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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[This is a day to learn, so much that I do not know]

Administrative divisions of Adygea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_Adygea

Putin's goal in his trip to Adygs of Jordan is compatriots'
resettlement to Russia
10.2.2007

Presidents of Kabardino-Balkaria and Adygeya Arsen Kanokov and Aslan
Tkhakushinov will appear to Jordan a day before arrival of the head
of the state Vladimir Putin – today. Caucasus Times correspondent
was informed that by the press-secretary of the Adygeya president
Svetlana Tesheva. As she said, the next day, February 11th, of the
presidents' staying in Jordan will be devoted to acquaintance with
Adyghe Khases of the kingdom.

The delegation from Adygeya, as well as from Kabardino-Balkaria, was
officially invited as a part of the Russian delegation with the
president of Russia Vladimir Putin, Tesheva emphasized.

The structure of the delegation from Adygeya consists of the
president Aslan Tkhakushinov, the assistant to president Igor
Volochaev, the press-secretary Svetlana Tesheva, artist-jeweller
Asia Eutyh and two actors from the State academic dance
ensemble "Nalmas". Minister of culture who had been in the list
earlier, now is excluded from the delegation, the interlocutor of
Caucasus Times correspondent explained.

Asia Eutyh, as the press-secretary also noted, carries a gift –
"Golden tree of Narts", the symbol of continuation of kin.

The topic of the conversation in the Adyghe Khases of Jordan will be
the decree of the president of Russian Federation about voluntary
resettlement of compatriots of Russia home, Tesheva notified. Putin
will stay in Jordan for two days on February 12-13th, and the first
of the days is planned to devote to the visit to the local
organizations of Adyghe Khase.

It is clear, the press-secretary added, that the goal of the visit
of the president of Russia to the kingdom is wider than the program
of compatriots' resettlement; meanwhile they do not know would the
presidents of Adygeya and Kabardino-Balkaria meet with the King
Abdulla II together with the head of the state.

Let's remind, the delegation of the Central Adyghe Khase of Jordan
led by the head of the organization Iskhak Mola had taken part in
the II World congress of compatriots of Russia, passed in St.-
Petersburg on October 24-25th the last year. However then the
delegates from Jordan did not manage to act – the text of the speech
had been given the secretary of the congress.

The delegate from Syria Zuheir Stash (member of the executive
committee Adyghe Khase of Syria, member of the Council of the
International Circassian association) also participated in the work
of the congress and expressed his position at one of the sessions of
a section. He left the text of his speech to the secretary, too.

It is considered that those events served as an occasion for the
visit of the head of the state to Jordan.

Natpress

http://www.natpress.net/stat_e.php?id=2449

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/02/8f528de9-a61d-4d74-816e-9cc6072d8798.html

Monday, February 12, 2007

Russia: Putin Speech Renews Debate On EU Foreign Policy

Germany--Russian President Vladimir Putin gives speech to audiance in 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy, 10Feb2007
Vladimir Putin speaking in Munich on February 10
(courtesy photo)
February 12, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an impassioned address at the annual security conference in Munich on February 10, in which he blasted the United States for trying to impose what he called its "unilateral" vision on the world. Saying the United States had "overstepped its boundaries in every sphere," Putin chided the European Union for doing little to check U.S. influence. Eberhard Sandschneider of the German Council on Foreign Relations attended the Munich conference, and he spoke to RFE/RL correspondent Jeremy Bransten.

RFE/RL: Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech was full of criticism, mostly aimed at the United States. And some of that criticism echoed complaints made by European politicians about Washington's alleged "unilateralism." But Putin also hit out against NATO, the EU, and the OSCE, leading some European participants at the Munich conference to protest. What was your sense of the European reaction to Putin's speech?
You need a lot of optimism to assume that a speech made by the Russian president will lead to the final insight by the Europeans that it is necessary to formulate and agree on a common foreign and security policy.

Eberhard Sandschneider: The fact that people got upset is perhaps more a question of atmosphere and symbolism. People are certainly not accustomed anymore to being told by Russian leaders what the flaws in their own policies are. That, of course, was a kind of new experience for this group of people, and the fact that Putin did it led to a few reactions. In a few days, people will sit down and say: "Yes, OK, it's the Russian position and we do have to react." And one of our German politicians said: "We will have to talk about this in the context of the NATO-Russian partnership and the EU-Russian partnership." So the debate will continue. The Russian president just made his position as clear as he possibly could.

RFE/RL: It seems Europe is being pulled in two directions, with Washington setting out its expectations and now Moscow expressing its own demands. Where does that leave Brussels?

Sandschneider: There are, of course, expectations both from the United States, from Russia, and, by the way, also from China. And Europe will have to learn, first of all, to find a position of its own, which is difficult enough for the European Union, and then act -- cooperating both with our traditional partner the United States but also with important new partners like Russia, based on the agreement that without Russia there will hardly be any solution to any major international conflict. Be it Kosovo, be it Iran, wherever you look, we need Russia. So this is a learning process for the European Union which is ahead of us for the next few years.

RFE/RL: Do you think Putin's speech will galvanize EU leaders and push them toward forging a common foreign policy?

Sandschneider: You need a lot of optimism to assume that a speech made by the Russian president will lead to the final insight by the Europeans that it is necessary to formulate and agree on a common foreign and security policy. Everyone knows it but we also know about the problems, about the different interests of member states, but also about problems of coordination within the European Union. The message itself is clear: if Europe wants to play an important role in the world, wherever its interests are concerned, we need a common European position. Each and every single European member states acting by itself is not strong enough to push these interests. So we need the European Union. It's up to Europe to do its homework.

RFE/RL: What do you mean by homework? Do you mean European should be more assertive?

