The United States has reportedly warned Kuwait and Qatar to take maximum security precautions after interception of Al Qaeda communications about potential attacks in the two states, according to Tuesdayâs al-Rai al-Aam newspaper. Al Qaeda communications intercepted by the United States invited the launching of terrorist attacks against specific targets within the two Gulf nations that are considered strong US allies, the paper said. Kuwait has already maximized security along its borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia to prevent a spillover of terrorism that has severely affected both countries.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 10:07:03 AM ||
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China is sending nuclear technology to Iran in exchange for oil and allowing North Korea to use Chinese air, rail and seaports to ship missiles and other weapons, congressional investigators reported today.
Tap, nope
Although the Bush administration has emphasised a growing convergence with Beijing on halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction and countering terrorism, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission took a much harder line.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2004 9:24:43 AM ||
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While we're busy with the WOT, China is busy building its allies where it can find them (Iran, N. Korea, etc.), in hopes of securing political domination and, mostly, access to oil, or, better, the ability to enforce it's control of oil in the future. Since the Chinese believe they are the superior race on the planet, the ends for them, always justify the means. Look out for China.
#3
For gits and shiggles, I'll post here what I posted today elsewhere about this topic:
More from the BBC:
US accuses China of weapons trade
A new report from the US Congress has accused China of passing nuclear technology to Iran in exchange for oil. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission also says China helped North Korea in building its missile arsenal.
"Chinese transfers have evolved from sales of complete missile systems to exports of largely dual-use nuclear, chemical, and missile components and technologies," the report said.
-------------- EOM --------------
Through outright military incursions or threats thereof (i.e., Tibet and Taiwan), plus their state sanctioned theft of intellectual property, product counterfeiting and intentionally distorted trade relations, China is becoming a substantial threat to global stability.
By proliferating dual use technology the politburo seeks to counterbalance American military might. North Korea's gruesome nightmare of mass starvation and their diverting international food aid for military purposes perfectly illustrates the upshot of such reckless Chinese political adventure.
It is important to remember that the Chinese government largely views their own population as disposable. They are responsible for the world's largest medically caused AIDS epidemic and have wrought havoc upon the global economy through intentional concealment of their SARS crisis as well. People need to understand that far-off Iran's growing nuclear threat to the entire Middle East's stability means less than nothing to a regime which gleefully tosses its own citizens into the meat grinder. The Iranian oil China receives to fuel its hyperactive economy is far more important than any risk of nuclear war in Arabia.
It should then come as no surprise that China blithely disregards the dangers of North Korea's nuclear blackmail, despite its substantial disruption of political and economic stability in the entire North Asian basin. For the first time since WWII, Japan is openly considering acquisition of nuclear weapons. Not too long ago this would have caused furious public and political debate. Thanks to China and North Korea, it has not resulted in more than a hiccough.
China is headed for a massive economic meltdown. They face US$200,000,000 worth of bad bank debt in loans given to their party and military elite for the mismanagement of corrupt and incompetently run industrial combines. It appears as though few people clearly understand the implications of this, least of all Europe.
Britain and France are currently considering sales of advanced weapons systems to China. They view the pretense of demanding human rights promises from China as a sufficient fig leaf to cover any moral qualms they might have over the repercussions of how China will employ such dangerous technology.
Should China obtain such powerful weapons that currently outstrip their own armaments' complexity the world would face the distinct possibility of military expansionism once their economy goes off the rails. The politburo has already attempted to make competing claims against Viet Nam and the Philippines over the Sprately Islands. While their ostensible oil reserves make an attractive excuse, the Spratelys also serve as a choke point for maritime traffic through the Straits of Malacca.
This Malaysian channel is one of the most heavily trafficked sea corridors in the entireworld. All of Asia's oil from the Middle East must transit these waters. In possession of the Spratelys, China could interdict these transports and effectively hold hostage the economies of Taiwan, The Philippines, Japan and Korea. In a similar effort, China is building a sequence of dams on the Mekong River that may have disastrous effects on the food and water supplies of downstream populations in Cambodia and Laos.
Few people seem to recognize the cumulative impact of these subtle and ill-publicized intrigues that China is currently engaged in. Australia faces substantial impact should many of the Asian economies collapse due to Chinese meddling.
China is the real international terrorist. Islam is merely a rather violent and conspicuous religious convulsion. China is playing for all the marbles and far too few realize it.
French anti-terror police arrested a half-dozen people and seized weapons in raids Tuesday of suspected Islamic militants. Police said the raids targeted Islamist circles in the Paris region. Weapons were seized at one detainee's home, police said.
Maybe this was part of the group that wasn't going to attack the Metro.
Under French anti-terror laws, the suspects can be questioned for 96 hours without charge.
Truncheon is a French word, after all.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2004 9:59:14 AM ||
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But, but just yesterday NMM give us information that the French would not be targeted since they are peaceful agrarians. This has Zionist fingerprints all over it.
Norway's public prosecutor has dropped all charges against the founder of the radical Islamic group, Ansar al-Islam. The Kurdish group - which is based in northern Iraq - is regarded by the UN and US as a terrorist organisation. But the Norwegian authorities said there was not enough evidence to charge Mullah Krekar with conspiracy in a plot to murder political rivals in Iraq. Mullah Krekar has had refugee status in Norway since 1991 - he now faces being deported under a 2003 expulsion order. The expulsion order, which says Mullah Krekar is a risk to national security, was stalled because of the court case against him and the US-led war in Iraq.
I could be wrong, but I believe Jordan wanted him. I'm sure a few Kurds would like to talk to him as well.
The Kurdish cleric says he stepped down as leader of Ansar al-Islam in 2002 and denies any terror links. Washington says the group has ties to al-Qaeda and blames it for attacks on coalition forces in Iraq. Mullah Krekar was released from jail in February this year while the authorities investigated him on suspicion of conspiracy, attempted murder of political rivals in Iraq and inciting criminal activity. But on Tuesday, prosecutor Tor-Aksel Busch released a statement saying there were "no grounds to charge Mullah Krekar on any count".
Well, in Norway at any rate.
The charge of inciting others to commit crimes was dropped because it is not in itself illegal in Norway. Formal terror charges against the 47-year-old cleric had already been dropped last year because of lack of evidence. Mullah Krekar - born Najm Faraj Ahmad - was arrested at an airport in the Netherlands in 2002, after Iran denied him entry and sent him back to Europe. He was deported to Norway in January 2003.
Now begins the game of "Who wants the Mullah?"
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2004 9:34:11 AM ||
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#1
I know a better game: "Pin the JDAM on the Mullah."
#6
Chris W.---The Norwegans have been playing footsie with Mulla Cracker for a long time now. They should give him back to authorities in the ME and let the dogs chew him to bits let them deal with this character.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2004 14:29 Comments ||
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#7
Schroedinger was wrong.
Cat dead the first time.
Stiff kitty.
Kerput.
Corpus Fuzzy.
Gone Sylvertrus Cattus.
Posted by: Dr Heisenburg ||
06/15/2004 17:03 Comments ||
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#8
:-) Is that your principle?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 17:16 Comments ||
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Schroedinger was wrong. Cat dead the first time
Counterfeiting, forgery and credit card fraud have become the financial backbone of numerous individual terrorist cells linked to al-Qaeda in western Europe, according to intelligence services across Europe and central Asia. Fake documents, credit cards and other forgeries are being used to provide extremist groups with new identities or to be sold at a premium to criminal gangs.
Interpol figures indicate that counterfeiting may now be more profitable than drug-trafficking in western Europe. The organisation believes "there is a significant link between counterfeiting and terrorism in locations where there are terrorist groups," Ronald Noble, secretary-general of Interpol, told reporters in Brussels last month.
According to the agency, earnings from counterfeiting and drug-trafficking may amount to 10 for every 1 invested. But fake goods may be easier and more economical to transport - 1kg of pirated compact discs is currently worth 3,000 in western Europe, while a kilo of cannabis resin is valued at 1,000, according to Interpol. The penalties for trafficking drugs are also higher than those for counterfeiting.
"Al-Qaeda is rethinking aspects of its modus operandi," says a senior intelligence officer. "But it would be wary of dealing with a criminal network that was not their own people. The Islamists are also alert to law enforcement, and aware that criminal networks can be infiltrated."
But supporting a terrorist network is expensive. According to Mr Noble, 10 per cent of al-Qaedaâs estimated $30m-$50m annual expenditure in 2001 was used to finance attacks. The rest was used to maintain the terrorist network. US officials now put al-Qaedaâs annual expenditure at about $10m (8.3m, £5.5m).
Which is why closing down all the Islamic charities isn't enough -- $10 million isn't that much money to raise.
Mr Noble told a US congressional committee last July: "Intellectual property crime is becoming the preferred method of funding for a number of terrorist groups. ... In the case of terrorist groups who resemble organised crime groups, counterfeiting is attractive because they can invest at the beginning of the counterfeiting cycle and extract an illicit profit at each stage of the counterfeiting process - from production to sale - thus maximising returns," Mr Noble said.
Security services in several European countries say that individuals arrested for alleged links to al-Qaeda are often caught with fake documents. When Dutch police raided a house in Rotterdam just after the September 11 2001 attacks, they discovered extensive forging equipment and false passports. At his trial on charges of belonging to the extremist Takfir wâal Hijra group linked to al-Qaeda, Rabah Idoughi, an Algerian, admitted to police that he was a forger but said he provided documents for illegal immigrants.
"I'm just a simple forger!"
He was acquitted late in 2003 of extremist associations, but jailed on forgery charges after police evidence substantiating the more serious charge was dismissed on technical grounds. However, the prosecutor, Theo dâAnjou, told the court that Mr Idoughi "made up part of a criminal organisation that ran a sort of business where fundamentalist Muslims could come to get false passports."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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However, the prosecutor, Theo dâAnjou, told the court that Mr Idoughi "made up part of a criminal organisation that ran a sort of business where fundamentalist Muslims could come to get false passports."
Weren't the Madrid atrocities sufficient to make a statement like the one above set off all sorts of alarm bells in that courtroom?
What will it take for Europe to realize the threat being leveled against them? One can only fear it will require a horror far worse than our own 9-11 to make them take notice. It is quite possible that they shall get their way in this matter yet. Europe's lethargic response regarding Iran's obvious attempt to fabricate nuclear weapons may finally bring about such a belated and catastrophic awakening.
#3
"1kg of pirated compact discs is currently worth 3,000...? ... I think they got the numbers screwed up..."
*Grabs postal scale* Lessee... one CD (by itself, no jewelbox) = c.a. .6 oz ... 16 to the pound ... 2.2lbs/kg ... invert ... hokay, about 59 cds/kg. Retail price in Europe, $21 - $23 (including VAT): so say about $1300 gross, if sold at retail. (But if I was a pirate, I'd be injecting them into the distribution chain ahead of the retailers or selling them at open air markets or swap meets. Best you could hope for that way would probably be 50% of retail, $600.) So if Interpol says 3,000 euros that's high. (Who gave 'em their figures, the RIAA?)
Still not bad for something that only costs pennies to produce and doesn't automatically scream "illegal" the way drugs do. And if you know of a country with a cooperative government that will look the other way (cough *China* cough), you can arrange for some "special production runs" at otherwise legit plants, which can make for copies that are damned difficult to distinguish from originals.
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
06/15/2004 12:35 Comments ||
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And if you know of a country with a cooperative government that will look the other way (cough *China* cough), you can arrange for some "special production runs" at otherwise legit plants, which can make for copies that are damned difficult to distinguish from originals.
Which is just one more reason why China needs to be viewed as the real international terrorist. Islam may be more conspicuous and violent, but China is the real threat to world peace.
#7
Yeah, I assumed music: Greater demand, more legit product out there (the better to hide the pirated stuff), more legit outlets (the better...). Somebody peddling music CDs at a street fair would probably go unnoticed, notso someone with a bunch of Windows install discs! While you could get more per piece for software, it would be hard to sell as many, and harder to stay unnoticed.
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
06/15/2004 20:12 Comments ||
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A suspected mastermind of the Madrid train bombings was planning another terrorist attack, but intelligence and law enforcement officials in Europe say they are still struggling to determine its nature and location. Excerpts of confidential telephone conversations intercepted and analyzed by Italyâs antiterrorism unit suggest that Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, the 32-year-old Egyptian arrested outside of Milan on Tuesday, may even have been plotting an attack on the vast Paris Metro system.
But France and Italy denied such claims on Thursday, saying there was no credible evidence to suggest that their territories were the target. "Of course we have analyzed all available information concerning this matter," Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin who is still allegedly a man of France told reporters during a visit to Germany. "I confirm that, in these exchanges, there are no indications about the preparation of possible attacks in Paris, on the Paris Metro or elsewhere."
The excerpts, contained in a 26-page confidential arrest warrant by the Milan prosecutorâs office, offer an unusual window into the possible planning of an attack and the thinking of Rabei. Rabei, also known as "Mohammad the Egyptian," has been identified by the Spanish authorities as the possible mastermind behind the Madrid terror attacks that left 191 people dead. A former Egyptian Army explosives expert, he was well-connected with radical Islamic networks throughout Europe and had spent time in France, they said.
In one conversation on May 26, Rabei boasts to Yahia Payumi, a 21-year-old Egyptian who was arrested with him, that plans are under way for some sort of chemical attack against the United States. Rabei reports "bad news" - that a woman named "Hotaf" has been "discovered," but adds, "There are other women." Among them is "Mouattaf," who has already been "prepared with many medicinal products," he said. "If she tosses a stick she destroys an entire American neighborhood."
The telephone intercepts underscore the difficulties faced by intelligence agencies in trying to monitor and eradicate terrorist cells in Europe. In recent weeks, the United States told a number of European countries that there was credible information of an imminent terrorist attack against a European Union target, perhaps around the time of the elections of European Union countries that began Thursday and will continue through Sunday, a senior European counterterrorist official said Thursday. French, Spanish and Belgian officials said Thursday that the Italian authorities had given them only partial transcripts of the intercepted conversations - part of a warrant for Rabeiâs arrest - and that the translations from Arabic into Italian and the Italian analysis might not be accurate.
In addition, the conversations, first reported in Thursdayâs editions of Italyâs Corriere della Sera newspaper, are incomplete and appear to be partially in code.
Yep, they aren't completely stupid, are they.
More than once, Rabei warns a man in Belgium identified only as "Mourad" not to discuss certain things on the telephone. In one conversation, on May 29, "Mourad" tells Rabei that he is "ready," that he should be in Paris soon and that "the operation is moving forward." Rabei asks for information "about the city," (which the Italians conclude is Paris) and "about the Metro."
So Rabei doesn't actually say "Paris", but the Italians use their intel and common sense to figure out -- no wonder Dominique is lost.
In another conversation intercepted by the Belgian authorities and summarized in the Italian document, a third man identified as "Mohammed," who is already in Paris, is said to be ready for martyrdom, "that is, for the execution of a suicide operation," the Italian document concluded. On May 24, Rabei tells "Mourad" that the operation began four days ago and that he should be prepared to leave Belgium for an unspecified country.
An Italian official in Milan close to the investigation said that "it was wrong to say that Paris is where the attack was going to be." He added that the Italian authorities believe that Paris may have only been a convenient meeting point for the operatives. The official added, however, that it was "certain" that the cell had been "planning something" inside Iraq. In the past year, intelligence officials have begun to see the recruitment and deployment of guerrilla fighters from Europe to Iraq to fight the American-led occupation there.
Better there than Baltimore.
Rabei was identified by Spanish officials shortly after the Madrid attacks as one of a number of suspects who could have been ultimately responsible for the plot.
In one conversation, Rabei refers to the Madrid bombings as "a project of mine." In another conversation in May, Rabei reportedly boasted that he could change his fingerprints. "I know a way that allows me to continually change my fingerprints," he said in a conversation with Yahia Payumi, who was arrested with him. "They are never the same." He added, "Not even the American intelligence services will find me."
