Just a quick tech note before I go back to work I'm far, far behind on a project I've got to demo on Friday but I stole some code and now we have a working RSS feed. At least it works with Sharp Reader...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2005 12:33:46 PM ||
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Posted by: Matt ||
03/01/2005 13:42 Comments ||
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#3
Fred's got a job?
Jeez, Fred, how do you find the time to run (and tinker with) Rantburg, and work besides? I barely have time to skim the entries and drop in an occasional snark.
Fred - Superman of the Blogosphere! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/01/2005 13:49 Comments ||
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#4
Cool Stuff Fred!
To all,
for more info see,
http://my.yahoo.com/s/rss-faq.html#whatrss
What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." Itâs a format that web sites and blogs can use to send updated headlines to you via services like My Yahoo!. My Yahoo! gathers the content you select from a variety of sources and displays it for you in one convenient location. Syndication means you don't have to visit each site individually to see what's new -- you simply scan headlines or brief article summaries and click to read the full text. Thatâs the "really simple" part. And itâs "really simple" for publishers to make their content accessible this way too.
Because RSS is a relatively new format, not all sites currently syndicate their content in this way. However, many notable sites already do offer RSS, and every day the RSS offering grows. For example, news sites such as the Christian Science Monitor, the BBC, and CNet's News.com use RSS to syndicate news headlines and summaries. Other sites use RSS to alert customers of new products or upcoming events.
#5
Fred's Rantburg---Obsessive compulsive pursuit of excellence in content, formatting, code and convenience.
And achieving it!
Heh!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/01/2005 14:40 Comments ||
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#6
Fred; Hope I am not out of line using your first name? Rantburg is a great blog....thanks for all your efforts. You really deserve a great deal of applause for bringing all of us this great place!
Thanks
A Falls Church man accused of conspiring to assassinate President Bush met several times with an al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia who once was the target of a global manhunt and a key suspect in an attack that killed nine Americans in Riyadh, law-enforcement authorities said. Ahmed Omar Abul Ali, scheduled for a detention hearing tomorrow in federal court on charges of providing material support to al Qaeda, met with Zubayr al-Rimi in Saudi Arabia between September 2002 and June 2003. The meeting with al-Rimi, described as the second-ranking al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia, took place at the time the Bush assassination scheme was being discussed, authorities said.
Al-Rimi, also known as Sultan Jubran Sultan al-Qahtani, was identified in a Sept. 5, 2003, FBI bulletin to law-enforcement officials as one of four suspected al Qaeda terrorists thought to be planning unspecified attacks against U.S. interests. Less than three weeks after the bulletin was released, al-Rimi was killed in a Sept. 23, 2003, shootout with Saudi security forces during a raid on a hospital housing complex in Jizan, about 600 miles south of the Saudi capital of Riyadh. Two other Islamist militants and a Saudi police officer also were killed in the raid.
Al-Rimi, 29, was named as a key suspect in a suicide bombing in Riyadh in May 2003 that killed 34 persons, including nine Americans. The FBI said he was the top deputy of Ali Abd al-Ghamdi, the mastermind of the Riyadh bombings and the former top al Qaeda member in Saudi Arabia who surrendered to Saudi authorities in June 2003.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
ABDURRAUF JDEY
al-Qaeda
ADNAN G. EL SHUKRIJUMAH
al-Qaeda
AHMED OMAR ABUL ALI
al-Qaeda
ALI ABD AL GHAMDI
al-Qaeda
Edward MacMahon
KARIM EL MEJJATI
al-Qaeda
KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMED
al-Qaeda
MOHAMED ATEF
al-Qaeda
MOHAMED ATTA
al-Qaeda
SULTAN JUBRAN SULTAN AL QAHTANI
al-Qaeda
ZUBAIR AL RIMI
al-Qaeda
Islamic Saudi Academy
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 12:57:14 AM ||
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#1
and our press treats this guy like he was intending to put a cherry bomb in a mailbox. I read the courtroom had his friends and family clapping etc. in the courtroom. Enjoy it now, punk.
Terror suspect Saajid Badat has become the first al-Qaeda suspect to be convicted in Britain. Badat had trained as a suicide bomber in Afghanistan and Pakistan and had conspired with Richard Reid, the British man who became known as the shoe-bomber, to blow up an aircraft. Badat had been preparing to attack he had booked a flight to the United States, via Amsterdam. At the Old Bailey today he admitted that he had conspired to put an explosive device on a plane in the months after September 11 2001.
The 25-year-old said he had been given the training and the bomb in Afghanistan. The conviction comes the government tries to get its controversial anti-terrorist laws through parliament without compromise. Badat was arrested at his home in Gloucester in November 2003 - two years after another British man Richard Reid attempted to blow up an American Airlines flight to Miami. Police said that components of shoe bombs were found in Badat's home at the time of his British arrest and that "those components were found to be substantially similar to those in Reid's shoe bombs".
In fact the two devices were identical - even the detonating cord on both had been cut from the same roll. But Badat changed his mind and dismantled his own shoe bomb, which was designed to evade airport security, Richard Horwell, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
Richard Horwell
RICHARD REID
al-Qaeda
SAAJID BADAT
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 12:48:26 AM ||
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#1
AQ hasn't had much luck with their Anglo Jihadi's. Richard Reid - failed. Badat - failed. Only hat smug little loser from N.CA managed to kill a CIA agent. In 2001 I was on a train from LA to Chicago with a guy who looked exactly like Adam Pearlman, who claimed to have a shoe-bomb, which another passenger threw out of the train. He was supposed to be arrested - but Amtrack Keystone cops let him back on the train to DC.
#2
I think because most Anglos can see something wrong (or get a funny feeling) about other Anglos. With Arabs, or Arab-looking peoples, it's more difficult because even though you may be slightly suspicious, you don't want to make a fool of yourself harrassing a guy who may not be a terrorist, just because he's an Arab.
#5
just as an interesting side note - even though I suspect that this may have actually been Pearlman (he was unknown at the time) after demanding he not be put back on my train, I got a stern lecture by the Cop in charge about how if I caused any more problems, they would remove me from the train. Mind you, I was being very polite - not rude!
#7
Thanks for asking. Yes I did. It was New Years Eve, 2001. Jets were flying over the Sears Tower of Chicago, the terror threat was on high, and yet, as the train pulled in at the base of it â we were sitting with a man who claimed to have a bomb in his shoe that another passenger had thrown from the train.
This is true. You just canât make this stuff up.
This big, kinda fat, goofy guy, who (Iâd later learn) looked just like Pearlman, aggressively batted a magazine out of the hands of the guy sitting next to me. Awhile later, upon picking it up, he realized it had been sliced with some sort of blade that must have been hidden in his hand. So he asked to speak to the conductor and while he did, another passenger came up and noted that this guy had claimed to have a bomb in his shoe. This passenger asked him to see âthe shoe bombâ (they had been sitting together in the bar car much of the trip). When he obliged, the passenger pulled the battery out of it and threw it out of the trainâs window. The conductor was having a hard time believing this, so they called back to the station where he claimed to have thrown from the train and they confirmed that, indeed witnesses had seen something thrown from the train as stated, but what they found was just a water bottleâ¦.or something like that (which doesnât jive with having a battery attached)â¦but I digress.
So eventually, we were told they would arrest him. We passed several stops⦠and when we finally pulled into Chicago (BTW, the train stops at the base of the Sears Tower) the cops were waiting, but they let him walk right off the train. A long Keystone Cops episode followed, itâs all too funny â that culminated in the head cop telling me that if I continued to cause trouble they would remove ME from the train. (I was demanding they call the conductor, who had gone home already, and verify that he was supposed to be arrested and not let him back on the train to DC.)
Later last year, when I saw the FBI photos of Pearlman, I wrote them another letter (Iâd called them the night of the incident and wrote them a letter of complaint immediately after the incident) but heard nothing, and then after reading another news article adding to my suspicion, I called them. I was asked, âhave you seen him lately?â
âNoâ
âCall us back if you doâ.
I promiseâ¦this story is true. Only in a PC world.
