Posted on 01/02/2007 6:27:53 AM PST by Valin
Bangkok, 2 Jan. (AKI) - The military-backed government in Thailand has hinted that supporters loyal to the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra could have been behind Sunday's deadly bomb blasts in the Thai capital Bangkok which killed three people and injured more than 30 others. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts but, according to The Nation newspaper, Thai prime minister Surayud Chulanont and military junta chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin said on Monday that the people who lost power when Thaksin was removed were behind the string of bombs and not the insurgents from the south of the country.
Reports say that security has been stepped up in Bangkok following the eight explosions which occured on New Year's Eve.
According to the report on the Thai daily, four of Thaksin's former aides and top officials, including the former secretary to the prime minister Dr Prommin Lertsuridej and former deputy prime minister Chidchai Vanasatidya, have been summoned for questioning but they have not reported to the authorities.
"The bombers were ill-intentioned people who want to create a political impact," Surayud was quoted as saying at a press conference at the office of Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC). "I would like all Thais to be aware of their intentions and that they want to create a scenario of political instability in Thailand," he said.
The Thai prime minister had called for an ISOC meeting which the military leader, Sonthi, - just back from the Haj in Saudi Arabia - called for a meeting of the Council for National Security on Monday.
According to Sonthi, the pattern of the eight explosions and the situation suggested that the bombs were not linked to on-going violence in the south. "The militants are in trouble, even in Yala [a southern, majority Muslim province in Thailand]. I don't think they would come here as they could get lost in Bangkok," Sonthi told reporters.
Thaksin was overthrown as prime minister in a bloodless coup on September 19 after months of tensions, as a popular movement staged protests demanding he step down over charges of corruption and abuse of power.
Thaksin, who has been barred from returning to Thailand, reportedly said through his lawyer that he had nothing to do with the bombings and condemned the attacks.
I'm still not buying it.
Thaliand?
Even spelled incorrectly it's not funny. (Never was.)
Yea, and the Pope COULD be Jewish and monkeys COULD fly out my butt.... As someone who lives in Bangkok, bullsh*t! The former Prime Minister, and those who support him, have nothing to gain from this. There are too many loose lips around Thailand and word of it would get out eventually completely destroying anyone involves chances of ever being involved in politics again... or of seeing the outside of Klong Prem Prison. Here is what I wrote on a previous thread:
I am not buying it either. My feeling at this point is a Muslim sympathizer group based somewhere around Bangkok. I don't think it was the guys from the south for a variety of reasons. The targets were picked quite well. That part would require someone familiar with the city.
The attacks were very minor. From the reports that I have read, the bombs were approximately 5x3x1 inch in size and consisted of ANFO and watch based timers. Stuff that could easily be read about online.
Whoever did it was not sure about the consequences and so didn't go for anything spectacular. If the bombings involved TRT or another political factions, there would be no reason for multiple small distributed attacks. It is too risky. One medium size bomb placed somewhere out of the way would have been enough and would have gotten the same message across. I don't see any way these groups could benefit from the attacks. Besides, this is Thailand. Someone would talk and it would be the political end of whoever did it.
Why I think it might be true.
Of course as always I reserve my God given right to be wrong.
The critical question:
Has the Thai government yet asked for FBI assistance in evaluating the evidence?
If so, then I'm probably going to conclude that the bombings were the work of either (1) the Muslims or (2) the supporters of ousted P.M. Thaksin.
But if the government refuses to involve the FBI in solving the case, then I'll probably conclude that government supporters were involved.
I doubt the FBI will be involved in this. The Thai Police have enough resources to handle this one on their own if they chose to go that route.
FYI, the Thai Police forensics lab is literally around the corner from one of the bombing sites.
Yea, I don't think they are going to understand some guy speaking Yawi asking, "Hey, where the white women at?" LOL
> So Bangkok is safe from Muslim terrorists because Muslims are too stupid to find their way around and would be lost there forever? Too funny <
As one who has had trouble finding my way around Bangkok, even with my Thai wife at my side, I don't find it funny at all!
Great!
After two years in Bangkok, I was felt fairly competent in navigating on the Southeast side of the river and South to Songklaa (all the way in a bus!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
. . . but I got stranded going to Lopburii and got lost in a hemp plantation when traveling in Khanchanaburii . . .
It is HUMOUNGOUS AND THE MOST EXCITING CITY IN THE WORLD!!!
I don't buy it either, not yet, but I don't discount it as a possibility. As to not bombing things, there's been allegations of worse against Taksin and his wife for decades.
And it would be especially unwise for him to bomb things now while he is out of power and would want people to remember the "good old days" of Thaksin-nomics (read old fashioned pump priming with public money).
The man in street, Thai or otherwise, is noway near that sophisticated. According to the Bangkok Post the police are already taking a lot of heat for how they handled the 'investigation'. The repercussions thus far have gone against the junta and if it was Taksin's people, they have gained, not lost by it.
