World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #6 Disinformation, Inc.

Today January 3rd 2007 with many hopes for a really happy new year I launched a campaign called "Mail Asaf a stone" I sent out the following letter on the internet hoping to reach as many people as possible.

Mail Asaf a stone!

On March 5th 2003 Asaf, a young high school boy was on his way back from school. A suicide murderer that exploded on Asaf's bus killed him and sixteen other innocent men, women and children.

Asaf was almost seventeen years old and he is my son.

This year on April 27th we will remember Asaf's 21st birthday.

As every Israeli young man does, Asaf would have finished his military service and would have gone on a trip to see the world either to south America, the far east, India or maybe Australia and New Zealand.

Ever since Asaf died when ever I go on trips inside Israel or travel abroad I bring back with me a stone.

From the dead sea in the south, from the sea of Galilee in the north from every creek and spring in Israel, Shale from Ein Gedi, basalt from the Golan heights, many pebbles I laid at Asaf's rest place in the recent years.

When I go abroad I look for a stone from a nice place, from a park or from a famous site. I brought back a stone from lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, from lake Ontario in Canada, from the Niagra falls, new York's Central park, Helsinki, London and many other places.

With each stone I lay on Asaf's tombstone I fill I bring the world to him, I feel as if I took Aaaf with me and brought the experience of that place to him.

It is an old Jewish custom to lay a stone at ones grave when coming to visit. The reason for that custom is to show one is remembered, to come and visit your dear ones and see and know that they are remembered by people that visit and lay a stone at their grave.

I am sending this letter in hope it will go around the world and reach many many people. I ask each one of you receiving this letter to mail me a stone from wherever you live.

Asaf may not be able to go and travel the world, So this way I will bring the world to him for his 21st birthday on April 27th this year.

Each one of you getting this letter pick a stone from the place you live in , may it be a small stone, a big stone, a round or a flat stone, put it in an envelope and mail it to me ("Yossi Zur POB 7895 Haifa 31078, Israel", I will lay all the stones received at Asaf's grave.

I will also update the places from which stones were sent on Asaf's memorial web site. At: http://www.blondi.co.il/stone.htm

Please forward this letter to all your email contacts in as many countries as possible.

Thanks in advance

Yossi Zur, Asaf's father

POB 7895

Haifa 31078

Israel

Email: Yossi@Blondi.co.il

Web: www.Blondi.co.il

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1762436/posts

NORAD: 'Meteor' really a rocket
My Fox Colorado (31) ^ | Thursday, 04 Jan 2007

Posted on 01/04/2007 11:10:18 AM PST by Sopater

Watch Spectacular Video from the Sky
NORAD: 'Meteor' really a rocket
Last Edited: Thursday, 04 Jan 2007, 11:14 AM MST
Created: Thursday, 04 Jan 2007, 7:20 AM MST

SkyFOX captured video of space debris breaking up in the atmosphere LIVE during Good Day Colorado around 6:15 a.m. Thursday, January 4, 2007.

DENVER

--

SkyFox captured incredible video of a Russian rocket body bursting into flames as it crashed to earth over North America.

NORAD has confirmed that the light show was caused by the re-entry of a spent russian science rocket or "space junk" in layman's terms.

SkyFOX pilot Rob Marshall and photojournalist Josh White captured the event at about 6:15 a.m. Mountain Standard Time while they were flying over Denver.

Click on the thumbnail at the right to watch this spectacular video.

Descriptions range from an "unreal bright light" to a "spectacular fireworks display."

Those are just a few of the comments from people who witnessed a light show in the skies over Colorado early Thursday, a light show that the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the United States Northern Command -- better known as NORAD and NORTHCOM says was a Russian Rocket.

Experts at the Air Force Space Command, headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs, say it was a Russian SL-4 rocket body that re-entered the atmosphere over Colorado and Wyoming.

The rocket was used to carry a French astronomy satellite called COROT into space on December 27, 2006.

NORAD has a report that a piece of the rocket landed in Riverton, Wyoming near Highway 28 at about 6:13 a.m. Thursday.

No damage has been reported and the debris is not believed to be hazardous.

Calls started pouring in to law enforcement authorities and FOX 31 News around 6:15 a-m, as thousands of people witnessed streaks of light racing across the sky from north to south.

Residents of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming reported seeing the light. A FOX 31 viewer in New Mexico reported that by the end of the video, when only 3 or 4 lights remained, the object was passing directly over Kirtland, New Mexico (Four Corners).

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1762480/posts

UPDATED: Cops hunting cartel figure[for Zeta hit in Laredo, Texas]
San Antonio Express-News Border Bureau ^ | 01/04/2007 | Mariano Castillo

Posted on 01/04/2007 1:08:18 PM PST by SwinneySwitch

LAREDO — In the face of the impunity under which Mexican drug cartels operate along the border, police here secured an arrest warrant for Miguel Treviño Morales, identified as a high-ranking regional Gulf Cartel leader, in connection with a 2006 double homicide.

