Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.
From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.
One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.
MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.
Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.
Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.
Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.
He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.372899082&par=0
IRAN: GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON INTERNET
Tehran, 3 Jan. (AKI) - The government of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has given Iranians until 28 February to register their websites and provide all the data required to a newly established watchdog. The aim of the initiative, a government spokesman said, "is to extend the control of the judiciary on the content of websites to prevent the circulation of false and biased news." The move has been slammed as the umpteenth effort of the government to limit freedom of expression by rights groups.
"This is a further step to limit freedom of expression and the free circulation of information," said Mashaollah Shamsolvaezin, the spokesman of the Association for freedom of expression in Iran.
All websites and blogs which have not satisfied the government's requirements by 1 March will be blocked, a spokesman for the new watchdog has said. The body will include officials with the intelligence, telecommunications, culture and Islamic orientation ministries and the judiciary.
The Islamic Republic is one of 12 governments accused of being enemies of the Internet by the international organization Reporters without Borders.
(Rah/Aki)
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.372631056&par=0
Stampa
SAUDI ARABIA: WAHABI IMAM ISSUES FATWA AGAINST SHIITES
Riyadh, 2 Jan. (AKI) - A top Sunni Muslim religious leader in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Rahman al-Barak, one of the top several Wahabi clerics in the country, has issued a fatwa or religious decree declaring that Shiites be considered infidels. The Wahabi stream of Sunni Islam that is followed in Saudi Arabia is conservative and views Shiites as heretics.
In the fatwa issued by al-Barak, which was published on the Middle East Online website, Shiites are describes as "the worst sect in the Islamic community", which has accumulated all the "worse misbeliefs" and "denies the work of the prophet's companions".
Al-Barak called on Sunni Muslims not to remain silent in front of these "deviations in Shiite thought", defining the 12 imams venerated by Shiites as "misbelievers".
According to the Arabic daily, al-Quds al-Arabi, al-Barak is one of the most important and one of the most followed imams among the Saudi Wahabi movement.
The imam's remarks come amid concern by many Sunni Arabs about what they perceive as a Shiite revival following the 2003 war that toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
(Ham/Aki)
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=
Stampa
AFGHANISTAN: FOREIGN TROOPS WILL BE FORCED TO LEAVE SAYS MULLAH OMAR
Kabul, 29 Dec. (AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Foreign troops will be forced to leave Afghanistan by the Taliban, the hardline Islamist group's fugitive leader said in a rare, signed statement to the press on Friday."They came to Afghanistan readily but will be fleeing against their will... It is the history of Afghanistan that all foreign invaders are eventually defeated with much humiliation," Mullah Mohammad Omar allegedly said in the message.
The signed missive issued to the press by the Taliban’s spokesperson Mohammed Hanif to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha is a political statement on the Taliban's upcoming strategy which opposes any political mediation and is solely aimed at forcing foreign troops out of the country and ousting from power the Western-backed administration of president Hamid Karzai.
The statement coincides with the intensification of fighting in the volatile southern Helmand province after a brief lull during the winter season. Fighting could reach Kandahar as part of a Taliban strategy to conquer the city before they start what they hope will be an armed uprising across Afghanistan in the spring of 2007.
Over 4,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan in 2006, the bloodiest year since US-led troops invaded the country in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks ousting the fundamentalist Taliban regime in late 2001. Omar, who has a 10 million dollar bounty on his head imposed by the US government, disappeared shortly after the toppling of the Taliban.
In his statement, Omar rejected a plan to hold Loya Jirgas - tribal councils
proposed as a solution by Washington to end the violence in Afghanistan, which are backed by Pakistan and Afghanistan. He slammed the proposal as an evil attempt to hamper the Taliban-led struggle against foreign troops.
"Those who attacked Afghanistan want to trap us in the game of Loya Jirgas but no Muslim would agree to that…The Jirga has no representative status as all members would be nominated by the aggressors," Mullah Omar said in the statement.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are currently considering how to organise the Jirgas and deciding who will participate. Politicians in both countries want the Taliban to be included in the talks.
The commander also praised Taliban fighters on their success in their deadly 2006 campaign, warning them also to "take care of the fact that during their operations, the Afghan masses should not be harmed or affected."
(Shs/Aki)
Stampa
RUSSIA NEARLY COMPLETES SAM DELIVERIES TO IRAN, SYRIA
MOSCOW [MENL] -- Russia has delivered more than half of the anti-aircraft defense systems ordered by Iran and Syria.
Russian defense officials said Moscow has accelerated deliveries of surface-to-air missiles to Damascus and Teheran over the last few months. They said the SAM contract with Syria has been completed, while half of the air defense systems arrived in Teheran.
"We are actively carrying out deliveries of the system to Iran," the Russian state-operated Itar-Tass news agency quoted a Russian Defense Ministry official as saying on Tuesday. "At least 50 percent of the contract has been delivered."
In 2005, Iran purchased at least 29 TOR-M1 short-range mobile anti-aircraft systems from Russia. Over the last year, officials said, Iran ordered additional batteries as well as enhancements of the TOR-M1 in an overall contract estimated at $1.4 billion.
http://www.menewsline.com:80/stories/2007/january/01_04_2.html
ACRO Says 2006 Commercial Crashes Lowest In 53 Years
Wed, 03 Jan '07
Watchdog Organization Says Last Year One Of Safest In History
Citing data from the International Civil Aviation Office (ICAO) and other official sources, the independent watchdog organization Aircraft Crashes Record Office (ACRO) says last year saw only 156 fatal commercial crashes around the world -- down from 178 in 2005. It says that's the lowest number in 53 years making 2006 on of the safest in history.
http://www.aero-news.net:80/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=1bccc86b-e6b3-4231-95b7-58e2ae1ddbe2
CSIS fears terrorist `dirty bomb'
Canadian Press
OTTAWA – Canada's spy agency says it is "quite surprising" that terrorists have not detonated a crude radioactive bomb, given the availability of materials and ease with which they could be made into a weapon.
