Several Yemeni schools suspected of promoting Muslim extremism have been shut down by the government, the government said Tuesday. The ruling General People's Congress Party said on its Web site the literacy teaching centers that refused to reveal information about curricula, the numbers of teachers and students and sources of financing were closed down. The head of the program to combat illiteracy in the region of Sanaa said three centers were closed in that area because they were manipulated by political parties and did not respect the laws and regulations. Yemeni Prime Minister Abdel Kader Bajamal has warned manipulating schools "will backlash on the country and its people." Last March, the government closed down hundreds of centers that taught religion on charges they illegally operated and promoted Muslim extremism.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 9:28:16 AM ||
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Accused al-Qaida collaborator Zacarias Moussaoui has written a U.S. judge asking to be sentenced to death in an apparent bid to involve the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema was sent the one-page letter by the French citizen, who is the only suspect in U.S. custody for the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. After being indicted in December 2001, Moussaoui initially pleaded not guilty then tried to plead guilty and later wanted to represent himself. He withdrew his guilty plea and wrote his own legal briefs to the court, sharply chastising, ridiculing and even threatening the judge, prosecutors and his defense team, led by federal public defender Frank Dunham Jr.
He's doing an excellent job of setting up an appeal on the grounds of being a nut job.
Sources told the newspaper defense lawyers want this latest request thrown out, arguing the letter is Moussaoui's naive attempt to win a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. Brinkema has requested a meeting with prosecutors and defense attorneys at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., before deciding how to proceed.
Grant his request, take him out and shoot him.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 9:21:38 AM ||
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#1
just let him out in the general prison population
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/19/2005 10:03 Comments ||
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#2
Shoot him, shoot his mother. Rot in hell with your "prophet", Moo-sow-ee.
#3
No. Give him a belt and a chair and a pipe overhead at least 7 feet off the ground. I wouldn't let him get shaheed status. Send his Mommy in France the bill before release of his carcass. Once payment is received, tell her to come here to pick up the carcass and administer a brutal drop kick to her head as soon as she steps foot off the plane.
#5
I've always been in favor of dropping him in the middle of Central Park and having a "Running Man" competition. The Pay-Per-View take would be huge.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 12:12 Comments ||
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#6
hmmmm - might even be a video game outta that, Steve
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/19/2005 12:14 Comments ||
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#7
Actually this might be a good case for the Supreme Court. Does a non citizen have the right to ask for the death penalty?
#11
Nope. That's what he wants. Lock hiom up and throw away the key. And just enought pig products (no offense to intended to pigs) to make sure he knows that when he goes he won't be getting any stinking virgins.
Posted by: Michael ||
04/19/2005 15:03 Comments ||
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#12
Break every knuckle in his hands with a hammer, and for desert feed him LSD with Marylin Manson played in the background. Then, march him down from Little Italy to Battery Park in Manhattan, that should finish him off. Hey, what happened to the good old days?
Posted by: Adam ||
04/19/2005 15:07 Comments ||
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A 24-year-old Los Angeles man was ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution and spend more than eight years in jail for vandalizing and torching SUVs. U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner rejected defense calls for leniency in sentencing Caltech physics student William Cottrell, 24, whose professors described as incredibly brilliant.
If he's so bright, how come he got caught and convicted?
Klausner said leniency would send the message "we're going to punish some people harder because they're stupid," the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Prosecutors said Cottrell carried out the Aug. 22, 2003 arson attacks with Tyler Johnson, a Caltech graduate, and Johnson's girlfriend, Michie Oe. They have fled the country and have outstanding warrants.
Bet they're connected to one of the domestic enviromental terrorist groups like ELF. After little Billy spends some time in the slammer, he might be willing to make a deal to shave some time off.
Prosecutors said the trio spray-painted anti-pollution messages on SUVs at three dealerships and torched two with gasoline Molotov cocktails.
Yup, that's got ELF written all over it.
However, the second gas-bomb bounced from the SUV window and the car lot went up in flames. Fourteen SUVs and a parts building were destroyed and a nearby apartment building was threatened during the fire. Cottrell's lawyer plans to appeal the sentence.
Additional: At his trial, the prosecution had accused Cottrell of "arrogance" and a "towering superiority" toward people who did not share his environmental views. Cottrell had testified that SUV dealers were evil. The judge said he felt sorry for Cottrell, a doctoral candidate in the physics department at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, but he had only himself to blame. "What a talent to have wasted," Klausner said. Vandals used spray-paint to deface the vehicles with slogans such as "Fat, Lazy Americans," "polluter" and "ELF," for Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group. Prosecutors estimated the total damage at $2.3 million.
Defense lawyers argued that Cottrell had agreed with two friends to spray-paint vehicles, but was surprised when they began to hurl Molotov cocktails. Cottrell was arrested in March 2004 after authorities tracked e-mails sent to the Los Angeles Times. The sender said he was involved in the SUV attacks and affiliated with the Earth Liberation Front.
Well, he was only a doctoral candidate in the physics department, how was he to know you can trace a e-mail?
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 9:12:40 AM ||
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#1
Yes. Incredibly brilliant. Now incredibly broke. Soon to have an incredibly sore asshole...
#2
You know, there's nothing dumber than an incredibly brilliant person who's spent their entire life within the educational system and thinks they're smart as a result.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/19/2005 9:30 Comments ||
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#3
so, where did his compatriots flee to? Oh Canada....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/19/2005 9:35 Comments ||
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#4
"Caltech physics student William Cottrell, 24, whose professors described as incredibly brilliant".So these all these"incredibly brilliant"students can come-up with is Molotov cocktails,betcha' Mommy and Daddy are incredibly pissed.
#5
Vandals used spray-paint to deface the vehicles with slogans such as "Fat, Lazy Americans," "polluter" and "ELF," for Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group. Prosecutors estimated the total damage at $2.3 million.
