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

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.

North Korea insists on nuclear status

North Korea insists on nuclear status

Associated Press

Monday, December 18, 2006

By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer

North Korea insisted Monday it be treated as a full-fledged nuclear
power as six-nation arms talks convened for the first time since its
atomic test, but the United States said time was running out for Pyongyang
to dismantle its nuclear arsenal and threatened more sanctions.

U.S. officials dismissed the communist regime's opening comments as
unsurprising rhetoric, while the chief American delegate said it was time
to move forward on disarmament.

"The supply of our patience may have exceeded the international demand
for that patience, and we should be a little less patient and pick up
the pace and work faster," envoy Christopher Hill told reporters.

The resumption of the talks - consisting of the United States, China,
Japan, Russia and the two Koreas - came after a more than 13-month break
during which the communist North tested fired a new long-range missile
in July and then set off an underground atomic blast Oct. 9.

North Korea had refused to return to the multinational talks in anger
over the U.S. blacklisting of a Macau bank where Pyongyang deposited
some $24 million, alleging the bank was complicit in the North's
counterfeiting of $100 bills and money laundering to sell weapons of mass
destruction.

On Monday, the North again called for Washington to lift those
restrictions and demanded U.N. sanctions imposed for its nuclear test explosion
be lifted, according to a summary of its opening statement released by
one of the delegations.

Washington previously agreed to discuss the financial issue at separate
talks alongside the nuclear meeting. The North's experts were expected
to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday, although Treasury officials in
Washington said a time and a place for the talks had not been set.

The North demanded again Monday that it be given a nuclear reactor for
electricity generation and also that its struggling economy get other
help in meeting its energy needs until the reactor is built.

Pyongyang repeated its assertion that it be considered a nuclear
weapons power and that the talks be transformed into negotiations over mutual
arms reductions in which it would be accorded equal footing with the
United States. If its demands aren't met, the North said, it would
increase its nuclear arsenal, according to the summary.

But the United States and other countries stressed the main focus would
be on getting the North Korean regime to give up atomic arms.

"We would like denuclearization via a diplomatic negotiation. If they
don't want that, we're quite prepared to go the other road ... which is
a pretty tough road," Hill said, implying North Korea could face
further international sanctions.

In Washington, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns brushed off
the North's opening salvo as no surprise.

"If past is prologue, I mean that's the way the North Koreans operate,"
he said. "Let's see where we are by the end of the week."

Burns said the talks were expected to last three or four days, with
Hill expected back in Washington before Christmas.

Hill said he expected to have talks with the North's delegation, but
added that the U.S. would not give up the multi-nation negotiations to
engage in one-to-one talks with Pyongyang.

"The reason," he said, "is that we want other countries to take
responsibility for their security in the region, namely China," one of the
North's closest allies.

Japanese negotiator Kenichiro Sasae told reporters that North Korea
would have to give ground. "The position of the North Korean delegation is
wide apart from the rest of us and we cannot accept it," he said.

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his government
expected North Korea to be more flexible. "North Korea should take a step
forward toward the dismantlement of its nuclear weapons," he said.

The North pledged in September 2005 to abandon its nuclear arms program
in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees, and Hill said the
other countries at the talks hoped to lay out a plan to form working
groups to discuss its implementation.

"What I want to see from the North Koreans is a willingness to get on
with implementing their elements of the September agreement," Hill said.
"Our expectation is to get this done this week.

China, the North's key benefactor, noted the sides had some "very
pronounced differences" but pushed for results.

"We have finished the stage of commitment for commitment and now should
follow the principle of action for action," Foreign Ministry spokesman
Jiang Yu told reporters, echoing phrasing from the earlier agreement.

South Korean nuclear negotiator Chun Yung-woo proposed that the parties
push for implementing the 2005 agreement within a few months.

"We urged North Korea to take bold and substantial initial steps to
dismantle its nuclear program and stressed that the other five countries'
corresponding measures should also be bold and substantial," he told
reporters.

The latest North Korean nuclear crisis erupted in 2002 after U.S.
officials said the North had admitted to a secret nuclear program in
violation of a 1994 disarmament deal, leading to the communist nation's
withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

North Korea is believed to have enough radioactive material to make
about a half-dozen atomic bombs, and its main nuclear reactor remains in
operation to create more weapons-grade plutonium.

___

AP writers Audra Ang, Bo-mi Lim, Alexa Olesen and Mari Yamaguchi
contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[unknown url]

http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=%22Iran%22&ei=utf-8

1. Annan: Iran intervention would be unwise Open this result in new window
AP via Yahoo! News - 49 minutes ago
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Tuesday for key parties to seek a negotiated settlement with Iran over its nuclear program and warned that military intervention would be "unwise and disastrous."
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2. Iran demands UN action to force Israel to forego nuclear weapons, sign NPT Open this result in new window
AFP via Yahoo! News - Dec 19 6:24 PM
Iran has urged the UN Security Council to condemn Israel's "clandestine development and possession of nuclear weapons" and to consider slapping sanctions if the Jewish state refuses to scrap its arsenal.
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3. Iran seeks condemnation of Israeli nukes Open this result in new window
AP via Yahoo! News - Dec 19 5:50 PM
Iran demanded Tuesday that the U.N. Security Council condemn what it said was Israel's clandestine development of nuclear weapons and "compel" it to place all its nuclear facilities under U.N. inspection.
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4. Moving On Iran Open this result in new window
Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo! News - Dec 19 4:00 PM
Nuclear Proliferation: After Kim Jong Il got nukes, he immediately issued a list of demands for the U.S. to meet. Our fruitless talks with North Korea should be a lesson to us in dealing with the same threat from Iran.
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5. Russia still resisting some Iran sanctions Open this result in new window
AFP via Yahoo! News - Dec 19 5:01 PM
Major powers again failed to agree a European package of targeted UN sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work amid strong US pressure for a vote before the weekend.
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6. Blair to urge Middle East states to rein in Iran Open this result in new window
Reuters via Yahoo! News - Dec 19 5:26 PM
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will call on Wednesday for Middle East states to rein in what he calls the threat from Iran and to help advance peacemaking between Israelis and Palestinians.
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7. Annan calls for negotiation with Iran over nuclear work Open this result in new window
USA Today - Dec 19 1:27 PM
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday a negotiated settlement with Iran over its nuclear program should be sought, and he warned that military intervention would be "unwise and disastrous."
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8. U.N. Iran nuclear talks stall; Russia has objections Open this result in new window
Reuters via Yahoo! News - Dec 19 12:01 PM
Despite optimism of a U.N. Security Council vote this week on Iran's nuclear program, Russia still voiced objections on Tuesday to a draft European resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran.
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9. Pentagon mulling show of force to Iran Open this result in new window
AP via Yahoo! News - Dec 19 11:57 AM
The Pentagon is considering a buildup of Navy forces in the Persian Gulf as a show of force against Iran, a senior defense official said Tuesday.
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10. Pentagon weighing buildup of Navy forces in Gulf as show against Iran Open this result in new window
USA Today - Dec 19 12:16 PM
The Pentagon is considering a buildup of Navy forces in the Persian Gulf as a show of force against Iran, a senior defense official said Tuesday. The official said one proposal is to send a second aircraft carrier to the region amid increasing tensions.
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[unknown url]

Special Forces stop Afghan suicide cell

Associated Press

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer

While the southern city of Kandahar reels from a series of suicide
attacks, Kabul is enjoying a respite because of a little-publicized
operation that officials say disrupted Taliban suicide training cells and
scattered hundreds of fighters.

After 115 suicide attacks this year nationwide, including a rash of
bombings this fall that killed almost 40 people in Kabul, the Afghan
capital hasn't suffered a suicide attack in two months.

Military officials had feared a bloody winter campaign in Kabul, saying
300 to 500 Taliban fighters had massed 60 miles north of the city in
this isolated valley from which the earlier wave of attacks was launched.

But the operation in the Tagab Valley early last month wiped out three
training compounds and drove out the Taliban fighters, U.S. Army
Special Forces Lt. Col. Lynn Ashley told The Associated Press this week.

U.S. and NATO commanders are portraying the joint U.S.-Afghan operation
as a model for taming the Taliban as it rebounds from its ouster by the
U.S.-led invasion five years ago.

The militants had been able to gather so close to the capital partly
because of the region's rough terrain, Ashley said. Minor operations had
been conducted against them, but never a full-scale push.

Abdul Satar Murad, governor of Kapisa province, said about 20 fighters
- some of whom had come from Pakistan - were killed in the weeklong
operation and the rest left the region.

After five suicide attacks in Kabul during the first eight months of
the year, fighters had stepped up their offensive, with eight suicide
bombings in September and October, said Maj. Dominic Whyte, a spokesman
for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

Two bombings in particular raised the specter of Baghdad-type violence:
one on Sept. 8 near the U.S. Embassy that killed 16 people, including
two U.S. soldiers, and another near the Interior Ministry on Sept. 30
that killed 12 Afghans.

