Both of you have posted important articles tonight, thank you.
Dare I ask, did you intend to keep me out of Google?
LOL - it didn't work.....
Smiling at /with you.
Jamaat-i-Islami to confront UN Sanctions
http://thepakistaninewspaper.com/news_detail.php?id=2978
United Nations Aug 21(NNI) Pakistan's leading religious political party
Jamaat-i-Islami might confront the United Nations sanctions. Few other
names of other Pakistani religious groups are also listed in the
committee confirmed the weekend duty officer spokesman Alexandra McLeod.
Threat of terrorism over the past few years have changed from fear to
defiance. A top aid of Osama was arrested in Rawapindi from the house of
a Jamaat-i-Islami leader two years before and the United Nations
committee is out to penalize the party on these grounds.
Renewing for another 17 months its global sanctions regime against
Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, the United Nations Security
Council have expanded the list of persons or splinter groups associated
with terrorist networks.
Unanimously adopting a resolution, last month the Council reiterated
its unequivocal condemnation of those groups for "ongoing and multiple
criminal terrorist acts," which have killed innocent civilians, destroyed
property and greatly undermined stability.
The text renewed the sanctions initially outlined in 1999, and
strengthened by subsequent resolutions, which require all 191 UN Member States
to impose a travel ban and arms embargo against Osama bin Laden, the
Taliban and those "associated with" them, and to freeze their financial
assets.
The new resolution spells out for the first time who is included among
those associated with Al-Qaida and the Taliban and can be subjected to
the measures.
It states that sanctions would apply to those who participate in
financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating acts to support
the outlawed groups and who recruit, supply, sell or transfer weapons
to bin Laden, Al-Qaida, the Taliban "or any cell, affiliate, splinter
group or derivative thereof."
Also, the Council extended for 17 months the mandate of the Al-Qaida
Sanction's Committee's New York-based Analytical Support and Sanctions
Monitoring Team and gave guidelines for the inclusion of individuals and
entities associated with Osama bin Laden and the Taliban as referred to
in the Consolidated List created following the adoption of its
resolutions in 1999 and 2000.
The Council also requested the Secretary-General to increase
cooperation between the UN and Interpol in order to provide the Sanctions
Committee with better tools to fulfil its mandate and urged Member States to
ensure that stolen and lost passports and other travel documents were
invalidated as soon as possible, as well as to share information on those
documents with other Member States through Interpol's database.
For the first time, the Council urged all UN Member States to implement
the comprehensive global standards adopted by the Financial Action Task
Force, and inter-governmental body developing and promoting national
and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist
financing
Aitzaz Chaudhry, MInister II Deputy Chief Pakistan Mission to the
United Nations declined to accept. He said "United Nations have no
jurisdiction to impose sanctions on any of religious party or group around the
world".
August 21, 2005 (this should be Ashland, Oregon)
The Seda-Saudi connection
How Ashland peace activist became international fugitive in war on
terror
By MARK FREEMAN
Mail Tribune
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2005/0821/local/stories/02local.htm
When Pete Seda and Soliman Al-Buthe first met in October 1997, they
discovered a kindred spirit forged on opposite sides of the world.
Seda was an Ashland arborist and peace activist who ran a small
foundation that sent copies of the Koran to prison inmates.
Al-Buthe was an agricultural engineer in Saudi Arabia. Like Seda, he
worked to build bridges of understanding between the Muslim world and the
West, but Al-Buthe did it through Saudi Arabia’s largest charitable
group, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc.
Together, Seda and Al-Buthe opened Al-Haramain’s first U.S. chapter.
Eight years later, they share another, more dubious distinction --
international fugitives whose alleged money-smuggling and tax-cheating
activities in 2000 keep them intertwined in the Bush administration’s war
on terror.
Seda and Al-Buthe both are wanted for conspiring to defraud the United
States in a case involving a $150,000 donation to their chapter in
2000.
Seda allegedly helped Al-Buthe parlay the donation into 130 $1,000
traveler’s checks and a $21,000 cashier’s check. Al-Buthe then brought
the money to Saudi Arabia without reporting it, a violation of
financial-reporting laws.
"There’s no secrets here," says Tom Nelson, Al-Buthe’s
Portland-based attorney. "Soliman left the United States with $130,000 of
traveler’s checks he didn’t report.
