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Our people do not like anyone messing with who we are loyal too!
A web wise terror network
COMMUNICATING OBJECTIVES
Analysts believe that in some cases, messages are issued to set broad strategic objectives or target lists of places and people who should be subject to attack with the hope that independent cells, individuals and networks will then act on these in their own way.
They sometimes display a high degree of political awareness. One important paper entitled "Jihadi Iraq: Hopes and Dangers", spotted in Norway in December, looks at how members of the coalition occupying Iraq could be peeled off through terrorist attacks.
Spain is identified as presenting a particular opportunity given the general election that was then a few months off. It could, of course, be a coincidence that Madrid was then targeted just days before its election, but no one is sure.
There is less evidence of the internet being used by the Al Qaeda core for issuing specific orders or operational commands, or even for fundraising.
Email is used more often, but al-Qaeda operatives are trained to avoid detection, only using cyber-cafes briefly and using an email account for only one message before abandoning it.
Complex but publicly available encryption could also be used, but using this technology could draw attention - rendering regular message boards and groups a safer way of operating.
The 9/11 hijackers communicated through internet chat rooms, often using codenames and codewords for their plans. There is also some debate over a technique called steganography, which involves embedding secret messages within publicly available files and images on the internet, but there is little evidence so that al-Qaeda has used this.
Similarly there is some debate over whether messages from Osama Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri contain any kind of message triggering groups around the world to attack. Again here the evidence is mixed. (snipped)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/3716908.stm
WMD Report Asserts France was Bribed by Iraq
WMD Report ^ | WMD Report
Posted on 10/06/2004 11:29:16 PM EDT by cohokie
... Moreover, the IIS paper targeted a number of French individuals that the Iraqi's thought had close relations to French President Chirac, including, according to the Iraqi assessment, the offi cial spokesperson of President Chirac's re-election campaign, two reported "counselors" of President Chirac, and two well-known French businessmen. In May 2002, IIS correspondence addressed to Saddam stated that a MFA (quite possibly an IIS offi cer under diplomatic cover) met with French parliamentarian to discuss Iraq-Franco relations. The French politician assured the Iraqi that France would use its veto in the UNSC against any American decision to attack Iraq, according to the IIS memo.
From Baghdad's perspective, the MFA concluded that the primary motive for French continued support and cooperation with Iraq in the UN was economic. According to Tariq Aziz, French oil companies wanted to secure two large oil contracts; Russian companies not only wanted to secure (or lock in) oil contracts, but also sought other commercial contracts covering agricultural, electricity, machinery, food, and automobiles and trucks products. ....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1237515/posts
Sorry if this related article was already posted here:
Saddam and the French Connection
The Scotsman ^ | Thu 7 Oct 2004 | FRASER NELSON, FRASER NELSON AND JAMES KIRKUP
Posted on 10/06/2004 8:10:59 PM EDT by Ginifer
Key points
• Saddam bribery revealed • WMD said to have been destroyed • Blair accepts mistake over WMD
Key quote "Just as I have had to accept that the evidence now is that there were not stockpiles of actual weapons ready to be deployed, I hope others have the honesty to accept that the report also shows that sanctions weren’t working" - Tony Blair
SADDAM HUSSEIN believed he could avoid the Iraq war with a bribery strategy targeting Jacques Chirac, the President of France, according to devastating documents released last night.
Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American and British inspectors, show the dictator was told as early as May 2002 that France - having been granted oil contracts - would veto any American plans for war.
But the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), which returned its full report last night, said Saddam was telling the truth when he denied on the eve of war that he had any weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He had not built any since 1992.
The ISG, who confirmed last autumn that they had found no WMD, last night presented detailed findings from interviews with Iraqi officials and documents laying out his plans to bribe foreign businessmen and politicians.
Although they found no evidence that Saddam had made any WMD since 1992, they found documents which showed the "guiding theme" of his regime was to be able to start making them again with as short a lead time as possible."
Saddam was convinced that the UN sanctions - which stopped him acquiring weapons - were on the brink of collapse and he bankrolled several foreign activists who were campaigning for their abolition. He personally approved every one.
To keep America at bay, he focusing on Russia, France and China - three of the five UN Security Council members with the power to veto war. Politicians, journalists and diplomats were all given lavish gifts and oil-for-food vouchers.
Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister, told the ISG that the "primary motive for French co-operation" was to secure lucrative oil deals when UN sanctions were lifted. Total, the French oil giant, had been promised exploration rights.
Iraqi intelligence officials then "targeted a number of French individuals that Iraq thought had a close relationship to French President Chirac," it said, including two of his "counsellors" and spokesman for his re-election campaign.
They even assessed the chances for "supporting one of the candidates in an upcoming French presidential election." Chirac is not mentioned by name.
A memo sent to Saddam dated in May last year from his intelligence corps said they met with a "French parliamentarian" who "assured Iraq that France would use its veto in the UN Security Council against any American decision to attack Iraq."
Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, last night said again that he was wrong to suggest Saddam had WMD - but asked the British public to accept that Iraq would probably have acquired such weapons if he had not acted.
However, the ISG uncovered millions of pages of documents and, after interviewing scores of captured Iraqis - including Mr Aziz - the report lays out what it says is were plans to end the United Nations sanctions then start to acquire weapons.
Saddam, it says, even fooled his own military chiefs into believing that he had WMD. This was designed to deter uprising from rebel Iraqis, on whom he deployed mustard gas in 1988, and aggressors in the Middle East.
Speaking during his trip to Ethiopia last night, the Prime Minister referred to his speech last week where he admitted being "wrong" in the main part of his case for war but right to see a gathering threat in Iraq.
"Just as I have had to accept that the evidence now is that there were not stockpiles of actual weapons ready to be deployed, I hope others have the honesty to accept that the report also shows that sanctions weren’t working," he said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1237356/posts
City councilors inquire about bargain deal for mosque
The Associated Press, Oct. 6, 2004
BOSTON
A Boston city councilor called for an investigation into how a Muslim organization building a $22 million mosque acquired a prime piece of property at a bargain price.
Councilor Jerry McDermott, vice chairman of the Post Audit and Oversight Committee, ordered a hearing into why the city sold the two-acre parcel for $175,000 to the Islamic Society of Boston, which has been accused of having ties to extremist Muslims.
The land on Malcolm X Boulevard was assessed at $401,000. The deal with the Islamic Society included "in-kind benefits," including a lecture series, to Roxbury Community College.
"We want a full accounting by the end of the month," McDermott said. "If they can afford a $22 million mosque, why can't they pay fair-market value for the land?"
Councilor James Kelly said he wants to know whether the Islamic Society is linked to Muslim extremists, as some critics say. (snipped)
http://www.tkb.org/NewsStory.jsp?storyID=34642
Interesting information Penguino. Thanks.
Thanks for posting that, Honestly. So there is no concrete proof of a "go code" before every attack. That the jury is still out on that is somewhat sobering. We may never see or hear a warning even if we are looking and listening earnestly for it.
I am not sure if this article was already posted in an earlier form today. But here is the latest with additional details... Casey just posted it at IH.
Briton charged in terror conspiracy
Money allegedly raised from U.S.-based Web sites
From Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve
and Producer Jonathan Wald
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Court documents have revealed alleged communications between a British citizen and Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, an al Qaeda computer expert arrested in Pakistan in July.
The newly released indictment alleges that Babar Ahmad communicated with Naeem Noor Khan, an al Qaeda expert arrested in Pakistan in July.
Until U.S. officials leaked the arrest of Khan to reporters, Pakistan had been using him to track down al Qaeda operatives around the world, Pakistan intelligence sources said in early August.
In background briefings with journalists, unnamed U.S. government officials said it was the capture of Khan that provided the information that led Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to announce a higher terror alert level.
Ahmad, 30, is accused of using U.S.-based Web sites to raise money for terrorists, including Chechen leader Shamil Basayev, who has claimed responsibility for the Beslan school massacre in Russia.
The indictment also charges Ahmad with conspiracy to provide support to terrorists, including helping to ship gas masks to the Taliban; providing material support to terrorists; conspiracy to kill, kidnap or injure people in a foreign country; and money laundering.
The charges carry maximum penalties that range from 10 years to life in prison.
Ahmad was arrested in London on August 5. An affidavit supporting his extradition to the United States also was made public Wednesday.
The document states authorities found what appears to be a 1960s or 1970s tourist brochure for the Empire State Building during a search of Ahmad's residence. That brochure includes details about the building, including its ventilation system. It also features aerial shots of the building from north, east, south and west, and a map.
