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North Korea says Japanese sanctions would be "declaration of war"
Today's Headlines
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Caucasus Corpse Count
Five Russian soldiers and three rebels were killed in Chechnya, either in fighting or by exploding landmines Monday and Tuesday, a military source said. Three soldiers were killed Tuesday in fighting near southeastern Shali that also claimed the lives of three rebels, a Russian military official based in Chechnya told AFP on condition of anonymity. Another six soldiers were wounded. One soldier was killed Tuesday near southern Shatoy when the military truck he was riding in struck a mine. Another three were wounded. On Monday a soldier was killed by a mine in southeastern Vedeno, while another was wounded. Elsewhere, a pro-Russian Chechen police officer was killed in a gunfight on Monday after his patrol was attacked in the Chechen capital Grozny. Two of his colleagues were wounded.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/15/2004 3:36:40 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Top NORK General's son defects to US Base in Japan
From East Asia Intel, subscription required
SEOUL — The only son of one of North Korea's top generals has defected with his family and is in the hands of U.S. intelligence officials, according to secret reports from the Japan Defense Agency.
The elite see the handwriting on the wall in North Korea so they are abandoning ship.
A Japan Defense Agency operative in the North Korean industrial port of Chongjin reportedly saw Oh Se-Uk, who holds the rank of brigadier general, board a speedboat with a group of Koreans of Japanese ancestry who had earned the trust of North Korean authorities.
Planing hull, don't fail me now!
According to the report from the Japan Defense Agency, Oh, his wife and other family members were transferred in international waters to another boat that took them to the huge U.S. Navy base at Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, the center of U.S. naval activity in Asia.
We're outa here. Don't look back, or you'll turn into a pillar of salt.
The report was corroborated by contacts at Chosen Soren, the organization controlled by North Korea that represents Koreans living in Japan.

Korean sources say Oh, 43, was spirited out of North Korea at the end of last year. It was not clear, however, if he remained at Yokosuka, was installed in a CIA "safe house" in Japan or was sent to the United States.

Japanese sources say Oh may have been sent the U.S. for interrogation by CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officials. Japanese officials, however, have been hunting for Oh near Yokohama amid reports that he may be living in a safe house run by the CIA's Unit 500.

"The Japanese police now are looking for everything," said a source with close ties to the North Koreans. "The Americans are not cooperating. They are silent about him."
***silence***
Both the State Department and the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Chris Hill, have denied any knowledge of Oh's defection.
"We don't know nuthin'."
Oh, whose 73-year-old father, Gen. Oh Keuk-Ryul, is head of the operations department of the Korea Workers' Party, had risen to the rank of brigadier general before deciding to defect. He had been investigating the internal affairs of the North Korean armed forces and may have encountered severe opposition from within the military establishment, the center of power.

His defection assumes heightened significance in view of his family's background. His father was an important official in the Workers' Party inside South Korea after World War II and graduated in 1949 from the Soviet Air Force.

Oh Keuk-Ryul escaped a purge in the 1980s of graduates of the Soviet Air Force Academy after it was discovered that the KGB had bribed some of them to serve as spies. Oh Keuk-Ryul lost out to Oh Jin-U for the top post of minister of the People's Armed Forces. But he recovered from that blow and was given other top posts.

Oh Keuk-Ryul owes his high standing in the North Korean power structure in part to the role of his legendary uncle, Oh Joong-Heup, a guerrilla fighter against the Japanese in Manchuria. Oh's unit was said to have rescued Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il's father, on a number of occasions.

Analysts here view the younger Oh's defection as a sign of the gradual weakening of Kim Jong-Il's regime. Sons and other relatives of Kim Jong-Il have been engaged in a power struggle in which relatives have reportedly been purged.
Faster, please. The sooner the NORK regime falls, the sooner the general populace can be saved.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/15/2004 4:49:30 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From yesterday:

We do not know such a word as "defection".

You might want to have Kimmie invent one then, and most chop-chop.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2004 17:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Oh, yeah!
Posted by: Spot || 12/15/2004 17:20 Comments || Top||

#3  This may be another round of purges and the younger O wanted to avoid a dirt nap. I don’t think the Norks have a retirement plan for anybody unless they are ready for burial. At first I thought this was the son of O Chin U, and that would have been a HUGE defection. This guy is the son of a ‘revolutionary hero’ who lost the struggle for the top military job. That makes the son an adversary and if he has no political power, he probably wouldn’t survive if his father is no longer of this world. Given that reality, it would be smart to grab a boat and head for the nearest U.S. base.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 12/15/2004 17:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Planing hull, don’t fail me now!

Been saving that one have we?
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2004 17:36 Comments || Top||

#5  It was a speedboat, Shipman, and I wanted to say, "Evinrude, don't fail me now." My best guess that the speedboat was an inboard motor. So that is the basis of my statement.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/15/2004 17:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh, whose 73-year-old father, Gen. Oh Keuk-Ryul, is was head of the operations department of the Korea Workers’ Party
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 12/15/2004 18:04 Comments || Top||

#7  My best guess that the speedboat was an inboard motor.

Still in that case you could have said "OMC inboard don't fail me now". But you didn't. You can see why I'm suspicious.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2004 19:26 Comments || Top||

#8  North Korea loses a brigadier general; America gains a small business.
Posted by: Tom || 12/15/2004 19:46 Comments || Top||

#9  Time to leave a'fore the Party turns you and the kiddies into PC Meats for the masses, ala SOLYENT GREEN. It may no longer be cats, dogs, monkeys, assorted birds, andor insects, etc. in your NK Commie Socialist kimchee and stews. Since Bill Clinton hates California-based BIG BOY restaurant burgers/food, as oppos to the USA, lets ask the NorKors to send Billary some proper NK cuisine and see if they'll eat it, and lets ask CASTRO to send over some CUBAN salsa!? AFter all. famine/hunger-struck NK cadavers > just "LONG PIGS/COWS", as 1930 headhunters from New Guinea used to say.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2004 21:18 Comments || Top||

#10  Guys like you used to just mutter to themselves.
Posted by: Glereper Thigum7229 || 12/15/2004 22:00 Comments || Top||

#11  GUYS like you? I do not resemble that remark.

Isn't the net wonderful?

Mass muttering.