An El Salvador man remained in federal custody Monday after he allegedly kidnapped his 22-month-old son from Houston and then tried to smuggle three Central American immigrants into the United States last week. Mexican authorities said they arrested Fredy Antonio Fuentes Gutierrez, 29, Thursday after they received information that he was staying in the area. Fuentes allegedly kidnapped his son from his mother Brenda Alvarez in Houston and took him to Mexico last week.
Alvarez could not be reached for comment Monday. Houston area law enforcement officials could not confirm the kidnapping report at press time. Fuentes remained in custody Monday at a federal prison west of Matamoros on charges of illegally entering Mexico. Officials with the Mexican federal attorney general's office said the El Salvador native could also face human smuggling charges for allegedly taking between $2,000 and $3,000 to smuggle three Central American immigrants into the United States. One of the immigrants identified Fuentes as a member of Mara Salvatruchas, a Central American gang accused of operating large smuggling rings with alleged connections to al-Qaida. Law enforcement officials said Monday they now believe that Fuentes might belong to a different gang. "He belonged to another gang," said Mario Rubiano Ruiz with the federal attorney general's office. "We didn't find any of the identifying tattoos for members of Mara Salvatruchas that we usually see such as the letters 'M-S' or the number '13.'"
Although Rubiano did not identify the suspected gang connection, he said they were just as dangerous as Mara Salvatruchas. U.S. Consul John Naland said a woman contacted the consulate early last week and told them that Fuentes had kidnapped their child and taken him to Mexico. The woman gave consulate officials the father and child's names as well as the hotel where they had been staying. Naland said the consulate passed the information to Mexican authorities. Cmdr. Omar AlanÃs with Tamaulipas State Police said his men found Fuentes and the three immigrants Thursday afternoon driving in a black Toyota Land Cruiser on the highway to Playa Bagdad near the intersection of Avenidas Teotihuacän and Lauro Villar. They were handed over to federal immigration authorities and are expected to return to their countries of origin. AlanÃs said his men arrested Fuentes and notified the American Consulate in Matamoros and met the child's mother at one of the international bridges. "Mexican police and immigration officials were very good in getting the child back to his mother," Naland said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 1:41:15 AM ||
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#1
if it turned out he wasn't from MS, why does the title claim another Mara Salvatrucha has been rolled up?
Seven Russian soldiers have been killed in clashes in separatist Chechnya in the past 24 hours, a source in the pro-Russian Chechen interior ministry has said. Russian positions came under attack 14 times as the Chechen rebel's unilateral ceasefire expired last week, with one soldier killed in shootouts, the source said in Vladikavkaz on Monday. Another soldier was killed and three injured when a Russian Ural truck came under attack on the outskirts of Grozny. Four men died and four were injured in a battle near the southern Chechen town of Nozhai-Yurt. Russian officials said two separatists were killed. And another soldier was killed and two were injured in a battle near the Chechen town of Itun-Kala, the source said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 1:44:34 AM ||
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LYNDEN, Wash. - A practical joke shut down U.S.-Canadian border crossing for nearly four hours just as the weekend was getting under way. A 42-year-old man was stopped at the border around 4:40 p.m. Friday. During an inspection of his vehicle, "a crude device thought to be an explosive" was found under a seat, Corporal Dale Carr of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a news release. The inspection area and a duty-free shop were immediately evacuated, spokeswoman Paula Shore with the Canadian Border Services Agency said. The RCMP closed southbound Highway 13, and, at Canada's request, U.S. officials closed their side of the border to vehicles northbound on Highway 539.
Investigators subsequently determined that the "suspicious device" was harmless, Carr said. Turns out the man's co-workers in Olympia had put ball bearings into a metal tube and crimped the ends. They placed the device in his vehicle to annoy him, the idea being that "it would create a rattle that the driver would find difficult to locate," he said. The man was questioned and released. He will not face charges, Carr said. It will be up to U.S. authorities to decide whether his co-workers face charges, Shore said. "It's not a good idea to play practical jokes at the border," said Shore, clearly not amused.
#1
He will not face charges, Carr said. It will be up to U.S. authorities to decide whether his co-workers face charges, Shore said. "Itâs not a good idea to play practical jokes at the border," said Shore, clearly not amused.
I don't see how or why the guy's co-workers should be charged, assuming that what was said about the intent to cause a difficult-to-locate rattle is true. "U.S. authorities" appear to be overreacting, which sadly, isn't all that unusual where the feds are concerned.
#2
an equally annoying prank is to place the thick, long zip ties around the driveshaft, so they slap against the floorboard as you drive, slowing or speeding as you go...
heh heh - we had a foreman take his truck to a AAmco to see what was wrong with his tranny ...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2005 14:37 Comments ||
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#3
It will be up to U.S. authorities to decide whether his co-workers face charges, Shore said. "Itâs not a good idea to play practical jokes at the border," said Shore, clearly not amused.
In California, after a court hearing, "pranksters" are usually "assigned" community service.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The US military appointed a three-star general to lead an investigation into abuse allegations at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, clearing the way for investigators to question a two-star general who once commanded the camp. Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt takes over for Brig. Gen. John Furlow, according to the US Southern Command in Miami, which oversees the camp in eastern Cuba.
The move would allow Schmidt to question Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, a two-star general who commanded the camp during many of the incidents detailed in recently released FBI memos that complain of "aggressive" interrogation techniques. Miller was in Guantanamo from October 2002 to March 2004 and was sent there to get more information from terror suspects. US military regulations require that an investigating officer must outrank anyone who is interviewed. Furlow requested that a more senior officer be appointed.
"I don't know who will be questioned, but this allows Schmidt to question a two-star general," Col. David McWilliams, a spokesman for Southern Command, said Monday.
Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, Southern Command's commander, has given until March 31 to complete the investigation.
The military maintains that most incidents detailed in the FBI memos occurred in 2002 when the prison was just opening, and that some of the interrogation techniques labeled as "aggressive" are no longer in use. Craddock opened an investigation in December after the release of the FBI documents. Some 70 people have been interviewed, officials said, and extensions have been given to allow for more potential witnesses to be interviewed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2005 12:12:21 AM ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Monday to either charge terrorism suspect Jose Padilla with a crime or release him after more than 2 years in custody. U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd in Spartanburg, S.C., said the government can not hold Padilla indefinitely as an ``enemy combatant,'' a designation President Bush gave him in 2002. The government contends Padilla was planning an attack with a ``dirty bomb'' radiological device.
``The court finds that the president has no power, neither express nor implied, neither constitutional nor statutory, to hold petitioner as an enemy combatant,'' Floyd wrote in a 23-page opinion that was a stern rebuke to the government. Floyd, appointed by Bush in 2003, gave the administration 45 days to take action.
``We think that this is a wonderful decision,'' said Padilla's attorney, Andy Patel, as Padilla waited on another line. ``It is one of those moments that all Americans should be proud of.'' Justice Department spokesman John Nowacki said the government will appeal the decision.
Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, called Floyd's order a significant blow to the administration. ``It's a genuine limitation on the president's belief that he can do what he wants in the war on terror,'' said Ratner, whose group represents scores of detainees at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The administration has said Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States in addition to planning an attack with a ``dirty bomb'' radiological device. Padilla was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in 2002 after returning from Pakistan. The federal government has said he received weapons and explosives training from members of al-Qaida.
``If everything you say about Jose Padilla is true, prove it,'' said Denyse Williams, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in South Carolina, which has filed a brief in support of Padilla's attorneys. ``Everybody says the war on terror could last a lifetime. If they can do it to him, they can do it to others.'' David Salmons from the U.S. Solicitor General's Office countered at the time that the president has the right to detain any enemy combatant while the United States is fighting al-Qaida. But he added there's no risk that the president may round up citizens and detain them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
"...the war on terror could last a lifetime. If they can do it to him, they can do it to others" terrorists.
#2
If I were Jose I would not start packing my bags just yet. And i have to ask what LOW LIFE SCUM FUCK would actually go to court and try to get this racid piece of shit out of prison? What next a ruling to allow Al Queda free passage of US flagged carriers? This is a shining example of how OUT OF WHACK our Judisary has become.
#3
It all looks good to me, if you all can't handle the dangers that come with a free society based on liberty then move to france. They'll love to have you.
#6
cyber sarge will be jailed for this immoral speech in the new amerika he wants. no way out of jail either. no consitution. no bill of rights. just lock em up if any president says so. Even Fawell.
