Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.
From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.
One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.
MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.
Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.
Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.
Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.
He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
I think it's al Qaeda threat.
Testing to see who was able to get onto the flights.
Scary stuff.
Police: Beach Burglar Sent Stolen Items To West Bank
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- A man accused of breaking into at least nine Miami Beach homes and stealing jewelry, electronics and money so he could send them back to his homeland in the West Bank is behind bars.
Police said Raed Aldin admitted to committing nine burglaries in Miami Beach, including Debra Muller's home two months ago.
"He took jewelry and cameras and perfume bottles and took my husband's shoes," Muller said. "I mean, it was really weird."
What is perhaps even weirder, though, is what he allegedly did with the stolen items. Police said Aldin told them he sent the stolen goods -- valued up to a half-million dollars -- back to his homeland in the West Bank.
Police said they linked the burglaries to Aldin from a stolen cell phone that they used to track him down.
"We had no doubt that if he kept it up, at some point, we would see him behind bars," said Michael Bok, who was also burglarized.
Police said Aldin could be behind at least two dozen beach burglaries.
http://www.local10.com/news/10941857/detail.html
pic at link
February 6, 2007 Anti-Terrorism News
(Iraq) U.S. military: Iraqi lawmaker is U.S. Embassy bomber - convicted
of bombing U.S., French embassies in '83, seen as Iranian agent -
Parliament member Jamal Jafaar Mohammed's position gives him prosecutorial
immunity
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/05/iraq.lawmaker/index.html
Iraqi Gunmen seize Iranian diplomat
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070206/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_iranian_seized_7;_ylt=AlE.qKVdtZrEQgThLWXVT.FSw60A;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Pakistani Taliban kill two accused "U.S. spies"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070206/wl_nm/pakistan_violence_dc_1;_ylt=Au2qo9gEiLSdKpCEJg61EnvOVooA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Bodies of 2 men found in Pakistan region
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070206/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_killings_1;_ylt=As02w8Rw4oUuhG1dRXl_6RHOVooA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
(Pakistan) Hunt on for "high value" terrorists
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=131265&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23
Pakistan Islamist Group MMA says Musharraf won't be allowed to end
Kashmir jihad
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\06\story_6-2-2007_pg7_16
(Update) Spain Emerges as Base for AQ-Linked Terror Groups
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/02/spain_emerges_a.html
Afghan gov't arrests 6 suspected terrorists
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-02/06/content_5705384.htm
(UK) Second Mail Bomb Blast - Oaklands Business Centre
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1250349,00.html
(UK) Letter Bomb: Who Sent It?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=letter-bomb--who-sent-it-&method=full&objectid=18581974&siteid=94762-name_page.html
(UK) Man in court on terrorism charges - Abdul Rahman, from Manchester
- believed in assisting terrorist to escape control order
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/06022007/325/man-court-terrorism-charges.html
(UK) Islamic school 'is poisoning minds' - King Fahad Academy, west
London
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/06/nschools306.xml
Related story
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007060106,00.html
(UK July 21 Trial) Terror suspect 'fled in burka' - Yassin Omar was
tracked to Birmingham wearing a burka
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007060116,00.html
(UK Commentary) London Warning: A New Step in Terror - by Dr. Walid
Phares
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=26798
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/02/london_warning_a_new_step_in_j.php
(UK) Hamza lawyer paid £500,000 in just 7 months - all from legal aid
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=434278&in_page_id=1770
(UK) Cameron slams Muslim leader over Nazi comment
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/men/news/s/235/235269_cameron_slams_muslim_leader_over_nazi_comment.html
(Indonesia) Bali bomber 'preaches by phone from jail' to Muslim
militants
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21176882-23109,00.html
U.S. Embassy Warns of Sudan Threats - U.S. Embassy warns of heightened
terrorist threat against Westerners
http://www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070205/API/702052998
(Somalia) Al-Qaeda target 'may be alive' - Ethiopian Prime Minister
says Aden Hashi Ayro, suspected of protecting leaders in 1998 US embassy
bombings, seen alive
http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/news_detail.php?newsid=2390§ion=1
Al-Qaeda Terrorist Suspect Living In Madagascar: Report - Fazul
Abdullah Mohammed wanted for 1998 bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and
Kenya
http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_12439-Al-Qaeda-Terrorist-Suspect-Living-In-Madagascar-Report.html
Hamas, Fatah trade fire at Gaza border
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070206/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_summit;_ylt=AlbvRQ5gMiX8JZ8Wc6._LVULewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--
Islamic heads call for violence over work by Temple Mount
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359789162&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Israel) Shechem Terrorist Planned Suicide Bombing
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=121041
(Israel) Two terror suspects nabbed in Nablus
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359792954&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Lebanon) 'UNIFIL ignoring Hizbullah hostilities'
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359786340&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Australia) Brigitte to face trial for Australian terror plot
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=145&ContentID=20679
(Spain) ETA prisoners stage protest for terrorist hunger striker
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=81&story_id=36202
(India) Delhi continues to be terror target
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/delhi-continues-to-be-terror-target/32853-3.html
(India) Mumbai bombers' relatives protest against Sanjay Dutt
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2007/February/subcontinent_February225.xml§ion=subcontinent&col=
Sri Lanka: Air force bombs Tamil Tiger camp
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359790928&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Other News:
(UK) Veils thrown out of court
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=434279&in_page_id=1770
Full veil should not be worn in court, say senior judges
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1336915.ece
(France) Newspaper in court for publishing Mohammed cartoons - civil
case brought by two Islamic organizations
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=58&story_id=36174
Independent journalism under siege in Middle East
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/world/16629602.htm
Posted on Mon, Feb. 05, 2007
Independent journalism under siege in Middle East, group says
By Miret el Naggar
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)
CAIRO, Egypt - Press freedom is quickly losing ground in the Middle
East as authoritarian governments retreat from liberalization
undertaken early in the Bush administration's push for democracy, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.
The annual report paints a grim picture of diminishing press freedoms
worldwide, with Middle Eastern countries among the worst offenders.
Just two years ago, media advocates had hailed Lebanon, Egypt and
Morocco for taking steps toward greater press freedom. Now, those and
other Arab countries are inching back on recent changes, though the
report noted that many journalists are resisting government
restrictions at great personal risk. Journalists and activists have
held protests in several Arab capitals in spite of government
intimidation and the rollback of legal protections for the press.
In Egypt, journalists uncovered electoral fraud, investigated
government corruption and shattered the long-held taboo of criticizing
President Hosni Mubarak and his family. More than 20 newspapers
participated in a one-day strike demanding that Mubarak fulfill
promises to remove most press-related criminal offenses from the
books, eliciting praise from CPJ.
"The circle of journalists challenging the government has been
widening, and the number of Arabic-language newspapers has risen,"
said Kamal Labidi, a CPJ researcher who released the latest findings
at a news conference in Cairo. "What is promising is that the
determination of journalists is increasing."
Still, some Egyptian journalists questioned any description of Egypt,
one of the closest U.S. allies in the region, as a "promising" example
of a country where researchers found such incremental progress as the
proliferation of opposition newspapers. Egypt's airwaves are still
strictly controlled by the government.
"The ceiling of press freedom has risen, yes, but the threats and the
hauling us to court also has increased," said Wael el-Ibrashi, the
editor of two Cairo-based opposition weeklies who's facing more than
60 lawsuits related to his anti-government reporting. "Government
officials still keep the information in an iron box, and we are
exhausted in the search for information."
Last month, Egyptian security officials detained a producer for the
Al-Jazeera satellite channel as she was returning to the channel's
headquarters in Qatar to finish a documentary about torture in
Egyptian prisons. Security forces also zeroed in on bloggers after a
series of surreptitiously recorded video clips of Egyptians allegedly
enduring police torture were posted on the Internet.
In the rest of the Middle East, state-run media dominate the
landscape, with little tolerance for opposition or independent press.
Libya and Syria are on CPJ's list of the most censored nations, along
with North Korea, Cuba and Burma.
In 2006, journalists faced steep fines in Morocco for criticizing the
monarchy, politicians and religious figures. Saudi Arabia banned a
popular opposition columnist, while religious extremists roughed up
other writers at a seminar on censorship. In Sudan, authorities
detained and allegedly beat journalists, and gunmen kidnapped and
beheaded an editor who had republished a story questioning the Prophet
Muhammad's ancestry.
There was a series of brutal assaults against independent journalists
in Yemen. And the hard-line government of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
has "turned the screws on press freedom and intimidated critical
journalists into silence or self-censorship," according to the CPJ
report.