"He was acting as a courier," Nelson says.
Al-Buthe, the Oregon chapter and other Al-Haramain chapters around the
globe have been designated as supporters of terror by the U.S. Treasury
Department. Nelson claims this designation and "9/11 fervor" have put
what he calls the pair’s "regulatory lapses" under a federal
microscope that likely would not have become trained on Seda and Al-Buthe had
planes not struck the twin towers.
"There is clearly an interest somewhere in the administration to appear
to be doing ‘something’ about terrorism," Nelson says. "In some
accounts, it’s drawing in people who have nothing to do with terrorism,
like Pete and Soliman.
"This wouldn’t happen if they were Hispanic," Nelson says. "They’re
being targeted because they’re Muslims."
Federal agents discount Nelson’s assertions, and they have laid out
their criminal case against the pair in indictments and lengthy
affidavits.
The government has traced the $150,000 from an initial wire transfer
from England to Ashland to the cache of traveler’s checks stuffed in
Al-Buthe’s coat pocket on a flight from New York City to Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia.
Prosecutors don’t make any assertions about where the money went from
there, nor do they claim financing terror was a motive for Seda and
Al-Buthe’s actions.
The case, prosecutors say, is about how the pair broke federal
money-reporting and tax laws and how they conspired to do it — not about who
they are.
Nelson’s assertions that the case is more about the people than their
crimes is "kind of what people said about Martha Stewart," says Pamala
Holsinger, chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney’s
Office in Portland.
"We evaluate the evidence on a case-by-case basis," Holsinger says.
"Clearly, that was done in this case."
The ongoing legal battle leaves Seda’s supporters in Ashland still
wrestling over how two men who loved trees and spoke so loudly for peace
could entangle themselves, and their town, in the war on terror.
"His connection with Al-Haramain has caused him far more trouble than
benefit received," says David Berger, a Seda friend and adviser in
Ashland. "If he had known that then I’m sure he wouldn’t have gotten
into it."
#
In some ways, Seda and Al-Buthe’s shared interests and backgrounds
foreshadowed their eventual partnership.
A naturalized citizen from Iran, Seda worked as an arborist and
activist who preached tolerance and understanding for and by Muslims. He wrote
a book called "Islam Is," which he passed around Ashland on
mimeographed pages in the late 1990s.
Al-Buthe has written countless articles for Middle Eastern periodicals
about helping the West understand Islam. He works as the assistant
director of "beautification" for Riyadh.
"One of the reasons Soliman liked going out there (to Ashland) was the
trees," Nelson says.
After Seda’s efforts first became known in 1997 to Al-Haramain, the
parent charity sent Al-Buthe with an offer the cash-strapped Seda liked.
Al-Buthe asked if Seda wanted to form the first Al-Haramain chapter in
the United States. It would be based in Ashland but funded by the
charity.
"Al-Haramain took over the funding," Berger says. "This was all
initiated by Al-Haramain."
Seda and Al-Buthe became friends and soon had Berger draft papers to
get the new foundation chapter licensed through the Oregon Secretary of
State’s Office.
Together, Seda and Al-Buthe opened a bank account on behalf of the
chapter at the Bank of America branch in Ashland.
And with Al-Buthe came money.
Nine times between his first meeting with Seda in October 1997 and his
last known trip to the United States in March 2001, Al-Buthe brought in
a total of $777,845. He declared the money by filling out the required
Currency and Monetary Instrument Reports.
These CMIRs are required by anyone crossing the U.S. border with more
than $10,000 at any one time.
In seven of those cases, a federal affidavit states, Al-Buthe brought
in more than $10,000 worth of traveler’s checks and filled out a CMIR
for them.
Nelson says traveler’s checks are free in Saudi Arabia and considered
an easy way to transport money out of that country.
In December 1997, the chapter spent $190,162.50 to buy a house on
Highway 99 in Ashland that served as Seda’s residence and the chapter
headquarters, where it hosted prayer meetings and distributed books, one
affidavit states.
In May 2000, CMIRs show that Al-Buthe legally brought in $275,000 of
foundation money, all in traveler’s checks and deposited in the
chapter’s Ashland account.
