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Posted on 04/14/2005 4:02:23 PM PDT by nwctwx
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Radical cleric given £28,500 people carrier
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/18532288?source=Evening%20Standard#
FBI chief pledges swifter data swaps on terror suspects
http://www.iht.com/getina/files/245693.html
That's interesting!
Sudan’s Islamist regime, once shunned by Washington for providing a haven for Osama bin Laden as well as for human rights abusers during decades of civil war, has become an ally in the Bush administration’s “war on terror”.
Only months after the then United States secretary of state, Colin Powell, accused Khartoum of genocide in Darfur, Sudan has become a crucial intelligence asset to the CIA.
In the Middle East and Africa, Sudan’s agents have penetrated networks that would not normally be accessible to the US, a former American intelligence official told The Guardian. Sudan is credited with detaining foreign militants on their way to join anti-American fighters in Iraq. Sudanese agents have also helped the CIA to monitor Islamist organisations in Somalia.
“The intelligence relationship is the strongest thread between Washington and Khartoum,” the official said. “Khartoum is probably the only government in the Arab League that has contributed in a major way to the protection of US forces and citizens in Iraq.’’
News of the growing cooperation was first reported in The Los Angeles Times. The newspaper traced the thaw in relations since 2001 to a milestone last week: the visit to Washington by Sudan’s intelligence chief, Salah Abdallah Gosh.
It reported that Sudan’s secret police had begun a crackdown on suspected Islamists, shared evidence with the FBI and allowed US personnel to interrogate al-Qaeda suspects.
In May 2003, Sudanese security forces raided a suspected terrorist training camp and deported more than a dozen, mainly Saudi, militants to Arab states that work closely with US intelligence services, the newspaper said.
Yet, a decade ago, Sudan was providing a haven to Bin Laden and other international outlaws, such as Carlos the Jackal. In 1993, the Clinton administration placed it on the State Department’s list of terrorist regimes.
Subsequent approaches from Khartoum were rebuffed — even as it offered its services against the emer-ging al-Qaeda network in the 1990s.
“Sudan tried to hand over two guys implicated in the 1998 bombing of the US embassies in East Africa, and the response was to send cruise missiles to hit the aspirin factory in Khartoum,” the official said. “They offered up Bin Laden in 1995 and we said, ‘We don’t even have an indictment on him.’”
Officially, Washington’s position towards Sudan remains unchanged. “Sudan is still considered a state sponsor of terror,” a State Department spokesperson said this week. And although the recent cooperation has yielded important results, it promises to be politically explosive.
The US Christian right and human rights organisations have been strong advocates of the Sudanese rebels and are unlikely to support any softening of Washington’s stance. —
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=237631&area=/insight/insight__africa/
Report: Anti-Muslim bias soars in US
Wednesday 11 May 2005, 3:50 Makka Time, 0:50 GMT
Attacks on Muslims have been on the rise since 9/11
The number of reported bias crimes and civil rights violations against Muslims has risen sharply in the United States last year, says a report.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations in its report blamed the trend on lingering animosity toward Muslims and a growing use of anti-Muslim rhetoric by some political, religious and media figures.
The council counted 1522 incidents in which Muslims reported their civil rights had been violated in 2004, a 49% increase over 2003. Another 141 incidents of confirmed or suspected bias crimes were committed against Muslims – a 52% rise.
Notable bias or discrimination cases cited in a council report to be published on Wednesday include the barring of singer Cat Stevans, now known as Yusuf Islam, and Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan from entering the United States.
Unexpected findings
Some Muslim leaders were surprised by the report's findings.
Yaser El-Menshawy, chairman of New Jersey's council of mosques, said he and others thought the number of anti-Muslim incidents shortly after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon reached a peak that would not be repeated.
