The U.S. government on Tuesday ordered banks to freeze any assets of a Kuwaiti man U.S. authorities believe is a senior al Qaeda operative. The Treasury Department added Mohsen al-Fadli to its list of suspected terrorist funders and asked the United Nations to add him to its list of terrorists. A Treasury statement said Fadli was an al Qaeda leader in the Gulf and had fought with militants in Afghanistan and Chechnya.
The U.S. government also said Fadli had supported Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has claimed responsibility for violent attacks in Iraq, including beheading hostages. Kuwaiti security forces are pursuing Fadli in connection with a recent outbreak of al Qaeda-linked violence in the U.S.-allied oil-rich Gulf state. Kuwait hosts as many as 30,000 U.S. troops and is a transit route for forces and civilians traveling to Iraq. Kuwaiti authorities detained Fadli for questioning last month but later released him.
That worked well.
As part of efforts to combat militant groups after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the Treasury Department has named several individuals and groups as terrorist financiers, frozen their assets and barred others from having financial transactions with them. Some experts and officials say designations such as these may only have a marginal impact and by themselves are only likely to weed out the most obvious terrorist financing transactions. But they say the public naming is helpful as part of a larger strategy that must also include behind-the-scenes intelligence gathering, a crackdown on unlicensed money transfer services and close monitoring of suspected terrorist financiers, deep-pocket donors, bulk cash couriers and other suspicious financial flows.
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
MOHSEN AL FADLI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:07:41 AM ||
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Some experts and officials say ...are only likely to weed out the most obvious terrorist financing transactions.
Additional SP of Khulna district Md Mofazzal Hossain was withdrawn within hours and closed to the police headquarters in Dhaka following an untoward incident involving the police and RAB men centering the arrest of a "suspected terrorist" in front of the SP's office building in Khulna city last night.
The police officer left Khulna for Dhaka the same night. The action against him has reportedly created strong resentment among the local police officials and the rank and file of the department.
The local cops are pissed at headquarters for pulling one of their own boys out of the station
According to police sources, two RAB members in civil dress caught hold of one Liton mistaking him for suspected terrorist Hasan, while Liton came out of the office room of Mofazzal at about 9-15 pm and was about to start up his motor cycle parked outside the building.
RAB being the Rapid Action Batallion. People they "pick up" tend to get caught in "crossfires"
He started shouting for help to save him from the clutches of "Shantrashi" when the RAB men grabbed him. The RAB men also brought out their small firearms and asked him to accompany them to the RAB office, sources claimed.
"Youse coming with us, Hasan!" "But my name isn't Hasan, it's Liton!" "Yeah, that's what they all say."
On hearing the loud shouts of Liton, over a dozen policemen in the SP's office building rushed out and began grappling with the two RAB men to rescue Liton. Additional SP Mofazzal and his "friend-cum-source" Hasan who was earlier seated in his office room also joined the policemen to "rescue" the victim Liton from the hands of the RAB members who were "mistaken by the cops for the terrorists".
So Hasan, the "terrorist" the RAB boyz were looking for, is a friendly source of Mofazzal the cop.
Sources said, the policemen allegedly dragged the two RAB men into the office room of the additional SP and detained them there. The policemen did not instantly believe that they were the members of RAB, though they had identified themselves as RAB members by showing their identity cards.
"You can't detain us, we're with the RAB! Here's our ID!" "Bullshit, I've seen better ID's than that in a Cracker Jack box."
While the police and RAB men were locked in the fight, someone from them shot two rounds into the air, which created panic in the neighbourhood at night.
"Hit the deck!"
A subsequent enquiry has revealed that Hasan fired two rounds into the air by using the personal pistol of Mofazzal.
That would be Hasa the terrorist-friend-informer. Think Eddie Murphy to Mofazzal's Nick Nolte in "48 Hours"
On hearing about the untoward incident, a posse of uniformed RAB members arrived at the spot and identified the two detainees as the RAB men who were earlier assigned to nab Hasan. RAB had prior information that Hasan, wanted by them, frequently visits the additional SP at his office chamber.
So they've been watching the station waiting for him to show.
Some sources said that RAB members wanted to take Hasan from his chamber to their Khalishpur camp but the additional SP showed reluctance to hand him over to the elite anti-crime force.
Because he didn't want his friendly source to end up as a crossfire victim.
Hasan was handed over to RAB after the SP and DIG of police had asked Mofazzal to do so.
Pulled rank on him.
Both Hasan and Liton have claimed to the police officials that Mofazzal was their "friend", sources said, adding that Hasan also acted as a "source" of the police officer.
So Liton isn't a cop, he's another "source".
Hasan was arrested by RAB from the additional SP's chamber but Liton was released.
When contacted, Deputy Commissioner (HQ) of KMP Akbar Ali said that there is no case against Hasan. SP of Khulna district Habibur Rahman also said that there was no complaint against Hasan.
So he's not wanted for anything, the RAB must just want to "talk with him".
The director of RAB-6 Lt Col Farhad Ahmed could not be reached over telephone for his comments on the incident despite several attempts by this correspondent.
Must be too busy responding to the investigation into all those crossfire incidents. They have dropped off lately.
However, some sources said that Hasan was allegedly involved in the hurling of a bomb at Khulna reporter of daily Jugantar Dip Azad near Moilapota crossing of the city on January 4. The newsman escaped unhurt, as the bomb did not explode. Hasan was allegedly linked to the outlaws.
The best sources normally are.
DIG of police, Khulna range M A Aziz Sarkar said that he had held a preliminary enquiry into the incident this morning, as it occurred in the SP's office under his jurisdiction. He refused to give any information about the matter.
Some police sources said, additional SP Mofazzal earned laurels in the police department after he had played a pioneering role in the arrest of several outlaws including two top leaders of the underground parties. The captured outlaws including their leaders died in separate crossfire incidents in the district.
Hummm, I wonder if he's dirty or he arrested them in good faith and then the RAB takes them out and shoots them? That would explain the bad blood.
No case has been filed by any party with Khulna thana in connection with yesterday's incident till 7-30 pm. RAB-6 has also not issued any press release over it. Hasan who was arrested by RAB last night, is yet to be handed over to the police.
Alas, poor Hasan, we hardly knew you.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/16/2005 1:09:52 PM ||
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If I was Hasan, I'd stay home at night...but I wouldn't sleep.
It's a trend -- first Australia, now Britain! The Government is refusing to issue passports to some of the Britons released from Guantanamo Bay last month under a rarely used law. Home Secretary Charles Clarke used powers under the Royal Prerogative to deny passport facilities to Martin Mubanga and Feroz Abbasi, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme said. It is not known whether the other two British detainees, Richard Belmar and Moazzam Begg, have also been refused passports under the powers, only used 13 times since 1947 and for the last time in 1976. The Home Office's letter to Mr Mubanga, a 32-year-old former motorcycle courier from Wembley, north London, who was arrested in Zambia and sent to the US base in Cuba, said the Home Secretary has the power to refuse passport facilities "if past or proposed activities were so demonstrably undesirable that the granting of the passport would be contrary to the public interest".
