(AKI) - A Somali Islamist leader said the ransom for the hijacked supertanker Sirius Star has been reduced from 25 to 15 million dollars. "Middlemen have given a $15 million ransom figure for the Saudi ship. That is the issue now," said Abdurrahim Isse Adou, the spokesman of the Islamic Courts Union quoted by various media reports.
Saudi oil giant Aramco's subsidiary Vela International owns the hijacked supertanker Sirus Star, which has a 25-member crew on board from Poland, Britain, Croatia, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. The tanker is fully loaded with two million barrels of oil worth over 100 million dollars.
Last week, pirates warned that they have a machine that can detect false banknotes, said Bili Mahmoud Qabusad, spokesman for the Somali region of Puntland's president.
According to Qabusad, the pirates probably come from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and set sail ten days ago on their mission to hijack the Sirius Star.
A number of the pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden are belived to be former members of the Somali navy, reports have said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
How much are the pirates' lives worth? How about their families'?
Deep question: If the pirates can manage to keep the entire world at bay when they board a ship, why can't the entire world figure out how to keep a pirate ship at bay? Just askin'.
NATO is not considering any naval blockade as a way to combat piracy off Somalia, the alliance's secretary general said on Monday, after maritime groups urged international action."Blocking ports is not contemplated by NATO," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters, adding that such action has not been endorsed by the UN Security Council.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe someone wants us to move critical naval resources into that area so that other areas go without "coverage". This might be a matter of priorities.
#2
Reasonable thought, crosspatch. But as long as no US NATO assets were redeployed I don't think it would matter, given that non-US assets tend to have more restrictive Rules of (non)Engagement.
#3
...adding that such action has not been endorsed by the UN Security Council.
Why does the image come to mind of the last [sort of] Roman Emperor ensconced in Ravenna playing court intrigues and issuing unenforceable decrees while the Vandals are sacking Rome.
#4
They're not sacking Rome yet, just cutting off the Suez Canal. But with the bankers absconding with all of the empire's money there is nothing left to finance a war with pirates.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/25/2008 11:54 Comments ||
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#5
Considering how many world states are sending modern naval combatants and other to the region, these should be more than a match for any Pir-i-i-t-e flotilla > THE REAL/GREATEST PROB IS GETTING THESE SAME TO COORDINATE AND WORK TOGETHER WIDOUT SHOOTING AT EACH OTHER.
E.g. IIRC RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR > PRE-TSUSHIMA TSARIST RUSSIAN NAVAL FLEET VERSUS DUTCH? FISHING BOATS [Arms = Nets + Fish], WID THE TSAR'S FLEET BARELY ESCAPING AND BEING FORCED TO RETURN HOME.
#6
"given that non-US assets tend to have more restrictive Rules of (non)Engagement."
Which is why I believe that private security is going to get a boost. Blackwater could have a gold mine here but they need some serious backup. If they resist a boarding and get in a pinch, they are also going to need to call in private reinforcement that can get there in a hurry else they are going to risk getting the entire crew of the ship killed.
But thankfully people are sheep and if there are a handful of Blackwater types fighting back, about half the crew would probably pick up a weapon and join in while the other half cowers below.
Pirates who seized a chemical tanker in the treacherous waters off Somalia were gun-toting drug addicts whose only goal was money, freed members of the ship's crew said on Monday after they returned home. Three of the 18 Indian sailors who were on the MV Stolt Valor when it was hijacked two months ago said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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US says sampling from North Korean nuclear facilities is part of a nuclear agreement it reached with Pyongyang, as the North rejects the claim.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC, NORTH KOREA has steadfastly refuted CHINA's WARNING TO KIM DYNASTY = PYONGYANG TO REFORM AND LIBERALIZE, as within Socialism???
