Andrew Olmstead takes issue with my distaste for the Clinton crew's handling of Mullah Khaksar's offer to try and replace Mullah Omar and kick the al-Qaeda thugs out of Afghanland.
'Although the world seems to believe the United States exists solely for the purpose of meddling in other nations' affairs, the truth is we don't really have much interest in doing so. We'd rather mind our own business. In the past we have meddled extensively in other countries, and it has generally worked out poorly for us, adding to our reluctance. While it seems clear now that we should have assisted Mullah Mohammed Khaksar, doing so was no guarantee we would have hurt al Qaeda. Khaksar could simply have been trying to use us to put himself in power, using the threat of al Qaeda to bring us in on his side. At that time, getting involved in a regime change in Afghanistan wasn't a viable option, and the Clinton Adminstration was right not to do so.'
When our national interest is impinged by the actions of another nation, we have to take a close look at our relations with them. In a limited number of cases, when competing national interests clash egregiously, one country is justified in "meddling" in the affairs of another, whether by war or, if they can swing it, by other means.
In the instant case, we had an official of a regime that was not only in fundamental(ist) opposition to the U.S., but which was also harboring a stateless army which had already "declared war" on the U.S. Further, they had already committed acts of war against the U.S., including the World Trade Center bombing and the bombings of the U.S. embassies (embassies are national territory) in Kenya and Tanzania. The Cole Incident was yet to come, but there was probably enough intelligence to indicate that similar acts were in the offing. Clinton had already made his brag:
'The President emphasized that the United States has increased its
efforts to combat terrorists. "We will not rest until justice is
done," he said.'
Madame Albright had echoed these statements, and Bill had fired off cruise missiles at Binny's camps in Afghanistan.
Khaksar presented an opportunity to take action. Afghanistan's not our country â we really don't have any concern who's in charge, even now, as long as they're not stomping our toes. The other side of that coin is that we don't stomp theirs, and despite what the Chomskyites think, we try to be good about that. If the Talibs wanted to beat their wives and chop people's head off, it was their country and we could stay the hell out. But Khaksar was an Afghan and a Talib. A fairly minor change in regime would have been to our advantage, and it could have been supported with a fairly modest expenditure and no direct involvement. An attempted coup would have had a lot more effect than "putting a $2 million missile up a camel's butt."
If Khaksar's attempt had flopped? Mullah Omar would have hanged him and as many of his supporters he could find. He'd have hanged them in public, after doing painful things to them. What would that matter to us? We're not Afghans. We could have stood around looking innocent and saying witty things like "Don't try and blame us for internal problems brought on by your own bad government. Wudn't us."
If it had succeeded? Binny might be dead by now. A civil war could have occurred in Afghanistan in late 1999 or early 2000. The Northern Alliance may have come in on the Khaksar side. Thousands could have been killed â and not one of them American. If Mullah Khaksar had succeeded all the way in his aim? Binny might have had to move, probably to Somalia or Chechnya, or maybe back to Soddy Arabia. His organization would have been rendered less effective than it was on 9-11 â and 9-11 might not have occurred.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 06:49 pm ||
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I've updated my observations. And, (minor point), it's Olmsted.
Posted by: Andrew Olmsted ||
06/10/2002 21:52 Comments ||
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Tonecluster discerns the "why" of the current occupation of Ramallah:
'Arik is holding Arafat hostage against any bombings while said Prime Minister is away in Washington. Considering that every time Sharon comes to D.C. an attack against Israeli civilians is made, this isn't a bad idea. And after a tank shell was lobbed onto Arafat's nightstand, the message should be clear: peace and quiet (relatively) while I'm away or else. Since the IDF is still in Ramallah, I contend that this "hostage" strategy is in addition to whatever else the IDF is doing. As to whether it will work, who knows? Arafat is more than capable and willing of calling Sharon's bluff, though the risk that Sharon isn't bluffing is quite high.'
