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.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/APA/701073317
Subway Train Derails in D.C.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- A subway train derailed Sunday near downtown Washington, but officials said they had no immediate information on injuries.
Metro transit spokeswoman Cathy Asato said the accident happened about 3:45 p.m. near the Mount Vernon Square station. There were passengers on the train, and rescuers were removing them about 40 minutes after the derailment, she said.
Service on two lines was halted in both directions around the station, and Metro said it was setting up a shuttle bus to take passengers around the accident scene.
Last modified: January 07. 2007 5:28PM
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/API/701073214
Helicopter Crash in France Kills 3
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MARSEILLE, France -- A helicopter crashed Sunday into the garden terrace of a restaurant in southeastern France, killing three people on the ground and severely injuring a fourth, rescue workers said.
The Alouette 2 aircraft slammed into the garden of the Chez Bob restaurant along a highway between the towns of Salin-de-Giraud and Arles, rescue workers said.
A woman whose leg was severed in the crash was taken to a hospital.
Police were investigating. The four occupants of the helicopter were not injured, officials said.
Last modified: January 07. 2007 4:36PM
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/API/701072954
Article published Jan 7, 2007
Theory for Mass Deaths Roils Mexico
BY MARK STEVENSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Mexicans have long been taught to blame diseases brought by the Spaniards for wiping out most of their Indian ancestors. But recent research suggests things may not be that simple.
While the initial big die-offs are still blamed on the Conquistadors who started arriving in 1519, even more virulent epidemics in 1545 and 1576 may have been caused by a native blood-hemorrhaging fever spread by rats, Mexican researchers say.
The idea has sparked heated debate in Mexican academic circles.
One camp holds that the epidemics could have been spread by rats migrating during a drought cycle; others say newly arrived Spanish miners may have disturbed the habitat of virus-carrying rodents while searching for gold and silver.
The revisionists draw support from one of the only authoritative firsthand accounts of the epidemics, a text lost for hundreds of years until it was found, misfiled, in a Spanish archive.
Dr. Francisco Hernandez, a physician to the Spanish king who witnessed the epidemic of 1576 and conducted autopsies, describes a fever that caused heavy bleeding, similar to the hemorrhagic Ebola virus. It raced through the Indian population, killing four out of five people infected, often within a day or two.
"Blood flowed from the ears and in many cases blood truly gushed from the nose," he wrote. "Of those with recurring disease, almost none was saved."
Harvard-trained epidemiologist Dr. Rodolfo Acuna-Soto, a microbiology professor at Mexico's National Autonomous University, had Hernandez' work translated from the original Latin in 2000. He followed up with research into outbreaks in Mexico's isolated central highlands, where indigenous rats may have spread the disease through urine and droppings.
Acuna-Soto's theory - which has been published in several scientific journals, including Emerging Infectious Diseases and the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - runs counter to the belief that most of Mexico's Indian population died of Spanish-imported diseases such as smallpox, to which their bodies had no immunity.
"This wasn't smallpox," Acuna-Soto says. "The pathology just does not fit."
He says some historians in Mexico are offended by his theory.
"Much of the reason why these epidemics were left unstudied was that it was politically and institutionally easier to blame the Spaniards for all of the horrible things that might have happened," he said. "It was the official version of history."
Certainly, imported diseases such as smallpox, measles and typhoid fever did cause huge numbers of deaths starting in 1521. But the epidemics of 1545 and 1576 struck survivors of the first die-offs and their children, who would presumably have developed some immunity.
While there is no reliable figure on Mexico's population in the 1500s - estimates range from 6 million to 25 million - it is clear that by 1600 only around 2 million remained.
The epidemic "was so big that it ruined and destroyed almost the entire land," wrote Fray Juan de Torquemada, a Franciscan historian who witnessed the epidemic of 1576, adding Mexico "was left almost empty."
"Many were dead and others almost dead, and nobody had the health or strength to help the diseased or bury the dead."
Other accounts speak of a rodent invasion, and Acuna-Soto teamed up with U.S. researchers to investigate whether an abnormally severe drought may have pushed rats into human settlements or vice versa.