#2
SAME > JAPANESE MEDIAS: "PRO-JAPAN" FORCES [regional rapprochement] IN TAIWAN ARE DISAPPEARING; + INDIA GREATLY FEARS A CHINESE PLA STRATEGIC ATTACK FROM THE QINGHAI-TIBET PLATEAU
[CHIN-built Railroad] DOWN INTO NORTH, NORTHEAST INDIA ["Three-Nations" Corridor].
ALso, VISITING JAPANESE SCHOLAR YUHI: IN 1990'S IT WOULD ONLY HAD TAKEN JAPAN 30 MINUTES TO ELIMINATE/DESTROY THE CHINESE PLAN IN A SERIOUS SINO-JAPAN NAVAL WAR. SINCE THEN, CHINA'S PLA HAS MADE GREAT IMPROVEMENTS BUT REMAINS RELATIVELY WEAK VEE JAPAN AND MUST CONTINUE TO DILIGENTLY IMPROVE - GOOD CHINA-JAPAN RELATIONS-TRADE CAN HELP ACHIEVE CHINA'S GOALS.
(SomaliNet) North Korea is to close its border with South Korea. On 1 December it will suspend the train travel possible between the two countries since the end of 2007.
North Korea will also expel a number of South Koreans working at two joint projects developed as symbols of reconciliation: the Kaesong industrial estate and the Mount Kumgang tourist resort.
North Korea says it is taking the measures in protest against what it calls South Korea's policy of confrontation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Its gonna be a long, cold, hungry winter up there.
#2
Hang on, Norks, until the end of January. Help in the form of appeasement is on its way.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/25/2008 11:25 Comments ||
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#3
So how has that self sufficiency program with cutting trade and maintaining old industries working out for you Nork? We have a number of people here who advocate following the same concept.
A Justice Department lawyer today urged an appeals court to overturn a judge's order to release a group of Chinese Muslims at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison into the United States.
Solicitor General Gregory G. Garre said U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina overstepped his authority in ordering the release of the 17 men, all Chinese Uighurs, a group that is seeking a homeland in western China. Garre argued that only the president has such authority. "We have the authority to hold these men pending resettlement efforts," he told the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. "Neither our Constitution nor our laws entitle them to come to the United States and to be released here."
The government is appealing Urbina's October decision to release the Uighurs, who have been held at Guantanamo for nearly seven years.
The United States no longer considers the men enemy combatants and would like to release them. But it cannot send them home to China, where they are considered terrorists by the government and may be tortured or killed, and has been unable to find another country willing to take them. Albania accepted five Uighurs in 2006, but other countries have refused for fear of offending China.
However, in their filings to the appeals court, Justice Department lawyers wrote that the men may be dangerous because they had military training at camps in Afghanistan. Releasing them into the Washington region "threatens serious harm to the United States and its citizens," the lawyers wrote.
When the government provided no evidence to justify their continued detention, Urbina ordered their transfer to the Washington area, where they would have been resettled temporarily with Uighur families.
The appeals court stayed Urbina's ruling by a 2-1 vote, and it appeared from questioning of the attorneys this morning that the judges might be inclined to overturn Urbina's ruling. Judges A. Raymond Randolph and Karen LeCraft Henderson, both appointees of Republican presidents, seemed sympathetic to the government's arguments. Judge Judith W. Rogers, a Clinton appointee, dissented when the stay was issued and seemed more skeptical of the government's legal arguments.
The Uighurs' lead attorney, P. Sabin Willett, argued that Urbina was well within his authority to grant the Uighurs' release. He said judges have the power to order such relief under a Supreme Court decision in June that gave the detainees the right to challenge their detentions in federal court under the legal doctrine of habeas corpus.
Willett argued that the Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurz) should not continue to be held at the military prison while the government tries to find them new homes. "The fact is, they have nowhere else to go," Willett said, in urging the judges to uphold Urbina's ruling and lift the stay that prevents them from being brought to Washington.
