SANAA, Yemen, July 19 (UPI) -- A Yemeni lawyer says he fears that Yemeni prisoners to be freed from the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be re-arrested after returning home. Mohammed Allaw, a lawyer and former member of Parliament, told UPI Tuesday that 13 prisoners who are expected to be liberated soon are hesitant to return home where they fear they will be re-arrested.
Gee, I thought they would happy to return home where their rights as muslims would be respected
The director general of the Yemeni Foreign Ministry, Mustafa Naaman, said earlier that his government hoped Washington would free 50 out of 107 Yemeni prisoners in Guantanamo. Naaman said a Yemeni security team would travel to Washington soon to discuss the fate of the Yemeni inmates, and urge the release of at least 50 of them in the first phase.
Washington already released five Yemenis from Guantanamo earlier this year.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2005 10:16 ||
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Cry me a river.
River. That's a bunch of water flowing in a channel towards an ocean...
#2
Gitmo inmates are all harmless non-whites who have done nothing wrong and are being incarcerated as a result of SmirkyMcChimpHitler's illegal war on "terror". Why should they fear being arrested upon their release? Another obvious case of right-wing media propaganda and bias.
/LLL
Posted by: Chris W. ||
07/19/2005 11:15 Comments ||
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Go home or stay at Guantanamo? And they want to stay there?
Yeah, Gitmo must be some hellhole...
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, July 19 (UPI) -- Saudi coastal guards arrested seven Iranians who were allegedly trying to smuggle banned alcoholic beverages into Saudi Arabia, reports said Tuesday.
Normally you only see this kind of un-islamic behavior among european ex-pats in Saudi
The Saudi daily Okaz said the smugglers were intercepted in a small boat off the province of Jubeil in eastern Saudi Arabia. Police seized 600 boxes of beverages, including whiskey and vodka. The suspects were taken into custody for interrogation before being referred for trial.
Alcoholic beverages are strictly forbidden in Saudi Arabia, which is ruled according to Islamic law.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2005 10:04 ||
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And I thought ALK was another abbreviation for Al Qaida and the Saudis had caught some folks trying to sneak into Iraq. How naive!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/19/2005 12:15 Comments ||
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Are folks here aware that most of the alcohol served in SaoodiLand is actually homebrew "Everclear" stepped down to the appropriate alcohol percentages? There are labs somewhere that produce "flavor" products to (supposedly) make it taste like commercial products. Whiskey / bourbon is just called "brown" in most "clubs" - covert bars within housing compounds - sporting names like "Cheers" and "Manhattan". The flavors include Johnny Walker Red and Black, etc. Flavor stuff that actually does taste good is as rare as hen's teeth. I once tried a brew that was supposed to be Bailey's Irish Cream - and almost gagged, lol. Once was enough.
To get a real bottle of real commercial liquor is pretty heady and unusual. Talk about keeping the "good stuff" in the back room, lol, that's surely what would've happened with this (apparent) commercial hooch. The funny thing to me is that this was, if legit Western booze, probably destined for some Saudi venue, such as the compound that was attacked in Riyadh - not for the Westerners, who make do with the "flavored" homebrew.
Oh, and the beer? Fuhgeddaboutit. Camel piss. Hadta be - mainly cuz I can't believe anyone would make that crap on purpose.
[insert funny stories here - such as Anzac Day - all booze, every drop, in every club in every compound, gone by noon, every year. Drunk Ozzies literally littering the ground in the compounds near the clubs. Have to steer around them in the streets. Looked like the morning after in the movie Night of the Comet, lol]
BTW, alcohol in SA is called "sid" - short for siddiqi - Arabic for friend. I'd like the title to say Sid Runners Seized... Lol!
#4
To get a real bottle of real commercial liquor is pretty heady and unusual.
LOl! You aren't kidding. We got hold of a bottle of Glenlivet from someone in the U.S. government community while we were at RSN base in Jubail. The story of how it got in-country was something out of a Forsyth novel. I also won't mention how we got it on base and aboard ship...
It was fun standing on the forecastle, drinking 'coffee' and waving at the muttawas at the base of the pier.
#1
As far as I was willing to read it was a recycled New York Times article claiming that the 7/7 attacks were tony Blair's fault, because he refuses to pull out of Iraq. What a pity... once upon a time the International Herald Tribune was worth the paper it was printed on.
Criticism of the British government grew Monday over the revelation that the vaunted domestic intelligence service did not detain one of the London attackers last year after linking him to a suspect in an alleged plot by other Britons of Pakistani descent to explode a truck bomb in the capital.
MI5 (search) found itself under fire as new information emerged Monday about the bombers' connection with Pakistan: Two of the suspects traveled together to the southern city of Karachi (search) last November and returned to London in February. A third bomber went to the same city last July.
The British intelligence service reportedly did not find Mohammad Sidique Khan (search) â who was checked out in connection with the alleged bomb plot last year â to be a threat to national security and failed to put him under surveillance.
The Home Office, which speaks for MI5, declined to comment on the suggestion that agents had dropped a crucial lead, or on reports that a Briton of Pakistani origin suspected of links to Al Qaeda had entered the country two to three weeks before the attack and flown out the day before.
If true, "this would indeed be evidence of an enormous failure," said Charles Shoebridge, a security analyst and former counterterrorism intelligence officer.
The government, meanwhile, reacted sharply to a report by two leading think tanks that said Britain's close alliance with the United States in the Iraq war has put it at particular risk of terrorist attack.
The Royal Institute of International Affairs (search) and the Economic and Social Research Council (search) said the situation in Iraq had given "a boost to the Al Qaeda network's propaganda, recruitment and fund-raising" and provided an ideal training ground for Al Qaeda-linked terrorists.
"The terrorists have struck across the world, in countries allied with the United States, backing the war in Iraq and in countries which had nothing whatever to do with the war in Iraq," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in Brussels, Belgium.
Despite criticism of British intelligence, the government has not launched any investigations into why the security services did not pick up the London bombers before July 7, when the attackers blew up three London subways and a double-decker bus, killing 56 people.
"All the political parties are agreed that the right course at the moment is to focus on what further steps need to be taken in relation to the law but also getting to the root of that evil ideology that is driving this terrorism," Charles Falconer, the lord chancellor, told the BBC. "Now is not the time for any form of inquiry."
Critics acknowledged that intelligence officials face a tricky task in choosing how to allocate their resources for tasks like surveillance.
Nonetheless, "had the assessment of the available intelligence regarding Khan been different, so might also have been the outcome of July the 7th," Shoebridge said.
According to The Independent and other British newspapers, British intelligence reportedly found that Khan, 30, had visited the home of a man linked to an alleged plot to blow up a London target, possibly a Soho nightclub, with a fertilizer bomb.
In that investigation, detectives arrested eight suspects across southern England in March 2004 and seized a half ton of ammonium nitrate, a chemical fertilizer used in many bomb attacks.
The eight suspects were to go to trial this year. But given the July 7 attacks, the trial may be delayed, Scotland Yard told The Associated Press.
John Carnt, a former Scotland Yard (search) detective superintendent with expertise in counterterrorism and covert surveillance, said intelligence agencies are so bombarded with information it can be hard to home in on an individual.
Khan's "might have been one name amidst many other names, and there may have been nothing else that added weight to it," said Carnt, now managing director of Vance International Ltd., a London-based security and intelligence company. "You've got bits of information coming across your desk. It can be difficult to identify which bit to pay closer attention to."
Khan traveled to Karachi in November with fellow bomber Shahzad Tanweer (search), 22, said Shahid Hayyat, deputy director at Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency. Hasib Hussain (search), the 18-year-old bus bomber, went to the same city in July.
The purpose of their visits was unclear. All three were born in Britain to Pakistani parents, but their ancestral country is also home to Al Qaeda and other extremist Muslim groups.
Pakistani intelligence officials have said Tanweer stayed briefly at a religious school and met with a member of an outlawed militant group. Pakistani intelligence agents have questioned students, teachers and administrators at the school in Lahore, and at least two other Al Qaeda-linked radical Islamic centers.
NBC News reported Monday that Western intelligence officials told the network that an Al Qaeda operative in U.S. custody, Mohammed Junad Babar, told interrogators he took Khan to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan during a previous visit.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair was set to meet with Muslim leaders, along with political officials, to try to forge a common, united front against Islamic extremism. Conservative party leader Michael Howard (search) and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy (search) were to attend.
The Sunday Times, quoting unidentified American officials, said U.S. intelligence had warned Britain that the fourth July 7 bomber, Jamaican-born Germaine Lindsay (search), 19, was on a terror watch list but MI5 failed to monitor him.
However, a U.S. law enforcement official told the AP on Monday he was unaware that Lindsay was on any U.S. lists of known or suspected terrorists. American authorities are reviewing intelligence and interviewing people already in custody to determine any connection to the bombers, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
The best leads in the case so far had come from a combination of old-fashioned detective work and modern technology, with little apparent out-front assistance from the intelligence services, Shoebridge said.
Detectives identified the four suspected bombers within days of the attacks by scouring the bomb sites for physical clues and scrutinizing closed-circuit television footage. Crucial help came from Hussain's distraught mother, who phoned police to report her son missing.
Investigators hope to track down leads that will help them crack the network that aided â and perhaps recruited â the four bombers.
They expect more forensic evidence to come from the bombing sites and the homes they have raided in Leeds, northern England, home base of three of the suspects. Authorities are also questioning a man they have arrested.
"This investigation is in some respects going in reverse," Carnt said. "They actually know who did it, and now they're tracing back to learn who their associates were, who they met with, where they socialized."
