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U.S. Won't back Paleo government run by Arafat
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
OT - Latest Net worm Looks Like Email from Microsoft
Be careful out there - MS will not send you files (executables especially!) unless you requested them
The latest virus to hit the Web poses as a security update from Microsoft and takes advantage of a two-year-old weakness in Internet Explorer. Disguised as an official e-mail from Microsoft, the file comes attached to a note asking the recipient to install a "September 2003, cumulative patch" to protect against vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser and Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail programs. If installed, the program, known as Swen or Gibe.F, attempts to disable firewall and antivirus software, gather password information and replicate itself via e-mail, as well as the Kazaa peer-to-peer network and Internet Relay Chat instant-messaging.

Internet security firms are reporting a wide distribution of the worm online; McAfee Security rated the malicious program a "medium" risk to home users and a "low" risk to corporate users, who are more likely to have updated security software. The virus-laden e-mail looks like an authentic missive from the Redmond, Wash., software developer (aside from a few grammatical errors), but a spokeswoman for Microsoft said this week that it doesn’t send security updates in e-mail. They’re all distributed through Microsoft’s Web site (windowsupdate.microsoft.com). The Swen virus could affect users running Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It does not affect other operating systems.
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 5:05:20 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks, Frank.
Posted by: Matt || 09/21/2003 17:14 Comments || Top||

#2  I saw this on Friday. What made me laugh was this message was sent to my Unix shell account address.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/21/2003 20:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Got these this morning, so someone who has my email address probably got hit. No way of knowing who it was...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/21/2003 20:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Been getting this e-mail for several weeks now,never opened it.Knew it was fishy because MS update automatically sends update notices.
Posted by: Anonymous || 09/22/2003 8:39 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen Postpones Execution for Second Time
Yemen postponed the execution Saturday of a convicted spy and suspected al-Qaida operative, an official said.
"Nabs, wake up!"
"Go screw, Screw. What do you want?"
"Good news and bad news for you, punk!"
"What’s the good news?"
"You’re not being executed this week."
"That’s great! What’s the bad news?"
"You’re being executed next week!"
"Oh."

It is the second time this week that Nabil Nanakli Kosaibati, a Syrian-born Spaniard, has had his execution postponed. The execution was stopped at the last minute Wednesday and again on Saturday by ``higher orders,’’ the official in the Aden prosecutor’s office said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"I can say no more!"
Kosaibati was sentenced to death in 1998 for spying for Saudi Arabia and plotting to assassinate the Yemeni prime minister and other politicians. His name surfaced recently during the Spanish judge’s investigation of al-Qaida. Kosaibati was alleged to be an aide to al-Qaida’s leader in Spain, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, and to have received money from an al-Qaida financier. The judge had called for Yemen to hold off on Kosaibati’s execution so he could be interviewed. A Spanish government spokesman said Saturday that Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had called Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh earlier this week about Kosaibati. Spain’s King Juan Carlos also called Saleh on Friday, Yemen’s official news agency reported. It was not known if the calls from Spain were the reason for the stays of execution.
Wonder if he has a story to tell?
Posted by: Steve White || 09/21/2003 12:30:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They can't help it. The Ninth Circuit court of Appeals covers Yemen as well as California.
Posted by: penguin || 09/21/2003 2:33 Comments || Top||

#2  the three Kooks (especially Pregerson) were appointed by Carter/Clinton - notice any common ground there? All the more reason why the Schumers, Leahys, Kennedys, Boxers (now there's a "special" education class, hmmm?) need to be opposed loudly and with votes in the next election
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 17:23 Comments || Top||


Europe
Schroeder humiliated in Bavaria poll
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s Social Democrats have suffered a comprehensive defeat in state elections in Bavaria, exit polls suggest.
Somebody on Rantburg predicted just this :-)
The Social Democrats (SPD) fell more than 10 points to 18.5% in Bavaria, while the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) polled 61.5%, according to a television exit poll released after polling stations closed at 1800 local time. Correspondents say voters are unhappy with Mr Schroeder’s economic policies, and are particularly concerned about the rapid rise in unemployment.
Looks like Stoiber is back in business. Of course it’s just pure coincidence that Bavaria is the most U.S.-friendly country in Germany. The Oktoberfest in Munich is in full swing and there are as many Americans as ever.
Posted by: True German Ally || 09/21/2003 3:17:07 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Was this your doing, TGA?

If Fred will permit me, do I correctly recall from one of your earlier posts that you were a witness at Nuremburg?
Posted by: Matt || 09/21/2003 15:44 Comments || Top||

#2  I blame the Jews! Oh wait, we killed all of them. Nevermind!
Posted by: Adolf Hitler || 09/21/2003 15:48 Comments || Top||

#3  tga,

Do your Oktoberfest beers have multiple types of hops?

If so, did the Greens boycott the election claiming it was ecologically unsound?
Posted by: mhw || 09/21/2003 16:10 Comments || Top||

#4  TGA >>> Isn't it grand? The only problem is that's like saying George Bush lost in Massachusetts.

Bavaria has always been a conservative state. If I'm not wrong, they'd still like to get the hell out of Germany and make their own country. Sorta like Texans in the US. Full of proud and independent people. God bless them all, even though I can't understand a word they say. I speak Hessen deutsch.
Posted by: Paul || 09/21/2003 16:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Paul

Schroeder losing in Bavaria is not a surprise. I think the SPD has never won there. The news is the SPD lost nearly half of its voters. And this is real bad for Schroeder.
Posted by: JFM || 09/21/2003 17:09 Comments || Top||

#6  What type of guy is Stoiber?
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/21/2003 20:44 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Al Qaeda’s Stealth Weapons
The convicted terrorist has a hard-core moniker: "the blue-eyed emir of Tangier." But Pierre Richard Robert was once a French country boy, an athletic blond teenager living in a house built by his father among pastures here in the Loire region. Robert liked drinking and fast bikes more than school. He got interested in Islam when he played soccer at the Turkish cultural center in a neighboring industrial town. He said he wanted to convert because Allah watched over him as he sped downhill into town on his bicycle.

Fourteen years later, though, Robert has hit bottom. A Moroccan court sentenced him to life in prison Thursday after convicting him of recruiting and training Moroccan extremists for a terrorist campaign. He joins an unlikely group of men with non-Muslim backgrounds that includes Richard Reid, the British "shoe bomber" convicted of trying to blow up an airliner; American Jose Padilla, an alleged Al Qaeda operative being held as an enemy combatant; and Christian Ganczarski, a German convert arrested in June by French police. Robert and Ganczarski were not just foot soldiers, investigators say. They represent a dangerous trend as police chop away at Islamic networks two years after the Sept. 11 attacks: converts who assume front-line roles as recruiters and plotters.

The number of converts has grown as Islamic militants have struck a chord with young Europeans from non-Muslim backgrounds. These "protest conversions," as scholar Olivier Roy calls them, have less to do with theology than with a revolutionary zeal dating to Europe’s ultra-left terrorist groups of the 1970s and ’80s. "The young people in working-class urban areas are against the system, and converting to Islam is the ultimate way to challenge the system," said Roy, a director of the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris. "They convert to stick it to their parents, to their principal. They convert in the same way people in the 1970s went to Bolivia or Vietnam. I see a very European tradition of identifying with a Third World cause." Extremists of European descent worry police for the same reasons that Al Qaeda prizes them: their symbolic value, their Western passports and their fanaticism. "Converts are the most important work for us right now," a French intelligence official said. "They want to show other Muslims their worth. They want to go further than anyone else. They are full of rage and they want to prove themselves."

Ganczarski and Robert were no generals, but they allegedly stepped up to plot attacks and recruit. And investigators say Ganczarski, 36, became a pivotal figure in Europe during the post-Sept. 11 period because of his alleged ties to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who turned increasingly to converts while on the run. Ganczarski is being held in a French jail as a suspected conspirator in the bombing of a Tunisian synagogue that killed 21 people, including French tourists, in April 2002. Although the Germans lacked proof to arrest Ganczarski, who denied involvement in the attack, the widening investigation soon involved French, Spanish and Swiss police. It revealed Ganczarski’s access to Al Qaeda’s "hard core," in the words of a Swiss intelligence report dated last December. The phone call intercepts also pointed to a Swiss convert, Daniel "Yusuf" Morgenej, who had befriended the German in Saudi Arabia. Swiss police questioned and released Morgenej. But Spanish and French investigators say he and Ganczarski remain suspected links in an intricate chain leading to the plot’s accused money man, a Spanish exporter. Ganczarski spent three frustrating years in Medina. He took special courses to overcome his lack of schooling, but failed to enter the university. Yet his zeal did not seem to waver. He traveled to Afghanistan in 1998 — the first of four sojourns — trained at an Al Qaeda camp and saw combat there and in Russia’s breakaway republic of Chechnya. Ganczarski met Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders, who entrusted him with handling computers and communications. Bin Laden saw converts as "an especially potent weapon." Ganczarski found refuge for a time in Saudi Arabia, where he took his family last November. But after this year’s terrorist attacks on expatriate compounds in Riyadh put pressure on the Saudis, they expelled him to France. Under tough anti-terrorism laws, Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere has accused Ganczarski in the Djerba attack based on his alleged ties to the plotters, and has at least two years to bring him to trial.

