arrest order because of a lack of judicial cooperation from the United States regarding the case.
U.S. officials insist the soldiers believed they were being shot at when they opened fire.
Following the Palestine incident, Secretary of State Colin Powell said a review of the incident found that the use of force was justified.
In late 2003, the National Court, acting on a request from Couso's family, agreed to consider filing criminal charges against three members of the tank crew.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/19/2005 10:43 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
D'oh!
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/19/2005 10:45 Comments ||
Top||
#2
You lie down with dogs and you occasionally get fleas...in this case 120mm fleas.
#10
Jurisdiction and venue matter little when you've got the right political beliefs and motivation combined with no ability to comprehend the big picture. It's a huge can of maggots on many different levels that has been opened by the judge's act in taking juridiction of this matter. Think of all the possibilities. Throw in a statute of limitations for the home team along with a local trier of fact and jduge and it will be complete. There are equally valid and even some better arguments for about a dozen countries to claim a similar type of jurisdiction over the same matter. This is precisely the reason why certain bounds need to maintained and respected. This is politics at it's worse.
#12
At least half the Spanish embassy should be PNG'd immediately AND the Spanish judge should be be indicted for conspiracy and harassment of the military.
Of course my original thought involved smart bombs.
#15
Spain long on ego, short on balls. This is what I expect of Socialist pussies who cut and run at the first chance.
Should they try and enforce such Judical acts I suggest talking out a city in Spain picked at random. Children shouldn't bother adults. Spain a nation that was a facsist dictatorship in my lifetime dains to tell my counrty what to do? Screw off.
#16
Big deal. Where does this warrant have legal "standing"? What legal entity controls trans-national warrants? Does Spanish law/court have jurisdiction in Iraq theater of war?
#22
Let's see, we've already taken Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico from Spain for this kind of crap. That only leaves Madeira and the Azores. We could use the Azores - Madeira would be too much of a nuisance, located in the eastern Med. The first action, however, should be a tomahawk missile into this jackass's courtroom.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/19/2005 15:21 Comments ||
Top||
#23
Hey OP, can we take the Canary Islands too? I've been there. Very nice. Well, at least until half of Las Palmas slides into the ocean, but who knows when that will happen.
#24
JM muerdame is Columbian slang. I don't know what the proper term is in Classical Spanish.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/19/2005 16:25 Comments ||
Top||
#25
The Spanish regime and its chief ally, the fossilized 70s media, must get the message that we will not tolerate dhimmi grandstanding with the lives of our soldiers.
If this case proceeds any further or it it is endorsed by the Zapatero regime itself, I recommend the following:
1. Immediate closure of all US military bases on Spanish soil and withdrawal of all US forces from Spain. Our bases there are convenient but not essential.
2. Immediate cancellation of all bi-lateral military cooperation agreements between the US and Spain.
3. Expulsion of Spanish military attaches and Spanish military personnel from the United States.
4. Telecinco employees in the United States, if any, should be expelled at once, its offices closed, and its accessible assets confiscated.
5. Telecinco employees in Iraq or Israel should be expelled or imprisoned as members of a terrorist affiliated organization and its respective assets in those countries similarly confiscated.
6. Proceedings to expel Spain from NATO should be instituted at once.
6. Suspension of all military sales to Spain.
7. Cancellation of all military contracts with Spanish firms.
8. Suspension of US landing rights for Spanish military aircraft and of port visits by Spanish naval vessels.
9. US indictments against Judge Pedraz and associated prosecutors for abuse of judicial power, violation of Geneva Convention Protocols against criminal prosecution of combatants, attempted unlawful detention of an American citizen, and subornation of perjury in furtherance of these offenses.
10. Spanish investigators sent to the US in furtherance of this case should be refused entry. If admitted by federal authorities, they should be arrested and jailed by the first local authority that can get its hands on them.
#26
Nah. The US should just stay neutral the next time the Moroccans decide to overrun a piece of Spanish territory. Next step, downgrade trade relations to that of Burma.
Posted by: ed ||
10/19/2005 17:33 Comments ||
Top||
#27
COOL OFF PLEASE!!!!
The Spanish public prosecutor has announced he will appeal the judge decision for being out of juridiction.
We're tired of cooling off for Euros only to be re-heated a day later. Nothing personal, but it's going to be a long time before we forget the France-German-Turkey stunt with the 4ID. Americans have died and are continuing to die because Euros were being paid off by Saddam. The primary beneficiaries of what we are doing in Iraq will be the Euros. So get the message out over there; we won't be back when it starts up over there.
You all want to treat our soldiers like war criminals, fine. Expect the same from us. Ronnie Earle is one thing, Pedraz is barking up a whole 'nother tree.
#31
when journalists are imbeded with the enemy no one shoud be suprised when they end up eating a sabo round. Good shooting guys!
Posted by: 49 pan ||
10/19/2005 18:14 Comments ||
Top||
#32
no cooling off necessary. When the next EU punk in a robe decides he wants to play on the big stage it'll all start back up. Keep the fire going
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/19/2005 18:37 Comments ||
Top||
#33
Absolutely not.
Posted by: Doomsday Gift ||
10/19/2005 21:28 Comments ||
Top||
#34
Let them pay their stupid games. Simply declare that our military bases are now US territory.
I'm fine with the Canaries, but I think the Azores are Portugese.
WASHINGTON - Frustrating and puzzling congressional investigators, a high-ranking Treasury Department official who later assumed a top post at the world's largest "wealth management" firm, UBS, has not been made available by the Swiss bank to answer questions about whether the firm possibly laundered billions of dollars for state sponsors of terrorism, congressional staff said yesterday.
The official, David Aufhauser, served as the Treasury Department's general counsel from March 2001 to November 2003, according to a UBS press release announcing his hiring at the firm. During that time, Mr. Aufhauser supervised 1,600 lawyers in several divisions of the department, including, among others, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Office of Terrorist Financing, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which, among its many activities, ensures adherence to the terms of America's economic sanctions, including the Cuban embargo.
It was in violation of those sanctions that Mr. Aufhauser's current employer, UBS, procured $5 billion in American banknotes for Cuba, Iran, Libya, and Yugoslavia as part of the Extended Custodial Inventory Program, run by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Federal Reserve program, in cooperation with international banks, allowed clients to exchange old banknotes for new ones. One condition of the program was that American currency neither be distributed to nor accepted from nations against which America maintains economic sanctions.
When, in April 2003, American troops liberating Iraq found $762 million in American cash in hideouts belonging to Saddam Hussein, the banknotes were traced to UBS and the ECI program. In the process of probing the origins of the Iraqi cash - which UBS has told congressional investigators was initially sent to the Central Bank of Iran - American investigators subsequently discovered that the Swiss bank had also provided $3.9 billion in American currency for Cuba, $1 billion for Iran, $30 million for Libya, and less than $1 million for Yugoslavia. Cuba, Iran, and Libya appear on the State Department's official list of state sponsors of terrorism.
As a result of an investigation by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in cooperation with the Department of the Treasury, UBS was censured by the Swiss Banking Commission, and paid a $100 million fine to the Federal Reserve in May 2004.
The next month, Mr. Aufhauser was announced as the new global general counsel for UBS's investment bank and UBS's general counsel for North America.
Mr. Aufhauser had left the Treasury Department in November 2003, according to materials distributed by UBS, seven months after the discovery of the American cash in Iraq. He worked briefly for a Washington law firm, William & Connolly LLP - where he had spent his career between 1977 and 2001 as a securities litigator before joining the Treasury Department - before being brought on by UBS in June 2004.
Prior to his departure from the Treasury Department, Mr. Aufhauser had earned a reputation as a committed foe of money laundering and terrorist financing operations.
During his tenure, for example, the Treasury Department created a new unit, operating under Mr. Aufhauser's oversight and guidance, to combat terrorist financing. The Executive Office for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, established in March 2003, was designed to "identify, block, and dismantle sources of financial support for terror and other criminal activities, including money laundering," and to "focus on reducing the risk that the domestic and international financial systems are being misused by criminals
and terrorists," according to the Treasury Department press release that accompanied the announcement of the new office.
The new unit was also charged with coordinating with the private sector to reduce the risk that financial-services firms would abet terrorist money-laundering and financing, and to develop and implement America's "national money laundering strategy."
Announced as director of the new Executive Office for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes was Juan Carlos Zarate, the Treasury Department's deputy assistant secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes. As director of the new counter-terrorism unit, Mr. Zarate reported to Mr. Aufhauser, who at the time was also chairman of the National Security Council's policy coordinating committee on terrorist financing.
Mr. Zarate - now at the National Security Council as the deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism - was in charge of the Treasury Department's investigation of the UBS transactions.
Given Mr. Aufhauser's access to information about the UBS investigation and his experience combating money laundering and terrorist financing - issues of grave concern to the House International Relations Committee, which, according to an announcement this weekend from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican of Florida, will be probing the UBS matter later this session - Ms. Ros-Lehtinen has tried several times over the period of Mr. Aufhauser's employment with UBS to meet informally with him about the bank's improper transactions. Initially, according to Ms. Ros-Lehtinen's staff, the bank informed the congressmen investigating the matter that one year had to pass after Mr. Aufhauser's hiring before he could meet with elected officials. Now that more than a year has elapsed, however, UBS has yet to "make him available," staff said.
"We certainly hope UBS is not doing any shifting of the deck chairs just to get themselves out of trouble," Ms. Ros-Lehtinen said yesterday.
