The Turkmen people now, apparently, have no means of acquiring or reading Russian newspapers and magazines. Even those who set up subscriptions for the second half of this year, and paid large sums of money in Turkmen manats or US dollars, will not receive their newspapers. The fact is that back in June the great leader and life-long ruler, Saparmurat Turkmenbashi, banned the import of dangerous Russian publications into the country, in order to prevent the dissemination among his people of unwholesome and libellous fabrications about himself and the reforms which he carries out almost every day of his life. This isn't really terrorism related, but I had to throw it in. It's hard to remember, but it was only ten years ago that the Soviet Union went toes up with a lily in its pocket. It's a measure of how far the world has come that today Russian newspapers can be considered a threat to somebody's iron-fisted dictatorship.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 10:33 am ||
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I guess this dork didn't hear Putin's speech about Georgian (not the peach state) harborage of Chechnits.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/13/2002 18:37 Comments ||
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A MAN who tried to fire a plaster-filled beer can from a homemade cannon lost a leg in a blast that peppered a car with shrapnel and exploded a gas cylinder, a Perth hospital said. Stoopid is something that's going around today, isn't it?
The 52-year-old suffered severe burns and shrapnel injuries to both legs after trying to fire a can of Emu Draught from a metre-long pipe mounted on a metal plate last weekend. The makeshift gunpowder-filled cannon backfired, shooting hot metal and plaster shrapnel through the man's legs before blasting through a metal shed and a caravan. The man remains in Royal Perth Hospital in a stable condition. Physically stable, anyway...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 04:04 pm ||
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Do we say a prayer for him to:
a. St. Barbara- patron saint of artillery men, or
b. St. Elmo- patron saint of lost causes?
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
09/13/2002 21:43 Comments ||
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Lord God, Who has graciously chosen Saint Dymphna to be the patroness of those afflicted with mental and nervous disorders, and has caused her to be an inspiration and a symbol of charity to the thousands who invoke her intercession, grant through the prayers of this pure, youthful martyr, relief and consolation to all who suffer from these disturbances, and especially to those for whom we now pray.
FoxNews reports that Ramzi bin al-Shibh is in custoday in Pakland. Somebody's $25 million richer. I'll be outside ululating and handing out candy for the next hour...
Followup: CNN's got it now...
Ramzi Binalshibh, one of the most wanted al Qaeda operatives by the U.S. government, has been captured and is in the hands of Pakistani authorities, U.S. government officials told CNN Friday. Further details about his capture were not immediately available. Oh, that tells us a lot more...
And now they've got some more up...
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf told CNN Friday that Pakistani authorities conducted an operation two days ago that netted 10 al Qaeda suspects, including an "important" person, although he could not confirm it was Binalshibh. Toldja it was a muckety-muck... 'Course, Perv doesn't actually confirm that this is the raid that actually snagged him...
"They were living in a residential area. The place was raided and there was a shootout," Musharraf said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer." "Two of the al Qaeda members were killed and 10 arrested." Musharraf said the 10 captured al Qaeda suspects include one Egyptian, one Saudi and eight Yemenis.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 05:17 pm ||
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The reactions of our prime minister in the aftermath of 9/11 are almost too painful to recall; most notoriously, making an implausible excuse to avoid visiting Ground Zero in New York, so that he could fly back to a Liberal Party fundraiser in Toronto. A year later, we are still hearing hallucinogenic remarks from both him and his foreign minister -- a man whose casually-revealed ignorance of history and current affairs is excruciating. In the shadow of everything we have not done, we now presume to give little lectures to the U.S. President on the moral advisability of acting against the threat from Iraq. What has become of Canada?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 06:52 pm ||
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To be fair, Chretien is the lamest of lame ducks and rules only at the leisure of the last popularity poll. He is simply a mirror on the lowest common denominator of Canadian politics. If the PC or Alliance had had any wit or wisdom, he would have been history already. But now he gets to make it.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
09/13/2002 21:41 Comments ||
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Arabic television station al-Jazeera says it has received a statement from ousted Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in which he has vowed to continue fighting until Afghanistan is "liberated". He's a definite authority. He's the guy who said we didn't have the courage to attack Afghanistan in the first place. Then he said Konduz wasn't going to surrender. Then he said they were going to fight to the death, just before heading for the hills. And then they were going to be back in control in a month. If I was a wild-eyed Pashtun with a turban, I don't think I'd count too heavily on Mullah Omar.
