Posted on 06/10/2005 5:52:29 PM PDT by TexKat
Pfc. Brendon Piper, from the 443rd Civil Affairs Battalion, 304th Civil Affairs Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, keeps his eye on the vehicles to the rear of his convoy as they roll through Baghdad, Iraq. Photo by Ferdinand Thomas.
A U.S. officer, center, assigned to Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, Virginia Army National Guard, questions a villager, left, through an interpreter during a patrol in the Ajristan District of Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, in support of an operation, June 2, 2005. Defene Dept. photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt Joseph P. Collins Jr.
Teri Weaver / S&S Lt. Raad Abud Gasin directs traffic during a walking patrol in the Haifa Street neighborhood of Baghdad on Tuesday morning. The lieutenant grew up near Haifa and still lives there, one of the reasons the battalion he’s in has been so successful in clearing violence from the area.
Haifa Street goes from terrorized to tranquil
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Friday, June 10, 2005
BAGHDAD — A year ago, terror reigned on Haifa Street, a boulevard in western Baghdad just south of the Tigris River.
Teri Weaver / S&S A utility pole on Haifa Street shows the remnants of the violence that once plagued the Baghdad neighborhood.
In one battle early last summer, insurgents took a wounded Iraqi soldier, tied him to a motorcycle and dragged him through the streets, said Lt. Add Al-Kharlim, an Iraqi platoon leader who was there that day.
“The terrorists were powerful,” he said through an interpreter, as he and his soldiers walked the same neighborhood Monday afternoon.
“When I’m walking now, I don’t believe I’m walking on Haifa Street.”
The lieutenant isn’t the only one. Women walk home with groceries. Kids ride bicycles and run from one alley to the next, chasing soldiers and anything else that catches their interest. Men sit at cafés, drinking tea, chatting and reading the newspaper.
Teri Weaver / S&S A child rides his bicycle Tuesday morning in front of a gravestone shop near Haifa Street. Insurgents once hid weapons in the graveyard across the street. Now, it's been at least two months since a gun fight or car bombing in the neighborhood, both Iraqi soldiers and neighbors said.
A few months ago, insurgents ruled the area, American and Iraqi soldiers say. Snipers sat atop apartment buildings to pick off soldiers and pedestrians. Car bombs and rocket-propelled grenades exploded often. A nearby cemetery and mosque each served as weapons hideouts for “the bad guys,” as the Americans and Iraqis call the insurgents. Few people ventured into the streets.
But about three months ago, two things changed: The Iraqi army raided houses near Haifa and caught three men they say were behind much of the violence. Then, the Iraqi army’s 1st Battalion of the 1st Brigade began walking the streets.
They put their own snipers on the tops of buildings. They began getting more information — and trust — from the neighbors and business owners. And they were able to make the streets safer, said Maj. Fuad Issa Salih, a company commander within the battalion.
“We get to this result because of the patrols,” he said Tuesday during an interview in his office, a palace that once housed one of Saddam Hussein’s daughters.
“Now, people are out in the streets till midnight.”
Squads of Iraqi soldiers patrol the area at least 10 times a day, Fuad said. They go out for two hours at a time during the day and night.
Teri Weaver / S&S Men talk outside a cafe in the Haifa Street neighborhood. Others nearby said the street has improved dramatically; three months ago, they said, you couldn't sit on the street and talk because of the violence.
Throughout Baghdad, most Iraqi squads patrol on foot to save fuel and to avoid getting stuck with an overheated vehicle. What makes the 1st Battalion’s patrols different is its members’ experience and their knowledge of the neighborhood, say U.S. soldiers who have been working with the Iraqis to help manage their patrols.
Many of the battalion’s members live in the Haifa Street area. They know when a stranger tries to move in.
The 1st Battalion also has started doing things the Americans once did. It holds health clinics for the neighbors. Its soldiers give away coloring books to the children.
“So the kids, if they see a grenade, they tell us and we go get it,” Fuad said.
The actions have paid off.
“We call this grenade alley,” said Lt. Mark St. Romain, 23, of Baton Rouge, La., on Monday afternoon as he followed an Iraqi patrol. The alley weaved through houses in a space so narrow, it would be hard for three men to walk abreast.
Teri Weaver / S&S Soldiers from an Iraqi platoon patrol an alley in the Haifa Street neighborhood. The Iraqi army began foot patrols about three months ago, the same time they made some key discoveries of insurgent hideouts in the neighborhood. It’s been two months since a car bomb hit the neighborhood, officers said.
St. Romain came to the end of the alley to a larger side street. “This was Purple Heart Lane,” he said.
On Monday afternoon, the only activity was the women and children peeking out to see who was walking down the lane. Prayers from a nearby mosque echoed in the distance.
On Tuesday morning, Lt. Raad Abud Gasin took a squad of soldiers out for a two-hour patrol. They walked around Haifa to a nearby street that serves as an industrial route near the river’s edge. Car and boat mechanics’ shops lined the streets. The morning traffic — buses, donkey carts, cars, garbage trucks and an occasional motorcycle — clogged the streets.
Raad marched through the traffic and ordered his soldiers to try to clear out some of the congestion. He directed traffic and shouted directions without touching his gun. When the traffic calmed, only slightly, he walked the sidewalks and talked to shop owners. He looked more like a cop walking his beat than a soldier fighting a war.
At a café, a group of men read their newspapers and watched Raad direct the chaos.
“In the last three months, nothing much,” said one man when asked about the last time gunfire hit the neighborhood. “Now it is good,” he said through an interpreter.
But the men had other concerns they wanted heard. The electricity runs two hours on, six hours off. Raw sewage still seeps into the streets.
“In America, Canada, we hear [blackouts are] fixed in 24 hours,” another man said. “Here, two years. We get no electricity.”
The question remains: Why haven’t the Iraqis and the Americans been as successful in other parts of the city, where car bombings and other attacks kill dozens each week?
