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As we have noted here many times before, he no doubt has friends, and ideological kin, in high places. "Terror cleric Bashir set to walk free," from AAP, with thanks to JE:
JAILED hardline Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir would become a free man this month after completing a prison sentence over his involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings, Indonesia's justice minister said today.Bashir, seen by Western countries as the spiritual leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah regional militant network, was convicted of being part of a conspiracy behind the bombings that killed 202 people on the resort island.
"Based on law, he must be freed on June 14," Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin said, adding nobody had raised objections.
Southeast Asian and Western authorities blame Jemaah Islamiah for the Bali attacks and other terrorist strikes in the region....
Bashir, co-founder of an Islamic school in Central Java, denies any wrongdoing and insists Jemaah Islamiah does not exist. Police say Jemaah Islamiah has become decentralised, with some factions splitting off and operating independently.
Officials add that despite the capture of nearly 300 people suspected of violating anti-terrorism laws, violent militants remain a serious threat in Indonesia, a vast archipelago with 17,000 islands and 220 million people.
Earlier today, an Islamic militant confessed in a Bali court that he had offered to become a suicide bomber before another terror strike on the island last year, when three suicide bombers killed 20 people in a beachside restaurant.
Anif Solchanuddin, who prosecutors say underwent training to become a suicide bomber but was replaced at the last minute, told the Denpasar court: "I once offered myself to become a bomber."
"Two days after the Bali bombing, I was asked whether I still wanted to become a suicide bomber," Solchanuddin said when he testified on Tuesday in a trial against another defendant, Abdul Aziz, who is accused of setting up a militant website.
Asked by a member of the three-judge panel how he replied, the former mobile telephone salesman said: "I was in doubt over the definition of jihad".
Some say jihad means simply "struggle" in Arabic but others contend it refers specifically to holy war.
It does mean "struggle" in Arabic. And in the Qur'an, it refers primarily to holy war.
Posted by Robert at June 6, 2006 7:18 AM
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I can not post what I really think here, that would get me banned.
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at June 6, 2006 10:34 AM
And today Indonesia warned Rumsfeld that the US faces a "world wide backlash" if it continues to insist that nations such as Indonesia follow the US lead in fighting the war on terror.
The day after their latest natural disaster, we deployed 1,000 US marines and gifted over $15 million in assistance. Worthless apparently to these proud Islamic ingrates who aren't capable of taking care of their own country. And after the tsunami, our gift of $2+ Billion in aid, and our gift of huge US Military relief, and the Bush Sr./Clinton game of paddycake and "let's make friends!" all had no effect whatsoever. (BTW, dear reader, our multi-billion dollar largesse to this putrid Muslim garbage dump amounted to an approximately 3% boost to their f*ing annual GDP. For comparison, it would be as if a single nation had approached us after some natural disaster, and then handed the American people a check for $400 Billion gratis -- nice work if you can get it...)
at June 6, 2006 10:37 AM
Interesting to note that the skumbag has very strong ties with Yogyakarta prior to his arrest
he lived there and he also sat on the executive of the Mujahideen Council, which he help form in Yogyakarta in 2000 as an umbrella group for people wanting to turn Indonesia into an Islamic country.
at June 6, 2006 11:35 AM
Islam is terrorism. Even in the Republic of bin-donesia.
As for bin-donesia, the USA DOES NOT FACE a worldwide 'backlash' for fighting Islamic-perpetrated terror. What it faces is an increase in violence perpetrated by people like bin-donesians for opposing Islamic-orchestrated mayhem aka jihad.
Now if only someone would stop Rummy from arranging for the US Military to train the bin-donesian Armed Forces. Ousamah bin Laden is enjoying this too much, I am sure.
at June 6, 2006 5:14 PM
Perhaps its time for the CIA, MI6, Mossad and the like to send their hitmen there.
Posted by: Spirit Of 1683 at June 6, 2006 5:43 PM
I was in Bali three months before the explosion. I hung out at only two clubs the exact same ones that were bombed. I remember on July 4th coming across a family from California(my guess liberals). I wished them a happy 4th and told them I will be keeping a low profile today. The woman told me exact words"don't be silly nothing would ever happen here"
I have never been to a place that gave me a worse vibe. The balinese are hindus but it is overrun by muslims from java. They were openly hostile to chinese. And an american I met who went to a neighbouring island came across guys prasing bin laden.
This sentence was a joke and I will never go back again. And there was another bombing again there this past year. Indonesia deserves no money form tourism. Of course if Bali were to seperate I would support them and go back.
