Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
Iran's Footprint in Iraq - Deeper than Supposed (back)
January 19, 2007
At the outset of a thorough exploration of the extent of Iran's penetration and control of Iraq, the Bush administration and the American military have discovered that Tehran has dug itself in a lot deeper and more systematically than had been supposed.
Their findings suggest it may be too late to turn the clock back.
Iranian influence has struck deep roots that may be impossible to pull out, even if American cross-border strikes into Iran can be undertaken.
Tehran 's mark is most carefully and deeply structured in the British-controlled South.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly discloses some of the most disturbing findings which have come to light since President George W. Bush launched his revised Iraq policy on Jan. 10.
The Irbil raid snagged No. 3 in Revolutionary Guards hierarchy
US officials have given out very little information on the five Iranian nationals captured by American troops in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil on January 11, one day after the Bush policy speech. The captured men were tersely described as members of Iran 's Revolutionary Guards who were engaged in training Shiite militias.
DEBKA-Net Weekly reveals that US forces carried out not one but three raids in Irbil . Their biggest catch was Iranian colonel Fars Hassami, No. 3 in the Revolutionary Guards al Quds Brigades hierarchy, two below the Brigades commander, General Qassem Sulemaini.
When the Americans stormed the Irbil 'liaison center' housing the local RG command, Col. Hassami pulled out an Iranian diplomatic document and claimed immunity. The raiding force had been told to treat the document as fake, although it was genuine, and the colonel as a suspected terrorist.
The interrogation of Hassami and his four fellow detainees yielded some eye-openers, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military and intelligence sources. It was supplemented by sweeps of their offices and computers.
1. Col. Hassam was found to have been in charge of Iranian operations in northern and central Iraq - from Kurdish Irbil down to the northern outskirts of Baghdad -- and all links with Iraq 's Shiite militias, including Moqtada Sadr's Medhi Army, and Sunni insurgent groups.
Hassam was the live wire behind Iran 's military, intelligence and logistic operations in the violence-stricken towns in the northern half of Iraq , Tal Afar, Mosul , Haditha, Kirkuk , Samarra , the Banji refinery town, Tikrit, Ramadi, Falluja and Baquba.
2. This same RG colonel led an intensive recruitment campaign for the Sadrist Mehdi Army, which controls a large section of Baghdad . Hassam's recruiting center in Ur north of Baghdad appealed to volunteers aged 15 to 45. Each was handed $1,500 in cash.
3. The second US raid in Irbil uncovered a stockpile of Iranian weapons. It consisted of 40 tons of explosives, shoulder-borne anti-air missiles, anti-tank missiles, hundreds of automatic rifles and a pile of ordnance made in Iran .
Stockpiles of Iranian weapons found in Irbil
4. Inventories of weapons and ammo supplied the Medhi Army in Baghdad and Kirkuk by Iran in the last two months were recorded on computer hard disks. Maps showed the locations of anti-air missile positions for shooting down American helicopters.
5. The Iranian captives also named the RG's overall commander of Tehran 's program to dominate Iraq . The name of Col. Bassem Abtakhi struck a familiar chord with the American interrogators. Informed Middle East intelligence circles have come up against him before as the RG representative attached to the Hizballah command in Lebanon in 2004 and 2005. They were told he now operates out of the Fajr base in Ahwaz, capital of the southern Iranian province of Khozestan .
Another familiar face is that of the RG officer nicknamed Mahdi Muhandes (Mahdi the Engineer -- a terrorist euphemism for bomb-maker). His real name is Col. Muhammad Ali Ibrahimi and the captured men named him as responsible for smuggling Iranian supplies of arms and military equipment into Iraq .
It was decided in Washington this week to prolong the detention of the five captured Iranians -- and possibly remove them from Iraq for further questioning, because they seem to be holding back more secrets than they have disclosed. Tehran 's protests have been comparatively mild. The working hypothesis of US intelligence is that Col. Hassami has at least two counterparts serving as Iran 's regional commanders in the rest of Iraq .
Iranian military airfields planned for S. Iraq
The American embassy and US military command in Baghdad were astonished to learn this week that the Shiite district administration of the holy city of Karbala south of Baghdad had tendered for the construction of a new Shiite international airport.
The southern oil town of Basra already has an international airport and Karbala is only 85 kilometers away from Baghdad 's international airport to the north.
Questioned by the Americans, the Karbala authorities explained they needed their own airport to cater to the three million pilgrims visiting the shrines of Karbala and next door Najef each year.
However, Iran 's meddling hands soon surfaced under a cursory intelligence check. The Revolutionary Guards commanders holding clandestine sway over the Karbala district administration were found to have earmarked one billion dollars for this airport.
Far from being an innocent facility to serve holy pilgrims, the Americans saw the outline of a military air base for the use of the RG's air force.
This plan came to light as a result of a British intelligence probe in Basra . Brought to light there was an Iranian conspiracy to take over the town's air field after the British troop withdrawal in April. There, too, a RG unit would be on hand for the takeover.
According to documents seized in Basra , Iran plans to provide itself with two air bases in southern Iraq -- one in Basra and one in Karbala -- as counterweights for American air installations in the region.
The two air bases, on top of Iran's planned rail system for moving troops between Iraq and Iran (first disclosed in DEBKA-Net-Weekly 285 on Jan. 13), add key blocks to the formidable strategic edifice Tehran is constructing in Iraq, for which many billions of dollars are being laid out.
Iran 's preparations to take over the predominantly Shiite southern half of Iraq from the grass roots up has begun to emerge from information coming from captured militiamen and paid informers. With the departure of British forces, Iranian agents are already in place to seize control of the institutions governing every town in southern Iraq .
Local militias are being drafted from the masses of jobless men to guard these institutions. The militias operating under RG command will be trained to fight the troops who are sent from Baghdad to impose the central government's authority on the South.
They will be sent when it is realized that, as soon as British forces are gone, the militias under RG command are under orders to launch ethnic cleansing operations against Sunni Arabs, the same as Shiites are conducting in Baghdad .
However, the local militias will be well armed. They will break open the many secret arms caches packed with hardware smuggled through the Shatt al Arb from Iran , including heavy mortars and rockets, and use them to fend off the soldiers from Baghdad .