The search also allegedly discovered two manuals containing detailed instructions on guerilla warfare tactics.
The affidavit also details e-mail correspondence indicating Ahmad sought to purchase up to 5,000 pounds of phosphate-based fertilizers and large amounts of several chemicals for a third party.
It also alleges Ahmad purchased 100 cold weather camouflage combat suits from a company on Long Island and had them delivered to himself in Britain in 1998.
Authorities also found a floppy disc that detailed movements in 2001 of a U.S. Navy battle group in the Strait of Hormuz, and discusses its vulnerability to terrorist attack, according to the affidavit. "Weakness: They have nothing to stop a small craft with RPG etc, except their SEALs' stinger missiles."
Ahmad allegedly exchanged e-mails with a U.S. Navy enlistee aboard the USS Benfold at about the same time.
One e-mail from the sailor allegedly voices enmity toward the "American enemies" and expresses support for those who attacked the USS Cole, calling them "men who have brought honor this week to the ummah in the lands of Jihad Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya."
Ahmad allegedly replied, telling the sailor to "keep up the psychological warfare."
The indictment accuses Ahmad of maintaining several Web sites, including azzam.com, which posted messages saying "the best way of helping Jihad and the Mujahadeen is by actually going to the lands of Jihad and physically fighting.
"The first and most important thing that Muslims can do in the West is to donate money," the Web sites state, according to the document.
It also allegedly directs readers to obtain firearms training and, where permissible, obtain an assault rifle. "Military training is an Islamic obligation, not an option."
The Web sites, according to the indictment, provided instruction for the surreptitious transfer of funds to the Chechen Mujahadeen and the Taliban, and instructions for travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight with these groups.
Michael Garcia, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement called the indictment "a significant development in our efforts to target those who are alleged to equip and bankroll terrorists via the Internet."
Ahmad is being held at Woodhill Prison near London and has had three hearings at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London to determine whether his extradition can go ahead. His next extradition hearing is to take place Thursday.
On April 6, U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor said he expected Ahmad to fight extradition.
"I don't expect it to happen very quickly, even with the cooperation of our counterparts, because there are certain rights that this individual is afforded," he said. "It could take more than one year."
In a letter published in September in the British newspaper The Guardian, Ahmad wrote, "I can't comment on the case as my lawyers are dealing with it, but I am optimistic."
"I can't believe that the government can extradite a British citizen to the land that invented Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram, for his human rights to be abused for "crimes" allegedly committed in Britain."
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/LAW/10/06/terror.indictment
Even though the experts still debate on whether the messages trigger attacks, we know that something is being communicated through them. I feel like the analysis at TM is thorough and focuses on logic, but the fact that al Qaeda is not logical makes any analysis precarious.
As long as the gang spokesperson quoted in the article is not a Muslim that is!
Last Update: 07/10/2004 01:11
Martin Indyk: Assad offering to make peace with Israel
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Syrian President Bashar Assad is offering to make peace with Israel and says he is ready to cooperate with the United States in stabilizing Iraq, a former senior State Department official said Wednesday.
"Something is going on in Syria and it is time for us to pay attention," said Martin Indyk, assistant secretary of state for the Near East and U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration.
In a three-hour meeting with the Syrian president last month in Damascus, Indyk said he detected a "clear change" in Assad's views on a number of fronts.
On peacemaking, Assad offered to hold talks with Israel without preconditions, Indyk said, and had made several overtures to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the latter rebuffed.
In the past, Indyk said, Syria had insisted that any peace talks should resume where they left off during the Clinton administration - with Israel offering to give up all of the Golan Heights, a strategic area Israel won in the 1967 Mideast war.
And, Indyk said, Assad had dropped a demand that Israel reach an agreement with the Palestinians before Israel could resume negotiations with Syria.
On the domestic side, Indyk said, Assad spoke "about the need to reform the government."
"It's worth watching and it is worth testing," Indyk said at a seminar at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, of which Indyk is the director.
Indyk said Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa was not at his meeting with Assad, evidence the former American diplomat said that change was under way and that al-Sharaa "and others in the old guard are being systematically silenced."
