Elephants Kill Eight In India; Sri Lankans Bomb Tamil Tigers; Bears Regroup In Kashmir

Maybe I've been covering the bogus GWOT for too long without enough sleep, but all these stories seem to share a common -- if symbolic -- thread.

From India, via Javno:

Rogue Elephants Shot After Killing Eight In India

Two elephants were shot dead after they went on the rampage killing eight people in northeast India, forest officials said on Thursday.

The elephants, used for moving logs in the timber industry, ran amok on Wednesday in Cachar district in Assam state, stampeding through villages and destroying dozens of bamboo and straw houses before police shot them.

Eight villagers were killed and nine injured.

"The elephants destroyed whatever came in their way. They trampled human beings, or flung them away," said Gautum Das, a local villager.

Elephants are a protected and endangered species in India, which has nearly half of the world's 60,000 Asian elephants.

Conservationists say elephant populations have fallen rapidly in recent years because of loss of habitat as a result of human encroachment into forest areas.

From Sri Lanka, via the International Herald Tribune:

Sri Lankan warplanes bomb Tamil rebel positions in north, says military

Sri Lankan fighter jets pounded Tamil Tiger rebel positions in the northern part of the country Thursday afternoon, the military said.

Air force planes launched two airstrikes on two separate targets in the rebel-held Mullaitivu district, said an officer at the Defense Ministry's media center.

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said details of casualties and damage were not immediately available.

A spokesman for the Tigers was not immediately available to comment.

Earlier this month, the government celebrated the recapture of the east from the rebels. The Tamil rebels still control a virtual state in the north.

Tamil rebels have waged a separatist war against the state since 1983 to create an independent homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils who have suffered decades of discrimination from majority Sinhalese-controlled governments.

More than 70,000 people have died in the more than two decades of fighting.

The violence has worsened in the last 20 months, despite a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire.

And from Kashmir, Reuters via Gulf News dot com:

Bears regroup amid Kashmir insurgency

The number of endangered Asiatic black bears in Kashmir has increasedbetween 30 and 60 per cent ever since the violent separatist movement took effect in 1989, wildlife officials said.

An increased security presence in the Himalayan forests to root out the militants, as well as a ban on hunting, has helped curb poaching and allowed the population of bears to rebound significantly from between 800 to 900 in 1990.

Officials say poachers - who hunt the mammals for their fur, their paws (used as food) and gall bladder (used in traditional Oriental medicine) - have stayed away from the pine and conifer forests for fear of the insurgency.

"For fear of being caught by the security forces, the militants or in an exchange of fire between the two, no one dares to go deep into the forests since the militancy started," said Abdul Rauf Zargar, the state's wildlife warden.
...

Leopards - also an endangered species in India - have similarly increased, said officials, but did not give details.

Pakistani Mosque Siege Goes From Standoff To Crisis, But Negotiated Settlement May Still Be Possible

It's been a horrible week for friends and family of the students still inside the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), besieged in the heart of Islamabad in a standoff that may be turning into a hostage crisis. (Or maybe it was always a hostage crisis, but this fact is only now becoming readily apparent.) In any case, the stress is starting to tell, as Dawn's Qudssia Akhlaque reports:

Despair grips capital as stand-off turns into crisis

ISLAMABAD, July 7: Among the parents of numerous students trapped inside the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa a deep sense of despair and desperation prevailed on the fifth day of the standoff. By all indications the operation was fast turning into a hostage crisis.

Dozens of flashing ambulances, fire brigades and ‘rescue services’ vans parked on both sides of the heavily guarded streets close to the Lal Masjid, were a constant reminder of the worst case scenario. The security forces comprising the Rangers, army and police were deployed in full strength turning the capital’s otherwise peaceful Sector G-6 into a virtual war zone.

Pain, nervousness and fatigue was written on the faces of their parents and relatives who had travelled long distances to the capital after receiving SOS calls from their dear ones wanting exit from the seminary. On Saturday they looked emotionally and physically drained. The common refrain was that their children were hungry, thirsty and scared but were not allowed to leave.
...

Meanwhile, the general fear is that the standoff may end in a bloody rescue operation in which many innocent lives are bound to be lost. But the government and security forces are clear that it be conducted as the last option.
...

The July 3 episode that began as an operation against the weaponised men of Lal Masjid is now beginning to acquire the colour of a humanitarian crisis testing the nerves and political acumen of the government.

Other accounts have been somewhat confusing, with the Daily Times reporting:

Journalists barred from Lal Masjid

ISLAMABAD: Lal Masjid deputy chief cleric Abdul Rasheed Ghazi invited reporters to a press conference in Lal Masjid on Sunday, but security forces refused entry to journalists and later, ARY Television reported, entered the Rawalpindi-Islamabad press club and harassed the journalists there.

Ghazi had invited journalists for a press conference, pledging safe passage, but security forces believed it was a tactic to gain more hostages and thus did not allow reporters to enter the mosque. Ghazi was offered a telephonic press conference instead.

Security personnel on Sunday evening accused journalists of violating curfew and told them they had been ordered to oust journalists from the danger zone, but an army major said it had been a misunderstanding, adding there were no orders to stop media coverage, the channel reported.

Just a misunderstanding? Who can tell? More on this possibility later.

Meanwhile, on another front, according to the Daily Times, the resistance inside the mosque is now being led by major terrorists:

‘Eight top terrorists inside Lal Masjid’

ISLAMABAD: Eight “high value terrorists” wanted by Pakistan and other countries are holed up inside Lal Masjid, while another was killed by security forces in the ongoing operation, Religious Affairs Minister Ejaz ul Haq said on Sunday.

“Nine suspected terrorists said to be far more dangerous and harmful than Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives were hiding inside the mosque compound,” Haq told a press conference here. He refused to reveal the identities of these militants.

He said that security forces killed one of these suspected terrorists inside Lal Masjid on the second day of the ongoing operation. He was the mastermind of the failed suicide attack on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Attock in 2005, he said.

Haq said that the militants and not Abdul Rashid Ghazi, Lal Masjid’s deputy chief cleric, were controlling the mosque. “The militants are holding children and Ghazi hostage,” he said.
...

AFP adds: The hardcore militants inside include two commanders from the banned Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami, security officials said.

“We believe there are militants from Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami, which was involved in the [Daniel] Pearl murder. Based on intelligence we suspect that two commanders from the group are in there,” one senior official told AFP. “They have taken control and they are putting up fierce resistance.” The information was based on “intercepts” and other intelligence, the officials said.

A source inside the mosque said there was a “lot of tension among the various groups inside the compound on how to conduct the fight”.

Is this true? If so, why are they publicizing it now? And whether it's true or not, is it an attempt to establish some "political cover"?

Why would they do that? Hmmm.

China's Xinhua (and others), citing Pakistani television, reported that President General Musharraf had given the order for a "final operation", but the report was quickly denied.

Was this the short flight of a trial balloon?

Musharraf OKs final operation against Lal Masjid militants

ISLAMABAD, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf gave the go ahead decision for the final operation against defiant Lal Masjid militants on Sunday night, a private TV channel DAWN NEWS reported Sunday.

The decision was made at a top-level meeting, DAWN NEWS said.

Journalists who were rendered freedom to make their presence near the Lal Masjid have been expelled from the site. The security forces have started a search operation in the curfew areas, according to DAWN NEWS.

