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Arafat Aides Resume Talks With Israel, Fight Over His Fortune
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Mudville Gazette: The Empty Throne
Yes, it's been linked to from elsewhere, but I think this needs all the distribution it can get... and, if there are no objections, Fred, I'd like to put this on page 1; if there was ever a time an opinion piece needed to be on the main page, it would be now.

The following is Kerry's latest position on Iraq, as he explained it to Tom Brokaw this past week. Something I saw reminded me of this today:

Brokaw: This week you've been very critical of the president because of the missing explosives in Iraq.The fact is, senator, we still don't know what happened to those explosives. How many for sure that were there. Who might have gotten away with them? Is it unfair to the president, just as you believe he's been unfair to you, to blame him for that?

Kerry: No. It's not unfair. Because what we do know, from the commanders on the ground, is that they went there, as they marched to Baghdad. We even read stories today that they broke locks off of the doors, took photographs of materials in there. There were materials. And they left.

Brokaw: The flip side of that is that if you had been president, Saddam Hussein would still be in power. Because you...

Kerry: Not necessarily at all.

Brokaw: But you have said you wouldn't go to war against him...

Kerry: That's not true. Because under the inspection process, Saddam Hussein was required to destroy those kinds of materials and weapons.

Brokaw: But he wasn't destroying them...

Kerry: But that's what you have inspectors for. And that's why I voted for the threat of force. Because he only does things when you have a legitimate threat of force. It's absolutely impossible and irresponsible to suggest that if I were president, he wouldn't necessarily be gone. He might be gone. Because if he hadn't complied, we might have had to go to war. And we might have gone to war. But if we did, I'll tell you this, Tom. We'd have gone to war with allies in a way that the American people weren't carrying the burden. And the entire world would have understood why we were doing it.

As I said, I was reminded of that incoherent ramble today, when I saw this:



A very necessarily empty throne in Baghdad. It's not that hard to understand, is it?


I'd like everyone who ever said Saddam Hussein was a secularist, and not connected with terrorism, and of no real concern to us, to take a long hard look at the chair and the painting, and if necessary, themselves. Please. The time is long past when we can argue whether a rabid dog is one that we can afford to hope will only bite someone else.



Make sure your neighbors do too.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 11/01/2004 8:41:41 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Saudi militant says Qaeda cell still strong
Al Qaeda's wing in Saudi Arabia is still strong despite government statements that it had been crushed in a widespread security clampdown, a top wanted militant said. Abdulrahman Mohammed al-Yazji also told the group's Web magazine, Saut al-Jihad, that killing security force members was "a bridge to heaven" in the campaign to rid the cradle of Islam of "infidels" and topple the Saudi royal family.

Security forces have cracked down on militants waging a 17-month campaign of violence in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and a regional U.S. ally. Authorities say they have broken the back of al Qaeda in the kingdom by capturing or killing 17 people on a list of 26 most wanted militants, including the group's leader Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, who was killed in June. "His (Muqrin's) death only increases our determination and drive to continue our holy war and to avenge our brothers. There are hundreds like him who have made a vow to expel the crusaders," Yazji said. "As for the soldiers of the tyrants, if you stand in the way of the mujahideen (holy fighters) then your fate will be death and hell," the 29-year-old fugitive said, adding that killing a member of the security forces was "a bridge to heaven". Yazji said he had trained in Kashmir, Afghanistan and with al Qaeda militants in Saudi Arabia who waged a campaign of suicide bombings and shootings since May 2003. More than 170 people have been killed since then in militant attacks in the Gulf state and clashes between gunmen and police.
Posted by: Steve || 11/01/2004 10:34:43 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Al-Qaeda Terrorist Arrested, Large Cache of Arms Seized
Raid Qusti, Arab News, EFL:
Security forces have arrested an Al-Qaeda terrorist in pre-dawn raids in Riyadh and confiscated weapons and a large quantity of explosives including 23 hand grenades, guns and live ammunition from a terrorist hide-out in the city. "Police arrested two other terror suspects in separate raids in Riyadh," said an official source at the Interior Ministry. He said security forces also confiscated 33 bombs, two launchers, two machine guns, communication devices and different currencies. Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki earlier denied rumors of a car bomb being prepared by terrorists to carry out a major attack in the Kingdom, saying they are "baseless". He also said that the large presence of security trucks and police cars in the capital over the past two weeks was a normal procedure.

Meanwhile, police forces in Al-Qasim on Saturday combed Khabt Al-Jateili area, south of Buraidah, in search of terror suspects. Two helicopters in addition to several police units blocked off all roads leading to nearby farms and rest houses that are located in the area. There were no arrests.
Posted by: Steve || 11/01/2004 10:14:38 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Saudi arrests three militant suspects
DUBAI — Saudi security authorities arrested a man on suspicion of terrorism as he shot at security forces at a checkpoint in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, local media reported yesterday. According to the Saudi newspaper Al Watan, the man was arrested on Saturday along with seven other persons that were in his vehicle after the driver ignored security personnel at the checkpoint on a road south of Riyadh, and then opened fire trying to escape. The vehicle's driver was found in possession of a machine gun and live ammunition which were returned to him. The report did not say if the suspect was on the kingdom's list of wanted terrorists.

Elsewhere two male terrorist suspects — one dressed in women's clothes — were arrested in a bus station at Al Azeziyah district in southern Riyadh, the media reported. 
The old sneak onto the bus in a burqa trick!
Posted by: Steve White || 11/01/2004 12:26:57 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No wonder Saudi Clerics and Princes demand the womenfolk wear the burqa. If it was not required, it would take away a major means of escape for the menfolk after committing various nefarious deeds.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/01/2004 0:49 Comments || Top||

#2  These stories cry out for a picture of Bob Hope in a harem outfit from one of his "On The Road" pictures.
Posted by: Steve || 11/01/2004 10:00 Comments || Top||