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 08:26 pm ||
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The opening session of Afghanistan's grand council to organize a new government was postponed for a day Monday, a delay diplomats blamed on differences within the Afghan leadership over the role of the former king. The council, or loya jirga, was supposed to start Monday; the opening was reset for Tuesday afternoon. U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad blamed the delay on confusion caused by reports that the former monarch, Mohammad Zaher Shah, would be a candidate for head of state, which the loya jirga is to choose. In an effort to resolve the controversy, Zaher Shah declared in a statement read by an aide that ``I have no intention of restoring the monarchy'' and ``I am not a candidate for any position in the loya jirga.'' Instead, Zaher Shah endorsed the candidacy of the current interim leader, Hamid Karzai, to run the country under the new government.
The controversy over the role of the aged, former king threatened to derail the carefully prepared plans for the loya jirga, which is to decide on a new form of government for this war-ravaged country and choose ministers for an interim government to rule until elections in 18 months. Khalilzad bluntly told the Afghans to "get their act together'' and not miss their best chance in decades for peace. European envoys said unless the Afghans can agree on a broad-based government, international aid is likely to dry up. This isn't much of a surprise. They're all Afghans and when they're not fighting with each other they're arguing with each other. The shooting probably won't start until the loya jirga's over. But I think it's great they've managed to get this far.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 09:48 am ||
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U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Russian law enforcement officials on Monday discussed ways to boost their agencies' cooperation in fighting terrorism and transnational crime, including what they called the growing Afghan drug trade. Ashcroft thanked the Russians for their cooperation in the anti-terrorist campaign, saying Russia was a "very important law enforcement partner in the world community.'' Not pitching a hissy fit when we agreed to train the Georgians was nice. Americans don't realize how much of a policy shift that was. And they've been there every step of the way in the Afghan war...
Ashcroft evaded a question on whether the U.S. government accepts the Russian government's contention that it is fighting international terrorists in Chechnya. Russian officials have blamed Islamic rebels for a series of bombings - including a 1999 string of apartment house explosions that killed some 300 people and a bomb blast last month in the Caspian Sea port of Kaspiisk that killed more than 40. U.S. officials have previously criticized Russian troops' abuse of civilians in the conflict. "The United States government believes that terrorism is an international threat, and that it is manifested in a variety of places and ways around the world,'' Ashcroft said. "We have sought to cooperate with our Russian friends to curtail funding of terrorism that would threaten the interests of Russia, just as we have asked individuals and countries around the world to support the United States by curtailing the availability of funds to terrorists that threaten not only the United States but our allies and friends.'' Somehow they've got to take that step and define the wahhabi Chechen thugs â remember those guys who committed suicide at Konduz rather than be taken alive? The guys who were executing those who wanted to surrender? â as what they are, which is terrorists. They're a disease that's trying to infect every area around them, and the entire infrastructure should be wiped out to the last man, starting with the Arab mercenaries who're the drivers.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 09:35 am ||
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Ya know, it's nice to see we're helping Russia stablize and protect our potentially newest source of oil.
Posted by: Mary Lu ||
06/10/2002 10:42 Comments ||
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Certainly relevant to the Russians, and to the inhabitants of Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Georgia. Relevant to the Saudis, or they wouldn't be pouring money and men into the project. If we ignore them, and indulge the namby-pamby, we can root out every last bastion of terrorism in the world and when we think we're all done the virulence will start up again because we left one pocket of it untouched because it wasn't "relevant" to us.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2002 14:38 Comments ||
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Chechnya is and has always been: a dagger aimed at the heart of Russia.
#5
Chechnya basicaly got autonomy in the early 90's and developed a state dedicated to kidnapping, extortion, murder, and various. They had no GDP and when there was nothing left to pillage and plunder within their own borders they decided to get some more from Russia. They have earned everything that the Russians have done there.
