January 05, 2005

MSNBC - Report: Mess-hall suicide bomber was Saudi

The suicide bomber who killed 22 people when he blew himself up in a U.S. mess hall in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was a Saudi medical student, an Arab newspaper reported Monday.

The Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat identified him as 20-year-old Ahmed Said Ahmed al-Ghamdi, citing unnamed friends of the man’s father. The friends said members of an Iraqi resistance group contacted al-Ghamdi’s father to tell him his son was the suicide bomber who carried out the Dec. 21 attack, the deadliest on an American installation in Iraq.
[...]
The paper did not name the Iraqi resistance group. But Ansar al-Sunnah, a radical Islamic Iraqi group that has been active in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the mess hall attack. In a videotape posted on the Web, Ansar al-Sunnah identified the suicide bomber as Abu Omar al-Musali — an apparent nom de guerre meaning Abu Omar of Mosul.
[...]
Ansar al-Sunnah shares the anti-Western, Quranic rhetoric of Islamic extremist groups like al-Qaida, but has confined its fight to Iraq and has not actively recruited foreign fighters. The group, though, has declared that it worked with an al-Qaida-linked group in Iraq in at least one operation in November.
[I don't think MSNBC is being very truthful here:
there's lots to link Ansar al-Sunnah and their leader Zaqarwi with OBL and Al Queda, but NBC doesn't ever want to go there, so they don't.--Jen]
[...]
It said the father said he learned Dec. 16 that his son had withdrawn all the money left in a Sudanese bank account for him and later received a phone call from his son telling him that he was in Iraq to fight the Americans.

The al-Ghamdis are a large Saudi clan, three members of which were among the Sept. 11 hijackers.

This little story tells us quite a lot:
*The guy wasn't a poor, starving camel herder but a med student with money.
*He wasn't a native Iraqi or a Sunni Baathist "Freedom Fighter."
*His family boasts 3 of the 9/11 hijackers already.
Can anyone still doubt that Iraq is where we need to be fighting the war on terror?

January 03, 2005

Saudi Women Will Be Allowed to Vote in '09

Former Saudi female candidates for the upcoming municipal elections had varied responses after a senior election official yesterday said that women would be allowed to vote in 2009.

Prince Mansour ibn Miteb, chairman of the General Committee for Municipal Elections, explained that the only reason women were not allowed to vote in this round was because municipal elections are a new experience and the short time given to prepare for them made it impossible to allow women’s participation this time.

I'll believe this when one of the Clown Princes says it will be so.
And, of course, even given the right to vote, these poor ladies will still have to be driven and accompanied to the polls by a man, either their husband or their closest living male relative because driving and going somewhere alone is forbidden to women in Soddy Arabia.
It does sound as if voting fever is spreading from next-door neighbor Iraq, though, and also due to America's initiative to bring democracy and its institutions to the Middle East!

I just found these guys over the weekend and they are doing the best blogging about the tsunami crisis!
(They say they're US Foreign Service officers who are secret Republicans and Bush-lovers!)
I happily added them to the blogroll and I'd bet you'll want to, too, after reading this typical reporting about ongoing U.N. snafus in tsunami-stricken Asia:
The Diplomad: almost fUNnny . . .

Day 9 of the tsunami crisis.
I know I had promised to lay off the UN for a bit . . . but I can't. As one reader commented on a previous Diplomad posting on the UN, "it's like watching a train wreck" -- you know it's horrible, but you've just got to look at it.

In this part of the tsunami-wrecked Far Abroad, the UN is still nowhere to be seen where it counts, i.e., feeding and helping victims. The relief effort continues to be a US-Australia effort, with Singapore now in and coordinating closely with the US and Australia. Other countries are also signing up to be part of the US-Australia effort. Nobody wants to be "coordinated" by the UN. The local UN reps are getting desperate. They're calling for yet another meeting this afternoon; they've flown in more UN big shots to lecture us all on "coordination" and the need to work together, i.e., let the UN take credit. With Kofi about to arrive for a big conference, the UNocrats are scrambling to show something, anything as a UN accomplishment. Don't be surprised if they claim that the USS Abraham Lincoln is under UN control and that President Lincoln was a strong supporter of the UN.
[This after an aborted attempt to get President Bush's Coalition of the Helpful soldiers to wear UN blue helmets!--Jen]
Maybe watching the UN flounder is not like watching a train wreck; perhaps it's more akin to watching an Ed Wood movie or reading Maureen Dowd or Margo Kingston -- so horrible, so pathetic, that it transforms into a thing of perverse beauty. The only problem, of course, is that real people are dying.
I hope soon to return to my habitual corner of the Far Abroad . . . far, far away from the UN.