The CPJ's annual "Attacks on the Press" also called Iraq the most
dangerous place in the world for journalists for the fourth
consecutive year. A record 32 journalists and 15 media support staff
were killed in Iraq in the past year, bringing the total to 129
members of the press killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
One journalist and one media worker also were killed and several
reporters suffered injuries from Israeli fire during the war in
Lebanon last summer. During the 34-day conflict between Israel and
Hezbollah militants, television stations and other media facilities
were demolished in Israeli airstrikes. Journalists also reported
receiving intimidation from Hezbollah and death threats if they
reported on the militant Islamist group's weaponry.
perfume bottles <<<
Sorry, that jumped out at me.
Neat way to get around being caught with the goods.
Thanks for the post, interesting.
Then only thing missing, is whose false ID, he was using.
Yes, it could be a test, like "Kilroy was here" message.
I would also consider it as a method of telling where to look for ingredients, or seat numbers of associates.
Also a good way to say "go" or stop.
It would make me nervous to be on that flight.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=HELEN+CHENAULT+&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?q=CHENAULT+IS+KING&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=ZATU&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=LU+2000+06&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?q=KCAHS&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=CHENAULT+LIVES+&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Some think she was poisoned with plutoniam:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Karen+Silkwood&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
1974 Nov 13, Karen Silkwood, a technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., was killed in a car crash.
http://timelines.ws/20thcent/1974.HTML
You have to love this site, wonder bits and pieces of info:
1986 Osama bin Laden began building a tunnel complex under mountains in Afghanistan near Pakistan as part of a CIA-funded project.
(SSFC, 5/9/04, p.M6)
snipped............
1996 Apr 4, Mohammed Omar unsealed a shrine in Kandahar that held a cloak believed to have belonged to the prophet Mohammed. He placed the cloak over his shoulders and declared himself the commander of the faithful and leader of all Islam.
(SFC, 12/7/01, p.A16)
1996 May 24, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the rebel faction that fought to topple the government, signed an accord with Pres. Burhanuddin Rabbani and ended 4 years of hostilities. The civil war may continue because the Taliban rebels, who control more than half of the country, were not included in the alliance.
(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A10)
1996 May 29, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar became the new prime minister.
(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A10)
1996 May, Osama bin Laden was driven out of Sudan under pressure from the Clinton administration. His horse, “Swift Like the Wind,” was left behind. Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a Saudi Arabian-backed jihadist leader, invited bin Laden back to Afghanistan and bin Laden returned.
(SFC, 8/21/98, p.A2)(SFC, 12/17/04, p.W4)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.40)
[note horse name] snipped...............my eyes won't take all this reading, so have fun:
http://timelines.ws/countries/AFGHAN_A_Thru2004.HTML
from above link, this was found in may 2001:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Encyclopedia+of+Jihad&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
The first 50 timelines for al-qaeda:
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp_a=sp010ced00&sp-advanced=1&sp-c=50&sp_f=iso-8859-1&sp-k=&sp-m=1&sp-p=any&sp-q=al-qaeda&sp-w=alike&sp-w-control=1&sp_ads_topic=Terrorism+and+Counterterrorism&sp_ads_topic_hash=8b777a3696397075a2145aa106e3fbda
[history, unknown date]
http://www.totse.com/en/politics/terrorists_and_freedom_fighters/162382.html
Tactical Insights From The Trial
by Stefan Leader and Aaron Danis
Tactical Insights From The Trial
Stefan Leader and Aaron Danis
The operational cycle
Former Al-Qaeda member L'Houssaine Kherchtou testified that according to his Afghan training, there are four groups involved in attacking a target. The surveillance group collects information on targets and sends it to the bosses who decide which target to attack. The bosses send a logistical group to provide the weapons and explosives needed to attack the target. A fourth group carries out the attack.
Odeh said that terrorist operations were divided between two cells. One cell conducts all the logistics and planning, including surveillance and building the bomb. The second cell carries out the attack. Al Owhali said that the cell has four sections: intelligence, administration (logistics), planning and preparation, and execution.
Despite minor discrepancies, the basic functions of the cell and the operational procedures taught in the training camps generally correlate with the attack on the embassies. From the trial transcripts, it appears that initial surveillance was done in 1994- 95, three to four years before the attack was carried out.
Target selection
Analysts believe religiously motivated terrorists are more willing to carry out mass casualty attacks than politically motivated terrorists because they feel they are doing God's will. Despite some security around the US embassies, (guards, walls, gates and access controls), the facilities apparently were considered easy targets, perhaps because of a lack of stand-off distance and the fact that host-nation guards were unarmed.
An FBI agent testified that Al Owhali told him that the Nairobi embassy was chosen as a target because it was occupied by many US citizens, including press and military attaches and intelligence officers; it was easy to hit; and it had a female ambassador whose death would result in more publicity.
Al Owhali said that during his Afghan training he was told that Al- Qaeda target priorities were US military bases, US diplomatic missions and posts, and kidnapping ambassadors. FBI agent Abigail Perkins testified that defendant Khalfan Khamis Mohammad said that terrorists prefer to target embassies and civilians because the military is too difficult to hit. Al Owhali said that the organiser of the embassy bombing claimed that attacks on US facilities abroad would pave the way for attacks inside the USA. The time of the attack (Friday, between 1030 and 1100) was chosen because most Muslims would be in mosques at prayer or on their way to mosques.
Ali Mohammad was the first person to link Bin Laden directly to the attacks in Africa. He said Bin Laden once asked him to scout out the embassy in Kenya. "I took pictures, drew diagrams and wrote a report," Mohammad said when he entered his guilty plea in October 2000. "Bin Laden looked at the picture of the American embassy and pointed to where a truck could go as a suicide bomber."
Surveillance techniques
Kherchtou described a reconnaissance mission of the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1994-95. He said he often saw three Al-Qaeda members developing photographs in his apartment and once saw one of them near the embassy with a camera. Kherchtou said that one of the men who visited his home was Al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohammad.
Kherchtou testified that in the 1980s he took a two-week surveillance seminar taught by Mohammad in a military training camp in Pakistan. He was trained to use different cameras, develop the pictures, and to take pictures holding the camera so that the surveillant is not looking through it. The surveillant would then write a report that would include a target description, diagrams, maps, and photos.
Target descriptions included rooms; wall size, location and height; location of lights and doors, and number of people present. The reports could be put on computer disks, making them easier to carry and conceal. Odeh told the FBI that in difficult circumstances, the surveillant would set up a food stand or buy a nearby shop in order to observe the target and look for weaknesses. Another technique was to send a person (a 'walk-in') inside the target to take get a first-hand look, and to ask questions to assess the quality of the security. Al Owhali also said that the leader of the cell was trained to do target site surveys and still and video photography.
The descriptions given are consistent with long-standing terrorist surveillance practices. By using former US Army Sergeant Ali Mohammad to conduct the initial surveillance, the cell was able to exploit his knowledge of US approaches to security.
Training, weapons and explosives
At least seven types of training took place in the Sudanese and Afghan camps, including Islamic law and jihad; explosives and advanced explosives training; small arms training; assassination training (including the use of chemicals, poisons and toxins); hand- to-hand combat; physical fitness; operational principles, including collecting target intelligence and communications. Some individuals were sent to specialist schools for training in electronics and flying aircraft.
Details are incomplete, but explosives training appeared to involve the identification, making and handling of various types of explosives (TNT, C3, C4, etc.), including the mixing of chemicals; modifying dynamite by grinding it into a powder; and familiarisation with various military explosive devices such as grenades, mines (anti-personnel, anti-tank, anti-truck), and rockets. According to one witness, this was a 15-day course. Advanced and more advanced explosives courses were said to run for 45 and 60 days respectively.
Al-Qaeda also trained people in electronics, such as the use of off- the-shelf components (encoders, radios, watches) to make remote and other types of detonators. One defendant stated that he knew how to build a directed charge by putting metal around the TNT to direct the blast. This sounds similar to public descriptions of the bomb used in the USS Cole attack in Yemen in October 2000.
Some Al-Qaeda members trained with Hizbullah in Lebanon in using explosives to destroy large buildings. Direct explosives training appears to be supplemented by a detailed 1,000-page Encyclopedia of Jihad contained on a computer disk made available to recruits. Another training manual, Military Studies in the Jihad Against Tyrants, introduced into evidence at the trial, points out that explosives are believed to be the safest weapon because they allow warriors to 'get away from enemy personnel and to avoid being arrested', and they 'strike the enemy with sheer terror and fright'.
