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Today: 73 articles and 313 comments as of 7:14.
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New Bin Laden Audio Airs
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
Karzai blames foreigners for Afghan violence
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday blamed unspecified “foreigners” for providing funding and weapons to fan his country’s raging insurgency.
Unlike Pakland, which often makes the same charges, he's got evidence to back it up. Coincidentally, much of the evidence points to Pakland.
Karzai, on a visit to launch education and power projects in the far western Badghis provincial capital of Qalay-i-Nau, said Afghans could not be held responsible for the spike in bombings and shootings during recent months. Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks. “You must be sure that this is not by Afghans, the killing of these people is by the enemy of Afghans,” Karzai said during a meeting with local doctors and nurses. “They are getting money, guns and conspiring through encouragement of foreigners.”
Such Afghans as are actually involved are invariably Pashtuns...
Karzai did not single out any country or group who he claimed was inciting the Afghan violence.
But then he didn't have to.
But he and other Afghan officials have repeatedly called on Pakistan to do more to stop Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants using Pakistani territory to base themselves for attacks in Afghanistan.
The Paks have now reached the point where they actually can't, if they ever could...

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghan construction firm attacked
Taliban insurgents have attacked a US-backed Afghan construction company, killing one security guard, wounding two and torching 14 vehicles.

The attack early on Sunday happened on the Uruzgan-Kandahar highway near a village in southern Kandahar, where a day earlier four Canadian soldiers were killed in a suspected Taliban roadside bombing.

A group of heavily armed insurgents launched a two-hour attack against the headquarters of the Thavazoo company in the Shah Wali Kot district, said Haji Mohammed Yussef, the company's director.

One guard was killed in the attack and two were wounded before the remaining security personnel fled, Yussef said.

The Taliban fighters then entered the compound, burnt 14 trucks and bulldozers and stole equipment before escaping.

Yussef said coalition forces gave him a contract to build a 40-km stretch of road, 25km of which had been completed.

US and Afghan soldiers also arrested 16 Taliban in two raids on Saturday in the southern Zabul province near Kandahar, an Afghan general said.

General Rahmattalluh Rufi said: "The Americans are questioning them now to see if they are important Taliban members or not."

It was unclear if Sunday's Taliban raid and the arrests were linked to Saturday's killing of four Canadian soldiers, the deadliest attack on that nation's troops since they were deployed in 2002.

Canadian officers said Taliban insurgents detonated a massive roadside bomb that destroyed one of four armoured vehicles in a convoy in Gomboth, a village about 40km north of Kandahar and a former Taliban stronghold.

After the blast, insurgents exchanged fire with soldiers before fleeing.

At least 16 Canadians have been killed since February 2002, when a 2,200-strong Canadian contingent moved into southern Afghanistan to relieve US troops.

Rising violence is a growing concern for nations contributing troops to a force operating under a Nato mandate.

The Nato force is to be increased from its current 10,000 soldiers to about 21,000 by next November as it gradually assumes command of all foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Follow them home, then destroy it. Always being careful, of course, not to harm any puppies, kittens or baby ducks. (Sorry -- MSNBC was on when I woke up this morning.)
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2006 14:06 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Ammo dump recovered in Comilla
Apr 22: Huge quantities of ammunitions were recovered from Laksam-Chandpur railgate area under Laksam upazila in Comilla, police said Saturday. The recovery includes 1,550 rounds of SMG bullets, six boxes of explosives and 26 arges grenades.

Police and local people said the day labourers found the ammunitions Friday afternoon while they were digging soil for building the house of one Nonygopal at Jaluyapara area under Laksam-Chandpur area.
"I don't care what you found, Mostafa, keep digging that founda .." [BOOOM!!]
A team of Laksam thana police rushed to the spot after receiving information, and recovered the ammos. Mostafa Manzur Mahmud, OC of Laksam thana told the news agency that they have contacted the military bomb experts for test.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/23/2006 00:31 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


RAB member chopped to death by miscreants
Oh boy, somebody's gonna pay for this.
Muggers chopped to death a member of the elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) after storming his house at Tongi and looted cash taka, gold ornaments and other valuables on Friday night. The victim was identified as Delwar Hossain (35), a constable at RAB Headquarter. Son of Ludai Mia, he hailed from Satash, Uttarpara under Tongi police station.

Tongi police said, a group of unidentified miscreants numbering about seven stormed into the house of Delwar and tied his brother Sadek Hossain with rope and hit his father as Delwar tried to save them the robbers. They chopped him indiscriminately with sharp weapons at around 10.30 on Friday night. The bandits also looted Tk 27,000 in cash, seven tolas of gold ornaments, mobile phone sets and other valuable things equivalent to Tk 1.46 lakh from the house and fled the scene with the booty.
You do wonder how an honest copper came to have such a stash ...
The injured Delwar was rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) with serious injuries on different parts of his body where the attending doctors declared him dead.

Sadek Hossain, brother of the victim filed a case of robbery and murder with Tongi police station in this connection. But police failed to arrest anyone in this connection.
No need, the RAB will handle this themselves. At 3 am. Near a secret lair.
When contacted over telephone SI Nasima of the Tongi police station told The Independent that they were yet to arrest anyone but several teams of police have been sent to different parts of Tongi to nab the culprits of the brutal killing.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/23/2006 00:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You know, one might actually want to have the exchange rate handy before saying that's a big stash. I don't know what sort of inflation Bangladesh has been going through lately, but if people are putting their money into gold the way the victim might have been it suggests it's bad.
Posted by: Phil || 04/23/2006 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  The pieces injured of Delwar was rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) with serious injuries on different parts of his body parts, where the attending doctors declared him dead.

wait till 6 sees this.
Posted by: RD || 04/23/2006 3:39 Comments || Top||

#3  They chopped him indiscriminately with sharp weapons at around 10.30
Bad business this. First RAB death by cross cut.
Posted by: 6 || 04/23/2006 7:31 Comments || Top||

#4  You get a much finer kerf that way.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/23/2006 7:44 Comments || Top||

#5  I found a good exchange rate calculator
Linky
Turns out 2700 taka is $38.86 USD
Not much money

A weight converter
secondlinky
puts seven tolas at 2 troy ounces of gold, at current gold price this is about USD $630 for a two ounce take of $1260
goldlinky
total of both thefts is USD$1300 (Aprox)

This doesn't really translate into much as far as American money goes, but since an average pay in Bangla is about pe 444 US dollars. banglalinky this translates into about 3 months pay, a pretty good sum, but nowhere near a fortune.
(I'm trying a new form of link, no more page explosions, I hope)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/23/2006 11:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Damn, none of the links worked
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/23/2006 11:35 Comments || Top||

#7  This will hopefuly post the links.

Money Converter
http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert ?amt=2700&from=BDT&to=USD&submit=Convert
(Link broken with a space between convert and the Question mark, close the space for the full link)

Weight and Mass converter
http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_all.htm

Live Market Gold Quotes
http://www.kitco.com/market/index.html

Bangladesh Information MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
http://www.mofa.gov.bd/publications.htm
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/23/2006 11:45 Comments || Top||

#8  The gold is probably his wife's dowry and family savings.

Many families in the Indian subcontinent have savings in jewelry. There is a lack of education on other forms of investment.

Gold jewelry there is not 14 karat, it is 24 karat and sold by weight.