UPDATE: More on "The UNcredibles": WFP (World Food Program) has "arrived" in the capital with an "assessment and coordination team." The following is no joke; no Diplomad attempt to be funny or clever: The team has spent the day and will likely spend a few more setting up their "coordination and opcenter" at a local five-star hotel. And their number one concern, even before phones, fax and copy machines? Arranging for the hotel to provide 24hr catering service. USAID folks already are cracking jokes about "The UN Sheraton." Meanwhile, our military and civilians, working with the super Aussies, continue to keep the C-130 air bridge of supplies flowing and the choppers flying, and keep on saving lives -- and without 24hr catering services from any five-star hotel . . . . The contrast grows more stark every minute.

I don't know who these Dimplomad guys are, but I'm in love!
And I want to give a shout out to all our fine men and women in uniform and Australia's, also, who are busy being part of the solution and not part of the problem for all those in need "over there," especially all you marvelous "swabbies" from our carrier group USS Abraham Lincoln!
(I love the carriers--and this was the one President Bush landed on, as well. Heh-heh!)
You are marvelous human beings and I'm proud and happy to have you represent my country!


U.S. Navy helicopter crewman at Indonesia's Banda Aceh airport carries an Acehnese man evacuated from a village on Aceh's west coast January 3, 2005.

An evacuated injured woman (C), escorted by her son, is assisted by Second Class Petty Officer Ralph Topete (R) of USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group as they arrive at the Banda Aceh airport, January 3, 2005. Aid workers struggled to help thousands huddled in makeshift camps in Indonesia's northern Sumatra, where two-thirds of the 145,000 killed across the region died, and to reach remote areas after roads and airstrips were washed away. U.S. helicopters began shuttling injured refugees, many of them children, out of some of the worst hit parts of Aceh province, where many towns and villages were wiped out after a December 26 quake and the tsunamis it triggered.

. Lt. Jody Weinstein (R) helps an injured Indonesian woman into a medical evacuation vehicle after she was transported from a coastal village at Banda Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia January 3, 2005. Medical teams from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Carrier Air Wing Two and the International Organization for Migration set-up a triage site located on Sultan Iskandar Muda Air Force Base, in Banda Aceh. The two teams worked together with members of the Australian Air Force to provide initial medical care to victims of the tsunami-stricken coastal regions where more than 145,000 people have died from the devastating tsunami.

U.S. naval air crewmen assigned to the 'Golden Falcons' of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Two (HS-2), carry a seriously injured Indonesian woman to a waiting helicopter, for transportation to a medical facility, at Banda Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia on January 3, 2005.

As for the UN and any other useless NGOs who are there trying to look benevolent, better get to work or those starving, upset natives might eat you rather than set up the Le Cirque catering you seem to think you deserve!

You've *got* to read Kevin Myer's killingly funny reaction to hearing the news that intellekshul fraud Susan Sontag had joined Islamic "scholar" Edward Said in that great Liberal academe in the sky (or down below, more likely, for all the lies their allegiances compelled them to tell):
I wish I had kicked Susan Sontag
Don't forget: This is the woman who called the white race a "cancer" on human society (back in 1967!) and said that the 9/11 hijackers were "courageous."