After all the junta is screwing up right and left, the stock market crash, a huge collapse in tourism.
If that's true, then it's not a reason to sit still - attacking when your enemy is weak can make a lot of sense. With Sonthi attending the haj, this is the perfect time to embarrass him and spread that fact - that that is where he is or was - all over the news media - feed anti-Muslim feelings in the context of deadly bombings.
OTOH, it could have been the junta itself hoping public opinion would turn against Taksin, or it also could have been Muslims in spite of what we are told about the bomb composition. Do you buy the idiotic statement that they "would get lost in Bangkok"? What an infuriating thing to say - how many people have these supposed bumpkins killed? How many police and even military posts have they overrun? How many government weapons have they stolen? If they are such idiots why can't Sonthi arrest at least those responsible for lynching two marines.
Truth is the rarest commodity of all in this country and I think it will be elusive in finding out what really happened.
In order for this to be valid, Toxin's people would have had to been able to predict the government's response. I don't think anyone would leave that much to chance. What would have happened if one of the bombers was/is caught? It would instantly expose the whole deal. Too risky.
Do you buy the idiotic statement that they "would get lost in Bangkok"? What an infuriating thing to say - how many people have these supposed bumpkins killed? How many police and even military posts have they overrun? How many government weapons have they stolen?
It depends on who the bombers were. If they were guys from the south specifically brought up to Bangkok for this purpose, then I believe it. One of the only reasons they have been so successful in the south is because they know the land better than the military. The same can not be said for Bangkok. If on the other hand it was local muslims in Bangkok, as I believe, then it changes things quite a bit.
If they are such idiots why can't Sonthi arrest at least those responsible for lynching two marines.
People were punished. Reporters were not invited.
Update: Thailand Still In “Some Turmoil”
By John E. Carey
Peace and Freedom
January 3, 2007
http://johnib.wordpress.com/2007/01/03/update-thailand-still-in-%e2%80%9csome-turmoil%e2%80%9d/
On Tuesday, September 19, 2006 the military leaders of Thailand, in an unexpected coup, removed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra while he was in New York City at a United Nations meeting for heads of state.
Shinawatra left Thailand the democratically elected head of state of a free nation and flew out of New York toward London a jobless man unable to return to the land of his birth.
Thaksin Shinawatra, was democratically elected twice. A billionaire, he was no angel. In fact, he was known for corruption in government. Critics charged that his universal health care program, food subsidies to the poor and care for the elderly and others were crass ways to buy votes. His critics said, when votes in the legislature looked to be on the fence, he’s buy the votes he needed to get what he wanted. His entire party was called “the mafia” by many Thais. The opposition sat out the last election in protest.
Shinawatra was also unable to stop a Muslim insurgency that was taking a mounting toll in lives in their terror campaign in southern Thailand.
We have learned that Shinawatra now resides in Beijing, where the Chinese welcome his business acumen, his money and his connections even if they have some doubts about the man himself.
In December 2005, Thailand’s monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, criticized the Prime Minister in a speech. That probably signaled that Shinawatra’s government was on borrowed time.
In Thailand, a Muslim general took over. Democracy was lost.
Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin, army commander in chief and an ally of the royal palace, engineered a bloodless coup. The coup-makers wore the monarchy’s traditional colors, and the king later endorsed Sonthi’s transitional government.
Part of the General’s rationalization for the coup was that his predecessor was unable to put down the Muslim insurrection.
On New Year’s Eve, Bangkok was rocked by the explosion of eight small bombs. Three people were killed and scores were injured. One bomb was diffused by police and did not explode, we are told.
An Irishman, an American and two Serbs were among at least 38 injured.
We were unable to determine the identity of the lone American.
Britons Alistair Graham, aged 47, and Paul Hewitt, aged 55, were among seven tourists hurt at a shopping precinct popular with visitors.
Now the Thai police say the bombs can be traced to the political opposition of the coup makers: the allies of former Prime Minister Shinawatra. The police are blaming Shinawatra’s mafia and not the Muslim insurgents.
So what evidence do the Thai police hold?
We’ve seen next to nothing in the mainstream media but insiders in Thailand told us this: the bombs used by the Muslims in the south use a vastly different detonation system from the bombs used in the New Year’s bombing.
Thai police also say the Muslims usually target rich, foreign tourists to Thailand. The New Year’s bombs killed and injured only ordinary Thai people.
Shinawatra has denied any wrongdoing or involvement and as of this writing the Thai police have made no arrests.
Outside observers at the U.N. told us that Thailand was in “some turmoil.”
All we know for sure is this: the Thai tour industry which was just recovering from the tsunami two years ago can ill afford another setback.
“There are several overseas tourists canceling their bookings to Thailand,” Suvit Yodmani, the minister of tourism and sport, said in comments broadcast by state-controlled Channel 9 television yesterday. “In the short term, we admit the bombs will have a significant impact.”
And the Thai generals, for all their power, have not reinstated full order in their homeland.
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