A police official confirmed Treviño was a wanted man after his name appeared in a probable cause affidavit for another defendant in the same case.

Juan "Cordless" Ramos, 24, was arrested Tuesday in Laredo in connection with the April 2, 2006, shooting deaths of Jesus Maria Resendez, 36, and his nephew Mariano Resendez, 15, just inside the city limits on U.S. 83.

Police recovered more than 60 shell casings from AK-47 assault rifles and a 9 mm handgun in one of the brashest cartel hits ever to occur on the Texas side of the border.

Treviño and Ramos are among at least eight suspected of having a hand in the ambush, according to the affidavit.

Treviño ordered and paid for the hit, the affidavit alleges. He remains a fugitive.

Ramos faces two counts of murder and a count of engaging in organized criminal activity. He remained in Webb County Jail in lieu of $600,000 bond.

Another defendant had named Ramos as a lookout who informed the "hit squad" about where Resendez was, the court document states.

But the affidavit goes much further, painting a rare, detailed picture of the inside of a paid drug cartel hit.

Raul Jasso, 24, suspected of being one of the shooters, told investigators the killers met in the Laredo home of Jose Guadalupe Martinez, 26, to plan the hit and again afterward, the affidavit states.

Another, Gabriel Cardona, told police that Martinez provided the weapons used, according to the document. Martinez remains at large.

Aurora Isabel del Bosque, suspected of being a lookout, was arrested in October. She posted bond and was released.

Jasso and Cardona were both arrested and charged in the killings. According to court records, Jasso pleaded guilty to reduced charges in December and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

According to the affidavit, Cardona told investigators that Treviño gave him the order to kill Resendez. The document identified Treviño as the "head of a criminal organization cell base out of Nuevo Laredo pertaining to the Gulf Cartel (Zetas)."

The Zetas, a designation originally reserved for the cartel's ruthless enforcement arm of ex-military officers, now is used to identify anyone within the Gulf Cartel ranks.

Stratfor, an Austin-based intelligence analysis company, identified Treviño in a report as a cartel "gatekeeper" for Nuevo Laredo, charged with keeping operations smooth and collecting fees.

Furthermore, Cardona told investigators that he met with Treviño in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, after the shooting and was paid $50,000 for the operation, the affidavit states.

The investigation is ongoing, and more arrests could follow, police spokesman Juan Rivera said.

mcastillo@express-news.net

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/nuclear_dismissal

Nuclear agency head dismissed for lapses

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer 55 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Energy Secretary
Samuel Bodman on Thursday dismissed the chief of the country's nuclear weapons program because of security breakdowns at the Los Alamos, N.M., laboratory and other facilities.
ADVERTISEMENT

Linton Brooks said he would leave in two weeks to three weeks as head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a post he held since May 2003.

Bodman said the nuclear agency under Brooks, a former ambassador and arms control negotiator, had not adequately fixed security problems. "I have decided it is time for new leadership at the NNSA," Bodman said.

Brooks told agency workers in a statement, "This is not a decision that I would have preferred ... (but) I accept the decision and you need to do likewise."

He characterized the demand for his resignation as "based on the principle of accountability that should govern all public service."

Brooks was reprimanded in June for failing to report to Bodman a security breach of computers at an agency facility in Albuquerque, N.M., that resulted in the theft of files containing
Social Security numbers and other personal data for 1,500 workers.

The theft did not become generally known, nor was Bodman made aware of it, for eight months.

Last fall, security at Los Alamos came into question anew. During a drug raid, authorities found classified nuclear-related documents at the home of a woman with top secret clearance who worked at the lab.

That security breach was especially troubling, the department's internal watchdog said, because tens of millions of dollars had been spent to upgrade computer security at Los Alamos. The lab is part of the nuclear weapons complex that Brooks' agency oversees.

"These management and security issues can have serious implications for the security of the United States," Bodman in a statement announcing Brooks' departure.

While the agency's management "has done its best to address these concerns, I do not believe that progress in correcting these issues has been adequate," Bodman said.

continued

Covert US Group Plots to Isolate Rising Iran (back)

January 2, 2007

A select group of US officials has been quietly co-ordinating actions for nearly a year to counter the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran , including increasing the military capabilities of Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain .

The group, known as the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group, is also giving covert help to Iranian dissidents and building international outrage towards Iran by publicising its alleged role in a 1994 terrorist attack in Argentina .

Pentagon officials involved with the group intend to ask Congress as early as next month to increase funding for transfers of military hardware to allies in the Persian Gulf and to accelerate plans for joint military activities. The request is expected to include more advanced missile-defence systems and early-warning radar to prevent or detect Iranian missile strikes.

'There is the perception in the Gulf that Iran is really on the rise,' said Emile El-Hokayem, research fellow at the Stimpson Centre, a Washington think tank. ' Washington wants to prepare for a potential showdown.'