International prices of gold goes up after a good monsson and harvest by Indian famers.
Something like 25 percent of all the gold ever mined is in India as women's jewelry.
Posted by: john || 04/23/2006 17:28 Comments || Top||

#9  These bandits must be awfully well connected or really stupid to take on the RAB.
Posted by: john || 04/23/2006 17:29 Comments || Top||

#10  Hi Jim! The amount was 27,000, not 2,700.

Which would make it about $ 3,800.00.

And while this may be a lot of money in Bangladesh, it needs to be compared to what people over here would have in the bank.

And it could be money/gold that was the wife's dowry, and/or money/gold for a daughter's dowry as well, if they were thinking ahead...
Posted by: Phil || 04/23/2006 17:41 Comments || Top||


Tales from the Crossfire Gazette (Sunday edition)
Apr 22: A terrorist was killed and Sub Inspector (SI) injured early hours of Saturday in a ‘crossfire’ between police and a group of terrorists at Shyampur Padma char area under Bagha upazila in Rajshahi.
No, I don't know where that is.
The deceased was identified as Sentu alias killer Sagor (30), son of Imad Ali of Palashi Fotepur village as well as the chief of killer group of notorious Panna Bahini.
Never heard of them, but I'm sure they're not an Islamic group.
The injured Sub Inspector (SI) Aminuzzaman was rushed to a local hospital.
"Don't worry ma'am, your husband will be fine as soon as we reduce that hernia."
Sentu, who had the death sentence on twelve systems was accused of seven cases including three murder charges, was also known as Sentu dacoit. Police said acting on a tip off they have arrested Sentu on Friday.
"Sentu! Did youse know you're a wanted man? We want youse to come wit us!"
Later, following his confession, ...
... aided as always by the reliable Inspector Pliers ...
... police conducted a raid at Shyampur char area, to nab the other members of Panna Bahini and unearth their arms dens.
Once again they're off to the secret lair in search of shutter guns ...
Police said when they reached to Shampur char area along with Sentu, his accomplices opened fire on them from their hideout.
"Cheez! They got Sentu! Open up boyz!"
Police also retaliated.
Of course they did, right after they dumped Sentu's body out of the back of the truck.
At one stage of ‘crossfire’ Sentu tried to escape and caught in fire lines.
"Newly-laced lead-lined concrete boots don't fail me ... [THUMMP] ... rosebud!"
Police claimed he received several bullet injuries and died on the spot.
Thereby saving the taxpayers of Bangladesh the cost of an autopsy.
However, the accomplices of Sentu, according to police who opened fire on them managed to flee the scene leaving a shutter gun and four bullets.
The shutter gun has safely been returned to its velvet-lined case at RAB HQ.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/23/2006 00:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The RAB must be doing extreme lifesaving measures instead of chasing the accomplices. Ethics is everything in law enforcement.
Posted by: 6 || 04/23/2006 7:34 Comments || Top||

#2  "Newly-laced lead-lined concrete boots don't fail me ...

Too much the dandy to wear the old-fashioned curly toed slippers?
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2006 14:10 Comments || Top||


Europe
2 GSPC forgers busted
Two people arrested in southern France on suspicion of financing Islamist extremism were notified they face forgery charges, court sources said Saturday. The two were among eight people detained Wednesday in the port city of Marseille as part of a Franco-Italian anti-terrorism operation. "Two men (who appeared before magistrates in Marseille) were notified of possible prosecution for forgery and criminal association and placed under judicial supervision," the source said.

Of the six others detained Wednesday, one is subject to an Italian arrest warrant and the other six were released on Friday and Saturday. No link between the criminal activity of counterfeiting and the financing of terrorism of radical Islamist origin had been established.

Anti-terrorism police, acting on instructions from Paris, arrested five people Wednesday in Marseille and the surrounding area. Three other people turned up at police stations and were arrested.

In Italy anti-terrorist police detained seven people in Naples and nearby Caserta in the south of the country, and Milan and Bologna in the north. The suspects -- all men of Algerian origin -- were suspected of links to the Islamic fundamentalist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). French and Italian anti-terrorism investigators suspect them of financing Islamic extremists -- particularly the GSPC -- via a range of criminal activities, including supplying forged documents to illegal immigrants, the sources said. The initiative for the swoops came from the Italian authorities who identified "people from Marseille" and alerted their French colleagues.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:47 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Great White North
Canada to strip Montreal Jihadist Fateh Kamel of citizenship
The Harper government has launched a procedure to strip Fateh Kamel of his Canadian citizenship, Montreal’s La Presse reported today.

Kamel, who was born in Algeria, was condemned in France in 2001 to an 8-year jail term for supplying false passports to Islamic terrorists and "participating in a criminal association for the purposes of preparing acts of terrorism." He was released in January 2005 for good behaviour after serving only six years and immediately returned to Montreal where he is still residing. At the time, opposition national security critic Peter MacKay who is now Minister of Foreign Affairs called for stripping Kamel of his Canadian citizenship.

According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Kamel had ties to Osama bin Laden and was the ringleader of a Montreal-based Algerian Jihadi cell, which intended to blow up Los Angeles International Airport in 1999. Still according to CSIS, “he played a central role in the wave of terrorist attacks that erupted in France toward the middle of the 1990s, notably the plot to commit bomb attacks in Paris metro stations and a series of attacks in the city of Roubaix, in northern France”.

In order to revoke his citizenship, the government will have to prove that Kamel obtained the Canadian citizenship illegally by making false statements on his past. Late last year, Kamel was denied a passport on security grounds.
Posted by: tipper || 04/23/2006 02:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The first swallow?
Posted by: gromgoru || 04/23/2006 10:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Canada can't strip him of citizenship for knowingly participating in a terrorist organization? Surely that shows a level of moral turpitude not commensurate maintaining Canadian citizenship.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2006 14:13 Comments || Top||

#3  ringleader of a Montreal-based Algerian Jihadi cell, which intended to blow up Los Angeles International Airport in 1999

Seems like a good case for extradition.
Posted by: ed || 04/23/2006 15:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Algerian security forces might be interested in him...

Posted by: john || 04/23/2006 17:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Canada can't strip him of citizenship for knowingly participating in a terrorist organization?

That sort of thing results in jail time only, if proven guilty in court first.

Revocation of citizenship requires that it be obtained under falsehood or some pretense.

It's morally and legally easier to justify revocation if it can be shown that something was falsely obtained, rather than have it be a penalty for some criminal act. Otherwise some nutcases would argue that jail time is enough punishment, debt paid to society, not applicable to all criminals, blah blah blah. Here, it's black and white: you lied, penalty is revocation, thanks for playing, goodbye. Oh and, in addition, here's some jail time.
Posted by: rafael || 04/23/2006 17:52 Comments || Top||

#6  raphael's on the money - otherwise they stay after the punitive jail sentence
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 18:11 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Rumsfeld approves secret counterterrorism plans: Washington Post
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved ambitious plans to fight terrorism around the world and retaliate more rapidly in the case of another terrorist attack on the United States, The Washington Post reports. Citing unnamed defence officials, the newspaper said the blueprint includes a general campaign plan for the global war on terrorism as well as two subordinate plans that are considered the Pentagon's highest priority.

Details of the plans are secret, but in general they envision a significantly expanded role for the military and its Special Operations troops in operations to combat terrorism outside of war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, the report said. Developed over about three years by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, the plans reflect a beefing up of the Pentagon's involvement in domains traditionally handled by the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department, The Post said.

