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At least 22 dead in Bali blasts
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Caribbean-Latin America
Colombia Grenade Accident Kills 2 Children
Two young boys began playing with a hand grenade they found in a field in rural Colombia were killed when it exploded, police said Saturday. The two Nasa Indian children, ages 5 and 9, died immediately from the blast Friday night in the Andean mountains near the town of Toribio, 250 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota, said Col. Luis de Jesus Celi, police commander of Cauca state. The mayor of Toribio, Arquimedes Vitonas, told The Associated Press by telephone that the boys were cousins and that the flying shrapnel also injured three of their relatives. "These boys were just starting their life," said Alba Nuri Ipia, the mother of one of them, crying as she spoke to Caracol television. The hand grenade was most likely left by Colombia's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Celi said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Caucasus Corpse Count
Suspected rebels opened fire with automatic weapons on a patrol of Russian troops and local police in the region surrounding the Chechen capital Grozny, killing two servicemen and wounding two others, the Interior Ministry said Saturday.

Two suspected militants also died in Friday's clash, the ministry's regional branch said.

In another armed incident, federal forces on Friday discovered a rebel base in the southeastern mountains with a large weapons cache including grenades and a machine-gun and shot dead a suspected Chechen insurgent, the interior ministry said.

Overnight, three troops and one policeman were wounded some 25 kilometres east of Grozny when unknown assailants opened fire on them with grenade-launchers.

On the outskirts of a nearby settlement on Friday, a homemade explosive device went off, wounding three Russian soldiers serving as volunteers in Chechnya, a duty officer at the ministry said.

Separately, in the restive neighbouring republic of Dagestan, police discovered the body of the head of a deaf-mute association who had been shot dead in his office in the regional capital Makhachkala on Thursday.

The murder appeared to be a contract killing linked to the victim's professional activities, said Roman Shchekotin, spokesman for the ministry's southern regional branch.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 10/02/2005 00:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hear no evil, speak no evil.
Posted by: john || 10/02/2005 7:29 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq militants 'guilty of war crimes'
MILITANT insurgent groups responsible for killing thousands of Iraqi civilians over the past two years are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch charges today.

In a report chronicling the killing of an estimated 15,000 men, women and children by insurgents, the organisation insists that international law applies equally to US-led forces as well as those claiming to resist foreign occupation. “The armed conflict in Iraq is regulated by the 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international laws,” says the report, Iraq: Insurgent Groups Responsible for War Crimes.

Many insurgent groups are operating in Iraq, from Islamic extremists to members of the ousted Baath party and Sunni Muslim nationalists. Three groups are blamed for most of the worst abuses: al-Qaeda in Iraq, headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Ansar al-Sunna (Supporters of the Sunni) and Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam).

Human Rights Watch has produced numerous reports critical of the US military and the Iraqi Government’s behaviour since the invasion in 2003. Sarah Leah Whitson, who heads the group’s Middle East and Africa division, said it was important that insurgents were also called to account.

The report coincides with fears that foreign fighters in Iraq, responsible for some of the worst outrages, may return home and use similar tactics against pro-Western governments in the Arab world and beyond.

The claim was based on captured documents found with Abu Azzam, a commander in al-Zarqawi’s group, who was killed last month in Baghdad. “We got hold of a very important letter from Abu Azzam to Zarqawi asking him to begin to move a number of Arab fighters to the countries they came from to transfer their experience in car bombings in Iraq,” Bayan Jabor, the Iraqi Interior Minister, said. A report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said that there were about 30,000 insurgent fighters in Iraq, with foreign volunteers making up to 10 per cent.
Posted by: Captain America || 10/02/2005 20:12 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  MILITANT insurgent groups responsible for killing thousands of Iraqi civilians over the past two years are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity

Two years? And Human Rights Watch is just now noticing? Allow me to express my contempt for this useless organization.
Posted by: SteveS || 10/02/2005 20:37 Comments || Top||

#2  they were waiting for the rest of the Abu Grahib pics to be released, to balance: throatcutting vs panties on the head = zero sum
Posted by: Frank G || 10/02/2005 20:39 Comments || Top||

#3  My first thought was that it's about time that the 'Human Rights' so-called community has finally gotten round to condemning terrorists killing civilians. Then I realized that it was only based on the fact that a captured letter admitting to car-bombings was found. In terms of proportionality with the repeated condemnation of the US, this amounts to a nominal 'slap on the wrist' for the terrorists.
Posted by: Wherenter Glomoper1682 || 10/02/2005 20:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Sarah Leah Whitson, who heads the group’s Middle East and Africa division, said it was important that insurgents were also called to account.

Really? are the poor rebels/militants/insurgents as bad as the US Military. Unbelievable!
Posted by: SwissTex || 10/02/2005 20:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Surely you can't be serious.



Posted by: Croque Ulainter9433 || 10/02/2005 20:49 Comments || Top||

#6  War crimes? Does that imply that the 'insurgents' recognise some aspect of the Geneva Convention?
Posted by: Pappy || 10/02/2005 20:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Good luck with all that Sarah Leah Whitson. This group literally supports Terrorism. Excuse me while laugh.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 10/02/2005 21:03 Comments || Top||

#8  "Sarah Leah Whitson, who heads the group’s Middle East and Africa division, said it was important that insurgents were also called to account."
Nice to know that HRW is paying attention to these little matters.Thank you, so very much. Is it time for a pledge drive in the US? Or in some other market that matters?
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 10/02/2005 21:20 Comments || Top||

#9  Too late, ya whore.
Posted by: Ptah || 10/02/2005 21:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Fine rant at the link Ptah , fine rant. Thank you for the link.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 10/02/2005 22:35 Comments || Top||

#11  Best. Rant. Ever!
Posted by: Comic-book Guy || 10/02/2005 23:08 Comments || Top||

#12  In related news, Human Rights Watch today stated that the Spanish Inquisition was 'bad'. But they hastened to add that they ascribed no blame whatsoever to the current socialist government of Spain.
Posted by: DMFD || 10/02/2005 23:33 Comments || Top||


Gunmen told: take British hostages
THE radical Shi’ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr has authorised his militia to kidnap two Britons in Iraq in the hope of swapping them for two of his senior officials who are held in Basra by British forces. A senior official from al-Sadr’s Mahdi army in Baghdad said that al-Sadr had given the order after last month’s dramatic rescue of two SAS men whom he had been hoping to use as bargaining chips. The source said al-Sadr had given British authorities until yesterday to release his men, but they had failed to do so. “In return for our two officials, two Britons will be taken,” the source said. The two need not necessarily be from the British military, but could be civilians, he added.

The source claimed that the Mahdi army had already pinpointed two British targets working for private security companies in the affluent Mansour district of Baghdad. Several British security firms have bases in the area. Last year two British nationals — Kenneth Bigley and Margaret Hassan — were kidnapped and executed by Sunni extremists. The detained men — Sheikh Ahmed Majid Farttusi and Sayyid Sajjad — have been accused by coalition forces of involvement in attacks that killed at least nine soldiers, including two Britons, in the past two months. Their arrests provoked protests by dozens of Mahdi army members with assault rifles who marched to the provincial governor’s office. When the two SAS men were arrested shortly afterwards by Basra’s security forces for “suspicious behaviour” and allegedly shooting a policeman in the leg, they were handed to al-Sadr’s militia — with the apparent intention that they would be bartered for the detained militiamen.
Posted by: Craing Whavising2623 || 10/02/2005 19:24 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Send a SAS team to kill al-Sadar OED.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 10/02/2005 21:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Somebody needs to do it...he's long overdue.
Posted by: imoyaro || 10/02/2005 21:43 Comments || Top||

#3  why isn't he already dead? Publish the warning: "If you kidnap Brits - we'll kill Sadr - the choice is yours"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/02/2005 21:44 Comments || Top||

#4  A senior official from al-Sadr’s Mahdi army in Baghdad said that al-Sadr had given the order after last month’s dramatic rescue of two SAS men whom he had been hoping to use as bargaining chips.
A full addmission. Should be his death warrant.