A newly released Canadian Security Intelligence Service study concludes a so-called dirty bomb is the most likely means of deliberately spreading deadly radiation.
But the CSIS study cautions that "a determined and resourceful terrorist group" could execute more elaborate forms of nuclear or radiological attack.
It says extremists could conceivably acquire an existing nuclear explosive device, fashion an improvised weapon from black-market material or sabotage a nuclear facility with the aim of triggering a radioactive release.
A copy of the October study was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
CSIS relies mainly on previously published research and analysis in assessing the threats, though brief passages were deemed too sensitive to disclose.
The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States raised fears that extremists could crash a jetliner into a nuclear reactor or get their hands on material to craft a rudimentary dirty bomb, or radiological dispersal device.
"The technical capability required to construct and use a simple RDD is practically trivial, compared to that of a nuclear explosive device or even most chemical or biological weapons," the CSIS study says.
A homemade radiological weapon could consist of a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material commonly found at universities, medical and research laboratories or industrial sites.
Several isotopes used in applications including cancer treatment and industrial radiography have been identified as possible sources. However, CSIS notes, much would depend on the material's half-life, the amount of radioactivity present, the portability of the source and the ease with which it could be dispersed.
Experts say such an explosion, while claiming few initial casualties, could spread radiation over a wide area, contaminating several city blocks, sowing panic and wreaking economic havoc.
Canadian organizations have quietly spent hundreds of millions of dollars since 9-11 to secure nuclear reactors, mines, research facilities and laboratories that handle radiological material.
CSIS contends detonation of a crude bomb is "undoubtedly the most likely" terrorist scenario involving radioactive sources.
"Indeed, it is quite surprising that the world has not yet witnessed such an attack," the study says, adding "it appears that we are positively overdue for one."
The intelligence service points to the notion terrorist thinking has shifted from the desire to inflict mass casualties to "one of inflicting severe economic damage."
Despite the assessment, the study provides little sense of the actual likelihood of a radiological or nuclear strike, said Prof. Wade Deisman, a criminologist and director of the University of Ottawa's national security project.
A more detailed CSIS analysis would be needed to develop such a measuring stick, Deisman said.
"They need to have an idea of how to prioritize their responses to threats based on their probabilities. And I still am far from convinced that they have any sense of that."
Security agencies need to assure the public they have a grasp of the risks, systems in place to protect key facilities and the resources to respond to emergencies, Deisman added.
http://www.thestar.com:80/News/article/167232
Terrorist Attack in Spain, ETA Claims Responsibility
The Basque separatist group ETA has claimed responsibility for a car bomb set off in a Madrid airport garage that has injured 19 people.
The bombing ends what was intended to be a permanent cease-fire between the Spanish government and ETA ("Basque Homeland and Freedom"), which has used terrorist tactics since its 1960s beginnings, in its quest for autonomy in the Basque region of Spain. The cease fire was declared in March 2006.
http://terrorism.about.com:80/b/a/000057.htm
Prison gangs battle for control in Venezuela; 16 die
http://www.chron.com:80/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/4440154.html
Mafia's Bible puzzle has police guessing
Richard Owen, Rome Correspondent
Detectives have asked the Vatican to help to decipher cryptic biblical messages published by the new Mafia Godfather in Latin.
Matteo Messina Denaro, a ruthless killer noted for his designer clothes and playboy lifestyle, is widely regarded as the new boss of Cosa Nostra after the arrest last April of Bernardo Provenzano, 73, who had been on the run for more than 40 years.
Messina Denaro, who has also been on the run for half of his life, represents the “new generation” of computer-literate Mafia bosses, running organised crime as an efficient multinational operation.
He was better known for his love of PlayStations, Porsches and glamorous women than his learning. But each year Messina Denaro places in a local newspaper a memorial notice to his father, Francesco, who died in 1998. Police noted that this time it takes the form of an amended Latin passage from the Old Testament.
The first part is a familar passage, very loosely based on Chapter III of Ecclesiastes. Investigators reading Il Giornale di Sicilia spotted that the second part, after the word “sed” (but), is not in the Old Testament at all. It means: “Only he who wants to will fly, and your flight has forever been sublime.”
Antonio Ingroia, the anti- Mafia prosecutor in Trapani, said that it was not known where Messina Denaro had learnt Latin, or why he used it to convey a message. “It might seem far fetched that a ruthless murderer should be apparently well versed in sacred texts,” he said. “But anyone who thinks today’s mafiosi are illiterate shepherds who sit in their huts making ricotta cheese is profoundly mistaken.”
Mafia bosses, many of whom profess to be good Catholics, have often used the Bible to construct coded notes, known as pizzini, that are used to communicate with underlings.
