KUWAIT CITY - The United States will âsoonâ hand over five of the 11 Kuwaitis imprisoned at its camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the state news agency KUNA said on Sunday. âThe US administration will hand over five of the Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo camp to the Kuwaiti government soon,â Kuwaiti ambassador to Washington Shaikh Salem Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah was quoted as saying.
Shaikh Salem, who did not provide a specific date for the repatriation, said the two countries were engaged in discussions over the âmechanismâ for handing over the inmates who have been held without trial, often for years.
The United States has agreed to release the five inmates following concerted efforts by Kuwaiti leaders, including Prime Minister Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the ambassador said. After returning to Kuwait, the five detainees will be tried before a Kuwaiti court, he added, without saying on what charges.
The head of the society of families of Kuwaiti prisoners in Guantanamo, Khalid Al Ouda told AFP on Sunday that he expected the five to be repatriated before the end of October. âEverything is ready, the plane and the security team that would bring them back. We only need arrangements with two airports where the plane would land during the trip,â Ouda said, without elaborating.
According to Thomas Wilmer, the US lawyer defending the Kuwaitis, most of them were captured by bounty-hunters in 2001 near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and sold to the United States.
They were just simple elk-hunters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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DHAKA: At least 22 ruling party members were injured in two bomb attacks in southwestern Bangladesh, police said on Sunday, ruling out Islamic hard-line groups blamed for a recent series of explosions.
"Nope. Nope. Couldn'ta been them..."
Seven youth wing members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party were hospitalised when a homemade bomb was hurled outside the party office in Keshobpur, additional superintendent of police Nuruzzaman Bhuiyan said.
There'd been several Rosicrucians seen lurking about. It was prob'ly them...
He said nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks late Saturday but two men were arrested in connection with the violence. "We are investigating whether the attack was due to internal tussles among the youth wing members of the party," Bhuiyan said.
"Yeah, see, we're figurin' they dunnit themselves..."
Two ruling party members were also seriously injured in a separate bomb attack in a remote village in neighbouring Chuadanga district, police said, again ruling out any link to Islamic or Maoists groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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due to internal tussles among the youth wing members of the party Just letting some air out of the tires, kicking over mailboxes and TPing some homes. Certainly not worthy of being added to this list
The border near Bandarban has been sealed off since Friday while strict security measures are in force after the law enforcers came to know of militants' dens and training camps in the hilly district. In Khulna, police have gathered that 11 cadres of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had been assigned to explode bombs at 11 points across Khulna city on August 17. Identities of six of the bombers have been determined from the diary seized from Abdul Hakim Gazi, a teacher of Saint Joseph High School.
Meanwhile, detained security officer of parliament secretariat Abu Taleb (Babul Ansari) and four of his accomplices--Saimum, Azizul Haque, Giasuddin Azad, and Mizanur Rahman Badsha--were transferred yesterday to the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) for intensive interrogation. Detectives arrested them for suspected links to JMB and the August 17 blasts.
In the face of the recent countrywide crackdown, the religious extremists have started to hole up in the remote border areas of Bandarban, said sources. Hiding in inaccessible Naikkhongchhari and Alikadam upazila, they are organising themselves in collusion with Myanmarese insurgents belonging to Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) and Arakan Rohingya Nationalist Organisation (ARNO), added the sources.
Two Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operatives arrested recently in remote Faitong area have disclosed to the interrogators the existence of the militants' dens in the area. Sources said JMB might have gathered a huge cache of firearms and explosives from the Myanmarese gun-runners. The explosives and ammunition seized from Naikkhongchhari on different occasions are similar to the explosives used in the August 17 and October 3 serial blasts. Following the disclosure of militants' dens, the authorities on Friday night sealed off the bordering areas to prevent the infiltration of foreign terrorists and gunrunners. Forces in the bordering areas have also been increased significantly. A vast 288-km bordering area hemmed in by deep forests is known to be a safe haven for the terrorists.
Bandarban police had detained five militants, including Moulana Abdul Malek, after the August 17 blasts, but after some time set them all free. Members of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) picked up Malek after finding a similarity between his handwriting and that on the envelopes mailed by JMB to different places. Sources at Faitong said a few days before August 17, outsiders posing themselves as vendors had rented houses in Bandarban town and adjacent areas. They fled the area soon after the countrywide explosions. But they were soon found wandering in the area again in the run-up to the courthouse blasts in three districts on October 3. Locals of Faitong caught Shafiqur Rahman and Abul Hafiz after the October 3 blasts on suspicion after the two had shaved off their beards. Bandarban Superintendent of Police (SP) Iqbal Bahar said of the three arrestees, only Abdul Hafiz has admitted his role in the blasts.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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ISLAMIC terrorist suspects arrested in a series of raids at the weekend are believed to be members of a group recruiting young Muslims in Britain to fight coalition troops in Iraq.
The men, most of whom are thought to be Iraqi refugees living in the UK, are suspected of having ties to a group linked to alQaeda. The group is reported to have been plotting a wave of car bomb attacks across Britain and Europe.
The arrests follow concern at the increasing numbers of âjihadisâ who are being sent from Britain to join insurgent groups abroad.
The men arrested on Saturday in Croydon, Derby and Wolverhampton are believed to have been linked to a group that has been under surveillance for some weeks.
Undercover officers have been investigating the groupâs finances, smuggling routes and reported links with known terror leaders such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has orchestrated scores of bomb attacks against US and British soldiers in Iraq and the murders of western hostages such as Ken Bigley.
Security sources claim that police have intercepted information hinting that further atrocities were being planned for London and other UK cities using cars packed with explosives. The intended targets have not been revealed.
During the raids three men were arrested in Croydon, four in Wolverhampton and three in Derby. They can be held for up to 14 days under current legislation.
Forensic teams are still searching properties in the Midlands and London after specialist teams blew off doors and windows to seize the men in carefully synchronised raids.
Neighbours in the Moseley Village area of Wolverhampton described how up to 20 young men at a time would stay in the two-bedroom, semi-detached house in Lewis Avenue that was raided by armed police and MI5 officers.
Last night a Scotland Yard spokesman said the ten men, aged between 20 and 30, were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act (2000).
Al-Zarqawi has boasted that British volunteers fighting with his al-Qaeda Organisation of Holy War in Iraq have helped to kill US troops like âmoles and fliesâ.
At least three Britons are said to have been killed in recent months during US-led bombings of insurgent strongholds, and one UK-based militant died in a suicide attack on a military checkpoint.
More than 50 UK based extremists are estimated to have been killed in eight countries, which experts say is more than from the rest of the countries of western Europe put together. This number does not include the four British-born suicide bombers who died in the July 7 attacks in London. At least another ten men from here were ready to die in terror operations but have been either arrested or their attacks failed.
Police and community leaders have been appealing to local Muslim populations to report any suspicious behaviour following the attacks on Londonâs transport system.
Undercover teams have also been monitoring some Islamic youth groups and radical preachers who are suspected of playing a key role in radicalising young men to join jihadi groups in Kashmir, Chechnya and Afghanistan as well as Iraq.
Using their British or European passports, these men can still easily cross borders posing as students, volunteer aid workers or travellers going to visit family. Intelligence agencies say many recruits have slipped into Iraq through its long, porous border with Syria.
MI5 believe that up to 70 young Muslim men have in the past two years travelled from Britain to join the insurgency against coalition forces based in Iraq. The underground network to get these men into Iraq is so sophisticated that recruits from Europe are reportedly coming to Britain to join this international brigade of jihadis.
Their numbers are not crucial to the likes of al-Zarqawi, but their propaganda value is enormous. So too are the finances these UK-based recruitment groups can provide.
Senior police officers still cannot agree on the numbers who went to camps run by al-Qaeda. Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, the recently retired Metropolitan Police Commissioner, put the figure at 2,000. His successor, Sir Ian Blair, claims it is nearer 200.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/10/2005 01:02 ||
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So, have the Brits actually deported anyone yet?
#2
So, in an effective counter-recruiting strategy, the Brits are canvassing the 100 acre wood for thousands of patriotic Pooh-bears, Eeyores, Rabbits and Piglets to carry the counter-counter insurgency to the enemy.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/10/2005 10:34 Comments ||
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LONDON: Ten men being held by British anti-terror police on Sunday were plotting a follow-up terror strikes to the July 7 attacks in London, newspapers reported on Sunday. The men were nabbed in dawn raids at three addresses across England on Saturday but police said they were not linked to the deadly July 7 blasts, not the failed July 21 repeat, on the British capital's transport network.
