Three suspected Saudi militants armed with guns and hand grenades including one militant on the country's most-wanted list were killed in a clash with Saudi security forces, officials said Tuesday. Seven police officers were wounded in the confrontation with the militants, who were hiding on the second floor of a house in eastern Riyadh, according to an Interior Ministry statement. Officials identified one of the militants as Abdul-Majeed Mohammed Abdullah al-Moneea, No. 18 on Saudi Arabia's list of 26 most-wanted terror suspects. Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said al-Moneea was a member of an al-Qaida-affiliated group. "He belonged to the legislative committee that issued fatwas (edicts) sanctioning the killing of people," al-Turki said. "Investigative authorities have proved his participation in assassinations and his insistent pursuit to recruit operatives who would serve his deviant thoughts."
Pretty convenient, issuing fatwahs for yourself to observe...
Al-Moneea's killing was a major coup for Saudi authorities, who have launched an aggressive crackdown on al-Qaida-affiliated militants. His death leaves 10 of the list's 26 on the run. Also killed in the raid was Abdul-Hamid al-Yehya, who al-Turki said provided safehouses for suspected militants. "He used women and children in those houses to mislead authorities," al-Turki said. "He also forged many documents to cover up the criminal activities of those people." The third militant was Issam al-Otaibi, who al-Turki said was extradited a few weeks ago for "carrying out unacceptable activities abroad." He did not say from which country al-Otaibi was extradited or elaborate on the charges. He said that after the extradition, al-Otaibi signed an affidavit saying he did not belong to any militant group and pledging to abide by the country's regulations. "But then authorities found out he had reneged on his promise and had turned his home into a den for criminal activities for the (militants)," al-Turki said.
"He lied to us, Mahmoud! He lied! Can ya believe it?"
The police commander in the raid, Lt. Col. Mudhif al-Talhi, was wounded, but not seriously, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The security forces evacuated seven women and a child whom the militants had placed on the first floor of the house "to use as shields and to mislead the security forces," the statement said, quoting an unnamed Interior Ministry official. It said security forces surrounded the house after suspecting that "men belonging to the misguided group" a phrase used to describe militants were in the house. "When they began searching the house, they came under heavy machine gun fire," said the statement, adding that the attackers also used hand grenades.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/13/2004 11:48:31 PM ||
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al-Otaibi: Deported from Iran, I betcha. They keep saying they're shipping Soddis back.
A radical British Muslim group that has noisily backed Osama bin Laden has shut down, calling on all Muslims to unite against a "global crusade". Al Muhajiroun, led by radical cleric Omar Bakri, said it had disbanded to encourage Muslims to give up political groupings. "There is no need any more for al Muhajiroun. Basically, the Muslims are uniting together under the banner of all those people who are following the messenger of Islam, Muhammed," Bakri's deputy, Anjem Choudary, told Reuters. "We find that Muslims need to shed their party banners and unite in order to defend the lives of Muslims against this global crusade," he said.
The organisation, which called for an Islamic state in Britain and praised al Qaeda leader bin Laden, has long been a prominent target of tabloid newspapers. It received widespread press coverage for calling conferences lauding the hijackers in the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States as "the magnificent 19", although the conferences were cancelled at the last minute. Bakri has frequently been compared to two other radical clerics, Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza al-Masri, both jailed in anti-terrorism cases. Police have closely monitored him but never charged him with any crime.
It was never clear how big the group's following was, but its high public profile worried mainstream UK Muslim groups, afraid of a backlash against a community of nearly two million Muslims in the country. "They will not be missed," said Inaya Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, the largest group representing Muslims. "Al Muhajiroun has been the focus of a lot of anger in the Muslim community because it is the ordinary Muslim who has to face the brunt of the backlash because of their antics." But he added that he did not expect Britain has heard the last from Bakri. "I'll treat this statement with some caution, based on past experience. I'll be surprised if he quietly walks off into the sunset never to be seen again. I'm sure pretty soon it will become apparent what game they are playing at."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/13/2004 3:44:46 PM ||
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A senior Russian lawmaker said Tuesday that there is firm evidence showing that radical Islamic organizations, including Al-Qaida, are financing Chechen militants,Itar-Tass news agency reported. Anatoly Kulikov, deputy chairman of the security committee of the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, also said many terrorists operating in Russia's breakaway republic of Chechnya come from the Middle East, Europe and North America. However, Western countries still refrain from branding Chechen terrorism as a branch of international terrorist networks, Kulikov said, complaining that "none of our partners in the international anti-terrorist coalition have extradited to Russia the criminals who have stained their hands with the blood of hundreds of innocent people."
He urged the West to discard the erroneous belief that regional and international terrorists act on parallel agendas, saying "they are just elements of a single chain, and the situation in Chechnya proves it." "Chechnya has turned into a stumbling block on the way to closer cooperation between Russia and the West," Kulikov said, adding that the West's position on the Chechen issue exerts a crucial impact on Russia's role in the international anti-terrorist coalition and Russian relations with the West.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/13/2004 2:45:08 AM ||
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WTH?
said many terrorists operating in Russiaâs breakaway republic of Chechnya come from the Middle East, Europe and North America.
