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''Rumpole'' is dead...
Actor Leo McKern, who played the TV barrister Rumpole of the Bailey, has died aged 82. He had suffered from diabetes and other health problems. His career spanned more than 50 years - from acclaimed Shakespeare stage roles to playing Clang in The Beatles' 1965 film Help! But it was as the blustering barrister Horace Rumpole in the TV series, written by John Mortimer, that he became a star around the world.
McKern also starred in "Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother," an unappreciated minor masterpiece of silliness that featured Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madelaine Kahn, and Dom DeLuis, all enthusiastically overacting. The opera sequence is a continuous series of sight gags and slapstick that has me rolling every time I see it...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 11:06 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  SHEER LUCK!...
Posted by: Anonymous || 07/24/2002 11:35 Comments || Top||

#2  "And YOU gotta nize vase!"
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2002 11:47 Comments || Top||


Erica gets away...
A 7-year-old Philadelphia girl, abducted as she played outside the home of her grandmother on Monday night, was able to free herself and flee to safety after about nearly 24 hours of captivity. Erica Pratt, a 3-foot-5-inch, 70-pound child, was bound with duct tape and locked in the pitch-dark basement of an abandoned home in north Philadelphia by a pair of kidnappers. But the girl gnawed her way through the tape bound around her hands and feet, kicked out a panel in a locked basement door and shouted for help from the front window of the building. Three youngsters heard her, summoned two police officers, and Erica was in protective custody by 8:53 p.m. Tuesday. "She's tired, she's shook up, but she's a very strong little girl," police Chief Inspector Robert Davis told reporters after the girl was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to have duct tape removed from her hair and a bloodshot eye examined.
She's one brave and resourceful little girl. Nancy Drew's got nothin' on her.
Meanwhile, police said they were looking for two suspects in the abduction identified as James Burns, 29, and Edward Johnson, 23, both of Philadelphia, who were described as having long criminal records.
I'm glad this one worked out the way it did. The first thought that popped into my mind when I saw it on terriblevision was that it was a Kopycat Killer, and that she'd be found lying by the side of the road like Samantha.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 11:16 am || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  actually, looks like the drug-dealing antics of her parents as well as common-knowledge in the 'hood that they'd received a $150,000 payment (Foxnews had this, but I don't recall if it was an inheritance, insurance chk , or what), which is coincidentally what the ransom demand was....those two thugs that have their mugshots on the news nationwide are dead meat... and although the mother lived less than a block away, the brave little girl was living with her Grandmother...sad case, even with a good ending
Posted by: F Gaines || 07/24/2002 11:43 Comments || Top||

#2  I have a nine year old, and it's hard for me to imagine that at seven, she would have done this. Kicked out a door panel? This young girl is going to go a long way in life.

Apparently genetics isn't everything.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/24/2002 12:54 Comments || Top||

#3  There must have been some reason she was living with her grandmother, but nobody's blaming this on the parents. The uncle DID deal drugs, and grandma was thought -- it's not confirmed -- to have received a $150K death benefit. Inquirer story
Posted by: Dan Hartung || 07/24/2002 14:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Keep an eye on that one! I agree with Steve, she'll go a long way. I just hope she joins the right side.
Posted by: Kathy K || 07/24/2002 17:56 Comments || Top||

#5  "Apparently genetics isn't everything"

Steve -- What did you mean by this comment? I must not be following you.
Posted by: Rob || 07/24/2002 18:06 Comments || Top||

#6  "Genetics isn't everything"... If the whole family seems predisposed to be goofy, that doesn't mean Erica follows the family predisposition.
Posted by: Fred || 07/25/2002 5:59 Comments || Top||


Blog with Salon?
Salon's offering to host your blog, and you can be part of the Salon community. $39.95, if you're interested.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 11:29 am || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's a good deal. Until Salon goes broke...
Posted by: Kathy K || 07/24/2002 17:10 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
U.S. forces were searching for Omar during raid
Soldiers were pressing the search for top Taliban fugitive Mullah Mohammed Omar earlier this month when the mission tragically went awry, killing dozens of Afghans celebrating a wedding, defense officials said Tuesday. The Pentagon has previously declined to say what troops were doing in the area of Uruzgan province on the night when Afghans reported several villages attacked and 40 civilians killed by a U.S. warplane.
"Honey, I just don't know. Should we invite Mullah Omar to the wedding?"
"Why wouldn't we, Sweety-cakes? He seems a nice man..."
"Well, there was that incident at Mahmoud and Miryam's reception..."
"Oh. You mean where he cut the usher's head off?"
"Uhuh. And then tried to shoot down the helicopters..."
"Ummm..."
"And the Americans dropped bombs and killed 40 of the guests. The party was just ruined!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 08:44 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