(Can you believe this is a Rooters headline?!)
Tsunami Survivors Cheer U.S. Choppers

U.S. Navy helicopters dropped aid to clamoring crowds in tsunami-hit Indonesian villages Sunday but were unable to land a full week after the waves washed away entire towns around the Indian Ocean.
[...]
Aid pledges reached $2 billion, but the United Nations said it would take days to reach some of the survivors and predicted the death toll, now at 127,000, would rise to 150,000.
[...]
After an initial lax response from wealthy countries, the new year brought a generous about-turn with contributions doubling in a 24-hour period. Washington increased its pledge ten-fold to $350 million, while Japan vowed half a billion dollars.

I'm sure President Bush knows what he's doing...that we can afford to give all that aid.
Betcha the Dems in Congress try to take it out of his hide and attempt to take money out of the budget for OIF, though--Hide and watch.
And, as always, the U.S. military comes to the rescue and are the good guys!
Proud to be an American.
Still praying for the victims, especially the ones in Indonesia that they will see the light and quit being Muslims, where an event like this is considered to be an inevitable thing ("It's the will of Allah.") and that it's even Allah's punishment and judgement because they were bad Muslims.
Check out Jihad Unspun's message on the tsunami:
Important Lessons From The South Asian Tsunami

January 02, 2005

During the past week, there've been half-a-dozen sightings of laser beams in cockpits of planes landing all over the country.
Poster Phantom over at Sgt. Stryker's give us his theory as to what's happening and it involves the usual suspects, i.e. the Islamist terrorists:
Airline Laser Threat

[...]
Lasers are not being used to blind pilots. Lasers are being used to measure straight line distance from the ground to an aircraft aircraft at its most vulnerable state - landing. An aircraft on takeoff would be a more difficult target - maximum power and maximum climb. But a landing ship slows down to a speed just short of a stall and follows a prescribed path of flight .

The information regarding an aircraft’s peak vulnerability would be invaluable. Documenting landing approaches and and straight line distances would be highly useful in target acquisition. That information is critical regarding available weapons systems.

Since 2002, the FBI has been issuing warnings about shoulder fired missiles being smuggled into the U.S. The effective range of older shoulder fired missiles is between 11,000 and 15,000 feet and can be fired from up to 3 miles away from the target. Newer models, which are already bring copied by the likes of North Korea, China and Pakistan have ranges exceeding 22,000 feet with greater stand off distances.

In September of 2003, the Department of Homeland Security began soliciting bids for anti-missile devices for commercial aircraft. That was the beginning of an 18 to 24 month screening process.

In late December of 2004, it was revealed that Los Angeles Airport (LAX) was increasing its preparedness for a shoulder fired missile attack. John Miller, head of the LAPD Counterterrorism Bureau, explained that about 20,000 shoulder-fired missiles were currently on the black market. The black market prices range from $5,000 to $30,000, presumably based on the vintage of the weapon.
[...]

Our enemies know full well the impact another threat to aviation security would have on this Country. They are trying to crash airships and cripple our transportation industry before we can equip commercial aircraft with effective countermeasures. It is telling that the LAPD is moving to protect LAX against a missile threat against increasing incidents of lasers targeting commercial aircraft.

We know the bad guys did this in Iraq--Remember the DSL plane they shot down in late 2003, right before President Bush went to Baghdad for Thanksgiving?
And here at home, I've never believed that TWA 800 was brought down because there was a leak in the gas tank.
As to why American #587 fell out of the sky onto Rockaway Queens killing all aboard just 2 months after the 9/11 attacks, well, supposedly it's tail, wings and engines just fell off...Uh-huh.
We can only hope that DHS gets those anti-missile systems on our planes ASAP.
Meanwhile, they're having a nice long talk in an interrogation room to one man they caught using a laser in New Jersey:
Person Questioned About Laser Beam, Planes

[...]
Federal agents are looking into several recent incidents involving lasers and aircraft, including cases in Cleveland, Washington, Houston, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Medford, Ore. In some cases the lasers locked onto aircraft several thousand feet up as they approached airports for landing.

What else could it be but target acquisition?
And as clumsy as our airport security measures may be (in that Mineta won't let us profile for Arab Muslim male terrorists), it appears that we've made it very difficult for the Enemy to hijack or otherwise commandeer our planes after boarding, so they're having to try another way.
(Come to think of it, Trenton, N.J. isn't that far from Rockaway Queens, is it?)