Four men have been arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences as part of a planned operation by the Metropolitan Police. Well done!
The men are suspected of attempting to buy radioactive material for a "dirty bomb" to be exploded on the streets of Britain. These guys are dumber than a Boy Scout.
Three of the men, one of them a Somalian national with links to Saudi Arabia, were seized by officers from SO-13, the force's anti-terrorist branch, at the Holiday Inn in Brent Cross, north London, yesterday. The other two must have been plain old Saudis
Teams of surveillance officers and armed marksmen surrounded the hotel where a deal was being conducted to sell £300,000 worth of radioactive material to an undercover reporter, posing as an Islamic extremist. Can you imagine an American reporter doing that? He'd use it for a Police Brutality story.
A fourth man was arrested yesterday at his north London home. They were arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act, on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. The men are being held in custody at the top-security Paddington Green police station, where police have 14 days to question them before charges must be filed. Police said that they were acting on information supplied by the News of the World, the Sunday tabloid, but refused to release details. We can say no more
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "All four men have been taken into custody at a central London police station for further questioning. Several addresses have been searched. Some searches continue." There were 30,000 raids under the Prevention of Terrorism Act last year - 10 times the level of three years ago. And people have problems with the Patriot Act! I would love to know if we've has 1,000 "raids" in the US since 9/11.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/25/2004 8:43:31 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Saudia keeps on popping up repeatedly (hell it is shooting at us, hell no one else but the soddies are shooting at us) I am sure now that it is a legitimate target. I still think that we should have been in soddy not in Iraq, but I guess I am stoopid.
Canada reiterated Thursday that its citizens should leave strife-torn Iraq, two days after a Canadian woman who had been held hostage for 16 days in Iraq regained her freedom. For several months, Ottawa has recommended that its citizens not travel to Iraq and has urged any of its citizens, including humanitarian workers, to leave the country. "Canadians are reminded that they should not travel to Iraq under any circumstances and that all Canadians in Iraq, including humanitarian aid workers, should leave," the government said Thursday. "There is no Canadian Embassy in Iraq at this time, and the government of Canada has an extremely limited capacity to provide assistance to Canadian citizens in distress in Iraq," the government added. A 38-year-old woman of Iraqi origin, Fairuz Yamulky, was freed on Tuesday after being held hostage for 16 days after persuading one of her abductors to free her, according to media reports. According to Canada's Foreign Ministry, about 100 Canadians are currently working in Iraq.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/25/2004 6:55:43 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The lieutenant colonel who commanded 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit in Afganistan was removed from command Friday, a military spokesman said. Lt. Col. Asad Khan, 44 of Avon, Conn,, was relieved from command by order of 22nd MEU commander Col. Kenneth Frank McKenzie Jr. said II Marine Expeditionary Force spokesman Lt. Col. David Lapan. It was considered an administrative action." BLT 1/6 and Lt.Col. Khan have been much in the local news of late; both television and newspapers. All glowing reports. I have also read of BLT 1/6 and Lt.Col Khan on several blogs. Again, all glowing reports. I sincerely hope that this "Administrative Action" wasn't caused by the blog items.
Semper Fi
MSgt USMC-Ret.
Posted by: Magnificant Bastard ||
09/25/2004 9:31:44 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
I though that the Marine Corps was better than this. An American Hero gets relieved -- they don't come any better than LTCOL Khan while his ambitious boss stays on track to be a General. Read Gen Franks book, American Soldier about how his commanders looked out for him. Whatever happened to loyalty -- up and down. Sad to say the least.
An overlooked truth about the war on terrorism, and the war in Iraq in particular, is that they both arrived too soon for the American military: before it had adequately transformed itself from a dinosaurian, Industrial Age beast to a light and lethal instrument skilled in guerrilla warfare, attuned to the local environment in the way of the 19th-century Apaches.
My mention of the Apaches is deliberate. For in a world where mass infantry invasions are becoming politically and diplomatically prohibitive--even as dirty little struggles proliferate, featuring small clusters of combatants hiding out in Third World slums, deserts and jungles--the American military is back to the days of fighting the Indians.
Posted by: tipper ||
09/25/2004 10:44:35 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Bull. Jihadists are no Apaches. They just exploit the modern western pseudomorality (it's pseudo because repaying ill with good is just as wrong, as repaying good with ill).
Example. Asad pere was hardly a military genius, which didn't stop him from puting an end to Islamic Brotherhood in Syria.
