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.

Cruellest cut in the name of Islam

* Genital mutilation and forced marriage occurs even among educated
Muslims in some countries, writes Ayaan Hirsi Ali in a shocking account
of
her early life in Somalia, in her new book

_____

* February 03, 2007

KORAN school was a shed down the road. The other pupils were from the
neighbourhood. At first I liked it. I learned to mix ink from charcoal,
water, and a little milk, and to write the Arabic alphabet on long
wooden
boards. I began learning the Koran, line by line, by heart. It was
uplifting
to be engaged in such an adult task.

But the kids at madrassah (Islamic religious school) were tough. They
fought. One girl, who was about eight years old, they called
kintirleey,
"she with the clitoris".

I had no idea what a clitoris was, but the kids didn't even want to be
seen
with this girl. They spat on her and pinched her; they rubbed sand in
her
eyes, and once they caught her and tried to bury her in the sand behind
the
school.

The madrassah teacher didn't help. Once in a while he called her
dammin,
dunce, and kintirleey, too. My teenage cousin Sanyar used to pick me up
after madrassah. One day she arrived just as a girl hit me in the face.
Sanyar took me home and told the story. "Ayaan didn't even defend
herself,"
she said in horror. "Coward!" my family jeered.

The next day Sanyar waited for me outside the madrassah with another
teenager, the older sister of the girl who had hit me the day before.
They
caught hold of the two of us and tugged us over to an open space, then
ordered us to fight. "Scratch her eyes out. Bite her," Sanyar hissed at
me.
"Come on, coward, think of your honour."

The other girl got the same encouragement. We flew at each other, fists
tight, hitting, wrestling, pulling each other's hair, biting. "Ayaan,
never
cry!" Sanyar called out. The other children cheered us on. When they
let us
stop, our dresses were torn and my lip was bleeding, but Sanyar was
delighted. "I don't want you to ever let another child hit you or make
you
cry," she said. "Fight. If you don't fight for your honour, you're a
slave."

Then, as we walked away, the other girl shouted after me, "Kintirleey!"
Sanyar winced. I looked at her, horror dawning on me. I was like that
other
girl? I, too, had that filthy thing, a kintir? In Somalia, like many
countries across Africa and the Middle East, little girls are made
"pure" by
having their genitals cut out. There is no other way to describe this
procedure, which typically occurs around the age of five.

After the child's clitoris and labia are carved out, scraped off, or,
in
more compassionate areas, merely cut or pricked, the whole area is
often
sewn up, so that a thick band of tissue forms a chastity belt made of
the
girl's own scarred flesh. A small hole is situated to permit a thin
flow of
pee. Only great force can tear the scar tissue wider, for sex.

Female genital mutilation predates Islam. Not all Muslims do this, and
a few
of the peoples who do are not Islamic. But in Somalia, where virtually
every
girl is excised, the practice is always justified in the name of Islam.
Uncircumcised girls will be possessed by devils, fall into vice and
perdition, and become whores. Imams never discourage the practice: it
keeps
girls pure.

Many girls die during or after their excision, from infection. Other
complications cause enormous, more or less lifelong pain. My father
Abeh was
a modern man and considered the practice barbaric. He had always
insisted
that his daughters be left uncut. In this he was quite extraordinarily
forward-thinking. Though I don't think it was for the same reason,
Mahad,
who was six, had also not yet been circumcised.

Not long after that first fight of mine at the madrassah, Grandma
decided
that the time was right for us to undergo the necessary and proper
dignity
of purification. My father was in jail and my mother was away for long
periods, but Grandma would ensure that the old traditions would be
respected
in the old ways.

After she made the arrangements, Grandma was cheerful and friendly all
week
long. A special table was prepared in her bedroom, and various aunts,
known
and unknown, gathered in the house. When the day itself came I was not
frightened, just curious. I had no idea what was going to happen,
except
that there was a festive atmosphere in the house and we - all three of
us -
were going to be cleansed. I wouldn't be called kintirleey any more.

Mahad went first. I was driven out of the room, but after a while I
stole
back to the door and watched. Mahad was on the floor, with his head and
arms
on Grandma's lap. Two women were holding down his spread-eagled legs,
and a
strange man was bending down between them. The room was warm and I
could
smell a mixture of sweat and frankincense.

Grandma was whispering in Mahad's ears, "Don't cry, don't stain your
mother's honour. These women will talk about what they have seen. Grit
your
teeth." Mahad wasn't making a sound, but tears rolled down his face as
he
bit into Grandma's shawl. His face was clenched and twisted in pain.

I couldn't see what the stranger was doing, but I could see blood. This
frightened me. I was next. Grandma swung her hand from side to side and
said, "Once this long kintir is removed you and your sister will be
pure."

From Grandma's words and gestures I gathered that this hideous kintir,
my
clitoris, would one day grow so long that it would swing sideways
between my
legs. She caught hold of me and gripped my upper body in the same
position
as she had put Mahad. Two other women held my legs apart. The man, who
was
probably an itinerant traditional circumciser from the blacksmith clan,
picked up a pair of scissors. With the other hand, he caught hold of
the
place between my legs and started tweaking it, like Grandma milking a
goat.
"There it is, there is the kintir," one of the women said.

Then the scissors went down between my legs and the man cut off my
inner
labia and clitoris. I heard it, like a butcher snipping the fat off a
piece
of meat. A piercing pain shot up between my legs, indescribable, and I
howled. Then came the sewing: the long, blunt needle clumsily pushed
into my
bleeding outer labia, my loud and anguished protests, Grandma's words
of
comfort and encouragement. "It's just this once in your life, Ayaan. Be
brave, he's almost finished." When the sewing was finished, the man cut
the
thread off with his teeth. That is all I can recall of it. But I do
remember
Haweya's bloodcurdling howls. Though she was the youngest - she was
four, I
five, Mahad six - Haweya must have struggled much more than Mahad and I
did,
or perhaps the women were exhausted after fighting us, and slipped,
because
the man made some bad cuts on Haweya's thighs. She carried the scars of
them
her whole life.

I must have fallen asleep, for it wasn't until much later that day that
I
realised that my legs had been tied together, to prevent me from moving
to
facilitate the formation of a scar. It was dark and my bladder was
bursting,
but it hurt too much to pee. The sharp pain was still there, and my
legs
were covered in blood. I was sweating and shivering. It wasn't until
the
next day that my Grandma could persuade me to pee even a little.

By then everything hurt. When I just lay still the pain throbbed
miserably,
but when I urinated the flash of pain was as sharp as when I had been
cut.

It took about two weeks for us to recover. Grandma tended to us
constantly,
suddenly gentle and affectionate. She responded to each anguished howl
or
whimper, even in the night. After every tortured urination she washed
our
wounds carefully with warm water and dabbed them with purple liquid.
Then
she tied our legs again and reminded us to stay completely still or we
would
tear, and then the man would have to be called again to sew us back up.

After a week the man came and inspected us. He thought that Mahad and I
were
doing well, but said Haweya needed to be resewn. She had torn her wound
while urinating and struggling with Grandma. We heard it happening; it
was
agony for her. The entire procedure was torture for all of us, but
undoubtedly the one who suffered the most was Haweya.

Mahad was already up and about, quite healed, when the man returned to
remove the thread he had used to sew me shut. This was again very
painful.
He used a pair of tweezers to dig out the threads, tugging on them
sharply.
Again, Grandma and two other women held me down. But after that, even
though
I had a thick, bumpy scar between my legs that hurt if I moved, at
least my
legs didn't have to be tied together any more, and I no longer had to
lie
down without moving all day.

