Israeli leader snubs Blairâs invitation after court issues warrant for general
BRITAIN is desperate to avoid a diplomatic row with Israel after Ariel Sharon apparently snubbed an invitation from Tony Blair to visit London, claiming that he feared arrest.
The Israeli Prime Minister is understood to have cited the case of a senior general who narrowly escaped detention at Heathrow on war crimes charges last week. Doran Almog remained on an El Al Boeing 747 rather than risk falling into the hands of Scotland Yard after a human rights group lodged charges that cannot be brought in Israel.
Mr Blair suggested that Mr Sharon could visit Britain when the pair met for talks on the sidelines of the United Nationsâ 60th anniversary summit in New York. The Israeli premier shot back that because of his years of army service he could also find himself facing arrest.
âI would really like to visit Britain,â Mr Sharon was said to have told Mr Blair. âThe trouble is that I, like Major-General Almog, also served in the (Israeli Defence Force) for many years. I too am a general. I have heard that the prisons in Britain are very tough. I wouldnât like to find myself in one.â
The growing legal threat to Israeli officers also forced the former Chief of the Army Staff, Moshe Yaâalon, to cancel a fund-raising visit to London because of fears that he might be arrested on war crimes charges relating to attacks on Palestinian civilians and property.
Israeli authorities have also warned the serving chief of staff, Major-General Dan Halutz, against travelling to Britain because of the war crimes complaints filed against him by the left-wing army ârefusenikâ group, Yesh Gvul.
Silvan Shalom, the Israeli Foreign Minister, said the attempted arrest of Major General Almog and the risk to others as an âoutrageâ, saying he would press British authorities for a change in the law.
Mr Shalom said: âThe fact that Israeli soldiers and high-ranking officials are prevented from entering European countries is an outrage. We take a grave view of this. Donât forget that Britain has troops in Iraq. What will it do if other countries decide that British soldiers and officers committed war crimes in Iraq? Will it consent to having them arrested in other countries? I think it should change at once.â
Israeli Army radio quoted aides of Mr Sharon yesterday saying that Mr Blair was âclearly embarrassedâ by the exchange at the UN meeting and promised to take care of the matter.
Downing Street played down the incidents. It said that Mr Blair had pointed out to Mr Sharon that, just like Israel, Britain had a court system independent of government.
A spokesman refused to comment further, saying that the meeting between the two was private. Scotland Yard had been waiting at Heathrow for Mr Almog with an arrest warrant issued 24 hours earlier at Bow Street Magistrates Court. Judge Timothy Workman had authorised the generalâs arrest for questioning about the destruction by troops under his command of 59 Palestinian homes in Gaza in 2002. The message that reached Mr Almog came from Israelâs military attache in London â at that moment hurrying along the M4 towards the airport. Mr Almog said: âThe chief steward said the attache was on his way and wanted to speak to me. I phoned him and he told me not to get off the plane.â
The call preserved the generalâs liberty and prevented a diplomatic incident. But a political and legal storm has followed. The opposing factions in the Israel-Palestine conflict are both crying foul. One side wants an explanation of how the former general came to be tipped off and why police did not board the aircraft to arrest him.
The other is demanding to know what business it is of the British courts what the Israeli army does in fighting what it sees as its âwar on terrorâ.
Although it is tempting to see the General Pinochet case as the origin of such actions, they are based on the 1957 Act that enshrined the 4th Geneva Convention in English law.
Article 146 obliges Britain to search for persons alleged to have committed war crimes and bring them before our courts âregardless of their nationalityâ. One explanation for not arresting Mr Almog on the aircraft lies in the quasi-legal doctrine of comity, the concept of maintaining good relations with friendly states.
#1
It seems obvious to me that Iseael needs to file international charges against all members of the "Human Rights Group" that "Lodged Charges"
That should put a swift end to this nonsense, to have these protesters confined to Britian and not allowed to leave for fear of going to jail in Israel.
Or better yet, have the warrants unannounced, so these morons get picked up before they can be warned.
Just think, Morons like this having the exact same thing done to them, I can hear the screams of "Unfair" now
"The Golden Rule" seems specificly designed for this event.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2005 12:55 Comments ||
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#3
What you're witnessing here with the Israelis is Legal Terrorism - one group using laws in one nation, meant for one purpose, to attack and limit another group. Needless to say, it's being practiced by the islamofascinutjobs against its principal enemies, Israel and the United States. The nations responsible need to change their laws so they cannot be used by third-party groups, or the rest of us need to start using the same laws against OUR enemies. Frankly, this kind of "war" makes me want to break some heads. It's slimy and dishonest, totally abhorrent to those of us trained to kill people and break things.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/17/2005 14:04 Comments ||
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#4
It's called lawfare.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/17/2005 14:53 Comments ||
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#5
I think "Fears" is the wrong word. "Doesn't want to step in the sh*t" would be more accurate, IMO.
#6
If Britain's courts allow such nonsense, their diplomats, bureaucrats, and military should have no immunity either, anywhere. Same for the rest of the EU
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/17/2005 15:16 Comments ||
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#7
#4: It's called lawfare.
Oh beautiful Mrs D, I think you just coined a phrase.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2005 15:26 Comments ||
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#8
Doesn't a serving minister of Government have diplomatic immunity when visiting a host country?
Posted by: john ||
09/17/2005 15:45 Comments ||
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#9
Prime Minister General Ariel Sharon is making a valid point by overtly refusing to go to Britain. These laws were pushed through the EU system specifically to get him arrested, with various other Israeli officials as a lagniappe. If Blair doesn't want to be embarassed by such things, he's going to have to get those laws off the books, not merely refuse to enforce them for Sharon, because General Sharon considers this to be a strategic rather than tactical goal. And he's right, as this was a major step in the process of separating the State of Israel from the rest of humanity.
#10
I'd like to be that clever. This topic has been discussed sufficiently that some one developed the term some time ago.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/17/2005 16:17 Comments ||
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#11
trailing wife---good comments. Sharon should have diplomatic immunity, since he is the leader of the Israeli government. His actions in refusing to enter the UK, even though he has diplomatic immunity is putting the ball squarely in Tony's court. Blair has to put the screws on the meatballs and the system that enables this behavior. Diplomatic immunity would protect Sharon, per se. Hell, look at the NORKS. They jet set to and fro at will with their diplo pouches full of narcotics, and nobody stops them. They are using the system, too.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/17/2005 18:51 Comments ||
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#12
Lawfare is one name for it. I have been privately calling it the "Revenge of the Pussies" for some time now. You remember the type in high school or college, right. Passive aggressive, always carried a big chip on his shoulder, smart, really smart, but never knowing quite when to give up. He might have had a couple of geeky friends that worshipped the ground he walked on, but he would have thrown them to the dogs in a heartbeat if that betrayal would get an in with the in-crowd. He probably found himself tossed into a few dumpsters in his time. His need to belong was almost as great as his need to attack the popular kids. I could pretty much sum this person up in two words: Paul Krugman.
Well now he's a lawyer or tenured academic and the rules are different. You can't give him wedgies or toss him in the dumpster anymore. He knows the law and is well connected to the big charitable trusts, which are funded by guilt-ridden trust fund kids. Now he has it all. He gets to schmooze with the most popular kids of all, while pissing all over the jocks and work-a-day kids who trashed him in high school. And he hates America and the jock-focused, popularity-driven culture that failed to recognize his brilliance so many years ago.
The flip side of the coin is that he'll support anything that is in opposition to that culture. The popular kids went to church, got big cars on their 16th birthdays, and went home to their nicely kept suburban houses paid for by their corporate dads. So fuck all that, right?