The next month, the chapter spent $378,291.74 for what it called a
prayer house in Springfield, Mo. Part of the purchase included a
cashier’s check for $318,291.74 signed by Seda and sent to a Missouri escrow
company, an affidavit states.
The chapter even helped spruce up and publish Seda’s book, which
remains available online.
But the men’s actions involving the $150,000 donation on behalf of
"Muslim Brothers" in Chechnya is at the heart of their battle with the
federal government.
"This whole thing has a terribly sinister allure to it," Nelson says.
"But if you start from Day One and travel to the end of it, it’s truly
unremarkable."
#
Federal search-warrant affidavits spell out how the government traced
the various financial transactions.
On Feb. 24, 2000, a Egyptian doctor named Mahmoud T. El Feki wired
$150,000 from a London bank to the chapter’s Ashland bank account as a
donation to help Muslims fighting Russians.
Nelson says El Feki told Egyptian investigators that he chose to wire
the money there after seeing an Al-Haramain Web site that suggested
donations from the United States and Europe to aid Chechnyans be sent to
Al-Haramain’s Ashland chapter.
On March 7, Al-Buthe flew to the United States. On March 10, Al-Buthe
and Seda went to the Ashland bank and received the $130,000 in $1,000
traveler’s checks and Al-Buthe received one $21,000 cashier’s check
from the same bank on the next day.
On March 11, the men signed an agreement saying Seda was relinquishing
the donations to Al-Buthe for helping the Chechnyans.
On March 12, Al-Buthe flew from New York to Saudi Arabia without
declaring his possession of the money.
Al-Buthe cashed the traveler’s checks March 25 at a Saudi bank, and
he deposited the cashier’s check in a bank account, but the stamped
date on the check was illegible to federal agents.
The money, Nelson says, eventually was given to Al-Haramain officers in
Saudi Arabia.
In October 2001, Seda signed a 2000 tax return for the chapter in which
the $150,000 donation was not reported as being sent out of the country
with Al-Buthe, a move the government claims was to disguise the
transfer.
In February, Seda, Al-Buthe and the chapter were indicted on charges of
conspiracy to defraud the United States, with Seda also charged with
tax fraud. International arrest warrants were issued.
If found and convicted, Seda faces up to eight years in prison and
Al-Buthe faces up to 10 years in prison.
#
Nelson says it was Al-Buthe’s first time leaving the United States
with more than $10,000 and he did not know the form was required.
"I wish the situation was different," Nelson says. "I wish
(prosecutors) wouldn’t try to criminalize regulatory lapses. I don’t think it
is criminal. I don’t think it was intentional. It has to be
intentional to be criminal."
However, federal documents point out that Al-Buthe has filled out CMIRs
on nine different occasions. The form, agents say, states that it must
be filled out when entering or leaving the country with more than
$10,000.
Nelson also minimizes Seda’s role in the transactions.
"Pete had next to nothing to do with the Chechnya donation," Nelson
says.
As for the tax fraud, Nelson suggests that Seda made a simple mistake
when asked about the money for tax forms 18 months after the
transactions.
Seda’s lawyer, Larry Matasar of Portland, did not return telephone
calls seeking comment.
Holsinger, from the Department of Justice, has declined to reveal what
has spurred the investigation into Seda and Al-Buthe.
Holsinger says she believes the case is laid out quite effectively in
court records.
"Obviously, our take on it is what’s in the indictment," Holsinger
says.
#
Al-Buthe remains in Saudi Arabia, which doesn’t have an extradition
agreement with the United States.
Federal agents believe Seda is in his native Iran, which also doesn’t
have an extradition agreement.
In court filings, Matasar has claimed federal attorneys are trying to
strong-arm Seda into returning to plead guilty to the charges, or
perhaps possibly face additional charges.
"We’ve been trying to work out a situation that at least one of the
two people might be able to return to the United States to face these
charges head-on," Nelson says.
Holsinger says it is a "mischaracterization" to claim the government is
strong-arming Seda or Al-Buthe.
"They have an option of coming back at any time they want," Holsinger
says. "They don’t have to plead guilty.
"But we don’t negotiate with fugitives to come back into the country
on their terms," Holsinger says.
Nelson says he hopes one day to get Seda and Al-Buthe vindicated and
get the chapter’s assets unfrozen and sold.