The Sunday Times said they were thought to be planning multiple car bombings against targets across the country, using conventional explosives packed into cars and driven into crowded city centres. The newspaper also said they were linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the frontman in Iraq of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network. The News of the World said they posed an imminent threat and were plotting another strike on London. "There is intelligence to suggest that they were planning some sort of attack in the UK," a senior counter-terrorism source told Times. "Things have changed since July 7. There was no way with the intelligence we had that we could let these people carry on doing the sort of thing we think they were planning to do." A British official told the newspaper.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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"Things have changed since July 7. There was no way with the intelligence we had that we could let these people carry on doing the sort of thing we think they were planning to do."
I guess I don't quite understand this comment. Does he mean that if there had not been a July 7th event that they would let "these people" carry on what {they} think they were planning to do?? I guess the Brazilian electrician option is now off the table and the UK cops just wait until the cars are loaded and someone starts the engine.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/10/2005 10:37 Comments ||
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A MUSLIM living in Britain has been arrested on the Caribbean island of Tobago under suspicion of terrorist offences.
Omar Mohammad, 26, a Trinidadian national from South London, was detained on Friday night as he planned to board an aircraft for Britain. Police found two vials of powder in his bag, according to reports. Scotland Yard detectives are aware of the arrest but have not sent an officer to interview Mr Mohammad. His arrest comes while Trinidad and Tobago security forces are investigating three bombings in the capital, Port-of-Spain. The authorities are on alert for a fourth bombing after FBI warnings.
A police officer said: âWe have detained a man under our Prevention of Terrorism Act. We are trying to ascertain what he was in Trinidad for and what his modus operandi was.â
Police also raided the house of Mr Mohammadâs grandmother, Zalika Mohammad, 71, and took away a computer and other materials. She said that Mr Mohammad had been in Trinidad for three months and had nothing to do with Muslim extremists.
She said: âAround 11pm they came pounding on the door. I get up and saw my grandson with the police. He said âgrandma, they open up my suitcase and take the âsurmaâ and Epsom saltsâ.â Surma is a cosmetic used as an eyeliner.
According to Mrs Mohammad, her grandson married a woman from the island two weeks ago and had been staying at a house belonging to a company for which his London-based father works.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/10/2005 01:30 ||
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He said âgrandma, they open up my suitcase and take the âsurmaâ and Epsom saltsâ.â Surma is a cosmetic used as an eyeliner.
Lets see here, we have a Carib, islamic, transvestite with swollen feet - man, terrorism isn't what it use to be.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/10/2005 10:40 Comments ||
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The Caribbean News had other arrests regarding Africans with bogus passports on Tobago about a year or so ago. Island hopping the Caribbean is then very easy. Even easier with an EU passport, as they can even vacation in Cuba.
#3
Missionaries from Saudi Arabia are in the process of radicalizing the muslim population of Trinidad (of ethnic indian descent).
Only a matter of time before a few become suicide bombers.
Posted by: john ||
10/10/2005 16:18 Comments ||
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A woman blew herself up with a grenade at the Emergencies Ministry in the central Asian country of Tajikistan on Sunday, police said, without giving any clues as to why she did it.
Duhhhh... Lemme see, here...
Apart from the woman, who died in an ambulance on the way to hospital, there were no other casualties in the blast outside the ministry building, which has been the target of still largely unexplained bomb attacks in the past. Tajikistan, a Muslim nation of seven million bordering Afghanistan, remains volatile and flooded with weapons after a 1992-97 civil war between Islamist guerrillas and the secular government that claimed more than 100,000 lives.
I've noticed that "Muslim nation," "volatile," and "flooded with weapons" all seem to go together...
"The explosion, according to preliminary information, was the fault of a female suicide bomber, who had an explosive device in her bag," a police spokesman said. The Emergencies Ministry, which handles civil emergencies and deals with some security matters, has been the target of two other attacks this year. Western diplomats have said they believed the previous bombs were most likely linked to a business dispute or a political vendetta -- and were not evidence of a wider insurgency.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Special forces stormed a house in a Russian region bordering Chechnya on Sunday, local news agencies reported, killing a number of militants. Interfax said shots and explosions could be heard in central Makhachkala, capital of the Dagestan region, after gunmen returned fire during the raid, killing two police. There were conflicting reports about the exact death toll. Agencies had quoted local officials as saying five militants died but later they revised this down to four. Russian television showed armed, masked men surrounding a house, smoke rising above leafy town streets and dead men lying on the ground.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Agencies had quoted local officials as saying five militants died but later they revised this down to four
Perhaps the pliers and panties graphic would apply here.
Hundreds of family members and friends bid an emotional farewell to the crew of the frigate HMAS Parramatta, which set sail for Iraq today.
Departing Sydney's Garden Island naval base, the 187-strong crew of the Parramatta will spend six months in the Persian Gulf.
They will help protect Iraq's offshore export oil terminals and will monitor, intercept and board vessels suspected of illegal trafficking.
The ship's crew, about a third of whom have previously served in the Gulf, will take over duties from HMAS Newcastle, which has been helping with Iraq's reconstruction and rehabilitation since June.
For naval officer Clint Thomson, leaving on active deployment for the first time will mean missing his son's first birthday.
Sitting on his father's shoulders, an oblivious 11-month-old Zachariah Thomson today wriggled and hummed to the music of the military band as his parents kissed goodbye.
"I'm sad to be leaving my loved ones and my little kids, but excited and nervous as well," the naval officer said.
His wife Bec said she felt "sad and anxious" and would be counting down the days until her husband's return.
Flanked by his two young sons just moments before departing, HMAS Parramatta Commander Jonathan Mead said he expected the crew would be feeling mixed emotions as they said their goodbyes.
"We are extremely excited to do something in the support of the country, to help in the rehabilitation of Iraq, but obviously leaving for six months, it is a trying time for families."
Australian Maritime Commander Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas thanked the Parramatta's crew for their sacrifices, saying the country's prayers and thoughts were with them.
"Your mission is a noble one, it's a very important one," Rear Admiral Thomas told the crew.
"I can assure you that this ship is well prepared for the work that lies ahead and it's very well led at all levels."
The HMAS Parramatta is the 12th Royal Australian Navy ship to serve in support of operations in the Middle East since 2001.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
10/10/2005 00:56 ||
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For naval officer Clint Thomson, leaving on active deployment for the first time will mean missing his son's first birthday.
Hmmm. I used to have to go to the immigration office in Parramatta to sort out my work visa. I believe the last time I went was just after 9/11. That's the first time I saw a poster for an ANSWER event. I laughed out loud at "Act Now to Stop War and End Racism", as if the two were automatically linked. There used to be flyers posted near the train station offering safe houses to illegal immigrants. I wondered if any of them were stings. I also saw a guy selling the "Socialist Wanker", or something of that nature. He was explaining to a customer, "See, wif Castro you got [something or other], but wif Che, you didn't!" Or maybe it was the other way around. Good old Parramatta.
A young French woman was detained by police in Paris Monday as part of an investigation into underground groups allegedly recruiting volunteers to fight against US troops in Iraq. The 18-year-old woman, who has not been named, is believed to have been the girlfriend of a man who left to join the insurgency and was killed. Last month six men were arrested in the Paris suburbs as part of the same investigation, and all were released after the maximum four days of questioning allowed by French law. Intelligence services have identified about 20 men who have been recruited in France for the Iraqi insurgency, of whom six are believed to have died in combat or suicide attacks.
Romania has deported five students accused of having ties to al-Qaida and trying to recruit members of the country's Muslim community, an intelligence official said Thursday.
The five were placed under surveillance in the capital and the northeast city of Iasi and later deported and banned from returning for the next 15 years, intelligence service spokesman Marius Bercaru said. He would only say the deportations took place this year, and he declined to say where the five students were sent.
"The operation aimed to stop this radical Islamic group in Romania and remove these people from the national territory," he told The Associated Press.
The five suspects were trying to recruit other members in Bucharest and Iasi, Bercaru said.
The newspaper Jurnalul National identified the group leader as Musaab Ahmed Mohamed Mujalli, a Saudi citizen. Other members were Khaldoon Walid Monir Nabhan, an Omani citizen; Sudanese national Aymen Ahmed Fouad Jadkareem; and Asad Abrar Qureshi, a Pakistani. All were students in the city of Iasi, which has a large student population.
Bercaru confirmed the details of the newspaper report to The Associated Press.
The paper said the group began operating in Iasi and then in Bucharest. Their goal, the report said, was "to brainwash Muslims, indoctrinating them in the spirit of fundamental extremism."
Romania has a Muslim population of about 140,000, of which 66,000 are Romanian citizens. The rest are foreigners residing in the country.
The paper reported that Mujalli, the group leader, worked from an al-Qaida textbook outlining operational preparations and counterintelligence.