The Qatar-based TV station, which has previously broadcast videotaped statements by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, showed an unclear printed statement that appeared to be in Arabic. It said it was issued on 11 September this year. "He (Omar) warned that holy struggle would continue until Afghanistan is liberated and Islamic teachings were re-installed," al-Jazeera said in a news bulletin. Yep. Any day now... Do you get the impression the ex-potentate is in denial?
Mullah Omar also reportedly accuses the US of being "arrogant and simple minded". The statement says the US disregarded human rights, referring to the revolt by Taleban prisoners at the Qala-e-Jhangi prison fort near the Afghan city of Mazer-e-Sharif last November. Mullah Omar accuses someone else of denying human rights?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 08:24 am ||
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Keep tossing those rhetoric-bombs, you one-eyed illiterate, Arab boot-licker.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/13/2002 18:39 Comments ||
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An Iraqi minister threatened Israel with attack if it participated in any US-led military action against the regime of President Saddam Hussein, in comments published in an Emirati daily. "Iraq will deliver a deep blow to Israel that it will not forget if it interferes in the war," Trade Minister Mohammed Mahdi Saleh told the Al-Khaleej newspaper. Last time, they attacked Israel even though the Israelis weren't involved. So what's new? Are they off the hook this time?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 07:54 am ||
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Well, clearly if the US attacks Iraq, its the Jew's fault.(J-E-W-S Jews! Jews! Jews!)
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Baghdad would "teach (the Americans) a lesson" if they attacked. We learned a lesson last time: don't stop until the dictator on the other side is doorknob dead...
Iraq did not accept the conditions spelled out by US President George W. Bush in his UN speech. Didn't expect they would. Welcome to the Offspring of All Battles...
But Aziz, in remarks to Dubai-based Saudi MBC television, said the Iraqi leadership had yet to formulate Baghdad's "final positions" on the current standoff over its alleged pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. "Iraq does not accept Bush's conditions. He wants to control Iraq, he wants Iraq's oil, he wants to protect Israel," Aziz charged on Friday. Don't forget the part about wanting to see Sammy dangling from a lamp post...
However, he added that he would not spell out Iraq's "final positions" on the current standoff, since "Iraq has a leadership that meets and decides" policies.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 07:57 am ||
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These guys talk a lot of smack, don't they?
What lesson are you going to tach us, Mr. Aziz? How fast your troops whip out their white hankies?
Let me describe your 'final position' for you - bent over with a Stinger for a buttplug.
Security forces arrested 16 people during rioting that broke out in Mahabad, northwestern Iran, after police killed three people smuggling alcohol, the Ettelaat afternoon newspaper reported Thursday. Smuggling alk, huh?
Rioters attacked public places, smashing windows of the city's courthouse and several banks with stones and batons, a security official in the province of western Azerbaijan, Kazemi Nejad, told the paper. Boy, those guys really missed their bootleggers, didn't they?
According to press reports Wednesday the head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi, ordered the immediate arrest of those involved. "Round 'em up quick, before the whole country's soused and lying in the gutters!"
Iran's armed opposition movement, the People's Mujahedin, said in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia Wednesday that thousands of people had demonstrated in Mahabad Tuesday to protest the murder of two "traders" by security forces. On Tuesday, huh? Why would the Medes and Persians want to get likkered up on Tuesday? I always wait 'til Saturday nite...
It said that, in ensuing clashes, "people in the city challenged the regime's suppressive forces with knives and fire arms and killed five (security) agents." Boy, those are some mean drunks! Usually I just sing a couple verses of "Sweet Adeline" and nod off...