Religion? He'd like to see the Lenin Constitution clause of "freedom of religion and anti-religious propaganda" adopted. Big cars? America is wasteful. Let's regulate them out of existence (with exceptions of course for me and my trust fund enablers). Suburbia? Wasteful. Unsustainable. Sterile. We'll deal with that in due time. Corporations? Well, we haven't yet invented an economic engine to produce enough wealth for our welfare state, but we'll do everything that we can to hobble them and tax them.
Who would have thought that the greatest danger to our democracy would not be tyranny of the strong or of the majority, but of the pussies? It's only logical for them to ally with the Islamists since they are the near perfect antithesis of America and our Constitution.
How do we deal with them? I think that fewer laws would be a good start. I've always been fond of Heinlein's proposal that if you don't serve (and he didn't limit his definition of service to the military), then you don't vote. Perhaps we have a Saturnalia every year were we find all the Paul Krugmans and Joan Blades and ritually toss them in a dumpster -- just to remind them of who's in charge.
#14
I wouldn't know where to start. Castro is always a good choice for arrest and trial.
Or, how about Fischer? Find some other European with ties to Red Army Faction or some similar Soviet-backed group. Or just grab the former East German officials. After all EU human rights certainly is more important than any deal Kohl made.
#15
If we just kill 50% of the lawyers it would be a good start fighting this crap. Also don't let any US military visit Europe unless it is to travel directly into US controled areas. Our military is already a target.
A homemade explosive detonated outside an apartment building in the southern Russian region of Ingushetia on Friday, and another explosive caused a locomotive and three cars of a cargo train to derail along the border with the neighbouring region of North Ossetia, the interior ministry said.
No casualties were reported, but the explosion in the city of Nazran left a large crater in the street, and the derailment caused disruptions on the rail network.
A third explosion shook the Ingush village of Nesterovskaya later on Friday, but again caused no casualties, said Nazir Yevloyev, a spokesperson for the Ingush interior ministry. An anti-personnel mine exploded near a bus stop as a military convoy passed, he said.
Roman Shchekotin, a spokesperson for the southern regional district office of the Russian interior ministry, said investigations had been opened into both incidents, and that both were considered terrorism.
The Nazran blast occurred close to the city court and police headquarters. Shchekotin said it had been equivalent to kg to 7kg in force. The explosive on the train tracks was equivalent to 5kg in force. The train was empty.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/17/2005 00:34 ||
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Just after 1pm on June 4, masked troops surrounded the Chechen village of Borozdinovskaya, rounded up the men, and herded them into the school. They pulled their shirts over their heads, and forced them to lie down in the sports hall.
Ali Magomed, 78, said: "They hit me on the head with an AK-47, and made me lie on the floor. They made us lie with our hands on our heads for nine hours. There were 300 of them, all speaking Chechen." One of the masked men then walked around the gym, lifting each man's head so he could see their faces.
Nine months after the Beslan school siege, pro-Russian Chechen soldiers staged a raid on this tiny village on the border with Dagestan, populated mostly by ethnic Dagestanis.
It was one of the most public abuses committed by the increasing number of Chechen militants serving under the pro-Moscow local government's banner.
They are broadly known as "Kadyrovtsi", after their leader, strongman and vice prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov. The raid resulted in 11 men being led away. They have not been heard of since.
One was Izaket Umarova's son, Murtuz, 18. "Six soldiers came into our home," she said. "They asked me what republic I was from. I said 'Chechnya', and they let me go. Murtuz ran to the mosque, but they got him. If my son is dead, will they please give me the body so I can bury him."
The Kadyrovtsi raid was apparently aimed at stemming support for separatist militants from residents in neighbouring Dagestan, hence the soldiers' interest in Mrs Umarova's ethnicity.
However, the inhabitants of Borozdinovskaya did not take the affront lying down. A few days after the raid, 645 of them, including Mrs Umarova, packed their belongings and very publicly fled to Dagestan.
It took a visit and assurances from Mr Kadyrov, and the president of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov, to get them back, together with the promise of considerable compensation for homes burned and damaged in the raid.
The commander of the raid, known as "The Beard" and from a group of Kadyrovtsi under the command of Sulim Yamadayev, was also charged with carrying out the "illegal" raid.
While Mrs Umarova remains furious at being denied both her promised compensation and the return of her son, the incident was blunt proof of the increasing autonomy and brutality of the Kadyrovtsi.
Originally formed by Mr Kadyrov's late father, Akhmed, they were intended to shore up the pro-Russian Kadyrov government's control over the republic and take over the role of fighting separatist militants.
Yet since Akhmed Kadyrov's assassination in May 2004, splits have emerged among their ranks.
"Most still do what Ramzan says," said Ruslan, an officer in one of the factions, known as the "15th" after the milk factory from which they provide security to the oil infrastructure of Grozny.
Each faction has its own priorities. The head of the 15th, Movladi Baysarev, is "almost constantly" in Moscow, says Ruslan, who fears a big change in the republic's turbulent paramilitary politics may be afoot.
Ramzan Kadyrov's decision to form the "Anti-Terrorist Centre" (ATC) - a group of former militants tasked with tackling their former colleagues - has also created severe problems.
"It was a mistake to give militants guns," said Ruslan. "Nothing has changed in the republic. I have found a uniform, and that's it. There is no law. An officer in the FSB [the Russian security services] told me: 'I guarantee you there will be a third war'," he sighed.
As the Kadyrovtsi fracture, the militants are gaining strength in the southern highlands. Ruslan estimates there are at least 5,000 of them, steeled by the mercenary brutality of the Kadyrovtsi against their fellow Chechens.
Two Kadyrovtsi who hitched a lift in the Guardian's taxi in eastern Chechnya backed Ruslan's estimate, adding that in the last month alone, 50 young men had fled the town of Argun where they are based, and "gone to the hills".
Ruslan added: "There may be as many as 2,000 militants in Grozny alone. Even the Kadyrovtsi are scared of them."
Another possible catalyst for the increasing number of militants is the death of Aslan Maskhadov, the moderate Chechen separatist and president of the republic during its 1997-1999 period of independence.
At a house in the town of Tolstoi Yurt, where in March Russian state TV showed his body lying in a pool of blood in the muddy courtyard, only a pile of rubble now remains.
What is left of the basement, where prosecutors say there was a "complex" of rooms, including a toilet, appears remarkably small. Neighbours say they heard explosions, not gunfire, on the day of the purported siege.
The official version is that Mr Maskhadov was killed resisting arrest, perhaps by a bodyguard who shot him dead to prevent him being taken alive.
Yet a persistent rumour suggests Mr Maskhadov was killed elsewhere, perhaps in a fight with Mr Kadyrov's entourage, and brought to the house in Tolstoi Yurt, where Russian special forces expertly faked a siege operation in an effort to prevent a possible Chechen civil war.
Mr Maskhadov's death has angered many. Even for Ruslan, for years a fully paid-up member of the pro-Russian forces, the pictures of his former president "were unpleasant to see, him on the floor like that. He was our only legitimately chosen leader."
He added mysteriously: "I know that [Mr Maskhadov] was not killed in Tolstoi Yurt."
Mr Maskhadov's inability to rein in Beslan mastermind Shamil Basayev and other extremist militants had sapped his credibility both inside Chechnya and as far away as Washington, yet many Chechens still regarded him as their legitimately elected president.
His removal from the equation deprives any future, moderate Kremlin leader with someone to negotiate with. Now there remains only Basayev, and the separatist leader Doha Umarov, a reclusive figure, fast becoming the separatist movement's new leader.
"Basayev is not as dangerous as Umarov," said Ruslan. "He's bigger than Basayev now. One word from him, and ..."
One man who might heed Umarov's call is Taus, 29. Introduced as an active militant, he insists he has spent the last two years working for an international NGO, but clearly retains his contacts and motivations.
"In the hills, they [the militants] tend to make camp for only two to three days, then move on. Religion is strict and pure there," he adds, referring to the increasing influence of Islam on the separatist movement.
