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

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

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1759688/posts

Oops! Unruly flier slaps undercover air marshal
CNN Washington Bureau ^ | December 28, 2006 | From Jeanne Meserve


Posted on 12/28/2006 6:11:09 PM PST by SubGeniusX


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A US Airways passenger faced charges of interfering with a flight crew Thursday after he apparently unknowingly slapped an undercover federal air marshal, said an official familiar with the case.

The man, who'd been drinking liquor, threw a mid-air temper tantrum Wednesday night after attendants refused to serve him any more alcohol during his flight from Washington's Reagan National Airport to Fort Myers, Florida, the official said.

The passenger then slapped a fellow passenger, who happened to be an undercover air marshal assigned to the flight, said the official.


(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...

[nw_arizona_granny]

Iran behind 80 percent of terror attacks in world


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3345219,00.html



Opposition group: Iran behind 80 percent of terror attacks in world

Iran opposition group releases detailed brief on Tehran's Qods Force,
an
'international Islamic army' exporting attacks worldwide

Yaakov Lappin

Iran is behind 80 percent of terror attacks around the world, and uses
its
elite Qods Force to export and coordinate attacks, the National Council
of
Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a brief
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3345219,00.html#n

released
Tuesday.



The NCRI is an umbrella group of Iranian opposition groups in exile,
and its
stated goal is to overthrow the Iranian government of Ayatollah
Khamenei and
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In 2003, the US State Department added
the
NCRI to its list of banned terrorist organizations, and froze the
organization's assets.



In its brief, the NCRI claimed to disclose the locations of central
bases
within Iran of the Qods Force, such as the "Imam Ali Training base,"
described as "one of the most important training bases." The location
was
given as "north of Tehran, in Alborz Kouh Street."



Another alleged location given in the brief is the "Khomeini Training
base,"
said to be "located on Khavaran-Semnan highway, before reaching
Pakdasht
Township. Col. Rezai is the commander of the base, where a large number
of
foreign forces from Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine are being currently
trained."



'Iran behind 80 percent of world terrorism'

In its statement, the NCRI said that "Tehran has the most extensive
terror
network in the world. It is responsible for some 80 percent of all
major
terror attacks - directly or indirectly - in the past two decades.
Tehran
has by far been the most sophisticated, well-funded state-sponsor of
terrorism in the world."



Iran's Qods (Jerusalem) Force was the Islamic Republic's vehicle for
exporting attacks around the world, the NCRI added.



"The Qods Force is the most secretive, elite, and skilled unit of the
Iranian regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Formed in 1990, it
is
now responsible for all the extraterritorial activities of the Iranian
regime, namely all terror attacks abroad," the NCRI said.



According to the brief, Qods Force commander, "Brig. Gen. Qassem
Soleimani,
directly reports to the regime's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei."



'Iran's embassies are terror coordination centers'

The brief included detailed alleged operational information on how
Iranian
embassies around the world are being used to coordinate Qods Force
activities and terrorist operations.



"Final coordination of the Qods Force's activities around the world and
provision of the appropriate diplomatic or other cover for its agents,
the
use of diplomatic facilities and immunities that facilitate receiving
supplies and messages, weapons and military equipment for its terrorist
agents fall within the responsibilities of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
and Tehran's embassies," the NCRI said.





Formed with the aim of creating "an international Islamic army," the
Qods
Force "has 12 directorates, as well as "International Affairs Units" in
"Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, Middle East,
Russia,
Africa, and Europe," the brief added.



It said the force also "trains non-Iranian terrorist forces. from
Pakistan,
Morocco, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine and other Middle East countries. The
training is provided to groups of 40 to 50 persons. The Force has
dozens of
garrisons across Iran in which it trains its non-Iranian operatives."



From the brief

The following are some of the locations of Qods Force bases and
information
on its garrisons contained in the brief:



"A. Imam Ali Training base. It is one of the most important training
bases
and is located north of Tehran, in Alborz Kouh Street .

B. Khomeini Training base. It is located on Khavaran-Semnan highway,
before
reaching Pakdasht Township. Col. Rezai is the commander of the base,
where a
large number of foreign forces from Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine are
being
currently trained.

C. Bahonar base. It is located on Chalous highway, near Karaj Dam. This
is
also among one of the most important training centers.

D. Qods Training Center in Nahavand. It is located 45km from the town
of
Nahavand, west of Iran . Foreign forces, including those from Lebanon
and
Afghanistan are trained here.

E. Qom 's Beit ol-Moghadas University in the city of Qom .

F. Training center in Tehran's Farahzad district.

G. Training center on Damavand highway.

H. Hezbollah Base in Varamin, southeast of Tehran.

I. Madani Base in Dezful, (southwest Iran ).

J. Bisotoun Base in Kermanshah, (western Iran).

K. Tangeh Kenesht Base in Kermanshah (western Iran).

L. Ghayour Training Base in Ahwaz (southwest Iran).



6. The Qods Force has six major garrisons along Iran's borders with
other
countries. They are tasked with following up terrorist operations in
the
neighboring countries. They are:

A. Ramadan Garrison (First Corps) in Kermanshah (west). Mission: Iraq.

B. Nabi-Akram Garrison (Second Corps) in Zahedan (southeast). Mission:
Pakistan.

C. Hamza Garrison (Third Corps) in Orumieh (northwest). Mission:
Turkey.

D. Ansar Garrison (Fourth Corps) in Mashad (northeast). Mission:
Afghanistan
and Pakistan.



7. Terrorist Units.

In addition to the six garrisons, the Force has several other corps,
including:

A. The Sixth Corps. Mission: Persian Gulf states.

B. The Seventh Corps. Mission: Lebanon and Syria.

C. The Eighth Corps. Mission: African States.

D. The Ninth Corps. Mission: Europe and the United States."

[nw_arizona_granny]

America Steps-Up Biodefenses




http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=7&no=336537&rel_no=1

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=7&no
=336537&rel_no=1

America Steps-Up Biodefenses


Critics question rationale, fear breaking of treaties

In the short-term aftermath of the carnage on 9/11 it became evident to
senior analysts of American national security that terrorists could now
pose
a strategic threat, and that indeed it was no longer clear when, where
or
how tactical concerns could escalate into strategic nightmares.

Since 1969 the United States Army Medical Research Institute for
Infectious
Diseases (USAMRIID) has been the recognized cornerstone of America's
biodefense research capabilities. But 9/11 prompted a serious
rethinking and
reordering of almost every aspect of national security in the United States,
and biodefense was not spared.

For instance, the budget of the Department of Health and Human
Services'
civilian biodefense research spearheaded by the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases exploded from less than $2 million
dollars
in 1998 to $1.5 billion in 2005. It is estimated that in the years
following
9/11, in excess of $20 billion have been expended on civilian
biodefense
goals.

USAMRIID's role had focused on shielding American military forces from
harmful biological agents on the field. With the growing recognition of
the
potential for mass terror posed by so-called "asymmetric threats" came
also
the realization that a complement to USAMRIID's infrastructure was
needed.

That complement is the NBACC: the National Biodefense Analysis and
Countermeasures Center, the end product of the Homeland Security
Presidential Directive "Biodefense for the 21st Century," and the
Homeland
Security Act of 2002. The NBACC is the first DHS laboratory dedicated
to
biodefense research.

The Department of Homeland Security sees the $128 million price-tagged
NBACC
facility as a key node in the sprawling Homeland Biodefense Complex.
Hence,
it is to be housed within the National Interagency Biodefense Campus at
Fort Detrick, Maryland, a military base long associated with USAMRIID.

According to the DHS, the "NBACC will provide knowledge of infectious
properties of biological agents, effectiveness of countermeasures,
decontamination procedures, and forensics analyses" to inform the
actions of
major stakeholders tasked with the design and implementation of
America's
biodefense policy.

It is likely the NBACC will have two constituent divisions by the time
the
facility is completed in 2008. The two divisions, according to Dana
Shea of
the Congressional Research Service, are the National Bioforensic
Analysis
Center (NBFAC) and the Biological Threat Characterization Center
(BTCC).
Contrary to some reports, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center will
not
become an integral part of NBACC, even though it will collaborate
strongly
with the former.

NBFAC has already commenced operations in makeshift facilities while it
awaits the completion of its permanent sites to house its eventual
staff of
120. Laboratory work on the other hand is being carried out as a joint
federal effort involving the FBI, Army and DHS personnel on the
USAMRIID
premises at Fort Detrick. When the NBACC site is completed both the
BTCC and
the NBFAC will relocate there.

One other entity that may be incorporated into NBACC, according to
Shea, is
the Biodefense Knowledge Center (BKC), already operational since
September
2004 at the Department of Energy's world-renowned research facility,
the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Of the three -- the NBFAC, BTCC and BBKC -- the NBFAC by most accounts
the
most central to the active biodefense policy being pursued by the Bush
Administration. The Presidential Directive "Biodefense for the 21st
Century"
identifies it as the lead federal facility in the mitigation of
biological
threats in the areas of evidence analysis and intelligence gathering,
processing, and utilization, following an attack.

But it is its second role, that of assessing bioaggresive agents --
i.e.
bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. -- and researching into antidotes,
relying on
the laboratory efforts of the BTCC to overcome their effects, that has
given
rise to the most vocal consternation, since, as has always been the
case,
the dividing line between developing antidotes and developing offensive
agents is thin to non-existent.

There are concerns that the U.S. may be in breach of its obligations
under
international conventions prohibiting the development of bioweapons it
has
signed and ratified.

