World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #4.

National Review Online ^ | August 02, 2006 | Walid Phares on the Mideast

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Tehran & Damascus Move to Lebanon Lebanon-born Walid Phares is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Author of the recent book Future Jihad, he was also one of the architects of 2004’s United Nations resolution 1559, which called for the disarming of Hezbollah. NRO editor Kathryn Lopez recently talked to Phares about what’s going on in the Mideast, what happened to the Cedar Revolution, and this war we’re all in.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: What is “Future Jihad”? Are we seeing it in the Mideast now?

Walid Phares: “Future Jihad,” which has already begun, refers to a new and potent form of Islamic terrorism, characterized by a Khumeinist-Baathist axis. These are the two trees of jihadism, so to speak — the Salafism and Wahabism embodied in al Qaeda and the sort of jihadism led by Iran and also including Syria, Hezbollah, and their allies in Lebanon.

The alliance has not been in entire agreement as to strategy. The al Qaeda branch began its “Future Jihad” in the 1990s; its efforts culminated on 9/11 and have continued explosively since then. The international “Salafists” aimed at the U.S. in the past decade in order to strengthen their jihads on various battlefields (Chechnya, India, Sudan, Algeria, Indonesia, Palestine, etc.). “Weaken the resolve of America,” their ideologues said, “and the jihadists would overwhelm all the regional battlefields.”

As I argue in Future Jihad, bin Laden and his colleagues miscalculated on the timing of the massive attack against the U.S. in 2001. While they wounded America, they didn’t kill its will to fight (as was the case, for instance, in the Madrid 3/11 attacks). I have heard many jihadi cadres online, and have seen al Jazeera commentators on television, offering hints of criticism about the timing. They were blaming al Qaeda for shooting its imagined “silver bullet” before insuring a strategic follow up. But bin Laden and Zawahiri believe 9/11 served them well, and has put a global mobilization into motion. Perhaps it has, but the U.S. counter strategy in the Middle East, chaotic as the region currently appears, has unleashed counter jihadi forces. The jury is still out as to the time factor: when these forces will begin to weaken the jihadists depends on our perseverance and the public understanding of the whole conflict.

The other “tree” of jihadism, with its roots in Iran, withheld fire after 9/11. They were content to watch the Salafists fight it out with the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention within the West, as terror cells were hunted down. Ahmedinejad, Assad, and Nasrallah were analyzing how far the US would go, and how far the Sunnis and Salafis would go as well.

The fall of the Taliban and of the Baath in Iraq, however, changed Iran and Syria’s patient plans. The political changes in the neighborhood, regardless of their immediate instability, were strongly felt in Tehran and Damascus (but unfortunately not in the U.S., judging from the political debate here), and pushed the Khumeinists and the Syrian Baathists to enter the dance, but carefully. Assad opened his borders to the jihadists in an attempt to crumble the U.S. role in Iraq, while Iran articulated al Sadr’s ideology for Iraq’s Shiia majority.

A U.S.-led response came swiftly in 2004 with the voting of UNSCR 1559, smashing Syria’s role in Lebanon and forcing Assad to withdraw his troops by April 2005. In response, the “axis” prepared for a counter attack on the Lebanese battlefield by assassinating a number of the Cedar Revolution leaders, including MP Jebran Tueni. In short, the attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah and the kidnappings of soldiers were the tip of an offensive aimed at drawing attention away from Iran’s nuclear weapons programs and Syria’s assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. Hezbollah was awaiting its moment for revenge against the Cedar Revolution too.

What we see now is 1) a Syro-Iranian sponsored offensive aimed at all democracies in the region and fought in Lebanon; 2) Israel’s counter offensive (which it seems to have prepared earlier); and 3) an attempt by Hezbollah to take over or crumble the Lebanese government.

Lopez: So…did the Cedar Revolution fail?

