(Reuters) - Afghan authorities have arrested an important Taliban commander in the southern border town of Spinboldak. Mullah Rehmatullah, who was commander of the Tangi area in Takhta Pul district, 50 km south of Kandahar, was arrested on Sunday in a raid in Spinboldak. Rehmatullah had been responsible for handling a stream of foreign fighters coming into Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban. Rehmatullah registered the foreign fighters, mostly Arabs and Pakistanis, and deployed them in various parts of the country, he said. A pity the Paks can't do the same on their side of the border, where most of the TaliGeneral Staff is located.
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03/25/2002 ||
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Iraq has softened its line towards Kuwait, saying for the first time in a formal document to an Arab summit that it recognises the right to security and independence of the neighbour it occupied in 1990. Didn't Sammy tear up the formal document he had with Iran on teevee and then invade them?
The new stance in Beirut, taken as Baghdad faces a threatened US attack, is in marked contrast to last year's Amman summit. President Saddam Hussein's regime then played the party-pooper, blocking any attempt to work out a resolution on Iraqi-Kuwait relations. It's only temporary. If Sammy can get through the next year with his skin intact Kuwait'll go back on the Iraqi map as the 19th province.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Iraq did not want to get involved, considering that this year's summit in the Lebanese capital should concentrate on supporting the Palestinian cause. The Palestinians become very important to Sammy when he's feeling threatened. After he occupied Kuwait, he fought the Gulf War for the Palestinians, not to try and keep the swag.
He said that only when it learned that the Kuwaitis had asked for their continued grievances to be put on the summit agenda that Iraq had countered with a document of its own. An Arab League official said Kuwait had taken a relatively hard line, listing its complaints since the Iraqi invasion in August 1990 and subsequent seven-month occupation and the question of Kuwaitis still missing from the war. Guess they haven't forgotten everything, at least not yet. Not that I believe in Arab gratitude. That and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy are all pretty much out of my system.
The Iraqi document was conciliatory, expressing "respect for the security and independence of Kuwait and stressing that the priority for Arab states was to "concentrate on the essential questions", namely the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and "threats against Arab countries." If the Kuwaitis are dumb enough to believe Iraq's good intentions, next time they're flattened I'll be out there hollering "No blood for oil" with the Ron Dellums crowd. Fool me once, it's your fault, fool me twice it's my fault.
Arab ministers also told AFP they had been pleased to see Sabri and Kuwait's minister of state for foreign affairs, Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah, having a "constructive dialogue" in an informal meeting of the Arab world's top diplomats on Sunday. "There were no harsh exchanges between the two countries as is sometimes the case in this sort of meeting," one official said. He added that it was expected that some sort of satisfactory compromise would be reached in the summit's final declaration to be approved at Thursday's end to the two-day summit. They don't have to holler at them. The cold shoulder's okay. I guess.
Saddam's regime has been stepping up efforts to improve ties with other Arab states, especially since US President George Bush's administration lumped it into an "axis of evil" with Iran and North Korea in January. The guiding thought behind the Iraqi initiative is the theory that there's one born every minute.
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03/25/2002 ||
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The A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition, which is organizing the April 20 March on Washington against War and Racism, condemns in the strongest terms the US government's raids on over 24 mainstream Muslim organizations and homes in Virginia and Georgia. "These raids have nothing to do with keeping people safe from 'terrorism.' Instead they are part of an ongoing campaign of anti-Arab racism and anti-Muslim bigotry Bush has whipped up in the US to complement his non-stop war policies in the Middle East," said Larry Holmes, a co-director of the International Action Center, one of the members of the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition.
"More and more this campaign is beginning to resemble mass hysteria and internment campaigns organized against Japanese Americans during World War II," added Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice LDEF, also with A.N.S.W.E.R. "Already well over 1,200 Middle Eastern people have been the target of mass sweeps and held in isolation and detention centers for over six months. Thousands of others have been interrogated, questioned, and threatened." ANSWER is Ramsey Clark's antiantiterror Kiddie Klub. They're so anti-American they're boring. I wonder why Arab News never carries any content from blogs? Hmmm?
