Update: Seven held in anti-terror raids in the Netherlands [Shots fired in Hague raid]

Expatica ^ | 14 October 2005

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Dutch media reported yesterday that renewed threats had been made against two members of parliament, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, who are both outspoken critics of Islamic extremism.

Something is happening in Baghdad!

See :

Sunni Divisions

[Heatseeker]

There go those darn Mormons again.

Nah, it's those radical Puritans. The Dutch had trouble with them once before you know. ;)

[aculeus]

October 14, 2005

Holland's problem

Reports coming from Holland today indicate that Dutch authorities have carried out anti-terror raids in various cities, arresting seven individuals between The Hague and Amsterdam. Officials have revealed that the main target of the operation is 19-year-old Samir Azzouz. Azzouz is the enfant prodige of the so-called Hofstad group, the maxi-cell responsible for the assassination of Theo van Gogh and other attempted attacks in Portugal and Holland, and the living example of the inadequacy of the Dutch anti-terrorism system. At age 16 Amsterdam-born Azzouz attempted to join the mujhaeddin fighting in Chechnya with Abdelaziz Beniyach, a leading GICM member, but the two were arrested by Ukrainian custom officers before reaching the Caucasus. Once back in Holland, Azzouz was arrested a first time in the fall of 2003 along with Mohammed Bouyeri, the future killer of Theo van Gogh, but both men were immediately released for lack of evidence. By the first months of 2004 17-year-old Azzouz had become one of the key elements of the Hofstad group. According to Dutch authorities, he had begun surveiling key installations throughout the Netherlands that were suitable targets for attacks. In June, he was arrested in connection with the robbery of the small supermarket where he worked, and police searched his Rotterdam apartment. Investigators found a gun, two ammunition clips, night vision goggles, a bulletproof vest, and chemicals commonly used in making bombs. They also found sketches and floor plans of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, the headquarters of the AIVD (Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst, Dutch intelligence agency), the parliament and Defense Ministry in The Hague, and a nuclear power plant in Borssele.
Dutch prosecutors, who tried Azzouz as an adult, asked for a sentence of seven years. They also demanded that Azzouz be denied his voting rights for twelve years, an unusual request that they argued was justified because he had tried to “attack democracy.” But as often happens in terrorism trials in the Netherlands, the Rotterdam court acquitted Azzouz, sentencing him to only three months for illegal possession of firearms, a term he had already served. Exiting the courthouse with his wife, Azzouz celebrated his release by punching a freelance photographer and knocking him unconscious against a parked car.
The recently published 2004 Dutch intelligence report clearly states that “The AIVD considers this radical Muslim as one of the core members of the Hofstad group.”
Today’s events clearly show both Azzouz’s dangerousness and the Dutch legal system’s inability to deal with the severe terrorist threat it is facing.


Posted by Lorenzo Vidino at 12:09 PM | Permalink


From:http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/10/hollands_proble.html

[samadams2000]

Into the Beehives!

[omega4179]

how DARE those imperialistic Dutch. Their "bring it on" attitude will just encourage more Terror.

[rochester_veteran]

I'm really surprise that the AIVD hasn't taken out Samir Azzouz. This guy is a blatant terrorist, not even trying to hide is intensions. The AIVD has to make this dude disappear forever.

[Squeako]

Seven lone, unrelated suicide attempts.

[Madame Dufarge]

Exiting the courthouse with his wife, Azzouz celebrated his release by punching a freelance photographer and knocking him unconscious against a parked car.

And then just walked away, unarrested apparently.

Good Lord.

[TChris]

(If I knew how I'd post a picture of a toilet seat here)

To post picture of toilet seat: <img src="http://www.somesite.net/path/image_file.jpg">

For example, this image is posted by entering <img src="http://www.plumbingstore.com/images/toilet-seat-1900ccp.jpg">

If you're using Internet Explorer, you get the URL by right-clicking on the image you want, then selecting "Copy Shortcut" from the popup menu. After you type the <img src=" you just press Ctrl+V to paste the copied link into your text, then finish with ">

One warning: There are sites that don't like you to link their images. If you get one of those, the actual image posted to FR will not be the one you intended. It will usually be some kind of warning not to link their images. However, most news sites don't have any restrictions on linking.

[AmericanArchConservative]

I was there just this morning between 10 am and 1 pm local time. I parked in the "Centrum" and went walking around the area of the Parliament/Binnenhof, and the Dutch equivalent of the US Pentagon {which sits on a large public square, immediately next door to a McDonald's restaurant, believe it or not}. Security was quite high even in the Centrum and the surrounding mall complex area of 'Babylonia'...

Things were...not at all what one would call "normal" in the very immediate area of the Binnenhof...but a pair of black leather combat boots, jeans, and a square-cut black leather jacket seem to lend an effective air of "don't disturb me" in a pinch. What can I say - I guess I just look and act like I belong some places.

