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Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Twenty-Seven

Posted on 06/02/2005 9:27:09 PM PDT by nwctwx

Image Created By : TheCabal
Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat
Thread Twenty-Seven (Index)
Click to Search
The Threat Matrix

The title refers to a daily report given to the president of the United States detailing the most serious terrorist threats against the country. To tackle those threats, the government has formed a top-notch task force to infiltrate the terror cells and cut off the danger.

"Every morning, the president receives a list of the top ten terrorist threats - this list is known as the threat matrix."

We here at FR are trying to be in conjunction with the daily reports around the world that involve threats. We try to provide a storehouse of information that takes hours of research.

YOU be the judge and get informed!
Threat Matrix - Daily Terrorism Threat
Threat Matrix: U.S. Terrorism
Expert: Al-Qaida Has Presence In South Florida
Full Story

MIRAMAR, Fla. -- Despite the massive federal, state and local law enforcement effort to stop terrorists from entering the United States, there is no strong evidence of how well it is working.

Many experts are concerned that there are plenty of terrorists or sympathizers already in the country who have been here for years. Some are even citizens.

The Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were the first wave and now the increasing number of arrests seems to signal a second wave of terrorism in South Florida.

Related:
Court is told of 2 U.S. citizens' alleged Al Qaeda plot
Map: Islamic Terrorist Network in America (2003)

"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat."
Threat Matrix HTML designed by: Ian Livingston


TOPICS: News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: gwot; terror; threat; threatmatrix
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
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To: All

Note: The following text is an exact quote:
===

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2005/20050705_1961.html

Suspected Terrorist Killed, Iraqi Police Nab 152 Others

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 5, 2005 – One man was killed and three others detained after they were caught trying to plant improvised explosive devices in northern Iraq July 4, military officials in Baghdad reported today.
In Tal Afar, the military said, soldiers from Task Force Freedom's 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, killed one suspected terrorist they witnessed placing an IED. A similar incident in northern Mosul led to the arrest of three more individuals by soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment.

In other news from Iraq, Iraqi army soldiers detained 152 suspected terrorists July 4 during search operations in Baghdad. Coalition soldiers assisted the 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, in the early morning operation. Six Egyptians were among foreign fighters detained, officials said. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, detained two people suspected of terrorist activity July 4at a checkpoint in eastern Mosul.

Iraqi police discovered an anti-aircraft missile system near Diwaniyah on July 4. An Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal team and a coalition quick-reaction force removed the device, described as a portable, shoulder-launched, low-altitude SA-7A missile system.

Today in Numaniyah, alert Iraqi police captured two men following a small-arms attack. Military officials said following the brief attack the two men fled the scene and headed toward Nasiryah. Iraqi police radioed a description of the suspected shooters to police operating a checkpoint ahead. There the suspects were stopped, identified and arrested.

The search for displaced Iraqis due to current military operations to root out terrorists in Iraq's Anbar province have come up empty, officials said. After an extensive search in the Qaim area by coalition forces and Iraqi Interior Ministry personnel, the military said there is no evidence of any large numbers of displaced persons. Coalition forces have employed unmanned aerial vehicles, ground patrols, and information from aid and other government agencies in their search, officials said. Coalition forces will continue to support efforts by the Health Ministry and humanitarian aid organizations, officials added, to care for any Iraqis displaced due to operations under way to rid the country of terrorists.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq news releases.)


Related Sites:
Multinational Force Iraq
Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq


3,061 posted on 07/05/2005 2:12:57 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: All

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437013/posts


"Daily Terrorist Round-up 7/5/05"
Posted on 07/05/2005 11:50:13 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter


3,062 posted on 07/05/2005 2:15:24 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: All

OPINION: Our enemies use propaganda like this and present it like it is factual news -- which it is not. Here is an example of a current propaganda piece:

===
===

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucru/20050704/cm_ucru/karlroveworsethanosamabinladen

"KARL ROVE: WORSE THAN OSAMA BIN LADEN"
By Ted Rall Mon Jul 4, 7:00 PM ET

NEW YORK


3,063 posted on 07/05/2005 2:28:09 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: All

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437089/posts

"Terrorist chief detained in Chechnya"
Itar-Tass) ^ | 05.07.2005

Posted on 07/05/2005 2:20:56 PM PDT by jb6

MOSCOW, July 5 (Itar-Tass)


3,064 posted on 07/05/2005 2:31:31 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: Cindy
Here's a little blurb from the MSM about the tape today - with some info on the contents.