Basra, Mahdi army and the pro-Iranian Badr brigade:
op 'Tungsten Carbide Fist' in order.



Mahdi army and the pro-Iranian Badr brigade
Posted by: Red Dog || 10/02/2005 22:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Operation Burqua Babes. Would be a better name. A bunch of Burqua clad hit persons pull out MP45s and riddle him and his contingent with soft lead in a rub out Al Capone would be proud of.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 10/02/2005 22:40 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaida in Iraq: We nabbed two US Marines
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed to have captured two US Marines participating in an offensive in western Iraq, and threatened to kill them within 24 hours in a Web statement issued Sunday. A US military spokesman said he believed the claim was false.

A spokesman for US forces in Iraq, Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, said in a statement, "I have not heard anything about any of our folks being taken. I would suspect that these are unfounded rumors, as that is what has happened in the past."

The al-Qaida in Iraq statement said the two Marines were captured during Operation Iron Fist, an offensive that entered its second day Sunday in towns near the Syrian border.

The statement - posted on an Islamic web forum and signed by al-Qaida in Iraq's spokesman, Abuy Maysara al-Iraqi - did not include any pictures or other images. Its authenticity could not be verified.

It said al-Qaida fighters captured the two "after surrounding their patrol," which it said was part of "their futile assault against the homes of Sunnis, the so-called Iron Fist."

Al-Qaida set a 24-hour deadline for Sunni women to be released from Iraqi and US prisons - otherwise the two would be killed. "The mujahedeen are eager to slaughter them," the statement said.

Some 1,000 US Marines, soldiers and sailors launched Operation Iron Fist on Saturday, sweeping into the village of Sadah, 300 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, to hunt for al-Qaida terrorists.

Posted by: Chomotch Thromorong2731 || 10/02/2005 14:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You gonna believe Steve or AQ?
Posted by: Shipman || 10/02/2005 15:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Not GI Joe dolls again!
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/02/2005 15:50 Comments || Top||

#3  You don't just kidnap two US Marines....no damn way.
Posted by: Grins Sluper5274 || 10/02/2005 15:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Let's ask the MSM. They don't deal in rumors, just facts right?
They will set us straight. (Ha)
Posted by: plainslow || 10/02/2005 16:58 Comments || Top||

#5  I'll believe this when Lt Col Boylan tells me it's so. And that'll be when he's told us they've been rescued and 50-100 AQ are pushing up daisies.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/02/2005 17:16 Comments || Top||

#6  If this was real, they'd have pictures and ID cards posted so fast, it'd make your head spin. Just some propaganda for consumption by the faithful, who need to know that something good is happening, somewhere.
Posted by: gromky || 10/02/2005 17:31 Comments || Top||

#7 

Here we go again ...
Posted by: Croque Ulainter9433 || 10/02/2005 19:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Croque - Oh my God! That poor man! Have Ken and Barbie and the rest of his family been notified?
Posted by: DMFD || 10/02/2005 19:57 Comments || Top||

#9  Black hole Son.
Posted by: closedanger || 10/02/2005 20:01 Comments || Top||


Zarq Begins Folding the Tent, Sending Some Jihadis Home
Foreign al Qaeda militants waging a campaign of suicide car bombings in Iraq plan to send some fighters home in preparation for similar operations in their own countries, the Iraqi interior minister said on Sunday. Interior Minister Bayan Jabor said documents found with Abu Azzam, said to be a lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, signaled a plan to send foreign Arab Sunni militants back home to widen the battlefield beyond Iraq.

"We got hold of a very important letter from Abu Azzam to Zarqawi asking him to begin to move a number of Arab fighters to the countries they came from to transfer their experience in car bombings in Iraq," Jabor told Reuters in an interview in Amman. "So you will see insurgencies in other countries," said Jabor, a member of the Shi'ite Islamist SCIRI party, a key component of the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led coalition government.

U.S. and Iraqi forces tracked Abu Azzam, an Iraqi, and killed him last week dealing what a U.S. commander called a serious blow to the group responsible for some of the biggest suicide attacks over the past two years. Hundreds of Islamist fighters had already left Iraq in recent months, Jabor said, though security forces were also braced for a spike in car bomb attacks ahead of October 15's referendum on a post-Saddam Hussein constitution.
Posted by: Captain America || 10/02/2005 11:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like a none too subtle hint that Iraq is rapidly becoming a lost cause.

p.s. Be sure to declare complete and total victory when you run away.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/02/2005 11:53 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sure the Arabs will cheer just as loudly when car bombs go off in their capitals.
Posted by: ed || 10/02/2005 11:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Arabs? I thought he meant France!
Posted by: Jake-the-Peg || 10/02/2005 12:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Democracy is the enemy of Islam. These nutcase clerics, the dictators, the presidents for life, kings, and princes, know they will be in the unemployment line in a democracy. That's why they fight Western Civilzation and the Greatest Satan: Popular Democracy.
Posted by: Flavins Pholuger6383 || 10/02/2005 12:05 Comments || Top||

#5  So, um, whadda these mooks get as a consolation prize?

Letters of Reference?
Zaqri Decoder Rings?
Zarqi Fan Club ID's?
The Zarqi Civil War Go Boom! Game, Home Edition?
A Keepsake Zarqi Beheading Video?
Autographed Editions of "My Sheikh is Behind Me, About 100km Behind."
Drano?

I liked it better when they got dead. There. In Mook Flypaper Memorial Meadows.
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 12:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Uh, folks: If you listen very, very carefully, you will hear a horrible sound. Please do not worry. That is just the sound of our own local Stalinists screaming when they realize that Bush is about to deliver a military victory in Iraq.

You know how they are: no more dead Americans, lots more dead terrorists.

If this wonderful news is indeed true then a military victory will cripple the anti-war anti-American left for at least a generation. They have staked everything on this one card: To end the war through defeat and betrayal, just like they did in Viet Nam. The left will be reminded in their very faces daily if not hourly that their worse defeatism and enemy-mongering could not stop freedom from taking hold.

This could be huge. But do not be alarmed by that sound.
Posted by: badanov || 10/02/2005 13:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Or: this could be the metastasizing of the insurgency.

This will take 20 years or so to deal with. But a stable Iraq would be a great milestone along the way.
Posted by: lotp || 10/02/2005 13:15 Comments || Top||

#8  Don't tease us, bad, lol!

Man, I hope you're right - sweet it would be. Of course, this won't be to Bush's credit. Sticking by his troops and ignoring the ankle-biters, etc. Bush is so, um, unsatisfying. Icky, really.

Again, I hope you've detected the real meaning behind this... Thx - made my day!
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 13:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Also, note that it is foreign Sunnis who are being sent home. That leaves open the possibility that he has sufficient Iraqi Sunnis to keep things going there without outside bodies (so to speak).

We'll see ....
Posted by: lotp || 10/02/2005 13:16 Comments || Top||

#10  It could be that the latest helpers aren't arriving with nearly as much pocket money as their predecessors, and so their "suicides" are no longer a profit center. Running an "insurgency" costs money, y'know, and Osama bin Laden is likely having a few cash flow problems of his own, way out there in the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/02/2005 14:36 Comments || Top||

#11  There are so many facets in the GWoT. There are the mil ops, then financial dealings, searching out backers of terrorists. I hope that the tide is turning. One thing for sure: it will not happen overnight. Iraq is still a tribal f*cked up place. The ex-Saddam Sunnis would rather be stuck on stupid then evolve to meet new conditions. The Kurds did something with the time and protection given to them. It seems that if you get rid of the money, a lot of the problems will go away. Psychopaths with billions coming in should not be expected to do the right thing for their citizens. Look at Saudi and Iran. Getting off the ME oil tit is the toughest thing the civilized world will ever do.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/02/2005 14:54 Comments || Top||

#12  Oil didn't help Louisiana either, though it didn't harm Texas or Alaska. I suspect the culture you start with has a lot to do with oil's effect.