#8
"cyber sarge will be jailed for this immoral speech in the new amerika he wants." No I just don't see any purpose in releasing someone who is hell bent on killing me or my family, speech has nothing to do with it. I doubt there are few people who cry over the few Islamofacists that we have detained in the name of National Security.
#9
jurisegs trolled yesterday as well, under several names - right, tractor? button4u?....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2005 10:14 Comments ||
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#10
Apply the criteria used during WW2 (the Good War to you leftists). If jihadis are caught not in uniform of a recognized belligerant, then field try them, line them up against a wall, and shoot them. Start with Padilla, move onto shoebomber Reed, work throught the Gitmo list and keep going. International law demands it.
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2005 10:20 Comments ||
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#11
If they were not in uniform when they were captured then they should have been shot. They do not deserve rights.
#12
AMEN ED! Seems to me that the Bush administration has been dragging it's feet with respect to "International Law." It's about time we 'discharged' our international duties and stop this cruel practice of keeping them alive.
#13
CyberSarge, unfortunately the ACLU is full of LLSFs who get off on this sort of thing. That's why they support NAMBLA, attack the Boy Scouts, and try to get crosses removed from public cemetaries (San Diego thing). I think it is a tribute to our prison system that Padilla is still alive.
#14
Yessss....international law.... Aren't partisans "out of uniform" per the Geneva Convention? But then the government would be rounding up and executing anybody who disagreed....Wait a minute! Would that include Leftwing Liberal Losers?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/01/2005 14:33 Comments ||
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#15
I think all of them should be turned over to the appropriate newly-elected Afghan or Iraqi government, after we spend a few weeks training those governments in Bangladesh "crossfire" measures. Problem solved: they've been returned to the area where they were arrested, to the lawful government of the area, for whatever legal action that government deems appropriate. If it's lining them up against a wall and shooting them, then it's THEIR justice system that did it, and we can accept that. After all, we DID win the war so they could make their own decisions about how they will govern their nation. Now let them do so. Oh, and if any LLL ACLU lawyers wish to accompany them, that's fine - they can also accept the same fate.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2005 14:57 Comments ||
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#16
The bottom line of what the Sarge and the other ed are concerned about is what happens if one of the enemy combatants gets freed on an order of a judge, and Padilla, e.g., does something like use a dirty bomb on Washington.
Appointed for life judges often lose sight of the total picture, in favor of thier own newfound power. Habeus corpus, Mrs Davis? Do YOU want him out? Leave things as they are for awhile. RWV said it well,"I think it is a tribute to our prison system that Padilla is still alive."
Of course, if he is ordered out, perhaps some prison guard will set up a situation and be looking the other way when Padilla suffers the same fate as that child-molesting priest did in prison a couple of years ago. Another example of this "I see nothing" would be the case of Jeffrey Dahmer...
#17
Just charge him with treason, then play games with his trial date.
Same effect, different approach.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/01/2005 16:00 Comments ||
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#18
Nope, problem is this guy is an american citizen iirc. So he does deserve all constitutional protections etc. So int law does not apply, nor geneva crapola.
They are trying to decide what charges to slap on him.
There are some things to ponder here:
1. Padilla is an American citizen so you can't treat him as you would the ununiformed Germans in WWII.
2. No war has been formally declared, thus you can't try him for treason.
3. It difficult to use classified evidence in a non military trial. Padilla could also request to depose witnesses that the US is holding at GITMO or elsewhere -- which brings up another problem.
4. Padilla may be held for reasons other than being an enemy combatant. If the US can prove that he possesses information crucial to prosecution of another crime he had be held (although not indefinitely). Some people think Padilla was involved in the OK city bombing (he bears some physical resemblence to someone identified in one of meetings with McV).
To be sure, our society is still struggling with how to legally deal with a war declared on our country (actually on civilization) by a non governmental organization (really a number of such organizations) whose agents are willing to die to inflict death on us.
Anyone who says they have a simple answer for this is, imo, lying or ignorant.
#20
Padilla is a self-selected terrorist. Convert to Wahibism, gone to Pak and Afghan for "religious training" Used his US citizenship to become an under-the-radar terrorist. And now he wants to use it to protect himself. Show me someone who's been to camps in Pak/Afghan or wherever, and I'll show you a guy who has given up his rights.
Right, habeus corpus applies to folks who star on "Cops", not Padilla scum.
The judge, according to Limbaugh, was nominated by Lindsey Graham and Bush OK'd it. Thanks, Lindsey. Don't know much about the senator except he was active in getting Bill impeached, but he sure pouted with indignity like a spoiled kid as he and his committee investigated Abu Grab. I got no respect for you now, Mr. Senator.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
03/01/2005 16:42 Comments ||
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#21
War has been formally declared.
It is not difficult to use classified evidence at a trial. It is difficult to keep it classified and to avoid answering questions about sources and methods.
Why is it a problem that Padilla can depose witnesses? They need not be believed.
There is a simple answer. Charge him and give him the same speedy trial we are all guaranteed or release him. It really is very simple. The man's rights as an American are being denied and that is wrong.
He will probably walk. Then we will spend a million dollars a year following him everywhere. That's not a great outcome either, but if the government can't prove a case in court, they should release him. If they can prove it, they should do so. Anyone who thinks it's not that simple doesn't think much of the rights of Americans.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/01/2005 16:46 Comments ||
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#22
mhw: Padilla is an American citizen so you can't treat him as you would the ununiformed Germans in WWII.
The German saboteurs caught on American soil and executed without appeal were American citizens.
#23
2. No war has been formally declared, thus you can't try him for treason.
There's nothing in the Constitution's definition of treason that requires a state of war. Even if it were, as Mrs. Davis pointed out, war was declared, if not in so many words.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/01/2005 17:08 Comments ||
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#24
RC, "Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
The definition does assume Enemies which assumes War, except for actually levying War against the U. S., so I think the definition does assume a state of war exist for Treason to be charged. IANAL, but this is a relatively narrow definition of treason, mainly because the English monarchs used the charge of Treason pretty liberally to eliminate domestic enemies.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/01/2005 17:16 Comments ||
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#25
Drudge links
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Virginia man accused of plotting with al-Qaida to assassinate President Bush has admitted his guilt on numerous occasions, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, admitted "multiple times" that he joined al-Qaida while studying overseas in Saudi Arabia and discussed plans with the terrorist network to assassinate President Bush, FBI agent Barry Cole said. The agent also said the suspect talked about plans for a Sept. 11-type attack in which "hijackers would board planes in Great Britain and Australia ... so they did not have to have U.S. visas."
"Once into U.S. territories they would fly into designated targets," he said.
Abu Ali also discussed killing U.S. congressmen, soldiers and blowing up naval ships in American ports, Cole said. He said Abu Ali's confessions are corroborated by the admissions of an al-Qaida cell leader in Saudi Arabia who surrendered to authorities.
Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen who grew up in Falls Church, is charged with conspiring with al-Qaida to kill the president in a plan that prosecutors said was hatched while he studied in Saudi Arabia in 2002 and 2003.
Cole said that the al-Qaida leaders gave Abu Ali two options: He could either become part of a martyr operation or he could establish a cell in the United States and he would "marry a Christian woman, assimilate into the community and he would be provided operatives."
Cole also said that Abu Ali was hostile to his Saudi captors and that he would hurl insults at them, such as "Jew scum."
Cole testified at a pretrial hearing at which prosecutors are seeking to have Abu Ali detained prior to trial.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2005 17:25 Comments ||
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#26
Frank, that should get its own post. I sure hope they Mirandized him real good.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/01/2005 17:27 Comments ||
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#27
Senate Joint Resolution 23 [Sept 01]
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.
(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.
(b) War Powers Resolution Requirements-
(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION- Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.
#28
The beautiful thing about that obtuse language is that it allows the Congresscowards to let folks like mhw to think we are not at war. That kind of deceptive hypocrisy is a large part of what is wrong with this country.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/01/2005 18:00 Comments ||
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#29
The beautiful thing about that obtuse language is that it allows the Congresscowards to let folks like mhw to think we are not at war.
Yes, and why the Demofarts chose Dr. Deanento as DNC chair...