Authorities are also interested in the fact that Ganczarski had phone numbers for two imprisoned members of the Hamburg cell that planned the Sept. 11 attacks. Ganczarski’s alleged access to the inner circle is not surprising. Al Qaeda has embraced true believers regardless of ethnicity. Just as many converts marry Muslim women, some terrorism suspects of Arab origin have European wives, who often equal them in ideological ferocity. "The Ganczarskis, the Roberts, they show that the radicalization is here, not just in the Middle East," said Roy, the French scholar. If Al Qaeda’s urbanized, globalized jihad continues to attract angry Europeans, the network could gain a "second wind," he said.

Robert, 31, could be a case in point. Like Ganczarski, the Frenchman represents a breed of blue-collar convert — neither jailhouse recruit nor university radical. He went to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where in the mid-1990s he trained at a camp run by Al Qaeda. Robert’s aggressive ideas caused conflict even at fundamentalist mosques. He became an itinerant late-night preacher in housing projects. He also got involved in the used-car racket in which Islamic extremists are active, buying cars in Europe for resale in Morocco. That was nothing compared with his clandestine activity in Tangier, the Moroccan smuggling haven where Robert, by then a father of two, spent most of his time the last two years. He was convicted Thursday of recruiting several dozen young men for terrorist cells he set up in Tangier and Fez. Robert’s Al Qaeda credentials crossed cultural borders: The group made him its "emir." He led weapons training sessions in forests and deserts, according to the court’s verdict. Robert also wanted to bring his war home to France. He and Abdulaziz Benayich, a die-hard holy warrior with longtime ties to European terrorist cells, schemed about using a bazooka or rocket-propelled grenades on targets including a giant refinery and a plutonium shipment near Lyon, about an hour from Robert’s hometown. When Spanish police captured Benayich in June in Algeciras, across the strait of Gibraltar from Morocco, he had shaved off his body hair — as is done in a purification ritual that precedes suicide attacks. "He was preparing for an attack," a Spanish police commander said.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 09/21/2003 2:15:11 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The loonies are coming home. And the Phrench / Zeropean appeasement policies seem to be insufficient to mollify them. What ever will Chirac & Co do?

Think there are stiffer penalties, perhaps even the Big D, on the horizon in the EU?

Naw, me neither. Aris may, however, talk then to death. ;->
Posted by: .com || 09/21/2003 2:39 Comments || Top||

#2  These converts seem almost to have entered a Jim Jones style transe. Society has always had its dangerous fringe ala John Wilkes Booth. If you trim the fringe, you create more fringe.
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/21/2003 12:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Meanwhile, the FBI claims that it's impossible to infiltrate Al-Qaeda.
Posted by: A Jackson || 09/21/2003 16:06 Comments || Top||

#4  . . .Meanwhile, the FBI claims that it's impossible to infiltrate Al-Qaeda. . . And of course the Home-Sec warning about Defacating Flying Pigs™ should be observed sincerely.
Posted by: Anomalous || 09/21/2003 19:27 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq Comes First
EFL: This is just opinion but while Fred's away... Also, it's Iraqi opinion.
After more than four months of liberation duty, UK and US troops need some relief from the day-to-day grind. In the midst of all of this, the choice made by many Arab countries not to participate in the US-led invasion still frustrates, particularly in light of the quick end to the war. The political decision taken by Arab leaders to deny the US their public support for the war, has so far left Iraq with no Arab help in the peace. In effect, the Arab world has sidelined itself regarding a role in Iraq's future, which is being shaped by the Coalition. This new development, seemingly triggered by a change of policy in Washington could open a door for Arab nations to finally get involved. On the face of it, wouldn't it have been better from the beginning to have Arabic speaking soldiers in Baghdad, who can relate to the local culture in a way a Westerner can only dream of? How much easier would it have been for the CPA to win hearts and minds, if they had more Arabs delivering their message? Having Muslim troops stationed in a Muslim country makes sense, doesn't it? A Saudi Arabian officer, or a Jordanian trooper would be much easier to trust than one with the Stars and Stripes on his uniform, right?

Wrong. Evidence on the ground suggests that the absence of Arab involvement in Iraq is actually not a bad thing at all. The truth is that most Iraqis would rather have an American dominated force here, than an Arab one. The grim reality, particularly hard to hear for all those Arabs that felt they were supporting their Iraqi brethren when demonstrating to stop the war, is that most people here don't want anything to do with them. On the walls of Mosul University, one of Iraq's oldest, warning signs are clearly displayed; "No Jordanians, No Palestinians". Iraqis are clearly still upset that other Arabs were able to study in Iraq, effectively on Saddam's payroll. Iraqis have had enough of seeing their own lives compromised for the benefit of Arabs from neighbouring countries.

In contrast, the US spilled the blood of its own people to liberate them from Saddam's tyranny. No matter how bad things are here right now, friends, colleagues and relatives assure me that with the pressure of living under the old regime gone, life is one hundred percent better. The deal on oil between Saddam and countries like Syria and Jordan, affectionately known as memorandums of understanding, irked the population. Even now, in a country that has the world's second largest reserves of crude, Iraqis must go begging to Syria, Turkey and Jordan for fuel imports to meet consumption. It's not an easy pill for the average Iraqi to swallow.

Pan-Arab nationalists will find that their dreams have died in the dusty streets of Baghdad, and the narrow lanes of Fallujah. Iraqis just aren't interested. They have enough problems of their own and just want to get back on an even keel, to enjoy their country as they hoped they were always supposed to. In Jordan, King Abdullah champions his "Jordan First" campaign, struggling to get the message through to his people. Iraqis have learnt their lessons - Iraq comes first, there is no second place.
Posted by: Matt || 09/21/2003 8:07:42 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Saddam talking to Americans?
Daily Mirror may be no better than the National Enquirer, so bring your salt-lick.
SADDAM Hussein has been in secret negotiations with US forces in Iraq for the past nine days, we can reveal.
Breathlessly, they say!
The Iraqi dictator is demanding safe passage to the former Soviet republic of Belarus. In exchange, he has vowed to provide information on weapons of mass destruction and disclose bank accounts where he siphoned off tens of millions of dollars in plundered cash.
That deal got nixed even before the war.
President Bush is being kept abreast of the extraordinary talks by his National Security advisor Condoleezza Rice. She is co-ordinating negotiations in Baghdad which are led by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of American forces in Iraq. The United States has vowed never to negotiate with Saddam and want to take him dead or alive, but the White House hopes the clandestine talks will allow them to pinpoint the tyrant’s exact location.
Sammy’s been pretty stooopid about a lot of stuff, but not in personal security.
Saddam’s English-speaking representative walked into the US HQ at Tikrit - the dictator’s home town - on September 12 and asked to talk to senior officers. He then led a group of US troops to a nearby suburb where one of Saddam’s loyal security chiefs was waiting. The US officers were handed a hand-written note, purportedly from Saddam himself.
"To Infidel Pig-Dogs, I demand you give me safe passage to Belarus. I demand you give me my wealth. I demand ... demand ... please don’t kill me!"
The security boss had a British-made Racal military radio set which he claimed gave him direct contact with people in the same room as the dictator. The radio is notoriously difficult to monitor.
There’s a challenge.
Racal's a brand name, not a radio type. (No doubt they do make lines of frequency hoppers or spread-spectrum radios.) When I was a lad, we had a big floor model Zenith radio. Now tell me what its capabilities were...
He was immediately taken into custody, but the US has continued to exchange messages with Saddam using the radio and other means.
If true, this would imply that Sammy was recently dropped on his head...
A senior Iraqi told The Sunday Mirror last night: "A representative of Saddam dressed in Western-style civilian clothes came to coalition people at Tikrit at sunset on September 12. He led them to a house where the security official was waiting. "The discussions are now going on under the direct authority of General Sanchez. Naturally all the major decisions are being made at the level of the National Security Council, under Condoleezza Rice."
Naturally!
He maintained that Saddam had decided to seek a deal "because he is desperate, trapped and finding fewer and fewer people willing to give him shelter."
No! Sammy? I thought he got 100% of the vote! Why wouldn’t any Iraqi give their glorious leader shelter?
He added: "He resorts to arriving with a posse of armed men, and forcing them to give him hospitality. When he leaves the frightened ’hosts’ are told they’ll be killed if they say a word."
Sammy knows that won’t go on much longer.
It is believed the US authorities will simply string Saddam along, aiming to track the go-betweens until they know exactly where to find the rogue leader.
Yep, that’s us!
"There’s no doubt the net is closing, and that his supporters’ efforts to get the Americans to pull out of Iraq are not succeeding," said the source. "They can cause disruption and problems, but this does not bring Saddam any nearer to coming back to power, and he now knows it. The negotiators will try to keep the line of communication open as long as possible, but the word from Washington is: ’No deal’."
No space aliens? No Bat Boy? No World's Fattest Baby? I've read better stories than this...
Saddam left strong hints that he was willing to talk in his last audio tape on Wednesday. It had a strongly defiant tone, but contained two significant indications that he was keen for a deal:
-SADDAM addressed the US president directly and gave him a possible get-out for a negotiated surrender. "There might be some who lied to you, but you believed those lies," he said, hinting that coalition intelligence was badly wrong.

