RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said yesterday it will put on trial four Saudis suspected of carrying out attacks that killed local officials and security forces in the north of the kingdom.
What? No good talking-to?
An Interior Ministry official told the Saudi Press Agency that the four men were responsible for a wave of violence between March 2002 and early 2003 in Al Jawf province, close to the Iraqi border. The official did not name the four suspects and did not link them to attacks by supporters of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda militant network. He said the men had fired at security forces and kidnapped a foreign resident. They also killed a local court judge, a senior provincial official, a member of the security forces on patrol and a policeman.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:52:45 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
EFL
TWO leading Dutch politicians known for their critical views of Islam have been taken to safe houses by police after receiving death threats after the murder of the film-maker Theo van Gogh.
Mr Van Gogh, the great great grandnephew of Vincent van Gogh, was shot and stabbed in a "ritual killing" in broad daylight in an Amsterdam street on Tuesday. His throat was slit with a butcher's knife, and a five-page letter was pinned to his chest with another knife.
The police announced that they would prosecute Mr Van Gogh's suspected killer, a 26-year-old Dutch-born man of Moroccan origin, named Mohammed B., under antiterrorism laws, recognising the killing as the first recent terrorist attack on Dutch soil. Police have arrested eight other Islamic radicals over the killing, and have connected it with the terrorist bombing in Casablanca. Whotta surprise!
It was the second murder of a public figure critical of Islam in the Netherlands, two-years after the anti-immigration populist Pym Fortuyn was shot by a left-wing activist.
Dutch leaders who have received death threats since the murder include Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee and former Muslim who made a film with Mr Van Gogh criticising the Koran for sanctioning domestic violence; Geert Wilders, a right-wing populist opposed to Turkey joining the EU; Rita Verdonk, the Immigration Minister; and Job Cohen, Amsterdam's mayor. Ms Hirsi Ali and Mr Wilders have both been taken to safe houses.
Dutch newspapers reported that police are worried that the threats — by telephone calls and e-mails — were evidence of a co-ordinated attempt by Islamic radicals to target politicians seen as "enemies of Islam". Now that just might have given the pols enough of a scare to do something, when you have to be hidden in safe houses..
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 12:07:24 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Why do they keep calling him Mohammed B. Why can't they tell us his real name?
#2
Frank, Yup. Especially when it's not just Ms Hirsi Ali, by the plain vanilla Mayor of Amsterdam. Imagine the uproar in California if Gavin Newsome had to go into hiding because of murderous heteros.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/07/2004 12:24 Comments ||
Top||
#3
There is no death penalty in Holland. Adn I think no perpetuity. Maaning that sooner or later in a few years the guy will be free to kill again. BTw the Duttch, those eople who find death penalty too cruel, have no qualms on having three thousands of their elderly "euthanasiated" every year without their consent. Sounds like murder to me but of apparently the Dutch think they have found a clever way to solve the problem of Social Security deficit
#4
Here his name http://www.volkomenkut.com/media/CV.txt ,Mohammed Bouyeri.......Lots of attemps to set mosques on fire all over The Netherlands....I'll keep u updated
#6
Hey Dutchgeek. Once took a Bicycle tour to Weirsolo. I had a blast, loved the place and found Dutch people to be some of the most helpful folks I ever met. We were aided many times. I hope all goes well so that wonderul spirit remains.
#9
AP correspondent on Fox reports high tensions in several Dutch towns. I've worried for some time that ultra-tolerance might breed an extreme reaction when people were sufficiently frightened or angry.
BANGKOK: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed yesterday to purge southern Thailand of illegal war weapons being used daily in deadly attacks. Four Buddhists - one a young student - were killed in the latest outburst of violence, police said. Thaksin said he would travel today to the southern province of Narathiwat, scene of some of the most intense rebel activity, to personally supervise the operation. "I will have to launch a massive crackdown on weapons. We will use both a soft approach and an iron fist to sweep out these people. Innocent people don't have to fear or worry," Thaksin said in his weekly radio address. In an apparent spate of revenge killings, suspected Muslim separatists have targeted ordinary Buddhists, including monks, shopkeepers and students, following the deaths of 85 Muslims on October 25 in a riot broken up by government forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:55:14 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
HEAVY fighting has broken out on the edges of Iraq's rebel stronghold of Fallujah, amid continued airstrikes and reports of marines on the move.
US warplanes pounded the city as ground forces fought fierce clashes with insurgents on the outskirts, witnesses said.
They said there was heavy fighting on the eastern and western fringes, including around a bridge over the Euphrates.
US forces had also taken over the main hospital, just outside Fallujah, on the western side, CNN reported.
