Posted on 08/07/2006 3:43:15 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
Tehran & Damascus Move to Lebanon Lebanon-born Walid Phares is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Author of the recent book Future Jihad, he was also one of the architects of 2004’s United Nations resolution 1559, which called for the disarming of Hezbollah. NRO editor Kathryn Lopez recently talked to Phares about what’s going on in the Mideast, what happened to the Cedar Revolution, and this war we’re all in.
Kathryn Jean Lopez: What is “Future Jihad”? Are we seeing it in the Mideast now?
Walid Phares: “Future Jihad,” which has already begun, refers to a new and potent form of Islamic terrorism, characterized by a Khumeinist-Baathist axis. These are the two trees of jihadism, so to speak — the Salafism and Wahabism embodied in al Qaeda and the sort of jihadism led by Iran and also including Syria, Hezbollah, and their allies in Lebanon.
The alliance has not been in entire agreement as to strategy. The al Qaeda branch began its “Future Jihad” in the 1990s; its efforts culminated on 9/11 and have continued explosively since then. The international “Salafists” aimed at the U.S. in the past decade in order to strengthen their jihads on various battlefields (Chechnya, India, Sudan, Algeria, Indonesia, Palestine, etc.). “Weaken the resolve of America,” their ideologues said, “and the jihadists would overwhelm all the regional battlefields.”
As I argue in Future Jihad, bin Laden and his colleagues miscalculated on the timing of the massive attack against the U.S. in 2001. While they wounded America, they didn’t kill its will to fight (as was the case, for instance, in the Madrid 3/11 attacks). I have heard many jihadi cadres online, and have seen al Jazeera commentators on television, offering hints of criticism about the timing. They were blaming al Qaeda for shooting its imagined “silver bullet” before insuring a strategic follow up. But bin Laden and Zawahiri believe 9/11 served them well, and has put a global mobilization into motion. Perhaps it has, but the U.S. counter strategy in the Middle East, chaotic as the region currently appears, has unleashed counter jihadi forces. The jury is still out as to the time factor: when these forces will begin to weaken the jihadists depends on our perseverance and the public understanding of the whole conflict.
The other “tree” of jihadism, with its roots in Iran, withheld fire after 9/11. They were content to watch the Salafists fight it out with the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention within the West, as terror cells were hunted down. Ahmedinejad, Assad, and Nasrallah were analyzing how far the US would go, and how far the Sunnis and Salafis would go as well.
The fall of the Taliban and of the Baath in Iraq, however, changed Iran and Syria’s patient plans. The political changes in the neighborhood, regardless of their immediate instability, were strongly felt in Tehran and Damascus (but unfortunately not in the U.S., judging from the political debate here), and pushed the Khumeinists and the Syrian Baathists to enter the dance, but carefully. Assad opened his borders to the jihadists in an attempt to crumble the U.S. role in Iraq, while Iran articulated al Sadr’s ideology for Iraq’s Shiia majority.
A U.S.-led response came swiftly in 2004 with the voting of UNSCR 1559, smashing Syria’s role in Lebanon and forcing Assad to withdraw his troops by April 2005. In response, the “axis” prepared for a counter attack on the Lebanese battlefield by assassinating a number of the Cedar Revolution leaders, including MP Jebran Tueni. In short, the attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah and the kidnappings of soldiers were the tip of an offensive aimed at drawing attention away from Iran’s nuclear weapons programs and Syria’s assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. Hezbollah was awaiting its moment for revenge against the Cedar Revolution too.
What we see now is 1) a Syro-Iranian sponsored offensive aimed at all democracies in the region and fought in Lebanon; 2) Israel’s counter offensive (which it seems to have prepared earlier); and 3) an attempt by Hezbollah to take over or crumble the Lebanese government.
Lopez: So…did the Cedar Revolution fail?
Phares: Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the Cedar Revolution was failed. The masses in Lebanon responded courageously in March 2005 by putting 1.5 million people on the streets of Beirut. They did it without “no-fly-zones,” expeditionary forces, or any weapons at all, for that matter, and against the power of three regimes, Iran, Syria, and pro-Syrian Lebanon, in addition to Hezbollah terror. The “revolution” was for a time astoundingly successful; since then it has been horribly failed, and first of all by Lebanon’s politicians themselves. One of their leaders, General Michel Aoun, shifted his allegiances to Syria and signed a document with Hezbollah. Other politicians from the “March 14 Movement” then stopped the demonstrations, leaving them with the support of God knows what. They failed in removing the pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and brought back a pro-Syrian politician to serve as a speaker of the house, Nabih Berri. Meanwhile, even as they were elected by the faithful Cedar Revolution masses, they engaged in a round table dialogue with Hezbollah, a clear trap set by Hassan Nasrallah: “Let’s talk about the future,” he said — with the implication, of course, that they forget about the Cedar Revolution and the militia’s disarming. While political leaders sat for months, enjoying the photo ops with Hassan Nasrallah, he was preparing his counter offensive, which he unleashed just a few days before the Security Council would discuss the future of Iran’s nuclear programs.
The Lebanese government of Prime Minister Seniora also abandoned the Cedar Revolution. His cabinet neither disarmed Hezbollah nor called on the U.N. to help in implementing UNSCR 1559. This omission is baffling. The government was given so much support by the international community and, more importantly, overwhelming popular support inside Lebanon: 80 percent of the people were hoping the Cedar Revolution-backed government would be the one to resume the liberation of the country. Now Hezbollah has an upper hand and the government is on the defensive.