Too bad these jerks couldn't be exiled to some other country. If they don't like "Americans", they should go somewhere else. Preferably permanently.
#6
The little twerp is a criminal, terrorist, and idiot. On the anniversary of the bombing in Oklahoma City it is good to hear we are taking the activities of these lesser creeps more seriously.
#9
Let him change his dissertation topic to something in the area of theoretical physics, where it's all in his head anyway. Without all the distractions of the real world, he will no doubt finish his work in jig time, and be able to start using his brilliance to make real contributions to the field. Some people are not able to function amongst the distractions of the real world -- that's why Einstein never advanced beyond post office clerk, nor was able to be a good husband to either of his wives.
In fact, it may be a service to this brilliant youngster to keep him cloistered away for the rest of his life, that he might continue to do his work undistracted.
#11
you guys all have rehabilitation and productive life ahead in mind. I'd just as soon the bruthas beat him up 3 times a day for torching hummers, escalades, and other 'whips'
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/19/2005 10:58 Comments ||
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#12
thta $3.5 million judgement ain't going away soon, either
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/19/2005 10:59 Comments ||
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Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. Looks like his buddies threw brilliant boy under the bus.
It is with deep regret that ELP has to announce that William "Billy" Cottrell has testified against others at his trial. Earlier this week, William "Billy" Cottrell testified that he had been present at the scene of an Earth Liberation Front action. He admitted to painting ELF slogans and to causing criminal damage. However he then went onto say that he did not start any fires and named two people, Tyler Johnson and Michie Oe, who he claims were responsible for the fires.
It should be noted that, as has been proven time and time again, you can not trust the word of a police informant, as they will happily name innocent people to get themselves off the hook and no charges have ever been bought against Tyler or Michie, although the FBI have now named them as "fugitive co-conspirators".
A full report on Cottrell's trial will appear in the next issue of "Spirit of Freedom (January 2005)" and ELP will be putting out a joint statement with the former "Free Billy Support Network" in the next few days, after Cottrell has been sentenced. (The "Free Billy Support Network" has been dissolved because of Cottrell's decision to blame others).However as of now Cottrell is regarded as a police informant and will receive no more support from ELP. ELP would like to apologize to all those who have supported Cottrell and we would remind everyone that although Cottrell has turned traitor there are many other good prisoners who need our support and we hope this will not put you off supporting them.
#17
Don't they understand what spray paint does to the atmosphere. Burning cars arn't any better.
Another proves that intelligence + educational credentials do not equal common sense.
Got hornswoggled by bad companions, didya Billie? Had no idea those evil ELF recruiters might try and lock you in to the organization through a compromising criminal act?
Uh-huh. Dipshit. That's an OLD commie ploy. Sucker has whiskers on it....
#21
Well, he was only a doctoral candidate in the physics department, how was he to know you can trace a e-mail?
Oh my God that's embarrassing.
So these all these"incredibly brilliant"students can come-up with is Molotov cocktails...
We used to use nitrogen bombs (er, for deterrence only--never had to use them in combat). Dirt cheap to produce, big noise, non-flammable, damage to suit.
...that's why Einstein never advanced beyond post office clerk...
#22
I aint the youngest apple on the branch , but today I had a fairly ugly encounter on the way back from work ..
on with the plot .....
As passing a group of young asian lads playing cricket on the street , I was hurled abuse at and a couple of stones were thrown at me , along with some racial abuse (received no injury)..I decided it wasnt in my health to stop and argue the point , as they had two cricket bats visible and god knows what other weapons hidden and I was considerably outnumbered at least 20 to 1 .. Now , I have seen them about before in that neighbourhood , and they all take pride in their flashy cars .. I have 3 litres of brake fluid , that I think should be deposited on their precise motors late some night .. How do you interpret that ?
Prison doesnt actually scare me (been there , done that when younger) as much as walking the streets nowadays ...
I just want to work , eat and play , but if I get pushed around once more in my country of origin then I might decide to take matters into my own hands ..
One very very very annoyed MacNails , signing out .
#24
MacNails - Your anger is understood all too well. But you have to pick your battles wisely when the option's available. A little creative thinking may provide easier ways to have others exact a more meaningful price from those thugeens.
#25
...that's why Einstein never advanced beyond post office clerk...
Er, what?
Out in the real world, Angie, is what I intended to convey. Full professor at Princeton, acknowledged leading thinker in the field of theoretical physics, but he still didn't know where he lived, and counted on the kindness of strangers to guide him home after he'd finished a thought. I have to admit it's a problem I suffer from, too, although without the compensating genius, darn it! But I seem to be better at choosing my friends, and so don't need the kind of cloister that would best suite darling Billy.
#28
I am sure he they will love his brains out in lock up. I bet Billy thought he was going to see some action from that girlfriend and now he is going to be that girlfriend. Maybe they will make him a professor when he gets out of prison? He could do his new doctorial thesis on prison rape and tell everyone its about control and not about the sex.
#32
MacNails: As passing a group of young asian lads playing cricket on the street , I was hurled abuse at and a couple of stones were thrown at me , along with some racial abuse (received no injury)..
More on the DDX. The politics will continue to be intense this year with BRAC base closing announcements soon.
The Navy's new destroyer, the DD(X), is becoming so expensive that it may end up destroying itself. The Navy once wanted 24 of them. Now it thinks it can afford 5 - if that.
The price of the Navy's new ships, driven upward by old-school politics and the rusty machinery of American shipbuilding, may scuttle the Pentagon's plans for a 21st-century armada of high-technology aircraft carriers, destroyers and submarines.
Shipbuilding costs "have spiraled out of control," the Navy's top admiral, Vern Clark, told Congress last week, rising so high that "we can't build the Navy that we believe that we need in the 21st century."
