Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.
From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.
One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.
MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.
Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.
Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.
Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.
He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
Nuclear sanctions and Iran's neighbours
Gulf News
Published: 29/12/2006 12:00 AM (UAE)
© Al Nisr Publishing LLC 2006. All rights reserved.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/12/29/10092804.html
By Tanvir Ahmad Khan, Special to Gulf News
The UN Security Council has finally adopted a considerably diluted
resolution setting out non-military sanctions to curb Iran's nuclear and
ballistic missiles programme. A US-led group of nations will seek
satisfaction in the possibility of harsher sanctions in future.
A defiant Iran would accelerate the installation of centrifuges to step
up uranium enrichment. The protracted tussle over the nuclear issue may
vitiate the debate on Iran's emerging role in the region.
A sanctions resolution was the prize that the US sought in getting the
Iran case transferred from the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) to the Security Council.
At the IAEA, there was always considerable acceptance of the Iranian
claim that Iran had by and large abided by its obligations as a signatory
to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that it was willing to work
under IAEA safeguards.
The anti-Iran coalition has all along argued that Iran has a
clandestine nuclear military project and, therefore, its nuclear infrastructure
should be dismantled.
The Natanz facility in Iran represents a very early stage of the route
that Pakistani took to attain nuclear weapon capability. It will need
an exponential expansion and a dramatic acquisition of weapon technology
to pose any meaningful nuclear threat.
Meir Dagan, the Mossad chief, has just warned the Knesset committee on
foreign affairs that in case Iran can add sufficient numbers of
centrifuges, it may produce about 25 kgs of enriched uranium by 2009. Many
other experts think Iran would take a decade to reach weapon-grade
enriched uranium and acquire the more challenging weaponisation technology.
Clearly, the nuclear issue is part of the campaign to prevent the
emergence of Iran as a major regional player without first undergoing a
pro-Western regime change. Hopes of bringing about this change have receded
as the United States has sunk deeper into the Iraq quagmire.
The Baker-Hamiliton report unambiguously acknowledges that Iran (and
Syria) would have to be constructively engaged to stabilise the current
chaotic situation. The lobby that wrote the "axis of evil" script for US
President George W. Bush is still reluctant to swallow this bitter
pill.
There are some simple facts about Iran that bear repetition. First,
rhetoric apart, Iran still considers itself in a state of siege. Its
military posture is defensive and its dominant doctrine is deterrence
against external threats.
The dualistic structure of its forces - regular military formations and
a 120,000-strong Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - is designed
to protect the regime internally as well as retain the capability to
fight a defensive war, part conventional and part unconventional, against
a superior invading power.
It also sends a strong message to the neighbours that they should not
become complicit in an anti-Iran military enterprise. This is why Iran
draws attention to its ability to cause major disruptions and
dislocations in the normal commerce of the region.
The breakdown of Iran's military spending supports objectives of
defence and deterrence. Its army has not achieved any significant offensive
capability; its air force has no suppliers of frontline equipment.
The Navy can carry out effective coastal operations backed by the new
400 km per hour under-water "missile" but cannot take to high seas. Iran
has, however, committed vast resources to the building up of an
impressive missile capability that will take an otherwise defensive battle to
hostile territory anywhere in the region.
The Shahab series of Iranian missiles seem to have come of age. Shahab
III, which has more than one variant, has a range extending from 1,500
to 2,000km.
Second, Western expectations of an internal upheaval in Iran have
turned out to be misconceived but there are undercurrents of restlessness
especially in the youth. The Islamic revolutionary creed has a built-in
tension between conservatives and reformists.
Recent elections in Iran indicate that the conservative backlash
against the "reformist" Khatami era has gone too far and that Iran needs to
strike a better internal balance.
Third, Iran has yet another stake in regional peace; it must make long
overdue adjustments in its economic policy. Its internal monopolies
tend to limit benefits to special groups. Its youth wants more equitable
economic opportunities. The key oil and gas sector needs large inputs of
money and technology.
Iran's real gain has, however, come from the transformation of the
strategic space in its neighbourhood. The IRGC is well trained to take
advantage of this change.
It played a significant role in Hezbollah's gallant fight against
Israel in August; its links with some powerful militias in Iraq have put the
objective of turning Iraq, or a large part of it, into a friendly zone
within Iran's grasp.
Epistemological curtain
There has been an epistemological curtain between Iran and its
neighbours -Afghanistan and Pakistan on the one side and the arc of Muslim
states from the Gulf to Egypt to Turkey on the other.
Syria has been a notable exception and the reasons for Iranian-Syrian
entente need to be appreciated better. Meanwhile the putative threat of
Iran to the region is again being exaggerated.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair saw an unbridgeable Manichean
divide between Iran and the Arabs during his valedictory visit to it. Israel
continues to urge the US to maintain a tough line on Iran. Sensational
stories of Saudi concern about the rise of Iranian power grab headlines
in the western media.
Iran must intensify the initiatives of Mohammad Khatami, a former
Iranian president, to reassure all its neighbours that it seeks cooperation
and not confrontation. The neighbours should also carry conviction in
Tehran that they are not a part of the siege planned by the US.
Isolating Iran would tilt Iran's internal politics in favour of its
hardline factions. The entire region has a tryst with the 21st century but
it can keep it only by creating a more harmonious climate of
inter-state relations.
Apprehensions about Iran's nuclearisation should not become a reason
for an endless conflict.
Tanvir Ahmad Khan is a former Pakistan foreign secretary and ambassador
to Iran.
Police find 15 skulls in house outside New Delhi
Police find 15 skulls in house outside New Delhi
Reuters
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Sat Dec 30, 4:53 AM ET
Indian police have recovered 15 skulls, many of children, from a house
on the outskirts of New Delhi, officials said on Saturday, believing
many of the victims were sexually abused before they were killed.
A domestic worker in the house has admitted killing the children, a
senior policeman said, while another official suggested the children might
have been killed for the trade in human organs.
Some of the remains, including skeletons and clothes of the victims,
were buried in the backyard of the house in Noida town while others were
stuffed in large plastic bags and thrown into a drain, officials said.
The crime came to light on Friday after police arrested domestic
servant Surendra Satish in connection with the disappearance of several
children in the area.
"Surendra, who initially admitted to having raped and killed six minor
girls and two boys over the past two months, gave in to sustained
interrogation and owned up to killing seven grown-up girls too," said R.K.S.
Rathore, Noida's police chief.
Confessions in police custody are not accepted under Indian law until
the accused repeats the confessions in court.
Surendra's employer, Mohinder Singh Pandher, had also been arrested on
suspicion of involvement in the case, Rathore said.
Police had said on Friday that Surendra had lured the children from
poor families in the area by offering them sweets.
