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Posted on 11/01/2005 6:57:01 PM PST by nwctwx
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1527831/posts
"US Widens Sanctions on Zimbabwe Officials"
VOA News ^ | 23 November 2005 | By Paula Wolfson
Posted on 11/23/2005 10:39:13 PM PST by F14 Pilot
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176614,00.html
AP
"Israel Captures Key Islamic Jihad Militant"
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "JENIN, West Bank A top Islamic Jihad militant surrendered to Israeli soldiers early Thursday, witnesses said, after a daylong siege during which army bulldozers knocked down the four-story house where he was hiding.
Dozens of troops surrounded the building in the town of Jenin in the hunt for Iyad Abu Rob. Witnesses said Abu Rob, a senior commander of Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank, emerged from the wrecked house after midnight and was taken away by soldiers along with one of his aides."
ON THE NET...
http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/005291.html
"FOCUS
In the crosshairs: Palestinian Islamic Jihad"
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1527840/posts
Russia targets terror banks
UPI via M&C ^ | Nov 24, 2005
Posted on 11/23/2005 11:17:27 PM PST by ncountylee
MOSCOW, Russia (UPI) -- Russia`s domestic security chief Wednesday urged tough penalties for banks that funded terrorism and organized crime.
'The Federal Security Service (FSB) deems it necessary to toughen the punishment for credit organizations and their top managers for financing terrorist activities and organized crime,' FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview for the Thursday edition of the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
Patrushev called on the Central Bank of Russia to be more responsive to the signals sent by law enforcement agencies. 'It is inadmissible to earn money on blood,' he said. Patrushev said eliminating terrorism`s financial channels was the FSB`s top priority.
Patrushev said special services and law enforcement agencies had to be given the authority to control financial flows and to freeze and arrest suspicious accounts. The RIA Novosti news agency reported that he also said financial and credit organizations should be obliged to cooperate with the special services.
Patrushev cited U.S. law as an example, which makes it possible for law enforcement agencies to obtain information from banks and financial institutions when international terrorism is involved.
ON THE NET...
http://www.tibyan.tk/
http://tibyaan.atspace.com/tibyaan/category5c8d.html?id=149
http://tibyaan.atspace.com/tibyaan/article2573.html?id=1176
ON THE NET...
http://www.infovlad.net
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1527852/posts
Maine exploring discount heating oil deal with Venezuela
Portland Press-Herald ^ | 11/23/5 | Francis X. Quinn
Posted on 11/24/2005 12:44:41 AM PST by Crackingham
One day after Venezuelan officials signed an agreement to provide 12 million gallons of discounted home heating oil to low-income Massachusetts residents, Baldacci administration officials confirmed that Maine is exploring a similar deal.
Beth Nagusky, Gov. John Baldacci´s top aide on energy matters, said Wednesday that discussions are in a very early stage and declined to provide details.
Nagusky said talks with Venezuela were part of Baldacci´s desire to "leave no stone unturned" in searching for ways to ensure Maine has enough fuel for the needy this winter.
Venezuela, a key supplier of U.S. oil imports, produces a significant share of petroleum products used in Maine. Citgo Petroleum Corp. is the Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela´s state-owned oil company and has about 13,500 independently owned U.S. gas stations.
Nagusky, who is director of the Gov.´s Office of Energy Independence and Security, cast the talks between Maine and Venezuela as exploratory.
"We are discussing options," she said.
Anticipating questions about state dealings with a country whose government has an adversarial relationship with the United States, Nagusky said, "If we only imported oil from the countries whose politics we agreed with, we´d be very cold and we´d probably have to go back to the horse and buggy."
Nagusky said she believed cities including New York are looking into similar possibilities.
Last week, the Democratic governor and Democratic and Republican leaders of the Maine Legislature announced an agreement to make the appropriation of $5 million for fuel assistance for the needy the first order of business when lawmakers reconvene in January.
Baldacci said a simultaneous goal remains raising another $5 million through charitable donations.
The Massachusetts agreement is expected to aid tens of thousands of state residents, with oil shipped to a Massachusetts terminal and distributed statewide by two nonprofit organizations.
Reports from all over the world, repeating an Oxford study, that says the war in Iraq, fighting al-Qaeda may last for years.
Links at:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-11/23/article03.shtml
#112 | tridroid97 11/23/2005 10:54AM PST |
Slightly OT, but related... I was listening to Neal Boortz interview Richard Miniter over lunch. Richard related a story that he was recently in Iraq at a Press briefing from someone fairly high up in the military. (Old age amnesia...can't remember the name..indict me...). He said that that they believe between 80 and 85% of the insurgent attacks are paid for. He further said that, at the beginning of the war, a typical roadside bomb placement or sniping could be bought for about $50 US. That price has now gone over $3,000 per occurence. The incredible thing is that he was speaking to a major newspaper's reporter next to him (he declined to identify which newspaper)and jokingly said something like "I guess you're going to scoop me on this." The report just said "On what? I haven't been writing this stuff down. It's not news." Excuse me? Not NEWS? First of all, where is all of this money coming from? Second, how do they know? And third, are they economic dipwads? If the insurgency was so popular, I would think that the price would be going down, not up. No media bias? |
From the news at: Aina.org
I have removed part of the post about the female bomber recently in Jordan and am showing the bottom of the article that concerns the U.S.
granny
http://www.aina.org/news/20051122101949.htm
Assyrian International News Agency
Veiled Threat: Female Muslim Terrorists
I think the year has gone by fast RR. It seems to me we were discussing your hideout in the computer room not that long ago.