9-25-04
A senior Anglican clergyman with many years' experience in Iraq believes British hostage Kenneth Bigley was "sold" by the men who seized him to the hardline Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War) organisation, The Times newspaper reported on Saturday. In an interview, Canon Andrew White - who was involved in the rescue of four Western hostages in Iraq last June - suggested that Bigley's chances were bleak, nine days after he was snatched along with two US colleagues who have since been executed. His best hope for freedom, said White, would be a direct appeal from a senior Sunni Muslim cleric who enjoys respect in the Sunni Triangle, where it is believed he is being held.
White told The Times that Bigley was probably sold by the men who snatched him to Tawhid wal Jihad - led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has suspected links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network - for $250 000. The Times did not explain how White - director of the Iraqi Centre for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace, and a former peace envoy for the former archbishop of Canterbury George Carey - arrived at that figure. "The reality is that once these people (hostages) are with the al-Qaeda groups, it is too late," White was quoted as saying upon his return on Friday from Washington where he briefed US officials on Iraq's unrelenting hostage-takings. "Nobody knows where Zarqawi is. Those who are closest to him will not reveal anything. In the hostage-taking process, you have to move really quickly. The first 48 hours are crucial."
While an appeal from a senior Sunni Muslim cleric would help, White said many such figures - including a handful thought to be capable of reaching Zarqawi - have fled Iraq for nearby states such as Jordan and Syria. If Bigley is still alive, White said, he has likely become a pawn in an ordeal that could drag on for weeks before he is set free. "The method would be to get the local religious leaders to talk to him (Zarqawi)," he said. "They would have to say to Zarqawi, 'You need to help us. What you are doing weakens the broader Sunni cause, but you are in a position to empower us'. We need to find exactly the right Sunni leader, but even then we are not dealing with rationality. It's a case of stroking the kidnappers' ego."
He said British diplomats working for Bigley's release were "the best I have encountered," and that Prime Minister Tony Blair's policy of refusing concessions was correct. But he warned that Tawhid wal Jihad was probably holding out for more than the release of female prisoners from US-run prisons in Iraq, of which US officials say there are only two, both weapons scientists. Its real aim, White told The Times, is to cause "total and utter havoc. This is a real attempt to destabilise the restoration of Iraq, to remove the American presence, to try to restore Islamic rule."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/25/2004 6:48:38 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Has Dr. Assad seen the hand writing on the wall in the direction of 'ally' Iran? Or is this more window dressing for the West?) Syria has closed down all offices and cut off phone lines belonging to radical Palestinian groups in Damascus, a Palestinian official announced over the weekend. Khaled Fahoum, the former Speaker of the Palestine National Council (the PLO's parliament-in-exile), said the leaders of the Palestinian groups had gone underground for fear of being targeted by Israel. (Maybe these Pal jihad boys will book flights for Tehran and step up shop there. Having all the slithering rats in one place when the boom drops would benefit the whole world.)
The London-based Al Hayat newspaper quoted senior Syrian government officials as confirming that the leaders of the Palestinian groups had left Syria. Palestinian sources said the groups were planning to move to Qatar, Tunis or Bahrain. The three countries have agreed in principle to host the Palestinian groups after Egypt turned down a similar request. The Gulf states should think twice about allow additional fanatics into their oil rich kingdoms.)
Syria has been under heavy pressure from the US to close down the offices of 10 Palestinian groups based in Damascus, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Front-General Command (headed by Ahmed Jibril) and Fatah-Intifadah (headed by Abu Musa Maragha). (What a line up of the most dangerous terror groups)
Fahoum is the first senior official to announce the close of the Palestinian offices in Damascus. Syria has in the past claimed that the groups did not have any military bases in Damascus and were not involved in terrorism. However, the Syrian authorities described the offices used by the groups as "media centers." LOL
Last year the Syrian authorities announced that the "media centers" had also been shut, but it later transpired that they were continuing to function. Unconfirmed reports in the Arab media have suggested that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was considering moving to Iran. According to the reports, the Syrian government recently asked Mashaal to start searching for a new country that would agree to host him. Last week Mashaal was summoned to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials about the future of the Gaza Strip after Israel's planed withdrawal from the area. He is also said to have raised the issue of his relocation during talks with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman.
