Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/25/2010 8:57 Comments ||
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#3
I am not a computer whiz--know enough to be nearly incompetent. How does Golf Bravo do the picture behind the picture thingee? What html/javascript code is used?
#4
despite reading the RDS&TP daily, I had no idea there was a picture behind a picture. Bummer, now I have to go back through the archives and look at the others...
I'm going to be working under the hood on and off for awhile, which'll require at least one server restart. I'm hoping that'll be it and that all will go smoothly.
It did on my test machine, so keep your fingers crossed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 13:41 ||
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#1
Thank you, Fred. I'll put my bit in an envelope after I've gotten through the Seder on Monday night.
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/25/2010 17:11 Comments ||
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#2
And Rantburg is back again -- yay!
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/25/2010 17:12 Comments ||
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#3
I thought the world had ended and God had just not told me, yet here you are standing tall and looking strong again.
[Dawn] Two mine clearers were killed and two others injured when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, a local police chief said Wednesday. The blast struck in Chora district of Uruzgan province on Tuesday when the Afghan employees of the Mine Detection Center (MDC) were travelling to work.
"Two mine clearers were killed and two were wounded in the roadside bomb," Mohammad Gula, deputy provincial police chief, told AFP.
MDC is a non-governmental organisation established in 1989 to sweep landmines mostly planted during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the blast and said they were targeting a military vehicle.
Also Wednesday, a Nato helicopter made an emergency landing due to technical problems in northern Kunduz province, but no casualties were reported, district chief Shaikh Saadi said. Nato did not immediately comment on the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 00:00 ||
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The aim was to send "a message that one arrest will not affect our movement", a senior Taliban leader told Newsweek magazine. So the Taliban knows how to reach Newsweek. Figures ...
Mullah Baradar was detained in Karachi in February in what was seen as a blow to the militants as they gear up to face a major NATO offensive this year.
Abdul Qayuum Zakir, a former inmate at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, is thought to be about 30. He is said to be very popular with the younger generation of Taliban fighters because of his willingness to fight on the ground beside his men - especially along the new front in Kandahar and Helmand provinces in southern Afghanistan.
Reports say Abdul Qayuum Zakir was detained in Guantanamo Bay until 2007 and then deported to Afghanistan before being freed in 2008.
According to reports, Mullah Mansoor was a part of the original Taliban leadership prior to the attacks of 11 September 2001.
This article starring:
Abdul Qayuum Zakir
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The atavistic monkeys did learn something from Hakimullah Mehsud. They have just doubled their chances that one will survive beyond 30 days.
Reports say Abdul Qayuum Zakir was detained in Guantanamo Bay until 2007 and then deported to Afghanistan before being freed in 2008.
Is there a muslim captive who hasn't gone back to jihad? Well done you Commie lawyers. My only wish is that these lawfare warriors be surgically attached (shared internal organs a must) to their jihad clients before being released.
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2010 1:52 Comments ||
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#2
his willingness to fight on the ground beside his men
I think I shall buy him a life insurance policy with me as the beneficiary.
Officials say Kenyan police have arrested an American of Somali origin who is on a terror watch list as he and two associates attempted to fly to Somalia. Another Kenyan police official identified the American as Suleman Essa.
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2010 12:51 ||
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#1
Does America really want him back?
Posted by: Dave UK ||
03/25/2010 13:55 Comments ||
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#2
We didn't want him in the first place
Posted by: chris ||
03/25/2010 21:40 Comments ||
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[Maghrebia] The leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and two of his top deputies are among 214 jailed militants freed by Libya on Tuesday (March 23rd), international press reported. With the release of LIFG emir Abdelhakim Belhaj (aka Abu Abdallah Al Sadek), the group's military chief Khaled Shrif and top strategist Sami Saadi, Libya has "concluded its programme of dialogue and reconciliation", AFP quoted Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Saif al-Islam as saying.
"Al-Qaeda are not going to be happy about this," said a former LIFG commander who has been working as an intermediary between the prisoners and the Libyan government. "The leaders still have big credibility in the jihadist movement, and they can now play a big role in the future in countering al-Qaeda's ideology," told CNN.
