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
It is about time
Washington DC, January 12, 2007/Reform Syria Blog - Farid Ghadry/ -- First it started on January 4 with sanctions against Syrian research organizations by the US Treasury Department then it was amplified a day later to include a ban on Syrian arms suppliers in Russia, China, and N. Korea, and now it seems that the US has upped the ante even more by raiding an Iranian outpost that may yield the kind of intelligence to deter Iran from meddling into Iraqi affairs.
For one, the sanctions and freezing of assets are considered Cold War era tactics, the raid on the Iranian Diplomatic Mission (or rather Terrorist Mission) is closer to war than we could ever come to. The question becomes: What's next? Will Syria see action against its interests along the lines of what happened in Irbil against Iranian interests? Is the Syrian Embassy in Baghdad a center for logistical support for terrorism in Iraq? Will the US raid the Syrian Embassy in Baghdad next?
It is obvious, from these actions, that we are witnessing the birth of a new policy in how America responds to Iran and Syria. The patience of this administration, which has baffled many and tested the fortitude of us all, has expired. In its place, we see a more vigorous policy that, in spite of the polls and the threats by opponents to the War in Iraq, will deliver dignity to the US military for the sacrifices they made on a scale never to be forgotten as well as security to the millions of Iraqis who actually voted for their own democratic government. The US has finally Iran and Syria in its eyesight.
The likely scenario is that more violence will envelop Baghdad as the President has warned in his speech. In final analysis, all Syria and Iran can do is exacerbate further the situation in Iraq by administering more of the same violence that we have been accustomed to. I say accustomed here not as a negative (even though all of us dread the next bomb and the next victim in Iraq) but rather as a matter of fact: Syria and Iran can do no more than what they have done already and more of the same is really the same.
But for the US, these tactical changes will mean much to change the situation on the ground. For one, the US is going on the offensive by cleaning Baghdad from terrorists. We all witnessed this kind of new offensive on January 10 in Haifa Street in Baghdad. Unlike last time when the US simply cleared areas and left them to be occupied again, this time around the US intends to stay in those areas patrolling them with additional troops and interacting with the Iraqi population. Furthermore, acting on intelligence has become a high priority and we will see proactive responses against terrorist centers more often in the future, which invariably will mean more street fighting in Baghdad. This will force the enemies of Iraq to disburse, thus disabling their capacity to organize and strike as often as they did in the past.
It is too early to predict how the US will respond to the Syrian-Iraqi porous borders. The intelligence the US has on the Syrian terrorist pipeline is pretty accurate due to the capture and interrogation of several Syrian fighters who have joined the ranks of al-Qaeda. If Assad changes tactics, it will force Mohammad Nassif to re-build, which means more time and resources on the part of Assad's machine of destruction. If Assad does not change his pipeline route, the US more than likely has a plan to finally deal with Assad's stubborn, destructive behavior in Iraq. Either way, the giant is fully awake and its wrath will be felt by Iran and Syria in the months ahead.
Moreover, it seems that Turkey has joined the US in its fight against terrorism in Iraq in return for concessions from the US to deal with the thorny PKK problem. How this will play out in the North of Iraq remains a mystery but for all intended purposes Turkey seems to have joined the ranks of the Willing judging from their responses to the President's speech. This means that its bases are now available to the US anyway the US sees fit.
A word of wisdom to all the pundits who are looking at the elections of 2008 through a peephole, or to those who support the old status quo in the Middle East that gave birth to 9/11, or to those who are afraid of change because it means that many less cocktail parties to go to, it behooves all Americans to unite behind a determined President whose intentions are to safeguard our freedom and to help usher one to the people of the Middle East. As a Muslim American, it always surprises me how little we all understand the goals of the violent Islamist movements. Does the idea of an extreme Muslim Caliphate in Baghdad governing the Muslim world help us all understand better the importance of today's war? If this happens, the Khomeini era will be remembered with nostalgia.
As a prediction, 2007 will be the year in which the US will act as a superpower and will win like a superpower is supposed to. We all have seen what Iran's Ahmadinajead and Syria's Assad can do, now it is time for them to witness what America can do.
It is about time.
Copyrights © 2003-2007 - Reform Party of Syria (RPS) except where otherwise noted - all rights reserved.
http://www.reformsyria.org/
http://www.reformsyria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=216&Itemid=60
Middle East Newsline
Jan 10, 2007 at 05:34 PM
MOSCOW [MENL] -- Less than two years after blocking such a sale, Russia appears ready to approve the export of the Iskander-E long-range rocket to Syria.
Government sources said President Vladimir Putin has agreed to examine a Syrian request for the Iskander-E, with a range of 280 kilometers. In 2005, Putin pledged to Israel and the United States that Iskander would not be sold to the regime of President Bashar Assad.
"Two years have passed and relations with Syria have improved tremendously," a government source said. "This time, the Russian Defense Ministry expects Putin to approve the sale."
