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Uzbek Rebel Leader Wants Islamic State
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Arabia
Number of Saudi fighters in Iraq limited
Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour Turki said Wednesday the number of Saudis involved in fighting in Iraq is very limited. The daily al-Riyadh quoted Turki as saying press reports about the presence of as many as 2,500 Saudis fighting with Islamic groups against U.S.-led multinational forces are inaccurate. "It is true that some Saudis traveled to Iraq but not necessarily to fight with Islamists ... According to information that we have the number of Saudis actually fighting is very limited," Turki said.
"Normally we just stand around making faces. Fighting is something for the lower classes. We're better at giving orders."
Press reports said last week the families of two Saudis were informed their sons were killed in fighting in Iraq and held funerals for them.
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 9:18:03 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The government of Iraq should include with their condolences to these Saudi families the message that "unfortunately, because your son was involved in criminal activities at the time, we were unable to recover all of his remains and believe the balance to have inadvertently been eaten by dogs."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/18/2005 9:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I must say I'm shocked by the number of Saudis fighting in Iraq. I was given to understand that Saudis didn't like to work very much.
Posted by: BH || 05/18/2005 10:12 Comments || Top||

#3  probably only 2499 saudi terrorists at any one time -- kind of like there can only be 2 sith at a time
Posted by: mhw || 05/18/2005 10:20 Comments || Top||

#4  According to information that we have the number of Saudis actually fighting is very limited," Turki said.

Unless he cares to share that information, I'd be inclined to think he's full of shit, to put it lightly.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/18/2005 10:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Anonymoose, you really should take up writing for the State Department. That is probably the single most effective sentence I have read in ages!
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 11:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Anonymoose's clarity would disqualify him from any posts at State.
Posted by: mhw || 05/18/2005 11:50 Comments || Top||

#7  When I read the headline, I thought "Limited in being able to get past the Southern border of Iraq without being killed". Wish we had that on our Southern border.
Posted by: Charles || 05/18/2005 13:51 Comments || Top||


Britain
UK court rules to extradite terrorism suspect to US
A court agreed on Tuesday to allow the extradition to the United States of a British computer expert accused by American prosecutors of funding terrorism. Judge Timothy Workman said he was satisfied Babar Ahmad would receive a fair trial in the United States.

Ahmad's supporters in Britain argue that, if he has charges to answer, he should be tried in Britain. "This is a difficult and troubling case," Workman said at Bow Street magistrates' court in London. "The defendant is a British subject who is alleged to have committed offences that, if the evidence were available, could have been prosecuted in this country." He said, however, the United States has the right to seek Ahmad's extradition under a British law, passed in 2003, which allows American prosecutors to request such a move without presenting evidence in a British court. The judge's decision is not the last word. The issue will now go to Britain's Home Secretary (interior minister) who has 60 days to rule on the case.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And you know... he's such a nice, polite boy. I do hope you treat him well.
Posted by: Howard UK || 05/18/2005 5:02 Comments || Top||

#2  He'll get halal food and an unflushed Koran. Even a Wahabi mullah for the good of his soul.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 6:55 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Dead Arab was Kuwaiti al-Qaeda member
Russian authorities said today a Kuwaiti militant who was an al Qaida emissary to Chechnya has been killed by security forces in a neighbouring region, the second statement in as many days linking foreigners to Chechen rebels.

The alleged militant, who went by the single name Jarah, was killed on Tuesday evening along with another suspect during an operation near the Chechen border in Dagestan, said Major General Ilya Shabalkin, the spokesman for the Russian campaign against rebels in Chechnya and surrounding areas.

In a statement, Shabalkin said Jarah was an al Qaida emissary in Chechnya and has close connections with members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an outlawed Egyptian Islamic movement, and of Al-Haramain, a Saudi Charity that the kingdom's government dissolved last year amid US suspicion that it was bankrolling al Qaida.

He said Jarah had been a middleman for the funding of Chechen rebels by foreign terror groups and had helped top rebel leaders — Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed earlier this year — to organise "many large terrorist acts." He did not name any specific attacks Jarah allegedly helped plan.

Russia authorities say Chechen rebels, fighting their second separatist war in a decade, have been financed by Islamic terrorist groups abroad and that many Arab mercenaries have fought alongside the rebels in the mountainous southern region, in some cases leading groups of militants.

According to Shabalkin, whose claims could not be independently confirmed, Jarah received training in Taliban terror camps and was adept at preparing bombs and poisons. He said that Jarah had spent "a long period of time" in the Pankisi Gorge, a region near Chechnya in neighbouring Georgia, and in Azerbaijan.

While in Georgia and Azerbaijan, he said the Kuwaiti citizen and unidentified associates received large amounts of money from "foreign terrorist centres" and sent it along to Russia's North Caucasus region, which includes Chechnya.

Jarah also frequently entered Chechnya, where he moved with rebel groups under Basayev and took part in terror and other attacks, trained militants in explosives and taught them extremist Muslim ideology, Shabalkin said. He was also involved in training female suicide bombers, Shabalkin's statement said.

On Tuesday, Shabalkin had announced Russian security forces killed a prominent Chechen rebel he accused of planning chemical attacks. He said the rebel was supposed to carry out the attacks under orders from a Jordanian militant, Abu Mudjaid, who allegedly organised a shipment of toxic substances to Chechnya from abroad.

Authorities in Chechnya say many attacks there have been carried out by militants entering from Dagestan, the restive region where Shabalkin said Jarah was killed.

Russian and regional officials met today to discuss plans to base a Russian military unit in Dagestan's Botlikh district, an area near the Chechen border where rebels seized villages in 1999 fighting that was one of the catalysts for the Kremlin's decision to send troops into Chechnya that year, starting the second war.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/18/2005 15:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


AP: Uzbek Rebel Leader Wants Islamic State
The leader of a group of rebels claiming to control this Uzbek border town said Wednesday that he and his supporters intend to build an Islamic state and were ready to fight if government troops attempt to crush their revolt.
OK, crush away
"We will be building an Islamic state here in accordance with the Quran," Bakhtiyor Rakhimov told The Associated Press while leaning down from the back of a horse. Tense but confident, the bearded 42-year-old farmer, wearing a traditional Uzbek embroidered black-and-white skull cup, snapped his fingers as he gave orders to an assistant. It was unclear how many people he commanded, but there was no sign of any Uzbek government officials in the town of about 20,000. "The town is in the hands of people. People are tired of slavery," he said as he kept an eye on two roads converging at an intersection in Korasuv.
You think you're tired now, just wait for the Caliphate
However, Uzbek Interior Minister Zakir Almatov shrugged off the militant's claims. "It's all sheer nonsense, everything is normal there," he said when asked whether the government intends to move against insurgents in Korasuv. "If anything had happened there, I already would have been there."
"Remain calm, all is well"
Thank you, Uzbek Bob. In further news...
The uprising in Korasuv began Saturday, a day after government troops violently crushed an uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan. Protesters in Korasuv, 20 miles from Andijan, set fire to a police headquarters, a tax police office and several traffic police posts, and they looted several other government buildings. They also beat up several police officers and local officials, forcing them to flee the town. President Islam Karimov blamed the unrest in Andijan on extremist Islamic groups that seek to overthrow his secular government and create an Islamic state.
Gee, guess he was right
Either that, or the Islamists are trying to do the Bolshevik thing and take over what others have started...
Sort of the way the shopkeepers in Iran supported the Ayatollah against the Shah, til it was too late -- "we did WHAT???"
At the Andijan protest, only social and economic demands could be heard as speaker after speaker complained about stark poverty and widespread unemployment and the government's stifling of private business. They denied having any Islamic agenda.
"No, no, certainly not!"
But observers of the impoverished Central Asia region have long feared that any social unrest could be used by Islamic groups to promote their own goals. Karimov's government has been struggling with fundamentalist Islamic groups since the nation of 25 million gained independence with the 1991 Soviet collapse. Many see the rapid spread of radical Islam that initially emerged here as a backlash from Karimov's heavy-handed crackdown on Islamists, which has swept up many innocent Muslims.
So, there wasn't any Islamists till he cracked down on the Islamists?
That makes sense. In an Islamic kind of way...
Karimov's restrictive economic polices and widespread official graft in the government have created an army of desperately poor and jobless youth who have become an easy target for recruitment by Islamic groups. Karimov banned all secular opposition political parties in the early 1990s and jailed or forced into exile their main leaders.
Learned his trade under the Soviets...
Rakhimov presented an idealistic view of the future in an Islamic state. "We will turn this land into gardens. If I turn this land into a good place, if everybody here will have plenty of food on the table, it will spread further. We will work in the fields, we will open the borders with Kyrgyzstan and reach Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the rest of the world," he went on, reflecting one of the central ideas of most radical Islamic groups active in the region: the creation of a worldwide Islamic state.
"We will go on to Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ohio, then to the White house, Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
One of the triggers of the uprising in Korasuv was the authorities' closure of the border with Kyrgyzstan two years ago. After Saturday's revolt, town residents restored the bridge spanning a river separating the two countries. "All decisions will be taken by people at a mosque. There will be rule of Shariah law," Rakhimov went on. "Thieves and other criminals will be tried by the people themselves."
"Under the gentle, enlightened guidence of a holy man, like me. I've got a turban on order and everything."
Sounds like he got his ideas under the Soviets, too.
Among the groups that promote such ideas, the one that probably has the most followers in formerly Soviet Central Asia is the Hizb-ut-Tarir party, which Uzbek authorities accuse of inspiring a series of terror attacks in the capital Tashkent and the central city of Bukhara last year that killed more than 50. Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which claims to reject violence, denied responsibility.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Rakhimov said he and his supporters did not belong to any specific Islamic organization. "We are just people," he said. "We just follow the Quran."
"We are open for bids, naming rights are still available"
Asked if he was afraid that government soldiers would try to regain control of Korasuv by force, as they did in Andijan, he said: "They came here today, a few military people. I turned them back."
"I showed them my turban and they ran away!"
"It's the spirit of those killed in Andijan that protect us," said his assistant Arab-Polvon Badanboyev, 50. "We will sort it out with Karimov," Rakhimov said.
Oh, I'd count on it.
"Soldiers and police are also sons of this people. We don't have weapons, but if they come and attack us we will fight even with knives," he said.
SEE: Knives - Gunfight
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 9:29:53 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nice pic - May the Horse be with you!
Posted by: Raj || 05/18/2005 11:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Horse should really be a goat.
Posted by: Charles || 05/18/2005 13:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Its not clear to me that the Korasuv types are grand Wahabi-Jihadi-Caliphate types, or just simple peasants whose instinct is turn to the Koran and Sharia, probably a local version. Not that said instinct isnt a problem, but it doesnt mean they will ally with IMU or HUT. Not clear that Akramia crowd (which does NOT seem to be peasants) is Wahabi or extremist either. I suggest reading Schwartz article on Uzbekistan in Weekly Standard. Note well that Karimov not only represses human rights and democracy, but apparently also represses free trade and private business. Typical ex-Commie, ex-Soviet, kleptocrat. Theyve seen change next door in Kyrgizistan, and they want it too, maybe.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/18/2005 14:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, LH, you're right about that democracy next door in Kyrgizstan being important, but I'd do some research and Googling on Uzbekistan and Waahabism, Al Queda and Bin Laden.
It seems that things may have gotten too hot for Osama and his boys in Wuziristan, so they may have moved into Uzbeki terrority.
It's almost beyond question, however, that violence, murder and agitation in Uzbekistan has Waahab-Al Queda links, weapons support and funding.
Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro || 05/18/2005 14:43 Comments || Top||