It added that the clashes lasted until late Tuesday, with windows being broken at some government offices and several other offices destroyed. Alk smugglers. Yeah. I believe it. It could happen...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 10:17 am ||
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Over one-quarter of Iranian immigrants to the U.S.A. have abandoned Islam for alcohol and other benefits of kafirdom. I guess its catching on back home.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/13/2002 18:43 Comments ||
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Iran on Wednesday dismissed speculations that it will be next in line for US attack as the world holds its breath over a possible American military blitz on Iraq, IRNA said. "Nope. Not us. We'll wait 'til they've killed all the Soddies before we get scared..."
"We currently do not see any special threat from any foreign power," government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told Iranian and foreign mediapersons. "Despite our previous rantings on the subject..."
Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told reporters that the Islamic Republic wished to show its "solidarity with the innocent victims of this appalling act." "But we'll wait until it's occurred, okay?"
"We believe that the roots of terrorism must be eliminated without exception or discrimination," he added. "Yep. We're right in the middle of it on top of it..."
Ramezanzadeh said Iran was still waiting for the US leadership — which has labelled Iran as part of an "axis of evil" — to take the initiative to improve relations. Just sitting by the phone. Waiting.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 10:21 am ||
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Thousands of people were forced by Iranian security forces to disperse when they, on the evening of September 11, took to the streets of Iranian cities to hold solemn ceremonies to commemorate the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the United States. More people "out looking for alk."
The Student Movement Coordinating Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI) reported that attempts to hold remembrance meetings were recorded in Tehran, Shiraz, Hamedan, Kermanshah, and Piranshahr. Demonstrators were chanting âOur condolences to America!â and âDown with Iranian Taliban!â. Police were beating demonstrators. In Tehran, several dozen demonstrators were arrested. I still have to ask, where the hell is this on CNN/Fox/ABC/NBC/CBS? Are they looking forward to sitting around looking surprised when the mullarchy collapses and they don't notice? Or have I missed something?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 10:28 am ||
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Brave kids. I was very moved when I found their website via a link at LGF, and left them a note.
Posted by: G ||
09/13/2002 17:07 Comments ||
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CNN needs a victim angle to make the story runnable. These kids are obvious just poor madrasseh students who want their grades changed.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
09/13/2002 21:46 Comments ||
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The five permanent members of the Security Council agreed to set a time limit for Iraq to let the UN resume arms inspections, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. Foreign ministers of the five had a working lunch with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Iraq a day after US President George W. Bush demanded the council enforce its demands that Iraq disarm or face unilateral US action. There was "complete unanimity about the imperative of getting the weapons inspectors back into Iraq," Straw told reporters after lunching with the ministers of China, France, Russia and the United States. G'bye, Sammy.
Asked whether the five agreed to present Iraq with a deadline, a key goal of the United States, Straw replied: "We didn't come to a conclusion about that. But, it is fair to say, a very clear understanding that if we are going to set an imperative to get those weapons inspectors back — that has to mean a time limit." Seems ten years should have been enough time. Putting up a "no more" point would seem to be essential by now...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 04:26 pm ||
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Just waiting for the cooler weather to set in...
Eurythmics star Dave Stewart has teamed up with reggae legend Jimmy Cliff to write a song for global peace. The musicians hope the song, called Peace For One Day, will be played by radio stations across the planet. The pair has collaborated with British film-maker Jeremy Gilley who wants 21 September to become a global day of ceasefire. Stand back! My gorge is rising...!
Stewart said: "The idea was to make a song that on 21 September we'll get as many stations around the world to play, and DJs to talk about what it's all about. Simultaneously in all these countries there'll be millions of people listening." Millions of people, tossing their cookies at the same time...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 07:51 am ||
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Apparently, that thing on 9/21 is a UN thing and you can read about it here. What they want to do is:
"To encourage the observation of a worldwide, 24-hour vigil for peace and nonviolence on the International Day of Peace, Saturday, 21 September 2002 in every house of worship and place of spiritual practice, by all religious and spiritually based groups and individuals, and by all men, women and children who seek peace in the world."
I'm cool with it. It'll keep 'em out of my face for a day.
Posted by: Chris ||
09/13/2002 8:03 Comments ||
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Yeah, well, I hope they've laid in extra Lysol for the occasion. Ucky.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2002 8:26 Comments ||
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Sounds like the dat to get it on.......
