Hi there, !
Today Thu 05/09/2002 Wed 05/08/2002 Tue 05/07/2002 Mon 05/06/2002 Sun 05/05/2002 Sat 05/04/2002 Fri 05/03/2002 Archives
Rantburg
531702 articles and 1855993 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 14 articles and 3 comments as of 14:44.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area:                    
Fortuyn assassinated in Netherlands
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 [] 
1 00:00 Fred [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 Mary Wehmeier [] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 bob [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
Home Front
Mailbox Boy drops another load, another dud
Another pipe bomb was found in a mailbox in Nebraska late on Sunday, bringing to 15 the number of mail bombs found in rural areas in Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska in what FBI officials have called an act of domestic terrorism, the FBI said on Monday. FBI special agent James Bogner said no one was injured in the latest incident, in which a resident returned home and found something suspicious in the mailbox. A total of six people have been injured since the first pipe bombs in the current spate of attacks were discovered on Friday.
With a compass and a map they should be able to figure about where the next bomb is placed, if there is one...
The latest bomb to be found was left in a roadside mailbox near the town of Albion in central Nebraska, police said. It was detonated without incident. Meanwhile, mail deliveries resumed across the region with residents in both rural and urban areas who have free-standing mailboxes located on streets or country roads being told to leave the doors of the receptacles open so carriers can make sure there is nothing suspicious inside.
If I'm correct in my assessment, which I'll admit I might not be, our 17 1/2 year old Criminal Mastermind should be starting to get depressed about now. He's gone from "Oooh, this is soooo neat! I'm gonna be somebody" to being nothing but a weekend curiosity. Mail deliveries have resumed and his booms are duds. There's a 50-50 chance he'll do away with himself, probably OD'ing on barbs to go painlessly, and leaving behind a poorly written suicide note on yellow lined paper.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 11:42 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tonight it appears Mailbox Boy is still on the move. ABCNEWS.com reported today that about 12:30 PM another pipebomb was found in Salida, Colo, about 145 miles Southwest of Denver, off Route 50. Interesting things to note are 1. This was placed inside a small town, and 2. the feds are saying the reason the bombs haven't gone off are probably because Mailbox boy is not taping the wires. Interesting. He's in a hurry.
Posted by: Mary Wehmeier || 05/07/2002 0:57 Comments || Top||


International
UN decides to look into talking about stopping abuse by aid workers
As world leaders converge on New York for the children's summit this week, U.N. investigators and relief agencies were working around the clock trying to put a stop to alleged recurrence of sexual abuse against West African refugee children by aid workers and peacekeepers.
"Working around the clock." Right. It could happen.
About a half-dozen investigators from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services in New York, plus investigators from the office of the inspector-general of the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugee were still examining the allegations, senior U.N. officials told United Press International.
Did the local guys line them up with some hookers?
It was unclear how long the investigation will last.
Probably until the per diem cash runs out.
After formal moves by UNHCR last December, a preliminary OIOS investigation was initiated in January, but it only moved into full gear in March, said a U.N. official who spoke on condition of non-attribution.
I just love inspiring stories like this...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 09:33 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Yemen's starting to grate...
The Bush administration appears to be increasingly frustrated in winning Yemeni support for the U.S.-led war against terrorism. U.S. officials said Yemen has become resistant to cooperation as well as advice from the newly-arrived military trainers in the Gulf Arab country. The officials said the slow pace of cooperation has been exacerbated by the current bombing campaign attributed to supporters of Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden.
And also by the Palestinian blow-up. They were kissing the hand when we were dismantling Afghanistan. The Arab attention span is even shorter than the American, so that's faded by now, and they see the U.S. as being distracted and not as much of a danger to them.
"The Yemenis appear very cooperative when you discuss the issue at the highest levels of government," an official said. "Then, you get down to the brass tacks and things get very difficult. Nobody who knows the situation believes this is cooperation." The officials have described a state of increasing tension between the U.S. embassy in Sanaa and the Yemeni government. They said Yemeni officials and opposition politicians are calling on U.S. ambassador Edmund Hall to be withdrawn from Sanaa.
Especially the opposition. This is the same approach the Bad Guys used in the Philippines when U.S. troops arrived to help with the Abu Sayyaf hunt. The mid-level party hacks and bureaucrats are probably also dragging their feet and finding reasons they simply can't lend assistance, under, f'rinstance, Rule 762.14B, subsection 11 of the Yemeni Rules for Civil Servants, vol. 221...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 10:21 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syrian weapons complex explosion missed its weapons of mass destruction
A huge explosion in a Syrian weapons complex was said to have spared the nation's missile and weapons of mass destruction production line. Western intelligence sources said a blast that destroyed a huge building and damaged several others in a military industrial complex south of Homs was believed to have left the strategic weapons production line unaffected. They said the assessment is that a conventional weapons factory was destroyed. "We are talking about a huge complex that covers many miles," a U.S. intelligence analyst said. "The building that we saw destroyed did not turn out to be in the area where we assess is the production of ballistic missiles or WMD."
Godammit. We missed.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 10:53 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I read somewhere that the explosion did destroy their solid fuel capabilities for their SCUDS etc. but I've seen nothing further on that. Was that just wishful thinking on someone's part?
Posted by: bob || 05/06/2002 12:36 Comments || Top||