Posted by: anonymous2U || 12/15/2004 23:53 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Govt granted closed court for Lodhi terror trial
A Sydney magistrate has granted an application by the Commonwealth Government to hear some evidence against an alleged terrorism suspect in a closed court. Sydney's Central Local Court is holding a committal hearing for 34-year-old Faheem Khalid Lodhi, who is charged with nine terrorism related offences. He is alleged to have planned attacks on the electricity grid and some Sydney defence sites, along with French terrorism suspect Willie Brigitte. The Commonwealth Government applied to have some of the expected evidence in the case heard in a closed court, arguing that if it was made public it would be contrary to national security. After almost two days of argument, Magistrate Michael Price has granted the application. He says the closed court would not damage Lodhi's defence, but would protect the wider community.
Posted by: || 12/15/2004 4:08:53 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  cue CCR:

"oh Lord, stuck in Lodhi again..."

or is that, sticking it to Lodhi?
Posted by: Querent || 12/15/2004 12:11 Comments || Top||


Revealed: Crude plot to blow up New Year's Eve 2004 in Sydney
Oz courts currently hearing evidence on past terror plots...
In late December 2003, police had been monitoring the movements of a group of Islamic men, including known militant Saleh Jamal, believed to be targeting two sites, Pier One Wharf near the Harbour Bridge and the Shell oil terminal at Gore Cove. In the days before the New Year's festivities, telephone taps and listening devices were authorised by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock to snoop on the suspects' conversations. Surveillance officers monitored their movements. The group was linked to the Haldon Street prayer room at Lakemba in Sydney's Islamic heartland. On New Year's Eve, Sydney man Saleh Jamal, now jailed in Lebanon on terrorism charges, took to the harbour with several friends in a small boat. They repeatedly cruised past Pier One and the refinery. Operations centres at ASIO, Australian Federal Police headquarters and the Sydney Police Centre were fully staffed by the nation's most senior counter-terrorism officials. State and federal government ministers were briefed. Four months later, Jamal was arrested in Lebanon and charged with preparing terrorist acts along with three other men.
Posted by: God Save The World || 12/15/2004 7:32:19 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let me just say that Sydney is the most beautiful city I've ever visited and it would be crime if these punk Islamobastards succeeded in an attack.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/15/2004 10:17 Comments || Top||

#2  By crime I meant crime against humanity, of course a terrorist act would be a crime. Do-uh!
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/15/2004 10:18 Comments || Top||


Oz terror plans found in rubbish bin
This trial is a Big Deal, I think. This guy is bad news.
A man who trained extremists at a Pakistani militant camp plotted a major bomb attack on Sydney, a court has heard. The allegations against Faheem Lodhi, 34, were made yesterday at a Central Local Court committal trial. Lodhi, a Punchbowl architect, is accused of colluding with French terror suspect Willie Brigitte to bomb the city's electricity network and military bases. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of 10 charges under Commonwealth law. The six-day trial before Magistrate Michael Price will hear evidence via satellite from terrorists serving jail sentences in America and Singapore. Commonwealth prosecutor Richard Maidment, SC, told the court Lodhi worked in a "professional capacity" as a paramilitary at the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist group camp in Lahore in October, 2001. Lodhi allegedly worked as a clerk, training groups and individuals who were expected to apply techniques such as "surveillance, invisible ink, dead letter drops and self-defence".
Well sure, you always hire a Pakistani for this. They're the best.
Lodhi is accused of implementing plans to shelter Brigitte in preparation for a terror assault on Sydney's electricity grid or military bases in May 2003. It was claimed Australian Federal Police agents found photographs of these targets dumped in a bin by Lodhi at Lake Gillawarna Reserve on October 25, 2003. Lodhi allegedly met Brigitte at the airport then found him a flat in Wiley Park, later assisting with the Frenchman's plans to marry Australian woman Melanie Brown. In October, Lodhi allegedly used the name M Rasul of Rasul Electrical to purchase maps of the electricity grid in preparation for, "bombing the system". The court heard Lodhi asked an architect colleague where to buy chemicals, explaining he wished to "manufacture jewellery".
"Lissen, Mahmoud, I'm thinkin' about making jewellery. Any idea where I can get some cyanide?"
Just days later, he is accused of duping an employee of Deltrex Chemicals, stating he was starting a detergent business.
"Yeah, I need lots of, um ... cyanide, yeah, that's it, I'm making soap."
Lodhi ordered dangerous chemicals used to produce explosives, the court heard. Mr Maidment said the chemicals matched notes written by Lodhi which revealed instructions for bombs and grenades made of urea nitrate, potassium chlorade and cyanide gas. After Lodhi's arrest in April, Federal agents searched his home and seized four US military images, and 600 files relating to extremist operations.
Posted by: God Save The World || 12/15/2004 7:34:28 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I am constantly amazed to hear how crude many of their efforts were.

"Um, yes, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could purchase large quantities of explosives or cyanide - and a map of the local water plant?"
Posted by: 2b || 12/15/2004 5:14 Comments || Top||

#2  "Um, yes, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could purchase large quantities of explosives or cyanide - and a map of the local water plant?"

I'm pretty sure if you hung around at the mosque in Lakemba long enough, you'd find what you were looking for. ;)
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/15/2004 11:44 Comments || Top||


Holiday terror threat issued to Aussie travellers
Eh, standard "Be alert, call the authorities if you see anything suspicious", and so on.
Posted by: God Save The World || 12/15/2004 7:36:23 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Be alert, Australia needs more lert's!"
Posted by: Steve || 12/15/2004 13:29 Comments || Top||


Europe
Shots fired as bus hijacked
A GREEK public bus with about 27 people aboard was hijacked today and shots were fired at police who surrounded it on the outskirts of Athens, police and bus company officials said.

Police did not say how many passengers were aboard the vehicle, but a bus company official said about 27 people were believed to be in the vehicle, which was surrounded by patrol cars and ambulances at a stop 17km from the city centre on the outskirts of eastern Athens.

Initial reports said that at least two people apparently armed with shotguns apparently took control of the bus just before dawn. The bus driver managed to escape, according to officials.

Reporters on the scene heard what sounded like two shotgun blasts about an hour after the bus was taken over about 6:00am (01500 AEDT) outside a nightclub.

At least two shots had been fired at police who arrived at the scene shortly after the takeover.

"The demand of the perpetrators is for us to give them a bus driver. We are letting police deal with this," Nikos Koutsogeorgas, president of the public bus company, told Athens' Skai radio. "It seems the bus driver's action to abandon the bus was positive."

The bus was on a route from the town of Marathon, east of Athens, to the city centre when it was hijacked just before dawn at a stop in the suburb of Geraka.

The bus stop was on a highway that was renovated for the Olympic Games and used for the Marathon race, the 42km course from ancient Marathon to central Athens.
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2004 12:55:34 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There was a Greek captain who abandoned his sinking ship off the coast of South Africa I think in the late nineties. He was lifted off the deck by helicopter well before many of his passengers and crew. There was quite a stink over it. I don't remember the name of the ship.

What point am I trying to make? I'm not sure. Maybe the Greeks have drifted a bit from the heroism of Ancient Greece.
Posted by: Bryan || 12/15/2004 1:39 Comments || Top||

#2  At least two shots had been fired at police who arrived at the scene shortly after the takeover.
"The demand of the perpetrators is for us to give them a bus driver.


Note to self, when hijacking a bus, don't shoot the bus driver if you can't drive a bus.
Posted by: 2b || 12/15/2004 4:46 Comments || Top||

#3  At least one hijacker's Russian, according to the Beeb.