Posted by: dorf ||
09/13/2002 11:41 Comments ||
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"Peace for a day" is to be followed by the ever popular "Nobody move, Nobody get hurt", with an encore of "The harder they come" and "I shot the Sheriff".
A bomb squad detonated a suspicious package early Friday morning in a car along Florida's Alligator Alley after an all-night search for two vehicles thought to be involved in possible terrorist activity. Three people in two cars were detained on suspicion of a possible terrorist threat after bomb-sniffing dogs alerted authorities to material in both vehicles. Explosive charges were used to blast open what appeared to be a backpack taken from one of the cars. Might be a little hard to explain this one away...
Police in Florida and Georgia had been searching for the vehicles after a restaurant customer in Calhoun, Ga., notified them that she overheard three men of Middle Eastern descent discussing terrorist plans. That was stoopid. Why discuss your plans in English? Why not Arabic or Pashtun or Urdu? Unless you want to be overheard so the other customers in the Shoney's can know what tough guys you are...
Eunice Stone told Fox News she was at a Shoney's restaurant with her son Thursday morning when three men at another table "started talking and laughing about 9/11." Guess they didn't have the meatloaf. They wouldn't have been laughing then...
She said at least one of the men was wearing a Muslim skull cap, or kufi, and the other two were clean shaven with short hair. One had a beard that came to the chest, and two of the men were clean-shaven. All three were in their mid-20s and spoke English. "They were all well groomed," she said. "The one with the beard on his face, he held up two thumbs and said, 'Yeah, did you see him smiling at how sad they were? They think they were said on 9/11, wait until 9/13.' That's exactly what he said." Sounds like a little nugget, definitely...
"The guy in the beard said, 'Do you think we have enough to bring it down?' Then the other guy said, 'If we don't have enough to bring it down, I have contacts that can bring it down.' Then they started talking about Miami, they said they had to get on to Miami." What're they going to blow there? The Fontaine Bleu?
She said she listened closely, and one of the men started talking about "bringing it down" in Miami. "They were determine to bring 'it' down, whatever 'it' is," she said. She said the three men got up to pay their bill, and she and her son got up to follow them. As one of the men paid the bill with a credit card, she took a crayon and wrote down the make and model of the car, as well as its Illinois license plate number. Unless she misheard the entire conversation or made it up from scratch, this lady's not too dumb...
"I just thought something is not right," she said, so she called the Georgia State Patrol on her cell phone. Yeah, that thought would have occurred to me, too...
Police tracked down the cars after one of them ran a toll plaza, Lt. John Bagnardi of Florida Highway Patrol said. He said the three people were uncooperative when they were stopped and refused to allow a search, so authorities brought in the bomb-sniffing dogs. Running the toll plaza is kind of all in a piece with yakking in English where the locals can hear you. Sounds like they wanted the world at large to know what tough guys they are. "75 cents for a toll? Pick a finger, infidel dog!"...
E.J. Picolo of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said the three people in the vehicles had been identified and were legally in the country, but he would not provide futher information about them. The three were being detained and had not been arrested, he said. They could well be detained until the end of the War on Terror, or Doomsday, whichever comes first...
The cars, remained on Interstate 75, also known as Alligator Alley, about 50 yards apart. The Florida Highway Patrol shut down a 20-mile stretch after 1 a.m., when the vehicles were stopped. Two bomb squad technicians in hoods and protective blast suits removed a suitcase and plastic bags from one car and searched the interior and trunk. A robot was also brought to the scene, though it wasn't immediately clear how it would be used. FoxNews this morning said the bomb pups went nutz over the contents of the cars. Either they were chock full of explosives or they just reeked of Eau de Alpeau. The bomb disposal guys were still trying to decide whether to blow a suitcase when I left for work...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 07:51 am ||
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They haven't found anything yet, but there's a 14 hour gap between Georgia and where they were caught. Calhoun's not far from the FL line. There are missing hours in there. Years ago, going 60, I could have made it from Tallahassee to where they were caught in 8-9 hours (including taking rest stops). The speed limit is now 70, most go 75+ down I-75. What were they up to in the interim?