Yet many despise the extremists in the movement, he insisted, referring to them as Wahhabites, a catch-all term for religious ideas often influenced by hardliners in Saudi Arabia.
"They'll kill anyone in a uniform. They have strict rules against smoking, drinking, swearing."
He said his main goal was not religious: "For me the main thing is to create an independent Chechen republic, not necessarily an Islamic one. To free it from the Russians."
Looking anxiously around the nearby streets, he tells of how he narrowly escaped capture by pro-Russian police in 2003 by jumping out of a window at 5am. "They got me in the leg, though," he adds, pointing to his upper thigh.
He said: "I respect Doka Umarov, but I respect and fear Ramzan." Fear, it appears, carries currency amid a movement increasingly run by extremists. Asked about Basayev, Taus stops short of condemnation, saying instead: "Basayev is like a dog on a leash. Eventually he will get agitated and bite."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/17/2005 00:31 ||
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#1
"They hit me on the head with an AK-47, and made me lie on the floor. They made us lie with our hands on our heads for nine hours.
Did they let you go to the bathroom, or did you piss on the floor and lie in it.
Something rings false about this story.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2005 13:01 Comments ||
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A light aircraft, hijacked by a pilot who threatened to crash it into New Zealand's highest building in Auckland, has plunged into the city's harbour. Radio New Zealand said the 328m Sky Tower was evacuated on Saturday after threats were made by the pilot, who said the plane had been stolen from a local airport south of Auckland. The tower sits on top of a large casino and hotel complex in the centre of Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city. It was not immediately clear how many people were aboard the plane and what their condition was. Police boats were moving towards the spot where the plane went down. Police were unavailable for comment and there were no further details.
#1
UPDATE: Crashed it into the sea. I couldn't find anything more on this story at the BBC, but I did find this one, about a man threatening to blow himself up unless PM Helen Clark talked to him.
Yesterday were the NZ elections, by the way, in which Clark's party has very narrowly won re-election, according to the Beeb. According to Silent Running, it ain't over 'til it's over. But they may be thinking wishfully.
Posted by: john ||
09/17/2005 16:41 Comments ||
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#7
I just checked with the official RNZAF website. The nearest thing to a fighter is a Beech King Air. All they fly is choppers, trainers, transports and Orions.
The manager of the Adapazari branch of the British owned HSBC Bank has been killed in an armed attack by unidentified gunmen Friday. Selim Tokdemir, 42, had parked his car and was walking towards the bank when he was attacked. He suffered bullet wounds to his left temple and left breast. Tokdemir died of his wounds in hospital shortly after being admitted. Police a description one of the attackers who fled the scene and are continuing their investigation.
The Bad Guyz really seem to have it in for HSBC Bank, don't they?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/17/2005 00:20 ||
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Spain's High Court ordered the re-arrest on Friday of Al Jazeera journalist Tayseer Alouni and another defendant who had been freed for health reasons during a trial of 24 alleged al Qaeda members. A court official said Alouni and Jamal Hussein were arrested in the southern city of Granada because they were considered a flight risk. They are due to appear before the High Court in Madrid on Monday where their bail will be formally revoked.
The High Court is expected to announce its verdict in Europe's biggest trial of suspected Islamist militants by September 26 at the earliest, the court official said. Alouni and Hussein are accused of belonging to a terrorist group and could face nine years in prison if convicted. Both say they are innocent. Alouni, a Syrian-born father of five and holder of Spanish citizenship, was freed from jail on medical grounds in March, but ordered to remain under house arrest.
The key figure in the trial was Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, accused of helping the Sept. 11 hijackers plan the attacks on U.S. cities in 2001. Alouni interviewed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. Prosecutors accuse him of carrying money intended for al Qaeda members during visits he made to Afghanistan for his journalistic work. The reporter's initial arrest sparked outrage among Arab human rights groups, journalists and colleagues at Qatar-based TV station Al Jazeera, who called it an attack on press freedom.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/17/2005 00:16 ||
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#1
Thanks for the update. I was wondering when the verdicts would be announced.
Swedish security police unit SÀpo plans to keep tabs on Muslim schoolchildren who express admiration for suicide bombers and other terrorists. Teachers are expected to assist in monitoring the attitudes of young pupils, and the plan has sparked strong reactions, newspaper Aftonbladet reports. Talks are already planned between school authorities and SÀpo, and many educators do not feel that watching and reporting on students is part of their job.
Sweden's Liberal Party is behind the proposal. "We see for us a form of information exchange: SÀpo should inform teachers about these (dangerous) groups but the schools should also give important information to SÀpo about how young people think," said Liberal Party MP Lotta Edholm. "If one is going to observe students on a very vague basis and do what SÀpo has asked it could have long-term and destructive consequences for the individual student," Eva-Lis Preisz of the National Union of Teachers in Sweden told Aftonbladet.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2005 09:34 ||
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Posted by: Mo Atta ||
09/17/2005 13:21 Comments ||
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#4
I can think of lots of dead men spinning in their graves. This is where socialist welfare states go. Watch this go wrong and for opression to creep in, even soft opression is evil.
#5
My wife (from Sweden) says it wont go thru. The Liberal party is not as liberal as the Social Democrat party and is politically weak at this point. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as conservatism in Sweden. But there is a brand new mosque in front of her girl-hood home.
A Maryland man was charged with conspiracy to help a terrorist organization, part of an investigation of the "Virginia jihad network" that has so far resulted in 10 convictions, U.S. law enforcement officials said Friday. Ali Asad Chandia of College Park, Md., was a personal assistant to Ali al-Timimi, whom authorities called the spiritual leader of the Virginia jihad network, according to a four-count indictment unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. The indictment charges Chandia, a Pakistani, with conspiring to provide material support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba organization, which the United States designated a terrorist organization in 2001. Chandia visited the group's office in Lahore, Pakistan, in November 2001, the indictment said. Chandia was arrested Thursday at his home, assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said.
Also charged is Mohammed Ajmal Khan of Coventry, England, who prosecutors say is a senior official in Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic rebel group fighting for independence in the India-controlled portion of Kashmir. Khan already is in custody in England on terrorism charges. Al-Timimi was sentenced to life in prison in July after being convicted of soliciting treason and other charges. Prosecutors say al-Timimi wielded enormous influence among a group of young Muslim men in northern Virginia who played paintball games in 2000 and 2001 in preparation for holy war around the globe. Nine other members of the group have been convicted for their roles in the conspiracy, with prison terms ranging from three years to life.
Had to read this article twice. No sneer quotes, no sly digs at the prez, just facts.
A powerful bomb went off in a Christian neighborhood of eastern Beirut late Friday, wounding at least three people and sending soldiers scrambling to the scene. The blast detonated just before midnight near a bank, completely destroying a car. But it was not clear if the bomb was placed in the vehicle, under it or near it. Two other cars were also damaged. At least no one appears to have been killed.
The explosion was the latest in a series of blasts that have shaken Beirut, some killing or wounding prominent politicians and others hitting public areas and causing panic. It came days after a U.N. investigator visited Damascus to set up interviews with top Syrian officials over the most notorious of the bomb blasts â a Feb. 14 explosion that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 20 other people. The U.N. team has already accused four senior Lebanese security officials who carried out Syrian policy in the country. Many in Rantburg Lebanon accuse Syria in the killings of Hariri and other anti-Damascus figures, a charge Syria denies. Lebanese have expressed fears of more bombings as the U.N. investigation pushes forward â particularly if it points a finger directly at Syria in Hariri's slaying.
Maybe I'm not Byzantine enough, but I can't for the life of me figure the reasoning, if any, behind these car booms. At first they made a bit of convoluted sense, in that they "demonstrated" that Leb's an unstable mix and that best for all concerned would be if Syria returned and maintained order. There have been periodic booms ever since the end of the civil war and I'm assuming most of those were orchestrated by Syria or her domestic allies for internal political reasons, as appears to have been the case with Hariri. A few â not as many as were attributed â were probably the Mossad's work.