The command has dispatched small teams of Army Green Berets and other Special Operations troops to US embassies in about 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, where they do operational planning and intelligence gathering to enhance the ability to conduct military operations where the United States is not at war, the paper said. The Pentagon also gained the leeway to inform -- rather than win the approval of -- the US ambassador before conducting military operations in a foreign country, according to the report.

The plans each run more than 100 pages and cover a wide range of overt and clandestine military activities -- such as man-hunting and intelligence gathering, attacks on terrorist training camps and partnering with foreign militaries to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries, The Post said.

The main campaign plan sets priorities, allocates resources such as manpower and funding, and coordinates operations among regional military commands, the paper said. A second plan is focused specifically on Al-Qaeda and associated movements, including more than a dozen groups spread across the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, according to the report. These groups include the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Ansar al-Islam in the Middle East, Jemaah Islamiya in Indonesia, and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Saharan Africa. A third plan sets out how the military can both disrupt and respond to another major terrorist strike on the United States, The Post said. It includes annexes that offer options for the military to retaliate quickly against specific terrorist groups, individuals or state sponsors depending on who is believed to be behind an attack.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/23/2006 02:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rumsfeld approves secret counter-terrorism plans: Washington Post..
Details of the plans are secret


yeeaarriigghhtt..

With all the spy's, foreign and domestic within our government, media and universities, flourishing as it were in a culture of sedition and treason, at the very least we should expect that SOCOM counterterrorism plans are already on the Pulitzer committee Comintern's hard drive.
Posted by: RD || 04/23/2006 4:36 Comments || Top||

#2  This A01 page WaPo story is not news, perhaps recycled news.
Posted by: Captain America || 04/23/2006 10:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Developed over about three years by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, the plans reflect a beefing up of the Pentagon's involvement in domains traditionally handled by the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department, The Post said.

Yes, but it does help understand the shrill, shrieking calls to have Rumsfeld removed.

Good for Rusmsfeld and those that planned this. Last time when they attacked us, it was difficult because their was no nation state that we could retaliate against - but not the next time. We know more and we will know who and how to eliminate those that seek to kill us.
Posted by: 2b || 04/23/2006 10:23 Comments || Top||

#4  there
Posted by: 2b || 04/23/2006 10:23 Comments || Top||

#5  The Pentagon also gained the leeway to inform -- rather than win the approval of -- the US ambassador before conducting military operations in a foreign country, according to the report.

No more AMBO, COS, diplodink bootlicking. Praise be to Alan! Things should begin to turn around very soon now. I thought I would never see this day.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/23/2006 11:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Rumsfeld approves secret counterterrorism plans: Washington Post

And exactly how do you know about any "Secret" plans?
Let's see your Security Clearance.
Did you read the part about "Unauthorized Disclosure?"

Bullshit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/23/2006 11:58 Comments || Top||

#7  "Developed over about three years by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, the plans reflect a beefing up of the Pentagon's involvement in domains traditionally handled by the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department,"

This was long overdue - Ops was probably rotting under the CYA system at CIA - maybe this will spur them to get their stuff tgether and stop fighting Bush/Goss and start fighting bad guys and taking a few risks. And any ops we can pull away from State are bonuses in my book - because State is working cross purposes to DoD and the IC most of the time anyways.
Posted by: Oldspook || 04/23/2006 12:26 Comments || Top||

#8  Citing unnamed defence officials

It would be interesting to know whether the officials were authorized to release this information... or whether this was a test to find those who don't understand the limits their current employment places on their freedom to speak. Or an excuse to put certain people under a lie detector...
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2006 14:30 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Fighting underway near Spelga
Pakistani security forces fired artillery at a suspected militant hideout in a northwestern tribal region, retaliating against a rocket attack on a security post, an intelligence official said Sunday.

The fighting Saturday was the latest in a series of clashes between suspected Islamic militants and Pakistani troops in North Waziristan, a rugged region that borders Afghanistan. Military officials say Arab, Central Asian and Afghan fighters linked with al-Qaida are in the region.

The troops fired the salvos hours after suspected Islamic militants attacked the roadside security post near the village of Spelga, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of his job.

There were no reports of injuries, though several homes were hit by security forces fire, he said. The fighting prompting many residents to leave the village, he added.

On Sunday, Pakistani troops fired on a speeding van when the driver ignored orders to stop at the checkpoint near Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, the official said.

Troops killed three of the van's armed occupants, he said. The armed men returned fire, killing one soldier and wounding another.

A local government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said a fourth gunman and a bystander were wounded,

The identities of the gunmen were unclear, the intelligence official said, but many people in this tribal-dominated region routinely carry weapons.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Al-Suri was al-Qaeda's commander in Kunar, Bajaur
Abu Marwan al-Suri was Al Qaeda operational commander in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar and the Bajaur tribal region in Pakistan, official sources said on Saturday. Al-Suri is believed to have been killed in a clash with security personnel on Thursday.
"I think we got him this time, Shaukat!"
"Oh, yeah? We'll see. What's that in the truck?"
"Him."
“He was commanding Al Qaeda operatives both in Kunar and Bajaur and was senior leader in Qaeda’s second hierarchy,” the sources tracking the terror network told Daily Times, wishing not to be named. Also known as a master of disguise, Suri’s death is regarded as a blow to Al Qaeda’s ability to strike and the network also lost an expert on explosives and chemical and biological weapons. Al-Suri was also a good trainer. His death comes a week after a strike in North Waziristan in which Egyptian-born Al Qaeda explosive expert Abdul Rehman al-Muhajir was reported killed. “Rehman is confirmed dead in the January 13 strike but what we lack is physical evidence,” officials said.
Then he's not really confirmed dead, is he? Maybe you should just consider him confirmed mostly dead.
Anti-terrorism analysts with a security agency told Daily Times that it appeared the Qaeda network was short of trained people after “we killed a number of their trained” people. “And you can see how Qaeda is short of trained people from al-Suri working as the operational commander for both Kunar and Bajaur. Normally, you can be operational commander of one sector but not two simultaneously,” he said.
The Department of Redunancy Department sent me a memo pointing out that it's probably because a number of their trained people are now dead.
The body of the killed Al Qaeda operative was bullet-ridden, according to a senior administration official in Khar.
A mere point of usage here: I believe the body was more likely lice-ridden and bullet-riddled.
“He had a small black beard and dressed in shalwar-kameez,” he said. “At times, he grew small beard and at times he was clean-shaven and attired in western dress to dodge intelligence sleuths.”
That's how they could tell he was a master of disguise.
The Syrian-born al-Suri was chased the moment he crossed into Pakistan.
Glad to see he's back to being a Syrian. He must have felt awkward when he was an Egyptian named "the Syrian."
Dressed in shalwar-kameez,
Oh, cheeze! You said that already!
he hired a pick-up to come down to Khar, regional headquarters of Bajaur Agency. “We doubled paramilitary force strength at one of the check-posts on a highway linking the border town with Khar. As al-Suri came out of his vehicle he ran to avoid being arrested. Security forces’ personnel were shouting at him: ‘Stop, don’t run away’. He fired a shot with his 30-bore pistol at the law-enforcers wounding one of them.
[BANG!]
"Ow!"
And still our security force personnel wanted to catch him alive but when the Syrian fired at another jawan who died,
[BANG!]
"Rosebud!"
then he was fired at from all directions,” the sources said.
"He plugged Mahmoud! Get him, boyz!"
The security official said if Al Suri was caught alive and broken during interrogation he might have provided significant clues about Osama Bin Laden and other top Al Qaeda leaders.
"You'll never take me alive, coppers!... Aaaaaiiiiiieeee! [Spins on tiptoe!]... [Clasps chest!]... [Thud!]... Ma! It's gettin' darker, Ma! I got... I got... Rosebud!... [Rattle!]"
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pakistani security forces fired artillery at a suspected militant hideout

"At"? Or "in the general direction of"?
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2006 14:15 Comments || Top||


Iraq
New Iraqi PM vows action
The Shiite hard-liner tapped as Iraq's new prime minister promised Saturday to swiftly finish building a unity government after parliament elected a top national leadership, ending months of political deadlock as the nation spiraled into chaos.

