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

Global Politician/Ocnus.Net ^ | Dec 17, 2006 | Professor Daniel M. Zucker

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.

From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.

One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.

MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.

Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.

Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.

Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.

He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.

http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml

[nw_arizona_granny]

UCLA Sponsors of Terrorism (back)



April 4, 2003

[Editor’s Note: We received this memo from students at UCLA. The author of the memo is unknown, but its contents have been checked with the students who attended some of the events and with experts in this area.]

UCLA’s Radical Islamist Front

During the past several years the UCLA Muslim Student Association (MSA) has acted in collaboration with a number of Islamic groups and individuals. The MSA operates both on campus and off. They organize events featuring militant speakers, co-sponsor events and conferences with radical Islamic groups, and co-sponsor fundraisers for killers and Islamic radicals. In addition, they use their publication, Al-Talib, to disseminate their radical, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel views.

Anti-Israel Protest

On October 22, 2000, a viciously anti-Israel protest took place at the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles . This hate-filled rally, ostensibly a protest against 'Israeli aggression,' was organized by two UCLA students, Arif Shaikh and Ahmed Shama. Shaikh is a UCLA graduate student of Arabic and Shama is a past president (president at the time of this rally) of the UCLA Muslim Student Association. On the official rally notification e-mail sent by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the e-mail addresses of both students are listed as contacts for further information. In fact, Shama’s UCLA student e-mail was listed: ashama@ucla.edu.

At the rally anti-Semitic statements and shouts of 'Death to Israel !' and 'Death to Jews!' were commonplace. (Ed. note: a video was attached to the memo) 'Victory to Islam! Death to the Jews' could also be heard from Shama, the MSA president and rally co-sponsor. He also stated: 'Our solution is simple. We are not simply anarchists . . . . Our solution is the establishment of justice by Islamic means. That is the only solution to this Israeli apartheid.' Shama criticized Israeli/Palestinian peace talks, saying:

'When we see negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is a racist Zionist, and on the other side is Yasser Arafat, who used to be a so-called 'Arab activist,' but is now a racist Zionist, being mediated by Bill Clinton, who is a racist Zionist. And Hosni Mubarak, I am Egyptian, Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt, who is a racist Zionist. And King Hussein II of Jordan , who is a racist Zionist. When we see that a peace process is being negotiated between Zionists, mediated by Zionists, controlled by Zionists, and being portrayed in the media by Zionists, we come and we condemn all of you. We don’t care about your background, we don’t care which language you speak, we don’t care about what religion you claim to hold. Because you are racist Zionists. And we will not accept their definition of peace. I will not accept their definition of Islam. We will define Islam the way that the Prophet, peace be upon him, defined it.'

Not satisfied with just rhetoric, Shama himself burned an Israeli flag while a jubilant crowd chanted 'Khaibar, Khaibar, O Jews, the army of Mohammed is coming for you,' and 'Death to Israel , victory to Islam.'

One speaker, Sohail Shakry, president of MSA West, quoted Hizbollah Secretary General Sheik Nasrallah:

'If we look at the situation the past 52 years, the biggest impediment to peace has been the existence of the Zionist State of Israel . Since the existence of this state, we have had wars, conflicts, killings, massacres. If we really want true peace then we must see that it goes with the elimination of the Zionist entity in the middle of the Muslim world.'

Another speaker was Hussam Ayloush, a member of CAIR-Southern California region. Besides ranting over the 'racist' practices of Israel and over 'our tax dollars used to kill the innocents of Palestine,' Ayloush pleaded for the rally participants to send money to help the 'victims and orphans.' He suggested sending money to the Holy Land Foundation, which is a known associate of terrorists and is on the United States list of terrorist supporters. In fact, the United States government froze the assets of the Holy Land Foundation in December 2001 due to its support for terrorist activity. On September 14, 2000, U.S. Agency for International Development ('USAID') notified HLF that due to national security concerns it has been removed from the list of USAID’s registry of organizations eligible for funding. In the notice, USAID included a copy of a letter from the office of the under secretary of state, dated August 30, 2000, which stated:

'I believe you [USAID] are aware that the Department of State has had some concerns about this organization [HLF]. The Department has now determined that the continuation of this relationship is contrary to the national defense and foreign policy interests of the United States . Accordingly, I request that USAID take all necessary steps to terminate this relationship immediately.'

Organizing On-Campus Events

On May 20, 2001, UCLA hosted a conference, co-sponsored by the UCLA MSA, called 'The Israeli Palestinian Crisis: New Conversations for a Pluralist Future.' Among the radical Islamic organizations that participated in the event and sent speakers to this conference were the Council on American Islamic Relations, CAIR, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council, MPAC. Nihad Awad, the founder and executive director of CAIR, in a speech delivered at Barry University in March 1994, made the statement, '…after I researched the situation inside and outside Palestine, I am in support of the Hamas movement….'[1] In May 2000, Rafiq Jaber, a member of CAIR’s Board of Directors, signed a press release regarding the Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon:

'I thank Allah for this victory which was due to the tremendous efforts of the Islamic resistance movement, Hizbollah…. Maybe the PA will take a hard look at the slippery road it is now traveling and join the resistance to Zionist occupation in order to liberate the land of Palestine . I firmly believe that Palestine will never be liberated by any other means.'[1]

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) claims to represent American Muslims and describes itself as 'a public service agency working for the civil rights of American Muslims, for the integration of Islam into American pluralism, and for a positive, constructive relationship between American Muslims and their representatives.' In reality, MPAC is a radical Islamic organization that openly defends terrorist groups such as Hizbollah. Salam Al-Marayati, MPAC’s executive director, wrote the following in 1999:

'Hezbollah organized the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 killing 241 marines, the largest number of American troops killed in a single operation since the end of the Vietnam war. Yet this attack, for all the pain it caused, was not in a strict sense, a terrorist operation. It was a military operation, producing no civilian casualties -- exactly the kind of attack that Americans might have lauded had it been directed against Washington 's enemies.' [1] [2]

This so-called 'pluralistic' conference featured statements that can only be classified as anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. Israel was declared to be a terrorist state and a classic example of racist apartheid. Salam al-Marayati decried the use of American weapons and tax dollars that finance Israeli aggression. Dr. Riad Abdel Karim, a member of the aforementioned CAIR, devoted his speech to painstakingly equating Zionism with South African apartheid. (Ed.: A full transcript of this event was attached) Rashid Khalidi, a noted Arab professor in Chicago , defended the current intifada. Mahmoud Ibrahim, a professor at Cal Poly Pomona, inferred that the actions of the Israeli army are the same as those actions that the Jews endured during the Holocaust.

The UCLA MSA sponsored the on-campus 'Palestinian Freedom Week' from May 30-31, 2002. Among the featured speakers was the aforementioned Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of CAIR- Los Angeles .

Radical Speakers Invited to UCLA by the MSA

UCLA MSA consistently invites radical Muslim speakers who call for the death of Jews and even the death of America . Two such examples are Imam Abdul-Alim Musa, Imam of Masjid al-Islam in Washington , D.C. and Hatem Bazian, a university professor at Berkeley . This will become evident as their names are repeatedly mentioned in the report. In fact, the two spoke together at UCLA on January 21, 2001. Imam Musa has a long track record of making anti-American, anti-Semitic statements, and Bazian is not shy to call for the death of Jews. Bazian stated the following in May 1999:

'And the aya (passage) actually talks about the Jews entering the Masjid again and so they’d be entering again and then they’ll be defeated, in the Hadith, the Day of Judgment will never happen until you fight the Jews. They are on the West side of the river, which is the Jordan River , and you ‘re on the East side until the trees and the stones will say, Oh Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him! And that’s in the Hadith about this, this is a future battle before the Day of Judgment.'

At the January 21, 2001 event titled 'Shaping Our Perspective: Our Role in a Changing World,' sponsored by MSA UCLA, Imam Musa stated: 'If you were to say that the Soviet Union was wiped off the face of the earth . . . people would have thought you were crazy, right? The people of Afghanistan didn’t have the intellect or historical knowledge to know that they wasn’t supposed to wipe out the Soviet Union , is that right? . . . We saw the fall of one so-called superpower, Old Sam is next.'

On April 13-15, 2001 UCLA hosted the 3rd annual MSA West Conference. Among the confirmed speakers were Imam Musa and Imam Muhammad al-'Asi from Washington D.C. Imam Al-Asi, a radical anti-Semitic Shiite cleric who supports the Iranian regime and the militant Islamic movement in genera[1][4], regularly vocalizes anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiment. On February 21, 2001 Muslim students at the University of California at Irvine invited Al-Asi to speak. The statement below encapsulates the virulently anti-Semitic nature of his speech:

'You have the Jews who are blind and deaf and dumb, who cannot see the same forms of racism, or discrimination, of oppression that is institutionalized and implemented by one of their own; and that is the Israeli, Zionist government in Tel Aviv… Discrimination, if it is against a gentile, is not objectionable; but anything that happens against a Jew becomes a Holocaust…Where is the courageous Jew who can come out and say Israel is as fascist as the most fascist of Europe? Israel is a racist as Apartheid could ever be.'

'…In the meantime, the Zionist-Israeli lobby, referred to by the Jews themselves as the Jewish lobby in this country, is taking the United States government and the United States people to the abyss. We have a psychosis in the Jewish community that is unable to co-exist equally and brotherly with other human beings. You can take a Jew out of the ghetto, but you cannot take the ghetto out of the Jew.'

Al-Asi not only vocalizes his anti-Semitic feelings, but also has vocalized anti-American sentiment as well. In 1994, Al-Asi appeared in Steven Emerson's PBS documentary Jihad in America , saying that 'if the Americans are placing their forces in the Persian Gulf , we should be creating another war front for the Americans in the Muslim world -- and specifically where American interests are concentrated. In Egypt , in Turkey , in the Indian subcontinent, just to mention a few. Strike against American interests there.'[1][5] In a speech at a New Black Panther Party rally carried on C-Span 2, Al-Asi said that 'the twin evils in this world are the decision makers in Washington and the decision makers in Tel Aviv.' He also defended Bin Laden by saying that ' Israeli Zionist Jews' were behind the Sept. 11 attacks.[1][6]

Al-Talib, the UCLA Muslim Student Association publication



Al-Talib, the UCLA Muslim Student Association publication, is no exception to the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel trend that is so prevalent at UCLA. Examples below demonstrate how the writers and editors support Islamic radical groups, and even support Jihad as a means to an end. Support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is non-existent, as is the very recognition of Israel as a sovereign, legitimate state.

Al-Talib featured a cover story titled 'The Spirit of Jihad' in their July 1999 issue

An editorial by the Al-Talib staff venerates Osama Bin-Ladin:

'When we hear someone refer to the great Mujahid (someone who struggles in Allah’s cause) Osama Bin-Ladin as a ‘terrorist’ we should defend our brother and refer to him as a freedom fighter; someone who has forsaken wealth and power to fight in Allah’s cause and speak out against oppressors. We take these stances only to please Allah.'



On Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, Usama Bin Laden’s spiritual leader who extolled the virtue of 'jihad and the rifle alone' as a means to an Islamic state (November 2000):

'We pray that Sheik Azzam’s dream of a true Islamic state comes true.'

Al-Talib featured another cover story tilted ' Philippines : the forgotten Jihad' in the September 2001 issue. In it, the author laments the 'targeted distortion' of Islamic terrorist groups like Abu Sayyaf and even attempts to explain the negative distortion:

'. . . Abu Sayyaf are actually beneficial for the United States because they give the United States a reason to be in the Philippines . After all, America is just helping the government get past its nasty Muslim problem, nothing else.'

It is important to know that the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, was at that time holding an American couple hostage (several of their previous hostages have been decapitated), receives material and financial assistance from Usama Bin Laden. In the same article, Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright are referred to as 'the butcher of Baghdad ' and 'his henchwoman,' respectively.

Al-Talib, along with UC Irvine’s Muslim student newspaper, Alkalima, published a special report entitled 'Zionism: The Forgotten Apartheid'. The authors explain the reasoning behind this report: 'As the Zionists continue to colonize, torture and ethnically-cleanse in the name of the ‘peace process’ and the Americans continue to fund them, the respective staffs of Al-Talib and Alkalima feel it to be their basic duty to expose Zionism, its evils and its effects…Zionist-controlled world media has been purposefully distorting and misconstruing world events too long.'