History of bioweapons conventions

Some international disarmament specialists have expressed the opinion
that a
significant range of the activities being carried out at the NBACC will
contravene the 1925 Geneva Convention which prohibits the "first use"
of
biotoxic weapons -- i.e. enjoins signatories not to be the first to
deploy
such weapons in war -- and its 1972 successor, the Biological and Toxin
Weapons Convention (BTWC), which is believed to prohibit the
development of
such weapons.

Experts who have grave reservations about biodefense research include
Richard Spertzel, who was part of the U.N. team that disarmed Saddam of
his
offensive bioweapons, and who has himself worked on biotoxin research
at the
USAMRIID. There is also Milton Leitenberg, a longtime observer of
Western
bioweapon policies. He is especially critical of what he considers
unsophisticated analyses of the bioweapon threat to Western interests.
James
Leonard's disapproval would have been taken for granted had he not
expressed
them, seeing as he was one of America's chief negotiators during the
1972 UN
talks to ban bioweapons.

The clamor over whether NBACC will or does contravene the major
conventions
is inevitable, and derives directly from the history of those treaties
themselves, which has been tortuous and snaky in a way that belies
their
lack of public attention.

It was the United States, with strong support form the Poles and the
French
that, actually, made the first efforts at consolidating the various
prohibitions embedded in peace agreements against biological and
chemical
weapons, motivated by Germany's copious use of poison gas, and
relentless
dabbling in germ warfare, during the First World War. This consolidated
treaty was duly signed in Geneva in 1925, and many nations ratified it
during the inter-war years.

By the time of the outbreak of World War II, only the U.S. and Japan of
all
the principal nations had failed to ratify it, even though President
Franklin D. Roosevelt assured the world that the U.S. believed the
weapons
had been outlawed by the "general opinion of the civilized world." Many
who
signed, it, however also insisted on various modifications upon
accession to
the treaty. In particular, Arab nations such as Kuwait, Jordan, Libya,
Syria
and Iran (and bizarrely the Netherlands too) were resolute that
exceptions
had to be made in the case of war with Israel.

After WWII, the Soviet Union tried to update the convention to more
comprehensively deal with emergent geopolitical concerns, but it was
unable
to secure the support of the Western powers. The Communist bloc,
however,
continued to push the matter culminating in Hungary's famous 1966
denunciation of U.S. use of bioherbicides (or so-called mycoherbicides)
in
Vietnam.

Resistance to the idea of a comprehensive treaty hinged on a very clear
premise: verification. Western powers, particularly the United States,
felt
that they would be at a disadvantage should they enter into a treaty of
such
nature, since accountability was much more pronounced in their domestic
circumstances. Independent democratic institutions and a free press was
likely to prove a much more effective monitor, as they saw it, than any
international inspector. Hence, in their view, while they would be
hamstrung
by a comprehensive ban, the Communist states would be free to cheat
with
little risk of detection.

These concerns notwithstanding, President Richard Nixon did announce a
unilateral American prohibition of bioweapons in 1969, and renewed
efforts
by the White House to get the Senate to ratify the treaty begun. On
Jan. 22,
1975, President Gerald Ford ratified the Geneva Convention and its
protocol.
America subsequently also ratified the 1972 Biological Weapons
Convention,
believed to be the first treaty to outlaw an entire class of weapons.

Global consensus that a comprehensive ban on biological and chemical
weapons
ought to be preferred to any alternative, despite the weaknesses of any
such
prospective ban, reached an apogee with the wanton use by Saddam's Iraq
of
poison gas during its war with Iran in the 1980s.

By the end of the 20th Century, 144 nations had ratified the 1972 BWC.
This
convention expressly enjoins states not to "develop, stockpile or
otherwise
acquire or retain" weapons or their active ingredients "of types and in
quantities that have no justification for prophylactic (preventive
medical
measure), protective or other peaceful purposes."

But therein, of course, lies the treaty's predicament.

Even though negotiating a ban to chemical weapon development and use
has
always been held up as being much more contentious, enforcing the much
easier to obtain biological bans is even thornier.

Bioweapons imply simply the harnessing of disease -- a "very natural"
horror
-- as an instrument of war. It is virtually impossible to determine
where
the exact lines between useful research to help the sick and abominable
tinkering with nature to sow death lie.

Exploiting this dilemma can be ridiculously easy, as Saddam proved.
Before
his Al Manal and Al Hakam laboratories were destroyed in 1996, his
alchemists of death cooked up to 19,000 litres of botulinum toxin and
about
8,250 litres of anthrax in remarkably short time, relying on
technologies
easily procured in the West because they are also widely used in
civilian
medical research. The fact that just 100 liters (that's less than 25
gallons) of the raw stock can produce about ten billion infectious
doses of
anthrax each week obviously helps. As did the ease with which Saddam
could
conceal his operations behind a harmless animal feed factory.

Secretive regimes and juntas will have absolutely no hassle hiding
their
bioweapon operations from prying eyes if they want to. This is the
knowledge
that drives perceptions in defense policy circles in Washington,
despite the
relative lack of media attention, that the bioproliferation efforts of
countries like Iran and Syria could be engrafted onto the terrorist
threat
to pose a graver danger to American interests.

After all, Iran in 1929 was one of the earliest signatories to the
Geneva
Convention prohibiting the development of bioweapons, and has since
signed
the various chemical weapon conventions as well. Yet it reportedly
sustains
intense activity in both proliferation areas.

With regards to chemical weapons, the CIA is adamant that the country
"has
manufactured and stockpiled chemical weapons -- including blister,
blood,
choking, and probably nerve agents, and the bombs and artillery shells
to
deliver them." It can be safely assumed that this view reflects
official
thinking in Washington.

But there does appear to be more to it than perception, though.
Russia's FSB
intelligence service has also expressed similar opinions, most
forcefully in
their 1993 document, "A New Challenge After the Cold War: Proliferation
of
Weapons of Mass Destruction."

Furthermore, Tehran has also been unable to debunk assertions by the
country's main opposition that the Hemmat Missile Industries Complex in
the
northeast of the country is a front for the mass production of
bio-chemical
WMD, stating only that it dismantled all its offensive biological
capabilities after its war with Iraq, during which it was forced to
develop
such capabilities following Saddam's monstrous use of poison gas
(chemical
weapons). This claim comes despite Iran's own Speaker of Parliament
firmly
exhorting in 2000 that the acquisition of such weapons were vital to
the
country's national security.

The many credible reports of Iranian scientists seeking to obtain
deadly
biotoxins from Western colleagues reinforces the view that what Iran
has
probably been replicating what it has done so far on the chemical front
in
the biological weapons context too. For instance, the respected Middle East
Expert, Michael Eisenstadt, believes the country has significant
quantities
of military-grade botulin and anthrax.

In fact, unlike the case with its supposed nuclear ambitions, Iran's
biothreat capabilities have been assessed by too many independent,
highly
respected and highly credible analysts -- of whom Anthony
http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_experts/task,view/id,3/

Cordesman is only the most widely known -- to be dismissed as another
neocon
"witch hunt." In particular, academic research facilities mysteriously
assigned to Revolutionary Guards' oversight are highly suspect by any
measure, since that organization has long been known to conduct nearly
all
of Iran's "plausible denial" schemes.

In the case of Syria much less is known, but American and Israeli
intelligence officials have said that the Arab nation has developed
biological weapons with assistance from North Korea.

So, while a number of rather reputable analysts have dismissed, or
expressed
serious scepticism, about the biothreats posed by unfriendly regional
powers
to Western, particularly American, interests, it is unlikely that
efforts to
accelerate biodefense policy will be rolled back even in the face of
increased concern about possible breaches of the bioweapon conventions.

Dr. Brian
http://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/j/jenkins_brian_michael.html

Jenkins, a widely cited expert on terrorism, in an article written for
the
Futurist magazine in July 1987 entitled "The Future Course of
International
Terrorism," expressed the following opinion:

"What about chemical or biological weapons... Although there have been
isolated incidents, neither chemical nor biological warfare seems to
fit the
pattern of most terrorist attacks. These attacks are generally intended
to
produce immediate dramatic effects.

Finally, the terrorists retain control. That is quite different from
initiating an event that offers no explosion but instead produces
indiscriminate deaths and lingering illness, an event over which the
terrorists who set it in motion would have little control."

The position Jenkins epitomizes is the most potent rebuttal to
approaches of
NBACC's ilk to addressing prospective biothreats. The argument goes 1)
bioweapon development, handling and deployment is incredibly complex
and
resource-consuming because getting hold of the agents is the easy part;
transforming them into a truly effective means to kill is the real, and
excruciating, task. 2) Even successful deployment does not guarantee
results, since the deadliness of bioweapons cannot be strictly
calibrated
like so many other weapons -- witness for instance the lack of
casualties in
the biological attacks conducted by the Japanese death cult Aum -- the
same
group that later poisoned the Tokyo Subway with the chemical agent
sarin. 3)
If a terrorist is going to go to all that trouble to get hold of a
bioweapon, (s)he would probably be smart enough to know that (s)he can
get
much quicker, deadlier, results from a conventional explosive.

However, this is flawed in at least one respect. All three arguments
misunderstand the terror logic. The idea is to instil panic, confusion
and
terror. It is designed to break the will of the enemy.

For obvious reasons, most people have an ingrained dread of disease. Of
all
the four horsemen of the apocalypse, none terrifies like Pestilence.
Because
bioterror emanates, or seems to emanate, from the very environment
around
us, because it grows within our very tissues and promises the
possibility of
contagion, reaction to the mere thought of a bioattack is likely to be
much
more irrational than to an attack which, notwithstanding horrific
causalities, seems still to be confined in space and time in the manner
of a
conventional explosion.