It took Haweya another week to reach the stage of thread removal, and
four
women had to hold her down. I was in the room when this happened. I
will
never forget the panic in her face and voice as she screamed with
everything
in her and struggled to keep her legs closed. Haweya was never the same
afterward. She became ill with a fever for several weeks and lost a lot
of
weight. She had horrible nightmares, and during the day began stomping
off
to be alone. My once cheerful, playful little sister changed. Sometimes
she
just stared vacantly at nothing for hours. We all started wetting our
beds
after the circumcision. In Mahad's case, it lasted a long time.

When Ma came back from her trip this time, she was furious. "Who asked
you
to circumcise them?" she yelled, more angry with her mother than I had
ever
seen her. "You know their father doesn't want it done! Allah knows, I
have
never in my life been so betrayed as by you. What possessed you?"

Grandma turned on my mother in fury. She yelled that she had done Ma a
huge
favour. Everyone was cut.

ONE Friday afternoon at the end of January 1992, my father Abeh came
straight from the mosque to our flat. He never did that - never paid us
a
visit these days - and when he arrived he was completely excited.
"Ayaan, my
daughter, I have good news for you - the best news - my prayers are
answered!" he crowed. "Today in the mosque a blessed man came to me
with a
proposal of marriage, and I offered him your hand!"

I remember letting him talk while I felt my heels sinking into the
ground. I
cleared my throat and said no, but he didn't hear me. I said, "I'm not
going
to marry a stranger!" and my father, bubbling with enthusiasm,
answered,
"But he's not a stranger! He's not a stranger at all! He's your cousin!
He's
an Osman Mahamud!" He began chanting back all of this man's names.

I said, "Not a stranger in that sense, Abeh," and he answered, "In what
sense, then?" "But I haven't even met him!" I wailed. My father told
me,
"That's fine - you will meet him tomorrow."

My father had given me away to a man called Osman Moussa, a fine young
Somali man who had grown up in Canada. He had come to Nairobi to find
and
rescue family members who had been stranded by the civil war, and also
to
find a bride. He thought the Somali girls in Canada were too
Westernised, by
which he meant that they dressed indecently, disobeyed their husbands,
and
mixed freely with men; they were not baarri, which made them unworthy
of
marriage. And the civil war meant that daughters of the best families
in
Somalia were available for practically nothing.

My father had met this young man in the mosque barely two hours before.
He
was tall, he told me, with strong bones and white teeth, well fed on
milk
and meat in North America. Osman Moussa must have approached him. I can
imagine the scene, the respectful recitation of lineage, finally the
request: "You are the father of daughters, and I seek a bride." My
father
must have felt so very happy.

There was no bride price. Because of the civil war, it would have been
indecent to ask for one. But this was a strategic marriage; Osman
Moussa
could boast that he was married to a Magan, and we would now have
relatives
in Canada. There were all kinds of reasons for my father to be happy
about
this match.

I summoned the strength to say to my father "Abeh, what if I am already
with
some other person?" but he wasn't even listening. He said, "Allah has
sent
us the answer." He was overcome with his own cleverness. The next day,
my
father came to the house with Osman Moussa.

The living room was clean, and everyone was excited except me. I just
wore
normal clothes, a loose dress and headscarf. I wasn't going to dress up
for
this.

This man came in. He wanted to shake my hand. He was very tall, and
wore
enormously long blue jeans; he looked like a basketball player, with a
shaved head and a baseball cap. I was polite. I said, "Hello, come in.
I am
Ayaan," without looking him in the eye, and fetched my mother.

My father and mother both remained in the room with us - Ma and I sat
on the
bed - and this man talked about Canada, where he had lived since he was
a
small boy, and about the refugees and the war. We didn't make eye
contact.
Osman Moussa was talking with my mother, trying to pass muster. When I
could
look up, I scrutinised him - the way he talked, his face - thinking,
"Will I
like this man?" I was supposed to make a home and a life with him;
cook,
bear his kids, respond to his whims. And what did I know of him? His
Somali
was poor, half-learned. He seemed earnest.

He neither repelled nor attracted me. I felt indifferent, completely
without
feeling. I didn't detect that he had any special interest in me,
either. The
marriage was set for Saturday, six days away.

Our second meeting was more intimate. Osman Moussa and his sister came,
and
I asked Haweya and Mahad to be with me, to help me eavaluate this man.
Ma
left us five young people alone. I asked about prayer; I wanted to find
out
how religious this Osman Moussa was. I felt I had to make some sort of
decision fast, even though there seemed to be no way I could stop the
arrangement from proceeding.

I asked, "What do you expect of a wife?" Osman's sister was mortified,
and
said, "Maybe we shouldn't be here if you're going to discuss such
things!"
But Osman Moussa belly-laughed and said, "You're going to give me six
sons.
We will be a home for all the Osman Mahamud."

We grilled him subtly in the Somali epics we had learned from our
mother,
some of them composed by the Abdihalin brothers' greatgrandfather, to
our
eternal wonder. He knew none of them. Worse still, instead of admitting
his
ignorance he pretended he knew what we were talking about, which made
him
seem small. We asked him Grandma's old riddles; he failed them.

We switched to English - we assumed this man's English must be better
than
his limping Somali - and Haweya asked him what kind of books he read.
He
said, "Hmya. I read, you know, stuff." I realised his English was
half-learned, too, and he clearly read nothing at all.

I summoned enough courage to ask him to take off his baseball cap,
which he
did. I thought perhaps I might fall in love with his head of hair or
something. But though Osman was only 27 years old, his head was already
as
bald as the bottom of baby Abbas. Baldness is associated with wisdom
among
Somalis, but this man had nothing to show for losing so much hair at
such an
early age.

He thought the Osman Mahamud were the chosen people; he was dull,
trite, and
a bigot, a dyed-in-the-wool Brotherhood type. I remember thinking, "No,
surely Abeh could not do this to me?"

When Osman Moussa finally left I tried to pull together the courage to
take
matters into my own hands. I put on my coat and went to Buruburu, where
my
father was living. When he opened the door I said, "Osman Moussa came
to our
house today and Haweya and Mahad and I tested him. We think he's a
pea-brain. He's not eloquent, he's not brave enough to admit his
shortcomings, and he's a bigot."

Just like that. That way my father couldn't ignore what I was saying,
as he
mostly did. He had me come and sit down and said, "Now tell me."

"I don't think this man and I are compatible," I said.

He said, smiling broadly, "On the basis of one afternoon?" I told my
father,
"You thought on the basis of one minute that we would be compatible, so
I
may think on the basis of one afternoon that we are not."

But Abeh said, "No, I know more than that. He is the son of the son of
the
son of" - he quoted the lineage. "He has a good job in Canada, he
doesn't
chew qat, he is clean and a conscientious worker, he is strong. I am
giving
you to him to ensure your safety."

He went on, "The ceremony will be Saturday, at Farah Goure's house. The
sheep have been bought, the qali has been hired. Your saying you don't
want
this - it's not a question. We are living in bad times. Surely you
won't
reject my choice of a husband for you just because he doesn't read
novels."
He reduced it to the smallest thing. Imagine how trivial my opposition
would
sound to Abeh if I added: but he has no hair!

Still, I sat up straight and told him, "I am not going to do it." My
father
said, "I can't accept a no from you for something you haven't even
tried."

I asked, "You mean I can't say no before I get married?"

He answered, "Of course not. Everything is all arranged." Nobody tied
me up.
I was not shackled. I was not forced at gunpoint. But I had no
realistic way
out.

Edited extract from Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, to be published next
week by
Free Press (an imprint of Simon & Schuster), $34.95.

ISLAMIST WEBSITES MONITORS #56-59

Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project
February 2, 2007
No. 1451

ISLAMIST WEBSITES MONITORS #56-59

To view this Special Dispatch in HTML visit:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=iwmp&ID=SP145107 .