Nonetheless, it is unlikely we will get off the ME oil tit until we have to because it is running dry. Anytime we start to get off, they will just lower prices. The only way we get off, nuclear energy and oil tariffs, is unpalatible to too many voters and will involve too much economic contraction. So it will not happen until we have exhausted ME oil. That's one reason to keep ANWAR idle. Don't open it till we've drained the ME.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 10/02/2005 15:16 Comments || Top||

#13  This ia a mixed bag. If these terrorists go home and start jihad, itr could be good and bad. Perhaps if the Euros oil spigot is threatned by a spreading jihad they will finally got off thier buts and actually fight but I doubt it.

AP I know you are right. Getting us off the Middle Eastern and foreign oil and petro chemicals will be one of the hardest things we will ever do. Do it we must and any politician or group that gets in the way needs to be turned into visible road kill.

I believe things are going better in Iraq then can be expected. Tribalism and ignorance are retarding things. Look aroound in the western world. Anyplace people are still tribal/clanish it's backwards and poor. Getting the Iraqi's standing on their own 2 feet and not killing each other is going to take years. They are doing pretty well considering the external and self inflicted difficulties they face.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 10/02/2005 15:23 Comments || Top||

#14  "We got hold of a very important letter from Abu Azzam to Zarqawi asking him to begin to move a number of Arab fighters to the countries they came from to transfer their experience in car bombings in Iraq,"

Hmmmm...maybe he's referring to car bomb making. Don't seem to recall too many repeat car bombers. Its sort of a one shot deal.
Posted by: Jeans Threase5771 || 10/02/2005 16:28 Comments || Top||

#15  I look for the day when people believe that oil is too valuable as a petrochemical feedstock to burn.
Posted by: RWV || 10/02/2005 19:07 Comments || Top||

#16  None of their home countries are democracies. Let them go boom in Egypt, Jordan, etc. They're high if they think we can make their home countries into theocracies. If they destabilize things there, it may ultimately work to our advantage.
Posted by: JAB || 10/02/2005 20:38 Comments || Top||

#17  .com:

My amatuer political theory goes like this.

The left been ascendent in this country for a couple of generations. The left high ideals are socialism and defeatism at home, and peace and appeasement abroad. This has been accepted doctrine of the left taking two generations to spread that our own military is a bad thing, but leftist politicians who have the power to tax and redistribute the proceeds to the politically loyal is a wonderful thing. Heck, I accepted that bullsh*t for years myself.

Reagan created the crack in this screwed up social order, and Dubya's reaction to a terrorist attack on 911 has opened the floodgates wide enough that the whole political landscape has changed and for the better.

Many folks learned the lessons from this attack and began to realize that if you want to practice socialism in the US, you still have to protect the system that props it up and you must do so politically. There is no contradiction here. Christopher Hitchens had a 'Come to Jesus' moment post 911, and while he is attacking the same looney who were once his friends, the man is still very much a leftist intellectual. Hitchens uses many of the things conservatives use to push forward their ideology, fact, logic and dispassionate but vigorously emphatic debate.

You think the left just decided to go insane because of Bush? They were always this way, but when the next step in their socialist agenda died with Dubya becoming president in 2000, they got mad, but when Dubya got his resolution to go after the terrorists, they simply lost all control of their bodily functions.

There is no going back to the nihilistic sentiments of the 60s and 70s. All that boolsh*t evaporated, the same day the the towers fell. And in the intervening years, while the left has been complaining about "our Viet Nam" in Iraq, the public is just starting to see what really happened in Viet Nam and what really matters: love of country, family and God.

And what happened in Viet Nam was a small vocal minority of insane people came to hijack policy for their own ideals, they drove the US into cutting out of Viet Nam and leading to more than 6 million dead. People can now distinguish between leadership and defeatism, nihilism and socialism as never before.

You would think the left would be wise enough to STFU and let things take its course, try to regain power by presing domestic issues, but no. They have to talk about quagmires and Viet Nam because that is all they have and all they will vever have.

If Bush does deliver a military victory in Iraq, it will completely and totally repudiate the last four years of this leftist defeatism and show to an entire egeneration, that we all made a huge mistake, but Viet Nam wasn't it. It was trying to make policy out of insane and costly and unwormkable ideas, brought to you by essnetially the same people who killed more than 150 million in the 20th century.

Anyway, hat's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Posted by: badanov || 10/02/2005 20:47 Comments || Top||

#18  Oops - Off having dinner...

Wow, bad... There's several meals there, lol! As I read, it rings true all along the way, too. I definitely agree that on the domestic front the pivotal moment was during Vietnam. I will not contaminate this post with my thoughts and feelings about the conduct of the war in Vietnam. AC would have some very similar point, I'd wager. (I wonder where he's been for the last week or so?) The focal point is between the media & elites - they provide the energy for the continuing battle against America, from within. The first glimpse of "success" for the Left came when they gained media favor - especially with Walter Crankcase in his infamous move to the Dark Side after Tet... which was the imprimatur the bulk of the MSM needed to pile on. Of course, after that, the fix was in, game, set, match. And journalism suddenly became an approved means of not just advocacy, but of regime change. All The President's Men sealed journalism as an occupation of choice - making it appear "glamorous" to the pinheads - for those with enough spunk to get off their parent's couch and move out of the basement to attend J-School or pursue Academia.

Sigh. The slog has been uphill ever since. I think Bush-Gore was another pivotal moment - one in which the Left realized they didn't actually have the nation in its pocket and that Reagan wasn't an anomaly of his having been a movie star, etc . - the rationale I read numerous times during the Clintoon's Camelot II Era.

I am definitely on the same wavelength, and the more I consider the article, the more I think they are, indeed, taking the fight elsewhere and abandoning their Iraqi comrades. I'll be re-reading your post for a couple of days, lol! If anything else hits me, I'll respond in an appropriate thread. Thx for the write-up!
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 22:30 Comments || Top||

#19  Zarqawi.... the boy in pursuit of his lost manhood. He is known by the words he speaks and the friends he keeps. Zarqawi is a slum child from Jordan who was rejected from the gangs that ran his part of the slums, so he left for those who would embrace him in spite of his fondness for young boys... thus Zarqawi the blasphemer from Jordan became a seeker of higher calling but unable to shake his Satanic drive for lusting of children and then killing innocents and people for a means of penance for his evil doings.

Zarqawi still seeks acceptance from the ummah but has trouble from the truely pious and true believers in Allah and the religion of Islam. He is a horrible embarrassment to the ummah and to the rest of God's creations. Only God has the right to choose who lives or dies and empowers over others. Zarqawi chose to elevate himself to the right hand of God and be at his level.

Zarqawi decided to be the final master of the Koran and the one to deliver enduring justice instead of God. Zarqawi has embraced his own feelings of right and wrong rather than God, and imposes his murder and unGodly behavior upon others to submit or perish by.

Zarqawi can only be comforted by intimacy with children and then smashes everything afterwards. he drives away those that get close to him, and he terrorizes those who avoid him. Zarqawi is self-destructive and copes with that realization by attempting to destroy others.

Zarqawi grew into an unhappy boy, and remains so to this very day, by being rejected by the gangs and toughies in the slum he grew up in. They considered him as infeminate and cowardly. But, Zarqawi would show them and he would show everybody!

What better way to lash back at the world but by embracing the notions of being a mujahadeen in fierce jihad against the West? Zarqawi felt this would give him respect and become a God in his own right... even if it killed him or many many many many many others. When Zarqawi bonded with other disaffected brothers to his liking, it was a bond born in hell.