#3  note there were 8 people in that vehicle....8 Saudis...hope the windows were down
Posted by: Frank G || 11/01/2004 10:07 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Four Hostages Freed by Rebels in Colombia
Marxist rebels freed four hostages whom they had held in the jungle for more than three years, relatives of the former captives said Sunday. The four former hostages were flown to Neiva, 150 miles southwest of the capital Bogota, on Sunday aboard a military plane. One of the hostages said their release was unexpected. The rebels "were transporting us during the past three weeks from the deepest part of the jungle. Finally, yesterday morning they told us that this was the day and they were going to release us in the afternoon," former hostage Anibal Rodriguez told Caracol radio. "At five in the afternoon they took us out of the woods, and to our surprise a priest was waiting for us." Rodriguez, his daughter Natalia and brother-in-law Jaime Brinez were among 16 people abducted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, on July 26, 2001, during a mass kidnapping in Neiva. Most of the hostages have since been freed.
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 2:52:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
High-Ranking Russian Officer Shot to Death
A high-ranking Russian air force officer was shot and killed on a road in western Russia on Sunday, a police official said. Maj.-Gen. Konstantin Dementyev, deputy commander of the air force's strategic aviation division, and his driver died after their car was strafed by automatic weapons fire, the Interfax-Military News Agency reported. A second passenger was injured and hospitalized, it said. A duty officer in the police department of the Smolensk region, 250 miles west of Moscow, confirmed the report but declined to give any details of the killing other than the site: near the village of Arkhipovka on the main highway linking the Russian capital with the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 2:51:15 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If Putin will do nothing after more than 400 kids are killed in Beslan... one Maj-Gen won't rank a damn. He will find a way to blame the WEST, as usual!
Posted by: smn || 11/01/2004 23:23 Comments || Top||

#2  smn---my thoughts that I have been posting. What the hell is Putin up to w/r/t the Beslin killings? When Bush was faced with 9-11 he said that he would commit to acting and attack OBL and co. He asked for our patience while he worked up a plan and set the forces and support network in motion. I wonder if we will see anything. If putin is planning, he sure is not having any leaks, IMHO.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/01/2004 23:52 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China Imposes Martial Law on Rioting Town
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 2:50:13 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yummy "muslim pork!"
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 11/01/2004 5:41 Comments || Top||


'Muslim Ethnic Violence' in China Region!
Martial law has been imposed in parts of the Chinese province of Henan after ethnic clashes in which witnesses say several people were killed. The clashes were between members of the majority Han community and the Muslim Hui ethnic group. Residents are quoted as saying houses were set on fire during the violence. One report says the violence began after a taxi driver from the Hui Muslim ethnic group knocked down and killed a girl from the Han community.
(This news is still developing as of posting)
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/01/2004 1:45:15 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  LINK: 'Residents say martial law imposed on Chinese town after deadly rioting'
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/01/2004 1:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Peace loving muslims killing again? Impossible!
Posted by: Anonymous4724 || 11/01/2004 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Historically (last 2000 years), this province has always been home to non-Han peoples and its relationship to the central Chinese government / empire has fluctuated greatly.

Whenever China has historically expanded to its wider borders, it incorporates edge regions which it cannot hold easily and which are populated by non-Han groups. How strongly it tries to clamp down on them has been a function of the strength of the central government at the time, usually.

So it's not quite correct to tie the current violence to Islam, although that surely stands as a proxy / factor in people's minds.
Posted by: rkb || 11/01/2004 8:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Actually, you should probably be rooting for the Muslims in this case.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 11/01/2004 9:23 Comments || Top||

#5  RKB,

That argument can be made for any group that claims to want "independence" from any central government.

The problem here is that Muslims cannot live under any other rule but their own medieval one. They never integrate no matter where they have gone in the past and go in the present. Where they are not presently causing trouble is because they have not attained critical mass.
By the way, Venezuelans has just elected their fist Arab terrorist for governor: Tarek William Saab. Google him and find out why he was denied a Visa to come to the US.
Posted by: Anonymous4724 || 11/01/2004 9:31 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm rooting for continued violence. The more of each side gone, the better.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 11/01/2004 9:45 Comments || Top||

#7  rkb: Historically (last 2000 years), this province has always been home to non-Han peoples and its relationship to the central Chinese government / empire has fluctuated greatly.

That is correct. China, together with Russia, constitute the last of the multiethnic empires, with at least tens, if not hundreds, of millions distinct ethnicities (complete with language and cultural differences). Why does the US work? Because most of its ethnicities came voluntarily. Even the Union was voluntary. By contrast, China's were welded together into the empire by military conquest. The reins of power are held by the Mandarin-speaking elites of the north. Will the center hold? Only time will tell. Is it desirable that the center hold? Only the dissolution of empire will produce freedom for the peoples on what is now Chinese soil.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/01/2004 9:52 Comments || Top||

#8  hmmm - where are the UN peace observers? No 5-star hotels in this burg?
Posted by: Frank G || 11/01/2004 10:05 Comments || Top||

#9  A4724: The problem here is that Muslims cannot live under any other rule but their own medieval one. They never integrate no matter where they have gone in the past and go in the present. Where they are not presently causing trouble is because they have not attained critical mass.

The Chinese are the colonial occupiers there. Islam is not everywhere America's enemy. And to be quite frank, the position of most Muslims vis-a-vis the US is similar to that of the Latin America countries prior to WWII. They seethe and foam about American assertiveness, but there is little they can do about it without risking their own annihilation.

And China's position with respect to the US is similar to that of Japan and Germany prior to WWII. Like China today, Japan and Germany were some of America's biggest trading partners prior to WWII. (Trade with Japan was especially huge, such that an oil and scrap metal embargo imposed on Japan by FDR led to Pearl Harbor, as part of Japan's quest to secure vital raw materials). Like Japan and Germany, China is rapidly becoming a major industrial power. Workers in semiconductor and garment factories rub shoulders on China's roads. Long term, America's premier strategic competitor is China, not Islam.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/01/2004 10:16 Comments || Top||

#10  Good points, ZF. Thanks for your insights and views.

Seems to me that the muslim and the Chinese threats are radically different from each other. The Chinese challenge is pretty much the traditional one of a rising great power that disrupts the equilibrium of the international system. We have plenty of experience in dealing with this kind of disturbance to the old order, as your apt analogies to Germany and Japan make clear. I'm not worried about our ability to handle this new challenger, if only because we know more or less what to expect. Holbrooke under Kerry would probably do as good a job re China as Powell under Bush has done.

However, Islamism is a new threat entirely that requires much more strategic clarity and courage on our part. Islamo-fascism represents neither a strategic rival to the US nor a coherent, rising power whose legitimate interests require accomodation by the established great powers. It's more like a free-floating, transnational, multi-continental version of a failed, rogue state which threatens the stability and the rhythms and cooperative patterns of the entire international order. Failed states with WMD are a new thing in the world. As we've seen, the risk that the western powers will misunderstand this threat, and thereby increase its potential to shock and disrupt the international system, is much greater IMO than the probability of our not getting China right.

