The Afghan Government is struggling to negotiate a ceasefire after fighting in the west of the country between rival warlords left dozens dead or wounded. Herat governor Ismail Khan, an ethnic Tajik, and Pashtun commander Amanullah Khan have called a halt to fighting while a delegation from the capital Kabul investigates their grievances. Guess the B52 strikes helped...
President Hamid Karzai, who is attending a meeting of United Nations representatives and donor countries in Germany, urged the two commanders to bury their differences. Instead of each other...
Ismail Khan has accused his rival of allying himself with remnants of the ousted Taleban regime, while Amanullah Khan is pressing for Pashtun representation in Herat's government. "There will be no solution if this is not done," he told Reuters news agency. "Of course, if this does not happen, as a way out of the conflict we want Ismail to go to Kabul and would accept a new governor." "Someone like, ummm... like me."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 08:04 pm ||
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Now Mullah Omar's never gonna get his lawn mower back...
Afghanistan has recently captured a close relative of the ousted Taliban leader but faces a long struggle to root out remnants of the al Qaeda network, an adviser to President Bush said on Monday. Zalmay Khalilzad, special presidential envoy for Afghanistan, told Reuters that forces had captured the son-in-law of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who was toppled last year. That could be significant, assuming he's in the family business...
Mullah Omar appears to have survived the fighting and a top al Qaeda official said in October that he was still alive. "We don't know for example where Bin Laden is. I don't think he is in Afghanistan probably. Mullah Omar is; it is assumed that he is in Afghanistan," Khalilzad said. When he's not weekending in Quetta or Peshawar...
"There are some figures that are in Afghanistan, but I don't think that Afghanistan is any longer the headquarters of al Qaeda." Al-Qaeda headquarters moved to Karachi sometime during early summer. Prior to that, it was probably in Fazl's guesthouse. I think that when Ramzi was snagged and they almost got Khalid, they beat it to Yemen. At each step of the way, their local infrastructure's been torn down around them, which is a point the guys who say we've been losing the war have missed.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 08:18 pm ||
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Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that everyone has both a responsibility for the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 and an obligation to make sure something similar doesn't happen again. "We are all responsible"? Don't bother. It's been done...
"It's 'Bash-the-Saudis' time," said Adel al-Jubeir, senior foreign policy adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah. "We are guilty before we say anything." Guilty isn't words; it's deeds...
Al-Jubeir was defending his country against accusations by some U.S. lawmakers that charitable donations by a Saudi princess might have wound up going to two of the suicide hijackers â charges that have further strained relations between Riyadh and Washington. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. We know that. You can get it on a tee-shirt from Chris Johnson, if you like.
Al-Jubeir said the FBI investigated the money sent by the princess last year and that the agency cleared her of the accusations. A law enforcement source confirmed that the FBI's office in San Diego, California, looked into the matter last year, but the source would not comment on the result of that inquiry. If they've got anything on the ball, they're reviewing what they found at this very moment...
The Saudi official made his remarks after the release of a nine-page report outlining what Saudi Arabia has done and what it plans to do in tracking money donated to its citizens by an estimated 300 Saudi front organizations charities. The report, "Initiatives and Actions taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Financial Area to Combat Terrorism," outlines the following:
⢠Establishment of a high commission to oversee charities and conduct audits to prevent money laundering and support for terrorism.
⢠Insistence that charities cannot operate outside of Saudi Arabia without first coordinating with the foreign ministry.
⢠Banning the anonymous transfer of cash out of the kingdom.
"The most important part of pursuing international terrorists is to choke off their finances," al-Jubeir said. Hey! He's been reading Rantburg!
Audits of some charities have taken place and others are scheduled, al-Jubeir said, adding that the charities are cooperating. So far, "we have not found a direct link between the Saudi charities to a terrorist group," he said. And so far Iraq doesn't have any weapons of mass destruction. They probably haven't found any "direct" links because the witnesses are dead or in hiding.