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03/25/2002 ||
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A Kashmiri separatist leader has been arrested under an anti-terrorism law in connection with the seizure of large sums of cash India says was smuggled into the region from Nepal. Yasin Malik, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, was holding a press conference in Srinagar when police burst in and hauled him away. Police said two suspects -- Mustaq Dar and Shazia Begum -- told police during questioning that the money was meant for Malik.
Police scuffled with around 60 Malik supporters, and lobbed a tear gas shell after the leader's arrest sparked street protests near his Srinagar residence. The JKLF is a former militant group that laid down its arms and became a political party. Malik -- who is also an executive member of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, Kashmir's main separatist alliance -- has denied any link to the seized cash, totaling $100,000 dollars. The leader has been quoted as saying that Indian authorities were attempting to use the seizure to undermine Kashmir's separatist leadership. "They consider me an impediment in coming state legislature elections," Malik told The Associated Press, adding that his party had announced a boycott of the elections in September.
The Indian government is trying to persuade the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of more than two dozen political and religious groups in Kashmir, to participate in the elections. Wonder where all that dough originated before getting to Nepal, and what it was meant for? Just the other day, Nepal was saying it's getting tired of the foreign hard boys hanging around, and India seems to think the country's crawling with ISI agents. Wonder if this could have had anything to do with that?
A bit more detail: Begum revealed during interrogation that she had received the money from Pakistan administered Kashmir based Hurriyat leader Altaf Qadri at a hotel in Bagh Bazar in Kathmandu, and was told "this money was to be delivered to Yasin Malik in Srinagar." What a surprise that the Pak side of the border was involved and that the Paks are subsidizing the Hurriyat.
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03/25/2002 ||
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India and Nepal have jointly unearthed an ISI plot to step up militancy and destabilise the economies of both the countries. The ISI had succeeded in bringing together Nepalâs Maoists and insurgent and terrorist groups in India, including the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and Peopleâs War (PW). âThe ISI had this elaborate plan of pumping huge amounts of counterfeit currency into Nepal and eastern India and orchestrating simultaneous strikes by the Maoists in Nepal and the ultra-Leftists, the ULFA, the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) and other militant groups in India,â an intelligence source said.
An Indian intelligence agency unearthed this plot a few months ago. New Delhi alerted Kathmandu, which unearthed more details. Consultations were then held between the intelligence establishments of the two countries since early January. âIt was thanks to (this) close cooperation ⊠that the ⊠plot could be uncovered,â the source said.
The ISI had also put in place a channel for smuggling drugs into Nepal. âThe drugs consignments were to have been routed through Kathmandu to the West. The huge yields from this operation would have gone to provide arms and other logistical support to the militants in both countries. The money would also have been used to fund the ISI itself since the covert agency, especially its cells dealing with overseas operations, had been facing budget cuts because of strong US pressure on Islamabad to clip the ISIâs wings,â the source said.
The ISI had also been planning to convert parts of western Nepal, where Maoists hold sway, as safe havens for Kashmiri militants. During Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deubaâs visit to New Delhi last week, the two countries decided to set up joint working groups to counter the ISIâs activities in the two countries. The agreement was kept under wraps at Kathmanduâs request. If this is a true report rather than just propaganda - we did have those riots in Gujarat, didn't we? - then it's another black eye for ISI. That's okay, though. Pakland's already on the US poop list and probably won't get off.
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03/25/2002 ||
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Sources said Musharraf also wants to avoid agitating the thousands of "jihadis," who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan or are doing battle in Indian-held Kashmir. None of the fighters has been prosecuted or even disarmed, the sources said. "There may not be any other country in the world which has at least 10,000 nonmilitary personnel who were ready to give their lives," a top Pakistani security official said. Pakistanâs intelligence agencies have long had covert ties to militant and âjihadiâ groups in Pakistan â ties nurtured to help successive Pakistani governments support the now-defunct Taliban, as well as pressing Pakistanâs battle against Indian troops in Kashmir.
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03/25/2002 ||
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Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed has rejected the governmentâs invitation to meet President Pervez Musharraf until a final decision is taken by the religious partiesâ alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal. "We have received an invitation from the government to meet Musharraf on March 27. The invitation is for a Jamaat delegation. However, Qazi Hussain Ahmed has rejected it until Muttahida Majlis-e-Amalâs meeting on April 2", Qaziâs spokesman S. A. Shami disclosed on Sunday. He added, "The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal meeting chaired by Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani will finally decide whether to meet Musharraf or not."
