Posted on 08/27/2004 3:27:20 AM PDT by The Raven
CAIRO, Egypt -- A claim of responsibility for the downing of two Russian planes appeared on a Web site known for militant Muslim comment Friday. The statement, which accused Russians of killing Muslims in Chechnya, was signed "the Islambouli Brigades." A group with a similar name has claimed at least one previous attack, but the legitimacy of the group and the authenticity of such statements could not be verified. Russian officials have said terrorism was the most likely cause of Tuesday's plane crashes, which killed 89 people. "We in the Islambouli Brigades announce that our holy warriors managed to hijack two Russian planes and were crowned with success though they faced problems at the beginning," the statement said without elaborating on the problems. Friday's statement said five mujahedeen (Islamic fighters) were on board each plane and their wills will be published soon. The statement did not explain how the hijackers boarded the planes, how they downed them or give any other details. "Russia's slaughtering of Muslims is continuing and will only stop when a bloody war is launched," the statement said. "Our mujahedeen, with God's grace, succeeded in directing the first blow, which will be followed by a series of other operations in a wave of to extend support and victory to our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim areas which suffer from Russian faithlessness." A July 31 Web statement signed the "Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaida" claimed responsibility for the attempt to assassinate Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan's prime minister-designate. Friday's claim did not refer to al-Qaida, the international terror network led by Osama bin Laden. Lt. Khaled Islambouli was the leader of the group of soldiers who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a military parade in Cairo in 1981.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
I agree that Japan has an excellent naval power projection capability(followed by India,South Korea,China etc) with awesome ships like the Aegis equipped 'Kongo' class ships & has a comprehensive logistical capability allowing long range operations-but their offensive capability is very limited ,if not absent-they have no land attack cruise missiles or aircraft carriers(unlike the US & UK).Moreover,in the words of Japanese analysts their air force has very limited precision strike capability -their F-15Js which have the longest range carries no Air to ground weapons & their new F-2 fighter is nowhere near it's expected potential .In short,Japan can defend itself against China or North Korea with it's airforce, but has a very limited ability to strike back.Their navy would do better but would have to rely on the US 7th fleet to add sting.
Moreover,global deployment needs experience & even Bangladesh has greater experience in extra regional deployments than Japan.About your point on both Japan & the UK having "experience" on being global powers,there is a very significant difference between them.The British are proud of their colonial past & won't mind adding a few more missiles(which unfortunately is proving costly for them of late!!!) to their arsenal,on the other hand,Japanese are taught to hate their colonial past & as most opinion polls say are not happy about Japan deploying to the Gulf & about Japan reorienting it's defence forces.
In short,Japan has excellent logistical capabilities to be able to deploy all over the world,but they don't have the ability to hit hard & there are psycho-historical factors holding them back.So id rate France above them & Italy,Spain,India & South Korea equal with Japan in one way or other.
What's promised to Islamic Terrorist women who commit suicide? NOT 72 MALE VIRGINS - there just aren't that many to go around!
Well lets see!!!!I bet it must be an "special audience" with Mohammed(now that's only for the creme of the bunch & u need to book well in advance to stand a chance) or with his close cronies like Abu Bakr(1st Caliph) & probably later day "stars" like Saladin(who fought during the crusades) .Knowing Mohammed & his pals had plenty of flings(& he created disgusting excuses for it)-i don't think my hypothesis is too far off the mark.
My theory is a "mini operation Bojinko." Separate bombs, with identical timers, set for near simultaneous detonation on multiple airliners.
We could be hit by ten bombs at once. For example, 1.5# of explosives in ten shaving cream cans, with internal digital watch timers, set to explode on a single day, hour and minute. Then you just need ten jihadists who can get airborne for that exact time.
The simultaneous detonations also being an AQ "signature."
yeah, it was highly unlikely to be coincidence ... I guarantee you the PLO or some other of Arafat's minions were operating in Iraq teaching how to plant explosives to split tanks ...
The same can happen to US jets, ten times instead of twice.
Get them in their outhouses, Putin, and Godspeed.
yep, it just has to be somebody that is part of the groundcrew, like in "The Delta Force" with the ubiquitous Chuck Norris.
>> It is also believed that each of these women carried this explosive on-board...in a body cavity
Holy smokes
While I believe this is a terror incident, I'm not convinced this group is behind the effort.
Whoa! That's a disturbing theory. Well if it works for drug mules it was only a matter of time before terrorists took this step.
Maybe now that mother russia has been attacked, hollywood will join the fight on terrorism.
YEAH RIGHT!!! ROFL
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