Two former Jefferson County, Mississippi, jurors have filed a $6 billion lawsuit against CBS' "60 Minutes" and a newspaper owner over comments about the size of jury awards in the county. Anthony Berry and Johnny Anderson said the news program defamed them in a segment that called the county a haven for "jackpot justice." Berry was among jurors who made a $150 million verdict in an asbestos case, and Anderson sat on a jury that awarded a $150 million judgment in a diet drug case. They are seeking $597 million in actual damages and $5.9 billion in punitive damages. Ummm... Lemme get this straight: they feel defamed because 60 Minutes said they were on juries that awarded ridiculous amounts — so they're suing CBS for ridiculous amounts?
I guess that makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 01:42 pm ||
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Fred, it might make a lot of sense. After all, what are the odds that there are twelve other mopes in Jefferson County that think like they do? We're talking jackpot city.
Of course if that's true, then the 60 Minutes piece is right, and that means it isn't libel ......
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2002 13:44 Comments ||
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You say jackpot, I say crackpot, let's call it even and go grab a brewski.
Arab News
The Islamic Affairs Ministry in Saudi Arabia has reminded preachers not to use mosques as political platforms, saying that fiery sermons could negatively influence worshipers. The ministry has also revived a 20-year ban on unauthorized people preaching at mosques, the Associated Press reported quoting Ibrahim Al-Netif, head of the department of mosque affairs at the ministry. "We donât want mosques to become a platform for political speeches that could promote wrong ideas and provoke peoples feelings", Al-Netif said yesterday. "We need sermons that teach people the principles of their religion". I wonder if that has anything to do with stuff like this:
The Saudi Sheikh Muhammad bin Abd Al-Rahman Al-'Arifi, imam of the mosque of King Fahd Defense Academy, discussed this Hadith in an article posted on the Kalemat website. Under the headline "Don't be sad, Allah is with us," the article read: "... We will control the land of the Vatican; we will control Rome and introduce Islam in it. Yes, the Christians, who carve crosses on the breasts of the Muslims in Kosovo â and before then in Bosnia, and before then in many places in the world â will yet pay us the Jiziya [poll tax paid by non-Muslims under Muslim rule], in humiliation, or they will convert to Islam..."
A new radio station run by a Saudi opposition group has gone on air in Europe. The group behind the service said Radio Al-Islah was a 24-hour satellite service but was also available on short-wave radio and can be heard in the Middle East as well as Europe. The Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia said Saudi citizens can now for the first time criticise the Saudi regime publicly with total impunity because of modern technology. Sounds good, doesn't it?
Radio stations run by opposition groups are a rare occurrence in the Arab world, and the launch marks a dramatic breakthrough in a region where public broadcasting is tightly regulated by governments. The new satellite station Sawt Al-Islah - which means Voice of Reform - is using the latest internet technology to help disgruntled Saudis voice their criticism of the royal family. A spokesman for the Movement for Islamic Reform In Arabia told the BBC that by using an internet phone service - known as Paltalk - listeners can take part in the programme and say what they like without risking arrest or harassment. So far, so good, however I thought that Saudi was blocking internet sites that they didn't want their citizens to access.
Saad al-Fagih said the bulk of the station's schedule was talk shows. The topics discussed, he said, included lack of transparency in the Saudi system, corruption, poverty and failure to implement Islamic law. FAILURE TO IMPLEMENT ISLAMIC LAW?????????? They are criticizing the Saudi government for not being Islamic enough!!!
Saudi authorities had in the past succeeded in foiling previous attempts to launch opposition broadcasts from exiles in the West using their financial clout. Mr Fagih said as Radio Al-Islah operated out of a European country, the Saudis could not put the pressure on. There's a country in Europe that won't roll over for the Saudi's? Besides the British, which I don't consider European, I can't think of any.
There are few opposition stations in the Arab world, where all radio and television channels are either owned by the state or companies associated with the ruling elites. There are several Saudi satellite television channels based abroad, but most of them are either owned by members of the royal family or companies close to them. Is there any company in Saudi not owned, at least in part, by the royal family?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 10:39 am ||
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The country's probably Switzerland; screw with the Swiss, and they'll forget the number to your secret bank account.
I, too, feel that Soddy Arabia isn't Islamic enough, and I fully support the right of the "reformers" to shoot it out with the present set of Bad Guys. I think we should make sure that both sides - in fact, all sides - have lots of arms and ammunition, and that we should provide targeting support to them, too.
Like An Un-named Party seems to be doing in Gaza. Heh heh.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2002 13:19 Comments ||
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Paul Harvey commentaries every day at 12:30. The "Rest of the Story" at 5:30.
#3
Right on Fred! Perfect American logic. Arm everyone and get the f*ck out of there. Except, instead of shooting themselves, they'd try to whoop the asses of the American soldiers they have down there. It never ceases to amaze me how Americans come out with these "brilliant" ideas and are amazed when things blow up in their faces!
Kuwait announced a dusk to dawn ban on fishing and recreational boats in its territorial waters, as well as restricted access to the sea around ports and its water border with Iraq.
The restrictions, which the Interior Ministry said Tuesday were effective ``until further notice,'' were implemented a week after Kuwait accused an Iraqi vessel of trading gunfire with two Kuwaiti coast guard speedboats in its northern waters. Nobody was injured in the Dec. 3 shooting. Baghdad denied the incident. The American military, which said it had special operations troops aboard at least one of the vessels, also disputed the reports of gunfire. Special ops were on board? That opens a interesting line of thought, maybe they were coming back from, er, somewhere.
Such incidents along the Kuwaiti-Iraqi land and naval borders have been rare and few have been reported in recent years.
Under the new restrictions, during daylight hours private vessels must stay at least two miles away from oil ports, coastal oil facilities and naval installations, the Interior Ministry said. Vessels will be allowed to sail through waters surrounding the commercial ports of Shuwaikh and Doha but may not stop. Photographing or sketching of any restricted area also was banned by the new rules, which the ministry said were aimed at ``strengthening security around Kuwait's naval border and territorial waters.'' Hummmmm.
