A camouflage-clad cartoonist carrying a fake machine gun entered the Miami Herald building demanding to see a top editor and then held police at bay for three hours yesterday before surrendering.
No one was hurt during the bizarre incident, which ended about 2:45 p.m. when police took suspect Jose Varela into custody. He was charged with three counts of aggravated assault.
Varela, a freelancer for the Herald's Spanish-language sister publication, El Nuevo Herald, was armed with what appeared to be an automatic machine gun, Police Chief John Timoney said. It was later determined to be a toy, although Varela was also armed with a 6-inch hunting knife, police said.
He apparently was angry with the newspaper in part for its position on Cuban emigres and was also upset because he had recently separated from his wife, acquaintances said.
But the purpose of the standoff frequently seemed convoluted. Varela entered El Nuevo Herald's sixth-floor office demanding to see Humberto Castello, the paper's executive editor, police said. Castello was not in the building and the suspect barricaded himself inside the editor's office.
At one point, Varela told a reporter for The Miami Herald he was "the new director of the newspaper." Uh huh- you're the 'director' of the paper and *I* am Sheeba, Queen of the jungle...
"I'm here to unmask the true conflicts in the newspaper," Varela told The Herald. "They laugh at exiles here. There are problems with payment."
There were about 12 to 15 people in the newsroom. Most of them were evacuated but some remained to cover the story.
Barbara Gutierrez, who was editor of El Nuevo Herald from 1994 to 2000, told the Daily News that Varela was "a very talented guy and extremely well-connected" in Miami's Cuban and Latino communities. "He had a special wit, always with a joke," she said. "He was a nice, affable guy, who would always bring his wife and child in when he brought in his cartoons."
It was the second incident involving a gun at the building in the past year and a half. In July 2005, former city Commissioner Arthur Teele, who had been just been indicted on federal corruption charges, fatally shot himself in the Herald lobby.
KABUL (Rooters) - NATO forces have killed 55 Taliban fighters in fierce clashes in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said on Sunday, while a suicide bomber killed seven Afghans at a restaurant in another part of the country.
NATO forces called in close air support after troops came under attack in the southern province of Uruzgan on Saturday, NATO said in a statement issued from the International Security Assitance Force (ISAF) headquarters in Kabul. "Initial battle damage assessment indicates that approximately 50 insurgents were killed in the attack. Regrettably, an ISAF soldier was also killed during the same incident," the statement said.
The nationality of the NATO soldier killed was not disclosed, but Dutch troops form the bulk of NATO presence in Uruzgan, a remote, rugged province, where support for the Taliban is strong.
Also on Saturday, in neighboring Kandahar province, NATO and Afghan soldiers, backed by air support, killed five Taliban in another clash. Three alliance soldiers were wounded. Reuters received several telephone calls from people living in the vicinity, who said more than ten fluffy bunnies villagers were killed by NATO bombing. NATO officials denied those accounts, while Taliban spokesmen could not be reached for comment on their reported losses. Nice equivalency here. Oh, I forgot, this is rooters, nevermind.
The suicide attack on a restaurant full of Afghans happened in Urgun district of southeastern Paktika province, bordering Pakistan. The attack killed seven people and wounding others. All of the victims were civilians, but several provincial officials, including the district chief, were among the wounded, Paktika's governor Mohammad Akram Khpelwak, told Reuters. "The bomber detonated the explosives attached to his body just after entering the restaurant," the governor said, citing officials and witnesses.
Taliban and their Islamic allies stepped up a suicide attack campaign a year ago as the insurgency gathered fresh momentum, confounding U.S. generals who had been saying it was on its last legs. Can't trust them US generals, gotta rely on taleb spokemen.
#1
Taliban and their Islamic allies stepped up a suicide attack campaign a year ago as the insurgency gathered fresh momentum...
...A quarter of the victims have been civilians, but hundreds of Taliban along with Afghan forces and over 150 foreign troops have also died in the violence....
The vaunted "taliwhacker uprisng". Let's see, kill ratio: 55 lions of islam to 1 coalition troop Friday and Saturday. However, Rooters sees the total this year as "hundreds of taliban" to over a 150 coalition. Given that the taliwhacker casualty figure is always greater as they drag some bodies and wounded out. Every engagement I read about the ratio is at least 10 to 1... sometimes as much as a 100 to 1.