One police officer has been reported killed and three other officers injured in a bomb explosion in the southern Russian republic of Daghestan, which borders war-ravaged Chechnya. ITAR-TASS quoted an official in the republican Interior Ministry as saying a device containing the equivalent of some 500 grams of TNT went off last night as the police officers' vehicle passed by some 200 meters from a police building in Makhachkala, the Daghestani capital. Russian authorities announced today that special-forces troops killed six rebels in Chechnya overnight in an effort to preempt attacks on Russian forces.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:31:30 AM ||
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One of the closest accomplices of Chechen separatist warlord Shamil Basayev was detained in the Oktyabr district of the Chechen capital on Monday, a source at the headquarters of the federal forces in the North Caucasus told Tass on Tuesday. He said the detained bandit had engineered crimes against residents of the republic. Upon arrest he expressed readiness to cooperate with the authorities and told the investigators about a cache hidden near the village of Assinovskaya in the republic's Sunzha district. "The operatives have removed from the cache a grenade launcher, cartridges and other ammunition," the source said.
A mixed group comprising Chechen and Dagestani policemen detained another gunman in the Dagestan city of Khasavyurt. Law enforcers have information that the detainee took part in the attack on the police security post Gerzel in early February. One policeman was killed and three others were wounded in the assault. Operatives found two mortar shells and a CD with extremist recordings in the man's house.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:30:27 AM ||
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An Algerian Islamic radical arrested in France has proved a goldmine for investigators probing Osama bin Laden's militant network in Europe in the wake of the September 11 attacks, magistrates told AFP. French investigators now believe that after key testimonies from a handful of well placed members of bin Laden's al-Qaeda network the exiled Saudi extremist's secret organisation in Europe is unravelling fast.
Since his arrest in Paris last Monday 27-year-old Yacine Aknouche has revealed his links with several al-Qaeda suspects including "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged "20th hijacker" arrested ahead of September 11, the lawyers said. And his address book has been revealed as a virtual Who's Who of hardline Islamic radicals and terror attack suspects, the astonished investigators claimed, making Aknouche a vital link in a series of interlinked investigations. "Such a testimony is extraordinary," an investigator told AFP.
Officers of the French domestic intelligence agency, the DST, arrested Aknouche and two other suspects based in a Paris-region flat as part of an inquiry into a thwarted attack on Strasbourg in December 2000. An Islamic commando based in Frankfurt, western Germany, was said to have planned a spectacular bomb attack on the city centre while a Christmas market was being held in front of the cathedral in the eastern French city. But when officers began questioning the suspect they found he had information on many more figures in the violent Islamist underground. Sources told AFP that Aknouche recounted to officers how he had met both Reid and Moussaoui in 2000 at an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. Aknouche also claimed to have met Ahmed Ressam in Afghanistan, this time in 1998. According to the French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche, the type of explosives carried by Ressam matched the type found in Reid's shoe on the Miami flight and a batch held by a group who planned to attack the US embassy in Paris.
This article starring:
AHMED RESAM
al-Qaeda in Europe
RICHARD REID
al-Qaeda in Europe
YACINE AKNUCHE
al-Qaeda in Europe
ZACARIAS MUSAUI
al-Qaeda in Europe
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:59:49 AM ||
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At least 18 people were injured and 70 others detained across Turkey yesterday when police clashed with Kurdish activists at demonstrations marking the capture of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan six years ago. The most troubled protest was in Diyarbakir where 15 people were hurt. "End the isolation," read banners held by a crowd of some 300 activists, referring to Ocalan's solitary confinement on a prison island in northwestern Turkey since his capture in Kenya on February 15, 1999. Kurdish activists have long been calling for Ocalan's transfer to an ordinary jail, but their appeals have so far fallen on deaf ears in Ankara.
Some of these boyz were blowing innocents up, they get no sympathy from me.
Police moved on the demonstrators, using the famous Turkish number seven truncheons and tear gas, when they refused to disperse after reading out a Press statement and demanded to also stage a march and a sit-in. The injured included policemen hurt by stones hurled by the crowd. In Istanbul, riot police sprayed pepper gas on a crowd of several hundred people who attempted to march to the Greek consulate to denounce Greece's role in Ocalan's capture.
Bet the police had to think about that one. Spray the crazy demonstrators or let 'em at the Greeks?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The 37-year-old imam, identified only as El Beih, had preached sermons in which he called the United States the "true terrorists" and a "Satan" that threatened the Islamic world, state Interior Minister Heribert Rech said. The imam also called for people to be willing to fight and die for Islam, Rech said. "There is no place in our country for people like this, and they must leave Germany as quickly as possible," Rech said.
Pack up your sermons and your seething...and ooze on back to Cairo.
The imam emigrated to Germany in 2001 and gave the sermons in question in 2003 and 2004 at the Multicultural House in the southern city of Neu-Ulm, Rech said. The Multicultural House has been under observation for years by authorities, who say it is a magnet for Islamic extremists across Germany. Those associated with it have had contacts with top terror suspects in Germany, including Osama bin Laden's suspected finance chief Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, arrested on a U.S. warrant in the area in 1998. Salim, 46, was deported and is in custody in New York awaiting trial on conspiracy charges in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, which killed 224 people. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison last year for stabbing a prison guard in the eye with a sharpened comb. El Beih was supposed to have been deported in early December, but the process was delayed after he filed a plea for asylum. After a court rejected the application, he was taken into custody Friday and flown from Frankfurt to Cairo on Monday, Rech said.
WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed federal judge Michael Chertoff as the nation's second Homeland Security secretary on Tuesday, placing the tough-on-terrorism former prosecutor in charge of a bureaucracy prone to infighting and turf wars. Chertoff, 51, has promised to balance protecting the country with preserving civil liberties as head of the sprawling agency that was created as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
The 98-0 vote came nearly two weeks after Chertoff faced pointed questioning from Democrats about his role in developing the U.S. investigation immediately after the attacks. Few expected Chertoff to face widespread opposition in the Senate. But his confirmation was delayed by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., to protest being denied Justice Department information about the treatment of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.
Known as a fiery, wiry workhorse, Chertoff had previously been confirmed three times — as a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge, Justice Department assistant attorney general and U.S. attorney in New Jersey. Chertoff replaces Tom Ridge, who stepped down Feb. 1.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Or, as the Detroit News would say, "The Senate confirmed Michael Chertoff by a narrow margin."