"When (the group) met they made propaganda for terrorist acts committed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya or Bosnia-Herzegovina with the aim of supporting the radical al-Qaida ideology and of approving suicide terrorist attacks," the report said.
Group members used the Internet to communicate, and Mujalli had links with Islamic structures outside Romania, including receiving funding from the Middle East, the paper said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/10/2005 01:56 ||
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This appears to have happened Friday morning. Found this via Drudge just now.
A calm and quiet Westwood was briefly disrupted Friday afternoon when the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad inspected and detonated an explosive device found within the Midvale Plaza apartment complex on the 500 block of Midvale Avenue.
Brief, wholly inappropriate memory flashback to the Far Side's "Midvale School for the Gifted"
After responding to a call made at 11:13 a.m., the bomb squad arrived at 527 Midvale Ave. to find "an improvised explosive device" in the building's open-air courtyard, said Grace Brady, a spokeswoman for the LAPD. No injuries were reported, but authorities have been slow to release details about the incident and the device.
Residents said they first heard a small explosion sometime between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. Friday, but most said they went back to sleep. It was not until a resident found an explosive device later that morning that the police were called. Police cars, FBI vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and parking-enforcement vehicles blocked access to the street, and police officers restricted nearby pedestrian traffic while the bomb squad inspected the device. About 15 people waited at the corner of Midvale Avenue and Ophir Drive until they were allowed to return to their apartments near where the explosive was found.
Neither the apartment building nor nearby buildings were evacuated, but Paul Robi, a detective with the FBI bomb squad, said the squad executed "a moderate evacuation," which amounted to telling residents to stay off their balconies and in their apartments. Curious onlookers who stepped onto their balconies said they were immediately told to go back into their apartments. Shortly after 1 p.m., the bomb squad remotely detonated the device. A low boom was audible for about a one-block radius, and several people who live across the street said they felt their apartments shake. Beau Gillman, a second-year business economics student who lives across the street, said he heard shouts of "fire in the hole" before he heard and felt the explosion.
Cop humor...you wouldn't understand.
About five minutes later, police reopened the street to vehicles and pedestrians. Most of the residents interviewed said they were aware of the situation, but they did not feel afraid or threatened. Most were surprised that someone would put an explosive in a Westwood apartment building. Several residents said their apartments were briefly searched after the incident, but they said the searches did not appear to specifically target any residents. They also said it appeared to be apartment management who conducted the searches, though Midvale Plaza managers refused to comment. Nancy Greenstein, director of the UCPD community services division, said UCPD officers were not on the scene Friday, but they routinely investigate suspicious packages. None of the recent calls to the department have revealed actual explosive devices, she said.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/10/2005 16:13 ||
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Or rather, Friday afternoon.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/10/2005 16:19 Comments ||
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That's a block from where the older son was living before he dropped out at christmas.
#7
said they first heard a small explosion sometime between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. Friday... a resident found an explosive device later that morning
This sounds like the classic Palestinian two-bomb set-up -- the first to injure a few people and collect a crowd of responders, the second to rip everyone to pieces. Not at all nice, and not the kind of thing a prankster should do.
#8
Pappy, can you give us some perspective, then? To me this doesn't seem to fall under the same heading as a flaming bag of feces on the front porch, but I'd be thrilled to be wrong.
#9
I spent several nights with the son before. So many booze bottles are thrown off the roofs of the nearby Frats to smash onto cars and car windshields there that it could have taken a while to notice a small bomb. Every morning the sidewalk and street sweepers come by to clean up the nights damage.
The frats and sori..there are a bunch of animals. It would sound like a war all night with the bottles. Later the rich hollywood kids would race through in there Porsches and throw bottles at the apartments (not the frats) and cars on the street.
The only thing the stupid campus police do is ticket overparked cars.
#10
TW young US males like building "bombs" it's nothing new. LA is a HUGE district. I am sure they find some frightening stuff. They have their own Police Dept they are so big. It's no different than a lot of other places it's just concentrated.
I found a pipe bomb once under the Stadium seating at the local HS during a football game where I was working security. Kids are stupid. It was quitely handled by the SO and local PD.
This could be a Ramadan bomb however since this is not a High School.
#11
*smile* It must've been one of the many activities my younger brothers didn't invite me to join, SPoD. It's probably a good thing I mothered daughters, otherwise I'd be completely clueless... at least fwiw I haven't noticed them blowing things up so far.
#13
Damn. And I thought I was bad with the ol' salt-petre and sugar smoke bombs, back in the day.
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/10/2005 21:47 Comments ||
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SPoD's right. The L.A. school district has its share of miscreants. Pipe bombs, chemical-based bombs, fireworks (the large kind), etc. Bomb disposal is handled by LAPD.
#15
When we were kids, we took our pipe-sheathed, *ahem* apparati out into the hills to test. Even used to shoot cornices to try to start avelanches. Pipe shrapnel is pretty mean stuff. I guess we were brilliant boys---darn lucky ones at that.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/10/2005 22:54 Comments ||
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Three explosive devices found in a courtyard between two Georgia Tech dormitories on the East Campus Monday morning were part of a "terrorist act," an Atlanta police official said.
One of the devices exploded, injuring the custodian who found them inside a plastic bag. Two others were detonated by a bomb squad.
The custodian suffered ringing to the ears and was treated at a local hospital. The events led to a temporary evacuation Monday morning.
"It is a terrorist act at this point and depending on the outcome of the investigation it potentially could become a federal violation as well," said Major C.W. Moss of the Atlanta Police Department.
The custodian found the three devices about 9 a.m. in a plastic-type garbage bag, Moss said. When he picked up the bag, one exploded, as it was designed to do when handled. The explosives were made up of chemicals placed inside plastic bottles and could have seriously injured someone, officials said. Numerous agencies were on the Georgia Tech campus to search for suspects.
"It will be a joint investigation between the Atlanta Police Department, the Georgia Tech Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Every possible lead will be followed," said Major Moss.
About 100 students were evacuated from the Cloudman and Glenn dormitories, according to school spokeswoman Amelia Gambino.
Just spotted this via Drudge.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/10/2005 13:07 ||
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Sh*t! I stayed at Glenn for a couple of years before getting married!
#5
Early in the first quarter of the Texas-OU game this past Saturday, ABC TV lost their signal from the stadium. At the moment it happened the TV went to static and my first thought was some goat lover had continued the attack from Norman the week before.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/10/2005 13:51 Comments ||
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I have only heard one short blip about the OU incident. Why isn't this being talked about?
#7
RGBS - lots of people are talking about it in blogs. The MSM on the other hand is purposefully (IMHO) ignoring it since the 'student' was deep into Islam and had (according to stories) attempted to enter the stadium before but fled when security wanted to search his backpack.
The MSM reported it as a simple sucicide and don't want to report it as a failed islamic suicide-bomber.
#8
I have only heard one short blip about the OU incident. Why isn't this being talked about?
Because the evidence it was a terrorist attack is overwhelming, but inconclusive. The FBI doesn't want to "speculate" -- meaning they don't want to state the obvious -- so they pout when someone points out the facts. Furthermore, the school doesn't want to endanger the cash cow of foreign students, so they're treating anyone who voices a suspicion as if they'd actually called for a lynching.
(Over at the Jawa Report, a reader from OU pointed out that the buses the guy was next to are used to shuttle fans to and from the only sizeable parking lot. After the game, the buses would have been packed, beyond standing room only.
Therefore, the bomber wouldn't have had to deal with stadium security; just get on the bus after the game lets out, sit or stand near the middle, and let the victims pack around him.)
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/10/2005 14:17 Comments ||
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#9
CrazyFool-The blogs are the only place I have read anything of value about this, but why hasn't the media broke this story wide open. It's the press, they can't be forced to keep quiet. What is the deal!?!
#10
The answer to why the MSM won't run the story is simple. They are NOT on our side. They are on the side of America's enemies and have no loyalty or affection for our country. To put it mildly, they are treasonous bastards who should be rounded up and put on trial for their treason.
#11
It doesn't fit the script. The script that sez the neocons and Rethuglicans invented a mythical militant Islam in order to convince the sheeple to pay for and fight in a war that profits Bush's oil buddies and Cheney's Halliburton pals.
The script that sez only the Left has The Truth and that the Truth is being brutally suppressed by mass graves full of NPR commentators and Reuters photographers.
#16
FOX made a brief mention of it but said they were waiting for an "appropriate time". I took this to mean they were hushed up. I really found the OU similarities interesting, as it was the same mosque as the ME accomplices of McVeigh apparently attended, he tried to buy the same fertilizer as was used in OK City, and ended up using Mother of Satan as in London. The reporter that wrote a book about the bombing (Jayna Davis)was put-off by the FBI who still insists it was a lone nut but then McVeigh's execution was the only thing the Clinton Admin made sure was done in a timely way. I just hope it is because of an ongoing investigation this being kept quiet.