The Americans say the success in Haifa is because of the Iraqi battalion’s experience, and that it will take time for other units of the Iraqi army to become as skilled and confident.
Fuad, the company commander, said he doesn’t know, but offered one simple guess.
“I can’t talk about other people” patrolling other parts of the city, he said. “In my sector, I treat people good. In other sectors, I don’t know.”
A law enforcement photo shows Umer Hayat in this photo taken in August 2001. The FBI announced on June 8, 2005 the arrest over the weekend of Hayat and his Pakistani-American son living in California after the son admitted to attending an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan. Hamid Hayat, 23, and his father, Umer, 45, of Lodi, 35 miles (60 km) to the south of state capital Sacramento are being held in Sacramento on charges of lying to federal authorities. According to an FBI affidavit, Hamid Hayat told agents he attended an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan for about six months in 2003 and 2004. 'Hamid further stated that he and others at the camp were being trained on how to kill Americans,' the affidavit said. Photo by Reuters (Handout)
Judge denies bail in US-Pakistani terror case
By Jenny O'Mara SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A federal judge denied bail on Friday to a California man arrested after U.S. officials said he admitted to attending an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan.
Hamid Hayat, 23, and his Pakistan-born father, Umer, 45, of Lodi, are being held in Sacramento County Jail on charges of lying to federal authorities.
"The charges are very serious," Judge Peter Nowinski said in denying the son's request. "I find that he is a flight risk."
Hamid Hayat, heavily bearded and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, wore handcuffs attached to his waist during his appearance in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, 35 miles north of Lodi.
His father, accused of lying about his son's activities in Pakistan, appeared in court on Monday and also was denied bail. Each faces up to eight years in prison for making fraudulent statements in a case involving national security.
Investigators continue to gather evidence to see if Hamid Hayat could be charged with illegally attending a paramilitary facility abroad, an offense with a maximum penalty of 10 years, said an official whose agency is working on the case.
It is the latest in a series of high-profile terrorism prosecutions launched since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Many of those cases later fizzled out.
"Everyone is very sensitive, aware that we've had hits and misses on anti-terrorism matters across the country," said the U.S. official.
The suspects, both U.S. citizens, were taken into custody by the FBI over the weekend and are scheduled to appear in court again on June 21.
According to an FBI affidavit, Hamid Hayat told agents he attended an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan for about six months in 2003 and 2004. "Hamid further stated that he and others at the camp were being trained on how to kill Americans," the affidavit said.
'UNFORTUNATE MISCOMMUNICATION'
Lawyers for the father and son say the government has tarred their clients with talk of al Qaeda links even while accusing them of a lesser offense.
"It says one thing in the affidavit but the only charge is lying to the government," said Wazhma Mojaddidi, an attorney for Hamid Hayat.
In an unusual twist, the Justice Department issued an affidavit on Wednesday that contained more details than the document later filed with the U.S. District Court.
"At this point we are curious to know how and why that happened," Mojaddidi said in an interview.
Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said human error was at fault. "An unfortunate miscommunication led to the inadvertent release from Washington of an affidavit that was not final," he said.
That original document charges that Hamid Hayat went to a Pakistani training camp run by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a close friend of his father-in-law.
Rehman heads a banned Pakistani militant group, Jamiat ul-Ansar (formerly Harakat ul-Mujahidin), which the State Department called a terrorist group in an April report.
The report said the group is mainly focused on local issues. "Members conduct insurgent and terrorist activities primarily in Kashmir," it said. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous and Deborah Charles in Washington)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Citing growing complacency since the Sept. 11 attacks, a counterterrorism official said on Friday that rail line sabotage, attacks on airliners by hand-held missile launchers and invasions of schools by hostage takers still posed major threats to U.S. security.
"We are still very much in play, no matter how small 9/11 gets in the rearview mirror," said John Miller, who heads counterterrorism operations for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Bureau Chief - John Miller Counter-Terrorism Bureau
Appearing at a panel on homeland security during the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Miller said there was a "growing sense of complacency" as the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on New York and Washington receded into history, particularly in three areas.
There were 20,000 portable surface-to-air missile launchers for sale on the black market, he said, at prices ranging from $800 to $3,000.
Since Sept. 11, he said, there had been five attempted attacks with such missiles, including one that caused a cargo plane to make an emergency landing after it was struck taking off from the Baghdad airport in 2003.
"One of these is going to succeed and shoot down a plane full of people. That is not a theory because the terrorists are already trying it," Miller said.
Last year's Madrid train station bombings that killed nearly than 200 people also provided a warning, he said.
"There is nothing different about our train system. This is a crime that could be committed on any day in any city in the United States," he added.
A third vulnerability involved the nation's schools, he said, citing the 2004 incident where 330 hostages died after Chechen rebels raided a Russian school.
Miller said it was important to load information about floor plans and other details of school buildings into computer systems where they could be accessed immediately by police in case of a similar emergency.
Leaders of the mayors' group said financing for security measures had improved but more could be done.
About 50 cities now received direct federal funds, said Don Plusquellic, mayor of Akron, Ohio, and president of the conference, but additional cities should be added.
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley said the federal government had continued to cut back on money available to train emergency personnel who are the front-line help.
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, center, accompanied by Sugar Land (Texas) Mayor David Wallace, left, and Akron (Ohio) Mayor Don Plusquellic, addresses homeland security issues during a news conference at the U.S. Conference of Mayors conference Friday, June 10, 2005, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Unit offers many tools to handle emergency
By U.S. Air Force Capt. Mark D. Gibson, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – On a normal day, operations at the 451st Air Expeditionary Group here can be typical of any deployed unit.
Civil engineering Airmen work tirelessly to keep the long-neglected runway open so thousands of Army troops can remain supplied. Aerial port personnel load and unload a seemingly endless stream of incoming aircraft carrying people and equipment. Services squadron members schedule activities to entertain those deployed to this far-flung location.