Sandschneider: The big challenge for us obviously is how to deal with very self-confident new or old actors in international relations who base their policies on the capacities they have. In the case of Russia, its energy; in the case of China, it's economic growth.

Related Stories About Russia:
# Putin To Take His Message To The Persian Gulf
# Energy-Based Economy Tries To Diversify
# Berezovsky Breaks Silence On Litvinenko
# Rebranding The Nation
# Energy Tops Visit Of EU Troika
# Misprint Or Provocation?

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2007 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/6-swa.asp

Monday, February 12, 2007 Volume 11 Number 27

TALIBAN CLAIM TO HAVE REINFORCED SOUTHERN AFGHAN CITY...
Qari Yusof Ahmadi, purporting to speak for the Taliban, claimed on February 11 that thousands of reinforcements have been sent to defend the town of Musa Qala in Helmand Province, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. The Taliban took control of Musa Qala in early February, several months after U.K. forces serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) struck a deal with local elders and left Musa Qala after suffering higher-than-expected casualties. After the recent takeover, Afghan government issued warnings to Taliban fighters to evacuate Musa Qala as soon as possible or face forced withdrawal (see "RFE/RL Newsline," October 18, 2006, and February 6, 2007). Ahmadi told Pajhwak that the Taliban are ready for any eventuality in Musa Qala and will not retreat. He accused ISAF of violating the October agreement, which ostensibly was signed with the elders of the area and not the Taliban. AT

...AS PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR WARNS OF LARGE-SCALE INFILTRATION BY AL-QAEDA
Helmand Governor Asadullah Wafa claimed on February 11 that around 700 Al-Qaeda members have entered the Sangin district of Helmand Province, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. Speaking with Pajhwak from Lashkargah, Wafa claimed that the terrorists included Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks and "Punjabis." (Editor's note: In Afghanistan's political lingo, Pakistanis, when referred to pejoratively, are frequently called "Punjabis" -- which specifically refers to people from Pakistan's Punjab Province.) Wafa alleged that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency is training and equipping the terrorists and that the ISI helped them move across the border into Afghanistan. Wafa claimed the fighters' main targets are reconstruction projects, such as the Kajaki Dam and the Herat-Kandahar highway that passes through Helmand. AT

KABUL ACCUSES LONDON OF PRO-PAKISTAN STANCE
London's "The Sunday Times" reported on February 11 that some of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's closest advisers have accused the United Kingdom of "conspiring with Pakistan to hand over southern Afghanistan," in the newspaper's words. Karzai travels to London this week to meet with Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss current political differences between Afghanistan and Britain, whose bilateral relations were described by a "Sunday Times" diplomatic source as "in total tatters." Acknowledging the "long friendship" between Pakistan and the United Kingdom, Karzai was quoted by "The Sunday Times" as saying that London's "compromise [with Islamabad] will not bring an end to terrorism in Britain." He went on to say that the United Kingdom will continue to suffer at the hands of terrorists if it "ignor[es] what is happening in Pakistan." An unnamed Karzai adviser alleged that London has been turning a blind eye to infiltrations into Afghanistan from Pakistan. An unnamed British official told the London paper, "Quite frankly, we find all this offensive," adding that not "only are we the second biggest donor here, but we have lost 42 men in the past year." Karzai reportedly said he was "very upset" with the October deal with local elders in Musa Qala, which appears to have fallen apart (see item above). AT

U.S. COLONEL SAYS FORCES STRIKING AT 'ENEMIES' INSIDE PAKISTAN
U.S. Colonel John Nicholson said on February 11 that forces under his command in eastern Afghanistan have launched artillery rounds into Pakistani territory in "self-defense," AP reported. "We do not allow the enemy to fire with impunity on our soldiers, and we have the inherent right of self-defense," Nicholson told AP, adding that even "if those fires are coming from across the border [in Pakistan], we have the right to defend ourselves, and we exercise that right." Nicholson acknowledged that U.S. forces have conducted missions across the border into Pakistan. Major General Shaukat Sultan, speaking for the Pakistani military, told AP that his country "would not allow any coalition forces to violate the international border," adding that there was an understanding on this issue between the foreign forces operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Washington and Kabul have repeatedly urged Pakistan to do more to counter cross-border activities by opponents of the Afghan central government. AT

IRANIAN PRESIDENT SAYS TEHRAN WILL PURSUE ITS NUCLEAR PLANS...
Mahmud Ahmadinejad said in Tehran on February 11 that Iran will continue its nuclear program "in the framework of laws," ISNA reported. He told hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Tehran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that the government has not yet used the authority parliament has given it to curtail its cooperation with UN nuclear inspectors. He added, however, that Iran will not leave the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Ahmadinejad claimed that "fortunately, formal [International Atomic Energy] Agency reports have all confirmed the health and lawfulness of Iran's" program, a statement that is disputable. He said there is "no article in the [NPT] that...if a member wishes to use [nuclear] technology, it has to win the confidence of some American countries. We say to them, have you won our confidence?" Ahmadinejad was referring to Western suspicions that Iran plans to make nuclear weapons. He asked why "if you claim you want to talk, you insist on [enrichment] suspension? Why do you set a precondition?" Why, he asked, "should your [nuclear] fuel factories work day and night, but [Iranians] have to halt their activities?" Ahmadinejad said demands for a suspension are a pretext to halt Iran's nuclear program, "and we are obviously not going to pay attention to their pretext," ISNA reported. VS

