A Thai woman killed herself by jumping into a pit of more than 100 crocodiles, shocking crowds of onlookers at a Bangkok reptile farm. The woman, 40, climbed a two-meter high fence and jumped into a concrete enclosure at the Famut Prakarn Crocodile Farm on the outskirts of the Thai capital, a tour guide who witnessed the event said Sunday. A crocodile dragged the woman into a pond and several animals swarmed over and tore her body apart. Hmmm... Y'know, if I'd been depressed for some time, I think I'd still give serious consideration to departing this vale of tears in a less stressful manner...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 07:52 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Police raided two buildings in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, seizing explosives. Haji Ajab Shah, the police inspector general for Nangarhar province, said the first raid on a house in Acheen, about 37 miles east of Jalalabad, turned up explosives, mortar shells, 54 boxes of machine gun ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades. He said the men living in the house escaped. How convenient. Mahmoud the Weasel's working for the Nangahar coppers now, huh?
The second raid was on a building in Jalalabad's shoe market, where 15 kinds of explosive devices and accessories were discovered, Shah said. The owners of the store were arrested and were being questioned about possible links to the Taliban and al-Qaida, he added. What's the sign on the shop say? "Fine gents' shoes for air travel"?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 08:02 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Supporters of renegade Afghan warlord Padshah Khan Zadran held another rally in eastern Afghanistan against the government of President Hamid Karzai. The protest came a day after the Afghan government vowed to use force to crush Zadran. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said Zadran's supporters lit bonfires and beat drums. He has demanded Karzai's resignation and that the central government cede power to the provinces. Especially in Paktia. Daggone meddlers, think they run the daggone country...
The rally in the Waza Zadran area, some 31 miles from Gardez, capital of Paktia province, was only the latest in a series of anti-Karzai protests in the region. AIP said protesters also blocked the road between Gardez and neighboring Khost province for several hours. Zadran, who has occupied the governor's office in Khost for nearly two months, says he has an army of several thousand men and has vowed to resist any attack by Kabul. An Afghan intelligence official on Friday said a military operation would be conducted against Zadran with the help of local forces loyal to Karzai. No government troops would be dispatched from Kabul, nor would the U.S. military in Afghanistan be involved. "We want him alive or dead," he said of Zadran. But preferably dead. In fact, the deader the better. Dead in small pieces is best...
Any move against Zadran would be the first significant test of the Karzai government's military strength since coming to power after the fall of the Taliban last year. Zadran, a strong local ally of the United States in its hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda remnants, was appointed by Karzai in January as governor of Paktia province to the south of the capital. Zadran later showered Gardez with missiles that killed an estimated 30 civilians. After that assault was repelled, he moved to Khost. That's because the people he was sent to be governor of couldn't stand him and kicked him out.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 09:55 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Iran has quietly detained and expelled to Saudi Arabia 16 al Qaeda fighters who sought refuge in the country after fleeing Afghanistan, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud Faisal, said today. Iranian authorities handed over the al Qaeda fugitives, all Saudis, knowing that whatever intelligence was obtained from them during interrogation in Saudi Arabia would be passed on to the United States for use in the war against terrorism, Saud said. The revelations of Iran's cooperation came in an interview with the foreign minister at his residence in Jiddah, where photos of President Bush adorn a wall in a study. It's tough being expendable cannon fodder when the Soddies have to kiss up to the Merkins. Dontcha hate it when that happens?
Instead, Saud described cooperation, from Iran as well as Saudi Arabia. He said that even though Osama bin Laden, and some of its followers are Saudi, the Saudi government shares the U.S. desire to prosecute bin Laden and his network, declaring, "All the information we have on al Qaeda has been exchanged with the U.S." Financing, of course, has nothing to do with al-Qaeda. And we're only talking about al-Qaeda, not wahhabi subversion in general...