But another Mexican expert in the field insists the rodents mentioned in texts from the era probably came from Europe or Asia carrying the bubonic plague, which sometimes caused its victims to vomit blood.
Elsa Malvido, a demographer, historian and an expert on ancient epidemics for the National Institute of Anthropology and History, says the plague could have caused the more severe hemorrhagic symptoms recorded by Hernandez, because it was attacking a population with no immunity whatsoever.
But Dr. Carlos Viesca, director of medical history at Mexico's national university, says he is close to being convinced the epidemics were native.
"The problem didn't start in Acapulco or Veracruz," the two main seaports where rats would have landed from overseas, he said. Instead, the disease appears to have started in the central highlands at a time when the Spaniards sent mining expeditions to unsettled parts of Mexico, raising the possibility that humans invaded rodent habitats, he said.
Relatively few Spaniards were affected by the outbreak, possibly because in either eventuality they were protected: If the cause was bubonic plague or smallpox, their bodies had greater immunity to it; and if it was rodent-borne, they were less likely to come into contact with the animals.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/API/701071973
Article published Jan 7, 2007
Picture
Palestinian Fatah supporters gather under heavy rain during a rally in Gaza City, Sunday Jan. 7, 2007. Tens of thousands of Fatah supporters packed Gaza's main soccer stadium Sunday in a massive show of strength to boost the movement in its increasingly violent struggle against the Islamic militant group Hamas. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
Fatah Holds Huge Rally in Gaza Stadium
BY IBRAHIM BARZAK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Tens of thousands of Fatah supporters packed Gaza's main soccer stadium Sunday in a show of strength to boost the movement in its increasingly violent struggle against the Islamic militant group Hamas.
The demonstration came as masked Fatah gunmen released a video of a kidnapped Hamas official, threatening to expand attacks against Hamas if it rejects calls to disband its militia in the Gaza Strip. The video, reminiscent of scenes in Iraq, marked a new tactic in the latest spate of Palestinian factional violence.
Fatah's strongman in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, was given a hero's welcome as he entered the stadium. As he began speaking, he shooed away the guards protecting him. "Let Hamas shoot me," he said as the crowd erupted in applause. Fatah gunmen fired in the air during his speech.
The stadium demonstration marked the 42nd anniversary of the founding of Fatah by the late Yasser Arafat, but was meant to send a clear message to Hamas, which has defiantly rejected Fatah's calls to outlaw the Gaza militia.
Fatah and Hamas have been locked in a bloody struggle for control of the Palestinian government since the Islamic group won parliamentary elections last year. The victory ended four decades of Fatah political domination, though the group still controls the powerful Palestinian presidency.
Sunday's gathering was the largest Fatah demonstration in Gaza since 1994, and a sea of yellow Fatah flags fluttered in the wind. Roads in southern Gaza were packed with motorists trying to reach the stadium.
In his fiery speech, Dahlan called Hamas' deadly assault on the home of a Fatah security commander last week a "turning point."
"If they think the murderers will not be punished, they are mistaken," said Dahlan. "If they attacked one Fatah person, we'll attack two more."
Hamas lawmaker Salah Bardawil called Dahlan's speech "defamation" that served the interests of Israel. He said Hamas knew Fatah was well armed, but hoped the weapons would be used "against the occupation (Israel) and not against Hamas."
More than 30 Palestinians have been killed in factional violence since early December. The fighting has been mostly limited to the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has its power base, but it has begun to spread to the West Bank, where Fatah is much stronger.
Tensions heightened Saturday after President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah outlawed Hamas' so-called Executive Force, its main military unit in Gaza. Hamas responded by saying it would double the size of the force to 12,000 fighters and resist any attempts to disarm it.
In the video, Mahdi al-Khamdali, the deputy mayor of Nablus and a Hamas official, standing in a jacket and tie, was surrounded by masked militants in army jackets.
One of the men read a statement from a folded sheet of paper, identifying the gunmen as Fatah members. He mentioned the Hamas force and threatens new attacks against Hamas, but stops short of threatening to kill the politician.
"From this date we announce loudly that we are not going to keep silent in the West Bank about the crimes of this criminal force," one of the militants said in the video. "If any crime takes place against one of our people in Gaza, there will be an operation in the West Bank and we will not exclude anybody from this decision."