The Iskander-E, termed the SS-26 Stone by NATO, has been touted as one of the most effective long-range rockets in the world. The manufacturer, KBM, has asserted that the Iskander could be fitted with multiple warheads designed to defeat any missile defense system.
Last Updated ( Jan 10, 2007 at 05:35 PM )
http://www.reformsyria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=222&Itemid=60
The US moves to confront Iran and Syria PDF Print E-mail
Scott Peterson - Christian Science Monitor
Jan 12, 2007 at 08:37 AM
Both nations aid the 'flow of support' to 'terrorists' in Iraq, President Bush says.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Close to the same hour Wednesday night that President Bush vowed to disrupt the "flow of support" from Iran and Syria to "terrorists and insurgents" in Iraq, US forces raided an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq, arresting five diplomats and staff and taking computers and files.
The raid, and a buildup of US warships in the Persian Gulf, indicate that the Bush administration is ignoring the advice of the Iraq Study Group (ISG) to reach out to the two neighbors to help quell the violence in Iraq.
The tough rhetoric and military action – the second incident involving Iranian officials in Iraq in recent weeks – is seen in Tehran as a sign of escalation in the prickly US-Iran dynamic that could further complicate American efforts to calm the fires in Iraq and establish regional stability.
"It seems these 21,000 new troops Mr. Bush wants to send to Iraq are not just to calm [that] country," says Saeed Laylaz, a political and security analyst in Tehran. "It means the new strategy of the US in Iraq and the region is going to put more actual pressure against Iran - financial and military at the same time."
Iranian officials reacted angrily, calling the raid in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil illegal and a signal that US policy toward the Islamic Republic remained "hostile." Throughout 2006, the possibility of US-Iran talks about Iraq appeared to indicate the possibility that 28 years of bitter estrangement might be starting to fade.
There had been some hope in Syria, too, that the ISG's recommendations to engage Iran and Syria might improve strained US-Syrian ties. Bush's reference to deploying Patriot antimissile batteries to the region was aimed squarely at Iran - a point not missed in Tehran.
There had been some hope in Syria, too, that the ISG's recommendations to engage Iran and Syria might improve heavily strained US-Syrian ties. Bush's reference to deploying Patriot antimissile batteries to the region, to "reassure our friends and allies," was aimed squarely at Iran - a point not missed in Tehran.
Their arrival "is part of the US policy direction to create a support umbrella for the Zionist [Israeli] regime through an Islamic country," said Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini. The troop surge, he said, will only "extend insecurity, danger, and tension in the country. This will not help solve Iraq's problems."
Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa said that boosting US troops would "pour oil on the fire" in Iraq.
Bush's comments, in which he stated as fact that a consequence of US "failure" in Iraq would leave Iran "emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons," left many Iranians convinced that there is little chance of rapprochement during the remaining two years of his presidency, regardless of the results in Iraq.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful energy production, and denies that it wants the bomb. To date, UN atomic energy agency inspectors say they have found no evidence that Iran, a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has a weapons program.
"It appears that George Bush is hostile against the Islamic Republic, and is ruling out any compromise between Iran and the US," says Sadiq Zibakalam, a political scientist at Tehran University. "It was a bit surprising because after the [ISG] report, one thought that George Bush would be thinking seriously about its findings ... but he simply ignored it altogether."
The tough talk and military steps have led "many people in Iran [to] feel that if George Bush had not been bogged down in Iraq, he would have definitely attacked Iran long ago," says Mr. Zibakalam, adding that the current climate of suspicion resembles the period after Bush declared Iran part of an "axis of evil" three years ago.
"If the increase in [US] force levels in Iraq represents an escalation of the war as some insist," says Gary Sick, an Iran expert at Columbia University, "then the extension of US power, directly or indirectly, against Iran would represent an escalation of a different sort - and no less momentous in terms of its potential long-range implications." Mr. Sick was the principal White House aide for Iran during the 1979 Islamic revolution and hostage crisis.
In December, several Iranians were arrested in Baghdad at the offices of a prominent Shiite leader. US officials are reported also to have found documents about Iran's role in Iraq, working with both anti-US Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents.
The White House has long accused Iran of meddling in Iraq, though analysts in Tehran agree that a stable Iraq - although preferably one of "manageable chaos" that keeps US forces tied down - is in its best interest.
"Raising troop levels shows that the US is not ready to go out of the region," says analyst Mr. Laylaz. "The US can't go out of [Iraq] at the moment. If they go now, there will be a bloodbath in Iraq, and it will be absolutely harmful for the majority Shiites in the country. I don't think Mr. Maliki's regime can stay in power for more than week if the Americans leave."
At a press conference Thursday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice renewed an offer to talk with her Iranian counterpart to discuss "every facet" of mutual grievance, if Iran first suspends uranium-enrichment programs - a step that Tehran has ruled out.
