France's homeboy insurgents sentenced

A slap on the hands for four of them and three get off with suspended sentences and time served.

Big whoop.

Their lawyer has some nerve, too. Stating: the defendants were "a band of friends who had empathy for the suffering of people in Iraq'' and that the prosecution failed to prove they had carried out any "reprehensible acts'' in Iraq.

This despite the fact that two of their mon amis were killed and one of them lost an arm and a leg in the US bombing of Fallujah. One of their fellow travelers died after putting on a suicide vest and blowing himself up. Sacre blew! Nothing reprehensible there or anything!

A Paris court sentenced members of a recruitment ring that sent French Muslims to fight in the Iraqi insurgency to up to seven years in prison.

Seven men were on trial for 'association with wrongdoers with the intention of committing a terrorist act.'' Prosecutors said during the trial that a total of 10 men from Paris's heavily immigrant-populated 19th arrondissement made it to Iraq, where three died. The three Paris judges convicted and sentenced them today after hearing evidence in March.
Farid Benyettou (shown left), 27, a self-taught preacher at various Paris mosques, was sentenced to six years. At the trial, state prosecutor Jean-Julien Xavier-Rolai portrayed him as the group's ``spiritual guide'' and asked for him to serve eight years.

Boubakeur el-Hakim (shown hiding his face right), 24, whom prosecutors accused of running a way station in Damascus for young French Muslims en route to fight U.S. forces in Iraq, was sentenced to seven years. Xavier- Rolai had sought eight years.

Said Abdelleh, a 39-year-old Moroccan, also got seven years and will be expelled from France after completing his sentence.

`From the beginning of this investigation, it emerged that...



...Farid Benyettou, as the ideologue, and Boubekeur el-Hakim, as the organizer, played an important role in the departure of young Frenchmen from the 19th arrondissement for jihad in Iraq,'' the court said in its ruling.
The three were in pre-trial detention. They made no comments after hearing the verdicts and were handcuffed and taken away. Each has already spent three years in jail, which will be counted as part of their sentences. Benyettou and el- Hakim will be eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of their terms.

French recruits made their way by air to Damascus, usually telling their families they were going to study Arabic, according to the printed version of the court's ruling. They were met by middlemen and taken across the border, generally paying about $400 to Syrian smugglers. Two died in the U.S. bombardment of Fallujah in 2004, and another died carrying out a suicide bomb attack in October 2004. One of the dead was el- Hakim's brother, Redouane.

Another alleged member of Benyettou's ring, Peter Cherif, is in jail awaiting trial after being arrested in Iraq in 2004 and extradited to France earlier this year.

The court said the French recruits joined Abu Musab al- Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq or an allied group, Army of Mohammed. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. bombing raid in 2006.
`Jihadist' Views

Benyettou declined the services of a lawyer at the trial. Admitting to ``jihadist'' views, he denied encouraging others to travel to Iraq. He'd been thrown out of a series of Paris mosques because of his violent views and often gave religious classes at home, prosecutors said.

Eric Plouvier, a lawyer who represented other defendants, said in his summing-up in March that the defendants were ``a band of friends who had empathy for the suffering of people in Iraq'' and that the prosecution failed to prove they had carried out any "reprehensible acts'' in Iraq. He said U.S. forces were the ones terrorizing Iraqi civilians.

Abdelleh is the most experienced member of the group, having made failed attempts to reach Chechnya and Afghanistan in 2001. The court ruling listed seven false names he'd used over the years.

Nacer Eddine Mettai was sentenced to four years, as requested by the prosecution. The 37-year-old Algerian admitted making false passports for 300 euros ($464) each though he said he had no idea what they were to be used for. He had already been sentenced to six years in jail in a separate 2006 trial. He'll be expelled from France upon release.

Three more defendants who were freed from custody before the trial won't go to prison because of time spent in pre-trial detention, and because 18 months of their sentences are suspended.
Cherif Kouachi, 26, and Thamar Bouchnak, 25, were arrested in Paris in January 2005 as they prepared to fly to Damascus. They were sentenced to three years, as requested by Xavier- Rolai.

Kouachi said on the stand that he was inspired by detainee abuse by U.S. troops at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, though he was relieved he was stopped. The court said Kouachi had wanted to attack Jewish targets in France, but Benyettou had told him that France wasn't a ``land of jihad'' but Iraq was.

Kouachi, who alternated between periods of smoking marijuana and attending Benyettou's classes, said he's now working in a supermarket and his main interest is rap music.

Mohamed el-Ayouni, 25, who lost an arm and an eye during the 2004 battle of Fallujah, was sentenced to three years. He made it back to Syria in May 2006. There, he was arrested and sent to France, where he now lives with his parents, and is awaiting an artificial limb. The prosecutor had asked for four years.

Al-Ayouni's name was on a list of 258 foreign insurgents discovered in an al-Qaeda safe house in Iraq in 2005, the ruling said. The list included his fake name, as well as his family's phone number in France. The families of insurgents who died all received calls from Iraq or Syria informing them of their sons' fates.

Something's rotten in Malawi...

Update: More money talks, bull shi& walks in Malawi? Madonna to build school in Malawi. A generous gesture she announces the day before the final adoption hearing for her soon to be adopted son, David Banda. What a coincidence.

Malawi police arrest ex-security, political chiefs over allegations of coup plot.

Heavily armed police arrested former security and political leaders who served under Malawi's former president in pre-dawn raids Tuesday over allegations they wanted to overthrow the government.

Information Minister Patricia Kaliati said the government had evidence that the men arrested were involved in "sinister plans" to oust President Bingu Mutharika and that they wanted to mislead junior officers to join the plot.

The arrest sweep was the latest twist in a long-running power struggle in the southern African nation between Mutharika and his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi. All those arrested Tuesday served under Muluzi's administration from 1994 to 2004.


There's more. Read this report of a reported al Qaeda henchman on the President's payroll. And get this, he's dating the President's daughter. What's up with that?
From the Nyasa Times:

Malawi President Bingu Mutharika (shown left) is harbouring a hired Eritrean 'deadly ex-soldier sniper assassin' masquerading as a business consultant currently dating his divorced daughter Duwa, an intelligence report made available to Nyasa Times has revealed. Rikki Shayo real name Rashid Abdul Shariki – wanted in Eritera (sic) for various crimes - came to Malawi as a refugee from travelling on a Kenyan passport. He belongs to a Mafia group called Mujiha linked to Al Qaeda operations in the horn of Africa.

