The foreign minister of the Taliban, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, surrendered to Afghan government officials yesterday and was turned over to U.S. forces, U.S. officials said last night. He is believed to be the highest-ranking member of the deposed Taliban regime to be taken into custody. Cuba is nice this time of year.
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02/09/2002 ||
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A CIA-launched missile strike this week in a former al-Qaeda stronghold in eastern Afghanistan appeared to have hit its target -- a tall man who was being treated with great deference by those around him. An official said the individual was believed to be a senior al-Qaeda official but would not say whether suspicions centered on Osama bin Laden. "He was clearly someone who was senior," the official said. "But beyond that I can't take you any further than that, and there are a number of senior al-Qaeda guys who are taller than average." Air Force General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more than 50 US troops were inserted in the Zhawar Kili area to determine who was hit in the strike but had not yet reported on any finds from the site. Doubt if it was Binny. Still, it's not a good time to be a tall, bearded man in Afghanistan.
It would be an interesting footnote in DoD history if OBL got done in by a weapon system that didn't exist 4 months ago. Rumsfeld has been trying to torque the Pentagon into the transformation mode, and putting Maverick AGMs on Predator recon planes was verboten until after 11 Sept. Getting the recon systems reclassified as a weapons system was bureaucratic nightmare, and hopefully putting away OBL will be indicative of how the Pentagon might be starting to transform, albeit kicking and screaming all the way. Posted by Tom Roberts 2/9/2002 1:40:28 PM
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Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein showed "no change of attitude" despite Turkish warnings that U.N. weapons inspectors should be allowed to return to avoid possible U.S. military action. Ecevit said he had written to Saddam earlier in the week telling him Ankara sought to avert the threat of U.S. attacks, but success depended on "removal of the obstacles before the U.N. inspections on armaments."
Anybody have a good reason why Iraq is a geopolitical necessity? They certainly have done their best over 2 decades to show they certainly aren't an economic or diplomatic necessity. Balancing the Iranians in the Gulf is a pretty thin excuse of a reason when the mullahs have done their best to run Iran into the ground over the same time frame. Posted by Tom Roberts 2/9/2002 12:49:37 PM
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Iran has detained a number of non-Afghan Taliban supporters caught trying to cross its territory and may put them on trial, the country's intelligence minister said. The minister, Ali Yunesi, did not specify how many Taliban supporters Iran is holding but said none are members of al-Qaida. Yunesi said the men were caught in the area where the borders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan meet. They were headed for a third country which the minister did not identify. "Fortunately, we arrested them and we'll either try them in Iran or do whatever international law calls for,'' Yunesi said in comments carried on state radio. What are they if they're not al-Qaeda? Y'mean, like third-party clients? GIA, perhaps, or Hamas, there for a little advanced instruction in tailoring? They were no doubt peacefully going about their business at the training camps - without joining al-Qaeda - when the war cut them off, no doubt.
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A high-ranking officer of the Iranian intelligence and security services menaced the United States and Israel with "suicide attacks" against their soldiers and disclosed that "many young Iranians were preparing for suicide operations" against them. The warning, published in the hard-line evening daily "Keyhan", was delivered by Hoseyn Shariâatmadari, the official interrogator of Iranian political prisoners, appointed as the Editor of the daily by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the FuehrerDuce leader of the Islamic Republic. "Maybe Bush, his acolytes and America do not know that the pleasure and eagerness of martyrdom and killing American and Israeli military men are filling the hearts of great masses of Iranian people", Mr. Shariâatmadari told some pro-Khameneh'i "talabeh", or students in Islamic theology in the city of Qom. Hey, good idea. It worked really well for the Afghan "talabeh," too. That's how they beat the US and... Oh. They didn't.
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"A leader must know how to forgive, and I forgive Sharon. From the bottom of my heart, I send him this message: Please, Sharon, let us go back to the negotiating table," Chairman-for-Life Yasser Arafat told the Israeli daily Maariv. In Washington, Sharon failed in a meeting to convince Bush to boycott Arafat and rely on other Palestinian leaders for negotiations. "I forgive you. Now will you quick kicking me in the crotch?" Not publicly dumping Yasser is one of Bush's few mistakes. He's going to regret it.
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned of chaos in the Middle East if anything happened to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Mubarak stressed he was not defending Arafat himself but rather peace and stability in the region. What the hell do they have now? Interesting he should mention that he's not defending Arafat himself. He'd probably be just as happy to see Abdulla bin Schmoe step up and take over, if he could be found. But as long as they keep Yasser, no successor is going to arise. As soon as he starts, he'll have an "unfortunate accident." Post-Yasser Palestinian leadership will come from somewhere else - like Hamas.
