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Thread 11 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1159172/posts?page=1 |
Posted on 06/10/2004 2:28:29 PM PDT by JustPiper
Picture credit: TheCabal
"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat"
U.S. Charges Australian Linked to al-Qaida
WASHINGTON - An Australian held at the Navy's prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will face a military tribunal for allegedly training and fighting alongside members of al-Qaida in Afghanistan (news - web sites), the Pentagon (news - web sites) announced Thursday.
We are the "Stotters" who make ourselves aware of the enemy who wishes to do us harm
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
The headline on that one is a bit misleading. Iran has 4 battalions on the Iraq border which would be about 1500 troops, total, I think. Of course the fact that they have a pact with Russia could complicate things if the war drums started beating.
How does TB2K have a monopoly on any information posted on it's private club? I don't doubt that different people can gather the same infomation from different sources, so what makes you automatically think that it was "ripped off" from TB2K? As far as I know, most of us don't even have an account there as they are not accepting new members.
I agree with you Granny. I believe that we all value our time spent trying to track terrorist incidents. A lot of us have limited time to spend looking at posts, and time spent reading posts that are off-topic robs us of time we could spend seeking new and relevant information. I appreciate the fact that you spoke up and said what you did.
Steve Quayle is on Coast to Coast AM right now talking about terrorists, WMD and China Iran NK.
I must admit that I've been guilty of going off-topic too. Actually, if you consider a celestial occurance as a potential signal to terrorists, and HAARP/Tesla type instruments as being in terrorists hands, they are relevant.
>>>where is PETA?
PETA is busy importing stray dogs from other countries to give us all exotic disease with their Save a Sato program.
www.saveasato.org
Quayle also opines that China completed work on the neutron bomb and has passed it to Iran. Iran has threatened to nail 29 "sensitive" locations if their nuclear facilities are threatened.
Major bump to you NW_AZ!
Speaking of terrorism and dates to watch, count down to Iraq's sovereignty:
Posted on Tue, Jun. 15, 2004
U.S. to transfer Saddam to Iraqi custody after sovereignty date
By Tom Lasseter
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq will maintain custody of former dictator Saddam Hussein until after June 30, the date marking sovereignty for the new Iraqi government, a spokesman said, despite demands by Iraq's prime minister that American forces turn over Saddam and other detainees in the next two weeks.
President Bush, speaking in Washington, said the United States was preparing to turn Saddam over to the new government but wanted to ensure that adequate security could be maintained and that the timing was under discussion.
"He's a killer. He is a thug," Bush said. "He needs to be brought to trial. We want to make sure that the transfer (of Saddam) to a sovereign government is done in a timely way and in a secure way. That's what we're discussing with the government."
The apparent rift with Prime Minister Iyad Allawi brought up a host of issues, chief among them whether the United States can continue to hold Saddam as a prisoner of war. A spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Baghdad has said Saddam should be freed if he isn't formally charged with a crime by June 30.
Dan Senor, the top U.S. spokesman in Baghdad, said Tuesday that American officials "do not have to hand him over until there is a cessation of active hostilities," noting that Iraq is still very much a hostile environment.
Wa'il Adbul Latif, a minister in the new government and the chief administrative judge for the war crimes tribunal against Saddam, wouldn't confirm that an arrest warrant would be coming this month. He did say, however, that once charged with a crime, Saddam could be held indefinitely.
"Saddam Hussein will be designated as an ordinary criminal," he said.
Asked what would happen to other detainees in American custody, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said it was his understanding that the United Nations Security Council resolution that passed last week gave the United States the authority to continue detaining people currently in custody and those picked up in future operations.
"We certainly are in discussions between the coalition and Iraqi government officials in regards to how those detention operations will be conducted post-June," he said. "It is important to understand that we certainly have the authority to detain, and a responsibility to detain."
Saddam, who ruled with tyrannical force, has been held by Americans in an undisclosed location since he was captured in December. During his time as leader of Iraq, he oversaw a chemical attack that killed thousands of Kurds, and an ongoing repression of Shiite Muslims that included torture, rape and murder.