But Syria's been under intensifying scrutiny since the Hariri killing, which I believe to have been miscalculated "business as usual" on the part of the Syrian intel guys. This latest two or three booms accomplishes nothing but making things worse for Syria. That might mean they're done by the Mossad, which obviously has an interest in destabilizing Syria, but the risks with competent investigators like Mehlis in the neighborhood outweigh the minimal gains, since Syria's destabilizing nicely on its own. Should one of the latest series of explosions be hung on Israel, by inference they all will and the Leb independence movement will be discredited.
To me, that leaves the Islamists, probably first cousins to the Dinnieh group and Jund al-Shams. But arguing against them is the fact that none of the post-Hariri booms have been hung on anyone. And Islamists have the habit of not only claiming credit for their depredations, but also claiming credit for other people's. So I'll remain confused, at least until something breaks...
#2
One overlooked possibility, "None Of The Above"
Individuals settling old scores and no government involved. That would explain the oddness of these boomings, each are individual.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2005 13:12 Comments ||
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#3
I was thinking that, as well. By process of elimination "none of the above" has an interest in stirring the pot for its own goals. The question is which "none of the above"?
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2005 20:09 Comments ||
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#4
Fred, have you considered the possibility Hezbollah just isn't as organized into a unified command structure as a normal military, and someone at the bottom could go off half-cocked?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/17/2005 21:47 Comments ||
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Fox News's site/AP article on the recent violence, including a car bomb that killed 30 at a market in a shi'ite area.
Four days after Al Qaeda in Iraq declared all-out war on the Shiite majority, more than 250 people have been killed, 30 of them by a car bomb Saturday outside a produce market in a poor Shiite suburb east of Baghdad. The blast underlined one of the bloodiest weeks since the U.S.-led invasion.
In all, at least 52 people were killed or found dead throughout the country Saturday, victims of mounting sectarian killings promised by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of the terrorist organization and a moving force behind the Sunni-dominated insurgency.
After a car bomber exploded his vehicle Wednesday in the midst of assembled day laborers in a largely Shiite neighborhood in north Baghdad, an audio tape posted on the Internet and claiming to be from al-Zarqawi announced "all-out war against Shiites everywhere. Beware, there will be no mercy."
The death toll from at least 14 bombings Wednesday was 167, marking the worst day of violence in the capital since U.S. troops invaded and overthrew Saddam Hussein 21/2 years ago.
In Saturday's remote-controlled car bombing, Interior Ministry police Maj. Falah al-Mhamadawi said the vehicle was parked in front of fruit and vegetable stands in the market at Nahrawan, about 20 miles east of Baghdad.
Victims were taken to Baghdad's al-Kindi hospital in pickup trucks and minivans, police Lt. Abdulal Ibrahim said.
Some of the wounded â including those who lost limbs â lay bleeding on the hospital grounds.
"I came with my brother Hamid, whose right leg was blown off below the knee," said Alaa Mohammed, outside the hospital. "I saw neighbors putting him in a truck so I just jumped in with him."
Shiites have suffered the brunt of a massive campaign of bomb and shooting attacks, which al-Zarqawi said would continue against "any of (Iraq's) national guards, police or army (who are found to be) agents of the Crusaders (American forces). They will be killed and his house will demolished or burned â after evacuating all women and children."
But as the indiscriminate bombings continued into the weekend, the majority of the dead were Shiite civilians, prompting Islamic clerics from both the Sunni and Shiite sects to call for an end to the killing of innocent people.
"I call for a meeting ... of all the country's religious and political leaders to take a stand against the bloodshed," Sheik Mahmud al-Sumaidaei said during his Friday sermon at Baghdad's Um al Qura Sunni mosque.
"We don't need others to come across the border and kill us in the name of defending us," he declared, a reference to foreign fighters who have joined the insurgency under the banner of Al Qaeda. "We reject the killing of any Iraqi."
Throughout Iraq on Saturday, police reported finding 16 bodies that were blindfolded, bound hand and foot and shot. Two other people died in bomb attacks and four more were killed in shootings.
The bombing campaign, al-Zarqawi said, was launched in retaliation for a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation that chased his fighters and other insurgents out of their stronghold in the northern city of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border. Hundreds of insurgents reportedly were killed or captured....
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/17/2005 19:31 ||
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The Pakistan-backed Hizbul Mujahideen suffered a severe jolt on Saturday, when its financial chief and senior commander, Masood Ahmad Nathnu, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said.
Acting on a tip-off, security forces raided Dama village, seven kms north-east of Doda, in the wee hours, the sources said. Masood, who had gone to the village allegedly to meet his girlfriend, opened fire at the security forces at around 0600 hrs and was killed in the ensuing gunbattle, they said.
A pistol was recovered from Masood, who was active in Doda district for the last 10 years and was a senior commander and chief of finances of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit, the sources added.
Posted by: john ||
09/17/2005 16:37 ||
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It could be 'the lady in red' what done him in. Or do burkas come in red?
Security forces arrested 20 militants as they were laying explosives to blow up a massive dam in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, the government said.
U.S.-led coalition troops and Afghan soldiers arrested the militants at Kajaki Dam in Helmand province, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Saher Azimi said.
#6
take em swimming with concrete shoes....allah ain't gonna reward that
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/17/2005 13:27 Comments ||
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I don't know, OS, why people like the AP (A$$ociated Pre$$)insist on trying to be *quote quote* neutral in their presentation of news. They are sick delusional suicidal idealogues. It is a sickness, the trouble is that it will get THEM and US killed. That is how I look at it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/17/2005 13:49 Comments ||
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#8
At the AP only Bush, Blair and Howard are terrorists, all the rest are militants, freedom fighters or revolutionaries.
99.9% of Journalists are a waste of human skin. To the wall with them. No I am not joking. They are helping to destroy western civilization and culture along with the legal "profession" screw them all. Their are too few decent folk among them to redeem them.
A suicide car bomb wrecked three vehicles in a U.S. convoy near Abu Ghraib prison Saturday, and insurgents fired seven mortar shells at the jail and used grenades to damage three armored vehicles in another American convoy in the area, Iraqi police said. There were no other details on the damage inflicted around Abu Ghraib, a prison just west of Baghdad that was the scene of the torture and execution of countless political prisoners under Saddam Hussein and the abuse of detainees by American soldiers after the dictator's ouster.
In the northern city of Mosul, meanwhile, coalition forces said they arrested two alleged leaders of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group. The two - identified as Taha Ibrahim Yasin Becher, whose alias was Abu Fatima, and Hamed Saeed Ismael Mustafa, also known as Abu Shahed - allegedly headed al-Qaida's organization in Mosul, the country's third-largest city. A statement said the arrests occurred Sept. 5. It also said Abu Fatima took over as al-Qaida's top-ranking operative in Mosul after one predecessor was captured in June and another was killed in August. He held the post for only 12 days, the statement said.
In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, one man was killed and six wounded when a suicide bomber drove his car into an Iraqi army patrol. U.S. troops raided two suspected al-Qaida safe houses in the northern town of Ubaydi and found a car bomb, weapons, ammunition and bomb-making materials, the U.S. military said. During the search, American forces came under fire and killed one attacker...
In other developments:
Police in Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad, said they arrested 13 people suspected of participating in Friday's assassination of the mayor and his four bodyguards.
In Baghdad, police found the handcuffed corpses of three unidentified men dumped near the Omar Bin Abdul-Aziz mosque. Sunni community leaders have accused the Shiite-dominated security forces of operating death squads, but the Interior Ministry has denied this.