Phares: Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the Cedar Revolution was failed. The masses in Lebanon responded courageously in March 2005 by putting 1.5 million people on the streets of Beirut. They did it without “no-fly-zones,” expeditionary forces, or any weapons at all, for that matter, and against the power of three regimes, Iran, Syria, and pro-Syrian Lebanon, in addition to Hezbollah terror. The “revolution” was for a time astoundingly successful; since then it has been horribly failed, and first of all by Lebanon’s politicians themselves. One of their leaders, General Michel Aoun, shifted his allegiances to Syria and signed a document with Hezbollah. Other politicians from the “March 14 Movement” then stopped the demonstrations, leaving them with the support of God knows what. They failed in removing the pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and brought back a pro-Syrian politician to serve as a speaker of the house, Nabih Berri. Meanwhile, even as they were elected by the faithful Cedar Revolution masses, they engaged in a round table dialogue with Hezbollah, a clear trap set by Hassan Nasrallah: “Let’s talk about the future,” he said — with the implication, of course, that they forget about the Cedar Revolution and the militia’s disarming. While political leaders sat for months, enjoying the photo ops with Hassan Nasrallah, he was preparing his counter offensive, which he unleashed just a few days before the Security Council would discuss the future of Iran’s nuclear programs.

The Lebanese government of Prime Minister Seniora also abandoned the Cedar Revolution. His cabinet neither disarmed Hezbollah nor called on the U.N. to help in implementing UNSCR 1559. This omission is baffling. The government was given so much support by the international community and, more importantly, overwhelming popular support inside Lebanon: 80 percent of the people were hoping the Cedar Revolution-backed government would be the one to resume the liberation of the country. Now Hezbollah has an upper hand and the government is on the defensive.

The U.S. and its allies can be accused of certain shortcomings as well. While the speeches by the U.S. president, congressional leaders from both parties, Tony Blair, and Jacques Chirac were right on target regarding Lebanon, and while the U.S. and its counterparts on the Security Council were diligent in their follow up on the Hariri assassination and on implementing UNSCR 1559, there was no policy or plan to support the popular movement in Lebanon. Incredibly, while billions were spent on the war of ideas in the region, Lebanese NGOs that wanted to resume the struggle of the Cedar Revolution and fighting alone for this purpose were not taken seriously at various levels. Policy planners thought they were dealing with the “Cedar Revolution” when they were meeting Lebanon’s government and Lebanese politicians. The difference between the high level speeches on Lebanon and the laissez-faire approach from lower levels is amazing. Simply put, there was no policy on supporting the Cedar Revolution against the three regimes opposing it and the $400 million received by Hezbollah from Iran.

The Cedar Revolution was basically betrayed by its own politicians and is now essentially without a head. Nevertheless, as long as the international support remains, the Revolution will find its way and will face the dangers. The one and a half million ordinary citizens who braved all the dangers didn’t change their minds about Hezbollah’s terror. The resistance and counter-attack was to be expected. Unfortunately, thus far Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah have outmaneuvered the West and are at the throats of the Cedar Revolution. The international community must revise its plans, and, if it is strongly backed by the U.S. and its allies, including France, the situation can be salvaged. The good seeds are still inside the country.

More at link...

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\08\12\story_12-8-2006_pg1_1


Saturday, August 12, 2006

'Quake money' used to finance UK plane bombing plot

* Funds given to two British citizens of Kashmiri origin and an
Islamabad-based Kashmiri builder
* 'Earthquake relief' money remitted to individuals alarmed British
agencies

By Sarfaraz Ahmed and Maqbool Ahmed

KARACHI: A UK-based Islamic charity organisation remitted a huge amount
of
money to three individuals in three different bank accounts in Mirpur,
Azad
Kashmir, in December last year with the sole purpose of helping its
recipients and their organisations carry out the aircraft bombing plan
in
the UK, insider sources told Daily Times yesterday.