The expulsion reversed long-standing Iranian claims that there were no al Qaeda operatives in its territory. The detainees are in Saudi Arabia, but officials declined to say if they are still incarcerated. If they were still incarcerated, the Soddies would have said so. I'd suspect they were either told to go, and sin no more, or at least not get caught at it, or were quietly disposed of. Probably it's a combination of the two, with some apparently having found jobs that make use of their hard skills, while any with no further utility got a long nap in the dirt...
Iran has secretly turned over Arabs to governments that included Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, where the detainees have been interrogated, Arab officials said in recent interviews. The Arabs were detained after fleeing Afghanistan. The problem there isn't the ones they've handed over. That's mere good sense on their part. It's which ones they kept â and why.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 07:52 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Iraq's military — including the elite Republican Guard — is "ready to rise up" against Saddam Hussein, an Iraqi opposition leader told reporters Saturday after speaking with top U.S. officials. Sharif Ali Bin Al Hussein, of the Constitutional Monarchy Movement, said he would tell the Iraqi people that "their liberation is finally, God willing, going to happen soon." Okay. Let's see you do it...
"There is nobody left in Iraq who believes in Saddam Hussein," bin Al Hussein said. "They only fear his apparatus of terror. With the help of the United States, that apparatus of terror can be dismantled. [He] is very weak." Starting with the Mukhabarat, then the Republican Guard, then the Ba'ath Party apparatus, then the Tikriti mafia...
Bin Al Hussein and representatives of five other opposition groups spoke Saturday in a video teleconference with Vice President Dick Cheney, who was at his home in Jackson, Wyoming, then face-to-face with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Washington. Guess they must have worked something out. It'll be interesting to see what happens next...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 07:52 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
The UK government has dismissed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's promise to a British politician that he would allow U.N. inspectors back. The Iraqi leader told George Galloway, a supporter of terrorism maverick left-wing Labour MP, that he would implement all U.N. resolutions on Iraq and admit weapons inspectors without hindrance, the Mail on Sunday newspaper said without quoting the pledge directly. Sure. It could happen...
Galloway, who has visited Iraq on numerous occasions, also said: "Saddam clearly understood that Iraq has to be seen to go the extra diplomatic mile and he promised to do so." "...to obfuscate and delay as much as he possibly can."
But the Foreign Office told CNN that the comments would "not change a thing." The spokesman added: "Saddam knows exactly what he has to do â he has to follow the U.N. Security Council resolutions and let U.N. inspectors back anytime and anywhere." Since the Iraqi opposition now seems to be getting along with each other, and they've met with Cheney (see below) and gotten some sort of a plan together, Sammy can see visions of himself hanging by the heels in a public square, doorknob dead, with his beloved people dancing with joy arund his corpse. But the bad part about being an iron-fisted dictator is that whenever you back down on something you look weak, and when you look weak the hard boys get together and start to plot. Wonder how he's gonna get out of this one?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 07:52 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
They got any crocodiles in Iraq?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2002 11:21 Comments ||
Top||
An Iraqi prayer leader yesterday urged Muslims across the world to rally behind Iraq in the face of U.S. threats which he said were tantamount to waging war on Islam. "America does not target only Iraq, it targets Islam...This is a war against Islam," Sheikh Abdul-Ghafour Al Qaisi said during Friday prayers at Baghdad's Grand Imam mosque. "Muslims must show their strength, cooperation and solidarity in the face of this evil and this aggression." Mullah Omar said the same thing. Ain't that a coincidence?
The cleric said the Iraqi people were firmly behind President Saddam Hussein. "Saddam is Iraq and Iraq is Saddam," he said. If he doesn't say that, Iraq will send some of the boys around to break his knees...
Thousands of Iraqi civilians clad in military fatigues and clutching assault rifles have paraded in Baghdad this week, vowing to defend Saddam to the death. Frightening. Simply frightening. Where are my pills?
