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Police probe sniper link in fatal Virginia shooting
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Arabia
Boat fragments, TNT residue found on French tanker
US investigators who visited a blast-crippled French supertanker off Yemen found fragments of a small boat on deck and residue that tested positive for TNT, a US defense official said.
But the Yemenis assured us it was spontaneous combustion or something...
Crew members saw a small boat speeding toward the Limburg moments before an explosion rocked the supertanker on October 6, blowing a hole in its hull at the waterline. US investigators "found pieces and parts of a small marine vessel on deck," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "I believe that we had a couple of areas test positive for residue of TNT."
Blew a hole in that denial, didn't it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 06:19 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Must have been the Mossad?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/10/2002 18:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Photo

Note how the hull is blown in.
Posted by: John B. || 10/10/2002 18:52 Comments || Top||

#3  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-442524,00.html

Headline: "France signals wish to fall in with America over Iraq"

Coincidence?
Posted by: Tripartite || 10/10/2002 20:27 Comments || Top||

#4  That's a definite inny...
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2002 20:32 Comments || Top||

#5  We surrender.
Posted by: France || 10/11/2002 0:21 Comments || Top||


Kuwait cracks down on terror suspects
US forces in Kuwait have been caught up in two shooting incidents in as many days, including a fatal attack on marines attributed to Islamists allegedly linked to the al-Qaeda terror network. One newspaper reported Thursday that authorities had uncovered a plot to carry out another terror attack by a group linked to the Marines' assailants, and a reliable source told AFP that traditional gathering places in the emirate had been the target of searches for terror suspects.
Kuwait not being very large, there is a finite number of gathering places, traditional or otherwise...
The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas reported that the interior ministry had foiled an "attack on a large multi-storey target" in Kuwait, as it investigates suspects possibly linked to the Kuwaiti assailants.
Trying for another Khobar Towers...
Investigations into Tuesday's shooting on Failaka "revealed a plot to carry out a more violent terror attack," planned by a group linked to Kandari and Hajeri, the daily said. The investigations led to the arrests of two medical students belonging to the same group as Kandari and Hajeri. "Security men found in their possession plans, maps and documents to prepare for a pre-planned attack on a large multi-storey target," said Al-Qabas.
"No corpses? How can you be a jihadi without a stack of infidel corpses?"
Kuwait has also been rounding up groups suspected of assisting the two gunmen who carried out the "terrorist act" on Failaka. The state minister for foreign affairs, Sheikh Mohammad Sabah al-Sabah, said the emirate, a close US ally, was "taking the appropriate steps to round up those who we think provided some assistance to the terrorists." At least two people connected to the assailants are currently being held by the emirate's state security, the security source also said, adding that numerous people have already been questioned and released. And Several people visiting the diwaniyah (gathering place) of former MP Jamal al-Kandari, who has a nephew among 12 Kuwaitis detained by US forces in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were rounded up late Wednesday, another source told AFP.
The Kuwaitis, perhaps having a word corresponding to "gratitude" in their dialect of Arabic, seem to take this much more seriously than the Soddies take events in their country...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 06:46 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Axis of Evil
Israeli military personnel arrive at airbase in Qatar
IAP News
Israeli military personnel reportedly arrived at the al-Eideed American airbase in Qatar last week for the purpose of installing a radar system against possible Iraqi Scud missile attacks in case the US decides to attack Iraq, diplomatic sources in Jerusalem said Wednesday. The Western sources said the arrival of the 20-man team in Qatar was coordinated by Israeli foreign Minister Shimon Peres and his Qatari counterpart Hamas Ibn Jasem al Thani. The sources did not say if the Israeli personnel would stay long at the American airbase. However, the sources stressed that the arrival of the Israeli experts in Qatar embodied the "active trilateral cooperation and coordination between Qatar, the United States and Israel."
Evidently the Qataris aren't standing on the Arab high-horse that demands they refuse to talk to Israel without having the room fumigated...
Last month, the Qatari Foreign minister visited Israel and reportedly held secret talks with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv before meeting with Palestinian Authority Leader Yasser Arafat in his besieged office in Ramallah. Both Israel and Qatar did not make any mention of the meeting at the time.
But neither denied it. That's very interesting. And very hopeful...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  To my knowledge, this is a first of a kind. I'd like to know if any Arab state every cooperated with the Israelis on any operational mission before. I'm not counting Egyptian command exchanges and other diplomatic niceties.
Posted by: Tom Roberts || 10/10/2002 16:33 Comments || Top||

