War against terror

[Apollo 0]

Well there are upcomming presidential ellections in Afhanistan.

Thats going to be a weird affair IMO ,with the Warlords and their militia's having to power to probably force a number of civilians to vote for them ,and with ellection controls wich will be very hard.Though Karzai has the whole Populzai clan behind him to.And the possibilety of assasinations not being small ,as usual in Afhanistan.

Lets just hope they manage to get Abdul Rashid Dostum out of the goverment.

[Balschoiw 0]

The sister of one of the women who brought down the two planes in russia has detonated herself in Moscow:

Moscow Suicide Bomber Kills 10, Injures 51

Quote[/b] ]

An Islamist group claimed responsibility for the bombing at the crowded Riga metro station and vowed there would be more attacks on "infidel" Russia, according to a statement published on a Web site.

The blast follows a series of suicide attacks in Russia over the past year, including near simultaneous plane crashes exactly a week ago, all of them linked by officials to Chechen rebels seeking independence from Moscow.

"We in the Islambouli Brigades announce our responsibility for this operation... which comes in support of Muslims of Chechnya (news - web sites)," said the statement signed by the group, which had earlier also claimed responsibility for last week's plane crashes in Russia.

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov said the bomber had tried to enter the station, but became unnerved by some police.

"She...was at the door when she saw two policeman. She was scared and turned and decided to destroy herself," Luzhkov said.

"Up to 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of explosive was used," Luzhkov told reporters at the scene. "This is an unusual amount of explosive for a woman suicide bomber. There was a desire to cause maximum damage."

He said four children and 11 women were among the injured.

Seven people, including the suicide bomber, were killed on the spot. Officials later said the death toll had reached 10 with at least 51 injured, all but two of them sent to hospital.

Police said the bomb had been packed with metal bolts.

Local television channels, unusually, broke into their evening programs to show footage of a blazing car parked between a large shopping center and the entrance to the metro station, with several bodies lying on the pavement.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

The explosion came on the last day of the summer school holidays when parents and their children were certain to be doing last-minute pre-school shopping.

"It was like a big thunder clap. I was just coming out of the shop. There was one explosion, then another small one, probably from gas," Alexei Borodin, 29, told Reuters.

"I saw five people who could not stand up. And there were other people who were in small bits. There was one man without a stomach shouting: 'Where are the police?"'

Exactly a week ago, 90 people died when two Russian airliners crashed almost simultaneously in what officials believe was the work of suicide bombers.

Russian officials have described that air disaster as a terrorist act and have pointed the finger at Chechen rebels who have been battling Moscow rule for more than a decade.

And President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), who has consistently refused to negotiate with rebels, said investigators were probing a possible link between al Qaeda and Chechen rebels in the attack.

FOLLOWS ELECTION

The latest blast follows Sunday's election for a new president in Chechnya, easily won by the Kremlin-backed candidate and which separatist rebels had vowed to disrupt.

According to unconfirmed sources the woman was the sister of one woman in the planes. And the same terror organization, the Islambouli Brigades took responsibility. It´s AQ - related. Is it the start of a bigger branch ? I mean 2 major attacks within 7 days....

[billybob2002 0]

Quote[/b] ]According to unconfirmed sources the woman was the sister of one woman in the planes. And the same terror organization, the Islambouli Brigades took responsibility. It´s AQ - related. Is it the start of a bigger branch ? I mean 2 major attacks within 7 days....

Those folks are giving Islam a bad name....

[theavonlady 2]

More in Russia:

Quote[/b] ]Armed Men Seize Hostages in School in Russia-I'fax

11 minutes ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Armed men attacked a school in southern Russia on Wednesday and seized hostages, Interfax news agency said, quoting police.

A gunbattle had broken out with police near the building in the southern Russian province of North Ossetia near Chechnya (news - web sites). The agency said the gunmen may also have attacked a second school.

