Consistent, aren't they?
Two terrorists who shot dead a security officer Wednesday gave police the slip again late Thursday night. Police patrol cars sweeping the rugged area of Wadi Hanifa near Al-Oyaynah, 45 km northwest of Riyadh, spotted the suspects who had killed an officer of the Al-Mujahedeen units and wounded his colleague. The suspects, who were hiding in a cave in the valley, were spotted by security officers using night vision binoculars, sources told Arab News. Security officers then sealed several ways into the area and waited for backup. However, when orders to engage arrived the suspects had managed to flee into âdeeper groundsâ, according to a security source. Due to the rugged terrain, security officers were unable to follow in their cars.
... and through some oversight they'd neglected to bring their feet.
The search for the suspects continued throughout Friday on foot and with Civil Defense helicopters.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 1:32:23 PM ||
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However, when orders to engage arrived the suspects had managed to flee into âdeeper groundsâ, according to a security source.
Either these guys are the most pathetic cops on the planet or the bribe was paid in lots of small bills.
The imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah told Muslims yesterday it was their duty to foil terror attacks as the Kingdom battles Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists. Describing the terrorists as âdeviantsâ and âoutcastsâ, the imam, Sheikh Saleh Bin-Humaid, told thousands of worshipers who thronged the Grand Mosque to inform authorities about âthis misguided lot whose ignorance of their faith made them kill fellow Muslims in the name of Islamâ.
"You're only supposed to kill infidels in the name of Islam, dammit!"
The Kingdom has launched a crackdown on terrorists after suicide bombings killed at least 50 people in 2003. âWhat is happening these days in this holy land is a rash act of aggression,â Bin-Humaid said in the sermon aired live on television. âTheir aim is to sow chaos and instability in our nation,â he said. âThey have branded Muslims and their leaders as infidels and God will curse them and send them straight to hell because they kill fellow Muslims and terrorize them. Terror will not change politics, it will only bring destruction and could open the way for foreigners to intervene. It is not lawful to protect these deviants and all of us should denounce them.â
"Oh, how could this have ever happened to us?"
Last week, one of Saudi Arabiaâs most wanted Al-Qaeda terrorists, in a video carried on an Islamist website, called on Muslims to kill Americans everywhere and vowed attacks against Arab leaders allied to Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 1:30:09 PM ||
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#1
I for one think this is a positive move, showing lots of loyalty to our cause and a willingness on the part of the "Magic Kingdom" to move forward . . . except it's about ten years too late! Seriously, the Saudis might yet pull themselves out of this if Bin-Humaid's declaration is only the beginning, but if it's another of the lip-service deals they're so fond of, then it's an indication of just how out of touch with reality they are.
Wonder how long before Binny and the Qaedas put out a fatwa declaring this guy a heretic?
Posted by: The Doctor ||
04/17/2004 17:28 Comments ||
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I thought this was a stunning breakthrough, until I read this:
âthis misguided lot whose ignorance of their faith made them kill fellow Muslims in the name of Islamâ.
Same-old-same-old. When they start saying that about attacks on non-Muslims, let me know.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/17/2004 20:09 Comments ||
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Saudi police on Saturday seized a car packed with explosives that they have been searching for since February, an Interior Ministry official said. In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency (search), the unidentified official said the wanted GMC Suburban was found "packed with an amount of explosives." The vehicle was secured, the statement added. No further details were released, including where the car was found or if anyone was arrested. In February, the Interior Ministry used TV broadcasts to warn Saudis, particularly residents in the capital, Riyadh, that there was an imminent threat of a car bomb attack involving a GMC Suburban. The car found Saturday was the same vehicle mentioned in the TV warning. Of course it was a dreaded SUV!!!
A big-assed SUV. There's a lot of acreage in a Chevy Suburban...
Posted by: PayDay ||
04/17/2004 8:42:35 AM ||
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THE nationâs spy-catchers are investigating a suspected Israeli spy ring in Australia. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has been investigating the suspected cell for up to a month. Two Israeli citizens appeared in an Auckland court on Friday charged with passport fraud. One of them, Eli Cara, claimed to be a Sydney travel agent. He has travelled to New Zealand 24 times since October 2000. Cara, 50, and Zoshe Kelman, 30, faced three charges after being arrested in a police sting operation late last March. Another Israeli, Zev William Barkan, 37, escaped from NZ. A fourth man is believed to be in hiding. The men are suspected of being Mossad agents, who allegedly were gathering fake NZ passports.
Fake passports are used by intelligence bodies to help their agents travel undercover. Mossad, the Israeli secret service, has been accused previously of illegally using Canadian passports. A spokesman for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock confirmed yesterday that ASIO had been investigating the matter. He said ASIO had been in touch with its NZ counterparts. He said the two Israelis had applied for a passport using the birth certificate of a person with cerebral palsy. NZ police staged a surveillance operation of the site where the passport was sent on March 23. The two Israelis were also staking out the site, but were then arrested. Cara was sitting in a cafe, while Kelman was arrested walking away after throwing his mobile phone into a bush.
After the pair was released on bail, Cara denied being a Mossad agent when asked about his arrest. Intelligence sources told the Sunday Herald Sun that the NZ arrests would have set off alarm bells at ASIO headquarters in Canberra. If Israel had gone to the trouble of setting up a genuine business in Sydney as a front for spying, then that would be an extraordinary step, a source said. ASIO would not be investigating the case unless they suspected the pair was undeclared spies, the source said. Israel (as with other countries) could declare its spies to ASIO, and the security service would know who was who at the countryâs embassy in Canberra. "But some countries have undeclared spies, which is seen as pretty sneaky - and snaky," another source said. The time and expense of running a genuine business front would indicate a deep commitment to an operation in Sydney or the South Pacific. NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark has refused to confirm whether the arrested men were Mossad agents. But she has contacted the Israeli government about the case.
In the late 1970s, Israel was rumoured to have set up a spy ring in Melbourne to keep an eye on anti-Israeli activists. Israelâs acting ambassador to NZ and Australia, Orna Sagiv, said yesterday she would not comment until the court proceedings had been completed. "There are two Israeli citizens there before the justice system, but itâs better to wait before coming to conclusions," she said.
A former Israeli Defence Force officer expressed surprise at the clumsiness of the operation, but added authorities could not be sure the charged menâs names were real if they were Mossad agents. "Israel has spies everywhere, but Mossad is usually more professional than that," the IDF officer said. Mossad generally was quite careful about whom it sent undercover, preferring people with links to the country they were spying upon. "The aim is to blend into the local community," the officer said. "These agents have layers and layers of false identities." A search of Australian company and title records revealed that Cara has no listed business or property interests in NSW or Victoria. Public information contained on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission database shows that Cara, Kelman and Barkan are not involved with listed companies or own property in the two states.
It's quite obvious that Mossad is in New Zealand for the purpose of recruiting undercover sheep which will then be used to gather pillow talk from chatty Arab terrorists.
... A Hamburg security official said the decision to retry [recently released Hamburg terrorist cell member Mounir el] Motassadeq could create the impression among Islamists that German courts and security services are not as rigorous as those in other countries. The official also said that Mzoudi and Motassadeq will now join the approximately 200 Islamists in Hamburg that the security services currently have under observation.
Several German politicians, upset with their courtsâ rulings, are looking into having both [another recently released Hamburg terrorist cell member Abdelghani] Mzoudi and Motassadeq deported. The Hamburg University for Applied Sciences may have helped in these efforts, when it rejected Mzoudiâs application to continue his studies last February, thus jeopardizing his student visa for Germany. The universityâs reason for the rejection was that Mzoudi had studied for too many semesters (12 to be exact) without result.
So even if the German courts should eventually free both Moroccans, their legal problems will probably only just have begun. Removal from Germany to their native land could result in an American-friendly Moroccan government, with terrorism problems of its own, quickly extraditing Mzoudi and Motassadeq to the United States, where maximum sentences for 9/11 conspiracy convictions exceed 15 years.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/17/2004 2:25:09 PM ||
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Vandals have burned the entrance to a mosque in eastern France and daubed swastikas on the walls, police said on Friday. A rubbish bin outside the mosque was set on fire in the early hours of Thursday and the flames damaged the entrance to the building in the town of Haguenau, just north of Strasbourg. Two swastikas and a Christian cross were also daubed on the mosqueâs walls....
Last month, separate attacks badly damaged a mosque and a Muslim prayer center in the southeastern town of Annecy.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/17/2004 1:55:03 PM ||
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What's sauce for the goose....
Not so much fun when it's done against you, is it, Abdul?
Though I do wish the vandals would leave Christianity out of it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/17/2004 14:56 Comments ||
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#2
Swastikas on a mosque?
Isn't that redundant?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/17/2004 20:05 Comments ||
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A Bosnian man wanted for questioning in the Madrid bombings voluntarily returned to Spain from what he called a vacation in Sweden and was arrested, the Interior Ministry said Saturday. Sanel Sjekirica, 23, was arrested Friday night after he arrived at Madrid's Barajas airport on a flight from Stockholm. Sjekirica, who studies computer science in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo, told The Associated Press earlier this week in Sweden that he learned through media reports that he was a suspect. He denied any role in the attack that killed 191 people, but said he once shared an apartment with Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, the Tunisian real estate agent that Spanish authorities have identified as the ringleader of the plot.
"Yes. We were lovers, but nothing more than that..."
The government says Fakhet was among seven terror suspects who blew themselves up in an apartment south of Madrid on April 3 as special forces prepared to storm it and arrest them. Eighteen people have been charged in the attacks — six with mass murder and the rest with belonging to or collaborating with a terrorist organization. Fourteen are Moroccan. The others are two Indians, one Syrian and one Spaniard. The charges do not amount to a formal indictment and do not necessarily mean they will stand trial. On Friday the Interior Ministry announced the arrests of three more suspects — a Saudi citizen, an Egyptian and a Moroccan — for their possible links with other suspects.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 12:47 ||
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International police with Kosovo's U.N. mission shot at each other Saturday in a prison compound, killing two Americans and a Jordanian officer, a U.N. statement said. Eleven others were wounded. The shooting occurred between officers from the police and correctional units in the tense northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica, divided between Serbs and ethnic Albanians. Witnesses and international authorities told The Associated Press the exchange of fire lasted for about 10 minutes. It was not clear what touched off the incident, which did not involve prisoners.
Four Jordanian police officers were arrested, a NATO source told AP. The body of a police officer, covered with what looked like a dark blue jacket, lay for hours in the yard of the prison compound. One witness, a 50-year-old woman who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she heard the shooting, ran to her balcony overlooking the prison yard and saw one officer shooting and another hiding. Another witness said he was at a nearby park when he heard the shooting and American officers yelling, "Drop the gun! Drop the gun!"
"It is absolutely too early to draw any conclusions with regard to what happened there," the head of the U.N. police, Stefan Feller, told Associated Press Television News after visiting the site. He called the shootout a "terrible incident." Milan Ivanovic, a doctor at the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica, told AP that five American officers and one Austrian officer were being treated. "Their wounds are predominantly in the chest and abdomen," Ivanovic said. "They were caused by firearms and possibly explosive devices."
Kosovska Mitrovica has long been the scene of violence between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, including riots that broke out a month ago, killing 19 and injuring 900. Ethnic Albanians live on the southern side of the Ibar River in the divided city, and Serbs live in the north. Kosovska Mitrovica is located 25 miles from the provincial capital, Pristina. Kosovo became a U.N. protectorate in 1999, after NATO launched a 78-day air war to stop Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic from cracking down on ethnic Albanians seeking independence. There are some 3,500 U.N. police officers serving in Kosovo alongside a 6,000-strong local force. The top U.N. official in Kosovo, Harri Holkeri, seemed stunned at the shooting incident, which came as the mission is still grappling with last month's violence. "I am deeply shocked and dismayed at the unfortunate death of dedicated professionals who have come such a great distance to help Kosovo on its road to future," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 12:44 ||
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Jordanian 'peacekeepers' under UN mandate trying to free their Albanian Muslim brothers??
Is this what this is?
#2
Some more info from Khaleej Times:
United Nations sources in the UN administered province said there were reports that a Moroccan police officer or prison security guard had opened fire and that at least one American had been killed.
Another report said it was a Pakistani policeman or prison guard who had opened fire.
The deputy director at the health centre in Mitrovica, Milan Ivanovic, told reporters six UN police officers had been wounded, and five were in very serious condition.
âOne international American policewoman is in a very critical condition,â he added.
The Reuters witness said no ambulances stopped to pick the body of the second US policewoman, which was covered with a coat.
He saw American members of the United Nations police force moving cautiously into the grounds of the district prison and cafeteria as ambulances and senior officers rushed to the scene.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayArticle.asp?col=§ion=theworld&xfile=data/theworld/2004/April/theworld_April341.xml
#3
Well, this settles it. We definitely should put the UN in charge of Iraq.
/dripping sarcasm
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/17/2004 14:42 Comments ||
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KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - An American policewoman with the United Nations force in Kosovo was killed on Saturday and four U.S. policewomen were badly wounded in a shootout, said to be with Jordanian police, after a dispute about Iraq, a hospital official said.
#5
Notice how it was women they shot...I suppose they couldnt take a woman with an opinion. So they must kill her to restore their sick notion of honor.
This was a honor killing! If the reports about it being over Iraq are true.
This is efing outrageous!
#6
Now reports say it was an ambush by a Jordanian officer. Four other Jordanian officers are being questioned.
He ambushed the other officers as they were leaving work.
Killing two American officers, and injuring ten American officers and one Austrian.
If there were an argument over Iraq, it happened previously and then he did a sneak attack on them.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040417_997.html
Excerpt...
In short, in 1980, French authorities could not even identify a foreign terrorist attack in the middle of Paris after it had happened. In 1999, they possessed a detailed understanding of a terrorist cell in another country plotting attacks against yet a third country. This striking contrast reflects a more general increase in the French capacity to prevent and fight terrorism, both at home and abroad. Throughout the 1980s and much of the 1990s, France was considered a haven for international terrorists, both for those operating in France and those using France as a base for operations elsewhere. By the late 1990s, in contrast, France had scored notable successes in preventing planned terrorist attacks on the World Cup in 1998, against the Strasbourg Cathedral in 2000 and against the American Embassy in Paris 2001.
The French security services are often very good. Their deficiencies lie in the political leadership. We sometimes forget that when we're ranting here...
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/17/2004 00:33 ||
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An extremely interesting article. Some of the highlights I would pick out:-
1) The way that France moved from a policy of sanctuary to accommodation, and then to suppression and finally to prevention of terrorism suggests that this is a route to be urged on countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. When the terrorists strike at a country that has been giving them sanctuary or accommodating them (as has happened in the aforementioned countries) this political shift can occur.