#2  I think the Jordanians and the Israelis have had some cooperation against Palestinian terrorism, but I don't if they has been more than that.
Posted by: Paul || 10/11/2002 2:06 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Police probe sniper link in fatal Virginia shooting
A man was gunned down moments after filling his tank at a Virginia gas station, the latest deadly turn in the investigation of a sniper who is stalking the Washington area. Police said they didn't know if the Virginia slaying was linked to the other attacks, but the shooting only heightened fear that the sniper had struck again. The man was shot Wednesday night in Prince William County, near Manassas, approximately 30 miles west of the nation's capital. Virginia State Police said two men were seen driving away in a white minivan after the shooting. The victim, who was traveling alone and not from the area, had just finished paying for gas when he was shot, Prince William County police chief Charlie Deane said early Thursday.
This was an early report, from this morning. Now they're saying it's "consistent" with The Mad Banger...
A seventh fatal shooting in the Washington area is "consistent" with six others and may be the work of the same sniper, authorities said Thursday.

Dean Harold Meyers, 53, of Gaithersburg, Md., was gunned down Wednesday night moments after filling his tank at a northern Virginia gas station. An autopsy showed he was killed by a single shot to his upper body, Prince William Police Chief Charlie Deane said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:09 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't mind telling you, Fred, that for the first time I'm really starting to feel a sense of trepidation about all this. The killing happened at the Battlefield Sunoco on Sudley Road, which is Manassas' main shopping drag on the west side of the city, between downtown and the National Battlefield Park. I've driven by that station any number of times, though I've never patronized it (I get my gas at Crown or Sheetz).

I've feared all day that the latest shooting is part of this spree, because I could already recognize from what I've learned about it that the M.O. is consistent with almost all of the other incidents; busy commercial area, person alone, near major road, etc. For those who think there's a Michael's connection, there's a Michael's outlet in another shopping center several hundred yards south of the crime scene. If you stand on the side of the road by that shopping center, which is on a slight slope, you can in fact see all the way down the road to I-66. Actually, I think the shooter took his position from somewhat closer in, because there are a lot of commercial buildings in the area to give shelter, but it's something I thought of. In fact, there are so many businesses in the area that it would be very difficult for a white truck - if in fact the killer is still driving a white truck, he might just have been smart enough to switch vehicles - to be noticed in all the traffic, even though everyone is looking out for one.

All I can say is, right now, I'm going to be looking around _very_ carefully next time I get gas, and I'm not going near any shopping center that has a Michael's in it.
Posted by: Joe || 10/10/2002 16:24 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm thinking. Fred-- How old are most of the victums? Mary Lu
Posted by: Mary Lu || 10/10/2002 16:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Youngest is 13. I think this latest victim, at 55, might be the oldest, but I could be mistaken.

Joe, I find myself eyeballing the woods out behind our office building in Seabrook, too. But this is a high population density area, so the actual odds of this fellow potting me, specifically, or you, specifically, are pretty long. I'll be a lot happier when he's been caught, of course; the odds have come out wrong for too many people who were peacefully going about their business.
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2002 17:02 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought the oldest was a 72 yr old in DC?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/10/2002 18:33 Comments || Top||

#5  I once read that serial killers who target at random, are trying to break all personal connections with the world. That would make the killer a sociopath, who will probably kill until he or she is killed. I hope that I am wrong, and that there is a shred of conscience left in this person.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God || 10/10/2002 20:10 Comments || Top||


Terror suspect in Malaysian custody deported back to U.S.
An American citizen wanted in the United States for allegedly conspiring to support Osama bin Laden's terror network was deported Thursday from Malaysia, U.S. and Malaysian officials said. Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal was being flown to the United States, but the officials would not disclose the exact destination. Federal indictments filed against him last week were handed down in Portland, Ore. A Malaysian court cleared the way for Bilal's deportation earlier Wednesday by ruling that he is an illegal immigrant in Malaysia. Bilal's passport had been revoked by Washington.
It's a long flight from Kuala Lampur to the U.S. He'll have lotsa time to work on his story...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


