I've added in the five most recent headlines for the current day's rants. They won't show for yesterday on back, only for today. Leave a comment if they break something else that I didn't realize was related.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 10:46 am ||
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South Korean President Kim Dae-jung says he will press ahead with his reconciliation effort with North Korea, despite Saturday's naval clash in which four South Koreans and an estimated 30 North Koreans were killed. His comments came as the South Korean defense minister and the commander of the U.S. forces stationed there met to discuss the incident. I'm still not too sure how it's reconciliation when they're shooting your guys up, but go ahead. Don't let us stop you...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 09:21 am ||
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President Saddam Hussein has issued a presidential order barring civil servants from traveling abroad. The order, dated June 24, prevents any Iraqi civil servant from leaving until further notice. The ruling, a copy of which was obtained by Iraq Press, was secretly communicated to Iraqi ministries. No reasons were given for the measure but senior officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saddam was angry with the large number of Iraqi civil servants not returning home after leaving on official visits. Not to mention the number of them spilling their gutz about weapons programs on Merkin terriblevision.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 06:03 pm ||
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At least six people were killed and over a dozen injured in a clash between Hatfield Luni and McCoy Marri tribes on Sunday at Chamalang coalfield in Kohlu district. The tribesmen, fighting over the ownership of coalmines, used automatic weapons and fired rockets on each other's positions. Over a dozen persons injured in the clash were admitted to hospital. According to sources, firing was continuing late in the night and both sides had refused to vacate their positions. The administration dispatched militia and Balochistan reserve police to avert further clashes. "Them boys ain't terrorists. They's just varmints...!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 09:51 am ||
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Pakistani authorities have arrested a suspected Al-Qaeda foreigner in the remote tribal territory bordering Afghanistan. The Arab detainee was seized late on Sunday from a bus at Tanai village, 22 km east of Wana, a major town in the semi-autonomous region of South Waziristan. "The Arab travelling in the bus was trying to enter Wana," 25 km east of the Afghan border, a local administration official told reporters. He is being held for questioning in Wana. Residents said the bus was travelling from the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, but it was unclear from where he had boarded it. Wana sounds like it's a real hotspot. Must have some real fun nightlife to attract so many tourists... Yep. Since they opened the new cineplex with six screens, they've been coming from as far away as Punjab.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 12:48 pm ||
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An Army jawan was killed and two others were injured when snuffies attacked an ambush party of security forces at Darhal in Rajouri district of Jammu last night. Gonna have to work on that ambush technique, guys. We told you, no smoking, and don't go cracking jokes while you're waiting for the Bad Guys to show up...
A policeman, Shamsher Ahmed, was killed in an encounter between gunnies and security forces at Shikhari in Udhampur district.
In another incident in Kulgam, Bad Guys waxed an ex-Bad Guy outside his house at Neelu in Anantnag this morning. "Mahmoud, I got bad news for ya: y'can't just 'retire.' I'm sorry, guy, but it's jus' business, y'know?"
Police recovered the body of another released hard boy from Katerdaji-Dangiwacha village of Baramulla district today. He was kidnapped by his old compadres from his house last night.