2) The incorporation of anti-terrorism into legal rather than extra-legal forms should be a long-term goal, and America has a long way to go to achieve this. In other words the Guantanamo Bay solution should only be considered makeshift and ways to prosecute terrorists within the normal American justice system should be found.
3) The depoliticisation of anti-terrorist activity is a key measure as it does not rely on the whims of the current government.
#3
A really, REALLY good terrorist is a lawabiding, God worshipping, model citizen until the DAY he greases scores or hundreds or thousands of innocents. The Germans just let a couple of murderous terrorist bastards off due to the use of traditional legalism to deal with the pukes. Better to ship a suspected terrorist-to-be off to GTMO, than try to make a legal case against the suspected terrorshit in the absence of carnage.
#4
Curtis: not so. We could certainly develop a parallel court system to deal with non-Americans who attack Americans here at homre or around the world. Nothing in the Constitution forbids that -- in fact, it gives the Congress the right to establish whatever "inferior courts" (subject to the USSC) we might require (Congress has done so before, special maritime and bankruptcy courts, etc). We could establish anti-terrorism courts, stipulate that American citizens canNOT be tried in them, and work to establish proper rules of procedure, evidence, etc. As long as the USSC has final jurisdiction as the last court of appeal, it would be constitutional. With proper rules it would work and help us process the terrorists we catch.
Why, it could even specify places of confinement, such as Gitmo. Bwahahahaha!
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2004 14:34 Comments ||
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But the problems are:-
1) Will GTMO last as a long-term measure? Suppose JFK becomes president - will he keep GTMO? The French counter-terrorism structure (according to the article) has become resistent to the whims of whoever is in power (like Chiraq and Villeneuve).
2) Isn't GTMO only be for terrorists picked up outside USA? Courts will assert their rights when terrorists are picked up inside USA in any case, won't they? So you'll need a good streamlined anti-terrorist judicial system anyway.
Posted by: A ||
04/17/2004 14:41 Comments ||
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#6
Again I argue that Islamic terrorists have declared war on the US,so if captured,they should be treated as POWs,who can be held until war is over.Attempts to try them in the Criminal justice system will ultimately fail-or lead to degrading of rights of US citizens.Prosecution will not be able to enter evidence in open court due to security reasons;it is incredibly hard to get convictions for actions that haven't happened(meaning no preventive action-and hard to deny bail);intel/witnesses provided by other govt.s may not be made available to US courts.Frustration w/lack of criminal convictions could lead to new laws/rules for "anti-terror" trials that will inevitably be (mis)used on standard criminal trials.
The argument favoring treating the I.T.s as criminals mainly rests on belief that since these people are various nationalities and don't call a particular country "home",that the I.T.s are not a Wilsonian Nation-State,and must therefore be thought of as part of criminal conspiracy,similar to Mafia and Drug Cartels.
I believe this is a misreading of reality.The Islamic Terrorists seek to destroy Western Culture(with the US as primary target)-not to make money.A more appropriate analogy would be the various Ancient Germanic assualts upon Roman Empire.A coalition would arise of various tribes and individuals who had no homeland would attack the Romans.The Romans considered themselves at war with that coalition even tho there was no Nation-State that the coalition called home.
Posted by: Stephen ||
04/17/2004 14:43 Comments ||
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#7
I think the point about the French Security forces is well taken--I was in Paris after the St Michel bombingl and on the metro--the French police have VERY aggressive passport control ops going on there everyday--anyone that looked Arab on the Metro had to produce identification.
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
04/18/2004 1:56 Comments ||
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the French police have VERY aggressive passport control ops
"For five years we have been running this snack bar and there's never been any trouble," the 38-year-old Vietnamese immigrant says as she wraps a veal doner kebab in foil and hands it to a customer with what she hopes passes for a smile. "But I'm terrified now, after what happened to my husband the other evening." It was right here, at the Euro Imbiss snack bar at the corner of Rudower and Glienicker streets in Berlin, that her 40-year-old husband was attacked by neo-Nazi thugs. "He was closing up the stand," she recalls tearfully. "And I was closing up the flower stand I run to help make ends meet. And that was when they ..." but she cannot finish the sentence.
Three young men in hobnail boots, jeans and bomber jackets drunkenly approached the stand, demanding he give them beer - free of charge. When the vendor politely refused, the trio hauled him out from behind his stand and cracked his skull with a baseball bat. Twice. As he lay on the pavement, the three neo-Nazis repeatedly kicked him while his wife wailed and screamed for help. The Vietnamese snack vendor is in hospital with numerous fractures and a concussion, lucky to be alive.
The story was consigned to Page 19 of one of the local newspapers, sharing space with a colour story about an influx of wild rabbits in the city's Tiergarten park. Not big news in Berlin. "Neo-Nazi street violence has been on the increase since the start of the year," says Kathrin Kalauch, a social worker in the district. "An Asian schoolboy was stabbed in this neighbourhood just two weeks ago."
And yet the isolated incidents attract little notice because neo-Nazis in Germany appear to be changing their tactics, according to federal investigators. Aside from the random attacks, generally by inebriated youths, there is a growing awareness in the radical right-wing element that there are lessons to be learned from the radical left - and from Islamic terrorists. "Instead of a rigid top-down leadership hierarchy, they are increasingly adopting the principal of leaderless resistance," says neo-Nazi expert Thomas Grumke.
It is the sort of "leaderless resistance" that is the hallmark of the al-Qaeda network of loosely connected terrorist cells. It is a variation of a tactic propagated a decade ago by American neo-Nazi Louis Beam. For German neo-Nazis, with their traditional fixation on a "Fuehrer" who tells his underlings what to do, it marks a radical departure. As unlikely as such an organisation might seem, the "success" of al-Qaeda terrorists has prompted German neo-Nazis to review their strategy, says Grumke, who has written books on the neo-Nazi movements in Europe and America and who sees alarming parallels in Germany. "In a way, German neo-Nazis are rediscovering a concept they discarded years ago as unviable, the Werewolf Concept right after the war," notes Grumke, who has lectured at the Freie University in the Kennedy Institute in Berlin. "But the difference is that the underground Werewolf Cadres were under orders from a Werewolf Command Staff, the leaderless resistance concept envisions autonomous cadres operating independently."
Federal investigators in Germany are taking this new concept seriously, according to a report in Berliner Zeitung newspaper. It cites BKA Federal Criminal Investigation Office sources as saying it is increasingly difficult to infiltrate neo-Nazi groups. "Structurally organised terrorism is simply much easier to combat because one is able to infiltrate the upper echelons," a source was quoted as saying. "But it is almost impossible to go up against the activities of fanatic individuals or autonomous cells which may have a completely clean vest until they launch their big attack."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2004 12:18:09 AM ||
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Is this like a Hunter/ Gatherer life model? Thinking grest thoughts.
#2
It's also harder for free-lance brownshirts to actually accomplish anything against the state. They relegate themselves to the level of being an irritation that can be scratched by good police work.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 10:12 Comments ||
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#3
So now they're worried about the neo-Nazis, after tolerating them for years as long as they just bothered Jews. And let's not even mention the jihadis in Hamburg and elsewhere they ignored, as long as they just killed Americans.
Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. (My apologies to decent dogs everywhere.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/17/2004 11:09 Comments ||
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#4
Looksmart has an interesting article on the Nazi Werewolves here
Of interest, is how they were eventually supressed.
#5
IIRC, something like this happened a couple of times in Wurzburg, until they picked on an Imbis favored by a bunch of black American soldiers stationed there. They fished a few German neoNazis out of the local rivers with every major bone in their bodies broken. Nobody ever figured out who did it, but Imbis owners had no more problems from ANYBODY.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/17/2004 13:04 Comments ||
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#6
Nazis and radical Muslims are simliar in certain ways, and even if it sounds illogical, I believe there is a relationship. No doubt, both will get a major can of American whoopass, like they have before!
#7
There is nothing RIGHT-WING about a bloody neo-nazi. NAZIS are LEFT-WINGERS -- totalitarians. A German Nazi is an Italian Fascist who is a Russian Stalinist who is a German Marxist....
#8
Anonymous> Even using the particular meaningless conventions of "left-wing" and "right-wing", left-winger isn't the same as "totalitarian".
Using modern day conventions of "right-wing" and "left-wing", Nazis seem to be on the social far right-wing (social reactionaries instead of progressives), on the foreign-relationships far right-wing (extreme chauvinists and racists instead of internationalists) and having a wider range of opinion in the economical spectrum that would probably define them as centrists.
#9
Relatively fair article. Recently were arrests in Munich of a gang of Neo-Nazis preparing a bomb-attack on the to-be-built new Jewish Synagogue there. (almost 4 pounds of TNT were found)
German Neo-Nazis also discovered Anti-Americanism since 9/11 and - since open Anti-Semitism is illegal here - a "solidarity for Palestinians", like wearing palestinian scarfs, usually a leftist symbol, to demonstrate covertly their anti-semitism. (and ironically, some of the leftist groups today are very pro-Israel - the old labels don't fit anymore).
Though let's keep this in proportion - they are dangerous, but very small in numbers.
The comment about "structual organized terrorism is easier to combat" is only for the gallery, it doesn't exist like this. Terror-groups are usually small here.....duh. RAF was also very small and law enforcement has still not figured out who the "third generation of RAF" was who had struck until about 1992 and then ceased to act.
Posted by: da German ||
04/17/2004 18:38 Comments ||
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#10
@tipper #4:
The article on "Werwolf" is quite rubbish. I stopped reading on the first page.
"Werwolf" was almost completely a PR-myth to hold up the German spirit, like the "Wunderwaffen" or the "Volkssturm". Their only real major deed was the killing of the Aachener Mayor in March 1945 - which was exploited for PR-reasons by Goebbels still then. For "Werwolf", only a few hundred Hitler-youth and tired war-veterans were trained for a period of 10-14 days, but even that got never off the ground. It was mostly only a reason for a big scare amongst Allied troops at first, because no one knew how believable the propaganda was.
And the mentioned myth on Bersarin was that the NKWD murdered him, not Werwolf, LOL. (NKWD = predecessor of the KGB). Bersarin was not without opponents for allegedly wanting a "communism with a friendly face". In reality, the known bike-crazy Bersarin crashed with his motorcycle into a Soviet truck. It might have been staged by NKWD, sure...but no evidence.
Posted by: da German ||
04/17/2004 18:47 Comments ||
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#11
Fascism was a fusion of socialism, nationalism to the point of racism (even in Italy; see Mussolini's vows to restore "the glory of Rome" followed by first invading Ethiopia...), and a thin gloss of "third way" rhetoric intended to differentiate it from the other brand of totalitarian politics of the day, communism.
It's also critical to remember that many of the "unique" evils of Fascism were the "progressive" cause celebre of the era. Hell, if you're ever bored, do a compare-and-contrast with the Nazi blood-and-soil mythos and modern multiculturalism. Or with the infamous "occult" practices of some of the Nazi leaders and modern "New Age" spiritualism.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/17/2004 19:40 Comments ||
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#12
yep--the fascination with the occult has a parallel with Nancy Reagan and her astrologist
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
04/18/2004 2:03 Comments ||
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#14
Leave Nancy alone!
She sad she consulted an astrologer after RR was shot, because she was so freaked out about his "future" and wanted to know he'd be OK.
It's a very understandable, but silly thing to have done.
Nancy was a lovely First Lady and she's an exemplary wife to one of our greatest Presidents as he lies dying with Alzheimer's.
Posted by: Jen ||
04/18/2004 2:47 Comments ||
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No comments / fisking, itâs a 10 minute read. I also recommend a reading of the earlier Howard Owens post to get an idea of the massive array of wealth the Left has at its disposal and the crafty use of shell organizations, neo-Communist front techniques, Orwellian language, Google bomb deployments, etc., they use, all the better to mask / obfuscate their true intentions. Simply astounding.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 18:21 ||
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"It was not planned this way, but God willed it this way," Bush said of the turmoil in Iraq she said of the turmoil her family has faced. "You can't blame me if we tried our best."
Oops, Our President isn't a muzlim. I guess he can't use that excuse, huh?
#2
The imam said Muslims pay taxes and probably require fewer social services than non-Muslims because they eschew activities such as drinking, promiscuity and homosexual relationships. Then he spoke of the mercy between spouses, between brothers, even between animals.
"If you don't count the costs of the terror deaths and state-paid hospital bills for domestic violence, we're no worse than any other undesirables"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 21:21 Comments ||
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#3
Let us recap the illustrious Khadr family:
"The father (Ahmed Said Khadr), known to global intelligence agencies as a close associate of Osama bin Laden"
The mother, Maha Elsamnah, "was friends with the wives of Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, she still insists she was never very close to al-Qaeda." (just close to their wives, it seems.)
aaaaand now for the sons...
"Abdullah, now a 23-year-old fugitive in Pakistan, was the quiet one.
Omar, the wounded 17-year-old in Guantanamo Bay who U.S. soldiers say killed one of their own during a raid in Afghanistan, was the disciplined one.
Abdurahman, the 21-year-old who also spent a year in Cuba (Gitmo- carl) before going to work as a U.S. spy (talking with and getting info from other detainees - carl), was the rebellious one."
Got it ? It's like the Beatles: you have the quiet one, the disciplined one, and the rebellious one.
And Karim is the gimp.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
04/17/2004 21:42 Comments ||
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Since Karim's mother, Maha Elsamnah, and one of her daughters defended al-Qaeda and attacked Canadian values on national TV last month, the outrage has climbed from the grassroots to the highest political levels.
... She has denounced Canada's liberal social values, but the Palestinian woman insists she is proud of her 30 years as a Canadian citizen, except when her country blindly follows the United States. "You want to be a friend to a devil?" she asked.
EMPHASIS ADDED
Let's see ... She has "defended al-Qaeda" and "attacked Canadian values." I think that's enough to piss off a majority of Canadians right there. But it only gets better.
"She has denounced Canada's liberal social values." What, you mean the ones that let her believe that al Qaeda is worth sh!t to a tree? The ones that even permit her to say so openly on Canadian national television?
And she wonders why she's getting hate mail? This woman is stupid enough to bite the hand that feeds her. That's sufficient reason to suspect she might collaborate with al Qaeda the first chance she got.
Out you go, @sshole, and your little gimped son too! Ungrateful turds like you can go back to Palestine and enjoy the high quality of life and social services that Hamas provides.
A few days ago I decided to write a short simple piece on the 9/11 "Moms" AKA Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. My purpose was to show a simple diagram of their money and connections to Left Wing causes. Simple? No way. The maze of various conduits for both money and Left Wing groups would make Enron proud. In his own inimitable style, Howard follows the money all the way back to... the Kerry campaign?.
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
04/17/2004 4:32:28 PM ||
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I just got done reading that article, and the one Howard links to. Pretty scary stuff.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/17/2004 18:21 Comments ||
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Thanks for the link BUT my name is HOWARD VEIT.