The President also announced that the government would not provide a safe passage for Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the deputy chief of the mosque who is leading the resistance.

Minister for Religious Affairs Ijaz ul Haq said Sunday hardcore terrorists involved in various national and international terrorists acts have taken control of the mosque and they are bullying the children and women in the mosque with death threats, a private TV channel Geo reported.

A senior religious leader on Sunday warned that suicide attacks could prevail in the country if the government demolish the girl seminary "Jamia Hafsa," a building in the Lal Masjid compound where many girl students were taken hostages.

And was it all just a big misunderstanding with Dawn TV, or did they take that balloon down as soon as word of it got out?

In any case, according to the Daily Times, the State Information Minister is singing a very different tune:

‘No full-scale operation approved’

LAHORE: State Information Minister Tariq Azim denied media reports that President Musharraf had approved a final operation against Lal Masjid, reported Geo news.

Briefing the media on Sunday, Azim said that the government would not compromise with Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi and the time for negotiations had passed. He said that Ghazi would have to decide his own fate.

“It depends on Ghazi whether he prefers to surrender or gets killed,” Azim said.

ISPR Director General Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said he had no information regarding a final offensive against Lal Masjid, though he did not deny it either.

President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz discussed the Lal Masjid operation via telephone. Aziz discussed the strategy against the Lal Masjid administration. Musharraf reiterated the government wanted minimum loss of life.

At the Dawn [daily paper] website, there's nary a mention of any "final operation". Ahmed Hassan typifies the tone there:

Siege to continue till hostages freed: PM

ISLAMABAD, July 7: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that the siege of the Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa complex will continue till the children made hostage by the militants are freed.
...

Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem Khan said the government’s decision to continue with the status quo was based on its concern for human lives. He brushed aside assertions that the final showdown had been delayed to overshadow the opposition’s Multi-Party Conference in London.

In reply to a question, he said the government was determined to ensure that the operation was not initiated as long as a single child or female student remained hostage.
...

Prime Minister Aziz said: “The government wants to resolve the issue promptly but with minimum loss of life.” He said the operation was delayed to protect lives of women and children who had been made hostage by extremists.

The Prime Minister expressed concern over reports that women and children had been detained and made hostage by the extremists inside Jamia Hafsa.

He said the government would facilitate the release and return of hostages and every possible step would be taken to facilitate the parents.
...

He said the extremists inside Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa were only serving the cause of those who want to spoil the image of Islam.

Who might want to spoil the image of Islam? Any false flag possibilities come to mind? Hmmm.

India's NDTV says a change of government tactics may be in the cards, but doesn't claim to know anything specific:

Lal Masjid: Pak govt may change strategy

Islamabad: Monday, July 9, 2007 -- Intelligence officials in Pakistan have been quoted as saying that hardcore militants with suicide jackets and armed with a host of weapons, including rocket launchers have taken position in the Lal Masjid.

Pakistan's Deputy Information Minister told agencies that the government may rethink its strategy for dealing with the week-long siege of Lal Masjid after a top Army commando was killed by gunmen on Sunday.
...

The mosque's deputy leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, has said he and his followers would commit suicide rather than surrender.

Water and power to the mosque have been cut off in the mosque for several days now and food is said to be getting scarce.

How scarce? Some reports indicate they have enough food inside the mosque to last for a month. What if this crisis drags on for a month? That would turn plenty of attention away from the the Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry story, wouldn't it?

And is this timing just a bit too convenient? Not according to James Rupert at Newsday, who says:

Pakistanis see a conspiracy in siege

It seems a simple drama: the moderate President Pervez Musharraf sending troops to shut down the radical mosque that has brought violence to Pakistan's capital.

But Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, has championed Islamic jihadism for years with support and tolerance from the army now besieging it, say Pakistani scholars and analysts. At the least, they say, the crisis is "blowback" from years of discreet support by military intelligence agencies for Lal Masjid's militants.

Many Pakistanis go farther, saying the drama is largely staged by "the agencies," as they are called here. Suggesting just that, Najam Sethi, one of the country's most distinguished journalists, wrote in the weekly Friday Times that "it is curious that the Lal Masjid affair has hogged the media precisely when [a] more substantive national issue" -- Musharraf's attempt to oust the country's chief justice and manipulate the Supreme Court -- has been hurting him politically.

Such conspiracy theories get serious consideration here because the military has made a habit of political manipulation.

That's not all James Rupert has to say; the remainder of his column is well worth reading. Here are a few more choice cuts:

The military has used jihad, or Islamic holy war, as a foreign policy weapon [...] Through its vast intelligence agencies, the military has quietly backed mosques, madrassas (religious schools), religious charities and guerrilla groups that promoted such "jihads."

For years, Pakistanis have widely understood and applauded the military's support for jihadists in Kashmir and Afghanistan. More controversial is agencies such as Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) using their militant networks to manipulate domestic politics.

ISI and the other agencies got into the jihad business in a big way in the 1980s under the authoritarian Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq. They managed the massive, CIA-funded program to train and arm the Afghan mujahideen fighting Soviet occupation. And they spawned violent groups among Pakistan's majority Sunni sect to attack the newly assertive Shia minority.

Lal Masjid, founded by a mullah named Muhammad Abdullah, was a strong supporter of those government-favored "jihads," preaching on their behalf and helping them recruit fighters.
...

The intelligence agencies have been confident they would always be able to control the radical institutions they have built, say Haqqani, Abbas and others. But when the army's policies demanded restraint, the agencies have had trouble reining in the radicals.

This has bedeviled President Musharraf since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Pushed by the United States to clamp down on al-Qaida and other militant Islamic groups, Musharraf has had his army slash its longtime support for jihadist guerrillas and religious leaders.
...

But militants fired by a holy, eternal cause don't surrender it willingly to the momentary political needs of a government.

Militant or not, holy or not, nobody with an eternal cause surrenders willingly to momentary needs of anybody or anything.

So I really don't expect a peaceful settlement, or a lasting one.

There's more on the government conspiracy angle at The News:

Ulema demand body to probe mosque issue

LAHORE: Religious leaders on Saturday cast serious doubts over the arrest of Maulana Abdul Aziz in Burqa, terming it a "drama" like the televised arrest of late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from a ditch.

Briefing the media after a meeting of religious scholars and Madaris representatives of Lahore, Pir Saifullah Khalid, the head of Jamia Mansoorul Islamia, and Maulana Abdul Rauf Farooqi said the meeting had condemned the mishandling of the whole affair and distorting facts for political gains of the military government.

They said the one-sided official propaganda should be stopped and the media be allowed to verify facts [...] They said the meeting demanded setting up of a commission to probe why the Lal Masjid issue was allowed to linger on for months [...] The meeting also called for an immediate end to the military operation and allowing a safe passage to Lal Masjid inmates besides stopping maltreatment and humiliation of the arrested people.

The meeting was attended by over 100 religious scholars and administrators of seminaries of Lahore.

The aftershocks from this crisis -- fabricated or not -- have the potential to reverberate for a very long time -- unless a peaceful settlement can be reached, in which case the government -- especially President General Musharraf -- would be strengthened at a crucial time.

As we go to net, the most recent reports indicate that both sides may now be willing to negotiate. If it's true, it would be a significant change from the "martyrdom for the revolution" stance taken by Ghazi in response to the "surrender or die" ultimatum delivered by Musharraf on Saturday. Of course, it could also be another misunderstanding, or another trial balloon.