A Kashmiri pandit, Bansi Lal Bhat, was killed by terrorists in Kulgam area of Anantnag district today. Bhat, an employee of Accountant General's office, had migrated from his Gojipora-Kulgam village long back and had come to visit his cousin yesterday. Gunnies kidnapped him from his cousin's house and shot him dead on the outskirts of Kheepora village of Kulgam.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 01:25 pm ||
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President Pervez Musharraf said Osama bin Laden was probably dead. "I doubt he is alive, and if he is alive he cannot be in Pakistan," Musharraf told reporters here. However, he said some members of al-Qaeda may have taken shelter in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. The military president said it would be "almost impossible" for bin Laden to hide in the rugged tribal areas bordering Afghanistan "without being found" because he would be moving with a huge security entourage. About the only argument Perv makes is that Binny's bodyguard hasn't been found in Pakland. On FoxNews yesterday they were saying some members have been found in countries other than Pak, implying there's no body left to guard. But Binny could be quite well guarded by a handful of his own thugs — along with those of Fazlur Rehman or the "students" at Samiul Haq's Haqqania madrassah. Truth is, Binny could be alive or dead. My personal opinion is that he's alive for awhile, but incapacitated, otherwise his ego would have appeared on video to urge on the troops to greater feats. When he does die or did die there wouldn't be any announcement. I could be wrong — Mark Steyn thinks he's happily decomposing and the gummint hasn't let the news out for its own reasons. Fazl says the whole thing is a figment of our imagination, again for his own reasons. But my guess is that if he's still alive, he's alive in Pakistan, though he'll probably move across the border to Afghanistan when the time comes to die.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 05:49 pm ||
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Government troops have recaptured the town of Gogrial in southern Sudan after two months of fighting with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the army said Sunday. Armed forces spokesman General Mohamed Beshir Suleiman, in a statement on state-run Omdurman radio, said troops backed by militiamen and mujahedeen volunteer Muslim fighters seized the town on Saturday. They "defeated the enemy in battles that lasted for about two months over Gogrial town, inflicted on them heavy losses in lives and captured all of their heavy weapons," he said. The radio said the town in North Bahr el-Ghazal state had been under SPLA control for more than two years. Southern Sudan has been ravaged by war and famine since 1983, when the mainly Christian and animist SPLA took up arms against the Arab and Muslim government in Khartoum. Now that they've beaten them up, they can extend the hand of friendship. I'd be interested in learning a bit more about those "mujahedeen," though. Maybe it's just me, but that term worries me...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 09:22 am ||
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President Omar al-Beshir said Sunday that peace was finally "in sight" for Sudan, which has been ravaged by civil war since 1983, in an address marking the 13th anniversary of his seizure of power. Beshir called upon the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to participate in running a "united Sudan" with a fair distribution of resources between the north and south. "I call upon the people's movement to lay down arms and to return home so that we can together lead the country through institutions and the rule of law, " said Beshir at a rally in Khartoum's Green Square. "The people have realised that war has lost its logic and can result only in killing and displacement." He said neighbouring countries and the international community were "now playing an effective role" in seeking peace in Sudan. Yep. Now that the rebels are licking their wounds, Beshir can offer them the hand of peaceful reconciliation. Having some idea of how these things work, I'd guess the southerners aren't going to take it until they've beat up the government guys, so's not to negotiate from a position of weakness.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 09:22 am ||
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Hamas extremists vowed Monday to avenge Israel's killing of a senior West Bank bombmaker. Israeli special forces struck a blow to Hamas when Mohaned Tahir, 26, was killed Sunday. Soldiers raked a house in the West Bank city of Nablus where Tahir was staying with machine-gun fire, fired in a tank shell, then razed the house with a bulldozer. And that settled that...
Sources in Hamas described Tahir as a leading bombmaker in the group's military wing, Izzadine al-Qassam. Israeli authorities handed his body over to the Palestinians early Monday, and a funeral was expected when there is a break in the curfew. In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab called Tahir's killing a "dirty crime" and, when asked if Hamas planned revenge, said: "Our people cannot forget the blood of their heroes and their people killed." (Yawn!) Another vow of revenge from Hamas...
IDF seems to be a lot more matter-of-fact ruthless this time around. I think it's because of the nonsense of the church siege last time, and the "massacre" charges about Jenin. Why bother to be nice fellows about it? Now they just holler "come out with your hands up!" and if the Bad Guys don't, then they flatten the place. Seems to work better this way. Not being really good with cause and effect, it'll probably never occur to the Arabs why it's playing out this way.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 09:38 am ||
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Witnesses said three Israeli tanks and a bulldozer entered the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip early on Monday and demolished seven houses. They fired shells and Israeli troops exchanged fire with Palestinians. Hospital sources said a gunman and a civilian were wounded. Nope. IDF is still not feeling friendly...
An Israeli soldier was lightly injured Monday morning after an explosive device placed along the Egyptian-Israeli border detonated near an israeli patrol. Soldiers opened fire on the spot they believed the device was detonated from and the soldier was evacuated for medical treatment. Too bad they missed the attempted murderers...
An 18-year-old Palestinian shot by troops on Sunday during a stone-throwing protest in the Deheishe refugee camp near Bethlehem died on Monday, hospital sources said. Guess he shoulda stayed home. Sympathy meter's still busted...
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers, enforcing a continued curfew in Nablus, arrested a Palestinian woman suspected of planning a suicide bombing and seized a wanted Hamas member. Another Bomb Bitch. Nobody's impressed anymore, except for Hamas. Suet is suet, regardless of gender...