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Fleeing al-Qaida are getting into southern Lebanon and hooking up with Hezbollah, according to Israel's defense minister. Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, head of the Israeli defense department went a step further than U.S. claims that Lebanon could provide safe haven for al-Qaida. "More and more information is coming that members of al-Qaida are entering Lebanon and joining Hezbollah," Ben-Eliezer told journalists. The leader of Hezbollah dismissed the claims. "It is a ridiculous allegation," Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said during a speech in Beirut. "Had al-Qaida members been able to flee from Afghanistan and come to hide in Lebanon, this would be proof of the failure of American security."
The only reason why I'd discount this rumor is that Hizbollah is Shi'ite oriented and al Qaeda is filled with Wahabbi Sunnis. Just because two tom cats don't like my dog doesn't mean they like each other. Posted by Tom Roberts 2/9/2002 1:26:23 PM
I think religion's only a part of the draw. They're all making Common Cause Against the Hated Infidel. The common bond is guns and explosives and turbans. Think of it as professional courtesy. Posted by Fred 2/10/2002 12:11:25 PM
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An Indonesian man said he financed bombings that killed 22 people in Manila in December 2000 with money from an Islamic militant group thought linked to Osama bin Laden's terror network. In the sworn statements, Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, 31, said he joined Jemaah Islamiyah while he was a student in Lahore, Pakistan in 1990-1995. Al-Ghozi said his role with Jemaah Islamiyah was as an "errand boy, messenger or liaison officer." He said he was sent to Malaysia to meet the local leader of the group, Fais Bin Abu Bakar Bafana. Al-Ghozi said one of his "contacts," identified only as Muklis, brought him to Camp Abubakar, headquarters of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, where he spent a month in 1996 studying the Filipino language and weapons training.
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Philippine police arrested a Malaysian travel agent and seized 104 "questionable" Malaysian passports and $57,000 in cash at Manila's international airport. Azmi bin Salleh was preparing to board a flight to Kuwait with a stopover in Bangkok. Bin Salleh was carrying a map of Afghanistan and a cellphone with Osama bin Laden's name displayed on the screen, but police had no immediate evidence to connect him to the al-Qaida network. $57,000 in cash and a stopover in Bangkok?
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Two Palestinians were killed when their car blew up just inside Israel, close to the border with the West Bank. Police believed the two planned to cause an explosion inside one of the nearby Israeli cities. It appeared the bomb went off prematurely. "Mahmud, what if this thing goes off before we get there?"
"Don't worry, Abdullah. I've got another one in the trunk."
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Pakistan newpaper Dawn reports that Daniel Pearl is believed to have been rescued and is scheduled to leave Islamabad for the United Kingdom on Saturday morning. A Daniel Pearl is booked on PIA flight PK-757 for London. The booking was made on Feb 4. Pak officials refused to confirm that the journalist was recovered from Karachi and when taken to Islamabad. Some sources in the police department said that Daniel Pearl was recovered early Friday morning and was immediately handed over to the US officials involved in the investigation. Pak police officially deny the rescue and say the search continues. This is probably a false report, though it could be true with three arrests made. Since they have the guys who e-mailed the pix, they could have led the cops to Pearl. Refusing to announce it could keep various elements - some of them cops and intel agencies - from trying to move in and either resnag him or bump him off to make Musharraf look bad, especially as he's about the leave for a visit to the US. Sending Pearl home just before he left would revive some of the sag that's set in to his image abroad.
Paks say "Nope"
Pakistani police denied reports that WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl had been released and was on his way home. Pakistani police officials said the reports were "baseless." We guessed that.
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Aftab Ansari alias Farhan Malik, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates and was brought to India by a CBI team. On January 25 Interpol issued a red corner notice against the Dubai-based criminal who has been wanted in India for a number of cases, including the kidnapping of a Kolkata businessman Partha Roy Burman and the more recent attack on the police picket guarding the US consulate. Shortly after the attack, Ansari called a police officer in Kolkata and claimed his role in the attack, which he had said was to avenge the killing of his associate, Asif Reza Khan in Gujarat. Ansari is described by intelligence agencies as being a part of a new breed of jehadis who use criminal activities to finance their terrorist activities. Intelligence agencies say that Ansari used the proceeds of the Roy Burman kidnapping for supporting terrorist activities and may have sent US$ 100,000 to Ahmad Umar Sheikh, a British national and associate of Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief. Caller ID is making life hard for crooks nowadays. It's interesting, the way all these dots connect: Ansari to Azhar to Omar Sheikh to Mohammad Atta to Osama bin Laden to... which clergyman in Saudi Arabia?
Ansari was on his way to Pakland
MEA special secretary Rajendra Abhyankar said the Dubai police had held Ansari and another crook on January 23. Ansari was arrested at the Dubai airport while trying to escape to Islamabad. Though India and the UAE had signed an extradition treaty in 1999, the Ansari was deported to avoid the lengthy process involved in extradition. Islamabad, huh? Wonder who he knows there? Oh, yeah. Those dots.