"The man whose real name is Rashid Abdul Shariki is now known as Rikki Shayo. If you heard the history of this person, you can not associate with him. He is on the most top wanted list in Eritrea to answer some cases of robberies, brutality and other crimes," reads the January 25, 2008 intelligence communication in part.

Shayo is currently employed by President Mutharika's Guardian Newspaper in Lilongwe as Editor-in-Chief and drives a State House four wheel-drive courtesy of Malawian tax payers.

He is also behind a President Mutharika bid for the fourth mobile phone operator currently being bulldozed on MACRA by Minister of Information and Civic Education Particia Kaliati.

The 'bandit' had a brief stint at a non-governmental organisation Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation [CHRR] as a Communication Officer where his main task was production of advocacy literature.

"It is indeed true that he undertook some consultancy work for CHRR but that was for a very short time since we discovered that his performance was not commensurate with his claimed qualifications,"


... said Executive Director Undule Mwakasungura who could not clearly remember how Shayo came to their organisation.

A Kenyan intelligence official only called Ngingi for this purpose said Shayo recently submitted a 49 paged report to the leader of Mujika in Kenya on his investigations on the opposition.

"Shayo submitted the 49 pages report for the phase one for the time he stayed in Malawi and he is expected to be back in the country in the next two weeks. "His report was about what he finds in his research about the downfall of Mutharika, his cabinet and government; and how to 'deal away' with the opposition party leaders troubling the Head of State," Ngingi said.

Mutharika's prospective son-in-law boasts that the Malawi government is still sleeping and people are with closed eyes hence its failure to 'see-off' the opposition leaders.

He is said to have used his manipulative techniques and intelligence to infiltrate the Mutharika household and sell the Mujika services to the Head of State.

The Eritrean has already gained the Malawi citizenship courtesy of Duwa and he gets a guard of honour from presidential guards at the New State House gates.

"He reported that he had gained favour with the President Mutharika family and now he has got citizenship of Malawi and the President's daughter had put trust in him," said the official.

The Malawi Secret Intelligence Service could not comment on how they had let a man not vetted at all, to get close to the Head of State.

Jaipur Bombings: Still no claim of responsibility

Theories abound.

Here's mine. It has something to do with I-S-L-A-M. Just a wild guess, mind you.

Counterterrorism Blog is suspecting a tag team match: Multiple Terror Blasts in Jaipur City, SIMI-HuJI-LeT Alliance Suspected!

The government though (has) not ruled out the use of military explosives in these blasts (e.g.RDX), enough evidence of cocktail bombs emerged during initial mopping of the blast sites. Mobile phones, Iron pipes, wires and plastic substances, splinters and timer devices found with mangled bicycles and bikes. Looking at these findings, fingers of suspicion pointed at the Islamic terror alliance: Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI)- Lashkar e Toiba- Student Islamic Movements of India (SIMI). HujI has revolutionized use of mobile phones, commercial explosives and chemicals in most of terror strikes recently, e.g. in Mecca mosque blasts in Hyderabad last year.

Mumbai and Delhi have been put on terror alert. And fingers are being pointed in Pakistan's direction. Pakistan says, "Who, us?" and is pointing the finger at SIMI, HuJI and LeT. (Radical MOSLEM groups located in or near the region.)

A junior minister for home affairs in the Indian Government, Sriprakash Jaiswal, said he suspected a "foreign hand" was involved — normally a reference to India's arch-rival, Pakistan. However, Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attacks. Three militant organisations — the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami, the Students Islamic Movement of India and Lashkar-e-Taiba — top the list of suspects.

Police have detained twelve people for questioning. They have also identified where the bicycles used in the attacks were bought and have a description of the buyer. (shown)

More about the explosive devices used in the well-coordinated attack:

"... the Forensic Science report confirmed the use of RDX in Tuesday’s serial blasts in the Pink City. Sources in the police told CNN-IBN RDX was packed on bicycles that were used as carriers to trigger off the blasts... the explosives used were powerful timer bombs capable of showering over 1,700 pellets.

And now a WOMAN is being sought for participation in the plot.

The police have launched a massive hunt for a woman who allegedly promised Rs.100,000 to a rickshaw puller to carry out the terror attacks that killed 80 people. "We are looking for a woman, identified as Meena, who tried to lure a rickshaw puller, Vijay, to carry out the attacks," a police officer said on the condition of anonymity. Vijay, a resident of Mumbai who suffered minor shrapnel injures, told the police that Meena lives near one of the blast sites. No further details of the woman's role in the bombings were available.

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When Hugo Met Angela...

Chavez links Merkel with Hitler.

Looks like things could get interesting come Friday. I hope she rips him a new one.

She is from the German right," said Mr Chavez. "The same that supported Hitler, that supported fascism. That's the Chancellor of Germany today."

The Venezuelan leader stopped short of telling Ms Merkel to go to hell, saying: "Ms Chancellor, you can go to... because you are a lady, I won't say any more."
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They've all lost the plot v.2

More fresh madness from the UK: Knife-wielding thugs will avoid jail.

Violent thugs who terrorise our streets with knives will be allowed to escape with only a fine, it was announced today.

New guidelines issued to magistrates mean that knife-carrying yobs will be let off with just slap on the wrist. Terrifying thugs who are caught carrying a blade for the first time will be 'punished' with only a fine or a community order. And even if it can be proved that the youths or violent gangs are threatening innocent victims with knives, they will still only face up to 12 weeks jail time. The new guidelines came from Britain's most senior judge, Lord Chief Justice Phillips, through the Sentencing Guidelines Council and come just hours after a man was fatally stabbed in broad daylight on London's bustling Oxford street yesterday.

The 22-year-old man was seen leaving McDonalds only to be ambushed by two men and have his throat slit - leaving him bleeding to death in full-view of hundreds of horrified shoppers, who fled the busy shopping district as the innocent man collapsed on the street. The two killers escaped but a blood-stained pen-knife was discovered only 50 metres away. A witness said: “I just heard the screaming and then saw a couple of guys run past us.”