Mr. Aufhauser, reached by e-mail yesterday, replied to questions about his switch in employment by saying, "UBS approached me at my law firm of 23 years some 10 months after I had left government. The overture was at the tail end of an apparently long and extensive search.
"With 23 years of trial experience, and close to an additional three years as the chief banking, international finance, and tax lawyer to two secretaries of the Treasury, I was recommended as a good candidate by an executive search firm to serve as counsel to the Investment Banking arm of UBS," Mr. Aufhauser continued.
A spokeswoman for UBS, Christine Walton, said yesterday that "the search for a global counsel was extensive and done over several months."
Mr. Aufhauser's hiring, she added, "reflects the bank's continued commitment to maintaining the highest regulatory and ethical standards." Ms. Walton also stressed that "UBS strongly rejects any allegation of money laundering," adding that there was "no indication that any of the banknotes sent to Switzerland were of illicit origin."
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, however, said yesterday that it was important that the matter not end there. She and Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, another Florida Republican and Cuban-American investigating the UBS dealings with the Castro regime, have compared the Swiss banks' covering for the financial transactions of "rogue states" and state sponsors of terrorism to their providing financial cover for the Nazis during the Holocaust.
"It's a similar pattern of trying to evade U.S. laws and avoid responsibility," Ms. Ros-Lehtinen said. "It didn't work on the Holocaust assets, and it shouldn't work in this case, either." The congresswoman stressed that there was an added element of urgency in investigating the Swiss banks now, insofar as UBS's possible involvement in money laundering for terrorist regimes presents a real and current threat to American national security.
Mr. Aufhauser has expressed similar concerns in the past about the international banking system, for which he now works. In written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee delivered in his capacity as a Treasury Department official in June 2003, two months after the discovery of the UBS cash in Iraq, Mr. Aufhauser identified the "formal international banking system" as "the most visible conduit for terrorist financing."
Praising the Treasury Department's work in cracking down on terrorist money laundering through international banks, Mr. Aufhauser added that the department had worked on "requiring due diligence" from banks such as UBS, "and expanding information-sharing capabilities to ensure better communication between financial and law enforcement authorities." Mr. Aufhauser has yet to indicate a willingness to meet with Ms. Ros-Lehtinen or other investigating lawmakers.
"If we stop the money," Mr. Aufhauser wrote, "we stop the killing."
#2
David Aufhauser
Washington law firm, William & Connolly LLP. 1977 and 2001 as a securities litigator.
Treasury Department's general counsel.. March 2001 to November 2003 and provided "oversight and guidance" for The Executive Office for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes.
When, in April 2003, American troops liberating Iraq found $762 million in American cash in hideouts belonging to Saddam Hussein, the banknotes were traced to UBS and the ECI program. In the process of probing the origins of the Iraqi cash - which UBS has told congressional investigators was initially sent to the Central Bank of Iran - American investigators subsequently discovered that the Swiss bank had also provided $3.9 billion in American currency for Cuba, $1 billion for Iran, $30 million for Libya, and less than $1 million for Yugoslavia. Cuba, Iran, and Libya appear on the State Department's official list of state sponsors of terrorism.
As a result of an investigation by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in cooperation with the Department of the Treasury, UBS was censured by the Swiss Banking Commission, and paid a $100 million fine to the Federal Reserve in May 2004
Mr. Aufhauser leaves the Treasury Department in November 2003.
UBS pays $100 million fine to the Federal Reserve, and is censured by the Swiss Banking Commission in May 2004.
The next month [June 2004] Mr. Aufhauser was announced as the new global general counsel for UBS's investment bank and UBS's general counsel for North America.
David Aufhauser July 31, 2003. .."Now, think for a minute. Al Haramayn is established by the Saudi royal family," said former Treasury Department general counsel David Aufhauser. "It strikes me that there is too much abdication of actual power and responsibility when you say you do not have the ability to actually close down these offices abroad and the best you can do is to freeze what assets they have within the jurisdiction and to prohibit further contributions."
"In the two and a half years I spent on this matter, I cannot remember a single Saudi who was held accountable for being a donor to terrorist financing," Aufhauser said. "Until we get to the donors, the exercise is a fool's errand."
This affair bears watching..?@?
Posted by: Red Dog ||
10/19/2005 4:40 Comments ||
Top||
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A former Navy intelligence officer pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally exporting military aircraft parts overseas, saying he acted on behalf of a convicted Pakistani arms dealer.
George Charles Budenz II, a retired commander, said he shipped engine parts for F-5 fighters, T-38 military trainers and Chinook helicopters to Malaysia and Belgium without a U.S. State Department permit. Investigators said the F-5 parts may have wound up in Iran, a country that Budenz has visited.
Budenz, 57, had faced a 30-year prison term, but prosecutors said they would recommend up to 6 years under a plea agreement when he is sentenced in January. Budenz surrendered his passport and was freed on $35,000 bond.
He'd better be able to sing for his supper.
In court, Budenz admitted he made the air freight shipments in December 2004 and January 2005 at the direction of Arif Ali Durrani. Last month, Durrani pleaded not guilty to conspiring to illegally export military aircraft engine parts to the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Belgium.
Prosecutor William Cole, speaking to reporters, declined to say whether Budenz had agreed to cooperate with the Durrani investigation. ``Mr. Durrani was the mastermind of this conspiracy and Mr. Budenz, he was the lieutenant or the facilitator in getting these products out of the United States,'' said Serge Duarte, the agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's San Diego office.
While investigators have yet to determine what happened to the parts, Duarte said, ``it's conceivable these parts could have gone to Iran or other parts of the world.'' Investigators have not recovered the parts that Budenz shipped overseas.
Defense attorney Thomas P. Matthews said his client had a stamp in his passport showing he had visited Iran, but the attorney was not sure when the trip took place and said no evidence has been presented showing Budenz had sold weapons there. Budenz served in the U.S. Navy for more than 25 years, most of the time as a reserve intelligence officer with postings all over the world.
Durrani's attorney, Moe Nadim, has said Budenz did not sell aircraft parts in Iran at his client's instruction. A third man, Richard Tobey, pleaded guilty in August to conspiring to violate U.S. arms export control laws and said Durrani instructed him to send a T-38 cockpit canopy to the United Arab Emirates.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/19/2005 00:45 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Federal authorities are detaining at least one man of Egyptian origin who worked at a Middle Eastern market in Baltimore in connection with a threat that closed Interstate 95 and the Harbor and Fort McHenry tunnels after concern over a suspected terrorist plot to blow up one of the tunnels. The shutdown caused gridlock throughout the metropolitan region as police and federal agents investigated the threat.
Callers to WBAL also said there were some people rounded up on the other side of the city...
Federal law enforcement officials said the threat was made against an unspecified tunnel by an informant in a foreign country who said suspects were men of Egyptian origin living in the Baltimore area. The official said investigators had several names, but had no arrest warrants. The informant's information was uncorroborated, the official said.
"Hey, Mahmoud! Watch the teevee this afternoon! One o' the tunnels in Bawlmer's gonna go boom!"
The informant is being detained in an unspecified foreign country because of potential immigration violations. It was unclear whether the man was a United States citizen, the sources said.
I'm not too sure why that would make any difference...
The investigation has been ongoing for the past two or three days, but the decision to close the tunnels was made by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, who apparently were concerned that the suspects may act as word of the investigation got out. According to the source, who has been briefed on the investigation, the detained man is associated with Koko Market in the 6000 block of Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown. Authorities led the man from the market early this afternoon, putting him inside a black sport utility vehicle. Landlord Mike Loukakis said his tenant, Majed Hussein, has run a store there for seven years. "He was nice to everybody," Loukakis said.
Booming people isn't nice.
A woman who answered the phone at Hussein's White Marsh home said her husband was not home and she has not been able to speak with him.
Guess he's still in jug, then...
There were unconfirmed reports on the WJZ-TV Web site that the plot involved taking a bomb-laden delivery truck from the market into a tunnel, where it would be detonated.
I heard that, too. The Transportation Cops â they're responsible for the two tunnels, the bridge, the airport, and the Port of Baltimore â ran the show, with participation by the state police, Baltimore city and county police, and the FBI. They're a top-notch organization and it was almost hee-hee-larious listening to chief Gary McLhinney deal with the reporters at the press conference this afternoon with Gov. Ehrlich. He didn't quite tell the Sun's ink-stained wretches and the teevee hair-do crowd not to get stuck on stoopid, but it was a close-run thing. The city's pretty-boy mayor complained that he had heard about the operation from the news, but McLhinney pointed out that they'd been running a TOC since Sunday afternoon, with the participation of the city cops. He didn't add that if they didn't tell their boss that was tough nails â the transportation cops are a state agency, not the city's.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm told the Associated Press that authorities made about a half-dozen raids in the Baltimore area about 1 p.m. Authorities reopened portions of I-95 and the Harbor and Fort McHenry tunnels about 1:30 p.m.
They closed one tunnel and partially closed the other. Traffic was re-routed to use the Francis Scott Key bridge. I went across the bridge at just about 1.30 â I was listening to McLhinney's announcement that the tunnel was reopening as I was approaching the bridge, and made it to my meeting almost on time, so they did a pretty smooth job with the traffic, except for the poor souls who were caught in the immediate line for the tunnels. They said that once the closure was announced they had all the vehicles out of the tunnels within two minutes.