Detectives reportedly found nine bombs in a car left at a train station parking lot in Luton, the hometown of Lindsay. They have also reportedly uncovered extremist literature in the Leeds homes and another residence in Aylesbury, northwest of London, and are examining computers seized from those houses.
Police in Leeds continued their investigation of an Islamic book shop, the Iqra Learning Centre. Tanweer and Hussain both lived in Leeds, as did biochemist Magdy Mahmoud Mustafa el-Nashar (search), a former Leeds University instructor arrested in Egypt as part of the investigation.
Egypt's leading pro-government newspaper, Al-Ahram, quoted an unidentified security source as saying el-Nashar told investigators he rented a house to Hussain. British police searched el-Nashar's Leeds home after reportedly finding traces of explosives in his bathtub.
El-Nashar reportedly has denied involvement in the London bombings, and Egyptian security officials have said the country is not prepared to hand him over to Britain.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 10:58 ||
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If the Brits value accountability at all there will be some careers circling the drain tomorrow.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
07/19/2005 11:53 Comments ||
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said intelligence agencies are so bombarded with information it can be hard to home in on an individual
oh pleeaase! Give me a break. From what I've read, and I haven't been following the nitty details on this, so forgive me if I am wrong - but IIUC, at least one of these lads went to both Paksitan and Afghanistan and went out of his way to attend a known radical mosque at Drewsbury.
#3
Without any view on previous comments ... I should think it's a difficult line between raising a big stink over nothing and waiting until it's too late. Remember Bush was accused of "scare tactics' to affect the election when threat levels were raised.... Our friends in the media are always there to second-guess.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/19/2005 12:22 Comments ||
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The BBC had run a story on TV about he the was on terror and fears of terrorist attack were all a sham to control the public not long ago.
Tony Blair needs to consider holding talks with Islamic extremists in the wake of the London bombings, the Conservative's Muslim vice-chair says.
Sayeeda Warsi says Mr Blair should follow the example of ministers' engagement with IRA representatives.
Ms Warsi joined Tory leader Michael Howard at a meeting with Mr Blair and Muslim leaders in Downing Street.
Speaking outside No 10 she said the government was "in denial" about the causes of the bombings on 7 July.
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and other MPs also attended the talks to discuss how to respond to the London bombings.
Mr Blair was asking how young Britons became suicide bombers and offering support to leaders who expose problems in their communities.
He says this type of "evil within the Muslim community" can only be "defeated by the community itself".
But Ms Warsi, who lives in Dewsbury, near to the family of Mohammad Sidique Khan - thought to be the Edgware Road bomber - says that is a policy doomed to failure.
"I live round the corner from the mother-in-law of the alleged bomber in Dewsbury - I have known the family most of my life - and that's why I am worried about Blair's stance," she told the BBC News website.
"I would never have known this particular individual had any links to these atrocities, so when you say this is something that the Muslim community needs to weed out, or deal with, that is a very dangerous step to take.
"It is the role of the police and the security services to deal with the security of this country.
"What they will get is complete cooperation and support from the Muslim community, but it must be security services and police led.
"If they say the Muslim community must deal with it, I think they will fail in that, not through a lack of commitment or desire, but because these people are so difficult to detect.
"If you are going to commit such an atrocity, you are not going to go round telling people what you are doing.
"These young men lead very normal lives - they have families, children, jobs and they are educated, so I think it is a very hard task."
Instead Ms Warsi, 34, who failed to win the Dewsbury seat from Labour at the general election, says Mr Blair should consider talking to the very people he believes are linked to the London bombings.
"We must start engaging with, not agreeing with, the radical groups who we have said in the past are complete nutters," she said.
"We need to bring these groups into the fold of the democratic process. As long as we exclude them and don't hear them out, we will allow them to continue their hate.
"It may not achieve results immediately, but it may stop the immediate violence."
Ms Warsi says talks with representatives of Sinn Fein/IRA helped stem the violence in Northern Ireland.
"And what we have seen so recently in Kashmir is when the two sides [India and Pakistan] engage in dialogue, the level of violence decreases," she said.
Ms Warsi says she hopes the government will engage with Muslims from all ethnic groups and sects, and encourage a basic level of training for Imams in mosques.
"We must deal with the disenfranchised youth, the men, in our community. We must do that by regulating what is being taught and who it is being taught by and that will include potential immigration controls on Imams and speakers from outside Britain."
Ms Warsi says while there is "no linkage per say" between the Iraq war and the London bombings, there were many issues, like the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Graib jail and the background of Guantanamo Bay that were happening at the same time.
"Although the government may not accept that these were the causes for 7 July, to go into denial mode is not the way forward. We must have a constructive debate," she said.
She added: "When you have got Chatham House saying Iraq was a contributing factor we have to be brave enough to say, hey, maybe it did have a contributing factor."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 10:31 ||
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[Tony Blair] says this type of "evil within the Muslim community" can only be "defeated by the community itself".
But Ms Warsi, who lives in Dewsbury, near to the family of Mohammad Sidique Khan - thought to be the Edgware Road bomber - says that is a policy doomed to failure.
Obviously but it's good to finally hear one of them admit that they can't / won't police their own. Mass deportations (please) in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ....
Posted by: Stephen ||
07/19/2005 14:33 Comments ||
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"not getting the concept dept"
its obviously up to the police to arrest folks, not the muslims, and obviously they cant tell what everyone has on their mind. What Blair wants the muslim community to do, is to identify and isolate the imams and mosques that incite to jihad, and to cooperate with the state in dealing with them. this seems eminently doable.
#4
Well, LH, don't hold your breath waiting for them to emminently get off their collective asses and do it. The Muslim capacity for critical introspection is rather lacking.
#6
What Blair wants the muslim community to do, is to identify and isolate the imams and mosques that incite to jihad, and to cooperate with the state in dealing with them.
[imitating GHWB]"Ain't gon' do it..."[/imitating GHWB]
Posted by: Dana Carvey ||
07/19/2005 19:00 Comments ||
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Pressure on Britain's intelligence services intensified on Tuesday with the leaking of a memo in which they said just weeks before the London bombings that there was no group with the motive and means to attack.
The threat assessment report from Britain's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), obtained by the New York Times from a foreign intelligence service, also stated that violence in Iraq motivated terrorist-related activity in Britain.
The report concluded: "At present there is not a group with both the current intent and the capability to attack the UK."
The fact the JTAC had downgraded the security threat in June was not new -- the government confirmed it in the wake of the July 7 London bombings and said then that there was no evidence a higher threat level would have made any difference.
But the language of the JTAC memo, disclosed for the first time, came as a surprise because it was so direct.
"Speaking as a 30-year intelligence officer, I would be suprised at any intelligence officer who made a categorical statement that there was no one out there with the capability or intent to do something," said Robert Ayers, associate fellow of London's Royal Institute of International Affairs.
"I think that statement is of the same character as the 'dodgy dossier' statements. It sounds to me like some of the qualifiers and the caveats disappeared from the statement," said Ayers, a former intelligence specialist in the U.S. Army and Defense Intelligence Agency.
He was referring to a British government dossier released before the Iraq war and based on intelligence that was subsequently discredited, including the claim Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could fire some chemical and biological weapons at just 45 minutes' notice.
The decision to downgrade the threat level from "severe general" to "substantial" was taken after Britain's general election in May, which authorities had feared could be targeted by militants.
But independent security analysts have questioned the decision to scale down the threat weeks before a summit of the world's most powerful leaders in Scotland.
It was on the first full day of the Group of Eight summit that suspected al Qaeda-linked bombers blew up three London underground trains and a bus, killing more than 50 people.
Senior government minister Geoff Hoon would not comment on the New York Times report but said: "We have to make judgments on the best intelligence that is available at the time.
"But obviously we continue to review the sources of information and our assessment of them," he told reporters.
The government has also rejected suggestions the London bombings were retribution for Britain's role in Iraq.
But the JTAC report said "events in Iraq are continuing to act as motivation and a focus of a range of terrorist-related activity in the UK".
The JTAC memo also appeared at odds with previous public comments by top police chiefs and government officials that a major attack on Britain was a question of when, not if.
Ayers said lowering the threat level would have had a practical effect in reducing the security presence and level of checks carried out in public places.
"I find it difficult to understand how the government can state that we lowered the threat level but it had no effect on our ability to detect and prevent these attacks," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 10:13 ||
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This is a job for Professional HandWringers Ltd. Stand back amateurs and keep a sharp eye on the pros ladz.
Suicide bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan, the 30-year-old teaching assistant from Leeds, has emerged as the commander of the London terror attacks, with links to suspected al-Qaeda operatives across three continents.
As Khan's family came forward yesterday to make a public statement expressing their astonishment for his part in the 'horrific and evil' act that killed at least 55 people, security sources confirmed he was linked to a previous foiled terrorist plot in Britain. US reports also suggest that he had links to a second plot linked to an al-Qaeda cell in Pakistan. Khan is also believed to have been in telephone contact with a suspected al-Qaeda recruiter in New York.
The development came as the police investigation in Yorkshire focused on an Islamic bookshop at the heart of the Leeds neighbourhood where three of the London bombers came from. On Friday officers used a battering ram to smash open the doors of the Iqra Learning Centre in Bude Road, around the corner from the home of Shehzad Tanweer, who killed seven people in the Aldgate blast. It emerged that the man still being questioned by police in London, Naveed Fiaz, had links to the shop.
The Observer can also reveal that one of the four London suicide bombers had telephone contact with one of the terrorist suspects controversially detained in Belmarsh prison without trial. The Belmarsh detainees were released last year after the Law Lords ruled that their imprisonment was illegal.
Yesterday the family of Khan expressed their sympathy to the victims, their friends and family saying they were 'devastated'.
