Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
Norway Agrees to Send Special Forces to Afghanistan (back)
February 13, 2007
Norway will send about 150 special forces troops to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan in response to an appeal for reinforcements from the Western alliance, the foreign minister said Tuesday.
The commandos will help provide security and fight terror near the Afghan capital of Kabul , Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said, stressing that they would not be involved in operations elsewhere in the country, including in the south.
NATO has been appealing for more troops, especially in the southern part of Afghanistan , to help fight Taliban forces.
There are already about 550 Norwegian troops in northern Afghanistan .
' Norway received a specific request from NATO on Feb. 5 for an additional military contribution,' including transport planes, fighter aircraft and special forces, Stoere said in Parliamen
'The special forces contingent will be in line with NATO's wishes and will be important to defending and maintaining security in the capital,' he said.
Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/13/europe/EU- GEN-Norway-NATO-Afghanistan.php
Bishop Bomber: Another Unabomber in the Making? (back)
February 13, 2007
by Hilary Hylton/Austin
He calls himself the Bishop, an unthreatening sounding name if there ever was one, but law enforcement and private security officials fear he may be another unabomber in the making.
In late January, the mysterious figure sent a letter bomb to two Midwestern financial services companies. The message inside both packages, which were discovered by mail clerks, read 'Bang! You're dead'. The boxes arrived at American Century Investments in Kansas City and Perkins, Wolf, McDonnell and Co., a Chicago financial services company. Both had all the makings of a pipe bomb, a PVC pipe filled with buckshot and smokeless powder, plus protruding wires. But the sender had not included a power source, which indicated to investigators that The Bishop, meant to terrify, not kill — at least not yet. Still, while the devices lacked some components, they could have exploded from static electricity or 'even a transmission from a handheld radio,' according to Fred Burton, a former State Department counterterrorism expert, now with Strafor, an Austin-based private security and intelligence agency that is working in conjunction with the FBI in its investigation.
The Bishop first came to Strafor's attention in October of 2005, when he began sending anonymous, threatening letters (but with no explosive materials) to various financial services companies, one of which was a client. He demanded they manipulate specific stocks to reach a set price, often $6.66, a number with possible Biblical or apocalyptic meaning. In one June, 2006 letter, he ended with the phrase: 'IT IS BETTER TO REIGN IN HELL, THAN TO SERVE IN HEAVEN.' The Bishop's curious stock-market demands were 'delusional' since the companies were not large enough to do the kind of manipulation he demanded, Burton said. Once his demands were not met, his campaign escalated, going from simple demands in 2005, to more serious threats of violence in 2006, and now featuring actual improvised explosive devices, IEDs being shipped in the mail.
Most of the poorly written letters came from the Midwest, including Wisconsin , Iowa and Illinois . The addresses are handwritten, but the letters themselves were neatly typed on a computer. The letters appear to be form letters, but occasionally The Bishop used the name and address of an executive's family as a return address. Both the letters and IED packages were sent by priority mail and the recipient's name in the second line of the address was underlined. The bomb packages came in white cardboard boxes and were postmarked Jan. 26, 2007, from Rolling Meadows , Illinois , but carried a Streamwood, Illinois , return address. So far, The Bishop's letters have arrived only in corporate mailrooms, but he has threatened specific family members, friends and even neighbors of some of his targets. .
In one 2006 letter The Bishop refers to both the Unabomber and the D.C. sniper, Lee Boyd Malvo. 'You will help, after all it is so easy to kill somebody it is almost scary,' the letter states. 'Just think it could be as simple as mailing a package just like The Unibomber [sic] use to do simple mail out a package and when the suspecting recipient opens it they don't even know what hit them, or maybe like Salvo [sic] did in the D.C. sniper case just a small hole in the trunk of the car and BANG!!'
The Kansas City package was examined by a police bomb squad and, according to Kansas City FBI Agent Bob Herndon, there is an ongoing investigation of the letters and packages in multiple FBI field offices across the country. The U.S. Post Office is also investigating the letters and has issued an alert.
Despite forensic evidence that authorities have now obtained from the devices, it is more likely that a tip may lead to an arrest. The public release of the text of the Unabomber's writings led to his brother coming forward after he recognized the phrasing of certain sentences, and now that authorities are afraid the Bishop may be escalating his tactics, they are making a conscious effort to get details of the case out to the public.
'Looking back to the Unabomber case, Theodore Kaczynski began sending IEDs in 1978,' Burton said. 'Despite the large quantity of physical evidence, it was not forensics that led to his 1996 arrest, but rather a tip from his brother.' In the meantime, Kaczynski had killed three and injured 23 with his device.
Source: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1588813,00.html
Palestinian Terrorism Increases, Aided by Hizballah (back)
February 13, 2007
by Hillel Fendel
No fewer than 12 rock-throwing incidents were recorded over the past two days in Judea and Samaria , in which five people were wounded. In one case, two buses to Maaleh Adumim from Jerusalem were stoned with heavy rocks, smashing large windows in one of the buses and wounding one young woman in the head.
Meanwhile, the IDF has not let up in its attempts to arrest wanted terrorists. Arutz-7's Kobi Finkler reports that terrorists arrested last month revealed their ties with Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon . One illegal Arab alien was arrested while gathering information on civilian infrastructures in Israel - at the behest of Hizbullah.
Especially over the last two years, Hizbullah has been increasing gathering information on Israel 's security apparatus, civilian infrastructures such as electricity, energy and chemicals, and IDF deployment along the northern border. Hizbullah - funded and supervised by Iran - is also interested in Israeli politics and public opinion.
A security officer told Finkler that Hizbullah is developing a wide array of agents and sources in Israel for its information. In addition to the Israeli media, which unwittingly provided valuable information such as the precise location of Katyusha rocket landings during the recent war, Hizbullah is developing civilian and military agents who have access to other sensitive information and who can either be blackmailed or are interested in harming Israel . They must also be able to meet Hizbullah agents abroad. Among the prime candidates for such collaboration are drug dealers, other criminals, former and current police and army personnel, Israeli-Arabs, reporters and businessmen.
The wide-ranging drug smuggling network from Lebanon to Israel is a part of the Hizbullah information-gathering network. Israeli drug-runners are carefully watched, and part of the payment for the drugs is often sensitive Israeli information. It can be assumed that whatever Hizbullah receives about Israel is shared with its sponsor, Iran .
Recent Terror Round-Up
Two Israelis were hurt in a stoning incident at a car on Mt. of Olives , and a Border Guard policewoman was hurt in the Jabel Mukabar neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem . A woman was hurt east of Kalkilye, and three Arabs were arrested after they threw Molotov cocktails northwest of Ramallah.
IDF forces arrested 18 wanted terrorists throughout Judea and Samaria last night, including 13 in the Hevron area and southward.
Terrorists fired an anti-tank rocket at an IDF patrol north of Gaza , causing no damage. Nearby, Israeli forces warned two terrorists to halt as they approached the border fence - and when they did not stop, the forces shot, killing one.
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=121510
Australia and Turkey Sign Agreement on Counter-Terrorism (back)
February 13, 2007
Australia 's efforts to combat terrorism have been boosted in Ankara today, where Foreign Minister Mr Abdullah G?l and I have signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU ) on Counter-Terrorism cooperation and organised crime. The signing of this MOU is an important outcome of my visit to Ankara .