AFP journalists embedded with the military said silver flashes lit up the skies in the latest aerial bombardment.
At least eight people were wounded in the strikes, according to medical sources.
"We have admitted eight wounded in our establishment," said one Fallujah doctor, who asked his name not be used.
He said medics had appealed for foreign aid as they had insufficient resources to handle the wounded.
The eastern and western outskirts of the city came under intense fire from 8pm yesterday to 1am today local time (4am to 9am AEDT today), the journalists said.
Northwest of the city in the town of Karma, US artillery batteries shelled suspected insurgent positions with support from tanks and helicopters, an AFP photographer said.
Meanwhile, a US Marine tank company and infantry unit moved to a staging area near Fallujah ahead of an expected major offensive.
#1
From Fox News TV, the hospital was taken by an Iraqi special ops (36th commandos). They look well equipped and trained.
This will (I hope) be a confidence-builder for the Iraqi populace, their troops and a boost for Allawi. I wonder how much of the video feed was / will be seen by Iraqis elsewhere in the country?
#6
In the pre-op pep talks the oficers were compating it to Hue. Let's hope the MSM is far less successful this time.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/07/2004 20:34 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Anon4021, Fox reports that tanks and troops are staged forward. That's a pretty clear sign since that puts them at greater risk of bombardment. God speed to them ... MOUT (military ops in an urban terrain) is not an easy thing to do when you're committed to trying to leave the city standing for civilians to return to.
#9
One caution as we watch this unfold: the military objective here is to secure the city for the central government, not necessarily to destroy the insurgency. Expect the rules of engagement to reflect that and if you hear people we're "failing" because the insurgents can strike elsewhere, set the record straight.
We all know we could reduce the city to rubble without a single US casualty. But that would not accomplish the wider mission. It's a tough balancing act: it's important that we take Fallujah and hold it (even Saddam couldn't really do that). But it's also important that this advance the government and elections. Wiping out the city would probably make a unified Iraq impossible.
Whether spending blood to take it house by house will make a unified Iraq possible remains to be seen. I hope and pray it will.
#10
Anon4021, I haven't seen pictures. Allawi has a press conference scheduled in the AM their time - we'll see what he says and if anything really happens before or after that.
#14
The video of the Iraqi commandos storming the hospital is probably playing on all the Iraqi TV stations. This was needed in many, many ways. So far, so good. God protect our troops.
During the fight, rules of engagement allow U.S. troops to shoot and kill anyone carrying a weapon or driving in Fallujah, a move aimed at allowing U.S. troops to fire on car bombers, Ramos said. Military age males trying to leave the city will be captured or turned back.
"If I see someone who looks like a martyr, driving at high speed toward my unit, I'll send him to Allah before he gets close," Ramos said.
Ramos = Marine battalion commander Lt. Col. Mike Ramos, 41, from Dallas, TX.
From: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,137861,00.html
#23
Marine spokesman COL Ballard reports it's quiet right now and that's the way they planned the op.
re: humanitarian concern about civilians, Ballard notes that the hospital was secured for that reason & they have civil affairs people out working to separate any remaining civilians from likely firefight areas. Notes that the curfew will let them sort out the civilians unable to leave from the insurgents.
#25
During the fight, rules of engagement allow U.S. troops to shoot and kill anyone carrying a weapon
About f**king time.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/07/2004 22:19 Comments ||
Top||
#26
Maybe US forces were told to hold off last time so that more of the enemy would accumulate there, and create a more target-rich environment for later.
#27
Onionman: Maybe US forces were told to hold off last time so that more of the enemy would accumulate there, and create a more target-rich environment for later.
There's no question in my mind that this was the case. More importantly, the six months worth of reprieve may have given the rebels the confidence to store most of their weaponry and ordnance there. Well, they are about to lose it all. They can walk out of there, but they can't take it with them. Once they lose these stores, what are the survivors going fight with? Switchblades?
#28
Maybe US forces were told to hold off last time so that more of the enemy would accumulate there, and create a more target-rich environment for later.
Not a bad thought. I remember someone, during the last assault on Fallujah, bringing up a similar tactic used by the government of Peru -- leave an area as a "safe harbor" then hit it hard.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/07/2004 22:54 Comments ||
Top||
#29
Once they lose these stores, what are the survivors going fight with? Switchblades?
It's not like Iraq isn't hip-deep in weapons. It'll hurt them for a while, but unfortunately they'll be able to rearm.
They've gotta be killed, or they'll be killing again.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/07/2004 22:56 Comments ||
Top||
#30
RC: It's not like Iraq isn't hip-deep in weapons. It'll hurt them for a while, but unfortunately they'll be able to rearm.