However, Western countries still refrain from branding Chechen terrorism as a branch of international terrorist networks, Kulikovsaid, complaining that "none of our partners in the international anti-terrorist coalition have extradited to Russia the criminals who have stained their hands with the blood of hundreds of innocent people."
It has been learned that Bangladeshis residing in Korea had formed an anti-Korean Islamic group before being exposed. Grand National Party lawmaker Kim Jae-gyeong said Wednesday that in April, the National Intelligence Service -- together with the Seoul Immigration Bureau Office -- exposed an anti-Korean group of Bangladeshis known as the "Dawatol Islam Korea," deporting three of its core members, including 27-year-old Mr. N. Rep. Kim said he had confirmed the facts of the case through the Seoul Immigration Bureau Office. Another two core members, however, were still in hiding. According to Rep. Kim, the group was composed of illegal Bangladeshi residents in Gyeonggi Province, basing their activities out of a mosque in Anyang. Moreover, it was learned that the group arranged jobs for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, and had amassed about W100 million in funds here in Korea, which they remitted to a particular political party in Bangladesh. NIS investigated whether the group had supported terrorist activities, but out of consideration for Korea's diplomatic relations with Bangladesh, it did not release the investigation results. Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry had uncovered just two illegal residents engaged in anti-Korean activities last year, but this year, 12 illegal residents had been disclosed for anti-Korean activities by August alone.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
10/13/2004 11:20:08 AM ||
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These Bangladeshis need to understand that though they have no love nor respect for the republic of South Korea, they should be respectful of their host country. An anti-Korean Islamic group is not a good way to show their respect. The SKors should have confiscated all their money for this seditious crap. That would send a message to others Bangladeshis that engage in this crap.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/13/2004 14:05 Comments ||
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But Paul they don't have top be respectful, they're Mooslims. Says right there on page 37 paragraph 9, subsection H of the guide book.
A Spanish miner is believed to have trained the Madrid train bombers how to use explosives, security forces have said. In a court document sent to the parliamentary commission investigating the March 11 attacks, Emilio Suarez Trashorras is said to have had numerous encounters with some of the Islamic militant suspects in the bombings. He is thought by Spain's paramilitary Civil Guard to have been the only person with experience in the use of explosives at a mine in the northern Asturias region from which the explosives believed used in the attacks were stolen.
Suarez Trashorras, who has a criminal record for possession of drugs and weapons and was a police informant, is currently in jail on charges of supplying the dynamite used in the bombings. "It's possible that Emilo Suarez Trashorras provided the terrorists the necessary training to manipulate and use the detonators and the Goma 2 (dynamite)," the Civil Guard report said. In a telephone call intercepted by the Civil Guard in Dec. 2003, Moroccan Jamal Ahmidal, who is suspected of buying the explosives used in the attacks, told Suarez Trashorras that a detonator exploded in his hand while he was trying it out, the document says. The Islamic militants blamed for the attacks are believed to have obtained the explosives in exchange for money and hashish, and allegedly said they wanted it for mining in Morocco.
Posted by: Destro ||
10/13/2004 12:06:23 AM ||
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Law-enforcement officials in the Phoenix area are using new tactics to cut off illegal immigration by going after used-car salesmen who sell vehicles to smugglers and by arresting operators of safe houses where immigrants stay after crossing the border. Unlike past crackdowns, which have focused on stopping immigrants at the border, immigration officials say the new campaign frustrates smugglers by zeroing in on the tools of their trade. And so far, they say, it seems to be working in Phoenix, the nation's hub for transporting illegal workers throughout the country. "Now, we really are bringing the focus on putting the organizations out of business through arresting, prosecuting and convicting the controls people," said Mike Turner, who heads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Phoenix. "The endgame is putting the organizational leaders in jail."
Smugglers, also known as "coyotes," typically charge thousands of dollars per person to sneak immigrants across the border, either by foot or hidden in vehicles. Once across, many are taken to hiding places known as "drop houses," where they often stay for months before fanning out across the country to look for work. For years, many smugglers stole cars to carry migrants from the border to the Phoenix area. But recently, used-car salesmen began selling cars to smugglers with fake liens and names on the titles, so if the car is seized near the border, it reverts to the dealer. The dealers then resell the car to the smugglers, a practice that has allowed many dealers to increase their revenue fivefold, said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. Police said they were tipped off to the scheme by a tow-truck operator. Nearly two dozen used-car lot workers in the Phoenix area recently were indicted on charges of forgery and money laundering. Police also seized 11 car lots and 400 vehicles. "A really critical link has been broken," Mr. Goddard said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/13/2004 11:07:58 AM ||
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PC, coupled with capitalism's demand for cheap labor, will forever preclude any meaningful reforms... I live in Tucson, I know. BTW the phrase "illegal aliens" is verboten among the genteel crowd... "undocumented entrants" is the flavor/phrase of the month...