US financing of pro-democracy activities in Iran is expected to double next year, according to the senior State Department official. Last year, $US85 million ($A107 million) was allocated.

The group's workings have been so secretive that several officials in the State Department's Near Eastern Affairs Bureau said they were unaware it existed.

The US has repeatedly said its policy is not to overthrow the Iranian regime, but one former US official who attended a preliminary meeting of the group said he got the impression that regime change was a goal of many participants.

But interviews with half a dozen White House, Pentagon and State Department officials indicated that the group's aims are more modest. Several said that as much as they would like to see the regimes in Tehran and Damascus go, military action in Iraq and Afghanistan had limited their options. The main goal now, they said, was Cold War-style 'containment' of Iran in the hopes that Iranians one day would opt to change their own government.

The group's work to isolate Tehran is consistent with the Administration's refusal to reach out diplomatically to Iran and Syria .

'Iran is the key to everything at the strategic level â€” the biggest problem we have faced in a long time,' said a State Department official involved in the group, citing Iran's negative impact on Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

'These are all things they are doing because they sense weakness on the part of the United States . The best thing for us to project is strength, not 'please talk to us'.'

The group is modelled on the Iraq Policy and Operations Group, set up in 2004 to shepherd information and co-ordinate US action in Iraq .

It has raised eyebrows in the State Department for hiring BearingPoint â€” the same Washington-based private contracting firm used by the Iraq group â€” to handle its administrative work.

But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said BearingPoint was hired for its experience and good work on Iraq .

The group is led by a steering committee with two leading hawks on Middle East policy as chairmen: James Jeffrey, who once headed Iraq policy, and Elliott Abrams, deputy national security adviser for 'global democracy strategy'.

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/covert-us-group-plots- to-isolate-rising-iran/2007/01/02/1167500123612.html

January 3, 2007

by Michael Virtanen

Two mosque leaders convicted of U.S. money laundering charges after a -related sting have asked the judge to set aside the verdicts or grant them new trials.

The government accused Yassin Aref, an imam, and Mohammed Hossain, a pizzeria owner, of participating in a money-laundering scheme in 2004 that included an FBI informant posing as an illegal arms dealer.

The informant had asked Hossain to launder $50,000 (euro37,678), saying it was from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile that would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City . Aref acted as a witness to a series of transactions between the two men. Hossain said he had merely asked the informant for a loan.

The men were accused of trying to provide support to Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based group listed by the U.S. government as a organization.

In court papers filed Sunday, defense attorney Kevin Luibrand said the facts do not support Hossain's convictions, arguing that Hossain was entrapped by authorities.

Hossain, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Bangladesh , was convicted in October on all 27 charges against him, including three counts of conspiracy. Aref was convicted on 10 of the 30 charges against him.

Aref, a Kurdish refugee from northern Iraq, was also found guilty of lying to FBI agents about having known a leader, Mullah Krekar.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Pericek, who prosecuted the case, said it is unlikely the judge would reverse himself. He said Judge Thomas McAvoy instructed the jury to consider the entrapment defense.

Defense attorney Terence Kindlon filed papers in court last week arguing for Aref. 'We feel the verdict didn't make any sense,' Kindlon said.

The men are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 12.

Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/02/america/NA_ GEN_US_Mosque_Raid_Trial.php

A Trojan Horse for Terror in America? (back)

January 3, 2007

'Tablighi Jamaat missionaries may be encouraging African American recruits to break the law. Harkat ul-Mujahideen has boasted of training dozens of African American jihadists in its military camps. There is evidence that African American jihadists have died in both Afghanistan and Kashmir.'

A little known religious group is training American jihadists under the guise of a missionary organization. They are called Tablighi Jamaat â€“ the 'Proselytizing Group'. The group remains largely unknown outside the Muslim community, even to many scholars of Islam. This is no coincidence. Tablighi Jamaat officials work to remain outside of both media and governmental notice.

From TownHall.com.

They are trained missionaries who have dedicated much of their lives to spreading Islam across the globe. The largest group of religious proselytizers of any faith, they are part of the reason for the explosive growth of Islamic religious fervor and conversion. Tablighi Jamaat neither has formal organizational structure nor does it publish details about the scope of its activities, its membership, or its finances. By eschewing open discussion of politics and portraying itself only as a pietistic movement, Tablighi Jamaat works to project a non-threatening image. Because of the movementâ€™s secrecy, scholars often have no choice but to rely on explanations from Tablighi Jamaat acolytes.

So whatâ€™s this to America? Some important points to consider according to the article.

The movementâ€™s rapid penetration into non-Muslim regions began in the 1970s and coincides with the establishment of a synergistic relationship between Saudi Wahhabis and South Asian Deobandis. While Wahhabis are dismissive of other Islamic schools, they single out Tablighi Jamaat for praise, even if they disagree with some of its practices, such as willingness to pray in mosques housing graves.