House of Representatives grants Bush authorization to attack Iraq
The House of Representatives on Thursday authorized war-making powers for President Bush. The 296-133 vote authorized Bush to work with the United Nations if possible, or alone if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein of his weapons of mass destruction. A majority of Democrats voted against the resolution even though their House leader, Dick Gephardt, was one of its authors.
Gephardt's either a believer, or he's got an eye on his presidential chances. Or both...
Following the approval, Bush said in a statement "Today's vote also sends a clear message to the Iraqi regime. It must disarm and comply with all existing U.N. resolutions or it will be forced to comply. There are no other options for the Iraqi regime. There can be no negotiations. The days of Iraq acting as an outlaw state are coming to an end."
That means Sammy's days are coming to an end with them. Can't have one without the other...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 08:31 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
National Congress fails to win majority...
Kashmir's pro-India ruling party failed to win enough seats to form a majority government, and may end up in the opposition if it cannot form an alliance, nearly complete election results showed Thursday. With almost all the ballots counted from the monthlong election for the Jammu-Kashmir state assembly, the National Conference, which has dominated the state since independence in 1947, fell far short of the 44 seats it needed to hold a majority in the 87-seat legislature.
Guess that's why the Indos don't want to hold that plebiscite...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Actually, the reason for not holding a plebiscite is rather simple, really. The first condition (all laid out by the UN) that Pakistan withdraw all troops from PoK, and then there would be a UN-managed for the entire Kashmir region, including Aksai Chin.. so when will this plebisite be held..? when Pakistan and China withdraw military and administrative control to the UN, that's when! Hell will freeze over twice before that happens.

Also, there have been enormous demographic changes in Kashmir, with hundreds of thousands of kashmiri hindus and sikhs fleeing for the Valley. The original terms of the plebiscite are now absolutely meaningless.

The real story is that this is the first opportunity for India to demonstrate that it's mature enough to handle an autonomy-seeking Kashmir and be able to lay off interfering in State politics. The dream is more manageable now, I hope.
Posted by: Suman Palit || 10/10/2002 16:34 Comments || Top||


Shootout kills one at Pakistan polls
A shootout at a polling station in southern Pakistan left one person dead Thursday, a government official said, as the country held its first election since a 1999 coup ended democratic rule. The gunfight between loyalists of rival political parties in Nawabshah also injured at least two others, Home Secretary Brig. Mukhtar Ahmed said.
I imagine there'll be several deaders before the election's over. That will be followed by more deaders as the losing parties take Dire Revenge™...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Pak elections...
Musharraf pledges to hold fair polls
He also pledges to be 6'4", with blonde hair and blue eyes...

Steps for free, fair elections finalized
In Pakistan? When are they scheduled?

Elections today after three-year army rule: Parties fear rigging
"If we don't win, you know it's been rigged..."

Political parties unsure of accepting 'rigged' results
"Depends on whether we win or not. If we don't, it was rigged..."

PPP-P accuses Elections Commission of turning blind eye towards violations
"See? See? They're rigged, alright...!"

Entire poll process flawed, claims Human Rights Watch
"Nope. Nope. Fatally Flawed™. Just throw the whole thing out and start over, in another country, with new voters..."

President wants new faces elected
"I'm tired of seeing the same old crooks. Send some new crooks."

Benazir claims PPP to get 170 NA seats
"The PPP leader said that those who were the looters and plunderers of the national wealth had joined the king's party and were contesting in the present election."
"So we're clean now. We ain't crooks anymore. They all went somewhere else..."

'MQM to strive for people's rights'
"Vote for us! We hardly kill anybody!"

MMA's plan for first 100 days in power
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has announced that in the first 100 days after coming into power it will create 500,000 new jobs, withdraw general sales tax on edible oil and ensure free education for all up to secondary level.
"Free candy for the kiddies, a chicken in every pot, plenty of free parking, and damn the Merkins!"