#17
Hey Robert, just who the hell do you work for?
Pardon?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/10/2005 15:03 Comments ||
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#18
I don't think this the time to be cautious. This Islamic movement has oozed it's way into the very fiber of our culture. It's not okay to be cautious when it's so obivious that the enemy is brainwashing our kids. They are profiling our kids; looking for the ones who are detatched, lonely, and emotionally weak. They don't care about our kids. They seek out the ones that need to be nurtured, give them what they crave (acceptance), and load them up with accolades. It's a sick plot. No, I don't think this is a time to be cautious, Robert.
#19
I just hope it is because of an ongoing investigation this being kept quiet.
Back when I was into crime chat, investigations were always handled this way. I understand why the Feds don't want information about their investigation to get out. Information is power and they want to keep all of it to themselves. But I believe that overall that is extremely counterproductive. Witness Megans law. More children were saved by releasing as much information to the public as quicky as possible than ever was accomplished by greedily hoarding it to themselves.
I think their [our] interests would be better served by learning how to mine the excess data that comes in for valid tips than it would be to act like dogs in the manger with the few tips they uncover themselves. But that concept is foreign to the investigators and would require a whole cultural change for them to grasp it.
#20
No, I don't think this is a time to be cautious, Robert.
RGBS, yes, it is. About this case. Let's wait to hear more evidence. It could just be a jilted lover, or an eco freak, or whoever.
Even in the OU case, we don't have all the information; it could be he really was a nutcase acting alone, not intending to hurt anyone. The information we have doesn't indicate that, but we don't have all the information.
Does that mean I think we shouldn't do anything about the jihadis? No. I think we need to be more frank about their goals, the prevalence of the jihadi attitude even (especially?) among Muslims in the west, and their activities. I think we need the FBI (for example) to stop sitting on information in cases like the OU bomb, because the suspicion of political correctness makes it appear they're covering things up.
I think we need a hell of a lot more honesty, and a hell of a lot more suspicion of the jihadi's support network.
I just don't think we need to conclude that everything that goes boom was done in the name of Allah.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/10/2005 15:34 Comments ||
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#21
RGBS - the MSM has a long history of this type of thing.
During the russian school takeover (Beslin?) the MSM went out of their way to protray the f-kers as 'hostage-takers' or 'criminals' even though they were -to-a-person- islamic extreamist and terrorists who purposefully target innocent civilians.
Nor did the MSM ever mention the gang-rape of teenage hostages or bayonetting of babies. This would show the terrorists in a bad light (and not as the 'freedom-fighter' 'miniutemen' who just need to be appeased and 'understood' as the left/MSM love to call them).
What about the deliberate murder of innocent jewish children? Last year these brave 'lions of Islam' murdered in cold blood a 8-month-pregant woman and her three daughters (all under 10) just for driving between two settlements. The MSM never even mentioned it.
But just fart in the presence of an islamic murderer and terrorist in GITMO and the MSM is all over it for months-on-end. Newsweek anyone?
I won't go into the islamic arab government-assisted murder and rapes against black muslims in Dalfur, Sudan (nor the Sudan slave trade of non-muslims), The murders and burning of churches in Indonesia (except where the christians have dared to defend themselves - and then its protrayed by the MSM as the Christian's fault) or the Islamic terrorism currently going on in southern Thailand.
All of which are, as much as possible, ignored by the MSM. There is a pattern here. A glaring pattern. This is not by chance but deliberate design.
The MSM isn't being 'balanced' - they are actively on the other side.
#22
Why, because he was a white kid from middle America studying to be an engineer at a university located in the Bible Belt? This young man was seduced in the same way these crazy rag-heads were when they were young. "Oh come with us, learn of Allah, sacrifice yourself, go to heaven and lay with more women that you will have the energy for, your worth is endless, and only Allah can provide the rewards you deserve."
Our youth are very vulnerable. College is a time for learning, experimenting, and simply finding out what you stand for. If kids don't already know what they stand for before they leave the nest, they are in danger of being persuades by any charasmatic force they come into contact with ranging from sex, drugs, and yes even the lures of Allah!
#23
RGBS, I don't know how long you've been lurking here, but this is the first day I've seen you post. This particular theme is one we've been discussing since the first day (about 3.5 years ago and where has the time gone?) that Fred opened his blog for comments. We all recognize the need for haste but grudgingly admit the need for accuracy as well. Robert C. has been fighting the good fight along with the rest of us for quite awhile now. Please don't be quite so hasty in calling folks out until you've been here awhile. Thanks, and welcome to RB.
#24
This sounds more time a Drano or baking soda bomb than one made from explosives, even gunpowder. Otherwise the custodian would not be with limb or alive. Unfortunately, such things are pretty common at universities, though mostly during finals. I bet the OU bomb publicity gave ideas to some (mental) juveniles who should know better.
Posted by: ed ||
10/10/2005 16:20 Comments ||
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#25
This sounds more time a Drano or baking soda bomb than one made from explosives, even gunpowder.
Yep and you've got to be a bit careful about labeling relatively small campus happenings as "terrorist incidents". I recall purchasing some "firecrackers" in Tijuana many years ago their subsequently being used to blast the large plastic letters off the front of a rival fraternity house. These days I'd probably get 20-life for a prank like that.
#26
First OU now GT. They want our kids dead. This pisses me off!! Me too. Why not Yale, or Princeton, or Dartmouth dammit! Oh, and be a good fellow and leave Harvard alone now, right?
/inappropriate low humor off
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/10/2005 19:33 Comments ||
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The most powerful and feared institution here in southern Iraq's largest city is a shadowy force of 200 to 300 police officers, known collectively as the Jameat, who dominate the local police and who are said to murder and torture at will. They answer to the leaders of Basra's sectarian militias.
The militia infiltration in Basra's police force and government goes far beyond the Jameat. But it may be the most ominous example of the degree to which militias dominate Basra.
The extent of Jameat's power became clear in September when British troops in armored vehicles tried to rescue two special operations soldiers who had been abducted and taken to its headquarters in a police building in Basra.
According to three British soldiers there that day, 1,000 to 2,000 people rapidly gathered near the station, which the British troops had partly demolished in an effort to free the captives. The soldiers were ultimately rescued from a house nearby, where they were being held by Shiite militiamen.
The British soldiers said many in the mob had been armed with homemade gasoline bombs and grenades, and that the attack appeared to be a disciplined and coordinated response to the sacking of the Jameat headquarters. Iraqi men standing on cars ordered the mob to attack, they said, while rioters clambered on top of armored vehicles and doused soldiers inside with gasoline.
"This was not a spontaneous public action," said Major Andy Hadfield, a British company commander. "It was closely organized and closely coordinated by a series of agitators."
Once a relaxed riverside getaway, Basra has slipped under the rule of fundamentalist Shiite militias and political parties - many with strong ties to Iran - that enforce strict Islamic mores. The city has only 2,500 to 3,000 police officers, while estimates of militia ranks have reached as high as 13,000 in Basra and its environs.
In recent months, lethal attacks on British forces and others - including an Iraqi employee of The New York Times, Fakher Haider, and of a New York journalist, Steven Vincent - have shattered a convenient myth: that the Shiites in Basra would keep the city relatively peaceful, overseen by the soft touch of British forces.
The rise of the militias also represents another obstacle to the goal of replacing U.S.-led forces with Iraqis. None of the regular Basra police stations are close to being ready to operate on their own, said Sergeant Major Andy Johnson, a British soldier who helps train the police. "Progress is slow and you are fighting against decades of corruption," he said.
Even if the police and military units across Iraq achieve self-sufficiency, there is the added concern that they will disintegrate along sectarian lines when U.S. and British forces withdraw. "It's too early to tell" whether they will favor their own ethnic groups, a senior U.S. official said in a recent interview.
"You don't necessarily instill a national identity in a military in two years," the official said.
In the murky world of Basra's militias, it remains unclear how the Jameat emerged as such a powerful force. Officially, it is part of the Basra police, responsible for internal affairs and investigating crimes like terrorism and murder - a role that, other police officers say, allows it to operate with impunity.
A British diplomat said Jameat commanders "manage to exert a disproportionate influence and a policy of intimidation against the rest of the Iraqi police service and against ordinary people in Basra." The diplomat, unidentified because her government permits only senior foreign service officers to speak for the record, said the Jameat had "the power to intimidate everybody" and "their crimes are the most serious crimes."
Like many other militias, the Jameat is involved in a wide variety of nefarious activities, according to other Iraqi police officers and officials, from the killings of former Baathists, to the kidnapping and murder of political rivals, to straightforward criminal pursuits.