The report has a section devoted to 'the resistance movements against Zionist aggression.' Hamas and Hizbollah, two of the most notorious Islamic terror organizations which have appeared on the United States ’ list of designated terror groups since 1995, are lauded as heroes fighting Israeli occupation. Totally ignoring all the innocent American and Israeli blood on the hands of these terror groups, both are described as noble, quality social welfare providers.

The report also contains several articles on different subjects, all of which demonize and disparage Israel , such as:

* 'Israeli' Apartheid: the chilling facts

* Zionist Torture Exposed

* Examples of 'Israeli' Human Rights Violations

* ' Israel ’s' Nuclear Weapons: proof of their relentless terror

* Stop U.S. Foreign Aid to ' Israel ' Now

The February 2002 edition of Al-Talib contained an advertisement for a March 2 MSA West-sponsored event honoring 'The Legacies of Hassan Al-Banna and Malcolm X.' Hassan Al-Banna was the founder of the radical Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

In a December 19, 2001 AP article entitled 'University support for alleged terrorism affiliates sparks debate', written by Don Thompson, Al-Talib publisher Mohammad Mertaban commented on the freezing of assets of Islamic charities tied to Hamas and Bin Laden:

'If it goes to families of those who have died in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I don’t see anything wrong with that. I don’t understand how people can label Palestinians terrorists.'

Mertaban, when asked his views on suicide bombers in Israel, stated, ''We're in no position to condemn a suicide bombing because none of us has experienced what they've been through under 53 years of oppression.'[1][7]

In an article titled 'Son Takes Over, As Assad Dies After Years Of Reigning in Syria' in the June 1999 edition, the Al-Talib author refuses the existence of the State of Israel when he wrote:

'Yet with Hafez al-Assad’s death, Bashar is believed to be more intransigent to peace talks with 'Israel' (Occupied Palestine), not necessarily because of additional malice towards 'Israel' but because he lacks the power to make the necessary concessions with the historic enemy without earning the enmity of hard-line factions in Damascus.'

Aside from their overt apologia for terrorists, over the years Al-Talib has, and continues to, print numerous anti-Jewish articles. Attached are pages from various Al-Talib issues that compare Zionism to apartheid and venerate Hamas and Hizbollah as 'freedom fighting organizations.'

Co-Sponsoring Events and Fundraisers for Murderers and Terror Supporters

Just two days before the events of September 11, on September 9, 2001 UCLA’s Al-Talib magazine co-sponsored a benefit dinner titled 'Justice for Imam Jamil Al-Amin' at UC Irvine. Imam Al-Amin recently was convicted of murdering an Atlanta police officer while being arrested. Among the speakers were the aforementioned Imam Musa and Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, who is well known for many anti-Semitic statements which he recently recanted [1][8] At this particular event, Yusuf made the following remarks concerning the fate of America;

'. . . They were ungrateful for the bounties of Allah and so Allah caused them to taste fear and hunger. That is one reason and, I would say, that this country is facing a very terrible fate. The reason for that is that this country stands condemned. It stands condemned like Europe stood condemned for what it did. . . . This country {America} unfortunately has a great, a great tribulation coming to it. And much of it is already here, yet people are too to illiterate to read the writing on the wall.'

Imam Musa also voiced disparaging remarks about America, such as:

'You think Zionism and Palestine is the only dictatorial power in the world. We’re telling you about apartheid right here in America. Not an apartheid of the 1960s, but an apartheid right now today.'

'When you fight Old Sam, you are fighting someone that is superior in criminality and Nazism. ‘Cause everyone knew the Nazis are criminals. Isn’t that right? They’re murderers. Superior to British colonialism. Out and out groups, huh? But the American criminalizer is the most skillful oppressor that the world has ever known.'

'I don’t mean to give you a bad picture of America, I’m only giving you a realistic picture of America. I’m giving you the America that we know. Don’t say you know more about America . . .'

'Imam Jamil coined a phrase, and that phrase meant this: ‘If you don’t give us justice. If you don’t give us equality. If you don’t give us our share of America. If you don’t stay out of our way and leave us alone, we’re gonna burn America down.'

'We're gonna live the American dream. We're gonna live happily ever after. But I've got news for you brother and sisters, you came to America and America is the most criminal government in the world (Allahu Akhbar) along with the Zionists. And eventually you're gonna to have to struggle here whether you like it or not.'

'That's the way America survives. It is superior to-- you know British colonialism--but America is superior to British colonialism. They beat the British at everything. Isn't that right? They are a better colonizer, a better murderer, a better killer, a better liar, a better thief, a better infiltrator, than old, than old British. This is America that we know.'

On March 24, 2002, shortly after Imam Al-Amin was convicted of murder, the UCLA MSA co-sponsored another event in his support. On the e-mail announcement were 'many facts pointing to Imam Jamil’s innocence.'



On February 10, 2001 the UCLA MSA co-sponsored another fundraiser for the Defense Fund of Ahmad Chaudhry held at Mt. San Antonio College. Chaudhry has been convicted of attempted murder for an assault on two of his college roommates in San Bernardino County. Among the speakers were CAIR’s Hussam Ayloush (mentioned and quoted further into the report).

On November 18, 2000 there was an UMMA Free Clinic Fundraising Dinner in Los Angeles at the Sequoia Conference Center. Featured speakers included Shayk Hamza Yusuf and Imam Siraj Wahaj. On the e-mail notification for the event, a UCLA student group e-mail address, umma@ucla.edu, was listed as a contact for more information.

The speaker Imam Siraj Wahaj, a member of CAIR’s Board of Advisors, was listed as a potential unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing case (List of unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators in United States versus Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel Rahman, Mary Jo White, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, February 2, 1995). He is the imam of the al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, where he provided a platform for Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. He later served as a defense witness for the Sheik in the World Trade Center bombing trial. In September 1991, Wahaj stated the following:

'…And he [Allah] declared ‘Whoever is at war with my friends, I declare war on them.’ Who is a friend of Allah? [He chants a passage in Arabic] Allah. Your true friend is Allah, the messenger, and those who believe. Americans and Canadians. Hear it well. Hear what I’m telling you well. The Americans are not your friends, hear what I’m telling you, hear it well. The Canadians are not your friends, hear what I’m telling you, hear it well. The Europeans are not your friends. Your friend is Allah, the Messenger and those who believe. These people will never be satisfied with you until you follow their religion. They will never be satisfied with you…'[1][9]

Additional examples of UCLA MSA collaboration with extremist Islamic groups and individuals include:

According to UCLA’s school newspaper, the Daily Bruin, the Muslim Student Association proposed a resolution at an Undergraduate Student Association Council meeting, the text of which condemned violations of Palestinians' human rights by the Israeli government.

The resolution asked the council to take a stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East. The resolution included requests that USAC 'condemn political Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination' and 'condemn the institutionalized discrimination and oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli government.'



-- Daily Bruin, 5/23/01

On August 17, 2000 Ghaith Mahmoud of the Muslim Student Association West, UCLA, spoke at an anti-sanctions of Iraq rally at the Democratic National Convention. At the rally, protestors lined a narrow sidewalk through which the thousands of delegates had to pass to return to their hotels. The demonstrators lining this gauntlet chanted slogans denouncing Gore and Bush for being guilty of genocide in Iraq and racist executions in the United States.

On May 19, 2000 CAIR sponsored a lecture in Los Angeles titled 'The Life of Malcolm X the Living Martyr' at the Sabiqun Store/Musalla in Palms. On the MSA e-mail announcement of the lecture, two UCLA student e-mail addresses were listed as contacts for more information: arif@ucla.edu and ashama@ucla.edu. This is a further link between CAIR and UCLA.

On May 3, 2000 the UCLA Muslim Student Association, along with CAIR, sponsored a protest of an Israeli Independence celebration at the Hollywood Palladium.

On April 9, 2000 a fundraiser for the defense of Jamil Al-Amin was held at the Culver City Veterans Memorial Complex. Once again, the contact person for more information on the e-mail announcement was the UCLA student and MSA President Ahmed Shama.

On August 27, 1999 the UCLA MSA, CAIR-Southern California, MPAC and others sponsored a Protest Against the Use of Secret Evidence in Los Angeles at the Federal Building on Wilshire. Among the speakers, yet again, were Abdul-Alim Musa and Hussam Ayloush, CAIR.

ENDNOTES:

[1] Statement by Nihad Awad, at a panel discussion, 'The Road to Peace: the Challenge of the Middle East,' Barry University, March 22, 1994.

[2] 'IAP President Statement Regarding Israeli Withdrawal from Southern Lebanon,' distributed on the IAP-Net e-mail list serve, May 24, 2000.

[3] Salam Al-Marayati, 'A Position Paper on U.S. Counter-terrorism Policy,' June 1999

[4] Al-Asi on a program produced by Crescent International entitled 'Jihad in American or Crusade Against Islam' from 1995: 'Let me say that Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and the Islamic Resistance in the Occupied Lands are part of a general Islamic revitalization, political-military re-instatement in the arena of the world, that is not confined to the Occupied Lands and that strictly belongs to the general Islamic condition throughout the world.'

[5] Fingerhut, Eric. 'Islamic Center called unfit dialogue partner.' Washington Jewish Week. Nov. 8, 2001

[6] Ibid

[7] Tsai, Peijean. 'Students reflect on current situation in Israel.' Daily Bruin Online, May 9, 2002.

[8] Washington Post, October 2, 2001 '…the Jews would have us believe that G-d had this bias to this little small tribe in the middle of the Sinai desert and all the rest of humanity is just rubbish. I mean that is the basic doctrine of the Jewish religion and that’s why it is a most racist religion, it really is…', Hamza Yusuf, 1995 ISNA Convention

[9] September 28, 1991—From a videotape at a conference featuring speaker Siraj Wahaj titled: 'The Afghanistan Jihad'



Source: http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=7098

[nw_arizona_granny]

Iran Condemns Dutch MP's Islam Remarks as Spiteful (back)



February 21, 2007

Iran condemned on Wednesday a call by a populist Dutch politician for local Muslims to throw away half the Koran to show national loyalty, and said the Dutch government should prevent further provocation of Muslims.

The Iranian embassy in The Hague called the comments made by anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders 'spiteful'.

'Such statements are (a) direct insult to sanctities and ethical values of Islam,' the embassy said in a statement.

'Inciting hatred and religious intolerance could only be seen as a disservice to the freedom of expression.' Wilders said in an interview published last week that Muslims should throw away half their holy book if they wanted to stay in the Netherlands and said he would chase Islam's Prophet Mohammad out of the country if he were alive today.

The Dutch government confirmed on Sunday that Foreign Ministry officials had held informal talks with the Saudi embassy in The Hague over Wilders' remarks.

Last year Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines, withdrew its ambassador to Copenhagen over Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet, which provoked worldwide protests among Muslims.

The Iranian embassy called on the Dutch government 'to take appropriate measures to prevent further provocation of sentiments of Muslims'.

Wilders, who is seen as an heir to murdered populist Pim Fortuyn and whose new party won nine seats in parliament out of the 150 in November elections, has warned of a 'tsunami of Islamisation' in a country home to 1 million Muslims.

Living under heavy guard since 2004 when a Dutch-Moroccan killed filmmaker and Islam critic Theo van Gogh, he has campaigned to ban the Muslim burqa veil, new mosques and religious schools and also wants to freeze immigration.

On Monday, Wilders said he had decided not to take part in a parliamentary visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan due to threats following his comments, Dutch media reported.



Source: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2129370.htm

[nw_arizona_granny]

Lying About Al-Arian (back)



February 21, 2007

by R.K. Joyad

A recent article in American Muslim magazine attempts to burnish the image of Sami Al-Arian, the former University of South Florida professor who last year pleaded guilty to assisting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group. It is but the latest example of the American Islamic community asserting that terrorist operatives like Al-Arian, who is currently awaiting his deportation in a Virginia jail, are blameless victims of prosecutors run amok.

The article overflows with sympathy for Al-Arian. Quoting a friend's question to Al-Arian, the author, Sarah Shields, writes: 'Has anyone told you that you look like Gandhi?' U.S. District Judge James Moody had a very different impression of Al-Arian when he sentenced him to 57 months in prison last May. Pointing out that Al-Arian had made no effort to prevent terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic Jihad, the Judge Moody observed, 'You lifted not one finger. To the contrary, you laughed when you heard of the bombings.'