In early November, authorities closed a vast portion of desert in the northwest of the country where Kuwaiti military forces conduct maneuvers with U.S. troops. Nothing to see here. Ignore the big grey ships. Move along.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 02:23 pm ||
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"These aren't the droids you're looking for" <\ben kenobi>
A KUWAITI police sergeant who shot and seriously injured two US soldiers has told a judge he "loves Americans" and did not know why he committed the crime. Khaled al-Shimmiri made the comment during a bail hearing at which the judge ordered him held for two more weeks and to undergo a psychiatric examination.
Al-Shimmiri was said to have suffered mental illness.
Detention hearings are closed to reporters and details were provided by al-Shimmiri's lawyer Nawwaf al-Mutairi.
"He said Americans are our friends and loved ones and that he shot the soldiers but he doesn't know why, where or how," the attorney said. Either he really is nuts, or he hired the Kuwaiti Perry Mason.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 02:32 pm ||
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"I dunno what happened. I thought they wuz elk..."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2002 15:32 Comments ||
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A ship carrying a dozen Scud-type missiles from North Korea was intercepted in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, U.S. officials said. They said the missiles were believed to be headed for Yemen.
The ship was stopped and boarded about 600 miles east of the Horn of Africa, the officials said. U.S. intelligence had been tracking the vessel closely, said U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The ship contained about a dozen short- to medium-range missiles, similar to the Scud missiles used by Iraq in the Persian Gulf War, the officials said. It also contained missile parts. The ship allegedly carrying the missiles was stopped by two ships from the Spanish Navy participating in Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led global anti-terrorism coalition, said Alberto Martinez Arias, a spokesman for Spain's Defense Ministry. Having the Spanish stop the ship was a good move. Gives more credability in circles that automatically don't believe us.
Crews from the Spanish ships, the Navarra and Patino, stopped the unflagged ship "Sosan" east of the island of Socotora and called U.S. authorities for assistance, Martinez said. The Spanish Navy stopped and boarded the ship after its crew refused to identify themselves. The North Korean captain of the Sosan initially told Spanish officials the ship was carrying cement. The Scuds were discovered shortly thereafter, Martinez said. The ship was being held in the area while the search continued and as U.S. experts made sure that any explosive materials were neutralized, U.S. officials said. Officials said the shipment did not appear to be headed for Iraq. Captain + giggle juice = real destination.
Yemen has been identified by the United States as a nation that has harbored terrorists, although its government has been an ally of the United States in the war against global terrorism. Yemen's port of Aden was the site of the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole by terrorists, which killed 17 sailors. Yemeni officials contacted late Tuesday said they had no information concerning the ship, its contents or its boarding by international forces. The boarding of the ship occurred as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was traveling in the area.
It was unclear precisely what missiles were aboard the seized vessel. North Korea has built and exported at least two missiles in the Scud class: the Scud B and the Scud D, or No Dong. Scud B missiles were produced in large numbers by the former Soviet Union and ended up in Iraq and North Korea, among other nations. The missiles are very inaccurate, often break up in flight and have a range of less than 200 miles. The Scud D, or No Dong, missile produced by North Korea is advanced compared with the Scud B. It has a range of about 840 miles and can carry a conventional, chemical or nuclear warhead. Iran and Pakistan use modified versions of the No Dong, and Pakistan's are fitted to carry nuclear warheads. The No Dong is the one to worry about. Someone needs to pay for this shipment, soon. Yeman as a transfer point to ..who?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 06:40 pm ||
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packing missiles in cement powder is hardly the dust free enviroment needed to maintain reliability.
Posted by: john ||
12/10/2002 19:46 Comments ||
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The "No Dong"?! Guess it's more accurate, having just one guidance system keeping it on target instead of that other one that will lead it astray when those cute airplanes fly near by....
Posted by: Brian ||
12/10/2002 20:56 Comments ||
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I saw a couple weeks ago that NKor had signed a deal with Egypt for missile technology, and I believe there's a deal with Syria, as well...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2002 21:30 Comments ||
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Yemen says they are their missles:
The Yemeni Government said the shipment was destined for its army, and has lodged formal protests with the US and Spain over the seizure of the So San. The official Yemeni news agency, Saba, quoted Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi as saying: "The shipment is part of contracts signed some time ago. "It belongs to the Yemeni Government and its army and meant for defensive purposes." The news agency added: "The foreign minister stressed the importance of the return of the shipment to the Yemeni Government."
Oops, now what does this do to our cooperation with Yemen against terrorists? Nothing good, I fear.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/11/2002 8:34 Comments ||
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Source: Tehran Times
A high-ranking Israeli officer threatened that the Zionist regime would launch nuclear attack on Islamic holy sites in the Middle East, an Israeli newspaper said Sunday. In case Israel was attacked by states or groups, the Jewish state would respond by dropping nuclear bombs on Islamic cities such as Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia and Qom in Iran. The Haaretz newspaper quoted an unidentified high-ranking officer a s saying. I can't say that I'm surprised. Curiously, my indignation meter hasn't stirred off zero. I suspect that the same statement made prior to 13 months ago would have bothered me.
It is an irony of our time Iraq has been suffering for a decade because it is accused of having some capabilities of unconventional weapons, while Israel announces that it possesses nuclear weapons, but there is not any international action against it. Mainly because Israel isn't run by a lunatic...
The officer, a guide in the Israeli military academy, was quoted as saying that Israel possesses hundreds of nuclear warheads along with their delivery systems, including long-range ballistic missiles, long-range bombers and nuclear submarines. Indeed, while is Iraq under the pressure, Israel is the only entity in the Middle East to possess a huge arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, including a sizable nuclear arsenal. One weapon is sufficient. But I don't see any Arab armies attacking Israel, like they used to do prior to 1973...
It is unfortunate that the United States, Israel's main protector, has always prevented any serious move to discuss Israel's weapons of mass destruction. But at the same time it has accused a number of other countries of trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction. It has put them under pressure on the basis of the very baseless accusations it has leveled against them. We don't complain about Britain having them, either. We don't complain about France having them, or Russia. We didn't even really worry about Pakland having them, until the nutbags started assuming power — drawn irresistably to those "Islamic nukes."