The major difference between the Jameat and other militias, Iraqis say, is that its members act with impunity.
"They consider themselves the No. 1 power in Basra," said one police commander, who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution against him and his family. "The people who like to murder and torture come from Internal Affairs," he said. "They get police uniforms, police vehicles and police identification."
In May, Basra's police chief, Hassan al-Sade, told The Guardian newspaper that militias were the "real power" in Basra and that he trusted only 25 percent of his force. Sade also said some officers carried out assassinations.
Interviews with the Iraqi police, other Iraqis and British soldiers suggest several Shiite factions have strong ties to the Jameat. One is the Mahdi Army, a militia associated with the firebrand cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Another is the Fadila Party, which won tenuous control of the provincial government this year.
Governor Muhammad al-Waeli of Basra, a Fadila member, criticized the raid on the Jameat as "barbaric, savage and irresponsible."
One British officer said there were signs of increasing cooperation in Basra between factions from Fadila and the Mahdi Army. Another powerful militia is the Iranian-backed Badr Organization, an arm of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The Badr group has fought violent battles with the Mahdi Army, and has also heavily infiltrated the police.
The two British soldiers were abducted the day after British troops arrested the Basra leader of the Mahdi Army, Sheik Ahmad Majid al-Fartusi, on charges of attacking coalition forces. It is unclear how closely tied Fartusi remains to Sadr.
On Friday, British forces arrested 12 more men in Basra, including some policemen. No one who murders British soldiers "should be able to hide behind their uniform," the British military said in a statement that noted that provincial leaders had banned the police in Basra from working with British forces.
#1
While a very interesting article, I get tired of the typically overstated NYT doom and gloom.
The most powerful and feared institution here in southern Iraq's largest city is a shadowy force
Once a relaxed riverside getaway
The diplomat, unidentified because her government permits only senior foreign service officers to speak for the record, said the Jameat had "the power to intimidate everybody" and "their crimes are the most serious crimes."
strip away all of the unnamed sources, blather about how they are "the most feared", "shadowy" and "myths", etc and you are left with the real story. There is some corruption and sectarian killing going on. We are all shocked!! Shocked! In other news, somebody captured some British Spec op guys, who were rescued, but a mob was incited by agitators after the British sacked the Jameat building.
It's your basic NYT story line: we've already lost the war, we all might as well go home now - these little brown folk will never be able to control their animalistic tendencies.
#3
But 2b, everyone knows NYT writers were the very bestest students in their journalism classes -- a simple who, what, where, when, how, why would be beneath them.
#5
tw - that's right. They can't just report (sniff) that's for bloggers. They are so important because they are writers. Must take a story and make it into a gothic novel of suspense and mystery. Their favorite story line is that "underneath the happy surface lurks a dark and sinister plot".
BAGHDAD - Ninety insurgents have been killed in a series of US-led sweeps in western Iraq since they kicked off on September 28, government spokesman Leith Kubba said on Sunday. âThe total from the operations is 90 killed while the number of arrests has reached 178,â Kubba told journalists, adding that the offensives had âperturbed armed groupsâ activity and (helped) obtain information that will help us track down their membersâ.
The US military said the operations, including Iron Fist which ended near the Syrian border on Thursday, were aimed at thwarting Al Qaeda-linked militant activity in the restive and largely Sunni Arab province of Al Anbar.
Thirteen US troops have been reported killed in the province since the start of the operations.
Kubba said that US and Iraqi forces would stay in the area for the October 15 referendum on the countryâs new constitution and that 700 independent electoral commission workers would also be deployed in the province.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed on Monday that 117 Hamas activists belonging to three separate terror infrastructures in the Hebron area were arrested by security forces. The activists were involved in many attacks, including the abduction and murder of Sasson Nuriel, the suicide bomb attack in the Beersheba bus station in August, and a planned bombing of an air force helicopter at a training base in the Judean desert.
A senior Shin Bet official noted that the infrastructures continued to operate intensively despite the tahdiya called in February of this year. They were responsible for the deaths of six Israelis and the wounding of scores. By arresting the operatives, security forces thwarted plans to abduct Israeli hikers in the Judean desert and to abduct and murder soldiers, using them as trading cards to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners.
The official noted that for the first time, Hamas in Gaza recruited and trained a female bomb mechanic. She had already been sent to the West Bank to begin training activists before she was arrested. The mechanic, 22-year-old Samir Sabih of Jabalya, received permission to travel from Gaza to Tulkarm by claiming she was going to meet a future fiance. It was there that she was arrested by Israeli security forces.
A key commander in one of the arrested infrastructures, Yasser Saleh, was recruited by Gazan Hamas activists at the beginning of 2003, when he was studying in Egypt. Saleh is the son of the Palestinian police commander in Ramallah, an advisor to PA Interior Minister Nasser Yousef. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
10/10/2005 15:20 ||
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#1
Jeepers...177 hard boyz in three separate infrastructures in the tiny area of Hebron. Talk about yer wheels within wheels. There's no way there's enough resources in that area to accomodate all that ego...
The Shin Bet security service has recently uncovered three networks of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank that are suspected of being responsible for a series of terror attacks that killed five Israelis and wounded about 70, the Shin Bet said Monday. The security service has arrested 117 Hamas men suspected of involvement in the three networks, which the Shin Bet says are located in the Ramallah area, north of Hebron and southwest of Hebron.
Two of the terror attacks were carried out in the last few months, in violation of Hamas' official commitment to maintain "calm" in the territories. These include the September abduction and murder of Sasson Nuriel, from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev, and the suicide bombing at the central bus station in Be'er Sheva at the end of August, in which two security guards were seriously wounded.
Senior Shin Bet officials said Monday that while Hamas has continued to carry out attacks, despite its stated commitment to calm, in general the group has recently avoided taking responsibility for the attacks because it prefers not to anger the Palestinian Authority and Israel. In light of the information the Shin Bet has collected about Hamas activities, the security service has recently recommended that Israel change its policy toward Hamas. As a result, security forces have carried out several arrest raids, netting hundreds of Hamas men, after several months during which Israel avoided acting against Hamas.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 12:19 ||
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File under "What the hell were you thinking, if anything?"
THREE Palestinian teenagers were shot dead by Israeli troops patrolling the southern section of Israel's border with Gaza, Palestinian medical and security sources said overnight. Palestinian medics discovered the bodies of the three youngsters next to the security fence near the Kissufim crossing in southern Gaza. Although the three were not carrying identity cards, they appeared to be in their early- to mid-teens, they said. Security sources confirmed they were civilians and said none of them were armed. The Israeli army said late on Sunday (local time) that troops operating near the Gaza border had opened fire towards three "suspicious figures" crawling close to the Palestinian side of the fence, and "identified hitting two of them". Because the bodies were on the Palestinian side, they had no way of knowing how badly they had been injured, the spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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A year ago this month, after decades of debate and delay, the first units of a national missile defense were deployed. Today, as that defense grows, a transition from a national to a global defense is under way. Japan, India, Australia, South Korea, Israel, Taiwan, NATO and others are moving to acquire new or improved missile defenses.
An obvious self-preservation move, given the current state of affairs with IAEA, the EU-3, etc.
Recently, the Republican-led Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) approved a defense appropriation bill that includes nearly $8 billion for missile defense. Top priority is to complete the current Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) to protect the United States, while adding regional defenses where needed. The SAC found GMD fundamentally sound, but in need of more rigorous testing. It added $200 million to maintain production of GMD interceptors and allow more tests.
Much is being done to improve initial defenses. Nine interceptors are on line in Alaska and California, and five more will be in place by the end of this year. The battle-management, command, control and communications systems are connected, linking the interceptors to ground- and sea-based radars and space-based sensors.
Existing radars are being upgraded and new ones built. A transportable X-band radar was tested against a Minuteman missile Sept. 14 and will be deployed in December. On Sept. 26, the Cobra Dane radar on Shemya Island in the Aleutians successfully tracked an air-launched missile on a realistic trajectory across the Pacific. The big sea-based X-band radar, which will help distinguish warheads from decoys, is in testing in the Gulf of Mexico and will move to the Aleutians next spring.
U.S. and Japanese Aegis destroyers are on station in the Pacific and Sea of Japan, watching for missiles. The Navy's new Standard Missile-3, which will give Aegis ships the ability not just to detect short- and medium-range missiles, but shoot them down, will soon be in the fleet. The SAC added $75 million to accelerate this successful program. In addition to the U.S. and Japan, South Korea and Australia are deploying Aegis-equipped ships also able to carry missile interceptors.