-HE added: "If you want to discuss the withdrawal arrangements, some of the officials in the leadership arrested by your army ... you can contact them and hold a suitable dialogue."
"Ali, front and center!"
"Yes, sab, how may I serve the party my captors?"
"Lissen, we’re supposed to have a dialogue with you about how we’re to leave."
"Oh yes, please, let’s have dialogue."
"Here it is. Sammy surrenders, then we kill him, then we get your country ready for democracy. Then we leave. Clear?"
"Oh yes, [gulp] very clear."
"Now, you go tell Sammy what we just said."
"Isn’t there anyone else, sab?"

Although Saddam was still proposing an unconditional American withdrawal from Iraq, coalition chiefs took his latest statement as a willingness to talk. Since the fall of Baghdad in April the dictator has remained on the run. Saddam-hunters say he moves disguised as a peasant or labourer in a long white dishdasha (gown), especially in remote countryside. Fearing he will be spotted and betrayed, he seldom stays in one place for more than two hours. He is often sheltered by tribal leaders whom he appointed to replace the real leaders during his reign of terror. "They owe their very existence and their status and money to him, so they feel a strong obligation," said one hunter. "But the feeling of obligation gets less and less as time passes and the pressure mounts."
As time passeth, so more of them are feeling the urge to go into business for themselves. I think we've passed the hump of anyone believing in Sammy coming back to power...
He is also believed to have made brief visits to Baghdad in brazen defiance of the occupying US forces. One senior Iraqi told me: "He had set up over 1,000 hiding places before the fall, and I guess he goes from one to the other these days. When he was in power, even cabinet ministers wouldn’t know where meetings were to be held. They were taken to a small bus, or if they were very senior the security sent a car. He’s been a master of survival."
Saddam hunters have issued several photofit images of how he might look. He has apparently run out of black hair-dye and will almost certainly have white hair.
Sammy dyed his hair? How, um, vain.
It's that Iraqian Formula. It gets all the chicks...
"He’s moving every two hours and he’s not staying set," said Colonel Don Campbell, chief of staff of the 4th Infantry Division. "He has to." Saddam has demanded to go to Belarus, the former Soviet republic which still has a president and leadership descended from the old guard Communist Party era. Before the war the Americans told Saddam he could leave the country, but he spurned the offer. Since then President Bush has rejected any idea of making a deal with the ousted leader and has put a $25 million dead-or-alive bounty on his head.
It’d be great if the reward money could be split amongst the 3ID, or the 4ID, or the 101st. Or all of them.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/21/2003 2:53:26 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Someone in the American command structure needs to 'give' one of these flunkies a cell-phone, and tell him that we will only negotiate with Saddam over that phone. Then we need to have Saddam call us about every 2-3 hours, asking if the deal is 'on' yet. Each time, we need to pinpoint his exact location, but NOT bomb it. Keep this up for a couple of weeks, keep sticking pins into a mapboard. Once he starts repeating himself for the second or third time, then we swoop in on ALL of those locations at once, capturing anyone and everyone within a half-block radius. Toss out the little fish, lock the big ones down hard, and interrogate the middle fish. Should work. Hope someone in Baghdad or somewhere thinks like that, too.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/21/2003 20:44 Comments || Top||

#2  "Should work."

*g* Except that I really can't imagine Saddam being so stupid as to use a cellphone given to him by the Americans.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 09/21/2003 21:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Bah. If he's moving every two hours, he's not getting much sleep, is he?
Posted by: Ptah || 09/21/2003 21:17 Comments || Top||


Saddam’s talky talky walky walky
EFL from the Times Mirror

DESPERATE SADDAM OFFERS AMERICANS DEAL

Sep 21 2003

From Paul Martin In Baghdad

SADDAM Hussein has been in secret negotiations with US forces in Iraq for the past nine days, we can reveal.
He probably tried negotiating with Jabba the Hut but that didn’t work
The Iraqi dictator is demanding safe passage to the former Soviet republic of Belarus. In exchange, he has vowed to provide information on weapons of mass destruction and disclose bank accounts where he siphoned off tens of millions of dollars in plundered cash. He could supplement that cash by claiming the $25M reward for himself....
Saddam’s English-speaking representative walked into the US HQ at Tikrit - the dictator’s home town - on September 12 and asked to talk to senior officers.

He then led a group of US troops to a nearby suburb where one of Saddam’s loyal security chiefs was waiting. The US officers were handed a hand-written note, purportedly from Saddam himself.

The security boss had a British-made Racal military radio set which he claimed gave him direct contact with people in the same room as the dictator. The radio is notoriously difficult to monitor. Its the kind they used to give away if you brought in 2500 box tops of Wheaties.

He was immediately taken into custody, but the US has continued to exchange messages with Saddam using the radio and other means.

A senior Iraqi told The Sunday Mirror last night: "A representative of Saddam dressed in Western-style civilian clothes came to coalition people at Tikrit at sunset on September 12. He led them to a house where the security official was waiting.

"The discussions are now going on under the direct authority of General Sanchez. Naturally all the major decisions are being made at the level of the National Security Council, under Condoleezza Rice."

He maintained that Saddam had decided to seek a deal "because he is desperate, trapped and finding fewer and fewer people willing to give him shelter."
....
Probably this is your basic Iraqi scam. Possibly it was meant to be a death trap. Possibly something more bizarre.
Posted by: mhw || 09/21/2003 2:37:12 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Aargh, you beat me by 15 minutes!
Posted by: Anonymous || 09/21/2003 14:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Bwahahaha - Anonymous Steve - welcome to my world!
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 16:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Now the US military is denying the report. Darn!
Posted by: Steve White || 09/21/2003 18:13 Comments || Top||


Chirac derails Iraq talks
But I think we all saw this coming.
President Jacques Chirac derailed an effort by Tony Blair to mend divisions between Europe and the United States over Iraq by insisting on an "immediate transfer" of power to the Iraqi governing council. After talks in Berlin with Mr Blair and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Mr Chirac said an attempt to agree a formula for increasing the United Nations role had failed after disagreements over how and when the transfer of power should take place.
"Non! Non again!"
As the three European leaders tried to address this latest crisis, Mr Blair attempted to project unity, declaring: "We all want to see Iraq make a transition to a democratic government as quickly as possible, and we all know there must be a key role for the United Nations."
Sigh. Tony’s political instincts are failing him.
Mr Chirac went further, however, saying: "The UN should play a far more significant role. There should be an immediate transfer of power to the Iraqi governing council."
"And thence to a thug butcher dictator leader we know and trust to make deals with us!"
Britain and America regard next summer as the earliest plausible date for a transfer of power. They are willing to offer a "symbolic" transfer to a UN force, but want to retain control of that force and of the political effort to build a democratic Iraqi government. Mr Schroder, who will meet President George W. Bush for the first time since the Iraq war in New York on Wednesday, wants to heal Germany’s rift with the US. Yesterday, he stopped short of offering full support to France.
When is Schroder going to learn the meaning of the phrase, "French perfidy"?
Posted by: Steve White || 09/21/2003 12:44:58 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to stop putting up with the French. What say we bring out the embarassing iraqi documents and apply the type of suasion being applied gently (too damn gently, IMO) to the rooskies. Let's see a couple of frog diplorats jugged for some "massive financial irregularities".

Or just pop a couple and blame it on the pensions.
Posted by: mojo || 09/21/2003 1:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Arrrggghhh!!! According to Google News, this story is 6 hrs old - and yet the BBC is still reporting that there is hope the recalcitrant Americans will soon reach an agreement with the Phrench and German Gov'ts regards power-sharing in Iraq.

Doesn't this have the same sound as their backasswards reporting of Paleo news? Revisionistic in advance? Laying the groundwork ahead of time so the blame for failure, which they know is inevitable, can be placed per the Editorial Agenda? BBC. Pfeh.