*ISLAMIST WEBSITES MONITOR No. 56

GIMF Announces the Reappearance of Its E-Journal Sawt Al-Jihad

On January 28, 2007, the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) announced on
Islamist websites the imminent release of the 30th issue of its
e-journal Sawt
Al-Jihad (The Voice of Jihad), after a long period of non-publication.
Among
the articles in this issue are an interview with an Al-Qaeda member who
participated in the raid on the Saudi oil refinery in Abqaiq; an
article
titled "'Isa Al-'Awsh – a Knight of Media Jihad"; and an interview with
jihad
commander Karim Al-Majati.

To see a cover of the issue visit:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=iwmp&ID=SP144407

The Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) Changes Its Name to "Al-Qaeda
in the
Islamic Maghrib"

On January 26, 2007, Islamist websites posted a communiqué by the
Algerian
Salafi organization "Group for Preaching and Combat" (GSPC), signed by
organization commander Abu Mus'ab 'Abd Al-Wadud, which announces that
the GSPC
has changed its name to "The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic
Maghrib."
The message explains that, after "joining Al-Qaeda [in September 2006]
and
pledging allegiance to bin Laden... the organization had no choice but
to...
take a new name reflecting the unity, the strong affinity, and the real
connection between the mujahideen of Algeria and their brothers in the
Al-Qaeda organization." The message further states that the GSPC was
ready to
change its name immediately after joining Al-Qaeda, but refrained from
doing
so until it received an order from bin Laden.

Hizb Al-Tahrir Announces Its First "Khilafah Conference" in Australia

On January 27, 2007, an Islamist website posted a communiqué by the
organization Hizb Al-Tahrir, announcing that the organization's first
Khilafah
(Caliphate) Conference will be held in Sydney, Australia on January 28,
2006.
The message states that the conference will be attended by leading
scholars
from Australia and other countries, who will lecture on various aspects
of the
Islamic Caliphate: its history, the legal necessity for its
establishment, the
devastating consequences of its destruction for the Islamic nation, the
progress made in the effort to reestablish it today, and the potential
challenges it might face upon its reestablishment.

To see the announcement visit:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=iwmp&ID=SP144407

Taliban Claims Responsibility for Assassinating Afghan MP

On January 26, 2007, Islamist websites posted a Taliban communiqué
claiming
responsibility for the assassination of Afghan MP Maulvi Mohammad Islam
Mohammadi, which took place in Kabul on that date. The communiqué
accused
Maulvi of blocking the road used by the mujahideen as their escape
route
during the U.S. invasion, and of cooperating with the current U.S.
occupation
of Afghanistan.

*ISLAMIST WEBSITES MONITOR No. 57

Report: Four Sunni Jihad Groups Plan to Unite Under Sheikh Abdullah
Al-Janabi

On January 29, 2007, Islamist websites cited a January 18, 2007 report
by the
Iraqi Al-Malaf news agency (http://www.almalafpress.com), which stated
that
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Janabi – the former head of the Shura Council of the
Mujahideen in Fallujah and one of the individuals on the U.S.'s and the
Iraqi
government's most wanted list – is planning to return to the jihad
front.
According to the report, Al-Janabi plans to head a new Iraqi jihad
group
called "Jaysh Al-Muslimin" (The Muslim Army) which will incorporate
four
organizations that have decided to unite: Kata'ib Thawrat Al-'Ishrin,
Liwa
Al-Islam, Jaysh Al-Mujahideen, and Jaysh Al-Rashidin. The message also
mentions that five other jihad groups, whose names are not given, have
recently united.

Friends of Somalia Brigade Denies Receiving Funds from Al-Qaeda

On January 29, 2007, Islamist websites posted a communiqué by the
Islamist
media group "Friends of Somalia Brigade," signed by the group's
secretary-general Abu 'Aksha Al-Somali. The communiqué denies rumors
"which
were spread in the Somali media and on several American websites" that
the
group is funded by Al-Qaeda. The organization, states the communiqué,
was
established at the request of "a group of brothers from the Media Front
for
the Support of the Somali Resistance," and is funded by contributions
from
Muslims and donors worldwide. The message further states that the
Friends of
Somalia Brigade does not serve any particular group, but rather serves
"all
those who aim their weapons at the enemies of the faith," and that its
members
are 25 reporters in various parts of Somalia whose job is to convey
"confirmed
information."

Al-Baghdadi Claims to Be the "[Real] Authority in Iraq"

On January 28, 2006, Islamist websites posted a letter from "The Office
of
Emir Al-Muaminin [i.e. Commander of the Believers] Abu Omar Al-Husseini
Al-Baghdadi" to UAE Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
From
the letter, dated January 27, 2007, it can be understood that
Al-Baghdadi's
people managed to intercept a letter sent by Al-Nahyan's office to
Iraqi Prime
Minister Nuri Al-Maliki on January 11, 2007, in which the UAE Interior
Minister announces his intention to send a delegation to Iraq in early
February. Al-Baghdadi's letter to Al-Nahyan states: "Al-Maliki has
authority
over nothing, and the proof of this is that your letter to him [did not
reach
him, but instead] reached the [real] authority [in Iraq, i.e.
Al-Baghdadi
himself]... If you still want something, you can write to the office of
the
Commander of the Believers."

*ISLAMIST WEBSITES MONITOR No. 58

Salahaldin Al-Ayoubi Brigades Deny Any Contacts with Iraqi Government

On January 31, 2007, an Islamist website posted a communiqué in the
name of
the Salahaldin Al-Ayoubi Brigades, in which the groups deny allegations
by the
Al-Watan daily that the Salahaldin Al-Ayoubi Brigades had contacted the
Iraqi
government in an attempt to join the political process in Iraq. In the
message, the groups explain that their official announcements are
posted
either on their official website or via specific Islamist websites, but
never
via a spokesman, and that Al-Watan had therefore erred in attributing
information to the Salahaldin Al-Ayoubi Brigades based on statements by
Dr.
Murtadha Al-'Ani, who presented himself as the groups' spokesmen.

*ISLAMIST WEBSITES MONITOR No. 59

Islamist Group in Libya Denies Renouncing Armed Jihad

In a communiqué by the Islamic Fighting Group in Libya, posted February
1,
2007 on Islamist websites, the group denies the Libyan government's
assertion
that it "is heading towards reconciliation and towards a settlement
[with the
Libyan government] and... that it has renounced armed jihad." The
messages
accuses the Libyan government of spreading lies, stressing that the
group
remains fully committed to armed jihad and will continue this jihad
under all
circumstances. At the end of the message, the Islamic Fighting Group
promises
to display only "patience and endurance, might and defense, jihad and
battle,
perseverance and persistence, hostility and hatred – until God judges
justly
between us and [the Libyan government]."

Organization called "Islamist Revenge Cells" in the Arabian Peninsula
Pledges Allegiance to Osama bin Laden

On January 31, Islamist websites posted an announcement by an
organization
called Khallayat Al-Intiqam Al-Islamiyya (the Islamist Revenge Cells).
In the
announcement, which was issued by Shams Media Company and designated as
the
organization’s first communiqué, the organization pledges allegiance to
Osama
bin Laden, and promises to join him in fighting the infidels to the
death by
all available means. The announcement states further that one of the
organization’s primary goals is to purge the Arabian Peninsula of all
infidels, including the Shi'ites.

MEMRI stresses that the authenticity of this document is unverified.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent,
non-profit
organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East.
Copies
of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are
available on request.

MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used
with
proper attribution.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
Fax: (202) 955-9077
E-Mail: memri@memri.org
Search previous MEMRI publications at www.memri.org

CP/BBC: Interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the ChRI, Ahmed Zakayev

BBC Monitoring
Chechen envoy says Russian security service behind Litvinenko's death
Source: Chechenpress website, in Russian 1 Feb 07

The London-based envoy of Chechen separatists, Akhmed Zakayev, has told
a rebel Chechen news agency that Russian President Vladimir Putin and
the Federal Security Services were behind the death of former agent
Aleksandr Litvinenko. The following is the excerpt from Zakayev's
interview published by Chechenpress news agency website. [Subheadings
and explanations added by BBC removed. Omitted passage translated by
me.
N.S.]