But Secretary Rice also told Fox News: "The president made very clear last night that we know that Iran is engaged in activities that are endangering our troops, activities that are destabilizing the young Iraqi government, and that we're going to pursue those who may be involved in those activities."
"There is a sense in Washington among some [conservative] circles - mistakenly, I would say - that their policy of putting pressure on Iran is working," says Mohammad Hadi Semati, a professor of political science at Tehran University who is finishing a three-year stint at the Woodrow Wilson Center and Carnegie Endowment in Washington.
US conservatives point to the backlash in December elections against candidates loyal to archconservative Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the recent unanimous UN Security Council decision to impose modest sanctions against Iran over the nuclear issue.
"There is a perception in some quarters in [Washington], that 'maybe our policy is working, so let's push further, and further put the screws on Iran,' " says Mr. Semati, noting that the election backlash was largely due to domestic issues in Iran. "The facts of the matter really don't matter."
The effect of Bush's stance may instead be the opposite in Iran. "If anything, this will help consolidate conservative forces, the hard-liners, even more," says Semati. "And the moderate, pragmatic forces, looking for an engagement [with the US and the West] - even a minimal engagement - they are going to lose the case."
A similar reaction may take place in Syria. "I keep hearing from Syrians that President Bush has lost touch with reality," says Andrew Tabler, a Damascus-based fellow with the Institute of Current World Affairs. The continued tough US stance against Syria, he says "is only going to strengthen the hard-liners in Syria, who have already come into the ascendance in the last year-and-a-half or so."
US-Syrian relations have been in a deep freeze since the assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, two years ago. But several US senators have visited Damascus in recent weeks, emboldened by the Democrats' success in the midterm elections, and by the ISG call to reengage.
Even as the US has criticized Syria for allowing militants across its 400-mile border with Iraq, Iraq-Syria ties have improved since a visit by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem to Baghdad in November. Diplomatic ties were restored last month, and a joint security agreement signed.
Still, Syria's vice president, Mr. Sharaa, does not expect the Americans to ease their tough stance, says Ibrahim Hamidi, the Damascus correspondent of the Arabic Al-Hayat daily, who met Sharaa on Wednesday.
"If the Syrians keep on sending positive messages to the Iraqis, and if the relations with the Iraqis improve, then this may have some impact on Syria's relations with the Americans," says Mr. Hamidi. "But nothing will happen soon. It will take time."
Gulf states see trouble ahead; Defense spending spikes
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/07/front2454113.1611111113.html
Gulf states see trouble ahead; Defense spending spikes
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, January 12, 2007
ABU DHABI — The Gulf states, bracing for threats from Iran and Iraq,
have sharply increased defense spending.
The Gulf Research Center asserted that the six Gulf Cooperation
Council states have increased spending on defense and security in 2006
to combat both internal and external threats. The center said 2007 was
likely to be a turbulent year.
"The Gulf region . . . is currently passing through a danger-laden
historical turning-point," GRC chairman Abdulaziz Sager said.
In a conference on Thursday in Dubai, the GRC reported a significant
increase in defense spending and procurement of weapons in 2006. Most
of the major weapons deal were comprised of aircraft and related sales
to Saudi Arabia.
"The GCC countries signed 13 deals worth $35 billion, most of them
with Western countries," Mustafa Alani, director of the center's
Security and Terrorism Program, said.
Alani did not specify the increase in defense spending in 2006 as
compared to the previous year, but other analysts said the rise
exceeded 25 percent. He said Iran's nuclear program could spark a
regional arms race.
"It is certain that 2007 will inherit most of the security problems
that engulfed the Gulf region last year," Alani said.
Alani said Teheran was preparing for a U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear
installations, which he said would probably not take place in 2007. He
said Iran was expected to block the Straits of Hormuz, the route for
40 percent of global oil.
"Iran will not have defense or deterrence capabilities in the event of
an American attack," Alani said. "It only has limited retaliation
capabilities."
Citing the Saudi campaign against Al Qaida, Alani said 2006 saw a
decline in insurgency activities in GCC countries. But he cited the
civil war in Iraq, which neighbors such GCC states as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
For his part, Sager did not rule out a U.S.-led war against Iran. He
said the Iranian nuclear program could lead to escalation and
explosion.
"The worst possible scenario in this crisis is the breakout of an
armed confrontation between Washington and Teheran, or an Israeli
strike on the Iranian nuclear installations in coordination with the
American administration," Sager said. "Concern emanates from the fact
that any military confrontation will have serious security
ramifications for the region, in addition to effects on the
environment and health that might result from the destruction of the
nuclear installations."
Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc.
http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,21050190%255E421,00.html
Informants' files leaked to fugitive drug baron
By Natasha Robinson
13jan07
DRUG kingpin Tony Mokbel held internal police documents identifying informants almost two years before one of them was executed in a double murder linked to corrupt officers.