On the other hand... Maybe it's the Third Hand, in fact... If the Soddies are awake to their danger, rather than just rolling over in their sleep, this is the time to start winding down the terror financing for another 25 years or so. Bush has been polite, even while the evidence has been piling up, and if they kill the Clash of Cultures™ now they can save face while we all pretend it never happened. They probably won't be given another opportunity.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 04:52 pm ||
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I'm getting 'bout ready to hurl every time I see a "Saudi Arabia...friend of America" ad. They would do well to quit the bullshit PR campaign, save themselves some ad money and declare themselves by action as friend or foe. Let's get it over with
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2002 20:33 Comments ||
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we are dealing with a kingdom here that at last count had over 6000 princes, give or take the results of the latest desert car accident. Those princes and their court live and breathe a level of feudal palace intrigue that affects everything they say and do. I suspect part of the Bush Admins plan is to evaluate and understand that influence, because whatever happen in Saudi will involve working with some/many/few of those princes. We can eliminate (1) Saddam and change Iraq, but which/how many of the 6000 Saudis do we target/car accident?
Posted by: john ||
12/03/2002 21:36 Comments ||
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Rules to Live By # 1,347:
When word and deed conflict, believe the action EVERY TIME.
Iraq says it will give the United Nations a report on its weapons of mass destruction on December 7 -- one day ahead of the deadline set by the U.N. Hussam Mohammed Amin, head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate told reporters: "We are going to deliver this declaration in the proper time on the seventh of this month and the people here, the UNMOVIC and IAEA, will take this declaration to New York and Vienna."
U.S. President George Bush has insisted Baghdad must supply a "credible and complete" list of its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons by Sunday -- the December 8 deadline set by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 giving Baghdad one last chance to disarm or face war. But Amin declared: "We are a country devoid of weapons of mass destruction. This fact is known to all countries including the United States of America and Britain and all those concerned." "And they have the intelligence to disprove it."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 04:52 pm ||
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Looks like Iraqis will make, at most, token admissions of WMD programs in an effort to draw out the process and deprive the US of a casus belli. We'll need hard evidence to refute them. I know the Iraqi's are lying but am getting a bit worried we do not have the goods to prove it or we would have already presented them to the UN. Should I be?
Posted by: John B. ||
12/03/2002 17:09 Comments ||
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My guess is that the US has a list of known stuff. When Saddam produces his list (or lack of a list) we'll compare the two and tell the weapons inspectors to check out the inconsistencies. Planes will be in the air and troops ready.
Saddam will have the most obvious ones clean and clear hoping to humiliate us, but I'm pretty sure our list is going to be more extensive than he thinks.
#3
If we have hard intel on Iraqi WMD, we do not want Saddam to know what we actually know, and letting the UN know lets Saddam in on the secret. Those sites are critical targets and the last thing we want is to spook the Iraquis into dispersal, unless we get to watch. Which would almost suggest that the last thing we want is to have UMOVIC actually stumble onto something; luckily we have Blix. He gets to ramble around and we watch how the Iraquis react. Confused? Be patient.
Posted by: john ||
12/03/2002 21:20 Comments ||
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Turkey says it will open its airbases to U.S. warplanes if the U.N. approves military action against Iraq. The United States already uses Turkish airbases to patrol a "no-fly" zone over northern Iraq, in place since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. "What we mean by cooperation is opening airbases and opening facilities to use," Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis told an Ankara press conference. Yakis spoke after meeting with U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who was in Turkey to lobby for support of an operation against Iraq. Turkey and Kuwait are the two essential allies in this operation. Everyone else is just window dressing.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 04:52 pm ||
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But the fine print says we need another UN resolution for this. Hopefully the Turks are flexible on this matter otherwise they will have outsourced their foreign policy to the French on this matter.
Posted by: John B. ||
12/03/2002 17:11 Comments ||
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The US will not be going back to the UN. Any intelligence we have will not be presented to the Security Council where it would turn into a Franco/Sino "he says-she says" pissing contest. Look for Cheney or Powell to make a final visit to the region by Xmas to share the private intel with the Turks, Kuwait, Quatar (and the Saudis for appearance sake)
Posted by: john ||
12/03/2002 21:05 Comments ||
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Posted by: john ||
12/03/2002 21:45 Comments ||
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The shape of the post-GWII world seems to be clearing up more and more. It looks pretty certain that both Turkey and Iran will try and get as big a piece of this pie as possible. Turkey gets the north, Iran gets the south, and whomever we appoint gets the center.