In a 417-page document released last September, "Corrective Studies" on the Doctrine of Jihad, Hesba and Ruling", the Libyan group repudiated al-Qaeda and denounced the killing of civilians under the pretext of jihad. The document's authors include the brother of al-Qaeda terrorist and former LIFG leader Abu Yahya al-Libi, who was killed in Pakistan in 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Versus ABBAS: NO NEW TALKS UNLESS ISRAEL FREES [couple 000] PALESTINIAN PRISONERS.
Check the link: whoever wrote 'sea of fire' a few years back has been rehired! Or else he somehow managed to clear his name and get released from a corrective labor-starvation camp. In this jewel of a long, long discourse, there is this absolute howler --
"It is as clear as a pikestaff that betes noires will make only vituperation just as a crow will never be whiter for often washing."
What? What??
And this one:
The groundless mud-slinging made by those human scum who have become living corpses as politicians censured by the people for their despicable acts of treachery and those anti-DPRK plot breeders who rely on them only betrays their wretched plight as betes noires.
#3
Unfortunately for Mr. New-and-Improved Sea of Fire guy, he blew his entire repertory wad on one harangue. So it's back to the re-education camp for some new material.
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2010 2:09 Comments ||
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#4
Sea of Fire was the title of one of my novels. Great phrase.
betes noires is a bit obscure though. And in the second quote he seems to be confusing betes noires with pied noires. Not that it matters.
#10
Sounds like the defectors issue has really hit a nerve with the Norks - a sure sign that it's working. Tired of grass soup and bark? Come on down to all the kimchee you can eat in beautiful South Korea!
Given that it's essentially petulence rather than good, old-fashioned revolutionary rhetoric, I'll give it only a 7.5, but at least they're trying.
#11
Before we get carried away, is there any proof that this is not a random phrase creator of a Nork computer program? The Nork script kiddies might be a bit bored just daily hacking in to Skor computers as to assemble this little bit of entertainment. Just asking?
#14
Before we get carried away, is there any proof that this is not a random phrase creator of a Nork computer program?
It is as clear as a pikestaff that no mere Markov chain text generator could light the fires of Juche as brightly as the blazing rhetoric of this noble son of Chongsun. The U.S. and the puppet group may pretend that their groundless mud-slinging is anything more than the rhetorical analog of the evaporative residue from your typical South Hwanghae collective farm's sheep-dip pond, but the RSS feed of a Nigerian knockoff Rolex watch blog has more originality. The people of the DPRK and the entire Korean nation will never pardon those wicked human scum busy carrying out the anti-DPRK scenarios worked out by the puppet conservative group and the U.S. and Japanese reactionaries and acting cat's paws of anti-reunification elements at home and abroad. (And trust me on this one, here in South Hwanghae we know from cats' paws!)
Posted by: Mike ||
03/25/2010 13:37 Comments ||
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#15
This definitely deserves toasting a Juche screwdriver to the NORK "Defecators" (Pun intended).
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/25/2010 13:47 Comments ||
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#16
*Holds up Card* 7.5
Horribly lacking in Juche and obligatory a$$-kissing of dear leader.
Though showing some promise, this is clearly an imitator using thesauri from the French as well as the English: KCNA man's unique spin on the English language stood firmly on its own without help from the language of cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
This individual DOES have promise, BUT he must develop a style of his own since his attempt to imitate Ivy League english majors is palpably lame.
Ptah-ORIGINATOR of the Rantburg KCNA Scoring System, and STILL praying for the return of Army First man.
#20
Pappy, Obama and the Dems will be using that sort of thing soon, so Mike might best hold off. He would get the treatment the nomenklatura get instead of the rationed prole healthcare the rest of us will end up with.
[Maghrebia] Spain's National Court on Tuesday (March 23rd) opened the trial of five Algerians charged with plotting to attack a Madrid department store in 2005, CNN reported. Alleged cell leader Said Bouchema, 41, is accused of sending forged documents, along with money made by fencing stolen goods at his Alicante restaurant, to terrorist groups in Algeria. The defendants face prison sentences of up to sixteen years.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe
OSAMA Laden has warned al-Qaeda will kill Americans if the mastermind of the 2001 attacks on the United States, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, is executed, in an audiotape aired today by Al-Jazeera television.
