Posted on 01/14/2005 1:02:10 AM PST by JimSEA
ELEANOR HALL: While authorities in Indonesia deal with the tsunami disaster, the threat of terrorism continues, with bomb squads and anti-terror units in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, last night reinforcing the Thai and British embassies after receiving phone calls warning of an attack.
The terrorism alert comes amid new revelations about the Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, who is alleged to have been behind the Bali bombings.
At the trial of the cleric, it's been alleged that the United States asked the Indonesian Government if it could secretly arrest Mr Bashir and take him to a US prison for questioning.
A former US State Department translator, Fred Burks, claims he was at a meeting with US officials in 2002, where the former Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri refused to hand over the hardline cleric.
Mr Burks, who appeared for Mr Bashir's defence team, spoke to Rafael Epstein in Jakarta.
FRED BURKS: It was the Ambassador, US Ambassador Ralph Boyce, it was the National Security Council expert on Indonesia, Karen Brooks, it was a special assistant to the President and myself.
The four of us went over to Megawati's residence, and when we went in there was a little bit of, you know, small talk. Just, "How you doing?" Karen Brooks knew her well so. Then Karen introduced this special assistant saying that President Bush himself ordered this special assistant to come here and give a message.
The special assistant then proceeded to describe information that the United States had obtained from Omar Al Faruk, who had been detained by the US.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: He's someone who has been suspected of being an al-Qaeda operative.
FRED BURKS: Or somehow related to al-Qaeda, yes, and they say that he said that Abu Bakar Bashir was actually behind the Christmas bombings, behind two attempts on Megawati's life and also was thought to be the head of a Jemaah Islamiah, JI.
And because of that, she, the special assistant requested, "We would like you to secretly capture him and turn him over". They used a term that I had not heard before then, "render" - not in the normal sense, but render means to secretly capture and turn over to another government.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So this was basically a request to the Indonesian President for them to secretly arrest Abu Bakar Bashir, hand him over to the American Government and the American Government would take him somewhere overseas and question him and keep him detained.
FRED BURKS: Exactly.
ELEANOR HALL: Former US State Department Translator, Fred Burks, speaking to Rafael Epstein in Jakarta.
I love love love these reporters who, in the tradition of all those reporters in the old movies who struggled for justice and truth, spend their careers trying to help get mass murderes off. This reporter's folks must be proud!
Sounds to me like he should be 'rendered' alright.
In the good old Iowa hog-farming sense...
Situations like this call for covert operations to kidnap or kill the terrorists wherever they are. $crew diplomacy.
"where the former Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri refused to hand over the hardline cleric."
A muslims first allegiance is to another muslim, regardless of whether the offending muslim is a murderer, rapist, terrorist, pedophile.
There will be no end to terror as long as there are muslims and as long as there are "infidels" for the muslims to target. One or the other has to go.
Oh and forget all the goodwill for the Billions of dollars in aid by the way.
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