We can only wait and find out. The same is true of course for the families of those inside. But their waiting -- in a makeshift camp, in the heart of the capital, behind rolls of barbed wire -- is infinitely more painful than ours.



~~~

fourth in a series

England's Collapse Heard 'Round The World

Here are the Top Ten stories of the moment, from the RSS feed published by Pakistan's Dawn news service:

Number 10)
Pakistan, China committed to reinforce exemplary friendship

Chengdu, April 19 (PPI): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday said Pakistan and China were committed to reinforce their exemplary friendship by building strong partnership in economic and trade fields.

Number 9)
Car bomb kills 10, injures 21 in Baghdad

Baghdad, April 19 (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber rammed his car into a fuel tanker, killing 10 people and wounding 21 in the southern Jadriya district of Baghdad, police said. Gunmen wounded seven oil company employees when they attacked their vehicle in Kirkuk, Gunmen also attacked a police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding five others in Baquba. Iraqi army killed 20 insurgents and arrested 84 others during the last 24 hours in operations across Iraq, police said. Four charred dead bodies were found by police inside a car in the town of Shirqat, south of Mosul.

Number 8)
Indian army colonel among 9 personnel charged in fake encounter killings

ISLAMABAD, April 19 (APP): As many as four Indian Army personnel, including a Colonel and five Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel including a Superintendent of Police in occupied Kashmir were Wednesday charge-sheeted in the fake-encounter killing of a Srinagar cloth merchant in a court at Sopore. This comes just six days after an Indian army's Major and three troopers and five Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel were charge-sheeted for killing an Imam, PTV reported. Police’s Special Investigation Team probing the fake encounter killings on Wednesday charged the same nine with abduction and murder of cloth merchant Ghulam Nabi who was abducted from Lalchowk in Srinagar and was kept in illegal detention for 14 days. Later the SOG personnel and Army killed him in a fake encounter at Sumbal and labelled him as a Pakistani militant.

Number 7)
Gates visits former Iraq rebel bastion

FALLUJAH, Iraq, April 19 (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates visited US commanders in the former Sunni Arab insurgent bastion of Fallujah on Thursday straight after arriving in Iraq from Israel on an unannounced trip.

Number 6)
Afghan, Pakistani troops clash over border fence

KABUL, April 19 (AFP) - Afghan troops tore down a new anti-Taliban fence erected by Pakistan on the border between the two countries Thursday, sparking a gunbattle which caused no casualties, officials said. The clash was the first since Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf announced plans earlier this year to fence 35 kilometres of his country's northwestern frontier to stop the movement of militants.

Number 5)
Prominent Kashmir separatists spurn New Delhi talks

RINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, April 19 (AFP) – All-Parties Hurrriyet Conference, the l prominent separatist group in occupied Kashmir, said Thursday it was boycotting direct talks with New Delhi, saying such a meeting would be pointless without the participation of Pakistan.

Number 4)
PM hails opening of Pakistan's Consulate General in Chengdu

CHENGDU, China, April 19 (APP) - Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday said that the opening of a Consulate General in Chengdu, Pakistan's third in China, was a very important event in Sino-Pak relations.

Number 3)
NATO allies urge US to open missile shield plan

BRUSSELS, April 19 (Reuters): NATO allies urged the United States on Thursday to ensure its planned anti-missile shield be broadened to cover the whole of Europe but did not commit themselves to joining the project.

Number 2)
Three US troops killed in Iraq

Three US troops killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, April 19 (AFP) - Three more American soldiers were killed in attacks in Iraq, the US military said on Thursday, taking its losses to 53 this month. Two soldiers were killed on Wednesday when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad after returning from a combat patrol. The third soldier died when a combat security patrol was raked with gunfire in southwest Baghdad.

And the Number One story of the moment:
Cricket: Fletcher quits as England coach

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 19 (AFP) - Duncan Fletcher quit as England coach on Thursday following the team's dismal World Cup campaign, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced.

Ha! You see? Did you think I was kidding about England's explosive collapse? It may be nonsense but it's important nonsense, this cricket! And the after-effects are still rippling their way all around the world.

In fairness to the folks at Dawn, I must point out that these stories are listed in reverse chronological order and thus the sequence does not reflect the editors' estimation of their relative importance. But seeing these headlines in this order did give me a chuckle, and in very trying times such as these, a chuckle is something to savor. Click those links for more details on these and other stories, from the Pakistani "news-feed bloggers" at Dawn.

Solomon Islands Hit By Tsunami, Northern Afghanistan Rocked By Earthquake

Twelve people have been killed by a tsunami which hit the Solomon Islands on Monday. Early reports also indicate extensive damage, especially in Gizo, a town of 10,000 and the second largest town in the Solomons, which was swamped by waves said to be 10m (30ft) tall.

We have coverage from the BBC as well as the Scoop news service from New Zealand, which has this:

The Solomon Islands Government has issued this account:

"Waves crashed islands in the two provinces [Monday] morning after an earth tremor measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit.

"Reports from Gizo police said the lower lying areas in the tourist town of Gizo have been completely covered, while the nearby towns of Noro and Munda including surrounding villages continued to receive huge waves.

"The main wharf at Noro ports in Western Province is reported to have “cracked in the middle”, and the small wharf completely dismantled with all timbers washed away.

"The Noro cannery has been affected and all residents have been evacuated up the hills on the island.

"People reporting from rural email stations in the two provinces also reported continuous waves traveling at least 500 meters inland."

At least two people were confirmed dead and several others missing in Sasamunga village in South Choiseul as 10 meter waves move 500 meters inland, destroying villages, food gardens and domesticated animals and a hospital.

Choiseul Premier, Jackson Kiloe confirmed from Taro Island at midday today that 10 meter high waves continue to hit the Southern part of Choiseul Island.

He said people are now rushing inland to higher ground as fear griped the entire Western and Choiseul provinces after an earth quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit the Western part of Solomon Islands at 7 am this morning.

Premier Jackson Kiloe described the sea changes on the western coast of Choiseul as “strangely frightening”.

He said the present sea activities involving huge rolling waves which repeatedly caused dry seas deeper into the ocean have exposed fish and other marine lives.

He said the earth quake that hit the Western Solomon’s this morning was strongly felt twice in Choiseul province.

“We are currently evacuating Taro Island residents and others in coastal areas to higher ground.

“The huge wave rolls are stronger than floods.

“They are causing large areas of ocean to dry up exposing fish and other marine lives,” Mr Kiloe said by phone from Taro Island.

Radio New Zealand International reports: In Solomons Islands there are reports of damage in the township of Gizo and the whereabouts of several people is unknown after this morning’s earthquake. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii put the strength of the earthquake at 7.8 but Geosience Australia has upgraded the quake to 8.1.

Here's a slightly different sort of report from the BBC:

Gizo at centre of tsunami fears

When a magnitude 8.0 tsunami crashed ashore on the western Solomon Islands, it hit a remote, poverty-stricken region.

Made up of volcanic islands and coral atolls, sitting on the notorious Pacific "Ring of Fire", the area is so isolated that even many hours after the disaster, it was still very difficult to assess the extent of the damage or the number of people who lost their lives.

But there were reports of extensive damage to Gizo, the second largest town in the Solomons, which has an estimated 10,000 residents.