"The White House has declared its wish to execute (Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and his co-accused). The day the United States takes such a decision, it would be also taking the decision that any of you falling into our hands will be executed,'' he said in the message.
#4
Bin Laden is so impotent that he has almost become passive-aggressive. "You do what I say or I'll throw this bag of kittens in the river, and it will be YOUR fault!"
#7
Who gives a rat's a$$ what this mass murderer says. As said, AQ isn't about to change its ways. Give KSM justice if that is possible in this current administration.
#11
Yeah, Osama Bin Laden: Death Penalty Opponent...
Geez, what happened to the "We love death" guys that we all knew and loved? Looks like they're just a buncha loud mouthed pussies like we thought they were.
#12
Seems to me that Oh-bahma's stabbing Bibi Netanyahu in the back didn't evoke the expected change of attitude in Oh-sahma.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/25/2010 13:52 Comments ||
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#13
The good news is OBL is still alive. Happy hunting boys! Seems he cares more for KSM than he does for his family stuck in Iran, oh, and why are they there anyway??? Maybe we should take them, for their own safety, and keep them safely in the pentagon, or supermax, or the belly of a aircraft carrier.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/25/2010 15:17 Comments ||
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#14
his family stuck in Iran, oh, and why are they there anyway???
Taken hostage by Iran as they escaped from Afghanistan, while their lord and master was taken straight to Pakistan, where no doubt he had another set of family members waiting.
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/25/2010 17:19 Comments ||
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#15
What do you need to do anything for you goat f*****?
Americans elect Democrats to destroy their own nation. No one needs you.
Pakistani military airstrikes killed 61 suspected militants in an area near the Afghan border Thursday, including dozens at a seminary where Taliban commanders were believed to be meeting, officials said.
The jet fire rained in two spells during the day in the Mamuzai area of Orakzai, a tribal region where many Pakistani Taliban leaders are believed to have fled to avoid an army ground offensive further south.
Alongside the religious seminary, a mosque and a school were targeted, local official Samiullah Orakzai said.
Two intelligence officials said the seminary was a main center for Tableeghi Jamaat, a non-violent Islamic missionary group. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
The center was targeted because a group of Taliban leaders were believed to be meeting there in the afternoon. Some four dozen people died in the airstrikes in and around the seminary, while 13 others were killed in morning strikes at the two other sites.
The officials said all 61 were suspected militants. Independent confirmation of the death toll or the victims' identities was nearly impossible because access to the tribal region is restricted.
Orakzai is considered a major base for Hakimullah Mehsud, the Pakistan Taliban's top commander, who is believed to have died in a U.S. missile strike in January. The Taliban have denied his death, but have failed to show evidence he is still alive.
The Pakistani Taliban have been under pressure in their main stronghold, South Waziristan tribal region, since the army launched its ground offensive there in October. Many are believed to have scattered to other parts of the tribal belt, which borders Afghanistan in Pakistan's northwest.
Orakzai and neighboring tribal area Kurram have witnessed numerous airstrikes over the past few months as Pakistan tries to catch fleeing militants.
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2010 12:46 ||
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Indian terror suspects who are enjoying the patronage of Pakistan's ISI are being pressed to launch terror attacks in the country. Official sources said many terrorists who have been given protection for quite a number of years have been asked to prove their worth or face consequences.
This was revealed during investigations into the alleged plans of Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa International men to plant a bomb in the national capital and Himachal Pradesh. Sources said the men were being provided directions by Pakistan-based Wadhwa Singh and Parminder Singh, who figure in dossier of wanted terrorists passed to Pakistan recently.
"The men have been provided cover for so long. There are no free lunches in the world. They have to show their worth to enjoy the shelter of the ISI," a source said. He said attempts are being made by certain men to re-group and launch attacks on country's stability.