"Acting out of an abundance of caution [the Maryland Transportation Authority Police] elected late this morning to close the Harbor Tunnel in both directions and to allow only limited access at the Fort McHenry tunnel," said Jim Pettit, a spokesman for the governor's office of homeland security. The federal Department of Homeland Security and FBI issued a joint statement saying the two agencies last week shared information with state and local law enforcement officials about the potential threat. The agencies said the threat's credibility was undetermined and did not specify a tunnel in the Baltimore area. The agencies said they support whatever precautions local and state authorities take to deal with the potential threats while attempting to secure the public safety. The agencies said their investigation into the threat is continuing. Authorities released few details today. "I cannot speak specifically about the threat at this time," said Gary McLhinney, chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. But McLhinney defended closing the tunnels.
One of the things the press missed on the chief's announcement was that there wasn't any waffle to it. "We've determined there is no danger," he said, if I remember his exact words correctly. That would imply that either they got confirmation that the threat was bogus, which doesn't fit with the arrests on both sides of the city, or that they found the KoKo truck. Whether it was full of explosives or pizza, I have no idea, but Majed wasn't home last I heard...
"The number one priority is the safety of the citizens of Maryland who are traveling on our roadways. We will always err on the side of public safety. ... We have not found anything that causes us great concern at this point."
So maybe it was full of pizza and it was all a false alarm. I don't mind them erring on the side of caution, since I do occasionally drive the tunnel...
The area most immediately affected during the closures was I-95 near the tunnels and Key Highway, which is also near the Maryland Port. Police were seen stopping trucks and vans and searching with dogs. At the Fort McHenry Tunnel, police barricaded lanes and then ushered the public out of an office near the tolls.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Egyptian, huh? I presume he was a Coptic Christian? Or maybe a Horus worshipper?
#2
Jackal, the Coptic Christians and acolytes of Horus (or Anubis) probably watch the same bull-laden episodes of "Horseman Without A Horse" as everyone else...
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
10/19/2005 1:15 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Any fool can see that this is the work of one of Gerak's Jaffa, who are still on Earth searching for Baal after the defeat of Anubis ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 2:14 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Jackal, the Coptic Christians and acolytes of Horus (or Anubis) probably watch the same bull-laden episodes of "Horseman Without A Horse" as everyone else...
But the Copts don't think it's a holy act to boom.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/19/2005 7:29 Comments ||
Top||
#7
LOL! I KNEW the gua'ul had something to do with this,,,
QUESTIONS about the integrity of the vote and physical barriers to getting marked ballots to the capital mean final results from Iraq's landmark referendum on a new constitution won't be announced until Friday at the earliest, officials said.
The returns have raised questions over the possibility of irregularities in the balloting - and have prompted an audit into an irregularly high number of "yes" votes.
With the delays, the outcome of the crucial referendum will remain up in the air possibly into next week, at a time when the Government had hoped to move public attention to a new milestone: the start today of the trial of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
Saddam and seven senior members are facing trial in a heavily secured Baghdad courtroom for a 1982 massacre of about 150 Shi'ites in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, insurgent attacks began to heat up again after being nearly silent on referendum day on Saturday, when polling stations were heavily protected across the country.
A US soldier was shot and killed in Mosul, 360 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, early yesterday, the military said.
In fighting in western Iraq, two US Marines and four militants were killed on Monday near the town of Rutba, not far from the Jordanian border, the military said.
Gunmen killed the deputy governor of Anbar province, Talib Ibrahim, spraying his car with automatic weapons fire in Ramadi and wounding two of his bodyguards, police said. Anbar, the vast western Sunni region, is the main battleground between insurgents and US-Iraqi forces.
Militants killed at least nine Iraqis elsewhere yesterday in shootings and a mortar attack, including an adviser to the industry minister, one of the country's top Sunni Arab officials, police said.
The handcuffed and mutilated bodies of six Shi'ites were pulled out of a pond where they were dumped north of Baghdad, and three other bodies were discovered elsewhere in the capital.
The audit, announced by the Electoral Commission on Monday, will examine results that show an oddly high number of "yes" votes - apparently including in two crucial provinces that could determine the outcome of the vote, Ninevah and Diyala.
The election commission and United Nations officials supervising the counting have made no mention of fraud and have cautioned that the unexpected votes are not necessarily incorrect.
But Sunni Arab leaders who oppose the charter have claimed the vote was fixed in Ninevah and Diyala and elsewhere to swing them to a "yes" after initial results reported by provincial officials indicated the constitution had passed.
Both provinces are believed to have slight Sunni Arab majorities that likely voted "no" in large numbers, along with significant Shi'ite and Kurdish communities that largely cast "yes" ballots.
But initial results from election officials in Ninevah and Diyala indicated about 70 per cent of voters supported the charter and only 20 per cent rejected.
Sunni opponents needed to win over either Diyala or Ninevah to veto the constitution. Sunnis had to get a two-thirds "no" vote in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces to defeat the charter, and they appeared to have gotten it in Anbar and Salahuddin, both heavily Sunni.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 13:20 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
And the article does not mention that the "NO" votes seem to have been grotesquely inflated in the Sunni provinces: 97% in at least one of them, seems to me waaaaay too much to be honest: you never get such unanimousness in honest referendums. No matter the subject.
Bitter are the tears of a child: Sweeten them.
Deep are the thoughts of a child: Quiet them.
Sharp is the grief of a child: Take it from him.
Soft is the heart of a child: Do not harden it.
- Pamela Glenconner
Last night a grain of hot metal tumbled through the air, a swift manmade meteor crashing through the heavens. The statistical chances of this solitary round impacting one the scattered buildings was negligible, and the chances of it actually injuring someone were almost infinitesimal. But in stark defiance to all known laws of probability, this small sliver of dead steel plummeted downward, downward, downward⊠until its path intersected a house. And then it continued on, tunneling its way into a little girl sitting down for the celebration of Iftar...
#1
I stand in awe of a) the skill and professionalism of these men and women in uniform and b) their talent in writing so vividly about it, in the above post and any number of other milblogs.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
10/19/2005 11:56 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Well written story, and a genuinely moving tale. Tears were rolling down my face by the time I got to the end of the post -- our troops are definitely the Good Guys!
A journalist for the Guardian newspaper is thought to have been kidnapped after going missing in Iraq. It is believed Baghdad correspondent Rory Carroll may have been abducted by armed men while on assignment in the capital, a Guardian statement said.
Don't think of it as being "abducted", just consider it as being "embedded" without notice
The paper said it was urgently seeking information about the 33-year-old Republic of Ireland national. Mr Carroll had been in Iraq for nine months. He previously worked as South Africa correspondent. Oh - dear. What - a - shame.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
10/19/2005 10:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
not to worry, just another terrorist fund-raising or money laundering event.
Posted by: George S ||
10/19/2005 15:53 Comments ||
Top||
#13
I actually have a subscription to the Guardian Weekly, courtesy of an English friend, an ex-pat in Greece, who was my next-door neighbor. I think kindly on her good intentions, even though it has become increasingly an excercise in masochism to read the damn thing. So, one of their hacks is missing, presumed kidnapped... my heart f**king well bleeds.
I do hope they can get him back alive, however... without trading any cash or favors to the "brave insurgents", that will come back to kill Iraqis or Americans. Any bets on that happening, oh cruel and cynical Rantburgers?
#15
We cannot exclude the possbility that pro-government vigilantes, rather than insurgent head-choppers, are behind this. Iraqis can see the same internet sites we do. Many of them are acutely aware of the constant barrage of pro-terrorist propaganda emanating from fifth column outlets like Al Guardian. Iraq is a rough place with no tradition of a free press. It should not surprise us if someone, perhaps relatives or clansmen of a head-chopping victim, have decided to take direct action against the real enemy.
It is noteworthy that there were three Iraqis with Carroll, but only a driver was taken and he was released unharmed shortly afterward. This is completely atypical for the head-choppers, who regard Iraqis who work for foreigners as infidels and traitors and treat them accordingly.
The Guardian itself has very good contacts among the insurgents. The lack of any word from these contacts on insurgent involvement may have led the Guardianistas to suspect that a new player has entered the game. They may even be right.
#16
This is similar to when a French "journalist(s)" are taken, or that sympathetic Italian "lady." Like a lovers quarrels. Only these lovers are swine; enemies of my country. Their propaganda gives strength to those who kill American civilians and soldiers. England is a cipher and would ally with with EU if they were stronger now. I do not love my enemies. Ask the dead's families. The Guardian is a foul Lord Haw Haw rag.
Appearing in a tightly secured courtroom in the former headquarters of his Baath Party on Wednesday afternoon, nearly two years after his capture, the ousted president faced charges in a 1982 massacre of more than 140 Shia. Saddam pleaded innocent to charges including pre-meditated murder and torture. He argued with the judges, challenging the legitimacy of the court at his first trial for alleged atrocities by his toppled government.
Saddam and seven former members of his government could face the death penalty if convicted over the 1982 massacre of nearly 150 Shias in the town of Dujail. After presiding judge Rizgar Muhammad Amin, a Kurd, read the defendants their rights and the charges against them, which also include forced expulsions and illegal imprisonment, he asked each for their plea. He started with the ousted dictator, saying "Mr. Saddam, go ahead. Are you guilty or innocent?"
Saddam replied quietly, "I said what I said. I am not guilty," referring to his arguments earlier in the session. Amin read out the plea, "Innocent."
