The war at the Red Mosque: why isn’t this on TV?
A gripping story made for TV — complete with violence, death, special forces assaults, and plenty of women and children hostages — is unfolding 24/7 in downtown Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital and a city of over a million people. Here’s an AP Description, via WSJ’s Asia edition. We mentioned it previously, this incident that began with the mosque’s students kidnapping Chinese prostitutes. It is at least as big a story as Waco, which cable news carried live.
But MSNBC is running filler, CNN is discussing John McCain’s funding woes, and Fox is exploring the question of whether getting some sun could actually be good for you. Meanwhile in the middle of downtown Islamabad, a heavily armed mosque is waging war with the local authorities and scores of people are being killed, and the whole world is tuned to another channel.
Pakistan’s army tried to blast through the wall of a besieged radical Islamic seminary early Sunday to help free hostages held by a cleric and his militant supporters, leaving one commando dead…Militants inside the fortress-like Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, opened fire on the army forces, wounding two commandos, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said. One soldier later died in hospital, bringing the official death toll in the siege to at least 24.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf threatened Saturday to kill the holdouts unless they surrendered…Thousands of troops have surrounded the mosque and an adjoining seminary for women over the past six days in the heart of the Pakistani capital, but have so far held back from an all-out assault. “So long as there are people inside who are holding innocent children and women hostages, we have to be very careful. If we wanted to barge in guns blazing, we could have done it on day one”…
Gunfire and heavy explosions could be heard just after midnight Sunday and then sporadically throughout the dawn hours, punctuating the thunder of a fierce monsoon downpour. By midmorning Sunday, both the gunfire and rain had stopped…
armed men were holding about 250 people in an area of the mosque’s basement where the faithful wash before prayers. Bakht Sher said that he spoke with his 22-year-old nephew, Noorul Hayat, by mobile phone Sunday morning. Mr. Hayat said that the body of a man was lying in the basement after he was shot dead by militants as he tried to flee, according to Sher. Mr. Hayat, a construction worker who was trapped inside the mosque when the crisis erupted, said the hostages receive food and water and hear occasional gunshots, but aren’t allowed to leave the basement.
Mr. Azim said some of those inside the complex weren’t students but rather “trained armed militants.” “The very fact that they can use heavy automatic weapons with some expertise shows that they are not just ordinary 14, 15-year-old students, and they keep claiming that they have enough ammunition inside to keep this fight going for one long month”…
It sounds like great TV, even if it has to be covered at a distance and without live stand-ups at the mosque’s walls. But we haven’t seen a single TV report on this “hostage crisis,” even though every car trapped in a flooded street in Texas or Missouri now merits two or three news helicopters. Why? Hmmmm. We notice on CNN that the discussion of the moment is about whether London authorities are right to target “particular communities” as they look into the recent bombings, or should they look broadly throughout the UK, lest they violate someone’s “civil liberties.” (We touched on that subject here.) Surely similar sensitivities in the MSM could not affect an editorial decision not to cover the gripping story of the kidnappings by the Red Mosque and the government’s siege.
July 12th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Why they don’t carry this news of success??
Al Qaeda support is busted all over the world. Perhaps it puts the entire strategy of war against terror in great light. How can they admit that the theater of the war has been shifted from environs of 1 Liberty plaza to the hinterland of Iraq, Waziristan in northern Pakistan, Nejd in Saudia, Salahuddin province of Iraq? The NYT and democrats from Chicago or NY have no idea; they cannot scratch the facade to discover the inner truth.
The shifting of the focus of the war and ability of Bush to get unenthusiastic ex- Islamist leaders like King Abdullah and Musharraf going after these militants with vengeance is the biggest success of the Bush era. The cleansing of the Augean stable of nation of Islam is today mainly being carried out by the indigenous moderates. The ‘fifth’ task is as staggering and exceptional as it was in the days of Hercules. Afghanistan and Iraq was the catalyst, every one knows that this cancer needs to be eradicated everyone knows they either it is the Silicon age or the journey to stone age, execution of a policy that vacillates between carrot and big stick but it has worked, when the world realizes America means business the terrorists have only one place, deep caves and they are being smoked out of them as promised form day one.
