The prototype of the editorial page is up. I don't have comments on it yet, or a preview page, but they'll follow in the next day or two. Eventually it'll either take on a life of its own or die because nobody uses it. We'll see. Let me know what else you want in it.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2004 8:34:00 PM ||
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#1
I was the first one to screw up your editorial page. Please move that article from RFE/RL to its proper place. Sorry. Someone had to be the first to screw up.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/23/2004 22:44 Comments ||
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The Al-Qaeda terror network attracts young Saudis and then controls them by threats of jail and torture by security forces if they desert, two captured recruits told Channel One of Saudi Television. In a program entitled "Special Facts From Within the Cell" which aired late on Tuesday, Khaled Al-Farraj and Abdul Rahman Al-Roshoud said the militants used heavy psychological pressure to win over and maintain the loyalty of their members.
"Most recruits do not know what is happening outside or who has been killed by their terror operations as they are not allowed to read newspapers or watch television," Farraj said. He also pointed out that most clerics in the cell had no knowledge of Shariah and Islamic teachings. "If any recruited member receives a letter from his wife or family, the superiors will give him the letter only after reading it. They also will not allow any recruit to go out alone except with somebody who will prevent him from running away," Farraj said. "Some recruits have personally told me of their desire to get out of the cell but they cannot as they think that the police will torture them," Farraj said.
The program interspersed confessions from the two men with graphic pictures of mangled cars, buildings and bodies, taken at the scene of attacks in the Kingdom. During the show, Dr. Khaled Al-Khulaiwi and Dr. Turki Al-Atiyan of King Fahd Security Academy, Dr. Khaled Al-Quraishi of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, and Dr. Fahd Al-Khereiji of King Saud University commented on the confessions.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:18:12 AM ||
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But how could they do such a thing?!? I thought they were idealists, not evil!
September 22, 2004
... The latest case occurred on Tuesday night along a highway in Antioquia Department. An armed group, probably the F.A.R.C. (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia-Colombia's largest leftist guerrilla/terrorist group) stopped a vehicle from the "Cooperativa de Transportadores de Occidente" (Western Transport Cooperative or Enterprise-which is a company that operates small passenger minibuses) that was heading from MedellÃn to the town of Urabä in the Colombian Department of Antioquia. The vehicle was stopped at Cajones, between Dabeiba & Uramita. A car driven by the subversives pulled alongside the victim's vehicle (a minibus) and swerved in front of the it, causing the vehicle's driver to stop, at which time the terrorists made the 16 passengers get out. The driver and a merchant, who as of yesterday hadn't been identified, were kidnapped by the guerrillas. The authorities were investigating yesterday whether or not the minibus had been forsaken by explosives. (I guess the guerrillas blew it up afterwards...)
After the kidnapping the insurgents, that could be members of the 5th or 34th Fronts of the F.A.R.C., drove by the El Mohän Bridge & killed Esneider Higuita Echeverry, who was located at a restaurant. Jorge MejÃa, Secretary of the Government of Antioquia, explained that these occurrences are astonishing considering that the highway in question is one of the most secure in the entire Colombian Department of Antioquia. Well, that say's a lot about the security of the roadways in your jurisdiction there bud! Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Kentucky Beef ||
09/23/2004 8:00:24 AM ||
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As lawmakers here debated how to respond to terrorist attacks, Russian investigators on Wednesday arrested an airport police supervisor who briefly detained two women suspected of killing themselves and 88 others aboard two passenger airliners last month, the Prosecutor General's Office said.