The son of police informant Terrence Hodson, later murdered along with his wife Christine, confronted his father after being shown a top-secret police document by Mr Mokbel, the drug lord he had known for years, including during a stint in prison together.
"Dad denied (being a police informant)," Andrew Hodson told The Weekend Australian. "Tony Mokbel told me, and he showed me the piece of paper with his police informer number.
"I said 'Get f..ked, Tony. Don't say that about my father'. He goes 'Mate, I'm telling you. I'll produce the paperwork'.
"I come back the next day and he showed me the piece of paper and it had the big police sign up the top and so on."
Mr Hodson believes the document was the front page of his father's police informant file. Mr Mokbel told him the name of the Victorian detective who gave him the file.
Mr Mokbel also showed him six similar documents that revealed informants' identities, according to Mr Hodson's first public comments on what he believes are extensive connections between the underworld and police.
Just days before he disappeared last year, Mr Mokbel was given secret police information suggesting he was to be charged with organising a gangland hit.
The Bracks Government and police command have vehemently denied there is any evidence of endemic corruption in the Victorian force and refuse to conduct a judicial inquiry.
Mr Hodson and his family believe police killed his parents, and want a royal commission.
The case for a broad police corruption inquiry was backed this week by the founding head of the first national crime agency, Don Stewart.
Mr Stewart, one of Australia's most respected judicial figures, said the force was riddled with "deep-seated and continuing corruption".
No one has been charged over the Hodsons' murders on May 16, 2004. They were both shot in the back of the head in their East Kew home.
Mr Hodson had solid links to police. Two drug squad detectives who were his police handlers - David Miechel and Paul Dale - were charged over a $1.3 million foiled drug burglary committed on September 27, 2003.
Mr Miechel has been convicted and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Sacked detective sergeant Dale had charges of conspiracy to traffic a commercial quantity ofecstasy and amphetamines dropped after Mr Hodson's murder.
Following the execution of Mr Hodson - who was feeding information on the detectives to ethical standards investigators - an Office of Police Integrity report fingered Mr Dale as an "obvious suspect" in the disappearance of Mr Hodson's secret police informant file.
Mr Dale denies any involvement in the drug burglary or the theft of the file.
Andrew Hodson's version of events - that police leaks to Mr Mokbel were happening as early as mid-2002 - indicates the possible extent of the fugitive drug baron's links with corrupt officers.
Mr Mokbel skipped bail last year and fled overseas, and was convicted in his absence of trafficking 2kg of pure cocaine.
http://bcpapers.tricubemedia.net/thunderbay/article_story.php?cpid=641506&ctgry=n
Montreal police seize fake Canadian residency cards in two recent raids
By: The Canadian Press
at 17:57 on January 12, 2007, EST.
MONTREAL (CP) - Police have a new counterfeit problem to deal with - fake Canadian resident cards.
But Montreal police said Friday that it's too early to consider there may be a link to any terrorists. Police held a news conference to say they recently dismantled two counterfeit credit card operations in different parts of the city, but they also found fake official documents.
Const. Christian Emond said officers also found parts for making fake passports, and credit-card sized "Government of Canada" permanent resident cards that are part of the immigration process.
"For us, it's a new item. . .we've never seen residency cards before," Emond told the news conference.
Daniel Pierre, 40 and Marco Araujo, 29, were arrested and face a number of charges including, fraud, possession of counterfeit credit cards and conspiracy.
Officers also recently seized equipment used to make phoney credit cards and driver's permits.
Emond said it's too early to say if there's any link to organized crime or terrorist organizations.
"We're still trying to determine exactly what this material was being used for and who is supposed to use it."
Emond added the organization had been operating "at least six months to a year."
Cmdr. Robert Quevillon, the director of the economic crimes division, told reporters that "all avenues will be explored."
"We won't let any hot information like that go, we have to do our homework and check immigration. . .and all levels of government."
Emond said about 10 passports were also seized in Montreal during another police operation in early December.
"We don't know yet whether or not, they're valid or fake or to whom they were destined," Emond added.
Tipped off by a citizen, police also confiscated equipment used to make counterfeit credit cards.
The investigation led to the Jan. 2 arrest of 33-year-old Khaled Bentoutaou, who faces a number of charges, including fraud and possession of counterfeit credit cards.
During the two raids, police also seized the profiles of 113 credit card holders, 1,696 credit and debit cards numbers, computers, 17 high-quality printers as well as a device used to press holograms into credit cards.
"Sometimes, people will think their cards are good because they have that (hologram)," Emond said.
"Well, that's not the case because now we see that fraudsters have the machinery to replicate that."
Police estimate the potential loss to banks from the fake credit cards at $3 million.
Emond also said police were not able to link the two organizations.
Six killed as goods train derails
Press Trust of India
Saturday, January 13, 2007 (Ranchi):
Six people were killed when the break van of a goods train, in which they were traveling unauthorized, derailed between Hehegarha and Kumundih stations.
