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Paks arrest Abu Zubaydah
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Axis of Evil
US Persian Gulf presence growing
  • The U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf has increased substantially due to the war in Afghanistan, but there's little doubt the new troops and equipment could be turned on Iraq in a future offensive. The number of U.S. military personnel in the Gulf region and Central Asia — from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan — has increased from fewer than 25,000 to nearly 80,000, since the Sept. 11 attacks.

    While about 7,000 are in Afghanistan, thousands more have been sent to the Gulf region to support the Afghan operation. In Kuwait — at Iraq's door — the number of American troops has nearly doubled, from 5,500 to about 10,500, since Sept. 11, defense officials said. Most are support personnel who keep planes flying and food flowing to troops in the field. But Gen. Tommy Franks, who commands U.S. forces in the region, said he's considering augmenting the ground combat force in Kuwait, which now numbers 3,500 to 4,000 troops. In Saudi Arabia, weapons and other gear are being pulled out of long-term storage. Some computer and communications equipment is going to a previously secret base in Qatar, potentially giving U.S. forces a command center outside of Saudi Arabia, where there's little support for a new offensive against Iraq.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Home Front
    Nut crashes Tallahassee mosque
  • A man accused of driving his pickup truck into a mosque and yelling anti-Muslim threats this week has been charged with committing a hate crime. In federal court Thursday, Charles D. Franklin also was ordered to undergo a mental health examination. No one was injured in the crash Monday about 30 minutes before evening prayers at the Islamic Center of Tallahassee. On a tape played in federal court, Franklin said he "wanted to blow the ... Muslims up," during an interview with Tallahassee police. The hate crime charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
    Just give him one of these jackets with the real, real long sleeves. He's a routine goof. Then we can discuss how Saudi nuts drive their pickups into the basilica in Riyadh... Oh. They don't. I wonder why?
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


    India-Pakistan
    Qazi acquitted on incitement to violence charges
  • An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore today acquitted chief of Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed in connection with a criminal case registered against him by the police for inciting violence during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to the city in February 1999. Ahmed was formally acquitted after he appeared before the court on Saturday. His lawyers defended him saying he was innocent and the charges framed against him were baseless and without any concrete proof. A criminal case was registered against him by the then Nawaz Sharif government for staging rallies when Vajpayee undertook his bus journey to Lahore.
    Next time Perv mentions a "crackdown" on terrorism, somebody pee on his leg.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Middle East
    Boomers infiltrating from West Bank explode in firefight
  • An Israeli police officer was killed when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli patrol near the boundary between the West Bank and Israel on Saturday. The two gunmen were then killed in a barrage of return fire. The attack occurred near the Arab towns of Baka al-Sharkiya and Baka al-Gharbiya, which are divided by the "green line" demarcating the border between Israel and the West Bank. After coming under attack, paramilitary police returned fire, killing one of the gunmen. Police gunfire then caused the second car to explode, killing the second gunman. The blast was apparently caused by an explosives belt worn by one of the gunmen in the car.
    These are the attack of the heroic 335th Heavy Boomer Corps.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