The Taliban has launched seven suicide attacks within 11 days this
month in the Kandahar region, its former power base, and Ashley said the
assumption had been that Kabul was its next target.

But denying them Tagab Valley as a safe haven "will definitely lessen
their ability to mass when they come out in the spring like they
normally do," he said in an interview at the U.S. base at Bagram.

About 250 U.S. special and conventional forces along with more than 800
Afghan troops and police launched the offensive. Murad, the governor,
was closely involved in its planning and execution, heightening its
success and cutting down on civilian casualties, Ashley said. The operation
came with a hearts-and-minds effort in which medics treated hundreds of
Afghans and passed out food supplies.

The U.S. has since built a small military base on a high plateau and is
spending $3 million to improve its winding dirt access road. Work,
previously delayed by security concerns, is moving fast, while Ashley says
other projects such as a new cell phone tower have also moved ahead.

Murad said no police posts in his province have been attacked since the
operation.

"Tagab was a key base for the Taliban," Murad said, "but now NATO and
coalition forces patrol regularly "and I'm sure the Taliban will not
come back."

The Afghan-U.S. cooperation in Tagab was held up as an example by Gen.
David Richards, the top NATO general in Afghanistan, and by U.S. Lt.
Gen. Karl Eikenberry.

Afghan officials "needed to take ownership and they needed to do most
of the (work) to liberate the valley," Ashley said. "Our Special Forces
teams enabled that to happen through their expertise and through close
air support."

Kabul, meanwhile, has calmed somewhat, but jitters remain.

"The situation has improved, but still we are afraid because the enemy,
whenever it finds an opportunity, will do something," said Faruz Ahmad,
a 44-year-old moneychanger.

Ashley hopes not.

"As the people realize the government of Afghanistan is there to stay,"
he said, "they won't accept the Taliban back."

___

AP reporter Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[from one of my news groups, no url for it, most of these, I have heard about on the radio, a little shocking to see a list of them]

STRANGE TIME: DE-CHRISTIANIZATION STARTS WITH
CHRISTMAS AND HINTS AT PERSECUTION

There is an aspect moving with the attack on Christmas
this year that defies conventional explanation and
begins to hint at something that Catholics and many
Christians have long-feared.

That something is persecution, and an early sign is
when a majority of people are in favor of one thing
but a minority, a small one, is able to usurp control
and herd the rest into following their liking.

In just the last few weeks, extraordinary signs of
de-Christianization (which may certainly be the herald
of persecution) have exceeded even outrages of last
year.

In England, laments the Vatican newspaper, there has
been "the disappearance of all religious reference on
stamps specially printed for Christmas, which now
feature snowmen and deer and no longer the three wise
men" or the Star of Bethlehem.

In Pennsylvania, a statue of the Blessed Mother had to
be declared a "lawn ornament" for a development to
allow it.

In Hollywood, actor Charlie Sheen sang "Joy to the
World" with obscene lyrics for a network special.

And from California came the announcement of a horror
movie about Christmas to be released on December 25 --
a cynical blackening of the brightest day.

In Seattle, workers took down Christmas trees on the
demands of a rabbi (before putting decorations back up
after public pressure).

In Riverside, California, a high-school choir was
muzzled by a cop after it started singing "God Rest Ye
Merry Gentleman" at a public skating rink!

In Delray Beach, Florida, meanwhile, no Christmas
tree, Nativity scene, or menorah is allowed in a
principal's office, and only "winter parties" and
"winter celebrations" (which start to sound pagan) are
tolerated. In a Detroit suburban school district, a
quota system of thirty percent has been instituted on
religious songs that can be sung.

While in many quarters Christians seemed to take back
some territory lost in recent times -- with certain
cities reversing themselves on displays of the
Nativity -- in general the opposition has continued
and government leaders have forcefully followed the
whims of secularists, atheists, and non-Christians
despite a poll that has found more than 95 percent of
Americans are not offended by the greeting "Merry
Christmas" (and even Muslims defending the holiday).

When so few can predominate over a huge majority, and
when they have the tools of government, prosecution
can turn into persecution. In some cases, there is a
link to Muslim opposition, as when, outrageously, a
school head in the United Kingdom removed the word
"Virgin" from Mary's name for Christmas celebrations
-- so as not to upset pupils whose religion is Islam.
("We cut the name to just Mary because Muslims believe
Jesus was a prophet, not Son of God," she explained to
those few who were outraged.)

Before our eyes, Jesus is being purge from His own
holiday -- a signal of what could expand into wider
methods of de-Christianization.

Few thought of it as starting with Santa Claus, but
the devil is tricky and has succeeded too well in many
quarters at turning anything Christian into a slur or
insult.

If Christmas can be de-Christianized, so can anything.
Intense opposition to this secularization, thus far
lacking (including among Church leaders), is needed
urgently.

"The traditional Christian values once cherished at
Christmas have evaporated, with some countries,
especially England, waging a veritable 'war against
Christmas,' the Vatican paper Osservatore Romano,"
noted a secular report on Monday.

Is this how the stage will be set? Is it not worrisome
that the trend has persisted now over a period of
years -- in many ways, intensifying?

Sometimes, it is subtle: such as the United States
Postal Service delivering mail (at least certain
types) on Christmas Day, which once was sacrosanct.

But many cases are blatant. In England -- yet again --
"a soundtrack to a BBC trail for Christmas dramas has
been slammed by the Church -- because it has lyrics
about Satan," reports the London Daily Mirror. "The
30-second promo, featuring TV baddies such as Dracula
and Keith Allen as the Sheriff of Nottingham, uses the
spoof song Christmas with the Devil by Spinal Tap.

"Its lyrics include the lines 'There's someone up the
chimney hole and Satan is his name' and 'No bells in
hell, no snow below, silent night, violent night.'"

[resources: Sent To Earth and Prayer of the Warrior]

DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter

Today's Programme Preview

MONEY TALKS

Turkey's Business Community Snubs EU Membership

Last week saw the European Union deal another blow to Turkey's much
troubled membership bid. Eight negotiation areas out of 35 have been
suspended because of Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to EU
member Cyprus. The decision has put further doubt over Turkey's
membership bid. But where as in the past, any hinderance to the country's EU
bid has caused concern or even down right panic among the country's
business community, this is no longer the case. Because, as Dorian Jones
reports, business leaders are starting to question whether membership to
the EU is even in Turkey's best interests.

The Millionare's Factory

It was when Macquarie Bank tried to take over the London Stock
Exchange, that Australia's largest investment bank really made a name for
itself around the world. Even though the gutzy Australian take-over bid
failed in London, most of the bank's other attempts in Europe have been a
success. In Germany, for example, it made a billion Euro offer for the
technical services provider Techem. And back home in Australia,
Macquarie has embarked on its most daring pursuit yet - leading a group of
private investors, its offer for Australia's flagship carrier Qantas has
just been accepted, making it the world's biggest airline takeover. Andi
Stummer reports about the financial institution from Down Under, that's
on a mission to conquer the world.

The Dresdener Stollen: A Global Favourite

The tradition of baking ?Christ-stollen' in Dresden dates back to 1450.
The shape of the Christmas cake symbolised the Christ-child, wrapped in
swaddling clothes. But the popularity of the Stollen cake has now
spread worldwide, and is now a traditional part of Christmas for families in
many different countries. Steffen Marquardt visited the Dresdner
Backhaus company in Dresden - a family-run affair with a colourful history -
and found out that exporting a taste of German Christmas isn't always
as simple as it sounds.

NOT Made in China!...How One German Village is Standing up to Chinese
Fakes

Globalisation usually brings international trade and money markets to
mind, rather than Christmas angels or wooden carvings of the baby Jesus.
Yet even the traditional woodcrafted Christmas decorations that have
been produced in Germany's Erzgebirge, a mountainous region near the
Czech border, for generations, are now also being ?Made in China'. A West
German businessman employs 300 people in China, who produce perfect
copies of the German Christmas woodcarvings. And now, he's even opened up a
shop in the Erzgebirge, which sells his ?Made in China' fakes. For the
locals, this is taking things a step too far. Sabine Kinkartz and Laura
Stephens report.

LIVING IN GERMANY

Beautifully decorated, wooden huts, the smell of roasted chestnuts and
mulled wine lingering in the air and the hustle and bustle of thousands
of people well and truly in the festive spirit: Germany's Christmas
Markets are an essential part of the Yuletide season. The first market
opened way back in 1434 in Dresden and today, there are more than
two-and-a-half thousand Christmas markets in Germany, which open across the
country during Advent every year. Tradespeople sell crafts and culinary
specialties to locals and an ever increasing number of visiting tourists.
Laura Stevens visited the Christmas markets in Erfurt and Eisenach, for
a traditional German Christmas experience.