#30
The ACLU today filed 2 lawsuits against Donald Rumsfeld for the "prisoner abuse" in Iraq, Afganistan, and Guantanamo Bay. I honestly cannot fathom the reasoning behind their actions except to completely destroy this country. I am so worked up over this I probably won't sleep well. With organizations like this activily working to destroy this administration I really fear for the continued existance of our way of life. As for the writ of habeous corpus, Abraham Lincoln was, to my limited knowledge, the only President to suspend that particular part of the Constitution. Incidently, the President doesn't have the Constitutional authority to do that, only Congress does.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/01/2005 21:05 Comments ||
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#31
I'm with Mrs. Davis on this, with deep reservations.
With, because as Deacon Blues notes, habeous corpus has been suspended only once in our history. The GWOT and more generally, the instability we probably face for a decade or more, are going to go on for a long time. I'm not at all comfortable with suspending so basic a right that long and that broadly.
OTOH, it bothers me a lot to realize that we lack good mechanisms and legal precedent to convict people who I believe really are trying to kill a lot of people and destroy this country economically.
Posted by: too true ||
03/01/2005 21:15 Comments ||
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#32
Relax, Deacon. Take a deep breath, now. I'm sure the American Civil Liberties Union has no say in things that are happening under military purview outside this country during a time of war. So they are wasting their time and energy in the lawyer version of a temper tantrum. Those people are so blinkered that they probably don't even realize the larger effect of what they are doing -- typical of those who are over educated and under brained. So long as there are people like the Rantburgers around ... not to mention the 51%+ of this country that are Red Staters (a percentage that keeps growing as more of the 9/11 generation reaches voting age)... the Union will be protected against such nonsense.
So go for a run, or do 100 sit-ups, or play some serious video games -- whatever you do to work off excess energy -- have a beer, and sleep the sleep of the just. God helps those who help themselves, it is said, and you're the one with the guns, right ;-)
#33
Oh dear, I just realized itsy is going to call me a Pollyanna for that statement. Oh, well, it can't be helped, I suppose. Perhaps he's read the book by now, and knows Polly's story.
#34
I agree with you, too true, we seem to lack a good legal mechanism and precedent for this type of thing. My point was that Congress is unlikely to EVER suspend the writ. Congress would not even under the extreme circumstances of the War of the Rebellion and I'm not so certain that's entirely bad but the President DOES NOT have the constitutional authority do so. This is why the Vice-President under Buchannon, John C. Breckenridge, left Kentucky and fought as a General in the Confederate Army. Lincoln actually ordered his arrest for criticising Lincoln's suspension of the writ. If this is indeed what the President or members of his administration are trying to do, as much as I support the President on most issues, it is not a smart move. If there is not enough evidence to charge Mr. Padilla, as much as it pains me to say it, he must be released.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/01/2005 21:43 Comments ||
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#35
How about considering different modes of release?
I have some ideas... ;-)
#36
Fine, get all legal and everything. But we need to make a very-public statement that we will be following the Geneva convention to the letter - including summarily executing these non-uniformed illegal 'combatants' in the field - as specified in the geneva convention.
#37
Great idea, Crazy. Unfortunately, the ACLU and all other Moonbat organizations would be filling all kinds of lawsuits. This seems to be their primary source of revenue these days.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/01/2005 22:01 Comments ||
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#38
Didn't Congress just sign a new law conerning class-action lawsuits like this one? Wonder if the federal court will throw it out?
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a US citizen arrested in Madinah, Saudi Arabia, and accused of conspiring to assassinate President Bush, is scheduled for a detention hearing today in a Virginia federal court weather permitting as snow storms have hit much of the region on charges of providing material support to Al-Qaeda. Abu Ali was charged Feb. 22 with conspiracy and providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.
According to the six-count indictment, Abu Ali "did knowingly and unlawfully conspire to knowingly provide material support and resources...knowing and intending that they were to be used in preparation for, and for carrying out, the assassination of the president of the United States." The 23-year-old Abu Ali is not charged with a conspiracy to assassinate Bush, but for supporting terrorists and, as part of that, discussing Bush's possible assassination. The indictment offered no evidence that the discussions ever advanced into a plan. He was denied bail last Tuesday. Abu Ali is charged with meeting with a man called the second-ranking Al-Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia, Sultan Jubran Sultan Al-Qatani, also known as Zubayr Al-Rimi. Al-Rimi was killed in a Sept. 23, 2003 shootout with Saudi security forces during a raid on a hospital housing complex in Jizan.
This article starring:
AHMED OMAR ABU ALI
al-Qaeda
SULTAN JUBRAN SULTAN AL QATANI
al-Qaeda
ZUBAIR AL RIMI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Muslim guerrillas helped Philippine troops on Monday find a hide-out where they killed five members of a criminal gang on a US terror group list, officials said. The troops, guided partly by information from the rebels, raided a "Pentagon Gang" lair in a vast marshland in southern Maguindanao province, thwarting an alleged kidnapping-for-ransom plot, said army Col. Gerry Jalandoni.
The military had informed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front - a large Muslim separatist group that has a cease-fire with the government - about the raid beforehand to prevent accidental clashes with MILF guerrillas camped near the hide-out, Jalandoni said. The MILF provided information that helped the troops find the gang, he said. The soldiers also arrested gang members involved in a recent attack on police, he said.
There were no casualties Monday among the soldiers, who recovered an M-16 rifle and two anti-tank rocket launchers from the hide-out near Midpandacan village, about 930 kilometres (575 miles) southeast of Manila, Jalandoni said. Troops were chasing about two dozen kidnappers who fled after the raid and two-hour gunbattle, he said.
The Pentagon Gang is notorious for kidnapping foreign workers and Christian missionaries. Some military officials have claimed the gang was the MILF's moneymaking arm. The MILF denies the allegation.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 1:57:55 AM ||
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#1
does it just seem like it, or are they really making big strides in the Phillippines?
#3
More likely they know that Gloria is hot to sign a peace deal with them, but can't quite do it while these smaller groups are stirring things up. So they've decided that they are expendable. Give them up, make the right noises, get concessions from the government and lie low while the larger WOT run's it's course. Then begin again working for a seperate muslim dominated homeland in the Philippines.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/01/2005 11:19 Comments ||
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The Philippines military says five Muslim rebels have been killed in a gunfight on the southern island of Jolo. Commander Brigadier-General Agustin Dema-ala says two soldiers have been wounded in the clash with members of the Abu Sayaf militant group, near the town of Indanan. Further to the south, on the island of Sanga-sanga, the military says 10 Abu Sayyaf militants have surrendered to the navy. The names of the militants have not been released.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 1:56:37 AM ||
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Ten members of the al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf group surrendered Monday to troops in the southern Philippines, an official said.
They gave up their weapons to the navy in Sanga-sanga island, part of the Tawi-Tawi group near the Malaysian side of Borneo island, Commodore Rufilo Lopez said. Their names were not released.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 1:55:16 AM ||
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#1
Sounds like Muzzie season is winding to a close, they must be almost out of money, and feeling a wee bit 'o pressure.
...Meanwhile in Damascus, Boy Assad, having badly overplayed his hand in Lebanon and after months of denying that he was harbouring any refugee Saddamites, suddenly discovered that - wouldja believe it? - Saddam's brother and 29 other bigshot Baghdad Baathists were holed up in north-eastern Syria, and promptly handed them over to the Iraqi government... A generally good article in The Telegraph, but the first I've heard of the "29", other than Saddam's brother and one associate.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
03/01/2005 9:10:34 AM ||
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Read the whole thing. As the author says, "I don't like to say I told you so. But, actually, I do like to say I told you so. What I don't like to do is the obligatory false self-deprecatory thing to mitigate against the insufferableness of my saying I told you so. But nevertheless I did."
The"stability" before the war, may have been stable, but it wasn't as refreshing as what we have now!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/01/2005 10:22 Comments ||
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#2
this really isn't news - it's commentary
Mark Steyn's commentary - so its great
#5
From the linked article, Steyn's quotation form April 6, 2002 - "The stability junkies in the EU, UN and elsewhere have, as usual, missed the point. The Middle East is too stable. So, if you had to pick only one regime to topple, why not Iraq? Once you've got rid of the ruling gang, it's the West's best shot at incubating a reasonably non-insane polity. That's why the unravelling of the Middle East has to start not in the West Bank but in Baghdad."