The trivial, the peripheral and the misguided as the world has now been offered the unsavoury spectacle of doctors as terrorists is the last sigh of a dying creed. http://www.mediaforfreedom.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=1813 One of the main reason that the recent doctors attack failed in London were that despite of being a top class engineer the main culprit did not have the sanctuary like Ata’s and others to train and perfect the art of killing, those sanctuaries have been closed and that has resulted in far higher failures, after 911, Madrid and 7/7 the two major efforts fizzled out, the containment of the schools of destruction has led to fortunate malfunctions. http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1083672007
The credit goes to surveillance, peak action and continued vigilance on the most volatile areas of the world from Afghanistan, Waziristan to Iraq, leave these areas in power void and schools of mass destruction will mushroom, botched up terrorist incident is as immense an accomplishment of security forces as skill to stop one, the one that is successful is impression in our minds but the one that fails leaves no imprint but it is those failures that are real success stories of the post 911 strategy. The reason they failed were because we have closed the loop holes of training, loop holes of access to planes and this is the success that no one has put a price on. The reason that we didn’t have a major terrorist incident post 911 is not because Alqaeda became benevolent, (they in frustration has started eating their own) rather it was failure of their capabilities today like Saturn they are devouring their own sons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Roman myth of Saturn, who feared that his children would supplant him, ate each one upon their birth.)
The historian of tomorrow beyond moral equivalence being drawn by the drawing room pundits will give full credit to this decade where lines were drawn to stop the infiltration of militants in he upper echelons of the Islamic societies. The real target of Alqaeda remains the domination of Oil, the control of heart of Islam Mecca i.e. Ideology and nuclear strategic assets, the targeted twin towers of Alqaeda today that can provide them with ease this leadership of Islam is Saudia and Pakistan, it is here where the battle of survival of is waged and fought by the inspired forces.
Bush has created for USA a ring of exterior defence, like the Romans who until the time maintained the exterior defence of the empire across the Danube were never threatened by the Visigoths, today exterior defence of US lies and its free economy in the hinterland of Iraq, Afghanistan, Waziristan and Saudi, in today’s connected globe of economy and starving energy dependant world it is here that the real war is going on and probably shall be won.
http://cybermusings.blogspot.com/2007/07/fallen-soldier-uncommon-valour.html
This brave man and many others would have not given their life in vain, he knew that he is killing people who will destroy his own nation through venomous message of abhorrence, these soldiers who are fighting this war of terror are unsung unpaid heroes form the core of the strategy that envelops tidiness of the Islamic world from the ills of brutal butchery, disintegration and revulsion. These are historical complications and need long-term solutions with endurance and that is what is unfolding in front of our eyes is, but who really cares? The popularity graph of the President demonstrates the pettiness of thankless nation; they just don’t realize how many 911 have been avoided and how many plots have been nipped in the bud.
To kill their own country man and co religionist militants, these guys were not trained for this rather they were their protectors, and this could have not been possible pre 911 world, a lot has changed, mentality of the moderates within Islamic world has gone through a sea change of attitude, they realize that the true enemy lies within, it is for this that the so called the NYT’s labelled ‘Pakistani Jihadi Army’ beat the hell out of 300 militants entrenched and threatening to wage a Talibanised revolution, they were all killed by uncommon valour of few good man..
The credit decidedly goes to the strategy and policy… How do you expect the liberals to give such credit or coverage to think beyond their nose? It needs an ounce of common sense which they are devoid off, the typical lack of understanding is representative of shallow conduct of issues within the liberal policy framework. Look at Saudia..The global network of terror is being slowly dismantled.. ‘Saudi Arabia has foiled 180 “terrorist” operations by Al Qaeda since 2003 and averted a catastrophe in the oil powerhouse, the interior minister said in comments published on Monday.“The security forces have caused the failure of 180 terrorist operations,” local media quoted Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz as saying.
If only 10 percent of these operations had succeeded the kingdom would have faced “catastrophe,” he said, adding that the Islamist extremists’ “huge plan” had been disrupted. Prince Nayef said 9,000 people had been arrested during anti-terror operations over the past four years. Most had been released but 3,106 remained in custody.
His comments come a day after the kingdom announced the formation of special anti-terror forces to protect its vast oil infrastructure from attacks aimed at throwing the world economy into chaos. He said the first units from the new force would be deployed to protect oil infrastructure.’
In Lal Mosque.. No one had the courage to touch the hornet’s nest of Lal Mosque; it was the remnant of the Afghani Mujaheddin struggle and flourished now in the heart of Islamabad to train new terrorists ready to conquer the power centre of Pakistan through mass religious uprising. Post911 devastation of nations harbouring Alqaeda terrorists, every nation within crescent of crisis understands the ramifications of Al Qaeda associations and its foot soldiers, there is an open war from Morocco to Indonesia on the cells which were growing every day.
