Employees at a charity that Washington accuses of financing terrorism reported to work Thursday, despite a Saudi government deadline for the foundation to dissolve, and officials at the charity said they did not know when they would shut down.
The al-Haramain Foundation has been notified of the government decision to close it, a foundation official said. But a committee entrusted with liquidating it has not set a time for its closure, he said on condition of anonymity.
"Come here Saturday, come here Sunday, and you will see employees reporting to work," he said. "The closure cannot happen with the push of a button."
This month, a Saudi official said the charity had until Oct. 15 to cease all operations.
In September, Washington designated al-Haramain as a group suspected of supporting terrorism through its Springfield, Mo., mosque and its main U.S. location in Ashland, Ore. It said the charity "shows direct links between the U.S. branch and Osama bin Laden." Assets of the two properties have been frozen since February.
Al-Haramain has repeatedly denied allegations that its donations fund terrorism.
Late Wednesday, another government official said the Riyadh-based foundation is as good as closed and any employees still on the job are merely dealing with paperwork.
Notices on boards at the entrance to the cream-colored, glass-fronted al-Haramain building read: "We're sorry we cannot accept donations." Employees answering the telephone at the foundation this week have said staffers were being laid off.
Al-Haramain's financial assets will be folded into a new national commission being set up by the government to prevent charitable donations from bankrolling terrorism.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef has said there was no material evidence that Al-Haramain finances terrorism but suggested there could be unintended channeling of funds.
"This organization's administration and work is not well organized," Nayef told reporters in Kuwait during a weekend visit. "It could allow leaks ... that could harm the country."
Asked if there was any evidence that money from the charity ended up in terrorist hands, Nayef said: "There might have been something against some individuals, but as far as material evidence, there was none."
Years ago, pictures of wounded women and children in Chechnya, Afghanistan and the Palestinian areas plastered kiosks outside supermarkets and in souks. Saudis could give donations to practically anyone who approached them - mosque preachers, obscure charities and - according to militants' confessions - al-Qaida operatives, who pretended the money was going to the needy or Iraqis.
Authorities now warn against giving money to preachers or restaurant owners to spend on fast-breaking meals for the poor. Suspected al-Qaida militants have said such money has ended up funding terrorist attacks.
Under new regulations, Saudis may deposit donations only in charities' bank accounts. Depositors must provide banks with identification. No cash withdrawals are permitted from the charities' account and all checks and drafts must support legitimate beneficiaries.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/14/2004 4:51:51 PM ||
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Police arrested a 32-year-old terror suspect in northwest London early Thursday, officers said. Officers arrested the man under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism, London's Metropolitan Police said. Anti-terrorist police detained the man in London's Wembley district at 12:05 a.m. as part of an intelligence-led operation, the force said. Police also searched a residential premises in Wembley. The man was taken for questioning to a central London police station.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 11:07:25 AM ||
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Investigators found out that perpetrators and organizers of the hostage-taking in Beslan are involved in some other terrorist acts in Russia, deputy prosecutor general in the Southern Federal District Nikolai Shepel said on Wednesday.
"Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov were organizers (of the terrorist act in Beslan — Itar-Tass)," the television channel Rossia cited him as saying. Meanwhile, the deputy prosecutor general noted that "there are other persons" who coordinated the organisation of terrorist acts. Among such terrorist acts Nikolai Shepel called not only the attack on Beslan, but also on Ingushetia and an explosion near the restaurant McDonalds in Moscow.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/14/2004 5:01:55 PM ||
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Metin Kaplan, a Turkish Islamist activist known as the "Caliph of Cologne," was indicted on sedition charges and jailed by an Istanbul criminal court yesterday, the day after he lost a protracted legal battle against deportation from Germany. The court charged Kaplan with "attempting to overthrow the secular order by use of arms" as part of multiple proceedings launched against him in absentia and set the trial for Dec. 20. The most spectacular charge against Kaplan, 51, alleges that he planned to attack the mausoleum in Ankara of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern and secular Turkey, with an explosives-laden plane during the republic's 75th anniversary celebrations in 1998.
Kaplan, divested for the occasion of his customary turban and robes and wearing a business suit, with tie-less shirt buttoned at the collar, refused to stand before the judge, prompting a warning that he could be found in contempt and barred from attending his own trial. He denied any such intention, saying he was "unwell, tired and hungry" after 10 hours in detention at the Istanbul airport, where he arrived Tuesday night aboard a private flight laid on by the Rhineland-North Westphalia land that has been trying to get rid of him for years. Kaplan refused to plead, saying he needed time to organize his defense with his lawyers. His attorney, Husnu Tuna, said he had not worked out a line of defense yet, but rejected the charge of attempting to blow up Ataturk's mausoleum as "a set-up."
Since he's such a traditionalist, might one suggest to the honorable court that he be strangled with a bowstring?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 11:15:27 AM ||
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Is it just me or did anyone else reading the headline assume the Caliph of Cologne refered to Jacques Chirac?
#3
I do not know how to post photos to this forum (and I understand that for bandwidth reasons, it is not generally desireable) - but I have a photo scanned from Der Spiegel magazine, showing a rally of the Hitler Youth "Caliphate Jungen" in the Sportsmesse (Sports Hall)) in Cologne. It shows a bunch of bearded, turbanned late teenager types, "passing in review" at a trot, some carrying wooden AK-47 replicas.
Amazing that they would so closely parallel the Nazi rallies (who are obviously their inspiration) right inside Germany itself.
Deport them all to the Turks for "reeducation" (or conversion into dog food).
Russian military officials said they had found a Canadian passport and B.C. driver's licence on a man killed in a shootout with Russian special forces. Those documents belonged to 26-year-old Rudwan Khalil of Vancouver. Now a teacher from a prayer centre in East Vancouver that Khalil attended is speaking out about the man he knew. Younus Kathrada, a teacher at Dar Al-Madinah — a Muslim prayer and information centre — says he often spoke with Khalil.
