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Today's Headlines...
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6/4/2004 Britain
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Radical preacher is an al-Qaida hero, court told
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The radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza is an "al-Qaida hero" comparable to Osama bin Laden, a lawyer acting for the US in its extradition bid claimed yesterday.
| "He made the big leagues!" |
James Lewis QC told Belmarsh magistrates that Mr Hamza had sent money to a "top-level associate" of the terrorist network while under investigation by British police. The 46-year-old preacher was applying for bail pending a full hearing of the American case for extraditing him on terrorism charges. But Mr Lewis said Mr Hamza had the resources and an "irresistible incentive" to flee. Alternatively, he might try to interfere with witnesses or commit offences while on bail.
Mr Lewis said that while being investigated by police in 1999 Mr Hamza had sent money to Abu Khabab, a "well-known al-Qaida top-level associate" who ran a jihad training camp in Afghanistan which specialised in explosives and poison training. "From an al-Qaida point of view he is a hero in the same way as Bin Laden is portrayed," he said.
But Paul Hynes, Mr Hamza's counsel, told the court that his client had battled to retain British citizenship and remain in the UK. "If ever there was a man who could not and would not contemplate the shame and ignominy of fleeing like a thief in the night in the face of the might of the United States, and in the process giving up all he believes to be right, that man is before you today," he said.
| "Yer honor, my client is a man who knows when he's got people conned!" |
He "could not cross his own living room without bringing himself to the attention of the authorities", not least because he lost an eye and both hands in a landmine explosion in Afghanistan.
| And, coincidentally, because he has murder in his heart. |
Mr Hynes said several of the alleged offences had been investigated by British police, and that if sufficient evidence existed Mr Hamza could be tried in British courts.
| "Please throw my client into the briar patch!" |
The so-called preacher is alleged to have aided a hostage-taking incident in Yemen in 1998 in which four captives - including three Britons - died. He also stands accused of conspiring to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon in the US; and of sending a follower to an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan.
Wearing a red "I Love George Bush" T-shirt and khaki capris trousers, Mr Hamza spoke only to confirm his name and that he understood the US wanted to extradite him.
District judge Timothy Workman refused the bail application, saying he was satisfied there was a risk that the cleric would fail to attend court, could interfere with witnesses or might commit further offences. The case is the first to test a new non-reciprocal extradition treaty which allows the US to extradite suspects without providing evidence against them. Mr Hamza will have the opportunity to appeal if the extradition request is successful. But Mr Hamza could face the death penalty in the US and British nationals cannot be extradited to face execution abroad.
| I don't want to execute him, I want him to spend 23 hours a day in solitary in a super-max, de-hooked and with only a straw for company. |
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| #1 I would put him on a diet of pork and kosher pickles. |
| Posted by: Dog Bites Trolls 2004-06-04 1:33:34 AM Comment
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6/4/2004 Fifth Column
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Airport Security Boots Nazi-sow Seditionist
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DALLAS - A 57-year-old woman says she was ejected from a terminal at the Dallas-Fort Worth International airport after showing military recruits an anti-war campaign poster. Carole Ward showed the recruits an 8 1/2-by-11 inch poster of a composite illustration of President Bush made up of the faces of soldiers who have died in Iraq. It bore the title "Faces of Death."
Some people found the poster offensive and the woman became belligerent with an American Airlines gate agent, according to Tim Wagner, a spokesman for the airline. He also said Ward made some passengers feel uncomfortable while waiting to board her plane during a thunderstorm Tuesday night and presented a security threat. "She’s not only going around talking to these recruits, saying they shouldn’t join the Army, they shouldn’t fight in the war, she’s also forcing the poster on them," Wagner told The Dallas Morning News in today’s online edition.
Ward, who was returning home to Albuquerque, N.M., from a Libertarian convention in Atlanta, said she started a conversation with a few of several dozen recruits in the airport. She passed around the poster, that had messages to elect Libertarian Aaron Russo president and to stop a possible military draft.
According to Wagner, some people thought the poster had pictures of soldiers’ bodies and said the material definitely could be "considered offensive." Although Wagner said the gate agent asked airport police to remove the woman from the secure side of the terminal, airport spokesman Ken Capps said that the officers only monitored the situation and Ward left on her own. She says she was forced to leave the hotel without her bag and spend the night in a hotel.
LGF readers Shiplord Kirel (my humble self) and Bon-Ami have established that this is the same person as Carol Ward (no e), the proprietor of this truly disgusting Nazi propaganda site.
To summarize the evidence:
Web-nazi Carol sometimes uses the spelling Carole, as here at Indymedia and here at FreeRepublic (note that url is the same).
Both women live in New Mexico.
Both are Libertarians.
There are only five people in New Mexico named Carol or Carole Ward.