While Tablighi Jamaat in theory requires its missionaries to cover their own expenses during their trips, in practice, Saudi money subsidizes transportation costs for thousands of poor missionaries. While Tablighi Jamaatâ€™s financial activities are shrouded in secrecy, there is no doubt that some of the vast sums spent by Saudi organizations such as the World Muslim League on proselytism benefit Tablighi Jamaat.

What we have here is a wolf in sheepâ€™s clothing.

> The Westâ€™s misreading of Tablighi Jamaat actions and motives has serious implications for the war on terrorism. Tablighi Jamaat has always adopted an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam, but in the past two decades, it has radicalized to the point where it is now a driving force of Islamic extremism and a major recruiting agency for terrorist causes worldwide. For a majority of young Muslim extremists, joining Tablighi Jamaat is the first step on the road to extremism. Perhaps 80 percent of the Islamist extremists in France come from Tablighi ranks, prompting French intelligence officers to call Tablighi Jamaat the 'antechamber of fundamentalism.'

U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly adopting the same attitude. 'We have a significant presence of Tablighi Jamaat in the United States,' the deputy chief of the FBIâ€™s international terrorism section said in 2003, 'and we have found that Al-Qaeda used them for recruiting now and in the past.

The American connection.

Within the United States, the cases of American Taliban John Lindh, the 'Lackawanna Six,' and the Oregon cell that conspired to bomb a synagogue and sought to link up with Al-Qaeda, all involve Tablighi missionaries. Other indicted terrorists, such as 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid, 'dirty bomber' Jose Padilla, and Lyman Harris, who sought to bomb the Brooklyn Bridge, were all members of Tablighi Jamaat at one time or another.

> Tablighi Jamaat has appealed to African American Muslims for other reasons. Founded by Elijah Mohammed in the early 1930s, the Nation of Islam was essentially a charismatic African American separatist organization which had little to do with normative Islam. Many Nation of Islam members found attractive both the Tablighi Jamaatâ€™s anti-state separatist message and its description of American society as racist, decadent, and oppressive. Seeing such fertile ground, Tablighi and Wahhabi missionaries targeted the African American community with great success. One Tablighi sympathizer explained:

'The umma [Muslim community] must remember that winning over the black Muslims is not only a religious obligation but also a selfish necessity. The votes of the black Muslims can give the immigrant Muslims the political clout they need at every stage to protect their vital interests. Likewise, outside Muslim states like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Pakistan need to mobilize their effort, money, and missionary skills to expand and consolidate the black Muslim community in the USA, not only for religious reasons, but also as a farsighted investment in the black Muslimsâ€™ immense potential as a credible lobby for Muslim causes, such as Palestine, Bosnia, or Kashmir-offsetting, at least partially, the venal influence of the powerful India-Israel lobby.'

Finally, the article delivers the payoff. What many of the anti-jihadist bloggers and web sites have been saying for some time now.

Pakistani and Saudi support for Tablighi Jamaat is incompatible with their claims to be key allies in the war on terror. While law enforcement focuses attention on Osama bin Laden, the war on terrorism cannot be won unless al-Qaeda terrorists are understood to be the products of Islamist ideology preached by groups like Tablighi Jamaat. If the West chooses to turn a blind eye to the problem, Tablighi involvement in future terrorist activities at home and abroad is not a matter of conjecture; it is a certainty.

Source: http://www.bloggernews.net/13512

RIYADH AND TEHRAN, 2006: HONEYMOON ON THE ROCKS

RIYADH AND TEHRAN, 2006: HONEYMOON ON THE ROCKS
Joshua Teitelbaum Tel Aviv Notes January 1, 2007
Published by TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies

www.dayan.org

Despite record oil revenues, 2006 was not a great year for Saudi Arabia.
Iran raced towards nuclear arms, while it joined Syria in destabilizing
the
Saudi-supported government of Lebanon through its proxy ally,
Hizballah.
Iraq threatened to become a Shiite-dominated state, representing a
quantum
increase in Iranian regional influence, and Riyadh's main ally, the
United States, foundered in its attempts to stabilize post-Saddam Iraq. Saudi
religious figures aired their unhappiness over Shiite ascendancy, and
there
were inklings of dissent within the royal family.

Some history is instructive. The Saudi-Wahhabi alliance of 1744 was by
definition anti-Shiite, viewing many Shiite practices as polytheistic.
Riyadh has a history of oppressing its own Shiites, which number
approximately 10% of the population and are concentrated in the
oil-rich
Eastern Province. The 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution posed a strategic
nightmare, as Iran now challenged the Saudis for regional hegemony and
stirred unrest among its Shiite subjects. Until the mid-1990s, the
annual
pilgrimage to Mecca was the site of repeated clashes between Iranian
pilgrims and Saudi forces.