Israeli troops earlier entered 10 villages near the central West Bank city of Ramallah and began searching for weapons, explosives and suspected activists, in what Palestinians said appeared an expansion of the military reoccupation of the Ramallah area. So maybe the PA should have taken care of that sort of housekeeping when it had the chance. For some reason the International Indignation® hasn't kicked in yet...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 12:32 pm ||
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Palestinian leader-for-life Yasser Arafat (1929-2002?) offered on Sunday to meet U.S. President George W. Bush "anytime, anywhere" to promote Middle East peace despite Bush's call for his removal from power. "I'm gonna meet with this guy and sucker him. I'm General Arafat! I can sucker anyone! Long's I can get them to pay attention to me... Yo! Over here...!"
Arafat also referred to Bush's recent Middle East policy address, which effectively linked a future Palestinian state to Arafat's ouster, as "important." As in "it's really important we get a state without me getting dumped..."
"I would like to meet President Bush anytime at a place of his choice so we can work towards comprehensive peace," Arafat speaking by satellite link, told an audience of businessmen and political leaders in the Swiss Crans Montana mountain resort. Didja ever notice that every time Yasser's getting really, truly thumped he's ready for a ceasefire/to hold talks/wants to shine Powell's shoes?
He noted Bush was "the first U.S. president to propose an independent Palestinian state." He's probably not the first. You guys just couldn't hear them through all the explosions...
"It is absolutely impossible. None of my ministers can come and visit me and hold any meetings. It is impossible to achieve reform in such a situation," Arafat said through an interpreter. "Damn those Jews! If it wasn't for them we'da had peace years ago!"
Arafat, who again condemned the suicide bombings, said that he was ready to go "anywhere in the world" to renew peace talks, but the Israeli government was not interested in a just solution to the conflict. "Of course we are against terrorism, we are making every effort to end terrorist acts, particularly against Israel," he said in reply to a question. "Yup. Our 22 well-trained, competent security organizations are gonna start rounding up boomers any day now..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 12:43 pm ||
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The United States will "work hard" to help Palestinians establish their own state, but they must first overhaul their leadership, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday. The president "is going to work hard for a state for the Palestinian people so that they can live side by side in peace with the Jewish state, Israel," Powell told Fox News Sunday. "But it begins with new leadership that is fighting against terror, not tolerating terror or even encouraging terror." He's talking about whatsisname, the guy that sez he's leading the Paleostinians... Now what was his name?
Powell noted that, while US officials still talk to "a variety of Palestinian leaders," they have had no conversations with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat since Bush delivered the speech on Monday. "At the moment, we are not dealing with him," Powell said, adding that he does not expect Washington to deal with Arafat in the future, either, "because his leadership is flawed." Are you sure that was his name? It doesn't seem to ring any bells...
Powell said that US officials "worked very hard for 18 months to try to get this peace process started, ... and at every step, it was thwarted by violence and terror, and Chairman Arafat simply did not provide the kind of leadership necessary to move forward." Well, shucks. There are different kinds of leadership in this great wide world. And his was... different.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 01:06 pm ||
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shrugged off U.S. pressure to cut ties with Lebanon's Hizbollah and expel Palestinian groups. In an interview published in the Al-Liwaa daily on Monday, he said: "Syria supports the Lebanese national resistance, including Hizbollah...in resisting Israeli occupation and liberating land, politically and in the media because the brothers in the Lebanese resistance do not need military support from Syria." "As for the Palestinian groups...their work is limited to political and media activities, and their offices in Damascus provide political representation to the 400,000 Palestinians living in Syria and who look to attain their rights and return to their land," he was quoted as saying. "I think the Bad Guys are gonna defeat the Great Satan in the end 'cuz Bush doesn't wear a gun and Rice is just a girl. How can they prevail against manly men, men with turbans, who roll their eyes and make bloodcurdling threats and wave guns? You hardly ever see Merkins do that."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 01:17 pm ||
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The Israeli Army on Monday night captured one of the leaders of the radical Islamic Jihad movement in the West Bank town of Jenin. "The Israelis on Monday night arrested Nizam Sawafta, 30, in his home in Tubas, 20 km south of Jenin," the group's leader for the northern West Bank town, Bassam Saadi, told AFP. Notice they didn't even have to fire any tank shells into his house. I wonder howcome?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 02:00 pm ||
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Groups affiliated with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement yesterday called upon all Palestinian organizations, including the Islamic movements, to attack Zionist and American targets everywhere in response to US efforts "to remove the legitimate leadership of the Palestinian people." Ummm... "Attack us everywhere," huh? That's a declaration of war, along the same lines as Binny's declaration of war against us. Nor is this the first one. We didn't take Binny seriously at the time and wipe out his nest of vipers. We should take this one seriously.