That way, the tree-loving activists from opposite ends of the world can
go their separate ways and close the book on Al-Haramain’s presence
in Ashland.
"What we’re trying to do is, as graciously as possible, shut this
thing down," Nelson says.
October 1997: Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation in Saudi Arabia appoints
Soliman Al-Buthe its treasurer. Al-Buthe travels to Ashland to form a
chapter.
December 1997: Al-Buthe buys a home at 3800 Highway 99 as a prayer
house and residence for Pete Seda.
February 1999: Al-Haramain incorporates its Oregon chapter through the
Secretary of State’s Office, stating it "stands against terrorism,
injustice, or subversive activities in any form." Seda is listed as the
registered agent.
February 2000: An Egyptian doctor in England wires $150,000 to the
foundation’s Ashland bank account to aid Muslims in Chechnya.
March 2000: Al-Buthe comes to Ashland, where he and Seda get $130,000
in traveler’s checks and a $21,000 cashier’s check. Al-Buthe takes
the money to Saudi Arabia without declaring it and cashes the checks.
May 2000: Al-Buthe legally transports $275,000 in traveler’s checks
from Saudi Arabia to Ashland for deposit.
June 2000: The foundation buys a prayer house in Springfield, Mo., for
$378,291.74.
Sept. 11, 2001: Al-Qaida terrorists attack the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon.
October 2001: Seda fails to report the $130,000 in traveler’s checks
properly on the foundation’s 2000 tax return.
March 2002: The U.S. Treasury Department designates six foreign
Al-Haramain chapters as supporters of terrorism.
March 2003: Shortly after an FBI interview, Seda leaves the United
States for the United Arab Emirates.
Feb. 18, 2004: Federal agents search Seda’s residence. The
chapter’s assets and property are frozen a day later.
June 2004: Saudi Arabia dissolves the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation.
Feb. 17, 2005: Seda, Al-Buthe and the Al-Haramain Foundation’s Oregon
chapter are indicted on felony charges of illegally transporting money
out of the United States, tax fraud and conspiracy to defraud the
United States. International arrest warrants are issued for Seda and
Al-Buthe.
Aug. 4, 2005: Federal attorneys file motion to dismiss charges against
the foundation, and declare continuing investigations of Seda and
Al-Buthe.
Aug. 21, 2005: Federal agents believe Al-Buthe is in Saudi Arabia and
that Seda may be in his native Iran. Neither country has extradition
agreements with the United States.
August 21, 1983 - Philippines
Benigno Aquino Assassinated
No information provided.
August 21, 1968 - Czechoslovakia
Invasion By Warsaw Pact Forces
No information provided.
Upcoming Significant Events:
August 22, 1978 - Kenya
Death of Jomo Kenyatta
No information provided.
August 23, 1944 - Romania
Liberation Day
No information provided.
August 24, (year unknown) - Bermuda
Empire Day
No information provided.
August 25, 1825 - Uruguay
Independence Day
No information provided.
August 25, 1944 - France
Liberation Day
Paris liberated by Allied troops.