Relations reached their nadir in 1996 with the bombing of the Khobar
Towers
complex in Dhahran by Iranian-backed Saudi Hizballah, killing nineteen
US
servicemen. But then a curious thing happened. Profoundly shaken, the
Saudis
reached a modus vivendi with the Iranians: Riyadh would refrain from
providing Washington with conclusive and legally admissible evidence of
Iranian complicity in the bombing if Iran would desist from supporting
Saudi
Shiite dissidents. For ten years after, Saudi-Iranian relations enjoyed
what
can only be called a honeymoon.

But in 2006, the pendulum swung back. Seen from Riyadh, Iran is rapidly
becoming a regional, and even a world power, threatening to surround it
with
a Shiite crescent of enmity. The failure of the US-led international
community to stop Iran's march towards nuclear arms is an existential
issue
for the Saudis. Although having come to Saudi Arabia's rescue in the
past,
an America weakened and thinly-stretched by the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan
hardly appears poised to do so again.

During and after this past summer's war in Lebanon, the Saudis went
into
diplomatic overdrive. "Independent" Saudi security consultant Nawaf
Obaid
argued in the American press for a Saudi role in "containing Iran in
Lebanon," while King Abdallah visited Turkey (the first visit by a
Saudi
monarch in forty years) to coordinate a contain-Iran policy. Syria,
universally held responsible for the murder of former Lebanese Prime
Minister Rafiq al-Hariri (a Saudi favorite), was also a target: former
Syrian vice-president and opposition leader Abd al-Halim Khaddam was
widely
reported to have met with Saudi officials. In October, Saudi Arabia
hosted
senior Iraqi Sunni and Shiite scholars, who issued the Mecca Charter,
prohibiting sectarian killing.

The disintegration of Iraq presents the Saudis with numerous problems.
While
it had no love for Saddam Husayn, Iraq had provided a crucial bulwark
against Iranian regional power. The Saudis initially acceded to a
formula
which maintained the unity of the state. However, as it became
increasingly
clear that matters were going awry, it reverted to supporting Iraq's
Sunni
minority through infusions of cash and turned a blind eye as individual
Saudis joined the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia does not support a US troop withdrawal from Iraq. The
former
ambassador to the US, Turki Al Faysal, warned in March 2006 that "it
would
be a tragedy and a catastrophe if [US troops] were to leave uninvited."
Following the Democratic victory in the US midterm elections and in an
attempt to influence the outcome of the Iraq Study Group (the "Baker-
Hamilton" report), Obaid publicly threatened "massive Saudi
intervention to
stop Iranian backed Shiite militias from butchering Iraqi Sunnis."
Public
saber-rattling is not a Saudi trait: Obaid's Washington Post op-ed was
officially disavowed and he was sacked a few days later, probably
because of
his bluntness regarding sectarian matters. "We have never accentuated
one
sector over another or one ethnicity over another," said Turki
blithely.

In mid-November, Turki himself abruptly resigned his post. Former
ambassador
to the US, Bandar bin Sultan, secretly visited Washington (he had
apparently
been doing so nearly every month during the past year, without
informing
Turki), and Vice President Richard Cheney flew to Saudi Arabia for
further
talks. During the latter visit, Cheney was reportedly told that the
Saudis
might provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis. Turki's resignation
may
have either been connected to differences over Iran policy (with the
ambassador preferring engagement to confrontation), or to a conflict
over
the post of foreign minister, which both Bandar and Turki appear to
covet,
or to a combination of both. More generally, this jockeying for
position is
probably part of a larger trend among leading members of the royal
family in
preparation for the eventual succession to the throne, given that both
the
monarch and crown prince are in their 80's.

The influence on Saudi domestic affairs of Shiite regional ascendancy
is
worrisome to the Saudi leadership. This was part of the reason for the
explicit and official condemnation of Hizballah's "rash adventures"
during
the summer. Opposition and establishment Wahhabi ulama were divided on
their
attitude towards the Shiite ascendancy. While some supported
Hizballah's
"resistance," even if they were Shiite, others sounded the alarm,
intoning
the traditional Wahhabi abhorrence of their "polytheistic" practices,
termed
Hizballah (the "party of God") Hizb al-Shaytan (the "party of the
devil"),
and warned about Sunnis converting to Shiism. Meanwhile, demonstrations
in
favor of Hizballah by Saudi Shiites highlighted even further the
possible
destabilizing effects of Shiite regional ascendancy.

As Saddam Husayn's executioners tightened the noose, they called out
support
for Shiite leaders. The Saudi response to the execution was to protest
its
having been carried out on the Id al-Adha holiday. The official press
agency expressed "surprise and disapproval," and took an explicit swipe
at
Iraq's Shiite leaders and an implicit one at Iran, stressing that
"leaders
of Islamic countries should show respect for this blessed occasion and
not
demean it."