    EU protests
  • The 15 European Union nations collectively protested Israel's attack on Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters Friday, with Italy pressing Israel to guarantee the Palestinian leader's safety. The EU also called on Israel to withdraw its troops from the town of Ramallah. At the same time, the EU urged the Palestinian Authority to halt the current "spiral of violence" and punish those responsible for the recent string of attacks on Israelis.
    That was effectual, wasn't it?
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Goof is trapped with Arafat...
  • An American medic spent the night trapped alongside Yasser Arafat in the Palestinian leader's offices, surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks. His message to his fiancee on Saturday: "Phone lines have been cut. Need Red Cross."
    War and politix make strange bedfellows, don't they?
    Adam Shapiro, a 30-year-old volunteer medic originally from New York City, entered Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday to evacuate Arafat guards wounded in exchanges of fire in the Israeli assault, said his Palestinian fiancee, Huweida Arraf.
    Just walked in off the street and offered to help, and they said "Hell, yeah!" As the famous Cuban philospher R.Ricardo once said, "I dun bliv it."
    When the Israeli troops and tanks took over the compound - an area about the size of a city block - and sealed it off, Shapiro was trapped. Arraf said Israeli troops prevented Shapiro and another foreigner, Caoimhe Butterly of Dublin, Ireland, from leaving the compound.
    Something about lying in the bed he made, no doubt...
    The Israeli military said it was unaware of foreigners in Arafat's headquarters, but said no one was permitted to enter or leave the compound, except in humanitarian cases.
    "Come and talk to me when you have something important to discuss."
    One Palestinian was killed and more than two dozen wounded in Arafat's headquarters during the Israeli assault, launched as part of a large-scale military operation after a string of Palestininian attacks. Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed elsewhere in Ramallah Friday.
    Surprised the casualties were so low. 'Course, most of them probably got out of Dodge about the time the pieces of the hotel boomer were starting to hit the floor.
    Shapiro, a member of an international solidarity movement with the Palestinians, spent the night sitting on the floor in a room in Arafat's three-story office building. "He's physically fine, although worried and a little scared," Arraf told The Associated Press by telephone from Ramallah.
    I'm not Jewish, but I have to ask: What the hell's somebody named Shapiro doing expressing his solidarity with the Palestinians? Explains loads about how he happened to be there, why the thugs let him in, and how his mind works.
    Shapiro communicated with his fiance by cell phone, sometimes by text message. He told her that two of the wounded Palestinians in the compound need oxygen, including one who had suffered a mild heart attack.
    Maybe they should come out with their hands up. Maybe Shapiro should, too.
    Arraf last spoke to Shapiro at 9 a.m. Saturday, but since then has lost all contact with him. Earlier, Shapiro had called her to tell her about the meal he had shared with Arafat."I don't think there's a lot of food. He was like 'I just had breakfast with the president,'" Arraf said.
    Gosh. Something to tell your children about before they explode.
    Shapiro, a native of Brooklyn, has been living in the West Bank town of Ramallah for three years, said Arraf.
    And his neighbors just live him, we're sure.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Israelis move into Beit Jalla
  • Early Saturday morning, Israeli tanks rumbled into the Palestinian town of Beit Jalla, adjacent to biblical Bethlehem, where Christians are observing Easter weekend. However, the troops did not enter Bethlehem. The Israeli forces did not face any serious resistance, but one tank flipped over as it attempted to negotiate a sharp curve on the way into Beit Jalla, just south of Jerusalem. Palestinian gunmen in Beit Jalla have frequently fired on a nearby Jewish area.
    FoxNews says Fatah is threatening bloody retaliation. That's distinct from bloody whatever-the-hell-it-was yesterday and the day before and the day before...
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Smoking rats out of their holes
  • In the center of Ramallah, less than a mile from Arafat's compound, Israeli troops waged a firefight Saturday morning with Palestinian gunmen holed up in an office building. The Israelis fired rockets into the building, shattering windows, igniting a fire and sending large plumes of smoke into the sky. Israeli troops using loudspeakers then called on Palestinian militants inside to surrender. Eventually, a group of 15 came out into the street with their hands up and had their hands tied by the Israelis. Several were allowed to go back inside to bring out those wounded and suffering from smoke inhalation. The injured were placed in an armored Israeli medical vehicle and taken away for treatment.
    And none of them blew up? Surprising.

  • Sakher Habash, a senior figure in Arafat's Fatah movement, was arrested in Ramallah, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Palestinian sources said he detained elsewhere in the city, not at the site of the shootout.
    Hope he's not the only one they're rounding up. There should be lots of them. Don't forget Sheikh Yassin, the head of Hamas.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Teevee cameraman shot in the face in West Bank
  • A Palestinian television cameraman was wounded in the face on Friday while driving a van through the streets of the West Bank city of Ramallah after it was occupied by Israeli forces retaliating for Palestinian terror attacks. Video footage filmed by a passenger in the car showed bullets penetrating the windshield, some of them shattering the van's back window as they exited. The source of fire was not clear from the footage. At least one bullet struck cameraman Carlos Handal in the mouth. He managed to stop and get out of the van - which was marked with "TV" signs - holding his face with one hand. He was hospitalized in moderate condition.

