Thailand: Terrorists Identified and Rounded Up

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July 9, 2007: The security forces have finally forced the Islamic terrorists to the surface. This was done by identifying religious schools and villages where the terrorists were hanging out, and then making arrests. Large quantities of weapons and bomb making material have been found, and over a hundred people have been arrested in the last week alone. Religious schools are being shut if they are found to harbor terrorists. Last month, 160 arrests were made, and that total will double or triple this month. All this is the result of months of intensive intelligence work and sorting through thousands of incidents and individual records. The government is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a new intelligence collecting and analysis system.

July 8, 2007: Police arrested two of those responsible for organizing anti-military demonstrations. The Thai military have an all-too-typical relationship with their government. In 1932, it was the army that forced the king to give up absolute power, and allow the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. Since then, the military has considered itself the guardian of clean government. Most Thais disagree, and whenever the military has stepped in to remove a corrupt or ineffective (according to the generals) government, resentment and popular anger built up, and that eventually forced the generals to back off. This is happening again, as it did in the early 1990s (the last time the generals stepped in). But now it's happening faster, and the generals are not happy with this.

July 5, 2007: Islamic terrorists removed 65 nuts and bolts from rails in the south, halting rail traffic. The Islamic rebels have not got a lot of explosives, as seen in their failure to use large bombs to destroy railroad equipment, or to make large roadside bombs.

July 4, 2007: The military dictatorship running the country is taking care of its own. The new government budget calls for a 24 percent increase in defense spending, to $4.5 billion.

June 30, 2007: Efforts to negotiate peace in the south continue to fail, because there is no one willing to talk. Attempts to to enlist neighboring Malaysia to draw out negotiators from the other side have not worked either. It appears that no one is in overall charge of the Islamic terrorists, that the killers were let loose by Islamic conservative religious leaders and teachers, and now the thugs are answerable to no one.

 

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