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Security forces gunned down a self-styled commander of the pro-Pakistani, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in a gunfight in Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir. During a search, the gunfight broke out with militants near their hideout in the hills, leaving one militant killed and another injured.
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Security forces shot dead two militants holed-up inside a Kupwara mosque in north Kashmir in the wee hours of Saturday, thus ending a day-long siege. The slain militants, both Pakistani nationals, were were reportedly members of Jaish-e-Mohammad. If you get iced in a mosque, that means you get 73 virgins. It's like extra credit.
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Singapore's sweep on a group of Muslim militants with suspected links to al Qaeda netted 15 people but some escaped, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said. The senior statesman said that during the December arrests, "five or eight others" got away. The arrest of the suspected gunnies, members of Jemaah Islamiah, was triggered by the capture of a Singapore man in Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance. It's to be expected that some will get away - the trouble is, it's usually the head cheeses. It'll be interesting to see where they ran, assuming anybody finds them. Likely they'll just try and fade in with a local population somewhere like Indonesia and lie low for a few years.
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Antar Zouabri, blamed for some of Algeria's most ruthless and lethal attacks as head of the radical Armed Islamic Group, was killed by government forces after a two-and-a-half hour gunbattle. Algeria's most wanted man died in Boufarik, some 15 miles south of Algiers. Zouabri took command of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in 1996, pushing Algeria's civil strife to its bloodiest and most gruesome limits. The government says that, under his leadership, the group slaughtered thousands of civilians who refused to back its aim of establishing a purist Islamic state. The authorities also blamed Zouabri for encouraging GIA soldiers to kidnap thousands of girls for use as sex slaves in mountainous tunnels and caves.
The GIA and another radical grouping, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), both oppose President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's plan to restore peace to Algeria by granting amnesty for rebels who surrender. A third grouping, The Islamic Salvation Army, disbanded after Bouteflika pardoned thousands of rebels in 2000. But the GIA and GSPC, led by Hassan Hattab, kept on with attacks. The world's a better place today. It's very comforting to know that he died shot full of holes with his face in the dirt.
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An Israeli woman was killed in a shooting ambush and elsewhere, Israeli forces searched a West Bank village, looking for militants connected to the killing of three other Israelis earlier in the week. The woman died shortly after being shot in the head by Palestinian gunmen on a West Bank road, south of Nablus. A second Israeli was lightly hurt. Guess the Heroic Freedom Fighters are targeting women now. They're usually easier to kill than men, and less likely to be armed.
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With the specter of a possible US offensive against Iraq looming, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that Israel would strike back this time if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein again launched missiles at Israel. In 1991, under American pressure, Israel agreed not to retaliate against Iraq when it bombarded Tel Aviv with Scud missiles. "The situation that could unfold would certainly put us in a position in which we'll have to respond," Ben-Eliezer said he told Rumsfeld.
An attack like this would be an interesting test of the ARROW missile defense system. I haven't been able to keep track of the Patriot battalion that got deployed to Israel a year ago in case of just such a scenario, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out that there are still elements of that deployment there, as they certainly aren't needed to defend Germany anymore. In any case regarding the US troops, the results of firing random SCUDs at Israel may have radically different results from what happened in 1991. Moreover, I don't think that the US will stand by idly either, but whether that means ground intervention or not is hard to say now. Posted by Tom Roberts 2/9/2002 1:34:06 PM
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A Canadian warship deployed as part of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan seized a tanker in the Arabian Sea suspected of smuggling oil from Iraq in violation of United Nations sanctions. HMCS Vancouver began tracking the suspect vessel in the Persian Gulf on Jan. 31, and its crew boarded it three days later in international waters near the Iran-Pakistan border.
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Chris Patten, the EU commissioner in charge of Europe's international relations, has launched a scathing attack on American foreign policy - accusing the Bush administration of a dangerously "absolutist and simplistic" stance towards the rest of the world. As EU officials warned of a rift opening up between Europe and the US wider than at any time for half a century, Patten tells the Guardian it is time European governments spoke up and stopped Washington before it goes into "unilateralist overdrive".
Patten insists that the European policy of "constructive engagement" with Iranian moderates and North Korea is much more likely to bring results than a US policy which so far consists of "more rhetoric than substance". Yeah. All rhetoric, no substance. What's it been? A week? What the hell has Bush been doing all that time?
Christopher at Little Green Feetsballs has a coherent discussion, and Steven den Beste adds his own insight. Glenn Reynolds add his own comments, those of some of his readers, and additional links. William Quick probably picked it up first. Europe seems to be having such a hard time comprehending the fact that Bush really used the 'E' word. Wonder what he meant by that? Posted by Fred 2/9/2002 9:55:50 PM
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