Tehran 's agents in Iraq calculate that the Baghdad contingents will turn tail as soon as they realize what is in store for them in Basra .
In view of Tehran 's elaborate preparations, the Bush administration may find that the joint Iraqi-US crackdown to clean up Baghdad is not enough. It may be necessary to fight off Iranian domination of Iraq outside of Baghdad too.
Source: http://www.debka-net-weekly.com
Jihadization of Youth a Rapid Process (back)
January 26, 2007
by Stewart Bell
Canada 's intelligence service says a 'very rapid process' is transforming some youths from angry activists into jihadist terrorists intent on killing for their religion.
Enraged over what they perceive as a Western 'war on Islam' and coaxed on by extremist preachers, a few have embraced terrorism with frightening speed, the service warns in a new study. 'The transformation from radical to jihadist can be a very rapid process,' says the 'secret' report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, obtained by the National Post.
The study, released under the Access to Information Act, is the government's latest attempt to understand why a handful of Canadian Muslims are alleged to have become involved in terrorist plots. It comes as a preliminary hearing is underway in Brampton , Ont., for four of 18 suspects charged for their alleged role in a Canadian terrorist group accused of plotting attacks in southern Ontario .
For at least the past two years, CSIS has been studying how some young people have been lured into terrorism. They are particularly interested in what made them radicalized and how they evolved from radicals to violent terrorists, a process known as 'jihadization.'
The conclusion: It depends on the individual. But analysts have come up with a list of factors they say are leading some Muslims to radicalism. They include the belief in the need to defend Islam from perceived Western aggression, the influence of spiritual leaders and extremist family members, and overseas training, the report says.
'The most important factor for radicalization is the perception that Islam is under attack from the West. Jihadists also feel they must preemptively and violently defend Islam from these perceived enemies.
'They also watch what is happening in the Islamic world and the many conflicts that involve 'Western' or other aggression: Palestine , Kashmir , Iraq , Chechnya , Afghanistan , and others.
'A few will act on these events and support or carry out terrorism in an attempt to change Western foreign or military policy. These individuals take the violent defence of Islam as a personal goal and religious obligation.'
Those who undergo this process of radicalization reject mainstream Islam and instead adopt a narrow, literal, intolerant interpretation, CSIS says.
The CSIS report notes that the failure of some Muslim immigrants to integrate into Western society is also a factor, but 'this is seen more in European countries where the Muslim communities are more homogenous and there has been less integration than in North America .'
Many Canadians were shocked when the RCMP announced last June 3 it had arrested a group of adults and juveniles for allegedly planning truck bombings in Toronto . The group had also allegedly stockpiled firearms and intended to take hostages at the Parliament buildings in Ottawa and behead them unless Canada pulled its troops out of Afghanistan .
Prosecutors allege the suspected terrorists were encouraged partly by an extremist leader who has claimed that Canadian troops are only deployed to Afghanistan to rape Muslim women.
The report notes that younger jihadists are now often getting their inspiration online from spiritual leaders who are 'available 24/7.'
While most of those allegedly involved in the 'homegrown' terror group were arrested, investigators say Canada harbours other pro-al-Qaeda extremists who could quickly escalate to violence.
Source: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?i d=25e76872-b309-47a7-841b-938bdd9ffd71&k=76582
Sri Lanka Police Seize over 90 Car Number Plates (back)
February 7, 2007
by Dilip Ganguly
Sri Lankan police seized 91 vehicle number plates from a train in a Tamil-majority northeastern town, the military said Monday, sparking some concern in the capital that Tamil could be planning a .
Military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe, however, said it was still unclear exactly where the plates were being taken or what their intended use was.
'We don't know what their plan is, but we are investigating, but the number plates were found in Trincomalee on a train that had originated in Colombo ,' he said, correcting an earlier report that the train was heading to the capital.
The plates were found during a routine check of the train on Sunday evening as Sri Lankans celebrated their 59th Independence Day. Four people _ all ethnic Tamil men _ were after a search of the train, Samarasinghe said.
Although Samarasinghe dismissed earlier reports that the plates could have been used by Tamil Tiger in a suicide , the news alarmed Colombo , which has frequently been targeted by the insurgents in their decades-long civil war.
Security was tightened in the capital, where there was already an increased troop presence on the roads due to Independence Day celebrations.
Earlier, suspected Tamil Tiger a Sri Lankan soldier during a raid on a northern security post early Monday in Vavuniya, the last government-held town ahead of territory. The Defense Ministry said Tamil Tigers raided the post before dawn, one soldier and three.
Meanwhile, an army foot patrol was Sunday night near Trincomalee, a port town. The patrol fired back and a search operation found the body of a . The military suffered no casualties.
The Tamil Tigers, formally called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils after decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
About 3,600 people have died since violence escalated early last year despite a 2002 cease-fire.
The government says it is willing to give limited autonomy in areas where Tamil live, but want sweeping autonomy which the government says will infringe on the island nation's sovereignty.
Source: No url available
Abu Sayyaf New Chief a Foreigner (back)
February 5, 2007
by Bong Garcia
A justice department official disclosed that a foreigner might serve as the new leader of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, following the death of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadafy Janjalani.
Without stating what nationality, City Prosecutor Ricardo Cabaron disclosed that he recently got information that the Abu Sayyaf fallen leader will have a foreigner as his successor.
Janjalani was killed by marine forces in a clash last September 4 in Patikul, Sulu, where thousands of troops have been pursuing the bandits and Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists, Dulmatin and Umar Patek.
Cabaron urged concerned government agencies to prevent the entry into the country of the foreigner who would come to assume leadership of the Abu Sayyaf.
Unconfirmed reports said Radulan Sahiron was assuming as caretaker of the Abu Sayyaf until the foreigner would arrive to lead the group. Sahiron reportedly has no international connection and overseas training.
Umbra Jumdail, alias Dr. Abu Pula, and Al-Bader Parad have reportedly assumed leadership of the Abu Sayyaf's striking force in Sulu.
The Sailani brothers, Omar and Iting, are now heading the Abu Sayyaf's Urban Terrorists Group, according to reports.