Police are re-examining Messina Denaro’s previous memorial notices for hidden clues. Denaro is wanted for at least 50 murders, the first of which was committed when he was 18. He was given a life sentence in absentia in 2002 for his role in the murders in Sicily in 1992 of the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
In memorium
“Spatium est ad nascendum et spatium est ad morendum
based on III Ecclesiastes 1-2
. . . sed solum volat qui voluit et perpetuo sublimes tuus volatus fuit”
Messina Denaro’s message
“To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die
. . . but only he who wants to will fly, and your flight has forever been sublime”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk:80/article/0,,13509-2528468,00.html
January 3, 2007 Anti-Terrorism News
(Iraq) U.S. raids in western Iraq capture 23 suspects
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070103/ts_nm/iraq_usa_raids_dc_1
Iraq hands death sentence to three "foreign fighters" - a Saudi, a
Syrian and a Sudanese to death after finding them guilty of Al Qaeda
related terrorist offenses
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/January/focusoniraq_January15.xml§ion=focusoniraq
Iraq: 12,000 civilians killed in 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_casualties
(Iraq) Saddam co-defendants to be executed Thurs.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_executions_2
(Iraq) Bush to reveal troop boost - BBC
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21005463-1702,00.html
(India) Militants kill army officer in Kashmir
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070103/india_nm/india282120_1
Thailand: Prominent Muslim Leader Killed - known for his tough stance
against the separatist insurgency in the Muslim-majority south
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.372926721&par=0
(Thailand) Still no suspects in Bangkok blasts, says Thai PM - Thaksin
denies link
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070103/wl_afp/thailandattacksblast_070103110022
Al Qaeda TV - Al-Zawraa TV, the 24-hour insurgent station
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/127nftww.asp
Al Qaeda: As-Sahab's Revealing December Productions
http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=282456
(Somalia) Battle for Somalia nears Kenya border - residents
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0383709.htm
(Las Vegas) German Muslim Held, Denied U.S. Entry
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_re_us/father_detained_1
(California) Man Arrested After Making Alleged Terrorist Threat -
Haider Mohammad released on bail after claiming to be affiliated with Al
Qaeda and for threatening to "kill all Jews"
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_001172325.html
Feds Say Emergency Communications Still Lacking in Many Cities
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,240817,00.html
FBI details possible detainee abuse
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/detainee_abuse
(UK) Muslim on racial hatred charges - Umran Javed called for the
bombing of Denmark and the United States during a demonstration
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,29389-2528963,00.html
(Israel) IDF forces discover 60 kilogram bomb in Jenin
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467652777&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israeli minister urges UN chief to revoke Iran membership
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070103/wl_mideast_afp/israeliranunlieberman_070103105748
Russia anti-aircraft weapons sales to Syria, Iran on schedule
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070102/wl_mideast_afp/russiamideastweapons_070102101844
(Gaza) Search continues for abducted AFP photographer
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/January/middleeast_January15.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
(Canada) Quick trip to top court for terror case - lawyers ask charges
to be stayed for accused terrorist Mohammed Momin Khawaja
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2007/01/03/3153422-sun.html
(Sri Lanka) Fresh jet raids against Tamil Tigers
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21007062-1702,00.html
(Australia) Hicks trial soon, says Ruddock
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21002019-1702,00.html
Related News:
Religious Broadcaster Pat Robertson Predicts Horrific Terrorist Attack
on U.S. in 2007
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,240841,00.html
Defense auditors will probe war on terror
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20061231-010821-3301r
Malaysia: Muslim 'prophet' challenges Islamic law
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467653420&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Sudan) UN troops in south Sudan raping children -report
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02356615.htm
(Iran) Mohammad Ali Ramin, Advisor to Iranian President Ahmadinejad:
'Hitler Was Jewish'
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD140807
Pakistan man loses ears, nose for love marriage
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070103/wl_nm/pakistan_honour_dc_1
Indonesia Airline lied over crash, says media
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/airline-lied-over-crash-says-media/2007/01/03/1167777143497.html
Airline lied over crash, says media
Indonesia's furious media accused authorities today of lying after
officials
erroneously reported that rescuers had found wreckage and survivors
from a
missing airliner carrying 102 people.
"The people have been lied to," said the Pikiran Umum daily, as search
and
rescue teams hunted for the plane which vanished off radar screens on
Monday
en route from central Java island to the island of Sulawesi,
"More embarrassingly, this news has been spread not just locally but
all
over the world," the newspaper said, adding that the way the reports
spread
reflected the weaknesses in the country's communication system.
Much of the press said the false reports piled on the tragedy for
anguished
relatives waiting for news of their loved ones.
A front-page article on the Rakyat Merdeka newspaper written by a
reader
branded the misinformation a "national scam."
"How is it that the whole of Indonesia can be blatantly lied to? From
the
president, the vice president, ministers and right down to the public,
they
were totally blinded," the article read.
"This is a national communication and information tragedy. It's
shameful,"
he said.
"This national scam is really unbelievable and unthinkable. How can
national
information about so many lives be played around with in such a
dramatic
way?
"The emotions of the people especially the family members are surely in
turmoil. It is really inhuman."
The Jakarta Post agreed.
"Relatives' anguish grows with false news," the English-language daily
said
on its front page.
The Post said relatives who had hoped that their family members were
among
the 12 who reportedly survived were now even more distraught as they
waited
for information.
The Point daily noted that Air Commodore Eddy Suyanto, commander of the
Hassanuddin Air Force in Makassar, Sulawesi, had apologised to the
public.
"We apologise to the people," said Suyanto, who is also the National
Search
and Rescue Board spokesman.
Suyanto had earlier told the media that 90 people were killed, saying
that
an aerial photograph showed the plane was destroyed and that local
residents
had reported finding bodies and survivors in the jungle of West
Sulawesi.
The Adam Air plane with 96 passengers, including three Americans, and
six
crew on board vanished from air traffic control radar screens Monday.
The Boeing 737-400 had sent distress signals an hour after taking off
from
Surabaya on Java island en route to Manado in northeast Sulawesi.
The missing jet was carrying 85 adult passengers, 11 children,
including
four babies, and six crew when it vanished.
Good to see you, but you sure post a lot of doom.