12 killed in shootout at Shindand...
At least 12 people have been killed in clashes between rival Afghan factions fighting for control of the Shindand district in the western province of Herat, an Afghan official said on Tuesday. Haji Hazrat, a local commander in Herat, told Reuters by telephone that the fighting between ethnic Pashtun and Tajik gunmen started on Monday following instructions from the Tajik governor of Herat, Ismail Khan. "The fight is still continuing...we have confirmed information that at least seven Tajik and five Pashtun fighters were killed, while dozens were wounded in the gun battle between the two factions," he added.
When I see a story like this, involving a clash between Pashtuns and somebody else — it doesn't really matter who the "somebody else" might be — my first inclination is to suspect the Pashtuns started the fight, if only because they can't seem to get along with anyone, to include each other...
But the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported separately that a cease-fire between the two sides had been brokered late on Monday. According to Hazrat, Saleh Gul, a local commander in the southern city of Kandahar, had sent reinforcements to the Pashtun fighters overnight.
And that confirms my initial suspicion. Ismail Khan controls Herat pretty much as a fiefdom, maintaining a distance from the central government while giving lip service support, and probably such actual support as serves his interests. Herat remains the best pacified and most prosperous area in the country because Ismail Khan rules it as an enlightened despot. Next to Gul Agha, the governor of Kandahar, he looks positively saintly; Gul Agha was the "corrupt governor" who gave the Talibs their start when they ran him out of Kandahar. He's been casting covetous eyes on Herat since the Talibs were kicked out.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 09:42 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Axis of Evil
U.S. planes attack site in southern Iraq
For the second time in recent days U.S. warplanes bombed a military communications site in southern Iraq, officials said Tuesday. A brief announcement by the U.S. Central Command said Monday's attack was in response to earlier instances of Iraqi air defense forces using radar and surface-to-air guns against U.S. and British planes that monitor a "no fly" zone over southern Iraq. Monday's attack and a similar one last Thursday against the same communications target, were acts of self defense, the Central Command said. The site was near Diwaniyah, about 80 miles southeast of Baghdad.
"We're warning you... Don't make us come down there!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 08:44 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Woman who blinded man sentenced to be blinded
A court in southwest Iran condemned a young woman to be blinded after she blinded a man who was harassing her by throwing acid at him, a government newspaper reported Wednesday. Azam, 21, a resident of Behbahan village in Khuzestan province told the court that Abol Ali, 37, would come and "harass" her at night while her husband was away at work, the Iran newspaper reported. "One night, he threatened me with a firearm, and said he would climb over the wall if I did not open the door. I remembered I had some ... acid in the kitchen to unblock sinks. So I opened the window and threw it at his face," Azam was quoted as saying during her trial.

Ali, now blind, gave a different account. "This woman is wrong, I wanted only to warn her about something. As I went by her house, she opened the window, called me, and threw something at my face and chest. After that, I remember nothing," he explained.
Yup. Attacked him for no reason. Women do that to me all the time, too. That's how I got this scar...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 10:22 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In Islam, a women's testimony is worth only one-quarter of that of a man. And the judges (Qadis) are all men. So why would any woman want to be a Muslim? They must be sado-masochists, or stupid.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God || 07/24/2002 15:18 Comments || Top||


Iran detains 80 after protest turns to riot
Iranian police are detaining 80 demonstrators in the northeastern province of Khorasan after a legal protest against its reorganization was marred by rioting, a Tehran daily said Wednesday. A total of 100 people were arrested after Monday's demonstration in the town of Quchan, but 20 of them were later released without charge, the Tosseyeh newspaper reported, citing municipal governor Amir Movahedizadeh. Police intervened to disperse the demonstration, which had prior authorization from the interior ministry, after youngsters erected roadblocks of burning cars and tyres, the paper said. It was the latest in a string of angry protests to have hit Khorasan province over the past 12 months, after the authorities announced plans to divide the sprawling province up into three smaller ones.