Mashaal's deputy, Musa Abu Marzuk, is also reported to have left Syria, but his new address remains unknown. A third senior Hamas official, Mohammed Nazzal, is also believed to have been expelled from Syria. Imad Alami, the movement's "operations officer," is still in Syria, but will leave soon, a Hamas source revealed. Ahmed Al Haj, a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Information, said in response to reports that Syria had asked Mashaal and his aides to leave the country: "This is a very personal and legal matter and he can go anywhere he wants. He can choose where to live and he has several options." Palestinian sources said that Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah has also left Syria to an unknown destination. If this continues Iran will not have any friends...
Jihad this!
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/25/2004 1:57:47 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
However, the Syrian authorities described the offices used by the groups as "media centers."
This statement actually makes a degree of sense. But only if the word "media" is used in the microbiological sense, as in;
"The anthrax culture was grown in a nutrient-rich media."
Qatar, Tunis and Bahrain all need to be read the riot act. As mentioned above, we want all of these maggots clustered in Iran when the fur begins to fly.
U.S. warplanes, tanks and artillery repeatedly hit at Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Saturday, while two British Muslim leaders came to Baghdad to try to convince his followers to release a British hostage. The strikes in Fallujah targeted two buildings where militants were allegedly meeting and a cluster of rebel-built fortifications used to mount attacks on nearby Marine positions, the U.S. military said. Doctors said 16 people were killed and 37 wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2004 6:38:51 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
looks like they didn't understand the value of keeping their hostages alive.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2004 18:54 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Ratchet it up. Bring this to a conclusion, as soon as possible. Get the elections going, even if they have to be rolling elections, ASAP. No need to wait til January.
#4
"The beheading of the two Americans was our first signal that we will continue and will not be deterred," said the statement, which was posted on a Web site known for carrying communiques from Islamic militants
They don't get it we are not trying to "deter" them we are going to kill them. You note the "victim" in the photo has no mustache, look at pictures of Iraqi men they all have mustaches.
He is a forigner I bet.
#5
I noticed the black shirt he was wearing compared to all the others in the picture. Don't I remember something about a bunch of Iranians attacking the Marines up north and they were all dressed in black?
Zarqawi-linked Tawhid and Jihad group Web site claimed Saturday it had "executed" British hostage Kenneth Bigley — also kidnapped 7 British troops. Foreign Office dismissed claim. In Iraq, British military spokesman Capt. Donald Francis reported all troops accounted for.
#2
If this is indeed the case, perhaps those moderate Muslims who traveled from Britain seeking Bigley's release will now need to consider how worthwhile it is to negotiate with fanatics upon whom they have little to no impact.
Unfortunately, it will take many more of these type of murders and subsequent disappointments to begin making a dent in the collective conscious of whichever part of Islam still wants to be worshiping ten years from now. The really bad news is that only a few more 9-11 or 3-11 artocities will see quick foreclosure of this more gradual process.
The only foreseeable good news is that larger world governments will just plain run out of patience with Muslim mass murderers and start outlawing Islam entirely or simply begin dismantling the whole religion worldwide.
#3
No matter Zen. What ever the outcome it will be George Bush's and Tony Blairs fault. Not the fault of the murders/muslims. The BBC will make a special section where that blame will be afixed.
From DEBKA - grain of salt but it doesn't seem like they're blowing smoke on this one - EFT - RTWT:
On Thursday, September 23, US forces resorted to targeted assassination to dispose of Abu Anas al-Shami, a senior aide of the Jordanian al Qaeda mastermind, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in Baghdad. His real identity, we reveal here, was Omar Yusef Jumaa, a Palestinian terrorist operations expert from the West Bank town of Tulkarm...
No one knows exactly how many lieutenants Zarqawi has, probably 4 or five. But locating and killing a high-profile member of Zarqawi's organization a few days after the capture of another top Zarqawi aide, known as Omar Baziyani (an alias), is a considerable American feat in its relentless offensive against the group behind the deadly suicide bombings and hostage-taking atrocities afflicting Iraq. These operations go on clandestinely behind the well-publicized US air strikes... However on the Western Bank of the Jordan, DEBKAfile's Palestinian sources report, Yasser Arafat ordered Juma'a's kinfolk in Tulkarm to refrain from setting up a mourners' tent lest the true identity of a top al Qaeda operative be blown and his Palestinian movement implicated. The makeup of the stream of visitors thronging to the mourners' tent in Amman is instructive Jordanian Palestinian notables, Palestinian Authority officials and officers based in Jordan, and Jordanian lawmakers, members of the fundamentalist Islamic Front. Upon leaving the tent, the visitors were interviewed by Jordanian intelligence and asked to explain why they saw fit to console the family of a high al Qaeda operative. "Got something you'd like to tell us?"