Zarqawi says Qaeda forms wing to fight Shi ' ites-Web
3,065 posted on 07/05/2005 3:47:14 PM PDT by neosgirl
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To: All

Atlanta gas tanker attacked, caused it to roll over.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437018/posts


3,066 posted on 07/05/2005 4:04:48 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (http://bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp Meet YOUR Communist party members in Congress)
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To: neosgirl; backhoe; piasa; JohnathanRGalt; All

Thanks neosgirl for the link.
===

http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_international.asp?id=82135
"Zarqawi says Qaeda forms wing to fight Shi'ites-Web"


Tuesday, July 05, 2005 6:21:59 PM ET

===
===

ON THE NET...

http://www.altavista.com/news/results?q=%22Omar+Brigade%22&nc=0&nr=0&nd=2

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=%22Omar+Brigade%22&ie=UTF-8&filter=0
http://www.altavista.com


3,067 posted on 07/05/2005 4:28:30 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: nw_arizona_granny; backhoe; piasa; Godzilla; FairOpinion; All

Thank you Granny for pointing to the FR thread regarding this article.
===

July 5, 2005

"Vandals Attack, Cause Tanker To Overturn In Atlanta"
http://www.wcsh6.com/home/article.asp?id=24293

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Atlanta, GA (WXIA-TV) -- Apparently, people were throwing chunks of concrete at and setting off fireworks toward the truck as it traveled eastbound along Donald Lee Holloway Parkway, the former Bankhead Highway, just a mile west of Interstate 285, witnesses said. The driver – whose name has not been released – swerved out of harm’s way, but ended up flipping the tanker.

The tanker flipped completely over while careening down a slight embankment, into a parking lot and slamming into a slightly wooded area."

ARTICLE SNIPPET No.2: "Authorities say they received reports just a few hours before the accident of another tanker passing through the same area that had its front windshield cracked by rocks being thrown at it. Likewise, firefighters said they’ve had other objects thrown at their truck when they’ve come out to turn off fire hydrants that were illegally turned in the same area."


3,068 posted on 07/05/2005 4:41:15 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: Cindy
There's also more info here.

Militant blasts Iraqi forces in audiotape
3,069 posted on 07/05/2005 4:44:11 PM PDT by neosgirl
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To: neosgirl; JohnathanRGalt; backhoe; All

Thanks to neosgirl for pointing to this article:
===

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8476617/
"Militant blasts Iraqi forces in audiotape
Voice thought to be al-Zarqawi’s announces new terror command"


3,070 posted on 07/05/2005 4:51:42 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: All

On the KDWN traffic report for Las Vegas a few minutes ago, there is a fire report, I didn't get all the info.

Roy Martin Middle School, is now a 3 alarm fire.

All are out safe.

Roads closed, so much smoke that Hwy 95 has traffic slow down due to smoke.

May be on Spencer street, near Hwy 95.

Sorry that I didn't get the rest and most of the major news sites, I can't open with this computer.


3,071 posted on 07/05/2005 5:46:16 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (http://bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp Meet YOUR Communist party members in Congress)
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To: JohnathanRGalt; ganeshpuri89; neosgirl; backhoe; piasa; Godzilla; All

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1437200/posts


"Al-Zarqawi Denounces Iraq Army As Enemies"
Las Vegas Sun ^ | July 05, 2005 at 17:30:40 PDT | MARIAM FAM ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted on 07/05/2005 5:35:11 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -


3,072 posted on 07/05/2005 7:20:05 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: Cindy; All

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m13403&l=i&size=1&hd=0

Tomgram: Dahr Jamail on the Zarqawi
Phenomenon

Tom Engelhardt & Dahr Jamail


July 5, 2005

Just in the last few days, according to USA Today,
a "propaganda video purportedly made by
al-Qaeda-linked terror suspect Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi" has been released showing suicide
attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq supposedly
inspired by or ordered by him. Since George Bush
first mentioned him in October 2002 in a speech
in Cincinnati as proof of an al-Qaeda presence in
Iraq, and so of Saddam Hussein's essential
al-Qaeda-ness, Zarqawi has moved ever more
front and center as Iraq's main terrorist threat.
He now has an enormous bounty on his head and
is cited regularly by the President as well as
other administration officials as our enemy of
enemies in that land, proof positive that Iraq is
"the central theater in the war on terror." In the
U.S., he has come to personify the war in Iraq,
his presence both a kind of instant why-we-fight
explanation for our being there and a living
justification for everything we are doing there.

Zarqawi has indeed been a strange phenomenon
of the ongoing war. Sometimes he seems to be
everywhere at once in that country, blamed for
(or, through jihadist websites, taking credit for)
everything from the latest IED attacks on U.S.
troops to mortar barrages against U.S. bases,
suicide car-bomb assaults on Shiite civilian
targets, kidnappings, beheadings, even a string
of bombings stretching from Morocco to Turkey in
2003, not to speak of the resistance of whole
Iraqi cities to the American occupation, If it
happens and it's horrific, he seems to be the one
responsible. His name has more or less replaced
Saddam's and Osama Bin Laden's as the enemy
of choice for the United States. He is a literal
whirling dervish of an enemy. His lieutenants or
aides fall constantly into American hands; he is
reportedly at every hotspot all over Iraq -- or not
in Iraq at all. His organization seems to take
credit for just about every attack, every suicide
bomb, every explosion in the country. The search
for Zarqawi has become an –- if not the -–
organizing theme of the American war in Iraq. At
one point recently, the blogger Billmon posted
the following set of typical Zarqawi headlines:

