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Daily Terrorist Round-up 7/8/05

Posted on 07/08/2005 3:45:56 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter



Stay Angry




Bush: ‘We will not yield

Danish troops to remain in Iraq despite threat of attack

Japan PM: We won't quit Iraq

We won't budge on Iraq: Howard



 Condemnation Not Enough
Adel Darwish
 
The barbaric terrorist attacks in London yesterday were condemned by all civilized nations. In addition to condemning the atrocities, Muslim and Middle Eastern leaders were among the first to send messages of support, sympathy and solidarity with Britain.

Words of condemnation and solidarity are fine and great in their symbolic value, but they are not enough unless backed by practical measures in cooperation with Britain and the rest of the civilized world to defeat the evil forces of terrorism.

To win the war against terror, and it must be won, we need to understand the terrorists’ strategy and tactics. First they need a motive, second an operational capability to carry out attacks, and third an aim. The last is almost impossible to identify in the case of Al-Qaeda, since it is not clear what constitutes a strategic “victory” for them. Unlike the IRA, the PLO, or ETA, who want recognition and are ready to decommission arms for political gain, Al-Qaeda’s strategy is terror for the sake of terror. And their aim is to destroy our way of life and what our democracy represents. Hence while the IRA for example gives warning before bombs designed to cause maximum disruption and economic harm go off, Al-Qaeda’s terrorists have no respect for human life.

It is important, when fighting terrorists, to address the three areas of their tactics. And it is important to get the balance right between the three (removing the motives, depriving terrorists of operational capabilities and denying them the chance to claim success by changing our way of life).

It would be meaningless to deploy heavy military tactics against terrorists in a way that would increase anger and animosity and create more terrorists.

For example while the war in Afghanistan was successful in destroying Al-Qaeda the war in Iraq has created more anger.

Britain, which still enjoys the support and admiration in the Middle East and Muslim world, must work hard not to lose this support; but it is also the duty of Muslims to join the alliance in fighting terrorism. Muslims countries suffered from Al-Qaeda’s terrorism long before London bombs, and it is important that political leaders, clergy, Arab and Muslim commentators make an unequivocal statement condemning terrorism in all its forms.

It is not right to call a suicide bomber a “shaheed” or martyr, just because he supports a cause those commentators and clergy consider just or right. Murder is murder, as one respected Muslim scholar after another told me yesterday, quoting from the Qur’an (“Who he destroys one human soul destroys the whole of humanity”). Thus they must declare that any attack on civilians, or even on off-duty soldiers is an act of terrorism. As millions of Muslims congregate for Friday prayers today, I hope the message from their imams will be clear in condemning terrorism and ruling that Islamic teachings forbid killing.

It is also important that commentators and media here in Britain do not fall into a trap of giving the terrorists a victory by deepening a division between Muslims and the rest of the community. Most importantly, terrorists should not be allowed to force us to change our way of life.

Yesterday several commentators in the Middle East admired the bravery and the calm of the British people as they went about their business, and many recalled Sir Winston Churchill’s spirit that defeated the Nazis, saying the same spirit would prevail and defeat terrorism. One Muslim Arab friend e-mailed me a message of solidarity in the name of his colleagues in his newsroom saying, “We stand shoulder to shoulder with Britain, as an attack on London is an attack on all Arabs, London is and will remain, the capital of the whole of Middle East and the capital of the free world.’’

Let’s prove him right.



SAUDI ARABIA: CLERICS WHO JUSTIFY TERRORISM FACE TRIAL
 
Riyadh, 7 July (AKI) - Saudi Arabia is set to release a list naming clerics who will be tried on terrorism charges for issuing fatwas, or religious edicts, which justify terrorist acts. The Saudi newspaper Arab News cites the Saudi interior minister Prince Nayef as saying they will be tried as terror accomplices. He also revealed that authorities are trying to trace additional clerics, whose names do not appear on the list.

It is thought hundreds of Saudis have travelled to Iraq in recent months to join the Jihad or holy war there. Saudi newspapers have carried interviews with several young men who turned back after receiving a fatwa from one senior Saudi cleric warning that only Iraqis should take part in the Jihad. Another young Saudi said he and his friends returned on discovering their only purpose would be as suicide bombers.

Prince Nayef told a meeting of the Supreme Tourism Authority this week that the plans to try the clerics are part of their effort to identify individuals who are financing terror operations in the kingdom.

On Wednesday newspapers in Saudi Arabia reported that following the killing of Moroccan Younis al-Hayari - who was considered the new leader of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia - the terror network is expected to name Fahd Faraj al-Juwair as its new leader. The 35-year-old is number two on the list of 36 most wanted militants issued by the Saudi interior ministry last week. Al-Hayari was number one on that list. He died in a shootout after the Saudi security forces carried out raids on suspected militant hideouts in the capital Riyadh.