The 68-year-old former Iraqi leader sat in a pen out in front while his seven co-defendants, all top officials from his government, sat in two waist-high pens behind him, all directly facing the panel of five judges that will both hear the case and render a verdict. The trial could be the first of several for Saddam, for alleged atrocities carried out during his 23-year-rule. Carrying an old copy of the Quran and gesturing with his hand to slow his guards down, Saddam appeared defiant. Saddam refused to answer when the judge asked him to identify himself and the former leader began to quiz the judges. "Who are you? What does this court want?" Saddam asked.
Defence lawyers sat to the defendants' right, the prosecutors to their left in the small courtroom, located in the marble building that once served as the National Command Headquarters of the Baath Party. The building - located in Baghdad's Green Zone, the heavily fortified district where Iraq's government, parliament and the US embassy are located - was ringed with a three-metre high blast walls and US and Iraqi troops, with several Humvees and at least one tank deployed outside.
The trial was being aired with a 20-minute delay on state-run Iraqi television and on satellite stations across Iraq and the Arab world. When a break was called, Saddam stood, smiling, asked to step out of the room, but when two guards tried to grab his arms to escort him out, he angrily shook them off. They tried to grab him again, and Saddam struggled to get free, being shaken during a shoving match that lasted about a minute as they yelled at each other. It ended with Saddam getting his way, and he was allowed to walk independently, with the two guards behind him, out of the room for the break. He did not appear harmed.
When the break ended, the judge announced that the session was adjourned to 28 November.
Posted by: Flash Gordon ||
10/19/2005 10:03 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Tip: wear a tank driver's hat whilst watching this...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
10/19/2005 10:27 Comments ||
Top||
#4
That wore me out just watching it.
Does anyone keep a body count on enemy in Iraq?
I'd love to compare that to the U.S. troop numbers.
Maybe about 100 to 1 ? Somewhere around there if I had to guess.
#6
Note that the Search and Destroy ops are now being replaced by Clear and Hold ops - red balls to blue boxes - I presume that indicates some level of garrisoning the towns to stop reinfiltration. If so, it's only possible due to the number of competent Iraqi forces now coming online.
Insurgents shot and killed an adviser to one of Iraq's top Sunni Arab officials on Tuesday as he drove to work in Baghdad, police said. The shooting of Ayed Abdul Ghani occurred in new Baghdad, an eastern section of the capital, at about 7:45 a.m., said police Maj. Falah Al-Mohammedawi. The insurgents either drove up beside Ghani's vehicle and opened fire or first stopped the victim's car by blocking it, Al-Mohammedawi said.
Ghani served as an adviser to Osama al-Najafi, Iraq's industry minister and one of the country's top Sunni Arabs. Before Iraq's constitutional referendum on Saturday, al-Najafi had predicted that voters would reject the document if given the chance to vote freely because it favors Kurds and majority Shiites over the Sunni minority. Vote counting was still under way Tuesday, and the outcome of the referendum was not expected to be announced by Iraq's election commission for several days.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
A MOB backed by Indonesian troops has crossed into East Timor, attacked a border patrol and set fire to buildings, threatening the fragile peace between the two nations.
The incident on Saturday in the Oecussi enclave, detailed in an United Nations cable seen by The Australian, poses a nightmare scenario for Canberra.
The cable - sent on Monday by UN chief in East Timor Sukehir Hasegawa to head of peacekeeping operations Jean Marie Guehenno in New York - accuses the Indonesian military (TNI) of provoking multiple border violations in Oecussi.
Mr Hasegawa warns Dili has threatened to pull out of the East Timor-Indonesia Truth and Friendship Commission, following the collapse of tense border talks because of Jakarta's failure to stop incursions by the feared "Okto" militia, which started at the beginning of the month.
He expressed grave concern at the prospects of an escalation in violence after the breakdown in the talks aimed at securing an agreement on a border demarkation for the enclave.
On Saturday two East Timorese police were wounded and forced to fire 15 warning shots after they were attacked by a mob of 200 Indonesian villagers armed with stones and improvised weapons, who had advanced almost 1km across the border from Manusasi.
"Seven TNI soldiers were seen at the rear of the group, clearly condoning, if not encouraging, this action," he says.
Mr Hasegawa says he received a telephone call from East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta threatening to pull out of the CTF. "Horta did not hide his anger as he found arrogance and intransigence in the behaviour of some TNI elements and inability of the government to control them."
Opposed by the Catholic church and unpopular with the East Timorese populace, the CTF commits the two countries to co-operate in the investigation of the mayhem before and after the 1999 UN-backed independence referendum. Diplomatic sources told The Australian if Dili withdrew from the TCF, relations between East Timor and Indonesia could plunge into crisis.
Mr Hasegawa warns the border is at flashpoint, saying Jakarta has deployed the notorious Battalion 745 - implicated in the 1999 murder of church workers and Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes - on garrison duty along the West Timor frontier.
The Australian yesterday reported on a cable sent by Mr Hasegawa last Wednesday in which he reports violent border incursions on October 4 and 9 by the "Okto" militia.
This is most likely the militia led by Moko Soares, who took part in the massacre of 47 East Timorese men at Passabe in 1999 and is believed responsible for several gun battles with Australian peacekeepers in Oecussi.
#1
we need to back the Aussies here just as they backed us elsewhere. It will come down to fighting, and the muslims of Indonesia will stomp their feet, threaten to seethe....sobeit
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/19/2005 21:06 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Seems to me the Indonesian government is not only failing to control its domestic terrorists, but also encouraging attacks on neighbors.
Why do we treat them as if they're as legitimate a government as our own?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/19/2005 21:50 Comments ||
Top||
#3
When will we wake up and realize we can't trust islamic nations?. Next time they cross the border fry a major Indo city. In their eyes it's allens will after all.
A female member of the Abu Sayyaf was among the four slain bandits when government troops raided Sacol Island here on Monday, Southern Command chief Lieutenant General Edilberto Adan said on Wednesday.
Earlier on the same day, the Naval Forces South reported that only two bandits were killed while a soldier died in the clash.
Adan said only two bodies -- including that of a female -- were recovered from the encounter site because their comrades took the two other casualties away. He said six bandits were also wounded.
The raid was launched after it was confirmed that Isnilon Hapilon returned to the island, Adan said.
"Since September, we received information that they sought refuge in this island and believed to be planning to conduct kidnapping of prominent personalities within the city," Adan said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 13:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The two Indonesian members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) suspected of masterminding the October 2003 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, are hiding in Cotabato province, Armed Forces spokesman Col. Tristan Kison said Wednesday.
Kison said Filipino Muslims are hiding Dulmatin and Omar Patek in different safehouses in the province.
"You know how it is in Mindanao, Muslim brothers assist one another. They have strong ties," Kison told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.
He added that the Abu Sayyaf Group headed by Khadaffy Janjalani is also helping the JI members.
"The mere fact that they (Abu Sayyaf) have opened their sanctuaries to them is a big factor," Kison said.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front earlier said Dulmatin, Patek and Janjalani had been together in Central Mindanao when the military launched an operation to try to catch them in July.
"Our operations show Dulmatin and Patek are in Mindanao, but we do not know what place, because they fled from the latest operations," said MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu.
The Bureau of Immigration has placed all ports in the country on heightened alert to prevent the entry of JI terrorists.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 13:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
A Sri Lankan spy aircraft crashed inside rebel-held territory in the island's north today while conducting an operational mission, which is in violation of a ceasefire agreement with the Tamil tigers. It was not immediately clear whether it was shot down by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or if the aircraft went down due to technical problems. According to defence sources, the controllers lost the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) while it was flying over Mankulam, near an airstrip operated by the tigers. Spy missions are a violation of a ceasefire agreement that went into effect in February 2002. Despite the truce, hundreds of people have been killed in violent clashes blamed on both sides.
#5
The LTTE are a buch of slugs and only the Norweenians would broker a deal that has the sovereign Sinhalese government unable to "observe" what's going inside their own territory. Thanks Larje, love Chantrika.
Well, well ..... did Iran buy them or just threaten to cut off the oil?
Pfeh. Teheran is 4300 km from Toulouse ....
European troops are this week conducting air and ground exercises in southern France simulating an international defence of an oil-rich country under attack, officials said.
Some 3,000 soldiers from France, Belgium and Germany are taking part in the exercise, dubbed OAPEX 2005, which will test a scenario in which the European forces are flown in, with armoured vehicles and a UN mandate, to battle a hypothetical enemy invading an oil-producing nation.
"The aim is to look at situations that already exist," a French military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Luc Favre, told AFP at an air force base in Toulouse.
He did not say what country the exercise was modelled on, explaining only that it was "a country which possesses oil fields and which is attacked by another country."
"It's the first time we've done an operation on this magnitude -- multinational and inter-service (ground and air)," he said.
"The objective is to be able to command from Paris an operation that is happening 5,000 kilometres away."
A British contingent was to have participated, but received new orders to leave the Toulouse base and fly on to Pakistan, officials said
#5
If European nations get all worked up about the deaths of just over 100 troops, how are they going to feel about losing tens of thousands of their forces? Or do they think that Uncle Sam will pull his punches just because they are European?
#10
Question for the lemmings: Who is going to fly these forces in and in what airplanes? Every NATO plan called for extensive use of U.S. airlift and relied little on European airlift. Maybe France thinks that we should fly them into Iran so they could defend it against the U.S.? But then only someone like Weasly Clark or Dick Turban could envision such a plan. But on the flip side i really doubt that the un would give anyone a mandate to do anything except cringe.