The MOU provides a framework for cooperation between Australian and Turkish agencies in areas such as law enforcement and legal issues, anti-terrorist financing, border and transport security, defence, intelligence and countering chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism.
Strengthened cooperation with Turkey through this MOU will help protect Australians and Australian interests both at home and abroad, one of the Government?s highest priorities.
Turkey is an important security partner for Australia and this MOU builds on a strong record of existing cooperation between Turkey and Australia . Australia and Turkey signed a Defence Framework Agreement during the visit to Australia of the Chief of the General Staff, General Hilmizk, in August 2006. Turkey is a founding member of NATO and of the recently established Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and is hosting its second meeting on 12-13 February.
Australia has now signed 13 such counter-terrorism MOUs with key partners including Malaysia , Thailand , the Philippines , Fiji , Cambodia , Papua New Guinea , Indonesia , India , East Timor, Brunei, Pakistan and Afghanistan .
Source: http://media-newswire.com/release_1043505.html
EU Gloom Over Iran Nuclear Work (back)
February 13, 2007
An EU internal paper has admitted that Iran will one day have enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb.
The paper also says UN pressure has not helped to slow down Iran 's nuclear programme, and that economic sanctions alone will not resolve the problem.
It was written by staff of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and given to EU foreign ministers on Monday.
A source said the EU was committed to a twin-track approach of UN sanctions and efforts to engage Iran in dialogue.
The source within Mr Solana's secretariat said the paper did not talk anywhere about military options, nor did it take for granted that Iran 's future possession of a nuclear bomb was an 'irreversible reality'.
Carrot and stick
It was written to steer the foreign ministers' discussion and raised questions rather than stating answers, the source said.
The paper was leaked to the Financial Times, which quoted excerpts on Tuesday.
'At some stage we must expect that Iran will acquire the capacity to enrich uranium on the scale required for a weapons programme,' the Financial Times quotes the paper as saying.
'In practice... the Iranians have pursued their programme at their own pace, the limiting factor being technical difficulties rather than resolutions by the UN or the International Atomic Energy Agency.
'The problems with Iran will not be resolved through economic sanctions alone.'
The BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels says the paper shows the EU is looking for ways to strengthen its carrot and stick approach to Iran .
Iran says its nuclear programme is purely for civilian use.
'New ambition'
Mr Solana and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier restored tentative contacts with Iran 's nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani at a security conference in Munich on Sunday.
Mr Steinmeier said after the EU foreign ministers' meeting on Monday that both of them had the impression 'that in Iran there is a new ambition to return to the negotiating table'.
'In the course of the next few days, we will have to sound out whether they ( Iran ) can pursue that line,' Mr Steinmeier said.
However, Mr Solana warned: 'The possibilities are not immense.'
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6357305.stm
EU Memo: We Can't Stop Iran Bomb (back)
February 13, 2007
An internal 'reflection paper' circulated to all 27 national governments concludes that Iran will be able to enrich enough uranium to build a nuclear bomb - and that there is little the west can do to prevent it.
It adds that European pressure to engage Iran on its appalling human rights record have failed miserably: The Iranians have cancelled meetings with the Human Rights dialogue since 2004.
The FT has the major details of the document, which was produced by EU foreign policy boss Javier Solana's office.
The document's major finding is that the international diplomatic effort has failed to hold back Iran 's quest for the weapons: Tehran 's lack of technical expertise has been responsible for the slow progress towards the bomb, rather than the efforts of the UN or the International Atomic Energy Agency.
This is a further blow for the EU's UK-France-German trio, who set out to lead international diplomatic pressure to sway Tehran from building nuclear weapons. The US made it clear that it would go along with the EU-3's proposals: But now the EU itself reports that this path has failed.
The paper, if its findings are accepted in Europe 's capitals, severely limits diplomatic space for manoeuvre.
The document claims that Iran 's human rights situation continues to deteriorate, with China being the only nation executing more people. In the past two or three years, women's rights meetings have been violently suppressed, newspapers closed and censorship tightened on the internet.
Meetings planned by the EU to engage Iran have been ignored since 2004: In any case, the authors of the report say they made no impact, short of irritating Iran 's leaders.
The report's authors urge leaders to engage with Iranian activists directly rather than through the nation's leaders - warning 'where this does not endanger them or damage their cause.'
Next comes a report on Iran 's role in the region. It notes that Iran 's self-confidence has been boosted: Energy reserves, the nuclear programme and the collapse of both Saddam Hussein and the Taliban have made Iran top dog in its part of the Middle East . The success of the conflict Tehran 's attack dog Hizballah provoked with Israel last summer bolstered Iran 's self-esteem even further.
Many in the Middle East and the west see Iran 's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a dangerous madman. However, his international profile, his very visible support for Hizballah and his declarations urging Israel 's destruction have made him popular on the ' Arab Street ', even if his own people are tiring of him.
Iran is unsettled by the US presence on its borders in Iraq and Afghanistan . 'One of Iran ’s policy aims is to see US forces leave. Hence its support for groups opposing them,' the report says.
Also, in Afghanistan : ' Iran is, at least, in contact with anti-Western groups.'
On nuclear security the report concludes that Iran fears no-one in the region. Its principal security concern is the possibility of an attack by the US .
Sanctions could hit Iran where it is vulnerable economically:
'The sanctions contained in the (UN UNSCR 1737) Resolution have limited direct effect but they come at a moment when the economy is performing poorly, partly because of Iranian mismanagement. Ahmadinejad is under criticism because of rising inflation – officially at 12 per cent, in reality closer to 20 per cent; economic growth around 5 per cent per annum is not keeping up with the need for job creation. Foreign investment has all but dried up, partly because of the nuclear issue and associated action (e.g. restriction on Iranian banks, greater caution of export credit agencies). Without new investment, Iran risks being unable to maintain medium-term oil production, currently 50 per cent of government income.'
However, they can't work alone: ' Iran has shown great resilience to outside pressure in the past, for example during the Iran/Iraq war. The government may also exploit the sanctions to benefit nationalism or to explain economic failure.'
The report concludes that the EU will continue to pursue sanctions and think of ways to bring Iran to the negotiating table. Military solutions to the growing crisis aren't mentioned, though the report makes a reference to maintaining 'the unity of the international community' in handling Iran : A nod, perhaps, to keeping the US and Israel 's fingers from the trigger.
The US has claimed it has no immediate plans to attack Iran . However press reports (mostly, but not exclusively among anti-american newspapers) claim that a Spring attack on Iran 's nuclear facilities is imminent. The arrival of another US aircraft carrier in the region has concentrated minds, but sent the rumour mill into overdrive.
What will the EU's leaders make of this report? Frankly, it is embarrassing for their diplomats but surely it says nothing that they cannot already know. EURSOC hasn't been the only blog saying exactly the same thing about Iran for a year now: Why did the EU's governments need it spelled out?
Source: http://eursoc.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/1387/EU_Memo:_ We_Can't_Stop_Iran_Bomb.html
EU Report on Iran : Details and Full Text (back)
February 13, 2007
by Daniel Dombey
The full text of an internal European Union document on Iran reveals that officials from the bloc are pessimistic about the chances of stopping Iran from getting enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb.