Known to tourists as the country's main diving centre, much of the town - which is located on a relatively small volcanic island called Ghizo - is barely above sea level.
...

Many of the houses are on or near the seafront, giving the buildings little chance of escaping the huge waves that hit the coastline on Tuesday morning.
...

Initial reports said the town's hospital had been inundated with water, and government offices had also been damaged. Little was known about the damage to the nearby coral reefs.

Thousands of people are thought to have escaped up a steep hill which forms a backdrop to the town.

According to the charity World Vision, which operates in the area, many people have now been left homeless and without clean drinking water, as many of the town's water tanks - based on the hill - collapsed due to the force of the earthquake.
...

Residents of nearby Simbo, Choiseul and Ranunga islands have also reported deaths and widespread destruction, and there are many other areas which could well have been affected although details are still sketchy.

Approximately 85% of the Solomons' 500,000 population live in rural areas, and the western province - where the disaster occurred - is one of the most remote parts of the country.

Receiving accurate information from villages - many of which are in low-lying coastal areas - is difficult at the best of times, mostly reliant on two-way radio links and satellite communications.

Scoop has considerably more, including these links ...

World Vision International - World Vision to help in Solomons after tsunami
Caritas - Caritas responds to those affected by tsunami
ChildFund - Solomon Islands Tsunami
Oxfam - Assessing needs of communities affected by tsunami

Elsewhere, and even more recently, Quake strikes north Afghanistan

A strong earthquake has struck northern Afghanistan, shaking cities in neighbouring Pakistan and Kashmir.

Residents fled homes in Kabul, Jalalabad and Kashmir when the 6.2 magnitude quake struck in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province.

There is no word yet of any damage in the areas close to the epicentre.

The US Geological Survey said [it] was about 200km (125 miles) underground in the Hindu Kush.

It struck at around 0800 (0300 GMT).

Relief efforts, as far as I can tell, are just getting organized.

If I may...

I've never asked for money here -- never asked for anything, actually, at least not for myself -- and I hope I won't have to. But I can't help thinking that, if you have any at the moment, you might consider helping some of the many very unfortunate people who have recently lost everything, in the Solomons or Afghanistan or elsewhere, somewhere, somehow.

Something tells me this would be a good week to re-connect with humanity, and that this might be a good way to do it.

Thank you very much indeed.

Bombs On India-Pakistan 'Peace Train' Kill At Least 65

Here's some more really sick news from Asia. Hot on the heels of the story about the Pakistani courtroom bombing, we've got reports about bombs and fires on a train running from India to Pakistan. Yuccccckk!!

This report comes to us from Thailand's Bangkok Post: Terrorists kill 64 on India-Pak peace train

At least 64 people were killed after blasts triggered a fire on a "peace train" running between India and Pakistan in a northern Indian city on Monday, officials said.

Police said 18 other passengers were injured in two suspected improvised explosive device (IED) blasts after midnight on the coaches of the Samjhauta Express near the Panipat city, 100 kilometres north of Indian capital New Delhi.

"Sixty-four people including Pakistani nationals were killed. We found some explosives on the site. There were blasts and these were primarily to start a fire on the train to cause the deaths," India's junior Railway Minister R Velu told reporters.

Most of the passengers were killed due to burns and suffocation as the fire swept through two coaches while the train was heading to the border town of Attari from Delhi.

According to a report from (Canada's) CTV,

Because of security concerns, lower-class coaches on the train are kept sealed with locked doors and barred windows in the lower-class coaches on trips to the border. Passengers may have been trapped inside the burning cars.

How horrible! How many of us can even imagine that? How many of us even dare?

We return to the Bangkok Post for more details:

According to NDTV network there were identical fires in the two carriages and the coaches had been completely gutted in the suspected terrorist attack.

This is the first attack that targetted both Indian and Pakistani nationals.

As always, nothing is "known" about the perpetrators except their motives:

"The sabotage has been carried out by elements who are opposed to the peace process between India and Pakistan," said India's Railway Minister Lalu Yadav.

According to railway officials, it could have been a lot worse.

Senior railway officials said two suitcases containing IEDs were recovered from the blast site. Mobile phones or remote controlled devices could have been used to activate the IEDs, they said.

"Three IEDS have been defused in a controlled environment. The terrorists probably planned to carry out more blasts on the train," Y Mathur, a railway official said.

You probably won't hear about these sorts of details in the US media, nor may you care to, but:

The injured were rushed to a government-run hospital in Panipat. "I lost five of my children. There was smoke everywhere after the blast and everyone fell unconscious. Nobody survived," an unidentified witness told the NDTV.

The bodies were charred beyond recognition. "We cannot even say whether those killed were men or women as the bodies are in a bad shape. Only the post mortem will tell this," a senior police official told the IANS news agency.

Reports said several passengers including children and old people jumped out of the burning train as it was moving. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot but the fire was brought under control only after two hours.

As well as being an actual unprovoked attack against actual unarmed civilians, the attack carries symbolic meaning:

India and Pakistan started the Samjhauta Express, which links New Delhi with the Pakistani city of Lahore, and another train service the Thar Express to promote people-to-people contacts as part of peace talks they began in early 2004.

As you may recall, India and Pakistan have been squabbling for decades over Kashmir, they've fought three major wars, and terrorism has been a problem for both countries for a long time.

Allegations of cross-border terrorism (i.e. terrorists from Pakistan attacking India) have been bolstered of late, when Pakistani MP and Parilamentary Defense Minister Tanvir Hussain admitted in open debate that he was a member of a banned terrorist organization which is suspected of involvement in extremely violent attacks in India! (Regular readers of this page may recall this stunning news; those seeking more details should read "Tony Blair Makes a Donation -- to a Government including an International Terrorist".)

The Bangkok Post continues:

The incident came a day before Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi for talks.

Kasuri is to chair the India-Pakistan joint commission along with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee which is expected to review the peace process as well as discuss a newly-launched anti-terrorism mechanism.

Two toughts spring to mind right away: [1] there's nothing like a spectacular act of terror to derail international peace talks, and [2] whenever a spectacular act of terror does derail international peace talks, false flag warnings start going off in stereo!

Sometimes the terrorists who sabotage the peace talks are mortal enemies of the terrorists whose atrocities are responsible for the negotiations in the first place.

I'm not claiming that's what happened in this case; I am explicitly stating that I do not know. But these are the ideas that came to mind.

Latest: Reports from India indicate that another victim has died, and rail security has been stiffened in the wake of the attacks. As reported by the Hindu News Update Service,

Security personnel onboard various trains and at railways stations across Punjab were put on high alert today following the explosion on Delhi-Attari special train in Panipat in Haryana, which killed 65 people, including Pakistani nationals.

Various security agencies, including Punjab Police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) have been asked to remain on maximum alert, Punjab police sources said.

They have been asked to be on the look out for suspicious objects and persons as part of attempts to check further incidents.

The checking in trains coming from Jammu has been ordered to be stepped up, the officer said.

A senior Punjab Police officer said here that they were also probing the blast in the Attari special train from Delhi which is the link train for the Lahore-bound Samjhauta Express.

Security in the Delhi-Lahore and Amritsar-Lahore buses was also being tightened.