Yes, we will see a radiologiacal bomb here, more than likely carried and launched, with equipment sold by Russia to our enemy, Iran or Cuba or take your choice.
Did you catch all the threats that I posted the last couple days?
Every tin hat jihadi, has made his opinion known, even if they are not able to complete the task.
We need to test their yell of "death to Amerika", maybe it is healing to the lungs to yell so much.
I missed you............
Mafia bosses, many of whom profess to be good Catholics, have often used the Bible to construct coded notes, known as pizzini, that are used to communicate with underlings.<<<
Why not use the bible, about 4 years ago the jihadi were doing so.
I see they also offer a threat to the airplanes.
Not that I am surprised, such an easy target and sure to get the world's attention.
Sick bunch of ____they are.
Davey, is there a connection between the bomb at the Spain airport and your mafia, who use the bible to offer a threat on the airplane???
LOL, not much help:
http://www.google.com/search?q=and+your+flight+has+forever+been+sublime&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Not very God like:
http://www.google.com/search?q=but+only+he+who+wants+to+will+fly%2C+and+your+flight+has+forever+been+sublime&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
When I tried the link for the red mafia, my browser instantly closed:
http://www.google.com/search?q=boss+of+Cosa+Nostra+&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Maybe there is a connection, and also there is a group of them in Venezuela:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Spain&btnG=Search
You will like this page, the answer is yes, via drugs and maybe more:
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+ETA&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Several to check:
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+al+qaeda&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Check this one:
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+jehad&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Russia&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Plenty here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Cuba&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Mexico&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Canada&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Yep, sells weapons to Iran, or so it appears:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Iran&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+sale+of+weapons&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Interesting:
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+gathering+of+intelligence&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+spies&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+money+laundering&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+smuggling&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+arms+and+weapon+sales&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
You are not going to believe this, gang, kosvo, obl, which takes us back to clinton's mafia uncle, without reading it, I am afraid to do so, "is this the reason for the Kosvo war"......?
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Osama+ben+Ladin&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Oh dear!!!!!!!!!
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Clinton&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Democrat+Party+members&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+Republican+Party+members&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+terrorism&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+connection+to+socialist+protests&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+funds&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
to check:
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+funds+gangs&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=+Cosa+Nostra+funds+terrorism&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
2oo4
http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/colombia/doc/narcoseng.html
31Jul04
En Español
Em Português
Salvatore Mancuso's appearance before the Colombian Parliament is a milestone in the control of the state by organized crime.
Fichero Audio Audio file available at Radio Nizkor
The history of organized crime contains chapters which in many instances exceed any screenplays by the best cinema scriptwriters.
On the 28th July 2004 an incident took place which could easily be one of those film scripts but which also constitutes another chapter in the universal history of infamy.
On that date three paramilitary leaders took preferential seats in the Colombian parliament and, although formally accused by the justice system as drug trafficking capos, the three delivered their speeches to the further discredit of civil liberties, justice and popular power of which a parliament should be an expression.
Meyer Lansky, mafia boss and master financial strategist who tried without success to be buried on the heroes hill in Israel and who, along with many other operations, financed the failed invasion of the Bay of Pigs, would have been proud of the spectacle; one which also bears comparison with his actions in the Cuba of Fulgencio Batista.
The occasion could also be compared with the example of General Khun Sa in Myanmar (formerly Burma), who, during the 80s managed to control 80% of the area within the Golden Triangle and increased opium production from 550 to 2,500 metric tonnes.
One is even reminded of the image of President Reagan calling the Taliban leader, Bin Laden a " freedom fighter".
Bin Laden organized the largest market in opium production in the world in order to finance the war against the Russians in Afghanistan. Today he is accused of running the largest organization of Islamic fundamentalism which continues to be financed by heroin originating in Afghanistan.
Similarly, the image of the paramilitaries in the Colombian Parliament brings to mind the one and only legendary Sicilian boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who died of a heart-attack in Naples airport in 1962, after having spent years in hiding as a result of organizing and running one of the first Sicilian heroin networks. He was allowed to do so as compensation for his services during the Second World War.
The grotesque scene also evokes the memory of the Corsican mafia bosses who had to withdraw from the Golden Triangle and who were hunted down after an agreement was reached between President Nixon and the French President George Pompidou to stop the activities of the Marseilles laboratories.
Many of them were ruthlessly assassinated despite their co-operation in French Indochina and then with the CIA in South Vietnam.
A spectacle such as that witnessed in the Colombian parliament can even be compared with what went on in Bolivia from 1978, when the first foreign mercenaries began to arrive there, having been hired by Klaus Barbie, the German war criminal and Nazi refugee, on behalf of the Bolivian Ministry of the Interior for which he acted as a consultant.
The Argentinians Alfredo Mario Mingolla, González Bonorino and Silva arrived in Bolivia in that way, all of them originally from the shadowy Argentinian Anti-Communist Alliance or the Triple-A , and it was also in that way that the Argentinian Navy were able to gain control of the cocaine market to finance the war in Central America, and particularly their operations first in Guatemala and then in Honduras.
It was there that they put together, among many other clandestine operations, a group of journalists headed by Juan Gasparini, a collaborator from the Argentinian Navy. This group controlled all the information and backed media operations to support the drug-traffickers.
This technique was also used in the PR campaigns run by Carlos Castaño in Colombia which included a widely published edition of a book entitiled "My Confession". The book was written by the Spaniard Mauricio Aranguren Molina and was publicised by the correspondent for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo - Salud Hernández Mora.
Alvaro Uribe Vélez, the President of Colombia, and his Vice-President, Pacho Santos, are in charge of the largest operation to legitimize a criminal mafia organization to have taken place in recent years.
