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Falluja house blast kills 20 Iraqis
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Arabia
Educators and Parents Protest Against 'The Culture of Death' Taught In Saudi Schools
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 22:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Saudis: "We Don’t Have His Body"
Hours after Johnson’s slaying, security forces at a roadblock intercepted al-Muqran and the other militants in their car, sparking a gunbattle that ended with the four being killed, Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, told reporters at the Saudi Embassy in Washington. He said initial reports from Saudi officials that the militants were traced after a witness saw them dumping Johnson’s body were incorrect. Johnson’s body has not been found, he said. "We think we know the area where it is," and security forces are searching in an area north of the capital, al-Jubeir said.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/19/2004 2:53:50 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Johnson’s body has not been found
If the clowns they shot actually were Johnson's murders, the Saudis probably have his head.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 23:17 Comments || Top||

#2  I just hope Washington has plans already drafted to remove the entire Royal Wahhabi clan.

Enough is enough from the Arabian oil barons with their no-stop outright lies, backstabbing, double dealing plus attempting to play everyone off against one another
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 23:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Mark - the DoD has plans for war with anybody, up to and including our friends, the Brits. Some of their plans (such as fighting against the Brits) are mostly exercises, but you can be sure they have a bunch of scenarios and plans for - at least - taking over the eastern part of Arabia, where the oil fields are.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 23:51 Comments || Top||


Al Qaeda changes mind, confirms Moqrin’s death
This afternoon, (Sat) an announcement on the Qalah website, an Arabic language forum frequented by Al Qaeda supporters, confirmed the death of Al Moqrin.
developing...so they still might say this terrorist crumb is alive in France drinking wine?
Can we expect an appearance soon by the Lollipop Guild in the Arabian Peninsula?
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 10:00:09 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Push the (Saudi) Princes
[Preferably into the Gulf]
YESTERDAY’S brutal murder of Paul Johnson was just the latest atrocity by terrorist Wahhabis — extremist acolytes of the hate cult that’s rooted in the heart of the Saudi state. And the lessons are simple:
* Terrorism terrorizes. Extremely vile terrorism that literally goes for the throat terrorizes most of all. Bombs go off and are forgotten in a week. The horrible deaths of Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg, and Paul M. Johnson, Jr. stick in our minds.
In our minds, maybe, but not in the minds of the Dems & leftist media (except for them trying to think of a way to blame such deaths directly on Bush).

* Beheading is low-cost, and flatters the Wahhabis’ belief that they are imitating the Prophet Muhammad, who lived in the age of knives and swords, not firearms and bombs.
The Saudi experiment in creating a "reactionary utopia" — in forcing millions of people to pretend that they are living in the seventh, rather than the 21st century
now that’s a perfect description
— is less than 300 years old.
though they pretend it’s been this way forever
But it has always been backed up by the sword that appears on the Saudi flag, and by public beheadings. ... But those are technical lessons. What are the political lessons for Americans from this martyrdom of one of our own?

First, the terror will continue. With the Coalition poised to hand over power in Iraq, the terrorists (and the Saudis) are terrified by the prospect of a successful, Shia-majority state on its way to democracy in the heart of the Arab world. Wahhabis — the Saudi rulers and the terrorists — hate Shia Muslims more than they hate Jews and Christians. The Saudi royals are worried about their own restive Shia minority — who form the majority in the Eastern Province, where the oil is...
Hmmmm. Heh-heh.
And the Saudi royals are more afraid of democratic dissenters than of the terrorists.
Speaks volumes about our "friends," doesn’t it? No surprise here.
Exiled liberal Saudis — the only ones who can speak freely — believe the Saudi hardliners brought al Qaeda back into the kingdom as a warning to forward-looking Saudi subjects, and to external critics: If you try to force change in Saudi Arabia, you will get something worse. We cannot accept this blackmail — and the fear of something worse must not paralyze us. Saudi Arabia has the largest middle class in the Arab world, with many families owning satellite dishes and computers — but women can’t drive. Can you imagine a bigger obstacle to a middle-class lifestyle? Ordinary, sane, normal Saudi subjects are heartily sick of Wahhabism. Saudi Arabia is now surrounded by a crescent of Arab and Muslim states that may not be very much like America, but they are normal enough that women can drive and people are not whipped in the streets for missing prayer times. Every Saudi subject looks at Kuwait, Qatar and Dubai and wonders when his country will catch up with the world.
Uh, that would be not long after the Saudi "subjects" get rid of the Wahabis.
In addition, something worse may not be conceivable, because the friends of al Qaeda already hold power in the kingdom. Al Qaeda & Co. have never directly targeted the Saudi rulers — they target the credibility of the Saudi state, but they cut the throats of American technicians and Filipino domestic servants. Thousands of Saudi princes and princesses roam the world, spending and partying. Not one has ever been attacked.
That says a lot, doesn’t it?
When bin Laden rants, he rails against us, but calls on his Saudi followers to send petitions, not bombs, to the palaces... The kidnappings and murders will certainly continue, and it is immoral of us to ask our citizens, or foreigners of any description, to risk a brutal death just to keep Saudi helicopters flying or Saudi palaces clean. All foreigners in the kingdom should consider whether they want to put themselves on the line. The oil is no longer a meaningful pretext. A temporary rise in oil prices is a small sacrifice compared with the horrors inflicted by al Qaeda, from the ’90s bombings in East Africa to the lonely death of Paul Johnson. President Bush should present non-negotiable demands to the Saudis:
* Arrest and try the financiers of al Qaeda.

* Cut the links between the Saudi state and the Wahhabi ideology, and stop the campaign to spread Wahhabism around the world.

* Accept the need to make Saudi Arabia a normal country, through educational and other reforms. GFL on that one.
Quiet diplomacy and pressure behind the scenes has not worked since 9/11, and it won’t work now. It’s way past time to get tough with the desert rats who rule the Saudi kingdom.
Stephen Schwartz is the author of "The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role in Terrorism."
Preach it, brother! (Of course, your mileage may vary with the DemocRats.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 11:24:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Exiled liberal Saudis — the only ones who can speak freely — believe the Saudi hardliners brought al Qaeda back into the kingdom as a warning to forward-looking Saudi subjects, and to external critics: If you try to force change in Saudi Arabia, you will get something worse.

In light of the old Arabic saying,

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

the perverse notion that Saudi royals have imported al Qaeda as a disincentive to any further unrest is starting to take on increasing credibility. The ridiculous consistency with which al Qaeda's militants terrorists slip through Saudi security nets only serves to further concrete this notion.

Should all of this prove true, it is only final proof of of the House of Saud's moral bankruptcy. Wahhabist and Salafist terrorism represents one of the most immediate threats to global stability and the Saudis have been instrumental in its spread.

If it requires stripping away Arabia's oil fields to neutralize their continuing spread of this poisonous doctrine, so be it. The Saudis must be brought to account.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/19/2004 12:26 Comments || Top||

#2 
I'm sorry to pop your bubble, Barbara, but most Democrats strongly oppose Saudi Arabia too. Here's John Kerry's statement:

We cannot continue this Administration’s kid-glove approach to the supply and laundering of terrorist money. As President, I will impose tough financial sanctions against nations or banks that engage in money laundering or fail to act against it. I will launch a “name and shame” campaign against those that are financing terror. And if they do not respond, they will be shut out of the U.S. financial system. The same goes for Saudi sponsorship of clerics who promote the ideology of Islamic terror. To put it simply, we will not do business as usual with Saudi Arabia. They must take concrete steps to stop their clerics from fueling the fires of Islamic extremism.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/19/2004 12:43 Comments || Top||

#3  That's what Kerry says, Mike, but if God forbid he were elected, I expect he'd sing a different tune as long as we're so dependent on the Saudis for oil. I think, like so many other of his pronouncements of what he'd do if only he were president, he's all hat and no saddle.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 14:20 Comments || Top||

#4 
Here's my link for Kerry's statement in #2.

Barabara, your remark about the change of attitutude that takes place after a presidential candidate becomes president applies to Republicans too. I don't think there's much difference between Republicans and Democrats with regard to Saudi Arabia.

I appreciated your posting the article from Stepen Schwartz, whose book I read and praise. Mr. Schwartz seems to me to be very liberal. I presume that he himself is a Democrat and probably a liberal Democrat.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/19/2004 14:43 Comments || Top||

#5  En lieu of bullets for all, a gift to the House of Saud:

http://www.pxdirect.com/inmate_u.htm

Posted by: Dog Bites Trolls || 06/19/2004 15:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Hi dog bites troll! We think alike have you ever thought that the faith based inviatives of the Bush Gore administration are depriving the Pali peoples of their health care and golf carts?
Posted by: Junifer || 06/19/2004 19:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Sorry, Mikey, I ain't buying it. For the past thirty years, Democrats have been viscerally opposed to any - and that means ANY - use of force that has the slightest taint of U.S. national interest, including basic self-defense. To them, Haiti good, Iraq bad; Bosnia good, Afghanistan bad; war run by Democrat good, war run by Republican DOUBLEPLUSbad!!
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 06/19/2004 22:08 Comments || Top||


Fallujah Terrorists
Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid
I recently wrote an article entitled “Fallujah’s Revolutionaries” but it didn’t appeal to many, perhaps because they weren’t able to see the connection or maybe because they admired the political appeal of those far-off events. The article was a commentary on the killing of foreign civilians, among whom were Americans working in the construction sector, and a young man slaughtered in front of the cameras. The crimes committed in Fallujah were portrayed as heroic actions and these groups’ defensive claims and political narrative have become pervasive in the Arab region, which does not differentiate between the right to resistance and the crime of killing civilians. That dangerous omission led to daily celebrations of these atrocities in the Arab media including in Saudi Arabia.

The reason I single out the media for criticism is simple: The current war is essentially one of ideas, with the media as willing tools. The terrorists have managed to capture the emotions of the media and exploit them in their grand political scheme. Their aim is on one hand to strike at foreigners — an important prop to our to society — and on the other to convince the public that these are legitimate acts. Kidnapping a hundred or killing a thousand people doesn’t topple a regime, a fact they are well aware of. It is in the publicity for such acts that the leverage can be found, and that is why the media have been roped into their war.

We are on the threshold of a new era of media-savvy terrorism. The terrorists’ victims are civilians, and they are being stabbed with the same knives that have attacked Lebanese, Sudanese, Egyptians and Saudi women and children in the Kingdom, by the same extremists. The atrocities committed in Algeria 14 years ago are a good example because both mentality and tactics were similar. The criminals would attack “soft targets” like women and children by disguising themselves as policemen, setting up security roadblocks or entering girls’ schools or foreigners’ homes. The organization’s propaganda machine tried to gloss the crimes with religious commands and publish justifications and false claims against the victims. In most of the countries where they surfaced, such as Egypt and Tunisia, these bloody groups eventually disappeared. In Algeria many members of these groups surrendered without achieving any of their aims.

Like colorblind bulls, the media enthusiastically generalize, not realizing that the internal fallout from talk abroad is going to be heavy and dangerous. The extremist line has been so widely publicized that it is now being parroted by any Tom, Dick and Harry without being fully understood, and they thence find their way into the audio and videotapes the murderers have taken to posting on their websites.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2004 8:07:54 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My preferred perspective on Fallujah, also known as "PWN3D"
Posted by: Edward Yee || 06/19/2004 9:37 Comments || Top||

#2  good perspective, but the "Tom, Dick, and Harry" reference sounds like this was meant only for our (US) consumption
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 10:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Edward - link broken; displays a "406" message.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 10:48 Comments || Top||

#4 
The reason I single out the media for criticism is simple: The current war is essentially one of ideas, with the media as willing tools. [emphasis added]
Ain't it the truth! And that includes most of the American media. I'd love to hear Brokaw/Rather/Jennings, etc., explain away this one.

I wish I knew more about this guy - where does he live, how is he able to get away with such columns without being killed, etc.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Try this, Barbara?
Posted by: Edward Yee || 06/19/2004 12:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Ed: A beauty. Allahu Akbar indeed.
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/19/2004 14:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Edward, in the future you may wish include an advisory that this link is not work-safe.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/19/2004 14:07 Comments || Top||

#8  The media is not aimless, unknowing pawns for terrorists to manipulate, although it is curious that the NYT, WaPo, and Boston Globe seem to be their pipe organ. Moreover, these outlets only appeal to the gullable libs who buy into their shit.
Posted by: Capt America || 06/19/2004 16:45 Comments || Top||

#9  "Not work-safe"? The jihadi kept his clothes on for the entire clip. What's not work safe about it?

The fact that his brainless skull hit the street with a beautiful thud doesn't make the video NSFW.

Zenster, in the future you may wish to evaluate your pomposity.

Edward, where was this video shot?
Posted by: Parabellum || 06/19/2004 20:57 Comments || Top||

#10  Edward, I guess we won't be seeing this in Michael Moore's latest tripe? cooool
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 21:21 Comments || Top||

#11  Yes, heck of a clip, Edward. Thanks for posting it. I presume Fallujah? Or Where?