When things got slippery with his peers in Iraq & Syria, the Zarqawi had to re-establish a sense of accomplishment and validate his self-made position as a leader and one who sits at the right hand of God himself. Zarqawi reached out to princess Ossama bin Laden and Pimp Daddy Zawahiri to bump himself up a notch.

It made for good PR in the MSM (secret allies of insurgents everywhere) and it gave him additional fantasies to work over while working his way through the children of AQ-occupied villages and towns in Iraq. Zarqawi is a slickster for sure, and Satan will finally have an additional card player at the table in hell along with the likes of Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Kim il whats-his-face, Stalin, Idi Amin, and all the other pukes that satan recruited.

Zarqawi.... you a dead dried pork meat stuck in the stomach of a dog living in a city dump in New Dehli. You are crap on a stick on a hot tin roof on a outhouse.
Posted by: Fun Dung Poo || 10/02/2005 23:18 Comments || Top||


US hits al-Qaeda village stronghold
About 1,000 US troops, backed by attack helicopters and fighter jets swept into Sadah, a village near the Syrian border, yesterday in an offensive to root out al-Qaeda militants and stem the violence that has shaken Iraq before this month's referendum on the new constitution.

Air-to-ground missiles struck houses and cars as the force moved into the village of about 2,000 people on the banks of the Euphrates, eight miles from the border.

The US military said that the offensive, named Operation Iron Fist, was mounted because al-Qaeda had taken control of Sadah and fighters were using it as a staging point after entering Iraq from Syria to join the insurgency.

US soldiers sealed off the village, and American and Iraqi officials did not immediately release casualty figures.

A doctor in the hospital in Qaim, the nearest town, however, said that 10 people had been killed and 15 wounded.

Reporters with the American soldiers said that after the operation started in the early hours, troops went from house to house, blasting open doors in a hunt for insurgents.

It was also reported that helicopters fired on three vehicles as the force moved in. Two allegedly turned out to be carrying suicide bombers, and it was claimed that the third vehicle was being loaded with weapons.

Villagers said that in the evening, Marines clashed in the streets with insurgents, and a Humvee was seen burning. By last night, however, no weapons caches or key militants were believed to have been found.

The assault was the fourth large US offensive in the border area since May. The militants are difficult to put down, and return to towns and villages after troops withdraw at the end of the assaults.

In Baghdad, insurgents kidnapped the brother of the interior minister Bayan Jabr Solagh, the Shia official who heads police forces. Iraqi government sources said the son of another ministry official had also been kidnapped north of Baghdad.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 10/02/2005 00:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meanwhile, an oversight committee release reports a finding that the paltry 3 Iraqi batallions - out of 100 - that are capable of fully joining operations with US forces has been reduced to one. Why? Because the State Department is kissing asses of Islamofascists in order to get them to participate in phony one-time "democratic" elections. US troops do not have a fixed enemy. Iraqi friendlies are not allowed to have a fixed enemy. Only George Bush has a mortal global enemy: Secularism. His use of the Texas airhead Bible thumper - Karen Hughes - as the face of Americans, calls me to question the integrity of anyone who would support his whimp-war methodology. He is in the way.

Yeah, I support the Abu Ghraib prep work for Psych-Intelligence. And I oppose the President who hung good troops out to dry. Patton wouldn't have appeared on al-Arabiya to condemn his own troops, before an investigation. But Patton wasn't an over-achieving rich brat either.

Don't like my opinions? Best selling author, Robert Spencer, referred to GBW as "arch-dhimmi." Whatever you call him, do not call him resolute.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler || 10/02/2005 3:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Missing link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051001/pl_nm/iraq_bush_dc
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler || 10/02/2005 3:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Lol. How could so many have been so wrong? And I was one of 'em, too - I'm soooo ashamed. Thanks, Vlad, Dubya's just dhimmi trash compared to you and the "experts" who scribble books and then say outrageous shit to sell 'em. You guys are the real tough motherfuckers - it's all so plain to me now.
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 4:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Vlad, it's likely the 3 battlions have been broken up to form cadres. Fastest way to upscale an army.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/02/2005 10:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Similarly in 1941 the USMC at 2 ready to kick-ass Marine Divisions.... in February 1942 they didn't have any combat ready divisions, in 1943 2, in 1944 4, in 1945 6 with a USMC Army HQ being formed.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/02/2005 10:06 Comments || Top||

#6  It is true that the Iraqis have been slow to reach competent levels.

However, they have a lot to overcome:

- scubbing of Baathist and Jihadi syms
- tribal loyalties
- corruption of society
- instinctive lack of initiative
- islamic propaganda
- CNN, AP, BCC propaganda
Posted by: Elmairt Flavise5497 || 10/02/2005 11:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Don't like my opinions?

"I am the very model of a modern Armchair General.

"I have the Answers to It All, both concrete and ephemeral..."
Posted by: Pappy || 10/02/2005 11:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Applying the same criteria, who many NATO formations, let alone the rest of world, are combat ready? More realistic criteria are: Are they sufficiently armed and will they fight? Expecting them to have US level training, equipment, logistics, planning, and intelligence assets are not realistic.
Posted by: ed || 10/02/2005 12:05 Comments || Top||

#9  Why is Tater Sadr still alive? Why is Al Jazeera still transmitting? Why is the USAF not allowed to use their big brooms instead of snuffies going house to house?
Get serious and get this over with. I have been a big supporter of Bush, but dragging this out is idiotcy.
Finish this thing, declare victory, then get out.
Massive airpower not seen since WWII needs to clean out the Sunni Triangle, not house to house fighting.
We need to send an unambigiuous message to Syria and Iran: Don't F**k with the bull. You gonna' get the horn.
President Bush: Less restraint, more progress. How mad can the French and their allies Kerry and Kennedy get?
Posted by: Flavins Pholuger6383 || 10/02/2005 12:15 Comments || Top||

#10  a great summary of the training situation at:

http://tigerhawk.blogspot.com/2005/10/lt-gen-david-petraeus-speaks-at.html
Posted by: mhw || 10/02/2005 12:15 Comments || Top||

#11  Echo Ship, Iraq security forces, Border guards, & Police, and Soldiers are well on their way and growing stronger each day.

It's True, that many batallions still have an element of coalition advisors, which technically prevents a full *independant op status*, but even those same units are still kicking ass and rounding up Baathist thugs and splodydopes everyday.

Vlad: And I oppose the President who hung good troops out to dry.
Patton

wouldn't have appeared on al-Arabiya to condemn his own troops, before an investigation. But Patton wasn't an over-achieving rich brat either.


ie...Sure we could have leveled Fallujah conventually in one morning, and maybe we should have..but I ain't running this war..so wtf..

Patton is a hero to all of us, but Ike, Marshall, & Roosevelt had a little more on their plate than the 3 Army, so it is with GWB.

Posted by: Red Dog || 10/02/2005 12:22 Comments || Top||

#12  Robert Spencer?!? Well, if you insist on holding him up as your primary authority, nothing more need be said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/02/2005 14:42 Comments || Top||

#13  One year ago we were fighting for control all around Baghdad (sadr city, nasariah, etc). Today we are fighting in the last few towns on the border with Syria. How can this not be seen as success? It seems with where the new bar is set for success, we would have had to quit at the battle of the bulge (actually, the left would have quit at Perl Harbor). It appears all you need for the war to be labeled as "loosing" is for the enemy to make ANY TYPE OF ATTACK ANYWHERE. You could NEVER win a war with the new set of rules the left have established.
Posted by: Patrick || 10/02/2005 15:30 Comments || Top||

#14  Nothing personal. The status quo ante in Iraq is nothing but a form of defeatism. Oil productions levels are lower than they were 2 years ago. Khomenist Islamofascism is the official ideology in most Shiite cities. Jihadi groups like the Al-Sadrites form a paramilitary opposition. Sunni Iraq is in open revolt. US support for the war is at an all time low. We should either get tough or get out.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler || 10/02/2005 19:02 Comments || Top||

#15  So sez the leader of the 42001st Armchair Brigade...
Posted by: Pappy || 10/02/2005 21:00 Comments || Top||

#16  Asymmetrical Triangulation sez:

Well, yeah...we should have used the tactical nuke option the moment we KNEW things were NOT adding up.
Posted by: asymmetrical triangulation || 10/02/2005 21:54 Comments || Top||

#17  asymmetrical triangulation, yer name is way kool.
Posted by: Billary || 10/02/2005 22:04 Comments || Top||

#18  Ok, Vlad. Regards what to call Bush, well, "They call me Mr. Tibbs President."