The foreign minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Akhmed
Zakayev, has answered questions on the progress of the investigation in
Aleksandr Litvinenko's case.

[Chechenpress] Akhmed, almost three months have passed since the murder
of Aleksandr Litvinenko. During this time, the British police have
conducted an intensive investigation of this crime. Journalists have
also contributed to establishing the circumstances of Litvinenko's
poisoning. As a close and trusted friend of Aleksandr Litvinenko, you
are undoubtedly up to date with all the circumstances of the
investigation. What can you say about this crime, the people who
ordered
and carried it out, and their motives?

[Zakayev] One thing is that, as a witness, I have certain obligations
to
the British police. Therefore, I will not be able to talk about what
are, perhaps, the key facts that would prove indisputably the truth of
my words.

However, the widely known circumstances allow us to say that it was the
Kremlin chief, Vladimir Putin, who specifically ordered it. Federal
Security Service director Nikolay Patrushev managed directly the
planning and execution.

Among those who carried it out are known to be Lugovoy and Kovtun, who
were caught red-handed, so to say. For a full picture, it would be
useful to know the names of the agents who provided their cover and the
Russian officials who were responsible for storage and release of the
nuclear materials, but we are likely never to know this.

As for the motives, first and sufficient in itself was Sasha's quitting
the most bloody and criminal organization in human history, which has
been terrorizing entire countries and peoples for more than a hundred
years. Killing the traitor, as they called him, was if not a matter of
honour - there is no honour among criminals - then one of image, as a
lesson for others.

The second motive, also sufficient, was "revelation of state secrets".
This was the form of words used in the official document banning
Aleksandr Litvinenko's book "Blowing up Russia" in Russia. Anyone who
comes close to the "state secret" of the explosions in housing blocks
in
Russian cities, like Lebed, Shchekochikhin, Politkovskaya and
Litvinenko
die the death of traitors to the state. There is no way to describe the
isolation of Mikhail Trepashkin other than as a slow death.

Finally, the third motive was Litvinenko's writing, which contained
merciless criticism of Putin's regime for its crimes against humanity
in
Chechnya and Russia.

[Chechenpress] Kremlin officials and their journalistic lackeys suggest
the following conclusion: Putin does not benefit from appearing before
the international community in the role of a murderer and poisoner, so
this crime was committed either by some group beyond his control in the
Russian security services, or a "third party" with a great interest in
discrediting Putin (pointing directly or indirectly at Boris
Berezovskiy). What do you think of this?

[Zakayev] This scenario has the right to exist and, what's more, it has
been repeatedly employed in the past. For example, one of the
accusations in the espionage case against the Good Soldier Schwejk was
that when he passed by secret facilities he did not photograph them
only
because he didn't have a camera.

It's true, however, that there are not yet any precedents for this sort
of reasoning in English law. Thank God, since otherwise any accusation
based on clues left by a criminal would collapse as soon as the defence
lawyer pointed out fairly enough that his client would not have
benefited from leaving clues.

The answer to Putin's defenders is that criminals leave clues not
because it benefits them, but because they cannot take everything into
account. The miscalculation in Sasha's case was that, despite
laboratory
and field tests on abducted and captured Chechens, Sasha lived through
the symptoms of fatal food poisoning and even thallium poisoning, which
it turned out had not occurred.

When Putin told journalists in Finland that there were no signs of
violent death, he was right in that, according to tests by torturers in
white coats, there should have been no signs. The polonium was found in
a urine sample taken several hours before Sasha's death and sent to
some
special non-medical laboratory, and the results came only after Sasha
was dead.

Imagine that Sasha had died two days earlier, the medical conclusion
would have been that he died from thallium. It wouldn't have been
found,
since it wasn't there. [Passage omitted by BBC: "If Sasha had died
during the first two weeks, it would have been stated that he died from
food poisoning. Without any doubt, both Lugovoy and Kovtun would have
attended the burial, they would have shed some proper tears, and who
knows who would have received another portion of polonium in the near
future."]

Answering the question about the "third party", either Boris
Berezovskiy
or disgruntled security officials, I will permit myself to be as
laconic
as the Russian defence minister: complete nonsense. It is the state
that
was behind Sasha's death, as well as those of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in
Qatar and tens of thousands of other Chechens.

I would recall Nikolay Patrushev's statement after the death of
Khattab.
He spoke with pride of some sort of "know-how". I can now state
confidently that this "know-how" involves poisoning people with nuclear
elements. Certainly, Patrushev and his "know-how" are assured their
place in history. The question is, whether their place will just be in
history.

[Chechenpress] The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office has reopened the
"Zakayev case". The impression is that Moscow is getting ready for a
"trade". If London demands the main suspects in the Litvinenko case -
Lugovoy and Kovtun, the Russian prosecutors will demand from London you
and Boris Berezovskiy in return. It's obvious that, from a legal
viewpoint, this doesn't hold water, but it would be good to hear your
comments on this.

[Zakayev] The eccentricities of the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office
never cease to astonish me. The first time, I was amazed to learn after
my arrest in Denmark that a criminal case had been opened against me
for
over a year. It turned out that this fact had been carefully concealed
not just from me, but also from the Russian presidential
administration,
which did not spare words of praise for me on the eve of a meeting in
Moscow with Putin's representative, Kazantsev.

The second time I was surprised - pleasantly, it's true - was when it
emerged that the first indictment against me appeared only on the day
after my detention. The Danish, and subsequently British lawyers
couldn't understand on what basis a criminal persecution was launched
against me eighteen months before the first signal about my criminal
activities.

This time too just as many questions arise over the announced
"reopening
of the Zakayev case". I must admit that I was unaware that the criminal
case against me had been closed. You have to ask yourself why they
didn't let me know.

The originial article in Russian:
http://www.chechenpress.org/events/2007/02/01/01.shtml

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/

(UK) Suspect is linked to "hate" mosque - and other UK terror news
Major links:

(UK) Security forces 'foil terror plot every six weeks' - up to 12 plots discovered in past year and half
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/04/nterr04.xml
(UK) Al-Qaeda tells British cells to carry out wave of beheadings
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2583241,00.html
(UK) Police chief's fury over 'Labour leaks on beheading plot'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=433665&in_page_id=1770
(UK) Preacher calls for death to all Muslim soldiers - Omar Bakri
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2583243,00.html
(UK) British Muslims Criticize Media Reports
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6392789,00.html
(UK) Cops Seize Secret Film Of Mosque Rant - Jamia Mosque
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=exclusive%2D-cops-seize-secret-film-of-mosque-rant%26method=full%26objectid=18573349%26siteid=62484-name_page.html
(UK) Islamic Bookshop's messages of racist hate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2005631,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=11
(UK) Commentary: We're far too nice to Muslim extremists
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2583136,00.html
(UK) suspect is linked to "hate" mosque - terror gang's No. 1 beheading target speaks out - mosque show in Dispatches documentary
http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=suspect-is-linked-to--hate--mosque-&method=full&objectid=18573431&siteid=93463-name_page.html
(UK) At home with the terror suspects in a state of limbo
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2582784,00.html

4 February 2007
SUSPECT IS LINKED TO 'HATE' MOSQUE
TERROR GANG'S No1 BEHEADING TARGET SPEAKS OUT
By Julian Gavaghan
http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=suspect-is-linked-to--hate--mosque-&method=full&objectid=18573431&siteid=93463-name_page.html

A TERROR suspect arrested in last week's Birmingham raids has links with a hatepreaching mosque in the city, police believe.

Sources said the school worker went to the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith centre in Small Heath.

The mosque was last month exposed as a hotbed of Islamic radicalism by Channel 4's Dispatches.

Undercover film showed preacher Abu Usamah praising Osama Bin Laden and backing anti-West jihadists.