All these developments make for a very uncomfortable environment for
the
Saudis. With Iran to its east, a Shiite-dominated and Iranian
influenced
Iraq to its north, and domestic Wahhabi anger at the Shiite ascendancy,
the
Saudi royal family is not likely to sleep any better in 2007 than it
did in
2006.

[This is the end of the article]

As Ms Booth pointed out in her legal submission to the tribunal, a book
has
been written about Frank Foley (Foley: the Spy who Saved 10,000 Jews by
Michael Smith) and a film of his life is being planned, yet the truth
about
Rosbaud, his most important agent, remains shrouded in official
secrecy.
“The decision to release files on Major Frank Foley undermines the
argument
that the release of files on his agent, Mr Rosbaud, would cause actual
harm,” Ms Booth wrote.

Rosbaud died of leukaemia at St Mary’s hospital, London, and was
buried at
sea, leaving behind £500, a gold watch, a medal from the American
Institute
of Physics, and an enduring mystery.

Guile of the Griffin

* Paul Rosbaud, Agent Griffin, worked out elaborate techniques to
disguise
the messages that he sent to his MI6 controller, Frank Foley

* As a senior employee of Springer Verlag, the huge German publisher,
Rosbaud found that encoded messages could be sent using the text of
published books. He spotted that authors, as vain creatures, tended to
study
the first editions of their works closely but were much less scrupulous
with
later editions. Words could be rearranged and even inserted in these
without
alerting suspicion. The books could be obtained by MI6 agents in
neutral
countries, and then shipped to MI6 headquarters in London for decoding

* Rosbaud also devised a numerical code system. A specific book would
be
agreed on by both the agent and the MI6 decoders, usually an obscure
volume
available in both Britain and Germany before the war. Each word in the
message would be a composite of three numbers, referring to the page in
the
book, the line on that page, and the number of the word within that
line.
The message would then be sent as a long string of numbers,
incomprehensible
to anyone who did not know to which book they referred

* Rosbaud’s British spymasters also worked out a way to send back
messages
via the BBC. If the 9pm BBC broadcast began with the words Da Haus
steht am
Hügel (The house is on the hill), this meant that Griffin should look
out
for a special message. If Griffin’s handlers wanted more information
on,
say, paragraphs 2, 6 and 9, or his previous message, the announcer
would
say: “The house has two doors, six windows and nine chimneys”

Source: The Griffin: The Greatest Untold Espionage Story of World War
II, by
Arnold Kramish

Accessed 18 Dec 2006,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2506830,00.html

[more than one page of threats]

http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=bomb+found+at+school&ei=utf-8

# Bomb threat at West Salem High School Open this result in new window
Salem Statesman Journal - Jan 04 5:30 PM
Security will be tightened at West Salem High School Friday in response to a message found on a boys restroom wall this afternoon threatening to blow up the school.
Save

# EVSC bomb caller found Open this result in new window
14 WFIE Evansville - Jan 04 4:55 PM
A 13-year-old student has reportedly confessed to phoning in a bomb threat at Glenwood Middle School.
Save

# School open after bomb threat discounted Open this result in new window
Newsday - Jan 04 10:08 AM
A day after a bomb threat message and a subsequent evacuation, the Meadow Elementary School in Baldwin was running on a normal schedule Thursday morning, police and a school official said.
Save

# Elm. school in Baldwin receives bomb threat Open this result in new window
Newsday - Jan 03 9:23 PM
The Meadow Elementary School in Baldwin was evacuated Wednesday afternoon after a bomb threat message was discovered, written in a girl's restroom, Nassau police said.
Save

# Police arrest 12-year-old girl, man for hoax bomb calls Open this result in new window
Bangkok Post - Jan 04 11:01 AM
Police have arrested a 12-year-old girl and a man they say made bomb hoax calls through mobile phones in Nonthaburi and Bangkok on Wednesday. The girl has admitted making a hoax call to Sriboonyanon school in Nonthaburi's Muang district, police said. She is a student at the school.
Save

# Merrill Student In Trouble After Bomb Threat Open this result in new window
WNEM TV 5 Mid-Michigan - Jan 04 12:25 PM
(TV5) -- There's breaking news from Saginaw County where a 16 year old student is in trouble with the law after alledgedly making a bomb threat at Merrill High School.
Save

# Security is overriding concern at area schools Open this result in new window
Pocono Record - 36 minutes ago
Wednesday brought another grim reminder of how much times have changed. Samnang Kok, 17, was shot three times from point-blank range in the halls of his school, Henry Foss High in Tacoma, Wash. Police arrested a fellow student later that day.
Save

# POLICE BRIEFS Open this result in new window
Asbury Park Press - Jan 04 1:30 AM
WEST LONG BRANCH: About 800 students and staff were evacuated from Shore Regional High School Wednesday morning after a bomb threat was found written on a wall in a girl's bathroom inside the school, police said.
Save

# High school graduation requirements may change Open this result in new window
News 14 Carolina - Jan 04 4:01 PM
North Carolina's high school graduation requirements could get tougher because the State Board of Education wants to change the tests required for graduation.
Save

# Bomb hoaxes at schools in Bangkok and Nonthaburi Open this result in new window
MCOT - Jan 03 12:11 AM
BANGKOK, Jan 3 (TNA) - Police responding to emergency calls from two metropolitan area schools -- one in Bangkok, another in suburban Nonthaburi -- found no explosives, calling them false bomb threats made by ill-intentioned people on Wednesday, three days after coordinated bombings in the capital and Nonthaburi in the midst of New Year's celebrations brought death, destruction and confusion to ...