#5
I'm so cornfused! They keep talking about Afghans, and then say "people". The people of Afghanistan are Afghanis. Afghans are large, skinny dogs will long hair. Is Rooters that dumb, or is this a way to stir the pot a bit?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/26/2006 16:20 Comments ||
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And once again another good news story bout American forces killing off 55 of Muhamhead's camel riding terrorist. Another story that will NEVER be on the network news.
KABUL - The insurgent Taleban movement in Afghanistan said Saturday it was holding two Pakistani journalists because they were not carrying travel documents, after a report said the pair had been kidnapped.
The journalists would be delivered to the border, possibly tomorrow, said Mohammad Hanif, a purported spokesman for the movement driven from government in late 2001 and now trying to regain power. Weve taken them because they were not carrying any travel documents. But well leave them near Pakistan border tomorrow or sometime, Hanif told AFP.
Dead or alive?
Leading Pakistani newspaper The Star reported Saturday that one of its journalists, Syed Saleem Shahzad, had called his family to say he and a colleague named Qamar Yousafzai were detained by the Taleban in Helmand on November 21.
He said he had been put on trial by a Taleban court in the volatile southern province but did not know why. According to the message received on the telephone by his family this morning, he (Shahzad) said that he has been put on trial by the Taleban after his arrest on November 21, the Karachi-based newspaper said. He has been arrested by Taleban and put on trial for unknown reasons and unknown charges.
Shahzad, who has reported widely on the activities of the Taleban on both sides of the border, was in Afghanistan to cover the rebel movement, said The Star, Pakistans most widely-read evening newspaper and major source for Rantburg.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Wouldn't you know it: My Give-a-Dam's busted....
#3
TE: Thanks, we did. Mrs Ret and I had child-units w/ significant others and the duty Grand- daughter. They departed today and in outstanding NW Washington fashion, we had also had our Thanksgiving storm, taking power and trees. It was wonderful. Thanks to PSE, the lights are now back on. I hope yours was memorable as well.
NDJAMENA - Chadian rebels attacked the eastern regional capital of Abeche on Saturday in their latest strike against President Idriss Debys rule, but government forces said they had withdrawn and surrounded the town. Chads chief of staff said in a statement it had pulled troops back from Abeche, which is located 160 km (100 miles) from the border with Sudan, to prevent civilian casualties after the early morning attack by several armed convoys.
Run a-wwwwway!
The town lies on the main road to the Chadian capital, NDjamena, some 600 km (375 miles) to the west. Hundreds of people were killed in April when rebel columns reached NDjamena after a lighting raid across the arid central African oil-producer. The town of Abeche had been attacked by mercenaries in the pay of Khartoum, read a statement signed by General Adoum Gabgalia, deputy head of the chiefs of staff. In order to spare civilian lives, the Chadian armed forces have deployed all around the town of Abeche.
In other words, they got pushed out.
A stream of wounded troops, from both government and rebel forces, began arriving at hospitals in the dusty town and looters took to the streets, ransacking shops after the government troops pulled out, diplomats and aid workers said.
The situation is currently calm. The rebels remain in town, Claire Bourgeois, head of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in eastern Chad, told Frances RFI radio. Humanitarian workers are not in danger.
The French military, which has forces stationed in Abeche under a defence cooperation accord with the government, was bringing its citizens to its base, diplomats said. The French have secured the air base and all flights have been grounded, said one foreign diplomat, adding the Chadian army barracks had been plundered.
No French participated in the defense of the town. Some 'defense cooperation' accord.
Diplomats said the Chadian military appeared to have pulled back toward Oum-Hadjer, some 120 km on the road toward NDjamena.
Diplomats said they believed the latest attack from the east was being carried out by rebels of the anti-Deby coalition, Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD). Eastern Chad, where UNHCR runs camps for thousands of refugees from Sudans Darfur and for displaced Chadians, has descended into lawlessness due to frequent rebel attacks and incursions by Janjaweed militia from across the border.