#3
No doubt they had to push the other headline "2004 Presidential Race Still Unclear" back to page A2. Funny that no Dems fell on their sword against this nomination? After all that bluster they vote yay?
EFL
Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza, commander of the Phillipine military's Southern Command, flew by helicopter with local officials to Bitan-ag, a fortified hinterland camp near Panamao town that troops wrested from armed followers of jailed Muslim rebel leader Nur Misuari after days of fierce gunbattles.
About 100 to 200 gunmen apparently abandoned Bitan-ag, a sprawling training encampment with two wooden watch towers, underground bomb shelters, a parade ground and a one-story building that served as headquarters and home of rebel commander Habier Malik. Two large portraits of Misuari adorned the walls. Malik was reportedly wounded in a clash but was not captured.
Troops were pursuing the gunmen, who fled in small groups toward Jolo's mountainous center as the military moved in Tuesday afternoon. About 3,000 soldiers and marines have been pursuing Misuari's followers _ backed by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas _ since they attacked an army detachment in Panamao on Feb. 7, provoking clashes that killed 27 soldiers and wounded 72 others. Troops have killed 37 gunmen and wounded scores of others, the military said.
Arroyo's office said that it was studying a proposal for her to place Jolo and other violence-wracked regions under a state of emergency, which would give her more power to use the military to deal with security threats. Leftist groups have denounced the proposal, saying it would endanger their ability to have gun sex and terrorize the locals democracy.
Soldiers positioned north of Metro Manila have been directed to anticipate the springing into action of covert Islamic extremists belonging to alleged "sleeper cells" of a shadowy terrorist group operating in the Luzon island.
Lt. Col. Vic Castro, intelligence chief of the Armed Forces' Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), revealed here on Tuesday before participants of the two-day seminar-workshop on the government's proposed National Internal Security Plan (NISP) that the military is now also on the lookout for "terrorist sleepers" aligned with the Jeemah Islamiya (JI).
According to him, it has been three years now that the "sleepers" have been detected to be operating in the provinces of Tarlac, Pangasinan, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, and that these purported "covert terrorists" have been using the "Balik-Islam" movement of the Filipino-Muslim community as a camouflage for their operations.
Castro claimed that with the raging revolt in Sulu by a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) loyal to jailed former Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Nur Misuari, it is likely that the RSRM-HKT would "leap into action and carry out terroristic activities."
He added that as the renegade MNLF fighters have already established an alliance with Islamic extremists belonging to the Abu Sayyaf, it is probable that the RSRM-HKT will similarly take advantage of the Sulu revolt and launch "sympathy attacks" in Luzon.
It was in Tarlac City when the shadowy Luzon-based terrorist group was first detected after police authorities engaged seven of its suspected members in a shootout in a transport terminal on May 1, 2002. The encounter then led to the killing of Khalid Amir Trinidad, a Muslim convert, after whom the HKT was named. At the time, Trinidad and his colleagues were allegedly planning to terrorize Tarlac City by lobbing grenades on commercial establishments.
While the Valentine's Day explosions in the Mindanao cities of Davao and General Santos could be the handiwork of the MNLF-Misuari faction and the Abu Sayyaf, Castro said it was only the RSRM-HKT that has the capability to launch the Makati City bombing.
Meanwhile, the underground Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has expressed skepticism if indeed the bombings in the cities of Davao, General Santos and Makati were undertaken by any of the country's Filipino-Muslim rebel groups. CPP senior spokesman, Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, said that the Valentine's Day bombings "do not serve any democratic or pro-people cause. nor the Moro people's cause for self-determination."
The communist spokesman added that, at the most, the terrorist bomb attacks "serve only to justify the intensification of fascist suppression and the employment of terror to preempt the burgeoning people's resistance against the Arroyo regime" and that these "also serve to justify the escalation of US military intervention and give credence to the so-called 'war against terror' of the imperialist US government."
Rosal said that like in previous bombings, the recent acts of terrorism in the two key Mindanao cities and the country's financial district "can only be the handiwork of elements or agents that wittingly or unwittingly serve the cause of the militarists and US interventionists."
This article starring:
Communist Party of the Philippines
Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal
KHALID AMIR TRINIDAD
Hukbong Khalid Trinidad
Lt. Col. Vic Castro
NUR MISUARI
Moro National Liberation Front
Abu Sayyaf
Hukbong Khalid Trinidad
Jeemah Islamiya
Moro National Liberation Front
Rajah Solaiman Revolutionary Movement
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:36:13 AM ||
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Philippine police issued a warning on Wednesday of plots to bomb crowded public markets in Manila, two days after three coordinated blasts killed 11 people in the capital's business district and two southern cities.
Police were also checking reports a 10-year-old boy was used to sneak a bag with explosives past security at a bus terminal in Davao on Monday evening. Witnesses said a man then collected the bag and planted the bomb that killed another boy, aged 12.
"We've picked up intelligence two days ago about plots to bomb several public markets in Metro Manila," Avelino Razon, the capital's police chief, told reporters.
"We can't disregard this information."
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo vowed on Tuesday to "wipe out" Abu Sayyaf, a small Muslim rebel group linked to al Qaeda that claimed the three explosions in crowded public places on Valentine's Day.
Arroyo made similar war cries a year ago after more than 100 people were killed when a bomb planted by Abu Sayyaf sank a ferry at the mouth of Manila Bay.
Nearly 5,000 troops have been in fierce fighting with about 800 Abu Sayyaf rebels and rogue members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) on the remote southern island of Jolo since Feb. 7, when the militants ambushed an army convoy.
The MNLF signed a peace deal with the government of the mainly Roman Catholic country in 1996, but some disaffected members formed alliances with Abu Sayyaf.
Brigadier-General Agustin Dema-ala, the military commander on Jolo, told reporters 70 to 100 rebels had been killed in nine days of clashes. Nearly 30 soldiers were dead, he said.
The rebels claim they attacked the troops in retaliation for the killing of a Muslim family during military operations.
A senior Abu Sayyaf leader said his group had carried out Monday's bombings, but army and police intelligence officials say they are also exploring a possible role by Jemaah Islamiah, a shadowy regional network of militants associated with al Qaeda.
"We cannot accept the Abu Sayyaf's claim hook, line and sinker," Edgardo Aglipay, the national police chief, said on Tuesday. "We want our findings to be backed by evidence."
Investigators said two of the bombs had been remotely detonated, using mobile phones. Fragments of C-4 explosive, dynamite and an 81mm mortar shell were among the materials used, they said.
Two teams of forensic experts from the Australian police are due to arrive this week to help the investigation, looking for any similarities with previous attacks in the region by Jemaah Islamiah, particularly in neighbouring Indonesia.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:14:33 AM ||
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The government is eyeing the possibility that several groups have formed a new terrorist alliance that could have been responsible for the Valentine's Day bombings. The name of al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has come up anew in the wake of the bombings.