The head of the Lal Masjid Abdul Aziz Ghazi posed as an “aunty” while trying to escape on Wednesday in a burqa from the shrine surrounded by Pakistani troops.Maulana Aziz was carrying a lady’s handbag stuffed with a lipstick, an ID card of a woman and a diary. it appears that the Maulana finally gave in to the surroundings and pressures of his medieval madrassa. He ended up his shallow defiance by adopting a burqa, making the dictum work that if you cant beat them join them.
http://iqballatif.newsvine.com/_news/2007/07/04/818592-jihadi-aunt-a-jackal-in-the-garb-of-a-lion?r=665467391
It is not a chance that these global terrorists are being thrown in jails for life it is the consequence of a concerted tactic. http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1083672007
911 was not conceived in vacuum, those who draw the moral equivalence that post 911 has encouraged extremism forget that pre 911 there was no justification to destroy civilian targets in the heart of NY city. If the reaction would have been like post Cole or post Kenyan embassies, the world would have seen the war and its theatre shifted to heart of western civilisation, someone than would have thought to appease the –astards and give them the reign of Saudia and Pakistan, that is what they want, a global violent caliphate to wage new wars of puritanism and stopping the evil and decadence by force. The fury of these elements is about wrath of impotence and the policy is not to appease but to attack and reply fire with fire has broken their backs, they are today in the caves hiding from the world. The policy of giving them victory would be to leave new vacuum in Iraq and Afghanistan, to take the trouble-free route and adapt to narrow-minded instincts, it would be exactly repetition of the vacuum which was left in Afghanistan soon after Soviet departure, the consequences of that vacuum is a trillion $ war that still goes on.
July 12th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Why they don’t carry this news of success??
Al Qaeda support is busted all over the world. Perhaps it puts the entire strategy of war against terror in great light. How can they admit that the theatre of the war has been shifted from environs of 1 Liberty plaza to the hinterland of Iraq, Waziristan in northern Pakistan, Nejd in Saudia, Salahuddin province of Iraq? The NYT and democrats from Chicago or NY have no idea; they cannot scratch the facade to discover the inner truth.
The shifting of the focus of the war and ability of Bush to get unenthusiastic ex- Islamist leaders like King Abdullah and Musharraf going after these militants with vengeance is the biggest success of the Bush era. The cleansing of the Augean stable of nation of Islam is today mainly being carried out by the indigenous moderates. The ‘fifth’ task is as staggering and exceptional as it was in the days of Hercules. Afghanistan and Iraq was the catalyst, every one knows that this cancer needs to be eradicated everyone knows they either it is the Silicon age or the journey to stone age, execution of a policy that vacillates between carrot and big stick but it has worked, when the world realizes America means business the terrorists have only one place, deep caves and they are being smoked out of them as promised form day one.
The trivial, the peripheral and the misguided as the world has now been offered the unsavoury spectacle of doctors as terrorists is the last sigh of a dying creed. http://www.mediaforfreedom.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=1813 One of the main reason that the recent doctors attack failed in London were that despite of being a top class engineer the main culprit did not have the sanctuary like Ata’s and others to train and perfect the art of killing, those sanctuaries have been closed and that has resulted in far higher failures, after 911, Madrid and 7/7 the two major efforts fizzled out, the containment of the schools of destruction has led to fortunate malfunctions. http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1083672007
The credit goes to surveillance, peak action and continued vigilance on the most volatile areas of the world from Afghanistan, Waziristan to Iraq, leave these areas in power void and schools of mass destruction will mushroom, botched up terrorist incident is as immense an accomplishment of security forces as skill to stop one, the one that is successful is impression in our minds but the one that fails leaves no imprint but it is those failures that are real success stories of the post 911 strategy. The reason they failed were because we have closed the loop holes of training, loop holes of access to planes and this is the success that no one has put a price on. The reason that we didn’t have a major terrorist incident post 911 is not because Alqaeda became benevolent, (they in frustration has started eating their own) rather it was failure of their capabilities today like Saturn they are devouring their own sons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Roman myth of Saturn, who feared that his children would supplant him, ate each one upon their birth.)
The historian of tomorrow beyond moral equivalence being drawn by the drawing room pundits will give full credit to this decade where lines were drawn to stop the infiltration of militants in he upper echelons of the Islamic societies. The real target of Alqaeda remains the domination of Oil, the control of heart of Islam Mecca i.e. Ideology and nuclear strategic assets, the targeted twin towers of Alqaeda today that can provide them with ease this leadership of Islam is Saudia and Pakistan, it is here where the battle of survival of is waged and fought by the inspired forces.