At least 65 people were killed, some of them Pakistani nationals in explosions in the Attari special train. The train runs non-stop from Delhi to Attari where the passengers are shifted to the Samjhauta Express, which goes to Lahore after customs and immigration clearances.

As usual, I will keep an eye on developments for you and if I learn anything notable -- especially if I learn anything notable that's not likely to make it to the MSM -- I will keep you posted.

Carlotta Gall Asks "Where Is Mulla Omar?" And Gets Punched In The Face For Her Efforts

Journalist Carlotta Gall has been asking tough questions in Pakistan, and she has the bruises to show for it. In Rough treatment for 2 journalists she describes being attacked by Pakistani intelligence agents.

My photographer, Akhtar Soomro, and I were followed over several days of reporting in Quetta by plainclothes intelligence officials who were posted at our respective hotels.

That is not unusual in Pakistan, where accredited journalists are free to travel and report, but their movements, phone calls and interviews are often monitored.

On our fifth and last day in Quetta, Dec. 19, four plainclothesmen detained Soomro at his hotel in the downtown area and seized his computer and photographic equipment. They raided my hotel room that evening, using a key card to open the door and then breaking through the chain that I had locked from the inside. They seized a computer, notebooks and a cellphone.

One agent punched me twice in the face and head and knocked me to the floor. I was left with bruises on my arms, temple and cheekbone, swelling on my eye and a sprained knee. One of the men told me that I was not permitted to visit Pashtunabad, a neighborhood in Quetta, and that it was forbidden to interview Taliban members.

Carlotta Gall's offense? She was asking questions like: Are Pakistani intelligence agencies promoting Islamic insurgency?

The government of Pakistan vehemently rejects the allegation and insists that it is fully committed to helping U.S. and NATO forces prevail against the Taliban militants who were driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001.

But Western diplomats in both countries and Pakistani opposition figures say that Pakistani intelligence agencies — in particular the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence — have been supporting a Taliban restoration, motivated not only by Islamic fervor but also by a longstanding view that the jihadist movement allows them to assert greater influence on Pakistan's vulnerable western flank.

More than two weeks of reporting along this frontier, including dozens of interviews with residents on each side of the porous border, leaves little doubt that Quetta is an important base for the Taliban.

There are many signs that Pakistani authorities are encouraging the insurgents, if not sponsoring them.

The "signs" consist of anecdotal evidence, told in fearful whispers:

At Jamiya Islamiya, a religious school here in Quetta, Taliban sympathies are on flagrant display, and residents say students have gone with their teachers' blessings to die in suicide bombings in Afghanistan.

Three families whose sons had died as suicide bombers in Afghanistan said they were afraid to talk about the deaths because of pressure from Pakistani intelligence agents. Local people say dozens of families have had sons die as suicide bombers and fighters in Afghanistan.

One former Taliban commander said in an interview that he had been jailed by Pakistani intelligence officials because he would not go to Afghanistan to fight. He said that, for Western and local consumption, his arrest had been billed as part of Pakistan's crackdown on the Taliban in Pakistan. Former Taliban members who have refused to fight in Afghanistan have been arrested — or even mysteriously killed — after resisting pressure to re-enlist in the Taliban, Pakistani and Afghan tribal elders said.

"The Pakistanis are actively supporting the Taliban," declared a Western diplomat in an interview in Kabul. He said he had seen an intelligence report of a recent meeting on the Afghan border between a senior Taliban commander and a retired colonel of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence.

The history goes way back.

The Pakistani military and intelligence services have for decades used religious parties as a convenient instrument to keep domestic political opponents at bay and for foreign policy adventures, said Husain Haqqani, a former adviser to several of Pakistan's prime ministers and the author of a book on the relationship between the Islamists and the Pakistani security forces.

The religious parties recruited for the jihad in Kashmir and Afghanistan from the 1980s, when the Pakistani intelligence agencies ran the resistance by the mujahedeen and channeled money to them from the United States and Saudi Arabia to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, Haqqani said.

In return for help in Kashmir and Afghanistan the intelligence services would rig votes for the religious parties and allow them freedom to operate, he said. "The religious parties provide them with recruits, personnel, cover and deniability," Haqqani said in a telephone interview from Washington, where he is now a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The Inter-Services Intelligence once had an entire wing dedicated to training jihadis, he said. Today the religious parties probably have enough of their own people to do the training, but, he added, the Inter-Services Intelligence so thoroughly monitors phone calls and people's movements that it would be almost impossible for any religious party to operate a training camp without its knowledge.

"They trained the people who are at the heart of it all, and they have done nothing to roll back their protégés," Haqqani said.

Some of the evidence is much more visible:

Hamid Gul, the former director general of Pakistani intelligence, remains a public and unapologetic supporter of the Taliban, visiting madrasas and speaking in support of jihad at graduation ceremonies.

Big surprise! The civilians who dared to speak with Carlotta Gall have been visited by Pakistani intelligence, according to this report:

It has become clear that intelligence agents copied data from our computers, notebooks and cellphones and have tracked down contacts and acquaintances in Quetta. All the people I interviewed were subsequently visited by intelligence agents, and local journalists who helped me were later questioned by Pakistan's intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

[Photographer Akhtar] Soomro has been warned not to work for The New York Times or any other foreign news organization.

Of course the obvious question is:

If Pakistan is not providing assistance to the Taliban, why would ISI agents assault a reporter who asked questions about the relationship, and why would they intimidate anyone who dared to speak to her?

A report from The Times of India contains a few additional details: Civilians on the border fear ISI

Carlotta Gall, a New York Times correspondent, who was manhandled and punched on December 19 by Pakistani agents who broke into her hotel room in Quetta, said Pakistanis and Afghans interviewed on the frontier — frightened by the long reach of Pakistan's intelligence agencies, spoke only with assurances that they would not be named. Even then, they spoke cautiously.

Despite this, they were visited by the ISI because the goons who broke into her hotel room copied data from the computers, notebooks and cellphones they seized, and tracked down her contacts and acquaintances.

They have been lucky not to have been killed so far because the ISI has a built a hideous reputation for bumping off people they see as being inimical to hardline Pakistani interests.

Some months back, Hayatullah Khan, a Pakistani journalist who exposed as lie the Pakistan military's claim of an attack on a terror camp (which was actually conducted by the US) was killed in cold blood. Several other journalists have been killed since the trend began with the unsolved murder of Daniel Pearl.

Gall also wrote that a dirty war is building between Afghan and Pakistani intelligence agencies. An Afghan intelligence official told her that one of its informers in Pakistan was recently killed and dumped in pieces in Peshawar. Gall's story quoted the brother of a Pakistani jehadi saying, "All Taliban are ISI Taliban. It is not possible to go to Afghanistan without ISI help."

How about that?

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry denies everything but provides no information: Taliban Chief Said Likely in Afghanistan

Taliban leader Mullah Omar is likely based in southern Afghanistan and leading the resurgent Islamic militia from there, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Monday. A spokeswoman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that Omar's exact whereabouts remain unknown.