France, which stations some Mirage fighters at its Abeche base, has in the past backed the Deby government against the rebels with logistics and intelligence support.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Two members of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) Lal Pataka faction were killed in a 'shootout' with law enforcement agencies at Mahishkhola village under Gangni upazila in Meherpur early morning yesterday.
Entertainment once again furnished courtesy of the local communist party.
The dead were identified as Abdur Razzak, 30, of Shanghat village under Gangni upazila and Ismail Hossain, 25, of Mahishkhola village of the same upazila.
Somewhere in an upazila in Bangladesh ...
According to a Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) automated press release, a joint strike force of Rab 11 and Gangni police raided a mango orchard at Mahishkhola at around 4:00am after receiving a tip-off about a secret meeting of Lal Pataka outlaws.
Thanks to Mahmoud the Weasel ...
The outlaws ignored the call to surrender ...
... "hey Abdur, how do you say 'nuts' in our langauge?
"and opened fire on the joint force.
"Nuts with dat! Open rapid aimless fire at the coppers!"
The law enforcement personnel returned fire triggering an hour-long shootout.
An hour? That won't do, RAB is off soon as the sun comes up ...
The law enforcement agencies found the two victims' body inside the orchard after the shootout was over while rest of the assailants managed to flee the scene, claimed Rab.
Almost like they were never there, except for the two convenient deaders ...
Police recovered a pistol and 10 bullets from the spot.
What, no shutter gun?
According to police, Razzak was accused in twelve systems different cases including two for murder while Islmail was in four including one for murder.
It may be safely assumed that their mothers didn't love them much ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) Lal Pataka faction
#2
I've notice they now recover "bullets," rather than the more endearing "rounds of bullet." Pity.
Posted by: Walter Duranty, NYT ||
11/26/2006 11:07 Comments ||
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#3
The Rab have been at it for 2 1/2 years now. They're starting to develop a bit of polish... but the reports of the local police are as quaint as ever when they have their own crossfires.
ht to LGF and HotAir I want to make it abundantly clear: if theres anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2006 18:42 ||
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Rangel can FOAD! He is not an example of the left, he is an example of a world class BIGOT!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/26/2006 18:48 Comments ||
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Fixed:
Rangel can FOAD! He is not an example of the left, he is an example of a world class uninformed BIGOT!
#3
It has been said that liberals are so smart that they understand everything except an opposing point of view. Obviously, Rangel never once in his life ever thought seriously about fighting, honor, and what the whole thing means. Probably never will, and if he does it's only because he has been beaten down but I don't think he or many other liberals will get it. Although they are happy to sit here and smear the institution that allows him this freedom. At least it has been around to enable him up until now. In his mind, the freedom and privileges he enjoys are probably just another given. Pinhead.
#4
No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits How about patriotism, Charlie? My goodness, Charlie and Kerry must have the same idiotic speech writers. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq. What's he saying is that he wouldn't have served his country if he had not been forced to do so.
#5
IIRC Mr. Rangel served in Korea. The problem is that the Army of his time and the Army of today is about as different as his party of the period, home of southern segregationists, and his party today. For some people, it is still 1953 or 1968. Remember, Charlie is a party hack, the mainstream type in his party. That requires very little skill and concepts of duty and honor are alien. Why do you expect him to know anything else?
#8
Oh, God, where to start? I retired in 1991 - fifteen years ago. A lot of the kids I trained and worked with are now senior NCOs, a few got their education during their enlisted service and are now officers (two field-grade). Charlie Rangel never met any of these people, never talked to them, never watched them work. The young people I served with were good at what they did, and knowledgable about the world they lived in. Most of them started college and then dropped out, because to them, "it was just high school all over again, and without some of the restrictions". They wanted more out of life. Most of them also had parents or grandparents who served, and who spoke higly of military service as a chance to do something different, and to serve the nation.
My nephew just got promoted to SMSgt. He has a master's degree, a wife and three kids (one in college, one about to join the Air Force, one about to become a teen-ager). He loves what he does, and does it well. He says he'll stay in until they kick him out.