I'm not convinced this means anything. If people can't get all hot and bothered over millions of illegal alien Mexicans on U.S. soil, how are they going to get worked up over small numbers of Mexican soldiers running coyote operations?
Federal and local law enforcers were searching the Islamic American Relief Agency on Wednesday as part of what the FBI described generically as a criminal investigation. People wearing FBI outfits carried computers, cardboard boxes and a file cabinet out of the Islamic group's office and loaded the equipment into a white van and U-Haul truck. Among those participating in the search was a man wearing a jacket of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza would not say whether the search was connected to terrorism. He also declined to characterize the investigation, saying the federal search warrant remained under seal. The search began around 2:30 p.m. and involved 11 law enforcement agencies, Lanza said. FBI agents also were searching a Columbia home, Lanza said. He declined to elaborate.
The Islamic nonprofit group was formed in 1985, according to its Web site, and among other things provides emergency relief to refugees in Afghanistan. The group also promotes aid efforts in such places as Iran, Ethiopia, Mali and Bosnia. It is located near downtown Columbia, not far from the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia. The group's Web site offers the chance to sponsor an overseas orphan ($30 a month will provide a one-on-one sponsorship). The Islamic organization also provides vocational training and primary health care, including immunizations, nutrition counseling, prenatal care, infection disease prevention and clean water supplies, according to its Web site. No one answered a phone call Wednesday at the Islamic American Relief Agency.
WASH TIMES: U.S. security officials are investigating a recent intelligence report that a group of 25 Chechen terrorists illegally entered the United States from Mexico over summer... Members of the group, said to be wearing backpacks, secretly traveled to northern Mexico and crossed into a mountainous part of Arizona, Gertz to report in Page One Splash, newsroom sources tell DRUDGE...
I checked the Washington Times website, nothing there as of 11:55p.m. http://www.washtimes.com/.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/13/2004 12:01:30 AM ||
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#2
This hit team no doubt dissipated into our interior with private cars brought to them by their cellular collaborators. Should they be successful in their 'mission' and all are confirmed to be Chechens; A Clear and Grounded declaration of a national response would be warranted (in concert with Russia) for a final Chechnya 'solution'!
#3
Fred, moderators: The article has now been posted on the Washington Times site, so I have posted it here (Page 2, Home Front WoT). Please either put both posts on p.1 or p.2, as you see fit. Thanks!
This news shall be reposted at midnight so the day shift can review it.
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, October 13th, 2004
The U.S. military has used Iraq to test a precision bomb designed for targets in urban areas and producing minimal collateral damage.
The U.S. Air Force has conducted the first successful drop of a GBU-38 bomb in combat during a recent mission in Iraq. The bombs were deployed on two F-16 multi-role fighters, which performed a simultaneous GBU-38 release on the same target in central Iraq.
Officials said the 500-pound bombs precisely hit a two-story building occupied by the Tawhid and Jihad group in Faluja with minimal collateral damage. They said this was the first time a GBU-38 was deployed in a demonstration of a smaller munition meant to reduce collateral damage in urban areas, Middle East Newsline reported.
"This was the right weapon for the job," the lead pilot who carried out the mission, identified only as Lt. Col. Mitch, said. "If we used any bigger of a bomb, we would have caused unnecessary damage."
Officials said the GBU-38 provides the U.S. military with a smaller precision weapon for use against urban targets. They said the bomb, which could be deployed on the F-16, would allow for precision strikes at night.
The GBU-38 is composed of an MK-82 with the Joint Direct Attack Munitions guidance system. Officials said the GBU-38 was regarded as much lighter and easier to assemble than most of the other munitions loaded on F-16s. The GBU-38 was said to be significantly smaller and lighter than the GBU-12 and the GBU-31.
"This is a relatively easy bomb to drop," Mitch said. "We simply set the coordinates and deliver the bomb. There's a slight shake in the jet as the bomb is released because [of] the sudden weight reduction, which happens after every drop."
The bomb has been sought by Middle East allies. (not sure about allowing that..
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/13/2004 11:20:45 PM ||
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Mark, This is a week old, was covered then and has nothing to do with oil futures. What's the point?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/22/2004 10:52 Comments ||
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Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Wednesday that he hoped the arrest of the Hamas military leader in Hebron, suspected of engineering twin suicide bombings in Be'er Sheva on August 31, would reduce the number of terrorist attacks against Israelis. hope so Imad Kawasme, thought to have dispatched the bus bombers who carried out the attacks on two Be'er Sheva buses in which 16 people were killed, surrendered when Israel Defense Forces troops surrounded his safe house in the West Bank city. So this is they guy who sent kids to die by blowing up innocent civilians on buses. What a scumbag.
"Kawasme is a mass-murderer whose hands were soaked in blood of many of Israel's civilians. I very much hope that the arrest will disrupt the [Hamas] infrastructure in Hebron and reduce the number of attacks emanating from the region," said Mofaz. and I very much hope he dies a slow, painful death.