Posted by: Howard Veit ||
04/17/2004 20:32 Comments ||
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details, details :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 21:22 Comments ||
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Apologies, Howard [long night]...
Whatever your name is, article is STILL recommended! ;-)
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
04/17/2004 23:07 Comments ||
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Too bad Howard doesn't devote some research to the Enron/Bush connection, or the Saudi/Bush connection, it would take less time and produce more credible results!
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
04/18/2004 2:09 Comments ||
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There is no Bush connection to Enron; in fact, Clintoon and Gore were far more connected to Enron via Kyoto.
As to the "Saudi/Bush" connection, that is tin foil hat stuff and should be beneath the Left, but of course, nothing is nowadays.
President Bush is/was no more deferential to the Sauds than any other American president has been for the last 50+ years until 9/11.
He is in the process of majorly readjusting U.S. policy towards Saudi Arabia, keeping it just cordial enough for us to get our oil.
The Sauds' day of reckoning is coming, either from us or from inside their own country or both.
Posted by: Jen ||
04/18/2004 2:43 Comments ||
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Statement to a reporter by John Lehman, member of the 9/11 Commission:
We had testimony a couple of months ago from the past president of United, and current president of American Airlines that kind of shocked us all. They said under oath that indeed the Department of Transportation continued to fine any airline that was caught having more than two people of the same ethnic persuasion in a secondary line for line for questioning, including and especially, two Arabs.
... because of this political correctness that became so entrenched in the 1990s, and continues in current administration. No one approves of racial profiling, that is not the issue. The fact is that Norwegian women are not, and 85-year-old women with aluminum walkers are not, the source of the terrorist threat.
The fact is that our enemy is the violent Islamic extremism and the overwhelming number of people that one need to worry about are young Arab males, and to ask them a couple of extra questions seems to me to be common sense, yet if an airline does that in numbers that are more than proportionate to their number in particular line, then they get fined and that is why you see so many blue haired old ladies and people that are clearly not of Middle Eastern extraction being hauled out in such numbers because otherwise they get fined.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/17/2004 2:45:58 PM ||
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If sensitivity is more important than safety, why even screen in the first place?
Do the screeners have to record stats on who they screen? I'd screen every Arabic male and mark them alternately "white", "black", "Pacific islander", etc. Damn this P.C. quota B.S.!
Posted by: Dar ||
04/17/2004 14:55 Comments ||
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We still aren't serious about the WOT domesticly. Unfortunately, it's going to take another WTC or two to sweat all the idiocy out of the system.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
04/17/2004 15:32 Comments ||
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Time for the good old clue bat.
BIG CLUE: It isn't Icelandic or Chilean fanatics that are flying planes into buildings. Neither is it Scandinavian grandmothers or Florida retirees.
THE OVERWHELMING PERCENTAGE OF TERRORISTS ARE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST.
I KNOW THAT THIS IS A SHOCKING REVELATION TO YOU ALL.
This sort of rubbish is exactly what will assist in precipitating another 9-11. Those who continue to implement such absurd policy will have the next atrocity's blood on their hands.
When people of Middle Eastern descent stop collapsing skyscrapers, blowing up night clubs and trains or each other, only then will it be time to revise our profiles. Until that time, every single Arab male can receive extensive cavity searches for all I care.
#4
Please permit me to take this sort of ill-founded thinking to its logical conclusion. After all, this is the best way to examine the full ramifications of any policy.
All the terrorists need to do is load a flight with several Arab passengers, the majority of whom are far back in line. Once at least two of the forward placed conspirators have been searched, the others are free to board unmolested.
If I am able to realize this, you can bet the terrorists have as well.
From Jihad Unspun, originally from The Guardian
Brandon Hughey is a teenager living among strangers, thousands of miles from his friends, family and home in San Angelo, Texas. The 18-year-old is one of two American servicemen who recently deserted their units and fled to Canada to claim asylum as refugees. "We plan to argue that the war in Iraq is illegal under international law and that I have a right not to choose to participate," he says. ...
Hughey signed up for the army when he was 17, during his final year in high school. "I joined because it was the only way I was going to get a college education," he says. ... He says he became increasingly uncomfortable about the mission, then so disturbed that he considered killing himself. He brought his questions to a commanding officer, who told him to stop thinking so much. Then, through the internet, he met a stranger who offered help getting to Canada. He decided to leave and drove away from his base on March 2, the night before his unit was due to ship out for the Middle East. Now he was a deserter ....
Through the Quaker church he met his lawyer, Jeffry House, who came to Canada from the US in 1970 after he was drafted to fight in Vietnam. He had graduated from college by then, and went on to earn a reputation in Toronto as a lawyer with a strong sense of social justice. Representing Hughey, who he says is "really just a sweet kid", and Jeremy Hinzman, 25, a private who fled to Canada with his wife and child in January, has brought back memories for him.
But it will take more than youthful appeal to win over the Canadian immigration and refugee board. Last year, a record 317 Americans applied for refugee status in Canada. Some were marijuana smokers claiming persecution. Others were Muslims who said they faced human rights abuses in the US. None was accepted as a legitimate refugee. In fact, only one American has ever been accepted as having a well-founded fear of persecution, and the courts overturned that decision.
House, however, believes the soldiers have a fair chance. He plans to make his case by producing at least one high-profile expert - possibly one of the British international law specialists who have condemned the Iraq war as illegal - to argue that the campaign there violates international law and cannot be justified. He says his clients are using the same legitimate legal grounds to refuse as soldiers throughout history have used when their superior officers order them to do something illegal - such as shooting civilian children.
House knows of only been one similar case argued before the refugee board. An Iranian soldier who deserted claimed refugee status because he didnât want to use poison gas on the Kurds during his countryâs war with Iraq. The board was unsympathetic, but the Canadian courts eventually ruled in his favour, and he was permitted to stay.
He also plans to cite a ruling of the English court of appeal two months ago in the case of a Russian conscript, Andrey Krotov, who deserted from the Russian army after he was sent to Grozny to fight in the Chechen war. The court ruled that refugee status could be available to a conscript who refused to serve when the service would require him to violate basic rules of human conduct as defined by international law.
Jeremy Hinzman, the other soldier claiming refugee status in Canada ... enlisted on January 17 2001, four months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, but before it became clear that President Bush would go to war in Iraq. He joined the army shortly after he got married, hoping, like Hughey, to earn money for college. He had dabbled in Zen, and in January 2002 he and his wife Nga Nguyen began attending church at the Quaker House. He felt at home with the Quaker philosophy of non-violence, and was uncomfortable with the idea that his basic army training seemed to be about breaking down the natural human inhibition against killing. He began preparing his application for conscientious objector status. Then his unit was deployed to Afghanistan, where he worked in the kitchen. Last April, his commanding officer suddenly pulled him aside at Kandahar airport and told him it was time for his hearing. Hinzman was not allowed to have a lawyer or witnesses present. The hearing took 20 minutes and his application was rejected.
Hinzmanâs unit returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, last April, but in December he received his orders to go to Iraq. In January he, his wife and their 21-month-old son Liam fled to Toronto. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/17/2004 2:09:35 PM ||
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Then, through the internet, he met a stranger who offered help getting to Canada. He decided to leave and drove away from his base on March 2, the night before his unit was due to ship out for the Middle East.
He would have ended up dead real quick anyway.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/17/2004 14:36 Comments ||
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Ah, yes, the infamous "I joined up to get college money!" Especially the one who joined after 9/11, they should have known they'd be going overseas to take "justice" to the jihadis! And I love the lawyer working for "social justice!" How 'bout not taking tax dollars for college if you're not going to actually do combat for social justice, eh? That way there's a lil' more money for welfare recipients moron.
Posted by: BA ||
04/17/2004 15:05 Comments ||
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Hopefully no future president will do a Carter and pardon these pieces of pond scum. The only way they should ever be allowed back across the border is in mannacles on the way to a general court martial and a death sentence.
Federal agents are investigating an unlicensed money-transfer business accused of illegally sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to countries in North Africa. Law enforcement sources tell The Washington post that the business operated out of the Eritrean civic center in Northwest Washington. U-S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents seized records and computers from the business this week, though no arrests were made. Eritrean and Ethiopian immigrants say local people have used the money-transmitting service for years to send funds to friends and relatives overseas. But authorities say the Eritrean skirted regulations that include required reporting of suspicious financial transactions and checking names of customers against a list that includes alleged terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 12:42 ||
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Oh, no! There goes My 15% of the $20 million I was helping move out of the country. And I already paid the processing fee.
From a column in Slate by William Saletan about Bin Ladenâs proposed truce with Europe
.... If Bin Laden can make you think of his attacks as "reactions to your actions," he can dictate your behavior while leaving you with the illusion of control. Pull out your troops, and the killing will end. Itâs your choice. Unless you act, heâs helpless to stop the cycle of violence. "Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood," he pleads.
To Europeans, itâs a tempting message. They sense that events are out of their control: The United States calls the shots in Iraq, while death comes to them in Madridâand perhaps London or Rome next. Many see the latter as a consequence of the former .... This is what Bin Laden wants. If heâs just a cog in the cycle of violence, then the only participant who can stop the cycle is your government, and the only person who can stop your government is you. ....
But Bin Laden isnât a cog. His reaction to your governmentâs action isnât determined by a law of nature. Itâs determined by him. He could just as easily decide to blow up your trains for protecting Christians, Jews, Shiites, or women as for occupying Iraq. ..... And he would. .... The people who brought the death [to Europe] will bring it again. Take away their current reason, and theyâll come back with another. They speak the language of harsh consequences because itâs all they understand. You will have to start choosing the consequences of their acts, and stop letting them choose the consequences of yours.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/17/2004 12:14:04 AM ||
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He could just as easily decide to blow up your trains for protecting Christians, Jews, Shiites, or women as for occupying Iraq.
And the list is interminable. Cooperation now means absolutely nothing to those who can change their mind on a whim. It is not any sort of quid pro quo that the terrorists seek, only blackmail. Once terror's ends are granted even a single iota of legitimacy, you give them the means of extorting whatever they determine to be important at the moment.
Meet all stated demands about Iraq, and suddenly their goals will include Afghanistan. Meet all of those and the goalposts will merely be moved to include Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. Once you are cowed the war already has been lost. Just ask Spain.
#2
The question boils down to if Islamic terrorist manage to attack a city in Europe or America with a nuclear weapon will you convert to Islam to stop any further attacks?
Posted by: Canaveral Dan ||
04/17/2004 10:47 Comments ||
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He's trying to drive a wedge between the US and Europe--something that will be easier for him to affect due to the arrogance of this administration ("Old Europe", chocolate makers, etc)
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
04/18/2004 2:19 Comments ||
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And under a Kerry administration we might as well get our prayer rugs out and munch carpet five times a day.
But Europe would like us a lot more, so at least we'd have that going for us, which is nice...
A popular Islamic political party leader defended jailed militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir on Saturday, claiming he was not a terrorist and should be freed despite police linking him to the October, 2002 Bali bombings. Hidayat Nurwahid, head of the Islamic-based Justice and Prosperity Party, also argued that foreign governments, including the United States, were wrong to argued Bashir should be kept behind bars. "There is no evidence that justifies calling Bashir a terrorist," Hidayat said after visiting the 65-year-old cleric in jail.
Except for the bodies. And the explosives. And the testimony...
"We are against arresting people like Bashir without evidence," he said. "I'm here to ensure that the law is enforced without intervention from another country." On Friday, police officially declared Bashir a criminal suspect, which allows them to keep him in jail when his current period of detention ends later this month. Police said they have enough evidence to charge him with terror crimes, including the Oct. 12, 2002, bombings in Bali that killed 202 people. The move will likely please Washington, which has urged Jakarta not to release Bashir, saying he is a leader of the regional al-Qadia-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group which has been blamed for the Bali blast and a series of other bombings. Bashir is in jail for minor immigration offenses after the Supreme Court cleared him of earlier treason and terrorism charges. He is due to be released on April 30. Bashir has repeatedly denied the charges, saying the U.S. government is seeking to punish him for criticizing America's treatment of Muslims and its Middle East policies. Hidayat's party was one of the surprises of April 5 parliamentary elections. It garnered a little more than 7 percent by playing down its Muslim credentials and campaigning on an anti-corruption platform.
Guess the smiley mask is off, huh?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 12:47 ||
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Before his company sent him overseas, Allan Laird, a former Denver-based mining executive, had never heard of Abu Sayyaf. As Laird quickly learned when he arrived in the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf is one of the world's most-feared terrorist organizations, closely connected to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Laird said he also soon discovered the company for whom he formerly worked, Echo Bay, was regularly paying Abu Sayyaf and other terror groups in the Philippines in exchange for protection of its gold-mining operations. Laird calls the practice "corporate support of terrorism."
Rather than mere protection money...
Thursday, in a moral victory for Laird, the Department of Justice reversed course and reactivated the investigation into Echo Bay's business practices. "My company was dealing directly with terrorists. It must have been close to $2 million [U.S. dollars]. Maybe more," Laird said. Laird said he believes that the funding provided by his former company cost American lives. That funding, he says, continued until the company closed its mining operations in 1997. Laird was sent to the Philippines in 1996 by Echo Bay as project manager of a start-up gold mine on the island of Mindanao, home turf for the terrorists, who demanded what Echo Bay called "revolutionary taxes."
"Youse gotta pay revolutionary taxes every week, or Big Reynaldo torches yer stuff. Got it?"
By paying off the terrorists, Laird said, the company was "buying safety for the people inside and for the project." But the price was high. In addition to the cash, Laird said the company provided the terrorists with weapons, medical treatment for the wounded, and access at times to a beachfront company guest house used to hide key terror leaders. "[The company's security personnel] hid them from the search of the authorities, when there was a military operation going through the region where the site was situated, to prevent them from being captured and caught by government forces," Laird said.
"Udderwise Big Reynaldo maybe torches yer car. Maybe while youse are in it!"
Laird claims his story is supported by the meticulous records he kept, which include signed receipts he says are from terror leaders and security reports detailing weapons deliveries. "The security group was close enough, and most intimately involved, with these groups that they knew when external shipments of arms, illegal arms, were being made," said Laird. "And my people knew that. The military didn't know that." In repeated e-mails and reports he said he sent to top company executives in Denver, Laird spelled out what he called illegal activity. In one report, he states flatly the company was paying off "terror groups connected to Osama bin Laden.
"Elwood, who's Osama bin Laden?"
"I dunno, sir. Does he work for Consolidated?"
Laird said he received one message from an executive in Denver, which was quite clear: "You need to be more discreet in some of your observations regarding Corrupt Practices Act, et cetera. The distribution of such a report could be incriminating under certain circumstances."
"Really, you have to be careful with your paper trail!"