Good for the driver for escaping. So long as he didn't push back any kiddies or old ladies in doing so. One passenger and the ticket collector got away too. Quick thinkers. Losing the driver puts the hostage takers at a distinct disadvantage and buys time for the police - after all, they'd probably have arrived at the airport by now if he hadn't scarpered. The police can also have one of their own do their driving. Could help a lot.
Posted by: Bulldog || 12/15/2004 4:48 Comments || Top||

#4  "Losing the driver puts the hostage takers at a distinct disadvantage and buys time for the police."
Yes, it's distinctly different from a captain abandoning his sinking ship before all the passengers and crew are safely off.
Posted by: Bryan || 12/15/2004 4:59 Comments || Top||

#5  I guess I should have actually read it before I commented :-)
Posted by: 2b || 12/15/2004 5:02 Comments || Top||

#6  From reports it seems there's a high chance that the hijackers are Albanian muslims, and have guns and explosives onboard the bus. They are apparently now demanding a 1 million euro ransom, whether this is in addition or in place of the trip to Russia is not clear at the moment.
Posted by: Lux || 12/15/2004 5:54 Comments || Top||

#7  seems to me that negotiations are going along great for the greeks at this stage , textbook stuff
Posted by: MacNails || 12/15/2004 7:22 Comments || Top||

#8  So, do these particular idiots want to be driven to the usual destination (Cuba)? Seriously, good luck to the Greeks that they resolve this quickly.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2004 7:34 Comments || Top||

#9  I believe the ship was the unfortunate Achille Lauro.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 12/15/2004 8:26 Comments || Top||

#10  UPDATE: Gunmen who seized 26 people on a Greek bus have explosives and want to fly to Russia, a hostage on board has told Greek television. Two foreign men, thought to be Albanian or Russian, hijacked the bus shortly before dawn on its route from the town of Marathon into central Athens.
A total of seven hostages have now been freed, after two emerged at 1240 GMT.

---------------------------
Seems like this is a repeat

Five years ago, Greece witnessed two bus hijackings within two months. In both cases, an Albanian man took control of the vehicle, demanding money and safe passage to Albania.
Both hijackers were shot dead by security forces. In one of the incidents, a passenger was also killed.

Good luck, guys.
Posted by: Steve || 12/15/2004 9:25 Comments || Top||

#11  Fox reports that they want one million Euros and a trip to Russia. Looks like the Chechnyans are organizing a fundraiser. Where's Jerry Lewis when you need him?
Posted by: BH || 12/15/2004 10:02 Comments || Top||

#12  The driver didn't just escape, he also took the keys of the bus with him -- the news mentioned that this was exactly what the bus drivers had been trained to do, when they prepared them for the Olympics.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 12/15/2004 14:30 Comments || Top||

#13  Excellent idea, the worst thing that could happen is to have a mobile hostage situation.
Posted by: Steve || 12/15/2004 14:39 Comments || Top||

#14  Then I commend his quick thinking and action.
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian || 12/15/2004 14:40 Comments || Top||

#15  Good job by Greek negotiators , game over .
All released and hijackers taken into custody .

clockwork :)
Posted by: MacNails || 12/15/2004 17:47 Comments || Top||


Witness identifies Madrid terror suspect
The Spanish court system continues to connect the dots...
The Madrid bombing suspect known as "Mohammed the Egyptian" was identified in an identification parade as one of the people who frequented the farm house where the bombs used in Spain's worst terrorist attacks were made. The line-up procedure - the results of which were called "very important" by court sources - took place before Rabei Osman El Sayed, the alleged mastermind behind the attacks, began testifying before Judge Juan del Olmo.

El Sayed "may have occupied a pre-eminent position within a top nucleus of the suspects" in the 11 March train bombings in the Spanish capital that killed 191 people, Del Olmo said in a court document released last week. The magistrate said investigations had uncovered "a level of interpersonal relationship" among El Sayed (Mohammed the Egyptian) and Serhane Ben Abdelmajid, Fouad El Morabit, Basel Ghalyoun and Khaled Zeimi Pardo.

Abdelmajid, also known as "The Tunisian," was one of the suspected terrorists who killed themselves in the Madrid suburb of Leganes as police were closing in on them on 3 April. Zeimi Pardo is at large has been arrested, but the other two suspects are in custody.

"During the time he was in Spain, Rabei Osman, a suspected member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a part of the Al Qaeda network, took over the leadership of a group of followers of extremist Islamic ideology, supporters of the Jihad and of Osama bin Laden," the judge added. El Sayed was flown to Spain last week from Milan, where he was arrested last June. The Interior Ministry said El Sayed would be tried in Spain, but then returned to Italy, where a trial on other terrorism charges is pending. Spain's request for El Sayed was based on Italian police phone taps in which he is allegedly heard to say that he planned and organised the Madrid attacks, which also wounded some 1,500 people.
The Milan phone taps, still providing intel and evidence.
According to one of the transcribed conversations included in the brief, El Sayed said: "The attack in Madrid was my project and those who died martyrs are my dearest friends".
With a friend like this, who needs enemies?
Found also on a computer seized from El Sayed were pictures of mobile-phone-activated bombs similar to those used on 11 March.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/15/2004 11:34:53 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Four Islamic terror suspects arrested in Spain
Four suspected Islamic terrorists have been arrested in raids across Spain, police said on Tuesday. Spanish police said three of those arrested were linked to a new cell of radical Islamic terrorists. The fourth man is thought to be linked to an existing cell led by Mustapha El Maymouni, who played a part in the bombings in Madrid in which 191 people were killed in March. The raids were the latest stage of an operation - codenamed Nova - targeted against Islamic terrorism in Spain.

Police named those arrested as Abdelkader Lebik, 31, an Algerian, who was arrested in Vitoria. He is wanted in connection with four international arrest warrants and is accused of murder, belonging to an armed terrorist group and possessing weapons and explosives. The second man is Abdallah Ibn Moutalib Kaddouri, 30, who is also Algerian and was arrested in Vitoria. He is accused of making false documents used by the group. Both men lived together with others in a rented apartment in Vitoria. Neighbours said they were well educated and had never caused any problems.
Quiet, kept to themselves, you know the drill.
The third suspect was identified as Brahim Amman, 38, an Algerian, whose nickname is "the beheader".
Nice nick you got there, Brahim.
He was arrested in Alcañiz in north-east Spain. He is wanted in his native country for terrorism offences. Amman worked in a local cement company and rented an apartment. These three belonged to an alleged Islamic cell which was broken up in a police operation in Barcelona in 2003. The cell, which has links to the Salafist movement of Algeria, had allegedly planned an attack on the Russian embassy in Paris in co-operation with another group.

