Month: December 2007

Zawahiri’s Latest Rant

In Ayman Al Zawahiri’s latest rant he mentions the usual places and regions, but then calls out four specific ports in two separate pairs. I don’t know if that’s coincidence, or meaningful, but there are things to worry about with that specificity.

“I bear you witness to we promise Allah that we ourselves will not abandon our weapons and will never stop our Jihad and will never abandon our belief and will not abandon Andalusia, Sebta, Melilla, Bosnia, Kosovo, Cyprus, Jerusalem, Haifa, Um Rashrash, Baghdad, Kabul, and Kashmir and Grozny even if they have many conferences in Oslo or Annapolis, and one thousand conferences in London and Salah Al-Din. Do not let the eyes of the cowardly sleep.”

First he mentions Sebta and Malilia (Really Ceuta, Territory of Spain) and he also mentions “Um RashRash” which is really Eilat, and Haifa.

During Operation Enduring Freedom, the US led coalition forces captured several Taliban fighters in Afghanistan including 17 Moroccans. During their interrogation at Guantanamo Bay, it was revealed that a Saudi recruiter working for Osama bin Laden was located in Morocco, and had established a three-man Al Qaeda cell of Saudi nationals. The Moroccan wives of two of the men were also involved. The cell had plans to launch suicide bomb attacks on American warships transiting through the Gibraltar Strait and on the British naval repair and logistics facility at Gibraltar, some 19 kilometres off the northern city of Tangier at the mouth of the Mediterranean. Their plan was to reenact the USS Cole incident; allegedly, they had been preparing to pack inflatable rubber speedboats with explosives and crash them against naval assets. The women were allegedly to act as couriers for these operations.

Moroccan police arrested the three Saudi nationals who were planning suicide operations against American and British warships in the strait of Gibraltar. The three men, between the ages of 25 and 35 claimed to belong to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida network. Reportedly, the suspects said that they planned to sail an inflatable dinghy loaded with explosives from Sebta and Melilia into the Strait to blow up warships on patrol.

The other spots he mentions are all non-specific regions or countries with the exception of Kabul, which is almost always mentioned. Could be nothing or might be worth looking into.

Where’s Bin Laden, Where’s APDM?

al-qaida-schism.jpgzawahiri-dajjal.jpgFor the first time in a Washington Post interview Musharraff has admitted that Osama Bin Laden “could be inside Pakistan” and he noted the Bajaur region where it runs alongide the Kunar valley in Afghanistan. This is where I had him last year, but I doubt if he is still there.

The reasons I doubt Bajaur are twofold — usually you don’t find Osama Bin Laden where there is real fighting – he poses with RPG’s well, but he doesn’t lead from the front and the same is true for Zawahiri. They both exhort others to fight holy war but really are both cowards at heart.

The second reason is that TNSM is involved, and like when Bin Laden escaped Tora Bora, they could be acting as a smokescreen while he is active elsewhere. (During the fight at Tora Bora the Fazlullah madrassas flooded the region with students, essentially a children’s crusade in which many died to cover Bin Laden’s retreat. Mullah Fazlullah’s brother was arrested when he returned to Pakistan after being defeated, and after finding out that Bin Laden didn’t really want him.)

Meanwhile the Taliban are denying that Bin Laden is in Pakistan, and Baitullah Mehsud has declared himself unopposed leader of the Taliban in Pakistan under the UTMP umbrella organization of “Pakistani Taliban.”

Since there’s been infighting between the Wazirs in North Waziristan and the Mehsuds in South Waziristan in the past, it’s likely that Mehsud has pushed with into North Waziristan or that he’s reached accomodation with the Taliban there and now dominates the region.  The UTMP group says that their goals are aligned with the Afghanistan Taliban, and that they align to Mullah Omar as their Caliph, but also state that their fight is within Pakistan.

They threatened that if their demands are not met that they will retaliate, this from an Maulavi Omar via a Dawn reporter in Tank:

He denied that the Afghan Taliban had formed the UTMP, but acknowledged that they shared the same ideals and goals.

“Of course, our mission is the same and we believe that Mullah Omar is our caliph but, at the same time, we have our own separate struggle which is limited to Pakistan.”

He reiterated his threat to the government that if military operations in tribal areas and Swat were not halted within 10 days, militants would launch attacks on security forces throughout the country.“We have given a 10-day deadline to the government of Pakistan to withdraw troops from tribal areas and Swat.”