"But generally the likely scenario is that he is in Kandahar, from where he is marshaling his troops," spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said at a news conference, referring to a city in southern Afghanistan.

Aslam's comments follow claims by Afghan officials that a captured spokesman for the Taliban militia told interrogators that Omar was living in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta and that he was protected by Pakistan's ISI intelligence service. The purported Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, was arrested last week in eastern Afghanistan.

And there's more here: Fugitive Mullah Omar leaves only a trail of devotees

Another Terror Suspect Spills Another Can Of Beans -- And Again They Land On Pakistan!

Just a few days ago we were talking about Omar Khyam, the suspected terrorist now on trial in Britain who stopped testifying after his family was threatened by representatives of the Pakistani intelligence service ISI.

The next witness in the same trial has taken the stand, and if the news reports from Britain are even halfway accurate, his family members may be due for a visit as well.

Anthony Garcia, formerly known as Rahman Benouis, testified that he bought 600 kg of ammonium nitrate fertilizer at the request of Khyam, and that he understood the fertilizer was

"to be shipped out to Pakistan."

The accounts of his testimony which are currently available do not say whether Garcia thought the fertilizer was intended for use on crops or to be made into bombs. British authorities have charged Garcia, Khyam, and five others of conspiring to carry out a major bombing. Nightclubs and shopping centers have been mentioned as possible targets.

Garcia also testified that he wanted to go to Pakistan for military training, but he denied being a follower of Osama bin Laden or the Taliban. He also denied being pleased by the attacks of 9/11, because, in his words:

[I]nnocent people were targetted. They did not do anything.

So why would he be involved with people who were supposedly preparing to build a bomb? It's a long story but some of the details are extremely interesting.

Garcia told the court he became radicalised after he was shown a video of alleged rapes and sexual abuses of children by Indian forces in Kashmir at the Islamic Society at his college in Romford, east London in 1999.

Garcia then told how he and his elder brother would fund raise around their Barkingside home, collecting funds from students, shopkeepers, businessmen and Mosques, which became an "almost religious objective" and helped him turn his back on "girls, drinking and staying out late."

He added 99 per cent of the community would support their cause as people in "occupied Kashmir" had the right to defend themselves and he was desperate to get out to Pakistan to receive military training.

He told the court people who had receive training were seen as "kind of like heroes" when they returned back to the UK and it was "common" for people to travel to Pakistan to get training.

He said: "If there was a little war going on in Kashmir, they would say we need people and they would only accept those that had done training."

Mr Ryder asked: "In your opinion was it viewed as an extremist thing to do?"

Garcia replied: "No, not at all."

But he told the court people were more "respected" if the[y] had done the training than if they just learnt the Qu'ran.

OK? Have you got all that?

Good. Now let's review what we've learned:

Although Pakistan is an ally of the USA in the War Against Terror, it's the place where people go to get the "military training" which will give them an added measure of "respect" in their community.

It's enough to make your head spin, isn't it? Something just doesn't seem right.

Here's something else that doesn't seem right: According to the Times Online account of his testimony, Garcia

said 9/11 was no different from the Madrid bombings or the July 7 London transport bombings.

Aside from the obvious fact that the three events mentioned were very different...

In all three cases the "official story" and the available evidence clearly contradict one another.

And all three attacks happened at very convenient times, if by "convenient" we mean "politically opportune" for the governments involved.

Could this be what Garcia was referring to? If I had to guess, I would say "no". But the irony is not lost. Not by a long shot.

As the British press reports all say,

The trial continues.

Terror Suspect, Having Spilled The Beans, Refuses To Testify Further

Terror suspect Omar Khyam, on trial after being accused of planning attacks against shopping malls and nightclubs in Britain, testified for two days but has refused to testify further, saying his family in Pakistan had been threatened by the Pakistani intelligence service, ISI.

Kyham is supposed to be connected with Al-Q'aeda. ISI is supposed to be allied with the USA and working against Al-Q'aeda. So why would ISI threaten Khyam's family?

Was it something he said?

According to the Indian newspaper The Hindu:

Last week, Mr. Khyam told the court that ISI was training militants and during his visit to Pakistan six years ago he trained in an ISI-supervised camp.

"The ISI was setting up camps in what we called Free Kashmir, funding it with money and weapons and people that would train people, and logistical supplies, everything," he said.

Mr. Khyam said the people who trained him in handling arms were "selected by the ISI".

"The ISI works with Islamic groups," he added.

So there you have it. I don't see how he could have made it any clearer. It's no wonder the ISI visited his family. They probably would have visited Omar Khyam himself, were he not incarcerated (and therefore well-protected).

Khyam's statements strike at the very heart of the so-called War on so-called Terror, and therefore -- of course -- this story has been ignored by the American media. Instead, the "official" scribblers continue to report the "official" White House line, without even stopping to ask whether it makes any sense. For example, according to Bloomberg, the president sees Pakistan as an ally in the war against terror:

"Under President Musharraf, Pakistan is siding with the forces of freedom and moderation and helping to defend the civilized world," Bush said in his weekly radio broadcast. "It is in America's interest to help him succeed."

But we now know better, don't we?

In fact, those who wish to read -- and learn -- know much better, and have done for a long time.

For further details, I recommend More Evidence “al-Qaeda” is a CIA-ISI Contrivance by the inimitable Kurt Nimmo, and Pakistan Army: Unwavering Support for Cross-border Terrorism by Indian Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (Retd.), as published by the Asian Tribune. Excerpts follow.

Gurmeet Kanwal:

Though the West continues to be in denial mode and its leaders lose no opportunity to praise General Musharraf for his cooperation in fighting international terrorism, the fact remains that despite loud protestations to the contrary, Pakistan is still the hub of Islamist fundamentalist terrorism. In order to understand this proclivity to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds, it is necessary to examine the deeply ingrained mindset of Pakistan’s ruling elite that is led by the Pakistan army.

According to a cliché popular in the strategic community, normally a state has an army but in Pakistan the army has a state. The Pakistan army has directly guided the nation’s destiny for more than half its history. During the other half, the army was engaged in driving from the backseat – a classic case of power without responsibility. The army sees itself as the natural guardian of the idea of Pakistan and a guarantor of its sovereignty. While it has tolerated short interludes of civilian rule, the army has always dictated Pakistan’s policy towards Kashmir, which it considers the unfinished agenda of Partition. It has also called the shots on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, the defence budget and senior army appointments. These issues were considered sacrosanct and no civilian prime minister could dare to interfere...

Kurt Nimmo:

Omar Khyam has revealed but another glimmer of the precise nature of the “al-Qaeda” terror network, information useful for connecting dots but that will of course be studiously ignored by our corporate media stenographers. “Khyam has revealed more information than was expected,” remarked Sajjan Gohel of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, billed as a counter-terrorism think tank. “He has given a lot of insight into how very many British Muslims have been recruited…. I think everyone was shocked. The question now is whether the whole truth will come out.”

Of course, it does not matter if “the whole truth will come out,” as it is irrelevant, especially for a society unable to connect the dots and, really, not wanting to connect the dots and learn the truth, as this particular truth interupts sit-coms and football games.