Best Wishes,
Posted by: Traveller || 06/19/2004 23:06 Comments || Top||

#12  good perspective, but the "Tom, Dick, and Harry" reference sounds like this was meant only for our (US) consumption

I thought "Tom, Dick, and Harry" was an English idiom.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/19/2004 23:37 Comments || Top||


Saudi TV Shows Slain al-Qaida Leader
State-run television showed pictures of the four slain militants' bodies Saturday. Among them was one it said was Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the reputed leader of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia's most-wanted terror suspect. Hours earlier, a message on an Islamic militant Web site said the reports of al-Moqrin's saying were false. The message could not immediately be verified, but it appeared on a Web site that has had similar messages in the past. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity Friday had confirmed al-Moqrin's killing, while a Saudi official had said forensic tests would confirm its identity.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2004 7:31:33 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The only pictures I've seen are ones taken while the vermin are alive. Lets see the corpses. Also I got one word to deal wif saud: Partition. No time to gloat over success in WOT. House of said will need to stage a coup de tat to preserve their own dienasty. If they don't kill the wahabbs, you know, the clerics, the financiers, the al qada middlemen, then they themselves need to go. West side in U.S. custody, east side in Hashemite control, as it used to be.
Posted by: Annie War || 06/19/2004 11:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's reverse that east-west thingy.
Posted by: ed || 06/19/2004 11:42 Comments || Top||

#3  "Here we see a Norwegian Blue in the Arabian desert, pining for the fijords."
Posted by: Mike || 06/19/2004 11:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey, no fair! In the picture with the article, his head is still attached.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 15:49 Comments || Top||


If you thought it was to good to be true....
You might be right....DAMN IT
Website denies death of Saudi Al Qaeda chief
The leader of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, is not dead according to a statement posted on a website which regularly published statements from the Al Qaeda terror network. Security men at the scene of a shootout in the Saudi capital Riyadh told AFP that Muqrin had been gunned down along with three other militants. "Following the lies ... about the death of Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, we affirm that such allegations, spread by the tyrants in Saudi Arabia, are intended to undermine the morale of the mujahedeen on the Arabian peninsula," said the statement. Its authenticity could not be ascertained immediately. But the statement said another more detailed statement would be released.
"You're dead, dammit! Now lie down!"
Posted by: Long Hair Republican || 06/19/2004 1:29:50 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  well good, then he and Binny can have a joint photo-op in hell holding up today's NY Times (I'm sure they're both subscribers...they think Maureen Dowd's smart)
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 10:24 Comments || Top||

#2  ...I'm feeling quite better, actually...I think I might go for a walk...
Posted by: Anonymous5286 || 06/19/2004 12:05 Comments || Top||

#3  "Merely a flesh wound!"
Posted by: The Doctor || 06/19/2004 12:11 Comments || Top||


Check this out on the Saudi regimé!
(I have reprinted the most alarming portions of this news item:)
Profile: Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin
Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, al-Qaeda’s reputed leader in Saudi Arabia reported killed on Saturday, was a veteran of conflicts around the world. Muqrin also fought in Algeria, Bosnia, and the Horn of Africa. He was captured in Ethiopia in the late 1990s while fighting alongside Somali separatists and extradited to Saudi Arabia where he was sentenced to four years in prison. But this was cut in half as a reward for memorising the Koran.
Did someone say ENEMY?
(The real hard-core slaughter begins AFTER this pig is ’pardoned’.!!)
Muqrin is believed to have been the mastermind behind a suicide bombing at a housing compound in Riyadh in November last year, which killed 17 people. His fighters have also been blamed for a series of increasingly bloody attacks in Saudi Arabia, including a siege in Khobar last month that left 22 people dead. Muqrin’s group, calling itself the "al-Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula" posted a video on an Islamist website last Tuesday, threatening to kill American Paul Johnson if al-Qaeda prisoners were not released from Saudi jails. Three days later, the same group posted another video, showing that their threat had been carried out. Mr Johnson was the third American killed in Riyadh in the past 10 days.
Click the BBC source link for the ’rest of the story’.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 4:58:21 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Al Qaeda warns Americans, urges US to "learn the lesson"
Bastards!
The message that accompanied the photos of slain hostage Paul Johnson today included this chilling:
"As for the Americans and their supporters, blasphemers and criminals who ganged up in their coalition for a war on Islam, this action is an example and a lesson for them to be sure that those of them who came to our country will receive the same fate and God is our guide to the path of righteousness."
Note: The original Arabic document refers to Paul Johnson as "Paul Marshall". Marshall is the middle name of Mr. Johnson.

Killing of the American Paul Marshall Communiqué

Source - Voice of Jihad publication Voice of the Mujahideen in the Arab Peninsula Subject: Killing of the American Paul Marshall Date: 1/5/1425 [6/18/2004] News Report No. 14 on the beheading of the American prisoner Paul Marshall Thanks to God, and prayer and peace on His messenger, our Prophet Mohammad and His companions and followers.

As promised, and after the expiration of the ultimatum set by the Mujahideen to the Devils in the Saudi Government, the Mujahideen from the Fallujah Detachment beheaded the American prisoner (Paul Marshall). This infidel received his fair punishment in this world before moving to the other world. He got to taste some of what the Muslims suffered from the Apache American helicopters that grilled them with their fire flames, embers, and missiles. The American infidel was one of four people in charge of the maintenance and system development of those helicopters.

With His help, we shall continue to fight the enemies of God, watching them everywhere, guided by the light of His book, and the law of His prophet, prayer and peace on Him. We shall put out the fire in the chests of the Believers in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Arab Peninsula, and other Muslim countries. We shall keep humiliating the Polytheists and Blasphemers’ soldiers until the erection of a government ruled by the Shari’a, the Justice, and Attawhid. In our journey, we shall not pay attention to put the traitors down, or listen to the cawing of the failures that were disclosed by God in this incident. They shouted in fury for the capture and killing of a Christian soldier while they did not have the courage to say one word of truth in support of the oppressed Muslim prisoners who are being tortured at the hands of the adorers of the cross, and the devils of Abu Ghraib, Al Ha’er, Guantanamo, Al Ruways and other prisons.

As for the Americans and their supporters, blasphemers and criminals who ganged up in their coalition for a war on Islam, this action is an example and a lesson for them to be sure that those of them who came to our country will receive the same fate and God is our guide to the path of righteousness.

Signed: Al Qaeda Organization in the Arab Peninsula
(Recall without offical Saudi funding we would not have this current problem.)
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 3:07:32 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nice going Islamo-dickheads! Now all the Saudi Apaches are gonna be $20 million static displays within a year. Ya can't kill Jews and Infidels if ya can't get ya guns off.
Posted by: ed || 06/19/2004 8:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Oh, we got the message, assholes - just not the one you thought you were sending.

You are the blasphemers and criminals. And you're dead.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 10:19 Comments || Top||

#3  What were the kidnappers demands...let their pronouncements be edits! They didn't ask for Gold, Money, vacations in Casablanca, or their mothers. They wanted to swap prisoners. MY recommendation to "W" is this: Locate the prison(s) where Al Qaeda terrorists are located in the Arab Peninsula; dedicate one MOAB to it's center and watch the world in shock an' awe!
Posted by: smn || 06/19/2004 11:13 Comments || Top||

#4  I learned "the lesson" about three years ago. All these fuckers must die.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/19/2004 11:49 Comments || Top||

#5  get out of our land and we won't kill your so called innocents.. as simple as that. it's very difficult to do...those who send you here to take hold of oil are safe...out of reach...far in the west...and you pay for their greed...get out and make it quick...it's a friendly peace of advice
Posted by: voice of islam || 06/22/2004 11:28 Comments || Top||

#6  To tu3031 - Ditto!
Posted by: BigEd || 06/22/2004 11:32 Comments || Top||


Web Denies Death of al-Qaida Leader
A message posted on an Islamic militant Web site Saturday denied that the leader of the al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia had been killed. Abdulaziz al-Moqrin had purportedly overseen the kinapping of Paul M. Johnson, the American whose decapitated body was found on Friday in Riyadh. Saudi officials claimed al-Moqrin, the reputed leader of the group calling itself al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in a shootout after Johnson’s body was found. "Some satellite networks and news agencies have been propagating the false news that Abdel Aziz al-Moqrin, God preserve him, has been killed," the statement said. "We would like to say that such claims, unleashed by the tyrants of Saudi Arabia, are aimed at dissuading the holy warriors and crushing their spirits." The statement was impossible to verify but appeared on a Web site where similar claims have been made in the past. It began with a Quranic verse that urges believers to ensure the truth of information they receive, and was similar in appearance and tone as past messages. It said another statement would appear soon. A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity Friday had confirmed that 31-year-old al-Moqrin was dead. A Saudi official said forensic tests would be conducted on the body to confirm his identity.
http://www.siteinstitute.org/exposing.asp?id=243
Posted by: Anonymous4617 || 06/19/2004 2:00:16 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
O Muslims, Do Not Follow Jews and Christians Into the Lizard Hole!
From Al-Muhaajiroun
If we consider the nature and reality of voting in the current elections and then look at what Allah (SWT) says in the Qur’an we will realise that ... if you vote for the kuffar and support their parties ... you will be granting all the deeds that they subsequently do to yourself under the Islamic principle of Wilaayah i.e. representation. Hence Muslims must not vote for anyone in the present election, even if they say that they are going to get you some schools or other benefits for the Muslim community. Moreover the fact that some people go to Parliament or local councils and legislate and others vote for them to go there and do so, is clear-cut Shirk in Islam ....

How can a Muslim say that there is no legislator except Allah ... and then vote for someone else to legislate Kufr law and order? Rather every Muslim’s Tawheed dictates that he keeps Allah’s sanctity exclusive i.e. to obey, worship and follow him exclusively. ....

For those who try to bring spurious arguments to get people to vote today, we must remind them that none of the four Imams (Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Malik, Imam Shaafi or Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal (ra)) said that we can vote for the Kuffar in this regard. ....

Even if the rule (that Parliament legislates) agrees with the Islamic rule, for example if tomorrow Tony Blair says that we should cut the hand of the thief – because it was not made in submission to Allah it is still considered to be a kufr law. This is in line with the established principle in Islam that ‘whatever agrees with Islam is kufr and whatever disagrees with Islam is kufr’. How can any Muslim go to the Parliament and sit with the Tawagheet (MP’s and Lords) or ask or vote for another person to do so? ...

O Muslims, We have begun to follow behind the Jews and Christians into the ‘Lizard hole’, as foretold by the Messenger Muhammad (saw). ...
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/19/2004 12:02:04 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gone off his meds again, I see.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Seafarious (forgive me if I butchered your handle)posted this URL not to long ago. I found the URL to be intresting and what there definition of Islam is. In case you missed the URL before here it is again.

Islam
Posted by: Long Hair Republican || 06/19/2004 0:39 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought this was going to be warning against muslims reading LGF, LOL.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 06/19/2004 1:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Hell, I love this stuff. Puhleeze, Muslims, don't vote, don't participate in the political process at all, I care about your religion (as defined and espoused by the Big Four Imams) even if you don't. So stay home. Be pious. Seethe if you must. Tune in Baywatch or watch them march around the kaaba on Satellite. But no voting - we'll be tending the door to the Lizard Hole - and we'll tell.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 1:55 Comments || Top||

#5  For those who try to bring spurious arguments to get people to vote today, we must remind them that none of the four Imams (Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Malik, Imam Shaafi or Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal (ra)) said that we can vote for the Kuffar in this regard
I doubt that Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Hanifah etc gave Muslims permission to drive cars, watch satellite TV or indeed set up Islamist websites...
How can a Muslim say that there is no legislator except Allah ... and then vote for someone else to legislate Kufr law and order?
Someone should tell these cretins that their precious Ottoman Empire (al-Muj are pretty big on the Ottomans, cos it was the genuine Khalifate you know which is why we Brits were always trying to destroy it by...um...allying ourselves with the Turks during the Crimean war) was pretty big on ennacting 'man made law' (kanun), so much so that Suleiman the Magnificent's also know as Suleiman the Lawgiver, which kinda suggests he was doing some legislating doesn't it?
Posted by: Dave (UK) || 06/19/2004 6:20 Comments || Top||

#6  watch them march around the kaaba on Satellite

They actually have one of those channels, don't they. I've seen one where they show pages of some book (probably the Koran) while some guy recites something (probably those same pages). I've never actually stuck around to see whether this goes on 24 hours straight. Funny shit.
Posted by: Rafael || 06/19/2004 7:59 Comments || Top||

#7 
Oh' mad schmuck Mullahs of Persia, a twist of fate awaits you....the infidels of the West are plotting and have surrounded you on all fronts, from the land, air, and the sea, the eagle sees every move Oh' schmuck Mullahs of Persia.

May your wish be granted to live in Putzstan all the remaining weeks remaining in your jihadee life.

Oh' brothers of the false Arabian moon god of war, why have you failed the jihadees? Why do the infidels continue beating the dishrags off our soiled, ugly heads? Oh', Oh', Oh' (cigar burned burka)..why, Oh' why, shall we always fail in our quest for jihad?

Oh Mahdimania , Oh Mahdimania, blessing of mounds of dog dung be apon your demented servents from Chiro to Qom to Harvardstan. May 4000 virgin fleas infest your tent if you are not able you save us from our own stuidity in our miserble attempts to defeat the infidels.

Oh Ali Baba, 3rd cousin of moon god, please give at least one dinky victory, or a tiny bit of some sort of success, help for Pete's sake!! Oh' mighty One ban all forms of prosperity to all Muslims suckered in to the death cult which consumes us internationally. Oh Ali Baba please guide the forces that are against the Muslim jihadists to beat the living hell out of each & every fo us.

As it is written on the all mighty internet: The fate of the Believers is victory or martyrdom; thus it looks like a lot of the jihadic faithful are going to kick the green bucket.......REAL SOON!
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 20:23 Comments || Top||

#8  ROFLMAO!!! Beautiful, Mark - hard to type cuz I've got tears in my eyes! Great bit! Thx!
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 20:32 Comments || Top||

#9  .com LOLOLOLOL, even with my the typos. Oh' brother :)

My camel just rode of with my brand new tent with a sign attached to his side stating 'for sale..cheap'.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 21:56 Comments || Top||

#10  ...then vote for someone else to legislate Kufr law and order. Rather than vote, every Muslim’s Tawheed dictates that he keeps Allans sacrelige exclusively, and then bend over and let Satan drive.

If you've never seen a tahweed before, its about the nastiest, smelliest thing you could ever run across.
Posted by: Annie War || 06/19/2004 22:05 Comments || Top||

#11  So Annie War = Comment Top = coward
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 22:45 Comments || Top||

#12  guess what??? Freelivrs.net don't exist - troll!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 22:53 Comments || Top||


Europe
French police investigate white powder found at Versailles chateau
Officials opened an investigation Friday into a white powder found last month at the famous chateau of Versailles, a substance that authorities say is potentially harmful but not fatal. The powder contained bacillus cereus, a substance related to anthrax but much less dangerous, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It could have been harmful if inhaled or rubbed against the skin, officials said.

The powder was discovered May 23 spread on the floor of a room at the chateau, one of France’s most popular tourist attractions. If someone had been harmed by the substance, they would have noticed immediately, the officials said. Nobody complained to personnel, they said. The product poses no lingering dangers to visitors at the chateau, the officials said. As a precaution, the room was cleaned by firefighters who wore high-tech gear designed for chemical attacks.