"Not us, Boss; Moving along here, Boss"
Aged 35 when hit by the American missile, the Palestinian terrorist took an Islamic studies degree at Medina University in Saudi Arabia. No! Who'd a thunk? Notice how none of these guys ever go to Notre Dame?
In 2004, he became deeply involved in an al Qaeda operation outside Iraq. DEBKAfile's sources reveal that it was Juma'a who was behind the abortive chemical weapons plot against Jordan that was thwarted last April and first exposed on this site on April 21, 2004. It was his idea to send one of three chemical explosives trucks smuggled in from Syria to Jordan to the Adam Bridge linking Jordan and Israel and try to get it across for a large-scale poison attack on an Israeli target. If the truck failed to cross the border, it was ordered to blow up at the border terminal. In either case, he would have established the precedent of the first al Qaeda chemical attack against an Israeli target. Neither came off and the Jordanian authorities later rounded up an al Qaeda cell in Amman.
Abu Anas distinguished himself as a key operations officer in the eighteen months he spent with the Jordanian master terrorist in Iraq and was elevated to number two spot. Two months ago, he received his last assignment, the sensitive mission of implanting a major al Qaeda team in the Shiite Sadr City of Baghdad. Zarqawi calculated that by quickly filling the vacuum left by the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's defeat in Najef, al Qaeda would draw in Mehdi Army militiamen deprived of their leader and establish a formidable anti-US anti-government presence in the Iraqi capital. By killing the Palestinian terrorist mastermind, the Americans stymied this plan. Sound like a much more satisying hit than just the "Spiritual Leader" of al-Zarqawi's group as was reported MSM.
#1
Abu Anas al-whacked Shami shall soon be seeing with his mentored Muslim serial killer friend, al-Zarqawi, in Hell.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/25/2004 18:27 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Might Fred be posting a pic of The Fat Lady? Here's hoping....
Wonder what the reporter meant when he said..."US forces 'resorted' to targeted assassination"....? Targeted assassination IS the way to go if you've got the intelligence.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
09/25/2004 20:11 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"No! Whoâd a thunk? Notice how none of these guys ever go to Notre Dame?"
At least Harvard didn't get blamed this time.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
09/25/2004 20:12 Comments ||
Top||
A missile fired by Palestinian militants fell short of its target Saturday and blew up a car in the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, witnesses said. No injuries were reported when the missile struck the car. In four years of Israeli Palestinian fighting, hundreds of Palestinian missiles and mortars have been fired at Jewish settlements in Gaza. On Friday, an Israeli-American woman was killed when a Palestinian mortar hit a home in the settlement of Neve Dekalim. It was the first fatality from such attacks. Israeli troops have frequently raided northern Gaza communities to stop the rocket fire, largely to no avail.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/25/2004 1:39:45 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
No injuries were reported when the missile struck the car.
Sudanese authorities accused an opposition party Saturday of plotting to kill more than three dozen senior government officials and blow up key sites in the capital, where heavily armed troops were out in force for a second day. The state news agency said the planned attacks were part of a coup plot for which some members of the opposition Popular Congress Party were arrested earlier this month. Two army officers and an unspecified number of privates were among those arrested before plotters could launch a series of abductions and attacks that were to have begun at 2 p.m. Friday, the Sudan Media Center said. It said the officers allegedly turned over arms to the plotters.
Heavily armed soldiers and military police were posted at intersections and around military and government installations in Khartoum. Pedestrians crossing bridges were questioned and searched. After an emergency Cabinet meeting Saturday, Information Minister Zahawe Ibrahim Malik said the plotters "were planning to control the state-run radio, the TV and the headquarters of the Council of Ministers, and then arrest all the ministers and work to overthrow the government." President Omar el-Bashir did not attend the meeting, instead proceeding with a previously scheduled ceremony to inaugurate a public service project on the northern outskirts of Khartoum.