Steyn has a right to say I told you so - he said it before it was cool.
Posted by: Carlos ||
03/01/2005 16:09 Comments ||
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#7
And what makes this so absurdly funny is the loonie left in the US seems to be turning their rhetoric up a notch. It's like they are trying to wish the Middle East back to the deadly stalemate of the past decades. Their collective blind hatred of W and anything conservative will not allow them to see the obvious.
History will most certainly show that these brain-washed LLL's are the geo-political equivalent of the "flat-earthers" for the early 21st century.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters waving Lebanese flags returned to central Beirut Tuesday to demand Syria quit Lebanon and the United States welcomed what it called moves to restore democracy in Lebanon. Lebanese officials began a search for a new premier after the government of Prime Minister Omar Karami resigned Monday following two weeks of protests, piling more pressure on Damascus, already under fire from the United States and Israel.
"Events in Lebanon are moving in a very important direction," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in London. "The Lebanese people are starting to express their aspirations for democracy ... This is something that we support very much."
Thousands of demonstrators turned a square in Beirut into a sea of Lebanese flags Monday night and exploded into riotous celebration when the government unexpectedly quit after a parliament debate on the killing of ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri. The jubilant protesters left in the early hours of Tuesday only for a few hundred to return hours later, vowing to keep up their street protests until Syrian troops left the country.
"Our hopes are growing regarding Syria's exit after the resignation of the government," Patrick Risha, a 22-year-old political science student told Reuters at Martyrs' Square. "This encourages us to stay here and continue our protest." "We will not go to school. We will keep coming here until (President Emile) Lahoud is toppled and the Syrians leave Lebanon," Elainne Hajj, 16, said.
In London, Rice also called for the withdrawal of Syrian troops and said Washington fully supported open elections. Most of the opposition protesters are Maronite Christians, who have long opposed Syria's role in Lebanon, Druze and some Sunni Muslims. Shi'ite Muslims, Lebanon's largest community, have mainly stayed away from the anti-Syrian rallies.
Newspapers hailed the role of the Lebanese in trying to bring change.
Government falls under the pressure of the people and the hammer of the opposition," said Al-Mustaqbal daily, owned by the late Hariri.
"People power brings down Karami's cabinet," the headline in Beirut's English-language Daily Star newspaper read. "Electricity is in the air. Beirut is a sea of excitement, and activity and turmoil," it said in an editorial. "The word 'revolution' is on many lips."
The Daily Star urged the opposition and loyalists alike to grasp the full magnitude of the popular movement and heed its wishes for a new Lebanon. "And Syria should consider what is happening in a somber manner and not thwart the ideals demonstrated by Lebanon's youth: It is, indeed, the time for change," it said. Syria plays a dominant role in Lebanon and maintains 14,000 troops there. Pressure has been growing within Lebanon and from abroad for a complete military withdrawal.
Protesters have gathered in Martyrs' Square, which they dubbed Freedom Square, ever since Hariri's assassination on Feb. 14 to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops and the resignation of all top pro-Syrian political and security officials. Opposition deputies, many war-time foes, have joined forces, capitalizing on fury over Hariri's death to pressure those they blame -- Syria and the government. Syria has denied any role.
The country's top two pro-Syrian officials, the president and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, were in contact to discuss a new government, officials said. Lahoud was set to call for consultations this week with parliamentary deputies to choose a successor. "There are no fears whatsoever of a constitutional vacuum," one presidential aide said in response to speculation that finding a new premier could take a long time. Opposition figures were set to meet Wednesday to agree on their next move. They looked set to demand a government made up of people who would not be running for office in May general elections and who would be acceptable to most Lebanese. They would also demand the resignation of security chiefs, political sources said.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/01/2005 8:55:34 AM ||
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#1
Someone seems to have heard President's Bush's State of the Union Address.
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2005 12:19 Comments ||
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Wizbang "http://wizbangblog.com/" hit it right on the head, with it's article on the Left's Arab Street.
They are rising alright, just not like the left expected.
Brig. Rustom Ghazaleh, head of the Syrian Intelligence Forces in Lebanon, will soon be replaced by Brig. Munir Jaloud, a leading Syrian electronic newspaper said. The newspaper, Champress, quoting "unofficial security sources," said Ghazaleh will be replaced soon after he had received harsh criticism from Lebanese opposition and media sections for his handling of security affairs in Lebanon. It added that Ghazaleh was also criticized by some Syrian officials and circles. The newspaper said it failed to get confirmation of the report from official sources.
That's the hard part about life in a dictatorship. You can't be too successful, because then you become a danger. But you can't be a screw-up, because that makes the regime look bad. So you end up with mostly mediocrities, marking time.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Well, I would pict a nit that instead of replacement, they (Syrian Intel Chiefs) should just ... be gone!
Lebanon's government was swept from power Monday night in the face of a mass protest and increased political pressure sparked by the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri two weeks ago. In the middle of a dramatic parliamentary session, Prime Minister Omar Karami shocked the House by suddenly announcing his government's resignation as it was defending itself against a vote of no confidence. Karami said: "Out of concern that the government does not become an obstacle to the good of the country, I announce the resignation of the government I had the honor to lead. May God preserve Lebanon."
The shock announcement stunned Parliament but was followed by cheers from inside the chamber and outside in Martyrs' Square as the 25,000 people who had gathered there since late Sunday night watched the debate in Parliament live on large screens. Leading opposition MP Walid Jumblatt said: "The people have won." Jumblatt was speaking from his home in Mukhtara, in the Chouf mountains, where he stayed yesterday due to security fears if he attended Parliament. Opposition members said the resignation marked the "first success of the peaceful intifada" it waged on the government in the wake of Hariri's killing.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2005 9:39:47 PM ||
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In defiance of an official ban against demonstrations and an orchestrated attempt to block highways leading to the capital, tens of thousands of people converged on Martyrs' Square in Downtown Beirut on Monday, many of whom had been there for the entire night. "They said they will prevent people from protesting as of Monday 5 a.m.," said Adnan Zaghlouli on Sunday evening. "We gathered from tonight to join tomorrow's protest."
Zaghlouli and his friends' left Tripoli on Sunday afternoon after hearing Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh's statement calling on the Internal Security Forces "to take all necessary steps to preserve security and order and prevent demonstrations and gatherings on Monday." As soldiers manning barriers in central Beirut prevented hundreds of protesters from getting into the square, those already inside quickly came to their aid. Gathering in groups of 50, 60 and sometimes 100, demonstrators distracted discretely cooperative soldiers by rushing them in a staged fury, while those on the outside snuck in. Mario Saad, 18, said: "Today we are calling for the government's resignation. Even, if the parliamentary procedures fail, the people have made their choice; they want a government free of foreign influence."
At around 11:30 p.m., the highway from Jounieh leading to the capital was blocked by a convoy of Lebanese Forces and Free Patriotic Movement supporters with more than 200 cars headed to the protest. "We are all together here to say that we have had it," said Myriam Khoury and Danielle Kattar, both 24. Kattar added: "We came here to express our opinion, and no one can intimidate us anymore." Khoury said: "We have had enough of being governed by incompetent people. We deserve to be represented by a new political class that stands for us."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#2
The Bush Doctrine in action....... More to come!
Posted by: Tom Dooley ||
03/01/2005 1:00 Comments ||
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#3
Popeye said it first, "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more."
Catch the fever, folks. There's a run on "freedom" - but look for it to be hijacked in places by the Wally Warlord types... mebbe we should add a standing offer of arms and advisors to those who face them.
#4
The Domino (sp?) Theory, only this time in the other direction. :)
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
03/01/2005 9:08 Comments ||
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#5
Isn't Bush policy great! Didn't he say that for those who will fight for or enforce their (own) freedom, THE UNITED STATES WILL STAND WITH THEM. With US support, it's amazing how quickly the yearning for human freedom is spreading and being expressed in the Middle East. And it's becoming clear that the dictators are reluctant to tangle with Bush over this.
#6
The local key to the success of this effort is the Lebanese Army standing with, or at least not opposing, the demonstrators. The enabling factor is the restraint imposed on the Syrian forces by the US forces in Iraq and the tacit US approval for the IDF to pound Syria to rubble if they crack down in Lebanon.