The surrender of a member of the Hamas military wing, Iz a Din al-Kassam, is quite a rare occurrence, as the organization's militants in Hebron and Nablus have in the past two years preferred a fight to the death. not this coward
Soldiers from the elite Golani unit surrounded Kawasma's safe house in Hebron, called for him to turn himself in and opened fire. Kawasme emerged from the safe house carrying a white flag and surrendered. There were no injuries in the raid. this asswipe didn't shoot it out. None of that "you'll never take me alive, coppers!" Nope. He surrendered. I guess becoming dead is for easily duped kids, not "leaders." But I LOVE that he's in his skivvies!
#5
It will even out...this man is not in for a very good time...he'd have been better off taking the bullet.
Posted by: Mike Lancaster ||
10/13/2004 17:53 Comments ||
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The surrender of a member of the Hamas military wing, Iz a Din al-Kassam, is quite a rare occurrence, as the organizationâs militants in Hebron and Nablus have in the past two years preferred a fight to the death.
"This younger generation!" Shakes head in disgust.
#7
I remember when I was young and in the Jihadi way... I'd walk for 3 miles on broken glass to throw a one ounce stone against the infidel. Kids these days, I just don't know.
#11
Rantburg Zionists, one day your hate spewing against Moslems will land you in jail because it incites hatred and endangers Americans at home -- pack up and go to Israel where you belong. FYI, we are keeping records of your posts and names for the US DOJ.
Posted by: Boris Pribich ||
10/13/2004 20:23 Comments ||
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Rantburg Zionists, one day your hate spewing against Moslems will land you in jail because it incites hatred and endangers Americans at home -- pack up and go to Israel where you belong. FYI, we are keeping records of your posts and names for the US DOJ.
Posted by: Boris Pribich ||
10/13/2004 20:23 Comments ||
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You're referring to the Roadside America site, one of my favorites. The name "Anonymous," which used to be the default for new or cookie-less commentors, ended up on the Poop List due to its use by trolls. Change your handle to something a little less, ummmm... anonymous and join the fray.
#1
Yeah verily, and all Anon trolls in the LA area can treat themselves to the Race changing "Golf Man", who was white, then black, then white, located at a driving range along the 405 just south of the 110!
#7
While surfing for free smut all most all my cookies got reset. One of the few that didin't was Rantburg go figure. I want the muffler man to go visit all the Trolls. Nice folk get visited by a bikini clad muffler gal!
October 13, 2004: Although the details are secret, American and Iraqi troops are on the offensive against Sunni Arab and terrorist gangs. Over a year of effort in building up an intelligence network among the population had paid off. Even in the Sunni Arab areas, many people are fed up with the lawlessness and violence created where the gangs operate. So information comes in about who is who and is doing what. This provides more, and higher quality, targets for raids. The ground units usually surround houses or compounds at night and arrest people, and seize weapons, bomb making equipment and documents, without a shot being fired. Some 30 areas have been identified as occupied and influenced by various gangs. The process of clearing out these areas have apparently been underway for two weeks. Not a lot of publicity for this effort, as keeping the opposition guessing is a powerful weapon.Â
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/13/2004 9:39:42 AM ||
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There was a piece in yesterday's National Review Online talking about the increased use of Iraqi SWAT/Spec Ops troops in combination with the Marines 24th MEU south of Bagdhad. Seems like both the Iraqis and the Marines are doing a great job.
Posted by: remote man ||
10/13/2004 13:03 Comments ||
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It must be disquieting to the various jihadi groups to see other groups just quietly disappear from the net. It builds a sense inexorably approaching doom.
#5
RWV, I suspect you are correct. Wretchard had a post about the use of network analysis software that we were using to figure out who should be a target. The pickups are all early morning so quick, shots aren't fired. As a result this will not conclude, it will just sputter out as the stooges from Iran and Syria are picked up faster and faster. Some day the last stooge will be sent in and it will die with a wimper. Or regime change in Tehran and Damascus.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/13/2004 20:06 Comments ||
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Two of the biggest things at work there we are not hearing in the news. 1)the vast majority of ordinary Iraqis are feed up of getting hit by these clowns and the way they are controlling areas, 2)the Iraqi army and cops are starting to really get their act together. The kind of pressure we are putting on the local sheiks with the local discontent is paying off intel wise. Also a little known fact is that one of the best Iraqi units happens to have a whole bunch of Persh Merga in it so when they show up locally the bad guys figure out real quick these guys are really good and they are carrying around a huge cultural chip on their shoulders. Adds new meaning to no quarter.
Once Iraq and the prime minister get on its feet early next year I think you will see Iran start to get real shakey. There is alot of discontent and the circle will have closed. Take a quick look at a map and you will notice that their neighbors are pretty chummy with us. Radio Free Iran and a little money in the right pockets and the mullahs will start to cut deals.
#8
Sorry, Spook, impatience gets the better of me sometimes. I do worry that there are potentially only 20 or so shopping days left for this latest offensive.
Certainly the MSM will do their best to bury any news of progress or achievements. So my q to you is, What's your PR strategy? Crucial element of the battle, methinks, given the urgency here.