The train's guard and driver of the pilot engine were also injured.
Five bodies were recovered in the early hours, while one was still trapped under the wagon, which derailed on Friday, Divisional Railway Manager Ajay Shukla said on Saturday.
The railway authorities on Friday said the driver and the guard is missing after the incident.
The goods train was crossing a small bridge in the Central Industrial Coalfields section on the Central India Chord at Dhanbad when the pilot engine, the guard bogie and a wagon, all linked to the rear-side, derailed, he added.
The coal-laden goods train was heading to Panipath from Barwadhi, he said and added the accident has obstructed train movement on the route.
http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&slug=Six+killed+as+goods+train+derails&id=99365#
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1168555812496&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
Cops uncover bomb factory
Teen faces charges after explosives found in farmhouse
By John Burman
The Hamilton Spectator(Jan 12, 2007)
The Ontario Provincial Police have raided a bomb factory in a rural Norfolk farmhouse and seized live bombs and other explosive material.
OPP bomb experts and detectives searched the isolated Middleton farmhouse yesterday and seized explosives, two live bombs they found buried in a field on the property, at least one firearm and bomb-making materials.
The live bombs were destroyed by the OPP's Provincial Emergency Response Team explosive disposal unit.
Why the bombs were being made is unknown at this time. Police refused to describe the explosives or say how significant they are.
A 19-year-old man, who occupied the home, was arrested on several explosives and weapons charges. He is to appear in Simcoe court today.
continued..........
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1168555812431&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112101662670
Children find gun in schoolyard
Richard Lautens, Toronto Star
Click here to find out more!
Toronto Star
TORONTO (Jan 12, 2007)
Police combed the playground of a downtown elementary school for clues yesterday after children found a semi-automatic weapon.
It is about 14 or 15 degrees in my house, so I am not sending pings, posting to all................
Will gladly send snowballs and ice.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1766931/posts
Two more bodies found in manhole near Coveleski Stadium
South Bend Tribune ^ | January 12. 2007 | TOM MOOR & PATRICK M. O’CONNELL
Posted on 01/12/2007 9:26:23 PM PST by csvset
SOUTH BEND — Two bodies were found Friday in a manhole not far from where two other men were discovered dead earlier this week.
Police found the bodies of two men in the hole above a railroad viaduct east of the 600 block of South Scott Street — near Coveleski Stadium — about noon while investigating Tuesday’s homicides.
The most recent deaths also appear to be homicides, South Bend police Capt. Phil Trent said. Autopsies will determine for certain the cause of death and who they are.
The deaths appear to be connected in what could be a quadruple homicide, authorities said. All the men had a similar manner of death. The deaths of the men Tuesday were determined to be from severe head trauma.
continued.
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Friday, January 12, 2007
THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
Death threats made
over pesos for pizza
Chain warned after launching policy:
'Quit catering' to 'illegal Mexicans'
Posted: January 12, 2007
6:14 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Death threats have been leveled at a Dallas-based pizza chain that offered to accept Mexican pesos from its customers.
"This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico," said one e-mail reported by the Associated Press.
As Pizza Patrón, which caters heavily to Mexicans, were trying to reach out to their core customers, according to the company's founder and president, Antonio Swad.
"We know they come back [from Mexico] and have pesos left over," he said. "We want to be a convenient place for them to spend their pesos."
Another threatening e-mail told the company to "quit catering to the ... illegal Mexicans."
The company posted signs this week at its 59 stores across Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California saying, "Aceptamos pesos" – or "We accept pesos."
Payments in pesos have accounted for about 10 percent of business at the five restaurants operated directly by the corporation, the AP reported.
Pizza Patrón spokesman Andy Gamm insisted the chain was not trying to inject itself into the heated political debate over illegal immigration but simply trying to sell more pizzas.
A number of American businesses in towns along the Mexican border accept pesos, but many of Pizza Patrón's outlets are far from the border, in places such as Denver, more than 700 miles away.
Gamm, nevertheless, said people need to understand that about 60 percent of his customers are Hispanic.
"It doesn't make sense in Connecticut. And it doesn't make sense in North Dakota or in Maine," he said, according to the Associated Press. "But it makes perfect sense here in Dallas, in Phoenix, in Denver – areas far from the border that have significant Hispanic populations."
A partner in the nation's largest Hispanic public-relations firm told the AP that while he thinks the peso policy is a good one, a backlash was inevitable.
"Right now there's a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric going around that could make them a lightning rod," said Patricia Perez, a partner at Valencia, Perez & Echeveste in Los Angeles.
Swad told the Dallas Morning News earlier this week he was prepared to take criticism.
"We're not really interested in finding the safest spot on the board," he told the paper. "We know the purity of our intention, and we're willing to take the heat when there is heat."