The first two DD(X)'s are now supposed to total $6.3 billion, according to confidential budget documents, up $1.5 billion. A new aircraft carrier, the CVN-21, is estimated at $13.7 billion, up $2 billion. The new Virginia-class submarine now costs $2.5 billion each, up $400 million. All these increases have materialized in the last six months.
The Navy says it can make do with fewer big ships patrolling the oceans. It wants more fast boats and aircraft to fight offshore and upriver, a speedier force to counter terror. But Congress, seeking to sustain America's shipyards, wants as many big ships as possible. Keep that in mind and consider writing a few letters. While DOD can waste money, nobody does it as well or on as large a scale as Congresscritters.
Admiral Clark, who plans to retire later this year, says both strategies could be sunk by soaring costs.
Philip A. Dur, president of Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, the company primarily in charge of building the first DD(X) destroyer, defends the effort. "No question, the cost of the ship is an issue," Mr. Dur said, though its costs would be justified by state-of-the-art weaponry. Its sophisticated systems would require crews of as few as 125, one-third the size of today's destroyers, and stealth technology would make the 14,000-ton ship appear no larger than a fishing boat on an enemy's radar. But the $3.3 billion to build the first ship "is a big number," he said.
The number became big, fast, because it was kept small at first. John J. Young Jr., the assistant Navy secretary in charge of buying new weapons, said that until recently Navy officials had knowingly "underestimated the price" of the DD(X) destroyer program. "There's a motivation in this building to birth programs," he said, referring to Pentagon proposals to create big new weapons systems. "People tend to understate their costs."
Political haggling may also add to the price. The Navy wants a winner-take-all competition to build the destroyers. But Congress wants to give one to Northrop Grumman's shipyard in Mississippi, the next to General Dynamics' yard in Maine, to share the wealth and ensure more money for the yards.
The dispute drags on. The Navy says the two-shipyard approach will add $300 million or more to the cost of each DD(X). The Navy now hopes to build five DD(X) destroyers, one a year, at a total cost of $20.6 billion, including research and development. But those plans are shaky.
"There is doubt right now among people in the Navy and industry about whether a significant number of DD(X) will be procured," said Ronald O'Rourke, a Congressional Research Service analyst, who obtained the previously undisclosed cost figures for the new destroyers from the Navy.
Unless the costs are controlled, some in the Navy and the shipbuilding industry say, the better alternative may be to finish none of them and skip to the next-generation destroyer.
"The bottom line," Admiral Clark told lawmakers, "is you can't have the Navy of your dreams with the mechanisms that we're using."
Military shipbuilding is a closed mechanism run by two contractors, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics. Only they can produce the ships the Navy needs.
Mr. Dur of Northrop Grumman calls military shipbuilding "a unique economy."
Unique it is. Between them, the two contracting giants own the six remaining yards that can build American warships, in Maine, Connecticut, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California. They receive unstinting support from members of Congress representing those states; in turn, the contractors support thousands of smaller suppliers that are often the sole sources for what they make.
RTWT
Posted by: too true ||
04/19/2005 9:06:06 AM ||
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#1
All of these cold hard facts and troubles aside, asthetically the DD(X) is one pug fugly boat.
#2
Ironically, with the proliferation of light anti-ship missiles, after the first sea disaster we will once again have to take our WWII battleships out of mothballs. It's a purely practical thing: you can't hide forever, so you have to just assume that you're going to take some lumps. Even if ships are invisible, *somebody* is going to figure out a way to find them, and then, without armor, bye-bye. Technology is all well and good, but sometimes you just have to bare knuckle fight. The US defeated Japan because they only had a few, high quality ships; whereas ours were mass-production hunks of junk, but a LOT of them.
#3
I disagree Anonymoose...I don't think the ships mass-produced in WWII were "hunks of junk". We gave Japan hell with the fleet we had then. And regardless if the DD(X) or the CVN-21 is built or not, we could zap any countries navy with what we have right now.
#4
The Navy's new destroyer, the DD(X), is becoming so expensive that it may end up destroying itself. The Navy once wanted 24 of them. Now it thinks it can afford 5 - if that.
Sounds like a variant of the "Bay Bridge Syndrome".
#5
Article: The Navy now hopes to build five DD(X) destroyers, one a year, at a total cost of $20.6 billion, including research and development.
25 units at $3.3b a pop totals $83b. Spread out over their 30-year life spans, that comes to about $3b a year of capital expense for the entire force. I think we can afford this.
#6
I think it was Adm. Raeder, in late 1943 or early 1944, who said something to the effect of 'I knew the war was lost because America was building ships faster than Germany could build torpedoes.'
Not Rolls-Royces, but not junk - more like Model T Fords. Cheap, no frills, but got the job done. My father was an engineer on them in the North Atlantic during that time.
#8
The US defeated Japan because they only had a few, high quality ships; whereas ours were mass-production hunks of junk, but a LOT of them
Liberty ships were junk. Carriers were a mixed bag: there were escort carriers who were junk and then there were the big ones like Lexington or Enterprise. A thing to notice is that in the hard fought battles between Coral Sea and Guadalcanal American carriers ever seemed to be able to take more punishement than the Japanese ones before being disabled or sunk (could have been the effect of better damage control in American ships) and after suffering damage American carriers were returned to service much faster than Japanese ones (look at Yorktown versus Shokaku and Zuikaku after Coral Sea). This can be attributed to better shipyards and to the efforts of the people working in them but it is not impossible that the design of American carriers allowed for easier and faster repairs.
About battleships the South Dakota class ships could make mincemeat of "normal" Japanese battleships (cf the sinking of the Hiei around Gauadalcanal). They would have probably been outclassed by the Yamato and Musashi but by then the Americans were no longer interested in the battleship arms race: they were building carriers so fast that if had the war lasted one year longer Americans could have invaded Japan just by walking on a bridge of carrier decks extending from California to Japan.