Sources in the intelligence community said yesterday JI-trained militants may have linked up with renegade supporters of Muslim rebel leader Nur Misuari to carry out last Monday's bombings in Makati City and Mindanao.
In Manila, police officials did not rule out the possibility that the group has also linked up with the Abu Sayyaf and some elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. "It was one cell of the Jemaah Islamiyah that coordinated with Misuari's MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) and launched the bombings," a highly reliable source told The STAR.
COULD one of the explosions that killed seven people and wounded about 150 in the Valentine's Day carnage that jolted the country have been planted by a child bomber? Or was the boy, aged about 10, merely used by the plotters to carry out their deadly attacks?
Police said the boy had left a bag apparently containing explosives in front of the Ecoland terminal in Davao City on Monday morning. Moments later, the bag exploded, killing one person and wounding five others. It had contained TNT laden with shrapnel. Police are now hunting the child, described as about 4 feet tall with medium build and dark brown
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:44:31 AM ||
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Police are now hunting the child, described as about 4 feet tall with medium build and dark brown
Maybe I am just insensitive to the sublties of police work, but does this not describe 50% +/- of the children in the Philippines?
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/16/2005 9:42 Comments ||
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#2
Frankly, I'm shocked at the level of profiling. It's insensitive to children, brown people, boys, and those who are 4 ft tall with a medium build. They should just say that they are looking for somebody.
A former leader of the rebel faction Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan (HMB) was wounded while his son and three others were killed when ambushed by still unidentified men of the evening of Valentine's Day in a barangay. Chief Inspector Ferdinand Perez, town police chief, said Rudy "Bon" Alejandrino, ex-Hukbo commander, his wife Maria Lourdes, and another companion, Rolando Espino, were wounded when heavily armed men peppered their vehicle with bullets. Alejandrino's 21-year-old son Vladimir, a certain Jason P. Hernandez, a certain Josep, and van driver Pablo DC Escano of Nueva Ecija were killed. Two other individuals in the van, Edith DJ Takana and her son Mark Bryan, were unscathed.
The group was traversing Barangay Sto. Rosario when the incident happened. They were on their way to Candating in Arayat town. Perez said the incident happened around 7 p.m. at the Spillway Bridge, barely half a kilometer away from the Mexico town center. Initial police reports said a vehicle with several men on board had tailed Alejandrino's group when it drove off from SM City Pampanga. When the group reached the Spillway, several armed men, who were positioned underneath the bridge's approach, opened fire at their vehicle, killing the four victims. Bystanders said some members of Alejandrino's group, also heavily armed, were able to return fire at the attackers. It was not clear, however, if there were any casualties on the assailants' side.
Perez said after the brief exchange of gunshots, the attackers fled. The wounded Alejandrino and his companions were then rushed to the V.L. Makabali Hospital in the City of San Fernando. Several meters from the crime scene, local residents scampered for safety at the start of the gunfire. Strangers sought cover in a local medical clinic near where the shooting occurred. Recovered from the crime scene, reports bared, were 36 empty shells, nine live ammunitions for M16 rifle, and 1 empty shell for M203 rifle. Assorted ammunitions, including a Colt 1911 .45 caliber pistol, with serial no. 32294, and a Llama Mark II 9 mm. caliber pistol, with SN 07-04-03179-98, were recovered from the victims' van, police said.
I wager that's a bit more ordnance than is typically recovered in Bangladesh.
The police could not readily verify if rivalry among insurgent groups led to the Spillway assault. Hukbo is reportedly one of the dominant rebel factions that operate in Arayat and other towns in Pampanga's third district. After the incident, Mayor Teddy C. Tumang immediately issued a statement calming the local folk and investors as he said the incident was an isolated case. "Basically, the peace and order situation in our town is manageable. We would like to assure the public that what happened last night (Monday) was a rare incident," Tumang as he explained that the parties involved in the armed violence were not from his town.
Senior Superintendent Leonrado Espina, provincial police director, immediately ordered Superintendent Keith Singian, provincial mobile group chief, to conduct hot pursuit operations against the gunmen while members of Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco), under Inspector Laming, investigated the crime scene.
"Make sure you take them out to the docks, or back behind the sneaker factory at around three a.m."
Espina, in a text message, said Alejandrino and his wife are now "out of danger", while their son and two other companions were brought to the Funenaria Punzalan in the City of San Fernando. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the ambush. Espina added he ordered the chief of police to conduct follow-up operations for the possible filing of multiple murder and frustrated murder charges against the gunmen.
This article starring:
JASON P. HERNANDEZ
Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan
MARIA LURDES
Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan
ROLANDO ESPINO
Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan
RUDY "BON" ALEJANDRINO
Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan
Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/16/2005 12:12:19 AM ||
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Missile fire reported from unidentified aircraft over E. Iranian town of Dailam 300km from Afghan border Wednesday afternoon. Tehran TV has interrupted broadcasts for running reports. More details awaited of incident. Oil prices jumped by $1 to past $48 pbd after first news. Tehran TV has interrupted broadcasts for running reports. Tehran TV has interrupted broadcasts for running reports. Attack follows announcement of Iranian-Syrian common front "to face threats." Iranian VP Aref said in Tehran after talks with Syrian PM al-Otari: We are ready to help Syria on all grounds to confront threats.
BBC Reporting: An unexplained large explosion has been heard in the southern province of Bushehr, according to a report on Iranian state TV.
There is confusion over the cause of the blast, which is said to have occurred near the port town of Dailam on the Gulf coast.
One report quoted witnesses as saying they saw a missile fired by a plane.
Another said it may have been caused by a fuel tank dropping from an Iranian plane in the region.
Posted by: legolas ||
02/16/2005 9:06:25 AM ||
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#1
Fox News is also reporting that Iran state TV is reporting this.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/16/2005 10:04 Comments ||
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#6
Debkas latest headline below seems to indicate that Iran has absoulutey no idea what the hell is going on ...
Mystery deepens over big explosion above S. Iranian town of Deylam south of Bushehr Wednesday. Iranâs Revolutionary Guards now deny any attack or even a falling aircraft fuel tank.
Heard of spontaneous combustion, now we have spontaneous explosion.
#9
Now they say it was an Iranian jet dropping a fuel tank. Sheesh. Tell me these folks are not jumpy?! Ther fuel tank may have made a small boom, but it aint nothing compared to what will come to them one day. and during daylight? and one plane they can see?
Please Iran, if you are going to worry about US or Israeli planes coming to get you, worry about it at night, when your all warm and comfy in your bed. That is the time to jump at the strange noises in the sky.