#5  I doubt very much that Osama himself is in Uzbekistan. For one he'd have to cross Afghanistan, including some of the parts of Afghanistan most loyal to the Northern Alliance and most hostile to the Taliban and AQ. Secondly, we've been hearing buzz (from Paki security, so grain of salt, but still) that the Uzbeks and others central Asians in AQ are not getting along well these days with the Arabs, and that this is what led to the capture of Al Libbi. I'd think Uzbekistan is one of the last places he'd head to.


It is true, as you say, that there has been terrorist violence in Uzbekistan connected to Wahabism and AQ - the IMU, to be specific. The question, however is whether the folks who broke into the prison, and who subsequently were demonstrated against the regime and were fired on, were connected to IMU and (also Wahabist) HUT, or were they basically guys inspired by Bushs visit to Georgia, by the "4th wave" of democratization, who just happen to be use mildly Islamist language to attract the locals. There really isnt enough info to decide yet. I sure hope Condi as a better idea of whats going on there then we do.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/18/2005 16:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Get 'em LH.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/18/2005 18:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Guess you don't like me Shipman, but my weariness in countering you-know-who's Liberal, happy horseshit was one of the reasons I quit posting here for a long time.
Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro || 05/18/2005 20:23 Comments || Top||

#8  The Stans remind me a lot of Latin America 30 or 40 years ago, except the dictators are nuttier and the marxists have been replaced by Islamicists. Whatever happens it will take a generation before we get a model for success like Chile. In the mean time we should press for reforms and back the least objectional faction, which for my money is the rebels.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/18/2005 20:41 Comments || Top||

#9  Jen - You could try my current approach... just be a smartass if and when the mood truly strikes and, once in awhile, let 'er rip with something that really bugs you. I don't give a ratfuck what anyone thinks of me anymore, although I do tend to want to explain myself if I respect the poster caught unawares, such as Jonathan on the China / UNSC post, today. Had it been one of the grabass types, not worthy. I'm on a Civility Conservation kick. My cause du jour, heh.

It's just the 'Net. Don't mean nothing / ain't no big thing.

Just a suggestion. I watch a lot of killer Japanese movies (Beat Takeshi & Zatoichi just rock) these days and have reduced my arguing with the Vapid Phantasms of Trolldom. I've got a great one (movie, not Troll) going up on a Media Server soon - I'll send you an invite via the mail link on your site. Keep the faith and hang tough. Reduced, but not eliminated, exposure can be a good thang, lol! That's from a Foat Wuth boy.

This, too, shall pass.
Posted by: .com || 05/18/2005 20:49 Comments || Top||

#10  far as I'm concerned Ground Islamist Movement© makes excellent fertilizer. Apply often
Posted by: Frank G || 05/18/2005 21:57 Comments || Top||


Pro-Chechen Arab fighter killed near Chechnya
On the heels of Vakha Arsanov collecting his raisins, this is a good week for the FSB.
MOSCOW - Russian forces have killed an Arab fighting alongside Chechen rebels, the spokesman for the Russian forces in the North Caucasus, Major Ilya Shabalkin said late Tuesday.
Ilya was actually a major general the last time I looked...
"The operation was conducted by the Federal Security Service and several interior ministry officers," Shabalkin was quoted by the Russian news agencies as saying. In the course of the operation, which was carried out in the Russian Caucasus republic of Dagestan bordering Chechnya, Russian forces also killed another rebel, who has not yet been identified, Shabalkin said.
"Who's that, Volodya?"
"Just some dead guy."
The press center for Russian forces in the North Caucasus said in a later statement that man, Jarah, was a Kuwaiti national aged about 30, and that he was killed in the town of Solnechnoye, Interfax reported. The statement described Jarah as an Al-Qaeda emissary in Chechnya. Shabalkin said Jarah arrived in Chechnya between 1995 and 1997, together with feared Arab warlord Khattab, whom the FSB killed in 2002. Russian forces in Chechnya announced earlier Tuesday they had killed Alash Daudov, a top rebel leader, along with two other Chechen fighters, in the suburbs of Chechen capital Grozny.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/18/2005 00:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


NPR listening site for Uzbekistan report on 5/17
NPR had a piece on the shooting in Uzbekistan by a reporter who was there. Hat tip to the Instant Man.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


$10,900 offered for info on Bush grenade thrower in Georgia
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting number. I'm sure it sounds much more impressive in Georgian.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 11:44 Comments || Top||


Europe
3 held in Italian anti-terrorism raids
Police arrested five terror suspects Wednesday during raids in northern Italy in a crackdown on two extremist cells accused of planning attacks in Italy and abroad, officials said. Two of the suspects were arrested in Milan and three in Turin, police said, after investigations into alleged cells based in the two cities. Police in Milan said they had issued 13 arrest warrants against suspects, mostly Tunisian, believed to have links with international terror organizations including Ansar al-Islam, a group active in northern Iraq and believed to have ties to Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda.

The suspects are believed to have planned attacks in Italy and abroad, and to have recruited extremists to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, police said. The officials did not give details on the alleged plans. Some members of the group have fought in Bosnia and received training in Al Qaeda-run camps in Afghanistan, Milan police said.

The whereabouts of the man believed to be the cell's leader, Tunisian Lassad Ben Mohamed Sassi, are unknown after he traveled to Algeria in 2000 to join terror groups operating in the North African country, police said. The two men detained in Milan were believed to be from Tunisia. Police in Turin said they had detained three Moroccan men suspected of being linked with militant organization, the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group. The group is believed to have carried out the May 2003 bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, but Turin police said it was not clear if the suspects arrested Wednesday were directly involved in the attacks. The group is also believed to have ties to Al Qaeda.