What is interesting here is the significant rampup of offense against the US on the part of the France/Belgium/Germany axis. Note the story about France and Venezuela here today, in that context.
This is, I suspect, a PR effort: to sell French planes, to lock in a relationship with Iran - and China - and to tell their citizens they are "doing something" about their economies and oil.
At a deeper level, I've become convinced that if they could, they would indeed take on the US militarily.
#14
I wouldn't read too much into this. While I do think that the European elites have been demonizing the United States as a means of distracting their citizens from the steady collapse of Western European socialist society, I find it very hard to believe that France / Germany / Belgium are actually planning on fighting the United States over Iran.
Since the Europeans are very dependent on Persian Gulf oil (even more than the United States) and desperately desire stability in that region, it's just as likely that this represents any number of other scenarios that Europe would not like to see come to pass (Iranian invasion of Iraq, Iraqi invasion of Saudi Arabia, a Chinese or Indian attempt to gain control of the Gulf, etc.)
Posted by: Pat Phillips ||
10/19/2005 13:26 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Better not take too extreme evasive manoeuvers with the Airbus 400 transports. The vertical stabilizers may get a bit loose, which would be a figurative and literal drag.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/19/2005 13:30 Comments ||
Top||
#16
a little f*&king late wouldn't you say, Jacques? Where were you when I needed you? Always there with the contracts and the bribes, but when it hit the fan, you ran
#18
It's a nice feel good exercise but without the capacity to deploy, coordinate, and support a large force 5000 km away or, in the first instance, the determination to actually do it, all the practice in the world matters little. Practice for a debacle or self-esteem booster I wonder?
Sheik of Qatar, or Bahrian, or UAE: I need to buy from the US - i neeed to keep them happy - if say Iran were to attack me, id need the Americans to protect me, and so i cant anger them in the slightest.
EU: Lookie here, we've held an exercise, we could defend you even if the US is pissed at you. Buy from us! Buy from us!
#20
While I do think that the European elites have been demonizing the United States as a means of distracting their citizens from the steady collapse of Western European socialist society, I find it very hard to believe that France / Germany / Belgium are actually planning on fighting the United States over Iran.
You find it hard to believe?
Why?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/19/2005 14:01 Comments ||
Top||
#21
Flying in what? A340s or 380s for the personnel, perhaps, but what about the vehicles, POL, and munitions? You can lease Antonovs from the former USSR, I suppose, but there's only so many Antonovs. And who's gonna fly cover for the transport stream?
Airbus or An-22 versus F-16 or F-18 . . . I think I know how that one comes out.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/19/2005 14:05 Comments ||
Top||
#22
Instead of practice, why don't they do a live excersize right now in Iraq.
#23
"why don't they do a live excersize right now in Iraq?" Silly! They don't want to actually shoot or get shot at by anybody. What they want to do is show up with a few people and conduct negotiations. How many countries in the world would sleep safe knowing France and Belgium are providing security?
#26
The other articles lotp was referring to regarding Venezuela has France and Chavez lining up oil contracts for Europe in case European supplies are cut. Another posting has Abbas meeting with De Villepin. France, Belgium, and Germany have always been in cahoots with the jihadis so this defense exercise makes me wonder if they know something we don't. Iran is only one of the possibilities. Are they worried about Al Qaeda blowing the wells in the Kingdom? Binny has no loyalty to anyone.
#27
When left all alone without adequate air cover AMX's, Leclercs and Leopard II's flame up just as well as anything else under the sun in an oil rich country under attack.
#28
After considering all this I wonder why we should really care?
Re French "deals" with Hugo Chavez? Does the EU have a way to protect it's oil on the high seas in our backyard if they act against our interests in a way that is an act of war? I guess those French and German CBGs can protect them? What they don't have any? Then what about the French and German Long Range Naval patrol Aircraft? Oh don't have too many do they? How about the French and German long range bomber groups? Oh I forgot they don't have any. French and German mitilary sea lift? Not much there either.
I think it's time for the immature French and German "democracies" to grow up and learn to live in the real world.
Maybe France, Germany and the UK should worry more about the shit holes they created in Africa. the Middle East and, Asia and less about screwing with the USA and our stratigic interests.
#29
Pretty safe it won't be us they are defending against. They have to have UN approval, which is hard to get if one of the veto's on the security council is the U.S. Hell, we could be gone five years than approve it.
#30
Maybe defending an "oil rich country under attack" is defending Eastern Arabia against the Saudis? Just rewrite the protocols from "UN mandate" to "US mandate."
Sure, they'll deal with Chavez. What choice do they have? Diversify sources just in case: I'd guess its probably just a matter of time before Saudi production is disrupted.
Posted by: James ||
10/19/2005 16:24 Comments ||
Top||
#33
It suddenly occured to me which exact scenario this exercise is meant to address:
Imagine Columbia declaring war on Venezuela after the evidence of Venezuela's support of FARC reaches a certain tipping point. We're obliged to support Columbia, and now the EU is lining up to be obliged to defend Venezuela.
#34
If that is the case Abdominal Snowman most of their ships will be sunk before they reach the new world. All of their aircraft would be shot down before they entered the hemisphere. It's a game that they can't win. Should the EU feel they can "escalate" we have a throw weight that vastly exceeds theirs.
Refusing to arm themselves for even a token defense has left them subject to a ugly reality. That reality they long ago exceeded with the hot air they so love despense against the US and our interests. I have no interst in harming in soul in the EU but when the rubber meets the road that may be to only alternative to much worse happening here.
#35
The answer to the question is either defending Saudi Arabian oilfields from Iran, or defending Nigerian oilfields from insurrection. In either case, not entirely at odds with the US, but clearly watching out for EU interests at the same time.
#37
I think they're defending a North Sea oil platform; however, given Old Europe's shrinking armed forces, that task is equal to the US defending an actual country.
#38
Don't doubt that France,germany could nationalize their Airlines in a heartbeat to provide airlift for their troops.The purpose being in essence a "new improved human shield" to prevent the US from attacking.
Supposing it was Iran,the Euro Air Forces could stage across Europe to Greece and ther fly to Iranian bases which were originally equipped as US air bases-ie NATO standard.
Posted by: Stephen ||
10/19/2005 17:59 Comments ||
Top||
#39
Wonder what Israel would think about that opportunity?
Trying to move into a US battle zone with 5000 men loaded on air transports would be suicide hell handfull of F-22's and they wouldnt make it across the Med. Sea Transport ehhh maybe N. Africa or Med they would make the EU has some pretty strong near shore naval forces but long range again would be suicide as soon as they moved out of land based air cover range and the deisel subs range.
I would not read this as a threat to the US after all 5K troops com on would not stop a marine anphib force. More likly I would say the EU are waking up to the fact that if you cant back up your talk game you can no longer get a free ride on the US military game no more with China, India common on strong as more powerful and important nation that can talk and back it up. The EU's bluff has been called and the US is no longer a shoe in to back them up, hence thier talk is just talk and even the little nobodys are starting to try them "seara leon""Congo"ect... not to mention the upstarts like Iran, Syria, ect...that just outright threaten or be billigerent with them.
#41
Ohh and to add to a atempt to push a major EU reinforcement or defence across the Atlantic to venuzeula I would just reference the Falklands war were Britian by far the most powerful naval power in the EU was damm near taken down by Argentinia and her what 2 old mirrages armed with what 10 exorcet missles? Yeah that whole force would have lasted all of a day with one US carrier battle group and that is only becuase it took them a day to get out of land based air cover range europe.
I personally would like to see a strong EU military even with all the current anti-americanism I think the common EU guy considers the US a ally. I think alot of the current anti-america is alot of envy we have long passed them in every way while at the same time todays world with the new powers India, China, Russia, hell Brazil, Iran are fast passing aswell, the EU has just about zero military clout exept in parts of Africa today. They have potential but the massive socialist programs would have to go to rebuild even then they would be transition like the startups mentioned above.
#42
The 5K troops sent by Europe would be reinforcing local troops.
Think of them as equivalent to the US special forces attached to the Northern Alliance that provided forward-air-controller functions and called in airstrikes, or like the 2nd ID in South Korea.
PDVSA's collapsing crude oil production will continue for the foreseeable future. PDVSA is not investing enough in well maintenance and development of new production capacity. As a result, PDVSA cannot offset oil reservoir depletion rates that average between 20 percent and 25 percent annually, depending on the age of the oil fields. These natural depletion rates result from the loss of internal reservoir pressure levels as crude oil is extracted and no efforts are made to inject natural gas and steam to maintain pressure levels. As a result, PDVSA is producing fewer barrels of oil per well.
The Chavez government has an official PDVSA expansion plan that calls for investing more than $40 billion in the next five years to raise production capacity to more than 5 million bpd. But that plan exists only on paper. Since Chavez became president in early 1999, PDVSA has announced at least 15 expansion plans, but none of them have been launched to date.
Regarding Nigeria... now I suspect there's a lot that a brigade-sized European force could do to help stabilize and defuse the situation in the more unstable parts, IF they used the right troops... but it would almost be a more advisory role than a big production with tanks and APC's.
#43
Given the nations involved, the limited logistics, and their historical areas of concentration, more likely it'd be Afica. Using an arc 5000 km from Paris, that covers Sudan, Chad, and Nigeria.
#46
C-Low, fwiw you pursuaded me. :-) And the idea of European troops in Africa/Caspian fields is much more comforting than the thought of them entertaining dreams of hegemony in South America.