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/zam/2007/02/05/new s/sayyaf.new.chief.a.foreigner..html
The Qods Force - Iran 's Special Operations Force (back)
February 7, 2007
Exploitation of documents seized in recent arrests by American forces of Iranian nationals in Iraq indicate direct involvement of the regime in Tehran with insurgent groups responsible for attacks on American troops. The individuals are members of the special operations wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) known as the Qods Force.
Although the Qods Force (Arabic al-quds, Jerusalem ) was officially created in 1990 through a reorganization of the IRGC (the 'Sepah Pasdaran') and the Ministry of Information and Security ( Iran 's intelligence service, the 'Etala'at'), its roots go back to 1982 and the initial deployment of the IRGC outside Iran . That deployment was to Lebanon's Biqa' Valley, where the 'IRGC Syria and Lebanon Corps' made contact with their Lebanese Shi'a brethren and created the Party of God, known more commonly by its Arabic name, Hizballah. Hizballah is regarded as probably the most effective irregular military force in the world, a testament to the abilities of the Qods Force.
In Lebanon , the IRGC was directly involved in the planning and execution of numerous attacks on American interests in the region, including the 1983 attack on the Marine barracks at Beirut airport. They were also complicit in the kidnappings of several American citizens, including CIA Beirut station chief Beirut Bill Buckley in 1984 and U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Rich Higgins (serving with the United Nations) in 1989. Both were tortured and murdered at the hands of the IRGC and Hizballah.
The IRGC in Lebanon became the backbone of the newly formed Qods Force. While they took on a new host of responsibilities, they remain in Lebanon to this day. They are intimately involved in the funding, training and supply of Hizballah. Virtually all of the weapons used by Hizballah in the 2006 war in Lebanon were supplied by the IRGC, mostly via Damascus International Airport . (See Hezbollah and Hamas - the Iranian connection.)
It was members of the Qods Force who were dispatched into southern Iraq in 1991 immediately following the withdrawal of American forces after they had evicted Iraqi forces from Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm. These IRGC personnel made contact with their fellow Shi'a Muslims and fomented the failed uprising against Saddam Husayn.
The Qods Force has been involved in other Iranian special operations in Europe, Asia and Africa . For example, they were involved in providing weapons to fundamentalist Islamic groups in Algeria in the early 1990's. In 1995, the Qods Force was involved in smuggling weapons to Bosnia 's mostly Muslim army (with tacit approval of the United States and its allies), as well as providing some operations personnel.
The IRGC and its Qods Force often use the aircraft of SAHA airlines to move weapons and personnel. SAHA is a charter service wholly owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, operating several Boeing 747 aircraft (see photo to right). SAHA is an acronym for the Persian words 'military transport service.' Its aircraft are often seen at the airport in Damascus .
In the late 1990's and up until just prior to the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Qods Force was involved in supporting the Afghan Northern Alliance in its operations against the Taliban. The current concern is IRGC/Qods Force involvement in Iraq , primarily in the Kurdish north as well as in Baghdad . Over the last few weeks, American forces have detained several Iranians who are believed to be IRGC officers. (See Iran - still part of the problem and Hoshyar and I - the Iraqi foreign minister on detention of Iranians.)
The IRGC Qods Force is a capable, committed organization with demonstrated capabilities on three continents. They are involved in supporting, and possibly even directing or conducting, operations against American forces in Iraq . They have had American blood on their hands for over 20 years. If we find them in Iraq , they should be dealt with accordingly. Rather than bringing them to justice, let's bring justice to them.
Source: http://francona.blogspot.com/2007/01/qods-force-irans- special-operations.html
[Nov. 2006]
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7598_1833562,000500020000.htm
Zawahiri used madrassa to train bombers: Pak
Press Trust of India
Islamabad, November 1, 2006
A religious school destroyed in an army air raid in Bajaur tribal area
was
frequented by Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri who used it to
train
suicide bombers, Pakistani officials have said.
The facility, known as Maulvi Liaquat's madrassa, was used for
imparting
training to new recruits with second and third-tier leadership of
Al-Qaeda,
by al-Zawahiri and his associates Abu Obaida al-Misri and Abu Farrah
Libbi,
top security officials told a briefing on Tuesday.
They displayed to media stills and videos of the early morning training
sessions at the destroyed seminary with participants from Swat, Dir,
Bajaur
and even Afghanistan.
The photos taken through infrared camera showed people aged between 20
to 30
carrying out exercises with no weapons.
"No weapon or arms were shown as being used for training, as tactics of
terrorists have been changed and they prepare suicide bombers," local
daily
The News today quoted a Pakistani official as saying.
The facility was frequently visited by al-Zawahiri, Libbi, al-Misri and
others to prepare a new lot of foot soldiers as Al-Qaeda is reportedly
running short of them.
Some leaders of the area had already announced they have groomed around
20
suicide bombers even though they were involved in efforts to strike a
peace
deal with the government to show "their other face," the official said.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf yesterday said all 80 people killed
in
the airstrike in the northwestern tribal area were militants who
received
military training at the seminary.
Musharraf's assertion came as thousands of tribesmen rallied at Khar in
Bajaur region on Tuesday to protest the airstrike, terming it a
massacre of
innocents.
An American news channel earlier reported that al-Zawahiri was the
likely
target of the raid but Pakistan's military spokesman General Shaukat
Sultan
denied the reports. Officials said Zawahiri was not in the madrassa at
the
time of the raid, though he had visited it in the past.
The officials claimed some of those seen in the photos undergoing
physical
training were to be sent to their targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan
within
a day or two.
"We continued to monitor the site for several weeks and despite our
efforts
to stop it through approaching Maulvi Liaquat and Maulvi Faqir
Mohammad,
they carried out such activities unabated," the paper quoted an
official as
saying.
He said all other religious seminaries in that part and other areas
were
closed as students had finished their religious education by Ramzan-end
and
there was a break of around 15 to 20 days.
"This period was being used to train terrorists as this facility was
located
at an isolated place in Bajaur agency," he said.
He appeared to confirm that Pakistan army planned a peace deal with the
locals in Bajaur after a similar pact with tribal elders in Waziristan
but
added, "The strike at the terrorist facility was essential from
security
point of view."
The official claimed the first person who arrived at the spot following
the
strikes was Maulvi Mohammad with 20 people and they surreptitiously
took
away materials and articles.