Sources said that with Commonwealth Games scheduled later this year, the terror groups being provided all help by ISI are under more pressure to launch attacks but are jittery over busting of various modules by police across the country. They said the efforts are to launch an attack and try to project the country as unsafe before the Games. They said the strategy would be to launch an attack through various groups based here rather than by those from outside the country.
Incidentally, on Wednesday, hundreds of armed militants including top LeT commander Abdul Wahid Kashmiri and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin had gathered in Kotli town of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) vowing to wage 'jihad' against India.
#1
"This was revealed during investigations into the alleged plans of Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa International men to plant a bomb in the national capital and Himachal Pradesh"
One would presume that the main reason why Himachal Pradesh would be a target is the numerous Israeli tourists who visit the vacinity . Some villages have more Israelis in than locals . This links in nicely with ISI overall plans for disruption around the Kashhmiri area .
I have been to Himachal Pradesh several times and its a joy to visit, especially the Parvarti valley - the trout fishing is splendid and exciting (yes, fishing is exciting!) .
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/25/2010 10:38 Comments ||
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#2
Many Sikhs in the USA, UK, Canada and N Zealand should be in jail for funding the militancy. Not sure why RAW or CBI isn't pressing hard for this.
Posted by: jack salami ||
03/25/2010 10:59 Comments ||
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#3
Are there really sikhs out there who think they'll be able to get a better deal from WPL than they do from India?
[Dawn] Indian troops Wednesday shot dead two suspected militants as they tried to enter Indian-administered Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the disputed state, the army said.
The militants' attempt to enter the strife-torn region came a day after several banned groups under the umbrella of United Jihad Council vowed to wage a holy war to liberate the Himalayan region from Indian control.
The militants were killed in the northern Keran sector, an army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel J.S. Brar, told AFP.
"We have foiled an infiltration bid along the LoC (Line of Control)," he said, referring to the de facto border that splits Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and funding Kashmiri militants, a charge Islamabad denies.
Militants continue to sneak in despite a fence erected by the Indian army and a pledge by Islamabad that it would do its best to prevent militant infiltration into Indian-administered Kashmir.
The 20-year-old insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir has claimed more than 47,000 lives, though violence has declined since an India-Pakistan peace dialogue started in 2004.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
PAKISTANI DEFENC EFORUM > THE GREATEST STORY NEVER TOLD. Among other, DAILY INTENSIVE TALIBAN-VS-TALIBAN MAHA-RUSHIAN "LE SERIUESE" FACTIONAL FIGHTING taking place.
[Dawn] Pakistan's armed forces launched an assault Wednesday on Taliban hideouts in the northwest tribal belt, killing at least 21 militants in firefights and bombing raids, officials said.
The operation began hours after a US drone aircraft fired two missiles into a compound in North Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border, killing at least six suspected militants in the latest strike by the spy planes.
Pakistani paramilitary troops began operations just after midnight Wednesday to flush out militants from the outskirts of the main town in the Orakzai tribal district, senior security officials in the region said.
Helicopter gunships also shelled the militants in the same area of Orakzai, part of the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border which is infested with Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists.
"We have reports that 21 terrorists have been killed in Anjani area of Lower Orakzai," said a senior military official in the northwest city of Peshawar.
"One bunker, one ammunition dump and one training centre of the terrorists have also been destroyed by security forces."
Major Fazal-ur-Rehman, spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps, confirmed that security forces were battling insurgents in Orakzai and there were "militant losses", but did not give the numbers.
An intelligence official in Peshawar gave a higher death toll, telling AFP that 12 Taliban militants were killed in the firefights with Pakistani troops while 11 were killed in the helicopter shelling.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
[Iran Press TV Latest] Hundreds of Iraqis have taken to the streets in the southern city of Basra to demand the nationwide recount of votes from the country's March 7 parliamentary elections.
The demonstrators who support Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's demand for a manual recount of around 12 million ballots, gathered outside the provincial government's offices in Basra on Wednesday.
They held placards reading "We demand a recount," and shouted "No! No to fraud, Yes! Yes to Maliki, Yes! Yes to Iraq."