That costs money. It's possible that you can buy anything you want in Iraq, but that requires cash. They have invested huge chunks of it on their arsenal in Fallujah. They are about to lose it all. (Note that market prices for this stuff was reputed to be pretty high, indicating that there's not a lot of it floating around waiting to be found, either through smuggling or Saddam's caches).
The most important aspect of destroying their fighting capability is the classic American tactic of interdiction. Destroying their weapons stores will destroy their ability to fight.
Note that Israel had zero cases of suicide bombings while they were in total charge of the West Bank and Gaza. After they invited Arafat back in, mayhem galore. The reason? Arafat was able to stockpile weaponry. Before, all the Palestinians had at their disposal were the occasional gun and improvised explosive. Post-Arafat, they had C-4, mortars, RPG's and automatic weapons.
#31
Maybe US forces were told to hold off last time so that more of the enemy would accumulate there
This doesn't make sense unless the intention was to pound the place to oblivion from the air and artillery. To let the place fortify and re-arm, only to engage in urban combat later, seems ludicrous (assuming there were no other, more important political objectives).
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/07/2004 23:08 Comments ||
Top||
#32
It's possible that you can buy anything you want in Iraq, but that requires cash.
Something there's plenty of just to the south, east, and west of Iraq.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/07/2004 23:10 Comments ||
Top||
#33
Denying insurgent forces the use of Fallujah as a sanctuary is very important, and we certainly will do that. No doubt, we will also kill a considerable amount of nutjobs who want to 'martyr' themselves and have thus stayed to fight, which will also be a good thing. But I doubt even US commanders think that the real spine of the insurgency -- the Sunni traditionalists who have no desire to be a minority in a shiite led democracy -- have stuck around. Most have probably already exfiltrated into the countryside and will wait until the fuss is over. Once Sunni civilians -- many who are probably supportive of the resistance -- re-enter the city, the insurgents will return.
Unfortunately, while the physical city itself does provide a measure of defense to the insurgents, its the mass of civilians and the ability to mix in amongst them that is the real sanctuary.
It may be that only a political solution that encourages Sunni leaders to stop fighting will really end this insurgency. How you convince a minority that ruled a majority with total brutality to then let that majority lord over it is a good question.
In Germany and Iraq, we constructed a democratic government out of the ashes of dictatorial ones, but the basic underlying nation-states already existed.
In Iraq, we are trying to create a nation-state itself. That is a challenge of a significantly greater order of magnitude.
Clearing Fallujah is important. But let's not harbor any illusions. It may not break the back of this insurgency.
#34
Well, we will just have to see what kind of secondary explosions we get. We will take Fallujah, but what are our plans for interdiction to the west toward Syria and the east toward Iran. There is plenty of fodder and materiel in both countries, and if Iraq has a chance, the supply lines must be dried up.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/07/2004 23:29 Comments ||
Top||
#35
Rafael: Something there's plenty of just to the south, east, and west of Iraq.
Not enough to supply this insurgency. A Lebanese returnee from Sadr's guerrilla force said that he was being paid $800 a month. For 1,000 fighters, that's $10m a year. Where are they going to get that kind of money from? Weapons and ammo are expensive. A guerrilla might shoot off 500 rounds in a firefight. At $0.10 a round, that's $50 right there. What about all the RPG's that miss? The point I'm making is that wars are expensive, and I don't think these guys have unlimited funds, and certainly not more money that the Iraqi government, which is generating $50B of annual revenue from 3m barrels of oil a day at $45 a barrel.
AS at least 12,000 coalition and Iraqi forces massed in preparation for an all-out assault on Fallujah last night, insurgent commanders inside the rebel stronghold warned that hundreds of suicide bombers had been primed as part of planning for a ferocious counter-attack.
With all eyes on Fallujah, west of Baghdad, insurgents struck a devastating blow in nearby Ramadi, rounding up 21 officers at two police stations and shooting them dead execution style.
"A large number of attackers, estimated at about 200, ambushed the main police station in Haditha and another smaller one in Haqlaniya," said a police officer from Haditha who was not on duty during the attack. "The attackers disarmed the police, gathered them together and then shot them dead."
As US troops gathered to pray outside Fallujah, rebel leaders said more than 100 cars laden with explosives had been distributed throughout the rebel Sunni stronghold to be detonated when US marines mount a long-awaited ground offensive.
One commander said 300 foreign fighters had volunteered for suicide bombings as US forces laid siege to the stronghold of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq.
Some of the foreign fighters would be used in 118 vehicles already rigged with explosives, he said; others would be waiting in booby-trapped homes for US and Iraqi soldiers hunting from house to house for Zarqawi's fighters.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 5:51:48 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Oopps, this should have been
'Page 1' news.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 17:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
... rebel leaders said more than 100 cars laden with explosives had been distributed throughout the rebel Sunni stronghold to be detonated when US marines mount a long-awaited ground offensive.
