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Zarqawi's Fallujah Headquarters Found
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Futures: MSM calls election for Kerry before west coast polls close
Event: MSM calls election for Kerry before west coast polls close
Group: Mainstream Media.
Narrative: Mainstream media (ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/BBC) calls the presiential election for John Kerry before the polls close on the west coast.
Window: 0 Months (12/3/2004)
Probability 80% entered by CrazyFool on 10/4/2004
Probability 90% entered by Sock Puppet of Doom on 10/19/2004
Overall opinion is Probable (85%)
Current opinion is Probable (90%)

Event: MSM calls election for Kerry before west coast polls close
Group: Mainstream Media.
Narrative: Mainstream media (ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/BBC) calls the presiential election for John Kerry before the polls close on the west coast.
Window: 0 Months (12/3/2004)
Probability 80% entered by CrazyFool on 10/4/2004
Probability 20% entered by Shipman on 10/9/2004
Overall opinion is Possible (50%)
Current opinion is Unlikely (20%)
Hmmm... They woulda if they coulda. Instead it drew out to the bitter end with everyone afraid to admit Bush took it.

Why'd we have entries?
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2004 12:58:00 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think I may have created double entries on this by mistake :((. Sorry.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/18/2004 13:15 Comments || Top||

#2  No it was me. Sorry, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I couldn't predict myself out of a wet paper bag.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 11/18/2004 14:45 Comments || Top||


Futures: Turkey whacks Syria/Lebanon
Group: Turks
Narrative: Turks get pissed at Asshat Jr.'s support of Hezbullah et al. bombings and bitch-slaps the Syrians
Window: 0 Months (11/19/2004)
Probability 50% entered by Spot on 11/20/2003
Probability 10% entered by Anonymous on 11/22/2003
Probability 10% entered by Steve White on 11/26/2003
Probability 0% entered by tu3031 on 11/30/2003
Overall opinion is Unlikely (18%)
Current opinion is Unlikely (7%)
Guess most of us were on the money on that one. And Spot was thinking wishfully...
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2004 12:55:14 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Turks should kick Himml^H^H^H^H^H Assad's ass anyway. The least they could do is make themselves useful.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 11/18/2004 15:33 Comments || Top||


Britain
Azzam.com webmaster bought camouflage, tried to buy chemicals
Fred, you got any camo or chemicals? Just, you know, asking.
A terror suspect facing extradition to the US bought 100 camouflage suits and tried to buy large amounts of chemicals, a court has been told. A US government lawyer set out evidence at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, after hearings to decide whether to extradite Babar Ahmad, 30, of south London. Ahmad is accused of trying to raise funds for terrorism via websites and emails. The US has accused Mr Ahmad of trying to raise money for terrorism in Chechnya and Afghanistan. America also claims he had plans for a US Navy battle group in the Gulf, including comments on how ships were vulnerable to attack.

James Lewis QC, acting for the US government, said Mr Ahmad ran a website - Azzam.com - that encouraged terrorist acts. The site said it was a religious obligation for all Muslims who could not fight to donate money to jihad, Mr Lewis said. He also told the court that Mr Ahmad had e-mail links to a Chechen rebel leader who planned the 2002 Moscow theatre siege, in which 129 hostages died. It was claimed another e-mail found in the Azzam account was from an individual who said he was serving in the Middle East with the US Navy, but which expressed hatred towards the US and support for terrorism. Mr Lewis also alleged that from mid-1997 to early 1998 Mr Ahmad had attempted to buy up to 5,000 tons of sulphur phosphate. There was also evidence the suspect had made a "miscellaneous" shipment to Pakistan, the court was told. Mr Lewis alleged that Mr Ahmad, on a trip to the US in 1999, had bought 100 cold weather camouflage suits and shipped them back to himself in the UK.

Mr Ahmad, a 30-year-old IT administrator of Tooting, south London, was arrested in August. He had previously been arrested under anti-terrorism laws in December 2003 but released without charge. Edward Fitzgerald QC, defending, said there were concerns over whether Mr Ahmad would get a fair trial in the US. Mr Fitzgerald told the court a report would be prepared which "looked into evidence in relation to the treatment of Islamic defendants charged with terrorism offences in the US as respects their trial and subsequent detention". The hearing was adjourned until 16 December, when the report is due to be served on the government and the court.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 11/18/2004 3:55:47 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Babar"? Is nothing sacred?
Posted by: lex || 11/18/2004 18:12 Comments || Top||

#2  He is Phrawnch.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 11/18/2004 18:25 Comments || Top||

#3  oh, I always thought he wuz da brotha from africa wit da big nose
Posted by: lex || 11/18/2004 18:27 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australian Faces Terror Charges
Other Australian Terror Suspects That Have Been Arrested Include:

Zeky Mallah: One charge, of acts in preparation for terrorist acts, December 2003.
Izhar ul Haque: Sydney medical student, 21, arrested and charged with training with proscribed terrorist organisation on April 15, 2004.
Faheem Khalid Lodhi: Sydney architect, 34, arrested and charged with terrorism offences and making false or misleading statements on April 22, 2004.
Belal Khazaal: Former Qantas baggage handler from Sydney, 34. Arrested on June 2, 2004, on a terrorism-related offence and charged with knowingly collecting or making documents connected with preparation for, the engagement of a person in, or assistance in a terrorist act.
Jack Roche: Arrested on November 18, 2002 on charges of conspiracy to commit offences under the Crimes Act. Pleaded guilty and jailed for nine years in June.
Joseph Terrence Thomas, 31, was arrested this morning by agents from the Australian Federal Police joint counter terrorism team at his home in Melbourne's west suburban Werribee. He was charged with receiving funds from terrorist organisation al-Qaeda, with providing support or resources to al-Qaeda and with possessing a false passport.

Bearded and wearing a black and white striped collarless shirt, Thomas made no comment during the brief hearing in the Melbourne Magistrate's Court before magistrate Lisa Hannan. He did not apply for bail and was remanded to appear again for a committal mention on February 10. He was not required to enter a plea. His lawyer indicated Thomas would apply for bail next week. Thomas is the first person to be charged with these specific offences since the introduction fo the Commonwealth counter terrorism legislation in 2002.

Police allege that between November 2002 and January 2003, in Karachi, Pakistan and elsewhere, Thomas intentionally received funds from al-Qaeda. The second count alleges that between July 2002 and January 2003, at Karachi, Thomas intentionally provided support or resources to al-Qaeda which would help the organisation, directly or indirectly to engage in preparing, planning or assisting in the carrying out of a terrorist act. The terrorism charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment, while the passport offences carry a maximum of two years imprisonment of a $5000 fine. Federal agents seized documents and computer equipment when they executed two search warrants this morning. "The man before the court today first came to our attention in January 2003, when he was detained in Pakistan," a federal police spokeswoman said. The former taxi driver and chef also known as Jack returned to Australia in June after being held in Pakistan for six months on suspicion of having terrorist connections.
Oh, this guy. We've heard about Jack before. They finally got him into court.
After the Pakistani interior ministry revealed they were not charging him he returned to Australia and remained in hiding with his family.
Posted by: God Save The World || 11/18/2004 3:42:42 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Hague Two 'planned to kill Cohen'
The two men arrested after a house siege in The Hague are accused of plotting to kill Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen and Muslim alderman Ahmed Aboutaleb, a defence lawyer has revealed. The suspects also face charges of planning to kill two MPs who have criticised Islam. They were arrested after a 12-hour stand-off with police in the Laak district of The Hague on 10 November. The siege began when two hand grenades were thrown at a specialist police arrest team as it tried to storm the mens' home. Police eventually ended the siege by using tear gas to overpower the occupants of the house. The raid was ordered by detectives investigating Islamic extremism in the wake of the murder of filmmaker and critic of Islam Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam on 2 November. A lawyer for Jason W, one of the suspects, said a provisional indictment filed against the men charged then with attempting to kill the arrest team. They are also charged with plotting to kill MPs Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, as well as Cohen and Aboutaleb. Justice officials have declined to comment on the lawyer's claims.
Posted by: Steve || 11/18/2004 1:51:06 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Three Frenchmen killed fighting US in Iraq
But surprisingly, none of them are named Henri or Jean-Claude...
Three, and possibly four, Frenchmen have been killed in Iraq fighting with insurgents seeking to oust US-led forces in the country, a French official said Thursday.