GCC working on cooperation in tracking terror funds
The Gulf Cooperation Council has launched an examination of proposals for cooperation to stop the financing of Islamic groups deemed as terrorists. GCC officials said the effort would include uniform laws to increase the monitoring of bank transactions. Law enforcement officials convened last month in Abu Dhabi to discuss such issues as money-laundering and terrorist financing. The two-day conference was also meant to review efforts taken by the six member-nations to block terrorist financing. The effort has been encouraged by the United States, which has trained personnel in all six GCC states. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were said to have taken significant measures to combat the financing of suspected terrorist groups. The measures included regulations for banks to report unusual transactions and those by foreign depositers.
The nice part about this is that it's not all polite appearances.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 10:58 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Fortuyn assassinated in Netherlands
Right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was shot dead by an unidentified gunman, Dutch television reported. Police confirmed the attack, but did not immediately confirm his death. Earlier, Fortuyn's spokesman said Fortuyn was unlikely to survive the gunshot wounds.
The day after the French election... No suspects noted yet.

Mr Fortuyn has provoked public indignation by calling for the Netherlands' borders to be closed to immigrants and by describing Islam as a 'backward' religion.
A fatwah, perhaps? Still no details...
One unconfirmed report said that a suspect had been detained. A reporter said four people chased the gunman, who apparently fired in their direction.

Police said they had arrested a white Dutch man in relation to the killing, but no motive has yet been established.
Guess it was the Reds, rather than the turbans. Or the Greens. Or any other nut group. Stay tuned for more...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 04:28 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Shubaki, Sa'adat still in Jericho calaboose
Fuad Shubaki and Ahmed Sa’adat are currently in a two-room jail cell in Jericho, despite reports the Palestinian Authority intends to free them in a few days. Shubaki, the paymaster of the Karine A, and Sa’adat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, were among the six Palestinians handed over to US and British officials last week. Shubaki and Sa’adat were never tried, and Arafat has said the Palestinian attorney general must determine their fate. The senior official in Sharon’s entourage said the government has not given up its demands the two be extradited to stand trial, a not-so-subtle hint that if Arafat frees the men, Israel will hunt them down.
Yasser had Saadat "rounded up" in January, under pressure. Sharon said it was another faked arrest in Arafat's "empire of lies". PFLP had a (public) hissy fit and said it wouldn't work with the PLO. Then there were rumors of a plot to dump Yasser, with PFLP as one of the players. I never noticed when Saadat was sprung, but there he was, in Yasser's office during the fighting, and he "hasn't been tried" since his "arrest" in January.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 09:57 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Egypt stopping attempted boomers
Egyptian forces have been bolstered along the border with Israel as well as that with the Gaza Strip in an attempt to stop Egyptian nationals from joining the Palestinian insurgency. Recently, seven Egyptians were arrested on suspicion of seeking to cross the Sinai border into Gaza. Egyptian sources said those arrested included university students, particularly from Alexandria. They were composed of men and women who ranged from ages 19 to 30. A 25-year-old woman was found carrying explosives. Some of those arrested, the sources said, told authorities that they intended to volunteer for suicide attacks against Israel. One woman, identified as Jamila Bashari Mahmoudeen and one of three arrested, said she was influenced by television footage of the Israeli military campaign in West Bank cities earlier this month.
Egypt is playing a very interesting game, and I think we're underestimating how smart Mubarak is. The recent statement that, "yeah, we'll declare on Israel. Give us $100 billion" got a lot of attention, but I think it was pure sarcasm. It was in response to the "let's you and him fight" pressure from other Arab states who wouldn't be devastated to the extent Egypt would. Remember, they expect the Israelis to win a war with them; they take pride in the fact that they weren't trounced as thoroughly as expected in the last one. Their actual behavior toward Israel and the U.S., whether they're getting along or not, is confined to diplomatic moves. They're non-committal to publicly hostile on the terror war, but when they get their hands on real Bad Guys they give 'em the high jump. The "government supported press" should probably carry a label that sez "The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect thos of the management."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 10:49 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Pro-Iraqi pressure building in Jordan
U.S. officials are concerned that King Abdullah will be overwhelmed by the rise in anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli sentiment in the kingdom. The sentiment, said to be supported by Iraq, has sparked large and increasingly violent demonstrations in Jordan. "We are getting SOS signals from Jordan," a U.S. intelligence source said. "This is not a problem that money can buy."
Iraq's got a pretty good fifth column going in Jordan, and may see itself eventually in the same position with regard to that country as Syria is with Lebabon. Internal pressure pushed King Hussein into supporting Sammy during the Gulf War - making Jordan Iraq's only ally besides Yemen. That also got Jordan slapped around for awhile after the war, which was also something King Abdullah noticed.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 11:06 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


