KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - An attacker blew himself up in a failed assault on coalition forces Sunday in volatile southern Afghanistans, officials said. The attempted attack against the coalition forces occurred as their convoy passed through the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanekzai said the explosives detonated when the attacker was hit by a motorbike. The blast killed the attacker and motorbike driver and wounded two other people, U.S. military and Afghan police officials said.
One of the wounded was a coalition soldier, who was treated for minor injuries and returned to duty, said Lt. Mike Cody, a coalition spokesman. The convoy and the injured soldier were Canadian, Lt. Col. Steve Borland told The Canadian Press. U.S. and Canadian officials called the attacker a suicide bomber, but a police officer at the scene said the man was apparently trying to throw a grenade.
One of Hek's boys!
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 00:00 ||
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JALALABAD, Afghanistan - A newly elected Afghan parliamentarian was killed Sunday when a row about a fire in a woodyard erupted into an armed clash that left four men dead, government officials said. Esmatullah Muhabat, who won a seat in the lower house in parliament for eastern Laghman province, was the first MP to be killed since the September 18 election for Afghanistanâs first national assembly in about three decades.
The fighting started after a businessman in Laghman captured one of Muhabatâs men in connection with a blaze at his firewood outlet late Saturday, an interior ministry spokesman said. He handed the man to police, Yousuf Stanizai said. Muhabat led a band of his men to confront the businessman early Sunday. âThis morning at 7:00 am, as a result, fighting erupted between the two. Three of Esmatullahâs guys were killed in the fighting and he himself was injured and later died,â Stanizai told AFP.
Dang, someone knows how to shoot straight.
âThe fighting has ceased and the area has been sealed off by police,â a spokesman for the provincial governor said. He had said earlier that two men had been killed and three wounded.
Muhabat was one of thousands of mujahedin (holy warriors) who fought against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989. He was arrested by US forces last year for suspected links to the hardline Taleban regime that was removed from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001, and spent a year in detention at the main US base at Bagram.
He was released four months ago and surrendered some weapons as part of a UN-backed disarmament programme. Despite the completion of the programme, many militia groups linked to mujahedin still maintain private armies. A second phase is under way to persuade these groups to disband.
Muhabat took the third of four seats from Laghman for parliamentâs lower house.
Looks like they'll be holding a by-election.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 00:00 ||
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A gang war over a lumberyard torch?
Sounds like Brooklyn.
KABUL - Five American servicemen and an Afghan soldier were injured on Sunday when two US Chinook helicopters made emergency landings in separate locations in southern Afghanistan, the US military said.
In the first incident, one Afghan National Army soldier was hurt during the landing at a forward operating base south of Tarin Kowt but was in âa stable condition,â the military said in a statement. The second incident, in which five US soldiers were injured, occurred north of Kandahar and resulted in severe damage to the aircraft. The injured, who were not seriously hurt, were evacuated to a nearby US medical facility for treatment and were in a stable condition, it said.
Afghan and US forces were conducting recovery operations. âBoth CH-47 aircrafts were involved in combat operations against enemy forces in southern Afghanistan. The causes of the incidents are under investigation,â the statement said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 00:00 ||
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LONDON: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been granted âfull accessâ to Britainâs military airfields to transport terrorist suspects, the Mail on Sunday reported. The newspaper published photographs taken by aircraft enthusiasts apparently showing three US aircraft at three Scottish airports - Edinburgh, Prestwick and Glasgow - on June 20, 2004, November 13, 2004 and September 16 this year. âOur investigation has found proof that a series of aircraft linked to the CIAâs âextraordinary renditionâ programme have been flying in and out of Britain unchecked by the authorities,â it claimed.
Alternately, the flights were moving CIA personnel, or freight, or bunches of other stuff, none of which we want you to know about. Anyone now think the NYT release of the CIA flight operations was innocent? The real question becomes, who at CIA leaked this?
The Mail on Sunday said one of the planes - a CASA turboprop - had also been photographed at Kabul airport, Afghanistan, and was suspected by human rights groups to have been used to move terror suspects for interrogation.
Alternately, etc.
The newspaper claimed to have unearthed flight logs from the Royal Air Force base at Northolt, northwest London, âwhich suggests top-level Government complicity in the CIAâs secret operationâ. It said the logs give no explanation about why a number of planes, including one allegedly used to transport some high-profile suspects, were granted landing rights and did not record who was on board.
Because we didn't want you to know. It's called, 'security'.
CIA flights had stopped at British airports âon at least 210 occasionsâ, the paper said. âNearly 20 British airports have been used, with Prestwick and Glasgow among the top destinations,â it added. âPrestwick has received 75 CIA rendition flights and Glasgow 74.â
Meanwhile, the European Union on Sunday called on Washington to be as clear as possible about claims that it ran CIA secret prisons and flights across Europe. European Commission spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing said the EU executive office was awaiting clarification from the United States this week. âWe stressed to the United States that they should come forward as soon as possible on this,â Roscam Abbing said. âIt is in both our interests to be as forthcoming and transparent as possible.â
"It ain't possible. Thanks for asking."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
And yet,not one photo of prisioners boarding or getting off these planes.
#2
As far as I'm concerned you're more than welcome to use our airports - clearly the London bombings weren't enough to make the British populace aware that we are fighting a war. Could we have something more on the scale of 9/11 next time to help us get it into our thick heads.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
12/05/2005 6:32 Comments ||
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#3
Prestwick and Glasgow among the top destinations
These are all trans-atlantic refuelling stops. The next stop is in Gander, Newfoundland (can be averted if stopped in Iceland). Let me guess, Canada is next to complain.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/05/2005 6:46 Comments ||
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#4
Thanks Howard! Need some directions however on how best to pick up the A2 South to Dover and the train across. These little buggers are keen on getting back to Paris and the buring as soon as possible.
#5
The press gets on a subject and gets lockjaw.
Without any new facts or evidence, hasn't this story run it's course? Does anyone care about those assholes anyway?
'http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/art/vp1a.gif PBS salt
fast foward about 1/2 way.
Jean-Louis Bruguiere and many other EU terrorist "experts" think what's happening in Europe today is a new virulent form of terrorism that can largely be blamed on the invasion of Iraq, the inference being that radical Islam can be excluded or modified from Europe after the end of that conflict. It's a specious piece of reasoning but, then again, it's easier to blame US policy/Bush than stare at the truth right outside their front door.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/05/2005 15:48 Comments ||
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SYDNEY - Jailed terrorist suspect Saleh Jamal, one of a group of men alleged to have planned a militant strike on Sydney Harbour, has said he will attack Australia if forced to return here, a report said on Monday. Jordanian-born Jamal, currently being held in a Lebanese prison, told The Australian newspaper that he had been only â30 percent likelyâ to have carried out an attack in Australia before he fled to Lebanon in early 2004. But he said he was now more determined to strike. âThe Australian government has been chasing me for three years,â he said. âIf they try to take me to Australia, I will crash a plane into the Harbour Bridge myself.â
"Right after I slip the handcuffs. And the leg irons. And wiggle out of the straight jacket...."
âI never want to go back to Australia. All I want is for my wife and child to come here to me, but the government will not let her out of the country. Australia is like a paradise in many ways, but it is a sick place.â
"All that beer drinking and girls exposing their flesh."
"And people smiling and happy all the time. And the standard of living is much too high. And no shariah..."
Jamal is serving five years at the maximum security Romieh Prison north of Beirut for possessing weapons and explosives but Lebanese officials are attempting to upgrade his charges to terrorist offences.
Have you thought about him having a terrible accident? I mean, if it was good enough for Hariri...?