June 16, 2005: U.S. Says It Has Captured
Al Qaeda Leader for Mosul Area

June 5, 2005: Militant linked to Zarqawi
arrested

May 25, 2005: Top aide to al-Zarqawi
arrested north of Baghdad

May 25, 2005: US: al-Zarqawi aides
arrested

May 9, 2005: Gains seen after new arrest
of al-Zarqawi aide

April 19, 2005: Iraqi Security Forces
Capture Two Zarqawi Associates

March 9, 2005: A Zarqawi cell "prince",
six others captured in Baquba

And he suggested the following template for the
basic we-almost-got-Zarqawi story in our press,
a kind of Iraqi variant on America's Most Wanted:

[Iraqi/US/US and Iraqi] forces have
[nabbed/captured/ arrested] [a/one/two]
[senior/middle/] [figure(s)/operations
chief(s)/terrorist operative(s)] of
[Jordanian/al-Qaeda-linked/Iraq's most
wanted] terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi.

And yet, as far as anyone can tell, Zarqawi's
actual organization or network is, at best, modest
in nature and no one writing about it or him even
really knows whether the man is alive or dead, in
or out of Iraq. A look at basic press accounts of
Zarqawi finds them filled to the brim with words
like "purportedly," "allegedly," "claims," and "the
CIA believes with a high degree of confidence."
And the unnamed sources who tell us what is
supposedly known about Zarqawi are invariably
anonymous "American officials" or "intelligence
officials," the same people who once assured us
that he had a leg amputated in one of Saddam's
Baghdad hospitals. (He is now believed to be
two-legged.)

How to put together this conveniently satanic
figure -- capable of personalizing all the horrors
of Iraq in a single monstrous body and bringing
them home to the American public in a way that
the Bush administration has found convenient --
with what little is known about a possibly
not-too-bright small-town thug is a curious
challenge. Independent journalist Dahr Jamail,
who wrote for Tomdispatch (among other places)
from Baghdad and then came home for a break,
is now back in the Middle East and, from Amman,
Jordan, he went on his own search for the truth
behind the Zarqawi phenomenon. Tom

The Zarqawi
Phenomenon

By Dahr Jamail

A remarkable proportion of the violence
taking place in Iraq is regularly credited
to the Jordanian Ahmad al-Khalayleh,
better known as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
and his organization Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Sometimes it seems no car bomb goes
off, no ambush occurs that isn't claimed in
his name or attributed to him by the Bush
administration. Bush and his top officials
have, in fact, made good use of him,
lifting his reputed feats of terrorism to
epic, even mythic, proportions (much
aided by various mainstream media
outlets). Given that the invasion and
occupation of Iraq has now been proven
beyond a shadow of a doubt to be based
upon administration lies and
manipulations, I had begun to wonder if
the vaunted Zarqawi even existed.

In Amman, where I was recently based,
random interviews with Jordanians only
generated more questions and no
answers about Zarqawi. As it happens,
though, the Jordanian capital is just a
short cab ride from Zarqa, the city
Zarqawi is said to be from. So I decided
to slake my curiosity about him by
traveling there and nosing around his old
neighborhood.

"Zarqawi, I don't even know if he exists,"
said a scruffy taxi driver in Amman and
his was a typical comment. "He's like Bin
Laden, we don't even know if he exists;
but if he does, I support that he fights the
U.S. occupation of Iraq."

Chatting with a man sipping tea in a small
tea stall in downtown Amman, I asked
what he thought of Zarqawi. He was
convinced that Zarqawi was perfectly
real, but the idea that he was responsible
for such a wide range of attacks in Iraq
had to be "nonsense."

"The Americans are using him for their
propaganda," he insisted. "Think about it
-- with all of their power and intelligence
capabilities -- they cannot find one man?"

Like so many others in neighboring
Jordan, he, too, offered verbal support for
the armed resistance in Iraq, adding,
"Besides, it is any person's right to defend
himself if his country is invaded. The
American occupation of Iraq has
destabilized the entire region."

The Bush administration has regularly
claimed that Zarqawi was in -- and then
had just barely escaped from -- whatever
city or area they were next intent on
attacking or cordoning off or launching a
campaign against. Last year, he and his
organization were reputed to be
headquartered in Fallujah, prior to the
American assault that flattened the city.
At one point, American officials even
alleged that he was commanding the
defense of Fallujah from elsewhere by
telephone. Yet he also allegedly slipped
out of Fallujah either just before or just
after the beginning of the assault,
depending on which media outlet or
military press release you read.