To understand exactly what that means, we describe here the profile of five of the negotiators of the so-called AUC (United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia). In the case of every one of them there are formal charges pending involving the running of drug-dealing organizations.
These organizations are responsible for the production of over 90% of the cocaine sold world-wide.
They are also responsible for 65% of the heroin sent to the United States.
At the moment, the most important of these men is the paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso.
Mancuso is a member of the 'Ndranghetá', the powerful Calabrian mafia which according to Italian police, exceeds the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in both strength and size. The 'Ndranghetá purchased almost "an entire neighbourhood" in Brussels, the capital of Belgium with laundered funding originating in narcotrafficking.
News of the operation was announced on 5th May 2004 by the Italian Government and it followed actions to dismantle an important network of drug-traffickers from the Calabrian mafia, with international ramifications.
During the operation 47 people were arrested, accused of drug-trafficking and money-laundering and are attributed with having laundered the equivalent of 28 million euros in Brussels by purchasing real estate.
The investigating judge from Reggio Calabria, Francesca Mollaca, advised that measures had already been introduced to seize the assets acquired by the mafia group in the city of Brussels.
According to the investigation, the activities of the 'ndrangheta extended to the Netherlands where large quantities of heroin and cocaine had been marketed.
According to an investigation of the Anti-Mafia Commission of the Italian Parliament the Calabrian 'ndranghetá' make some 11,000 million dollars per annum solely from cocaine trafficking, easily exceeding the 9,000 million made by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.
The Calabrian mafia also dominate the world market in cocaine trafficking along with their colleagues the Colombian dealers. They even supply the Cosa Nostra, the Neapolitan Camorra and the Sacra Corona Unita from the Apulia region (Puglia), the other existing Italian mafia organizations.
An important boss of the 'ndrangheta', Antonino Pangallo was also arrested in Madrid Spain where he has been a fugitive since 2002.
In one week alone, between the 18th and the 24th February 2004, the Italian police arrested two important bosses: Giuseppe Morabito, fugitive for 12 years and Orazio De Stefano, on the run for the last 16 years.
The Italian Minister for the Interior, Giuseppe Pisanu, defined the 'ndrangheta' as "the most powerful and dangerous criminal organization in Italy".
According to the investigations, the organization has expanded into countries on five continents.
The connection of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, the AUC, with narcotics trafficking was confirmed with the capture of 102 people in Italy, Holland and the Colombian city of Santa Marta, all belonging to a narcotics network in the service of that illegal armed group.
As a result of the anti-narcotics operation an international group led by the 'Ndrangheta' mafia was dismantled, not only one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in Italy, but also according to the authorities, with apparent connections to one of the heads of the paramilitary group.
In the massive police action known as "Decollo", 75 people were arrested in Italy, 11 in Holland and 16 in Colombia, and over 5,000 kilos of cocaine were seized in the Italian city of Calabria.
According to the investigations, in order to dismantle the network, someone close to the Mancuso family, from the Calabrian town of Vibo Valentia, was infiltrated and formed a relationship with one of his relatives who is currently one of the heads of the paramilitary group.
The anti-mafia state prosecutor Pierluigi Vigna commented, "from this anti-narcotics operation it is apparent that cocaine trafficking is used to finance forms of terrorism. A Calabrian man is a member of one of the Colombian paramilitary organizations".
Another paramilitary leader is Víctor Manuel Mejía Múnera, one of the so-called 'Twins' (Mellizos).
He and his brother, Miguel Ángel Melchor Mejía, 'El Loco' (the 'Madman'), are known members of the cartel from Norte del Valle. Apart from being the subject of extradition applications on the grounds of narcotic trafficking, they also have the dubious honour of being on the FBI list of the world's 12 most wanted drug-dealers.
The Twins will be remembered for the multimillion dollar seizure which the police carried out in August 2001 in one of their apartments in Bogotá: 35 million dollars, 93,000 million Colombian pesos were concealed inside a wall of the apartment situated at no. 1102, Carrera 6 No. 88-44 in the North of the city.
With respect to one of the other paramilitary leaders, Francisco Javier Zuloaga, the authorities claim that he was a partner of Fabio Ochoa Vásquez. A court of the Southern District of Florida accuses him of drug dealing and has requested his extradition.
On the 11th June 2004, just before the paramilitary leaders were about to concentrate some of their forces in Santa Fe de Ralito (the 'Location Zone'), the authorities carried out an operation involving helicopters in El Volador, a municipality of Valencia, in order to capture him.
That area is under the control of 'Adolfo Paz,' AUC military co-ordinator for the negotiations zone.
The proximity of the operation to the area arranged for the concentration set off protests of the self-defence groups. The Government clarified that the operation was only intended to deal with drug-traffickers.
The presence of Pablo Mejía and Gabriel Giraldo in the area was confirmed by the High Commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo.
"Yes.Pablo Mejía has been present since the first meeting we had with the Central Bolivar Bloc (Bloque Central Bolívar) and was introduced as the commander of the Victors of Arauca (los Vencedores de Arauca). Both blocs represented themselves as one unit," stated the Commissioner.
He added that Gabriel Galindo has always been present at the meetings "accompanying" Mr.Adolfo Paz: Mr Adolfo Paz and various documents identify him as the political commander of the Pacific Bloc. "They are both here and are taking part in the meetings with me".
Other leaders of Colombian drug-trafficking are Diego Fernando Murillo, known as "Don Berna", and Vicente Castaño, who form part of the General Staff of the AUC.
Diego Murillo and Vicente Castaño, brother of Carlos Castaño (now presumed dead), are among the group of negotiators who are participating in the peace discussions.
