Al Jazeera reports that a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq has demanded the release of the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, Abu Bakar Bashir (Ba'asyir), in exchange for two Indonesian women being held hostage in Iraq. The two women were siezed on August 30th along with six Iraqis and two Lebanese men (report here). All of the hostages worked for an electronics firm under contract to help rebuild the war-torn state. The Islamic Army in Iraq is the same group that took French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot hostage last month.

Abu Bakar Bashir (Ba'asyir) has been indicted by the Indonesian government several times on terrorism related charges, including once for his role in the Bali bombings which killed 200 and injured more than 300. Bashir denies any role in terrorist activities. He is currently being held on minor immigration charges. According to the VOA, Bashir's lawyers, claiming to speak for him, condemned the kidnappings as a violation of Islamic principles. Bashir is said to be refusing any swap deal.

Bashir is head of the Mujahideen Council in Indonesia which seeks to set up an Islamic state based on strict sharia law. In the past he has been accused of orchestrating bombings against Christian churches in the mostly Muslim nation and plotting assasination attempts against Indonesian politicians. Bashir is also virulently anti-Semetic. More on Bashir's background HERE.

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10/15 UPDATE: Mount St. Helens continues it's slow eruption. Magma is oozing out of cone, but slowly. A live pic from Mount St. Helens is posted below along with links to live video feed.

10/08 UPDATE: Scientist preparing for major eruption that could rival 1980 event!

10/05 UPDATE: Another day, another eruption. Live video feed of the USFS Mount St. Helens cam here. A real time image of the Mount St. Helens volcano is below.

10/04 UPDATE: She's erupting again!!! Live video links, live images, and information below.

10/02 UPDATE: New eruption imminent, USGS raises alert level to 'red'.

News reports indicate that Mt. Saint Helens has started to erupt. I have been posting about this for days, not really believing it would happen. Well, I was wrong! My previous post has been updated daily and is located here. For your convenience, I have reposted it in the extended entry below. Thanks for Digger for notifying me. He's also on the case. UPDATES BELOW

Below is a real time image:

Whoa!! Check out that pic above from Fox News. Awesome! And by awesome I mean I am truly awestruck by the pics, not Spicolli awesome. The pic below is from the Seattle Post Inetlligencer via M.H. King. It's from earlier and only shows the steam

Click here for live video provided by KGW-TV/DT Portland & KING-TV/DT Seattle. You'll have to sit through a commercial before the video starts, but give it a second (link also via M.H. King).

Duane the Forester is pretty close to the volcano and he's liveblogging it. If you can't wait, he reports "At 40 miles away I didn't feel anything rumbling, sorry but this is one of those cases where MSM has an advantage. The ash is headed my way, however so if we get ashfall here I'll photoblog the event."

KGW-TV/DT Portland reports that there were three large bursts, than the eruuption tapered off. No lava in site. Ash and steam from the eruption have caused several flights to be cancelled out of Portland and Seattle.

UPDATE 4:30 EDT: Watching USGS press conference. Eruption at 12:03 PST--lasted 24 minutes, plume went to 10,000 ft. They report no lava flow. Some glacier melt being detected and elevated waterflow. No mudslides detected. The USGS guy says that there have been half a dozen of these types of eruptions since the last big one. The difference between this eruption and those other small eruptions is that the seismic activity was way larger this time. In fact, the seismic action (those are earthquakes folks) this time is GREATER than the big blow. However, experts still don't expect as large an eruption this time. Yeah, this is the inner geek coming out in me.

New favorite quote from Duane who is liveblogging this thing from ground zero: "John Kerry calls it the "wrong eruption at the wrong place at the wrong time"

One expert is now claiming that he is noticing mud flow coming down the mountain.

Mount St. Helens Live Webcam Here. Very Cool. (site down due to volume)

John Little is also covering this and has some good resources linked in this post which he has been updating. Rob at Say Anything also covering with some cool pics. Daily Recycler has some online news footage, but the link to the live feed above is to a Portland station live covering it and they have some excellent close-up footage. Crazy Gator also has some wicked cool pics. Brian B. is blogging from Eugene and says he might get some of the ash. James Joyner finds an updated story on my earlier report of the morons flocking to Mount St. Helens as tourists. I didn't know Scott was an expat from the area--I guess NY takes in all sorts. more...

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Georgian troops are massing around rebel strongholds in South Ossetia in what appears to be a buildup in readiness for a final leap into full scale war. Interfax reports that two Georgian army groups have surrounded several key cities and appear to be cutting off the main highway between South Ossetia and North Ossetia. North Ossetia is part of the Russian Federation and was the scene of last month's bloody school hostage massacre in Beslan. South Ossetia is located in the nation of Georgia, but it's inhabitants have religious and ethnic ties to Russia. Georgia accuses the Russian government of supporting the decade old rebellion.