Repulsed by Al-Arian’s attempt to portray himself as an American patriot, Judge Moody called him a 'master manipulator,' contrasting Al-Arian’s purported appreciation of the U.S. criminal justice system with his references to the America as 'the Great Satan' in surveillance tapes disclosed at trial. Which of Al-Arian’s statements drew the judge’s ire? They were the same ones quoted in the American Muslim piece to support the portrayal of Al-Arian as a martyr:

This process, your Honor, affirmed my belief in the true meaning of a democratic society, in which the independence of the judiciary, the integrity of the jury system, and the system of checks and balances are upheld, despite intense political and public pressures....It’s also my belief that an impartial and conscientious jury, as well as principled judicial rulings that uphold the values of the constitution, are the real vehicles that win the hearts and minds of people across the globe, especially in the Arab and Muslim world.

Shields disingenuously fails to mention the judge’s reaction to these very words, and his response to Al-Arian’s characterization of himself as a philanthropist: 'The evidence was clear in this case that you were a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.' Instead, she compares Al-Arian to Gandhi, casting him as the victim of perfidious persecutors.

These persecutors include veteran prosecutor Gordon Kromberg, who Shields names in order to suggest that his role in Al-Arian’s continued incarceration in Virginia is somehow motivated by anti-Muslim bias. Why? Because Kromberg succeeded in having Al-Arian held in contempt of court for refusing to testify before the grand jury. Shields writes,

> …it is the government that has contempt for the legal system Professor Al-Arian has relied upon and admired for decades. Instead of respecting the plea agreement, Mr. Kromberg referred to it as a 'bonanza.' Despite having been found guilty of nothing by a U.S. court, Judge Moody and Mr. Kromberg persist in their belief in Dr. Al-Arian’s culpability. It appears that Mr. Kromberg’s attitude is based in part on Sami Al-Arian’s religion.

In reality, Kromberg did what any capable law enforcement professional would have done. He held a criminal -- in this case Al-Arian -- to the to the letter of the law. Religion has nothing to do with it. But while the criticism of Kromberg’s actions are groundless in this instance, they do raise a worthwhile question: How skeptical should a prosecutor be of Muslim civil rights organizations?

Consider the case of Sabri Benkahla, who was one of two defendants acquitted in Kromberg’s prosecution of a dozen Muslim men who participated in what the government called a 'Virginia jihad network' that used paintball games in the Virginia woods in 2000 and 2001 as a means to train for holy war around the globe. Benkahla’s acquittal resulted from his testimony at trial, in which he denied a number of the allegations. The problem was that Benkahla’s testimony conflicted with other evidence the government had uncovered. Kromberg called Benkahla before the grand jury, where he repeated his testimony. On Monday, February 5, 2007, Benkahla was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Kromberg has had considerable experience dealing with such characters since 9/11. He obtained the conviction of Sheik Ali Al-Timimi, who used his religious position in Virginia to urge his adherents to donate their bodies to Islamic violence. Since then, Kromberg has suffered the accusations of Al-Timimi's lawyer, Jonathan Turley, that the prosecution was motivated by religious bias. At a recent debate about the Al-Timimi case at George Washington University Law School, Turley complained that Al-Timimi is referred to as 'sheik,' arguing that it is an example of abusive prosecutors trying to promote prejudice against Muslims for an unfair advantage. The fact that Al-Timimi’s activities occurred in the context of a religious meeting, for Professor Turley, means that they must be immune from scrutiny, even if they caused several young men to travel to Kashmir to shoot weapons at Indian soldiers, at a time when the U.S. needs to prevent the export of geopolitical violence from its territory.

Or consider the case of James Ujaama, a promising African-American activist who was lauded for his community activities in Seattle. In 2002, he was arrested while apparently on his way to London to help Britain’s hook-handed radical Abu Hamza recruit jihadists. Transported to Virginia, Ujaama found himself in court against Kromberg. He claimed that it was all a case of mistaken identity, and that Kromberg was lying to keep Ujaama in jail, where he had to suffer such indignities as being taunted by other inmates as 'Bin Laden boy.' Kromberg suggested to the court that it should be skeptical of Ujaama's claims.

Taken back to Washington state to stand trial for his role in trying to help Al Qaida establish a jihad training camp in Oregon, Ujaama cut a deal, which allowed him to be released from prison at a young enough age to resume a productive career. How did Ujaama respond to this generosity? Following a scuffle with police in December, he was picked up in Belize traveling under a false passport. His arrest in Belize was based on information provided by Interpol. Ujaama was almost certainly on his way to some Islamic hotspot to join the jihad. Perhaps he was going to Somalia to assist Islamic fighters battling Ethiopian troops, or to Afghanistan. On February 1, 2007, Ujaama was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence for violating the terms of his supervised release. In the words of the judge who sentenced him, Ujaama 'violated the trust I put in you.' 'I'm very, very sorry,' Ujaama replied. His lawyer, Peter Offenbecher, told the court that Ujaama 'alone is the person who made the bad choices, and he will accept the consequences.'

The problem is that this sounds an awful lot like Sami Al-Arian last May. Now, less than a year later, he is giving interviews suggesting that he was neither guilty nor sorry, and instead blaming his predicament on committed public servants like Gordon Kromberg.

Here is the truth about Al-Arian, which we are not likely to hear from his apologists: he stands convicted of being an operative for a Palestinian terrorist organization. Following a six-month trial where the jury failed to convict him of being a murderer, Al-Arian was faced with the prospect of a tight prosecution focusing solely on his role as a U.S.-based terrorist financier.

He and his attorneys realized that they could not likely defend against these charges, given the surveillance tapes. The fact that he could claim to be a legitimate philanthropist all these years, as Al-Arian knew, was the product of some archaic information-sharing rules that prevented law enforcement from fully understanding what he was up to. Those days are over.

The contrast between Al-Arian’s public face and his secret role in financially supporting overseas violence – which so enraged Judge Moody last May - could no longer be concealed. His lawyer, in fact, acknowledged Al-Arian’s role in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad during the trial, arguing that he had no viable choice. He pleaded guilty. This deal had an obvious attraction to Al-Arian. His plea agreement in Florida meant that his deception in the 1990s, which included media support from the St. Peterburg Times and parts of the United States government that embraced him, had been redressed. He could no longer be prosecuted for that conduct.

However, a person as connected as Al-Arian has information that will allow our nation’s law enforcers to discern who else is out there living a lie, and that is what interests Kromberg and his colleagues. It is true that Al-Arian has no obligation to cooperate with his accusers. However, it is also true that the grand jury has a right to all non-privileged information pertinent to its inquiries, and that the government can compel this information through a grant of immunity, which Al-Arian now enjoys. If Al-Arian persists in refusing to provide that information, following the court ruling that he has no right to refuse based on the Fifth Amendment, the remedy is more time in prison, until he sees the light.

Is this not what we want of our nation’s law enforcers? The prosecution, it turns out, was absolutely right in being skeptical of the claims of Benkahla, Ujaama and Al-Timimi. The American public should give him the benefit of the doubt in his efforts to gain the truth in the mind of Sami Al-Arian, who is cynically trying to manipulate the justice system while claiming to revere it.



Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=26957

[nw_arizona_granny]

Muslims Cast Themselves as Victims in Mall Shooting (back)



February 21, 2007

by Beila Rabinowitz and William A. Mayer

Though evidence in the case of Sulejman Talovic's February 12 military style assault strongly suggests that it may have been an act of jihad, as of this writing local law enforcement and the FBI stubbornly maintain that they have determined 'no official motive' for the shopping mall rampage in which the eighteen year old Bosnian Muslim immigrant shotgunned six people to death and wounded several others before an off duty policeman ended the ordeal by killing the gunman.

More troubling than law enforcement's efforts to suppress speculation about the terrorist nature of the event, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson seems to be more concerned with a so-far nonexistent 'backlash' against the Bosnian community, than for the victims whose lives were snuffed out.

Talovic's family and indeed much of Salt Lake's surrounding Bosnian Muslim population have a history steeped in the violence of the Balkan civil war. The killer's father Suljo, a former Bosnian mujahideen fighter suggested to the media that his son might have been manipulated:

'Suljo Talovic doesn't know where his son got the guns or how he learned how to use them.

Suljo Talovic, Father of Shooter: 'Somebody got (the guns)…and maybe (they were) training him and tell(ing) him (to), 'go shoot somebody.''

Question: So you think that somebody influenced him maybe to do this?

Suljo Talovic: 'Yeah. I think somebody.' [source radio station KSL http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=900025]

[Editor's note: Salt Lake City's Bosnian community is an artificial construct, the result of the State Department's resettlement program [working with multicultural lefty do-gooders such as the International Rescue Committee] which has transported troubled, often primitive/tribal [Somali for example] foreign communities into the unfamiliar surrounding of the United States. For details about the legacy of U.S. intervention into the Balkan civil war which was based on a clever and extremely well financed Muslim public relations deception, see 10 Years And Counting - Still No Exit Plan From Clinton Created, European Al-Qaeda Base]

That 'somebody' could easily be any one or more of the several thousand Bosnian Muslim refugees who settled in the Salt Lake City area and who like Talovic's father gained military training and jihad experience during the Bosnian war. According to eyewitness accounts Talovic was 'calm and aimed his rifle at his victims while smiling,' and that he made his victims kneel before executing them.

Both Talovic's detached, serene demeanor and the cold-blooded style of execution are consistent with those who perpetrate jihad.

At this point the most telling evidence that this was a premeditated Islamist attack exists on a video shot at the scene by an eyewitness.

On that video Talovic can be heard twice shouting what sounds like 'Allahu Akhbar' [God is great, the traditional Muslim battle cry.

It is also worth noting that Muslim clerics have issued fatwas [religious findings[ forbidding Muslims to celebrate Valentines Day, calling it an infidel holiday, and that the majority of the victims were killed in a gift shop looking for Valentine's Day related items.

The official response of the Salt Lake City government has been disconcerting, instead of rushing to console the families of the dead and injured Mayor Rocky Anderson has gone to great lengths to appease and assure the Muslim and Bosnian communities that no harm would come to them.

Quick to exploit the opportunity, organizations like the Utah Consortium of Minority Groups [UCMG] took advantage of the unexpected media attention to demand more social welfare spending while asking 'forgiveness' from the families of the victims in the same breath.

The UCMG's take on this horrific crime is essentially the same as that of the SLC Mayor's Office, that people are not responsible for what they do, that the obvious [the Bosnian community's intimate familiarity with the Balkan jihad] has no relevance to the matter and that the community from which sprung the killer was indeed the victim of the crime not its potential accomplice.

As Ljubica 'Buba' Roth, a Balkan refugee and the leader of the UCMG stated 'We came to Utah to be Americans, instead we're isolated and afraid.' In 2005 she made the preposterous claim that 'many refugees are living in conditions worse then that of refugee camps in their homelands and it's time to do something about it.'

Such attitudes prompt the obvious question of what native born citizens of Utah are supposed to feel when they and their children are being massacred in the streets by ungrateful refugees who are on the public dole.

This toxic mixture of resentment, entitlement, and crass ingratitude on the part of the Bosnian immigrants brings with it the troubling specter of increased social unrest prompted by an 'us verses them' mentality which has now been forcibly injected into a heretofore homogenous Mormon community. This may partially explain why Utah's Governor Jon Huntsman, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and the chief of police have been so feverishly portraying the immigrant's as the real victims of the shopping mall slaughter.

On the Thursday after the shooting, both Mayor and Chief of Police, 'assured Bosnian immigrants that authorities would not stand for any backlash against them.'

Of course there was and continues to be no backlash. As a matter of fact, the non-Muslim community has rallied to the family's support. Some of the victim's families have even expressed sympathy with the Talovics and funds are being collected to help the family pay for the killer's $5,000 burial in his native Bosnia.

With the victim's family's still burying their dead and nursing their wounded, the Mayor found time to blast people who speculated that the shootings could have been a terrorist act for jumping to 'unjustified, outrageous conclusions,' though such speculation so-far seems the best explanation for Talovic's motivation.

Sulejman Talovic's short but violent history started at age 10 when he was sent to juvenile court for throwing rocks at a little girl. A second girl was pulled to safety by her mother just in time. The ten year old Talovic also threatened his landlord with a knife who didn't report the incident at the time.

A few years later at the age of 12 Talovic faced a judge after having been accused of holding a knife to a the head of a 12 year old girl while saying 'I'll kill you.'

Talovic's last court appearance was in 2001 for theft.

The Mayor's dhimmitude towards the Muslim community and misplaced deference to their sensibilities is hardly new. He has been a participant in and initiator of programs involving the Muslim Forum of Utah [MFU].