It was unclear Tuesday whether the subject of his transfer to the Iraqis represented a conflict between the new Iraqi government and the U.S. administration, or whether Allawi was merely grandstanding.
Both sides agree that Saddam will be tried by an Iraqi court, but the timing could have symbolic and practical implications.
A quick hand-over of the despot could be a boon to Allawi, a freshly minted prime minister without wide name recognition.
There are questions, though, about where the Iraqis would hold Saddam, and how well they could provide security for him in confinement and at trial.
The Kurds in northern Iraq are particularly concerned over the issues because of the chemical weapons attacks against them.
"As long as Saddam is in American hands, he's OK. Nobody could bribe an American guard enough to let him escape," said Mohammed Ihsan, the minister of human rights in the Kurdish regional government. "That wouldn't be true if he's in Iraqi hands."
Iraqi security forces frequently have been unable to defend themselves in postwar Iraq, and a recent spate of bombings has left many on the street feeling insecure.
Iraqi President Ghazi al Yawer acknowledged those concerns Tuesday.
"The United States is very keen to hand over the ex-president to the Iraqi authorities. We must first make sure that we can maintain protection for his life until he goes to trial," he said. "We must make sure that the trial goes as a legal process, he has his own fair chance of defense and the government has its own chance of expressing charges on him."
President Bush, al Yawer said, spoke with him about the matter at the G-8 summit last week.
In Baghdad, Senor said the Americans would decide when to hand over Saddam, and downplayed reports of conflict between Allawi and coalition officials.
"Both sides have an interest in handing Saddam Hussein over to the Iraqis, and the only matter is when is the appropriate time. And that is something we are discussing with the prime minister right now," he said. "It is not a negotiation. It is a discussion. We both have the same goal."
Ordinary Iraqis are of mixed minds about a trial for Saddam, wanting to see justice done but more concerned with the lack of security.
"Saddam Hussein ruined my life when he sent me to the Army. My wife died because of him - there was no medicine," said Jinan Mehti, a 40-year-old Christian. "Whether or not they're going to put him on trial, that's their problem. For me it's an old issue."
Feelings against the deposed dictator are stronger in the northern town of Halabja, which Saddam gassed.
"I'd rather have him kept alive," Fateh Abdullah Ahmed, a 42-year-old carpenter, said Sunday. "They should make him watch a video of his sons being killed, 24 hours a day, for the rest of his life. That kind of torture would be a fitting punishment."
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Thank you for having the chutzpah to tell it like it is. I have been guilty of getting sidetracked on the thread, but it seems like we are WAY too focused on things that really have nothing to do with the original purpose of this thread. Of course it is interesting to discuss, but this isn't the place to hash it over.
Yeah, I'm trying to figure out how certain celestial occurrences in themselves are not potential threats. If the thread is intended to be concerned only with terrorist threats, then it should be titled "Terrorist Threat Matrix", not "Threat Matrix". Otherwise, the presumption that only very narrow topical posts should appear is just that - presumptuous. If the next thread is titled that way I will certainly observe it.
Anyway, the idea that any one person or group (other than Jim or FR) owns the content of a thread here is antithetical to the whole nature of FreeRepublic.
For those who are interested in space science and threats thereof, I earlier commented that it was puzzling that few ordinary "shooting stars" are visible right now, with the significant meteorite activity. Well, I went outside again tonight and lo and behold saw one of the ten brightest meteors I have ever seen. In fact, many years I have sat through a Perseid show and not seen one this bright.
Tell your nephew there are classes he needs to sign up for:
http://1010wins.com/topstories/winstopstories_story_167155610.html
1010 WINS | 1010wins.com
Classes Train Protesters For GOP Convention
Jun 15, 2004 3:53 pm US/Eastern
Instead of road trips, beach vacations and barbecues, thousands of anti-Bush demonstrators are headed to summer school to learn how to stage successful sit-ins and what to do if pepper spray burns their eyes.