"He's saying, 'Shut up, don't say anything. Don't do anything. Just be quiet,'" Laird told ABCNEWS. But Laird was in for another surprise when he took his allegations and documents last year to both the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. "About four, five months after I'd met with Homeland Security, I contacted the agent that I'd met earlier and asked him what was happening. And he said, 'well, we've decided not to pursue this,'" said Laird. But in e-mails from the Homeland Security agent, Laird was told that federal prosecutors in Denver had no interest in pursuing the case because they believed the statute of limitations had expired. Today, in response to inquiries by ABCNEWS, the Justice Department said that was incorrect, and the investigation was reactivated.
"Jone! Get this underway before the teevee cameras get here!"
The former chairman of Echo Bay, Robert LeClerc, who now lives in Las Vegas, told ABCNEWS that Laird never raised the allegations until he and others were laid off in the take-over by Consolidated Kinross. "I think it's the world of illusion according to Mr. Laird," LeClerc said. "And I suppose the biggest comment I could make is that he really initiated all of this by trying to extract some money from the company when he and others were terminated."
"It's certainly not something I knew anything about. I made sure of that!"
But Laird's documents tell another story â that he raised the issue within weeks of arriving in the Philippines in 1996.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2004 12:07:50 AM ||
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Laird was told that federal prosecutors in Denver had no interest in pursuing the case because they believed the statute of limitations had expired.
#2
Laird was told that federal prosecutors in Denver had no interest in pursuing the case because they believed the statute of limitations had expired.
Ummm ... I don't recall there being a "statute of limitations" on murder.
The Abu Sayyaf, said by the U.S. government to be the smallest and most radical of Islamic separatist groups in the Philippines, claimed earlier today to have beheaded Guillermo Sobero, one of three Americans it has been holding since last month.
... The Abu Sayyaf, which split off from another group in 1991 and operates generally in the southern Philippines, has kidnapped more than 30 foreigners in its history. But it has never before killed a foreign hostage despite many threats to do so, though it has engaged in bombings and assassinations.
The claim by the group that it beheaded Sobero, a 40-year-old California native, has attracted widespread condemnation in the international community.
Sobero, from Corona, Calif., along with Martin and Gracia Burnham, two missionaries from Wichita, Kan., and 17 others were taken from a posh resort on the Sulu Sea on May 27.
Guillermo Sobero's family and Gracia Burnham might have a rather different take on this matter. However much multinational corporations might regard bribery as a necessary nuisance while conducting business overseas, I don't recall providing weapons, safe houses or medical treatment to wounded terrorists falling under that heading.
Echo executives who were at the helm during this
escapade should be arraigned on accessory to homicide charges. Murder is a fairly predictable outcome of indiscriminately handing out weapons to violent terrorists, especially when sheltering their operations and leadership at the same time. Stroking the hand of mammon with blood soaked money strikes me as a poor way of doing business.
Should these allegations prove true, we owe the Philippine government a massive apology. They have been one of our few steadfast Asian allies in the war on terror. Such corporate undermining of legitimate efforts to suppress terrorism are egrigious violations of international law. America needs to send a strong and unambiguous message that this sort of activity will result in vigorous prosecution and little else.
Much is being made about the irony of an Iranian envoy arriving in Iraq to help negotiate a solution to the U.S. standoff with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. How could we allow a charter member of President Bushâs "Axis of Evil" to negotiate a "peace" with the thuggish Sadr and his band of fanatical militants? Indeed, the irony is as thick as Sadrâs own beard. But the fact that Iran holds sway over him and other Shiite militants in Iraq should surprise no one. Despite repeated denials by the State Department, it is an open secret throughout the Middle East that Sadr has been receiving support--if not precise orders--from the mullahs in Iran for some time now.
I think we've noticed that here at time or two...
That the war being waged by Shiite militants throughout Iraq is not just a domestic "insurgency" has been documented by the Italian Military Intelligence Service (Sismi). In a report prepared before the current wave of violence, Sismi predicted "a simultaneous attack by Saddam loyalists" all over the country, along with a series of Shiite revolts. The Italians knew that these actions were not just part of an Iraqi civil war, nor a response to recent actions taken by the Coalition Provisional Authority against the forces of Sadr. According to Italian intelligence, the actions were used as a pretext by local leaders of the factions tied to an Iran-based ayatollah, Kazem al-Haeri, who was "guided in his political and strategic choices by ultraconservative Iranian ayatollahs in order to unleash a long planned general revolt."
The strategic goal of this revolt, says Sismi, was "the establishment of an Islamic government of Khomeinist inspiration." The Italian intelligence agency noted that "the presence of Iranian agents of influence and military instructors has been reported for some time." Our own government will not say as much publicly, but Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, have recently spoken of "unhelpful actions" by Iran (and Syria).
Which is probably too subtle for them...
The London-based Al-Hayat reported on April 6 that the Iraqi Governing Council was actively discussing "the major Iranian role in the events that took place in the Iraqi Shiite cities," noting that the Iranians were the predominant financiers of Sadr.
We knew that...
Another London newspaper, Al Sharq Al-Awsat, quoted a recent Iranian intelligence defector that Iranian infiltration of Iraq started well before Operation Iraqi Freedom. Hundreds of intelligence agents were sent into Iraq through the north.
In Ansar al-Islam country...
After the fall of Saddam, greater numbers came across the uncontrolled border, masquerading as students, clerics and journalists--and as religious pilgrims to the now-accessible holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. The editor of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Seyassah recently wrote a front-page editorial saying that Hezbollah and Hamas were working with Sadr, "backed by the ruling religious fundamentalists in Tehran and the nationalist Baathists in Damascus."
Sadr, unable to control his mouth, announcing he was their boy in Iraq...
No classified information was required for that claim, since Sadr himself has publicly proclaimed that his militia is the fighting arm of both Hezbollah and Hamas. Nonetheless, the State Department still doesnât believe--or wonât admit publicly--that thereâs a connection between Sadrâs uprising and Iranâs mullahs.
What you believe and what you admit publicly can be two different things...
Just last week, Stateâs deputy spokesman, Adam Ereli, told reporters that "Weâve seen reports of Iranian involvement, collusion, provocation, coordination, etc., etc. But I think thereâs a dearth of hard facts to back these things up."
He should have a stack of reports on his desk right this moment that do back it up.
One wonders what Foggy Bottomâs analysts make of Sadrâs recent visit to Iran, when he met with Hashemi Rafsanjani (the No. 2 power in the regime), Murtadha Radhaâi (head of intelligence for the Revolutionary Guards) and Brig. Gen. Qassim Suleimani (the al-Quds Army commander in charge of Iraqi affairs). And what might they say about the fact that much of Sadrâs funding comes straight from Ayatollah al-Haeri, one of the closest allies of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? Americans must understand that the war in Iraq is in reality a regional war which unites religious fanatics like the Iranians and radical secularists like the Syrians and Saddamâs Iraqi supporters. The terrorists include Shiites like Sadr and murderous Sunnis like al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Zarqawi (who, despite his celebrated contempt for Shiites, has openly proclaimed common cause with Sadr). Iraq cannot be peaceful and secure so long as Tehran sends its terrorist cadres across the border.
Naturally, our troops will engage--and kill--any infiltrators they encounter. But we can be sure that there will be others to take their place. The only way to end Tehranâs continual sponsorship of terror is to bring about the demise of the present Iranian regime. And as it happens, we have an excellent opportunity to achieve this objective, without the direct use of military power against Iran. There is a critical mass of pro-democracy citizens there, who would like nothing more than to rid themselves of their oppressors. They need help, but they neither need nor desire to be liberated by force of arms. Above all, they want to hear our leaders state clearly and repeatedly--as Ronald Reagan did with the "Evil Empire"--that regime change in Iran is the goal of American policy. Thus far, they have heard conflicting statements and mealy-mouthed half truths of the sort presented by Mr. Ereli, along with astonishing proclamations, such as the one by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, in which he averred that Iran is "a democracy." (One wonders whether he will liken Muqtada al-Sadr to Patrick Henry.)
Mr. Armitage notwithstanding, we can reach the Iranian people by providing support to the several Farsi-language radio and TV stations in this country, all currently scrambling for funds to broadcast a couple of hours a day. We can encourage private foundations and individuals to support the Iranian democracy movement. The current leadership of the AFL-CIO has regrettably abandoned that organizationâs traditional role of supporting free trade unions inside tyrannical countries, but there are some individual unions that could do it. This sort of political campaign aimed at toppling the Iranian regime--allied to firm punitive action within Iraq against terrorists of all stripes--will make our task in Iraq manifestly less dangerous. Ultimately, security in Iraq will come in large measure from freedom and reform in Iran (as well as in Syria and Saudi Arabia). This is a truth that we should not hide from, nor be fearful to take on.
Posted by: tipper ||
04/17/2004 12:42:45 AM ||
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Good post. So where is $ucking Hollywood anyway? Is there a propoganda effort going on or not? Pro Iraqi democracy, makie mullahs lookie schtubid should be like Amos and Andy all over the air waves. And Tinseltown could do it. Oh but so busy making pee pee.
#2
Reality must intervene: it is not and has never been the policy of the Bush government to eradicate al-Qaeda. Bush has always worked diplomatically to encourage al-Qaeda supporters to participate in democratic elections. Thus, according to the President of the United States, the only thing wrong with al-Qaeda is: their use of violence.
At a cost approaching $150 billion dollars borne by American taxpayers, Bush has facilitated the unification of the "black flag" terror groups, of both Sunni and Shia orientation, and created the power vaccuum into which these genocidal groups walked. By early next year, the free exercise of democratic politics in Iraq - void of secular, or even rational elements - will result in the election, and perverse legitimation, of an Iraqi provincial sector of an Iranian Superpower. While doing absolutely nothing to hinder Iran's nuclear-jihad program, Bush has now rewarded Iran's bloody intervention in Iraq, by begging them to mediate the mess that he created by means of his suicidal alliance with Islamofascism.
It is this simple, Americans: most Muslims want you dead. And you are subsidizing your would-be killers.
Posted by: Man Bites Dog ||
04/17/2004 4:12 Comments ||
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#3
Reality must intervene: it is not and has never been the policy of the Bush government to eradicate al-Qaeda. Bush has always worked diplomatically to encourage al-Qaeda supporters to participate in democratic elections. Thus, according to the President of the United States, the only thing wrong with al-Qaeda is: their use of violence.
At a cost approaching $150 billion dollars borne by American taxpayers, Bush has facilitated the unification of the "black flag" terror groups, of both Sunni and Shia orientation, and created the power vaccuum into which these genocidal groups walked. By early next year, the free exercise of democratic politics in Iraq - void of secular, or even rational elements - will result in the election, and perverse legitimation, of an Iraqi provincial sector of an Iranian Superpower. While doing absolutely nothing to hinder Iran's nuclear-jihad program, Bush has now rewarded Iran's bloody intervention in Iraq, by begging them to mediate the mess that he created by means of his suicidal alliance with Islamofascism.
It is this simple, Americans: most Muslims want you dead. And you are subsidizing your would-be killers.
Posted by: Man Bites Dog ||
04/17/2004 4:16 Comments ||
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#4
Man Bites Dog: You're a little bit too sure of your predictions, which are unusual. You are very focused on your bad guys and what they will do. Keep in mind that other Iraqis will seize their new opportunity to develop civic and democratic institutions. The future struggle might not be as one-sided as you assume.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/17/2004 10:00 Comments ||
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From Geostrategy-Direct, EFL...
The United States has determined that Libya continues to maintain relations with Islamic insurgency groups. Will Mo need an intervention?
U.S. officials said Muammar Khaddafyâs regime continues to preserve links with unspecified insurgency groups. But they said Libya has not ordered them to attack Western targets. Well, thatâs a relief. Mo does that and he gets another one in the tent that wonât miss next time.
"Libya is making dramatic changes," State Department counter-terrorism coordinator Cofer Black said. "They retain some contacts with terrorist groups weâre concerned about, but weâre working with them to resolve those." Mo... Mo...Come on, remember your legacy you are trying to build. You canât keep calling your old cronies, itâs embarassing. Make new friends, healthier ones. Come on, Mo, buddy, no backsliding...
This might be a tactical news release, to lend Muammar's guys cred with the hard boys. He said in an interview last year that he was working with the U.S. against terror groups...
In recent testimony to the House International Relations subcommittee on nonproliferation and human rights, Black did not name the insurgency groups that maintain contact with Libya. I can say no more.
The State Department official said Sudan continues to harbor groups deemed as terrorist. He cited the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. "Sudan, great progress, assisting of the global war on terrorism," Black said. "But they so far have not expelled the offices of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, which we have instructed them they must do." Sudan needs to boot out Islamic Jihad and Hamas before we put the word "great" in front of "progress."
Sudan needs to go on the list to be wiped out. Its government is a terrorist organization as far as I'm concerned...
In addition, Black said, Syria maintains deep links to Islamic insurgency groups. He did not elaborate. No need to.
"Syria, you know, contact with everybody; providing aid, comfort and support to a spectrum of terrorist organizations," Black said. "Syria and Iran are very high on this list." Understatement of the week. Ask our soldiers in Iraq.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2004 12:15:48 AM ||
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JACKSON, Miss. -- The wife of an American civilian held in Iraq says the Rev. Jesse Jackson is trying to help win her husbandâs release. Kellie Hamill said she spoke with Jackson several days ago and asked for his assistance. Thomas Hamill is a Jackson, Miss., truck driver employed by Halliburton. He was abducted April 9 when gunmen attacked his convoy.
Sen. Trent Lott said he talked with Jackson and helped the longtime civil rights advocate contact the Hamill family. Lott said one step Jackson wants to take is to write a letter to Al-Jazeera, the Arabic language television network, and encourage Hamillâs release. Jackson has helped win the release of other hostages during the Gulf War and in Kosovo. Will someone please keep this trainwreck of a hypocritical self-aggrandizing political wannabe out of the loop? I do not care what sort of prior successes heâs had. This guyâs agenda is so murky itâs impossible to know what sort of overall impression he will leave in his wake.
Sudanese president Omar al-Beshir, who was addressing the closing meeting of the Islamic Movement Congress yesterday evening, suggested that the priorities of the Islamic Movement in the coming periods should be working amongst the southerners.
According to the Khartoum based Al-Sahafa daily newspaper, he has reiterated that signing of peace agreement with the Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Movement (SPLM) has became imminent.
Al-Bashir, said the upcoming periods will witness an economic and political liberalism, during which many people will be returning from abroad, following their failure to destabilize the "Salvation" regime and defeat it militarily, adding "we shall defeat them politically as we had defeated them militarily."
He cautioned that the periods after the peace agreement required an Islamic solidarity and unity in order to face the liberality and elections, to be held at all levels. Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir pledged on Thursday April 15, not to abandon implementation of Islamic Sharia law, an issue currently obstructing peace talks in Naivasha, Kenya.
Addressing the convention of Islamic Movement in Sudan in Khartoum, al-Bashir affirmed that Islamic law would dominate life in the Sudanese capital even after the signing of a peace agreement with southern rebels.