"Hi, Mr. Rabei, my name is Tyrone, and I'm your chief interrogator. Welcome to Gitmo."
Rabei also said in that conversation that he had used different nationalities - Jordanian, Egyptian, Palestinian and Syrian - until his friends in Tangier "told me to stop, because theyâll get you." In his May 24 conversation with "Mourad," Rabei said that he could not travel to Spain because "the entire group" - "our friends" - have "all gone to God."
Rabei and Payumi were arrested in coordination with the arrests of 15 people in Belgium who also were said to be planning an attack.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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a third man identified as "Mohammed," who is already in Paris
Boy howdy, that really narrows down the list of suspects. France's liberal Muslim immigration policies (i.e., Khomeni et al) is really paying off big time.
#3
OK I'll take Italy for 300 dead Alex, since France didn't support this adventure
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
06/15/2004 3:04 Comments ||
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I don't seem to recall Turkey supporting the Iraq War either, yet they've been bombed several times over the last year. I also don't remember the Iraqi's lining up to get jobs to feed their children helping the Coalition either. Has this stopped them from being targeted and killed though?
Posted by: Charles ||
06/15/2004 6:05 Comments ||
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#5
Charles - NMM is an idiot. Don't waste your breath.
#6
How long do you give it until they successfully attack the tube Bulldog?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/15/2004 6:18 Comments ||
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They've tried before, and it's not exactly a difficult target to attack. It's prtobably just a matter of time before one cell manages to.
I wonder what effect a large scale terrorist strike would have on London, whether it's on the tube or elsewhere in London or the UK? Would we see much enhanced security down there? The closure of some of the 'redundant' stations, even very busy ones? A change in the layout of station entrances (above ground 'check in' areas)? It's such an easy place to kill a large number of people, and yet so vital to London's functioning, it must be a nightmare to event think about securing. I suppose the only thing in the tube's favour is it's not exactly the best target for an al Qaeda 'spectacular' - the carnage and immediate aftermath would be hidden from view.
#8
The police are putting in more of an appearance in recent times which makes me wonder.. have a look at the workman at King's Cross - I am reliably informed there's always one in a blue boiler suit sat down carefully checking out the booking hall(!) Same at Charing Cross from what I've experienced - stopping and searching, dogs etc.. Can't carry my stash to work anymore!
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/15/2004 7:03 Comments ||
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#9
the carnage and immediate aftermath would be hidden from view
Bulldog - I'm not so sure it would be hidden from view. The rabid British press would find a way to get cameras down there. The Sun and the like to get people pissed off, the BBC to blame Blair and Bush. The pictures would get out, and rather quickly I suspect.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/15/2004 9:03 Comments ||
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#10
Can't carry my stash to work anymore!
You're english, you're talking tea, of course, right?... Don't worry, we won't tell anyone.
Posted by: Dan ||
06/15/2004 14:10 Comments ||
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#12
Hmm. It's interesting to note that the subway system in Washington DC is also called the Metro.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/15/2004 14:40 Comments ||
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#13
it just pisses me off that we have to modify our entire civilized way of life to accomodate these islamic asswipes. We've had to place cops and suveillance everywhere, we have to go through damn near a full body cavity search just to get on a friggin airplane, and what used to be celebrations like the olympics or July 4th become exercises in meticulous security planning. I mean, if these pissants from the ROP would have done SOMETHING --ANYTHING-- valuable over the last 1000 years - in medicine, culture, science, art, et - I would decide to take the good with the bad. BUT THERE HAS BEEN NO GOOD WHATSOEVER!
So I say fukem.
(sorry... it just started especially getting to me today. dunno why)
EFL
The German prosecutor who investigated the al-Qaida cell in Hamburg, Germany, has canceled his appearance before the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, the panel said Tuesday. Matthias Krauss was scheduled to testify Wednesday before the 10-member panel as part of a public hearing on the 9/11 plot. He notified the commission during the weekend that he could not attend and declined last-minute overtures to reconsider, the panel said. In Germany, a spokeswoman for Krauss said the prosecutor couldnât attend because of scheduling reasons but would submit written answers to the panelâs questions. The office also stressed its commitment of "full cooperation" with U.S. authorities. More at the link. Scheduling conflict or something else?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/15/2004 4:44:39 PM ||
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Kee-rap. Link gives another article. Let's try this:
Abdi, 32, was indicted on four counts -- two each of supporting terrorist activity and fraud and misuse of immigration travel documents. They carry a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison. Abdi was arrested Nov. 28, 2003, but his indictment wasnât announced until Monday.
Been having a few words with him, have you?
He appeared before a federal magistrate in Columbus to answer the charges. He also appeared Jan. 28 in a federal immigration court in Detroit for a hearing closed to the public in an attempt to deport him to Somalia. Brock and other federal authorities on Monday were tight-lipped about what they say was a plot by Abdi, who they say underwent "jihad training" to commit a terrorist act.
Authorities, though, emphasized Monday that Abdi was arrested before he could finalize any specific plan and hadnât selected a target of any terrorist acts he contemplated. "This plot was foiled while it was still in the planning purposes," said Bill Hunt, first assistant U.S. attorney involved in the case. "(There were) ominous threats attributed to this individual, threats to blow up a shopping mall," Brock said. "We do not believe there is an imminent threat to malls. -- We had no indication of a specific mall." Allegations of immigration violations brought attention to Abdi from federal authorities. They accuse Abdi, who Brock said lived in the Columbus area for "at least two or three years" and has family there, of using fake immigration papers to illegally re-enter the United States from Africa in June 1999. He earlier told U.S. officials he was leaving the country to visit Germany and Saudi Arabia. Instead, the indictment alleges, Abdi left the U.S. and was receiving "military-style" terrorist training, including training for explosives, guerrilla warfare, radio usage and weapons.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 10:03:56 AM ||
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I think that this can be seen as an illustration of just how adept these sleepers are at blending in with the local community. The Somali connection is also interesting, since both Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and his flunky Ghailani have both served as leaders within al-Ittihaad al-Islamiyyah.
Friends and family of a Columbus man who was charged Monday with plotting to blow up a local shopping mall said that they were shocked by the news of an alleged terrorist threat. Nuradin M. Abdi, a 32-year-old Somali national, was indicted and charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida, and two counts of fraud and misuse of government documents. The FBI said that Abdi conspired with admitted al-Qaida member Iyman Faris, who also lived in Columbus, and was jailed previously for a plan to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge. Authorities said the pair allegedly planned to detonate a bomb at an unidentified mall. "We are shocked," said Abdi Shakur, a friend of Abdiâs family. "We believe that Nuradin Abdi is innocent until found guilty." Abdiâs friends and family said that he is like any immigrant who escaped the clan-based war in Somalia, looking for a better life. They described Abdi as a family man and hard worker, who co-owned a north side cellular phone business.
I'll wager the FBI is having a good look at his customer list.
They said the terrorist allegations against Abdi seem unreal and very unlike the Somali mindset.
Errr, is there another Somalia I don't know about?
"As a Somali man, I donât see any reason that you know to cause you, as a Somali man, to be an American hater," said Mohamoud Guleid of the Columbus Somali Community Association. "Weâve been helped by the United States for 10 years or more than that."
Ever seen "Blackhawk Down"?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 10:00:58 AM ||
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I think that this can be seen as an illustration of just how adept these sleepers are at blending in with the local community.
Or how being a jihadi terrorist doesn't stand out.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/15/2004 11:44 Comments ||
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Let me guess. A quiet guy... kept to himself, mainly?
#4
"As a Somali man, I donât see any reason that you know to cause you, as a Somali man, to be an American hater," said Mohamoud Guleid of the Columbus Somali Community Association. "Weâve been helped by the United States for 10 years or more than that."
As to the Somalis in Columbus, that's more true than not. Remember, kids, these are the folks who moved here to get away from the Blackhawk Down crowd.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/15/2004 14:55 Comments ||
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Abdi came to the United States in June 1999 after gaining asylum status earlier that year. "The government is prepared to offer evidence that with the exception of some minor biographical data, every aspect of the asylum application submitted by the defendant was false," said the prosecutors' document seeking continued detention.
The indictment charges that on April 27, 1999, Abdi applied for travel documents from the U.S. government stating he intended to go to Germany and Saudi Arabia when he planned to travel to Ogaden, Ethiopia, for jihad training. When he returned in March 2000, Abdi reentered the United States from Africa using the asylum documents gained through fraud, according to the indictment. Faris picked him up from the airport in Columbus, according to the detention document.
Prosecutors allege that Abdi, Faris and other unnamed co-conspirators then plotted to blow up a Columbus-area mall and that Abdi was instructed in bomb-making by one of the co-conspirators. The charges against Abdi could bring 55 years in prison.
And there ya have it. Forged documents, the "innocent until proven guilty" parroting by family and friends, the jihad training, the co-conspirator buddy, admitted al-Qaida member Iyman Faris, who was jailed previously for a plan to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge, and . . .
the arrest! :-) ha! Way to go, our side! I detest Islamo-scum. 55 years sounds good.
For quite a few of the accused, there are those who will claim that they are "family men", or "hard workers". Put the guy on trial and sort it all out in court.
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banners openly. But a traitor moves among those within the gate freely, and his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys are heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears no traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to their victims and wears their face and their garments, and appeals to the baseness which lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of the nation; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared."
This applies to the mass of "moderate" America born muslims and to new inmmigrants like the one in question here.
For originality, "Spengler" rocks
Departed US Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet tried to ascertain whether available intelligence justified a war, I observed last week. The late president Ronald Reaganâs CIA chief, Bill Casey, knew that if you want intelligence, first you start a war.
If you ask the wrong question, you will get the wrong answer. Reaganâs people had the courage to ask the right question to begin with, namely whether the Soviet system could keep pace with Americaâs drive for strategic superiority. The diplomatic and academic establishment asked the wrong question, that is, how detente might be perpetuated with a seemingly eternal Russian empire. Was communism merely a somewhat obstreperous partner, or an enemy to be defeated?
Every US intelligence assessment of Soviet military strength and morale available in 1981 was dead wrong. Washington learned better by putting Moscow under stress. How adaptable was Russian weapons technology? Start a high-tech arms race with the Strategic Defense Initiative and find out. How good were Russian avionics? Help the Israeli air force engage Syriaâs MiGs in the Bekaa Valley in 1982, and the destruction with impunity of Russian-built fighters and surface-to-air missile sites would provide a data point. How solid was Russian fighting morale? Instigate irregular warfare against the Russian army in Afghanistan and learn.
The United States lacks the aptitude and inclination to penetrate the mind of adversary cultures (Why America is losing the intelligence war. In the so-called war on terror, it lacks the floating population of irredentist emigres who provided a window into Russian-occupied Eastern Europe back during the Cold War. But the best sort of intelligence stems not from scholarship but from decisiveness of command and clarity of mission. "War is not an intellectual activity but a brutally physical one," observes Sir John Keegan in Intelligence and War, published last year. President George W Bush might do well to read it carefully before choosing the next CIA director.
It was not the intellectuals but the bullyboys of the Reagan administration who shook loose the relevant intelligence. In 1981 the CIA enjoyed a surfeit of Russian speakers, in contrast to todayâs paucity of Arabic translators. But William Casey routinely ignored the legions of Russian-studies PhDs, reaching out instead to irregulars who could give him the insights he required.
Intelligence in warfare presents a different sort of intellectual challenge than academics are trained to address. President Reagan, no intellectual in the conventional sense, nonetheless formed a clear assessment of what the enemy was, what it wanted, and how it might be defeated. Without the courage to define and then engage the enemy, intelligence services will wander randomly in the dark.
If in 1981 the enemy was the "evil empire" of Soviet communism, who is the enemy of the West today? A number of Washingtonâs critics, for example Dr Daniel Pipes, observe that it is senseless to speak of a "war on terrorism", for terrorism is a tactic, a mere method to achieve a strategic goal. But what is the goal and who wishes to achieve it? Without defining the enemy, how can one define the mission?
Pipes and others propose instead to declare war upon "radical Islam", a formulation that leads to just as much confusion. No one, least of all the vast majority of the worldâs Muslims, can say with any clarity what distinguishes radical Islam from "moderate Islam".
Western polemicists felt at home on the moral high ground against communism, along with president Reagan. But they are tongue-tied before radical Islam, fearing to offend a religion with more than a billion adherents. Inadvertently they give credibility to the radicals. It is difficult to assess what proportion of todayâs Muslims are "radicals", because neither the worldâs Muslims nor the West has a clear definition of what is radical and what is not. Vitriolic sermonizing is so commonplace under the eyes of "moderate" regimes, for example Hosni Mubarakâs Egypt, that the label of "radical Islam" has worn thin.
In reality, the West sooner or later will have to draw a bright line between "radicals" and "moderates". Under the circumstances there can be nothing in between. Islamâs encounter with the West leaves room for nothing but radical jihadists on the one hand, or radical reformers. Islam is expansionist by construction and political by its original design. It is a fact of history that jihad, by which I mean specifically the propagation of the faith by violence, is a mainstream tradition. Even communal prayer in Islam has at its center the alignment of the individual believer to jihad (Does Islam have a prayer?, .
Identifying the enemy in 1981 was far easier than in 2004, and President Bush deserves a modicum of sympathy in the inevitable comparison to Ronald Reagan. By 1981 no communists still lived within the confines of the Soviet Empire, only careerists. The emperor had no clothes, such that when Reagan spoke of an evil empire and a warped idea destined for the ash can of history, the truth of his remarks resonated among the Soviet elite. By contrast the Islamic world is full of Muslims. It was much easier for Russians to separate national aspirations and Marxism than it is for Arabs to separate ethnic loyalty and Islam. That is less so for South Asians.
The problem actually is quite simple. To advocate jihad today is the hallmark of the radical Islamist, and it is there that the West must draw a line in the sand. But to repudiate jihad in turn implies radical revision of the religionâs mainstream, and that is the hallmark of the radical reformer.
Like other religions, Islam has reached a point in world history - or rather world history has caught up with Islam - such that it must undergo a fundamental change. By way of comparison, the Catholic Church accepts separation of church and state as well as religious tolerance, but it did so only after the likes of Count Camillo Benso Cavour in Italy stripped the papacy of temporal rule over anything but the square mile of the Vatican City.
Western leaders must not attack Islam; to take sides against any religion runs counter to the traditions of religious tolerance upon which the United States was founded. But they must denounce the use of force to propagate religion, and make it clear that they will match force with force. The enemy is not "terrorism", but any form of violence, including conventional warfare, in the service of religious expansionism.
What does that mean in practice? First of all it changes the subject and shifts the battleground. The issue is not whether Middle Eastern governments will adopt democratic reforms - that is not within the power of the West to dictate - but whether Muslims will employ violence in the service of territorial irredentism in the Kashmir or Palestine. There simply is no more room for the jihadist dogma that Muslims may not abandon a square meter of the Dar al-Islam. Violence to reclaim lost territory is a characteristic of radical Islam and the hallmark of an enemy of the West. The first step should be to remove Yasser Arafat to exile in some inaccessible locale.
Further steps should be action - not protests - to protect Nigerians, Indonesians, or Sudanese against violent attempts to further the Islamic cause. Black Sudanese are the victims of genocide encouraged by the radical Islamic regime in Khartoum. Washington should send them not only food, but also weapons and Special Forces advisers. Stern warnings, backed if necessary by a reduction in foreign aid, should be delivered to US clients in the Middle East that jihadist rhetoric on the part of government newspapers and government-sponsored clerics simply will not be tolerated.
Enemy is radical Islam
In short, the West must give the Islamic world a clear choice as to who is with it, and who is against it - words that President Bush has used but with muddled meaning. That would change the character of the intelligence war utterly. It may be harder to define who is friend and foe today than it was in 1981, but by the same token, it will be far easier to tell friend from foe once the West carves its criteria in stone.