The reflection paper, written by the staff of Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief, circulated to the EU’s 27 governments last week, concedes that Iran will probably acquire sufficient capacity to enrich uranium for a weapons programme 'at some stage', adding that the programme has been held back by Tehran’s own technical shortcomings, rather than international pressure.
The document, obtained by the Financial Times and reproduced below, mirrors EU officials’ private comments that, although negotiations with Iran will probably fail, they have to be attempted.
EU member states believe that their chances of success would be bolstered if the US offered Tehran comprehensive security guarantees; sceptics of negotiations will point to the paper’s findings to bolster their arguments for a military attack on the country’s nuclear facilities. The paper itself does not recommend any such course, commending instead the EU’s current 'twin track' policy of mixing incentives and disincentives.
Iran insists its purposes are purely peaceful.
The paper says that Iran ’s economy is vulnerable because of economic mismanagement, with foreign investment all but drying up and a real inflation rate of about 20 per cent per annum. But it concludes that 'the problems with Iran will not be resolved through economic sanctions alone', as Iran has shown great resilience to outside pressure in the past.
In an indication of debates deep inside the EU, the paper posits the questions of how best to bring Iran to the negotiating table, whether the EU should press for additional sanctions and how to maintain international unity.
In other observations, it concludes that the EU’s attempts to encourage Iran to respect human rights have had little effect and that Iran considers itself strengthened because of recent developments in the Middle East – partly because of 'its connections in the weak Shi’a dominated administration' in Iraq.
…
RESTRICTED
EU and Iran : the two track approach
From the 1990s the EU has sought to persuade Iran to change its policies on the Middle East , support for terrorism, missiles and WMD, and human rights. Iranian policies have varied, making some progress vis-à-vis the worst times of the 1990s; but all these issues remain serious concerns today.
Engagement remains both the basis for solutions in these areas and the best way to develop common interests, for example in energy, drugs and trade and regional issues. A possible forum for this is the Comprehensive Dialogue, established in recognition of the opportunity represented by Khatami and never formerly [sic] abolished, though Iran has shown little interest in reviving this format. But experience suggests that in all of the cases, engagement alone is not enough: the EU must be prepared to mix incentives with disincentives; i.e. a two track approach.
Human rights, Civil Society and Public Diplomacy
The human rights situation in Iran and the condition of civil society continue to deteriorate. Freedom of expression is widely suppressed, sometimes with violence, e.g. police broke up two peaceful women’s rights demonstrations in Tehran in 2006. Shirin Ebadi’s Centre of Human Rights Defenders has been declared illegal. In September, the Iranian Supervisory Board of the Press shut down four newspapers. Restrictions on the internet have increased. Iran executed more people, including minors, in 2006 than any other country except China . The government has ignored demarches from the EU, e.g. in the case of ten Ahwazi Arabs sentenced to death without access to lawyers or an open trial. Seven of them have since been executed.
The EU has attempted to engage via the Human Rights dialogue but the Iranians have cancelled meetings since 2004. There is no evidence that these meetings have made much impact; nor has public criticism, though the Iranians dislike it. An alternative approach is to engage with the people rather than the government. As well as direct support to human rights activists (where this does not endanger them or damage their cause) assistance in other less sensitive areas, e.g. drugs, environment, health, rescue services, can help build a real civil society. Iran ’s inclusion in the ERASMUS MUNDUS programme offers an opportunity to strengthen academic exchanges. The EU could also explain its policies better to a wider Iranian public. Exposure of European political figures in Persian-speaking and Iranian media- TV radio and internet – would help. Some Member States are taking initiatives in this area. The EU also has successful media training programmes in other regions whioch could be replicated in Iran .
+How can the EU improve its impact on human rights in Iran ?
+How can engagement with civil society best be put into practice? Can Community instruments play a bigger role?
Iran ’s regional role
Recent political change in the Middle East has boosted Iran ’s self-perception as a historical great power and the natural hegemon in the region. Iran feels strengthened by its energy resources, its nuclear programme and developments in the region. But it also feels vulnerable especially to the US , fears which build on a century of Western intervention in different form.
-Saddam Hussein’s overthrow removed Iran ’s most powerful regional enemy. Iran has been able to exert influence though [sic] its connections in the weak Shi’a dominated administration in Baghdad . Tehran attaches great importance to the unity of (a weakened) Iraq . The large-scale presence of US forces in Iraq is uncomfortable for Iran but they perceive the US as bogged down. One of Iran ’s policy aims is to see US forces leave. Hence its support for groups opposing them.
-In Afghanistan , the fall of the Taliban also brought an end to a regime that Iran had opposed. Iran has since spent considerable sums on projects in infrastructure, agriculture, education and energy. Repatriation of the remaining almost one million Afghan refugees in Iran , and dealing with drug trafficking from Afghanistan remain important objectives. Iran is, at least, in contact with anti-Western groups.
- Iran is the primary political and financial supporter of Hizballah in Lebanon and sees Hizballah as a vital foreign and security policy tool .During the Lebanon conflict last summer, Iran maintained regular supplies of weapons to Hizballah. Many of the most lethal and sophisticated weapons that Hizballah used during the conflict were of Iranian manufacture or procured from Iran , such as the Fajr-3 missiles fired at Haifa .
-In Palestine- Iran plays a spoiling role as the only country in the region to reject the two-state solution. It is a major funder and supplier off arms for Palestinian militant groups; it has probably put its weight against a government of national unity. (An Iranian General was recently captured by Fatah during a clash with Hamas.)
All this has led to considerable unease about Iran among Arab countries (and Israel ). The fact that Ahmadinejad is popular at street level does not help.
Iran feels strengthened by developments in the region but still feels it lacks recognition. Steps towards regional stabilisation, especially in the MEPP and Lebanon might help create a more productive climate for negotiation:
+What are the possibilities for the EU to reach out in areas of common interest, e.g. Afghanistan (drugs/border security), Iraq ?
+Can the EU engage with Iran on regional issues, without legitimising disruptive policies and actions? And can it do so while the nuclear issue remains unresolved?
Security Issues
In the absence of guarantees of its exclusively peaceful nature, the Iranian nuclear programme- together with its missile programme- represents a security threat in the region as well as to the international non-proliferation system. Israel considers the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapons capability as an existential threat.
Iran ’s size and its comparatively well-equipped armed forces mean that today it does not face any serious military threat from the region. Its principal security concern is an attack by the US . The Iranians will have noted a change in US language concerning Iran , including in the State of the Union message, and the more aggressive US approach to Iranian interference in Iraq .
Attempts to engage the Iranian administration in a negotiating process have so far not succeeded. The EU3/EU+3 ideas put to Iran in summer 2006 were remarkable in many respects- not least the US offer to begin dismantling their sanctions. Iran ’s rejection makes it difficult to believe that, at least in the short run, they would be ready to establish the conditions for the resumption of negotiations. In practice, despite the suspension of sensitive nuclear activities following the Paris Agreement, the Iranians have pursued their programme at their own pace, the limiting factor being technical difficulties rather than resolutions by the UN or the IAEA. At some stage we must expect that Iran will acquire the capacity to enrich uranium on the scale required for a weapons programme.