Small arms training included the use of standard assault rifles such as the AK-47, M-16, Uzi, pistols, and the use and firing of rocket- propelled grenades. Assassination training was described as "learning to kill people quietly'. One chapter of the Encyclopedia of Jihad deals extensively with poisons suitable for use in assassinations. Training in operational principles is believed to include target surveillance (of both people and buildings, using various types of cameras), communications (writing reports and use of computers), use of forged documents, and cell organisation and security.
Tactics
Odeh said that the Nairobi attack was a "blunder'' because so many civilians were killed, according to FBI agent John Anticev. Odeh felt his colleagues made a mistake by putting the bomb in the back of a pickup truck. "He said the truck should have backed into the building closely.'' Instead the truck came in "nose first"' and the force of the explosion ricocheted off the cab of the truck, causing many deaths in the vicinity. Odeh stated that, as a general rule, the best place to put explosives is inside the target building, but the best alternative is to get as close as possible.
Al Owhali's attack mission as a passenger in the bomb vehicle was to fire a gun and toss stun grenades to force guards to lift gates at the embassy so the truck could get close to the embassy walls. Al Owhali said the bomb consisted of TNT, aluminum nitrate, and aluminum powder packed in the back of the truck in wooden crates. There was a contingency plan: if the electrical detonator failed to work, it was Al Owhali's job to toss a grenade into the back of the truck to ensure that the bomb went off.
At the embassy the suicide driver Azzam drove the truck to a parking lot in back. Al Owhali jumped out, ready to force the guard to lift the gate, but he suddenly realised that he had left his pistol in the truck. The guard refused to open the gate, so Al Owhali tossed a grenade at the guard and people began to run, including Al Owhali. The gate was not raised so Azzam apparently pulled the truck forward as much as possible and detonated the bomb.
Al Owhali claimed he originally had asked Kenya cell leader Saleh about trying to get the bomb into the underground parking garage at the embassy, where it could cause more damage. Saleh said it would be too difficult to get past the second drop gate at the entrance to the parking garage ramp.
One cell planned and carried out both bombings. Saleh bragged to Al Owhali that he was able to get the second, Tanzanian, vehicle bomb ready in only 10 days. That bomb also consisted of TNT, according to Al Owhali, but a number of oxygen tanks and gas canisters were added to increase fragmentation. The suicide driver for that attack, reportedly named Ahmad Abdallah, carried a cell phone in case Saleh needed to change the mission. Khalfan Khamis Mohammad stated that the vehicle bomb was built in a refrigeration truck. The gas cylinders were placed in the frame and then 20 boxes of TNT were loaded among the tanks so that gas cylinders and boxes of TNT alternated until the interior of the frame was full. Several bags of fertiliser and some sandbags were added to fill the gaps and stabilise the load. A partition of wood and metal was placed in the very rear of the truck so that the bomb would be concealed from anyone opening the truck's doors.
While the Kenya cell had a plan to get through the first embassy gate with the vehicle bomb, the plan apparently was not rehearsed. The subsequent poor execution of the plan prevented the bombers from getting the bomb inside the compound. Meanwhile, at the US embassy in Tanzania, the driver prematurely detonated the vehicle bomb while waiting in line behind a large water truck at the gate, approximately 35-50 feet from the embassy wall. The water truck probably absorbed some of the blast, also reducing damage to the building.
Stefan Leader is a senior security analyst and terrorism specialist with Eagle Research Group, Inc, a consultancy, in Germantown, Maryland, USA. Aaron Danis is an intelligence analyst with the US government.
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trial feb. 2001?
http://www.google.com/search?q=L%27Houssaine+Kherchtou&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
convicted 2001:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Al+Owhali&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=Ali+Mohammad&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
[It may be that one needs tinfoil to read this site, but it is exciting reading, fake or not...no, I don't read the ads on the right]
http://www.totse.com/en/politics/terrorists_and_freedom_fighters/okcdeath.html
It's Dangerous to Know Too Much
by Mike Blair
IT'S DANGEROUS TO KNOW TOO MUCH
As In The Whitewater Affair, Oklahoma City Bombing Witnesses Are Dying Fast.
By Mike Blair (Spotlight, 5/19/97)
Two key witnesses in the Oklahoma City bombing case will not appear to testify at the Denver trial of Timothy McVeigh, one of the two accused of being responsible for the bombing, because they are dead.
One death has been labeled a suicide. The other victim was killed in an air crash. Both deaths took place under questionable circumstances.
The supposed suicide is Oklahoma City Police Officer Terrance Yeakey. Dr. Howard D. Chumley was killed when his airplane crashed on a flight from Amarillo, Texas to Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Yeakey is one of those cited for extraordinary bravery right after the bombing of the Alfred E. Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City in his case for rescuing four people from the devastated structure before he fell through a floor and injured his back.
Official reports claim Yeakey slashed his wrists, one twice and the other three times, placed two slits in a vein at the bend of the elbow of one arm and four at the bend of the elbow of the other, and then stabbed himself with the knife in both sides of the throat, near the jugular vein. Then he walked one-and-a-half miles where he shot himself in the side of the head. The bullet entered the upper temple on the right side and exited below the upper jaw bone on the left side, meaning the gun would have been pointed in a downward angle -- a most unlikely way for a person bent on suicide to hold a gun.
Hard To Believe
"The burning question here is why he didn't just shoot himself in the first place, if suicide was his aim," one investigator remarked.
Police in Oklahoma claim that Yeakey had become depressed because of guilt that he was unable to save more people. He was scheduled to receive the Oklahoma City Police Department's Medal of Valor.
Yeakey, police claim, left no suicide note. However, The Spotlight has obtained a copy of a letter he sent to a victim of the bombing who was questioning the federal government's claims about the cause of the tragedy and those accused as the perpetrators.
Highlights from his letter follow:
The man that you and I were talking about in the pictures I have made the mistake of asking too many questions as to his role in the bombing and was told to back off...
I was told by several officers he was a ATF agent who was overseeing the bombing plot and at the time the photos were taken he was calling in his report of what had just went down!
Knowing what I know now and understanding fully just what went down that morning makes me ashamed to wear a badge from Oklahoma City's Police Department. I took an oath to uphold the law and to enforce the law to the best of my ability. This is something I cannot honestly do and hold my head up proud any longer if I keep my silence as I am ordered to do...
The sad truth of the matter is that they have so many police officers convinced that by covering up the truth about the operation gone wrong, that they are actually doing our citizens a favor. What I want to know is how many other operations have they had that blew up in their faces? Makes you stop and take another look at Waco...
Even if I tried to explain it to you the way it was explained to me and the ridiculous reason for having our own police department falsify reports to their fellow officers, to the citizens of the city and to our country, you would feel the way I do about all of this...
According to his death certificate, Yeakey's body was found in a field about two-and-a-half miles west of the El Reno (Oklahoma) Reformatory.
"About two weeks before his death, he'd come into my home at strange times -- 2:30 in the morning, 4 in the morning, unannounced, trying to give me life insurance policies," Yeakey's ex-wife stated. "He kept telling me we needed to get remarried immediately, or me and the girls would not be taken care of... I mean, why would a guy tell you to take a life insurance policy, knowing damn well it wouldn't pay for a suicide? He obviously knew he was in danger..."
Two key pages are missing from the letter, which was apparently written on a computer. Independent investigators have verified the letter to be authentic, according to retired FBI Senior Special Agent Ted L. Gunderson.
According to reports, described to The Spotlight by Gunderson, Chumley was approached shortly after the bombing and asked to falsify reports concerning injuries that BATF agents suffered when the building was bombed.
The physician flatly refused to make any reports of injuries that didn't occur. When he learned that another doctor in the Oklahoma City area had agreed to make the false reports, he objected and threatened to turn the physician in to medical authorities.
Chumley was killed on September 24, 1995 while the plane he was piloting from Amarillo to Guthrie was in a climb and suddenly plunged into a field. He was killed instantly.
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http://www.google.com/search?q=Oklahoma+City+Bombing+Witnesses+Are+Dying+Fast&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Very interesting:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Oklahoma+City+Police+Officer+Terrance+Yeakey&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=Dr.+Howard+D.+Chumley%2C++OKC+bombing&btnG=Search&hl=en&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=asking+too+many+questions+as+to+his+role+in+the+bombing&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=Makes+you+stop+and+take+another+look+at+Waco&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
This will be interesting:
http://www.google.com/search?q=retired+FBI+Senior+Special+Agent+Ted+L.+Gunderson&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.totse.com/en/politics/terrorists_and_freedom_fighters/162466.html
Protecting Yourself from Chemical and Biological Warfare
by SFC Red Thomas (Ret)
Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I decided to write a paper and keep things in their proper perspective. I am a retired military weapons, munitions, and training expert.