He has since turned up, according to
American intelligence reports and the
U.S. press, in Ramadi, Baghdad,
Samarra, and Mosul among other places,
along with side trips to Jordan, Iran,
Pakistan and/or Syria. His closest
"lieutenants" have been captured by the
busload, according to American military
reports, and yet he always seems to have
a bottomless supply of them. In May, a
news report on the BBC even called
Zarqawi "the leader of the insurgency in
Iraq," though more sober analysts of the
chaotic Iraqi situation say his group,
Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad, while
probably modest in size and reach is
linked to a global network of jihadists.
However, finding any figures as to the
exact size of the group remains an elusive
task.

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell
offered photos before the U.N. in
February, 2003 of Zarqawi's
"headquarters" in Kurdish-controlled
northern Iraq, also claiming that Zarqawi
had links to Al-Qaeda. The collection of
small huts was bombed to the ground by
U.S. forces in March of that year,
prompting one news source to claim that
Zarqawi had been killed. Yet seemingly
contradicting Powell's claims for Zarqawi's
importance was a statement made in
October, 2004 by Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, who conceded that
Zarqawi's ties to Al Qaeda may have been
far more ambiguous, that he may have
been more of a rival than a lieutenant to
Osama bin Laden. "Someone could
legitimately say he's not Al Qaeda,"
added Rumsfeld.

The Eternal Netherworld of Zarqawi

For anyone trying to assess the Zarqawi
phenomenon from neighboring Jordan,
complicating matters further are the
contradictory statements Jordanians
regularly offer up about almost any
aspect of Zarqawi's life, history, present
activities, or even his very existence.

"I've met him here in Jordan," claimed
Abdulla Hamiz, a 29 year-old merchant in
Amman, "Two years ago." However,
Hajam Yousef, shining shoes under a date
palm in central Amman, insists, "He
doesn't exist except in the minds of
American policy-makers."

In fact, what little is actually known about
Zarqawi sounds like the biography of a
troubled but normal man from the
industrial section of Zarqa. Thirty-eight
years old now, according to the BBC,
Zarqawi reportedly grew up a rebellious
child who ran with the wrong crowd. He
liked to play soccer in the streets as a
young boy and dropped out of school
when he was 17. According to some
reports, his friends claimed that in his
teens he started drinking heavily, getting
tattoos, and picking fights he could not
win. According to Jordanian intelligence
reports provided to the Associated Press
in Amman, Zarqawi was jailed in the
1980's for sexual assault, though no
additional details are available. By the
time he was 20 he evidently began
looking for direction, and ended up
making his way to Afghanistan in the last
years of the jihadist war against the
Soviets in that country. While some media
outlets like the New York Times claim that
he did not actually fight in Afghanistan,
there are people in Jordan who believe he
did.

He is reported to have returned to Jordan
in 1992 where he was arrested after
Jordanian authorities found weapons in
his home. Upon his release in 1999, he
left once again for Pakistan. When his
Pakistani visa expired, expecting to be
arrested as a suspect in a terror plot if he
returned to Jordan, he entered
Afghanistan instead.

After supposedly running a weapons camp
there, he was next sighted by Jordanian
authorities, crossing back into Jordan
from Syria in September of 2002.
Sometime between then and May 11,
2004, when he was reported to have
beheaded the kidnapped American, Nick
Berg, in Baghdad, Zarqawi entered Iraq.
Many news outlets have reported that his
goal in Iraq is to generate a sectarian civil
war between the Sunni and Shia.

In September, 2004, the BBC, among
others, reported, "U.S. officials suspect
that Zarqawi…is holed up with followers in
the rebellious Iraqi city of Fallujah,"
though their sources, as is true of more or
less all sources in every report on
Zarqawi, were nebulous. During the
second siege of Fallujah, last November,
Newsweek reported that "some U.S.
officials say that Zarqawi may actually be
directing or instigating events in the town
by telephone from elsewhere in Iraq."
Though they too cited no specific sources
and provided no evidence for this,
Newsweek then summed Zarqawi's
importance up in this way: "His crucial
role in the deteriorating security situation
in Iraq, however, cannot be
underestimated." Meanwhile, the BBC
was reporting that his "network is
considered the main source of
kidnappings, bomb attacks and
assassination attempts in Iraq" -- another
statement made without much, if any,
solid evidence.

In the end, the vast mass of reportage on
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi amounts to
countless statements based on
anonymous sources hardly less shadowy
-- to ordinary readers -- than him. He
exists, then, in a kind of eternal
netherworld of reportage, rumor, and
attribution. It could almost be said that
never has a figure been more regularly
written about based on less hard
information. While we have a rough
outline of who he is, where he is from,
and where he went until he entered Iraq,
evidence that might stand up in a court of
law is consistently absent. The question
that begs to be answered in this glaring
void of hard information is: Who benefits
from the ongoing tales of the mysterious
Zarqawi?