The bane of US intelligence in the Middle East from Somalia to Iraq has been its inability to know whom it can trust. Victory has many fathers, while defeat is an orphan, although sometimes attended by paternity suits. The unseemly public exchange of charges between the CIA and the Pentagon over Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi is the most flagrant example. The CIA has placed stories in the press claming that Chalabi is an Iranian provocateur, heatedly denied by Chalabiâs friends in the Pentagon civilian establishment. This removes all doubt that Americaâs intelligence effort is an orphan. The only question is, whose?
It would be convenient if US universities trained prospective spies in Middle Eastern and South Asian language skills and culture. But the United States can obtain all the spies it wants with all required skills: it simply has to persuade Muslims to join its cause. Once the US determined to win the Cold War, enough Russians and Eastern Europeans switched sides to give the US the winning hand. Existential despair is the result of the Westâs tragic encounter with the Islamic world, but it can cut two ways; it has produced suicide bombers, but it also can produce radical reformers who repudiate their own culture in favor of the West.
If Washington were to make repudiation of jihad a condition for friendship with the United States, the demand would have unpredictable and destabilizing consequences for the Islamic world. Just as the race of Sovietologists viewed Reaganâs determination to destabilize the Soviet Empire with horror, the whole profession of Mideast studies would rear up in horror against such a stance. But wars are won by ignoring the fat and complacent commanders of garrison troops, and forcing the burden of uncertainty on to the other side (Ronald Reaganâs creative destruction, ). Decisive intelligence stems from destabilization of the opposing side, through defections and similar events.
Bush might as well shut down the CIA and re-create something like the wartime Office of Strategic Services, for which Casey parachuted agents into occupied Europe. Most of the CIA amounts to a make-work project for second-rate academics, drawn from an academic environment generally hostile to US strategic interests. Even if US universities still produced strategic thinkers rather than multicultural mush-heads, and even if the CIA could recruit them, little would change. In spite of the academics, Bill Casey won his intelligence war because the US convinced enough players on the other side that it would win. To win to its side the best men and women of the Islamic world, the United States must make clear what it wants from them.
Posted by: tipper ||
06/15/2004 12:57:12 AM ||
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#2
Great article. We need a lean, mean, intelligence-gathering machine. We need to get out of our hang-ups of getting our hands dirty. Ceasing apologies to Islamists would be a good start. Then we need to start gathering intelligence on the BMIs the Big Mouth Imams. They need to know that they who preach for the destruction of the United States will be targets. Once some just plain joes see what happens, then we might get some people to turn and get intelligence. The Israelis seem to be able to do this. Not all the situations will be the same by any means, but we could sure learn. We have to harden for the long haul war.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2004 2:35 Comments ||
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#3
Pipes and others propose instead to declare war upon "radical Islam", a formulation that leads to just as much confusion. No one, least of all the vast majority of the worldâs Muslims, can say with any clarity what distinguishes radical Islam from "moderate Islam".
Horseradish! Let's draw the line right here:
[Mufti] Shamzai was the principal exponent of International Islamism which holds, firstly, that the loyalty of a Muslim is first to his religion and then only to the country of which he is resident or a citizen; secondly, that Muslims do not recognise national frontiers and hence have the right and the obligation to wage jihad anywhere to protect their religion; and, thirdly, that the Muslims have the right and the religious obligation to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction to protect their religion, if necessary.
If your cause is carried on irrespective of international borders, your host nation's laws or with an unwillingness to tolerate any other culture, you are the enemy.
Western polemicists felt at home on the moral high ground against communism, along with president Reagan. But they are tongue-tied before radical Islam, fearing to offend a religion with more than a billion adherents. Inadvertently they give credibility to the radicals.
If we are "tounge-tied before radical Islam," then they have already won the battle. It must be made excruciatingly clear, per "The Three Conjectures," that all Islam will face extinction by nuclear anihilation should its radical component be permitted to attain ascendancy.
There must be a price attached to neglecting the need for peaceful coexistence. If Islam is unable or unwilling to rein those who advocate its expansionist doctrine, the entire religion as a whole will meet with fiery death and naught else. This is what is known in law enforcement circles as, "The Riot Act."
#4
"Instigate irregular warfare against the Russian army in Afghanistan and learn. " OH HELL YES we learned on 9/11 how that paid off
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
06/15/2004 3:08 Comments ||
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#5
Good article but he misses the point - But they are tongue-tied before radical Islam, fearing to offend a religion with more than a billion adherents. - The problem is a post-modern world view that precludes making statements about identifiable groups. Like most people I am generally in favor of this when it is something over which people (note the use of people and not individuals) have no control like race, I do not extend this to religion - this means all religions.
I consider all religions bad, but some are less bad than others and all have beneficial aspects. In a modern society the onus should be on the religion to demonstrate that it should be tolerated. So I would go further than Pipes and say we should declare war on all forms of Islam, with the exception of those that prove they should be tolerated (and only while they maintain that proof).
Posted by: Phil B ||
06/15/2004 3:16 Comments ||
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#6
NMM and your logic for blaming Reagan for 9/11 would be what exactly? Aiding the Afghanis in training and weapons transfers to fight off an invasion of their country? Or perhaps you meant Reagan should have let Russia expand further through Afghanistan, thereby creating a buffer zone for its own internal territories and having a base for expansion towards central asia? Or perhaps you meant bin Laden who at the time wasn't even a minor lieutenant in the resistance forces of Afghanistan? Or perhaps you mean the Taliban who first appeared in 1994? Reagan and the CIA didn't have a hand in producing these guys, they came into their own cognizance. Blaming Reagan and the CIA for it is denying reality. They appeared because of the power vacuum that resulted after the Soviet pullout and the tribal infighting. They appeared not because of poverty but because they wanted power, absolute power in some cases. Look at the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, the Taliban wanted to rule Afghanistan in the way it believed was true Islamic teachings, ignoring the essence that the Afghanis had their own variations of islam as part of their culture they (the Talibs) imposed a harsh Wahhabist style approach that was very totalitarian. Lets look at Osama now, he wants the caliphate to come back, and who does he see as bringing it back? Yep that'd be himself, is he egomaniacal? Possibly as well, nonetheless it is true, its also the one thing that Islam (moderate and radical share), namely the trait of a select few (in most cases the clerics and/or the male population to a much smaller extent) are the only ones gaining the power. Under sharia law only muslims have recognition and at that only muslim males, to declare any laws you need to be a cleric, so now you got muslim male clerics in positions of absolute power. And what do we know about absolute power? It corrupts absolutely. Yup..these little things called facts tend to escape you guys it seems.
#7
Valentine - If you don't know him, NMM is like one of those small obnoxious dogs. He shows up at the very end of the day and posts DU Talking Points (aka screeches) - noisy little "Yip! Yip! Yip!" sounds, scatters a few turds, and then pees on your shoes. When he is dry, he runs away. No one can quite figure out why he has adopted this pointless and retarded behavior - save that he must be same.
Your post, a very nice reasoned piece is, indeed, appreciated by the RBers but, alas, 'tis lost on NMM. Sorry!
#9
Most of the CIA amounts to a make-work project for second-rate academics, drawn from an academic environment generally hostile to US strategic interests.
#10
Thanks for the link, tipper. I had never read Spengler before, and promptly got lost in his back catalog, starting with his take on the Civil War, and then was delighted to see he had written about one of my favorite stories, Dashiell Hammett's Red Wind. I like how he tied both into what's going on in the here and now, namely the WOT. Looking forward to reading more ...
#13
From the link "Why America is losing the intelligence war":
Today's intelligence war with radical Islam comes down to a contest for the loyalties of the population of individuals who can move between both worlds. The vast majority of these are university students from Islamic countries in the US or Western Europe, and the remainder are students of Oriental languages in the West. For several reasons, the US is at a vast disadvantage.
Unlike other immigrants, Muslim students in the US neither are poor nor politically disenfranchised. They are there precisely because they belong to the elite of their country, for whom foreign study is a privilege. Few are prepared to abandon their culture, while many resent the West. Because of the cultural divide, the vast majority of Muslims who study in the West read sciences or mathematics. Indian and Chinese foreign students dominate these faculties. No Arab has become a scientist of note since the early Middle Ages, while the universities are full of Indian and Chinese Nobelists. Hell hath no fury like an elite slighted. These circumstances tend to provoke the resentment of Arab and other Muslim foreign students toward the West.
Muslim students attending the most prestigious Western universities, moreover, hear nothing of the merits of Western culture. Instead, what they learn from post-colonial theory, deconstructionism, and post-modernism is that all culture is a pretext for the assertion of power by oppressors. No qualitative difference separates Dante and Goethe from the meanest screed of the cheapest propagandist. What matters is the sub-text, the expression of power relations buried beneath the rhetoric. They learn of the evil US that slaughtered its native population, oppressed blacks and other minorities, degraded women, marginalized the poor, and operates on behalf of plutocratic financial interests.
#14
"In reality, the West sooner or later will have to draw a bright line between "radicals" and "moderates". Under the circumstances there can be nothing in between. Islamâs encounter with the West leaves room for nothing but radical jihadists on the one hand, or radical reformers."
Sooner or later we're going to have to get down to brass tacks: I can understand the need to employ this "War on Terror" euphemism that we've used so far, so that we don't put ourselves into a confrontation with all of Arabian Islam before we have firmly established Iraq as a regional base for American military operations.
And I can understand if we continue that obfuscation a bit longer; after all, we have our hands full right now stabilizing Iraq and getting it to some semblance of self-governance.
But eventually we're going to have a direct confrontation with this dysfunctional and toxic culture and force Islam to make the leap that Christianity made many years ago: that submitting to God must never mean submitting to man.
And if they cannot make that leap, and jettison their expansionist impulses, we will have to destroy them-- every last one.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/15/2004 11:50 Comments ||
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#15
Great article... but question is : will your president, either Bush or Kerry, have the moral clarity to "carve the criteria in stone"?
#16
That's a good question. For Kerry, I doubt the answer could possibly be "yes". And if he is elected, I will take it as a signal that the U.S. is not going to be able to muster the will to fight this fight in earnest-- at least not until the jihadis do something spectacularly heinous like nuking one of our cities.
On Bush, I think the question is still open. It may really be that he, too, lacks the courage to do what must be done; but more likely, I think, is he is waiting until we've finished doing our groundwork in Iraq and waiting, also, for our quadrennial period of domestic tribal warfare (i.e., the November elections) to run its course.
Those elections will also determine the makeup of Congress, and only Congress can authorize the President to use military force. The present Congress had a difficult enough time authorizing force against Iraq, and I doubt it could be persuaded to give a mandate for action against Iran, Syria or Saudi Arabia. To do that, major political changes would be needed and they certainly won't happen before November.
People who are fond of bitching at us because we invaded Iraq instead of [insert favorite target here] often overlook the political realities in the U.S., and ignore our constitutional separation of powers as well. If Bush were to order an invasion of Iran without Congressional authorization, he would be out of the White House within a week.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/15/2004 12:10 Comments ||
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#17
Two important points:
"...an academic environment generally hostile to US strategic interests..." "Muslim students attending the most prestigious Western universities, moreover, hear nothing of the merits of Western culture."
IIRC, somebody once termed the chattering-class support of Communism the "treason of the intellectuals." Hostility to one's own culture isn't new:
"...the idiot who praises
   with enthusiastic tone,
all centuries but this
   and every country but his own..."
      --W.S. Gilbert, The Mikado, 1885
but, given the current circumstances, it's a luxury that's becoming less affordable. [Insert your own time-to-clean-out-the -academy rant here. I don't have the energy :-)]
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
06/15/2004 14:24 Comments ||
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#18
This article's not very helpful, inasmuch as violent jihad is a cornerstone of Islam and that apostates from Islam are to be put to death. Having the US and its western allies declare to Muslims "you are either with us or against us", is basically the same as declaring war on Islam. The major political & religious changes necessary are really up to the Islamic world, and not under US control. The bromide that "Islam is really a religion of peace" is useful like a pain pill is against a ruptured appendix. The profound ignorance of the average US citizen about Islam and the scarcity of non-Muslims who are intimately familiar with Arabic & Muslim languages and cultures is something that can be remedied on our side. To some extent, this is already happening as US military personnel are rotating out of Iraq and Afghanistan and passing their experience around, but this will take years.
#19
Dave D: I don't think that the congress will approve any additional military action in the ME until/unless we are attacked again in a significant way. The preemption doctrine is not widely supported and as Tresho points out, going deeper into the ME to convert the heathen as it were is going to prove a non-starter with the locals.
If we are hit hard, then we will have the will to wage total war and that is the only thing that will force change within Islam. Until then, I don't think either party's president would be able to take significant action.
Note that this is not what I would like to see, just what I believe is the current reality.
Posted by: remote man ||
06/15/2004 14:37 Comments ||
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#20
I can neither confirm nor deny...
But IMHO we were much more agressive in the 80's.
We were also much more well funded. the mid 1990's were when the 3 letter agencies got raped in order to provide a "peace dividend". Ask Senator Kerry about all those intelligence budgets he voted NO on.
The independent commission probing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has found evidence suggesting the attacks were intended to be carried out in May or June of that year, but were postponed by al Qaeda leaders because lead hijacker Mohamed Atta was not ready, according to sources privy to the panelâs findings.
New evidence gathered by the commission, including information obtained from U.S.-held detainees, indicates that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, mastermind of the attacks, persuaded al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to postpone the attacks by several months because of the organizational problems, according to the sources, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the commissionâs investigation.
That scenario would mark a dramatic revision of the commonly understood narrative of the Sept. 11 attacks and contrasts sharply with prevailing theories of FBI agents investigating the plot. Until now, federal investigators have said the evidence indicates that the attacks were likely planned for a narrow time frame around Sept. 11. If there had been an alternate date, investigators have said, it was probably later in the year.
The possible date postponement is included in a draft report that has been circulated among government and commission officials in recent days, and is expected to be among the topics discussed during a Wednesday hearing focusing on the origins and execution of the Sept. 11 plot. The panel, which is preparing to release its final report in late July, is expected to issue a separate report on Thursday exploring whether U.S. fighter jets may have been able to intercept American Airlines Flight 77 before it struck the Pentagon if they had been dispatched more quickly, according to commission sources.
Commission officials and members declined to discuss publicly the findings or evidence pointing to an earlier date for the hijackings. Chairman Thomas H. Kean said the timing issue will be addressed, but he declined to comment on any conclusions. He said this weekâs hearings "will be two of the most interesting hearings that weâve had, from the point of view of what we reveal about the plot and plotters and what we reveal about the response. . . . There will be new information."
One official who has seen the findings to be released Wednesday said they are based on "intelligence coming in that they wanted an earlier date. Itâs something really new." Another official said the commissionâs conclusion appeared to be based in part on information gleaned from interrogations of Mohammed, who has been in U.S. custody since March 2003.
The new evidence indicates that the original timing of the attacks was postponed for readiness reasons and not in reaction to heightened security in the early summer of 2001, when the CIA, FBI and other agencies were on high alert for a possible al Qaeda strike, several sources said.
Bin Laden had been pushing for the hijackings to be carried out in May or June, but he was persuaded by Mohammed to agree to a delay because Atta and his conspirators were not prepared, one source said. The leading hijackers did not begin making reconnaissance flights for the hijackings until May, when they began flying transcontinental routes passing through Las Vegas, according to evidence compiled by FBI investigators.
The FBI has long believed that the hijackers were flexible about the date of the attack, but has not previously found credible evidence of an earlier date, according to law enforcement officials. Instead, some bureau investigators have focused on clues suggesting that the attack may have been moved up after the August 2001 arrest of alleged al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui in Minnesota, according to these sources, who requested anonymity because the evidence is classified. "Weâve never had a theory that September 11 was supposed to occur earlier than September 11," one law enforcement official said. "There is a theory that it was supposed to be later but was moved up because of [Moussaouiâs] arrest."
