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Posted on 06/02/2005 9:27:09 PM PDT by nwctwx
Ho-Hum, another liberal getting a close-up look between freedom and non-freedom...
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1421640/posts
"Camera of Sean Penn, Journalist, Confiscated in Iran"
Editor & Publisher ^ | 6/12/05 | Editor & Publisher
Posted on 06/12/2005 6:12:56 PM PDT by wagglebee
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "NEW YORK Iran was rocked by bombings on Sunday, killing at least nine and wounding more than 30, as dozens of journalists from around the world gathered in advance of the presidential election this Friday. One of those journalists, actor Sean Penn--covering the events for the San Francisco Chronicle--was involved in a separate incident, and had his video camera confiscated for a time."
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/06/006607print.html
(BBC)
June 12, 2005
"Family turmoil over 'suicide bomb' women"
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/006601.php
(BBC)
June 11, 2005
"'Female bombers' held in Pakistan"
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/006595.php
(NEW YORK POST)
June 11, 2005
"Sheikhs debate whether killing Muslim non-combatants is permissible"
Lodi, California Mysteries The arrest this week of five men of Pakistani origins in Lodi, California, on what are likely to be terrorism-related charges (terrorism was initially a formal part of the picture but was then retracted) has prompted extensive media coverage. The coverage has uncovered some mysteries, which I note here in the hopes of finding answers to.
Hamid Hayat, 22, arrested on his return from what he admits was a jihadist camp in Pakistan, is an American citizen born in Stockton, California who attended school (though only up to the sixth grade) in the United States. That being the case, why does the Los Angeles Times write that, "Apparently unable to follow the proceedings in English, Hayat listened with the help of an Urdu translator"? Does Lodi contain an Urdu-speaking ghetto? (In the absence of the two imams yesterday, the mosque service was held in Urdu.)
When he was arrested, Hamid Hayat, the junior-high dropout, was packing cherries. His father, Umer, sells ice cream from a truck. But his maternal grandfather, Qari Saeed ur Rehman, founded the Jamia Islamia Madrassa in 1962 (and still runs it), is a leader in the Jamiat Ulema Islam Party, and served as minister of religious affairs in the late 1980s. The family is Pakistani religious royalty – so, what are the father and son doing in California as unskilled laborers?
Hamid Hayat's attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi, explaining why his family traveled so often to Pakistan, said that it went "on one occasion to seek medical treatment for the mother." It traveled to Pakistan for medical reasons? Urdu-speaking doctors are not hard to find in northern California and they dispose of far superior facilities, so what's up?
On April 19, 2003, on the way to Pakistan, the same day Hamid and Umer Hayat were stopped at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Christiana Halsey revealed that they were found with $28,093 in cash. What is an ice-cream vendor doing with such an amount of money and why is he breaking U.S. customs regulations by taking out so much cash without declaring it?
And, speaking of money and travel, here is something curious about the Farooqia Islamic Center: the 2003 tax return of this apparently Islamist institution (it hosted the likes of Siraj Wahaj and links to the Islamic Society of North America and the Saudi Ministry of Religious Affairs) shows operating expenses of $57,544 in 2003, of which over one third, or $20,625, was spent on travel. Wonder why.
Winds of Democratic change are blowing through the Middle East - and sending shivers through the White House. Fed up with corruption and determined to oust governments seen as U.S. lackeys, newly minted voters in key Arab countries have propelled card-carrying terrorists and Islamic extremists into positions of power.
In Gaza, the militant Hamas organization won 77 out of 118 seats in recent local elections.
In Lebanon's first vote free of Syrian domination, the Iranian-backed Islamic militant group Hezbollah swept the polls in the southern part of the country.
In Egypt, the radical and often violent Muslim Brotherhood has shifted tactics and started infiltrating the pro-democracy drive trying to oust longtime President Hosni Mubarak - a key American ally.