#11
nada - Heh, sure they didn't say "goddamned" construction?
Can you imagine the hysteria in the meetings between the construction people and the Mad Mullahs? Lol! That must almost be as bad as dealing with a major US bank.
Exactly. Still our more sophisticated friends in the EU aren't worried about nukes in the hands of this ilk, so I guess that means we shouldn't be. Right?
EU-take a good long gander at this incident and Iran's reaction.
#13
Actually, other Iranian sources say that it wuz groundhogs... which infested dynamite sticks repository and while frolicking, one of the tails charged with static electricity ignited a fuse.
They could've said that. But I was only half-listening. Bridget Quinn was reporting, and she annoys me. If Kieren Chetry reported, I'd have all the details. Hell, Stephanie Abrams from the Weather Channel would grab my attention with headlines more than Bridget Quinn. But I digress...
#16
My first thought was that the Iranians had fired a antiaircraft missile at a US drone, but the SAM malfunctioned and fell out of the sky and blew up somewhere, leaving the people there thinking they were under attack. But as more details come out, it seems like there aren't even any missiles involved, the whole thing is just a misunderstanding. Oh well.
"An airplane flew over Deylam today. Minutes later, there was an explosion," spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani told The Associated Press.
"But we have no reason to say it's a hostile attack. There is a big possibility that it was a friendly fire by mistake. Several such mistaken friendly fire incidents have been reported there in recent days."
#20
Reminds me of how we had the Iraqis pretty jumpy there just before the major invasion kicked off. Get em looking over their shoulder - they never see the fist that that breaks their nose.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/16/2005 12:08 Comments ||
Top||
#21
And now there's this...
TEHRAN (Reuters) - An explosion in south Iran, initially reported as caused by a missile, was blasting work during the construction of a dam, a senior military officer confirmed to state television on Wednesday.
#22
An explosion in south Iran, initially reported as caused by a missile, was blasting work during the construction of a dam, a senior military officer confirmed to state television on Wednesday.
Sure it was. I've managed to lose 50 pounds, and you should see my long, blonde, curly hair.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2005 13:47 Comments ||
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#23
And now there's this:
TEHRAN, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Iran's state run media said a powerful explosion Wednesday was caused by debris falling from one of its own aircraft, Israel's Ha'aretz reported. Initially, Iran's Arabic language Al-Alam newspaper quoted witnesses in Dailam in the Bushehr province as saying a " missile was fired from an unknown plane (12 miles) from the city." Soon after, however, state run media said a missile was not involved.
Story keeps changing, I wonder if they shot down one of their own planes?
Posted by: Steve ||
02/16/2005 14:10 Comments ||
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#24
was blasting work during the construction of a dam,
#6
What if, instead of destroying the entire Iranian nuclear infrastructure at one, it was destroyed a piece at a time. They couldn't possibly protect all 350 sites at once. And it you went after particularly hard to replace components, it would put a major crimp in their operations.
#7
Iran has announced to shoot down drones. But you have a point Anonymoose. The strategy could be "death by a thousand cuts" unless the Iranians lose their nerves and attack US installations.
#10
Does this have the old Roosevelt North Atlantic (circa 1940-41)strategy feel to it? Slowly increase the number of craft in the area to provoke the other side to do something stupid?
A fuel tank falling from an Iranian plane could have caused an explosion in Iran's Bushehr province, where the country is building a nuclear power plant, Iran state television said on Wednesday.
"A local source said the explosion could have been the result of the falling of an empty fuel tank from an Iranian plane," Al-Alam said.
The Arabic-language channel also quoted other witnesses as saying that an unknown aircraft fired a missile on Wednesday in a deserted area near the southern city of Dailam, which is in Bushehr province.
Iran's Interior Ministry spokesman said he could not confirm earlier television reports there had been an explosion in the area nor confirm anti-aircraft fire in the region, which is about 60 miles north of the Bushehr nuclear facility.
Reports of anti-aircraft fire followed by an explosion, followed by a cock-and-bull story about a discarded fuel tank exploding.
Somebody's awfully nervouse over there, and somebody else is horribly embarassed.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/16/2005 9:35 Comments ||
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#20
My guess is that they tried to swat a drone with something a bit oversized for the job. They'd really like to have some drone parts to show off right now.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/16/2005 9:37 Comments ||
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#21
I don't know enough about these things. Does a drone look like an aircraft? Aren't they tiny, like toy planes?
#22
Some drones look like Dan Rather, but most look like aircraft. A dropped fuel tank causing any explosion is extremely unlikely. I like the theory that this was a large SAM trying to kill a small drone, and missing completely. Maybe we sold Iran some of our old Gulf War model Patriots.
#23
DEBKA reporting: Mystery deepens over big explosion above S. Iranian town of Deylam south of Bushehr Wednesday. Iranâs Revolutionary Guards now deny any attack or even a falling aircraft fuel tank.
This makes me feel the "fired SAM at drone and missed" theory is correct. They don't want to look foolish so it didn't happen.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/16/2005 9:53 Comments ||
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#24
heh! Their big moment to light off their announcement of a common front with Syria and utter failure. Should raise the hair on the back of their be-turbaned necks as they get some inkling of how this war is inclined to go.
#26
Note to Iranian Defense Minister: Have some "drone debris" ready for future use
I like Bossman's reference: show Gunga Dan's head on live TV
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2005 10:00 Comments ||
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#27
Could be Iranian ordnance falling back to earth - a lot of this kind of thing happened in Iraq before the invasion and the damage was blamed on the US. I can't imagine a pinprick attack by Uncle Sam. Massed attacks against individual targets work better because they overwhelm the static local air defenses.
#29
Russia hasn't delivered the fuel, yet. Recall a couple of months ago there were a few stories on how that was to be accomplished - and that Russia would expect to have all outstanding bills paid before that happened, heh.
#30
Crude Babelfish and grammar correction fromn the original report.
i.e. Nobody know nothing.
Official Iranian statement
There was an explosion close to the atomic power plant under construction according to official Iranian News Agency. The explosion was close to the south Iranian port Dailam, where Iran operates an atomic power plant. This was communicated by a representative of the national security council Iran to the Iranian press agency ISNA. Before the press release, Iranian revolution guards had already disclaimed a report of the national Iranian television, according to which, in the morning, an unknown airplane was reported to have fired a rocket close Dailam.
Eye-witnesses, had according to the TV report, had seen and heard the explosion from as far as approximately 20 kilometers from Dailam.
Also the report, which is explosion released by a tank, which dropped from an Iranian airplane, was disclaimed.
The message provided for much excitement. Briefly after becoming known,Israeli safety circuits announced that the Israeli military was not involved in the explosion in Iran. The Russian report in Teheran disclaimed the TV report. It does not say there was an attack on the atomic power plant in the province of Buschehr. The Interior and State Department in Teheran had explained likewise after the report, they would not know anything about an explosion.