Bush has created for USA a ring of exterior defence, like the Romans who until the time maintained the exterior defence of the empire across the Danube were never threatened by the Visigoths, today exterior defence of US lies and its free economy in the hinterland of Iraq, Afghanistan, Waziristan and Saudi, in today’s connected globe of economy and starving energy dependant world it is here that the real war is going on and probably shall be won.
http://cybermusings.blogspot.com/2007/07/fallen-soldier-uncommon-valour.html
This brave man and many others would have not given their life in vain, he knew that he is killing people who will destroy his own nation through venomous message of abhorrence, these soldiers who are fighting this war of terror are unsung unpaid heroes form the core of the strategy that envelops tidiness of the Islamic world from the ills of brutal butchery, disintegration and revulsion. These are historical complications and need long-term solutions with endurance and that is what is unfolding in front of our eyes is, but who really cares? The popularity graph of the President demonstrates the pettiness of thankless nation; they just don’t realize how many 911 have been avoided and how many plots have been nipped in the bud.
To kill their own country man and co religionist militants, these guys were not trained for this rather they were their protectors, and this could have not been possible pre 911 world, a lot has changed, mentality of the moderates within Islamic world has gone through a sea change of attitude, they realize that the true enemy lies within, it is for this that the so called the NYT’s labelled ‘Pakistani Jihadi Army’ beat the hell out of 300 militants entrenched and threatening to wage a Talibanised revolution, they were all killed by uncommon valour of few good man..
The credit decidedly goes to the strategy and policy… How do you expect the liberals to give such credit or coverage to think beyond their nose? It needs an ounce of common sense which they are devoid off, the typical lack of understanding is representative of shallow conduct of issues within the liberal policy framework. Look at Saudia..The global network of terror is being slowly dismantled.. ‘Saudi Arabia has foiled 180 “terrorist” operations by Al Qaeda since 2003 and averted a catastrophe in the oil powerhouse, the interior minister said in comments published on Monday.“The security forces have caused the failure of 180 terrorist operations,” local media quoted Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz as saying.
If only 10 percent of these operations had succeeded the kingdom would have faced “catastrophe,” he said, adding that the Islamist extremists’ “huge plan” had been disrupted. Prince Nayef said 9,000 people had been arrested during anti-terror operations over the past four years. Most had been released but 3,106 remained in custody.
His comments come a day after the kingdom announced the formation of special anti-terror forces to protect its vast oil infrastructure from attacks aimed at throwing the world economy into chaos. He said the first units from the new force would be deployed to protect oil infrastructure.’
In Lal Mosque.. No one had the courage to touch the hornet’s nest of Lal Mosque; it was the remnant of the Afghani Mujaheddin struggle and flourished now in the heart of Islamabad to train new terrorists ready to conquer the power centre of Pakistan through mass religious uprising. Post911 devastation of nations harbouring Alqaeda terrorists, every nation within crescent of crisis understands the ramifications of Al Qaeda associations and its foot soldiers, there is an open war from Morocco to Indonesia on the cells which were growing every day.
The head of the Lal Masjid Abdul Aziz Ghazi posed as an “aunty” while trying to escape on Wednesday in a burqa from the shrine surrounded by Pakistani troops.Maulana Aziz was carrying a lady’s handbag stuffed with a lipstick, an ID card of a woman and a diary. it appears that the Maulana finally gave in to the surroundings and pressures of his medieval madrassa. He ended up his shallow defiance by adopting a burqa, making the dictum work that if you cant beat them join them.
http://iqballatif.newsvine.com/_news/2007/07/04/818592-jihadi-aunt-a-jackal-in-the-garb-of-a-lion?r=665467391
It is not a chance that these global terrorists are being thrown in jails for life it is the consequence of a concerted tactic. http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1083672007
911 was not conceived in vacuum, those who draw the moral equivalence that post 911 has encouraged extremism forget that pre 911 there was no justification to destroy civilian targets in the heart of NY city. If the reaction would have been like post Cole or post Kenyan embassies, the world would have seen the war and its theatre shifted to heart of western civilisation, someone than would have thought to appease the –astards and give them the reign of Saudia and Pakistan, that is what they want, a global violent caliphate to wage new wars of puritanism and stopping the evil and decadence by force. The fury of these elements is about wrath of impotence and the policy is not to appease but to attack and reply fire with fire has broken their backs, they are today in the caves hiding from the world. The policy of giving them victory would be to leave new vacuum in Iraq and Afghanistan, to take the trouble-free route and adapt to narrow-minded instincts, it would be exactly repetition of the vacuum which was left in Afghanistan soon after Soviet departure, the consequences of that vacuum is a trillion $ war that still goes on.