Sometimes, however, an event can occur that highlights the uniqueness of the 451st and the Airmen assigned to it.
A perfect example occurred May 22, when an Army convoy traveling north of Kandahar was struck by an improvised explosive device believed to have been set by pro-Taliban forces.
The incident showed how all the parts in such an expeditionary unit work together – and how the Air Force is supporting the war fighters on the ground in southern Afghanistan.
“The Air Force is here as the senior airport authority, but we’re also here to provide critical elements to support the Army’s offensive operations in southern Afghanistan,” said Col. Eric W. Vollmecke, commander of the 451st AEG and a Guardsman deployed from the West Virginia Air National Guard. “With (tactical air control personnel), air evacuation, pararescue and explosive ordnance disposal, we’re not your typical unit by any means.”
The IED caused heavy damage to a Humvee in the column. Traveling with the convoy were tactical air controllers Staff Sgt. Mitchell Yang and Airman 1st Class Kenneth Farrar, who were able to quickly call in air coverage to the site.
“They were able to get aircraft to the scene and help with security for ground forces and rescue personnel,” said Lt. Col. Wayne Canipe, commander of the tactical air control unit at Kandahar Airfield. “They did their jobs very well.”
While EOD teams scoured the area for secondary devices and investigated the explosion, an Army medical evacuation team transported two wounded soldiers back to Kandahar Airfield for emergency treatment. An Air Force emergency rescue squadron was also sent up as a backup, which was necessary due to high winds and poor visibility in the area.
One soldier later died as a result of his wounds, with the second receiving life-saving treatment at Kandahar.
The Army “brought him in here, stabilized him and performed surgery,” said Capt. Steve Theohares, a flight care coordinator with the 451st Air Evacuation Squadron deployed from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. “That’s when we got involved. We took over his care and got him to Landstuhl, Germany, for follow-up treatment.”
“We were fortunate that a C-17 was in mid-air on a routine mission, and he got here in about five minutes,” he said.
The Soldier “received outstanding care in the field, there’s no doubt,” Theohares said. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made it.”
The cooperation between the Army and Air Force and the internal cohesion within the 451st were the difference between life and death, Vollmecke believes.
“The Air Force of 20 years ago would not have been nearly as effective at operations such as this,” he said. “We have truly succeeded in instilling an expeditionary mindset, and those deploying now understand conditions in the field.”
“We have a strong representation of total force here, and it’s really coming together on the battlefield.” (1st Lt. Andrew Schmidt, 451st Air Expeditionary Group, contributed to this story.)
June 9, 2005
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON - More foreign fighters than ever are crossing Iraq's porous borders to fight U.S. and Iraqi forces, and a growing number are from U.S.-ally Saudi Arabia, a Senate Democrat said Thursday.
"The mix is changing," said Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del., citing conversations last week in Iraq with Marine and Army generals. "Now, the mix is increasingly more Islamist crossing the border ... and a lot of them are Saudis. It presents a different profile" that is harder for U.S. forces to confront.
Biden, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Democrat, gave no specific numbers, for foreign fighters as a whole or for the percentage from Saudi Arabia. He said he was told repeatedly that the totals are going up and that Saudis are "a disproportionate number."
"They kept talking about their belief ... that more in terms of numbers of jihadists are crossing the border, more sophisticatedly trained and more capable of doing harm and damage than existed a month ago, three months ago, five months ago," Biden told reporters.
In the past, the U.S. military has said foreign fighters are a small percentage — perhaps one in 10 — of the insurgents fighting the U.S. presence in Iraq. They do a disproportionate amount of killing, however, in part because they are more likely to carry out suicide bombings.
U.S. and other analysts say the foreign fighters are primarily Islamic jihadists, fighting what they claim are anti-Islamic invaders, while the much larger homegrown, mostly Sunni Arab, insurgency has tended to be motivated more by political grievance and factional rivalry.
Part of the Bush administration strategy in Iraq is to improve living conditions and security for ordinary Iraqis and thereby reduce support for the homegrown insurgency. That calculation won't work with foreign fighters, Biden said.
"If you turn on lights, get the air conditioning running and clean up the sewage, that ain't going to have any impact on the jihadist coming across from Saudi Arabia with a bomb strapped on his stomach," said Biden, who has made five trips to Iraq since U.S. forces overthrew Saddam Hussein a little more than two years ago.
The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden's remarks.
Saudis have been among the foreigners captured by U.S. forces inside Iraq, but the Pentagon and the Bush administration have said little about the national backgrounds of foreign fighters.
Asked about estimates that Saudis make up 40 percent of suicide bombers recruited to Iraq by the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Saudi Arabia differs from other nations that may export fighters to Iraq because it is also fighting al-Qaida insurgents on its own territory.
"There's no question but that there have been a number of Saudis involved that have been captured throughout the entire activity," Rumsfeld said.
Biden said a U.S. troop pullout now would be disastrous, but he accused the Bush administration of glossing over the magnitude of the problems and underestimating the time it will take to fix them.
"There is a total disconnect from what I've seen ... being on the ground and what I hear when I come back home," Biden said.
Afghanistan/Iraq: Al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda, And The New Islamist Front
Friday, 10 June 2005
By Amin Tarzi and Kathleen Ridolfo
Recent published accounts of the relationship between fugitive Jordanian terrorist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terrorist network illuminate the relationship between the two men and their movements' vision of establishing an Islamic caliphate across the Middle East. The sudden rise in terrorist attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan supports the theory that Arab terrorists in that country have regrouped in an effort to provide a reinvigorated Arab front against the United States, while the continuing insurgency in Iraq shows no signs of abatement, despite recent reports that al-Zarqawi may be near death as a result of a recent injury.