The hijackers were looking for Boeing 757 and 767 jetliners, for which the pilots had trained and on which a half-dozen hijackers had flown as passengers in reconnaissance missions earlier in the summer. The only days they avoided in their research were weekends, the official said. Investigators have found no evidence that the hijackers bought tickets for any other planes on Sept. 11, nor have they concluded that other suspicious passengers were ticketed aboard other flights that day. "You can see them looking for flights, but theyâre not looking for Sept. 11, and theyâre not only looking at Boston, Newark and Dulles," the official said. "Itâs not until they do all their research that they chose a date. They were not set on that Tuesday."
Kristen Breitweiser, a member of a group called the Family Steering Committee, said in an interview yesterday that evidence of an earlier date "will be a shock" to many relatives of those who were killed Sept. 11. "This is an example of al Qaeda postponing something and carrying it through with great success," said Breitweiser, whose husband, Ronald, died at the World Trade Center. "This means they follow through, and I hope we learn from that."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 12:21:07 AM ||
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#1
Bin Laden had been pushing for the hijackings to be carried out in May or June, but he was persuaded by Mohammed to agree to a delay because Atta and his conspirators were not prepared
This might be why Atta traveled to Prague in April.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/15/2004 8:44 Comments ||
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An Indonesian student charged with terrorism said on Tuesday he met Osama bin Laden in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi before the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Is there anyone of these guys who didn't meet Binny?
Muhamad Syaifudin, 24, was one of six Indonesian students deported from Pakistan last December due to their alleged links with regional Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI), which has been tied to bin Ladenâs al Qaeda. "I and my friends had a meeting with Osama bin Laden at Al Farouq mosque in Karachi. The meeting was before the September 11 incident," Syaifudin told reporters before the start of his trial at the Central Jakarta District court. Syaifudin did not give a date for his meeting with bin Laden. Asked whether the meeting discussed the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, Syaifudin said: "Of course not. Such a plan cannot be told to everyone." Syaifudin had been a student at Abu Bakar Islamic university in Karachi when he was detained last September, Weylang said. He was arrested along with Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan, younger brother of senior JI leader Hambali, suspected mastermind of the September 11 strikes. Hambali was arrested in Thailand last August and has been in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 10:17:19 AM ||
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#1
It's interesting that he met him in Karachi, rather than Afghanistan.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/15/2004 22:07 Comments ||
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Gunmen have killed a village official and an aid worker, and wounded a retired policeman, in three separate incidents in Thailandâs troubled Muslim-dominated south. A gunman killed the Muslim chief clerk of a village administrative body in Narathiwat province as he was entering his office on Monday. Two gunmen shot a female aid worker in neighboring Yala province. Police said that killing may have been the result of a personal conflict. In nearby Pattani province, a retired Muslim policeman was shot while riding a motorcycle. He was hospitalized in stable condition.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/15/2004 6:07:08 AM ||
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#1
I don't think we have properly exploited these alliterative headlines.
Iraqi Infiltrator Incendiaries (suicide bombers)
Jihadi Joint Japes (European operations)
Northern Nigerian Nullifactions (killings of Christians)
Somali Selective Salutations (anything that happens in Somalia)
Posted by: Phil B ||
06/15/2004 8:10 Comments ||
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A country where lashing, amputations, eye-gouging, and stoning to death are not considered torture.
In recent years, summer in Iran has been marked by uprisings, strikes, public protests and the governmentâs harsh crackdown against them. There are signs this summer will be no different. As the anniversary of the anti-government uprising of July 1999 approaches, widespread arrests of dissident students and women are taking place. Some students are nabbed from their dormitories by plainclothes Revolutionary Guard agents, while many others are served arrest warrants. The US International Bureau of Broadcastingâs Radio Farda reported on May 29 that, "the persistent summoning and detention of students all over the country has caused fear and insecurity in universities."
Teheranâs Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi has ordered a crackdown on "social corruption," saying that "a serious fight has started to tackle the spread of social corruption in society, especially the improper dress code." Youths, particularly women, are the main targets of such campaigns. These repressive actions are in line with a series of preventive measures taken by the Iranian regime to neutralize Iranâs democracy movement and to subdue an increasingly restive population.
The state-controlled daily Ressalat expressed concern over the spread of popular uprisings, stating: "Certainly, the psychological atmosphere of June and July requires the vigilance of the Hizbullah as never before."
Gonna be a long hot summer
Similar repressive measures last year gave rise to number of arrests and executions. The recent country report on human rights practices published by the US State Department says, "The [Iranian] governmentâs poor human rights record worsened in 2003... Continuing serious abuses included: summary executions; disappearances; torture and other degrading treatment, severe punishments such as beheading and flogging; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention." According to an appalling report by the Human Rights Watch, Iranâs rulers "through the systematic use of indefinite solitary confinement of political prisoners, physical torture of student activists and denial of basic due process rights" work to silence the dissidents.
LAST MONTH, perhaps in light of the increasing concerns about Iranâs rampant human rights violations â particularly the torture death of the Iranian-born Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi last summer â Iranian judiciary chief Mahmoud Shahroudi ordered a ban on the use of torture. But in Iran, torture is very much a question of definition.
Although torture had already been banned in Iranâs 1979 constitution, it remained the mullahsâ weapon of choice in dealing with dissidents. In fact, Shahroudiâs decree was an explicit admission that widespread torture continues.
Most of the practices that fall under "religious punishment" in Iranâs penal code, such as lashing, amputations, eye-gouging, and stoning to death, are banned by the Convention Against Torture. In the perverted lexicon of the mullahs, these punishments are not considered torture.
Just practicing the Religion Of Peace
Just this past weekend, the state-run daily Kayhan reported that four prisoners had been sentenced to death for "waging war on God" and "corrupting the Earth," a charge that is usually saved for political dissidents. The daily added that the right hand and left leg of two other prisoners will be amputated.
Inside prisons a religious judge can arbitrary issue an order for tazir â a religious term for physical punishment of the detainee that ranges from lashing the victim to solitary confinement and electric shock. The ban on torture, of course, does not apply to tazir. The memoir of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, an 82-year-old senior Iranian cleric and former designated successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, documents many of the atrocities committed by the clerical regime.
Among the damning revelations is the text of a 1986 private letter to Khomeini. Complaining about the ill treatment of prisoners, Montazeri wrote in part: "Do you know that crimes are being committed in the prisons of the Islamic Republic in the name of Islam the like of which was never seen in the Shahâs evil regime? Do you know that a large number of prisoners have been killed under torture by their interrogators? Do you know that in [the city of] Mashad prison, some 25 girls had to have their ovaries or uterus removed as a result of what had been done to them ? Do you know that in some prisons of the Islamic Republic young girls are being raped by force?"
Despite such repression, Iranâs pro-democracy activists will be out again this summer. They will be planning the next march, rally or public protest. For them, this is more than a summer activity. It is a campaign for freedom that, by now, carries the memory of thousands who were tortured, imprisoned and killed while working for this cause. America and Europe regularly condemn Iranâs human-rights record. This summer, perhaps, they will find time to bolster Iranâs democracy movement which seeks to unseat Iranâs ruling tyrants.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 10:14:23 AM ||
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#1
"waging war on god", so easily said! Wax mecca, medina and the dome of doom, set the people free!
#2
...Y'know, just a thought here as to what we should be encouraging the Iranians to do (though we'll have to seriously re-word it):
It is said that if every Jew in Germany had been prepared to take one SS or Gestapo man with them, the Holocaust never would have happened. Long before Hitler charged into Poland, he either would have stopped killing Jews (though admittedly most likely moving onto someone else) or Germany would have been involved in an internal conflict so violent that they wouldn't have been a threat to anyone else.
Here then, is my point - encourage the Iranian population to beat the living crap out of the Hizbullah every chance they get. Beat them, humiliate them, make them regret ever getting up in the morning and saying, "It's a good day to beat apostates!" Don't miss a single opportunity to tell the Iranian people that they OUTNUMBER those who would enslave them.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/15/2004 12:55 Comments ||
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#3
It is said that if every Jew in Germany had been prepared to take one SS or Gestapo man with them, the Holocaust never would have happened
True, but some Jew/civilized person gotta be the first to grab the snake by the head.... it's not easy to convince civilized people to do this.
/end of the obvious ....
Iran reportedly is readying troops to move into Iraq if U.S. troops pull out, leaving a security vacuum. The Saudi daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat, monitored in Beirut, reports Iran has massed four battalions at the border.
Well, thanks very much. That makes it much easier to find them.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat quoted "reliable Iraqi sources" as saying, "Iran moved part of its regular military forces towards the Iraqi border in the southern sector at a time its military intelligence agents were operating inside Iraqi territory."
Yes, we noticed that as well. It's almost like they want to be killed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 10:28:29 AM ||
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#2
not too smart on the part of the iranians..if true they are really putting themselves in a corner..just placing a reason in Bush's lap..if it were not for the nov elections we would already be preparing forces...
Posted by: Dan ||
06/15/2004 10:54 Comments ||
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#3
Hope you set a few battalions aside for a rainy day...
#4
One Brigade of soldiers? A US Brigade is about 5,000, but I imagine an Iranian Brigade would be about double that. It took almost that many US Marines to still a restive Fallujah.
It's not enough for defense, and it certainly isn't enough for offense. So I'm thinking "border patrol." The reason being that the Mullahs are scared stupid about being overthrown, and probably want to have a lot more control over pilgrims.
#5
My understanding is there has been a great deal of infiltration of both fighters and arms from Iran and Syria into Iraq. Almost no mention of this in the mainstream media ( Surprise! ).
My guess is the Iranian troops are a backstop to keep Coalition forces from coming too far in hot pursuit of wanna-be bad guys.
#6
Iran is kinda a study speciality with me. Iran has lot more than just four battations posited near the Iraqi frontier, from my last reading, there is about an army corps ( 3 divisons ) in the area immediately north of Shatt al Arab and three divisions more in the north near the Russian/Turkey/Iraqi frontiers.
And in war it is hard to mobilize four battatlions which already exist. That is not considered mobilization, it is called manuevering.
In order for Iran to be reasonably girding for war and mobilizing, the Pasdarans would have to be sweeping into western Iranian villages to 'recruit' canon fodder soldiers for their units to be formed in the area, and this paper doesnt mention that.
This story sounds like a plant, but it doesn't sound like one of ours.
#8
#4 you must remember that the although the combat in falluja was instense - we did not bring to bear our total combat power. it's the humane way of waging war. in the coming conflict in iran you will see the dogs of war released and they would need more that a corp..
Posted by: Dan ||
06/15/2004 12:08 Comments ||
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#9
Dan, good point. And the Corps doesn't get to play with them until the Air Force has had their way with them. ;)
#12
Iran mobilizing an army to enter Iraq is laughable on the face of it. They would be crushed and they know it. The sand is eroding under the Qom blackhats. And they know that too.
Posted by: remote man ||
06/15/2004 13:56 Comments ||
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#13
I find it no coincidence that Iran makes a move like this at the same time they proclaim to the world that they are a Nuclear Power and we all had just better live with it.
#14
It's times like that that make democracy look bad ><
(If it weren't for the elections - if the leadership didn't have to worry about change until after the war on terror - then we could wage it without fear of political reprisal ...)
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/15/2004 15:38 Comments ||
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#15
I find it no coincidence that Iran makes a move like this at the same time they proclaim to the world that they are a Nuclear Power and we all had just better live with it.
Pretty hard to disagree with this. It appears as thought the Iranian mullahs have been sucking their own butts breathing their own exhaust long enough to actually start believing the bellicose rhetoric that they spew.
#16
Sounds more like a native Iraqi plant designed to get Sunnis to rally to the flag of the interim government. Scare 'em with the spectre of an Iranian intervention, you know?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/15/2004 16:27 Comments ||
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#17
I dont know. Iran (And Saudi Arabia too but they are more sneaky about it) I think is terrified of a free and democratic Iraq with a free and open market and would do almost everything in its power to prevent it.
Tater was a bust and they dont have any legitimate way of sneaking military into Iraq via Pilgrims. Perhaps they are getting desperate. They may be trying to do something to delay the June 30th transfer (when Iraq is no longer an 'occupied' country).
#18
This story sounds like a plant, but it doesn't sound like one of ours.
Considering it comes from a Saudi newspaper supposedly quoting Iraqi sources, it could've come from anywhere and planted for any number of reasons. The 'four battalions' aspect is interesting...
#19
Tater had to be a sideshow. There is no way he was the best they have. The game continues. We have many cards to play on the other side of the border.
#20
#19 - tater is the only hand they have to play at this stage..any overt moves will cause an immediate effect on world opinion and free Bush's hand to move overtly before the elections...
Posted by: Dan ||
06/15/2004 18:15 Comments ||
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#21
There is no question in my mind Tater's play was a paid for performance;a diversionary manuever. It appeared to have the purpose of drawing forces from elsewhere, but I don't know if it had the effect.
That why this story bothers me. A prudent theatre commander could have it confirmed within hours whether this was true. So if the foreign intel service thinking it can get our forces to redeploy plants this story, they would have to know this could be confirmed pretty quickly, so the story would also die as fast, unless there is an attempt to rile a political component either in Iraq or in the USA, or both.
Maybe there are some insightful folks lurking to weigh in on this.
#22
I wouldn't overanalyze this story and hopefully the theatre commander does not overreact to it even if true.
I am sure we are paying plenty of attention to the distribution of Iranian forces but 4 battalions pose a threat to us only if we react.
They would be suicidal to force a showdown by crossing the border, even if they are able to move unchecked for a bit and even if such action coincides with the detonation of a nuke. They should be able to afford to wait: we're withdrawing from Iraq eventually, their nuke program is proceeding unchecked and, despite the wishful thinking of some, their domestic situation is manageable.
#23
Cross the border? Why - they don't realize they've become in range heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 18:49 Comments ||
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#24
Assuming it's true, on a grand political scale I'd guess it's not much more than saber rattling in an attempt to keep the Iraqi interim government from getting too cozy. Then again it could certainly be aimed at cross-border traffic going both ways: assisting money, arms and fighters on their journey into Iraq as well as interfering with infiltration going the other way (you know that the alphabet-soup agencies worldwide are salivating at the operational freedom they almost certainly have in Afghan and Iraqi territory with the US at least nominally running the show).
#25
Again,assuming report is true Iran deployed 4 battalions closer to border,I could easily see them as being security for training camps for Iraq-bound terrorist trainees.The bit about US leaving woud be cover story.The thinking in Tehran might be,US wouldn't hesitate to launch cruise missiles at terror camps,but would not do so if Iranian Army units were there,as that would be act of war.
Posted by: Stephen ||
06/15/2004 19:55 Comments ||
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#26
Stephen, the problem with that logic is that IRan says it isn't protecting terrorists. If an army unit is attacked at a terrorist camp then that is not only confirming that they lied, but gives the US justification take out their Nuclear power plant for precautionary measures. They won't risk the plant.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/15/2004 20:17 Comments ||
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#27
Bush-Powell facilitate a globifada against America, and the sheepish masses support those short-sighted idiots:
#28
do the rest of you smell something? I do... and it smells bad
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 21:42 Comments ||
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#29
Its fairly clear that these troops are to keep Iraqi Infiltrators out of the Arab majority areas inside Iran.
Posted by: Phil B ||
06/15/2004 21:50 Comments ||
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#30
This article reflects the general ignorance of matters military that permeates the media. Iran was fought to a draw by Saddam in eight years of WWI style trench warfare in spite of being three times the size of Iraq. Four battalions don't amount to much of anything but a target of opportunity for a cell of B-52s with cluster bombs. I think this is just an attempt by the press to stir up trouble and support their contention that President Bush hosed up Iraq.