Jawad al-Maliki has 30 days to assemble a Cabinet from divided Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties. The most contentious question will be filling key ministries that control security forces amid demands to purge them of militias blamed for the rise in sectarian bloodshed.

Five American soldiers died Saturday in roadside bombings south of Baghdad, and Marines killed four insurgents in a gunbattle in Ramadi - clear signs of the ongoing security crisis.

After repeated delays, parliament convened Saturday in the heavily guarded Green Zone and elected a president, two vice presidents, a parliament speaker and two deputies.

President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who won a second term, named al-Maliki as prime minister-designate, a formality after the dominant Shiite bloc replaced outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Sunnis and Kurds refused to accept al-Jaafari.

That laid the foundation for post-Saddam Hussein Iraq's first fully constitutional government, which Washington hopes can quell the Sunni-led insurgency and bloody Shiite-Sunni violence. That would enable the United States to begin withdrawing its 133,000 troops.

Few believe the task will be easy. It remains uncertain whether Iraqi leaders representing religiously and ethnically based parties can set aside their interests and rise to the challenge of managing a nation perched at the brink of disaster.

President Bush suggested the new Iraqi government could be the beginning of an eventual drawdown of American forces from Iraq.

"The new Iraqi government will assume greater responsibility for their nation's security," he told reporters during a trip to California. "It will have the popular mandate to address Iraq's toughest long-term challenges," he added.

"This historic achievement by determined Iraqis will make America more secure," Bush said.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, a key player in tortuous political negotiations since Dec. 15 elections, told reporters improvement will not be instantaneous.

"I think that with the formation of a national unity government with a good program and with competent ministers, Iraq will be on the right trajectory," he said.

The tough-talking al-Maliki, who once managed Shiite guerrillas in Saddam's Iraq from exile in Syria, promised an inclusive government with "all components of Iraqi society."

Al-Maliki, 55, also signaled he was prepared to crack down on Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias responsible for the rise in sectarian violence that threatens to plunge the nation into civil war.

"Weapons should be only in the hands of the government," al-Maliki told reporters. He pointed to laws requiring militias to be integrated into the nation's security forces.

Al-Maliki's toughest task will be assigning control of the defense and interior ministries, responsible for the army and the police. Sunnis have accused the Shiite-run Interior Ministry of tolerating death squads that target Sunni civilians. Army and police ranks are believed to be infiltrated by militias.

The current interior minister belongs to the largest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, believed to operate a militia. U.S. officials have insisted the next minister have no ties to militias.

Another militia, the Mahdi Army, is controlled by radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who supported al-Jaafari for another term. Al-Sadr refuses to disband his force unless other militias are abolished and the army and police prove capable of protecting Shiites from Sunni extremists.

While politicians from all sides called for unity and an end to sectarianism in Saturday's parliament session, the differences were visible.

The new Sunni parliament speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, insisted the armed forces must be built "on the basis of national loyalty" and spoke strongly against sectarian violence - code among Sunnis for militia violence.

Then a lawmaker stood and chided him for not speaking out against terrorism - a reference to the Sunni-led insurgency.

Al-Jaafari took the podium and barked, "Your only enemy is terrorism. That is all."

In his new role, Al-Maliki must make overtures to the disaffected Sunni Arab community, the backbone of the insurgency. Sunni Arab politicians accepted al-Maliki despite his reputation as a hardline champion of Shiite rights.

Al-Maliki was deputy chairman of a committee formed to purge Saddam allies from political life. Many Sunnis believed the committee's goal was to deny them a role in Iraq.

He also was a tough negotiator in deliberations over Iraq's new constitution, passed last year despite Sunni Arab objections. He resisted U.S. efforts to put more Sunnis on the drafting committee as well as Sunni efforts to dilute provisions giving Shiites and Kurds the power to form semiautonomous mini-states in the north and south.

Under a deal worked out with Sunnis last year, parliament has four months to consider constitutional amendments, a process likely to strain relations among the ethnic and religious groups at a time when the Americans are pushing for unity.

In a sign of the security challenge, suspected insurgents exploded two bombs Saturday in a market in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing at least two Iraqis and wounding 17. The second blast was timed to hit emergency crews arriving at the scene.

The bullet-ridden bodies of 10 Iraqis were found in and around Baghdad, many blindfolded with hands and legs bound in rope. Some appeared to have been tortured, and one was decapitated, police said.

Police also found a body with signs of torture floating in the Tigris River in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.

In the capital, gunmen in a speeding car sprayed a police patrol with machine-gun fire, killing one officer. Gunmen killed a civilian riding in a car, and a roadside bomb wounded two policemen.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:40 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Death squads target Iraqi "dustmen"
IRAQ’S dustmen — mainly students working their way through college — have become targets for assassination in the country’s latest wave of ethnic violence.

In the past month 22 mostly Shi’ite dustmen have been killed on duty, prompting the governor of Baghdad to appeal to the public to protect them or face a refuse crisis in a city that is already in chaos.

Mountains of festering, unbagged filth are spilling across road junctions and street corners as the dustmen, who earn £1.70 for each four-hour shift, become increasingly wary.

One mother, Um Ahmad, lost two sons last week. Ahmad 21, and Ammar, 18, both engineering students, were killed with three colleagues as they collected rubbish in the al-Doura district of the capital.

“They lost their father three years ago during the invasion of Iraq,” she explained sadly. “My boys wanted to earn an honest living while studying and the only job they could find was collecting rubbish.”

Last Wednesday they left home for a 2am shift before college. “I had a bad feeling that morning — call it mother’s intuition,” she said.

“For the first time since they took the job I asked them not to go to work. They were surprised, laughed away my fears, kissed me on the head and wished me a good day before leaving the house.” She sobbed openly as she added: “I wish they had never gone.”

A few hours later Um Ahmad was visited by a neighbour who asked whether her boys had gone to work. When she said yes, the neighbour left, looking upset. Worried by the question, Um Ahmad put on her black cloak and walked for 15 minutes until she found police cars and a crowd gathered around the entrance to a building.

“My heart was beating fast and when they stopped me from entering I told them I wanted to check on my sons,” she said.

Inside, she saw five bodies on the floor, covered with cloth. “I stood by one, not knowing if it was Ahmad, and began to cry until the man in charge came and told me, ‘I am sorry for your loss,’ as he began to uncover the faces of the dead.

“I thought I had lost one son. Instead I found both my boys lying dead on the floor.” She began to scream and wail at the sight of her two dead boys.

According to witnesses, gunmen in an Opel and a BMW driving by opened fire on the men as they worked their way along the streets.

Not only are the dustmen unprotected, but the government and local authorities pay no compensation to the families of the dead. No official has visited Um Ahmad, a poor widow left with a daughter and a young son; nor has she received any contribution towards the costs of the funerals.