Although the substance occurs in nature, its high concentration showed that it had been refined, the officials said. It was spread over a few square metres in the Gallery of Battles, a vast hall that houses paintings of France’s famous war campaigns. Authorities have not ruled out any motives, including a prank. After initial analyses, the investigation was handed over to anti-terrorism investigators Friday. Authorities are expected to launch a campaign to encourage Versailles visitors to come forward if they saw anything suspicious at the chateau that day. The 17th century palace outside Paris and its sprawling 800-hectare grounds, known for fountains, pathways and geometric gardens, draw about nine million visitors a year.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 06/19/2004 1:28:12 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dispersion test. Idiots.
Posted by: mojo || 06/19/2004 14:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Dispertion test?
We always just used a mickey d straw
Posted by: Junifer || 06/19/2004 20:00 Comments || Top||


Newsday: Four mini Bombs Explode Outside Banks in Turkey
EFL - I added mini to the title as the seriousness of attack did not warrant the sensational AP headline
Small bombs exploded outside four banks in Istanbul and the port city of Izmir on Friday, slightly injuring three people, Turkish officials said. One person was slightly injured by flying glass after two blasts occurred within 30 minutes in two Istanbul neighborhoods, police said. Two similar explosions in the Aegean port city of Izmir -- Turkey’s third-largest city -- shattered windows and slightly injured two people, local officials said.
Izmir used to be a frequent port of call for USN ships.
The bombs appeared primarily to be designed to make noise rather than cause serious damage, authorities said. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Militant Islamic, Kurdish, and leftist groups are active in Turkey and have carried out past attacks. Istanbul will host a NATO summit on June 28-29 that will be attended by President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and other alliance leaders. Security has been of special concern since four truck bombings blamed on a Turkish al-Qaida cell killed more than 60 people last year in Istanbul.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 2:45:56 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Al Qaeda Arrest on Cyprus?
EFL - this issue has been brought up in the State Department Daily Press Brief for comment two days running by a Mr. Lambros. Aris might be able to comment on whether Kathimerini is a credible source
Cyprus’s chief of police has confirmed a newspaper article claiming that a Pakistani Al Qaeda suspect has been arrested on the island, a report from Nicosia said yesterday. According to the Athens News Agency, chief Tassos Panayiotou said the suspect, who has been deported to an unspecified destination, was a member of Saudi Osama bin Laden’s Muslim fundamentalist group. The ANA quoted Panayiotou as confirming a report on the matter in yesterday’s Machi newspaper, but offered no further details. The newspaper had claimed that the Pakistani man, aged about 45, was arrested a few days ago in cooperation with American agents who had been watching the suspect. According to Machi, the man whom the paper described as a leading Al Qaeda operative had been planning terrorist attacks against US-connected buildings in countries close to Cyprus.

-snip-
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kathimerini is as credible a source as other "newspapers of record," eg the Frankfuerter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany) or the New York Times. It is the source used by the International Herald Tribune for news from Greece; the IHT used to be a lot better before it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the NYT.

For your amusement, here is the link to the English version, via the IHT.
Posted by: trailingwife || 06/19/2004 1:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Thank you for the link. The Olympic Detension center story was worth the trip.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 2:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Prolly just big sports fans laying up till time for the Olympics.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 4:23 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Kerry: We must destroy al Qaida
Senator John Kerry issued the following statement today on the murder of Paul Johnson:

"My prayers and deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Paul Johnson.

"Americans are united against the terrorists who committed this abhorrent act against an American civilian in Saudi Arabia.

"It is essential that we have the full cooperation of the Saudi government in tracking down these terrorists and destroying al Qaeda. This must be our nation's highest priority."
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/19/2004 00:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What an idiot this guy is....what did he do just wake up? duh 911 Froggy...
No wonder we call you sKerry!!
Posted by: Long Hair Republican || 06/19/2004 1:25 Comments || Top||

#2  (ON this issue only)

John, put down the crack pipe and don't pass it back to George. Tell the State Dept to stop handing it out to all you politicians and the press.

The Saudis will NEVER fully cooperate. They frigging FUND the terrorists - and its the Wahabbi-ism that the Saudis spread that serves as the substrate in which the seeds of terrorism sprout and take root.

Bush, Kerry, etc are ALL wrong on they way they want to go about this.

We need to plan on replacing the Saudi government, and policing the area. Not us in person, but at least some proxies (Due to Mecca, etc).
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/19/2004 1:25 Comments || Top||

#3  One of the freakiest thing about Democrats, especially SKerry is that, they say how they're going to destroy terrorists, end poverty, stand up for the working man, but yet, they never explain "HOW". And why is it, nobody ever asks them right after they say it, "How do you intend to do this?" I will never vote for any politician who wants to do things but can't explain how he would do them.

That sort of nonsense doesn't fly in the business world.

Wait...sorry, forgot about the .com founders and they're magical ride on the stock market. But then, it's not actually their fault quite so much. I think far too many brokerage houses saw a chance for the old, "We can take your capital and turn it into valuable broker fees in just a few short weeks."
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/19/2004 1:36 Comments || Top||

#4  OS - "We need to plan on replacing the Saudi government, and policing the area. Not us in person, but at least some proxies (Due to Mecca, etc)."

I'm very curious to hear more.

I freely admit that, regards Saudi and the fucking 'Special Relationship' and the legions of well-paid turncoats here at home and in every pile of people that calls itself an organization, we would eventually evolve to an adversarial standoff (due to killings, lack of coop, Nayef, etc) and then act when either the public will finally overwhelmed the internal and external PR machines (best case) or have to wait for the House to Fall / Civil War (worst case)... then, assuming we've staged our forces in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar, we seize the oil sands before facilities are damaged and the obvious market disruptions bring down the world financial system. You've heard the rest of the Rep of Eastern Arabia game.

What you said, though, implies something very different. Do you have a plan outline you're happy with - one you could post?
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 1:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, I could post what I have in mind, but I need to talk it over with someone first.
Posted by: Oldspook || 06/19/2004 1:47 Comments || Top||

#6  Spot-on, the Dems are all bluster and no substance. Just more pandering to the country, saying "We're gotta get you bad guys, I was in Vietnam you know."
Posted by: Capt America || 06/19/2004 1:50 Comments || Top||

#7  One of the freakiest thing about Democrats, especially SKerry is that, they say how they're going to destroy terrorists, end poverty,..

They're not going to do anything of the sort. They haven't ended poverty by any stretch of the imagination, so how in heaven's name do they figure they're going to destroy terrorists?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/19/2004 1:57 Comments || Top||

#8  OS - Cool, whenever you're ready, then let 'er rip!
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 2:00 Comments || Top||

#9  OS - One dramatic change today I'd like to note is that I think the Khobar Killings and the Johnson Murder have moved US public opinion a long long way for such a short time. I've been reading non-stop today and even the idiotarian news sources are having problems keeping up the usual "allies" BS.

Maybe, just maybe, we don't need to take another hit on the US homeland for the magical 50% milestone calling for hardcore cooperation, and if the Saudis fail to deliver it, then direct US intervention.

Of course, every percentage point swing toward reality is good - no matter what plan is being considered, heh. I'm frustrated by all the silly posts that ignore the realities of the political mechanics required for the President to act. If I were a praying man, I'd be praying for Bush and a 'Publican sweep in November so there would be the Executive will plus no stupid Congressional impediments against acting in Saudi and Iran once the casis belli is put forward to the public and accepted.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 2:14 Comments || Top||

#10  Big words, lofty goals, no substance. There is more going for a hot air balloon than the dems have. All carbs, no protein, you get the picture. Pfeh!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/19/2004 2:34 Comments || Top||

#11  Old Spook to .com -- Well, I could post what I have in mind, but I need to talk it over with someone first.

Plus, then he'd have to kill you. :-)
Posted by: Steve White || 06/19/2004 2:58 Comments || Top||

#12  Old Spook: We need to plan on replacing the Saudi government, and policing the area. Not us in person, but at least some proxies (Due to Mecca, etc).

I've found my candidate for Director, Central Intelligence, Republic of Eastern Arabia.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/19/2004 2:59 Comments || Top||

#13  Dr Steve:
"then he'd have to kill you"
Lol! I should've seen that one coming!

"OS -- Director, Central Intelligence, Republic of Eastern Arabia"
Perfect! I'll bet he'll demand his own Spooky with 3 crews and a Maverick-armed Predator with 3 operators. Sounds reasonable to me, LOL!

Okay, Good Work! That's ONE. Y'know, maybe you need to pick your own position, too - I was just funnin' 'bout SecHEALTH.

Hint: Move up until you get a nosebleed!
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 3:11 Comments || Top||

#14  I think we need to recognize that Kerry is at least saying the right stuff. And to be honest, we need to move the liberals that support Kerry into a more realistic evaluation of the war on terror. Without that, they will always be fifth columnists, out to wreck everything, including our lives.

Besides which, from what I am seeing, Saudi Arabia is in the throes of a civil war. Which side do we back? Or can we back either side effectively? I am not so sure that it is as simple as some have suggested.

I won't vote for Kerry, but I think that when he says the right things, he should be given kudos for it. It might be all BS, but it is a start. And hopefully, he can help the left come to a more realistic grip on the situation before they get us all killed.
Posted by: Ben || 06/19/2004 4:28 Comments || Top||

#15  An American has his head cut off and the candidate for president of a major political party:

Senator John Kerry issued the following statement

He issues a "statement"? This MF'ing jerk doesn't come out, stand up before the American people and personally denounce this incredible atrocity. He issues a press release. This man has no blood or sinew. He truly is Lurch, the undead.

Kerry is channelling Dukakis. He is going to be totalled in November.
Posted by: RMcLeod || 06/19/2004 4:42 Comments || Top||

#16  Ben - My first response was very, um, vivid and graphic. I trashed it. Instead of all that I'll just use one of the lines I've seen at Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit:

He's not just anti-war, he's on the other side.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 4:56 Comments || Top||

#17  About that Plan -- seems to me taking the 40 km strip would be a lot easier than trying to take on all of Saudi and then trying to manage it. BTW I noticed a bunch of new job openings in Riyadh at my company's web site. These are for technicians supporting the Saudi military. Without foreign techs, the Saudi military is going to be in a heap of trouble.
Posted by: virginian || 06/19/2004 7:15 Comments || Top||

#18 
This must be our nation's highest priority
What did SKerry do, take a poll? Of Americans other than his Dem-o-Rat moonbat supporters?

I think it's more likely he's (a) pissed that the terrorists keep doing this shit & reminding Americans over and over what's in store for the rest of us if we don't fight them with everything we've got, and (b) trying to figure out some way to blame Bush instead of Al-Q. His "statement" is just a politically expedient stopgap until he can figure out how.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 10:38 Comments || Top||

#19  #2 John, put down the crack pipe and don't pass it back to George. Tell the State Dept to stop handing it out to all you politicians and the press ... The Saudis will NEVER fully cooperate. They frigging FUND the terrorists - and its the Wahabbi-ism that the Saudis spread that serves as the substrate in which the seeds of terrorism sprout and take root ... Bush, Kerry, etc are ALL wrong on they way they want to go about this.

OldSpook, you make me especially glad that I have already praised your forthright style elsewhere. It is absolutely refreshing to see someone dispense with partisan politics and call a spade a spade.

Thank you.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/19/2004 12:43 Comments || Top||

#20  Come on, folks. Don't be too rough on (s)Kerry. He is just flip flopping (sine waving) his way to a position on the matter. Everyone has a different approach to solving a problem. Kerry's approach is that of an undamped pendulum. Symple Physics....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/19/2004 12:57 Comments || Top||

#21  The Saudis will NEVER fully cooperate. They frigging FUND the terrorists - and its the Wahabbi-ism that the Saudis spread that serves as the substrate in which the seeds of terrorism sprout and take root.

Throwing out a theory here: The House of Saud funding the Wahabbis is pretty much a given. Is this current round of fanatics a weapon used by one side in the war between the Princes?

>We need to plan on replacing the Saudi government, and policing the area. Not us in person, but at least some proxies (Due to Mecca, etc).<

Agreed. I still think there's factions of the SA military that can be co-opted.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/19/2004 14:42 Comments || Top||

#22 
Throwing out a theory here: The House of Saud funding the Wahabbis is pretty much a given. Is this current round of fanatics a weapon used by one side in the war between the Princes?


That's been my theory.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/19/2004 14:54 Comments || Top||

#23  I think we need to recognize that Kerry is at least saying the right stuff.

For someone who's been known to change his positions, it's always easy to say the right stuff.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/19/2004 16:45 Comments || Top||

#24  Well, I guess it's an improvement over "Bring it on!"

Could be Democratic Party platform fodder.
Posted by: Capt America || 06/19/2004 17:05 Comments || Top||

#25  If I were a praying man, I'd be praying for Bush and a 'Publican sweep in November.

My Dad always saida Bonazi! (In case we loose!)
It didn't cost nothing and made everbody laugh....
Posted by: Shipman || 06/19/2004 19:45 Comments || Top||

#26  The only side we take in the Saudi civil war is our side. Which means if the "friendly to US" Sauds don't clean house, them we do it for them, and the house of Saud becomes the house of Fall.
All I know is that when those planes slammed into our buildings, they rocked our world. And our plan, if we stick to it, is to rock their world. That means we do what what we must do for our benefit, including and especially preserving the oil. Return mocka and funky cold Medina to Hashenite admin. The Sauds know this, their days are numbered.
Remember, the greatest danger a muslim faces is islam. the cult of murder. So we'll be doing them a favor as well;
We rock with Democ. In such primitive societies they back whomever they think is winning. This is no time to go wobbly, lest end up going wahabbi
Posted by: Annie War || 06/19/2004 21:28 Comments || Top||

#27  To .com:
Some friends and I have got a quote for flying a banner over San Diego If Kerry comes back.We are planning putting this on: FOR/AGAINST KERRY WAFFLES.This will be 7foot high letters and towed by plane for two hours.Input/ideas accepted.One version was a target with the statement:Throw your medals at this !!
Posted by: rich woods || 06/21/2004 11:34 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Civil Engineering Firm in San Jose Hacked with al-Qaeda Video
From a post yesterday of Sefarious, respomnded to by me. It was late in the day so I reposted it today.
1) It is an example of Cyberterror.
2) I found some odd links that were related.

Berlin - Video images of a US engineer taken hostage in Saudi Arabia, possibly by the al-Qaeda network, could have been put on the internet via a US firm based in California, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Thursday. The video was released on Tuesday and shows relatively high-quality film of hostage Paul Johnson, who kidnappers from a group called "al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" have threatened to kill by Friday. The origin of the video was traced to Silicon Valley Land Surveying Incorporated, a California land surveying and mapping company, said Spiegel online, the internet service for the respected German weekly.

The magazine said that according to its research the move was the first time al-Qaeda had "hijacked" a website to broadcast its propaganda. The network usually spreads its message through Islamist sites but this time, Spiegel maintains, hackers created a special file at the company’s web address at least an hour before global news agencies broke word of the video. The magazine said that company chief Tim Redd had refused to comment.

In the video, the group had demanded that hundreds of Islamic militants being detained in Saudi Arabia be released within 72 hours. The hostage, a 49-year-old aviation engineer, was shown blindfolded with a piece of white fabric and tape. He was wearing a red shirt torn in parts so a tattoo on his left shoulder was visible. In a brief statement Johnson gave his identity, nationality and said he was working as an aviation engineer. An armed man wearing a balaclava and a belt containing explosives then introduced himself as Abdel Aziz Al-Muqrin, leader of an "al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" group. He read a lengthy statement containing the threat to kill Johnson.
Posted by: BigEd || 06/19/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The belt of "explosives" the terrorist is wearing is actullly a commomon piece of Russian "ALICE',(Army Light Infantry Equipment),
aka known as "load bearing equipment". The "pockets" contain loaded magazines of AK-47 ammo.
Posted by: OldCavScout || 06/19/2004 19:42 Comments || Top||


Immigration judge rejects Saudi’s offer to return home
An immigration judge on Friday rejected a Saudi man’s offer to voluntarily return home, three weeks after federal officials suggested he had ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers. Hasan Saddiq Faseh Alddin, 34, wrote Immigration Judge Anthony Attenaid that he was prepared to abandon his fight to remain in the United States. His attorney, Randy Hamud, and his supporters said Alddin was discouraged by the prospect of remaining jailed while his case winds its way through court. ``Not all persons are cut out for long-term incarceration,’’ Hamud told reporters. Attenaid closed the bond hearing to reporters and other spectators after rejecting Alddin’s offer. After the hearing, Hamud said the judge granted a defense request to continue the case to July 8. He indicated that Alddin wasn’t ready to give up. ``There’s still a lot of fight left in the dog,’’ Hamud said.