Works for me.

Perfect he's not. but thank your lucky stars or whatever Deity you choose that he's the President, not Gore or Skeery. And if you bring up McCain, as if that fucking gloryboy would actually have done dick, I'll go ballistic and post the screed I've had written up and waiting for you since 5:00 am, heh.
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 23:02 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Paleos achieve Hudna vs. Israel
Israel has suspended its offensive into the Gaza Strip following a lull in rocket fire by Palestinian terrorists militants, but it is ready to restart the operation if attacks resume, the army said on Sunday. The operation, which included a series of airstrikes on weapons factories, storage facilities and launching areas, achieved its goal of weakening terrorists' militants' ability to attack Israel from Gaza, the army said. Militants have not fired rockets into Israel since last Tuesday, it added. "Just because there have not been attacks does not mean there will not be more," said army spokeswoman Capt. Yael Hartmann. "We will continue the operation when we see the need to rein in possible attacks."

The renewed violence came just weeks after Israel completed its withdrawal from Gaza after 38 years of occupation. The pullout had raised hopes around the world that peace talks could soon resume. The fighting erupted after an explosion at a rally by the Islamic group Hamas in Gaza killed 21 people on Sept. 23. Hamas blamed Israel for the blast, even though Palestinian officials said the explosion was caused by the terrorists' militants' own mishandling of explosives. Hamas then fired several dozen rockets into southern Israeli towns. Israel responded with its offensive, killing four terrorists militants and damaging numerous buildings it said were used for weapons storage and production.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad last week both declared a halt to the rocket fire last week. According to the Israeli army, terrorists militants fired 35 homemade rockets into Israel during the fighting. Hartmann said the terrorists' militants' declarations "don't mean anything to us." It means Taqiya. But after several nights of activity, Israel halted its airstrikes last Thursday. Israeli security officials said the operation was informally halted over the weekend. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under security regulations.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said a halt in fighting "serves the interests" of Israelis and Palestinians. "As Palestinians, we are fully committed to the cessation of violence against Israelis anywhere, and I hope the Israeli announcement today constitutes a full cessation by Israel of existence violence against Palestinians anywhere," he said.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/02/2005 15:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oops. Phil_b's wasn't up when I started, but he posted before I completed. Please delete this and accept apologies for the trouble.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/02/2005 17:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Awww, don't be so apologetic Jackal. Your version has a nice flavor of it's own. I enjoyed both articles. :-)
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 10/02/2005 17:59 Comments || Top||

#3  even the worst-behaving child shouldn't be beaten when behaving acceptably, even if only temporarily. Hamas and the Paleos match that in action and attention span
Posted by: Frank G || 10/02/2005 20:28 Comments || Top||

#4  "As Palestinians, we are fully committed to the cessation of violence against Israelis anywhere,.."

A lie.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/02/2005 23:38 Comments || Top||


Israel suspends offensive as Gaza police clash with Hamas
Israel suspended an offensive against militants in the Gaza Strip, including targeted killings, as clashes between Hamas gunmen and Palestinian police trying to enforce an arms ban killed at least three in Gaza City.

Medical sources said three Palestinians, including a police major, had been killed and 50 wounded after Hamas militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at a police station in the Shati refugee camp.

Fighting also erupted at the nearby Shifa hospital after two Palestinians wounded in the earlier firefight were brought there for treatment.

A security source said the clashes began when Mohammed Rantissi, the son of a Hamas leader assassinated last year in an Israeli airstrike, got into a dispute with another Palestinian who wanted to use a bank ATM machine ahead of him.

The fight escalated when police attempted to arrest Rantissi as part of ban on carrying weapons in public in the strife-torn Gaza Strip which Palestinian security forces recently began enforcing.

"Hamas bears entire responsibility for what happened. It violated the law and the national consensus," said an interior ministry statement.

Armed factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad have refused demands by Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to lay down their weapons since Israel's pullout from Gaza last month but have agreed that their activists should not carry their weapons in public.

Abbas has repeatedly pledged to tackle the spiralling lawlessness in the Palestinian territories, particularly in Gaza, where gunmen frequently operate beyond the law in the name of "resistance".

The fighting came after Israel ended a campaign of attacks that has killed four hardline Islamists, with an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon saying the raids had taught the Palestinians the "new rules of the game".

"We have decided to suspend the offensive operations that we launched last week in response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel," the official in Sharon's office told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Israel launched a series of air strikes on Gaza last weekend in the aftermath of a barrage of rocket attacks by Hamas fired from Gaza into Israel, but the militant group dismissed the announcement as a ploy to split the Palestinian people.

"This statement is part of the propaganda campaign to blackmail our people and to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to fight against the factions and resistance groups," said spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/02/2005 15:54 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Popcorn!
Posted by: Sheik Abu Bin Ali Al-Yahood || 10/02/2005 16:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Oh this is rich!

"Hey, lemme use that ATM"
"FU"
"What! - don't you know who I am?, I've got a photo of my old man in my wallet - look "
"They're both deaders, beat it, or you'll get some too"

(This is a major escalation. Paleo honour must be defended!)

"Whaaaat!, ok youse guys, get the RPGs out and hit a random target - that police station for example"

(along comes plod)

"'ello 'ello 'ello, what's going on here then?"
"FU copper" *bang, bang*
"aaagh, rosebud"

(more plod arrive)

"'ere, you've killed the major, you're nicked!!"
"FU too!" *bang*
"ouch!"

SWWWOOOOOSH!! *boom*

"you've blown up the cop-shop!"
"yeah, we're hardboyz! (tm)"

Tune in tomorrow to see what happens when two groups of tooled-up Paleos disagree over priority at a stop-sign.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/02/2005 16:30 Comments || Top||

#3  ROFL, Tony! Excellent!
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 16:33 Comments || Top||

#4  This isn't representative of Islam. Islam is a peaceful religion who seeks to live peacefully among others. It's unfortunate that you seek to tarnish the image by selectively linking to articles such as this..
Posted by: macofromoc || 10/02/2005 16:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Hey Macofromoc, you mean like in Bali? The only peace you are going on about is the peace of the grave.
Posted by: imoyaro || 10/02/2005 16:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Agreed, very funny Tony.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/02/2005 17:02 Comments || Top||

#7  gotha
Posted by: macofromoc || 10/02/2005 17:19 Comments || Top||

#8  oops i meant gotchya. was watchin' the cowboy game..
Posted by: macofromoc || 10/02/2005 17:20 Comments || Top||

#9  as they say... never get in the way of an opponent killing himself.
Posted by: 2b || 10/02/2005 17:39 Comments || Top||

#10  macofromoc, for a lot of us you need to put the(/sarcasm) tag, or we won't get it. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/02/2005 17:56 Comments || Top||

#11  The Israelis needed some time to get ready for Rosh HaShanah.
Posted by: Penguin || 10/02/2005 17:57 Comments || Top||

#12  Time to sit back and enjoy the show
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World || 10/02/2005 18:15 Comments || Top||

#13  ATM machine? Why don't the IDF install fake exploding ATM's when a Hamas or IJ or Fatah biggie uses it they can just self-destruct? Patent pending - Frank G
Posted by: Frank G || 10/02/2005 19:17 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Australian medical staff bracing for influx of injured
AUSTRALIAN medical specialists are bracing for an influx of patients with horrific injuries including shrapnel wounds after the latest terrorist attacks in Bali. The bombs sprayed objects such as ball-bearings through three packed restaurants at two locations popular with tourists on the Indonesian resort island Three Australians were among at least 25 people killed in the attacks. At least another 100 were injured, including 17 Australians.