Posted by: Kathy K ||
09/13/2002 9:11 Comments ||
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I heard the lady herself on the news. She sounded smarter than "not too dumb". Also, shoney's hands out crayons to kids for coloring a coloring book while waiting for their kid's meal, so she grabbed what was at hand to scribble down the license plate number.
I must correct Kathy K: I'm in Georgia, and used to drive I-75 from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Calhoun is an hour's drive NORTH of Atlanta, and I-75 passes through that city. Maybe 2 to 3 hours unaccounted for unless they stopped to visit someone in Atlanta or Macon.
#3
As to Fred's question of what they would blow up in Miami, I'd look first to the cruise ship port. It's a major facility, there's usually a couple ships coming or going, and there's lots of touristas about. It would be a big mess.
And my hat's off to the woman who picked up on this.
But we needn't worry. These jokers would have been trapped on South Beath quickly enough, just as soon as they walked past a couple of young women doing some European-style sunbathing. Standing stock still for hours, is a good way to get noticed, guys, especially if you're wearing a turban on the beach :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/13/2002 9:44 Comments ||
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Could be Disney World as a target. Also, I'm sure they have noticed that a lot of Jewish people live in Florida. I've been keeping an eye on the news, the cops have not found anything yet. Hope they hold them until they run their IDs. Seems like a lot of these guys turn up in Florida.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/13/2002 11:53 Comments ||
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I'd forgotten they were going past (or through) Atlanta in the daytime, that does slow you down. I was figuring about 10 hours max, now I'd say 11 or so.
But they still do have some unaccounted-for time. It doesn't look like they are carrying explosives , and it does look like they had legitimate reason for going to Florida.
And if they did say what she reported, what do they know? Or was she just upset with them for celebrating Sept 11, and decided to get them in trouble? (You never know...)
Posted by: Kathy K ||
09/13/2002 12:23 Comments ||
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I used Microsoft Streets and Trips to calculate to time from Calhoun, GA To Naples, Fla. I factored in one 15 minute break every four hours, and one 15 minute fuel stop. The program give to travel time of 11 hours, 49 minutes.
#7
And now it looks like they were playing a joke? Fire in crowded theaters and all that.
Anonymous, that's assuming they go the speed limit. No one does in FL on I-75. I'd say the mean speed most places is 80mph.
Posted by: Kathy K ||
09/13/2002 13:57 Comments ||
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Well, this whole thing might be spelled d-i-v-e-r-s-i-o-n. Or who knows? Possibly t-r-i-a-l b-a-l-l-o-o-n.
The two cars with Illinois plates were pulled over at about 1 a.m. ET after running a toll booth on Alligator Alley, the portion of Interstate 75 that connects Florida's east and west coasts. One set of plates appeared to be stolen, police sources told Fox News. "Mahmoud, we can't use these plates. The state gave them to us when we paid our license fee. Go out and steal somebody else's."
"But Ahmed, we're just going to the grocery store!"
A law enforcement official in Washington, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that authorities had not found a terrorist connection and that the three men appeared to be medical students going to a medical conference in Miami. Driving a car with stolen plates and busting through a toll booth? I'd call that suspcious, even without them yucking it up over 9-11.
The official said the men's nationalities are Jordanian, Iranian and Pakistani, and at least two are naturalized citizens. That'd explain using English as a common language in the Shoney's. Probably one of them doesn't speak good enough Arabic to understand the humor in blowing people up...
"They're being detained, and the investigation continues, but they're not suspects," Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said in an afternoon press briefing. "They're not suspects"? Then what the hell are they?
Police on Friday morning traced the license plates to a home in the Chicago suburb of Hanover Park, and a couple who live there were briefly taken into custody. They were later released, and police said they had no connection to the incident in Florida. Only their license plates were involved...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 10:47 am ||
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It does appear to be a confluence of stupid med students, big talk, dumb actions, uncooperative behavior, and an alert GA. lady with a cell phone. We should smack 'em around just for General Principles if nothing else....dumbasses. Unfortunately, the ACLU/PFAW crowd will claim that this is why we shouldn't tip authorities if you see something suspicious. If I were W I'd invite her to the White House for a chat an handshake just the same
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/13/2002 12:16 Comments ||
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A tank truck filled with ammonia exploded at a BASF Corp. plant Friday, in Freeport, Texas, rattling windows for miles and prompting a call from authorities for residents to stay indoors, the Brazoria County Sheriff's Department said. "It just sounded like the city blew up," Lake Jackson resident Earlene Wright told TV station KTRK-TV in Houston. Wonder if this is what the goobers in Florida were gloating over? Or one of the things...