For every person who looks beyond the official story and gleans the indisputable truth about “al-Qaeda” and various other intelligence contrivances engineered by the Pentagon, CIA, MI-6, Mossad, et al, there are literally millions of people who buy into the official explanation, or rather Brothers Grimm machination—the Muslims, represented by the dead Osama and al-Zarqawi, are out to get us and an incessant “clash of civilizations” is required, with attendant police state and tyranny at home.

Brother of So-Called 'Ringleader' Released Without Charges in Alleged British Bombing Plot

One Other Suspect Charged; One Released; Charity Funds Frozen; more...

The Media 'Lid' Seems To Be 'On' -- But It Can't Contain That Old Familiar 'Fish Market' Aroma!

British authorities investigating the alleged "liquid bombing plot" released two more (suddenly former) suspects last Thursday, charged one person, bringing the total now charged to 12, and extended the custody limit for the remaining suspects who are still being held without charges.

One of the two people released Thursday (August 24) had previously been described as "a potentially important figure" in the alleged plot, since his brother is (or was) supposedly the ringleader.

Allo, London? We're getting mixed messages here!

But then again ... what else is new?

As you remember -- unless you don't -- the alleged plot was reportedly broken up two and a half weeks ago (August 9/10), when 24 people were arrested in England and 15 or more were arrested in Pakistan. At the time, the timing seemed more than a little bit odd, since news of the arrests was accompanied -- one might almost say "preceded" -- by a great thunderous roar from the Republican Spin-And-Noise Machine, all of them yelling "Terrah Terrah Terrah" simultaneously, except for those who were shouting "al-Q'aeda! al-Q'aeda!! al-Q'aeda!!!". Your humble and slightly frozen reporter documented the noise and the smell of that day (August 10) in a subtly-titled post called "An Avalanche of Bullshit".

It soon became obvious that the timing seemed odd for a very good reason: high-level Americans, allegedly having learned of an ongoing British-Pakistani investigation, and badly needing to change the flow of "news" on the "home front", apparently coerced Pakistani authorities to arrest Rashid Rauf, Business Man, Entreprenuer, Author and Research Analyst, the alleged ringleader of the alleged plot -- and its alleged al-Q'aeda connection. Rauf, according to authorities, sent a message saying he'd been captured, and this message was intercepted, which was why the British had made the arrests in haste, earlier than they would have preferred. In other words, this so-called "terror event", if it was an event at all, was timed and manipulated for partisan political advantage, as readers of (August 15th's) "Spin? Counter-Spin!" will remember -- unless they don't.

The following day, the New York Times revealed -- apparently accidentally -- that none of the suspects being held in Britain -- 23 at that point -- had yet been charged with a crime. Your humble blogger picked up on this aspect of the NYT's otherwise innocuous story, and blogged about it (August 16) in "NYT Beats The Terror Drums Again, But Exposes A Vital Fact!"

By the next day, the NYT had changed its story! But it was too late to fool the green-and-yellow regulars, since your cold correspondent had already quoted the vital sentence. Fortunately he had also saved a copy of the original text -- which was true, by the way; the first charges in this case were handed down five days later.

But before the charges were announced, we saw a very weird media-storm in Britain. On Thursday (August 17), word of the alleged plot was everywhere; there were hints of "al-Q'aeda connections", faint whispers about the so-called plotters' alleged intentions to "hatch" the "plot" on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, and "news" of the "discovery" of a suitcase containing a "bomb-making kit" (which was found in the woods, of course!). These stories were flying around all day. But on Friday (August 18), nothing of the sort could be seen.

Your humble blogger noticed the difference between the tone of the British and American coverage (especially the American coverage!) and the attitude of the rest of the world, which seemed quite a bit more skeptical, and wrote about it in Friday's piece: "British News Full Of Terror Revelations; World Opinion Appears Skeptical".

The first charges were announced last Monday (August 21), when eight people were charged with conspiracy to murder and another three were charged with less serious offenses. When the charges were made public, the police announced that they had collected a wide variety of so-called "evidence", including "bomb-making materials", one of which they mentioned by name: hydrogen peroxide.

Why hydrogen peroxide? For the peroxide, of course! It's a key ingredient (the "P") in TATP, otherwise known as "tri-acetone tri-peroxide", a.k.a. "acetone peroxide", a.k.a. "Mother of Satan", a.k.a. The Suicide Bombers' Weapon of Choice.

What's so special about acetone peroxide? Two qualities in particular:

[1] it can be made from materials that are (supposedly) fairly inexpensive and readily available, and

[2] it's a vicious explosive, and an unusual one: it's endothermic (all blast, no heat) and it has an explosive velocity of 5300 meters per second (nearly twelve thousand miles per hour).

Is that enough to blow a hole in an airplane fuselage? I should say so, provided you've got enough of it. But how much would you need? And how much could you make? And how long would it take? So many questions!

If you were a terrorist, or a terrorist wannabe, and somebody told you that you could go into the bathroom of an airplane, mix some common household liquids together, and step back out into the passenger compartment armed with a handful of white crystals that could blow the plane out of the sky, would you be interested?

If you said "Yes", you may now be in a most unfortunate bind. Because it turns out that making a bomb out of acetone and hydrogen peroxide is a much more difficult, hazardous and time-consuming feat than anything one could possibly do on an airplane. Last Wednesday's (August 23) piece, "To Mix The Impossible Bomb", describes in some detail just how impossible it would be to make such a bomb on a plane, and comments on illustrates the barrage of apparently meaningless (or time-managed) stories that seemed to be squeezing this particularly lurid tale out of the major British media schedule.

Why all the pressure? Could it be because this story is falling apart?

Maybe. But it could also be that this story is just starting to get interesting!

Did you ever stop and think about that one?

I did ... and the idea stuck!

We now know beyond any doubt that something very fishy has happened here. And it seems to me we have two choices; to wit:

[a] we can say "Well, that was fishy. But I didn't believe the government before now, so what else is new?" and take a deep breath and "get over it" and "move on"

... or ...

[b] we can try to find out what happened -- and why it smelled so much like rotting seafood -- and what there is to learn from all the fish we've been smelling for the last few weeks.

I like [b], and I don't think it's too hard to follow your nose in an atmosphere such as this.

So ... I've been sniffing into the strange saga of Rashid Rauf, whose reported capture by Pakistani police allegedly sparked the series of arrests that took place in England on August 9/10.

We've been told that Rashid Rauf was the main suspect, the ringleader, the mastermind, a central figure, or maybe just a transmitter of messages; in any event there's hardly ever been any room for doubt that Rashid Rauf allegedly played a key role in the alleged plot, if in fact there was a plot.

Among the various suspects, Rashid Rauf has attracted the bulk of the interest, possibly because his brother (Tayib Rauf) and his father (Abdul Rauf) have both been arrested (and released) during this investigation; or maybe because he is connected to the banned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), unless of course he isn't!

Or perhaps it was his ties to al-Q'aeda; or possibly his al-Q'aeda connections; or maybe it was his suspected links to al-Q'aeda militants that got everybody so interested. Who can say?

Rashid Rauf's father, Abdul Rauf, was either arrested or simply detained for questioning in Pakistan during all this -- and released without charge very soon thereafter. They could have kept him a lot longer had they wanted to. But they let him go free.

This despite his known connection to a Muslim charity -- Crescent Relief -- that was thought to be linked to Pakistan-based militant groups -- and whose funds have just been frozen. Hmmmm.

We are told that Abdul Rauf co-founded the charity in 2000 but stepped down from his role in 2003. Personally, I would find this story much more convincing if I had seen a claim that Abdul Rauf had severed all his ties with Crescent Relief. But I have not heard so much as a whisper to that effect.