It is time the Islamic world in the first place and the international community too took serious action to contain Israel. The Zionist regime is an occupationist, expansionist entity. It must be contained, else the entire world will be in danger. The Islamic world isn't going to send an army against Israel precisely because of those nuclear weapons. The Islamic World™ and the International Community™ have been working as hard as they can to "contain" Israel — whose expansionist ambitions have come to the fore only when she's been attacked.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 10:05 am ||
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"a guide in the Israeli military academy"
Sure, I'd believe some plebe at West Point is describing the military policy of the United States.
#2
Israel has nuclear submarines? Damm, those Jews are clever.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 11:30 Comments ||
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I particularly liked the Zionist expansionist entity withdrawal from the Sinai and Lebenon. Very tricky.
Oh, and you've got it wrong, the Islamic world isn'g to to send an army aginst Isreal because they tried in 1948, 1956, 1968, 1973 and got skunked each time. The Zionist nuclear weapons are nothing compared to the Arabs inability to fight against non-civilians.
Iraq said the United States had engaged in "unprecedented extortion" by taking the only copy of Baghdad's arms declaration to the UN Security Council, claiming Washington might alter the report as a cover for launching a military attack. The United States took the only copy of the document from the United Nations on Monday to make copies in Washington for distribution to the other four permanent members of the Security Council, Britain, France, Russia and China.
"This is unprecedented extortion in the history of the United Nations, when it (US) forced the president of the Security Council to give it the real copy of Iraq's declaration ... in contradiction with the agreement by all member of Security Council on Dec. 6," the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press. "Above all of this, this American behavior aims to play with the United Nations' documents with the aim of finding a cover for aggression against Iraq...," the statement said. It's part of the Secret Plan.
Britain, France, Russia and China agreed on Monday to let the United States handle the 12,000-page document because Colombia, which holds the presidency of the Security Council, was not able to copy it quickly enough in a secure location. Kinko's was busy?
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry statement claimed Washington would not hand over copies to the other permanent Security Council members until the United States was finished "studying it first and possibly forging what it wants to forge. "Let's see, do we add unauthorized materials to the list, or do we delete something and call that a violation?"
The two UN bodies inspecting Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency have copies of the declaration. Iraq also retains a copy. But I thought we had the only true copy?
"The international community, states and establishments, will learn more lessons from this extortion and American hegemony on the Security Council and the dangerous effects it will lead to on international relations as well as peace and security in the world," the spokesman said. The new Iraqi plan appears to be if anything is included or not included on the list that is a violation, the US did it.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 11:19 am ||
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Odd thought. Is this written in English? The cover sheets I saw were. If so, it will help the process since we've fired all the gay Arabic speakers that could have translated.
#2
"we've fired all the gay Arabic speakers" Not all of them, just the ones who got caught in bed together in the middle of a room inspection at the school. You know, the ones who could not follow the rules, or suppose that the rules only apply to hetros.
Posted by: Ben ||
12/11/2002 3:55 Comments ||
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Iraq's declaration on its banned arms programme appears to contain the names of foreign suppliers - threatening potentially embarrassing revelations about countries involved.
The contents page of the mammoth document indicates that more than three dozen pages deal with sources which have supplied Iraq with materials to make weapons proscribed by the United Nations. Ha, ha, ha. Gee, I wonder which countries those (france)(germany)are?
In the section on chemical weapons, some 34 pages list suppliers, eight pages cover contracts and agreements, and three pages deal with foreign technical assistance. This will be interesting reading. Wonder when it will be leaked?
Countries including Bosnia, Yugoslavia and Ukraine have faced accusations of supplying military assistance to the Iraqis. These are minor players.
The declaration makes one mention of a bomb, referring to a "terminated radiation bomb project" in a section dealing with chemical weapons. Put it in the wrong section, violation, violation!
It also gives details of techniques used in the development of nuclear weapons - the kind of sensitive material the five nuclear powers on the UN Security Council did not want exposed to non-nuclear countries. The other 10 members of the Security Council are pissed they didn't get the plans.
Experts from the UK, US, France, Russia and China are censoring potentially dangerous sections of the dossier before releasing a working version for wider distribution among the other members of the Security Council. "We got the bomb, you can't have them."
The 12,000-page dossier, ordered by UN Security Council Resolution 1441, is meant to provide a complete account of Iraq's past and present weapons programme. New York Times new best seller in the fiction catagory.
The bulk of the nuclear section, running to nearly 2,500 pages, deals with Iraq's nuclear weapons activities up until 1991.
A smaller section covers the period between 1991 and 2000.
As well as mentioning foreign contracts, the section dealing with Iraq's chemical weapons programme includes details of imported precursor chemicals - products used to manufacture other compounds. The chemical compounds ricin toxin, chlorine and phenol are mentioned. The declaration relating to Iraq's biological weapons programme details activities at named facilities, but does not mention any biological products.
The largest section of the declaration deals with Iraq's ballistic missile programme. It covers work on missiles with a range exceeding 150 kilometres (93 miles), banned by UN resolutions following the 1991 Gulf War. These are the hardest to hide. Bet we have some good photos and locations of where they are.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 12:14 pm ||
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Saddam names names with the hope that a few of those names will try to hush those activities, divert attention and hope his buddies in the UN will drop this and go home? The UN runs Oil for Food, surely they are not involved?
Posted by: john ||
12/10/2002 20:11 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - International nuclear monitors drove six hours across the Iraqi desert to a remote uranium mining site in one of five inspections mounted Tuesday, a marked expansion of the U.N. field operation. Still more inspectors arrived in Baghdad.
Iraq's chief liaison to the U.N. teams said the Iraqis have found the inspectors to be working in a "calm and professional" manner. But he again complained about last week's surprise inspection of one of President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s palaces, calling it an American-inspired provocation.
Also Tuesday, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan rejected U.S. skepticism of Baghdad's report to the U.N. Security Council on its weapons program, and said an attack on his country would be a challenge to the whole region.
"Any aggression against Iraq is the start of more aggression on the neighborhood," he told Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite television network, which showed only a brief segment of the interview.
In Washington, Pentagon officials said allied aircraft bombed an Iraqi surface-to-air missile system Tuesday after Saddam's forces moved it into a restricted zone earlier in the day.