Haaretz 02.01.07: Israel could attack Iran's nuclear program alone

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=808677

Last update - 18:38 02/01/2007
Think tank: Israel could attack Iran's nuclear program alone
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press

The Institute for National Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University
said in
its annual report, released Tuesday, that Iran will possess nuclear
weapons
unless military action is taken against it, and Israel would be capable
of
carrying out such an attack

"Time is working in Iran's favor, and barring military action, Iran's
possession of nuclear weapons is only a matter of time," the institute
said
in a statement distributed at a news conference where it released its
annual assessment of the Middle East's strategic balance.

Israel considers Iran to be its most serious threat. It dismisses
Tehran's
claims that its nuclear program is designed solely to produce energy
and is
worried by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated calls to
wipe
the Jewish state off the map.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has not ruled out a military strike against
Iran's nuclear program, but has said he hoped other ways could be found
to
keep Tehran from becoming a nuclear power. In 1981, Israel destroyed an
unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor in a surprise air attack.

The INSS think tank stopped short of calling for an Israeli military
strike
to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Although experts elsewhere have questioned Israel's ability to cripple
the
Iranian program, which is scattered and built in part in underground
bunkers, analysts at INSS said Israel would be capable of carrying it
off.

A member of the institute's board, Brigadier General (res.) Giora
Eiland
said there would not be a military strike without a full "strategic and
military" understanding with the U.S.

"Even if, at the end of the day, Israeli jets are going to carry out,
or
execute, this attack, it might be perceived - and rightly - as an
understanding between the United States and Israel," Eiland said.

INSS head Zvi Shtauber, a retired general who also served as Israel's
ambassador in London and senior policy adviser to former Prime Minister
Ehud Barak, said Israel was "technically" capable of striking alone and
would have to do so if it takes action, because no other country would
agree to work openly with Israel.

Taking issue with Eiland's assessment that the U.S. must sign off on
such
an attack, he said, "There are certain things that it's better the U.S.
not
know about."

Institute analysts, while doubtful that international sanctions would
sway
Iran from its nuclear ambitions, said the time had not yet come to
decide
on military action.

"We should do it only when it's clear we've exhausted all other means,"
Shtauber said.

'Worth exploring Assad overture'
The institute also said in its report that although it was skeptical
about
the Syrian president's recent peace overtures, it was worth exploring.

The report expressed doubts that Assad could "come up with the goods"
during negotiations with Israel, in terms of both his ability and his
readiness to go through with talks.

Eiland, told reporters at a Tel Aviv press conference Tuesday that the
summer war in Lebanon will have serious and far-reaching repercussions
on
Israel's power of deterrence.

He said that both Israel's neighbors and the United States have taken
note
of the failures during the war.

"From the perspective of our friends in the U.S., we failed to come up
with
the goods in an embarrassing way," he said.

[from Jamestown.org]

RUSSIAN ARMS TRADER HAS TIES FROM AFRICA TO KREMLIN

Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering all weapons exports to be handed over to the state arms trader Rosoboroneksport beginning March 1. The MiG corporation, the Tula-based Instrument Manufacturing Design Bureau (KBP), and other independent exporters that together shipped $624 million of weapons in 2005, will be forced to hand over their business to the state company, which has close ties to the Kremlin (Kommersant, December 15).

Since its formation in 2000 as a state-owned trading company, Rosoboroneksport has been transformed into an industrial conglomerate. According to its CEO, Sergei Chemezov, the company currently has $21 billion in confirmed arms export contracts (Interfax, November 13, 2006). In 2005 Rosoboroneksport's sales reached $5.2 billion, and now it will be a full export monopoly.

According to Chemezov, Rosoboroneksport has also been investing hundreds millions of dollars into Russia's defense industry (Strana.ru, November 13, 2006). Today Rosoboroneksport fully controls the production of civilian and military helicopters in Russia.

Intelligence officers and high-ranking military personnel in active service, including admirals and generals, staff the company. While serving at Rosoboroneksport, these officers still receive full military pay, benefits, promotions, and service medals.

Rosoboroneksport's trading practices are opaque, and its overall earnings have never been officially revealed. But commissions for its services, such as arranging the transport of weapons to their destinations, apparently considerably exceed 10% of Russia's annual arms exports.