The judges did not indicate when they expect to rule in the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Intelligence agencies have warned of a suicide attack at the Karachi airport as well as ministries in Islamabad during the current month, Daily Times learnt on Monday.
The Interior Ministry, after receiving information from intelligence agencies, has informed law enforcement agencies that the month of November would be crucial and terrorists have planned to carry out suicide attacks at Jinnah International Airport Karachi, and also at the offices of various ministries in Islamabad.
No further detail about the modus operandi of the terrorists was disclosed in the intelligence information conveyed to the Interior Ministry. The authorities have directed law enforcement agencies to take immediate action to ensure security at the airport and the ministries' offices. A source privy to the matter, seeking anonymity, told Daily Times that terrorists have planned to strike in prominent cities of the country in retaliation to the ongoing operation in the Tribal Areas and have dispatched suicide bombers to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The source added that intelligence agencies have also sent complete details of two would-be suicide bombers recently dispatched by the leader of defunct TTP, after which law enforcement agencies and the intelligence network have been put on high alert.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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A senior security official has contradicted Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's statement that the political wing of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been closed, BBC reported on Monday.
Qureshi had told reporters in Multan on Sunday that the ISI political wing had been disbanded. "The ISI is a precious national institution and wants to focus on counterterrorism activities," APP quoted him as saying.
Without identifying the senior official, BBC said the ISI political wing exists, but has been made 'inactive'. The official said the staff of the department had not been given new assignments.
ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha had focused on counterterrorism during his previous assignment as the director general of Military Operations, the BBC said, and is expected to keep terrorism his top priority in his new office.
The ISI has been accused of several questionable political activities in the past, including the creation of an anti-Pakistan People's Party alliance in the 1988 general elections and uniting several factions of the Pakistan Muslim League to form a pro-Pervez Musharraf party in 2002. BBC said ISI officials admit that interfering with the political process had cost the agency the trust of the people.
Transformation: The security official said the ISI was going through a transformation. "The agency wants to stay away from political issues," he said. "It wants to quit its past activities such as keeping an eye on politicians."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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British-Pakistani terror suspect Rashid Rauf is still alive, his lawyer told the BBC on Monday, insisting reports that he had died in a US missile attack in Pakistan were "fake."
The alleged Al-Qaeda mastermind of a 2006 transatlantic jet bombing conspiracy was reportedly killed over the weekend in a US raid in a northwestern border district that is regarded as a stronghold of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. "We don't believe that this story is true ... It is a fake story," lawyer Hashmat Ali Habib told BBC radio, adding: "We still believe that my client, Rashid, is alive."
We'll need to see him holding up tomorrow's New York Times, and his GPS coordinates ...
He also noted that requests for Rauf's remains to be returned to his family had not been answered. "This is a new technique of the government to dispose of the cases like Rashid or other missing people," the lawyer told the BBC.
Rauf died Saturday when a missile hit a tribesman's house in the village of Ali Khel, a Pakistani security official told AFP. The strike site is in a lawless tribal territory and according to government officials, militants there usually surround the place after such attacks, preventing access of government representatives or the army, before burying the bodies themselves.
The Foreign Office said Saturday it was probing reports that Rauf had been killed. "We are currently investigating this at the moment, but we do not have any information," a spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Much of the giant square where followers of Moqtada al-Sadr gather in their thousands on Fridays to pray is now taken up by an Iraqi army base, surrounded by concrete blast walls and watchtowers.
For perhaps the first time since the fiery cleric burst onto the political scene by leading two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, it is now possible to imagine a future for Iraq in which he plays only a limited political role.
On a weekday, the square in Baghdad's Sadr City slum is empty. An Iraqi soldier peers from a spot next to an armored vehicle, parked beneath the gun turrets of the new base, just opposite the headquarters of the young cleric's movement.