The Sudan Media Center said the plotters intended to abduct and kill at least 38 government leaders and blow up an unspecified number of vital installations. "The concerned security organs have arrested most of the main leaders and the grass-roots participants in the planning, coordination and implementation of the plot," the agency said. It said the alleged leader of the plot, former Agriculture Minister Al-Hajj Adam Yusuf, was still being sought. Malik said he could not give a figure for arrests thus far because they were continuing and included what he called "precautionary arrests." Sudan's interior minister, Gen. Abdul Raheem Mohamed Hussein, told state-run Omdurman radio that security forces had seized weapons Saturday morning in a northern suburb of Khartoum. The radio quoted him as saying items seized included 300 Kalashnikov assault rifles plus ammunition, 27 mortars and numerous rocket-propelled grenades. On Sept. 8, police arrested more than 30 Popular Congress Party members, alleging they were involved in a coup plot. Turabi, a former close associate of el-Bashir, has been in detention since earlier this year following another alleged coup plot. The Sudanese government has accused Turabi of being behind one of the main rebel groups in Darfur, The Justice and Equality Movement, because of the group's Islamic nature.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/25/2004 03:26 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Getcher program here! Can't tell da players widout cher program!
At least seven people have been killed in US strikes on the volatile Iraqi city of Falluja, hospital sources say. They said at least 11 other people were injured, as US planes, tanks and artillery units shelled the city west of the capital, Baghdad. Several buildings in the city centre were destroyed, witnesses said. The US military said it targeted a meeting place for fighters loyal to terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed for masterminding many attacks. "Intelligence sources reported that terrorists were using the site to plan additional attacks against Iraqi citizens and multinational forces," a US military statement said. The statement added that no civilians were reported in the area at the time.
The US accuses Zarqawi, head of the Tawhid and Jihad movement, of leading al-Qaeda operations in Iraq and for being behind numerous car bombings and kidnappings. Zarqawi is believed to be behind much of the terror & violence in Iraq This week his group beheaded two American hostages and has threatened to kill British hostage Kenneth Bigley. American troops have been carried out frequent raids on Falluja in an attempt to defeat him and his fighters. US officials have also offered a $25m bounty for information leading to Zarqawi's capture.
The city, about 40 miles (65km) west of Baghdad, in the so-called Sunni triangle, has been a centre of some of the strongest resistance to coalition forces. US forces have not entered Falluja since pulling back in April after a three-week siege of the city. Hundreds died and thousands fled as US marines and Iraqi insurgents fought in built up civilian areas.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/25/2004 4:03:58 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
(1) If Falluja doesn't look like Dresden in WW2 after the RAF bombbed with thousands of resultant fatalites it's not massive.
(2)If the BBC claims it's massive then it's not.
In short it's iresponsible hyperbole The BBC intentionally lies to forment anti-US sentiments and hate all over the world.
The BBC hates the US. The BBC thinks the citizens of the US are stupid cows because most of the people in Europe are. The BBC is a propaganda organ of the islamo-fascists and neo-communists funded subscribers who agree with it's agenda. If you think I am off topic go read Have Your Say at the BBC. Then tell me I am untruthhful about the BBC and by extention the average citizen of the U.K. who supports them.
#5
As far as I'm concerned the British people can decide what to do with the BBC, but over here NPR and PBS should simply be scrapped! If there's truely a need or demand for what these broadcast entities do then the free market will rush to provide it.
I also LOVE Sock's Dresden analogy, it seems obvious that these bastards need a good dose of the MOAB treatment! I wander what Falluja would look like after 50 of those bad boys were dropped?
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
09/25/2004 7:27 Comments ||
Top||
#6
We may see the return of the 1000 bomber raids. Though now, the same tonnage can be dropped by 50 B52s. Then the BBC will have something "massive" to bitch about.
Posted by: ed ||
09/25/2004 8:01 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I agree that NPR should have its govt subsidy ended. It has become another "alphabet" channel. Besides, private donations have provided the great majority of funding for years.
The BBC also needs to be weaned of funding. No editorial and fiscal responsibility makes for spoiled children, so to speak. These so-called news outlets need to be responsible for the content and consequences of what they transmit. I am talking accountability here.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/25/2004 9:15 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I can't reconcile the use of the word "massive" to describe artillery and air attacks that kill perhaps a dozen people. What would you call the World Trade Center bombings? A really, really, really massive attack? How about Dresden, in which 40,000 were killed?
#9
8 dead... phew, that's massive all-right. Moonscape material. Anyone listening to the Beeb on the radio or TV compare the number of times they use the phrase 'women and children' with the number of times they use 'terrorists' in conjunction with military action by the US or Israel.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/25/2004 9:32 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Howard UK: 8 dead... phew, that's massive all-right.