Police said the investigation shed light on suspected terrorist activities in the northern Italian region of Lombardy between 1997 and 2001. Wednesday's operation was made possible largely thanks to collaboration of a Tunisian arrested in 2001 and later convicted for belonging to an extremist group.
This article starring:
LASAD BEN MOHAMED SASIAnsar al-Islam
Ansar al-Islam
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/18/2005 15:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Spain indicts 13 suspected terrorists
A Spanish judge Wednesday indicted 13 people with alleged links to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The indictments by Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska were for those arrested in the wake of last year's failed attempt to blow up Spain's National Court, El Mundo newspaper reported in its online edition. Grande-Marlaska's indictments however did not mention specifically the failed attempt to bomb the court rather they accuse the men of being members of al-Qaida cells both in Spain and Morocco. Two of the suspects were also implicated in the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombing that killed 191 people. The indictments come amid Europe's largest terror trial currently being conducted in Spain. Twenty-four suspects are being accused of aiding the men who attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 9:13:26 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Italy holds terror cell suspects
Italian police have arrested at least six North Africans in a crackdown against suspected Islamic militant groups in northern Italy. Police raided premises before dawn around Milan and Turin, after more than a dozen arrest warrants were issued by magistrates in the industrial cities. The charges include associating with international terrorist groups, faking documents, and money laundering. A police official said two suspected terror cells were being targeted. The Milan cell was believed to have organised attacks against buildings and police in Italy. The other, based in Turin, was suspected of having links with a Moroccan fundamentalist group believed by the authorities in Morocco and Spain to have been behind bombings in Casablanca and Madrid.

Police said much of the information on which the arrests had been based was supplied by a Tunisian, who has already been sentenced for belonging to a militant Islamic group, and who is now collaborating with the Italian authorities. Many of those for whom arrest warrants have been issued are either still at large, or are already in jail in Italy or Switzerland. One of the suspects is an Egyptian imam from a mosque in Milan, whose offices were also searched.
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 8:43:35 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Masood murder accomplices sentenced in Paris
A French court sentenced four Islamist radicals to up to seven years in jail Tuesday for helping the men who killed Afghan resistance hero Ahmad Shah Masood two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks. The defendants stood accused of providing logistical support to the two Tunisians who, posing as journalists in Afghanistan, detonated a bomb hidden in a camera on September 9, 2001, killing Masood. Investigators traced the fake Belgian passports found on the two Tunisians that killed Masood back to a network run from Belgium by Tarek Maaroufi, who was sentenced to six years in prison in Brussels in 2003. Adel Tebourski, 41, who admitted to belonging to an Islamist group led by one of Masood's two Tunisian assassins, Dahmane Abd al-Sattar, was sentenced to six years in prison. Tebourski reportedly said he exchanged up to 30,000 French francs (4,500 euros, 5,800 dollars) into US currency for Dahmane before the Tunisian left for Afghanistan in May 2000. The court handed Abderahmane Ameroud, a 27-year-old Algerian, a seven-year prison sentence, while Mehrez Azouz, 37, who has dual French and Algerian nationality, was sent to jail for five years. Youssef el-Aouni, a 31-year-old Frenchman, was sentenced to two years in prison.

All four stood accused of criminal association in relation with a terrorist enterprise, and faced a maximum of 10 years in prison. Khellaf Hammam, 37, who was not implicated in the Masood affair, was sentenced to two years in prison for organizing paramilitary boot camps aimed at selecting recruits to go to Afghanistan. The training was alleged to have taken place in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris, the coastal Normandy region and in the French Alps.
"France, please pick up the white courtesy phone. Courtesy phone, France."
Two other defendants - Ibrahim Keita, 38, and Azdine Sayeh, 32 - were acquitted. An eighth man linked to the group, who stands accused of living illegally in France and faces a lesser punishment, was to be tried separately after theatrically clutching his chest falling ill at the start of the trial.
This article starring:
ABDURAHMANE AMERUDal-Qaeda
ADEL TEBURSKIal-Qaeda
AZDINE SAIEHal-Qaeda
DAHMANE ABD AL SATTARal-Qaeda
IBRAHIM KEITAal-Qaeda
KHELLAF HAMAMal-Qaeda
MEHREZ AZUZal-Qaeda
TAREK MAARUFIal-Qaeda
YUSEF EL AUNIal-Qaeda
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not a Jean-Pierre or Claude or Hercule in the lot. Who'da thunk it?
Posted by: .com || 05/18/2005 5:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Fake Belgian passports? I remember when people (presumably not very nice people, to be sure) were leaping over the counters at the Commune town halls, and scooping up piles of the real thing -- numbered blank passports were kept, unsecured, at each one so that the residents wouldn't have to go all the way to Brussels when they needed a new one. This younger generation is too lazy even to leap Belgian counters? For shame!
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 7:02 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Blaming the Messenger (AoS rant proceeds)
Anne Applebaum of WaPo takes off after those who blame Newsweek for the Koran flushing story. Andy Sullivan gushes approvingly this afternoon. Since he's one the principal bloggers complaining repeatedly about the torture and humiliation of Muslim prisoners at Gitmo and elsewhere, this is a good point to respond. So pardon my editorial license.

Let's make one fair point up front: Newsweek didn't cause the death of 20+ people in Afghanistan. The rioters did that. Newsweek didn't put a gun to their heads, they simply printed a story that turned out to be wrong. Some are saying that the Pentagon acknowledges that other factors caused the rioting, and that the Newsweek article wasn't the match in the tinder. Others disagree. I'm not sure what the truth is to that, but to the extent that the rioters decided to kill people because they heard about the Newsweek story on Al-Jiz, it's their moral failing and not Newsweek's.

Newsweek has a right to print what it wants to print. I wouldn't have it any other way. In turn, we have a right to think that they screwed the pooch exercised poor editorial judgment in printing this piece. That's the issue with them, and that's what the White House was scolding them about: poor editorial judgment. The White House press corps doesn't like being scolded, but it was useful for the White House spokesman to scold them precisely to put the issue in sharp relief.

Here's Newsweek's biggest editorial failure: they used a single, unconfirmed, unnamed source to run with a story because the reporters and editors were hoping that the story would embarrass the administration. As a result, when challenged to provide proof of the incident they were unable to do so. They allowed their hatred, and that's the correct word, hatred, of GWB and company to run ahead of their "professionalism" and "journalistic ethics".

"Journalistic ethics", by the way, is becoming analogous to the "prime directive" on Star Trek: no one ever really defines it, but it sure does seem to be bent and broken a lot.

There's a journalistic moral here: get the story right before you publish. Get the facts correct. Check. Double-check. Get your sources on the record. Get the other side on the record. Missing a deadline is bad. Getting a story wrong is worse.

If the story had been true, Newsweek would be marginally more justified in publishing, as the facts would have been correct and (again) they have a right to print. I would wonder again about their editorial judgment. Somewhere, somebody at the magazine should have asked, "would this story cause a problem with someone other than George Bush, and if so, should we still print it?" No one did. Some claim that this incident demonstrates a lack of religious sensitivity, but I think in the end it was a lack of thought: there wasn't, and isn't, any judgment being rendered as to the consequences of a story, so long as it hurts GWB.

There are consequences of what one prints, just as there are consequences of yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater. Think first.

I recognize that each religion and culture has its particular taboos. I'm certainly willing to respect the sensitivities of good Muslim people concerning their holy book. Seems fair to me. I ask them to do the same in honoring my sensitivities.

Rioting and murdering a bunch of folks, claiming that halfway around the world someone you don't even know desecrated your holy book as sufficient justification, doesn't meet my definition of "good" Muslim. And it doesn't seem very sensitive.

Glenn Reynolds said something yesterday that I also believe: that whatever wrongs committed by our interrogators (wrongs that when proven should be punished appropriately), those wrongs are less important than winning the war on Islamofascism. We should all be clear: torture is wrong. Any US soldier caught torturing a suspect for any reason needs to be court-martialed and separated from the military. Any US commanding officer tolerating torture, or not being sufficiently engaged with his/her command to know that torture is occurring within the command, needs to be relieved of command and reprimanded. No excuses, no exceptions.

Humiliating one's enemy in an attempt to extract information may be stoopid and (just as importantly) may not work, but it's not a moral wrong in the way torture is. Anne Applebaum and Andy Sullivan seem to think that exposing a Muslim man to a dog, or having a woman ridicule his doinker, in an effort to make him talk is as great a sin as beheading a hostage. It's not. One reason why their complaint hasn't resonated with the public is that most people understand this, and even if they think humiliating one's enemy is wrong, they understand that it isn't the same as driving a car bomb into a schoolyard.

It might not be the best approach to humiliate a captured Muslim hard boy. It's distasteful, but then I'm a little squeamish. That is why I'm not a military interrogator. And why I'm not in the difficult position of trying to figure out whether the Muslim hard boy in front of me knows something that I need to know to protect the lives of my countrymen. And how I'm going to extract that information.

I'll get more concerned about the sensitivities of captured Muslim hard boys when I see world Muslim leaders educate their flock about the need to stop beheading hostages. In Arabic.

If I wrung my hands as much as Andy wrings his, I'd need lotion.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/18/2005 17:23 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yikes! 12 column inches of Samon! Good stuff.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/18/2005 18:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Whoa on recounting itn 48 column inches. :)
Posted by: Shipman || 05/18/2005 18:32 Comments || Top||

#3  "If I wrung my hands as much as Andy wrings his, I'd need lotion."