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53761
Saturday, January 13, 2007
INVASION USA
Rare brain worms
latest border disease
Fatal disease found in developing countries
with poor hygiene habits hits South Texas
Posted: January 13, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Medical professionals in South Texas have identified another disease that has apparently slipped across the border – caused by a rare brain worm that can be fatal and is being spread by unsanitary food-handling practices.
While not yet classified as a "major outbreak," several cases of cysticercosis have been identified in South Texas, a spokesman for San Antonio's Metro Health District told KENS-TV, San Antonio.
Magnetic resonance image showing multiple cysticerci within patient's brain
According to the Center for Disease Control, cysticercosis is an infection caused by the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium. Infection occurs when the tapeworm larvae are ingested, pass through the intestinal wall and enter the body to form cysticerci, or cysts. The cysts migrate throughout the body, resulting in symptoms that vary depending on whether they lodge in the muscles, the eyes, the brain or spinal cord.
Symptoms for Renaldo Ramirez, 50, of Houston, began with mild headaches.
The tile worker, who immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador 20 years ago, told KENS-TV he had been eating most of his meals at mobile kitchens because of the convenience, but after his ordeal with brain worms, he insisted on preparing his own food.
"He's scared now. He's scared of any food from outside," his sister, who onterpreted for him, said.
"It was a mild headache, but it wouldn't go away," Ramirez said. "It was just there and it wouldn't go away with Tylenol."
Clinic doctors gave him blood pressure medicine, but a few days later, he passed out and did not awaken for eight days.
Dr. Aaron Mohanty, an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas Medical School, found and removed a cyst caused by a tapeworm larvae living in Ramirez's brain. Undiagnosed and untreated, he could have died within hours.
(Story continues below)
According to the CDC, infection from the tapeworm, which is found worldwide, occurs most often in rural, developing countries with poor hygiene where pigs are allowed to roam freely and eat human feces. This allows the tapeworm infection to be completed and the cycle to continue.
The risk for U.S. citizens has been considered rare due to strict food processing and handling regulations, especially for pork products, and generally high levels of hygiene.
The condition is very rare in Muslim countries where eating pork is forbidden.
"The cycle starts with a human that's infected with the tapeworm," said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, of the UT Houston Medical Center.
Failure to wash hands after using the restroom can result in contaminating food and infecting further victims.
"These eggs hatch in the intestine and go through the gut-wall and into the circulation where they get stuck somewhere," Ostrosky said.
Cysticercosis joins Morgellons disease, a mysterious infection seemingly similar to one documented 300 years ago, in the list of new illnesses spreading throughout South Texas.
While Morgellons disease has not been known to kill and it doesn't appear to be contagious, WND has reported its horrible symptoms are what worry doctors.
"These people will have like beads of sweat but it's black, black and tarry," Ginger Savely, a nurse practitioner in Austin who has treated a majority of Morgellons patients, told the San Antonio Express-News.
Patients infected with the disease get lesions that never heal.
Fibers removed from facial lesion of 3-year-old boy
"Sometimes little black specks come out of the lesions and sometimes little fibers," said Stephanie Bailey, a Morgellons patient.
It's those different-colored fibers that pop out of the skin that may be the most bizarre symptom of the disease.
More than 100 cases have been reported in South Texas.
"It really has the makings of a horror movie in every way," Savely said.
The South Texas outbreak's proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border comes at a time when the issues of illegal immigration, border security and possible amnesty for over 12 million illegal aliens are being debated in the U.S.
Despite Morgellons disease's distinctive symptoms and patients' tales of suffering, most of the medical community don't see the disease as real, with some doctors telling patients it's all in their head.
Morgellons disease may remain a mystery, but cysticercosis does not.
Doctors say washing hands, cooking meats thoroughly, especially pork, and washing fruits and vegetables are the best ways to avoid the disease.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2149798.ece
Racism fear over hammer attack on boy
By Andrew Johnson
Published: 13 January 2007
Eight men have been arrested after a schoolboy, 15, was repeatedly bludgeoned with a hammer in an attack in his school grounds.
Some parents at Ridgeway School in Wroughton, near Swindon, said the attack, in which four Asian men pinned the boy down at the end of the school day on Thursday, was racially motivated. The headmaster, Steve Colledge, said the attack had left pupils and parents "stunned and shocked". The boy has been described as "comfortable" in hospital.
Mr Colledge said he was on patrol in the grounds when the boy, who is white, was attacked. "After school had ended for the day and pupils were exiting the premises at least four young adults unknown to the school came into the tennis courts and attacked the pupil, we believe with something similar to a hammer." He said he understood the boy had been hit more than once and was "bleeding profusely but conscious at all times".
He added: "Relations seem to be very good and pupils mix, play football and chat together. It's predominantly a white school. Asian pupils probably make up less than five per cent." But Mr Colledge had heard the attackers were relatives of a pupil at the school.