Inside the building from which they once wielded unrivalled sway over the slum's 2 million people, Sadr's followers gripe about the government troops who arrived six months ago. "They lied to us," bemoans Abu Ammar al-Saadi, a tribal leader whose family holds senior positions in the movement. "The government said 'We just want to enter to arrest some wanted people.' Not to establish bases. And after that they came and built bases in Sadr City."
Six months after U.S. and Iraqi government forces drove Sadr's once-feared Mehdi Army militia fighters off the streets in Sadr City and south Iraq, the cleric's movement is hemmed in.
Sadr himself has not appeared in public for months and is widely believed to have decamped to Iran. Last year he pulled his cabinet members from the ruling coalition. This year he largely disbanded his Mehdi Army. Together, the two developments mean he now wields neither a share of national political power nor might on the streets.
With the signing last week of a pact requiring U.S. forces to leave within three years, the government is now claiming to have achieved Sadr's signature political objective without him. "There is certainly less room" in Iraqi politics for Sadr, said Reidar Visser, a Norwegian historian and expert on southern Iraq's Shi'ite communities. "It does seem as if Sadr is struggling in keeping control of his movement right now."
#1
"It does seem as if Sadr is struggling in keeping control of his movement right now."
practice your sphincter control, Tater
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2008 17:59 Comments ||
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#2
Perhaps we can make a deal with Iran. Since Sadr is a deteriating commodity for them, maybe they would agree to swap him for something they could use, like gasoline?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
11/25/2008 19:19 Comments ||
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#3
As before, IMO ISRAEL knows that any attack agx Iran's NucFacs invites not only World + "Moderate" Muslim condemnation, but more impor likely IRAN-SPONSORED PROXY TERROR + GENERAL WAR? AGZ ISRAEL, AS WELL AS AGZ US WORLD INTERESTS, whereas IRAN for its part will likely prefer to keep a MEDIA/DIPLOM-CORRECT LOW PROFILE AMAP while it quietly/covertly nuclearizes, AT LEAST UNTIL IT IS READY TO CONDUCT ITS OWN INDIGENOUS NUCWEAPS TESTS, IMO ideally before 2010 NLT 2012 [absolut maxima]. IRAN > knows the more it DELAYS NUCLEARIZATION, THE MORE THE US-ALLIES WILL MILPOL ENTRENCH + HARDER IT WILL BE TO GET RID OF THEM - GEOPOL DIVERSION, NOT TIME FACTORS, IS BEST FOR IRAN AS PER IRANIAN + PAN-ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION = WEAPONIZATION.
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > THE WORLD OBAMA INHERITS: IRAN'S NUCLEAR CHALLENGE; + ECONOMIC WOES OR NOT, THE US AND WORLD IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO STOP A NUCLEAR IRAN!
* Iran's Radical Mullahcracy are not afraid to use any Nucweapons = WMDS they develop or procure.
* Iran will likely use any newfound NUCLEAR POWER STATE STATUS TO PROMTE, EXPAND ITS AGENDUMS.
* IRAN'S SUCCESSFUL NUCLEARIZATION WILL REALISTICALLY SPELL THE END OF GLOBAL NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION EFFORTS [NPT/NNPTreaty], AND USHER IN UNKNOWN GLOBAL GEOPOL UNCERTAINTIES.
IOW, THE WORLD WILL NEED GMD-TMD WHETHER IT LIKES IT OR NOT.
#4
WORLD MIL FORUM > PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA'S NUCLEAR PEACE WILL DECIDE THE TRUE FATE OF IRAN AND ISLAMIST WAR. Be it JIMMY CARTER II, STATUS QUO in Iraq, Afghanistan, + Pakland, OR GEOPOL INSTABILITIES AND CONFLICT IN ASIA, IRAN HAS A GOOD CHANCE OF GETTING ITS NUCLEAR BOMBS.
A top UN official has called for "concrete action" against Israel over the country's treatment of Palestinians in the territories.
General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann suggested Monday that the international community should consider sanctions against Israel including "boycott, divestment and sanctions" similar to those enacted against South Africa two decades ago.