And pray tell, what did he teach Khalil?
Kathrada says he and others who had seen the Vancouver man come into the centre for the last two years couldn't believe the news out of Chechnya. "We were in a state of shock, and we remain in a state of shock because we really don't know what has transpired, and just like everyone else we would like to know," he says. Russian authorities described Khalil as an explosives expert, fighting alongside Chechen insurgents. But Kathrada saw a different kind of man at the Vancouver prayer centre. "Actually a very gentle, and a very, very nice person."
"Actually very gentle, for an explosives expert, and just one hell of a guy. Had a great, booming laugh, you know?"
Kathrada says the war in Chechnya was discussed at the centre, as was the plight of other Muslims around the world. But he says no one, including Khalil, ever talked about going to fight there.
"Hell, no! I'm gonna go boom Yellowknife!"
"Saskatoon for me!"
And Kathrada is urging people not to judge the Vancouver man until more details come out of Russia. Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs is still waiting for Russia to turn over the man's body for positive identification.
"[Sniff!] Yes! That's my son's lip!"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/14/2004 4:58:45 PM ||
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I think sometimes I could be a contenda.... but then I read the comments of the heavies, and I revert to lowly snark.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday froze the assets of a Columbia-based Muslim charity, alleging that it has supported terrorists, including Osama bin Laden. The Treasury Department's designation of the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA and its overseas network as supporters of terrorism freezes the charity's accounts, funds and assets and makes it a crime to contribute to the group. About the same time the designation was announced, two dozen agents and officers of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force raided the agency's offices in Columbia and began hauling away evidence. Despite the timing, FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said the two federal actions were not closely linked. "Our search is not a result of that designation," Lanza said. "We have a long-term criminal investigation underway." The U.S. attorney's office in Kansas City also confirmed that a separate investigation was ongoing, though no charges had been filed.
The raid's focus was a white brick, split-level office building at 201 Cherry Street. The charity occupies the lower level; a bridal-wear shop and sewing center uses the upper portion. Officers cordoned off the street around the building and blocked access to an adjacent parking lot. The search began about 2:30 p.m., when task force officers began hauling out boxes and computers, loading them into a moving truck and a minivan. Agents also towed away two vehicles. No employees were arrested during the raid. A recent business report lists 14 employees working at the Columbia office. The charity's president, Abdl Mouhaymen Asibai, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. IARA officials also have not responded to two requests for interviews from The Kansas City Star in recent weeks. But in interviews since 2001 IARA officials have said the agency's intentions are benevolent and that it has no political agenda.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/14/2004 5:05:08 PM ||
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Just your run of the mill charity supporting poor and hungry jihadis. Just 50 cents a day can keep Akmed in shoes and explosives for a year.
Posted by: ed ||
10/14/2004 18:58 Comments ||
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WOW!
This kind of rocked me a bit when I first heard of it on the local news.
While I may live in Jefferson City, it's in Columbia that I work. There is hardly a week that goes by that I don't have reason to visit the district and drive up Cherry Street.
Of course Columbia is a pretty liberal community and MU is in town. It's a diverse place but I didn't realise they harboured terrorists money fronts.
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
10/14/2004 21:42 Comments ||
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He looked like any student attending college in New Jersey. But in reality, FBI officials believe he was sent here by Osama bin Laden to scout out possible targets for a terrorist attack. Eyewitness News' Kemberly Richardson reports.
Sources tell Eyewitness News they are making headway with this investigation. They say as they canvas the area showing people a picture of Dhiren Barot they are getting confirmation he was here. He was seen at tourist areas, universities, and perhaps the most unsettling place: Right in front of the Prudential building. A senior FBI agent tells Eyewitness News a Starbucks Coffee near the Prudential building may have been a perch for an alleged al-Qaeda operative. Witnesses confirm that Dhiren Barot was seen inside the shop directly across from the building described by authorities as a potential terror target this past summer.
The 32-year-old is being held by British officials, charged with conducting surveillance of the company's Broad Street headquarters and other buildings in our area. The buildings have been under heightened security since August, when Pakastani police discovered Barot's reports on computers and emails. Sources say there are references to trash containers at Prudential Plaza, and that Barot paid close attention to vehicles that were being permitted into the area, including Fedex trucks.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/14/2004 4:47:16 PM ||
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Two people are reported missing and another is seriously injured in an explosion Wednesday at a storage building at the Milan Army Ammunition plant. Milan Mayor George Killebrew said one person was airlifted to a hospital, while the search continues for two others caught in the 2:30 p.m. explosion. The FBI says agents have been told by authorities that the blast appeared to be an accident. FBI agent George Bolds of Memphis said a barrel flashed containing some sort of volatile material. The mayor said the storage building housed ammunition and was located in an isolated area of the plant. He said about four people usually work there at a time.
The plant, established in 1941, makes medium caliber ammunition for the Army and employs about 600 workers. It is located on more than 22,000 acres about 90 miles northeast of Memphis.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Let's hope this is an accident.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/14/2004 0:05 Comments ||
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Most likely an accident, not many union-thug jihadi's in Milan.
#3
I'm nearby so the local media is all over it. turns out it definatly was an accident. Apparently it was something on the C4 line...at least, last I heard
Developing
U.S. warplanes launched fierce attacks on the rebel-held Iraqi town of Falluja on Thursday, witnesses said. They said explosions could be heard in the attacks which came after interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned the town would face an offensive unless it handed over Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his followers. There was no immediate word on casualties.
From the way Fox News is reporting it, the assault is on. We'll see how long it is until the negotiating starts again.
#2
Not much detail, but sounds more like a probing attack to see if the Jihadis will concentrate and be more easily attacked.