The MFU was founded in 2003 and is directed by Babak aka 'Bobby' Darwish. The MFU director of Public Relations Abdul Malik Muhamed was personally appointed by the Mayor to his Black Advisory Council. Last year he had been appointed by County Commissioner Peter Caroon to sit on the Commission on Youth Board [COY].

The MFU also co-sponsors a Salt Lake American Muslim Cultural Festival each year, SLAM which receives governmental funding. Unbelievably it was actually co-sponsored by the United States Army.

Why is the United States military promoting a festival which is clearly oriented towards da'wa?

SLAM director Ghulam Husain also publishes the Salt Lake Muslim paper and concentrates his Islamic propagation efforts on changing media perceptions about Islam and interfaith projects. His son Ali has become the first Muslim student body president at the State University of Utah.

According to their website the Salt Lake American Muslim is a 'Community Social Services Organisation which was incorporated in 2002...with a mission to 'improve the Salt Lake area quality of life by contributing to the social and cultural activities for the Muslims in the area.' [source http://www.saltlakeamericanmuslims.com/slam/about.html]

The festival is clearly a da'wa [conversion] exercise promoted under the guise of 'Multi- cultural Diversity, Inclusion, Tolerance & Mutual Respect,' it's twin goals are to spread the Muslim religion while positioning the Islamic community so as to be better able to exploit state and government benefit programs to aid those da'wa efforts.

In 2006 the MFU hosted a State Department delegation of Saudi educational ministers on a visit to the United States. They were so enthusiastic about the organization's conversion potential that they pledged support. According to the MFU account of their meeting:

'In the words of the Saudi Ministers 'The little circle joining the big circle'...The Saudi Ministers left with the assurance they would support us and that God willing we would be successful in our work. They said they 'appreciated' our work and that we should keeping doing work in the way of Allah.'

The meeting was so successful that Babak Darwish announced plans for a 'new da'wa team' consisting of people who would volunteer to teach others about Islam.

Utah State Governor Jon Huntsman has also been no slouch when it comes to dhimmitude. In 2005 he visited a mosque with his wife and daughters who obediently donned head scarves and went to the woman's section. The mayor knelt with the men and unwittingly articulated their ultimate ambition in his message:

'As governor, it's an honor to be with all of you...'I consider you friends and important contributors to the state of Utah. We share a common destiny - peace, happiness and tranquility.' It is so important for Utah's more than 25,000 Muslims to train their children in the faith so they can share it with others who know nothing about Islam.'

The MFU has been instrumental in the effort to suppress evidence that Talovic's rampage was terror related, publishing a press release on February 14th headlined, 'Trolley Square Shootings Not Related to Islam and Muslims.'

'...Political terrorism is not a factor given his lifestyle and mental condition. He [Talovic] was not known to have been religious but in fact secular in nature and never attended any of the local mosques and did not associate with the community. Even if he had been religious that does not represent the community because his actions were anti-Muslim and hurt Muslims more than anybody. Some say he was from a gypsy background.'

Anyone familiar with Bosnian Muslim history knows well the bloody enmity they have for 'gypsies.'

By February 17th with it becoming common public knowledge that Talovic was - despite MFU's ridiculous and deceptive assertions to the contrary - a Muslim and that he and his father regularly attended the Salt Lake City's Noor Mosque - felt it imperative to revise the previous press release.

The most significant evidence of the MFU's radical Islamist mindset was revealed in their near-beatification of officer Kenneth Hammond.

'Our hearts go out to the families that were hurt and in this event. The people hurt and killed could have been our own families and friends that attend the nearby Mosque so we are happy that the perpetrator was killed before he could hurt anybody else in the community. Officer Kenneth Hammond's heroic selfless act to save lives was well noted in the Muslim community, his actions are in the line with the way of the 'Futuwa' or 'Youthful Islamic Chivalry.'

Since it is forbidden in Islam to praise an 'infidel' who kills a Muslim the MFU's revised statement gave them cover and also a way to ingratiate them with law enforcement at the same time. Regardless of such transparent manipulation, the clear thrust of the MFU's sentiment remains self-serving and Muslim-centric, 'the people hurt and killed could have been our own families.'

In light of this, the Muslim Forum of Utah - the largest and most influential Muslim group in the state - having the direct backing from the Saudi Wahhabists is extremely troubling.

It is also disturbing to note that such radical Islamists as this Saudi group have been actively promoted and enabled by the U.S. State Department.

In light of Utah's politicians headlong rush to dhimmitude we suggest that instead of taking meaningless grandstanding gestures such as 'reassuring' the non-threatened Muslim and Bosnian community that they have nothing to fear, that public servants should instead start protecting and securing their non Muslim citizen majority by completely disassociating themselves from these 'jihad through da'wa' efforts of Babak Darwish and his Saudi backed Muslim Forum of Utah.

[Note: Below are both the revised press release and the original]

[REVISED] 'PRESS RELEASE: Trolley Square Shooting Not Related to Islam & Muslims 2/17/07 The tragic Trolley Square Shooting that happened recently was not related to Islam and Muslims, eventhough the shooter happened to be a Bosnian Muslim. Blaming an 18 year old's religion for his loss of perspective can set a new precedence in considering religion in cases similar to the Columbine shooting and others. Also, it can set a new precedence in banning guns for people under the age of 21. It should be noted that under the law alcohol is not allowed until 21 years of age, but guns are sold easily to youth under the age of 21. Our hearts go out to the families that were hurt in this event. The people hurt and killed could have been our own families and friends that attend the nearby Mosque, so we are happy that the perpetrator was killed before he could hurt anybody else in the community. Officer Kenneth Hammond's heroic selfless act to save lives is well noted in the Muslim community, his actions are in line with the way of the 'Futuwa' or 'Youthful Islamic Chivalry'. Our Bosnian contacts in the community say that Sulejman Talovic, an 18 year old high school drop out and Bosnian immigrant, was a young man who lived a hermit type of lifestyle. Political terrorism is not a factor, given his lifestyle and mental condition. Many say that being a survivor of the Muslim Holocaust (8000 Muslim men, women, and children killed) committed by Serbian Orthodox Christians contributed to his mental state. Post traumatic stress disorder can be a huge factor involved with his loss of perspective. He was not known to have been religious, but infact secular in nature and possibly attended Mosque a couple of times. Even if he had been religious, that does not represent the communty, because his actions were anti-Muslim and hurt Muslims more than anybody. There are alot of Muslim youth in Utah who are secular and drink alcohol, fornicate, gamble, and go to clubs in Utah. However, they are not representative of the overall Muslim community within Utah or abroad. If he was from a non-Muslim background, his faith would never have been mentioned in the news and media.'



[Note: The 'official' story about Srebrenica, sold to the world by an organized Bosnian Muslim financed public relations effort was that the Serbs attacked the 'UN safe haven city' of Srebrenica and methodically murdered 8,000 men and boys. However the actual body count was far less, most likely was the result of combat, not of a planned 'ethnic cleansing' operation. The Srebrenica 'massacre' remains along with the Jenin hoax, twin but fraudulent pillars of Muslim disinformation/agit-prop.]

[ORIGINAL] 'PRESS RELEASE: Trolley Square Shooting Not Related to Islam & Muslims 2/14/07 The tragic Trolley Square Shooting that happened recently was not related to Islam and Muslims. Our hearts go out to the families that were hurt in this event. The people hurt and killed could have been our own families and friends that attend the nearby Mosque, so we are happy that the perpetrator was killed before he could hurt anybody else in the community. Our Bosnian contacts in the community say that Sulejman Talovic, an 18 year old high school drop out and Bosnian immigrant, was a young man who lived a hermit type of lifestyle. Political terrorism is not a factor, given his lifestyle and lack of adherence to Islam. He was not known to have been religious, but infact secular in nature and never attended any of the local Mosques and did not associate with the community. Even if he had been religious, that does not represent the communty, because his actions were anti-Muslim and hurt Muslims more than anybody. Some say he was from a gypsy background. There are alot of American, Mexican, African-American, Bosnian, Somalian, Saudi, Arab, Afghani, Turkish, Iraqi, Lebanese, Jordanian, Palestinian Pakistani, Persian, Iranian and other youth that are secular and drink alcohol, fornicate, gamble, and go to clubs in Utah. They are not representative of the overall Muslim community within Utah or abroad. If he was from a non-Muslim background, his faith would never have been mentioned in the news and media.'



Source: http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=saltlake22107.htm

[nw_arizona_granny]

February 20, 2007

by Patrick Goodenough

NOTE:

Muslim antagonism towards all non-Muslims predates the founding of the United States by roughly 1,200 years.

The United States and its foreign policies have come under fire at a conference on relations between the U.S. and Islam, with figures like suicide bombing apologist Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi accusing America of responsibility for Muslims' animosity.

Qaradawi, a Qatar-based Sunni scholar regarded as the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha the U.S. had created the problem by searching for 'an alternative enemy' in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse.

'The U.S. has initiated the animosity when the neoconservatives chose Islam as an alternative enemy,' Gulf Times quoted him as telling the gathering, whose several hundred participants included high-level U.S. State Department officials. The three-day meeting ended on Monday.

Qaradawi said if the billions of dollars the U.S. spends on its efforts 'to dominate the world' were instead channeled to needy Third World countries, Washington could easily have won over the hearts and minds of the people in those parts of the world.

'America will never be the master of the world. One day it will be replaced by new powers like India or China,' he said. 'America will never be able to win the world by force. Only justice and love can settle the problems. If America changed its policy, we would change our attitudes.'

Qaradawi criticized the U.S.-led boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian government, saying Hamas was only described as a terrorist group because it remained committed to fighting against the Israeli occupation.

Hailed in the Muslim world as a leading and highly-influential scholar, the Egyptian-born cleric has come under fire for calling Palestinian suicide bombings against Israelis justifiable 'martyrdom operations' and for encouraging Muslims to fight against U.S. forces in Iraq.

'Allah Almighty is just; through his infinite wisdom he has given the weak a weapon the strong do not have and that is their ability to turn their bodies into bombs as Palestinians do,' Qaradawi told BBC television in 2004, adding during a press conference around the same time that suicide bombings are 'weapons to which the weak resort in order to upset the balance because the powerful have all the weapons that the weak are denied.'

Other Muslim participants at the weekend forum, which was organized by the Brookings Institution and Qatari foreign ministry, included Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa, who told the plenary session most Muslims do not hate the U.S. but oppose its double standards.

'Muslims cannot accept the U.S. policy of supporting Israel and its occupation of Arab and Muslim territories,' he said, adding that Arabs could also not understand Washington's opposition to Iran's nuclear program while Israel's was ignored.

U.S. policies were also criticized by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jasim bin Jabir al-Thani.

'If the monopolization of power on a domestic level is unacceptable, the monopolization of power on the world scene ... the policy of double standards, the absence of transparency ... and the use of force, even more, must cease,' Gulf Times quoted him as saying.

Professor Shibley Telhami of Brookings' Saban Center for Middle East Policy shared the results of a Zogby International survey of Arabs in six countries - Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and the UAE - which he said showed a rise in anti-U.S. sentiment.

President Bush emerged as the respondents' second-most unpopular leader, with only former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - who has been in a coma since a massive stroke in early 2006 - more loathed. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in third place.

The survey named the U.S. as the second biggest threat to Arab people, again behind Israel, and with Britain in third spot, Telhami said.

At the other end of the spectrum, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shi'ite terrorist group Hizballah, was named the most admired figure among the respondents, followed by French President Jacques Chirac, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The U.S.-Islamic World Forum is part of a Brookings' research program called the Project on U.S. Policy towards the Islamic World, 'designed to respond to some of the profound questions that the terrorist attacks of September 11th raised for U.S. policy.'

'In particular, it seeks to examine how the United States can reconcile its need to fight terrorism and reduce the appeal of extremist movements with its need to build more positive relations with Muslim states and communities,' Brookings says on its website.

The forum 'brings together American and Muslim world leaders from the fields of politics, business, media, academia, arts, science, and civil society, for much-needed discussion and dialogue.'

This year's participants list included several State Department officials, including Khalilzad Zalmay, the outgoing ambassador to Iraq and ambassador-designate to the United Nations; and David Satterfield, a senior advisor to the Secretary of State and coordinator on Iraq.



Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ ForeignBureaus/archive/200702/FOR20070219e.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

Islam's War on Sex (back)



February 21, 2007

Why are Muslim authorities so afraid of the influence of sex?

We know from Google Trend sources that a very high percentage of searches on the internet for sex related material comes from Muslim nations. Pakistan, Egypt and Iran rank high in the sex search category. So it's pretty evident that Muslims are extremely interested in sex of all sorts - including the gay variety.