For more information please turn to our internet website at
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hmgotIfwf2zzI0

Terrorist sentenced for role in 2004 Australian Embassy Bombing

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.368490544&par=0

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.368490544&par=0

TERRORISM: INDONESIAN MILITANT SENTENCED IN EMBASSY BOMBING

Surabaya, East Java, 13 Dec. (AKI/Jakarta Post) - A court in East Java
has
sentenced an Islamic militant to three years in prison for hiding 20
kilogrammes of explosives that were later used in the September 2004
bombing
of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, which killed 9 and Jakarta killed
9
and injured 140. The Surabaya District Court found Ahmad Arif
Hermansyah
guilty of aiding one of Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorists, the
fugitive Malaysian bombmaker Noordin M. Top, as well as involvement in
the
Australian Embassy bombing.

Prosecutor Effendi had been seeking a five-year sentence for the
27-year-old
website designer state electricity company PT PLN.

Ahmad Arif, who studied electronics at Indonesia's Surabaya Institute
of
Technology, was arrested in March 2006 by anti-terror police in East
Java on
charges of possessing two boxes containing 20 kilogrammes of TNT that
were
later used in the Australian embassy bombing.

Presiding judge M. Yunus Wahab said that witness testimony proved Ahmad
was
given the explosives by a man identified as Untung, who is still at
large.
He then stored the TNT at his home in Surabaya for two weeks.

"Ahmad Arif is considered to have participated in terrorism by
intentionally
assisting terrorist suspects. He also failed to notify the authorities
of
the contents of the boxes, which contained 20 kilograms of TNT," Judge
Yunus
said.

Upon hearing the verdict, Ahmad's mother, Aisyah Ahmad Basilim, 54, who
was
in the courtroom, began crying uncontrollably. His brother, Arif, 26,
shouted out that the verdict was "cruel."

"My brother is innocent. He didn't know what was in the boxes. We're
Muslims
who would not open up a box entrusted to us by a friend. Our family is
ready
to defend my brother to the death," Arif said.

Hermansyah's lawyer, Fachmi Bachmit, said he would appeal the decision.
He
said the verdict should be thrown out because there was no material
evidence
provided linking his client to the crime.

He said the court could not prove that Ahmad was aware the boxes
contained
explosives destined to be used in a terrorist attack.

Ahmad is one of more than 200 terror suspects rounded up in Indonesia
since
al-Qaeda's attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The country
has
been hit by a series of deadly terrorist attacks against Western
interests
since 2002, with more than 240 people killed.

Two weeks ago, the Semarang District Court in Central Java found two
men
guilty of assisting Noordin.

Subur Sugiarto, alias Abu Mujahid, was sentenced to life in prison and
Ardi
Wibowo to six years for aiding the Malaysian bombmaker while he was on
the
run in the province in 2005.

Top, along with fellow Malaysian Azahari Husin, who was killed in a
police
raid in November last year, is believed by authorities to be a key
member of
the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah extremist network, blamed for a
series
of terrorist attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202
people.

Arabs must practice dynamic engagement, not traditional docility

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&article_id=77750&categ_id=17

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Editorial

Moments like this do not come along very often in history, when a
global power
embarks on a broad reassessment of some of its key policies and their
underlying doctrines. When they do, however, it should be a time for
action by
both the superpower and the smaller countries around the world that are
likely
to feel the full brunt of any change in direction. Once again in modern
history - like 1920, like 1948, like 2001, and other moments - this is
a time
when the Arab world must recognize that change may be in the air, and
that
Arab views and interests must impact on how that change occurs. The
United States is going through a moment of substantial rethinking of several
of its
policies in the Middle East and environs, including issues related to
Iraq,
Iran, Syria, Arab-Israeli peacemaking, Lebanon, Sudan, fighting terror,
countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, promoting
democracy, and a few other lesser issues. Some of this rethinking will
lead to
revised policies; other instances will only affirm existing directions.

Historically, the Arab world has been the absent player in
deliberations on
the Middle East. On the few occasions when some leaders tried to engage
Western powers, the results usually depended more on the strategic
interests
of London, Paris and Washington than on the rights or concerns of the
people
of the Arab world. It would be tragic for our societies and our
political
leaderships to replay this political horror film once again. Docility,
dependence and detachment have been poor policy guidelines for Arabs
who gaze
at Western countries - if not now also at closer places like Israel,
Turkey
and Iran - and wonder what our fate will be when the policy decisions
are
made.

The United States, for better or for worse, is the dominant foreign
power in
this region. Its army and diplomats abroad, alongside its politicians
and
lobbies at home, will have a huge say in our region's fate for perhaps
generations to come. Arab parties, from governments and political
groups to
civil society institutions and powerful individuals, must recognize
this
reality. They must find ways to have inputs into the debates in
Washington and
other Western capitals - and not just self-serving ideas from isolated
regimes
that seek only to protect themselves and their cousins, as has often
been the
case in the past when Arab leaders reached out to Western counterparts.

Mechanisms abound for impacting on the US policy debate, in the mass
media,
churches, mosques and synagogues, think tanks, educational
institutions, and
by lobbying officials. Governments, corporate leaders and civil society
working together throughout the Arab world could effectively contribute
to the
debate now going on in Washington, and individuals on their own could
do so as
well, if they put their mind to it. This is the time to make the
decision to
do so, because leaving the future of our region to the whims of worried
politicians in Western capitals is a recipe for another century of
strife.

Righteous Muslims

A briefing by Robert Satloff
December 11, 2006
http://www.meforum.org/article/1073

Robert Satloff is the executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the author of Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Reach into Arab Lands. Mr. Satloff, a specialist in Middle Eastern politics and U.S. Middle East policy, is the author or editor of nine books and monographs. His views on Middle East issues have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. As creator and host of Dakhil Washington ("Inside Washington"), a weekly program on al-Hurra, the Arabic satellite television channel, he is the only non-Arab to host a program on an Arab satellite channel. Mr. Satloff addressed the Middle East Forum on December 11, 2006. The following is an account of his briefing, as reported in the Jewish Exponent.

Scholar Delves Into Arab Heroes of the Holocaust

by Rachel Silverman
Jewish Exponent
December 14, 2006

Just this week, about 60 "scholars" from around the world gathered for a conference on Arab soil to debate the veracity of the Holocaust, and to call for more "proof" on the subject.

Had Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, been invited, he might have told them to simply look outside.

According to Satloff's new book, Among the Righteous, not only did the Holocaust play out in Arab countries like Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, but Arabs themselves were involved -- both as rescuers and perpetrators.

Speaking Monday night at the Jewish Community Services Building in Philadelphia, Satloff framed his 11-country, four-year search into this story as a potential antidote to the trend of Holocaust denial and trivialization in the Arab world.

What's more, Satloff's lecture -- jointly sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia's Center for Israel and Overseas, the Middle East Forum, the Gershman Y and the National Museum of American Jewish History -- even attempted to put a positive spin on Arab involvement in the Holocaust.

As the scholar writes: "If I could tell the story of a single Arab who saved a single Jew during the Holocaust, then perhaps I could make Arabs see the Holocaust as a source of pride, worthy of remembering, not just something to avoid or deny."

To begin this undertaking, Satloff said that he had to dispel the notion that the Holocaust was strictly a European phenomenon.

Seeking firsthand evidence to support his thesis, Satloff -- who lived in Rabat, Morocco, with his wife and children for 21/2 years during the research process -- interviewed Jewish and Arab witnesses, combed through archives and drove along the route of the Trans-Sahara railway.

During that time, Satloff determined that the 500,000 Jews in French North Africa during World War II experienced "all the precursors of the final solution" that Jews on the European continent did -- anti-Jewish laws, deportations, forced labor camps -- except that they were spared the gas chambers.

He also found that the relationship between Arabs and Nazis ranged from Arabs "in complete cahoots with the Nazis and with Vichy France" to "breathtaking stories of Arabs who, in some cases, risked everything to save Jews."

In fact, his search for an Arab Oskar Schindler yielded Si Ali Sakkat, a former mayor of Tunis, Tunisia, who sheltered 60 Jewish workers when they showed up at his farm, and Si Kaddour Benghabrit, rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, who gave 100 Jews counterfeit Muslim identity papers.

Finding the Stories

Satloff's book also asks a significant question: Why haven't these stories been told?

He offered two answers: "Jews didn't look too hard," and "Arabs didn't want to be found."

Satloff blamed Jews for overemphasizing the Holocaust as an Ashkenazi narrative. But Arabs, too, should be faulted for this omission, he said.

Because many Arabs remain wary of any narrative that paints Jews as victims -- and that could potentially legitimize the founding of Israel -- Satloff said the Arab world has generally regarded Arab Holocaust stories as downright "toxic." But according to the scholar, relaying such information is potentially beneficial for both parties.