#31
Has anyone ever noticed lately that all the people who thought Reagan was a retarded warmongering idiot out to end the world back when he was alive and in his right mind are now talking about what a reasonable cautious liberal he was now that he's dead and unable to defend himself?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/15/2004 22:28 Comments ||
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#32
Phil - That's cuz they can claim his successes if they make him a liberal and he can't defend himself.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/15/2004 22:45 Comments ||
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#33
Tater had to be a sideshow. There is no way he was the best they have.
I disagree. Consider that Sadr is accused (to at least some degree) of complicity in murdering the extremely popular Ayatollah Abdul Majid al-Khoei, it would seem that he was making a desperate ploy to polarize Iraqi Shiites against a pro-liberation element:
Blood and vengeance was what many experts were forecasting in the long, deliberative months leading to the war in Iraq. And the shocking brutality of the killing of one of Shiite Islam's most respected leaders â a descendant of an illustrious line of clerics â in one of Shiism's holiest sites sent a chill down the international community's collective spine. Al-Khoei was the son of the Grand Ayatollah Abul Qasim al-Khoei, the Shiite world's supreme spiritual leader until his death under house arrest in Iraq in 1992. The younger al-Khoei fled to London following the brutal suppression of the Shiite uprising in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. As the son of a supreme religious leader who courageously attempted to lead his father's followers during the doomed 1991 revolt â when Washington abandoned the Shiites of southern Iraq after encouraging them to revolt against Saddam â his credentials were impeccable.
What's more, the charismatic 41-year-old leader had arrived on Iraqi soil under the protection of U.S. forces. It was the U.S. military that flew al-Khoei in from Kuwait barely two weeks into the war. And U.S. military officials held meetings with the influential cleric in their attempt to stabilize the situation in politically charged southern Iraq. For his part, al-Khoei, a fervent opponent of Saddam who stayed in helpless exile while his father perished under the Iraqi dictator's watchful eyes, apparently played his part admirably. Between issuing calls for peace to his followers on local radio and meeting with various community leaders, al-Khoei told journalists who interviewed him that he was in Iraq merely to attend to his followers, not to pursue political power.
#35
Bad news...the wire services got it wrong. Four divisions, not four battalions.
This is DARPA's translation of the article:
"London: Al-Sharq al-Awsat (Internet Version-WWW) in Arabic 15 Jun 04 [Unattributed Report: "Iran Deploys Four Military Divisions Near [Iraqi] Border"]
London, Al-Sharq al-Awsat -- Reliable Iraqi sources have revealed that Iran moved part of its regular military forces toward the Iraqi border in the southern sector and also
infiltrated numerous military intelligence elements into Iraqi territory.
The source told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that four Iranian Army divisions, including the Golden Division [al-firqah al-Dhahabiyah], are currently stationed near the Iraqi border in the
Al-Amarah and Al-Basrah sector and in the vicinity of Dezful in the Maysan sector and Shalamcheh in the Al-Basrah sector."
The source pointed out that the Iranians might plan to enter Iraqi territory if the US forces withdraw [from Iraq] in order to exploit the security vacuum that could occur there,
relying on their intelligence elements that have been infiltrated into Iraq since the overthrow of the former regime over a year ago."
Recalculate, and please carry on with the discussion. Especially useful would be Iranian TOE and OOB, including coordinates, as recent as possible to augment what CSIS and Global Security have to offer.
Iranâs Foreign Minister has rejected claims that his government is not adequately cooperating with U.N. nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Mr. Kharrazi spoke at a gathering of Islamic foreign ministers in Turkeyâs commercial capital Istanbul.
Speaking at a news conference, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said Iran has cooperated fully with the IAEA. He rejected any suggestion that Iranâs nuclear program is for anything other than peaceful purposes. He said Iran has no intention whatsoever of developing nuclear weapons.
Mr. Kharrazi was responding to efforts by European nations at the IAEA. board meeting in Vienna to get support for a resolution critical of Iranâs level of cooperation. The resolution âdeploresâ Iran for not providing complete cooperation with the agency. In addition, the IAEA. Director Mohammed ElBaradei said Monday Iran has provided insufficient and contradictory information during the past year, and has not stopped producing centrifuge components that could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
The U.S. government has been pressing the IAEA. to take tougher action against Iran. There is mounting concern among Western governments and Israel in particular that Iran is covertly seeking to enrich uranium in order to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says it has halted its uranium-enrichment activities.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 9:55:28 AM ||
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From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
The heretofore-unknown Arab Movement Party has claimed that it attacked an electricity generation facility in the Kut Abdullah area in the city of Ahvaz, ISNA reported on 13 June, citing the London-based Al-Zaman newspaper. Morteza Afqah, the Khuzestan Province deputy governor-general for political and security affairs, told ISNA that he has never heard of the Arab Movement Party but he confirmed that unidentified gunmen attacked the Shekareh electricity generator in Kut Abdullah. The regional electricity company confirmed that on 9 June people shot at the generator and wounded one of the workers, but the generator itself was not damaged. The official in charge of security at the regional electricity company, Abdulreza Heidari, said: "The timely intervention of the companyâs security officers and the Law-Enforcement Force meant that the equipment at the generator was not damaged."
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/15/2004 12:25:39 AM ||
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Oh great, disruptions of their power grid. Just what the Iranians need to justify building nuclear reactors.
The shadowy Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be rapidly becoming Public Enemy No. 2 in the war on terror - an Islamist extremist almost as wanted as Osama bin Laden himself. Heâs behind many recent bombings in Iraq, and possibly the wave of kidnapping and shootings directed at Westerners in Saudi Arabia, say intelligence officials and terror experts. The tradecraft in some of the Saudi attacks is reminiscent of techniques he has been known to use.
Al Qaeda may be not so much a guerrilla army as a loose organization of like-minded individuals, but if it can be said to have a chief operational officer, that person may now be Mr. Zarqawi. "Zarqawiâs become the de facto operational chief of the Al Qaeda network," says Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside Al Qaeda" and an expert at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore. "Osama is thinking at the strategic level, and Zarqawi is operating at the tactical level."
The latest sign of Zarqawiâs deadly rise may have come in a series of attacks that rippled through Iraq on Monday. At least 16 people were killed, 13 of them in a car bombing that hit a convoy of Western electrical contractors. In his response to the violence, Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi accused Zarqawi of trying to disrupt the transfer of sovereignty scheduled for June 30. "Al-Zarqawi and his followers are earnestly working to prevent the success of this measure," he said, referring to the transfer.
The Jordanian-born Zarqawi has honed an ability to quickly change his targets and methods of attacks through years of moving about the Middle East. US intelligence knows less about him than it does about some other major Islamist terrorist figures. For instance, in the past the intelligence officials believed he had lost a leg as a result of an American bombing raid on an Afghan training camp. But now they say they have decided he still has all his limbs. He may have tattoos, however, on some part of his body.
"[Zarqawi has] been at it for over a decade, closer to 12 years, but he only came up on our radar after the Jordanians fingered him for planning the millennium attacks against Americans and Israelis in Jordan [in December 1999]," says a senior US intelligence official.
It is not clear how Zarqawi, with a $10 million US bounty on his head, became US Enemy No. 2, and a possible replacement to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and a former bin Laden right-hand man who was captured in Pakistan in March 2003. In fact, Zarqawi and Mr. bin Laden have at times been at cross-purposes. For example, in the midst of the Iraqi insurgency, Zarqawi wrote a letter to bin Laden that was intercepted and later released by the US. In it, Zarqawi implores bin Laden to help provoke a civil war between the Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq. But that, experts say, does not fit with bin Ladenâs plans. Bin Laden, they say, wants Shiites and Sunnis to unite in his bigger aims against the United States, then kill all the Shiites later settle any differences they have between them afterward.
But Zarqawi seems to have changed directions in that regard as well, possibly in deference to bin Ladenâs wishes. Since the August 2003 bombing of the mosque in Karbala in which some 83 people were killed, including the leading Shiite Muslim leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, Zarqawi hasnât targeted Shiites. "I speculated then that bin Laden would talk Zarqawi back onto the reservation or kill him," says a senior US intelligence official. "Since [that attack in] Karbala, Zarqawi hasnât gone out of his way to kill Shiites. "
Moreover, in the statement that accompanied the tape of the beheading of US businessman Nicholas Berg, Zarqawi proclaimed that the assassination was one of many warnings to Americans to get out of Iraq. And he stated that it was also a warning to the Americans and Pakistanis to stay away from Wana. Wana is a central town in Wiziristan, the basically ungoverned territory between Afghanistan and Pakistan where it is believed bin Laden and many of his top acolytes are hiding. "Thatâs an interesting bow in bin Ladenâs direction," says the US intelligence official.
It also makes sense, intelligence officials say, for Zarqawi to draw closer to bin Laden for recruitment purposes. They say the tape of Berg - and many photos of the American abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib - is a very effective recruitment tool for Zarqawi and Al Qaeda. "[Zarqawi is] mainly working with the Sunni population in Iraq," says the US intelligence official. "And they make up 40 percent of the population. Most of them are angry, afraid, so he has a big pool to draw from. He also draws on his original organization in Jordan. And there are probably Arabs coming in from Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Lebanon to fight. His organization is flush with manpower."
Another thing intelligence officials and experts picked out from the Berg tape is that the method used to kill him - a quick beheading - was used extensively and perfected in Chechnya, where Zarqawi is known to have ties. "Zarqawi has cells deeply embedded in Chechnya, especially, but also in the Balkans and throughout Europe," says a European intelligence official. "I believe the cells have been there for at least 10 years."
Intelligence officials and experts on terror alike agree those cells were originally set up as support cells, but that they have been going operational. For example, after Sept. 11, Germany placed several young men under surveillance. Four turned out to be members of a cell responsible for collecting money throughout Germany for Zarqawi. German authorities broke it up by co-opting one member to help against others. That man - Shadi Abdallah - provided the names of several cell leaders in Germany and other European countries. But, "We havenât made much progress in wrapping up Zarqawiâs cells in Germany, let alone Europe," says the European intelligence official. "They are extremely hard to crack because they operate in the classic cell fashion, with only one member of a cell having a contact name for someone above him."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 12:25:39 AM ||
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#1
"Since [that attack in] Karbala, Zarqawi hasnât gone out of his way to kill Shiites."
Regardless, why aren't the Shiites going out of their way to kill him? One is obliged to think that they do realize how they'll be cast off like an ill-fitting shoe after the ball ends.
I'm still amazed that Zarqawi has not managed to destroy the Iraqi Shiite shrines and somehow pin it on the coalition.
#2
The Shiites in Iraq are into heavy-duty-industrial-strength emotions, ancient martyrdom, slicing their scalps, including their children's melons, and visiting Holy Cities Et Al⢠till the cows come home. They consider this lifestyle heaven on earth, and want everyone to have it. Other than the above, I do not see that they have much else going for them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2004 2:41 Comments ||
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#3
I'm still amazed that Zarqawi has not managed to destroy the Iraqi Shiite shrines and somehow pin it on the coalition
That has a tendency to backfire on them as word has a way of getting around among the locals.
#4
AP - i suggest you follow blogs like Healing Iraq, Iraq the Model, etc. While these are writen by essentially secular Iraqi Shia, they still give us a different window on Iraq.
Why dont they go after Zarqawi? er, cause they dont know where he is? They may hate him, but that doesnt translate into tradecraft.
Iranian intelligence supposedly tried to test Chalabiâs claim by sending a message about an Iranian weapons cache. If the U.S. acted on this information, then the Iranians would know that its codes were broken. The U.S. didnât, which showed theyâre very smart about this. Maybe they knew the Iranians suspected, or maybe they were waiting to manufacture a plausible fictitious reason for knowing about the weapons cache.
So now the NSAâs secret is out. The Iranians have undoubtedly changed their encryption machines, and the NSA has lost its source of Iranian secrets. But little else is known. Who told Chalabi? Only a few people would know this important U.S. secret, and the snitch is certainly guilty of treason. Maybe Chalabi never knew, and never told the Iranians. Maybe the Iranians figured it out some other way, and they are pretending that Chalabi told them in order to protect some other intelligence source of theirs.
As I said, read the whole thing; Schneier mentions a lot of the usual historical incidents of this type, and one that I hadnât heard of before:
The really weird twist to this story is that the U.S. has already been accused of doing that to Iran. In 1992, Iran arrested Hans Buehler, a Crypto AG employee, on suspicion that Crypto AG had installed back doors in the encryption machines it sold to Iran -- at the request of the NSA. He proclaimed his innocence through repeated interrogations, and was finally released nine months later in 1993 when Crypto AG paid a million dollars for his freedom -- then promptly fired him and billed him for the release money. At this point Buehler started asking inconvenient questions about the relationship between Crypto AG and the NSA.
So maybe Chalabiâs information is from 1992, and the Iranians changed their encryption machines a decade ago.
Or maybe the NSA never broke the Iranian intelligence code, and this is all one huge bluff.
In this shadowy world of cat-and-mouse, itâs hard to be sure of anything.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/15/2004 9:51:55 PM ||
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In the short to medium term thinking your codes have been compromised when they haven't is probably more disruptive than having them compromised and not knowing. The timing incates to me it's the former.
Posted by: Phil B ||
06/15/2004 22:57 Comments ||
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#2
If you would like the least glimpse into this sort of cryptological lunacy, please find a copy of "The Puzzle Palace," by James Bamford. His book deals with the NSA (National Security Agency), whose Eisenhower era charter remains classified to this day.
Cryptography has advanced from the World War model of a pencil and pad of paper. Alan Turing made sure of that when he helped crack Enigma. Those of you who have read "The Puzzle Palace" might wish to peruse another article:
The above model -- that the cryptographer may design and analyse a cipher so well that no cryptanalyst will be able to exploit any weakness ever -- is not the only approach to the encryption problem. In this report we describe a cipher that is based upon a different meta-model. Using HCIA neither the cryptanalyst nor the cryptographer will be able to perform detailed analysis of the cipher system. This is due to that a generator model is used where an instance of a cipher system is produced at runtime, kept secret during encryption, and then discarded immediately afterwards.
Pakistan said on Monday a nephew of top Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and eight members of a new militant group were behind a bid to kill a senior general and a double car bomb attack in Karachi. The nine were among 11 militants arrested in Karachi at the weekend. The operation came as Pakistani fighter jets and helicopter gunships bombed an Al-Qaeda training camp near the northwest border with Afghanistan. Sindh Police chief Kamal Shah identified the new terror organisation as Jund Allah, meaning âGodâs Brigade,â and said its members had trained at an Al-Qaeda camp near Wana. It was not clear whether the camp was the same as that targeted in air raids. The nephew of Khalid Sheikh, one of the chief planners of the September 11, 2001 attacks who was arrested in Pakistan in March 2003, was identified as Musabir Urumchi but his nationality was unclear. He was handed over to an unnamed intelligence agency while the Jund Allah members were produced before an anti-terrorism court on Monday and remanded in custody for another fortnight. âThe Jund Allah group is a new group which has links with Al-Qaeda, and their members have been trained in Wana,â Shah told reporters.
They said on the radio a little while ago that there are actually two nephews of Khalid in the bunch. No word on how many uncles, aunts, half-sister, and great-grandparents. I don't think they got his Mom, though...
The Pakistani military meanwhile said the operation in Shakai had ended after troops took control of the area. âThe operation in Shakai area culminated Sunday evening. The forces have taken control of the area,â military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told PTV late Monday. âThe miscreants have been flushed out, either they have been killed or dispersed and their hideouts destroyed.â
"Dispersed" means "got away to fight again next Thursday."
Sultan earlier said the government would resume a âpolitical processâ originally launched in April after winding down an earlier offensive at the end of March. Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat trumpeted the weekend arrests as a âmajor breakthroughâ in Pakistanâs bid to stamp out Al-Qaeda and other militants. âThis is breaking the back of the Al-Qaeda-linked network in Pakistan,â Hayat said on Sunday.
Got piles of corpses?