Qaisi called on scholars of Islam everywhere to join the struggle. "We appeal to you from Baghdad, from Iraq ... to stand on the side of right and issue your fatwas (religious edicts) against this brutal force," he said. "Hop on board, 'cuz the train's a leavin' for... ummm... wherever it's going."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 10:15 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Followup: Donald Sensing finds them frightening, too. It's the eliteness of it all...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2002 10:43 Comments ||
Top||
Police have arrested 21 people, including several foreign women, in a raid on a brothel in the central pilgrimage district of the holy northeastern city of Mashhad, an official daily said Sunday. The brothel operated from rented apartments hard by the city's holiest Shiite Muslim shrine, the tomb of Imam Reza, the Iran newspaper said. The shrine attracts an estimated 12 million pilgrims a year, including a growing number from the impoverished former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Cheeze. Don't those people do anything but go to whorehouses?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 11:46 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Several young Iranians who were on their way back to home from a party, in the early hours of Friday, were stopped, beaten and seriously wounded by a team of the Islamic regime's foreign mercenaries. The mercenaries who were patrolling in one of their newly purchased "Landcruisers" stopped the car in the Tajrish area and insulted them with a heavy Arabic accent. These mercenaries forced the young occupants of the car to get out of their vehicles and start to beat them. One of the young occupant of the car has been reported as being in a deep coma and the three others have fractured bones. The brutality used by these mercenaries is subject to hot popular discussions and many Iranians are swearing about their collective hanging as soon as the regime collapses. Many Iranian members of the regime's forces are hating, as well, these elements which are making look them as the collaborators of an occupation force. That's what's needed, by gum! Keep up a good supply of arrogant Arab thugs, pulling people out their cars and beating them up. That'll show that mean old Great Satan what's what...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 12:34 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
President Omar el-Bashir on Saturday lifted a ban on political parties he had imposed since coming to power in a 1989 coup, but made no mention of reinstating Sudan's multiparty parliament. One thing at a time, okay?
In a decree carried by the official Sudan News Agency, el-Bashir set conditions under which political parties can apply for license. Only the parties that were represented in parliament before the 1989 coup can apply, under condition they renounce use of force and commit to "peaceful transition of power." To be officially recognized, parties must be represented from within Sudan and abide by the country's laws and the constitution â something that excludes the main rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which has been fighting a 19-year civil war for more autonomy for the south of the country. Something will be worked out there, too...
The main opposition parties, former Prime Minister Sadeq el-Mahdi's Umma party and the Democratic Unionist Party of Mohamed Osman Mirgahni, both of which were represented in the parliament el-Bashir dissolved in 1999, have refused to register, saying the conditions were unacceptable. They'll eventually come around. I think Sudan wants to be rich, not the Vanguard of Islamism. The only way they can do that is to get some stability. I don't think they're Soddy puppets, at least not anymore. Maybe having Binny as a houseguest cured them of that.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 07:52 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
The Spanish parliament will convene next month as part of the government's plan to ban a Basque separatist party. Parliament will meet on August 19 to convene sessions for August 26 and August 30 in its effort to ban Batasuna, Interior Minister Angel Acebes was reported by Reuters as saying on Saturday. Batasuna, which denies having links to the armed separatist group ETA, nevertheless, shares its aims. The government passed a controversial bill in June, with Batasuna in mind, outlawing political parties that support, justify or excuse terrorism on the grounds that they are responsible as well. Despite pious denials, if the two organizations are connected in their finances and people, then there's no difference between them. I still can't find any justification for free societies committing suicide.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 07:52 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
The response of U.S. policymakers to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is based upon an overestimate of the threat of terrorism, and ignores the lessons that can be gained from an interdisciplinary approach to the problem, according to some think tank experts who are analyzing the issue. "I basically think we are really overreacting to this in a fairly large way," said George Mason University economist Roger Congleton. "I think it would be useful for the press and the government to be reminded that the risks are not as gigantic as we seem to have been encouraged to believe over the last year." "What's an occasional nuclear blast here or there? Collapsing skyscrapers? Thousands dead at a shot? And plagues? Subversion? Murder? No problem. It's all in the way you look at it. They missed me, so what's the problem?"