Afghanistan was the first test: we and the Euros and Russia succeeded here. Iraq was the second: the Euros and Russia failed miserably and we've made some mistakes as well. Iran is the third test, and the outlook so far is dismal. The Europeans are worse than inept. We can handle China. Can we manage Iran?
Posted by: lex || 11/01/2004 10:39 Comments || Top||

#11  Zhang Fei,
For that matter every country that was ever a colony should have a group or two demanding independence.
Name one area of the world where Islam is prominent that is not an enemy of the US.
Posted by: Anonymous4724 || 11/01/2004 10:44 Comments || Top||

#12  To clarify my comparison above: both China and the Islamists disrupt the international order. But China's demands are for the most part the normal, legitimate aspirations of a rising great power. They can and will play within the established rules, including the principle of non-intervention in established nations' political systems.

The Islamists OTOH are extremists who reject the logic of international stability altogether. They have already shown their willingness to stage apocalyptic strikes against the leading power's military command and financial and political centers, and have also shown their desire (and ability) to intervene in western elections and secure the results they desire. Much more difficult, I think, for us to secure broad and deep cooperation against the latter threat, given the expressed wish of so many elites and publics across the western democracies to deny the exceptional nature of that threat.
Posted by: lex || 11/01/2004 10:51 Comments || Top||

#13  "America's premier strategic competitor is China, not Islam"

I think the U.S is well aware of that and is actively pursuing deep relationship with India to counterbalance the industrial China.

A recent study by researchers at MIT shows that India will surpass China in the next 10-15 years. The reason behind MIT's conclusion is that India is Democratic, women have power in business and politics, promotes small businesses and MOST of all, English is a major language next to Hindi. Most people in India speaks English. India's under-graduate and post graduate education is ALL in English.

Also, India just launched a "distance-learning" satellite. This satellite can support up to 50,000 simultaneous video streams of educational subject matter into the poor rural areas. India is undertaking a massive effort to get everyone educated.

I don't see China doing this. In China, I do not see that people, especially women, are free to persue their freedom in business and open politics.

It is not a coincidence that every truly sucessful country, allow women to have power in education, business (self-owned) and politics.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 11/01/2004 10:59 Comments || Top||

#14  Name one area of the world where Islam is prominent that is not an enemy of the US.

Algeria? Tunisia? Morocco? Jordan? They may not be allies, but they aren't enemies.




Posted by: Pappy || 11/01/2004 11:07 Comments || Top||

#15  Pappy,

Their governments may not be, but the people, are. The people of the countries you listed are Osama worshippers and that's dangerous. The respective governments fear "majority of the Muslims" uprisings as opposed to "minority of the Muslims" which can be easily supressed.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 11/01/2004 11:16 Comments || Top||

#16  Poison Reverse,

Thank you. Saudi Arabia is a perfect example of a government that is with the US (self-preservation) but the average Saudi would like nothing more than to see another Sept 11th or worse. I have personal knowledge of this since I just moved back from living there for 4 years.
Posted by: Anonymous4724 || 11/01/2004 11:56 Comments || Top||

#17  Islam is poison and the propoganda they feed to the poisoned will determine the amount of anomosity towrrds the US. I met with a friend over the weekend who manages imports from China for Seattle Bike Supply. I Asked him to look for other places to set up shop. I'll have to get him to check out India. He does say that the society in China is changing rapidly. He hates doing the amount of trading with China buts it's where the action is.

Lex, I'm with you on Zhaing. He doesn't forget the bread with the butter.
Posted by: Lucky || 11/01/2004 13:21 Comments || Top||

#18  Frank G, I suspect that the UN observers would be more concerned with the lack of young women that has resulted from China's one child policy and the resulting widespread abortion or infanticide of females.
Posted by: RWV || 11/01/2004 15:06 Comments || Top||

#19  The bottom line is Muslims around the world are being infected with jihadism, not all, but it does not require a majority to start a riot or bow up tall buildings.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/01/2004 16:14 Comments || Top||

#20  Actually, Henan is not a frontier province. It is the ancient heart of the Hua-Xia/Han civilization, and source of Chinese culture. Its Muslim population descends from both immigrants in ancient times and Han Chinese who converted to Islam.

Henan also has a rotten record on religious freedom, and has seen persecution of Christian as well in recent years.

It is said Han offered pork to Muslims. In SW Taiwan, this could be ignroant hospitality: in parts of China with a long-standing and noticeable Muslim minority, it is a tried-and-true method of provocation; something like white Americans saying "Nigger" to black people (and as inexcusable).

While I think the present Islamic upheval is dangerous, I have a suspicion that the Muslims in Henan may have a real grievance. As for the traffic accident that started it, in any other country, it would be seen as bad driving by someone who happened to be Muslim, and dealt with by courts and ordinary law enforcement.

Also, China has recently suffered a wave of rural and labor discontent.
Posted by: Cephas || 11/17/2004 23:21 Comments || Top||


Major Moslem violence in China
The NYT reports violent clashes between members of the Muslim Hui ethnic group and the majority Han group left nearly 150 people dead and forced authorities to declare martial law in a section of Henan Province in central China, journalists and witnesses in the region said today. The fighting flared late last week and continued into the weekend after a Hui taxi driver fatally struck a 6-year-old Han girl, prompting recriminations between different ethnic groups in neighboring villages, these people said. One person who was briefed on the incident by the police said that 148 people had been killed, including 18 police officers sent to quell the violence.
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) || 11/01/2004 8:37:45 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: nona6334 TROLL || 11/01/2004 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: nona6334 TROLL || 11/01/2004 0:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Wow, how frightening. And only two provinces over. I can't imagine 18 police officers dying.

I agree with the 'demand compensation' part. Any traffic accident of any kind in China, no matter how small, very quickly attracts a crowd of gawkers, who levy judgement on who should pay whom. No surprise the conflict started over that.
Posted by: gromky || 11/01/2004 0:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Man, 148 people killed! Obviously there is some simmering unrest there in the province. Wonder if the main force in this riot is muslim unrest and seething.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/01/2004 1:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Yea muslims are good at the seething thing. They are about to find out they only thought they knew about the represive central government.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 11/01/2004 1:42 Comments || Top||

#6  They deserve eachother.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 11/01/2004 7:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Guess they haven't heard what happened at Tinamin Square.
Posted by: raptor || 11/01/2004 8:23 Comments || Top||

#8  gromky: Wow, how frightening. And only two provinces over. I can't imagine 18 police officers dying.