"Today, perhaps we in the United Nations should consider following the lead of a new generation of civil society who are calling for a similar nonviolent campaign," said D'Escoto, a Nicaraguan diplomat who currently holds the one-year presidency.
U.S. President George W. Bush will host Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Monday for farewell talks where the outgoing leaders will take stock of their achievements marked by the failure to clinch a Mideast peace deal.
A senior Israeli official said Olmert, on a visit to Washington to bid farewell to Bush, delivered that message at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "The prime minister stressed the importance that the Annapolis process be continued by the next U.S. administration and Israeli government," the official said.
Olmert, who leaving office not nearly soon enough after a Feb. 10 parliamentary election and formation of a new government, was due to see Bush at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) for talks Israeli officials said would focus on the peace process and Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The United States, Israel and the Palestinians have all acknowledged they will not have a peace accord in place before Bush vacates the White House in January, missing a target date set at the Annapolis peace conference a year ago this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
...take stock of their achievements...
Other than being an almost incomparable screw-up, what, exactly, has Olmert "achieved"?
COLOMBO - The reclusive leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers is to deliver his annual policy address this week from a besieged jungle hideout that could soon be totally overrun by government troops. With his northern fiefdom shrinking fast in the face of a massive onslaught, Velupillai Prabhakaran is expected to use Thursday's address to rally his forces for a do-or-die battle for survival.
Reminds me of the old 'Far Side' cartoon: a dinosaur is giving a lecture to his peers, and is saying, "my fellow dinosaurs, we face tough times: the climate is changing, the mammals are taking over, and we all have brains the size of walnuts."
The last 18 months have been disastrous for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who want to carve out an ethnic homeland in the north and east of the Sinhalese-majority island. The rebels were ejected from the east in July 2007 and lost their political chief in a government air raid, while much of their flotilla of ships used to smuggle in black market weapons has been reported sunk.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I've never really understood exactly what the differences (or distinctions) are between the Tamils and the other Sri Lankans. Is this like North side vs. South side in Chicago?
#2
AlanC - the Tamils are actually native of central India, brought to Ceylon to work the tea plantations and other menial labor. They have no history of living in the area until then. Sri Lankas are willing to let them live among them peacefully as a minority, but they want to carve out their own "state" where they would be a majority. There are some religious differences, they speak a different language, and other minor differences between the two. I have no sympathy.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/25/2008 15:43 Comments ||
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VIENNA, Austria - The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said that Syria had a right to his agencys help in planning a power-producing atomic reactor, in what diplomats described as a rejection of U.S.-led efforts to block the aid. The clash reflected tensions between Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency, and key Western nations over whether Syria should be given potentially sensitive nuclear guidance at a time when it is being investigated.
Russia, China and developing nations also back the aid project, said diplomats.
No surprise ...
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was totally inappropriate, we believe, given the fact that Syria is under investigation by the IAEA for building a nuclear reactor outside the bounds of its international legal commitments. And then for the IAEA to be involved in providing technical information concerning nuclear activities would seem to be contradictory, if not ironic, McCormack said.
A report circulated last week by ElBaradei confirmed that soil samples taken at the site of a building in Syria bombed last year by Israel revealed a significant number of uranium particles. The report also said that satellite imagery and other information appeared to bear out U.S. intelligence that the building was a nuclear reactor _ one Washington said was nearly completed and almost ready to produce plutonium, a fissile warhead component.
Syria denies hiding nuclear activities. But the report strengthened both concerns that it might have something to conceal and arguments from the U.S. and its allies that Damascus should not be offered agency help in planning its civilian reactor.
No one at the IAEA understands cause-and-effect ...
Beyond helping the Syrians develop expertise, the $350,000 aid project would send the wrong signal about a country under investigation by the IAEA, critics like the Americans argued.