An investigation carried out by Daily Times showed that Muslim Charity
of UK
remitted not so long ago a huge amount of money under the head of
"earthquake relief" to the accounts of three individuals in three
different
banks - Saudi Pak Bank, Standard Chartered and Habib Bank Ltd. One of
these
banks is UK based and has its presence in Azad Kashmir because of a
huge
number of British citizens of Kashmir origin in UK. The money was
transferred from UK to banks in Azad Kashmir through Barclays Plc..

Two of the recipients of the transaction are British citizens of
Kashmir
origin while the third is an Islamabad-based builder, also of Kashmir
origin. They were arrested in the last two weeks at three different
places
in the country. One of them was arrested in Karachi, the "builder" was
arrested in Islamabad while the place of the arrest of the third
suspect is
still not known. There are no available details about these three
suspects
with regard to their links with organisations such as Al Qaeda or
Lashkar-e-Taiba or both.

Pakistani FIA investigators were apparently tipped off by the British
authorities about the fund transfers and asked to investigate.
Following
their arrests the three suspects revealed some key elements of the
aircraft
bombing plan during interrogations by various agency personnel, who
were
also aided by at least one expert specialising in money laundering. The
Pakistani and British investigators were able to discover how
operatives at
both ends had raised and moved their funds around. These investigations
also
established that it was due to the prompt and successful operation of
Pakistan's intelligence agencies, particularly the FIA, that the world
was
saved from a fate worse than 9/11.

"Had we been even slightly complacent, the perpetrators of this plot
might
have been able to carry out their operations without little or no
problem in
the UK because of two broad reasons," said a senior government
official, who
was privy to the inquiry carried out by Pakistani agencies following
the
receipt of a tip from UK's National Terrorist Financial Investigation
Unit
in June this year.

First, he said, "Pakistani anti-terrorism agency counterparts abroad
have
been showing a lot of trust in our skills and abilities and none of our
reports has so far been challenged by them." Second, he added, any
delay on
the part of the Pakistan agencies in acquiring and relaying this
information
would have cost the NTFIU dearly for it was desperate to know the
outcome of
Pakistan's inquiry report in order to determine whether or not to ask
the UK
authorities to declare a "red alert" in the country. Giving details,
the
official said the NTFIU, which reportedly plays a central role in
informing
and implementing British government policy on terrorist finance and is
an
integral part of the UK's intelligence structure targeting terrorist
finance, had asked Pakistani authorities to carry out a "highly
discreet"
inquiry on some money transfers.

According to the NTFIU, a huge amount of money had been transferred
from
Britain to Azad Kashmir for quake relief efforts two months after the
quake
caused devastation. "Neither the amount nor the purpose for which money
was
sent caused any concern in the British investigation unit," said the
senior
official. "What raised alarm among British sleuths specialising in
finances
was the fact that the entire money was remitted to three individuals,
not to
any organisation or organisations involved in the relief work."

The official, who refused to disclose the amount, however said that the
entire transaction was in pound sterling. "It is up to you to deduce.
What I
can say is that it was a huge amount. Had it not been gone into the
accounts
of individual, nobody would have been bothered," he said.

A senior Pakistani banker who has successfully dealt with a number of
money
laundering cases told Daily Times on condition of anonymity that the UK
has
had extensive experience of tracking, disrupting and undermining the
finances of terrorist networks and continues to develop new ways in
which
such targeting and disruption can be effectively achieved. In this case
too,
the UK Unit's expertise provided immense guidance to Pakistani sleuths
to
uncover the plot, he added. Another senior official told Daily Times
that
the Pakistani agencies have in recent months been able to effect
significant
seizures of terrorist cash and identify and disrupt terrorist
fundraising
activity.