The fourth suspect is Khalid Zeimi Pardo, 27, a Moroccan, who was detained in Madrid. Zeimi is said to have been linked to extremist Islamic groups active in Spain since the 1990s. He is said to have known Amer El Azizi, who is wanted for both the 9/11 attacks in the US and the Madrid bombings. He is also said to have been linked to Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid (nicknamed "The Tunisian"), Basel Ghalyoun, Said Berraj and Fouad El Morabit El Anghar, who were involved in the Madrid bombings. Zeimi was arrested earlier in connection with the Madrid attacks but subsequently released. Maymouni is the brother of the wife of Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid. He is in custody in Morocco for his alleged involvement in the bombing of Casablanca last year in which 45 people were killed.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/15/2004 11:04:26 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


European passport ring supplied Madrid bombers
Police in Portugal believe a major counterfeit ring had sold fake Portuguese passports to at least two suspects held in Spain after the 11 March train bombings. Portuguese police reached the conclusion after comparing notes with Spanish police investigating the attacks, the Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias reported. After the bombings, Spanish police detained dozens of suspects, mostly of north African origin. Two of them were found with fake Portuguese passports.
Color me surprized.
Some 150 Portuguese police seized thousands of high quality forged documents - plus counterfeiting equipment - from 29 private homes in Lisbon last week and detained 14 people of various nationalities. Passports, driving licences, cheques and credit cards were among the forged documents seized in the raids which followed an 11-month investigation. Police said the suspects, aged 28 to 78, had "the ability to legalise anyone they wanted for whatever purpose they wanted". Most of those detained had criminal records. In recent months, Spanish and British police have also apprehended fake Portuguese passports. Portugal is a member of the European Union and holders of a Portuguese passport enjoy freedom of movement across the 25-nation bloc.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/15/2004 11:23:31 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reason 178 of why corruption matters.
Posted by: Jules 187 || 12/15/2004 14:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
ABC News: L.A. Airport Guarding Against Missiles
Counterterrorism officials are beefing up security at Los Angeles International Airport to protect jetliners from terrorists armed with shoulder-launched missiles.

There is no immediate threat to aircraft, according to authorities, who said they were prompted to step up security because of recent overseas strikes against airliners, coupled with the availability of such weapons on the black market.

"The threat is real," said John Miller, head of the Los Angeles Police Department's counterterrorism bureau. "With about 20,000 of these available on the black market, for $2,000 to $3,000 each, there is no indication it will not be tried again."

Among the new measures are expanded helicopter surveillance, new perimeter fencing, stepped-up police patrols and additional training to help authorities identify such weapons.

While shoulder-launched missiles haven't been used against airliners in the United States, terrorists have fired missiles weighing less than 40 pounds at some two dozen commercial aircraft around the world.

Last year, terrorists armed with a shoulder-launched missile struck a DHL cargo jet taking off from Baghdad International Airport, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing. In November 2002, two shoulder-launched missiles nearly missed a jet carrying 271 people.

A study conducted by the Rand Corp. concluded earlier this year that Los Angeles International Airport is "a particularly attractive target" for terrorists. Increased patrols and the use of such technology as powerful laser beams to intercept missiles could make the airport safer, Rand said.

According to security experts, the airport has been targeted in five attacks or attempted attacks by terrorists over the last three decades. One of the best known was an attempt to detonate a suitcase bomb at the airport on New Year's Eve 1999. The plot was foiled when an Algerian man was caught attempting to sneak the explosives into the United States from Canada.

To guard against shoulder-fired missiles, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has proposed equipping commercial planes with lasers that destroy the infrared guidance sensors on portable missiles.

The laser defense would cost about $1 million for each jetliner. C-17 military transport jets are already using such technology.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 12/15/2004 4:14:35 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Heh heh, the LAPD has a lot of ground to cover if they want to be able to be an effective deterrent. The area under the LAX approach path is very large, heavily populated, and not always the best of neighborhoods.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/15/2004 17:10 Comments || Top||

#2  That's why they hired Jack Friday.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 12/15/2004 17:46 Comments || Top||

#3  "The SA-18 has a slant range of about three miles and a maximum altitude of more than 11,000 feet. Its infrared (IR) guidance system is claimed to offer better protection against electro-optical jammers."
So,get on a three engine aircraft and hope the missile does not hit the wing.
Posted by: crazyhorse || 12/15/2004 18:15 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Fresh violence grips southern Thailand
The old violence was getting stale anyway.
A village chief and two other Buddhists were shot dead in southern Thailand in one of the bloodiest days of violence in recent weeks in the Muslim-dominated region, police said. The deaths, all in isolated attacks in Narathiwat province, came as security sources said they had arrested a prime suspect in the Islamist separatist insurgency which flared to life in January. Village headman Kliang Jankong, 52, was shot three times by unknown attackers in Bacho district after seeing his daughter off to school, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. "Police are convinced the killing was part of the ongoing violence in the southern provinces," Bacho police superintendent Colonel Somchai Sawasdisak said in a report. Somporn Nasanit, a 65-year-old retired headmaster, was gunned down in a village near Tak Bai town after attackers entered his convenience store posing as customers, police said. A third person, vendor Tan Khanchompoo, was shot dead while pushing his ice cream cart in Sungai Padi district, police said. Thai security sources said Wednesday that a prime suspect behind the violence, identified as Waeyuso Waedoramae, was arrested Tuesday night and was under interrogation at a military camp in Pattani. Thailand has made little headway in arresting the masterminds of the violence. The latest killings also came as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced that a soldier was now the main suspect in the accidental shooting death of a senior official in the south.
Senior officials being killed by accident, now that's big news
Private Barney Fife Theradech Pongpetch has been charged with negligence resulting in the death of the deputy governor of Pattani province in a November shooting, an army official said. Officials originally thought deputy governor Soonthorn Litpakdi had been the target of an assassination attempt but later determined that the gun of a security official was fired by accident.
"accidently" killed the deputy governor, huh?
A defense volunteer was earlier arrested for the shooting but has since been cleared. Theradech has pleaded innocent, an army official told AFP.
Posted by: Steve || 12/15/2004 2:16:55 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Finished sweeping up the origami guano, getting back to bidness...
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/15/2004 14:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, Seafarious. They already hated the Buddhists, then the Buddhists litter thier part of the country.
Posted by: plainslow || 12/15/2004 16:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Bird Chad?
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2004 17:58 Comments || Top||