UNSCR 1737- and the fact that it was adopted unanimously – has had an impact in Iran , which is not fully measurable at this stage. The sanctions contained in the Resolution have limited direct effect but they come at a moment when the economy is performing poorly, partly because of Iranian mismanagement. Ahmadinejad is under criticism because of rising inflation – officially at 12 per cent, in reality closer to 20 per cent; economic growth around 5 per cent per annum is not keeping up with the need for job creation. Foreign investment has all but dried up, partly because of the nuclear issue and associated action (e.g. restriction on Iranian banks, greater caution of export credit agencies). Without new investment, Iran risks being unable to maintain medium-term oil production, currently 50 per cent of government income.
The problems with Iran will not be resolved through economic sanctions alone. Iran has shown great resilience to outside pressure in the past, for example during the Iran/Iraq war. The government may also exploit the sanctions to benefit nationalism or to explain economic failure. Nevertheless, Iran must understand that the pursuit of policies which the international community rejects is not cost-free.
The EU has agreed to pursue sanctions through the United Nations if the Iranians continues [sic] to reject the decisions of the IAEA Board and the UN Security Council. But it has also agreed to keep the door open to negotiations if Iran decides to meet the requirements in the UN Resolutions.
+How can Iran be persuaded to take the steps needed to start negotiations? How can we attract Iran to the negotiating table?
+Should we press for further UN sanctions if Iran fails to comply with resolution 1737? If so, in which areas?
+If we believe that the unity of the international community is important in handling Iran , how is this best maintained?
Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/9222452a-bb66-11db-afe4- 0000779e2340.html
Tracking Down a Wanted Killer (back)
February 13, 2007
NOTE:
Germany seems to have a national policy of releasing terrorists.
The U.S. has a long memory when it comes to tracking down terrorists responsible for killing one of its citizens.
This doggedness is exemplified by the State Department recently offering a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of Islamic terrorist Mohammed Ali Hamadei.
Mr. Hamadei is under indictment in the U.S. for his role in the June 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight during which Robert Stethem, a 23-year-old Navy Seabee, was killed.
The plane was seized during an Athens-to-Rome flight and diverted to Lebanon with its 153 passengers and crew. The hijackers held the plane for 17 days, and when their demands were not met, they beat Mr. Stethem, shot him in the head and then dumped his body onto the runway of a Beirut airport.
Mr. Stethem's death holds special meaning for many in Ventura County . Not only is the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme the home to some 2,600 fellow Seabees, it is the site where a new guided-missile destroyer named in honor of Mr. Stethem was made part of the Navy's fleet during an emotional ceremony in 1995.
The commissioning was a proud first for the naval base at the time and also for the Navy in that the USS Stethem was the first ship ever named for an enlisted man.
Two years after the hijacking, Mr. Hamadei was arrested, tried and imprisoned in West Germany for smuggling liquid explosives, but was abruptly freed in 2005 by the Germans.
Still, in the eyes of the U.S. government, he remains a fugitive.
The $5 million being offered for Mr. Hamadei's arrest comes from the U.S. Rewards for Justice program, which is run by the State Department. The program is credited with having prevented planned terrorist acts and to have helped capture people involved in past acts.
Mr. Hamadei, who is rumored to have rejoined Hezbollah in Lebanon , needs to be held accountable for the brutal murder of Mr. Stethem.
We hope the reward finally brings justice.
Source: http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/opinion/article/ 0,1375,VCS_125_5347335,00.html
Madrid Accused get Day in Court (back)
February 13, 2007
After the largest criminal investigation in Spanish history, and almost three years after the worst terrorist attack on European soil, the trial of 29 men accused of the bombings on four Madrid trains in March 2004 is to begin tomorrow.
The suspects each face 191 counts of murder — one for each of the victims — and 1755 charges of attempted murder.
After gathering more than 80,000 pages of evidence, investigating judges have confirmed that the bombings were carried out by a local cell inspired by al-Qaeda.
In particular, those involved in planning and carrying out the attacks are believed to have been encouraged to act after listening to a message broadcast by Osama bin Laden in October 2003.
The al-Qaeda leader called on Muslims across the world to attack the interests of a number of countries, including Spain , 'in any place and at any time'.
Bin Laden's message was reinforced by documents placed on the Global Islamic Media website three months before the attacks. The website's 'message to the Spanish people' warned that 'responsibility for the occupation (of Iraq ) falls on the participating armies and its people'.
The perpetrators are believed to have planted 13 backpacks filled with explosives on the four commuter trains about 7am on March 11, 2004. Prosecutors claim that the majority of the suspects due to go on trial this week left fingerprints.
The bombs were triggered 30 minutes later by mobile phones. One failed to explode, however, thereby enabling Spanish police to piece together vital evidence that will form the centrepiece of the prosecutors' case.
Throughout the investigation, the judges have had to contend with a campaign by the opposition Popular Party, which argues that the Basque separatist group ETA was involved in the attacks.
The PP was voted out of office three days after the bombings in what was largely seen as a backlash against the then government's deeply unpopular move to send Spanish troops to participate in the US-led invasion of Iraq .
Judges argue that the trial will disprove any link between the bombings and ETA.
But the trial is expected to point the finger at Spain 's police and anti-terrorism units.
Although several alleged perpetrators were under surveillance in the months leading up to the attacks, no one listened to recordings of their conversations.
Seven ringleaders in the plot blew themselves up in a Madrid apartment on April 3, 2004. A further 87 suspects — including nine Spaniards accused of passing explosives to the perpetrators — still await trial.
Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/madrid-accused-get- day-in-court/2007/02/13/1171128974210.html
Germany Braced for Release of Most Evil Woman (back)
February 13, 2007
A divided Germany will know on Monday whether a former Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorist is to be granted freedom after 24 years behind bars.
Stuttgart's highest court said it will make its decision public -- via the internet -- at 11am, ending weeks of speculation over the fate of Brigitte Mohnhaupt (57), who is serving five life sentences plus 15 years for her involvement in the murders of a banker, a prosecutor and the president of the employers' federation.
The arguments for and against her early release have split the country, creating a debate of the scale and passion that surrounded the case of Moors murderer Myra Hindley.
Unlike other RAF prisoners, Mohnhaupt, who is serving her sentence in Aichach , Bavaria , has never spoken to the press, never applied for clemency and has never expressed remorse for her crimes.
Once described as Germany's 'most evil and dangerous woman', who deployed tactics such as presenting a bouquet of roses to the chief executive of a bank before shooting him five times through the flowers, her parole application has been backed by prosecutors who now say she no longer poses a threat to society.
Until her arrest in November 1982, she was considered the leader of the 'second generation' of the RAF, previously known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, which was founded by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof who committed suicide in their high-security jail in 1977.
A decision also has to be made on Christian Klar, who has also been in prison for 24 years. Unlike Mohnhaupt, Klar (54), who was convicted of nine murders and 11 counts of attempted murder, has two more years left before he is eligible for parole. He has appealed to President Horst Kohler to grant him a pardon; a decision on this is also expected soon.