He said no one had come out in the open to claim the bodies. "The dead
bodies were taken to Swat and other areas which proved they were of
Jihadis
and not of seminary students," the official added.
It is not yet fully established that the facility had any link with
rockets
found in Islamabad and Rawalpindi recently, though investigations are
still
underway, the official said.
He did not rule out retaliation by the terrorists and said security
would be
tightened to avert any sabotage activity in Pakistan.
A report in Pakistan's Daily Times meanwhile quoted eyewitnesses as
saying
that they saw a US Predator drone fire three missiles at the madrassa
on
Monday.
However, security officials maintained that no American or NATO plane
or
forces were involved in the operation.
Jamat-ud-Dawa, an organisation set up by Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafeez
Sayeed has alleged that Musharraf owned the attack on the madrassa to
"show
his allegiance" to the US.
"Musharraf desperately needed an opportunity to prove his allegiance to
the
United States after the Waziristan peace deal and he got one by
claiming
responsibility for the Bajaur airstrikes," Inamullah, a district chief
of JD
said addressing people after the funeral prayers of those killed, Daily
Times reported.
Cracking An Insurgent Cell
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060109/9military.htm
1/9/06
Cracking An Insurgent Cell
Finding--and breaking--the ruthless killers of Iraq is not a pretty
business. An exclusive inside look at how it's done
By Julian E. Barnes
MOSUL, IRAQ--It is 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 10, five days
before Iraq's national elections. A red four-door sedan carrying four
men cruises through the western half of this freewheeling oil town.
The old beater of a car doesn't attract any particular attention
before the driver, an 18-year-old called Nashwan, pulls over near a
gaggle of campaign workers hanging political posters. A man known as
Abu Mahmoud steps out of the car. He draws a handgun. Two other men
with guns follow quickly. The campaign workers step back, then begin
shouting angrily. Abu Mahmoud points his gun at one of the workers. He
fires. The man falls to the ground, dead.
A hundred feet in the air, atop a mosque's minaret, an Iraqi police
sniper hears the shots. The sniper draws a bead on one of the gunmen.
He pulls the trigger, his bullet dropping the man to the ground. The
gunfire alerts the police officers inside Four West, one of Mosul's
heavily fortified police stations.
They race to the scene. Abu Mahmoud hustles his men back into the car,
and it takes off. But the streets are jammed, and Nashwan is forced to
stop. Abu Mahmoud and a man called Adel jump out of the car and vanish
into the crowd. For some reason, Nashwan does not run. The man shot by
the sniper is taken to Mosul's main hospital. The police apprehend
Nashwan and bring him to Four West.
Mosul is Iraq's second- or third-largest city, depending on who's
counting. It is populated predominantly by Kurds and Sunni Arabs, with
the west side almost entirely Sunni.
A little more than a year ago, the police force in Mosul collapsed in
the face of an insurgent uprising. Dozens of police officers were
killed. The rest of the force quit. In the months that followed, the
American battalions then overseeing the city struggled to regain
control, drive off the insurgents, bring in stronger Iraqi Army units,
and build an entirely new police force. More recently, since the
latest American battalions arrived four months ago, the violence has
begun to subside. But insurgent cells still operate here. Attacks
against American forces by improvised explosive devices occur daily.
Suicide bombers remain a threat, and gunmen roam the city looking for
Iraqi security forces and American soldiers to pick off at random.
Barely two hours after the assassination of the campaign worker, Maj.
Jonathan Fox, a 43-year-old officer with the 1st Battalion, 17th
Infantry Regiment, the American unit that oversees security operations
in western Mosul, arrives at Four West to meet with the police station
chief, Col. Eid al-Jabouri, about the attack. Nashwan, says
al-Jabouri, has started talking to the Iraqi police. The police
interrogator's questions focus on the afternoon attack. Nashwan
confesses to having driven the getaway car, but he insists he did not
shoot the party member.
What catches Fox's attention, though, is an admission by Nashwan that,
six weeks earlier, he had joined an insurgent cell called the
Mujahideen Army. The cell members, Nashwan tells the police, have been
bringing explosives to Mosul in order to make roadside bombs to attack
American patrols. Nashwan's capture, Fox believes, could be critical,
an important opportunity to crack open and eliminate an insurgent
cell. If the Iraqis and Americans act quickly, they may be able not
just to find the triggerman in the attack on the campaign workers but
to cut off a key source of the roadside munitions maiming and killing
American troops. Fox tells al-Jabouri he will return with his
interrogation team. Before leaving, however, he asks if Nashwan has
been roughed up by his Iraqi interrogators. "A little," says
al-Jabouri. The answer will severely complicate the rest of Fox's week.
The next morning, as an American interrogator questions Nashwan in an
office at Four West, Fox approaches the steel bars of the station's
holding cell. With a ruddy face and a wad of tobacco jammed behind his
lip, Fox is a guy who just can't sit still. The police have captured
another suspect in the shooting attack on the poll workers. He goes by
the name Adel and sits disconsolately on the cell floor, his foot
wrapped in a filthy bandage. Fox begins questioning him: "Are you
attacking Americans?" Fox's interpreter, Mushtag Alleathe, who goes by
the nickname "Mitch," translates.
"Yes," Adel responds, "I kill Americans."
"Why?" Fox asks.
continued and it is a powerful report...............granny
Note this thread, contains many replies and also the quotes from the Bible to go with it, LOL, no I am not going to read all the answers, there is at least one muslim answer and must be others....granny
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.terrorism.world-trade-center/browse_thread/thread/6d584bca954715d0/8e5e25c77bc36de8#8e5e25c77bc36de8
A full total eclipse is due March 3rd over eastern North
America. For Europe and Africa it takes place later that night.
See:http://www.space.com/070209_ns_lunar_eclipse.html
http://www.natpress.net/stat_e.php?id=2456
POLITICS
What does Putin go to Near East for?
Natpress: Probably, there is no sense in republishing a number of the information materials of the Russian news agencies on our web-site on this theme. So we give the most usual of them. In it as the reader may see there is no mention of visiting Adyghe Khase of Jordan.
[09.02.07 13:01]
Source: Blotter
On Sunday Vladimir Putin will go to a trip to the countries of the Persian gulf for discussion of the situation in the Near East and promotions of the Russian domestic companies. In end of his trip the president of Russia plans to meet in Jordan with the head of the administration of Palestinian national autonomy Mahmud Abbas to bring some contribution to settlement of the situation in the Near East.