Though Satloff admitted that he's "not a romantic on the possibility of making peace between Arabs and Jews anytime soon," he's "encouraged" by e-mail from Arabs assuming responsibility for their actions during the Nazi period.

"Given what is going on in the Middle East today, I'll take whatever progress we can get."

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China tightens rules on foreign adoption

Associated Press

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer

China is imposing new restrictions on foreign adoptions, barring
applicants who are unmarried, obese, over 50 or who take antidepressants,
according to U.S. adoption agencies.

The restrictions are meant to limit adoptions to "only the most
qualified families," said the Web site of one agency, Harrah's Adoption
International Mission in Spring, Texas. The agency said China has pledged to
try to make more children available to those who qualify.

The move comes amid a surge in foreign applications to adopt Chinese
children. The United States is the No. 1 destination for children adopted
abroad, but the number going to Europe and elsewhere is rising.

An employee of the government-run China Center of Adoption Affairs, the
agency that oversees foreign adoptions, said it has issued new
guidelines but refused to confirm the details released by the American
agencies. He wouldn't give his name.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Beijing said it was looking into reports of
the new regulations. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with
embassy rules.

Americans adopted 7,906 children from China in 2005, raising the total
since 1989 to 48,504, according to the Joint Council on International
Children's Services in Alexandria, Va., an association of adoption
agencies and parents' groups. The group's Web site lists 110 U.S. groups
that arrange adoptions from China.

Under the new rules, only people who have been married for at least two
years will be eligible to adopt, according to Harrah's, the New
Beginnings Family and Children's Services Inc. of Mineola, N.Y., and Families
Thru International Adoption Inc. of Evansville, Ind.

Beijing previously allowed adoptions by unmarried foreigners.

The agencies said Chinese officials disclosed the rules at a Dec. 8
meeting in Beijing. They take effect May 1.

Among other restrictions, couples must have a Body Mass Index - a
measure of obesity - of no more than 40 and be aged 30-50, with people up to
age 55 considered for children with special needs, according to the
agencies.

The rules bar parents who take medication for psychiatric conditions
including depression and anxiety or have a "severe facial deformity."

The China Center for Adoption Affairs has said it is trying to increase
the number of children available by creating a new charity to improve
conditions in orphanages and "keep infants and young children alive and
well enough to be adopted," Harrah's said.

Many Chinese children adopted abroad are girls who are given up by
couples who, bound by rules that limit most urban families to one child,
want to try for a son. Others are left at orphanages or by the roadside
by unmarried mothers or poor families.

A sharp increase in foreign applications for adoption has led to a
backlog in approvals, with waiting times rising from six months in early
2005 to as much as 15 months now, according to adoption agencies.

Keith Wallace, head of Families Thru International Adoption Inc., said
he is advising families that the rules go into affect for all
applications submitted after May 1 and that those already in the adoption
process should be exempt from the new restrictions.

"They still have time" to get their applications in before the May 1
deadline, he said.

Wallace said he has received some questions about the new rules, mainly
from those who have already started the process.

"We explain that it's China's right to set restrictions," he said. "You
and I might not agree with a particular one, but we will respect it."

___

Associated Press writer Deanna Martin contributed to this report from
Indianapolis.

___

On the Net:

Harrah's Adoption International Mission: http://www.hfsadopt.org/china/

China Center of Adoption Affairs (English):
http://www.china-ccaa.org/frames/index_unlogin_en.jsp

Joint Center for International Children's Services:
http://www.jcics.org/index.htm

New Beginnings: http://www.new-beginnings.org/

Families Thru International Adoption: http://www.ftia.org/

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

UK Bojinka-II: Suspect set to be extradited to UK after Pakistani court drops charges

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2502085,00.html

Heathrow terror suspect set to be extradited
Zahid Hussain of The Times in Islamabad and Daniel McGrory
Times Online December 13, 2006

Pakistan today cleared the way for the handover of Rashid Rauf, the
Briton
alleged to have masterminded the plot to blow up trans-Atlantic
passenger
planes, after a surprise move by a judge to drop terror charges against
him.

British officials have been trying to extradite the 25-year-old from
Birmingham for five months.

The dramatic ruling by a court in Rawalpindi is being seen as part of
an
agreement to speed up his return to the UK where Scotland Yard
detectives
want to question Mr Rauf about the Heathrow plot and his possible links
to
the 7/7 suicide bombers in London.

British police have not been allowed to talk to him since he was seized
by
Pakistani agents in August.

His detention triggered a series of arrests across the UK and forced
ministers to go public on claims that British-born terrorists were
about to
detonate liquid explosives on planes flying from Heathrow to the US.

Thousands of passengers were left stranded at British airports and
flights
grounded. Pakistan officials named Mr Rauf as the ring leader and
claimed
his arrest led to them uncovering the Heathrow plot.

Eleven men, most of Pakistani origin, have been charged in the UK with
conspiracy to murder and preparing an act of terrorism.

Mr Rauf has always denied any links with terrorism but the judge ruled
that
he must still face trial next week on charges of carrying fake identity
documents.

Pakistani officials told The Times that while there is no extradition
treaty
with the UK they are prepared to return Mr Rauf if the British
authorities
want to question him.

The official also said they have been asked by Britain to reveal no
more
details about their investigations into Mr Rauf.

British police have already said they want to interview him about the
murder
of his uncle, Mohammad Saeed, 54, who was stabbed close to his home in
Alum Rock, Birmingham in 2002.

Mr Rauf, who has dual nationality, is reported to have fled to Pakistan
shortly afterwards.

Police are keen to know whether he met two of the 7/7 bombers, Mohammed
Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, who are known to have visited
Pakistan
shortly before they and two other British Muslims blew up three
underground
trains and a London double decker bus killing 52 people in July 2005.

Counter terror detectives want to discover if Mr Rauf has any
information
about what the two bombers did during their visit to Pakistan.

Senior intelligence officials in Islamabad say Mr Rauf married a
relative of
Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder and leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, an
Islamist militant group in Pakistan.

On August 26 Aftab Khan Sherpao, Pakistan's Interior minister, alleged
Mr
Rauf had "wider international links" with Islamic terror groups but
offered
no evidence to back up his claim.

Yesterday his lawyer, Hashmat Habib, said the court's decision to drop
the
terror charges clears his name of any involvement in any bomb plots.

He said of the fraud charges still facing Mr Rauf, "These are minor
charges
and we hope to see him free after his trial on December 20."

Prosecutors in Pakistan claimed Mr Rauf was in possession of 29 bottles
of
the chemical hydrogen peroxide which was meant to be used to blow up
the
passenger jets.

His lawyer said: "They failed to produce any evidence to support the
allegations."

"This chemical is also used to heal wounds."

Mr Rauf, whose whereabouts have been kept secret until he appeared in
court
today, was allowed to speak to his grandmother and told her he was in
good
health.

Rawalpindi's police chief Saud Aziz said he will contest the court's
decision and insisted Mr Rauf had been involved in planning terrorist
activities.

"We did recover hydrogen peroxide from his possession and concentrated
hydrogen peroxide mixed with gas can cause explosions," Mr Aziz said.

A senior official told The Times the absence of an extradition treaty
between the two nations should not prevent Mr Rauf's deportation, as
Pakistan is a signatory to various international protocols and
conventions
related to exchange of fugitives.

In the past Pakistan has returned several British nationals wanted on
criminal charges.

Can Lebanese Christians survive Islamic divisions?
Many fear sunni-shiite problems are being transferred

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=77758

By Maria Abi-Habib
Special to The Daily Star
Tuesday, December 19, 2006

BEIRUT: Lebanon is the latest Arab country to be engulfed in a
Shiite-Sunni
squabble and some Christians worry that their community is
factionalizing
along these lines as their leaders pick sides between the Muslim sects.
"The
way [Christians] see it we are facing a Sunni-Shiite confrontation in
the
region. In Iraq it's a military conflict but in Lebanon it's
political," said
Jean-Paul Katrid, a self-described social and political activist. "In
Lebanon,
as Christians we are split. Instead of the Christians acting as a
buffer or
safety valve by keeping a distance from these two blocs, we're dividing
between the Lebanese Forces [LF] and the Free Patriotic Movement [FPM],
the
two biggest Christian blocs. What we fear is that the Shiite-Sunni
split is
being mirrored in this divide."

The FPM is allied with Hizbullah, while the LF and the Phalange are
allied
with the largest Sunni party, the Future Movement, in the March 14
Forces
coalition, which holds the majority in the current government.

But Tourism Minister and LF member Joe Sarkis isn't worried about
Muslim
divisions impacting the Christian community.

"It looks as though the problem is a Sunni-Shiite one," Sarkis told The
Daily
Star. "Sunnis are united ... and Shiites are [butting heads] with them.
The
Christians and Druze are not on the front lines of this conflict. The
[Christian] community is not united on the stance they should take"
with the
internal Muslim divide.