The cases of Mohnhaupt and Klar -- two of the last four RAF members who remain in jail -- have stirred up traumatic memories of a season of far-left terrorism that gripped the country 30 years ago and was known as the 'German Autumn'. The urban guerrillas disbanded in 1998 after virtually all support for them had dried up.
A stream of films and books are expected to mark the 30th anniversary, reflecting the fascination the era still holds for many Germans. The RAF logo has even become a fashionable symbol on T-shirts and bags.
In Mohnhaupt's favour is the fact that Germany accepts it has moved on -- and so has terrorism. The daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel called Mohnhaupt a 'relic from the Paleozoic era of German terrorism'. Although the majority of Germans are against freeing Mohnhaupt and Klar, most agree that the RAF's ethos and its railings against 'arch-capitalist pigs' and 'imperialist America ' seem positively harmless compared with today's Islamic terrorism threats.
Left-wing politicians have been quick to point out that the time both Mohnhaupt and Klar have served is longer than almost any Nazi war criminal was kept behind bars. Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and armaments chief, was released after 20 years.
Indeed, one of the RAF's grievances was that the German state had pursued the post-war economic miracle at the expense of truly examining its Nazi past. Prominent in this debate have been the families of the Baader-Meinhof Gang's 34 victims -- killed between 1972 and 1991 -- who have told of their continuing loss and pain.
'These people don't deserve mercy,' said Waltrude Schleyer, the 90-year-old widow of Hanns-Martin Schleyer, a former Nazi and head of the employers' federation who was abducted in Cologne on September 5 1977.
Ransom pictures of Schleyer, taken in front of the RAF's star and Kalashnikov trademark, became a potent symbol of the wave of terrorism. Weeks later he was taken to a forest in France and shot dead, his body shoved into the boot of a car.
'The worst part is that we still don't know who pulled the trigger, who the actual murderer was,' said Schleyer's son, Dirk. 'This will remain a mystery if Mohnhaupt and Klar are released. Then we'll never know.'
Source: http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=298693&area= /breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
al-Qaeda Fights, Flees and Frets (back)
February 13, 2007
In Pakistan 's capital, the government has forced the issue of illegal religious schools. Moving to tear down a large school (Jamia Hafsa, which houses 7,000 students), built illegally on public land, the government was confronted with male and female students armed with spears and automatic weapons. The men who founded the school are supporters of al Qaeda, and have met with Osama bin Laden. It's not unusual for religious schools and mosques to be built, without permission, on public land. This is often tolerated, but less so now. The government has already torn down smaller schools and mosques, but Jamia Hafsa is a major operation, and the source of several known Islamic terrorists. The police are massing men to forcibly remove the protesting students. Most of the students have left, but a few hundred of them are armed and proclaiming their readiness to die for the cause. The police believe that only a few of the students will resist, but that remains to be seen.
NATO commanders are trying to get Pakistan to become more active this Spring, when Taliban recruits from Pakistan start moving into Afghanistan . NATO wants the Pakistanis to share information on Taliban movements, and do so in a timely fashion (so NATO troops or aircraft can catch the Taliban as soon as they cross the border.) But the Pakistanis have their hands full with Islamic radicals among the tribes, who are becoming increasingly violent in order to maintain support from fellow tribesmen. In one tribal area, radicals have taken to threatening barbers with violence if any beards are cut off. Tribesmen who tire of Islamic radicalism often have their beards shaved off. Most Islamic radicals grow a beard if they are able.
February 12, 2007: Pressure from armed tribesmen and the Pakistani army has forced many foreign al Qaeda to spend the Winter across the border in Afghanistan . Many Afghan tribesmen will tolerate these foreigners as long as they pay for things and don't misbehave. This is how these foreigners survived in Pakistan since 2001. But increasing pressure from the army and tribal chiefs in Pakistan has forced the al Qaeda men to seek safer hideouts.
In central India (Chhattisgarh), six Maoist rebels were arrested, and bomb making material seized. Last year, half the 794 victims of Maoist violence died in Chhattisgarh.
February 11, 2007: Pakistan admitted that, although they forbid it, they have tolerated American artillery in Afghanistan firing across the border at Taliban mortar and rocket teams, that were themselves firing across the border into Afghanistan . The Taliban also send teams across the border to attack American camps with AK-47s, RPGs and hand grenades. The survivors of these attacks then flee back across the border, and American artillery can often catch them on the trails.
February 10, 2007: In the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar , a bomb was set off outside a Red Cross office. Foreign aid groups are often attacked by Islamic terrorists, or extorted by local gangs. The terrorists want all foreigners out, the gangs want to get paid. In southwest Pakistan , tribal rebels blew up a natural gas pipeline, interrupting gas supplies to the city of Quetta for 12 hours.
February 9, 2007: In southwest Pakistan , 400 rebel Baluchi tribesmen surrendered themselves and their weapons, in return for amnesty. The army has never let up in their operations against rebellious Baluchi tribes. To the north, some Pushtun tribes have made deals to keep the army out, but these arrangements are falling apart as it becomes clear that the Pushtuns are not keeping their end of the bargain, which included shutting down Taliban and al Qaeda activities. However, the Pushtun chiefs are often caught in the middle between pro and anti Taliban/al Qaeda factions.
February 8, 2007: In Pakistan, Pushtun tribal leaders in the northwest denied that they had anything to do with five terrorist bombing attacks around the country in the last two weeks. These attacks were apparently hastily planned and carried out, and did little damage. One of the more widely covered was a guy going to the airport and blowing himself up with a hand grenade. However, the government believes the attacks were a response to increasing government pressure on Islamic radicals. This includes closing illegal religious schools and trying to halt Taliban operations along the Afghan border.
February 7, 2007: In the last month, India has moved an additional 13,000 troops to the northeast, to deal with tribal rebels and attacks on migrants to tribal lands.
Source: http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/india/articles/20070213.aspx
Senior Atom Inspector Removed from Iran Post (back)
February 13, 2007
by Mark Heinrich
The veteran official who has overseen U.N. nuclear inspections in Iran has been removed from his post nine months after Tehran banned him from entering the country, a senior diplomat said on Tuesday.
Chris Charlier, a Belgian in charge of the Iran dossier at the International Atomic Energy Agency, will be switched to IAEA section head for Brazil and Argentina from April 1, said the diplomat, familiar with agency operations.
Iran , slapped with U.N. sanctions in December for refusing to stop enriching uranium for nuclear fuel and impeding IAEA inquiries spurred by suspicions of a covert atom bomb project, had written the IAEA last month demanding Charlier's ouster.
The senior diplomat said IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei had decided to take Charlier off the Iran file not to appease Iran, whose demand Washington called 'outrageous', but because the Iranian ban had handicapped his ability to perform his job.
He dismissed Iranian allegations that Charlier was biased against Tehran and had passed confidential data about Iranian nuclear sites to Western powers arrayed against Tehran .
'But there was no magic solution. Iran will not give Charlier a visa. Being unable to go into Iran , he could not do the job effectively enough. Charlier was told of the decision last week,' the diplomat told Reuters.
Charlier, with 25 years experience in the IAEA, is to be replaced as Iran section head by another inspector of similar seniority with previous experience in Saddam Hussein's Iraq .