In Gaza City, six pro-Hamas militant groups voiced their support for the Executive Force. "We are not going to allow anyone to assault or attack or harm any member of the Executive unit," Abu Abir, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, told a news conference. "We are going to deal with them in the same manner that we deal with the occupation and its collaborators."
Nablus was the scene of a large Israeli operation Sunday. Troops entered the city before dawn, surrounded a building and detained six people, the army said.
The army said the operation had thwarted a planned suicide bombing and that two of those arrested were masterminds of the attack. Troops also found two explosives belts, the army said. According to military officials, the would-be bomber, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy, had been arrested previously.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/API/701073280
Men in Jordan Charged With Attack Plots
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMMAN, Jordan -- Two men were charged Sunday with plotting attacks against Americans living in Jordan.
Prosecutors indicted Mohammed Shehada, 25, a Jordanian, and Sameeh al-Hotari, 25, who was born in Kuwait, for conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks and possession of an automatic weapon, a Kalashnikov.
Shehada and al-Hotari, who were in police custody, allegedly decided to avenge Muslims "who suffer from the Americans" and planned to kill an American man who lived in a suburb of the Jordanian capital, Amman. The indictment did not identify the American.
The two suspects began watching the American in August but were arrested before they could try to kill him, the indictment said.
The two men were accused of plotting to kill other Americans, but indictment did not give specifics about those plans.
There was no information about attorneys for the two men, and a trial date has not been set.
Last modified: January 07. 2007 5:15PM
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/21769.html
Ohio Imam Deported for Terrorist Ties
January 06, 2007 08:22 AM EST
By Sher Zieve – Ohio imam Fawaz Damra was deported from the US Thursday for not revealing his ties to the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad when he had applied for US citizenship in 1994. Although tried and convicted in 2004, Damra was only deported to Jordan last week.
The reason for the delay in Damra’s expulsion from the US is said to have been due to extreme difficulty in finding a nation that would accept him. Damra is reported to have, also, been appealing his conviction.
After landing in Jordan, Damra is said to have entered the terrorist Hamas-controlled West Bank. Damra has made multiple inflammatory hate speeches, including one in 1991 which included his demands that Muslims should be "directing all the rifles at the first and last enemy of the Islamic nation and that is the sons of monkeys and pigs--the Jews!"
http://ap.brainerddispatch.com/pstories/state/mn/20070105/135342796.shtml
Suspicious trucker stopped
The Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Authorities say a Minnesota truck driver stopped east of Sioux Falls on Interstate 90 had a journal that made references to damaging a bridge in California and sinking an aircraft carrier.
The F-B-I was called to investigate.
The journal also made a reference to shutting down the Minnesota Capitol.
The 40-year-old driver was detained, but he was not arrested.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten o
http://ap.brainerddispatch.com/pstories/state/mn/20070106/135844257.shtml
California man pleads not guilty to making terrorist threats
The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO — A California man pleaded not guilty to charges that he threatened to blow up or burn down an array of buildings in Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and California.
Scott Robert Hudson, 52, of Paradise, was arrested Dec. 20 and charged with nine counts of making terrorist threats. He was arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento and remains in federal custody.
Hudson is accused of placing telephone calls threatening to blow up or burn down:
— Buildings at the School of Graduate and Professional Programs at St. Mary's University of Minnesota in Winona.
— The National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.
— A Hilton Hotel in New York City.
— A Weston Hotel in New York City.
— A Jewish synagogue in Southern California.
The charges claim there were three calls threatening to set fire to or blow up the Hilton Hotel.
Hudson is also accused of threatening to kill a rabbi in Long Beach, N.Y., and threatening to injure an employee at the National Museum of American Jewish History.
Hudson spent 34 months in prison for making similar threats in 2001.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.nbc6.net/news/10670371/detail.html
Trucker Says Armed Men Locked Him Inside 18-Wheeler
POSTED: 10:56 am EST January 4, 2007
UPDATED: 6:03 pm EST January 4, 2007
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POMPANO BEACH, Fla. -- Broward Sheriff's Office deputies are searching for two men who they said robbed a truck driver, tied him up and locked him in the back of an 18-wheeler Thursday morning.
