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2004-03-09 Africa: Subsaharan
Zimbabwe seizes ’US plane’ with military gear, 64 ’mercenaries’: minister
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Posted by tipper 2004-03-09 1:53:57 AM|| || Front Page|| [11135 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Another account claims the airliner strayed into Zim airspace, was intercepted and forced to land by Zim fighters.Whatever actually happened, if the the Queen of England and her EUropeon allies are looking for a cause for war, they have one: 64 hostages.
Posted by Garrison  2004-3-9 2:29:28 AM||   2004-3-9 2:29:28 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Garrison, Bob can't really have fighters that work and pilots that can fly them without causing a mid-air collision, can he?
Posted by Super Hose  2004-3-9 4:53:56 AM||   2004-3-9 4:53:56 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 How the hell do Sopwith Camels intercept a 727????
Posted by Cheddarhead 2004-3-9 6:10:16 AM||   2004-3-9 6:10:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 This sounds suspicious like a coup attempt a few years back. I think in the Comoros where the men flew and succesfully took over the country. I couldn't find an online source but I recall the weapons had been smuggled in earlier.
Posted by Phil B  2004-3-9 6:24:40 AM||   2004-3-9 6:24:40 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 "Wild Geese"
Posted by Raptor  2004-3-9 7:10:01 AM||   2004-3-9 7:10:01 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 The television said that most of the suspects were white, "heavily built males".

The only time you'll see 64 white, "heavily built males" in the same room is at the Olympics.
Posted by Charles  2004-3-9 8:29:16 AM||   2004-3-9 8:29:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Also covered yesterday, including info on the plane's registration and owner.
Posted by Chuck Simmins  2004-3-9 8:30:57 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org]  2004-3-9 8:30:57 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Equatorial Guinea arrests 15 they say in connection with the plane seized in Zimbabwe
Posted by Sharon in NYC 2004-3-9 9:00:54 AM||   2004-3-9 9:00:54 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 referring to the Americans as "hamburger-eating imperialists".
i resent that!
Posted by muck4doo 2004-3-9 9:25:15 AM||   2004-3-9 9:25:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 referring to the Americans as "hamburger-eating imperialists"

Yeah, everyone knows we're hamburger-eating, beer-drinking, war-mongering, zionist-supporting capitalists! Get it right, dammit!
Posted by Steve  2004-3-9 9:58:19 AM||   2004-3-9 9:58:19 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 It looks as if the plan came from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3545507.stmSouth Africa. The company that bought the plane says the men were hired to guard mining operations in DR Congo & stopped in Zimbabwe to purchase mining equipment that would be cheaper there. FWIW [smile]
Posted by rkb  2004-3-9 10:06:55 AM||   2004-3-9 10:06:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 Here's the quote from BBC story:
However, a senior executive of Logo Logistics Ltd which is believed to have chartered the plane, said that the group were heading to eastern DR Congo to guard mining operations there.
"They stopped in Zimbabwe to pick up mining equipment, Zimbabwe being a vastly cheaper place for such," Charles Burrow told Reuters by telephone from London. A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authorities in South Africa, Moses Seate, has said the plane took off from the domestic Wonderboom airport, north of the capital Pretoria. If confirmed, the plane looks likely to have been attempting an illicit journey by making an international flight from a domestic airport.
If the men on board are confirmed as mercenaries, it appears they failed to receive required authorisation from South Africa's National Conventional Arms Control Committee. Speaking earlier to the BBC's Network Africa, Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said the crew and passengers aboard the plane had been detained pending further investigation. He said ministers would be trying to ascertain the intended destination of the plane, and would give further details about the plane after the meeting. Mr Mohadi insisted the detentions were legitimate, because "the fact they did not display their cargo means they have become suspects".
Posted by Steve  2004-3-9 10:20:21 AM||   2004-3-9 10:20:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 The only time you'll see 64 white, "heavily built males" in the same room is at the Olympics.

Charles, I see at least 64 heavily built white men, women and children every time I take the kids to the Golden Corral. The beach is worse.
Posted by Super Hose  2004-3-9 11:57:53 AM||   2004-3-9 11:57:53 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 LOL,SH. The Golden Corral does tend to attract 'em doesn't it?
Posted by GK 2004-3-9 12:56:33 PM||   2004-3-9 12:56:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#15  The only time you'll see 64 white, "heavily built males" in the same room is at the Olympics.
Or a Marine Recon platoon. The rest of the 90 might be black, Hispanic, and/or Asian, but the rest of the numbers are about right. Recon seems to attract the BIG guys...
Posted by Old Patriot  2004-3-9 1:06:34 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm]  2004-3-9 1:06:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 GOD the Golden Corral Loves Marines Heavily built males, because they Kill eat everything they see...

Quoted from Full Metal Jacket Golden Corral Diners creed
Posted by Bodyguard  2004-3-9 2:30:10 PM||   2004-3-9 2:30:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 aging Afrikaaner ex-SA army types, headed to Katanga, an old stomping ground for Mercs, but I could see they'd make Mugabe nervous.
Posted by liberalhawk 2004-3-9 2:39:42 PM||   2004-3-9 2:39:42 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 Any chance these guys can make a side trip to the Central African Republic and shut up a certain loudmothed ex-priest?
Posted by tu3031 2004-3-9 9:32:57 PM||   2004-3-9 9:32:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Any chance these guys can make a side trip to the Central African Republic and shut up a certain loudmothed ex-priest?
Maybe JB could become Bob's priest... They DO think alike and all.
Posted by Old Patriot  2004-3-9 10:09:49 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm]  2004-3-9 10:09:49 PM|| Front Page Top

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