After having been formally accused in the USA, the extradition of these two paramilitary leaders may be requested at any time by the US courts.
The charges against them in North America range from the supply of consumables for the purpose of cocaine production to conspiracy in cocaine trafficking to the US.
The US Ambassodor in Bogotá accuses the AUC of attempting to impose what he describes as a "drug-trafficking agenda" on the peace negotiations.
The accusation of drug-trafficking by the North American federal courts was made one week before various paramilitary leaders appeared at the Colombian Congress to express their points of view on the armed conflict in the country.
A letter from the Democratic candidate, John Kerry and 22 senators was sent to President Uribe Vélez on 26th July, just one day before appearance of the paramilitary in the Colombian Congress, showing that they were distancing themselves from the current policy of the State Department towards Colombia.
It is unthinkable that the Government of Uribe Vélez could have fostered the relationship between politics and organized crime - almost to the point of no return - without the support of the CIA and the Department of State.
Given this background, the position of two former Spanish presidents who visited Bogotá in a clear show of support for the presidency of Uribe Vélez is shameful.
These were former President Felipe González, who governed Spain for 14 years from 1982 to 1996 and José María Aznar, the head of the Spanish executive for 8 years and who has just recently lost his first elections.
Felipe González has supported Uribe Vélez since the time when the Colombian president was Governor of the Department of Antioquia, and became famous for his unconditional support of the former Colombian Ambassador to the European Union, Carlos Arturo Marulanda.
Carlos Arturo Marulanda was the subject of a scandal which ended in his arrest in Madrid and later extradition to Colombia charged with the killing carried out by paramilitaries in the Bellacruz estate (Hacienda Bellacruz).
This estate was the property of the Marulanda family and was the place where Salvatore Mancuso carried out his first known paramilitary operation, killing smallholders and burning out numerous homes according to evidence accepted by the Colombian judicial system.
On the other hand, President Aznar, saw Uribe Vélez as the ideal candidate for his state of exception policy, a policy which he attempted to put into effect in Spain and an ideology which he shares with the fundamentalists who form the hard core of the Bush Government.
He promoted the only European support for the policies of Uribe Vélez, organizing a couple of seminars towards the end of his mandate.
For these he also obtained the support of the former member of the European Parliament and Spanish socialist leader, Paca Sauquillo, as well as the financial backing of the Ford Foundation.
For the first time in many years, Francisca Sauquillo is not on the list of members of the European Parliament nor does she currently hold any post in the new Spanish Government nor in the PSOE executive.
Aznar's support went so far as to produce the first Spanish sale of tactical heavy weapons since the colonialist era. The sale of military tanks was however officially cancelled by the current government of Spain after the Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Affairs expressed a negative view of the operation.
But this did not result in any statement condemning the organized crime and it seems that the Spanish foreign policy will follow its traditional guidelines, which have remained unchanged since the first González government.
Radio Nizkor and Equipo Nizkor, 31Jul04
Tienda de Libros Radio Nizkor On-Line Donations
DDHH en Colombia
small logo This document has been published on 09sep04 by Team Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights
I do not know where to start with this page of gang info/links:
http://www.yorku.ca/nathanson/bibliography/genres.htm
I found it in this search:
http://www.google.com/search?q=connection+between+the+Chinese+and.+traditional+organized+crime+in+America&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Both are must investigate links.
Update on the murder of the football star in Denver, the Williams kid.
Hicks is in jail, for drugs and also the possible involvement in the murder of a witness, on his drug trial, so he did not do it.
His SUV did it, as it turns out the white 1998 International SUV used in the murder of Williams, is owned by Hicks.
Mrs. Hicks does not know who is driving the SUV.
Prisoner Hicks does not know who is driving his SUV.
Denver is waking up to the fact they have a gang problem.
They are shocked, shocked, I tell you........
Jon Caldera is on now, at 850koa.com, if you want to listen on the computer, or you might get him at 850 on the am radio dial, as it is a powerful radio station.
Arms Trafficking:
http://www.yorku.ca/nathanson/bibliography/activities.htm
Of special interest
Links between illegal immigration, terrorism, drug trade worry U.S officials
By Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Article Launched:12/29/2006 12:00:00 AM PST
COLUMBUS, N.M. - On Sept. 5, a man calling himself Miguel Alfonso Salinas was apprehended off a deserted highway near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The tinted windows on Alfonso Salinas' vehicle aroused the suspicion of Border Patrol agents patrolling a dark and desolate stretch of Highway 9, which runs parallel to the border and is the site of large numbers of illegal crossings.
The agents discovered three Mexican migrants in the vehicle with Alfonso Salinas.
But what they discovered several days later made a far greater impression.
Alfonso Salinas was not who he seemed, according to U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security documents. He lied to the agents about who he was, where he came from and what he was doing.
It would take nearly a week of interviews with federal agents before Alfonso Salinas would give his real name: Ayman Sulmane Kamal, a Muslim born in Egypt - a country designated as "special-interest" by the United States for sponsoring terrorism.
Kamal's case is not an isolated one.
Evidence of "special-interest aliens" using the Mexican border to gain entry to the United States has been kept secret from the American public, according to federal law enforcement agents, terrorism experts and critics of U.S. foreign policy with Mexico.
In 2005, the Border Patrol apprehended approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. illegally. Of those, 165,000 were from countries other than Mexico, and roughly 650 were, like Kamal, from special-interest countries, according to the Border Patrol.
Those interviewed by the Daily Bulletin say agencies including the FBI and CIA are not using information from Border Patrol and Drug Enforcement Administration agents to make connections between the drug trade, illegal immigration and terrorist organizations.