Abu Bakar Bashir's son denies...everything
Accused of providing long-term liaison between al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the young man with impeccable JI lineage smiled gently and began his long litany of denials and refusals.
I like the author of this article already. He must read Rantburg.
Abdul Rohim, the youngest son of accused terrorist cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, denied he had ever met convicted Australian terrorist Jack Roche in Pakistan.
"Nope."
He insisted his years in the sprawling Pakistani city of Karachi were spent studying, not working with al-Qaeda.
"Nope."
He told The Australian he did not even recognise the name of the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, let alone serve an apprenticeship under him.
"Nope. Nope."
Khalid, known as "The Brain", was arrested in Pakistan last year in a blaze of publicity."Khalid who?" Abdul Rohim asked, shaking his head.
"That taxi driver who looks like Ron Jeremy on a bad hair day? Nope."
Sidney Jones, the Southeast Asian bureau chief of the International Crisis Group, said it appeared Abdul Rohim had served JI as an intermediary between Karachi and Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan. "Kandahar can mean al-Qaeda, it can mean the Taliban, it can mean lots of different things, but he certainly was not playing the innocent role of a teacher in Karachi," she said. Abdul Rohim denied he had been to Kandahar, saying he had never been to Afghanistan.
"Couldn't even find it on a map."
His accusers - from the notorious terrorist Hambali's younger brother Gun-Gun Rusman Gunawan, to Roche - allege Abdul Rohim had played an important role in Pakistan between 1999 and 2002. According to Sally Neighbour's book on JI, In the Shadow of Swords, Roche testified in his Australian trial that Abdul Rohim had been a "go-between between JI and al-Qaeda". The young Indonesian, he said, had picked him up at Karachi airport and had arranged a meeting with Khalid, also known as Mukhtar. But Abdul Rohim said: "I never met an Australian, let alone picked one up at the airport. From the airport I only ever picked up my friends from Indonesia and Malaysia."
"And even then it would be hard to point out which friends, or which airport. Assuming I ever even went."
Strolling through the Islamic boarding school his father founded in Ngruki, in Central Java, he said he was a simple religious teacher.
"And kind to old ladies and baby chicks."
More than 30 accused and convicted JI militants, including some of the Bali bombers, were educated or otherwise have strong links with the school. Yet Abdul Rohim, 26, said the terrorist accusations were a conspiracy to oppress Muslims that had dragged his father into prison and forced him to face the trial that begins again today.
"I'm starting to seethe just thinking about the humiliation of it all."
Abdul Rohim first heard the words Jemaah Islamiah in the media around 2002, he said. "I never heard the name Jemaah Islamiah, or had JI in my ears, from the time I was little and living with my father and my family."
This guy is good.
Testifying at Bashir's trial last week, Rusman Gunawan referred to a study group called al-Ghuraba in Karachi that both he and Abdul Rohim had led at different times. Now in prison for facilitating terrorism, Hambali's younger brother told the court he had replaced Abdul Rohim as leader of the group. Analysts believe al-Ghuraba, which means The Foreigners in Arabic, was intended to train the next generation of JI leaders. Abdul Rohim agreed there had been an al-Ghuraba study group in Karachi, but said he and Gunawan had been members at the same time. They had shared a house in Karachi. "Hambali had heard that I wanted to go to Pakistan to finish my studies, so he wanted his younger brother to be sent there as well." Eventually, he looked after as many as 16 young Malaysians who had come to Pakistan to study. "Malaysians had heard the son of Abu Bakar Bashir was there. They trusted my father. Then they entrusted their sons to me."
He smiled then, and his teeth gleamed white in the dusk.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/15/2004 9:48:26 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Smiles and Lies, seems to be the trend in Indonesia.
Posted by: Phitle Craviter4997 || 12/15/2004 15:56 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Bomb at Shiite Shrine Kills 7 in Karbala
Posted by: ed || 12/15/2004 23:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Mujahideen Strike Devastating Blows Against US Forces in Iraq
From Jihad Unspun
America's troubles in Fallujah and the rest of Iraq continue unabated. Casualties on both sides are reported accurately and honestly by Mafkarat al-Islam and it is time for critics to take off the blindfolds placed on their eyes by America's propaganda machine. At least 400 American soldiers and countless of Iraqi puppets have been killed in the last few days alone in Fallujah and elsewhere.

While the Americans have taken to the skies to transport cargo in an effort to reduce the losses they are incurring in ground transportation of supplies and foodstuffs, the Mujahideen are now becoming expert at shooting down American planes. Several American war planes, including an F-16 were shot down in the past few days and dozens of tanks and armored vehicles have been destroyed.

Try as they might, the America has not found a solution to the fierce resistance they are encountering, not even through their use of chemical weapons. ....

Sheikh Abu Asaad Al- Delaimy, a spokesperson for the Mujahideen in Fallujah has issued a communiqué detailing the outcome of fighting in the city for the last three days. According to Al-Delaimy, 350 Americans have been killed and 82 Mujahideen have been martyred. .... Al-Delaimy confirmed that 47 Americans were captured and they have been taken to an undisclosed location. Three Generals are said to be among the Americans captives. In addition, 243 Iraqi national guards have been captured. Al-Delaimy made it clear in his statement that captured soldiers are being treated according to Islamic laws and not according to The Geneva Convention. The Americans have sent a special envoy to talk to prominent figures in Fallujah to negotiate the release the three American Generals.

Sources inside the resistance have now confirmed that some Mujahideen were captured by the Americans on 26 Ramadan when Americans used anesthetic gas to knock them unconscious. At that time, Mujahideen were not ready for these kinds of gases however since then, fighters are better prepared to deal with the chemical warheads being spewed by US occupation forces when they encounter stiff resistance.

Mujahideen fired a Sam rocket at an F-16 flying over Al-Shuhadaa neighborhood in Fallujah on Tuesday. The aircraft took a direct hit and fell off the skies. Mujahideen also attacked a food-carrying trailer in Thiraa area, south of Fallujah around 14:30 Tuesday. The trailer was destroyed and 2 Americans on board were killed.

Mujahideen continued to apply their strategy of vacating certain areas to lure Americans inside those areas to fight. The main purpose of this tactic is to neutralize America's air superiority. Mujahideen withdrew from Al-Wahda, Al-Askary, and Al-Industrial neighborhoods but the Americans refused to go into those areas except for Al-Askari, settling for aerial bombardment instead. This action by Americans led the Mujahideen to go back to those areas. The Americans decided to enter Al-Askari area at about 08:00 AM yesterday morning where the Mujahideen lay in wait for them. The Mujahideen used swords, knives, and other atypical weapons to battle Americans on the streets, 19 Americans were killed and 4 Mujahideen were martyred. .....

This tactic of close face to face combat has proven to be very effective in recent battles as it instills a great deal of fear in minds of US soldiers and levels the playing field, with more of this kind of warfare is expected. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 12/15/2004 9:28:59 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder what is the 'puter game they are playin'.
Posted by: Sobiesky || 12/15/2004 21:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Was that three more generals captured or are these the first ones they've bagged? Wonder if they were captured in the Great Al-Askari Sword Fight?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2004 21:53 Comments || Top||

#3  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Chineter Spoluger1554 TROLL || 12/15/2004 21:56 Comments || Top||

#4  "other atypical weapons": brooms, lighting farts, Shriner go carts, throwing rotten cabbage, loud singing, and playing Jerry Lewis movies
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 12/15/2004 22:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Why would this polish ex comunist post such an idiotic story? (Sylwester = New Year's Eve in polish)
Posted by: SwissTex || 12/15/2004 22:10 Comments || Top||

#6  That's really one of the best examples of outright lyng in propaganda I've ever read. I'm lost in admiration.
I wish our side had even half of that talent.
Posted by: Kathy Kinsley || 12/15/2004 22:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Addendum: I'd even settle for media on our side reporting the truth of these battles.
Posted by: Kathy Kinsley || 12/15/2004 22:15 Comments || Top||

#8  SwissTex, it's MS's daily bread. I am not sure why he is posting it, maybe for the entertainment value or, in the case he suffers from some kind of derangement, he actually thinks that it is not a farce originating from an alternate reality.