The Afghan Front
Almost immediately after the 1 June suicide bombing of a Kandahar mosque that killed mourners of an anti-Taliban cleric, Afghan officials said that it was carried out by Arab members of Al-Qaeda. "We have found documents on [the bomber's] body that show he was an Arab," Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai told reporters, adding that intelligence indicated that "Arab Al-Qaeda teams had entered Afghanistan and had been planning terrorist attacks. Mohammad Hasham Alikozay, director of the Public Health Department in Kandahar, said that the "features found" at the explosion site indicated that the suicide bomber seemed "to be an Arab."
In line with the expectations of Afghan authorities and U.S.-led coalition forces, disruptive activities and terrorist acts either committed by or in the name of the neo-Taliban and their allies have increased since the weather improved in southern and eastern Afghanistan. In April, U.S. Major General Eric Olson said that there "has been an increase in Taliban and enemy activity in the spring [compared to the winter months]. And we anticipate that the enemy has the intention of trying to raise the level of activity this spring." However, Olson predicted that these activities would lack cohesion and fade in traditional neo-Taliban strongholds.
However, what has been different in recent months is the sophisticated coordination of the disruptive activities and the new methods employed by their perpetrators.
The student-led demonstrations that began peacefully on 10 May in the eastern Nangarhar Province and spread to at least 13 other provinces around Afghanistan were the first indication that a new, well-organized plan against the government of President Hamid Karzai, but especially against the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, was under way. While the demonstrations were triggered by a report alleging that some interrogators at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, desecrated the Koran, the rallies quickly and with a coordination not seen in Afghanistan, became violent and spread to several Afghan cities.
Coinciding with the student demonstrations, a night letter reminiscent of the days when Afghans were fighting Soviet troops was circulated in parts of Kabul. Without making any reference to the events in Nangarhar, the letter announced that the "principle duty of the Mujahedin has just started." The unsigned letter condemned the possibility of the establishment of U.S. military bases in Afghanistan and alleged that Karzai and former Taliban members are in an alliance with the purpose of turning Afghanistan into a U.S. satellite.
Karzai's government initially blamed "enemies of peace and stability" for fueling and politicizing student anger, in particular directing it towards U.S.-Afghan ties and Kabul's offer of amnesty to many former Taliban members. The Afghan president said that "students of medical and engineering faculties of Pakistani and Iranian universities attend classes and continue their lessons as usual, but Afghan university and school students are taken out of their classes and provoked to stage demonstrations" to destroy lives and property in Afghanistan. While Karzai did not accuse a specific country by name, Kabul's main pro-government daily "Anis" on 17 May wrote that Iran is spending "large sums of money and [has] hired scores of mercenaries" to undermine stability in Afghanistan. "Anis" alleged that the demonstrations were planned by "reckless" Afghans in consultation with the Iranian Embassy in Kabul.
The possible role of the Neo-Taliban is unclear. No one has pointed a finger at the neo-Taliban for fueling the demonstrations and the militia's spokesman, Mufti Latifullah Hakimi, has denied any involvement.
The neo-Taliban did claim responsibility for the 29 May murder of Mawlawi Abdullah Fayyaz, head of the Council of Ulema of Kandahar and an ardent opponent of the neo-Taliban. However, Hakimi, commenting on the suicide attack in the mosque during services held for Fayyaz, said: "This shouldn't have occurred. We strongly condemn this act."
It is difficult to differentiate between wanton acts of violence in Afghanistan. Some attacks, carried out in the name of the neo-Taliban, are actually committed by drug dealers or other criminals. And the neo-Taliban often claims responsibility for acts of violence that it has not committed. However, what is noteworthy in the student demonstrations and the mosque bombing is the coordination and means of committing these violent acts.
Suicide bombings are very rare in Afghanistan and the neo-Taliban seldom resort to this tactic to achieve their goals. Moreover, there is not a single record of a suicide attack inside a mosque in that country, as has been the case in Iraq. The Kandahar attack may be the beginning of a new front by Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorists, possibly backed by regional countries, to recalibrate their anti-U.S. activities in Afghanistan.
The Iraqi Front
"Al-Zarqawi: The Second Al-Qaeda Generation," a recently published book on Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi -- who pledged his group's loyalty to Osama bin Laden last year -- chronicles al-Zarqawi's presence in Afghanistan and his relationship with the Al-Qaeda network, which funded al-Zarqawi training camps in Herat before the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Following the invasion, al-Zarqawi and other Al-Qaeda leaders scattered and regrouped in Iran, pledging to reassemble in Afghanistan in seven years' time, Sayf al-Adl, the official in charge of security for the Global Al-Qaeda of Islam Army, recounted in the book.
Al-Zarqawi and his associates' quicker return to the Afghan front before the seven-year hiatus mentioned by Sayf al-Adl may be directly linked to two issues. Firstly, it concerns the ineffectiveness of the neo-Taliban and the low-level Al-Qaeda support provided to them in order to inflict heavy damage on the Kabul government or U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. Also related to this point is the relative success of the political process in Afghanistan after the neo-Taliban had vowed to disrupt the electoral process there. However, the second and more urgent factor for al-Zarqawi and his backers to reopen the Afghan front is most likely linked to the official signing of the "strategic partnership" between Kabul and Washington in May. The partnership binds the two countries in a formal agreement and allows for an indefinite U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
Al-Adl further documented al-Zarqawi's decision to establish his network of fighters in Iraq in 2001, an undertaking assisted through his relationship with the Ansar Al-Islam terrorist network based in Iraqi Kurdistan close to the Iranian border. That relationship was reportedly forged in Afghanistan.