Simple solution; Sweep all streets with tanks whose gunners are instructed to shell or strafe each and every car in sight, moving or not. Any dissatisfied residents should be told to direct their complaints at the insurgents who made this move necessary.
Until Iraqis finally realize the high cost of sequestering these terrorist thugs in their midst, measures such as this will be required.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 18:57 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Phhft. The heck with tanks - sweep the streets clean with air strikes. It's a wide-open city, and the sky has to be saturated with UAVs. Just blow up every vehicle in the city. You'll miss anything under cover, but that'll clear the boobytraps, leaving only suicide-drivers for the ground troops to deal with.
I've seen numbers that suggest that Fallujah's a ghost-town these days, with no more than one-sixth the population it had prior to the current troubles. If the remaining locals have a brain in their heads, as soon as they hear sustained explosions, they're going to be living underground.
Now that I think about it, I predict that this is going to be a mole's war - clearing the town basement by basement. Hope they're ready to look out for basement-bunkers and the old grenade-on-a-string gag.
Anybody know what the water table is like in Fallujah? Exactly how extensive could basements be in this town?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/07/2004 20:17 Comments ||
Top||
#6
..insurgent commanders inside the rebel stronghold warned that hundreds of suicide bombers had been primed as part of planning for a ferocious counter-attack.
This is not a problem. A safe assumption would be that during the buildup, most of the non-combatants have left, and all that remains are largely jihadis, so any individual encountered that doesn't do as they are clearly told to do by coalition forces should be dropped immediately, no ifs, ands, or buts.
One man was stabbed to death and another wounded in the holy Iraqi city of Kerbala on Sunday when they tried to urge residents to boycott national elections scheduled for January, witnesses said.
As the pair started to raise an anti-election banner at a market in the centre of Iraq's second holiest Shi'ite Muslim city, two men came up and stabbed them, local shopkeeper Ali Hussein, 42, told Reuters.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/07/2004 2:56:42 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I understand that emotions are running high because of Sadr's atrocities, but this is a pity. This is what suppression of debate is all about. It's a pity the Democrats can't tell the diff.
#2
Actually, someone who argues that there should NOT be a republic and that there should be NO representation is a friend of tyranny -- someone who does deserve death in such circumstances.
#4
I wonder if they were al Sadr's crew, Sunnis or Ba'athist holdovers? No matter, Sistani is on a roll with the decision to allow expats to vote and with the assault on Fallujah and I suspect he's not about to let some punks disrupt the chance for Shia to gain real political power in the elections.
Iraqi government television has repeatedly broadcast confessions of what it says were foreign terrorists - 17 Arabs and two Iranians - who allegedly infiltrated the country's porous borders to fight U.S.-led coalition forces.
The confessions, aired several times over the weekend, coincided with the massing of U.S. and Iraqi forces near Fallujah for an anticipated showdown with insurgents who have made the city their headquarters.
The broadcasts were seen as a means of preparing the population for the coming attack on Fallujah, where the government says it's after foreigners and ``terrorists'' not city residents who are not involved in the insurgency.
The station, Iraqiya, showed 19 men ages of 20 to 40, dressed in blue jumpsuits and lined up against a wall while the camera panned their pale, bearded faces.
An announcer read a statement accusing the prisoners ``of carrying out mass killings, sabotage, inciting sectarianism and racism, destroying the economic and the social infrastructure of our people to take us back to the Dark Ages.''
Of the 19 - five Syrians, five Saudis, four Jordanians, two Egyptians, a Palestinian and two Iranians, most were said to have entered the country in October, 2003 during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
One of them, Youssef Hassan Suleiman, said he came from the same town in Jordan as did Iraq's most feared terrorist mastermind, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. ``I had $2,000 on me,'' he said with a smile when asked if he brought money to help finance the insurgency.
Saleh Said al-Rahmani, of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, said that he crossed the Saudi border to Iraq last Ramadan to follow ``the call'' - a phrase normally meaning to spread the message of Islam.
A young Palestinian, Tayseer Hassan Halabi, said he entered Iraq from Syria where he lived temporarily. ``I came to Iraq when the war started to join the fighters,'' he said. Halabi said that he made contacts with insurgents only after arriving in Iraq.