Blair wasted his time - and whatever "goodwill" he had left. Assuming he received some sort of "signal" from the Phrench which prompted this effort - if he has 2 neurons left, he won't forget nor forgive Chirac's duplicity in this deal - and never make another such mistake. Chirac is utterly incorrigible. Shroeder may not be so stupid. Definitely long overdue for Shroeder to cut Chirac loose to drift alone into oblivion (read: become an historical footnote) without dragging him, and Germany, down too.
Posted by: .com || 09/21/2003 2:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Tony Blair and GWB need to get this through their heads: France is NOT our ally.

Even Tom Friedman has come around to understanding this.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/21/2003 3:46 Comments || Top||

#4  True Bomb-a-rama, but Tony Blair has a love affair with Europe, and it's his major blind spot.

Any Englishman knows that France is not our ally, never has been, never will be. Our American friends are only now finding out the true depths of French perfidy.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 09/21/2003 6:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Tony

Perhaps you have never heard the expression: "Perfide Albion".
And of how between 1918 and 1939 England torpedoed
all the attempts made by France at containing Germany, or of her role at Munich where the French premier was for resistance and Chamberlain forced the disastrous "peaceful" settlement. Perhaps you haven't heard of the 1935 bilateral pact between Germany and the UK who a) allowed Germany to build a fleet big enough to give you plenty of trouble during and b) voided the naval clauses of the Versailles treaty, a treaty who also concerned France thus betraying your own signature.

Not that I don't think that Chirac isn't a bastard and that I am not ashamed of why France is doing under his direction but the "perfidious France, pure and candid Albion" slogan gets on my nerves
Posted by: JFM || 09/21/2003 8:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Slip the French Rep to the Security Council some Exlax brownies. Everybody vote while he is in the can.
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/21/2003 12:05 Comments || Top||

#7  It's a shame that Blair is helping to form the "Axis of Apeasement". I understand he's in a tough spot since the UK is a partner in the New Socialist Empire (TM) EU. What I find apalling is the entire French and German attitude about the whole thing. We all know they were against the war. I have no problem with that. (France's active attempts to compromise US lives and the mission is what pissed me off.)

The big lie is that France and Germany want to "help" the poor Iraqi people. (Yeah, and the Pope wants to convert to Islam.) All France wants to do is try to humiliate the US and portray the mission as a failure and themselves as the heroes that come to the rescue. (LMAO) Schroeder sits in the back carrying Chirac's bags like a simple lackey.

The point is, that they can still send troops to help stabilize the country to help the Iraqi people and still say that they're against the war.
It shouldn't matter what damage has been done by the US (in their opinion) it should be ALL about the Iraqi people. (Or in France's case the O-I-L too!)
Once again the UN and EU (minus the UK) do only what they know how to do best...talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,..ad nauseum.
Posted by: Paul || 09/21/2003 16:12 Comments || Top||

#8  Do the French actually have troops to commit? They have troops in several places in Africa, in Afghanistan, and a few others. Their military isn't in the best of shape. Could they actually commit say, a brigade to Iraq?

Ditto the money situation. Could they commit to several billion dollars in reconstruction aid? They've been in violation of EU monetary and deficit policy two years running now. Putting a brigade into Iraq and rebuilding the place isn't cheap, as we well know.

Could the French actually DO anything?
Posted by: Steve White || 09/21/2003 18:15 Comments || Top||

#9  its time to demand that the eu has only ONE vote on the security council and give the empty seat to japan.
Posted by: Anonymous || 09/21/2003 20:58 Comments || Top||

#10  I'd suggest India instead. Largest democratic nation in the world; and largest nation full-stop after China.

But it's fine to *talk* about demanding EU to have only one vote in the council, making it happen (something that would need Britain and France to surrender their national vetoes there) is a whole different matter altogether.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 09/21/2003 21:24 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Outgoing Malaysian PM Mahathir Calls Opposition Party ’A Bunch of Liars’
Outgoing Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has called the country’s main Islamic opposition party a "bunch of liars," and insisted the party opposes the cultures of non-Muslims. During a speech to supporters celebrating the ruling coalition’s 50th anniversary, Mr. Mahathir accused the Islamic Party of not clearly spelling out its policies.
liars? Fundo Muslims? It’s in the job description
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party wants to establish Islamic Sharia law throughout Malaysia. The French news agency quotes Mr. Mahathir as saying he will campaign for his United Malays National Organization and the country’s ruling National Front Coalition in upcoming elections. The prime minister is to step down in October after ruling the country for 22 years.
Mahathir was/is a moonbat - I just hope whoever replaces him takes terrorism a little more seriously - cracks on the fundo heads - too many muslims in Indonesia to not care

What scares me is that he's a moonbat, but a centrist in Malaysia...
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 4:57:09 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
9/11 Mastermind Says Plot Began in ’96
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, has told American interrogators that he first discussed the plot with Osama bin Laden in 1996 and that the original plan called for hijacking five commercial jets on each U.S. coast before it was modified several times, according to interrogation reports reviewed by The Associated Press. Mohammed also divulged that, in its final stages, the hijacking plan called for as many as 22 terrorists and four planes in a first wave, followed by a second wave of suicide hijackings that were to be aided possibly by al-Qaida allies in southeast Asia. Over time, bin Laden scrapped various parts of the Sept. 11 plan, including attacks on both coasts and hijacking or bombing some planes in East Asia.
I expected that second wave of attacks, close on the heels of the first. Not being a military genius like Binny, I'd have expected the second wave to magnify the effect of the first and maybe even set off a panic.
Addressing one of the questions raised by congressional investigators in their Sept. 11 review, Mohammed said he never heard of a Saudi man named Omar al-Bayoumi who provided some rent money and assistance to two hijackers when they arrived in California. Congressional investigators have suggested Bayoumi could have aided the hijackers or been a Saudi intelligence agent, charges the Saudi government vehemently deny. The FBI has also cast doubt on the congressional theory after extensive investigation and several interviews with al-Bayoumi. In fact, Mohammed claims he did not arrange for anyone on U.S. soil to assist hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi when they arrived in California. Mohammed portrays those two hijackers as central to the plot, and even more important than Mohammed Atta, initially identified by Americans as the likely hijacking ringleader. Mohammed said he communicated with al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar while they were in the United States by using Internet chat software. Mohammed said al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar were among the four original operatives bin Laden assigned to him for the plot, a significant revelation because those were the only two hijackers whom U.S. authorities were frantically seeking for terrorist ties in the final days before Sept. 11. Mohammed told his interrogators the hijacking teams were originally made up of members from different countries where al-Qaida had recruited, but that in the final stages bin Laden chose instead to use a large group of young Saudi men to populate the hijacking teams.
To cause a rift between the U.S. and the Soddies? Or because he considered his countrymen to be more trustworthy?
Mohammed’s interrogation report states he told Americans some of the original operatives assigned to the plot did not make it because they had trouble getting into the United States. He told interrogators about other terror plots that were in various stages of planning or had been temporarily disrupted when he was captured, including one planned for Singapore. In 1996, he went to meet bin Laden to persuade the al-Qaida leader "to give him money and operatives so he could hijack 10 planes in the United States and fly them into targets," one of the interrogation reports state. Mohammed told interrogators his initial thought was to pick five targets on each coast, but bin Laden was not convinced such a plan was practical.
I wonder if they ever discussed what the purpose of the attack was? And whether they discussed what they thought a U.S. reaction might be?
Mohammed said bin Laden offered him four operatives to begin with — al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi as well as two Yemenis, Walid Muhammed bin Attash and Abu Bara al-Yemeni. "All four operatives only knew that they had volunteered for a martyrdom operation involving planes," one report stated. Mohammed said the first major change to the plans occurred in 1999 when the two Yemeni operatives could not get U.S. visas. Bin Laden then offered him additional operatives, including a member of his personal security detail. The original two Yemenis were instructed to focus on hijacking planes in East Asia. Mohammed said through the various iterations of the plot, he considered using a scaled-down version of the Bojinka plan that would have bombed commercial airliners, and that he even "contemplated attempting to down the planes using shoe bombs," one report said. The plot, he said, eventually evolved into hijacking a small number of planes in the United States and East Asia and either having them explode or crash into targets simultaneously. By 1999, the four original operatives picked for the plot traveled to Afghanistan to train at one of bin Laden’s camps. The focus, Mohammed said, was on specialized commando training, not piloting jets. Mohammed’s interrogations have revealed the planning and training of operatives was extraordinarily meticulous, including how to blend into American society, read telephone yellow pages, and research airline schedules. A key event in the plot, Mohammed told his interrogators, was a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in January 2000, that included al-Mihdhar, al-Hazmi and other al-Qaida operatives. The CIA learned of the meeting beforehand and had it monitored by Malaysian security, but it did not realize the significance of the two eventual hijackers until just before the attacks. The interrogation reports state bin Laden further trimmed Mohammed’s plans in spring 2000 when he canceled the idea for hijackings in East Asia, thus narrowing it to the United States. Bin Laden thought "it would be too difficult to synchronize" attacks in the United States and Asia.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 09/21/2003 7:46:37 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is all the more reason not to become complacent, no matter how much time has passed. Reasonable and prudent measures implemented today need to be in place five, ten years from now, regardless of whether another terrorist attack has occurred on U.S. soil or not. Until Islamofascism has been thoroughly crushed, our guard must not be let down.