The police source said: "The suspect is known to hav e attended the mosque because we have been monitoring it.

Radical

"There are radical elements there preaching hatred towards the West.

"We believe he may have been influenced by some of them."

Meanwhile, we can reveal the plan to behead a British Muslim soldier could have been carried out at a house owned by the suspect's wife.

A neighbour said: "It has stood empty for the past year but the owner's husband turned up a month ago. He seemed to be checking the house."

Friends last night told of their shock at the arrest. One said: "He seemed pretty gentle. I can't believe he'd be part of such a sickening thing."

4 February 2007
EXCLUSIVE: COPS SEIZE SECRET FILM OF MOSQUE RANT
By SIMON WRIGHT, MICHAEL DUFFY & SUSIE BONIFACE
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=exclusive--cops-seize-secret-film-of-mosque-rant%26method=full%26objectid=18573349%26siteid=62484-name_page.html

POLICE holding the Birmingham terror suspects have seized secret TV footage of an Islamic preacher praising the death of a British Muslim soldier in Afghanistan.

The mystery cleric - now being urgently hunted by detectives - ranted about the dead serviceman at a meeting in a Birmingham mosque. He said: "There was an individual killed in Afghanistan recently. Do you know what was written in a newspaper? Hero of Islam! The hero of Islam is the one who separated his head from his shoulders!"

The hate-filled speech at the meeting in Jamia Mosque in the mainly Asian neighbourhood of Sparkbrook was secretly filmed by an undercover reporter for an edition of the Channel 4 series Dispatches screened last month.

During the session the preacher hailed the death of Jabron Hashmi, 24, a British Muslim Lance Corporal killed by the Taliban in Helmand Province in July last year.

Tapes of the programme were seized on Thursday in the week nine men were arrested over a plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier. A West Midlands Police source said: "These tapes could be crucial to the investigation.

"Not only is the death of a British Muslim soldier applauded, but there is talk of beheading.

"Considering the mosque is only a stone's throw from where some of the arrested men lived, it is important we analyse the footage."

A Channel Four insider said: "All tapes, including filming that was not transmitted in the broadcast, were called in by police and can no longer be released to the public.

"Police are investigating allegations of incitement of racial hatred and a claim made on the programme about killing a British soldier."

There is no suggestion any of the arrested suspects attended radical meetings at the mosque.

But relatives of one, Azzar Iqbal, have confirmed that he did worship there. A cousin, Abdul Khan, 38, said: "Azzar did worship regularly at this mosque.

But he gave no sign of having any belief in terrorism. He couldn't possibly behead anyone."

The Dispatches documentary Undercover Mosques also showed preacher Dr Ijaz Mian spouting anti-Western hatred.

Saudi-educated Dr Mian, 65, has for years toured British mosques giving controversial lectures championing extreme Islam.

In one talk - also shown by Dispatches - he raved: "King, Queen, House of Commons. If you accept it, you are a part of it.

"You don't accept it, you have to dismantle it. There will be no House of Commons. Muslims must grow in strength then take over."

Last night the Sunday Mirror tracked Dr Mian down to a Â£200,000 detached home he shares with his wife two miles from six of the 11 Birmingham addresses raided by anti-terror police last week.

He said: "I have been reading about what has happened. I think it is very bad."

When asked what he thought of Muslims joining the British army, he said young men should "choose a more useful career, such as a mechanic".

Police are also investigating claims that one of the nine suspects had been involved in a fight with a Muslim British soldier.

The suspect is alleged to have added that "he should have his head chopped off".

Bookshop's messages of racist hate

Antony Barnett
Sunday February 4, 2007
The Observer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2005631,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=11

Books and DVDs promoting suicide bombing, glorifying terrorism and advocating the killing of homosexuals have been on sale at the Birmingham bookshop raided by police last week as part of their investigation into an alleged plot to behead a British Muslim soldier.

Last year an undercover Observer reporter visited the store, Maktabah al-Ansar, and was sold a handful of extremist literature and DVDs.

Maktabah, which is Arabic for library, has been raided three times under the Prevention of Terrorism Act because of the inflammatory literature on its shelves and has links with several terror suspects. Nobody from the business has ever been charged with an offence.

One DVD, 21st Century Crusaders, begins by stating: 'History remembers two colours: black, the ink of scholars; and red, the blood of martyrs.' Footage is shown of the 9/11 atrocities with a poem that says: 'Suddenly their storms arise to demolish their fortresses and proclaim to them we shall not stop our raids until you abandon our lands.' Pictures of Jews are subtitled: 'Brothers of pigs and monkeys.'

An interview with former Guantanamo Bay inmate Moazzam Begg is featured declaring that the US has begun a war on Islam. During a raid on the premises in 2000, Begg - who worked in the bookshop and is understood to have been its co-owner - was arrested under anti-terrorism laws. He was later released without charge.

A sequence of war footage from Iraq shows vehicles and aircraft being bombed and dead bodies. It ends with an insurgent declaring: 'We love death just as they love life.' The DVD was still being recommended this weekend on the Maktabah website.

A book purchased by The Observer called War on Islam justifies terrorism and likens US foreign policy to Hitler's 'final solution'. A pamphlet entitled Islam on Homosexuality discusses the best way to kill homosexuals.

In 1999 Maktabah commissioned and published The Army of Madinah in Kashmir, written by Dhiren Barot, who is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty at the Old Bailey last November to planning a dirty bomb attack on London. Barot, alias Esa Al Hindi, accuses Western troops of invading Muslim countries and urges followers to strike back. The Â£4.95 book is still on sale via Maktabah's website. The Maktabah shop's owner at the time said: 'We have a duty to sell books that express a variety of viewpoints.'

The Sunday Times February 04, 2007

Preacher calls for death to all Muslim soldiers
Steve Swinford and Abul Taher
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2583243,00.html
ONE of Britainâ€™s most notorious Islamist preachers has warned that any Muslim joining the army should expect to be beheaded.

Omar Bakri, who fled Britain weeks after the 7/7 London bombings, said on the internet that Muslim troops were â€œapostatesâ€.

His video was posted shortly after the death of the first British Muslim to die on active service in the war on terror. The killing last year

of Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, 24, is said to have inspired the alleged plot to kidnap, torture and behead a British Muslim soldier in Birmingham.

This weekend, Bakri confirmed that he endorsed the execution of British Muslim soldiers captured in Afghanistan and Iraq. â€œBritish Muslims who join the army and kill other Muslims are terrorists,â€ he said.

Bakri, who led the banned Al-Muhajiroun group, continues to direct his followers in Britain with messages through secure websites. On the video, he says: â€œI hope they capture British Muslims who are really in the army there in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are apostates.â€ He adds:

â€œWe will strike your neck.â€

Bakriâ€™s comments will fuel concerns that radicals are fomenting terrorism because the authorities fear alienating Muslim communities. Last weekâ€™s arrests sparked anger in Birmingham, where Dr Mohammed Naseem, a Muslim leader, said British Muslims were being treated like Jews in Nazi Germany. He told a 2,000-strong congregation outside the Birmingham central mosque: â€œThere is a political objective behind these arrests. It is something that has been magicked up.â€

West Midlands police have handed out 5,000 leaflets and are keen to avoid comparison with a raid last June in Forest Gate, east London, where a man was shot.

The Sparkbrook Islamic centre, just a few streets away from where a suspect was arrested last week, held a conference last year where a speaker gloated over the death of L/Cpl Hashmi. An undercover reporter heard him say: â€œThe hero of Islam is the one who separated his head from his shoulders.â€

The Maktabah bookshop, where one of the suspects worked, is notorious for stocking inflammatory works about Jihad. But for all the outward signs of extremism in Birmingham, neighbours of the men arrested last week insisted they were well-respected members of the community.

Pervaiz Khan, 30, an unemployed father of four, was described as â€œthe best Asian footballer in the area, an Asian Roy Keaneâ€.