As Georgia edges closer to breaking the cease-fire and ending the civil war, South Ossetia's self-proclaimed President Eduard Kokoity has called for unification with Russia. Mosnews reports that Kokoity argues that since 98% of South Ossetians are citizens of Russia:

It’s time we get rid of the ’north’ and ’south’ — there is one Ossetia, and it will be united within Russia.

Background on the Ossetian crisis can be found in these previous posts:
War Looms Between Russia and Georgia
Ossetia: Impending War, Georgia vs. Russia
Georgia and Separatist S.Ossetia Agree Cease-Fire
Ossetia Ceasefire Broken
War Imminent Between Georgia and Russia

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A group linked to Chechen terrorists responsible for the attrocities at Beslan in Russia's North Ossetian district, have released a propaganda video. The entire video can be downloaded at Terrorist Media (see Russian Hell Full Video). In it, viewers are introduced to the life of a Chechen rebel, and various images of Russian soldiers being killed. One scene, which shows two Russian soldiers strolling along an alley only to step on a land mine, is looped several times while Arabic jihadi music plays in the background [images below]. The entire video is overlayed with various Islamist and Jihadi themes and is narrated in Arabic.

Many in the Western media refuse to link the Chechen rebellion to the overall Global War on Terror. Instead, they prefer to call what is happening in Chechnya 'ethnic conflict' or a 'war for independence'. While both terms are technically accurate, they both mask the underlying religious nature of this war. The Chechens rebels are not seeking to leave Russia to set up an independent secular state. Their demands are clear and straightforward--they wish to replace Russian secularism with a Taliban like state. A state which will differ from the Saudi regime only in it's anti-Western orientation.

We must recognize the Russians as strategic allies in the GWOT. This war is civilizational, and it's battles will be fought along Islam's borders. Unfortunately, Russia is part of those borderlands. And Islam's borders are indeed bloody. more...

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Al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri has released a taped message calling on young Muslims to rise up against Western powers. I had seen this yesterday on a number of blogs but had missed this one important point. Hey France. I'm talking to tyou. That appeasement strategy still working out for you? Middle East Online--Zawahiri can be heard saying:

It's the era of Muslim resistance, after the Arab governments submitted to the Zionist occupant. We should learn the lesson of Chechnya, Afghanistan, of Iraq, of Palestine.

"Don't wait for the American, British, French, South Korean, Hungarian and Polish forces to enter Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen and Algeria to start the resistance"

Others blogging: Chad cross-posting at J-Dog's place, Joel of No Pundit Intended, Matt Cardens and Charles 'double-lizard' Johnson who see the message as more evidence that bin Laden is worm-food.

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Notice that the French negotiator was with the hostages. Call me old fashioned, but if France insists that they are an ally then they have an obligation to tell us where our enemies are. Cheese-eating-surrender-bastards! AP:

An unofficial French negotiator told a radio station Friday that two journalists held for more than a month in Iraq could be released within hours.

Philippe Brett told Europe-1 radio he was with the two Frenchmen and negotiations were being finalized for their release. The journalists, Christian Chesnot, 37, and George Malbrunot, 41, and their Syrian driver disappeared Aug. 20 while apparently driving toward Najaf.

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A Turkish hostage was freed by US troops during a major offensive (also here) in Samarra today, Reuters reports. Yahlin Kaya was in Iraq working for a construction company building infrastructure projects. No reports as to how long Yahlin Kaya was held hostage.

Several groups have taken Turkish hostages in the past. Some of these groups, while claiming to be part of a larger network of 'resistance', seem to be no more than criminal gangs attempting extort ransom money. Others demand that Turkish companies leave Iraq, and some companies have.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid wal Jihad group has also kidnapped Turkish citizens in the past. On September 13th they released a video of the beheading of Turkish truck driver Durmus Kumdereli while releasing a fellow Turk Mustafa Koksal [details, link to video, and images here]. On September 2nd, Zarqawi's group executed three Turkish hostages [images and details here]. On August 19th they shot Turkish citizen Aytullah Gezmen in the head [details and images here]. Mr. Gezman was kidnapped with another Turk, Murat Yuce, who was beheaded by Zarqawi a month before [details, links to video, and images here]. On August 2nd a murder video of Turkish truck driver Durmus Kumdereli being shot in the back of the head was released by Zarqawi's group [details, images, and links to video here].

This is the same Zarqawi who has now claimed responsibility for killing 34 children yesterday in Baghdad. The same Zarqawi that some on the far left insist on calling a freedom fighter.

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Bush response: WTF?

Political scientists analyze, sort of.

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