Representatives of the Russian domestic big business elite and state corporations, together with the presidents of the Muslim republics (except for the leadership of Chechen Republic) will accompany with the president.
It is supposed that at the meeting with the king of Saudi Arabia Putin will say a word for the Russian Open Society "Russian Railways" which applies for victory in the tender for construction of railway line North – South (with its total extent of 2400 km and cost about 2 billion dollars) Riyadh shows interest to the Russian air defence systems. During the visit it will be signed about 10 agreements, the main event of the trip becomes a business forum of the Russian and the Saudi businessmen.
As the most complex item of the program experts consider Qatar where the leader of Russia and the emir of Qatar Hamad Ben Halif Al Tani will talk over the problem of struggle against the international terrorism, and also cooperation in the oil-and-gas sphere. It is expected that during the visit “Lukoil” and “Qatar Petroleum” will sign the Memorandum of cooperation.
On Monday evening Putin will arrive to the capital of Jordan Amman. On Tuesday after negotiations with King Abdulla II Ben Al-Husein Putin will visit the sacred place of Jesus Christ’s christening, then will have negotiations with the head of Palestinian national autonomy Mahmud Abbas during which he will try to convince Abbas “to concentrate efforts on the inter-Palestinian interaction”.
As “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” (Independent newspaper) writes, the analysts concern skeptically to Putin’s opportunities in achieving any concrete results in settlement of the Near-Eastern conflict. The overall objective of the Russian presidential tour is to show the world community that in settling of the conflict in the Near East they would not manage any progress without the help of Russia.
Natpress
[with a penalty like this, we would have less false alarms..]
http://www.natpress.net/stat_e.php?id=2402
VARIA
Telephone terrorist tested Maykop militia on its efficiency
In the evening of January 30 on the phone 02 an unknown man called militia and warned that one of buildings of the town mail at the centre of Maykop was mined. The explosion, as he said, should be in a half an hour. Then, with one more call a bit later the same voice was wonder, why to the mail building only one militian car drove?
The operative attendant answered that the fire team, ambulance brigade, division on extraordinary situations were already on their way and tried to find out, who was calling them. But the phone tube was thrown down.
According to the chairman of the republican committee extraordinary situations Igor Dorodonov, the calling man appeared to be 16-year's old Eugenie Burkov detained at once during evacuation of the inhabitants of the house together with the workers of offices and shops located there. One of the operatives, making interrogation of the inhabitants of the building paid attention to a young man stepping down the stairs. After several questions to him it became clear that he was the man who had called.
The young man did not deny that he was the originator of the accident. Moreover, he told that he was going downwards to make the next phone call. About his incentive reasons Burkov said the following: he had wanted to know how much time would it take the services to react his warning.
As they suppose in militia, the malefactor can be punished with jail for 3 years. Thus the verdict of court could be influenced with that he despite of his age had had 2 convictions. Besides he (or his parents) will have to pay the penalty of 100 thousand rubles. But the very first thing the inspectors are going to do is to carry out his psychiatric examination.
Natpress
http://kcbs.com/pages/226667.php?contentType=4&contentId=319372
Posted: Thursday, 08 February 2007 6:20PM
Hazmat Situation Closes Part of Former Shipyard
crime scene
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- San Francisco police discovered some hazardous material inside a police storage facility, and also on private property, at the former naval shipyard at Hunters Point on Thursday afternoon.
The police facility was evacuated, but there were no other evacuations since the area is generally closed to the public, said San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens.
Gittens declined to elaborate on what the hazardous material was, but a spokesman for the police department told CBS 5 it was dynamite. That spokesman would not say how much dynamite, or whether it was unstable.
The San Francisco Fire Department also responded to the situation.
(jro)
Copyright 2007, KCBS. All Rights Reserved.
http://kcbs.com/pages/226418.php?contentType=4&contentId=319115
Posted: Thursday, 08 February 2007 11:26AM
Search for Sailor Expands to Mexico
Jim GraySAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KCBS) -- The Coast Guard's role in the search for missing computer expert Jim Gray is over.
However, his friends are continuing own search by employing cutting-edge, high tech methods, some of which have never been used before.
Eleven days ago, computer scientist Jim Gray set off in clear weather for the Farallon Islands on his yacht Tenacios. He hasn't been seen since.
Mike Olsen, a spokesman for the group Friends of Jim, says 6,000 friends and colleagues are hoping a variety of pictures will offer a clue.
"We've collected digital satellite images and images from airplane overflights of the likely areas where we think Tenacios may have strayed after we lost contact with it," Olsen told KCBS.
continues.........................
http://kcbs.com/pages/232250.php?contentType=4&contentId=323715
Posted: Sunday, 11 February 2007 3:10PM
One Dead After Two SF Shootings
gun
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- A 20-year-old man died after he was shot while washing his van on Eddy Street near Laguna in San Francisco. The brazen daylight shooting happened at about 10:15 Sunday morning, according to Police Captain John Ehrlich. A little over two hours later, a teenage girl was seriously wounded in a shooting in the same area.
Listen KCBS’ Ron Naso reports
The shootings are the third and fourth in the vicinity of the Western Addition public-housing development, about a half block from Jefferson Square. On Feb. 5, an 18-year-old man was shot in a drive by, and on Jan. 27, a 20-year-old man was shot to death.
Ehrlich said it’s too early to say if the shootings are related. "Investigators will be interviewing any witnesses that we have. There are cameras around. We'll be getting the tapes and trying to figure out why and who it was."
France's Transformation Into A Muslim State is not a recent development.
http://usawakeup.org/#france
France's Transformation Into A Muslim State
is not a recent development.
In a classified report, the French military has concluded that a
network of 25,000 Muslim fighters are participating in the worst
violence in France in more than 40 years.
Nicholas Sarkozy
Mission: French interior minister
Whereabouts: Paris
French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy has been trying to contain
an Arab uprising whose fighters have been trained in Afghanistan,
Bosnia and Iraq and possess everything from light weapons to
anti-aircraft missiles. In a classified report, the French military
has concluded that a network of 25,000 Muslim fighters are
participating in the worst violence in France in more than 40 years.