    Handal, from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, works as a free-lance cameraman for Abu Dhabi TV and the Egyptian-based Nile TV, fellow journalists said. Daniel Seaman, an Israeli government spokesman, said Israeli troops do not shoot at media vehicles. He said the incident wouldn't be investigated. "There is a war going on," he said. "Ramallah is closed to the media. There is no way to find the source of the shooting, and we told journalists this morning that they enter Ramallah at their own risk."
    That's Hebrew for "Come talk to me when you have something important to discuss." If he'd been wounded covering something else - say, a Jewish Passover dinner in a nice hotel - then it would come as a surprise. Driving down the road in the middle of a firefight doesn't qualify.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


    UN demands Israel withdraw
  • The United States and other U.N. Security Council members adopted a resolution on Saturday that calls on Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah. The 14-0 vote capped a marathon emergency session called at the request of the Palestinians. It came a day after Israel declared the Palestinian leader an enemy and launched an extensive military campaign in response to a series of attacks on Israeli civilians. Saturday's vote was boycotted by Syria, which sought a resolution making no reference to Palestinian suicide bombings. The resolution adopted by the council expresses "grave concern" at the recent suicide bombings in Israel.
    That "grave concern" is real effective. I'm sure there'll never be another suicide boomer now that they've expressed "grave concern."

    The tactics being employed here are identical to those of the obnoxious child who picks, picks, picks at his older, larger brother until the older, larger brother hauls off and whacks him. The obnoxious little brat at that point hollers for "Mom!" and Mom whacks the older kid, which is what the smaller one was aiming for all the while.

    The Syrians are typically hollering "Look at his sins, not at mine."

    It tiresome and stupid. It's also ineffectual, so why bother? Just to get a "condemnation" on paper to whack them with again later.


  • A U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities drew Israeli criticism and a qualified Palestinian welcome on Saturday.
    Wotta surprise. Careful with that feather.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


    Yasser still stuck in his office
  • With a mobile phone his only link to the world, Palestinian President-for-Life Yasser Arafat remained confined to his three-story office building Saturday by Israeli troops. Israeli soldiers have have cut the electricity and water and taken over the rest of his headquarters compound."I can say that the Israelis are just a few meters from President Arafat," said Ribhi Arafat, an aide to the Palestinian leader who also was inside the besieged building. "There are Israeli tanks outside the building and a big number of Israeli soldiers." With no electricity, Arafat has his staff used candles during the night.
    Let him out in March, 2009. That should do it.

  • Only a door separated Israeli soldiers from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's private office on Saturday after a night of continuous shelling and shooting around his headquarters, aides said. Tawfiq al-Tirawi, head of Palestinian intelligence in the West Bank, said Israeli special forces moved closer to Arafat's private office when they shot their way through into the operations room of Arafat's bodyguards, injuring two.
    They should be bringing up the bricks and mortar now...

  • Jeff Jarvis links to this gem at Tres Producers:
    Dear Mrs. Arafat,

    Sorry we blew your husband up. We were trying to "isolate" him from the rest of his terrorist leadership, and we ended up “isolating” his ass from the rest of him. Our mistake. We were trying to destroy the Palestinian "terrorist infrastructure" and we ended up destroying his infrastructure too...
    Well, sorry again; at least as the widow of a “martyr” you can snag a quick $25,000 American from Saddam Hussein. Say, is he married?

    Your Friends, The Israeli Army
    Shucks. Don't you hate it when that happens? Hell, put me down for $20, too.

  • Israeli forces tightened their grip around Yasir Arafat today, sealing the Palestinian leader into three rooms of his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian officials said, even as the United Nations Security Council with United States backing called on Israel to withdraw. Mr. Arafat was able to hear the Hebrew of his captors through the wall of his office, Palestinian officials said, as he nursed a dying cellphone battery that sustained his remaining link to the outside world. Shimon Peres, the Israeli foreign minister, said that Israel would not harm or expel Mr. Arafat, and that it was restoring electricity, water and telephone service to his compound. "Also, his compound is being guarded so he won't be hit," Mr. Peres said in a telephone interview. But Yasir Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian minister of information, dismissed Mr. Peres's claims. "He is a liar," Mr. Abed Rabbo said. "They are all liars."
    "Yeah. Lies. All lies. They're all liars. They're even saying I'm saying this."
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