Australian police allege Jamal recruited six men to launch an extremist strike in Sydney on New Years Eve 2003. Jamal had purchased a small boat and was accused of conducting surveillance on sites including the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. No attack occurred and no arrests were made. Before he left the country, Jamal was the key target in counter-terrorist Operation Pendennis, which concluded last month with 18 people being arrested on terrorist charges in Sydney and Melbourne. Jamal was on bail awaiting trial over a 1998 shooting at a Sydney police station when he fled to Lebanon on a false passport.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2005 11:31 ||
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#1
âI never want to go back to Australia. All I want is for my wife and child to come here to me, but the government will not let her out of the country."
I dunno, sounds like bullshit to me. Since when does a free country forbid anyone not charged with a crime to leave of their own free will?
Two highly decorated veterans who were held captive together in a Vietnamese prison camp more than three decades ago find themselves nose to nose today over U.S. policy on torture.
In a draft letter circulated to some rank-and-file Republican colleagues but not sent, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) asks the top House defense appropriators to exclude from a defense-spending conference report the anti-torture provision added to the Senate version of the bill by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
The McCain amendment would limit American interrogators to techniques prescribed by the Army Field Manual and prohibit âcruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishmentâ of prisoners in U.S. custody, regardless of nationality or physical location.
âThis provision could have devastating effects and is entirely unwarranted,â Johnson wrote in an unsigned and undated draft of the letter obtained by The Hill.
The McCain anti-torture language will likely be dropped from the spending bill but included, in some form, in the defense authorization bill, according to Republican aides. Committee staff worked over the weekend to iron out remaining trouble spots in the authorization measure.
Despite 90 votes supporting the McCain amendment in the Senate, the administration has threatened to veto either bill if it contains the amendmentâs language. White House officials, most notably Vice President Cheney, have long sought to thwart McCainâs effort.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a speech yesterday that the United States neither employs nor condones torture.
âThe United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture,â Rice said.
But a question remains about the definition of âtorture.â McCain seeks to answer that question with his amendment.
His provision defines cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as anything prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth or 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
For now, the White House is negotiating directly with McCain, leaving other lawmakers, including Johnson and Republican congressional leaders, on the periphery.
âEveryone else is sort of a sideline player at this point,â one senior House Republican aide said. âThe reality is McCain has the votes.â
It is not clear whether Johnsonâs letter was held back because it lacked signatures, could not stop McCain from getting votes or is already supported by GOP leaders, or for another reason. Johnson was not available to comment, and McCainâs office did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Political differences are nothing new for Johnson and McCain, who were held in the same cell in Vietnam. When McCain ran for president in 2000, Johnson backed fellow Texan George W. Bush.
âI happened to be with McCain for the last year and a half in a prison camp over there in Vietnam. I know him pretty well ⊠and I can tell you, he cannot hold a candle to George Bush,â Johnson said at a Bush campaign rally, according to the Knight Ridder News Service.
âJohnâs a great friend and a great American, but you know what? George Bush is pushing an agenda that will help America in the long run,â he told CNN on the day of that yearâs decisive South Carolina primary.
They also found themselves at odds over U.S. efforts to normalize relations with Vietnam, with McCain in favor and Johnson opposed, and they have split on McCainâs signature campaign-finance overhaul efforts.
In the case of the anti-torture amendment, their divergence reflects a deep national divide over the treatment of American-held captives. Much as they differ over the policy, Johnson and McCain employ sharply contrasting tactics on the political battlefield.
While McCain assiduously pursues publicity to achieve his legislative and political goals, Johnson prefers an audience of colleagues. Though it landed in Republican inboxes across Capitol Hill, Johnsonâs letter was not distributed to reporters by his office.
McCain said when he introduced the amendment that the need for intelligence in the war on terrorism is obvious.
âWhat should also be obvious is that the intelligence we collect must be reliable and acquired humanely, under clear standards understood by all our fighting men and women,â he said. âTo do differently would not only offend our values as Americans but undermine our war effort because abuse of prisoners harms, not helps, us in the war on terror.â
But Johnson argues that interrogators must have flexibility as they try to pry information from detainees.
âRequiring the Field Manual to detail every type and means for interrogation and making it the sole authority on interrogation techniques would give our enemies advance knowledge, allowing them to train their people to withstand our procedures,â he wrote.
âHaving to potentially sift through thousands of pages of proper techniques in order to get interrogation authorization would likely compromise our ability to control the process, potentially preventing us from attaining valuable information that could avert future attacks,â Johnson wrote.
Johnsonâs unsent letter was addressed to House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Bill Young (Fla.) and the top Democrat on the panel, John Murtha (Pa.). But Murtha is preparing a motion to instruct conferees, who have not yet been named by Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), to keep the McCain amendment.
In late October, 15 House Republicans wrote to Young asking him to include it in the conference report.
House critics of McCain appear unwilling to challenge the former prisoner of war on torture even with cover from Johnson, whose medals include two Silver Stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts, two Legions of Merit and a Bronze Star.
âI wasnât really as courageous as Sam Johnson,â McCain, who was awarded many of the same medals, told The Dallas Morning News for a 2003 profile of Johnson. âI mean that. He suffered a lot more than I did.â
Posted by: Captain America ||
12/05/2005 20:53 ||
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A joint investigation by the Intelligence Bureau and Jammu and Kashmir Police has discovered disturbing new evidence that mainstream political parties in the State have been infiltrated by operatives working for the Lashkar-e-Taiba â and are being used to provide cover for the terrorist group's operations. Lashkar operatives Ubaid-ur-Rahman, Mohammad Salim and Sadaqat Ali, who were killed in an operation by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday night, were found in possession of photo-identification cards identifying them as members of the Youth National Conference. The Lashkar operatives, all Pakistani nationals, are believed to have been provided the identification by Shabbir Ahmad Bukhari, a Srinagar lower court lawyer and political activist who has been arrested on charges of aiding the terrorist group.
Another Srinagar-based member of the Lashkar cell, Shakeel Ahmad Sofi, was a member of the State Youth Congress. Sofi had even obtained official accommodation two years ago after claiming that his life was under threat from terrorist groups. Like Bukhari, Sofi used party identification cards to move Lashkar personnel, weapons and communication equipment past security checkpoints. Police investigators had discovered ammunition, grenades and a hand-held satellite phone in Sofi's home on Thursday.
The three Lashkar terrorists killed yesterday, investigators say, were transported to Srinagar by Bukhari and Sofi from two camps perched on the Arin mountains, above the small frontier town of Bandipora. Commanded by two Lashkar operatives so far identified only by their aliases, `Saad Bhai' and `Bilal Bhai', the camps are thought to have been launching pads for several of the fidayeen suicide squads who have carried out a succession of major terror strikes across central and northern Kashmir in recent months. Apart from using the fact that security personnel are reluctant to search individuals who possess identification from major political parties, Sofi also purchased a white Maruti jeep that was outfitted to resemble an official vehicle of the kind often used by bureaucrats and police officers. After the October fidayeen attack in Srinagar's high-security Tulsi Bagh area that claimed the life of State Minister Abdul Gani Lone, the jeep was used to move a terrorist who survived the operation â code-named `Osama' â from Srinagar to safety.
While the Hizb ul-Mujahideen, the largest militant group operating in Jammu and Kashmir, is long known to have built an elaborate network of political contacts in both the People's Democratic Party and the National Conference, this is the first time that hard evidence that the Lashkar has managed to penetrate the political system has been gathered. Analysts have long believed that the Lashkar, most of whose key operatives are Pakistani nationals, did not have significant numbers of ethnic Kashmiri supporters. Since 2002, however, when 22 mainly ethnic Kashmiri Lashkar cadre were arrested in Srinagar, this received wisdom has been under siege.