...AS OFFICIAL ADDRESSES SECURITY CONFERENCE
Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani told the Munich Conference on Security Policy on February 11 that Iran is being pressured over its nuclear program on the basis of "speculation" over its future intentions, and this has no precedent in international law, ISNA reported. "We have declared repeatedly," he said, that "there are no nuclear or chemical weapons in Iran's national defense doctrine, and we consider [such things] to be against Islamic laws." He said Iran is aware that a bid to create atomic bombs "would cause a nuclear arms race in the region," and disrupt people's "peace of mind, which is why we support a Middle East without weapons of mass destruction." He said if the "other side" is really interested in talks, "we are certain all issues could be resolved in a few months," paving the way for "long-term cooperation." He said that "for about eight months now there have been no talks," because of the demand that Iran stop enrichment-related activities first. If "three months of this time had been spent on talks without this condition, what harm would this have done, and [without talks] what has been achieved?" he asked. He said the refusal to talk and December's UN resolution against Iran's program "have not resolved the problem, but pursued another goal with another motivation," ISNA reported. VS

IRANIAN WORKERS PROTEST OVER UNPAID WAGES
Workers from Qazvin, a city near Tehran, have recently protested over difficult financial conditions and their frustration with unfulfilled presidential promises, Radio Farda reported on February 10. It stated that 35 workers from the Pushineh-Baft textile factory in Qazvin gathered "last week" outside the presidential offices in Tehran, and "hundreds" from the ceramics factory in Chini-Alborz blocked the main road to Qazvin before police ended the protest. Qazvin labor representative Abdali Karimi told Radio Farda on February 10 that some 5,000 workers are in a "state of uncertainty" in Qazvin. He said that a group of workers from Qazvin "came to Tehran to convey their grievances including nonpayment of their wages and, after their protest outside the presidential office, officials promised that all their claims would be paid in three weeks." Karimi added that workers from Chini-Alborz have not been paid for five months, although the company is functioning normally. He said, "its problem is managerial and [that it is being transferred] to the private sector," Radio Farda reported. VS

IRANIAN GENERAL SEES ISLAM RISING AND A DEFEATED UNITED STATES
Yahya Rahim-Safavi, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), told a crowd in the central city of Arak on February 11 that the United States made its greatest mistake in recent decades by invading Iraq and Afghanistan, and it must now accept the rise of the Islamic world as a global power base, Mehr reported. Those invasions, he said, "have pushed them into a bog up to their necks," while the invasion of Iraq was "America's greatest mistake since Vietnam." He said "[President George W.] Bush and [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice are no longer talking about" plans to democratize the Middle East, and "an Islamic Middle East is taking shape instead." Rahim-Safavi stressed that "our policy is detente and the creation of peace in the region and the world, but we shall resist excessive demands." He said that with a population that will one day number 2 billion, and "50 percent" of the world's oil, gas, and other mineral resources, the Islamic world is becoming a global "pole" and "America must accept this," Mehr reported. VS

IRANIAN MINISTRY WELCOMES PALESTINIAN ACCORD
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Husseini welcomed on February 11 the Saudi-brokered accord between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, headed by President Mahmud Abbas, ISNA reported. The formation of a national unity government will help unite Palestinians and benefit Muslims, Husseini said, adding that Iran considers "internal unity and cohesion" among Palestinians the only way to resist "the aggression and plots of the Zionist enemy." The same day, Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezai said in Shiraz that "the West is afraid of Iran's influence in the region," ISNA reported. "They have told Syria to resolve Lebanon's problems, and [Saudi] Arabia to resolve [Palestine's problems] and they are trying, meanwhile, to isolate Iran. But are we upset by the resolution of the Palestine and Lebanon crises by Saudi Arabia and Syria? Still, they will not make much progress if their intention is to isolate Iran," he said. VS

U.S. OFFICIALS LINK IRAN TO IRAQI ARMS
At a February 11 press briefing in Baghdad, senior U.S. military officials presented evidence allegedly linking Iran to armor-piercing explosives and other weapons used by insurgents in Iraq against U.S. and Iraqi targets, international media reported. Among the weapons are what briefers called "explosively formed penetrators," which are capable of piercing the armor of tanks and Humvees. "Iran is a significant contributor to attacks on coalition forces and also supports violence against the Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi people," one senior defense official said. The officials at the briefing spoke on condition of anonymity. A defense analyst told reporters at the briefing that Iranians used Iraqi smugglers to transfer the weapons to Iraq, where they have made their way to elements of the Imam al-Mahdi Army, the militia of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. KR

IRAQI PREMIER SAYS SECURITY PLAN TO TARGET ALL AREAS...
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told reporters on February 11 that the Baghdad security plan will target insurgents in all areas of the capital, countering reports that the plan is a scheme aimed at one particular sectarian group. The plan "will not begin in one area, but rather will begin simultaneously in all areas so that people would not say that it began first in this or that area," he said, adding that police and soldiers taking part in the operation come from various sects, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reported. At a February 11 press conference, Sunni Arab leader Abd al-Salam al-Kubaysi of the Muslim Scholars Association claimed the plan unfairly targets Sunnis, RFI reported. "If the security plan continues this way, then this means that the premeditated objective is annihilating Sunnis who reject the occupation in Baghdad, and not the implementation of a security plan for Baghdad," the cleric said. "Concerning this point...the government and the occupiers who support it should know that the best possible outcome is that we will all die together," he added. KR

...AS IRAQIS MARK ANNIVERSARY OF SAMARRA BOMBING
The Iraqi government on February 11 commemorated the first anniversary of the bombing of the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, one of Iraq's most important Shi'ite shrines (see "RFE/RL Newsline," February 22, 2006). The February 22, 2006, bombing marked an escalation of sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shi'a. February 11 is the anniversary of the attack according to the Islamic calendar, which moves 11 days ahead each year. Prime Minister al-Maliki issued a statement on February 11 saying, "A year of tragedies, forced displacement, [sectarian] killing, destruction of infrastructure, and targeting of innocent civilians...is considered a continuation of the terrorists' evil scheme that began with the blowing up" of the shrines. He criticized religious leaders across the Muslim world for not taking a tougher stand against the crime. Had Muslim leaders issued a fatwa (religious edict) calling the bombing a violation of Islam, thousands of Iraqi lives might have been spared in the past year, he contended. KR