The Search for Zarqawi's Past

My own little journey only seemed to
repeat this larger phenomenon on a more
modest scale. It was the sort of story
where, from beginning to end, no one I
met ever seemed willing to offer his or
her real name (or certainly let a real
name be used in an article). From second
one, Zarqawi and an urge for anonymity
were tightly -- and perhaps appropriately
-- bound together. Abdulla (not his real
name, of course), the man who agreed to
drive my translator Aisha and me to
Al-Zarqa for this excursion was a
Jordanian, by the look of things about 30
years old, who chain-smoked nervously
throughout the trip. We decided to go
with him after running into him while I
was conducting my own informal Zarqawi
reality poll in Amman.

"I know him personally because we fought
together in Afghanistan in the early ‘90's,"
insisted Abdulla , "If you like, I can show
you where he is from."

When he picked us up on the late
afternoon of the next day in his beat-up,
rusting taxi, he agreed to a modest fee
that was to be paid at the end of our
excursion. As we puttered up a hillside on
our venture to Zarqawi's hometown of
Al-Zarqa, he promptly pulled out a small
stack of photos. I flipped through them as
we drove towards Zarqawi's
neighborhood and noted Abdulla standing
in front of the huge Faisal Mosque in
Islamabad, Pakistan, a giant beard (no
longer present) dominating his flowing
dishdasha.

Another picture had him in Peshawar,
Pakistan, a city near the Afghan border
known as a recruiting and staging area for
the Taliban. Others seemed to have him
in the Philippines standing amid dense
forest with a gun slung over his shoulder.
In none of them -- why should I have
been surprised -- did he have a
companion with the now so globally
recognizable Zarqawi sneer.

A little while into our journey, out of
nowhere Abdulla suddenly said, "Anyone
collaborating with the Americans in Iraq
should be killed!"

I took this as a sign that he felt like
talking, and asked him what he knew of
Zarqawi. According to him, he met the
mythic terrorist in Peshawar before being
sent with him to a training camp on the
border of Afghanistan in 1990. "There are
several well known training camps in the
mountains between Afghanistan and
Pakistan," he explained, "And we were in
one of those, along with freedom fighters
from Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and
Lebanon."

Only fighters for "jihad" were allowed into
the camps, he continued proudly. Only
fighters who were identified by other well
known mujahideen were granted
permission to enter, in an effort to
safeguard those camps against spies.
After three months of training with
machine guns and rocket launchers,
Abdulla claims that he and Zarqawi
headed for Afghanistan to fight the
Russians who remained there.

When I looked at him quizzically -- since
the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan
in February of 1989 -- he replied, "Many
of them stayed after their government
announced they had withdrawn -- so we
were pushing the rest of them out."

This was already a questionable tale, but
he went right on. They were given the
choice, he claimed, of where to go in
Afghanistan, and Abdulla proudly stated
that most of the mujahideen went to the
"hot" areas where they expected to find
fighting. Our discussion was then
interrupted because we had completed
the hop to Zarqa and arrived in the
neighborhood, so rumor has it, where
Zarqawi's brother-in-law lives. We were
dropped off near a small mosque where
Zarqawi supposedly used to pray.

Abdulla says it isn't safe for him to linger
here -- though he doesn't bother to
explain why -- and we agree instead that
he will call us on my cell phone in an hour
to see if we need more time or not.

So Aisha and I begin to walk around the
quiet, middle-class neighborhood asking
people if they know where the
brother-in-law lives. Small children play
in the streets. Behind them young men
and parents sit eyeing us suspiciously.
The wind whips plastic bags along the
roads between the usual stone houses of
Jordan. Finally, we find an old man with a
white, flowing beard and tired eyes sitting
in a worn chair at the front of a small
grocery stall. He admits to being the
Imam of the mosque, but when asked if
he remembers Zarqawi he dodges the
question artfully.

"It is probably true that he used to pray in
my mosque," he responds tiredly, "but I
can't say for sure, as my back is to the
people whom I lead in prayers."

After this he looks away, down the road. I
assume he's wishing we were gone --
undoubtedly like so many Zarqawi
seekers before us. So we thank him and
walk on.

Next, we find a woman -- no names given
-- who assures us that Zarqawi is from
the Beni Hassan tribe, the largest tribe in
Jordan, before pointing to a two-story
white house with a black satellite dish on
top.

"That is Ahmed Zarqawi's home," she
says softly, referring to one of his
brothers before warning, "But don't go
there because they will throw rocks on
your head. They are sick of the media."

After being sidetracked by being shown
his brothers' home, we keep doggedly
asking for his brother-in-law, but
everyone insists that they simply don't
know where he lives, which seems odd.
Just up the hill from his brother's home,
we stumble upon a middle-aged man who
is willing to be interviewed. He's a rare
find in this village that has certainly been
inundated with media, not to speak of far
more threatening visits from the
intelligence and police personnel of
various countries.