Indeed, even in the case of nuclear scenarios, the expectation always
remain
that an evacuation from the affected zone is possible. With a
"weaponized
disease", the chief thoughts are contagion and self-propagation. Think
the
bubonic plague transported into the information age. Thus, even the
crudest
bioattack will almost certainly exert a greater impact for prolonged
periods
than a conventional attack such as 9/11.

In sum, my feeling is that NBACC is as much a confidence-building
measure as
it is a concrete countermeasure exercise. The expectations that parts
of its
work will be classified and certain elements of its budget put beyond
public
scrutiny all contribute to that feeling "the government can look after
us."
It has means of which we know nothing about.

The hope rarely admitted, and despite the cringing of libertarians, is
that
there is more substance than hot air to this belief.

[nw_arizona_granny]

In 2006, Attacks Were Thwarted. But Why?



http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6682409&ft=1&f=1001

In 2006, Attacks Were Thwarted. But Why?
All Things Considered
December 26, 2006

The week between Christmas and New Year's is a time of high alert for counter-terrorism officials. The fear is that as the number of travelers swells, so do the opportunities for terrorists to strike. In Britain , Home Secretary John Reid has warned it's "highly likely" that terrorists will attempt an attack over the holidays.

This past weekend, a British newspaper, The Observer, added to the holiday jitters with a report that the Channel Tunnel is being targeted.

But as the year draws to a close, security officials can take solace in the fact that 2006 has not yet brought a single terror attack of note in the West. That's in sharp contrast to last year, when suicide bombers attacked London ; and 2004, when almost 200 people died in the Madrid train bombings.

You could call 2006 the year of the thwarted terror attack. From the Heathrow airline plot to the Miami men indicted for wanting to blow up the Sears Tower , security officials were busy this year talking about attacks that were averted.

Some seemed more serious than others -- even the FBI admitted the Miami "plot" was far from fruition. But it should be noted that there were no terrorist attacks of note this year in the West. But experts disagree on the reason behind the lull, whether it was better intelligence, a weaker al-Qaida -- or mere dumb luck.

In addition to London and Miami , attacks were also apparently averted in Germany , where bombs placed in suitcases on trains near Cologne failed to explode. And in France , dozens of suspected members of an Algerian-based network were arrested. French authorities cited links to three terror plots, including an alleged plan to blow up an airport in Orly .

Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's second-in-command, has kept up a steady stream of taped messages, threatening attacks and rallying supporters. Last week, Zawahiri released his fifteenth tape of the year.

In it, Zawahiri warns of the consequences of U.S. military action in Muslim countries. He concludes: "Just as our emir, Sheik Osama bin Laden, may God watch over him, told you: 'As you bomb, you shall be bombed, and as you kill, you shall be killed.'"

The question is, does Al Qaeda have the ability to make good on this threat? Some experts say no, that if it could, the group would have struck already.

Ohio State University professor John Mueller, author of a book about al-Qaida titled Overblown, says the terrorist threat has been massively exaggerated.

"Osama Bin Laden is constantly talking about doing things in various places," Mueller says. "Not only the United States, but also Italy and Australia , for example. And nothing has happened there either. If Al Qaeda was so dedicated, numerous, devoted, diabolical and so forth as the common image has it, you'd think they'd have been able to do something by now."

U.S. terrorism expert John Brennan says he is guardedly optimistic that things are moving in the right direction in the fight to stop terrorism.

Brennan, a CIA veteran and former head of the National Counterterrorism Center, lists international intelligence cooperation and increased security measures among the reasons why this year passed peacefully in the West.

"I don't think the terrorists are as plentiful or as powerful as some people would suggest," Brennan says. "They are very dangerous. And it only takes one cell to do tremendous damage, or cause significant loss of life. But I think sometimes the terrorist threat is overstated, giving one the impression that terrorists are everywhere to be found. That's not the case."

But Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University , believes the United States should take Zawahiri's threats at face value. Hoffman says, "That Zawahiri and his minions are still trying is beyond doubt. They know they only have to get lucky once."

Hoffman argues that the Heathrow plot is evidence that al-Qaida remains undeterred in its ambitions. And he agrees with recent assessments from U.S. Intelligence officials, who say the tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border have given al-Qaida and its supporters a place to rebuild after being routed by U.S.-led forces in 2001.

[nw_arizona_granny]

'Cops stumbled on terror cells last week'

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1071558

'Cops stumbled on terror cells last week'

Security officials had stumbled on at least three sleeper terror
modules
ahead of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's visit to Mumbai last Saturday,
said
security sources.

In a related development, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had alerted
local
agencies about an "influx from West Asia" to Mumbai and rural
Maharashtra.

Sources in the security establishment said the existence of the cells,
one
of them in Mumbai, created a widespread security scare in the wake of a
missive from Vandana Kinithe, head of VIP security. Kini, who wrote to
Special Protection Group (SPG) chief BV Wanchoo, had said a terror unit
led
by a hardcore Pakistani operative may target the Congress leader.
Incidentally, Sonia Gandhi's security was reviewed after the Malegaon
blasts.

A senior ATS officer told DNA, "We can't also possibly say if members
of the
three units were part of Lashkar-e-Tayiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad. No
arrests
have been made yet, but unit members' movements are routinely
monitored."

This is the first time that the Central agencies are alerting the state
government of possible infiltration from West Asian countries in
Maharashtra/Mumbai. "We are aware of West Asian operatives trying to
enter
Mumbai. This could pose serious security problems in the long run,"
said KP
Raghuvanshi, ATS chief.

[nw_arizona_granny]

HAMAS befriends Kashmiri terror groups to increase funding, support

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1881172,0008.htm
Hamas befriends LeT, Hizb
Vijay Dutt and Aloke Tikku
London/New Delhi, December 26, 2006

Low on funds and struggling against rival group Fatah in Palestine, the
Hamas has sought alliance with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen,
two Pakistan-based groups involved in terrorist activities in India,
according to an Italian newspaper report. Hamas is a militant group
that won
the Palestinian Authority's general elections early this year and is
infamous for its terrorist activities aimed at Israel.

According to Corriere della Sera, a widely read Italian paper, Hamas
has
befriended LeT and Hizb, both close to Al-Qaeda. The report said the
ties
were forged during the visit of a Palestinian minister, a Hamas member,
to
Pakistan this summer. The report has caused a flutter among
intelligence and
security agencies here because if true, it will mean a major threat to
all
countries fighting the war against terrorism.

The report said the Palestinian minister, apart from his official
engagements, had two separate meetings -one with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen's
Syed
Salahuddin and another LeT's Hafez Said. The report said the two,
possibly
with the help of the Pakistani intelligence, offered to the Hamas
representative a briefcase containing $2 million. The paper quoted
"Islamabad sources" saying this. The money was to be used to sustain
the
Hamas movement in Palestine (like running schools, hospitals) and to
deal
with economic emergency the government was facing. Another alarming
aspect
of the report was that the Palestinian minister was also exploring the
possibility of strengthening "military relation" between the Hamas army
and
the Pakistan-based militants.

The paper alleged that an agreement was reached, based on three points.
One
that Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and LeT will have the possibility of going to
West
Asia (Syria and Lebanon) to learn new terror techniques from Arab
Mujahideens; second, Palestinian "elements" will seek refuge in the
centres
managed by the Pakistani outfits in the Waziristan area and third,
there
could be exchange of information relating to the use of explosives and
the
methods to smuggle them, Ajai Sahni, executive director at the
Delhi-based
Institute for Conflict Management, said there had been sporadic
dialogue
among Islamic terror outfits in the past. "The LeT has been talking to
these
people."

[nw_arizona_granny]

Hizbullah paying cash for Kassam attacks

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881992801&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

<http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881992801&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

Hizbullah paying for Kassam attacks
Herb Keinon and Yaakov Katz
THE JERUSALEM POST
Dec. 28, 2006

Hizbullah is paying Palestinian splinter groups "thousands of dollars"
for
each Kassam rocket fired at the western Negev, The Jerusalem Post has
learned.

According to Israeli intelligence information, Hizbullah is smuggling
cash
into the Gaza Strip and paying "a number of unknown local splinter
groups"
for each attack.

Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) sources said the Islamist
organization
paid several thousand dollars for each attack, with the amount
dependent on
the number of Israelis killed or wounded.

"We know that Hizbullah is involved in funding terrorist activity in
the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank," a security official said.

"Palestinian terrorists get thousands of dollars per attack. Sometimes
they
are paid before the attack and sometimes they submit a bill to Lebanon
afterward and the money gets transferred a short while later."

According to the officials, while Islamic Jihad was behind most recent
rocket attacks - including the one on Tuesday night that critically
wounded
14-year-old Adir Basad in Sderot - several splinter terrorists groups
are
also involved and have received direct funding from Hizbullah.
According to security officials, Islamic Jihad gets the money via its
headquarters in Damascus while Fatah's Tanzim terror group and the
Popular
Resistance Committees receive payment from Hizbullah in Lebanon.

All of the money originated in Iran, the officials said.

Government officials said Hamas was not currently involved in firing
missiles, but was doing nothing to stop those who were.

Also Wednesday, the IDF Operations Directorate relayed new orders to
the
Southern Command following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision
earlier in
the day to permit the army to once again target Kassam rocket cells.

This decision came after a meeting Olmert held with Defense Minister
Amir
Peretz, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, and other senior security
officials.

Following the meeting, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement
saying
that in light of the increase of rocket attacks, despite the
cease-fire, "an
instruction was given to the security forces to take pinpointed action
against the launching cells."