But Reform and Change bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan sees the Shiite-Sunni
crevice as
having transferred to the Christians. Kanaan says the FPM is attempting
to
transfer the Shiite-Sunni fracture from a sectarian level to a national
level
through a fair electoral law.

"We need to [transfer] the Shiite-Sunni conflict to a national level
rather
than leave it in its current sectarian form," where it has the most
potential
to do damage, he said.

Kanaan believes the ability of Christians to mediate between the two
Muslim
branches was weakened by the 2000 electoral law used in 2005.

Many Christians feel that the law marginalized their power through
gerrymandering.

When the Syrian occupation ended, Hizbullah, Amal, the Future Movement
and the
Progressive Socialist Party began discussing new elections, excluding
most
Christian parties from their meetings, Kanaan said.

"The political system and government that was formed [resulted from] a
Shiite-Sunni power struggle and the Christians were marginalized,"
Kanaan
said. "The path to [national reconciliation] is for Christians to come
into
the government and bridge the gap between [Shiites and Sunnis]. Also,
we need
to create a constitutional formula allowing everyone to participate in
shaping
the future of this country and to [heal] sectarian rifts."

Attorney Dory Sakr, a Maronite, agrees.

"The problem is that not only are they killing our Christian
politicians but
they're dividing the ones that are left," he says, in reference to a
string of
assassinations of Christian politicians in the past two years. "They
want to
involve the Christians in this cold war. The Christians on the streets
are
divided 50-50 ... In the future the Christians will be only 25 percent
of the
population. We can't go into more wars and be divided into two."

Some Christians fear the rifts will weaken the community at a time when
they
need to unite to protect their minority status in a stumbling
democracy.

"I think the best option is that it's quite democratic to be divided
politically and socially. However, it's unacceptable for Christians not
to
agree on important existential issues that touch on their existence as
a
minority," Katrid said. "It's important for Christians to unite and
keep an
area free for democratic differences and to establish common ground for
their
relations with Muslims."

Kanaan laments the Christian role as a mediator between Lebanon's
sects.

"In the past, Christians were allied with Sunnis and Shiites, but now
the
split between Sunnis and Shiites is more intense," he said. "The
difference is
that, before, the Christians were able to play a role in bridging the
gap
between Sunnis and Shiites and other sects."

Abbas determined to go ahead with vote

Associated Press

Monday, December 18, 2006

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he will push ahead with
new elections despite a wave of factional fighting between his Fatah
party and the rival Islamic group Hamas.

With British Prime Minister Tony Blair by his side, Abbas also reached
out to Israel in hopes momentum toward peacemaking would provide an
electoral edge over Hamas. The United States tentatively endorsed Abbas'
call for early elections.

Tensions threatened to explode into more violence in the Gaza Strip
late Monday after a Fatah supporter was killed in a gunfight and a senior
Fatah official was briefly seized by Hamas militants. The unrest
followed a relative lull after the sides declared a truce Sunday.

Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a power struggle since the Islamic
group defeated Fatah in legislative elections in January. Abbas' Fatah
party controls the presidency, while Hamas controls parliament and the
Palestinian Cabinet, putting it in charge of most government functions.

The latest fighting erupted after the three young sons of a Fatah
security officer were gunned down last week, and worsened following Abbas'
announcement Saturday that he would call new elections to end the
impasse.

At a joint news conference with Blair in Ramallah, Abbas said the
violence would not deter him from going ahead with presidential and
legislative elections, perhaps this summer - several years ahead of schedule.

"We want to examine the will of the people. Do they still trust those
they have chosen?" he asked. Abbas was elected president in 2005 and
Hamas won a separate parliamentary vote a year later.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was unclear whether
Abbas acted constitutionally in calling for new election.

"My understanding of this is that - within the basic law - that this is
not prohibited," McCormack said. "It's not specifically accounted for,
but it's not prohibited."

An opinion poll published Sunday indicated Abbas was in a tie with the
most popular Hamas politician, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Abbas'
aides said he hopes his new decisiveness, coupled with progress in
negotiations with Israel, will boost his popularity.

Abbas also said he is ready to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert.

"We have to meet. We need each other, and we have to deal with our
problems," Abbas said, adopting a much warmer tone than in the past.

Blair was effusive in his praise of Abbas and urged the world to rally
behind him.

"It is important for us, but I think for the whole of the international
community, to work with people who want a genuine two-state solution"
between Israel and the Palestinians, Blair said. "We want to work with
people of moderation and tolerance who understand that in today's world
people of different faiths want to live together."

After Blair's meeting with Olmert, the Israeli leader said he hoped to
have a summit with Abbas "very soon" and said officials from both sides
are working on the preparations.

Olmert said a joint committee would be set up "in the coming days" to
hammer out the details of a prisoner swap - a key issue that has
prevented the men from meeting. The Palestinians want Israel to release
hundreds of Palestinian prisoners; Olmert says there can be no progress until
Palestinian militants free an Israeli soldier who was captured last
June.

Abbas favors a peace agreement with Israel. Hamas is committed to
Israel's destruction and refuses to moderate, despite an international
economic boycott that has caused widespread hardship in the West Bank and
Gaza.

The Palestinian president had hoped to end the standoff with Hamas by
forming a more moderate coalition government. But months of negotiations
broke down in November, setting the stage for his plan to hold early
elections. Hamas has condemned the election plan as a coup and threatened
to boycott the vote.

"We stand against any step that is against the law and against the
constitution," Khaled Mashaal, Hamas' exiled leader, told the British
Broadcasting Corp.

Mashaal issued a statement from Syria saying he had been in touch with
key mediators - including Qatar and Egypt - to discuss "how to contain
the current tension in the Palestinian area." The statement stressed
Hamas' commitment to "dialogue as the only way to solve differences and
problems with Fatah."

McCormack said the Bush administration was trying to sell a plan to
Congress to shore up security forces loyal to Abbas with money for
salaries, training and logistical support.

Haniyeh's office announced the prime minister would deliver a major
speech on Tuesday to discuss the situation.

Mohammad Nazzal, a member of the Hamas politburo in Syria, told The
Associated Press, "Hamas is against the elections and opposes it."
However, he said it was premature to say what the group's response would be
until "the picture becomes clear as to whether elections will really be
held."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Abbas' push for
early elections "very negative." Erdogan criticized many in the
international community for refusing to respect "the will of the Palestinian
people" following Hamas' victory in January.

In Gaza, the wave of violence appeared to be cooling after Sunday
night's truce announcement. But one Fatah supporter was killed and five
people wounded in fighting in the northern town of Jebaliya, and a
16-year-old bystander was shot in the neck during a gunbattle in Gaza City. The
two sides also carried out a series of kidnappings. But late Monday,
mediators arranged the safe release of all hostages.

In the most brazen abduction, Sufian Abu Zaydeh, a former Cabinet
minister and top Fatah official, was seized by Hamas militants as he was
driving home late Monday in northern Gaza. He was released unharmed less
than an hour later.

___

AP reporters Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, Ibrahim Barzak and Diaa
Hadid in Gaza City and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this
report.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[unknown url]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/army-link-to-stolen-weaponry/2006/12/14/
1165685828177.html

Army link to stolen weaponry

Les Kennedy
December 15, 2006

ROGUE elements in the Australian military are feared to be behind the
blackmarket sale of a cache of rocket launchers and guns to terrorist
and
criminal groups.

NSW counter-terrorism police are overseeing an investigation by the
Middle
Eastern Crime Squad, which is trying to locate eight of nine
anti-tankweapons it suspects may have been stolen from the army for use
within Australia.

The Herald can reveal that the police measures have extended to cutting
a
controversial deal with one of Sydney's main underworld figures, who is
in a
high security prison.

The $50,000 paid to a member of the family of the Lakemba murderer
Adnan
''Eddie'' Darwiche, who acted as a go-between, has so far yielded only
one
of the Light Anti-Tank Weapons and about 20 kilograms of explosives.

While police suspect the launcher is from the army, the serial numbers
on
the weapon have been filed off, complicating their investigation.

Variations of the rocket launchers - essentially light fibreglass tubes
capable of firing one armour-piercing explosive - are widely used by
terrorism groups overseas.

It is the suspected army link that has unnerved NSW police and federal
intelligence agencies, suggesting that the underworld has found a way
of
bypassing elaborate border checks aimed at preventing terrorist weapons
making their way into the country.

Senior police have dismissed earlier media reports about the existence
of
smuggled launchers of Chinese or Russian origin as being ''wide of the
mark''.

Suspicion of a blackmarket military ring comes amid concern that police
and
security forces are ill prepared for a terrorist attack at next year's
Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Sydney.