Armed gunmen in western Baghdad attacked a convoy of four trucks carrying food for the U.S. military. Two Sudanese drivers were killed, police and hospital sources said.
Police in Samarra, north of Baghdad, said they found the body of an Iraqi contractor who worked for the U.S. military. The man was handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head, police Capt. Laith Muhammed said.
In Qaim, near the Syrian border, U.S. jets reportedly bombed two houses overnight, killing one civilian and injuring another. The area along the porous frontier has been the target of repeated airstrikes in recent weeks, with the U.S. military saying it is trying to close off a prime infiltration route for guerrillas and foreign fighters.
The commander of coalition troops in Iraq today described "an extremely successful tactical operation" in which U.S. and Iraqi troops all but cleared Tal Afar, Iraq, of foreign fighters.
Tal Afar is one of two major transit zones for foreign fighters coming into Iraq, Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said from Baghdad today. The other route is through the Euphrates River Valley, farther south.
U.S. troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and Iraqi forces from the 3rd Iraqi Army Division have been working for two months to plan and prepare for an operation to "restore Iraqi control to Tal Afar," Casey said.
Since Sept. 10, this combined force has been engaged in an operation to clear a roughly 600-by-800-meter section in the center of Tal Afar that foreign fighters had set up as a sanctuary.
The combined force killed about 150 insurgents and captured roughly 350 more. Casey said officials estimate this accounted for about 75 percent to 80 percent of the foreign fighters and other insurgents they believed were in the city. "It looked like a pretty tough fight," he said.
Strong support from the Iraqi government made the soldiers' mission significantly easier, Casey said. In the days leading up to the military assault, Iraqi government representatives spent time in Tal Afar and brokered an agreement with local leaders from all local ethnic groups: Shiia, Sunni and Turkoman.
"The other piece of this that sometimes gets lost is the Iraqi government was very much involved in setting the conditions for success," he said.
Casey explained that local sheiks signed statements saying basically: "We've had enough. We ask for the military to come in and clean the terrorists and foreign fighters out of Tal Afar."
This led to support for the mission from the city's civilian population. "That had a huge impact on what we had to deal with with respect to the population of that city," Casey said.
About 20,000 civilians left Tal Afar before the fighting began. The Iraqi and coalition force was prepared with humanitarian assistance, but many of those who fled went to stay with friends or relatives elsewhere, Casey said. The Iraqi government also provided $50 million to compensate civilians whose property was damaged and to fund rebuilding damaged areas.
The mission was intended to allow Iraqi civilians to participate in the upcoming constitutional referendum Oct. 15.
To ensure a lasting success in Tal Afar, coalition and Iraqi forces will have to work together with the Iraqi government, Casey said. "The troops will continue to disarm the neighborhoods and clear the city," he said. "And the Iraqi government is working on the political reconciliation to keep all the sheiks together, to reconstitute the local government, to reconstitute the police force, (provide) compensation, and begin reconstruction all throughout the town."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/17/2005 00:39 ||
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#4
Using absolute terms like "cleared" actually takes away from their major victory in Tal Afar. Tal Afar is not "cleared", but the enemy has suffered a terrible defeat.
That victory is of three parts: direct, indirect, and external. The direct victory is what we have seen, crushing their forces with great loss of enemy life and capture.
The indirect victory is ongoing, the permanent denial of Tal Afar by turning the people against the terrorists and keeping them turned with prosperity and security.
The external victory is of three types. Forcing terrorist with strong Tal Afar connections to have to reorganize their operations due to compromise, such as having to use their car bombs now instead of when they had planned, to much less effect, and cutting off their supply lines.
Second is the persuasive effect it has on the next cities and towns on the list, such as Samarra, giving momentum to the good guys. Third is the effect is has on those outside of the country, to once again show what a death trap Iraq is for foreign fighters--how fruitless their efforts have been.
Right guy for the job: hard charging Cav trooper, and an expert on counter-terr and counterinsurgency. Go look up his bio. We need more liek him to run for office once he's done wit the military (and he will probably end up a 2 or 3 star).
I served with him in combat in the Gulf back when he was a Captain in the 2ACR over in 2nd Squadron (As I'm sure you've heard me say way to many times here). He is one of the few to have commanded a cavalry troop in a claaisc meeting engagement in armor-to-armor combat; he and his troopers kicked ass. And he was a real "no bullshit" guy back then from what I can remember of him at regiment. Glad to see he apparently hasn't changed in that regard. Seems like the Cavalry trains its officers right (pride!). My stetson and spurs mean more to me than most of the awards the Army gave me; they are about the only thing I've kept up (the shadow box is in the attic, the stetson and spurs and certificate are on my wall).
#6
Casey explained that local sheiks signed statements saying basically: "We've had enough. We ask for the military to come in and clean the terrorists and foreign fighters out of Tal Afar." Now this is the information that needs to be broadcast front page to America. I find that many folks don't seem to keep up with what's truly going on, instead they refer to Iraq and Afghanistan as hoping it would be over. Generalized comments. Life to some have gotten so fast that they are satisfied with the MSM info not having time or giving time to learn more. Pure laziness. Thanks to the MSM crap.
I hate to admit it but I was one of those folks until my son joined the military. I then wanted to learn as much as I could so I would know what was happening, possibly what he would be involved in. Looking up many sources of news and getting perspectives from several different fronts. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was part of the problem of being the sheep. Alot of us are busy with family, working, juggling etc, and folks come to depend on the MSM. Rantburg was a real find, thank you. The links provided by contributors are simply amazing.
Posted by: Jan ||
09/17/2005 14:02 Comments ||
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Cuddle up in a comfy chair with a mimosa, it's 'Crossfire' time!
Two "criminals" were killed in a "crossfire" with police in Nischintapur under Chandina upazila in the district yesterday noon.
No, I don't know where that is either.
The victims are Mahbubur Rahman alias BDR Mahbub alias Lavlu, 35, son of Abdul Matin Mia of Sonapara village under Daudkandi upazila and Shukur Ali, 28, son of Abdul Malek of village Jamiapara under Chandina upazila. Police arrested Mahbub and Shukkur Ali for their alleged involvement in Wednesday's incident of killing two armed criminals by an angry mob at Nawabpur area under Chandina upazila.
"Youse two are gonna wish you'd gotten away with da rest o'da mob."
As Mahbub and Shukkur Ali informed that their two accomplices Baten and Bellal had been hiding at Nsichintapur, ...
"Ouch! Ouch! Dang that smarts! Ouch!"
... Chandina police along with them went there at around 1:30pm yesterday.
Hmmph, a little early. Chandna police are such amatuers.
Sensing police presence, some armed miscreants began to fire indiscriminately against which police retaliated.
"It's da coppers, boyz! Fill the air wit' lead!"
Trying to flee, Mahbub and Shukkur Ali were bullet-hit in crossfire and died on the spot,...
... while three police personnel sub-inspectors Jahangir Alam and Qumrul Islam and constable Masud Sheikh, were injured during the incident, police said.
"Lift with the legs, not with the back Qumrul, or you'll need a truss I tell ya!"
Police recovered one foreign revolver loaded with five bullets, one country made pipe-gun and two cartridges from the spot.
A genuine country-made pipe gun, not like one of those cheap city-made ones ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/17/2005 00:23 ||
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"Cartridges" now, not "Rounds of Bullet" somebody's been taking english lessons.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2005 15:21 Comments ||
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Country made pipe gun...
Flexibility is everything in this part of the world. Consider the cigarette knife.
Growing Iranian government "activism" throughout both the Middle East and Central Asia poses a major challenge to U.S. interests, according to a Middle East expert. Ilan Berman, Vice President for Policy at the American Foreign Policy Council, told a RFE/RL audience this week that "although there are not a lot of solutions to the Iranian challenge," the U.S. needs to make policy changes to address this challenge because Iran's "offensive nuclear program has the potential for breakout."