    Hezbollah attacks from the north...
  • Israeli warplanes fired missiles near Lebanese border towns on Saturday after Hizbollah guerrillas attacked Israeli positions in a disputed frontier region, witnesses and security officials said. Hizbollah said it attacked seven Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms area near the border between Lebanon, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. Al-Manar, Hizbollah's television station, said two Israeli Humvee military vehicles were also hit. "The Islamic resistance confirms that it is carrying out its duty of liberating every inch of Lebanese land that is still under occupation," the Shi'ite Muslim group said in a statement.
    They've been rarin' to go for awhile. They see this as their moment, opening up a second front.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Israelis rounding up thugs and gunnies
  • In al Bireh, Israeli forces rounded up hundreds of Palestinian males between the ages of 15 and 45. About 260 men were taken into a nearby school for questioning. Israeli forces have detained about 140 men in the past two days.
    Surprised the number's so low...
    Meanwhile, the bodies of five Palestinians, four in military-style uniforms, were found shot to death in another building in downtown Ramallah on Saturday. CNN's Michael Holmes went to the scene before the bodies were removed and said hundreds of shell casings from M-16s, the weapon of choice for the Israeli army, littered the floor.
    Well. It musta been an atrocity...
    The Israeli army said that gunfight began when a Palestinian opened fire on an army force that was outside the building, and then threw a hand grenade. "In response, the Israeli army forces entered the building to search for the gunman, and when they entered, the gunmen opened fire from one of the rooms," the army said.
    Oh. Guess it wasn't an atrocity. Well, you tried, CNN. Maybe next time.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Yasser's still there as part of a "compromise"
  • Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wanted to "expel" Yasser Arafat from the West Bank, but agreed on a compromise to "isolate" him as an "enemy" after a revolt in his Cabinet and strong objections of Israeli military and security brass. The new Israeli policy toward the Palestinians - ending nearly a decade of calling Arafat a "partner for peace" - came after a dramatic Cabinet debate that lasted, off and on, more than seven hours yesterday.

    It will mean sending Israeli forces into so-called "A areas" - territory turned over since 1993 to full Palestinian control - to do what Arafat promised but never did: to arrest terrorists, seize illegal weapons and break up the infrastructure of terrorist organizations. Ramallah, where Arafat's headquarters is located, was selected as the first target because it has become a "capital" of terror, the ministers felt.

    Sharon, who as defense minister expelled Arafat from his Beirut lair in 1982, proposed doing it again - forcing the PLO chairman out of Palestinian territories to an undetermined location. But Shimon Peres and most of his Labor allies objected - and threatened to leave Sharon's government.

    As one Israeli party leader told Sharon, "I'm ready to join your government, but you have to decide first what you want to do - expel Arafat or expel Peres."
    Seems like the first step to getting rid of Yasser is getting rid of his ally.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Another boomer, in Tel Aviv
  • A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded cafe in Tel Aviv's entertainment district Saturday evening, wounding at least 24 guests, five of them seriously, police and paramedics said. Early media reports said the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility. It was the third Palestinian suicide attack since Wednesday night.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Israelis want to search Yasser's remaining space
  • FoxNews reports Israeli forces have informed Yasser they want to search the two rooms he is occupying.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    International pressure mounts...
  • Despite the strong difference of opinion with Washington, a Spanish government spokesman said Europe and the United States agreed to form a joint diplomatic position to work for an immediate ceasefire. He said the agreement was forged in a phone conversation between Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Aznar earlier told Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon that his government should not attempt to destroy Arafat's self-rule government. "I have the impression that the Israeli government will gain nothing by destroying the Palestinian Authority," he said.

  • French President Jacques Chirac said Israel's offensive "carries immense dangers." "I think it would be a grave error to imagine that the elimination of Yasser Arafat, who is the president of the Palestinian Authority, could lead to anything positive," Chirac said. The French foreign ministry added in a statement: "The siege must be lifted. He (Arafat) is deprived of water, food and electricity. As the president of the Palestinian Authority he must be able to communicate with the outside world in order to fufill his responsibilities," the statement said.

  • In Brussels, the European Union demanded "the immediate and total application" of United Nations Resolution 1402 adopted by the Security Council calling for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah. "The European Union... calls for its immediate and total application," said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

  • Switzerland also denounced Israel's "worsening" treatment of Arafat.

  • Turkey, a key regional ally for both the US and Israel, demanded Washington put more pressure on Sharon's government. "The efficacy of this resolution in practice depends primarily on a serious warning by the United States to the Israeli prime minister," Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said in blunt statement. In his statement, Ecevit warned that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "has become a war threatening the whole Middle East."

  • In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Russian, US, EU and UN envoys should hold urgent talks with Arafat, "the recognised leader of the Palestinian nation", and Sharon in a bid to ensure the UN resolution be applied.

  • Syrian President Bashar al-Assad demanded the US and EU act in the face of Israel's reoccupation of Ramallah, describing the crisis as "a test for the international community, Europe and the United States to prove they are serious and they will act."