On Monday, Assad shuffled his Cabinet. Ghazi Kenaan, 62, until two years ago Syria's top intelligence general in neighboring Lebanon, was named interior minister. Al-Sharaa retained his post. (snipped)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/485831.html
I dunno about this one... I'd like to believe in another Libya turnover... But this is too close to where all the action is... Maybe someone is putting pressure on Assad.... anyone have any clues?
Quite an article. The French are going to love this.
There have been recent articles that reflect the fact that Syria may be having a change of heart. A week or so ago, they were requesting that Iran accept some of Saddam's scientists that had fled to Syria in hopes that that they (Syria) wouldn't appear to be aiding the enemy.
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Iran threatened this week to attack Israel's nuclear facilities. Israel ominously warned that it "knows how to defend itself." Tensions between the two arch enemies have suddenly escalated, underlining the other great enmity that has been bubbling on the sidelines of the Arab-Israeli conflict for more than two decades.
Suspicions that the Iranian regime is moving forward with a nuclear arms program deeply worry Israel, which considers Iran the greatest threat to the Jewish state. Israeli officials say they want to avoid escalating the situation, however, and there is no sign Israel is building up for an attack like the one that destroyed Iraq (news - web sites)'s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981.
Experts say the two countries are unlikely to go to war anytime soon, despite the heated-up rhetoric coming out of Iran and the intensified efforts by Israel to isolate the Iranian regime diplomatically.
Iran and Israel once had close ties, but they have been foes since the 1979 revolution that ousted Iran's shah and installed an Islamic government. Iranian leaders routinely call for Israel's destruction, while Israelis accuse Iran of supporting anti-Israel terrorists.
The heightened tensions arose from the U.S.-led campaign to organize international pressure on Iran to rein in its nuclear program.
While recently confirming they are working with technology that can be used to produce weapons-grade uranium, the Iranians insist their program's sole purpose is the peaceful generation of power and angrily complain about being under siege.
Last month, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Iranians would "crush" Israel if it attacked the Persian state. Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, upped the ante this week, telling Al-Jazeera television that his government might launch pre-emptive strikes to protect its nuclear facilities if they were threatened.
"We will not sit to wait for what others will do to us," he said, adding that some Iranian generals believe the doctrine of pre-emption is "not limited to Americans." (snipped)
http://www.pakdef.info/forum/showthread.php?t=6103&goto=nextnewest
China reportedly moves over 30,000 troops near N Korean border
Thursday, October 7, 2004 at 10:45 JST
TOKYO — China's People's Liberation Army moved more than 30,000 troops to areas along the Yalu River, which serves as the country's border with North Korea, earlier this month, the Sankei Shimbun said Thursday, quoting a source close to Japanese and Chinese relations.
The source was quoted as saying the move is a prelude to a major drill or an arrangement to stem the inflow of a rising number of North Koreans at the border, according to the newspaper. (Kyodo News)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=314638
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Pakistan feared as source of nuclear terror
By Khalid Hasan
Washington: Pakistan and Russia have been called “nations of greatest concern” as potential sources of nuclear weapon or fissile material leaks to terrorists.
A new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) on nuclear terrorism said, “The fear regarding Pakistan is that some members of the armed forces might covertly give a weapon to terrorists or that, if President Musharraf were overthrown, an Islamic fundamentalist government or a state of chaos in Pakistan might enable terrorists to obtain a weapon.” While, the report concedes, it would be difficult for terrorists to mount a nuclear attack on a US city, such an attack is plausible and would have catastrophic consequences, in one scenario killing over a half-million people and causing damage of over $1 trillion. “Terrorists or rogue states might acquire a nuclear weapon in several ways. The nations of greatest concern as potential sources of weapons or fissile materials are widely thought to be Russia and Pakistan.”
Russia, the report notes, has many tactical nuclear weapons, which tend to be lower in yield but more dispersed and apparently less secure than strategic weapons. It also has much highly enriched uranium (HEU) and weapons grade plutonium, some said to have inadequate security. Many experts believe that technically sophisticated terrorists could, without state support, fabricate a nuclear bomb from HEU. However, opinion is divided on whether terrorists could make a bomb using plutonium.