The U.S. and Japan are jointly improving the sea-based interceptor SM-3 Block II, to defend a larger area and counter longer-range missiles. Japan, worried about China and North Korea, will build the second-stage rocket and design a "clam shell" nose cone, paying a large part of development costs.
The main program to attack missiles in their vulnerable boost-phase is the Airborne Laser (ABL), a high-energy laser weapon carried in a 747 aircraft with a global reach. ABL continues meeting its milestones and is on schedule for a missile shoot-down attempt in 2008. The SAC added $10 million for the ABL because of its "steady progress in the last 18 months."
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/10/2005 01:33 ||
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#1
Very comforting. And are they catching anything with the customs inspections at the shipping ports?
#2
...Not that I'm complaining, but has anyone noticed that we haven't seen protests or any "No Missile Defense" movements?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/10/2005 7:21 Comments ||
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#3
Mike, those loons are too busy with their anti-war protests. Hard to get the useful idiots fired up about missile defense when there's a shooting war going on.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/10/2005 7:52 Comments ||
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#4
China's big mistake here is letting NK get out of hand and drive Japan back to the arms of the U. S.
#8
"The nose cone is an essential component to protect sensors and other devices on the interceptor and must come off in the final stage of the interception of a ballistic missile. Japan has developed so-called clamshell technology, which makes the nose cone split in two and break off the missile."
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/news/nn09-2005/nn20050923a7.htm
Scores of Balinese wearing traditional costumes have urged the immediate execution of three Indonesian militants sentenced to death over the 2002 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.
Organisers say the march to the Denpasar High Court was partly prompted by bombings on the island last weekend, which killed 23 people including three suicide bombers who walked into restaurants with explosives hidden in backpacks.
"Kill Amrozi," shouted about 100 protesters, some wearing colourful Balinese sarongs and flowers in their ears, as they marched to the court in Bali's capital Denpasar.
Amrozi is one of three militants on death row over the 2002 attacks, which killed mainly foreign tourists.
He was the first militant arrested and was dubbed the 'smiling bomber' for his expressions of delight during his court appearances.
The protest underscores the level of anger over the 2002 bombings and the latest attacks on the Hindu resort island, which prides itself on being a place of peace and beauty and where tourism is again being affected.
"Clearly the sense of justice among Balinese has been hurt because we have not seen the execution of Amrozi and his friends," said Wayan Semara Cipta, a student leader.
"Maybe Balinese have not paid attention to this. But since the latest bombings, emotions are quite high."
Denpasar lies not far from Kuta Beach, where one of the suicide bombers detonated his explosives-laden backpack on October 1.
It is also where militants blew up two nightclubs on October 12, 2002.
Police have blamed Jemaah Islamiah, a shadowy network seen as the regional arm of Al Qaeda, for the 2002 blasts.
About 30 militants have been arrested and tried over the 2002 blasts.
The three men on death row have almost exhausted their appeals processes.
Suspicion has also fallen on Jemaah Islamiah over the latest attacks that killed 15 Indonesians, four Australians and one Japanese.
No-one has been arrested or charged over those blasts.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
10/10/2005 06:52 ||
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#1
But notice that the people protesting are Hinduistic. On teh Muslim side all the protests we have heard stink to takiyah
Police took to the air over the weekend to press the search for the suspected masterminds of the Bali terror bombings, using a helicopter to scatter pictures of the fugitives on another island where at least one of them was thought to be hiding.
Although they expressed confidence in the first days after the October 1 bombings, Indonesian investigators have not announced any major breakthrough.
Brig. Gen. Sunarko Ardanto said Sunday that while pictures of the bombers' severed heads have been circulated in newspapers nationwide, authorities have so far been unable to identify them.
Interviews with more than 180 witnesses also have produced few hard leads, he said.
The manhunt focused on two of Southeast Asia's most-sought fugitives -- Noordin Mohamed Top and Azahari bin Husin -- who are alleged to be the leaders of the al Qaeda linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Police said they raided one of Noordin's hideouts before sunrise Friday but that he slipped away just hours before they stormed the home in central Java province's Purwantoro district.
On Saturday, a helicopter flew low over the nearby city of Solo and released 10,000 fliers with photographs of Noordin and Azahari and a warning that they are "dangerous terrorists."
"We hope this can help people recognize them and be aware of them," said Solo police Maj. Agus Mulyono.
The two fugitives, both Malaysians, have dodged police for years, hiding out in this nation of 220 million people that sprawls over more than 10,000 islands that stretch across 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles).
"They are probably changing their appearance every second," said Sunarko. "That's why we need the support from the public."
Other leads being pursued included a phone call made by the wife of another top terror suspect, Zulkarnaen, who goes by one name, said central Java's police chief, Maj. Gen. Chairul Rasyid.
The woman called a number in Bali just days before the attack and police were tracing the call, he said.
Thousands of security forces were being deployed at beaches and resorts across Bali, meanwhile, for the third anniversary of the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, police said Sunday.
"We're on full alert," said Sunarko, adding that soldiers, police, intelligence officers and informers were preparing for Wednesday's memorial service. "We are working around the clock."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/10/2005 00:59 ||
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#1
Photos of Azahari, Top distributed by Indonesian coppers
Indonesian police have denied any leaks within their ranks after Indonesia's most wanted man and one of the suspected Bali bomb masterminds escaped another predawn counter-terror squad raid. In a near carbon-copy of a bungled raid two years ago, suicide bomb recruiter and money man Noordin Mohamed Top slipped away from remote Purwantoro in central Java early on Friday morning, just hours before elite Detachment 88 police stormed his safehouse. Solo police commander Abdul Madjid said the Malaysian escaped after police delayed the raid until 4am because of fears Noordin, 35, might have been armed with explosives. The same thing happened almost two years ago in Bandung, when Noordin and his fellow bomb expert - bespectacled "Demolition Man" Azahari Husin - slipped past more than 1,000 officers in the cool Java highlands.
âMissed him by that much, Chief!â [/Maxwell Smart]
The duo, blamed for a string of attacks including the 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta, last year's Australian Embassy bombing and what the Indonesian media have called "Bom Bali II", disappeared into a maze of local alleyways. Just seven months before, police captured a Jemaah Islamiah militant in the Sumatra town of Pekan Baru, but missed Azahari walking right behind him. Azahari also slipped police in the minutes after the embassy attack when he bribed his way past unsuspecting traffic police on the back of a motorbike. Perhaps the pair are just lucky. Their photos are plastered over police notice boards, newspapers and television stations across the country.
Mebbe it has something to do with how leniently the government has dealt with convicted terrorists like Bashir. Quite an example for their citizenry to follow, no?
But their extraordinary run of escapes over a three-year campaign of terror has prompted speculation that someone in the police is tipping them off. The conspiracy mill in Jakarta would have it that police want them on the run to maintain the flow of foreign aid funding that has flooded into Indonesia since the 2002 Bali bombings to help combat terror in the country with more Muslims than any other. Indonesian National Police spokesman brigadier-general Soenarko Danu Ardanto said that made no sense. "Solo police got information and we were all into the field. We were all onto it," he told AAP. "The operation is still going on. "It could not be that there is a leak among the police."
âNo never! Wonderful chaps, used to give their mothers flowers and all that!â [/Stig O'Tracy]
Ardanto said the police had "actively and proactively" followed up on all tipoffs, but needed media and public support in the hunt as well. Frustrated by the failure of his security forces and facing another blow to his efforts to lure new overseas investment into Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this week urged the powerful military to become more involved in the hunt. The army's feared GoPassUs Kopassus special forces may now join the hunt, along with local village commands. Terror expert Sidney Jones said Noordin and Azahari had formed a new cell, dubbed Thoifah Muqatilah or the Combat Unit, with Noordin acting as the unit's chief strategist.
âThoifah Muqatilahâ? Thatâs too much bother to pronounce. Iâll just stick with âbuncha terrorist @ssholes.â
While police said the bombers may be part of a "new generation" of bombers who could pass unrecognised, Jones said the group would probably be a "mix of the new and a mix of the old professionals". They were on Saturday hunting seven men in East Java, four in Central Java and five in Banten, south of Jakarta, who belonged to a hard-line "Banten Ring" cell with links to 2002 Bali bomb commander Imam Samudra, who is on death row in Denpasar with two other ringleaders.
âImam Samudraâ Sorta highlights the problem, donât it. Arenât most priests convicted of pedophilia or murder usually excommunicated? Continuing to refer to a convicted terrorist murderer with an honorific indicating âHoly Manâ is a dead giveaway.
The Banten five included Aprianto and Ikhwan Fauzi, who were both arrested in November 2002 for attempting to throw leftover explosives from the Bali bombings into a river. Police also were looking for their friend Pujata, although sources said he was unlikely to be directly involved because he had refused to shelter Azahari after the embassy attacks because he had only just been released from jail.