According to him, all banks, including multinationals, and financial
institutions have been cooperating fully in seeking out sources of
terrorist
funding since 9/11. "This was mainly due to the cooperation of the
three
banks through which money was transferred to these suspects," the
official
said, and added that one of the most significant features contributing
to
the success of this case was increased integration between key bodies
involved, ranging from government, law enforcement and regulatory
bodies at
home and abroad.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Volodya spoke a minimum of five languages, and was very well read. He also had a dee appreciation and love of the arts. He knew to meet and regard people not by the clothes they wore, but by their character, and he was drawn to people without regards for his own self-interest, but just in search of interesting and pleasant human contact<<<

What Beautiful people.

This tells me the world lost someone very special.

[nw_arizona_granny]

No, our country isn’t perfect and yes there will always be things afoot that we must confront and scream about BUT……THIS IS A REAL WAR, REAL EVIL AND WE HAD BETTER FIND A WAY TO PULL TOGETHER RATHER THAN TAKE OUR HATE AND IGNORANCE AND FOCUS IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AT THE JEWS AND BUSH!!! <<<

And yes, she is correct.

I listened to the Sat. night Las Vegas talk show, it went as expected, a few who gave her fodder for her article and a few that understand.

One man called, in great excitement and started asking Ken questions.

What country was this attack planned in ....England
Where were most of the terrorist born.....England

He had about 10 questions, all of which had the same answer, "England".

He then announced, very calmly, "then it is clear, there is no choice, we must NUKE England at once".

And he hung up.

You could see Ken sitting there all alone in the radio studio, attempting to replay the conversation, he kept saying "nuke England".

I don't think he got the fact that it was a farce, until the next person came on line and was cracking up.

The nuke guy, did a good job, he managed to get us all expecting another nut-job, but got the message across, no one else offered to nuke the muslims, for the rest of the show.

With a war and a full moon, the nuts were out, but there were good calls on a wide variety of subjects.

President Bush has ended his vacation, early and still they are complaining that he had the nerve to take one.

If he feels the need to come back 2 weeks early, then there is stuff happening that we do not know about.

Pray for him, he will need all our prayers.

[milford421]

bump

[nw_arizona_granny]

You are correct of course, about reading the bible.

I have made arrangements for you to take the bible test for me.
LOL

I knew this one would get you going, still it was part of the package, so I posted it.........

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1682768/posts

Pakistani covert operation to spread AIDS virus among Indian army personnel
http://www.india-defence.com/reports/2331 ^


Posted on 08/13/2006 4:47:42 AM PDT by Srirangan


In a shocking intelligence report received by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has revealed Pakistan's Inter-State Intelligence (ISI) intentions to spread the AIDS virus among personnel of the Indian Army and para-military forces.

According to the news agency, a recent intelligence report from Delhi had apprised the SSB of the ISI's design, likely to be implemented with the help of some militant organisations, SSB Deputy Inspector General G S Sarna told reporters in Siliguri.

While addressing an awareness camp on AIDS on Saturday at Madan Jote village bordering Nepal, 30 km from here, Sarna asked SSB personnel to frustrate the ISI plan by practising safe sex.

The SSB, which is engaged in guarding the Nepal and Bhutan borders, has taken steps to check the supply of syringes to its hospitals and health units.

According to Sarna, a little negligence at any stage of testing of the syringes may have serious consequences.

The SSB is also conducting blood tests of its recruits at Ranidanga, its headquarters in north Bengal, sources said.

(Agency: Press Trust of India)

Editor's Note: We understand this report may seems to be unbelievable. But it has been wired through the Press trust of India which is one of the most respectable news wire companies in the world. Hence we have decided to publish it, and we will follow up this report soon with research and statistics studying this issue further.

Check the comments for more info.......

[nw_arizona_granny]

Last update - 15:34 13/08/2006
Arab seized at PM's office with 'suspicious material' in shoes
By News Agencies

Security guards at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office detected "suspicious material" Sunday in the shoes of an Arab man waiting to enter the building, a spokeswoman said.

Sappers took the shoes and carried out a controlled explosion. Three loud
booms were heard. Police announced over loudspeaker that visitors were not allowed to leave the building for the time being.

