Hamid Karzai has been elected to a two-year term as Afghanistan's head of state. Surprised we are completely "un."
Karzai, who has led the country as interim government chairman since December, won by an overwhelming margin. Of the roughly 1,600 members of the loya jirga who voted, Karzai got 1,295 votes. The announcement of his victory was greeted with applause. An 80% margin? Not too bad. High enough for a "mandate," not so high as Perv's Stalinist-style referendumb margin, which threatened to go over 100%. The fixes weren't real blatant.
Dr. Massouda Jalal, the second-place candidate, received 171 votes, while Dr. Mahsfuz Medai followed with 89 in the country's first vote for president since it gained independence in 1919. Wonder if they'll ever make it a habit?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 09:00 am ||
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U.S. envoy to North Korea, Jack Pritchard, will travel to New York Friday to meet with North Korean officials to discuss resuming high-level dialogue, a senior State Department official has told CNN. These will be talks with a "small t," the official emphasized. But, he said, both sides would discuss "how we go about resuming dialogue ... when and where." He went on to say that what he called "big T" talks would involve "travel to Pyongyang." Pritchard's meeting will be with Pak Gil-yon, the head of the North Korean mission to the United Nations. Ooooh! The brite lites of Old Pyongyang! "How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm, after they've seen Pyongyang?" Can I come, too?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 09:00 am ||
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A clash in the village of Chechen Aul between Russian troops and militants left one militant dead and one wounded. According to the local police station, the skirmish took place during a federal operation to find rebels and weapons, which has been carried out in this settlement for three days now. During the arrest, three rebels opened fire at federal servicemen. One militant managed to escape. No casualties among Russian troops have been reported. Another 13 people have been arrested during the operation. Their involvement in militant activities is currently being investigated. We hope the process is very painful.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 09:14 am ||
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Pakistan says it is investigating whether there was any "foreign" involvement in the car suicide bombing outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi that left at least eleven people dead. Nairobi was al-Qaeda. Karachi could be most anybody, though we could make a few guesses. Pakistan seems to have more nut cases per capita than any other country in the world.
At least 40 others were injured after the bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a guard post near the heavily guarded consular building on Friday. In the United States, the White House called the attack a "deplorable act of terror" and a "vivid reminder that our nation is at war," but said it has no information that the al Qaeda terror network is responsible. It doesn't matter whether it was al-Qaeda or not. If it wasn't them, it was an organization either formally or informally allied with them: Lashkar, Jaish, Sipah, Harkat, Hizbul... Pick one, or two, or twelve.
Authorities say they are yet to determine who was behind the bombing or if the consulate was the primary target of the attack. The carload of dynamite just happened to stop there while the driver tried to poke out the fire when he dropped a lit cigar in his lap, see?
Pakistani government spokesman Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi told CNN that the bombing took place on the main road near the consulate and the Marriott Hotel and not on a smaller side road that passed closer to the boundary wall of the consulate. "So we are not sure," Qureshi told CNN. "We are not closing any options... We are investigating all angles including whether there were any foreign intelligence agencies involved because we have indications that there are attempts to destabilize Pakistan and Pakistan's economy by scaring away investment and especially foreigners." Yeah, yeah. Blame it on the Heathen Hindoo. Somebody tell him to shut up.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 09:00 am ||
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There is a long opinion piece in Gulf News by Ayaz Amir on where Pakistan stands at the moment. It makes an interesting contrast to the Hafiz Saeed article I extracted yestereday. core dump%
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 10:41 am ||
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Compare with the pessimistic Indian view over at Asia Times. Even though they're headlining a "review" of India-US ties, plans are ever closer to put US forces on the ground alongside Indians. (Hmm. Maybe they were inspired by 'Windtalkers' ...) If the Indos really are as jubilant as the Paks are porraying them, this is an interesting dissonance. Negotiating ploy? Well, the timing would be right.
Posted by: dan hartung ||
06/14/2002 22:49 Comments ||
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A previously unheard of militant group has claimed responsibility for the apparent suicide bomb attack on the US consulate that killed 11 people. The al-Qanoon organisation hand-delivered photocopies of its statement to media organisations including AFP late Friday. The hand-written message included a warning of further attacks. Previously unheard-f "organizations" claimed credit for the Pearl kidnapping and for the Kashmir attack on women and kiddies that almost brought India and Pak to war. Turned out to be the same old orifices, wearing false moustaches and glasses.
However Sindh province police chief Syed Kamal Shah said his force had not received a copy. "Police have not receieved any statement from any group claiming the responsibility," he said. "I have not seen the statement but if any such statement has been issued, we look into it." "Ummm... Wait a minute. Here it is. Somebody misfiled it... Nope. That's something else. We'll let you know, okay?"