Like our taxi driver, this man agrees to be
interviewed on condition of anonymity.
These are, it seems, a reasonably
media-savvy group of villagers. He tells
us that Zarqawi's brother doesn't know
much about the mythic legend of the
Jordanian jihadi outlaw, due to the fact
that he keeps his distance from all the
hoopla. He then laughs and adds, "But all
the media went to his brother's house
anyway to film it, because they thought it
was Zarqawi's home!"

He then points across a shallow valley
where lines of homes sit bathed in the
setting sun. "He [Zarqawi] is from that
village, lives near a cemetery, and his
father is mayor of that district, which is
called al-Ma'assoum quarter."

He claims to have known Abu Musab since
he was seven years old, as they went to
Prince Talal Primary School together. "He
was a trouble maker ever since he was a
kid," he explains, "What the media is
saying about him is not true, though. Abu
Musab is a normal guy. What the
Americans are saying is not true. Most of
us who know him here and in his
neighborhood don't believe any of this
media."

He tells us that Zarqawi left the
neighborhood in the early 1990's to go to
Afghanistan, but that he doesn't believe
he is in Iraq. Along with others in the
neighborhood, he is convinced that
Zarqawi was killed in the Tora Bora region
of Afghanistan during the U.S. bombings
that resulted from the attacks of
September 11th.

"His wife and their three children still live
over there," he adds, "But don't go talk to
them. They won't allow it." He believes
Zarqawi was killed, "100%," and then
says emphatically, "If he is still alive, why
not show a recent photo of him? All of
these they show in the media are quite
old."

Like so many Jordanians, he supports the
Iraqi resistance, "All Muslims should fight
this occupation because everyday the
Americans are slaughtering innocent
Iraqis." Zarqawi, he tells us, wasn't a
fighter until he went to Afghanistan.
"Then his wife covered herself in black
and has worn it ever since." According to
this man, Zarqawi has two brothers
named Ahmed and Sail. He says with a
smile, "Most of the media coming here
are westerners because I think most of
the Arab media know this is all a myth."

He holds up his hands when one of his
sons brings us coffee and asks, "When
they show hostages in Iraq, why doesn't
he put himself in the film? There is simply
no proof he is alive offered by the
Americans or the media." (snipped, balance on site)


3,073 posted on 07/05/2005 7:40:17 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (http://bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp Meet YOUR Communist party members in Congress)
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To: All

Off Topic?

Today in History:
July 5, 1991 - Bolivia
Tupac Katari Surfaces
The Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army (EGTK) carried out its first terrorist act -- blowing up an
electric power pylon in the La Paz suburb of El Alto -- on this date.

July 5, 1987 - Sri Lanka
Black Tiger Day
Anniversary commemorating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) first suicide
bombing in their campaign to establish a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil
minority.

July 5, 1983 - Australia
Bombing At Union Carbide
Unknown terrorists detonated a bomb outside of the Union Carbide factory in Sydney.

July 5, 1977 - Pakistan
Zia Takes Power In A Coup
Army Chief of Staff Mohammad Zia leads an army coup to seize power and becomes
Chief Martial Law Administrator.

July 5, 1975 - Cape Verde
Independence Day
No information provided.

July 5, 1973 - Rwanda
Peace and National Unity Day
Celebrates the military taking power under General Juvenal Habyarimana.

July 5, 1962 - Algeria
Independence Day
Independence from France formally declared.

July 5, 1811 - Venezuela
Independence Day
No information provided.

Upcoming Significant Events:
July 6, 1964 - Malawi
Independence Day
No information provided.

July 6, 1975 - Comoros
Independence Declared
No information provided.

July 6, 1987 - India
Sikhs Attack Hindu Bus Riders
Seventy-two Hindus were killed in an attack by Sikh militants on a bus in the Punjab.

July 6, 2005 - Scotland
The 31st G-8 Summit commences
The focus of this meeting is on issued of global climate change and the lack of economic
development in Africa.

July 7, (year unknown) - Lesotho
Family Day
No information provided.

July 7, (year unknown) - Serbia-Montenegro
Serbian National Day
No information provided.

July 7, (year unknown) - Tanzania
Peasants Day
No information provided.

July 7, 1947 - Korea (Republic of)
Kwangju Cultural Center Opens
The U.S. Information Service established the American Cultural Center in Kwangju.

July 7, 1962 - Burma
Military Attacks Student Union
The Rangoon student union was blown up following the shooting of students by Burmese
soldiers. This event is commemorated annually.

July 7, 1973 - Equatorial Guinea
National Day
No information provided.

July 7, 1978 - Solomon Islands
Independence Day
No information provided.

July 7, 1987 - France
France Severs Ties With Iran
No information provided.