U.S. CITES PROGRESS IN IRAQI SECURITY SWEEP
Some 14 weapons caches were uncovered and 140 suspected insurgents detained as part of the Baghdad security sweep from February 3-9, according to a press release posted to the Multinational Force -- Iraq website. Brigadier General John Campbell, the Multinational Force -- Baghdad deputy commanding general, said that Iraqi security forces carried out 3,800 of the 7,400 patrols carried out during the above-mentioned period. Campbell said that U.S. and Iraqi forces are currently focusing on the Al-Rusafah area of eastern Baghdad, which is a large industrial area. Iraq closed its borders on February 10 until further notice, Iraqi media reported. U.S. General David Petraeus assumed his position as U.S. military commander in Iraq on February 10, calling the task at hand "exceedingly challenging," but adding, "But hard is not hopeless." KR

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S.Herald: Beslan school siege inquiry ‘a co ver-up’ - MPs question official version o f events

Sunday Herald

February 11, 2007

Beslan school siege inquiry ‘a cover-up’

MPs question official version of events

From Andrew Osborn in Moscow
Comment

THE ONLY two non-Kremlin-aligned MPs to take part in Russia's
parliamentary inquiry into the 2004 Beslan school siege have broken
their silence to denounce the investigation as a cover-up that did
little more than go through the motions.

According to nationalist Yuri Savelyev, and Communist Yuri Ivanov,
Russia's worst post-Soviet act of terrorism was deliberately
investigated poorly, in order not to undermine the Kremlin's official
version of events, an account that both men believe was fabricated.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, President Vladimir Putin promised the
relatives of those who were killed that a painstaking official
investigation would establish what really happened on September 1-3,
2004.
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Some 333 people died in the siege, more than half of them children,
when
pro-Chechen terrorists took more than 1000 people hostage in a small
school in southern Russia. Many of those who survived felt the
Kremlin's
handling of the crisis was negligent and demanded a proper explanation.

Yet to survivors' disbelief, the parliamentary investigation into the
tragedy was quietly wound up at the end of last year after almost two
years of work without a murmur.

According to the two whistle-blowing MPs, that inquiry was little more
than a stage-managed PR exercise.

"It was nonsensical, shameless, and betrayed a complete lack of
conscience," said Ivanov, who added he and Savelyev had refused to sign
off on the report because of their misgivings.

Ivanov claimed the investigation was warned not to call Putin as a
witness and that the report was rushed through parliament "within 20
minutes".

While it did criticise the action of local authorities on the scene, it
generally shied away from questioning the way in which the siege was
handled and focused instead on the guilt of the Chechen hostage-takers.

Both MPs said their work on the inquiry had prompted them to seriously
question the official version of events.

They alleged that the siege's bloody climax was not triggered by
Chechen
terrorists detonating explosives inside the school as the Kremlin
claims, but by rocket-propelled grenades being fired at the school from
an area under the control of Russian special forces.

Ivanov further contended that the grenades were fired on the direct
orders of President Putin as a prelude to the storming of the school.

Savelyev, a member of the nationalist Rodina (Motherland) party, said
his work on the panel had forced him to reassess what happened in
Beslan.

"When I started work in October 2004 I sincerely believed that the
terrorists had raped and killed hostages, blown up the school, and then
shot fleeing women and children in the back."

But he said now he had reached a very different conclusion. He said the
panel did not turn up any substantive evidence to suggest that the
terrorists had detonated explosives inside the school or that they had
shot fleeing hostages in the back. Allegations of rape have also yet to
be substantiated.

The two MPs also claimed that the authorities destroyed crucial
evidence
in the first few hours after the siege was broken. They accused the
government of deliberately allowing a fire in the school to rage for
almost two and a half hours before allowing the fire brigade to enter,
in a calculated cover-up.

By the time the fire brigade did get access, the roof of the school gym
had been totally destroyed and with it crucial evidence that the MPs
believe would have shown that rocket-propelled grenades had been fired
into the gym through the roof.

The Kremlin has dismissed the pair's claims, insisting the
parliamentary
inquiry was "serious and unbiased." However, local people in Beslan say
they are more inclined to believe the two MPs than the Kremlin version.

"Evidently there are people keen to ensure that the truth about Beslan
is never known," said Ella Kesaeva of the Voice of Beslan pressure
group, who lost her two nephews in the siege.

"But we will do everything we can to establish why our children and
loved ones died and who was responsible for their deaths."