The battle to join the main regional centre of Mashhad as a provincial capital inevitably left disappointed candidates among the region's smaller cities, including Quchan. In Sabzevar, another Khorasan town that did not make the grade, violent protests in August last year left at least one person dead, according to press reports. A total of 154 demonstrators were arrested there, of whom 34 were eventually jailed.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 10:09 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iran's intelligence minister in Azerbaijan for talks
Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi arrived in Azerbaijan, Iran's northern neighbour, on Wednesday for talks with officials, the Iranian embassy in Baku said. An embassy spokesman told AFP that Yunesi would have a series of meetings during his three-day visit but the main focus would be on talks with his Azeri counterpart, National Security Minister Namiq Abbassov. The Azeri media reported that Yunesi was making a reciprocal visit after Abbassov travelled to Tehran earlier this summer. Azerbaijan and Iran both have majority Shiite Muslim populations but they have recently had tetchy relations. They are disputing ownership of potentially lucrative oil prospects in the Caspian Sea, while Azerbaijan has also angered Tehran by pursuing strongly pro-Western policies.
"Whaddya mean, you're interested in trying to make some money and live comfortably? What's that got to do with anything important? Religion, that's what's important, by golly. Y'gotta get those people into the mosque, get them prayin' to Allah, get those donations rollin' in..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 10:21 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Korean books donated to Nepal
Korean books including famous works of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il were donated to the Janakpur city office, Nepal, with due ceremony on July 16. Present at the ceremony were the mayor and other officials of the city, people of various social strata, the DPRK ambassador and embassy officials.
"What the hell is this? Do you read Korean?"
"Just be polite. Keep smiling. The ceremony'll soon be over."
"My cheeks ache, dammit..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 10:21 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Reformist paper suspended six months, director jailed
A Tehran court upheld Wednesday the verdict to suspend a leading reformist paper for six months and to sentence its director to six months in prison, the official IRNA news agency reported. The Norouz paper is to be suspended for six months as of July 25. MP Mohsen Mirdamadi, its director, who also heads the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, was sentenced by the appeals court to six months and two days in prison. Mirdamadi was also barred from any journalistic activity for four years and was fined two million rials (250 dollars). But it was not clear if and when he would begin his prison term.
Pretty much shuts them down for good, and keeps him from starting another paper...
The well-known MP was found guilty for several charges, notably: "17 cases of anti-regime propaganda, insulting leaders, publishing lies, encouraging hooligans to undermine public order, propagating moral decadence." Those who brought charges against him were mainly the Revolutionary Guards, the legal chief of state radio-television, and the electoral supervision office.
The unelected shadow government...
Mirdamadi sparked controversy in early May and angered conservatives when he insisted secret talks had taken place between the Iranian and US officials. The judiciary vowed to prosecute anyone spreading such "lies."
Whether the "lies" are true or not...
Iran's judiciary, dominated by conservative-minded clerics, has in the past two years suspended 22 reformist papers and sent to prison over a dozen journalists.
Nouruz is the last of the reformist dailies, I believe. It's been in existence a little over a year.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 08:54 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Giotopoulos pleads innocent...
The alleged leader of Greece's most wanted terrorist group pleaded innocent to charges of masterminding a series of killings and sought to discredit the confessions of those who implicated him. Alexandros Giotopoulos, 58, denied involvement with the leftist November 17 when he was arraigned Tuesday on multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, and a series of bombings and armed robberies. He faces life in prison if convicted.
"Nope, nope. Wudn't me. It was... uh... somebody else."