Muslim authorities though don't approve of this and there are all sorts of efforts underway to reduce access to sexual content on the internet. Iran for example has an elaborate filtering system that censors porn related sites.

It seems contrary to the spirit of religion to impose religious law on others by means of force and intimidation. Be Muslim if you want. Spend all day praying if you want. You can even live in a minaret if you like - but why force beliefs on others? When a religion becomes like the police it instills fear in its followers, not love. Isn't this the opposite of what true religion should be all about?

The latest example of Islamic sex paranoia comes from Malaysia, where the state has taken upon itself to appoint volunteer spies to watch out for 'un-Islamic conduct'. Some waitresses and janitors for example will become auxiliaries of the ominously named 'religious department' and snoop on lovers for evidence of heated passions that exceed the permitted degree of affection on the Islamic intimacy barometer.

What is un-Islamic behavior anyway? A peck on the cheek? Hand holding? Lingering glances over four seconds in duration? Horny remarks?

It's all a little bizarre. Imagine a waitress calling her contact in the religious department ...

'A couple in the lounge have their index fingers entwined.'

'Fingers?'

'Yep ... wait ... he just nuzzled her ear lobe!'

'He WHAAAT! Okay we're sending over the sex squad now!'

Enforcers of religious law aren't fun guys. In Saudi Arabia they are known as the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, aka the muttawa.

There have been many reports of their high handed treatment of women. If an unmarried Saudi female is found in the company of foreign men, she can be arrested and subjected to a medical examination to determine whether or not she has had sex.

Back in 2002, the muttawa prevented rescuers from helping out when a school in Mecca caught fire. The reason? They thought the teenage females inside might be immodestly dressed. As a result, fifteen of these young women died.

All of this surveillance and repression can't be healthy.

It is hardly surprising that Muslims from countries with repressive laws rank high among global sex seekers on the internet.



Source: http://aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com:80/2007/02/islams -war-on-sex.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

I have posted a whole slew of posts, the translations are mixed in with everything else.

Still have at least this many to go, will see what else is worth posting.

So all your names were changed to "all".

[nw_arizona_granny]

[New to me, pretty plant, looks like Lavender plant, with tomatoes....granny]

Goji Berries — A Nutrient Powerhouse

Suppose you're on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and you're asked, "What is the most nutrient-dense food on the planet?" In other words, what food contains, ounce for ounce, the most vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other important nutrients?

Blueberries? Cranberries? Prunes? Pomegranates? What's your final answer? Hopefully, none of the above. Many scientists believe that the Goji Berry, Lycium barbarum, contains the highest levels of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals of any food on Earth. Plus it contains an array of unique phytonutrients with potential health benefits that scientists are just beginning to study.
Measuring Health Benefits

You'll probably be hearing a new acronym in the news — the ORAC scale. USDA researchers out of Tufts University in Boston developed the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) scale to measure the total antioxidant activity of a sample food. It has become the standard for comparing and rating antioxident potential of different foods. The Goji Berry has extremely high levels of antioxidants and is rated #1 on the ORAC scale.

What Are Antioxidants?


Goji Berry Plants will
grow in almost any type
of soil and prefer full sun.
They have extensive root
systems and are very
drought-tolerant once
established.

To understand antioxidants it's helpful to understand the nature of free radicals and the havoc they can cause in the body. Free radicals are unstable atoms that seek out an electron to achieve a neutral, stable state. In doing so they rob adjacent atoms of their electrons, creating another free radical. The term for this tranfer of electrons is called oxidation. Scientists believe that oxidation and the resulting formation of free radicals results in damage to cells, which can lead to illness and premature aging. Antioxidants are nutrients that slow or prevent oxidation, and consuming foods high in antioxidants is believed to miminize free radical damage.
A Berry with Staying Power

Forward-thinking health care practitioners are beginning to look to the wisdom of the past for techniques and substances used by healers in various cultures. For example, echinacea was used for centuries by North American Plains Indians as an herbal remedy; modern science proved its effectiveness and now it's available in pharmacies nationwide. The history of using Goji Berries to promote health goes back at least 1700 years. Native to Tibet and Mongolia, the berries have been used in the treatment of kidney and liver problems, to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and to cleanse the blood. Goji Berries are also used by the people of Tibet to increase longevity and as a general health strengthening tonic.

If it's lasted 1700 years, it has to be good! Grow your own Goji Berries and enjoy their health-promoting properties yourself!


Timpanogos Nursery is a State Certified Nursery and a large Goji Berry Farm located in the Rocky Mountains of Utah. We sell potted Goji Berry plants as well as our new Goji Berry Seed Kits.




Grow Your Own Goji Berries

Why not harvest your own fresh Goji Berries right out of your own back yard? You can enjoy them knowing how they've been grown and cared for.

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Our Goji Berry plants have well-developed root systems and are ready for planting.

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[nw_arizona_granny]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1252960,00.html


Terror Attack Warning


Updated: 13:02, Friday February 23, 2007

Britain has urged tourists in Bangkok to be on their guard after
Australia
warned of a possible terror attack on the Thai capital.

The Australian embassy said the city's new multimillion pound airport,
sky-train network and shopping centres could be targeted.

It urged its citizens to take extra care in public places.

"Reports indicate possible bombing attacks at crowded places such as
department stores, and sky-train and subway stations in Bangkok on
Friday 23
February 2007," the embassy said.

The British and Canadian embassies also later urged caution.


Bangkok was hit by a wave of bombings on New Year's Eve which killed
three
people.

The government blamed supporters of the exiled former prime minister
Thaksin
Shinawatra.

But there are fears the bombings may actually have been the work of
Muslim
extremists from the south of the country who are fighting for a
separate
state.

A series of around 50 bombs, shootings and arson attacks last weekend
targeted Lunar New Year celebrations in the region, killing eight
people.

Interior Minister Aree Wong-araya said there was no evidence Bangkok
would
be attacked in the near future.

"I don't want us to be too quick to jump to such a conclusion or to
have too
much concern," the Thai News Agency quoted him as saying.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Demise of Gujranwala (back)



February 22, 2007

A ‘religious fanatic’ murdered Punjab’s welfare minister, Zille Huma Usman, in broad daylight Tuesday as she was about to address an open session of her ‘meet-the-people’ pre-election routine at the Muslim League House in Gujranwala . The killer was Maulvi Sarwar and the press has tried to play down his heinous crime by calling him an ‘Islamist’.

In fact, the man is a stereotypical follower of the religious parties. He has serial-killed women in the past but was prevented from being punished by his powerful religio-political patrons. The fact also is that by Gujranwala standards, he was no fanatic, just a product of Gujranwala where the religious parties are strong and the city has contributed the largest number of youthful ‘martyrs’ to the earlier state-run jihad in Kashmir.

Maulvi Sarwar is supposed to have disapproved of women in public life. But this was not sticky personal matter. He was simply following the MMA manifesto against the inclusion of women’s special seats in the assemblies. (The deceased minister was inducted on one of these seats by the ruling party.)

If the religious alliance is not worried about the consequences of its ‘Islamic’ teachings, the rest of the nation should certainly be, because it gives the largest number of votes to a woman called Benazir Bhutto.

Minister Zille Huma Usman was only 37 and was dreaming of a life of freedom for the daughters of Gujranwala . She had organised the ‘marathon’ for them in 2005 in Gujranwala which was attacked by the local seminary aligned to the MMA. Unfortunately, far from challenging the seminary at the time and siding with Ms Huma, the provincial government had kowtowed and called off all ‘mixed marathons’ in the province which finally meant that girls stayed indoors.

The minister had received death threats for several months. Most probably they came after it was heard that she was planning another marathon for Gujranwala girls. Who were the people behind these threats? They were the same people who repeatedly saved the serial killer Maulvi Sarwar from being tried and hanged because 'he was following his Islamic conscience' and cleansing the city of sin.

Let us take a look at this Maulvi Sarwar. The man had earlier murdered seven women described in the press as ‘call girls’ in Gujranwala and Lahore . He was arrested once and confessed to killing the ‘sinful women’; he was let off after one year because of lack of evidence but, more accurately, because of religious support. His patrons, according to the police, had 'paid off' the relatives of the killed and been reprieved under ‘Islamic’ laws. There is nothing new in this. Anybody who knows the decade of religious mayhem in Karachi knows how criminals are protected from punishment by powerful patrons.

If our universities had not already been ‘conquered’ by the religious parties they could have done a sociological profile of Gujranwala as a city without a soul and a dangerous tendency towards punishing all kinds of ‘entertainers’, often with death. No one could imagine a decade ago that Gujranwala would become so violently Islamist in the future. No doubt it was becoming a wayside city that was growing by accretion without an intellectual mooring, more or less like Faisalabad that began well under the British but declined spiritually afterwards.

After General Zia ul Haq’s Islamisation, Gujranwala began to produce jihadis and turned inward, scrutinising its citizens for moral backslidings. It first turned on the minorities and produced the famous Salamat Masih Case, accusing an under-age Christian child of insulting the Holy Prophet (PBUH). A religious party attacked him and his co-accused in Lahore when they were coming to attend the High Court, killing one. Salamat Masih had to be sent out of Pakistan to save his life.

The second famous Gujranwala case was about a hafiz of Quran and amateur doctor who accidentally dropped his copy of the Holy Quran in the fire and was reported over the loudspeaker by a local cleric. His neighbours came out and burnt him alive. The rural nature of the population was expressed in the way the citizens mistook the word atai (quack doctor) applied to the victim over the loudspeaker, for asai (Christian). In other words, in Gujranwala one doesn’t have to check the facts before killing a non-Muslim!

Meanwhile, because of the atmosphere of extremism created by the clergy, some citizens like Maulvi Sarwar took to killing women they suspected of fahashi. Maulvi Sarwar began killing women in 2002 after listening to the most powerful cleric of the city (who shall remain unnamed) calling down the wrath of God on the entertainers that performed in the seven theatres of Gujranwala . He was not the only one who was inspired. The city’s police and the magistracy equally took part in ‘acts of piety’ by arresting actresses from the city theatres. Only Maulvi Sarwar went further than that.

He turned a serial killer and first murdered two dancing girls of Gujranwala , but went scot-free because witnesses who had earlier deposed against him quickly recanted under threat or inducement. He was now wanted only in one case of injuring a dancing girl after an attempt to murder her. After that, he went around catching dancing girls outside cinema halls and theatres and hotels and shooting them to death. In each case he was let off because many powerful people seemed to actually enjoy or approve of what he was doing. The method was the same: witnesses either recanted or were made to recant.

The politicians did nothing in Lahore . In fact one not-very-reputable politician of Gujranwala whose newly elected son was given the portfolio of culture complained to the chief minister that culture was a morally incorrect portfolio as it was not allowed by Islam!

Today the press has forgotten the dark past of the city that has killed a young minister who thought of bringing progress to it. While jihad was at its height in the 1990s, the state sacrificed the fourth largest city of Pakistan to ‘martyrdom’ in Kashmir . Now most cities of the country are becoming like Gujranwala . And the politician and the officer are still slumbering. *



Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\22\s tory_22-2-2007_pg3_1

[nw_arizona_granny]

Iraq Battles Deadly New Insurgent Tactics (back)



February 22, 2007

As a joint operation by US and Iraqi troops to take control of Baghdad begins to bear fruit, there were signs on Thursday that their insurgent foes are trying to counter them with deadly new tactics.

Iraqi medics were treating patients poisoned by what is thought to be chlorine gas after attackers targeted civilian areas with trucks rigged as dirty bombs, said Qais Abdulwahab, director of the Kadhimiya Hospital.

Meanwhile, US commanders are investigating the loss of the latest in a series of helicopters after a Blackhawk came down on Wednesday in fields north of the capital after coming under fire from the ground.

'Operation Fhard al-Qanoon' (Imposing Order) has scored some successes. Murders are down in Baghdad and more than 90,000 US and Iraqi troops have met only token resistance as they fan out through flashpoint districts.

Three suspected Al-Qaeda insurgents were killed north of Baghdad in clashes on Thursday and overnight raids in the city netted five 'rogue' members of the Shiite Mahdi Army militia suspected of kidnapping and murder.

But daily bomb attacks on civilians continue, and the use of chlorine and anti-aircraft tactics has underlined what US commanders say is the insurgents' main strength -- their ability to adapt and exploit their foes' weaknesses.

'One of the things we see as we deal with this is that as one technique works in one part of the country we tend to see copycat attacks in other parts of the country,' said US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver.