I don't recall him explaining which one is the case.
Posted by: Sobiesky || 12/15/2004 22:19 Comments || Top||

#9  Kathy, #7 - indulging in wishful thinking? :-)

I've seen Hell freeze over, but never seen pigs fly (on their own, defying gravity), so... when pigs fly!
Posted by: Sobiesky || 12/15/2004 22:28 Comments || Top||

#10  These writers need to send their resumes to North Korea.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/15/2004 23:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Visit [ADLUSA.com] to see why Americans are dying in Iraq.
Posted by: Chineter Spoluger1554 || 12/15/2004 21:52 Comments || Top||

#12  Visit [ADLUSA.com] to see why Americans are dying in Iraq.
Posted by: Chineter Spoluger1554 || 12/15/2004 21:52 Comments || Top||

#13  Visit this web site to see why Americans are dying in Iraq.
Posted by: Chineter Spoluger1554 || 12/15/2004 21:54 Comments || Top||

#14  Visit this web site to see why Americans are dying in Iraq.
Posted by: Chineter Spoluger1554 || 12/15/2004 21:54 Comments || Top||

#15  Visit the Anti-Defamation League USA web site to see why Americans are dying in Iraq.
Posted by: Chineter Spoluger1554 || 12/15/2004 21:56 Comments || Top||


Saddam Cousin Caught in Fallujah
Naseer Al-Nahr • Arab News
Followup to this...
A cousin of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been captured in the flashpoint city of Fallujah where he was fighting with rebels, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said yesterday.
I don't think that little detail came out in the original article...
Ezzeddine Al-Majid was arrested in the city last week, Allawi told the interim National Assembly in Baghdad. "He is now in the hands of Iraqi security forces. There will be an inquiry and he will be judged. "The members of the former regime, especially the hard core around Saddam Hussein, continue to do damage to Iraq and the Iraqis," he added. US-led troops killed hundreds of fighters during a massive assault in Fallujah last month, but have continued to face resistance in the flashpoint city that lies west of Baghdad. Majid, 44, was accused in July by US authorities of helping organize and arm the insurgency in Iraq, according to the New York Times.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2004 6:38:55 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
India withdraws troops from Kashmir
At least 1,000 soldiers from the Assam Regiment were withdrawn from Kashmir today, part of the ongoing move to scale down troops in the restive valley. "The soldiers belonged to the counter insurgency operations in the state and are not going to be replaced by paramilitary personnel," said Colonel D.K. Badola. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh vowed last month that India would reduce the number of its troops stationed in its only Muslim-majority. However, Indian authorities have never made it clear how many troops are deployed in Kashmir. Newspapers have put the number in the hundreds of thousands, and may be up to half a million.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2004 6:32:03 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine
Hamas cancels annual rally over fears of Israeli strikes
Hamas has abruptly cancelled plans for an anniversary mass rally at Gaza City fearing possible Israeli strikes, a spokesman for the movement said on Wednesday.
"I mean, we're fond of hopping up and down and making faces and all, but there's no sense in getting ourselves killed. That's what cannon fodder's for!"
Hamas rally was planned to be held on Friday at a large sports stadium in Gaza City.
Home of the Gaza Greensox...
A spokesman said that Hamas feared that Israel might launch an attack targeting the movement leaders.
... as they were strutting their bravery...
Thousands of supporters were expected to take part in Friday rally, marking the 17th anniversary of the movement's formation. "The movement has postponed the festival," spokesman Mushir al-Masri told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the movement hadn't set an alternative date.
"We're thinking sometime in late 2042..."
The mass rally had been delayed "because of the security operation, particularly after the operation led by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas's armed wing) at the Rafah crossing", he said, referring to Sunday attack in which five Israeli soldiers were senselessly killed on the border between Egypt and Gaza. The delay would also "protect the lives of the thousands of people who take part in this rally each year." Hamas rallies are elaborate shows of strength, with march-pasts by masked men and enactments celebrating successful attacks against the Israeli occupation forces.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2004 6:21:23 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  elaborate shows of strength, with march-pasts by masked men and enactments celebrating successful attacks

And there you have it.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2004 20:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds like Festivus.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2004 21:28 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder if the paleos have figured out how the Israelis know when a vehicle carries a particular person. It would explain why they decided to cancel what is a major propaganda event for them.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/15/2004 23:51 Comments || Top||


Africa: Horn
AU: Sudan agrees to halt military offensive in Darfur
The chief AU mediator said Wednesday that the Sudanese government agreed to stop its military offensive in the western region of Darfur, in a move that could make the two main rebel groups return to the AU suspended peace talks. "The government of Sudan has given an undertaking that it has agreed to stop the current military attack (in Darfur) and we have indicated to them that we shall try to verify that information so that we can resume the talks in the full session," Sam Ibok said. "If we verify the information and we find out that it is accurate, then it should pave the way for full discussion on the political issue," he said after his team met with Sudan's delegation at the talks.
Uhuh. I'll be holding my breath.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2004 6:13:18 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine
Qurei replaces Arafat's aides
The Arabic-language newspaper, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, reported Wednesday that Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei will replace six cabinet ministers who were considered close aides to the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
"Pack it up and move on, guyz. And leave the washroom keys!"
The London-based daily reported that Qurei is planning to replace the foreign minister and the interior minister, as well as the ministers of finance, civil affairs, communications and social affairs portfolios. The newspaper said that Arafat's nephew, Nasser Al Kidwa, who is currently the PLO representative in the United Nations, will replace Nabil Shaath, the current foreign minister.
See you around, Nabil. Careful about starting your car, now!
The secretary-general of the Fatah Central Committee, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, might also be appointed as Qurei's deputy and Mohammad Dahlan, the former security chief, could be a national security adviser, the daily said. The newspaper also suggested that General Nasser Yusuf is a possible candidate to lead the Interior Ministry and that the former information minister Nabil Amr, who lost a leg in a recent attack on his home, will also lead an important ministry.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2004 5:59:12 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