Nikolaos Karanikos some informed detail on this goober and his connections with the Greek Beautiful Political People.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 08:44 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front
Seattle Man Held in Terror Probe
An American Muslim activist who authorities believe took computer equipment to an Al Qaeda terrorist camp in Afghanistan has been taken into custody. James Ujaama, 36, was arrested Monday night in Denver as a material witness to terrorist activity. He was flown to Virginia, where he is being held. Investigators believe Ujaama may have supplied terrorists in Afghanistan with computer equipment. Authorities were investigating whether Ujaama also trained at the camp. Ujaama has not been formally charged.
He a "community activist" in Seattle...
Ujaama's brother, Mustafa, also was briefly detained Monday. Mustafa Ujaama answered reporters' shouted questions as he left his aunt's Denver home Tuesday. When asked if he was linked to terrorism, Mustafa Ujaama said, "No. Why [do] you ask me that? Of course not. I'm a veteran. I'm an American citizen. I've never even heard of Al Qaeda. My brother is not a terrorist and neither am I."
"Never even heard of al Qaeda?" Oh, of course. Certainly not...
The brothers were born James Ernest Thompson and Jon Thompson and grew up in Seattle. Some community leaders there have applauded their work to rid their neighborhood of drugs and prostitution by recruiting former gang members and others into the local mosque, Dar-us-Salaam. That mosque, now defunct, is under scrutiny for possible links to Al Qaeda. News reports say James Ujaama worked on a British Web site that advertised the "Ultimate Jihad Challenge," a paramilitary training course in the United States. British authorities shut the site down following the Sept. 11 attacks. He also runs a Web site called stopamerica.org, which opposes U.S. foreign policy.
The site's full of corpse pictures and the usual accusations. It's not real clear on the difference between Kosovo and Chechnya.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 06:32 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Al-Qaeda Suspects On Hunger Strike in Miranshah
The al-Qaeda suspects belonging to Pakistan and Afghanistan, detained at Miranshah Jail in North Waziristan Agency, went on hunger strike unto death against their confinement for the last seven months by the political administration. Sources said that condition of these detainees including three Pakistanis and two Afghan nationals became critical when they refused to eat and drink since Monday. "They were lying on the floor of the jail in semi-conscious condition," the sources said. About seven months ago, Pakistani security officials arrested Rafiq Ahmad, Shakeel both residents of Charsadda, Muhammad Hameed resident of Peshawar and two Afghan nationals Mohibullah and Mujahid Shah from Kohat when they were reportedly shifting injured al-Qaeda fighters from Afghanistan to the hospital.
Mmmm... This sandwich sure is good. Would like some? Oh, I guess not... Heh heh.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 09:49 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