Police accused the Jund Allah members of the failed attempt to kill Karachiâs Corps Commander Lieutenant General Ahsan Saleem on June 10 and the May 26 double car bomb attack near the US consul-generalâs residence. But outside the court the groupâs leader Attaur Rehman told reporters that he had âadmitted nothing.â Attaur Rehman told interrogators the Jund Allah militants were targeting Westerners, foreign missions, army and police officers to avenge the governmentâs campaign to eradicate Al Qaeda-linked fighters from its northwest border regions, Shah said. âYou have sold your pride and honour to please the Americans and we will take revenge from you and your masters,â chief police investigator Fayyaz Leghari quoted Attaur Rehman as saying. At least 20 members of Jund Allah had been identified and there could be more, Leghari said. âThey are all from Karachi,â he told AFP.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 10:10:48 AM ||
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"Family Affair" in Pakland has sooooo many sequels
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 20:30 Comments ||
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A group headed by suspected al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing in Baghdad on Monday that killed 13 people, five of them foreign contractors. "By the Grace of God, members of the martyrdom squadron of Jamaat al-Tawhid and Jihad were able to ambush a convoy of mercenary parasites in the centre of the Iraqi capital," said a statement claiming to be from the group dated Monday and posted on an Islamist website on Tuesday. "Several cars were destroyed and the body parts of the infidels were seen flying in the air," it said. "These operations are a clear message to the Americans that their path in Muslim countries will not be as easy as they believed." It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the Arabic-language statement. In the statement, Jamaat al-Tawhid and Jihad vowed to carry out more attacks against Americans in Iraq, saying their battle was "until death and would not end nor will our fire die down before the country is liberated completely from occupation. The Americans with all their high-tech surveillance and military might will not be able to stop what God has ordained upon them."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 4:23:03 PM ||
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The Americans with all their high-tech surveillance and military might will not be able to stop what God has ordained upon them."
We are trying to be somewhat clean about it. If we were the Russians, we would just level the whole place. And if the jihadis keep doing this, alot of their favorite places will be levelled and tenderized, along with the contents therein.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2004 19:22 Comments ||
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"By the Grace of God, members of the martyrdom squadron of Jamaat al-Tawhid and Jihad were able to ambush a convoy of mercenary parasites in the centre of the Iraqi capital,"
Let's see...if you slaughter 8 innocent Muslims in the process, that's Okie-Dokie, too? The Korrupt Koran teaches it is a sin to kill another Moslim....unless there are infidels killed in the process...or if you are a shit-tite shiite and the other is a sunni/kurd/whatever?
That makes perfect sense to me. No wonder the Middle East is a cesspool and Islam is bankrupt.
Five officers of the Chechen presidential security service were killed in an armed clash with a rebel group near Avtury in the Shali district, head of the service headquarters Artur Akhmadov told Interfax on Tuesday morning. He said a special operation to encircle and destroy a rebel group had been conducted on the outskirts of the village. Some 10 rebels were killed in the shootout that ensued. Two bodies were later discovered and identified. Akhmadov said the rebels were members of the so-called Emir Asad group. He added that two of the security officers were killed on the scene and three others died later as a result of the wounds they suffered. He said law enforcers were continuing to comb the woods around Avtury in search of the rebels who had attempted to enter Avtury. He said that on Tuesday morning, the security service launched another major operation on islands on the Terek river between the Gudermes and Shelkovskaya districts. Security officers are searching the islands for rebels and secret arms depots.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 10:39:21 AM ||
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A Palestinian car bomb exploded Tuesday near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip after the vehicle came under fire from Israeli soldiers, Palestinian and Israeli sources said. The explosion went off as the vehicle was approaching the settlement of Netzarim which lies south of Gaza City.
BANG, BANG...KABOOM!
"Halt!"
"Little late with the halt command, weren't you, Abner? Nice shooting though."
Palestinian sources said that at least one person who was travelling in the vehicle had managed to flee before it exploded but was later rescued arrested by the Palestinian security services. Huge columns of smoke could be seen after the vehicle exploded, witnesses said.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2004 9:27:50 AM ||
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Palestinian sources said that at least one person who was travelling in the vehicle had managed to flee before it exploded but was later arrested by the Palestinian security services.
"You IDIOT!!! You were supposed to get past security and explode the car IN the settlement! For your incompetence you get thirty days in the hoosegow!!"
KARBALA: The US army arrested an official from the office of Shiite firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr over the weekend in the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, the man's brother said on Monday. "Sayyed Ahmed Redha al-Husseini, 33, was arrested by US soldiers after they carried out a search of his house during which two million Iraqi dinars (2,000 dollars, 1,700 euros) were seized," the brother, Jamil al-Husseini, informed.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2004 9:21:27 AM ||
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Let's get the litle marmoset himself, and not spend so much time messing around with these flunquis from the steno pool. . .
ISLAMABAD: Forces today shot dead a fleeing foreign militant and wounded four people after the suspect opened fire on a check post in a remote tribal town near the Afghan border, officials said. Unidentified attackers also fired rockets on a military camp but there were no casualties, they said. The shooting occurred at a paramilitary checkpost at Jandola in the rugged South Waziristan region when the troops challenged a Hilux van trying to exit the area, military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP.
Stragglers still trying to get away, didn't they get the word the operation was over?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2004 9:16:56 AM ||
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how do they know the dead dude's foreign? He's the only one with a Pak passport?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 19:33 Comments ||
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Excerpted from State Department Daily Press Briefing
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah. I think, as you know, the situation in Darfur remains to be of critical concern to the United States and, indeed, to the international community. It is one of the highest priorities for this Administration, and weâre deeply concerned that despite assurances from the Government of Sudan that they are providing humanitarian access, that there is, in fact, still considerable blockages to getting aid to the people in need.
The Government of Sudan continues to deny release of vehicles needed by humanitarian relief agencies. There are also, in some cases -- they have also, in some cases, denied release of the radio equipment needed for workers to securely deploy to remote areas to deliver aid. In addition, the Government has delayed food shipments from Port Sudan, potentially to the point of making food that comes from there useless.
Security officials in Darfur continue to harass or delay humanitarian workers seeking to administer to the needy. And these delays continue, despite the improvements following new visa and permit policies.
Iâd also note that in recent days, thereâs been an upsurge in attacks on transport routes used for delivering relief, and one incident of rebels holding NGO workers for two days.
The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance, including immediate release of all vehicles and equipment and of all food shipments bound for Darfur. We also call on the parties -- that is, the government, the Sudan Liberation Army Movement, and the Justice and Equality Movement -- to cooperate with the United Nations and the humanitarian agencies to avoid all interference with the work and to adhere completely to the ceasefire agreement. We particularly call on the government to stop the attacks by government-supported militias.
As far as the situation on the ground goes, we have seven members of a U.S. Disaster Assistance Response Team in Darfur. Theyâre working on health, nutrition, water, sanitation, food and logistical assessments. And theyâre also monitoring the programs that are currently underway. The U.S. has arranged for 14 airlifts of food and supplies so far and we expect the 15th to arrive on June 19th, carrying more non-food items.
Some supplies are arriving by road. The insecurity on the roads within Darfur is a major problem. Drivers have been stopped and shot at. Due to insecurity and driver reluctance to drive on the roads, trucking prices are three to four times higher in Darfur than prior to the conflict. The government requires all private transportation contractors to be Sudanese, and this limits overall trucking capacity and the ability to move goods via ground transport.
Non-food items are being distributed by nongovernmental organizations. Our implementing partner for the U.S. Agency for International Development is CARE, and they are assisting in the distribution of items brought in by the U.S. airlifts. The World Food Program is overseeing the distribution of food through local and international nongovernmental organizations.
Let me note as well that there was a UN resolution adopted on June 10th that says very clearly, on behalf of the Security Council, that they want to see the violence end, that they call on the parties to use their influence to bring an immediate halt to the fighting in the Darfur region. We have -- in the Security Council, weâve welcomed the African Union efforts and called on the international community to provide constant engagement, including extensive funding for peace in Sudan and for assisting people in this region. And Iâd note as well, there was a G-8 statement on Darfur.
So weâve been working a lot on this issue. The Secretary spoke yesterday with the Secretary General about the situation in Darfur and itâs been a matter that they have continued to both work on as much as they can.
Sir.
QUESTION
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/15/2004 3:22:17 AM ||
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The folks at the UN and international talking heads must be very pleased-we have a concensus and we are busy in dialog with our governmental partners in the Sudan and the region. This is the way, they tell us, that crises in the international political arena should be handled. If all goes well, access will be clear for collective action by October-by then, the corpses will be pretty well picked over...wait a minute, maybe that is what this august body of international power wanted all along--all evidence to drift away in the sands...with only bones left. I am starting to understand the strategy.
excerpted from Rumsfeld and Afghanistan President Karzai Press Availability
Q President Karzai, I have a question for you. Bob Burns from Associated Press.
PRESIDENT KARZAI: Please.
Q The U.S. military announced today in Afghanistan that itâs implementing some changes in the way it handles prisoners, detainees in Afghanistan under U.S. control. Have you been briefed on those changes, and do they go far enough, in your view?
PRESIDENT KARZAI: Well, I havenât heard that yet. We discussed various other issues today at our meeting -- the training of the Afghan army and all that. And the question of treatment of the prisoners, whatever changes they are making to make life easier and better for them, is something that we will appreciate and welcome.
SEC. RUMSFELD: If people have questions, why donât they come over to the mike?
Q Mr. President, Iâm Tom Squitieri with USA Today. One of the issues that people who support the progress in Afghanistan complain about is that the problems and challenges and progress in Afghanistan is being obscured or forgotten on Capitol Hill and among others in Washington. Do you concur with that? And if so, how do you make sure that the ongoing needs of your country are heard and dealt with? Thank you.
PRESIDENT KARZAI: People in Afghanistan know very well that the United States government stayed with us. There was a fear just before the operations began in Iraq that Afghanistan might be forgotten. But fortunately for us in Afghanistan, that did not happen. The attention of the United States remained on Afghanistan, and we saw that there was an increased attention to Afghanistan last year and this year. We have increased budget allocations for Afghanistan, we have had increased reconstruction assistance for Afghanistan. We have had more training and more help to the Afghan police and the national army of Afghanistan. So as a matter of fact, Afghanistan has remained stronger, higher on the agenda of the U.S. government and also the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.
Q Mr. President, Brian Harper with ABC News. How can you achieve your goal to eradicate the poppy crop without alienating some of the warlords and other provincial leaders and farmers that you need to support your government?
PRESIDENT KARZAI: Well, the fight against poppies is the fight for Afghanistan. And no matter who or how, we will not allow this to continue. Poppies criminalize the Afghan economy; poppies prevent the institution-building in Afghanistan; poppies go hand in hand with terrorism, it feeds them; and it also helps regional or private militias in Afghanistan. There is no way that we can allow poppies to stay on. We have to destroy. And we need strong consistent international support for that.
Q Mr. President, Jeannie Ohm with NBC News. Will you be making a specific request during your visit to Washington for more U.S. troops or more international troops, especially as you approach those September elections?
PRESIDENT KARZAI: We will not be having a specific request for more U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The United States is already busy in Afghanistan helping us in reconstruction and helping us fight terrorism and helping us secure our borders. But we are expecting, maâam, the deployment of NATO to occur in Afghanistan and to fulfill the promise that we have been made. We are hoping that NATO will come to Afghanistan, especially before the elections of September.
Q If I could ask both of you, particularly standing in this place today, what are your personal feelings, your gut feelings, both of you? Will you ever get Osama bin Laden?
PRESIDENT KARZAI: You first.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Iâll go first.
Yes, we will.
PRESIDENT KARZAI: All nations, yours and ours, have had fugitives in our histories, and has a fugitive run forever? No, at least not in my country. So heâs a fugitive right now. Heâs hiding somewhere and heâs on the run, and we are after him. Weâll catch him one day, sooner or later.
-snip-
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/15/2004 2:54:34 AM ||
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Four soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are to face a court martial on charges of abusing and sexually assaulting Iraqi civilians said the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith. The charges follow the arrest of a soldier who took photographs to a high street shop to be developed. Lord Goldsmith said that four more cases were likely to be referred to Army prosecutors "in the very near future".
Reports at the time said that one photograph appeared to show a man stripped to the waist and suspended high in the air by a rope attached to a fork-lift truck. Two others appeared to show male Iraqis forced into sexual positions by their captors. A fourth picture was said to show two naked Iraqis cowering on the ground. In a written statement to Parliament, Lord Goldsmith said the indecent assault charge "apparently involves making the victims engage in sexual activity between themselves". He said the case concerned conduct "alleged to have occurred while the civilians were being temporarily detained but not in a prison or detention facility". The soldiers will be tried in public but there was no announcement about whether the military court would sit in Iraq or in Britain.
A total of 74 more cases of civilian deaths, injuries or alleged ill-treatment of Iraqis in British custody has been investigated. Seven cases await a decision to prosecute and 31 have been concluded with a decision to take no further action.
The announcement that charges were being brought was highly embarrassing for the Government and a setback for Tony Blair in his efforts to demonstrate that the situation in Iraq was improving. Ministers are concerned that the allegations will be seen as the "Britainâs Abu Ghraib" and could inflame an already tense situation in Iraq as this monthâs transfer of power approaches. The Government is determined to demonstrate that abuse will not be tolerated and that severe action will be taken if the offences of ill treatment are proved.
Lord Goldsmithâs statement follows the controversy over photographs published by the Daily Mirror of members of Queenâs Lancashire Regiment allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners. Although those photographs were shown to be fake, regimental sources say that "five or six" members of the Queenâs Lancashire Regiment are being investigated over allegations of abuse. A further case involving the death of an Iraqi while he was being arrested has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service, which has asked the Metropolitan Police to investigate. The regiment is not known but the soldier or soldiers involved have already been exonerated by their commanding officer, meaning that they cannot be tried by court martial. Lord Goldsmith said that three other cases involving Iraqi civilians had been referred to the Army Prosecuting Authority. These were being "actively" considered.
The Attorney General supervises the Army Prosecuting Authority, which is independent of the military chain of command. It was set up in 1997 after the previous prosecuting arrangements were found to breach the European convention on human rights. Once the authority concludes that a prosecution is in the public interest and that there is sufficient evidence to proceed, it decides whether there should be a district court martial or a general court martial. Each consists of a civilian judge advocate sitting with serving military officers. A district court martial has fewer military members and more restricted sentencing powers than a general court martial. The Contempt of Court Act applies to courts martial, whether they sit in Britain or abroad, in the same way as it does to jury trials.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/15/2004 5:40:44 AM ||
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Israeli security forces described how they foiled a plan to bomb the Jerusalem office of Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, after a Palestinian resident of the city was arrested. The Shin Bet security services and police uncovered the plan a month ago following the arrest of Hussam Nabulsi, 38, who had access to ministries as a driver for a printing company. A media gag on the story was lifted yesterday. Nabulsi, a resident of Jerusalemâs Old City, who holds an Israeli identification card, was apparently recruited by a cousin to help the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Details of the planned attack on Mr Sharonâs office emerged while he was being interrogated about his possible links to an intended attack on a synagogue in an ultra-orthodox neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Nabulsi told his questioners that he planned to plant a bomb in printed material designated for Mr Sharonâs office and detonate it using a mobile phone from about 200 yards away. He led the security services to two vegetable traders in north Jerusalem who had brought the device into Jerusalem hidden in their produce. The traders showed investigators where the 30lb bomb, connected to a detonator and a mobile phone, was hidden. The plan to bomb the synagogue was foiled after the security services received an intelligence warning that a Hamas cell from Nablus was planning to carry out an attack in the capital.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/15/2004 5:33:46 AM ||
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nice catch!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 9:10 Comments ||
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I wonder what information they'll get from further interrogation. Hopefully something about where they recieved the explosives.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/15/2004 9:42 Comments ||
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Can the general public buy a media gag? Or is some S&M&CNN deal?