Others such as Ali Hassan from Yemen, Amer al-Abbas Mohammed from Jordan and Anaas Farouq Ahmed from Syria did not give details of their activities here. Iraqiya said the 19 were among 167 people arrested recently by Iraqi police and who are now under interrogation.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/07/2004 2:52:08 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Great opening line of truth: ``of carrying out mass killings, sabotage, inciting sectarianism and racism, destroying the economic and the social infrastructure of our people to take us back to the Dark Ages.ââ
Exposing the jihadic infiltrators directly on TV should enrage normal Iraqis into assisting in the counter-jihad-fight so Iraq does not turn into another Iran.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 17:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
exxxccceellllennt! (channelling Monty Burns)
Need to reinforce this at all times. There are no Arab "brothers", just killers and thugs trying to take away the Iraqi democracy
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 18:13 Comments ||
Top||
I am no doctor, but that doesn't sound good. Yasser Arafat lay dead critically ill with liver failure on Sunday and his condition was getting no better, a Palestinian official said, as Palestinian leaders adopted in his absence a plan to restore order in their areas. Israel completed preparations to bury the Palestinian president, should he die, in the Gaza Strip -- a move that would contradict Arafat's stated desire to be buried in Jerusalem. Like the Rolling Stones Said, "You can't always get what you want."
Amid growing concern over who will succeed the 75-year-old leader, who is being treated at a French military hospital, some aides said his condition was so bad he might be moved to Egypt, from where he could be flown home more quickly if he died. Some are concerned others are eating microwave popcorn. I am partial to caramel myself.
In Ramallah, site of Arafat's headquarters, his fellow leaders decided to carry out a plan to restore law and order in the West Bank and Gaza, a government minister said. It was the first major decision they have announced since Arafat left. The plan is to kill each other and see who is the last man standing.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie came under pressure from the armed factions on Saturday to give them decision-making powers in a temporary unified leadership they want if Arafat dies. He did not say he had agreed. Popcorn anyone? I just nuked some.
Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American ||
11/07/2004 9:41:19 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11137 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hey, Ol_Dirty_American, watch it!
I've already called dibs on the popcorn concession! ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/07/2004 9:48 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'd be looking at Palm Oil futures if I was a trading man.
#3
Ladies and Gents lie back and prepare for some fireworks.
Warning ! The surgeon General has determined that
excessive consumption of Twinkies may be bad for
your health.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
11/07/2004 10:28 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Uhm, I'm not an expert or anything, but liver failure is a frequent complication of long-term AIDS treatment. The AIDS drugs basically ruin the liver after enough time.
#5
Wasn't Osama supposed to be on dialysis too? Needle sharing? Camel sharing?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/07/2004 12:09 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Is it my diseased imagination, or is this Arafat thing beginning to sound like a combination of Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch and the movie "Weekend at Bernie's"?
Posted by: person of choler ||
11/07/2004 12:54 Comments ||
Top||
#7
LOL all above.
Mrs. D. the OC needs a high speed brain bath for images like that.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 18:39 Comments ||
Top||
#14
DEBKA is saying he'd dead & France is telling the Paleos to get off the pot with their maskirova and get himout of town before he smells up the place even more than it is.
#16
al Jezeerah reports that Suha called them demanding the other Palestinian leaders NOT come to Paris, claiming they are part of a plot to bury Arafat alive.
#17
Yasser Arafat lay dead critically ill with liver failure on Sunday and his condition was getting no better
Ya know, I'm thinking he's been dead for a few days. The last couple of days they've been saying things like "he's not in a coma, but his condition hasn't improved" and now this. Every comment they make avoids saying he's alive or dead, but leaves "dead" as a very clear possibility.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/07/2004 22:17 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Under Islamic law he must be buried within 24 hrs of being declard dead & under Palestinian law they have to hold elections within 60 days. This could stretch on a long time while the money and power struggles continue, but it does really look pretty ridiculous at this point ....
Three Diyala provincial officials were shot and killed by unknown assailants while traveling on Sunday to a funeral for a colleague killed earlier in the week, Iraqi officials said. Jassim Mohammed, a governor's aide for refugee affairs, was killed along with Diyala provincial council members Shihab Ahmed and Dureid Mohammed, said Deputy Governor Ghassan al-Khadran. The three were attacked in the Mahmoudiya area, about 25 miles south of Baghdad, as they were heading to the holy city of Karbala for the burial of the mayor of the town of Hebheb, who was killed by gunmen on Thursday. Government officials are frequent targets of insurgents, who often accuse them of collaborating with the U.S occupation. The attacks mark the third time in the past two weeks that Diyala province officials have been killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 9:05:27 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
doing anything they can to distract from the Fallujah focus
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 9:28 Comments ||
Top||
Hezbollah sent a reconnaissance drone into Israeli territory Sunday in response to Israel's repeated air violations of Lebanese airspace, the militant Islamic group announced. In a statement faxed to The Associated Press, Hezbollah said a reconnaissance drone of the Islamic Resistance, the group's military wing, carried out its first flights over "occupied northern Palestine, flying over several Zionist settlements, reaching the coastal settlement of Nahariya and returning safely to its base." "This qualitative and new achievement by the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon comes as part of a natural response to the Zionist enemy's repeated and permanent violations of Lebanese airspace," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 9:03:48 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
And where exactly did a terrorist organization get a reconnaissance drone?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/07/2004 9:20 Comments ||
Top||
#2
rrriiiggghhhttt. Sounds like somebody got a RC-model airplane....