A mother, who did not wish to be named, said she had heard there had been previous racially aggravated incidents at the school. She believes children walking home from school were subject to verbal and physical abuse from relations of Asian pupils at the school.
A spokeswoman for Wiltshire Police said eight arrests on suspicion of grievous bodily harm have been made of men and boys between the ages of 14 and 20.
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/208650%2Cdst_planepart_112.article
Plane part falls through Chicago home’s roof
January 12, 2007
By Tara Burghart The Associated Press
A small piece of metal apparently from an aircraft crashed this morning through the roof of a home near Midway Airport, authorities said.
No injuries were reported, and the part — about 16 inches in diameter — has been taken to Midway to be examined by federal authorities, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the source of the metal and the circumstances of how it may have fallen from an aircraft, Abrams said.
The homeowner, Dorothy Gohn, said she was sleeping when a heavy thud woke her up about 1 a.m. Friday.
continue...
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/208710,dst_planehoax_112.article
Chicago-bound flight grounded by bomb threat
Authorities: Call was a hoax
January 12, 2007
By John Seewer The Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio — A bomb threat that halted a commuter plane shortly before it was to take off with 33 people on board this morning appears to have been a hoax, authorities said.
No explosives were found on the American Eagle plane, authorities said.
Authorities had believed a passenger from the plane reported the threat in a cell phone call to 911 about 10:30 a.m., but FBI spokesman Scott Wilson said officials had determined the call did not come from the plane.
continue......
Secretly filmed: Dr Ijaz Mian calls for the destruction of British institutions
"one worshipper told us: 'Please don't think that Mr Latif is alone in what he says. In many mosques, whether they are in the suburbs or the towns or the cities, there are imams (Islamic clerics) just like him giving powerful speeches which are turning Muslim worshippers against this country.
'The preachers say that Christians, the Jews and other religions will always be the enemy. A whole generation of young Muslims is being brainwashed into believing such inflammatory things,' the middle-aged professional man who is a devout follower of Islam told us."
http://uppompeii.blogspot.com/2007/01/and-still-they-preach-poison.html
Hello "Granny",
Specially for you! (I posted to the wrong Thread first time)
Please visit and bookmark.
Entry link:
http://noiri.blogspot.com/2007/01/latest-news-views.html
Permalink to NEWS VIEWS PAGE:
http://alanpetersnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/
Front page of the Atlanta Sunday newspaper...
A symbol of faith, a chance to teach
By MONI BASU
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/14/07
Sept. 11th's stamp on Islam stared Khalid Siddiq in the face: two little words — "Get out" — spray painted on a wooden board and thrown on the construction site of a mosque rising on 14th Street.
The graffiti landed with a thud, but no one left. The refurbishing efforts continued at al-Farooq Masjid, and a year later glistening copper domes and a towering minaret vie for eye space with Midtown's modern skyscrapers.
The towering al-Farooq Masjid becomes a statement for Islam and a venue for outreach to other faiths.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Saeed Raees (left), a Muslim businessman in Atlanta, says he and his family have avoided drawing attention to their Islamic beliefs. Now they want to tell others about their faith. Next to Raees are daughter Madiha, 19, son Osamah, 14, and wife Afshan.
That the skyline now includes Islam is a milestone in itself; its metaphorical presence even greater in a time when followers want to go from shielding their faith to encouraging their non-Muslim brethren to take notice.
"This is the focal point of our community," said Siddiq, an endocrinologist and director of al-Farooq, the city's oldest and largest mosque.
Siddiq recently stood under the foundation for a ceiling high above an octagonal prayer hall. By year's end, more than 1,500 worshippers will profess their faith in Allah here. They hope the mosque will help bridge the crater of suspicion created after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
A recent USA Today/Gallup Poll found that 34 percent of Americans believe all Muslims are sympathetic to the al-Qaida terrorist group.
Such perceptions prompted Muslim Atlantans to recoil in fear after 9/11, but many said they now feel compelled to speak out, to honor and preserve their traditions. One place they intend to do it is at the 14th Street mosque.
"This is extremely important for coming generations," Siddiq said. "They need symbols of our faith."
A child suffers
Sept. 11, 2001, profoundly altered daily life for Saeed Raees and his family.
It shocked Raees, president of the Atlanta biotech firm AnaGen Technologies, that his youngest son Osamah's friend stopped coming by their house. "What happened to us in New York — you guys did it," Raees recalled the 9-year-old saying to Osamah.
The family discussed changing Osamah's name.
"It's a beautiful name. Unfortunately one stupid guy ruined it for us," Raees said, referring to terrorism mastermind Osama bin Laden.
But Osamah Raees refused to be called anything else. He is proud of his namesake, the son of a slave dearly loved by the prophet Mohammed.
Saeed Raees, who drives to al-Farooq for prayers every Friday, told strangers that he was from India, rather than Pakistan, to avoid suspicion. At work, he knew the biggest government grants were in bio-terrorism, but he shied away after hearing that Muslim-owned firms never receive such money.