Yesterday's sickening murder is the fifth in London in only two weeks. Innocent schoolboy Jimmy Mizen, 16. was murdered in a bakery on Saturday in south east London and two youths were wounded in a double stabbing in Holloway, north London only the day after.

Gordon Brown's inability to tackle the surging crime on Britain's streets has made a mockery of Labour's famous promise to crack down on "crime and the causes of crime."

London’s newly-appointed Deputy Mayor for Young People, Ray Lewis, described the problem of crime in the capital as a “rising onslaught”.“I think we need to ask ourselves why we are where we are in the first place,” he said. “Because this isn’t a blow-out, this is a slow leak.“This has been an increasing and steadily rising onslaught of lawlessness and abandoned behaviour for a number of years.”

Newly-appointed London mayor Boris Johnson has vowed to put a stop to the horrific murders happening everyday on British streets - 68 young people under 25 have been killed with knives or guns since January.

Oh brother.

New health fear for Prince Philip as he coughs through state banquet.

Just when I wasn't feeling very charitable about the Queen's visit to Turkey, I see this. (I say something even the littlest bit snarky about someone and something bad happens to make me feel like an absolute shitheel. It never freaking fails.)

A PALE and sickly-looking Prince Philip coughed his way through a ceremony at a state banquet last night. The 86-year-old Duke of Edinburgh looked short of breath and uncomfortable while meeting 300 guests at an official dinner in the Turkish capital, Ankara. The coughing fit prompted new fears for his health, just a month after he spent three nights in hospital with a chest infection.

One shocked onlooker said: “He looks dreadful – as if he’s gasping for breath.”

Frail Philip, who has accompanied the Queen on all of her overseas tours since 1952, coughed repeatedly before regaining his composure. He seemed under strain again during speeches at the banquet hosted by Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his wife Hayrunnisa.

In spite of his pallor, a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman insisted there was nothing wrong with Philip.

Let's hope so.
.....

They've all lost the plot...

Fresh madness from the UK: Murderers and Rapists allowed to keep PlayStations in their cells to "relieve boredom."

It is the latest in a series of perks for convicts. Last month, Ministers faced an outcry amid claims by prison guards that prostitutes and drugs are being smuggled into 'cushy' jails. The Prison Officers Association said inmates have such a good time they even pass up the chances of escape.

Savaging Labour's prisons policy, spokesman Glyn Travis told how inmates benefit from satellite television, free telephone calls, breakfast in bed and officers who treat them with kid gloves for fear of breaching their human rights.

Indeed.

.....

The Queen of England goes crown in hand to visit Turkey

All right, she doesn't actually have her crown in her hand but after watching the video and reading about the trip that was just the feeling I got. Once upon a time I used to think that letting Turkey into the EU was an okay idea, not now. Now that you mention it, that whole EU business wasn't such a hot idea, either.


And the fact that the Turkish First Lady wears the hijab despite Turkey's societal ban really ticks me off. (You know how I am about the wearing of the schmatta.) I used to be pretty cool with Turkey, but I'm just not feeling very charitable these days.

First, it was reading about the heinous murder of UK teenager, Jimmy Mizen. I read about his killing and thought it odd that there wasn't a description given of the killer. They were quick enough to point out the description of the "white middle aged male" eyewitness but were strangely silent about the suspect. I should have known. It wasn't until yesterday that it was revealed he was a 19 year old Turk named Jake Fahri. Although this BBC report of the suspect's arrest would have you believe he was murdered by a ghost. There is barely a mention of the perp in it, much less his description. The article did let us know that:

On Sunday, London Mayor Boris Johnson joined Christians to pray for an end to the violence in which 13 teenagers have died in the city in 2008.

I was not heartened. We need less kum ba yah and more Onward Christian Soldiers, people! So I was already in a funk when I stumbled across this article about The last church standing in North Cyprus. Okay, now I'm REALLY ticked off. You can bet your sweet life that this will not be a topic of discussion during the Queen's visit.

In the span of three decades under Turkish control, more than 530 churches and monasteries have been pillaged, vandalized, or destroyed in the northern area, according to The Republic of Cyprus.

“I cannot say that it (the destruction of churches) is encouraged openly by the Turkish government,” said Cyprus’s Ambassador to the United States, Andreas Kakouris, to The Christian Post. “All I can say is that it is taking place in the area that is under direct control of the Turkish military and I leave you to make your own conclusions from that.”

Maybe now you can understand why I am not in a very charitable mood about Turkey.

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The mother of all bounty confusion

First, I read this report about the quiet decrease in the al Qaeda leader in Iraq's bounty from a cool million down to a measly 100k. (Ouch that's got to be leaving a mark on his manly ego.)

Meanwhile, kyros over at Report on Arrakis advises that we overpaid on this guy. US pays $500k for Khadr. (I agree.)

Then I see that the Sudanese government was offering a whopping 250 million US dollars for Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of J-E-M. (the major dude shown-who's his stylist, I wonder.)

WTF? That's ten times the amount OBL has on his head! Dude. That's major. Or maybe not. Oops. It looks like somebody goofed. That was to be paid in OLD Sudanese dollars not new...

The Sudanese government has doubled its bounty for the country's most wanted Darfur rebel leader to nearly $250,000, a government official said Tuesday.

State media had been reporting that the reward was 500 million new Sudanese pounds, the equivalent of $246 million. The media described that amount as the equivalent of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.

But Bakri Mullah, secretary general of the External Information Office, told The Associated Press Tuesday in response to repeated queries that the reward was actually 500 million old Sudanese pounds, the equivalent of about $246,000.

Sudan revalued its currency more than a year ago and the new pound is worth 1,000 times more than the old one.

Why is Sudanese President and Reverend Jeremiah Wright look alike, Omar Hassan al-Bashir so hot on Khalil's trail? Listen to what Khalil had to say about last week's attacks on Khartoum:

This is just the start of a process, and the end is the termination of this regime...Don't expect just one more attack. This is just the beginning."

.....

Serial blasts rock Jaipur...

Update: The toll has risen to 80. One suspect has been detained and is being interrogated.

Among the dead were a 10-year-old boy at the Hanuman (monkey god) temple, a bride in a bright red saree still wearing marriage bangles and a young man covered in blood who was left hanging over the twisted wreckage of a bicycle rickshaw, the Press Trust of India said.