Investigators are now focussing on the overground infrastructure used by the overall commander of the Lashkar's central and north Kashmir operations, Rawalpindi resident Mohammad Rashid `Sulfi'. Rashid was killed late last night by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, acting on information provided by the Intelligence Bureau. Using the alias Rahman Mota, or `Fat Rahman', Rashid had ordered a series of high-profile fidayeen actions, including an unsuccessful 2004 attempt on the life of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and an assault on former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's residence in Srinagar.
Records of text messages sent to the satellite phone recovered from the Lashkar operative Sofi show he was connected with the Lashkar's amir-e-jihad, or overall head of military operations, an individual so far identified only by the alias `Abu Alqama'. Since `Abu Alqama' was also Rashid's immediate superior, and given the fact that the Lashkar commander had operated in Srinagar before shifting base to the northern Kashmir town of Sopore, investigators believe all of the Lashkar's operations may have shared a common pool of well-connected and apparently respectable overground operatives in the city. Among the individuals on whom attention is now being focussed is Tariq Dar, a Srinagar-based pharmaceutical salesman who was recently arrested on charges of handling the funds that were used to finance the Delhi serial bombings last month. Sources say Rashid was in touch with Dar, although it is unlikely he knew of the Delhi bombings. Intelligence sources say they suspect Dar also funnelled funds to two other major Lashkar units, the south Kashmir group commanded by an operative code-named `Abu Maaz', and the north Kashmir group headed by an individual who uses the code-names `Salahuddin' and `Haider'.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 01:08 ||
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A soldier and a suspected militant were killed on Sunday after troops and militants traded fire in a restive tribal area near the Afghanistan border, the military said on Sunday.
âA soldier and a suspect were killed on Sunday in Shakai Valley of South Waziristan,â around 60 kilometres southwest of Miranshah, Pakistanâs military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said.
âThe soldiers traded fire with miscreants during a search operation launched after an improvised explosive device exploded in the area,â Sultan said.
The soldiers were taking water from a stream to a mountain post in Shakai, a former militant stronghold north of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan.
Local intelligence officials said that a suspected militant had been captured by troops who cordoned off the area after the blast.
In a separate incident, suspected insurgents fired about five rockets at government and paramilitary installations in Mir Ali, 25 kilometres east of Miranshah, but caused no damage. âA rocket hit the main electricity line late on Saturday after which the power supply to the area was suspended,â a local administration official said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 00:26 ||
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Pakistan's military and intelligence officials have intensified their hunt for Arab militants in a remote northern region bordering Afghanistan after it was revealed a senior Al-Qaeda commander hiding in the area was killed last week.
News at the weekend of the killing of Abu Hamza Rabia, an Egyptian and the leader ranked third in the terrorist group after Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been hailed by Pakistani officials as a significant success in the war on terror.
Mr Rabia was believed to have been the mastermind behind two assassination attempts on General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, in December 2003.
On Saturday during a visit to Kuwait, Gen Musharraf confirmed Mr Rabia's death. "Yes indeed, 200 per cent. I think he was killed the day before yesterday if I'm not wrong," the Pakistani leader told journalists.
In Islamabad, a security official said the al-Qaeda leader was killed in an operation launched by Pakistani troops following intelligence information shared by the US.
The venue of Mr Rabia's killing was described by the official as a small village some 25km-30km from the Afghan border in North Waziristan - a tribal region which has been the focus of months of operations by Pakistani troops.
The Pakistani official hailed the killing as an important blow to al-Qaeda, describing Mr Rabia as having the same seniority as Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, the group's head of operations, who was arrested by Pakistan in 2003 and handed over to the US.
Mr Mohammad's role was subsequently taken over by Abu Faraaj Faraj al-Liby, who was killed earlier this year in Pakistan.
But Arab diplomats in Islamabad played down the significance of Mr Rabia's killing and questioned the circumstances surrounding his death. One senior diplomat said that unless a body was shown to him and examined in detail: "I cannot be 100 per cent certain if this is just smoke or there's fire below too."
Another Arab diplomat said that he believed Pakistan was eager to playup the importance of al-Qaeda members killed on its soil "to keep up its [Pakistan's] credentials as Washington's most indispensable ally in the war on terror".
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 00:20 ||
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Political authorities have summoned the owner of a house in Mirali tehsil of the North Waziristan Agency where an Al Qaeda commander and four others was killed reportedly in a missile attack on Wednesday night.
Sources said that Mohammad Siddiq, the house-owner, was given the notice on Saturday and directed to appear in the office of the political administration. Normally, notices are served through maliks, but in this case elders declined to do the job, an official said. The authorities then directed the Muharrir to serve the summons on Siddiq.
"I don't want to do it!"
"You have to do it! Get going!"
Official sources said that the bodies of Al Qaedaâs operational commander Hamza Rabia and his two comrades, who were killed in Siddiqâs house on Wednesday night, had not been found.
Hamza and four others were killed in the house in Asoray village, east of Miramshah.
Villagers said that Siddiqâs house had been hit by the missiles fired by unmanned air vehicles and added that fragments of missiles had been found in the rubble of the mud-house. A witness denied the occurrence of any explosion, saying the attack was so precise that it hit only the targeted place and did not cause damage to surroundings.
"Look at these blast points. Only Imperial Storm Troopers are so precise."
Sounds like an imperial helizap, allright.
The provincial chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Maulana Amanullah, MNA, visited the damaged house on Sunday. Villagers showed pieces of the exploded missiles, some were marked with words âUS-madeâ. They contradicted the governmentâs claim about the killing of foreigners inside the house or stockpiles of explosives that had caused the blast.
Sat amid the ruins of his house, Siddiq denied there were any militants present in the house at the time of the attack. âI donât know anything about them â there were no foreigners in my house,â Siddiq said. âI have nothing to do with foreigners or Al Qaeda.
"Please don't kill me!"
âWe were sleeping when I heard two explosions in my guest room. When I went there I saw my son, Abdul Wasit, and my eight-year-old nephew, Noor Aziz, were dead,â said the tall tribesman as he received condolences from relatives and neighbours. âI heard more explosions and went out to the courtyard, and when I looked up at the sky, I saw a white drone,â said Siddiq. âI saw a flash of light come from the drone followed by explosions.â
Officials say Hamzaâs corpse, along with those of two comrades, was removed by other fighters and buried secretly.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 00:17 ||
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#1
A witness denied the occurrence of any explosion, saying the attack was so precise that it hit only the targeted place and did not cause damage to surroundings.
Sounds like a concrete bomb. Just mass and velocity.
#3
So what was Siddiq's son and 8 year old nephew doing in the guest room with Hamza and his two comrades? I just watched part of a History channel documentary on Rome's vice and some of the wickedest emperors were pedophiles who had been victimized themselves. Sex abuse breeds future serial killers and terrorists.
#4
If it was a concrete bomb, why aren't we putting messages on them, in Arabic.
"Islam means peace, asshole."
Or something along those lines. Eventually the word would get out to the believers that the attack was Allah striking him down and we might see some change in the mindset over there.
SRINAGAR: An Indian policeman and four terrorists militants were killed on Sunday in grenade attacks and gun battles that also left 16 people wounded in terrorist-plagued revolt-hit Kashmir, the police said.
A grenade killed the policeman during a raid on a suspected terrorist militant hideout in Tral, 40 kilometres south of Srinagar, the police said. âTwo policemen and four army soldiers were also injured in the attack,â a police spokesman said. Indian troops shot dead four terrorists militants in two separate gun battles in southern Anantnag and northern Baramulla district, he said.
Three of the slain terrorists militants were from the hard line militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, while the identity of the fourth was not immediately known. âOne of the slain militants, Ayub Khan was operating as Lashkarâs divisional commander,â the spokesman said.