Police had also taken into custody one man in the East Java capital Surabaya, and another in Palu, central Sulawesi, where Muslim-Christian bloodletting had raged for years. The Palu suspect was detained during a sweep of incoming aircraft which revealed he did not have any identity papers. But police said it was unlikely to be the militant founder of the Banten Ring, Kang Jaja, who has been hiding out in the area for several years. A Detachment 88" source said police close to catching Noordin, despite the latest setback, and believed they were only hours behind him. "We are very close," he said. "But at the moment we want to make him comfortable that he has escaped."
Job well done. Noordin appears to be quite comfortably ensconced in a non-jail type of environment. Do all those bribes salve your conscience?
Yudhoyono needs to take a close look at the financial impact of Bali's tourism industry being taken off-line for yet another even longer interval. It is only fitting that foreign investment is being withheld in the face of such pandering. The reduction of Bashir's sentence and Yudhoyono's refusal to outlaw JI strictly on the basis of what it's name means reduces much of his country's efforts to lip service and nothing else.
DAMASCUS - Syriaâs state security court sentenced four Kurds to two-and-a-half year jail terms for belonging to âa secret organisation,â their lawyer said on Sunday. The four are members of the Democratic Union Party, a banned Kurdish party in Syria, and are accused of belonging to âan secret organisation aiming to annex part of Syrian territory to a foreign country.â
Greater Kurdistan, I suspect.
Their lawyer, Faisal Badr, called the verdicts âunconstitutionalâ because they were issued by a court that was created under emergency laws. âThis is the usual accusation against any Kurd who appears before this court,â Badr said. âIt has no basis because all Kurdish parties are asking for a democratic and just solution to the Kurdish problem in the framework of Syriaâs territorial unity.â
Kurdish leaders in Syria deny any secessionist aims and say they only want their language, culture and political rights to be recognised by the government. About 1.5 million Kurds live in Syria, where they make up about nine percent of the population.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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According to two sources close to former Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, ex-president Bill Clinton was on the verge of tears over legal woes brought on by the Monica Lewinsky scandal during a Sept. 1998 meeting with Crown Prince Adbullah - and spent almost no time discussing the Khobar Towers bombing case.
The Saudi account backs claims by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who told CBS's "60 Minutes" last night that Clinton failed to press Abdullah during the meeting for cooperation in the Khobar case.
Interviewed by the New Yorker in May 2001, two Saudi officials noted that Prince Bandar was present during the meeting. And Bandar's version, according to those same Saudi sources, contradicts the claim by former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger that his old boss vigorously pursued Khobar during the meeting.
"Clinton, by many accounts, was almost crying," the New Yorker said, based on interviews with the Saudis
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/10/2005 16:19 ||
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#1
Ouch. What did the Clintons do to piss off the Saudis?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/10/2005 17:05 Comments ||
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even if this weren't true, the description fits Clintoon's low rent character to a tee.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
10/10/2005 17:27 Comments ||
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#5
Wow. Bandar bitch-slappin' Clitty. Very unlike a former Ambassador, much less the Saudi Candyman, to come out and call a spade a spade. A massive butt stompin'. Clitty and Burglar are effectively destroyed by this. Every Politician in Washington knows Bandar (unfortunately for the American people) and will believe him... he has < .00001% as much reason to lie about it, especially considering how, um, pliable and accommodating corrupt Donk administrations like Camelot II (and the looming promise of Camelot III) are. That it was delivered in plainspeak is amazing in 10 different ways. This could be a serious pivot point in the disingenuous attempts to keep up the facade of Camelot II. Wow.
#6
Bill, I feel your pain, and would like to double it, brother.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/10/2005 18:10 Comments ||
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#7
Okay, reading into this a lot from very little... Clinton was the reason the Saudi's had no faith/had lost faith in the US. He is/was clearly self-centered, vain, shallow, not the kind of guy the house of Saud could feel any kind of security in dealing with. He would sell them out in a second to further himself. They know the type well, and come by the knowledge honestly. It is easy seeing them view Clinton with complete contempt, and tarring the public who voted him into office - twice - with the same brush. Think of the Saudis as knowing they need to change before they self-consume; hating the thought of that change; looking for an anchor - a moral anchor - for this change, and having Clinton be the leader of the US (the otherwise first candidate for anchor) for eight long years. Of seeing firsthand his amorality, time after time. They must have despaired. I have no love for Saud (nor hate for that matter) but this had to have been the cause of near-absolute depair.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/10/2005 19:23 Comments ||
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#8
Oh, and this is a tacit admission that they were wrong then.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/10/2005 19:24 Comments ||
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#9
Oh,how you forget how good the Clinton's are at spin-"this is merely retaliation by the Bushes' good friend for Bill telling the truth about George W"
Posted by: Stephen ||
10/10/2005 21:58 Comments ||
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#10
This is more like, we will say anything to divert attention from us, and if we can get in good with the right wing Clinton haters, even better, as they are in power and are demanding we change out ways. Placate the fools with a little Clinton bashing, priceless
In gruesome pre-dawn strikes, militants, allegedly belonging to pro-Pak Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, killed ten members of two Hindu families by slitting their throats in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir today, police sources said here. A group of militants belonging to Hizbul's so called Pir Panchal regiment led by its self-styled Deputy Divisional commander, Sangat Pathan alias Abu Hamza swooped on Rajnagar area of Budhal tehsil in Rajouri and barged into the house of Munishi Ram late on Sunday night. Some of the militants helped themselves to the food later in the wee hours, killed Munshi Ram, his two sons, a brother and nephew by slitting their throats. All of them died on the spot, the sources said adding that the killers then fled the scene.
The same group is supposed to have later gone to Mora Gabber village nearby and forced their entry into the house of Kartar Singh and killed him and his three sons, the sources said. Kartar's fourth son was injured in the attack. The militants also killed one Satbir Singh and Nazir Hussain in the area during their killing spree, they said. However, no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the killings thus far.
Police has launched a hunt to trace the attackers and suspect the involvement of Hizbul Mujahideen, which had warned people in rural areas from passing on information about them to police and security forces, they said.
Up to 30,000 dead in J&K alone, and these Islamic heroes are running around stealing groceries and cutting throats. Helping to dig through rubble for survivors is beneath their dignity, I suppose.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 12:29 ||
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ââIt has been 35 hours after the quake but what we have received from the government is just well-meaning statements,ââ said Muhammad Sadiq, a resident of Uri town. ââBut for the help of the Army, we would have perished,ââ he said.
But the people wanted the Army, and not the administration to help them. ââSara aid Army ke havaley karo (Hand over the entire relief operations to the Army). Wahi hum ko aid denge (They will give us the aid),ââ shouted a villager among the crowd that had gathered to listen to the leaders. ââNobody in the (civil) administration should be given our money.ââ
In fact, the people were so unanimous in expressing gratitude to the Army that it became necessary even for the leaders to laud the troops.
Posted by: john ||
10/10/2005 16:16 Comments ||
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Hand over the entire relief operations to the Army
Some things are universal, it seems. I think the old fashioned Civil Defense organization that FEMA replaced would have done a better job.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/10/2005 17:27 Comments ||
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My Linux development box died. I think the boiler went up. If you've got a few bucks left over after kicking in for tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes, please hit the tip jar. Donations have dropped off lately...
I've also made some under-the-hood changes to the way posts are handled. When you run into any bugs, let me know.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 12:13 ||
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what sort of machine was it and what are you looking for?
Ok folks, you know that this site gives great entertainment value! - think the 'Crossfire Gazette', 'Nuggets from the Urdu press' and all our other favourites (as well as allowing some well-needed therapy to take place in a friendly environment). Do the right thing, huh?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
10/10/2005 12:42 Comments ||
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#3
It was an antique -- about time for it to give up the ghost. I'm going to buy a bare bones from Tiger and move the drives.
Since I'm not real smart with Linux, I use it to bumble my way into getting MySQL and Postgres set up while I'm rewriting old .asp code to .php. By the time the code's rewritten, I hope to be smart enough to implement the 'Burg, Thugburg, and the other sites that live on the same server in Linux (or BSD, if I get even smarter...)
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 12:59 Comments ||
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I thought their reputation left something to be desired...
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
10/10/2005 13:16 Comments ||
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#6
Never had any trouble with them buying bare bones.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 13:24 Comments ||
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#7
Ok, ok, I'll hit a couple of bucks, but how do you expect me to keep up with my expensive internet fetish porn habit AND my diet pills? Damn! Smut doesn't grow on tree, you know, and I've really got to get rid of that gut!