Over 10 million people to cast vote in Frontier
And hardly anybody's been killed. Ain't democracy grand?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:48 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Actually, the MQM could do quite well out of their Sindh powerbase. And they are about as secular as one is allowed to be in the "Islamic Republic." Unless they are lying, they appear to hate the ISI spy guys. An MMA victory would be a disaster for Pakistan. Islamic rules of evidence enable Pakistan corruption. An salafist ("purist") government would create an Islamic booty tyranny. There is little foreign interest in subsidising that type of criminal regime.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God || 10/10/2002 20:25 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Fatah warns it will get tough if Hamas repeats assassination
Yasser Arafat's Fatah group warned the Islamist resistance group Hamas it would react with "an iron fist" to any threats to Palestinian security, following the assassination by members of the group of a riot police chief.
"I'm warnin' you! One more time, young man, and you're gonna get it! Don't make me come down there!"
In a statement received by AFP here Wednesday, the Palestinian leader's mainstream faction also urged Hamas, which claims Brigadier General Rajeh Abu Lehya was killed in a vendetta, to hand over his killers.
A vendetta, huh? Perhaps an indignant husband and 19 of his friends? What was the part about revenge for something or other?
"We will act with an iron fist against those who play with the security of the Palestinian people," said Fatah, the main political component of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the main provider of loyalist security forces. "We ask Hamas to condemn this ugly crime and not to provide a cover to outlaws. We ask that the men be handed over and brought in front of a court. We strongly warn against this kind of actvity, which goes against the national interest, and Fatah will not allow anyone to lead the Palestinians into an internal fight and divert them from the struggle against Israeli occupation."
"Yeah. Don't go cheesing us off. We'll maybe let you get away with it this once, but..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Tel Aviv suicide bombing leaves 2 dead, 4 injured
An Israeli bus driver and a paramedic pinned a suicide bomber to the ground Thursday after spotting his bomb belt, then fled with other bystanders as the man detonated the explosives. The assailant and an elderly woman were killed, and four others were injured. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Hamas has said it would avenge an Israeli raid of the Gaza town of Khan Younis this week in which 16 Palestinians were killed.
Avenging them involves booming a little old lady...
The bomber first tried to board the bus at a crowded bus stop near the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, but slipped and fell onto the sidewalk, apparently pulled back by the weight of the explosives. The driver said he got off the bus to help the man and spotted the bomb when he opened the man's shirt to check for injuries.
Cheeze. He was trying to lug around so much explosive he couldn't stand up...
A Hamas spokesman, Ismail Abu Shanab, said he did not know who was behind the attack, but that "resistance will continue by all means until we get our rights."
FOLLOWUP: Hamas now sez it was their boomer, and what a hero he was!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Six die in Philippines bus station bombing
A bomb exploded in a crowded bus station in the southern Philippines on Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding at least 10 others in what a military official called a terrorist attack. Superintendent Casimiro Medes, police chief in Kidapawan city, said the "incendiary bomb" had been left under a concrete bench at the bus station. The victims included a 12-year-old boy. Two parked buses were damaged. Officials initially thought it was a grenade attack.
Sounds very Islamic, doens't it?
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the 3:15 p.m. blast in North Cotabato province, which came a week after a bombing in the southern city of Zamboanga killed four people, including an American Green Beret commando, and injured two dozen others. Philippine army spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando said he didn't know the motive for the attack, "but this is terrorism."
You might say that...
He said it was too early to pinpoint any group, adding that Muslim separatists, communist guerrillas and bandits have a presence in North Cotabato.
The area's swarming with turbans and comrades and probably a few other flavors of nutcases...
"If this is the handiwork of rebels, how could they say that they're champion of the masses?" Ando asked. "They're killing innocent people who could not defend themselves." North Cotabato, about 570 miles south of Manila, is an agricultural province where the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim group waging a separatist uprising, and other armed groups operate.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
3 detainees in Lebanon admit al-Qaida link
Two Lebanese men and a Saudi citizen arrested last month in Lebanon have admitted they planned to open an al-Qaida training camp in Lebanon, a government official said Wednesday. Prosecutor General Adnan Addoum told reporters that Ihab Dafaa, a Saudi, and Lebanese citizens Khaled Minawi and Mohammed Sultan confessed to trying to "undermine internal security of the state by forming a terrorist group to commit crimes against people and carry out terrorist attacks."
"We just love the smell of explosives. We can't help ourselves..."
Addoum said military intelligence officers have been interrogating the three. Minawi planned to form a group that would provide refuge to al-Qaida members fleeing to Lebanon, as well as other extremists believed to be hiding in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh. They also planned to provide military training and went to Germany in the past to collect money for the network.
You can make a pretty good living, collecting money for the network...
He said all three were helped by a Saudi, a Yemeni and a Filipino explosive expert, none of whom were identified. Addoum said Sultan met with an al-Qaida operative in Turkey named Abdullah the Turk, or Obeida, and they talked about opening a restaurant in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, to employ al-Qaida members.
Oooh! Mom! Take me there! Sounds yummy!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/10/2002 04:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2002-10-10
  Police probe sniper link in fatal Virginia shooting
Wed 2002-10-09
  Chief Moose goes ballistic over sniper leak
Tue 2002-10-08
  Prince Turki: Osama Will Ace The World
Mon 2002-10-07
  Frenchies warn against toppling Sammy...
Sun 2002-10-06
  Yemenis blow Frenchie tanker?
Sat 2002-10-05
  Confirmed: DC Shooting Linked to Several of Md. Incidents
Fri 2002-10-04
  Johnny Jihad gets 20 in the slammer
Thu 2002-10-03
  Khost breathes a little easier with no Zadran...
Wed 2002-10-02
  Shootout at the O.K. Serai leaves a dozen deaders...
Tue 2002-10-01
  Ramzi sings...
Mon 2002-09-30
  Indonesia says US allows it to question al-Qaeda suspect
Sun 2002-09-29
  IDF pulls back from Yasser's house
Sat 2002-09-28
  Another attempt to assassinate Karzai foiled
Fri 2002-09-27
  Deif still kicking...
Thu 2002-09-26
  Explosives found on Morocco jet

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