Airport Carol is 57 years old. In a 2001 article, Web-nazi Carol gave her age then as 54. Only one of the New Mexico Carol Wards has a birthday in 1947 or anywhere close to it. This is also the only one with an unlisted address (web-nazi Carol claims to receive death threats every day, which I don’t doubt).
Airport Carol lives in Santa Fe. All 4 of the New Mexico Carol(e) Wards with available addresses are outside Santa Fe.
Web-nazi Carol’s middle-name is Ann.
Three of the New Mexico Carol(e) Wards have the initial "A". One of these is the 57 year old with no available address.
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#2 While I'm handing out hat-tips, LGF lizardoids Jauhara and SoCalJustice were also in on the bust.
BTW, if anyone thinks that "Web-nazi Carol" is an over-the-top designation for this creature, check out these gems from her website:
"On 9/11, I was sitting in a small boarding house in Durbuy, Belgium, staring at the TV, and saying to myself - 'Those fucking Jews -- Those disgusting Jews. THIS time they really did it.'"
"So -- Bless you Palestine. May God bless you and your struggle against the greatest evil the planet has ever known. And forgive me my casual condemnations when I've visited Muslim countries. Muslims are the light, the future, and the last hope for the world. We may not agree on much else - but we do agree on this --
Evil thy name is Jew." |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-06-04 1:45:07 AM Comment
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6/4/2004 Iraq-Jordan
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Sadr loyalists to leave Najaf Again
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ARMED loyalists of Shi'ite leader Moqtada Sadr were to start withdrawing from the holy central Iraqi city of Najaf and its surroundings today, their spokesman said after a meeting with Shi'ite officials. Qais al-Khazaali said Sadr had met with the Shi'ite House, a grouping of Shi'ite parties and religious authorities. "Starting tomorrow we shall start or continue withdrawing any armed presence and freeing all suspects" arrested by Sadr's militiamen, he said at a press conference with Shi'ite representative Haidar al-Sufi.
The Shi'ite House would "choose some of its members to supervise" application of a truce with US forces in specific districts, Sufi said. "We ask the governor of Najaf to deploy the police forces made up of citizens of Najaf to bring security to the people," Sufi added. "We ask the occupation forces and the Iraqi police to refrain from making arrests and searches in Najaf province."
| That would spoil the fun! |
Hundreds of hard boyz militiamen and civilians have been killed across central and southern Iraq since firebrand cleric Sadr began his uprising against US-led coalition troops two months ago. A truce was announced in Najaf and Kerbala provinces on May 27 between the coalition forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, but it has frequently been broken by the hard boyz.
Five civilians and an unknown number of Shi'ite Muslim militiamen were killed in Kufa on yesterday in clashes with US troops, said the US military and medics, as fresh fighting rocked neighbouring Najaf. The US military said yesterday's clashes broke out in Kufa as troops searched a school suspected of having been used by Mehdi Army members to launch mortar attacks.
| Isn't using a school to launch an attack a violation of some sorta law? I can't remember. |
Sadr has offered to pull all militiamen who are not from Najaf out of the shrine city provided US troops leave as well. He has also asked for legal proceedings against him to be suspended until there is an elected Iraqi government, but coalition officials continue to insist that he disband his private army and face justice.
| I'm waiting for the full-face and profile mug shots sans turban. |
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Minister: Iraq Demands Security Authority
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Iraq's incoming government needs the U.S.-led multinational force to stay to prevent civil war but insists on command of Iraqi forces and authority over "security matters," Iraq's foreign minister said Thursday. Hoshyar Zebari told the U.N. Security Council that a U.S.-British draft resolution on Iraqi sovereignty must spell out the relationship between the government and the multinational force to ensure that Iraq's self-rule isn't compromised and the force is able to defend itself.
But he said the new interim government that will take power on June 30 doesn't want "a fixed deadline or timetable" for the departure of the multinational force, because it would be used by the country's "enemies" to foment unrest.
But he stressed that the government which will be elected in January 2005 "must have a say in the future presence of these forces and we urge that this be reflected in the new resolution."
He said the resolution must underline "the transfer of full sovereignty to the people of Iraq" and authorize the interim government "to control, administer and manage Iraq's resources and assets." "This means investing full authority in the interim government to run Iraq's affairs, make its own decisions and have authority over Iraq's security matters," he said.
| So far we're in perfect agreement. |
While the U.S. ambassador said the draft needs only "fine-tuning," key Security Council members including Algeria, France, Russia and China have insisted on major changes.
| Who cares what they think? |
The revised U.S.-British draft introduced Tuesday would authorize the multinational force to remain in Iraq under a unified command and urge more countries to contribute troops. It addresses two security issues raised by council members by giving the interim government control of the Iraqi army and police, and ending the mandate for a multinational force by January 2006. The original draft did not address the issue of control of Iraqi security forces or include an end to the force's mandate.