And on a related note, the best course of action in Iraq is to keep the eye on the prize: a Baath-free self-governing and prosperous Iraq. This requires patience and a long-term commitment, something seemingly in short supply these days.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/21/2003 23:49 Comments || Top||


Okay, I'm back...
I survived Isabel. What's a little wind? And rain? And a few trees knocked down? And no electricity for three days? And a couple mighty cold showers?

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming. Many thanks to those who kept the site ticking along as I was moping by candlelight!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 09/21/2003 20:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any dog paddling required?
Posted by: Matt || 09/21/2003 21:01 Comments || Top||

#2  "Moping" or "mopping"? I'd fly into DC, drive over and pick you up, take you to the nearest neighborhodd tap and help you with your mood if you were moping.

But with mopping, you're on your own :-)
Posted by: Steve White || 09/21/2003 21:10 Comments || Top||

#3 
Welcome back Jefe
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 21:40 Comments || Top||

#4  No doggy paddling necessary, though Friday morning we did pick up a gal, her dog, cat, and ferret, whose house was kinda full of water, and give her a place to sack out.

Brooding Castle Rantburg sits high overlooking treacherous Stoney Creek -- eight or ten feet, I'd guess. Our community piers were under water, but nothing came close to the house. The worst part was going without news for three days.
Posted by: Fred || 09/21/2003 23:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Is Bush signed the Kyoto treaty this never would have happened.
Posted by: typical lefty || 09/21/2003 23:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Welcome back, Fred, our fearless litre leader!

In deference to your absence, we left the Pak and all the nutcase websites alone so you could seine them when you got your kicker running again. Heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 09/22/2003 0:03 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
Nigeria under pressure to snub Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE, as with all countries serving suspension from the councils of the Commonwealth, is not eligible to attend the 54-member club’s forthcoming heads of government summit to be held in Nigeria in December this year and the host country is obliged to respect this common practice, a spokesman for the Commonwealth secretariat said on Thursday.
No deals for Bob? Maybe his neighbors are getting smart?
In a telephone interview with the Sunday Mirror, Commonwealth spokesman Joel Kibazo said Zimbabwe’s exclusion from the December summit was not an issue for debate as the common practice among member states is that suspended countries are simply not invited.
"and please show the good taste to STFU about it"
“The common practice is that countries suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth do not attend. There are two under suspension at the moment, and they are Zimbabwe and Pakistan. As you know, Pakistan did not attend the last heads of government meeting in Coolum, Australia.”
bet the Aussies missed them? not
The Nigerian government, which is under immense pressure from the Commonwealth secretariat as well as other member states to bar President Robert Mugabe from attending the summit, is reported to have said last week that it had not taken a decision on the matter. But Australian Prime Minister and current Commonwealth chairperson, John Howard told his national legislature that he had received assurances from the club’s secretary general Don McKinnon and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo that Mugabe will not be invited. Kibazo also gave credence to Howard’s claims when he confirmed that only 52 invitations to the Nigeria summit have been sent out, meaning both Zimbabwe and Pakistan will not attend the meeting. Howard, Obasanjo and South African President, Thabo Mbeki constitute a troika that was mandated by the Commonwealth heads of government at their Coolum meeting, “to determine appropriate Commonwealth action on Zimbabwe, in the event of an adverse report from the Commonwealth Observer Group to the Zimbabwe Presidential election” in March 2002. The troika deemed the observer group’s conclusions to be an adverse report on the electoral process and decided to suspend Zimbabwe from the councils of the Commonwealth for one year.
That gets him through March of this year...
At the expiry of Zimbabwe’s suspension in March this year, members of the troika were split on whether to readmit the country into the club or extend its suspension, with Howard preferring the latter. While Mbeki and Obasanjo argued that the suspension should be lifted, McKinnon went on to announce the extension of punitive measures against Zimbabwe, provoking spirited criticism from SADC diplomats in London, who expressed strong reservations over the manner in which the Commonwealth secretary general had acted out of sync with the clubs’s rules and procedures.
Bob's election hadn't turned honest, had it?
But effectively, the suspension held firm and it is at the Abuja summit that heated debate is expected to flare on the question of Zimbabwe’s readmission. The Commonwealth secretariat has set the tone for a major showdown among member states with its blistering condemnation of the Zimbabwean authorities for their “major infringement of freedom of the Press and . . . the spirit of Commonwealth fundamental political values” when they shut down the privately-owned Daily News a fortnight ago. Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court ruled on September 11 that the newspaper was operating outside of the law by failing to register with the Media and Information Commission (MIC) as required under the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which was passed last year. The MIC has since considered and thrown out the application by Associated Newspapers Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of the Daily News and its stable-mate, the Daily News on Sunday, meaning that the two titles remain closed.
I'd call shutting down the press in the same category as rigging elections, though not quite so egregious as stomping members of the opposition into bloody paste. The more dictatorially inclined heads of Commonwealth states, though, will look to the letter rather than the spirit of the rules...
The convergence of these developments with the sending out of invitations for the Commonwealth summit has put the country back under the strident spotlight of the outside world.
"Strident" spotlight?
South Africa, which had earlier advocated for Zimbabwe’s invitation to Abuja, has been rather wavering on its position. First, Mbeki’s spokesperson, Bheki Khumalo, told SABC radio news and the Agence France Presse news agency early last week that the South African government saw no reason why Mugabe should not be invited and it would ask Obasanjo to invite him. ”No doubt we will engage with the Nigerian government and President Obasanjo so that an invitation is extended to Zimbabwe,” he told the SABC.
"Bob? Wot's wrong with Bob? O' course we should invite him!"
But Khumalo later climbed down from this position, saying the decision to invite or not to invite Zimbabwe lay squarely in Nigeria’s lap and either way, South Africa would be comfortable with it.
"So he's a bloody-handed dictator? So what? That doesn't make him a bad bloody-handed dictator..."
Foreign affairs minister, Stan Mudenge concurred with Khumalo that only the host country had the prerogative of inviting heads of state to the summit. But Kibazo dismissed this assertion thus: “It’s not an issue of who has the power, it is an issue of what is the common practice in the context of the Commonwealth. The countries of the Commonwealth respect the practice of the club, which is why they are still members.” It looks unlikely that Nigeria will go against the grain and invite President Mugabe to Abuja in December, analysts said. The country, which broke the jinx of military coups that litter its four decades-long post-independence history as recently as 1999 when it held multi-party elections that returned it to civilian rule, was in 1995 exactly where Zimbabwe is today – under Commonwealth suspension.
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 6:45:00 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Hamas rules out joining latest Palestinian government
JPost Reg Req’d
Palestinian PM designate Ahmed Qurei was in Gaza Sunday, urging Palestinian terrorist organizations to join his government.
does anyone else see something wrong with this idea?
Hamas members stayed away from a meeting between Qurei and 13 opposition groups, though Islamic Jihad and radical PLO groups PFLP and DFLP did attend the meeting, a Fatah source said. Hamas issued a statement saying it would not join Qurei’s government. "The Hamas movement has not participated in any previous governments and will not take part in the forthcoming new government," Hamas said in a statement faxed to Reuters in Beirut. The statement went on saying that Hamas would not participate in any government "whose program is based on the Oslo accords that squander the rights of the Palestinian people".
wouldn’t want to dilute the pure evil/corruption present in an Arafat gov’t, Bwahahahaha!
Although Islamic Jihad attended the meeting, it also ruled out participating in a government that will pursue, even in name only, the US road map. Qurei, one of the architects of the Oslo accord, told Fatah leaders last week that he was a man of negotiations not armed struggle, and would only serve as PM in a government that will pursue the diplomatic process. It’s the same program as that of the previous government: the political and diplomatic process, internal reforms, establishing a hudna between Israel and the PA and reach an agreement on a hudna with the opposition, establishing law and order, ending the construction of the security fence and ending violence from both sides, Abu Amr said.
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 5:12:58 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is anyone suprised?

Hamas and JI will never join any government which does not allow them to kill and murder innocent civilians at will.

I think IDF is following the right course in hunting down and killing them like the rabid dogs they are.