http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.1185416.0.0.php

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3. Dogs search school for gun Open this result in new window
The Fresno Bee - Feb 10 4:57 AM
Weapons-sniffing dogs searched the locked-down campus of Terronez Middle School in southeast Fresno on Friday after rumors spread of a gun on campus.
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4. School Employee Arrested After Pointing Gun At Man Open this result in new window
CBS 2 Los Angeles - Feb 10 8:51 AM
A high school assistant principal who pointed a gun at a stepfather of a former student was free on bail.
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5. Anderson Township School Locked Down In Gun Scare Open this result in new window
WLWT.com - Feb 09 8:01 PM
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- An Anderson Township elementary school was briefly placed on lockdown Friday afternoon after a school employee said they saw someone with a gun.
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6. School reflects on crisis management procedures Open this result in new window
McKinney Messenger - Feb 11 11:35 PM
News that a 13-year-old student brought a gun and bullets to her private school last week worried the tight-knit community of parents and students at Carrollton Christian School.
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7. Boy, 9, brought BB gun to Toki school Open this result in new window
The Capital Times - Feb 09 9:50 AM
A 9-year-old boy was apprehended by police Thursday night after flashing what turned out to be a BB gun in a hallway dispute at Toki Middle School, police said today.
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8. School safety incidents dramatic and serious; district staff is prepared Open this result in new window
Daily Gate City - Feb 11 11:19 AM
Incidents that require crisis management have become a fact of life in school districts across the nation. Keokuk High School dealt with a bomb threat Monday and a gun found at school the previous Monday.
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9. Teen charged with gun at school Open this result in new window
The Herald-Sun - Feb 10 9:56 PM
Durham County sheriff's deputies charged a teenager with having a firearm on school grounds Friday morning after finding a sawed-off rifle in a car at Southern High School.
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10. Gun incidents limit student freedoms Open this result in new window
The Express-Times - Feb 10 9:17 PM
U. MT. BETHEL TWP. | A pellet-gun shooting and subsequent recovery of three similar weapons on school grounds has prompted a new backpack policy at Bangor Area High School effective Monday.
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http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=gun+at+school&ei=utf-8

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=3869447

Communists are gone but not the spies
By Craig S. Smith
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
BUCHAREST:

Communism is gone and democracy is well implanted in the countries of the old Warsaw Pact, but the Soviet era's security services are still sending shudders through the region nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The case of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent who was killed last month in a London poisoning, would not seem out of place here, where a death threat in Romania, a suicide in Bulgaria and unbroken silence on several unsolved murders provide some clues to the continued presence of the secret services today.

Some members of the secret police remain in place. Others took advantage of the sudden sale of state assets that came with the dismantling of centrally planned economies and are quietly powerful players today.

"In '89, only communism was killed, but the former state security and Communist Party chiefs took the economic power," said Marius Oprea, president of the Institute for the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism, a Romanian government agency.

As a result, the files that documented many of the era's darkest deeds — from blackmail to assassinations — have remained closed and few of the agents and informers whose reports fattened the folders of the services have ever been identified.

But with several reform-minded governments now in power and pressure coming from the European Union, a renewed effort is under way across the former Soviet bloc to expose the continued role of the security services and to root out former police agents and collaborators now in positions of power. The effort is not without its risks.

Bozhidar Doychev, the man who oversaw Bulgaria's secret service archives, was found dead at his desk last month with a bullet in his head from his own handgun. His death was ruled a suicide, but many people think it was linked to efforts by some in the government to find out which public figures had worked with the country's former Committee for State Security, one of the most notorious spy networks of the Cold War.

Oprea, a friend of Litvinenko's, has felt the threat nearing. On a Romanian street in his hometown, Brasov, last year, he said, a man approached him and warned that his toddler son could come to harm if he continued to "push things."

"They are not happy when you start to dig into what happened after 1989," said Oprea, who sent his family to live in Germany and stays in his apartment here alone.

Oprea was shaken by Litvinenko's death. Whether or not the Kremlin is to blame, as Litvinenko contended before he died, his death from an obscure radioactive isotope has left many people believing that he was killed by someone with secret service ties.

Most of Central and Eastern Europe's former Communist countries tried to purge their societies of the Soviet-era secret police and informers in the aftermath of communism's collapse. But the closer they were to Russia, the less effective their purges were.

While many of Central and Eastern Europe's new political leaders now look decisively to the West for their future, some of the region's former Communist members and the secret services that served them are drawn toward the revitalized power of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and his FSB, the successor organization to the KGB.

East Germany and Czechoslovakia were the most successful with their purges after 1989, opening secret police files and screening public figures for past collaboration with the intelligence services. Poland screened tens of thousands of people in the early 1990s, but the process lost steam until the nationalist Law and Justice Party came to power last year and revived it.

Bulgaria is only now beginning to confront the past of its secret police, which has been implicated in plots ranging from an attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II to the murder of a Bulgarian dissident, Georgi Markov, with a poison-tipped umbrella on London's Waterloo Bridge.

But nowhere has the struggle between the former secret services and the forces for change been as intense as in Romania, now poised on the brink of European Union membership.

Before 1989, Romania's Securitate was one of the Eastern bloc's largest secret police forces in proportion to its population. Under the oppressive regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, it was also among the most brutal. An estimated 11,000 agents and half a million informers watched at least 1.6 million Romanian citizens, hundreds of thousands of whom were imprisoned for political reasons. Some were killed.

While the heads of Romania's secret services have changed and the services have been reorganized, much of the rank and file remains, now with ties to a powerful business elite.

Earlier this year, for example, the Justice Ministry disbanded its secret service, the General Directorate for Protection and Anti-Corruption. The organization had been wiretapping judges and gathering other information, "which we do not really know ended up where or with whom," the justice minister, Monica Macovei, told local newspapers.

The service was set up in 2001 by Marian Ureche, a former Securitate colonel, who resigned in 2003 after the local press disclosed his secret police past. He was one of 1,600 former Securitate officers "who continued to hold key posts in the intelligence services established after 1989," according to an anonymous 2002 report published by Ziua, a Romanian newspaper.

Many of the most powerful business owners in Romania have links to the Securitate, even if they deny having benefited from such relationships, something that is, by its nature, difficult to prove.

Silvian Ionescu, the country's top environmental official, was a former high- ranking official of the Securitate who became wealthy after communism's fall through various business deals.