Noida is in Uttar Pradesh state and a senior police officer in the
state capital of Lucknow said police were also investigating if the
children were victims of a suspected trade in human organs in the area.
"Except for the fact that a doctor arrested earlier in connection with
a human-organ racket was Pandher's neighbor, there were no clues in
this regard so far," said the officer, who did not want to be identified.
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
[unknown url]
Indon, Pinoy rebels charged with murder in terror attack
Sun Star
Saturday, December 30, 2006
© Copyright 2002 - 2005 Sun.Star Publishing, Inc.
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/net/2006/12/30/indon.pinoy.rebels.charged.with.murder.in.terror.attack.html
MANILA -- A government prosecutor filed murder charges Friday against
two top Indonesian terror suspects and 23 Filipino Muslim guerrillas for
their alleged involvement in a bomb attack that killed eight people
during a town festival on October 10.
Sun.Star Network Online's Christmas Special
Prosecutor Al Calica said he found strong evidence that Indonesians
Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and Umar Patek helped at least 23 Filipino
rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to launch the attack, which
also wounded 28 people in southern Makilala town.
"The message is that if people commit a crime, especially these
bombings, they cannot get away with it," Calica said.
If found guilty by a local court, the suspects, who are all at large,
could face a maximum 40-year prison term. The death penalty was
abolished in the Philippines in June.
Dulmatin and Patek, who are believed to be hiding in the southern
Mindanao region, have been blamed for some of Southeast Asia's worst
terrorist attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
They are believed to have fled after the Bali attacks to Mindanao,
where they reportedly took refuge in Filipino Muslim guerrilla strongholds,
organized terrorist training and continued to plot attacks.
The Oct. 10 attack was among three bombings in central Mindanao in
October that police say were planned by the Indonesians, believed to belong
to the al-Qaida-linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah,
along with MILF commanders.
Police initially included MILF chairman Al Haj Murad in the charge
sheet but Calica removed him from the complaint due to a lack of evidence.
The MILF also threatened to withdraw from Malaysian-brokered peace
talks with Manila if Murad was not dropped from the list of suspects.
At least one MILF rebel allegedly involved in planning the bombings has
surrendered and implicated the Indonesians and guerrillas in the
attacks, Calica said. He may later testify, he said.
The MILF has denied involvement in the attacks.
Calica said the same suspects were also charged Friday before another
court for a bomb attack that wounded four people in a crowded public
market in southern Tacurong city on October 10. Another bomb exploded in
southern Cotabato city on October 11 but did not cause injuries.
Military officials believe the attacks may have been an attempt by the
militants to divert the military's focus from a months-long US-backed
offensive against Abu Sayyaf extremist rebels said to be sheltering
Dulmatin and Patek on southern Jolo island.
They also could be in retaliation for the recent capture on Jolo of
Dulmatin's wife, the military said. The wife and two sons of Dulmatin, an
alleged electronics specialist who trained in al-Qaida camps in
Afghanistan, have been deported to Indonesia. (AP)
Maoists flay Saddam Hussein's execution
Kantipur Online (www.kantipuronline.com), Nepal
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Copyright 2000-2006 Kantipur Publications Pvt. Ltd. All Rights
Reserved.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=96027
Kantipur Report
KATHMANDU, Dec 30 - The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) on
Saturday flayed the execution of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Issuing a statement today, CPN-M spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara
said the news of the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
has drawn "grave attention" of the party.
CPN-M said, "Hussein's execution - orchestrated by the Bush
administration - is not only a grave violation of human right but also a glaring
example of the US's double standards on the issues of human rights and
democracy."
"The CPN-M condemns the decision by the puppet government in Iraq to
execute Saddam Hussein," the release said, slamming the decision as a
"blatant violation of human rights norms."
"Regardless of who killed whom, the act is against international
humanitarian law and against the fundamental right to life," the statement
added.
The party also appealed to Human Rights workers and general people
across the world to unite in voicing protests against such acts while
warning world leaders "not to repeat such activities."
Posted on: 2006-12-30 05:10:35 (Server Time
World News
Iran, Pak to bypass India, US on gasline project
Newkerala.com
Saturday, December 30, 2006
http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=72518
Islamabad, Dec 30 : Iran and Pakistan are learnt to have decided to
proceed expeditiously on the gas pipeline project, by neither waiting for
reluctant India nor bothering the US.
A Pak-Iran agreement in this regard is likely to be signed early next
month to cement their already signed Memorandum of Understanding, and
also have a renewed one. The agreement, most likely to be signed by the
countries' petroleum ministers, would be followed by technical-level
talks in order to reach the kick-start phase in the first quarter of the
next year.
In order to avoid any pressure from the US, both Pakistan and Iran
would opt for linking the independent infrastructure at the borders.
Therefore, they would do the construction work independently, but in close
collaboration as well as coordination with each other. In this manner,
the sources observed, this project would not fall prey to the recently
slapped sanctions against Iran. It has also the potential to keep going
even in the event of further embargoes in future, reported The Nation.
Well placed sources in Islamabad said that the Iranian envoy to
Pakistan recently conveyed a message to Islamabad for an early ministerial
level meeting on the bilateral gas pipeline.
Pakistan Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon would meet his
Iranian counterpart immediately after Eid for furtherance of the recent head
of the state level telephonic talk on the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline
project.
Earlier this month, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and his Iranian
counterpart Ahmedinejad had telephonic conversation, especially for
going ahead with the gasline in the event of India's reluctance in the
Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) Gas Pipeline project, said the paper.
The two Presidents had reportedly agreed to accelerate the work on the
bilateral project irrespective of the pace on the trilateral one. After
the top-level contact between the two countries, especially over this
project, the pricing issue of the Iranian gas was no more an impediment
in the way of Pak-Iran gasline project, added the paper.
According to the sources, the two Presidents had also sorted out the
lack of agreement on the tariff in order to proceed on.
--- ANI
[German Scientists]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1760458/posts
Science told: hands off gay sheep
The Sunday Times (UK) ^ | December 31, 2006 | Isabel Oakeshott and Chris Gourlay
Posted on 12/30/2006 5:17:24 PM PST by Mount Athos
Scientists are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans.
[article continues, part 2 is in comments]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1760439/posts
REFERENCE THREAD: SADDAM HUSSEIN VIDEOS
YouTube and Google | 12-30-06 | DFU
Posted on 12/30/2006 3:35:59 PM PST by doug from upland
Here is the full video:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1760475/posts
[Jan. 2006]
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=20943
The Iran-Cuba Axis
By Frederick W. Stakelbeck
FrontPageMagazine.com | January 18, 2006
In a letter to then Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev regarding his role in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro reflected upon the possible use of nuclear weapons during the U.S.-Soviet confrontation, “It was my opinion that, in case of an American invasion [Cuba], a massive and total nuclear strike would have to be launched.” Given Castro’s affection for nuclear weapons, it should come as no surprise to observers that the aging terrorist has befriended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Just last week, Ahmadinejad, a recognized anti-Semite and human rights violator, threatened unspecified retaliation against the West unless it recognized his own country’s nuclear ambitions. “If they want to deny us our right, we have ways to secure those rights,” he said in Tehran.