As you will remember -- if you can remember all the way back to the beginning of this post -- Rashid Rauf's brother, Tayib Rauf, was one of the two suspects arrested in the initial raids (August 9/10) and released without charge on Thursday (August 24). By British law, terror suspects can be held without charge for 28 days. Tayib Rauf was held for only two weeks. They could have kept him two weeks longer, had they wanted to. Hmmmm.

Meanwhile, Rashid Rauf is still being held in Pakistan, and the British are anxious to get their hands on him. Is Pakistan likely to cooperate? Up until a few days ago, I would have said: "Not a chance!"

Why? Primarily because of this article:

[Daily Mail, August 19, 2006]
Pakistanis find no evidence against ‘terror mastermind’

The Briton alleged to be the ‘mastermind’ behind the airline terror plot could be innocent of any significant involvement, sources close to the investigation claim.

Rashid Rauf, whose detention in Pakistan was the trigger for the arrest of 23 suspects in Britain, has been accused of taking orders from Al Qaeda’s ‘No3’ in Afghanistan and sending money back to the UK to allow the alleged bombers to buy plane tickets.

But after two weeks of interrogation, an inch-by-inch search of his house and analysis of his home computer, officials are now saying that his extradition is ‘a way down the track’ if it happens at all.

It's not normally possible to extradite a person unless the country currently holding that person is amenable to the idea. And usually they want to see evidence.

Rauf’s arrest followed a protracted surveillance operation on him and his family which, The Mail on Sunday has established, dates back to the 7/7 bomb attacks on London.

The possible link between 7/7 and the alleged plot emerged when this newspaper spoke to Rauf’s uncle, Miam Mumtaz, in Kashmir.

Mumtaz was approached by two members of ISI, the feared Pakistani security service, as he nervously denied any knowledge of his nephew’s alleged activities.

Well, of course. And what about the ISI men? Did they deny everything, too?

One ISI man said it had been monitoring all movement by Mumtaz and the rest of Rauf’s relatives since the 7/7 attacks.

I'll bet they have! Maybe even longer, perhaps?

It is the first official acknowledgement of any suspected link between the London bombings and the plot to blow up planes flying from Britain to America.

So ... it's no wonder the aroma seems familiar!!

It comes amid wider suspicions that the plot may not have been as serious, or as far advanced, as the authorities initially claimed.

Suspicions?

That it was not as far advanced?

As authorities initially claimed?

Oh, puhh-leeeeze!

Suspicions?!

They didn't all have passports yet. They didn't even have plane tickets. And they hadn't made any bombs.

And yet we saw this exchange on CNN [emphasis added]:

BLITZER: How many planes, specifically, were targeted?

CHERTOFF: You know, I don't know that I can give you a definitive answer to that. I think we're still investigating. We've uncovered a lot of material. The British have, and so it may take awhile before we get a precise picture. It's clear that the plan was multiple planes at about the same time.

Now, whether the exact number had been decided upon or whether that was going to depend upon some factors has not yet resolved. We don't know. But it was, under any circumstances, an attack which had the potential to kill hundreds of thousands of people.

This is our chief of homeland insecurity talking. Look at all the things he says he doesn't know. Now look at what he doesn't know, but thinks he does know. How many people would have to fit on an airplane before you could kill "hundreds of thousands" of them by knocking 10 or 12 planes into the ocean? Tens of thousands, right? And it's an easy calculation, too.

But this Chertoff character, who allegedly wields all sorts of power, who supposedly is doing everything possible to keep us all safe, clearly has no idea what he's talking about. Or else he's a stone-cold liar.

Either way, how could we not have suspicions?

Quoting the August 19th Daily Mail again:

Analysts suspect Pakistani authorities exaggerated Rauf’s role to appear ‘tough on terrorism’ and impress Britain and America.

Well, that's what "they" always do, don't they?

And "we" do it too, no? But still ...

A spokesman for Pakistan’s Interior Ministry last night admitted that ‘extradition at this time is not under consideration’.

... which is why I would have said "The Brits won't be seeing this Rauf character in person anytime soon!"

A couple of days ago.

But maybe I would have been wrong.

Here's the latest from the Times of India [emphasis added]:

[August 26, 2006]
Pakistan set to extradite Rauf to UK

ISLAMABAD: Top security officials of Britain and Pakistan are negotiating the extradition of Rashid Rauf, the key suspect in the plot to blow up US-bound passenger aircraft from London, although there is no extradition treaty in place between the two countries.

Britain is waiting expiry of the physical remand of Rauf, whose arrest was registered in Airport police station for holding tampered travelling documents, The Nation said.
...
Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam confirmed the possibility of shifting Rauf to Britain where he is required in the extensive probe into the London terror plot.
...
A tip-off from Rauf through a phone call is believed to have been the green signal for the plot that was foiled by the timely arrests in Pakistan and in London suburbs.

Right.

"Timely" arrests indeed.

And what did "the green signal" say?

Here's my guess:

Dudes And Dudettes Of The Crescent: Let's Roll!!!!

Start applying for your passports now, but don't all go in together.

Don't buy any airline tickets until you all have your passports. Doh!

Remember what I told you about making a bomb on a plane: It's really, really easy!

And above all, don't believe the crazy French website that says

"Après trois jours (ou plus), il est temps de filtrer les cristaux!"

It doesn't really mean:

"After three days (or more), it is time to filter the crystals!"

Honest, it doesn't! Would I lie to you?

Ok, Good. Praise the Will of Allah!!

And repeat after me:

Rashid Couldn't Possibly Be An Agent Provocateur!

Rashid Couldn't Possibly Be An Agent Provocateur!

Rashid Couldn't Possibly Be An Agent Provocateur!

Agent Provocateur:

a secret agent who incites suspected persons to commit illegal acts

===

sixth in a series

It's Tough To Argue Against This One

This opinion piece by Dag Herbjornsrud is provocatively titled, and contains a few assertions that might raise hackles even among my left-leaning friends. But I certainly cannot argue against Mr. Herbjornsrud when he says:

Actions of the past have influenced our present world situation. Just as our present actions will influence our common future. Thus, in order to create justice in the future, we need to acknowledge the injustice of the past.

Herbjornsrud makes a lot of sense there, as he does elsewhere in the article. And I certainly don't mean to imply that my left-leaning friends know everything. Far from it. All I meant was that Herbjornsrud's opinion would probably be even less welcomed on the right.

Basic knowledge of the brutalities both of the Nazi regime and of the colonial regimes are necessary in order to prevent similar atrocities again.

If we don't know about the mistakes of the past, on all sides, we are doomed to repeat them. It's about time that Europeans also accept historic facts about their former occupation of the world.

European colonialism! It's the shameful past that we'd rather not deal with, if we're European. And American colonialism! That's something we don't even acknowledge, if we're American. But it's all there, lurking in the closets of our dim and dusty past. The skeletons in this closet are waiting to get out, and when they do... I wasn't supposed to mention this, was I?

Well, it's not my fault. Mr. Herbjornsrud started it.

Iraq, Kashmir, Palestine, Northern Ireland: The root causes of the world's hottest conflicts lie in the break-up of Europe's colonial empires. But who dares admit it?

The entire piece is here and you might wish to read it all. But in the meantime, please consider one more excerpt:

Citizens of former colonial empires are actually taught to be proud of their glorious colonial past.

The present European celebration of the colonising of "the natives" seems to be caused less by pure arrogance than by pure ignorance. Or, as the motto is for the famous Where is Raed blog of the Iraqi Salam Pax, quoting Samuel Huntington:

"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion ... but rather by its superiority in applying organised violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do."

Of course there's nothing funny about any of this but I can't resist the temptation to make a joke, and so I must say this: Looked at in the proper way, world history reveals itself as a realm in which not everything can be blamed on the current US administration! ;-)