On Tuesday, a truck carrying chlorine gas exploded in Taji, just north of Baghdad , killing six people on the spot but also poisoning scores more as the toxic gas spread through the area, overcoming women and children.

On Wednesday, the dirty bombers struck again, in the suburbs of Baghdad , in a less successful attack that nevertheless spread panic.

'The material used is poisonous,' said Abdulwahab. 'During the explosion it changes into a mist that spreads through the air, causing poisoning in the breathing system, breathing difficulties and acute coughing.

'It's is the first time we have seen such poisoning cases,' he told AFP, comparing the injuries to the internal burns suffered by children who drink chlorine-based cleaning products.

Kadhimiya Hospital treated 90 patients poisoned in Tuesday's attack -- seven of whom died -- and 21 more on Wednesday, Abdulwahab said.

The Martyr Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim Hospital in Shula treated 66 cases after the Taji blast, and all survived, said medical official Abu Murtadha.

'They've adapted the car bomb tactic,' Garver said. 'It shows some of the maliciousness with with they are adapting those tactics.

'It was not a chlorine tanker it was just a tank in the back of a truck. The use of canisters with something in them is not new, they've tried using regular acetylene tanks to increase the size of the explosive,' he said.

'So that's not new, we do look for canisters already, but obviously we are going to pay more attention now to any kind of canister,' he said.

Meanwhile, US commanders are examining the threat to their helicopters, eight of which -- two operated by a private security outfit -- have been lost since January 20, most of them shot down by insurgents.

The latest was a Blackhawk transport that made a 'hard landing' north of Baghdad late Wednesday. The nine personnel on board survived, but the incident underlined the choppers' apparently increasing vulnerability.

'Initial indications appear that it was brought down by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades,' Garver said.

The Blackhawk was the third of the helicopters hit in a region north of Baghdad . Insurgents linked to Al Qaeda claim in Internet messages to have deployed 'new tactics and weapons' in the area.

'We are engaged with a thinking enemy,' warned US Major General James Simmons, who oversees helicopter operations in Iraq , last week.

'This enemy understands that we are in the process of executing the (Iraqi) prime minister's new plan for the security of Baghdad , and they understand the strategic implications of shooting down an aircraft,' he said.

As America 's enemies in Iraq -- Sunni insurgents and Shiite militiamen -- have become more adept in their use of roadside bombs, the military has made greater use of helicopters.

In 2004, US army helicopters flew 240,000 hours in Iraq , and in 2006 334,000. This year they are expected to fly at least 400,000 hours. Simmons insisted it is still the safest way to get about.

The United States has decided to boost its troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 by the end of May, but on Wednesday coalition ally Britain announced that it would scale back its forces and Den mark and Lithuania said they were pulling out.



Source: http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=8083

[nw_arizona_granny]

Waziristanisation of Southern Thailand (back)



February 22, 2007

by B. Raman

The Thai counter-terrorism agencies have not yet been able to arrest the inexorable Waziristanisation of the four Muslim-majority provinces of Southern Thailand . Targeted attacks with small arms and ammunition on individuals with extreme cruelty, multiple explosions with minimum casualties and attacks on places considered anti-Islam such as places of entertainment continue to be reported almost every day. The individuals targeted are not only Buddhists, but also public servants, including Muslims, viewed as collaborators of the Government. The ground situation resembles partly that in the the Waziristan area of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan and partly that in Bangladesh . There are no similarities with the ground situation in the rest of South-East Asia .

2. The targeted attacks with extreme cruelty on individuals viewed as collaborators of the Government and the attacks on places such as Karoke bars viewed as symbols of non-Islamic decadence call to mind what has been happening in South and North Waziristan almost every day. Very often, the Pakistani authorities have no clue as to who is behind the continuing violence in the Waziristan area. Al Qaeda, the Neo Taliban, the local Taliban, tribal militant groups of various hues, followers of individual tribal leaders, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Chechens from Russia and the Uighurs from the Xinjiang region of China have all been blamed on different occasions by the Pakistani authorities with no conclusive evidence. Unidentifiable jihadi forces orchestrated by an invisible command and control have been keeping the security forces at bay. So too in Southern Thailand .

3. At least in Waziristan some individual leaders and the organisations to which they belong have been identified---such as Baitullah Mehsud and Abdullah Mehsud of the local Taliban, Tohir Yuldashev of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Ayman al-Zawahiri of Al Qaeda and Jalaluddin Haqqani of the Neo Taliban. They are as invisible as the jihadi leaders in Southern Thailand , but they are at least audible. They keep disseminating audio messages, issuing statements, talking to the media over satellite phones etc. In Waziristan, human intelligence is as scanty as in Southern Thailand, but technical intelligence has been forthcoming from the US agencies operating in the area.

4. In Southern Thailand , the jihadi leaders are neither visible nor audible. No recorded messages, no statements, no TECHINT intercepts, no HUMINT derived either from sources or during the interrogation of arrested suspects. There are hardly any arrests----not even accidental. Counter-terrorism agencies often get a lucky break in the form of suspects accidentally intercepted and detained, failed attacks due to human error on the part of the terrorists or malfunctioning of their improvised explosive devices. One hears of hardly any such lucky-break in Southern Thailand . There is evidently no satisfactory data-base which could enable analysts to quantify the threat and assess the results of the counter-terrorism efforts.

5. There are two major differences from Waziristan, though.An increasing number of terrorist strikes in the Waziristan area are by suicide bombers. Suicide bombers are yet to make their appearance in Southern Thailand . Suicide bombers are normally used to kill high-profile targets and for mass casualty terrorism. The second major difference is that in Waziristan there is evidence of complicity of some serving and retired officers of the Pakistan army and intelligence with the jihadis. There is so far no evidence of such complicity in Southern Thailand .

6. The Thai jihadis seem content for the time being with attacking low profile targets such as teachers, Buddhist monks, junior public servants etc. They continue to avoid mass casualty terrorism like the jihadis in Bangladesh . Multiple explosions with minimum public casualties have been a defining characteristic of the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JUM) of Bangladesh . Demonstrating its presence and reach with widespread multiple explosions with calibrated low-level lethality in order not to antagonise public opinion is the JUM's modus operandi. So too in Southern Thailand .

7. The Thai jihadis seem to be graduating to spectacular economic terrorism, which would cause serious economic damage with minimum human casualties as illustrated by their latest arson attack on a major rubber godown of Southland Rubber Co's branch in Yala town on February 21,2007. Attacks on tourist spots cause large human casualties as one saw in Bali twice, Mombasa and other places. Hence, their avoidance of attacks on tourism spots. Attacks on foreign targets bring international pressure and strengthen international intelligence co-operation. Hence avoidance of attacks on foreign targets so far.

8. Considerable intelligence and thinking have gone into the planning of the jihad in southern Thailand . It is a low intensity conflict with low-intensity, but continuous bleeding. Counter-terrorism operations in Southern Thailand are like fighting an invisible enemy in the dark. One can neither fight effectively nor talk productively. The Government's expression of regrets for past deaths of jihadi cadres and innocent civilians and its readiness for a dialogue have remained unreciprocated. Malaysia 's offer of co-operation with the Thai authorities is unlikely to make a difference to the situation unless it co-operates through intelligence sharing..

9. When the terrorists are not known and they are not prepared to talk, one has to start talking to the community from which the jihadis have arisen. This is where police-community relations count. They seem to hardly exist in Southern Thailand . Apart from strengthening the intelligence capability and physical security, building up effective police-community relations has to be an important component of the counter-terrorism strategy. The Government has to encourage local non-Governmental initiatives to make the police and the community interact with each other. Announcement of very handsome rewards for actionable intelligence and a safe channel for communicating such intelligence which will safeguard the anonymity and life of the source is another important requirement.

10. The Government has two options: Either remain in a state of helplessness on the ground that the identities of the jihadi leaders are not known and they are not willing to talk; or find new ways of coming out of the present darkness. The first option would mean more and more bleeding. With some imagination and luck, the second option could produce results. There appears to be no third option.

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India , New Delhi , and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: itschen36@gmail.com)



Source: http://www.saag.org/papers22/paper2148.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

Denmark and Lithuania to Pull out Iraq Troops (back)



February 22, 2007

Lithuania is planning to pull its 53 troops out of Iraq following British and Danish troop withdrawal decisions, the defence minister said on Wednesday.

Britain said earlier it would withdraw almost a quarter of its troops from Iraq in the coming months. Den mark , whose soldiers serve under British command, said its ground troops would also leave.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Copenhagen that his government will keep four helicopters staffed by 50 soldiers in Iraq to continue to support the mission.

The Lithuanians in turn serve under Danish leadership.

'We are planning to pull out the troops because the British and the Danish are doing so,' said Lithuanian Defence Minister Juozas Olekas

He added the troops would stay at least until August, when the Danes are planning to leave.



Source: http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/agencija/article.tpl?IdLanguage =1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=55849&NrIssue=278&NrSection=30

[nw_arizona_granny]

al-Qaeda: What Took Them So Long? (back)



February 21, 2007

by Gustavo Coronel:

The terrorist organization Al Qaeda just issued a call to fellow terrorists all over the world to start acting against oil installations in countries that supply the United States . I wonder what took them so long. Ever since September 11, 2001, oil facilities have been identified as major targets for terrorists but, so far, actual terrorist acts have been limited to a relatively few and localized attempts, fortunately mostly unsuccessful, against refineries in the Middle East and pipelines in Africa . Now the terrorists are talking about Canada, Mexico and Venezuela, three of the four main suppliers of hydrocarbons to the U.S.

In 2004 Neal Adams, author of a book on “Terrorism and Oil” was giving a lecture at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, in Washington DC, and started by looking around the room and saying: “I challenge you to look around this conference room and find something that is not made of oil”. And the audience understood immediately what the significance of a major oil supply disruption would be for any economy and, particularly, for the biggest economy on the planet.

I still remember the impact on world energy supplies and in global political equilibrium due to Nasser’s blocking of the Suez canal in 1956. This was not a terrorist move, of course, but illustrated the fragility of major oil supply routes. Today about 20 million barrels per day of oil move through the Strait of Ormuz and the major world oil transit choke points are only a handful: Ormuz, Bal el-Mandab, the strait of Malacca, the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Turkish straits, the SUMED Pipeline and the Russian pipelines that pass through Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other East European countries. These are very open areas, almost impossible to protect on a continuous basis. In most of these areas there are important concentrations of Islamic populations. Dr. Gal Luft, Executive Director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, advises that “oil consumers should replace imported energy with next generation energy sources…. in order to reduce the like hood of an energy Pearl Harbor ”.

Russia is particularly vulnerable to terrorist attacks, given the thousands of miles of pipelines it controls. In Nigeria Islamic groups finance bands of terrorists that damage pipelines and kidnap oil workers. In Venezuela there is a president whose hate for the U.S. could prove to be even greater than his sense of duty to protect national petroleum installations. In fact, he has said that “ he would destroy them” if there were an attack by the U.S.

The United States is greatly vulnerable. The hydrocarbons industry installations in the country are enormous. There are 4000 offshore platforms, according to Dniel Yergin. There are 140 refineries, 170,000 gas stations, 150,000 miles of liquid pipelines and more than 500,000 oil wells. The integrated North American network of gas pipelines is the largest on earth, about 2 million miles. The U.S. has 10,400 electricity power plants, 160,000 miles of transmission lines, 410 underground storage fields and 103 nuclear power plants that produce 20% of the electricity in the country. An army of about 8,000 security officers protects these nuclear installations. Former CIA Director James Woolsey has warned about the vulnerability of the electricity grid in the United States and says that the best manner to minimize security concerns is through the reduction of national dependence on transported oil. This however, sounds easier said than done, although Woolsey says that it could be accomplished through intensive use of already feasible technologies such as hybrid cars and a greater use of domestic ethanol.

The fragility of Venezuelan installations is significant. Although territorially much more compact than the U.S. , Russia , Canada or Mexico , Venezuela has a very mediocre security system in place. Major refineries, probably the most significant targets for terrorism, are located in the middle of urban areas and densely populated areas surround many important oil pipelines and hydroelectric or electricity distribution systems installations.