A divisional commander? Excellent!
Meanwhile, two policemen and three civilian bystanders were injured in a grenade attack on a police patrol in the summer capital of Kashmir, Srinagar, on Sunday, he said. One of the policemen and one civilian were said to be in critical condition. Later terrorists militants in Srinagarâs Batamaloo area injured four civilians and a policeman in another grenade attack, the police said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 00:00 ||
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On 29 November, a member of the Shamilah Net Forums (www.shamela.net/vb) posted a statement issued by AQI in which the amir of Al-Baraa Jihadist Group claimed to join Al-Zarqawi's group "in response to God Almighty's order to unify the ranks to confront the infidels and the hypocrites." The statement was attributed to "Abu-Maysarah al-Iraqi," the Media Division of al-Qa'ida Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2005 14:02 ||
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#1
Now al-Q has a Media Division and an M&A Department? Surely they have SOME infrastructure we can bomb...
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Saddam Hussein said in a heated exchange with the judge Monday that "I am not afraid of execution" during an unruly trial in which the first witness took the stand and testified that the former president's agents carried out random arrests, torture and killings.
The outburst was one of several by Saddam or his co-defendants during the session that also saw a brief walkout by his defense lawyers. Following the witness' testimony, Saddam defended his actions and told the court that he understood the pressures upon it in his trial. He and his seven co-defendants could be executed if convicted on the charges stemming from the deaths of more than 140 Shiites in 1982.
"When I speak, I speak like your brother," he said. "Your brother in Iraq and your brother in the nation. I am not afraid of execution. I realize there is pressure on you and I regret that I have to confront one of my sons. But I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for Iraq. I'm not defending myself. But I am defending you."
He added that: "I want you to be the shooters and the swords against the enemy army."
When witness Ahmed Hassan Mohammed spoke, Saddam told him: "Do not interrupt me, son."
"If it's ever established that Saddam Hussein laid a hand on any Iraqi, then everything that witness said is correct," he said.
He also told the court that he "would like (the witness) to be examined by an independent medical institution."
"Paging Dr. Quincy! ..."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 10:57 ||
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#1
They should've thrown a grenade in that hole they found him in. Would've saved a lotta time and money and we wouldn't be putting up with this shit.
#5
Flavinter Greresh9791, exactley right. Someone in the court while on TV needs to remind him, if he's not afraid, then when he had a gun, he could of fought the American's coming out of the hole. Easier to say "I'm willing to die", then actually have to face death.
Kuwait City. 5 Dec. (AKI) - US troops have arrested 22 Kuwaitis in Iraq who say they were on a game-hunting trip. They were caught as they tried to leave Iraq and enter Jordan via the Trebil border crossing and have been detained in Abu Ghraib prison on terrorism charges. The Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper reported that the men had tried to cross the border during a night-time curfew, but when they refused to bribe the Iraqi border guards, the guards reported them to the US military.
The 22 Kuwaitis are reported to have had an official hunting licence, issued by the Sulaimaniya governorate of Iraq. Kuwaiti tribal leaders and one MP have urged Iraqi vice-president Ghazi Yawar and interior minister Bayan Jabor Solagh to release them, but without success.
Since Saddam Hussein's regime was brought down in 2003, several Kuwaitis have been arrested in Iraq or while trying to enter Iraq from Syria, and have admitted to being members of groups involved in the resistance against US troops in Iraq. Last month eight armed Kuwaitis and two Saudis, who also claimed to be on a game-hunting trip, were caught trying to cross the border from Jordan into Iraq.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2005 09:30 ||
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#1
Release them with a 30 minute head start.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2005 10:08 Comments ||
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The Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper reported that the men had tried to cross the border during a night-time curfew, but when they refused to bribe the Iraqi border guards, the guards reported them to the US military.
Arrest the guards.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/05/2005 10:34 Comments ||
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#13
:> TO.... there was a site, an alumni site for a destroyer escort as I recall, that started playing an ear breaker of a Twin 40 MP3. I lost it, perhaps I'll leave out a bowl.....
A French water treatment engineer has been kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraqi police have said. Witnesses said seven gunmen in two cars stopped the man outside his home in Baghdad's western district of Mansour. The French foreign ministry has confirmed that a French national is missing, naming him as Bernard Planche. Baghdad's relatively affluent western district of Mansour has seen a steady stream of kidnappings in recent years. Western contractors and many Iraqi officials live in the area. Two French journalists were kidnapped in Iraq in 2004 and eventually freed after weeks in captivity. France's government has subsequently tried to dissuade its nationals from travelling to Iraq.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2005 09:06 ||
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Clean water is unislamic.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2005 9:47 Comments ||
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And big ransom payments from the dhimmis are really really Islamic.
No worries. Chances are good that all these Europeans will be released. After all, their respective governments invested heavily to make sure that they're seen as opponents to everything that the US does. The recent fad appears to be the CIA flights.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/05/2005 15:42 Comments ||
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French engineer 'seized in Iraq'
So Alec Baldwin did go to France after the last election, and started a new occupation...
Marines staked their claim to the abandoned youth center in Husayba last month with a Hellfire missile and two tank rounds that destroyed a corner of the building and part of the roof.
Weeks earlier, residents had forsaken the center to insurgents who were using it as an armory and a staging point for attacks. The fighters fled before the American assault but left evidence that their flight had been in haste, including a half-eaten bowl of fresh figs in a makeshift sniper's roost above the center's theater.
This was the last building in a five-day sweep of the town, a point at which the Americans, in the past, would usually have loaded up their armored vehicles, driven back to their desert bases and prepared for a new raid elsewhere, leaving the door open for a return of the rebels.
But this time the marines immediately began digging in, and Iraqi troops joined them.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 00:35 ||
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There are a lot of knuckleheads here that need to die,"
And that, in a nutshell describes the best approach to the ignorant bigots in the house of Islam. Based on what I saw in Iraq.
Keep killing the aggressive knuckleheads (rapidly) untill the the survivors get a clue--or at least are no longer physicaly able to present a threat.
Posted by: N guard ||
12/05/2005 10:33 Comments ||
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"There are a lot of knuckleheads here that need to die"
I think there are a LOT of places where that phrase would be appropriate, not just in Iraq. Congress, California, New York, France, Britain, and the Philippines come readily to mind.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2005 12:34 Comments ||
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a semi positive and factual article from the NYTimes
#4
To this reporter embedded with the assault force, the Iraqis often seemed disorganized, complacent and undisciplined, etc.,etc...
To that I prefer Bill Roggio's post from husaybah (11.29):
The Marines of 1st Platoon of Lima Company have varied opinions of the Iraqi soldiers, which range from unimpressed to pleasantly surprised at their courage and fighting abilities. Several explained how Iraqi troops saved their hides during Operation Steel Curtain, when the Iraqis identified a home the Marines were going to enter as being rigged with IEDs. When Explosive Ordnance Disposal arrived on scene and detonated the device, the entire house was destroyed in the blast. âMost of our squad would have been killed in that house. They saved my and my friendsâ lives that dayâ said Lance Corporal Mendoza.
The Marines have worked with several groups of Iraqi troops, theyâll tell you there are good soldiers and bad soldiers, and some units are better than others. This is the story of all armies. The words of respect, coming from these Marines who have set high standards for performance, gives hope for the future of the Iraqi Army.