Hundreds of people had also took to the streets of Najaf and Karbala a few days ago to protest the results which gave Maliki's main rival, former premier Iyad Allawi a slim lead in a tight election race, based on 95 percent of votes cast.
Over the weekend, the national election commission rebuffed Maliki's demand for a manual recount of the ballots cast, saying as it had not seen any widespread fraud in the election, any recount is unnecessary.
It said that political parties and groups would have to present evidence of wrongdoing to substantiate their complaints before full results are announced on Friday.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the heads of 10 provincial councils called for the election commission to authorize a recount of the votes due to the possibility of fraud "and manipulation of the election results."
The statement said "if the commission does not respond to the demand of the provincial councils ... the 10 provinces will begin a major escalation of measures."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Hmmm, following the Democrats, I see.
Recount until the vote goes your way, "Finding" Ballots along the way.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/25/2010 4:38 Comments ||
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[Ma'an] Nativity Church deportee Abdullah Dawood, 48, former director of Bethlehem intelligence service, died on Wednesday in Algeria, his family confirmed.
Brigadier Dawood was admitted to the military hospital in Algiers on Saturday to undergo emergency surgery for a heart bleed and a burst coronary artery. His wife, Kifah Harb, arrived in the Algerian capital three days earlier, where her husband remained in the intensive care unit.
Dawood, from the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, was deported by Israeli forces from the Nativity Church in 2002, following an Israeli siege on the church.
The brigadier was first deported in 1992 after Israeli forces surrounded the An-Najjah University in Nablus. He returned to Palestine with the PLO following the Oslo Agreement in 1993.
Between 2 April and 10 May 2002, Israeli forces surrounded the Nativity Church in Bethlehem during Operation Defensive Shield at the height of the Second Intifada. The operation had sought to capture Palestinian militants, who sought refuge in the church. An agreement was reached, after long negotiations, to deport the besieged Palestinians to Europe and Gaza.
Israeli authorities regularly deport Palestinians released from Israeli custody to Gaza, despite detainees having resided with family in the West Bank.
Deportees: We don't want to return in coffins
The Nativity Church deportees in Europe and Gaza expressed their condolences for the passing of Dawood. Jihad Ja'ara, the deportees' spokesman, told Ma'an over the phone from Ireland "we express our deepest sorrow at the passing of our brother and our traveling companion, martyr Abdullah Dawood.
"He is a precious brother and a senior commander. Words can't express how much we love and respect him," Ja'ara said.
The deportees sent a message to the Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership on Wednesday, saying, "We want to return to our homeland on foot, not in coffins."
The exiled Palestinians added that Dawood was the first among the deportees to pass away before returning to Palestine. "We want the leadership to know that deportee Muhammad Said is in danger, having recently undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in the prostate gland." Deportees said that Said was considered to be in stable health following the procedure.
Dawood's last words: "I wish to visit my mother's grave"
Dawood's mother died in Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the northern West Bank while he was in exile, and was quoted in his last interview aired on Palestine TV as saying, "I wish I could visit my mother's grave."
Fahmi Kanan, Nativity Church deportees' spokesman, appealed to President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to undertake all efforts to ensure that Dawood's corpse is returned to the West Bank to be burried near his mother's grave in Balata refugee camp.
Speaking with Ma'an, Kanan said "We hold the Israeli occupation responsible for Dawood's death because they deported him. His mother and sister died while he was in exile. They also prevented his family members from visiting him in exile after they accused him of masterminding an operation against Israelis."
The spokesman explained that psychological pressure the deportees and their relatives suffer makes them prone to illness.
Palestinian Prisoners Society offers their condolences
President of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Qadura Fares, expressed his condolences for the death of Dawood.
Fares mentioned that Dawood was one of the first to rebel in the First Intifada and he was detained several times for more than seven years. He added that in 1988 he was deported to Lebanon and stayed there until 1996, returning to join the Palestinian security forces.
Fares added that when the Second Intifada broke, Dawood was the first to "return to struggle."
Fatah in Nablus
The Fatah movement in Nablus announced the death of Dawood in a statement explaining that he was a prominent leader of the first Palestinian Intifada, and was pursued by Israeli forces.