They urged anyone with any information to contact detectives in order to 'expose these terror networks who target and groom our sons to carry out such evils'.
A statement issued through the police said: 'The Khan family would like to sincerely express their deepest and heartfelt sympathies to all the innocent victims and their families and friends affected by this horrific and evil act.
'We are devastated that our son may have been brainwashed into carrying out such an atrocity, since we know him as a kind and caring member of our family.'
Last night, the wife of Germaine Lindsay spoke of her devastation at learning of her husband's secret life. Samantha Lewthwaite, 22, said: 'I never predicted or imagined that he was involved in such horrific activities. He was a loving husband and father.
'My whole world has fallen apart, and my thoughts are with the families of the victims of this incomprehensible devastation.'
Lindsay's half-sister said he had been a 'great brother, just like any sister would want a brother to be'. But Dana Reid told Channel 4 News that he had changed when he started to attend local mosques.
The pair drifted apart and Reid only heard about his death on the news. But she added, that despite his change, she could not believe he would have carried out the atrocities. 'I want proof,' she said. 'He did change but he never changed in his love for people.'
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 10:08 ||
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The London suicide bombers had enough extra explosives in their car to mount two further waves of terror attacks.
Police are investigating the possibility that up to nine bombs, primed and ready to use, could have been left in the hired Nissan Micra used by the gang.
Forensic experts will today continue to examine the remains of the car left outside Luton station when the men caught a train to King's Cross.
Bomb disposal teams carried out nine controlled explosions on the vehicle using, it is believed, a procedure for dealing with bombs already fitted with detonators.
Scientific confirmation that the bombs were primed would underline fears that a second or even third terror cell was planning another wave of atrocities.
A mysterious fifth person was seen with the four bombers and one theory is that he had been due to return to the car and deliver its deadly cargo elsewhere, but for some reason changed his mind.
The bombers had bought a day-long parking ticket, displayed on the windscreen. Three of the men had driven in the car from West Yorkshire.
Their rucksack bombs are thought to have been made in the bath of a house in Leeds. The gang could have placed their explosives in plastic containers bought from a Leeds garden centre, police believe.
The Daily Mail understands that a receipt found in the wreckage of one of the blasts led officers directly to The Range Home and Leisure Garden Centre at Tulip Retail Park.
This modern industrial estate is a few hundred yards from Beeston, the multicultural red-brick area of Leeds which increasingly looks like the seedbed for the horrific terror attacks, with at least three of the suicide bombers being at the centre of radical Islamic groups there.
It appears that one of the men went to the Range store a couple of days before the July 7 bombings and bought several large plastic containers for a few pounds each.
Police believe the 10lb of explosive, detonators, and any accompanying shrapnel, would have been placed into each of the containers, which were then placed into each of the bombers' rucksacks before they left on their mission.
Last night security sources stressed that police had still to prove conclusively that several bombs had been left in the Nissan Micra hire car.
It is unclear whether any traces of explosives were found in the red Fiat left at the station by a fourth member of the cell, Jamaican-born Germaine 'Jamal' Lindsay.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has warned that further terrorist attacks are likely and that other Al Qaeda trained Britons are at large.
And officials said yesterday that three of the bombers - Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, Shahzad Tanweer, 22, and Hasib Hussain, 18 - were all in Pakistan at the same time earlier this year.
It emerged that Khan and Tanweer both spent several weeks in Pakistan and that in February Tanweer met with a leader of the outlawed Jaish-e-Muhammad, which has links to Al Qaeda and a wave of suicide bombings.
More than a dozen arrests were made in Pakistan yesterday by police probing possible links to the London bombings.
Pakistan's officials have also been sent a list of 12 Britons of Pakistani origin who have vanished in recent years with a request for any available information. Anti-terror investigators are carrying out an exhaustive trawl of telephone numbers used by the gang - and calls they received - in the hope of hunting down accomplices.
MI5 is reviewing all its Islamist terror investigations since 2000.
Officials have confirmed that Khan, a special needs teacher of Dewsbury, had been the subject of a 'routine threat assessment' by MI5 after his name cropped up in an investigation last year into a foiled bomb plot. He is said to have met one of the men linked to that plot but a 'quick assessment' at the time judged he was 'on the periphery' and posed no threat.
The decision not to follow up the link, however weak, and not to monitor a low-level Al Qaeda suspect who entered Britain through Felixstowe and left from Heathrow two weeks later, shortly before the attack, are likely to feature in any review of intelligence failures leading to the bombings on three Tube trains and a bus.
The Egyptian biochemist linked to the bombers was arrested for suspected terrorism in 1997, it is claimed.
Magdy Al Nashar, 33, was seized by Egyptian police after the massacre of 58 tourists in Luxor, according to neighbours of his home in Cairo.
He was quizzed by Egyptian security services for two weeks but released without charge.
The chemistry PhD student is being questioned by Scotland Yard detectives at the headquarters of the Egyptian security services in Cairo.
He helped Jamal Lindsay rent a flat in Leeds last month but returned to Egypt a week before the attacks.
One theory is that Al Nashar provided the expertise in making the bombs.
But he has denied playing any part in the atrocities, telling police he arrived in Egypt for a holiday on June 30. His family claim that Al Nashar, a divorcee, returned to look for a new wife.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 10:00 ||
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Most interesting. If the police do find a single primed bomb, let alone nine, then that suggests that not all went according to plan. If it was indeed planned as a suicide mission, whether the boomers knew or not, additional explosives wouldn't have been left behind. These bombs were reportedly at or less than 5 kg. Each bomber could have easily added an additional bomb to his payload, if all terrorists did not meet at the rendevous point. I believe there can be only two explanations:
1)There was a mistake in setting the timers. In a failed terrorist attack in the Philippenes in early 1991, terrorists working on behalf of hte Iraqi government set thier bomb timers to minutes instead of hours. You can imagine the results. It became known in the CIA as "Operation Dogmeat". Such a mistake might could imply that the bombs, or at least the timers, were prepared across the channel. I recall an instance where a Palistinian terrorist set a bomb to his time, forgetting that Israel had moves to daylight savings time ahead of the Palestinian areas.
2)The plot was stopped in progress by the authorities. The Israeli warning was literally last-minute. However, this still may have allowed UK security forces to stop some bombers from reaching their targets, indeed from reaching their bombs. We may have a reportof this.
The two scenarios I have laid out are not mutually exclusive, e.g. Four bombers did not return due to "short rounds" and the fifth man was intercepted.
A court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by an Algerian al Qaeda suspect over his conviction for the murder of a British policemen in 2003. Kamel Bourgass, 31, was jailed for life last year for stabbing a police officer during a raid in the city of Manchester. Bourgass, a failed asylum seeker, was also convicted earlier this year on charges of plotting to spread ricin and other poisons on the streets of Britain. The appeal related only to his murder conviction.
Stoopid Kamel. If you're only jugged for plotting to kill people your mouthpiece can eventually get you out, if only on a technicality. If they've got a corpse to point to, you're toast.
Bourgass's lawyers argued that his murder trial was prejudiced because the jury was told of the ricin plot.
But you gotta admit, the dead policeman helped...
But appeal judges said the reference to the plot was relevant to the murder trial because it explained why Bourgass reacted so violently when he was arrested. His lawyer said on Tuesday the case would be taken to the country's highest appeal court, the House of Lords. The appeal took place in the wake of bombings in London that killed 56 people. Police have said they are confident of finding an al Qaeda link to the four British bombers who carried out the attacks on July 7. Bourgass's arrest followed an operation by anti-terrorist officers related to a suspected chemical weapons laboratory at a London flat in January 2003. The jury in his second trial failed to reach a verdict on a second charge of conspiracy to commit murder. He was jailed for 17 years.
See what I mean? No corpses, just the intent to produce them. Wotta maroon.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 09:59 ||
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A controversial Muslim cleric who is banned from entering the US has not been invited to speak in the UK, London mayor Ken Livingstone has said. British media reported that Yusuf al Qaradawi was due address a Muslim conference in Manchester later this month. The 79-year-old Egyptian sparked controversy when he said Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel could be justified as "a weapon of last resort".
But Mr Livingstone said Mr al Qaradawi had not been invited to the meeting and media reports were incorrect. "He has received no invitation to come to London," said Mr Livingstone. "It is not unusual for people to to call a public meeting and stick their names on a leaflet to guarantee a better turnout." Mr Livingstone said he had spoken to Mr al Qaradawi's office and "not only is he not coming but he was not aware he had been invited". He also qualified Mr al Qaradawi's position on suicide bombers, saying the cleric had justified the attacks in Israel but had condemned the London bombings as "evil acts". That's right Ken, suicide bombing's ok unless it's in your own back yard. Don't try and play Churchill with us when the tube gets bombed you utter f*cking c*nt.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/19/2005 07:44 ||
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"He has received no invitation to come to London," said Mr Livingstone.
Yes. he'll have to wait until we're in the "Why do they hate us" phase. Should be a couple of months...