A 24-year-old Frenchman from Paris identified as Tarek W. was killed on September 17, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He was the latest addition to a list French authorities have drawn up of French casualties in Iraq, all of whom appear to be of Arab origin.

The two other men on the list were Redouane el-Hakim, a 19-year-old also from Paris who was killed July 17, and Abdel Halim Badjoudj, 19, killed in Iraq on October 20, according to the official, who confirmed a report in Le Figaro newspaper. The case of El-Hakim, who was of Tunisian origin, was first reported October 22 and confirmed by officials. They said his brother, Boubakeur, 21, was being detained by Syrian authorities.

French officials were checking the identity of a fourth man who was killed in recent weeks to see if he, too, held French citizenship. Authorities estimate that around a dozen Frenchmen of north African Arab background have gone to Iraq via Syria to join the insurgency against US-led troops, but said there was no proof of an organised recruitment network.
Posted by: Seafarious || 11/18/2004 10:01:38 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, if the French are fighting in Iraq our victory is assured! Screw you, ya cheese eatin' surrender monkeys!
Posted by: gb506 || 11/18/2004 10:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Serves them right for reading too much Derrida and Foucault.
Posted by: Onionman || 11/18/2004 10:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Authorities estimate that around a dozen Frenchmen of north African Arab background have gone to Iraq via Syria to join the insurgency against US-led troops, but said there was no proof of an organised recruitment network
Why do I get the feeling that the French government would actually encourge activist French islamics to seek their fate in Iraq?
Posted by: Don || 11/18/2004 10:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Cheese-eating decomposition monkeys?
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2004 11:21 Comments || Top||

#5  It's a start.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 11/18/2004 11:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Once again we've done a favor for the French which will never be repaid nor will it garner their appreciation.
Posted by: Mark Z. || 11/18/2004 12:39 Comments || Top||

#7  I took my son, who tends not to keep up with current events, to the National D-Day Museum. The exhibits at the museum make very vivid the sacrifices made by our soldiers (and those of our allies) in liberating France. I pointed at St. Mere Eglise on a big map and told my son, "That's probably the only town in France where we'd still be welcome." To which he replied incredulously, "The French don't like us? Why?" I wish I had had a camcorder with me.
Posted by: Matt || 11/18/2004 13:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Three Frenchmen killed fighting US in Iraq

well ... eeer ... its a start
Posted by: MacNails || 11/18/2004 15:15 Comments || Top||


Synagogue worker from U.K. shot in head in Antwerp
A British secretary to a rabbi in Antwerp was shot in the head early Thursday and was in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, the prosecutor's office said. Spokeswoman Dominique Reniers said the man was shot once in front of his home in Antwerp's Jewish neighborhood. "We do not exclude any motive, but so far there are no indications that the motive was racist or extremist," she said. Yehuda Ceitlin, a local aide of Israel's Zaka rescue services, identified the victim as Moshe Naeh, a father of five. Ceitlin said Naeh was brought to an Antwerp hospital, where he was fighting for his life.

Ceitlin said that, though racial harassment had increased in recent years in Antwerp, it was the first shooting of a Jewish victim in a long time. "It caught everyone by surprise," he said. Antwerp, some 50 kilometers north of the capital, has one of the biggest Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in western Europe. Reniers called the victim a "devout young man" of 24 who was shot once from close range. He slumped onto the road, where he was discovered by passers-by who initially thought he was a traffic victim. There were no witnesses to the shooting.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/18/2004 7:25:38 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Was he wearing a yarmulke or some other external sign to indicate he is a Jew? I hope they start taking measures to protect themselves - like slinging an AK over the shoulder - and that this is not some Jooo-hatred murder. Down the road I hope it turns out I was a putz for the suggestion and that such measures were unnecessary and a great joke to be shared over coffee someday... But I fear it's otherwise.
Posted by: .com || 11/18/2004 7:43 Comments || Top||

#2  My opinion is, sooner of later the majority of European Jews, due to the revolting expansion of anti-Semitism, will be forced to emigrate to Israel, especially with the adverse combination of the rising Islamic population in many E.U. states, plus neo-nazis gaining new thugs to their memberships. Those which say it can't happen again are living in a dream world, such as many after World War One, saying the Great War ended all wars.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/18/2004 7:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm not holding my breath that it was some random drive by.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 11/18/2004 7:58 Comments || Top||

#4  not just european jews will emigrate. i'd bet that many non-jews, both christian and muslim (and post-christian, europe's largest confession) will leave during Europe's next civil war, the one that's already breaking out in holland. good for the US, bad for Europe. seen it a hundred times before.
Posted by: lex || 11/18/2004 8:20 Comments || Top||

#5 
In recent years many Jews have emigrated from the former Soviet Union to Germany.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 11/18/2004 9:04 Comments || Top||

#6 
From Berlin-Judentum:
Out of almost one million Jews that have left the USSR and the successor states since 1945, a large group of around 170,000 people have immigrated to Germany starting in 1990, as a consequence of an admission regulation within the framework of the "Law of refugees in groups." It is estimated that there are another 100,000 wanting to arrive.
.

Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 11/18/2004 9:08 Comments || Top||

#7  dot com - the jewish community in Antwerp is largely ultra-Orthodox, especially Hasidim, who dominate large sectors of the diamond cutting trade. Anyone in that community would have been instantly recognizable as a Jew. And no, odds are they will NEVER carry guns. These are a fatalistic people, who trust all to G-d.

Re emigration. There is a considerable aliyah (migration to Israel) from the French Jewish community, which is Europes largest (and is a strongly Zionist community, esp among the Jews of North African origin) Its not flight for the exits, but its notably high for a Jewish community in a wealthy, western, democracy.

Community in Belgian is mainly Hasidic, as i said, and probably wont leave their lucrative businesses till theres blood on the streets on a regular basis.

German community isnt leaving and why should they? Germany doesnt have the emerging problems of France and Belgium.

UK community has only modest aliyah.