#34
Could have actually been a drop-tank off a fighter. The Iranians do have (old and shabby) F-4s and F-14s. If the Iranians were flying CAP, and somehow thought they had an inbound target for intercept (nervous ATC spooking at drones/weatherballons/UFOs?), the first thing the pilot should do is punch off the centerline tank (reduces drag for the furball).
#35
Wouldn't it be neat if the opposition or some clando group made a big-assed explosion out in the middle of the desert, just to make a Big Bang and sow a bit of confusion amid the MMs? Just whipped out that theory for s & g.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/16/2005 22:04 Comments ||
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#36
The tyrants who misrule the Persian terrorist entity, attribute the explosion to construction crews, who were using dynamite. SAY DOOM!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2005 22:32 Comments ||
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#39
Hey! Abusive comments - especially from human-wallpaper who NEVER post articles because they mistake Rantburg for a Yahoo wank-forum - are prohibited by Fred and Ethel. Deliquency detracts from the security-focus of this forum. You sk8r trolls should pop your pimples elsewhere.
A statement attributed to al Qaeda and posted on the Internet on Tuesday denied Islamists had killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, saying Lebanese, Syrian or Israeli intelligence were behind the attack.
The statement, signed by a hitherto unknown group calling itself the Al Qaeda Organization in the Levant, was posted on an Islamist Web site often used by al Qaeda a day after another unknown Islamist group said it was behind the huge Beirut blast that killed Hariri.
The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified.
"Blaming the Jihadist and Salafist groups for what happened in Beirut is a complete fabrication," the statement said. "The priorities of the jihadist groups in the Levant are supporting our brethren in Iraq and Palestine, not blowing up cars."
"This is clearly an operation that was planned by a state intelligence agency ... and we blame either the Mossad, the Syrian regime or the Lebanese regime."
The Levant is the historical name for the region including today's Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
Hariri, a billionaire who masterminded the rebuilding of Lebanon after a 1975-90 civil war, was killed on Monday, four months after he resigned as prime minister after disputes with Lebanon's main powerbroker Syria.
Hours after the attack, Al Jazeera television aired a video tape from an unknown Islamist group calling itself the Group for Advocacy and Holy War in the Levant which said it had killed Hariri because of his ties to Saudi Arabia.
This article starring:
Al Qaeda Organization in the Levant
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:09:44 AM ||
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February 16, 2005: Cell phones are turning into a decisive weapon for defeating the Sunni Arab terrorists. As more Iraqis have cell phones (over 1.2 million so far), more are easily able to phone in reports of terrorist activity. This has led to more terrorists getting caught, and more attacks being aborted by police action. Moreover, many of the terrorists forget that cell phone calls can be tapped, and users quickly located. In the last two years, American intelligence organizations have compiled huge amounts of data on Sunni Arab groups, and those who used to work for Saddam, and apparently still support the cause of Sunni Arab dominance. These databases, updated constantly, provide new suspects who are rounded up during dozens of raids conducted daily. But the main enemy is still money. Again and again, terrorists and gunmen are caught in the act, interrogated, and found to be doing it for the cash. The Baath Party has always operated as a patronage machine, rewarding the faithful with a paycheck, or other favors. But even al Qaeda has set up a paid staff, to supervise the suicide bombers and help carry out their attacks.
Attacking the money isn't easy, as Baath has decades of experience in getting around the international banking system rules. Long established smuggling networks can get cash, major appliances, or weapons and people, into the country. That access is being attacked by building up the border patrol. Over a hundred border forts, and the establishment of a highway patrol. In the past, smugglers would cross the border at some remote, roadless, area, move to a main highway, and then drive to a major population center to deliver the smuggled goods. The border patrol forts, with their new electronic sensors and night vision equipment, plus the highway patrol stopping trucks and inspecting cargo and documents, will complicate smuggling operations considerably.
The Sunni Arabs were always better organized, and up for trying new things. Most of the scientists and engineers in Iraq are Sunni Arabs. Most new businesses are established by Sunnis Arabs. The first ones to adopt new ideas are Sunni Arabs. But within the Sunni Arab community there is a major debate over the wisdom of continuing to support "Arab Socialism" (the Baath Party). Even before the 2003 invasion shut down Saddam's tyrannical government, many Sunni Arabs were turning to Islamic radicalism. Others backed democracy, but the socialists and religious radicals were more willing to use force. Guns speak louder than ballots, or so the Baath and al Qaeda zealots thought. But day by day, more cell phone tips come into the police from Sunni Arabs. The calls report suspicious activities, possible suicide bombers or gunmen. These tips are also the result of fear. Most of the victims of the suicide bomb attacks have been Iraqis, often Sunni Arabs. Calling the cops also means reporting all manner of criminal behavior. Thieves, kidnappers and gangsters of all descriptions prowl Sunni Arab areas. The relative lack of police has made Sunni Arab neighborhoods gangster friendly, and the locals want to change it. With their new cell phones, they now have a weapon.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/16/2005 2:46:58 PM ||
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#1
Long established smuggling networks can get cash, major appliances, or weapons and people, into the country.
They're smuggling in refrigerators? That should make life easier for the border guards.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
02/16/2005 17:10 Comments ||
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#2
** GEEK ALERT **
I wonder what brand database software they are using?
They damned well better not be using DB2. God, what an abortion.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/16/2005 18:39 Comments ||
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#4
Oracle.
Some effort toward MySQL has been seen, but Oracle (mainly on Sun, with a few on RHEL) still rules the roost for new apps, Sybase on legacy stuff, and MySQL and PostgreSQL on the Linux boxes that are starting to populate like bunnies.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/16/2005 23:02 Comments ||
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#7
Oracle.
Some effort toward MySQL has been seen, but Oracle (mainly on Sun, with a few on RHEL) still rules the roost for new apps, Sybase on legacy stuff, and MySQL and PostgreSQL on the Linux boxes that are starting to populate like bunnies.
Some effort toward MySQL has been seen, but Oracle (mainly on Sun, with a few on RHEL) still rules the roost for new apps, Sybase on legacy stuff, and MySQL and PostgreSQL on the Linux boxes that are starting to populate like bunnies.
#3
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Does Abbas plan to do this exclusively by formal firing squad, or continue the tradition of random gunnies pulling the suspect out into the middle of the street to dispose of him? At least Amnesty International has protested such behaviour on occasion, for what it's worth.
#4
Amnesty International delegates were told that the Palestinian Authority had promised the European Union not to carry out any further executions. However, according to reports, at least 28 alleged collaborators have been killed by armed Palestinians in 2002.