[Balschoiw 0]

U.S. Seeks to Throw Out Terror Convictions

Quote[/b] ]WASHINGTON - The Justice Department (news - web sites) is asking a judge to throw out the convictions of a suspected terror cell in Detroit because of prosecutorial misconduct, a dramatic setback for the administration's war on terror on the eve of President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election pitch at the GOP convention.

In a late Tuesday night court filing, the department told U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen it supports the Detroit defendants' request for a new trial and would no longer pursue terrorism charges against them. The defendants at most would only face fraud charges at a new trial.

The Justice Department is "concurring in the defendants' motions for a new trial" and asks the court to dismiss the first count of the original indictment charging the defendants with material support of terrorism, according to a summary of the government's filing that was obtained by The Associated Press through the court's electronic access system.

The filing said there was a 60-page memo laying out the government's concerns about its own prosecutors' handling of the case, but that document was not immediately available through the courts' electronic access.

The department's decision came after a monthslong internal investigation uncovered several pieces of evidence that prosecutors failed to turn over to defense lawyers before the trial last year. The probe exposed deep differences within the government over the course of the case and the quality of the prosecution's evidence.

"We're extremely grateful," William Swor, lawyer for defendant Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, said Wednesday. "It's a major victory."

Swor said the dropping of the terrorism charges leaves the government with "a garden-variety document case" against his client. "Our work is just beginning."

The development occurred in the shadows of the Republican National Convention in New York, where Bush and his allies are trumpeting his successes in the war on terror.

Legal sources familiar with the 60-page investigative memo attached to Justice's filing, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the judge has imposed a gag order, said it is critical of Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Convertino has been under investigation for months and filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) earlier this year. In an interview with the AP, Convertino accused Justice Department superiors of thwarting his efforts to introduce some evidence against the defendants at trial.

Convertino's lawyer, William Sullivan, declined comment Tuesday night, citing the judge's gag order. However, a lawyer for one of the defendants hailed the development.

"If indeed it does throw out the convictions, it's obviously the right thing to do," said James R. Gerometta, an attorney for defendant Karim Koubriti. "In my mind, there's only one right thing to do. And I hope they do it."

In the new court papers, the Justice Department divulges new testimony from a recently retired CIA (news - web sites) officer who calls into question one of the government's key conclusions at trial, the legal sources said.

The retired CIA officer told the Justice Department that he came to a somewhat different analysis of a sketch the prosecutors introduced at trial as evidence the Detroit men cased and intended to attack a Turkish air base, the sources said. They said he offered to testify at the trial but was turned down.

The internal review also turned up evidence the government failed to turn over satellite photos of a suspected terror target in Jordan that the Detroit cell was accused of plotting to attack, the legal sources said. Instead, the government had indicated there were no such photos.

Also, some testimony government witnesses gave at trial was wrong or overstated, according to evidence turned up by the internal review, leading to the decision that terrorism charges could not be supported at a new trial, the legal sources said.

At the same time, the government uncovered new evidence, recently reported by the AP, that FBI (news - web sites) agents in Las Vegas and Detroit disagreed over whether a videotape found in the Detroit terror cell's apartment was surveillance footage, as jurors were told.

A Tunisian man who appeared in the videotape of landmarks in New York, Las Vegas and California has told investigators the tape was amateur footage from a university student trip, not surveillance as prosecutors claimed, the AP reported.

Memos obtained by the AP and reported last month show Justice supervisors in Washington and Detroit bickered over numerous aspects of the case, with Washington portraying the Detroit prosecution team as wayward.

Lawyers for the Detroit defendants have argued for months for a new trial, accusing the prosecutors of withholding evidence that could have aided the defense during the trial. Rosen ordered a formal review of the prosecution's conduct and even was interviewed by the FBI.

In a June 2003 jury verdict hailed by the administration as the breakup of a terror cell, Koubriti, 26, and Elmardoudi, 38, were convicted on terrorism and fraud charges and Ahmed Hannan, 36, was convicted of fraud. A fourth defendant, Farouk Ali-Haimoud, 24, was acquitted.