And thats pretty much it for the substantial communities in Europe.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 11/18/2004 9:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Thanks for that informative breakdown Liberalhawk
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/18/2004 10:03 Comments || Top||

#9  Jer. post confirms the victim was Chasid (and a father of five)

They also state that his wallet had NOT been taken, increasing the likelihood it was a hate crime.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 11/18/2004 10:23 Comments || Top||

#10  I'm sure the AEL will be sending its heartfelt condolences.
Posted by: Onionman || 11/18/2004 12:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Liberalhawk,

In your post, when you said, "ultra-orthodox" did you mean "haradim"?
Posted by: mhw || 11/18/2004 13:53 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Davao bombing suspects arrested
Two men suspected of planting bombs in the southern Philippines city of Davao last year have been arrested, authorities said on Thursday. The Philippines military said the pair were linked to regional Muslim militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). But a spokesman for the country's largest militant group, the MILF, denied the two had done anything wrong or had links to JI.
"They're innocent, they was framed, we was framed, it's all lies, lies, lies!"
The two Davao bombings killed 38 people and injured more than 150. Rahman Camili, also known as Barok, is suspected of planting a bomb outside Davao airport on 4 March 2003 which killed 22 people and injured more than 100. Rio Dimson Manamba, also known as Bobot, is accused of planting a bomb a month later - on 2 April 2003 - in Davao's busy wharf area, killing 16 people and injured more than 50 others. The two men were paraded before reporters in a Manila military camp. They were arrested on the basis of information provided by previously arrested suspects.
"Ouch, OK, I'll talk! It was Barok and Bobot, with a bomb, near the boat!"
A spokesman for the MILF, which is currently under ceasefire and has been involved in peace talks with the government, said that the group would protest against the arrests when government and MILF truce panels meet next week. "They have not done anything wrong," Eid Kabalu told Reuters news agency. "They are our members and the MILF is not involved in any terrorist attack. They are making a big mistake," he said.
"It wasn't us, you can't prove it, it's all lies!"
The military says the attacks were ordered and financed by a man called Zulkifli, a senior leader of Jemaah Islamiah, the Muslim militant group blamed for a series of attacks across the region, including the 2002 Bali bombings. Zulkifli was arrested in Malaysia last year. Last month, three more suspects in the Davao attacks were arrested, having allegedly confessed to taking part in the bombings. Mindanao is mired in factional fighting, with government troops clashing regularly with a series of Muslim separatist rebel groups.
Posted by: Steve || 11/18/2004 9:51:04 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Indonesian troops kill Aceh fighters
Indonesian soldiers have killed 11 people in Aceh province where a major offensive against separatists is in its 18th month. Soldiers shot down five Free Aceh Movement separatists in clashes in northern Aceh on Wednesday, said Aceh military spokesman Ari Mulya Asnawi. The other six were shot in three districts on Tuesday and Monday, Asnawi said. The government on Friday is expected to announce a six-month extension of a civil emergency in Aceh - in which civilian authorities can order press censorship, curfews and other restrictions.

According to the Jakarta Post, the move to prolong the civil emergency state first imposed in May 2004 after a year of martial law, has already won full backing from parliament. "We have no objection to the plan ... . The extension is necessary as we have to maintain the security situation in the province," the paper quoted the house speaker Agung Laksono as saying.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2004 10:20:59 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder what the world-wide tally is on dead-as-a-door-nail jihadists over the last 12 months?

These neo-KKK types can't have proper vision
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/18/2004 6:17 Comments || Top||

#2  They only need to see well enough to get within lethal range of infidel weaponry. It's an arrangement that suits everybody. Don't question it.
Posted by: Bulldog || 11/18/2004 6:24 Comments || Top||

#3  I dunno if these clowns have anything to do with Aceh, but I'm pretty sure those are their dress whites mixed with their dress blues (somebody didn't get the memo, heh) - only used for marching around in circles and official seething.
Posted by: .com || 11/18/2004 6:28 Comments || Top||

#4  .com. your are right, the dress whites are far too clean for jihading.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/18/2004 9:11 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Afghans Wonder Who Is Holding the UN Workers as Hostages
From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
[Afghan] Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said on 17 November that he believes the group calling itself Jaysh al-Muslimin (Army of the Muslims) is not holding the three UN workers hostage, as it has claimed, Reuters reported. "You can tell by the deadlines and the demands, which keep being broken and relaxed," Mashal said, justifying the Afghan government's opinion. "We think they [hostages] are being held by some armed robbers who abducted them. Our reports suggest that the hostages are still in or around Kabul," Mashal added. Army of the Muslims, a splinter group of the neo-Taliban, reportedly abducted the UN election workers on 28 October and has repeatedly changed its demands and deadlines for ending the hostage crisis

Abdul Latif Hakimi, purporting to speak on behalf of the neo-Taliban, told RFE/RL on 17 November that he does not think anyone associated with his movement is involved in the UN kidnappings. "Kidnapping or taking people hostage, I believe, is neither an action that could be effective against the enemy nor will there be a reasonable response to the demands," Hakimi said. "There is also another problem: It is said that women are among the hostages. I believe kidnapping women does not conform to Islamic Shari'a law."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 11/18/2004 10:30:25 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Sadr aide busted, Iraqi commies protest
The Workers Communist Party of Iraq and the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq staged street protests in Baghdad to protest the U.S. offensive in Falluja and the American presence in the country. "No to American occupation, no to Afghanization of Iraq," street protesters chanted.
Afghanization?
Sayid Hashem Abu Raghif, an aide to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was arrested Wednesday in Najaf. Najaf's police chief, Ghaleb al-Jaza'eri, said Abu Raghif was detained for supporting and endorsing a militant group planning to carry out attacks on various government positions in Najaf and on multinational forces. Al-Sadr's office could not be reached for comment.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 11/18/2004 3:42:43 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Workers Communist Party of Iraq and the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq protesting the killing of Wahabis? Do they know how stupid that sounds? The Commies should ask the Iranian Commies what happens when the mullahs take power. Same for the Wimmens. Do these people have a defect with their medium term memory, somewhere between 5 minutes and 1400 years?
Posted by: ed || 11/18/2004 19:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Sayid Hashem Abu Raghif:

No no no no no...Arrest Me? I was just going out for Lamb Kabobs and some tea. I am a nice guy... Muqtada al-Sadr? Don't like the man... Don't know the man
Posted by: BigEd || 11/18/2004 23:56 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
24 Taliban captured
Afghan security forces captured 24 Taliban guerrillas, including four mid-level commanders, in operations in the southern province of Zabul last weekend, provincial officials said on Thursday. Provincial security chief Jailani Khan said the guerrillas had been captured on Sunday in two operations in the province. "We arrested some of them in an ambush and some in a house we had under surveillance," Khan said. Zabul Governor Khiyal Mohammad Hussaini identified three of the commanders as Mullah Sulaiman Baheer, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad and Mullah Abdullah. Mullah is a title for a Muslim religious leader and is used by many senior Taliban members.
'Cuz they're so holy.
The fourth commander was not identified. Police also detained seven low-ranking Taliban suspects and seized a large weapons cache in a raid in a district west of Kabul on Saturday. On Tuesday, Taliban gunmen raided a police post near a hydro-power dam in the south of the country, killing six policemen, including their commander. On the same day, four police officers were killed and five wounded when their vehicle was hit by a blast in the central province of Uruzgan.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 11/18/2004 3:44:42 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Zarqawi's Fallujah Headquarters Found
Army Major Calls Fallujah Street 'One-Stop Shop for Terrorists'
U.S. soldiers discovered a house in southern Fallujah on Thursday believed to be a main headquarters for Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of an insurgent network responsible for bombings, kidnappings and beheadings across Iraq. A mural in the house indicated that it belonged to Zarqawi's organization. In the house, the soldiers found letters reportedly written by Zarqawi to his lieutenants, medical supplies from the U.S. Agency for International Development and boxes of ammunition from the Chinese and Jordanian armies. Nearby were medical supplies from the International Red Cross. The house, a simple cement structure, was on a block that Army Maj. David Johnson described as a "one-stop shop for terrorists. That part of town is the most dangerous place on earth," said Johnson, a historian attached to 1st Infantry Division's Task Force 2-2, which conducted the raid.

Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, Marine commander in Fallujah, said that as of Thursday, 51 U.S. troops and eight Iraqi soldiers had died in the battle for the city. Another 425 Americans and 40 Iraqi soldiers have been wounded, he said. The ground offensive led by U.S. Marines has "broken the back of the insurgency" in Iraq, disrupting rebel operations across the country, he told reporters in a briefing. U.S. military officials have said they do not know where Zarqawi is or whether he remained in the city when American and Iraqi ground forces swept in the night of Nov. 8. Military officials said Fallujah was a hub for foreign fighters who joined Zarqawi's terrorist network. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been engaged in a fierce and costly battle to rid Fallujah of the fighters who had taken over the city. Uniformed insurgents in black masks attacked troops from the neighborhood several days, ambushing them with more than 15 rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and sniper fire. U.S. warplanes and artillery subsequently bombed the area. U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces went back to the neighborhood on Wednesday to look through the rubble. Johnson, who was on the raid, said the soldiers discovered at least nine bodies dressed in military fatigues, including a man who was identified as Sudanese.

Iraqi security forces, acting as translators, identified the letters, which were written in black ink on white paper, as correspondence between Zarqawi and his top aides. The letters reportedly contained requests for financing and weapons, Johnson said. The soldiers also found bicycles and messenger notes with instructions such as, "Go to the flour factory. There is something there for you." An underground tunnel ran from a dirt fighting position outside the house to a walled courtyard inside the compound. Soldiers hauled out boxes filled with passports and identification cards.
That'll give the intel boys something to work with.
In warehouse buildings not far from the house, soldiers found a classroom with drawings of U.S. F-16 and F-18 fighter planes, a repair shop for anti-tank rounds and a factory for making car bombs that had a Ford Explorer inside with Texas license plates.
Now that was a road trip
A garage with a roll-up door had been turned into a makeshift mosque. Dead bodies were scattered among the rubble, the stench coming from craters in the concrete. Soldiers said they found nobody alive on Wednesday. In the kitchen of the house, there were cucumbers about to spoil and other rotting vegetables. The soldiers also found crutches and eight-inch artillery shells made for battleships.
Must have been for the fabled al-Quada navy.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2004 1:31:18 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...a factory for making car bombs that had a Ford Explorer inside with Texas license plates"

food for a thousand conspiracies
Posted by: mhw || 11/18/2004 14:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Say..... has anyone ever seen Zarqawi and Bush in the same place at the same time?

Hmmmm.......

/Tinfoil-hat-mode
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/18/2004 14:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Love the garage/moskk motif.
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian || 11/18/2004 14:34 Comments || Top||

#4  30Wt smudges on the forehead when praying
Posted by: Frank G || 11/18/2004 14:38 Comments || Top||

#5  wouldnt 8 inch shells be for cruisers, BTW?
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 11/18/2004 14:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Yeah, like the Wapo knows the difference between a battleship, a cruiser and a rubber ducky.
Posted by: Matt || 11/18/2004 14:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Seems a shame that the bad guys were already dead...that deprived the NY Times of a photo-op.
Posted by: Justrand || 11/18/2004 15:37 Comments || Top||

#8  I wonder if they will bulldoze every house on that street. I believe that would be the appropriate thing to do.
Posted by: Remoteman || 11/18/2004 16:28 Comments || Top||

#9  wouldnt 8 inch shells be for cruisers, BTW?

Indeed they would. Of course, we haven't had a gun cruiser in commission for about 30 years, but details are for small minds. Big minds worry about nuance.
Posted by: Dreadnought || 11/18/2004 16:57 Comments || Top||

#10  Dreadnought and LH, you beat me to clearing up that 8-in. thing -- but obviously these were for IEDs or vehicle-borne IEDs (at least that's highly likely, as artillery shells are the favorite choice for that mission). My questions: 1) Where TF would they get 8-in naval artillery rounds in Iraq? Wouldn't those have had to be shipped in? 2) Which countries within shoutin' distance of Iraq have ever had cruisers with 8-in batteries? (Turkey? Egypt?) 3) Would the explosive power or other characteristics of an 8-in round (we don't know whether they were HE, armor-piercing, or what) differ substantially from the 155mm HE round that is, I think, the IED staple?

I just thought if there ever a place to ask detailed and absurdly obscure questions such as these, Rantburg is it ....
Posted by: Verlaine || 11/18/2004 17:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Seems a shame that the bad guys were already dead...that deprived the NY Times of a photo-op.

Screw the MSM bastards. This story is HUGE-- bigger than a dozen Kevin Sites pseudo-scandals combined. This should lead the news for days. Another reason we need to create our own media to rival and displace the idiotic memes of the MSM.
Posted by: lex || 11/18/2004 17:58 Comments || Top||

#12  If it really was an 8 inch shell, then it was probalby from a Soviet 203mm Self Propelled Gun. They built them up to 406mm (16 inch).
Posted by: ed || 11/18/2004 18:09 Comments || Top||

#13  The ChiComs also produce an 8" gun/howitzer, and US 8" howitzer rounds are not uncommon around the world. Besides, it's the WaPo and the 8" designation may be as "more or less like" the truth as their description of them as "battleship" guns!
Posted by: Ralph Tacoma || 11/18/2004 21:23 Comments || Top||

#14  Soldiers hauled out boxes filled with passports and identification cards.

Let's hope we can haul some troublemakers to "undisclosed locations"...

Remember CIA & Military Intel to order your "interrogation supplies" here:

Islamofacist Interrogation Supply Source
Posted by: BigEd || 11/19/2004 0:00 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Arms Smuggling Tunnel Collapses in Gaza, Trapping Paleos
Several Palestinians were trapped Thursday in a weapons-smuggling tunnel they had been digging along the Gaza-Egypt border, which collapsed as a result of heavy rains in the area overnight, Palestinian sources said. Five people, all from the same family, were trapped in the rubble, Palestinian officials said. The family is from the Yabna refugee camp in Gaza. Their conditions weren't immediately known.
Trapped like rats in a flooding tunnel, will the good news never end?
Israeli military sources would say only that an unknown number of people were in the tunnel; the Zaka rescue service was informed that three people were trapped. Efforts were underway to rescue those trapped in the tunnel, Israel Radio reported, and Palestinian police have closed off the area. Israel Defense Forces officials said the army would help in rescue efforts, and Palestinian officers in the area were maintaining contact with the IDF. The military sources said the tunnel collapsed while an unknown number of Palestinians were digging toward an IDF outpost near Rafah in south Gaza.
so they were working to target the IDF and the IDF rescues them. the IDF is better than me.
The sources said the army had permitted two Palestinian bulldozers to enter the area to help dig out the people.
bulldozers?! did he say bulldozers?! where's the ISM when you need it?
Perfect, driving heavy construction machinery over soft ground will pack it down quite nicely.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 11/18/2004 11:24:00 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  mmmm - makes me feel warm and sunshiney
Posted by: Frank G || 11/18/2004 11:34 Comments || Top||

#2  I have a broken teaspoon I can donate to their efforts, now I just need to figure out where my local chapter of the Red Crescent is so I can send it.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. || 11/18/2004 12:15 Comments || Top||

#3  How's the air down there ? Hard to breath, huh? Hehehehehehe....
Posted by: Mark Z. || 11/18/2004 12:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Shouldn't we have a picture of a sympathy meter pegged at zero to accompany this one?
Posted by: Jonathan || 11/18/2004 12:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Anyone else have the song "Timothy" going through their head?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 11/18/2004 12:44 Comments || Top||

#6  In accordance with the holy Koran, the deceased are burried within 24 hours of their deaths.