Posted by: ed ||
10/14/2004 19:27 Comments ||
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Or perhaps a contribution to the ongoing negotiations between Allawi and the city fathers?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/14/2004 19:40 Comments ||
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Last night, Fallujah negotiator Hatem Karim challenged U.S. suspicions that Zarqawi is in the city and compared the terror mastermind to the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that Washington had insisted were in Iraq.
"We want to know what evidence there is of al-Zarqawi's presence in Fallujah," Mr. Karim said in an interview with Al Jazeera television.
"Al-Zarqawi has become like Iraqi WMD. ... We hear this name, but it doesn't exist. More than 15 to 20 houses were destroyed in Fallujah because they were accused of harboring al-Zarqawi or al-Zarqawi's followers."
haha. Ok..have it your way, smart guy. Sounds like they are delivering the *evidence* as we speak. Not enough evidence for you? *boom* No? Need some more? Ok *boom* How 'bout now, *boom* that enough? *boom* You guys let us know when you think you have all the evidence you need, kay?
#5
Less than a dozen or so F-16 strikes and some arty fire destroying 20 houses does NOT equal intense.
Intense is fighting a REAL miltary like the Wehrmacht. See: Huertgen Forest, Normandy, Falaise, Arnhem, Monte Cassino, Anzio, Kasserine Pass. Scores of arty pieces, hundreds of heavy mortars, all well-supplied with ammo ON EACH SIDE. And, on the Americans side, hundreds of sorties by Thunderbolts and Mustangs on the Germans. THAT is "intense" and this isn't.
This is probably 20 projectiles (shell or bomb) fired and 20 direct hits recorded.
I contend this is a mild strike, quiet and short, just like a lullaby.
"Swing low, sweet JDAM, coming for to take me home"
Iraq's prime minister yesterday threatened military action against the rebel stronghold of Fallujah if residents don't hand over Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab Zarqawi. "If they do not turn in al-Zarqawi and his group, we will carry out operations in Fallujah," Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told a meeting of the 100-member National Council. "We will not be lenient."
Mr. Allawi's warning came as government negotiators and Fallujah representatives tried to work out a deal to restore government control over the city, seen as the hardest militant-held region to crack. The chief negotiator representing Fallujah said yesterday that the talks are in their final phase, but that differences remain over handing over rebels wanted by Iraqi and U.S. authorities on criminal charges. Many in the city view the Iraqis fighting in the insurgency as heroic "mujahideen," or holy warriors. A videotape posted yesterday on an Islamic Web site showed militants linked to Zarqawi beheading two Iraqis who they accused of being intelligence officers.
Elsewhere in Iraq yesterday, a suicide bomber plowed his vehicle into a U.S. convoy in the northern city of Mosul, killing two American soldiers and wounding five, according to the military. Four other soldiers were killed in roadside bombings in the Baghdad area — three late Tuesday and one early yesterday, the U.S. military command said.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/14/2004 5:10:54 PM ||
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news sez the airstrikes (including choppers) is escalating in Fallujah. 'Bout friggin time! I want that town to suffer for what they did to those four Americans. Pound the shit out of it and negotiate with the rubble
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2004 18:20 Comments ||
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some Iraqi version of Francis Marion needs to step up here. Sounds like the power brokers have had enough, though and it may happen.
#3
There is as much a chance of Fallujas chiefs turning over Zarqawi and the foreigners as Mullah Omar had of turning over bin Laden and al Qaeda. Even if they wanted to, letâs not forget who has the guns and have no qualms about using them. The best hope we have is that more Fallujans will point out where the foreigners are hiding.
Posted by: ed ||
10/14/2004 18:53 Comments ||
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American troops stationed along Iraq's border with Syria are coming under increasing mortar attack from shells fired from Syrian territory, but it's unclear who's responsible, U.S. officers said Thursday. The 82 mm mortar rounds have been fired at U.S. and Iraqi positions in and around Husaybah in the far west of Iraq's Anbar province, said Lt. Col. Chris Woodbridge, commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. "Who exactly is firing these mortars, we do not know. But what we do know is that the point of origin of these rounds is on the Syrian side of the border," said Woodbridge, 39, of Brooklyn. There has been no evidence linking the Syrian military to the attacks, he said. However, the Syrian military has the capability to determine who is launching the mortars and act against them, Woodbridge said. "Syrian authorities should be the ones to go after them, no question about it," he said.
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#4
Luckily our guys over there have a sophisticated system that uses radar triangulation to pin point exactly where the round was fire from. After a morter shell lands it takes only seconds for the system (usually in the back of an M2 Bradley) to find the shooters and for the M110 howitzers to obliterate whoever the heck was dumb enough to shoot at our boys. Hoooraaagh!
Too right. Why not take Quarterdeck's suggestion and state a non-nuanced policy of 'rounds were fired, we returned said fire' and dispense with the bullshit? Most of us would agree that Syria needs to be thumped; let's start with some of their artillery batteries.
#8
Exactly. But don't limit return fire to the mortar batteries. Target Baath party, secret police, and military headquarters, the underpinnings of Assad's regime.
Posted by: ed ||
10/14/2004 19:30 Comments ||
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I still prefer carpet MOAB bombing. Minimum of 1 MOAB per 100 square meters. If we have insufficient MOAB's, nukes work fine.
Time to remind the world again that if you shoot at American Soldiers/Airmen/Marines/Sailors....YOU DIE!
100's of extra troops on frontier == POWs on the hoof. If we're feeling polite. I for one am not.
Boy Assad wants to play games = Boy Assad gets videotaped being checked for head lice.
'nuff said.
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
10/14/2004 21:26 Comments ||
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Sounds to me like a good case can be made for Spooky to pay the Syrian border more frequent visits. A rain of minigun fire on the origin point of the shelling should be enough.