The man was taken for questioning then released a short time later after bomb disposal experts found they contained no explosive materials, police said.

The man had sought to get access to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's offices but had been stopped during a routine security check, when his shoes aroused suspicion.

At the time of the incident, journalists and camera teams were gathered near the entrance, waiting for the end of the cabinet meeting during which government ministers were to approve a UN cease-fire deal.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749949.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749692.html


Last update - 07:53 13/08/2006
Syria still transferring supply of rockets, missiles to Hezbollah
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

Syria continues its efforts to transfer large quantities of war materiel, including rockets, to Lebanon, in an effort to assist Hezbollah in its war against Israel, a senior Israel Defense Forces source told Haaretz on Saturday.

According to the IDF source, the air force has succeeded in partially stemming the arms transfers, but intelligence shows that supply convoys have managed to cross into Lebanon from Syria.

Senior Syrian army and intelligence officers are involved in the arms smuggling, according to the senior IDF source, who says it is unlikely this continues without the explicit support of the regime in Damascus.

Two specific types of weapons - anti-tank missiles and rockets used to target Israeli civilians - are of concern.

The alert levels of the Syrian army, especially on the Golan Heights, is at its highest levels since the Lebanon War in 1982. The Syrian preparedness is mostly defensive, but the IDF is not excluding the possibility that Damascus will initiate a limited ground operation during the closing stages of the war.

Such an act, from a Syrian point of view, would aim at improving its position toward the end of the current confrontation and force Israel to begin negotiations on a broader diplomatic initiative that would include the return of the Golan Heights.

Part of the IDF's defensive deployment is meant to counter such a threat, including the deployment of anti-aircraft missiles in Haifa and the Sharon to intercept possible launches of Syrian Scud surface-to-surface ballistic missiles targetting Israeli cities.

In another development, in recent fighting, IDF forces uncovered the bodies of a number of fighters who appear to belong to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. No identifying documents were discovered on the bodies but tattoos suggest they belong to the Iranian force.

According to IDF sources, Iran sent several dozen Revolutionary Guard fighters to bolster the ranks of Hezbollah.
/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=749692

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1682739/posts

Passenger's Claim Shuts Down Customs at Detroit Airport
AP via WXYZ-TV ^ | August 12, 2006 | AP


Posted on 08/13/2006 1:04:55 AM PDT by conservative in nyc


The U.S. Customs area at Detroit Metropolitan Airport was briefly shut down today after a passenger claimed he had contaminated everyone on a flight from Amsterdam.

Officials say a U.S citizen got off a Northwest Airlines flight and implied to the crew he had a biological agent of some sort and had contaminated the flight.

Airport emergency medical technicians examined the man and decided that he did not pose a health risk.

The man was eventually allowed to leave.

It took about 90 minutes to investigate, and other passengers from Amsterdam were delayed in leaving. Passengers on two flights from Japan were not allowed to enter the customs area for about an hour during the investigation.

[nw_arizona_granny]

[this reminds me that they found bottles in the van or car in Spain, after the train bombing and didn't they also find them in the Okla. Univ. bombing?]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1682799/posts

Plane-Bomb Bottles Found
New York Post ^ | August 13, 2006


Posted on 08/13/2006 6:37:25 AM PDT by Peach


British cops investigating the airline bomb plot have reportedly found scores of bottles that had been filled with the components for liquid chemical bombs in outdoor garbage bins. The bottles contained liquids including peroxide, which can trigger an explosion when mixed with other chemicals and ignited with a small spark, Britain's News of the World reported today. The newspaper also reported authorities had uncovered 30 other radical Islamist murder plots - and that among the airline bomb-plot suspects were a mom-and-dad suicide couple who planned to take their baby with them on the mission. Eight of the suspects are believed to have been due to take bombs on the planes, the newspaper reported. In addition, the plotters included a woman believed to be one of the organizers of the planned atrocity - and that hours of covert video and audio tapes reveal the bombers reveling in how many innocent victims would die.