#4
... two vegetable traders in north Jerusalem who had brought the device into Jerusalem hidden in their produce. The traders showed investigators where the 30lb bomb...was hidden.
That would have been one huge jalapeno that I don't think a ton of Rolaids could have spelled relief for. Thank G-d for the comptency of the Shin Bet!
Exceprted from Rumsfeld and Karzai Press Availability
Q Mr. Secretary, Will Dunham with Reuters. Is torture justified under any circumstances?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Our view in the United States has been that we adhere to the Geneva Convention, and we adhere to the laws of the land. And that means that torture is not permitted under the laws of the United States or under the Geneva Convention. Itâs required that people that are in custody be treated in a humane way. The only -- and I think thatâs probably the complete answer to your question.
PRESIDENT KARZAI: Okay.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Weâll take one more question. Pam.
Q Sir, Pam Hess with United Press International. Iâd like to follow up on that.
While that is the stated policy of the United States, memos and legal documents outlining possible defenses in the event of a torture case coming to a criminal court have been revealed, and it creates an impression that maybe thereâs some wiggle room in the definition of torture, or in this administrationâs attitude towards it. So could you address the apparent daylight between those two stands?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Well, thereâs certainly no, as you used the phrase, "wiggle room" in the presidentâs mind or in my mind.
The only thing I would say is that there are people who have suggested, for example -- and Iâll use this by way of illustration -- that a person being held in, for the sake of argument, Guantanamo, who does not know how long they will be held, some people would characterize that as the uncertainty of not knowing when they might be tried or released as a form of mental torture. Therefore, that word gets used by some people in a way that is fair from their standpoint, but doesnât fit a dictionary definition of the word that one would normally accept.
So the answer to your question is no. There is no wiggle room in the presidentâs mind or my mind about torture. That is not something thatâs permitted under the Geneva Convention or the laws of the United States. That is not to say that somebody else couldnât characterize something in a way that would fit what I described. -snip-
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/15/2004 2:47:21 AM ||
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There is no sex in the Wiggle Room.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/15/2004 9:09 Comments ||
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No sex in the Wiggle Room, that's only permissionable under the auspices of the UN.
Posted by: Capt America ||
06/15/2004 10:59 Comments ||
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Q: Clue Less from Zombie News International. Is it true that shuffle ball is being withheld from certain Gitmo detainees? Isn't that a form of torture?
SEC. RUMSFELD: No, the accusation from the International Red Cross is incorrect. What is true is that certain detainees preferred that their shuffle board time be better spent by having US guards peel grapes for them while lounging at the beach.
Posted by: Capt America ||
06/15/2004 11:06 Comments ||
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#4
As long as there's wiggling going on in the sex room I guess we're okay...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2004 19:16 Comments ||
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#3
The rag heads have no chance. We have the Marines on our side.
Posted by: remote man ||
06/15/2004 14:05 Comments ||
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#4
Despite recommendations from his fellow Marines, Viggiani refused to leave his platoon and seek aid at the battalion landing team's mobile command post. With a small dressing and a few aspirin, Viggiani shouldered his rifle and trudged further into the rugged mountains in pursuit of Taliban and militia fighters.
They forgot to add : {{SNARL}}
Any retrobate Talibani witnessing these events has got to have a nasty odor, and clump of stuff in the seat of his schmock. This Sergeant is really going to get a reputation now!
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/15/2004 15:28 Comments ||
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Awesome.
Compare this young US Marine's conduct and deportment in Afghanistan, with John F-himself Kerry's conduct on the battlefield (remembering he would've been the same age at the time) . . . and Kerry wants to be President?! Baw-ha-ha-ha!
Police shot dead four suspected terrorists, including two Pakistanis, who were allegedly plotting to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, here Tuesday. A senior police officer said that the four - three men and a woman - were gunned down on a road at Sardar Nagar on the outskirts of Ahmedabad between 4 am and 5 am following an intelligence tip-off. Joint Commissioner of Police P P Pandey said two of the dead were Pakistanis and two appeared to be Indians. All four were said to be members of the Pakistan-backed terrorist group, Laskhar-e-Jehad. "The four had come to kill Modi," Pandey said. "We had an intelligence tip-off." The officer declined to give further details, saying these would be made public at a press conference later Tuesday.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/15/2004 3:57:19 AM ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- In some of the worst rioting since the fall of Baghdad, hundreds of Iraqis threw stones at U.S. soldiers, burned an American flag and danced around the charred body of a foreign contractor Monday after a suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with explosives into a convoy in a busy Baghdad neighborhood killing at least 13 people. Around the same time, two more bombs exploded, one south of the capital, one north, killing eight more, making it one of the deadliest days in Iraq in the past month.
One American, two Britons, a French citizen and a Filipino were killed in the Baghdad bombing, military officials said. Three were General Electric employees working on power plants in Iraq, and two were their security guards. They have not been identified. U.S. officials said 62 people were injured, including 10 foreign contractors. Hospital officials said many of the wounded had lost limbs. As more than 50 Iraqi policemen stood by, the Baghdad mob stomped on the hoods of the crushed vehicles, doused them with kerosene and set them alight, sparking a huge fire in the middle of a crowded neighborhood.
Even as angry men ran past them, slipping through police lines to hurl bricks at a squad of U.S. soldiers, few of the Iraqi police intervened. "What are we to do?" asked an Iraqi police lieutenant, Wisam Deab. "If we try to stop them, they will think we are helping the Americans. Then they will turn on us." The crowd became increasingly hostile, with one man shaking a severed finger, apparently from one of the people killed by the bombing, at a British reporter.
In Baghdad, the rumble of explosions has become almost like a morning alarm clock. Many of the bombs go off between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., during rush hour. U.S. and Iraqi officials say they are improving security cooperation in the lead-up to June 30, sharing more intelligence and conducting more joint operations. But at the Baghdad bombing on Monday, there was very little communication between the two sides. As clouds of black smoke boiled up from the street and the mob grew increasingly unruly, U.S. soldiers waited in their Humvees 50 yards behind Iraqi policemen, with neither group talking much with the other.
Yet at the precise moment that the violence is peaking in Iraq, U.S. forces are deferring increasingly to Iraqi security services. Much of the political handover has already happened, and U.S. officials say it is now important to allow Iraqi security services to play a bigger role. As a result, a power vacuum seems to be forming. According to witnesses, the contractors were driving near Tahir Square in central Baghdad about 9:30 a.m. on a street they often use to commute to work when a truck came zooming up, against traffic, and slammed into their vehicles. The explosion blasted one vehicle off the road and into a garden 30 feet away. The explosion also ripped the facade off a nearby hotel and gutted several photography shops and juice stands.
Hussein Atiha was selling watermelon up the street when he said his stand was nearly knocked over by the bomb. Like many Iraqis, he seemed divided in his thoughts on the occupation, the future and the rising violence. At one moment, as he watched the mob pound and kick the destroyed vehicles, Atiha shook his head. "That is wrong," he said. "That is disrespectful." But the next moment, Atiha, 21, said of the foreigners, "We have lost more than them. They deserve this."
Witnesses to the other bombings said that four Iraqi civil defense soldiers were killed at 9:45 a.m. on a busy street in Mosul, in northern Iraq, after their patrol hit a roadside bomb. The Associated Press reported that around the same time four people were killed in Salman Pak, southeast of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber drove between two police vehicles and detonated explosives. American and Iraqi officials blamed the attacks on terrorists connected to al-Qaida.
There was a hint of good news Monday: Around 9 a.m., a convoy of Marines drove into the heart of the troubled city of Fallujah, conducted a three-hour meeting with sheikhs and then drove out without a shot being fired. Fallujah remains one of the tensest places in Iraq, even after the Marines agreed last month to pull out of the city and allow an all-Iraqi security force to patrol the streets. Masked insurgents continue to operate, though on Monday they were nowhere to be seen. Lessons have yet to be learned despite repetition, especially by the Iraqi police. Their inability to act, even against fellow Iraqis, can only be construed as weakness on their part by all involved.
Posted by: Zenster ||
06/15/2004 3:00:05 AM ||
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the IP didnt act in crowd control? Huh, pros help, but I would think control of a large angry crowd, by a few police, who very much need to avoid civilian casualties, and who probably dont have tear gas, etc is one of the hardest tasks for police.
#5
" Like many Iraqis, he seemed divided in his thoughts on the occupation, the future and the rising violence. At one moment, as he watched the mob pound and kick the destroyed vehicles, Atiha shook his head. "That is wrong," he said. "That is disrespectful." But the next moment, Atiha, 21, said of the foreigners, "We have lost more than them. They deserve this." "
Welcome to the Arab world. Flip-flop. Flip-flop.
Too many of them understand only brute force, and Moslems will not fight against other Moslems. That's how it works. How will this "democracy" thing ever suceed in such a place? How will the reasonable among them ever maintain power and control?
I think it's difficult to be certain the attack was totally organized, as mojo asserts. Sure, some organized it, then didn't the others just "join the party" after the fact?
I wonder (crickets chirping . . . ) if the press will cover how "humiliating" and "unconscionable" that experience was, for the people who died that day.
JERUSALEM. Israel has expropriated thousands of acres of Palestinian farmland deep in the West Bank for the most controversial segment of its separation barrier, Palestinian officials said Monday. The latest land seizures are for a barrier segment near the Israeli settlement of Ariel, in the heart of the West Bank.
A stake through the heart, eh?
Palestinians charge that the barrier project is meant to swallow up large parts of the West Bank, pointing to the Ariel sector as a prime example. If Israel builds the barrier to include Ariel on the Israeli side, it would mean cutting a wedge halfway through the northern part of the territory, because Ariel is in the middle. With 18,000 residents, Ariel is the second-largest West Bank settlement. Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, has 26,000.
The United States is opposed to adding Ariel to Israeli territory by means of the barrier, and Israel has so far avoided making a clear decision. Asaf Shariv, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, said that for now, only an east-west section of the barrier is being built, leaving the option of encircling Ariel separately, a concept the Americans apparently do not oppose.
Encircling them sounds like an idea.
The Ariel barrier project is already causing hardships for Palestinians. Residents of the nearby Palestinian village of Azawiya were informed that 18,000 dunams (4,500 acres) of land are being expropriated for a 3.5-kilometer (2-mile) stretch of barrier, said Annan Elashkar, a Palestinian liaison officer with Israel.
Despite the tension, the military began easing restrictions in the West Bank, starting to remove about 40 ramparts and gates that blocked West Bank roads, a defense official said on condition of anonymity. The official said obstacles can be lifted in areas where the barrier has been completed. The military released a statement saying the removal is in keeping with its policy to "to make a clear distinction between the terrorists who hide among civilians and those not involved in terror."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2004 12:44:04 AM ||
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The military released a statement saying the removal is in keeping with its policy to "to make a clear distinction between the terrorists who hide among civilians and those not involved in terror."
Why bother? The Paleo "leadership" isn't inclined to even contemplate change unless pressure is brought to bear, so this means squeezing the Palestinian population as well. Deny them entry and keep them on their side of the fence. If that doesn't sound "compassionate", well, tough shit. No more of this dancing on both sides of the line. The Paleos need to make a decision; either they want to live in peace with Israel and reap the benefits, or they don't want to live in peace with Israel and they get nothing at all.
#2
Whatever became of Israel's announcement that they would begin to appropriate "Palestinian" land in retaliation for any deaths resulting from continued terrorist attacks?
The concept sounded entirely logical. The remaining Palestinians might have been a lot easier to target finally realized the error of their ways once they crowded themselves onto a postage stamp.
#3
Does Israel pay for the land it appropriates for the wall, like a US jurisdiction does whenever private property is taken for public use? If Israel does, why doesn't anyone ever mention that?
Posted by: Mike ||
06/15/2004 12:38 Comments ||
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Doesn't matter Mike. Jooooos bought most of present day Israel before the nation was created and they own a chunk of the west bank too prior to the outlawing of land sales to jooooooooos
From the arab standpoint its alwas been a voidable contract deal and they keep the money deal
#11
Don't worry Antiwar - just blame the Brits for cocking it up in '48.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/15/2004 13:26 Comments ||
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#12
Yes, I can't wait until the Motzah Archipelago is make public..... yep. Crazed joooooos gasing the arabs in a futile attempt to conqueor ein hellhole. Or is that eine hellhole? Is it ein or eine AntiWar?
Isn't it interesting that you're always referring us to jihadi websites? And how the Europeans and Arabs who did things like join SS brigades and republish Protocols of the Elders of Zion talk about how evil the Jews are? It's just SO interesting!
#17
the Zionists tortured and killed the Palestinians
Antiwar, exactly WHEN and WHERE did this happen? I have read over 40 book on the 1948 war and have never heard of torture by the Jews. Now, the Jews did kill Palestinians (and Syrians and Lebanese and Egyptians), but then it was a defensive war.
Maybe you should try reading (you know, using books) about history before you make such a stoopid claim.
#18
the paleos were such a peaceful people before the jooows....got along just splendid with the brits, eyptians and jordanians...
Posted by: Dan ||
06/15/2004 13:59 Comments ||
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#19
shipman---use "das" and it explains everything...heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2004 14:16 Comments ||
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#20
Brett -
1948 - some unsanctioned but condoned militia terrorsquads did some pretty awful things on behalf of the Israeli cause. The difference being that Ben Gurion cut them off at a certain point and said there can be only one locus of authority whereas the PA has never done that
1967 - running the bulldozers into Syria just to piss them off was a jackass move. They also lined up and shot a bunch of prisoners in several instances throughout the Sinai. It wasn't official policy but it was condoned. The Israelis also bombed and strafed the civilian refugee camps to try to get them to flee into the neighboring countries. Not the pinnacle of noble war.
1973 - The bulldozing of the Syrian Golan as Israel pulled out after the Kissinger-negotiated agreement was a sour move as well.
No one's saying this amounts to anything resembling a holocaust or that the Palestinians hold relative moral superiority. But let's be honest: in the absolute sense, Israel's done some pretty awful things. And by being honest about that, we can say that Israel has changed somewhat for the better on this score. Unfortunately, the Palestinians seem headed in the other direction.
#21
Does Israel pay for the land it appropriates for the wall, like a US jurisdiction does whenever private property is taken for public use? If Israel does, why doesn't anyone ever mention that?
Scroll down to the lengthy post near the page's bottom:
Did The Jews "Steal the Land?"
by Robin ⢠Friday February 20, 2004 at 12:31 AM
It is a detailed and comprehensive account of what happened to the land currently in dispute.
#22
I saw pictures of the area in question. It must have been a stealth crop being farmed.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/15/2004 15:18 Comments ||
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#23
There is one truth that the Palestinians need to understand--sympathy for your suffering and your cause will only DECREASE by continuing with this "resistance". The barbarity of your homicide bombings convinces those with the power to help you that you are not worthy, are incapable of handling power. You are turning people AWAY from you with this intifada.
The only real martyrs of the Palestinians will be the ones who die from refusing to join in barbarity.
#25
#10Â Interesting isn't it how a mere few years after they had left (fill in name of concentration camp here) the Zionists tortured and killed the Palestinians. How those once persecuted now are the persecutors.
Posted by: AntiwarÂ
I think it's more interesting that you, yourself, Pakistani Princess Antiwar, support terrorism against anyone, anywhere, by your friends, the jihadis. And let's not forget you wished cancer on me on this website after you refused to speak against Palestinian idiots throwing rocks at jewish kindegarteners . Don't preach to others about so-called "persecutors" until you decide that you're going to live up to your own "name" of "Antiwar." Until then, be honest, change it to "Pro-jihad." Everybody knows you are anyway. (BTW, your credibility here, is completely gone--vanished a long time ago. I suggest you do the same.)
Sawt al-Shebaab: Yeah. The Israelis were, and are, absolute shits, at times. And the Paleos are worse. I appreciated your post.
#27
The Israelis were, and are, absolute shits, at times. And the Paleos are worse. I appreciated your post.