The attack hit a site called Qalat Sal, near the Tigris River city of Al Amarah, about 165 miles southeast of Baghdad. It was unclear if Iraqi forces fired at U.S. and British warplanes patrolling the southern no-fly zone. But U.S. officials say the mere presence of air defense systems inside such zones represents a threat to coalition pilots.
Tuesday marked the end of the second week of field missions for the U.N. inspectors, who returned to Iraq after a four-year absence under the Security Council resolution requiring the Baghdad government to give up any remaining chemical or biological weapons, and shut down programs to make them. Iraq denies it has such weapons or programs.
On Tuesday, reporters followed several cars of U.N. nuclear experts to mining operations at Akashat, in the desert near the Syrian border 250 miles west of Baghdad. The enormous complex surrounded by antenna posts, some broken, sat in an otherwise empty quarter of the desert. Reporters were unable to follow the inspectors inside.
The U.N. team presumably wanted to assess current Akashat operations considering what was found there by U.N. nuclear inspectors in the 1990s.
In the 1980s, the phosphate deposits at Akashat had been exploited for their uranium content as well as for fertilizer, producing some 100 tons of uranium over six years.
Also Tuesday, other nuclear inspectors headed again for al-Tuwaitha, Iraq's major nuclear research center, 15 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi Information Ministry officials reported. It was their third recent visit to the sprawling complex, where Iraqi scientists in the 1980s worked on developing technology for enriching uranium to levels usable in bombs.
Now, this has me truly worried. The "little Boy" bomb was a uranium based weapon. I had no idea they had access to a large source of uranium.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
12/10/2002 01:56 pm ||
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Depends on the level of enrichment, not quantity...that's why they were importing (or at least trying to) centrifuges
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2002 15:39 Comments ||
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Yes we have no nukes,
Yes we have no nukes,
Need a mining expert to determine how much enriched uranium you can get out of this ore. Enough for one nuke would be too much.
Yes we have no material breach
Posted by: john ||
12/10/2002 20:02 Comments ||
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A senior Iranian justice official has offered his resignation in protest against the death sentence passed on a liberal academic, Hashem Aghajari, for blasphemy. The official, Hussain Mir-Mohammad Sadeghi, who is the spokesman for the judiciary, said the ruling has damaged Iran. When your official spokesman quits, you're in trouble.
News of the resignation became public as an estimated 500 students were forced to barricade themselves into a campus building when a lecture was interrupted by members of an ultra-conservative militia. Separately, a leading reformer - Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami - warned conservatives that if they did not listen to students' demands, they would face the same fate as the late Shah of Iran, who was deposed.
On Tuesday, members of the Basij militia stormed a speech by Ebrahim Yazdi, the head of the Iran Freedom Movement, at Tehran's Alameh university. Windows were broken in the incident, but there were no reports of major violence. The barricaded students reportedly escaped through a back door.
Students have been holding almost daily demonstrations for a month, following the death sentence imposed on Mr Aghajari in November. They have been demanding a referendum on the future of the country.
Mr Mir-Mohammad Sadeghi's resignation signalled rare public disagreement among senior conservative officials. Although his resignation was handed in 10 days ago, the head of the judiciary has yet to accept it. In an interview with Iran's official news agency, Mr Mir-Mohammad Sadeghi criticised what he called the growing politicisation of the Iranian judiciary.
He said the death sentence against Mr Aghajari had catastrophic consequences for the judiciary and the country as a whole.
Such an open broadside coming from within the conservative faction itself may mean that hard-line leaders may find it difficult to preserve their unity in the face of serious crisis, BBC Iran analyst Sadeq Saba says. Cracks in the dam preceding the deluge.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 02:07 pm ||
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The students need to get nasty with the Basij, it sounds like. A nice little ambush, maybe - the head-breakers follow a group of frightened students down an alleyway, only to find themselves suddenly severely outnumbered.
U.S. and British jets Tuesday bombed an Iraqi mobile surface-to-air missile platform that had been moved into the southern no-fly zone, potentially endangering coalition aircraft enforcing the zone. The missile system was south of Al Amarah, 165 miles southeast of Baghdad, when it was struck, at around 2 p.m. Sucks to be a Iraqi SAM crewmember.
This is the second strike in the southern no-fly zone in December. The first occurred Dec. 1 against air defense facilities between Tallil and Al Basrah. Coalition aircraft have also blanketed the area with nearly 250,000 leaflets warning Iraqis not to fire on coalition aircraft or repair communications and radar facilities damaged by bombing raids.
There have been two strikes against Iraqi military facilities in the northern no-fly zone in December after coalition aircraft came under artillery attack. Does Iraq build their own SAMs under license, or were all these imported? Seems they use up a lot of them.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 03:25 pm ||
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Oops, Sorry Fred, wrong location. Should be in axis of evil.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 15:03 Comments ||
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No problem. Easy fix...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2002 15:26 Comments ||
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Pesonally I think that any military traffic or bases in the no fly zones are legitimate targets and should be destroyed.America and most especially Euorpe have a long history of appeasment.I'm a firm believer in the Christian ethic of"Turning the other cheek".However if that other cheek is struck then the response should be an overwhelming,devastating ass-whupping.
Kenyan police have released photographs of a man they allege bought the four-wheel drive vehicle that suicide bombers used in the attack on an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa.
A $6,000 reward has also been offered for information leading to the arrest of 23-year-old Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a resident of Majengo in Mombasa. In the attack, three suicide bombers driving a Pajero packed with explosives, killed 13 people, three of them Israelis, at the Paradise Hotel. Police say he bought the Pajero on 15 November from one of the people being held by police and they say they cannot rule out that he may have been one of the suicide bombers. Have to test for DNA on what's left, I guess.
Police say his family confirmed that he left home before the attack, saying he was going to South Africa to look for work.