As for bright, young individuals not joining, Rangel's full of it. I know two seniors that graduated from my daughter's high school class who are now serving. Both graduated in the top ten from a class of 390. One joined the Marines, the other joined the Air Force. One wants to be a helicopter pilot, the other wants to work with missiles. They're the kind of recruits we need in the modern military - bright, intelligent, curious, and eager. It's also the kind of recruits that make up about 70% of the new recruit population.
Rangel needs to get out more - maybe to a line outfit fighting in Iraq, and see what the modern military is really like. Unfortunately, that may put his precious little hide at risk, so he'll never do it. Too bad he didn't accompany Leiberman on his several trips to Iraq. Maybe he wouldn't make such bs statements.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/26/2006 20:00 Comments ||
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My son graduated with a 3.7 GPA and with his SAT's could've got into most CA public universities. Instead, he joined the Army. Why? Because of 9/11/01, he said, when I asked him. Is that economic disability, Charlie you fat POS liberal f&ck? Patriotism is something Chollie will never get. He'll always play the race card when the facts don't fit his losing anti-American agenda.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2006 20:29 Comments ||
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Frank - thanks. Honest thanks for raising such a great son. You both rock. Same goes to Dave and Bobby (IIRC) who have also done it so right it hurts. For eveyone I've missed, my apologies - I feel the same toward you all.
SRINAGAR - Four Indian soldiers and two suspected Islamist militants were killed on Saturday in a fierce gunbattle in festive restive Kashmir, an army spokesman said.
The exchange of fire between the militants and Indian troops broke out late on Friday and was still continuing in the Shopian area, 55 km (35 miles) south of Srinagar, Kashmirs summer capital, he said. On a tip off, (the) army laid siege to a hideout and asked militants to surrender, the militants opened fire which resulted in an encounter, Lieutenant-Colonel A. K. Mathur said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Sadrites stoning Shia PM Malikme. Semi-Boggle. But that's cuz I'm a Westerner.
Here we are. 2006. The Sunni-Shia schism began with Mo's death in 632. They've been at each other's throat ever since. Now, both sides have the oil money and today's weapons are of sufficient lethality that this idiocy endangers the entire world.
Sure, they want to wipe us out and restore some sort of Caliphate, but they hate each other more - and each wants that Caliph to be one of their own.
We're both a target of opportunity and a hindrance in the first modern battlefield where this is playing out. Logically, in Western terms, they should ally against us, truly coordinate with each other, sharing intel and manpower and leadership, but they can't manage it. They're just too fucked up. The hateful treatment each gives the other when in power overrides everything - vengeance, blood libel, ancient hatreds and jealousy.
I happen to think it doesn't make much difference which of them "wins" - they're just different strains of the same pathogen. Equally dangerous, equally fatal, equally deserving of eradication, since they already have the "truth" and there will be no reform or honest brokerage possible. It is written.
#2
By removing the coalition check points, al-Maliki has caused the deaths of inummerable civilians, Shia and Sunni alike. He represents exactly what is wrong with reconstructed Iraq and the sooner he stops a bullet the quicker real progress can be made.
#3
Maliki is Shiite, no, so are the Sadrists?. Perhaps he's not pro-Persian enuf?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2006 17:35 Comments ||
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I thought there were at least two styles of Shiites, the Sistani-Iraqi and the Sadr-Persian. Couldn't that be the reason for the stoning of a Shiite? Or perhaps he's an adulterer?
In any case, we are most likely to be playing one group off against another for a while, at least till the General War breaks out; and I don't expect that for at least 5 years. So until then, we do need to care which "wins" so that we can assure that the defeats are spread evenly.
#9
Credit where due, Nimble Spemble. It takes a certain unusual boldness to try to herd this bunch of cats. Besides, that is a nice little summary .com wrote. And since I'm terribly fond of both of you, you're now sitting neatly in the horns of a dillemma: if I'm kissing up to him, I must be to you, also... but ladies don't kiss up, so.... ;-)
Iraq tribe says it kills dozens of Qaeda fighters
RAMADI, Iraq, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Iraqi tribesmen have killed 55 al Qaeda fighters in a raid on their stronghold, the head of a tribal council in the western province of Anbar said on Sunday, but the U.S. military could not confirm the figures.