-snip-The bombings took place as India marked the 10th anniversary of nuclear tests conducted on May 13 in Rajasthan, but it was unclear if there was any link. India has been plagued by bombings across the country in recent years and routinely points the finger at foreign-based Islamic militant groups fighting New Delhi's rule in the Himalayan state of Kashmir.

60 killed, death toll is expected to rise. It is the worst terrorist attack in India since Mumbai 2006. Following the blasts, most of the injured were taken to the Sawai Mansingh Hospital where people were reported "seen standing outside the hospital appealing to passers-by to donate blood for the injured."

About the attack:

-snip-According to the police, the first blast took place at the Manas Chowk Police Station area. The second blast was near the most famous sweet shop in the city, Lakshmi Mishtaan Bhandar that is in Johari Bazaar. The third blast took place in Tripolia Bazar where a Hanuman temple drew a large number of devotees Tuesday, while the fourth and fifth blasts were reported at Badi Choupal and Chhoti Choupal.' -snip- The mangled remains of bicycles and cars splattered with bloodstains pockmarked several of the blast sites. Those hit by the shrapnel thrown up by the blasts writhed in pain even as bystanders moved in to shift them to hospitals. A priest at the Hanuman temple said: 'At around 7.30 p.m. there was a big noise and I suddenly saw people lying in a pool of blood. I was not aware it was a bomb blast. My father was also hit by a splinter and died of injuries.' There were a few hundred people at the Hanuman temple when the blast took place since it was a Tuesday, considered auspicious among Hindus.

-snip- There is panic in the city as this is happening in the midst of the IPL (Indian Premier League) cricket frenzy. Most of the police and security forces are busy in the preparations of the IPL matches,' said Manas Kumar, an eyewitness.

In the last two years 434 people have been killed by terrorist attacks in India. No one has claimed responsibility for the Jaipur attacks. There's more about Jaipur, including a link to some wonderful photos beneath the fold. There are also more pictures of the bombing. What type of animal could wreak such destruction?





India's pink city.
A slideshow of Jaipur by Brian McMorrow.
More pictures from the bombing.
Chronology of India's major bomb attacks.

This is a good one...Ohio mosque hires Egyptian cleric

He doesn't speak English very well and will be contractually obligated to take English lessons, but hey - he understands the Koran and he recites all 114 chapters by heart. Don't worry that none of the mosque members speak "Arabic" or "Egyptian." They chose him because of his participation in "interfaith dialogue". Would it be rude to wonder how much interfaith dialogue one could have when one doesn't speak English????

You might recall that the Islamic Center of Cleveland has had "Imam turnover issues" in the past. Should this be telling us something?

Ohio's largest mosque has named an Egyptian-born cleric from Michigan as its new imam, filling a position mostly vacant for more than a year after one imam was deported and another resigned amid accusations of anti-Semitism.

Sayed Abouabdalla, 43, was announced to the congregation during Friday prayers at the 350-member Islamic Center of Cleveland in suburban Parma. -snip- The mosque struggled to find a new spiritual leader after its longtime imam, Fawaz Damra, was deported to the West Bank in January 2007. Damra was found to have
concealed ties to groups classified as terrorist organizations in his citizenship application.

A 1991 videotape showed him disparaging Jews and raising money for the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. Damra apologized and said his views had changed, but he was shunned by area interfaith leaders who once worked with him.

His successor, Egyptian-born cleric Ahmed Alzaree, was hired in September, but resigned just before his scheduled Nov. 1 start date. Several Ohio bloggers had criticized him for a 2003 sermon in which he referenced the Hadiths, a collection of Prophet Muhammad's sayings, quoting one passage that talks of Muslims killing Jews.

Abouabdalla most recently served as part-time imam at the Islamic Cultural Institute in suburban Detroit. He's scheduled to begin work in Parma on May 26.

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Sudan arrests Islamist leader

Been trying to get up to speed on what has been happening in the Sudan lately. I go away for a week and the next thing you know the Darfurian rebels are attacking Khartoum! Crazy.

Well today, the Sudanese arrested Hassan al Turabi (shown right). He is one of Osama Bin Laden's buddies and is closely affiliated with J-E-M. He is under arrest for fomenting rebellion and is suspected of aiding the Darfurian/J-E-M rebels in their Saturday attack on Khartoum when hundreds crossed the desert and invaded the suburbs of Khartoum, killing 100 people in the process.

About Mr. Harabi: He is rumored to be the man behind Omar Bashir's rise to power and was "one of the Sudanese leaders who invited Osama Bin Laden to Khartoum in the mid 1990's."

About the rebels: 200 have been captured and claim to have been trained in neighboring Chad. Sudan broke off relations with Chad on Sunday, charging them with sponsoring the attack. It is important to note that this attack might have been retribution for the rebels February attack on Chad's presidential palace. Sudanese forces were believed to have taken part in that attack so it looked like time for a little Islamic payback from the Chadians.

The urge to make hanging chad jokes is very strong... but it appears the joke's on me. This just in...Sudan's Islamist leader released.

He appears not to have been charged with anything.

.....

Excuse me??

Read how Hezbollah's recent attack on the Lebanese government is being played out in Syria. It boggles the mind.

Hezbollah foils US coup bid in Lebanon

Syrian official daily Al-Baath on Sunday said Hezbollah had foiled a US-planned coup to seize control of Lebanon during the deadly gunbattles which rocked the country. "The Americans launched a pre-emptive strike against opposition nationalist forces, starting with the (Hezbollah) resistance, and attempted a Washington-planned coup but were taken aback by the opposition, which restored order in Lebanon," the paper said.

The Lebanese opposition aimed to "remove foreign interference and stop the plots to transform Lebanon... into an Israeli protectorate and new focal point of US links in the region," the ruling party's paper added.

The clashes between supporters of the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, saw opposition forces seize control of west Beirut on Friday before they withdrew on Saturday.

Gunfights were initially focused in the capital but on Sunday spread to the northern city of Tripoli as the opposition handed control of west Beirut back to the army. The fighting was sparked by a government announcement of an investigation into a communications network set up by Hezbollah and its decision to reassign the head of Beirut airport security.