In an essay entitled "Terrorism, Interest-Group Politics, and Public Policy: Curtailing Criminal Modes of Political Speech," in the summer edition of the Independent Institute's Independent Review, Congleton argues that policymakers should be taking a closer look at just how great a risk is posed by terrorist activities, as well as how much effort and money should be committed to address that threat, versus the other risks faced by society. Congleton says that the risks of dying in more ordinary crimes or accidents -- being run over by a car, killed in the traffic accident while driving, or even being murdered -- are much higher than those of being killed in a terrorist act... "The damage terrorism's actually caused on a relative scale hasn't been crippling so far, so it won't ever be in the future."
But critics of Congleton's quantitative approach to antiterrorism policy argue that although a multi-disciplinary view is required to address the thicket of policy concerns raised by terrorist threats, a qualitative review is a much better means for developing an effective policy response. "Hmmm... No-o-o-o-o. I wouldn't call him stupid. Not exactly, anyway..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 10:23 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I wonder how Mr. Conga-ton would react if one of these not so gigantic risks were to fall directly upon his head . . .
Posted by: Steve ||
08/12/2002 9:28 Comments ||
Top||
Investigators in Pakistan suspect that members of Jaish-e-Mohammed were involved in recent attacks against Christians, police and Interior Ministry officials said Sunday. Suicide squads from outlawed extremist groups are planning more attacks on important Pakistani officials, foreigners and Christians to destabilize Pervez Musharraf's government because of its ongoing support for the U.S. war against terrorism, the officials added. No suprise there. We've been saying that for some time...
"We are convinced that associates of Jaish-e-Mohammed... were behind the grenade attack on worshipers at a church on the grounds of a Presbyterian hospital in Taxila on Aug. 9," a security official said on condition of anonymity. Four Pakistani nurses and one of the attackers were killed in the attack. The dead assailant, killed by a piece of shrapnel from a grenade, has been identified as Kamran Mir. Police said he belongs to Jaish-e-Mohammed. In the last few days, police have rounded up more than 50 suspected supporters of Islamic militants from different parts of the country. Anti-terrorism experts were questioning them, an Interior Ministry official said. The official said some militants have disclosed that there will be more deadly attacks on Westerners if British-born militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh is executed. And such things will continue until he's got a three foot neck. Once he's safely dead, there will be a spate of "revenge" atrocities, 'cause that's the Way of Islam, and eventually they'll die down. They won't stop, they won't ever stop, because each time the perps are rounded in the latest revenge atrocity, there'll be more revenge to be had...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 07:52 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
A former Venezuelan president — who survived a coup attempt by President Hugo Chavez — said the policies of the current leader would force the military to launch a bloody takeover. Former leader Carlos Andres Perez, in an interview published by a Spanish newspaper over the weekend, said he opposed a violent overthrow. "But I'm convinced that only violence will force Chavez to leave. It is being prepared this very moment," Perez said in the El Pais interview. "Unfortunately, there will be a coup and there will be blood." Hugo probably won't survive the next one, because he came back from the last one...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 07:55 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
But suddenly the insistent rumors stressing that the king is dying picked up again: on August 3 he transferred the rights of his property to his second wife, Princess Johara Al-Ibrahim. There is wild speculation in Geneva that the king could be formally sidelined from the throne to the benefit of one of his staunch pro-American brothers. Meaning he'll step down in favor of someone other than Abdullah. The end comes to us all, eventually, and he's six years older than God, so it's about time...
This is a very serious matter as far as the king's official heir - Prince Abdullah - is concerned. It is being constantly repeated in Washington that the US needs Prince Abdullah and vice versa. "Wishing will make it so-o-o-o-o!"
But the fact is that Washington hawks do not evaluate the importance of Prince Abdullah as the crucial counter-power to Osama bin Laden's apocalyptic designs, and are suspicious of the prince's intentions of eventually convincing the Americans to abandon their Saudi military bases. The prince's efforts to get closer to Iran and Iraq and his landmark peace proposal for the Middle East - Israel retreats to its 1967 borders with Palestine in exchange of recognition by the Arab world - also do not fit the designs of Washington's hawks. That also has something to do with his failure to crack down on the funding that goes to Islamic subversion in general and his willingness to protect the al-Qaeda killers as poor, misunderstood boys who don't know no better...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 09:09 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Members of the inner circle of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia have held a series of secret meetings in Geneva to discuss the succession amid fears that the ailing king's health is fast deteriorating. The 79-year-old king, who has suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years, has been in his palatial villa in the Swiss city since May and last week had a successful operation on a cataract. But according to the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds his health is failing, and this has prompted discussions on the sensitive issue of the succession. We were just talking about that...