A magnificent article by Daniel Yergin, “Ensuring Energy Security”, published in Foreign Affairs, March-April, 2006 (v85 i2 p69) analyzed the general concept of energy security in the world, including the basic responses that have been developed to address major oil supply disruptions. Major consuming countries under the management of the International Energy Agency have created an emergency system. In addition major countries like the United States have developed their own strategic stockpiles of oil. In the case of the U.S this stockpile might reach one billion barrels in the short-term. These emergency systems have been put into practice twice recently, says Yergin: after the Katrina Hurricane in 2005 and, before, during the Gulf War in 1991. A major weakness in the process, says Yergin, is the lack of clarity on the lines of responsibility between the private and the public sector for the protection of critical infrastructure since security is very expensive.

There is little doubt that we are already immersed in a very “sui generis” Third World War. This is not a clear-cut war as the first and second world wars in the XX century were or as the Cold War that came later. The current war is undeclared and being waged by a mix of countries and supranational groups. Terrorism, a major component of this new war, is being led by groups that cut across national borders. Hezbollah is not Lebanese only but is active in other countries as well and receives major weapons support and funding from countries and individuals as diverse as Syria , Iran and Venezuelan merchants in Margarita Island . The Colombian narcoguerrillas are allies of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in his efforts to export a socialist revolution. Nuclear blackmail to obtain political and economic benefits is being actively pursued by North Korea and by Iran in their dealings with the major industrial powers. Al Qaeda merges with, or finds reinforcement in, the increasing religious hate and violence that permeates the Islamic world. This war is further complicated by ideological components which inhibit clear cut anti-terrorism postures in countries where communist regimes prevail, as in China, or have prevailed until recently and still possess an anti-western stance, as is the case of Russia. It is not a hot war but certainly not a cold war. I guess we will have to call it a lukewarm war, with some hot spots giving indication that the boiling point is close to being reached.

It is surprising that Al Qaeda took so long in becoming more explicit about terrorism in oil related infrastructure and in countries that supply the “ empire”. The reason is that this organization has become rather dormant and its main leader Osama bin Laden is even suspected dead or incapacitated. It is probable, therefore, that this call of Al Qaeda represents more of a propaganda ploy by a fragmented group than a real threat to the countries mentioned.

I believe that a more tangible threat for Venezuelans and for Latin American countries is not Al Qaeda but Hugo Chavez.

Gustavo Coronel is a 28 years oil industry veteran, a member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), author of several books. At the present Coronel is Petroleumworld associate editor and advisor on the opinion and editorial content of Petroleumworld. Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.



Source: http://www.petroleumworld.com/Ed07021601.htm

[nw_arizona_granny]

Iran Insists Nuclear Technology is Inalienable Right (back)



February 22, 2007

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Thursday insisted on the access to nuclear technology as the country's inalienable right, the official IRNA news agency reported.

'The Iranian nation will defend its rights to the end since it considers pursuit of peaceful nuclear energy as the country's inalienable right,' Ahmadinejad told a huge crowd of local residents in the city of Rasht in northern Gilan province.

His remarks came just one day after Iran defied a UN deadline for the Islamic Republic to suspend its uranium enrichment and vowed to continue its controversial nuclear program.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is due to make a report that is expected to confirm Tehran 's refusal to halt enrichment.

Last December, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1737,imposing sanctions on Iran 's nuclear and missile program. It also set a deadline, due on Wednesday, for Tehran to suspend its enrichment activities or face further sanctions.

'Access to nuclear know-how was key to national development and preservation of Iranian civilization,' Ahmadinejad said.

The Iranian nation has defined its right and will never give it up, he said, adding that the people are united in their demand for the right to pursue nuclear energy.

The Iranian president noted that bullying powers have always opposed Iran 's efforts to acquire peaceful nuclear technology.

Ahmadinejad arrived in the northern Gilan province Tuesday morning for a three-day visit accompanied by Vice-President for Executive Affairs Ali Saeedlou and Senior Advisor for the President Mostafa Hashemi Samareh.

In his speech at a gathering of people in Rasht, capital of Gilan province, Ahmadinejad said that the negotiators involved in Iran's nuclear issue are mistaken to believe that they can get somewhere through dispute, conspiracy and sowing seed of discord among the people.



Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-02/22/content_5764048.htm

[nw_arizona_granny]

Violence, Islamism, and Terror in the Sahel (back)



February 22, 2007

by J. Peter Pham, Ph.D.

Earlier this month, by coincidence, as President George W. Bush made the announcement in Washington that the United States Department of Defense would be establishing a unified combatant command for Africa (see my column last week on the new structure, to be known by the acronym AFRICOM), the deputy commander of the U.S. European Command (EUCOM), Army General William E. 'Kip' Ward, was sitting down in Dakar, Senegal, with the military chiefs of nine African countries who have been key partners in the effort to prevent the efforts of Islamist militants from turning the their subregion into the next front in their wider war against international society in general and America in particular.

The Sahel – the name is derived from the Arabic sahil, 'shore' or 'border' (of the Sahara Desert ) – is the critical boundary region where increasingly significant Sub-Saharan Africa meets North Africa, also known as the Maghreb (from the Arabic maghrib, 'place of sunset' or 'western'). Since 9/11, a number of experts have voiced concern that the Sahel, with its vast empty spaces and highly permeable borders, could serve local and international terrorists both as a base for recruitment and training and as a conduit for the movement of personnel and material – much as Afghanistan had been for al-Qaeda in the late 1990s. With these concerns in mind, in one of its less heralded but nevertheless highly significant diplomatic successes, the Bush administration has worked to develop closer military, political, and economic ties with the states in the region.

At the end of 2002, the Pan Sahel Initiative (PSI), a modest program with an initial budget of less than $10 million, was launched. PSI sent U.S. Army Special Forces from EUCOM to train counterterrorism units from the militaries of Chad , Mali , Mauritania , and Niger . The program, which wrapped up in 2004, was a remarkable success, with PSI-trained personnel from Chad and Niger sweeping up members of the Algerian Islamist terrorist group Salafist Group for Call and Combat (usually known by its French acronym GSPC) who had taken refuge in their respective countries.

Following up on this success, the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative (TSCTI) was inaugurated the following year with an approximate annual budget of $80 million. The TSCTI currently includes Algeria , Chad , Mali , Mauritania , Morocco , Niger , Nigeria , Senegal , and Tunisia , and, operationally, is centered on the deployment of about 200 members of the 10th U.S. Army Special Forces Group to train military units of partner countries and improve their strategic and tactical coordination with American military and intelligence operations. As U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism Henry A. Crumpton noted at a conference last year in Algiers :

> We envision a multi-faceted, multi-year strategy aimed at defeating terrorist organizations by helping to strengthen regional counterterrorism capabilities, by enhancing and institutionalizing cooperation between your security forces and ours and most importantly, by promoting economic development, good governance, education, liberal institutions, and democracy. Through broad policy success we discredit terrorist ideology and deny them the recruits they need, while providing these erstwhile recruits opportunity and hope.

In addition to the Pentagon-led efforts, the Sahel countries have also received support from State Department programs – especially the Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA) program and the Terrorist Interdiction Program (TIP) – and other U.S. government agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of the Treasury. These efforts have already borne fruit. For example, Amari Saifi, a former Algerian army officer-turned-GSPC leader better known by his nom de guerre Abderrazak al-Para ('the paratrooper') who was responsible for the daring 2003 kidnapping of thirty-two European tourists, was captured after an unprecedented U.S.-coordinated pursuit involving U.S. Navy P-3C Orion long range surveillance aircraft across the open deserts of Mali, Niger, and Chad; he now serves a life sentence in far-less-open confines of an Algerian prison.

Despite successes like the capture of al-Para, discussions concerning Africa's place in the global war on terrorism, including those in this column, have largely focused on al-Qaeda-liked groups in the Horn of Africa and Islamist penetration of local militant groups in places like Nigeria . Meanwhile the Sahel has witnessed an increase in terrorist activities as militant Islamists groups under pressure from TSCTI partners in the Maghreb – including Algeria's GSPC, the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (known as GICM from its French acronym) implicated in the simultaneous bombings in Casablanca (2003) and Madrid (2004), and the Tunisian Islamic Front (FIT) – have shifted their operations to the remoteness of the Sahara. General Ward himself noted at the Dakar meeting: 'There is a demonstrated history of activities occurring in one area so they can be exported and conducted and carried out in another.'

Of these challenges, the most significant may be that presented by the GSPC whose 'emir,' Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, it should be recalled, formally pledged allegiance last year to 'Sheikh Osama' and al-Qaeda; since then, the GSPC has begun to identify itself in communiqués as 'Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb.' This link was confirmed by Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri who, in the 'commemorative video' issued on the fifth anniversary of the attacks on the American homeland, declared: 'Our mujahid Sheikh and the Lion of Islam, Osama bin Laden,...has instructed me to give the good news to Muslims in general and my mujahidin brothers everywhere that the Salafist Group for Call and Combat has joined al-Qaeda of Jihad Organization.' The Egyptian terrorist hailed the 'blessed union' between the GSPC and al-Qaeda, pledging that it would 'be a source of chagrin, frustration and sadness for the apostates [of the regime in Algeria], the treacherous sons of [former colonial power] France,' and urging the group to become 'a bone in the throat of the American and French crusaders' in the region and beyond.

While declarations of support for al-Qaeda are one thing, evidence has emerged within the past year of actual operational collaboration between the GSPC and global Islamist extremist movements. While many former members of the GSPC availed themselves of a general amnesty program that expired last summer, the leader of the group's southern command, Khaled Abu al-Abbas, also known as Mukhtar Bilmukhtar, has led a group of Algerians, Malians, and Mauritanians in sophisticated hit-and-run attacks on isolated military outposts. In various web postings, Bilmukhtar has acknowledged both his debt to al-Qaeda and his desire to 'punish' the governments of Mali , Mauritania , and Niger for their cooperation with U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

I reported last month, a prominent Islamic cleric in northern Nigeria, Mohammed Bello Ilyas Damagun, has been formally charged with receiving $300,000 from al-Qaeda accounts in Sudan to use in sending seventeen young men to receive terrorism and other combat terrorism at the GSPC's Ummul Qurah camp in Mauritania. Even more disconcerting is, as Olivier Guitta reported last week in the online edition of The Weekly Standard, the GSPC-cum-al-Qaeda branch has as its objective 'to make the Maghreb a springboard to Europe with the help of the Algerian Islamist Khalid Abou Bassir, believed to be one of al-Qaeda's leaders in Europe .' Guitta's concern is well-founded: just last week the Spanish daily El País reported that one Mbar El Jaafari, a Moroccan militant, had been arrested in the port city of Tarragona, south of Barcelona, for sending some thirty-five young recruits from Spain for weapons training, including the use of ground-to-air missiles and explosives, at GSPC-run camps in the Sahel with the aim of establishing al-Qaeda 'sleeper cells' upon their return.

Furthermore, incursions by Sudanese Janjaweed fighters as well as Chadian rebels backed by the Islamist regime in Khartoum into eastern Chad, to say nothing of the imminent 'success' of the genocide in Darfur, as my colleague Professor Michael I. Krauss and I have reported, threaten to inject yet another complicating factor into the geopolitical dynamics of the Sahel. Quite aside from its genocide in Darfur and its on-again-off-again war with South Sudan , the longstanding and never disavowed violent Islamist ideological underpinnings of the Sudanese regime should not be discounted.

All that said, it should be noted that fortunately to date radical Islamism has not attracted widespread support among the 100 million or so inhabitants of the Sahel . Yet the extreme poverty of and simmering ethnic tensions within the region, when compounded on the general weakness of its governments, render the terrain especially fertile for extremist penetration. As I noted in a Voice of America report last week on the rising violence in the region: 'Groups that have what I would call purely local grievances some of which I might add are also legitimate but in their desperation, in an asymmetric combat, will take help from anywhere they can receive it and these groups have received input from outside groups that do not necessarily share their immediate concerns but have an interest in creating havoc and chaos in whatever region.'

In this context, and given the strategic importance of Africa to U.S. national interests as reaffirmed by the creation of AFRICOM, it would behoove American policymakers to follow the situation closely and to continue engaging the countries of the Sahel and Maghreb – 'bring[ing] 'value added' to the good work that's being done by the U.S. European Command in Africa,' in General Ward's terms – cultivating their cooperation in security matters and, just as importantly, developing their governance and socio-economic capacities as the surest bulwark against violence, Islamism, and terrorism.



Source: http://worlddefensereview.com/includes/pham022207pr.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

FBI, DHS Launch Third Fingerprint Data-sharing Pilot (back)



February 20, 2007

by Wilson P. Dizard III,

The government’s massive, technologically ambitious project to achieve connectivity between two critical biometric databases took a step forward as the Homeland Security Department and the FBI unveiled an additional pilot project.