TerroristWarning.com Terrorism Headlines 08/22/2005 # 1
National:
[PHXNews.com Jim Kouri] USA - Media Alert: Police Chiefs Predict Terrorist Attack
"The United States will suffer another large scale terrorist attack within the next year, according to a poll conducted by the National Association of Chiefs of Police"
http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=24281
[AP] CALIFORNIA - Folsom Prison At Center Of Terror Probe
http://fox40.trb.com/news/ktxl-081705terror,0,381315.story?coll=ktxl-news-1
[Fox News] USA - Emergency Declared at U.S. Southern Border
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166241,00.html
[New York Times] ARIZONA - Migrants awarded vigilante's Ariz. ranch
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0819ariz-immig-abuse19.html
[San Bernardino Sun] CALIFORNIA - State border police force sought
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~3018567,00.html
[KVOA] ARIZONA - State lawmaker says border wall at top of her list
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=3740577
[Capitol Media Services] ARIZONA - Leaders focus on border security
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=46462
[PR Web Press Release] USA - Al-Qaeda Has Infiltrated US Trucking Industry
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb275244.htm
[WISH TV] USA - American Airlines Flight Attendants Oppose Easing Security Rules
"TSA's proposal to lift the ban prohibiting knives, razor blades, ice picks and other potential weapons on board the aircraft is beyond comprehension,"
http://www.wishtv.com/global/Story.asp?s=3742710
International:
[AP] UNITED KINGDOM - Al-Qaida gas attack foiled
"Scotland Yard believes it thwarted an al-Qaida sarin gas attack on the British Parliament"
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2005/08/21/1181726-sun.html
[The Sunday Times] UNITED KINGDOM - Police foil gas attack on Commons
“They were planning to use chemicals, a dirty bomb and sarin gas. They looked at all sorts of ways of delivering it.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C2087-1743818%2C00.html
[Moscow Times] RUSSIA - FSB Says Terrorists Are Trying to Secure WMD
"Terrorist groups are making attempts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear and biological weapons"
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/08/22/012.html
[Mosnews] RUSSIA - Radioactive Cargo Seized in Russian Far Eastern Port [1,500 micro-roentgen per hour]
"monitoring devices showed a radiation level surpassing the normal level 100 times in the port"
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/08/20/radioactivelitter.shtml
[Reuters] NORTH KOREA - N.Korea restarts Yongbyon nuclear reactor-report
http://olympics.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-08-21T052407Z_01_KNE119387_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-KOREA-NORTH-REACTOR-DC.XML
[AP] JORDAN / ISRAEL - Missiles fired at U.S. Navy ship in Jordan, airport in nearby Israel
http://www.940news.com/nouvelles.php?cat=24&id=81913
[The Pioneer] BANGLADESH - Bomb blasts in Bangladesh
"459 bomb blasts rocked 63 of her country's 64 districts in the hour before noon"
http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=parthasarathy%2Fparthasarathy82.txt&writer=parthasarathy
[AP] RUSSIA - Bomb explosion in southern Russian city kills 3 police officers
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050820/w082062.html
[UPI] ALGERIA - Car bomb kills Algerian policeman
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050820-11282100-bc-algeria-violence.xml
[IOL] TURKEY - Bomb targets Turkish passenger train
"bomb exploded under a passenger train traveling through the southeastern Turkish province of Gaziantep"
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1124543885236T623
[AP] ISRAEL - 2 Palestinians injured planting bomb by Kfar Darom
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124417950508
[RTE News] THAILAND - Bomb in Thailand kills one and injures ten
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0820/bangkok.html
[Pakistan Times] PAKISTAN - Red alert in Srinagar after car-bomb blast
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/08/20/kashmir3.htm
[Rochdale Observer] SCOTLAND - Stadium is put on bomb alert
"Stadium was evacuated after a suspected makeshift bomb was discovered in a cleaner’s dustcart"
http://www.rochdaleobserver.co.uk/news/s/203/203108_stadium_is_put_on_bomb_alert.html
[Kantipur Online] NEPAL - Maoists bomb Jyoti Spinning Mills
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=49228
[GG2.NET NEWS] PAKISTAN - Pak, Russian scientists maintain al-Qaeda`s nuclear arsenal: ex-FBI consultant
http://www.gg2.net/viewnews.asp?nid=769&tid=top_headlines&catid=Top%20Headlines
[GG2.NET NEWS] INDIA / BANGLADESH - India, Bangladesh border firefight resumes
http://www.gg2.net/viewnews.asp?nid=1258&tid=top_stories&catid=Top
[AP] SAUDI ARABIA - Top Al Qaeda fugitive died in raid, Saudis say
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0508190100aug19,1,5001377.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
[Reuters] JORDAN - Dozens Detained in Jordan
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/08/22/251.html
[AP] RUSSIA - Makhachkala Bomb Kills 3 Policemen
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/08/22/019.html
[Xinhua] AFGHANISTAN - Roadside bomb kills 4 US soldiers
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/21/content_3384580.htm
[Novinite] BULGARIA - Police Unravels "Al-Qaeda" Terror Threats on Sofia [ Hoax ]
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=51453
[Tempo] PHILIPPINES - Gas tanker leak sets off explosions in QC; 39 injured, 100 shanties razed
http://www.tempo.com.ph/news.php?aid=15274
Muslim chiefs do not vet groups for extremism
By Amy Iggulden
(Filed: 22/08/2005)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=2VEAE5WCLI5UXQFIQMGCM5OAVCBQUJVC?xml=/news/2005/08/22/nmcb22.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/08/22/ixportal.html
The most powerful Islamic body in Britain admitted yesterday that it
had failed to carry out even basic checks for extremism among its
affiliated groups.