Posted by: pissedoffcanadian at June 6, 2006 6:07 PM
PissedoffCanadian,
After the 2nd Bali bombings I saw on TV here in Australia a demonstration by Balinese Hindus ( a genuinely warm , peaceful and artistic people ) to seccede from Indonesia . They are very adversely affected by the actions of vilent muslims in their midst. Their main ( only?) industry , tourism, lies in tatters after the 2nd bombings. Who in their right mind would holiday there now ?
And the Indonesian govt. has caved in to radical muslim ( read; your average practicing muslim )pressure to release the head terrorist early. He hatched the plot which killed 200+ people (including 88 Australians) in Oct. 2002 and he's out with a ( mild) slap on the wrist. No doubt he and his followers will begin plotting more adventures. Our govt.'s policy is to just keep on giving huge amounts of our money while our own hospitals, schools etc. decline with no gratitude shown. Quite the opposite, at every perceived " offence" they openly verbalize their hatred for Australia.
at June 6, 2006 7:16 PM
For "vile-ent" muslims read "violent"
Freudian (?) slip as they are indeed, vile.
Posted by: protestcat at June 6, 2006 7:19 PM
protestcat I never saw the news on the balinese but that is good news. If they were to throw off their muslim slave masters I would go back just to show support.
Posted by: pissedoffcanadian at June 6, 2006 7:38 PM
pissedoffcanadian and protestcat
Except Java and Sumatra, most of Indonesia is Infidels terretory, except for Muslims trying to forcibly settle there. Bali & Lombok are Hindu, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) Dayak pagan, Sulawesi Christian, etc. I would support each of these places secceeding into separate countries, a la East Timor.
If this happens, I'd love to visit Bali & Lombok some day. But I refuse to do that not only if there's a threat of bombings, but also if going there would mean payment of tourist Jiziya. I want to support all Infidels there, but no Mohammedans
at June 6, 2006 8:55 PM
Bali is a beautiful and tragic island. Now that I know what I know -- I DEEPLY worry for the fate of the Balinese. They are in a hellish vice.
Posted by: jsla at June 6, 2006 11:29 PM
jsla,
Agree with you. All over the world, infidels are in serious trouble. Especially in places like Indonesia, where the muslims outnumber them.
at June 7, 2006 7:15 AM
Infidel Pride: Bali and Lombok have been badly spoiled by intense commercial real estate and tourism over-development in the coastal areas, with irreversible damage done to the coral reefs, coasts, with losses of beach forest etc. I wouldn't go swimming off many coastal areas of southern Bali (a danger of catching hepatitis from all the sewage). It's all rather sad when one compares these islands to what they were a generation or two back. Bali and Lombok are NOT the tropical idylls they once were.
The developed areas of Bali and Lombok are now virtually indistinguishable from almost any other touristically developed (or over-developed)coastal areas of the tropics. Although the hotels do use Balinese architectural desgns.
No longer worth the price of a plane ticket.
Posted by: pythagoras at June 7, 2006 2:42 PM
ps: The Balinese ARE really and truly a pleasant, fun-loving crowd that I enjoyed spending time with!
What the future holds for these lovely people, heaven only knows.
I did not mean to put the Balinese people down! It was the corrupt politicans of Jakarta that are responsible for the damage done to their lovely island (and Lombok) by commercial and touristic over-development.
Posted by: pythagoras at June 7, 2006 2:52 PM
I have been looking online to no avail, but when I spent a month there prior to 9/11 ( and I will never go back ) I heard several tales by locals about a slaughter of Chinese which happened there only several years prior. I've written here a little before about the stories I heard, but there isn't corroborating evidence online, at least none that I can find. Anyone savvy on this subject? The story as I recall had it that the ethnic Chinese were the owners of a lot of property, and the holders of much wealth. They were the money lenders and merchant class on the Islands of Sumatra and Bali. The parallels with attitudes towards the Chinese and the attitude towards Jews in medieval Europe were creepy -- and even the Hindus who told me these stories weren't flattering about the Chinese... Anyway, though I heard very many variations of the story, the larger picture remained the same. Several years before I'm lead to understand (I"m guessing in the mid 90s -- I could never pin the time frame down...) there was some incident on the "mainland" of Java (which lies directly opposite Bali) where the Chinese began to be slaughtered. The riots spread to Bali, and I heard most people quote the number 600 for the dead on Bali alone. I can't find anything about this online, perhaps because I don't know the proper terminology for the different groups? Anyway -- anybody out there with any info on this event? It was a consistent story I heard repeated many times by Hindu Balinese.
Posted by: jsla at June 7, 2006 5:24 PM
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