CRS warns that terrorists might also obtain HEU from the more than 130 research reactors worldwide. “If terrorists acquired a nuclear weapon, they could use many means in an attempt to bring it into the United States. This nation has many thousands of miles of land and sea borders, as well as several hundred ports of entry. Terrorists might smuggle a weapon across lightly-guarded stretches of borders, ship it in using a cargo container, place it in a hold of a crude oil tanker, or bring it in using a truck, a boat, or a small airplane,” argues the analysis.
The report describes the architecture of the US response as “layered defence.” The goal is to try to block terrorists at various stages in their attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon and smuggle it into the US. The underlying concept is that the probability of success is higher if many layers are used rather than just one or two. Layers include threat reduction programmes in the former USSR, efforts to secure HEU worldwide, control of former Soviet and other borders, the Container Security Initiative and Proliferation Security Initiative, and US border security.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_7-10-2004_pg7_6
More holes in Newark Airport security
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-18/109712602153600.xml
..excerpt..
Federal security screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport missed one of every four fake bombs or weapons that inspectors attempted to sneak past checkpoints during weekly tests from June to September, according to confidential inspection reports obtained by The Star-Ledger.
The vast majority of failures resulted from screeners' inability to detect phony explosive devices hidden in carry-on bags sent through X-ray machines. Screeners also missed some guns in carry-on luggage sent through X-ray units or concealed under the clothing of inspectors who used walk-through metal detectors.
The tests are being conducted covertly on orders from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which employs the screeners and oversees the nation's airport security initiatives. Between 25 and 30 tests were conducted each week from mid-June to mid-September throughout Newark Airport's three terminals.
From the week of June 13 to the week of Sept. 11, a total of 327 tests were conducted at the airport's nine checkpoint areas. Checkpoint screeners passed 246 times and failed 81 times for a failure rate of 24.8 percent, according to TSA documents.
TSA officials in Newark and the Virginia-based headquarters would only speak generally about the tests, saying they are part of an attempt to improve airport security around the country.
"We're working diligently to increase our explosive detection capabilities at our passenger checkpoints," said Mark Hatfield, a TSA spokesman. "The key point here -- testing is training."
Homeland Security agency faulted for terrorist watch list woes
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/story/0,10801,96451,00.html
...excerpt...
OCTOBER 06, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Three years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is still not doing enough to consolidate terrorist watch lists to help law enforcement authorities monitor and apprehend known terrorists.
That's the conclusion of a 47-page report, issued last Friday by the Office of the Inspector General within the DHS, that criticizes the agency for "not playing a lead role" in consolidating terrorist watch list information," despite the fact that the DHS was given such responsibilities when it was created in 2002.
In fact, information for a consolidated terrorist watch list is still being compiled and handled by the same agencies that performed that task before the DHS existed, according to the report, "DHS Challenges in Consolidating Terrorist Watch List Information," (download PDF).
The report, released late last week, recommends that the DHS undersecretary for information analysis and infrastructure protection (IAIP) create and chair a group within the department to pull together the staff, money, technology and other resources needed to make the watch list interagency consolidation happen.
"DHS is not playing a lead role in coordinating the sharing of terrorist watch list information," the report says. "Instead, terrorist watch list consolidation activities are conducted by the federal organizations that were primarily responsible for collecting and disseminating terrorist information prior to DHS's formation. DHS officials said that the newly created department lacked the resources and infrastructure to assume leadership for the watch list consolidation effort. While this contention has merit, DHS can still play a more robust role than at present by overseeing and coordinating watch list consolidation activities across agency lines."
The report goes on to warn: "In the current environment of increased terrorist activity and security awareness, 'stovepiped' management of critical watch list information is no longer tolerable."
Islamic Forum Organizers Target Vienna
http://www.jewishtimes.com/News/4224.stm
...excerpt...
Organizers of an extremist Islamic conference banned in Berlin are hoping to move their event to Vienna.
Fadi Mahdi, deported earlier this month from Germany to Beirut, told the Spiegel Online magazine that the event, billed as the first Arabic Islamic congress in Europe, should take place in the Austrian capital.
Protesters, in an open letter posted on an Austrian Web site, http://www.juedische.at, called on Vienna Mayor Michael Haupl to prohibit the event from taking place there.
They quoted the Islamist congress organizers as calling for a "worldwide movement against American and Zionist Nazism" to join together "with pride in our martyrs."
The signatories asked Haupl to "make it clear to the Austrian people that supporters of violence and terror are not welcome in Vienna."
They might get their wish.
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