The Muslim Council of Britain, which represents more than 400
organisations across the country, said it "assumed" that potential members were
moderates and therefore did not investigate their literature or views.
It was responding to reports in a BBC Panorama programme broadcast last
night that affiliated members had aired extremist views.
A council spokesman attacked the programme as "manifestly dishonest" in
its editing and accused the reporter of pursuing a "vicious vendetta"
against Muslims.
Ahl-e-Hadith, a Birmingham-based affiliated group with 41 branches
across the country, has an article on its website telling followers to "be
different from Jews and Christians" whose "ways are based on sick or
deviant views".
Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the council, told The Daily
Telegraph that affiliates were not asked if they had renounced extremism.
Neither their membership nor literature was investigated.
However, there is no suggestion that the council is not genuine in its
condemnation of extremism and terrorism.
"We do not have time to check the websites of every organisation," Mr
Bunglawala said. "As long as they sign a statement saying they agree to
abide by the constitution and pay the £25, they are free to join. We
can't control what our affiliates say; we are not a policing
organisation."
Panorama suggested that the council was "in denial" about sectarianism
in the Muslim community.
The programme, called A Question of Leadership, also raised questions
about another affiliated group, the Islamic Foundation, based in
Leicester. It was said to promote the books of Sayid Maududi, the founder of
the political movement Jamaa'at Islami and whose ideal state would have
"no trace of western democracy".
But Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the council's secretary general, told the
programme that Maududi was "an important scholar". He said: "Institutions
like the Islamic Foundation are playing a very important role and we are
proud to have them as our affiliates."
Fears were also raised by the comments of Dr Azzam Tamimi, of the
Muslim Association of Britain, a major affiliate of the council. He told the
programme, in a personal capacity, that the concept of martydom "has to
be glorified".
Mr Bunglawala, who has been appointed by the Home Office as a
campaigner against extremism, wrote to the BBC to complain of a "pro-Israeli"
bias to the documentary and yesterday accused John Ware, the reporter, of
pursuing a "vicious vendetta" against the nation's Muslims. He said
that quotes had been shortened to manipulate meaning.
"The programme is deeply unfair. It tries to portray the scholars we
admire as loonies."
Ware responded to the allegations on BBC radio yesterday, saying:
"Before even the council had seen the transcript their attack on it was
blindly defensive. Our only purpose is to further a debate which many
Muslims think is long overdue."
Miss Rime Allaf, a fellow in the Middle East programme at the Royal
Institute of International Affairs, said: "It is not helpful for our
understanding of suicide bombers to simplistically dissect a community and
its links."
The BBC said: "We reject any allegation of personal, programme or
institutional bias and are confident that the programme is a timely
contribution to the debate in Muslim communities."
Note:
Wasn't one or more of the London bombers linked to a Video shop, as I recall it they had meetings there, something about a brother in law, working there or owning it?
Is this associated to them?
granny
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4170692.stm
Man is stabbed to death in street
Police have launched a murder inquiry after a father-of-six was
stabbed to death in a Birmingham street on Saturday afternoon.
The attack happened in Alum Rock as the victim, who was Asian and in
his 30s, walked to a garage in Alum Rock Road.
He was taken to Heartlands Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Members of his family confirmed to the BBC his name was Amjhed
Khan. He is believed to have worked in a video shop near the stabbing
scene.
Mr Khan's family said he had six children who were all under the age of
15.
Police have set up a major incident room and are appealing for
witnesses to the stabbing, at about 1520 BST, to come forward.
Iraq insurgents plan wave of attacks
Posted on Sunday, August 21, 2005 at 6:11pm
Intelligence points to suicide bombings to coincide with draft
constitution. U.S. and foreign intelligence officials tell NBC News they
have credible intelligence that insurgents in Iraq have active plans to
launch a massive offensive early next week — timed to coincide with the
possible draft of an Iraqi constitution on Monday. According to the
officials, terrorists would launch as many as 20 simultaneous suicide
bombings, mostly in Baghdad. The plans also include heavy rocket and
mortar attacks against U.S. and Iraqi government offices inside
Baghdad’s Green Zone, against the U.S. military at Baghdad
International Airport, and at Abu Ghraib prison. U.S. officials say the
offensive was planned for early this week but was put on hold when
Iraqis failed to come up with a draft constitution.