#5
I think one of the biggest misconceptions pushed by the Media is that the Enemy terrorist are never ending fearless enemy who are basicly perfect. The terrorist mess up alot and pay heavy in blood and they surely are not anything near perfect or invulnerable supermen. The best is the regeneration idea this is pure stupidity of course they send replacements the Germans in WW2 had replacements all the way through the war all the way up to the end when their was replacements but they were nazi youth (kids and not 18-25yr old kids another media insult but 8-13yr old kids) and of course old men 50+. I wonder if retards, dogs, women, forced victims, and hell parents of other dead jihadi's would maybe be a sign that their inumerable masses are not so inumerable and the bench is gettin thin?
Iraq's former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Sunday gunmen tried to assassinate him in Shiite Islam's holiest shrine, forcing him to cut short an election campaign visit pursued by an angry mob. "It appeared to be an assassination attempt," Allawi said; 60-70 men in black, armed with guns and knives, set upon his small party as he prayed at the Imam Ali mosque. One took aim but dropped his gun, said Allawi, who is mounting a strong challenge to the ruling Shiite Islamist bloc in the run-up to the December 15 parliamentary vote. Police said Allawi's group was attacked by men with batons and fled the shrine under a hail of rocks, tomatoes and shoes.
Gawd, I love it when that happens!
Allawi refused to accuse any group directly. But broad hints that Shiite Islamists had a hand in it are likely to inflame an already bad-tempered campaign for the majority Shiite vote. In particular, aides said his assailants chanted support for supporters of militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
"I'd call that a hint as to who was behind it...
"We believe this was premeditated ... it was very clear that they had evil intent to kill either the whole delegation or at least me," Allawi said. "This man who dropped the gun appeared to be panicked when the gun fell from his hand." Police said some of Allawi's guards and police fired in the air around the sprawling mosque complex as the politician's party ran for safety. Sadr aides were not immediately available for comment.
"He's looking for his gun..."
Allawi's electoral list includes several prominent Sunnis and his promises to crack down on pro-government religious militias have won backing across the sectarian divide.
Good idea, as long as he also cracks down on anti-gummint bad guyz. Civil states don't have police death squads...
On Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's most influential Shiite cleric, issued instructions to followers urging them to vote in the election and to cast their ballots in favor of religious candidates from the principle lists. While falling short of a religious edict or fatwa, the instructions are likely to have an impact on voting and looked like a coded endorsement of the main Shiite bloc contesting the elections, the United Iraqi Alliance, winner of January's poll.
Separately, Iraqi forces said they killed 20 rebels in a counter-offensive in the town of Al-Adhaim, 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, security sources said, with another 75 suspected insurgents arrested.
The U.S. military announced Sunday the completion of Operation Shank in the provincial capital of Ramadi, resulting in the "detention of four suspected members of Al-Qaeda in Iraq." The U.S. military said the operation was being carried out to make the area secure ahead of the parliamentary elections. But Tareq al-Hashemi, secretary general of Iraq's largest Sunni political organization, called on the U.S. to cease massive operations in Iraq and set up a timetable for troop withdrawal. Hashemi was speaking in Istanbul after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, designed to convince Sunnis to take part in Iraq's December 15 ballots. "We were very clear in tabling our request and demand that massive military operations should be ceased immediately because we are under the impression that innocent people are being victimized by these operations all the time," Hashemi told reporters.
As the legislative elections draw nearer, an Iraqi electoral official said nearly 150 candidates could be barred from running due to their links to Saddam's Baath Party.
In Kuwait, meanwhile, Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said that Syria is now "more disciplined" in stopping insurgents crossing into Iraq after months of accusations that Damascus did little to stop them. Syrian authorities have recently erected four-meter high sand berms on some parts of the common border, Jabr said. He said Iraqi authorities have not arrested any alleged insurgents near the Syrian border for the past two weeks.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 00:33 ||
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"On Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's most influential Shiite cleric, issued instructions to followers urging them to vote in the election and to cast their ballots in favor of religious candidates from the principle lists. "
I heard on NPR the other day a Sistani aide denying that, saying some other Najaf clergy had released this without Sistanis consent.
Id say it doesnt help that Sistani keeps so aloof and mysterious, it makes it easier for others to speak for him. Hes like the Mario Cuomo of Najaf.
The secret meeting took place earlier this year on the outskirts of Baghdad, in a safe house known only to the insurgents in attendance. One of them, an Iraqi known by the nom de guerre Abu Marwan, is a senior commander of the leading Baathist guerrilla group called the Army of Mohammed. Together with a representative of an alliance of Iraqi Islamist insurgent groups, Abu Marwan met aides to Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The purpose was to discuss the idea of uniting under a joint command the disparate networks fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. When the conversation turned to leadership issues, Abu Marwan's companion suggested that al-Qaeda replace al-Zarqawi with an Iraqi, "as it would have an enormous impact on the other groups." But an al-Zarqawi aide rebuffed the notion. "Who started our organization?" he asked rhetorically. No one was prepared to ask al-Zarqawi to step aside.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 00:28 ||
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#1
Interesting for what it doesn't say. it's clear the Americans are now going to bat for the Sunnis with a government that wants to crush them once for all.
The Sunnis are outnumbered 4 to 1 by the Shiia and Kurds. In a civil war the Sunnis would lose. They might be able to hold their own in the Euphrates valley and parts of central Iraq, but they are unlikely hold on in their 2 main population centres, Baghdad and Mosul. Which will result in millions of Sunnis refugees. Even if they can hold out against the Shiia in Baghdad which I doubt, they have no chance in Mosul where the Kurds surround them and would starve them out within weeks.
In a civil war, who is going to intervene to save their asses. Certianly not Syria, Jordan or Saudi Arabia. Turkey? maybe, but I doubt they would take the risk of their South East going up in flames if they attacked the Kurds.
My prognosis is a low level civil war increasingly waged by the Shiia and Kurds until the Sunni are defeated, with a large slice of the Sunnis seeing the writing on the wall and siding with the government.
The US doesn't want it to happen, but sooner rather than later will step back and let it happen while trying to contain the excesses.
#2
This Times article and thier reporters have been pushing this hopeless war the enemy is inermerable and invulneralble in battle while the Iraqi forces will never be able to defeat them.
My problem with this is how can the Times in one breath claim the Iraqi gov will never be able to defeat the insurgency they are incompetent and cowards who will never stand up. Then in the same breath claim the insurgency is invulnerable their fighters are fearless and inumerable and by the way the insurgency is also not foreign terrorist but Home grown Iraqi's. This is a oxymoron how can the Iraqi's in the "insurgency" be invulnerable while the gov forces are weak usless cowards??? something is a lie either the terrorist are not homegrown Iraqi's, the Iraqi gov forces do have potential of being equally invulnerable like their Iraqi bretheren on the otherside, or the "insurgency is equally as incompetent as the Iraqi gov forces and therfore the result is not garanteed but up in the air.
So which one is a lie by the times is the question??
Personally I think the Iraqi gov forces are just as incompetent as the Iraqi terrorist. This whole idea of invulnerable terrorist is 100% BS and the pres and everyone should dispute it. If the terrorist are invulnerable why havent they achieved any of thier main goals were is the Calphate run by Bin Laden based? What the other Arab dictators are competent but not the Iraqi gov. Ohh thats right as long as they oppose the US they are invulnerable while our allies are useless cowards. I have seen this Times reported rolled out on CNN so much with no real rebutal it sickens me to the point of asking the TV over and over Mr Times would you tell us which part of your article is a lie, the insurgency being home grown iraqi, the Iraqi forces being worthless cowards incompetent with no hope, or the insurgency being invulneralbe fearless garanteed to win who will never die or loose which one Mr. Times Which One is the Lie since they obviously cant all be true.
SAMARRA, Iraq -- After keeping their distance for months, Iraqis in this Sunni Arab city suddenly began cooperating with U.S. troops, leading them to insurgents and hidden weapons caches. The reason: anger over the assassination by insurgents of a local tribal chief.