The explosion apparently was felt by people living at least 50 miles away. There were no immediate reports of any injuries. If you could feel it 50 miles away, there were probably casualties...
"Right now all we know is it was in a tanker car with ammonia in it," said a sheriff's department employee who declined to be identified. "It is contained within the plant."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 12:32 pm ||
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Three medical students of Middle Eastern descent who were stopped as suspected terrorists on Alligator Alley early Friday morning remained detained after they were overheard in a Georgia restaurant vowing to make America ``cry on 9/13.'' Federal sources involved in the investigation said they believe the three men - all U.S. citizens - were playing a stupid joke on another restaurant patron who gave them a suspicious look. Mabye they should go on the Jackass show. Maybe the Feds should play a stupid joke on them by sending them to Guantanamo. That'd be hilarious.
All three were on their way from Illinois to take medical training in Miami. Federal sources said the men could be released as early as today with a ticket for blowing the I-75 toll booth near Naples. They'll have to put their own cars back together... Stoopid bastards.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 12:38 pm ||
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In some states, that type of joke is a felony.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/13/2002 18:45 Comments ||
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At least they didn't wear their head scarves in Georgia, for if they did they'd be picked up on "wearing hoods in public" as KKK sympathizers also.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
09/13/2002 21:49 Comments ||
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You know what's REALLY frightening? These are supposed to be MEDICAL personnel going to Miami for "medical training". And these are supposed to be the "best and brightest"???
The FBI has arrested what appears to be an active al Qaeda cell inside the United States. Agents are rounding up five men in a Buffalo, N.Y. surburb - all graduates of Osama Bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist camps in Afghanistan. Authorities are also looking for possibly two other men overseas who were the group's handlers. Another member of the cell has been turned over to the United States by a foreign power. Cheeze. Baltimore yesterday, Buffalo today. Is Topeka next?
Sources tell CBS News the discovery of the cell and a recent spike in their overseas and internal communications is largely responsible for President Bush deciding to go to alert Condition Orange earlier this week. It is not known whether the cell had identified a specific target in the United States, or how close they were to acting. All of the Buffalo suspects are U.S. citizens of Yemeni descent. All live within a block of each other in a Buffalo surburb known as Lackawanna. And all attended the same mosque. The cell's ringleader, also a U.S. citizen of Yemini background, is believed to be in Yemen and outside of U.S. reach for the moment. Another family affair...
The five Buffalo suspects will apparently be charged with providing material support and resources to terrorists. This apparently follows a debate within the White House itself over whether to treat the men as criminal defendants, or as nonmilitary combatants with no charges and no access to an attorney. Sources say the men attended Al Qaeda camps prior to 9/11 and then returned to the United States. That's what would have made me vote for shipping them to Guantanamo...
While few details are known at this point, the real significance of these arrests is that the suspects are not foreign nationals like the 9/11 hijackers -- but U.S. citizens. One was naturalized, but the others, we are told, were born and raised here. And that's what would have made me vote for shooting them.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 05:29 pm ||
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Presidents Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt discussed how to improve sharing intelligence in fighting terror, Mubarak advisor Osama al-Baz said. The two discussed cooperation in collecting, exchanging and analyzing information "not only in Egypt and Indonesia but in general — the flow of terrorist groups, the flow of finances and so on," Baz told a press conference after the talks. Tracking the money is where the payoff is. Without money, the Bad Guys wither and die. Unfortunately there's still a lot of money flowing from the Soddy coffers...
"But Egypt and Indonesia are not countries that are in danger at the moment," Baz said in response to a question from AFP about intelligence cooperation. I'd call that wishful thinking on the Indonesians' part...