'Uprooting extremism must for sustainable democracy'
The interior minister, Moinuddin Haider, has said the democracy can only be strengthened if expansion of fanaticism is halted in the country. The minister said all-out efforts were being made to eliminate the scourge of extremism. Regarding the proposed constitutional reforms, he said: "Extremist groups will not be allowed to hijack people at gunpoint."
Saying things like that is a good way to get yourself killed in Pakistan...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 11:35 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Graduation condition irks tribal elders
Tribal elders, Maliks and political and social organizations in Fata have appealed to the military government to rescind the graduation condition for becoming a member of legislative assemblies and Senate for the candidates of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas. A survey shows that almost all the Maliks and elders from the Khyber Agency have rejected the graduation condition for becoming an MNA, an MPA or a senator.
Hmmm... One suspects they haven't graduated, doesn't one?
Some of them even termed the government undemocratic and unconstitutional, saying that the government did not have the right to amend the 1973 constitution. But educated people, though in minority, are supportive of the government decision and hoped that it would help bring forth educated and enlightened leadership from among the tribesmen.
Those educated people! They have this silly idea they shouldn't be governed by the ignorant...
Malik Darya Khan Zakhakhel, when asked to comment on the Supreme Court verdict, said education and experience were two different things, fearing that the condition would deprive the country of experienced politicians and elders.
But experienced at what? That's the question...
These views were echoed by the leader of the Azad Qabail Movement, Malik Shakirullah Afridi, who termed the move a "conspiracy" against the experienced and shrewd politicians and tribal elders. No where in the world, such an unconstitutional law existed, he said, adding that the tribal elders and Maliks, though uneducated, were bold and possessed vast experience and knowledge of the tribal customs and traditions.
And we can see that they've made the tribal areas one helluva fine place to live. Most other countries, not being steeped in the pervasive ignorance found in Pakland, don't need such a provision.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 11:45 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Pakistan Arrests U.S. Consulate Bomb Suspect
Police and Interior Ministry officials say they have arrested Mohammed Ashraf, treasurer of the Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen al-Almi, whose two top leaders were arrested this month and who police say have confessed to roles in the June 14 car-bombing in Karachi. Fifty people were injured. The group and its leaders also are suspected in the May 8 homicide bombing at the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi. Eleven French engineers and three other people, including the bomber, were killed.
That's pretty interesting. I wonder if this Mohammad Ashraf is the Haji Muhammad Ashraf who was among the group of terror Bigs delegation from Markaz ad Dawa who met with Qazi back in March? If so, he's a pretty good catch. The other members included Hafiz Khalid Waleed, the head of Lashkar-e-Taiba; Maulana Ameer Hamza, one one of the signatories of Binny's Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders; and Yehya Mujahid, spokesman for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Ashraf was among the group that planned the consulate attack, in which all the victims were Pakistanis, police said. "Ashraf also provided money for the purchase of explosive material to carry out the attack on U.S. consulate in Karachi," an Interior Ministry official in Islamabad said. Ashraf also confessed his role in scores of terrorist acts, including a February rocket attack on the Karachi airport. The state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported that Ashraf disclosed names of other group members involved in planning the attack. They included Mohammed Imran, chief of Harkatul-ul-Mujahedeen al-Almi, and Mohammed Hanif. Imran and Hanif, both arrested this month, also allegedly conspired to kill President Gen. Pervez Musharraf during his April visit to the violence-ridden city.
I wonder if they'll just stick with getting the Bigs of this low-level mob, or if they'll try and tie it to Qazi and his cohorts?
Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen al-Almi, a splinter group of Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen, or Movement of Holy Warriors, worked closely with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan before the collapse of Taliban rule last year.
Thanks for explaining that. It appears they're also al-Qanoon and a few other organizations, too.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 07:22 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Fallout still splattering from Shehadeh fan...
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Wednesday that Israeli would withdraw troops from some West Bank cities and had released millions of dollars in frozen tax money in concessions to Palestinians after stinging criticism of an air strike that killed 14 civilians as well as a Hamas leader.
Hit them with a big stick, then feed them some carrot...
The gesture came as Israeli officials defended the bombing and dismissed reports that a cease-fire declaration had just been signed by militant groups before the attack.
Slight exaggeration there...
However, those officials also acknowledged military intelligence that led to Israel's raid was flawed. "It's quite clear that those (assessments) are not as accurate or as fail-safe as we would like and clearly there are going to be lessons that have to be learned from this operation," said Daniel Taub, a Foreign Ministry spokesman. Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel's Cabinet, "according to the information which we had there were no civilians near him and we express sorrow for the injuries to them." The army said it would investigate.
"We'll get back to you on that..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 08:44 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Hamas Threatens All Out War
Hamas, has threatened an earthshattering retaliation to the Zionist occupation army's massacre in Gaza that left 15 civilians dead including Sheikh Salah Shehada head of the Qassam Brigades, military wing of Hamas, in the strip, and 150 others wounded mostly women and children. Dr. Abdul Aziz Ranteesi, Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip,
... and a member of the Hamas politburo...
has said, "There will be no more respect for a Zionist child or the so-called Zionist civilians". He added, "It is an open war and America and the traitors must understand that martyrdom operations will not stop". Ranteesi threatened that the war against Zionist buses and houses will reach and affect each and every house in the Zionist entity. For his part, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, refused to comment on the bloodbath, which he said was beyond words, adding, "let acts show our retaliation".
"Just you wait. You're gonna get it...!"
Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians in various Gaza Strip areas hit the streets denouncing the savage massacre and calling on all Palestinian factions to revenge for the slaughtered women and children and for Sheikh Shehada.
I wonder if the Israelis have actually opened warfare on Hamas? The Bad Guys seem to feel they have — this doesn't feel like the pro-forma bloodcurdling threats they usually issue. If the Israelis haven't, probably they should consider doing so. The PA is broken, Yasser in the process of being by-passed, the Paleos noticing, now that it's been pointed out to them, that the regime is corrupt and inefficient. There's no face left to save, since it's been demonstrated that they're incapable of defending the Paleos against the IDF. That leaves Hamas as the center of threat. Lopping the head off the beast before taking the body apart makes a lot of sense, but they're going to have to follow up pretty quickly. Personally, I think zapping Rantissi and Yassin would be a good place to start, followed by Zahar and Shanab.