Berman, author of the recently published "Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge to the United States," said that, in addition to its much discussed nuclear program, Iran poses a challenge because of its continued sponsorship of terrorism. Iran remains at the top of the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Berman said, and has increased the level of assistance it provides to groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda and Hamas, adding that "between 2002-2003, ten percent of all communications of Al-Qaeda traveled through Iran."
Iran is also "solidifying" its position as a regional power in the Persian Gulf, according to Berman, through a "military mobilization and rearmament" program that is aided by Russia, China and North Korea, to help Iran attain "self-sufficiency." The balance of power in the region is being changed as Iran signs bilateral military cooperation agreements with countries of the Persian Gulf. Berman said these agreements are an indication that countries of the Persian Gulf are worried that "the U.S. nuclear umbrella may not be enough [to protect them]." Furthermore, Berman said, Iran is "interfering" in Iraq, and "trying to exert influence in Central Asia and Caucasus" by "co-opting its neighbors." For instance, Berman said Iran has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Azerbaijan, in which both states promise not to base foreign troops on their respective territories. Berman noted that the MOU is an attempt by the Iranians "to take Azerbaijan off the table," while "an Iranian flotilla [on the Caspian Sea] would discourage international investors in Caspian energy."
Berman is pessimistic about the international community taking action against Iran in time to prevent it from realizing its offensive nuclear ambitions. The European Union (EU) negotiations with Iran "are not new" and the negotiations in the 1990s "did not modulate Iranian behavior," he said. Since the EU has said it will "accept some level of nuclear activity," while the U.S. has said "no to a nuclear Iran," Berman maintained that "there is no end game" and that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has "no teeth." Iran's nuclear capabilities are so far advanced that Berman predicted that, by 2006, Iran could be capable of launching a rocket that could kill thousands of people in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Berman offered several "tactical" suggestions to meet the challenge posed by Iran. First, the U.S. should continue developing a missile defense system and expand its counter-proliferation efforts. "Offering a missile defense to the Gulf Cooperation Council would inject some doubt on the part of the Iranians," Berman said. The U.S. is already helping to build up the Kazakh navy under the "Caspian Guard" program, and Berman urged the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which now encompasses 60 countries through a series of bilateral agreements, be applied to the Persian Gulf. Berman also called for the U.S. alliance system in the Persian Gulf to be strengthened. "If given an alternative, the Persian Gulf states would alter their current policy of 'modus vivendi' with Iran," he said.
In summary, Berman said that events have already shown that it "is possible to delay the timeline of Iran's nuclear program," but now it is "the regime change clock which needs to tick quicker." He suggested that the "Reagan Doctrine should be revisited" for successful programs that could accelerate democratic change in Iran, such as enhanced U.S. international broadcasting and increased non-governmental organization and expatriate contacts. Currently those programs, to the extent they exist, are under-funded, according to Berman.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/17/2005 00:19 ||
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Regime change is a good idea. That said any US involvement in it needs to be through 3rd parties and hands off.
Insurgents staged a series of suicide bombings and ambushes on Friday that left at least 25 people dead across Iraq, including an attack on a crowd of Shiites leaving a mosque after weekly prayers.
The strikes were the latest in a string of attacks on Shiites that began Wednesday, when 150 people were killed in at least a dozen bombings in Baghdad. Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia claimed responsibility, and an audio recording posted on the Internet that purports to be from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist, declared a "full-scale war without mercy" on Shiites in Iraq.
In Friday's attack on the worshipers, a car bomber blew himself up outside Al Rasol al Atham mosque in Tuz Khurmato, 130 miles north of Baghdad. Thirteen were killed and 28 injured, said Azad Khorshid, a local doctor. He said most were followers of Moktada al-Sadr, the rebel Shiite cleric.
Shortly after, another bomber tried to blow himself up, but he was captured, according to Razkar Abdulah, a local police officer. Mr. Abdulah said the man identified himself to the police as a Saudi.
In Baghdad, insurgents fired from a car at a group of Shiite day laborers at 7:30 a.m., killing 2 and injuring 12, an Interior Ministry official said.
It was the second attack here this week on poor Iraqis who come from the south to earn as little as $4 a day in tea shops and on construction sites. On Wednesday, 114 were killed by a bomb after they were lured to a minivan with promises of work.
Mr. Zarqawi's group has said that Wednesday's coordinated attacks were in retaliation for a large-scale military offensive last week in Tal Afar, a northern city that had been controlled by insurgents for months. The military said it had killed about 150 rebels during the offensive.
At Friday Prayer, Shiite leaders across Iraq condemned the recent attacks, as well as Mr. Zarqawi's declaration of war. The office of Mr. Sadr, whose informal army fought American troops twice last year, issued a statement denouncing them.
Sunni leaders had milder criticism. A group of Sunni Arab religious leaders, the Muslim Scholars Association, known for its opposition to the American occupation, said they opposed Mr. Zarqawi's declaration of war against Shiites, because Iraqi civilians were not responsible for "the sins" of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government.
Also in Baghdad, a Transportation Ministry official and a religious leader identified as Sheik Fadhal al-Lami were killed in separate drive-by shootings on Friday morning.
In Haswa, just south of Baghdad, three police officers were killed when a car bomb exploded near their convoy shortly before 10 a.m. Another three officers were wounded.
In Iskandariya, 37 miles south of Baghdad, men raided the house of a town official early on Friday, shooting dead the official, Amer al-Khafagi, and four of his bodyguards. Insurgents have said they consider any Iraqi cooperating with the American effort a traitor.
An American marine was killed in what the Marines said was an "indirect fire explosion" in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad in the Sunni Arab province of Anbar.
The American military also said it had captured a senior leader in the Ansar al-Sunna terrorist group in the northern city of Mosul. And south of Haditha, a city along the Euphrates River valley in Anbar Province, the military said it had conducted airstrikes against a complex of 12 buildings, where troops had discovered a vehicle rigged with a suicide bomb.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/17/2005 00:14 ||
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The U.S. military believes Taliban militants in Afghanistan are incapable of staging coordinated attacks that could disrupt Sunday's elections, a top U.S. commander said on Friday.
But in a separate announcement, the State Department warned U.S. citizens on Friday not to travel to Afghanistan and said it was very concerned about the threat of attacks on foreigners in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.
Briefing reporters at the Pentagon by video link from Afghanistan, Army Brig. Gen. James Champion, deputy commander for combat operations and intelligence, said: "We do not anticipate any kind of a coordinated attack. We have not seen the ability of the enemy here in Afghanistan to mount coordinated attacks across this country."
Champion said enemy forces had threatened to disrupt the elections with a "spectacular" attack against U.S.-led forces or the U.S.-backed Afghan government. The United States has 17,900 troops in Afghanistan.
"But I don't see any kind of a situation happening like you're seeing in Iraq," Champion said.
On Friday, a National Assembly candidate was fatally shot, and the insurgents warned Afghans to boycott the elections.
The State Department issued a public announcement voicing concern about "terrorist actions" that could include suicide attacks, assassinations, hijackings, bombings or kidnappings.
"Terrorists do not distinguish between official and civilian targets," the State Department said. The latest announcement supplemented long-standing warnings on Afghanistan that were issued previously. It is due to expire Oct. 14.
Champion told reporters U.S. forces had not "heard or seen anything" about the location of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but maintained the search for him was not on the back-burner.
"I really can't tell you anything about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. We have not heard or seen anything about him. Quite frankly, we're totally concentrating on rebuilding Afghanistan and this election that's coming up on Sunday," Champion said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/17/2005 00:13 ||
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The U.S. military believes Taliban militants in Afghanistan are incapable of staging coordinated attacks that could disrupt Sunday's elections
Of course, in my guard unit over here the Viet vets all say that none of the Islamic Freakazoids hold a candle to the Viet Cong/NVA. The old timers further maintain that back in their day it was done up hill both ways in the snow....
told reporters U.S. forces had not "heard or seen anything" about the location of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden,
And are not about to say anything either...
