3 US Doctors Slain in Yemen - Darkforum.com - Dark Stories, Dark Art, Poetry, Photography, Debates and Discussions

thefinalw0rd · **3 US Doctors Slain in Yemen -** 12-30-02

Quote:

JIBLA, Yemen (Dec. 30) - A suspected Muslim extremist shot and killed three American missionaries and seriously wounded a fourth at a Southern Baptist hospital in southern Yemen, security officials said.

The suspected attacker, a Yemeni, was arrested, and a Yemeni official said security forces were searching for a militant cell that may be targeting foreigners and secular figures in the country.

Americans have been repeatedly warned to take care in Yemen, a country where central government authority is weak in tribal areas and where Muslim militants have found refuge. Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, has been a key front in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Officials said the gunman entered the complex of Jibla Baptist Hospital in the town of Jibla hiding a semiautomatic rifle under his jacket to make it resemble a child.

The gunman entered a room where hospital director William E. Koehn was holding a meeting and opened fire, said a statement from the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, based in Richmond, Va.

Three people were killed instantly. Yemeni officials said all three were shot in the head. The gunman then headed to the hospital's pharmacy and opened fire, wounding the pharmacist, the Yemeni officials said. Jibla is in Ibb province, 125 miles south of the capital, San'a.

The Southern Baptist International Mission Board identified the dead Koehn, 60, of Arlington, Texas, who had planned to retire next year after 28 years of service; purchasing agent Kathleen A. Gariety, 53, of Wauwatosa, Wis.; and Dr. Martha C. Myers, 57, of Montgomery, Ala. The statement identified the pharmacist as Donald W. Caswell, 49, of Levelland, Texas.

Caswell was shot in the abdomen and hospital officials said he was in critical condition and struggling for his life. The hospital was cordoned off as forensic experts gathered evidence.

''We are devastated by this news,'' International Mission Board spokesman Larry Cox was quoted in the statement as saying. ''We are moving quickly to minister to family members located in Yemen as well as the United States.''

Cox said no decision had been made about evacuating Americans connected with the hospital.

The killings are ''a crime unacceptable in any religion. This contradicts Islam,'' said a Jibla woman who gave only her first name, Fatima, and said she used the hospital. ''They cared for us and looked after us. I can't even count the number of children they treated and saved.''

The hospital operators said there had been no reason to believe the hospital would be the target of an attack. ''We've been there for 35 years,'' said Wendy Norvelle, spokeswoman for the International Mission Board, in Richmond.

Officials said they believed the gunman was a Muslim fundamentalist. An Interior Ministry official identified the 30-year-old assailant as Abed Abdul Razak Kamel, the official Yemeni news agency Saba reported.

Kamel said during interrogation that he plotted the shooting in collaboration with Ali al-Jarallah, who was arrested for killing a senior Yemeni leftist politician on Saturday.

Another security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities were searching for a cell made up of five to eight extremists targeting foreigners and secular personalities in Yemen. He did not provide further details.

The U.S. Embassy in San'a issued a brief statement, posted on its Web site, condemning the attack ''on American citizens who have long been providing humanitarian services to Yemeni citizens at the Baptist hospital in Jibla.''

''We call upon the Yemeni government to bring those responsible to justice,'' the U.S. Embassy statement said.

The embassy also asked Americans in Yemen to enhance their security and said it was requesting additional protection for them and was sending a team to Jibla to help with the investigation.

The Southern Baptist missionary board said its 80-bed Jibla hospital treats more than 40,000 patients annually, providing care free to those cannot afford it.

The board's Web site said its missionaries also taught English and clinical skills at a nearby nursing school.

Kathleen Gariety had been in Yemen for about 10 years, aid her brother Jerome J. Gariety Jr. of Colgate, Wis. She also worked to help educate Yemeni children, he said.

''She was a wonderful, devoted person,'' he said. ''She loved the children very much.''

Impoverished, factionalized, predominantly Muslim Yemen has for years been a haven for wanted Muslim extremists. Bin Laden enlisted thousands of Yemenis to fight alongside the mujahedeen of Afghanistan in their U.S.-backed war against an occupation Soviet army in the 1980s. Many returned when the Soviets withdrew, and they are a powerful political force here.

In one of several such alerts, a Nov. 14 U.S. Embassy message to Americans here said the U.S. government ''continues to receive credible warnings that additional terrorist activities against Western and American interests in Yemen are being planned.''

On Oct. 6, an explosives-laden boat rammed a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, killing one member of the tanker's crew, tearing a hole in the vessel and spilling some 90,000 barrels of oil. U.S. intelligence officials suspect militants with links to al-Qaida in the attack.

In October 2000, a small, explosives-laden boat rammed the USS Cole in the southern port of Aden, killing 17 sailors in an attack blamed on al-Qaida. Al-Qaida also is held responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Yemen has signed on as Washington's partner in the war on terrorism launched after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Well, I guess we had better go to war with Yemen now, huh?

gArGOyLe^^ · 12-30-02

Shouldn't they be wearing bullet proof vests?