The death toll from Saturday night's fighting, if confirmed, would mark an unusually fierce clash with insurgents in a province where U.S. forces regularly battle foreign fighters they say are linked to al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents and rarely kill as many as 50 at a time.
The U.S. military said in a statement it launched air strikes and fired artillery to help a tribe in the town of Sofia after an attack by al Qaeda.
"Al Qaeda burned homes and killed members of the tribe using small arms fire and mortars," the military said in a statement. It gave no casualty figures.
Sattar al-Buzayi, head of the Anbar Salvation Council, an umbrella group of tribes in Anbar, a vast Sunni province in the west of Iraq, said tribal fighters had raided an al Qaeda stronghold and killed 55 militants and arrested 25. He said nine tribal fighters were also killed in the clash.
"We began the raid after we had successfully cornered them, we can confirm that 10 (foreign) Arab fighters were among the dead and we found several cars rigged with explosives," Buzayi told Reuters.
The Anbar Salvation Council was formed two months ago by many of Anbar's tribal leaders frustrated with al Qaeda's growing influence in the violent desert province.
One of Iraq's top Sunni clerics, for whom an arrest warrant was issued recently for inciting violence, recently criticised the tribes fighting al Qaeda militants. Harith al-Dari labelled the tribes "bandits" who were fighting against the "resistance".
The U.S. statement quoted a tribal leader called Sheikh Ahmed of Abu Resha as saying his tribe had been targeted because it provided recruits to serve in the police force.
"Al Qaeda has decided to attack the tribes due to their support. The terrorists have gone to a neighbouring tribe and have brought fighters to attack the Abu Soda (tribe)," the statement quoted him as saying. It's just their way of saying, "We love the Occupation Forces. Please don't leave us to the Shia! Pretty please?"
#5
Abu Soda tribe is getting air and artillery support? There has to be somebody on the ground with them coordinating and communicating too. So al Anbar Sunni tribes and US advisors must trust each other enough to embed - sounds significant to me.
#6
It's a feel-good story for the holiday, perhaps each day it can go up one or twenty, like the twelve days of Christmas?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2006 18:07 Comments ||
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we can confirm that 10 (foreign) Arab fighters were among the dead
Could be Yemenis, Syrians, Jordanians, even Palestinians. (I don't know if the Chechens are also considered "foreign Arabs" by the Iraqis.)Why should the Saudis get to have all the fun, Lancasters Over Dresden?
AR RAMADI, Iraq Al Qaeda terrorists attacked the Abu Soda tribe in Sofia Nov. 25. In response, Coalition Forces provided support to the Abu Sodas fight against Al Qaeda.
The Americans have come to the aide of the Abu Soda tribe. They have understood the dire situation [that the Abu Soda are currently battling the Al Qaeda], because [the Americans] see it as a fight against a common enemy, said Sheikh Ahmed, Sheikh of Abu Resha.
After establishing positive identification, Coalition Forces conducted air strikes and fired artillery at Al Qaeda forces attacking the Abu Soda Tribe.
The tribe supports the Iraqi government and in turn is receiving support when attacked.
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber rammed a checkpoint and killed three Iraqis, including two children, and a US marine in the restive western province of Al Anbar on Saturday, the US military said. The attack against a checkpoint in Khalidiyah, a town between the strife-torn cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, also wounded nine civilians and another US marine.
The insurgency in Al Anbar continues to demonstrate its complete lack of concern for the people of the provinces, said Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Salas, public affairs officer for coalition forces in the province. This brings the total of 10 children murdered by the insurgency in the last three months, when adding the eight other children murdered during the insurgent IED (improvised bomb) attack on the soccer game on September 14 in Fallujah, he added.
Don't expect that point to get big play in the MSM -- the insurgents win if they murder a sufficient number of women and children. Then the liberals will blame Bush.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2006 00:00 ||
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God bless the Marine and his family.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/26/2006 17:31 Comments ||
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Our thoughts are with them all on this weekend of Thanksgiving.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday ordered 13,000 security forces to deploy near the border to enforce a cease-fire agreement with Israel, sources in Abbas' office told CNN.
The move came hours after Palestinian militants in Gaza apparently launched nearly a dozen rockets toward Israel.