"That's when they decided to make a stand," said Capt. Ryan Wylie of Lincoln, Neb., commander of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment. "They definitely had an idea of the terrorists and where they hang out."
U.S. commanders cite other reasons for a lull in violence in this city 60 miles north of Baghdad. They include construction of an 11-mile berm around the city to block gun runners and a greater reliance by the military on covert monitoring positions. But almost everyone agrees that the biggest reason for the reduction in violence here was the public backlash against the insurgents after the Oct. 11 assassination of Sheik Hikmat Mumtaz al-Bazi, chief of one of the area's seven tribes.
The reason for the killing remains unclear. Some say he was targeted for working with U.S. forces. Others believe he was killed because of a contract dispute over a U.S.-funded project. Most agree that the sheik's American connection cost him his life. "They killed him to send a message that you can't be working with coalition forces," said Lt. Col. Mark Wald, commander of the 3rd Battalion. "I think they were trying to rein him back in."
Tribalism is deeply rooted in Iraqi society and adds a dimension to the insurgency that outsiders find difficult to understand. Some tribes support the insurgency, while others back the government. In many cases, tribes are divided in their loyalties. Before al-Bazi's death, U.S. forces in Samarra had struggled to cope with the insurgent threat in this city of 200,000, many of whom strongly opposed the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.
Last year, al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, openly operated in Samarra, and the group's black flags fluttered from rooftops until U.S. forces regained control. U.S. soldiers heard some Samarra residents speak openly of the right of "legitimate resistance" to the American presence. Others admitted they could not cooperate with the Americans for fear of insurgent reprisals.
Those fears vanished when one of their own leaders was slain. All of a sudden, Iraqis began coming forward with information about insurgent hideouts and weapons caches.
The flood of intelligence was welcomed. Attacks against U.S. forces tapered off after al-Bazi's death, dropping to one or two a day - compared with seven a day in January. The decline prompted a U.S. decision to remove about two-thirds of the American soldiers inside the city and replace them with Iraqi paramilitary commandos. "It really speaks to the potential this city has when tribesmen get fed up and take action against terrorists," said Lt. Nathan Adams of Savannah, Ga. "It's as simple as one tribe having something happen to them and motivating them to take action."
Last month, American forces in Anbar began raising a scout force, known as the "Desert Protectors," from the ranks of a tribe whose rivals had ties to al-Qaida.
Samarra is still far from peaceful, and some soldiers said the wealth of information revealed how deeply rooted the insurgency was in the city. One tribe is believed to have knocked out phone service to a rival group's neighborhood to prevent people from phoning tips to the police. A car bombing last Monday destroyed a gas station and killed six people, police said. And no foreign fighter has been caught by Wylie's company after nearly a year in this city.
In addition, soldiers say, it is difficult to say whether the trend toward greater cooperation will last. Some caution that the surge in tips has recently tapered off. Samarra's population could return to the old habit of looking the other way when insurgents plant roadside bombs or launch mortars from the streets. "There was definitely a surge at the beginning," Wylie said of the tips. "I don't think it's to the same extent that it had been."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 00:11 ||
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Uh huh. Put another way, this cooperation came about because all of a sudden, it's their ox being gored now, right?
Pardon me if I sound a little, um, unsympathetic towards these Samarran types...
Iraqi forces said they killed 20 terrorists rebels in a counter-offensive in a town where 19 Iraqi troops were killed a day earlier, as US forces wrapped up their latest operations in the restive Al-Anbar province.
Iraqi troops swept through the town of Al-Adhaim, 100 kilometers (65 miles) north of Baghdad, in the aftermath of Saturday's ambush, security sources said. The operation, which lasted through to Sunday morning, resulted in "20 terrorists rebels killed and five taken prisoner," said the defence ministry, with another 75 suspected terrorists insurgents arrested.
The US military announced on Sunday the completion of Operation Shank in the provincial capital of Ramadi, resulting in the "detention of four suspected members of Al-Qaeda in Iraq". The US military said the operation was part of a campaign being carried out to make the area secure ahead of the December 15 parliamentary elections.
But the sweeps against predominantly Sunni Arab population centers have angered prominent Sunni religious and political groups, which have called for an end to the "operations against civilians."
Sure, no probs, just turn over the terrs to us and we'll be glad to leave you alone.
President Jalal Talabani on Saturday defended the US-Iraqi sweeps, saying they "began after repeated attacks by terrorists rebels on US and Iraqi forces," and adding they were to secure the area ahead of this month's vote.
From the Pakistan Daily Times; several shakes of salt required.
BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities uncovered a plot by a Sunni Arab insurgent group to attack the trial of Saddam Hussein when it holds its third hearing on Monday, the governmentâs national security adviser said.
A statement released by the office of national security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie said the 1920 Revolution Brigades planned to fire rockets at the court building during Mondayâs session. The statement said Iraqi intelligence uncovered the plot but gave no further details and did not say whether anyone had been arrested. Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the 1982 killing of Shia Muslims in the town of Dujail following an assassination attempt against him there.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD - The trial of Iraqâs former dictator Saddam Hussein resumes on Monday with witnesses expected to appear in court for the first time amid mounting pressure for the process to accelerate.
Court time has been limited to just two brief sessions so far after two earlier adjournments and the only witness presented has been a former official whose testimony was recorded on video just before he died. However officials close to the court are hoping that this time a full four days of hearings featuring ten witnesses is possible before the court adjourns again in time for Iraqâs parliamentary elections on December 15.
At least three witnesses will appear on Monday in the trial of Saddam and seven of his deputies for the massacre of 148 people from the Shia village of Dujail in 1982, for which all the accused could face the death penalty. Amid fears over their security, only two witnesses will appear in court and be filmed by television cameras relaying the trial to the world, according to a US official close to the tribunal. Another six will appear in the court but they will not be filmed. The final two will speak from behind a screen, said the official, who asked not to be named.
Before the witnesses are heard, however, the chief judge will hear motions from the defense questioning the legitimacy of the court. Saddamâs lawyers, who now include former US attorney general Ramsey Clark and former Qatari justice minister Najib Al Nuaimi hope to âto discuss key issues in the case like the legality of court, independence of court and the impartiality of judges,â said Clark.
That shouldn't take long. And it's real smart to impugn the judges and make them mad. Nice going Ramsey.
According to a US official, the court wants to ensure the defendants get due process, but it is also âvery concerned that tactics not be used to delay the trial.â
"Mr. Clark, we're legal, indpendent and impartial. Sit down. The prosecution may proceed."
Aside from Saddam and Ramadan, the defendants include Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddamâs half brother and head of intelligence at the time of the massacre, and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, head judge of the revolutionary court. There are also four little known Baath officials who worked in Dujail at the time of the massacre, which took place after an assassination attempt against Saddamâs convoy. All have pleaded not guilty.
"Lies! All lies! And put that rope down!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 00:00 ||
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Who exactly does Clark think he is brown-nosing anyway? I don't get it, what the fuck is he doing this for?
#2
You're talking about him, aren't you? That makes him important. As opposed to the nut at Union Square nobody talks about. He's a crack post who can be safely ignored.
#3
Clark just wants to make friends with Saddam before they meet again, in Hell. I have it on good authority (Deep Kenny) that Saddam and Satan are real tight.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2005 9:58 Comments ||
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First witnesses in court as Saddam trial resumes
They misspelled "Slobodan". (it would come as no surprise if this trial is similarly dragged out)
Five people have been killed and dozens wounded in a suicide bomb attack in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya. The bomber attacked the Sharon shopping centre, scene of previous bombings, at about 1130 (0930 GMT), injuring some 40 people, several of them seriously. Two Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility, although only Islamic Jihad released the name of the bomber. The bombing came after Israel launched a rocket attack on Gaza, in response to Palestinian missile attacks.
