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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck who wrote (21391)	2/10/2003 11:26:08 PM
From: lorne	Respond to of 27756

U.S. to back Kurd assault on Ansar al-Islam base Al-Qaida affiliates among 1st targets of planned Iraq invasion February 10, 2003 United States Special Forces are on the ground in northern Iraq scouting positions ahead of an attack on al-Qaida affiliated operatives, reports Dubai Gulf News. According to the report, Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was promised U.S. military backing for an assault on the Ansar al-Islam enclave during meetings with Zalmay Khalilzad, President George W. Bush's special envoy to the Iraqi opposition, in Ankara last week. Under the agreement, the radical Islamic group will be one of the first targets of any U.S.-led invasion. Air strikes would pave the way for Talabani's militia on the ground. Kurdish officials have been supplying information on targets for U.S. F-16 fighters and B-2 bombers based in Turkey. As WorldNetDaily has reported, Ansar al-Islam is led by an Iraqi Kurd named Nejmeddin Faraj Ahmad (also known as Mullah Krekar) who trained with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It emerged shortly after Sept. 11, declaring war on the secular Kurdish parties opposing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime. The group operates two training camps and controls several villages in a pocket of Kurdish territory near Halabja along the border with Iran that quickly became a safe haven for fleeing al-Qaida fighters from Afghanistan. Estimates of the group's armed militia range from 700 to more than 2,000. Ansar operatives killed a senior Kurdish commander and five other people – including a child and two other civilians – in an attack late Saturday night, according to The Scotsman. The attack happened after Ansar lured commander Shawkat Haji Mushir and security officers with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) politburo to a meeting ostensibly to negotiate the defection of Ansar members. Ansar members opened fire with guns and threw grenades as soon as the "meeting" began. "They [Ansar] have once again proven their brutality, that they are terrorists and that they are against all humanity," a senior PUK official told The Scotsman. "The time has come to clean the area of them." Kurdish officials claim there have been other bombings, suicide-bomb attempts and assassination attacks on Kurdish leaders. Last April, an Ansar commando attempted to assassinate PUK Prime Minister Barham Salih and killed five of his bodyguards. Establishing Ansar bases in Iraq "was part of a deliberate process," Salih told the Associated Press last October, "to set up alternative bases for al-Qaida away from Afghanistan." In his presentation to the United States Security Council last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Baghdad had an agent in the most senior levels of Ansar. Talabani told Gulf News that Ansar members were given passports and safe houses in Baghdad. worldnetdaily.com

To: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck who wrote (21391)	2/11/2003 7:57:48 AM
From: lorne	Respond to of 27756

Shoe bomber and hate crimes February 10, 2003 Am I the only American disappointed that shoe bomber Richard Reid is going to be provided three squares a day for the rest of his natural life by Uncle Sam? Reid was sentenced to life in prison on eight charges: attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction; attempted homicide; placing an explosive device on an aircraft; attempted murder; two counts of interference with flight crew members and attendants; attempted destruction of an aircraft; using a destructive device during a crime of violence; Reid is the Brit who wanted to be an Arab. He is a self-proclaimed member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida, the outfit responsible for the murder of 3,000 Americans Sept. 11, 2001. His claim to fame is his bumbling attempt to detonate a shoe bomb during a Paris-to-Miami flight Dec. 22, 2001 Crew members and passengers foiled his murderous plot by force, overpowering Reid, tying him to a seat and sedating him. U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young gave him a tongue-lashing at his sentencing hearing. "You are not an enemy combatant – you are a terrorist," he said. "You are not a soldier in any war – you are a terrorist. ... To give you that reference, to call you a soldier gives you far too much stature. You are a terrorist, and we do not negotiate with terrorists. ... We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice." The judge continued: "We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before." Pointing to the American flag, Young continued: "See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after all this is forgotten." "That flag will be brought down on the day of judgment and you will see in front of your Lord and my Lord and then we will know," countered Reid. "You will be judged by Allah." Maybe no one else in America has the stomach to execute a clown like this, but I do. That is the only fitting judgment for him. I mean, here we have in our midst – in our clutches – a member of the bin Laden gang and we allow this unrepentant misfit who tried to kill hundreds of innocents to live? I don't get it. Aren't those charges strong enough to kill him? If we simply imprison people who seek to use a "weapon of mass destruction" against us to live out their days watching color television, working out and writing their memoirs, what message does that send to the next terrorist? Furthermore, if these charges are strong enough to warrant a death sentence, why didn't authorities add one more obvious count – "hate crime." I've never been fond of so-called "hate crimes" because I don't believe you can punish people for what goes on inside their brain. But if we are going to have these laws on the books, Reid should be the test case. After all, he makes no effort to hide his hatred for Americans, for Christians, for Jews, for any non-Muslims. This should be a classic, textbook definition of a hate criminal. Hate is what motivates him. He tries to kill innocent people because of their beliefs, because of their nationality, because they are not like him. Only his own incompetence prevented him from being successful and murdering hundreds. If hate-crime statutes are not going to be employed for people like Reid and the D.C. snipers, then, by all means, scrap them once and for all. Selective enforcement of the law is no law at all. We've had a flurry of new anti-terrorist laws drafted and enacted since Sept. 11, 2001. But it seems there are tools already in our law-enforcement arsenal that are not being used to fight this war. Reid, John Muhammad and John Lee Malvo make no effort to disguise their hatred. Therefore they would make perfect test cases for hate-crimes laws. Throw the book at them – and then pull the switch. worldnetdaily.com