I don't think that's what Sullivan uses the lotion for...
Posted by: Dave D. || 05/18/2005 18:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Hit the nail right on the head Steve. Excellent rant. O'Reilly made a similar point last night, basically saying that American's think that the Muslims who run riot in the street about the Koran flushing non-issue are a bunch of nut balls, and that we are growing increasinglt intolerant of their repeated seething.
Posted by: remoteman || 05/18/2005 19:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Ummm...as far as I am aware, and correct me if I am wrong, but the rioters haven't killed anybody, all the fatalities came from security forces shooting at the rioters.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 05/18/2005 19:06 Comments || Top||

#6  There's a related, and very good, article in today's American Thinker: "The Qur'an flushing stress test".

Islam, needless to say, does not pass the test...
Posted by: Dave D. || 05/18/2005 19:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Is Andy Sullivan still writing? Guess if a tree falls ....
Posted by: Frank G || 05/18/2005 21:19 Comments || Top||

#8  Moloney, a simple equations following the causality:
No riot=>no bullets from security=>no dead
or
Riot=>bullets from security=>dead.

If you take out the security forces:
Riot=>dead (often more than if security forces get involved)

It is inevitable result of law of consequences.

Please beware that riot != demonstration. Different animals.
Posted by: Sobiesky || 05/18/2005 23:41 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Taliban kills 5 Afghans
Suspected Taliban militants on Wednesday ambushed and shot to death five Afghans working on a U.S.-funded project to help end opium farming in the south of the country, officials said.

A man claiming to have kidnapped an Italian aid worker in the Afghan capital threatened Wednesday in an interview on local television to kill her unless his demands were immediately met.

Also, a former foreign minister for Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime said he would be a candidate in the country's upcoming parliamentary elections.

The workers were ambushed as they drove through Helmand province, about 110 miles northwest of Kandahar, senior provincial official Ghulam Muhiddin said.

Two of the victims were engineers working for Washington-based Chemonics International Inc. and one was a government engineer. The other two were the driver and a policeman employed as a security guard, he said. There were no survivors in the car.

"Police are investigating the killings and are searching for the Taliban attackers," Muhiddin said.

Carol Yee, a senior Chemonics worker in the area, confirmed the killings. She said the men were working on a project to provide alternative livelihoods to farmers growing opium, the raw material for heroin.

Yee said no threats had been made against Chemonics, a global consulting firm that works under contract to the U.S. Agency for International Development and other aid donors.

Meanwhile, a man who claimed to be holding Italian hostage Clementina Cantoni threatened to kill her unless his demands were met by Wednesday night.

"If our demands are not accepted ... we will show our reaction and finish her," the man, who called himself Temur Shah, told private Afghan Tolo television station in a telephone interview.

Shah did not give any proof that he was holding her.

Cantoni, 32, has been in Afghanistan since 2002 and was working for CARE International on a project helping Afghan widows and their families.

CARE's Afghanistan director, Paul Barker, said the aid group has negotiated with the man who claims to be holding Cantoni.

"The guy, if he is who we think he is, has blood on his hand from previous incidents," Barker said.

The man demanded the government set up more Islamic boarding schools in Afghanistan and provide "alternative livelihoods" for farmers being forced to stop growing opium, and he insisted that independent radio station Arman stop broadcasting a program about young people's social issues. He did not say why he opposed the show.

Shah said Cantoni's health was "very critical," adding that she was bleeding internally and vomiting, and had not eaten in three days. He said she hurt her head while being dragged out of her car Monday.

Authorities have said they suspect Cantoni was kidnapped by the same criminal gang accused of abducting three U.N. workers last year. They were released a month later.

The Italian government said Tuesday that contact had been made with the kidnappers and that Cantoni was unhurt.

Her kidnapping was the latest in a string of attacks targeting foreigners in Kabul, reinforcing fears that militants or criminals are copying tactics used in Iraq.

The Afghan government recently has reached out to members of the Taliban to lay down their weapons and rejoin civil society.

A former member of the Taliban regime announced Wednesday he would run in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, who is considered a relative moderate, surrendered to U.S. forces in the southern city of Kandahar in 2003 and was held by the U.S. military at its main base in Bagram, north of Kabul. He was freed recently.

"I have the right to be an independent candidate," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I am doing this for the sake of the people of Afghanistan. If I win, I will work for the peace and development of Afghanistan."

Muttawakil said he registered as a candidate in Kandahar and would compete to represent the former Taliban stronghold in the new 249-seat legislature.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/18/2005 15:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Fighting breaks out in Mosul, al-Qaeda trashes Condi
U.S. troops backed by attack helicopters clashed with militants in Mosul on Tuesday. Troops and militants fought with heavy exchanges of machine gun fire heard, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

U.S. forces were seen advancing into the eastern neighborhood of Dhubbat, a known insurgent stronghold in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

"Forces were attacked and called in helicopters to support them in the battle with insurgents," said U.S. military spokesman Sgt. John H. Franzen. He did not have further details.

Heavy machine gun exchanges took place in the area between militants and U.S. forces, said the AP reporter who witnessed the clashes.

A roadside bomb blast Tuesday killed one U.S. soldier and wounded another near Tikrit, north of Baghdad, the military said.

Al Qaeda in Iraq purportedly posted an Internet statement Tuesday blasting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent visit to Iraq and criticizing her calls to include Sunni Arabs in the political process. The statement, posted on a Web site that has previously carried similar communiqués, said Rice was not welcome in Iraq and that she had "desecrated" its land. The authenticity of the statement, which was signed by the so-called spokesman of the group, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, could not be verified.

Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr came out of hiding Monday for the first time since his fighters clashed with American forces in Najaf and Baghdad in August, delivering a fiery speech demanding that coalition forces leave Iraq and that Saddam Hussein be punished.

In Baghdad, gunmen killed a Shiite Muslim cleric, and two missing Sunni clerics were found shot dead, police said.

The cleric killings threaten to increase sectarian tensions in Iraq a day after the government vowed to crack down on anyone targeting Shiites and Sunnis. The defense minister said Iraqi troops would no longer be allowed to enter houses of worship or universities.

"I am hearing that Iraqi National Guards are raiding mosques and Shiite town houses," Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi said Monday. "We have issued orders to all units that say it is strictly prohibited to all members of the defense ministry to raid mosques, Shiite town houses and churches."

Shiite cleric Sheik Mouwaffaq al-Husseini was shot in a drive-by shooting by unknown gunmen while driving in Baghdad's western Jihad neighborhood, police Capt. Taleb Thamer said.

Two Sunni clerics were found shot dead after being kidnapped by men Sunday from different mosques in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Shaab by men wearing Iraqi army uniforms, a senior police official said on condition of anonymity.

Shaab, a Shiite dominated area, was also where six bodies were found late Sunday near a dam. Two other victims were found alive but died later in the hospital. They were among the bodies of 50 men slain and dumped in various locations across Iraq.

Sheik Hamed al-Khazraji, a spokesman from the Sunni Muslim Association of Muslim Scholars, identified the two slain clerics as Sheik Hassan al-Naimi and Sheik Talal Nayef and confirmed the circumstances of their kidnappings.

Al-Naimi's body was found Tuesday and Nayef's on Monday, police and al-Khazraji said. The locations were their bodies were found were not immediately known.

An Associated Press photographer saw al-Naimi's relatives preparing documents to retrieve his body from Baghdad's coroner's office, where it was taken.

Attacks among Sunnis and Shiites have become common in the past weeks amid fears of violence between the two groups. Dozens of bodies of people from both sects were found in different areas around Baghdad.

Shiite cleric Qassim al-Gharawi died in a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad last week. Quraish Abdul Jabbar, a Sunni cleric, was reported shot dead and his body dumped behind a mosque in northeastern Baghdad on Monday.

During a Monday meeting with Iraq's top Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, al-Jaafari said his new government "will strike against any criminal who tries to harm a Sunni or a Shiite citizen with an iron fist."