JORDAN: FREED CLERIC IN CONTACT WITH AL-ZARQAWI
 
Amman, 7 July (AKI) - The re-arrest by the Jordanian authorities of the Jihadi ideologue, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi - just a few days after he was released - is because of a telephone call he made to his close friend, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Arabic daily reports. London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat on Thursday cited Salafite Jihadist sources in Jordan who said: "It appears that as soon as al-Maqdisi got home he spoke with al-Zarqawi himself or his closest aide by phone."

Jordanian government sources have in part confirmed this version of events. According to the Jordanian deputy prime minister, Marwan al-Maashark, al-Maqdisi was arrested because he was found to be in phone contact with terror suspects abroad. He is still being detained and the police are trying to ascertain the identity of his contact.

Al-Maqdisi, 43, was freed from intelligence headquarters last week after being held for six months following his acquittal at a trial of al-Qaeda sympathisers.

In 1994, al-Maqdisi was arrested along with al-Zarqawi. The two men spent four years in the same prison cell and al-Maqdisi is considered al-Zarqawi's spiritual mentor. Both were released in 1999 after King Abdullah came to power.

He had been under close surveillance by authorities at his home in the east of the capital Amman and was re-arrested on Tuesday evening as he watched an interview he had given to Arabic television network al-Jazeera.



Pakistan's risky strategy against terror  (interesting article)
By Aamer Ahmed Khan

Pakistan seems to have embarked on a new strategy to flush out militants sympathetic to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network from its territory.

The game plan involves letting loose dozens of suspects known to have been affiliated with or at least sympathetic to al-Qaeda, in the hope that they would eventually lead the authorities to some top wanted figures in the terrorist organisation.

Top security experts admit that it is a dangerous game but argue that a similar approach in the past has reaped rich dividends.

In particular, they point to Pakistan's northern tribal area of Waziristan - the inhospitable and semi-governed border between Pakistan and Afghanistan where a year-long confrontation with militants has cost the Pakistan army over 500 lives.


Security experts say former Guantanamo detainees - released by the Pakistan authorities on being returned - unwittingly led security agencies to many previously unknown hideouts used by local and foreign militants in the area.

The strategy of tailing suspects instead of arresting them was also instrumental in curbing the budding network of nationalist insurgents in the province of Balochistan.

Similarly, say security officials, top al-Qaeda arrests in many parts of the country including Karachi were possible because of the released suspects who had led the authorities to their mentors.

Pakistani authorities have now clearly decided to extend this strategy on a scale that some feel could lead to unexpected results.

Strict security

In immediate terms, the strategy means easing some of the restrictions imposed earlier on top Pakistani militants.

The visible part of the plan unfolding in recent weeks came in the shape of the release of about 150 Pakistanis who had returned from Guantanamo Bay.

After extensive debriefing lasting between nine to 10 months, most of these men were allowed to go free.


Pakistani officials say those released will remain subject to strict security protocols first drawn up when Pakistan opted to throw in its lot with the US after the 11 September attacks in the United States.

According to these regulations, local police authorities are required to keep track of the movements of these individuals and maintain the information in a central database set up by the federal government.

But what Pakistani officials are unlikely to admit as openly is the fact that most of these individuals will also be under constant watch using the hi-tech surveillance equipment deployed in Pakistan by the US.

The extent to which the Pakistani authorities are banking on their strategy is obvious from the new found freedom of some of the militant outfits.

Many of them - despite their well-known exposure to and sympathies for al-Qaeda - have reportedly reopened their offices in many parts of the country.


 Top security experts admit that it is a dangerous game
 

There are also reports that at least two such organisations - Harkatul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed - have restarted training camps in the district of Mansehra in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Harkatul Mujahideen was a part of the meeting called by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in early 1998. At this meeting, Bin Laden announced the formation of International Islamic Front against "Jews and Crusaders".

The Harkat's commitment to Bin Laden's new platform came to light when several Harkat militants from Pakistan were killed in US missile strikes at an al-Qaeda training camp near the Afghan city of Khost in August 1998.

Soft approach


In early 2000, the Harkat split into two - giving birth to the hardline and fanatical Jaish-e-Mohammed group. Activists of Jaish were later implicated in several terror attacks including the assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz, who was soon to become prime minister.

Some security analysts in Pakistan have been critical of the government's seemingly soft stance in relation to Harkat and Jaish - wondering why they have not been dealt with as severely as some of the other groups.


While other militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have been neutered with their entire leadership arrested or killed, these two groups have not suffered to a similar extent.

The latest example of the government's soft approach was the release two weeks ago of Harkat chief Fazlur Rehman Khalili. He was first detained in September last year, released for a short while, but eventually placed under house arrest.