Given Castro and Ahmadinejad’s mutual distaste for the U.S. and Western-styled democracy, increased bilateral cooperation between the two countries presents serious national security concerns for the U.S. This month, Iranian Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani noted the importance of expanding Tehran-Havana relations saying both countries must come together to confront unilateralism of “the big power” -- an obvious reference to the U.S.
In the past year, Rafsanjani has noted Iran’s desire to play a role in meeting the “technical and engineering requirements” of Cuba and other states in Latin America. Rafsanjani has also called Castro, “An impressive character in contemporary history,” praising the Cuban leader for his resistance to the “hegemonic policies of the U.S. and anti-imperialism.” Not surprisingly, Cuban Ambassador to Iran Fernando Garcia pledged his country’s support for Iran’s right to use nuclear energy earlier this month.
In a disquieting development, Castro visited Tehran in November where he given sacred Islamic texts in Spanish and was invited by Iran’s religious leadership to convert to Islam. “We spoke to Castro for several hours and I think we even almost managed to convince him to convert to Islam,” said one source close to the meeting. “Castro is certain that the Cuban people are suffering from a lack of spiritually, and seems interested in Islam, above all the writings of Iranian leader Khomeini,” the source said.
But Castro’s initial interest in Islam actually surfaced many years ago. Shortly after Ayatollah Khomeini’s followers drove the Shah into exile in 1979, Castro dispatched Cuban envoys to Tehran to rekindle bilateral relations, professing his admiration for the “revolutionary role of Islam.”
The thoughts of an Islamic terrorist state located 90 miles off of the Florida coast are enough to keep President George Bush up for weeks.
Before his most recent trip to Tehran, Castro met with Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenehi in 2001. At that time, both leaders agreed that together they could topple the U.S. “hand in hand.” Afterward, Castro said he left Tehran with “unforgettable memories,” while Iranian president Mohammad Khatami fondly noted, “The more one befriends Mr. Castro, the more one becomes interested in him.”
Bilateral cooperation in the area of biotechnology research and production and the transfer of Cuban biological and chemical know-how to Iranian institutions, continue to attract Washington’s attention. Of course, Castro has rejected allegations of involvement with Iran in the manufacture of biological and chemical weapons, saying that joint operations are instead devoted to eradicating hunger and disease on the impoverished island.
In addition to biotechnology cooperation, Iran has used Cuba’s electronic transmissions jamming expertise and the Chinese equipped electronic warfare base near Havana, to interfere with U.S. sponsored pro-democracy broadcasts into Tehran. Intelligence reports over the past year have also uncovered covert cooperation between the two countries in the development and testing of electromagnetic weapons that have the capacity to disrupt telecommunication networks, cut power supplies and damage sophisticated computers. During a time of international crisis, these “e-bombs” can be delivered by cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles or aerial bombs to the U.S. mainland. Russian, Chinese and Iranian scientists are currently working side-by-side with Cuban scientists to develop these weapons for eventual use against the U.S. communications and military infrastructure.
Finally, like other nations in the Western Hemisphere, Cuba has become increasingly dependent on Iranian oil for its daily survival. A cash-strapped Castro has already accepted a generous Iranian trade credit line with liberal repayment terms. In return, Castro has agreed to provide Iran with a strategic outpost to gather intelligence on U.S. movements in the region.
Fears are beginning to grow that Ahmadinejad sees himself as a modern day Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire, who called himself “King of Iran and beyond” -- a torch bearer of an Islamic world revolution and ordained leader of a revitalized Middle East. Rich with abundant energy resources and emboldened by powerful allies such as Russia and China, Tehran will continue to make a determined push in the Western Hemisphere. The possibility of a rogue nation such as Iran offering nuclear technology to friendly nations based upon preconceived prejudices, common religious or ideological differences or temporary alliances, makes the Castro-Ahmadinejad relationship even more dangerous for the U.S.
To address emerging national security concerns related to the Cuba-Iran relationship, the U.S. must first recognize the existence of dangerous regional and global anti-U.S. alliances. Second, Washington must announce to the American people and the world what it sees as a concerted effort by certain countries such as Cuba and Iran, to actively foster strategic alliances designed to undermine U.S. democratic world authority. In this regard, top U.S. diplomat to Havana Michael Parmly’s courageous comments last month condemning Castro’s use of what he termed “Brown Shirts” to assault government dissidents was right on the mark.
Third, influential nations such as Mexico, Columbia, Brazil and Argentina must be persuaded that it is in their best interests to assume key roles in the fight against a new breed of “leftist revolutionaries” such as Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Eva Morales, both of whom now threaten to poison significant parts of Latin America. Finally, U.S. political, economic, intelligence and military assets should be mobilized to address the expanding “quiet war” that Iran, Cuba and others are so deftly waging in the Western Hemisphere without a hint of reprisal from the U.S.
The result of this several-tiered U.S. foreign policy will not be global hegemony; rather, it will be the deployment of a revised “Monroe Doctrine” to address the Cuba-Iran alliance and other emerging threats to the U.S. that may arise in the near future.
For decades, Soviet defense, economic and intelligence assistance allowed Fidel Castro’s Cuba to project its own brand of Stalinism throughout Latin America resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. More recently, the Chinese menace has identified Cuba as a “prize” in the game of global strategic positioning. Now Iran, a U.S. antagonist, sponsor of terror and weapons proliferator is attempting to solidify its grip on Cuba.
To ensure a safe future for our nation, Washington must recognize the “gathering storm” on our borders and take action in our hemisphere against tyrants such as Castro and Ahmadinejad who so frequently attack freedom, peace and democracy.
Thanks, I will pass on watching.
Thanks for posting the link, for those who do want to see it.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=26199
Boys of the Taliban
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | December 29, 2006
Preview Image
Just recently, the Taliban issued a new set of 30 rules to its fighters.
Many of the instructions were to be expected: rule No. 25 commands the murder of teachers if a warning and a beating does not dissuade them from teaching. No. 26 outlines the exquisite delicacy of burning schools and destroying anything that aid organizations might undertake -- such as the building of a new road, school or clinic. The essence of the other rules are easily left to the imagination, basically involving what militant Islam is about: vile hate, death and destruction.
But there is a curious rule that the Western media has typically ignored. Rule No. 19 instructs that Taliban fighters must not take young boys without facial hair into their private quarters.
Right.
(Cough and clearing of the throat).