Not wanting uninvited trouble, he asked his wife Afshan and daughter Madiha to abandon their hijabs, the head coverings worn by some Muslim women.
"It was uncomfortable," said Afshan, who had worn a hijab all her adult life. To stop, she said, was "a necessary evil."
She is a software programmer who has found she is more successful in job interviews if she appears with her head uncovered.
"I can understand why there is apprehension," she said. "It's about security, isn't it?"
"People are scared of the unknown," interjected her husband. "We have lived here more or less in a cocoon. Our neighbors don't know what Islam is, and that is wrong."
Al-Farooq's $10 million face lift will make it the largest mosque in the Southeast and provide a venue for critical outreach to non-Muslim neighbors.
The mosque will include a place for dawa, an Arabic term that means "invitation," to facilitate interfaith interaction. A mezzanine floor, still under construction, will allow non-Muslims to observe prayers being said below.
Saeed Raees thinks Muslims should engage in dialogue. He spoke recently at an Alpharetta synagogue about his faith and has invited the rabbi to do the same at a nearby mosque.
National polls indicate large numbers of Americans profess never having known a Muslim. Respondents who say they are acquainted with Muslims generally respond more favorably to questions about Islam.
"We needed to have built these bridges a long time ago," Raees said. "We are paying the price for that."
From fear to pride
If 9/11 changed the pulse of America, it also reshaped the perspective of Muslims, particularly younger ones reaching adulthood amid negativity about Islam.
Every time he watches the news about another terrorist incident, Isam Rashied, 18, cringes and prays that the perpetrators are not Muslims.
He says he, more than his parents, recognizes Muslims need to mix in the community.
His father, Khalid Rashied, a textile and sporting goods importer from Duluth, sent his all five of his children to the Islamic school at al-Farooq, which runs to the eighth grade.
Like their father, Isam and his older brother Imaad, 19, pray five times a day. They say that despite peer pressure, they don't drink alcohol in accordance with Islam. But they are glad they attended public school from ninth grade on.
Rashied's sons describe themselves as tea-sipping Southerners who don't care much to visit Pakistan, the country their father left behind 38 years ago. They say that Muslim families, much to their detriment, can be insular. Some even consider the American way of life immoral and shelter themselves from their surroundings, they note.
"I say to the adults, 'Why don't you go out there and mingle?' " said Isam, a junior at Duluth High School. "Does your mayor know there are Muslims in the community?'"
He said productive discussions about Islam would have never taken place in his classes if he had not been at his school.
Imaad, a freshman at the University of Georgia, also challenges Muslims to break down the walls.
"Parents don't realize how important it is for their kids to have non-Muslim friends," he said. "People really closed themselves in after 9/11."
'Time is a great healer'
Siddiq, director of the al-Farooq mosque, believes some laws and regulations adopted since Sept. 11, designed to combat potential acts of terror, have helped institutionalize discrimination against Muslims.
"Time is a great healer," he said. "The intensity of reactions has decreased, but we are seeing the effects of discrimination. In some ways it has become more acceptable and legally correct to suspect Muslims."
Khalid Rashied, the Duluth businessman, was detained twice in no man's land between the United States and Canada. He had a Muslim name, a rental car and no business cards.
He used to think the United States was the best country in the world in which to be Muslim. Now, he feels vulnerable.
"I was treated like a terrorist. For what reason?" he said.
Muslims worry that the ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories further color American perceptions.
In Georgia, opinions were not helped by the arrest last spring of two Muslim men from Atlanta — Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Sadequee — in a federal terrorism case.
The North Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported 18 incidents of discrimination and harassment against Muslims in 2006, one a hate crime.
"It's a difficult environment," said Yusof Burke, director of the local CAIR chapter. "We feel we are under the microscope."
Born in upstate New York, Burke grew up in a white, Irish Catholic household and defies the stereotype of a Muslim. He converted to Islam in 1996 to marry a Muslim and worships at the Gwinnett County branch of the al-Farooq mosque.
50 nations represented
Burke said bias against Muslims in Georgia has taken on a new form since 2001. Immediately after Sept. 11, he heard accusations of racial profiling involving law enforcement officers. Now, Burke said, the complaints have more to do with employment discrimination or disparaging comments.
Worshippers hope the new 14th Street mosque — where on Fridays it's not unusual to see 1,000 faithful from 50 different nations — will help exemplify Islam in the United States.
Raees, the Alpharetta businessman, said the Midtown mosque will at least answer the question his son Osamah posed once as they drove past Perimeter Church, an impressive structure just down the road from their home.
"When will we have a masjid like this?" Osamah asked.
At the time, Raees did not have a good answer.
"I don't want them to be lost," he said of his children. "I don't want them to not know what Islam is."
Staff writer Saeed Ahmed contributed to this article.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/01/14/0114metmuslim.html
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