Oh well, let´s waste it shall we ?

[theavonlady 2]

U.S. Seeks to Throw Out Terror Convictions

Oh well, let´s waste it shall we ?

Habit-forming on both ends of the Atlantic:

Quote[/b] ]Muslim cleric Hamza de-arrested

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, held last week on suspicion of being involved in terror offences, has been de-arrested, Scotland Yard said.

He had been arrested on Thursday at Belmarsh Prison, south-east London, where he is already fighting extradition to the US.

Police had been granted a warrant to question him until 2 September.

He was held on suspicion of commissioning, preparing or instigating terrorist acts in the UK.

British police had earlier said his arrest on Thursday was not related to the accusations in the US.

He was banned from preaching at Finsbury Park, north London, last year but he continued to address his supporters from the pavement.

The US authorities want Mr Abu Hamza to face 11 charges, include giving advice to those involved in a Yemen kidnapping in which three Britons died in 1989.

Other allegations include attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in the north-western state of Oregon and sending someone to Afghanistan to fight for the Taleban.

But Mr Abu Hamza's legal team say he will not get a fair hearing if he is extradited to the US.

"De-arrested"? Must be the Queen's English.

[theavonlady 2]

Krakatoa, east of Starbucks.

Quote[/b] ]Check on Bali bomber coffee

September 2, 2004

THE Australian Government is checking reports that one of the Bali bombers was let out of prison to have coffee with an Indonesian government official in a Jakarta mall.

Ali Imron was reportedly seen having coffee at Starbucks with the director of Indonesian narcotics and drugs, Brigadier General Gorries Mere.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today he had read the report and checked with his department to find out what was behind it.

"I don't know that he's out and about ... he's certainly not been released and we don't want him to be released. We have checked, we have made absolutely sure that he's not going to be released.

Asked if there was a possibility Imron could escape while outside jail, Mr Downer said: "Apparently not, so the Indonesians say."

The Government had been assured by Indonesia that Imron would not be released from prison, where he is serving life imprisonment for his part in the October 2002 terror attacks in Bali which claimed more than 200 lives, including 88 Australians.

The report said that when Imron and Mr Gorries were challenged by journalists, they and a number of black-clad armed police guards fled to a waiting car and sped off, Detik.com news said.

"I walk often with Pak (Mr) Gorries," Imron said in response to questions.

Brig Gen Gorries was one of the main investigators of the Bali bombings before he was transferred to narcotics at national police headquarters in Jakarta.

The pair were spotted shortly after 7pm (2200 AEST) yesterday at a Starbucks store on the second floor of the newly opened Entertainment X'Nter and movie complex beside the swank Plaza Indonesia shopping centre and had coffee together for almost three hours.

The head of Kerobokan Prison in Bali, where Imron was jailed, confirmed he had been temporarily transferred to Jakarta to help in a police investigation.

AAP

Is this going down quietly in Australia?

[billybob2002 0]

Back in Afghanistan...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/01/world/main640130.shtml

Quote[/b] ]

Taliban 'Billy The Kid' Killed

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 1, 2004

Taliban Commander Killed

Roze Khan. His name means nothing to most Americans who have never heard it mentioned. But thousands of miles away from the United States, in the dry south of Afghanistan, it is a name that resonated across dirty brown mountains and remote, dusty villages, sometimes in fear, sometimes in awe.

And when he was killed by U.S. Special Operations forces last week, it was news that spread like wildfire, across the mountains and arid plains and over the Afghan border into Pakistan where it was surely greeted with dismay among the communities of Taliban members and supporters who continue to base themselves in that country’s semi-autonomous tribal areas.