Posted by: Michael ||
06/11/2002 2:04 Comments ||
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The US government said today it had thwarted an al-Qaida plot to build and detonate a radioactive "dirty" bomb in Washington, DC that could have caused "mass death and injury". The attorney general, John Ashcroft, said today that an alleged al-Qaida terrorist, Abdullah al Mujahir, had been arrested on May 8 as he flew from Pakistan into Chicago's O'Hare international airport. Speaking from Moscow, Mr Ashcroft said al Mujahir, a US citizen also known as Jose Padilla, was in the custody of the US military and being treated as an enemy combatant, suggesting plans for the first military tribunal of an alleged terrorist. "We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb," Mr Ashcroft said. A dirty bomb involves exploding a conventional bomb that contains radioactive material. Mr Ashcroft said the government's suspicions about al Mujahir's plans came from "multiple, independent, corroborating sources". I wonder if all the orifices who've been so intent on handing out blame in the past month or two will be as quick to throw rose petals toward Ashcroft and medals and money at the guys who made the snag? I'm for a ticker-tape parade for the whole crew, to include the guys who swept the floors at night after they went home.
Followup: Dr Frank has more information on this goober, thereby saving me lots of typing. He then proceeds to slap the Tapped crew for cheap partisan silliness. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 07:03 pm ||
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India announced today it will allow Pakistani planes to resume using Indian airspace but held up other gestures designed to tone down tensions between the nuclear rivals. Pakistani planes still will not be allowed to land in India -- only fly over. Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Khan said he was waiting for a report from Pakistani diplomats who were being briefed on the developments by Indian officials before commenting further. "All I can say at the moment is that it is a step in the desired direction," he said.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said removing the airspace restrictions was "not a small step," but her announcement fell well short of some expectations about the type of conciliatory gestures New Delhi might make to defuse the crisis between the neighbors. The airspace restrictions were implemented back in January, in the wake of the attack on Parliament, and they've been in force since then.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 09:06 am ||
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Next week, the country's largest fundamentalist party is planning to lead a rally in Azad Kashmir that some people here believe is intended to mark the beginning of a campaign to oust Gen Musharraf. The Kashmiri militants themselves say they feel betrayed by the new efforts to block their movements into India. "People are angry," Sher Khan, a senior leader of Harkat Mujahideen, told the paper. "We have reason to be angry."
This week, Gen Musharraf summoned Kashmiri leaders to his office to reassure them that he was not walking away from the Kashmiri cause, a deeply-felt issue for many Pakistanis. One of the Kashmiri leaders who attended that meeting said the president appeared concerned about the possibility of a takeover by fundamentalists. "It will be difficult for him to survive," Altaf Qadri, leader of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, which represents 23 Kashmiri groups. We knew that was gonna happen. The only way he can counter it is to come down on the jihadis with both feet, and I don't think he has the gutz to do it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 10:14 am ||
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Arrangements are being finalized for the June 16 Kashmir conference being organized by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal. Qazi Husain Ahmad, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, Prof Sajid Mir, Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi, Gen K.M. Azhar (retired) and other leaders will speak at the conference being held to show solidarity with the freedom movement of Kashmiris. Jamaat-i-Islami naib amir Liaquat Baloch says notwithstanding differences with the government's policies and political rivalries, the nation is unanimous on the point that no compromise will be accepted on Kashmir. He says apparently pleasing statements of the US and European countries are a ploy as they are pressurizing the government to abandon its support for the freedom movement. This could end up bringing the battle between Perv and Qazi into the open. There's no telling which side will win, either...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 10:13 am ||
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Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad stated on Saturday that in order to meet the Indian challenge it is essential to have a full-time chief of the army staff and all army officers posted in civil institutions should be withdrawn and assigned professional duties. Withdrawing the army officers opens the spaces for hacks, preferably from the religious parties. As COS, Perv controls the army; even if a new chief is on his side, that still takes the direct power one remove from him, and leaves the opportunity to turn the new guy. Qazi's pretty slick, gotta admit it.
Speaking to leaders of different political parties at a dinner hosted by his party's deputy chief, Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, at his residence, he warned that if the country retreated from its stand on Kashmir under US influence and Indian pressure, it would be pressured to dismantle its nuclear capability. Actually, that would be a fine idea...