The deal...
The Lebanese daily al-Sharq unveiled Friday the agreement made between Israel and Yasser Arafat in order to lift the siege imposed on him, noting that this agreement makes it compulsory for the Palestinian authority to collect all weapons from Gaza and halt the violence, and handing over both Ahmad Saadat, the secretary general of the People's Front For the Liberation of Palestine and Fouad al-Showbaki who is accused of being responsible for the weapons ship "Karin A" said to be smuggling weapons to the Palestinians.
Both of whom were handed over, and whom they're now trying to spring...
The paper quoted high ranking sources that the agreement was made between Muhammad Rashid -- the economic advisor for Arafat -- and Israel's Benjamin Bin Eleazer and resulted in handing over the persons accused of assassinating the Israeli tourism minister Rahbaam Zeifi and breaking the siege imposed on Arafat.
Which resulted in Rashid ending up on a "death to [fill in name here]" pamphlet on Friday, accused of collaborating with Israel...
The agreement speaks of a grace period of six months to make changes on the ground, and the Palestinians will be abide to transfer Arafat to Hisham palace in Areiha as a presidential headquarters and to make changes at all levels of the Palestinian establishments and departments.
And they're already choosing up sides and flinging recriminations on the idea, the VERY IDEA, of reforms. And Washington is pushing them toward reforms regardless of how deeply they're digging in.
Washington, the paper said, had redlined certain Palestinian figures and asked to alienate them from the Palestinian authority including the Palestinian official in charge of the file of Jerusalem Surri Nuseibah and to start proper arrangements by the Palestinian organizations to declare giving up violence and to be involved in the foundations of the Palestinian authority.
Yeah. Figger the odds on that happening. Yasser prob'ly sees that as a six-month grace period to think of some countercharges and deflect attention from noncompliance.
The sources indicated that after that the process of releasing the Palestinian detainees will start. The European and American aid to rehabilitate the infrastructure is linked to developments on the ground. The sources continued that Israel will continue to have control on the West Bank until Arafat will be able to control the situation in an acceptable way and after the end of the first phase, Washington can sponsor a meeting including Sharon and Arafat and might be held in Washington itself.
Now what they're trying to figure is how to get their hands on all that dough and get rid of the Israelis at the same time. What to do? What to do? Maybe some boomers...?
About this agreement, Palestinian sources said that despite its heavy weight on Arafat and the difficulty of implementing it, however, accepting the principle of breaking the siege took place at the pressure of his close advisors and that Arafat is in need of intensive Arab consultation to help him in getting out of the current situation.
Yeah. There's need of consultation, alright. Somehow I can't see Yasser making an agreement that he'll keep, especially when he can't even bring himself to say "Stuh... stuh... (gag) stop ttttthhh... the vvvvuck..." well, you know.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 02:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Steven den Beste also picked this up. He notes that

"Arafat can't do these things. If he does, he'll be seen as a sell-out by the Palestinians. These terms amount to a defeat of the Intifada, because it will mean that 20 months of violence will have accomplished nothing tangible."