You know - I alway thought that Brits had this thing for understatement. During the Korean War, Max Hastings wrote that a British unit that was about to be overrun reported its situation as "a bit sticky". Now the BBC is writing about a targetted artillery attack as a massive one. What I want to know is whether the article was translated from the Arabic - that alone would explain the tendency to exaggerate, given the Arab fondness for overstatement.
#11
Mey be a good idea to waste a city if it provides a haven to terrorists persistantly. It will put forward a reaction they undersatnd. I will be curious to see how many people will give refuge to terrs after they have seen a city completely destroyed for doing so. It is a Hearts & Minds campaign. Let their minds prevail over their hearts.
#12
Media black out and second world war tactics.. that's what's needed to lance this boil. I can't understand why it's taking so long to get an Iraqi force together to help to tackle the job.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/25/2004 10:03 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Nelson Ascher had a good rant about the BBC on his blog yesterday. Pretty much backs up everything being said here.
#14
HUK: I can't understand why it's taking so long to get an Iraqi force together to help to tackle the job.
Not long at all - it takes about a year to get a soldier trained up sufficiently to tackle combat duty. In Iraq, there's also the problem of political reliability. The best recruits are the ones who used to work for Saddam, but it is also these recruits that may have to be rooted out. Saddam's internal security apparatus is still in place - it wouldn't do to have the army filled with his agents. We don't need these guys carrying a coup, which is how Saddam and some of his predecessors came to power.
#15
falluja has to be hama'd as in hama syria--where the allawhites of the assad clan killed 20-30k islamists and muslim brotherhood types --their families and their pets--its the middle east fer christ's sake--hama rules--falluja delenda est--turn it into a sand pit--where's hulugu khan when you need him!!
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
09/25/2004 10:50 Comments ||
Top||
#16
SOT: falluja has to be hama'd as in hama syria--where the allawhites of the assad clan killed 20-30k islamists and muslim brotherhood types --their families and their pets--its the middle east fer christ's sake--hama rules--falluja delenda est--turn it into a sand pit--where's hulugu khan when you need him!!
#17
SOPD: "The BBC intentionally lies to forment anti-US sentiments...",
the repercussions of which may be increased anti-American sentiment among the Iraqis. BBC-You need a better understanding of the dynamics between media, popular opinion, and the social structure of community. Your hands and the international community's hands are not so clean WRT the turbulent and violent situation on the ground in Iraq today.
Ascher: ..."for me both Europeâs fake-optimism and its very real self-righteousness sound like people whistling in the dark. Thereâs some kind of correlation between impotence and loudness...what does it make 150 thousands Parisians imagine that to march along some Parisian boulevards crying slogans can in any way stop 150 thousand American troops from invading a country half a world away? That was their show of strength and Iâm still trying to imagine how they felt afterwards as soon as they realized...that what they did was, in practical terms, useless, futile, a waste of time."
Some folks think they can chant themselves free of the real life they are grounded to on Earth. In their world, bears don't chomp a fish in two for breakfast, grandparents don't die in heat waves while the "kids" bask in the sun, money rains down on them as they lie under a tree, and misguided foreign policies, which assert that terrorists are misunderstood and Americans are the very essence of evil, don't endanger their nations, their very existence.
#18
The last bombing raids that could legitimately be called massive were the B-52 raids on Hanoi over Christmas 1972 (officially LINEBACKER II but better known to crewdogs as the "11 day war"). Thanks to the vagaries of time and the vicissitudes of START II all we have left are the B-52Hs, but I think they would be sufficient to pulverize Fallujah.
#19
BBC-You need a better understanding of the dynamics between media, popular opinion, and the social structure of community.
With definite thanks due in part to my recent Rantburg edumahcation, I have to say that the BBC has a perfect "understanding of the dynamics between media, popular opinion, and the social structure of community."
This is what makes their persistent exaggeration of damage and outright refusal to intentional misreporting of fighting-age Iraqi male casualty numbers so reprehensible. As SPoD has noted, they are literally a propaganda organ for the Islamists. If ever the day comes that Europe falls under sharia law, the British people need look no further than the BBC and other domestic news The Guardian outlets for whom to blame.
If we wanted to level Falluja, and didnt gie a rat's ass about the poplation it it, we'd simply drop a MOAB or 3.
Or, more systematically, line up all that idle field artillery, hub-to-hub, and walk a barrage from one side of the town to the other, in 10 meter increments.