Lesson number one: In the mid 1990's there were a series of nerve gas attacks on crowded Japanese subway stations. Given perfect conditions for an attack less than 10% of the people there were injured (the injured were better in a few hours) and only one percent of the injured died.
60 Minutes once had a fellow telling us that one drop of nerve gas could kill a thousand people, well he didn't tell you the thousand dead people per drop was theoretical. Drill Sergeants exaggerate how terrible this stuff was to keep the recruits awake in class (I know this because I was a Drill Sergeant too).
Forget everything you've ever seen on TV, in the movies, or read in a novel about this stuff, it was all a lie (read this sentence again out loud!)!
These weapons are about terror, if you remain calm, you will probably not die. This is far less scary than the media and their "Experts" make it sound.
Chemical weapons are categorized as Nerve, Blood, Blister, and Incapacitating agents Contrary to the hype of reporters and politicians they are not weapons of mass destruction they are "Area denial," and terror weapons that don't destroy anything. When you leave the area you almost always leave the risk.
That's the difference; you can leave the area and the risk; soldiers may have to stay put and sit through it and that's why they need all that spiffy gear.
These are not gasses, they are vapors and/or air borne particles. The agent must be delivered in sufficient quantity to kill/injure, and that defines when/how it's used. Every day we have a morning and evening inversion where "stuff," suspended in the air gets pushed down. This inversion is why allergies (pollen) and air pollution are worst at these times of the day.
So, a chemical attack will have it's best effect an hour of so either side of sunrise/sunset. Also, being vapors and airborne particles they are heavier than air so they will seek low places like ditches, basements and underground garages. This stuff won't work when it's freezing, it doesn't last when it's hot, and wind spreads it too thin too fast.
They've got to get this stuff on you, or, get you to inhale it for it to work. They also have to get the concentration of chemicals high enough to kill or wound you. Too little and it's nothing, too much and it's wasted.
What I hope you've gathered by this point is that a chemical weapons attack that kills a lot of people is incredibly hard to do with military grade agents and equipment so you can imagine how hard it will be for terrorists.
The more you know about this stuff the more you realize how hard it is to use.
We'll start by talking about nerve agents. You have these in your house, plain old bug killer (like Raid) is nerve agent. All nerve agents work the same way; they are cholinesterase inhibitors that mess up the signals your nervous system uses to make your body function. It can harm you if you get it on your skin but it works best if they can get you to inhale it.
If you don't die in the first minute and you can leave the area you're probably gonna live. The military's antidote for all nerve agents is atropine and pralidoxime chloride.
Neither one of these does anything to cure the nerve agent, they send your body into overdrive to keep you alive for five minutes, after that the agent is used up. Your best protection is fresh air and staying calm. Listed below are the symptoms for nerve agent poisoning.
Sudden headache, Dimness of vision (someone you're looking at will have pinpointed pupils), Runny nose, Excessive saliva or drooling, Difficulty breathing, Tightness in chest, Nausea, Stomach cramps, Twitching of exposed skin where a liquid just got on you.
If you are in public and you start experiencing these symptoms, first ask yourself, did anything out of the ordinary just happen, a loud pop, did someone spray something on the crowd? Are other people getting sick too?
Is there an odor of new mown hay, green corn, something fruity, or camphor where it shouldn't be?
If the answer is yes, then calmly (if you panic you breathe faster and inhale more air/poison) leave the area and head up wind, or, outside. Fresh air is the best "right now antidote". If you have a blob of liquid that looks like molasses or Kayro syrup on you; blot it or scrape it off and away from yourself with anything disposable.
This stuff works based on your body weight, what a crop duster uses to kill bugs won't hurt you unless you stand there and breathe it in real deep, then lick the residue off the ground for while. Remember they have to do all the work, they have to get the concentration up and keep it up for several minutes while all you have to do is quit getting it on you/quit breathing it by putting space between you and the attack.
Blood agents are cyanide or arsine which effect your blood's ability to provide oxygen to your tissue. The scenario for attack would be the same as nerve agent. Look for a pop or someone splashing/spraying something and folks around there getting woozy/falling down. The telltale smells are bitter almonds or garlic where it shouldn't be. The symptoms are blue lips, blue under the fingernails, rapid breathing. The military's antidote is amyl nitride and just like nerve agent antidote it just keeps your body working for five minutes till the toxins are used up. Fresh air is the your best individual chance.
Blister agents (distilled mustard) are so nasty that nobody wants to even handle it let alone use it. It's almost impossible to handle safely and may have delayed effect of up to 12 hours. The attack scenario is also limited to the things you'd see from other chemicals. If you do get large, painful blisters for no apparent reason, don't pop them, if you must, don't let the liquid from the blister get on any other area, the stuff just keeps on spreading. It's just as likely to harm the user as the target. Soap, water, sunshine, and fresh air are this stuff's enemy.
Bottom line on chemical weapons (it's the same if they use industrial chemical spills); they are intended to make you panic, to terrorize you, to herd you like sheep to the wolves. If there is an attack, leave the area and go upwind, or to the sides of the wind stream. They have to get the stuff to you, and on you. You're more likely to be hurt by a drunk driver on any given day than be hurt by one of these attacks. Your odds get better if you leave the area. Soap, water, time, and fresh air really deal this stuff a knock out punch.
Don't let fear of an isolated attack rule your life. The odds are really on your side.
Nuclear bombs. These are the only weapons of mass destruction on earth. The effects of a nuclear bomb are heat, blast, EMP, and radiation. If you see a bright flash of light like the sun, where the sun isn't, fall to the ground!
The heat will be over a second. Then there will be two blast waves, one out going, and one on it's way back. Don't stand up to see what happened after the first wave; anything that's going to happen will have happened in two full minutes.
These will be low yield devices and will not level whole cities. If you live through the heat, blast, and initial burst of radiation, you'll probably live for a very very long time. Radiation will not create fifty foot tall women, or giant ants and grass hoppers the size of tanks. These will be at the most 1 kiloton bombs; that's the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT.
Here's the real deal, flying debris and radiation will kill a lot of exposed (not all!) people within a half mile of the blast. Under perfect conditions this is about a half mile circle of death and destruction, but, when it's done it's done. EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse and it will fry every electronic device for a good distance, it's impossible to say what and how far but probably not over a couple of miles from ground zero is a good guess. Cars, cell phones, computers, ATMs, you name it, all will be out of order.
There are lots of kinds of radiation, you only need to worry about three, the others you have lived with for years. You need to worry about "Ionizing radiation," these are little sub atomic particles that go whizzing along at the speed of light. They hit individual cells in your body, kill the nucleus and keep on going. That's how you get radiation poisoning, you have so many dead cells in your body that the decaying cells poison you. It's the same as people getting radiation treatments for cancer, only a bigger area gets radiated.
The good news is you don't have to just sit there and take it, and there's lots you can do rather than panic. First; your skin will stop alpha particles, a page of a news paper or your clothing will stop beta particles, you just gotta try and avoid inhaling dust that's contaminated with atoms that are emitting these things and you'll be generally safe from them.
Gamma rays are particles that travel like rays (quantum physics makes my brain hurt) and they create the same damage as alpha and beta particles only they keep going and kill lots of cells as they go all the way through your body. It takes a lot to stop these things, lots of dense material, on the other hand it takes a lot of this to kill you.
Your defense is as always to not panic. Basic hygiene and normal preparation are your friends. All canned or frozen food is safe to eat. The radiation poisoning will not effect plants so fruits and vegetables are OK if there's no dust on em (rinse em off if there is). If you don't have running water and you need to collect rain water or use water from wherever, just let it sit for thirty minutes and skim off the water gently from the top. The dust with the bad stuff in it will settle and the remaining water can be used for the toilet which will still work if you have a bucket of water to pour in the tank.
Finally there's biological warfare. There's not much to cover here. Basic personal hygiene and sanitation will take you further than a million doctors. Wash your hands often, don't share drinks, food, sloppy kisses, etc., ... with strangers. Keep your garbage can with a tight lid on it, don't have standing water (like old buckets, ditches, or kiddie pools) laying around to allow mosquitoes breeding room. This stuff is carried by vectors, that is bugs, rodents, and contaminated material.