"I thought we were through with the high point after 9/11," he said. "My gut feeling is it may be a combination of the war in Iraq and mounting casualties, and that we are getting better at collecting this kind of data."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3DDD0617-E649-410C-83F9-06F553A3A42F.htm
Igloo Contains About 2,500 Rockets
May 11, 2005 9:58 am US/Eastern RICHMOND, Ky. (AP) Vapor from the deadly nerve agent sarin leaked from a stockpile of old rockets at the Blue Grass Army Depot, but officials said it posed no danger to the public.
The sarin vapor did not escape the sealed container, or “igloo,” where the weapons are kept. Officials were filtering the air inside the igloo Tuesday before trying to enter the structure to secure the leaky rocket.....
Explosion, Fire Leaves Thousands Without Power (VT - 5/10/05)
Worker Sent To Hospital With Injuries MANCHESTER, N.H. -- An explosion at an electrical substation cut power in parts of Manchester Tuesday and sent a utility worker to a hospital.
The explosion at the Public Service of New Hampshire Brook Street substation could be heard for blocks and resulted in a fire that shot 60 feet into the air. Firefighters doused the electrical fire with foam and had it under control within about an hour....
One year ago: A video on an al-Qaida-linked Web site showed the beheading of American hostage Nicholas Berg, who’d been kidnapped in Iraq.
Six Israeli soldiers were killed when their armored personnel carrier was blown up by Palestinian militants in Gaza City.
Ping me
NEW DELHI - What would be the impact, if any, of the recent crisis in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia - that resulted in the overthrow of the government of Askar Akayev - on the growth of religious extremism in Central Asia in general and in Kyrgyzstan in particular?
Kyrgyzstan on the strategic map With a population of about 5 million, Kyrgyzstan is a country of nomadic Sunni Muslims. It is a poor country lacking in energy resources or mineral deposits, but has been an important strategic ally of the United States and Russia.
Post September 11, it was Kyrgyzstan that provided the much needed air base that the US was looking for to assist in its Afghan campaign. About 1,500 US, French and South Korean coalition troops are stationed at a base near Bishkek. Russia, too, has a base in Kyrgyzstan and there has been considerable public agitation within the country against American imperialism and what many perceive as Islamophobia of the West.
The events in Kyrgyzstan have once again brought the Hizbut Tehrir, (HT), an Islamic movement that has a worldwide presence and network, under close scrutiny by the international community. After its initial religious and political activities in the Middle East, the HT today has a visible presence in Central Asia. With its aim of uniting all Muslims of the world under what it projects as a perfect Islamic caliphate, the HT perceives ample opportunities for its growth and the realization of its final vision in the Muslim-dominated and politically and economically unstable states of Central Asia.
Excerpted ~ more...
Taliban radio back on the air
By Amin Tarzi
In April, residents of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar were again able to hear Sharia Zhagh (Voice of the Sharia) - the name used for Kabul's Radio Afghanistan during the Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001.
The opening statement of the broadcast in Pashtu told listeners that "Sharia Zhagh radio raises the voice of the Islamic brotherhood against the superpower, United States of America, and its associates who have been insulting the honor of the Muslim world and its religion and who [have] harmed Islamic rule."
Excerpted
Baghdad, May 11 (Aki)
According to Colonel Fouad Hani Hassan, Commander of the Fifth Division of the Iraqi Armed Forces, quoting from "Elaph" one of the most popular informative sites of the Arab world, the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who is head of Al Qaeda in Iraq," has been seriously wounded, perhaps is dead", hit from bombings in the path of battle that was in the street for days in the region of Al Anbar, and which has like an epicenter...
Is anyone familiar with this popular Arab site "Elaph"?
A lot of softness in the reporting of this incident today. Georgian security is probably in CYA mode to have allowed even a fake device to get so close. Even a fake could have caused extreme panic and disruption - very likely what someone wanted - to provide cover for the real attack. It will probably be several days before the full story comes out.
That article on the Sudan is very surprising.
MSNBC.com
Terror ties at a Middle Eastern bank?
FBI investigates Arab Bank for allegedly supporting suicide bombers and doing business with suspected terrorists; bank denies charges
By Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit
Updated: 9:27 a.m. ET May 11, 2005
AMMAN, Jordan - August 2001: A suicide bomber hits the Sbarro pizza parlor in Jerusalem, killing 15 people, including an American — Shoshana Greenbaum, a pregnant schoolteacher.