#5
The Turkey and Iran news will shortly be followed by the Saudi's epiphany of recognising how wrong they have been to so slowly recognise the threat Sammy poses and how they will reconsider the use of the air bases and tactical control centre and other assets. Al-Jubeir is too damn British in his outlook and is taking his sweet ass time leading up to the big mea maxima culpa. Everytime Dubya opens his mouth the spincters in Soddyland just get squeezed harder and harder.
Posted by: Jack ||
12/04/2002 8:57 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD, Dec 3 (AFP) - Iraq branded US President George W. Bush a "bad man" Tuesday and accused him of damaging international relations.
Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with the angry Pakistani...
INA said the remarks were "accuratestrange", adding that "Bush, ‘ the bad man ’, has put Iraq among the gang of outlawed countries because Baghdad refuses to accept the logic of aerial exclusion (zones) imposed by the United States and Britain which have no UN mandate."
"Iraq's complete cooperation with UN disarmament inspectors is intended to refute the US and British lies about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction," INA quoted him as saying during a reception for a visiting delegation of Canadian MPs.
Surrender monkeys
Posted by: Brian ||
12/03/2002 05:19 pm ||
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If you can't send troops for the war effort, you may as well send politicians....and we call others morons!
Posted by: john ||
12/03/2002 20:41 Comments ||
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For the most part, I usually just filter out the comments about Bizzaro World.
United Nations weapons inspectors knocked on the doors of one of Saddam Hussein's presidential compounds Tuesday morning, quickly gaining entry in a test of the inspection teams' newfound power to go anywhere in Iraq. The monitors found a spectacular, opulent palace inside the huge Al-Sajoud complex that sprawls along the Tigris River. But there was no word that they found anything else. "The Iraqi side was cooperative," said Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison officer, to journalists afterward. "The inspectors were happy." He's an Iraqi. What's he going to say? "We were truculent and obstructive?"
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan described Iraq's cooperation â not only at the palace but in other inspections so far â as good but cautioned "this is only the beginning."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 06:04 pm ||
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A prominent Iranian conservative official has criticised the country's foreign policy, saying that opportunities for restoring ties with the United States have been missed. Oh? Today's an odd-numbered date, right?
In comments in the Iranian press, Muhammad-Javad Larijani, deputy chief of the judiciary's international affairs department, said he also regretted the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, and the religious decree calling for the death of British author Salman Rushdie. He added that Iran should not be afraid to express opinions over recent events in the Middle East - such as the prospect of war in Iraq - which may divert from the position of other Arab countries in the region. "We should have plans in our foreign policy and execute our plans bravely," he was quoted by French news agency AFP as saying. "I believe that we should take risks over Iraq and the Persian Gulf." It must be tough being an ayatollah. You never know what you're going to say next. I'm waiting for "We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our good friend, the Great Satan, oppressors of Muslims throughout the world..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 07:16 pm ||
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"I believe that we should take risks over Iraq and the Persian Gulf."
Is that a subtle way of confirming what Fred's been saying about the Medes and Persians moving west in the tumult that follows our attack on Iraq?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2002 21:51 Comments ||
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Maybe. Or perhaps it's just a way of getting the students (slightly) off his back. ("See? See? We're engaging with the West! Now bugger off!")
Faux-Kremlinology doesn't help much...more data needed.
The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry has said an Iraqi ship has opened fire on two Kuwaiti coastguard patrol boats, causing them to collide. "When the two coastguard boats were on a routine patrol in the northern region near Warba island, there was an Iraqi vessel in the area which opened fire on them," the official Kuna news agency reported. A member of the coastguard was hurt when two boats collided after the attack, the agency added.
Kuna's Faris Glubb told the BBC that the incident was probably the irresponsible action of an individual Iraqi commander, and is unlikely to be pursued by either side.