So they lied? To the Europeans? Their friends? How can that be? It must be some mistake. It MUST be. . .
#5
Israel has not, AFAIK, made any requests of the PA as far as treatment of collaborators is concerned. That says to me they are aware of what a political hot button it is.
A videotape released on Wednesday showed a female Italian reporter, pleading for her life and asking the United States to pull out its occupying forces from Iraq. "You must end the occupation, it's the only way we can get out of this situation," Giuliana Sgrena said in the videotape, obtained by Associated Press Television News. Sgrena appeared alone in the brief footage, sobbing and clasping her hands, with a white background behind her. "I ask the Italian government, the Italian people struggling against the occupation, I ask my husband, 'Please, help me,'" Sgrena said in French. "You must do all you can to end the occupation. I'm counting on you, you can help me." French?
This article starring:
Giuliana Sgrena
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/16/2005 9:03:02 AM ||
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#3
The US occupation will end the minute the Iraqis sign on to a Status of Forces agreement. Then maybe the US, Iraq and Israel can form a new defense organization: The Middle EAst Treaty Organization, or MEATO.
#6
asked that all the pics she's taken of Iraqi children killed and maimed by the Infidel's cluster bombs be posted to save her life. She's in with them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2005 9:32 Comments ||
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#7
Well whaddya know. These guys say it was "by âcounterinsurgencyâ black op groupsânow admitted to be working in both Iraq and Iran by the Pentagonâposing as resistance fighters."
#10
This lady obviously has forgotten the lessons taught by the great Fabrizio Quattrochi. Assuming she learned those lessons in the first place which is doubtful.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
02/16/2005 10:09 Comments ||
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#11
the Middle EAst Treaty Organization, or MEATO.
MEATO would be neato!
/me pauses for a moment of silence to honor Fabrizio Quattrochi.
A COMMANDER of Taliban guerrillas in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan was captured and handed over to US forces last week after trying to hide in a well, the provincial governor said today. Mullah Mohammad Naeem was captured by Afghan forces in the village of Sia Sang in Uruzgan's Deh Rawud district on Friday, Jan Mohammad Khan told Reuters. "The raid was conducted on a house in Deh Rawud," he said. "The coward Taliban commander was hiding in a well." Khan said Naeem was a senior Taliban commander in the province and had been planning attacks on US-led forces. Khan said Naeem was close to Mullah Brother, one of two top military aides to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, and was responsible for many guerrilla attacks.
This article starring:
Jan Mohammad Khan
MULLAH BROTHER
Taliban
MULLAH MOHAMAD NAIM
Taliban
Taliban
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:26:23 AM ||
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#1
Well, well, well . . . deep undercover, eh?
Posted by: Mike ||
02/16/2005 6:32 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe they'll squeeze him for information - wring him dry - he could be a good source.
Four senior Taliban leaders have accepted a reconciliation offer from the Afghan government, a Western official with direct knowledge of the deal said Tuesday. Under the agreement, which the official said would likely be announced within days, the men recognized the legitimacy of President Hamid Karzai's government in exchange for assurances that they would not face arrest by Afghan or foreign security forces.
The official identified the four as Abdul Hakim Mujahid, formerly the Taliban's envoy to the United Nations; Arsullah Rahmani, the former deputy minister of higher education and a former commander in southeastern Paktika province; Rahmatullah Wahidyar, the former deputy minister of refugees and returnees; and Fawzi, the former charge d'affaires at the Afghan Embassy in Saudi Arabia and then first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan. Like many Afghans, Fawzi uses only one name.
These gents prefer to shelter at the Four Seasons in Islamabad over the brutal Afghan winter...
All four had fled to neighboring Pakistan after U.S. forces and Afghan militias drove the Taliban from power in late 2001, the official said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/16/2005 12:17:10 AM ||
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#1
Keep your enemies close as they say. This seems win/win to me. If they are bad boys, it will be easier to arrange a cross-fire accident close to home.
It's always best to put even your most radical elements into the electoral process. That way, the leaders will use all those "charity donations" to assure their own election rather than build bombs.
A nice title provides them the power and prestige they want badly enough to kill for, and eventually they get fat and lazy from feeding at the state trough. Their lemmings are placated with a place to send their checks and an occasional puppet and fist clenching parade.
Ultimately, that's probably more cost effective than fighting against them.
And remember, bub: if you start aiding the terrorists, we'll get Lyndie out of prison and re-leash you.
Seriously, like many of the low-level people in WWII Germany or Japan, I suspect lots of people were not actively engaged in atrocities. They were just keeping their heads down, doing their administrative job, and hoping they'd live long enough to get their pension.
Just as long as they don't take the money and forward it to the terrorists.
Israeli troops shot and killed two armed Palestinians seen approaching a West Bank settlement after dark Tuesday, the Israeli military said. The military said the incident occurred next to the settlement of Bracha, near the Palestinian city of Nablus, and both Palestinians were carrying assault rifles. Palestinian militants said the two belonged to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades cell from the Balata refugee camp. The cell is financed by the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, who oppose the truce. Al-Aqsa is nominally linked to the mainstream Fatah movement of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
#1
Ok, so the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, one of the armed branches of the PLO, which has been running the Palestinian Territories since Israel allowed Arafat and his flunkies to emigrate from Tunisia, now has cells financed by Hezbollah, which is a conduit of funds and orders from Iran.
It's just as well Abbas doesn't plan to crack down on the various and many terrorist organizations under his purview.
BAGHDAD - Shiite politician and former exile Ibrahim al-Jaafari emerged as the front-runner on Tuesday to become Iraq's new prime minister as horse-trading to decide who gets what job in the next government entered final stages. Jaafari, a physician and father of five, is the leader of the Dawa Party, one of two leading religious parties in the United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite led group which won 48 percent of the vote in Iraq's elections on Jan. 30. "The competition is still fierce but it appears so far that Jaafari will be the United Iraqi Alliance candidate because Dawa is insisting on him," a senior Shiite source told Reuters.
While short of the 60 percent the alliance had expected, the win puts the coalition in a commanding position to take the top job in the next government. A two-thirds majority is needed in the newly elected National Assembly to form a government.
The United Iraqi Alliance, which is blessed by top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is headed by Dawa and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), both of which opposed Saddam Hussein from exile in Iran. The source said SCIRI, headed by Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, had agreed to support Jaafari and withdraw its candidate, Finance Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, "to preserve the unity of the alliance", which some had feared could collapse after the vote.
But the source said a final deal was unlikely to be concluded on Tuesday as other details about the new government, including who gets which ministries, must still be worked out.