Those concerns were voiced again Monday, according to diplomats inside the closed meeting of the IAEAs 35-nation board. U.S. delegate Geoff Pyatt was outspoken in opposition to the planned project and received backing from the European Union, France, Britain, Australia and Canada, the diplomats said. Some of the strongest objections came from Australia, said one the diplomats, citing that nations statement. We find it difficult to accept the agency embarking on such an all-encompassing and ill-defined nuclear power project at a time when Syria is evidently withholding cooperation from the agency ... a serious concern, said the statement.
But ElBaradei disagreed, saying there was no legal basis to cancel or postpone the program.
El-Baradei understands which side he's on ...
Two years ago, Iran was stripped of IAEA technical aid meant to help it build a heavy water reactor that also will produce plutonium when completed. However, the country was already under U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze both construction of that reactor and its program of uranium enrichment _ both pathways that could yield to nuclear arms.
ElBaradei cited Tehrans case to emphasize the difference between the two situations and to argue in favor of the Damascus project, diplomats said.
Iran and other nonaligned nations also warned against withdrawing the project. Syria or any member state of the IAEA should benefit (from) technical cooperation without any discrimination, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Irans chief delegate to the IAEA, told The Associated Press. Separately, he accused those nations opposed to the Syrian project of poisoning the meetings atmosphere.
And speaking for the nonaligned countries, Norma M. Goichochea, the chief Cuban delegate said technical aid to members should not be blocked, delayed or otherwise hindered for mere suspicion or unproven allegations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I understand that this is expected and that ElBaradei is nothing but an Arab nuclear proliferator, but it does unhinge the boggle somewhat.
I mean they don't even try and hide the fact that they don't do anything to limit proliferation. How do these a-holes justify their existence. (I know, I know...they don't need to)
(AKI) - Syria and Iran are happy about the existence of Al-Qaeda because its members attack their enemies for them, according to the leader of Islamic jihad in Egypt, Sayed Abdel Qader ibn Abdelaziz. Abdelaziz, also known as Doctor Fazel, makes his claims in a new book, excerpts of which are published in the Arab daily, Al-Sharq al-Awsat. "There is no doubt that Syria and Iran are among the happiest about the existence of the Al-Qaeda organisation,
"They gave the Americans false information about their relations with Iraq and the presence of weapons of mass destruction to give them the excuse to invade the country. They did that only to exhaust the Americans on the battlefield even if those from Al-Qaeda have killed double the number of Iraqis than the United States."
because if it was not for them (Al-Qaeda), they would have to recruit people willing to blow up those who strike their interests," he said.
The book entitled, 'Memo on Exoneration', has reportedly been written in response to several attacks launched against him by Al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, several months ago. In this way, the Egyptian leader intends to refute the affirmations of Al-Zawahiri. "The contrary is true. They are responsible for allowing the United States to enter Iraq and Afghanistan and the subsequent occupation," Fazel said. "They gave the Americans false information about their relations with Iraq and the presence of weapons of mass destruction to give them the excuse to invade the country. They did that only to exhaust the Americans on the battlefield even if those from Al-Qaeda have killed double the number of Iraqis than the United States."
The Islamic jihadi leader condemned the sectarian clashes in Iraq and said they had played a "destructive" impact on Muslims. "We see how that is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and in Waziristan in Pakistan. Iran and Syria are now taking advantage of all these deaths to pave the way for whoever wants to conduct jihad in Iraq. Do they do it perhaps for love of the Iraqi people or their interests? Don't the top leaders of Al-Qaeda live in Iran, like the son of Bin Laden, who incite young people to fight in Iraq? Wasn't Al-Zawahiri the one who sent his brothers to fight in Egypt, paid by the Sudanese secret service?"
Elsewhere in the book Doctor Fazel said there were only three others, apart from Osama Bin Laden, who knew about preparations for the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the US. He said Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Hafs al-Masri and a third man, who was not al-Zawahiri, knew about the attacks.