The project to achieve information sharing between the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) and the Homeland Security’s Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) database dates back in various forms for many years and is planned to extend forward for several years.

IDENT contains millions of two-fingerprint records gathered by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, which now is part of DHS.

The FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division in Clarksburg , W.Va, maintains IAFIS to service customers in the federal, state and local law enforcement communities, the intelligence community, and other authorized users of federal fingerprint data. IAFIS’ 10-fingerprint records date back in millions of cases to the dawn of federal fingerprint collection, ushered in by the bureau in the last century.

The technological core of the data-sharing project involves modifications to the fingerprint comparison engines of the databases, among other changes. The bureau and the department already exchange data about each other’s “worst of the worst” criminal suspects, fugitives and immigration law violators.

Two existing pilots, in the Boston Police Department and the Dallas County Sheriff's Office, started testing the data exchange technology last year.

The new pilot, which started operation on Feb. 1, will allow the sheriff’s office in Harris County, Texas, to tap into additional IDENT records.

In a joint press statement, the bureau and the department said that the Harris County Sheriff’s Office already had “booked a person for assault causing bodily injury to a family member and submitted the fingerprints for a background check.

“Despite previous use of nine aliases and four different dates of birth, the person's fingerprints revealed a lengthy criminal and immigration history, including deportation proceedings; entered without inspection; probation violation; driving while intoxicated; fraud in connection with an immigration document; supervised release violator; and assault,” FBI and DHS said. The new system automatically advised the law enforcement officers of the criminal history, the agencies said, facilitating state and federal prosecution of the accused

Source: http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/43183-1.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

February 23, 2007 Anti-Terrorism News

(Iraq) Suspected Al-Qaeda-linked insurgent leader held in Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070223/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070223112119;_ylt=AuQ.ni0jnf8odGSQF1CH4T5X6GMA

(Iraq) Second Iraq 'Mystery Weapon' More 'Nefarious' Than the First
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253713,00.html

(Iraq) Sunni insurgents want revenge for rapes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070223/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_rape_25;_ylt=Amwf6CcGfqERtXJ2BeEHLq5X6GMA

(Iraq) Al Qaeda believed behind copter crashes
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070222-111034-4531r.htm

(Iraq) Car-bomb factory deemed part of panic campaign
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20070222-101413-4320r.htm

US investigates report of Iraqi civilians killed
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/February/focusoniraq_February196.xml&section=focusoniraq

(Iran) Ahmadinejad Vows Iran to Continue Nuke Activities Despite IAEA
Report
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253961,00.html

Israel: Hit Iran with new sanctions now
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894498507&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

British officials fear US will attack Iran: report
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/February/middleeast_February382.xml&section=middleeast&col=

(Afghanistan) Former mujahedeen stage rally in Kabul - calling for
amnesty for war crimes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070223/ap_on_re_as/afghan_war_crimes_3;_ylt=Ai1a9BUds.hR.1PciaIUVWPOVooA

(Afghanistan) Britain approves extra Afghanistan troops: sources
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070223/wl_nm/britain_afghanistan_troops_dc_3;_ylt=As3XHC9Apqd14aijHNpBpTTOVooA

(Afghanistan) Foreigners filling out Taliban ranks
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/International/2007/02/21/3650181-sun.html

India renews pressure on Pakistan over militants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070223/wl_nm/india_pakistan_dc_2;_ylt=AuuSQ5mj1dobDOe.xq.0i3xA7AkB

Pakistan: Four Terror Attacks Averted, Claims Ministry
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.389325056&par=0

Pakistan: Activist and Former Bin Laden Aide Shifted to High Security
Jail - Khalid Khawaja
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.389389820&par=0

Pakistan test-fires new nuclear-capable missile
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894499804&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Pakistan's antiterror strategy scrutinized
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0222/p06s01-wosc.html

Pakistan closes Islamic charities' newspapers
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2007/February/subcontinent_February865.xml&section=subcontinent&col=

Pakistan: Al-Qaeda Active Along Afghan Border, US Spokesman
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.388806548&par=0

Pakistan girls school gets al-Qaeda threat
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/pak-school-gets-alqaeda-threat/34259-2.html

Egypt: Terrorists planning Sinai attack
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894500153&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

(Egypt) Ton of explosives found on Egypt-Gaza border
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070223/wl_mideast_afp/mideastegyptgaza_070223121053;_ylt=AsMdnBr7MhFIPWWMWnKxq9TFCBEB

(Israel) Two firebombs hurled at Israeli bus near Bethlehem
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894498648&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Russia sentences 4 Islamic extremists - to prison for membership in
Hizb ut-Tahrir
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070222/ap_on_re_eu/russia_extremists_1;_ylt=AhjZPi9MdIxK0qBF0EqINap_5GIA

Ethiopia denies allowing U.S. attacks - denies New York Times story as
"total fabrication"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070223/ap_on_re_af/somalia_15;_ylt=AgyxrlAcl2kymsI0hbzi6viQLIUD

(Ethiopia) NYT: U.S. used bases in Ethiopia to hunt Al Qaeda in Africa
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/23/africa/web-0223somalia.php

Report: US launches campaign to capture al-Qaeda leaders in Africa
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3368721,00.html

Nigeria wants secret trial for al Qaeda suspect
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070223/ts_nm/nigeria_qaeda_dc_1;_ylt=AkFPgr4Ced.EzmEWmkexbeLZ9YEA

(Nigeria) Pandemonium in court as trial of Nigerian leader of Al-Qaeda
begins
http://www.vanguardngr.com/section/niger_delta.html

(Florida) Legal team expected to focus on Padilla's military detention
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/16751513.htm

Indonesia invites Hamas to diplomatic talks
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1855901.htm

Thailand: Bangkok At Risk of Terror Attacks, Says Defense Minister
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.389335290&par=0

(Australia) Govt issues Thailand terrorist attack warning
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1855850.htm

(India Assam) Four killed as remote Indian state completes polls
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070223/wl_sthasia_afp/indiapoliticsvote_070223070821;_ylt=ArbjhfxiIv2dHnW3GAwh6NBA7AkB

(Nigeria) Gunmen kill 2 Lebanese workers in Nigeria
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1935705,00050006.htm

Nigerian militants say Lebanese hostage escaped
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070222/wl_nm/nigeria_hostage_dc_2;_ylt=AoGFhnbQY3.gQLu_PhLK.0HagGIB

(Canada) Supreme Court poised to rule on security certificates
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070223/security_certificates_070223/20070223?hub=Canada

(Canada) Parties feud over terror law
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2007/02/23/3657427-sun.html

Canada denies racial profiling in fighting terror
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/story/3889311p-4497974c.html

(UK July 21 Trial) Tube bomb accused 'left suicide note'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/23/ntrial23.xml

(UK) Caretaker charged over letter bombs
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1426311.ece

US taking Al Qaeda threat to international oil facilities seriously
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C02%5C23%5Cstory_23-2-2007_pg7_30

(Netherlands) Jihad recruiters stay in custody
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=36844

Hague: Threats in online forum - against Netherlands Moroccan woman
critical of Islam
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2007/02/hague.html

(Germany) Founder of ex-Muslim group threatened
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/20070223-014518-1922r/

(Germany) Couple suspected of threatening to derail trains
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=36846

(Spain) Terrorism is voters' biggest concern since 2004
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=82&story_id=36847

N Korea 'tried uranium project'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6389223.stm

(Columbia) Former Colombia spy chief arrested
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070223/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombia_spy_chief_3;_ylt=ArlCNwZrmH7jhYd.eLqcFVCwv7kA

(Sri Lanka) Truce monitors quit Sri Lanka town amid security fears
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070223/wl_sthasia_afp/srilankaunrestmonitors_070223110922;_ylt=Agz.JNAOtMgQ0p5HDoCK41ctM8oA

Cheney Says Free Nations Cannot Allow Safe Havens for Terrorism
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-02-23-voa11.cfm

Commentary Regarding UK: Imposing Islamic law
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20070222-084947-7596r.htm


Other News:

Mainstream Muslim group (Islamic Society of North America) to join
Farrakhan rally
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894498744&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Netherlands Govt Minister: "Burqa should be allowed"
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=36870

(Belgium) Neo-Nazis plan SS memorial
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=48&story_id=36848

[nw_arizona_granny]

[end of article]


Khinsagov fits the profile of the opportunistic radioactive materials smuggler working the Caucasus region: He was a simple trader, with no criminal background and no known connections to organized crime or terrorists.

Tovmasyan, the Armenian cabdriver, and the other men arrested with him fit the same profile.

The man who gave Tovmasyan the cesium, Asokhik Aristakesyan, was a priest and also unemployed, said Vahe Papoyan, an investigator with the Armenian National Security Service. So was another man who tried to sell the cesium, Sarkis Mikaelyan, a jobless economist. They each were convicted and also sentenced to a year in jail

'Especially in countries with low standards of living,' Khripunov said, 'people can be very enterprising.'

Big challenge: Corruption

The U.S. has aggressively tried to shore up border checkpoints in Georgia and other former Soviet republics to stem the flow of radioactive materials smuggling. From 1994 to 2005, Washington spent $178 million to provide radiation detection equipment for border posts in 36 countries, many of them former Soviet nations.

A March 2006 GAO report acknowledged that the new equipment helps, but the bigger challenge is corruption.

'Border guards often don't know what they're dealing with,' Zaitseva said. 'They're bribed to switch off their detection equipment. They don't know what's being smuggled, and they really don't care.'



Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070215 0125feb15,1,6578821.story?coll=chi-news-hed

[nw_arizona_granny]

If a Muslim Yells 'Allahu Akbar' (back)



February 22, 2007

by Julia Gorin

Some bloggers and at least one major news outlet are feeding the rumor that Sulejman Talovic was on a personal jihad when he went on a shooting rampage at Trolley Square killing five. They allege that videotape of the shooting shows the Bosnian national shouting the Arabic phrase Allahu Akbar, or God is Great, before dying in a firefight with police. Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank says none of the evidence supports such speculation:

'You know, the only claims that we have heard of that are coming from Fox News, and we have had several other news stations look at the video and the audio from that, as well as some of our experts here in town have gone through that, and we don’t see it — nor does anyone else but Fox News.'

Burbank says such speculation verges on hate speech and is harmful to the community, especially other Bosnians and Muslims living in Salt Lake . It is an attitude the police chief says he will not allow into the investigation: 'In fact, if I find officers that are conducting investigations based on bias or prejudice, well, I’m going to fire them; I don’t want them around.'

Which brings us to the timeless puzzle: If a Muslim yells 'Allahu Akbar' while on a homicide-suicide mission, and no Republican is around to hear it, was 'Allahu Akbar' yelled?

Or:

If audio/video equipment records a Muslim yelling 'Allahu Akbar,' but no Republican is around to watch the footage, did the audio/video record a Muslim yelling 'Allahu Akbar'?

Or:

If a Muslim yells 'Allahu Akbar' while on a homicide-suicide mission, and Fox News isn’t around to report it, was 'Allahu Akbar' yelled?

That seems to be the timeless, perplexing question. Recall John Kerry’s 'You end up in Iraq ' comment with which the congressman hanged himself on national TV. That was when audio/video proof officially became a subjective matter, as dispatches from the Associated Press and others reported on the incident as 'Republicans say he said…' rather than 'The camera says he said…'

So one might ask: If a Democrat embarrasses himself on national television, but no Republican is around to care, did the Democrat embarrass himself?

Now, considering that it took a year for the authorities to rule that the shooting by Hesham Hedayet at an El-Al Counter at LAX on July 4th, 2002 was in fact terrorism, one supposes that the conundrum/riddle should be adjusted to the following: If a Muslim yells 'Allahu Akbar' before killing and being killed, but no PC-unfiltered ears are around to hear it, will the sound take a year to travel?

Considering that the family of the man who shot seven people at the top of the Empire State Building in 1997 has finally only now, through the blogosphere, managed to get their message out past the media which censored it 10 years ago that this Palestinian was making a statement against U.S. support of Israel, it appears that sound can take even a decade to travel.

Let’s try to remember to stay tuned.

To make a related point, considering how hard-won the much heralded hate crimes legislations were for the Left, how are police expected to investigate these hate crimes without asking the relevant questions? That Burbank schmuck has only himself to blame, for saying an hour after the massacre, before even starting an investigation, that it wasn’t terrorism. Had he not been such a dhimmi, he wouldn’t have to worry about covering now.



Source: http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2007/02/22/definition-o f-sound-if-a-muslim-yells-allahu-akbar/