AT least three international police officers were killed and 11 wounded in a shootout today at a prison in northern Kosovo, a UN spokesman said.
Two American policewomen and a Jordanian police officer were believed killed.
A Serb doctor said five Americans and an Austrian officer were among the wounded.
Neeraj Singh, a spokesman for the UN police, confirmed the deaths, but would not disclose the victimâs nationalities. He said police were investigating the incident.
Four Jordanian police officers were arrested in connection with the incident, a NATO source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
Serb and international sources in Kosovska Mitrovica said the UN police officers started shooting at each other and that the shootout lasted for about 10 minutes. The information could not be immediately confirmed.
Stefan Feller, the head of the UN police, told Associated Press Television News that a member of a Jordanian special police unit was killed, but he did not give the nationality of the other victims.
"It is absolutely too early to draw any conclusions with regard to what happened there," Feller said minutes after visiting the prison shooting site.
Milan Ivanovic, a doctor in the hospital in the cityâs Serb-held part, said five American officers and one Austrian officer were being treated at his hospital.
It was not clear where the other wounded officers were being treated.
"Their wounds are predominantly in the chest and abdomen," Ivanovic said. "They were caused by firearms and possibly explosive devices."
The body of a police officer, covered with what looked like a jacket, lay for hours in the yard of the prison compound where the shooting occurred. Police officers sealed off the area with the yellow tape.
About 3500 UN police officers are serving in Kosovo alongside a 6000 strong local force.
It was not immediately clear what caused the shootout near the prison in tense Kosovska Mitrovica, located 40km from Pristina.
The city was the scene of ethnic violence between Serbs and ethnic Albanians a month ago and has long been a flashpoint for Serb-Albanian tensions.
Kosovo became a UN protectorate in 1999, after NATO launched a 78-day air war to stop former President Slobodan Milosevic from cracking down on ethnic Albanians seeking independence.
#1
hmmm read somewhere else that America's Iraq mission is to blame (no twitch on the surprise meter there)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 20:51 Comments ||
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#2
According to Al Reuters, the fight started with a row over Iraq. A wounded American officer said the Jordanian attack was "organized." Both of the dead Americans and four of the wounded were women.
Egyptian authorities have arrested a Kuwaiti passenger on board a Qatar Airways flight that made an emergency landing in Cairo after he attempted to hijack the plane. Airline spokesperson Salam al-Shawa said the man had no sharp objects, but had caused a disturbance on flight 553 to Doha from Casablanca when he wanted to commandeer the flight. âOne of the passengers caused trouble as he wanted to enter the cabin and insist the captain change route. The pilot refused and landed in Cairo.â
âThe man wanted the pilot to divert the flight to Geneva,â she added. âHe is a Kuwaiti national and presently in the custody of Egyptian authorities,â al-Shawa said. The flight was scheduled to touch down in Doha at 10:30am she said, adding that the state-owned carrier would press charges against the man.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 7:54:55 PM ||
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#1
press charges? kill him
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 20:52 Comments ||
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#2
Press explosive charges against him.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/17/2004 22:00 Comments ||
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The U.S. military closed down two major highways into Baghdad on Saturday in the latest disruption caused by intensified attacks by anti-U.S. insurgents. U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reported progress in talks aimed at easing the fighting in Fallujah, while the besieged city saw its quietest day yet. Sections of the two highways, north and south of the capital, were closed off to repair damage from a mounting number of roadside bombs. Commanders suggested the routes remained vulnerable to attacks by insurgents who have been targeting U.S. military supply lines. The military warned that civilians found on the closed sections "may be considered to be anti-coalition forces" and come under U.S. fire. Kimmitt said civilians would be redirected around the closed sections. "There are many ways to get into Baghdad and many ways for getting out of Baghdad," he said. Attacks by gunmen at the western, northern and southern entrances to the city have targeted key military supply lines, forcing the repeated closure of the main Baghdad-Amman road through the violent western district of Abu Ghraib.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 7:04:05 PM ||
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With a massive U.S. military force blocking the main roads, the residents of this holy Shi'ite city have begun to voice strong criticism of Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr, the young cleric whose uprising has brought the threat of an attack. "Najaf people want peace and quiet," said Haidar, 39, who owns a small deli near the Imam Ali Mosque in the city. "Al-Sadr must get out of the city. This is not the time now to be against Americans even though I don't agree with the U.S. policy."
The lunatic firebrand cleric, who controls a large militia force, meanwhile struck a defiant note during a sermon yesterday at the main mosque in neighboring Kufa yesterday. "We will not allow the forces of occupation to enter Najaf and the holy sites because they are forbidden places for them," he thundered and called on the faithful to support his tough stance and fight. The Kufa mosque has been ringed with machine-gun emplacements, razor wire and young militiamen digging trenches. Gun-toting militiamen also peer down from the high surrounding walls and turrets. "It is martyrdom that I am yearning for, so support me and know that this is a war on Shi'ites," he said.
Off a narrow alley diagonally opposite one of the main exits to the great mosque, Sheik al-Sadr is holding out behind a green door bearing his portrait. Inside, men pray five times a day on carpets, while in the next room Sheik al-Sadr sits on cushions on the floor, receiving a steady stream of supporters â and occasional would-be or actual mediators. But in the rest of the city, many expressed fears that Sheik al-Sadr was leading them not only into bloody and inevitably losing clashes with the U.S. forces, but also toward a Sunni-Shi'ite civil war or clashes between different armed Shi'ite factions.
A man who gave his name as Suid, said he had been one of Sheik al-Sadr's spokesmen and keen supporters until recently. "Al-Sadr has no brains, he's not mature enough to lead the Shi'ites," he said this week. "I witnessed many criminal acts. He gave people arms and money." Suid said funding for Sheik al-Sadr came partly from Iran and partly from money and gold that he had taken from the charity collections of pilgrims to the holy mosques. He said he would be willing to testify in court against the cleric.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 5:42:49 PM ||
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US occupation forces have tried to storm the northern Iraqi city of al-Qaim, but have been repelled by resistance fighters, Aljazeera's correspondent reports. The clash occurred after a mortar attack on a US military base in the Jamarik area in the city near the border with Syria on Saturday. Witnesses told Aljazeera several US soldiers had been injured in the attack. "US helicopters were seen transferring the injured to hospital," the witnesses added. Columns of smoke were seen rising from the base. The city is totally paralysed, reported the correspondent. Only armed resistance fighters are seen in the streets, he added. US apache helicopters were seen flying over the city. A medical source told Aljazeera at least two children had been injured by random gunfire.
The source is al-Jizz, which makes the story suspect. If true, it looks like the Bad Boyz are trying to open up another "insurgency" front. It won't be something we can let stand, especially since I'd guess the gunnies would be Hezbollah.
Fox News verion...
U.S. Marines fought pitched battles against about 150 gunmen in Qaim, near the Syrian border, the city police chief said. Six Marines and scores of insurgents were killed in the 14-hour battle, an embedded journalist from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. A U.S. military spokesman could not confirm the report.
... and the Post-Dispatch story...
Six Marines were killed and scores of insurgent Iraqis slain in a fierce 14-hour battle Saturday between Marines and mujahedeen fighters who slipped into this town near the Syrian border.
... from, ummm... Portugal. Or someplace.
According to Marines, an estimated 300 Iraqis from Fallujah and Ramadi launched an assault against the Americans in Husaybah around 8 a.m., beginning with a roadside bombing and a flurry of 24 mortars. When Marines responded to the bombing, they were met with small-arms and machine-gun fire as they neared a former Baath Party headquarters. Marines responding to the call for help were mortared and strafed as they made their way into the city. Additional Marines then joined in the fight. Fighting continued late into the night as Marine Cobra helicopter gunships strafed enemy positions near a downtown soccer stadium and Marine helicopters continued to take wounded to their main base 22 miles away at Camp Al-Qaim. At least nine Marines were injured and about 20 Iraqis captured, Marines said. The detainees were taken to Camp Al-Qaim late Saturday night for questioning. All of the Marines were killed in the first hour of the fighting, four of them when they went to clear out a house where Iraqi fighters were hiding. The battalion commander, Col. Matthew Lopez, said he believed the Marines had crushed the insurgents' attack. "I don't think they expected us to retaliate as hard as we did," said Lopez, 40, of Chicago, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines.
Doesn't read an awful lot like the al-Jizz story...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 5:29:36 PM ||
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#1
Scores of asshats were killed...I believe that is multiples of 20. NICE! The USMC kicks ass. Again.
Posted by: Remote Man ||
04/17/2004 22:22 Comments ||
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#2
As awful as it sounds for our men, I agree with Remote Man....the USMC kicked their ass! Every time they try to fight us we just need to retaliate with overwhelming shawk and AWWWW....in time most of the bad fuckers will be gone. When their numbers are small, thats when they will turn into former Bathist bedwetters! I think there should also be an unusual blow up of Al Jazeera, and we could have film of it being done by masked Arabs dancing in the streets and shouting VICTORY!! ha ha ha ha
#4
It is just amazing how the Israelis know when these animals are on the move and the next thing you know they turn them into anti Palestinian terrorist wall graffiti!!
Who is going to step up and volunteer for the job?
I wonder how much deeper Arafats bunker is now? We may never see that animal again.
#5
Nice to see the Israelis paring down their "A" list. Soon, they should be able to fit all Hamas leadership into one meeting room. It'll sure save wasting lots more of those expensive missiles.
Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the leader of the militant group Hamas in Gaza, was killed Saturday in Gaza City by an Israeli missile strike, Israeli officials and Palestinian security sources said.
... Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat condemned the killing, saying: "We hold the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of such actions."
--------------------------
Notice how Erakat (rhymes with "Arafat") attempts to make the threat of further mass murder a "consequence of such [Israeli] actions?"
As with yesterday's "Europeans Should Feel They Impose Consequences on Al-Qaedaâs Actions" article, these threats of retaliation are merely another blatant refusal to take any responsibility for bringing this upon themselves. If the bombings stopped, so would the targeted killings. Someone needs to tell the Palestinians that blackmail doesn't work if your victim has no fear of you.
Another email making the rounds of retired military Do you hear anything like this on the biased and manipulated evening news? I donât think so...
Subject: Latest from Fallujah Front
Sid Haining told me his son, Marine PFC Webb Haining called via SAT phone from Fallujah last night. He is in 2nd BN, 2nd MAR WEAPONS CO, Unit 73030, and was actively engaged over the last five days. Said it started with a crowd going to a " religious " pilgrimmage walking by their fire base. Incoming mortar rounds , then the crowd parted and a white car came speeding towards them. About 24 Marines in Webbâs outfit unloaded a clip of M-16âs each into it and he says " Dad, it exploded so hard there wasnât a piece of it left bigger than a golf ball ! " Obviously a car bomb. From there they went out hunting the bad guys, and he says they killed " at least three hundred. " His group lost one kid, so they are doing well at this point. They were using .50 cal machine guns, M-16âs , Grenade Launchrs, TOW Missiles, and close air support from PUFF the Magic Dragon, and apparently some helicopters ( Apaches? or Cobras , I guess. ) Also says their snipers had a field day.
Said the action stopped a day earlier than planned because the bad guys were beat back so bad with so many dead & wounded.
Guess the bad guys had never been up against U.S. Marines before ! I know it is a long way from over, but at least this was a good day for our side.
Newflash - Rantissiâs car hit in a missile attack, presumably an Israeli operation... Taken to hospital... NBC says he was in the car, three people killed, but Rantissi only injured... Other reports say he's a deader... Israelis say he was killed, Paleos that he was critically injured... Paleo docs say clinically dead, but undergoing surgery...
MSNBC still hasn't connected the Erez Crossing boom today with Rantissi's departure from the gene pool... Fox News is missing the story entirely â they found the murdered girl's body in Michigan...
Reuters has it up, and even made the cause -> effect connection...
Three Palestinians were killed when Israeli helicopters fired two missiles at their car in Gaza City, witnesses said. The Israeli air strike occurred hours after an Israeli border policeman was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber at the Erez order crossing on the Israeli-Gaza border. The identities of the men killed in the Gaza strike were not immediately known. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
Israeli Radio... Reports Rantissi doorknob dead... Fox News has the car swarm up... Fox News confirms he's a deader... I'll be uluating for the rest of the day...
AP story's up...
Israel blew up Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi's car in Gaza City on Saturday, Israeli security sources said. Hamas said Rantisi was seriously injured in the attack and two other passengers in the car were killed. Israeli security sources, which had earlier reported Rantisi was killed, also said he was seriously wounded. After the explosion, Israeli helicopters were heard in the area. A burned, destroyed car was left on the road near Rantisi's house, and one badly burned body was removed from the car by paramedics. Witnesses said there were three people in the car at the time of the explosion. Palestinians ran into the street and called for revengeâ¢.
Rantisi is Hamas top leader in Gaza and one of the most hard-line members of the militant movement who rejects all compromise with Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Israel had previously tried to kill Rantisi in a helicopter strike on his car June 10. In a retaliatory attack the next day, 16 Israelis were killed in a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem. The explosion happened Saturday evening a block from Rantisi's house in the Sheik Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, about 100 yards from where Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin was buried after Israel assassinated him last month. Since then, Israel has vowed to kill the entire leadership of the Islamic militant organization.
Get ready for swarms, seething and blood curdling photos.
Doorknob dead... Worm food... Naught but a fond memory and a lingering odor... Titzup and ass down... Departed this vale of tears... Shaking hands with Himmler... Now belongs to the Ages... Handing over boat fare to Chiron... Decomposing... Passed... No longer with us...
Some details from Fox News...
Rantisi's car was hit with missiles Saturday evening on the road outside his home, leaving only the burned, destroyed vehicle. After the explosion, Israeli helicopters were heard in the area.
Didn't hear them before because they were too busy yukking it up over the Erez Crossing boom...
Rantisi was taken to the hospital in critical condition, his body pocked with bloody wounds and blood streaming from where his head and neck used to be. He was taken to emergency surgery but died five minutes after arriving at the hospital.
"What's his pulse?"
"No pulse!"
"What's his blood pressure?"
"No blood pressure!"
"I think we'll have to operate!"
Palestinian officials lashed the Israeli strike. "We condemn in strongest possible terms this Israeli crime of bumping off assassinating Dr. Rantisi. This is state terror, and the Israeli government is fully responsible for the consequences of this action," Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said.
Feeling terrorized, Saeb? Feels different, being on the receiving end, doesn't it?
The dead included Akram Nassar, 35, Rantisi's personal bodyguard and his spawn son Mohammed, 27, hospital officials said. Rantisi's wife was in the car, but her condition and location was not known, hospital sources and Hamas said.
Have they looked in the back seat?