#9
"Unless the costs are controlled, some in the Navy and the shipbuilding industry say, the better alternative may be to finish none of them and skip to the next-generation destroyer."
Maybe I'm missing something, but how is that going to fix the problem long-term? Any next-generation whatever is going to cost even more than a current whatever. Somebody is going to have to pay for it.
#10
'Moose: not true about ship quality. Japan had the best-trained carrier pilots in the world in 1941, and cruisers and destroyers with the world's best surface ship torpedoes, and used them all quite effectively in the early months and years of the war. However:
-- Japan's battleships were only fair to middling compared with ours because they lacked radar gun directors, advanced gyroscopic fire-control computers, and remote-powered gunlaying (I'd take an American Iowa or even a South Dakota against the much-vaunted Yamato in a straight-up fight any day);
-- Japan never got an improved carrier-based fighter plane into production, and never produced trained pilots in sufficient numbers to replace their losses at midway;
-- they never developed a decent medium AA gun like the 40mm Bofors or a dual-purpose secondary like the 5"/38, with the result that Japanese AA was not enough to protect their ships once the Zeroes got knocked out of the sky (by contrast, a US Sumner-class DD (1944) had more AA "throw-weight" than some prewar battleships!);
-- Japan never organized a proper convoy system, and Japanese ASW was, to put it charitably, pathetic;
-- the much-vaunted I-boat submarines were never properly used against Allied shipping;
-- Japan never built enough carriers after the start of the war; and,
-- in the Japanese Navy, damage control was considered a second-class specialty, and wasn't developed to the high art it became in the USN (see, e.g., USS Franklin)--with the result that Japanese ships sank from damage that would have been survivable for a US ship. (Don't forget, too, that Japan couldn't build replacements as fast as we could.)
There's a lot of information on these points at this site, including a fascinating "world's baddest BB" comparison.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/19/2005 11:44 Comments ||
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#11
Yes the high tech is great - and sorely needed to maintain our edge. But...
Damage control is what worries me about the new ships. A crew of 125, after taking crew injuries, will be hard pressed for DC action to sustain the ship's in the event of a powerplant or other central system casualty. And God help them if they take water integrity hits - DC for that is a matter of lumber, patches, clamps and muscle; the latter of which they will be missing with all the "deck apes" (Bosun's Mates for you non-swabbees) that these new ships supposedly will not need.
These new ships seem nice, but also seem very brittle. And with fewer of them, they bceome all that much more important and precious, like the "Big Carriers" of WW2.
#12
I have to question the viability of spending 3.15 billion on what is essentially an expendable screening ship. Hell, the CVN Ronnie Regan only cost 4.5 billion...
#13
This is like spending 1.5 billion per aircraft which can only bomb at night, is a siting duck if spotted and a crew of 2 is forced to fly alone for 20 hours.
#14
First was "fly-by-wire" now its "sail-by-wire" - the crux of GMD > space- and high- atmospheric laser defense backed up by hi-tech BMD, which means that, in the long run, all the US armed services have to do is clean up the mess once GMD and "Metal Storm", etal. gets thru with 'em. The Commies know GMD means they and their nuke bully stick is history, finis, goners - 9-11 and WOT is not somuch about Radical Islam, but the Left's and Commie's "final conflict" and struggle to conquer America and Western DemCapitalism before GMD kills the Leftist-Socialist-Communist universe! Radical Islam are just PC, PDENIABLE, DIVERSIONARY PSEUDO-SPETZNATZ, A PRE-CONVENTIONAL "SAPPER-COMMANDO" SELECTIVE MIL STRIKE!?
ISLAMABAD - An Islamic militant sentenced to death for the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan said in a rare interview published on Tuesday that he met Osama bin Laden twice in Afghanistan. British-born Sheikh Omar also admitted he was "involved" in kidnapping Pearl in 2002 but said he did not take part in his brutal murder, according to the latest edition of the English-language magazine Newsline. The magazine said it had obtained written answers from Sheikh to questions smuggled into his cell while he was at Adiala Jail in the northern town of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. He has since been moved to another prison.
"Yes, I met him twice in Afghanistan," Sheikh said when asked if he had met the Al-Qaeda chief, the first time the 31-year-old has admitted encountering bin Laden. He did not say when the meetings took place. But he added that he did not agree with all bin Laden's methods and was now committed to Mullah Mohammed Omar, the one-eyed, fugitive head of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, as the "overall leader of all mujahideen (holy warriors)". Sheikh expressed no regret for his actions, saying only that he had "some causes of anxiety, such as the fact that my son is growing up without me -- he's three years old now".
His lawyer, Mohsin Imam, said he was not aware of the interview and could not verify its contents.
Sheikh's appeal against his conviction for plotting the abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal correspondent Pearl in the southern city of Karachi is pending in a Pakistani court. The High Court of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, is due to take up the appeal on May 13. He was convicted by an anti-terrorism court in July 2002 and sentenced to death. Sheikh was held briefly at Adiala in connection with the probe into an abortive attempt on the life of President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, and is now at Hyderabad jail in southern Pakistan.
Pearl, the Journal's Bombay-based South Asia correspondent, disappeared in Karachi on January 23, 2002, while working on a story into the murky underworld of Pakistani militant groups. One week after Sheikh's arrest was made public, a graphic video depicting the gruesome decapitation of Pearl was delivered to the US consulate in Karachi. Sheikh told the magazine Pearl was "an informer, an American spy."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 10:42:42 AM ||
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Islamabad - Pakistani authorities on Tuesday warned tribal leaders in the North Waziristan region that new military operations may be carried out in the area if they do not help to apprehend Al Qaeda-linked militants and their local supporters. The North Waziristan region faces Afghanistan's Paktia province to the west. It also shares a border with the South Waziristan tribal region, where military operations last year killed around 174 mainly foreign militants with hundreds of others arrested. Military and government officials during a visit to the region on Tuesday warned the tribesmen that foreign militants were trying to stir similar unrest to that in South Waziristan in 2004. Tribal leaders, while assuring their support, urged the authorities to cooperate with them before launching any operation against the suspected terrorists.