You don't negociate with a rabid dog -- you shoot it in the head before it can do any harm or infect anyone else.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/21/2003 19:56 Comments || Top||

#2  This latest action should dispel any notions about Arafart and his lackeys wanting to negotiate peace with Israel. Any party that thinks that some sort of settlement is possible under these conditions is only fooling themselves.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/21/2003 20:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Now that would have been a good meeting to bomb. Kill the whole fvcking lot of them in one shot.
Posted by: Dr. Jal Hampson || 09/22/2003 0:03 Comments || Top||


U.S.: Won’t back any Palestinian government run by Arafat
The United States has made it clear to the Palestinian Authority that Washington will not support any government controlled by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
That’s the GOOD news.
The U.S. called for the new Palestinian prime minister to take direct control of the PA security forces, most of which are currently under Arafat’s control. The message was passed to Palestinian officials in recent days by John Wolf, the head of the American delegation to oversee the implementation of the road map.
That’s the bad news - Bush is still pushing his "roadmap". Somebody needs to tell him the roadmap is road kill.
Wolf also informed the Palestinians that the new prime minister will not receive American support unless he takes on the terrorist organizations, and is not satisfied with a truce. The former prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, refused to target the militant groups, saying that he would not be responsible for causing a civil war.
That worked well, didn't it?
They don’t mind waging war against Israel, or against factions that don’t support their war. Somebody needs to take control and stomp down hard. Don’t see that happening with any Palestinian that has any position of importance, anywhere in the PA controlled region.
Instead, Abbas negotiated a temporary cease-fire which fell apart last month after a Hamas suicide bombing and the subsequent assassination by Israel of a senior member of the group. The U.S. approach toward the PA has become increasingly tough, say Israeli officials. "The Palestinians’ strategic setback is that they’ve lost America’s backing," claimed a senior Israeli official this weekend.
That's why they had the "road map." It gave them a chance. They systematically blew that chance.
The government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was encouraged by the sharp criticism of Arafat articulated last week by U.S. President George Bush. "The U.S. president didn’t voice this criticism at an AIPAC conference," said the top Israeli officials. "Instead he spoke while standing beside an Arab leader, Jordan’s King Abdullah." But speaking at the International Monetary Fund conference in Dubai, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said Saturday that the U.S. fully supports the PA’s efforts to bring peace and economic stability and prosperity to the Palestinian people. "Towards this end, the United States will continue to provide budgetary support and other aid to the Authority to help insure that it can effectively conduct normal government functions," he said.
We know that Arafart’s been skimming the US aid, using it as he chooses, rather than as the US has suggested. It’s time to cut the supply line, and let the rat-infested ship Arafart founder
The new Palestinian cabinet will be jointly appointed by Arafat and his nominee for prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, and will include a Hamas supporter and a U.S. favorite, Palestinian officials said earlier in the week.
I hope Bush stands firm, and tells Arafart this is unacceptable.
"The government will be formed next week," one official said Thursday. Qureia rejected Israeli claims that his government would be judged by its ability to disarm terror groups and said his role was to please no one but the Palestinian people.
This Arafart clone is already in deep doodoo. If he doesn’t please the US, we will "allow" Israel to do whatever they please with the PA. I hope it’s painful.
Palestinian officials said Arafat’s Fatah faction Thursday set criteria for the new government, and added Hamas supporter Moussa Zabout, a Gaza physician, had been offered a posting.
Nothing’s changed, nothing’s going to change, and nothing will be allowed to change until Arafart takes a dirt bath. Read the entire article - there’s more bits and pieces worth remembering for the future.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/21/2003 4:21:24 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I know that this is off topic, but has anybody heard how Fred fared with Hurricane Isabel? We are concerned.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 09/21/2003 16:32 Comments || Top||

#2  He hasn't been adding his usual "Fredly" commenst - power still off?
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 16:51 Comments || Top||

#3  comments...D'oh!
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 16:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Frank, have another cuppa! 8^). Yep, I think Fred is having trouble. May be power, may be water, may be the missus saying "getting this place back in order is more important than your computer". News has over six million that have either lost power, or are only recently getting power back. Not surprising - I wonder how many trees are down, branches are across power lines, poles knocked over, even whole transformer stations that need major repair. We were without power for over two weeks after Audrey, and even lost power overnight when a hurricane struck the UK in 1987.
We also don't seem to be getting all those juicy articles from the Pak and other Mideast press, and there's no Kashmir Korpse Kount today.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/21/2003 17:04 Comments || Top||

#5  OP - I bet you're right - our San Diego paper had a pic of this moron calling on a cell, trying to get a tree removal firm to cut/remove this huge tipped over tree on her porch ...as she's standing under it. Future Darwin winner, I'm sure
Posted by: Frank G || 09/21/2003 17:08 Comments || Top||

#6  He's prolly standing in line for dry ice with the rest of us Marylanders...
Posted by: Seafarious || 09/21/2003 20:18 Comments || Top||

#7  But speaking at the International Monetary Fund conference in Dubai, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said Saturday that the U.S. fully supports the PA’s efforts to bring peace and
economic stability and prosperity to the Palestinian people.


There's only one problem with the PA's approach: they're trying to do it over the carcass of Israel, and as far as I'm concerned, that is UNACCEPTABLE.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/21/2003 20:27 Comments || Top||


Caucasus
Writer Sneaks into Chechnya
ONE MONTH AGO, I was in Grozny, the war-torn capital of the breakaway republic of Chechnya. To get there, I disguised myself as a Chechen woman in a headscarf and long skirt with the hope that I would pass through checkpoints without being discovered as an American.
Ya, I can see how getting caught as an American would get you in trouble, especially if you screw up Russian dipthongs while talking. Or maybe this is a self-hating American. Why the disguise? Maybe because the Chechen rebels would string her up if they caught her: a woman?!?
Having studied the Russo-Chechen conflict for a few years, I wanted to see for myself what life is like for ordinary civilians in Chechnya.
You are in the middle of a civil war thick with ethnic implications, and you want to know what life is like for the ordinary civilians? It’s crappy, and I have never been the Harvard OR Chechnya!
I imagined myself going as an outside observer, but once in Chechnya I found that I had stepped into Chechen shoes. Like every other civilian, I was vulnerable. This tiny place the size of Connecticut seems completely cut off and forgotten by the outside world. It is a place of total lawlessness, where men with guns rule and human life carries little value.
And we can lay the cause of these conditions firmly in the hands of the Chechens. What would she do in these circumstances? Open the border? Have border guards wave you on through because you have a smile? Remind her to have fun?
There are no human rights in Chechnya. One Grozny resident told me, "We don’t know if we’ll be alive tomorrow or even five minutes from now." Contrary to assertions by the Russian government that the situation is stabilizing ahead of the Kremlin-organized presidential election, on Oct. 5, my experience convinced me that life is not returning to normal at all. It is inconceivable that a fair election can take place in this climate of fear, where shooting and forced disappearances happen on a daily basis.
Boston Globe editors were asleep on editing this piece I guess. Anyway, this is symptomatic of liberal thinking: There are shootings on a daily basis everywhere in the world, yet, elections somehow are conducted and democracy goes on. Why does everyone but the Russians get a pass on this?
In the upcoming Bush-Putin summit, the reality of the crisis and the need for negotiations toward a genuine political solution must be made a priority.
Fact is that the Russian MOD knows well the reality of the crisis, being ass-deep in hostile Muslims, and are fighting for the survival of their people.
Civilians continue to be the main victims of this conflict.
Well... DUH!! But why lay it at the door of just the Russian government?
It is possible that as many as 200,000 people have been killed in the two Russo-Chechen wars combined;
I love this bit of propagandizing. Why not just say, in all honesty and candor you just don’t know how many dead? How many just left? But taking this bit of rhetoric to its logical extremem, as few as 200 people have been killed. This means of writing is a favorite amoungst leftists. It hides their ignorances right there along side their agenda and at the same time makes it look like they know what they are talking about. But they don’t. They don’t because the truth is not a liberal ally.
350,000 people have been displaced from their homes, many fleeing their villages after Russian soldiers conducted brutal "cleansing operations" and detained or killed villagers. I talked with internally displaced Chechens living in a camp in Ingushetia. They spoke about pressure from Russian and Ingush authorities, including threats that several camps will be closed by Oct. 1, presumably to force the internally displaced back into Chechnya in time for the presidential election. Many Chechens I spoke to believe that Akhmad Kadyrov or another leader hand-picked by the Kremlin will win. They see the election as little more than window dressing for the West. All the while, the military operation continues with 100,000 Russian troops fighting 2,000 to 3,000 Chechen guerrillas.
I fail to see the problem here. In one paragraph the writer bemoans that Russians will be breaking up refugee camps and forcing them back into Chechnya in time for elections, yet the next paragraphs she bemoans that a Russian may win the election. Oh, and this subject of the first sentance: Many. That can mean three out of ten have said that. We have no idea how many ’many’ is. To my mind, considering the obvious bias of the wriitng I bet she made the facts in this paragraph up.
I spent one night in a home on the outskirts of Grozny listening to machine-gun fire and explosions in the hills only a few miles away. I kept remembering the words of a resident, "Not a single night goes by without someone disappearing. Masked men come into homes and take people away." I wondered if I would see the morning. On my second day, I went with guides on a tour of Grozny. I concealed a video camera and filmed the ruins of the city, taking care not to catch the attention of soldiers or police. Every building bears the marks of bullets or gaping holes from aerial bombardment. Many buildings -- including high-rise apartments that once housed ordinary families -- have been completely leveled to piles of rubble. A handful of buildings associated with oil companies are undergoing renovation. The only building in good shape is the presidential palace.
Ahh, yes: oil companies. As if the Chechens muslims are noble folks and oil companies are behind the brutality of the war. A observation: Maybe the oil companies having buildings renovated IS in fact a sign that things will be returning to normal; that maybe Russia has the conflict in hand. Oil companies are notoriously tight-fisted with their money, and I strongly doubt they would be investing in Chechnya if they believed the war was still ongoing. The best tonic for a war torn region is investment in infrastructure: jobs and the attendent benefits. But no, liberals would rather see the war ongoing, as it befits how their world would be under their rule. Thanks for proving the Russian govenrment’s assertions that the war is in hand. I am certain you didn’t mean to.
Sorry about the length, but I had to get this shiney piece of shite in Rantburg
Posted by: Anonymous || 09/21/2003 7:00:29 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Newsflash: Grozy was leveled by Russian artillery in late 1999 or early 2000. If the presidential palace is unscathed, then it must be a new one, because the old one was severely damaged.