"We began to converge on Iran one after the other. The fraternal brothers in the peninsula of the Arabs, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates who were outside Afghanistan, had already arrived. They possessed abundant funds. We set up a central leadership and working groups," al-Adl recounted. "We began to form some groups of fighters to return to Afghanistan to carry out well-prepared missions there. Meanwhile, we began to examine the situation of the group and the fraternal brothers to pick new places for them. Abu Mus'ab and his Jordanian and Palestinian comrades opted to go to Iraq...[an] examination of the situation indicated that the Americans would inevitably make a mistake and invade Iraq sooner or later. Such an invasion would aim at overthrowing the regime. Therefore, we should play an important role in the confrontation and resistance. It would be our historic chance to establish the state of Islam that would play a major role in alleviating injustice and establishing justice in this world," al-Adl said.
Al-Zarqawi has established a vast network of fighters in Iraq and Iraqi authorities have indicated that the network includes Arab nationals as well as Afghan and Pakistani fighters. His Tanzim Qa'idat Al-Jihad fi Bilad Al-Rafidayn allegedly has close ties to the Ansar Al-Sunnah Army, an outgrowth of Ansar Al-Islam. U.S. and Iraqi authorities claim that successes have been made through a string of recent military operations targeting the groups. A Mosul operation on 28 May led to the capture of al-Zarqawi aide Mutlaq Muhammad Mutlaq Abdullah (aka Abu Ra'd). Iraqi Major General Khalil al-Ubaydi announced on 4 June the arrest of an Ansar Al-Sunnah member identified as Mullah Mahdi; al-Ubaydi contended that Mahdi carried out attacks at the direction of al-Zarqawi. Iraqi authorities this week announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Ansar Al-Sunnah leader Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/6/A9667FC0-69A5-4CE3-B1E7-C15FC62F60DE.html
June 10, 2005
Homaidan Al-Turki
Aurora - An Aurora couple were indicted Thursday, accused of enslaving an Indonesian woman in their home for four years, forcing her to cook and clean without pay.
The husband also is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the woman, records show.
Residents of the well-kept neighborhood where Homaidan Al-Turki and Sarah Khonaizan lived with their four children said a team of heavily armed police surrounded the house and took the couple into custody last week.
Federal indictments handed up Thursday accuse the couple of keeping the woman in servitude to care for their children and perform other domestic chores without paying her.
She was intimidated
Sarah Khonaizan
with "aggravated sexual abuse," the indictment said. Al-Turki faces numerous sexual-assault charges in connection with the case, according to court records.
The Denver Post is withholding the name of the alleged victim because of the nature of the allegations.
A woman who lives across the cul-de-sac from the family said the couple were from Saudi Arabia and that the husband owned an Islamic bookstore. The neighbor said that many people would come and go from the house, in the 2000 block of South Joliet Court.
"They pretty much stayed to themselves," said the neighbor, Diana Zettlemoyer. "The curtains are always drawn. You don't see much of what's going on."
Another neighbor said it was difficult to identify women around the house because most wore traditional Muslim clothing that concealed all but their eyes. However, she came to realize that a woman who would shovel snow out of the family's driveway was not the wife.
"Occasionally, there would be another woman who didn't seem like a sister shoveling snow," said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified. "It was not the mother."
Vicki Lisman, who also lives in the cul-de-sac, said an agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had been canvassing the neighborhood.
She too was surprised to learn that another woman lived in the house.
"That just blows me away," Lisman said.
The indictment says Al-Turki, 36, and Khonaizan, 35, confiscated the woman's passport and visa, and forced her to work for them over a four-year period ending in November 2004.
A source close to the investigation said the woman lived in their basement while she was serving the family but that she now is living with friends.
Federal authorities are attempting to confiscate $92,700 from the couple's bank accounts, an amount authorities estimate the couple saved by not paying the woman for her work, the indictment said.
Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado, declined to reveal how authorities became aware of the woman's situation.
John Richilano, lawyer for Al-Turki, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Jennifer Gedde, who represents Khonaizan, declined to comment on the charges, beyond saying they are "simply allegations."
Al-Turki and Khonaizan were in custody Thursday and face charges that could result in life imprisonment.
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 10, 2005 – Iraqi Army and Task Force Baghdad soldiers captured 33 terror suspects, seized 2 million Iraqi dinars and confiscated a variety of bomb-making materials in a series of operations conducted June 8 and 9, military officials in Baghdad reported.
The Iraqi Ministry of Interior's Wolf Brigade rounded up the largest capture: 23 suspects in an early-morning raid June 9.
Also on June 9, three separate operations in central and south Baghdad yielded five more terror suspects, including one foreign fighter and two suspected members of a known terrorist cell.
A day earlier in central Baghdad, Iraqi police captured another foreign fighter in a major arrest that also netted 2 million Iraqi dinars and $6,750 in U.S. currency, officials said. Also discovered were large quantities of fertilizer, chemicals used in making explosives and a picture of Saddam Hussein. The suspect was taken into custody for questioning.
Later that same day, an Iraqi shopkeeper tipped off U.S. soldiers to a suspicious vehicle abandoned on the side of a highway. The car was weighted in the rear, with gas cans visible in the back seat. An explosives team safely detonated the vehicle.
"The operations and arrests made by the Iraqi security forces over the past couple of days continue to demonstrate that the Iraqis can and are taking the fight to the terrorists," Task Force Baghdad spokesman Lt. Col. Clifford Kent said.
In another June 9 operation, task force soldiers on patrol spotted wires coming out of a mound of dirt along a highway in south Baghdad. As an EOD team approached that bomb, a second bomb exploded in the area. One soldier suffered minor injuries. Three more bombs were found and safely detonated.
Sami Al-Arian
Muneer Arafat's former mosque in Sarasota raised money for martyrs families - hosted Al Arian -Al Najjar -Hussam Jubara
June 9, 2005
MIM: The new Imam of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, Muneer Arafat, revealed in court that he declined Al Arian's invitation to join Palestinian Islamic Jihad because he was a member of a different group ! Which begs the question as to why Muneer Arafat's former mosque - the Islamic Society of Sarasota and Brandenton -hosted Al Arian, and the his now deported brother in law Mazen Al Najjar if Arafat had the ideological differences with the PIJ as he claimed in court .Given the fact that Al Arian's lawyer read a litany of Arafat's false statements to authorities and documented lies, one must surmise that Arafat's claim of non membership in the PIJ is truth as he sees it. His response to Al Arian attorney William Moffitt is a classic of Islamist dissembling.