About 2,000 seething angry Palestinians marched through the streets carrying pieces of Rantissi Rantisi's car shouting, "revengeâ¢, revengeâ¢." Shooting was heard in the center of Gaza City and people were chanting Rantisi's name. "This blood will not be wasted," said Ismail Haniyeh, who's next in line a Hamas leader at the hospital. "We are not going to give up. But I'm not sure I'm open to taking the position for myself."
... moved to a very small room... never to waltz again... resting his lungs...
No beer for me; been keeping an Aussie wine chilling for the occasion. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/17/2004 14:40 Comments ||
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#10
Where's the fat lady?
Posted by: A ||
04/17/2004 14:42 Comments ||
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#11
Fat lady? What fat lady? You mean the FLAT lady, St. Pancake? She's probably greeting Rantisi in hell, at this very moment.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/17/2004 14:45 Comments ||
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#12
Yes! We want the Fat Lady!
Posted by: Evert Viser in NL ||
04/17/2004 14:46 Comments ||
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#13
U-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu!!!!!!!!!
Aris: LOL, one of the funniest things I've seen from you!
Fred, bring out the Fat Lady!
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2004 14:48 Comments ||
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#14
Doing the lawn limbo... pushing up Miss Daisy...shopping at the mahogany mini-mall (from an old Johnny Carson skit) and a favorite:
"sucking bitter grass from the root end" from Stephen Hunter's novel "Hot Springs"
#18
Another delivery to Hell, courtesy of the IDF.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
04/17/2004 15:29 Comments ||
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#19
And the Jeopardy category is: "Hamas -- not Hummus -- cold on a slab" Question: Who's next? Answers: Who is Khaled Mischal? OR Who is Marzook? Either answer will ring the bell. I couldn't be happier. I will NEVER forget the night of 9/11/01 watching those so called helpless Palestinians celebrate and parade at our expense. Kill em all. Let God sort them out.
#20
I was driving into work this morning, when on the news I heard a bunch of shouting and yelling, and instantly I thought "car swarm." Then they mentioned Rantissi's name. One suicide bomber, one leader. Wonder how the Arafish is doing in Ramallah? He eventually may be the last one standing, so he can witness the utter destruction of what he started decades ago. The Paleos just do not get it.
Another grease spot on the L&N.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2004 15:37 Comments ||
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#24
wow this is just superb news! getting ready for the full on 'Carnival of Death' thats sure to come,already seen the animals passing round the bloodied shreds of Rantissi previously white 'cloak' and wiping and smothering each other in his skanky infected blood,seems the palo's baught the kids out too looking at the t.v images,most people try and avoid that thing,most parents take thier kids to the park or the circus or maybe the fair if thier lucky,these kids get a real treat - a night out down at the car swarm,warning gratuitious gun sex. Someone should by a burger van and set it up whenever a Terrazoid gets wiped out, they'd make a fortune from refreshing the thristy and hungry hoards of seething Binny wannabes. Anyway truly a great day in the war on Scum. :)
Posted by: Shep UK ||
04/17/2004 15:43 Comments ||
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#25
Thank you Fred.
Erekat is now on CNN calling for negociations, definetly scared shitless.
Posted by: Evert Viser in NL ||
04/17/2004 15:44 Comments ||
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Posted by: Edward Yee ||
04/17/2004 15:49 Comments ||
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#27
... come down all over with the rigor mortis... to fight no more forever... dearly departed... will be missed his his Mom and his dog, Rover...
Boy, this champagne is good. Wonder why they don't charge more for it?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 15:57 Comments ||
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#28
Forgot Room Temperature
Posted by: David ||
04/17/2004 15:58 Comments ||
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#29
"We will all die one day. Nothing will change. If by Apache or by cardiac arrest, I prefer Apache," [Rantissi] said.
Ask, and ye shall receive... Warm enough for ya?
Posted by: Dar ||
04/17/2004 16:05 Comments ||
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#30
Hey Fred, could you fix the long URL in #17? (Page breaks.) Thanx...
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
04/17/2004 16:11 Comments ||
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#31
Fixed...
... cold and still... his voice silenced and the rest of him with it... cured of that nagging cough... a resident of the boneyard...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 16:17 Comments ||
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#32
....no longer bearing the whips and scorns of time...joined the choire invisible...passed his sell-by date...on his way to the undiscovered country...
Posted by: Evert Viser in NL ||
04/17/2004 16:23 Comments ||
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#33
Ding dong! The bastard's dead!
And he was so going to make the IDF pay for getting Yassin!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
"Live by the jihad, die by the jihad,"
Now let's go over to Ramallah and cut the head off the chicken.
Posted by: Jen ||
04/17/2004 16:24 Comments ||
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#34
...He is dead Jim...followed the trail of the dodo...crossed the Styx...dances with worms...
Posted by: Evert Viser in NL ||
04/17/2004 16:27 Comments ||
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#35
Erekat is now on CNN calling for negotiations, definetly scared shitless.
Ah, yes, negotiations. Erekat has such a strong hand.
"OK everyone, ante up for the next hand of 5-card stud."
"Erekat, how many cards do you want?"
"Five, please, your excellency."
"Here ya go, 'kat. Wanna raise the bet?"
"No, thank you, your excellency."
"OK, any more bets? I call."
"Um, your excellency...."
"yes, 'kat. Uh, you look kinda pale and sick, you ok?"
"Um, er, ah, please, your excellency. Could I get another five cards?"
"Sorry 'kat. Call or fold."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2004 16:43 Comments ||
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#36
...pining for the fjords.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2004 16:49 Comments ||
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#37
... gonna wake up dead tomorrow... laid out... slabbed... used up his supply of birthdays... doesn't snore anymore...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 16:51 Comments ||
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#38
AP - is Saeb playing poker with the dogs? LOL. I heard this on the radio comingback from shopping and people are looking at me weird ululating alone in my truck.... if it quits raining I'll hand out sweets to the neighborhood kids. Now, who's next? Saeb? Yasshole? IJ? short straw anyone?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 17:01 Comments ||
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#39
New job as fertilizer...Earthworm housing development...Playing poker with the devil...No more family pictures...
Posted by: Charles ||
04/17/2004 17:02 Comments ||
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#40
Another fine performance by our IDF buddies! Either they're getting better, or the Palestinians are getting dumber, given the fact that they didn't hit anyone other than the bastard, his bastard, and a bodyguard. Allah's put up a "Help Wanted" sign, but warned it's a temporary position . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
04/17/2004 17:22 Comments ||
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#41
Newsflash:
00:03 Al Jazeera television: Explosions heard throughout Gaza City
Maybe some more festivities commencing?
Posted by: Evert Viser in NL ||
04/17/2004 17:30 Comments ||
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#42
As near as I can tell, with Hamas and Hezbollah operatives making dozens of attacks a day on our soldiers in Iraq, we just lost all incentive to tell Israel to sit there and suffer through the suicide bombings without doing anything.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/17/2004 17:44 Comments ||
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#43
Rantisi is Hamas top leader in Gaza and one of the most hard-line members of the militant movement who rejects all compromise with Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
I believe the proper tense is:was, rejected and called. Alas, poor Abdel we knew him well....
#44
Wait until someone bombs the Bushehr reactor and other processing sites in Iran, which I am sure is coming up in the next couple of months. It will be like hitting a hornets nest with a 2x4. Only thing there will be no hornet's nest left.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2004 17:55 Comments ||
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#45
I was going to rebuke the assembled multitudes of Rantburg for this unseemly display of bloodthirsty gloating, then I remembered the unalloyed joy with which LLL terror-tools respond to the deaths of Americans in Iraq.
Therefore, Halle-fuckin'-jujah! Roast in pieces, jihadi scum! Screw 'im!
#47
Serious question, so no funny cracks. How many virgins does Allah have to provide Rantisi (assuming he's married)
28 or 72?
Do you get extra for being a head honcho?
Inquiring minds want to know.
#51
I just can't imagine what this website will be like when Arafat gets his. I hope to find out very soon.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/17/2004 19:22 Comments ||
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#30 Hey Fred, could you fix the long URL in #17?
Sorry guys, but the 'add a link' deal always added the Rantburg URL to the IAF URL I pasted into the User Prompt Box. Dunno why, it's worked fine before. I tried typing in the raw HTML a few times and that didn't work either. What I typed into the comment text input box was not what showed up in the comment (and I'm talking like 4-5 tries here). So I just pasted the URL in. It looked ok on my monitor, so I clicked "Publish".
Old Grouch, are you using a Sinclair or an Apple II? { ;^)
#57
Scott, I'm not an expert on this, but its related to the whole martyrdom thing. Martyrs are holy and touching a piece of them brings blessings. In the West you have to go back to the time of Christian saints and keeping their bones etc.
I've thought a lot about this recently and to a degree all religions are death cults but in the West we left this phase over 500 years ago.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/17/2004 20:33 Comments ||
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Serious answer: I have always guessed that it has a lot in common with the medieval fascination with saints' relics (body parts, bones, hair, etc.). The "reasoning" must go something like this:
* A martyr receives automatic forgiveness of all sins and goes straight to heaven. The martyr is sanctified.
* Therefore any body part of the martyr is also sanctified.
* If I have a piece of a martyr, maybe some of the sacredness will rub off on me.
It's purely magical reasoning and hard for the modern mind to grasp, but it seems to be a widespread mode of thought at a certain level of cultural development.
#59
So in their selfish search for a 'get into paradise free card' they desecrate the body of the martyr they pretend to claim to revere. Very nice.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2004 20:49 Comments ||
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How about: they belong to a death cult society that worships martyrs, so in their sick f*&king desire to prove their willingness they dip into teh remains?
Or, more likely - it could be a sick way to piggyback on someone else's martyrdom, a la Jesse Jackson running up from the ground floor to smear Martin Luther King's blood on his t-shirt to try and insinuate he was at the bigman's side when he was shot?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 21:16 Comments ||
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I'll go with piggyback on someone else's martyrdom for $200 Frank. If they wanted to prove their willingness to be martyrs they wouldn't be sending school children through checkpoints. This smacks of a sick publicity stunt. I get the feeling that every time there is a car swarm, a Euro-weenie writes a check to Arafish.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/17/2004 21:51 Comments ||
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#62
AP - "it was a celica turcica"
Aha! Just as I thought! And this is not the first time, either! I find this outrageous persecution of Toyotas by the IDF to be reprehensible! Something must be done to protect Toyotas immediately!
"Hamas chief Khaled Mashal has told the Gaza Hamas to keep the name of their new leader a secret."
LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 22:15 Comments ||
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Maybe they'll just call him Fearless Leader?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 22:34 Comments ||
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#66
maybe the cause=> effect thing is becoming apparent to the Paleos, although they have the wrong parties still:
"We condemn in strongest possible terms this Israeli crime of assassinating Dr. Rantisi. This is state terror, and the Israeli government is fully responsible for the consequences of this action," Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said. "
well every trip has to start with the first step?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 22:57 Comments ||
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#67
From the WoT Futuring section:
Event: Rantissi gets sent to Hell.
Group: IDF or IAF
Narrative: The IDF or IAF executes Rantissi like they did Yassin.
Window: 11 Months (3/24/2005)
Probability 87% entered by Steve from Relto on 3/24/2004
Overall opinion is Probable (87%)
Current opinion is Probable (87%)
Suspected Pakistanis Taleban militants attacked a security post in southwestern Afghanistan killing eight security officials. The assailants arrived in three vehicles from Pakistan after sunset Friday and opened fire on a government security post on the Herat-Kandahar highway, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted neighbouring Nimroz provincial governor Abdul Karim Brahiwi as saying. âThere is no doubt that Pakistanis Taleban and Al Qaeda are involved in the attack,â the governor told the agency. The attackers fled towards the Bakawa region of Farah province and search teams had been sent to Pakistan after them, he said. The post had been set up to protect the main artery linking western Herat province with the southern Kandahar region.
Effigies of US President George W. Bush were torched here yesterday as thousands of Palestinians hopped up and downmade faces vented their fury after he ruled out a return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel. Some 3,000 Palestinians gathered in the town of Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza City, and marched to the neighboring Jabalya refugee camp in a protest organized by the Islamic Jihad, while thousands more bit themselves in the small of the back took part in other protests throughout the territory. Chanting slogans, the crowds also set ablaze models of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and British Premier Tony Blair. Bush enraged Palestinians by declaring on Wednesday that he supported Sharonâs plan to keep some settlements in the occupied West Bank and said the refugees would only be allowed to resettle in a future Palestinian state.
Makes sense to me. Why have a Paleostinian state if you don't want to live in it?
âBushâs statement is a declaration of war against our people and a sign of his ever-growing support for the Israeli enemy,â said Nafez Azzam, a senior leader of Jihad in Gaza. âAs long as the occupation continues, the resistance will continue,â he told reporters.
Ummm... If they pull out, they're not occupying anymore.
Abdullah Shami, another senior Jihad figure who addressed the crowds, said Bush was âtrying to impose a new reality on our landâ.
I'd say they need one...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 1:34:56 PM ||
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Now that Rantisi's gone, perhaps Shami would like to be next? Or Azzam, I really don't care which one.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2004 14:50 Comments ||
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When your real estate agent sells you on a shiny Israel,but your bank says you can only afford run-down West Bank,being a spoiled child,you throw a temper tantrum.
Posted by: Stephen ||
04/17/2004 15:03 Comments ||
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bit themselves in the small of the back??? LOL
I was picturing a mob of paleos wearing Elizabethan collars, prescribed by the Gaza veterinarians
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 18:15 Comments ||
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The Israelis are doing just what they said that they would do if the Paleos continued the attacks against Israel. The Israelis have showed a tremendous amount of restraint in attacks on Hamas leaders. They easily could have attacked the car swarms, or especially funerals with groups of masked gunmen and RPG-toting goons (imagine the secondaries!). But Israel has chosen not to do this.
Once again the Paleos have an opportunity to change the direction of their destiny, but they choose the "death" branch in the road. The EU is starting to see the light in diversion of donated funds to the PA. Even the arabs are getting funding fatigue, and Sammy's checks have stopped coming. All they have now in big money is Iran.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/17/2004 18:58 Comments ||
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On other world news, while the paelos were responding to targeted attacks by isrealis flying US made helicopters armed with US made hellfire missles, by weilding sticks and shoes against donkeys with pictures of President Bush tied to its forehead, Raytheon announced that it was adding a second and third shift to meet demand of their popular precision munitions. Lockheed-Martin also announced it would be converting another 15 C-130's into the popular AC-130 Gunships.