#2
fckin Ken eh, the comment in yellow had me in stiches too 'playing churchill' and 'utter f*cking c*nt' I couldnt agree more with that, lets all wish Ken a slow horrific death - i know i am.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
07/19/2005 8:32 Comments ||
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#3
That's why Qaradawi was already issued a visa to Britain so that Red Ken could deny his attendance. Too bad, I was hoping that football hooligans would reenact the the Khomenei funeral with Qaradawi in the starring role.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2005 8:34 Comments ||
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#4
tu3031, unfortuantly the why do they do it phase has already started, british news media has been playing like a tribute and and 'this is your life' special to the terrorists, even had the fckers previous employer - some headmisstres at a school saying what a smashing and super chap he was,sick eh. Yes its been like a a fully fledged tribute to them. Sky news however did run a piece this morning where they went in some hate preaching mosque in eygpt, the weeping muslims watching videos of fellow dead muslims in afghan and iraq, hundreds of em all packed in there.See to me that place is a barracks and training camp, should put a cruise missile with thermobaric warheadinto these place on friday 'prayer' time.Yeah sky guy - adam boulten i think got in to quite an argument with some Eygption muslim 'theologin' guy who claimed the evil jooos had brainwashed these poor innocent little lambs, he was a very creepy guy indeed. Perhaps SkyNews may be the only bright light out there in british media nowdays.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
07/19/2005 8:40 Comments ||
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#5
Damn, where are those ACLU bastards when you need them? His first amendment rights have been infringed. He should be entitled to monetary compensation.
Tony Blair will on Tuesday set the seal on a cross-party coalition to fight terrorism after the three main political parties agreed to rush through new laws by Christmas. The prime minister will host a summit attended by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders, senior Muslims and MPs, to build on the consensus achieved since the London bombings. But although Charles Clarke, home secretary, secured the backing of the opposition parties at a meeting on Monday, the government faces a battle to convince some members of the House of Lords of the merits of its counter-terrorism legislation. Liberal Democrat peers who led opposition to the government's anti-terror laws before the election warned that plans to create a new offence of âglorifyingâ terrorism should be approached with care and could fall foul of European law.
Lord Goodhart said: âIf legislation goes beyond what can be regarded as being necessary in a democratic society it would fall foul of article 10 of the European Convention [on human rights].â Article 10 relates to freedom of expression. He added there could be legal difficulties in securing convictions under the proposed legislation. British police and security chiefs are expected to press the government for increased resources when they meet Mr Blair on Thursday. Number 10 is expected to reassure those in charge of the investigation that they can count on sufficient funding to boost manpower, training and technology. The counter-terrorism bill will be put before parliament in October.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2005 00:00 ||
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14 people, eleven policemen and three civilians, among them two children aged 13 and 14, were killed on Tuesday after a police car was blown up in the Chechen village of Znamenskoye. About 20 people were injured.
The village is approximately 60 km (37 mi) northwest of the Chechen capital of Grozny. Most of the dead were local residents; only two were policemen.
Chechen president Alu Alkhanov was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying that the terrorist attack was committed by gunmen following orders from warlord Shamil Basayev.
Basayev has claimed responsibility for several bloody attacks in Chechnya and other Russian regions, including the school siege in Beslan.
âThis crime has no statute of limitation,â Alkhanov said, adding that those who are guilty âwill not evade punishment.â
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 11:37 ||
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Turkey has grown accustomed to terrorism. Saturday's devastating blast was the second within a fortnight to target package tour destinations on the Aegean coast.
Like the UK, Turkey has experienced separatist bombings and suicidal Islamist onslaughts.
There was some uncertainty about who to blame for the latest atrocity in Kusadasi. Most suspicions focused on Kurdish fighters, who last year relaunched their military campaign for an independent homeland in south-east Turkey.
This month they claimed responsibility for an attack on nearby Cesme. A group calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons said it had planted the bomb.
This breakaway faction came to attention when it attacked two hotels in Istanbul last August, killing two foreigners.
The resurgence in Kurdish violence follows the collapse of a three-year ceasefire observed by the main Kurdish paramilitary organisation, the PKK or Kurdistan Workers party.
The PKK blames the government for failing to enter talks on Kurdish devolution and for refusing to grant adequate terms of amnesty to its fighters. Since the insurrection began in 1984, 37,000 people have died.
The PKK is alleged to have acquired explosives from Iraq and to have begun training suicide bombers.
Britain's ambassador to Turkey, Sir Peter Westmacott, yesterday said the Turkish authorities were convinced the Kusadasi bombing was the work of the PKK.
Nonetheless, the ferocity of the killings is more reminiscent of al-Qaida. Coming so soon after the London bombings, some suspect the Kusadasi bombing could be part of a fresh wave of coordinated attacks by Islamists against UK and western interests.
Turkey - a predominantly Muslim state which is eager to join the EU - has been targeted by al-Qaida sympathisers several times.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 11:13 ||
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German Interior Minister Otto Schily said Monday, July 18, the government is considering placing all mosques under scrutiny through closed-circuit TV cameras. Schily, in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, said German Muslims should prevent those he termed as hatred-inciting imams from taking the pulpit. His remarks echoed those of Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein who proposed on Saturday, July 16, planting spies inside mosques, censoring sermons and monitoring Muslim organizations using tiny cameras.
In statements published by Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper, Beckstein said state security services should have free hand in dealing with Islamic organizations that prefer their religion to the countryâs constitution. He further called for dialogue with moderate Muslims, asking the minority to publicly denounce violence in all its forms before such a dialogue.
The anti-Muslim rhetoric was fueled by the London blasts that targeted three underground stations and a double-decker bust on Thursday, July 7, killing at least 55 people. The mooted restrictions on the Muslim places of worship, however, drew diatribe from the Greens party, government officials and minority leaders. Greens leader Claudia Ruth said it is embarrassing that the Becksteinâs Christian Socialist party takes advantage of the London attacks for electoral gains. She was referring to the expected early parliamentary elections in the country, where right-wing parties are expected to play the terror card to win votes.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
"state security services should have free hand in dealing with Islamic organizations that prefer their religion to the countryâs constitution"
How very true. And why are they there.
To stay in one's country, a person should be expected to love the constitution and abide by it.
It will be interesting to hear what is truly being said....
"..anti-Muslim rhetoric.." Rhetoric????
Posted by: Jan ||
07/19/2005 0:25 Comments ||
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#2
Heh, Jan - it is Islam Online, after all.
This sounds like a capital idea - we should do it too so more and more people can come to understand the Religion of Peace better.
#8
I truly regards as insane constructs systems where the elements of what we would call the Executive Branch can be opposition to the head - Prime - of that branch of Govt.
I recall reading scores of Aris posts on how and why this was so wonderful. And they never made any real-world sense or held water. It only guarantees stalemates, shenanigans, and compromises which make everyone unhappy - achieving zip.
#11
Why am I not suprised by a "diatribe from the Greens party" I am sure the PM will spare no chance in kissing some Imams ass if he thinks it will help him stay in power too. The Reds are just as screw up as the Greens are by and large.
As for government monitoring of Religious instutions, if they have nothing to hide they should be happy to accomodate the suggestion. I know that when I was a "religious" person I had nothing to hide, nor did the church I attended. We of course belonged to a sect that has holy writing encouraging us to obey the laws of the state.
Oh yes please pass a Law that all sermons must be in German or a European language (Roman latan, Italian or, Danish you know, no Turkic or Arabian languages.) to go along with this.
#12
For such measure to be useful, one should first define exactly what language is unacceptable.
We all know we shouldn't shout "fire!" in a crowded theatre. Moslems need to know what they can't do in civilized countries (for starters, promotion of taqiya, jihad, sharia, the murder of non-Moslems, as well as requests to Allah for Jew-hating speaking trees and ground-shaking bolts).
#13
One could very well get a wrong picture a la Grosse Deutchland's support of the Handschar and Croatische... but when it comes to the homeland, don't count Germany out. Unlike much of Western Europe, I don't see today's Germany as being inherently suidical. I like TGA's approach. State it loud and clear and then follow through. We should do likewise starting with Lodi, CA.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/19/2005 2:43 Comments ||
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#14
TGA, your comment here, Btw Beckstein will be the next German Interior Minister. And he's up to no good with radical Muslims, believe me.
doesn't seem to match with this fragment of the story,
His remarks echoed those of Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein who proposed on Saturday, July 16, planting spies inside mosques, censoring sermons and monitoring Muslim organizations using tiny cameras.
Is Beckstein one of the good guys or not? - it may have got lost in translation ;) but 'up to no good with' implies that he's on the side of the Imams.
BTW, you should see my German - actually, you can't - because there isn't any! ;)
Thanks
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/19/2005 4:09 Comments ||
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#15
Moslems need to know what they can't do in civilized countries (for starters, promotion of taqiya, jihad, sharia, the murder of non-Moslems, as well as requests to Allah for Jew-hating speaking trees and ground-shaking bolts).
In other words if they'd just stop practicing Islam .... LOL
He further called for dialogue with moderate Muslims, asking the minority to publicly denounce violence in all its forms before such a dialogue.
Note that this implies the "moderates" are actually a minority. Translation problem? If this is Islam online, this truly worries me. I've already begun to shift from "The moderates need to condemn this" to "The moderates need to kick out the @rsewipes in their midst ASAP" and have begun to question if there are any "moderates." Maybe not. If we leap to that conclusion, it's going to get a lot uglier before it gets better.
Posted by: BA ||
07/19/2005 10:03 Comments ||
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#17
No, no, no, imam. Those cameras are there to prevent...ummmmmmmmmmmmmm...hate crimes! You know, graffitti spraying and like that? Pay no attention to them. They're for your...ummmmmmmm...protection! That's it!
#18
Problem is they can't seem to help themselves. Two or three generations down the line in a free society and they still spawn nasty boomers. But hey, they were just good lads led astray. Happens everyday. You get angry about something so why not express yourself by killing as many innocent civilians (and a few of your coreligionists to boot). It makes absolute sense. Brilliant. Perfectly understandible isn't it. Now why would anyone want to pick on such nice people?