Dan Voiculescu, a media mogul and president of the Conservative Party, denied for years that he had Securitate ties and successfully sued several journalists for suggesting otherwise. But earlier this year, the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives announced that Voiculescu had indeed acted as a secret police informer.

Voiculescu has since admitted that he collaborated, though only "two or three times" for economic espionage. Voiculescu said others involved with the Securitate simply stole assets or used their Securitate connections in other ways to accumulate wealth.

The first government not closely linked to the former Communist regime came to power in 1996 and passed a law requiring that the secret police archives be opened. But the government changed hands and lustration, as the process of exposing past Communist agents is called, stalled.

After years of struggle, the security services are starting to turn over files to a National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, which is checking the pasts of elected officials, civil servants and members of civil society, including journalists and priests.

Those now under the council's control fill about 16 kilometers, or 10 miles, of shelf space — roughly 1.8 million individual files. Romanian citizens can request a copy of their file, if it exists, allowing them a sometimes cathartic look into the work of their tormentors.

The case that has drawn the most attention is that of Mona Musca, a former culture minister and the second-most- popular politician in the country behind President Traian Basescu.

Musca had been a strong advocate for lustration, but it turns out that she herself had something to hide. She was recruited by the Securitate on March 31, 1977, at the University of Timisoara to monitor the foreign students to whom she taught Romanian.

Soon after the council found her file, word of it was leaked to the press and the revelation rocked Romanian society. Musca was quickly thrown out of the Liberal Party, where she had become a rival of the current prime minister, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, and had been talked about as his possible replacement.

Musca believes that she was targeted for political reasons. She argues that exposing small-time informers like her is meant to distract the public from the government's failure to fight corruption effectively, adding that political blackmail has influenced government policy over the past 16 years.

"They don't have the political will to fight corruption because there is a network above politics that is stronger than the politicians," she said.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=19520

2007-02-12
Putin wraps up first visit in to Saudi Arabia
Saudi king says Russia has important role to play in achieving peace in Middle East.
By Lydia Georgi - RIYADH

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday wraps up his first visit to Saudi Arabia, which has put the seal on the improving ties between Moscow and a key US ally in the Middle East.

The oil-rich Muslim kingdom, a staunch Cold War ally of Washington, has rolled out the red carpet for Putin, whose country's oil output is exceeded only by regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

In talks Sunday, King Abdullah described the Russian president, who is on a three-nation tour to boost energy and military ties, as "a stateman, a man of peace, a man of justice".

Putin described himself as a "loyal friend" of the Muslim kingdom and said the two countries could do much to bolster ties.

The two leaders "discussed the full range of developments on the regional and international scenes, chiefly... the Palestinian issue and the situation in Iraq," official Saudi media reported.

Putin's visit comes after he launched a blistering attack on Washington's "ruinous" foreign policy.

It also comes amid increasingly open Russian criticism of Western policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Moscow describing as "counterproductive" the nearly year-old boycott of the elected Islamist-led government in the Palestinian territories.

King Abdullah, who hosted breakthrough talks in the Muslim holy city of Mecca last week between moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the Islamists of Hamas, said Russia had an important role to play in achieving Middle East peace through its position as one of the process's sponsors.

Abbas has been calling on the so-called quartet of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States to abandon its diplomatic and financial boycott now that a broad national unity government has been agreed.

Putin, whose government is anxious to sell weapons to a country that has traditionally relied on Western manufacturers, was to hold talks Monday with Crown Prince and Defence Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.

A diplomatic source said the talks were expected to lead to a "verbal understanding" on the sale of about 150 Russian T-90 battle tanks to Saudi Arabia, which is seeking to diversify its defence systems.

Tests were carried out on the T-90 in Saudi Arabia last year to determine the tank's suitability for harsh desert conditions, and Russia is also looking to sell Mi-17 helicopters.

King Abdullah stressed the importance of the world's two top oil producers cooperating to keeping world markets stable after prices soared late last year only to drop back sharply.

Saudi Arabia and Russia must "coordinate to ensure secure oil supplies and achieve stability and balance on the world oil market in the interest of producers and consumers alike," he said.

Moscow and Riyadh signed a cooperation agreement aimed at stabilizing oil prices when Abdullah paid a landmark visit to Russia as crown prince in September 2003.

Later Monday, Putin was to head on to the gas-rich tiny emirate of Qatar, headquarters for the commanders of US forces in the Middle East.

Qatar has the world's third largest reserves of gas after Russia and Iran and analysts said putin was likely to discuss proposals for a gas version of the oil cartel OPEC.

He was then due to travel on to Jordan, another key US regional ally, where he will meet King Abdullah II and Abbas.

On the eve of his tour, Putin attacked the United States as a reckless "unipolar" power, accusing Washington of having made the world more dangerous by pursuing policies that have led to war, ruin and insecurity.

Addressing the same conference on Sunday, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates dismissed Putin's broadside, declaring: "One Cold War was quite enough."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10423708

Protesters agree not to ram Japanese whalers

Updated 1:24PM Tuesday February 13, 2007
The Sea Shepherd whaling protestors say this picture, taken by them, shows the Kaiko Maru in the foreground approaching the Farley Mowat

The Sea Shepherd whaling protestors say this picture, taken by them, shows the Kaiko Maru in the foreground approaching the Farley Mowat

* Listen to Audio: Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson on whaling clash (Newstalk ZB)

Conservation Minister Chris Carter says he has won an assurance from anti-whaling activists they will not ram a Japanese ship in the Southern Ocean.

Yesterday two ships from the Sea Shepherd environment group, the Robert Hunter and the Farley Mowat, collided with the Japanese whaling ship the Kaiko Maru.