The report said the so-called mujahadeen, or holy warriors, have been
trained in guerrilla warfare, light weapons and intelligence. Many of
them are loyal to Al Qaida chief in Iraq, Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi and
make a living from drugs, prostitution and loan-sharking. Sarkozy was
not taken by surprise by the Muslim riots, sparked by the
electrocution of two young Muslims fleeing police and hiding in a
power substation in Paris.
The interior minister just didn't do anything about it. Sarkozy
acknowledged that prior to the outbreak of violence late last month,
some Muslim neighborhoods in Paris were ablaze nearly every night.
Sarkozy said rioters were torching up to 40 cars a night in Muslim
neighborhoods in the French capital. In the space of a few months, the
interior minister said, 9,000 police cars had been stoned in these
neighborhoods. The battle-hardened Muslim fighters dismiss French riot
police, who have not been trained to combat Arab guerrilla warriors.
The police are not equipped to deal with legions of Arab fighters who
rush toward them with firebombs and light weapons. Firemen work on a
burned car in the suburbs of Strasbourg, eastern France, on Nov. 12.
AFP/File/Olivier Morin
At this point, French officials are close to throwing in the towel.
Their main concern now is to stop Muslims from capturing the heart of
Paris. Thousands of police patrolled the center of the city to prevent
rioters from attacking the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysees. Muslim
insurgents had used Internet sites to urge attacks against French
tourism and national monuments.
"One can easily imagine the places where we must be very vigilant,"
French police chief Michel Gaudin said. For Western diplomats and
intelligence analysts, the question isn't why France is burning: It's
why the Muslims haven't lit the match until now? For a decade, French
authorities watched helplessly as pro-Al Qaida elements first took
over Muslim neighborhoods and then cities such as Lille, Lyon,
Marseille and Strasbourg. French police were ordered to stay out of
Muslim neighborhoods that surround virtually every city. Authorities
ceded control and chose to deal with Muslim-controlled municipal
councils.
Intelligence sources said Al Zarqawi operatives decided to jump on the
bandwagon after the second night of rioting in Muslim neighborhoods in
Paris. On Oct. 30, they decided to flex their muscles and attacked
police with pistols, assault rifles and firebombs. "The outbreak was
spontaneous," an intelligence source said. "After the second night,
when it began to spread, the Al Zarqawi leadership decided to exploit
this." French police were largely helpless. Anti-riot squads had been
trained to handle left-wing anti-war demonstrators or individual
terrorists, not organized squadrons of Muslim fighters with light
weapons.
Intercepting communications meant nothing, as police officers could
not understand Arabic, particularly the code used by the Islamic
insurgents. France's Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a
speech at the National Assembly during a debate following the urban
violence, on Nov. 15. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
Over the past 20 years, France has allowed the establishment of a
separate Muslim state. In the 1980s, the European Union and Arab
League signed a series of accords guaranteeing that Muslim immigrants
in Europe would not be compelled in any way to adapt "to the customs
of the host countries." In 1983, the Euro-Arab Dialogue issued a
recommendation that non-Muslim Europeans be made "more aware of the
cultural background of migrants, by promoting cultural activities of
the immigrant communities or supplying adequate information on the
culture of the migrant communities in the school curricula.'
" That sealed any hope of Arab assimilation in France and other
European Union countries. Many Arabs stopped learning French and took
second and third wives, following Muslim customs and ignoring French
law. Arab women were treated by their husbands and fathers with the
same brutality they have known well in Algeria and Tunisia.
French police refused to intervene. At the same time, Arab children —
virtually all of them Muslims — were taught to hate France,
Christians, Jews and the West. They were taught that they would lead
the Muslim crusade that would destroy Christian Europe once and for
all. "There are three forms of jihad: the military jihad, the economic
jihad and the cultural jihad," said Geneva-based historian Bat Ye'or,
author of "Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis.
" "The EAD [Euro-Arab Dialogue] between the European Union and the
Arab League has been a means of spreading the economic and cultural
jihads from the Middle East to Europe," Ye'or said. France was most
enthusiastic in selling its future for Arab oil. In 1967, French
President Charles De Gaulle announced that France would support the
Arabs and boycott Israel. De Gaulle sold weapons to the worst of Arab
depots, such as Libya's Moammar Khaddafy and Iraq's Ba'athist regime.
The Arab League didn't pull any punches in its dialogue with France
and the EU. The Arabs demanded political concessions on a range of
issues in exchange for oil.
The EU, alarmed by the 1973 oil embargo, agreed and Arabs in Europe
were given unofficial autonomy. "Eurabia's destiny was sealed when it
decided, willingly, to become a covert partner with the Arab global
jihad against America and Israel," Ye'or said. Over the past decade,
supporters of Al Qaida have gradually replaced Muslim leaders in
France and other countries. These pro-Al Qaida activists were trained
in Saudi Arabia and have been aligned with Muslim veterans of the war
against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Unlike their parents, who saw
France and Europe largely as economic havens, the new Muslim activists
were jihad-oriented and envisioned a takeover of a barren Christian
Europe. "We do not want to assimilate," said Brussels-based Arab
European League founder Dyab Abu Jahjah. "Assimilation is cultural
rape.
It means renouncing your identity, becoming like the others." Instead,
the pro-Al Qaida Muslim activists in France adopted jihad. In the
1990s, hundreds of French Muslims flocked to Bosnia to participate in
the civil war in Yugoslavia. They returned after several years as
hardened fighters ready to lead the Muslim masses in jihad. With the
help of the new Saudi-financed mosques, they began to indoctrinate and
train Muslim teenagers in holy war and combat, guerrilla warfare and
even bomb assembly. In France, the Muslims grew rapidly, constituting
more than 10 percent of the country's population. More telling,
however, is government statistics that show that Muslims make up more
than 30 percent of French youngsters, including in the universities.
As Muslims see it, they are the future of France. The pro-Al Qaida
factions began to organize neighborhoods into popular committees
similar to those in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the late
1980s. Youngsters were trained to spot non-Muslims, particularly
police, and drive them out of the neighborhood. Muslims who showed a
pro-French bent or opposed Al Qaida philosophy were beaten, expelled
and even killed. Muslim leaders formed links with their counterparts
throughout Europe. In conferences over the past few years, French
Muslims led the call for a jihad in Europe. Authorities ignored them.