#47
Oil rich countries is what its all about. That's our foreign policy. Same with Englandistan. Our ally today. Do we care if cut-throats have a constitution. We have been defending the Saudis who bankroll killers of our people. Euros always jealous try now to correct their 1914 mentality which doomed them to third place or fourth place. Can't play unless you pay. In blood.
#48
Oil rich countries is what its all about. That's our foreign policy. Same with Englandistan. Our ally today. Do we care if cut-throats have a constitution. We have been defending the Saudis who bankroll killers of our people. Euros always jealous try now to correct their 1914 mentality which doomed them to third place or fourth place. Can't play unless you pay. In blood.
#49
Interesting uber-simplification and over-generalization. Consider this a generic response, not a personal criticism of your post - for you have posted in the mainstream. You've stated the Conventional Wisdom. That it gives me heartburn, lol, is why I feel like a rant.
[rant]
To any and all...
Pray-tell, what would you do. Specifically. We get generic "everything is shit" and "we don't do anything" rants, but they're usually very short on the "what we should be doing differently" component.
I used to work at a place where you were not allowed to criticize if you didn't offer at least one alternative - a well thought out, workable, actionable, outline to fix what you were bitching about. I suggest the same should go here at RB.
The House of Saud. Remember the scene at the end of 3 Days of the Condor where the CIA guy (Robertson) is talking to the Book Reader (Redford) and the Book Reader is acting all surprised that they war-game scenarios - which is absurd, if he was half as intelligent as they had painted him to be up to that moment? The CIA Guy sez the magic words (paraphrasing) of Truth: What would you do? What would you do when they're freezing in their homes and there's no gas for their cars and the trucks aren't delivering food to the stores and you've lost your job because the factories have shut down because the trains aren't delivering the parts to the assembly plants, etc. You know what? The people won't care. They won't care what you have to do to get the oil, they'll just want you to do it. Period.
And there we are. There is not enough political will to do the logical things, such as get off the oil tit and, meanwhile, take away the oil that funds the terror shit and fuels our world. So, in a nutshell, most everybody's a gutless fucking turd when it comes to solving the actual problem, so we continue to poke at the symptoms, and sacrifice our best and brightest in that effort. Our great good luck to have a few leaders who had the stones to do the right thing are being left in the lurch.
Either it gets bloody enough to make us fold, give up, quit, act like good little dhimmis... and certainly we hear the masses of morons, both foreign and domestic, who are praying for that outcome - sans a clue what it would mean to them... or we take the fight to the source by taking away their fucking oil and, simultaneously, working our asses off to eliminate our dependence upon it as fuel. Save it for its other uses.
Until the politicians who haven't the stomach to save us either win a majority or are replaced by people who do, we will continue to bleed. Death by a thousand cuts. Little cut here by an IED. Bigger cut there by a container bomb.
#50
Well, .com, I am car-pooling as much as possible, and I mostly cut my grass with an old-fashioned rotary mower (no gas there), I'm gardening with locally native plants that don't need to be fertilized, sprayed or watered, and I've been replacing my incandescent light bulbs with halogen or compact fluorescents. My next vehicle will be a hybrid, when I replace the mini-van (as soon as the t.daughters get past the soccer stage), and Mr. Wife's new vehicle will get about ten more miles to the gallon (~1/3rd less). Oh, and Mr. Wife is combining his business trips, so while he isn't really away any less, he is doing less actual flying back and forth. Incremental I know, but lots of people in the suburbs are doing at least some of these things, and probably some others I haven't thought about. And whenever the opportunity comes up in conversation, I suggest to people that they check out Rantburg -- my bit for edumacating and changing minds. ;-)
But China and India are sucking up the oil even faster than we are reducing our use, so the Saudis, et al, are raking in ever higher profits. Syria and Iran are next in line after Iraq, and then come the Saudis -- we know it and so do they. The whole Arab world watched the election in Afghanistan, then the one in Iraq, and they are watching Saddam Hussein's trial now. Al Queda is complaining that the Arab League is undermining the jihad for the Caliphate, and it looks like their Home Office is under a bit of financial pressure.
I know you've been frustrated, waiting for the rest of us to catch up to where you've been for years, but we're getting there. And in the meantime, I do believe President Bush is doing the things that need to be done, in a step-wise progression to make sure they actually get done.
But then I am a naive, innocent Pollyanna who stays home and serves tea to her friends, and listens avidly to the tales of their adventures. ;-)
#51
Innocent and naive? Lol. Um, I don't think so... I agree Bush is doing what, in his world, he can and should do - he's one of those being left in the lurch by the instant gratification blinded US public. I sincerely appreciate how far out of the mold he has moved to try to do the right thing. It's never enough, of course, for the ankle-biting crowd. I am, however, very satisfied with his doctrine and efforts thus far. That support is dwindling, if the polls are to be believed, is what pisses me off, er, make that "irks" me. We should be standing with him, not falling for the obviously self-defeating BS of withdrawal timetables and such being pushed by the dhimmis-in-waiting. It boggles that those with multiple neurons could buy into defeatism so thinly veiled.
I don't think it's such a stretch to see where we are heading - the paths split clearly and the current indicators are the public is "tiring" and going the wrong way, the way down, but it gets lost in the smoke and mirrors and sheer repetition of memes and lies, so I take it upon myself to point it out periodically, heh.
#52
Lets fantasize rant for awhile. If we had a normal American leader who realized business interests support killers of Americans both civilian and soldiers. And that process is ongoing. Would not a normal leader stop that process by any means available. Especially if you are America. And in that America if economic forces become unmonopolized; would not that latent genius come up with technological marvels that once again ratchet up America relative to the out there. Would not a normal person, not the freaks that control us, act that way.
#53
Hmmm. I think, if I read it correctly Bardo, that you support something similar to me, but I'm not certain because the post is unclear, IMHO.
My post was, indeed, a fantasy - that is clearly indicated by the [rant] ... [/rant] tags.
What Bush can and can't do as President is pretty damned muddled by the last 40+ years of reactionary legislative BS - mainly due to Vietnam missteps and somewhat due to opposition to actions in Central America. Executive power is hamstrung in 50 different ways from when Johnson was President and used the manufactured Bay of Tonkin "incident" to work his fantasy will. Hell, we can thank the Church Committee for kicking off the decimation of the CIA - which has left us blind to much important intel regards Iran and set us up for the WMD debacle stemming from Tenet's "slam dunk" assurances regards Iraq. Even if a President is willing, he's at least partially blind, today.
What are the motives of most war? Power, land, commercial interests. What were the motives for Bush's actions in Afghanistan and Iraq? Principles and security. We sure as hell gained zero monetarily.
What about the Saudis? I stated what my "fantasy" is. Is your post different? I can't tell. Sorry, but I find it largely unclear.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/19/2005 23:46 Comments ||
Top||
#55
Friend .com, you know what is unclear to me, what does IMHO, LOL, etc. mean? Your narrative is factual. The constraints of action. I support the military geo-politcal positioning in Iraq. I would prefer more radical militaristic action in that area. We have the technology. Economic repositioning due to the politcal realities is necessary. An energy Manhattan Project for real, today. Really clear out the Intelligence Bureaucracy. The propaganda forces and propellant oil-money is enabling Islopunks to do more real damage. It is does not stop. It is planned as we communicate. Drastic action in economic innovation is needed. However we live in a Robber Baron Age. Its Standard Oil again. We are little (speaking for myself) people; big economic cliques turn the wheel only now American blood and guts get in the cogs. The details and strategies are for those smarter than me. We are being bullshitted. Its not happening yet. But I hope you get my drift.
TEHERAN - Iran has foiled an attempt by âBritish spiesâ to blow up it largest oil refinery in the southwestern city of Abadan, a senior provincial official was quoted as saying on Wednesday. The head of the judiciary in Khuzestan -- the scene of a recent string of bombings and attempted attacks -- told the hardline Jomhuri Islami paper that the âagents were attempting to blow up Abadanâs refinery using five Katyusha rockets with a timer on them.â
Sounds more like a al-Qaeda plot to me, ya'll might want to look into that
The official, Sayed Khalil Akbar Al Sadat, gave no further details.
The latest allegations against Britain come amid mounting tensions between London and Tehran. On Saturday, a double bomb attack killed six people and injured more than 100 in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province, and on Tuesday police said they had defused a large bomb planted under a bridge in the city.
Several officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have pointed the finger at British troops based just across the border from Ahvaz in Iraq -- allegations which have been angrily denied by Britain.
Ahvaz, dominated by ethnic minority Arabs, has been hit by a wave of unrest this year, including riots in April and a series of car bombings prior to Iranâs presidential election in June. âWe have not found any proof that Britain is not involved in the events in Ahvaz and we have not seen anything that would dissipate our doubts about that country,â Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday.
"We've got no proof they didn't do it, so it has to be true!"
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other senior officials have said there is evidence of an Iranian connection to a series of deadly attacks on British troops in southern Iraq. Britain is also playing a leading role in efforts to force the Islamic republic to limit its nuclear fuel activities, seen by critics as a cover for weapons development
Posted by: Steve ||
10/19/2005 12:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Methinks if they wanted it blown then blown it would be and in grand fashion. "British spies" is the flavor of the month for internal troubles.
SBS has broadcast footage of what it says is US soldiers burning two dead Taliban fighters as they faced Mecca and using the charred and smoking corpses in a propaganda campaign in southern Afghanistan.