A neighbour said: “This is the sad fate of the dustmen. They perform a vital public service but nobody helps their families.”

Asked why the dustmen were being targeted, a Sunni insurgent in the district replied that they had brought punishment on themselves.

“We are not against cleanliness or those who work for the good of the country, but these men are traitors — firstly for being Shi’ites and secondly because we have warned them time and time again that we plant booby traps and explosives in rubbish heaps and they shouldn’t report discoveries to the police, but they always do,” claimed the insurgent. He said he belonged to the Al-Qaeda in Iraq organisation of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the country’s most wanted man.

“So what if these Shi’ites are being killed. Every day Sunnis are found shot and drilled to death and nobody is doing much about that,” he added.

Another insurgent claimed spies had been planted among the dustmen by the Shi’ite Badr militia to report on the activities of Sunni insurgents.

“How come most dustmen are Shi’ite and you can hardly find a Sunni allowed to work?” he said. “Those who did in the past were either fired or arrested by the interior ministry and then their bodies turned up in the morgues.”

Kathem Shalash, a 22-year-old Shi’ite student, was injured last year and his cousin killed when a bomb planted in a pile of rubbish blew up as he worked in the al-Shula district.

“I do not do this job out of love but because I needed to earn a living to finish my studies and help my family,” he said. “After the explosion I asked to be transferred to work in the posh Mansour district because I though it was safer, but nowadays everywhere is dangerous.

“I avoid large piles of rubbish. Sometimes I throw stones at them from a distance to check if they are safe, but when I’m not sure I just leave them,” he said.

The targeting of dustmen follows a spate of kidnappings and murders of professional people including doctors, academics and former pilots. The bloodshed has triggered an exodus of intellectuals from the country.

Amid growing fears that Iraq is on the verge of civil war, Sunnis who accuse the dominant Shi’ite alliance of running death squads have begun to band together in in so-called neighbourhood vigilante groups.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the brave lions strike again ..at the people aiding their families .. I guess the 2000 year inbreeding program can stop now .
Posted by: MacNails || 04/23/2006 5:39 Comments || Top||

#2  face a refuse crisis in a city that is already in chaos

This is the new buzz phrase that reporters were told to insert into every article - since country on the"brink of sectarian civil war" was so widely ridiculed.
Posted by: 2b || 04/23/2006 10:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Send the reporters over there to help and pick up garbage. The reporters get first class coverage of actual events and some just might get killed. A win-win situation!
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/23/2006 10:15 Comments || Top||

#4  "face a refuse crisis in a city that is already in chaos."

Could be D.C., New Orleans, Los Angeles.... yawn.

Posted by: Besoeker || 04/23/2006 11:06 Comments || Top||

#5  wanna bet most sunis consider themselves above this kind of work. I'm not feeling real bad about Shiite death squads either, pal. Hope they visit you real soon
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 12:18 Comments || Top||

#6  I don't approve of vigilantes or death squads in Iraq. It's hard enough for the people to adjust to the lifting of 30 years of having a foot on their heads without this. Anyone - ANYONE - caught belonging to either a vigilante justice group or a death squad/sectarian militia should be immediately castrated and branded, so that everyone can see at a distance who these slimeballs are, and avoid them. There is no punishment as great as being excluded from an inclusive society. Also, their genes should NEVER be allowed back into the gene pool. It'll take a couple of decades, but in the end, Iraq will be peaceful - either because the people know what limits the live under, or there aren't any people left.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/23/2006 13:52 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas and Fatah gangland gunfire - Red on Red.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/23/2006 13:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's hard not to root for both sides in situations like this...
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 04/23/2006 15:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I generally go "12 on - 12 off" in situations like this. It's the only fair and balanced approach I'm afraid. One must wonder if the IDF is tossing a crate or two of 7.62x39 over the wall now and then, just to keep the noise level up.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/23/2006 16:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Dear Hamas/Fatah;

Welcome to the problem with "youts". You made them - have fun. Nothing you can do to appease "youts" and ya got a lot.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 04/23/2006 16:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Help yourselves to popcorn, I'll get the beers from the fridge.
Posted by: Shearong Phaitle1973 || 04/23/2006 20:00 Comments || Top||


Fatah, Hamas gunmen clash in Gaza streets
GAZA - Dozens of Palestinian supporters from Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction were wounded on Saturday in clashes in the Gaza Strip sparked by a growing dispute over control of security in the territory.
There's no dispute over 'control of security', since there's no security to control ...
The clashes, the worst between the groups in several months, began when student supporters of the factions seethed, made faces and then hurled stones at one another outside a Gaza university and intensified when gunmen intervened. Medics said 20 people were wounded by stones and pipe bombs.
What about the gunmen -- didn't they hit anyone? Or were they too busy looking dashing cool by shooting from the hip?
Police forces were unable to control the clashes, which ended within hours, witnesses said.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group elected to head the Palestinian government in a January vote, announced on Thursday the formation of a new security force to be headed by a top militant loyal to the faction. Abbas later vetoed the decision. The Palestinian president’s move prompted sharp reaction from Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas who said on Friday that Abbas and other members of his Fatah faction were assisting a Western campaign to isolate the new government.
Which the new government was keen to do on its own ...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/23/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Palestinian president’s move prompted sharp reaction from Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas who said on Friday that Abbas and other members of his Fatah faction were assisting a Western campaign to isolate the new government.

Dr. Steve: Which the new government was keen to do on its own ...

>pull up a chair, it's a race.

Brownies, popcorn, and skittles on the sideboard. fresh asparagus juice in the fridge.
Posted by: RD || 04/23/2006 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  So have the Palestinians who were expelled from Baghdad last week arrived yet to whine, seethe, and add to the general chaos?
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2006 14:19 Comments || Top||

#3  "...wounded by stones and pipe bombs".

Rather an escalation there, hmm? Whatever happened to going throught the motions of clubs, knives, bolas, javelins, swords and the other jabbing and smashing instruments?
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 04/23/2006 17:49 Comments || Top||

#4  even in "Anchorman" they had tridents...no tridents in Gaza?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 18:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Asparagus juice, RD? Here, how about a jug of fresh lemonade to complement it? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2006 19:18 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Alvarez's death thwarted bomb plot
The Philippines believes the death of a bomb-maker foiled a militant plan to launch Easter attacks on the southern island of Mindanao, a senior intelligence official said on Saturday.

The small militant group Abu Sayyaf, blamed for a ferry bombing in February 2004 that killed more than 100 people, was believed to have been plotting to launch bomb attacks in Zamboanga City. "We were just days from a possible bomb attack when security forces killed the supposed bomb-maker," said an official of the police counter terrorism task force, who declined to be identified. "We believed that we have pre-empted a major terrorist strike."

He said security forces killed Amilhamja Ajijul, alias Alex Alvarez, and a companion in a gun battle 10 days ago in Zamboanga City, where about 200 U.S. commandos are based to help local units fight home-grown militants. Ajijul, an Abu Sayyaf bomb-maker on Washington's terror black list, was blamed for three attacks in Zamboanga City in October 2002 that killed dozens, including a member of the U.S. Green Berets.