Welcome to Convention Protesting 101.
Before GOP convention begins Aug. 30, veteran activists will train protesters in street tactics, legal issues, public relations and first aid in an effort they say is the largest of its kind. The aim: to create a force of well-schooled demonstrators who will carry out safe and organized protests instead of riots that obscure their message.
With city officials this week weighing which protest groups will get permits for official events, activists throughout the city are quietly learning how to block doorways or street intersections, and when to use passive body language -- such as sitting down -- to impede arrest.
"The Republicans would love to have images coming out of New York City that make them look like the reasonable ones, like they're about responsibility and law and order and creating a safe society, and that the left was unreasonable and violent," said John Sellers, director of the Ruckus Society, a California-based group that trains activists.
"If we don't recognize that, then we're not being very strategic," he added.
The instruction even includes skills for responding to rogue protesters intent on causing lawlessness, because veterans realize that thousands of untrained demonstrators are likely to swarm city streets that week.
The Ruckus Society, founded in 1995, will hold at least one weekend training camp this summer. Using many of the same principles, local activists are already teaching classes in churches, homes and public spaces.
"It's not just that we train a few thousand people over the summer," said Jeff Senter, a legal training coordinator. "They go and tell their friends, so the effect is multiplied several times over."
Organizers won't publicly disclose their plans for civil disobedience. But activists describe sit-ins and blockades at delegate hotels, pie-throwing at high-level officials, and street theater outside Broadway shows attended by convention-goers. A man who calls himself Jonny America plans to mimic Paul Revere's ride along Lexington Avenue, shouting "the Republicans are coming, the Republicans are coming!"
Activists have declared Aug. 31 as an official day of civil disobedience, calling for all protesters to sit down and refuse to move in the streets around convention headquarters at Madison Square Garden and other sites throughout the city.
"We'll take over the streets, transform them into theaters, stages for resistance and forums for debate," says their call to action, read aloud at a recent protest meeting. "We will draw our examples and inspiration from the brave shapers of history who came before us -- those who put their bodies on the line to gain independence."
John Flanigan, 28, and Tim Doody, 30, are teaching some of the classes on this kind of resistance, also called direct action. The four-hour class begins with protest history, from the Boston Tea Party to treetop protests against logging. The point is to remind attendees, Doody says, that "a lot of things that we take for granted these days weren't given to us, they had to be taken."
Students then learn popular street tactics like sit-ins and blockades. "You put yourself in a vulnerable position if you're doing a direct action -- chaining yourself or putting yourself in the street, putting your body on the line," Flanigan said. "They want to know how the police are going to react."
Police spokesman Paul Browne declined to comment on activist training, but said the department approves of any methods that teach protesters to be less confrontational.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said recently that he expects about 1,000 arrests per day during the four-day convention -- three times the normal daily arrest volume.
Direct action trainers say they aren't urging protesters to break the law. But arrests are inevitable, and protesters are preparing for that too by offering legal training.
Lawyers, law students and volunteers are teaching protesters about their rights and the legal process before, during and after a typical protest arrest. They learn, for instance, that they don't have to answer questions.
"Under the stress of the probability of getting arrested, everything goes by the wayside," said Jenny Heinz, a Manhattan psychotherapist and protester since the 1950s. "It's very hard to hold on when you're being questioned."
Organizers say they will set up a legal office and hot line and deploy hundreds of legal observers to attend protests, track arrests and monitor the police.
Protesters-in-training also take medical classes, and learn how to treat activists who are injured or dehydrated.
Among the tips: carry cloth soaked in apple cider vinegar to help soothe eyes and skin stinging from pepper spray; don't wear contact lenses, which can trap chemical spray; wear goggles to protect against rubber bullets.
And, of course, adult diapers can provide relief during a long sit-in or jailing.
"When you're protesting in New York City," said Sellers of Ruckus, "you're definitely in the big leagues."