“He was like 'Billy the Kid' in these parts,†one American soldier told me, “We’ve been after him for more than two years and he’s escaped twice before so this feels really good.â€

And it should. Roze Khan was the top Taliban commander based in southern Afghanistan, and the American forces here believe he recruited and organized both Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, financing them from Pakistan. In fact, almost $10,000 in U.S. currency and a huge wad of Pakistani rupees was found on his body to support that belief.

They also believe Khan was responsible for laying of mines, kidnapping aid workers and road workers, as well as attacks on American, Afghan and coalition soldiers. There is certainly no doubt about Roze Khan’s intentions on the day he was shot dead. As Coalition Special Operations Forces approached the village where he was on a hot, dry Friday morning, Khan picked up an AK-47 rifle, six magazines, six grenades, a pistol and all that money and began to saunter casually up the mountainside behind the village.

But the soldiers had already anticipated his possible movements and it took no time for two assault teams to corner him on the mountain. Khan opened fire first, emptying his magazine before he was shot multiple times and fell bleeding onto the rocky, unforgiving ground. His body was immediately checked for known identifying marks and it was apparent from the very outset that this was the high-value target the soldiers were after, although they would wait for absolute confirmation before announcing his death to the world.

There was no further resistance from the village, and curiously, in this tiny place that could have housed no more than about a hundred people, not a single man asked to identify the body admitted knowing Roze Khan or ever having seen him before.

The coalition soldiers came in with overwhelming force, but they used it sparingly. Because there were shots fired, they handcuffed some 22 men in the village of fighting age and above. Then they were searched and questioned. But contrary to popular perceptions, soldiers here operate with very strict rules, and unless they find weapons or other evidence on someone, they cannot be detained, which is similar to how the police operate in the U.S. So after several hours, only two men were detained while the rest had their plastic cuffs cut free and were left to ponder the American soldiers actions, that seemed to have taken them completely by surprise.

Even without detainees, operations like this are never a wasted exercise because fingerprints are taken from all the men and entered into a massive database that is designed to prevent people making their way into the U.S. to carry out terror attacks the way the Sept.11 hijackers did.

For the men who found Roze Khan, this was a huge morale boost. A textbook operation, executed almost to perfection. This particular team has captured or killed five Taliban commanders, more than any other single team since this war began over two years ago. They don’t want any credit for it, they tell me, because that’s not why there are here, doing this very difficult and dangerous job.

But it is gratifying to know that back home in the U.S., thousands of miles and several world away, people remember an important war is still being fought.

[BoweryBaker 0]

Even though what i think has no effect, i think that punishing the people who support the taliban by not allowing them to wear headscarves is a good idea. You can never tell them apart these days the taliban from the civillians. Doing something like taking away them allowed to have headscarves you could do that and say "until the taliban do this" or that and see if that makes a difference. For one, most extremist taliban supporters will more than likely leave France because you know how strict they are with their beliefs. Any regular muslim will probably be like, no headscarves, who cares i like it here in france ill go with it. So i think its a clever way of getting the crap out of your country secretly.

[Akira 0]

Source

Quote[/b] ]U.S. Near Seizing bin Laden, Official Says

Email this Story

Sep 4, 4:58 PM (ET)

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - The United States and its allies have moved closer to capturing Osama bin Laden in the last two months, a top U.S. counterterrorism official said in a television interview broadcast Saturday.

"If he has a watch, he should be looking at it because the clock is ticking. He will be caught," Joseph Cofer Black, the U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, told private Geo television network.

Asked if concrete progress had been made during the last two months - when Pakistan has arrested dozens of terror suspects including some key al-Qaida operatives - Black said, "Yes, I would say this."

Black, who briefed a group of Pakistani journalists after talks with officials here Friday, said he could not predict exactly when bin Laden and other top al-Qaida fugitives would be nabbed.

(AP) Joseph Cofer Black smiles to cameras as he arrives at Ankara's Esenboga airport in this Oct. 1,...