Citing intelligence reports, the official said Ajijul was preparing for an attack funded by Indonesians Dulmatin and Umar Patek, key suspects in the October 2002 Bali bombings, before he was gunned down.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran’s president recruits terror master - Imad Mugniyeh
EFL - Via the ever-valuable Captain Ed
Plot for revenge attacks on West
IRAN’S president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended a meeting in Syria earlier this year with one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, according to intelligence experts and a former national security official in Washington.
US officials and Israel intelligence sources believe Imad Mugniyeh, the Lebanese commander of Hezbollah’s overseas operations, has taken charge of plotting Iran’s retaliation against western targets should President George W Bush order a strike on Iranian nuclear sites.



Mugniyeh is on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list for his role in a series of high-profile attacks against the West, including the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jet and murder of one of its passengers, a US navy diver.

Now in his mid-forties, Mugniyeh is reported to have travelled with Ahmadinejad in January this year from Tehran to Damascus, where the Iranian president met leaders of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

The meeting has been dubbed a “terror summit” because of the presence of so many groups behind attacks on Israel, which Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe from the map.

Jane’s Intelligence Review cited “reports in recent weeks” of Mugniyeh’s presence alongside the president.

Michael Ledeen, a Middle East expert and former Pentagon and National Security Council official who wrote that Mugniyeh had “probably” been there, said last week senior American officials had confirmed it.

“It’s hard to identify Mugniyeh because he is said to have changed his face and his fingerprints,” Ledeen said. “But senior government officials have told me I was right. He was there.”

Shortly after the Damascus summit Henry Crumpton, head of counter-terrorism at the state department, singled out the elusive Mugniyeh as a threat. The Iranians, Crumpton said, “have complete command and control of Hezbollah. Imad Mugniyeh works for Tehran. And you can’t talk about Hezbollah and not think about Iran. They really are part and parcel of the same problem.”

Mugniyeh lives in Iran and has evaded capture for more than 20 years, despite a $5m American bounty on his head. Western intelligence reports claim he has many connections to terrorist cells in Europe, Africa, Latin America and the US and he is said to have met Osama Bin Laden.

“When and if the Iranians decide to hit the West in its soft belly, Imad will be the one to act,” a western intelligence source said last week.

An Israeli defence source claimed Mugniyeh was in regular touch with the new Iranian intelligence minister, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ezhei. The minister is a long-time confidant of Ahmadinejad and was appointed by him.

“We know that Mohseni Ezhei holds routine meetings with Mugniyeh, who is today Iran’s head of overseas operations,” said the Israeli defence source. “Since we know from previous Iranian terror attacks that it takes about a year to plan a substantial one, we should not be surprised if operations against western targets are already in high gear and Mugniyeh is certainly playing a major role.”

The young Mugniyeh first attracted the attention of the West when he was involved in the kidnapping, torture and mutilation of William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, in 1984. He kept his victim at the Sheikh Abdullah camp in the Lebanese Bekaa valley and was allegedly the last person Buckley saw before he died.

“Imad had good reason to retaliate,” said a well-informed source. “A car bomb killed his brother Jihad, who had taken Imad’s old job as bodyguard to Hezbollah’s spiritual leader.” Mugniyeh blamed the CIA, and Buckley was chosen to pay the price.


Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 17:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I thought this link was about Mikey Moore next to Jimmy Carter...
Posted by: Capsu 78 || 04/23/2006 18:09 Comments || Top||

#2  "Recruits" is misleading. He has always been a tool of Iran.
Posted by: Grunter || 04/23/2006 18:35 Comments || Top||

#3  true, just not on thsi scale. Hope he earns the Mossad car swarm soon
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 18:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Mugniyeh's Butcher's Bill is long overdue ...
Posted by: doc || 04/23/2006 19:04 Comments || Top||


Jamal to be sprung
THE mother of one of Australia's most-wanted terrorism suspects says her son will be released from a Beirut prison as early as next month.

Aminah Jamal yesterday told The Sun-Herald her son Saleh would walk free on either May 19 or 20. She said she had received a call from his Lebanese lawyer during the week to notify her of the release date. "I tried to speak to him during the week, but have to wait for the paperwork. I am going to try again today," she said.

Mrs Jamal said the lawyer told her that her son would have to serve two years of his five-year sentence - which he has now done - before he could be released. "His lawyer has done such a good job to have all the charges dropped," she said.

The Lebanese Court of Appeal ruled earlier this month that terrorism charges against the 32-year-old Belfield man could not be upheld because of a lack of evidence.

Jamal was linked to the bombing of a Beirut McDonald's restaurant in April 2003. He was arrested upon entering Lebanon two years ago and charged with weapons offences and entering the country on a false passport.

Mrs Jamal hinted that her son would not return to Australia because he feared he would spend the rest of his life in jail.
Good guess.
Jamal skipped bail while awaiting trial in NSW accused of a shooting attack on the Lakemba police station in 1998. He was also facing charges over the shooting of a man at Greenacre, and discharging a firearm at Redfern.

Sheikh Khalil Chami, who has known the Jamal family since they arrived in Australia more than 30 years ago, told The Sun-Herald he had booked himself on a flight to Lebanon at the end of the month and was hoping to meet with Jamal to discuss his future. He said he was travelling to Lebanon as part of an organised tour, and decided to meet with Jamal after hearing the news of his release.
Wotta coincidence. Can we see your credit card slips?
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the Government had taken a close and active interest in the case. He said consulate officers had last met with Jamal on April 19 and had attended his court hearings.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jamal skipped bail while awaiting trial in NSW accused of a shooting attack on the Lakemba police station in 1998. He was also facing charges over the shooting of a man at Greenacre, and discharging a firearm at Redfern.

He's been a busy lad, he has. So, not Lebanon, and not Australia. Where does he plan to make his new home, I wonder?
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2006 14:23 Comments || Top||

#2  cough *pakistan* cough
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 16:31 Comments || Top||


Ahmadinejad met with Mughniyeh to plan terror offensive
IRAN’S president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended a meeting in Syria earlier this year with one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, according to intelligence experts and a former national security official in Washington.

US officials and Israel intelligence sources believe Imad Mugniyeh, the Lebanese commander of Hezbollah’s overseas operations, has taken charge of plotting Iran’s retaliation against western targets should President George W Bush order a strike on Iranian nuclear sites.

Mugniyeh is on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list for his role in a series of high-profile attacks against the West, including the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jet and murder of one of its passengers, a US navy diver.

Now in his mid-forties, Mugniyeh is reported to have travelled with Ahmadinejad in January this year from Tehran to Damascus, where the Iranian president met leaders of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

The meeting has been dubbed a “terror summit” because of the presence of so many groups behind attacks on Israel, which Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe from the map.

Jane’s Intelligence Review cited “reports in recent weeks” of Mugniyeh’s presence alongside the president.

Michael Ledeen, a Middle East expert and former Pentagon and National Security Council official who wrote that Mugniyeh had “probably” been there, said last week senior American officials had confirmed it.

“It’s hard to identify Mugniyeh because he is said to have changed his face and his fingerprints,” Ledeen said. “But senior government officials have told me I was right. He was there.”

Shortly after the Damascus summit Henry Crumpton, head of counter-terrorism at the state department, singled out the elusive Mugniyeh as a threat. The Iranians, Crumpton said, “have complete command and control of Hezbollah. Imad Mugniyeh works for Tehran. And you can’t talk about Hezbollah and not think about Iran. They really are part and parcel of the same problem.”

Mugniyeh lives in Iran and has evaded capture for more than 20 years, despite a $5m American bounty on his head. Western intelligence reports claim he has many connections to terrorist cells in Europe, Africa, Latin America and the US and he is said to have met Osama Bin Laden.