Referring to the gravity of the on going crisis, the JI chief recalled the statement of the chief of the Indian army that he was awaiting the signal to open the war front while Indian naval fleet had moved towards Karachi. But due to incompetence of the government the atmosphere in the country [Pakistan] did not reflect that it was facing a grave crisis threatening its security, he said. And he's really cheesed that the crisis seems to be receding...
Qazi Ahmad advised the government to take initiative and said it was the duty of all political and religious parties to unite to face the situation. He said war could not be stopped by begging for peace. Keep in mind that to Qazi, war is the desired end. A few hundred thousand corpses don't matter, as long as the end result is a theocracy with him in charge.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 10:21 am ||
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It has been reported from different parts of the Swabi district that a large number of children have suffered from smallpox, but the authorities concerned have failed to take any action to prevent this disease or immunize the people against it. A health official said that the dilemma of the people was that they were not aware of the danger aspects of this ailment as the children suffering from it have neither been kept in isolation nor properly treated. And this resulted in the spread of the virus. Ummm... Smallpox in its natural state is all but wiped out in the civilized world...
The residents of Naro Banda, a rural area in the district, told this correspondent that a majority of the children in the village had suffered from smallpox a few years back. "My two brothers, Shams and Akhtar, have been afflicted by smallpox and I have appealed to the officials concerned, but they did not bother either to visit the area or take steps for controlling it," said Mukhtaj Ahmad of Naro Banda. "A few years back"!
The mother of a sick child said she had informed the lady health workers about the spread of the disease four days ago, but no action was taken. It was also noticed that most of the parents of the sick children were uneducated. They had either approached the quack living nearby, or the self-made homeopath doctors to treat the children, but no visible improvement could be seen in the health of the children. If the district health department delayed taking steps for containing the disease, the epidemic may spread to other areas in the vicinity, or the whole of the district, for that matter. The suffering people have appealed to the NWFP governor, district government bosses and health officials to send in special teams to extend necessary health cover to the children. This being Pakistan, where they shoot doctors rather than controlling disease, this could be a natural outbreak of a disease that the civilized world has almost forgotten. F'rinstance, Pak Moms still have to worry about their kids catching polio (Pakistan, India and Afghanistan together account for 70% of the world's polio cases), and if things are going to be unsanitary NWFP's the place for them to be. On the other hand, we can't help but notice that the al-Qaeda and Taliban have pretty much moved to new digs in NWFP. Presumably they've brought their little research projects with them...
Followup: Instapundit and MedPundit both saw the story. MedPundit thinks it might be monkeypox or something along those lines. I will retain my suspicions because of the heavy infestation of loons in the general area.
Followup to followup: Kat's got it, too, and prob'ly everyone else to follow...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 12:05 pm ||
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Be concerned. It is possible one of the new neighbors brought their own Gilbert BioChemistry Terrorist Kit with them. Or they picked one up at a Russian Yard Sale during the move.
Posted by: Mary Lu ||
06/10/2002 12:41 Comments ||
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I thought smallpox in the wild had been wiped out. If that had been the case, the re-appearance of the disease anywhere strongly implies a man-made release of the infectious agent.
#3
NWFP has some pretty remote areas, and since the "health care professionals" treating it are quacks and homeopaths, it could be a wild strain that's survived. It could also be that they're misdiagnosing something related. But the Gilbert BioChemistry Terrorist Kit should certainly be one of the possibilities closely examined, if only to give it a definite "no."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2002 14:41 Comments ||
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I tend to think with MedPundit that it's a monkeypox (or one of the other similar ones). Since they aren't getting any doctors to look at it, I'm not at all confident in the diagnosis. On the other hand, the location would be handy for al Qaida and their labs.
Or it could be a wild strain. I always took that "we eradicated it" statement with a large grain of salt.
The claim should be looked into by CDC, WHO, or someone who can properly diagnose whatever it is.