IAEA CANNOT 'PARACHUTE' INTO IRAN
'Of course Iran cannot tell the IAEA who to assign to Iran . But they have the sovereign right to reject an inspector they may not like. The IAEA cannot shoot its way into Iran or parachute people in,' the diplomat said.
'I know some (IAEA) member states will say the agency buckled to Iranian pressure. But the IAEA has other very qualified personnel who can fill this job. The IAEA cannot cling to one man in one position like this (at a time like this).'
Last month, the United States accused Iran of 'inspector shopping' in seeking Charlier's exit. 'The tone of those kinds of actions are indicative of their continued defiance,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at the time.
Iran last month also banned 38 inspectors -- all nationals of Western states that sponsored or backed the U.N. sanctions resolution -- among the 200 assigned to work full or part-time in the Islamic Republic.
Tehran , the world's No. 4 oil exporter, says its efforts to enrich uranium are meant solely to generate electricity as an alternative energy source.
However, an internal European Union document has concluded that Iran will at some point be able to develop sufficient weapons-grade material for a nuclear bomb, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
'Attempts to engage the Iranian administration in a negotiating process have not so far succeeded,' said the document, compiled by the staff of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
The Iranian government declared Charlier persona non grata after he was quoted by a German newspaper as saying the Iranians were probably hiding sensitive activity from the IAEA.
He also complained in a BBC documentary of Iranians shadowing inspectors with video cameras.
Some diplomats said the IAEA leadership was not pleased with the quoted remarks as they departed from a general rule among inspectors to avoid the media to help ensure the confidentiality of their work. But after the comments and Iran 's ban, the IAEA said Charlier would remain as Iran section chief.
In January, ElBaradei said Iran was trying to cut the number of IAEA inspectors but that regular surveillance could go on.
'This reduced somewhat the flexibility we have, but I should say we have over 100 inspectors in Tehran, so we have enough people to do the job,' he told CNN television.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/2/13/world updates/2007-02-13T120622Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJO NC_0_-287411-2&sec=Worldupdates
TERRORIST CONNECTIONS
C.W. Post Caves To CAIR (back)
February 13, 2007
By Beila Rabinowitz and William A. Mayer
C.W. Post Caves To CAIR, Hit With Multi-Million Dollar Discrimination Lawsuit
In what is another instance of an American university using the philosophy of multiculturalism like a Stalinist boot to crush the free exchange of ideas on campus, Long Island university C.W. Post on February 5 fired five students from their resident assistant jobs upon learning that they had made a video parody about a terrorist kidnapping.
In the short film the ski-masked students are seen holding a rubber duck at knifepoint and demanding IPods in exchange for the toy's 'life.'
Actually the student's 'crime' was violating the university's policy of abstemiousness with regard to offending Muslims.
Fortunately the five have retained attorney Frederick K. Brewington who has managed to secure an injunction against the university's precipitous firing while slapping C.W. Post with a $2.5 million wrongful termination and discrimination suit, the only thing that cuts through the chaff in America 's academic gulags.
The local chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] has predictably seized on the incident with Ghazi Khankan the former director of the NY chapter of CAIR and currently a board member of the American Muslim Alliance [AMA], acting as an official Muslim spokesman on the matter.
About the controversy, Khankan stated, 'The harm that generates out of such jokes stereotypes Muslim Americans!'
Given the fact that the parody video is directed against terrorists one must wonder why Khankan is in such a lather over the depiction of them in the film?
Perhaps Mr. Khankan's record of pro-Islamist statements might provide enlightenment on that question:
'Khankan has declared that '‘Jihad’ is known in the West as waging holy war, which is utter nonsense.' Yet, at an anti-war rally held in Washington , D.C. , where a previous speaker 'called for the overthrow of the U.S. government,' Khankan addressed the protesters by stating, 'I bring you salaams and greetings from the Mujahadeen at CAIR.'
In Yossef Bodansky’s book, BIN LADEN: THE MAN WHO DECLARED WAR ON AMERICA , Mujahadeen is defined as 'Those who wage the jihad; Islam’s holy warriors.' At another anti-war rally, Khankan was a featured speaker along with Sami Al Arian…After 9/11 he told ABC News that the attacks were America’s own fault stating: 'I believe that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Look what our government has done overseas to other countries.'
[source http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12246]
Of note, the AMA, CAIR and the below identified organizations [all of which have their roots in Saudi Wahhabism] have joined together to form the AMT-PAC, a political action committee which is working to Islamize the U.S. one elective office at a time.
American Muslim Alliance (AMA), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), Muslim American Society (MAS), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), Muslim Student Association-National (MSA-N), Project Islamic Hope (PIH), and United Muslims of America (UMA) [source http://www.amaweb.org/images/special/AMA%20ENDORSEMENT.pdf]
The acute sensistivities put forth publicly by the Islamists however only seems to be apparent when the target is America and CAIR's attorneys are seen circling like vultures.
The standards quickly shift however when people such as Azhar Usman appear as stand up performers before CAIR, ISNA and other radical Muslim groups.
Usman's bizarre comedy performance at a recent CAIR benefit is typical, featuring material such as:
'Assalam Aleikum' For those who don't know what that means, I'll explain it to you.' It means: I'm going to kill you.'
'I'm Osama Bin Laden's cousin, they call me 'Bin Laughing'
'I get a lot of dirty dirty looks these days. I want to stop people in the street and say 'Yes, I am a Muslim! 'But I'm an American Muslim. I'm very patriotic! In fact I would die for this country by blowing myself up, in a Dunkin Donuts!' [source, see video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1308188793775442903&q=azhar+usman]
Instead of a lawsuit, this ''terrorism humor' earned accolades from none other then CAIR's National Legal director Arsalan Iftikhar who stated that 'Azhar Usman and the 'Allah Made Me Funny' tour are taking their cue from the very best of American comic tradition.'
While administrators like C.W. Post's Campus Provost Joseph Shenker take such immoderate action against the right of students to freely express themselves - bowing to Muslim intimidation - others in similar capacity on other campuses have demonstrated an incredible amount of tolerance towards radical Muslim student groups, funding them out of college coffers and allowing them to disrupt speeches by people that they disagree with while their compatriots talk about jihad outside of those venues as recently occurred in a lecture given by Dr. Daniel Pipes at UC Irvine:
'...so we will keep on doing what we are doing...our weapon...our jihad...our way of struggling in this country is with our tongues...We speak out and we deflate their morale...and this is the best we can do right now...And our brothers and sisters on the other side of the world are handling business in their own way...Takbir, Allahu Akhbar!' [source Calls For Jihad Follow Disruption Of Address By Dr. Daniel Pipes At UC Irvine]
It's time to shut the door on CAIR's cultural jihad and demand for dhimmitude.
If you want to oppose this college's outrageous treatment of the five targeted students contact the school's administration, especially C.W. Post's provost at 516-299-2701, Joe.shenker@liu.edu and let them know that freedom of thought is vital to Western civilization and that it's intolerable to allow the radical Muslims and their leftist sympathizers to impose a pro-Islamist straight jacket on political and intellectual expression.
Source: http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=cwpost21207.htm
Higher Ed's Support for Terrorism (back)
February 13, 2007
by Jason Rantz
Many of us are aware of how bad things are on college campuses regarding free speech, but when colleges silence those who speak out to defeat our enemies, this is where FSM Contributing Editor Jason Rantz draws the line.