Actually, it would be a better idea to wax three of the four, and let it "leak" that the one remaining alive set the other four up to gain all the goodies for himself. And speaking of which, wonder where the intel on Shehadeh might have come from? Hmmmm...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 09:17 am || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "All out war". I guess we'll have to fight back.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God || 07/24/2002 9:34 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyyaf thugs to be tried in Philippines if they catch 'em...
The five alleged leaders of the Abu Sayyaf group who have been indicted by the United States would be tried in the Philippines if they are arrested in the Southeast Asian nation, a government official said Wednesday. The federal indictments identified the five Abu Sayyaf leaders as Khadafi Abubakar Janjalani, spiritual leader of the group; Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, the second in command; Aldam Tilao, the group's spokesman; Jainal Antel Sali Jr., an intelligence officer; and Hamsiraji Marusi Sali, a group leader. Tilao, also known as Abu Sabaya, was believed killed in a gunbattle at sea last month. His body has not been found. The four others are targets of a U.S.-backed military chase.
I'm not saying I doubt he was really, thoroughly bumped off, but...
Justice Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee said the men, charged Tuesday in a U.S. federal indictment with the kidnapping and killing of Americans in the Philippines, face similar charges in the Philippines and their trial here "will take precedence" if an ongoing military pursuit finds them.
So we can have them after they've served 20 to live in the PI. Guess we'll have to wait...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 08:45 am || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Two Abu Sayyaf nabbed in Philippines...
Two suspected Abu Sayyaf agents were arrested Sunday and Monday in connection with bomb attacks that killed 15 people in the southern Philippines in April. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday urged more arrests and said the Abu Sayyaf was on the run. On Wednesday, police presented the newly arrested bombing suspects - Abdulbasit Usman and Moamar Timbao Esmael - to President Arroyo at the Malacanang presidential palace. "No compromise, no quarter given. Our war against terrorism is pushing our targets up against the wall," Arroyo said in a statement she read as the two men, handcuffed and wearing orange shirts, stood beside military chief of staff Gen. Roy Cimatu.
Bet their Moms were so proud...!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 08:45 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
U.S. Says Omar Still in Afghanistan
Al Qaeda's leaders have all but abandoned their former stronghold of Afghanistan, leaving Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and his followers to deal with the U.S. forces hunting them, Bush administration officials say.
We knew that...
Many of Al Qaeda's surviving leaders relocated to Pakistan, and others went elsewhere in the world, officials said Tuesday.
Knew that, too...
Osama bin Laden remains a mystery. The U.S. government does not know whether he is alive or dead and has little evidence suggesting either possibility.
Yup. Don't know anything more than we do...
About a dozen of bin Laden's chief lieutenants have been killed or captured, but more than half have escaped. Officials have identified between 15 and 20 more as their ''most wanted'' members of the group's leadership who are still at large. Most of the recent captures of Al Qaeda figures have been outside of Afghanistan. In recent months, U.S. officials acknowledged the capture of two: operations chief Abu Zubaydah in March in Pakistan, and operational planner Abu Zubair al-Haili in June in Morocco.
Zubaydah was also Binny's designated successor. If Binny's toes-up, we've got the head of the organization in custody...
Most of the leadership has been maintaining a low profile to avoid detection. U.S. counterterrorism officials say chief among their most wanted Al Qaeda are top bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, financial chief Shaikh Saiid al-Sharif and operational planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and the April 11 bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia.
Nothing really new here — just summing up what we already know. It's probably time to start bearing down on the search for Zawahiri, though. He and Suleiman Abu Gheith are the last of the real al-Qaeda Bigs...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/24/2002 08:13 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2002-07-24
  Hamas Threatens All Out War
Tue 2002-07-23
  Two days, two dead Soddy princes...
Mon 2002-07-22
  IDF strikes at founder of Qassam Brigades...
Sun 2002-07-21
  13 die as Afghan tour bus hits land mine
Sat 2002-07-20
  Car explodes in Jaffa, driver dead, I'm glad
Fri 2002-07-19
  Brit Muslim iced in Chechnya. Hurrah!
Thu 2002-07-18
  Greeks bust November 17th gang...
Wed 2002-07-17
  Boomers kills six in Tel Aviv explosions...
Tue 2002-07-16
  Powell sez to 'kick Yasser upstairs'
Mon 2002-07-15
  Pearl killers: Guilty, guilty, guilty, and guilty!
Sun 2002-07-14
  Chirac survives assassination attempt
Sat 2002-07-13
  Muhajiroun leader 'unable to condemn September 11 attack'
Fri 2002-07-12
  Yasser? Step down? Never!
Thu 2002-07-11
  Israel will prosecute Marwan
Wed 2002-07-10
  More threats from bin Laden mouthpieces...


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