"The key point here is that democracy in the Middle East is about anti-Americanism right now," said David Phillips of the Council on Foreign Relations.
In Beirut, Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Naboulsi said they know all they need to know about democracy.
"We don't need America to teach us," he said. "The turnout [at the recent election] was bigger than the elections four years ago. People wanted to say, 'Look, we're against American interference in our affairs, we're against the American project and we will stand with the resistance.'"
The Hamas and Hezbollah victories place President Bush in a tough spot. On one hand, he has championed democracy as a cure-all for this troubled region. On the other, he adamantly refuses to deal with terrorists.
"The problem [for Bush] is that these elections aren't skewing public opinion, they're reflecting public opinion, which is decidedly against American policies in the region," said Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution.
There's a reason why groups like Hamas are fast becoming political powerhouses, said Chris Toensing of the Middle East Research and Information project.
"Unlike the Palestinian Authority, Hamas has a reputation for being honest," Toensing said. "It provides social services Palestinian leaders promise but don't deliver. So even Palestinians who don't want to live in an Islamic state will vote for Hamas."
Hamas' recent success at the ballot box frightened U.S.-backed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas into postponing the upcoming parliamentary elections to give his Fatah Party more time to campaign.
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens), who serves on the house International Relations panel and recently returned from a fact-finding trip to the Holy Land, said Bush has to back reformers like Abbas with cash.
"Hamas is like the old ward-headers in Chicago: They give you a sack of coal and you owe them," he said. "If you want to win votes that would go to Hamas, you have to make Abbas the giver of gifts and not Hamas."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/318099p-272097c.html
Amman - An alleged militant on trial for a terror conspiracy targeting the US and Israeli embassies claimed on Monday that terror masterminds Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would soon set up a Muslim caliphate state.
Excerpted
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,6119,2-10-1462_1709608,00.html
You're welcome Cindy - hope your Sunday was wonderful!
Already happened. A couple of years ago, my insurance company asked what type of pet(s) and how many I owned. At the time, I wondered if the question might have to do with liability for certain types of dogs.
Really great...
Sunday is the best day of the week, in my opinion.
Truly excellent questions.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's pro-Syrian Hizbollah guerrilla group and its allies swept all 10 seats in general elections in an east Lebanon constituency on Sunday in the third stage of parliamentary elections.
"They said today that the Bekaa is a shield for the resistance like the south and all of Lebanon," the group's deputy chief Sheikh Naim Kassem told a news conference.
The win brings the number of seats won by pro-Syrian Shi'ite Muslim allies to 33 in the 128-member assembly.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/20050612/wl_nm/lebanon_hizbollah_dc
Thank you Oorangs.
I'm reading all your links plus some others.
Great set of links.
Good Sunday to all
Unraveling the Saga of Zarqawi's Injury
Zarqawi-Linked Groups Enter Kenya
ON THE NET...
http://www.indianembassy.org/int_media/oct_2000/cbs_60_mins.htm
http://www.metacrawler.com/info.metac/search/web/Fazlur%2BRahman/1/-/1/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/1
June 12, 2005
KABUL (Online): Hundreds of soldiers have deserted the Afghan National Army complaining of poor conditions and fierce resistance from the Taleban, US officials say.
It is a blow to the Afghan government which wants to increase the size of the force so the numbers of international troops in the country can be reduced. The corps affected is the first to be deployed in the field.
Officials say another reason for men going absent is the difficulty they experience in dealing with their pay. The 205th Corps of the Afghan National Army is based around the city of Kandahar.
The south of Afghanistan has seen some of the fiercest fighting against remnants of the Taleban and their al-Qaeda allies. Members of the corps are in combat most days.
The US has about 18,000 troops in Afghanistan A US military spokesman told the BBC that around 300 men have deserted. That is one in 12 of the entire force. Soldiers are paid around $75 a month - a good wage in Afghanistan - but the absence of a banking system prevents them from sending money to their families.