Police described him as secretive, and said most of his friends were of Somali origin. Talking to them would be a good place to start.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 01:59 pm ||
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The United States can have access to Eritrea's military bases as part of its war against terror, President Isaias Afewerki has said. He made the offer to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who began a four-nation tour of the Horn of Africa in the capital, Asmara. Mr Rumsfeld did not say whether the US would take Eritrea up on its offer. But Mr Afewerki's offer marks a change of tone in relations between Eritrea and the US. In October, the US accused Eritrea of human rights abuses. Eritrea responded by accusing the CIA of plotting against it. Mr Rumsfeld said he had also discussed the political situation with Eritrea's leader. "We have very limited resources, but we are willing and prepared to use these resources in any way that is useful to combat terrorism," Mr Afewerki said. Mr Rumsfeld went to Addis Ababa after Asmara and is also due to visit the Gulf state of Qatar. Eritrea's neighbours Somalia, Sudan and Yemen have all been seen as possible havens of the al-Qaeda network, which is accused of launching the attacks on Israelis in Kenya last month. Nice neighbors, no wonder they want to help us. That and the jobs a U.S. base would generate.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 03:15 pm ||
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Don't forget the nasty war they fought with Ethiopia over a plot of land that is, possibly, worse than hell. We should stay away from this place, too many nomads. The whole damn country could just wander off one day.
#2
Jesus, Chuck, what's gotten in to you? I think it represents a strategic opportunity. One more base, one more facility, hey, Brezhinsky might have been right...
Posted by: Brian ||
12/10/2002 17:11 Comments ||
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Eritrea is representative of the Balkanization of Africa, and we all know how well that worked for Europe. I'm very leary of becoming buddies with tiny countries that didn't exist two decades ago, that were invented. It makes economic and political sense for nations to be large, not small.
These folks fought a long civil war with Ethiopia, then a war or two with them again, over land that makes the moon look fertile. Their tribal politics resemble Yemen or Somalia, and we're not putting bases in either of those countries.
We have a relatively stable Horn of Africa location, Djibouti. The Foreign Legion has been camped there for a hundred years or so. And, while I distain the rest of the French military, I respect the Legion. Because they're not French.
A previously unknown group claimed responsibility Tuesday for bombings at a Genoa police station the day before, saying they were a response to the death of a protester during riots last year. The group, calling itself ``July 20th,'' sent several letters to police and local newspapers detailing the contents of the explosives used in the blasts. Italian news agencies quoted Genoa's police chief, Oscar Fioriolli, as saying the claim appeared credible. The group's name refers to the day last year when protester Carlo Giuliani was killed during riots at the Group of Eight summit in Genoa. Giuliani was shot as he rushed toward a police vehicle, apparently about to hurl a fire extinguisher at police. Violation of Rule #1: Don't throw stuff at armed men.
The letter said the bombings were a reaction Giuliani's death and ``the torture and systematic violence perpetuated in the streets and police barracks in a vain attempt to repress the people's response against the G-8 summit.'' About 100,000 protesters descended on the port city in northern Italy during the summit to champion a variety of causes, from debt relief to the environment. A small group of them turned violent.
Copies of the letter were sent from mailboxes close to Genoa's main Brignole station, said Antonio Di Rosa, the editor-in-chief of local daily Il Secolo XIX, which received one of the letters. The letter also threatened a policeman who allegedly shot Giuliani. It said Mario Placanica should leave the country so his relatives don't have to ``recognize his remains in a morgue.'' Last week, prosecutors said the charges against Placanica should be thrown out because he shot at Giuliani in self-defense. "We're trying to save the planet and we don't care who we have to kill to do it!"
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 12:06 pm ||
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From a National Review story on Carlo...
The Italian media have reported that Mr. Giuliani was a beggar with a criminal record, but that day he was a masked anarchist about to hurl a fire extinguisher at the head of a cop. Two days after his death the anti-globalization protesters proclaimed him a martyr to their cause, "a model of compassion and commitment."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2002 13:30 Comments ||
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I think it is time for Webster's to come up with a new definition of martyr.
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The shots fired by Placanica were obviously in self-defense. Placanica was in the back of a police jeep, together with a seriously wounded colleague (the jeep was actually there to pick up the wounded man). Placanica himself was poisoned by tear gas.
While maneuvring to evacuate the small square, the jeep got cornered by Giuliani and his unwashed ilk. Note that the other police officers, who were supposed to cover the retreat of the vehicle, abandonned their position, thus leaving the three men in the jeep to their fate.
The pictures of Giuliani hurling the fire extinguisher at Placanica and his wounded colleague at the back of the jeep are well-known. But at the meantime, Giuliani's friends were smashing a wooden or metal beam through the right-hand side window of the vehicle in an attempt to crush the driver. So Placanica had every reason to believe that those punks were going to kill all three of them, and so he shot.
What did these leftist idiots expect ? That a police officer gladly accepts to gift of a fire extinguisher, to protect himself against the molotov cocktail that might be thrown in the jeep afterwards ?
Posted by: Peter ||
12/11/2002 7:42 Comments ||
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German neo-Nazis marched through Berlin on Monday in protest at the visit of Israel's president. About 100 supporters of the far-right NPD party gathered in freezing temperatures on Monday evening, holding banners reading "Hands off Palestine — No German Weapons for Israel." "Ein Vaterland, ein Volk!"
About 400 counter demonstrators gathered around the police cordon to show support for Israel. Some shouted abuse at the right-wingers. Police lined the route along the central Unter den Linden avenue to keep them and anti-Nazi groups apart. "Jewish blood will flow..."
Police said there was no law to prevent the march, although Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government is trying to ban the NPD, or National Democratic Party, which it likens to the Nazis.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 01:49 pm ||
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"No German supplies or weapons for Iraq...oops, too late"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2002 16:10 Comments ||
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A leader of the Senate intelligence committee criticized on Tuesday a congressional inquiry into Sept. 11-related intelligence failures as too soft on U.S. agencies, especially the CIA. The report stops short of assigning enough blame to the FBI and CIA, Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and one of CIA Director George Tenet's harshest critics, told ABC television on Tuesday morning. A joint inquiry by the Senate and House intelligence committees has drafted a final, mostly classified, report that is expected to face an approval vote on Tuesday.
"Some of the people on the committee don't want to assign the blame or the accountability," Shelby said. "I am not one of those people." The CIA and FBI have been criticized for missing potential clues that, if pursued, critics say, may have led to unraveling the plot that sent four hijacked planes crashing into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington and a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001.