In 2003, a new process began in France's Muslim Neighborhoods.
Recruitment began for Muslims to fight the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
This wasn't a war against Serbian weekend warriors; it was a chance to
fight the Satan himself. As a result, young French Muslims flocked to
mosques to find out how to join the war in Iraq. Thousands either
joined the Muslim war in Iraq, helped finance the Al Qaida insurgency,
or established cells loyal to Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi, the Palestinian
head of Al Qaida in Iraq. The Al Zarqawi operatives were ready for
battle both in France as well as in Iraq. They collected weapons,
learned how to make bombs and smuggled missiles into Europe. Western
intelligence sources said Al Zarqawi operatives in France have
acquired the SA-18 anti-aircraft missile from the former Soviet Union.
The sources said the missiles were smuggled into Turkey and acquired
by Al Qaida-aligned cells in the Middle East. In 2004, intelligence
sources said, France foiled a plot to destroy passenger jets with the
SA-18 Igla missile. An Al Qaida-aligned cell composed of Algerian and
French nationals planned to shoot the missiles from near Strasbourg.
"This new generation of jihadists presents a major challenge for
international intelligence services and law enforcement authorities
since many are very young and virtually unknown, highly clandestine,
evasive, many with no past criminal history or record, and fully
committed to its cause," said Marco Vicenzino, executive director of
the Washington-based Global Strategy Project. What makes the situation
even worse is that France has become essentially leaderless. President
Jacques Chirac is ill and not fully functioning. Those seeking to
succeed him in 2007 elections include Sarkozy and Prime Minister
Dominique de Villepin. The central government has pledged housing,
education and employment in an effort to stop the Muslim violence.
De Villepin also announced plans to deploy an additional 1,500 police
officers to impose order. But the Al Qaida network in France has no
plans to fold up. Instead, emissaries from the network, many of them
French converts from Christianity, have been moving to other EU
states, including Britain, to plan similar campaigns. "Americans must
discuss the tragic development of Eurabia, and its profound
implications for the United States," Ye'or said. "Americans should
know that this self-destructive calamity did not just happen, rather
it was the result of deliberate policies, executed and monitored by
ostensibly responsible people. Finally, Americans should understand
that Eurabia's contemporary anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism are the
spiritual heirs of 1930s Nazism and anti-Semitism, triumphally
resurgent," she said.
Article received from Rob Prevost, Triple Canopy Inc.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/836077/the_chicago_tribune_mary_schmich_column_gift_from_vet_sheds/index.html?source=r_technology
Posted on: Sunday, 11 February 2007, 12:00 CST
The Chicago Tribune Mary Schmich Column: Gift From Vet Sheds Light on Soldier's Plight
By Mary Schmich, Chicago Tribune
Feb. 11--At 12:30 Friday afternoon, Feb. 2, Paul Jepsen, an Oak Park police sergeant, got an e-mail from Kevin Landeck, a Wheaton soldier in Iraq.
"Mr. Jepsen," Landeck wrote, "I wanted to write you an email and let you know that the weapons light arrived to me the other day and it is awesome! Thank you and to all your fellow officers/friends who donated money for the light."
Jepsen had never met Landeck--a 6-foot-2 26-year-old with reddish hair who loved skiing and roller hockey--but any kid of his old high school friend Vicki's was a friend of his. So was any soldier.
It was only natural then that when word got around that Kevin was yearning for a special rifle light, the old soldier made sure the young soldier's wish was granted.
[snipped]
"I haven't had a chance to use it officially yet, busting into a house at night, but we still have 6 months of fun left and I will get plenty of use out of it," Kevin wrote Friday before last.
"Needless to say some of my buddies are jealous of my new toy and I brag how some great people back home chipped in to buy it for me without a second thought.
"I plan on sending something back to you from over here, I will let you know when to look for it. Thank you again, I can't say it enough."
Kevin added a p.s. "I'll send you some pictures through email of how it looks on the old pea-shooter!"
In the end, it wasn't lack of light that killed Kevin Landeck.
Eight and a half hours after he got Kevin's thank-you, Jepsen got a call: Kevin's Humvee had been blasted by an I.E.D., an improvised explosive device, the fancy term for road bomb.
The fate of the rifle light was the least of the Landecks' worries when they learned Kevin had been killed. But it mattered.
Before her son's death, Vicki Landeck had been so worried that Kevin and the troops didn't have sufficient equipment that she wrote a letter to Sen. Barack Obama's office.
"It's sad enough they have to be there," she says now, "but worse when they don't have the proper equipment."
Last week, when the family learned the light had been damaged, they made a plan. They would have it shipped back here, repaired and returned to Kevin's best Army buddy in Iraq.
http://www.semissourian.com/story/1189128.html
2 pipe bombs could be work of an unknown suspect called 'The Bishop'
Sunday, February 11, 2007
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH ~ The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two pipe bombs mailed to companies in Chicago and Kansas City appear to be linked to a suspect who has been sending increasingly threatening letters to financial institutions since at least 2005, a corporate counterterrorism expert said Saturday.
The devices arrived a day apart. Officials have suggested in both cases that the devices were not working bombs that could have exploded.
But the bombs appear to be a sign that the suspect, who calls himself the "The Bishop," is "upping the ante," Fred Burton, vice president of counterterrorism for Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based security and intelligence firm, wrote in a report Wednesday.
FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza declined Saturday to comment on Burton's report and said the case is an ongoing investigation involving multiple FBI field offices and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Burton said Saturday that Stratfor maintains many financial clients and some of them approached the company in 2005 after "The Bishop" began sending letters demanding that the companies manipulate the prices of specific stocks to predetermined prices, frequently $6.66. But Burton wrote that the demands were delusional because the firms either lacked investments in the stocks mentioned or the ability to manipulate the stock's price.
The packages containing the explosives carried the same return address in Streamwood, Ill., and were postmarked Jan. 26 from Rolling Meadows, Ill., Burton wrote.
The first package to reach its destination arrived Jan. 31 at American Century Investments' midtown Kansas City mail facility, a few blocks from the company's national headquarters, the FBI has said. Burton wrote that a note accompanying the package read, "Bang! You're dead."