Full Image

"What I tell people, I would be surprised but not necessarily shocked if we wake up tomorrow and he's been caught along with all his lieutenants. That can happen because of the programs and infrastructure in place," he told Geo.

Bin Laden and his top associate, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding some place along the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Officials have divulged no solid intelligence about bin Laden's precise whereabouts, and it's not clear if they have any.

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, and Black's visit comes weeks after Pakistani security forces captured Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in east Africa, and Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, a Pakistani computer expert allegedly linked to al-Qaida operatives around the world.

The arrests led to a terror warning in the United States, and arrests in Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

Black attended a meeting of the Pakistan-U.S. Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement in Islamabad on Thursday and Friday.

During the talks, Pakistan asked U.S. officials for more helicopters, surveillance and communications equipment to help Pakistani forces guard border areas near Afghanistan "more efficiently," a Pakistani official at the talks said.

"We got a positive response from the American officials," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan has deployed about 70,000 troops along the Afghan border and conducted several military operations this year in its lawless and largely autonomous tribal regions against al-Qaida suspects and their local supporters.

Black hailed Pakistan's efforts in counterterrorism - despite criticism from Western officials who say that elements of the former ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan still operate inside Pakistan.

"In terms of national programs and effectiveness, I would put Pakistan up against anyone else ... If you look at the arrests they have made, the information they have developed and the lives that have been saved, Pakistan is doing a great job," he said.

He added, however, that, "you can always do more."

I'm guessing sometime in October...

[Shalashaska 0]

Quote[/b] ]The al-Jazeera newsreader said the group described the French law banning religious apparel in public schools as "an aggression on the Islamic religion and personal freedoms".

that really cracks me up. "personal freedoms" like they would know the meaning of the word... stupid bigots. if i were President Jacques Chirac, i'd draw a picture for the "Islamic Army of Iraq" that shows them where they can insert their Kalishnikov's.

Its official.

Giving a muslim a cold by shaking their hand is an 'aggression towards the Islamic religon and personal health', for these extremists. Worst of all, there are sects in which personal freedom is a fleeting term for women, acid thrown at them if they are without a veil. Would love to see France toss that stupid law, but would even moreso love to see France show backbone, try and save the hostages, and flip em the finger.

I Disagreed with this plan, it was designed I believe to try and promote unity by uniformality. Thats a terrible idea, taking away EVERYONES personal freedoms to try and make us all seem equal.

Equal in the total sense of the word, would suck ass. Uniqueness is a great quality.

[CrackerJack 0]

Dont make fun of Ikea or I will take my Ikea chair and my Ikea talbe and beat you with it. For a student like me It´s the best thing around.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]Bin Laden and his top associate, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding some place along the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Officials have divulged no solid intelligence about bin Laden's precise whereabouts, and it's not clear if they have any.

I guess not. Keeping in mind that the 5th wife of Bin Laden is a yemenite daughter of a very powerful man I´d bet he´d be hiding somewhere there. As the father of her is the only one who can move freely in the large area only controlled by him and his forces it would be a neat idea to hide there...or in Indonesia...or in Latin America...

Sounds more like rattling the election drum. But as I said before...I don´t believe there is a real interest of the USA to capture Bin Laden, at least not alive. That could backfire at them big time. Politically and throughout terrorist attacks.

And Pakistan...well...THE ally in the fight on terror...sorry but I just don´t buy that.

[theavonlady 2]

Krakatoa, east of Starbucks.

Quote[/b] ]Check on Bali bomber coffee

September 2, 2004

THE Australian Government is checking reports that one of the Bali bombers was let out of prison to have coffee with an Indonesian government official in a Jakarta mall.

Ali Imron was reportedly seen having coffee at Starbucks with the director of Indonesian narcotics and drugs, Brigadier General Gorries Mere.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today he had read the report and checked with his department to find out what was behind it.

"I don't know that he's out and about ... he's certainly not been released and we don't want him to be released. We have checked, we have made absolutely sure that he's not going to be released.