The officer, Capt. Mikhail Artamonov, has already lost his job overseeing counterterrorism activities at Domodedovo International Airport outside Moscow. He now faces criminal charges for failure to take a simple action that may have prevented the country's worst act of terrorism in the air, a spokesman for the office said in a telephone interview.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:51:43 AM ||
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The biggest secret arms depot in months has been seized in the mountains of south Chechnya. Sulim Yamadayev, commander of the Vostok special purpose battalion, told Interfax on Thursday that the depot was discovered during a search operation near the village of Dargo, Vedeno district. He said four Fagot anti-tank weapons, eight anti-tank grenade-launchers, scores of pieces of small arms, including assault rifles, machineguns and handguns as well as several thousand pieces of ammunition, explosives and mortars were seized.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:47:22 AM ||
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A woman who was detained in Chechnya on suspicion of recruiting suicide bombers also facilitated contacts among different rebel groups and collected funds abroad for the rebels, Ilya Shabalkin, the spokesman for the Federal Security Service in Chechnya, said Wednesday. State television showed security agents questioning the suspect, Natalya Khalkayeva, 31, and bringing her to a lockup in Grozny. An explosives-filled belt and a satellite phone were confiscated from her, Shabalkin said, Interfax reported.
"We found this explosive belt on her, yer honor!"
"GUILTY as charged! Off to the gallows with her!"
He said Khalkayeva was a liaison for a rebel leader, Yunadi Turchayiv. He said Khalkayeva used the satellite phone, which had been bought in an Arab country, to maintain contact with funders in the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey, Austria and other countries.
Khalkayeva frequently traveled outside Chechnya over the past few months in order to receive foreign funds used for terror attacks and recruitment, including of female suicide bombers, Shabalkin said. Izvestia reported that Khalkayeva, an ethnic Chechen, lived in the Kurgan region near the Ural Mountains. She attracted the Chechen security service's attention when she showed up suddenly in Chechnya this past summer, and then disappeared, the newspaper said. She was detained when she surfaced in the southwestern Chechen city of Urus-Martan, Izvestia said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:48:28 AM ||
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Moscow police have detained more than 10,000 people in the past few days as part of a get-tough policy in the wake of the Chechen terrorist attack on a school. Just under half of those detained are citizens of former Soviet republics who have come to the Russian capital to work illegally. A total of 840 have been deported, police said. Others are Russians without proper documents. The announcement came as the Russian Duma began debating more than 40 anti-terrorism initiatives yesterday, setting aside all other business. Proposals include the re-imposition of the death penalty, toughening resident registration laws and making it harder to buy, sell and borrow cars.
The Duma is also to discuss raising the salary of security agents involved in fighting terrorism - in an attempt to cut down on endemic bribe-taking. Officials have said that a failure to penetrate rebel groups coupled with widespread corruption in the security forces has left the country vulnerable to further terrorist attacks. As if to underline the problem, authorities announced the arrest of a police captain, who is thought to have released two women last month at a Moscow airport. They went on to board flights before blowing themselves up killing 89 people.
Rounding up illegal workers in Moscow - who are thought to number about a million - is the standard response by Russian police after an act of terrorism. But many detainees pay a bribe to be released or return to Moscow from their home country with a fresh passport. Other measures due to be proposed by Duma deputies include making an inventory of all weapons in Russia. Officials admit that tens of thousands of small arms are missing from stores across the country.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:58:04 AM ||
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#1
Send them to Siberia.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/23/2004 17:31 Comments ||
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This does not inspire confidence. The Moscow cops are notorious for their stupidity, brutality and corruption. This is little more than a green light to accelerate the police shakedowns and extortion against "southerners" that take place every day in Moscow.
#3
If we are to communicate with clarity, we must translate our actions into terms they can clearly understand. The message should be that the state is stronger than the rebels.
The pattern of beheadings indicates that the wahabis think it is an appropriate method for getting their demands met. This means that they consider it to be a horrible death (looks like all agree on that)
Setup a ten guillotines working factory style, Read out the name of the victim and the hostages you are executing in arabic and behead 10 at a time.
That will cut any internal support the wahabis have. Might be enough to stop the wahabis altogether.
A crude incendiary device was loaded into the cargo hold of an Australian Virgin Blue airliner to Sydney in a major breach of airport security, Transport Minister John Anderson says. The device consisted of a cardboard roll stuffed with thermite, which is used in grenades, attached to a fireworks sparkler. It went undetected by security and was loaded at a regional airport in Queensland state on Monday. A baggage handler discovered the device when the flight landed in Sydney and then breached security procedures by taking it into the terminal.