Sea Shepherd leader Captain Paul Watson yesterday said the Farley Mowat was almost out of fuel and he was considering giving the Kaiko Maru's sister ship the Nisshan Maru a "steel enema" by ramming its slipway.

A spokesman for Mr Carter today told said the minister had spoken to the Farley Mowat's crew by phone today and won an assurance the ship would not ram the Japanese whaling ship.

The two sides have traded blame over who was responsible for the collision.

Whaling vessel the Kaiko Maru issued a distress call after colliding with the Robert Hunter.

Mr Watson said the confrontation happened when the Robert Hunter caught the Japanese ship bearing down on a pod of whales.

"The Kaiko Maru manoeuvred alongside our vessel and sideswiped it into the ice. That caused a gash in the starboard bow section of our ship," Mr Watson said.

"Both ships got stuck in the ice and then the Kaiko Maru backed out and into the port stern section of Robert Hunter, causing a metre-long gash. They struck us twice, both times penetrating the hull."

But a spokesman for the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), Glenn Inwood, said it was the Robert Hunter that had rammed the Kaiko Maru.

"Then both Sea Shepherd boats came up on either side, stopping it from continuing," he told Radio New Zealand today.

"It was done in same manner you would imagine pirates have conducted themselves for years.

"Sea Shepherd threw smoke pots onto the vessel, they released ropes and nets to entangle the screw and the propeller has been damaged."

As rescue services in New Zealand struggled to gather details of the incident, Greenpeace vessel Esperanza raced to help the whaling ship.

"We completely condemn any violent action by anyone. Potentially endangering lives in the middle of the Southern Ocean is unacceptable," said Karli Thomas, expedition leader on board the Esperanza.

The New Zealand-based Rescue Co-ordination Centre said last night that the ship was no longer in distress and was able to continue under its own power.

Sea Shepherd activists have been facing off against the whalers north of the Balleny Islands, west of the Ross Sea, trying to stop Japan's controversial annual whale hunt.

Dr Hiroshi Hatanaka, director-general of the Institute of Cetacean Research, last night said that Sea Shepherd was conducting a "campaign of outright destruction and terrorism" and he had serious concerns that someone would be injured or killed.

Earlier Mr Watson said: "Perhaps it's time to give these cruel whalers a steel enema they will never forget."

Mr Watson had warned that the Sea Shepherd flagship, the Farley Mowat, on which he is travelling, was almost out of fuel.

He had hoped to obtain some from the Robert Hunter.

But with that vessel now damaged, the future of the Sea Shepherd protest is uncertain.

- STAFF REPORTER AND AGENCIES

Thanks to Milford421 for sending this to me:

[under-investigation] **Update: Terror suspect faces deportation to India**

Many thanks to Renee and Mark Taylor for the update on this story.

http://www.indianew england.com/ ME2/dirmod.asp?
sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications% 3A%
3AArticle&mid=8F3A70274218419 78F18BE895F87F79
1&tier=4&id=FDED70B8A5F24B01 A819783DCE59D6EC

Issue Date: February 1-15, 2007, Posted On: 2/7/2007

Terror suspect faces deportation to India

Authorities say Mullawalla held on `suspicious activity'

By TUSHA MITTAL
BOSTON — After violating his student visa, changing multiple
addresses, and inquiring about hazardous materials, Mohammed Y.
Mullawala, a 28-year-old Indian national, is now a central figure in
a national anti-terrorism investigation. He is currently being held
by federal authorities at the Suffolk County Detention Center,
pending the judge's decision after a Jan. 30 deportation hearing.

Taking the stand at a Boston immigration court, a tiny-framed
Mullawala testified to his innocence, admitted to violating his
student visa unknowingly, and said he came to the United States
with "only good intentions." Defense Attorney June Beack requested
for voluntary deportation.

"He is willing to go back to India but he would like an opportunity
to come back," she said. According to a court affidavit, Mullawala
applied to become a Permanent Resident Alien based on "his
extraordinary ability in the field of computers," but was denied in
2005. Beack said that Mullawala was not informed of this denial by
his then attorney, and he believed he was allowed to work while his
application was in process.

Mullawala was arrested by the Rhode Island State Police on Dec. 5,
2006, on a civil immigration charge for violating his student visa
by engaging in paid employment, but a widening investigation since
has led authorities to describe his behavior as "suspicious
activity." This behavior includes holding driver's licenses in three
different states — Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey, failure to
appear at summons after the suspension of his N.Y. And N.J.
Licenses, failure to appear at traffic court hearings, enrollment
but not attendance at three universities, a string of 13 different
addresses, misrepresentation of his current address on his R.I.
License and on a recent application to a trucking school. Since his
arrest, Mullawala has admitted to providing false information about
his address to the R.I. Motor Vehicles and Operator's License.
Mullawala entered the United States on Sep. 9, 2002 and enrolled for
computer science classes at Johnson and Wales University in R.I.
Since then he enrolled and subsequently dropped out of the
University of Bridgeport, Conn., and City University of New York.

Most recently, in Nov. 2006, he enrolled at the Nationwide Tractor
Trailer Driving School in Smithfield, R.I. According to Beack,
Mullawala enrolled in a trucking school in order to help is family
in India set up an "import-export marble granite business."
But Mullawala's behavior at the trucking school aroused suspicion.

The Department of Homeland Security, Transport Security Operations
Center, received a complaint about Mullwala from the tractor trailer
school, which sparked an investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorism
Task Force, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and
the Rhode Island Fusion Center.