Khaled Sheikh Mohammed is considered one of the masterminds of the attacks on the World Trade Center, was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is imprisoned in the US. Abu Hafs al-Masri was responsible for deadly attacks in Luxor, Egypt in 1997 and was killed in a US raid in Afghanistan in 2001. Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, opposed the attacks, Fazel said.
This article starring:
ABU HAFS AL MASRI
al-Qaeda
DOCTOR FAZEL
Islamic jihad in Egypt
KHALED SHEIKH MOHAMED
al-Qaeda
SAIED ABDEL QADER IBN ABDELAZIZ
Islamic jihad in Egypt
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > OSAMA BIN LADEN ASKS AL-QAEDA FOR A BIGGER-THAN-9-11 ATTACK AGZ THE USA; + PAKISTAN SEEKS MORE NUCLEAR PLANTS FROM CHINESE, + PAKISTAN PUSHES TO IMPOROVE ITS MISSLE STRIKE CAPABILITY [better RANGE, ACCURACY, GUIDANCE, MRVS = MULTI-WARHEADS, etc.], espec as per the INDIAN THREAT. Succesful Pakis deployment of 2000-2500-km SHAHEEN II IRBM => new shift in dev focii to 3500-4000-km GHAURA BM => ultimately, to dev of 4000-4500-km SHAHEEN III.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > CHINESE WOMEN BIRTHED ISLAMISTS [ + Mixed-color/race JEWS] WHOM WOULD LATER FIGHT JAPAN/CHINESE MEN FATHERED JEWS WHOM DEFENDED THE MING DYNASTY FROM INVADERS...TANG DYNASTY INTERMARRIAGE AND ASSIMILIATION [new Ethnic Groups-Faiths].
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, a pro-Muslim lobby named as an unindicted co-conspirator in one of the largest terror-funding cases ever brought by the U.S. government, continues to operate even though it no longer exists as a corporate entity, according to a lawyer suing the organization.
As WND reported last night, CAIR officials were surprised at their 14th annual banquet in Washington when lawyer David Yerushalmi arranged for them publicly to be served with legal notice of a new lawsuit over a staff member accused of representing himself as a lawyer and improperly taking clients' money...."We have CAIR documents which demonstrate there are at least 30 other victim-clients who paid money and were victimized by CAIR," Yerushalmi said, "And hundreds of other victims who don't even know they were victims."
The lawyer suggested allegations of that kind could spell the beginning of the end for CAIR's operations. "If we have our way it certainly is," Yerushalmi told Farah. He said organizations that are proven to have a record of criminal activities should not exist...."The District of Columbia delisted it on Sept. 8, 2008."
He said the organization failed to file its paperwork to continue to exist....A spokesman for CAIR, contacted by WND for a comment, said, "Thank you and have a nice day," and hung up on the reporter....
I think I speak for a good chunk of Chicagoland's large Muslim community when I applaud Rahm Emanuel for doing the right thing by apologizing for his father's disparaging comments about Arabs. I think most of us could not care less what views his father holds but wondered how much of those views his son shared, especially now that he is going to be in a pivotal position as a gatekeeper to the next president. Emanuel laid much of our concerns to rest when he went beyond a formal apology and actually reaffirmed his own values of inclusiveness and equal opportunity. Our hope in change is rekindled.
#3
So, like who is the MSM going to call to be their prop for their street theater [aka 24 hour news cycle] on Muslim issues? [You know like how NOW is the only available talking head on women's issues for them.]
#9
"distance yourself from... their Rantburger type-fascist sympathizers"
"I hope you will listen to me."
Face it, JUSTICE, he's not listening to Rantburgers or you. You have the better chance, though. It's quite possible that Obama is occasionally fed an "idiot of the day" story for his amusement.
