Posted on 04/10/2008 4:08:30 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
China: Plot on Olympic athletes foiled
1 hour, 22 minutes ago
China said Thursday it had uncovered a criminal ring planning to kidnap athletes and others at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Thirty-five members of a ring based in the restive western Xinjiang region were arrested, Ministry of Public Security Spokesman Wu Heping told a news conference.
"We face a real terrorist threat," Wu said. The arrests took place between March 26 and April 6, he said.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror hijackings, China has tried to portray the simmering separatist rebellion in Xinjiang as being fueled by terrorist organizations in Central Asia and the Middle East. But evidence made public has been scarce.
Western embassies asked Beijing for more information after authorities said they broke up an attempt to hijack a plane in western China last month but so far no evidence has been provided, diplomats have said.
On Thursday, Wu said the ring was plotting to kidnap athletes, foreign journalists and other visitors to the August Games. He added that police had also confiscated almost 22 pounds of explosives and eight sticks of dynamite and "jihadist" literature in the latest raids in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.
Wu also provided further details on a second group arrested in January, alleging they had been manufacturing explosives and were plotting to attack hotels, government offices and military targets in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities.
Wu said the gang had been acting on orders from a radical Islamic Xinjiang independence group, East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
While the United States has labeled the East Turkestan Islamic Movement a terrorist organization, the State Department alleges widespread abuses of the legal and educational systems by the communist authorities to suppress Uighur culture and religion.
Ping!
LLS
Am I the only American concerned that — according to reports from “Fair and Balanced” Fox — CHINESE PARAMILITARY TROOPS policed the crowd in SF as the idiotic Olympic torch was trotted through the streets??
Does no one recall that the Soviets used MONGOLIAN troops to quash the Hungarian and Czech revolts because these troops couldn’t know any of those they would be ordered to shoot and couldn’t even speak the same language?
Couple this with the numerous reports from returning US troops that they had been asked by their officers if they could fire on fellow Americans and the new deal to interchange US and Canadian troops during “disturbances” and I fear that we’re being set up for some very serious problems here which, so far as I know, not even the talking heads on Fox found disturbing.
Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean “they’re” not out to get us.
Am I the only American concerned that — according to reports from “Fair and Balanced” Fox — CHINESE PARAMILITARY TROOPS policed the crowd in SF as the idiotic Olympic torch was trotted through the streets??
Does no one recall that the Soviets used MONGOLIAN troops to quash the Hungarian and Czech revolts because these troops couldn’t know any of those they would be ordered to shoot and couldn’t even speak the same language?
Couple this with the numerous reports from returning US troops that they had been asked by their officers if they could fire on fellow Americans and the new deal to interchange US and Canadian troops during “disturbances” and I fear that we’re being set up for some very serious problems here which, so far as I know, not even the talking heads on Fox found disturbing.
Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean “they’re” not out to get us.
LLS
“....And then after the corkscrew landing, we had to duck & run from sniper bullets....yeah, that’s the ticket”.
China’s image is taking a battering around the globe because of their Tibetan crackdowns. Riots, protests, snuffed torches, secret routes, rumblings of opening ceremony boycotts, etc...
And *now* comes a claim that they have foiled a “terrorist” plot?
No, there’s something that isn’t passing the smell test.
These Olympics are going to be a cluster of the first magnitude. I think the best that can be hoped for is a disturbance like the Black Power demonstration at Mexico City (’68). Worst case you get a Tienanmen-style crackdown & a suspension of the games, coupled with a Media blackout.
Bull shiite! The Hu Jintao clique made the whole thing up.
It will work well when the Reconquista rebels start violence against the "oppressive occupiers" of Atzlan. (American citizens) NATO forces, minus U.S. troops, can be brought in to move the oppressive occupiers out of Atzlan and, being non-American, those troops will have no problem firing on Americans.
There were no Chinese Paramilitary troops policing the crowds in SF. There was a group of Chinese paramilitary soldiers securing the Olympic Flame. Please get the facts straight.
Now, that being said, who the hell authorized Chinese soldiers to guard anyone?
It’s an excuse for Chinese authorities to crack down on the Uyghur population much like they have the Tibetans.
See comment #14
update:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/10/olympic.plot/index.html
China says 35 arrested in Olympics bomb plot
I have found two articles that indicate that the PRC planted disguised policemen and/or soldiers in the crowds of protesters in Lhasa to initiate rioting. The aim was to be able to point to the Dalai Lama and accuse him of inciting violence. Here is the one I think I can post on FR without copyright problems.
Chinese Regime Implicated in Staging Violence in Lhasa—UPDATED
from link at post 17
BEIJING, China (CNN) — Islamic terrorists planned to attack Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese locations with poisonous gas and explosives to sabotage the Summer Olympic Games, China announced Thursday
"Uighurs who express 'separatist' tendencies are routinely sentenced to quick, secret and summary trials, sometimes accompanied by mass sentencing rallies. The death penalty is common," the group said.
I don't believe the ChiComs for a minute. They haven't been able to lay terrorism at the Tibetans door because no one would believe it although they have made accusations just short of that. But the same two "evils" of separatism and religious extremism (religion period) are their excuses for shooting monks and yak herders. Frankly I don't think I could condemn the Uyghurs or the Tibetans if they did use terroristic methods as long as they were directed at the PRC only. That would be like condemning a prisoner of war for slitting a guard's throat to escape.
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