This week, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence
Organisation, Paul O'Sullivan, warned there was ''an over-arching and
persistent threat of terrorism'' surrounding events like the September
APEC
meeting, which will involve 20 of the world's most powerful
politicians.

NSW police staged a counterterrorism exercise on Sydney Harbour on
Wednesday, stressing they would use unprecedented measures, including
locking down parts of the city and deploying helicopters, bomb and dog
squad
units, to prevent trouble.

The $50,000 was paid to a relative of Darwiche, who was sentenced to
life
imprisonment last month for a double murder committed with three others
during a bloody inter-family drug feud in Sydney's south-west.

It is believed police explored a possible indemnity certificate for the
go-between that would prevent him or Darwiche being prosecuted over
possession of the rocket launcher and explosives.

The indemnity proposal, which foundered, would also have protected the
two
men from prosecution over Darwiche's alleged knowledge of the
whereabouts of
another four launchers.

It was through Taskforce Gain, set up three years ago to end a bloody
series
of drive-by shootings involving two families, the Darwiches and
Razzaks,
that police first heard talk that one of the weapons had fallen into
criminal hands.

It was dismissed as an urban myth until a suspect ''rolled over'',
informing
them of a plot by Darwiche to fire two rockets into a Razzak family
gathering.

The launcher was recovered in negotiations between police and Darwiche
- the
latter hoping for a reduction in his double life sentence for the
murders of
Ziad Razzak and Mervat Nemra at a Greenacre home in 2003.

Ms Nemra was an innocent bystander. Ziad Razzak was using her home as a
safe
house while on the run from Darwiche and three cohorts who were also
found
guilty of roles in the killings.

More than 100 bullets were fired into the house where the two were
sleeping
- two from Russian military AK-47 assault rifles and the other matched
to a
M-1 machine-gun, capable of firing 30 rounds a second.

Police have not been able to find the source of the M-1, but suspect it
too
may have been stolen from the military. Darwiche got his relative to
also
give police between 18 and 20 kilograms of Power-Gel explosive that he
had
stockpiled for use in his war against the Razzak family.

He has never revealed how he came by it, but Power-Gel can be
commercially
obtained with a licence and is used in mining and by farmers to remove
tree
stumps when clearing paddocks.

It is also believed that before the police deal with the Darwiches was
aborted, authorities at one stage offered to allow him the
unprecedented use
of a mobile phone while in prison. The use of such devices by inmates
is
banned in all jails.

The Supreme Court trial this year was told that that the dispute
between
Eddie Darwiche and Bilal Razzak erupted in 2001 over drug-dealing
boundaries
and a broken marriage between Darwiche's sister, Khadige, and Ali
Abdul-Razzak.

In August, 2003 Ali Abdul-Razzak was shot dead by three gunmen as he
walked
from prayers at the Lakemba mosque. His killers have not been found.

Eddie Darwiche has also been found guilty of the attempted murder of
Farouk
''Frank'' Razzak and the shooting of Bilal Razzak. He is now in the
Super-Max high-security prison at Goulburn and is believed to be
refusing to
co-operate further.

Although authorities have not been able to say which armoury the rocket
came
from, they have not discounted the possibility that it and the M-1
machine-gun were smuggled into Australia.

Police had hoped the $50,000 payment would lead them to the arms
dealer,
and, in turn, to the outstanding rockets and possible terrorist cells
in
possession of them.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/18/africa/ME_GEN_Iraq_Al_Qaida.php

International Herald Tribune
Al-Qaida-linked insurgents call on Iraqi Sunni tribes to fight Shiites

The Associated Press
Monday, December 18, 2006
CAIRO, Egypt

An al-Qaida-linked coalition of insurgents urged Sunni Arab and Kurdish tribes in Iraq and around the region Monday to fight the country's Shiite Muslims, denouncing Sunnis who cooperate with the government.

The statement, posted on a militant Web site, appeared to be an intensified attempt to rally Sunni Iraqis against its Shiites amid the country's worsening sectarian violence — and to paint Iraq's conflict as a fight to defend Sunni Islam.

The statement listed more than a dozen Iraqi Sunni Arab and Kurdish tribes by name, appealing to their "pride, honor and manhood" to "rise up and rescue" Baghdad.

"Baghdad is imprisoned ... and it is calling for your help. It is shouting to you, 'Do you hear my call in my trauma and tragedy?'" the statement said.

"Chop off their heads, spill their blood, set fire to the ground under their feet and let the sky rain bombs on their heads. God is victorious, but the crusaders, Shiites and renegades are unaware of that," the statement said, using terms for U.S. troops and Sunnis who cooperate with the government.

The statement was aigned by the spokesman of the "Islamic state in Iraq," the so-called Islamic government that al-Qaida in Iraq and several other Iraqi Sunni Arab insurgent groups declared earlier this year. The statement's authenticity could not be independently confirmed. It was posted on a Web forum where Sunni insurgents often release messages.

The mainly Sunni Arab insurgents have included Kurds in their appeals in the past, though Iraq's Kurdish minority — which is mainly Sunni Muslim — have largely allied with the Shiite-led government.

The statement called on Sunni Muslims around the region to join the fight against Shiites, saying, "The battle for Iraq is a battle for the Islamic nation."

It said the Shiites have harmed the Sunnis more than U.S. forces in Iraq, saying "it is time for the Islamic nation to wake up and form a single front of faith against the front of infidels."

"The battle started against the crusaders and then it was extended to include the hateful Shiites, then it was extended more to include the Sunni renegades who betrayed God and his prophet," the statement said.

The statement sharply criticized Iraqi Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi's visit to the United States last week and his meeting with President George W. Bush "to prove that he is a loyal servant."

Al-Qaida in Iraq, particularly under its previous leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had focused attacks on Shiites in an attempt to push the country into sectarian war. Soon before his death in a U.S. airstrike in June, al-Zarqawi formed an alliance with other insurgents in a bid to increase its appeal among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/19/opinion/edbowring.php

Behind Thai currency crisis, China's heavy hand
Philip Bowring
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
HONG KONG

Thailand has another currency crisis, which will spread unless addressed internationally. It is a mirror, albeit in miniature, of that of 1997. As in 1997, the attitude of the big countries in Asia is pressuring the smaller ones. Indeed, the Thais and others have as least as much reason to complain about China's foreign-exchange policy as does the U.S. Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson. Smaller countries like Thailand, which want to have open markets, are being forced to reconsider.

This time Thailand has instituted controls to prevent a flood of money into rather than out of its currency, the baht. The mix of an open foreign-exchange market, attractive interest rates and sound economic fundamentals had caused the baht to rise by 20 percent against the dollar over the past three years, and 7 percent in the past three months alone.

After anguished cries from exporters, it has imposed a severe penalty — a 30 percent tax — on foreign flows into baht accounts held for less than one year. It may be an overreaction by a military-installed government feeling its way. It has pushed down the baht but put stock markets across the region into a nose-dive. But given that Finance Minister Pridyathorn Devakul had a reformist, market-oriented reputation when governor of Thailand's central bank, the move should be seen as more than just a knee-jerk response.

Meanwhile, pressure is building for South Korea to impose restrictions to stem the rise in its currency, the won, which has gained 5 percent in three months and 30 percent in three years against the dollar. But the issue is not really the dollar. After all, the euro has appreciated as rapidly as the South Korean won without more than minor grumbles from European companies. The problem for Thailand and South Korea lies in the appreciation of their currencies against those of Asian neighbors, principally the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan but also the Taiwan dollar and, to a lesser extent, the Malaysian ringgit.

The world is awash with dollars, with few places to go other than the euro and, hitherto, the minor currencies of Europe and Asia. China continues to permit only a snail's pace appreciation, totaling just 5 percent over 16 months, and Japan's reluctance to increase its almost zero interest rates merely encourages the so-called "carry trade," whereby yen can be borrowed cheaply for investment in higher- yielding currencies. The yen has been fluctuating in a narrow range and has gained less than 2 percent against the dollar in three years, while the euro and the won have been zooming ahead.

Taiwan, another economy with a massive current account surplus, is also guilty of currency manipulation to keep its currency roughly in line with the yuan and yen through a mix of ultra-low interest rates, reserve accumulation and administrative measures.

In practice, the smaller economies may be overreacting to the dangers of currency volatility. After all, New Zealand has long lived with huge swings in its currency, as has Australia to a lesser degree. Nonetheless, the Thai actions are symptomatic of the lack of currency coordination in the Asia-Pacific region, despite numerous public-relations statements following regional meetings of central bank governors and finance ministers.

Even the Asian Development Bank, not known for criticizing its members in public, has noted the gap between rhetoric and reality on currency issues. A senior bank official, Masahiro Kawai, whose brief until recently was regional economic cooperation, was exasperated enough this month to call publicly for Asian economies to allow their currencies to appreciate in unison against a falling dollar.