Anderson said the incendiary device appeared to have been a hoax and security would have picked up a real bomb. Police and the government were investigating the incident, he said. "At this stage on my advice you are not looking at something that could have potentially blown a plane out of the air having got through security," Anderson told Australian radio on Thursday. "I am relatively confident that if this had been a serious nasty, our security arrangements would have picked it up. The judgment was formed that this was a hoax," he said. David Huttner, a spokesman for Virgin Blue Ltd, said the airline believed a disgruntled airport worker was responsible and probably wanted the device to be found. "It was not something that goes boom, it was something that burns, which means somebody had to be there to light it," he said. "It was clearly placed there by somebody who had access to the airfield because it didn't go through checked baggage." A hoax bomb threat forced a United Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles to return to Sydney in July. The flight was ordered to return when flight staff discovered the letters "B O B" -- possibly meaning "bomb on board" -- scrawled on a sick bag in an aircraft toilet.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:35:24 AM ||
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A U.S. citizen held since late 2001 as an enemy combatant will be sent back to Saudi Arabia under an agreement between the Justice Department and his lawyers. Yaser Esam Hamdi must renounce his American citizenship and agree never to travel to certain countries under the agreement announced Wednesday. But Hamdi, whose case led to a Supreme Court decision limiting the president's powers to indefinitely hold wartime combatants, will not face criminal charges. Rest at link No more battlefield prisoners. Implement battlefield Sharia.
Posted by: ed ||
09/23/2004 3:57:07 AM ||
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#1
Hopefully someone is keeping his fingerprints and DNA on file, against the time when he shows up on our radar again.
#2
Why is it that whenever we "release" someone like Hamdi, the press and civil libertarians immediately call out "GOTHA". Did it ever occur to them that we may have turned this guy and we have set him loose in Soddyland for possible infiltration?
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
09/23/2004 10:21 Comments ||
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My understanding is that Hamdi is a US Citizen by accident of location, born in New Orleans, LA and departed for Saudi before he was even one year old. That may legally make him a citizen on paper, but otherwise he's just another AQ fighter.
We could have charged and found him guilty on a technicality (taking up arms against the USA), or push him off on the Saudi's who will probably kill him after them torture him a bit.
Hey Hamdi...no more three squares, HBO and a clean room with soft bed, hot/cold running water and A/C. Ta Ta!
The government dropped espionage charges yesterday against a Syrian-born translator at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, the third time in recent months that investigators have withdrawn security-related charges against a serviceman at the detention facility for suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. In an agreement with military prosecutors, Senior Airman Ahmad Halabi, who once faced 30 charges of spying and aiding the enemy that potentially carried the death penalty, pleaded guilty to four less serious charges. The court-martial of Halabi, an Air Force supply clerk who served for eight months as an Arabic translator at the Guantanamo Bay prison, had been set to begin this week at Travis Air Force Base in California.
Halabi was arrested in July 2003 at a Navy base in Florida as he was traveling to Syria to be married after his Guantanamo Bay assignment. Federal agents found hundreds of documents in his bags, including 180 letters on his laptop computer that previously had been sent by detainees to their families. Other documents included a list of detainees' names and a map of the prison. The government contended that Halabi, who was born in Syria and moved to Detroit as a teenager, planned to reveal the documents to unspecified "enemies" during his trip. He was initially charged with 30 counts, including espionage and aiding the enemy, but over time the government dropped about half those accusations. He spent more than nine months in jail before being allowed to resume his job as a supply clerk at the base outside Sacramento last May. The case was marred by irregularities. While searching Halabi's possessions, a rookie Air Force investigator drank beer and failed to wear gloves as he opened a box of documents, testimony showed. Then he repacked the box and put on gloves before videotaping his reopening of the box.
Police announced Thursday they detained a man who may be one of the masterminds of the suicide bombing at the Australian Embassy that killed nine people and injured nearly 180. Police chief Gen Dai Bachtiar told reporters that authorities on Wednesday stopped a man who fits the description of Noordin Mohamed Top, one of two Malaysian fugitives believed to have orchestrated the Sept 9 attack. The man was detained at an airport. Bachtiar didn't give further details, but said police were investigating the man and can hold him for seven days under the country's anti-terror law.