"Amir [Fuehrer] Jamaat-i-Islami was earlier also invited for a meeting with Musharraf but he had rejected it on grounds that a delegation was not invited. Now Jamaat has rejected it until MMA decides about it", Shamsi said. "We will also stage countrywide protests against the government on March 29 for its failed policies". The spokesman said that the country was facing internal and external dangers due to wrong policies of the regime.
"They have compromised on each and everything, they have even went to the extent to withdraw from the principled stand on Kashmir", he said. "Kashmir runs in our blood. We cannot betray the Kashmiri freedom fighters. The rulers have withdrawn from the stand and we will not tolerate it anymore".
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03/25/2002 ||
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A Nigerian sharia appeal court freed a mother of five Monday who had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery. She had been condemned to death despite saying she was raped in a judgement by a lower Muslim court that sparked world outrage. Even as 35-year-old Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu smiled with relief in the northern city of Sokoto, news filtered out that another woman had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in a remote corner of a nearby state.
Amina Lawal Kurami, had been sentenced to death by stoning in the remote village of Bakori in Katsina state Friday. She was charged with having a baby out of wedlock. The man she said lured her into having sex denied it. The judge acquitted the man because she could not produce four witnesses as demanded by the Islamic penal code, but ordered that the death sentence should be delayed for eight months to allow Amina to breastfeed her baby. Those ignorant bastards are determined to kill somebody, aren't they? And the sheep victims just stand around and say "Oh, dear, somebody's going to stone me to death," instead of "Not me, beppy. Keep your shariah, 'cuz I'm a Buddhist. Wanna see me do something Tantric?"
There's no way out of Islam in the barbarian view of things. The traditional punishment for a Muslim who renounces Islam is -- you could guess -- death. Posted by Anonymous 3/26/2002 2:26:57 PM
If it was me, I'd join the mafia. There's more money in it, and the penalty for quitting's the same. Posted by Fred 3/26/2002 3:51:20 PM
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03/25/2002 ||
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Talks are scheduled to resume Monday between Palestinian and Israeli security officials and U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni in hopes of brokering a cease-fire in the region. The resumption of talks comes after similar meetings held Sunday ended without result. The main issue dividing the two sides is the Israeli request for more proof that the Palestinians will act against terror. I could never be a Middle East peace negotiator, going over the same old point over and over and over again, watching one agreement after another evaporate until the two sides finally "agreed" -- only to have the whole thing ignored by Yasser's hard boys as they moved on to the next stage with the aim of winning another concession or two...
The US can always pull in veterans of the negotiations at Panmunjom [http://members.aol.com/panmunjom/panmunjo.html] to keep the negotiating spirits bright and shiny. Posted by Tom Roberts 3/25/2002 1:44:07 PM
Actually, if you look at the history, both sides have broken the ceasefire at various times. In Israel's case, the most egregious was the assassination which followed the 14 days of quiet around Christmas time. Posted by Reg Simon 3/25/2002 2:46:32 PM
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03/25/2002 ||
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was due to meet senior ministers to discuss lifting a travel ban on Palestinian Authority President-for-Life Yasser Arafat and allow him to attend the Arab League summit on Wednesday and Thursday in Beirut, Lebanon. Ha'aretz quoted an Israeli Defense Ministry official, saying that Sharon's security cabinet appeared unlikely to allow Arafat to attend the Arab summit. "Well, fine then. If you're gonna be mean, I'll just have somebody explode!"
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03/25/2002 ||
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Vice President Cheney said he had no immediate plans to return to the Middle East to meet with Arafat. Cheney said the United States was waiting for Arafat to begin carrying out the cease-fire proposal put forward last year by CIA Director George Tenet. Cheney, who recently came back from a Mideast tour, promised to return to the region and meet with Arafat once the Palestinian leader showed a commitment toward implementing the Tenet plan, which calls for a cease-fire, a cooling-off period and a resumption of negotiations. "If in fact Arafat will do what he in the past has said he will do, if he will actually deliver on the Tenet plan, if he'll move to put a lid on the violence and do what's required," Cheney said, "for example, sharing of intelligence information, take responsibility for securing their own areas so attacks can't be launched against the Israelis and vice versa -- if in fact those steps are actually implemented, then at that point I'll be prepared to meet with Mr. Arafat. To date, that hasn't happened, and therefore has been no meeting currently scheduled." That's a fairly blunt public observation that Yasser's all fuss and bluster and no action toward peace.