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 9:25 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Yup sounds like an RC plane to me too. I have a friend who is nuts for them and has several with huge wing spans and long duration.
#7
When all the necessary technical information for building such aircraft is so easily available on the web, it's not surprising the Hezbollah technicians manage to get one airborne sooner or later. I did a quick Google, and in less than two minutes found the site containing the instructions pertaining to the actual drone Hezbollah used, here.
Posted by: Charles ||
11/07/2004 11:38 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Hezbollah Sends Drone Into Israel
When one considers the extremely dubious nature of any and all contributions that Hezbollah makes to this world of ours, I think it's safe to say that all of them are, in fact, drones.
#12
I wonder if they used a videocamera or an old 8mm? I KNOW they don't have the sophistication to build real reconnaissance systems, and nothing the Russians have sold the Syrians so far is that modern. Besides making a flight, what did they accomplish? Sounds to me like an attempt at a propaganda coup, with no substance behind it. I'm also sure Israeli radio-intercept operators have pinpointed exactly where the control center is, and will "deal with it appropriately" the next time it comes on the air. More popcorn, anyone?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/07/2004 13:26 Comments ||
Top||
#13
This qualitative and new achievement by the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon...
Yes, they can now fly model airplanes. The hard part was manufacturing the 10000 foot rubber band to power it.
a group calling itself the al-Furqan Brigade, tortured the driver, breaking his arm and sending him off with a ransom demand to their relatives
Twelve Iraqi National Guards were abducted and executed by militants dressed as policemen while traveling home to Najaf, an official with a leading Shiite party said Sunday. The 12 men were kidnapped near Latifiyah, an area of frequent violence bout 20 miles south of Baghdad, said Abu Ali al-Najafi from the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known by its acronym SCIRI. They were heading home to Najaf on Thursday after a visit to Baghdad when the kidnappers, disguised as policemen, stopped their convoy, said al-Najaf, speaking from SCIRI offices in Najaf. The 12 were seized along with the convoy's driver, though a 13th guardsman escaped. The assailants, who later identified themselves as members of a group calling itself the al-Furqan Brigade, tortured the driver, breaking his arm and sending him off with a ransom demand to their relatives, for payment of $1,000 for each "headless body of their dear one," Al-Najafi said. The party, known by its acronym, SCIRI, is one of the largest Shiite parties in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 8:38:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Disguised as policemen? Maybe they were policemen, but working secretly for the other side.
A car bomb exploded Sunday near the home of Iraq's finance minister, killing one of his guards, officials said. The minister, Adil Abdel-Mahdi, was safe, a political associate said. The blast occurred near the minister's home in the upscale Karrada neighborhood, Interior Ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul-Rahman said. The blast sent a huge column of black spoke hundreds of feet into the hazy Baghdad sky. Haithem al-Husseini, a member of the minister's Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said Abdel-Mahdi was safe but he refused to say if the minister was in the house at the time of the blast. Al-Husseini said one guard at the minister's home was killed. The French-educated Abdel-Mahdi is a leading member of the supreme council, a major Shiite party.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 8:37:23 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
breaking on Fox - says Martial Law in place for 50 days - no links yet
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 8:00:35 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Fox now says Kurdish areas exempted
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 8:02 Comments ||
Top||
#2
oops - now 60 days - guess through the elections?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2004 8:05 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Could be Alawi told the EU. We are going to kick butts and take names. Keep your mouths shut and we will keep the oil flowing. They had to know this activity would spike pre-cutting the snakes head off.
#4
It has to be total war on the Terrorists, or they will destroy the new Iraq on the installment plan. It will be ugly, innocents will die, it will be dirty business, but it will be necessary if Iraq is to evolve into a viable country. Get it done quickly and decisively and Iraq will come out ok. Any freelancing or al Jazeera type press coverage should be fair game in the ROE, also.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/07/2004 13:34 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I think any press in the way are fair game now. It obvious they are providing propaganda for the insurgents.
TEL AVIV - Israel would allow direct flights into Gaza in the event of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's death in France, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Saturday. The reported change in policy would allow representatives from hostile Arab countries to enter Gaza and attend an Arafat funeral without passing through Israeli border controls.