Kuwait and Iraq have had no diplomatic relations since the Gulf War in 1991, in which US-led forces liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. Iraq often accuses Kuwait of "piracy" against its shipping, while Kuwait says it has intercepted Iraqi boats carrying goods in violation of a UN embargo. A few days ago, I mentioned Iraq's tough guys getting rambunctious and blowing things for Sammy and his clique. Guess the hard boys aren't just dealing with the inspectors. But something like this could blow the cork just as easily.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 07:57 pm ||
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The two boats collided? Oh my, is this the time to trot out the usual jokes about Arab military prowess?
I mean, good grief, the Kuwaitis have been liberated now ten years, rebuilding their military with the best training, materials, weapons they can buy from the West, etc., etc., and the first real shooting causes the two boat commanders to go all to pieces. I'm sure their naval military advisors taught them what to do -- "evade -- follow the plan -- engage -- lock weapons -- get tone -- fire". So why didn't they?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2002 21:48 Comments ||
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Steve, they did evade, one boat evaded right, and the other evaded left - right into the first boat. I'm sure they were cruising along fat, dumb and happy, confident that their Iraqi neighbors only had it in for the Americans, not them. Just like all Arab militaries, they would not have authority to fire on their own. By the time they got through to HQ, I bet the target was gone. Now, let the Iragi's try this with a U.S. ship and there will be a smoking hole in the water before the captain phones home.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/04/2002 7:44 Comments ||
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Russia's efforts to beef up its military presence in Central Asia are gaining new momentum this week as a group of warplanes arrives at an airbase outside the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.
Two Il-76 cargo planes delivered equipment and personnel to the Kant base on Saturday, the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry said.
The first of up to 20 Su-25 attack planes and Su-27 fighters began arriving Monday, the ministry said. A Russian air force official confirmed the deployment plans. Su-25s and 27s, some of their best stuff.
The deployment of the aircraft, equipment and personnel will transform the Kyrgyz base into a full-fledged air force base that will operate under the auspices of the Collective Security Treaty, or DKB, which in addition to Russia includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The development of the Kant base, which will have about 500 personnel, will be followed by a reinforcement of DKB rapid reaction forces in Central Asia, Interfax reported, citing a source in the Moscow-based DKB secretariat. The force, which DKB signatories agreed to establish last year, will eventually have 6,000 servicemen, the source said. Handy little strike force ya got there, Ivan.
The expansion of DKB's military presence in Central Asia is designed to deter local Islamic extremists who seek to overthrow local secular governments as well as to balance the Western military presence "to some extent," according to Alexander Pikayev of the Moscow Carnegie Center. Wondered when they were going to mention them.
The overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has dealt a major blow to Central Asia's Islamic extremists, who used Afghan territory to launch incursions. However, "they are still a major threat that needs to be deterred," Pikayev said in a telephone interview Monday. An Su-25 will do that very nicely. Russians have had ground attack down to a art form since WWII.
Reinforcement of DKB forces will also serve as "some kind of a counterbalance" to the mostly U.S. and French troops and aircraft that were deployed in the region last year to provide support for the operation in Afghanistan, he said. Kant is aout 20 kilometers from Bishkek, where U.S. and French troops are based at Manas International Airport. Welcome to the neighborhood.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/03/2002 08:11 pm ||
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What the hell? He was angry before they jugged him, too. There's no pleasing the man, is there?
A Muslim leader from the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna has accused the authorities of arresting him for political reasons. Nafiu Baba Ahmed, secretary general of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, was released on bail on Monday after being arrested in connection with religious riots in which more than 200 people were killed. He told the BBC he was taken to state headquarters, was interrogated and was then told he would be charged with conspiracy to commit arson and rioting. That sounds about right. Somebody was whipping up the rubes, and he was the one with his mouth open...
More than 300 people were arrested in connection with the riots, which were sparked by the Miss World beauty contest, but there has been criticism that the ringleaders have been left alone. Doesn't sound like this one was. That's his beef, in fact...