The Dateline report, broadcast last night, said US soldiers burnt the bodies for hygiene reasons but then a US psychological operations unit broadcast a propaganda message on loudspeakers to Taliban fighters, taunting them to retrieve their dead and fight.
In Washington, the US Defence Department has expressed concern over the report and promised it will be "aggressively investigated".
"These are very serious allegations and, if true, very troublesome," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
"It is the policy of the United States, as well as the Defence Department, to treat all remains consistent with the Geneva Convention and with the utmost respect. These allegations will be aggressively investigated and, if proven to be true, the individuals will be held appropriately accountable," Mr Whitman said.
Dateline said the story was filmed in early October.
The footage of the burning corpses was shot by Australian photojournalist Stephen DuPont who was embedded with a US unit.
Dateline said the two Taliban fighters burnt on hills above the village of Gondaz north of Kandahar were killed by the US soldiers the night before.
The footage showed flames licking two charred corpses, their legs and arms outstretched, and a group of five US soldiers standing watching from a rocky ledge.
Footage showed two US soldiers reading two messages from a notebook that they said had earlier been broadcast.
"Attention Taliban you are cowardly dogs," read the first soldier, identified as psychological operations specialist Sergeant Jim Baker.
"You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be."
The other unidentified soldier read a second message, part of which said: "You attack and run away like women. You call yourself Talibs but you are a disgrace to the Muslim religion, and you bring shame upon your family. Come and fight like men instead of the cowardly dogs you are."
A US military statement released in Afghanistan said army criminal investigators had launched a probe "into alleged misconduct by US service members, including the burning of dead enemy combatant bodies under inappropriate circumstances".
"This command does not condone the mistreatment of enemy combatants or the desecration of their religious and cultural beliefs," US Major General Jason Kamiya said in the statement.
"This alleged action is repugnant to our common values, is contrary to our commands approved tactical operating procedures, and is not sanctioned by this command."
#5
I may not agree entirely with why the US is in
Iraq, however, war is war. I saw this last night
on SBS and was peeved off how the journalist portrayed the US troops. Should ban them completely. Also in addition, nice strips of bacon
or a pigs head should of been put on the fire with the corpses to send a message to these sub humans.
#6
Hitting them with flamethrowers and napalms while they're alive is OK. Burying them facing the wrong way, under tons of rubble after an airstrike is OK.
But trying to play mind games with them?
UNACCEPTABLE!
WTF do we continue to give terrorists respect they would not extend to us?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/19/2005 21:48 Comments ||
Top||
#8
All terrorist bodies need to be recycled. We have to think about saving the enviroment so grinding them up and using them for pig feed is very enivro friendly.
As a bonus, I'm not sure you get your 72 raisins if you get turned into pig dung.
Algerian Islamic militants have killed 10 people, including four soldiers, as violence rises during the holy month of Ramadan, newspapers said on Wednesday.
Four soldiers and at least seven rebels died in clashes on Monday in the mountains of Bouira, some 110 km (70 miles) east of the capital Algiers, national dailies Le Quotidien d'Oran and Liberte said.
Five municipal guards and a civilian were killed on Tuesday when rebels belonging to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) opened fire on their vehicle at a road block in Jijel, east of Algiers, newspapers said, citing unnamed security sources.
Liberte also said three youths died when they stumbled across a home-made bomb buried in the mountains by rebels some time ago.
Authorities were not available for comment.
"The referendum has clearly, at least for the moment, not had any effect on the general security situation," influential daily Liberte said in an editorial. "It casts doubt on the peace and national reconciliation process."
The al Qaeda-aligned GSPC, Algeria's largest outlawed militant movement, has rejected the offer, according to an Internet statement.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/19/2005 13:15 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
As everybody's noticed by now, we've been having technical problems since about last Friday. The problem's not with Rantburg, nor with our hosting service, but with Verizon, which is the actual internet carrier. There have been two extended outage periods where they were trying to isolate where the problem lay, and lots of 2-4 minute outages which were the symptoms of the problem. They think they've got it now, though they also thought they had it before, so we'll see.
Velocity, where our server lives, is contracting with a second company to provide another internet connection, which will provide a redundant route. They're going to be testing it in two weeks, and then bringing it online as soon as the testing's done. That should provide close to 100 percent access, unless the building's flooded or something.
I'll keep you updated if anything changes.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2005 12:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Phew! The intermittent outages have been unnerving, so glad it's not haxors or code problems.
I'm in NYC, where an explosion in a manhole disrupted all telephones and internet access for several square blocks. My office was without access for 6 days. Some offices went even longer (maybe still are cut off, I don't know). at first Verizon said, "Should be back later this morning, or by the end of the day." That was on Wednesday. The paper that weekend quoted a Verizon guy as saying, "Well, we think we might have it fixed sometime this week."
According to media sources outside India, three Hindus were fatally shot overnight in a tense north Indian town, bringing the total number of deaths to eight since rioting between Hindus and Muslims erupted last week, police said Monday. One of the victims was Shushma Pandey, a grandmother who stepped out of her home in Mau, in Uttar Pradesh state, to get food for her grandchildren, said Ram Saran Srivastava, a police spokesman. She was shot and killed by unidentified assailants, he said. "Shops have remained closed for the past three days and there is no milk supply to this small town," Srivastava said.
Rioting started on Friday after Muslim residents objected to Hindus holding a religious ceremony in a predominantly Muslim area in Mau. That angered many Hindus who tried to stop the Muslims from using loudspeakers during Friday prayers, leading to clashes. Rioters burned shops and attacked each other using pistols, knives and other weapons on Friday and Saturday, and outbursts of violence have erputed since then. Authorities rushed paramilitary forces to the villages around Mau to quell violence, said Alok Sinha, the state home secretary. Police have so far arrested 112 persons and stopped train and bus services to Mau, Srivastava said. More than 40 percent of Mau's population of 400,000 are Muslims, mostly working as weavers in factories. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state, with Muslims comprising 15 percent of its 180 million people. Mau is 300 kilometers (190 miles) southeast of Lucknow, its capital. Muslims comprise nearly 13 percent of India's more than 1 billion people.
#3
Can't Muslims get along with anybody. Note once the Islamonuts get to a large minority aka 40% they will break out of their dhimmitude and create problems. Since 40% of Turks think honor killings are OK I'm sure the Euro's can't wait to let them in. Tours is just around the corner but this time France has no Martel. Europe's best hope Slobo is rotting in the Hague.
#5
RW that an interesting insight. What is the critical mass of allanists, moderate or otherwise? 10%? 20%? 32.5%? I expect it varies with the country and culture. But the number I'm after is, what is the critical mass in a Western Democracy... France is the testbed. I figure 28.54% It's scientific (2+8+5+4)=19 and we know what that means.
October 19, 2005: American intelligence agencies are trying to keep al Qaeda on the Internet. Many patriotic (or just anti-terrorist or anti-Islamic) hackers constantly seek out pro-al-Qaeda websites, and try to shut them down. American intelligence agencies attempt, quietly, to minimize and mitigate these attacks, in order to keep these sites up. So whatâs going on here? The American government is operating, behind the scenes, to keep al Qaeda websites online so that American spies can monitor who visits these sites, and what they do there. Al Qaeda knows this, and is trying to bring more of its web activity into the inter net underground, a shadowy zone normally inhabited by criminals and the hackers who keep us all supplied with spam and PC damaging worms and viruses. That area is harder to keep under surveillance, or even easily find. For that reason, terrorists maintain the public sites as a way to recruit new people, and then gradually ease them into the cyber-underground.
No one (at least in the U.S. intelligence community) will say anything official about the war against al Qaeda on the Internet. But if you keep tabs on Islamic web sites (and especially if you have someone to translate some of the Arabic stuff for you), you will notice the attacks, and the strange instances where hosting services will not only tolerate the Islamic sites, but will go to great lengths to defend them. Something is obviously going on behind the scenes. And that something is nothing more than a desire to keep actual, or potential, Islamic terrorists, out in the open, where they can be watched, for as long as possible.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/19/2005 09:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I wonder, also, how many of the jihadi sites, and how much of the jihadi Internet underground, are false-flag operations by our boys. Hpoefully, just enough to make it hard to be sure who to trust if you're one of the bad guys.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/19/2005 10:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I can understand the intel folks' position, but a part of me wonders if it isn't too clever by half.
We have seen, on a number of occasions, how after a terrorist attack, intelligence agents will have a suspect in mind because they had him under surveillance for months before the attack.
Yet, that suspect always seems to drop out of sight just before the attack, which begs the question of the efficacy of surveillance operation.
Perhaps the attacks on the al quaeda websites are still doing some good by forcing them to divert resources to defense or replacement of these sites.
I guess I can see the benefits to both approaches.
#3
this is wrong on so many levels. How about this; How about you go get into that shadowy zone normally inhabited by criminals and the hackers who keep us all supplied with spam and PC damaging worms and viruses and you get a broom and you sweep it out?
This is one of my greatest pet peeves of all times. The myth in our intelligence services that the best way to fight crime is to allow it to root and spread in order to pull out the root. It hasn't worked in fighting the Mafia - they are visible and operate openely in all of our cities. It is a complete and total failure in fighting drugs - in fact, this idea allowed the idea of "recreation drugs" to create powerful cartels in the late 70's.
It's as stupid as attempting to fight speeding by encouraging speeding, so you can catch speeders. Hello FBI and intelligence services. It doesn't work. It's a myth. How long will it take you to grasp this?