Abbas also called on the Palestinian factions who previously negotiated the cease-fire to meet again to ensure the agreement holds, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters Sunday.
The Israeli leader said his country will not take immediate action in the wake of the violations.
"Israel is a powerful country that can allow itself to show restraint and to give the cease-fire a chance to be fully implemented," Olmert said.
Hamas' militant wing and the Islamic Jihad militant group claimed responsibility for firing several rockets into Israel after the cease-fire took effect at 6 a.m. (11 p.m. ET Sunday).
In its leaflet, Islamic Jihad said it will "hold our right for resistance as long as Israel continues its aggression."
According to the Israel Defense Forces, only two of the 11 rockets fired from Gaza after 6 a.m. landed inside Israel. Both landed in open fields and did not cause any casualties or damage.
Militants also fired several rockets just before the cease-fire took effect, according to IDF. No one was injured, but a house in Sderot was damaged.
Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad insisted that all Palestinian factions are "100 percent" behind the cease-fire.
"All of them now, without exception, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Fatah and other factions, they decided to respect the agreement and also to be committed 100 percent to this agreement," Hamad told CNN.
Hamad denied reports that Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel after cease-fire took effect.
"Hamas fired missiles before 6 o'clock, which is the time of the beginning of the cease-fire and they have released a statement [at] 7 o'clock," he said.
"We have contact with all factions now, especially from the prime minister [Ismail Haniyeh], and he asked to stop firing missiles from Gaza."
In addition to talking about implementation of the Gaza cease-fire, the Palestinian factions will discuss expanding the truce to the West Bank, Olmert said.
He said he hopes the meeting will lead to "a serious, real, honest and direct negotiation between myself and [Abbas] so we could make a progress towards a full settlement between Israel and the Palestinians."
Palestinian factions offered the cease-fire proposal to Israel on Saturday, agreeing to stop firing rockets into Israel.
In exchange, Israel agreed to withdraw troops from Gaza and cease military operations, including targeted airstrikes on militants.
Israel Defense Minister Amir Peretz convened a scheduled security meeting to discuss the cease-fire violation earlier in the day. During the meeting Peretz learned of the rocket launches out of Gaza and said every attempt to fire rockets on Israel will be considered a violation of the cease-fire and will be dealt with in "a severe manner," a ministry statement said.
#1
"Sorry guys, no more of your rockets for the next six months. Now that gives you six months of uninterrupted work on the next batch. But if that isn't good enough for you, the cease fire doesn't cover sniping, car bombs, or suicide bombs. Move along now."
Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip as an unexpected truce took hold Sunday, but two major Palestinian militant groups, saying they had no intention of stopping their attacks, fired volleys of homemade rockets into Israel.
The rocket attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad tempered hopes for a lasting cease-fire, which was meant to end five months of deadly clashes. The rockets landed in open fields and caused no injuries.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered his security chiefs to send their forces to the Gaza border area to prevent further rocket attacks, according to Palestinian security officials. "The instructions are clear. Anyone violating the national agreement will be considered to be breaking the law," said Lt. Gen. Abdel Razek Mejaidie.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered the army to show restraint in the face of the rockets. "Even though there are still violations of the cease-fire by the Palestinian side, I have instructed our defense officials not to respond, to show restraint, and to give this cease-fire a chance to take full effect," he said.
A senior Israeli official said Israel would wait a few hours to see if the attacks were isolated breaches or a full-scale violation of the agreement before deciding whether to respond. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The truce, if it holds, would be a coup for Abbas, who has been trying for months to end the violence in Gaza. He has also been working to end crippling international sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority when the militant Hamas group won January parliamentary elections and formed a Cabinet.
The two sides announced the truce late Saturday after Abbas telephoned Olmert with an agreement from Palestinian militant groups to halt rocket fire and other violence from Gaza. Olmert pledged to end the military offensive in Gaza, launched in June after Hamas militants in Gaza conducted a cross-border raid on a military outpost, killing two soldiers and capturing one other. The violence has claimed the lives of more than 300 Palestinians and five Israelis. Most of the Palestinians killed have been militants, but scores of civilians have been killed as well, including 19 members of an extended family killed earlier this month in a botched Israeli artillery attack.