Posted by: Kat ||
06/10/2002 16:39 Comments ||
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If you look at http://choo.fis.utoronto.ca/fis/courses/lis2102/KO.WHO.case.html you'll find the WHO history of smallpox eradication. This is one of the true medical hero stories of the 20th century. I'm extremely skeptical that the illness in NWFP is smallpox. However, smallpox, especially when full-blown, is not easily mistaken for other viral exanthems. So the possibilities are 1) they're wrong 2) the WHO missed a spot (ooops) or 3) it's a non-indigenous virus brought in by someone else -- the sort of suspicions we all have. Not that I'd cry if the virus wiped out a whole bunch of jihadis, but the thought that smallpox might be reintroduced into the civilized world (e.g., not Pak-land) frightens me. The U.S. stocks of smallpox are very closely guarded and I'd be surprised if it came from there. But the Russian stocks, as I recall from news reports in the past, were less well handled. If it's monkeybox or similar weaponized virus, it's the harbinger of real problems.
What say we have a Delta team escort a couple of smart medical people into the area and take a look? This needs attention.
Regards,
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/10/2002 19:55 Comments ||
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'Geelani's financial transactions, claimed the officials, were being closely tracked by intelligence agencies and last year a Rs 48-lakh [$4,800,000] payment sent to him by Syed Salahuddin, the Supreme Commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, had been detected.
The next breakthrough came on May 25 this year when Imtiyaz Ahmed Bazaz, a Srinagar-based journalist, was booked under POTA. It was his interrogation, alleged the officials, that exposed the fact that Geelani and Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi â who went underground today to evade arrest â were being used as conduits for sending funds to militant groups by UK-based Kashmiri expatriate Dr Ayub Thakur.'
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 08:05 pm ||
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Moroccan police have dismantled a terrorist cell with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, arresting three Saudi nationals. The three men were planning suicide operations against American and British warships patrolling the Strait of Gibraltar. The suspects planned to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives from Morocco into the strait to attack the vessels. The plan was similar to one carried out in October 2000, when two suicide bombers in a small dinghy rammed the USS Cole destroyer in a port in Yemen, killing 17 sailors. The arrests were made with the help of intelligence services of "several friendly countries." It is the first confirmation of a crackdown in Morocco since the United States and its allies launched a military campaign in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaida. Cheeze. The Good Guys are tearin' 'em up today. A tip o' the fez to the Moroccans, by golly. Sure is a coincidence that the perps are Soddis, ain't it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 07:40 pm ||
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emphasis on Saudi
Posted by: kanji ||
06/11/2002 18:04 Comments ||
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Israeli troops moved into the West Bank town of Ramallah and surrounded the compound of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, an army spokesman said. The unidentified spokesman said the soldiers were deployed to prevent gunmen from entering the compound but did not enter it themselves. Palestinians officials said Arafat was inside the compound and was unharmed. One Palestinian was killed and two wounded in exchanges of fire. Two soldiers were also wounded. Despite the flareup, CIA Director George Tenet and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, both of whom just returned from the region and several meetings with Middle East leaders, gave the president an optimistic assessment. Wonder what would cause them to give a pessimistic assessment? Guess it's because nobody blew up when Burns arrived, only when Tenet got there.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 09:06 am ||
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[The Voice of Arafat's PR Person]: "Ya Know Yassar, you should have cleared the content of that little speech you gave yesterday with me for potential problems...." ;-)
Mary Lu
Posted by: Mary Wehmeier ||
06/10/2002 10:34 Comments ||
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On Sunday, Sharon ruled out an Israeli pullback to the country's 1967 borders, the crucial element of a Saudi peace proposal endorsed by nearly all other Arab states and by the United States. "Israel will not return to the vulnerable 1967 armistice lines, re-divide Jerusalem or concede its right to defensible borders,'' Sharon wrote in a guest column in The New York Times. "Defensible borders'' were guaranteed by a U.N. Security Council resolution after the 1967 Six-Day War that also demanded that Israel withdraw from lands captured during that war. The Arabs interpret that to mean from all captured territory; Israel, which has returned the Sinai peninsula to Egypt and given autonomy to Palestinians in some areas, says that is not so. What's with this instinct for self-preservation? This is the Middle East we're talking about. You can't have peace if you insist on self-preservation.
As Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon headed into his latest Mideast talks with President Bush on Monday, the White House defended Israel's latest assault on the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank. "Our understanding is that the Israeli operation is limited in duration and it is to go after specific terrorists. And given that understanding, the United Stteas has said before that Israel has a right to defend itself,'' White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters as the two leaders prepared to meet for the sixth time in the Oval Office. "The United States will be closely monitoring what Israel is doing and the United States again reminds Israel about the importance of remembering the repercussions of whatever action Israel takes today impacting the broader goals of achieving peace tomorrow,'' Fleischer added. He was doing fine until he got to the part about remembering the repercussions. It looks like the Israeli strategy has now reverted to treating Yasser as inconsequential, and the tank round through the Royal Bedchamber was a gesture of contempt. Since such a treatment of a head of even a quasi-state is probably unprecedented, there's no telling what the actual repercussions will be. The desired result is to tell the world that Yasser and his opinions don't matter.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 09:06 am ||
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In the Gaza Strip, soldiers arrested a wanted militant who was traveling in a Palestinian ambulence at the Gush Katif junction, Israel Radio reported. The troops became suspicious after noticing that there were no medical personnel or injured persons in the vehicle. They proceeded to search the ambulance and found the Paleostinian. Cheeze. Don't the gunnies even feel stoopid when that happens? We knew they have no scruples and we know they have no ruth, but don't they have any sense? When Thugmud is lying bleeding after a thorough ventilation, he can wonder why the ambulance can't get through. Maybe Erekat can make a few political points on the fact, but it won't do Thugmud any good because he'll have long since bled to death.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 05:30 pm ||
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The Palestinian Authority cancelled the first meeting of its newly reshuffled cabinet scheduled for Monday, citing a fresh IDF raid in the West Bank city of Ramallah as the reason for the decision. "There won't be a cabinet meeting tonight because of Israeli reoccupation of Ramallah," Jibril Rajoub, Palestinian West Bank security chief, told Reuters. He did not say when the meeting, which was to have convened in Ramallah, would take place. The Palestinian Authority said earlier in the day that it would be forced to cancel the meeting if Israel did not end the raid.
"If they [Israel] stay in Ramallah it will be impossible to convene the first meeting of the new cabinet," said PA Minister Nabil Sha'ath. Sha'ath slammed the new incursion as an effort "to sabotage any progress at the political and the security level." Gosh, we hope nobody got so mad he exploded...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 05:35 pm ||
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A powerful explosion rocked a neighborhood in this refugee camp early Monday, destroying one building and damaging nearby homes. At least 25 people were injured in the blast, which residents said came from inside the destroyed building. Three people were in critical condition, hospital officials said. Palestinian officials would not say what was behind the blast and tried to prevent journalists from entering the area. They hate it when even the journalists laugh at them...
Palestinian police worked with flashlights to remove concrete blocks and evacuate the wounded to hospital. A potent smell of gas filled the area. Two floors of the devastated building collapsed on top of each other and rooftops close by also caved in from the blast, which could be heard in nearby Gaza City. Outside al Awda hospital in nearby Beit Lahia people walked outside still dazed from the explosion. Many of the wounded suffered shrapnel wounds from being hit by pieces of flying concrete. Now, dat's a "work accident"!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 07:21 pm ||
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I asked for a BUD LIGHT
Posted by: kanji ||
06/11/2002 18:05 Comments ||
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The Indonesian capital Jakarta was rocked by two explosions that injured five people early yesterday morning, even as police defused bombs at two night spots, in what appeared to be an attempt to shake up the city with a series of blasts. The two explosions came just hours after the departure of President Megawati Sukarnoputri on a two-week trip to Europe. Hey! Same pattern we see in Palestine and Kashmir...
The Indonesian police yesterday warned of another attempt to destabilise the capital with bomb attacks in public places. Jakarta police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said: 'There is a group of people who want to disturb security in Jakarta by placing explosives at strategic places where there are a lot of people.' Hmmm... And also when the president's away and the vice president can take charge...