The TV show, America's Most Wanted Criminals, does a better job of catching the most wanted than our FBI does. Megan's Law does a better job of catching child abductors. Timothy McVeigh was able to pull off the Oklahoma City bombing and the terrorists pulled off both trade center bombings right under your noses.
#5
ARMYGUY is right. Much as I understand the emotion behind Internet Hagganah and similar efforts, the intel community is right and the freelancers are wrong on this.
As far as going into the underground and sweeping it clean, you pick your battles -- but info warfare has been a hot topic and desired skillset for some time in the intel community, both uniformed and not. Lots has been going on since the Chinese launched the Red Lion virus attack a few years ago ....
#7
you pick your battles fair enough. But perhaps it's time they ramped up the fight.
And I understand the point of keeping them in the open as long as possible. That is different than allowing them to root and spread - which is what they do on a regular basis. Besides - if the idea works so well, how come the Mafia operates so openly. These guys are no different than organized crime. If we try to stop them the same way we stop the Mafia in our large cities, God help us all.
#9
I'm technology challenged but it seems to me they could locate the source of the websites and take the operators out, as they seem to always find the teenage hackers. Sitting in an office and monitoring it has some value but the intel guys on the ground seem to be lacking. The requirement that they have done drugs no more than 15 times eliminates most of the sleaze-bag world and anyone that understands it enough to infiltrate the underground. Why don't they track these guys down and hire them?
#10
you pick your battles fair enough. But perhaps it's time they ramped up the fight.
And what makes you so sure they haven't done just that?
Like ARMYGUY said, you want these sites out in the open. That doesn't mean you don't track them, including locations, servers, posters etc -- and use that info in a variety of ways not obvious to people reading RB.
TW, in 2003 the Red Lion virus brought down many servers and clogged the web with a 'denial of service' attack plus infiltration of some unpatched servers here and especially, ironically, in Europe and Asia.
It started from China. Officially, hacking is a capital crime in China. Many people added 2 + 2 and got 4 as to Chinese government sponsorship of the attack.
#12
How about we just kill them as soon as we ID them? Once it becomes apparent that shouting "allahu akbar" in response to an atrocity results in being a thin red smear on the pavement, I bet the jihadi networks will dry up Real Quick.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/19/2005 13:58 Comments ||
Top||
#13
#12 Â How about we just kill them as soon as we ID them? Once it becomes apparent that shouting "allahu akbar" in response to an atrocity results in being a thin red smear on the pavement, I bet the jihadi networks will dry up Real Quick.
Robert Crawford, we are in total agreement. This is what I've been saying ever since I found Rantburg, much to the displeasure of many (who seem to have gone awful quiet changed their minds of late). If you want terrorism to stop, kill the meme that infects vulnerable minds. Only when violent jihadis feel compelled to look over their shoulder before shouting "Death to America" will we have made significant progress. Terrorism, like stupidity, should be painful.
As to the topic, I'll quote Montgomery Burns:
"I keep my friends close, and my enemies even closer."
#14
amen, Robert and Zenster. It's a good idea to keep them out in the open but it's a bad idea to just take notes as they increase the size of their army and entrench. I think my point was that it failed for the Mafia and it failed in the drug war. They bombed OKC and both WTC's while the Fed's kept them out in the open. It doesn't work. It's a myth. It's broke. Fix it.
Suspected Taleban militants have killed a school headmaster and a district chief in southern Afghanistan, officials say. The headmaster was shot by suspected insurgents on a motorbike in Kandahar's Panjwayi district on Tuesday, the interior ministry said. The head of the province's Arghandab district was shot dead in a mosque on Tuesday evening, it said. More than 1,200 people have died in violence linked to militants this year. Interior Ministry spokesman, Yousuf Stanekzai, confirmed the killings.
It was immediately clear why the pair were targeted but the Taleban have killed several prominent government and religious leaders who have spoken out against the rebels. Taleban officials could not be reached for comment. Correspondents say the attack on the school teacher may have been motivated by the Taleban's opposition to Afghans sending their children to secular government schools instead of Islamic seminaries.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/19/2005 09:47 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Poll Pot would just love these guys.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
10/19/2005 10:13 Comments ||
Top||
A group of Sudanese soldiers that former southern rebels had held as prisoners of war left the eastern town of Kassala for Khartoum on Tuesday, the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported. The 177 POWs freed by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement included four officers, non-commissioned officers and members of the Popular Defence Forces.
The government in Khartoum enlisted thousands of mujahidin (holy warriors) to fight alongside regular forces against the mainly Christian and animist south during more than two decades of north-south conflict. The SPLM freed them in accordance with a January peace agreement that ended Africa's longest-running civil war, which left an estimated two million people dead and displaced four million.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
âListed criminalâ killed in police âencounterâ in city
Police in Bangladesh uncovered on Wednesday a workshop for manufacturing small bombs on the top floor of a mosque in the northeastern Sylhet city, a television news channel said. Police raided the mosque belonging to the banned group 
In the wake of the recent spate of terror attacks including the August 17 countrywide bomb blasts, the government yesterday banned all activities of another Islamist outfit, 
UNB from Chittagong reports: A Metropolitan Magistrate Court yesterday granted five days' fresh remand to eight suspected militants for further interrogation as intelligent agencies found their links to the October 3 bomb blasts at Chittagong courts. Metropolitan Magistrate Akram Hossain granted the remand on a prayer from Detective Branch (DB) of police who told the court that the eight were involved in carrying explosives and supplying money to execute the blasts in two courts. Those who were taken on remand are: 
Jhenidah police yesterday arrested two charge-sheeted accused of JMB at Chandipur village in Sadar upazila. The two were involved in the August 17 blasts in Kushtia. The arrestees are 
A report says two suspected militants and one police officer have been killed in an armed clash in the southern Russian Republic of Daghestan, which neighbors Chechnya. The ITAR-TASS news agency quotes police as saying the two militants died during an antiterrorism operation by security forces in Khasavyurt. The operation is reported to have ended this morning. The report says one police officer was killed and four other police were wounded in exchanges of fire. The report says two other armed militants were detained by security forces on 18 October in Khasavyurt.
Russian security forces shot dead two suspected Islamic rebel fighters in the city of Nalchik and mounted a new sweep for insurgents involved in last week's widescale assault. Police said a man was shot dead overnight while attacking a paramilitary police post on the outskirts of Nalchik but gave no further details. Early Tuesday, soldiers and police backed by armoured personnel carriers closed off the same neighbourhood. Another man was shot dead when he allegedly put up armed resistance to officers trying to check his documents. Two more suspects fled, police said.
Dutch police arrested seven young Muslims last week after the man considered to be the main suspect made a video to say farewell to his family and friends. Justice officials claim the video made by Samir A., 19, referred to an act he 'had carried out'. The eight-minute video tape is in Arabic and it is unclear what "act" Samir was talking about, informed sources told the media. Police suspect he was planning a suicide attack. He is under investigation for plotting attacks on politicians and a government building.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A former Navy intelligence officer pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally exporting military aircraft parts overseas, saying he acted on behalf of a convicted Pakistani arms dealer.
Federal authorities are detaining at least one man of Egyptian origin who worked at a Middle Eastern market in Baltimore in connection with a threat that closed Interstate 95 and the Harbor and Fort McHenry tunnels after concern over a suspected terrorist plot to blow up one of the tunnels. The shutdown caused gridlock throughout the metropolitan region as police and federal agents investigated the threat.
Appearing in a tightly secured courtroom in the former headquarters of his Baath Party on Wednesday afternoon, nearly two years after his capture, the ousted president faced charges in a 1982 massacre of more than 140 Shia. Saddam pleaded innocent to charges including pre-meditated murder and torture. He argued with the judges, challenging the legitimacy of the court at his first trial for alleged atrocities by his toppled government. 
Insurgents shot and killed an adviser to one of Iraq's top Sunni Arab officials on Tuesday as he drove to work in Baghdad, police said. The shooting of Ayed Abdul Ghani occurred in new Baghdad, an eastern section of the capital, at about 7:45 a.m., said police Maj. Falah Al-Mohammedawi. The insurgents either drove up beside Ghani's vehicle and opened fire or first stopped the victim's car by blocking it, Al-Mohammedawi said.
A Sri Lankan spy aircraft crashed inside rebel-held territory in the island's north today while conducting an operational mission, which is in violation of a ceasefire agreement with the Tamil tigers. It was not immediately clear whether it was shot down by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or if the aircraft went down due to technical problems. According to defence sources, the controllers lost the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) while it was flying over Mankulam, near an airstrip operated by the tigers. Spy missions are a violation of a ceasefire agreement that went into effect in February 2002. Despite the truce, hundreds of people have been killed in violent clashes blamed on both sides.
SBS has broadcast footage of what it says is US soldiers burning two dead Taliban fighters as they faced Mecca and using the charred and smoking corpses in a propaganda campaign in southern Afghanistan.
Suspected Taleban militants have killed a school headmaster and a district chief in southern Afghanistan, officials say. The headmaster was shot by suspected insurgents on a motorbike in Kandahar's Panjwayi district on Tuesday, the interior ministry said. The head of the province's Arghandab district was shot dead in a mosque on Tuesday evening, it said. More than 1,200 people have died in violence linked to militants this year. Interior Ministry spokesman, Yousuf Stanekzai, confirmed the killings. 