It's a lot of work, but well worth it particularly with family and friends. Looking forward to hearing your menu for the day.
I have an early morning here, lots to do today.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Thanks Cindy, Happy Thanksgiving.
My thoughts and prayers are with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan today. Protecting our country so that we may enjoy this very special day with our fabulous friends and family.
Thank you for that post, Granny. Folks are working around the clock to protect our nation. Hopefully even the average citizen will report when they see similar suspicious behavior.
Possibly. But there are several other factors that could cause this kind of "price rise."
First of all, it's known that the roadside bombs are now much more sophisticated than they were at first - by necessity, since we've gotten much better at detecting and disabling them. The increasing sophistication (and power?) of the bomb itself has to cost somebody something.
Secondly, if they have to employ more jihadis to run cover for the operation (possibly because the better-trained ones - likely either ex-army or trained in Afganistan - have been depleted, or simply because we've become more efficient at dealing with them), that's going to cost something as well - even if you're just paying for their food, shelter, & equipment.
Thirdly, they have been making an effort to increase the number of such attacks as well - and apparently in the face of having their numbers depleted by US forces. This means more cost to replace the losses (training, recruitment, etc), plus enough more to handle the extra "workload." Inevitably the tendency would be to try to involve the common criminal element as mercenaries if they want more than what they can do with their regular forces. But the common criminal isn't primarily motivated by ideology or religion, he's motivated by money - preferably easy money. And we've made things much more dangerous for the bombers, so it's no longer a safe way to get some easy pocket money. So any operations that were "subcontracted" to such individuals would see their prices soar. However the fact that they might feel compelled to employ such people would not be a good sign - not only are such individuals unreliable, it would mean that their recruiting was not able to keep pace with their losses and/or ambitions.
As for "not news" - well, if this was already "well known" amongst the reporters, it might not be news to them even if it would be news to most other people. Or it might be known to reporters "in the field" that this isn't true and therefore the Pentagon spokesperson is wrong - but in that case why not dispute the story on the facts? Of course that's part of what reporters are being paid to do - find out and inform others of things they didn't know before. If one of those is the case it just shows that they're out of touch (we have other evidence of that).
The other way in which it might be "not news" is that Richard Miniter is "just another reporter" who's talking about things he's heard so it's second or third hand information. For something like this you'd really need primary sources since anybody can speculate on anything (including the individual at the Pentagon). However in that case it would seem that this was interesting enough to be worth investigating further; the reporter might not have had much to comment about at that moment but surely it would have been worthwhile to take a few notes.
But I'd have to agree, the reporter most likely either has an agenda that this doesn't "fit" into, or is so ignorant of economics that he or she can't draw the obvious conclusions. Based on my interactions with reporters, both of these might very well be true simultaneously.
"That price has now gone over $3,000 per occurence."
Ditto and Amen.
Note: The following text is an exact quote:
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http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=200511105.txt
NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894
November 23, 2005
Release Number: 05-11-105
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
IED ATTACK LEADS TO CAPTURE OF NINE TERRORISTS
TIKRIT, Iraq Nine terrorists were captured after an IED attack against a 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division patrol Tuesday afternoon near Balad.
The nine men were detained after two of them tested positive for explosives residue. The IED was constructed from a 155mm artillery round and hidden alongside the road.
One Soldier was wounded in the attack and taken to a local military medical facility.
For more information, please contact the 101st AIRBORNE DIVISION Public Affairs Office at EDWARD.LOOMIS@US.ARMY.MIL.
-30-
Note: The following text is an exact quote:
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http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=200511106.txt
NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894
November 23, 2005
Release Number: 05-11-106
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AIR ASSAULT MISSION TAKES DOWN TERRORIST STRONGHOLD
TIKRIT, Iraq A joint Iraqi and U.S. mission against a terrorist hideout near Bayji uncovered a large amount of money and weapons.
The operation named Old Baldy was launched Nov. 21 by Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division and Rakkasans from the 101st Airborne Divisions 3rd Brigade Combat Team. More than 30 suspected terrorists and a large cache of money, weapons and material were captured during the operation.
The air assault mission was centered on al Bayji Island, a 10 square kilometer land mass splitting the Tigris River north of Tikrit, Saddam Husseins hometown. The island has served as an isolated hideout for terrorists and criminals in the past.
According to Lt. Col. Randy George, commander of Task Force Leader, Bayji Island was a previously untouched area and we wanted to send a clear message to the insurgents: there is no safe haven in AO Rakkasan.
The Soldiers swept onto the island before dawn Nov. 21 in UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. Over the next 36 hours, the Iraqi and American Soldiers conducted searches of the island, uncovering stores of enemy weapons including rocket-propelled grenades and IED making material.
This operation instilled confidence in our Iraqi counterparts, and served to further strengthen our partnership with the Iraqi Army, said George, referring to the Rakkasan partnership with the 4th Iraqi Army Division soldiers.
For more information, please contact the 101st AIRBORNE DIVISION Public Affairs Office at EDWARD.LOOMIS@US.ARMY.MIL.
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