A hard-line commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned the United States that it would risk "another Vietnam" if it decided to attack his country. "The Iranian nation does not want to create another Vietnam for America, but if the U.S. government wants to drown in another quagmire we are ready," said the deputy commander of the Guards, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, quoted by state television. If that were true, you could Include Me Out. But I think his remarks are Too Little, Too Late, even though they will Have a Chilling Effect on American planning. We wouldn't want to see Deja Vu All Over Again. Personally, I think his stance is Morally Bankrupt, but then I'm part of the Taliban Wing of the blogocracy, one of those who thinks we should Stand Should-to-Shoulder against Silent Genocide. If we attack Iran, perhaps The Terrorists Will Have Won, but Only Time Will Tell, 'cause it Ain't Over 'Til It's Over. There may be Light At the End of the Tunnel.
Is there an echo in here? Is there an echo in here?
Influential former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned the United States it would face a "bloody quagmire" if it decided to attack his country. "If America attacks Iran it will be stuck in such a quagmire that it will find it hard to get out," Rafsanjani told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran. "America will have the choice to enter Iran, but not the choice to leave," he said to chants of 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel'. "We won't be distributing food in this quagmire. There will be blood." The Great Satan, as the World's Only Remaining Super-Power will no doubt Stand Revealed as a Paper Tiger. Of course, we'd probably be more frightened if they had The Fourth Largest Army in the World, but not as much as we were when we went into War-torn Afghanistan.
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North Korea labelled the United States the "empire of devil" as it denounced it for seeking the biggest rise in defense spending since the early 1980s. "Though it has the largest number of weapons of mass destruction in the world, the US is sharply increasing military expenditure," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. "This clearly proves that the US, 'empire of devil,' is posing a grave threat to the world peace and stability," it said. That's the best they cold come up with? Not very catchy. Guess "foreign devils" was taken...
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Some 300 translations of the Koran, donated to Los Angeles schools by a local Muslim foundation to promote religious understanding after Sept. 11, have been removed because of an accompanying anti-Semitic commentary. The book, "The Meaning of the Holy Koran," is a 1934 translation of the Muslim holy text, which includes footnotes dating from that era which describe Jews variously as "arrogant" "illiterate" and "men without faith." They were donated to schools by the Omar Ibn Khattab Foundation in Los Angeles to promote religious tolerance and understanding after the suicide plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, blamed on Muslim extremists. Yeah, that's the the kinda talk we need to promote understanding. Just don't complain when what we understand isn't what you're pushing.
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One way American residents used to get money into the pipeline for Islamic Jihad terrorists was to make a check out to the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP). The ICP was once "the active arm of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine," as an imam named Fawwaz Damra put it during a 1988 fund-raising event that was captured on video and made public a while back by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The ICP, a U.S.-based "charity" affiliated with the state-funded University of Southern Florida, was a front organization for Islamic Jihad until the FBI shut it down in 1995. So, too, was the World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE), another campus-affiliated group until the middle 1990s. And both groups were run by a University of Southern Florida computer science professor named Sami Al-Arian. USF President Judy Genshaft fired Mr. Al-Arian in December.
St. Petersburg Times reports that the faculty union has voted "to throw its full support" behind the fired prof, while the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has threatened to censure the university. The AAUP's chief concern: that Mr. Al-Arian have "the academic freedom as a citizen to speak out on controversial topics." Exercising my own freedom as a citizen to speak out on controversial topics, I'd say Sami should be booted out of this country to someplace pleasant, like Ivory Coast. His house should be razed and his name expunged from the phone book. And South Florida University's faculty should go right after him, followed by the AAUP. Take your damned multiple jihads someplace else.
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1,300 people have given notice they may sue the New York for a total of $7.18 billion over the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack. The claims involve injuries or damage caused not by the attack itself but by the alleged negligence of the city during the recovery and cleanup. Hey, as long as We're all in this together, could you spot me a few 100K when you get your awards?
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An explosion near an Israeli checkpoint close to the West Bank town of Bethlehem killed a suspected Palestinian suicide bomber. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that an explosive device had gone off but reported no Israeli casualties. However, Faruq Amin a director of the District Coordination Offices (DCOs) between Palestinians and Israel, said that the Israeli-side had said by telephone that a Palestinian body had been found. The family of a young Palestinian man, Ihab Habeeb, claimed that the 24-year-old had carried out a suicide bomb attack at the checkpoint on the road to Jerusalem. Raed Habeeb said his brother had carried out a "martyr" attack and that the family was receiving visitors paying their respects. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion. "Hey, Achmed! I ain't too sure if this thing works. I'm gonna try it out a time or two, just to make sure!"