Aside from the question of what is permitted if a young boy does happen to have facial hair, this new Taliban commandment brings light to a taboo pathology that underlies the structures of militant Islam. And it is crucial to deconstruct the meaning of this rule -- and the horrid reality that it represents -- because it serves as a gateway to understanding the primary causes of Islamic rage and terror.
Rule No. 19 obviously indicates that the sexual abuse of young boys is a prevalent and institutionalized phenomenon among the Taliban and that, for one reason or another, its widespread practice has become a problem.
The fact that Taliban militants’ spare time involves sodomizing young boys should by no means be any kind of surprise or eyebrow raiser. That a mass pathology such as this occurs in a culture which demonizes the female and her sexuality -- and puts her out of mind and sight -- is only to be expected. To be sure, it is a simple given that the religious male fanatic who flies into a violent rage even at the thought of an exposed woman’s ankle will also be, in some other dysfunctional and dark secret compartment of his fractured life, the person who leads some poor helpless young boy into his private chambers.
The key issue here is that the demented sickness that underlies Rule No. 19 is by no means exclusive to the Taliban; it is a widespread phenomenon throughout Islamic-Arab culture and it lies, among other factors, at the root of that culture’s addiction to rage and its lust for violence, terror and suicide.
There is a basic and common sense empirical human reality: wherever humans construct and perpetuate an environment in which females and their sexuality are demonized and are pushed into invisibility, homosexual behaviour among men and the sexual abuse of young boys by older men always increases. Islamic-Arab culture serves as a perfect example of this paradigm, seeing that gender apartheid, fear of female sexuality and a vicious misogyny are the structures on which the whole society functions.
It is no surprise that John Racy, a psychiatrist with much experience in Arab societies, has noted that homosexuality is “extremely common” in many parts of the Arab world. [1] Indeed, even though homosexuality is officially despised in this culture and strictly prohibited and punishable by imprisonment, incarceration and/or death, having sex with boys or effeminate men is actually a social norm. Males serve as available substitutes for unavailable women. The key is this: the male who does the penetrating is not considered to be homosexual or emasculated any more than if he were to have sex with his wife, while the male who is penetrated is emasculated. The boy, however, is not considered to be emasculated since he is not yet considered to be a man. A man who has sex with boys is simply doing what many men (especially unmarried ones) do. [2] And this reality is connected to the fact that, as scholar Bruce Dunne has demonstrated, sex in Islamic-Arab societies is not about mutuality between partners, but about the adult male's achievement of pleasure through violent domination. [3]
While secrecy and taboo surround this phenomenon, some courageous Arabs have dared to discuss and expose it. Walid Shoebat, for instance, a former Palestinian terrorist, has openly related the abuse of young boys in Palestinian Muslim society. He himself witnessed a line of shepherd boys waiting for their turn to sodomize a five-year-old boy. [4] Amnesty International has also reported that Afghan warlords routinely sexually victimize young boys and film the orgies. [5] (The sexual abuse of young girls in this environment is also obviously widespread). [6]
While she was in Afghanistan in 1961, author and scholar Phyllis Chesler saw homosexuals roaming the streets, holding hands in broad daylight and gazing into each other’s eyes. “One of the pair,” she writes, “might sport a flower behind his ear; another might be wearing lipstick or have rouged cheeks.” At the same time, Chesler observed that everyone, including her Arab husband, was in denial about this common social reality, refusing to admit that this widespread behaviour was, in fact, homosexuality. [7]
In the dysfunctional and morbid paradigms of this culture, the idea of love is, obviously, completely absent from men's understanding of sexuality. Like the essence of Arab masculinity, it is reduced to a form of prison sex: hurting others with violence. A gigantic rupture inevitably develops between men and women, where no harmony, affection or equality is allowed to exist. [8]
The sexual confusion, humiliation, and repression that develop in the mindset of many males in this culture are excruciating. And it is no surprise that many of them find the only avenue for personal gratification in the act of sexually abusing young boys and, of course, in humiliating the foreign "enemy," whose masculinity must be violated at all costs -- just as theirs once was.
Islamist terror, therefore, is, in part, very much a release of the terrorists’ bottled-up sexual rage in connection to sexual frustration and desperation -- and to the humiliation connected to feelings of emasculation, which culminates in the act of striking out against “the enemy” and violating his masculinity. The inner workings of this mindset explain why Islamic terrorists consistently engage in sexual mutilation of their victims. Psychiatrist David Gutmann notes this phenomenon in the context of Arab Jew-hatred:
The Israelis perform in this Arab psychodrama of gender as a potent, destabilizing threat: to begin with, as a people they broke out of the deprecated but tolerated status of Dhimmi - a kind of submissive "woman" - to the "masculine" status of pioneer, rebel, warrior and nation builder. In retaliation, in their wars and Intifadas the Arabs strive to castrate the uppity masculinizing Jew -- and this project is carried out quite literally on the battlefield, where the bodies of fallen Jews have been mutilated in the most obscene ways. [9]
This lust for violence against “the enemy” and the accompanying yearning to die in the process are fuelled by the morbid earthly existence that is engendered by militant Islam. Indeed, there exists very few reasons for males to value their time on earth; their freedom of action and ability to experience joy and pleasure are extremely limited in terms of what is allowed. To be sure, most young men have absolutely no experience in love, sex, affection or friendship with females, and they have no outlet for their libido, which, to further pathologize the mindset, they regard as evil temptation. Killing and dying, therefore, become the only areas where free will can be exercised.
This lust for death is further compounded by the theological underpinnings of Islam itself, which promises the Muslim male sexual treats in the afterlife which are forbidden to him on earth. Indeed, if a Muslim male dies in the cause of jihad, he will enjoy a blissful union with virgins in paradise (Suras 78:31, 37:40-48, 44:51-55). And for those Muslim warriors for whom women are not of interest, there will be young pre-pubescent boys at their service -- and they will be like “scattered pearls” of “perpetual freshness” (Suras 52:24, 56:17, 76:19).
Thus, for the Taliban fighters who are frustrated with the new obstacles posed by Rule No. 19, there no doubt exists an even greater incentive to get to paradise a little faster.
In essence, suicide through jihad represents a form of perverted liberty through which an individual can express himself. In so doing, the Islamic radical strikes out at what tempts him, avenges his own emasculation and, through the act of suicide, cleanses himself of his own temptation by ridding himself of his earthly existence.