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03/25/2002 ||
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The Israeli prime minister has announced that he will not permit Yasser Arafat to attend the Arab summit conference in Beirut, stating that he did not do what is conducive to reducing acts of violence last week. Israeli radio quoted Sharon as saying during a session for the mini Israeli Cabinet that Vice President Dick Cheney did not meet with Arafat because Arafat did not carry out even one condition of those laid out by Cheney. On the other hand, the Israeli defense minister Benjamin Bin Eliazer said in the same session that Israel has decided to pursue the policy of self control towards the executors of the operations against Israel and this, as he claimed, stems from the Israeli desire to provide a success for the current mission of the US envoy Anthony Zinni. Shoulda let him go and then not let him come back.
One can always hope... Posted by Anonymous 3/26/2002 2:28:19 PM
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03/25/2002 ||
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The Philippine military has rejected an offer from Abu Sayyaf rebels to release a hostage in exchange for a temporary cease-fire and medical care for one of its commanders, a Philippine military spokesman said. Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu of the southern command received a message from relatives of Abu Sayyaf commander Bakal Hapilon, saying the rebel group was willing to exchange hostage, Deborah Yap, a Philippine nurse, for a temporary ceasefire and medical treatment for Hapilon. Hapilon was critically injured last week in a battle between Philippine military and the Abu Sayyaf. Detoyato said Cimatu rejected the offer, saying there would be no ceasefire and demanding the unconditional surrender of the hostages and Abu Sayyaf. Rebels were told if they surrender, they will receive medical treatment but will still be charged, according to Detoyato.
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03/25/2002 ||
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A Cambodian court sentenced 18 people on Monday for terrorism and membership of an illegal armed group in the latest trial of members of a U.S.-based militia accused of plotting to overthrow the government. After two-week trial at Battambang provincial court, the 18 alleged members of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF) were sentenced to jail terms ranging from seven to 18 years. More than 70 CFF members, some in absentia, have already been sentenced in three previous trials. The CFF, headed by California-based accountant Chhun Yasith, claimed responsibility for a bloody shoot-out in Phnom Penh in November 2000 that left at least four dead and a dozen injured. Sympathy meter reading is still zero. If you stage shootouts, you should get locked up as a danger to society. Maybe in Cambodia, of all places, especially.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/25/2002 ||
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Reports are surfacing in Kashmir of local outfits staging a comeback have started pouring in from Pakistan-Controlled-Kashmir (PCK), where almost all militant outfits are based. According to the details made available by a local news agency, quite a few outfits would remain active in the coming days as all the smaller outfits have been directed to merge into them.
This year's lineup will include Hizbul Mujahideen, Jamiat-Ul-Mujahideen, Tehreek-Ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-e-Jehad-e-Islami, Al-Umar Mujahideen, Tehreek-e-Jehad, Islamic Front and Kashmir Resistance Force trying to dominate the militancy in the state in the near future.
Al-Khalid, a stray group of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), has merged into HM after three years of independent existence. Another group, Al-Badr Mujahideen has joined Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, and Hijb-e-Islami has been directed to join the Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen outfit, the report said.
Negotiations for merger between Tehreek-e-Jehad-e-Islami and Al-Baraq are stated to be in the final stages and they are merging under a new name. They will continue to offer the same fine product line, however.
Similarly the stray group of Tehreek-e-Jehad that was operating under a PCK militant commander Ishfaq Balwal under code name Third Brigade has returned to the mother outfit. While Karvan-e-Jehad has been directed to merge into Al-Umar Mujahideen, Lashker-e-Islami has been asked to merge into Islamic Front.