Yo! Palestinians! - Ever get that itching feeling on the back of your neck when someone has a laser designator aimed at you? Seriously guys, you act all shocked that we have a bias for the isrealis. Let's see, Israelis - play nice, say hello, pay their bills, say thank you at the right time, protect the rights of arabs, let arabs vote and hold seats in their governments, protect shrines of other religions. Palestinains, kill you even if you are nice, use retarded kids for weapons guidance systems, kill without discrimination for maximum terror effect, wrap rat poison in their bombs so that the wounds wont heal, destroy or deface all other religious artifices, and will kill anyone who is even suspected of being a jew. Golly, It's so hard to tell you two semites apart isnt it. You say we have a bias all of a sudden that like you were all our pals the whole time and only now have we broken our "great friendship". What - exactly have the palestinians ever done for us? The name Klinghoffer ring a bell? Munich Olimpics?TWA 872? Beriut? Lebanon barracks? Jeez, Beruit used to be the jewel of the mediterrienian until you jack offs decided to renovate. Hey -we really dug what you did to those three US ambassadors you whacked last year in Gaza, that was funny as hell, a real kneeslapper. I hope you enjoyed it too. Hey, and what were those evil interlopers doing the allahs country? Giving out fulbright scolarships to Palestinian kids. Yeah, that had to be stopped, and right away. I can see that.
Did someone over there not get the news? Jimmy Carters not the President anymore. Our current president doesnt say he's sorry every 20 seconds, frankly he doesnt say he's sorry at all. He's not an "oprah" kind of guy. Our current President is from Texas, a state where the death penalty is considered a humane end to a wasted life. He knows that peace comes from capitualtion of your enemies and not from swedish laywers in mid town Manhattan.
And boyos - We dont have to be your friends, you got nothing we want or need, you smell, you're not good hosts and frankly you are really bad guests. Your manners are atrocious, even your brother arab countries can't stand you. They consider you only good to be cannon fodder in fighting the israelis, since they are too big of cowards to try to take them on anymore. Sure, we dont like you, but atleast we can straight out admit it.
You want to be our friends?, then start acting like it. It wouldnt take much, mount Arafats head on a pole, start flying the US flag right side up and not on fire. You'll be surprised how fast we can change our minds about people. You want the EU to be your friends?, go ahead. They are great friends, as long as youve got the cash, they are your pals. Oh dang, thats right, we just took out Iraq, the bank of middle eastern terror. Damn, you guys have all the luck dontcha.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
04/17/2004 23:19 Comments ||
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Frank - now that's a rant - awesome!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/18/2004 0:13 Comments ||
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#7
thanks g-man, someone said 'peace process' today on the telly, and I just snapped. 30 spittle frothing minutes later and this fell out of my gaping maw.
A "Peace process" to me is a hiroshima, followed a nagasaki, resulting in 60 years of real peace and extreme levels of prosperity. Decades of lawyers and politicos yammering on to no effect, while innocent kids are killed in pizza parlors and discos is not a 'peace process' , its a disgrace.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
04/18/2004 0:21 Comments ||
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An angry mob lynched two armed cadres of the Janajuddho faction of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) at about 2:00pm yesterday after they were caught while trying to bomb the Gallamari Police Box under Sonadanga Police Station. Police recovered three powerful bombs from the two men -- Akash alias Sourav, 30, and Asaduzzaman Murad, 28, -- before they were forcibly taken away and beaten to death by the mob.
Both men were wanted in connection with several murder cases, police said. Eyewitnesses said plainclothes policemen caught the two men just as they were about to hurl bombs at four constables inside the police box. A third man in the extremist group escaped, Deputy Commissioner (South) Akbar Ali told The Daily Star. Ali said all police outposts and boxes were put on a bomb alert after informers warned that PBCP operatives could launch a major assault on police at any time. In another incident, a mob gouged out the eyes of an alleged extremist, Nasir, 30, of Rudagarha Union of Dumuria. Police recovered two firearms on the dead man's person. Earlier on the night of April 10, police havildar Akram Hossain was killed in a bomb attack in Khulna city. PBCP (Janajuddho) claimed responsibility for the murder. On the evening of April 11, a powerful bomb exploded just in front of Moilapota Police Box when seven constables were inside.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 1:23:11 PM ||
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Now that is what I call Nieghborhood Watch.Keerist them folks no be playin' around.
IRIN - President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday repeated an offer to negotiate with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who are fighting his government in the north, but warned at the same time that military strikes against them would continue. Museveni, speaking on national television, said: "If they [the rebels] indicate through intermediaries that they are willing to talk and assemble in certain areas of southern Sudan, then I will order a ceasefire and give them safe passage. Once assembled, they will be supplied with food, clothing and medical supplies." The proposal follows a similar offer made in April 2002 when Museveni told the rebels they could surrender under amnesty. But this time he made it clear that until they cooperated, military strikes against them would continue. "The day and night operations aimed at wiping out the terrorists will be continued and will be intensified until every terrorist leader has been accounted for or until the remnants of the terrorists come out from their crime-laden way of existence," he said. Religious leaders pushing for dialogue to end the 18-year northern conflict have welcomed the move, warning that the LRA must now respond to the president's offer as a precursor to meaningful dialogue. "It's a good gesture the president has made for which I'd like to thank him. Something positive could come out of it. We hope the rebels find a way of responding to this," the secretary of the Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative, Bishop Jean-Baptiste Odama, told IRIN.
I guess it makes more sense to bomb the crap out of them and negotiate than just to negotiate. I'd stick with just bombing the crap out of them, if it was me.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 1:08:27 PM ||
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SPA -- A resumption of peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels is the "top priority" of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's new administration, her spokesman said Saturday. "To say that we are neglecting the peace process is not accurate," spokesman Harim Peiris said. The Tamil National Alliance, the rebels' proxy political party, won 22 seats in Sri Lanka's 225-seat Parliament in April 2 elections, becoming the third-largest party. It accused Kumaratunga on Friday of not making serious efforts to restart the peace process. "The president has failed to take any meaningful step to resume peace talks," the TNA said in a statement. "A resumption of peace talks with the LTT is our top priority and we are taking steps to restart the process," Peiris said Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 12:59:48 PM ||
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SPA -- The Sudanese government's top negotiator at talks with rebels fighting a 21-year civil war left for Sudan on Saturday to consult with his president as mediators worked to break an impasse in the peace process. The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army said the decision by Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha to return to Khartoum was an example of government delaying tactics. But Ad'Dirdeiry M. Hamed, Sudan's deputy ambassador to Kenya and a delegate at the talks, dismissed the allegations, saying Taha would be away from the negotiations for only a few days to consult with President Omar el-Bashir. "While the secretariat (mediators) are being briefed ... the vice president thought it prudent to get back to Khartoum to consult with the Sudanese leadership and come back ... when the secretariat is through with what it is doing," Hamed told The Associated Press.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 12:57:13 PM ||
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Assailants opened fire on a vehicle in southern Pakistan on Saturday, killing four Afghans and wounding another person, police said. It was not immediately clear why the gunmen attacked the car in eastern Karachi, the capital of Pakistan's southern Sindh province. Police said they were close to capturing the assailants. "So far we only know that gunmen opened fire on a car and escaped," said Zarar Khan, a senior police official in Karachi. "We are chasing them, and they will soon be arrested." All the victims were Afghans who have been living in Karachi for several years, Khan said. He gave no other details.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2004 12:48 ||
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A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on Saturday at the Erez checkpoint on Israelâs border with the Gaza Strip, Israeli military sources said. The military sources said four security officers were injured in the blast. They said the bomber blew himself up on the Israeli side of the checkpoint, near an army post at the entrance to an industrial complex inside the crossing. Hundreds of Palestinians workers cross the checkpoint every day to work inside Israel.
... and now they won't for awhile.
The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is part of Palestinian President Yasser Arafatâs Fatah faction, claimed joint responsibility for the attack in an anonymous phone call to Reuters. The caller identified the bomber as al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member Fadi al-Amudi, 22, who came from the Palestinian village of Beit Lehiya near Erez.
That was quick...
A Tunisian criminal court has jailed a high school student for 25 months for belonging to an Islamic militant group accused of planning bomb attacks, lawyers said on Saturday. âThe court judge, Adel Jeridi, handed down a two years and one month sentence against the teenager,â defence lawyer Mohamed Abbou said. The 19-year-old high-school student went on trial on Friday on charges of being member of an unnamed radical Islamic group, manufacturing explosives and planning bomb attacks, lawyers said. The verdict was made public on Saturday. Six other men arrested along with the student were sentenced to 19 years and three months jail earlier this month on the same charges.
Found this via the Command-post excuses for the length of the article but I have no time for snips or comments, please delete if this is a repost Journalist of the Year Peter Wilson is the first reporter to obtain a brief charging Moqtada al-Sadr with killing a pro-Western rival
THE radical young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is today holed up in Iraqâs sacred city of Najaf, trying to negotiate a face-saving compromise after failing to ignite a general uprising among the nationâs Shiâite Muslim majority. But Sadrâs future does not rest with the clerics and other go-betweens who are hoping to avert a bloody showdown between his 1000-strong militia and the 2500 US troops ringing Najaf. The fate of Sadr - the loud-mouthed angry 22 30-year-old who last week pledged to destroy the coalitionâs campaign in Iraq - rests with a legal brief that was carefully compiled over the past year by a provincial Iraqi judge. It is this brief that led to an arrest warrant being issued for Sadr and some of his supporters, provoking his Mahdi Army to take control of several southern towns last week, raising the deadly possibility of a united insurgency by Shiâite and Sunni hardliners until more moderate Shiâite leaders disowned him.
A detailed summary of the case against Sadr, which has been obtained by The Weekend Australian, shows that the prosecuting judge, Raid Juhy, has laid a much wider range of charges against the radical cleric than was previously known. Prosecutors had announced that Sadr was charged with the murder last year of rival cleric Abdul Majeed al-Khoei, the alleged theft of religious funds from several mosques, and the murder by his guards of an Iraqi family. But Sadr has also been charged with ordering several other murders, setting up illegal courts and prisons, inciting his followers to violence, and other breaches of the Iraqi penal code. The barrage of charges and evidence amassed by Juhy, a Najaf-based judge, means that even if Sadr can distance himself from the killing of Khoei, he will still face serious problems in court.
The brief shows that the judge, who is responsible under Iraqi law for overseeing the gathering of evidence, has found eyewitnesses to back the charges that Sadr personally authorised the murder of Khoei, a moderate rival. According to Colonel Mike Kelly, an Australian army lawyer serving in Baghdad as a legal adviser to the coalition forces, the first that coalition lawyers knew of Juhyâs investigation was when they heard last June that he was well advanced with the case. "He is a very professional forensic sort of lawyer who says he doesnât care about politics, he just wants to ensure nobody is above the law any more in Iraq," Kelly says.
That's the first step toward civilization, isn't it?
One of the 730-odd Iraqi prosecutors and judges who kept their jobs when the coalition purged about 120 Baath Party members from the legal system, Juhy told coalition lawyers, according to Kelly, he didnât want any help from them "until it was time to arrest Sadr, which would obviously require coalition troops". Juhy arrived in London last night to interview two survivors of the attack on Khoei last April at the holiest Shiâite site, the shrine of the sectâs founder, Imam Ali, in Najaf. The son of a former grand ayatollah, Khoei had lived in Britain since the first Gulf War and was taken to Iraq by the coalition forces as a voice of moderation and support for the US-led occupation. On April 10, Khoei and several associates visited the holy shrine to meet the present ayatollah, Ali al-Sistani. According to the brief, Juhy has found an eyewitness who is willing to testify that Sadr, who saw Khoei as a threat to his ambitions, became aware of Khoeiâs visit and planned with his associates to kill him. A second eyewitness says that when Sadr and a group of followers entered the mosque and saw Khoeiâs group, Sadrâs followers said; "Just say the word, master, and we will attack." The brief says: "Sadr replied, âJust wait, just waitâ." A funeral procession then came into the mosque, and using this distraction, Sadr called to his followers to attack. "(The) witness reported that Sadr said, âBy the will of God, attackâ."
Sadr then left the mosque and returned to his office, whereupon his followers drew AK-47s from their robes and started firing in the direction of Khoei and his group in the Khaladaria, an area in which the offices of the mosque clerics are located. Khoeiâs bodyguard was armed with a pistol and returned fire. "During the course of the firefight Khoei suffered an injury to his hand, losing a couple of fingers. When the Khoei group ran out of ammunition, Riyadh Nouri, a key Sadr lieutenant, called out on a megaphone for a ceasefire," the brief says. "He offered Khoei a hearing to defend himself in Sadrâs nearby office. Khoei agreed, but as they emerged from the Khaladaria in the mosque, the Sadr mob descended upon them and began beating and stabbing them. At the entrance (of the mosque), Haider al-Kaliedar (Khoeiâs bodyguard) died from the knife attacks. At this point, Khoei and two of his group broke free and ran to the office of Sadr, suffering from many stab wounds and the beatings. Sadr refused to open the door to the office. At this point, a merchant from across the street came and collected the three persons, helping them into his shop. There Khoei passed out from his stabbing and gunshot wounds. Two clerics from the Sadr office came into the shop and tested Khoeiâs pulse. They then left and reported to Sadr. The mob gathered outside the shop and Sadr left his office.
"There is a (third) eyewitness who can testify that Sadr gave the direction to take him (Khoei) away and âKill him in your own special wayâ. Khoei was dragged from the shop and down the street by his feet, with his head banging on each of the stone steps down to the next street level. He was dragged up that street to about 50 metres from the entrance to the Imam Ali mosque, and there a Sadr follower produced an AK-47 and shot Khoei in the head. The other two persons who were left in the shop when Khoei was dragged out escaped to the coalition forces compound in Najaf and subsequently left the country." It is those two survivors of the fight that the judge has flown to London to interview.
According to Kelly, 12 of Sadrâs followers -- the stabbers and shooters -- were arrested soon after the killings, and warrants were issued in August for Sadr and several of his more senior followers. Attempts to arrest those followers, and the closure of Sadrâs newspaper for inciting violence, were met by his call for all Shiâites to rise against the coalition forces. When there was no general uprising, Sadr said through intermediaries he was willing to stand trial but only after the coalition hands power over to Iraqis on June 30. "We have done no deals along those lines," Kelly says. "The only thing we would do is guarantee his safety, a fair trial and the provision of a defence lawyer if he needs one."
Sadrâs insistence that he be charged after the June 30 handover carries a particular danger for him. The coalition authorities last year struck down Iraqâs death penalty, meaning he would not risk execution if his case began before June 30, but Iraqi officials are widely expected to restore the death penalty once they regain sovereignty.
Posted by: Evert Visser in NL ||
04/17/2004 9:22:09 AM ||
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I just watched CNN for the first time in year this morning. Some newsbot mixed up Fallujah with Najaf then called Fallujah "the holiest site in Islam." Finally she said that "everyone here is really incensed" by the US surrounding Fallujah (Najaf), failing to differentiate between Sunni, Shia, Kurd, and Turkomen.