"The recent events in Lebanon showed that the coup (attempt) carried out by the Americans and their men in Lebanon backfired," Al-Baath added.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Saturday that he was opposed to the "internationalisation" of the Lebanon crisis after earlier reaffirming the conflict was an "internal matter."

Lebanon's parliamentary majority accuse Syria, a long-time dominant force in Lebanon, and Iran of blocking all solutions to the political crisis, which has left the country without a president since November.

The opposition in turn accuses Washington and Paris of meddling in Lebanese affairs.

Unh-huh.

.....

Random Jihad from Pakistan and Afghanistan

They're still fighting like Moslems in Pakistan and using their time honored Islamic tactics of blowing up colleges, kidnapping innocent civilians and then hiding out in a school when troops came after them. And they wonder why we question their Religion of Peace moniker...

Army deployed tanks in Darra Adamkhel after security forces clashed with militants on Sunday while the road between Kohat and Peshawar has been blocked. Sources said two non-combatants were wounded in an exchange of fire and they were taken to Peshawar. Fighting was continuing till late in the evening.Local people said that the tanks moved in at about noon after militants attacked soldiers checking vehicles near the Friendship Tunnel on the Indus Highway. They said that the soldiers returned fire and the militants took refuge in a private school in the Shagiwal locality of the Darra town. The troops surrounded the school and tanks pounded its building.Militants had earlier blown up a college building in the area and kidnapped two people three days ago from the Indus Highway.


Officials said that the militants were believed to be hiding in the basement of the school building. They said they were not sure about the number of militants there. A curfew was imposed in several localities of Darra.


Nine Taliban bodies arrive in Wana Pakistan...they were killed by US forces in AFGHANISTAN. I wonder what they were doing there???


Key al Qaeda figure killed in AFGHANISTAN... Abu Suleiman al Otaibi, formerly one of the Al Qaeda leaders in Iraq, was killed in a “fierce battle with the worshipers of the cross” in Paktia it said, without giving the date of the battle. Another Al Qaeda member, identified as Abu Dejana al-Qahtani, also died in the fighting, it added.

Geez, and it just wouldn't be a post about the Religion of Peace's peaceful inner jihad without your miscellaneous kidnapping or terror attack stories, now would it? Here's a smattering: Ex-minister's sons kidnapped. 3 kidnappers arrested, body recovered. Terrorist bridge attack foiled in Sui, Quetta.

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Sharif's party pulls out of Pakistan govt.

Here we go again... Financial markets are reacting to the announcement that resignations will be submitted tomorrow. Will a new election be called? Will Musharraf be the ultimate beneficiary of Sharif's taking his marbles and going home? Hey, I hope so.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif pulled his party out of Pakistan's six-week-old coalition government on Monday, plunging the volatile Muslim nation back into political uncertainty. Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) was the second-largest member of a four party alliance, made the announcement after failing to break a deadlock with its main coalition partner over the reinstatement of dismissed judges.

Sharif made the restoration of 60 judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf in November the main condition for joining the coalition led by the party of Asif Ali Zardari, the widower and political successor of the late Benazir Bhutto.

Three days of talks in London between Sharif and Zardari, whose Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leads the coalition, ended on Sunday without any breakthrough.

"Our ministers will meet the prime minister tomorrow and will submit their resignations," Sharif told a news conference.

Nine of the 24 ministers in Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's cabinet belong to the PML-N, including Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. Sharif said his party would continue to support the PPP government despite quitting the cabinet.

"For the time being, we'll not sit in opposition."

There had been high hopes that the alliance between the two main political forces would assert civilian rule in a country that has been led by generals, like Musharraf, for more than half the time since it was founded in 1947.

Western allies in the war on terrorism dread nuclear-armed Pakistan sliding into a prolonged period of political instability.

If the PML-N were to withdraw support completely, analysts say the PPP could end up inviting Musharraf's allies to join the coalition, or call for another election.

The split in the coalition, analysts say, would be welcomed by U.S. ally Musharraf, who came to power in a 1999 coup and only quit as army chief last November. The humiliating loss of parliamentary support in February polls had left him isolated.

Sharif, who was overthrown by Musharraf, wants the judges brought back as part of a strategy to drive his usurper from office.

"We will not be part of any movement which strengthens a dictator and destabilizes the democratic process. We'll not destabilize the democratic process," he said.

Zardari and Sharif signed a pact in March promising to restore the judges by April 30 but Sharif extended the deadline until May 12 because of Zardari's foot-dragging.

Musharraf purged the judiciary during a brief period of emergency rule as he feared the Supreme Court could rule unlawful his re-election by the outgoing parliament in October.

The case against Musharraf could be revived if the judges are brought back, but Zardari is wary of confronting the president.

The uncertainty has taken its toll on financial markets already alarmed by Pakistan's widening trade and fiscal deficits, and an annual inflation rate that leapt to 17.2 percent in April.

The Pakistani rupee fell to all-time lows of 69.40/60 to the dollar on Friday.

It closed at 68.00/69.00 on Monday, after a fragile recovery faltered and it slid from an open around 67.00.

Karachi Stock Exchange's 100-share index fell 5 percent last week, but rose 0.41 percent to end at 14,286.61 points on Monday.



And here is the rest of it.

It's coming...

Our friend mk over at MK's Views asks the question...

Will you be ready?

.....

Litigation Jihad cont'd.

Eager to vote, Moslems file stack of lawsuits over citizenship delays.

The article cites a Palestinian who has lived in the US for 17 years, but who didn't get around to applying for citizenship until 2006 for some reason. He has a wife and son living in Palestine and now he's complaining that he won't be able to vote for Barack Obama if his citizenship isn't approved. His suit is sponsored by the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami and yes, CAIR is in the woodpile.

Shadi Odeh has lived 17 of his 31 years in the United States.

He is a Palestinian, transplanted at age 14 to Texas, where he was a boisterous Dallas Cowboys fan. In 1999 he moved to South Florida, where he embraced basketball's Miami Heat, which he watches on a wide-screen TV, eating chicken wings and Italian food. His favorite TV show is The Simpsons.

Odeh says he has become an American in every way but one: He has so far been denied citizenship and the right to vote. He very much wants to vote in November - for a Democrat.

You can read more of Shadi's sob story below the fold, but here's a little fact to keep in mind before you do. From the article Lawsuit loosens citizenship backlog.