Al-Sistani also stressed the need for "fighting terrorism and guaranteeing security," but also urged his Shiite followers to exercise restraint in the face of provocative attacks, his aide said on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/18/2005 15:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't hate this as much as I hate dhimmitude articles but here CBS has a Wednesday story with a mash of stuff from Tues and Monday (and remember Iraq is 7 hours ahead of us).
Posted by: mhw || 05/18/2005 16:14 Comments || Top||


Iraq Sunni cleric blames Shi'ites for killings
A top Sunni Muslim cleric publicly accused the militia of the main Shi'ite political party on Wednesday of assassinating Sunni preachers, in the latest sign of sectarian tensions that have raised fears of civil war.
"Dey can't do dat! Dat's our beat!"
"The parties that are behind the campaign of killings of preachers of mosques and worshippers are ... the Badr Brigades," Harith al-Dhari, head of the influential Sunni Muslim Clerics Association, told a news conference.
That'd be the Association of Muslim Scholars, of course...
"Badr forces are responsible for the escalating tensions," he said. The Muslim Clerics Association called for a three-day closure of Sunni mosques to protest at what it said were the killings by the Badr Brigades.
Good idea. Matter of fact, why don'tcha just go outta business to protest how cruelly you're being treated?
It was the first time Dhari has publicly accused the militant wing of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which won January's elections in a Shi'ite coalition.
I love it when they point fingers and name names.
A senior Badr official, Hadi al-Amiri, denied the accusations.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"I consider these comments from Dhari to be irresponsible and only serve to pour fuel on the flames. It does not benefit the stability of Iraq's security in any way," he said. "We Iraqis, Sunnis and Shi'ite, should all stand against terrorism and against anyone who wants to draw us into a sectarian battle." Dhari's comments come at a time when raging suicide bombings and shootings have raised concerns that violence could erupt into civil war. The Badr Brigades spent many years in exile in Iran during Saddam Hussein's iron-fisted rule. Many Sunnis resent them because of their connections with Iran, which fought an eight- year war with Iraq in the 1980s. They returned to Iraq after Saddam was toppled in 2003 and changed their name to the Badr Organization. They call themselves a political group but many Iraqis believe they are still a militia.
Being brighter than the average turban, they caught on quick to the fact that we weren't going to allow rule by bands of fascisti.
Police have recently found bodies dumped in various locations, including rubbish tips, of victims who were shot dead execution-style. Fifty bodies were found since Saturday alone. Most of the victims were Shi'ites but some were Sunnis. Hassan Nuaimi, a senior member of the Muslim Clerics Association, was found dead in Baghdad on Tuesday, a day after the group accused the Shi'ite-led government of state terrorism and turning a blind eye to the killings of Sunnis. Hundreds of angry Sunnis attended Nuaimi's funeral on Wednesday and condemned the Iraqi government. "The interior minister is the biggest terrorist," read one banner, referring to the Shi'ite official.
Wait until they set up their own RAB. The Association of Muslim Scholars has been running the war against the Shiites and the Shiites know it. For awhile they politely pretended something else was the case. It looks like they've now reached the point where they're hitting back. But rather than conducting a civil war, which has been the Scholars' intention, they're going after the head cheeses retail. Like I say, smarter than the average turban...
Escalating bloodshed and anger are set against dramatic changes in Iraq's power structure. Shi'ites and Kurds became the dominant groups after the elections and minority Sunnis, once privileged under Saddam, have been sidelined. Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders have promised to give Sunnis a bigger role in government in a bid to defuse the Sunni-centered insurgency. But security forces can barely protect themselves -- thousands have been killed in bombings -- so containing the violence that is spreading sectarian strife will be difficult. Dhari said Sunnis will not keep silent over the killings. "We are heading toward a catastrophe, only God knows when it will end, this is a warning from us," he said. But he played down sectarian troubles and blamed political parties and the U.S.-backed government for the violence.
"Certainly it's not us! No, no! Certainly not!"
Guerrillas shot two Shi'ite clerics in the capital on Tuesday. SCIRI member Mani Hassan was gunned down in front of his house and Muwaffaq Mansour's car was ambushed. Dhari appealed to Iran to help stop the killing. Tehran has said it does not interfere in Iraqi affairs.
Yeah, right
More bodies were found on Wednesday -- of seven Iraqi Turkmen captured in an ambush near Falluja, shot in the head and with their hands bound, police said. In Baghdad, gunmen shot dead an Interior Ministry official as he left home, police said, and al Qaeda's wing in Iraq claimed responsibility in an Internet statement.
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 12:15:26 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's F5 on your PeeCee for late night action. F7 and fill in the number of bullets.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/18/2005 18:35 Comments || Top||

#2 
Wait until they set up their own RAB.


Why not just borrow Bangladesh's? I'm sure they could use the foreign exchange.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 05/18/2005 19:51 Comments || Top||


Car Bomb Suicide Attacks Were Ordered by Al-Q
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An upsurge in car bomb attacks in Iraq was ordered by al Qaeda's leader in the country, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, at a meeting of insurgents in Syria [where they probably received free donuts from Assad], a senior U.S. military official said on Wednesday.

The increasing use of car bombs, including one last week where the driver's foot was found taped to the accelerator, marks a tactical shift by an ever-adapting insurgency, he said. More than 400 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in car bombings and assassinations in the past three weeks.

Zarqawi "wasn't happy with how the insurgency was going," the official told reporters, adding that the Jordanian militant had ordered more use of vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), the U.S. military acronym for car bombs. "Zarqawi directed that people start using more VBIEDs [probably has a better acryonym in arabic] and to use them more in everyday operations," he said.

The meeting about a month ago was among up to five held by insurgents in foreign countries since the U.S. invasion in 2003, the official said. It was not clear if Zarqawi attended.

There have been 126 car bombs in Baghdad [I think they mean the Baghdad region which includes many of the outlying villages 50 or so km from the city] since the end of February, including ones discovered before they could be detonated, the official said, adding there had been 21 so far this month. The number is well above that for all of 2004.

Most of the car bomb attacks this year were suicide bombings. The official said the bombers included some foreign guerrillas but it was impossible to say how many. He said a dropoff in attacks this week [I think that means the week that began May 15] was the result of raids by U.S. and Iraqi security forces against insurgents. They included a U.S. Marine operation last week that U.S. officials said killed an estimated 125 insurgents near the Syrian border in western Iraq.
Posted by: mhw || 05/18/2005 10:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is it really a suicide car bomb if the driver's foot is taped to the accelerator pedal?
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's say 'Heavily Assisted Suicide' in that case. Wonder if it would be legal in Oregon.
Posted by: mhw || 05/18/2005 14:27 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Hamas member killed in Gaza
Israeli troops killed a member of Hamas' military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, at a checkpoint in Rafah south of Gaza Wednesday, Palestinian medics said. The medics said the 24-year-old man was hit in the head, causing brain damage and hemorrhaging that led to his death.
Yeah, that'll do it
A statement by the al-Qassam Brigades said one of its members was killed while on a night inspection tour along the border barrier in south Gaza. The statement warned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the security Israel is enjoying won't last long if Israeli aggression continues against the Palestinian people. Israeli military sources said troops opened fire at gunmen after the latter fired anti-tank rockets and automatic rifles at them.
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 9:15:23 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "night inspection tour" = trying to infiltrate and kill Jooooosin their beds. Lions of Islam translation©
Posted by: Frank G || 05/18/2005 12:14 Comments || Top||


Africa: North
Pentagon plans Sahara initiative
WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- The Pentagon is reportedly launching a new program to prevent terrorists from establishing a foothold in Africa. The Trans Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative will officially start in June, Theresa Whelan, deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, told the American Forces Press Service. The initiative will cover Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Chad, Tunisia, Senegal, Nigeria, Mali, Chad and Niger, she said.
U.S. special operations forces will train their counterparts in seven Saharan countries, teaching military tactics critical in enhancing regional security and stability. At the same time, they will encourage the participating nations to work collaboratively toward confronting regional issues, Whelan said.
Vast, relatively unpopulated areas and a lack of strong government controls make parts of Africa particularly attractive to terrorists, Whelan told AFPS. Traditional caravan routes in this area can provide hideouts and staging areas for international and regional terrorists and criminals who move goods and money to support their operations without detection or interference, she said.
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 9:03:33 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Part of this should include the creation of AfricaPol, modeled after InterPol, to keep pressure on the lads who are used to crossing borders to make mischief, then fleeing until things cool off.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/18/2005 9:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe some border fences are needed? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 11:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe the chuckle-head who yesterday remarked that "the US wasn't doing anything about the war on terror beyond Iraq" will read this. Then again, maybe he's gone back to the other Daily K*s Kids.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/18/2005 19:13 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Tales from the Bangladesh Police Log
Top terror critically injured while trying to escape
May 17: Arrested top terror Bhupesh Barua was critically injured when he tried to escape from the police custody at Bagoan area under Raozan upazila in the district last night.
Gee, that's never happened before
Sources said, police arrested top terror and Chhatra League cadre Bhupesh Barua on Sunday night.
"Stick'um up, Baru! The chief wants a few words with you."
Following his confessional statement,
"Ouch! I'll talk, just get 'that' away from me!"
"Shucks, this little thing?"
...policemen went to Bagoan area under Raozan upazila in the district at around 1 am last night.
"Don't kill me! Please don't kill me!"
At one stage, Bhupesh Barua tried to escape from the police custody.
"Lookit dat! Baru's tryin' to run away!"
"No, I ain't! Don't kill me!"
"Hey, get back here, we ain't finished talking!"
"I ain't gone noplace!"
Police shot him on his right leg when he was trying to flee causing the severe injury.
BANG! "I said stop, dammit!"
"Aaaaiiiieee! My kneecap! You shot off my kneecap!"
"Quit whining, Allan gave ya two of them."
"Boy, I bet that stings."
He was admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) last night but as his condition worsened, he was sent to Suhrawardy Hospital in Dhaka this morning.
"Nurse, arrange transport for Mr. Barua. I don't want him dying here on my shift."
Arrested Bhupesh Barua is accused in ten cases including murder, terrorism and extortion.