Members of the Australian medical response team, the Australian Health Disaster Medicine Planning Committee, met today in Canberra. Included in the meeting were the federal government's chief medical officer John Horvath, the federal Health Department's deputy secretary Mary Murnane and state and territory health chiefs.

A spokeswoman for Professor Horvath said all states and territories had offered assistance and were waiting to hear back from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

At least two Australians were evacuated to Singapore for emergency medical treatment and hospitals in Darwin and Perth were on stand-by for patients. An international medical assistance company, International SOS, said it was evacuating 10 victims to Singapore for emergency treatment but would not give any details.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer pledged to send an emergency response team from Australia to Bali as soon as possible to help treat victims of the bombings. He said seriously injured Indonesians also could be evacuated to Australia for further medical treatment.

Prime Minister John Howard said victim-identification specialists already in the region were on their way to Bali. Australia also had offered full medical evacuation to victims regardless of nationality, he said. "We have arranged medical evacuation for three Australians," he said, adding two would be taken to Singapore and the third to Perth or Darwin.

Northern Territory chief health officer Tarun Weeramanthri said Darwin would be the first port of call for injured Australians. The first evacuees were expected to arrive in Darwin early tomorrow morning (AEST). "Our preliminary information is that there are a large number of injuries, there are (many) serious injuries, but also they are being well dealt with in the Indonesian medical system," Dr Weeramanthri said.

He said the Australian Defence Force medical team would soon arrive in Bali to make an assessment of the situation.

Meanwhile, Qantas will send a plane carrying 40 of the airline's medical and security staff to assist those stranded in Bali. Australian Federal Police officers, consular officials and staff from CARE Australia also will be onboard, along with an eight-member NRMA CareFlight medical team. The 230-seat plane will leave Sydney for Denpasar at 5pm (AEST) today and return with any Australians wishing to leave Bali at 5.15am tomorrow.
Posted by: God Save The World || 10/02/2005 03:04 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ball bearings. Were they coated with anti-coagulant rat poison, too? That's the way the Palestinians like to do it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/02/2005 14:43 Comments || Top||


Australians saw bomb thrown under their table
AUSTRALIAN witnesses believe one of the Bali terrorists threw a bomb under their table a split second before a deadly blast ripped through the beachside restaurant where they were dining. "A bomb went off right under our table," said Joe Frost, 20, of Newcastle, who had been out with about 17 friends from his home city when bombs rocked two cafes at Bali's popular Jimbaran beach. "Someone ran past and threw it under there.

"The next thing I know I'm thrown to the ground. It's all black and I can't hear anything.

"I ran into the ocean because I figured that was the safest place."

Mr Frost told AAP that he was dining at the open-air Nyoman Cafe when a bomb went off at the nearby Menega Cafe. The group jumped to their feet with the sound of the first blast. "We all stood up and looked around and we were hoping it was a gas explosion," he said.

Suddenly, another blast went off around them. Mr Frost said he did not see the bomb thrower, but said two of his friends did.

About the same time, a third bomb exploded in Raja's Bar and Restaurant in the heart of the Kuta shopping precinct nearby.

Some of the Newcastle group were among the dead and wounded.

Joe's father Adam Frost, is a doctor who is volunteering at Bali's main Sanglah hospital, where many of the wounded are being treated – some for horrific shrapnel wounds. The doctor said an entire ward of the intensive care unit was taken up by members of the Newcastle group. "There's ten of us in that ward, one has been evacuated and another three have died," Dr Frost, who was not with the group at the restaurant, said.

Survivors of the group were coming to grips with the tragedy today.

Julia Lederwasch, 49, and daughter Aleta, 21, suffered shrapnel wounds in the attack. Dietmar Lederwasch, whose ears were still ringing from the blast today, told of a terrifying four hours when he could not find his daughter. When the bomb went off, Aleta screamed and ran off, he said. "I stood at the head of the table and had a panoramic view of the situation," he said. "There was a sea of people running and then it went all black.

"I couldn't find her for four hours."

Mr Lederwasch said it was an emotional reunion when he visited his wife and daughter in hospital this morning. "We just burst into tears and hugged each other," he said. He said it was a miracle that others from Newcastle who were in Bali were not at the Jimbaran restaurant last night.

At least eight families, totalling 40 to 50 people, including two dozen children, had travelled together to holiday in Bali, he said. However, only about half of the group went for the seafood barbecue.

It was an absolute miracle that the kids decided to stay at the hotel because they were too tired to go out, Mr Lederwasch said. "I didn't know the extent of it until I got here (the Sanglah hospital) today. I thought our table had been okay," he said. He said his daughter had been worried about security during the trip.

Another Newcastle family had pulled out of the holiday because of continued warnings from the Indonesian and Australian governments that a terrorist attack was imminent in Indonesia, Joe Frost said. Members of the Newcastle group well enough to leave Bali would do so as soon as possible, he said.
Posted by: God Save The World || 10/02/2005 04:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why do people from Oz still go to Indonesia, or any other Muzzy country?
Posted by: Thagum Throng6017 || 10/02/2005 8:52 Comments || Top||

#2  "I ran into the ocean because I figured that was the safest place."

Australia, England on quality steroids.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/02/2005 10:09 Comments || Top||

#3  AOL has a video of one of the bombs going off - in a restaurant. I have no idea whether it's this restaurant or not.

The Indonesians are calling all three bombs 'suicide' bombers, so if the Ozzy is right (and I'd believe them over the Indonesian government any time) then there's something not right.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/02/2005 11:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Time for Bali to leave Indonesia,
Posted by: ed || 10/02/2005 11:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Time for Bali to leave Indonesia, That would be sensible!
Posted by: 3dc || 10/02/2005 12:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Yugonesia? :)
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 12:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Why do people from Oz still go to Indonesia,..

They are probably asking themselves that question right now, along with a large number of other individuals from other places. Not a good development for the Indos.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/02/2005 15:30 Comments || Top||

#8  The majority of Balinese are Hindu's.

Bali has been a Hindu enclave surrounded by Muslim islands for 500 years, ever since the collapse of the Hindu Majapahit kingdom that ruled much of what is today Indonesia. In recent years, however, Muslims from other parts of Indonesia have been moving to Bali as labourers, government employees and small traders, attracted by the wealth generated by the island's tourism.

The reason why Australians continue to travel to Bali is because many here have developed a 'connection' with the Balinese people & now vow not to be intimidated by terrorists.
There was an article on a news site this morning about how only 1/5 of Australians have cancelled their flights to Bali.

Link
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World || 10/02/2005 18:04 Comments || Top||

#9  Thanks.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 10/02/2005 18:28 Comments || Top||


Experts say JI responsible for Bali bombing
There is no doubt the al-Qaeda linked terror group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) is responsible for the latest Bali bombings, a terrorism expert said today. At least 32 people, possibly three Australians were killed overnight in bombings which hit Jimbaran beach and Kuta beach with more than 100 injured. Rohan Gunaratna, head of terrorism research at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, said JI was the only group capable of such an attack. "Jemaah Islamiah is the only group that has the intention and the capability to mount a coordinated simultaneous attack against Western targets in Indonesia," Professor Gunaratna told Channel Nine.

Western intelligence in the lead-up to the latest attacks had been good, especially as Indonesia was currently in the midst of the so-called bombing season, he said. "The Indonesians and the Americans, the Australians and other regional countries provided quite good intelligence that an attack was in the making. It is especially because this is called the bombing season. Usually JI becomes active from August until December."