Earlier on Monday, Israel's defence ministry confirmed that Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had ordered a resumption of "targeted killings" against wanted Palestinian militants.
Reports from Netanya suggest the bomber was prevented from entering the shopping centre by security guards. The bomber then detonated the explosives outside the gate. "There was a boom and there was a flash," witness Yisrael Klein told Israeli TV. "Seconds later, people were lying on the ground, some wounded and some dead." Israeli TV showed panels across the front of the shopping mall shattered by the force of the blast.
The Islamic Jihad group said it carried out the attack, naming the bomber as Lufti Amin Abu Salem, from a village between the West Bank towns of Jenin and Tulkarm. An earlier claim came from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to the Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The attack was the first suicide bomb in Israel since a blast in the town of Hadera on 26 October.
Mr Abbas condemned the Netanya bombing as an act of "terrorism" and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. But a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the Palestinian Authority had failed to act against militants. "They refuse to dismantle the terror organisations and put them out of business once and for all. And we've seen these results today in Netanya," said spokesman David Baker.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2005 09:12 ||
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DEBKA: At least five dead, 55 injured â 6 critically - in Palestinian suicide bombing attack Monday at entrance to Netanyaâs Sharon shopping mall. Jihad Islami has released videotape of suicide killer Lutfi Amin Abu Sami, 21, from Rai Village near Jenin, on the West Bank. Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades deny earlier claim of responsibility broadcast by Al Arabiya TV.
The bomber was prevented from entering the mall by suspicious security guards and bystanders. When police told him to take his hand out of his pocket, the terrorist blew himself up in the crowd at the mallâs entrance, which has become known as the Cursed Gate. Three policemen are among the wounded.
Netanya, which lies on the Mediterranean between Tel Aviv and Haifa, has been attacked by Palestinian bombers several times in the last five years for multiple casualty strikes. A suicide bomber killed five Israelis near the same spot outside the mall in summer.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2005 9:27 Comments ||
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Why is it an Israel Suicide Bomb? Did the suicide bomb belong to Israel? Was it manufactured by Israel? Based on this logic we should talk about the German Bombing of Dresden and the Japanese Nuking of Hiroshima dn Nagasaki.
#3
So when are West Bank mosques gonna spontaneously combust? When are Jenin apartment blocks gonna collapse from 155mm seismic activity. Overwhelming repisals are all they understand. Weakness invites more dead shoppers.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2005 9:52 Comments ||
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Abbas can't disarm the terrorists.
He also can't clean up corruption; can't stop the criminal gangs that control many west bank towns; etc.
However, I'm under the impression that a segment of his own security team does provide the IDF with actionable intel on IJihad from time to time. This is more or less a matter of self defense for Abbas.
Jordan could face an increasing Al Qaida-aligned insurgency fueled by lack of economic opportunity in the kingdom.
"We're so poor, we don't even have a Mom. The best we can do is a lady who comes in twice a week!"
"Us, too! Let's go kill some infidels!"
"Hokay."
The International Crisis Group said the Nov. 9 coordinated Al Qaida suicide attacks in Amman could be the first of a wave of Islamic insurgency strikes. The Brussels-based ICG said in a report that many young Jordanians, including those who trained in Afghanistan up to three years ago, have been attracted to Al Qaida's insurgency in neighboring Iraq.
"Yeah! The money's real good! Last week I ate something!"
The report said 500 Jordanians trained by Al Qaida and Taliban in Afghanistan in the late 1990s came from Zarqa, home of Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, today Al Qaida's chief in Iraq. Other Al Qaida fighters, including those who fought the United States in Iraq, came from Salt. "The general public's lack of representation and shortage of economic opportunities has fed into a romanticized notion of jihad that has sent a steady trickle of young men across the border to join the fight against the U.S. in Iraq," Robert Malley, director of ICG's Middle East and North Africa program, said. "The November attacks are a preview of what's to come unless the government gets serious about real reform."
"Gosh, Mahmoud! The idea of blowing up! It's so romantic!"
"And my economic opportunities are really short!"
"Let's run off to jihad!"
"Can we have sex first?"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 00:38 ||
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1)How many of those 500 are still alive today?
2)How many of those alive today are in a prison of some type?
3)What have they achieved out of all this?
Fear not, numbskullery carries its own punishment.
#3
If only they had more spending money, these pricks would spend it palying video games instead of expanding the jihad. Worked really well for with the Saudis.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2005 9:12 Comments ||
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Oh no! The "poverty causes terrorism" myth repeated here.
Read among other sources Richard Miniter's "Disinformation: 22 Media Myths That Undermine the War on Terror"
A RANKING intelligence official said Sunday reports that two top Jemaah Islamiyah operatives had cut their ties to the Indonesian-based terror group could just be a ploy to "soften" the efforts by both the Indonesian and Philippine governments to go after them.
"What we see is that they are trying to ease pressure on Dulmatin and Umar Patek, who are on the run," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Dulmatin, a bomb expert, and Patek are suspects in the 2002 Bali, Indonesia, resort bombings that killed more than 200 people. They are also believed to be behind several bombings in Mindanao. The United States placed a total 11-million dollars bounty on their heads.
"They're only saying that these two have cut ties to cushion the impact or to soften our efforts to get them," said the official who is familiar with the workings of the JI.
US-trained Filipino soldiers are tracking Dulmatin and Patek in central Mindanao although reports indicated they had slipped out of the area.
Captured Indonesian militant Abdullah Sunata had told Indonesian authorities that Dulmatin and Patek confided to him two years ago that they had cut their ties with JI because of the intense manhunt for them by Indonesian authorities for their participation in the Bali blasts, The Associated Press reported.
They fled separately to Mindanao early that year, the Associated Press said, quoting a report on Sunata's interrogation.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 00:50 ||
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Six people including two militants were wounded in a clash between a "terror" group and Syrian security forces Sunday in the northern city of Aleppo, the official state agency reported. "The clashes happened when security forces followed a terrorist group that intended to commit terrorist acts in Aleppo," 355 kilometers north of Damascus, the report said.
"Two terrorists were wounded in the clashes as well as a member of the security forces and two civilians," it said.
Are the Syrians going after the jihadis in transit to Iraq, or after homegrown insurgents who want Pencilneck deposed?
It added that in another clash last week two militants were killed and another wounded. Officials had no immediate comment on the reports.
"We will say no more!"
One resident said the gunmen were killed in the clash. "After they were encircled [by security forces], they blew up their car while they were inside," said Al-Jazeera television. It said security forces believed there were three militants in the car.
Security forces have clashed with militants several times in recent months, chiefly during raids to arrest them. In October, Syria arrested a group of radical Islamist militants who it said planned to launch attacks inside the country. Security forces killed a Muslim militant in September and arrested two in another clash in northeast Syria. A week before, the forces killed five members of an Islamist militant group in a gun battle in the northwest of the country and discovered a cache of weapons.
Authorities say they have also tightened the noose on suspected Arab Islamists, arresting dozens and extraditing scores to their home countries, including Saudi Arabia.
