Archives for September 2002

According to Asharq al-Awsat, 19 Yemeni al-Qaida members originally found in Afghanistan have been turned over to Yemen by a “sister” country (apparently Jordan), and they are now being interrogated. There are also 10-30 US military trainers in Yemen, teaching Yemeni forces how to combat terrorism. A manhunt is still going on in Ma’rib and […]

If Hussein is ousted, what next? Bush team wants to set up democracy; critics say forced change will only create instability By Cameron McWhirter / The Detroit News http://www.detnews.com/2002/nation/0209/16/a01-588600.htm (based in part on an interview with Juan Cole, w/ quote).

Elections in Pakistan The election process rolls on in Pakistan. General Musharraf has effectively blocked attempts by the two major political dynasties, the Bhuttos and the Sharifs, to be involved, charging them with corruption. He has amended the constitution 29 times and circumscribed civilian government with a military-dominated “National Security Council”. Musharraf will make all […]

Would the United States Really Like a Democratic Iraq? History News Network http://hnn.us/articles/975.html 9-16-02: News Abroad By Juan Cole One of the justifications U.S. hawks give for going to war with Iraq is that an American victory would allow it to set up a democratic post-Saddam regime. Those on the Right who have made this […]

Cole interview on the Todd Mundt Show [NPR] The Cole interview can be listened to at: http://www.toddshow.org/ram/tmshow0911.ram. It requires a Real Audio Player, available free from http://www.real.com/realoneplayer.html?pp=home&src=020912realhome_1 (the free version is on the lower righthand side). Once you have the Real Player program going from the Mundt link above, fast forward with the middle ball […]

News of the capture of Ramzi bin al-Shibh [b. al-Shaybah] in Karachi is exciting. Also captured, though this point has been litle commented on, was Abu Bakr al-Misri, the media point man for al-Jihad al-Islami (led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden’s right hand man). Fundamentalists in London were already saying that the arrest of Bin […]

In Defense of our Allies I take strong exception to the following statement [by a participant in H-Diplo]. >”Regional states and our feckless “allies” in Europe (an Ally is someone >who stands with you in a war – except for Britain, NATO is merely a >collection of concerned observers and free-riders who have dismantled >their […]

Both the European Union and Human Rights Watch have criticized General Pervez Musharraf’s attempts to stifle democracy in Pakistan. His “National Security Council,” very much unlike the US version, will virtually give the Pakistani military a permanent veto over domestic policy initiatives. He is conducting elections in a very limited manner, disallowing street processions or […]

Yemeni police have discovered a further 300 kg. of plastic explosives in the capital, Sanaa, which belonged to an al-Qaida cell. Two members of the cell had earlier accidentally blown themselves up, but apparently they had planned a large operation. Guantanamo captives from Yemen have in the past said that the U.S. embassy in Sanaa […]