Police on Thursday released a man they initially suspected of being one of the masterminds of the suicide bombing at the Australian Embassy that killed nine people and wounded nearly 180. Earlier, the country's police chief told reporters that authorities on Wednesday detained a man who fits the description of Noordin Mohamed Top, one of two Malaysian fugitives believed to have orchestrated the Sept. 9 attack. "After we questioned the man, we concluded that he was not Noordin Mohamed Top," said spokesman Maj. Gen. Paiman. "We let him go."
Ratz. Just some guy named Herb...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 3:38:23 AM ||
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Suspected members of the Philippine Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group has taken a Chinese-looking hostage in the southern Philippines, a local television reported Thursday. The local residents at a village in Sultan Kudarat province saw a Chinese-looking man was with the suspected Abu Sayyaf members, the ABS-CBN news channel quoted local officials as saying. Military troops has been sent to the area to go after the suspects, the report said. However, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero dismissed the report as "not true," and local military commanders in the province said they had no information about the incident and are checking with the policemen regarding this matter.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:39:18 AM ||
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Security officials in Lebanon have claimed that they have arrested the Al-Qaeda leader in Lebanon along with several other suspects. The Lebanese interior minister told newsmen in Beirut that security officials have arrested Ismail Mohammad Al-Khateeb, the al-Qaeda network chief in Lebanon along with several other suspected persons after raids in the western area. Lebanon has announced their first arrests for suspected links with al-Qaeda .
More fallout from the diplo activity, I'd guess?
Meanwhile, Lebanon said on Wednesday it had foiled a plan by militant Islamists with links to al-Qaeda to blow up Italy's embassy in Beirut, other diplomatic missions and Lebanese government targets. Interior Minister Elias al-Murr said Lebanese and Syrian security forces acting on a tip that Rome sent last Friday had arrested 10 people in the plot, which he said involved simultaneous attacks on the various targets. The attacks were to include a suicide car bombing of the Italian embassy in downtown Beirut, as well as strikes on the Ukrainian consulate and several Lebanese court and security buildings, he said. Lebanese officials identified two ringleaders among the suspects: Ahmad Miqati, a Lebanese member of an Islamist group that staged a bloody uprising in north Lebanon in 2000, and Ismail Khatib, described as an operative of al Qaeda.
The Dinnieh group's known to be tied to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It was an attempt at a Lebanese version of Jund al-Islam...
The Interior Ministry said the arrest of Miqati - a fugitive in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp,
... That'd be Ein el-Hellhole...
where numerous Islamist factions are active - had led to the arrests of the others. Lebanon's public prosecutor said there appeared to be ties between the groups led by Miqati and Khatib. "There are connections of belief among the same people about forming a unit of al-Qaeda," prosecutor Adnan Addoum told reporters. "Just by Ahmad Miqati knowing about this subject and talking about it means that there is coordination and exchange of information ... There is overlap between the two groups."
Arms Cache Found: Addoum also said the arrests had led to the discovery of a buried cache of weapons. The ministry said the plotters had got funding through contacts in Europe, and Murr said those ties also extended to militants elsewhere in the Middle East. "In questioning it became clear that these networks have links with terrorist networks in ... Italy, Ukraine, Denmark, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Sudan," he told reporters. Murr said other planned attacks included the killing of employees at embassies in Lebanon.
Like its dominant neighbour Syria, Lebanon faces US pressure over Hizbollah guerrillas Washington describes as terrorists. It has said it has cracked a ring behind bombings of Western fast-food restaurants. The suspected plotters had also been involved in recruiting people to fight in Iraq on behalf of al-Qaeda, Murr said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:34:05 AM ||
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#1
I don't know what changed - but give whoever is in charge a promotion. This is like watching a neighborhood bully suddenly greeting everyone with a cheery, "Good Morning!" "Would you like me to carry your books for you today?" "Can I help you with that?" "Have a nice day!"