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The truck driver, 33-year-old William Jimenez, told deputies he was at the Pompano Beach service plaza on the Florida Turnpike when two men held him at gunpoint.
Jimenez said the men tied him up and put him in the freezer section of his tractor-trailer, which was carrying cigarettes and frozen foods.
Jimenez managed to untie himself and call 911 from his cell phone.
Deputies located the 18-wheeler on Atlantic Boulevard and heard Jimenez banging on the walls of the truck. Jimenez was released uninjured.
"He had been bound, thrown into his own truck, driven to this location and he didn't really know where he was," said Hugh Graf of BSO. "Thankfully, one of our deputies found it, heard this guy pounding on it from the inside, opened the door and there this man was."
Deputies said the case is very similar to another truck robbery that happened three weeks ago in Pompano Beach, in which a driver was held up by armed men and locked inside his truck.
Detectives said they believe the same men may be responsible for both robberies.
"Our investigators do believe that the two, the one from about three weeks ago and this morning's hijacking or theft are connected," Graf said.
Now, other truck drivers said they are concerned about safety.
"It's pretty dangerous and we just have to be more careful," driver Nelson Candelario said. "Keep your eyes open at all times."
"They won't let us carry any protection or anything anymore," driver Tom Sing said. "It's against the law and then things like this happen."
Deputies have not made any arrests but said they are following leads.
"We're thankful that this guy's OK. We've got some good information from him and we're confident that we'll be able to make an arrest sometime soon," Graf said.
Copyright 2007 by NBC6.net. All rights reserved.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,21026100-5003402,00.html?from=public_rss
Rocket launcher probe targets contractors
January 08, 2007 05:21am
THE use of private contractors for weapons and munitions storage is being examined by a police and ASIO investigation into missing rocket launchers.
Under the privatised system, rocket launchers can be held at facilities without uniformed soldiers guarding them, Fairfax newspapers report.
Instead, contractors use their own guards or those supplied by private firms that can often have high staff turnovers.
A one-shot rocket launcher was discovered in a rubbish tip near Rockhampton in Queensland last week after a private contractor disposed of the weapon.
The Singapore high commission said the launcher had been used by its military while training in Australia and was not dangerous, Fairfax reports.
Meanwhile, a Sydney man was charged on Friday with supplying to an accused terrorist rocket launchers stolen from the military.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21026142-401,00.html
Australian dead after three-day journey into jihad
By Richard Kerbaj and Rebecca Weisser
January 07, 2007 11:00pm
A MELBOURNE father's mission to join Islamic jihad in Somalia ended with his death three days after arriving in the African region in December to fight Ethiopian-backed forces.
Ahmed Ali, 25, embraced fundamentalist Islam four years ago before travelling to Somalia with his wife and at least one child.
Ali migrated to Australia with his parents in the late 1990s. His conversion to radicalism upset his mother who, when informed of his death, told members of the Islamic community: "My son died four years ago."
While Ali was the first Somalian from Australia known to have returned to join the holy war, community leaders feared more would follow in his footsteps.
Prominent Melbourne-based Somalian cleric Isse Musse told The Australian last night that he was concerned about other members of his community turning to radical Islam and travelling overseas to join the jihad.
"We are worried about that because we don't want anyone to lose life for nothing," he said.
News of Ali's death came after The Weekend Australian reported that an Adelaide man, Warya Kanie, had been arrested in Baghdad on suspicion of joining the insurgency.
Mr Kanie is now being held in Camp Cropper, the US-run Baghdad prison where former dictator Saddam Hussein was kept before his execution 10 days ago.
Sheik Isse, head of the Virgin Mary Mosque in Melbourne's west, said Ali would occasionally attend his mosque for prayers.
He said Ali's mother was "distraught" and was still unable to come to terms with her son's death, which occurred three days after his arrival in Somalia.
"She can't believe that in three days he goes to the front (of the battle) and gets killed," said Sheik Isse. "He's a young man – young people are always interested in new things."
The Australian understands that Ali's wife, an Australian convert to Islam, was pregnant when the couple left for Somalia with their daughter.