But Australia had to step up its offshore counter-terrorism policy. "I believe that Australia is playing a very decisive role in strengthening Indonesian capacity to respond to the terrorist threat. But I also believe that Australia needs to be more decisive in its offshore counter-terrorism policy because if JI continues to survive certainly Australia and Australian interests will suffer."

Prof Gunaratna said Australia needed to push to have JI declared illegal in Indonesia. "Australia has been very successful in building counter-terrorism tactical capabilities in the Indonesian police, but still at the legislative level, JI is still a legal organisation in Indonesia," he said. "JI must be proscribed and designated as a terrorist group and the Indonesians will do this only if there is international pressure and I hope that Australian leaders will now raise this issue with the Indonesian authorities."

One of Australia's leading terrorism experts, Clive Williams, said today the latest wave of bombings in Bali shows that JI is still active, despite the Indonesian Government's attempts to put its key leaders behind bars. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Mr Williams, director of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, said it bore all the hallmarks of JI. Mr Williams said the arrests had failed to cripple the group and the latest bombings showed it was still able to recruit new members. "Clearly, they are still able to mount small-scale operations, or in this particular case, it seems they probably would have had half a dozen people involved," he told The Associated Press.

Mr Williams said the most likely masterminds were fugitive Malaysians Azahari Husin and Noordin Top, both implicated in a 2004 attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, which killed 10 people and injured more than 200. Azahari, a former physics lecturer, is believed to be a skilled bomb maker and key organiser in the organisation, while Noordin is believed to be the group's top recruiter, he said. Mr Williams said the two were believed to be hiding in Indonesia. "I think they [Indonesian authorities] are actively looking for them, but they're obviously being protected by sympathisers or members of the organisation and that's made it more difficult," he said.

Another likely mastermind of yesterday's blasts included Zulkarnaen, also known as Aris Sumarsono, who is believed to have taken over as JI's operations chief in 2003 after Hambali, said to be the group's link to al-Qaeda, was arrested.

The blasts were likely to attract would-be terrorists to join regional JI cells or other extremist groups, Mr Williams said. "It's good for JI in the sense that it shows they're still in business," he said. "It also does encourage more people to join them. If they see that there's an ongoing level of activity, most people who are disposed to that point of view might be more prepared to support it."

The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, says the Malaysian terrorists believed to have built the Bali bombs three years ago may have had a hand in the latest attacks. "It wouldn't be a surprise if this attack was tied up with those two people, but you can't be certain at this stage," Mr Downer told ABC television. "It's just got the characteristics of an al-Qaeda, well al-Qaeda but a Jemaah Islamiah style attack, and an attack that might have involved those two people. It's mere speculation at this stage."

Security officials say Azahari is the author of the Jemaah Islamiah bomb manual, which was used in the Bali and Marriott bombings. Apart from providing technical expertise, he was allegedly a key figure in planning the attacks. Azahari was widely named as a possible successor to JI operations chief Hambali, an Indonesian who was arrested in Thailand last year and is in the custody of the United States.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 10/02/2005 00:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I like the top right corner picture.
Posted by: SwissTex || 10/02/2005 13:40 Comments || Top||


At least 22 dead in Bali blasts
Bombs exploded almost simultaneously on Saturday in two tourist areas of resort island of Bali, killing at least 22 people and wounding close to 50 others, police and hospital officials said. The victims included foreign tourists.
Only to be expected in the World's Most Populous Muslim Country™...
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said terrorists were to blame and warned that more attacks were possible. "We will hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice," he said after being briefed by top security officials, urging everyone "to be on alert."
I'd rather hear him say "we will hunt down the perpetrators and kill them."
The blasts at a crowded seafood restaurant on Jimbaran beach and a three-story noodle and steak house in downtown Kuta came nearly three years to the day after twin bombings on the resort island claimed 202 lives, many of them foreign tourists.
Happy anniversary, you rat bastards...
The al-Qaeda linked militant group Jamaah Islamiyah has been blamed in the Oct. 12, 2002 attack and was suspected in Saturday night's bombings as well. The bodies of 22 people were counted in two hospitals - 11 at Sangla and 11 at Graha Asih - officials there said. Close to 50 others were admitted with injuries, many of them serious,including eight Australians and two Americans.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  25 now and still going up.
Posted by: Unereling Wheque6643 || 10/02/2005 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  How many from down under dead this time? What will the response be? There is one religious group responsible for this, only one.

As someone says to me quite often, "they don't understand cause and effect." What will be the Wests response this time? Going to let their nonfunctional courts deal with it? Their useless police forces?
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 10/02/2005 0:48 Comments || Top||

#3  We'll prolly send some Fibbies. Their results: Yes, you're dead, sorry and all that, but what's interesting is that the device was reminiscent of the '96 device used in the...
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 2:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Three Australians are now reported to be among 25 people killed in multiple terrorist attacks at tourist areas in Bali. I'm not sure what our response will be, i've been listening to our leaders on tv.. There's a lot of talk about Thailand / The Phillipines and also Saudi Arabia on how they are financing terrorist organisations such as JI.
Posted by: God Save The World || 10/02/2005 3:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe now Australians (not to mention the rest of us) will stop going to Indonesia. Anyone spending money over there is paying for more of the same.
Posted by: imoyaro || 10/02/2005 3:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Good job. Are you going to do any follow up? You're pretty with that.

The number of dead, last time I heard, is 30. Over 60 injured. We won't know the true amount of damage until everyone slows down and waits, though.

There were 10 bombs. Four were found and disarmed. Another 4 or so did not work. These were smaller than normal, and there was no truck involved. One was even a pipe bomb.

This leads intelligence to believe they can only pull of a strike once a year. Who is working for them? FEB. 7, 2005 was NOT a year ago! Sheesh.
Posted by: Rosemary || 10/02/2005 4:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Just saw the video on ITN of the suicide bomber walking in to the restaurant. Scum bastards, there is no bargaining with these wankers they all need to be wiped off the face of the planet..........
Posted by: Shistos Shistadogloo || 10/02/2005 9:47 Comments || Top||

#8  The response from the loony left will be: peace not war!
The response from Aussie govt: lick dirty indo's arse again, let their police forces bumble about till they grab a scapegoat.

The response from Indo: well it's only Bali we don't give a toss about the hindus and kaffirs there. But don't you dare put a travel warning up about us!

East Timor is beckoning as the next hot travel destination. The Christian people there are free from Javanese Islamists and it is but 2 hours flight from Darwin.
Posted by: anon1 || 10/02/2005 10:50 Comments || Top||

#9  God's peace on the victims, both the living and the dead.

However, and forgive me for bringing this up, the first attack, in 2002, claimed 202 lives. This attack seems to be about 1/10th as effective. Whatever it is that whoever is doing, it appears to have been quite effective.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/02/2005 14:51 Comments || Top||

#10  I like the idea of making East Timor the next hot travel destination. It would need to be muslim-free I guess, but I don't think the East Timorese would be too worried about that - and having Ozzy dollars injected into the economy wouldn't hurt.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/02/2005 15:13 Comments || Top||


No Britons known to be dead in Bali blasts
No British citizens were yet recorded as casualties in explosions on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday, killing at least 19 people, the Foreign Office said. "There is no word on British casualties," a spokesman said. "Our ambassador to Jakarta is on his way down to Bali." "We are also sending an emergency deployment team from Hong Kong and supplementing this with staff from London," the official added.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


One Australian killed in Bali blasts
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  there's now 3 or 4 unconfirmed reports of dead Australians, with at least 17 injured.
Posted by: God Save The World || 10/02/2005 2:53 Comments || Top||