#19
I've already begun to shift from "The moderates need to condemn this"Stage oneto "The moderates need to kick out the @rsewipes in their midst ASAP"Stage Twoand have begun to question if there are any "moderates."Stage Three
I'd place myself at Two with a heavy overlap into Three.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/19/2005 10:32 Comments ||
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#20
Closed circuit TV cameras in all German mosques? That's pretty radical. Not that I mind. But hell will freeze over before this happens.
#21
I truly regards as insane constructs systems where the elements of what we would call the Executive Branch can be opposition to the head - Prime - of that branch of Govt. I recall reading scores of Aris posts on how and why this was so wonderful.
It's cool that you recall reading them, but I'm not sure I recall writing them -- unless it was in the context of the general division of state power: certainly I don't feel that any single branch need or should be united -- the legislative branch isn't united for example given how there are a lot of parties in Parliaments, and legislators can always choose to rebel against the party line also -- in fact I'd argue that the higher the possibility for such dissent the higher the level of democracy: One of the problems of the political system in Greece is that it makes the members of parliament too dependent on the parties.
#22
And I see frequent gridlock, lol! Now it's possible that a state of gridlock can, indeed, be seen as a good thing now and then, as Govts do get up to no good at times, but as the norm I believe it to be just silly.
#26
Oh no Beckstein is the tough guy, I know him personally.
His opinion is that Muslims who do not support the German Constitution should not live in Germany.
#27
No one who doesn't support the German constutition should live in Germany at all TGA. The Constution is as it is for a reason. So far it's doing a pretty good job all in all.
Singapore is monitoring its citizens who go to Islamic religious schools in Pakistan amid reports three of the four London suicide bombers had visited that country, Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said on Monday.
But Tan, who is also the coordinating minister for defence and security, said Singapore was a free society and the government could not control every movement of its people. Tan was asked in parliament whether the government was monitoring Singaporeans who go to âmadrassasâ or religious schools in Pakistan. âYes, we do keep track. We try to keep track of who goes there,â Tan said. âBut we are a free society so we cannot be sure of everybody. We do know that there are Singaporeans who have gone to some madrassas in a neighbouring country and from there went on to Pakistan. We have to depend very much on feedback from relatives, from friends on such activities.â
Tan noted that it was a tip-off from a member of the public about a Muslim Singaporean who had gone to Afghanistan that led to the arrest here of 31 militants of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group in December 2001. The arrests crippled the JI cell in Singapore and foiled plans by the group to bomb foreign embassies and other targets, the government has said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 11:44 ||
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PUTRAJAYA, July 18 (Bernama) -- Describing the development in insurgency-hit southern Thailand as worrying, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, Monday expressed hope that the Thai government will resolve the matter in a holistic manner... Malaysia realised that it was a domestic issue of Thailand but it was monitoring the situation closely as a neighbour and friend.
He said broad powers accorded to the Thai Prime Minister's Office in Bangkok to deal with the conflict should be used wisely so that peace could return to the region...
The minister said Malaysia would continue with activities under bilateral cooperation for the benefit of communities in southern Thailand and northern Malaysia.
#4
The minister said Malaysia would continue with activities under bilateral cooperation for the benefit of communities in southern Thailand and northern Malaysia.
Anyone else read this as "we'll continue funding the madrassahs and mosques"?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/19/2005 7:46 Comments ||
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#7
If holistic is what a .223 round does to a Mohammedan holy man's skull, then yes.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2005 8:39 Comments ||
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#8
Holistic: relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts.
Of or related to a view of the natural environment that encompasses an understanding of the functioning of the complete array of organisms and chemical-physical factors acting in concert rather than the properties of the individual parts.
A belief that a system must be managed as a whole, rather than addressing the individual components that make it function.
no dimension of culture can be understood in isolation, cultures are integrated wholes.
Holistic assessment (sometimes called "global" or "rapid impression" assessment) involves a process where the assessor scans the work quickly, basing a judgement on general qualities or weaknesses. Holistic assessment is often used in large-scale assessment projects where the overall results of the group are more important than specific data on each individual client. Holistic results are most useful for groups and least useful for individuals.
He better hope Thailand doesn't go this route. If they decide to "manage the whole problem" than just dealing with it incident by incident, Malaysia's support for the "insurgents" is at the top of the list.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2005 8:55 Comments ||
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#9
Quick! Send us hippies, incence, mind bending drugs!
We need to get holistic.
SINGAPORE, July 18 (Bernama) -- Singapore and Indonesian navies began Monday a five-day mine-countermeasure exercise, code-named Exercise Joint Minex... Two Singapore navy's mine-countermeasure vessels and two Indonesian navy's minesweepers are involved in the exercise areas off Pulau Bintan and the Singapore Strait, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
The exercise is the eighth in the series of annual mine countermeasure exercises between the two navies since 1997 which has enhanced the professionalism of -- and interoperability between -- the two navies.
#1
Great---they got the mine gig down pat. Now what about piracy, the real problem?
**sounds of crickets and seabirds**
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/19/2005 9:26 Comments ||
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#2
Actually, this is wise preparation. That region is slated to be #1 for sea mining in the next 20-30 years. It would be the cheapest way for Taiwan to protect itself, as one example. China could also use it to try and inhibit the US or Indian navies. Last but not least, it is one of the easiest to use naval weapons terrorists could use to significantly impact a nation with heavy sea trade.
#3
Oh, and last but not least. There is surprisingly little anti-mine capability in the world's navies. Even the US would be inclined to subcontract at ridiculous prices to a country that would minesweep an area for them, assuming their minesweepers were experienced professionals. This could make the owners of the minesweeping fleet tens of billions of dollars overnight.
#4
Consider that a side effect of the Cold War. Mine countermeasures became the 'dish' that certain NATO countries (Germany for example) were to bring to any war.
A former Detroit man who was once the subject of a national terrorism manhunt is missing in Syria. "He's been missing for many months and we're fearing the worst," Adem Carroll of the Islamic Circle of North America in New York City said Friday of Nabil Almarabh, 38, who was deported to Syria in January 2004 after U.S. authorities were unable to charge him with terrorist activities.
Carroll said Almarabh's family members told him Almarabh was taken into custody around April 2004 by two Syrian intelligence agents after he reported for a military physical. Carroll got to know him while Almarabh was being held as a material witness in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Family members haven't seen Almarabh since then and are afraid of pressing authorities for an explanation about his whereabouts.
Let's see, he's either doing his time in the Syrian army, in a small cell somewhere screaming in pain, taking a dirt nap someplace, or being fitted for a C-4 vest. Does that help?
They're fearful of getting into trouble themselves, Carroll said.
Yeah, asking questions in Syria can lead to that.
Almarabh, who moved to the United States from Kuwait in 1989 and drove a cab in Boston for a time, asked for U.S. asylum in 2003 on the grounds that he would be persecuted and tortured if returned to Syria. But an immigration judge ordered him deported. Carroll said he has contacted Amnesty International, which is expected to publicize Almarabh's disappearance.
Yeah, that'll scare the Syrians
Almarabh was arrested in suburban Chicago on Sept. 19, 2001, two days after FBI agents raided his former flat in southwest Detroit. Agents went there looking for Almarabh, who was on a federal watch list.
Although Almarabh wasn't there, they found three North African immigrants who eventually were tried in Detroit in the nation's first terrorism trial to result from the federal probe of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. One of the three men and a fourth suspect were convicted of terrorism, but the U.S. attorney asked last year that the convictions be vacated because prosecutors withheld crucial evidence from them during the trial.
FBI agents eventually lost interest in Almarabh, who was born in Kuwait to Syrian parents. He spent more than two years in federal custody, at least eight months of which was for entering the United States without permission.
Oh, so he's a Syrian who snuck in via Kuwait. I thought you said he was from Detroit? Never mind then, I don't care.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2005 15:18 ||
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He was chucked out the back of a C-130 at 33,000 feet over the Atlantic.
One month after legislative elections which gave anti-Syrian groups a majority in parliament, Lebanon was still scrambling Monday to form a new government in the face of mounting tensions with Damascus. European foreign ministers gathered in Brussels were due to meet UN Lebanese envoy Terje Roed-Larsen to discuss the impasse, a diplomatic source in Beirut said. The situation at the Lebanese-Syrian border where hundreds of trucks have been held up for days, the government crisis and the disarmament of Shiite movement Hizbollah's armed wing were due to be discussed at the meeting.
Damascus blames the border delays on a tightening up of security measures, while many Lebanese see a malevolent Syrian hand in the hold-ups and in the brief detention of nine Lebanese fishermen caught in Syrian territorial waters. Even Lebanon's new minders, Washington and Paris, have voiced concern over the failure to form a government after the four-stage election that wrapped up in June, the first held without a Syrian presence in the country. Arab League Secretary general Amr Musa, on a visit to Damascus on Sunday, called for "political entente" between the countries. "The departure of Syrian forces from Lebanon does not signal the end of Syrian-Lebanese relations. A political entente is necessary between the two countries which must take into account the importance of the common interests that tie them," Musa said.
But the lack of a government has so far rendered impossible a resumption of dialogue between Beirut and Damascus to sort out the problems that have emerged since the last Syrian troops left in April. Many Lebanese believe that Syria is still smarting from the forced departure of its forces after a near 30-year stay in the face of international political and Lebanese popular pressure. "Syria has decided to no longer accord the facilities enjoyed by Lebanon in the past," the Lebanese daily As-Safir quoted a senior Syrian source as saying Monday. "What's happening isn't going to improve Syria's image in Lebanon."
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt told journalists that "there is no reason for the Lebanese people to pay the price" for the situation on Lebanon's land and sea frontiers with Syria. "What we're seeing is a Syrian blockade, which is against the principles that should guide our relations following the departure of Syrian troops," added MP Elias Atallah, leader of the Democratic Left movement.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2005 00:00 ||
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The cost to U.S. taxpayers of making a single arrest along the U.S.-Mexican border increased from $300 in 1992 to $1,700 in 2002 â an increase of 467 percent in just one decade.