Full Story at link.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9013227
Mishaps
Missile rail breaks from
Thunderbird F-16 during show
[updated]
Sunday, August 21, 2005 - An aerial
performance by the U.S. Air Force
Thunderbirds was cut short Saturday after a
missile rail fell from an F-16C during the
Chicago Air and Water Show. It seems that
the right wingtip missile rail of the "slot," or
number-four, touched the left horizontal
stabilizer of the right wingman and thus
broke off.
The incident took place during the first few minutes
of the Thunderbirds' show. Seconds before the
piece fell off, the planes had streaked over the
crowded beach.
The four-foot-long missile rail appeared to fall into
Lake Michigan as four of the Thunderbirds' fighter
F-16s banked upward in their trademark diamond
formation.
All six F-16s landed safely at the Gary-Chicago
Airport, Ind., after the incident. No one was
injured.
The two pilots involved had logged at least 1,300
hours each in the F-16, but they were new to their
formation positions this season.
Thunderbird right wing pilot, Maj. Chris Callahan
returned this season after a two-year hiatus. And
Maj. Steve Horton is in his first season flying in the
no.4 slot position.
The last time two Thunderbird jets touched while
aloft was in 1999 when two F-16s collided taking
off in diamond formation during a Florida air show.
Chicago Police marine units were dispatched to a
section of Lake Michigan where authorities believe
the item landed, to attempt to retrieve the rail.
The Air Force said it is taking no chances, and
immediately dispatched a safety team to inspect all
of the aircraft.
http://www.f-16.net/f-16_news_article1439.html
Top cleric held in Bangladesh for bomb blasts
(DPA)
22 August 2005
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2005/August/subcontinent_August794.xml§ion=subcontinent
DHAKA - A prominent cleric in Bangladesh was arrested on Monday for
his alleged role in the August 17 bomb attacks across the country which
killed two people and injured 200, officials said.
The cleric, identified as Maulana Fariduddin Mahfuz, was arrested
at the airport in Dhaka as he prepared to board a flight to Dubai.
Mahfuz, who once headed the state-run Islamic Foundation, is
accused of trying to flee the country after intelligence agencies unearthed
proof of his involvement in the series of cross-country explosions which
triggered nationwide panic.
The foundation publishes books and organizes seminars on Islam
besides running the biggest mosque in the country.
Government sources claimed Mahfuz had strong ties with the banned
militant group Jamiat ul Mujahideen which has been blamed for the
bombings in cities and towns across the country.
Extremists threaten Algerians in France
Aug. 22, 2005 at 12:40PM
UPI
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi/20050822-120439-5090r.htm
An Algerian terrorist group is calling on fellow extremists to track
and strike government and civilian compatriots in France.
In an Internet message, the Salafist Group for Preaching and
Combat called on its "Muslim brothers in France" to survey, track and
"ambush" high-level political, military and economic officials on French
soil, Le Figaro reports.
"Our real enemies aren't only the military rulers," the GSPC said
in its Internet message reportedly published in early August. "But also
numerous civilians known for their allegiance to French leaders."
"Support your brothers in Algeria by tracking these criminals in
France," the statement reportedly read.
The GSPC was founded in 1998 as a splinter group of the Armed
Islamic Group, which launched a bloody insurgency against Algeria's
military backed government in the early 1990s. The ensuing civil war killed
as many as 150,000 people.
An Algerian diplomat told Le Figaro Algiers was taking the
threats seriously and pursuing them with "vigilance and serenity."
Hamas details Gaza attacks
Monday, August 22, 2005 Updated at 8:53 AM EDT
Associated Press
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050822.whamasa0822/BNStory/Front
Gaza City, Gaza Strip -- Hamas militants, jockeying to take credit for
Israel's Gaza Strip pullout, said they were involved in 54 per cent of
400 attacks on Israeli targets in Gaza in the past five years.