"Let us know when you're coming so we can warn our guests clean house."
The latest warning by the government came just a day after the commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General David Barno, revealed that the Pakistani military was mulling a new military operation in the region to coincide with a spring offensive planned by the Afghan-based US forces on their side of the border. Barno, who was in Islamabad to attend the Tripartite Commission meeting of the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistani authorities, told reporters there was a need to undertake an operation in the North Waziristan region and Pakistani forces were seemingly preparing for one. A spokesman for the Pakistani military on Tuesday did not deny Barno's statement, but said it was up to the Pakistani authorities to take any such decision.
We won't hold our breath
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 10:30:28 AM ||
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DUBAI - The group of Al Qaeda's frontman in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi accused the Iraqi authorities of seeking to "totally eliminate" the country's Sunni Muslims, according to an Internet statement on Tuesday.
"What happened in Madain is only a link in a long chain of plots and slaughters, starting in Samarra, then Fallujah and Mosul ... in the framework of a plan aimed at totally eliminating the Sunni community" of Iraq, said the statement on an Islamist website. "What happened in Madain is part of this plan whose first phase is to provoke the exodus of the Sunni community from the region then to eliminate them from around Baghdad, then Latifiyah, Al-Haswa and Al-Mahmudiya, before clearing the capital entirely of a Sunni presence, by means of a forced exodus and genocide," it said. The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.
Iraqi forces gained control of the lawless town of Al-Madain near Baghdad on Monday but failed to find any of the scores of Shiite hostages that Sunni gunmen had reportedly seized and were threatening to kill. The three-day standoff around Madain, fueled by rumour, suspicion and sharply contradictory reports, had threatened to spiral into all-out national crisis as Sunnis and Shiites haggle over forming a new government two and a half months after landmark elections.
"The hostages of Madain belong to the Sunni community and not Al-Rafidha (a derogatory term for Shiites)," the statement said, calling on Sunnis to "defend their faith and their mosques." "You have no other choice but to defend yourselves against your enemy," it said. On Sunday, the group accused Iraqi authorities and US forces of contriving the abduction of Shiite hostages in Madain.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 10:18:22 AM ||
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#1
please kill him
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/19/2005 10:32 Comments ||
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Zarqawi group says Iraqi authorities seeking to âeliminateâ Sunnis
If the Sunnis can't bring themselves to kick the jihad habit, maybe they should be eliminated.
#3
Seems like he's actually doing a great job of literally hacking a divide between sunni and shia thereby weakening by association aq. All the same, he'd be better off dead as would his immediate family and associates.
April 19, 2005: Al Qaeda is getting desperate. One reason there have been no attacks in the U.S. in the last three years, and few in Europe or elsewhere, is because American troops invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Al Qaeda's principal goal has always been getting infidel troops out of Moslem countries. Another goal is to replace democracy, and any other form of government, with religious dictatorships. Al Qaeda is very much on the defensive because they are losing big time in both these areas. Al Qaeda pitched the battle in Iraq as a critical one. Either al Qaeda could do the deed or, who needs al Qaeda? The successful, and popular, elections in Iraq were yet another major blow. This made obvious what many in the Arab world have been suspecting for some time; that al Qaeda is not popular in Iraq. While al Qaeda promotes itself as "the insurgency" that is liberating Iraq from, "the occupiers,", far more Iraqis prefer the coalition troops than al Qaeda terrorists. But this brings up another important point that is rarely covered the Arab, or anyone else's, media; the feud between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The majority of Iraqis are Shia, and the majority of Saudis believe that Shia are heretics. The Sunni Arab minority in Iraq take strength from the support of such Saudis. While the Saudi government will not support al Qaeda, or the Iraqi Sunni Arabs, they would prefer that Sunni Arabs to be running Iraq. Saudi Arabia tolerated Saddam Hussein for so long because, while Saddam was an SOB, he was their SOB, a Sunni Arab SOB. Saddam got religion after the 1991 war, which threatened Saudi Arabia, because he knew that would resonate with Saudi public opinion. Saudi Arabia may be a monarchy, but even kings have to pay attention to public opinion.
Al Qaeda has made things easier for the Saudi Arabian government by openly making terrorist attacks within the kingdom. Al Qaeda had long refrained from this because of something of an understanding with the monarchy. If al Qaeda did not attack in the kingdom, then the government would not crack down hard on the al Qaeda fund raising and recruiting within the kingdom. The initial al Qaeda attacks certainly terrorized the government, and most Saudis. The retribution was swift and effective. While many pro-al Qaeda Saudis trying to head off to Iraq to fight, were stopped, those that made it were not seen as a failure, as most of them would die up there.
Iraq has not been a total failure for al Qaeda. Like Afghanistan in the 1980s, those who survive the experience will come out of it much deadlier terrorists. But they have no place to go where they are not hunted and under constant threat of arrest, or worse. The al Qaeda survivors who come out of Iraq will also have with them the knowledge that they were hated by most Iraqis, and that most of the people killed in Iraq were innocent Iraqi civilians. This breeds doubts in the minds of terrorists, and many of the surviving terrorists have gone home unsure if they are following the right path. In the long run, what will destroy al Qaeda is not bullets, but doubt, and loss of faith in the effectiveness of terror.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 10:10:38 AM ||
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#1
Already, in other Arab nations, Iraqis are sneered at as "sell-outs" and weaklings. But it is done in such a lame fashion that it reeks of jealousy and envy. In comparison, for years, the Arab world was happy to project its feelings on its proxy fighters, the Palestinians, while at the same time only thinly veiling their contempt for them as losers, suckers and dumbasses. This meant sending them lots of pocket change and "moral support", goading them on to dumber and dumber acts of insanity, and all the while feeling good about themselves for doing it. So thus, not being able to express themselves in free and open societies, they have long been bitter and duplicitous in their thoughts and feelings. But as the Iraqis keep living better and better lives, the pain of trying to look down on them will become agonizing.