#7
"That's all dat I can stands cause I can't stands no more!" ... that is the quote .com was referencing ... for good measure I'd add in the cautionary message in the music:
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
I'm strong to the "Finich"
'Cause I eats me spinach
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.
I'm one tough Gazookus
Which hates all Palookas
Wot ain't on the up and square
biffs 'em and buffs 'em
An' always out-roughs 'em
an' none of 'em gits no-where.
If anyone dasses to risk
My "Fisk" it's "Boff" an'
It's "Wham" un 'erstan'?
So, keep "Good Behavor"
That's your one life saver
With Popeye the Sailor Man.
Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said on Tuesday it was behind a suicide car bomb attack that killed 125 people in the town of Hilla, according to a Web statement.
"A lion from our martyrdom brigade plunged into a gathering of apostates in front of a police and National Guard registration center, blowing up his loaded car and killing 125 apostates," said the statement by Al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq, posted on an Islamist Web site.
"The blood of the apostates was helping the Americans. They had sold their religion and their honor," it added.
The claim for Monday's attack could not be verified, but was posted in the name of the user who usually disseminates statements by al Qaeda in Iraq. It appeared on the Islamist Web site most often used by Iraqi insurgents.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 3:18:55 PM ||
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Israel on Tuesday linked the Islamic Jihad militant group, which claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing last week, to a failed attempt to blow up a car crammed with half a ton of explosives, the largest bomb built in more than four years of fighting here.
Analysts believe the militants are members of a rogue cell directed by Islamic Jihad leaders abroad, against the wishes of local leaders who have agreed to halt attacks in Israel.
Security officials revealed Tuesday that a captured Jihad militant told his interrogators of the car bomb plot, plans to carry out a rocket attack on the Israeli town of Afula and preparations for a double suicide bombing against a Jerusalem school. The militant, Jibril Zubeydi, was arrested two months ago, the security officials said on condition of anonymity. His brother, Zakariye Zubeydi, is a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades militant group in the West Bank town of Jenin.
The military discovered the car filled with explosives parked Monday at a junction near Jenin when an officer noticed wires sticking out of it. A long cable snaking from the car was attached to a battery and video camera, which was to document the attack, military officials said. The army detonated the car bomb in a controlled explosion. The other two plots were also foiled, the military said. Cool picture in the Jerusalem Post article.
Regional army commander Col. Oren Avman said the car contained some 1,100 pounds of explosives and said the officer who discovered it prevented "a huge disaster. Even an armored vehicle or bus could not withstand such a huge bomb," he told Israel Army Radio.
Israeli analysts said the new violence was the result of an apparent fracture within the Islamic Jihad leadership, with the Damascus-based leaders determined to scuttle the fragile cease-fire. "The more pragmatic Gaza Strip-based leadership realizes it has to come to an agreement with the new Palestinian leadership," said Yoni Fighel, an expert on Islamic extremists at the Herzliya counterterrorism center. "But the leaders in Syria identify with the goals of Iran, Syria and the Hezbollah who are determined not to allow any normalization between Israel and the Palestinians," Fighel said.
Fighel said the Damascus leaders have broken the traditional hierarchy of the group and are operating cells directly.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said those behind the bombing would have to be dealt with.
"Obviously, when you have Palestinian Islamic Jihad taking responsibility, then something needs to be done about that because they are clearly challenging directly the Palestinian Authority," Rice said en route to London on Monday where she is attending a conference on Palestinian reform.
The U.N. Security Council also condemned the bombing, but removed mention of the Islamic Jihad from the statement. Meaningless Warm Milk statement snipped.
More details from the Jerusalem Post (free, but registration req'd,so here is the whole thing):
A car loaded with hundreds of kilograms of explosives that had been prepared for attack by the same Islamic Jihad cell responsible for Friday night's suicide bombing was discovered by security forces between Arabeh and Mevoh Dotan south of Jenin Monday afternoon.
A Nahal Brigade company commander spotted the red Volkswagon with wires protruding from it and alerted sappers to the site. According to the IDF Spokesman, the car, which was in the final stages of preparation for an attack, was discovered with a long cable protruding from it. The cable was attached to a battery and a video camera, intended for the documentation of the terrorist attack.
Sappers detonated the car bomb in a controlled explosion.
Security officials said that the same cell who launched Friday's attack in Tel Aviv were planning to infiltrate the car into Israel.
On Saturday, Islamic Jihad claimed credit for the suicide bombing at The Stage nightclub which killed five and wounded 50.
Earlier Monday, a senior source close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in reference to the Tel Aviv attack, "We have intelligence information that the orders came from the Islamic Jihad in Syria."
"We know where the orders for the attack were issued, we know where they were sent, and we know Syrian intelligence was involved and provided logistical support," the source said.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet on Sunday that an Islamic Jihad cell in Jenin recruited the bomber from Tulkarm under orders from Damascus. Mofaz said that Israel had arrested Islamic Jihad operatives in Tulkarm.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/01/2005 11:15:46 AM ||
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#1
Sounds like it's time to rachet up the pressure on boy Assad. Maybe a Tomahawk attack on the offices of Hezbollah, IJ, and a couple of other terrorist groups operating openly in Damascus is in order. "You can't run, you can't hide, and you're too weak to fight". Or we could use the ruse I suggested in Vietnam: a flight of Buffs at max altitude with full ECM broadcasting, while all the naval aviation assets we can muster hitting from 100 feet. Now that we have assets in both the Med and in Iraq, I think a hard, swift strike against Syria is definitely in order, unless they put the lid on the jihadis. Since I doubt Assad even CAN control the jihadis, a hard hit is almost a given.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2005 15:15 Comments ||
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Iraqi security men have arrested a leader of a "militant group" which controlled a main street in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a security source said Tuesday. The source told reporters that Iraqi army soldiers arrested the man in the western Baghdad suburb of Al-Amriyah. The source identified the man as Sayyed Hashem and said he was a "prince" of a "militant group" in Haifa Street and was responsible for many kidnappings and assassinations.
Sounds more like the "boss" of a "street gang".
He added that Hashem fled the neighborhood after an army raid, but he was arrested Monday in what the source described as a "brothel."
This article starring:
SAIYED HASHEM
Iraqi Insurgency
Posted by: Steve ||
03/01/2005 10:08:34 AM ||
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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Three militants of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades fired into the air Tuesday while Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Nasser Youssef visited a government building in Jenin, a security source told CNN. Youssef, who was inspecting troops, continued with his visit and ordered security forces to arrest the three, including Zacharia Zebeideh, the Al Aqsa chief in Jenin.
It's against the law to shoot into the air in Palestine? Who knew?
The militants were demanding that Youssef leave Jenin. The source said no one was hurt, but the incident highlighted the tensions in the Palestinian territories between militants and the Palestinian Authority.
The Associated Press reported that about 600 armed Palestinian police officers flooded the area quickly and took up positions inside the building. "We are not leaving Jenin before we have arrested this bunch of criminals," Yousef told Hajj Ismail Jaber, the head of national security forces in the West Bank, according to an Associated Press reporter in the local government headquarters with Yousef.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a conference in London Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority had made a decision to unify all the Palestinian security forces. While Abbas gave no details, Palestinian officials have said the security organizations will answer to the interior minister, who in turn, answers to Abbas.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is a military offshoot of the Fatah movement and has attacked military and civilian targets in Israel and in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. The U.S. State Department considers it a foreign terrorist organization.
This article starring:
HAJJ ISMAIL JABER
Palestinian Authority
NASER YUSEF
Palestinian Authority
ZACHARIA ZEBEIDEH
Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
Posted by: Steve ||
03/01/2005 9:39:16 AM ||
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(/jaw dropping)
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2005 10:13 Comments ||
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#2
Well, it looks like Sharon may not have reason to pause just yet. Keep watching.
#3
*looks around smugly*
*wipes smug grin away, waits for other shoe to drop*
Note well - Yousef et al are not doing this to be kind to US or Israel - theyre doing this for the sake of their OWN power. These guys seem serious - they want to run their own STATE. Not just a revolutionary movement, like Yasser. STATES must establish a monopoly of force within their territory, and thats what these guys are doing. This is the long awaited Pal Civil War, except not as bloody as some expected.