"For us to believe that Mexican smugglers will not assist, knowingly or unknowingly, foreign terrorists trying to enter the United States is incomprehensible," said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who, along with other congressional representatives, has pushed for stricter border security policies.
Whether Kamal had ties to a terrorist group is not known. No information about him, including his current whereabouts, is available aside from what is in Justice Department and Homeland Security documents.
But the links between illegal immigration, expanded trade, Mexican narcotics organizations and terrorist groups has already been assessed by U.S. federal law enforcement agencies, according to DEA documents obtained by the Daily Bulletin.
According to an intelligence report written by the DEA, "La Entrada al Pac fico (Gateway to the Pacific)" - also the name of a Texas-Mexico plan to expand border trade - Asian narcotics traffickers, in collusion with Mexican drug trafficking organizations and terrorist groups, could use expanded trade routes to bring contraband into the United States.
"The DEA has made a conscious effort to generate predictive intelligence so policy makers can be aware and plan ahead for significant changes in narcotics and smuggling operations," said a DEA official who asked to remain anonymous. "Any time you send in a predictive piece of intelligence that has merit and it's ignored, then the consequences of that can be devastating to national security."
According to DEA intelligence reports, the link between terrorism and narcotics has been well known since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.
But federal agents say getting bureaucrats to understand the growing danger is difficult when most lawmakers won't even acknowledge many of the problems already happening along the U.S. border.
BORDER BATTLES
One of those problems was on full display in Texas earlier this year.
Sheriff Arvin West of Hudspeth County - a border area 50 miles east of El Paso - and other Texas border sheriffs had complained for more than a year that Mexican military personnel were helping cartels smuggle humans and contraband across the Rio Grande and into the U.S.
The Daily Bulletin first published Department of Homeland Security documents and maps from the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy in January, showing 226 Mexican military incursions into the United States since 1996. That information led to a call for congressional investigations and hearings to determine the extent of the intrusions.
Shortly afterward, West was confronted with another incursion. This time, local law enforcement officials videotaped the event and went public with it.
"We had video and photographs," West said. "We went to Congress and testified before them with the evidence in hand. And we were told by Congressman (Silvestre) Reyes (D-El Paso) that we were either lying or mistaken."
Reyes, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and U.S. and Mexican government officials tried to play down the documents and the incident in Hudspeth County. They stated publicly that the cartels were dressing like Mexican military to damage relations between the U.S. and Mexico.
Reyes, who recently was appointed chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
"The bureaucrats don't understand what a dangerous game they are playing with American lives if they don't do something to fix the situation at the border," said Michael Cutler, a former special agent with Immigration and Naturalization Services, who testified before the 9-11 Commission.
According to Border Patrol agents in Texas and Arizona, the Department of Homeland Security has stopped agents from filing full-disclosure incident reports if they see Mexican military involved in an alleged smuggling operation.
In some parts of Texas, if Mexican military personnel are suspected of assisting narcotics traffickers or smuggling humans, they are not processed, but instead are taken to a port of entry and released into Mexico.
An unnamed Border Patrol agent in Arizona said he witnessed a Mexican military helicopter shooting at a fellow agent in pursuit of a vehicle along the Arizona border with Mexico.
The supervisors would not let the agent put the Mexican military's involvement in the incident report, the agent said.
Michael Friel, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, said he had no knowledge of such an incident.
It's not just the cartels' connections to Mexican government officials and military that have U.S. intelligence officials and law enforcement worried. It's also the growing evidence that terrorist organizations have become increasingly dependent on narcotics and weapons sales to support their activities, and that they see the Southwest border as an incubator for their activities.
"Intelligence indicates that terrorist organizations are increasingly probing the U.S.-Mexico border," El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego told the House Judiciary Committee in August, during hearings about border security.
"The large international border creates tremendous smuggling opportunities for terrorists and is fertile ground for recruitment and development of support networks for terrorist organizations," Samaniego said. "The Mexican drug trafficking and human smuggling organizations use their knowledge of the border to assist terrorist cell members in their attempts to exploit the United States.
"The multicultural aspect of the border area also appeals to the terrorists. There are many nationalities, many of them transients, who live and interact in the border setting. This provides the terrorists the opportunity to blend into the community.
"The Southwest border may not be a priority target for a terrorist attack, but it is prime territory for the cultivation, recruitment, transportation and stashing of terrorist cell members," Samaniego concluded.
Samaniego and his colleagues aren't the only ones with such beliefs.
A DEA official said terrorist incidents such as the Madrid train bombings in March 2004 would be easy to duplicate in the United States, with the Southwest border as the best place to smuggle in those who would carry out such a plot.
In the train bombings, 10 synchronized explosions killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,700. An Islamic extremist group that funded the operation with narcotics sales was pinpointed as the perpetrator of the bombings.
"A former DEA director explained the problem best. During the cold war the threat was ABC: atomic, biological and chemical," said an intelligence official with the DEA, speaking on condition of anonymity. "If you apply that formula now to post 9/11 ... it becomes ABCD: atomic, biological, chemical and drugs. The drugs provide the funding for terrorism."
TERRORIST CULTURE
Additionally troubling to U.S. authorities are the growing cultural similarities between Mexican drug cartels and established terrorist groups.
Like Islamic extremists and other terrorist organizations that use suicide bombings or decapitations to strike fear into their enemies, drug-trafficking organizations have developed cultural associations with death over the past several years.
The Sinaloa Cartel, headed by Joaqu n "El Chapo" Guzm n, is now known by federal law enforcement officials as the "Federation" or "Golden Triangle." The long-running war between the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels for control of the Nuevo Laredo border forced Sinaloa to build alliances with numerous other drug trafficking organizations throughout Mexico, making the Sinaloa Cartel one of the most powerful in the country.