A day later, a similar explosive was found at a business in a 65-story downtown skyscraper, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has said. Burton wrote the package initially was sent to the Janus Capital Group in Denver, but was rerouted to a sister company, Perkins, Wolf, McDonnell and Co., apparently because the return address was from the Chicago area.
Burton wrote it was "highly likely" that Janus and American Century Investments were previous targets of "The Bishop" and the letters were intended to send a message to all targets of the threatening letters.
"I think these devices were sent to back up exactly what he said he would do and in all probably the next devices will be real," he said.
Other letters from "The Bishop" have been mailed from Midwestern states, including Wisconsin and Iowa. They were produced using a computer and the envelopes were handwritten and addressed to senior managers of the targeted firms, Burton wrote.
The letters became increasingly threatening.
In one, the suspect mentioned Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and wrote: "You will help, after all it is so easy to kill somebody it is almost scary." Another letter mentions how upsetting it would be to have a child kidnapped, Burton wrote.
He wrote that the earlier letters provided limited forensic material and was hopeful that the explosives would provide more clues, such as DNA evidence, hair samples or microscopic evidence.
"There are signatures to bomb makers," he said. "How you would make a device is different than how I would make a device."
Burton said the Bishop probably is a white male and a loner with minimal social skills. His belief that he can alter stock prices suggests he suffers delusions of grandeur, Burton wrote.
Burton said the source of the moniker is unknown. He said letters from the suspect have contained Biblical references but the title also could be a chess reference.
"If The Bishop is not identified and apprehended, he likely will continue his efforts to manipulate stock prices," Burton wrote. "As his threats are ignored, his demands unmet and his grandiose plans thwarted, he probably will continue to escalate his behavior -- and eventually will send live devices to his targets."
Thanks for the pings...excellent articles.
You are welcome.
Al Qaeda may target France ahead of elections
By Marisol
Due to its organizational ability and its long-terms relations with
al-Qaeda
and especially with Osama bin Laden in person, the organizations has
turned into
al-Qaeda's key representative in Europe," the report warned.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015220.php
Jihad Watch
http://www.jihadwatch.org/
Mecca Accord texts
Palestinian Agreement Announced in Mecca
GMP20070208827001 Riyadh Al-Ikhbariyah Satellite
Channel in Arabic 1910 GMT 08 Feb 07
[Text of Palestinian agreement, read out by Nabil Amr,
media adviser to the Palestinian Authority president,
in Mecca -- live]
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,
"Glory to God who did take His servant for a journey
by night from the sacred mosque to the farthest mosque
whose precincts we did bless." [Koranic verse]
Based on the noble initiative announced by Custodian
of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdallah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz,
king of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and under his
majesty's generous auspices, Palestinian dialogues of
accord and agreement were held in holy Mecca between
Fatah and HAMAS 19-21 Muharram 1428 Hegira,
corresponding to 6-8 February 2007. And with God's
help, these dialogues achieved success, as agreement
was reached on the following:
First, stressing the sanctity of Palestinian blood and
taking all steps to prevent bloodshed, while
emphasizing the importance of national unity as a
basis for national steadfastness and resistance
against the occupation, in addition to achieving
legitimate national aims of the Palestinian people and
espousing the language of dialogue as the sole
foundation for resolving political disagreements on
the Palestinian scene. In this context, we offer our
profound gratitude to the brothers in sisterly Egypt
and the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza, who
exerted great efforts to pacify the situation in the
sector recently.
Second, agreeing on forming a Palestinian national
unity government in accordance with a detailed
agreement approved by the two parties, and urgently
take the constitutional procedures to bolster it.
Third, proceeding with developing and re-forming the
PLO and speeding up the preliminary committee's work
in accordance with the Cairo and Damascus
understandings. And agreement was reached on detailed
steps between the two sides in this connection.
Fourth, stressing the political partnership principle
on the basis of the laws applied by the Palestinian
National Authority and political pluralism, based on
an agreement endorsed by the two sides. While we
announce this agreement to our Palestinian masses, the
masses of our Arab and Islamic nation, all friends
worldwide, we emphasize our commitment to it, in
letter and spirit, in order to focus on achieving our
national aims, getting rid of the occupation,
restoring our rights, and focusing on the main
issues, first and foremost the Jerusalem and refugee
issues, Al-Aqsa Mosque issue, the prisoners issue,
the detainees issue, and tackling the [security] fence
and settlement issue.
It is God who grants success.
Holy Mecca, 21 Muharram 1428 Hegira, corresponding to
8 February 2007.
May God's peace be upon you.
[Description of Source: Riyadh Al-Ikhbariyah Satellite
Channel in Arabic -- Official All-News Satellite
Channel of the Saudi Government]
PA Chief Statement On Commissioning HAMAS' Isma'il
Haniyah to Form Government
GMP20070208836001 Riyadh Al-Ikhbariyah Satellite
Channel in Arabic 1915 GMT 08 Feb 07
[Text of statement read by Nabil Amr, Palestinian
Authority President's media adviser, in Mecca--live]
In the name of God The Merciful, The Compassionate
A letter of authorization to form a government.
Your Excellency Isma'il Abd-al-Salam Haniyyah,
greetings:
As head of the Executive Committee of the Palestine
Liberation Organization [PLO] and president of the
Palestinian National Authority and following a look at
the basic law and according to the authority that we
have:
1. We commission you to form the next Palestinian
government within the designated period in the basic
law.
2. Following the formation of government and after
presenting it to us, it will be presented to the
[Palestinian] Legislative Council to get the vote of
confidence.
3. As head of the next government, I call upon you to
be committed to the higher interests of the
Palestinian people, protect their rights, preserve
their achievements and develop them, work to realize
their national rights as agreed in the national
councils' decisions, the articles of the basic law,
the National Accord Document, and the Arab summits'
resolutions. From this premise, I call upon you to
respect the resolutions of international legitimacy
[United Nations] and the agreements signed by the PLO.
May God make you succeed and guide you to the path of
goodness.
[Signed] Mahmud Abbas, head of the Executive Committee
of the Palestine Liberation Organization and president
of the Palestinian National Authority.
[Description of Source: Riyadh Al-Ikhbariyah Satellite
Channel in Arabic -- Official All-News Satellite
Channel of the Saudi Government]
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