It doesn't say 24 hours after their deaths.
Posted by: jackal || 11/18/2004 12:59 Comments || Top||

#7  They were digging a weapons tunnel--why not get a long fuse and match.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 11/18/2004 14:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Hummm...I wonder if those rocket launchers used on Egypt yesterday accidentally rolled over this "tunnel." Blaming the Joooooos in 5, 4, 3...
Posted by: BA || 11/18/2004 14:32 Comments || Top||

#9  Reports say three deaders confirmed, all in same family. Sez they didn't know it was raining.
Posted by: Steve || 11/18/2004 14:53 Comments || Top||

#10  Due to the heavy rains, and accident in Tunnel 5, a Sig alert has just been issued for Tunnels 7-23. All Paleos tunneling into Israel from the West Bank and Egypt are advised to take alternative routes.
Posted by: reality check || 11/18/2004 15:11 Comments || Top||

#11  huh , they cant even dig a tunnel , why are we even attempting to open dialogue with them again ?
Posted by: MacNails || 11/18/2004 15:24 Comments || Top||

#12  The IDF "rescue" may a lots of "oops!" moments. This seals it: there IS a God!
Posted by: Justrand || 11/18/2004 15:45 Comments || Top||

#13  Cleanup in aisle tunnel 5.

Posted by: PlanetDan || 11/18/2004 15:47 Comments || Top||

#14  Five people, all from the same family, were trapped in the rubble...

5 X 72=360
Posted by: BigEd || 11/18/2004 15:57 Comments || Top||

#15  Big Ed, some of those trapped in the tunner are/were women. Do they get virgins too?
Posted by: reality check || 11/18/2004 16:58 Comments || Top||

#16  Good help is so hard to find.
Posted by: Stephen || 11/18/2004 18:37 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Jordanian Authorities Detain Al-Zarqawi's Nephew
The nephew of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's point man in Iraq, was detained near the Jordanian-Iraqi border, a distant relative and a clergyman close to the family said Thursday. The clergyman and the relative, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, said security officials informed the family that Mohammed al-Harahsheh was detained last month. Government officials were not immediately available for comment. Several calls to al-Zarqawi's family home in Zarqa, an industrial city 17 miles northeast of the Jordanian capital, Amman, went unanswered. The clergyman and the relative told The Associated Press that the family wanted to keep the news quiet so as not to jeopardize what they said was a promise from Jordanian authorities that al-Harahsheh would soon be released. The relative said al-Harahsheh was being questioned on suspicion of attempting to enter Iraq to join his militant uncle. Abu Dhabi Television carried a similar report Thursday. The satellite station, however, said the nephew had been charged with attempting to join his uncle's militant group in Iraq.
Perhap's he knows where Uncle Abu is.
Jordan has been trying to prevent Jordanians and other Arabs from slipping across its desert border to fight U.S. troops in Iraq. Measures adopted in the wake of the war included tightening security along the eastern border, closely scrutinizing travel documents and questioning those considered suspicious. Officials have declined to provide an estimate on how many would-be fighters had been stopped or give an assessment of the effectiveness of their counter-infiltration measures. In July, Jordanian secret service agents arrested al-Zarqawi's brother-in-law. Security officials said then that Saleh al-Hami was held for a few days and later released after questioning not related to any suspicion of terrorism.
Posted by: Steve || 11/18/2004 10:51:54 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Officials have declined to provide an estimate on how many would-be fighters had been stopped or give an assessment of the effectiveness of their counter-infiltration measures.

Hmmmm, I wonder why.......? ;)
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 11/18/2004 11:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Damn! Shoulda secreted a GPS to follow him to Zarqawi.
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian || 11/18/2004 12:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Zarq's been running wild for months now. And we're just now detaining his family?
Posted by: Seafarious || 11/18/2004 12:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Perhaps along with Russian arms for Iraq we could also get Putin to send some FSB operatives. Preferably those trained in the KGB's old middle eastern tricks: kidnapping hardboyz' family members and sending messages in the form of severed digits, other appendages....
Posted by: lex || 11/18/2004 12:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Uncle Abu?

Well - there has to be a good expert in the "placement of electrodes" in Jordan...
Posted by: BigEd || 11/18/2004 13:09 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Karachi bomb 'mastermind' quizzed
The alleged mastermind of a deadly bomb attack outside the US consulate in Karachi two years ago has been arrested near the Pakistani city of Lahore. Naveed-ul Hassan was detained on Wednesday near the Wagah crossing point with India, police said. Intelligence officials believe Hassan was a member of the Harkat ul-Mujahideen al-Almi militant group. Twelve Pakistanis were killed when a car bomb exploded outside the consulate in June 2002. Security officials said Hassan had been working for the past few months as a cloth merchant near Wagah. There was a two million rupee ($33,700) reward for his capture. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Hassan was the mastermind of the consulate bombing and was behind other attacks, including an explosion at a club in Karachi during New Year's celebrations in 2002 that wounded nine people. Mr Ahmed said police were hunting for a key accomplice of Hassan who was still on the run. Hassan is the sixth person detained over the consulate attack. Two have been sentenced to death, two given life sentences and one is yet to be tried.
Have any of them been killed yet?
Syed Kamal Shah, police chief for southern Sindh province, said: "We expect to make some more arrests after his interrogation."
"Ahmed, the number seven trunchoen, please."
Hassan's arrest came on the same day that police shot dead Asim Ghafoor">Asim Ghafoor, an alleged militant wanted over the killing of US reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002. Ghafoor was killed after he tried to flee a police raid in Karachi.
"Curley toed slippers, don't fail me..BANG!..now, ouch!"
Pakistan security forces have had a number of successes against alleged militants in the past few months. Amjad Farooqi, Pakistan's most-wanted militant, was killed on 26 September.
Posted by: Steve || 11/18/2004 10:22:33 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Photo coverage from Fallujah
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/18/2004 10:04 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Margaret Hassan's body may have been found
The British embassy in Baghdad says the body of a Western woman has been found in Falluja but says it cannot confirm whether it was that of kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan. "We are urgently seeking clarification of the identity of the body," the official said. Hassan, 59, was kidnapped on October 19 as she was being driven to work in Baghdad, where she worked as director of the Australian operation of aid organisation Care International. It has never been clear who seized Hassan or where she was held. A video released to Arabic news channel Al Jazeera last week showed a hooded figure shooting a blindfolded woman in the head. Hassan's family, who said on Tuesday she was probably dead, have appealed to the kidnappers to reveal the location of her body.

The Times reported on its website (www.timesonline.co.uk) on Thursday that a mutilated corpse of a Western woman found by U.S. marines in Falluja was being DNA tested to see if it was the remains of Hassan. The Times reported that the disembowelled body, with its hands and lower legs cut off, had been found in west Falluja on Sunday. It said a female marine who photographed the body said her unit was "80 percent" convinced it was Hassan. Australian Prime Minister John Howard retracted his statement that the body found appeared to be that of Hassan. "The body has not been returned by those who killed her," Howard told reporters when questioned further on the issue before leaving for Chile and a meeting of leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Earlier in the day Howard had told parliament that a body found in Falluja by the U.S. military on Sunday appeared "to have been Margaret's".
Posted by: God Save The World || 11/18/2004 3:49:50 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another human sacrifice for the moon god.
Posted by: Mac Suirtain || 11/18/2004 10:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Disembowelled: The process of removing intestines and colon through the rectum. I hope this was done after death!!
Posted by: smn || 11/18/2004 12:47 Comments || Top||

#3  OK, intrepid MSM editors, while you're getting off on looping your Kevin Sites photos, how about showing us before and after photos of Margaret Hassan?
Posted by: lex || 11/18/2004 12:52 Comments || Top||

#4  This should put to rest FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL the Arab complaints that terrorists are acting because of helpless people living in poverty with no help from the West or because Westerners are greedy, not charitable--this woman, much to her detriment in the end, devoted her life to helping Muslims. It did her no good-they still mutilated her body (if identification is proven).