The Palestinian bomber's name was Izz Ad-Din Al-Masri. His parents told NBC News that soon after the bombing a group that helps families of suicide bombers told them they'd be compensated for their son's "sacrifice."
"They told me to go to the Arab Bank and open an account, and you will receive a salary," says the bomber's father, Shuhail Ahmed Al-Masri.
He says almost immediately, he began receiving $140 a month. And after the Israelis leveled his house, he says he was told to go to the bank and pick up more money — $6,000.
Al-Masri's father says he was told to open an account at the Arab Bank branch in the West Bank settlement of Jenin. There, he says he's received money almost every month for the last three years. The branch, plastered with posters eulogizing suicide bombers, isn't the only one allegedly paying bombers' families. An ad in a Palestinian newspaper told dozens of martyrs' families to pick up money at the nearest branchof the Arab Bank.
"Those types of payments are aiding and abetting terrorism," says Jimmy Gurule, a former official at the U.S. Treasury Department who was in charge of cutting off money to terrorists.
The FBI tells NBC News that it's now conducting a criminal investigation into the Arab Bank's alleged movement of funds for suspected terrorists. The investigation was triggered after U.S. regulators examined Arab Bank operations in New York City on Madison Avenue. U.S. officials tell NBC News that regulators found that the bank had 40 to 60 suspected terrorists and groups as customers. They were allegedly associated with al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah. Officials say all had accounts with the bank or had moved money through the New York office.
"I'm not aware of another situation involving a bank operating in the U.S. that has conducted itself in such a manner," says Gurule.
The Arab Bank, headquartered in Jordan, turned down repeated requests for an interview, so NBC visited bank headquarters in Amman. And only got as far as the lobby.
Lisa Myers: Does the bank support terrorism?
Omar Al-Sheik, Arab Bank official: Of course not.
Myers: Does the bank believe it's proper to move money to help terrorists?
Omar Al-Sheik: Of course not.
In a statement, the Arab Bank denies ever knowingly doing business with terrorists. And officials insist the bank has never moved money for anyone officially designated a terrorist by the U.S. government.
However, NBC News provided the bank with documents showing it dealt with three Hamas terror groups even after they were blacklisted by the United States. It's against the law for banks in the United States to handle transactions for terrorists on the blacklist.
The bank says the three transactions still were legal because they occurred outside the United States but that in the future it will honor the U.S. blacklist worldwide.
As for suicide bombers, the Arab Bank strongly denies ever knowingly handling payments for bombers' families. Their statement reads, in part: "Arab Bank considers suicide bombings an abominable human act."
Then what about that ad telling bombers' families to collect money at the Arab Bank? The bank says it didn't place the ad.
After NBC News provided account numbers for the Al-Masri family, the bank froze the account, which the bank claims was opened before the bombing.
Shoshana Greenbaum's father, who moved to Israel after her death, is now suing the bank.
"This organization, if allowed to continue with a mere slap on the wrist, would be sending a message that it's perfectly all right to support terrorism," says Alan Hayman.
The bank, which Israeli officials call "the Grand Central Station of terrorist financing," has been forced to shut down much of its U.S. operation but remains a dominant player in the Middle East.
© 2005 MSNBC.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7806333/
The terrorists that carried out the Madrid bombings in March 2004 have been trained at special Al Qaeda based in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The news was broken Tuesday by the chief of the local police department Dragomir Andan at a special press conference. RIA Novosti cited the top police chief as saying that all 11 terrorists left for Spain passing through Sarajevo.
It was also reported that the explosives used in the terror acts were produced in Bosnia.
A total of 192 people were killed and over 1,500 others were injured in the March 11, 2004 attacks in Madrid.
I've read it's out of the UK.
Memri likes to quote from Elaph's articles.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1401042/posts
Evacuation of Capital now! Also White House!
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