July 9, 1816 - Argentina
Independence Day
No information provided.

July 9, 1986 - Germany
RAF Assassinates Beckurts
The Red Army Faction (RAF) killed Dr. Karl-Heinz Beckurts of Siemans Corporation.


3,074 posted on 07/05/2005 7:46:47 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (http://bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp Meet YOUR Communist party members in Congress)
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To: Calpernia; All

Thanks for the ping Calpernia.

An interesting post from Calpernia here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437269/posts?page=14#14


3,075 posted on 07/05/2005 8:26:21 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: JohnathanRGalt; backhoe; All

http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/004453.html

July 05, 2005
"needshab.5gigs.com: site of the Al Qaida's media department
Specifically the Afghanistan 'branch' of Al Sahab Productions"

===

ON THE NET...

http://www.needshab.5gigs.com/news/

===
===

http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/004436.html
July 03, 2005
"5 gigs of jihad"
http://www.zimas.5gigs.com/

===

ON THE NET...

http://www.zimas.5gigs.com

http://www.webjihad.5gigs.com/
http://www.webjihad.5gigs.com/files00/
http://www.webjihad.5gigs.com/files01/
http://www.webjihad.5gigs.com/files04/
http://www.webjihad.5gigs.com/files05/

http://soutfiles.5gigs.com/
http://soutfiles.5gigs.com/files01/
http://soutfiles.5gigs.com/files02/
http://soutfiles.5gigs.com/files03/


3,076 posted on 07/05/2005 8:36:56 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: nw_arizona_granny

good read, thanks.


3,077 posted on 07/05/2005 9:01:20 PM PDT by nwctwx
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To: All

Beheadings, arming of Buddhists raising
tensions in Thailand's Muslim-dominated
south

Customers no longer come to Kaboh Sulong's teashop on a narrow
village road _ not since suspected Muslim insurgents walked into it in
broad daylight, coolly shot a Buddhist cloth vendor and then cut off his
head.

"He was sitting there when he was shot," said still-terrified shop owner
Kaboh Sulong, pointing to a wooden table where Lek Pongpla was
relaxing when two gunmen came in.

Police said the gunmen shot Lek in front of several other customers. As
Lek staggered away, the assailants beheaded him, stuffed his head in a
sack and dumped it nearby.

It was one of six beheadings in south Thailand last month. The incidents
have raised tensions in the area to what's probably their highest level
since a long-simmering Muslim separatist movement launched an armed
struggle early in 2004.

More than 860 people have been killed, triggering a growing exodus by
Buddhists _ an overwhelming majority in Thailand, but a minority in the
Muslim-dominated south _ and sowing suspicion among neighbors in
once-peaceful towns and villages.

"I am very scared and don't want to go anywhere, especially at night.
Women are now being attacked," said Piyathida Thongchuay, 34, a
Buddhist living in the same district of Narathiwat province where Lek was
beheaded.

Piyathida said her mother and 3-year-old son were preparing to leave
the area, but she plans to stay behind until a pending transfer comes
through for her husband, a policeman.

A dozen Buddhists have already left this village, located in one of four
districts designated as insurgent-rife "red zones." Almost all the ethnic
Chinese Thai shop owners in a nearby market have also fled the
violence, which Buddhists say sometimes targets "un-Islamic" practices
and institutions.

Buddhist monks have been slashed to death and temples bombed.
Vendors who sell pork are receiving threatening flyers saying it's sinful
to sell the meat _ forbidden under Islam _ in Muslim areas.

About 360,000 Buddhists live in Thailand's southernmost provinces of
Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, home to about 1.3 million Muslims.

The region, once a separate Islamic kingdom, became part of Thailand in
the early 20th century. But a deep desire for independence persists,
along with Muslims' feelings that they are second-class citizens.

While the central government ponders how to restore peace _ wavering
between iron-fisted crackdowns and socio-economic betterment _
authorities are handing out thousands of weapons and are training about
10,000 Buddhists to use them, raising fears that an "eye-for-an-eye"
mentality will prevail.

"I feel vengeful because they killed my husband. I want to protect
myself, as there is no one who can protect me now," said 51-year-old
Sa-ngeam Boontho. Unknown assailants killed her husband, a
policeman, in September.

Sa-ngeam and about 40 other Buddhist villagers _ some who'd never
touched a weapon and feared doing so _ were being taught how to aim
rifles.

"We have no intention of harming anyone, but we will not let anyone
behead us," Gen. Napol Boonthap told the trainees in Pattani province
on the grounds of temple, which under Buddhism should be a sanctuary
of nonviolence.

Several Islamic leaders have condemned the beheadings and other
violence.

"Such acts are very cruel and beyond the imagination of any human
being," said one such leader, Nidir Waba. He added that people have
lost much confidence in the government, which has failed to stop the
brutal killings.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said Muslim insurgents were
using this "insane" method to terrify Buddhists and force them from the
south.