Mr Khalili has now been released again - perhaps as part of a "network of human probes" that the authorities are hoping may lead them to top al-Qaeda leadership.

Pakistani security officials privately admit that the plan is fraught with the danger of a resurgence of terror attacks inside Pakistan.

But they forcefully argue that Pakistan has little chance but to take the risk.

In their assessment, the new lease of life afforded to militants may lead to an intensification of violence in Kashmir as well as inside Pakistan.

But as one official put it, it may well be a small price to pay if it leads to the eventual capture of the world's most wanted man.



16 guerrillas captured in Colombia
 
    BOGOTA, July 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The Colombian police captured 16 guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) during an operation in the northern La Guajira department, police said Wednesday.

    The ELN rebels, all currently on trial, had been working on military and intelligence duties and had kidnapped people in that region, police said.

    This is the "main blow to this terrorist organization in recent years," thanks to the so-called "Liberty" operation launched on May 1 and culminating last week in the arrests, they said.

    The raid was divided into four stages, one of them in the city of Riohacha, capital of La Guajira department, and the others in rural zones, police said.

    Five firearms, nine mobile phones and other communication equipment were seized during the operation.

    The ELN, with 4,500 combatants, is the second largest rebel organization in the country after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Enditem
 



Gang leader detained in Chechnya

GROZNY, July 7 (RIA Novosti) - Police have arrested a gang leader in Chechnya, a spokesman for the republic's Interior Ministry said Thursday.

Aslanbek Nurychev was apprehended in Central Chechnya, the spokesman said.

The ministry representative said Nurychev had put up armed resistance and tried to blow himself up with a grenade. He was wounded in a shootout with officers and was taken into custody after being given medical aid.

Investigators established that Nurychev had been involved in a number of serious crimes in Chechnya, the spokesman said. According to the ministry, Nurychev had been involved in the killing of a local administration head, two local residents, an attack on a polling station, an armed assault on a police base and a car bombing.



Major blow to HM: Troops kill top district commander

Srinagar, July 6: IN a major setback to the Hizbul Mujahideen, a top commander of the outfit was today killed in an encounter with the army. The relatives of the commander, however, allege that it was a custodial killing.

Army spokesman said the divisional commander of the largest indigenous militant organisation, Ghulam Mohiudin Dar was killed in an encounter with the soldiers of 32 Rashtriya Rifles near Chatoosa in Baramulla district.

‘‘He (Dar) was killed in an encounter with army two kilometers from Chatoosa,’’ said Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Defence Col V K Batra. ‘‘Our soldiers laid an ambush and he was trapped in it’’.

A resident of Ahmagam, Handwara, Dar was operating under the code name Khadim and was pioneer of the militancy. He was active in the field for more than 15 years now. His death is seen as a major setback for the militant outfit that has lost its many top commanders in the past few months. Yesterday, Hizb’s district commander Shabir Ahmad Mir alias Danish was arrested by a joint party of police and security forces in the Kupwara district.

(SV-The terrorist sypathizers in the region ALWAYS claim that the terrorists are arrested and murdered by police.)



34 ‘militants’ arrested (Pakistan)
By Mubasher Bukhari

LAHORE: Intelligence agencies arrested four men from Mianwali and Sahiwal on Tuesday and Wednesday on charges of being linked to Al Qaeda, sources told Daily Times on Wednesday.

The four men were arrested outside Mianwali and Sahiwal Jail where people, arrested from Afghanistan after the Taliban regime there collapsed, were being released. Agencies arrested Ahsanul Haq from Mianwali, thought to be a goldsmith there, while he was distributing money among the newly released prisoners. Sources said, “Haq gave Rs 1,000 to each prisoner and distributed a total of Rs 35,000,” adding that officials were curious why he was distributing money among the released men. Three men were arrested from Sahiwal where they were standing outside the district jail to welcome the released prisoners. Sources said the men were identified to be members of banned militant outfit Harkatul Mujahideen. The men were brought here for further interrogation.

Iqbal Khattak adds from Peshawar: Security forces arrested six militants, including one foreigner, in North Waziristan on Wednesday, said Lt Gen Safdar Hussain.

Hussain said the militants fired on soldiers when the car they were traveling was asked to stop at Meradeen checkpoint in Shawal Valley. He said four militants were arrested but four or five of them managed to escape, adding that security forces had launched a search immediately and two more militants were caught. He added that two more militants were arrested in the search’s second phase and one of them was a “foreigner, possibly Arab or Uzbek.”