The statement said: "America and its allies and its slave Pakistani rulers should prepare for more attacks. This bomb attack is just a beginning of al-Qanoon's jihadi operation in Pakistan." How can it be just a beginning when it's been under way for so long?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 12:21 pm ||
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The United States on Friday shuttered its diplomatic missions in Pakistan as well as the American Centre in Islamabad after a deadly truck bomb attack outside its consulate in Karachi, the State Department said. The embassy and American Centers were closed to the public immediately after the blast, as were the consulates in Lahore and Peshawar, Lynn Cassel, a department spokeswoman, told AFP. The bombing--which damaged the Karachi consulate and killed eight people, none of them US government employees--slightly wounded a US Marine guard and five local Pakistani employees at the mission, she said. "In addition, we believe that two or more contract consulate guards were critically injured," Cassel said, calling the explosion the result of an "enormous truck bomb" that went off just 15 metres from the southeast corner of the consulate. Can we indulge a little fantasy of pulling out all our diplomats, sending all the Pak diplomats home, breaking all commercial contacts with the country, to include telecommunications, and telling them to call us when they've got their house in order?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 12:29 pm ||
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Pakistani security agencies have arrested an Arab national, an alleged accomplice of the Al Qaeda terrorist Abdullah al Muhajir involved in the dirty bomb case. More arrests are expected in the light of interrogation of an Arab arrested a few days ago from Lahore. Authorities did not disclose the name of the Arab national. However, other sources disclosed his name as Benjamin Ahmed Mahmud. Wonder where that "Arab national" might be from?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 12:50 pm ||
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The economic survey 2001-02, released on Thursday, has estimated the literacy rate at 50.5 per cent, registering an increase of over one per cent from the last year's figure of 49 per cent. The survey, which was released by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, said that the literacy rate among men was 63 per cent and among women it was 38 per cent, while rural and urban literacy rates were 30 per cent and 70 per cent respectively. That must really bother them. It represents a diminishing pool of available jihadi cannon fodder.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 12:54 pm ||
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The Pakistan Navy is fully prepared to thwart any aggressive designs of the enemy and is capable of meeting any eventuality, declared chief of Naval Staff Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza. Uh, admiral? They left three days ago...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 12:58 pm ||
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See? It worked!
Posted by: dan hartung ||
06/14/2002 22:30 Comments ||
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The State Duma ratified the international convention "On fighting the financing of terrorism" from December 9, 1999, on its plenary session on Friday. Russia signed the document in New York on April 3, 2000. The convention is "intended to fill the gap in the international law regime of antiterrorist cooperation," said Alexander Kotenkov, the president's plenipotentiary in the State Duma. The convention envisages criminal, legal and administrative responsibility for crimes connected with financing terrorism and stipulates a new corpus delicti that was not mentioned in the previous conventions. With 226 votes necessary for the ratification, 362 MPs voted for and one was against it, with none abstained.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 09:18 am ||
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The United States and its allies should not pursue "hidden agendas" in their widening war on terror because the campaign is not the world's overriding concern, the head of the Arab League said Friday. Rather, the Arab world's major worry is "the Israeli military occupation of Arab territories and the infringement of the rights of Palestinians," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said. Guess we don't share the same concerns then, do we?
Moussa warned Washington and its allies against using their worldwide hunt for terrorists for "settling accounts and imposing a different world order" - an apparent reference to Arab fears of a planned U.S. attack on Iraq. We kind of have the opinion that evil should be destroyed where it's found, before it destroys us...
Even though Middle East countries also consider terrorism "evil," joining the Western campaign against it was not the region's top priority, Moussa said. "It's evil, but it's our preferred tool..."
He also argued that terrorism is not linked to any one region, race or religion. "We see an attempt to link Islam to terrorism," Moussa said. He also criticized unspecified nations and governments for allegedly "accusing all Arab or Muslims of terrorist intentions and cultures." This is the same old tired song, sung in a cracked voice to the accompaniment of a wheezing accordion played by the Professionally Concerned™. Terrorism seems to be the favorite sport of a single religion — specifically the Wahhabi and Shia brands of Islam. The threat posed by all other brands of terrorism isn't negligable, but it doesn't threaten the peace and stability of the entire world at the moment. Arabs, Paks and Chechens are three different "races," and recruiting is world-wide, so none can be left out, but we know where the core is, and it's not Eskimos or Samoans or Swedes. Repetition isn't going to make anyone believe the patently untrue.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 02:11 pm ||
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Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Friday he endorses the idea of a "provisional" Palestinian state being considered by U.S. President George W. Bush. Peres, in an interview with Israel Radio, said the idea of a provisional state was "more or less" the same as a proposal he had worked out with Palestinian Parliament Speaker Abu Ala. If they let them have it with nothing in return, they're just setting up for more grief.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 09:00 am ||
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U.S. President George W. Bush exchanged ideas on the Middle East with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Thursday as he prepared to advance U.S. proposals for ending Israeli-Palestinian violence and finding an elusive peace. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush and Prince Saud had a "warm meeting" of about 20 minutes in the Oval Office, Bush's third meeting in the past week with a regional leader as he seeks to draw up a road map to a Middle East settlement. "They exchanged a variety of ideas about how to move forward and the president enjoyed the visit," Fleischer said. He said the two leaders engaged in a general discussion and did not get into a "specific-by-specific" discussion. He's obviously putting something together. Sharon seems okay, Mubarak's cheezed at him, and Faisal sez he's happy...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 09:00 am ||
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The new Palestinian security chief said Friday he wants to "put an end" to militias involved in shooting and bombing attacks on Israelis, warning that the Palestinians' image must not be soiled by terrorism. Uh... Careful. You almost stepped on my jaw... Gen. Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, who was appointed interior minister in a weekend Cabinet reshuffle, said he would first engage in dialogue with the armed groups. Yehiyeh did not say how he would proceed if his appeals go unheeded. Probably keep working on it until his car blows up...