"Beheading (in some Islamic countries) is a form of punishment. Such
acts post a direct challenge to the Thai state as it shows that insurgents
have seized the right to punish from the authorities. Hence, it greatly
bothers the government," says political scientist Chaiwat Satha-anand.

The decapitations indicate that the conflict between the insurgents and
the state has escalated to a new level, Chaiwat said.

The region's deputy police chief, Maj. Gen. Thani Thawitsri, believes that
beheadings are "an imitation of the situation in Iraq," where Islamic
insurgents have decapitated kidnapped Westerners while demanding the
withdrawal of U.S.-led troops.

Thailand's Muslim insurgents "have many menus to choose from, such
as, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq," he said.

Some Muslim leaders believe the beheadings are a retaliation against
authorities' alleged extra-judicial killings of suspected insurgents.
Government officials deny such killings.

"Somebody has tried to spread that rumor. The government has never
had such a policy. We strictly adhere to the rule of law, justice and
transparency," said an army spokesman, Lt. Gen. Palanggoon Klaharn.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050702/ap/d8b33uv00.html

See also: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khilafism/message/1287 3
Buddhists shot dead, teachers' homes attacked in Thai south by Islamic
Separtists

See also: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khilafism/message/1274 65
year old Thai Buddhist Decapitated by Muslim Separatists

See also:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khilafism/message/1080
Rioting in Thailand Leaves Four Dead


3,078 posted on 07/05/2005 9:06:05 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (http://bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp Meet YOUR Communist party members in Congress)
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To: JohnathanRGalt; backhoe; All

http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/004455.html

July 05, 2005
"Something interesting about the recent announcement of a new spokesman for Iraqi jihad groups"

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Ibrahim Youssuf Al-Shamri was named spokesman for the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Mujahedin Army."

===
===

http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/004442.html


July 03, 2005
"www.hdalsalam.com: site of Shi'ite 'National Islamic Resistance' in Iraq"

===
===

ON THE NET...

http://www.hdalsalam.com


3,079 posted on 07/05/2005 9:25:10 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: F14 Pilot; DoctorZIn; JohnathanRGalt; backhoe; piasa; All

Note: The following text is an exact quote:
===

http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/050705chicago.htm

News Release

July 5, 2005

ILLINOIS MAN CHARGED WITH OPERATING ILLEGAL MONEY TRANSMITTING BUSINESS AND SENDING MILLIONS TO IRAN

CHICAGO — A federal Grand Jury indicted a Lincolwood, Ill., resident last week on 193 counts of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and illegally transferring almost $4 million to Iran, following a joint U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and FBI investigation.

Hossein Esfahani, 44, was indicted June 30 in the Northern District of Illinois for operating a “Hawala,” and for violating Presidential orders issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

A Hawala is an alternative remittance system, which transfers money (usually across borders) without the immediate physical or electronic transfer of funds. Money changers (“hawaladars”) physically receive cash or funds in one country. Correspondent hawaladars in another country dispense an identical amount (minus any fees or commissions) to a recipient or a designated recipient bank account.

Count one of the indictment charges Esfahani with operating an unlicensed money service business out of his Lincolnwood, Ill., home. Counts two through 99 charge that between Oct. 31, 2001 and Feb. 14, 2005, Esfahani caused funds to be exported from the U.S. to Iran. Counts 100 through 191 charge that Esfahani transmitted $3,918,000 to Iran over the same time period without the required license.

The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegations pursuing forfeiture of one Harris Bank account, one property located at 3959 W. Arthur, Lincolnwood, Ill., one property located at 205 Batavia Lane, Schaumburg, Ill., one property located at 870-890 Roselle Road, Hoffman Estates, Ill., and one property located at 5 Spencer Road, New Lennox, Ill. A second forfeiture count seeks forfeiture of all money or property that was subject of the transactions to Iran including but not limited to $3,918,000. The U.S. may also seek substitute assets.

“Unlicensed money transmittal businesses and underground financing systems pose a real threat,” said Elissa A. Brown, special agent-in-charge of investigations in Chicago. “Any criminal or terrorist can come to these underground businesses and have millions wired anywhere in the world with no questions asked. ICE’s goal is to identify, disrupt and ultimately dismantle these underground financing and transmittal operations.”

Esfahani was originally arrested March 22 following the court complaint. He was released with a monitored security ankle bracelet after posting a $600,000 bond in early June

According to the indictment, Esfahani operated Hossein M. Esfahani Exchange, aka Esfahani Exchange, aka King Exchange from his Lincolwood, Ill., home. Esfahani transmitted almost $4 million to at least three money exchange businesses in Dubai, U.A.E., and additional amounts to Shiraz, Iran.

This is an ongoing investigation.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

# ICE #


3,080 posted on 07/05/2005 9:55:07 PM PDT by Cindy
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