Al Qaeda warns of Tokyo attack: report

[DuctapeFatwa]

A London-based, Arabic-language newspaper, Al-Majallah, says it has received a statement from Al Qaeda warning of an attack in Tokyo and claiming responsibility for last week's bombing of the Italian headquarters in Iraq.

Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj, purported to be an Al Qaeda leader, warned the Japanese against sending troops to join the US-led coalition in Iraq in an email received by the Saudi weekly.

"If they want to destroy their economic power and be trampled under the feet of the combatants of Allah, let them come to Iraq," he said.

"Our strikes will reach the heart of Tokyo." ..

A day after a suicide bombing in southern Iraq killed 19 Italians and nine Iraqis, Japan toned down an earlier pledge to send troops to Iraq by the end of this year...Ablaj also claimed the strike on the Italian police post in Nasiriyah on behalf of Al Qaeda...



http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/

[rooboy]

1. Gee, Al Qaeda seems to send a lot of warnings...

strange for a terrorist organisation bent on death and destruction.

[Just Me]

10. Is there a pattern,...

,...I mean, after the Turks refused to send troops Al Qaeda blasts them,...now, Japan refuses to send troops and Al Qaeda warns of a hit. WTF!!! This makes no sense,...inciting in such a way. Previously, Al Qaeda supposedly hits foreign embassies in Iraq and the UN and the IRC and now the countries which are refusing to send troops to Iraq. VERY WEIRD!!! Makes one wonder who is actually doing the inciting.

[Wwagsthedog]

2. Does the chimp plan to visit Tokyo too?

n/t

[Ouabache]

3. Maybe this explains all the Japanese back-pedaling on troops for

Iraq? Maybe they picked up the chatter before this? :shrug:

[leesa]

11. I think it's the other way around. They are being frightened with

phony Al Queda threats to convince them to send troops for the bogus war on terror.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. Hey, Japan!

Send in more troops! Or you'll get held hostage to fear! (...since that threat has stopped working on US citizens for the most part, maybe now we can "westernize" you some)
</sarcasm>

http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/international.cfm?id=1235692003

Japan bows to pressure over troops for Iraq

JULIAN RYALL IN TOKYO


JAPAN is preparing to send around 700 troops to Iraq over the next few months after buckling under pressure from Washington to help return security to the region.

An advance unit of up to 150 troops will be sent to the southern city of Samawa by the middle of December, with a further 550 members of the Self-Defence Force being sent in January.

British troops are presently stationed in and around Samawa, which has a population of about 170,000 and is considered a relatively peaceful sector of the country.

However, attacks on coalition forces, along with images of downed US helicopters, are causing deep concern among the Japanese public.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. Images of downed US helicopters

were shown on Japanese TV again last night.

[54anickel]

6. I didn't realize they were caving in to US pressure, last I heard

Japan would not send troops. Apparently US must have pressed hard for Japan to go against their own constitution. :shrug:
Thanks for the link.

[wabeewoman]

7. I thought the Japanese consititution prohibited

them from sending troops into a warzone, which in spite of what georgie boy says, Iraq is. Is that not true or are they just going to ignore that little issue???

[Art_from_Ark]

9. Another Bu$h, another war in Iraq,

and another effort to get Japan to send troops to a war zone. The first time around (1991), Japan did not even consider sending troops (although it was pressured to do so), but it did dish out 15 billion dollars for "the cause", which exacerbated its own recession at the time.

There is a lot of talk about "revising" the Japanese Constitution, specifically Article 9 which prohibits the use of Japanese troops in foreign war zones. A recent poll administered by the Mainichi News to recently-elected members of the Diet shows that nearly a third of the members (and more than half from the ruling coalition) want to consider this issue.

It is also interesting to note that Japan DID send PKOs to Cambodia in the early '90s, and there was a lot of controversy about it at the time.

http://www.pko.go.jp/PKO_E/cambo_e.html

[Zech Marquis]

8. Japan has already been through such trauma

the 2 nuclear bombs dropped inn 1945--long after the fact that Japan had wanted to surrender after the Okinawa campaign--and the 1995 Sarin gas atatck on the Tokyo subway system. So they'll take heed and tell Darth Rummy ,"sorry pla, you're on your own! we don't need that shit!"

[neverforget]

12. Posted in the wrong thread! D'oh!

:spank:

[truthisfreedom]

13. god, please, no. japan didn't send troops. japan's economy is suffering

so much right now already.

[9215]

14. As Wolfie said about the UN bombing

"it will change the atmosphere in Tokyo". Ditto for Turkey.

This tactic turned the Arab world against the Palestinians for a time after an attack in Egypt was attributed to them, but never verified. this happened back in the 80's I believe. Damn I need to get that incident.