A dangerous trend is brewing on our college campuses, and it’s empowering our enemies. As bastions of far left political thought, college campuses are doing what they can to give soap boxes to students and professors who are against the War on Terror, while silencing anyone on campus who dares to support our efforts to defeat our enemies.
Take, for example, recent events at San Francisco State University (SFSU), where the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) reports on a frightening disrespect for free speech:
…San Francisco State University (SFSU) is investigating its College Republicans for hosting an anti-terrorism rally on campus in which participants stepped on makeshift Hezbollah and Hamas flags. After students filed a complaint claiming they were offended because the flags bore the word 'Allah,' SFSU initiated an investigation into accusations of incitement, creation of a hostile environment, and incivility.
Remarkably, SFSU wants to punish students for engaging in an anti-terrorism rally. Somehow, arguing that terrorism is evil and unnecessary turns into a threat to someone’s feelings – someone, unbelievably, is offended that the campus Republican club would like to stomp out terrorism. Quite a state of affairs on our college campuses, isn’t it? One would think promoting terrorism would be offensive, but one would make the mistake of actually using logic to explain the actions of hypersensitive, far-leftist campus administrators.
And don’t think for a second that this behavior is relegated to the nut jobs of San Francisco. It’s happening across the country.
At the University of Michigan, some students actually protested a speech by three former Islamic terrorists who now preach peace and civility. The campus group Young Americans for Freedom invited Walid Shoebat, Zachariah Annani and Kamal Saleem to a lecture appropriately titled 'Terrorism: The World's Greatest Threat.'
According to the Michigan Daily, 'More than 300 people - including both students and non-students - protested [the] event.' The article documents hecklers who repeatedly interrupted the speech. Apparently, the group of protesters was upset that the lecture promotes that all Muslims are terrorists.
At Long Island University, student comedians were fired from their on-campus jobs as Resident Advisors (RAs) for producing a YouTube.com video that mocked terrorist hostage videos.
In their parody, students donned ski masks and spoke in Middle Eastern accents – their kidnap victim? The dormitory’s unofficial mascot: a rubber ducky. Again, apparently mocking terrorists is considered offensive to the campus community.
Georgia Tech is equally as ludicrous, as Sara Dogan, the National Campus Director of Students for Academic Freedom, explains:
In a decision that reveals the state of denial on American campuses, the editorial board of the Georgica Tech student paper – The Georgia Tech Technique -- has rejected an ad from the Terrorism Awareness Project, warning students about the threat that radical Islam poses to America.
Titled 'What Americans Need To Know About Jihad,' the TAP ad warns students that 'the goal of jihad is world domination' and 'Jihad’s battle cry is ‘Death to America.’' The ad includes quotes from several radical Islamic leaders such as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who has declared, 'Our hostility to the Great Satan [America] is absolute. Death to America. I encourage Palestinians to take suicide bombings worldwide.'
According to Dogan, an editor at The Technique rejected the ad because 'it was ‘hateful,’ ‘offensive,’ and ‘misleading’' and that 'In particular, the editor was upset that the ad draws a connection between Islamic radicals and the Nazis.' I guess the editor has a point about Islamists and Nazis being different – Islamic radicals do seem to hate more people than the Nazis did. But, somehow I doubt that the editor was upset about that point. In the editor’s world, Islamic radicals aren’t evil enough to be compared to Nazis. At least the editor considers Nazis vile. It’s about baby steps, people.
There are so many examples like this on campus where those who are speaking out against terrorism are being silenced. It leads one to wonder whose side these universities are on.
Source: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/homeland.php?id=727930
Heart wrenching.
D.C. Imam Glorifies Khomeini (back)
February 13, 2007
D.C. imam glorifies Khomeini, justifies suicide bombing, preaches Islamic supremacism
It's all about the Saudi Wahhabis, you say? Other Muslim groups teach peace? Consider this: here is a Washington, D.C. Muslim community that is at odds with the Saudis, and has had several bitter confrontations with them. Details here. But the leader of the anti-Saudi group, Imam Mohammad al-‘Asi, doesn't seem to have any disagreements with them regarding what ought to be done with infidels. He excoriates them for making deals with the kuffar -- unbelievers. In 'The Unknown Prophet: Forgotten Dimensions of the Seerah,' he writes:
Our first priority should be to rediscover and relearn how our commanding Prophet approached the issue of power: how he set about dislodging the power of kufr [unbelief] and consolidating the power of Muslims. This should be the burning issue for every Muslim who no longer tolerates a continuation of generations and centuries that have been spent on explaining matters of personal hygiene, night prayers, and a terrifying argument about the exact minute if not the exact second when a Muslim should break his fast (in other words, does night begin with sunset or with nightfall?)! The millions of Muslims who are lost to hunger, illiteracy, malnutrition, refugeehood, and warfare every year do not allow us the ivory-tower and slow-motion ‘da'wah approach' (favored and sponsored by those arch-enemies of the Prophet's Sunnah and Seerah, the usurpers of the Haramain) [that is, the Saudis] that are responsible for our sad state of affairs from Morocco to Makkah as well as from Mongolia to Madinah. We should not be studying hair-splitting fiqhi issues in halaqat (study sessions and circles); we should be learning how to consolidate our social will-power and how to form active and status-quo-challenging units throughout our African and Asian lands to reclaim them for Islam.
In other words, we must work to reestablish Sharia in Muslim lands. Will he stop with Muslim lands? I doubt it. To do so would be to transgress Muhammad's command.
His conclusion is that Muhammad's example should become the basis for a revolutionary movement, just as Maududi, Qutb, and other contemporary jihad theorists have emphasized:
Imagine if there were Muslims who took Islam as seriously as the Prophet did, and at this level of understanding, would we be where we are today? Billions of dollars that are spent of individualizing and secularizing Islam would become the concern of the Islamic movement that draws its inspiration from the way the Prophet of Allah set about on his 23 year mission of destroying the injustices that come from wealth and power accumulations and excesses. This much-needed reconsideration of Muhammad (saw) is the rapturous issue of our time; the past several generations have proven that as long as the Prophet is unidentified as a model for radical ideological change the Muslims will continue to limp from one setback to another.
In the Lecture at the bottom of this page, he lionizes Khomeini, the man who said: 'Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured by [the unbelievers]? Islam says: Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]…. Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of other [Qur’anic] psalms and Hadiths [sayings of the Prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.'
Source: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015242.php
RE: UTAH: FBI rules out terrorism; authorities tracing shooter's guns - URL
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20070214/FRONTPAGE/70214004
FBI rules out terrorism; authorities tracing shooter's guns
By PAUL FOY Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY
The FBI said Wednesday it has no reason to believe the shooting spree
that
killed five people in a shopping mall was an act of Islamic terrorism,
leaving a young Bosnian immigrant's motives a mystery.
"It's just unexplainable," FBI agent Patrick Kiernan said. "He was just
walking around and shooting everybody he saw."
Sulejman Talovic, 18, fired randomly at shoppers Monday, killing five
and
leaving four others with bullet wounds before he was shot dead by
police.