  • Oman, also a key US Arab ally, demanded Washington do more to stop the violence. "The pursuit of Israeli occupation and the recourse to force (against Palestinians) are the main causes of terrorism and violent reactions," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

  • Iranian President Mohamad Khatami described the storming of Ramallah as "a crime against all of humanity." "The Zionist regime does not respect any international rulings or peace proposals," Khatami was quoted as saying during a conversation with Lebanese leader Emile Lahoud.

  • Japan also issued a rare statement on the crisis: "We are extremely concerned that the vicious circle of violence is further intensifying," Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said.

  • China's Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan condemned "Israel's barbarous invasion" of Palestinian territories in a telephone conversation with his Qatari counterpart, state media reported. "China opposes and condemns Israel's barbarous invasion of the Palestinian territory, and calls on Israel to stop military actions immediately and to withdraw from the Palestinian territory," Tang said, according to Xinhua news agency.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Terror Networks
    20 injured in Katmandu bomb blast
  • A bomb exploded while being defused by the army Friday, wounding at least 20 people. Police believe the bomb was planted by Maoist rebels. Many of the injured were watching troops try to defuse the bomb on a bridge in the Kalimati neighborhood. The wounded included a soldier.

    On Wednesday, government troops killed 10 guerrillas during several gun battles and foiled a rebel attack on district headquarters in western Nepal.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Kashmir Korpse Kount
  • A Lashker-e-Taiba hit squad attacked a BSF camp in Rajouri killing two jawans and injuring three others. Gunnies took position on mountain tops around the BSF camp in Kalakote area and opened fire and hurled grenades at it. Meanwhile, another group attempted to storm the camp from the front gate by opening fire and hurling grenades killing two jawans on the spot and injuring three others. The exchange of fire continued for over an hour. Later, the militants escaped to the upper reaches.
  • Reports from Udhampur said two jawans were killed and two others critically injured when an army jeep was blown up.
  • Militants triggered an IED blast at Sangoni blowing up an army gypsy, killing two jawans and injuring two others.
  • Reports said a constable, Khursheed Ahmed, was kidnapped from his house in Gandoh area of Doda and later snuffed.
  • In another incident, snuffies kidnapped a civilian from a village in Bhudal Rajouri and killed him, then burned his house down.
  • In Darhal area of Rajouri, another person was killed near his house.
  • Two gunnies left the gene pool in an encounter with security forces at Kharak Dharmsal in Rajouri district.
  • A village defence committee member lost his life in an exchange of fire between VDC members and gunnies in Udhampur district.
  • A 10-year-old child was killed and two children were seriously injured in a grenade explosion at Banihal in Doda district. "Mahmud, put that down! You'll put somebody's eye out!"
  • Body of a male in a decomposed state with bullet marks was found in Doda area by the police. They think it might be Luca Brasi.
  • Gunnies waxed two residents of Rajpora, Handwara in Kupwara. In the shootout the wife of one of them also sustained injuries and was rushed to hospital. The deceased, according were reportedly National Conference activists.
  • In an encounter with the troops at Bransoo in Islamabad district today, a hard boy was iced. The identity of the dear departed could not be determined. There wasn't enough left. A rifle and some ammunition has been recovered from the site of the encounter.
  • A former gunny was iced by former associates in Pulwama district.
  • The police recovered bullet riddled carcass of Abdul Hamid Parra from Varmul district. Investigations have been launched. We can probably rule out a finding of suicide.
  • An electric tower was blown up by helpful fanatics, disrupting power supply in several parts of Rajouri. When a BSF party rushed to the spot, the gunnies opened fire from the hilltops, seriously injuring one special police officer. A villager who was accompanying the BSF party, was kidnapped by the militants and he's probably been killed and eaten by now.. Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen spokesman Jameel Ahmad claimed responsibility for the attack.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Ugandans say they've broken up Lord's Resistance Army
  • Uganda captured all four bases of the Lord's Resistance Army in southern Sudan on the second day of an offensive to crush their 16-year-old insurgency. "By early afternoon Friday our troops had entered and captured all the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) camps," Defense Minister Amama Mbabazi told a news conference in Kampala. He had no further details but said that "there was some resistance, it's not like they just walked in," he said.