The first explosion at 1 am yesterday occurred at a food stall in front of the Eksotik Discotheque in Mangga Besar, Central Jakarta. Five people were injured in the blast. The second blast in the parking lot of the Jayakarta Hotel badly damaged three cars. Around the same time, parking attendants spotted an explosive device near a cigarette shop in front of the 1001 Discotheque on Hayam Wuruk street. Another bomb was found under a car in front of the busy Sarinah Jaya complex, where the Hard Rock Cafe and the city's busiest, round-the-clock McDonald's outlet are located. Police said the two explosive devices that were defused were 'crude homemade bombs', similar but smaller to the one which exploded. Crude, maybe, but a lot of them...
As in the case of the previous bomb attacks in the country, no one has claimed responsibility. It's not time yet...
The police have not made any arrests. Nor will they...
The spots attacked yesterday have been the target of Muslim militants who have vandalised night establishments with sticks and rocks because they considered these places to be sinful. Pleasure=Sin.
Sin = Punishable by death.
Having a turban gives you the right to make such equations.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 11:42 am ||
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Three more battalions were deployed yesterday to reinforce the forces already on the trail of the Abu Sayyaf on the islands of Basilan and Jolo and the province of Zamboanga Del Norte on Mindanao. Mrs Arroyo said US troops deployed in the Philippines to train and assist the local military fight the Abu Sayyaf might be upgraded and be more involved in operations. But she did not say if they would get into combat situations, though there are suggestions here now that they might enter the jungles with the Philippine troops. The Philippine troops can do it themselves, given support and leadership. They're not the greatest army in the world, but their motto could be "We're not as bad as some people say."
Maj Gen Ernesto Caroline said the rebels were more vulnerable after the loss of their hostages. 'We have broken the Abu Sayyaf backbone. They are now running, they are splintered, demoralised,' he said. And they don't have any hostages to hide behind...
The Abu Sayyaf group is now reduced to less than 100 fighters from the more than 1,000 it had a year ago. Which would be its hardest core...
As part of the new three-pronged offensive, Army scout rangers are in hot pursuit of the group leader Abu Sabaya, who fled deeper into a jungle in Zamboanga del Norte after Friday's shootout with government troops. Gen Caroline said separate contingents were hunting down commander Khaddazy Janjalani on Jolo island and commander Isnilan Hapilon on Basilan. I'd be surprised if all three are actually caught, and I'll be disappointed if at least one isn't caught. With this lot especially, it's in the Good Guys' interests to be merciless.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 11:52 am ||
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Airstrip One noticed this one first...
A senior leader of Nepal's ruling Nepali Congress party said on Sunday that China has promised to help the impoverished Himalayan nation fight Maoist rebels seeking to topple the constitutional monarchy. "They (the Chinese) have promised to provide all the possible help in the fight against the terrorists," Girija Prasad Koirala, president of the Nepali Congress, told reporters after a week-long visit to Beijing. His statement came as the state-run news agency, Rastria Samachar Samiti, reported troops had killed 17 Maoist guerrillas in weekend gun battles across Nepal which has been under a state of emergency since last November when rebels walked out of peace talks and launched a wave of bloody attacks.
Koirala did not specify what type of assistance China had promised to give Nepal to help crush the Maoist rebels who draw their inspiration from Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong and are trying to set up a one-party communist republic. Political analysts say the Maoist rebels and China have nothing in common as Beijing is seen by the guerrillas as having deviated from Mao's teachings by adopting capitalist practices. Well, fry me for an egg and make me a sandwich!
And I have to agree with Emmanuel Goldstein's suggestion that we not consider the Chinese Marxists anymore. We might consider them â Oh, Gawd! It sounds like 75,000 tedious undergraduate seminars! â post-Maxists.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/10/2002 05:19 pm ||
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#1
Pseudo socialist oligarchs and running dog lackeys of Western capitalism is a probably more accurate descriptor. We could probably throw in a taunt or two about being Trotskyite counterrevolutionaries as well.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
06/11/2002 7:42 Comments ||
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#2
Oh, but I like "post-Marxist" best. It sounds like it means something.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2002 8:43 Comments ||
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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.