Analysts expect the Kurds, who took 25 percent of the vote, to play a key role in the talks as Iraqis look towards a reduction and eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Kurds' powerful showing puts them in a kingmaker role -- if they ally with the Shiite alliance, the pair would have more than two-thirds in the assembly. The Kurds have said they want Jalal Talabani, the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, to be Iraq's president. If that is the case, they are likely to support the Shiite list's choice for prime minister.
While the Shiite bloc won slightly less than half the vote, it could end up with about 140 seats in the assembly -- two more than a majority -- once all those votes that went to candidates who didn't get enough to secure a seat are redistributed. That could happen by the end of the week, provided the final tally is certified on Wednesday as expected.
The Kurds' second place showing means they will get around 70 seats in the assembly. A list headed by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi came third and will have about 40 seats. Sunni Arabs, most of whom either boycotted the vote or did not turn out because of violence, look set to get barely five seats in the assembly, leaving Iraq's once dominant minority out in the cold, raising fresh fears of sectarian attacks.
Or, as we saw in the news yesterday, a fresh appraisal of the Sunni strategy.
This article starring:
Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim
Adel Abdul-Mahdi
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
Dawa Party
Ibrahim al-Jaafari
Iyad Allawi
Jalal Talabani
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
United Iraqi Alliance
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The Kurdsâ powerful showing puts them in a kingmaker role -- if they ally with the Shiite alliance, the pair would have more than two-thirds in the assembly.
For all of the MSM handwringing, we really couldn't have asked for a better result.
#3
I agree that's a good thing, 2b. You can easily get your supermajority with the 2 or 3 largest groups, and they can work with each other. It's not like many countries, in which the big 2 hate each other.
You don't have the problem you often have with PR systems, in which your coalition depends on these little splinter groups with 3 or 4 members and a one-item agenda.
Two people including the custodian of a Sunni Muslim shrine were killed and at least ten were injured in a shooting in the Pakistani capital Tuesday, police said. Gunmen sprayed bullets at Raja Akram during a funeral at the Bari Imam shrinethe 14,287th holiest site in all Islam near the diplomatic compound and killed him instantly, police said. "Two are dead and ten people are injured including a policeman,"Â police officer Mohammad Faryad told AFP. The shooting comes four days after the start of the religious month of Muharram, when rival Shiite Muslims traditionally mourn a Seventh Century saint. The month has been marked by sectarian violence in recent years. "We don't know if it is a sectarian attack or the outcome of personal enmity," another officer Mohammad Basharat told AFP.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The shooting comes four days after the start of the religious month of Muharram, when rival Shiite Muslims traditionally mourn a Seventh Century saint.
As if they needed an excuse. You can just picture some reporter in the bar, pulling out his trusty pocket Muslim Religious Holiday Calendar, which no doubt shows a new Holy event starting daily, and saying, Well lookee here! This happened just before the start of Mourn a Seventh Century Saint Day. These events must be related!
QUETTA, Pakistan - Authorities in southwest Pakistan have arrested six suspects in connection with two massive sectarian attacks on Shiite Muslims in which 100 people died, police said Tuesday. The arrested men were members of Sipah-e-Sahaba, a banned group of extremists from the rival Sunni sect, Quetta police chief Pervez Rafi Bhatti told AFP.
The "banning" of Sipah has to be one of the most ineffectual gestures ever made by a government. Other than putting them on a list, I'm not aware of any move at all that was actually made to break them up or to jug the most violent members.
The attacks were both in Quetta. Fifty people were killed in suicide attack on a Shiite procession last March, while in July 2003 another suicide bombing on a Shiite mosque also left 50 worshippers dead. Bhatti said police raided several places in Dera Murad Jamali, southeast of Quetta, after a tip-off.
This article starring:
Pervez Rafi Bhatti
Sipah-e-Sahaba
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
I think you could round up several hundred Pakistanis randomly, and find at least a dozen or so that were members of one "terrorist" group or another. That's especially true in Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar, Islamabad, or Rawalpindi. The problem isn't rounding them up - the problem's keeping them from getting back on the street, uncontrolled and unobserved.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/16/2005 18:18 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Government is refusing to issue passports to some of the Britons released from Guantanamo Bay last month under a rarely used law. Home Secretary Charles Clarke used powers under the Royal Prerogative to deny passport facilities to 
officer has been reported killed and three other officers injured in a bomb explosion in the southern Russian republic of Daghestan, which borders war-ravaged Chechnya. ITAR-TASS quoted an official in the republican Interior Ministry as saying a device containing the equivalent of some 500 grams of TNT went off last night as the police officers' vehicle passed by some 200 meters from a police building in Makhachkala, the Daghestani capital. Russian authorities announced today that special-forces troops killed six rebels in Chechnya overnight in an effort to preempt attacks on Russian forces.
One of the closest accomplices of Chechen separatist warlord Shamil Basayev was detained in the Oktyabr district of the Chechen capital on Monday, a source at the headquarters of the federal forces in the North Caucasus told Tass on Tuesday. He said the detained bandit had engineered crimes against residents of the republic. Upon arrest he expressed readiness to cooperate with the authorities and told the investigators about a cache hidden near the village of Assinovskaya in the republic's Sunzha district. "The operatives have removed from the cache a grenade launcher, cartridges and other ammunition," the source said.
At least 18 people were injured and 70 others detained across Turkey yesterday when police clashed with Kurdish activists at demonstrations marking the capture of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan six years ago. The most troubled protest was in Diyarbakir where 15 people were hurt. "End the isolation," read banners held by a crowd of some 300 activists, referring to Ocalan's solitary confinement on a prison island in northwestern Turkey since his capture in Kenya on February 15, 1999. Kurdish activists have long been calling for Ocalan's transfer to an ordinary jail, but their appeals have so far fallen on deaf ears in Ankara. 
The 37-year-old imam, identified only as 
WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed federal judge Michael Chertoff as the nation's second Homeland Security secretary on Tuesday, placing the tough-on-terrorism former prosecutor in charge of a bureaucracy prone to infighting and turf wars. Chertoff, 51, has promised to balance protecting the country with preserving civil liberties as head of the sprawling agency that was created as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
A former leader of the rebel faction 
Israeli troops shot and killed two armed Palestinians seen approaching a West Bank settlement after dark Tuesday, the Israeli military said. The military said the incident occurred next to the settlement of Bracha, near the Palestinian city of Nablus, and both Palestinians were carrying assault rifles. Palestinian militants said the two belonged to the 
BAGHDAD - Shiite politician and former exile 
Two people including the custodian of a Sunni Muslim shrine were killed and at least ten were injured in a shooting in the Pakistani capital Tuesday, police said. Gunmen sprayed bullets at 
QUETTA, Pakistan - Authorities in southwest Pakistan have arrested six suspects in connection with two massive sectarian attacks on Shiite Muslims in which 100 people died, police said Tuesday. The arrested men were members of 