Ahead of the new agreement, which took effect at 6 a.m. Sunday, Israel pulled all its forces out of Gaza, the army said. Dozens of tanks and armored vehicles were parked just over the border in a military staging ground in southern Israel early Sunday. But Israeli police reported at least four rockets fired at the Israeli town of Sderot and an Associated Press photographer in the border town heard at least two more strikes. Another AP photographer in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun heard several rockets fired throughout the morning. "Let's hope that's just the problems of the beginning," said Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin. "But if Israel is attacked, we will respond. If there are Palestinian factions that are not part of the cease-fire, it's hard to see how the cease-fire will hold."
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said he had contacted the leaders of all the Palestinian factions Sunday and they reassured him they were committed to the truce. "There is a 100 percent effort to make this work, but there is no guarantee of 100 percent results," said Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government.
Hamas' own militants claimed responsibility for firing rockets into Israel after the truce took hold, clouding prospects for the truce's longevity. The Hamas militants said they continued their attacks because some Israeli troops remained inside Gaza, an accusation Israel denied. "(We) reiterate that our attacks against the enemy continue," the group said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Islamic Jihad also claimed responsibility for firing rockets into Israel and a spokesman, Abu Hamza, denied his group had signed on to the truce, contradicting statements from Islamic Jihad leaders.
Israeli forces originally entered Gaza to try to recover the soldier captured in a June 25 cross-border raid, but they soon widened their objectives to target militants firing rockets into Israel. The violence cut short efforts by Olmert and Abbas to restart peace talks. A truce could help create momentum for new talks. "We welcome the announcement and see this as a positive step forward," White House spokesman Alex Conant said Saturday evening in Washington. "We hope it leads to less violence for the Israeli and Palestinian people."
Israel has no ties with the Hamas government, which rejects the Jewish state's right to exist, but it considers Abbas an acceptable negotiating partner. He and Olmert agreed months ago to meet, but Abbas has balked at setting a date without assurances the meeting would yield real dividends for him, such as a release of Palestinian prisoners Israel holds. Olmert has said no prisoners would be released to Hamas before the captured soldier is freed. Well, there's some good news, anyway.
Hmm, guess you just can't trust Palestinian terrorists. Who'd of thunk it?
A Kassam rocket landed in the western Negev on Sunday morning despite the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian factions which became effective at 6 a.m. and was followed by the IDF's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. No one was wounded in the rocket attack and no damage was reported.
The Palestinian offer was accepted by Israel on Saturday night, and was set to halt operations in Gaza in return for an end to all Palestinian violence, including rocket fire, tunneling and suicide bombers, the Prime Minister's Office announced.
Saturday's dramatic announcement followed a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. According to the Prime Minister's Office, Abbas phoned Olmert and told him he had received an agreement from all the different Palestinian factions to the cease-fire, and in response "requested that Israel would stop all military operations in the Gaza Strip, and withdraw all its forces from there."
The statement said that after speaking to his senior ministers and top security officials, Olmert told Abbas that Israel would respond favorably "since Israel was operating in the Gaza Strip in response to the [Palestinian] violence."
Olmert, according to the statement, told Abbas that "the end of the violence could bring about the end of Israeli operations, and his hope that this would bring stability to both sides." According to the statement, the two "agreed to continue the dialogue to bring about an end of violence in the West Bank, and agreed to talk again soon." No mention was made in the statement about kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, whose abduction on June 25 led to the IDF's stepped-up actions in Gaza.
The agreement, according to Israeli officials, did not apply to military actions in the West Bank. The key now, the officials said, would be to see whether indeed all the different Palestinian factions have signed on - and would honor - the cease-fire agreement.
Palestinian terrorist groups announced the offer on Saturday, saying that they would stop firing rockets at Israel at 6 a.m. Sunday. "We have set 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to stop firing rockets toward Zionist towns in our occupied land in return for a mutual cessation of the aggression committed against our people," said Abu Mujahed, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees.
Washington was full of praise for the cease-fire agreement.