The young 18-year-old female suicide terrorist, Zeinab Ali Isa Abu-Salem, who murdered two Israelis yesterday, was none other than a children's TV show hostess on a local station in Shechem. The young 18-year-old female suicide terrorist, Zeinab Ali Isa Abu-Salem, who murdered two Israelis yesterday and wounded some 30 others, was none other than a children's TV show hostess on a local station in Shechem. Ofra resident Debbie Segal, who noticed the terrorist approaching the bus stop moments before she blew herself up, described her as "extraordinarily beautiful." She comes from a very wealthy Arab family in Shechem, which owns the TV station where she worked.
Palestinian Media Watch has thoroughly documented numerous children's TV programs that indoctrinate Arab children to seek "heroic death for Allah." On January 15, 2002, Arafat himself, during a PA televised message to children, told them, "Is it not the greatest message to the world, when a child dies for Allah?" Abu-Salem raises the number of female suicide terrorists to eight. Security sources say that she, like most of them, was young, single, and intelligent. Another 40 female terrorists have been arrested since the Oslo War began on Rosh Hashana, 2000, some of whom were on their way to commit suicide attacks.
Eyewitnesses to yesterday's attack said that the terrorist, clad in a veil, was stopped at the Border Guard post at the entrance to the crowded bus-and-ride stop, and argued with one of the policeman who wanted to check her. When the second officer approached them, Abu-Salem detonated the explosives that she held in a bag in her hand. IMRA notes that this occurred just a day after US President Bush told the UN General Assembly that Israel must "end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people" - a reference to the checkpoints. The two Border Guard policemen who were killed in yesterday's suicide bombing in northern Jerusalem were buried today. They are Momoya Tahio, 20, from Rehovot, who immigrated from Ethiopia a number of years ago, and Menashe Komemi, 19, from Moshav Aminadav in the Jerusalem area.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2004 7:16:31 PM ||
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#1
Lot's of play up here in Vancouver on this story because she's got family in the area. Hopefully, we are picking up good intel on the hostage taking pipeline from this incident.
One of the things I wonder about is how the bad guys got her from Baghdad to Fallujah for safekeeping while they worked on the ransom. Have we given up monitoring traffic into and out of Fallujah? And if so, why?
#3
Return to where she was held, turn the place over for evidence. Arrest everyone, interrogate everyone. If they're not 100% cooperative, destroy their property. Make sure word gets around that having hostage-takers as neighbours is a serious liability.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose group had taken three Westerners hostage in Iraq, was unlikely the speaker on a videotape showing the beheading of American Jack Hensley, a CIA official said on Thursday. "It's unlikely that the voice is that of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," the official said after the CIA conducted a technical analysis of the tape. The CIA had said it had high confidence that Zarqawi was the speaker on another videotape posted earlier this week showing the beheading of another American hostage, Eugene Armstrong. Zarqawi's group is still holding a Briton, Kenneth Bigley.
South Africa's public broadcaster SABC has launched an inquiry after its evening news bulletin showed the beheading of a US hostage in Iraq. SABC's Xhosa language programme broadcast graphic footage of a militant cutting off the head of engineer Eugene Armstrong with a knife. Corporation spokesman Paul Setsetse said a programme producer had been suspended pending the investigation. Mr Setsetse apologised for what he said had been a "terrible mistake".
'Children watching'
The news programme showed part of the video, which had been posted on the internet by the hostage-takers, in its 1930 bulletin. "Everybody was shocked by the viewing," Donna Mohamed of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCC) told AFP news agency. "It went out so early. It's family time and most parents encourage their children to watch the news and see what's happening." The BCC said it will watch the footage and decide what action to take against SABC. Ms Mohamed said the same pictures were shown on the privately-owned eTV network, which also faced possible action. SABC apologised to viewers during the news programme for having broadcast the footage. "We regret the incident," Mr Setsetse told AFP. "We apologise to the public, to our viewers. It was a terrible mistake by the person responsible and we have taken action against that person," he said. In case anyone is interested in snuff videos
#1
Snuff films have traditionally involved faked scenarios filmed for a select audience that gets a charge out of these things. Leave it up to Muslim terrorists to start putting out real snuff films of people they have killed. Is there nothing they won't do in their quest for Muslim empire?