The Palestinian's problem is that they don't have enough veteran suicide bombers. Posted by Mark Byron [markbyron.blogspot.com/] 2/9/2002 4:30:49 PM
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FoxNews reports the originals of the Daniel Pearl kidnapping e-mails have been found on Omar Said Shiekh's computer. Police raided houses in Lahore and detained some of Saeed's relatives. Saeed remains at large, but police say they are closing in on him. The Paks have been "searching for" Omar for years, but this has been of the "we went to his house, but he wasn't there, so we left" variety of search. Maybe now they'll be a little more serious. But he doesn't seem to have much trouble "eluding" them.
Pakistani police laid their first charges in relation to the abduction of US correspondent Daniel Pearl, but 16 days after he disappeared his fate remained a mystery and the chief suspects had not been found. Three men were charged with aiding and abetting the kidnap, after admitting during three days of interrogation to sending e-mails containing photos of Pearl in captivity and death threats. The three, a former Pakistani police intelligence officer and two cousins said to be members of the outlawed extremist group Jaish-e-Mohammad, were nabbed in a raid in this southern port city on Tuesday night. Yeah. Uhuh. A "former Pakistani police intelligence officer." And his two Jaishy country cousins. But I still don't think it's a Jaish operation. I think it's a pick-up team, even though Omar Sheikh is involved. He's a money handler, not an operations guy.
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Philippine President Gloria Arroyo lashed out at compatriots opposed to the use of US military advisers in the fight against Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, calling them "anti-Filipino" and partners of "terrorists". The political left and several legislators are challenging the legality of the deployment of up to 660 US soldiers, including 160 Special Forces troops, in the Mindanao region where Abu Sayyaf kidnappers operate. Legislators: Everybody should own one.
...as anti-Filipino
"If you are not a Filipino, then who are you? A protector of terrorists, a cohort of murderers, an Abu Sayyaf lover," Arroyo said, adding: "As your President, I will not stop until the last Abu Sayyaf is captured dead or alive." Oh, we know they're not really an international terrorist menace. They're actually local banditti with an Islamic veneer. But they enjoy cutting people's heads off, so we should kill them anyway. Once they're decomposing, perhaps MILF and MNLF will learn to say "please" and "thank you." Wonder if the SF is going to do that thing with dipping the bullets in hog fat, ala General Pershing?
MILF sez it'll deny shelter to Abu Sayyaf
Moro rebels pledged to deny shelter to Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, the target of US military action now unfolding in the southern Philippines. Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesman Eid Kabalu also assured the authorities that the separatist MILF was not involved in the kidnapping of a South Korean on Mindanao island. "We are going to hold them, we will arrest them, then we will turn them over to the (peace negotiating) panel and let the panel discuss about it," Kabalu said. They probably already consider that ship sunk.
MNLF did it, not us sez MILF
Kabalu also denied that MILF members were behind the abduction of South Korean Yoon Jae-Kun, 43, and his Filipino partner. He insisted that they were seized by members of another Muslim group, the Moro National Liberation Front. Perhaps you should consider a name change. Even better, become Mormons and forget this "armed struggle" stuff.
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The man said to be behind a plot to blow up the United States Embassy in Singapore was also the business partner of an Afghan terrorist. He helped the terrorist to finance a 1995 plot to blow up 12 US jetliners over the Pacific Ocean, according to documents and officials in Malaysia and the Philippines. Indonesian cleric Riduan Isamuddin, 37 - better known as Hambali - has also been linked to two Sept 11 hijackers. He has emerged in recent weeks as the South-east Asia operations director for Al-Qaeda. Excerpted from a more detailed article in Straits Times. Good reading.
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Lucianne.com points out that this is the same flight a few years ago on which a passenger threw a temper tantrum that culminated with him dropping trou and pooping on the serving cart. I saw this guy's perp walk on Fox this morning. He didn't look like a loon, and they said he didn't remember what happened. I'd probably try real hard to forget anything I did that resulted in me getting beaned with an ax, too. They've gotta put smoking sections back on those planes, especially on long flights!
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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.