“When and if the Iranians decide to hit the West in its soft belly, Imad will be the one to act,” a western intelligence source said last week.

An Israeli defence source claimed Mugniyeh was in regular touch with the new Iranian intelligence minister, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ezhei. The minister is a long-time confidant of Ahmadinejad and was appointed by him.

“We know that Mohseni Ezhei holds routine meetings with Mugniyeh, who is today Iran’s head of overseas operations,” said the Israeli defence source. “Since we know from previous Iranian terror attacks that it takes about a year to plan a substantial one, we should not be surprised if operations against western targets are already in high gear and Mugniyeh is certainly playing a major role.”

The young Mugniyeh first attracted the attention of the West when he was involved in the kidnapping, torture and mutilation of William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, in 1984. He kept his victim at the Sheikh Abdullah camp in the Lebanese Bekaa valley and was allegedly the last person Buckley saw before he died.

“Imad had good reason to retaliate,” said a well-informed source. “A car bomb killed his brother Jihad, who had taken Imad’s old job as bodyguard to Hezbollah’s spiritual leader.” Mugniyeh blamed the CIA, and Buckley was chosen to pay the price.

The kidnapping led to the Iran-contra affair, one of the most embarrassing episodes of the Reagan presidency, in which arms were swapped for hostages. But by the time the Americans were negotiating with the Iranians, Buckley was already dead.

Mugniyeh has also been linked to the demolition of the American embassy and marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and is wanted in Argentina for his role in recruiting the bombers of the Israeli embassy and Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s.

Mugniyeh left Lebanon for Iran in 1994 with his wife and son after an assassination attempt. He is since believed to have played an active role in fomenting trouble in Iraq. Ledeen described him last week as the “spinal column of the terror war against America in Iraq from the beginning”.

According to Robert Baer, a former CIA agent who pursued Mugniyeh in the 1980s, “he is the most dangerous terrorist we have ever faced. Mugniyeh is probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we have ever run across, including the KGB or anybody else.

“He enters by one door, exits by another, changes his cars daily, never makes appointments by telephone — he is never predictable. He is the master terrorist, the grail we have been after since 1983”.

* Elite Iranian army officers who arrived in south Lebanon this month have taken command of thousands of rockets aimed at cities across Israel. They are believed to have been given control of the missiles by Hezbollah to deter possible Israeli attacks against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:31 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
New Bin Laden Audio Airs
New Bin Laden audiotape airs on Al Jazeera.

Breaking ...
Posted by: doc || 04/23/2006 08:48 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Associated Press:

CAIRO, Egypt — Al Qaeda terrorist leader Usama bin Laden said in an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera television Sunday that the Western cut off of funds to the Palestinian Hamas-led government proved the U.S. and Europe were at war with Islam.

He also said the West was supporting he called a "Zionist crusader war against Muslims."

"The blocade which the West is imposing on the government of Hamas proves that there is a Zionist [Jewish] crusaders [Christian] war on Islam," the tape said.

"I say that this war is the joint responsibility of the people and the governments. While the war continues, the people renew their allegiance to their rulers and politicans and continue to send their sons to our countries to fight us," bin Laden said.
Posted by: Mike || 04/23/2006 9:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Blocked aid--did we hit a terrorist nerve? Like that ever-present "humiliation"?

This tape is a God-send. Affiliating himself with Hamas-this is beautiful.

Stay the course on this aid issue, or weaken and watch the "strong horse" emerge stronger.
Posted by: Jules || 04/23/2006 9:46 Comments || Top||

#3  It occurred to me yesterday, after reading rantburg, that the Islamists are in the process of being routed. They are putting all of their stock into Iran because he is telling them everything they want to hear and claiming he can throw a hail Mary. But, as those quotes from that Asia Times article made clear, they are starting to ask "what if he can't, then what?".

We'll see the weaker wannabee-really-big leaders start making really stupid but bold mistakes as they cling to their delusions, ambitions and power- (including Assad, Erdogan and Chirac).

It always gets most bloody and shrill as the power starts to slip away - but this audio of Osama is basically a humiliating beg for money as their overall structure is collapsing.
Posted by: 2b || 04/23/2006 10:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Broadcasting from his clandestine newsroom in North Waziristan where Paki arty could be clearly heard in the distance. "It is getting too hot here brothers, we must shift our effort to the Sudan."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/23/2006 11:02 Comments || Top||

#5  There's got to be a coded message for Mary McCarthy in there somewhere.
Posted by: Matt || 04/23/2006 11:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Cutting off funds means we're at war with Islam? So what did the turning ON of the spigots mean? The duck-witch analysis rears its head once again.
Posted by: Perfessor || 04/23/2006 12:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Now, now Bin Laden, you wouldn't want any awful, infidel Crusader money would you?
Posted by: Captain America || 04/23/2006 13:02 Comments || Top||

#8  And, since you declared war against the infidels in 1996, wouldn't you think the infidels would wanna turn you into toast?
Posted by: Captain America || 04/23/2006 13:04 Comments || Top||

#9  Now, now Bin Laden, you wouldn't want any awful, infidel Crusader money would you?

You don't understand. Money from us to the Lions of Islam is jizya -- protection money. When we stopped paying, we broke the dhimma.

Worse than raping his mother, that.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/23/2006 13:19 Comments || Top||

#10  Notice that the MSM has omitted the part about inciting muslims to go and fight on the side of sudanese muslims massacring Christians.
Posted by: TMH || 04/23/2006 13:34 Comments || Top||

#11  Just wondering... but how sure can we be that this is an authentic tape?

I know I said this last time, and the time before. But someone needs to ask.
Posted by: Phil || 04/23/2006 13:58 Comments || Top||

#12  yup, go with the muslim on muslim violence in Dafur.

Scream bout the lack of funds to Paleostine.

less and less fear from our side on this shit.

less and less support for As Q.

You're dead and defunct - just the death throws we see.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 04/23/2006 14:00 Comments || Top||

#13  He keeps calling for total war. We keep disapointing him by a measured approach. Lets just give them what they want and use up some of those 70's era nukes. CLean up our sites and our terrorist problems, all in one shot.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 04/23/2006 14:13 Comments || Top||

#14  There's got to be a coded message for Mary McCarthy in there somewhere.
M A K E M E A S A N D W I C H
Posted by: 6 || 04/23/2006 15:07 Comments || Top||

#15  LOL, 6! :)
Posted by: Whick Whigum9557 || 04/23/2006 15:46 Comments || Top||

#16  The blogosphere is discussing the 'dog that didn't bark'; OBL makes no mention of Iraq. Guess it was a QUAGMIRE after all - for Al Qaeda
Posted by: DMFD || 04/23/2006 16:23 Comments || Top||

#17  I'm just waiting on Hugo Chavez to hold a press conference and announce his support, and the resources of his million man reserve force for Bin Laden. It surely has to be coming within the hour.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/23/2006 16:30 Comments || Top||

#18  Even the muslim main street isn't going to buy this.

Dar fur is muzzie on muzzie - no infidels allowed so far or ever according to current powers.

Pal has been left high and dry by their muzzie brothers. The west sticking mostly to the terrorist gov't stand.

He's whistling in the shithouse - see what turds come out to play.

I think this newest video will garner more laughs from even muzzies than support.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 04/23/2006 16:38 Comments || Top||

#19  Not with that carrier group so close by - he's locked in his room, under the bed, shaking in his Che Jammies (the ones with the feet on them and the lil backdoor/trapdoor)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 16:38 Comments || Top||

#20  Dar fur is muzzie on muzzie - no infidels allowed so far or ever according to current powers.