Fatah's military wing, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, issued a statement yesterday in which it threatened "to strike at Zionist and American interests and installations" in Israel and throughout the world if the United States maintains its opposition to Arafat. Emphasis is mine. You read it here first...
The statement warned US President George W. Bush that it will return to the type of fedayeen operations that prevailed in 1970s if what they called the conspiracy against Arafat continued. And this time we'll hunt them down like dogs. The 70s are long gone...
The statement called for boycotting US Secretary of State Colin Powell and said there is a conspiracy to harm the Palestinian leadership. Arafat later issued a statement distancing himself from the Fatah statement, saying it was not made in his name. "Statement from Chairman Whatsisname. For immediate release: 'Please don't kill me! It wasn't me! Really!'"
Followup: Dr Frank and Tal G. have both picked up on this one. There will be more...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 08:51 pm ||
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Government forces using bomber planes and helicopters attacked suspected Muslim rebel positions in the southern Philippines on Monday, inflicting an undetermined number of casualties. The military said the attack on Jolo island was launched after Abu Sayyaf guerrillas unleashed rockets at soldiers pursuing the group. "One of our troops was wounded but they believe the Abu Sayyaf suffered undetermined number of casualties," military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Fredesvindo Covarrubias said. Government forces have been tracking a band of about 150 suspected Abu Sayyaf since Friday after overrunning four guerrilla camps in the jungle-clad island regarded as an Abu Sayyaf stronghold. Wonder who's running this? It seems more coordinated and professional than the usual slap-dash Filipino operation. Or is it the troops involved? The Scout Rangers appear to be better than the run of the mill.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 09:22 am ||
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Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Monday ordered the nation's police to be on the look out for terrorists who might be operating across the vast archipelago. Megawati, clad in a police-style uniform complete with insignia, told some 5,000 police gathered in Jakarta for the force's 56th anniversary — marked by a parade of marching bands and a show of force — to work more closely with the military. "Be on alert and keep anticipating the spread of various types and forms of transnational crimes including terrorism," she said. "Upholding security is very important for national development." Thank you for the platitudes. Avoiding rigor mortis is very important for leading a happy and productive life.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 09:36 am ||
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A car bomb exploded near the house of a senior security official in Sanaa in the early hours yesterday. The blast took place close to the house of Brigadier Fadhl Al Kawsee, in the downtown Yemeni capital inflicting damage to windows and electricity and slight damage to other houses in the vicinity. No casualties were reported due to the explosion. Al Kawsee is the top security official in the governorate of Amaran, 35 km to the north of capital.
Sanaa has witnessed a series of blasts targeting senior government and security officials over the last three months. The last of which took place nearby the house of Prime Minister, Abdul Qader Bajamal which was also close to the house of the Vice Chairman of the Political Security Organisation, Brigadier Ali Mansoor Rasheed. The prime minister said in a press conference shortly after the bombings that some "satanic forces" were behind these bombings. An unknown group calling itself 'Sympathisers of Al Qaida' claimed at that time the responsibility for the bombings and demanded of the government to release 173 men whom it called "Mujahedeen". The group also threatened in an e-mailed release to carry out more blasts against officials if the Mujahedeen were not freed. The official sources say 85 Al Qaida suspects are in custody.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 06:32 pm ||
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Lawyers for a British Taliban suspect detained by the United States won an important legal step Monday in efforts to force the British government to get involved in the case. Attorneys say 22-year-old Londoner Feroz Abbasi has been denied the right to see a lawyer, despite requesting one when he spoke with British intelligence agents who visited him at the U.S. Navy's detention center on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Abbasi's lawyers accuse the British government of failing to protect his rights. The Court of Appeal agreed Monday to a full hearing on the claim. The ruling reversed a High Court decision three months ago which said that British courts didn't have the power to intervene in a foreign policy matter.
Abbasi is one of five Britons among more than 500 prisoners captured in Afghanistan and then transferred to Guantanamo. He has been detained since January but has not been charged with a crime. That's because he's a prisoner of war, or the closest we're going to come to it in this war. Guantanamo is a POW camp. These goobers were eager enough to run off and kill infidels last year, so what's their beef with the consequences?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/01/2002 10:41 am ||
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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.