PIJ and Hamas dust-up!
Leading Hamas preacher warns of clash with Islamic Jihad
A growing rift between Hamas and Islamic Jihad has led to a break in cooperation between the two groups, and is threatening to lead to an all-out clash between them, according to a leading Hamas preacher who recently slammed Jihad for trying to outmuscle Hamas.
Mahmoud, remember the good old days when we competed for how many Joos we could kill?
"There was a time when there were more Islamic Jihadists than us, but now we are more than them, but nonetheless they have managed to take over the media and to get ahead of us, and are now intensively competing with us," said Fathi Hamad, a member of the Sura Council, the supreme Hamas religious body in Gaza responsible for the the organization's communications system in Gaza. "An Islamic Jihad takeover would means the Shi'ites take over, and if that happens you will all be turned into heretics .... We must fight and clash with all those who are not Sunni and guarantee our faith remains pure."
"Kill the infidels!"
"Who're youse callin' an infidel, apostate?"
Hamad gave his speech a couple of months ago before a few dozen Hamas activists working in the organization's Communications Councils, whose job is to promote Hamas in the Palestinian, Arab and international press. Hamad believed that he was speaking in a private closed forum, but the session was filmed and then distributed - a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz - sparking a dispute between the two groups. They have now cut off ties between them and have ceased cooperation, and the clash between the two Islamic fundamentalist groups is shaking up both organizations. For years they worked side by side, more or less in harmony. During the intifada they even began cooperating militarily and claimed joint responsibility for many attacks in Gaza. But Hamad is now hinting that Islamic Jihad wants to take Hamas' place, and is citing Iraq as an example. "Wherever Jihad fighters fought, Muslims, meaning Sunni Muslims like Hamas showed up, and then the hypocritical Sh'iites came and sat down on the chairs that became available. This is an American, Zionist, Arab Shiite plot," he said.
Amerijoooshia deeply-laid-plot.
Hamad was saying that Islamic Jihad is financed and run by Hezbollah and Iran, the Shiite heretics according to Sunni Islam. He said the Islamic Jihad has no right to operate in the Palestinian street on ideological grounds, and pointed out that despite the Hamas' hegemony in the street, the Jihad had managed to take over "the agenda" and the media by putting its people in key jobs in the press. He called for a "media jihad," meaning getting into important Arab and Palestinian media outlets.
The MSM?
Hamad's talk forced an apology from senior Hamas activists to the Arab press working in Gaza, whom Hamad had accused of serving the Jihad and the Palestinian Authority. Hamad's speech on tape opens a rare window into the balance of power inside the Gaza Strip, including Hamas relations with the PA and how it motivates its activists in the street. But more than anything, the tape shows how frustrated Hamas is that despite being by far a larger organization than Islamic Jihad, in the press, at least, they are presented as equally important.
... and being important is what's most essential.
Hamad opened his lecture with "the media is the decisive weapon," and then delivered a series of examples from the life of Mohammed the Prophet and how his sermons to his warriors determined battles. But the Hamad speech quickly turned to the subject of the Islamic Jihad.
Mohammed dealt with the Media?
"We outnumber them, we have many more mosques, and much more commitment, but they are ahead of us in the satellite TV stations, and their Web sites are much bigger than the group itself. They are stealing attacks from Hamas, exaggerate the number of their killed, and inflate the numbers of their street demonstrations as if they are a domestic group, even though they are supported by Hezbollah. The media has turned them into the equals of the Muslim Brotherhood," Hamad complains in the tape.
They take credit for what we do! Waaaaaaa
He labels specific Palestinian reporters working in Gaza, saying an Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza, Wa'al Dahduah, is a Jihad supporter, as is Imad Eid, the Hezbollah TV correspondent in Gaza. Hamad said that Walid Alomri, the senior Al Jazeera correspondent in the territories, is a Fatah man "with a burning hatred for Hamas, and he reports tendentiously in favor of the PA."
Uh-oh. Named names, boys. Better scatter!
Hamad says on tape that Hamas man Faiz Abu Smala works for the BBC, "and that way he writes the story in favor of the Islam and Muslims." Beyond the issue of the media, there is an ideological abyss between Hamas and Islamic Jihad. While Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, believes in social activity to educate society and create an Islamic rule, the Islamic Jihad has always believed in a violent campaign to take over power centers, and its social activities were marginal. But in the last year the Islamic Jihad changed direction and began undertaking social activities in Gaza.
We do GOOD stuff too, but all PIJ does is kill!
Three months ago, armed Islamic Jihad men took over Al Qassam mosque, a Hamas stronghold, by force, and the takeover led to armed clashes between men from both groups. Thus, Hamad complains in the tape, "the Islamic Jihad ignited our spirit of resistance when it took away our mosque, and there is a danger they will try to take over others."
I give it a 5. Needs more Juche. Wot a bunch of crybabies.
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian || 12/15/2004 5:11:43 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmm I can smell popcorn even.. Oh the wife made some :D

Oh well I'll be sure to watch his. But he is right. Iran/Hezbolla/IJ Pure danger. He better start killing JI.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2004 18:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Good idea. Maybe we should loan them some bombs?
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2004 18:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Divide and Conquer
Posted by: 2b || 12/15/2004 19:10 Comments || Top||

#4  He called for a "media jihad," meaning getting into important Arab and Palestinian media outlets....

yeah, sure, that's exactly what he meant.
Posted by: 2b || 12/15/2004 19:16 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Bomb Near Iraqi Shi'ite Shrine Kills 8, Wounds 32
A bomb exploded near the offices of a senior Shi'ite cleric in the Iraqi holy city of Kerbala on Wednesday, killing eight people and wounding 32, police and doctors said. One of the wounded was Sheikh Abdul Mehdi al-Karbalai, a cleric regarded as close to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shi'ite leader. Hospital sources said he had been hit in the legs and was receiving treatment. Wednesday's attack came on the day campaigning began for Iraq's first post-Saddam elections. One of the groups contesting the poll is a list of mainly Shi'ite candidates backed by Sistani, but it was not immediately clear if there was any political motive for the bombing.
Not to Rooters, at any rate
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. At least four of those killed worked as guards in Karbalai's office, hospital sources said. The wounded were mostly office staff and passers-by. The office is in the center of Kerbala, close to the shrine of Imam Hussein, one of the holiest sites in Shi'ite Islam. Sites near Kerbala's shrines were previously attacked in March this year when suicide bombers blew themselves up during an important religious festival, killing more than 70 pilgrims. That attack coincided with a blast at a Shi'ite shrine in Baghdad, which killed more than 50 people. The coordinated blasts were blamed on Jordanian Sunni Muslim militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and seen as an attempt to sow sectarian discord.
Yeah, this sounds like his handywork
Sistani, an elderly Iranian-born cleric who has a huge following in Iraq, lives in Najaf, another holy city southeast of Kerbala. He has representatives who follow his religious teachings in Kerbala, 70 miles southwest of Baghdad. A blast at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf in August last year killed scores of people, including Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most revered clerics. Hakim was the brother of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, an influential Shi'ite leader who number one on the Sistani-backed alliance set to stand in the Jan. 30 elections. Shi'ites form a 60-percent majority in Iraq and the voting is expected to shift power to them, away from Saddam Hussein's long-dominant Sunni Muslim minority. Most Arabs are Sunnis, while Shi'ites are the main sect in non-Arab Iran.
Posted by: Steve || 12/15/2004 11:58:25 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Zarqawi underlings obstruct Jordanian trial
Nine terror suspects, allegedly involved in an al-Qaida-linked plot to carry out chemical and conventional attacks in Jordan, obstructed today's opening of their trial, refusing to acknowledge military judges hearing the case.

Azmi al-Jayousi, allegedly an al-Zarqawi co-conspirator and head of the Jordan-based terror cell, refused to answer the chief military judge when he sought the routine verification of the defendants' identities at the opening of the trial in Amman. "I and the other defendants don't want to speak to you until you heed our demands to permit our families to visit us and allow us to join the cellblocks of political prisoners," al-Jayousi told Colonel Fawaz Buqour, president of the State Security Court.

Buqour responded: "We'll see." Military prosecutors said the defendants were confined to solitary confinement in an undisclosed Jordanian prison.

"Go to hell!," al-Jayousi shouted, sporting a beard and standing in the dock with the eight other defendants, most of them in dark blue prison uniforms and chained at the ankle. Police had removed their handcuffs minutes before the hearing opened.