At the same time, the statement said, Israel would continue to observe
the
cease-fire and to work with the Palestinian Authority to get it to take
immediate action to stop the firing of the rockets.

Peretz told the cabinet on Sunday that there have been cases over the
last
month where the IDF spotted terrorists preparing to fire rockets, but -
because of the cease-fire - did not act. The new policy would put an
end to
that situation.

In the past two weeks, OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant has
recommended taking much more extensive action inside Gaza to stop the
rocket
fire, but on Wednesday - according to government sources - he was
resigned
to accepting the new policy.

According to the IDF, troops will not be allowed to operate inside the
Palestinian Authority except when provided precise intelligence
concerning a
specific Kassam rocket cell.

According to government officials, Olmert argued at Wednesday's meeting
that
the cease-fire had strategic value, and that Israel's policy of
restraint
had earned it "a lot of understanding and appreciation" around the
world
that would provide "leeway" in the future.

Israel, according to officials in Olmert's office, can afford to
continue to
observe the "overall parameters" of the cease-fire, and can always take
more
forceful action down the line.

These officials also said that even when Israel did employ more force
in
Gaza it was unable to stop the rocket fire, and that the 64 rockets
that
have fallen during the monthlong cease-fire were only one-quarter of
the
number of rockets fired in the month preceding the agreement.

Olmert has argued in recent days that a strong military response would
only
unite Hamas and Fatah.

Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza alluded to this when he expressed the
hope
that renewed fighting with Israel would help end internal Palestinian
violence in the Gaza Strip.

A Kassam rocket hit near Sderot after the security meeting. Islamic
Jihad
claimed responsibility, with Abu Hamza saying it was a response to
Israel's
arrest of operatives in the West Bank, which is not covered by the
cease-fire.

According to the new orders, the IDF is allowed to fire at Kassam cells
before and after they launch rockets at Israel. The rules of engagement
are
dependant on intelligence, primarily on the location of the cell and
whether
there is a possibility that Palestinian civilians would be harmed.
Terrorists often use urban areas to launch sites the rockets.

"We are aware of the sensitivity of the situation," said an officer in
the
Southern Command. "We do not want to cause diplomatic problems."

According to the officer, the IDF is also allowed to target Kassam
launchers
if no people are present. Based on the government decision, the IDF
will
continue to refrain from targeting Kassam workshops and will only fire
at
people if they are "ticking bombs" - terrorists on their way to, or in
the
midst of, an attack. Armed gunmen who approach the Gaza security fence
were
also, the officer said, legitimate targets.

"When there is a danger, we will not stand idly by but will open fire,"
he
said. The IDF plans to utilize the air force to target the Kassam cells
and
launchers.

"The terrorists need to feel like they are being hunted," said one
officer.
"We intend to make that happen."

[nw_arizona_granny]

[a post for study and research]

Police unable to dismantle hawala network


http://in.news.yahoo.com/061227/48/6amqh.html
7/11: ATS fails to nail hawala men who routed funds
By Indian Express
Thursday December 28, 03:38 AM

Despite arresting 13 men in the July 11 serial blasts case, and issuing
lookout notices for 15 others as wanted, the ATS has not been able to
dismantle the lifeline of the terrorist operation-the hawala network it
says
was used to channel the money.

"Our hands are tied when it comes to arresting hawala operators
involved in
transferring the money used in the blasts. This is because of the
inherent
restrictions in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. We cannot
frame any charges under this act, as the Central Government has
appointed
the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as the only agency that can use this
act.
All we can do is pass on information to the ED," says ATS chief K P
Raghuvanshi.

"We have moved the Centre to appoint special officers in the Mumbai
Police
who can frame charges under this act," says Mumbai Police Commissioner
A N
Roy.

But it appears that the ATS has overlooked provisions in the stringent
Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) that enables it to
counter hawala transactions. Section 4 of the MCOCA relating to
'punishment
for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of a member of an
organised
crime syndicate' has not been applied to any of the accused.

"Yes, it is true that Section 4 of MCOCA can be used to nail hawala
operators but it requires a tremendous amount of evidence,'' says
Raghuvanshi. "As far as these operators are concerned, we have passed
on the
information to the ED."

In the 10,000-page chargesheet it has filed in the 7/11 case, the
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) names the financiers of the operation and
the
people who recieved the money in Mumbai and Pune, but is silent on the
hawala operators used by the terrorists.

"They have named people as financiers, but they have absolutely no
evidence
to substantiate it. There is a glaring gap between who sent the money
and
the person who allegedly received it," says defence advocate for the
blasts
accused Amin Solkar.

According to the 7/11 chargesheet, LeT commander Azam Cheema sent Rs
3.6
lakh along with 80,200 Saudi Riyals to prime accused Faisal Shaikh and
his
brother Muzammil in Mumbai through his conduit Rizwan Dawrey in Saudi Arabia. And that this money was used to finance several things, among
them:
sending people to Pakistan for training and facilitating the escape of
those
who participated in the bombings.

While the chargesheet names Khalida Iqbal Shaikh, Hidaytulla Mehboob
Sundke,
Afzal and Abdul Dawrey as the people who picked up the money in Mumbai
and
Pune, there is no mention of the chain in between.

Raghuvanshi says: "The easiest way to channel money from a foreign
country
to India, for illegal operations is the hawala network, where I am told
there is hundred percent honesty involved. This is used by the
organised
crime syndicates and is the most preferred route for terror financing."

[nw_arizona_granny]

Venezuela : Inside story of a regime of terror



http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=294600&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/

International


Inside story of a regime of terror


28 December 2006 08:23

The guards disappear and the steel gate clangs shut, sealing off the
outside world, and from the gloom appear men with knives, mobile phones
and glazed eyes. They are not in a menacing mood this morning, merely
curious, and make no effort to block the path from the ground floor, the
main killing zone, to the first-floor wing known as the "special
section".

The escort, a prisoner in flip-flops and a stained T-shirt, raps on the
metal door. A pair of eyes peer from a slit before the door opens.
Inside is a corridor where men in jeans and tracksuits doze, play dominoes
and smoke cigarettes.

It does not look like much, but this is a haven for foreigners
languishing in Venezuela's prison system, widely considered one of the world's
most brutal and corrupt.

"Before getting into the special section I was robbed, stabbed, beaten.
I was threatened with rape, called a 'gringo' and told I would be
killed," says Mark Viljoen, a 29-year-old South African.

Like almost all the 1 460 foreigners in Venezuelan jails, including 23
Britons, he was caught trying to smuggle cocaine. The drug mules are
typically given eight years in overcrowded jails notorious for extortion,
riots and beheadings. Last year 411 inmates were killed and 737
wounded, according to the watchdog group Venezuelan Prisons Observatory, which
has a booklet with pictures of burned and mangled corpses.

British consuls do not visit British nationals in three jails -- Rodeo
1, Rodeo 2 and Yare -- because they are too dangerous. A Canadian
consul who visited Los Teques, west of the capital, Caracas, ended up in the
middle of a gun battle.

The government says things will improve. At a cost of almost $1-billion
it is building 15 new prisons -- including one inaugurated last month
-- to host approximately 13 000 prisoners by 2010.

The penal system director, Fanny Marquez Cordero, said the interior and
justice ministry had studied California jails and was sending staff to
Spain for training, paving the way for reform.

For now, however, she acknowledged that Venezuela was left with 30
dilapidated facilities racked with corruption and repression. "In some we
do not have full control." About half of the country's 4 000 guards do
not show up for work, leaving just 2 000 to supervise a prison
population of 19 257.

While speaking to the Guardian, Cordero was phoned by a prisoner using
a cellphone. "They're not supposed to have cellphones but, well ..."

Sanctuary
Los Teques, billed as one of the better facilities, is a three-storey
block with seven wings housing 933 inmates, including 248 foreigners.
The ground floor regularly erupts into pitched battles between rival
gangs, the gunshots and screams echoing around the complex.

According to inmates there is only one way to find sanctuary in the
special section. "Money. It's all about money," said one, who asked not to
be named. It cost him €1 000 to be moved to the first floor and a
$150 monthly "cell fee" to guards and prison leaders.

Most of the foreigners had the means to get in -- but not all. "God
knows what is happening to them below," said Mike Barnatt, a 53-year-old
South African who was two years into an eight-year term.

Offered £2 000 to take a suitcase from Caracas to Madrid, the
HIV-positive Durban mechanic may pay with his life. He recently lost much of
his hearing and eyesight and suffers pain in his ankles and head, signs
of full-blown Aids.

"Physically, I'm stuffed," he said.

South Africa has no prisoner transfer agreement with Venezuela so
Barnatt must complete his sentence in a jail which offers him vitamins but
not medicine. Britain has an agreement with Venezuela but bureaucratic
hurdles can last more than three years.

Some inmates thrive in the special section. There is a tuck shop, a
gym, MP3 and DVD players, televisions, access to the roof, cellphones and
the possibility to buy whatever they want. The air reeks of marijuana
but there is also cocaine, crack, beer, wine, whisky and, according to
some accounts, visiting prostitutes who work from behind a curtain in
cells shared by 30 men.

The director of Los Teques, Theresita Troconis, said she needed 90
staff but had just 12 who worked eight shifts, leaving four guards on duty
at any one time, some of whom were corrupt.

"The prisoners have pistols, grenades, things they shouldn't," she
said. Told about the drugs and alcohol she nodded. "Yes, I can imagine."

In the power vacuum inmates with physical and mental strength emerge as
cell leaders. Grant Dalton, the only British cell leader, was
unavailable for an interview but friends described him as a robust character
with good Spanish. Another Briton, speaking in a Geordie accent, declined
to give his name. "I don't want to speak to no newspaper, I just want
to get out of here."