Russian arms producers actually use Soviet designs and equipment and Soviet-made components for assembly. Often entire Soviet-made weapons systems are repainted and sold as "newly Russian-made" (see EDM, July 31, 2006). Illegal profits are sky-high and Rosoboroneksport has been at the center of this racket, stockpiling billions of dollars.

Rosoboroneksport is fully government owned, but it is clear that most -- if not all -- of its revenue is spent by the company -- not transferred to the state. In 2005, Rosoboroneksport paid $700 million to buy a 62% share in Russia's biggest car company Avtovaz; in 2006, another $700 million was paid to buy 66% of Avisma, one of the world's main producers of titanium (Kommersant, December 15).

Appointed in 2004, Rosoboroneksport CEO Chemezov is a former KGB operative who served in the 1980s in Dresden, East Germany, together with Putin (Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2006). Chemezov has been cited as a possible successor to Putin in the 2008 presidential elections (Moskovsky komsomolets, August 15, 2006; Moscow Times, December 7). Last month Chemezov was elected to the bureau of the Supreme Council of United Russia, the pro-Putin ruling party, putting him in an advantageous position ahead of the campaign season.

Today, few people consider Chemezov to be a front-runner. But he clearly enjoys close personal relations with Putin and comes from the circle of the president's old KGB pals. Chemezov also seems to have already assembled the largest war chest of all other serious contenders.

Whether or not Putin backs Chemezov to be the next Russian president, he and the Rosoboroneksport conglomerate already exert considerable influence on Russian policymaking. Today Russia seems to oppose U.S. actions and influence (at least verbally) on any front worldwide, but Chemezov has his own personal agenda in the Horn of Africa.

In 1998, Eritrea and Ethiopia began an armed conflict that still continues intermittently or through proxies. In the current fray in Somalia, the Eritreans supported the Islamists, while Ethiopian troops invaded to install a provisional government. In the late 1990s Chemezov, as head of the arms trading company Promeksport, supplied Ethiopia with Russian weapons worth billions, including Su-27 jets and attack helicopters together with mercenary Russian pilots. Last month the Ethiopian Air Force Chemezov helped build led the rapid advance on Mogadishu.

Commercially successful shipments of Russian weapons by Promeksport to different African war zones advanced Chemezov's career. In 2000 Putin merged Promeksport with Rosvooruzheniye to form Rosoboroneksport. Chemezov was first deputy CEO of the joint company and later its head.

In 1999, retired Colonel Vladimir Nefedov, former chief representative of Rosvooruzheniye in Ethiopia, told me that he was a freelance arms trader who had organized the purchase of MiG-29 jets by the Eritreans direct from the MiG corporation bypassing state arms trading companies. Eritrean diplomats in Moscow confirmed the story. Today Moscow (together with Washington) is backing the Ethiopians, while Eritrea and the Islamists are apparently being supplied with Russian weapons through other sources.

Russian-made weapons have also shown up recently in the Middle East. KBP, the independent arms trader based in Tula, supplied Syria with the modern anti-tank Russian Kornet missiles that Hezbollah allegedly used against the Israelis in Lebanon last summer. The fact that Islamists or their supporters in Lebanon and in the Horn of Africa used independently exported Russian weapons may have lead Putin to impose a strict arms trade monopoly.

Of course, when shipping modern arms to Iran, Venezuela, and China, Rosoboroneksport does not follow U.S. policy guidelines. Long-term Russian national interests are also not a priority. In arms trading and industrial empire building the private aims of former spooks are the denominator.

--Pavel Felgenhauer

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21009472-5005961,00.html#

Dated Jan. 4, 2007

COUNTRIES taking action against Iran independent of the United Nations, as called for by Washington, would not be helpful in luring Tehran back to negotiations on its nuclear program, Russia said today.

The collective approach, embodied in a sanctions resolution adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council last month, is the way to go, Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

"It is our very strong belief that as long as we act collectively, we'd better stay this way. If, in addition and outside of those collective measures, we start doing various unilateral things, we don't think that is going to be helpful," Mr Churkin said. Moscow is building an $800 million light-water nuclear reactor for Iran at Bushehr.

The restrictions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology, imposed by the 15-nation Security Council in a December 23 resolution, were intended to pressure Iran to halt sensitive nuclear activities and resume talks aimed at curbing its nuclear ambitions.

Iran says it wants only to produce nuclear power, but the West says Tehran is using a civilian energy program as a cover for developing nuclear weapons.

After the council approved the sanctions, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Washington would press Russia, China, Japan and the European Union to take more vigorous action as individual governments, including cutting off lending to Iran.

"We don't think this resolution is enough in itself. And we're certainly not going to put all our eggs in a UN basket," Mr Burns said at the time.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran would stick to its nuclear work and called the council resolution illegal and invalid.

But Mr Churkin said council members should not be discouraged by those comments.

Sometimes all sorts of statements are made. But we have to do our diplomatic and political thing, and we believe there is still hope," he said.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.