The news comes as American troops take more casualties. On Wednesday two US soldiers were killed and eight others wounded in a rocket attack near the border with Pakistan. The Afghan government’s long term plan is for the numbers of international troops in the country to be reduced and for Afghanistan’s own army to shoulder more of the burden of the fighting. To do that numbers will need to be nearly tripled to around 70,000 by 2007.
QUETTA, June 12 (Online): Iranian Border Security Forces has arrested 46 Pakistanis while they were attempting to cross into Europe illegally.
Iranian security forces nabbed the 46 Pakistanis near the Pak-Iran border while they were attempting to enter Europe through the Iranian border in search of better employment opportunities. The arrested were later handed over to Pakistani authorities.
FIA has registered a case against them under the foreign act and started investigations.
http://www.thepakistaninewspaper.com/news_detail.php?id=2333
Afghanistan denies involvement in Uzbekistan unrest Source: AFP
KABUL - Afghan government officials on Sunday rejected allegations reported in Russian media that militants based in Afghanistan were responsible for the recent uprising in Uzbekistan.
“It is a baseless claim that there are terror training centers in Afghanistan and they get trained and cross into Uzbekistan,” Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Moahmmed Zahir Azimi said.
Russian Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov in a report carried by Interfax said on Thursday Russia had credible information that the recent disturbances in Uzbekistan were organized from Afghan territory.
Ivanov was quoted as saying that Afghanistan was still a base for training terrorists, and accused Afghan-based militants of being behind the uprising in Uzbekistan last month in which scores of people died.
“The international community has a wide and active presence in Afghanistan. There are dozens of countries in the structure of coalition and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, it is baseless claim,” Azimi said
http://www.sabawoon.com/news/miniheadlines.asp?dismode=article&artid=23550
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1421671/posts
"Lockheed CEO warns EU on China arms trade"
Reuters ^ | June 12, 2005 | Bill Rigby
Posted on 06/12/2005 7:58:46 PM PDT by Righty_McRight
_______________________
Al-Queda’s banking in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, June 12 (SANA):,br> Al-Queda has become the loan provider for certain people in Pakistan and other Islamic countries. First they provide the loan and then when the borrower faces difficulty in repayment, they make them follow Al-Queda agenda. The concept came from age-old Afghanistan when men from Kabul used to travel to India and loan Indians money at very high interest rates.
The next wave of terrorism from Al-Queda can involve these secret clandestine Banking operations. People who cannot repay the loan can be made to provide shelter and do thinks that Al-Queda asks them to do.
According to media sources, Pakistan Army paid a massive sum of 32 million Rupees to some most-wanted militants in the tribal areas of South Waziristan to buy peace and enable them pay off debts taken from al-Qaeda, a media report said.
When Pakistani authorities initiated a dialogue with the tribesmen several months ago to buy peace and fight the al-Qaeda, they learnt that the tribals were "compelled to fight for al-Qaeda and against the Pakistan army because they had obtained huge loans from al-Qaeda," Pakistani magazine Newsline said in a report.
It said the tribesmen of South Waziristan had "no option but to offer its (al-Qaeda) militants shelter or work for their interests in the region."
Over 32 million Rupees were paid to some most-wanted militants to enable them pay off their al-Qaeda debts and surrender and sign peace deals with the army, the monthly said.
It quoted Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Safdar Hussain, in charge of the military operations in Waziristan, as saying the payments were made as part of a package after the militants said they needed "to settle debts with al-Qaeda".
Hussain said two of the militants, Haji Sharif and Maulvi Abbas, received 15 million Rupees each, while Maulvi Javed and Haji Omar were paid one million each. Another tribal militant, Nek Mohammad, who was killed in a rocket attack last year, is believed to have earned a fortune by providing logistic support to al-Qaeda militants in the tribal zones.
The magazine said documents seized from arrested Taliban leaders indicated that Nek Mohammad had distributed over 100 million Rupees to militants and arms suppliers to disrupt the afghan elections last year.
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