The Chechens are probably the meanest people on earth, who (when they are not shooting Russians) make their money by stealing cars, running drugs and kidnapping people.

Finally, Russian has had 100,000 troops chasing 2000-3000 rebels for over three years now, and they still haven't caught them.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 09/21/2003 7:24 Comments || Top||

#2  They're also fond of cutting off heads. And filming it. And sending the tape to the family. But I guess this "writer" didn't get a chance yet to see this side of the story: Chechen brutality.
Posted by: Rafael || 09/21/2003 7:43 Comments || Top||

#3  The Russian Army is just as brutal as any Chechen bandit, made up of brutalised drug addicted conscripts too poor to buy their way out, lead by incompetant psychopaths who beat hundreds of their own subordinates to death each year.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 09/21/2003 8:05 Comments || Top||

#4  2000 to 3000 rebels? We know there are 100,000 troops in Chechnya, but what about the rebels? How certain is anyone as to the actual number of rebels? Is that the constant number being maintained over the years with numbers amounting to several thousands being killed, captured or left/quit/rotated out? Inquiring minds wanna know.

The short answer is you don't know; not even the Russian Army knows.

True, the Russian Army leveled Grozny; no one can dispute that. Russian command didn't want to see a repeat of the New Years Eve debacle in 1994-1995, and I frankly do not blame them. The Russian Army used the strength of their army, in artillery, in fighting the Chechens. Was it antiseptic, the standard to which the US holds it commanders? Of course, not, but I seriously doubt given similar circumstances, the US Army would hold back its ordnance fighting rebels on our own soil, especially after an engagement like the First Battle of Grozny.
Posted by: badanov || 09/21/2003 8:51 Comments || Top||

#5  The writer demonstrates all the superficial excitement without insight that is charecteristic of a college senior ready to save the world. Maybe she should take a guilded tour of the prisons of Iraq and some of the mass graves, make a stop at the killing fields and swing through the Juche capital. Might kind of knock some of the edges off her little recess from journalism school.
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/21/2003 11:55 Comments || Top||

#6  I just finished Robert Young Pelton's book The Hunter, the Hammer, and Heaven : Journeys to Three Worlds Gone Mad on Sierra Leone, Chechnya, and Bouganville. He goes into the history of Chechnya. It is pretty brutal. The relations between Russia and Chechnya for the last 300 years have been real bad. Now the Russians are fed up with the Jihadi Nutcase Chechen fighters, so there are massive artillery, rocket, missile and bombings of anything there, and the Chechen fighters respond with attacks on convoys, HQs and anything else Russian they can harass and destroy. Oh, and by the way, journalists are fair game for killing and ransoms. One is an absolute fool to go to that shithole.

After reading about the three areas gone mad, I make the following conclusions:
Sierra Leone: some reason to hope for better times.
Bouganville: quite a bit of hope that things will improve
Chechnya: abandon all hope for this place.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 09/21/2003 16:30 Comments || Top||

#7  The writer should not qualify as a jounalist. She doesn't appear to have entered the country in a search for facts (jounalism.) Instead she has entered the country because she studied it in school and though an actual trip inside would be cool. She must have missed out on the motocross holiday through the Sudan, or all the other morons adreniline junkies left while she was finishing up her term paper. She has a fututre with any of the three major networks in the US.
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/21/2003 20:41 Comments || Top||

#8  When is a war of liberation acceptable and when isn't it? Isn't the occupation of Chechenya by the Russian akin to the occupasion of Tibet by the Chinese and about as brutal, if not more so?

If Russia lays claim to Chechenya as her own soil then the welfare of Chechen cities should be protected as much as the welfare of any other city in Russia -- isn't then leveling Grozny something like saying "the operation was a success, the patient is dead"?

It seems to me that by levelling Grozny Russia lost all moral claim to the place; Russia treated it as an *enemy* city, not just a city to be rescued from the hands of the rebels.

If Chechenya needs to be levelled to the ground in order to be "saved" from the rebels, wouldn't it be much better to let it go independent? After all this isn't like Kosovo for the Serbs, or Kurdistan for Turkey -- unlike those two cases, Chechenya is but a tiny part of the Russian federation in either population or area...
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 09/21/2003 21:00 Comments || Top||

#9  Isn't the occupation of Chechenya by the Russian akin to the occupasion of Tibet by the Chinese and about as brutal, if not more so?

No.
Posted by: Rafael || 09/21/2003 22:14 Comments || Top||

#10  They had de facto independence from 1996 onwards. The place turned into a terrorist haven that eventually sought to export its poison outwards when al-Qaeda leader Khattab invaded Dagestan with his al-Ghamdi buddy and their Arab playmates.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 09/21/2003 22:27 Comments || Top||

#11  Anybody else notice this woman writes like a 7th grader doing a 'what I did this summer' essay?

She claims to be a graduate student?
Posted by: DANEgerus || 09/21/2003 23:46 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon
Hezbollah’s West Bank Terror Network
EFL go to the link for full article
Following the assassination of senior Hezbollah security operative Ali Hussein Saleh on August 2, leaders of the militant Lebanese Shiite group lost no time in pointing the figure at Israel. While such accusations against the Jewish state have long been routine whenever a car bomb explodes in Lebanon, this time Hezbollah officials had good reason to suspect the long arm of Israel. According to Israeli military sources, Saleh was a liaison between Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist cells operating in the West Bank. Over the last three years, Hezbollah has steadily intensified its involvement in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, gravitating from the provision of material support and training for Palestinian terrorist groups to the direct recruitment of Palestinian operatives under its own command and control. Among the activities Hizballah¹s Palestinian squads have conducted are arms smuggling, recruitment, attempted suicide bombings, sniper and roadside shooting attacks, preoperational surveillance of Israeli communities and army bases, and planned kidnapping of Israelis.

Hezbollah aspired to build its own network of operatives in the territories. Since the mid-1990s, it had recruited several terrorist operatives from Europe and attempted to infiltrate them into Israel. In 1996, for example, Israel arrested Hussein Makdad, a naturalized German citizen working for Hezbollah, after he was injured while constructing a bomb in an East Jerusalem Hotel. The following year, Hezbollah recruited Steven Smyrek, a German convert to Islam, trained him in Lebanon, and sent him to Israel to photograph prospective targets for terrorist attacks. In January 2001, Israeli security forces arrested Jihad Shuman, a Lebanese member of Hezbollah who entered the country with a British passport. By mid-2001, however, Hezbollah and the IRGC had begun a far-reaching campaign to directly recruit Palestinians to plan and carry out terror attacks on their behalf. Palestinians who had been wounded in the uprising were the primary source of early recruits — not only had they already demonstrated their commitment to fighting Israel, but their injuries provided a perfect pretext for them to leave the country. An ostensibly humanitarian organization called the Iranian Committee for Aiding Wounded Victims of the Intifada flew hundreds of mild to moderately wounded Palestinians (it was conspicuously uninterested in the severely wounded) to Tehran and provided them with free medical care at military hospitals. During their recuperation, the prospective recruits were showered with attention (e.g. invited to speak at events commemorating the struggle against Israel) and persuaded to join Hezbollah. Palestinian terrorist cells established by Lebanon-based Hezbollah and IRGC operatives were organized into a network known as the Return Brigades (Kataib al-Awda).