(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...

[nw_arizona_granny]

India Heightens Security Amid Al Qaeda Terror Attack Warnings

---

India intensified security at airports and other public places
across the country Saturday, a day after the U.S. Embassy warned
that foreign militants, possibly Al Qaeda terrorists, could be
planning bomb attacks.

---

Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208038,00.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

[unknown url]

Sri Lanka rebels break through northern defenses

Reuters

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels broke through military defenses in the
island's far north and overran army bunkers on Saturday, truce monitors
said, as the fiercest fighting since a 2002 truce spread.

The Tigers and army exchanged intense artillery fire and government
jets bombed near the rebels' forward defense lines in the northern Jaffna
peninsula, residents said, as thousands of civilians fled to churches.

The military said it sank five Sea Tiger boats as the rebels' feared
sea arm attacked army posts on the shore in Jaffna, but analysts said
they suspected the Tigers were trying to divert pressure from their
fighters battling in the east and disrupt military supply lines.

The unarmed Nordic Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said the Tigers
had overrun five bunkers inside the army forward defense lines, and had
landed troops on an island west of Jaffna and engaged the navy.

"What we are seeing now I am interpreting as an attempt to cut off the
line of the security forces in Jaffna," said chief truce monitor
Major-General Ulf Henricsson.

"The ceasefire agreement is definitely not on just now in these areas.
There is no respect at all, they just don't care about it -- both
parties."

The military said it still controlled the whole peninsula and had
killed 100 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, but said a few
might have got through. Around 40,000 troops are stationed in Jaffna,
which is cut off from the rest of the island by rebel territory.

It said 36 troops were wounded, seven seriously.

As civilians from coastal villages sought refuge, foreigners headed to
a UN compound after being warned to leave immediately.

ARTILLERY FIRE

In the east of the island, the Tigers rained artillery on the strategic
port of Trincomalee, a vital maritime army supply line to Jaffna,
before dawn. The military said there was some damage, but gave no details.

A Reuters witness in Jaffna, where the army has declared an indefinite
curfew to keep people in their homes, heard a fierce exchange of
artillery fire to the east. Electricity was cut off for hours.

Sri Lanka's Tamils consider Jaffna their cultural homeland, and
analysts say the Tigers are intent on recapturing it.

Some distraught residents dread being displaced yet again.

"We cannot go on like this forever," said Richard, a retired Tamil
merchant seaman, who declined to give his full name. "I incurred heavy
financial losses when I was displaced in 1995, and it took me some time to
rebuild my house."

"It is better to hand over Jaffna to the LTTE. Only then will this
stop. Until then, this war will go on."

FIGHT OVER WATER

The military accused the Tigers of provoking the northern confrontation
and the government has said it will not halt operations until it
controls a disputed waterway in the east and an irrigation reservoir that
feeds it. This was the issue that sparked the fighting 18 days ago.

The Tigers insist the land is theirs and say continued army attacks are
effectively a declaration of war. Monitors said nearly 300 majority
Sinhalese civilians in government areas had been given assault rifles near
the sluice area.

"The problem is the government basically started this. I think we are
inclined to sit back and let them take it on the chin for a while," said
one diplomat from a G7 country.

North of the town of Batticaloa toward a sluice gate on the waterway,
the Red Cross say thousands of Tamils are displaced behind rebel lines
having spent days under shellfire. Around 50,000 people are in camps in
government territory.

The Tigers have long demanded a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in
the north and east of Sri Lanka but President Mahinda Rajapakse has
ruled this out. The rebels say any return to stalled peace talks is a
distant prospect.

(Additional reporting by Simon Gardner in COLOMBO and Peter Apps in
BATTICALOA)

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

"Venezuela sent 50 per cent of its exports to the US in 2005, trading 44 billion dollars with the nation whose 'imperialist' practices Chavez so roundly criticizes."

He he...Practicality always trumps left-wing rhetoric, doesn't it?