Asked if there was a possibility Imron could escape while outside jail, Mr Downer said: "Apparently not, so the Indonesians say."

The Government had been assured by Indonesia that Imron would not be released from prison, where he is serving life imprisonment for his part in the October 2002 terror attacks in Bali which claimed more than 200 lives, including 88 Australians.

The report said that when Imron and Mr Gorries were challenged by journalists, they and a number of black-clad armed police guards fled to a waiting car and sped off, Detik.com news said.

"I walk often with Pak (Mr) Gorries," Imron said in response to questions.

Brig Gen Gorries was one of the main investigators of the Bali bombings before he was transferred to narcotics at national police headquarters in Jakarta.

The pair were spotted shortly after 7pm (2200 AEST) yesterday at a Starbucks store on the second floor of the newly opened Entertainment X'Nter and movie complex beside the swank Plaza Indonesia shopping centre and had coffee together for almost three hours.

The head of Kerobokan Prison in Bali, where Imron was jailed, confirmed he had been temporarily transferred to Jakarta to help in a police investigation.

AAP

Is this going down quietly in Australia?

Surprise! Not.

Quote[/b] ]At Least Three Killed in Jakarta Blast -Witness

18 minutes ago

JAKARTA (Reuters) - At least three dead bodies were seen in the street outside the Australian embassy in central Jakarta on Thursday after an explosion, a Reuters photographer said.

A Reuters reporter on the scene said there was a hole in the embassy gate.

Windows of buildings in and around the embassy were shattered. Ambulances and fire trucks were on the scene but authorities gave no immediate reports of casualties.

[Balschoiw 0]

Great...

I am planning to go to Java Bali and Lombok in October

Looks like I could get a funny holiday.

[Ironsight 1]

In the Washington Post today:

Quote[/b] ]Australian Embassy in Jakarta Shattered by Blast

By Alan Sipress and Ellen Nakashima

Washington Post Foreign Service

Thursday, September 9, 2004; 5:03 AM

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept. 9 -- A large explosion was set off early Thursday outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta's financial district, killing at least eight people and wounding more than 100, officials said. Police said the blast appeared to have been a suicide attack using a car bomb.

The explosion at about 10:30 a.m. mangled the high metal gate in front of the Australian Embassy and shattered the windows of the embassy and other office towers along the adjacent boulevard. Scores of police rushed to the scene and police helicopters circled overhead. Windows of several cars and buses were blown out by the force of the explosion. A nearby police truck was destroyed.

All of the dead and the overwhelming number of injured appeared to be Indonesian. At least one of the dead appeared to be an Indonesia security guard working at the embassy. A witness also said he saw a motorcycle rider killed in the explosion, his body dismembered.

Nearby buildings were evacuated and police set up a security perimeter about a mile away from the embassy as smoke from the explosion billowed.

John Kalangi, 45, a businessman from eastern Indonesia, said he was inside the Australian Embassy applying for a visa when the blast occurred. "I just heard a blast, a bang," he said. "It happened very fast and we just covered our heads."

National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said during a visit to the site that the attack was similar to the August 2003 suicide bombing near the JW Marriott Hotel, in which 12 people were killed, and the 2002 bombings of two Bali nightclubs, in which 202 people were killed, including 88 Australians.

"We suspect it's the same group," Bachtiar said, referring to members of Jemaah Islamiah, a militant Islamic group linked by intelligence officials to al Qaeda. In particular, Bachtiar said police believe that the Jemaah Islamiah's chief bomb-maker, a Malaysian engineer Azahari Husin, produced the explosives used in the blast.

Full article

[ozanzac 0]

Great...

I am planning to go to Java Bali and Lombok in October  

Looks like I could get a funny holiday.

I could have told you that beforehand. Only Bali is 'tourist freindly', but it's not a very good representative of Indonesian culture.

The other islands are where you will experience the real culture of indonesia.