#9
The PR strategy is that there is not much you can do when the MSM is in the tank with the enemy. But Bush did show last night that if he wins the election, he may be willing to take the MSM on. He definitely assaulted their credibility.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/14/2004 8:02 Comments ||
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Local news reports series of raids by combined US/Iraqi forces on Mosques.Looks like Mosques are no longer safe havens.Film looks like at least one got shot-up pretty good.
Posted by: Raptor ||
10/13/2004 10:11:33 AM ||
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By the word 'mosques', do you mean firing platforms and weapon storage depots?
#4
Anybody want to bet the work was doene by ING or IA?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/13/2004 10:42 Comments ||
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no civil demonstrations over this
Another possibility. Folks in Baghdad dont give a damn about mosques in Anbar province, nest of smugglers and thieves. Hurt OUR mosques (so they may think) and its another story.
#6
Please title your postings more informatively.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
10/13/2004 12:27 Comments ||
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I think the rules just changed, and the bad guys are just catching on. I'll bet the Iraqi government is now engaged in a race to present Kerry with a fate accompli next Jan in case Kerry wins the US election. (For the record, I think Bush is going to win, but I don't know if I'd actually bet my life on it.) One thing is sure, the current Iraqi leader's minds sure seem "focused." They know they are gonners if Kerry gets in.
Posted by: Dave ||
10/13/2004 12:43 Comments ||
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And don't let your posting get to prolix.
Posted by: Major Major Major Chicago Style ||
10/13/2004 16:53 Comments ||
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By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES October 13th, 2004
U.S. officials yesterday said they would look into a report that radioactive material and sophisticated equipment had disappeared from Iraq's nuclear power and research facilities, but expressed confidence that such dangerous materials are now secure. In a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Monday, Mohamed El Baradei the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned that whole buildings had suffered "systematic dismantlement" and that sensitive equipment previously subject to U.N. verification and monitoring had disappeared.
U.S. officials at the United Nations and the State Department said Washington would investigate the charges, but expressed no urgency. "I think we share the general concern that some material might have gotten out into the market immediately after the war," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday. "But to the extent that all of us have been able to bring it under control, we have done that, and we have been able to — I think the Iraqis have been able to put in place the kind of monitoring safeguards and control systems that are necessary to prevent any further leakage."
At the United Nations yesterday, Deputy U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson told reporters: "Obviously, we'll do a full investigation, working with the Iraqis." But other U.S. officials seemed eager to play down the two-page letter, saying they had not seen it before yesterday. The IAEA concerns surfaced only three weeks before the U.S. presidential election, in which the Iraq invasion and its justification have become issues.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/13/2004 5:23:31 AM ||
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Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/13/2004 03:49 ||
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#1
"Tiny bones, femurs - thighbones the size of a matchstick."
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Kofi and friends cash their Oil-for-Food kickback checks and shop for new luxury automobiles.
"Nie wieder" = "Immer wieder"
Posted by: Dar ||
10/13/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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hey, but it's ok, right, Murat? They're only Kurds...
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/13/2004 10:41 Comments ||
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Mr Kehoe said that work to uncover graves around Iraq, where about 300,000 people are thought to have been killed during Saddam Hussein's regime, was slow as experienced European investigators were not taking part.
The Europeans, he said, were staying away as the evidence might be used eventually to put Saddam Hussein to death.
If this statement is true, it fills me with revulsion almost as much as the original deeds by Saddam's henchmen.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/13/2004 11:15 Comments ||
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...reduce terrorism to a level of a nusiance...
---John F'ing Kerry
#7
CF - I can picture Dan Rather or Jennings--either one, really-- with no sense of irony and with an utterly straight face, intoning "Did Mr. Bush wait too long to invade Iraq?"
U.S. troops went on the offensive from the gates of Baghdad to the Syrian border Tuesday, pounding Sunni insurgent positions from the air and supporting Iraqi soldiers in raids on mosques suspected of harboring extremists. American and Iraqi forces launched the operations ahead of Ramadan, expected to start at week's end, in an apparent attempt at preventing a repeat of the insurgent violence that took place at the start of last year's Muslim holy month.
Clashes broke out in a string of militant strongholds from Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, northward along the Euphrates Valley to the Syrian border town of Qaim -- all major conflict areas. Some of the sharpest exchanges took place in Hit, 90 miles northwest of Baghdad, where residents and hospital officials said U.S. aircraft attacked two sites, killing two people and wounding five. The U.S. command had no comment. U.S. helicopters fired on a mosque in Hit on Monday and set it ablaze after the military said insurgents opened fire on Marines from the sanctuary. Scattered clashes were reported overnight, killing at least two Iraqis and wounding 15, hospital official said.