#13
I kicked in a few bucks. If it weren't for Rantburg I'd have to work -- can't have that! -- so I have a vested interest in keeping things up and running.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
10/10/2005 14:46 Comments ||
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Sorry to be so antiquated, but do you have a snail mail address?
Two suicide explosions in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Monday killed six people and wounded eight, officials said.
They said a suicide bomber blew himself up in the city center, killing a senior anti-Taliban commander and three others.
Eight people were also hurt in the blast which was followed by a second in which a suicide bomber died on the road leading to the airport when a bomb strapped to his body exploded prematurely, said Kandahar governor Assadullah Kahlid.
There were no other casualties, he said. U.S.-led troops are based at Kandahar airport.
"Both incidents were the work of suicide bombers of Taliban and al Qaeda," Khalid said.
Among the victims killed in the first blast was a former senior factional commander, Agha Shah, Kandahar police chief Colonel Mohammad Hakim said.
"I can say now that at least four people, including Agha Shah, have lost their lives in the explosion," Hakim said.
Body parts from the victims of the first explosion were strewn on the dusty road outside Shah's house in a crowded area of Kandahar.
Shah was among local commanders who helped U.S.-led forces to overthrew the Taliban government in 2001.
A Taliban commander, who identified himself as Sabir Momin, claimed responsibility for the first incident.
There have now been four suicide attacks in less than a week in Kandahar, the Taliban's former stronghold.
On Sunday, four British government officials on a visit to help improve customs services in the restive province were wounded in a suicide attack close to the city center.
Last Wednesday, a suicide bomber and a child were killed when the man detonated explosives in a car near a convoy of Canadian forces near the airport.
Suicide attacks have been rare in Afghanistan compared to those against U.S.-led and Iraqi forces in Iraq, but the Taliban say a number of their "devotees" have infiltrated major cities for suicide missions.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/10/2005 09:55 ||
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KANDAHAR: Four Britons were wounded on Sunday after a suicide bomber rammed a car into their vehicle in Afghanistan's restive southern province of Kandahar, a senior Afghan official said. The incident, the second suicide car attack against westerners in less than a week in Kandahar, happened in heavy traffic on a main road about a kilometre from a US military base not far from the city centre. Kandahar Governor Assadullah Khalid said that the four were on an official visit to the province to help the local government with customs regulations.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Rebels took hostage 18 members of an African Union team in Darfur on Sunday, but released most of them after negotiations with the 53-nation organisation, officials said. They were abducted by a splinter group a day after the first AU peacekeepers were killed in an ambush blamed on another guerrilla force in the western Sudanese region, where non-Arab rebels took up arms against the central government in 2003. "Most have been released but it is not clear how many," said AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni.
The freed hostages, who had been held near the border with Chad, were on their way back on foot to the area's main town. Mezni, who did not give details on the talks with the kidnappers, said earlier reports had indicated that 16 of the 18 were being freed but that was not yet confirmed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Armed men took 18 African Union personnel hostage in Sudan's troubled Darfur region yesterday. Jean Baptiste Natama, the acting head of the AU in Sudan, said: "Eighteen personnel including military observers, civilian police, a US representative and a [rebel] Justice and Equality Movement [JEM] representative are held hostage." He said they were being held in the town of Tine, in North Darfur state, close to the border with Chad, but there was no further information about who the kidnappers were or what they wanted. "We are monitoring the situation very closely," he said. The SLA and JEM rebel groups are involved in AU-sponsored peace talks with the Sudanese government in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. But negotiations have faltered after a recent upsurge of violence in Darfur. About 6,000 AU troops are stationed in Darfur to monitor a shaky ceasefire.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
KUWAIT CITY - The United States will âsoonâ hand over five of the 11 Kuwaitis imprisoned at its camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the state news agency KUNA said on Sunday. âThe US administration will hand over five of the Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo camp to the Kuwaiti government soon,â Kuwaiti ambassador to Washington Shaikh Salem Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah was quoted as saying.
DHAKA: At least 22 ruling party members were injured in two bomb attacks in southwestern Bangladesh, police said on Sunday, ruling out Islamic hard-line groups blamed for a recent series of explosions.
LONDON: Ten men being held by British anti-terror police on Sunday were plotting a follow-up terror strikes to the July 7 attacks in London, newspapers reported on Sunday. The men were nabbed in dawn raids at three addresses across England on Saturday but police said they were not linked to the deadly July 7 blasts, not the failed July 21 repeat, on the British capital's transport network. 
A woman blew herself up with a grenade at the Emergencies Ministry in the central Asian country of Tajikistan on Sunday, police said, without giving any clues as to why she did it.
Special forces stormed a house in a Russian region bordering Chechnya on Sunday, local news agencies reported, killing a number of militants. Interfax said shots and explosions could be heard in central Makhachkala, capital of the Dagestan region, after gunmen returned fire during the raid, killing two police. There were conflicting reports about the exact death toll. Agencies had quoted local officials as saying five militants died but later they revised this down to four. Russian television showed armed, masked men surrounding a house, smoke rising above leafy town streets and dead men lying on the ground.
A young French woman was detained by police in Paris Monday as part of an investigation into underground groups allegedly recruiting volunteers to fight against US troops in Iraq. The 18-year-old woman, who has not been named, is believed to have been the girlfriend of a man who left to join the insurgency and was killed. Last month six men were arrested in the Paris suburbs as part of the same investigation, and all were released after the maximum four days of questioning allowed by French law. Intelligence services have identified about 20 men who have been recruited in France for the Iraqi insurgency, of whom six are believed to have died in combat or suicide attacks.
BAGHDAD - Ninety insurgents have been killed in a series of US-led sweeps in western Iraq since they kicked off on September 28, government spokesman Leith Kubba said on Sunday. âThe total from the operations is 90 killed while the number of arrests has reached 178,â Kubba told journalists, adding that the offensives had âperturbed armed groupsâ activity and (helped) obtain information that will help us track down their membersâ.
The Shin Bet security service has recently uncovered three networks of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank that are suspected of being responsible for a series of terror attacks that killed five Israelis and wounded about 70, the Shin Bet said Monday. The security service has arrested 117 Hamas men suspected of involvement in the three networks, which the Shin Bet says are located in the Ramallah area, north of Hebron and southwest of Hebron. 
THREE Palestinian teenagers were shot dead by Israeli troops patrolling the southern section of Israel's border with Gaza, Palestinian medical and security sources said overnight. Palestinian medics discovered the bodies of the three youngsters next to the security fence near the Kissufim crossing in southern Gaza. Although the three were not carrying identity cards, they appeared to be in their early- to mid-teens, they said. Security sources confirmed they were civilians and said none of them were armed. The Israeli army said late on Sunday (local time) that troops operating near the Gaza border had opened fire towards three "suspicious figures" crawling close to the Palestinian side of the fence, and "identified hitting two of them". Because the bodies were on the Palestinian side, they had no way of knowing how badly they had been injured, the spokesman said.
DAMASCUS - Syriaâs state security court sentenced four Kurds to two-and-a-half year jail terms for belonging to âa secret organisation,â their lawyer said on Sunday. The four are members of the Democratic Union Party, a banned Kurdish party in Syria, and are accused of belonging to âan secret organisation aiming to annex part of Syrian territory to a foreign country.â
In gruesome pre-dawn strikes, militants, allegedly belonging to pro-Pak Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, killed ten members of two Hindu families by slitting their throats in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir today, police sources said here. A group of militants belonging to Hizbul's so called Pir Panchal regiment led by its self-styled Deputy Divisional commander, Sangat Pathan alias Abu Hamza swooped on Rajnagar area of Budhal tehsil in Rajouri and barged into the house of Munishi Ram late on Sunday night. Some of the militants helped themselves to the food later in the wee hours, killed Munshi Ram, his two sons, a brother and nephew by slitting their throats. All of them died on the spot, the sources said adding that the killers then fled the scene. 
KANDAHAR: Four Britons were wounded on Sunday after a suicide bomber rammed a car into their vehicle in Afghanistan's restive southern province of Kandahar, a senior Afghan official said. The incident, the second suicide car attack against westerners in less than a week in Kandahar, happened in heavy traffic on a main road about a kilometre from a US military base not far from the city centre. Kandahar Governor Assadullah Khalid said that the four were on an official visit to the province to help the local government with customs regulations.
Rebels took hostage 18 members of an African Union team in Darfur on Sunday, but released most of them after negotiations with the 53-nation organisation, officials said. They were abducted by a splinter group a day after the first AU peacekeepers were killed in an ambush blamed on another guerrilla force in the western Sudanese region, where non-Arab rebels took up arms against the central government in 2003. "Most have been released but it is not clear how many," said AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni.