I'm sure Mossad is drooling over the possibilities ...
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would allow several so-called good will guests to visit Arafat's successor, Haaretz said. Israel will also loosen humanitarian restrictions in the Palestinian territories, assuming that any new Palestinian leadership would take action against militants and enforce a ceasefire.
Israel and the Palestinians have already disagreed over a prospective burial site, with the Sharon government insisting that he be buried in Gaza. Arafat had always wanted to be buried on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which the Israelis categorically reject. "Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem, just as Osama bin Laden will not be buried in Arlington National Cemetery," Sharon spokesman Ra'anan Gissin told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Friday.
The proper analogy, even!
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/07/2004 1:32:37 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Arafat buried in the Temple Mount?
Only if every single necrophiliac's pr*ck is buried in his corpse first.
#4
Arafat should be buried where he was hatched, in Egypt, a fact the 'Pal' Arabs tend to 'overlook'.
Oh, and on the tombstone his real name would be nice for a change as well, His real name is Rahman Abdul Rauf al-Qudwa al-Husseini, the nephew of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem during the Nazi era. Uncle Husseini assisted the Nazis on condition that they would murder all the Jews in Palestine once they had won the war.
Birds of a feather...
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 2:35 Comments ||
Top||
#5
No mention of Arafat's rather direct connection to Hitler's genocide would be complete without the appropriate link.
Having concluded a pact of unity, Palestinian factions and leaders are debating two formulas to usher in the post-Yasser Arafat era, senior Palestinian sources said yesterday.
Under one formula Arafat, now on a life-support machine at a French military hospital, will be declared temporarily incapacitated. This will enable the Palestinian Authority to set up a triumvirate to assume the functions of the head of the Palestinian Authority for an unspecified period. Thus the leadership could wait for as long as necessary until it becomes clear whether or not Arafat lives and is capable of resuming his duties. "Such an arrangement will take the urgency out of the question of (Arafat's) succession," a senior Palestinian official told Arab News on condition of anonymity. "It will give the leadership to prepare for elections in good time and mobilize the resources needed."
A triumvarite is a great idea unless you're member #3, and #1 and #2 start looking at you in a certain way ...
"Yon Mahmoud hath a lean and hungry look..."
Another formula is to declare Arafat to be permanently incapacitated. Under the Palestinian Constitution, known as The Basic Law, permanent incapacity has the same effect as death. Thus the leadership would not have to wait for Arafat's fate to be decided, a process that could take months, if not more. In some cases patients are kept alive on life-support machines for years. The second formula, however, would oblige the Palestinian leadership to hold elections within 60 days. During that period the speaker of the Palestinian National Assembly will act as head of the authority.
"There is still no consensus on which formula to adopt," the source said. " But we expect a decision within days rather than weeks." He indicated that several Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, were involved in the discussions regarding the transition. In Gaza, Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei met security chiefs and representatives of Palestinian factions, a day after 14 religious and secular Palestinian groups convened and called for unity. "The demand is to form a unified leadership," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman.
Unity comes easily to Paleos ...
Option #3...Send in Al Haig.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:36:16 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
#8
Ok, I'm in command here. The Chairman is feel poorly, but I am in command. Call Sooeee and let her know I am in command and have the situation well in hand. Find Abu Clark and inform him of my being in command here and now.
Posted by: Little Al H ||
11/07/2004 13:03 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I like to lay on the floor, with some nice large pillows to prop me up. Cover up with my Hudson's Bay blanket and eat popcorn, some good crackers, meat and cheese snacks. Happy as a pig in mud. Pass the popcorn, please, Barbara, or whoever is on the popcorn shift now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/07/2004 13:59 Comments ||
Top||
#10
The Palestinian "politicians" can talk all they want. Right up to the point where Hamas and others introduce them to negotiating the Mao way.
"Power flows from the barrel of a gun."