According to a court affidavit, instructor Ed Mowry from the tractor
trailer school described Mullawala's behavior as "inconsistent with
that of a typical student at the school." The causes for Mowry's
concern stemmed from the fact that Mullawala paid $500 in cash,
attended the course for two days, was only interested in forward
movement and did not want to learn how to back up a truck, was
extraordinarily anxious to complete the eight to 10-week course in
one month, and offered to pay extra money to obtain his license
sooner, according to the affidavit. Other concerning behavior,
states the affidavit, were his inquiries about obtaining a permit to
transport hazardous materials and whether that required
fingerprinting, and requests for books, computer software, DVD, and
videos related to hazardous materials.
Investigators later learned that he not only lied about his R.I.
Address, but was also commuting from New York, where he was living
and illegally working for several limousine companies.
Specifically, Mullawala claimed to be residing at 181 Carpenter
Street in Providence, R.I., where authorities say he lived from
Sept. 02 to Oct. 03.
Since then, he has moved to Bridgeport, Conn., traveled to Kuwait,
returned to Conn., held six different addresses in New York (Bronx,
Jackson Heights, Hicksville, New Garden, Queens and Jamaica) and two
in New Jersey (Jersey City and Hackensack). Authorities have
confirmed that he dwelled briefly at seven of those addresses, but
have been unable to verify whether he ever lived at the others,
according to the affidavit.

A Jan. 23 bond hearing, requesting Mullawala's temporary release on
bail, was denied by Judge Matthew D'Angelo, after the defense was
unable to prove that Mullawala's release would not be a "danger" to
the community.

D'Angelo described Mullawala's explanations for his behavior as "far-
fetched" and "less than convincing." "He has no work authority and
yet, he is living here lawfully, and he disregards the laws he finds
inconvenient. I find him at extreme flight risk, and combined with
his mobility, unlikely to appear at future hearings," D'Angelo said.

The judge emphasized that the presence of troopers from the Joint
terrorism Task Force gave significant weight to the prosecution's
argument, while Mullawala's "vague and evasive" responses to the
troopers after he was arrested, and the fact that there were no
friends or family present in court did not help Mullawala's case.

In defense, Beack said Mullwala has no family in the United States
and was unable to reach his friends because authorities have seized
his cell phone. She added that Mullawala wanted to finish the course
in the tractor trailer school earlier so he could leave for India
last December.

She said that Mullawala did not inquire about hazardous materials
himself but was rather told about it by the instructor, who stressed
he could earn more money by getting a license to transport hazardous
materials. Mullawala's explanations for his frequent address changes
in New York include his single status, his desire to see different

parts of New York city, and his difficulty in finding parking. Beack
added that Mullawala mentioned the expired 181 Carpenter Street R.I
address on his trucking school and license applications because he
was in the process of moving and did not have a permanent address.

Beack described Mullawala has someone who is "educated" and holds
computer credentials. She maintains that Mullawala did attend school
and his frequent transfers are not related to any potential
terrorist activity.

"The undertone of the proceedings is that he is a would-be
terrorist," Beack said. "But the government cannot prove anything,
at this point it all just allegations of suspicious activity. He
lied about his addresses but that does not amount to danger."
With regard to deportation, Beack said she would accept whatever
decision is passed on Feb. 13 and does not intend to appeal.

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

Mystery as Chinese 'spy' arrested

http://www.stuff.co.nz/3958373a11.html

Mystery as Chinese 'spy' arrested
By IRENE CHAPPLE - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 11 February 2007

A Chinese man, linked to his country's secret service, has been
remanded in custody in an Auckland jail and is being represented by one of New
Zealand's top lawyers.

The man was sent to jail on immigration matters and Peter Williams QC
is now acting for him.

Williams told the Sunday Star-Times that his client's background was
with the Chinese government, but when asked if he was a spy, said "it's a
long complicated matter, like most things in life it's complex".

Williams said the matter had been "going on for a while" and played
down its significance. "Countries are spying on each other all the time."

However, he said the case was genuine and added: "There is not the
slightest doubt he has been engaged in the secret service on behalf of the
People's Republic of China."

When asked if his client feared being deported to China, Williams said
it could be generalised "that executions are still frequent in China".

Williams refused to comment further, saying he did not have
instructions from his client to do so and "there may be suppression orders made,
it's ongoing...".

Williams later told the Star-Times the comments were abstract and not
necessarily relevent to any court case. He said he did not like trial by
newspaper which could pre-empt possible suppressions of content along
with name.

The man was due to appear in the Auckland District Court on Friday but
it was unclear if he did. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy said it
was unaware of the case.

Labour Department border security manager, Api Fiso, said, through a
spokeswoman, he was "aware this person was in police custody in New
Zealand", but would not give any details citing privacy.

In 2005 two Chinese defectors claimed China had a spy network of about
1000 people in Australia.

Chen Yonglin, a diplomat at China's Sydney consulate, gave details of
the alleged network. Former security officer Hao Fengjun backed up his
claims, saying he worked for the "610 office" set up by the Chinese
government to oppress practitioners of spiritual group Falun Gong.

He claimed he worked on intelligence reports about the group and other
organisations in countries including New Zealand.

Auckland University academic and former US administration terrorism
adviser, Paul Buchanan, said China did not have the luxury of "liaison
partners" and had to gather its own intelligence.

Buchanan said the Chinese would be extremely interested in New
Zealand's innovations in high-tech weaponry components and would also track the
country's dissident community.

All this made for "very rational and practical reasons why the Chinese
would place intelligence operatives, what we call human intelligence
collectors, in seemingly benign places like New Zealand and certainly
Australia," he said.

Buchanan said there were probably about 50 such people in New Zealand,
some of whom would be working directly for the Chinese government and
others who were contractors. Those who were under oath to the Chinese
government could face execution in their country if they revealed
information on their activities.

The man's case comes as New Zealand is considering a free trade
agreement with China, raising issues about the sensitivity of how it will be
handled.

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