Mr. Bush-respectfully, you have just made a grave error today in offering aid to the Palestinians. You bought the argument that if we help, the Islamicists' urge for terrorism will disappear. One look at this woman's body, and a recounting of her life's purpose, make mincemeat of that argument.
Posted by: Jules 187 || 11/18/2004 13:04 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Top Hamas member released from jail
Hamas's top leader in the West Bank has been released from an Israeli prison after completing a two year sentence. Hassan Yusef had been jailed for his ties to Islamic charities affiliated with Hamas. He was both a political leader in Hamas and a preacher at a mosque in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, is on the US State Department and European Union's list of terror groups.
Go, and sin no more...
Posted by: God Save The World || 11/18/2004 7:17:47 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  think his boomer buddies will assume he got released for NOT cooperating with the Zionist entity? I predict he won't live 3 months
Posted by: Frank G || 11/18/2004 8:41 Comments || Top||

#2 
Go, and sin no more...

It should be made clear beforehand that should Yusef stumble, there is a bullet with his name on it...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 11/18/2004 15:50 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Most wanted terrorist killed in southern Pakistan
The most wanted terrorist Asim Ghafoor, alias Qasim Sukkurwala was killed in an encounter with a team of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) Civil Lines Police early Wednesday in s outhern Karachi, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported. A senior police official was quoted as saying in Karachi that Asim was a close associate of Omar Sheikh and Amjad Farooqui and he carried a head money of 50,0000 rupees (about 8,500 US dollars).

Sheikh, the top associate of Osama bin Laden, was arrested in 2002 in Lahore, capital of Punjab province and handed over to the United States. While Farooqui, the leader of al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan, was killed by the security forces two months ago in central Pakistan. The police official said that the alleged terrorist was wanted by law enforcement agencies in different cases of ambush on police parties, attempt of murders and terrorist activities. CID had reports that Asim was hiding in a house located in Saeedabad area in Baldia Town for the last couple of days and the department constituted a team to arrest him. When the team surrounded the house, Asim opened fire on the police. The alleged terrorist was seriously injured in the exchange of fire. He later succumbed to lethal wounds, said the police official.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/18/2004 6:04:41 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  most wanted? Sounds like he was third-tier
Posted by: Frank G || 11/18/2004 14:19 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Israel army kills Egyptian soldiers
A PRELIMINARY Israeli army investigation has found that troops apparently killed three Egyptian soldiers they mistook for Palestinian militants along the Gaza-Egypt border, a Foreign Ministry official said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said it appears the soldiers spotted "suspicious movements" in the volatile border area, opened fire and mistakenly killed Egyptian soldiers. If Egyptian soldiers were the victims, than Israel regretted the incident, Mr Regev said. "It's in a very delicate part of the border where we've had problems with terrorist infiltrations in the past, so according to their instructions they opened fire. Later we heard from the Egyptians that some of their people were hit," Mr Regev said, emphasising that the incident was still under investigation. The incident could cause tension between the two former enemies. Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement in 1979, but have often had shaky relations. The timing of the incident is especially sensitive because Israel wants Egypt to help secure the Gaza Strip following a planned withdrawal next year from the coastal area.

Thursday's incident occurred in an area called the "Philadelphi Road", a volatile patrol road along the Gaza-Egypt border. Israeli troops and Palestinian militants often battle in the area that is lined with tunnels used by Palestinians to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. The army had no immediate comment on the incident. Israel Radio reported that the Egyptian soldiers were apparently part of a unit responsible for facilitating preventing arms and drug smuggling across the border. "If Egyptians were hit then we regret it. This was not our intention. We want good cooperative relations with Egypt ... and if Egyptians were hurt than our thoughts go out to them and their families and the Egyptian people," Mr Regev said. Israel Radio reported that the army was investigating the incident at the most senior level.
Posted by: tipper || 11/18/2004 2:29:18 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I get this picture of gophers popping their heads out of a tunnel and getting plinked by the locals...
Posted by: .com || 11/18/2004 2:33 Comments || Top||

#2  It's not like there's any operational difference between some of the Egyptian military and the Palestine terrorist groups.

...


"Philadelphi Road"

Fuck that.
Posted by: beer_me || 11/18/2004 4:15 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Incursion doomed Care chief
THE US-led offensive on the Iraqi city of Fallujah could have been the final straw that led to the execution of CARE Australia's Baghdad chief, Margaret Hassan.
Or she could have been toast when the Lions of Islam kidnapped her...
... not that they needed any excuse, being defenders of the faith and all ...
Ms Hassan's death was made public early yesterday when Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera revealed it had received a video showing a militant firing a pistol into the head of a blindfolded woman wearing an orange jumpsuit. Ms Hassan's kidnapping on October 19, as she drove to CARE's offices in Baghdad, was part of a string of kidnappings by insurgents and Islamists designed to drive out Coalition forces. The unnamed group later released several videos to Al-Jazeera in which Ms Hassan pleaded for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and the release of Iraqi women from prison.

Al-Jazeera did not air the latest execution video but the Scotland Yard counter-terrorism squad the British deployed to Iraq was able to identify Ms Hassan by her height and identifiable markings after watching the video. The director of terrorism studies at the Australian National University, Clive Williams, said yesterday that negotiators in Iraq might have had a chance to secure her release if the US had held off their onslaught in Fallujah. Yesterday it emerged that Scotland Yard believed there was a genuine chance of securing Mrs Hassan's release when an unnamed group holding her threatened to hand her over to terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has been responsible for grisly beheadings of Westerners in Iraq. Surprisingly, the Jordanian-born terrorist responded with a statement that if Mrs Hassan - who worked tirelessly to help her fellow Iraqis over 30 years - was handed over to him he would immediately release her.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World || 11/18/2004 8:21:57 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Murdering Islamist goons doomed Care Chief - everyone on the PLANET knew Fallujah was due and would get its due.

Still can't get that cause - effect thing figured out, news.com.au? You're ready for your Dhimmi-fitting, please stand still - in Ar Ramadi - they'll get to you. Asshats.
Posted by: .com || 11/18/2004 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Bottom Line...Has CARE removed the rest of it's western white women out of Iraq, or should I gird myself for another volley from the insurgents??
Posted by: smn || 11/18/2004 0:55 Comments || Top||

#3  'the final straw'? - what a bizarre choice of words, as though those demons that killed her were in some sense amenable to pleas for the life of an innocent woman who had spent the last 30 years working for the Iraqi people.

In my opinion, our troops should be leaving notes attached to the corpses of the filth killed in Fallujah - 'for Margaret Hassan', 'for Nicholas Berg', 'for Ken Bigley', 'for Eugene Armstrong', 'for Daniel Pearl'. Colonel Kilgore anyone?