Federal agents arrested Alddin on May 27 near his home in Vista, a north San Diego suburb, on immigration charges resulting from two convictions for domestic violence. Alddin has since been in federal custody, awaiting the outcome of deportation proceedings. The Department of Homeland Security said last month that Alddin was a roommate of a close friend of Saudi hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid al-Midhar in the 1990s. The two hijackers died aboard the American Airlines jet that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Homeland Security said in a press release at the time that Alddin was ``believed to have ties’’ to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. The press release said the government was ``committed to taking action on intelligence to prevent another terrorist attack on American soil.’’

Several Alddin supporters, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, criticized the government for attempting to link Alddin to terrorists. ``This is nothing more than a witch hunt,’’ said Khalid A. Jaludi, who knows Alddin from a Vista mosque. ``Just because you’re Muslim, you’re guilty.’’ Jesse Bernal, who also knows Alddin through the mosque, said it was natural for Alddin to choose someone from his own country as a roommate. ``We’re not guilty by association,’’ he said. According to Homeland Security, Alddin entered the United States on a student visa in 1994 and became a legal permanent resident in 1999.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 06/19/2004 12:53:31 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ..So he's been in custody for 24 days.

Whatta shame. The people his roomies killed have been dead for almost three years.

He'll live.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/19/2004 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  ``Just because you’re Muslim, you’re guilty.’

Careful there fella. We've been trying this "religion of peace" thing for a while and its beginning to wear thin. And more and more of us ain't buying it, and those that still do, aer feeling a bit sheepish about it, because folks keep killing Americans in the name of Allah. You keep talking like that, and this might be taken as a statement of fact, rather than a complaint.
Posted by: Ben || 06/19/2004 4:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Randall B Hamud - lawyer to all of the San Diego area arrestees - scumbag extraordinaire
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 11:04 Comments || Top||

#4  May I present to Rantburgers the Quote of the Week:

``Not all persons are cut out for long-term incarceration,’’
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/19/2004 13:03 Comments || Top||

#5  You beat me to it, AP.

"Not all persons are cut out for long-term incarceration"

I was going to say that this seems to be a fair description of many criminals, regardless of how appropriate their custody may be.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/19/2004 16:33 Comments || Top||

#6  LOL AP!
Posted by: Shipman || 06/19/2004 19:46 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thai Policeman, Villager Killed in Troubled South
Gunmen killed a policeman and a villager and a bomb wounded three police officers in Thailand’s Muslim south on Saturday where the government has vowed to crack down on suspected militants blamed for months of unrest. Unidentified assailants armed with M-16 automatic rifles shot Muslim policeman Aran Santakor, 31, as he walked to work in the province of Pattani on Saturday morning, said Major Waiyawit Nopparut at Muang district police station. In a separate incident in neighboring Yala province, four gunmen killed a Buddhist villager later on Saturday and then ambushed an army patrol sent to investigate the attack, slightly wounding three soldiers, police said. Earlier on Saturday, three policemen were wounded as they investigated an explosion that partly destroyed a rest house in a park in Yala province. "Three police officers who were inspecting the scene were injured when a second booby trap exploded five minutes later," Yala Governor Boonyasit Suwannarat said.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 06/19/2004 6:31:55 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria preparing sanctions against United States
Expect a major recession in the US soon.
Syria is preparing a law that would prohibit trade dealings with the United States in response to U.S. sanctions imposed on the Arab country last month, Syrian legislators said Saturday. More than 130 members of the 250-seat legislature have prepared a draft of the "America Accountability Act" that would impose "strict sanctions" on American interests in Syria. In a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Damascus, parliament officials said the draft law is a response to "Washington’s policy in the region and its unlimited support and bias for Israeli policies and practices and to the Syria Accountability Act."...Muhammad Habash, a lawmaker with moderate Islamic affiliations who is one of the campaigners for the draft law, said the law was meant to maintain the dignity of Syrians. "We are not simple-minded to the degree that we imagine we can affect the great American economy," he said. "But we are able to maintain our dignity and slap the Americans so they know that if they continue with their arrogant policies, people everywhere around the globe will spit at them."
Spitting will earn you a 3 game suspension at the EURO 2004 championship. Ask Totti.
...Lawmaker Suleiman Haddad said the sanctions may be in the form of boycotting American goods but would not be a complete boycott of the United States, though he said some members of parliament supported that option. "We in Syria believe that there is still a thread between us and America," Haddad said in a telephone interview Saturday. He said the sanctions would not impose restrictions on U.S. companies working in his country. Trade between the United States and Syria amounts to $300 million a year. Several U.S. companies operate in Syria, which in the last year has signed oil-exploration deals with American companies worth a total of $34 million....
Posted by: Rafael || 06/19/2004 9:45:42 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
"America Accountability Act" that would impose "strict sanctions" on American interests in Syria.
Hahahahaha!

Thanks - I needed a good laugh.

Sanction away, idiots. Guess which side it will hurt the most.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 22:51 Comments || Top||

#2  hmmmm need to tighten quality control on the oil pipeline thru Syria...I'd suggest a couple days or more inspection time...
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 22:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Arabs, wow.

Somebody should send Baby Assad a copy of The Mouse That Roared so mebbe he can make a buck or two...

Between this and the nincompoop stunt the Saudis pulled with their magically convenient and timely locating and killing of the Johnson murderers (yewbetcha!) when they were disposing of the body (sherthang!) -- only, now they don't have a body, so the notion of how they caught the killers and killed them kinda melted down into a puddle on the Editorial Conference Room floor...

But hey, who can question their sincerity, huh? Their Johnnie-on-the-Spot gunbattle just as the world press was really heating up? Coincidence! These nasty preople who say Nayef was put on the front-burner to "Kill someone! Doesn't matter who, just do it quick!" and was thus forced to sacrifice a few fodder-pawns, well, I think that's just being mean-spitited. Mebbe Conifer will sympathize with him.

Poor Arabs.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 23:07 Comments || Top||

#4  .com,

Has Fred sent you my e-mail?
Posted by: Anonymous4617 || 06/19/2004 23:20 Comments || Top||

#5  .com,

They also said that the bodies were shown on Saudi TV yesterday. I had Saudi 1 and Saudi2 stations on all day yesterday. What they showed was composite drawings of the faces of the supposedly slain terrorists. Their lies are so infantile!
Posted by: Anonymous4617 || 06/19/2004 23:27 Comments || Top||

#6  A4617 - Got the email - cool - I'll send you a quickie for your Address Book in a few mins.

Of course the Werld Press ate it UP - the statement that they had the body - but the follow-up that there was no body came from Fox. Big surprise, huh?
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 23:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Not just the World Press but also a lot of Expats who should know better by now.
Posted by: Anonymous4617 || 06/19/2004 23:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Please spare us ...what will happen? A few dates & figs won't get shipped out? What a lot of crap.

ASSad, the clock is really ticking now
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 23:48 Comments || Top||


Iran’s religious police planning summer crackdown
Iran’s religious police will launch a summer crackdown on Western-style coffee shops and women who flout Islamic dress codes, a newspaper reported yesterday. Tehran’s prosecutor announced last month that a campaign against “social corruption” was under way and Tehranis have complained about an increase in raids on parties. “As summer approaches, we have decided to confront corruption at cultural and sports centers, video clubs, and coffee shops... that fail to observe the regulations,” Tehran Police Chief Morteza Talaei was quoted as saying in the Tosea newspaper. Women who wear figure-hugging coats and revealing headscarves risk fines, jail and lashes. Conservative MP Mohammad Reza Bahonar approved of police efforts but warned against taking a tough line.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 06/19/2004 7:55:36 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And this would be different from their spring, fall, and winter crackdowns how, exactly?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 23:21 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Stephen Hayes Insists Iraq and al Qaeda Did Collaborate
From The Weekly Standard, an article by Stephen F. Hayes
.... Here in full is the relevant portion of Staff Statement 15:

Bin Ladin also explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his time in Sudan, despite his opposition to Hussein’s secular regime. Bin Ladin had in fact at one time sponsored anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Sudanese, to protect their own ties with Iraq, reportedly persuaded bin Ladin to cease this support and arranged for contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda. A senior Iraqi Intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to Sudan, finally meeting bin Ladin in 1994. Bin Ladin is said to have requested space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraq apparently never responded. There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda also occurred after bin Ladin had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship. Two senior bin Ladin associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al Qaeda and Iraq. We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States.

.... bin Laden’s 1994 meeting with the "Iraqi intelligence officer" -- Farouk Hijazi -- is important. The U.S. intelligence community has long believed that Saddam was willing to use Islamic militants -- including al Qaeda -- to exact revenge on the United States for his humiliating defeat in the first Gulf War. ... Saddam played host to a wide range of Islamic militants through "Popular Islamic Conferences" his regime sponsored in Baghdad. He gradually Islamicized his rhetoric, incorporated harsh elements of Islamic law into the Iraqi legal code, and funded a variety of Islamic terrorist groups -- some quite openly, including Hamas. On August 27, 1998, Uday Hussein’s state-run newspaper, Babel, proclaimed bin Laden an "Arab and Islamic hero." Jabir Salim, an Iraqi intelligence agent stationed in Prague who defected in 1998, reported to British intelligence that he had received instructions from Baghdad, and $150,000, to recruit an Islamic militant to attack the broadcast headquarters of Radio Free Iraq in the Czech capital. And virtually no one disputes that Saddam offered bin Laden safe haven in Iraq in late 1998 or early 1999.

The chief obstacle to Iraq-al Qaeda collaboration, according to this reasoning, was bin Laden’s presumed unwillingness to work with Hussein. Osama had, after all, publicly labeled the Iraqi dictator an "infidel." But in 1993 -- according to testimony provided by top al Qaeda terrorist Jamal Ahmed Al-Fadl and included in the Clinton administration’s formal indictment of bin Laden in the spring of 1998 -- the Iraqi regime and al Qaeda reached an "understanding," whereby al Qaeda would not agitate against the Iraqi regime and in exchange the Iraqis would provide assistance on "weapons development." The following year, according to Staff Statement 15, bin Laden took the Iraqis up on their pledge. Hijazi told his interrogators in May 2003 that bin Laden had specifically requested Chinese-manufactured antiship limpet mines as well as training camps in Iraq. .... It was the Iraqis, per the 9/11 Commission report, who were reluctant to work with al Qaeda.

But were they? According to numerous intelligence reports dating back to the Clinton administration, Iraq provided chemical weapons training (and perhaps materials) to the Sudanese government-run Military Industrial Corporation -- which, along with Sudanese intelligence, also had a close relationship with al Qaeda. ....

William Cohen, secretary of defense under Clinton, testified to this before the September 11 Commission ... about U.S. attacks on a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory ... 13 days after al Qaeda terrorists bombed U.S. embassies in East Africa. ... The Clinton administration, in its efforts to justify the strikes, told reporters that the plant had strong links to Iraq’s chemical weapons program. No fewer than six top Clinton administration officials -- on the record -- cited the Iraq connection to justify its strikes in response to the al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. embassies. .... Here is Cohen’s response to the 9/11 Commission in its entirety:

... this particular facility ... had been constructed under extraordinary security circumstances, even with some surface-to-air missile capability or defense capabilities ... the plant had been funded in part by the so-called Military Industrial Corporation; bin Laden had put [money] into this Military Industrial Corporation; the owner of the plant had traveled to Baghdad to meet with the father of the VX program; and the CIA had found traces of EMPTA nearby the facility itself. According to all the intelligence, there was no other known use for EMPTA at that time other than as a precursor to VX. ...

Given this intelligence -- and telephone intercepts cited by unnamed Clinton officials between the plant manager and Emad al-Ani, the head of Iraq’s chemical weapons program -- one wonders why the Iraq war did not take place in the wake of the embassy bombings in 1998. ....

Staff Statement 16 briefly assesses the alleged meeting between 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence official in Prague in April 2001. It says, "Based on the evidence available -- including investigation by Czech and U.S. authorities plus detainee reporting -- we do not believe that such a meeting occurred." The report makes no mention of the fact that five senior Czech officials are on record confirming the meeting. In private conversations, some of these officials are less emphatic than their public statements would suggest. Yet when reporters ask about the meeting, the Czechs refer them to their previous public statements confirming the meeting.

And what is the evidence upon which the commission staff bases its conclusion? Articles in the New York Times, Newsweek, and the Washington Post had reported that the U.S. intelligence community has rental car records and hotel receipts that place Atta in the United States at the time of the alleged meeting. According to senior Bush administration officials, no such records exist, and the commission’s report mentions no such documentation. "The FBI’s investigation," it says, "places [Atta] in Virginia as of April 4, as evidenced by this bank surveillance camera shot of Atta withdrawing $8,000 from his account. Atta was back in Florida by April 11, if not before. Indeed, investigation has established that on April 6, 9, 10, and 11, Atta’s cellular telephone was used numerous times to call Florida phone numbers from cell sites within Florida. We have seen no evidence that Atta ventured overseas again or reentered the United States before July, when he traveled to Spain and back under his true name."

So contrary to previous reporting, Atta cannot be definitively placed in the United States at the time of the alleged meeting. Cell phone records are interesting, but hardly conclusive. It is entirely possible that Atta would leave his cell phone behind if he left the country. In any case, the hijackers are known to have shared cell phones.

More disturbing, however, is what the commission staff left out. Staff Statement 16, which purportedly provides the "Outline of the 9/11 Plot," offers a painstakingly detailed account of Atta’s whereabouts in the months leading up to 9/11. But it contains a notable gap: The report makes no mention of a confirmed trip -- technically, two trips -- that Atta made to Prague. .... Atta applied for a Czech visa in Bonn, Germany, on May 26, 2000. He was apparently one day late. His subsequent behavior suggests that he needed the visa for a trip scheduled for May 30, 2000. Although his visa wasn’t ready by that date, Atta took a Lufthansa flight to Prague Ruzyne Airport anyway. Without a visa, Atta could go no farther than the arrival/departure terminal; he remained in this section of the airport for nearly six hours. After returning to Germany, Atta picked up his new visa in Bonn and on June 2, 2000, boarded a bus in Frankfurt bound for Prague. After the approximately seven-hour trip, Atta disappeared in Prague for almost 24 hours. Czech officials cannot find evidence of his staying in a hotel under his own name, suggesting he registered under an assumed name or stayed in a private home. Atta flew from Prague to Newark, New Jersey, on June 3, 2000. ....