Sawt al-Shebaab and ex-lib, I too have been concerned about how close Israeli tactics approach (or duplicate) terrorist techniques. The concept of collective punishment is something the Nazis used against my Danish mother's family.
There remains a few things that definitely offset Israeli use of such tactics.
1.) The Israelis do not have as an avowed political goal the destruction of all Arab states and the extermination of all Arab people.
2.) Perhaps, most telling of all, there are mosques in Israel. The synagogues in all of the other Arab nations could probably be counted on your fingers (if at all).
It is easy to indulge in moral relativism, but the Palestinians go well beyond the pale in so many different respects that they repudiate their own rights as human beings. Needless to say that it is uncomfortable to talk about human beings in such terms, but the depravity seen on a regular basis must be used as a guideline for judging right and wrong.
Too often, the Palestinians simply come out on the "wrong" side of the equation.
#28
In addition, a civilian population that knowingly harbors terrorists loses their "innocent" status. I don't condone wanton destruction by any means, but I think only the worst of Paleo supporters woul deny they've shown restraint the other side avows not to show
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 19:24 Comments ||
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#29
#28 but I think only the worst of Paleo supporters woul deny they've shown restraint the other side avows not to show
Frank G, you want to clarify on that one? I think there may be a double negative or Israel / Palestine mix-up in there somewhere.
#30
waaaalll there definitely was a typo there. My intent was to say that the Paleos take the virtue of the Israeli side for granted (i.e.: human shields), whereas it's a given, if the Paleo terrorists can execute women and children and infants (who don't shoot back) - they take that in a nanosecond, because they're fucking cowards and scum Islamic Heroesâ¢
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 20:08 Comments ||
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#31
Thank you, Frank G. I agree entirely.
The Islamic martyr mentality may well be nearly impossible for western cultures to comprehend or overcome. I can only suppose the terrorists cheerfully dispose of such human shields (i.e., women and children) confident that their victims will enter paradise after being used so cruelly.
(I will add that it took me about 30 seconds to conclude that soldiers confronted with opponents using human shields must immediately fire into such combatants. The inability to do so permits the most virulent enemy faction to continue such asymmetrically leveraged assaults. Once innocent people realize that being used in such a way represents certain death, they learn to will resist. If they do not, they are merely abetting such fiendishness)
It is almost impossible to counteract martyrdom's sort of viral meme (i.e., self-propagating concept), save by exterminating it. Our reluctance to necessarily exceed such ruthlessness in the course of combating it may well prove our downfall.
I can only assume that this is one of the gating aspects of Islam's potency. Cultures unable to surpass the viciousness of Islamist belligerents are simply overwhelmed by such brutality. Those that can exceed such barbarity may just as often self-destruct after becoming infected with such savagery.
I will freely admit that this is why my own stance regarding jihadist Islam often comes across as so vitriolic. I see no other way than by direct and fierce subjugation to quell this sort of irrationality. The simple alternative of coexistence or extinction must be presented to Islam in unambiguous terms.
Whether many people wish to admit it or not, Islam already has adopted this posture. It is the root of their martyrdom complex and we must needs be accommodate their desire to enter paradise if they are unwilling to let us find our own way to whatever hereafter we envision.
#35
Interesting isn't it how a mere few years after they had left (fill in name of concentration camp here) the Zionists tortured and killed the Palestinians. How those once persecuted now are the persecutors.
The U.S. military promised Monday to improve its prison regime in Afghanistan after a top general inspected the network of 20 secretive jails, where allegations of abuse include the deaths of at least three detainees. The military refused to say how procedures will be changed at the jails - amid accounts from former prisoners of hoodings, beatings and sexual abuse. But a spokesman promised "comprehensive" information on the general's findings would be made public within weeks. Nader Nadery, a spokesman for the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, urged commanders to release the findings to convince Afghans - shocked by graphic pictures from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq - that abuse in Afghanistan was not widespread. "We're not satisfied, but hope all the results of the review will be made public, or at least shared with the Afghan government and the human rights commission," he said.
Not a bad idea, except CBS, etc will have a field day with it.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Tucker Mansager said some changes were being implemented at the jails based on Jacoby's interim findings. "We're taking action on those (findings) as they come forward, evaluating them, implementing some of them, deferring some of them and planning some of the rest of them out," he told a news conference in Kabul. Mansager said the final report will be complete within days, and some findings will be made public by early July. "It'll come out as a consolidated, cohesive and comprehensive package," Mansager said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2004 12:31:22 AM ||
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Let's be sensitive to local custom and lock the Jihadi's in the Afghan way; in sealed airtight shipping containers.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2004 1:15 Comments ||
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#2
"secretive jails"
"The military refused to say how procedures will be changed at the jails - amid accounts from former prisoners of hoodings, beatings and sexual abuse."
Apparently this reporter has never heard of the concept of security for our troops abroad and the need to keep BIG-MOUTHED ASSHATS reporters like himself from detailing every nuance of US action for the ENEMY to use against us.
Sorry, jerk, but I'm all for our jails being "secretive" in order to prevent you from getting the information you want, such as guard changing schedules and the codes for the locks. We wouldn't want you passing that info along to the terrorists militants, now would we?
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/15/2004 12:01 Comments ||
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#3
jeebus Chris, how's the guy supposed to get "exclusive" shots of the escape?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 12:27 Comments ||
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#4
There's one thing that's been confusing me about all these prison scandals though. I thought all these 'fighters' and 'holy warriors' were going to fight to the death to kill the armies of the Great Satan. And yet, we have all these prisoners. Clearly the Jihad has been skimping on certain aspects of their training. Or maybe they're just confused by the Great Satan's nasty unfair habit of /actually/ shooting Jihad's great Holy Warriors.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland criticized the Sudanese government Monday for blocking aid workers, food and equipment from reaching the Darfur region, where 2 million people desperately need humanitarian aid.
Expect a strongly worded protest soon, um, August.
Calling Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, Egeland told the U.N. Security Council that relief agencies are trying to get food, water, sanitation equipment and tents to the western Sudanese region before the rainy season. "We've been working for many, many weeks in a race against the clock, and we see that the government which should do its utmost to help us is still not helping," he said. "Some ministers are helping us, but some of their subordinates are sabotaging us."
If you call what the Janjaweed are doing "sabotage", well ...
Sudan has relaxed some restrictions on access for relief organizations in response to complaints by the United Nations and many governments. Egeland said U.N. international staff were now able to travel to Darfur, but other aid groups still faced visa problems. He also said red tape has prevented ships carrying food and equipment for Darfur from unloading for weeks. "Nowhere else in the world are so many lives at stake as in Darfur at the moment," he said.
Egeland said people in Darfur were dying not only from violence but also from the lack of aid supplies. "We're making progress in terms of food. Our estimation is that we will be able to feed 800,000 people by the end of this month, 1.2 million people by the end of August, and some 2 million people if we still have access like now by October," Egeland said."We're also able to provide temporary shelter to some 600,000, we think by the end of this month. But we're way behind in terms of water, sanitation, immunizations, and nutritional centers for children, and that may take many thousands of lives during the rainy season," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2004 12:26:52 AM ||
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Sorry Steve, but no action in August. That is the month they are on holiday.
Posted by: remote man ||
06/15/2004 14:09 Comments ||
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#2
What possible reason could there be for not unloading food and equipment for weeks? Institutionalized inaction in the world political community...
I guess that since corpses don't need water, immunizations, nutritional centers, they are simply trying to cut costs. ;)
#3
In August the greatest humanitarian disaster will be (once again) heat related deaths among the French old-folk while the rest of the family escapes to the Med
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 14:31 Comments ||
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#4
Frank---put your prediction in the dead pool or WoT futures and we will vote on it......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2004 14:54 Comments ||
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#5
Oops! Already there!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2004 14:58 Comments ||
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A leader of militants in Iraq has purportedly written to Osama bin Laden saying his fighters are being squeezed by U.S.-led coalition troops, according to a statement posted Monday on Islamic Web sites.
Zaq held a seance with Binny? Isn't that un-Islamic?
Titled ââThe text of al-Zarqawiâs message to Osama bin Laden about holy war in Iraq,ââ the statement appeared on Web sites that have recently carried claims of responsibility for attacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. ââThe space of movement is starting to get smaller,ââ it said. ââThe grip is starting to be tightened on the holy warriorsâ necks and, with the spread of soldiers and police, the future is becoming frightening.ââ
The statement says the militant movement in Iraq is racing against time to form battalions that can take control of the country ââfour months before the formation of the promised Iraqi government, hoping to spoil their plan.ââ It appears to refer to the government that would take office after the elections scheduled for January 2005. It also says insurgents are planning to intensify attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police, seen as collaborators with the U.S.-led coalition. Calling Iraqi forces ââthe occupierâs eye, ear and hand,ââ the statement says: ââWe are planning on targeting them heavily in the coming stage before they are fully in control.ââ
The nine-page statement was longer than previous ones from al-Zarqawi, and uses classical Arabic language and poetry typical of militant leaders. The statement isnât signed. Previously statements or claims of responsibility purportedly from al-Zarqawi have been issued by his Monotheism and Jihad group.
If the militants fail to take over Iraq, ââwe will have to leave for another land to uphold the (Islamic) banner, or until God chooses us as martyrs,ââ the statement says. It goes on to assess the militantsâ record in Iraq, claiming 25 suicide operations targeting majority Shiites, American and Iraqi forces, and other coalition troops. ââWhat is coming will be more, God willing.ââ
The message also apparently seeks to reassure bin Laden that Iraqi militants are in league with his al-Qaida extremists. ââWe are not competing with you. We just want to be the head of the spear, a bridge by which the (Islamic) community can cross to victory,ââ it says.
"We're number one!"
The statement puts the Iraqi militantsâ enemies into four categories: the Americans, the Kurds, Iraqi police and soldiers; and the Shiites. Of the Shiites, it says: ââIf we succeed in dragging them into sectarian war, we could wake up the Sunnis.ââ
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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ââwe will have to leave for another land to uphold the (Islamic) banner, or until God chooses us as martyrs,
At least he's got the "Retreat or die" part down right.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/15/2004 0:37 Comments ||
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#2
Get Zarqawi a ticket to Saudi to work his magic on Sunni-Shite relations. Can you say Jed Clampett Oil Out the Wazoo Greater Eastern Arabia and Don't Have Two Nickels Sand Eating West Wahabi Land?
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2004 1:26 Comments ||
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#3
So why does Zarqawi air out his laundry and his bad news in public? This does not make sense. He should be making a big hooraw about all the Iraqis he is bumping off with car bombs and suicide fellows. You know, propagandize, get out the message, put on a positive spin. WTF?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2004 2:27 Comments ||
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#4
More wishful thinking from Fox News--they distort and you swallow it whole Alaska PAul
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
06/15/2004 3:12 Comments ||
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#5
NMM, what has Fox News distorted? In order to make an arguement, you have to point out what is distorted.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/15/2004 5:58 Comments ||
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#6
NMM--Even if this is true, I feel really bad about it. The idea of our troops "frightening" those brave masked insurgents heroically killing innocent civilians with car bombs has just ruined my day. I can only hope the new Iraqi government will provide some sort of assistance to those poor, displaced holy warriors--maybe some food stamps or counselling or something?
:-P
Posted by: Dar ||
06/15/2004 7:11 Comments ||
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#7
"It's a quagmire, I tell ya, a quagmire! The people hate us, our men die for no purpose, our allies desert us, we are doomed, doomed, doomed!"
"Zarqawi! For Allah's sake, pull yourself together, man!"
"Forgive me, Osama."
Posted by: Mike ||
06/15/2004 7:58 Comments ||
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#8
In order to make an arguement, you have to point out what is distorted.
That's only for the intellectually honest. HMM is neither intellectual nor honest.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/15/2004 8:15 Comments ||
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#9
NMM - What the hell does Fox News have to do with this story? It's from Assoc. Press (not exactly a pro-war organization).
#10
A leader of militants in Iraq has purportedly written to Osama bin Laden saying his fighters are being squeezed by U.S.-led coalition troops, according to a statement posted Monday on Islamic Web sites.
Fox News is able to post on Islamic web sites? Wow, NMM, that's really amazing! The question is: is their mind control ray in the kitchen, or is under your bed?
1. CIA controls these websites. They posted claims of "credit" earlier as cover
2. CIA controls these websites. They posted claims of "Credit" earlier for their own reasons.
3. CIA does not control these websites, but has figured out how to pass them forged documents. The guys who run these websites are not too smart, or at least not as smart as our spooks
4. The document is real. Its so hard for Zarqawi to communicate back to HQ (closed ratlines through Iran due to A. Better border security or B. A nervouse Iran trying to cooperate with the US) that he resorts to this
5. There are different factions with the insurgency. Some want to appeal for help against Zarqawis will - or some want to make Zarq look bad, in order to challenge him for internal power - whatever
#14
This sounds like a recyling of the information which was contained in a note (again purportedly by Zarqawi) seized from a jihadi courier several months ago.
#17
Where's your compassion? These poor jihadis are scared to death. Is this not tantamount to torture? I mean, let's get real. If putting panties on their heads is torture..... Isn't scarin' 'em just as bad? Awwwwww shucks...... poor little fellers.
Rumsfeld should be ashamed of himself....scarin' those poor little assholes this way.....it's inhuman!!!
Posted by: Halfass Pete ||
06/15/2004 14:11 Comments ||
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#18
LT. Smash sez it's a retranslation of the old note
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2004 14:32 Comments ||
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#19
Zarqawi is no more than a rotten coward of a bastard. When they get him and they will get him, they should execute his entire family by beheading them also. It would be to good to see hom blown up by a missle, I would rather see this cowardly asshole recieve the same kind of execution, he has been giveing innocent victums, only let the blade slice his throat nice and slow, too feel every bit of the pain
From IntelWire
Pakistani authorities arrested two figures connected to Ramzi Yousef over the weekend, both of whom are accused of working with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorist group.
According to Reuters, Pakistan arrested Daud (or Dawood) Badini, a brother-in-law of Yousef who is associated with LeJ. Like Yousef himself, Badini is accused of targeting Shiâite Muslims in bomb attacks. Badini is a suspect in a 2003 Quetta mosque bombing that killed more than 40 people, according to Pakistani authorities. Badiniâs sister is believed to be Yousefâs wife.
The Pakistan government also announced the arrest of someone they called a nephew of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed named Mosabir Aruchi (alternately spelled Aroochi, Musabir Urumchi, Masrab Arochi, and Musaad Aruchi in various reports). KSM is also Ramzi Yousefâs uncle, which presumably makes Aruchi and Yousef cousins. ... Given the timing of the report, itâs possible Aruchi is an alias used by Badini. ...
LeJ splintered from a Saudi-sponsored Pakistani terrorist group in 1996, about a year after Yousef was arrested. It appears to have consolidated Yousefâs surviving terror network under the new umbrella, possibly under the leadership of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed prior to his arrest. If that is the case, the LeJ might be considered the "Delta Force" of al Qaeda, a special forces unit trained with or under Yousef and KSM, tasked with specific high profile tasks, such as recent attempts to assassinate of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. LeJ and Badini personally have been linked to those attempts by Pakistani officials. ...
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may also be tied to LeJ. He was reportedly a member of its predecessor group, and U.S. authorities have said Zarqawi is also linked to Yousef. .... The South Asia Analysis Group, an India-based think tank, claims that Zarqawi and Yousef worked together on a 1994 attack on an Iranian Shiâite mosque and that Zarqawi is closely tied to LeJ. ....
There have been other clues that a Yousef-linked terror network is still active in Pakistan and elsewhere. In September 2003, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of Abdul Hakim Murad, a close accomplice (and childhood friend) of Yousefâs who has been imprisoned since January 1995. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/15/2004 12:08:46 AM ||
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All lies! PAkistan is our ally against terrorism just like Bushie Saudi Arabia is
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
06/15/2004 3:14 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