I am a little to the North {Rijkswijk} right now, but I will get a more complete story on this as time allows. There is something of a media blackout on this right now - coverage is quite limited and not to be considered entirely accurate. There is quite a lot more to this boys and girls - more than what is meeting the public eye. Just like Norman Oklahoma, okay?!

This is part of what I am over here for, it seems, so unfortunately I cannot share all right now. Be assured that at the moment, I am quite well and safe, however.

Protest Warrior and FReeper on the ground greetings to all

FREE REPUBLIC - When the mainstream media is demonstrably inaccurate - get the facts exclusively from FReepers who are there!

A.A.C.

"Let the Final Crusade commence!"

[popdonnelly]

Looks like folks in the Netherlands are finally getting the message.

[AmericanArchConservative]

The problem is they were planning on taking lives and/or destroying property.

In the Netherlands, that won't get you much of a sentence from a liberal judge {they're ALL liberal}

Committing a murder is only worth about a year and a half at most. Ask Theo van Gogh's {muslim} murderer. He'll be out fairly soon...of course he did just go in, not too long ago!

If you make sure to maim a person while murdering them, you will get sentenced to a year or less in a clinic, because obviously, you must be sick!

To REALLY get slapped down with a stiff penalty - say 10 or 12 years, you need to rob a bank, or a market. Not for millions, just for a few thousand. Boldness is rewarded, I guess.

Human life has lost its value - but the Euro still gets people's attention around these parts.

A.A.C.

[aculeus]

Thanks for the post. Stay safe.

[AmericanArchConservative]

You're welcome - I shall try to.

A.A.C.

[AmericanChef]

-19-year-old Samir A-

When will the world finally tire of these people?

We need more dead terrorists and fewer (how 'bout none?) Arab and muSLUM countries.

[jeffers]

Can you comment on initial reports that the government buildings were "hermetically" sealed?

Was that some sort of error in the translation, or should we take those reports at face value?

In any event, between Bali II, potentially Norman Oklahoma, New York, Russia, and the 17 would be truck bombers pinched in Iraq, it looks like the Ramadan offensive is gearing up.

Eyes peeled, and don't feel silly reporting anything that doesn't feel quite right. Trust your gut and keep an awareness around you for avenues of escape and steel or concrete cover.

[The_Reader_David]

If the Milosevic trial is anything to judge by, the police who arrested them will be run in for human rights violations.

[AmericanArchConservative]

Well,

They weren't literally "hermetically sealed" - certainly not to my eyes - or me.

There were heavily armed guards - probably 'elite' state security service in full urban BDU posted in twos {visible - probably more were not readily apparent} by every doorway, and roving patrols of Dutch marines in fours in the square. I imagine there well might have been snipers on rooftops a bit out of sight, and plainclothes folk, too.

But let's not kid ourselves, nor let ourselves be kidded. The Dutch may have invented the marines, but the US has a corner on that market now.

A raid on a suspected terrorist home back several months to a year ago resulted in their swat team beating a hasty retreat when the bad guys fought back and played rough {they threw grenades}. The Dutch did something the US Marines never will - they left some of their own behind, laying on the ground bleeding and dying.

If they want to "get serious" as the press keeps saying, they have to put a harder smackdown on ahmed & company - every time, all the time. Enough to make them feel paranoid, instead of welcome and vaguely amused and disdainful.

I always know where my exits are, who I have to go through to get to them, and how to improvise. There's a lot of things over here that neither look nor feel right.

The one good thing is that there are cameras everywhere - all over the freeways, highways, underpasses, dikes, banks, railway stations, hidden in the trees in the many parks...something we have not yet come to accept in the US.

The one bad thing is that I cannot warrant you how closely those cameras are being watched, by whom, nor how appropriately they might react in a pinch.

An armed society is a polite society, and the Dutch cannot own weapons as a generality. That did not prevent van Gogh's Moroccan muslim murderer from getting his hands on a handgun.

The A30 border crossing with Germany {at least where I crossed near Gildehuis} is marked well, but absurdly porous. I could have had a trunkful of...interesting toys... driving across the other day on my return from Hannover/Linden. Nobody stopped me, nobody asked me for my passport, nobody even looked at me crosswise.

The best intel work is still being done by the US, the UK, and Israel. Not coincidentally we are the main three nations with the brass ones to take action when appropriate.

IF the world is saved from the muslim threat, it will be because WE stemmed the tide long enough to wake up a few others.

A.A.C.

"Let the Final Crusade commence!"

[jeffers]

"They weren't literally "hermetically sealed" - certainly not to my eyes - or me. "

Ok, good, there's a lot of people over here keying on that one word.

"Exits and cover" was for the folks here at home. Also, your border may have been lax because you weren't passing from one country to another, just from one EU state to another. Then again...

Thanks for the reply.