#10
He is merely Ibn JUSTICE, Unaise Ghibelline5398. One of these days Umm JUSTICE will notice what he is doing, and turn him to endeavors that might enable him to marry a defective from a poor family in only a few decades. Six months ago she might have been a defective from a middle class family, but poor Ibn was too busy playing on the computer, and now times have changed.
#11
fwiw, The Saudis have invested many millions of dollars indirectly subsidizing CAIR (basically, the Saudis give the money to another institution which then gives money to CAIR). If CAIR goes under, this investment is gone.
Of course you could argue that CAIR has negative "goodwill" anyway and thus there would be a net benefit to the Saudis but I'm pretty sure they won't see it this way
#12
I love it when JUSTICE shows up. Theater of the insane. CAIR doesn't promote 'understanding' between Muslims and Infidels. CAIR only exists to silence any view point they don't agree with through lawsuits and intimidation.
#13
. Mr. Barrack Hussein, please understand that Jews have been the primary cause for the downfall of EVERY great empire in the history of civilization. No wonder they are known by a word: "the diaspora".
Posted by: JUSTICE yesssss... 2008-11-25 10:32
Poor Muslim Justice, Can not get over the fact that Ismael was kicked out of the Abraham family. Can not accept that the Jewish people are Gods people. Tsk Tsk.
Posted by: Marilyn Unerenter3469 ||
11/25/2008 17:03 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Since when do muslims want to understand infidels? I thought all they wanted to do was convert us to Islam or kill us. Isn't that what it says in the Koran? Answer me, JUSTICE. If you're gonna play with the grown ups you need to grow up yourself. The mods here have been known to pooplist idiots like you before, not because they disagreed with you but because you are so devoid of intellect and integrity.
Here is what I most dislike about JUSTICE: He sneaks in here, drops a turd, and then leaves without sticking around to defend it. When I make a comment here I think about it first in an effort to make sure I'm not saying something stupid. (OK, I don't always succeed in that, but I try.) Then I check back to see if anyone takes issue with it. Sometimes I'm delivered a stinging rebuke and I either disagree and argue or I learn something I didn't know before. But I don't just run and hide behind my mother's burqa.
#15
FYI "Justice" -
Obama is not yet president of the US. In fact, he's not even president-elect until the electoral college officially votes in mid-December.
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.
(AKI) - A Somali Islamist leader said the ransom for the hijacked supertanker Sirius Star has been reduced from 25 to 15 million dollars. "Middlemen have given a $15 million ransom figure for the Saudi ship. That is the issue now," said Abdurrahim Isse Adou, the spokesman of the Islamic Courts Union quoted by various media reports.
Pirates who seized a chemical tanker in the treacherous waters off Somalia were gun-toting drug addicts whose only goal was money, freed members of the ship's crew said on Monday after they returned home. Three of the 18 Indian sailors who were on the MV Stolt Valor when it was hijacked two months ago said.
(SomaliNet) North Korea is to close its border with South Korea. On 1 December it will suspend the train travel possible between the two countries since the end of 2007. 
A Justice Department lawyer today urged an appeals court to overturn a judge's order to release a group of Chinese Muslims at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison into the United States. 
British-Pakistani terror suspect Rashid Rauf is still alive, his lawyer told the BBC on Monday, insisting reports that he had died in a US missile attack in Pakistan were "fake." 
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Much of the giant square where followers of Moqtada al-Sadr gather in their thousands on Fridays to pray is now taken up by an Iraqi army base, surrounded by concrete blast walls and watchtowers.
COLOMBO - The reclusive leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers is to deliver his annual policy address this week from a besieged jungle hideout that could soon be totally overrun by government troops. With his northern fiefdom shrinking fast in the face of a massive onslaught, 
VIENNA, Austria - The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said that Syria had a right to his agencys help in planning a power-producing atomic reactor, in what diplomats described as a rejection of U.S.-led efforts to block the aid. The clash reflected tensions between Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency, and key Western nations over whether Syria should be given potentially sensitive nuclear guidance at a time when it is being investigated.