Pakistan on Friday accused the United States of âunwarrantedâ interference in its internal affairs after the US expressed concern over the jailing of Alliance of the Restoration of Democracy President Javed Hashmi for 23 years. âIt was pointed out to the embassy that the US statement is not only unwarranted and misplaced but is tantamount to interference in the internal affairs and the judicial process of Pakistan,â Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said in a statement. The State Department on Tuesday expressed concern over Hashmiâs conviction and sentence and urged Islamabad to be âmore openâ in his appeal case. âWe regret the closed nature of the proceedings against him so far and hope that the appeal process will be more open,â spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Hate to disagree with Richard, but I'm all for locking up all Pak politicians, throwing away the key, and starting over from scratch. ARD is a bad news organization and Hashmi's probably guilty as sin.
Just make sure you upgrade the prison guards from the usual Pak incompetence. If you're going to jug them, keep them jugged.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/17/2004 4:59:45 AM ||
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Intelligence successes in U.S. Central Command have led to the capture of suspected terrorists and interdictions of drug shipments off the Horn of Africa, a senior CENTCOM official said today.
I notice they haven't been splashing the details of the snags, though...
Service members of Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa have worked closely with local governments and with CENTCOMâs maritime component to combat terrorism in the region, Marine Maj. Gen. John F. Sattler, CENTCOMâs operations director, said during a telephone interview with Pentagon reporters from the commandâs forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar. Forces are working particularly hard to cut off lines of communication from the Arabian Peninsula across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Intelligence in this arena has led to the capture of suspected terrorists, Sattler said. He said "a number" of suspected terrorists have been taken from dhows, traditional fishing vessels in the region, and "pushed into the interrogation system because of their ties to al Qaeda," but gave no other details.
In three or four months there'll be a brief flurry of captures and shootouts in the area...
In interdicting these dhows, officials have captured several suspected drug dealers and turned them over to law-enforcement authorities of the local nations. "So we have been successful when weâve stopped those dhows," Sattler said. Between the work of this CJTF and the work going on in Western Africa, it looks like we are no longer conceding African territory to the bad guys.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/17/2004 3:18:53 AM ||
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I notice they haven't been splashing the details of the snags, though...
It's too bad our guys can't conduct this completely in secrecy. The fact is that what the terrorists don't know will hurt them. What happened to a buddy who vanished with $50,000? Was he captured, or did he decide to go on vacation in Europe? It's good to keep the enemy guessing.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from Gaza by the end of 2005, but retain control of the coastal strip's border crossings and airspace, according to details of his "disengagement" plan published for the first time Friday. Under Sharon's plan, evacuated settlements would not be destroyed - as they were when Israel evacuated the Sinai Peninsula in the 1980s - but Palestinian leaders and militants will not be allowed to live there.
If they don't flatten the settlements, how are they going to control who lives there?
Before Sharon can begin implementing his plan, he must persuade his Likud Party to support it in a May 2 referendum. Polls published Friday showed the plan garnering a slim majority among the 200,000 party members. Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated Friday against Bush, burning effigies of him and Sharon and pasting pictures of the president on the soles of their shoes, an insult in Muslim society.
Any huge puppets?
Any babes in bikinis with fake dynamite strapped around their comely young waists?
"President Bush's statement is a new declaration of war and represents total bias of the American administration against our people," said Nafez Azzam, an Islamic Jihad spokesman. "He is not qualified to deny Palestinian people their rights."
You boys are doing a great job of that all by yourselves!
Sharon returned home Friday to continue fighting for his plan. The Haaretz daily reported that Sharon's son, Omri, held a succession of meetings with Likud leaders at a Tel Aviv cafe and warned them that Sharon would resign if the referendum fails, forcing new elections. Under the plan, published in Israeli newspapers Friday, Israel would leave all of Gaza except for a patrol road along the Egyptian border. Israel also would retain full control of Gaza's airspace and border crossings, and Israel's navy would continue to patrol the Gaza coast. Israel may expand the border road before the withdrawal, the plan said. Israel has already razed more than 600 Palestinian homes that border the patrol road in the Rafah refugee camp.
"Mahmoud! Dig a longer tunnel!"
Israel will also leave intact "the real estate assets of the settlements" it evacuates, according to the plan. A senior Israeli official said Israel would not allow the houses to be given to Palestinian leaders or militants. Israel is in negotiations with the World Bank to receive compensation for the houses left behind in the 21 Gaza settlements - which currently house 7,500 people - the official said.
Ah, now I get it.
Security officials said Friday they plan to dismantle 28 unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts housing 240 families in the next few weeks.
Interesting if it really happens.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2004 12:43:53 AM ||
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I'm generally pro-Israel in every aspect but I confess to not understanding the settlements issue. I can see why some sections of the West Bank are strategically vital but why on earth would anyone want to live in such a neighborhood?!
#2
IIUC the settlements were two things:
1) a bargaining chip for the government in any negotiations
2) For the settlers, many of whom are more extreme Zionists, they constituted facts on the ground in a greater Israel, hoping eventually to claim much of the west bank
ineveitably, they are security drains on the state, many are isolated and surrounded except for access roads. Bad situation
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 9:19 Comments ||
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#3
Also militarily the settlements provide a secure starting point for operations in the West Bank or Gaza. If terrorists have a longer period of time to react to a move against them then less will be achieved.
#4
I think this is the really a sad situation. Americans need to understand that we will never have any peace and security in the world until the Palestinians are given a just and fair deal. I compare this latest stunt by Sharon like China taking over Texas, rounding all the Texans up and putting them in concentration camps for over 50 years and building housing for chinees imigrants in Texas all against international law and UN resolutions. Then offering a deal where the settlements are built that land will be anexed to china because now it is a fact on the ground. It is so ridiculous! I know we all love to hate the arabs but this is not right and breeds hate and hate breeds violence and violence robs our security. If you support a jewish state then give them a state in the US like New York, we Can even change the name to Jew York.
#7
Anonymous4272> Settlements have been a tool used by other countries as well -- Turkey has sent many dozens of thousands of settlers to northern Cyprus. Several byzantine emperors had also used settlements as a tool to closer bind to them areas of their empire. I'm sure that examples must be bountiful throughout history.
It's the other side of ethnic cleansing, except a bit more civilized -- instead of driving the other people away to grab hold of a territory, you simply put your own people there to accomplish the same purpose.
In one word the answer would be "imperialism". I don't have much sympathy for the settlements policy at all.
#10
It's all about Jerusalem. My solution is to allow only one holy city per religion. Fair enough, IMO.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/17/2004 16:48 Comments ||
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#11
Israel is a zionist rather than jewish entity there is a difference. What needs to happen is for Palestine to be one state with equal rights for all people who live there. The Zionazi entity needs to be peacefully dismantled.Before anyone says Im antisemitic palestinians are semites too and many jews do not agree with a Zionist State either.BTW did you know while many jews are semites many are not rather they are descendants of people who converted to judaism e.g The Khazars so their ancestors never came from Palestine.
Alvi Valiyev, the head of the village administration and his bodyguard were murdered in Komsomolskoye, Chechnya on Thursday evening, the Interfax news agency has reported. The agency quoted a source at the Gudermes district administration as saying that gunmen opened fire at the Lada car in which Valiyev was driving at 9:45 p.m. killing both two men. Twenty Kalashnikov assault rifle cartridge cases and other material evidence were found at the scene. Search efforts are being conducted to identify and detain those responsible.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2004 12:23:12 AM ||
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Al-Qaida planned to attack Jordan's intelligence headquarters in Amman with chemical weapons and the U.S. embassy with poisonous gas, reports said. The Saudi daily al-Hayat, monitored in Beirut, Friday quoted official Jordanian sources as saying al-Qaida operative Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, sought to destroy the intelligence building with "a highly-destructive" chemical bomb that would have killed as many as 20,000 people.
The sources said Jordanian security arrested two al-Qaida members connected to al-Zirqawi and confiscated a car laden with explosives and arms which was smuggled into Jordan through the Syrian border. The car, intercepted some 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Syrian border, carried explosives, a chemical bomb and poisonous gas. The sources said the terrorists planned to use the gas in attacks against the U.S. embassy in Amman and the seat of the Jordanian government.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2004 12:21:28 AM ||
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#1
These are the weapons that Hans Blix says doesn't exist, right? And they didn't have their true beginnings in Iraq, and were moved to Syria at the beginning of the war in April 2003, right?
So, let me see. Chemical weapons used by al-Qaeda against our embassy and the King of Jordan.
Oh, I got it : Osama prayed for them and they desceneded on a cloud from heaven.
Well, Kerry campaign, as long as Osama delivered the prayer at least 300' away from school, like not lighting up a cigarette close, you guys are cool with that scenario. The poison gas didn't originally come from Iraq?
#2
3 ways of looking at this - none of them good for Assad.
1) The weapons came from Iraq's stockpile and were stashed in Syria and have been there for some time.
2) AlQ is making Chemical Weapons in Syria (and Syria is going along with it - I would think there is no way you can hide that kind of industrial activity)
3) Syria is making chemical weapons.
All 3 of these look grim for Assad.
On number 1 and 2, Assad has some serious 'splainin to do but can weasel out by destroying the stockpile/AlQ-Factory.
But number 3 is the most serious - it puts Syria at risk for "decapitation" along with "decpacitization".
Assad had better get his stuff wired together before he forces us to blow it apart.
A terror cell seized over a week ago in Jordan planned to carry out a large-scale chemical attack in a military intelligence base in the kingdom, ... The cell entered Jordan through Syria at the end of March, with three cars laden with explosives and weapons. It is believed that had the cars exploded at the military base, thousands of people would have been killed and all buildings in a radius of one kilometer of the explosion would have been completely destroyed. Jordanian King Abdullah said ...
Obviously something serious was stopped in Jordan, but the coverage of this incident is very confusing. It may just be dopy reporters, but the highlighted sections in the story would seem to contradict each other. The second description actually sounds nearer to a low-yield nuke.
#4
And if they'd managed to carry out their attack against Jordan, after obviously coming from Syria, who would the Jordanians blame for all that death and destruction?
A. Syria
B. Al-Qaeda
C. Isreal and America
If you answered "C" go to the head of the class.
(Too bad - a retaliatory strike by Jordan against Syria might have been fun to watch.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/17/2004 11:14 Comments ||
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#5
A couple of months back the Kurds took prisoners infiltrating from IRAN. With encouragement the prisoners told tales of comrades having smuggled three or more chemical bombs from IRAN into IRAQ for the purpose of creating one or more mass casualty events. The infiltrators were members or associates of Ansar al-Islam.
A Tunisian teenager went on trial on Friday charged with belonging to an Islamic militant group that was allegedly preparing bomb attacks, lawyers said. Six other men arrested along with the 19-year-old student were sentenced to 19 years and three months jail earlier this month for belonging to the unnamed militant group, manufacturing explosives and preparing bomb attacks, lawyers said. The seven were arrested 15 months ago in an Internet cafe as they were browsing radical Islamist websites in the coastal city of Zarzis, 380 km (240 miles) south of Tunis. A government official said the seven admitted their plot.
It's the truncheons. But they don't work right without moustachios...
"Members of the group admitted... their role in plotting to perpetrate armed attacks against persons and property. Planned attacks included a Bazooka rocket attack against the maritime National Guard station in Zarzis," a government official said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2004 12:13:45 AM ||
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The captors who released three Japanese hostages in Iraq on Thursday could be members of the powerful al-Delemi tribe with a strong sense of attachment to religious leaders -- but not Islamic extremists or part of the al-Qaeda network, experts in Middle Eastern affairs believe. The Islamic Clerics Association, which called for the release of all foreign civilian hostages soon after the incident surfaced and later asked the captors, who call themselves Saraya al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Brigades), to keep their promise to free the Japanese, apparently played an important role in resolving the issue.
The association's influence has been significant in resolving other hostage-taking incidents in Iraq, such as the recent release of seven Chinese hostages. While opposed to the occupation of Iraq by U.S. forces, the association listened to calls from Japan for help. A cleric of the association said, "I hope that the three will convey (to the world) the sufferings of Fallujah residents." A senior official of the Foreign Ministry said, "Our calls that the three of them were working for the sake of the Iraqi people and our approaching all kinds of organizations in Iraq did the job."
The experts believe that if it is true that the captors released the three as a result of a call by the Islamic Clerics Association, it is likely the captors are local residents who have strong "blood ties" with the tribe. They said that if the kidnappers had been Islamic extremists, they would not have easily released their foreign captives unharmed. Al-Qaeda, which has criticized Iraqi clerics as being moderates, would not have listened to the religious leaders' call, the experts said. The al-Delemi tribe, with a population of over 1 million, is the largest among Sunni Muslims and is based in the province of Anbar, where the major cities of Fallujah and Ramadi are located. The experts said the tribe had not been completely subservient to the rule of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but the United States said the region is one that is pro-Saddam.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2004 12:05:00 AM ||
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#1
They said that if the kidnappers had been Islamic extremists, they would not have easily released their foreign captives unharmed.
Considering that the hostages were probably fakes to begin with - why should we believe any of this BS? Anyone?
Pakistani police say they have arrested a suspected militant wanted in connection with the abduction and murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl. Malik Tasaddaq, 28, was detained in the eastern Punjab province on suspicion of involvement in the killing, local police chief Saadatullah Khan said. Mr Tasaddaq is accused of belonging to the outlawed Islamic Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group blamed for many attacks. A reward of one million rupees ($17,000) was offered for his arrest. Another wanted man, Nadir Khan, was detained in a separate raid in Punjab, police said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2004 12:02:43 AM ||
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#1
I've got a suggestion for his punishment
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2004 12:29 Comments ||
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Pakistani tribal leaders asked the central government for an extension on a Tuesday deadline to turn over tribesmen allegedly harboring al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the region, Agence France-Presse said. ``A delegation of tribal elders asked us to extend the deadline as they have raised their own lashkar (tribal force) to take action against wanted tribesmen,'' Rehmatullah Wazir, a local administration official in the border region with Afghanistan, told AFP. Wazir didn't say how much of an extension the tribal leaders wanted, saying a government decision on the request would probably come tomorrow. The leaders also asked for permission for members of a tribal force to carry weapons into villages where tribesmen suspected of hiding the fighters might be located, AFP said.
I guy's going through his late grandfather's belongings and happens to find a dry-cleaning ticket in the inside pocket of an old suit. He has a look at it and notes that it's dated November, 1936. As a goof, he goes into the dry cleaning establishment and says he's there to pick up his grandaddy's suit. The old guy behind the counter looks at the ticket, looks through his stack of papers, then says "It won't be ready until Thursday!"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2004 12:00:24 AM ||
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#1
I suspect they're waiting for their charter 'donkey tickets' to arrive for departure.
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.
Newflash - Rantissiâs car hit in a missile attack, presumably an Israeli operation... Taken to hospital... NBC says he was in the car, three people killed, but Rantissi only injured... Other reports say he's a deader... Israelis say he was killed, Paleos that he was critically injured... Paleo docs say clinically dead, but undergoing surgery... 
Reports 