Kawai warned against allowing sharp swings within the region. But that is just what has happened. The baht and won in particular, and Singapore, Indonesian and Philippines currencies to some extent, have risen steeply against the Japanese, Chinese and Taiwanese units, all of which have accumulated vastly excessive amounts of foreign exchange reserves.

South Korea competes with Japan and Taiwan. The Southeast Asian economies must compete with China for long-term investment capital. Instead, short-term financial flows are making them less attractive for manufacturing than China, which keeps its currency depressed to attract capital and bolster exports. Unfortunately these countries are all too much in thrall to China to say so publicly. They need to condemn China and Japan for their complete failure to show regional leadership on an issue that matters deeply to all their neighbors.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/19/opinion/edferg.php

The bad guys know what they're doing
Charles D. Ferguson
Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The glaring but largely overlooked message in the radiation poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko is that the underworld has become expert in effectively using radioactive materials for malicious purposes.

This is the first example of real or attempted radiological crime or terrorism where the perpetrators were true experts. This case should alter government's perception of radiological terrorism in the same way that 9/11 affected their overall perception of terrorism.

The plan to kill Litvinenko quietly by internal radiation poisoning required substantial expertise, especially in choosing the right radioactive material to implement the plan. Hundreds of radioactive substances exist; many are more easily attainable than polonium-210 and are more widely known.

It is not too hard to narrow the list of hundreds of radioactive substances down to a couple of dozen, but from there, the analysis becomes complex. One needs, for example, to analyze the ability of a radioactive material to deliver a harmful dose to a person once it is ingested. Different radioactive substances follow different paths inside the body. Some are expelled quite quickly; others are retained and damage critical organs. Some have half-lives that are too short; others have half-lives that are too long.

If their purpose was to kill with an internal radiation dose using a very small amount of radioactive material and leaving few traces that could point back to the source, the criminals knew exactly the right substance. The deadly effects of polonium are widely known, but before this event, even radiation experts would have been slow to select polonium.

Previously, anyone who expressed interest in using radioactive materials for terror appeared amateurish. For example, in May 2002, José Padilla was charged by the U.S. government with planning to build a radioactive dirty bomb made of uranium, which is very weakly radioactive and cannot fuel a potent dirty bomb.

And in 2004, Dhiren Barot, who recently pleaded guilty to plotting attacks in London and New York, allegedly proposed making a dirty bomb from about 100 smoke detectors. He would have needed more than a million detectors for an effective bomb.

More recently, however, last September the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir — also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri — called on nuclear scientists and explosives experts to apply their expertise in biological and dirty radioactive weapons to "the field of jihad" against American bases.

Although all the motives of the Litvinenko murder remain unclear, the perpetrators were apparently not attempting to instill terror in the public. Had the perpetrators been terrorists, they could have engineered a far more disruptive radiological attack.

As terrorists and criminals climb the learning curve involving radioactive materials, security professionals urgently need to adjust their threat assessments. Although governments have improved the security of radioactive materials after 9/11, in our view, the Litvinenko case and Masri's message should spur even greater and more rapid safety and security efforts.

http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2370234

Hizb-ut-Tahrir's Growing Appeal in the Arab World

By James Brandon

Hizb-ut-Tahrir (or Hizb al-Tahrir) is an ostensibly non-violent Islamic
political movement dedicated to the recreation of a global caliphate.
Although founded in Jordanian-ruled Jerusalem in 1953, it has
traditionally
been strongest in Europe and Central Asia. Today, however, it is
becoming
increasingly popular in the Arab world [1]. Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HT) works
covertly to convince Muslims to overthrow their present governments
peacefully and establish a worldwide caliphate, which will then impose
conservative Islam over all Muslim majority countries. Once this is
accomplished, HT hopes that the caliphate will make the whole world
Islamic
through conversion in the first instance and, as a last resort,
offensive
jihads against all non-Muslim states. HT is highly organized and has
national leaderships as well as an overall leader, Abu Rashta, who
lives in
secret in Lebanon. The group says that it will take power peacefully by
persuading influential members of the elite to overthrow the
government. The
organization is illegal in all Arab countries except for Lebanon, Yemen
and
the UAE where it is tolerated. The group does not believe in using
either
elections or violence to take power and there is no evidence that HT
members
have carried out any attacks in the Arab world. There is mounting
evidence,
however, that HT is growing in popularity in the Arab world.

Evidence of Growing Popularity

Throughout the fall of 2006, an apparently unprecedented spate of HT
campaigns and related arrests took place throughout the Arab world,
suggesting that the group could become an increasingly important factor
in
Islamic politics in the region. In the last two years, HT has slowly
become
more visible in Palestine. In August, several thousand members of HT
marched
through central Hebron on the anniversary of the dissolution of the
caliphate [2]. On October 27, several hundred members demonstrated on
the
Temple Mount to call for the recreation of the caliphate (Arutz Sheva,
November 14). In Morocco, the largest-ever arrests and trials of HT
members
occurred on October 3. In September, 14 members of HT were jailed after
being arrested in Meknes, Casablanca and Tetouan [3]. The convicted men
were
mostly well-educated, engineering graduates who had studied in Europe.
They
were given short sentences for forming unauthorized associations and
receiving money from abroad (Maroc Hebdo International, October 6).

In Zanzibar, HT members launched a massive new publicity campaign.
Overnight, the group's estimated 3,000 members on the predominately
Muslim
archipelago plastered the region's towns with posters arguing that a
caliphate would stop the islands' Islamic culture from being corrupted
by
Western tourists (al-Jazeera, October 31). No arrests were reported. In
Jordan, HT appears to have found its greatest opportunities. Senior
Jordanian members of the party claim to have gained numerous recruits
in
senior positions in the army and government, while they also enjoy
growing
support among the Amman intelligentsia. Numerous arrests have taken
place
and around 40 HT members are believed to be in prison [4].

In Lebanon, there is increasing evidence that HT stepped up its
activities
after the government legalized the group in May. Anecdotal evidence
suggests
that HT is becoming especially popular among Palestinian refugees (for
example, in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp), in Sidon and in Sunni
areas
around Tripoli. Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat, however,
warned
that he would take action against any HT members who were planning
violent
actions or threatening the state's security (al-Balad, October 17). In
Syria, HT's popularity is harder to measure. Since the late 1990s,
however,
there has been a steady stream of arrests of HT members [5]. The Syrian
government treats HT members as it does members of the Muslim
Brotherhood,
trying them in State Security Courts and sentencing them to long prison
terms. In other repressive Arab countries, HT's underground following
is
harder to estimate; members have been arrested in 2006 in Egypt, Sudan
and
Tunisia.

Trends Collide

HT's growing popularity is partly due to its increasingly organized and
media-savvy leadership, and partly because in many Arab countries a
series
of local and global factors have combined to increase HT's appeal. In
Palestine, the movement's growth reflects dissatisfaction with the
policies
of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. While Hamas has thwarted certain
Israeli policies, it has publicly failed to rejuvenate Palestinian
society,
repair the economy or reverse the constant deterioration of education,
infrastructure and healthcare. In Jordan, dissatisfaction with the
country's
Westernizing monarchy is increasing. However, the main Islamist
opposition
group, the Muslim Brotherhood Islamic Action Party, is dominated by
Palestinian refugees and has been linked to alleged attempts by Hamas
to
carry out attacks in the kingdom. HT allows Palestinians and native
Jordanians to work together to address their common problems, while its
non-violent approach has obvious appeal following several al-Qaeda
attacks
that killed mainly Muslims.

In other countries like Syria, Lebanon, Libya and Tunisia, HT presents
itself as a religious alternative to existing regimes as well as a way
to
overcome ethnic and sectarian tensions. In addition, HT offers an
attractive
alternative to the many Arabs who, although increasingly observant, are
also
uneasy with the willingness of Salafi or Muslim Brotherhood-influenced
jihadis to kill innocent Muslims during anti-Western operations.

The idea of reviving the caliphate has also been given a boost by Osama
bin
Laden, who has publicized neo-caliphate concepts. Al-Qaeda's actions
have
demonstrated how Muslims can unite to defend the ummah. Caliphatist
dreams
have also been lent new credibility by the expanding and increasingly
interlinked Islamist insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and
elsewhere that might, if successful, someday unite to form a
caliphate-like
alliance-just as elements in Algeria's GSPC have recognized Mullah Omar
as
caliph. While al-Qaeda at present offers little beyond the nihilistic
policies of perpetual opposition, HT presents the caliphate as a viable
solution to the Muslim world's problems. Al-Qaeda focuses almost
entirely on
its military struggle to defeat the enemies of Islam. In contrast, HT
has
published detailed plans for the organization of the economy, society
and
structure of the caliphate that they aim to establish [6]. In addition,
HT
plays down Sunni-Shiite divisions, claiming to accept Shiites as party
members without reservation. This stance is likely to become more
attractive
if sectarian conflict in Iraq continues to worsen, giving new credence
to
HT's argument that Western powers deliberately exploit Sunni-Shiite
rivalry
to divide the Muslim world.