Sixgun_Symphony · 12-30-02

Yemen is pretty lawless,

Its countryside is filled with bandits and the Islamic terrorists have some hideouts there.

Billy the Kidd · 12-30-02

Quote:

Originally posted by Sixgun_Symphony
Yemen is pretty lawless,

Its countryside is filled with bandits and the Islamic terrorists have some hideouts there.

its right up there with the Bronx and parts of LA.

thefinalw0rd · 12-30-02

or Harlem.

Billy the Kidd · 12-30-02

Quote:

Originally posted by thefinalw0rd
or Harlem.

harlem is actually getting pretty cleaned up, all the lower income tenet buildings are being ripped down and replaced with commerce crap, all the less fortunates are being forced into the bronx... maybe the mayor of NYC is hoping theyll all kill each other.

thefinalw0rd · 12-30-02

Seriously?! Wow, I'd no idea.

Sixgun_Symphony · 12-30-02

Quote:

Originally posted by Billy the Kidd
its right up there with the Bronx and parts of LA.

Which could be cleaned up by birth control and restrictive immigration policies.

These slums grow because of a self perpetuating welfare state.

thefinalw0rd · 12-30-02

No, because many people there do not qualify for welfare.

Hey, did you know that Rush Limbaugh was on welfare? And he's one of those who is the most staunch against it. I find that funny. He was perfectly able to work while he was on it, too.

Billy the Kidd · 12-30-02

Quote:

Originally posted by Sixgun_Symphony
Which could be cleaned up by birth control and restrictive immigration policies.

These slums grow because of a self perpetuating welfare state.

actually they wouldnt be living in poverty which is forced on them by conservatives who refuse to hire american workers and instead move thier companies to Mexico. Not to mention the fact that conservatives increasingly drive down the profit of working 2 minimum wage jobs by making the dollar worth less, then lowering the minumum wage and then increasing rent LOL i mean no wonder these people are stuck in shit. for the few who manage to make it out, props but fo rthe rest who are basically urban slaves to conservative corporate america, i pray for them. Have you ever known what its like to be hungry sixgun?

thefinalw0rd · 12-30-02

Another way that the conservatives hurt these people is by lifting the tax burden from the rich at the expense of the middle and lower classes. Not to mention their hatred of Social Security and Medicare.

Sixgun_Symphony · 12-30-02

Rush on Welfare?

Show me a link.

BTW, the social services do not turn away illegals. Many Liberal city governments like Seattle have ordered their local PD not to help INS go after Illegals.

Thus the illegals do "qualify" for and get welfare benefits regardless of what laws are on the books.

thefinalw0rd · 12-30-02

He admitted it on the radio. It'll take some searching to find the link, but I'll have it for you.

Sixgun_Symphony · 12-30-02

The tax burden is always on the working people.

Its the Libs who raise taxes.

Thats the fact

Billy the Kidd · 12-30-02

Quote:

Originally posted by thefinalw0rd
Another way that the conservatives hurt these people is by lifting the tax burden from the rich at the expense of the middle and lower classes. Not to mention their hatred of Social Security and Medicare.

i dont think that sixgun knows anything about people who actualy need welfare. he sees a few statistics and figures everyone is like that, what he doesnt realize is that the conservatives who he champions as the heros are the ones causing all the problems in the 1st place by trying to fuck up our balance to look for a buck. I was raised in slums, my father worked fulltime/overtime and my mother did as much as she could with my 2 brothers and I, we were on welfare plus my fathers pay and it still barely made ends meet. If sixguns people had thier way i would have been toiling in coal shutes by the time i was 8 12 hours a day for 1.00 an hour. sadly his ignorance reflects on his sheltered upbringing and thinly veiled racist ideals... im sure that he doesnt mind the fact that most of the welfare recipients in this country are from white trailer trash areas and are indeed mostly white. the mid west is chock full of it... but those are HIS people his conservative people.

Billy the Kidd · 12-30-02

Quote:

Originally posted by Sixgun_Symphony
The tax burden is always on the working people.

Its the Libs who raise taxes.

Thats the fact

"read my lips! no new taxes!"
Famous republican conservative quote.

Billy the Kidd · 12-30-02

Quote:

Originally posted by Sixgun_Symphony
The tax burden is always on the working people.

Its the Libs who raise taxes.

Thats the fact

its the conservatives who like to distribute the wealth and oppritunity of this country unfairly... you know giving those huge tax cuts back to people who dont particularally need them. and expecting the economy to pick back up after it.. oh wait it wont... lets just leave that burden to the working class to take care of. the libs need to retake the US and chain the conservatives up only to let them out occasionally to negotiate trade agreements for the US on occasion. since thats about all theyre good for.

thefinalw0rd · 12-30-02

90% of conservatives are upper middle class people who have never seen hardship.

Six, the Conservatives LIFT the tax ONLY ON THE RICH and put MORE burden on the workers, those who are on welfare and could use the money more. You want them off welfare? Let them have those tax breaks. Guarentee, it'd get the economy going better.

Sixgun_Symphony · 12-30-02

90% of conservatives are working people in middle America.

The Liberals are a bunch of Coffeeshop Marxists that never worked a real job in their life.