"Perhaps some of it could have been prevented," Shelby said of the Sept. 11 attacks. "There were a lot of missed signals, a lot of non-sharing of information." Shelby continued to heap criticism on Tenet. "There have been more failures on his watch as far as massive intelligence failures than any CIA director in history. Yet he's still there," Shelby said. "It's inexplicable to me." Me too.
Shelby hinted that he might support a minority report from the intelligence committee harsher than the one to be released on Tuesday. "I will come forth with minority views, with my own views, and I believe there will be others who will join me," he said. About damm time.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 02:44 pm ||
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From what I've read, Tenet attoned for himself with the successful CIA-led operation in Afghanistan. He got special kudos from GWB for having a network in place in northern Afghanistan prior to 9/11, and getting the CIA paramilitary boys in place quickly. That might have saved his bacon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2002 22:28 Comments ||
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Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Forum Chief, Muhammad Ahsan Antoo, set himself on fire in Srinagar on Tuesday morning in protest against gross human rights violations by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir, which is just one more example of the desperation of the Kashmiri people. Once you do something like that, people expect you to do it every time you want to make a point. Best not to start in the first place...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 10:05 am ||
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Channeling Daffy Duck: "It's a great act, but you can only do it once."
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 13:53 Comments ||
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Sixteen people, including eight crazed killerssnuffies freedom fighters, died in unrest in Held Kashmir, where a four-day ceasefire by the Lashkar-e-Taiba ended on Sunday.
Nine Indian soldiers occupation personnel, including three officers, were also injured when gunnies separatists fired four rifle-grenades at an Indian occuaption security camp in Srinagar. The attack happened at around 7:00 pm, the time the ceasefire came to an end.
In another incident, police said homicidal maniacs armed separatists forced their way into a house and murdered shot dead a man, Sajjad Dar, near Bandipora township. His aunt, Zia Begum, who saw the shooting, died of a heart attack. Police said Dar had been working for the counter-insurgency police.
Another person, Shahzada Begum, who was abducted by separatists on November 25, was slaughtered shot dead on Saturday in the forests of Kulgam in Anantnag. In the same district suspected lunatics separatists iced shot dead a government employee. Police said a motive for the two killings was not known.
On Sunday, crazed killers suspected separatists killed a cab driver Ali Mohammed in Srinagar for being an alleged security force informer. Two more civilians were disposed of killed by adherents of the master religion suspected separatists in Udhampur and Poonch.
In Poonch and Doda districts Indian troops blew away gunned down five menaces to civilization suspected separatists in two separate encounters, police said on Sunday. In the northern district of Baramulla three gun-totin' Islamic heroes freedom fighters and an Indian army soldier were killed in two separate overnight gun battles.
I understand Kashmir used to be a civilized place, with an educated populace. We get the word "pundit" from "pandit," which is a Kashmir native. Not a Muslim Kashmir native, though.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 10:05 am ||
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MMA leader and Amir Jamaat Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said that the Ummah is facing a great challenge of its time. The infidels have joined hands together against the entire Muslim world and kuffar are all set to launch attack on Iraq after Afghanistan. âThe life of Muslims has been made miserable in America. The Muslims are being dubbed as terrorists. It is high time for us to get united and face the biggest challenge.â "Yeah. Let's all get together and wage war against the Merkins, like we're doing in Pakland..."
He said the threat has challenged the very existence of the Ummah and a joint strategy is needed to avoid elimination at the hands of America. He was addressing the Eid and Juma congregations in Lahore. That happens. When youdeclare war on someone, you can expect them to wage war back on you — if they take you seriously.
He lamented that the rulers of Muslim world are siding with the Americans. He said that Russian President Putin and the Indian leaders have threatened Pakistan of war if Pakistan does not âstop cross border terrorismâ. Hmmm... Yeah. That's right. Y'see, running a campaign of cross border terrorism really amounts to making war on someone by proxy. If you make war, you'll have to suffer the consequences. The deniability becomes more implausible as time goes by.
America, he said, is friend of India as well. Washington is feeding Israel as well against the Muslims. The Human rights organizations are watching voicelessly all what is happening against the Muslims. Muslims of Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and other countries are facing the wrath of anti-Muslim forces. "I mean, they wuz jus' standin' around, not doin' nuttin', and these here infidels, they attacked them, for no reason!"
He said that Pakistanâs nuclear programme is the target of the Americans, Indians and Israelis. The armed forces of the country instead of defending the frontiers of the country are running the country and giving it to FBI and CIA. Qazi Hussain Ahmed said that the Ummah should get up, wake up and see the danger against it. The bad part about being a member of an international community is that you're expected to adhere to civilized norms of behavior. Qazi's decrying Pakland's problems — but he and his buds are the problem...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 10:05 am ||
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âThe life of Muslims has been made miserable in America."
I don't know if specific numbers exist, but I'm just betting that the per capita income of Muslims in the US is far higher than for Muslims in any Islamic country that doesn't have oil. In fact, it would be higher than for Muslims in Saudi-controlled Arabia, and they do have oil.
Likewise, Muslims in the US have far greater legal protection, and are better able to speak out, do as they wish, and raise money for terrorist organizations, er, charities.
If we're making Muslims miserable in the US, we're doing a pretty lousy job of it. Just another sign of incompetence in the infidel West.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2002 13:56 Comments ||
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" I don't know if specific numbers exist, but I'm just betting that the per capita income of Muslims in the US is far higher than for Muslims in any Islamic country that doesn't have oil."
Actually, the income of Muslim Americans is higher than the average income of Americans. See here: http://www.bridges.tv/American_Muslims/american_muslims.html
Posted by: Arthur Fleischman ||
12/11/2002 8:57 Comments ||
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Muslims are, by definition, miserable, outside of the Ummah, since they are denied the fruits of Allah's beneficence.
Posted by: Philip Chaston ||
12/11/2002 9:36 Comments ||
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Source: NNI
Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that America is hell bent upon crushing Muslims of the world and the United Nations is working as the US stooge. âAmerican new world order is aimed at eliminating Muslim Ummah from the map of the world and it is upon Muslims of the entire world to get united and fight against the enemy.â Fazl is, of course, intentionally using "Muslims" as a synomym for "raving Islamist lunatics," which we know ain't necessarily the case.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 10:10 am ||
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And eliminating Muslims (raving lunatic types) from the world would be bad because....?