The Sharia Council believe the arrest was linked to Mr Nafiu's opposition to Kaduna Governor Ahmed Makarfi, an ally of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Some accuse the governor of being too soft in implementing Kaduna's Sharia law. Couldn't have that. No, no. Couldn't have that...
Analysts say the rioting was an attempt by northern Muslims to embarrass Mr Obasanjo, a southern Christian, who is standing for re-election next year.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 07:47 pm ||
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An Arab activist accused of conspiracy to cause riots in the wake of an allegedly racist murder in Belgium has been freed by a court. Dyab Abu Jahjah, head of the Arabic European League (AEL), was detained after riots swept through Antwerp last week. The unrest followed the murder of Moroccan immigrant teacher, Mohammed Achrak, who was shot dead by a Belgian man. The riots left a trail of damage in the Borgerhout area of the city, where many immigrant families live. More than 100 tough guys youths, most of them of North African descent, were detained. Many in the immigrant community believe Mr Achrak's death was racially motivated, although prosecutors have said there is no evidence of this. They are holding a 66-year-old man they describe as "mentally unstable".
Lebanese-born Mr Abu Jahjah, 31, was charged with offences including conspiracy, obstruction of traffic, assaulting a police officer and wilful resistance - all charges he denies. A court in Antwerp ordered him to be freed on condition that he avoided demonstrations and other public gatherings for the next three months. And no teevee for a week, young man!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 07:37 pm ||
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In a slap in the face to Russia's justice system, Denmark refused Tuesday to extradite Akhmed Zakayev, saying the evidence provided against him was insufficient, vague and gathered mostly after his arrest. Although the Russian foreign minister and justice minister accused the Danish Justice Ministry of basing its decision on political considerations, many politicians in Moscow focused their criticism on the Prosecutor General's Office for its handling of the Zakayev case. The official reaction was much milder than could have been expected, especially in light of the uproar over Denmark's refusal to ban a Chechen conference in Copenhagen in October. The Russians didn't like that, they like this decision even less.
Zakayev, a top representative of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, was released Tuesday afternoon, four days after Russian prosecutors submitted what they said was their last piece of evidence against him ahead of Saturday's deadline. The actor turned military leader, who only last year was accepted by the Kremlin as a suitable negotiating partner, was arrested in Copenhagen on Oct. 30 following the Chechen conference, attended by separatists and their supporters.
"After having been through the Russian extradition request, the Justice Ministry has taken its decision today," said Jakob Scharf, the head of the Danish Justice Ministry's international department, The Associated Press reported. "An extradition cannot be made on the basis of the present material," he said, adding that it "was considered insufficient."
At about 4:30 p.m. Moscow time -- the same time Zakayev was released from prison -- Russia's ambassador in Copenhagen, Nikolai Bordyuzha, was invited to the Danish Foreign Ministry to be informed of the decision. "I can say clearly that I don't understand this position," Bordyuzha said on Channel One television. He said he had read most of the documents supplied by the prosecutor's office and found them pointing clearly to crimes committed by Zakayev. "They explained to me that Denmark continues to remain committed to anti-terrorist principles," Bordyuzha said. "But it seems to me that Denmark will be fighting 'bad' terrorists while fighting 'good' terrorists will be left to someone else." "Bad terrorists" = not Islamic. The Russians will remember this.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/03/2002 08:02 pm ||
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"...and gathered mostly after his arrest."
Can you imagine telling the coppers anywhere else in the world that you're not going to use any evidence they gather AFTER you arrest a suspect?
I had thought that American and European jurisprudence had some common basis in Western thought and philosophy. Clearly I missed something.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2002 21:58 Comments ||
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I think they're probably trying to say that they didn't have probable cause to arrest him in the first place.
According to Belgian deputies, the country's Foreign Minister has spoken against the possibility of extraditing Akhmed Zakayev, an envoy of Chechen elected president Aslan Maskhadov, to Belgium and granting him political asylum. Zakayev is currently in Denmark and Danish Justice Ministry said on Tuesday it found Russian proof of Zakayev's involvement in crimes insufficient. He will be set free. Bet that fried Putin...