The Sinaloa Cartel, along with the help of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, head of the Juarez Cartel, moves the majority of its narcotics through Ciudad Ju rez, which borders El Paso, Texas.
Along the streets of Ciudad Ju rez, Mexico, statues of La Santa Muerte - the saint of death - can be found at almost any local shop. The robed skeleton with a sickle clutched in its bony fingers is worshiped by many drug runners in Mexico and the United States.
The empty-eyed deity is particularly haunting in a city known for the brutal murders of nearly 500 women since 1995. Many Mexican and U.S. law enforcement officials have attributed the murders to drug traffickers, some of whom have been arrested. But the murders continue, and women still live in fear.
"Women shouldn't be on the street after dark," said Lalo, 81, who sat with his wife at their empty shop in downtown Ciudad Ju rez.
Danger signs are everywhere. Billboards follow passers-by like shadows, warning women to be vigilant. Every man begins to look like a predator.
"There is so much death," Lalo sighed. "I'm beginning to think the saint is real."
The attitudes and actions represented by worship of La Santa Muerte culturally connect Mexico's drug cartels to terrorist groups, according to DEA officials.
Like Hezbollah and al-Qaida, which promise martyrs that their family members will be provided for after suicide bombings, Mexican drug trafficking organizations promise high-level members that if they die in the name of the cartel, their families will be provided for. Other similarities include the growing number of beheadings of Mexican police officials by the cartels to instill terror.
In cities all along the U.S.-Mexico border, the popularity of the death deity is growing. From Tijuana to Laredo's violent sister city Nuevo Laredo, La Santa Muerte is found in statues, stickers and trinkets.
"Widespread and unchecked violence creates a palpable sense of fear and tears at the social, cultural, and economic fabric of Nuevo Laredo," stated a June 2006 report, "State of Siege: Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico," written by the Washington Office on Latin America, a nonprofit organization promoting human rights.
"As the war between cartels rages, no one - not police, not journalists, not ordinary citizens - knows whom they can trust, so they trust no one."
In Nuevo Laredo, the saint haunts cemeteries where worshippers have left offerings of food. The deity also is seen on the back of bulletproof SUVs driven by narco-traffickers who cruise through the city, and even in graffiti along the city's walls.
Now the saint is gaining popularity in Laredo. Eerie evidence of ritualistic ceremonies performed by illegal immigrants in stash houses was discovered by Webb County sheriff's deputies after one raid. Pictures of members of a Mexican military unit lay in a bowl of blood, sprinkled with herbs and roots.
"This really spooked us," said Webb County sheriff's spokesman Tom Sanchez as he sifted through the photographs taken by the deputies who conducted the raid. "I mean, there was an altar filled with everything you can imagine to this Santisima Muerte. It's a culture of death."
And it's something U.S lawmakers should pay attention to, DEA and Border Patrol field agents said: Drug traffickers accepting death as a glorious end to their violent lives.
"We pray for a good death," said Jose, 21, a young worshiper of La Santa Muerte in Tijuana. He stood stoic by his white-boned statue of the death saint, and pointed to his charm necklace, where a smaller version of the saint hung.
"I pray that I will die in a hail of bullets or fighting for my last breath against my enemy. I'm not afraid to die. I welcome death."
Staff writer Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carter@dailybulletin.com, or by phone at (909) 483-8552.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_4917114
http://doi.contentdirections.com/mr/greenwood.jsp?doi=10.1336/031327262X
Chinese Subculture and Criminality: Non-traditional Crime Groups in America
Chin, Ko-lin
By the 1990s, Asian crime groups will become the United States' foremost organized crime problem. Ko-lin Chin warns that limited law enforcement resources will be ineffective without a precise understanding of the norms, values, structure, criminal patterns, and interrelationships of these groups. Taking a major step toward this effort Chin's volume is a sociological investigation of Triads, tongs, and street gangs. It explores the where, how, and why of these groups and examines the connection between Triad subculture and criminality.
DOI: 10.1336/031327262X
Mouse over the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to learn more about this book or related books published by Greenwood Publishing Group.
Visit the Greenwood Publishing Group page for this title: http://www.greenwood.com/books/bookdetail.asp?sku=CCK/
Chinese Subculture and Criminality: Non-traditional Crime Groups in America
Series: Contributions in Criminology and Penology
Hardback, 208 pages, $100.95
Copyright ©1990, Greenwood Press
ISBN: 0-313-27262-X
DOI: 10.1336/031327262X
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To check:
http://www.google.com/search?q=China+connection+to+al+qaeda&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=China+connection+to+mafia&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=China+connection+to+Osama+bin+Laden&btnG=Search
I found OBL:
http://www.google.com/search?q=China+is+hiding+Osama+bin+Laden&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=Non-traditional+Crime+Groups+in+America+&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Very interesting:
http://www.google.com/search?q=United+States%27+foremost+organized+crime+problem&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Good links, incl gov:
http://www.google.com/search?q=investigation+of+Triads%2C+tongs%2C+and+street+gangs&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Bitterroot Fire
"This awesome picture was taken in Bitterroot National Forest in Montana on August 6, 2000.
The photographer, John McColgan, is a fire behavior analyst from Fairbanks, Alaska. He took the picture
with a digital camera. Because he was working at the time he took the picture he cannot profit from it;
however, we feel the picture is a once-in-a-lifetime shot and should be shared."
http://www.stambaughfamily.com/bitterroot.html
Wait for it to load, it is a fantastic photo, complete with deer in the middle of the river to escape the fire.
granny
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