Posted by: Stephen ||
11/07/2004 18:37 Comments ||
Top||
US forces yesterday hit Iraq's rebel stronghold of Fallujah with the fiercest air and ground bombardment in months, as insurgents struck back with attacks that killed 37 people in Samarra. The Fallujah strikes, before a threatened major assault on Saddam Hussein loyalists and militants allied to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, destroyed a hospital, a medical warehouse and dozens of homes, dazed residents said after a sleepless night. Hospital staff said ambulances had been unable to go out as the city shook to explosions. Later, they collected two dead and seven wounded civilians, among them women and children. With a US-led offensive on Fallujah apparently imminent, rebels hit back with attacks in Samarra, Baghdad, Ramadi - another rebel-held city to be included in any Fallujah offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:45:05 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
Four car bombs and attacks on three police stations in the central Iraqi town of Samarra have left at least 37 people dead and 62 wounded. A health official said 23 people, including nine policemen, were killed and 40 wounded, among them 17 policemen, in the first three bomb explosions on Saturday in the town north of Baghdad. The fourth blast occurred at 12:30pm (0930 GMT) when a bomber rammed a car into a police station, killing 10 Iraqi police officers and wounding five, police said. The local commander of the Iraqi rapid reaction force, Brigadier Abd al-Razzaq al-Jarmin, was among the dead in the first two blasts near the town hall and a nearby checkpoint. Samarra's mayor, Major General Tariq Uwaid, was wounded. "I saw a car trying to reach the town hall," bookshop owner Muhammad Ahmad said. "When police stopped it, it exploded."
Police said anti-US forces carried out simultaneous attacks on three police stations in Samarra, north of Baghdad, killing four policemen, wounding 17 and capturing 10. Another car bomb exploded later, targeting a US convoy that was trying to reach the scene of the first two bombings, police said. They had no word on casualties in that attack. A US military spokesman gave no information about the attack. "I cannot confirm at this stage if there was any attack on an MNF (multinational force) convoy or checkpoint in Samarra." Witnesses said US troops opened fire amid chaotic scenes in the city centre, hitting some cars. Rescue services could not immediately reach them to evacuate any casualties.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:42:00 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
Iraq is determined to "flush out" the insurgents and their foreign allies from their last remaining hideouts well ahead of next January's elections, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in an interview conducted in Brussels. He called on "all those interested in the rule of law" to help his government crush the insurgents and hold elections in 12 weeks' time. "We cannot allow pockets of our national territory to remain outside Iraqi authority," he said. "We consider those pockets as chunks of Iraq that remain to be liberated."
There you have it. Why have a government if it's not going to govern all the country?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:33:09 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The interim prime minister said he had rejected a demand by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to consider postponing the assault on Fallujah. âThe same people who talk like that would criticize us if we held the elections with Fallujah and a few other places left out,â he said.
#2
Sock, we could not have said it better. The man is right on target. Allawi sees right through Kofi's stall game.
I wonder how PM Allawi feels about all the attention the Ivory Coast is receiving since Chirac is so friendly with Kofi and the U.N. hacks?
"We had better use my Litchenstein account."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 2:18 Comments ||
Top||
#4
1st reports of military operations underway. About damn time. moose-limb fascisti are about to get a lesson in warfare. God bless our troops!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
11/07/2004 4:31 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Kofi Annan's recent statements --attempting to give legitimacy to the terrorists in Fallujah, and shelter them from military action-- should be amply sufficient reason to STOP UN workers from entering Iraq during their elections.
I suspect Annan is an Islamofascist mole. He has never said or done anything against Islamofascism. But he has always sought to hamper their victims.
#7
Coffee sealed his fate when he decided to publicly oppose Bush's re-election. I'm sure Jacques will have a job for him now that Arafish is indisposed.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/07/2004 9:54 Comments ||
Top||
#8
âWe consider those pockets as chunks of Iraq that remain to be liberated.â
How pleasant to encounter such an unexpected degree of lucidity coming from within Iraq. Tyranny is tyranny, whether Baathist dictatorship or theocratic authoritarianism, it makes little or no difference. Both are the avowed enemies of liberty. Kofi Annan's role as an appeaser of such totalitarianism goes beyond shameful and into the realm of outright criminality.
Let freedom ring
Let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today,
is a day of a reckoning
Let the weak be strong
Let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away
Let the guilty pay
It's Independence Day
Indian troops have captured an important rebel stronghold in the northeastern state of Manipur, close to the border with Burma, the army said yesterday. Around 6,000 troops have been deployed in a major military operation against rebel-controlled regions of Manipur this week, with the help of Burma which has closed its border to cut off escape routes. The army said it had re-established control over Sajik Tampak, a stretch of thick forested mountains where an estimated 2,000 rebels had set up their camps. "Sajik Tampak is no longer a 'liberated zone' because of the army presence, but the area is yet to be completely cleared of rebels," Major Santanu Dev Goswami, military spokesman in Imphal, the capital of Manipur, said. "Operations are going on every day to clear the remaining areas."
Civil government officials have reopened offices in small towns and villages in the area, which had been out of bounds for several years. The area lies in Chandel district, just 80km south of Imphal. The Indian army says it has attacked more than 100 rebel bases in Manipur since Monday. Police officials in Chandel said at least 30 rebels had been killed and 50 arrested, while the military said two soldiers died after stepping on a landmine.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2004 11:50:05 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Yasser Arafat lay 