He is a friend of Amjad Mahmood, 29, a father of two, who works 14-hour days at Khanâ€™s general store alongside his father.

Azzar Iqbal, 38, has three daughters and runs a pizza business in the area. Zahoor Iqbal, a 29-year-old teacher who lives in north Birmingham, is a cricketer known as â€œthe terminatorâ€ for his ability to demolish opponents at the wicket.

Abu Bakir worked at the bookstore. All, according to friends, are â€œnice guysâ€.

I have not checked the links, as my server is having troubles and I am barely online with 12 kcps or whatever it said, so the links are all too big for me...........a search at the link below, will be giving rich results, the messages of this group are open to all, no need to be a member, in order to read them. [I will remove the posters names]
granny

What was found in the Izmailovsky Park in 1995 was a container with
material from a medical cesium-137 source (used in cancer therapy
etc.).
After the massive bombings of 1994/5, nuclear material from destroyed
hospitals and factories turned up all over Chechnya, so this stuff was
easy to obtain. Basayev called a TV station, told them where to find
the
container and made some veiled threats. He apparently also "took
responsibility" and referred to the incident in later comments.
Unfortunately, virtually all statements and articles on "nuclear
terrorism" ever since this typical Basayev provocation mention Chechnya
in connection with the alleged threat of a "dirty bomb", in spite of
the
fact that there has been no other war-related event involving nuclear
material.
You can find a number of articles on the park story by searching the
list archive for e.g. "cesium" or perhaps "Basayev AND park", etc.

Mathew Bunn: A search for the name on the Harvard website produces
several links, including his CV and further links to his work. (
http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/person.cfm?order_by=name&program=CORE&ln=full&item_id=405
). I enjoyed very much the summary of a paper called "A Mathematical
Model of the Risk of Nuclear Terrorism" (
http://www.aapss.org/uploads/Annals607QRS.pdf ), in which the author
applies mathematical methods to some parameters which he himself quite
honestly calls "highly uncertain". The uncertainty doesn't prevent him
from presenting relatively certain results, though. Who knows, there
might be a mathematical method to remove the uncertainty from uncertain
parameters - and I have a roulette system to sell you :).
An excerpt:
"The most promising policy options are based on a forward defense,
combining
strengthened counterterrorism policies that reduce the number of
groups contemplating nuclear violence and their likely effectiveness
with
an urgent global campaign to secure or remove the nuclear stockpiles
from the world’s most vulnerable sites."
With other words: The best method to remove the risk is to go for the
villains and to secure their possible weapons. Why didn't we think of
that before! Next step: To create a model that will help Judge
Bruguière
to predict the exact date of the upcoming Chechen nuclear attack on the
Eiffel Tower (parameters courtesy of Itar-Tass and Interfax).

Best regards,
xxxxx

xxxx wrote:
> Dear List,
>
> I have just finished reading a small booklet from the Swedish
> Institute for Foreign Affairs, "Utrikespolitiska Institutet" http:// www.ui.se

> Normally they are well-informed and their contributing authors can be
> relied upon to say sensible things. However I need some kind of
> confirmation of what a certain Magnus Lundgren wrote in a booklet on
> nuclear terrorism in december 2006. He writes about a supposed
> incident in 1995 where Chechen terrorists apparently planted an
> explosive device connected to radioactive material in a Moscow park.
> According to Lundgren they then informed a TV-station about their
> plans but were thwarted because the bomb was disarmed in time.
> Anybody recognize this incident? Is it true?
> Another question in connection with this - who is Mathew Bunn at
> Harvard? According to Lundgren, Bunn has named "chechen rebels" as
> the most likely "nuclear terrorists" and this makes me wonder who he
> is and what is his agenda.
> Best regards

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/

Pupils aged five 'poisoned' at Islamic school that 'teaches hate'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=433867&in_page_id=1770

Pupils aged five 'poisoned' at Islamic school that 'teaches hate'
Last updated at 11:29am on 5th February 2007

An Islamic school is poisoning the minds of pupils with lessons in
hate,
a former teacher claims.

Colin Cook, 57, says textbooks used by children as young as five at the
King Fahad Academy in Acton describe Jews as "repugnant" and "apes" and
Christians as "pigs".

Pupils have allegedly been heard saying they want to "kill Americans",
praising 9/11 and idolising Osama bin Laden as their "hero".

There are fears that it could become a breeding ground for terrorists
with Mr Cook warning: "The school could produce a dangerous harvest."

Its sister school of the same name in Bonn has been singled out by the
German intelligence services as a meeting place for activists linked to
terrorism.

Mr Cook, a Muslim convert, taught English at the school for 19 years
until he was sacked in December last year.

He claims he was fired after blowing the whistle on the school for
covering up cheating by children in GCSE exams and is bringing a
tribunal claim for unfair dismissal, race discrimination and
victimisation.

He also alleges that when he complained to school management about the
content of the curriculum and questioned whether it complied with
British laws, he was told: "This is not England. It is Saudi Arabia".

He said that the school was "very good" until the majority of British
teachers left in 2005. He said: "Since then, there has been a move
towards a pro-Saudi agenda.

"It is clearly racist and very divisive. I understand now why the
pupils
express anti-Western views at school. It is deeply immoral to put such
ideas into the heads of young children.

Mr Cook's solicitor Lawrence Davies said: "Faith schools are legitimate
but they must not be used to propagate a racist agenda. Every faith
school must be properly inspected. And those that promote the terrorist
mindset must be called to account."

Mr Cook, a father of three, was earning £35,000 a year and is seeking
£100,000 in compensation.

The school denies all his allegations and claims he was rightly
dismissed for misconduct. Opened in 1985 for the offspring of Saudi
diplomats in London, it is named after the former Saudi king and funded
by that country's government.

But the overwhelming majority of its 750 pupils are now the children of
British Muslims. The school - which teaches pupils up to the age of 18
-
devotes around half of lessons to religious education and teaches
almost
all classes in Arabic, with boys and girls following different
curriculums.

In the past, parents have claimed that the school is teaching British
children fundamentalist Islam while giving girls an inferior education.

Ofsted, which inspected the school in March 2006, made a series of
criticisms of its performance and refused to give it full registration
as an independent school.

It warned that while the quality of teaching was good, there had been
"major changes in staffing" which led to disruption, and told the
school
to improve the curriculum.

In papers submitted to Watford employment tribunal, Mr Cook says that
most of the school's teachers are Saudis who speak little or no
English.

Mr Cook's lessons formed part of a British curriculum while a second
Saudi curriculum was taught in Arabic. Mr Cooks claims that textbooks
used on the Saudi curriculum, which are published by the Saudi
government's ministry of education, prove that the academy "is
institutionally racist".

He said: "The textbooks apparently state that the Jews are cursed.
Pupils are asked to ' mention some repugnant characteristics of Jews'."

Mr Cook said pupils are taught that religions including Christianity
and
Judaism are "worthless". He said: "The teachers on the Saudi curriculum
presumably either endorse this racist viewpoint or teach it without
complaint."

Mr Cook claims he was sacked after he reported pupils cheating to exams
board Edexcel. He said that staff allowed pupils to refer to their own,
heavily annotated course books during an English language GCSE exam.

He said: "The Academy knows that cheating occurred. The boys who did
cheat and those who probably cheated were not investigated or
sanctioned.î Mr Cook was fired in December after being accused of gross
misconduct.

He said: "It was unlawful to sack me for whistle-blowing in these
circumstances. A Saudi national would not have been treated in this
adverse manner."

The school claims that Mr Cook was rightly dismissed for misconduct
connected to the exams procedure. His tribunal is due to take place
later this year.

Afghan schools take on the taliban: Laura King

http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept
Afghan schools take on the Taliban 'Defense committees' have been
formed to
fend off the insurgents' attacks, which some fear will rise in the
spring.