Theodore Dalrymple offers a profound analysis of this phenomenon in the context of the Muslim fundamentalist’s agonizing hate and self-hate inside a Western society. Analyzing the motivations of the Pakistani suicide bombers who struck in London in June 2005, he demonstrates that they saw no way out of their confrontation with freedom and modernity except death:
What more convincing evidence of faith could there be than to die for its sake? How can a person be really attached or attracted to rap music and cricket and Mercedes cars if he is prepared to blow himself up as a means of destroying the society that produces them? Death will be the end of the illicit attachment that he cannot entirely eliminate from his heart. The two forms of jihad, the inner and the outer, the greater and the lesser, thus coalesce in one apocalyptic action. By means of suicide bombing, the bombers overcome moral impurities and religious doubts within themselves and, supposedly, strike an external blow for the propagation of the faith. [10]
All of these inter-related phenomena serve as windows of understanding for us, through which we become able to grasp the demented and psychopathic psychology that creates the need for a rule such as the Taliban’s No. 19. It is a rule that exposes a fanatic mindset that holds the sight and reality of an unveiled woman to be a horrific nightmare and the greatest sin, yet simultaneously considers the forced rape of a young prepubescent boy to be in the normal swing of things.
It is on this eerie and putrid plateau that we come to see the factors that spawn the yearning for death and suicide inside militant Islam. Circumscribed in the most vicious and sadistic of ways, the men imprisoned in these cages long to regain a masculinity and humanity that was violently robbed from them as children. In a setting where healing through contact with feminine affection is denied and considered evil, self-extinction through hurting the “enemy” -- and the tempter -- becomes the only way out.
Notes:
[1] David Pryce-Jones, The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs (Chicago: Irvin R. Dee, 2002), p.131.
[2] Bruce Dunne, “Power and Sexuality in the Middle East,” Middle East Report, Spring 1998. For a further discussion on the widespread homosexuality among men in Muslim societies in North Africa and South Asia, and how married men having sex with boys and other men is considered a social norm, and not “homosexual,” see Arno Schmitt and Jehoeda Sofer (eds.), Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Muslim Societies (New York: Harrington Park Press, 1992).
[3] Dunne.
[4] Chesler, The Death of Feminism, (Macmillan: New York , 2005), p.144.
[5] Chesler, p.144.
[6] Author Nawal El Saadawi, gives an account of the horrifying and widespread sexual abuse of young girls in the Muslim-Arab world, a crime for which the perpetrators are exonerated. See Sadawwi, The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World, pp.12-24. While it is obvious that this abuse, as with the abuse of young boys, is connected to the unavailability of women for men in the culture at large, Chesler notes that the widespread sexual abuse of female children in the Muslim world “is one of the main ways of traumatizing and shaming girls into obedience and rendering them less capable of rebellion or resistance when they grow up.” (Chesler, p.145)
[7] Chesler, p.88 and p.144.
[8] Dunne.
[9] David Gutmann, “Symposium: Purifying Allah's Soil,” FrontPageMagazine.com, January 27, 2006.
[10] Theodore Dalrymple, “The Suicide Bombers Among Us,” City Journal, Autumn 2005.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=26226
The Lamest Excuse
By David Horowitz
FrontPageMagazine.com | December 29, 2006
That American progressives should have aligned themselves with the terrorists in Gaza comes as no surprise and is hardly interesting. American progressives have aligned themselves with totalitarian movements since 1917 and, indeed, since 1789. It is what they do and who they are. What is interesting are the pathetic excuses they make for 21st Century Nazis.
In the December 28th Nation Chris Hedges has a defense of Jimmy Carter’s latest effort to the throw the Jews to the lions. In the course of feeding the anti-Jewish frenzy of the Islamic crusaders, Hedges explains the fratricidal conflict between Palestinian factions in Gaza. For those not paying attention, a highlight of this mayhem was the assassination of three Palestinian children aged 3 to 9 who were on their way to school. The deed was done to punish their father for belonging to the wrong Palestinian terrorist group. Approximately 500 Palestinians have been killed by other Palestinians in this feud.
Hedges’ explanation for this nightmare is drawn from the fertile brain of an Israeli leftist: “[The Palestinians in Gaza] are behaving as expected at the end of the extended experiment called ‘what happens when you imprison 1.3 million human beings in an enclosed space like battery hens.’”
This is pretty neat. For forty years – since Israel liberated Gaza from Egyptian rule – Arabs have complained about the “occupation” of their “homeland.” To begin with, this is one of innumerable Arab lies that underpin their unworthy cause. The reason for the presence of Israeli troops was 1) Gaza was a hostile corridor across which Israel was invaded three times; 2) the Arabs have been in a state of declared war against Israel since 1948; and 3) there were 7,000 Jews living in Gaza who, unlike the Arabs living in Israel, would be slaughtered if there were not Israeli troops to protect them.
Hedges and his friends, of course, relentlessly overlook the genocidal ambitions of the Palestinians in discussing the conflict in the Middle East. In 2005, the Israelis left Gaza and evacuated the Jews – by the way its most productive and law-abiding citizens.
So now that it is liberated, Gaza is – a prison! This is the explanation for Palestinian crimes against themselves. And of course the entire Middle East will be a prison until Jew-haters like Hamas and Nation progressives have their way and Israel is wiped off the map.
But this is only the beginning of the progressive explanation for the assassinations of three-year-olds. It seems that in the progressive mind Palestinians have the brains of chickens. When cooped up, they kill each other. Actually, not even chickens are this cluekess, They have to be more than cooped up; they have to be packed like sardines.
But why do only Palestinians react this way? Gaza is a lot bigger than the Warsaw Ghetto, for examples, where 500, 000 Jews were actually imprisoned (unlike the Arabs of Gaza). Yet no Jews, in those circumstances, went around killing three- to nine-year-olds. Anne Frank and her family were actually penned up like battery hens. It didn’t make them assassins. Of course they didn't have a religion like Islam in which assassins -- the word itself is Islamic -- are regarded as saints.
There are more than a million Arabs living in Israel – roughly the number of Arabs living in Gaza. By The Nation’s standards, you could say they were penned up like battery hens. Yet they don’t go around killing each other.
The reason is that in Israel – unlike any other Arab state – they are free. They are even part of the Israeli government. And unlike the Arabs in Gaza they are not followers of a state-sponsored death cult which teaches them to kill for Allah and especially to kill Jews. This death cult is the problem in the Middle East, the source of the conflict and the reason why Palestinian factions are killing each other.
The death cult calls on its followers – the same religious fanatics that progressives have embraced – to kill and be killed for God. Of course, this genocidal mission begins with the Crusader-Zionist alliance, Americans and Jews. But it hardly ends there. Here is a frenzied utterance of the late and unlamented head of Hamas, Abdel Azziz al-Rantissi (mercifully terminated by Israel): “We realize that Bush is the enemy of God, the enemy of Islam and Muslims. America declared war on God. Sharon declared war on God and God declared war on America, Bush and Sharon.”