Under cross-examination by Al-Arian's attorney, William Moffitt, Arafat admitting lying in the past on resumes, job applications and a voter registration form. He has falsely claimed to be an American citizen, and was deported at one point for overstaying his visa. He also acknowledged he was detained immigration officials in 2002, is no longer working at the Sarasota mosque and that he and Al-Arian had a dispute in recent years.
Arafat also testified that the government has paid him a total of $35,000 since 2003 to cooperate with them, although it was not made clear the kind of cases in which he was involved. He denied being paid for cooperating in the Al-Arian case but said he asked the government to help his wife get a work permit.
"There are people who lie worse than that," Arafat told Moffitt as the attorney was chronicling his deceptions through the years
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/11854963.htm
MIM: The ISSB also hosted Hussam Jubara, who is listed as one of the registered agents on some of Al Arian's 'businesses'. Jubara ,a professor at the University of Central Florida, was jailed and ordered to be deported in 2003. Jubara also wrote academic papers together with Al Arian and FAU professor Bassem Alhalabi, who is a cofounder and board member of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton.
Arafat's claim that he rejected Al Arian's attempts to recruit him into his PIJ terrorist group appear even more questionable in light of the fact that his mosque, the Islamic Society of Sarasota and Brandenton ,actively raised money for 'Al Aqsa martyrs families'.
A notice to their congregants states that they had raised '$4,000 for the families of the martyrs of Al Aqsa and that a brother would be bring the money to the West Bank'. The connection of Al Arian, and Al Najjar to the ISSB raises the possiblility that the 'martyrs families' receiving the money from Arafat's mosque were those who had carried out suicide bombings on behalf of the PIJ.
MIM: Investigative journalist Joe Kaufman writes that :
"...ISSB was also active in raising funds for these families. In its January 2001 edition of its monthly newsletter THE FAITH, under the title 'Aqsa Victims (2),' it is written: "The second payment of donations for Aqsa victims were sent [sic] the martyrs families and needy in the West Bank in Palestine. Alhamdullah we managed to send $4,000 by one of our dedicated brothers."
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For more on Muneer Arafat see : Imam for hire : From Bradenton/Sarasota to the Islamic Center of Boca Raton
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/135
Cleric Testifies in Al Arian Trial
By MICHAEL FECHTER mfechter@tampatrib.com http://info.mgnetwork.com/printthispage.cgi?url=http%3A//news.tbo.com/news/MGBWHK2HR9E.html&oaspagename=www.tbo.com/news/story.htmâ„‘=tbologo80x60.jpg
TAMPA - A Muslim cleric testified Thursday that he rejected Sami Al-Arian's invitation to join a Palestinian Islamic Jihad faction at one of Al-Arian's charity conferences in 1988.
Muneer Arafat said he already was aligned with a separate Jihad faction and did not respect the one Al-Arian represented. It marked the first direct testimony about the fired University of South Florida professor's alleged work on behalf of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization responsible for more than 100 deaths in Israel and the occupied territories.
Arafat was part of a faction run by a sheik named Asa'ad Tamimi, who once served as imam of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, a holy site for Muslims. Al-Arian, Arafat testified, invited him to join a breakaway faction run by Fathi Shiqaqi. That faction was more violent and encouraged attacks against civilians, Arafat said.
He said he resented the fact that people living in comfort in Tampa, sending their children to good schools, were wiling to send other people's children to die in suicide attacks. U.S. District Judge James Moody struck the comment because it wasn't relevant to the question asked.
Defense attorney William Moffitt attacked Arafat's credibility during his cross examination. Arafat admitted that he lied repeatedly on job applications, illegally registered to vote and has been paid $35,000 by the government for work on a number of cases.
Al-Arian, Sameeh Hammoudeh, Hatim Naji Fariz and Ghassan Ballut are charged in a 53-count indictment alleging racketeering, conspiracy and material support to terrorists. They could face life in prison if convicted.
This story can be found at: http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBWHK2HR9E.html
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SARASOTA MOSQUE RAISES MONEY FOR FAMILIES OF SUICIDE BOMBERS
IMAM OF BOCA MOSQUE NAMED AS WITNESS IN THE TRIAL AGAINST SAMI AL-ARIAN
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/006576.php
A Florida jihad update from Americans Against Hate:
(Coral Springs, FL) Opening statements for the trial against Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Sami Al-Arian took place last Monday, June 6th. Al-Arian and three of his associates are accused of using two non-profit groups and a children's school to funnel money to PIJ for use in suicide missions in Israel.
On the government witness list for the trial is Muneer Arafat, currently the Imam of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR). ICBR recently made national headlines when one of its congregants, Rafiq Abdus Sabir, was caught plotting to go overseas and aid members of Al-Qaeda. In addition, one of ICBR's current Directors, Bassem Alhalabi, was a research assistant for Al-Arian and published materials with Al-Arian at the University of South Florida (USF).
Before arriving in Boca Raton, Muneer Arafat was the Imam of the Islamic Society of Sarasota and Bradenton (ISSB) mosque. The mosque is located an hour south of the Islamic Academy of Florida (IAF), one of the institutions that Al-Arian was using to funnel money to PIJ.
ISSB featured repeated guest appearances by Al-Arian colleagues Mazen Al-Najjar and Hussam Jubara. Al-Najjar, who was a Director of IAF, was deported from the United States in August of 2002. Jubara, who co-founded the Islamic Concern Project (ICP) with Al-Arian, plead guilty in August of 2003 to lying on immigration forms.