That's the shocking report from the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies, which takes a critical look at American efforts to stem the tide of illegal immigration from south of the border.
The report, written by Princeton University Prof. Douglas S. Massey, says that those stepped-up efforts have in fact backfired and led to a drop in the apprehension of illegals entering the country â and an increase in the number of aliens living in the U.S.
According to Massey, increased border enforcement has only succeeded in pushing immigration flows into more remote regions.
That has led to a tripling of the death rate at the border and a dramatic decrease in the rate of apprehension.
Meanwhile the tax money being spent to fight illegal immigration has skyrocketed. In 1986, the budget for the entire Immigration and Naturalization Service was $474 million, including $151 million for the Border Patrol.
By 2002, the budget of the Border Patrol alone had reached $1.6 billion, while the budget of the INS was $6.2 billion.
The growing expenditures, coupled with the decrease in apprehensions, led to the 467 percent increase in the cost of making one arrest along the border, according to Massey, coauthor of "Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration."
Furthermore, increased U.S. efforts to apprehend aliens have driven up the cost of crossing the border illegally, so aliens are more likely to stay longer in the U.S. to recoup their cost of entry â or not return to their home country at all.
"If this increase in the cost of enforcement, high as it was, had slowed the flow of undocumented migrants, one might consider it money well spent," Massey concludes.
"But as we have seen, in 2002 the probability of apprehension was lower than at any point in the modern history of Mexican-U.S. migration, and the number of Mexicans entering the United States was greater than ever."
Massey favors President Bush's initiative to enact a temporary visa program that would allow workers from other countries to work in the U.S. without restriction for a certain limited time.
#3
the first two visits for primary care at the emergency room, as well as that Uninsured Motorist hit and run collision you're due for
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2005 22:14 Comments ||
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#4
A high price, but surely worth it.
Posted by: Sheik Abu Bin Ali Al-Yahood ||
07/19/2005 22:18 Comments ||
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#5
Furthermore, increased U.S. efforts to apprehend aliens have driven up the cost of crossing the border illegally, so aliens are more likely to stay longer in the U.S. to recoup their cost of entry â or not return to their home country at all.
Then conduct internal sweeps to round 'em up and send 'em home. NO illegal immigrant has any "right" to stay. If they want to be here, let 'em get in line and take their chances like everyone else, or prove that they are qualified for asylum. And NO economic hardship cases; we already have home grown ones, and importing more would be just plain dumb.
Old foes Iran and Iraq on Tuesday signed an oil deal they hope will pave the way to further diplomatic rapprochement between them.
The signing was the keystone of a visit to Iran by an Iraqi ministerial delegation led by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the first Iraqi leader to visit Tehran in decades. Iran and Iraq bludgeoned each other to a standstill in a war between 1980 and 1988 characterized by trench warfare and WMD gas attacks. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
Starting to rebuild bridges, Iraq signed a preliminary agreement to export 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from the southern city of Basra to Abadan refinery in southwest Iran, a spokeswoman for Iran's oil ministry said. In return, fuel-starved Iraq will import gasoline, gas oil and kerosene across its eastern border. "Fuel starved" is a bit of an editorialized comment, but nevermind, it's Reuters
Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum has said the project could be running within a year as pipeline construction should take only three to six months. The United States has reservations about growing ties between the two neighbors, but the language from Iranian and Iraqi officials alike has been warm throughout the visit. "Iran's first priority is to have a united, independent stable Iraq as a neighbour," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iranian state media. Be nice if he means that. On the other hand, a favorable Iraq-Iran deal may force the Iranians to control some of the terrorists crossing the border into Iraq.
U.S. SUSPICIONS
Washington has cooled its rhetoric on keeping some distance between predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iraq and Iran, the Shi'ite world's centre of gravity, but still remains suspicious of ties blossoming too quickly. "Suspicions" and "rhetoric" aside, the US government knows that money talks, and an ecomomic deal between the two stands a good chance of quelling a certain amount of hostility coming across the Iranian border.
The United States has accused Iran of backing attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, funding anti-Israeli militia and seeking nuclear weapons. All true.
Tehran denies the charges. No kidding.
Iran has ambitious plans for a 350,000 bpd oil swap with Iraq which has raised eyebrows in Washington. However, officials said no headway had been made on the scheme during Jaafari's visit and the oil-for-fuel deal signed was far smaller than the sort of agreements Iran wants. Iraq will probably make a deal, but not at the point of a gun. Iran will get just enough of a deal to be profitable, but not enough for them to assume it's a result of the Islamofascists forcing the deal thru terror.
Iran has also suggested plans to operate border oilfields jointly, but that is very much on ice and Iran has said that Washington is blocking such moves. Joint management = bad deal.
However, the ministerial visit sealed other preliminary agreements on commercial ties, including a $1 billion credit line from Iran to get its exports flowing into its violence-stricken neighbor. Iran will pay its exporters to send goods to Iraq and will get the money back later from the Trade Bank of Iraq at a very low rate of interest. Making Iranian terror unprofitable and giving incentive to the Iranian govt to prevent future attacks. Smart from Iraq's POV.
Iran also concluded a deal to export about 200,000 tons of flour to Iraq. The two neighbours, both members of the OPEC producers' group, vie with each other for the honour of holding the world's second biggest reserves of crude after Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
07/19/2005 14:27 ||
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#1
jafaari didn't spend 20 years in iran for nada--follow da money
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/19/2005 14:33 Comments ||
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Paul Johnson reappeared after his kidnapping in Riyadh by al Qaeda, in June 2004, on the internet: his decapitated head was displayed on the worldwide web for all to see, evidence that technology has bee appropriated by terrorists. This heinous crime strengthened the kingdomâs resolve to fight homegrown extremism. These terrorist groups and their followers publish horrific pictures of their latest victims on a number of websites that are widely popular with the youth in the United Arab Emirates , Egypt , Saudi Arabia , and other Arab countries.
Terrorism has become intimately connected to the internet, now the preferred method for propagating fundamentalist ideology and celebrating violence. Terrorists kill and immediately afterwards, online, extremists justify their crimes, encourage more destruction and recruit the foot soldiers that will carry it out. The worldwide web has become the preferred forum for terrorists because it is easy to use, cheap, unsupervised, and far from the eyes and ears of government censors. An international debate is currently underway to address the need to track down the individuals responsible for these websites and punish them for propagating extremist thoughts and instigating violence. This discussion has gather momentum in the recent months, especially as recent events have showed that in order to eradicate terrorism the world needs to combat the ideologies behind it.
In the aftermath of the London bombings, observers have noted that the main culprit behind the brainwashing of young Muslim minds is the internet and not school. In this information age, young people are internet savvy and risk believing what they read on terrorist websites and following extremist groups. Those unaware of the intricacies of cyberspace might be surprised to know that fundamentalist ideologies are also propagated in chat rooms where users discuss art, sport, and social issues. Many terrorist sympathizers administer forums that are popular with a large number of youth to whom it peddles its deviant views.
These are the groups that call for murdering Shiaas, fighting Sunnis, exterminating Crusaders, and killing whoever opposes their ideologies. Most of these websites are based in the Arab World, yet no legal action has been taken, so far, to stop them, despite the problems they continue to cause.
If every country were to become concerned about what is written from its territories then this will go a long way to limit the damages and the expected clash between different segments of society who lived in harmony, before the age of the internet. The extremist ideology and the language of hate propagated on the worldwide web are unprecedented in their viciousness. It is unacceptable that Arab governments who are able to supervise these websites have not reacted to the spread of fundamentalist though in cyberspace. This is due to regional governments not realizing that extremism is caused by the media, including the internet, especially as a number of websites feature religious slogans that far from the teachings of Islam or its ethics, as al Qaeda continues to do.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 10:54 ||
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So terror attacks were made more likely by ...
Al Gore? Wait'll Karl finds out about that!
or....did he arrange it?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/19/2005 12:18 Comments ||
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#2
yahoo ackbar!
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/19/2005 14:38 Comments ||
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#1
The historical record of nations, cultures, and civilizations trying to recapture the 'good old days' is not one of success and of much blood and suffering.
#3
I'd always thought we shouldn't have attacked the Yanks. Would have been better to encourage our Islamic brothers to migrate from Western Europe into historically Islamic areas such as Spain, Sicily and Greece. If done rapidly, and quietly, we could have dominated much of Southern Europe and had a nice foothold inside the unified European Nation.
Now Uncle Sam has kicked us so far in the ass his boot was stuck when he pulled it out. Mullah Osama is simply too impatient. He's played too much x-box but this is real life and we don't get a game over. Foolish, foolish, Osama, now you don't even have an electrical outlet to plug in your television.
#5
Oh it would be a wonderful and happy place I'm sure. All things considered, the boundaries seem to be very artificial I think. Why would "god" let them slack off so much? All or nothing should be the mantra. Inshallah, they'll get nothing in the end beyond a well-earned historical reputation as intolerant, ignorant, pathetic, violent, and incompetent.
A separatist group on Tuesday offered to open peace talks with the government in an effort to end a low-level conflict in the lawless Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia. The Ogaden National Liberation Front,
... one of the biggies...
which wants an independent state for ethnic Somalis who are the majority in the region,
... because nothing works quite as well as an independent state for ethnic Somalis...
issued a statement saying it wanted talks in a neutral country and with an international mediator. Ethiopia's government would "respond positively" provided the rebels lay down their arms, according to a statement released by the foreign affairs ministry. The development comes after Prime Minister Meles Zenawi exchanged letters with Ogaden's community and clan elders in a bid to secure peace in the impoverished, desert-like region. The Muslim rebels have fought for the secession of the Ogaden region, an area the size of Britain and with four million people, since the early 1990s. It makes occasional hit and run attacks against government troops.