Ana Santiago, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, said that as of March, the agency had 72,000 name checks pending with the FBI in which the applicant has waited more than six months.

That's less than 5 percent of the 1.5 million annual total.

But that's still not good enough for our Moslem friends.

"Barack Obama is a very good candidate, but it is also time to have a woman president," he says. "I would vote for one of those two."

The question is whether he will be able to register. Odeh passed his naturalization exam and citizenship interviews in 2006, but FBI name checks have delayed his swearing-in for more than two years.

Those checks, instituted after the Sept. 11 attacks, involve comparing an applicant's name with names in FBI criminal and intelligence files to see whether the person is a security threat. Even if an applicant's name matches only an acquaintance of a suspect or a witness to an event, approval can be delayed.

Those FBI procedures come on top of security checks performed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which grants or denies citizenship.

The process can take time, too much time for some would-be citizens, especially in an election year.

Odeh is one of six South Florida Muslims who in December sued the federal government, charging that their citizenship applications have been delayed "unreasonably and unlawfully" by name checks. Federal statutes, they insist, require the government to render a decision within 120 days of the interviews.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Osama Qasmieh, a Royal Palm Beach engineer originally from Jordan who has not been outside the U.S. in 20 years. His application has been delayed six years.

They also include another Jordanian, Belle Glade resident Mohammed Abdeen. A relative petitioned 20 years ago for him to be allowed into the U.S., and Abdeen arrived seven years ago. He passed his exam two years ago.

The lawsuit and another brought by five other South Florida Muslims last year are part of an avalanche of suits across the country.

"Hundreds of thousands of people nationally have been delayed," says Tania Galloni, an attorney for the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami. "In New York, it's Russians. In California, it's Chinese. In Florida, we have seen a disproportionate number of Muslims affected."

Being denied the right to vote is one way the plaintiffs say they have been damaged.

The delays could affect the November elections, says Altaf Ali, executive director of the South Florida Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

He says there are about 200,000 Muslims in Florida, and among those eligible to vote, turnout is traditionally high.

"This year a lot of people in our community are very interested in Barack Obama being the next president," Ali said. "I myself am a Republican, but I won't vote Republican this year." He's backing Obama.

The lawsuits have brought a response from the government. Last month it issued a statement saying extra personnel had been assigned to name checks and backlogged citizenship applications.

"The goal is to complete 98 percent of all name checks within 30 days," the statement said. Citizenship and Immigration Services "and the FBI intend to resolve the remaining 2 percent, which represent the most difficult name checks ... within 90 days or less."

The statement said 29,800 cases that have been pending two years or more would receive priority. Those cases include Odeh, Qasmieh and Abdeen.

The statement also said all cases of people waiting for more than four years had been resolved recently. But Galloni says that is not true of Qasmieh, who has been waiting six years.

FBI spokesman Bill Carter says that he has no explanation for the Qasmieh case but that about 300 FBI workers and outside contractors are doing name checks. The most time-consuming cases involve common names.

"If your name is Mohammed, that's probably going to take more time," Carter says. "It's like having the name John Smith."

Carter says the important thing is to reach "accurate and thorough results" regarding possible threats to the nation.

He says about 1 percent of people investigated are given a "negative" report. That report goes to Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is likely to deny those citizenship requests.

"But we are also very sensitive to the impact that the delays have on individuals," Carter says.

Odeh, who married while on a 2006 trip to the Palestinian territories and has a 1-year-old son there, hopes his case is resolved so he can start the process of bringing his wife and child to the U.S.

"Any person who loves this country the way I do understands the need for security," Odeh says. "But I've never committed a crime or threatened anyone or was involved with anyone who did. I wish they would just figure this all out."

Well, I'm back...

What a week. It took us til 1am Friday morning, but we finally got the book done and off to blurb.com. It was a close call. Not only did Blurb keep crashing on us, there were other technical glitches that gave us fits and worked our last nerve right up to the very end. Phew.

Blurb turns out a great product but it still has a way to go to make it something you can count on for deadline sensitive material. It's great for things like publishing the family photo album or your dad's cookbook, but just realize you're playing with fire when it comes to the senior project and plan accordingly.

Don't cry for me Argentina, though. It wasn't all work and no play. My mentee did have to go to school during the day so I did have a chance to catch up with some of my friends and neighbors. I ate good, too. Ha-ha.

One day, I borrowed my friend's 2008 Jaguar XKR and took it for a spin to go to lunch in Skippack. (You know he's a good friend when he lets you borrow his Jag!) The top was down, the weather was beautiful and my best galpal (the one who's been fighting leukemia for the last three years) was my co-pilot. We had lunch at Brasserie 73 and it will be a day I remember for the rest of my life - it was that perfect.

And if you're ever in the Philadelphia area and find yourself looking for some wonderful haute cuisine Mexican, try La Cava. BYOB, possums! (You can bet your sweet bippy I was ready for an adult beverage after a long day editing text and massaging software with a teenage lunker!)

The trip back east also gave me a chance to scratch my South Indian itch with a visit to the Uduppi Dosa House. Mmm. I enjoyed samosa and uttapam and washed them down with Mango lassi and hot, spicy Masala tea for desert. It was quite good. Longtime DL readers know that I heart South Indian cuisine almost as much as I heart John Bolton. It was a special treat given that good South Indian is thin on the ground out here in Denver. Ha-ha.

And I was thinking of GW over at Wolf Howling that afternoon when my protegee's mother and I ordered the 13 (!) sample microbrew flight over at Iron Hill Brewery. It wasn't mead, GW but we did manage to sample it all. (We'd both about had it with the lunker AND the software by then.)

Needless to say, it's great to be back fighting the Islamic Jihad with you all. So let's get to it!

.....

Somalia: Thousands protest killing of al Qaeda leader

Accuse US of using poison bombs. One hopes their penises aren't shrinking again as a result.

Thousands of Somalis took to the streets Sunday to protest a US bombing that killed a man said to be Al-Qaeda's chief in the country, and 11 other people, organisers and residents said.

The protest took place at Dhusamareb, a trading post of about 100,000 people, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, where Thursday's attack took place.

Abdirasak Moalim Ahmed, one of the organisers of the protest, said that in the days since the attack, people had been vomiting. "We believe the Americans used poisonous bombs," he said.