But it only begins with Bush and Sharon. If you are in the army of God then those who opposed you, even if they are in your own camp, are not. During the current mayhem in Gaza, followers of Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah fired on a Hamas rally in the West Bank. This was the response, as reported by ABC on December 16: “What a war Mahmoud Abbas you are launching, first against God, and then against Hamas," senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya told a Gaza City rally of 100,000 Hamas supporters, who fired their guns in the air and chanted ‘God is Greatest.’”
In other words the sickness that has consumed the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank is self-generated, an emanation of the death cult they have been nurturing for decades. On the other hand, if you’re a progressive, blame it on the Jews. After all that is how your genocidal friends would explain it themselves.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=26211
Securing Energy Needs
By Frank J Gaffney Jr.
The Washington Times | December 29, 2006
Seemingly unrelated events of last week suggest considerable trouble ahead for U.S. vital interests. As President Bush puts the finishing touches on his plans for a new strategy for waging the War for the Free World, he had best make sure he focuses not only on Iraq and Iran (as recommended in this space last week) but on energy security, as well.
Consider the following developments:
On the eve of last week's United Nations Security Council vote on sanctions supposed to isolate Islamofascist Iran over its nuclear weapons ambitions, Communist China agreed to invest an additional $16 billion in the Iranian North Pars natural gas fields (on top of the more than $100 billion already committed by the PRC to other energy projects in the country). The latest memorandum of understanding, signed by Tehran and CNOOC, China's biggest offshore oil producer, would involve the exploitation of the North Pars fields and the construction of Iranian liquefied natural gas facilities, whose products would then be exported to China.
This deal was of a piece with other actions taken by Moscow and Beijing to water-down the U.N. sanctions resolution to the point where it was virtually a dead-letter even before it was adopted. The president can expect many more such pyrrhic victories now that his faithful lieutenant, John Bolton, has been forced to leave the Turtle Bay portfolio to the tender mercies of lowest-common-denominator-minded State Department diplomats like Under Secretary Nick Burns.
Last week, the Financial Times of London reported that Gazprom -- the government-owned gas company that epitomizes the increasingly fascistic character of Vladimir Putin's Russia and serves increasingly blatantly as an instrument of state power -- "cement[ed] the Kremlin's grip on the country's energy resources." It did so by euchring several foreign oil companies, led by Royal Dutch Shell into ceding majority control over Siberia's lucrative Sakhalin 2 oil and gas project.
The cynical way in which this shakedown was accomplished is typical of Mr. Putin's heavy-handed behavior on other matters, from the protection racket he and his Chinese allies run for the North Koreans, Sudanese and Iranians at the United Nations to the liquidation of his enemies at home and abroad. After the Kremlin maintained for months that environmental concerns precluded necessary approvals from being issued to Shell and its Japanese partners, the moment Gazprom secured its controlling majority, such concerns miraculously disappeared.
According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. law enforcement officials are attempting to unravel the myriad, complex and deliberately confusing ties between one of the FBI's most wanted men, Russian mafia kingpin Semion Mogilevich, and "multibillion gas deals between Russia and Ukraine."The Journal reports American concerns about such ties have "only grown as Russia has tightened its grip on the vast oil and gas resources of Central Asia and shown a growing willingness to brandish energy as a political weapon. The European Union gets a quarter of its natural gas from Russia, most of which is shipped by pipeline across Ukraine."
What these events have in common is the danger the West's energy security will be ever-more at the mercy of foreign governments hostile to freedom and its friends. As the Communist Chinese and fascistic Russian regimes move to forge close relations with energy-rich nations like Iran, Libya, Sudan, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Saudi Arabia, and as the Kremlin consolidates its control over Russia's own vast resources, America and her allies will find themselves increasingly imperiled by their dependency on such sources for oil products and/or natural gas.
As a result, President Bush needs to make increased U.S. energy security a central part of the overhauled war-fighting strategy that he is set to announce next month. To do so, he must clearly go beyond the lip service that he paid to our "addiction to oil" in last year's State of the Union speech by taking steps that will make a difference.
Done properly, energy security could be one of the most promising areas for cooperation between the Bush Administration and Democrats in Congress. By concentrating on areas where considerable progress is possible (rather than on such neuralgic issues as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or increased CAFE fuel-efficiency standards), America -- and in particular its gas-guzzling transportation sector -- could be made significantly less reliant on oil supplied by unstable or hostile regimes.
Such a course of action has been laid out in a blueprint produced by the Set America Free Coalition -- a group spanning the political spectrum -- that forms the basis for the bipartisan, bicameral Vehicle Fuel Choices for American Security Act (introduced in the last session of Congress as S.2025 in the Senate and H.R. 4409 in the House). It entails two principal steps: (1) ensuring all cars sold in America will be Flexible Fuel Vehicles, capable of burning not just gasoline but ethanol and methanol (or some combination thereof); and (2) assuring the availability of substantially increased quantities of such alternative fuels.
This legislation would also help make electricity a true transportation fuel, by promoting the manufacture of plug-in hybrid vehicles. Since scarcely any electricity is generated in America by burning oil, the widespread use of such vehicles could greatly reduce our dependence on foreign sources of petroleum. To realize the full potential of this option, however, President Bush and the Congress will need to join forces on one other important initiative: assuring large-scale U.S. production of advanced lithium ion batteries, an essential ingredient for our future energy -- and national -- security and the competitiveness of our auto industry.
[Jan. 2006]
HIV BOMBERS
EXCLUSIVE Al-Qaeda's plot to infect troops with AIDS virus
By Rupert Hamer Defence Correspondent
AL-QAEDA is recruiting suicide bombers who are infected with the AIDS
virus,
according to documents revealed to the Sunday Mirror.
Terror chiefs are also targeting fanatics who suffer other lethal blood
diseases such as hepatitis and dengue fever in order to increase their
"kill
rate" from an explosion. The chilling new threat is revealed in papers
distributed to British military camps in Iraq and across Europe.
Under the heading "HIV/Hepatitis" the document states: "There is
evidence
that terrorists might be deliberately recruiting volunteers with
diseases
that are spread by blood transference."
Experts have found that bones and other blood-spattered fragments from
a
suicide bomber could penetrate the skin of a victim 50 metres away and
infect them.
In the papers (part of which is summarised above) soldiers are warned
to
wear special protective clothing when on guard duty or if they have to
deal
with casualties in the event of an attack.
All bases must also have snipers hidden behind blast-proof defences
ready to
take out would-be suicide bombers. The guidelines were issued following
the
7/7 London bombings which left 52 dead and injured hundreds more.
Spy chiefs have also examined other attacks, including a car-bombing on
the
Black Watch in central Iraq which killed three soldiers a year ago.
Last night an MoD spokesman confirmed that bases had been made aware of
the
new threat.