The British charity Prisoners Abroad gives British inmates £30 a
month, an invaluable lifeline to buy medicine, food and protection in a
penal system which is one of the rawest forms of capitalism.

"Foreigners are the safest of all prisoners because they are seen as
cash cows and you're not going to shoot a cash cow," said John Morgan,
the British vice-consul. However, the greater the payments the greater
the extortion. Two-thirds of the relatively generous payments by the
German government to its nationals are said to be instantly pocketed by
Venezuelan inmates.

Payments
Conditions are much better across the valley of Los Teques in the
women's prison, where there is a new nursery for inmates' infants, a
volleyball courtyard, table tennis tables, a library with internet access and
an air of calm.

"It's OK here, I have my own room and can buy food from the
restaurant," said one of the two British inmates, a 39-year-old who was caught
with 9kg of cocaine in 18 shampoo bottles. The other Briton, Leah Pugsley
(21) from Newport, declined to be interviewed but appeared to have
integrated well, sitting in the courtyard chatting in Spanish to friends.

Of 277 inmates, 77 are foreigners, including Spaniards, Lithuanians,
Romanians, Germans, Dutch, South Africans, Colombians and an American.

"We tend to form a clique and don't hang out much with the
Venezuelans," said the older Briton.

Eugenie Sahupala (35) who gave birth in Los Teques, said her drug mule
days were over. "If you do one trip and it goes well you do it again
and again." She gestured to her surroundings. "Until something like this
happens." - Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006

[nw_arizona_granny]

Chemicals seized from two train passengers




http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews &id=71331

http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=71331



Chemicals seized from two train passengers

Nagpur, Dec 27: Two persons were arrested and some chemicals seized
after a
bomb detection squad searched the Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express here
today, following a bomb scare.

The superfast train was on its routine
http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=71331
journey
to
Chennai when a ticket inspector found two youths carrying some
materials in
40 bags.

Suspecting it to be explosives, he immediately raised an alarm and the
authorities were informed.

According to R S Chauhan, Divisional
http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=71331
Security
Commandant, Railway Protection Force (RPF), Central Railway, the two
youths
- Pankaj Ramprasad and Sonu Kumar Pandey -, were employed with a
private
firm in New Delhi and
http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=71331
travelling to
Chennai with the chemical.

Soon after the railway officials were informed about the incident, the
local
bomb squad was rushed to the spot and the train was stopped at Godhni,
some
20 km before Nagpur railway station.

A thorough search was conducted and the RPF officials seized the 40
bags of
the chemical.

The two youths have been arrested under Indian Railway Act, Chauhan
said and
adding the RPF officials are making further enquiry into the incident.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Iran, Libya sign agreements

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-236/0612285478121617.htm

Iran, Libya sign agreements

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/menu-234/key-79/
Tehran, Dec 28, IRNA

Iran and Libya here on Wednesday evening inked two agreements and a
letter
of understanding on expansion of bilateral cooperation.

The two agreements on 'tourism and cultural heritage' and 'encouraging
investment' were signed by Iran's Minister of Housing and Urban
Development
Mohammad Saeedi-Kia and Secretary of the General's Committee for
Planning of
Libya al-Tahrir al-Hadi al-Juhaymi while, the letter of understanding
was
inked by al-Juhaymi and Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance
Davoud Danesh-Jaafari.

Addressing the meeting, Saeedi-Kia expressed hope the agreements would
lead
to further expansion of Tehran-Tripoli cooperation.

Al-Juhaymi, for his part, called for materialization of the agreements
reached between the two sides and called for further activation of the
two
countries' chambers of commerce, particularly in the area of investment
and
trade.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Is It Holy "JIHAD" -- Or Unholy "Irhabi Murderdom" ???

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/global.php?id=536734

An enormous challenge facing the West today is trying to understand all
there is to know about Islam. Key to this is comprehending the many
meanings
of the words the Jihadists themselves use vs. what the West uses to
describe
the terrorists and their nefarious deeds. While the "Hirabah vs Jihad"
issue
has not been settled, this piece by FSM Contributing Editor Jim Guirard
is
presented on its own merits -- and may be followed in due course by a
responsible contrary point of view.



Is It Holy "JIHAD" -- Or Unholy "Irhabi Murderdom" ???

Jim Guirard



Earlier "TrueSpeak" articles in this truth-in-language and
truth-in-Islam
series have regretted the failure of US Public Diplomacy, led by Under
Secretary of State Karen Hughes, to aggressively attack and to
de-legitimize
al Qaeda's fraudulent "Jihad Against America and the West" -- and to do
so
not in Western secular terms only but in Osama bin Laden's own
language, his
own culture and, especially, his own religion.



Clearly, the State Department's euphemistic language of diplomacy --
which
does not even permit the President to call bin Laden and his suicide
mass
murderers "evildoers" -- will never rise to the occasion of condemning
genocidal terrorism by its real names. That would be far too
"politically
incorrect."



And nor even will the tough Western secular language of law enforcement
(thugs, criminals, killers, bring to justice, etc.) ever succeed in
turning
the Muslim World and the Arab Street against young "holy warriors" and
"martyrs" on their way to Paradise.



In a recent essay, this writer has sharply lamented the failure of the
Baker-Hamiltom Iraq Study Group to address this religious and "hearts,
minds
and souls" element of the War on Terrorism at all.



In the ISG's 79 Recommendations, neither the vital role of Public
Diplomacy
in general nor the "war of words" deficiencies in today's PD programs
in
particular are given any mention whatever -- implying that no
corrections or
improvements are needed in either.

To pose the fundamental two-part question around which all other
questions
revolve, "What exactly is going on in the world today? And who are the
instigators and fomenters of this global crisis?"

Is it the holy "jihad" by the "mujahedeen" and the "martyrs" claimed by
bin
Laden, or is it an unhloy war of Satanic proportions? And if it is the
latter, what are the several Arabic and Islamic words and frames of
reference which most clearly define and condemn it as such?



Call it "Hirabah" -- forbidden "War Against Society"



The essential term for the sinful criminality of these AQ killers is
the
10th Century -- and, therefore, not in the 7th Century Quran -- Islamic
word"Hirabah" (hee-RAH-bah). It means "unholy war" and forbidden "war
against society" and is what we today call "crimes against humanity."



Here is how the renowned scholar of Islam Abdul Hakim (a.k.a. Sherman
Jackson) of the University of Michigan explained the matter -- with
virtually no-one listening, of course -- in the Fall 2001 issue of
Muslim
World:



"In the end ... Hirabah assumes its place as an effective
super-category
hovering above the entire criminal law as a possible remedy to be
pressed
into service for the more sensational, heinous or terrifying of these
and
other crimes. In this capacity, Hirabah appears, again, to parallel the
function of terrorism as an American legal category. Its function is
not so
much to define specific crimes but to provide a mechanism for
heightening
the scrutiny and/or level of pursuit and prosecution in certain cases
of
actual or potential public violence."



This was only one paragraph in a twelve-page, highly footnoted
justification
for the Hirabah label -- which has fallen far behind the false "Jihadi"
label but is quietly gaining acceptance from such other clerics and
scholars
of Islam as Professors Akbar Ahmed of American University, Khaled Abou
el
Fadl of UCLA, Imam Yahya Hendi of Georgetown and over twenty others --
whose
current attitudes are expertly represented by the following (privately
communicated) analysis analysis from Prof. Ahmed:



"Properly understood, this is a war of ideas within Islam -- some of
them
faithful to authentic Islam, but some of them clearly un-Islamic and
even
blasphemous toward the peaceful and compassionate Allah of the
Qur'an... As
a matter of truth-in-Islam, both the ideas and the actions they produce
must
be called what they actually are, beginning with the fact that al
Qaeda's
brand of suicide mass murder and its fomenting of hatred among races,
religions and cultures do not constitute godly or holy "Jihad" -- but,
in
fact, constitute the heinous crime and sin of unholy "Hirabah"..



According to this distinguished Islamic scholar and interfaith leader,
"In
its worst excesses, particularly in the wanton killing of innocents --
both
non-Muslim and Muslim alike -- as a method of terrorizing the entire
community, such ungodly "war against society" should be condemned as
blasphemous and un-Islamic."



Urgently, therefore, the civilized world must begin to reshape its
"know
thine enemy" lexicon and basic frames of reference -- and to discard al
Qaeda's patently false language of "Jihadi martyrdom" which currently
glorifies and sanctifies the bin Laden miscreants who are trying to rip
not
only America and Western civilization but so-called "moderate" Islam,
as
well, to pieces.



In this regard, a closely related discovery Secretary Hughes has surely
made
by now in the "hearts, minds and souls" arena is the ugly fact that in
much
of the Muslim World (the Umma) America is perceived as "the Great
Satan."
For who, indeed, other than the Great Satan would be going about
killing a
bunch of "holy guys" and "martyrs" on their way to Paradise?



(Imagine if you will the consequences during World War II if the
language of
the day spoke incessantly of the "Satanic Allies," the "Holy and
Compassionate Gestapo" and the "Blessed NAZI Saviors.")



Call it "Irhabi MURDERdom" -- and "The AQ Apostasy"



But in the truthful frames of reference of Hirabah ("unholy war"), of
"Irhabi MURDERdom" and of "the al Qaeda Apostasy" much of that pro-al
Qaeda
imagery would be changed.



Clearly, those who are willfully fomenting and waging today's sinful
criminality against the Iraqi society, against Quranic Islam and
against
civilization itself could no longer pose as the saintly Servants of
Allah --
the Abd' al-Allah -- they so falsely claim to be.