Sheik Musse warned other members of his community not to travel overseas to join the jihad. "There are thousands and thousands (there already) – a boy who's from here, what can he do over there? Nothing," he said.
A spokesman for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said Australian citizens who engaged in hostile activity in a foreign country faced up to 20 years in jail under the Crimes (Foreign Incursion and Recruitment) Act 1978.
Activities covered under the law include attacking heads of state or officials, or acts designed to frighten citizens or assault the nation's officials.
Ali's sister, who would not be named, denied the reports of his death were true. "It's all misinformation," she said. "As far as we're concerned, he's missing and we haven't been able to get in touch with him."
Last night, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman told The Australian that Mr Ali's relatives had told the department his wife and children were still in Somalia.
An Australian citizen of Iraqi origin, Mr Kanie, 39, is considered "an imperative threat to Iraq's security". It is expected he will have his case reviewed by the Combined Review and Release Board, a joint Iraqi-multinational forces body, in the next few weeks.
Mr Kanie was captured by coalition forces in mid-October for allegedly engaging in anti-coalition activities.
DFAT has confirmed that Mr Kanie is being held by US forces in Camp Cropper under UN Resolution 1637.
The camp was initially intended as a detention site for those who might have valuable intelligence or inherent military or political significance. It has expanded its capacity from 163 to 2000 detainees.
The DFAT spokesperson said embassy officials in Baghdad had been in contact with US authorities in relation to his detention.
However, Ali Vachor, secretary of the Islamic Society of South Australia – who attends the same mosque as Mr Kanie in Park Holme, in Adelaide's southern suburbs – told The Australian that Mr Kanie was the victim of US "terrorists".
"We're here to back him up all the way," Mr Vachor said.
"The oppressor is there, doing the oppression, doing the killing, doing the slaughtering, stealing other people's properties, and everyone is shutting up.
"They are the terrorists."
Mr Kanie, described by Mr Vachor as "a very nice, very decent man", is said to have been staunchly opposed to the occupation of Iraq and to have supported terrorist acts against Western forces and Iraqis co-operating with them.
After leaving Adelaide about seven months ago, Mr Kanie left his seven-year-old daughter with his sister in Amman, Jordan before travelling to Iraq.
Mr Kanie had been living in Amman when he was granted permission under Australia's humanitarian program to join his three brothers in Adelaide and was resettled as a refugee.
He was living in a Housing Trust apartment on employment benefits and receiving additional benefits as a single father to care for his daughter.
Mr Kanie, who had divorced his wife before travelling to Australia, told his family and friends at his local mosque he was seeking a wife in Iraq. However, he told another friend that he was returning to Iraq "to go on jihad".
When The Australian asked Mr Vachor if he thought it possible Mr Kanie had gone to Iraq to fight the coalition, he said: "He went on a journey to get married."
Additional reporting by Pia Akerman and Matthew Franklin
Also in The World
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/breakingnews
Has several that i did not copy, including a couple of riots.
I see several googles in your spy posts.
Laughing as I say, you know what they want to say and dare not as yet?
The answer of course is "Bush did it".
Back in the 1950's it was something like "Kildare was here".
When my kids were growing up, it was "George did it", darned if I recall who George was, I think it was a turtle.
You have got to develop this spy story into a fiction story, it is writing itself and would be a good one, a real "who done it".
Colfax and Grant at 3:30 pm, Denver area.
Someone fired at a police officer, who was stalled (in traffic?),
bullet went thru window of car, missed the Officer.
850k0a.com, is on radio news at 6 pm
Thanks to Milford421 for this report:
Look Who's in Charge of the Port of Miami - Imam Salahuddin
Article - Read it all.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/000505.php
"Khalid Salahuddin, or Brother Khalid as he is affectionately known,
is the Deputy Director for the Seaport of Miami. He received the
position via an appointment from Director Chares Towsley, shortly
after scandal had rocked the port when illegally diverted port funds
had made their way into Democratic Party coffers.
As Deputy Director, Salahuddin's responsibilities are many. He
solicits Miami business via cargo and cruise ships; he attends and
participates in various diplomatic functions, including trade
missions, symposiums, news conferences and government briefings,
with members of the international community; and he oversees port
employment.