I just wonder if the Iranians and the paks have had any (very quiet) discussions about how they are going to deal with the 40,000 ton elephant stomping around in Afganistan?
Posted by: N Guard ||
09/17/2005 2:40 Comments ||
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I'm fairly sure a good time was had by all, 'cept for the dead guy.
TANK: A militant was killed in South Waziristan on Friday while the authorities took 13 tribal elders into custody to force their sub-tribe to hand over men accused of snatching an official vehicle. The militant, identified as Yaqub, son of Shadajan from the Wazirgi sub-tribe of the Mahsud tribe, was reportedly shot dead by a man who was blamed as a pro-government spy.
Alas, poor Yaqub, we knew him not at all, and now he's dead. At the hands of a craven spy, no less. Alas, alas.
Five militants, seated in a car, had chased the vehicle in which the unidentified man was travelling along with other passengers from Makeen to Spinkai Raghzai via Srarogha. After intercepting the passenger vehicle just outside Srarogha bazaar, Yaqub and the other militants all of whom had covered their faces disembarked and started moving toward it.
"Yar! We be the cadre of Yaqub! You lowdown dirty spy...prepare to..."
Eyewitnesses said the man fired at the militants,
[Bangety bang bang bang]
killing Yaqub on the spot.
"Wha'? Ow! Rosebu..." [thump]
Tribal sources said the militants then got hold of the man and thrashed him
"He killed Yaqub! Get 'im, boyz!"
before throwing him into their car and driving him away on the road leading to Spinkai Raghzai town.
All the roads thereabouts lead to Spinkai Raghzai town.
A tribesman close to the militants later said the man had been spying for the government and the plan was to capture him alive. He said this man would now be dealt with under Shariat for murdering their colleague Yaqub. He added that the man was being held in The Fortress of Solitude, in the Dungeon of Doom (TM) a secret place. Meanwhile,
back at City Hall...
13 tribal elders from the Machikhel sub-tribe of the Mahsud tribe were arrested when they came to Tank to meet assistant political officer Anwarzeb. They had been reportedly invited for the meeting to discuss the case of the official vehicle that the militants had snatched ten days ago in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan.
"Wheels, man, we gotta get some wheels. I just can't terrorize the joint properly from the back of a donkey! It ain't right."
"Cool your jets, Yaqub, we're working on a plan..."
"Just make it quick, Mahmoud. I'm dying to see some action!!"
The militants who snatched the vehicle, belonging to assistant political agent, Wana, freed the Khassadars and returned their Kalashnikov rifles after taking them along for some distance.
"You can have the rod. But we're keepin' the ride. D'ya got a little spare change for some gas?"
The authorities made it clear the 13 tribal Maliks would remain behind the bars until the official vehicle was delivered and those who snatched it are produced and handed over to the administration. The arrested tribal elders include Jehangir Khan, Sherbaz, Ghulam Nabi, Shamroz Khan, Hikmat Khan, Abdul Hameed, Mardalojan, Dostmal, Ghazi Muhammad, Loi Khan, Shaizullah, Sherjan and Khair Muhammad.
The Taliban warned the Afghan people on Friday not to take part in elections this weekend, saying they could get hurt, after gunmen believed to be from the group killed a candidate, the seventh so far. National assembly candidate Abdul Hadi was shot dead on Thursday night in the southern province of Helmand, provincial spokesman Mohammad Wali Alizai said. "The gunmen called at his house and when he came out they opened fire and killed him," he said, adding that the attackers were believed to be Taliban guerrillas.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for killing several of the seven candidates for Sunday's national assembly and provincial council polls who have now been killed. Speaking to Reuters on Friday, Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi denounced the elections as a U.S.-orchestrated "farce" and warned Afghans they would vote at their own risk. The Taliban have previously said they would not target polling stations, but Hakimi said ordinary Afghans risked being hurt in attacks on foreign "occupation" forces on election day.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2005 00:00 ||
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In a sign of the new ease of travel, leaders from Egypt's banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood movement watched Friday as hundreds of armed militants from Hamas paraded through the ruins of a former Jewish settlement. Nizar Rayan, a Hamas leader, urged a huge crowd of supporters to welcome the Brotherhood visitors from Egypt, as more than a thousand Hamas militants marched, brandishing M-16s and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. A masked Al-Qassam leader threatened Israel with fresh attacks unless it withdrew from all occupied Palestinian territory, not just the Gaza Strip. "We tell our criminal enemies: leave our land before our army comes to you," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2005 00:00 ||
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the Gaza strip makes an excellent bulls-eye
Posted by: bk ||
09/17/2005 8:59 Comments ||
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Reminds me of the behaviour of a baboon troop when it comes across the carcass of a dead lion -- posturing and screaming as if they were the ones who killed it. Yupper, I'm impressed.
A leading Sunni cleric called for the country's religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against violence as Iraq endured a third consecutive day of sectarian killings - the worst, a suicide car bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed at least 12 worshippers as they left Friday prayers.
The bombing in Tuz Khormato was just the latest suicide attack flowing from Al-Qaeda in Iraq's declaration of all-out war against Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority. Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror group said it was taking revenge for a joint Iraqi-U.S. offensive against its stronghold in Tal Afar, the northwestern city near Syria. With more than 20 people killed on Friday, the death toll over the past three days surpassed 200, with more than 600 wounded. Sheikh Mahmoud al-Sumaidaei, a leading Sunni cleric whose group is linked to the country's insurgency, criticized militants for targeting civilians.
That'd be the Association of Muslim Scholars, of course...
He called for Iraq's religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against further bloodshed. "I call for meeting ... of all the country's religious and political leaders to take a stand against the bloodshed," Sumaidaei said during his sermon at west Baghdad's Um al-Qura Sunni Mosque. "We don't need others to come across the border and kill us in the name of defending us," he declared in a reference to foreign fighters who have joined the insurgency under the banner of Al-Qaeda. "We reject the killing of any Iraqi."
The Moose limb Scholars haven't really minded it up until now...
In Tuz Khormato, 210 kilometers north of Baghdad, authorities said the attacker detonated his explosives-packed car as worshippers flowed out of the Hussainiyat al-Rasoul al-Azam Mosque, a Shiite Turkmen place of worship. Police said 12 were killed and 23 wounded in the blast that also destroyed 10 shops and eight cars. Police Captain Mohammad Ahmad said his men exchanged gunfire with another bomber, before capturing him as he fled toward a second mosque. The man, who appeared to be in his early 20s, was wearing a bomb belt and said he was from Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2005 00:00 ||
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Russia has shelved a plan to give the Palestinians 50 armored personnel carriers after Middle East peace brokers told Moscow it could harm efforts to stabilize the region, diplomatic sources said yesterday. One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia could still go ahead with a separate plan to supply Palestinians with two transport helicopters as announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in April. âThe parties involved said the (carriers) deal would not be advisable,â the source said, without specifying which Middle East brokers had moved to block the incentive. Another diplomat linked the possible delay to the recent chaos in the Gaza Strip that followed Israelâs withdrawal from the territory.
During a visit to the Palestinian territories in April, Putin vowed to supply the helicopters for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He made no mention of the vehicles after Israel expressed concern with the deal. But industry sources later said Moscow remained interested in supplying the carriers and saw them as part of its ambition to revive its Soviet-era influence in the region.
I'm sorry, but I have great difficulty with the idea that Paleostine needs anything more in the way of armaments.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2005 00:00 ||
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I dunno.
The Israeli army could do with some live fire exercises.
Posted by: john ||
09/17/2005 7:26 Comments ||
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50 industrial sized preassure cookers, are a lot of preasure cookers.That's what the Isrealies will turn them into.