Not likely to happen though, our guys are not murderers and psychopaths - just very very good soldiers. As the filth in Fallujah are finding out.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 11/18/2004 4:19 Comments || Top||

#4  It never ceases to amaze me the lengths that the MSM will go to blame the US. Absolutely shameful.
Posted by: 98zulu || 11/18/2004 6:05 Comments || Top||

#5  No, she died because Brits haven't withdrawn. That's what terrorists originally said, right? Now some perfesser sitting in an ACed office pines on other possibilities. This is why I immediately skip any quotes from political science professors while reading the paper. And I was a PolSci minor. 90% of them have worthless
opinions, no exaggeration. But you already knew that.
Posted by: chicago mike || 11/18/2004 13:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Sounds to me like the article's two authors have taken a page out of Reuters' playbook: "They did it! They did it! It's the Americans' fault!"
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 11/18/2004 15:45 Comments || Top||


Margaret Hassan Was Murdered by British Agents, Not by Muslims
From Jihad Unspun
Margaret Hassan, the 59 year old director of CARE international in Iraq was taken captive on her way to work in Baghdad on October 19, 2004 in a picture-perfect operation. A videotape issued Oct. 22 and aired by Al-Jazeera showed her pleading for Britain to withdraw troops from Iraq. As JUS [Jihad Unspun] reported at the time, based on information from reliable sources close to the Mujahideen in Iraq, the kidnapping of Margaret Hassan was an operation concocted by British agents inside the country, in an effort to divert attention away from the British troop deployment into Latifiyah. — a deployment that was required so that the Americans could strike Fallujah. The deployment of British troops at the time caused a great deal of commotion but was a deployment that Tony Blair was not at liberty to refuse on orders from his US masters. Now, just as the public becomes outraged once again with the brutality of this escalating war, Margaret is allegedly killed by the nasty Muslims. ....

Jihad Ballout, a spokesman for the Al-Jazeera TV network, told The Associated Press they received a videotape a few days ago. It shows a militant firing a pistol into the head of a blindfolded woman wearing an orange jumpsuit. "She was presumed to be Mrs. Hassan," Ballout told The Associated Press. Presumption indeed. The network said it was planning to show British officials the videotape but said they would not be airing the video to the public. ....

Sunni clerics who have been heading up the Resistance in Fallujah has said previously that they were not responsible Hassan's kidnapping and at the time called for her release. Of the 150 foreigners captured by Mujahideen, few have been women with most being released and none have been killed, unlike the males who have been swiftly executed. Women are enjoined with special privileges in Islam and the Mujahideen are required to protect them under Shariah laws of Islam.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 11/18/2004 12:09:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yes, of course. Everybody knows this thing. Just as the Great One, Chairmans Arafat, was poisoned by Mossad. And everyone in Fallujah was an innocent civilian. And the Earth is flat. And Muslims discovered the electromagnetic force, the weak force, strong force, and gravity, and Islam is the Grand Unified Field Theory that your Jooo Einstein couldn't figure out! Can there be any other explanation for these things? No.
Posted by: .com || 11/18/2004 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm glad to see that the war in Iraq hasn't caused a shortage of tin foil.
Posted by: Onionman || 11/18/2004 0:49 Comments || Top||

#3  ["Women are enjoined with special privileges in Islam and the Mujahideen are required to protect them under Shariah laws of Islam"]

- WOMEN IN ISLAM:
* Taken From The islamic Koran / Bukhari / Tabari & Ishaq *

Tabari IX:113 “Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely. If they abstain, they have the right to food and clothing. Treat women well for they are like domestic animals and they possess nothing themselves. Allah has made the enjoyment of their bodies lawful in his Qur’an.”


Tabari I:280 “Allah said, ‘It is My obligation to make Eve bleed once every month as she made this tree bleed. I must also make Eve stupid, although I created her intelligent.’ Because Allah afflicted Eve, all of the women of this world menstruate and are stupid.”
-----------------
Qur’an 4:11 “Allah directs you in regard of your Children’s (inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females…. These are settled portions ordained by Allah.”

Qur’an 4:15 “If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, take the evidence of four witnesses from amongst you against them; if they testify, confine them to houses until death [by starvation] claims them.”

Ishaq:584 “Tell the men with you who have wives: never trust a woman.”

Qur’an 24:34 “Force not your slave-girls to whoredom (prostitution) if they desire chastity, that you may seek enjoyment of this life. [And here’s the freedom-to-pimp card:] But if anyone forces them, then after such compulsion, Allah is oft-forgiving.”
Posted by: God Save The World || 11/18/2004 2:39 Comments || Top||

#4  So,

How do you protect them ?

By beating them ? By burying them upto their necks in the ground & then by throwing rocks at their heads?

Rama-Dam-A-Ding-Dong
Posted by: God Save The World || 11/18/2004 2:42 Comments || Top||

#5  My eyes!

Cut the BOLD shit, please. Your posts are not more important than anyone else's, nor do we need the visual assistance. I can read this from across the room. Give us a break, please.
Posted by: .com || 11/18/2004 2:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Yeah Yeah Yeah !
Posted by: God Save The World || 11/18/2004 3:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Sorry about that - didn't consider how it would look on the yellow background.

I'll keep it to a minimum.
Posted by: God Save The World || 11/18/2004 3:33 Comments || Top||

#8  'Margaret Hassan Was Murdered by British Agents, Not by Muslims'

Poor old James Bond , And he used to be so loved by everyone , charming swine that he is . I cant quite believe he would do something as horrific as this .

based on information from reliable sources close to the Mujahideen in Iraq eeerr again I'm speechless .

Now I am sure 'british agents' are working in Iraq , but their only obj. is to hunt the scum who did this and double tap them all in the head properly .
Posted by: MacNails || 11/18/2004 4:20 Comments || Top||

#9  oohh and I'm feeling particularly nefarious today , and havent anything planned this weekend , so I guess its time to write some code and visit our Jihad Unspun brothers sometime in the coming few days .
Posted by: MacNails || 11/18/2004 4:23 Comments || Top||

#10  Well reading this 'Women are enjoined with special privileges in Islam' makes me wonder what these privileges are. Because try as I might, I can't quite square that statement with this;

From The Australian


"It is a female ... missing all four appendages, with a slashed throat and disembowelled, she has been dead for a while but only in this location for a day or two,"


Can anyone else?
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 11/18/2004 4:30 Comments || Top||

#11  These guys never miss an opportunity. If democracy fails in the middle east, I believe it will be because of the Arab culture of lying and dishonor that is on display right here.

The average Muslim should look at this very sad situation and ask themselves - is this the face they want on their religion and culture and speak out against this. One that brutally murders those who came to help - and then projects the video as a success and then blames the soldiers who also came to help. A society can't survive if it rises up against those who come to help them. Muslims everywhere need to speak up against this outrage - or sit quiet when the world turns against them.
Posted by: 2b || 11/18/2004 8:35 Comments || Top||

#12  Well reading this 'Women are enjoined with special privileges in Islam' makes me wonder what these privileges are.

Well, they have the right to remain silent.
Posted by: BH || 11/18/2004 10:24 Comments || Top||

#13  ...and the right to be beaten (but not severely!) and have their bodies enjoyed.

Calling Patricia Ireland, calling Patricia Ireland. Where are you, Patricia Ireland?
Posted by: gb506 || 11/18/2004 10:40 Comments || Top||

#14  I recall a news video from Kabul right before we invaded of a woman being beaten in the streets by a random cleric. I was outraged until I re-ran the video in super slo-mo. Sure enough, as she was walking her burkah DID ride up on her ankle and there it was 3 SQUARE INCHES OF FLESH!