... then returns to its camps, where its members congratulate each other on their heroism, then return to seething...
United States forces have helped Ethiopian troops in anti-terror training in Ogaden, which has a long porous border with anarchic Somalia. Last year, United States justice officials said Somali refugee Nuradin Abdi received military-style training in Ogaden before joining admitted al-Qaeda member Iyman Faris in Columbus, Ohio, in a foiled plot to blow up an unspecified shopping mall.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/19/2005 10:22 ||
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Capone> Lansky? Movie still? The RantBurg family album needs captions for their preimere
Ahah! The stench of treachery! I knew I smelled something!
... The Sudanese government very recently agreed to embrace a new constitution that removes Islam from its basis and its pages â and prohibited parties from functioning that oppose the new constitution.
Y'see, Sudan's an iron-fisted dictatorship. The turbans are happy when the iron-fisted dictator's pushing their line, squeal like haram little piggies when he's not...
Likewise the government is getting a drastic makeover by openly embracing a non-Muslim, John Garang, as the vice-President (a man who expresses pride in his fighting and shedding the blood of the mujahideen of the Muslim army of Sudan in the South over many years) and permitting the appointment of non-Muslims to become the leader of the country.
"I mean, like, what'd the Muslims ever do to him? Other than the mass killings of Christians and animists, I mean. And the raping and pillaging. And slavery. And crucifixions..."
The stench of treachery against the Muslims is overpowering and to add insult to injury, John Garang's appointment occured on a Friday, a day known to be important to Muslims, followed by the State declaration that Saturday will be a public holiday to celebrate this treachery. .....
Oh, no! Not a public holiday!
Whilst verses of the Quran, references to Jihad, stories of the Sahabah and the like that are considered offensive and contrary to human rights and Sudanese citizenship are being removed and edited, public social interaction between non-mahrems (non-related men and women) that would have been considered unthinkable only a few years ago is fast becoming a norm. ....
Lust in Sudan! Oh, hold me, Ethel!
It was rumoured that Garang deliberately wanted his official appointment to occur on Friday and around the time of the Friday prayer in order to ascertain whether the Muslim ministers were prepared to leave the Friday prayer in order to prioritise him over the worship of Allah (Subhanahu wa taala). In truth, if proven be an unfounded rumour, it is evident that those in the ruling circles, through the public signing of agreements and accords had already declared their open desire to please their western masters and their agents over the pleasure of Allah and were prepared to forsake the Ahkam of Allah in order to implement the rules and systems of the disbelievers.
Why... They must be apostates! They must be killed! All of them! And their little dogs, too!
Finally, two questions arise. Firstly, where are those pioneering parties, leaders and ministers that boasted over the Islamisation of Sudan for the past 16 years? Secondly, why are Muslims of Sudan silent in watching the government shamelessly throwing all the honour and dignity that Islam bestowed upon them below the feet of the disbelievers and their ruling? .... Regarding the Muslims of Sudan, their eerie silence is a reflection of both the fear of governmental reprisal and a deep sense of apathy due to their focus to secure material wealth and desire to enjoy a comfortable life.
Material wealth. A comfortable life. Food on the table. Educated children. Public order and civility. It just gets worse and worse...
Combined with a cocktail of empty Islamic rhetoric from the government, the Muslims are insensitive and naïve to the dangers that the western revolution of Sudan taking place that contradicts the Islamic Aqeedah, impacts their Islam, their lives, the lives of their future generation and their position in the Akhira (Day of Judgement). ....
Sounds like a plot... That's what it must be: a sinister conspiracy, hatched in the dead of night by dark men of sinister visage! I knew it all along!
The Islamic political path is clear to prevent the huge catastrophe that awaits the Muslims of Sudan â it is to undertake the task and obligation of a return to the authority and honour of Islam under the shade of the Khilafah.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
07/19/2005 08:16 ||
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...and not only that, but all Muslims must now wear "Kick Me" signs on their backs!
#2
Can anyone explain why Mikey's posting this crap?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/19/2005 8:38 Comments ||
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#3
Muslims act like all is lost if they can't kill indiscriminately. Notice how a few years ago radical islam had its eye mainly on America. Now they really have their plate full; The russian trouble spots,the middle east, the arabian peninsula, europe, the U.S. and even south america. The world is just full of apostates isn't it? These dickheads are like a desease, and the sooner we eliminate them the better off the world will be.
#4
RC:
I take it as "Know thy enemy." Just as Mein Kampf spelled out exactly what Hitler was going to do, but no one paid any attention, getting translations from Arabic tells what the moslems want to do.
If there were new information here, I'd buy that. There isn't. I don't.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/19/2005 9:58 Comments ||
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Can anyone explain why Mikey's posting this crap?
Reassignment by Move On . Org to this site. Maybe he failed miserably at his last assignment and so they sent him back as punishment or they discovered he hadn't done the job here he had claimed. Or maybe it was State. Move On, State, what's the difference?
#7
Maybe he's team leader got a new influx of cash. According to Mr Yakemenkoâs brother, Boris, who at the Kremlinâs request managed an earlier but less politicised youth movement, called Moving Together, young people are becoming more politicised.
#8
I'm missing something here. I thought it was a perfectly good article, very amusing...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2005 10:37 Comments ||
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Ditto...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/19/2005 10:38 Comments ||
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#10
That makes three of us. If you don't want to read it, don't read it. For my money, I can't get enough of the Muslim "heads I win, tails you lose" mentality. Helps me keep focused.
#12
John Garang .... hope he has a good palace guard. The Muhammedan psychos take this kind of stuff kind of personal and will be gunning for him. Assassination is a favorite of Jihadists worldwide.
From Jihad Unspun
.... Court proceedings in the case known as âThe Tawhid Brigades Caseâ began in a Jordanian court house last week. A group of Mujahideen, who are accused of threatening or attempting to blow up the central intelligence building in Jordan were brought to the court room to hear the charges against them and to enter a plea.
Ahmad Samir, the first defendant to be called, wasted no time to deliver a sermon in the court room. Here are some excerpts from his sermon:
Your system of government is a Kafir system as you do not rule by the Shariah of Allah. Our Sheikh Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi said: If we have possession of chemical weapons, we would not hesitate to attack Tel Aviv. I say to you, in that case we will also hit you and your apostate system because you are traitors and that makes you and the Jews one of the same. I swear by Allah, 20 Kilos of explosives are not enough for you. I want to use hundreds of Kilos to wipe you out.
Finally he issued a direct threat to kill the prosecutor and the panel of judges:
You just wait for reaction from our brothers. Your blood is the tastiest and they cannot wait.
.... Another defendant, a Jordanian by the name Azmy Al-Jaiushy, informed the court that the former director of Jordanian Central Intelligence, Saad Khair and security officer, Ali Berjaq beat him up with an electric cable and the butt of a pistol [and] his children ages, 7,8, and 12 were detained and brought to prison. Having heard the first defendant, the panel of judges prevented Al-Jaiushy from reading his prepared statement, but he shouted in the court room:
I want to read my statement to tell you about the target I planned to attack.
Another defendant, Hussein Sharif, informed the court that he was beaten and tortured as was his brother Hosni. He said that his confession was obtained by force and torture.
The next defendant was Hassan Omar Al-Samik. He allowed his attorney to inform the court that he was beaten, tortured and forced to give an incorrect confession. As soon as his attorney concluded addressing the court, Hassan began to speak:
I left Jordan to prepare myself for Jihad in the cause of Allah. Upon completion of my training, I returned to Jordan to fulfill my duty to fight the apostate rulers and their collaborators that takes priority over fighting the Christian and Jewish infidels. For that reason, my goal became to wage war against you and your apostate government which spreads corruption and uses every thing at its disposal to fight the Mujahideen in order to please their American and Jewish masters.
I have chosen the central intelligence building as my target because it represents the ultimate infidelity in this country. I have seen with my own eyes brothers from Yemen, Chechnya, Algeria, and other Arab countries sent by America to its 51st State, Jordan that is, for interrogation and torture to obtain information needed for the security of the Americans. I want to fight you with every thing I have got. I swear by Allah, if all I have left is dust, I would fight you with dust.
The next defendant, Anas Samir, a Syrian Mujahid, who said:
I came to Jordan to fight the rulers because they have committed acts that took them out of the fold of Islam. For example, they govern by man made laws instead of Allahâs Shariah, they recruited and trained soldiers to protect them rather than fight the enemies of Allah, They allow adultery and fornication in private quarters, and they legalized usury.
The prosecutor asked him why did he want to fight in Jordan and not in his home country of Syria? Samir responded by saying:
There ought to be no borders between countries. Jihad in the cause of Allah is valid any where on earth. ... I am an arrow in the hand of Allah, He throws me at any target He wishes. I am prepared to fight Jordan and other than Jordan in the cause of Allah. You are the guardians of the Americans and the Jews. So an attack against you is an attack against them.
The court was adjourned until 7 September.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
07/19/2005 07:31 ||
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Ajourned? Like they didn't have enough evidence?
#3
Adultry and legalized usury combined with a kafir government are root causes enough for any self-respecting boomer. Like the Jordan as 51st state line (nice 1980's european leftist touch there). Anybody know what the real 51st state is anyway? I've heard it was Canada, the UK, Ireland, west Germany, etc. etc. Very confusing. To clear things up and appease the inner jihadi I propose a 51st state just for jihadis - sudden death and obliteration.