Ahmed Hikmat Shakir ... is an Iraqi who was present at the January 2000 al Qaeda planning meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. U.S. intelligence officials do not know whether Shakir was an active participant in the meeting, but there is little doubt he was there. In August 1999, Shakir began working as a VIP greeter for Malaysian Airlines. He told associates he had gotten the job through a contact at the Iraqi embassy. In fact, Shakir’s embassy contact controlled his schedule -- told him when to report to work and when to take a day off. The contact apparently told Shakir to report to work on January 5, 2000, the same day September 11 hijacker Khalid al Mihdhar arrived in Kuala Lumpur. Shakir escorted al Mihdhar to a waiting car and then, rather than bid his guest farewell, jumped in the car with him. The meeting lasted from January 5 to January 8. Shakir reported to work twice after the meeting broke up and then disappeared.

He was arrested in Doha, Qatar, on September 17, 2001. Authorities found both on his body and in his apartment contact information for a number of high-ranking al Qaeda terrorists. They included the brother of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Hajer al Iraqi, described by one detainee as Osama bin Laden’s "best friend." Despite this, Shakir was released from custody. He was detained again on October 21, 2001, in Amman, Jordan, where he was to have caught a flight to Baghdad. The Jordanians held Shakir for three months. The Iraqi regime contacted the Jordanian government and either requested or demanded -- depending on who you ask -- his release. The Jordanians, with the apparent acquiescence of the CIA, set him free in late January 2002, at which point he returned to Baghdad. Then earlier this spring, Shakir’s name was found on three lists of the officers of Saddam’s Fedayeen.

It’s possible, of course, that there is more than one Ahmed Hikmat Shakir. And even if the Shakir listed as an officer of the Saddam Fedayeen is the same Shakir who was present at the 9/11 planning meeting, it does not mean that the Iraqi regime helped plan or even had foreknowledge of those attacks. But how can the 9/11 Commission staffers dismiss any potential Iraqi involvement in the 9/11 attacks without even a mention of Ahmed Hikmat Shakir?

By week’s end, several 9/11 panel commissioners sought to clarify the muddled report. According to commissioner John Lehman on Fox News, "What our report said really supports what the administration, in its straight presentations, has said: that there were numerous contacts; there’s evidence of collaboration on weapons. And we found earlier, we reported earlier, that there was VX gas that was clearly from Iraq in the Sudan site that President Clinton hit. And we have significant evidence that there were contacts over the years and cooperation, although nothing that would be operational." ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/19/2004 8:09:40 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Doesn't matter; the "media" have already decided what the story will be. No matter what the story really is.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 22:01 Comments || Top||

#2  The links and shared duties of O'soddom and O'soma are analagous to the congress going on in the paris hilton video
Posted by: Comment Top || 06/19/2004 22:34 Comments || Top||

#3  that's cute Comment Top
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 22:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Has The Weekly Standard site been hacked? I've been unable to access for two days ...
Posted by: Anonymous5297 || 06/20/2004 11:43 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Israel creating 'remote control' border
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/19/2004 21:59 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
including unmanned sensor patrol cars and computerized observation posts that would automatically spot and kill terrorists
Even if this is partly propaganda bullshit (and I hope it isn't), it should have the jihadis looking over their shoulders.

Hee-hee. Feeding their paranoia is a good thing. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 23:13 Comments || Top||

#2  If it works, can we buy one and install it in our southern border? The Israeli's are quite adept sometimes at making new things and making them work well. I'd say it's definately worth a looksee.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/19/2004 23:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Israel's security walls/fences have reducing homicide bomber attacks down to almost nothing.

Maybe the Hamas types can practice on each other.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/20/2004 18:51 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
‘Turkey opposed to Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq’
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 22:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oppose and be damned. It's going to happen.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2004 23:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Awwwriiiight! Hey, Turks - Fred's on our side so you're toast! Lol! Waaay cool! Thx, Fred!
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 23:32 Comments || Top||


Hizb’Allah officer arrested in Iraq
An Iraqi military source has announced the arrest of a captain of Lebanese Allah Party who entered Iraq through Iran, Al Sharq Al Awsat newspaper reported on Saturday. The source has also accused Iran of giving facilities to attack Iraqi oil pipelines, the Baghdad-based newspaper said. "The Iranian authorities helped pass tens of saboteurs who carry out sabotage operation in Iraq," the source was quoted as saying. "We arrested a captain in Lebanese Allah Party in Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad, and he was carrying three identification cards, one of which was Iraqi, to give him the freedom of roaming the country," the source said. He pointed out that the officer threw a bomb on Spanish forces and injured five Spanish soldiers, and that he admitted after the arrest that the Iranian authorities facilitated his entrance into Iraq, and that there are many others who entered into Iraq through the same road.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 06/19/2004 6:50:52 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
captain of Lebanese Allah Party who entered Iraq through Iran
Imagine my surprise.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 19:09 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Fresh Israeli air attack on Gaza
So much better than those "stale" old attacks. After all, Palestinian terrorists deserve only the highest quality, most devastating attacks that the IAF is capable of providing. Nothing’s too good for such deserving terrorist scum.

Saturday, 19 June, 2004, 21:07 GMT 22:07 UK

Israeli helicopters have fired a number of missiles in a raid on the central Gaza Strip, witnesses say. Palestinian security officials said the target, a metal workshop in the Maghazi refugee camp, was severely damaged.

The raid came a day after Israeli helicopters attacked two empty workshops in Gaza City, believed to be used by militants to make weapons. Medical sources told the AFP news agency that no-one had been injured in the latest attack.
Drat it all. I thought they might have been after the IEM. Still, this stands as testimony to the high quality of Israeli fire control. After so many accusations of intentionally causing collateral casualties, where are they this time? Fear not, I’m sure the Palestinians will "dig up" some corpses to show the media.
Saturday’s raid came hours after several rockets and mortar shells were fired at targets in southern Israel and at Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, without causing injuries or damage.
On schedule and on target, counter-battery fire at it’s finest.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army. Israel has launched frequent missile attacks against Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/19/2004 5:25:50 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  no fun in a workshop swarm...
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 18:03 Comments || Top||

#2  The IEM (Reg. TM, Al-Aska Paul Productions) are like noisemakers at a new year's party, just noise.

The Paleos just do not get the cause-effect thing. They go beyond special ed instruction. Well, until the finest minds in psychology come up with a treatment for the Paleo Boomer Disorder and the Car Swarm disorder, then the kinetic energy dissipation treatment will just have to do. **sigh**
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/19/2004 18:13 Comments || Top||

#3  The pali peoples are very good light metal workers and should be left alone to ply they craft.
Posted by: Junifer || 06/19/2004 19:55 Comments || Top||

#4  With health care and vacation packages of course. It is a devastated area and time out is needed. Likud should be forced to pay for pali peoples cruise to Spain or Tunisia twice a year.
Posted by: Junifer || 06/19/2004 19:56 Comments || Top||

#5  One-way, Junifer?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 19:58 Comments || Top||

#6  Lol! One way sounds good to me. Conifer is definitely tuned into the Paleos - these are probably the only destinations that might "welcome" them. Wotta zero.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 20:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Hit another "metal shop"? What's that bring the unemployment rate up to in Gaza, maybe 92%?
Should be a long day Monday for the folks at the UNWRA office.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/19/2004 20:23 Comments || Top||


British MPs ’fired at’ in Gaza

Saturday, 19 June, 2004, 14:03 GMT 15:03 UK

A group of British politicians were shot at by Israeli soldiers during a UN-supervised fact-finding mission, they have claimed. The cross-party group, including MPs Huw Irranca-Davies and Crispin Blunt, was on a visit to Rafah in Gaza, where UK student Tom Hurndall was killed. Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Northover said one bullet hit a wall about 10ft above her head. "I thought ’they’re trying to kill us’," she told BBC News Online. Speaking from the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, the peer said they would be demanding an explanation and apology from the Israeli ambassador to Britain when they returned on Monday.

The Israeli embassy in London said it had not received an official complaint from the UN or the politicians, but said it was checking with the military. A source said it was unclear whether shots had been fired, and if so by whom. He said the exchange of fire between both sides was "commonplace" in the area and had not necessarily come from Israeli forces. The group had emerged from their UN vehicle at around 1600 (1300 BST) on Thursday when they heard a burst of machine gun fire, said Conservative MP Crispin Blunt.

’Extremely frightening’

They were visiting the site of the demolition of Palestinian homes by the Israeli authorities, near the spot where Mr Hurndall was killed last April. Mr Irranca Davies said the first he knew of what was happening was when he heard the rattle of a machine gun. "We withdrew to the jeeps and as we were getting in, it was followed by some pretty accurate warning shots which fired above our heads and hit a building.

It was a pretty clear indication they didn’t want us there. "It was extremely frightening. "I will be taking it up with Jack Straw and the Foreign Office because it’s simply not acceptable," he added. A Foreign Office spokesman said it was in touch with the MPs and seeking an explanation from the Israeli Government.

’Indiscriminate violence’

Lady Northover told BBC News Online when shots rang out she wondered if she would make it back to their vehicle. "Our UN companions later said that if they had wanted to kill us they would have, but it was certainly our group they were targeting and seeking to scare. We were the only adults around. "One of the most perturbing things was that we had been surrounded by children as we arrived, but they were not terrified by this - it’s obviously a fairly common occurrence," she added.

In an earlier statement Lady Northover, the Liberal Democrats’ international development spokesperson in the Lords, said the incident had shown her "the indiscriminate violence faced by Palestinians on a daily basis".
Which the Israelis never get a taste of at all.
She and Mr Blunt said the action may have been an attempt to stop the group seeing the effect of Israel’s policy of demolishing Palestinian emplacements housing in Gaza. The group’s fact-finding visit was arranged through the British consul-general in Jerusalem. Tom Hurndall, 22, from Tufnell Park, north London, was shot in April last year while trying to help Palestinian children to safety in Rafah. An Israeli soldier is being tried for the killing.
Let’s see, a bunch of inbred elitist morons decide to take an international field trip into the heart of a serious conflict zone. Now they’re amazed that bullets are actually being fired in the region. How dreadfully shocking! Couldn’t they come up with a more productive way to waste public funds? They’re supposed to drink the tea, not smoke it.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/19/2004 1:10:11 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I posted this from the front page and it still dumped into Page 2. I don't get it. Please move. Thank you.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/19/2004 13:17 Comments || Top||

#2  The shots just added a bit of flavor to the trip. Ya know, to let the IEM (inbred elitist morons) get the feel of the place. Adventure tourism......
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/19/2004 13:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Too bad they didn't visit a Paleo rocket or bomb building factory, fire a couple off, and observe a homocide bomber at work. That would have completed the trip for the IEMs. I would have thought that our UK IEM cousins would invite the US IEMs to join them on their visit. Maybe lay a wreath at the site of Saint Pancake together. Bad Israelis, I thought they were better shots. If I were the Commander, they would be at the range or border for some practice!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 06/19/2004 14:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Jeez, shot at in Gaza? I believe the brochures call that "local charm".
Idiots.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/19/2004 14:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Blast it all! How did I miss this little gem?

"One of the most perturbing things was that we had been surrounded by children as we arrived, but they were not terrified by this - it’s obviously a fairly common occurrence ..."

No, you IEM, it's just that most small children probably have more grit under their little toenails than you could ever summon yourself, even in a genuinely life-threatening emergency.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/19/2004 15:04 Comments || Top||

#6 
A group of British politicians were shot at by Israeli soldiers
And they missed? Shame on the IDF.

More practice for you, Shmuel.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 15:11 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Nek Killed by Incredibly, Amazingly, Stupendously Accurate Pakistani
From The New York Times
.... Local residents said they believed that a missile fired from an American drone killed the militant, Nek Muhammad, after he spoke over a satellite phone. But Pakistani military officials denied any American involvement. Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the chief spokesman for the Pakistani military, said Friday that Pakistani forces had been tracking Mr. Muhammad for several days. The general declined to say exactly how Mr. Muhammad was killed, but said Pakistani helicopters and artillery were both capable of striking a compound with pinpoint accuracy. He said reports of American involvement were "absolutely absurd." ...

Witnesses reported hearing what they believed was a drone in the area minutes before the missile strike killed Mr. Muhammad. On Friday, an unidentified caller telephoned a Pakistani journalist with the BBC and complained that the journalists’ satellite telephone conversations with Mr. Muhammad had disclosed his location. Residents said Mr. Muhammad was sitting in a courtyard with four other men eating dinner at 10 p.m. on Thursday when the missile struck. They said it hit the middle of where Mr. Muhammad and the men were sitting, leaving a crater 6 feet by 6 feet. All five men were killed.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/19/2004 11:27:05 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Suicide by sat phone with an able assist by Predator/Hellfire.
Posted by: ed || 06/19/2004 11:38 Comments || Top||

#2  When you want to reach out and touch someone
Posted by: cheaderhead || 06/19/2004 11:41 Comments || Top||

#3  an autopsy is scheduled for his thumb and left ear
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 11:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Can they hear us now?
Posted by: Tom || 06/19/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't care who does it, how it's done, or who takes credit for it. Just as long as it's done.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/19/2004 11:53 Comments || Top||

#6  "No, we don't need no undertaker. We need a parts man!"
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/19/2004 12:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Wow,better call my Aunt.She's great a jigsaw puzzels.
Posted by: Raptor || 06/19/2004 13:10 Comments || Top||

#8  It don't matter! Parts is parts!
Posted by: Anonymous5289 || 06/19/2004 14:22 Comments || Top||

#9  No parts. Just get a mop.

And STOP talking about Sat Phones.

Sat Phones are WONDERFUL! *EVERYONE* important should own and use one. They are great for coordinating operations from remote areas, like mountains and caves and such.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/19/2004 18:44 Comments || Top||

#10  Yeah, OS, that's just what we wuz saying, that it would be terrible if those AQ guys found out that Sat Phones were available at many internet outlets for very reasonable prices, delivery to Quetta included.
Posted by: Matt || 06/19/2004 18:55 Comments || Top||

#11  I always like the oldie telstar instrumental.
Posted by: Junifer || 06/19/2004 19:32 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
USA Shortsightedly Fostering Party-Slate Elections in Iraq
From The Washington Post, an opinion article by Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and editor of the Middle East Quarterly.
On June 30 ... a caretaker Iraqi government will run the country until elections in January. ... There are two ways to hold direct elections: by party slates, with each party gaining representation according to its portion of the vote, or by single-member constituencies, somewhat like our own congressional districts. On June 4 Carina Perelli, head of the U.N. electoral advisory team in Iraq, endorsed party slates.