"Special Privileges" or no...we can't have women exposing themselves like that, now can we??

Allen be praised!
Posted by: Justrand || 11/18/2004 10:50 Comments || Top||

#15  Damn, those poor Muslims get blamed for everything, the poor victimized bastards...
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/18/2004 10:53 Comments || Top||

#16  TU,

I know exactly what you mean. Can't 19 Muslim men board 4 separate flights that all crash within 2 hours of each other and not get blamed?

So misunderstood is the Religion of Peace.
Posted by: Dreadnought || 11/18/2004 12:10 Comments || Top||

#17  I guess the Mossad was taking a break, what with poisoning Arafart and all that.
Posted by: Desert Blondie || 11/18/2004 12:49 Comments || Top||

#18  More Reynold's Wrap, please.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 11/18/2004 15:47 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Hamas co-founder to run for Palestinian president
A co-founder of the Hamas movement and former minister said Wednesday he would run in January's Palestinian presidential election. Sheikh Talal Sidr, 51, said he would sign up for the poll on November 20 -- the start of a 12-day period when contenders are invited to submit their candidacy. Sidr told AFP that he would campaign on a programme of "continuing the polices of Yasser Arafat, God bless his soul. I believe in the rightness of our cause and I believe in a peaceful solution."
"And that's where the money is."
Sidr left Hamas in 1997, 10 years after co-founding the Islamist movement, to serve first as Palestinian sports and youth minister, and then as minister without portfolio until spring 2003. He went on to act as Arafat's adviser for religious affairs, a position he held until the Palestinian leader died last Thursday. A father of 10, Sidr hails from the southern West Bank town of Hebron and heads a private construction firm.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2004 11:49:52 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Woww...he MUST be impervious to hellfire missiles!
Posted by: smn || 11/18/2004 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  I'll bet he thinks that if he wins it will stop any attemp by Israel to dispatch him.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 11/18/2004 6:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, he left Hamas and got involved in relatively innocuous stuff. That is, if you want youth camps modelled after Afghani Al-Q training camps.
Posted by: Ptah || 11/18/2004 9:47 Comments || Top||

#4  "I believe in a peaceful solution.”

Then his lips fell off.
Posted by: Steve from Relto || 11/18/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Iraqi Resistance Force's Bombardments of Occupation Forces on Tuesday
From Jihad Unspun
At 6am Iraqi Resistance forces bombarded the US airbase in al-Muthanna in Baghdad with two Katyusha rockets.

At about 7am Iraqi Resistance forces bombarded the US airbase in al-Muthanna in Baghdad with four Katyusha rockets.

At about 7am Tuesday Iraqi Resistance forces fired two Grad rockets into the US base in Saddam International Airport.

At approximately 9am Tuesday Resistance forces struck the US as-Suqur base south of Baghdad with seven 82mm mortar rounds.

At 9:30am Tuesday Iraqi Resistance forces pounded the joint US-Iraqi "national guard" base in at-Taji, 40km north of Baghdad with five 82mm mortar rounds.

At approximately 9:30am Tuesday, Iraqi Resistance forces struck the British base in al-Mahawil north of the city of al-Hillah in southern Iraq with ten 82mm mortar rounds.

At about10 am Tuesday Iraqi Resistance forces bombarded the northern and southern US bases in Tikrit with 14 82mm mortar rounds.

At approximately 10:30am Resistance forces struck the US as-Suqur base south of Baghdad with three Katyusha rockets.

At approximately 1:30pm Tuesday, Iraqi Resistance forces struck the British base in al-Mahawil north of the city of al-Hillah in southern Iraq with four Katyusha rockets.

At 2pm Iraqi Resistance forces struck the US as-Suqur base south of Baghdad with one very powerful rocket — possibly a Grad or an Ababil — that set of a massive explosion and enveloped the camp in thick smoke.

At approximately 3pm Tuesday Iraqi Resistance forces bombarded the US al-Bikr base in the Balad area north of Baghdad with four Grad rockets.

Also at approximately 3:30pm Tuesday Iraqi Resistance forces struck the US as-Suqur base south of Baghdad with eight mortar rounds.

Iraqi Resistance forces bombarded the British base in al-Mahawil north of al-Hillah at approximately 4pm Tuesday with 12 Katyusha rockets.

At approximately 5:30pm Resistance forces fired Grad rockets into the Republican Palace in Baghdad where the US occupation of the country is headquartered in an area known to the invaders as "the green zone."

At approximately 6:30pm Resistance forces fired four Katyusha rockets into the US base in what formerly was the Iraqi Meat Company south of Baghdad.

At approximately 7pm Resistance forces fired three Grad rockets into the US base set up in Saddam International Airport southwest of Baghdad.

At approximately 9:30pm Tuesday Iraqi Resistance forces struck the US as-Suqur base south of Baghdad with six Katyusha rockets.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 11/18/2004 12:02:20 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  About 46 rockets and 44 mortar rounds.Ready..Fire...Aim !!
Posted by: crazyhorse || 11/18/2004 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Results, baby, results. Anybody can toss shit in the air and haul ass, lol! That's the difference betwixt The West and The Rest. Wankers and their admiring audience, lol! You're slumming, again, Mike - but it's some funny shit!
Posted by: .com || 11/18/2004 0:16 Comments || Top||

#3  If these bozos put all of this ordnance on ONE target and then 10 times more, it just might be called a bombardment. As it is, this is just nuisance fire. These people are pathetic.
Posted by: RWV || 11/18/2004 1:06 Comments || Top||

#4  They forgot the 10 water balloons thrown by the Jihadi Jr. organizations.

Bomb Damage Assessment:

2 infidel goats, 1 infidel cow, and 1 wall totally wet.

6 misses.
Posted by: 98zulu || 11/18/2004 2:41 Comments || Top||

#5 
Mosul: Our troops sending more jihad boys to the 72 virgins.

(are they in for a huge surprise :)
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 11/18/2004 6:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Never have quite figured out who developed the terrorist marksmanship program. Mostly it consist of spray and pray. From the videos I have seen, its amazing that the mortar crews don't kill themselves with the first round let alone hit anything other than dirt.
Posted by: Old Fogey || 11/18/2004 9:54 Comments || Top||

#7  A marginal improvement over the Taliban, who fired AK-47s at APCs, but still not exactly cutting-edge.
Posted by: Onionman || 11/18/2004 10:38 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2004-11-18
  Zarqawi's Fallujah Headquarters Found
Wed 2004-11-17
  Abbas fails to win Palestinian militant truce pledge
Tue 2004-11-16
  U.S., Iraqi Troops Launch Mosul Offensive
Mon 2004-11-15
  Colin Powell To Resign
Sun 2004-11-14
  Hit attempt on Mahmoud Abbas thwarted
Sat 2004-11-13
  Fallujah occupied
Fri 2004-11-12
  Zarqawi sez victory in Fallujah is on the horizon
Thu 2004-11-11
  Yasser officially in the box
Wed 2004-11-10
  70% of Fallujah under US control
Tue 2004-11-09
  Paleos: "He's dead, Jim!"
Mon 2004-11-08
  U.S. moves into Fallujah
Sun 2004-11-07
  Dutch MPs taken to safe houses
Sat 2004-11-06
  Learned Elders of Islam call for jihad
Fri 2004-11-05
  Paleos won't admit Yasser's dead
Thu 2004-11-04
  Yasser Croaks!

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