Rab nabs 9 extortionists
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday arrested nine extortionists including a former sergeant of Bangladesh Army and a sub-inspector of police. Sources said Shahjahan, a former army sergeant, once used to work for Rab but had been sent back to Army on charges of corruption.
Got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, did he?
On termination of his service from army, Shahjahan formed an extortionist group, and SI Kamrul of Kafrul Police Station joined him.
Have to suplement that retirement pay somehow.
Kamrul had been transferred to Rajshahi, but he did not join the new workplace.
Decided the pay was better on the dark side.
He was handed over to Mirpur police while the rest eight were kept in Rab-4 custody. Of the arrestees, Bhutto, 35, was admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital last night with bullet wounds in his hands and legs.
Interesting wound placement


Top City AL leader slain
Unknown assailants gunned down Law Affairs Secretary of Dhaka City Awami League (AL) Advocate Khorshed Alam Bachchu at Tejgaon yesterday, triggering violent street demonstrations in the capital. The main opposition has called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the city for today in protest against the murder of Khorshed, a Supreme Court lawyer and also joint general secretary of Awami Ainjibi Parishad, a pro-opposition lawyers' forum.
"Harrr! A hartal! We need a hartal!"
"We had a hartal yesterday. We had a hartal the day before yesterday. Are we ever gonna go back to work?"
Three gunmen sprayed point-blank around 10 bullets on Khorshed, 45, minutes after he came out of his 180/A, Tejkunipara house at about 9:45am. The assailants sped off in a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in which they came, leaving him dead on the spot. He took at least nine bullets in the forehead, throat, chest, abdomen and one of his legs. The motive behind the cold-blooded murder could not be immediately known.
"Youse guys bump off Bachchu, okay? Fill 'im full o' lead!"
"Hokay, boss! What'd he do?"
"Do?"
The slaying sparked huge protests by hundreds of locals, and AL leaders and activists, who demonstrated against the government and demanded arrest and punishment to the killers. The rampaging protestors vandalised a good number of vehicles on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue and blockaded the road for an hour causing severe traffic gridlock. The police clubbed the demonstrators, touching off a pitched battle between the law-enforcers and the agitators, who rained stones and other objects on the speeding vehicles.
And a fun time was had by all...
Advocate Khorshed's colleagues in the Court of District and Sessions Judge, Dhaka, where he also practised law, put off their work from 11:00am yesterday in protest. Supreme Court lawyers also stopped their work from 2:00pm yesterday and will observe a daylong work stoppage today. Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil and other party leaders visited the scene and Tejgaon Police Station to see Khorshed's bullet-riddled body.

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Eyewitnesses said three youths started firing point-blank at Khorshed near a phone-fax shop at 153/A Tejkunipara, some 150 yards off his house, when he was passing the area in a rickshaw. "An old man ran into my shop and said three people were shooting a man and soon we saw a CNG autorickshaw," said Abdul Halim, a motor mechanic. An employee of a tailoring shop said he heard some 10 gunshots, looked out the window and saw three youths boarding a CNG-run autorickshaw, leaving behind a man in a pool of blood. Khorshed took a rickshaw in front of his rented house and was heading for the bus-stand to get to the judge's court, the police said. Tejgaon police last night arrested two--Sohel and Sujon--at the area for suspected links with the killing. Khorshed's wife filed a case with Tejgaon Police Station at 11:45pm the same night. Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner SM Mizanur Rahman said they have no clue to the killing. He added that they could not speak to the slain's family, which could have given them a lead, as it was trying to come to terms with the death. "The motive for the killing will be known soon," he told reporters yesterday. Huge numbers of police and Rab members were deployed in Tejkunipara.
Hurrah! RAB's on the case!
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 8:16:31 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The autorickshaw getaway car seems to be a new theme. I quite like it.
Posted by: Captain Pedantic || 05/18/2005 14:38 Comments || Top||


Pakistan holds British al Qaeda suspect
Pakistan security forces have arrested a British national on suspicion of having links with al Qaeda, security officials said on Wednesday. The man, who identified himself only as Shehzad during interrogation, was arrested four days ago in Shabqadar, a village on the outskirts of the main northwestern city of Peshawar, a security official told Reuters. "We suspect him to be an al Qaeda member," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He gave no other details.

Security officials told Reuters that Shehzad, 25, was originally from London and arrived in Pakistan in March 2003. They doubt Shehzad is his real name, adding that his Pakistani national identity card listed an address in the southern city of Hyderabad. But during interrogations, it was found he never visited Hyderabad. ...
No doubt his real name's Trevor or Clive...
Posted by: ed || 05/18/2005 07:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Feed him to the dogs. He aint British no more.
Posted by: Howard UK || 05/18/2005 8:40 Comments || Top||

#2  That's quite a story, Clive.
Posted by: Superintendant Andrews || 05/18/2005 13:27 Comments || Top||

#3  May I suggest we repatriate Clive's immediate family, as well, Howard? And, if/when the next time it happens again, the whole tribe goes home, including the ones born here. Maybe it's time to look at questioning/eliminating dual-citizenship as well, but methinks that'll be too much for the sponsors of the British system. Too pre-occupied with repo'ing all those properties they just sold, to worry about giving Home Grown Terror an attitude to deal with.
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 05/18/2005 14:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Fly em back cattle class
Posted by: Shistos Shistadogloo || 05/18/2005 15:07 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Israeli Aircraft Strikes Hamas Militants
An Israeli aircraft fired at a group of Hamas militants who were about to shoot mortar shells at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, the first such airstrike since a cease-fire was declared in February. Hamas said one of its members was critically wounded in the attack, which came minutes after militants lobbed four mortar shells into nearby Jewish settlements.
Posted by: ed || 05/18/2005 07:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  sympathy? Nope. I hope they all got shrapnel in the lower GI
Posted by: Frank G || 05/18/2005 8:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Napalm carpet bombing of the area. Oh ya, ... 'cus....

Napalm sticks to little terrorists,
all the terrorists of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
they are torches in the night.
Napalm sticks to little terrorists.
Yooooya!
Posted by: mmurray821 || 05/18/2005 10:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't settlements have lookout posts nearby? A sniper team in each one might be the ticket.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/18/2005 10:46 Comments || Top||

#4  mmurray821

That's great!!!!

LMAO
I can just see the little kindergarden kids geting up in front to sing it....
Posted by: 3dc || 05/18/2005 12:03 Comments || Top||

#5  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Whomoting Omeaper1433 TROLL || 05/18/2005 17:55 Comments || Top||

#6  carpet napalm the area - take out the settlements as well...
Posted by: Whomoting Omeaper1433 || 05/18/2005 17:55 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Insurgent News reports in English from Albasrah.net
From the Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Monday, 16 May 2005 on albasrah.net:

The perfidious American enemy wanted to get another taste of its inevitable failure at the hands of the valiant men of the difficult tasks forces. This time it was the Resistance that had the initiative, making decisions about the engagement in accordance with its military plan to draw the enemy into battle in places other than where it was forced to lick its wounds in previous fights. This time our choice fell on a piece of the pure territory of Iraq that has made enemies taste the bitterness of wounds time and time again since 9 April 2003 — the area of al-Qa'im. We will dwell at length on the merits of these battles — such as the precise planning and the high level of professionalism displayed in how they were waged — merits that dismayed the enemy and left terror in the hearts of his forces.


It goes on to offer their "version" of Operation Matador with Eight bullet points. Then the former Baathist, I mean, the noble resistance fighter, offers a conclusion.

On this glorious occasion, we repeat our call to the American Administration to return to the voice of reason and to preserve what remains of their forces by hastening to withdraw them from Iraq. The Iraqis today have no option but jihad in defense of their honor, land, dignity, and sacred values. They will not cease to make the greatest sacrifices in this cause until the banner of victory is raised and waves high and proudly in the sky of our beloved homeland. We will never lay down our weapons until the last foreign soldier has departed — dead or alive. The Americans and their stooges have many options before them to save what remains of their face. One of them is to accept the option of withdrawal, setting free all the prisoners they hold and compensating the Iraqi people for all the harm and loss they have caused them by the unjust embargo and then their aggression and occupation of their country, returning the courageous Iraqi army and the heroic Iraqi security forces to their posts and dissolving the puppet militias and fulfilling all the other patriotic demands.

That is the best choice that the Bush Administration could make if it wants to get back some of the credibility it has lost, if it wishes to preserve a little bit of what remains of the faith once placed in it by the people of America and the world. By choosing any other path, the Americans and their allies will get nothing from the Iraqis but bayonet blades and gun barrels and hearts and minds ready to die as martyrs for God and their country in order to attain the victory which is near.


It looks like my Baathist call was not too far off. I am curious if the foreign fighters [i.e. Syrian] are the ones behind the attacks, and the former Baathists are reponsible for the post-engagement propaganda offensive complete with media relations contacts for all the Arab networks.

This insurgent report reminds me of watching the fake news on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, except this is not a joke. Well, neither is the Daily Show to be honest.