They are, in fact, the ruthless "evildoers" -- which President Bush
correctly called them for over two years before the State Department in
late
2003 persuaded him to drop such words (i.e., particularly sharp-edged
terms
with Islamic religious implications) from his vocabulary.



Including those used above, here are ten such words of condemnation:
Hirabah-- Unholy War, forbidden war against society; mufsiduun --
evildoers,
sinners, corrupters; irhaband irhabis -- terrorism and terrorists;
istihlal
-- the arrogant sin of "playing God;" khawarij -- outside the religion;
munafiquun -- hypocrites; murtadd and murtadduun -- apostasy and
apostates;
Shaitanandshaitaniyah -- Satan and satanic; abd' al-Shaitan --
Servants,
Slaves of Satan; Jahannam -- Eternal Hellfire.



In full justification of such condemnatory language and of the "al
Qaeda
Apostasy" label in particular, here is a list of ten (among many more)
willful and ruthless transgressions by bin Ladenism against the Allah
of
"peace, mercy, compassion and justice" who is repeatedly so described
by the
Qur'an:



. Wanton killing of innocents and noncombatants, including many
peaceful Muslims

. Decapitating the live and desecrating the dead bodies of
perceived
enemies

. Committing and enticing others to commit suicide for reasons
of
intimidation

. Fomenting hatred among communities, nations, religions and
civilizations

. Ruthless warring against nations in which Islam is freely
practiced

. Issuing and inspiring unauthorized and un-Islamic fatwas
(religious edicts)

. Using some mosques as weapons depots and battle stations,
while
destroying others

. Forcing extremist and absolutist versions (and perversions)
of
Islam on Muslims, when the Qur'an clearly says that there shall be "no
compulsion in religion"

. Distorting the word "infidels" to include all Christians, all
Jews
and many Muslims, as well-when the Qur'an calls them all "Children of
the
Book" (the Old Testament) and "Sons of Abraham," and calls Jesus one of
Islam's five main Prophets

. Deliberate misreading, ignoring and perverting of passages of
the
Qur'an, the Hadith and the Islamic Jurisprudence (the Fiqh)

Unfortunately, almost all of these words and proofs of apostasy would
violate an unwritten Government-wide "guidance" or admonition which
says, in
effect, that "Thou shalt not discuss matters Islamic religious or use
words
which have serious religious implications" -- for fear of making some
mistake which either outrages or humiliates certain parts of the Muslim
World.



And it may be why neither the current ISG Report nor the recent
Quadrennial
Defense Review's 55-part Strategic Communication Roadmap contains not a
single "war of words" initiative -- nor a call for a maximally accurate
and
fully sufficient glossary of the Arabic and Islamic religious terms
needed
to wage such a war agressively and successfully.



Under this well-motivated but tongue-tied standard, the President and
his
spokespersons are at full liberty to call the al Qaeda-style terrorists
"mujahideen-types" and "Jihadists" and their suicide mass murder
"martyrdom
operations."



But never, ever are they to condemn the al Qaeda terrorists in Islamic
religious terms as the "mufsiduun" (evildoers), the "murtadduun"
(apostates), the "khawarij" (outside-the-religion deviants) or the
"abd'al-Shaitan" (Servants of Satan) they really are.



Mon dieu! We might upset the Hollywood activists, the foreign policy
elites,
the hate-Bush media, the European intellectuals and even bin Laden and
his
murderous ilk by daring to say the truthful word "evildoers." Recall,
please, the early-1980s opposition by these same euphemistically
inclined
and detente-minded diplomats to President Reagan's labeling of the
Soviet Union as the "Evil Empire."



But imagine, if you will, how much more difficult it would become for
al
Qaeda and its clones to recruit suicide mass murderers once these young
Muslims begin to perceive themselves as waging not a holy "Jihad" but
an
ungodly Hirabah against Allah Himself -- and as being destined,
therefore,
not for Allah's Paradise but for Satan's Jahannam, instead.



In this ugly context, al Qaeda's much-ballyhooed 72 black-eyed virgins
would
presumably become 72 evil-eyed porcine and canine demons. And is this
not a
long-overdue and a truly "nightmare" disincentive to al Qaeda-style
suicide
mass murder?



PD Analyses All Miss The Target



Of course, one would search in vain for such a hard-nosed
recommendation
among the dozen or more major Studies, Reports and Analyses which have
been
done of the US Public Diplomacy effort over the last several years.
Now, the
same blindspot is a prominent omission of the ISG Report, as well.



All of these learned critiques considered (and expertly so in most
cases)
only two of the three major areas of concern -- Reorganization and
Resources
-- but none of them ventured more than skin-deep, and most of them not
at
all, into the complex issue of what appears to be the basic
insufficiency
and overly cautious misdirection of the PD message itself.



Clearly, it is in this context that a most able, well-connected and
increasingly experienced Karen Hughes and her PD experts must now begin
waging a far more aggressive "war of words" and "war of ideas" -- one
that
is equal in intensity to those of the deadly serious anti-NAZI and
anti-Communist campaigns of World War II and of the Cold War.



This must be in ways which not only paint an accurately positive
picture of
America (which she is doing more ably than her recent predecessors did)
but
which finally, belatedly begin to demonize the bloodthirsty "Irhabi
MURDERdom"al Qaeda-style -- and Hizballah-style -- terrorists in ways
which
are at least as effective as the ways in which they are so falsely
demonizing us.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Militants Bomb Girls' School Over Veil Wearing (back)



December 27, 2006

Men claiming to be local Taliban bombed a girls school in Noor Ali village in Darra Adam Khel on Monday night and threatened further attacks if the students did not wear veils.

The militants also left Urdu pamphlets at the school saying, 'Be veiled, otherwise we will bomb you again.' 'The attackers planted the bomb near the principal’s office at the Government Girls Middle School . The bomb exploded at 12:45am, destroying three rooms and partially damaging four others,' political authorities said.

The blast also destroyed window panes around the school. There were no casualties reported. A source in the area, seeking anonymity, told Daily Times that the local Taliban had asked locals to stop their daughters from going to college. 'They have however allowed veiled students to go to middle and high schools,' he added.

He said most Darra Adam Khel residents had stopped their children from going to schools and colleges, but some were still sending their daughters to school. 'Car-lifters and opium growers have also been warned to wind up their activities within six months or face action,' he said. The local Taliban have already closed down video centres, and many shopkeepers are now selling their shops due to pressure from local militants.



Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\12\ 27\story_27-12-2006_pg7_2

[nw_arizona_granny]

Horn of Africa - The New Jihad (back)



December 26, 2006

by Yisrael Ne'eman

Most people in the West paid very little attention when radical Islamists overran Somalia in late June. The country suffered from massive chaos since 1991 as extended families, tribes and clans battled turf wars, especially in the seaside capital of Mogadishu . All the Western memories concerning that city are confined to the failed American intervention which resulted in the famous 'Blackhawk Down' episode of the mid-1990s. In their efforts to take control of the entire country the pro-Jihadist Islamist regime has been at war with the internationally recognized but unpopular and ineffectual 'transitional government' sitting in Baidoa ever since

Christian led Ethiopia (the Abyssinian Church), Somalia’s neighbor to the west, feels particularly threatened by the jihadist overtures to its own very large Moslem minority which makes up almost half of its total population. Although its troops are aiding the besieged Baidoa government Ethiopia is now directly threatened by the newest Islamist front to be opened. Sudan ’s Islamist regime is waging war against its Christian Black African southern regions for over two decades inflicting over two million deaths. Addis Ababa is painfully aware that they may face the same fate.

Already jihadist fighters from around the world are joining Somali forces on Allah’s sacred battlefield. Having lost the Moslem province of Eritrea several years ago the Ethiopians are taking no chances and declared war against Mogadishu two days ago. The simmering wars on the Horn of Africa have exploded once again but this time national issues and borders are not the issue. Islam and Jihad have opened another front in their determined struggle to spread their law and way of life to all humanity.



Source: http://www.me-ontarget.com/the_daily_tidbit/p,407/

[nw_arizona_granny]

Iran Moves Into Afghanistan (back)



December 28, 2006

It seems I wasn’t entirely off my rocker in seeing Iran advance into Afghanistan over the next 15 years:

The rise of Hezbollah, with Iran ’s support, has demonstrated the extent of Tehran ’s sway in Lebanon , and the American toppling of Saddam Hussein has allowed it to expand its influence in Iraq . Iran has been making inroads into Afghanistan , as well. During the tumultuous 1980s and ’90s, Iran shipped money and arms to groups fighting first the Soviet occupation and later the Taliban government. But since the United States and its allies ousted the Taliban in 2001, Iran has taken advantage of the central government’s weakness to pursue a more nuanced strategy: part reconstruction, part education and part propaganda.

Iran has distributed its largess, more than $200 million in all, mostly here in the west but also in the capital, Kabul . It has set up border posts against the heroin trade, and next year will begin work on new road and construction projects and a rail line linking the countries. In Kabul , its projects include a new medical center and a water testing laboratory.

Ambassador Bahrami is correct in saying Iran has a legitimate security concern in making sure Afghanistan is stable… to say nothing of their probable nervousness at beefed up U.S. military forces on either side should things get too bad in both countries.

It would appear Iran is finally feeling in a position to flex its muscles as the returning regional power, given its activities in both Iraq and Afghanistan —a side effect of being a nuclear nuisance. Those activities include making things as difficult as possible for the American troops. This is unfortunate, as Iran and the U.S. actually cooperated in the initial campaign against the Taliban in late 2001. After Bush’s 'Axis of Evil' speech, the Iranians backed off from their general offer of support and focused instead on securing their position within Herat province.