#1
It's like telling horny teens to stop beating their meat. It can't be done. And this meat involes paradisical virgins that will do, like, anything. Pals can't stop. They are psychotic
#2
"We have set 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to stop firing rockets toward Zionist towns in our occupied land in return for a mutual cessation of the aggression committed against our people," said Abu Mujahed, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees.
Their rhetoric sort of indicates their hearts don't follow their lips. Better keep watching the hands.
Washington was full of praise for the cease-fire agreement.
No brains. No balls.
A joint paratrooper and Shin Bet force uncovered an explosive lab in Nablus Friday night. In the lab, the forces found teddy bears with wires hanging from them, apparently slated to be used as explosive devices.
The lab was detonated in a controlled manner, and there were no reports of injuries.
The forces also found in the explosives lab three belts made from cloth, ready to contain explosives, a hollow coat used for hiding explosives, and 20 light bulbs and light sockets used for activating explosives. Test tubes, a hollow gas tank, hollow pipes, batteries, 40 liters of hydrogen peroxide and ohms were also found in the lab.
#1
They are going to start blowing up babies, as I have have It's the next wave. All ends of the spectrum. It's the only thing they haven't yet tried, And they'll do it. Just for the horror they think will lead to the "poor vivictims, see what they have to do" mentmentality.
Redacted by moderator. Comments may be redacted for trolling, violation of standards of good manners, or plain stupidity. Please correct the condition that applies and try again. Contents may be viewed in the sinktrap. Further violations may result in banning.
#2
I like the old way. This has too much flash....better to say something than dick around with making it pretty. I swear that people in the USA spend 50% of their time futzing with the formatting in MS Word.
Could attract a bad element.
It seems that to get the preview to work you have to View Source (and optionally unview source) first. I need to do that after every change.
#3
I was scared by all the funny tools.
The preview hung on me.
It no longer accepts a simple honest italics tag.
You know what I'd like, now that we're making unreasonable
demands? I'd like to be able to put in my website and have it
make a link, like it does when you put in an email address. Maybe
it does that now, but I haven't put in my blog name in ages, because it
wouldn't just hotlink my name, but insisted on spelling out the blog
name, and that uglied up the name field.
#12
PLEASE get rid of this POS and put comments back the way they were before. Sheesh!!!!!!!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/26/2006 8:03 Comments ||
Top||
#13
I second, or third...whatever, the request to put comments back the way they were. If people want to jazz things up a bit, they can learn some basic HTML tags. This is annoying!
#15
Okay. I'll put it back. I'll try and find something else to hose today.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2006 9:28 Comments ||
Top||
#16
Okay. It's back the way it was. That still leaves me with the problem of trying to make the buttons work with Mozilla (and Safari) family browsers.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2006 9:48 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Gimme that old time religon...
All is well.
And the Cookie Monster isn't beeping.
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.
Cartoonist draws gun on paper
KABUL (Rooters) - NATO forces have killed 55 Taliban fighters in fierce clashes in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said on Sunday, while a suicide bomber killed seven Afghans at a restaurant in another part of the country.
KABUL - The insurgent Taleban movement in Afghanistan said Saturday it was holding two Pakistani journalists because they were not carrying travel documents, after a report said the pair had been kidnapped.
NDJAMENA - Chadian rebels attacked the eastern regional capital of Abeche on Saturday in their latest strike against President Idriss Debys rule, but government forces said they had withdrawn and surrounded the town. Chads chief of staff said in a statement it had pulled troops back from Abeche, which is located 160 km (100 miles) from the border with Sudan, to prevent civilian casualties after the early morning attack by several armed convoys.
Two members of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) Lal Pataka faction were killed in a 'shootout' with law enforcement agencies at Mahishkhola village under Gangni upazila in Meherpur early morning yesterday.
SRINAGAR - Four Indian soldiers and two suspected Islamist militants were killed on Saturday in a fierce gunbattle in 
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber rammed a checkpoint and killed three Iraqis, including two children, and a US marine in the restive western province of Al Anbar on Saturday, the US military said. The attack against a checkpoint in Khalidiyah, a town between the strife-torn cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, also wounded nine civilians and another US marine.
Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip as an unexpected truce took hold Sunday, but two major Palestinian militant groups, saying they had no intention of stopping their attacks, fired volleys of homemade rockets into Israel.