Belgian deputies said on Tuesday that the country's experts found Russia's evidence of Zakayev's criminal activities more than convincing and relevant. The source noted that Brussels made it clear that Zakayev's extradition to Belgium would be very undesirable. They've got enough murderous Islamists without having to import any...
Zakayev entered Denmark from Belgium with a Belgian-issued Schengen visa in his passport. According to the current law, Denmark's authorities have to send Zakayev back to Belgium or grant him asylum if they refuse to extradite him to Russia. So now they can keep him, until he has an "unfortunate accident." I imagine he'll just drop out of sight, though, and turn up in some other country entirely â either Georgia or Azerbaijan, or someplace where Arabic's the language of choice.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 09:06 pm ||
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The FBI is on the watch for special-interest terrorists committing crimes in the United States. Environmental and animal-rights activists preach peace and love, but the FBI classifies the Animal Liberation Front, for example, as a terrorist group, and describes it as "one of the most active extremists elements in the United States." The FBI classifies the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) with ALF as the two main groups that characterize special-interest extremism. In fact, ELF is actually modeled after ALF.
As of February of this year, the FBI estimates that the ALF and ELF have committed more than 600 criminal acts in the U.S. since 1996, resulting in damages in excess of $43 million. The FBI said last year that eight of what the law enforcement group deemed "terrorist incidents" during 1999 were attributed to either ALF or ELF.
ELF operates in cells, all of which are anonymous to each other and the public. The group's goals, according to its Web site, is "to inflict economic damage on those profiting from the destruction and exploitation of the natural environment; to reveal and educate the public on the atrocities committed against the earth and all species that populate it; to take all necessary precautions against harming any animal, human and non-human."
ALF, which says it is non-violent, consists of small autonomous groups of people who consider themselves vegetarians or vegans. The group's Web site says its short-term aim "is to save as many animals as possible and directly disrupt the practice of animal abuse." The group's long-term goal is "to end all animal suffering by forcing animal abuse companies out of business."
In recent years, a string of crimes shows the distinction environmental and animal-rights activists have traditionally observed â between targeting property and targeting people â is breaking down.
For example, PETA gave $7,500 to Fran Trutt, who was convicted of attempted murder after he planted a radio-controlled nail bomb to kill the president of a U.S. medical company that used animals to research the use of staples in human operations. No one was hurt.
PETA also gave $20,000 to Rodney Coronado, convicted of burning a research lab at Michigan State University, and $5,000 to Josh Harper, who was convicted of assaulting police. PETA has also donated money to ELF-sponsored acts. PETA funding of such violent acts has even caused critics of the group to push for an end to its tax-exempt, non-profit status.
And in Britain last year, the managing director of a drug-testing facility that experiments on animals was beaten by three masked men with baseball bats. An executive for the same company based in the United States was subjected to repeated harassment.
These kinds of attacks are back in the news lately following a vandalism spree against about 40 SUVs in central Virginia, which caused an estimated $45,000 worth of damage. Since July 2002, the SUVs were treated with glass-etching cream, had their tires slashed or have been subject to other damaging activity. Damage to just two of the vehicles was estimated at $15,000, according to ELF. It's not the ideology. It's the explosions and being able to wear a mask and beat people with baseball bats. Those are the important things.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 06:16 pm ||
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About time! The whole idea that the Islamafascists are the only viable terrorist threat to the States is ludicrous anyway when you consider how many wacko groups left and right are out there intent on economic and physical harm. Most are probably spoil kids that never grew up but believe the world owes them their claim to anything they want to change.
Posted by: Jack ||
12/04/2002 8:36 Comments ||
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Does this mean farmers can protect their crops from being ripped up and poisoned by posting snipers to whack the whackos? Good...
#3
how exactly is the ELF violent? there was never any evidence in there linking the ELF to harming people. I agree with their beliefs to an extent. Many companies are doing stuff that destroys the environment (Scott tissue company clearcuts the rainforest for example)just to make money. People may point there fingers and say that is bad but the ELF is stepping up and doing something about it. The ELF attacks only corporations not individuals.