#3
Well if the Paleos used them to clean up Hamas and Hiz they would be acceptable but if used for agression against Israel they would be destroyed.I don't see a problem wiht APC's they certainly are not tanks.
#5
Russia has shelved a plan to give the Palestinians 50 armored personnel carriers after Middle East peace brokers told Moscow it could harm efforts to stabilize the region,
No way in hell could anything including Nukeing the area "Harm Efforts to Stabalize the region"
Accept that it's as lawless as possible already, and move on.
I think far more likely the Russians figured they wouldn't get paid for these 50 APC's.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2005 15:37 Comments ||
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#6
This isn't such a bad idea. They might be giving these things out, but APC's need parts and maintenance, neither of which the Russians will supply for free. Every dollar spent on APC's is a dollar less spent on suicide bombers. Plus - APC's aren't cheap to maintain. I find it weird that Israel would object to this.
Politicians, kidnappers
According to Khabrain, a Pakistani American, Mashood Babar Khan, returned to Lahore to invest in a factory. His American wife was abducted by one Saiful Malook Khokhar who was driving a pajero and whose brother is Malik Afzal Khokhar, a member of the Punjab Assembly. The police kept fighting over jurisdiction while Babar got to know from the registration of the pajero that the owners were locally powerful people who indulged in crime. The police still did nothing. He sent his wife and daughter back to America.
Jews are âkafir,â Christians are âmushrikâ
Reported in the daily Pakistan, Dr Shahid Masud went to residential Jamia al Muhsinaat and told them that they were extremists and easily apostatised others, to which they replied most effectively. They also told him that Jews were kafir because they denied Christ and Muhammad (pbuh), and that Christians were mushrik because they associated someone with Allah. Both would go to Hell, if Allah chose.
Why cut only one leg?
Writing in Khabrain, Abdus Salam Ghulam Muhammad stated that in Sahiwal, the leg of a woman was cut because she was guilty of zina (fornication). The writer criticised the newspaper for defending the girl and thought that she should have been killed for doing zina. He said that the woman should have been killed along with her lover as that would have been the Islamic way.
Sheikh Rashid versus Hameed Gul
According to the Nawa-e-Waqt, federal information minister Sheikh Rashid visited the depot of Waran Bus Service, owned by ex-ISI chief Hameed Gulâs daughter Uzma Gul. The bus service had come under adverse treatment from the Rawalpindi Cantonment authority where it was located. Sheikh Rashid said that the land of the depot belonged to the cantonment and he planned to build a government-run school for the girls of the cantonment. Uzma Gul said that she would lodge a complaint against the minister at the police station.
Independence Day and dancing Pael
Column Sarerahe commented in the Nawa-e-Waqt that on an Independence Day function by the Bolan Cultural Society in Islamabad, Lahore-based dancer of great ill-repute Pael (bells worn at the ankle) performed in the most obscene (fohush) and naked (urian) way. The spirit of independence must have fled out of shame and the federal ministers who sat through the function must have looked confused (baghlain jhanknay lagay).
Namaz and corruption
Writing in the Jang, columnist Abdul Qadir Hassan stated that one corrupt civil servant who kept a flowing beard was called in for inquiry into his cases of bribe-taking. The bearded civil servant entered the room of the inquiry officer and spread out the janamaz which he had brought with him and started praying. The prayer lasted through the office timings. He did that three or four times till the inquiry officer acquitted him of all charges. It was commonly believed that no one should break the namaz of a fellow-Muslim. Some ticket-less traveller in the railways also took up namaz to avoid being checked for tickets. The trick always worked.
Life for writing âShaitan Maulviâ
According to the Nawa-e-Waqt, Muhammad Yunus Sheikh of Khara Dar Karachi wrote a book titled Shaitan Maulvi (Satanic Cleric), thinking that Pakistan had become liberal. But he was arrested and taken before an Anti-Terrorist Court which handed down a term of life imprisonment to him for spreading religious hatred. The author of the book contended that he had simply produced facts against the clergy but the judge would not listen. The writer of the book will also have to pay a fine of one lakh rupees, apart from rotting in jail for life. According to the daily Pakistan, the clergy had already declared him wajibul qatl (to be murdered). He was accused by them of writing against all the schools of jurisprudence and wrongly interpreting the Quran.
Deedat was great
Writing in Khabrain, Khalid Minhas stated that South African Muslim scholar, the late Sheikh Ahmad Deedat, was great because he rebutted the Christians and found fault with the Bible. He used to engage in debates with Christians and defeat them. After he defeated the Christian evangelist Swaggart, his entry was banned in France and Nigeria.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2005 00:00 ||
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After he defeated the Christian evangelist Swaggart, his entry was banned in France and Nigeria.
Cripes, Hugh Hefner could defeat Swaggart.
she should have been killed for doing zina
Hell, anybody should be killed for doing that Zina stuff. Tastes awful...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/17/2005 0:13 Comments ||
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told them that they were extremists and easily apostatised others, to which they replied most effectively.
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.
A light aircraft, hijacked by a pilot who threatened to crash it into New Zealand's highest building in Auckland, has plunged into the city's harbour. Radio New Zealand said the 328m Sky Tower was evacuated on Saturday after threats were made by the pilot, who said the plane had been stolen from a local airport south of Auckland. The tower sits on top of a large casino and hotel complex in the centre of Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city. It was not immediately clear how many people were aboard the plane and what their condition was. Police boats were moving towards the spot where the plane went down. Police were unavailable for comment and there were no further details.
The manager of the Adapazari branch of the British owned 
Spain's High Court ordered the re-arrest on Friday of Al Jazeera journalist 
Swedish security police unit SÀpo plans to keep tabs on Muslim schoolchildren who express admiration for suicide bombers and other terrorists. Teachers are expected to assist in monitoring the attitudes of young pupils, and the plan has sparked strong reactions, newspaper Aftonbladet reports. Talks are already planned between school authorities and SÀpo, and many educators do not feel that watching and reporting on students is part of their job.
A Maryland man was charged with conspiracy to help a terrorist organization, part of an investigation of the "Virginia jihad network" that has so far resulted in 10 convictions, U.S. law enforcement officials said Friday. 
A powerful bomb went off in a Christian neighborhood of eastern Beirut late Friday, wounding at least three people and sending soldiers scrambling to the scene. The blast detonated just before midnight near a bank, completely destroying a car. But it was not clear if the bomb was placed in the vehicle, under it or near it. Two other cars were also damaged.
A few â not as many as were attributed â were probably the Mossad's work. 
The Taliban warned the Afghan people on Friday not to take part in elections this weekend, saying they could get hurt, after gunmen believed to be from the group killed a candidate, the seventh so far. National assembly candidate Abdul Hadi was shot dead on Thursday night in the southern province of Helmand, provincial spokesman Mohammad Wali Alizai said. "The gunmen called at his house and when he came out they opened fire and killed him," he said, adding that the attackers were believed to be Taliban guerrillas.
In a sign of the new ease of travel, leaders from Egypt's banned but tolerated 
A leading Sunni cleric called for the country's religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against violence as Iraq endured a third consecutive day of sectarian killings - the worst, a suicide car bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed at least 12 worshippers as they left Friday prayers. 
Russia has shelved a plan to give the Palestinians 50 armored personnel carriers after Middle East peace brokers told Moscow it could harm efforts to stabilize the region, diplomatic sources said yesterday. One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia could still go ahead with a separate plan to supply Palestinians with two transport helicopters as announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in April. âThe parties involved said the (carriers) deal would not be advisable,â the source said, without specifying which Middle East brokers had moved to block the incentive. Another diplomat linked the possible delay to the recent chaos in the Gaza Strip that followed Israelâs withdrawal from the territory.
Politicians, kidnappers