He demanded release of all Taliban prisoners, including the Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz.

At the same time from North Waziristan we have news that the “militants” have called a ceasefire until 1/1 – which covers Eid-ul-Adha. This comes from one (Mullah?) Ahmadullah Ahmadi, a spokesman for Hafiz Gul Buhadur whose been really talkative the past few months, as this google search reveals. (ignore the soccer & cricket links.)

So a mixed message, an indication that the “Pakistan Taliban” might not be as unified as portrayed, and as this editorial analysis indicates, there are more ties that still bind to AQ.

Keep in mind that AQ groups typically have other causes such as tribal nationalism, revolt, or other regional cause to keep the troop levels up. So while the rank and file Taliban might think they are fighting local, their leadership probably is not.

The “we are fighting our own fight within Pakistan” statement is the cloak and color of the day, just as the names in TNSM/HuJI, and other umbrella groups change depending on where they are and what they are doing. The mixed message (truce vs. deadline) is also symptomatic of AQ’s loose style of communication and coordination.

It still appears that there are two “Warlords of Pakistan” with slightly differing aims: Baitullah Mehsud, and Hafiz Gul Buhadur.

If Bin Laden or Zawahiri are in Pakistan, it’s more likely that they are in Peshawar, Quetta, or Karachi where they can easily get to a studio for taping, and stay in close touch with the old-guard ISI factions during the election season. In the latest taped threat released Sunday, Zawahiri stated that Musharraf would soon fall.

A Quick rundown of other news events:

The police SSP groups have rousted Peshawar, rounding up 68 criminals from gangs.

The oil shortfall has reserves in Pakistan at all-time lows, like many countries they are caught by the crunch of the rising prices. (see second editorial in link above.)

There have been three suicide attacks on the military since Friday, the latest killed 12 people in Kohat.

30 more TNSM have been arrested in Swat.

The effects of All Parties Democracy Movement (APDM,) boycotting are seen in the election filings – there are 7,335 filings vs. the expected number of 8,000-9,000. The parties sitting out are the hard-liners from MMA, and the fringe groups and “single-cause” parties that also feed recruits to AQ. This is the same tired ploy we see throughout the mideast – the extremist jihadi’s “political front groups” try to invalidate elections and decisions by boycott, while the military wings disrupt and destroy the society around them. It’s a traditional ploy of the Neo-takfirists.

 UPDATE: More news on this from Jihad Watch.

Ice

fire-and-ice.jpg When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.

Continue reading “Ice”

Fox News Building Explosion

A “chemical” explosion is being reported at the Fox News building at Avenue of the Americas in New York. One man was burned and 700 have been evacuated, more at The Gothamist

 More updates to come

Fox News continues to broadcast from the lower floor, the explosion took place on “upper floors” and the fire department is not allowing people into the building. Occasional fire alarms are heard in the background the news broadcast, but the reporters continue with normal reporting.

This appears to be a reactive explosion, perhaps from maintenance activities, more to come.

UPDATE From Johnny Dollar, the Fox haters come out at DU and other places….

Update from the Post:

December 17, 2007 — Firefighters responded to a chemical explosion that erupted at 10:39 a.m. in a mechanic room this morning on the 45th floor of a midtown highrise.

The incident at 1211 Sixth Avenue left one man injured who was treated at the scene. Fire spokesman Jim Long says: “We have some sort of reaction between two chemicals that caused a slight explosion.” It was unclear what type of chemical was involved.

Seven hundred people who worked on the three floors below the site were evacuated.

“The fire department is on the scene and in control of the building,” officials said.

Witnesses on the scene said the lobby was also being evacuated and people were not allowed into the building’s lobby.

After an hour and a half, workers in the lower and mid-section of the building were allowed inside.

Elmasry: It’s Not Religious

At that point complaints must be filed against Elmasry for every statement he has made against Jews. At that point cases must be filed against Elmasry for every statement he has made against gays. At that point Tarek Fatah must file a case against Elmasry for branding him Takfir.

mohammed-elmasry.jpgMohammed ElMasry, spokesperson for the Canadian Islamic Council, tries to say that the teen brutally murdered by her father for not wearing a headscarve wasn’t about religion. Forget the fact that the fundamentalist sects which are now the Saudi-funded vogue across the Islamic world require one. From Ace of Spades:

“I don’t want the public to think that this is really an Islamic issue or an immigrant issue,” said Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Congress.