So what? It's Arab (more or less) on African. That trumps anything else, regardless of what nonsense they spout about ignoring racial differences.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 04/23/2006 16:52 Comments || Top||

#21  via Tigerhawk.

Apart from the list's comic aspects, it is fascinating for its omissions. Why didn't bin Laden talk about Iraq?

Less than 2 1/2 years ago, al Qaeda broke the news to the Taliban that it was diverting resources to Iraq so as to humiliate the American "Crusaders."

All this was on the orders of bin Laden himself, the sources said. Why? Because the terror chieftain and his top lieutenants see a great opportunity for killing Americans and their allies in Iraq and neighboring countries such as Turkey, according to Taliban sources who complain that their own movement will suffer... Bin Laden believes that Iraq is becoming the perfect battlefield to fight the “American crusaders” and that the Iraqi insurgency has been “100 percent successful so far,” according to a Taliban participant at the mid-November meeting who goes by the nom de guerre Sharafullah.


Al Qaeda drew a line in the sands of the Sunni Triangle, and the United States Army and Marines walked right across it. First, al Qaeda tried to kill Americans, per bin Laden's orders. It largely failed. Then al Qaeda went after America's allies, and succeeded only in turning public opinion against itself in every Muslim country it attacked. After thirty months of battlefield defeats and political embarrassments, bin Laden won't even mention Iraq in one of his rare public utterances, and he rallies his troops to fight a war where American soldiers aren't. How humiliating. How delightful.

Al Qaeda has lost in Iraq, and bin Laden is desperate to change the subject. He and his organization are at grave risk of being discredited, and when that happens it will be much harder for al Qaeda to attract recruits, raise money, or deal with governments.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/23/2006 17:02 Comments || Top||

#22  excellent DV
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 17:15 Comments || Top||

#23  But, as those quotes from that Asia Times article made clear, they are starting to ask "what if he can't, then what?"

...A good friend of mine wrote an alternate history story sometime back in which the MMs were about to throw a nuke at the US. One of their advisors (a German) tries to convince them not to and is told, "Allah will save us!" The advisor grabs one by the robes, shakes him and screams, "And who will save Allah from the Americans??"

It's coming to that point.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/23/2006 17:28 Comments || Top||

#24  Sounds like a good read Mike ;)

And yes, it is coming to that point...
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 04/23/2006 17:43 Comments || Top||

#25  inshallah.

Are the fundo starting to understand that Allan hates them too? Otherwise, they'd have enslaved more of the muslim population by now.

Inshallah - Allan doesn't like you.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 04/23/2006 17:46 Comments || Top||

#26  We're going to have to kill their god.
Posted by: Dave D. || 04/23/2006 17:56 Comments || Top||

#27  Drudge sez there's heavy editing, but the link doesn't work yet - check back later
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 18:12 Comments || Top||

#28  It is time for our psyops people to do a binny tape with an imposter. Get the guys from South park to write the script.

Another good one would be to have a Zarq impersonator read the Iowahawk e-mail.

And an Ahmadijerk fulminating would also be good.

These guys need to be laughed at widely in the ME.

This would also be a good way to get some patriotic film types a start. They should get good PR stateside.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/23/2006 18:29 Comments || Top||

#29  Has anyone seen Rich Little lately?
Posted by: doc || 04/23/2006 18:41 Comments || Top||

#30  "The blockade which the West is imposing on the government of Hamas proves that there is a Zionist crusaders war on Islam," the tape said.
Funny. We were giving them money, he attacks us. We begin to cut off his money, and it's an attack on Islam. If he had'nt of attacked us, he'd have plenty of money. He dose'nt believe in personal responsibilty, dose he?

Posted by: plainslow || 04/23/2006 22:10 Comments || Top||

#31  And is there anything like the level of the information and discussion here and on the blogoshere anywhere in the MSM? Not that I see.
Posted by: Brett || 04/23/2006 22:29 Comments || Top||

#32  It does look like there's a tacit admission of defeat in there. Since no one in the MSM will ever do so, I would like to commend our valorous Crusader forces on their glorious victory over Al Qaeda Iraq!
Posted by: HV || 04/23/2006 22:54 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda escapee threatens to move fight to Saudi Arabia
An al-Qaeda responsible, Mohammed al-Kahtani, who escaped from the US prison in Afghanistan last July, threatened to attack Saudi Arabia in a video broadcast on a web site run by the terrorist network.

On the video, Mohammed al-Kahtani saying they will expel US forces from Iraq and Afghanistan urged for organization members to wage a war on Saudi Arabia. "In the near future, we will defeat the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq. Then we will direct Mohammed's Island (Saudi Arabia)," al-Kahtani said, explaining they gained a great deal of military experience.

The Qaeda responsible was among the four who broke into a prison in the US airbase in Bagram, Afghanistan, last July. The US had earlier defined the four Qaeda members as “dangerous fighters.”
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/23/2006 05:13 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whilst he's there , he may aswell line his pockets with some cash from his friends before he blows up some holiday resort huh ?
Posted by: MacNails || 04/23/2006 5:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Go, go, Mohammed!!!
Posted by: gromgoru || 04/23/2006 10:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Wonderful coordination with Binny's tape.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/23/2006 10:07 Comments || Top||

#4  This asshole got the break of a lifetime, he should have stayed in retirement.
Posted by: Gluting Gleck6803 || 04/23/2006 10:26 Comments || Top||

#5  There is a sort of sweet justice in all of this. Those that originally introduced the rabid dogs to fight will now have to fight the rabid dogs.
Posted by: 2b || 04/23/2006 10:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Mohammed al-Kahtani, who escaped from the US prison in Afghanistan last July, threatened to attack Saudi Arabia in a video broadcast on a web site run by the terrorist network.

Works for me, Mo. Go ahead and bite the hand that feeds you. That will piss off more Muslims and you will find that your list of allies grows thin. The US has made a bad mistake in not extracting all the intel from you and your ilk, had a military tribunal, then executed you. But with your good sense of strategy, you will get what is coming to you, albiet a bit late.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/23/2006 17:57 Comments || Top||

#7  hopefully he won't get "Surrounded"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2006 18:15 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2006-04-23
  New Bin Laden Audio Airs
Sat 2006-04-22
  Al-Maliki poised to become next Iraqi prime minister
Fri 2006-04-21
  CIA Officer Fired for Leaking Classified Info to Media
Thu 2006-04-20
  Egypt seizes group that planned attacks on tourist sites
Wed 2006-04-19
  Israeli aircraft strike suspected rockets factory
Tue 2006-04-18
  Four cross-dressing Afghans arrested for suspected links to Taliban
Mon 2006-04-17
  At least 7 dead in Islamic Jihad boom in Tel Aviv
Sun 2006-04-16
  Aftab Ansari killed in J&K
Sat 2006-04-15
  Chad breaks diplo relations with Sudan
Fri 2006-04-14
  Sami Al-Arian To Be Deported
Thu 2006-04-13
  Chad fights off rebels in capital
Wed 2006-04-12
  29 indicted in connection with 3/11
Tue 2006-04-11
  Sunni Tehrik leadership wiped out in suicide boom
Mon 2006-04-10
  Pakistan brands Baluch rebel group terror outfit
Sun 2006-04-09
  IAEA inspectors in Iran to visit facilities


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