Staff Report adds from Khar: Local authorities and paramilitary forces arrested 24 people, of which 22 were Afghan nationals, during a counter-terrorism operation in Bajaur Agency, Nawagai assistant political agent Abdul Qayyum told Daily Times on Wednesday. Qayyum said the arrests were made at the Shahjehan Abad refugee camp in Mamoond area, near the country’s border with Afghanistan, after two remote-controlled bomb blasts inside the camp. He said, “It was a joint operation by the political administration and paramilitary Bajaur Scouts force. We searched suspected refugees’ houses and arrested 24 people, including two locals, while the rest were Afghan nationals.”

Another security official told Daily Times that Army commandos also took part in the operation and “female constables” accompanied the forces during the operation. The Shahjehan Abad refugee camp houses around 6,000 Afghans. Asked if the operation was linked to the American-led coalition anti-insurgency initiative in Afganistan’s Kunar province, the official denied any linkage.

 
 


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; War on Terror
KEYWORDS:
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Terrorist Scorecard
The Iraqi "Deck of Cards" Scoreboard
Centcom's New Iraq Scorecard
Saudi Arabia's Most Wanted Scorecard
Saudi Arabia's Most New Wanted Scorecard


1 posted on 07/08/2005 3:45:56 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
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To: AdmSmith; Cap Huff; Coop; Dog; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ganeshpuri89; Boot Hill; Snapple; ...

Ping


2 posted on 07/08/2005 3:46:36 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter (John 6: 51-58)
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To: Straight Vermonter

Would you add me to your ping list? Thanks!


3 posted on 07/08/2005 3:55:23 AM PDT by Miss Marple
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To: Miss Marple; Dog; Angelus Errare; section9; Prodigal Son; Cap Huff; Boot Hill; HAL9000; ...

4 posted on 07/08/2005 4:17:57 AM PDT by Coop (www.heroesandtraitors.org)
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To: Straight Vermonter
For example while the war in Afghanistan was successful in destroying Al-Qaeda the war in Iraq has created more anger.

Fertilizer.

5 posted on 07/08/2005 4:19:29 AM PDT by Coop (www.heroesandtraitors.org)
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To: Straight Vermonter

see this from the NYPost:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1438877/posts


6 posted on 07/08/2005 4:54:54 AM PDT by bitt ('We will all soon reap what the ignorant are now sowing.' Victor Davis Hanson)
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To: Straight Vermonter

.


England's New KING ARTHUR =


911 Lifesaving Hero RICK RESCORLA

http://www.RickRescorla.com

http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24361

.


7 posted on 07/08/2005 5:28:42 AM PDT by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: Straight Vermonter

Please add me to your ping list. Thanks.


8 posted on 07/08/2005 6:07:26 AM PDT by CIApilot
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To: Straight Vermonter

Thanks for your work and the ping.


9 posted on 07/08/2005 6:14:05 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: Straight Vermonter
No 'sanctuaries' for illegals - cities refusing to enforce immigration law are harboring terrorist.
10 posted on 07/08/2005 7:20:52 AM PDT by Happy2BMe (Viva La MIGRA - LONG LIVE THE BORDER PATROL!)
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To: Coop

C'mon, terrorist supporting, dictatorial thugs all across the middel east are angry about our involvement in the region!


11 posted on 07/08/2005 1:00:07 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (John 6: 51-58)
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To: Straight Vermonter

True, but a lot of the really angry folks over there are quite dead now.


12 posted on 07/08/2005 1:47:14 PM PDT by Coop (www.heroesandtraitors.org)
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To: Coop

I know, I'm keeping a list.

LOL


13 posted on 07/08/2005 1:53:03 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (John 6: 51-58)
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To: Straight Vermonter

Yeah, I think I've heard something about that...
;-)


14 posted on 07/08/2005 2:02:46 PM PDT by Coop (www.heroesandtraitors.org)
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To: Straight Vermonter; Saberwielder
Pakistan's risky strategy against terror By Aamer Ahmed Khan

Pakistan seems to have embarked on a new strategy to flush out militants sympathetic to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network from its territory.

The game plan involves letting loose dozens of suspects known to have been affiliated with or at least sympathetic to al-Qaeda, in the hope that they would eventually lead the authorities to some top wanted figures in the terrorist organisation.



... or they let them go as they endorses their actions...
15 posted on 07/11/2005 1:10:11 AM PDT by AdmSmith
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To: AdmSmith
Risky strategy my ass. The Pakistanis are playing favorites among terrorists and trying to isolate the "bad Arabs" from "good Pakistanis." Read this excellent report by Amir Mir on why the Pakistanis are protecting their homegrown terrorists. They "arrested" Khalil to prevent the FBI from questioning him and released him once the pressure was off.
16 posted on 07/11/2005 5:52:26 AM PDT by Saberwielder
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To: Saberwielder

The question is: Who is fooling who?


17 posted on 07/11/2005 7:37:03 AM PDT by AdmSmith
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