#13
BaR -- for the civilians amongst us (meaning me), who/what is Spooky? Y'all have been mentioning him lately, and I suspect he isn't Caspar the friendly ghost, or Halloween trick-or-treaters. Thanks!
#14
Spooky is the grandson of Puff the Magic Dragon from VietNam era. A C-130 loaded up with guns of various calibers up to 105 mm. The guns point out one side of the plane at a downward angle. The plane can circle an area directing fire on a continous basis at a single point. Usually operates at night. Makes a sound like no other.
Posted by: Old Fogey ||
10/14/2004 22:17 Comments ||
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Check out the armament options... It covers the spectrum from mini-guns to a phreakin' Howitzer. This boxy-looking freight hauler was turned into one of the most devastating ass-kicking ground attack weapons ever.
Egyptian authorities are investigating whether 17 suspected al-Qaeda members arrested while illegally entering Libya are connected to last week's coordinated bombings at Sinai tourist resorts that killed 34 people, an Egyptian official said Wednesday. Egypt has asked the Libyan government whether the suspected militants were arrested after the Oct. 7 attacks, the official said on condition of anonymity. Libya's Interior Ministry announced the arrests Sunday, three days after car bombs blew up at the Taba Hilton and two bungalow campgrounds an hour's drive south, killing Egyptians, Israelis, Italians and Russians. The ministry did not elaborate on the arrests or the suspects, except to say they were from the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia.
That'd be Paks and Uzbeks...
Also, a fourth separate claim of responsibility for the attacks was posted on the Internet Wednesday by a group identifying itself as "Muhammed's Army — The Military Wing of the Palestinian Resistance." None of the four claims have appeared particularly credible. The latest claim appeared on a Web site known for its Islamic militant content that has been used in the past to post claims of various attacks. "We announce our full responsibility for the heroic operation ... that targeted a hotel in Taba where Israeli Mossad (intelligence agents) and Americans were meeting," said the statement, which contained several simple Arabic grammar mistakes.
The Iraqi national guards have announced the arrests of 73 Afghans who have entered the country illegally through Iran, said Al Mashriq newspaper. The Iraqi national guards forces arrested the Afghans in the city of Ummarah, south of Baghdad, where foreign fighters usually come from, said captain Furat Al Timimi, spokesman for the national guards forces in the south of Iraq. The arrested Afghans would be turned to the Iraqi police for investigation because of terrorist suspicion. The Iraqi interim government continues its effort to control the borders with neighboring countries in a bid to control the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, especially with the approaching of the elections, he emphasized, adding that Iraq needs cooperation of its neighboring countries to prevent foreign fighters from infiltration. Hazim Shaalan al-Khuzaei, the Iraqi defense minister, had accused Iran on several occasions of interfering in the Iraq internal affairs and of allowing fighters to enter Iraq through Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 12:04:11 PM ||
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Nice Photoshop there Fred, but you left out the yodeling tape.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2004 15:26 Comments ||
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#13
Wait, Fred, I don't have any problem with the brass knuckles, the panties, the vise-grip pliers, or the needle, but I draw the line at "Shatner Sings."
Posted by: Matt ||
10/14/2004 15:43 Comments ||
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#14
Adding in the enema bag and the jar of hot mustard would prob'ly be too much...
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 16:33 Comments ||
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#15
How about Shatner's new album, "Has Been"?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/14/2004 16:36 Comments ||
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#16
Hazim Shaalan al-Khuzaei is right. it is common knowledge that Iranian intelligence officers as well as iranian sponsored terrorists are in iraq killing our guys as well as the iraqi people. Iran wants iraq and would love for things to crumble and would gladly split the country with syria. we must stay the course and succeed in iraq. So be sure to vote Bush on election day all you Liberals! ....and whats the deal with that picture?
#19
Fred, are you trying to form a Guild of the Seekers of Truth and Penitence?
Seriously, though, I don't like celebration of torture. Maybe sometimes torture really is needed (not sure about that, word is it isn't very effective), but even then its something to be ashamed of; a failure of our ideals.
Posted by: James ||
10/14/2004 22:46 Comments ||
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#20
The tongue is fairly firmly in cheek with all the pictures.
On the other hand, I'm pragmatic about torture. Sounds awful, I know, but there are occasions where it's useful even though it's not policy, as are various types of drugs, good cop-bad cop, lying, sleep deprivation, Barry Manilow played at nosebleed levels, and a bunch of other tools best not dwelt upon.
The danger comes when the person making the decision on tools enjoys it. If a person's doing interrogations to get his sexual jollies, he should be someplace else. If he's playing -- like the Abu Ghraib nitwits -- he should be someplace else. The objective is extraction of usable information, not sexual jollification, ego massage, or even revenge.
And God knows, there are enough reasons for revenge, given the behavior of our enemy. Read today's account of a beheading -- that's sadism.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 23:58 Comments ||
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Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resource Amanullah Khan Jadoon has said that Pakistan is an ideal place for investment in oil and gas sector as it provides an attractive package of incentives to the investment in an investor friendly climate.
Ummm... Yeah. Sure. I'll take all my money and invest it in Pakland's oil and gas sectors...
He express these views while talking to various delegation of foreign businessmen and investor at a meeting in the 11th Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Conference and exhibition, says a message received here from Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi is free from infestations of Bugtis or Taliban...
Amanullah Jadoon said that there exists vast opportunities for the investors to participate in the ongoing and upcoming oil and gas activities like updating at upgradation of refineries and setting up of coastal refinery, gas infrastructure development, exploration in off shore and on shore areas, regional gas pipeline projects and privatization of public sector oil and gas units. He said that the government would provide all-out cooperation to the investor in this regard. The Minister said that the government was making concerted efforts for speedy development of the oil and gas sectors on modern lines.