Zebari warned that "any premature departure of international troops would lead to chaos and the real possibility of a civil war in Iraq." "This would cause a humanitarian crisis and provide a foothold for terrorists to launch their evil campaign in our country and beyond our borders," he said.
| Which suits certain UNSC members just fine. |
Several countries - including Algeria, the council's only Arab member - say they want the new resolution to give the country's new leaders final say over the multinational force. In an interview Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iraq will not be given a veto over U.S. troops. The 138,000 U.S. troops will remain under U.S. command, Powell said. "There could be a situation where we have to act and there may be a disagreement," Powell told Middle East Broadcasting.
Ambassador John Negroponte called Thursday for the "timely passage" of the resolution. Zebari expressed hope that the vote would be unanimous to send a strong signal of international support to the Iraqi people. Other nations on the 15-member council, especially France, are in no rush. They want to see how Iraqis react to the new team. They also want to hear from the new leaders and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who announced the new government Tuesday.
| Wait long enough, and we and the Iraqis will just do things our own way. |
The Iraqi minister also said a resolution must clearly end the U.S. and British occupation of Iraq that followed last year's war that toppled Saddam Hussein. "By removing the label of occupation, we will deprive the terrorists and antidemocratic forces of a rallying point to foment violence in our country," he said.
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#1 I assume the US will indeed just do a bilateral arrangement with the new interim government if the UNSC attempts to put any more than general language on control of forces in the resolution. Also, the end-date idea is supremely stupid in a typically impractical multilateral way, and I assume that is one other absolute no-go for us.
One semantic quibble, and Zebari's hardly the author of this -- everyone's doing it. There IS a civil war in Iraq ... that's kind of the idea. Most of the trouble is being caused by Iraqis, who are killing other Iraqis and trying to shape the future of Iraq. That's a civil war. We are presently the key ally of one side (or several) in the civil war, and there's good reason to believe that the bulk of the populace favors an outcome we would find desirable -- but it's still a civil war, albeit with foreign intervention. I'm just tired of people talking darkly of the "possibility" of a "civil war" as some kind of possible nightmare scenario, when in fact such a conflict is the very essence of what's going on today. It's a very winnable civil war -- even easily so, by historical measures -- but civil war it (principally) is.
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| Posted by: Verlaine 2004-06-04 12:36:18 AM Comment
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#2 Yeah, there is and there isn't a civil war, given the furriners mucking around in Iraq. A fair number of the fighters are Iraqis, though, and I'd expect that to get worse if we bailed out in the next few months.
One interesting thought I read elsewhere: staying embroiled in Iraq serves Iran and Syria just fine. As long as our troops are in Iraq fighting, rebuilding, etc., they can't be used to clean out the other rat traps. This person advocated pulling our troops into the Kurdish region, using our air power over the rest of Iraq to threaten anyone who tries full-scale civil war, and the daring Sistani, et al., to start running the place responsibility. Then you'd have the forces you need to deal with Syria, the Soodis, etc. I don't buy it but it's an interesting idea. |
| Posted by: Steve White
2004-06-04 12:59:39 AM Comment
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"Eyewitness" News?
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COALITION SOLDIERS QUESTION NEWS MEDIA FOLLOWING ROADSIDE BOMB
MOSUL, Iraq - Coalition soldiers questioned two news media cameramen and a reporter after a roadside bomb exploded near a Coalition convoy two kilometers north of Mosul June 3. The media, who were at the scene prior to the attack, told soldiers at the scene they had received a tip to be at that location prior to the attack and they had witnessed the explosion.
There was minimal damage to a Coalition vehicle, a cracked windshield, and no serious injuries.
3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division soldiers requested the media accompany them to a base camp in Mosul to answer questions as witnesses to the incident.
"We respectfully REQUEST that you come back to the base with us. If you do so, these guns pressed against your heads will not fire."
The news media representatives left the base camp in the mid afternoon.
They were seen to be chain-smoking furiously and glancing nervously in all directions. Some rushed to nearby roadside vendors to buy underwear and strong alcoholic beverages.
This brings a whole new meaning to "media relations." This is not the first such incident -- though at least there was no mention of the media actually paying the bad guys to stage an attack, as has been rumored previously.
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| #1 The media ARE planting the bombs! If they know what's going to happen....why don't they call and warn someone? BECAUSE THEY'RE PLANTING THE BOMBS!!! |
| Posted by: Halfass Pete 2004-06-04 12:58:47 AM Comment
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| #2 Agenda in action: Bomb blowing up US troops=good story, US troops nabbing bombers=bad story. |
| Posted by: mojo
2004-06-04 1:27:30 AM Comment
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| #3 US troops nabbing media who planted bombs = egggsclent story! |
| Posted by: Steve White
2004-06-04 1:38:15 AM Comment
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