If biological warfare is so easy as the TV makes it sound, why has Saddam Hussein spent twenty years, millions, and millions of dollars trying to get it right? If you're clean of person and home you eat well and are active you're gonna live.
Overall preparation for any terrorist attack is the same as you'd take for a big storm. If you want a gas mask, fine, go get one. I know this stuff and I'm not getting one and I told my Mom not to bother with one either. (How's that for confidence?) We have a week's worth of cash, several days worth of canned goods and plenty of soap and water. We don't leave stuff out to attract bugs or rodents so we don't have them.
These people can't conceive a nation this big with this much resources. These weapons are made to cause panic, terror, and to demoralize. If we don't run around like sheep they won't use this stuff after they find out it's no fun.
The government is going nuts over this stuff because they have to protect every inch of America. You've only gotta protect yourself, and by doing that, you help the country.
Finally, there are millions of caveats to everything I wrote here and you can think up specific scenarios where my advice isn't the best. This letter is supposed to help the greatest number of people under the greatest number of situations. If you don't like my work, don't nit pick, just sit down and explain chemical, nuclear, and biological warfare in a document around three pages long yourself. This is how we the people of the United States can rob these people of their most desired goal, your terror.
SFC Red Thomas (Ret)
Armor Master Gunner
Mesa, AZ
Unlimited reproduction and distribution is authorized. Just give me credit for my work, and, keep in context.
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[history]
http://www.totse.com/en/politics/terrorists_and_freedom_fighters/162480.html
Transcript of the "Gleeful Osama" Videotape
by Osama bin Laden and Pals
The following transcript of a videotape of Osama bin Laden talking with others, translated from Arabic into English, was issued by the U.S. Department of Defense.
(Transcript and annotations independently prepared by George Michael, translator, Diplomatic Language Services; and Dr. Kassem M. Wahba, Arabic language program coordinator, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. They collaborated on their translation and compared it with translations done by the U.S. government for consistency. There were no inconsistencies in the translations.)
In mid-November, Usama Bin Laden spoke to a room of supporters, possibly in Qandahar, Afghanistan. These comments were videotaped with the knowledge of bin Laden and all present.
Note: The tape is approximately one hour long and contains three different segments: an original taping of a visit by some people to the site of the downed U.S. helicopter in Ghazni province (approximately 12 minutes long); and two segments documenting a courtesy visit by bin Laden and his lieutenants to an unidentified Shaykh, who appears crippled from the waist down. The visit apparently takes place at a guesthouse in Qandahar. The sequence of the events is reversed on the tape -- the end of his visit is in the beginning of the tape with the helicopter site visit in the middle and the start of the Usama bin Laden visit beginning approximately 39 minutes into the tape. The tape is transcribed below according to the proper sequence of events.
Due to the quality of the original tape, it is NOT a verbatim transcript of every word spoken during the meeting, but does convey the messages and information flow.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 39 minutes into tape, first segment of the bin Laden meeting, begins after footage of helicopter site visit.
Shaykh: (...inaudible...) You have given us weapons, you have given us hope and we thank Allah for you. We don't want to take much of your time, but this is the arrangement of the brothers. People now are supporting us more, even those ones who did not support us in the past, support us more now. I did not want to take that much of your time. We praise Allah, we praise Allah. We came from Kabul. We were very pleased to visit. May Allah bless you both at home and the camp. We asked the driver to take us, it was a night with a full moon, thanks be to Allah. Believe me it is not in the country side. The elderly... everybody praises what you did, the great action you did, which was first and foremost by the grace of Allah. This is the guidance of Allah and the blessed fruit of jihad.
Osama bin Laden: Thanks to Allah. What is the stand of the Mosques there (in Saudi Arabia)?
Shaykh: Honestly, they are very positive. Shaykh Al-Bahrani (phonetic) gave a good sermon in his class after the sunset prayers. It was videotaped and I was supposed to carry it with me, but unfortunately, I had to leave immediately.
Osama bin Laden: The day of the events?
Shaykh: At the exact time of the attack on America, precisely at the time. He (Bahrani) gave a very impressive sermon. Thanks be to Allah for his blessings. He (Bahrani) was the first one to write at war time. I visited him twice in Al-Qasim.
Osama bin Laden: Thanks be to Allah.
Shaykh: This is what I asked from Allah. He (Bahrani) told the youth: "You are asking for martyrdom and wonder where you should go (for martyrdom)?" Allah was inciting them to go. I asked Allah to grant me to witness the truth in front of the unjust ruler. We ask Allah to protect him and give him the martyrdom, after he issued the first fatwa. He was detained for interrogation, as you know. When he was called in and asked to sign, he told them, "don't waste my time, I have another fatwa. If you want me, I can sign both at the same time."
Osama bin Laden: Thanks be to Allah.
Shaykh: His position is really very encouraging. When I paid him the first visit about a year and half ago, he asked me, "How is Shaykh Bin-Ladin?" He sends you his special regards. As far as Shaykh Sulayman 'Ulwan is concerned, he gave a beautiful fatwa, may Allah bless him. Miraculously, I heard it on the Quran radio station. It was strange because he ('Ulwan) sacrificed his position, which is equivalent to a director. It was transcribed word-by-word. The brothers listened to it in detail. I briefly heard it before the noon prayers. He ('Ulwan) said this was jihad and those people were not innocent people (World Trade Center and Pentagon victims). He swore to Allah. This was transmitted to Shaykh Sulayman Al ('Umar) Allah bless him.
Osama bin Laden: What about Shaykh Al-(Rayan)?
Shaykh: Honestly, I did not meet with him. My movements were truly limited.
Osama bin Laden: Allah bless you. You are welcome.
Shaykh: (Describing the trip to the meeting) They smuggled us and then I thought that we would be in different caves inside the mountains so I was surprised at the guest house and that it is very clean and comfortable. Thanks be to Allah, we also learned that this location is safe, by Allah's blessings. The place is clean and we are very comfortable.
Osama bin Laden: (...Inaudible...) when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse. This is only one goal; those who want people to worship the lord of the people, without following that doctrine, will be following the doctrine of Muhammad, peace be upon him. (Osama bin Laden quotes several short and incomplete Hadith verses, as follows): "I was ordered to fight the people until they say there is no god but Allah, and his prophet Muhammad." "Some people may ask: why do you want to fight us?" "There is an association between those who say: I believe in one god and Muhammad is his prophet, and those who don't (...inaudible...) "Those who do not follow the true fiqh. The fiqh of Muhammad, the real fiqh. They are just accepting what is being said at face value."
Osama bin Laden: Those youth who conducted the operations did not accept any fiqh in the popular terms, but they accepted the fiqh that the prophet Muhammad brought. Those young men (...inaudible...) said in deeds, in New York and Washington, speeches that overshadowed all other speeches made everywhere else in the world. The speeches are understood by both Arabs and non-Arabs -- even by Chinese. It is above all the media said. Some of them said that in Holland, at one of the centers, the number of people who accepted Islam during the days that followed the operations were more than the people who accepted Islam in the last eleven years. I heard someone on Islamic radio who owns a school in America say: "We don't have time to keep up with the demands of those who are asking about Islamic books to learn about Islam." This event made people think (about true Islam) which benefited Islam greatly.
Shaykh: Hundreds of people used to doubt you and few only would follow you until this huge event happened. Now hundreds of people are coming out to join you. I remember a vision by Shaykh Salih Al-(Shuaybi). He said: "There will be a great hit and people will go out by hundreds to Afghanistan." I asked him (Salih): "To Afghanistan?" He replied, "Yes." According to him, the only ones who stay behind will be the mentally impotent and the liars (hypocrites). I remembered his saying that hundreds of people will go out to Afghanistan. He had this vision a year ago. This event discriminated between the different types of followers.
Osama bin Laden: (...Inaudible...) we calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all. (...Inaudible...) due to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only. This is all that we had hoped for.
Shaykh: Allah be praised.
Osama bin Laden: We were at (...inaudible...) when the event took place. We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day. We had finished our work that day and had the radio on. It was 5:30 p.m. our time. I was sitting with Dr. Ahmad Abu-al-(Khair). Immediately, we heard the news that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We turned the radio station to the news from Washington. The news continued and no mention of the attack until the end. At the end of the newscast, they reported that a plane just hit the World Trade Center.
Shaykh: Allah be praised.
Osama bin Laden: After a little while, they announced that another plane had hit the World Trade Center. The brothers who heard the news were overjoyed by it.