[LibertyRocks]

UPDATE:

Hi everyone,

FYI: I'm on pain meds so please excuse any incoherent statements in the following post! LOL (o:

The procedure on my neck went well on Friday, I think. I was sedated, but still conscious during the procedure and I remember everything that went on. It's necessary for me to be able to respond during it so I can confirm a "hit" when my doctor has the needle in the right place (that's fun (NOT!!!) he said the first time it was called the "pain game"... LOL)

This time, I had done what is called "Radio Frequency Nerve Ablation" on 4 different nerves in the top of my neck at Cercival Veterbrae - C2 & C3. The nerves my doctor treated were C2 Ganglion, Occipital Nerves which are either at C2 or C3 (2 of those), and then the C3 Medial Branch Nerve. For those of you curious about medical stuff (Like Me... LOL) then here is a link to a place that does this procedure that I think explains it pretty well - Radiofrequency, Nerve Ablation, Back Pain from the Christiana Spine Center; http://www.christianaspinecenter.com/csc-ablation.html

What's nice is that after the procedure he asked if I had any pain medication - and I haven't used good pain killers for my back pain in a while. The doctor said the procedure was a "rough one" and he wanted to give me a prescription for pain relief. I'm so used to my dentist being afraid to give pain meds that this was a refreshing change. I didn't even need to mention it, it was offered to me. (o:

Just FYI -- I'm going to have to take it easy for a bit (maybe while I'm on the pain pills - for the next few days at least) I think - so that I can heal correctly. At the end of the procedure my doctor patted me on the shoulder and said, (in a kinda of questioning voice I thought) "Well, I hope that works...". I could tell he had to turn the stimulator thing up pretty far for one group of nerves (C2 Ganglion), and he had to treat the nerve twice for good measure... So, it leaves me to think that the nerve itself is worse off than we thought.

Anyway, I wanted to let you all know I was alright, and also that I finished that list of links I was working on last. I think some of the links I have are from sources that are not supposed to be published here at FR. I'm going to review the copyright list, but for now, I'm just going to give you a direct link to the post of news links at my blog...

Liberty Rocks Blog -
World & US News Links - August 10, 2006
http://libertyrocks.wordpress.com/2006/08/10/08_10_06world/

Talk to you all again soon!
- LR

[Cindy]

Oh, dearheart, that hurts just reading about it.
Ill continue to pray for you, LibertyRocks.

[struwwelpeter]

Here's another gifted linguist whose life was cut short at 'Nord-Ost', from http://karpov.progressor.ru/other/gazety10.htm.

---

Alexander Karpov

I'd like to take off into this sky
And look into the eyes
Of those who avoid the answer!
And break myself against the cold sky,
And fall and chill. To die
And be done with the songs of summer.

A. Karpov

It was not by chance that Alexander Karpov was among the hostages at Nord-Ost. He was the translator of Chicago, a musical whose producers included Alla Pugacheva and Filipp Kirkorov. He was attracted by this genre in its size and scale, so how could he avoid the work of his colleagues?

I met Alex's parents while they were standing by the gates of Clinical Hospital No. 13, along with the relatives of other victims. They already knew that Alex's wife Svetlana was there, but they could not find Alex. That evening I called Alex's father, Sergey Nikolayevich, on his cell phone.

"Alex is dead," he answered in a detached voice. "He was in the morgue at Botkin Hospital."

Yesterday morning Alex's mother, Tatiana Ivanovna, called the paper. "You wanted to know about Alex? Come on over." That evening I was in the Karpov home.

"Svetlana said that Alex conducted himself quietly and with dignity," said Tatiana Ivanovna. "They waited until the last minute and hoped for help. They believed, naturally, that they'd make it. They held each other's hand to the last, and fell asleep together. Sveta woke up, but Alex didn't..."

He was carried out among the last, probably because he was so big.