“It is a teenager issue.” – ElMasry

No, it’s a brutal murder driven by evil ideology propagated by gaping flaws of Tribal Islamic Sharia in the modern world. 

There’s a great article in the Sun today about the issue, and Salim Mansur contrasts how the CIC is a hate organization itself, and intends to muzzle free speech by filing suit against Mark Steyn and McClean’s magazine:

But the greater frivolity is the HRC’s willingness to hear the complaint from an organization whose president, Mohamed Elmasry, is on public record in Canada for the suggestion — though later retracted under duress — that Israelis in general over the age of 18 are legitimate targets for Palestinian suicide-bombers.

The murder of Aqsa Parvez and of countless other women among Muslims will continue not merely because Muslims cower in silence in their fear of radical Islamists, but also for the apathy of the Western public and politicians supinely appeasing and accommodating Muslim organizations such as the CIC.  

Here’s a link to that statement about Israel; and other hate statements can be found at Wiki. ElMasry also seeks to intimidate Muslims across Canada by calling them Takfir, or Apostate, as he did to Tarek Fatah. He seems to not follow his own words:

In Mecca, the ancient K’aaba is the designated House of God and the first ritual for a Hajj pilgrim is to circle the Kaaba seven times. Men perform this rite dressed in two simple pieces of coarse white seamless cloth, one for the lower body and another for the upper. Women wear their traditional clothing, usually in white.

The vast visual image of white-garbed circling humanity sends a powerful sensory and spiritual message, affirming that all human beings are created equal in the eyes of God and that only God can judge them.

 So essentially you have a spokesman for terrorists, a neo-takfirist, and an apologist for a brutal murderer filing suit against Mark Steyn. You have to wonder if the commission would take a case against Elmasry for his hate speech and intimidation?

This is the modern world, and you do not have the right to not be offended. You don’t have the right to call someone names and have them outcast or punished because they offend you. You don’t have the right to intimidate your fellow muslims, for they are sovereign individuals here, and it’s why they come here fleeing from the strong-man tyranny of the Islamic world.

The Human Rights commission is not only foolish to take the case; they would be clearly treading on the Charter of Canadian Rights if they make the ruling for Elmasry. At that point every member on the commission should be replaced, through whatever legal vehicles exist.

At that point complaints must be filed against Elmasry for every statement he has made against Jews. At that point cases must be filed against Elmasry for every statement he has made against gays. At that point Tarek Fatah must file a case against Elmasry for branding him Takfir.

I have faith and confidence in the people of Canada, there might be an inch gained by the fundamentalists here if the ruling goes against Mark Steyn, but in the end two miles will be lost for death clericists regardless of ruling.

For a contrasting view check AIFD.

Update on the Case against Mark Steyn at National Review Online.

Their outlook is gloomy, will Canadians so easily give up their Liberty to a gaggle of Eurocrats and hate-mullahs?

Emergency Rule Lifted in Pakistan

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf lifted Emergency rule after making last minute changes to Pakistan’s constitution. These were to ensure that he could not be prosecuted after a new parliament sweeps in after the January elections.

Many are doubting the legitimacy of the elections, but the fact is that all of the major parties of Pakistan are in, and none are boycotting.

Normally I don’t serve up Al (qaida’s) Jazeera network stories here, but they are the only ones reporting this early. So here’s the AJ report, note that midway through you can see the First Troofer, Hamid Gul, sitting a table with a button on.
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Roses in Winter

roses-in-winter.jpgWhat is a youth? Impetuous fire.
What is a maid? Ice and desire.
The world wags on.

A rose will bloom
It then will fade
So does a youth.
So does the fairest maid.

Comes a time when one sweet smile
Has its season for a while…Then love’s in love with me.
Some they think only to marry, Others will tease and tarry,
Mine is the very best parry. Cupid he rules us all.
Caper the cape, but sing me the song,
Death will come soon to hush us along.
Sweeter than honey and bitter as gall.
Love is a task and it never will pall.
Sweeter than honey…and bitter as gall
Cupid he rules us all
— From Romeo and Juliet, a song paraphrase of Shakespeare