He added: "The Army go to great lengths to prepare our soldiers for
every
eventuality."
r.hamer@sundaymirror.co.uk
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16559740%26method=full%26siteid=62484%26headline=hiv%2dbombers%2d-name_page.html
[I did not open this email in jan 2006, have not heard of it before, no url in post...granny]
Wed, 18 Jan 2006 07:07:16 -0500
Subject: [osint] ID fraudsters plunge tax system into chaos
ID fraudsters plunge tax system into chaos
By Angela Jameson, Industrial Correspondent
London Times
January 18, 2006
THE identities of thousands of rail workers have been stolen by
criminal
gangs and used to steal millions of pounds from the Treasury, The Times
has
learnt.
One in seven staff at Network Rail has been caught up in the tax credit
fraud that has plunged the tax system into chaos and could turn out to
be
Britain’s biggest benefit scam.
Last month it emerged that 13,000 Jobcentre workers had had their
identities
stolen and there are fears that other leading companies have also been
targeted by the gangs. Suspicions are mounting that HM Revenue and
Customs
insiders are involved in the fraud.
Network Rail was alerted to the problem by Revenue officials last week
and a
criminal investigation is now under way. John Armitt, chief executive
of
Network Rail, yesterday sent a letter to all 30,000 staff at the
company to
allay fears over the fraud and its potential impact on legitimate tax
credit
payments and credit ratings.
The letter, obtained by The Times, said: “ Revenue and Customs has
advised
Network Rail that a significant number of our employees are among the
many
thousands who have been affected. The key point is that it is the
Government
that has been defrauded, not our employees.”
By using the name, date of birth and NI number of Network Rail
employees,
gangs have been able to make fraudulent claims through the HMRC’s
website
and divert funds into their own website.
Criminals were able to claim up to £100 per month per person, usually
by
changing the number of children and the employment status of the person
whose identity they had stolen.
The website, used by 500,000 people a year, was closed on December 2
after
ministers admitted that there had been fraud. Losses already identified
exceed £15 million, but that figure is expected to get much higher.
HMRC was unable to give details of how farreaching the fraud could be.
A
spokeswoman said: “Like any other organisation that pays out money
there
will be some people intent on defrauding the system and we designed tax
credits with that in mind.”
[Was this case ever solved??]
9 Jan 2006 09:53:30 -0500
Subject: [osint] NY: COPS PROBE B'KLYN 'TERROR' BAG
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/60041.htm
COPS PROBE B'KLYN 'TERROR' BAG
By JOHN DOYLE and LARRY CELONA
_____
A suitcase found Thursday morning in Brooklyn - chock-full of photos of
Big Apple landmarks and subway stations - provoked a massive mobilization
of
antiterror units when it was finally opened two days later, police
said.
"The pictures had everything - from Police Plaza to 26 Federal Plaza.
It was
scary," said Derwin McDuffie, 40, a security guard at Linden Plaza,
where
the bag was found.
"The weird thing is if a tourist took those pictures, there would be
people
in them. There was nobody in these."
He said the black bag contained clothes and disposable cameras - along
with
color snapshots of City Hall, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn
Bridge
and A- and G-line subway stations.
The Joint Terrorist Task Force, the NYPD Bomb Squad and hazmat and
other
antiterrorism units responded to the call.
Security guards had found the suitcase Thursday morning on a staircase
in a
parking garage and stuck it in Lost and Found.
Three clear bottles were found to contain just soap, but the bag was
seized
for investigation, sources said.
Meanwhile, a man who went to pick it up Friday vanished when told it
had
been taken to Lost and Found, said McDuffie, who didn't see the man.
It was unclear yesterday evening whether the police had been informed
of
that man's actions.
john.doyle@nypost.com
Saudi
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060115-103622-3038r.htm
interest in America
By Rachel Ehrenfeld
Published January 16, 2006
_____
Many are aware of widespread Saudi investments in the United States, but
few know how potentially harmful they are. Moreover, U.S. policy-makers
remain unaware of this grave danger.
On Sept. 28, 2001, after the attacks on the United States, Osama
bin
Laden called for financial jihad against the United States, and on Dec.
27,
2001, he called on jihadists "to look for [and strike] the key pillars
of
the U.S. economy." Although now the Saudis claim bin Laden is their
enemy,
many of them continue to follow his agenda.
Religious and ideological support has been also provided by Hussein
Shihata, a leading Sunni scholar of Islamic Economy at Cairo's al-Azhar
University. Mr. Shihata's July 10, 2002, fatwa says: "We do not use the
term
'economic jihad' as a mere motto or a resounding slogan with no action.
Rather, we mean by it a practical jihad that requires action to turn it
into
an effective and concrete reality. The aim behind that is to benefit
all
Muslims and to challenge the aggression staged by the U.S. and Jews
against
Islam and Muslims."
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who claims to abhor bin Laden, seems
nevertheless eager to follow his agenda. In an interview with Arab News
in
May 2002, the prince said that if the Arabs "unite through economic
interests," they would achieve influence over the U.S. decision-makers.
Since government sources estimate Saudi holdings in the United States
at
$400 billion to $800 billion, the matter warrants public attention.
The Saudi agenda extends far beyond policy-makers. In the late
1990s,
the privately owned Massachusetts technology company, Ptech, designed
software used to develop enterprise blueprints that held every
important
detail of a given concern. The company was financed with more than $22
million, by Saudi multi-millionaire Yasin al Qadi, a Specially
Designated
Global Terrorist. The Saudis thus gained access to strategic
information
about many major U.S. corporations such as SYSCO, ENRON, and the U.S.
Departments of Defense, Treasury, Justice, Energy, and even the White House.
The extent of the damage, if it was investigated, remains a mystery.
Continued, I checked it is still there, from Jan.2006, who is the new Saudi, at Embassy? granny]
The article that I had been sent is about the same incident as Malkin has in the first link.
I keep hearing about "Iraqi's" caught on the Mexican border, and as I am leery of anyone paying to cross the border, thought I should have a look.
I am assuming that these Iraqi are the jihadi fighters that are leaving Iraq to carry out the al-qaeda leaders wishes that Americans be attacked.
granny
http://www.google.com/search?q=%E2%80%9Cgente+de+Osama%E2%80%9D&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Note the many latin papers with the story/term, and 500,000 more links, by using a granny google:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=gente+de+Osama&btnG=Search
One in Europe, dif group name:
http://www.google.com/search?q=gente+de+Osama+plan+attack+on+America&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=gente+de+Osama+jihad&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Messages from OBL and more:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%E2%80%9COsama%E2%80%99s+people.%E2%80%9D&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Granny google, less links, still interesting:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=Osama%E2%80%99s+people&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?q=Illegal+immigrants+from+a+nation+of+concern&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
also Korea and Nam:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Infiltration+from+the+south&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=Infiltration+from+the+south&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
[Jan. 30, 2006]
Iran infiltrates U.N. nuke watchdog
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/30/wiran30.xml
Iran has formed a top secret team of nuclear specialists to infiltrate
the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, the UN-sponsored
body
that monitors its nuclear programme, The Daily Telegraph has been told.