Ironically, Hui military units were some of the staunchest defenders of the Qing dynasty government. They were known for being fierce fighters, and faced off against Western troops during various military clashes in China. I suspect that Hui-only military units have now been disbanded, but their fighting spirit appears undimmed. The Chinese have also been sending hordes of settlers into traditionally Hui areas, perhaps stirring up resentments throughout the land. Since the 90% Han Communist government owns all the land in the Chinese empire, it has seen fit to provide land grants to Han settlers in Hui (and other colonial) territory. What the Hans are encountering occasionally is a toned-down equivalent of the Indian Wars.* (In Chinese, Islam is termed "hui jiao" or the religion of the Hui).

* Cue to the theme song for "How the West was Won".
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/01/2004 10:05 Comments || Top||

#9  US pissed - check!
India pissed - check!
Russia pissed - check!
China pissed - ...check!
Posted by: BH || 11/01/2004 10:08 Comments || Top||

#10  thanks for the info, ZF.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 11/01/2004 10:11 Comments || Top||

#11  agreed LH: thx Gromky, ZF, et al for the internals on China - we rarely get the unsanitized versions, regarding the interior
Posted by: Frank G || 11/01/2004 10:18 Comments || Top||

#12  BH,

You forgot someone:

Israel "been" pissed - check!
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 11/01/2004 11:11 Comments || Top||

#13  It seems the religion of Islam has "pissed off at the world" built into it. You look at the unrest in the world and who is at the bottom of most of it? Makes me proud to be an infidel!!!
Posted by: John Q. Citizen || 11/01/2004 18:23 Comments || Top||

#14  The Hans have been colonizing the Muslim savageries for decades. Under Mao, captive imams were forced to shovel pig crap. That's the only thing I liked about Mao.

True freedom means: freedom from Muslims.

Posted by: nona6334 || 11/01/2004 0:15 Comments || Top||

#15  The Hans have been colonizing the Muslim savageries for decades. Under Mao, captive imams were forced to shovel pig crap. That's the only thing I liked about Mao.

True freedom means: freedom from Muslims.

Posted by: nona6334 || 11/01/2004 0:15 Comments || Top||


Europe
Paks held in Spain funded Al Qaeda
Ten Pakistanis arrested in mid-September in Barcelona were allegedly funding the Al Qaeda network by transferring ill-gotten money to Pakistan from Spain, a newspaper report claimed on Sunday. The men wired money earlier this year to three collaborators of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is suspected of having planned the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, El Pais reported citing sources close to the investigation. The paper did not say who had received the money, but said they had been arrested in a swoop earlier in 2004 in Pakistan during which one of them was killed. The Pakistanis detained on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist group could have made up to 18,000 euros (23,000 dollars) per day from trafficking in drugs, stolen bank cards and counterfeit passports, the report said.
I am definitely in the wrong profession...
"All clues indicate part of that money was sent to Karachi and Islamabad to fund terrorist activities," El Pais reported. When police arrested the Pakistanis on Sept 15 in the Mediterranean port city, they also seized several kilos of cocaine and 18,000 euros in cash, as well as videos in which some of the suspects were reportedly shown calling for a holy war.
Wonder how the old defense team is gonna spin that at the trial...
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 11:53:25 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Holy war faught with mafia tactics. The scum. Hit town, throw around some chump change, back that up with some hint of bigger things to come, throw around some muscle.
Posted by: Lucky || 11/01/2004 13:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's hope they come befor Garzon and not one of Zappy's patsies.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 11/01/2004 13:47 Comments || Top||


US warns of 'new terror threat' in Nordic & Baltic states
The US has warned its citizens in Nordic and Baltic states of the threat of imminent attacks. In a statement posted on the Finnish embassy website, the state department warns citizens to be vigilant, especially when using public transport. A statement on the Latvian embassy website warns citizens to avoid crowded areas and transport hubs from Monday. They do not provide further details or say whether the threat is linked to Tuesday's US presidential elections.

"The US Department of State wishes to alert US citizens, either resident in or travelling through the Nordic/Baltic region, that it has received threat information," says the statement on the Helsinki embassy website. It warns all citizens to "be vigilant as to their surroundings, especially in centres of ground-based mass transit, and to report any unusual or suspicious persons, incidents or circumstances to the nearest police authorities." The statement on the Riga embassy website adds that "citizens are urged to avoid large shopping areas and transportation hubs on or about 1 November". No further details are available at present.
Posted by: Steve || 11/01/2004 9:13:10 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So were is the SS Viking Division when you really need them?
Posted by: borgboy || 11/01/2004 14:08 Comments || Top||

#2  In Finland case, they wiped Stalin's invaders and they can do the same to these dishrag jihadists. ( as long as they can locate them)
Steamroller
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/01/2004 16:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Al Jizz Complete Transcript of bin Laden Video
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 11/01/2004 21:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Tater Update
The search for weapons started in Sadr City yesterday (24 Oct). Eyewitnesses said the operation went without incident. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih on Saturday said the government has received 18,000 weapons against $5,000,000. He said the operation was successful and that the government intends to expand it elsewhere in Iraq. Meanwhile, radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said he was ready to assist the mujahideen of Fallujah, and would interfere to keep the city safe. "If you keep resisting the occupation, I will be with you, but I hope your city avoids war. No mercy for the occupiers," he told Fallujans.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/01/2004 5:55:51 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  give him an all-day pass and then block the exits
Posted by: Frank G || 11/01/2004 18:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Tater needs to be deep fried
Posted by: Old Fogey || 11/01/2004 18:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Tater needs to be 'peeled'......
then 'boiled'.....
and finally 'mashed'....

and topped off with some nice thick pork roast gravy.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/01/2004 19:01 Comments || Top||