GOOGLE Search Term: "MAHAZ-E-JIHAD"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Mahaz-e-Jihad%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0
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http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s04060080.htm
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
PENTECOSTAL PREACHER ESCAPES ISLAMIC CAPTORS IN PAKISTAN
Latest hostage drama underscores concern about country's Christian minority
By Stefan J. Bos
Special Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
QUETTA, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- A Pentecostal preacher abducted by Muslim militants in Pakistan's southwestern region has escaped from his captors, the evangelical CharismaNOW news service reported Tuesday, June 15.
CharismaNOW quoted the Reuters news agency as saying that Wilson Fazal, 41, who pastors a church in the city of Quetta, disappeared May 16 after receiving threatening letters from an unknown group of Islamists who urged him to convert to Islam or face unspecified consequences.
Fazal told police that he had been kidnapped and taken to the northwestern city of Peshawar, about 375 miles northeast of Quetta (apr. 600 kilometers), when he managed to escape recently. No details of his escape were immediately available, CharismaNOW said.
Fazal's son, Jerry, told Reuters that a hand-written letter delivered to their home in early May warned Wilson to stop preaching Christianity. A group calling itself Mahaz-e-Jihad, or "Frontier of the Holy War" sent the letter.
"GET READY"
"Get ready, ready, ready, or else...," said the letter which had a hand-drawn rifle for a signature at the bottom, Reuters explained.
About 70,000 of Quetta's population of 1.5 million are Christian. They have largely lived in harmony with the Muslim population, even though the city is also home to hard-line Islamic militants opposed to religious tolerance and the United States-led war in neighboring Afghanistan, CharismaNOW reported
Yet the kidnapping has underscored concern among human rights groups about growing pressure on Pakistan's Christian minority. Several Christians, including foreign missionary workers, have been killed in recent Islamic violence. Islamic extremists have linked Christians to the American led international crackdown on terror. Less than 3 percent of the country's over 135 million people are Christians, according to official records.
Read more on these and other news stories on news agency BosNewsLife at website http://www.bosnewslife.com
Award winning Journalist Stefan J. Bos was born on the 19th of September 1967 in a small home in downtown Amsterdam, in the Netherlands not far from the typewriter of his father, who was (and still is) a Reporter and ghostwriter. Already at a very young age Bos decided to become journalist and finally arrived in Hungary, the same country where his parents had smuggled Bibles during Communism.
Bos has traveled extensively to cover wars and revolutions throughout the region and received the Annual Press Award of Merit from the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his coverage about foreign policy affairs including Hungary's relationship with NATO and the European Union. Stefan J. Bos can be reached at: bosnews@externet.hu.
** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
Just got back onto my computer after a couple of days and am updating myself.
I have a good friend who works for US Cellular and their communications network (or whatever it's called) was down today. I don't know if phones weren't working, or their internal communications were down, or what. He seemed to think this was not a usual thing.
I agree that comets and meteors are definitely a threat, and they aren't caused by terrorists. I would guess that any incidents that threaten our safety and survival are fair game to discuss here. Those threats may be related to nukes, bio-chem, communism, science, economy, transportation, cyber security, and many more topics. If we concentrate on the core safety and survival issues and nobody is made to feel like their posts are insignificant, our mission should be on track. That is so cool that you got to see good heavenly show tonight!
On another space issue, do you know if laser particles would be significant in the whole safety scenario? I ask because the sight that I visit to get the mold count has laser particle counts too.
http://www.childrens-mercy.org/Pollen/Count/count.asp?page=1&city=1
Did you know that what you pay for a gallon of gas is on trial tomorrow in a Moscow courtroom?
A series of events orchestrated by the Kremlin and designed to curtail individual freedoms, renationalize their domestic oil industry and suppress dissent have culminated in the arrest and continuing detention of two pro-Western businessmen who encouraged selling oil to the United States: Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Continuing erosion of freedoms in Russia affects the US oil supply because it is clear that Vladimir Putin wants to re-nationalize Yukos oil.
These guys love you too ;)
Phoenix-a hot bed of terrorists
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