It woudlnt involve any risk to the US, and woudl give the locals a chance to get the hell out - and drive them to a prison camp built on the ohter side of town, meant to hold them until we coudl sort the sheep from the goats.
But, we don't operate that way. The Russians do. And it works.
Remember - in Afghanistan, they had Pakistan backing the rebels, and the US picking up the tab and doing the training and some operations. Sort of like the US had the Soviet Union and China against us in Vietnam.
That doesnt exist in Chechnya or Iraq - only the "hostile minor power" in the region is Iran (now that Iraq is out of the way).
#25
I think Fallujah will disappear after the January elections in Iraq. I believe everyone's sick and tired of the stinking place. If there are any Iraqi civilians - true civilians, not part-time jihadis or Saddam retainers - left in the city, they need to move out like yesterday. I would love to see a cordon of steel ringing the city at about 10 miles, and wave after wave of fighter and bomber aircraft reducing the city to a sand-filled crater. Once that's done, plow the loose sand, sow it with salt, and pave it. Anyone trying to leave gets 30 rounds of 25mm from a Bradley or an Apache Longbow. Any vehicles trying to leave get smashed with a Hellfire. NO ONE THERE WHEN THE FIGHTING STARTS SHOULD LEAVE ALIVE. We need to show, to the entire world, that we can be as cruel and vicious as any opponent, and it's only that we prefer not to that we aren't like that everywhere. It will also send the clear message that we won't hesitate when we've had enough. The Arab mentality reveres strength, and treats the type of restraint we've demonstrated with scorn. We need to let them know that we can and will be as ruthless as they are if we're forced to be. It's a lesson that's long overdue in that region.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/25/2004 14:56 Comments ||
Top||
#27
This is not what I would describe as a "massive" operation. This is more like poppimg a pimple on Jihad's ass. A massive operation will involve mortars, combined with close in aircraft support, a cardoning off of the city, and troop engagement. Stayed tuned folks, I have my Fallujah calender marked for November 10th.
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/25/2004 16:53 Comments ||
Top||
#28
And can we just leave the MOABs out of this? It's nothing but a propaganda bomb. Three buffs are way better.
#32
Look, all you pinheads talking about MOAB's, listen up. You can count the number of MOAB's produced on one hand and still have a digit or two left over.
It was an experimental device with more propaganda value than real life use. It is impractical to produce in real life deployment quantities, and even more impractical to deploy and deliver.
So, all this: "Let's use a MOAB" talk is nonsense.
So...STFU already!
By NILES LATHEM New York Post
A Canadian woman held hostage in Iraq for 16 harrowing days managed to escape beheading by miraculously persuading one of the terrorists to let her go in exchange for a promise she would help him emigrate to Canada, it was revealed yesterday. Family members of 38-year old Fairuz Yamulky, an Iraqi Kurdish mother of two, was picked up by a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq's northern desert Tuesday. She provided a dramatic account of the secret ordeal of a hostage who had not previously been reported missing and whose plight was kept under wraps by the Canadian government.
Yamulky's father, Kamal, who lives in Vancouver, told Canadian newspapers his daughter was regularly beaten and tortured by her captors. On Monday, they threatened to behead her unless the family paid $2.5 million in ransom and the Iraqi government released 50 women prisoners. But in an astonishing turn of events, on Tuesday afternoon the brave hostage seized an opportunity while the leader of the terrorist group was off negotiating with representatives of her family. Her father disclosed that Fairuz was left in a Fallujah home with only one guard watching over her. She started talking to the guard and eventually convinced him that, if he let her flee, she would help him move to Canada. "My daughter is very smart and clever, and she was able to convince him and talk to him in a nice way," the elder Yamulky told the National Post of Canada.
The U.S. and Canadian governments, citing the extreme sensitivity of the hostage situation in Iraq where more than 135 foreigners have been seized, refused to confirm the account or disclose what happened to the man who helped Fairuz escape. Fairuz is a mother of 8- and 14-year-old sons whose family fled Iraq in 1991 and settled in Canada. On Sept. 5, Fairuz was traveling in a truck on the dangerous road from Baghdad to Fallujah to deliver supplies with two bodyguards when a group of eight gunmen ambushed them.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/25/2004 3:52:06 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Still falling for the immigrant visa ploy. Too bad they're unwilling to make their own country a place worth living in.