Insurgents attacked an Iraqi National Guard outpost east of Qaim Tuesday, the U.S. military said. The local hospital reported 15 to 20 people were killed. Seventy miles west of Baghdad, Iraqi troops backed by U.S. soldiers and Marines raided seven mosques in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, arresting a locally prominent member of a clerical association and three other people. They also seized bomb-making materials and "insurgent propaganda" in the mosques, U.S. officials said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/13/2004 3:45:40 AM ||
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#1
No, no, no. BusHitler told them to stop the attacks before the election. Can't anybody get the meme of the day correct?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/13/2004 9:14 Comments ||
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The Central Intelligence Agency runs a top secret interrogation facility in Jordan, where at least 11 detainees who are considered Al-Qaida's most senior cadre are being held, Haaretz has learned from international intelligence sources. Since the war in Afghanistan ended three years ago, reports spoke of these special detainees being held outside the United States, but no location was mentioned. A report on these prisoners issued yesterday by the Human Rights Watch organization claims they are being held somewhere so secret that U.S. President George Bush asked the CIA heads not to report it to him.
Haaretz's international intelligence sources are considered experts in surveillance and analysis of Al-Qaida and are involved in interrogating the detainees. Most of the Al-Qaida detainees who were arrested in Afghanistan in the course of the war or its aftermath were transfered to the American base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A minority were held in Pakistan, where some had been picked up, and were later moved to Jordan. It is not known where precisely in the Hashemite kingdom they are being held, but they are thought to be at a secret facility belonging to Jordanian intelligence or at a secret base. Their detention outside the U.S. enables CIA interrogators to apply interrogation methods that are banned by U.S. law, and to do so in a country where cooperation with the Americans is particularly close, thereby reducing the danger of leaks.
According to the Human Rights Watch report, the CIA was granted special permission by the U.S. law enforcement authorities to operate "other laws" at the secret facility with regard to interrogation methods. Detainees are subjected to physical and psychological pressure that includes the use of simulated drowning, loud music, sleep deprivation, and sensory deprivation.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/13/2004 2:44:06 AM ||
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We catch 'em... They cook 'em.
These 'prisoners' aren't on US soil. They were captured and handed over to our friends in Jordan to interrogate.
Where's the down side?
Jack.
Posted by: Jack Deth ||
10/13/2004 3:00 Comments ||
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#3
#2 - I'm thinking that option might be on the table. If the Budweiser Clydesdales suddenly have an overseas tour... hey, I'm not saying, I'm just saying.
#7
The report contends that American operatives detained Khalid Sheikh Mohammedâs children to serve as "hostages" through which to pressure their father into cooperating
#8
I forget what politician said it but: âIf torturing these terrorists will save one American life, then I have only this advise: Red is positive and Black is negative.â What was the Human Rights Watch organizationâs take on the beheading of the civilians in Iraq? Well? I thought so. Proceed with the electrodes gentleman.
All four bombers who attacked Egyptian Red Sea resorts frequented by Israelis last week escaped on foot minutes before their vehicles exploded, Egyptian government newspaper al-Ahram has reported. The bombers used three vehicles -- a Peugeot 504 station wagon, a small Nissan delivery vehicle and a pick-up truck in which the explosives were hidden under crates of vegetables, the newspaper said on Wednesday, quoting a senior security official. The explosions, at the Hilton hotel at Taba on the Israeli border and at two holiday camps further south, killed 33 or 34 people, according to conflicting sources, including at least 12 Israelis. The other victims were Egyptians, two Italians, a Russian and several who have not yet been identified.
Al-Ahram said all the vehicles came from within Egypt, one from the Greater Cairo area but it did give any information about the identity or nationality of the bombers. The newspaper said the attack bore the hallmarks of an operation by the al Qaeda organisation and was similar to attacks on the HSBC bank in Istanbul last November and at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta in August 2003. But the fact the bombers abandoned their vehicles and ran away rules out suicide attacks -- an element assumed by some of the experts who pointed the finger at al Qaeda.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/13/2004 2:39:12 AM ||
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A delegation of tribesmen has met the head of a group of al Qaeda-linked militants holding two Chinese engineers hostage in Pakistan, but failed to secure their release, a member of the delegation says. In the Tuesday night talks, kidnap leader Abdullah Mehsud offered to free one of two Pakistanis held with engineers Wang Ende and Wang Peng since Saturday in the remote South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. But Abdullah, in a separate location from the kidnappers, insisted he would not order the freeing of the Chinese until his demands were met, a source, who did not want to be identified, said on Wednesday. "He did not spell out the demands, but repeated a demand for safe passage for both captors and the captives to join him."
A council of the same Mehsud tribe to which Abdullah belongs and which dispatched the delegation was meeting in the town of Tank near South Waziristan to consider its response, he said. Pakistani officials have said Abdullah has demanded an end to military operations in the semi-autonomous tribal region, where hundreds have died this year in battles between troops and al Qaeda-linked militants, and the freeing of two Uzbek militants. Mehmood Shah, the head of security in the tribal region, said on Tuesday the government hoped for a peaceful solution to the crisis but warned that use of force could not be ruled out.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/13/2004 2:34:23 AM ||
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Despite Pakistan's efforts as a key ally in the United States' "war on terror", terror rings endure, from South Waziristan tribal agency to the port city of Karachi. The killing by Pakistani security forces of 26-year-old former Taliban commander Nek Mohammed in June was termed a major milestone in attempts to flush out foreign militants from Pakistan - Nek had acted as an important facilitator between the Taliban in Afghanistan and foreign elements.