#2
There's a bit of Western-based thinking in the article, negating some of the points, IMHO, but the sum is accurate: it's hard to make the case for joining the glorious jihad when you're getting your ass kicked or killed everywhere you chose to play. Even Arabs, a culture very familiar with the sore ass thingy, get that point.
#3
Never quite been able to understand the Arab world. They look up to al Qaeda because it wants want they want, the Western World out of the Mideast. But all al Qaeda has done has brought more of the Western World there. You'd figure at some point they'd say "this is'nt working". and "maybe if we can take care of ourselves, they will leave us alone".
#5
re: plainslow- you nailed it. If they would just use their brains for 5 minutes, instead of blowing them up, they would realize that if they want us to leave them alone, they need to figure their sh*t out first.
April 19, 2005: Since the mass attack on Abu Ghraib on April 2nd, there has been a slight (about 10 percent) increase in the number of daily attacks. There is some evidence to suggest that the terrorist leadership believes the Abu Ghraib operation was a success, which is completely opposite the conclusions reached by the Iraqi and US commanders. Different metrics are likely involved here; the Iraqi and American forces are thinking in terms of conventional winning and losing, and have concluded they "won" because the Insurgents took heavy casualties and did not liberate any of the prisoners, while the Insurgents may be thinking in terms of the effect their ability to make a mass attack may have on their image among the Sunni minority in Iraq.
If the terrorists are thinking this way, they have yet to address the impact of their increasing use of Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIEDS), which have led to a decline in their popular support due to the very large number of civilian casualties. The terrorists don't seem to be deliberately targeting Sunni Arabs, but between probable premature or delayed detonations, and improved security measures by both Iraqi and US forces, the net result has been a lot of civilian casualties. To most Iraqis, the Iraqi police and soldiers are now seen as the good guys, and the terrorists as the bad guys. The Americans are a bunch of foreigners who help out the good guys and give out candy to the kids.
In Western Iraq, the Americans are passing more bullets than chocolates. This part of Iraq has long been the "wild west." It is a sparsely populated desert occupied by smugglers and criminals. Even during Saddam's rule, the government controlled little beyond the main roads into Syria and Jordan, and some of the towns. But not all of the towns. That much has not changed, until now. For the last two years, coalition commandoes have ranged over the area, controlling the ground they stood on, but leaving the usual chaos in their wake. Smuggling gangs rule this part of Iraq, and since 2003, terrorists have set up shop as well. The tribes along the border controlled the smuggling, and have not responded well to government attempts to shut down the movement of weapons and terrorists from Syria. American and Iraqi troops are taking on the gangs one town and isolated compound (which look like little fortresses, which they are) at a time. The gangs have come back with multiple truck bomb attacks on American bases. So far, these attacks have failed, but more spectacular fighting can be expected out there on the frontier.
The "kidnapping crises" in Madain turned out to be a case of hysteria, media opportunism and government incompetence. There was some tension in the town between Sunnis and Shia, and someone called a relative in Baghdad to complain about it. One thing led to another, and the next thing you knew the town was surrounded by troops and reporters. But there was no there there. Welcome to Iraq, Jack.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 10:06:49 AM ||
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If the "insurgency" gravitates to this lawless (read: tribal - same thing as far as the Govt is concerned) region - that is a good / great thing.
The Sunni support for the terrs is partially based on the fact that they have not seen or felt the real brunt of war-fighting - even now. For two years the Shi'a areas, for the majority of intense military action and terr activity, have been the "battlefield" and the tribal leaders in the Sunni areas have been able to play both ends against each other - probably profiting from both sides for their "cooperation".
But the change is well under way. The attacks are gravitating homeward, to Sunni Iraq, as the Iraqi forces gain competence and acceptance and, deep breath here, support from the Shi'a.
When the asshats are blowing up Sunnis and Sunnis die in sufficient pointless numbers - and the bribery for support and transit no longer pays the Sunni tribal assholes - and the military money for reconstruction dries up because the violence has to stop first -- then, and only then, will the tribal leaders see it is in their interest to turn over / double-cross the bad guys and get the money flow from the military going again. When it hurts enough, they'll flip. This is the aspect that so completely infuriates me about Arabs, Afghans, et al, being for sale to the highest bidder, but aspects of it can be turned to advantage without becoming like them. Just bring the pain close enough to home, make it intense enough, withhold funds due to the violence, and they'll get it. The key is that they'll have to come to you for a deal, instead of the other way around. Then you are in position to make demands - and judge the results, before you release the reconstruction funds - which they'll pilfer, of course. They're really good at this obsequious shit, when they have no better choice... so good they put gold-digging money-grubbing whores to shame. The worm has turned.
#2
The above begs the question. Does anybody have a handle on the number of Sunni fatalities caused by the terrorists in Sunnistan. My sense is that the vast majority of the civilian fatalities are in Shiastan or in the Baghdada area or at recruiting stations known to be frequented by Shias.
ALGIERS, Algeria, April 19 (UPI) -- Algerian troops killed a Muslim extremist gunman and wounded two others in addition to dismantling a cell providing logistic support to armed groups. French-language daily Liberte Tuesday quoted local sources in the province of Anaba, 500 kilometers (312 miles) east of Algiers, as saying the army rounded up 10 members of a support network for the gunmen.