By Laura King
Times Staff Writer

February 4, 2007

WACH TANGI, AFGHANISTAN — Even before the winter wind had scattered the
ashes of their village school, the people of this poor hamlet in
eastern
Afghanistan decided they had to fight back.

On a bitterly cold night last month, suspected Taliban militants set
fire to
all five "classrooms," housed in canvas tents donated by a humanitarian
agency. It was one of nearly 200 schools across the country burned in
the
last year by Islamic insurgents.

Four hundred more schools were closed by threats and intimidation,
driving
more than 130,000 students from their classrooms and dealing a harsh
blow to
massive international efforts to rebuild an education system ravaged
during
the years of Taliban rule.

Over the last three months, however, the rate of attacks has fallen
dramatically, with fewer than half a dozen schools believed to have
been
targeted. Education officials attribute the decrease at least in part
to a
nationwide drive to create local "defense committees" for schools,
enlisting
the help of tribal elders, Islamic clerics and, in some cases,
homegrown
militias.

The people of Wach Tangi, which lies about 10 miles north of Jalalabad,
the
capital of Nangarhar province, believed their village was too remote
and
their tent school too rudimentary to attract the notice of any Taliban
militants in the area.

The road leading to the village of 1,800 people resembles a dry
riverbed:
winding, pitted and stone-strewn. So arid and forbidding is the
landscape
that in the Pashto language, Wach Tangi means "valley without water."

But on the night of Jan. 6, arsonists took the trouble to make the
journey,
and methodically set each tent ablaze. Villagers raised the alarm
within
moments, but it was too late. The classrooms vanished in a whoosh of
flames
that scorched the stone foundations and charred the metal support
poles.

"We realized right away that we had made a big mistake by not doing
more to
protect ourselves, to protect our school," headmaster Wali Mohammed
said.

A posse of village men took to the dry hills, trying unsuccessfully to
track
the arsonists. The next day, virtually all of Wach Tangi's families,
even
the poorest, agreed to chip in what they could to have armed men guard
the
school at night once it reopened. *

*Within two days, the village had organized a protection committee made
up
of its most influential citizens, charged with the task of keeping the
school, its pupils and its teachers safe.

The school is up and running again, in UNICEF-donated tents. Students
still
have the schoolbooks that were home with them when the old school was
burned, and more are on the way from donors.

But the fire remains fresh in everyone's mind.

"Those who did this to our school are enemies of our country," said
Abdul
Wahed, a white-bearded tribal elder. "We won't allow this to happen to
us or
to our children."

Afghanistan's Education Ministry has encouraged grass-roots
school-protection initiatives in recent months, even though the central
government has no money to fund them. There are no reliable figures,
but the
ministry believes more than half the country's 9,000 schools are under
some
form of locally organized protection, whose effectiveness remains to be
seen.

continued...........

Russia: U.S. Doesn't Plan To Attack Iran

http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=30319&s2=04
Russia: U.S. Doesn't Plan To Attack Iran
Associated Press

Foreign Minister Says U.S. Officials Assured Him Extra Forces In
Persian Gulf Will Be Used To Stabilize Region
February 3, 2007

(CBS) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that U.S.
officials assured him in meetings in Washington this week that the United
States does not have plans to launch military action against Iran,
Russian news agencies reported.

Lavrov, who returned to Moscow on Saturday from meetings with U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others, said he discussed the
United States' plans to send additional forces to Iraq and neighboring
areas.

"The American side assured us that they have no plans for war against
Iran and that the additional presence of forces and equipment in the
Persian Gulf region is aimed at stabilizing the situation," the ITAR-Tass
and RIA-Novosti news agencies quoted him as saying.

In addition to the deployment of 21,500 more American soldiers to Iraq,
the U.S. Navy is building up forces in the Middle East, prompting
concern in Iran, which is already locked in a standoff with the U.S. and
Europe over its nuclear program.

Lavrov said Moscow and Washington agree on the need for united action
to ensure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons.

"On Iran, we have absolute agreement on the final goal — not to permit
violations of the nonproliferation regime," he said, according to
RIA-Novosti. "At the same time, it is necessary to have agreement on the
tactical approach for moving toward this goal."

Russia and the United States have often been at odds over how to put
pressure on Iran not to develop nuclear weapons. In December, Russia
supported a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing limited sanctions
against Iran after it ignored calls to halt uranium enrichment. But that
support came only after an initial proposal was dropped that would have
imposed curbs on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, which Russia is
helping build.

Lavrov on Saturday also expressed skepticism at a U.S. proposal to
place elements of a missile defense system in former Soviet satellite
countries. The United States says such a system would be aimed at
intercepting possible missile attacks by Iran.

"What we heard (in Washington) does not convince us that this is an
appropriate answer to those threats," he was quoted as saying by
RIA-Novosti. President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that deployment of such
sites could threaten Russia and he said Russia would take unspecified
countermeasures.

Lavrov also said sharp differences remain between Moscow and Washington
over the final status of the Serbian province of Kosovo, which has been
a U.N. protectorate since 1999, when NATO airstrikes stopped Serbia's
crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanian rebels.

Russia insists that Kosovo must remain a part of Serbia, whereas its
majority ethnic Albanians seek independence. A plan unveiled by U.N.
envoy Martti Ahtisaari on Friday spelled out conditions for internationally
supervised self-rule for Kosovo — complete with the trappings of
nationhood such as a flag, anthem, army and constitution and the right to
apply for membership in international organizations.

"Kosovo is a topic on which, in contrast to Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan,
the divergence in our positions has a character of principle," Lavrov
said.

©MMVII, The Associated Press.

The speech that made the U.S hate Saddam
http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=30315&s2=04
The speech that made the U.S hate Saddam
David Hungerford, Arab-European League

president_saddam_husain43_jpg.jpg

February 3, 2006

This speech was delivered by Saddam Hussein to the Amman Summitt meeting on Feb. 24, 1990. Present were the heads of state of the key Arab allies of the United States: the president of Egypt and the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The president of Syria was also present. In its sweeping proposals for Arab unity against U.S.-Israeli domination, it was a blunt challenge to imperialism. It is this speech that was the flash point of the U.S.-U.N. aggression, not the Kuwait crisis which was engineered in response.
(David Hungerford)

Since it is difficult in a meeting such as this to deal with all that is negative or positive in international developments during 1989 and prior to then, and during the period from the beginning of 1990, you might share my opinion that discussions should deal with the most urgent and important of these issues and within the limits of time allowed us.

Among the most important developments since the international conflict in World War II has been the fact that some countries which used to enjoy broad international influence, such as France and Britain, have declined, while the influence and impact of two countries expanded until they became the two superpowers among the countries of the world--I mean the United States and the Soviet Union. Of course, with these results, two axes have developed: the Western axis under the leadership of the United States, with its known capitalist approach and its imperialist policy; and the East bloc under the leadership of the Soviet Union and its communist philosophy.

Among the results of World War II: The Zionist state has become a reality, and the original owners of the land, the Palestinians, have become refugees. While the imperialist Western world helped the expansionist scheme and aggression of the Zionist entity in 1967, the communist bloc sided with the Arabs in the concept of balance of interests in the context of the global competition between the two blocs, and sought to secure footholds for the East Bloc against the Western interests in the Arab homeland. The East bloc, led by the USSR, supported the Arabs' basic rights, including their rights in the Arab-Zionist conflict. The global policy continued on the basis of the existence of two poles that were balanced in term of force. They are the two superpowers, the United States and the USSR.

And suddenly, the situation changed in a dramatic way. The USSR turned to tackle its domestic problems after relinquishing the process of continuous conflict and its slogans. The USSR shifted from the balanced position with the United States in a practical manner, although it has not acknowledged this officially so far. The USSR went to nurse the wounds that were inflicted on it as a result of the principles and mistaken policy it followed for such a long time, and as a result of the wave of change it embarked on, which began to depart from the charted course. It has become clear to everyone that the United States has emerged in a superior position in international politics. This superiority will be demonstrated in the United States readiness to play such a role more than in the predicted guarantees for its continuation.