Posted by: BC ||
11/12/2003 22:54 Comments ||
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Influential Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, now sitting in an Israeli jail, said Tuesday that he believes the Palestinian national movement needs newer, younger leadership. Someone like him, in fact. Except that he's in jug at the moment...
According to one of Barghouti's lawyers, Barghouti told the Palestinian Legislative Council: "It is the time for many of the Palestinian leaders and officials to leave their positions after failing in their roles and responsibilities in this decisive battle," referring to the two-year-old Palestinian uprising. Which, while it's been hard on the Israelis, has been a lot harder on the Paleostinians...
According to the source, he said Palestinian Authority officials should make way for younger leadership, but did not mention Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat by name. Arafat is 73. Barghouti is 43. Ain't that a coincidence?
"This should be done in a democratic and legal way as soon as possible," he said. The Palestinian Authority is scheduled to hold presidential and legislative elections in January as part of a plan to revamp its government. However, Palestinian officials have been saying it is unlikely that elections will be held as planned because Israeli troops encircling most of their cities have made it impossible for them to prepare. Yep. And they haven't changed their oil for awhile, either. They'll probably have to do that, instead...
Recently, top Palestinian officials have said the armed uprising was a mistake and should stop. Which isn't what Marwan said. What he said was:
"Resistance is a holy right for the Palestinian people to face the Israeli occupation," Barghouti said. "Nobody should forget that the Palestinian people negotiated for 10 years and accepted difficult and humiliating agreements, and in the end didn't get anything except authority over the people, and no authority over land, or sovereignty." "Who gives a crap about authority over a bunch of Paleos, anyway? What we want is land, and our own government, so we can have an army, with tanks and guns and rocket launchers and big airplanes with missiles and that sort of thing."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 04:52 pm ||
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If he ever gets out of the pokey, I expect Arafat will whack him.
#2
They had their chance for sovereignty over some land, just not ALL of Jerusalem. They blew their chance, and a few perceptive ones have realized they've blown it. 'Twould have been better to have taken half a loaf, armed that one to the teeth, then go after the other half later.
However, that would have required some thinking on Arafart's part, but he hasn't got the minimum required number of brain cells to complete the task.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers, backed by dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, raided the northern West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp early on Monday, killing a sixteen year-old boy, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said. The victim, Mutaz Odeh, was throwing stones on occupation troops moving into the Old City when tanks retaliated with machine-gun fire, the sources said. Odeh is the fifth young thugjuvenile delinquent child reported to have been killed since November 24. Maybe he should have been home studying? Or is that thought too decadently western?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 05:52 pm ||
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"IOF"? Cuuuute. And subtle too!
Posted by: The First John B. ||
12/03/2002 18:01 Comments ||
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Oh man, with dozens of tanks and armored vehicles at their disposal and the Zionist Aggressors(tm) only managed to kill ONE Phillistine teenagerechild?!? Those darn Israelis just SUCK at oppression. They need to take some classes from Saddam, the Saudi Entity or the Chinese in Tibet. THEY know how to properly oppress.
You'd think Jews would have learned a thing or two from the Germans, but nooooo.
(link by way of Fark.com)
AS soon as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon learned of last Thursday's terrorist attacks in Kenya, he summoned Mossad chief Meir Dagan to a meeting that promises to have momentous consequences for the conduct of the US-led war on terror.
War had been declared on the state of Israel by the global Islamic terror syndicate, Mr Sharon told Israel's top anti-terrorist expert. Change your priorities and get the enemy one by one. The very mention of the word "Mossad" has made terrorists foul their underwear in the past. While some of this reputation is myth, a great big chunk if it is justified.
According to a well-informed source, the service has alerted sleeper agents in Saudi Arabia and Yemen to hunt down the planners of the attacks on the Israeli-owned tourist hotel and Israeli passenger plane at Mombasa.
Codenamed Warriors, these highly trained agents who volunteer to live under cover in Arab countries normally remain dormant except in wartime, when their mission is to undermine Arab preparations for strikes against Israel. You can run, but you can't hide...