#4  al-Sadr may be "with them" in spirit, but I'll venture a guess that even he is smart enough to stay away from Fallujah. Form further down the page:
"...the cleric Muslim al-Taee, Deputy of Ayatollah Hussein al-Sadr, was killed when unknown assailants opened fire on him north of Karbala. Taee was in his car when shot..."
Posted by: Tom || 11/01/2004 19:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Don't forget french fried taters and tater tots and twice baked taters. Then there's tater pancakes. Rosen baked taters. Grated taters.
Posted by: John Q. Citizen || 11/01/2004 19:37 Comments || Top||

#6  I am big. The militia got smaller.
Posted by: Norma al-Sadr || 11/01/2004 20:01 Comments || Top||

#7  I believe Tater is an example of “better the devil we know”. He occupies the position of crazy Shiite Islamic fanatic. If Tater were gone a person better able to lead his movement would likely arise. As it is Tater is largely discredited in the Shiite community.
Posted by: Anonymous5032 || 11/01/2004 20:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Tater, Tater, in come free!!!!! Tater...I'll pay the one way taxi fair to the roach motel Falluja.
Posted by: anymouse || 11/01/2004 20:44 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Israel: 17 Persons Murdered in October Islamic Attacks
(IsraelNN.com) Seventeen persons were killed by Arab terror in the month of October 2004. Others were wounded, including persons who sustained permanent disabilities.

October 4 — 22:00 — A border policeman, a member of an elite undercover unit was killed while working to apprehend a senior terrorist in Ramallah. The soldier was shot in his head and pronounced dead by trauma physicians in Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. An investigation revealed he was killed by mistaken fire from another member of his unit. [1]
1) Staff-Sergeant Ronen Ben-Meiri, 31, from Haifa

October 6 — Morning — Three terrorists attack the greenhouse area of Kfar Darom in southern Gaza. One Thai worker, wounded by gunfire, was taken hostage. He bled to death during the hours of the standoff between terrorists and soldiers. [2]
1) Pratheep Nanongkham, 24, from the Maha Sarakham province in Thailand

October 6 — 21:50 - A blast ripped through the Hilton Hotel in the Egyptian resort town of Taba, near the border with Israel. The powerful blast was caused by car bombs exploded at the entrance to the hotel, containing an estimated 250-300 kg of explosives, causing the collapse of part of the hotel. At about 23:30, two additional explosions occurred in the camping area of of Ras a-Sutan, located about 45 kilometers south. Unless indicated, victims were killed in the Taba Hilton attack. [14]
1) Einat Na'or, 27, from Kibbutz Zikim
2) Ro'i Avisaff, 28, from Kfar Saba (killed in Ras a-Sutan attack)
3) Hafez Hafi, 39, from Lod
4) Khalil Zeitouna, 10, from Jaffa
5) Michal Alexander, 27, from Ganei Tikvah (killed in Ras a-Sutan attack)
6) Tzila Niv, 43 (mother), from Rakefet
7) Gilad Niv, 11, (son)
8) Lior Niv, 3, (son/brother)
9) Assaf Greenwald, 27, from Ramat Gan.
10) Oleg Pazakov, 32, from Bat Yam (husband)
11) Ludmilla Pazakov, 30, from Bat Yam (wife)
12) Rotem Moriah, 27, from Tel Aviv

** Valery Segal, 49, from Ashdod (not included in the count. He died in hospital of a heart attack about thirty minutes before the attack.

October 19 — 15:30 — An IDF soldier in the Menashe Battalion Command in the northern Shomron was gravely wounded by terrorist sniper fire. He died a short time later in Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer in Tel Aviv. (al-Aqsa Brigade/FATAH) [15]
1) IDF Staff-Sergeant Yair Turgeman, 22, from Kiryat Arba

October 21 — 14:10 — A bomb placed in a weapons tunnel under an IDF position in the Rafiah area of southern Gaza along the Philadelphi Route was detonated by terrorists, claiming the life of one IDF soldier. (HAMAS) [16]
1) Sergeant-Major Moshe Elmaleh, 34, from Dimona

October 28 — 14:10 — An IDF position in southern Gaza near Morag was targeted in a mortar shell attack. Seven IDF soldiers were wounded, one critically, two seriously, one moderate, and the remainder light. The critically wounded soldier died a short time later in Soroka Medical Center. [17]
1) Sergeant Michael Chizik, 21, from Tiberias
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/01/2004 5:45:19 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
Militants hurl grenade in busy market in Indian Kashmir
SRINAGAR, India - Twenty-one civilians were injured on Monday when Muslim rebels hurled a grenade at a security force patrol in a busy market in Indian Kashmir and missed, police said. They said five of those injured in the attack at Shopian, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Srinagar, were in critical condition. "The rebels were aiming for a security patrol but missed their target," a police official, who did not wish to be named, told AFP.
Everyone with a good throwing arm is drafted early by the cricket teams.
"The market was packed with people when the grenade went off." The explosion sent people scattering in panic. On Sunday three people were injured in a shootout between a Muslim militant and police in a crowded flea market in Srinagar.
No word on status of the fleas
Posted by: Steve || 11/01/2004 12:34:17 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Scattering in panic ya say.
Posted by: Lucky || 11/01/2004 13:01 Comments || Top||


Terrs 'Militants' held in special drive
Law-enforcement agencies have picked up around two dozen people on suspicion of their involvement in sectarian militancy in a drive started last week in the province, especially southern Punjab, it was learnt on Sunday. Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Layyah, Bhakkar, Faisalabad and Jhang have been included in the districts. The drive has been launched in view of three terrorist activities in Sialkot, Multan and Lahore. Besides police and intelligence agencies, Crimes Investigation Department (CID) is also taking part in the campaign. Neither any arrest has been registered nor are families being allowed meeting with them.

Three suspects, including an office-bearer of the outlawed Sipah-e-Mohammad, have been detained in raids in various localities of Faisalabad. Punjab police sources said that the raids in Faisalabad were carried out to arrest Amjad Shah, a resident of Bhakkar. However, he had left the place when the police raided. A heavy police contingent also raided his Bhakkar house and arrested five members of his family, including his father and father-in-law. His father-in-law and one cousin have been set free after questioning, but the others will remain in the custody of the law enforcers without any lawful justification for well over a week, they said.