Posted by: ed ||
09/25/2004 7:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Hey, if you let me go, I will help you emigrate to Canada. It's a better life there.
Hmm, Hokay. Here is my address and phone number.
Thanks. See ya. Get packed and ready to go. Just a pack. Nothing more. I will be calling you, eh?
Hokay. See ya....
[......time passes...]
[other terrorists come back]
Achmed, where is the prisoner????????
Uh, boss, she is in the ladies room.
Achmed, she is not here!!!!!
Uh, she promised to...uh come back for me...no come back.
Achmed, she promised to help you go to Canada, right?????
Uh, uh, yeah.......uh, boss, what you doing with that knife? Boss! Boss! Noooooooooooooooo....glg............
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/25/2004 9:22 Comments ||
Top||
#3
When you think about it - not a bad negotiating ploy. Wonder if we have ever used it in kidnappings over there? Even though these thugs want to kill us, I'll bet they would all love to emigrate to America. Once here we can keep them out of harm's (ours) way but at least we get some of the people back. You may believe this to be naive but look at the Atta 19 and how they behaved while they were here - it was like a parallel universal paradise to them.
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
09/25/2004 10:21 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I wonder where the guy will live. If he can speak French, I'm sure the Quebec seperatists can use him. They could certainly use a man of experience.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/25/2004 18:00 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Maybe this is why the UN would rather talk than do anything else; if you're nice enough to terrorists, maybe they'll do as you want them to.
Call me crazy, but to me this seems more like democracy Chicago-style.
KHOST, Sept 23: One of the largest Pakhtun tribes in southeastern Afghanistan threatened on Thursday to torch the homes of voters who fail to elect incumbent Hamid Karzai in next month's presidential vote. "All the Terezay tribes' people should vote for Hamid Karzai...if anyone from Terezay tribe votes for other candidates, the tribe will burn their houses," the tribe warned on local radio in the border province of Khost.
After which the Marines will come and burn yours.
In a tape of the broadcast, the statement urged both male and female members of the tribe to take part in the polls and throw their support behind Mr Karzai, a fellow Pakhtun. "All of Terezay tribe people, including males and females, have to vote for Hamid Karzai because he is the only suitable person for the presidential post," it said. The Terezays number between 120,000 and 150,000 and are scattered in the mountains of southern and eastern Afghanistan.
I rather like this style of campaigning. Direct and to the point; no nuance here! Terezay tribe is taking the voting process seriously and acknowledging the women voters. They grasp the concept of "one person, one vote." They will abide by the results of the election (as long as it swings their way, heehee). They've come a long way from the Stone Age they existed in on September 10, 2001.
Mr. Karzai, favourite to win the Oct 9 polls, must draw his support from the same communities that the Taliban militants hail from. The English-speaking transitional leader will race against 17 candidates, among them former education minister, Yunus Qanooni, an ethnic Tajik who enjoys wide support in the north.
While Terezay tribe debates the finer points of party machine politics and getting the vote out, the "Short-Bus Coalition" also has election ambitions:
Taliban-led militants have threatened to disrupt the polls and attack all 18 candidates. How can the people who are so stupid be trusted to govern themselves, as a nation they are not classifiable as adults and it is true for the whole muslim part of the globe
Posted by: Fawad ||
09/25/2004 12:01:22 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hey, the Democrats do much worse with their "Get Out the Vote" campaigns. The Democrats have dead people vote for their candidates. Come to think of it, this seems strangly appropriate for them.
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/25/2004 1:11 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Wait, are the Terezays hunched-over yellowshirts? If so, I can't tell them apart from the SEIU!
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
09/25/2004 1:29 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Are the Terezay led by Terezay Heinz-Kerry?
Posted by: Mike ||
09/25/2004 8:42 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Mike, are you serious? Only sKerry is led by Terayza Ketchup.
#5
As long as there are tribes and feudal lords any where, democracy cannot exist. All you have to do to win an ellection is to bribe a tribal leader. Same is true of Pakistan. India is much better off because the first thing they did after independence was to crush the feudal system.
#6
But Fawad, the mere fact that the Terezay leadership has to issue threats to get people to vote "their way" shows that some of the tribe members might be thinking independently. I still think that this is an incredible leap forward for Afghans.
#7
sKerry's tactic is a bit different, but not by much. He establishes phantom voters and has felons go door-to-door. Then, after the election, he sends out his lawyer goons across the country to "enforce" the vote.
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/25/2004 16:37 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