The reports said all the militant outfits floated by various factions of the Peoplesâ League have managed to forge a single outfit called Kashmir Resistance Force (KRF). The KRF will draw its cadres from the Al-Jehad, Hizbullah, Muslim Janbaaz Force and Al-Fateh. Since all these outfits, floated by various factions of the league, have strong Kashmiri identity, the aim of the exercise is to get back militancy to the locals in order to whitewash the allegations that non-local outfits are running the show in the name of Kashmir.
Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, the two outfits having sizable non-Kashmiri membership have been asked to work with local outfits, as the the two are already in trouble because of the crackdown launched by Pakistan against the Jehadi cult after the September 11 and December 13 attacks in the US and India respectively.
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03/25/2002 ||
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Al-Jehad has resurfaced in Kashmir valley warning people not to take part in assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The outfit, in a statement published by some local Urdu dailies, today said "We have not rendered sacrifices for power, but our struggle is based on the goal of freedom." Without naming anybody, the statement warned secessionist leaders engaged in making ways to participate in the assembly elections to keep away or get ready for the consequences.
Al-Jehad was one of the front-ranking militant outfits in the Valley in early 90s and disappeared after the arrest and killing of its leadership and hundreds of cadres. Al-Jehadâs leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz, who later joined Hurriyat and became its executive member, is presently undergoing detention under Public Safety Act after arrest last year. Al-Jehad is the second militant outfit which warned Hurriyat leaders not to participate in the assembly polls.
Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front (JKLF) warned Hurriyat leadeship of "serious consequences" if they participate in elections, while another militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen asked the state government employees to stay away from the poll process. "If any Hurriyat leader including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabir Ahmad Shah are found involved in any (election) activity, it would attract serious consequences," JKIF had said.
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03/25/2002 ||
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The Manual of rioting is back in circulation. Even as the government and the Gujarat Police talk about the "spontaneous" nature of the riots that followed Godhra, the pattern of violence can be found in guidelines laid down in a pro-Hindu booklet. The booklet â Save Hindus: Attacks and Laws â first surfaced in Gujarat two years ago after the withdrawal of an order that allowed government employees to participate in RSS programmes.
The terror manual stated that an organised attack on minorities could be made to look like a 'spontaneous' reaction by the public. The primer illustrated how a crowd had beaten to death a boy and a girl in Halvad town many years ago in full view of court officials, but no one was prosecuted as thousands were involved.
The same pattern was followed in the post-Godhra violence in which rioters escaped under the cover of anonymity. Aside from guidelines on how to register complaints against minorities for their 'Vidharmi' (non-believer) acts, the 12-page booklet advised the Hindu 'samaj' to implicate senior missionaries in false cases. "They may not be convicted, but they should be made to go up and down the courts for months..."
A Gujarat Police official said the recent mob attacks had some similarities to the guidelines. "Prosecution can be made difficult by increasing the number of the accused," he said. "Evidence is weakened in such cases." However, the joint general secretary of the state VHP, Kaushik Patel, denied the booklet was issued by them. But he said the guidelines were issued to the "Hindu samaj" at large and the VHP wasn't bothered by it. But naturally. They didn't do that good a job of making it look spontaneous, did they?
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03/25/2002 ||
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Army soldiers clashed with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) gunnies in part of the MILFâs Camp Abubakar in Buldon town of Maguindanao, part of which had been captured by the military. The military claimed that four separatist rebels and one soldier were killed. Local army spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando said MILF fighters fired mortars toward an army detachment, prompting a swift response by the soldiers. He said five improvised land mines apparently planted by the separatists to slow down pursuing troops were recovered.
An MILF commander had a different story. Commander Gordon Saifullah of the MILFâs GHQ Division made no mention of any casualty, admitting army troops were able to penetrate the MILFâs Sultan Base inside Camp Abubakar. But, he said, the "intruders" beat a hasty retreat after separatist fighters mounted a counterattack and threw a cordon around them. He said the army men have not gotten any support for the past three days and MILF fighters were raring to teach them a lesson. However, Saifullah said, the "intruders" managed to slip out of the cordon on Saturday night, taking advantage of a heavy downpour. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said "the assault on Sultan Base is a test mission to determine the presence of MILF forces in the elevated parts of Camp Abubakar."
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03/25/2002 ||
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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.