As many as 10 people have been detained in Multan and Bahawalpur. The police in these districts have been asked by the law enforcement agencies to pay more attention to underground activities of sectarian suspects. Meanwhile, the Punjab police have been directed to make efforts to arrest all sectarian proclaimed offenders and court absconders.
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 12:01:48 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghan kidnappers extend execution deadline
A group threatening to kill three kidnapped foreigners working for the United Nations in Afghanistan unless the U.S. releases all Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners has extended its deadline until Friday, the government said. "The first deadline they had set was for Wednesday and then they extended their deadline to Friday," Defence Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi told Reuters. "I get the impression that there is confusion among the kidnappers, which is why we can't take their deadline seriously."
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 11:59:07 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe we can make them a deal. If they promise to attack the UN Headquarters in New York, we'll let them.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/01/2004 12:44 Comments || Top||


Most US troops leave Jacobabad
Most US troops stationed at the Shahbaz Airbase in Jacobabad left for home on Saturday night. The airbase has been in the use of the US forces since the beginning of the Afghanistan war. Sources said some 250 US military men were stationed at the base. They said only a few troops were now left at the airbase.
And I'll bet they're just happy as clams in chowder...
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 11:52:07 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jacobabad is in Pakistan. I think this airbase was used for logistics support for Afghanistan. We haven't reduced the number of troops in Afghanistan, so why is this base no longer needed? What's replaced it?
Posted by: Jeff || 11/01/2004 16:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Probably better logistics set up in Afghanistan proper.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/01/2004 18:53 Comments || Top||

#3  less ISI spies as well
Posted by: Frank G || 11/01/2004 19:03 Comments || Top||


Abdullah Mehsud claims reponsibility for blast
Abdullah Mehsud, an Al Qaeda-linked commander, on Sunday claimed responsibility for the Friday explosion at an Islamabad hotel.
That'd be the one they claimed was an electrical short...
Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Abdullah Mehsud, 29, also threatened that his group would carry out violent attacks in other parts of the country. "Now we will spread out and carry out similar attacks wherever possible," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur by telephone.
"We're armed and dangerous, we are!"
At the time of blast, sources told dpa that US and Japanese defence and intelligence officials were staying in the hotel, but most of them had had left the hotel by Friday evening. Mehsud claimed that one US intelligence official had been killed in the blast. The US embassy has advised its nationals to avoid visiting the hotel.
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 11:49:07 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Terrorists arrested
Iyad Alawi the interim PM of Iraq announced that the Iraqi authorities with the help of the multinational forces arrested 167 Arab terrorists and at least 3000 Baathists under the leadership of Izat Al-Dori (Abu Al-thalaj) [Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri]. These arrests include two of Abu-Althalaj deputies. It also includes 4 of the important members of the Jordanian/Palestinian terrorists Abu Mosab Zarqawi. The movement names of these terrorists are Abu Anis the Palestinian, Abu Mohammad from Lebanon, Abu Ahmed from Tabuk in Saudi Arabia and Abu Omar from Egypt.
It's nice to have a tally every now and then. Hat tip to Hammorabi.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/01/2004 10:59:10 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


More attacks on Black Watch base
Soldiers from the Black Watch battle group have been attacked at their base south of Baghdad for the third day. Six mortar rounds landed in Camp Dogwood, 25km (16 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, early on Monday. There were no casualties. On Friday, two mortars were fired at the 850-strong battle group when they arrived from southern Iraq and three landed in the base on Sunday. Downing Street said such attacks were "expected" ahead of January's election. BBC correspondent Nick Springate, embedded with the troops at Camp Dogwood, said Monday's explosions shook the ground but caused no damage. One mortar failed to explode and was made safe by the Royal Engineers. Nick Springate said members of the Royal Engineers were also working "around the clock" to get the base up and running for the British troops' 30-day mission. "They have been, firstly, making safe accommodation. There are very few solid buildings here, sandbags are being put around the outside to make people's sleeping accommodation safe. "Secondly, they are making large sand walls - berms - on the perimeter of the camp." He added that Warrior armoured vehicles were guarding the base.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said: "We always knew this was going to be a difficult period, because the insurgents are determined to try and stop the elections. "What we have to do is keep focused on what this is all about - it is about giving the ordinary Iraqis up and down Iraq the vote." The battle group is led by three companies of armoured infantry from the 1st Battalion The Black Watch, with some 500 men and 50 Warrior armoured fighting vehicles. They are accompanied by a reconnaissance unit from the mainly Welsh Queen's Dragoon Guards, with around 100 men and 12 Scimitar armoured vehicles, and a 50-strong Royal Marine light infantry unit from 40 Commando. Support troops include engineers, logisticians, signallers and medics. The soldiers were redeployed following a US request.
Posted by: Steve || 11/01/2004 9:19:08 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine
Suicide bomb in Tel Aviv market
suicide bomb has hit a crowded shopping area in the Israeli commercial capital, Tel Aviv, killing at least four people including the bomber. Police say the attacker detonated about 5kg of explosives in a shop in the busy Carmel market. Israeli TV showed chaotic scenes at the city's central Carmel market as the injured were rushed to hospital. A spokesman for the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said it had carried out the attack. He named the bomber as Amer al-Fahr, from the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank town of Nablus.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned the bombing, as well as "killing on both sides", from his hospital bed in Paris, where he is currently undergoing tests for a blood ailment, his aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman David Saranga, quoted by AFP news agency, urged the Palestinian Authority to crack down on armed militants. And Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN envoy in the region, said the authority should "act without delay against those organising and perpetrating terror and to bring them to justice". A spokesman from Islamic militant group Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, told the Associated Press the blast was evidence that the "resistance is alive".
Not for long.
Posted by: Steve || 11/01/2004 8:50:29 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  now, the Muqata can be levelled, with the scum inside it. Call it a leach field reclamation
Posted by: Frank G || 11/01/2004 9:47 Comments || Top||

#2  For Israel to take the Muqata they would have to have evidence that attacks are being planned from there or evidence that someone there was connected with the blast in Tel Aviv.

Neither condition met.

So far anyway.
Posted by: mhw || 11/01/2004 13:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Hamas is nothing more than a bunch of no good, dirty ...Pissed
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/01/2004 16:19 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Man Convicted in Jordan Terror Fund Scam
Jordan's military court convicted a Jordanian businessman of raising funds to help terror mastermind Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi carry out attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq but acquitted him of conspiring in the actual attacks. Bilal al-Hiyari, 34, was sentenced to six months in jail. The defendant, with a black beard and wearing a navy blue prison uniform, stood silently before Chief Judge Fawaz Buqour, a colonel, as the sentence was read. "You are acquitted of conspiring to carry out terror attacks because specific details of the accusation could not be substantiated with hard evidence," Buquor told the defendant. "Thank you," al-Hiyari responded. Under Jordanian law, verdicts resulting in less than three years imprisonment cannot be appealed.