It has other implications as well. Rather than applying to work somewhere like Europe or the U.S. , hundreds of thousands of Afghani citizens are applying for work visas in Iran each year. Despite the probable security concerns five years down the line, Iran certainly seems to have an easier time of PR than the U.S. does, which bodes poorly for the future of our efforts there. For the moment, the U.S. and NATO have a narrow margin in good vibes; this is unlikely to last, however, with Musharraf’s reckless border campaigns and continued low levels of 'nation building' personnel.



Source: http://www.registan.net/index.php/2006/12/27/iran- moves-into-afghanistan/

[nw_arizona_granny]

Afghanistan Arrests Pakistani Suicide Bomb Supplier (back)



December 27, 2006

Afghan authorities on Tuesday said that they had arrested a Pakistani national who had allegedly been providing suicide bombers to the Taliban in eastern Paktika province.

The man, whose name was not revealed, was 'in charge of recruiting suicide bombers and equipping them,' provincial governor Mohammad Akram Khpolwak said.

He was arrested from Bermal district in the bordering Paktika province on Monday, the governor said. He gave no further details saying that the case was under investigation.

The governor also said that police raided a suspected Taliban compound in the same district and seized a bomb-fitted motorbike. However the owner of the motorcycle fled before the raid, he added. afp



Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\12\ 27\story_27-12-2006_pg7_7

[nw_arizona_granny]

Judge Royce Lamberth v the State Department (back)



December 27, 2006

by Andrew C. McCarthy

Having failed to bribe the Islamic Republic Iran out of its nuclear ambitions, the State Department is putting on its cheeriest face after Saturday’s Security Council resolution, imposing toothless sanctions on an unfazed regime which didn’t even wait for the ink to dry before shrugging them off.

It can be no accident that this news broke in the middle of the weekend before Christmas. Alejandro D. Wolff, the State Department’s acting stand-in for former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, brashly asserted that the resolution sends Iran 'an unambiguous message' about 'serious repercussions.' In fact, though, it is an unmistakable signal that there will be no meaningful consequences as the evermore bellicose mullahs pursue their nukes.

In what, moreover, has to be one of the more embarrassing king-has-no-clothes moments, this testament to cravenness came only a day after federal judge Royce C. Lamberth’s painstaking 209-page opinion, describing the Islamic Republic’s orchestration of the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing which killed 19 members of the United States Air Force and wounded 372 others.

After many meandering months, the outcome on the sanctions resolution was still in doubt as late as Saturday morning because two of our 'allies' in this exquisite diplomatic effort — China (itself a nuclear proliferator with extensive economic ties to Iran) and Russia (Vladimir Putin's thug-state which is actually helping Iran develop its nuclear capability) — were still busy watering down measures already so diluted even the Iraq Study Group would have found them fatuous.

The penalties against the regime that sees a world without America and Israel as 'attainable' are laughable.

The New York Times reports that all countries would be required to ban 'the import and export of materials and technology used in uranium enrichment, reprocessing and ballistic missiles.' Except, well … not so much. The Times and the Associated Press note that the Russians are continuing apace with the construction of Iran’s atomic power plant at Bushehr. They succeeded in having any mention of Bushehr removed from the resolution, while forcing other amendments to ensure that 'legitimate' nuclear activities in Iran could continue.

The ballyhooed sanctions also include an asset freeze on twelve Iranian individuals and eleven companies involved in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. But observe: This is not a freeze on Iran. It affects only a handful of persons and entities — and even with respect to them, it matters only if they happen to have assets that can be readily identified inside some country that is willing to pierce through a maze of nominees and seize them.

Feigning at some backbone, the U.S. and some of the more 'hawkish' members of the coalition (comprised of the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany) also urged that the named Iranians be banned from traveling outside Iran. But even this gambit — better thought of as a nuisance than a sanction — was too much for the Russians. Due to their nyet, countries will instead be asked 'to exercise vigilance' if the Iranian Dirty Dozen enter or transit through their territory. That’ll show ‘em.

It’s worth rehearsing the sorry history that has led us to this point. Abandoning a long-settled policy against direct negotiations with the Iranian regime, and making a mockery of the Bush Doctrine’s pledge that rogue states would be made to decide whether they were 'with us or with the terrorists,' the State Department this spring offered to give the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism everything including the kitchen sink for what would have been the pretense of abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

In so doing, the Bush administration conceded the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic’s development of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes — notwithstanding that such efforts are generally indistinguishable from arms development. Not content with that, it agreed that Iran should be assisted in that development with light water reactors, spent fuel management instruction, and 'a substantive package of research and development co-operation.'

In addition, the mullahs were cajoled with offers of other high-technology, security assurances, economic aid, and sundry assistance in the areas of aviation, energy, telecommunications and agriculture. No mention was made of Iran’s quarter-century-plus of assiduous terror-mongering. And in the final indignity, verification of Iran’s compliance with its reciprocal obligation to cease enrichment was to be left to the International Atomic Energy Agency — the very body that had failed to detect the program in the first place (and which permits Iran to exercise veto power over which IAEA inspectors are assigned).

Why go out of our way to look so weak in the face of a committed enemy? Because, Secretary Rice and her minions assured us, this time the 'international community' was truly united. Why, if Iran dared to decline, this time there would be real consequences. 'Aides to Rice,' according to the Washington Post, insisted that the agreement to offer inducements to Iran 'also commits China and Russia to a long list of specific steps to punish Iran if it refuses to halt its enrichment program.' Indeed, this joint display of resolve was purported to be the best strategy for backing the mullahs down.

Right. The Russians and Chinese did not even have the good grace to stay mum for a day so State could play diplo-Polyanna for the U.S. media. They immediately balked. There was consensus only on the carrots, they said. Not the sticks. Or even that there would be sticks. And so began the journey — the desperate quest for a U.N. resolution, no matter how weak — that culminated in Ambassador Wolff’s thundering 'unambiguous message' on Saturday.

Iran has plainly gotten the point: Its president, Ahmadinejad, one of the more unambiguous orators on today’s world stage, thumbed his nose earlier this week, asserting that enrichment would go on.

As it happens, Judge Lamberth, though clearly not State Department material, is one of those rare American government officials who is about as given to nuance as Ahmadinejad. Meaning: he knows what he sees, and isn’t afraid to say it. His ruling in the Khobar case — awarding $254 million to the victims of the June 25, 1996 bombing of a residential complex in Saudi Arabia used by the U.S. Air Force during a post-Gulf War peace mission — made the following findings of fact, among others:

> 6. Defendant the IRGC [i.e., the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, or 'the Pasdaran'] is a non-traditional instrumentality of Iran. It is the military arm of a kind of shadow government answering directly to the Ayatollah and the mullahs who hold power in Iran. It is similar to the Nazi party’s SA organization prior to World War II. The IRGC actively supports terrorism as a means of protecting the Islamic revolution that brought the Ayatollah to power in Iran in 1979. It has its own separate funding sources, derived from confiscation of the assets of the former Shah of Iran in 1979, when the Shah was deposed.

7. The Khobar Towers was a residential complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, which housed the coalition forces charged with monitoring compliance with U.N. security council resolutions.

The Attack on the Khobar Towers

8. At approximately 10 minutes before 10 pm on June 25, 1996, a large gasoline tanker truck pulled up alongside the perimeter wall of the Khobar Towers complex. The driver jumped out, ran into a waiting car that had pulled up near the truck, and sped off.

9. Although security guards near the top of Building 131 started to give warnings about the unusual vehicle location, the truck exploded with great force within about 15 minutes. The investigation determined that the force of the explosion was the equivalent of 20,000 pounds of TNT. The Defense Department said that it was the largest non-nuclear explosion ever up to that time.

10. The explosion sheared off the face of Building 131, where Paul Blais and his crewmates were housed, and reduced most of it to rubble. Nineteen United States Air Force personnel were killed in the explosion, and hundreds of others were injured.

Iranian Support and Sponsorship of the Attack

11. The attack was carried out by individuals recruited principally by a senior official of the IRGC, Brigadier General Ahmed Sharifi. Sharifi, who was the operational commander, planned the operation and recruited individuals for the operation at the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. He provided the passports, the paperwork, and the funds for the individuals who carried out the attack.

12. The truck bomb was assembled at a terrorist base in the Bekaa Valley which was jointly operated by the IRGC and by the terrorist organization known as Hezbollah. [The opinion elsewhere describes Iran’s creation and control of Hezbollah.] The individuals recruited to carry out the bombing referred to themselves as 'Saudi Hezbollah,' and they drove the truck bomb from its assembly point in the Bekaa Valley to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

13. The terrorist attack on the Khobar Towers was approved by Ayatollah Khameini, the Supreme leader of Iran at the time. It was also approved and supported by the Iranian Minister of Intelligence and Security ('MOIS') at the time, Ali Fallahian, who was involved in providing intelligence security support for the operation. Fallahian’s representative in Damascus, a man named Nurani, also provided support for the operation.

I’ve been wondering: Let’s leave aside the Iranian nuclear program aimed at our destruction. If the Khobar Towers atrocity had happened yesterday, would you be satisfied with the 'sanctions' the State Department is celebrating today?

Of course, Khobar didn’t happen yesterday. It happened over a decade ago. Our government, since shortly after the attack, has known all the facts referred to by Judge Lamberth. But we have not responded. Not even 'sanctions.'