However, eliminating Nek was not the end of the problem. On the weekend, another charismatic fighter, Abdullah Mehsud, was behind the abduction of two Chinese engineers and a paramilitary man in the tribal areas, showing the serious threat that still exists to Islamabad's writ, despite a strong military presence and several offensives. Wang Ende and Wang Peng were working on Pakistan's Gomal Zam Dam project for China's state-run Sino Hydro Corp when they were abducted in the Chagmalai area of South Waziristan. Abdullah Mehsud appeared before the international media after Pakistani authorities claimed that the kidnappings had been done by al-Qaeda. Abdullah spelled out that insurgent tribals under his command were responsible as a reaction to the military operations in Waziristan, not al-Qaeda.
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An anti-terrorism court sentenced a militant on Tuesday to 40 years in prison for possessing explosives and killing a woman during a shootout with police, lawyers said. Kamran Atif, 28, a member of the Harkatul Mujahedeen Al-Alami militant group, was arrested in May after police raided his hideout in the southern city of Karachi and found grenades, a rocket and other explosives. During the raid, he exchanged fire with police and the woman passer-by was killed, said Mazhar Qayyum, a government prosecutor. Judge Haq Nawaz Baluch sentenced Atif to 10 years in prison for causing the "incidental death" of the woman, 25 years for possessing explosives and five years for the clash with police. Defense lawyer Ghulam Qadir Jatoi said he would appeal the verdict.
"It was all an unfortunate mistake, yer honor!"
Atif is also suspected of involvement in a botched attempt to kill President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Karachi in April 2002. A car packed with explosives on Musharraf's motorcade route failed to detonate. A trial against Atif in that case has yet to start.
Plenty of time for it now.
Harkatul Mujahedeen al-Alami is an outlawed group, which has been blamed for attacks against security forces, Westerners and the government in Karachi.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/13/2004 12:17:57 AM ||
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Eight people were stranded in a remote area of Afghanistan after their UN helicopter developed engine trouble and made an emergency landing while on a trip to pick up ballot boxes, a UN spokesman said Tuesday. Nobody was injured in the incident three days after Afghanistan's landmark elections, but the three crew members and five passengers were stranded in the snow in the Wakan corridor in northeastern Badakhshan province, Manoel de Almeida e Silva told a news conference. "We have no concerns about their security, although we do have concerns about the very cold temperatures," he said.
Emergency supplies of food, warm clothing and shelter materials had already been dropped and US-led coalition forces would lead a rescue effort Wednesday. "We are confident that this emergency bundle will help them get through the night," Almeida e Silva said. Ballot boxes from some 5,000 polling stations around Afghanistan's rugged landscape were still being taken to eight counting centres after Saturday's vote.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/13/2004 12:13:36 AM ||
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#1
Those weren't Halliburton helos, by any chance? Just, you know, askin'.
The United States unsuccessfully tried at least twice to rescue two Americans and one British man taken hostage in Iraq last month and later beheaded, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The officials, who asked not to be identified, said hostage rescue teams went to two places in Baghdad based on intelligence reports and found nothing. "They just got there and nobody was there," one official said of the attempts to free Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley and Briton Ken Bigley, who were taken on Sept. 16 from their home in Baghdad.
I think I heard on the radio that the beds were still warm when US forces arrived. Mahmoud the Weasel (TM) strikes again...
CNN, which first reported the attempts from Baghdad on Tuesday, said they involved both U.S. military and other government personnel. But the officials in Washington declined to discuss any details. They confirmed that one attempt was made when all three men were still alive and that the second followed the killing of Armstrong just days after he was taken. "We don't really know whether the men were ever at the spots," one official told Reuters. "But there were attempts to get them." Armstrong was killed on Sept. 20 and Hensley a day later by a group headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which demanded that Washington and Britain release women prisoners from jails in Iraq. Bigley, a 62-year-old engineer, was killed last week and a video tape posted on the Internet on Sunday showed him making a last appeal to Prime Minister Tony Blair to meet the demands of the militants holding him.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/13/2004 11:13:15 PM ||
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US forces hammered rebel positions in Iraq's Sunni Muslim hotbeds of Fallujah and Ramadi, killing 11 people, as the disarming of Shiite militiamen gathered pace in Baghdad despite US warnings of internal rifts. As the US military went on the offensive Tuesday in the Sunni heartland of Iraq, an Islamist group, Ansar Al-Sunna, posted a video on the Internet showing the beheading of a Shiite Iraqi man it accused of spying for US forces.
Well, that should certainly stop the offensive...