#7
The Judges should have ordered them to be taken from the court room and shot againt the nearest wall. These pig feces pled guilty. If you are guilty by your own words no trial is required. A bullet in their brains is required.
Thousands of Orthodox Jews have defied a government ban to begin marching in protest at Israel's pullout from Gaza.
A massive security operation involving 20,000 police and troops is under way to prevent them from entering Gaza to disrupt next month's withdrawal.
After a two-hour stand-off with police, protesters agreed to halt for the night after walking 3km (2 miles).
But they have vowed to resume their three-day march despite the protest being declared illegal. ...more at link...
#1
what inspires such idiocy? Your government can't protect you, you can't protect yourselves. You live among psychopaths whose primary goal in life is to kill you, rape your wives and enslave your children. Yet you whine because your government is trying to help you.
Jeesh. I say let them stay and let Darwin do his thing - for the good of the gene pool.
#2
TO #1-what inspires such idiocy?.
Is not idiocy, Stupid. This is REAL LOVE FOR THE CREATOR OF ALL WHO GAVE THIS LAND TO THE JEWS AS AN INHERITANCE FOREVER!!Anap
The Ittehad-e-Tanzimat-e-Madaris-e-Dinya (ITMD), which is a representative organisation for religious seminaries, has warned the government against its anti-madrassa campaign, saying it may lead to a clash between the government and seminaries.
"And you wouldn't want to see that. Remember, us seminaries have more troops and heavier armament than the Pak army..."
âITMD wonât allow the government to continue its anti-madrassa campaign on British pressure or on pressure by any other western country,â Qari Hanif Jullandhry told Daily Times on Monday. âThis campaign will result in a clash between the government and seminaries,â he added.
Sounds an awful lot like a threat to me...
âITMD wonât compromise on the sovereignty of seminaries and nobody will be allowed to raid them,â he said.
"Hain't nobuddy tells us what to do!"
The government must prove to the nation it has evidence against any seminary involved in terrorism, but mounting a campaign against seminaries on foreign pressure to defame them (seminaries) would be disallowed, he added. ITMD knew how to defend seminaries, which were providing religious education to the youth of Pakistan, he said,
"Try tellin' people we're involved with terrorism and you'll have boomers goin' off all over the place!"
adding, âIt is very clear that if the government has evidence against any seminary, it should give it to us and ITMD will take action against it or them.â He condemned the recent raids on seminaries in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, saying such action would further increase the rift between the government and seminaries.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2005 00:00 ||
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âIt is very clear that if the government has evidence against any seminary, it should give it to us and ITMD will take action against it or them.â
Assuming you would agree that there was a problem, your execution (ooh, no pun intended!) of action against them is what we in the US call "vigilante" justice, which, regretably, is still outside the law. You've missed the point. Government should be of laws, rather than of men.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/19/2005 8:02 Comments ||
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it may lead to a clash between the government and seminaries
And this is not what's going on anyway? The whole of Pakwakiland is one big clash between the government and the madrassas.
#4
In reference to the photo, I submit that the Moslem obsession with printing big colour pictures and making US flags in order to burn them is preventing any accumulation of capital in Moslem countries. Hence their despicable, perpetually self-inflicted misery.
Can you imagine a less productive use of time and money than angrily making/buying objects to burn daily in the middle of a street demonstration?
A radical Shiite cleric who led two major uprisings against American forces in Iraq last year called for his countrymen to exercise self-restraint and avoid violence, according to a BBC interview to be broadcast Monday. Muqtada al-Sadr condemned the U.S. military presence in Iraq, and in the interview kept open the possibility of returning to armed resistance, but said Iraqis should not be provoked into violence, "(I believe) America does not want confrontation. So I call upon other parties like the Iraqi army, and the Iraqi police, to exercise self-restraint with Iraqi people and not be provoked into confrontation with them or the occupying forces as this isn't in the interest of Iraq," al-Sadr said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the BBC's Newsnight program. "I also call on the Iraqi people to exercise restraint and not get enmeshed in the plans of the West or plans of the occupation that wants to provoke them," he said. The BBC said the interview was recorded in Iraq within the past two weeks, but was not more specific.
Zark's decided to bump off Shiites. Must be time to be reasonable with the guys trying to bump off Zark.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2005 00:00 ||
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Ol' Sheikh Lightswitch flips again.
Um, why does anyone bother talking to him? Pfeh. Short this dumpling.
#5
note well - he called on Iraqi police and army to exercise restraint with the Iraqi people - thats the lead here, not the Americans. sounds to me like the Iraqi police are getting a tad too tough with HIS folks, and he wants them to leave HIS folks alone.
#6
A radical Shiite cleric who led two major uprisings against American forces in Iraq last year called for his countrymen to exercise self-restraint and avoid violence, according to a BBC interview to be broadcast Monday.
Translation: Now is not the time for this. Let Zarqawi continue to weaken the resolve of the American public with continued violence, and when the Americans withdraw due to overwhelming public pressure, then we will make our move against the Sunnis (and the Kurds).
Denouncing the London bombings as âun-Islamicâ, President Pervez Musharraf accused banned militant groups on Monday of forcing their ideology on others and said some religious seminaries were involved in terrorism. Addressing a national youth conference organised by the Youth Affairs Ministry, President Musharraf said nothing in the Quran allowed for the July 7 attacks that killed at least 55 people. âLaunching bomb attacks in London in the name of Islam is not Islam,â he said.
He accused banned militant organisations Jaish Mohammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba of forcing their ideology upon others, although he did not link them to the London bombing. He also took aim at religious seminaries that have been accused of helping to inspire the London attacks. âYes, today, some madrassas are involved in extremism and terrorism,â he said, adding that the seminaries should stick to their traditional role of producing scholars, doctors and engineers. He also urged the Pakistani youth to struggle against extremism and sectarianism and play a role for peace and prosperity in the country.
He said the youth, which formed 25 percent of the Pakistani population, was destined to play an important role for a prosperous future by rejecting extremist elements and bringing forward a moderate and dedicated leadership at the grassroot level. âRegressive elements must be rejected by the whole nation, as they will hamper the countryâs march to progress,â he added. âTherefore, it is imperative to marginalize such elements to make Pakistan a dynamic and progressive Islamic republic,â he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2005 00:00 ||
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"Some" ?
How many and which ones exactly? and what are you going to do to stop them?
#3
"Dabble"? As far as I can tell, for the "some" in question it's their core competency. Business consultants would tell them to drop this whole "educate the poor and evangelize the godless" side-line and concentrate on their strong points.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/19/2005 7:02 Comments ||
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The Madrassas dabble in terrorism like the USSR dabbled in nuclear weapons.
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.
A court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by an Algerian al Qaeda suspect over his conviction for the murder of a British policemen in 2003. 
A controversial Muslim cleric who is banned from entering the US has not been invited to speak in the UK, London mayor Ken Livingstone has said. British media reported that 
Tony Blair will on Tuesday set the seal on a cross-party coalition to fight terrorism after the three main political parties agreed to rush through new laws by Christmas. The prime minister will host a summit attended by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders, senior Muslims and MPs, to build on the consensus achieved since the London bombings. But although Charles Clarke, home secretary, secured the backing of the opposition parties at a meeting on Monday, the government faces a battle to convince some members of the House of Lords of the merits of its counter-terrorism legislation. Liberal Democrat peers who led opposition to the government's anti-terror laws before the election warned that plans to create a new offence of âglorifyingâ terrorism should be approached with care and could fall foul of European law.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily said Monday, July 18, the government is considering placing all mosques under scrutiny through closed-circuit TV cameras. Schily, in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, said German Muslims should prevent those he termed as hatred-inciting imams from taking the pulpit. His remarks echoed those of Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein who proposed on Saturday, July 16, planting spies inside mosques, censoring sermons and monitoring Muslim organizations using tiny cameras.
A former Detroit man who was once the subject of a national terrorism manhunt is missing in Syria. "He's been missing for many months and we're fearing the worst," Adem Carroll of the Islamic Circle of North America in New York City said Friday of Nabil Almarabh, 38, who was deported to Syria in January 2004 after U.S. authorities were unable to charge him with terrorist activities.
One month after legislative elections which gave anti-Syrian groups a majority in parliament, Lebanon was still scrambling Monday to form a new government in the face of mounting tensions with Damascus. European foreign ministers gathered in Brussels were due to meet UN Lebanese envoy Terje Roed-Larsen to discuss the impasse, a diplomatic source in Beirut said. The situation at the Lebanese-Syrian border where hundreds of trucks have been held up for days, the government crisis and the disarmament of Shiite movement Hizbollah's armed wing were due to be discussed at the meeting. 
A separatist group on Tuesday offered to open peace talks with the government in an effort to end a low-level conflict in the lawless Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia. The 
The Ittehad-e-Tanzimat-e-Madaris-e-Dinya (ITMD), which is a representative organisation for religious seminaries, has warned the government against its anti-madrassa campaign, saying it may lead to a clash between the government and seminaries. 
A radical Shiite cleric who led two major uprisings against American forces in Iraq last year called for his countrymen to exercise self-restraint and avoid violence, according to a BBC interview to be broadcast Monday. 
Denouncing the London bombings as âun-Islamicâ, President Pervez Musharraf accused banned militant groups on Monday of forcing their ideology on others and said some religious seminaries were involved in terrorism. Addressing a national youth conference organised by the Youth Affairs Ministry, President Musharraf said nothing in the Quran allowed for the July 7 attacks that killed at least 55 people. âLaunching bomb attacks in London in the name of Islam is not Islam,â he said.