Its target is the IAEA's safeguards division and its aim is to obtain
information on the work of IAEA inspectors so that Iran can conceal the
more
sensitive areas of its nuclear research, according to information
recently
received by western intelligence.
The operation to target the IAEA is being run by Hosein Afarideh, the
former
head of the Iranian parliament's energy committee.
Mr Afarideh, reported to have close links with Iran's ministry of
intelligence, is in regular contact with a team of Iranian nuclear
engineers
seconded to work at the IAEA's Vienna headquarters.
According to western intelligence reports, Mr Afarideh heads a
three-man
team at the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran in
Teheran, to prevent more embarrassing disclosures about its nuclear
facilities.
In the past the Iranians have managed to conceal key facilities from
IAEA
inspectors, including the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, 100 miles
north
of Isfahan. They were reluctantly forced to admit the existence of
Natanz
and other top secret facilities three years ago after Iranian exile
groups
provided details of their operations.
As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is
entitled to
full access to the IAEA for help with the development of its nuclear
programme, so long as it is purely for peaceful purposes.
But western intelligence officials believe that the Iranians are now
taking
advantage of their access to the IAEA to spy on its inspection
procedures so
that they can conceal sensitive areas of their nuclear operations from
the
outside world.
"The Iranians are getting increasingly concerned about the
effectiveness of
the IAEA's inspections," a senior western intelligence official told
The
Daily Telegraph.
"For this reason they are deliberately targeting the IAEA so that they
can
be better prepared when the inspectors visit their facilities."
[Jan.2006]
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=..Nation..archive..200511/NAT2005
1104b.html
Bin Laden Threat Might Include Advanced Russian Missiles
By Sherrie Gossett
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
January 23, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - Advanced Russian missile systems and toxins allegedly
procured by al Qaeda from Chechnya may be linked to Osama bin Laden's
recent
threat against the United States, some analysts say. Others insist the
information should be downplayed.
On Oct. 29, 2005, French counter-terrorism officials reported that a
group
called the "Chechen network," had smuggled Russian-made surface-to-air
missiles into Europe as part of a plot to strike down French airplanes.
Adnan Muhammad Sadik, alias Abu Atiya, a captured al Qaeda suspect,
said
during an interrogation by French authorities that the group procured
Russian-made man-portable SA-18 Igla missiles from Chechnya along with
botulin, ricin, cyanide and other toxins. The weapons were never found.
Atiya is currently in Jordanian custody.
During that same time period, the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which are
headed by Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top terrorist in
Iraq,
and in charge of al Qaeda operations in Europe and North America,
threatened
an attack against the "land of the Romans." An Internet statement from
the
Brigades said the group would attack with missiles and unidentified
poisons.
The posting was under the name of Saif al-Adel, al Qaeda's top military
commander and al-Zarqawi's superior.
Earlier this month, Hudson Institute research analyst Christopher L.
Brown
told Cybercast News Service that after analyzing available al Qaeda
communications, he was "99 percent" certain al Qaeda was planning an
imminent attack, and that the U.S. was the likeliest target. He also
said it
was possible the missing weapons from the "Chechen network" had been
smuggled into the U.S.
On Thursday, Brown elaborated : "There is a question of whether they
would
risk moving the missiles, since the SA-18s are very expensive on the
black
market, especially considering cheaper SA-7s are available in Central America and would do the same job," he said.
The main reason a terrorist group would choose to use the SA-18 over
the
SA-7, Brown said, is if the target had countermeasures in effect.
Examples
of aircraft with countermeasures would be military jets or El-Al Israel
Airlines commercial jets.
But other experts have suggested that the "Chechen network" information
may
not be that significant. Despite the fact that French anti-terrorism
expert
Judge Jean-Louis Brugiere warned that members of the "Chechen network"
were
experts in chemical warfare, analyst Dr. Andrew McGregor insisted that
it
was all a myth developed for political ends.
In December of 2004, McGregor, director of Aberfoyle International
Security
Analysis in Toronto, Canada, wrote a report published by the Jamestown
Foundation, accusing the media of repeating "every unproven allegation
from
unnamed intelligence sources."
"This house of cards was saluted by Britain, Russia, the U.S. and
eventually
even the Georgians as it served to advance the interests of each,"
wrote
McGregor.
"The British government was trying to justify an unpopular decision to
join
the Iraq war, and Russia was able to implicate Georgia in a
Chechen-al-Qaeda
network of terror, invoking 'the common cause' of the anti-terror
coalition
in support of their methods in Chechnya," McGregor added.
"The U.S. trained Georgian troops essential for the protection of the
two
new oil pipelines [were] about to cross Georgia under the cloak of
counter-terrorist assistance, while using the Zarqawi chemical threat
to
drum up support in the United Nations," he wrote.
Some downplayed the missile threat after Oct. 29, 2005, when the French
newspaper Liberation (formerly the Communist Party newspaper) quoted an
unnamed "judicial source" as saying the information obtained from Atiya
was
vague and third-hand.
However, on Jan. 14, French reporter Jean Chichizola of Le Figaro
reported
on the contents of the Atiya file prepared by French anti-terrorism
judges,
and said the original information about the missile threat was
confirmed. He
also reported that Atiya claimed to have convinced those involved to
use the
missiles against the U.S. rather than France, although the latter could
not
be confirmed.
Olivier Guitta, an international terrorism financing expert, told
Cybercast
News Service that the Jan. 12 speech by French President Jacques Chirac
was
related to the missile threat. Chirac warned that France would consider
a
nuclear response to any state-sponsored terrorist attack on its soil.
Guitta
said that French anti-terrorism agents believe a major terrorist attack
in
Paris is imminent and that it is being sponsored by Iran. "They have
been on
high alert since October," said Guitta, "working non-stop to prevent
whatever is coming. They were very scared." Guitta also said that it is
believed Iran would use a proxy group such as Hezbollah to launch the
attack.
The SA-18 missile represents several advancements over previous models,
including extended range and altitude. According to military
information
posted on the Internet, the missiles carry a 2 kilogram high-explosive
warhead and its improved speed allows it to strike faster moving
targets.
The SA-18 reportedly has a maximum range of 3.2 miles and a maximum
altitude
of 11,500 feet. The missile uses a passive infrared homing device
designed
to give it increased protection against electro-optical jammers.
According
to published data, the probability of a kill against an unprotected
fighter
jet is estimated at 30-48 percent, and the used of infrared jammers
degrades
that to 24-30 percent.
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