US warplanes struck Fallujah, the epicenter of the Sunni Muslim rebellion, three times and raided at least seven mosques in Ramadi, arresting a senior cleric. Warplanes dropped a 500-pound (250-kilo) bomb on insurgents on the eastern fringes of the city after a firefight late Tuesday, a military spokesman said. A first raid targeted Al-Haj Hussein restaurant in central Fallujah, famous across central Iraq for its kebabs. Four people were killed and six wounded, including restaurant staff, hospital sources said.
Bet the take-out business goes up tomorrow.
The US military said it was a known meeting place for Iraq's most wanted militant, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, and his radical Unity and Holy War group. Four hours later, US aircraft returned to strike the battle-scarred city, destroying a suspected Zarqawi hideaway, the military said. Also in the restive Al-Anbar province of western Iraq, US marines and Iraqi forces carried out predawn raids on at least seven mosques in Ramadi, sparking shootouts in which two Iraqis were killed, the military and hospital sources said. The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni body which represents 3,000 mosques, said the Americans and Iraqis had arrested their representative for Al-Anbar province, Sheikh Abdul al-Aleem al-Sadi, and his son. The organisation said troops had raided 30 mosques across Ramadi, but the US marines had no immediate confirmation.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/13/2004 11:37:02 PM ||
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#1
Definitely a pre-election slow-down.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/13/2004 7:58 Comments ||
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#2
Say, can anybody create an animated gif where those females morph into raisins?
#4
Don't worry Spemble Haliburton feeding 'em good American food and making a fortune at the same time. I advise to you to buy stock. And have another cookie.
The former governor of an Afghanistan province has gone before a U.S. military panel to determine whether he should remain held as an enemy combatant, a Pentagon official said Tuesday. A 37-year-old who was the governor of western Herat province from 1999 to 2001 appeared before the panel Monday, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Daryl Borgquist, a spokesman for the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The military does not identify individual prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. However, the governor of Herat from 1999 until the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 was Khairullah Khaikhwa. He was arrested in a Pakistani village near the Afghan border in 2002. Borgquist said the prisoner who appeared Monday had been at Guantanamo for about two years. Borgquist said the prisoner had control over police and military operations in Herat, including the Taliban's two largest military divisions, which apparently made him an enemy combatant. No media members attended his hearing, and details of his testimony were not released.
I wonder if he was the guy in charge when the Talibs were crucifying people?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/13/2004 11:56:12 PM ||
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The attackers in three explosions on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula last week all fled minutes before their vehicles blew up, Egypt's biggest newspaper reported Wednesday, contradicting reports that suicide bombers carried out the attacks. None of the four attackers has been apprehended, Al-Ahram reported for Wednesday editions. It said the truck that struck the Taba Hilton hotel, the deadliest of the coordinated attacks, contained 1,100 pounds of TNT hidden under crates of vegetables. The bombs used at Ras Shitan to the south — one in a Peugeot 504 car and another in a Nissan pickup truck — both contained a more volatile explosive that is less common in Egypt, Al-Ahram said. The report in the pro-government newspaper cited a senior official familiar with the findings of interior ministry investigators. Israeli officials earlier said they believed all three bombings were suicide attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/13/2004 11:54:06 PM ||
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#1
I once owned a Peugeot Diesel 504. I fully understand why someone would want to blow it up.
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.
Three suspected Saudi militants armed with guns and hand grenades including one militant on the country's most-wanted list were killed in a clash with Saudi security forces, officials said Tuesday. Seven police officers were wounded in the confrontation with the militants, who were hiding on the second floor of a house in eastern Riyadh, according to an Interior Ministry statement. Officials identified one of the militants as 
A senior Russian lawmaker said Tuesday that there is firm evidence showing that radical Islamic organizations, including Al-Qaida, are financing Chechen militants,Itar-Tass news agency reported. Anatoly Kulikov, deputy chairman of the security committee of the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, also said many terrorists operating in Russia's breakaway republic of Chechnya come from the Middle East, Europe and North America. However, Western countries still refrain from branding Chechen terrorism as a branch of international terrorist networks, Kulikov said, complaining that "none of our partners in the international anti-terrorist coalition have extradited to Russia the criminals who have stained their hands with the blood of hundreds of innocent people."
A Spanish miner is believed to have trained the Madrid train bombers how to use explosives, security forces have said. In a court document sent to the parliamentary commission investigating the March 11 attacks, 
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Wednesday that he hoped the arrest of the Hamas military leader in Hebron, suspected of engineering twin suicide bombings in Be'er Sheva on August 31, would reduce the number of terrorist attacks against Israelis. 
The Central Intelligence Agency runs a top secret interrogation facility in Jordan, where at least 11 detainees who are considered Al-Qaida's most senior cadre are being held, Haaretz has learned from international intelligence sources. Since the war in Afghanistan ended three years ago, reports spoke of these special detainees being held outside the United States, but no location was mentioned. A report on these prisoners issued yesterday by the Human Rights Watch organization claims they are being held somewhere so secret that U.S. President George Bush asked the CIA heads not to report it to him.
An anti-terrorism court sentenced a militant on Tuesday to 40 years in prison for possessing explosives and killing a woman during a shootout with police, lawyers said. 