Al-Arian, himself, was a guest at ISSB, in May of 2001. At this time, Al-Arian was actively raising funds for the families of suicide bombers.
ISSB was also active in raising funds for these families. In its January 2001 edition of its monthly newsletter THE FAITH, under the title 'Aqsa Victims (2),' it is written: "The second payment of donations for Aqsa victims were sent [sic] the martyrs families and needy in the West Bank in Palestine. Alhamdullah we managed to send $4,000 by one of our dedicated brothers."
Joe Kaufman, Chairman of Americans Against Hate, stated, "Given the fact that Al-Arian's colleagues were heavily involved with ISSB, and given the fact that ISSB was raising money for the families of martyrs, it is imperative that law enforcement focus much of its efforts on ISSB."
Muneer Arafat : Imam for hire - from Brandenton to the Islamic Center of Boca Raton
June 10, 2004
Mosque Watch: From Brandenton to Boca Raton
Introducing Imam Muneer Arafat, new Imam at the Boca Raton Islamic Center
Prior to coming to Boca Raton Muneer Arafat was the Imam at the Islamic Society of Sarasota and Brandenton.
Like the ICBR the ISSB is also planning a multi million dollar mosque expansion .
The ISSB claims it's premises have grown too small presumably because their ranks are being swelled by post 9/11 converts. In an article in the Brandenton paper, the ISSB congregants complained of what they claim is 'profiling' of Muslims at airports but : "All of them agreed, however, that the terrorist attacks generated interest in their religion that has even resulted in a few conversions."
The ISSB should take a lesson from the ICBR's truncated' mini- masjid' . The ICBR ran into some snags when one of their best fundraisers was jailed and other potential financers fled or were denied bail.
As Dr.Pipes pointed out below ,"In the post 9/11 enviornment anyone planing a resplendent Islamic Center would do well to avoid extremism".
Boca Raton's "Incredible Shrinking Masjid." The Islamic Center of Boca Raton has ambitious plans for a 3.3-acre Islamic Center complex, replete with a minaret, two domes, a 9,000-square-foot mosque, a 6,000-square-foot multipurpose hall, and a structure vaguely reminiscent of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina.
Instead, it has had to settle for a far more modest building.
What one local observer has dubbed the "Incredible Shrinking Masjid" appears to have resulted from a media scrutiny that focused on the virulently Islamist content of ICBR's website. For example, that website linked to:
The Florida-based Health Resource Center for Palestine
, closed down in April 2002 by law enforcement on account of its ties to Hamas. TheIslam Q&A site run by Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid, a Saudi linked to Hamas.
After a critical article in the Boca News in April 2003, the ICBR website vanished nearly overnight. Two leading members of the ICBR staff soon disappeared: Co-founder Khalid Hamza and Spokesman Hassan Shareef. A third, Co-founder Bassem Alhalabi, ran afoul of the law for illegal exporting to Syria.
These travails presumably hampered fundraising for ICBR's once-imagined "history making community project."
The moral of this story? In the post-9/11 environment, anyone planning to build a resplendent Islamic center would do well to avoid extremism. (October 26, 2003) http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/113
Matt Raiche talks from his attorneys office in Reno, Nev., Friday, afternoon, June 10, 2005, as his wife, Amber, looks on. Raiche was one of 16 Americans detained last month at Camp Fallujah, Iraq. Defense officials said Thursday that American and Iraqi security guards for Zapata Engineering, including Raiche, were detained for three days by Marines after a Marine combat team reported receiving small arms fire from gunmen in several trucks and SUVs last month, said spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said. Some of the contractors have complained they were abused while in custody.
Security contractor says Marines abused him and other contractors in Iraq
RENO, Nev. One of the security contractors detained by the military in Iraq last month says they were heckled, humiliated and physically abused by U-S Marines.
Ex-Marine Matt Raiche tells The Associated Press that he was one of the 16 American and three Iraqi contractors detained at Camp Fallujah. Raiche says he "found it crazy" that the group was held with terrorists for 72 hours.
The Pentagon says the contractors were detained for firing shots from their vehicles. It denies the abuse allegations and says the civilians were kept separate from insurgents.
But Raiche says one warning shot was fired when a vehicle approached their convoy. He also alleges that guards intimidated the detainees with dogs, made them strip and slammed a colleague to the ground.
US troops investigate a car bombing outside the Slovak Embassy in Baghdad Saturday June 11, 2005. A suicide car bomber blew himself up Saturday in front of the Slovakian Embassy in southeast Baghdad, injuring four people. (AP Photo/Mohammed Uraibi)
At least 16 killed as bombs shatter Baghdad calm
BAGHDAD (AFP) - At least 16 people, including three US servicemen, were killed as three bomb attacks shattered the relative calm in the capital since US and Iraqi forces launched a joint sweep for insurgents three weeks ago.
Children look inside a car after a suicide car bomb attack in Baghdad June 11, 2005. The car bomb exploded on a street in a Shi'ite area of Baghdad Friday night, killing 11 people and wounding 29, police and hospital officials said. A former Iraqi police commando blew himself up on Saturday in a failed bid to assassinate the leader of the anti-insurgent Wolf Brigade, killing three other policemen in the process, the Interior Minister said. Photo by Ali Jasim/Reuters
Coalition troop losses continued to mount, with one US soldier killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad Saturday and two marines dead in a similar attack west of the capital, the US military said.
The deaths brought to 12 the number of US servicemen killed in Iraq since Tuesday and to 1,684 the overall toll since the March 2003 invasion, according to AFP tallies based on Pentagon figures.
In the countryside just to the south, dubbed the Triangle of Death for its insurgent violence, 11 Iraqi construction workers were killed when gunmen attacked their minibus, police said.
Ten people died when a blast tore through Baghdad's mainly Shiite Shula district, shortly before a night-time curfew came into effect and as US and Iraqi officials warned against complacency despite counter-insurgency successes.