Shaykh: I listened to the news and I was sitting. We didn't... we were not thinking about anything, and all of a sudden, Allah willing, we were talking about how come we didn't have anything, and all of a sudden the news came and everyone was overjoyed and everyone until the next day, in the morning, was talking about what was happening and we stayed until four o'clock, listening to the news every time a little bit different, everyone was very joyous and saying "Allah is great," "Allah is great," "We are thankful to Allah," "Praise Allah." And I was happy for the happiness of my brothers. That day the congratulations were coming on the phone non-stop. The mother was receiving phone calls continuously. Thank Allah. Allah is great, praise be to Allah. (Quoting the verse from the Quran)
Shaykh: "Fight them, Allah will torture them, with your hands, he will torture them. He will deceive them and he will give you victory. Allah will forgive the believers, he is knowledgeable about everything."
Shaykh: No doubt it is a clear victory. Allah has bestowed on us... honor on us... and he will give us blessing and more victory during this holy month of Ramadan. And this is what everyone is hoping for. Thank Allah America came out of its caves. We hit her the first hit and the next one will hit her with the hands of the believers, the good believers, the strong believers. By Allah it is a great work. Allah prepares for you a great reward for this work. I'm sorry to speak in your presence, but it is just thoughts, just thoughts. By Allah, who there is no god but him. I live in happiness, happiness... I have not experienced, or felt, in a long time. I remember, the words of Al-Rabbani, he said they made a coalition against us in the winter with the infidels like the Turks, and others, and some other Arabs. And they surrounded us like the days... in the days of the prophet Muhammad. Exactly like what's happening right now. But he comforted his followers and said, "This is going to turn and hit them back." And it is a mercy for us. And a blessing to us. And it will bring people back. Look how wise he was. And Allah will give him blessing. And the day will come when the symbols of Islam will rise up and it will be similar to the early days of Al-Mujahedeen and Al-Ansar (similar to the early years of Islam). And victory to those who follow Allah. Finally said, if it is the same, like the old days, such as Abu Bakr and Othman and Ali and others. In these days, in our times, that it will be the greatest jihad in the history of Islam and the resistance of the wicked people.
Shaykh: By Allah my Shaykh. We congratulate you for the great work. Thank Allah.
Tape ends here
Second segment of Bin Laden's visit, shows up at the front of the tape
Osama bin Laden: Abdallah Azzam, Allah bless his soul, told me not to record anything (...inaudible...) so I thought that was a good omen, and Allah will bless us (...inaudible...). Abu-Al-Hasan Al-(Masri), who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV a couple of days ago and addressed the Americans saying: "If you are true men, come down here and face us." (...inaudible...) He told me a year ago: "I saw in a dream, we were playing a soccer game against the Americans. When our team showed up in the field, they were all pilots!" He said: "So I wondered if that was a soccer game or a pilot game? Our players were pilots." He (Abu-Al-Hasan) didn't know anything about the operation until he heard it on the radio. He said the game went on and we defeated them. That was a good omen for us.
Shaykh: May Allah be blessed.
Unidentified Man Off Camera: Abd Al Rahman Al-(Ghamri) said he saw a vision, before the operation, a plane crashed into a tall building. He knew nothing about it.
Shaykh: May Allah be blessed!
Sulayman (Abu Guaith): I was sitting with the Shaykh in a room, then I left to go to another room where there was a TV set. The TV broadcasted the big event. The scene was showing an Egyptian family sitting in their living room, they exploded with joy. Do you know when there is a soccer game and your team wins, it was the same expression of joy. There was a subtitle that read: "In revenge for the children of Al Aqsa', Usama Bin Ladin executes an operation against America." So I went back to the Shaykh (meaning Osama bin Laden) who was sitting in a room with 50 to 60 people. I tried to tell him about what I saw, but he made gesture with his hands, meaning: "I know, I know."
Osama bin Laden: He did not know about the operation. Not everybody knew (...inaudible...). Muhammad (Atta) from the Egyptian family (meaning the Al Qa'ida Egyptian group), was in charge of the group.
Shaykh: A plane crashing into a tall building was out of anyone's imagination. This was a great job. He was one of the pious men in the organization. He became a martyr. Allah bless his soul.
Shaykh: (Referring to dreams and visions) The plane that he saw crashing into the building was seen before by more than one person. One of the good religious people has left everything and come here. He told me, "I saw a vision, I was in a huge plane, long and wide. I was carrying it on my shoulders and I walked from the road to the desert for half a kilometer. I was dragging the plane." I listened to him and I prayed to Allah to help him. Another person told me that last year he saw, but I didn't understand and I told him I don't understand. He said, "I saw people who left for jihad... and they found themselves in New York... in Washington and New York." I said, "What is this?" He told me the plane hit the building. That was last year. We haven't thought much about it. But, when the incidents happened he came to me and said, "Did you see... this is strange." I have another man... my god... he said and swore by Allah that his wife had seen the incident a week earlier. She saw the plane crashing into a building... that was unbelievable, my god.
Osama bin Laden: The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn't know anything about the operation, not even one letter. But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes.
Osama bin Laden: (...inaudible...) then he said: Those who were trained to fly didn't know the others. One group of people did not know the other group. (...inaudible...) (Someone in the crowd asks UBL to tell the Shaykh about the dream of (Abu-Da'ud).
Osama bin Laden: We were at a camp of one of the brother's guards in Qandahar. This brother belonged to the majority of the group. He came close and told me that he saw, in a dream, a tall building in America, and in the same dream he saw Mukhtar teaching them how to play karate. At that point, I was worried that maybe the secret would be revealed if everyone starts seeing it in their dream. So I closed the subject. I told him if he sees another dream, not to tell anybody, because people will be upset with him. (Another person's voice can be heard recounting his dream about two planes hitting a big building).
Osama bin Laden: They were overjoyed when the first plane hit the building, so I said to them: be patient.
Osama bin Laden: The difference between the first and the second plane hitting the towers was twenty minutes. And the difference between the first plane and the plane that hit the Pentagon was one hour.
Shaykh: They (the Americans) were terrified thinking there was a coup. [Note: Ayman Al-Zawahri says first he commended Osama bin Laden's awareness of what the media is saying. Then he says it was the first time for them (Americans) to feel danger coming at them.] Osama bin Laden (reciting a poem): I witness that against the sharp blade They always faced difficulties and stood together... When the darkness comes upon us and we are bit by a Sharp tooth, I say... "Our homes are flooded with blood and the tyrant Is freely wandering in our homes"... And from the battlefield vanished The brightness of swords and the horses... And over weeping sounds now We hear the beats of drums and rhythm. They are storming his forts And shouting: "We will not stop our raids Until you free our lands"...
Bin Laden visit footage complete. Footage of the visit to the helicopter site follows the poem.
To the best of our knowledge, the text on this page may be freely reproduced and distributed.
If you have any questions about this, please check out our Copyright Policy.
http://www.totse.com/en/politics/foreign_military_intelligence_agencies/spystatn.html
Shortwave Spy Numbers Stations
by Swedish Rhapsody
Shortwave Spy Numbers Stations Types
5 Digit Spanish YL 3/2 Digit Spanish YL 5 Digit Spanish OM
5 Digit English YL 3/2 Digit English YL Lincolnshire Poacher
The Russian Man 4 Digit German YL 5 Digit German YL (Two
Letter Phonetic) Mossad Stations New Star Broadcasting Station
OLX - MOI Prague Czech Station Swedish Rhapsody Station
Note: The schedules found here are the result of monitoring by
myself and many fellow Numbers Stations enthusiasts. If you have
any additional information, new stations or schedules, etc, please
don't hesitate to pass them on for inclusion here!
http://www.google.com/search?q=The+apartheid+war%3A+drug%2C+torture%2C+biological+tests%27%2C+in+Africa&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
The latter part of the next article, covers many things, among them, applying poison to the fabric of a jacket............
http://www.totse.com/en/politics/foreign_military_intelligence_agencies/167127.html
various and hizbollah:
http://www.google.com/search?q=General+tells+TRC+Special+Forces+he+commanded+killed+12&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Biological research:
http://www.google.com/search?q=various+documents+used+by+Gen.+Pierre+Steyn+in+his+investigation&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=What+is+known+about+South+Africa%27s+chemical+and+biological+warfare+programme%2C+Project+B%2C+%27die+Organisatie&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=TRC+Research+documents&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=Mozambique%3A+chemical+attack&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=Feature%3A+Chemical+War+Threat&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
interesting:
http://www.google.com/search?q=The+South+African+Chemical+and+Biological+Warfare+Defense+School&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
SUMMARIES
Alexander Dugin, the Issue of Post—Soviet Fascism, and Russian
Political Discourse Today
By Andreas Umland, Kiev, Ukraine
The past year witnessed a welcome sensitization of the Russian public
towards skinhead attacks and ultra-nationalist propaganda.