According to the paper two potential successors, Prince Sultan and Prince Salman, have met secretly with the king's inner circle in the past few weeks. The king's son, Mohamad, who is also his chief-of-staff, is said to have led talks aimed at finding an alternative to Crown Prince Abdullah, the kingdom's de facto ruler. Wonder how substantial this little flurry of rumors and reports actually is? And whether it ties in with the dead princes?
The US government is reported to be opposed to the Abdullah succession because of his position on Israel and, more recently, Iraq. This week the Saudi government indicated it would deny US forces access to bases in the kingdom in the event of an attack on Iraq but insisted it had not asked US troops to leave its bases near Riyadh. Prince Abdullah's peace initiative for Palestine is also said to have damaged his standing in Washington. Kinda frays the edges of his "pro-American" description, doesn't it?
The Saudi succession has the potential to destabilise the entire region. The ruling dynasty is under increasing international pressure to prove that it has not nurtured or encouraged al-Qaida elements, and a briefing paper presented to the Pentagon recently suggested the country should be viewed as a potential US enemy. Seems like everything, to include doing nothing, has the "potential to destabilize the entire region."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 10:32 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian gunman Sunday morning in northern Gaza after he shot and injured an Israeli civilian working near the Dugit settlement, Israeli military sources said. After shooting the Israeli, the gunman was identified and followed by the forces as he went inside an abandoned house near Dugit. The troops remained outside the house and exchanged fire with the gunman before killing him. On the way to the house, the soldiers discovered a roadside bomb. So now he's dead, and all he ever accomplished in life was to be a nuisance and to hurt someone.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 07:52 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Israel blocked American peace activists traveling with U.S. congressional staff members from entering the West Bank on Saturday, according to the activists, the State Department and an Israeli official. Really? Which congressional staff members?
The activists were three representatives of the American Muslims for Jerusalem organization and Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel organization, said Josh Ruebner, head of the latter group. He said they planned to meet with American and international humanitarian organizations during a fact-finding mission to the Palestinian territories and Israel. Izzat so? Y'mean they do something besides throwing red paint on military equipment and hanging out with Yasser when the going gets tough?
"Since Israel has the sovereign right to decide who can enter Israel and who can't, we have the right to prevent groups who we know ahead of time are coming to demonstrate and cause provocation in places where Israeli soldiers are fighting terrorism," said Yaffa Ben-Ari, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. "So keep your asses out of our country, and the rest of you with them. Jerks."
In Washington, the State Department said two of the three "coordinators" with the congressional staff members were denied entry into Israel when they arrived at the Allenby Bridge border crossing from Jordan. The congressional staff members then decided not to seek entry, the State Department said. And which congressional staff members were they?
It wasn't immediately clear for which U.S. representatives the congressional staff members worked. The delegation could not be reached for comment, and Khalid Turaani, executive director of the American Muslims for Jerusalem, refused to provide their names. Brave of 'em. Wonder if we'll ever find out? My guess would be not...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 08:56 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The militant Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Friday that it will target Israeli leaders in response to the Jewish state's tactic of killing senior Palestinian militants behind attacks on Israelis. Usama Hamdan, who heads Hamas in Lebanon, said Israel's killing in recent weeks of two senior Hamas figures â one in an air strike that left 14 others dead â meant Hamas's military actions should expand beyond suicide bombings in public places. "From here on out, targeting a leader, minister, or the head of the government of the Zionist entity will be treatment in kind, particularly since they are giving the orders (to kill Palestinians)," he told Reuters. "The Palestinian response will extend to the killers and it will extend to those who consent to being ruled by the killers." Ummm... That sounds like a really good way to get the head of Hamas in Lebanon killed...