When I was a roving CPA political adviser, I lived outside the Green Zone and interacted not only with Iraqi politicians but also with ordinary people. Voting was the topic of conversations at teahouses and mosques. Islamist parties tended to favor a party-slate system. Advocates of an Iranian-style Islamic republic were blunt: "The first article in a democracy is the rule of the majority over the minority." .... Liberal Iraqis favor constituency-based elections. ....

Older Iraqis also favor constituencies. Distrust of political parties is deeply rooted. One recent poll indicated that political parties have only a 3 percent favorability rating. Pensioners remember the 1960s as a time of pitched street battles between adherents of leftist and nationalist parties. Younger generations view parties through the lens of the Baath Party experience, in which employment depended on a party membership card. Distrust of parties extends to Iraqi Kurdistan, where I taught in the 2000-01 academic year. With few exceptions, my students associated local Kurdish parties with corruption, abuse of power and nepotism. ...

Even Perelli, the U.N. official, acknowledged Iraqi ill feeling toward political parties. .... But at her news conference this month, Perelli explained her rationale for abandoning the accountability of single-member constituencies in favor of pursuing party-slate elections. "There are a lot of communities that have been broken and dispersed around Iraq," she said, "and these communities wanted to be able to accumulate their votes and to vote with like-minded people." ....

With that one sentence, Perelli would set Iraq on the slippery slope to the failed Lebanese-style communal system. According to an Iraqi electoral commission member, Bremer agreed to a party-slate system to bypass the tricky question of who votes where, thereby trading Iraq’s long-term health for short-term expediency. ....

The party-slate system will not bolster representation. Many Iraqis share ethnicity but not local interests. Tel Afar, a town of 160,000 east of Mosul, is 95 percent Shiite Turkmen. Its Turkish-speaking residents have little in common with Turkmen in Erbil or Kirkuk. The party-slate system might also undercut religious freedom. Christians, for example, represent less than 3 percent of Iraq’s population. They remain concentrated in towns such as Alqosh, Ainkawa and Duhok. Many Christians do not support parties such as the Assyrian Democratic Movement. Without district-based elections, they may find themselves without representation. Smaller religious communities that do not have their own political parties but who live in clustered districts may find themselves without political representation in the important constitutional process. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/19/2004 11:18:25 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See here as to why. PC gone wild.
Posted by: someone || 06/19/2004 12:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Party slate is an EEEEEEVIL system who keeps the decision outside the hands of the people. In the first stage. Let's imagine a party who expects ten deputies. The party places Mr X, a man hated by the people but the main
bootlicker of the party chief in position 2 of the
list ie where under no circumstance could he fail
to be elected and Mr Y on position 25 (ie not one chance in one thousand to be elected) because he disgress with the boss. The people haave had not
a word to say about all this internal maneuvering.

After the elections we find that the party is at the hinge in the chamber: it doesn't matter too much if he goes from five to 2.5% of the votes it is still in the position to decide who will rule and the heads of the big parties have to kiss its ass. Thus we have that shiity little party whose deputies were selected by the party boss instead of by the people who dominates political life.

We have democracy in name but not rule of the people. Euros looooove this system.
Posted by: JFM || 06/19/2004 15:41 Comments || Top||

#3  You are a "Euro" yourself, aren't you? Or am I confusing you with someone else?
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 06/19/2004 15:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Bush2001 - fight "hijackers" of the Islamic faith, who murdered over 3,000 Americans.

Bush2002 - pressure Secular Arab governments to include within the nominal democratic process, "hijackers" of the Islamic faith, who murdered over 3,000 Americans.

Bush2003 - fight Seculars (including Baathists), while indulging "hijackers" of the Islamic faith, who murdered over 3,000 Americans.

Bush2004 - prior to pseudo democratic elections in Iraq, create a power vacuum that is being filled by "hijackers" of the Islamic faith, who murdered over 3,000 Americans.

Bush2005 - facilitate pseudo democratic elections in Iraq, which will, in context of the Powell enabled cultural integration of the Khomenist entity (Iran) with Shiite majority Iraq, will deliver Iraq to the "axis of evil," and threaten US oil supplies.

Fanatics = Believers that Bush-Powell's Iraq policies will enhance American security, and contribute to the democratization of the world.


Posted by: Dog Bites Trolls || 06/19/2004 15:48 Comments || Top||

#5  I've seen this pinhead on the tele before. He does have a point. The lame-brained UN Perelli wants to orchestrate a "PC" election instead of a truly democratic election, as the Iraqis have requested. She is another santimonious fool from the House of Fools (that be the UN).

The UN may just screw things up if they have enough rope.
Posted by: Capt America || 06/19/2004 17:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Sucking Troll (DBT) - Do YOU have a plan? Tell us what YOU would do. I'm sure it would be fascinating. If not, FOAD.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 17:59 Comments || Top||

#7  DBT doen't have a plan, he's got advanced syphlis; such a great sorrow since he collected it from clintons. Such is his delusion that he thinks he can spread it online. hey DBT, that works on AOL., and maybe from reading clintons book, but not here.
Posted by: Annie War || 06/19/2004 21:41 Comments || Top||


Africa: Horn
Sudan orders crack down on Darfur militias
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Saturday ordered his army to crack down on rival armed groups in the beleaguered province of Darfur, in Western Sudan. "In line with our previous declaration about the end of military operations and the containment of strife and rebellion in Darfur, and in order to close the doors of evil, I declare full mobilization of Sudanese armed forces to restore security and stability by cracking down on all militias and stripping all gunmen of their arms," Bashir said in a statement broadcast on Sudanese television.

He said all armed groups, be they pro-government or not, will be forced to disarm and disband. "I mean all militias - the rebels of Janjaweed, Tora Bora and Peshmerga," al-Bashir said. Janjaweed is the name of militias from Arab origins fighting against the Tora Bora and Peshmerga militias of African roots in the Darfur sector. The Sudanese president also reiterated his commitment to the peace agreement signed with the Sudan People's Liberation Army led by John Garang to end Sudan's long-protracted civil war.
Well, there are the words. I have my doubts anything'll come of it, but he's probably taken the international pressure off for a month or so. A few more words and he can drag it out for six months...
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2004 8:05:12 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Been getting too many Arab milita men killed lately. Need to rest and re-equip.
Posted by: ed || 06/19/2004 9:31 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Falluja house blast kills 20 Iraqis
A blast has destroyed a house in the restive Iraqi city of Falluja overnight, killing 20 Iraqis and wounding at least four, witnesses and hospital officials say. Some witnesses said the house had been hit in a U.S. helicopter strike. The U.S. military had no immediate information about the incident on Saturday.

Posted by: Lux || 06/19/2004 07:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  On Beeb. 16- 20 dead. From pics it looks like a massive strike. Lots of speculation about who they were after.... yadda yadda yadda.
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/19/2004 8:05 Comments || Top||

#2  I regret any innocent life lost -- and am extremely excited by the prospect of the target here. This is such a departure from the recent norm that it would seem a big fish had to be in the sights. The refusal of any comment by the US side only adds to this impression.

Meanwhile, the local police official quoted has it precisely backwards, and perfectly typifies the standard b.s. approach to this in the MidEast (is there a briefing every one in the region receives? it sounds like they're all reading from the same script). "This picture speaks for itself." Absolutely untrue -- without knowing who was targeted and killed, the picture tells us nothing. This was also another nice chance for the press to repeat it's favorite Fallujah lie about civilian casualties. I notice they've stopped using numbers, and now opted for the squirrelly "many civilians" line. Imagine the baseline for debate in the west if the press applied 1/100 the skepticism to the non-credible self-interested claims of slimy individuals and bad causes in Iraq as it does to the most innocuous and obviously true statement by the US.
Posted by: Verlaine || 06/19/2004 8:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Work accident.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/19/2004 9:22 Comments || Top||

#4  from ABC:
(AP) A U.S. military plane fired missiles Saturday into a residential neighborhood in Fallujah, killing at least 20 and leveling houses in the restive Sunni Muslim city, residents and hospital officials said. The U.S. military declined comment.
"We saw a spy plane hovering at 9 a.m.," said Ahmed Salih, a taxi driver. "At 9:30, it struck two houses and at 9:35 it fired another missile."

so, possibly a UAV with hellfires? Bear in mind, AP photo is showing weeping 'Fallujah' women with Sadr posters, signs (WTF?)
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 9:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Frank, they say that shit no matter what. Remember the Baghdad mosque that blew up during the bomb-making training class?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/19/2004 9:51 Comments || Top||

#6  "We saw a spy plane hovering at 9 a.m."

To paraphrase John Wayne - if you saw it, it wasn't a spy plane.
Posted by: Doc8404 || 06/19/2004 10:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Another Bedouin 'wedding' party?
Posted by: GK || 06/19/2004 10:13 Comments || Top||

#8  Hellfire or Work Accident - I'm happy with either. I just noted that Shiite Sadr posters were supposedly up in Sunni Fallujah, which leads me to believe AP published stock photos that had absolutely nothing to do with the story..why am I not surprised?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 10:19 Comments || Top||

#9  Robert & Frank: Ya' beat me to it! Y'all are up awfully early this Saturday morning. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 10:41 Comments || Top||

#10  Could secondary explosions have caused some of this damage? From the, ah, pool chemicals in the basement?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 06/19/2004 10:44 Comments || Top||

#11  Barbara - Cat woke me up...damn, on a Saturday!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 10:55 Comments || Top||

#12  LGF - caught a story that it was a Zarqawi safe house
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 11:17 Comments || Top||

#13  Well, isn't that special. Our military responds to all the stories abut Abu Ghraib and immediately embarks of a program to improve treatment of prisoners.

Way to go!
Posted by: badanov || 06/19/2004 11:27 Comments || Top||

#14  (monty burns)

Exxccceellleenntt

(/monty burns)
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 11:50 Comments || Top||

#15  local BBC chief: "Quick, dispatch all available camera crews to the nearest hospital and start filming babies and old people in bloody bandages."
Posted by: Anonymous5286 || 06/19/2004 12:11 Comments || Top||

#16  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Antiwar TROLL || 06/19/2004 12:48 Comments || Top||

#17  he exists...he just doesn't like you
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 12:50 Comments || Top||

#18  Antiwar - shouldn't you be busy reading something so that you can come back and tell us how many books you've read lately?
Posted by: B || 06/19/2004 13:04 Comments || Top||

#19  Antiwar:

God will definately forgive those who are moved to defend their country and their countrymen in time of war.

What God doesn't forgive is those who do not.
Posted by: badanov || 06/19/2004 13:24 Comments || Top||

#20  Carefull,Anti,God doesn't suffer fools lightly.
Posted by: Raptor || 06/19/2004 13:32 Comments || Top||

#21  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Antiwar TROLL || 06/19/2004 13:43 Comments || Top||

#22  Go away anti the adults are busy.
rednecks don't suffer fools either.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 06/19/2004 14:11 Comments || Top||

#23  Antiwar, do you define the US's presence as "illegal occupation"? Should we simply have let Saddam continue torturing and starving his people to death? Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: The Doctor || 06/19/2004 14:13 Comments || Top||

#24  How to clean up splattered terrorists guts from in and around building that was blown to bits by a Hellfire.
1) Grab stick 2) Grab Snow shovel 3) Hand them to the people that support these assholes, tell them to get to work!! And don't forget to scrape there goooy guts off the walls.
Then again, they could just leave it for the dogs gobble up.

Posted by: Long Hair Republican || 06/19/2004 14:14 Comments || Top||

#25  Please people, if you tap on the glass the monkey will throw shit at you.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 06/19/2004 14:14 Comments || Top||

#26  Badanov does that include the Iraqis who defend their country against illegal occupation???

It might interest you to know that one of the oldest laws of real property is the law of conquest. In sum: we kicked their ass, therefore Iraq is ours to do with as we please, hence no occupation can be deemed illegal.
Posted by: AzCat || 06/19/2004 15:22 Comments || Top||

#27  Please people, if you tap on the glass the monkey will throw shit at you.

One slight problem: it won't stick.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 06/19/2004 15:37 Comments || Top||

#28  Antisemite--

Remember three weeks ago when you were still claiming to be Catholic?

Better not tell your jihadi boyfriend that you may not believe in God.
Posted by: BMN || 06/19/2004 15:54 Comments || Top||

#29  Antiwar -- Read this and tell me the US did the wrong thing.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/19/2004 16:21 Comments || Top||

#30  Don't waste your time, Robert - mere torture by a moslem dictator won't bother her/him/it. She probably gets excited watching the tapes.

Anti-brains: You're using up my oxygen.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 16:26 Comments || Top||

#31  Better not tell Jihadi Daddy about boyfriend. Wouldn't want JD to uphold the family honor.
Posted by: ed || 06/19/2004 16:30 Comments || Top||

#32  #23 Antiwar, do you define the US's presence as "illegal occupation"? Should we simply have let Saddam continue torturing and starving his people to death? Inquiring minds want to know.

Thank you, Doctor. You beat me to it. This one reason alone justified America's intercession. I only wish another country would step up to the plate in Sudan right now.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/19/2004 16:56 Comments || Top||

#33  Good, another terrorist filled wedding party?
Posted by: Capt America || 06/19/2004 17:22 Comments || Top||

#34  People: read up.

Most of the damage was done by SECONDARY explosions.

Whatever was in that house, it had far more explosive power than what was dropped on the house.

That ought to clue you in as to the target.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/19/2004 18:40 Comments || Top||

#35  well, OS...maybe they were planning a wedding party? ;-)
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 18:43 Comments || Top||

#36  Good one, Frank. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 19:14 Comments || Top||

#37  Hi AntiWar people here mean to mean too. We need to form a solid union of anger against everything this blog stands for except for north carolina barbeque heath care, stand firm against memphis deviationists.
Posted by: Junifer || 06/19/2004 19:52 Comments || Top||

#38  I assume English is not your first (or second) language, "Junifer"?