Posted by: Denny Wilson ||
12/10/2002 12:39 Comments ||
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Denny,
Perhaps you hadn't heard...the Sierra Club is trying to have them listed as an endangered species...
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- NASA moved space shuttle Columbia from its hangar to an open seaside pad for next month's liftoff under extraordinarily tight security for the first Israeli astronaut.
During the slow 3.5-mile trip in the rain on Monday, an Air Force helicopter was spotted at times patrolling the area.
Security was tightened at Kennedy Space Center after the September 11 terrorist attacks. But it is expected to reach an all-time high for the January 16 launch of Ilan Ramon, a colonel in Israel's air force and a former fighter pilot.
Columbia's 16-day science research mission had been scheduled for July, after more than a year of delay. But the shuttle fleet was grounded by fuel-line cracks in June, and two space station delivery trips with higher priority were moved ahead of Columbia's mission.
Endeavour returned from the international space station over the weekend, clearing the way for Columbia. Its mission will be one of the rare ones these days that have nothing to do with the space station.
Besides Ramon, six U.S. astronauts are assigned to the mission, one of whom was born in India. Their round-the-clock research will include an Israeli experiment to study dust and other contaminants in Earth's atmosphere to see how they affect rainfall and temperature.
The 48-year-old Ramon has been training at NASA since 1998 as a representative of Israel's space agency.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
12/10/2002 01:20 pm ||
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Source: Palestine Information Centre
Gaza- The families of Ghaban and Noufal last night organized a tumultuous march in the Sheikh Radwan suburb denouncing the criminals who killed their relatives Essam Ghaban and his son. Scores of the family members demonstrated in the streets of that Gazan suburb closing in the process main roads and setting fire to tires. "Yar! We be grieving family members! These be our guns!"
The participants declared the names of the real killers and erased Fatah members' writings on the walls that insulted Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Dr. Abdul Aziz Ranteesi and martyr commander Salah Shehada. They also erased names of Hamas supporters that Fatah accused of killing the two martyrs hoping to acquit the real murderers. The families asked the Palestinian Authority to execute the real killers within a fixed period so that law would rule supreme or else they would have to take the law into their own hands. And then the law wouldn't reign supreme, would it?
The Fatah Movement was thus in a critical situation after the real killers, affiliated with Fatah, were exposed and the conspiracy was uncovered. The Fatah leadership in Gaza had issued a statement accusing the Hamas activists of killing the two martyrs and charged Hamas of "circulating lies" and of "deceiving the public opinion". However, Fatah was now called upon to officially apologize over its members' crimes and over its false accusations. Oh, cheeze! My sides hurt! I'm either getting appendicitis or I'm laughing too hard...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 10:34 am ||
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"The Real Killers" are in Gaza- somebody tell O.J.!
The Palestinian high court has ordered the release of a high-ranking Palestinian official jailed over an attempt to smuggle tons of weapons by ship from Iran to the Gaza Strip. Fuad Shobaki, former financier to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was imprisoned in May after Israel accused him of involvement in the so-called Karine-A affair. Mr Shobaki has been held under international guard at a jail in Jericho, the only West Bank city not under Israeli control. Israel said his release would violate a deal under which Israel relented in its demand that the Palestinian Authority (PA) extradite Mr Shobaki to face trial in Israel. Senior aides to Mr Arafat, who must approve the release, said it was unlikely the prisoner would be freed because of international repercussions.
The Palestinian court ruled on Tuesday that there was no evidence against Mr Shobaki, endorsing the findings of a commission of inquiry set up by Mr Arafat following the affair.
Israel has reacted angrily to the decision, saying it violated agreements. "The revolving door policy is still in effect. They [the Palestinians] arrest in one door and let out in the other door," said Raanan Gissin, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He said Israel would have the right to "pursue" Mr Shobaki if he was freed.
Aides to Mr Arafat, however, said the prisoner was unlikely to be released. "If we remove Shobaki from where he is right now, he may be abducted or killed by the Israelis," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said. What ever gave you that idea?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 10:34 am ||
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The No. 2 man in the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas, said Monday that he had no plans to run in the upcoming Palestinian general elections."I don't know who nominated me, but I have no desire to run in the elections," explained Abbas, who is known as Abu Mazen. He was commenting on rumors according to which he was contemplating presenting his candidacy for Palestinian Authority Chairman. "I have no desire to participate in the elections," Abbas added. "All my life I never liked running in elections, even for student unions. I always like to stay away from the spotlight." People in the spotlight tend to become targets.
Abbas told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that he first heard that he was a candidate from the media. He emphasized that no one has offered him to run in the elections or to accept the job of prime minister in the Palestinian Authority. "If nominated I will not run. If elected, I'll run like hell."
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 11:32 am ||
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LOL! That's a good one! I'll have to remember it!
Undercover Israeli soldiers shot dead a Hamas activist in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday after he threw bricks at them from a roof and fled when they tried to arrest him, the army said.
Yassin al-Agha hid on the roof of a building in the Khan Younis refugee camp when troops conducted searches there for suspected militants, the army said in a statement. When soldiers tried to arrest al-Agha, he fled and soldiers shot him, the army said.
In searches carried out after al-Agha's death, soldiers found a bag with pipe bombs and an automatic weapon, the army said. The statement did not say of what al-Agha was suspected. Bombs and automatic weapons, yup, he's a activist.
Later, about a dozen tanks and a bulldozer re-entered the camp and arrested three Palestinians, witnesses said. A 35-year-old man whose two brothers were among those arrested was beaten by soldiers, Palestinian police said. Sure, and I trust their statements.
The injured man was taken to the hospital with two broken legs, hospital officials said. The army had no immediate comment on the beating allegations. Al-Agha was the third Palestinian killed in 24 hours, with Israeli troops continuously carrying out searches in West Bank and Gaza Strip towns and cities. A Palestinian woman and a mentally handicapped Palestinian were killed Monday by army fire in the West Bank. Just another day in paradise.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 11:51 am ||
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Exactly how would you know if a Palestinian was mentally handicapped? They all seem to have their turbans on a little too tight.