A poster with a picture of Alex hangs near the elevator in the stairwell of their apartment building. Friends - other bards - had written on it: Author and performer of songs, literary humorist, and soloist with the Celtic music ensemble.

Alex wrote hundreds of songs and humorous essays. He was a splendid translator, translating everything: romance novels, mysteries, the rock opera Jesus Christ, Superstar, and even scientific articles.

In childhood they considered Alex a prodigy.

"He learned to read very early," recalled his mother. "And the doctors advised us to hide some books from him, especially serious literature with scientific tendencies, so that such early reading didn't influence his psyche." In this regard, Alex wrote a funny story: The Tale of how Karpov did not turn out to be a child prodigy.

He had many other, not so serious, talents. For example, his friends say that he could instantly recite an entire phrase backwards. All this was training. It was his desire to subordinate a word so that the lines he was writing would read easily and smoothly.

He started on the biggest job of his life, but only completed the first step.

"When I was selecting a translator for Chicago," said Filipp Kirkorov, "and Tanya Lazareva from OSP Studio brought Alex, I was astonished. He made no financial demands, but immediately set to work. For me the human factor is in first place, and I immediately understood that I could work with Alex, that this was an amazing person. He was like a big child. Everyone who worked on Chicago loved him. The Americans respected him, because there were a lot of slang expressions in Chicago, and Alex adapted them to Russian magnificently. When there were questionable moments, he didn't sleep all night, but by morning he already had ready such convenient, easy to sing phrases that they seemed to have been sent to him by God himself. It was 100% Alex's credit that we were able to bring the musical to audiences. We had other jobs for Alex, and I wanted him to translate the famous Broadway musical Victor-Victoria."

"Did Alla Pugacheva know that Alex was among the hostages when she went to Nord-Ost (while the hostages were still being held)?"

"Yes, Alex was among those whom Alla wanted to exchange for herself, but it never worked out."

"You know," continued Filipp, "Not long before his tragic loss he sent me strange email. There was a drawing of Alex lying on the sofa with his eyes closed, with his arms behind his head and he was curled up into a ball, and it was a very sad essay, as if he sensed something bad. I was getting ready to send him a reply: To Alex - what's with you? We still have work to do! but I put if off, as always, until later... We were shocked at what happened."

Alex has two brothers, Nikolai and Ivan. His family refers to him as Brother-1, after a Russian gangster movie.

I was approaching my stairwell, wrote Alex in one of his mini-stories, and I'd forgotten my keys. I called on the intercom, and unexpectedly I hear my brother's voice: "Hello? Please excuse me but I can't open the door right now. Please leave a message at the sound of the tone."

One has the feeling that he will return to the door again, and leave a message...

Alex's friends bought Svetlana a cell phone and inputted all their numbers for her - 300 in all.

Memory is in records and photographs, they wrote on his poster. Memory is in the strings of our guitars. Memory is in our hearts...

[nw_arizona_granny]

Taliban reports capturing district in Baghlan, officials rejects

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Taliban Sunday reports capturing a district in Baghlan province.
Officials reject the claim.

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Afghan Islamic Press Online

http://www.afghanislamicpress.com/site/home/detail.asp?iData=2662&nChannel=News

[nw_arizona_granny]

Taliban reports killing of nine cops in Zabul, officials reject

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Taliban reported on Sunday to have killed nine policemen in Zabul
province.

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Afghan Islamic Press Online

http://www.afghanislamicpress.com/site/home/detail.asp?iData=2663&nChannel=News

[nw_arizona_granny]

Iran warns it might quit IAEA - Speaker

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Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel here Sunday warned Iran
might quit the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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Islamic Republic News Agency
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-236/0608133623104220.htm

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ministry rejects Afghan al-Qaida link to UK terror plot

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Afghanistan’s foreign ministry today denied any Afghan al-Qaida
connection to an alleged plot to blow up aeroplanes over the
Atlantic, rejecting a Pakistani allegation.

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BreakingNews.ie
http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/08/13/story271991.html