... despite the best efforts of the local primitives to impede them.
At least five people were killed and 35 others were injured, eight of them seriously, when a bomb was lobbed on a music programme at a marriage party at the Jalala refugee camp on Tuesday night.
"Mahmoud! Is that music that I hear?"
"You're right, Ahmed! Frivolty! Mirth! It must be stopped!"
"Bring forth the Holy Hand Grenade!"
A music programme was under way at the marriage function of an Afghan refugee, Zahir Khan, when some men hurled a bomb on the crowd which had gathered to enjoy the show.
"Enjoying something? It is forbidden!"
The injured were taken to the district headquarters hospital. Eight people were taken to hospitals in Peshawar in serious condition. Allah Noor, Mohammad Yasin, Ajmal, Sadullah and Rehmanullah were killed in the attack. The sesiously injured included Abdullah, Abdur Rauf, Hamid, Sifatullah, Afsar, Shafiq and Sarban. Witnesses claimed that 11 people had died but police said five were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 11:49:10 AM ||
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must've been banjo music
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2004 12:07 Comments ||
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70's "golden oldies" can put me in a likewise mood...must one live hearing some of this crap until one's dying day?
#8
hmmm...i feel the same way when i pull up to a stop light and theres some dude blaring RAP music loud as hell. Maybe i should keep a couple of frag grenades handy in the glove box...
Work on the Gurguri oilfield in Banda Daud Shah tehsil of Karak district and the laying of a pipeline in Aman Kot was stopped on Tuesday following a warning by a grand jirga of 50 villages held under the auspices of the Khattak Grand Ittehad and Action Committee to attack and destroy the site if their demands were not met.
"Yar! Yez gives us what we wants or we breaks yer stuff!"
All the 250 staff members of the Descon Engineering and MOLE, a foreign drilling company, were pulled out of the area under the protection of frontier constabulary and police, reports reaching here on Tuesday night said.
"Time to run down to Rawalpindi for a few days, guys! The primitives are acting up again!"
A large number of FC personnel and police took control of the entire area to protect the site from the attackers. The project manager of Descon, Iqrar Pervez, told journalists that he had sent the whole staff on leave till further orders. Mr Pervez said that in an attack on Sunday one of their drivers Shahnawaz was injured and property worth Rs5 million was damaged by hundreds of armed vandals protesters. The attack was led by local chief of Taliban Tehrik Nasrullah Jan. Mr Vegh was forced to hide in a container and later taken to a safe place via Hangu when some miscreants spread the news that the Taliban leader wanted to kill him.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 11:42:21 AM ||
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A large number of sensitive nuclear components sold to Iran and Libya for building uranium enrichment plants were made at workshops in Europe and Southeast Asia, says a Washington-based nuclear monitoring agency. In a recent report on the nuclear black market, the Institute for Science and International Security confirms Pakistan's claim that the network might have been headed by a Pakistani, Dr A.Q. Khan, but it was a gang of international proliferators and smugglers that had bases and workshops at many places across the globe.
The ISIS report says that the centrifuges the network sold to Iran and Libya are formally called Pakistan 1 and Pakistan 2 but are better known by their acronyms, P1 and P2. They are used for uranium enrichment and were deployed in large numbers by Pakistan's gas centrifuge programme. The P1 centrifuge uses an aluminium rotor, and the P2 centrifuge uses a steel rotor. The components for roughly 500 P1 centrifuges that went to Iran in the mid-90s were from centrifuges that Pakistan had retired from its main centrifuge programme. Members of the network were able to remove them in secret and sell them to Iran. Libya received 20 of its P1s in that manner. Libya also bought about 200 P1 centrifuges from the wider network. At least some, if not all, of the components of the additional 200 P1s were made outside Pakistan at workshops under contract with companies in the network. Aluminium rotors, for example, were made in Malaysia.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 11:28:02 AM ||
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Hmmm. European but I'll bet eastern vs. western. Most likely some place like the Ukraine or even Bulgaria or Hungary.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/14/2004 13:16 Comments ||
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#2
No, Khan was originally trained by and continued to work closely with scientists from Belgium and Holland.
U.S. forces traded fire with insurgents in the Sunni stronghold of Ramadi following a series of raids, residents said Thursday, and at least eight people were reported killed. U.S. troops swept into the city early Wednesday, sealing off key streets, taking position on the rooftops and searching buildings, residents said. Warplanes and helicopters hovered overhead. Rebels fought back with gunfire and mortar blasts. Three mortars, apparently aimed at city hall, slammed into a nearby house, killing two people and wounding four, including women and children, said Dr. Alaa al-Aani of Ramadi General Hospital.
The gunfire subsided Thursday morning and U.S. forces withdrew from the city center, residents said. The military had no immediate comment on the clashes. City hospital officials said eight people in all were killed and 17 were wounded. The operations in Ramadi appeared to be part of a U.S. campaign to step up pressure on Sunni insurgents ahead of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 11:05:30 AM ||
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A female Iraqi television journalist was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad on Thursday, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman said the reporter was fatally shot by three assailants driving by in an Opel car around 8:00 am. The journalist was identified as Zeina Mahmoud, who was working for Kurdish-run Al-Hurriya TV, said the station's director Nawrooz Mohammed. He confirmed the assassination and said an investigation is underway. He gave no further details.
In an apparently unrelated shooting that took place less than a half-mile away just minutes earlier, a judge was shot dead, Abdul Rahman said. Judge Abdel Amir Kadhem was killed at 7:55 a.m. in the Shiite neighborhood of Azamiyah in Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2004 11:00:44 AM ||
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damn
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2004 11:35 Comments ||
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Yes, Damn. She wasn't at the Baghdad Hilton with the rest of the international set typing up their on-the-spot reports. Expect an outrage in the media over the death of one of their own, like the tank firing incident during the liberation of Baghdad? Don't detect any movement on the Surprise Meter.