Posted by: Denny Wilson ||
12/10/2002 12:44 Comments ||
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The Shin Bet security service has apprehended a Tanzim operative from Hebron, suspected of shooting and killing ten-month-old Shalhevet Pas in March 2001. Joe Anonymous posted a ref to this yesterday, and Steve had some more detail. I think this is the Ha'aretz article Steve referred to...
The suspect, Mahmoud Amrou, has confessed that on March 26, 2001, he followed orders from a Fatah commander, Marwan Zaloum (who was later killed by the Israel Defense Forces) and took up a position with a rifle in the Abu Sneina neighborhood, overlooking the Avraham Avinu Jewish settler enclave in Hebron. Amrou fired several shots at the two, killing the girl and wounding her father in the leg. Shin Bet investigators believe that Amrou was responsible for other terror strikes, including the placement of a mine south of Hebron, and several shooting attacks at settler sites and IDF bases in Hebron. A short time after the murder, the Palestinian Authority arrested Amrou for several hours, but subsequently released him. "What're you taking me in for?"
"Shootin' a baby."
"She was just a Jew kid!"
"Oh. Well, in that case, beat it. Here's yer gun back."
Mahmoud Amrou, 28, is from Hebron's Wadi Hariyah neighborhood. He belonged to what Israel Defense Forces officers call the Wadi Hariyah-Abu Sneina gang, an armed group led by Zaloum which carried out a number of gunfire attacks against the Beit Hadassah and Avraham Avinu settler neighborhoods during the first year of the intifada. Almost all members of the gang have been killed or detained by the IDF and Shin Bet. This group, together with what the IDF called the "Halhul gang" (most of whose members have also been killed or arrested), constituted the main Tanzim network in Hebron in the period preceding Operation Defensive Shield. Both groups were directed by Hebron Tanzim leader Diab Sharbati, and got logistical help from Palestinian Authority security forces in the city. These are kind of the Paleocrips and Paleobloods...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 01:08 pm ||
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The US has agreed to sell arms to Algeria to help it put down the Islamic rebellion which has cost more than 100 000 lives in the past 10 years. In its wish to win the support of Muslim states for its war on terrorism, Washington appears to have replaced its previous reluctance to arm Algiers, because of its bad human rights record, with admiration. Announcing the agreement as he ended a visit to Algiers yesterday, William Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, said: "Washington has much to learn from Algeria on ways to fight terrorism." he said: "We are putting the finishing touches to an agreement to sell Algeria military equipment to fight terrorism." He did not identify the type of weapons it was willing to sell, but added that the White House was drafting a proposal to Congress to increase military aid to Algeria. These steps aim at intensifying the security cooperation between the two countries." That's pretty interesting. The Algerian regime is pretty bad — but the Algerian Islamists are the most bloodthirsty in the world, so unless they start importing Ba'athists from Iraq the regime will remain the lesser of two evils. The Algerian troops are pretty tough; they have to be, to hold their own with the Islamists. They're also woefully underequipped. There are three sets of night vision goggles in the whole country, for instance, and the troops move to engagement via Shoe-leather Express. GAI and the Salafist Group are also spreading the infection to neighboring countries that would be better off without it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/10/2002 10:23 am ||
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Something tells me that twenty years from now, the usual suspects will be saying that supporting the government of Algeria is yet another American War Crime(TM).
BRITISH-trained lecturer Wan Min's specialty was construction science at a top Malaysia university, but he received honours in murder and destruction in Bali, according to police.The Manchester University-trained engineering expert has been named as the bagman for the Bali bombing. Police say he sent money to the Indonesian terrorists to finance the October 12 attack.
An investigation found that Wan Min Wan Mat, 42, trained in al-Qaeda camps and helped to establish a Malaysian school frequented by Jemaah Islamiah operatives, including the organisation's spiritual leader, Abu Bakir Bashir, and al-Qaeda operations manager Hambali. JI's A-Team.
He was arrested in Malaysia less than two weeks before the Bali bombing on suspicion of terrorist activity but police are refusing to say if he gave any clue about the impending JI attack in Bali. Officials believe the Malaysian sent the equivalent of $53,000 to help Mukhlas, the leader of the Indonesia terror cell, undertake the Bali bombing, which killed nearly 200 people, including 85 Australians. The instruction to send the money is believed to have come from regional al-Qaeda chief Hambali, alias Riduan Ismuddin -- one of the world's most wanted terrorists, who helped the September 11 hijackers.
The chief of the Bali investigation team, Inspector General Made Pastika, said Indonesian police were keen to talk to Wan Min to find out how the money was passed to the Indonesian terrorists. "We don't know how the money was transferred, that's why we want to question him," he said. General Pastika said a team of Indonesian detectives would travel to Malaysia to interview Wan Min, who was implicated by the testimony of Mukhlas. "Pack your truncheons, we've got another interview."
At the time of his arrest Wan Min was described by Malaysian national security chief Norian Mai as one of the leaders of JI in Malaysia. Police arrested the father of four after he secretly tried to visit his family in Kotu Bahru, a Malaysian city close to the Thai border, on September 27. These guys seem to be real family types, just wait outside the old family homestead and they show up sooner or later.
He had been on the run since January after the Malaysian Government took into custody a group of his academic associates because of their connection with local terrorist movement Kampulis Mujiheddin Malaysia, or KMM. The town where he was arrested is close to where Hambali was reported to have discussed terror activities with a number of other JI or al-Qaeda operatives who fled after the January crackdown by the Malaysian Government. Police are hunting eight of Wan Min's alleged terror cell members.
The Herald Sun has learned that Wan Min was alleged to have juggled his terrorist lifestyle with his other job as a senior lecturer at the Malaysian University of Technology, about 14km from Johor Bahru in Malaysia's far south. At the same time he was instrumental in establishing and operating a JI-associated school, known as Luqmanul Hakiem, about 40 minutes' drive from the university. Numerous terrorists frequented the school and some pupils were members of the Bali bombing cell. He's a major player, nice to have him where we can "talk" to him at length.
Intelligence sources have claimed that Wan Min paid the school's water bill and oversaw the school's establishment, according to reports in the local paper the Malay Mail.
Terrorism experts this week said the Malaysian University of Technology had provided fertile ground for recruiting extremists. Young impressionable minds ready to be molded into killers.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/10/2002 11:01 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.