The operational and political objectives of the Hezbollah-run, Iranian-funded network were confirmed by confessions from various Return Brigades operatives arrested around September 2002. Chief among these was Ghaleb Abdel Hafiz Abdel Kader Ikbariya, a PA activist from Shweike near Tulkarm. In his confession, Ikbariya said that IRGC commanders had begun to establish a new organization comprised of a military wing and a political wing. The military wing was tasked with conducting terror attacks (e.g., the suicide attack Ikbariya himself was caught planning together with Fatah leaders in Jordan and IRGC commanders in Lebanon) while the political wing would "infiltrate representatives into the PA and the Palestinian security mechanisms" to take over "when and if the current Fatah infrastructure collapses." Although the two were supposed to be compartmentalized from each other, overlap between the terrorist and political wings led to the arrest of several political activists - like Ikbariya - for their roles in terrorist plots. Ikbariya claimed that his handlers, Bassem Soudki Ahmad Yassin and Fouad Bilbeisi (both senior Fatah leaders in Amman), reported not only to the IRGC but also to Fatah Central Committee member Mohammad Amouri and Palestine Liberation Organization Political Department chief Farouq Kadoumi.

Return Brigade leaders are required to inform Hezbollah and/or and IRGC commanders immediately before and after their operatives conduct an attack, and financial disbursements are only made in specific amounts and at prearranged intervals after full accounting of previous expenditures. Different cells of the Return Brigades maintain close operational cooperation with each other, maximizing resources, personnel, and training. For example, brigade leaders smuggled one operative abroad for sniper training, then sent the new sniper around the West Bank to train other Tanzim cells. They also work with other Palestinian terrorist groups. Indeed, Hezbollah bombmakers trained Hamas to maximize the lethality of their homemade explosives. For its most deadly suicide attack - the March 2002 bombing that killed 29 and wounded 172 Passover celebrants at the Park Hotel in Netanya - Hamas reportedly called in a "Hezbollah expert for advice in building an extra-potent bomb." Hezbollah has also used the Return Brigades to expand its terror capabilities internationally. In mid-2003, Israeli forces arrested Ghulam Mahmud Qawqa, a member of both Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Return Brigades, for his role in several al-Aqsa bombings in Jerusalem. According to information discovered after his arrest, Qawqa had also been engineering attacks on Israeli interests in Europe and Asia on behalf of Hezbollah. In late 2002, Qawqa tasked a Lebanese woman he knew in Germany to photograph the Israeli embassy in Berlin from multiple angles for a possible attack. Now that it controls an extremely capable terrorist network in the West Bank, Hezbollah has established itself as a proactive spoiler of Middle East peace — it can directly commission terrorist attacks even if major Palestinian terrorist groups abide by a cease-fire. Although Israel is working covertly to undermine Hezbollah’s terrorist network, Hezbollah’s massive rocket arsenal would make a direct military assault on its infrastructure in Lebanon quite costly.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 09/21/2003 2:02:40 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh those Black Hats! Bizzy, bizzy, bizzy! Arafish should take note:

Return Brigade leaders are required to inform Hezbollah and/or and IRGC commanders immediately before and after their operatives conduct an attack, and financial disbursements are only made in specific amounts and at prearranged intervals after full accounting of previous expenditures.

They squeeze every IRR till it bleeds...

And they never miss an opportunity to dig a little deeper. Thx PM, good read!

Tick tock.
Posted by: .com || 09/21/2003 2:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Although Israel is working covertly to undermine Hezbollah’s terrorist network, Hezbollah’s massive rocket arsenal would make a direct military assault on its infrastructure in Lebanon quite costly.

Another reason to encourage the Persians to throw out the mullahs. Choking off Hezbollah's support would entail a lot less risk than trying to hit them head on.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/21/2003 3:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Boeing Asks for Cooperation on War Tech
EFL
Boeing Co. (BA) is urging the unprecedented cooperation of rival U.S. defense contractors to establish a single communication standard that would allow future weapons systems built for the U.S. military to talk to each other. Boeing executives have invited Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, as well as software companies like Microsoft and smaller suppliers to a meeting to discuss create a standards body that would eliminate competing technologies used in radios and data networks on planes, ships and other weapons platforms. "There is a cost associated with doing this, but there is a terrible cost to our nation if we don’t," Carl O’Berry, vice president of strategic architecture at Boeing, said during a tour of the Boeing Integration Center here Thursday. Boeing executives said they had not invited the U.S. Department of Defense to the meeting, which is to take place in 30 or 40 days. O’Berry said industry should take the lead in setting the standards, then present its work to the Pentagon. Not all the major defense contractors have agreed to participate and none have yet agreed to take the next step, O’Berry said. "It’s all very fragile," he said. "Companies have agreed just to have an initial meeting to see if it’s viable or not."

The idea, Boeing executives say, is to build more profitable display systems, weapons and other applications that could "plug and play" into a future networked battlefield. Instead of creating a network linking their own products, Boeing wants to see all U.S. forces linked by requiring that future ships, planes and weapons built by rival defense contractors speak the same language. Boeing believes its competitors could be developing distinct technology that might not talk to its own Internet protocol-based devices. Boeing is working with the Pentagon on a vision of the "integrated battlespace," where soldiers carry handheld devices that gives them locations of fellow troops and enemy forces. The Army’s 4th Infantry Division already uses networked "battlefield Internet" screens in its vehicles, which network among themselves and use real-time intelligence to make quick decisions. If the companies agree to proceed, O’Berry said, a standards-based corporation could be formed by the end of the year. Companies would contribute engineers, technology and investment.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/21/2003 12:38:46 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  [rant mode]
Can you say "friendly fire"? How about "missing in action"? Or "intense firefight, need immediate reinforcement"? I knew you could...

Where's Bobby Inman when you really need him?

The need for this is so painfully obvious, from an American's (not to mention a programmer's) point of view, that one has to wonder why it isn't being rammed down their throats instead of watching the def con's pussy-foot around. With top-down Pentagon buy-in to the idea, it is easy to resolve the tech issues - 99% of the time it is the politics of the corp asshats (the management) that is the sticking point / monkeywrench, that prevents cooperative collaboration, not the technology.

We do this everyday on the job in civilian sector. It can be done if the Pentagon will play dictator, instead of hooker, in these situations. I recognize the complexity (yes, I do), but it is far from insurmountable.

If this follows form, historically, the biggest obstacle to successful cooperation will be the Navy. If I was The Prez, I'd kidnap Bobby Ray Inman (Current location: Bobby R. Inman, Lyndon B. Johnson professor of national policy at the University of Texas at Austin, has been named chair of the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science Advisory Board) and hand him the job. He knows where every body is buried and, in particular, which Admirals are worth their salt and which are future Wesley Clarkes. He would have the power to "retire" (read: fire) anyone who didn't salute cooperation and then perform to spec in the process - in all of the services.

The missing ingredient is the will to do it. The motivation is continued Gov't contracts. So Do It, already.
[/rant mode]

It's 2200 hrs, do you where your units are?

JCS & Service Head Buy-in: Check!
Integrated battlefield: Check!
Coordination of forces: Check!
Reduce blue-on-blue engagements: Check!
Simplify SAR support: Check!
Cancel uncooperative Contractors: Check!

Doh!
Posted by: .com || 09/21/2003 1:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Just make sure that when we do the programming it doesn't get sent off shore to India or Pakistan. This is the latest cost cutting craze in corporate America that has no regard for the rotten code produced or the security holes it creates, just the bottom line.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 09/21/2003 7:14 Comments || Top||

#3  .com is exactly right about upper management and their agendas and egos: Get the Pointy haired bosses out of the way, and the Dilberts will do just fine.

However, we ALREADY have a pretty good inter-computer communications network protocol, designed to ride out a nuclear attack: Boeing went the right way in picking the internet protocols. Unless they have to decide on a Mil-spec Ethernet plug (requiring 20 full turns of the screw ring before the pins engage electrically), we consumers would benefit from selective improvements on the base algorithms, like maybe working in the bluetooth handshaking specs, so that devices can check in and out of the network more quickly and flawlessly.

Then again, given the higher calibre of US troops, perhaps the ability to work in the field with grunts is no longer a guarantee that it'll work in the consumer field. Then again, the reverse may be true.
Posted by: Ptah || 09/21/2003 21:06 Comments || Top||



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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2003-09-21
  U.S. Won't back Paleo government run by Arafat
Sat 2003-09-20
  Al-Aqsa shootout Martyrs two
Fri 2003-09-19
  Three get life in Morocco trial
Thu 2003-09-18
  Another Hamas big toes up
Wed 2003-09-17
  Aqsa gunny toes up in Nablus
Tue 2003-09-16
  NPA assassins target George Bush?
Mon 2003-09-15
  Abdur Rahim: Dead again!
Sun 2003-09-14
  Human shields surround Yasser
Sat 2003-09-13
  Arafat fears "Zionist death rays!"
Fri 2003-09-12
  Syria gets new prime minister
Thu 2003-09-11
  Yasser to get the boot?
Wed 2003-09-10
  Another miss: IDF strikes at Zahar
Tue 2003-09-09
  Two Hamas booms today
Mon 2003-09-08
  Toe tag for al-Ghozi?
Sun 2003-09-07
  Yassin promises Dire Revenge™

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