We need to form a solid union of anger
Don't trouble yourselves; just slink on over to the Democratic Underground. You'll find plenty of soulmates (or solemates, in your case) there.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 20:03 Comments || Top||

#39  Okay Junifer, you've just crossed the line from trolling...to plain ass weird.
Posted by: Valentine || 06/19/2004 20:04 Comments || Top||

#40  we once had decipherable trolls , then just inarticulate assholes, now it's descended to this: Junifer, DBT, Nony, Antibrain, Gentle, NMM...what a weak effort by the future Darwin projects to disrupt this blog... *shakes head in disgust*
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 21:13 Comments || Top||

#41  Yep, the good old days of the internet when it was still freshly sprung from the mind of Al Gore. We had real trolls then. :)
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 06/19/2004 22:49 Comments || Top||

#42  Junebug,I thought all you touchy-feely types didn't get angry.
Myself I prefer rage,not the hot,irrational kind,But the cold calculating kind.
Posted by: Anonymous5295 || 06/20/2004 7:29 Comments || Top||

#43  May God if he exists forgive you all for such comments.
Posted by: Antiwar || 06/19/2004 12:48 Comments || Top||

#44  Badanov does that include the Iraqis who defend their country against illegal occupation??? B currently reading as you seem to be so curious Out of Place by Edward Said. Raptor I guess God will not suffer you then but will he see you suffer? Frank you cannot prove God's existence you believe (so do I)but we cannot prove it.
Posted by: Antiwar || 06/19/2004 13:43 Comments || Top||


The secret life of an Iraqi defence corps officer
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 02:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  To paraphrase doc paraphasing The Duke-- - If your secret life story is in an international newspaper, it ain't a secret any more.
Posted by: GK || 06/19/2004 10:41 Comments || Top||


Sniper’s story of being wounded in Baghdad
EFL - just a sample
From their viewpoint on the roof, Johnson’s men had seen movement in the neighborhood to the east. “I could have shot a whole lot of guys who were carrying guns, but just because a guy is carrying an AK-47 doesn’t mean he’s bad,” he noted. “He could have been a guy just protecting his house.” It was a bad neighborhood. As Johnson and the corporal watched the armed men, the situation changed. “We wanted to call for backup with a tank or a Bradley fighting vehicle so we could continue surveillance without being seen,” he said. Johnson was alert because cars were converging on the area, not a good sign. “Cars were pulling up without lights, scooters were coming in and out and 20 to 30 military aged Iraqis appeared, it was crooked,” Johnson explained. “It was after 10 at night, there was no reason they should be out there like that. The residents had been warned to watch for American soldiers and told we were not to be aided. The day before they had found an IED in front of the building. The security guards had said after dark the militia was out in force. They were right.”

As Johnson turned to signal the private to radio for backup, “the first set of fire came over my head. I backed into the building (room on top of the roof) and called for backup,” he said. “We had been compromised. I was standing, still watching the east and the first shooter fired again. “It felt like someone had sacked me in football or checked me in hockey,” Johnson recalled. “A hard, hard hit. I went right off my feet. My left arm was instantly numb. I had seen a flash out of the corner of my left eye and the shots echoed in the small room, boom, boom, boom.”
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 3:15:35 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It’s important that people know I have no hard feelings towards the Iraqi people. Even if I don’t get my radial nerve back, even if my arm and hand are never 100 per cent. We are there to fight that fight and give those people freedom. We are the First Team and we are there and we can’t let those people down.”

An American hero
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 10:33 Comments || Top||


Iraqi Counterinsurgency Troops to Target Urban Terrorists
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 03:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Petraeus did such a fantastic job of leading the 101st AD in northern Iraq last year that he got a 3d star and second tour. This article contains a bio: http://www.kentuckynewera.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?/200404/02+Petraeus-leaving-04-02-04_news.html+20040402+news
Sorry, I tried linking it but it didn't work.
Posted by: GK || 06/19/2004 10:28 Comments || Top||

#2  "Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan directed that the first-available INTF unit be deployed into southeast Baghdad at the end of this month."

Guess whose neighborhood this is? It aint Mr. Rogers...

Bye Bye Moqtada Al Sadr. Your own are coming after you, and unlike us, these guys do not play nice, nor do they need to worry about being criticized for not taking you prisoner.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/19/2004 18:29 Comments || Top||


IDP's in Kirkuk will have to be dealt with soon
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 02:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


embedded Robert D. Kaplan
EFL: long article

When The Atlantic Monthly’s correspondent Robert D. Kaplan signed on this spring as an embedded journalist in Iraq, he had no way of knowing what the experience would bring. Given that the war had been declared officially over for months, and that the Marine battalion to which he was assigned had been charged with "security and stability operations," it seemed likely that he would be filing a report on the military’s nation-building efforts. As it happened, however, the course his battalion charted from Kuwait to central Iraq landed him in the Sunni Triangle just weeks before four American contractors were murdered and publicly mutilated inside Fallujah. Word came down the chain of command almost immediately; his battalion would be assaulting the city.

When the troops set out at 1 a.m. on April 5 to attack the city, Kaplan went with them. In "Five Days in Fallujah," the article he later filed for The Atlantic, Kaplan describes his experiences there, and offers insight into the culture and operating style of the Marines, as well as thoughts on the larger picture of the military situation in Iraq.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 3:33:38 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Given that the war had been declared officially over for months" - NO! Major military operations had ended, no such end of the war has been declared. The lies continue don't they?
Posted by: Don || 06/19/2004 7:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Now thats what I'm talk'n bowt.
A jurnalist with the integrity to get down and dirty with the Troopers,and tell an honest story.
Posted by: Raptor || 06/19/2004 9:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Don,
It's become obvious that the media does not at all understand military operations. Some of them may be lying but I suspect a lot of it is simple ignorance.

I agree, Raptor, good for him.
Posted by: Kathy K || 06/19/2004 10:17 Comments || Top||

#4  the "War officially ended" nonsense was added by another pointy-headed liberal journalist/editor, safe in his cubicle back in NY
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 10:20 Comments || Top||

#5  The Atlantic has really gone downhill since Michael Kelly died.
Posted by: Parabellum || 06/19/2004 16:53 Comments || Top||

#6  "The idea that Marines are trained to break down doors, to seize beachheads and other territory, was an abstraction until I was there to experience it. Running into fire rather than seeking cover from it goes counter to every human survival instinct–trust me ... In one flash, as we charged across [the street] amid whistling incoming shots, I realized that they were not like me; they were Marines."

This says it all, IMO. The idiotarians lie. They do not give even the tiniest shit about these American Troops, who risk all to bring peace to others, deserving or not, and thus security for America. The idiotarians want American deaths - the more the better - for 3 reasons:
1) crass and craven political gain
2) because they do not value the freedoms they enjoy
3) because they do not understand what Kaplan came to understand in this quote
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 18:23 Comments || Top||

#7  To deify young men who have been trained to complete a mission regardless of the harm it exposes them to jeopardizes them even more. They are like us. We better have damn good reasons for putting them in harm's way.

Instead of a President who weasels out of war as a soldier, then goads would-be attackers to "Bring it on" as Commander-in-Chief, perhaps it is time for a President who volunteered for military duty, then returned and testified of the pitfalls of such action.

http://pharosreview.blogspot.com/2004/07/five-fibs-in-fallujah.html
Posted by: igm || 07/27/2004 17:26 Comments || Top||

#8  And was wounded three times and left, and told the truth about American Krimes.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/27/2004 17:33 Comments || Top||

#9  And then went to Spring Soldier and said he forgot and loved 'everbody so forget it. He was a patriot before he was a traitor, and then changed his mind again. Good hair tho.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/27/2004 17:34 Comments || Top||

#10  How you like that Lucky?
Posted by: Shipman || 07/27/2004 17:35 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
Chad fears spread of Darfur war
Chad’s government is worried that Sudan’s Arab militia is trying to export ethnic violence from Darfur. Chad says that it killed 69 Sudanese "Janjaweed" fighters on its territory. Some 10,000 people have been killed and more than a million have fled their homes. Chad’s border region has the same ethnic make-up as Darfur. The BBC’s Abakar Saleh in the Chad capital, Ndjamena, says the authorities there are "very worried" that the Janjaweed are trying to stir up trouble amongst Chad’s Arab population. "There is a fifth column hidden force trying to export the conflict between the Sudanese into Chad," said Allami Ahmat, diplomatic advisor to Chadian President Idriss Deby.

The Janjaweed were killed after attacking the village of Birak, some 6km inside Chad’s territory, said Communications Minister Mouckhtar Wawa Dahab. He said that two militiamen were captured but had no information on Chad casualties. Our correspondent says that President Deby is himself from the Zagawa group which straddles the border and which is being targeted in Darfur. The Arabs are one of Chad’s biggest groups but do not control the government as in Sudan, he says. Aid workers describe Darfur as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. But United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan says it is not the "genocide", which some human rights groups have called it.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
They say they are in a "race against time" to get aid to those who have fled their homes in Darfur before the rainy season makes the areas impassable. The first rains have already started to fall and the BBC’s Hilary Andersson says that some children in camps for the displaced are starving to death because there is not enough food aid. Chad has been trying to mediate between the Darfur rebels and the government. A ceasefire was signed in Ndjamena but both sides accuse the other of breaking it.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 3:53:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa: Horn
Interesting Questions about Darfur
excepted from Friday’s State Department Press Briefing. In this case the questions were much better and more concise than anything that Boucher’s stand-in said. The questioner was intelligent and logical - I’m betting that the questioner was not an employee of NPR.
QUESTION: -- the Secretary mentioned the possibility of declaring the situation there to be a matter of genocide. Can you advance that at all?

QUESTION: Well, wouldn’t a designation of genocide trigger certain actions that would have to be taken by this government?

QUESTION: But just one last point on that. So if the legal distinctions that would trigger some things, would trigger some things, and you’re saying that classifications seem hollow, why don’t you just do those things right now?

QUESTION: When you say it’s under active consideration to put sanctions on individuals, what is it that you’re weighing up?
QUESTION: But you are always saying that it’s the government that’s backing them --

QUESTION: -- and the militia that’s responsible --

QUESTION: -- so the leader of the government, aren’t they responsible? Where is the legal technicality that stops your identifying?

QUESTION: But you’ve been making the case all the time that the government’s responsible for the militias.

QUESTION: Is all of this affecting the big plans to hold the White House ceremony to which the leaders in Khartoum and the leaders of the SPLA would be invited to celebrate the signing of agreements leading to peace between the north and the south?

QUESTION: The same said editorial talks about certain countries in the UN Security Council that are protecting Sudan’s interests and basically blocking stronger action there. Do you agree with that, that there are (inaudible)?
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 1:35:55 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
Humvee 'Alone and Unafraid' plunges deep into Afghanistan
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 03:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Martinez, a machine gunner by trade...

Good stuff, we need more of these tradesmen. Promote them, and give them good money, I say. Takes me back to my Rhodesia COIN days, (sigh).
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 06/19/2004 13:00 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
IWPR: Yawar Gets Mixed Reviews on the Iraqi street
Iraq’s new interim president welcomed by many as a potential strong leader, although some see him as no more than an American agent. The appointment of a Sunni tribal leader and critic of the Coalition as interim president appears to have gone a long way towards convincing Iraqis that their country will have a strong leader after partial sovereignty is restored on June 30. Although he was a member of the Coalition-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, widely perceived as ineffective, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar gained widespread domestic support for criticising the United States-led military actions and seeking greater sovereignty for the interim government.

Many residents of Baghdad interviewed by IWPR believed that Yawar - a member of Iraq’s prominent Shammar tribe who wears tribal dress - could deal effectively with Iraq’s traditional society. "Choosing al-Yawar was quite clever, because he is a tribesman and can understand the mentality of Iraqi tribal society," said Ragid al-Suhail, 35, an immunologist at Baghdad University. "His qutra and ikal - headdress and headband - are a sign of Iraq’s Arabism and his adherence to it."
We have the voter pointing out his/her intention to support a polititian based on how he dresses - can democracy be far off.
Eighty-three year old Khairia Mahmoud said Yawar’s dress reminded her of Iraq’s former monarchy, whose members wore similar clothes. "He looks like the Iraqi kings," she said. "I hope Iraq can return to an era of love and prosperity under President al-Yawar."
Camelot returning to Baghdad?
Naseer Saleem Hesham, 26, said Yawar will need to prove himself a "fair and strong leader" by restoring security. But the unemployed science student added, "I believe he will succeed in his post.”

"At last we have a president" said Awatif Mahmood, a housewife. "I think the new government... can apply democracy and freedom and make Iraq stable, safe and prosperous."

Other Iraqis, however, were not convinced that the new government would be genuinely independent of the United States. Mustafa Ibraheem, 24, a security guard, does not recognise the new government, which he says “is composed of agents appointed by the Americans to serve their interests".
He has this all wrong; the agents will serve the interests of the zionists.
Ibraheem also disparaged the presence of exiles like Yawar in the new government. "I don’t believe that those who came from abroad will feel our hardship and sufferings," he said.

Former non-commissioned officer and car dealer Kareem Abu Layla, 44, said Yawar will not be able to make "free choices" because the "Americans are in full control. I want President Saddam Hussein back. Saddam Hussein paid me really well and I could kick the crap out of whomever made me mad is the only person who can bring security, and control the Iraqi people."
And he made the trains run on time. Well, er, some of the buses were pretty much on schedule or we kicked the crap out of the bus driver.
Posted by: Super Hose || 06/19/2004 2:31:45 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I want President Saddam Hussein back.

Gotta be one in every crowd.
Posted by: Raptor || 06/19/2004 9:51 Comments || Top||

#2  And the media always seems to find 'em...
Posted by: Pappy || 06/19/2004 16:44 Comments || Top||

#3  The guy is sticking his blanking neck on the line and you have some idiots pissin' and moanin' -- if you don't like the guy, don't vote for the guy in '05 -- savy
Posted by: Capt America || 06/19/2004 17:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Pappy - the $20 didn't hurt. Everybody loves dead Presidents.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 18:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Everybody loves dead Presidents

heh. Wonder if the reporters have an expense account for that?
Posted by: Pappy || 06/19/2004 23:47 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh yeah, you bet - hell, the guys I worked for in Saudi, leaving out the 4 deadbeat Saudis they had to carry on their payroll (50% of office), they had a budget line item for this. I was just a Contractor, so I wasn't privvy to what label they put on it or the amount. But knowing the guys I worked for, it was prolly something like Native Improvement Fund or similar. Something droll.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 23:54 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
"US gets cosy with Fazl"
Include a hefty dose of salt, Asia Times has been claiming this for years now.
In the search for a single unifying force in chaotic Afghanistan, such as "moderate" Taliban, to bring political stability before November’s US presidential elections, focus has once again fallen on the firebrand Pakistani cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who during the Taliban regime was used to build bridges with the rest of the world. In a controversial move, Rehman in late May was chosen by the Speaker as official opposition leader. But while these parties were crying foul because their candidate had not been chosen, a broader significance of Rehman’s nomination emerged: he was selected soon after returning from a little-publicized and unscheduled visit to England. Earlier, in March, in Pakistan, Rehman had met with visiting British Foreign Minister Jack Straw. The significance of these events emerged in comments Rehman made to a local journalist. "The British authorities are working on behalf of the United States. This indirect process has been chosen to avoid any ill-effects ahead of the forthcoming presidential elections in America ... Britain is holding indirect talks with the Taliban militia to seek an honorable American exit from Afghanistan." By implication, Rehman will mediate in this process. Asia Times Online spoke to Rehman on Wednesday evening, when the cleric called from his National Assembly chambers.

Asia Times Online: Moves have been afoot for about a year to carve out "good Taliban" without leader Mullah Omar. Are you working on the same lines?

