Negative Blogs

An American who says he went to fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan told interrogators that about the time he became an al Qaeda member he came across several Belgian and French militants.

Belgian counter-terrorism sources said the group traveled to Pakistan’s tribal areas at the beginning of 2008, also intent on fighting in Afghanistan.

The Europeans — four Belgians and two French citizens, all of North African descent — were recruited, Belgian police say, by Malika el Aroud and Moez Garsallaoui, a married couple who had long enjoyed a notorious reputation among European counter-terrorism services.

El Aroud’s previous husband, Abdessattar Dahmane, had assassinated Ahmed Shah Massoud, the head of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, in a suicide bombing attack ordered by Osama bin Laden two days before 9/11.

When CNN interviewed the couple in 2006, El Aroud showed how she administered a pro-al Qaeda Web forum called Minbar SOS, which included pro-al Qaeda postings and propagand.

A full-on brawl erupted yesterday in South Korean Parliament. The South Korean National Assembly turned into a bar brawl from a Jackie Chan film as members of Parliament voted on a media reform bill.

The ruling Grand National Party eventually passed the bill, which called to privatize South Korean media. The opposition Democratic Party felt that the bill was an attempt to rein in local media, and let their fists do the talking.

“As the votes proceeded, the assembly’s police encircled the deputy speaker, while members of minority parties repeatedly tried to jump onto the dais to halt the proceedings. One woman lawmaker from the main opposition Democratic Party screamed loudly in front of the podium and fought with other women who tried to quiet her.”