During the Second Intifada, the statement added, Dawood was deported after the Nativity Church siege in 2002, when was the director of the Palestinian General Intelligence in Bethlehem.
Leader of security services mourns
General Farraj, the director-general of the Palestinian General Intelligence, expressed his condolences for the death of Brigadier Dawood.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Poor dear got the splintery end of the deportation broomstick. No Paris shopping trips and subsidized apartments on the Seine for this schmuck. That's what he gets for not using tongue when kissing Arafat.
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2010 2:14 Comments ||
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#2
"We want to return to our homeland on foot, not in coffins."
[Asharq al-Aswat] Jordan's ambassador to Pakistan was the target of a Taliban kidnap attempt foiled by authorities in Islamabad and is now safe, the Jordanian information minister said Tuesday.
The incident followed calls for attacks on the Jordanian government by an al-Qaeda double agent who killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian agent in Afghanistan last December.
On Monday, Pakistani police announced the arrest of two highly experienced Taliban militants planning to attack top hotels and kidnap diplomats in Pakistan. The militants' identities and their targets weren't disclosed at the time.
Jordanian Information Minister Nabil Sharif said ambassador Saleh al-Jawarneh was the target of plot and was now safe in Jordan. He said Jordanian security was in contact with Pakistan for detailed information on the probe under way.
"We have great confidence in the ability of the Pakistani authorities to protect the Jordanian embassy and its staff in Islamabad," Sharif told The Associated Press.
Jordan's Islamabad embassy has 12 staff, including six accredited Jordanian diplomats.
Pakistani police spokesman Naeem Iqbal says investigators were questioning the two Taliban militants in custody about their plans to kidnap the Jordanian ambassador and attack a five star hotel and a club frequented by Westerners.
"They have confessed to having planned taking the targets," Iqbal said. "Officers are questioning them about details of their plan."
Jordan is a key U.S. Mideast ally and Israel's peace partner. The moderate Arab kingdom has often been targeted by Islamic militants, including al-Qaeda, which is closely allied with the Taliban.
In a posthumous video message last month, al-Qaeda double agent Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian, called for attacks on members of Jordan's intelligence agency and the need to overthrow its government, citing Jordan's strong support for Washington.
"There is no solution to the situation in Jordan other than mobilizing to the land of jihad to learn the arts of war and train in them, then return to Jordan and begin operations," he said.
In 2005, al-Qaeda militants from Iraq carried out near simultaneous attacks on three Jordan-based luxury hotels, killing 60 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2010 00:00 ||
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[11130 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
During its long and bloody history in Indonesia which includes a string of deadly bombings, among them the 2002 attack on the Bali beach resort Jemaah Islamiyah has been called many things: terrorists, murderers, allies of Osama bin Laden. But until this month, no one had ever called them weak-kneed. But in a video analysts say heralds the formation of an even more extreme organization in Indonesia, the group that killed 202 people in Bali and is suspected of carrying out subsequent attacks on foreign-owned hotels and the Australian embassy in Jakarta is taunted by assault rifle-wielding men as having lost its stomach for holy war.
To all members of Jemaah Islamiyah, unite! Jihad is not waged with pens or wearing prayer caps and sarongs,' one militant says to the camera, his face obscured by an editor. No, you fight jihad with weapons. Before your hair goes grey with age, join us!' He goes on to call out one moderate leader of Jemaah Islamiyah by name, saying all he does is sit in an office.'
The 75-minute video, posted online by a group that calls itself al-Qaeda in Aceh, is similar in style to those produced by the main al-Qaeda network based in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Militants are shown firing weapons and going through physical training. Clips from Mr. bin Laden's speeches are interspersed with calls for the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia.
Two weeks before the video was posted online, a special unit of the Indonesian police raided what they called a terrorist training camp' deep in the forests of the province of Aceh, the westernmost point of Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago with the world's largest population of Muslims. But while the police operations which captured dozens of assault rifles and hand grenades, as well as cash and fake identification papers were a blow to al-Qaeda in Aceh, discoveries made at the camp revealed how dangerous the new group may be.