Fazlur Rehman: After the Taliban fell [in late 2001] and a United Nations resolution called them terrorists, we conveyed the message to all Western powers that this was not the solution to the [country’s] problems, and would result in instability in Afghanistan. Now the Taliban are underground ... the whole country is in deep chaos and without leadership. This is the threat we always pointed to in the past. Whenever there was a chance to interact with any Western country officials, we conveyed the same message [engage the Taliban].

ATol: Did you think your message got across?

Rehman: Yes, of course. There is a visible change in behavior. They know that elections are the real pulse which reflects public opinion, and if the masses cease to participate in the process of elections, whether because they do not believe in the present election process or because of any other reason - like law and order - what credibility will the US leave behind? Mr Jack Straw came to Pakistan this year and I spoke to him about the same thing, saying, ’Please, do not abandon the Taliban as they are the real binding force in Afghanistan,’ and Mr Straw agreed with me that the dialogue process should not be closed with any party in Afghanistan.

ATol: When you recently visited Britain, did you talk on this issue, and at what level?

Rehman: I had the chance to interact with Mr Mike O’Brien, British minister for trade and investment. At the same time, I was invited to different institutions which work under the British Foreign Office. I clearly told them all to remove their mental hangups concerning the Taliban.

ATol: Do you see any positive response?

Rehman: Yes. The situation is not like yesteryear, when Western powers were not ready to listen to the name "Taliban". Certainly now they are preparing their minds for many compromises.

Interestingly, before the emergence of the Taliban, Rehman never supported the Afghan resistance movement against the Soviets in the 1980s. Instead, he called it a proxy US war - in one sense he was right, the mujahideen were actively supported and supplied by the United States to counter the Soviets. Whether or not Rehman can succeed in his task remains a moot point. There are many within Afghanistan who believe that the Taliban, with their strict religious philosophies, are the only people capable of bringing order to the country. However, all previous US efforts to cultivate "good Taliban" have ended in frustration, mostly because of the US demand that Mullah Omar be excluded.
Could be true, I guess. Fazl's probably the cheapest of the mullahs to buy. I don't know if he'd be likely to stay bought, though...
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/19/2004 6:39:17 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Remember when Bush publicly gave Taliban/al-Qaeda one "last chance" to deliver bin Laden, pending war?

Remember when Bush-Powell pressured the Northern Alliance to refrain from liberating Kabul?

Remember when Bush-Powell imposed sham armistice arrangements between Afghan liberators and Taliban remnants?

Mike Sylvester choses to forget the above, because he believes that Bush-Powell are American geniuses, who can do no wrong.

Every effort that Bush-Powell have made to incorporate jihadis into sham democratic processes have backfired. Unless those whimps implement a policy where the enemy is killed in large numbers, they can watch John Kerry glide into the White House.

Check Index sections on "(Prince) Bandar" in Powell's "My American Way" and reassess your admiration for that reckless fraud who whimped his wretched way into the State Department. Powell can go to hell.

Posted by: Dog Bites Trolls || 06/19/2004 8:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Remember when idiots like DBT were too ashamed to show their faces in public?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/19/2004 9:33 Comments || Top||

#3  oh, for the golden age of trollery! Now we are subject to the lesser capabilities of DBT, Antiwar and Nony...
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 9:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Who let the dog out? Who? Who?

Hey, dogbite, your mommy's calling; better run back home.

Wotta maroon.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 11:32 Comments || Top||

#5  oh, for the golden age of trollery!

I, too, miss those heady days of yore, the Great Serbian Lop-Eared Troll Infestation of 2004, otherwise known as "Rantburg's Finest Hour."
Posted by: Mike || 06/19/2004 12:00 Comments || Top||

#6  Snif!
You hated me yesterday.
Posted by: Junifer || 06/19/2004 19:34 Comments || Top||


Profile of Nek Mohammad
Published before his death. EFL
Nek was trained in the cauldron of battle. During the early 1980s, his formative years, Wana served as the staging post for mujahideen forays into a large swath of Afghan territory from Zabul to Paktia. The town swarmed with CIA and ISI agents who recruited and trained tribal youth, arranged supplies and planned attacks. The Arab mujahideen, meanwhile, had already built concrete bunkers in the Shkai and Nawe Ada areas near Wana as Middle Eastern mosque funds poured into the region by the millions to spawn a phenomenal increase in the number of religious seminaries. A new generation of ideologically indoctrinated and combat-trained militants was being readied to bring the world under the bannerflag of the so-called Darul Islam.

Nek’s father Nawaz Khan was a man of few means. Joining one of the new-look seminaries for education was therefore an obvious choice for Nek, the second eldest among his siblings. "Nek never had an intellectual mind but some other traits of his personality became evident during his stay at the Darul Uloom," recalls one of his teachers, requesting anonymity. "He showed himself to be a hard-headed boy, endowed with an impenetrable soul and an obstinate determination to carry out his will no matter how mindless it might be." The episode of Nek’s expulsion from and subsequent readmission into the Darul Uloom during his early years is widely known in Wana. Incensed over something that no one seems to remember, Nek once refused to recite his lessons in class. In line with the usual practice, the teacher Maulana Deen Mohammad began hitting him across his palms with a stick. As Nek persisted in his defiance, the teacher became furious and started rapping him on the hips. This offended Nek who picked up his books and walked out of class in a manner that was construed as a threat that he might return with a lethal weapon to get even with the teacher. Though people in Wana are reluctant to get into the details of the incident, some elders had to apparently intervene in the matter and bring Nek back to the school in peace.

Between school and jihad, Nek appears to have made several false starts. Some time in the early 1990s, he was involved in an abortive car-lifting attempt and was nearly caught by the police. Together with a couple of friends, he hijacked a pickup from Dera Ismail Khan and tried taking it to the Punjab but was intercepted by the police just across the bridge on the Indus River. Nek and his friends escaped from the scene, leaving the pickup behind. For his part, Nek asserts that the incident was motivated by a grudge he held against the vehicle owner rather than any criminal intentions of making a profit.

Information about Nek’s early military career with the Taliban remains sketchy at best. Did he receive formal training in guerrilla warfare at one of several training camps run at the time by the al-Qaeda as well as other militant organisations in Afghanistan and Pakistan? "I don’t think so," says one Yargulkhel tribesman who has been with Nek at close quarters. "He does not have the patience [to receive training]." But he did distinguish himself as a worthy fighter in the field. Information gathered by the Herald shows that he stuck with Mohammad Gul’s group for several years and fought on many difficult fronts across southern and southwestern Afghanistan. During the late 1990s, Nek commanded the Waziristani fighters at Bagram airbase, the Panjshir front line in Bamiyan, Mazar Sharif, Takhar as well as Badghis, the venues for some of the bloodiest battles that the Taliban fought against Ahmad Shah Masoud’s Northern Alliance.

Nek was first exposed to the influence of foreign fighters when he was a sub-commander at Kargha. During this period, the former Russian garrison of Rishkhor in the southern suburbs of Kabul was converted into an al-Qaeda training camp. At Kargha and Rishkhor, the likes of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawaheri were frequent visitors and men such as Jalaluddin Haqqani, Saifullah Mansoor and Riaz Basra rubbed shoulders with the chief of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Djumma Namangani, his deputy Tahir Yuldashev and the Chinese Uighur militant Hasan Mahsun. But Nek had to wait until the spring of 2002 before he would meet the stalwarts of this elite club of Islamic fighters at close quarters. Uprooted from the Shahikot mountains in the wake of the US-led Operation Anaconda, thousands of Arab, Central Asian and Chechen fighters needed an exit route or sanctuary and Nek soon rose to become their chief contact in Wana. As jihadi venues shrank, a lot of the earmarked funds started pouring into Wana, giving the cash-starved tribal mujahideen a fleshy bone to fight over. The Taliban leadership had gone underground and their military structure was crumbling. In the resulting vacuum, a number of groups started competing for funds in Wana. Nek led his own group while brothers Mohammad Sharif and Noor Islam ganged up with Maulvi Nur Abbas under commander Mullah Nazir. Commander Javed, another Ahmadzai soldier of fortune, ran a separate group. For two years, these groups vied with each other for the hefty al-Qaeda doleouts and developed some serious differences with each other that at times threatened to spill out in public.

Yet his ability to roam free in the Wana region is not due to al-Qaeda support alone. Observers are baffled over the army’s lack of intelligence concerning matters that are common knowledge in Wana. "Everyone knows that Taliban commanders Jalaluddin Haqqani and Mullah Dadullah were in Wana in April to hold a meeting with Nek and other groups," comments one observer in Wana. "It is also common knowledge that Tahir Yuldashev was asked to appoint a new commander for South Waziristan in order to forestall infighting between the mujahideen groups. But ask the authorities and they know nothing." Credible sources believe the intelligence failure that led to military casualties during the Kalosha operation was also a ruse. "Nek is a great fighter but he is not bigger than Islamabad or even the camp office in Wana. If he is standing tall against the receding shadow of the corps commander Peshawar, there has to be something more than al-Qaeda behind him."
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/19/2004 4:52:02 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "He showed himself to be a hard-headed boy, endowed with an impenetrable soul and an obstinate determination to carry out his will no matter how mindless it might be."

I do not think thta 'endowed' is the right word. Maybe the above mentioned characteristics should be placed in the "foible" column. Basically, in Fred's words, "He was not wired to Code."
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/19/2004 18:39 Comments || Top||

#2  "He showed himself to be a hard-headed boy, endowed with an impenetrable soul and an obstinate determination to carry out his will no matter how mindless it might be."

I do not think thta 'endowed' is the right word. Maybe the above mentioned characteristics should be placed in the "foible" column. Basically, in Fred's words, "He was not wired to Code."
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/19/2004 18:39 Comments || Top||

#3  "He showed himself to be a hard-headed boy, endowed with an impenetrable soul

A heart of DU. Sounds like a sabot penetratror.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/19/2004 19:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Guess that hard head wasn't hard enough to be missile proof.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/19/2004 20:18 Comments || Top||

#5  a hard-headed boy, endowed with an impenetrable soul


clearly stolen from a Robert Johnson blues song
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 21:14 Comments || Top||

#6  He had a soul?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 23:52 Comments || Top||


Caucasus
Interview with Aslan Maskhadov, Leader of Chechen Rebels
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/19/2004 00:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More problems are expected for this war torn oil/natural gas region.

In this case one could state evil fights evil.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/19/2004 21:50 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Three Afghan Provinces Too Hot for American Invaders to Handle
From Jihad Unspun
A firefight between the Americans and their allied forces and the Taliban raged for five hours yesterday and resulted in the deaths of seven enemy soldiers, with several others were wounded. The Mujahideen destroyed two military vehicles and three Humvees also in the operation. The Taliban engaged the enemy forces in Lawar as American and Afghan forces were traveling from the Pakistan border to Khost. Taliban Mujahideen ambushed the convoy with rockets and grenades. A firefight broke out and the fighting was describes as severe and 5 vehicles including 2 cars and 3 Humvees were destroyed. Several soldiers were wounded and were transferred to Khost airport.

Paktika, Paktia and Zabul have become too hot for the American invaders to handle and all NGOs have stopped their operations due to the war. American forces have halted all but essential travel outside of their bases in these provinces. Ouruzgan has seen a rise in the resurgence of the Taliban, however the power of Taliban in these three provinces remains the strongest.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/19/2004 12:07:57 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Uh... sure, right. Whatever. I'll wait for reports from a website with some shred of credibility.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 06/19/2004 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Flaming molten lava was there? Fire breathting Taliban made of molten stone?

Here is the real story and all you need to know about that battle from www.military.com. Read it and weep goat fuckers!

But attacks on U.S. forces continue, with the latest comprising of the attempted car bombing of an American convoy in eastern Afghanistan on Monday.

After a "pitiful explosion" in the vehicle, the assailant got out and ran toward the convoy with a pistol, Hilferty said. "He's dead now."
Posted by: Long Hair Republican || 06/19/2004 0:29 Comments || Top||

#3  If you went back to the beginning of Afghanistan or Iraq and began counting just the US military vehicles (humvees, Bradleys, M1 tanks, helicopters) that Spun-up has claimed were destroyed by the courageous mujjies, it would likely be a very large percentage of the inventories sent to the respective theaters, maybe even exceed the totals. And, if true, we would have none left. Poor us. Since the reported numbers are demonstrably vastly wildly different than reality and our troops do not have to walk everywhere they go, one must conclude that math is definitely not their strong suit. Rather one-sided enthusiasm and cheerleading appear to be much more interesting and enthralling to their staff.
Posted by: .com || 06/19/2004 4:51 Comments || Top||

#4  .com-
Exceptional point. During the Bosnian campaign, there was a site being run from over there that seemed to have a particular dislike form my old unit, the 20th FW at Shaw AFB, SC. The guy had an incredible list of losses from the 20th - complete with times, dates, places, and other very plausible details including tail numbers...which I always found quite fascinating, as I go past the Shaw flightline every few days and saw some of these ships sitting there. A fiendish trick on our part, I suppose.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/19/2004 10:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Uh-huh. Suuurrre they are. Pull the other one.

More like this is the jihadis' wet dream. It ain't anywhere close to reality.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/19/2004 10:44 Comments || Top||

#6  everything they know about math, truth, journalism, and fighting came from the Koran - need I say more?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2004 10:58 Comments || Top||

#7  German pilot during the Battle of Britain making fun of Goering's propaganda: "Here come the last sixty Spitfires!"
Posted by: Matt || 06/19/2004 11:19 Comments || Top||

#8  The size of the lies from the other side is an indicator of the justness of our fight. This is similar the WW2 propaganda in the Pacific where the Japanese broadcast devastating losses for the US (the 5000 ship US Navy was sunk several times over), but each month, the US got closer to the Japanese home islands.
Posted by: ed || 06/19/2004 11:20 Comments || Top||



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2004-06-19
  Falluja house blast kills 20 Iraqis
Fri 2004-06-18
  U.S. hostage beheaded
Thu 2004-06-17
  Turks Nab Four In Nato Summit Bomb Plot
Wed 2004-06-16
  Hosni shuffles off mortal coil?
Tue 2004-06-15
  Zarqawi sez jihad's not going great
Mon 2004-06-14
  Somali charged in plot to blow up Ohio mall
Sun 2004-06-13
  Iran sez no to nuke oversight
Sat 2004-06-12
  Brahimi hangs it up?
Fri 2004-06-11
  Dagestani Duma turns down ban on Wahhabism
Thu 2004-06-10
  UN experts find evidence of WMD
Wed 2004-06-09
  Boom in Cologne
Tue 2004-06-08
  Yargulkhels get 24 hours to surrender Nek
Mon 2004-06-07
  Sacred Sadr arms depot kabooms
Sun 2004-06-06
  Barghouti handed 5 life sentences
Sat 2004-06-05
  Reagan passes away

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