*****

Pakistan: Promotion of Virtue, Suppression of Vice.

Absolute Sharia.

There may not be any compulsion in Islam but there sure is force. Attend prayers...or else. Grow a beard of the appropriate length ...or else.

Asked why he was using force to enforce Shariah law in Bar Kambarkhel, Haji Namdar responded, but only when after switching off the Daily Times tape-recorder. His answer, therefore, remains unrecorded.

Taxi driver Muhammad Zarin is making it a habit to go to bed early so that he can wake up early in the morning. He is not developing the habit so that he can go for early morning walks; he is compelled to wake up early so that he can register his ‘presence’ at Fajr prayers. Being absent will render him liable for punishment from the Amal Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munker (Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice) organisation in Khyber Agency’s Bar Kambarkhel area.

The organisation led by Haji Namdar has put attendance registers in all mosques in the area. Anyone who is absent during Fajr (early morning) and Isha (late evening) prayers is fined or imprisoned.“If you are marked absent at these two prayers you will pay a Rs 100 fine for each prayer missed. I cannot afford to be fined as I make a few hundred rupees a day, to feed my seven-member family,” Zarin told Daily Times during the drive to Haji Namdar’s headquarters last week.

The prayer leaders of all the mosques must report absentees to the organisation’s council of elders, which then decides on whether to fine or imprison them. Asked about the ‘stringent measures’ the organisation was practicing to Islamise the area, Munsif Ali Khan, the organisation’s spokesman, told Daily Times: “The punishment is hardly awarded. Yes, what we try to do is to influence the young men to grow a beard.” To a follow-up question on what methods they use to ‘influence’ young men to grow beards, he responded: “To make him spend a night in [a private] prison or with a Rs 100 fine.”

This is another decision taken by the organisation for local residents which is hitting the youth particularly hard, since many of them would prefer to remain clean-shaved. Nevertheless, every local male must grow a beard as there is no place for beardless men in Bar Kambarkhel. “I have to grow a beard if I want to live here,” said a young student, whose beard has just appeared across his face. “It makes no difference whether you like or dislike growing a beard. You have to go by the organisation’s decision,” the student told Daily Times, requesting that his name not be divulged.

Even trimmed beards will no longer do.

The organisation has set new standards for what constitutes an acceptable beard. “I heard trimmed beards are no longer allowed as your beard must meet Islamic standards,” said the 16-year-old student.

The federal minister for environment, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, hails from the Bar Kambarkhel area, where Amal Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munker holds sway. According to the organisation, the clean-shaven minister is not ‘allowed’ to visit his home village without appropriate facial hair.“From the organisation’s viewpoint, he [the minister] is not allowed to come to Bar Kambarkhel without a beard,” Khan told Daily Times.

How seriously the organisation takes the beard, a clean-shaven Daily Times Peshawar bureau chief soon found out. A council of elders pointed at him and one of them shouted out: “[It would be] better if you used a wig to visit our area instead of being clean-shaven.”

The organisation’s influence appears to be spreading across the Bar Kambarkhel area. Residents from across the area approach the Amal Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munker council of elders to redress their grievances. The council gives applicants the option to have their cases decided through rawaj (tribal traditions) or Shariah law. Asked why he was using force to enforce Shariah law in Bar Kambarkhel, Haji Namdar responded, but only when after switching off the Daily Times tape-recorder. His answer, therefore, remains unrecorded.

Gee, what a surprise. Taliban resume attacks.

That didn't take long. Those peace talks sure were fruitful, weren't they?

An army official was injured when the Baitullah Mehsud-led local Taliban launched their first attack on the army after peace talks in South Waziristan failed, BBC Urdu reported on Monday. Security forces shelled various suspected positions in the Jandola and Manzai areas after the attack. However, no causalities were reported. According to the local administration, the Taliban attacked a Baloch Regiment patrolling team in the Sankai Raghzai area at about 12pm on Monday. An army official was seriously injured as a result. He was taken to the Jandola Scouts Hospital. According to the BBC, there were also reports of people fleeing certain parts of South Waziristan after the attack.

*****

Hamid Karzai attack an inside job???

Looks like it. (Although there's also an al Qaeda in the woodpile. Three of them to be exact and they are counting their 72 raisins as we speak.)

Afghanistan’s defense minister confirmed Sunday that a police captain was connected with the group behind the assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai a week earlier and that an army officer supplied the weapons and ammunition used in the attack.

Both men have been arrested and are under investigation for their suspected role in the attack on the military parade, which killed three people, including a member of Parliament, and wounded 11. One of the suspects may have been a sympathizer, and the other was probably motivated by money, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said.

Afghanistan’s intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, blamed Al Qaeda for the attack. He said three of the men involved were in contact with people outside Afghanistan, including people in Miram Shah, a town in Pakistan’s tribal region of North Waziristan, the main base for Taliban and Al Qaeda in the region.

The three, who were killed in a house raid Wednesday, include an Afghan named Homayoun, suspected of directing an attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul in January, and two foreigners who were planning suicide bombings in the city.

“That was the angle of Al Qaeda involvement,” the intelligence chief said. “It is very clear to us.”

.....

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Still recovering from my 10 days of houseguests and feeling lazy in advance of my week in Philadelphia so here are some quality links from a few of my friends:

Marked Manner has this intriguing bit out of New Mexico, of all places: FBI Nabs 10 illegals from "certain countries associated with security concerns" They were using fraudulent documents to obtain driver's licenses. (Those certain countries turned out to be Brazil and Kazakhstan and the full story can be found here. )

This is the definition of insanity. I saw this post at Jawa about the trial of a Yemeni journalist for terror while the USS Cole bombers remain free as birds and immediately wondered what Terrorism: Politicians and Victims thought about it. Read it here. Be sure to check out the comments on this one and add your two cents.

Anything happening in Africa (where all the AQ scumbags are going to end up eventually) always interests me and Report on Arrakis has some vid of al-Shahaab terrorists training and fighting. File this under Know your enemy, possums. Speaking of Africa, MK over at MK's Views presents Slavery in the Muslim World, a 3 part discussion with former Sudanese slave and Human Rights Activist, Simon Deng that is well worth your time. (Part 1 is labeled as Part 2 - but you'll figure it out.)