Since then, we’ve had Iranian training of al Qaeda; Iranian harboring of al Qaeda; Iranian transit assistance to the 9/11 hijackers; Iranian proxy war on the United States via Hezbollah’s war against Israel; Iranian proxy war on the United States via training and arming of the terrorist insurgency in Iraq; Khamenei’s reaffirmation of 'Death to America!' as Iran’s clarion call; and Ahamdinejad’s proclamation that the destruction of the United States is 'attainable, and surely can be achieved.'

Yes, what an 'unambiguous message' of 'serious repercussions' we’ve conveyed.

— Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.



Source: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmNiZDFlNzI2ZmNkYW RhNDcwMWZjZjdjMzJhMmUyNTU=

[nw_arizona_granny]

5 from Lackawanna Six Sent to Indiana Prison (back)



December 28, 2006

by Dan Herbeck

Five of the six members of the Lackawanna Six have been transferred to a federal prison in Indiana, and their families are trying to find out why.

Their attorneys confirmed Wednesday that Shafal A. Mosed, 28; Mukhtar al-Bakri, 26; Yasein A. Taher, 29; Faysal H. Galab, 30; and Sahim Alwan, 34; were all recently moved to the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Ind. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons also verified that the men are being held there.

Family members of the five men are upset because most of them were held previously in facilities much closer to Western New York. Now family members will have to drive 570 miles - more than nine hours - to visit the convicted conspirators in Terre Haute. They also could take a flight to Indianapolis, about 70 miles from Terre Haute.

Some supporters of the men wonder if the move is part of a government effort to toughen the punishment they already are receiving for traveling to Afghanistan and training with the al-Qaida terrorist group.

'They were all snatched up and moved [earlier this month],' said Alwan's attorney, James P. Harrington. 'This makes it extraordinarily hard for their families to visit them. From what we understand, their telephone and visitation time are being drastically cut, too.'



Harrington and other defense attorneys are trying to find out the reason for the move and whether it is punitive.

Harrington said he has heard that the government wants to keep all federal prisoners from terrorism-related prosecutions in one facility.

'This is very unusual, because the Bureau of Prisons rarely puts multiple defendants from one criminal case in the same prison,' said Galab's attorney, Joseph M. LaTona. 'They usually keep them separated.'



Aside from verifying that the five men are at the medium-security prison in Terre Haute, U.S. Bureau of Prisons officials had no comment on the move Wednesday. A prison spokesman, Michael Truman, said he was unaware of any plan to move all the convicts from terrorism-related cases to one facility.

The medium-security prison is part of the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex, which also includes a high-security institution and the nation's only federal death row and execution center, which the prison calls its 'special confinement unit.' Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh, a native of Pendleton, was put to death at Terre Haute in June 2001.

About 3,000 inmates are confined at the complex, authorities said.

President Bush and members of his administration have often cited the Lackawanna Six as a major success story in the fight against terrorism in the United States.

But critics have assailed the government for imprisoning men for 'thought crimes' or 'crimes of association.'

The six men had traveled to Afghanistan prior to Sept. 11, 2001, and trained at a terrorist camp under the supervision of Osama bin Laden, architect of the 9/11 terrorist strikes.

The Lackawanna men have repeatedly denied they had any intention of taking part in any terrorist act.

Ultimately, five pleaded guilty to providing material support to al-Qaida. Galab pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of engaging in a transaction with prohibited individuals.

When the six men agreed to plead guilty in 2003, sentencing Judge William M. Skretny and the U.S. Justice Department agreed to recommend that they be held in prisons as close as possible to Western New York.

'It's very disconcerting that, after the judge and prosecutors agreed to do that, the prison system now seems to be ignoring it,' said Mosed's attorney, Patrick J. Brown.

The whereabouts of the sixth man who traveled to Afghanistan - Yahya A. Goba, 29 - are a mystery. He is the only one of the six no longer listed on the 'inmate locater' on the Bureau of Prisons Web site.

Officials of the bureau said they could not comment when asked whether Goba is in protective custody or the witness-protection program because of assistance he has given to the government.

Goba was identified by the government as one of the leaders and organizers of the al-Qaida trip. In court papers filed in 2003, a prosecutor said Goba had provided extensive help and detail on al-Qaida's 'leaders, trainers and recruits.'

Goba's attorney, Marianne Mariano of the federal public defender's office, was out of town and could not be reached Wednesday.

Galab is scheduled to be the first of the Lackawanna group to be released from federal prison, sometime in January 2009, but he could be freed several months sooner if his prison behavior is good.



Source: http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20061228/1065560.asp

[nw_arizona_granny]

Third Investigation into Leading Palestinian Charity (back)



December 28, 2006

Britain's Charity Commission is to launch a new investigation into London-based Palestinian charity Interpal, despite being cleared of any wrong-doings in two previous inquiries.

The fresh investigation comes after allegations made in a BBC documentary in July that claimed funds from Interpal had helped build support for Hamas resistance movement.

It said Thursday it had been told by the commission that this time the most serious form of inquiry was being launched, giving them wide powers of investigation including the freezing of funds even though there was no immediate intention to do this.

There are 'concerns about the potential for indirect and inappropriate links' between Interpal and organisations or individuals who appear to support activities of Hamas, a spokesman was quoted saying.

In its last investigation in 2003, the Charity Commission reported that it was unable to substantiate claimed made by the US Treasury that Interpal was leading a European 'funding network' for Hamas.

It was followed by the charity winning an apology last December from the British Board of Deputy Jews for branding it as a 'terrorist organizations' after lengthy legal proceedings.

The charity, which spends around Pnds 5 million (Dlrs 9.5 m) a year, says that it is solely to provide relief and development aid for Palestinians around the world and has no party allegiances.



Source: http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-20/0612289676192334.htm

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ideological Origins of al-Qaeda in Egypt (back)



December 27, 2006

by Austin Bay

Al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri's pre-Christmas rants backfired in both Palestine and in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Zawahiri -- Al Qaeda's terror emir No. 2 -- ordered the Palestinians to wage his globalist brand of jihad. In the midst of their own vicious civil war, Hamas and Fatah quickly told Zawahiri to butt out.

Zawahiri's history lesson for Washington Democrats elicited yawns. Zawahiri argued that the 'the Muslim ... vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq ... won (the U.S. election), and the American forces and their crusader allies are the ones who lost ...'

Cave life in Pakistan evidently limits the al Qaeda firebrand's ability to affect current events. It isn't simply a feat to simultaneously flop in the Beltway and Gaza Strip -- it's a defeat.

Zawahiri's December case of tin ear is small encouragement, however, for his insistent message remains an enormous menace. At the end of 2006, al Qaeda is a shattered organization, but not yet a shattered idea.

The ideology al Qaeda and its 'affiliated cadres' empowers a still potent enemy. Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh provided a domestic American example of the horror a handful of driven, delusional and violent men can wreak. McVeigh, however, was truly isolated.

Al Qaeda's dark genius -- or, more accurately, the dark genius of the Egyptian strain of internationalist jihadism -- has been to connect the Muslim world's angry, humiliated and isolated young men with a utopian fantasy preaching the virtue of violence. That utopian fantasy seeks to explain and then redress roughly 800 years of Muslim decline. The rage energizing al Qaeda's ideological cadres certainly predates the post-Desert Storm presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia.

After 9/11, the popular press focused on Osama bin Laden's Saudi money rather the Zawahiri's Egyptian militancy, but together the Saudi-Egyptian link was the combination that forged al Qaeda operationally and philosophically.

Zawahiri's inspiration, mentor and fellow Egyptian, Sayid Qutb, is the modern father of jihadist rage and violence. Counter-terror experts have long acknowledged Qutb's resilient appeal. In his book 'Assassins and Zealots,' terror expert Dr. Stephen Sloan notes Qutb 'demonized' Western and secular Muslim leaders 'as agents of revived jahiliyah (pre-Islamic heathenism) who ... could be attacked at will by true believers.'

Lawrence Wright's magnificent new book, 'The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11,' provides the most literate narrative history available of the origins and operations of al Qaeda. In doing so, Wright examines Qutb, Zawahiri, bin Laden and their cohorts in extraordinarily informed detail.

'The Looming Tower' treats Qutb rigorously and poignantly. Qutb possessed a brilliant intellect, and his American sojourn (1948-1950) had a profound effect on the man. Qutb visited New York and California, and attended college in Greeley, Colo. Wright says the freedom of American women led Qutb to conclude that 'Islam and modernity were completely incompatible.' Qutb was palpably threatened by, yet deeply attracted to, Western women. Personal repulsion and fascination fed a lurking sense of cultural and political humiliation.

Qutb key facts: Qutb was born in 1903. He died in 1966 -- executed by Egypt's Gamel Abdel Nasser, who at the time was a Soviet ally.

Qutb's rage fed Zawahiri and ultimately shaped bin Laden. The same rage continues to feed disaffected and isolated young Muslims trapped in corrupt autocracies and denied other political, cultural and aesthetic avenues of expression.

Both Zawahiri and bin Laden grew up in comparatively privileged circumstances. Wright's sources on Zawahiri's early years include family members and family friends, providing a remarkable psychological record of a young, politically active intellectual on the road to global murderer. Wright documents bin Laden's inept record during the Afghan war against the Soviets. Hardened mujahideen regarded bin Laden as a buffoon and poseur.

Azza Zawahiri, Ayman's wife, also receives tragic attention. Trapped in the debris of an air attack in Afghanistan, Azza chose to remain beneath the rubble rather than take the risk that men would see her face. She died there. The Wright vignette illustrates the fierce, unbending will of al Qaeda's most committed cadres. And demonstrates why they remain a threat.



Source: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=18661