We believe that the world can fill the vacuum resulting from the recent changes and find a new balance in the global arena by developing new perspectives and reducing or adding to this or that force. The forces that laid the ground for filling the vacuum and for the emergence of the two superpowers, the United States and the USSR, after World War II at the expense of France, Britain, and Germany can develop new forces, which we expect will be in Europe or Japan. America will lose its power just as quickly as it gained it by frightening Europe, Japan, and other countries through the continuous hinting at the danger of the USSR and communism. The United States will lose its power as the fierce competition for gaining the upper hand between the two superpowers and their allies recedes.

However, we believe that the United States will continue to depart from the restrictions that govern the rest of [the] world throughout the next five years until new forces of balance are formed. Moreover, the undisciplined and irresponsible behavior will engender hostility and grudges if it embarks on rejected stupidities....

We all remember, as does the whole world, the circumstances under which the United States deployed and bolstered its fleets in the Gulf. Most important of these circumstances: The war that was raging between Iraq and Iran; Iranian aggression had extended to other Arabian Gulf countries, most notably the sisterly state of Kuwait. At the time, beyond the conflicting views regarding the presence of foreign fleets in Arab territorial waters and foreign bases on their territory and their repercussions for pan-Arab security, that excessive deployment was somehow comprehensible. But now, and against the background of the recent world developments and the cessation of hostilities between Iraq and Iran, and with Kuwait no longer being the target of Iranian aggression, the Arabian Gulf states, including Iraq, and even the entire Arabs would have liked the Americans to state their intention to withdraw their fleets.

Had they said that under the same circumstances and causes they would have returned to the Gulf, it might have been understandable also. But U.S. officials are making such statements as if to show that their immediate and longer-term presence in Gulf waters and, maybe, on some of its territory, is not bound to a time frame. These suspect policies give Arabs reason to feel suspicious of U.S. policies and intentions as to whether it is officially and actually interested in a termination of the Iraq-lran war and thus in contributing to much needed regional stability.

The other side is the immigration of Soviet Jews to the occupied Palestinian land. How can we explain the Americans' support and backing for Jewish immigration to the occupied Arab territories, except that the United States does not want peace as it claims and declares. If it really and actually wants peace, the United States would not have encouraged Israel and the aggressive trends in it to adopt such policies, which enhance Israel's capability to commit aggression and carry out expansion.

We the Arabs, proceeding from a long-standing friendship with the Soviet Union, did not expect that the Soviets would give in to this U.S. pressure in such a way that it would lead to these grave consequences for the Arabs and their pan-Arab security. As we tackle these challenges, it would be just as compromising to the destiny and cause of the Arabs to feel fear as it would be to be lax in our evaluating and working out a reaction to them. Therefore, there is no place among the ranks of good Arabs for the fainthearted who would argue that as a superpower, the United States will be the decisive factor, and others have no choice but to submit. At the same time, there is no place in our midst for those who fail to take note of recent developments that have added to U.S. strength, thus prompting it to the possible commission of follies against the interests and national security of the Arabs--either directly or by fanning and encouraging conflicts detrimental to the Arabs, irrespective of their source. We are only making the point that the Arabs seek peace and justice throughout the world and want to forge relations of friendship with those who show respect to what friendship is all about--be it the United States or any other nation. It is only natural that the Arabs take a realistic approach to the new posture and power of the United States that has led the Soviet Union to abandon its erstwhile position of influence. However, America must respect the Arabs and respect their rights, and should not interfere in their internal affairs under any cover....

Against the backdrop of the vital issue related to the substance of national Arab security, the question arises as to what we the Arabs have to do.... It has been proven that Arabs are capable of being influential when they make a decision and set their minds to it for actual application purposes. We have much evidence of how effective they can be; for example, the joint Iraqi-Saudi resolution of August 6,1980, and the warning the two countries issued together that embassies must not be moved to Jerusalem, one of whose direct results in less than a month--the duration of the warning--was not only that the concerned countries did not transfer their embassies to Jerusalem, but also that embassies that had already long been transferred to the city returned to Tel Aviv.

The reason the United States stays in the Gulf is that the Gulf has become the most important spot in the region and perhaps the whole world due to developments in international policy, the oil market, and increasing demands from the United States, Europe, Japan, Eastern Europe, and perhaps the Soviet Union, for this product. The country that will have the greatest influence in the region through the Arab Gulf and its oil will maintain its superiority as a superpower without an equal to compete with it. This means that if the Gulf people, along with all Arabs, are not careful, the Arab Gulf region will be governed by the United States's will. If the Arabs are not alerted and the weakness persists, the situation could develop to the extent desired by the United States; that is, it would fix the amount of oil and gas produced in each country and sold to this or that country in the world. Prices would also be fixed in line with a special perspective benefitting U.S. interests and ignoring the interests of others.

If this possibility is there and it is convincing, those who are convinced by it must conclude that peace in the Middle East is remote from the United States point of view because U.S. strategy, according to this analysis, needs an aggressive Israel, not a peaceful one. Peace between Iraq and Iran could be far off as long as Iran does not react favorably from an aware and responsible position and with the peace initiatives proposed by Iraq. The region could witness inter-Arab wars or controlled wars between the Arabs and some of their neighbors, if tangible results are not achieved on the basis of the principles of noninterference in others' internal affairs and nonuse of military force in inter-Arab relations.

Agreement should be reached over clear and widespread pan-Arab cooperation programs among Arab countries in the economic, political, and educational fields, as well as other fields. Love and peace of mind will take the place of suspicion, doubt, mistrust, and giving in to information and speculation propagated by rumor-mongers, such as prejudiced Westerners and some rootless Arabs.

Brothers, the weakness of a big body lies in its bulkiness. All strong men have their Achilles' hell. Therefore, irrespective of our known stand on terror and terrorists, we saw that the United States as a superpower departed Lebanon immediately when some Marines were killed, the very men who are considered to be the most prominent symbol of its arrogance. The whole U.S. administration would have been called into question had the forces that conquered Panama continued to be engaged by the Panamanian armed forces. The United States has been defeated in some combat arenas for all the forces it possesses, and it has displayed signs of fatigue, frustration, and hesitation when committing aggression on other peoples' rights and acting from motives of arrogance and hegemony. This is a natural outcome for those who commit aggression on other peoples' rights. Israel, once dubbed the invincible country, has been defeated by some of the Arabs. The resistance put up by Palestinian and Lebanese militia against Israeli invasion forces in 1982 and before that the heroic Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal in 1973 have had a more telling psychological and actual impact than all Arab threats. Further, the threat to use Arab oil in 1973 during the October war proved more effective than all political attempts to protest or to beg at the gates of American decision-making centers. The stones in occupied Palestine now turn into a virtual and potentially fatal bullet if additional requirements are made available. It is the best proof of what is possible and indeed gives us cause to hold our heads high.

Just as Israel controls interests to put pressure on the United States administration, hundreds of billions invested by Arabs in the United States and the West may be similarly deployed. Indeed, for instance, some of these investments may be diverted to the USSR and East European countries. It may prove even more profitable than investment in the West, which has grown saturated with its national resources. Such a course of action may yield inestimable benefits for the Arabs and their national causes. Our purported weakness does not lie in our ideological and hereditary characteristics. Contemporary experience has shown our nation to be distinguished and excellent, just as our nation's history over the centuries has shown this to be the case. Our purported weakness lies in a lack of mutual trust among ourselves, our failure to concentrate on the components of our strength, and our failure to focus on our weaknesses with a view to righting them. Let our motto be: All of us are strong as long as we are united, and all of us are weak as long as we are divided.

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