"We suffered from this phenomenon in the past and we used to fight it together," Baz said. "So we're discussing ways and means for improving our ability and strengthening our hand in dealing with this phenomenon at home and abroad."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 08:02 am ||
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A powerful explosion tore through a two-story house on Friday, killing three brothers and injuring four other people, witnesses and doctors said. Two of the brothers killed in what appears to be the premature detonation of an incendiary device were members of the militant group Islamic Jihad and the Hamas military wing. It appears that the three were at the home of a fourth brother, who is on Israel's wanted list, when the blast occurred. "Hey, Mahmoud! Toss me that detonator, wouldja?"
"Ahmed, you've got grease all over your... BOOM!"
Police and rescue workers on the scene did not immediately know the cause of the blast, which left much of the house in ruin. My guess would be a bomb. What's yours?
Similar blasts have resulted from bombs that accidentally exploded as they were being built. The explosion ripped through a room in the middle of the house. Blood and guts debris covered the walls and floor. "Now, who's gonna clean up this mess?"
Dr. Moawia Hassanein at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital said the three dead were from the same family. Four others were undergoing surgery. ... to remove masonry from their faces.
A neighbor said one of those living in the house was Iyad Sharif, a well-known member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. G'bye, Iyad. Give our regards to the 72-year-old virgin...
This morning's chuckle is brought to you by Steve...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 08:37 am ||
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Steve's been a source of some good news lately - keep up the fine work. BTW - Iyad? that's gonna leave a scar, I think....especially when they demolish the remaining shell of your hovel...
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/13/2002 12:24 Comments ||
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The leader of a Iraq-based Kurdish Islamic group suspected of having links with the al-Qaeda network has been detained in the Netherlands after being expelled from Iran. That's kind like saying Father McGuire's suspected of having links to the Pope... Mullah Krekar heads the militant group Ansar al-Islam, which controls a strip of Kurdish-controlled territory near the Iranian border known as Iraq's Tora Bora. He was arrested in Iran and expelled on Thursday, and is now being held in a cell at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. "Looky here, Mullah Krekar: we support terrorism world-wide, but you ain't a terrorist, you're a nut. So we're dumping your butt, and the rest of you with it..."
It is unclear which charges, if any, he could face. How about being a terrorist? HE'S THE HEAD OF A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION, YOU MEATHEADS!... (Sorry. Lost if for a minute, there...)
Until recently, Mullah Krekar was a refugee in Norway. "Oh, yezzz... If I were to go back to my country, I would be persecuted for my beliefs."
"And what are your beliefs?"
"I believe in killing people. Lotsa people."
But Norwegian authorities revoked his refugee status last month because he had travelled back to Iraq and stayed there for long periods. "This removes any basis for asylum," said Norway's Directorate of Immigration. When you travel at will back and forth, to and from the place you're claiming refuge from, that doesn't make Norway a refuge, it makes it a hideout.
Ansar al-Islam [Supporters of Islam], based near the town of Halabja, started its life last September as Jund al-Islam [Soldiers of Islam]. The group is believed to be behind a number of explosions and assassination attempts against senior Kurdish officials. Sources in the Kurdish region say Iran provides the group with logistical support and facilitates its members' movements and access to the outside world. But the Iranian authorities deny this. "Nope. Not us. Maybe it's them Samoans?"
Mullah Krekar's links with Afghanistan date back to the war against Soviet occupation in the 1980s. He studied Islamic law in Pakistan under Palestinian scholar Abdullah Azzam, the mentor of Osama bin Laden. In an interview that took place in June 2001, Mullah Krekar described Osama Bin Laden as the "jewel in the crown of the Muslim nation". Since its establishment, Ansar al-Islam has instituted a Taleban-style rule in the areas under its control. They're into chopping people's heads off, too...
There are also reports that his group harbours some 150 "Afghan Arabs", who fled Afghanistan after the US-led attack last year. Ansar al-Islam forces have been involved in clashes with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two main parties controlling Iraq's Kurdish region. They also rob graves...
Mullah Krekar, 47, was granted asylum in Norway in 1991 and brought his family to join him at a later stage. His sons, Muggsy and Butch, are very popular. Fit right in from Day One...
Reports say that he has not been in Norway since the 11 September attacks last year.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/13/2002 11:36 am ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