Nevertheless, the administration of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin-
controlled mass media have maintained an ambiguous stance with regard
to xenophobic tendencies in politics and public discourse. While
primitive hatred of foreigners and ethnic violence are officially
stigmatized, the dissemination of national stereotypes and anti-
Americanism, in particular, by Kremlin-directed mass media and
political pundits continues unabated. For example, the notorious
publicist Alexander Dugin, who openly propagated fascist ideas in the
1990s, has become an important player in shaping the discourse of
Russian political and intellectual elites today. It remains to be seen
how the Russian leadership will handle the challenges resulting from
such a contradictory approach to its domestic and foreign policies in
the coming years.
Full text: http://www.res.ethz.ch/analysis/rad
Imperial Nationalism in Russia
By Emil Pain, Moscow
Russian nationalist ideas and organizations are rapidly spreading
through Russia now. Contemporary Russian nationalists stress the idea
of rebuilding the Russian empire. However, their focus on the idea of
“Russia for the Russians†is incompatible with efforts to bring
other
ethnic groups together in one political entity. The authorities support
Russian nationalist ideas, in the mistaken idea that they will be able
to manage nationalist forces. In fact, the rise of Russian nationalism
is likely to encourage separatism among other ethnic groups.
Full text: http://www.res.ethz.ch/analysis/rad
Russian Nationalism Expands in the Regions
By Yuri Shabaev, Syktyvkar
The fall of 2006 marked an increase in the activity of Russian
nationalist groups in Russia at the national and regional levels. Th e most
visible manifestation of this phenomenon was the “Russian March†held
on the November 4 Day of National Unity in Moscow and many regional
capitals like Komi’s Syktyvkar.
Full text: http://www.res.ethz.ch/analysis/rad
Iran: Writers Struggle to Uphold Freedom of Expression
Iran: Writers Struggle to Uphold Freedom of Expression
06 Feb 2007 17:33:02 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/d76079c08695b46b0eb536a6972d4a5d.htm
New York, February 6, 2007) - Human Rights Watch announced today that seven Iranians are among the 45 writers from 22 countries who are receiving the prestigious Hellman/Hammett prize, an award that recognizes writers globally who have been victims of political persecution.
The Iranian recipients of this year's award are writers and activists whose work and activities have been variously suppressed. Beyond what they themselves have experienced, they represent numerous other writers and journalists whose personal and professional lives have been hampered as a result of repressive government policies governing speech and publications.
"The past year was a particularly difficult one for Iranian writers who had to work in an ever more restrictive atmosphere of new publishing rules and policies," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "It is important to draw international attention to their achievements under the current repressive policies."
Human Rights Watch administers the Hellman/Hammett grant program in recognition of the hardships faced by writers all around the world who have been victims of political persecution. The program is financed by the estate of the American playwright Lillian Hellman, with funds set up in her name and that of her long-time companion, the novelist Dashiell Hammett, both of whom suffered professionally during the anti-communist "witch hunts" of the 1950s.
Since the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the situation for Iranian writers has worsened. Authorities systematically suppress freedom of expression and opinion by closing newspapers and imprisoning journalists and editors. The few independent dailies that remain heavily self-censored. Many writers and intellectuals have left the country, are in prison, or have ceased to criticize the government in their writings. Recently imposed rules of publication have further narrowed the field of acceptable speech.
This year's recipients of the Hellman-Hammett grant from Iran are:
* Ali Ashraf Darvishian, 65, one of Iran's most prominent and prolific post-revolutionary writers, has published more than 20 books, including fiction, children's stories and a 20-volume collection of Iranian folk tales. For the past four years, government censors have banned the publication of his works.
* Shahram Rafizadeh, 34, investigative journalist and blogger, also writes poetry and literary criticism. During the reform era, Rafizadeh was well known for writing about the role of Iranian intelligence agents in the murder of several writers and intellectuals in 1998. He was detained in September 2004 and was held in solitary confinement for 86 days.
* Roozbeh Mir Ebrahimi, 27, worked as an editor and reporter for a number of reformist dailies that have since been shut down by the government. He investigated several high profile human rights cases, including the murder of a Canadian-Iranian photojournalist in 2003. He was detained in September 2004 and held in solitary confinement for 60 days. He has written two books on contemporary Iranian political history that have not received government permission for publication.
* Arash Sigarchi, 28, journalist and blogger, started his career in journalism at the age of 15. He was arrested in January 2005 after he reported on human rights violations on his blog. Originally sentenced to 14 years in prison, an appeals court reduced the sentence to three years. He was recently diagnosed with cancer and is receiving treatment outside of prison.
* Ali Afshari, 33, political analyst and human rights advocate, was imprisoned in 2000 and held in solitary confinement for 328 days for his role in the student movement. He has written numerous articles and co-authored a book on political theory. When he left Iran in 2005, the Judiciary sentenced him to six years in prison.
* Ensaf Ali Hedayat, 41, journalist, has reported extensively on human rights violations in the Iranian province of Azerbaijan. He was arrested in June 2003, spent 74 days in solitary confinement and 18 months in prison. He currently lives in exile and is writing his prison memoirs.
* Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir, 29, journalist, has written extensively on the political environment and human rights issues in Iran. He has been arrested several times and spent nearly eight months in Evin prison in 2003. In 2005, he was forced into exile, but continues to report on human rights violations in Iran from abroad.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Poets/Unsuri.html#Crow
The Eagle and the Crow: A Dialogue
Written by
Abul Qasim Hassan ibn Ahmad 'Unsuri (d. AD 1050)
Translated by Iraj Bashiri
Copyright, Iraj Bashiri, 2000
A dialogue occurred, I happen to know,
Betwixt the white eagle and the crow.
Birds we are, said the crow, in the main,
Friends we are, and thus we shall remain.
Birds we are, agreed the eagle, only in name,
Our temperaments, alas, are not the same.
An eagle's leftover is still a feast,
Carrion you devour, to say the least.
My perch's the king's arm, his palace my bed,
You haunt the ruins, mingle with the dead.
My color is heavenly, as everyone can tell,
Your color inflicts pain, like news from hell.
Kings tend to choose me rather than you,
Good attracts good, that goes for evil too.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Poets/Eagle.html
The Eagle
By
Parviz Natel Khanlari
Translated by
Iraj Bashiri
Copyright, Bashiri 2000
Click here for the Farsi text
Dedicated to the memory of Sadeq Hedayat
"It is related that the crow lives three hundred
years and more...while the eagle's life span is
but thirty years."
From Khavas al-Haivan
~~~
Sadness filled the eagle's soul and heart,
When his youthful days began to depart.
The end was approaching fast, he saw,
With only sunsets remaining to draw.
Leaving this world full of desire,
To another world he must retire.
The incurable demanded quick cure,
A medicine at once fresh and pure.
Early one morn he took to flight,
To end, for good, the mortals' plight.
Alarmed, the flock avoiding capture,
Ran here and yon, devoid of rapture.
Fearful of the enemy, the shepherd,
Sought safety for the lamb and the herd,
Among the brush, the partridge hid,
Into a deep hole, the snake slid.
Stopped in his track the deer, then ran,
Leaving a line of dust, thin and tan.
The hunter though, elsewhere bound,
Allowed the game to roam the ground.
Mortals are destined to one day perish,
Sweetness of life to no longer cherish.
~~~
A black crow, a filthy, ill-formed pest,
On that vast plane had made his nest.
A survivor of kids, the rocks they throw,
He lived the monotonous life of a crow.
Beyond reckoning his number of years,
Dead matter and carrion his daily fares.
~~~
Spotting the crow, down flew the mighty king,
His complaint to the pesky bird to bring.
"Much maligned fellow, respectfully I seek,
Your wise counsel, do not be meek.
A solution true if offered for my pain,
My regal reach would determine your gain."
"We are but slaves," said the crow, "of old,
To carry your orders, with honors untold.
Ready at your command to play my role,
Sacrifice for you, my self, body, and soul.
Life sacrificed for you, I have been taught.
Is all there is, no more exists to be sought."
~~~
Outwardly this but, within he thought,
'In the eagle's claws, I must not be caught.
Need has made the mighty meek and tame,
Am I not to him but a feckless game?
If suddenly riled or slightly scuffed,
Like a candle, my life will be snuffed.
Ill-founded friendship begets ill-founded love,
Ill-placed discretion turns me into a dove.'