The United States has piled pressure on Syria to seal its long eastern desert border with Iraq to stop militants from crossing to fight U.S. forces there. Syria says it is doing its best to control the frontier but calls on the United States and Iraq to do more on their side too. One group accused by the Syrian authorities of planning attacks - the Jund al-Sham, or Soldiers of the Levant - has been linked by some terrorism analysts to Al-Qaeda leader's in Iraq, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2005 0:46 Comments ||
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DEBKAfile: Syrian forces captured three terrorists, operatives of al Qaedaâs Syrian arm Jund al-Sham, in Aleppo, northern Syria. Earlier al Jazeera TV reported the three terrorists blew themselves up in a car after clashing with Syrian forces. According to our sources, they were caught alive.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2005 9:30 Comments ||
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#4
If memory serves, aren't the Alawites shi'ia? If so, all those Sunni jihadists transiting the country might have decided to find easier picking in Syria rather than getting wacked in Iraq
#5
the alawites are a secretive group, whose real beliefs may include Christian and pagan elements. In order to avoid being considered infidels, they have in recent years emphaszied the Shia Muslim aspects of their faith, at least in public. But theyre not really "twelver Shia' (the variety prevalent in Iran and Iraq)
But youre right, the Sunni Jihadists would love to kill them.
Al Qaida was said to have rejected hundreds of Arab recruits to fight the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Islamic sources said Al Qaida network chief Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi has rejected a large contingent of Arab nationals for recruitment in the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. The sources said Al Zarqawi ordered that none of the Arabs recruited over the last few months join either his group or the allied Ansar Al Sunna. "The feeling was that these Arabs were sent by the United States or Britain to infiltrate Al Zarqawi's organization," an Islamic source said.
The sources said many of the Arabs rejected by Al Zarqawi were Algerian nationals who volunteered for service in Europe. They said U.S. intelligence had penetrated Algerian factions and sent agents to join Al Qaida in Iraq.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/05/2005 00:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"The feeling was that these Arabs were sent by the United States or Britain to infiltrate Al Zarqawi's organization,"
In reality, it was a easy for Iraqis to picke them out and thus a waste of resources.
Posted by: Charles ||
12/05/2005 2:44 Comments ||
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#3
Somehow I think that if felt they were spies they'd be dead. This is bullshit. He's getting fewer and fewer recruits and trying to pass it off as being more selective.
This is coming up a lot. Firefox browser on WinXP SP2.
Comes up when I click articles too - no text at all is showing up, no ads, nothing else on the page but the list of articles and number of posts (posts in column left).
Should be fixed now. It's going to present a problem when we switch to Linux, though. I guess that'll give me something else to do with my spare time.
#4
Problem
Fred, I am getting the same error on I.E. 5.5, Windows ME.
Solution
1) The database table rantburg.tblopinion does not exist.
2) Or the name of the table is spelled wrong in the code, tblopinion is the incorrect spelling for the table in the code.
3) Or the name of the table in the SQL database is not spelled tblopinion.
#6
yes, I'm getting this too. Earlier today it wouldn't allow me to open up articles either. Making a few attempts every few hours or so.
Hope you're able to fix it without too much brain damage.
My grandma always said, "you've got to hold your mouth right" while trying to accomplish something. So good luck to you while holding your mouth right heh.
Posted by: Jan ||
12/05/2005 2:56 Comments ||
Top||
Odd thing is that when RB first comes up, and gives errors The comment count is to the left of the article list in a larger, bolded font and the articles are unreachable.
When I click on the Page 1: WoT at the top, I get a different index with the comment count back on the right and the whole thing in a smaller bolded font. Oh yeah, the colors on the article titles and the comment counts flip-flop. What's on the left is in red and the right is blue.
#11
Firefox 1.5
Thanks Fred, it seems to be fixed.
I had this problem since yesterday and till 08:40 today. I just emptied the cache and history and everything is fine. It seems that the font has changed to a more eye friendly one :)
#15
I rebuilt the way the headlines/comments are handled on the front page. Rather than using one complex query, I'm using three small ones and an array.
I've been worried about handling our ASP pages when we switch to Linux. I've come up with a pretty simple solution that I'm going to run on the test server this evening. It should work, since this fix does.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2005 11:03 Comments ||
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#18
I'm fairly certain it's just an annoying timing problem. Did you remember to use the little tube of lube on the digital distributor? I'm available most Saturdays to help. I'd prefer warm sunny weather, but in an emergency I suppose we could crack open a the case and borrow Red Neck Jims MB hoist. I assume you have an outdoor fireplace? What's the parking situation? We might need help. I'll start drawing up contengencies and making flow charts.
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.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - An attacker blew himself up in a failed assault on coalition forces Sunday in volatile southern Afghanistans, officials said. The attempted attack against the coalition forces occurred as their convoy passed through the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanekzai said the explosives detonated when the attacker was hit by a motorbike. The blast killed the attacker and motorbike driver and wounded two other people, U.S. military and Afghan police officials said.
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - A newly elected Afghan parliamentarian was killed Sunday when a row about a fire in a woodyard erupted into an armed clash that left four men dead, government officials said. Esmatullah Muhabat, who won a seat in the lower house in parliament for eastern Laghman province, was the first MP to be killed since the September 18 election for Afghanistanâs first national assembly in about three decades.
KABUL - Five American servicemen and an Afghan soldier were injured on Sunday when two US Chinook helicopters made emergency landings in separate locations in southern Afghanistan, the US military said.
LONDON: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been granted âfull accessâ to Britainâs military airfields to transport terrorist suspects, the Mail on Sunday reported. The newspaper published photographs taken by aircraft enthusiasts apparently showing three US aircraft at three Scottish airports - Edinburgh, Prestwick and Glasgow - on June 20, 2004, November 13, 2004 and September 16 this year. âOur investigation has found proof that a series of aircraft linked to the CIAâs âextraordinary renditionâ programme have been flying in and out of Britain unchecked by the authorities,â it claimed.
SYDNEY - Jailed terrorist suspect 
A joint investigation by the Intelligence Bureau and Jammu and Kashmir Police has discovered disturbing new evidence that mainstream political parties in the State have been infiltrated by operatives working for the 
SRINAGAR: An Indian policeman and four 
Three of the slain 
On 29 November, a member of the Shamilah Net Forums (
Kuwait City. 5 Dec. (AKI) - US troops have arrested 22 Kuwaitis in Iraq who say they were on a game-hunting trip. They were caught as they tried to leave Iraq and enter Jordan via the Trebil border crossing and have been detained in Abu Ghraib prison on terrorism charges. The Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper reported that the men had tried to cross the border during a night-time curfew, but when they refused to bribe the Iraqi border guards, the guards reported them to the US military. 
A French water treatment engineer has been kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraqi police have said. Witnesses said seven gunmen in two cars stopped the man outside his home in Baghdad's western district of Mansour. The French foreign ministry has confirmed that a French national is missing, naming him as Bernard Planche. Baghdad's relatively affluent western district of Mansour has seen a steady stream of kidnappings in recent years. Western contractors and many Iraqi officials live in the area. Two French journalists were kidnapped in Iraq in 2004 and eventually freed after weeks in captivity. France's government has subsequently tried to dissuade its nationals from travelling to Iraq.
Iraq's former Prime Minister 
BAGHDAD - The trial of Iraqâs former dictator Saddam Hussein resumes on Monday with witnesses expected to appear in court for the first time amid mounting pressure for the process to accelerate.
Five people have been killed and dozens wounded in a suicide bomb attack in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya. The bomber attacked the Sharon shopping centre, scene of previous bombings, at about 1130 (0930 GMT), injuring some 40 people, several of them seriously. Two Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility, although only 
Jordan could face an increasing Al Qaida-aligned insurgency fueled by lack of economic opportunity in the kingdom.
Six people including two militants were wounded in a clash between a "terror" group and Syrian security forces Sunday in the northern city of Aleppo, the official state agency reported. "The clashes happened when security forces followed a terrorist group that intended to commit terrorist acts in Aleppo," 355 kilometers north of Damascus, the report said.
Al Qaida was said to have rejected hundreds of Arab recruits to fight the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Islamic sources said Al Qaida network chief 