Buqour adjourned the session until December 22 to allow the defendants to appoint their lawyers. Charges against eight of the men include conspiring to commit terrorism, possessing and manufacturing explosives and affiliation with a banned group.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/15/2004 9:55:25 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmm..I'm sure it will be equally effective when they fail to 'acknowledge' their executioners.
Posted by: 2b || 12/15/2004 12:03 Comments || Top||

#2  “I and the other defendants don’t want to speak to you until you heed our demands to permit our families to visit us and allow us to join the cellblocks of political prisoners,” al-Jayousi told Colonel Fawaz Buqour, president of the State Security Court.

Somehow, this guy just doesn't seem to understand that he's in no position to make demands.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/15/2004 17:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Off with their Heads!
---Queen of Hearts
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/15/2004 23:32 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Mullah Omar's security chief busted
Afghan security forces have captured Taliban leader Mohammad Omar's personal security chief. Naqibullah Khan, who headed Omar's household security, and another Taliban member, Qayoom Angar, were travelling in a van to this southern city when they were stopped. After they were caught, eight more Taliban fighters were arrested here and a cache of remote-control bombs, time bombs, several other explosive devices and radios was seized. Security forces have picked up at least 27 militants, including the brother of a former Taliban governor of Kandahar, since Saturday night. The security official said they were picked up following a tip-off from a Taliban insider. The Taliban's most senior military commander played down the significance of the arrests, suggesting the men might be "ordinary Taliban". But the security official said Khan was a dangerous killer who remained in charge of Omar's security. "During the (October presidential) election this man killed nine government intelligence agents in the Meyansheen district of Kandahar province."
In the story we ran yesterday, the Beeb Taliban watcher said he wasn't a threat...
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/15/2004 9:53:42 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Afghan security forces captured at least 27 including a couple of high level bad guys, plus a weapons cache, all since Saturday. Well done, gentlemen! I think they are having fun in their new career.

Soon enough they won't need foreign assistance any longer, and Bush will have achieved what he set out to do: a democratic and secure Islamic country providing a flourishing example to the rest of the Ummah, and a clear warning to those who prefer to play with explosives.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2004 11:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey, what happened to the quagmire we were promised?
Posted by: Steve || 12/15/2004 19:51 Comments || Top||


6 Al-Qaeda held in Peshawar
The law enforcing agencies have apprehended six al-Qaeda suspects here Tuesday from Army Stadium area. In a joint raid conducted by CID police and intelligence agencies in the Cantt area, six suspects believed to have links with al-Qaeda outfit were nabbed and were moved to some undisclosed location for further investigation, well informed sources told. The six nabbed persons were holding a meeting when law-enforcing agencies rounded them up.
"Meeting's adjourned, punks. Into the wagon wit'chas and shut yer pieholes."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/15/2004 9:40:31 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Tech
Missile defence shield test fails
The first test in almost two years of the planned multi-billion dollar US anti-missile shield has failed. The Pentagon said an interceptor missile did not take off and was automatically shut down on its launch pad in the central Pacific. A target missile carrying a mock warhead had been fired 16 minutes earlier from Kodiak Island in Alaska. The Pentagon is spending $10bn a year on the missile system, which was meant to be in operation by the end of 2004. The Missile Defence Agency said an "unknown anomaly" was to blame for the system shutting down.
Missile not taking off should be simple to diagnose, bet they'll find a loose wire or something like that. Much better than a failure in flight.
Posted by: Steve || 12/15/2004 9:06:57 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Best "failure" possible -- the interceptor missile wasn't wasted. This is a work in progress and I'm not concerned about the "failure" -- you learn more from failures than successes.
Posted by: Tom || 12/15/2004 9:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Beeb's editors are slacking - they left out the "W00t!" that was supposed to go at the end of the headline.
Posted by: .com || 12/15/2004 9:48 Comments || Top||

#3  "Best "failure" possible -- the interceptor missile wasn't wasted"

Granted that not "burning" an interceptor is a good thing, but the real reason a ground failure the "best failure" is that you still have the part that failed availible to examine in detail. Bottom line: much will be learned about the new booster from an event that was designed to learn about the new missile booster.
Posted by: Dave || 12/15/2004 10:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Somebody forgot to light the fuse.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/15/2004 13:33 Comments || Top||

#5  PS. I have a great picture to go along with this but I can't post pictures. Maybe I could e-mail it to one of you.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/15/2004 13:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Dopey me. Forgot the e-mail.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/15/2004 13:39 Comments || Top||

#7  DB:
They did light the ACME fuse, but it sputtered out. Their chief failure analyst, a Mr. Coyote, is going out to physically inspect the rocket now.
Posted by: jackal || 12/15/2004 14:11 Comments || Top||

#8  The government will throw a couple hundred million more at the contractor, the contractor's line worker will walk out with a "Green" flat tip, not the previously used "Red" flat tip screwdriver, turn it a few times, and she's off! Same shite different contract.
Posted by: 98zulu || 12/15/2004 18:34 Comments || Top||

#9  Ok, now I can get this off my chest as I am home from work. Unfortunately it is late in the day and no one will ever see this post.

Today's test was a ripping success. It was the test of a very large system, much bigger than most folks realize or dream. In this very large system a very great many things must work. They all did. Well.

They need to in order to come up with a valid firing solution. The system did that, woke up an interceptor missile and told it what to do. The interceptor was just fine with that.

In the second or so before launch the missile detected an internal problem and stood down. That is just what it was supposed to do. Even this was right thing to do. It did not take off and fly improperly; it did not blow up, it stood down. Exactly what it was supposed to do.

The test was a success. I grant you that the out come was not what was hoped but everything worked as expected and as it was supposed to under the circumstances.

You say but we did not shoot down the target.

Consider this.

We have done so in the past so we know we can do it.

If we have a vaild incoming do you think we would task only one missile? No. More than one.

If you get up in the morning and your car does not start do you assume the same for your neighbor's? Or all cars in the world? Of course not.

The second interceptor would have flown the mission.

So lay off the govenment and the contractors and the jokes in piss poor taste. This system is valid and there are a lot of people who have worked really really hard to get it to that point.

Before you declare failure understand what you are talking about.

God willing we will never have to use it, but if we do fall down on you knees and thank the Lord we have it.

Sorry.
Posted by: Michael || 12/15/2004 20:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Work-in-Progress is right - however, MISSLE INTERCEPTORS is only the end game, and NOT even GMD/NMD real asset or focii SPACE-/GROUND-SURFACE BASED HE LASERS and other super hi-tech toys for boyz. * Hyper-tekky toys for, and from, Hyper-power America and our Allies. The Commies know it - and now, boys and girls, you know another reason why the Communist Clintons and their cabal are still around, working to influence and control national politics and to destabilize America for Socialism and OWG!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2004 21:05 Comments || Top||

#11  Mr. Mendiola, many thanks for your brevity. But as a courtesy for your readers, would you kindly include a glossary with your comments?

- The Retired Editor
Posted by: Pappy || 12/15/2004 23:43 Comments || Top||

#12  Thanks, Michael. See? You've been read.

I listened to about 90 seconds of some NPR reporting droning about the failure this afternoon, before turning off the radio in disgust. Even I knew, before reading this thread, that its much better to test and fix the errors, than hope everything goes right during the first emergency.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2004 23:49 Comments || Top||



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