While underscoring the split within Jemaah Islamiyah, which fractured under police pressure after the Bali bombings, the evidence suggests a new unity among Indonesia's extremist groups, analysts say. Those caught or killed at the training camp included several hardline members of Jemaah Islamiyah, as well as fighters from at least five other militant factions that had never previously found common cause. Little bomb-making material was discovered at the camp, leading to speculation that the group may have ruled out future Bali-style attacks, which have been divisive among jihadis, since many of those killed in such mass bombings have been Muslims.
The group appeared instead to have been training to carry out targeted assassinations or perhaps military-style assaults similar to the 2008 attacks on foreign hotels and other targets in the Indian city of Mumbai. The group's weaponry was apparently supplied by a member who was also a Jakarta police officer with access to firearms slated for disposal.
It's a coming together of most of the main jihadi groups [in Indonesia], with the exception of Jemaah Islamiyah,' said Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based analyst for the International Crisis Group. It was really a composite group of people who seem to have agreed on a lowest common denominator of what they could all find acceptable. They didn't necessarily agree to carry out [Bali]-style bombings, but they did agree on military training and the need to establish an Islamic state, by force if necessary.'
The militants are believed to have been planning an attack on the United Nations headquarters in Banda Aceh, the regional capital, and police are looking for links between the group and a series of mysterious shootings that targeted foreigners in the city last year. It has become clear to us that Dulmatin had instructed those whom we have managed to capture alive to launch violent attacks against very specific targets,' said General Bambang Hendarso Danuri, Indonesia's national police chief.
Despite the new organization's name, Ms. Jones said it isn't clear whether there are any real ties between it and the wider al-Qaeda network. However, al-Qaeda in Aceh does have strong links to Abu Sayyaf, the notorious group that has terrorized the southern Philippines for two decades. Several prominent members, including Mr. Dulmatin and the man believed to have succeeded him as leader of al-Qaeda in Aceh, Umar Patek, are known to have fled Indonesia following the Bali bombings and gone to the Philippines, where they fought alongside Abu Sayyaf. Like Mr. Dulmatin, Mr. Patek is a former senior commander in Jemaah Islamiyah renowned for his bomb-making skills.
One of those killed at the Aceh camp was a Filipino fighter believed to have been a member of Abu Sayyaf, raising concern at the ease with which the militants appear to be moving between Indonesia and the Philippines.
The new organization is believed to have chosen Aceh for its remoteness, as well as the fact that the semi-autonomous government there recently imposed a version of sharia law. But while those captured include several former members of the Free Aceh Movement that in 2005 ended a 30-year military campaign for independence, al-Qaeda in Aceh does not have the support of the wider Free Aceh Movement leadership. In fact, police say it was Free Aceh Movement fighters who led them to the militant training camp.
But while the fledgling al-Qaeda in Aceh may have lost its leader and main training grounds, police say there are at least seven more cells of the organization active on Indonesia's main island of Java alone. This network still has the capacity to create new cells. This is a very strong terrorism network,' said Andi Widjajanto, a military analyst at the University of Indonesia. What we are now seeing is the strengthening of the terrorist network in Indonesia, not its weakening.'
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.
[Maghrebia] The leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and two of his top deputies are among 214 jailed militants freed by Libya on Tuesday (March 23rd), international press reported. With the release of LIFG emir Abdelhakim Belhaj (aka Abu Abdallah Al Sadek), the group's military chief Khaled Shrif and top strategist Sami Saadi, Libya has "concluded its programme of dialogue and reconciliation", AFP quoted Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Saif al-Islam as saying.
[Dawn] Pakistan's armed forces launched an assault Wednesday on Taliban hideouts in the northwest tribal belt, killing at least 21 militants in firefights and bombing raids, officials said.
[Ma'an] Nativity Church deportee Abdullah Dawood, 48, former director of Bethlehem intelligence service, died on Wednesday in Algeria, his family confirmed. 
[Asharq al-Aswat] Jordan's ambassador to Pakistan was the target of a Taliban kidnap attempt foiled by authorities in Islamabad and is now safe, the Jordanian information minister said Tuesday.