Posted by: Don ||
10/14/2004 16:01 Comments ||
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Pakistani commandos on Thursday raided a house near the Afghan border where two Chinese engineers were being held hostage, rescuing one while the other died of gunshot wounds, officials and news reports said. All five kidnappers were killed. Pakistani officials initially said one of the Chinese had been critically wounded, but China's state-run Xinhua news agency said he later died of his wounds. Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the kidnappers had shot the Chinese man, though he could not confirm whether he had died. He said security forces attacked the house after shots were heard from inside.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/14/2004 10:01:55 AM ||
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While it's good the terrorists are killed, I don't really think the dancing girls are appropriate since one of the hostages was killed.
I know they were dead anyway and getting one out alive is better than expected, but still...
From Debka:
DEBKAfile's military sources report: Large-scale US and Iraqi forces poised on battle readiness in offensive array Wednesday night around four Sunni Triangle hotbeds: Fallujah, Ramadi, Latafiya and Balad, awaiting order to launch major assaults. This was behind Interim Iraqi PM Allawi's ultimatum to Fallujah: hand over terror chief Zarqawi and his group or prepare for major military action. Earlier, Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad website displayed gruesome beheadings of two Iraqi intelligence officers. Allawi warned: We will not be lenient."
Posted by: 3dc ||
10/14/2004 1:53:49 AM ||
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#8
Are there insufficient Iraqis to do these nests simultaneously? Although the MSM is so daft and dense they think the US forces must dash from place to place to initiate offensive action, which is utterly absurd, we know better: each and every offensive-capable element is perfectly able to execute such orders independently. If done in series, it must be a lack of blooded Iraqis - there are huge advantages to doing these places in parallel, instead.
#10
Article here on the deployment of the carrier Truman, which is leaving "to head back to the war on terrorism.
" Was this a scheduled deployment or not?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/14/2004 13:39 Comments ||
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The following are excerpts from an interview with Muhammad Ra'd, a Lebanese national who was kidnapped in Iraq and later released. The interview appeared on Al-Arabiya TV on October 10, 2004, and was translated by MEMRI's TV Monitor Project.
To view a segment from this show, visit: http://memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=284: [1] (WARNING: not for the light hearted reader)
Muhammad Ra'd: "[The kidnappers] brought me into a room reeking of blood — there was dry blood on the ground. A masked man was there, holding a whetting stone and a knife, he was sharpening the knife with the stone."
Interviewer:"What do you mean by knife?"
Muhammad Ra'd:"A butcher's knife used for slaughtering. At this stage I said, this is it, I'm about to be slaughtered, this is my end — slaughter. I didn't think of anything else. That's it. I'd rather you slaughter me now, the sooner the better, just let me rest. The one holding the knife gave me a strange look. The commander came. They call the one who authorizes the slaughter 'commander.' He took me out and saidâŠ"
Interviewer: "Was he also masked?"
Muhammad Ra'd: "No, the one who came in later wasn't masked.
Interviewer: "An Iraqi?
Muhammad Ra'd: "Yes. He took me out and said, 'There is something we want to show you now, to serve as a lesson to all Lebanese and especially those who collaborate with the American army. You are going to see a horrific sight but you can take it. We're already used to it, but perhaps it's the first time you'll see such a thing.' Two cars came. The Egyptian [hostage] was in the trunk, in his underwear. His entire body was blue from beatings. We went inside. They said to me, 'Stand in the corner behind the cameraman and don't say a word.' They placed a guard next to me so I wouldn't leave through the door. They forced me to watch this sight. They dressed the Egyptian in a gown and forced him to kneel down on the ground."
Interviewer: "Did he shout, cry, ask for help?"
Muhammad Ra'd:"No, no. They made him kneel down and he told me the Egyptian's story. The commander told me his story. He said to me, 'This is the second time we caught him. The first time he was throwing [laser-guiding] discs on the houses of the Mujahideen in Fallujah. We caught him and he showed remorse, we forgave him, helped him and set him free. A short time later we received information that this man is in Fallujah, involved with the same discs and kidnapping Iraqi girls and bringing them to the American army for their entertainment.' He asked me, 'What, am I not allowed to kill him?' I nodded."
Interviewer: "You told him that he can kill him?"
Muhammad Ra'd: "I nodded, just so he would get it over with. If you want to kill him, kill him, if you want to kill me, kill me. I just want to get this over with. He was kneeling on the ground and they tied his hands behind his back and told him what he had to say: Identify yourself, say where you come from, from what area, give your exact address is and what you are doing in Iraq. The Egyptian spoke — he gave his address and his name. He wanted to say the Islamic declaration of faith [ shahada ], but the 'butcher' who was behind him ⊠they call the guy who stands behind and does the slaying 'the butcher'⊠He pulled his tongue out and cut off a piece of it.
He said, 'The shahada must not come out of your mouth, because you are defiling it.' They put some cotton wads in his mouth. The 'butcher' read a statement that he was holding in his hand, he finished reading and they lay him down on the ground, someone held his feet, and he cut off his head - slaughtered him. He slaughtered with ease, in cold blood, as though he were slaying a bird. I couldn't bear this sight and smell anymore. I fell to the ground. They took me outside, sprinkled some water on me, gave me some tea and a cigarette. I said to the commander: 'If I'm going to end up like him, get it over with now because I can't take it anymore."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/14/2004 6:49:11 AM ||
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#1
The terrorists tell how this man was tossing âlaserâ targeting discs into terrorists hideouts like it must be true. Maybe the commander watched too many Austin Power movies. Also the guy was providing females for the troops entertainment. He probably was a cook or something in a swarma stand and was making money from the troops. Arabs canât stand it when someone makes money right in front of them. They donât like entrepreneurs, because there is only so much to go around and if others take, then it must come out of their pocket. Misery loves company and they all must be miserable together. After a couple of decades of victimhood, these people will become the Democratic Party of Iraq!