Hamdan was voicing a harder line taken by Hamas recently against individual Israeli leaders. A more senior Hamas figure said on Wednesday that the group, which has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings during the Palestinian uprising, should target Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to avenge a Hamas leader shot by an Israeli sniper in Gaza. That would be a bad move. A very bad move. The Paleostinian Autocracy Authority can't seem to control Rantissi and Yassin and Shanab, but the IDF could — once the gloves are taken off.
Hamdan's comments came as Palestinian cabinet members met U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in Washington for talks on Palestinian reforms Washington wants to focus on revamping security forces to take on militant groups like Hamas. Well, it ain't gonna happen. If it did, they'd have a Paleostinian civil war — and Hamas would probably win it. We don't care if that happens, but Yasser does.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 10:06 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
MALACAÃANG is reluctant to accept the United Statesâ line that Philippine communists are terrorists, saying the matter still has to be taken up by senior government officials. They may well be right. There's a difference between subversion and terrorism...
Last Saturday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New Peopleâs Army (NPA), have been listed as foreign terrorist organizations. Powell urged financial insÂtitutions to block the assets of the groups. The NPA would seem to stand a much better chance of making the cut than the "legit" party. It's that "armed struggle" thing, y'know...
But yesterday, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said top government officials have yet to discuss the terrorist tag on the CPP and the NPA. Besides, Bunye said, the government has yet to receive the official document from the US. Once the document arrives, Bunye said Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and National Security Adviser Roilo Golez and other officials concerned would meet to come up with an official position. Right now, the CPP-NPA could not be regarded as criminals or revolutionary groups, Bunye said. The communists have become a legitimate group folloÂwing the repeal of the Anti-Subversion Law, he said. Bunye also said the Philippines does not even have an Anti-Terrorism Law, âso we donât have a clear definition of what a terrorist organization is.â Why not start with Abu Sayyaf and work out from there? Carries guns? Check. Kills people? Check. Robs banks? Check. Gets its funding from outside the country? Check. To me, the NPA makes the cut and the Party doesn't. So have the Party shut down the NPA, and offer to help.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 12:52 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Speaking of which...
Cesar Pe Benito Baroña, a Tingguian tribesman who was known as Ka Yukan to his comrades and local folk, was one of the most wanted communist guerrilla leaders in the Cordillera. The authorities offered a P70,000 reward for his capture. When he decided to give up the fight in 1995 and applied for amnesty, Baroña thought his days as rebel were all behind him, that the government would give him a clean slate. The slate, it turns out, is far from clean. Because of some bureaucratic foul-up, Baroñaâs name has appeared in the police list of Cordilleraâs most wanted criminals. His name and photo appear in posters all over the region, including his home province in Abra. Dontcha hate it when that happens?...
Far from having peace of mind, the 56-year-old Baroña fears he could be arrested anytime by overzealous policemen. Worse, he is afraid his former reputation could eventually get him killed. Things look different when you're 56 than they do when you're 26. Your knees and back work better, too. 'Course, you don't believe it when you're 26...
When he decided to give himself up, he asked Abra Gov. Vicente Valera to accompany him to the police headquarters in Camp Crame. Baroña surrendered his M-16 rifle. Baroña applied for the amnesty being offered by the Ramos government. He was taken in three years later. He received the papers from the National Amnesty Board last Feb. 18. Early this month, word reached Baroña he was included in the Cordillera policeâs most wanted list. He said he thought the criminal cases filed against him when he was still a New Peopleâs Army guerrilla had been cleared when he sought amnesty. As a fellow old guy, I hope they get it cleared up for him. But if they don't, and he does end up getting popped, well, the people he killed are still dead, aren't they?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 09:35 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Associated Press today carries an article by Jerome Socolovsky covering Mohammad Atta's vacation in Spain last summer, and all the interesting people he hung out with. It's today's recommended reading...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/11/2002 08:42 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