I did a little super sleuthing and after contacting their service provider, almost asked to have this website shutdown. But I believe it is better to have all of this information in one place instead of banning it so they can just move it to another host in Jordan.
Posted by: Huport Clerese6302 || 05/18/2005 05:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No idea how that name was used for me when I posted this. I am Cog, hear me roar.

If you scroll halfway down that insurgent report from Monday, there is a fresh Koran desecration accusation against the US military. This one complete with a crudely doctored photo of a cross drawn on the cover of a Koran.

It seems the Baathists are trying to take a page out of the Taliban propaganda play book.

Help, I'm being oppressed!
Posted by: Cog || 05/18/2005 6:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Fake cross on the cover of a Koran photo here:
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDnews=65701
Posted by: Cog || 05/18/2005 6:01 Comments || Top||

#3  the precise planning and the high level of professionalism displayed in how they were waged – merits that dismayed the enemy and left terror in the hearts of his forces

From what I saw, parts of Al-Qaim looked something akin to the surface of the moon (unless the Sunni Arabs in the border regions share their Palaeo cousins' enthusiasm for running a clean and tidy neighbourhood.)

the valiant men of the difficult tasks forces - err, can they help me rewire my Saab??
Posted by: Howard UK || 05/18/2005 6:03 Comments || Top||

#4  The accusation:

US troops storm al-Quds Mosque near ar-Ramadi, ransack building, paint crosses on copies of the Qur’an and on the building.

More than 50 US soldiers stormed into the al-Quds Mosque in the al-Bu Faraj area south of ar-Ramadi at dawn on Monday and “searched” the building. The American troops ransacked the mosque in their “search,” tearing up copies of the Qur’an and beating worshippers.

The Imam of the mosque told Mafkarat al-Islam: “Americans stormed into the mosque just as we were starting the dawn prayer. They trampled all over the mosque with their boots while surrounding us and confining us to one corner of the mosque. They searched the mosque and the adjoining rooms. A number of the soldiers, in full view of the commander of their group, kicked copies of the Qur’an around on the floor having fun in a game among themselves, until they got to the outer door of the mosque. One of the soldiers pointed at one copy of the Qur’an with his finger while kicking it with his foot and laughing in a totally unnatural manner.”

The Imam continued: “Then one of the soldiers, who was carrying black color, drew seven crosses on the pulpit of the mosque and three on the prayer rug of the Imam who was standing right there in front of the worshippers. He drew three more crosses on the interior door of the mosque and on the two interior supports. They all left at 7am without arresting anybody.”

The Shaykh added: “If they desecrated a copy of the Qur’an in Guantánamo, here in Iraq God’s Book is abused every day by the Crusaders and the Jews.”

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam took photographs of the crosses painted around the mosque.
Posted by: Cog || 05/18/2005 6:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Ah yes Al-Basrah. Also known as Creative Writing for Muslims. I'm delighted to know Arabs have finally taken the world lead in one area of endeavor, at least since NKor Army First Man died of starvation.
Posted by: ed || 05/18/2005 6:30 Comments || Top||

#6  My goodness. These people are drunk on their own words. The mark of a newly literate society. We saw the same thing here in the States and Britain during the Victorian period, as free community schools taught the mysteries of the written word to the Great Unwashed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 7:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Howard
in regards to your Saab.
in North Am all junkyards are online at one place. Its great for finding Saab stuff. I save tons of money there.
junkyards
If you are visiting North Am. you might want to make some purchases or see if one if the sites is willing to ship to you.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/18/2005 12:57 Comments || Top||

#8  A bizarre collection of conspiracy thought, lies, propaganda, a few doctored and misleading photos, and slight exageration to be sure! By most standards it's a disorganized hack job. The chechen jihaadis did a far better job at it years back.
Posted by: Tkat || 05/18/2005 13:20 Comments || Top||

#9  A bizarre collection of conspiracy thought, lies, propaganda, a few doctored and misleading photos, and slight exageration to be sure! By most standards it's a disorganized hack job

You got a SAAB too?
Posted by: Shipman || 05/18/2005 18:37 Comments || Top||

#10  This is beginning to sound like a real Saab story to me. Get a Volvo.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/18/2005 20:54 Comments || Top||

#11  (groan)
Posted by: mojo || 05/18/2005 21:04 Comments || Top||


Harman gets six months for Abu Ghraib abuse
FORT HOOD, Texas - A US Army reservist convicted of attaching wires to an Iraqi prisoner in a photographed scene that outraged the international community was sentenced on Tuesday to six months in prison.

A military jury deciding the fate of Sabrina Harman, 27, at the nation's largest Army base recommended six-months of confinement, one of the lightest punishments handed down in the Abu Ghraib cases. She had faced a maximum of five and a half years and the prosecution had sought a three-year sentence.

Harman will also receive a bad conduct discharge. "I think she was extremely relieved," said her civilian attorney Frank Spinner. "To have a jury come back and say six months, that's pretty significant."
Should have gotten a dishonorable discharge, but life for her is over as she knows it. This will follow her forever.
The jury found Harman guilty on Monday on six of seven abuse-related charges, including a photographed incident in which she placed wires on a hooded Iraqi prisoner and said he would be electrocuted if he stepped off the box he stood on.

"I wish to apologize to any and all detainees," Harman told a military courtroom earlier. "I failed my duties. I failed my mission. Not only did I let down the people in Iraq, I let down every single soldier that serves today."

"I take full responsibility for my actions," she said. "The decisions I made were mine and mine alone."
That's better, soldier, but you should have known better before you did it.
One of three women implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal, Harman appeared in a notorious photo showing a naked pyramid of Iraqis accused of rioting in a prison yard. She wrote "rapeist" on one prisoner's leg before he was forced to pile into the pyramid. The photographs, made public just over a year ago, badly damaged America's reputation abroad.

Earlier, her partner told the military panel that Harman is a gentle woman. "What you see out there is not the true Sabrina Harman," Kelly Bryant, said in testimony that brought Harman to tears. "She's the type of person who wouldn't allow you to step on an ant or kill a spider." Bryant said Harman, who worked at a pizza parlor before the war, had wanted to adopt an Iraqi boy. "She's generous, gentle, caring, unselfish," she said.
She's also a screw-up.
Attorney Spinner has said the government offered a plea deal last year for Harman with a two-year sentence. More recently, a prosecution source said, she was offered a one-year plea deal that she also turned down. Harman's gamble to go to trial paid off and she was also credited with 51 days already served, plus 20 days for good behavior.

Six other soldiers have reached plea deals, with all except Graner's new wife, Megan Ambuhl, receiving prison time.
I'm at a loss: just what do women see in that fellow?
Posted by: Steve White || 05/18/2005 00:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Some women just have bad taste, Steve.

Oh, and Hitler was kind to children and dogs. SS Concentration Camp guards were often very gentle to their own families. Cherishing the lives of insects tells us nothing about the lady's attitude toward the prisoners whose lives were in her hand.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 7:14 Comments || Top||

#2  My guess is that Graner, who was older than these women, played them off against one another. According to his ex-wife, he is a manipulative, charismatic man who is quite adept at both verbal and physical abuse when he doesn't get his way. but that would be AFTER he has the woman snowed ....
Posted by: too true || 05/18/2005 8:18 Comments || Top||

#3  And the women involved with him were all very young. I have complete confidence in betting that female NCOs and officers with a leeetle more time in service/time in grade had him pegged, tagged, and IDed as a manipulative POS within five minutes of acquaintence and from half a block away.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 05/18/2005 10:44 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm at a loss: just what do women see in that fellow?

Probably has a wart on it.
Posted by: badanov || 05/18/2005 11:12 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm still trying to get past her attorney's name: Spinner? Maybe he should be running for some office????
Posted by: USN, ret. || 05/18/2005 14:19 Comments || Top||

#6  A six-moht sentence for connecting wires? Not for electrocuting, but for connecting wires?

Does anyone know the answer to this:
Of those soldiers found guilty of negligence or criminality at Abu Ghraib, how many are women?

This campaign stinks. These soldiers do NOT deserve jail time for humiliating prisoners. Now if someone was beaten, sexually assaulted or killed, fine, give thenm a prison sentence. This is typical fall guy fare.
Posted by: jules 187 || 05/18/2005 15:04 Comments || Top||

#7  No, Sabrina was a little more involved than just that. They also have a picture of her giving a "thumbs up" next to the battered corpse of a prisoner. (via Andrew Sullivan.)
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/18/2005 16:46 Comments || Top||


Tech note
I've gotten a couple messages from users about PHP timeouts, so I've tuned the way it works a little bit. I've increased the timeout limit, and increased the amount of memory a script can consume.

Keep in mind that a part of the time lag is attributable to BlogAds, Amazon, and Google AdSense each hitting their respective homes. However, the example raptor gave on the opinion page equates to comments retrieval.

I haven't run into those problems, but I don't know what's happening on slower lines, like dial-up. So let me know when something breaks. What I'm seeing after the long conversion process is relatively fast and stable.