#4
Once upon a time I used to say "all Islamic pseudo-men need to die." I quit putting that into my posts on Rantburg because of certain idiotic, clandestine, "kill every Arab that breathes" troll infiltrators, whose true goal was to garner support against President Bush. My posts seemed to encourage their misleading blabber, somehow.
But, these terrorists are exactly the kind of guys I was refering to. And yes, they need to die. They have perverted whatever vestige of humanity they possessed, and have reduced themselves to serve only as pawns of nihilism--they have made themselves doers of evil. They are not men anymore.
The huge car bomb blast that rocked Gaza City Tuesday night, October 12, sounded more like Baghdad than a Palestinian-controlled area. It was timed to blow up as the convoy carrying Mussa Arafat, commander of the Palestinian security forces in the Gaza Strip and chief of Palestinian military intelligence, was leaving his headquarters. The attack missed. Arafat survived unhurt from the first Palestinian car bomb attack on a fellow Palestinian.
Mussa never foregoes the trapping of the boss, any more than his uncle and superior, Yasser. Whenever he goes out, he presents his many foes with a very large and noisy target. The streets of Gaza empty as his convoy of six to eight armored cars tears about with sirens wailing and lights flashing. Lying in wait for this grand convoy Tuesday night was a booby-trapped car activated by remote control, a device never seen in the Gaza Strip from 1994 when Yasser Arafat and his top men took charge of the Gaza Strip in the wake of the Oslo Accords. This form of assassination was much practiced by the Hizballah against US forces in Beirut and Israeli forces in south Lebanon. It is now the preferred weapon of Abu Mussab al Zarqawi's terrorists in Iraq. Read the rest in the link
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/14/2004 6:38:20 AM ||
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#1
The best imaginable news for cannibals' neighboors --- they're starting to eat each other.
Internal Arab warfare reignited last night when Yassar Arafat's cousin Moussa Arafat narrowly escaped death in an assassination attempt. A car bomb exploded near his convoy in Gaza City in what was at least the second attempt on his life. Last year, Moussa Arafat accused his enemies of firing a rocket in his office, when he also survived without injury. One of his main enemies is Palestinian minister Mohammed Dahlan although Arafat did not name him as being behind last night's assassination attempt.
I'm rather getting the idea that it won't be healthy to be standing near Moussa.
PLO leader Yassar Arafat last July was forced to cancel the appointment of his embattled cousin as head of security in Gaza after civil war broke out between opposing groups, including kidnappings, gun battles and a mob attack on Moussa Arafat's security headquarters. He is widely considered one of the most corrupt Palestinian officials. Last night's attempt on Moussa Arafat was the first time a remote control device has been used in a car bomb blast on Gaza for a decade.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/14/2004 1:40:40 AM ||
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The IDF is pleased that he was caught alive, as he will be able to provide much information on Hamas activities, infrastructure and terror cells in Hevron and environs.
Now it's this terrorist's turn to face Israeli interrogation. I am sure that he will sing like a bird in a reasonable time, then become a mass of psychological goo.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/14/2004 11:26 Comments ||
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#3
hope he already got his beauty sleep. It's all he'll get for the next few months...heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2004 11:31 Comments ||
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#4
After a couple of months the IDF should release him on the streets with $100 and a framed Certificate of Appreciation.
And do it right after they helizap a bunch of other jerks.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/14/2004 16:29 Comments ||
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#5
Where is the pliers photo. They should be indiscriminate in their use of such tools with this scum.
Posted by: remote man ||
10/14/2004 16:44 Comments ||
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#6
Where is the pliers photo. They should be indiscriminate in their use of such tools with this scum.
Absolutely not! Only the most tender and sensitive tissues should receive such unwonted attentions. Indiscriminate, indeed!
Two Palestinians were killed and another died of his wounds inflicted by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip early Thursday, a Palestinian security source said. The two, Ali Shaath, 19, and Ahmad Dahawi, 20, were killed when an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a rocket at Rafah refugee camp in the south of the strip, wounding another three people. Two of them, a 65-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman, were seriously injured. Twenty Israeli tanks entered the camp where a bulldozer levelled several houses. At the same time, another Palestinian, Nidal Massud, an activist of radical Palestinian movement Hamas, died of his wounds inflicted earlier by another rocket fired by a helicopter at Jabaliya refugee camp further north. Another Hamas member died in that attack. The latest deaths bring to 123 the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the launch of Israel's Operation Days of Penitence.
115 ...118 ...120 ...123 ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2004 12:08:25 AM ||
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An activist of radical Palestinian movement Hamas was killed and another wounded late on Wednesday night in an Israeli air raid in the north of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical and security sources said. Moshieddin El-Mahdmoun, 24, died and the other activist was wounded when am Israeli helicopter gunship fired a rocket at them near a mosque in the centre of Jabaliya refugee camp. The death brings to 120 the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the launch of Israel's Operation Days of Penitence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2004 12:00:41 AM ||
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Another one heads to jihadville downstairs
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/14/2004 0:10 Comments ||
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The death brings to 120 the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the launch of Israel's Operation Days of Penitence.
Right, its all about the Paleo's and nothing about the poor fluffy tail bunny rabbits, playful puppy doggies and cute kitties killed the the zionist entities. Go figuure.
The U.S. military has used Iraq to test a precision bomb designed for targets in urban areas and producing minimal collateral damage.
Ummm... Iraq is an active war zone, with lots of urban areas. Can this truly be called a test? Or is it the first operational use?
The U.S. Air Force has conducted the first successful drop of a GBU-38 bomb in combat during a recent mission in Iraq.