    On Thursday, Ugandan troops moving from the south captured Lala and Orek camps, lying in Sudanese territory about 160 km (100 miles) north of the Ugandan border. Using the same force, they captured Bin Rwot and a camp at Lubangatek on Friday. "The LRA is on the run and is moving south and we are watching," Mbabazi said. He said that up to 1,000 women and children, many of whom had been abducted by the LRA, had managed to evade Ugandan troops by slipping through defensive lines set up by the Sudanese army against their own southern rebels. "We suspect (rebel leader Joseph) Kony and his inner core had enough time to remove their wives and children," he said. Mbabazi said initial reports showed the army had captured 120 submachineguns, 60 crates of ammunition for these arms, some anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, as well as other artillery pieces and assorted vehicles at the camps.

    Led by the self-styled prophet Joseph Kony, the LRA want to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni and rule the east African country according to the biblical Ten Commandments. The LRA is reviled for cutting off ears and noses or padlocking lips to discourage villagers from collaborating with the Ugandan army and is believed to have abducted at least 12,000 children for use as slaves, wives or fighters.
    G'bye, nutbags. Go away and never come back.
    It is interesting that the Sudanese are cooperating with the Ugandans in this and letting them conduct hot pursuit operations. Previously the two countries spent most of their time calling names and making faces at each other. Sudan appears to take the antiterror war seriously.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Gunnies shoot up Hindu temple in Kashmir
  • Islamic Front gunnies mounted a suicide attack on the Raghunath temple, killing seven people, three of them policemen, in the first-ever strike on a Hindu place of worship in the past 13 years of terrorism in Kashmir. Both the militants involved in the attack were killed. It was the first time a militant group claimed responsibility for a 'communal' strike. A spokesman of the group called mediapersons and said this was the beginning of a series of attacks planned to avenge the "harassment of Muslims in India".

    Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Anil Goswami said policemen, and not the temple, were targets of the attack. The suicide attack began at 10.20 a.m. from Raghunath Bazar, where militants threw grenades and fired while moving towards the temple, a landmark in Jammu city. One terrorist shot dead two Special Security Bureau (SSB) and a Jammu and Kashmir police personnel before he entered the complex. The security personnel guarding the temple complex could not close the temple gates in time to prevent him from entering the temple.

    The terrorist entered the temple complex and fired. Ratna Devi of Gwalior, who was with her son Gourav, was the first victim of the shootout in the temple complex. He then tried to enter the Guru Treta Dev temple within the complex. On finding himself surrounded, the terrorist blew himself up, shattering the glass wall of the temple.
    Who's next? Buddhist or Jains? Or do they still have some Christians left?
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


    Paks to spring Lashkar-e-Taiba head
  • A Pakistani court turned down a government bid on Saturday to extend the three-month detention of a Kashmiri militant leader wanted by India over the December attack on its parliament, court officials said. The detention of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of now outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba group conducting terrorist activities in Kashmir, under a law that allows people to be held without trial for three months expires on Sunday. The court ruling means Saeed will have to be freed, unless the military government of President Pervez Musharraf which is trying to curb the growing Islamic militancy in mainly Muslim Pakistan, brings fresh charges against him.
    Dump the Paks. Dump 'em, because they are the enemy.
  • Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/30/2002 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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    trailing wife
    Gloria
    Fred
    Besoeker
    Glenmore
    Frank G
    3dc
    Skidmark

    Two weeks of WOT
    Sat 2002-03-30
      Paks arrest Abu Zubaydah
    Fri 2002-03-29
      Israelis storm Yasser's compound
    Thu 2002-03-28
      Paks arrest 30 gunnies after shootout
    Wed 2002-03-27
      Fernandes doesn't rule out war with Pakistan
    Tue 2002-03-26
      US dumping Saudi airbase?
    Mon 2002-03-25
      Jihadi intimidation campaign against Kashmir assembly elections
    Sun 2002-03-24
      Zinni Welcome Committee continues festivities
    Sat 2002-03-23
      Feds raid Islamists around Washington
    Fri 2002-03-22
      Three days, three boomers
    Thu 2002-03-21
      Jihadis reject Kashmir elections
    Wed 2002-03-20
      Bus boomer kills 8
    Tue 2002-03-19
      Paks spring terror Bigs
    Mon 2002-03-18
      Afghanistan: 16 Bad Guys find Paradise, 31 jugged
    Sun 2002-03-17
      Another church attack in Pakistan
    Sat 2002-03-16
      Paks have released 809 religious fanatics


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