In the process of trying to make the site bullet-proof, the conversion's now done from ASP to PHP running under IIS for all of the main pages. If you have trouble with that, you can also try http://www.rantburg.com:8080/rantburg/index.php, which is the same site running under Apache 2.0. The original ASP version continues to run on http://www.aach.net/rantburg, though I've let the photos get out of sync, and http://aach.net:8080/rantburg/index.php leads to the Apache version. The IIS version runs Microsoft ASP for the few remaining ASP pages (Opinion and Thugburg for now), and the Apache version runs them under ActiveHTML. I've got a few other toys I'm fiddling with, and if any of them work out, I'll use them, too. Keep in mind, though, that the whole mess lives on one database and its backup.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fred-
Thank you for your continued work - I'd been having problems with the timeouts, and wasn't at all sure how to explain it.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/18/2005 7:35 Comments || Top||

#2  I haven't experienced timeouts using dialup in the last few days, although I had previously.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/18/2005 7:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Thanks,broI hate reading something and not be able to finish.
Posted by: raptor || 05/18/2005 8:30 Comments || Top||

#4  I've added a cookie reset routine to the O Club, in case you ever need to reset it manually.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 15:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Is there a way to get back to today from yesterday on the main menu? It keeps me in yesterday, which is cool in a victorian time travel sort of way, but I have to reload the site to get back to today. It's important to stay current with last evening weirdness.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/18/2005 18:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Hmmm...Hadn't noticed that. But clicking on the logo will always bring you back to the current day. I'll fix the date bug tomorrow -- having DSL problems tonight.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 23:11 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
MMA will mobilise Muslims to protest desecration, says Fazl
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He said that it would be a big achievement and would show the world that Muslims were indeed united.

happy isa*cough*? Got your scoop, didn't ya big boy. This is how you will be remembered. how old are ya pal? How many years of work? This one story will be on your headstone. I'm guessing that if we looked close enough, it's probably a pretty good reprentation of all of your life's work.
Posted by: 2b || 05/18/2005 9:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Ok - lets test them on faith vs desecration vs hunger.

First set the stage of acceptence. Distribute millons of white chocolate bars in Pakistan. Wrap in a branded fashion and place in bins outside mosques, on street corners and air dropped - attached to balloons as a marketing strategy...
Get them used to it.

Now:
Make millions of white chocolate bars with edible inkjet printings of the Koran on them. Put in same branded wrappers as previous bunch. Place in bins outside mosques, on street corners, tied to balloons and airdropped...

Will hunger and the desire for chocolated win over the writ?
Posted by: 3dc || 05/18/2005 12:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Shitting the qu'uran, literally. Now that has potential.
Posted by: .com || 05/18/2005 21:34 Comments || Top||


Kashmir Korpse Kount
SRINAGAR: Suspected separatist rebels abducted six villagers on Tuesday, later leaving the mutilated bodies of four in a farm field in Kashmir, police said. In a separate incident, two people were killed and six others injured in a grenade attack on a memorial service. Two villagers, a man and a woman, were still missing after the attack on the village of Dardarkhor on the outskirts of Srinagar, said Kuldip Khoda, the additional director-general of police. The dead villagers' throats had been slit, he said. Police blamed suspected separatist rebels for the killings, but no group immediately claimed responsibility. Meanwhile, suspected rebels lobbed a grenade and opened fire on a memorial service in the Bagh-e-Mehtab neighborhood of Srinagar, killing two civilians and wounding six, a local police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


15 Taliban captured in southeastern Afghanistan
The Afghan military said on Tuesday that it had captured 15 suspected Taliban insurgents with rockets and automatic weapons during a raid in southern Afghanistan. The men were detained on Monday in Deh Rawood, a troubled district in the insurgency-hit south-central Uruzgan province, the regional commander, Gen Muslim Hamed, said. "We've captured 15 Taliban. We've seized weapons and documents that prove they were Taliban members," the general told AFP, adding that the arrests were made without any exchange of gunfire. He said the men were hiding in a compound and preparing for attacks on government targets in the region.

Separately, a 75-year-old Afghan man was shot dead on Tuesday during a search operation in southeast Afghanistan, an Afghan intelligence official said, with the victim's family blaming his death on US troops. The US-led coalition declined to confirm or deny the death but said coalition troops only provided assistance to Afghan police and security forces. An Afghan intelligence official, Mohammed Sadiq Tarakhil, said the search operation was carried out by US forces in the village of Sarbano in Khost province. "As per reports we got from the village we can confirm that an old man was killed, six others were arrested and houses were searched last night by US troops in Sarbano village," said Tarakhil, who is intelligence director for the province.

The victim's family insisted he was shot dead by US troops. "Americans entered our house, they shot my 75-year-old brother in-law, Shayesta Khan, in his forehead and killed him," said the relative who did not want to be named. Khan's son, Dacktar Khan, said some 15 American soldiers raided their house and shot his father. He said his brother was also arrested in the raid. Villagers said US troops arrested two men from Sarbano and four others from the nearby village of Ismail Khel. US military spokeswoman Lt Cindy Moore said she could not confirm or deny the death of the old man. "I can confirm only what I know," Moore said. "We provided support to Khost police force and Afghan security forces, actually the Afghan forces lead the operations," she said. Tarakhil however said Afghan forces did not participate in the operation. "We were not informed of the operation in advance and there were no Afghan forces involved in the operation." Defence ministry spokesman Gen Mohammed Zahir Azimi said they had no report of such an operation in Khost province.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why would American troops shoot a 75-year old man? The accusation is absurd, unless he was somehow threatening them, in which case Darwin kicks in.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 11:35 Comments || Top||


Man killed, girls' school damaged in explosions
A man was killed and a school was damaged in two separate blasts in Bajaur Agency near the Pak-Afghan border on Tuesday, Geo news channel reported. Witnesses said a bomb planted by unidentified people in the Barani Kundo area of Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur Agency exploded and damaged a girls' high school building, the channel reported. In another incident, a landmine planted by unidentified people in the Kaga area of Mahund tehsil near the Pak-Afghan border went off, killing Jan Ali, a local tribesman, the report said, adding that officials registered a case against the perpetrators and are investigating.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Aint nuttn scarier than an edjicated female.
Posted by: Howard UK || 05/18/2005 5:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Yep. We git uppity and kerrekt ar menfolk's grammar.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/18/2005 6:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Never should have learned them how ta speak.
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 8:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Steve, if we don't learn em how to speak, thEy can't yell, "DINNER'S READY".
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/18/2005 16:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Hell, we shouldn't have to go to the food, food should be brought to us in front of the TV as God intended. (begin duck and cover drill)
Posted by: Steve || 05/18/2005 16:37 Comments || Top||

#6  LOL DB!
Posted by: Shipman || 05/18/2005 16:50 Comments || Top||


Minister: Kidnapped Italian Aid Worker OK
Italy's foreign minister said Tuesday that an Italian aid worker taken hostage in Afghanistan is all right, as he tried to reassure an anguished nation over its latest abduction drama. "We know that she is well because the kidnappers have initiated a channel of contacts with the Afghan authorities," Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told reporters about efforts to win the freedom of CARE International worker Clementina Cantoni, who was abducted in Kabul on Monday.
When reporters asked Fini if the kidnappers had asked for ransom in exchange for the woman's release, he replied: "It's a question on which utmost reserve, discretion and prudence are obligatory to reach the objective."
That means "Yes, but we'll deny it."

Earlier, a top aide to Fini, Ministry Undersecretary Margherita Boniver, told Sky TG24 that "the most accredited hypothesis about the kidnappers is that of common criminals."
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:—
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/18/2005 19:50 Comments || Top||

#2  We need to think twice about Italy. Berlusconi has been a good ally, but few other Italians are behind us. We should question whether we want to comit Ameican blood to defend nations whose defence policies are so "sophisticated."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 05/18/2005 20:32 Comments || Top||



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2005-05-18
  Uzbek Rebel Leader Wants Islamic State
Tue 2005-05-17
  Chechen VP killed
Mon 2005-05-16
  Uzbeks expel town leaders from Korasuv
Sun 2005-05-15
  500 reported dead in Uzbek unrest
Sat 2005-05-14
  Qaeda big Predizapped in NWFP
Fri 2005-05-13
  Uprising in Uzbekistan
Thu 2005-05-12
  New al-Qaeda group formed in Algeria
Wed 2005-05-11
  Capitol and White House Evacuated
Tue 2005-05-10
  Attempted Grenade Attack on President Bush?
Mon 2005-05-09
  U.S. Offensive in Western Iraq Kills 75
Sun 2005-05-08
  Aoun Returns From Exile
Sat 2005-05-07
  Egypt Arrests Senior Muslim Brotherhood Leaders
Fri 2005-05-06
  Marines Land on Somali Coast to Hunt Terrs?
Thu 2005-05-05
  20 40 64 Pakistanis Talibs killed
Wed 2005-05-04
  Al-Libbi in Jug!

Better than the average link...



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