Tim Sumner

9/11, War on Terror

14 held in plot to free terrorist in Belgium

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The War on Terror continues on the European front, as the Associated Press reports:

Belgian police detained 14 suspected Islamist extremists yesterday, and the government said they were plotting a jailbreak to free an al Qaeda prisoner convicted of planning to attack U.S. military personnel. Authorities tightened security, warning of a heightened threat of attacks despite the arrests. Police stepped up patrols at Brussels Airport, subway stations and the downtown Christmas market, which draws large crowds of holiday shoppers. “Other acts of violence are not to be excluded,” said Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. The U.S. Embassy warned Americans that “there is currently a heightened risk of terrorist attack in Brussels,” although it had no information about specific targets.

In a series of overnight raids across the country, police picked up 14 suspects and seized arms and explosives. The prime minister and prosecutor’s office said the detained suspects were planning to use the weapons to free Nizar Trabelsi, a 37-year-old Tunisian sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2003 for planning to a drive a car bomb into the cafeteria of a Belgian air base where about 100 U.S. military people are stationed.
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Trabelsi came to Europe in 1989 for a tryout with the German soccer team Fortuna Dusseldorf. He got a contract but was soon let go. Over the next few years, he bounced from team to team in the minor leagues, acquiring a cocaine habit and a lengthy criminal record. Eventually, he made his way to al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, where evidence presented at his trial showed he placed himself on a “list of martyrs” ready to commit suicide attacks. Trabelsi has admitted planning to kill U.S. soldiers. He said he met al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and asked to become a suicide bomber. He was arrested in Brussels two days after the September 11 attacks and police later linked him to the discovery of raw materials for a huge bomb in the back of a Brussels restaurant.

Uncategorized

Christmas vandalism

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In today’s Washington Times:

In Marietta, Ga., a public-school coach allegedly drove students around town to thrash Christmas displays, a rampage which included rearranging reindeer in X-rated positions. In Melbourne, Fla., a disabled man’s inflatable lawn figures were destroyed and his reindeer was tossed into a pond. In Rockland, Maine, a 34-foot Christmas tree fashioned from lobster traps was vandalized. The list goes on, in the dozens.

In Southlake, Texas, teens clubbed Christmas decorations with baseball bats. A Leesburg, Ga., man’s display was attacked three times in two weeks. A Hampton Leades, N.C., man’s 8-foot Frosty was knifed. An 81-year-old Richfield, Minn., retiree cried when his tires were slashed and his Santas ripped open in a 10,000-light Christmas display. Two miscreant Santa stabbers were nabbed in Islip, N.Y., when one mistakenly left a cell phone at the scene. A Quad City, Iowa, family’s light display was egged. One Vallejo, Calif., family’s Christmas tribute to a daughter killed in a plane crash was attacked three times. In Greensboro, N.C., a 71-year-old nativity scene was destroyed. And so on. These miscreants are worse than Ebenezer Scrooge.