The internet has allowed HT's ideas to spread faster than ever, while
also
proving that recreating the caliphate in the modern, ever-shrinking
global
community is no mere fantasy. HT members in Jordan point to the
internet and
the success of the European Union as evidence that a global caliphate
can
realistically overcome historical differences and national rivalries.
HT has
deftly played a lead role in many recent pan-Islamic issues. For
instance,
it rapidly deployed its members to organize global boycotts and
protests
against Denmark following the publication of the Prophet Muhammad
cartoons
by the Jyllands-Posten.

Nevertheless, the group does have limitations. Its gradualist approach
has a
limited appeal for the Arab world's increasingly numerous, unemployed
and
ill-educated youths who generally demand immediate action against their
rulers and against Israel. HT's calm, non-violent methodology-largely
developed by well-educated South Asian immigrants in Western
Europe-also
falls slightly flat among Arab cultures that appreciate bold,
confrontational rhetoric. The movement has apparently failed to gain
significant traction in countries like Egypt or Oman whose people are
reluctant to see their distinctive historical, ethnic and cultural
identities submerged within a caliphate. HT has also floundered in
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states where political discourse is often
simplistic and
clan-based. Gulf citizens recognize that a caliphate would force them
to
share their oil wealth with the rest of the Muslim world.

HT may have been set back by the recent Lebanon war in which Hezbollah
won a
strategic military victory over Israel. The conflict reignited belief
that
Israel can be defeated militarily. The fallacy of this position,
however, is
likely to be exposed (at least in the short-term) as Israel adapts to
its
defeat and the region's true military balance reasserts itself. Once
this
happens, HT may receive a further boost if its non-violent position is
vindicated.

Increased Significance

HT is regarded with some confusion by Western analysts because while
its
goals of recreating a caliphate and then converting the world to Islam
by
force if necessary are almost indistinguishable from bin Laden's, its
methods are entirely different. Although HT members sincerely believe
that
the caliphate will be recreated soon, HT's real significance is likely
to be
its increasingly important role in radicalizing and Islamizing the
Middle East. For example, HT's ideologies also fuel the increasingly common
view
that the present conflict between Western democracies and Islamists is
not a
resolvable dispute over land, territory and temporal politics, but is
rather
an inevitable clash of civilizations, cultures and religions.

HT, by saying that non-Muslim attempts to prevent the creation of a
global
Islamic empire amount to the deliberate persecution of Muslims, feed
the
victim culture that fuels Islamic radicalism today, as well as provide
the
necessary theological justification for individual acts of defensive or
pre-emptive jihad. HT argues that the Quran says that all non-Muslim
countries, cultures and individuals must submit to Islam. HT members
who
accept this theory naturally begin to see the world exclusively in
terms of
Muslims and non-Muslims, and inevitably begin to see all non-Islamic
entities as worthy of destruction. In addition, HT's absolute rejection
of
democracy as un-Islamic is considerably more hard line than that of the
Muslim Brotherhood and other groups, while the group also takes highly
conservative positions regarding women, alcohol and freedom of speech.

HT's long-term strategy is to take over countries by progressively
winning
over the elite. More pressing, however, is the threat posed by the
"conveyor
belt" effect of HT [7]. The conveyor belt theory says that HT members
often
leave the group much more radicalized than when they joined and that
they
might then consequently commit terrorist acts [8]. In Europe and
Central
Asia, this theory is supported by growing evidence that a larger flow
of
people through HT leads to an increased number of attacks against
Western
targets and non-Islamic governments by former HT members. Although it
is
presently impossible to fully document this trend in the Arab world, it
seems logical that the conveyor belt theory would apply there just as
it
does elsewhere.

In addition, HT splinter groups tend to be Salafi-Jihadi movements led
by
people dissatisfied with HT's gradualist approach and its refusal to
alter
its opposition to political violence. For example, in the UK, a senior
leader, the Syrian-born Omar Bakri Muhammad, quit HT to establish
al-Muhajiroun, which advocated violent attacks against British, U.S.
and
Israeli targets around the world. Several peripheral members of
al-Muhajiroun later carried out jihadi attacks, while Bakri now lives
in
Lebanon where he is believed to be involved in radical Islamic politics
among Palestinian refugees (particularly in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee
camp)
and among Lebanese Sunnis in the Tripoli region [9].

In conclusion, despite HT's increasing popularity in the Middle East
and its
stated aims of overthrowing existing Arab regimes, the group is not in
itself a threat to regional stability. Instead, for the moment at
least, the
group's growing importance is in the effect that its rhetoric has on
its
members, former members and those who hear its message.

Notes

1. Most of the background information on HT in the Arab world came from
interviews conducted with senior members of HT's Jordanian branch in
Amman
in April 2006. The three members interviewed were Abdullah Shakr, the
group's Jordanian spokesman, and Abu Abdullah and Abu Muhammad, who
were
described as being senior leaders of the Jordanian branch. All three
have
been members of HT for more than 20 years and each has spent several
years
in prison for their membership in the group.
2. See Hizb-ut-Tahrir Britain, http://www.hizb.org.uk.
3. See http://www.khilafah.com.
4. Interview with Jordanian HT members.
5. Syrian Human Rights Committee, http://www.shrc.org.uk.
6. See http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.info/english/constitution.htm.
7. The "conveyor belt" theory has been most notably put forward by Dr.
Zeyno
Baran of the Nixon Center.
8. For example, Omar Sharif, the British Muslim who carried out a
suicide
attack in Tel Aviv on April 30, 2003, was a member of al-Muhajiroun.
British
police recovered a substantial amount of HT literature from his house
(although Sharif never formally joined HT).
9. For example, Richard Reid, the British "shoe-bomber," was closely
associated with al-Muhajiroun.

Germany: Parliamentary Controller Says Secret Service Is "Out of Control"
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2275564,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
Security | 18.12.2006
Parliamentary Controller Says Secret Service Is "Out of Control"
Germany's parliament
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Parliament should be able to oversee the intelligence apparatus

A member of Germany's Parliamentary Control Committee (PKG), the government body charged with monitoring the secret services, claims that the PKG has no idea how the intelligence apparatus works and has little control.

The year 2006 could rightly be called the German secret service's annus horribilis. In the last 12 months, Germany's Federal Intelligence Agency (BND) has been investigated for its alleged roles in the Iraq war, extraordinary rendition and torture of terrorist suspects, and the spying on and employment of German journalists at home and abroad.

Now, one of the secret services overseers, Wolfgang Neskovic, has issued a warning that the German intelligence apparatus is out of control and that the Parliamentary Control Committee (PKG), the government body which supervises the BND, has no idea what is going on.

Neskovic said in an interview published by Der Spiegel magazine on Monday that the PKG, in its present form, should be abolished and that the nine members of the Bundestag committee do not have the faintest idea what 6,000 secret service employees actually do.

Inadequate training for PKG members

The former high court judge -- and himself one of the nine members of the committee -- told Der Spiegel that the fact that the German parliament had put the PKG in charge of controlling the intelligence services was "a joke" and "absurd." The training the committee members had in terms of learning about the secret services before taking up their posts amounted to a week-long visit to the BND headquarters in Pullach.

BND headquarters in Pullach, near MunichBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: A week of training in Pullach is not enough

Neskovic was among the committee members who visited Pullach. "Since taking part in the training period, I am even more sure that we should immediately abolish the controlling committee in its current form," he said.

He also called the promotion of the PKG as a body set up to manage and moderate the secret services a "public deception…a placebo."

Neskovic demanded that specialist analysts and experienced secret service experts be assigned to assist the committee members and that the committee be given special powers to adapt into an investigating body should a scandal arise. At the moment, the committee has limited investigative authority and needs permission to publicly announce any findings.

Inquiries into Iraq, rendition involvement

The PKG has been investigating the BND as well as members of the former Social Democratic-Green party coalition government after it was revealed that German agents were involved in the early stages of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Khaled El-Masri prior to the session of the parliamentary investigation committteeBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: El-Masri's case is just one the committee has heard

It has since been involved in an inquiry into the abduction of Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese origin, who claims to have been arrested as a suspected terrorist while in Macedonia in December 2003, handed over to the CIA and flown to Afghanistan where he was imprisoned, interrogated and tortured.

A similar case involving German-resident Murat Kurnaz, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, is also being investigated after Kurnaz claimed that he was tortured by German special forces in Afghanistan before being flown to Cuba.

The BND has also been linked to a media scandal since last year. It admitted recruiting journalists in high-profile news magazines, such as Focus and Der Spiegel, to spy on their colleagues so it could identify the sources of leaks, and then was accused of paying 20 overseas journalists to spy on its behalf.

DW staff (nda)

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