Store owners clear up the debris following a car bomb that detonated late last night in the busy Nur marketplace in Al-Shula district of northern Baghdad 11 June 2005. The vehicle was parked near the market when it detonated killing seven men, three woman and child and wounding 28 others according to hospital sources. At least 16 people, including three US servicemen, were killed as three bomb attacks shattered the relative calm in the capital since US and Iraqi forces launched a joint sweep for insurgents three weeks ago.(AFP/Karim Sahib)
An eight-months pregnant woman, her unborn child and husband were among the dead.
The little son of a victim of last night's car bombing says a prayer next to his father's coffin before burial at a mosque in the Al-Shula district of Baghdad, 11 June 2005. The car bomb, parked close to the busy Nur marketplace detonated last night killing seven men, three women and a child, and wounding 28 others according to hospital sources. At least 16 people, including three US servicemen, were killed as three bomb attacks shattered the relative calm in the capital since US and Iraqi forces launched a joint sweep for insurgents three weeks ago.(AFP/Karim Sahib)
In the second blast, three Wolf Brigade commandos were killed when a suicide bomber disguised as a commando walked into their central Baghdad barracks.
And in the latest attack, four Iraqis were wounded when a suicide bomber blew up an empty fuel tanker near the Slovak embassy in the capital's central Jadriyah neighbourhood, an interior ministry official said.
U.S. soldiers secure the area after a car bomb exploded outside the Slovakian Embassy in Baghdad June 11, 2005. Police said a car bomb exploded in front of the Slovakian Embassy in Baghdad, injuring four people. REUTERS/Ali Jasim
U.S. soldiers examine a damaged vehicle after a car bomb exploded outside the Slovakian Embassy in Baghdad June 11, 2005. Police said a car bomb exploded in front of the Slovakian Embassy in Baghdad, injuring four people. REUTERS/Ali Jasim
A US soldier stands guard in front of the Slovak Embassy in Baghdad Saturday June 11, 2005. A suicide car bomber blew himself up Saturday in front of the Slovakian Embassy in southeast Baghdad, injuring four people. (AP Photo/Mohammed Uraibi)
The embassy could not be reached for comment.
Interior Minister Baqer Jabr Solagh told journalists that eight people had been detained in connection with the Shula blast.
He said the commando strike had been carried out by a former brigade member and that the force's chief Major General Mohammed al-Quraishi was the target.
"The terrorists will try to penetrate the security cordon that we have erected around Baghdad and they succeeded in doing that at a late hour on Friday night in Shula," he said.
A doctor said his hospital had received 21 wounded commandos following the strike against the vanguard of those trying to bring peace to the capital.
A patriotic song regularly broadcast on Iraqi television says that members of the fearless brigade "disarm bombs with their teeth".
The commando unit had come to the capital from the main northern city of Mosul as part of Operation Lightning, a major offensive launched amid fanfare in May and reportedly involving 40,000 Iraqis forces.
Solagh said that 1,380 "terrorists" and 219 "suspected terrorists" had been detained in the sweep, including 11 non-Iraqi Arabs, and 27 car bombs primed for use had been defused.
Iraqi Interior Ministry's al-Hussain Brigade members guard suspected insurgents at their base in Baghdad Saturday June 11, 2005. The brigade arrested 41 suspects in recent raids in Baghdad. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)
Members of Iraqi Interior Ministry's al-Hussain brigade guard blindfolded suspected insurgents at their base in Baghdad Saturday June 11, 2005. The brigade arrested 41 suspects in recent raids in Baghdad. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)
Another 36 "terrorists" had been killed, along with 37 civilians and four security personnel.
Asked how the confirmed "terrorists" had been identified, the minister said: "If we find in their possession hand grenades, certain tapes and medium-calibre weapons, then that tells us they are terrorists. Plus intelligence."
He said 73 of the "suspected terrorists" had since been released.
The minister praised the operation's success and promised it would soon be extended outside Baghdad, without saying when or where.
"Car bombs have gone down from 12 to 0.6 a day," he said pointing to a bar graph on a screen.
The Shiite-led government of Ibrahim al-Jaafari is eager to demonstrate that it is able to control the security situation and often points to mistakes committed under the US-installed interim government of Iyad Allawi which had a Sunni Arab as interior minister.
Even before the fresh blasts, a US commander had warned of the likelihood of renewed violence.
"The enemy is pretty frustrated and looking for the opportunity to have large-scale coordinated attacks. That could happen within the week, but it won't last weeks or even days," he said, because "they don't have public support."
The bullet-riddled corpses of two brothers and a cousin were found on a main road in south Baghdad, after they were lured from their homes by men in police uniforms the night before, an interior ministry official said.
Three police commandos were killed in a drive-by shooting, while a US patrol killed two insurgents after they also came under fire from a passing car.
The US commander had warned that insurgents would resort to more such shootings as it became more difficult for them to get car bombs to their intended targets.
The same tactic was used in Saturday's attack south of Baghdad in which the 11 builders were killed.
"Eleven Iraqis were killed and three others wounded when men aboard two cars opened fire on a minibus taking construction workers from Jbala, 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of Baghdad, to the capital," said Captain Said al-Kraimi.
A man inspect a minivan destroyed in a gun attack in Diyara, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Baghdad Saturday June 11, 2005. At least 11 iraqi construction workers were killed and three others were injured in the attack. (AP Photo/Ali al-Maamory)
PM Jaafari said Thursday that Operation Lightning would be extended to other cities and justified it by the "exceptional circumstances" facing the country.
Almost 700 people died in a frenzy of car bombings and other attacks in May, one of the bloodiest months since the US-led invasion in March 2003.
Trust in the NEW Iraqi Army is a giant leap forward. Most Americans do not understand what the old Iraqi army represented to the Iraqi people. I am glad to see the new Army making progress in this respect.
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