Having made his decision, the cautious crow,
sought distance from the eagle, a stone’s throw.
~~~
"Pledge," said the crow, "that you will,
Follow my example, seeking no frill.
Your life is brief by other design,
Longevity, too, by design is mine.
You roam the heights, never reach below,
What has gained you, that upward flow?
My father, over three hundred, when he passed,
A great deal of earthly knowledge had amassed.
He imagined the winds differently than do you,
And oft discussed them with feelings true.
The winds that roam the earth, he used to say,
Are harmless, as harmless as the sun's ray.
Beyond the clouds, the harmful winds dwell
Lethal winds, sounding a bird's death knell.
The winds that reside at the highest place,
Eliminate life, without leaving a trace.
Our longevity, father said, is basically due,
To the low levels, the unique life we pursue.
We incline towards the base for a long life,
Away from the heights, the abode of strife.
Carrion has a special benefit, I should add,
It elongates life, and I don't mean by a tad.
Dead and putrid matter, be absolutely sure,
Are for your malady, the most effective cure.
Abandon flight to your normal height,
Forget capturing birds left and right.
Perch on the gutter, a delightful place,
Occupy corners of yards or such space.
This neighborhood I know well, to and fro
I am, after all, a well-known, local crow.
There is a garden, behind it my house,
Therein lies, if you will, cheese for the mouse.
A tablecloth brimming with food and drink,
Repasts from every clime that you can think."
~~~
The place about which the crow eloquently talked,
Was a carrion pit, of dead matter over stocked.
Its stench spread over the plane, far and wide,
Infested with flies and bees away from the tide.
A detestation that caused the soul to cringe,
An atmosphere that made the eyes sear and singe.
Together they arrived at the destined place,
The crow deemed it a feast worthy of grace.
'This feast so delicious,' thought the proud crow,
'Fills my guest with utmost warmth and glow.
Thank God that I was not born poor,
An outcast, as it were, a destitute moor.'
Encouraged thus, he picked a carcass and ate,
Teaching the eagle the manner and the rate.
~~~
With a lifetime spent in flight, free from care,
In the firmament, hunting heavenly fare.
Viewing the clouds spread majestically below,
Ruling the animal kingdom, the fast and the slow.
The splendid bird of many a victorious trip,
The eagle with the world in his mighty grip.
The hunter of partridge, lark, and pheasant,
Permanent resident of the air most pleasant.
Had now fallen so deeply into disgrace,
That a filthy crow must set for him the pace.
His heart and soul were no longer at bliss,
Like a dying patient approaching the abyss.
He felt faint, his head began to swim,
He closed his eyes as his world went dim.
Recalling the grandeur that the heights command,
The glory, the beauty, and the love of kind.
The charisma, the liberty, and the victorious ways,
Offered him by heights on his glorious days.
He opened his eyes wide only to see,
Such magnificence thereabouts not to be.
There was baseness, misery, and woe,
With fear and hatred going toe in toe.
Flapping his wings, he rose above the scene,
"Forgive me, friend, for being so keen.
Live long, eat well, and grow, if you wish,
On carrion and dead matter and putrid fish.
This delicious-looking fare I’d rather pass,
As I have passed to the animals the grass.
~~~
Death, immediate, in the firmament today,
Is worth a hundred lives enmeshed in decay."
He then rose into the air, gained altitude, on and on,
With the crow watching in amazement, there upon.
He reached his own abode, passed even that,
To the abode of light, where the firmament's at.
He became a point that had existed a while,
Then turned into a dot that was not servile.
[Don't ask me what this page is, as I do not know, 'history' and it is interesting, to me, as I recall these incidents..]
http://www.ual.es/~abecerra/ID/time3.all
.I 3
.T
Information Retrieval
.A
A. BECERRA
.W
BERLIN ONE LAST RUN HANS WEIDNER HAD BEEN HOPING FOR MONTHS TO
ESCAPE DRAB EAST GERMANY AND MAKE HIS WAY TO THE WEST . THE ODDS WERE
AGAINST HIM, FOR WEIDNER, 40, WAS A CRIPPLE ON CRUTCHES WHO LIVED IN
THE VILLAGE OF NEUGERSDORF, 115 MILES SOUTHEAST OF THE FRONTIER OF
FREEDOM BUT HANS WEIDNER DID HAVE ONE MAJOR ASSET, THE BUS THAT
HE OPERATED FOR THE LOCAL COMMUNIST REGIME . IT WAS AN UGLY THING, AND
ANCIENT . ITS CHASSIS CREAKED, AND THE ENGINE COUGHED ; A
CREAM-COLORED COAT OF PAINT COULD NOT DISGUISE THE WELTS AND BRUISES OF
TWO DECADES OF CHUGGING SERVICE . IN FACT, THE BUS WAS READY FOR THE
JUNK PILE WHEN WEIDNER DECIDED TO PRESS IT INTO SERVICE FOR ONE LAST
RUN . SHARP BLADES . THE HAZARDS WOULD BE GREAT ON THE JOURNEY TO THE
BORDER ; SO WEIDNER SIGNED UP A FELLOW VILLAGER, JURGEN WAGNER, 22, TO
TAKE THE WHEEL . EIGHT DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS, THE PAIR BEGAN THE
FEVERISH PREPARATIONS IN WEIDNER'S GARAGE . FIRST WEIDNER AND WAGNER
ATTACHED A HEAVY SNOWPLOW TO THE FRONT OF THE BUS, NOT TO PLOW SNOW,
BUT TO SCOOP AWAY THE HEAVY OBSTACLES THEY KNEW AWAITED THEM AT
ROADBLOCKS AHEAD . TO ALL SIX LUGS ON EACH FRONT WHEEL THEY BOLTED
SHARP BLADES OF THE TOUGHEST STEEL, AFFIXED SO THAT THE WHIRLING EDGES
WOULD CHOP BARBED WIRE TO BITS . THEN THEY WEDGED ONE-QUARTER-INCH
SECTIONS OF STEEL PLATE INSIDE THE BUS TO STOP BULLETS . AT LAST ALL
WAS READY . ON CHRISTMAS EVE, WEIDNER AND WAGNER PILED THEIR WIVES AND
FOUR CHILDREN ABOARD, NOT FORGETTING THREE TONS OF HOUSEHOLD BELONGINGS
. FOR ADDED PROTECTION THE PLOTTERS SHOVELED A TON OF COAL AND POTATOES
INTO THE BACK OF THE BUS . THEN THEY CHUGGED OFF NORTH TOWARD BERLIN
ALONG BACK ROADS TO ESCAPE COMMUNIST PATROLS . JUST BEFORE THEY REACHED
THE WALL, THEY PLANNED TO SWING WEST IN ORDER TO ENTER THE EAST-WEST
AUTOBAHN LEADING TO THE U.S . SECTOR OF THE CITY . EN ROUTE, THE
RADIATOR FROZE IN THE SUBZERO WEATHER . THAT FIXED, THEY WERE ONLY A
FEW MILES FARTHER WHEN A TIRE BLEW OUT . THE KIDS WERE CRYING AND THE
WIVES SHIVERING WITH COLD AND PANIC WHEN, AT LAST, THEY ARRIVED AT
DREWITZ, THE MOST HEAVILY GUARDED CHECKPOINT ON THE ENTIRE AUTOBAHN TO
BERLIN . IT WAS NO TIME TO STOP AND RECONSIDER . FLYING POTATOES . "
WAH-AH, WAH-AH, " SHRIEKED THE POLICE-TYPE KLAXONS THAT WEIDNER HAD
THOUGHTFULLY INSTALLED IN ADVANCE . THE COMMUNIST GUARDS OBEDIENTLY
RAISED THE FIRST OF THREE BARRIERS . BUT WHAT WAS A BUS DOING ON
EMERGENCY DUTY ? SUDDENLY THE SHOOTING BEGAN TOO LATE . WAGNER, AT 40
M.P.H., WAS ALREADY CRASHING THROUGH THE SECOND BARRIER 100 YARDS
AHEAD, THEN THE THIRD, ONLY 20 YARDS AWAY . ITS WINDSHIELD SMASHED, ITS
PASSENGERS SHAKEN, ITS CARGO OF COAL AND POTATOES IN EVERY CORNER OF
THE CAB, THE OLD BUS FINALLY LURCHED TO A STOP A FEW MILES DOWN THE
ROAD WHERE THE COMMUNISTS NO LONGER MATTERED AT THE U.S . CHECKPOINT, A
FOOT OR TWO INSIDE WEST BERLIN .
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