President Susilo condemns Bali blasts
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has strongly condemned Saturday's blasts that hit popular tourist resorts in Bali. "The President condemned the terror attacks. He has received reports (of the blasts) and instructed all related institutions to tackle the cases soon," Andi Mallarangeng, the presidential spokesman said. He said that Susilo had instructed Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo AS, National Police chief Gen. Sutanto and intelligence chief Syamsir Siregar to leave for Bali tonight to tackle the matter.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gee... giving that Iman who incited the previous blast with a slap on the wrist (with a wet noodle) certainly worked!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/02/2005 14:02 Comments || Top||


Bali Dead Count Now At 32
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese security foils possible attempt to assassinate judge
A possible attempt to assassinate a Lebanese judge was foiled Saturday after police and explosives experts found batteries and wires under his car, security officials said. No trace of explosives, however, was found near the car of Judge Nazem Khoury, who is overseeing the probe into the financial scandals of Lebanon's Al-Madina Bank and ordered its closure.
That sounds kind of goofy. Somebody stole the explosives?
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give official statements, said Khoury had recently received threats from unknown sources. The incident comes at a time of high tension in Lebanon, as a U.N.-mandated probe into former Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination near its end and a spate of bombings targeting politicians, journalists as well as commercial and residential areas continues. The security officials said Khoury's neighbors in the town of Sahel Alma, north of Beirut, noticed suspicious activity around his car at 2 a.m. Saturday (2300 GMT Friday) and alerted the judge. When Khoury checked on his car from his balcony, he saw a man jump away and leave on a motorcycle with another man.
That sounds a little more likely...
He alerted the police, who found batteries with wires attached under his car, in addition to cut wires under the steering wheel. Experts and police dogs found no trace of explosives and it was not clear if it was an attempt to assassinate Khoury or sabotage his car. Khoury is overseeing the case of the scandal-ridden Al-Madina Bank, where a cash deficit of more than US$300 million and other irregularities became public in July 2003. The news prompted Lebanon's Central Bank to step in and take control of the bank. The fugitive chairman of the bank filed a lawsuit in May claiming that the former chief of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon and three of his brothers embezzled more than US$70 million in depositors' money.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So batteries, wires, and cut cables. It sounds like the bad guys were interrupted before they could finish. Now the police just have to find a mean person with a friend with access to a motorcycle. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/02/2005 14:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds like a warning to me.
Posted by: gromky || 10/02/2005 17:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Sounds like Syrian Intelligence is actually worried about being caught in flagrante. Things are looking up.
Posted by: imoyaro || 10/02/2005 23:25 Comments || Top||


Africa: North
Algerian Islamic rebels reject amnesty
An Internet statement attributed to Algeria's largest outlawed Islamic militant group, aligned with al Qaeda, said it opposed an amnesty in exchange for laying down its arms and would continue its "Jihad", or holy war. In a Sept. 29 referendum, Algerians overwhelmingly approved a government offer of partial amnesty for militants fighting for a purist Islamic state, in a bid to end more than a decade of civil war. "This vote is a waste of time. Algeria is not in need of a charter for peace and national reconciliation, but in need of a charter for Islam," said the statement on an Islamist Web site, dated Sept. 27 and attributed to the leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

It was the first time the GSPC had apparently commented on the amnesty project, but the statement's authenticity could not be immediately verified. "The Jihad will go on ... we have promised God to continue the Jihad and the combat," said Abou Mossab Abdelouadoud, whose real name is Abdelmalek Droukdel.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Algeria is not in need of a charter for peace and national reconciliation, but in need of a charter for Islam

Ladies and gents, can our enemies be any more clear? Peace or Islam, cake or death. Take your choice, there can be only one.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/02/2005 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Cake please! Its very nice.
Posted by: FLORA || 10/02/2005 1:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Lets give Islam a nuclear cake with a little strontium-90 & and caesium-137 frosting.

Insh'allah
Posted by: Red Dog || 10/02/2005 1:19 Comments || Top||

#4  I think FLORA prolly has a sweet tooth.
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 2:05 Comments || Top||

#5  LOL! Already got an Apple.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/02/2005 7:50 Comments || Top||

#6  AoS note: I deleted 3 of Flora's 4 posts: these were duplicates, I think, though .com's theory of her sweet-tooth may well be right.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/02/2005 12:36 Comments || Top||

#7  And, to help those who have not seen the Eddie Izzard stand-up send-up where Sea's classic reference to "cake or death" originated, well, here ya go. I refuse to explain Izzard's "style" other than to say it's "unique". The "cake or death" quote comes from a truly hysterically funny bit that is / would be offensive to many people.
Posted by: .com || 10/02/2005 12:43 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Two Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan
A U.S. soldier and an Afghan soldier have been killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Saturday. The small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade attack on Friday also wounded another U.S. soldier and two Afghan National Army troops during combat operations north of the city of Kandahar, the military said. The three wounded soldiers were taken to a nearby forward operating base for treatment, according to a statement from the main U.S. base at Bagram, north of the capital Kabul. The American's death brought to 198 the number of U.S. service members killed in and around Afghanistan since the 2001 campaign that drove the hard-line Taliban from power.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Military campaign in N Waziristan: Search starts after ‘mysterious end’ to resistance
PESHAWAR: Security forces began a search for suspected militants, weapons and ammunitions in the Khatai Kallay village of North Waziristan at around midday on Saturday after a “mysterious end” to resistance, a military spokesman and tribal sources said. “The search operation has started and is continuing in Khatay Kallay and there is no resistance (from militants),” Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, the director general of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), told Daily Times. Residents of Miranshah reported that “Guns have fallen silent after two days of heavy clashes between militants and hundreds of regular troops”.

The end to resistance was followed by a “stern warning” early on Saturday morning by the army that preparations to launch a “decisive military operation” against militants were complete. It called on civilians to leave their homes for their own safety. However, sources said that the Khatai Kallay had already been vacated by civilians, and the militants had also “disappeared” between Friday and Saturday after heavy artillery shelling. “The village is empty and troops have moved in for the search operation,” sources said. Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Safdar Hussain met top commanders in Miranshah to discuss the plans of the operations. A tribal journalist in Miranshah said that the militants had agreed to an unconditional search operation by the security forces.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In other words, they very bravely ran away from the near certain ass-whupping they deserved.
Posted by: Ptah || 10/02/2005 7:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Why would the miltant and Godless barbarians even bother waste their ammo and time on the Pakiwakis? Except maybe for target practice and some payback to keep them in line. I don't see anything mysterious at all. I thought this was a guerilla war... am I wrong? Strike terror into the civil populace and undermine confidence in the establishment, and then slither back under their rocks while the military gets tied down trying to look under every rock. Isn't that part of the nasty game? Aren't they supposed to pick off soldiers one-by-one at their leisure and develop a terrorfying mystique for themselves? Where is the mystery? These souless savages in service to Satan will slither back out and resume their evil ways again once the Pakiwaki military tires of waiting them out.
Posted by: Fun Dung Poo || 10/02/2005 22:46 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2005-10-02
  At least 22 dead in Bali blasts
Sat 2005-10-01
  Leb: 'Army deploys troops along Syrian border'
Fri 2005-09-30
  Fatah wins local Paleo elections
Thu 2005-09-29
  Hamas big turbans run for cover
Wed 2005-09-28
  Syria pushing Paleo battalions into Lebanon
Tue 2005-09-27
  Paleo Rocket Fire 'Cause For War'
Mon 2005-09-26
  Aqsa Brigades declare mobilization
Sun 2005-09-25
  Palestinian factions shower Israeli targets with missiles
Sat 2005-09-24
  EU moves to refer Iran to U.N.
Fri 2005-09-23
  Somaliland says Qaeda big arrested in shootout
Thu 2005-09-22
  Banglacops on trail of 7 top JMB leaders
Wed 2005-09-21
  Iran threatens to quit NPT
Tue 2005-09-20
  NKor wants nuke reactor for deal
Mon 2005-09-19
  Afghanistan Holds First Parliamentary Vote in 30 Years
Sun 2005-09-18
  One Dies, 28 Hurt in New Lebanon Bombing

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