"We are Muslims, but we are not terrorists," the boy's aunt, Ajka
Omerovic,
said Wednesday at the family's house. She rejected any religious motive
for
the shooting and said the family can't explain it.
The Talovic family fled war-torn Bosnia for Utah in 1998 "to be free,"
she
said.
Talovic's parents don't speak English and aren't answering knocks on
their
door. Omerovic said the boy's mother is distraught and that the father
_ her
brother _ normally works "dusk to dawn" in construction.
Authorities, meanwhile, are investigating how Talovic acquired one of
his
weapons, a .38-caliber pistol, which is illegal for a teenager to
possess,
said Lori Dyer, in charge of the local office of the U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Those efforts were delayed Wednesday when an East Coast storm shut down
ATF
offices, she said.
Talovic was heavily armed with ammunition, a shotgun and a .38-caliber
pistol.
"You can buy long guns at 18. That's not a problem. The handgun he
shouldn't
have had, so obviously we're going to look at where he got that gun,"
Dyer
said.
Omerovic said Talovic never displayed any guns. "We want to know, who
sold
these guns to him," she said.
Police tape was removed from the parking lot and Trolley Square
reopened
Wednesday, although it was up to each shop whether to resume business.
Workers repaired pillars damaged by shotgun blasts and covered broken
windows with plywood.
"We're opening the mall, not in the sense of business as usual but to
let
the healing begin," said Tom Bard, an executive at Scanlan Kemper Bard
Cos.
of Portland, Ore.
A card store called Cabin Fever _ where some of the bodies were found _
won't reopen until Feb. 21, but the owner offered free Valentine's Day
cards
outside the door. The sign said: "Don't forget to tell someone you love
them
today."
John and Amanda Redford of Ogden, in town to celebrate their second
wedding
anniversary, walked around the mall.
"Just curious," John Redford said. "It's pretty weird to know that it
just
happened a couple of days ago."
Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank said the rampage could have
been
even worse if not for the quick actions of an off-duty officer from
Ogden,
Ken Hammond, who engaged Talovic in a shootout before other officers
arrived.
Talovic wanted to "to kill a large number of people," Burbank said
Tuesday.
At 16, Talovic was taken out of high school by his mother to work, Salt
Lake
City school district spokesman Jason Olsen said.
Talovic worked for two months as a general laborer at Aramark Uniform
Services, an industrial launderer and uniform-rental company, manager
Trent
Thorn said.
On the day of the shooting, Talovic appeared for his regular shift, 8
a.m.
to 5 p.m., said Thorn, who declined to say anything personal about him.
Talovic was a legal U.S. resident, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman
with
the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Talovic was only 4 when he and his mother fled their village of
Talovici on
foot after Serbian forces overran it in 1993, people close to the
family
told The Associated Press.
He lived as a refugee in Bosnia from 1993 to 1998, when his family
moved to
the United States, they said.
During that period, he spent some time in Srebrenica, the northeastern
enclave where up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in 1995
by
Serb forces.
Talovic left Srebrenica two years before the massacre, but
acquaintances
suggested it may have left an indelible mark on the quiet little boy
they
knew.
"That's why I'm convinced the war did this in Utah," said Murat Avdic,
a
friend of the family. "There cannot be any other reason."
Four people who were shot at the mall remained in hospitals, two in
critical
condition and two listed as serious on Wednesday.
___
Associated Press writers Debbie Hummel in Salt Lake City and Aida
Cerkez-Robinson in Sarajevo contributed to this story.
http://jcb.blogs.com/jcb_blog/2007/02/yeslam_bin_lade.html
[hidden urls in article]
February 14, 2007
Yeslam Bin Laden indicted and ordered for trial
A year ago, I filed a criminal defamation complaint against Yeslam Bin Laden in the High District Court of Paris, France, after he had made various defamatory statements during an interview published in November 2005.
On February 5, 2007 the French investigative judge issued an “Order for Trial” stating that Yeslam Bin Laden has been indicted and that he is now ordered to appear on trial, an interesting development coming after years of legal harassment against me from Osama Bin Laden’s half-brother.
Yeslam Bin Laden’s companies have been under investigation in France for potential money laundering and terrorism financing since 2001. In December 2006 the case was dismissed for lack of evidence after the Swiss authorities refused to communicate banking records relating to the case. During the course of the French investigation, I appeared as a witness and revealed that Yeslam Bin Laden had maintained a joint bank account with Osama Bin Laden in Switzerland until 1997, while he previously denied having had "any contact with his half-brother for the past 20 years".
Posted at 01:19 PM | Permalink
http://www.kirotv.com/news/11000425/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=eastsidenews
Bomb Scare Leads To Evacuation Of Elementary School
POSTED: 9:45 am PST February 13, 2007
UPDATED: 1:12 pm PST February 13, 2007
ENUMCLAW, Wash. -- An elementary school near Enumclaw was evacuated on Tuesday morning after someone discovered a homemade device had exploded overnight, breaking three or four windows and damaging metal ductwork.
The explosive device was made from fireworks, sheriff's deputies said. It was placed on an air conditioner duct outside Westwood Elementary School.
The school was evacuated as a precaution while deputies searched the school to make sure there were no more explosives. Students returned to the school later in the morning.
King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart said there is no immediate danger. No one was hurt.
Westwood has about 345 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_5223550
Explosive found near homes
By Bethania Palma, Staff Writer
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
AZUSA - A potentially deadly explosive hidden in a cardboard box forced the evacuation of dozens of residents Monday night.
Azusa resident Christian Baldeo, 34, said he walked out Monday to the box, which was sitting by a street light near his front yard, and removed the lid with his foot.
"I looked inside and saw a timer and a red light flashing," he said.
Baldeo and his housemates live in a home on the 600 block of Homerest Avenue near Renwick Road. They said they noticed the box over the weekend and called police Monday only after learning no one in the house knew anything about it.
Police evacuated about 20 homes in the vicinity until the bomb squad rendered the device safe. Officials said it was "capable of causing great bodily injury or death."
"We didn't think much of it, because that's where we leave our trash," said Jelani Aldredge, 26, one of Baldeo's housemates.
Police responded about 5:15 p.m. and called the Los Angeles County sheriff's bomb squad, said Azusa police Sgt. Andy Sutcliffe. He said there are no suspects at this time.
"The reasoning and motive behind it isn't clear," Sutcliffe said.
Azusa Lt. Steve Hunt said it's unlikely there was a specific intended victim, based on the placement of the box.
"Because it was on a \, we don't believe the resident was a specific target per se," he said. "But our investigation is open and ongoing."
Hunt said there was a "level of sophistication" to the makeup of the device, but added that "the designs are readily available on the Internet and other media."
Police declined to provide any other details on how the explosive was made.
Baldeo and Aldredge said they couldn't think of any motives for the explosive to be dropped in front of their house.
"We pretty much stay to ourselves here," Baldeo said. "We've never had any problems with anyone before."
Aldredge added that "we all just work. We don't have any enemies or anything."
They said they are more wary of their surroundings now.
"It \ to feel you're not safe in your own home," Baldeo said.
Anyone with any information about the device or who may have placed it is asked to call Hunt or Cpl. John Madaloni at (626)812-3200.
bethania.palma@sgvn.com
(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2393
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