That makes more sense than calling it a test...
"I am a talking GBU-38 bomb. This is only a test. Please ignore all shrapnel, concussion, and casualties. I repeat: this is only a test! Thank you. [KABOOM!]"
The bombs were deployed on two F-16 multi-role fighters, which performed a simultaneous GBU-38 release on the same target in central Iraq. Officials said the 500-pound bombs precisely hit a two-story building occupied by the Tawhid and Jihad group in Faluja with minimal collateral damage. They said this was the first time a GBU-38 was deployed in a demonstration of a smaller munition meant to reduce collateral damage in urban areas, Middle East Newsline reported. "This was the right weapon for the job," the lead pilot who carried out the mission, identified only as Lt. Col. Mitch, said. "If we used any bigger of a bomb, we would have caused unnecessary damage."
"Less filling!"
Officials said the GBU-38 provides the U.S. military with a smaller precision weapon for use against urban targets. They said the bomb, which could be deployed on the F-16, would allow for precision strikes at night.
"Tastes great!"
The GBU-38 is composed of an MK-82 with the Joint Direct Attack Munitions guidance system. Officials said the GBU-38 was regarded as much lighter and easier to assemble than most of the other munitions loaded on F-16s. The GBU-38 was said to be significantly smaller and lighter than the GBU-12 and the GBU-31. "This is a relatively easy bomb to drop," Mitch said. "We simply set the coordinates and deliver the bomb. There's a slight shake in the jet as the bomb is released because [of] the sudden weight reduction, which happens after every drop." The bomb has been sought by Middle East allies.
We can arrange delivery.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/14/2004 12:03:56 AM ||
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Thereâs a slight shake in the jet as the bomb is released
Hmmm, never knew that.
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/14/2004 0:47 Comments ||
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How lovely. Kinder, gentler, more sensitive bombs. It's interesting to see weapons getting smaller and more precise rather than bigger and more destructive. I look forward to the day when a fly-sized bomb flies into a Zarqawi-sized ear and makes a really tiny brain explode in a big red cloud of vapor.
#7
Raptor, you'll see those soon enough. Or, to be more accurate, THEY will see those soon enough. Problem is with adjusting to the ballistics and sizing of the round.
Anything below that, and a 500 pound concrete blivet with JDAM gear fitted to it would suffice, as long as heat and overpressure were not needed (i.e. triggering secondaries). 3 or so rounds each of 500 pounds of steel cased concrete at 600 miles an hour is a pretty hard hit to any small building.
#8
Fallujah Craters... Next great tourist site after the ruins of Babylon...
Steve S. - I look forward to the day when a fly-sized bomb flies into a Zarqawi-sized ear and makes a really tiny brain explode in a big red cloud of vapor.
#9
#8 Fallujah Craters... Next great tourist site after the ruins of Babylon... Steve S. - I look forward to the day when a fly-sized bomb flies into a Zarqawi-sized ear and makes a really tiny brain explode in a big red cloud of vapor. Tested on watermelons?.
I'll bet the Gunny from the Histroy Channel would volunteer to be the guideance officer.
#14
As Darth Vader would say..."Don't be too proud of this technological advancement, it's insignificant next to the power of "The Force"! The sheer accuracy and limited application of such force WAS used centuries ago (See 1Kings 18:30-38)By the LORD!!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Police arrested a 32-year-old terror suspect in northwest London early Thursday, officers said. Officers arrested the man under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism, London's Metropolitan Police said. Anti-terrorist police detained the man in London's Wembley district at 12:05 a.m. as part of an intelligence-led operation, the force said. Police also searched a residential premises in Wembley. The man was taken for questioning to a central London police station.
The Iraqi national guards have announced the arrests of 73 Afghans who have entered the country illegally through Iran, said Al Mashriq newspaper. The Iraqi national guards forces arrested the Afghans in the city of Ummarah, south of Baghdad, where foreign fighters usually come from, said captain Furat Al Timimi, spokesman for the national guards forces in the south of Iraq. The arrested Afghans would be turned to the Iraqi police for investigation because of terrorist suspicion. The Iraqi interim government continues its effort to control the borders with neighboring countries in a bid to control the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, especially with the approaching of the elections, he emphasized, adding that Iraq needs cooperation of its neighboring countries to prevent foreign fighters from infiltration. Hazim Shaalan al-Khuzaei, the Iraqi defense minister, had accused Iran on several occasions of interfering in the Iraq internal affairs and of allowing fighters to enter Iraq through Iran.
A large number of sensitive nuclear components sold to Iran and Libya for building uranium enrichment plants were made at workshops in Europe and Southeast Asia, says a Washington-based nuclear monitoring agency. In a recent report on the nuclear black market, the Institute for Science and International Security confirms Pakistan's claim that the network might have been headed by a Pakistani, Dr A.Q. Khan, but it was a gang of international proliferators and smugglers that had bases and workshops at many places across the globe. 
Pakistani commandos on Thursday raided a house near the Afghan border where two Chinese engineers were being held hostage, rescuing one while the other died of gunshot wounds, officials and news reports said. All five kidnappers were killed. Pakistani officials initially said one of the Chinese had been critically wounded, but China's state-run Xinhua news agency said he later died of his wounds. Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the kidnappers had shot the Chinese man, though he could not confirm whether he had died. He said security forces attacked the house after shots were heard from inside.
The huge car bomb blast that rocked Gaza City Tuesday night, October 12, sounded more like Baghdad than a Palestinian-controlled area. It was timed to blow up as the convoy carrying Mussa Arafat, commander of the Palestinian security forces in the Gaza Strip and chief of Palestinian military intelligence, was leaving his headquarters. The attack missed. Arafat survived unhurt from the first Palestinian car bomb attack on a fellow Palestinian. 