That last part came under scrutiny in late 2001, when an NBC 6 news
report emerged questioning the hiring practices of the port. In it,
it was stated that, out of 1300 members of the three major
Longshoremen's unions listed in port records checked, every one in
five were convicted felons in Florida, with offenses that
included "attempted murder, armed robbery, assault and battery,
trafficking in cocaine, grand theft, auto theft, and sex with a
child."
When confronted about this, Salahuddin had this to say: "From our
standpoint, what benefit would it do to kick him out on the street?
We see none"
The report also had something ominous to say about easy access to
the port. Jim McDonough, Florida Drug Control Director stated, "I
think we have to be very prudent about who we put in the hen-house.
We generally don't put the wolf in the hen-house, based on the
promise that reform has taken place."
But almost two years later, is the wolf still guarding the hen-
house?
Aside from being the Deputy Director of the port, Salahuddin is also
the imam of what is said to be the oldest and largest mosque in
South Florida, Masjid Al-Ansar. That in itself doesn't pose a
problem, but his views and affiliations do."
Thanks to Milford421 for this article:
Spain's Catholic Bishops Sound the Alarm
The Catholic bishops of Spain remember the reason for the
Reconquista, as Muslims gradually retake through demographics and
Arab oil money what they lost on the battlefield: Spanish bishops
fear rebirth of Islamic kingdom. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)
Spain's bishops are alarmed by ambitious plans to recreate the city
of Cordoba - once the heart of the ancient Islamic kingdom of al-
Andalus - as a pilgrimage site for Muslims throughout Europe.
Plans include the construction of a half-size replica of Cordoba's
eighth century great mosque, according to the head of Cordoba's
Muslim Association. Funds for the project are being sought from the
governments of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and Muslim
organisations in Morocco and Egypt. Other big mosques are reportedly
planned for Medina Azahara near Cordoba, Seville and Granada.
The bishops of those cities are alarmed at the construction of
ostentatious mosques, fearing that the church's waning influence may
be further eclipsed by resurgent Islam financed from abroad. Up to
one million Muslims are estimated to live in Spain. Many are drawn
by a romantic nostalgia for the lost paradise of Al-Andalus, the
caliphate that ruled Spain for more than five centuries.
Last month, Spanish Muslims reasserted their right to pray in
Cordoba's great mosque. The mosque houses within its arches a
cathedral built to consolidate Catholic rule after Muslims were
expelled from Spain in 1492. Muslims are forbidden to pray in the
building.
Mansur Escudero, president of Spain's Islamic Council, has
challenged the current head of Spain's Episcopal Conference, Bishop
Ricardo Blazquez of Bilbao, to explain why Muslims could not pray in
Cordoba's mosque. Mr Escudero said he had been encouraged by the
Pope's act of prayer in Istanbul's Blue Mosque on his recent visit
to Turkey. "It showed that mosques are open to Christian
worshippers," he said. "Could not Muslims pray in Cordoba's mosque?"
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2125423.ece
Thanks to Milford421 for this post:
Suspicious explosion at St. Pete food market - FL
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20070105/NEWS01/301050010/1075
Suspicious explosion at St. Pete food market
By Tampa Bay's 10 News
Originally posted on January 05, 2007 St. PETERSBURG — St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue is investigating an
explosion at King's Food Market. It happened at 1:30 am this morning
on 49th Street South and 20th Avenue near Gulfport.
Authorities say the fire started in a storage area behind the store.
Fire crews had to break through the front of the store to get to the
fire and put it out. Investigators are calling the
explosion "suspicious." They do not know how it started.
No one was injured in the explosion.
I checked the one for President Bush, a quick look and it appears to be fairly accurate, there are several people posted, a wide variety.......
http://famouspersonality.blogspot.com/2007/01/george-w-bush.html
great personalities
Very good site if you want some information about your idols,great leaders of the world who hav shaped this world with there sheer determination and innovative thoughts this site covers all the great leaders of the world both death and alive. This site covers more than 175 personalities it inlcudes all the famous and infamous personalities it covers personalities from all the fields.
Heavy reading. may be interesting, I am too tired to dig in and find out:
http://tymelytopics.com/
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