#2
Do you think some of the SA sympathizers will change their minds now?
Nah, me neither.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/23/2004 16:45 Comments ||
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#3
We're so sorry for broadcasting the truth of what's going on in the Middle East.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/23/2004 17:29 Comments ||
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#4
Chris-absolutely. If people actually saw what these subhumans were doing, they would be mortified at the political opposition to this war (or they should be, anyway). Still, I wouldn't want the video sprung on me while I was eating dinner with the kids.
U.S troops struck at militant strongholds across Iraq on Wednesday, pounding insurgent positions in Baghdad and clashing with fighters in central and northern cities. The latest fighting came as terrorists claimed responsibility for killing American hostage Jack Hensley and detonated car bombs in Baghdad. Fighting was intense against Shiite militiamen in Baghdad's Sadr City. The sprawling slum is the base of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose followers have battled coalition forces for months. Al-Sadr, who commands support among Iraq's poorer Shiite Muslims, led a three-week uprising in Najaf against U.S. Marines that ended last month with a peace deal brokered by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Attacks by U.S. troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, killed 10 and wounded 92, hospital officials said. U.S. troops were searching for weapons and targeted "pockets of insurgents and terrorists" in the slum, the military said.
In other developments:
⢠Clashes erupted in the central city of Samarra, where U.S. forces had earlier claimed success against militants waging a 17-month insurgency. At least one child was killed and five people wounded, police said.
⢠Three U.S. soldiers were killed in separate incidents. One died in one of the car bombings; one was killed by a roadside bomb near Tikrit; a third died of wounds after an attack on a patrol in Mosul.
⢠Suicide bombers set off two car bombs in Baghdad; one explosion killed six people.
⢠Sheik Abu Anas al-Shami, the spiritual leader of Tawhid and Jihad, the group that beheaded the two American hostages, was killed in an airstrike this month, his family and clerics said.
⢠Al-Shami's group released a videotape that appeared on an Islamic Web Site purportedly showing the beheading of American hostage Jack Hensley. The man's identity could not be verified.
⢠A terrorist group calling itself Jihad Organization claimed it had executed two Italian women. They had been in Iraq working for an aid agency. The kidnappers had demanded that Italy withdraw its 3,000 troops from Iraq.
⢠The U.S. military charged two U.S. soldiers — Sgt. Michael Williams and Spc. Brent May — with murder in the deaths of three Iraqis. The two serve with the Army's 1st Cavalry Division and are based out of Fort Riley in Kansas. No details were released.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:41:11 AM ||
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A British hostage in Iraq pleaded for his life on Wednesday, but two Italian women held by another group were reported to have been killed. In a video issued on-line by his captors, Kenneth Bigley begged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to have women prisoners in Iraq freed to save his life, but his family's hopes that a deal might be done were quashed by US and Iraqi officials. "I need you to help me, Mr Blair, because you are the only person now on God's earth that I can speak to," Bigley said. Britain said it had no contact with the kidnappers, would not negotiate and had little hope the 62-year-old contractor would be spared by Washington's most wanted man in Iraq, al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Iraq said there were no plans to free one of two of Saddam Hussein's weapons scientists, the only women Washington says it holds in Iraq, despite media speculation such a move might be imminent.
Another Islamist group, the Jihad Organization, said it had killed two female Italian hostages because Italy -- like Britain a key US ally in the war on Iraq -- had not heeded its call to withdraw its forces. Its statement was posted on an Internet site not often used by Iraqi militants and there was no confirmation of the claim. Most such claims have proven true in the past.