A day after being sworn in, Yehiyeh on Friday said he would strive to neutralize the armed groups that have been carrying out terror attacks. "We should put an end to all the militias. We should end it completely," Yehiyeh said in an interview. "I will not agree in any way to pollute the name of the Palestinian people with terrorism." If this isn't for Western consumption only, it represents a sea change in Paleostinian strategy, though it's kinda late in the game for them to worry about their name being sullied. Wonder what Yasser makes of it, if he's coherent this week?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 01:44 pm ||
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Foreign Minister Shimon Peres is holding talks with senior Palestinian negotiators over the upcoming regional peace conference, Israel Radio reported Friday morning. The radio reported that the talks were being held with the consent of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, but on condition that neither Peres nor anyone in his bureau have contact with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Habitual liar-in-chief Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, however, denied that talks between Israel and the PA over a regional peace conference were being held, saying there were currently no diplomatic contacts between the sides. Erekat said the only contact between the parties at this time is concerns he transfer of food and medicine to Palestinian-controlled areas. "We ain't talkin' to you, 'cuz we don't like you, 'cuz you're bad. Bad, bad, bad. So shut up and give us our welfare checks." Keep in mind, though, that if Saeb's lips are moving, he's lying.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 01:52 pm ||
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About 10 Abu Sayyaf members led by Abu Sabaya have again slipped through a military cordon in Zamboanga del Norte. Abu Sayyaf rebels have dispersed into small groups and melted into the jungle after a shootout last week to rescue three hostages. "The Abu Sayyaf has broken up into smaller groups so it is more difficult to get them now. They're probably mixed with the population, blended with the crowd," Defence Secretary Angelo Reyes said on Manila's ANC television. "So, this will have to be a house-to-house, community-by-community search. It's going to be difficult." Yeah, but they've got to do it. If they slack off and let them get away they're going to have another Burnhams situation in a year or so. The only way to eradicate the threat is to wipe them out to the last man.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 09:27 am ||
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Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya grew up with the grandmother of nurse Ediborah Yap in southern Philippines. Lola (Grandma) Rosa Pamaran told ABS CBN that Sabaya, his four siblings and his mother stayed in her house in Lamitan, Basilan, when Sabaya was a young boy. "He was an ordinary boy. He was kind and quiet. He always followed orders and responded properly whenever sent on an errand," recounted Pamaran. "Quiet. Kind of a loner..."
"He stayed with us because his father had left the family," recalled Pamaran. She did not say when Sabaya and his family left the Pamaran household. He had the cliche troubled childhood...
"When Ediborah was kidnapped last year, we sent word to Sabaya and requested her release," revealed Pamaran. "He felt compassion for Ediborah when we made the request." She did not give details such as when her family sent a message to Sabaya for Yap's release. "We still remember him as a kind and humble boy although others said he has become arrogant and fierce," said Pamaran. And was responsible for Ediborah getting killed...
She recalled having a brief dialogue with Sabaya when the latter had grown up but was not yet identified as the Abu Sayyaf spokesman. "At that time, I asked him about his work, and he said he had none although his family had managed to build a house," Pamaran said. "I was really surprised when I learned that he had become an Abu Sayyaf member. I think deep in his heart he is kind. He was just brain-washed by the Abu Sayyaf Group." So the lad came into money about the time he became a big-time gangster revolutionary. Wotta coincidence. And he was a good boy, who led hung around with the wrong crowd...
Meanwhile, Yap's son, Jonathan, said he does not believe reports which claimed that his mother was forced to marry Abu Sayyaf leader, Isnilon Hapilon, while she was in captivity. "There were reports saying that, but many times I said they were not true," stated Jonathan Yap. On the other hand, the Bad Guys said she'd become a good Muslim at the last, didn't they?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 11:07 am ||
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A bomb explosion wounded 14 people at a cafe in western Algeria on Thursday. Two suspected Islamic rebels planted the home-made bomb on the door of a the cafe at Djelida small town in Ain Defla area, 130 km south west of Algiers. "Only three of the wounded were kept in hospital for treatment while the other 11 had left hospital for their homes," APS news agency said.
Twelve passengers were killed on Tuesday when hard boys sprayed their bus with machinegun fire at Medea, 70 km (45 miles) south of Algiers. Hard boys spray machinegun fire like cats spray the bushes in front of your house, or dogs spray hydrants.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/14/2002 09:07 am ||
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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.