The last time such a serious order was given was in 1972. The then prime minister, Golda Meir, ordered Mossad to kill the Palestinians involved in the murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. All but one were eliminated over six years.
Mr Dagan is a veteran of such operations and is reputed to have killed more than 30 Palestinian terror suspects in Gaza during the 1970s. Beyond the fevered imagination of conspiracy theorists (a large chunk of the population of the Middle East), Mossad doesn't really do high-profile stuff; it's not in their best interest. However, once in a while, the stuff that they do pull off is enough for 30 years worth of legends.
Alleged Bali bombing mastermind Imam Samudra discussed the planned attack with a top al-Qaeda suspect but acted alone, his lawyers said on Tuesday. Samudra discussed the attack with fugitive Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali, who is suspected of being operations chief of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network and a leading member of al-Qaeda, Samudra's legal team members, Qadar Faisal and Achmad Michdan, told AFP, "but the decision to carry out the bombing was Samudra's alone," the lawyers added. Why try and let Hambali off? Is the length of his neck that important to Samudra?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 04:59 pm ||
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Sounds like Hambali is his mentor(or boyfriend) and he'll go to any length to protect him. No one's seen Hambali for a while, have they? Wonder what he's up to? Did he get a promotion, move to a new area of operation, or did he catch a bullet somewhere?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/04/2002 7:54 Comments ||
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The Irish Times is announcing that Hambali has gone to ground and been replaced by our friend Mukhlas aka Ali Gifron who has promptly been arrested by the police in Indonesia along with his family.
"Sure, take over for a while when your gone? Can do Hambali. Say, hold on a minute, will ya, someone's at the door."
Posted by: Jack ||
12/04/2002 9:31 Comments ||
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The leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Sweden, Dr. Zaini Abdullah, said that he was ready to attend the peace talks with the Indonesian delegation in Geneva on Dec. 9 if certain conditions were met, Antara reported.
Zaini said on Monday evening that differences between the parties of the Aceh conflict needed to be eliminated from certain clauses of the proposed peace accord before peace talks open. "We have been waiting for a response from the Indonesian government on a number of clauses in the proposed peace accord, which are unacceptable to us," he said in Stockholm.
He said GAM delegation might attend the meeting but refuse to sign the peace accord, or GAM might not come to the Geneva meeting. "We are still mulling this problem and awaiting a response from the government," said Zaini, who is second in command of GAM's leadership after Hasan Tiro. Well, make up your damned mind!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/03/2002 05:41 pm ||
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Australian Prime Minister John Howard did not suggest that his country was going to launch military action against its neighbours to stop terrorists from attacking his country, his Foreign Minister Alexander Downer clarified. Didn't say he wasn't either.
What the Prime Minister did was to restate a well-worn principle of international law that every country had a right to defend itself, he said in a radio interview on Sunday.
Howard had been quoted during a television interview with Australian Nine Network on Sunday as saying that he was ready to act against terrorists in neighbouring Asian countries and that the UN Charter should be changed to empower nations to strike pre-emptively against terrorists who planned to attack them.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said developed countries should place more faith in the ability and commitment of countries like Malaysia in combating the threat of terrorism. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha...Oh, he wasn't trying to be funny?
He said Malaysia was against all forms of violence and had shown that commitment through its actions. Abdullah, who is also the Home Minister, said developed countries would have no one to blame but themselves if unilateral actions taken by them led to the breakdown of the international order. They're upset because the Aussies are not laying down and taking it. I could of told them they wouldn't.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/03/2002 08:22 pm ||
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That's my reasoning about the Anger of the Euros, especially the French. They've been terror bombed so many times for so long, the citizens view it as a natural hazard, like Tornados in Texas. I should know: My mom lived in Paris and Tours, France, for years, and couldn't understand why the French tolerated it. They LOVED her. They wanted her to naturalize, but she said no thanks, I'll keep my US Passport.
I think they're all pissed: "We're sucking it up. WHY CAN'T YOU?" they ask, getting offended when we reply, "HELL NO!"
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.