With time running out for the British hostage, US and Iraqi officials said on Wednesday they would not free female prisoners as demanded by Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group. In the last two days the group has beheaded two American men seized with Bigley in Baghdad last week because its demand was not met by a given time. For Bigley, no deadline has been set. His statement was the latest in a line of hostages' appeals released to ensure maximum pressure on authorities and in this case was targeted straight, and very personally, at Blair. "I need you to be compassionate as you always said you were, and help me, help me live so I can see my wife and my son and my mother and my brothers again," Bigley said. He wore orange overalls typical of US jails and associated around the world with images of suspected Islamists detained at Guantanamo Bay.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 1:32:57 AM ||
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#1
I really hate thinking that it's good, in a way, for those two Italian women. But, it is. At least now they won't be raped anymore. I can't imagine how horrible it was for them. And don't doubt that they were raped. They were both young and attractive.
#2
I wouldn't give it too much longer in the UK with the Muslim Council of Britain placing the blame firmly on Blair/Bush for such atrocities. Introspection just aint for Muslims is it?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/23/2004 11:20 Comments ||
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#3
I just watched the 10+ minute video of this poor man begging for his life. One of the saddest things ever. And the saddest thing is he's probably already dead.
They're only airing snippets here in the US. Are they showing the whole thing there across the pond?
#5
I don't disagree lex, every man has a critical vulnerability. Finding Zarqawi's shouldn't be hard, the rub lies in if anyone has the ballz to go forward on that end. Allawi? Doubtful imho.
Fred, I think that this is something along the lines of what you wanted to do as far as keeping track of the attacks.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2004 3:07:57 AM ||
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#1
Can we marry that with a population density map?
Posted by: James ||
09/23/2004 11:33 Comments ||
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Yeah, good site, but it needs work...I also dreamed of such a databank...It's really hard to do...The amount of information is mind boggling..You can see on that site how they're just treading water...They don't even have Zarqawi's group on there yet. You could have twenty guys working full time on that and barely keep up...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/23/2004 7:51:44 AM ||
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These Islamic insurgents are very courageous.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/23/2004 8:43 Comments ||
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With the horrors of Krystalnacht in mind, and God forbid, but sooner or later a Mosque is going to bre torched - Nepalese style. Oh, and that'll be our fault as well.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/23/2004 10:01 Comments ||
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#3
What a bunch of true warriors. Arguing over who killed a pair of women.
#4
What if we change the focus from terrorists or insurgents and say something like...Iraqi Citizens of Falluja, or Baghdad, or Najaf Behead American
Since I keep hearing that the Iraqi on the street is against these beheadings...let's see if they can get up enough courage to identify where the real bastards are. My understanding of this last beheading was that it was conducted in broad daylight, with the windows open and the screaming could be heard throughout the neighborhood.
From Pakistan Christian Post
Mr. Marvin Pervaiz, Director of the Church World Service (Pakistan/Afghanistan) has been arrested by the FIA officials at Karachi on the charges that he has been traveling on false documents and passports. The officials say that they have apprehended more then three passports belonging to Mr. Marvin Pervaiz, on which he traveled simultaneously, keeping all the passports with him at the same time.
The officials claim to have solid evidences, which show that Mr. Pervaiz has strong ties with Afghani Taliban. Charges of smuggling a group of 8 (eight) Afghani girls is also alleged by the FIA officials and they claim to have strict proofs to justify the arrest of Mr. Pervaiz and his detention at the FIA Passport Cell at Karachi.
The investigation is being carried out by the FIA and till then Mr. Marvin Pervaiz will remain in the custody of FIA. On the other hand Bishop Sammy Azraiah, Mr. Collin Kamran Dost and Mr. Joseph Francis are working hard to get him out while Rev. Sadiq Daniel has moved out of Karachi since the arrest of Mr. Marvin Pervaiz.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/23/2004 12:17:37 AM ||
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#1
I am naively hopeful that none of his many passports has been stamped in the US.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/23/2004 3:00 Comments ||
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An attack on an observation post killed an American soldier, the third U.S. fatality this week in Afghanistan, the military said Wednesday, amid a flurry of attacks that wounded over a dozen Americans in the run-up to the Oct. 9 presidential election. The soldier died when attackers fired on his observation post on Monday in Khost province, the U.S. Department of Defense said. He was identified as Spc. Wesley R. Wells, 21, of Libertyville, Ill.
Just a few miles away from where I sit.