#6
Prolly will released in 24 hours or less , very quietly , the PA need to hand bait to Israelis to show that they are trying to clamp down so that they dont loose concessions , face , and 'control' blah blah blah ..
#7
these guys are al aqsa? how much are they getting paid extra for being temporarily inconvenienced? after all, being detained for 24-48 hours can be pretty irritating.
#8
So according to the article above this one, the Israelis are holding Zacharia's brother and they are pointing the finger at Zacharia for orchestrating / attempting the largest car bomb in the last 4 years. Innnnnnnteresting!
you are, of course, correct. I did not mean to imply that it couldnt become a bloody mess. Merely trying to indicate that just cause we didnt see large amounts of blood now, shouldnt prevent us from seeing that the dynamic we've been predicting so long is now taking place.
Whether this justifies popcorn or not is up to y'all. I would say time to break out the popcorn - to me the struggle was what i was waiting for, not the blood.
#10
"..fired into the air..."
I believe that may be a euphemism for "fired but missed".
Posted by: Tom ||
03/01/2005 16:09 Comments ||
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#11
LH - fair enough lol, I've just staked a lot of (archivable) statements and self esteem on the Paleos turning medieval on each other before they gain a national unity of purpose. I don't see a "Five Families" solution to this Cosa Nostra....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2005 16:18 Comments ||
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#12
If the al-aska er al Aqsa Martyrs Brigands are permanently jugged, then there will be a civil war. If they are given the revolving door treatment, then the Israelies will start the wacking process. Either way, the PA is going to have to deal with these guys to stay alive and in power.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/01/2005 20:29 Comments ||
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March 1, 2005: The U.S. government announced that it had detected a communication between Osama bin Laden and terrorist leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Iraq. Bin Laden urged Zarqawi to carry out attacks in the United States. Terrorists have failed to follow up on their September 11, 2001 attacks, and the popular mythology, that this attack represented a mighty international Islamic terrorist organization, is wearing thin. Bin Laden, hiding out somewhere in Pakistan, has seen most of his senior aids killed or captured in the last three years. Al Zarqawi is on the run in Iraq, and has also seen more of his key henchmen caught in the last few months. This message, if accurate, is interesting because it demonstrates a degree of desperation and delusion on bin Laden's part.
The reason there have not been terrorists, from Iraq, striking out to foreign countries, is because most of the terrorism in Iraq is being planned and carried out by Sunni Arab Iraqis. Saddam Hussein's military and intelligence experts provide the technical expertise, and money Baath Party members stole from Iraq is used to pay for it. Saddam's people are known, and are fighting so viciously inside Iraq, because they would be too easy to identify outside of Iraq. Another point bin Laden seems to be ignoring is that Zarqawi is largely a figurehead, a guy who was previously known as more muscle than brains in Jordan. The technical and leadership talent for the Iraqi terrorists is largely Iraqi. The foreign terrorists come to Iraq, because that's a lot easier than trying to carry out terror attacks at home, in the U.S., Europe or anywhere else. The most dangerous Iraqi terrorists are those on an Iraqi wanted list, wanted for crimes against the Iraqi people. These people face trial and a death sentence, and are determined to get Sunni Arab tyranny restored in Iraq. These people are known, and would have a difficult time staying free outside Iraq. Some have received refuge in Syria and Iran, but enormous pressure has been put on these two nations to give up the terrorists they harbor. That pressure is starting to pay off. Seen in this light, bin Laden's message sounds like one of the missives issued from Hitler's Berlin "Fuhrer bunker" in the last weeks of World War II.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/01/2005 9:20:54 AM ||
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Groucho bin Laden>>another Marx bro.
Posted by: You Bet Your Life ||
03/01/2005 10:11 Comments ||
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Good idea, Binny! Let's load up a few of Zark's hard boyz and ship them off to New York. They can say that they're refugees from the occupation in Iraq, or go to U of C and sign up with Ward Churchill.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/01/2005 10:31 Comments ||
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Wait a minute...I hear footsteps...He is sending out another message...We all have baited breath waiting for more pearls of wisdom!
There has been a major battle between government troops and Maoist rebels in western Nepal. The army now says that 46 rebels, including two women, were known to have died in the bloodiest confrontation in Nepal for several weeks. Bloodshed in Nepal has continued, despite King Gyanendra's takeover of direct power a month ago, which he said would help contain violence. Four members of the security forces were also killed in the latest clash. The battle took place in the south-western district of Bardiya, a Maoist stronghold with extensive jungle cover. Local people told the BBC it happened on Monday evening when Maoists ambushed security forces who were removing a road blockade on a highway. They in turn were attacked by the army from both directions, resulting in heavy casualties.
Sounds like the army was expecting the attack and pulled a counter-ambush.
Reporters at the scene saw 46 bodies. The army in the main western city of Nepal Ganj told the BBC that all the dead were Maoist rebels. The army source said the incident took place during a routine army patrol. He said there had also been several dozen wounded, as well as a number of security force casualties. He dismissed earlier reports by the army in Kathmandu that as many as 70 rebels had died. Asked why so many more rebels than government troops had been killed, he said it was because of army professionalism. Military headquarters said four more rebels and a policeman had died in a separate clash further west. The Maoists called off a road blockade at the weekend. However, reports of barricades still standing and of rebel burning of vehicles suggest that lower-level Maoists are not aware of the rebel leader's announcement last Saturday that the blockade was being lifted.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/01/2005 8:47:37 AM ||
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Well done! Perhaps the king really did need to get an ineffective government out of the way so that he could strong-arm the solution..... Not something I advocate generally, but Nepal is a pretty immature society, politically.
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Bloodshed in Nepal has continued, despite King Gyanendra's takeover of direct power a month ago, which he said would help contain violence. Four members of the security forces were also killed in the latest clash.
The battle took place in the south-western district of Bardiya, a Maoist stronghold with extensive jungle cover. Local people told the BBC it happened on Monday evening when Maoists ambushed security forces who were removing a road blockade on a highway. They in turn were attacked by the army from both directions, resulting in heavy casualties.
Reporters at the scene saw 46 bodies.
The best way to contain this kind of violence is to kill those who cause it.
Let's hope, when the level of violence has gone down, that the King returns power to a representative government, or at least calls an election to pick a new one.
A suicide bomber killed 125 people and wounded 132 by detonating a car near police recruits in a crowded market south of Baghdad on Monday, the single bloodiest attack in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The bomber blew the car up next to a line of recruits waiting at a health centre to take an eye test so they could join the Iraqi police in the town of Hillah, 100 kms south of the capital, witnesses said. Many of those killed were at the market across the road, and were caught in the blast as they shopped in morning sunshine.
"The martyrs may be more because there a number of body parts" to be counted, Mahmoud Abdul Reda said at the hospital. Morgue workers unloaded plastic body bags from pick up trucks as weeping relatives looked on.
The attack in Hillah, with a majority Shia population, came as the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance sought the support of other parties to form Iraq's first-ever democratically elected government. Insurgents have stepped up their attacks against predominantly Shia targets in recent weeks. The 9.30am blast outside the medical clinic was so powerful it nearly vaporised the suicide bomber's car, leaving only its engine partially intact. The injured were piled into pickup trucks and ambulances and taken to nearby hospitals. Outside the concrete and brick building, people gingerly walked around small lakes of blood that pooled on the street. Scorch marks infused with blood covered the clinic's walls and dozens of people helped pile body parts, including arms, feet and limbs, into blankets. Piles of shoes and tattered clothes were thrown into a corner.
"We found the hands of the suicide bomber attached to the steering wheel of the vehicle and a burned copy of the Koran in the wreckage," a fire officer in Hillah told AFP. Angry crowds gathered outside the hospital chanting "Allah-o-Akbar," and demanded to know the fate of their relatives.
The director of Hillah General Hospital, Dia Mohammed, said most the victims were recruits waiting to take physicals as part of the application process to join the Iraqi police and national guard.