Military prosecutors accused al-Hiyari of having collected unspecified amounts of money to fund attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and terrorist activities in Jordan planned by the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi, who last month announced his group's allegiance to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The indictment said al-Zarqawi recruited al-Hiyari to "raise funds to finance military operations on the Jordanian and Iraqi arenas." It said U.S. forces in Iraq were specifically targeted. Al-Hiyari allegedly met al-Zarqawi in Afghanistan before the Iraq war and "developed a warm friendship because both espoused the similar holy war ideology," the indictment said. It said al-Hiyari visited al-Zarqawi in Iraq in July 2003 on an invitation from al-Zarqawi's spiritual leader, Omar Yousef Jumah, who is also known as Sheik Abu Anas al-Shami. Al-Shami died in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq last month.

In August 2003 in Jordan, al-Hiyari allegedly raised around $3,000 to buy a German-made Opel car that was sent to al-Zarqawi in Iraq by an Iraqi associate of al-Zarqawi, identified as Abu-Yaqthan. The indictment did not say where the funds came from. It said later that year and in early 2004, al-Zarqawi twice sent another envoy, identified as Al-Miqdad al-Dabbas, to collect more money, which al-Hiyari could not raise before he was arrested May 16 and the terror plot was foiled. The indictment did not specify how Jordanian authorities learned about the plot. Al-Hiyari pleaded innocent at the outset of the trial on May 16. He has told the court that his guilty confession before the trial had been extracted under duress.
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 3:03:02 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq Hotel Explosion Kills at Least 15
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 3:02:11 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
U.S. Agent Sparks Afghan False Alarm
A U.S. agent hidden under a head-to-toe veil on Sunday sparked fear of a suicide attack in the Afghan capital by fleeing from police who tried to search her, officials said. Police had thought the woman, who was carrying a bag under her traditional Afghan burqa, was laden with explosives when she tried to enter the Bagh-e Zanana gardens, officials said. But an official with the NATO-run security force that scrambled patrols to the area said it appeared the woman had panicked because her bag contained a pistol. "It's all been resolved amicably," the official said on condition of anonymity.

A senior Afghan police officer said the woman had been brought to the Interior Ministry to discuss the mix-up. "It's a big mess," he said. When confronted at the park, the woman apparently retreated to a four-wheel-drive vehicle parked nearby containing at least one foreign man, officials and witnesses said. Reporters saw a column of vehicles carrying police and bearded Westerners in plainclothes speeding away from the scene in the direction of the ministry. Police had sealed off the park, which has been restored with the help of foreign donations and is reserved for women. Neither the woman involved in the incident nor the American security agency for which she was working were identified.
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 2:56:14 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine
Yasser Recovering in Hospital
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 2:49:25 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  *Goes to Arafat* *Pulls out Linking Book to wahrk gallows on Riven* *watches Arafat get eaten by wahrks* *pounds the shit out of his alarm clock*
Posted by: Steve from Relto || 11/01/2004 13:14 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Gunmen Kill Deputy Governor of Baghdad
Posted by: Fred || 11/01/2004 2:49:04 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
Video shows UN Afghan hostages
Three UN workers held hostage by militants in Afghanistan have appeared in a video shown by Arabic TV. The three appeared unharmed in the video, in which their kidnappers called for the release of prisoners from Afghan jails and Guantanamo Bay. Filipino Angelito Nayan, Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland and Shqipe Habibi from Kosovo were seized on Thursday at gunpoint. They were in Afghanistan to help organise recent presidential elections. In the video footage, the three hostages were shown crouching against a wall beside a masked man. A man off camera asks the hostages why they have come to Afghanistan. "There are many organisations that come here and do many things for the Afghan people - build roads, build schools, irrigate fields," a tearful Ms Flanigan replies. "And we thought that it's also useful to come here in Kabul in Afghanistan - we didn't come to do any harm."
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/01/2004 2:08:24 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
U.S. Extends Duty in Iraq for 6,500 Troops
The Army has extended by two months the Iraq tours of about 6,500 soldiers, citing a need for experienced troops through the Iraqi elections scheduled for late January. About 3,500 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and 3,000 from the 1st Infantry Division headquarters will remain in Iraq two months longer than planned, Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said Saturday. The purpose, Whitman said, is to ``maintain continuity of forces in the theater during the election period.''

Whitman said the extensions will result in a net addition of about 3,500 troops in the country, since replacements for the 3,000 from the 1st Infantry will delay their arrival until after the elections. Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division, scheduled to replace the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry, will not be delayed. Whitman said it was possible that the 3rd Infantry could accelerate its deployment if commanders in Iraq say that is necessary, but no decision has been made. The Army had scheduled 10-month deployments for the units whose tours are being extended, rather than the usual 12-month tours, to stagger the rotation of forces in and out of Iraq this winter and avoid overburdening transportation systems.

A description of the troop extensions posted on the Pentagon's Web site Saturday mentioned ``the troops' frustration'' over having their tours extended. It said some of the soldiers previously had been told they would be leaving Iraq as early as November. Instead they will stay through January. Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, requested the extensions in late September, and his immediate superior, Army Gen. John Abizaid, made the decision Oct. 16, the Pentagon said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 11/01/2004 12:48:49 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is tough on married soldiers.
I've been in similar situations. When I was single I was itching for extentions. Married, I counted the days. But maybe thing have changed. My brother-in-law, who is married with a new child, and several of his friends in the Guard, just returned. And they are itching to go back. They said they felt like they had accomplished so much and didn't want to leave their new Iraqi friends hanging. And obviously they are not happy with how the press was covering them.
Posted by: Urako || 11/01/2004 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Ditto. My wife talked to a guardsman just back from Iraq, and he and everyone in his unit is quite PO'ed at the MSM for their stinking, treasonous coverage.
Posted by: Ptah || 11/01/2004 10:14 Comments || Top||

#3  My son's unit is guarding the prison at Camp Bucca. And thanks to the MSM's good work on behalf of the Democrats with the Abu Ghraib "scandal", his job is far more dangerous than it should be: ever since then, they have been prohibited from using **ANY** force with the prisoners-- lethal or non-lethal (like riot guns with beanbag rounds)-- except to save their own lives when in imminent danger. The PC reaction to the MSM's campaign of smearing our troops has been so extreme that the guards now are not even allowed to use profanity in the presence of the prisoners; and the only form of punishment they are allowed to use is solitary confinement-- in an air-conditioned room with cable TV.