The figures appeared on a Hamas website Monday, the day Israel set out
to clear the last of its 21 Gaza settlements, Netzarim. Hamas said its
numbers were reliable because they were culled from Israeli military
statistics -- a claim that could not immediately be verified.
Hamas and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have been engaged in fierce
competition over who will be credited with the Gaza pullout, a
unilateral Israeli move. Hamas said its attacks have driven Israel out, while
Mr. Abbas hopes to gain political capital from eventual improvement in
the daily life of Gazans as a result of the withdrawal.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the figures "are a document of
Hamas' struggle and Hamas' role in liberating this precious part of the
homeland."
They show that "resistance is the Palestinians' strategy of choice,"
Mr. Abu Zuhri said.
"It made this victory possible, and this victory can be repeated," he
said, referring to Israel's Gaza withdrawal.
According to the figures posted by Hamas, the group was involved in 217
of 400 attacks against Israeli targets between September, 2000, when
the second Palestinian uprising against Israel began, and Aug. 15, 2005,
the date Israel began pulling out of Gaza.
The Al Aqsa Brigades, affiliated with Mr. Abbas' ruling Fatah party,
were responsible for 22 attacks, or 5.5 per cent of the total. The
Islamic Jihad carried out 34 attacks, or 8.5 per cent of the total, according
to the Hamas claim.
Hamas also claimed responsibility for killing 79 of the 167 Israeli
soldiers who the group said died in militant attacks in Gaza in the past
five years. Other factions killed 37 soldiers, or 22.2 per cent of the
total. Fifty-one soldiers, or 30.5 per cent of the total, died in joint
operations, Hamas said.
Hamas also suffered the most fatalities, according to the group's
statistics. A total of 145 of the 215 militants killed, or 67.5 per cent,
belonged to Hamas. Islamic Jihad ranked second, with 28 gunmen dead,
followed by Fatah, with 23 fatalities.
Deadly Hamas attacks on Israeli targets waned this year after the group
entered into an informal truce with Israel. Abu Zuhri said the truce
was in force until the end of the year.
Book report, 1890 until today:
The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response by Peter BalakianIHC
ReviewThe First World War made it clear the old idea that “war is politics by another means” is outdated in the
20th century. In the case of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, war meant extermination. Speaking to his top
generals days before invading Poland in September 1939, Adolf Hitler praised the virtues of power and brutality,
referring to how easy it had been to destroy defenseless people like the Armenians. “Who today, after all,
speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?” he asked. Under the cover of war, Muslim Turks (with German
help) completed the massacre of Christian Armenians begun in the 1890s. On the eve of WW II, Hitler was
readying his own apparatus of death for annihilating the Jews of Europe, knowing he could do so with
impunity.This book deals at length with U.S. government involvement (or the insufficiency thereof, depending on
one’s point of view) in supporting fellow-Christian Armenian victims. It brings to light President Woodrow Wilson’s
proposal to extend United States dominion and protection over the Armenian Republic.
continued-at:
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/b/viii/220820051
Explosion rocks Christian area of Lebanon
Monday, August 22, 2005; Posted: 5:14 p.m. EDT (21:14 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/22/beirut.blast/index.html
(CNN) -- An explosion has rocked a commercial center in a Christian
suburb north of Beirut, wounding at least five people, according to
reports from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
The blast went off near the Hotel Promenade in Zalka, which is also
near a Starbucks cafe. However, there were conflicting reports of where
the bomb had been planted.
A Lebanese civil defense spokesperson told LBC that the bomb had been
planted inside a building, while a Lebanese security source said it was
detonated in a parking lot adjacent to the hotel.
The blast happened just before 11 p.m. (4 p.m. ET). Video from the LBC
showed army troops cordoning off the area and ambulance crews
responding to the scene.
The blast appeared to have caused extensive damage to the outside walls
of a building.
Just last month a powerful explosion rocked a Christian area of Beirut.
Hours after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paid a surprise
visit, the second major blast in two weeks shook the Lebanese capital on
July 22. No deaths were reported.
On July 12 Lebanon's outgoing deputy Prime Minister Elias Murr was
among 12 people wounded by a blast that tore through a Christian
neighborhood in northern Beirut. At least two people were killed.
(clipped)