Britain, Germany and the European Union condemned the Hillah blast. Prime Minister Tony Blair said British forces will help the Iraqi government track down those responsible for a suicide attack in Hillah
Blair condemned the attack: "All civilised people should feel nothing but revulsion for the terrorists who can kill innocent Iraqis who only want to help build a new democracy and a better society," he said in a statement.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also condemned the Hillah suicide car bombing. Solana also urged newly-elected leaders to act to help return calm to the war-scarred country, nearly two years after it was invaded by US-led forces seeking the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said those responsible were trying to stop reconstruction. "Today's attack demonstrates the aims of these terrorists: they want to prevent political and economic rebuilding in Iraq. By doing so, they are targeting the interests of the Iraqi people," he said in a statement.
In other violence, a second car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint in Musayyib, about 30 kilometres north of Hillah, killing at least one policeman and wounding several others, police said on condition of anonymity.
In al-Mashahda, 40 kilometres north of Baghdad, police found three unidentified corpses that had their hands tied together with plastic cuffs, the police commissioner Abbas Abdul Ridha said.
A US soldier was shot dead at a traffic checkpoint in Baghdad, the US army said. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in a gun battle south of Samarra, while an Iraqi soldier and translator died in a mortar attack near Dhuluiya, north of Baghdad, Iraqi security officials said. A civilian was killed and two were wounded during a small arms attack on a police station in Baquba, the US military and Iraqi witnesses said.
Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, his former vice president Taha Yasin Ramadan and three others will be the first members of the old regime to go on trial for crimes against humanity, an Iraqi special tribunal said.
The five men, handcuffed and escorted by police, were hauled one by one before the court's chief investigative judge, who told them they would be tried for the 1982 killing of 143 residents of Dujail, a village north-east of Baghdad.
They are accused of carrying out revenge murders after Dujail villagers allegedly tried to assassinate Saddam. The case, which can begin now that the court's formal investigation into the alleged crimes has been wrapped up, will not start for at least 45 days.
The pending trials are meant to help heal the wounds inflicted on Iraqi society during decades of brutal rule by Saddam and his Baathist regime. "These are the first five people who have been referred for trial. Anybody else has been brought in for investigation and told they were under arrest," a Western legal expert, who asked not to be named, told reporters here. "These crimes with which you are charging me should be laid to the entire organisation, not just to me," he said.
In Dubai the "deputy" of al-Qaeda's front man in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi called Monday on militants to press on with their Jihad, according to a statement posted on a website. "We call on every Mujahed (fighter) to carry on his Jihad and not bow," said the statement attributed to Abu Abdurrahman al-Iraqi, who was presented as deputy head of Zarqawi's group, al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers. "We will kill the Jews, the crusaders and their agents and dogs," said the statement, whose authenticity could not be confirmed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 1:29:07 AM ||
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Does that mean they will spare the crusader's baby ducks? Al Queada has been becoming soft these last times.
The Al-Qaeda linked Army of Ansar al-Sunna released a video Monday purporting to show the execution of a member of an Iraqi Kurdish faction for allegedly spying on Islamist militants.
The man, who was detained in the main northern city of Mosul and spoke Kurdish, "admitted to having been entrusted by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of apostate Jalal Talabani, with tracking down the mujahedeen and collecting information concerning them which the apostates would pass on to the crusaders," a statement read out in the video said.
The video posted on the internet showed the man then being shot in the head by a hooded gunman.
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna has claimed a string of attacks in Iraq, including murders of foreign hostages and Iraqis accused of "collaborating" with US-led forces. It has often released video footage showing its killings.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/01/2005 12:49:35 AM ||
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This might be a serious mistake... I'll put my money on the Peshmerga... I see win-win here if they decide to go after these assholes. I'm thinking upgrading the Peshmerga gear with some of our goodies, giving them sat intel, some standby air assets, and a green light to clean out the nest.
The Iraqi Special Tribunal's chief investigative judge referred Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan, former vice president Taha Yasin Ramadan and three others for trial on charges of crimes against humanity. The trial will be the first of any members of Hussein's former government. Barzan, Ramadan and three others will now be tried before a panel of five judges for the 1982 killing of 143 residents of Dujail, 65km northeast of Baghdad, the tribunal said in a statement. The trial will not begin for at least another 45 days, it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2005 00:00:00 ||
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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.
An El Salvador man remained in federal custody Monday after he allegedly kidnapped his 22-month-old son from Houston and then tried to smuggle three Central American immigrants into the United States last week. Mexican authorities said they arrested Fredy Antonio Fuentes Gutierrez, 29, Thursday after they received information that he was staying in the area. Fuentes allegedly kidnapped his son from his mother Brenda Alvarez in Houston and took him to Mexico last week.
Seven Russian soldiers have been killed in clashes in separatist Chechnya in the past 24 hours, a source in the pro-Russian Chechen interior ministry has said. Russian positions came under attack 14 times as the Chechen rebel's unilateral ceasefire expired last week, with one soldier killed in shootouts, the source said in Vladikavkaz on Monday. Another soldier was killed and three injured when a Russian Ural truck came under attack on the outskirts of Grozny. Four men died and four were injured in a battle near the southern Chechen town of Nozhai-Yurt. Russian officials said two separatists were killed. And another soldier was killed and two were injured in a battle near the Chechen town of Itun-Kala, the source said.
LYNDEN, Wash. - A practical joke shut down U.S.-Canadian border crossing for nearly four hours just as the weekend was getting under way. A 42-year-old man was stopped at the border around 4:40 p.m. Friday. During an inspection of his vehicle, "a crude device thought to be an explosive" was found under a seat, Corporal Dale Carr of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a news release. The inspection area and a duty-free shop were immediately evacuated, spokeswoman Paula Shore with the Canadian Border Services Agency said. The RCMP closed southbound Highway 13, and, at Canada's request, U.S. officials closed their side of the border to vehicles northbound on Highway 539.
The Philippines military says five Muslim rebels have been killed in a gunfight on the southern island of Jolo. Commander Brigadier-General Agustin Dema-ala says two soldiers have been wounded in the clash with members of the Abu Sayaf militant group, near the town of Indanan. Further to the south, on the island of Sanga-sanga, the military says 10 Abu Sayyaf militants have surrendered to the navy. The names of the militants have not been released.
...Meanwhile in Damascus, Boy Assad, having badly overplayed his hand in Lebanon and after months of denying that he was harbouring any refugee Saddamites, suddenly discovered that - wouldja believe it? - Saddam's brother and 29 other bigshot Baghdad Baathists were holed up in north-eastern Syria, and promptly handed them over to the Iraqi government...
Brig. 
Lebanon's government was swept from power Monday night in the face of a mass protest and increased political pressure sparked by the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri two weeks ago. In the middle of a dramatic parliamentary session, Prime Minister Omar Karami shocked the House by suddenly announcing his government's resignation as it was defending itself against a vote of no confidence. Karami said: "Out of concern that the government does not become an obstacle to the good of the country, I announce the resignation of the government I had the honor to lead. May God preserve Lebanon."
In defiance of an official ban against demonstrations and an orchestrated attempt to block highways leading to the capital, tens of thousands of people converged on Martyrs' Square in Downtown Beirut on Monday, many of whom had been there for the entire night. "They said they will prevent people from protesting as of Monday 5 a.m.," said Adnan Zaghlouli on Sunday evening. "We gathered from tonight to join tomorrow's protest."
There has been a major battle between government troops and Maoist rebels in western Nepal. The army now says that 46 rebels, including two women, were known to have died in the bloodiest confrontation in Nepal for several weeks. Bloodshed in Nepal has continued, despite King Gyanendra's takeover of direct power a month ago, which he said would help contain violence. Four members of the security forces were also killed in the latest clash. The battle took place in the south-western district of Bardiya, a Maoist stronghold with extensive jungle cover. Local people told the BBC it happened on Monday evening when Maoists ambushed security forces who were removing a road blockade on a highway. They in turn were attacked by the army from both directions, resulting in heavy casualties. 
The Iraqi Special Tribunal's chief investigative judge referred Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan, former vice president Taha Yasin Ramadan and three others for trial on charges of crimes against humanity. The trial will be the first of any members of Hussein's former government. Barzan, Ramadan and three others will now be tried before a panel of five judges for the 1982 killing of 143 residents of Dujail, 65km northeast of Baghdad, the tribunal said in a statement. The trial will not begin for at least another 45 days, it said.