Hero to putz in one week. I like it.
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2002 14:23 Comments || Top||


PA jugs four PFLP thugs
Member of the political bureau of the People's Front For the Liberation of Palestine Jamil al-Majdalawi stressed on Sunday that the Palestinian authority on Saturday arrested four members of the front. Al-Majdalawi said in a statement that other members of the front were summoned in addition to the four already detained members. In a statement, the People's Front denounced these detention acts and condemned any act of detention on the background of resisting the Israeli occupation, warning against the consequences of these measures taken by the Palestinian authorities and their negative implications on the unity of the Palestinian rank in confrontation of the Israeli occupation.
Start of the purges? PFLP more trouble than they're worth? Or show arrests like they had in January? "Only time will tell..." My guess is that latter, though.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 02:14 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
Count of dead Reds in Nepal up to 560...
Army helicopters killed more than 200 rebels in airstrikes on guerrilla strongholds in western Nepal, government officials said Monday, a day before Nepal's prime minister was to meet President Bush to discuss the communist insurgency. The deaths raised the claimed toll to more than 560 in four days of fighting — the deadliest violence since the rebels began their struggle to topple the constitutional monarchy six years ago.
Either the numbers are exaggerated or the Nepalis have gotten ahold of some good intel and disposed of a few leakers.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 09:25 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


15 troops killed in Salafist attack in Algeria
Islamic extremists have killed 15 soldiers in an ambush in the Kabylie region of northern Algeria. A military convoy was ambushed on Sunday in the Mizrana forest near Tizi Ouzou, around 110 kilometres east of Algiers. Around 50 extremists from the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) were blamed for the attack, in which they reportedly used bombs to halt the convoy before opening fire with automatic weapons. There was no official comment on the reported attack, which came just days after 26 Islamic extremists and eight soldiers were killed in an army operation to root out members of the GSPC in the northeast.

The daily El Khabar reported Saturday that the army had used heavy artillery on Friday to pound a base of the GSPC in the mountainous, wooded region of Sidi Ali Bounab, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the capital, Algiers. The attack was part of a three-month-long army offensive to root out terrorist groups. Two GSPC training camps were destroyed in the attacks, and several weapons were recovered, the paper said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 01:49 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


The Alliance
U.S. funding airbase in Oman
The United States is funding construction of a $120 million air base in Oman. Gulf defense sources said Washington has been funneling aid to Oman for the construction of an air base at Al Musnana, located 120 kilometers west of the capital Muscat. The sources said the facility will be suitable for any U.S. military aircraft, including the B-52 strategic bomber. Oman is one of several Gulf Cooperation Council states that is being prepared by Washington as alternatives to Saudi Arabia.
Yup. Those Saudis are our good buddies. President Bush looked into the eyes of the Potentate Currently Known as Prince and understood the depths of his soul. So we're gettin' the hell out of the country.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/06/2002 10:56 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
14[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2002-05-06
  Fortuyn assassinated in Netherlands
Sun 2002-05-05
  IDF blockades Tulkarm camp...
Sat 2002-05-04
  Chechen kebab artist frees hostages, surrenders
Fri 2002-05-03
  Powell announces international conference on Palestine
Thu 2002-05-02
  Twenty wounded in Karachi booms
Wed 2002-05-01
  Perv's in like Flynn for five more years
Tue 2002-04-30
  Head of Islamocharity arrested
Mon 2002-04-29
  Khattab decomposing
Sun 2002-04-28
  Alexander Lebed, RIP
Sat 2002-04-27
  Palestinians fortifying, booby-trapping Gaza
Fri 2002-04-26
  G'bye, INS. You're toast.
Thu 2002-04-25
  Two monks, nine kids, two deaders leave Church of the Nativity
Wed 2002-04-24
  Explosions in Yasser's compound
Tue 2002-04-23
  Israel sez forget the UN mission, Kofi
Mon 2002-04-22
  Kofi appoints fact-finding team for Jenin

Better than the average link...



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.
54.204.117.206
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
(0)    (0)    (0)    (0)    (0)