If Kerry wins this election, expect to see a MASSIVE exodus of troops from our armed forces.
Posted by: Dave D. || 11/01/2004 10:34 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Arafat's condition improving, say Paleo officials
Yasser Arafat telephoned colleagues in the West Bank, read telegrams from well-wishing world leaders, ate cereal and sipped tea, his aides said - signs that the Palestinian leader's health may be on the upswing following three days of urgent treatment for an undisclosed illness at a French military spa hospital. There was still no explanation for what caused the recent deterioration in his condition, although Palestinian officials say Arafat's low blood platelet count is not due to leukemia. Doctors have not said what might be causing the deficiency, although Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said Sunday all types of cancer had been ruled out. However, no doctors or other specialists have publicly confirmed that conclusion.
There's still hope ...
Doctors were now running tests to determine whether Arafat was suffering from a viral infection, poisoning or some other malady, Palestinian aides said on condition of anonymity. They did not elaborate on what kind of poisoning they meant. Arafat's doctors in Ramallah last week said toxicology tests ruled out poisoning.
Of course they did! "It wasn't me, effendi!"
The 75-year-old Arafat's condition has improved markedly since he was rushed Friday from his besieged Ramallah headquarters in the West Bank to the hospital southwest of Paris, Palestinians said. Arafat ate a normal breakfast, Shaath said from Ramallah in the West Bank.
Something about moving from the third world to the first ...
"He's much better, he's really much better, and he's more cheerful," Shaath said. "He's less tired and we are awaiting a final assessment by the French doctors about the diagnosis."
"Really, the guy's like Rasputin in that regard ..."
Palestinian officials gave conflicting reports on when results from further tests were expected. Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said a medical report would be issued by early Tuesday. Mohammed Rashid, a close Arafat aide, said results were due Wednesday. Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Arafat is expected to recover, and spent part of Sunday catching up on international and Arab events and reading summaries of telegrams from world leaders who wished him well. "He is not suffering from any serious problem - his situation is curable; he will recover very soon. It is better than expected," Abu Rdeneh said.

In the West Bank, Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad told The Associated Press that Arafat sounded unusually coherent and alert during a five-minute telephone conversation Sunday. "This phone call is clear proof that President Arafat is fully aware of what is going on around him," Fayyad said. Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to France, said Arafat had received messages of support from a number of world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, French President Jacques Chirac, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Chinese President Hu Jintao. US Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned his Palestinian counterpart, Shaath, in the West Bank.

In another sign of Palestinians from all factions expressing their solidarity with Arafat, despite bitter rivalries, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal also called Sunday to wish Arafat dead well but did not speak to him directly, aides to Arafat said. Arafat also spoke with former Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, who accompanied him on the flight from Ramallah, Dahlan's office said from Gaza. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday that Israel would not allow Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem if he dies. The Palestinian leader has said he wants to be buried at the Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary. Israel has marked a possible burial site for Arafat in the Jerusalem suburb of Ein-al-Hellhole Abu Dis, in Hell the West Bank, security officials said.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/01/2004 12:18:07 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Sleagum Slinemble2359 TROLL || 11/01/2004 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe if the Arafish gets well he can run the PA from Suha's apartment in Paris. I'm sure host Chiraq can pull some strings and get video links, all the latest technology so the Arafish can run his racket government from a safe and healthy environment.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/01/2004 1:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Arafat’s condition improving, say Paleo officials

Nothing that a brief visit by Mossad couldn't change.

"Hand me that electified barb-tipped endoscope, nurse."
Posted by: Zenster || 11/01/2004 1:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Of course he feels better -- he just got out of his personal jail. May he learn to enjoy the pleasures of his French hospital room, and perhaps the view of the hallway, as much as he came to enjoy the crumbling walls of his private kingdom in Ramallah.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/01/2004 2:05 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm more inclined to think it's the result of an improved (less poisonous) diet.
Posted by: Dishman || 11/01/2004 10:12 Comments || Top||

#6  a massive transfusion explains the temporary burst of near-health. He's dying
Posted by: Frank G || 11/01/2004 10:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe the Mossad switched the transfusion blood bags and the Arafish has a body full of alien platelets, Bwahahahahah....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/01/2004 10:58 Comments || Top||

#8  If an ugly and disgusting alien were to pop out of Arafish's stomach, how would one be able to tell?
Posted by: mhw || 11/01/2004 11:37 Comments || Top||

#9  It's too bad he didn't go in the summer...
Posted by: jackal || 11/01/2004 12:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Roach Yasser's on the way out.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/01/2004 17:10 Comments || Top||

#11  StopTheHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate
Posted by: Sleagum Slinemble2359 || 11/01/2004 0:50 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Dawood aide shot dead in Kanpur
LUCKNOW — In a major breakthrough, dreaded criminal and Dawood Ibrahim's front man in the industrial city of Kanpur, Taufiq alias Billu has been gunned down in an encounter with the police and the Special Task Force personnel, while two of his accomplices managed to escape from the scene.
Bad name for the town in question.
Their Maruti Zen car was recovered by the police. The slain criminal, along with his five brothers, was active in the crime world for the past over two decades. He was carrying a cash reward of Rs20,000 fixed by the Director-General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, on his arrest. In all, 46, criminal cases were lodged against the deceased, including the one lodged for the killing of a Special Task Force constable, Dharmendra, recently. Sources in the Police headquarters here said that Kanpur Senior Superintendent of Police Ramendra Vikram Singh had recommended one rank promotion and a cash prize for the police and the Special Task Force team members for the commendable work down by them. Singh said that Atiq, one of the brothers of Taufiq alias Billu, and a member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, was the vice-president of Bahujan Samaj Party's local unit about three years ago and during the party's regime in the state, he had connections with its two ministers. Other gang members included Rafiq, Iqbal alias Bale, Shafiq, Afzal alias Raju (all brothers of Taufiq), Laiq Kalia and BJP leader Virendra Dube.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/01/2004 12:15:15 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, um, how dead is he? Is this his first death?
Posted by: .com || 11/01/2004 1:45 Comments || Top||



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