Can't say I was suprised an Australian Embasy in Indonesia or any country where Muslim extremists lurk was bombed......It was only a matter of time

From the pictures and early reports I've seen, Only eleven people killed, none of them Australians, and for a bomb of that magnitude! Very lucky.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]I could have told you that beforehand. Only Bali is 'tourist freindly', but it's not a very good representative of Indonesian culture.

Hmmm, I´ve been to Indonesia a couple of times...not only Bali. I went to Java, Lombok the Guillies, Sulawesi and Sumatra.

I never faced hostility. Indeed there are cultural differences. That´s a matter of believe.

But I never felt that I was unwanted there. Quite the opposite was the case. I always had a wonderful time.

Of course you see that something is going very wrong if you have ever been to Kuta. That kind of tourism with prostitution, drugs, alcohol and a general disrespect for the local habits, believe and people will have it´s outcome in violence. It was so disgusting for me that I didn´t even spend the time planned there but left the town after 2 hours.

[ozanzac 0]

Quote[/b] ]I could have told you that beforehand. Only Bali is 'tourist freindly', but it's not a very good representative of Indonesian culture.

Hmmm, I´ve been to Indonesia a couple of times...not only Bali. I went to Java, Lombok the Guillies, Sulawesi and Sumatra.

I never faced hostility. Indeed there are cultural differences. That´s a matter of believe.

But I never felt that I was unwanted there. Quite the opposite was the case. I always had a wonderful time.

Of course you see that something is going very wrong if you have ever been to Kuta. That kind of tourism with prostitution, drugs, alcohol and a general disrespect for the local habits, believe and people will have it´s outcome in violence. It was so disgusting for me that I didn´t even spend the time planned there but left the town after 2 hours.

When I said 'Tourist Freindly', I didn't mean the attitudes the people had towards you, the tourist. I found the people of West Java, especially the kids of a school we visited, to be quite freindly.

I meant the amenities available to tourists....If your not in at least a large town, or at a known tourist attraction. It's hard to find some things that alot of Tourists take for granted.

[bn880 5]

Great...

I am planning to go to Java Bali and Lombok in October

Looks like I could get a funny holiday.

Call it a workoliday. Bring your gear.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]Bring your gear.

That´s not so easy bn880

I´ll stick to a flower in the hair

[theavonlady 2]

Quote[/b] ]Bring your gear.

That´s not so easy bn880

I´ll stick to a flower in the hair  

And wear a grass skirt. That'll either make you blend in with the natives or keep them at a safe distance.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]And wear a grass skirt.

You haven´t been to Indonesia lately, right ?

[theavonlady 2]

Quote[/b] ]And wear a grass skirt.

You haven´t been to Indonesia lately, right ?  

Not even way back when.

But I'm pretty sure they don't wear grass skirts there. I'm just try to help you travel incognito.

[Akira 0]

Quote[/b] ]Cat Stevens sparks US plane alert

The singer converted to Islam in 1977

A security alert involving the singer who used to be known as Cat Stevens has forced a London-to-Washington flight to be diverted to another US airport.

The plane was already in the air when US officials identified that the singer, whose name is now Yusuf Islam, was on one of their "watch lists".

United Airlines Flight 919 was diverted 600 miles (1000km), landing in Maine.

After an interview, the singer - who converted to Islam in 1977 - was denied entry into the US.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials said the access was denied "on national security grounds", without giving any further details.

Yusuf Islam is now expected to be put on a flight out of America later on Wednesday.

Four years ago, Mr Islam was deported from Israel over allegations that he backed militant Muslims.

Yusuf Islam was born Stephen Demetre Georgiou in London to a Greek Cypriot father and Swedish mother.

Since abandoning a successful music career in the late 1970s, he has devoted himself to advocating and teaching Islam.

One high-profile activity was the founding of a Muslim school in London.

Source

Damn terroist folk singers!