The military had already announced the death of two U.S. troops Monday in another incident - an attack in neighboring Paktika province. The two were killed by mortar fire when a ``large force of anti-coalition militants'' attacked a security patrol in Paktika. Six Afghan soldiers were wounded. The Department of Defense identified them as Staff Sgt. Robert S. Goodwin, 35, of Albany, Ga., and Staff Sgt. Tony B. Olaes, 30, of Walhalla, S.C. The U.S.-led force called in A-10 ground-attack aircraft and a B-1 bomber, which dropped two 500-pound bombs on the attackers. At least nine militants were killed, said Maj. Scott Nelson, a military spokesman. U.S.-led troops clashed with militants in eight separate locations Monday, he said. A total of 14 Americans were injured and one Afghan soldier was listed as missing, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/23/2004 12:08:59 AM ||
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From Jihad Unspun
More than 100 Iraqi civilians were killed and and over 215 others wounded — many of them seriously — on Friday-Saturday night in al-Basrah in fighting that raged between the British occupation forces and the Resistance. British armored forces and Anglo-American aircraft, including F-16 fighter bombers, took part in the battle against the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia, loyal to Shi'i religious leader Muqtada as-Sadr.
According to the local correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam, the British occupation troops destroyed 40 houses, some of them razed to the ground. At the time his report was posted at 11:55am Saturday morning Mecca time (12:55pm local time) some of the victims of the Anglo-American attacks had still not been removed from under the rubble.
Fifty cars were damaged or destroyed in the fighting that raged intensely until 7:00am Saturday morning local time. The local correspondent wrote that British forces in the city were intent of keeping a total lid of secrecy on the bloody fighting and the number of victims, to the point that hospitals in the city refuse to release casualty figures. The correspondent obtained his figures from what he described as "private sources."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/23/2004 12:08:55 AM ||
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The aim apparently is to try to get the populace of the city to call for the expulsion of the Jaysh al-Mahdi from the city â a move that would allow the chauvinist collaborationist Shiâi clerics a free hand in the second largest city of Iraq.
They're actually doing this?! If so, then GO, SISTANI, GO!
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
09/23/2004 0:15 Comments ||
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Sistani's the key to Iraq's future. Need him to be totally with us.
#3
Far be it from me to dispute the credibility of Jihad Unspun, but the only Basra-related item from last weekend I've found so far is a widely circulated report from the equally reputable Agence France-Press giving a total bodycount of trois.
Oh, and from the JI article, ya gotta love this one: Unlike the pro-American SCIRI...
Finally, what the hell's the deal with "chauvinist"? "Collaborationist chauvinists" this and "Conservative chauvinists" that. Is this a Sunni vs. Shi'a thing?
#6
The correspondent obtained his figures from what he described as âprivate sources.â Private sources? You mean as in Mapes, Burkett, or Lockhart? These idjits been watching too much CBS.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/23/2004 2:59 Comments ||
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Two Israeli policemen died preventing a female suicide bomber from entering a packed Jerusalem bus shelter yesterday, probably saving many other lives.
And an atypically fair article from al-Guardian! They even quoted Mayor Lupolianski's call to speed up construction of the security fence without tacking on a snide "apartheid" comment. Will the article be "revised" in the near future? A headline like "Palestinian woman, two Israelis, die in East Jerusalem violence" is more their style.
Scenario: Policemen Kerry and Richards doing their duty at the Mall of the Americas, notice a rather attractive young lady, waddling toward the mall entrance.
Officer Kerry: Say, Rickâ¦nice legs on that babe, huh?
Officer Richards: Yah, but I think sheâs pregnant and all. Look at the size of that kid sheâs carrying.
Officer Kerry: And, that winter coat sheâs wearing. God, no wonder sheâs sweating. Itâs got to be at least 90 degrees out there.
Officer Richards: Say, remember that security class we just had on IDâing suicide bombers. You donât thinkâ¦
Officer Kerry: Hey, you might be right. Stay right here and Iâll go see if I can find that cheat sheet in the far back office. Donât go away Richâ¦Iâll be right back. (walking away)â¦sure hope the security cameraâs on.
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.