It said the arrests took place several days ago, following the detentions of six Tunisians and an Algerian in the same region who had planned to join the Salafi Group for Daawa and Fighting, Algeria's most dangerous armed group. In another incident, the army clashed with gunmen in the province of Mediya in western Algeria, killing one and injuring two others.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 9:26:24 AM ||
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Guerrilla attacks killed at least 10 people in Iraq on Tuesday as a resurgence in violence piled pressure on politicians struggling to form a government more than 11 weeks after elections. Insurgents opened fire on members of Iraq's National Guard in Khaldiya, a restive town west of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding four.
In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed four National Guards in the Athamiya district, the police and hospital officials said. Thirty-eight people were wounded in the blast. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said a member of its "martyrs' brigade" carried out the attack, according to a statement posted on the Internet.
Insurgent suicide bombings and shootings have killed hundreds of Iraqi security forces and police in recent months, raising concerns that the people who are supposed to protect Iraqis can't even protect themselves.
Gunmen also killed Baghdad University professor Fouad al- Bayati on Tuesday, riddling his car with bullets as he drove to work, police said. While insurgents frequently kill members of Iraq's security forces because they see them as cooperating with U.S. troops, there are no clear reasons why dozens of university professors have been gunned down or kidnapped over the past two years.
Iraq's new leaders have been confronted with renewed violence over the past week, after signs of a decline in attacks immediately after the Jan. 30 ballot.
In a sign of the growing cynicism of Iraqis toward their elected leaders, people accused politicians of fabricating a hostage crisis in a town south of Baghdad for political ends. Suicide bombings have returned to the high levels seen over the past two years at a volatile time, as leaders try to form a government that balances sectarian interests.
Majority Shi'ites, who were long oppressed under Saddam Hussein, now have most political power after winning the polls, while once-dominant Sunnis are increasingly marginalised. Because many of their voters boycotted the election, Sunni politicians hold only 17 of the 275 seats in parliament.
Sucks, don't it?
Iraqi officials fear the longer it takes to form a government, the more encouragement insurgents will take from the indecision, allowing them to exploit the political vacuum.
The U.S. military said a 51-year-old male detainee held at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq died of what appeared to be natural causes on Tuesday. The military said it was investigating the death as part of a "normal course of action." Such subjects are highly sensitive in Iraq after the prisoner abuse scandal at U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison.
As politicians debated renewed violence, an Iraqi lawmaker accused a U.S. soldier of grabbing him by the throat and shoving him to the ground after he parked his car in Baghdad's Green Zone. Fattah al-Sheikh, an independent politician, said he had parked his car ahead of a session of parliament when U.S. troops approached him and told him he didn't have the right permit. "I don't speak English and so I said to the Iraqi translator with them, 'Tell them that I am a member of parliament', and he replied, 'To hell with you, we are Americans,"' Sheikh told parliament, fighting back tears as he recounted the story. The U.S. military said it was investigating the incident. The speaker of parliament said he would ask the new prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, to demand a full apology from the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, in what threatened to become an embarrassing political spat. The U.S. embassy said it also was investigating the affair.
Shi'ite politicians said Sunni insurgents were holding up to 150 Shi'ites hostage and were threatening to kill them unless Shi'ites left the area. But raids in the town by Iraqi forces failed to produce kidnappers or hostages.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 9:06:29 AM ||
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As if our boys are supposed to take some stranger's word at face value that he's an MP and not parking a VBIED right outside a session of parliament... Sheikh should suck it up and grow up! F'ing pansy.
Posted by: Dar ||
04/19/2005 10:16 Comments ||
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A firefight between Afghan soldiers and suspected Taliban left eight militants dead in a remote mountain region of southern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.
Hurrah! Good shootin', Mahmoud!
Eleven other Taliban fighters were captured in the fighting in Zabul province, including Chechens and Arabs, said a spokesman for the governor.
Even better. But if they included Chechens and Arabs they're al-Qaeda, not Taliban. Taliban are Pakistanis, almost all of them.
The spokesman, Ali Khel, said the US military provided air support for the Afghan forces, and that some of the captured militants were turned over to US custody. He said a local Taliban commander named Mulla Abdullah may have been among those killed, but that there was no confirmation of his death.
"Is he dead, Bones?"
"I can't confirm that, Jim."
"Damn."
Afghan soldiers also killed two Taliban members and captured three others, including a senior commander Mulla Noor, during a gunfight in Uruzgan's Charchino district which left three soldiers injured, officials said on Monday.
This article starring:
MULLA ABDULLAH
Taliban
MULLA NUR
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2005 00:00:00 ||
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"Mohammed!!"
"Whaaat?"
"line up 720 more Virginians."
"I thought we were promising Virgins for our martyrs?"
"Make that 720 West Virginians."
#3
counter the Talib radio broadcasts with TV and radio broadcasts demonstrating what happens when the Lions of Islam meet qualified opponents. They may be able to beat and cowtow unarmed women and children but they die like diseased dogs against men
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/19/2005 9:29 Comments ||
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During Operation Enduring Freedom, the corpses of foreign (mercenaries from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt etc.) Taliban were left out in the open for to feed homeless buzzards , in obsrvance, perhaps, of the bhuddist way of death, perhaps as a way of commemorating the Taliban treatment of a 2000 year old statue of the enlightened one during the Talibans brief, but effective tenure.
Here's to buzzards with full bellys.
Posted by: an dalusian dog ||
04/19/2005 11:42 Comments ||
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#5
Now we know the answer, here is the question...
Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime has launched a pirate radio station which pumps out broadsides against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, officials and reports said on Monday. Operating from a mobile transmitter to avoid being shut down by US and Afghan forces, Voice of Shariat, or Islamic law, apparently uses the same name as the Taliban's radio station during the militia's 1996-2001 rule. It can be heard across a number of provinces in southern Afghanistan, the area where Taliban have recently stepped up a bloody rebellion, an Afghan intelligence source said. "We've heard intelligence reports from several districts in Kandahar province that the Taliban have launched a radio station," the source said. "People in Arghastan, Atghar and Maroof districts have heard it," he added, referring to the three districts in southern Kandahar, once the powerbase of the Taliban movement.
Abdul Latif Hakimi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said the broadcasts began early on Monday and there would be two hours of programmes a day between 6:00am and 7:00am and at the same hour in the evening. "The radios of the world which are apparently free, are in fact slaves of others. That is why we have launched the radio, to make people aware about the Taliban's thoughts and objectives," Hakimi told the Afghan Islamic Press news agency.
"And what're your thoughts and objectives?"
"To take power and kill anybody that gets in our way!"
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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The radios of the world which are apparently free, are in fact slaves of others. That is why we have launched this petition to save Shariat Street. ALL YOU DO IS ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST AT THE BOTTOM, then forward it to everyone you know.
PIJ,TIMA (Taleban Islamic Movement of Afghanistan), and Al-Qa'ida are facing major cutbacks in funding. In spite of the efforts of each organisation to reduce spending costs and streamline their services....
#6
They must be broadcasting from populated areas, otherwise the Air Force would have delivered a FCC licence cancellation notice by now. Printed on the side of a JDAM.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/19/2005 8:49 Comments ||
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Maybe. Or maybe we like to know where their transmitters are ... heh.
Posted by: too true ||
04/19/2005 9:24 Comments ||
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They would have to broadcast more than a couple of hours to be affective (if they can be) and if they broadcast too long the Air Force would cancel programming. So they have an ineffective broadcast signal that is under constant threat of cancelation. They are not LIKE Err Amerika they ARE Err Amerika (Farsi Version)!
Pakistani investigators have found a definite and irrevocable link between a Muslim charity and one of the four suspects believed to be involved in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in February 2002. A 'Trust Deed', retrieved from at least two banks where Al-Akhtar Trust International outlawed by the American Treasury Department in 2003 for having links with Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network has it accounts, shows that Saud Memon is one of the eleven trustees of the trust, highly placed sources told Daily Times on Monday.
And who's Saud Memon?
The sources said the name of Saud Memon, who owns the shed where Pearl's remains were found, appeared at number nine (9) on the list of the 11-member Board of Trustees. Saud Memon, an industrialist, had been named by several arrested members of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-Almi as their chief financial backer.
Quite a coincidence, huh? But I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation...
Several police officers, who have been involved in the investigations into the murder of Daniel Pearl, believed that Saud Memon was the man who had driven three Arabs to his estate in North Karachi, where Pearl had been held till the day of his slaying. Shortly after Pearl's murder, the police sealed Saud Memon's home in Karachi, where he also ran his garment business. Saud Memon remains one of the key figures still at large in the Pearl slaying case.
Flew the coop, did he? So, just where in Soddy Arabia do they think he is?
His photo along with those of other alleged conspirators have been published throughout Pakistan and a reward has been offered for information leading to their arrest. According to the CID Red Book updated in December 2004, Saud Memon was responsible for receiving funds from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and distributing them among almost all jihadi outfits operating in Pakistan. The investigators still working on the Pearl murder case believed that Saud had fled the country.
This article starring:
AFAQ UR REHMAN KHAN
Al-Akhtar Trust International
Daniel Pearl
FROZ ABDULLAH
Al-Akhtar Trust International
HAFIZ MOHAMAD ISMAIL
Al-Akhtar Trust International
KAMRAN CHAPRA
Al-Akhtar Trust International
KHALIL UR REHMAN
Al-Akhtar Trust International
MUFTI ABDUL REHMAN REHMANI
Al-Akhtar Trust International
MULANA ABDUL REHMAN
Al-Akhtar Trust International
MULANA ABDUL REHMAN MEMON
Al-Akhtar Trust International
MULANA MOHAMAD IBRAHIM
Al-Akhtar Trust International
MULANA MOHAMAD MAZHAR
Al-Akhtar Trust International
SAUD MEMON
Al-Akhtar Trust International
SAUD MEMON
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-Almi
Al-Akhtar Trust International
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-Almi
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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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.
Several Yemeni schools suspected of promoting Muslim extremism have been shut down by the government, the government said Tuesday. The ruling General People's Congress Party said on its Web site the literacy teaching centers that refused to reveal information about curricula, the numbers of teachers and students and sources of financing were closed down. The head of the program to combat illiteracy in the region of Sanaa said three centers were closed in that area because they were manipulated by political parties and did not respect the laws and regulations. Yemeni Prime Minister 
Accused al-Qaida collaborator 
Islamabad - Pakistani authorities on Tuesday warned tribal leaders in the North Waziristan region that new military operations may be carried out in the area if they do not help to apprehend Al Qaeda-linked militants and their local supporters. The North Waziristan region faces Afghanistan's Paktia province to the west. It also shares a border with the South Waziristan tribal region, where military operations last year killed around 174 mainly foreign militants with hundreds of others arrested. Military and government officials during a visit to the region on Tuesday warned the tribesmen that foreign militants were trying to stir similar unrest to that in South Waziristan in 2004. Tribal leaders, while assuring their support, urged the authorities to cooperate with them before launching any operation against the suspected terrorists. 
A firefight between Afghan soldiers and suspected Taliban left eight militants dead in a remote mountain region of southern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said. 
Pakistani investigators have found a definite and irrevocable link between a Muslim charity and one of the four suspects believed to be involved in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter 
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