Over at Wolf Howling, Iran is the topic of the day with Iran and Lessons in Diplomacy, The Mahdi Army Through an Iraqi lens and Iran in the Crosshairs. All excellent reads.

Think you've heard it all about Rev Jeremiah Wright? Typical White Person has the story on his being a homewrecker. Honest.

Congratulations are also in order to the following Posse Members:

GW over at Wolf Howling upon achieving a big blog milestone...

USpace at Hard to Swallow upon the publication of his book Absurd Thoughts About God

Aurora over at the Midnight Sun for being named the poster child of white American conservative traditions by a dirty keffiyeh wearing lefty.

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I'm liking Big Brown today.

The Kentucky Derby is still on my to-do list.

About Big Brown.

Update: Big Brown wins by five lengths. Runner-up Eight Belles (Hillary's pick) broke down and was euthanized right on the track.

Such a shame.

She shouldn't have even been in the field.

This just in from Guam...

With most precincts reporting, Barack holds a slim lead over Hillary.

Washington - Senator Barack Obama had a narrow lead over rival Hillary Clinton as Democratic caucus results came in from the tiny, US territory of Guam on Saturday.

With 79 per cent of precincts reporting, Obama had received 53 per cent of the vote to Clinton's 47 per cent, with fewer than 200 votes between the candidates, who are locked in a tight contest to secure their party's presidential nomination that has brought the unlikely political spotlight to the Pacific island.

*****

Oh Possums...

"A man works from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done."

The houseguests were put on a plane last night (heaving a big sigh of relief here) and the Lord and Master returns from his overseas trip this evening.

Today will be spent restoring Rancho El Lordo to it's former luster and shine, doing laundry, and bathing the Kafir K-9 Brigade (who reek of beef stew).

After all that it will be time to fire up the Possum-mobile and head into town to restock the larder. I like to have a a tasty dinner ready for my corporate warrior when he returns home from his boardroom battles.

I miss you all! Doing a quick driveby of your excellent sites each morning just isn't enough! ..... Check out the sidebar. There are exciting new posse members on board!

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Club Gitmo News and Notes.

Just when we read that Sami al Hajj, (shown on a stretcher at Khartoum Airport - screen right) the 'al Jazeera' cameraman suffering "health problems after his prolonged hunger strike" is being released from Gitmo, we also learn that a recent Gitmo graduate has been killed in a suicide bombing - and he was the one wearing the bomb vest. What a surprise. /sarc

Abdullah had been missing for two weeks and his family learned he left Kuwait illegally for Syria, he said. Abdullah had sent messages to his wife from Iraq. Abdullah, 30, had a son after he was released from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the United States holds suspected terrorists, Salem said.There were no indications Abdullah had any plans to join insurgents in Iraq although he became less sociable (hah!) in the period before he disappeared, he said.

Here's hoping Sami al Hajj gets better real quick so he can strap on a belt and follow in his buddy Abdullah's footsteps.

.....

Britain says no to Omar Bin Laden residency

Appeals planned.

Residency "would not be conducive to the public good." Osama bin Laden's son Omar is to appeal after his application to move to Britain with his British wife was rejected because his presence might cause "considerable public concern," his wife said on Thursday.


Omar bin Laden, 27, married Zaina Alsabah, 52, formerly known as Jane Felix-Browne, in Omar's homeland of Saudi Arabia last year and the couple had hoped to move to Britain to be near the rest of Zaina's family. But the Entry Clearance Officer at the British embassy in Cairo turned down his application to move to Britain because of "continuing loyalty to your father who is ultimately held responsible for the London bombing in July 2005."

The immigration officer said the decision was made because of "statements (Omar) made in recent media interviews," but the couple denounced the fact that the decision had been made on "evidence obtained from newspaper articles."

Zaina told AFP by telephone that she had "no idea" what articles were referred to and that the embassy's rejection was the first time her husband had heard of the July 7, 2005 attacks in which four bombers and 52 others died. (editor's note: wtf?) "He's lived a very reclusive life in Saudi Arabia -- he didn't want to know what was going on because it was too traumatic," Zaina said.

"He didn't even know about 7/7. He said 'Now I know about it of course I'm sorry.' It's not Omar's fault. There are obvious reasons he won't say his father, or anyone else, is a terrorist."

UK-based lawyer Amjad Malik released the embassy's assessment which said his "exclusion from the United Kingdom is conducive to the public good." The British embassy told AFP it did not comment on individual visa applications.

"Omar is a good man -- he's fighting for peace," Zaina said. "He's always condemned bombings and the killing of civilians, no matter where they're from."

Lawyer Malik said in a statement that "an individual's rights have been overridden by newspaper articles and his biological relationship to his father... this refusal is discriminatory because he has no control over choosing his parents."

The couple have "full faith in British courts that justice will be done and they are engaging a British law firm to proceed with their appeal," the statement said. Omar said in an interview with CNN earlier this year that he had not spoken to his father since 2000, when he left an Al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.

He said of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that "I don't think 9/11 was right personally, but it happened."


The fourth of 11 children from his father's first wife and one of reportedly 19 fathered by the world's most wanted man, he said he and his wife were organising a horse race across North Africa to promote peace.

.....

Somali Islamist (read al Qaeda) killed in airstrike

al-Shabab leader goes al-kaboom. We tried to get him earlier but missed. Not this time. This is great news.

Trained in pre 9/11 Afghanistan with al Qaeda, murderer of foreign aid workers and the prince of a guy who promised to behead Ethiopian children, well, it looks like Aden Hashi Ayro won't be down for breakfast.

An airstrike in central Somalia has killed the military commander of an Islamist militant group with ties to al-Qaida. A spokesman for the Islamist group al-Shabab told reporters the pre-dawn strike in the town of Dusamareb killed Aden Hashi Ayro and another senior leader. Witnesses said U.S. planes carried out the strike and that at least eight other people were killed.

The U.S. military said it launched an attack against an al-Qaida target in Somalia but did not give any details. The U.S. has carried out several airstrikes against suspected terrorists in Somalia over the past year.

In March, the U.S. State Department designated Somalia's al-Shabab as a terrorist organization.
The group is considered the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union that briefly controlled much of southern Somalia in 2006.