The U.S. and its allies can be accused of certain shortcomings as well. While the speeches by the U.S. president, congressional leaders from both parties, Tony Blair, and Jacques Chirac were right on target regarding Lebanon, and while the U.S. and its counterparts on the Security Council were diligent in their follow up on the Hariri assassination and on implementing UNSCR 1559, there was no policy or plan to support the popular movement in Lebanon. Incredibly, while billions were spent on the war of ideas in the region, Lebanese NGOs that wanted to resume the struggle of the Cedar Revolution and fighting alone for this purpose were not taken seriously at various levels. Policy planners thought they were dealing with the “Cedar Revolution” when they were meeting Lebanon’s government and Lebanese politicians. The difference between the high level speeches on Lebanon and the laissez-faire approach from lower levels is amazing. Simply put, there was no policy on supporting the Cedar Revolution against the three regimes opposing it and the $400 million received by Hezbollah from Iran.
The Cedar Revolution was basically betrayed by its own politicians and is now essentially without a head. Nevertheless, as long as the international support remains, the Revolution will find its way and will face the dangers. The one and a half million ordinary citizens who braved all the dangers didn’t change their minds about Hezbollah’s terror. The resistance and counter-attack was to be expected. Unfortunately, thus far Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah have outmaneuvered the West and are at the throats of the Cedar Revolution. The international community must revise its plans, and, if it is strongly backed by the U.S. and its allies, including France, the situation can be salvaged. The good seeds are still inside the country.
More at link...
[2 times in 2 days]
Smoke Forces Evacuation Of Seattle-Bound Flight
LONG BEACH, CALIF. - An Alaska Airlines flight was evacuated on the
tarmac
Sunday night after flight crews reported smoke in the cabin.
Flight 337 was scheduled to depart Long Beach for Seattle at 5:45 p.m.
No
one was injured when passengers and crew were evacuated from the MD-83
down
emergency escape slides.
The source of the smoke was under investigation.
Calls to Alaska Airlines representatives were not immediately returned.
On Friday an Alaska Airlines jetliner was diverted to Seattle when the
plane's cabin failed to pressurize normally during a San
Francisco-bound
flight from Vancouver, British Columbia.
Four people who complained of ear and sinus pain were taken to a nearby
hospital after being checked out by airport medics.
Earlier this year, Alaska ordered a fleet-wide inspection of its
planes' air
pressure systems after a series of similar cabin pressure problems. The
company said no systemwide problems were found.
http://www.komotv.com/stories/45030.htm
[It is catching on, people are fighting back, extra details here]
Mutiny as passengers refuse to fly until Asians are removed
Passengers refuse to allow holiday jet to take off until two Asian men
are
thrown off plane
British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny - refusing to
allow
their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were
forcibly removed.
The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a
Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance
apparently
talking Arabic.
Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and demanded
police
action. Some stormed off the Monarch Airlines Airbus A320 minutes
before it
was due to leave the Costa del Sol at 3am. Others waiting for Flight ZB
613
in the departure lounge refused to board it.
The incident fuels the row over airport security following the arrest
of
more than 20 people allegedly planning the suicide-bombing of
transatlantic
jets from the UK to America. It comes amid growing demands for
passenger-profiling and selective security checks.
It also raised fears that more travellers will take the law into their
own
hands - effectively conducting their own 'passenger profiles'.
The passenger revolt came as Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary was accused
of
using the terror crisis to make money. Government sources say he
boasted to
an official at the Transport Department: "Every time I appear on TV, I
get a
spike in sales."
The Tories said the Government's failure to reassure travellers had led
the
Malaga passengers to 'behave irrationally' and 'hand a victory to
terrorists'.
Websites used by pilots and cabin crew were yesterday reporting further
incidents. In one, two British women with young children on another
flight
from Spain complained about flying with a bearded Muslim even though he
had
been security-checked twice before boarding.
The trouble in Malaga flared last Wednesday as two British citizens in
their
20s waited in the departure lounge to board the pre-dawn flight and
were
heard talking what passengers took to be Arabic. Worries spread after a
female passenger said she had heard something that alarmed her.
Passengers noticed that, despite the heat, the pair were wearing
leather
jackets and thick jumpers and were regularly checking their watches.
Initially, six passengers refused to board the flight. On board the
aircraft, word reached one family. To the astonishment of cabin crew,
they
stood up and walked off, followed quickly by others.
The Monarch pilot - a highly experienced captain - accompanied by armed
Civil Guard police and airport security staff, approached the two men
and
took their passports.
Half an hour later, police returned and escorted the two Asian
passengers
off the jet.
'There was no fuss or panic'
Soon afterwards, the aircraft was cleared while police did a thorough
security sweep. Nothing was found and the plane took off - three hours
late
and without the two men on board.
Monarch arranged for them to spend the rest of the night in an airport
hotel
and flew them back to Manchester later on Wednesday.
College lecturer Jo Schofield, her husband Heath and daughters Emily,
15,
and Isabel, 12, were caught up in the passenger mutiny.
Mrs Schofield, 38, said: "The plane was not yet full and it became
apparent
that people were refusing to board. In the gate waiting area, people
had
been talking about these two, who looked really suspicious with their
heavy
clothing, scruffy, rough, appearance and long hair.
"Some of the older children, who had seen the terror alert on
television,
were starting to mutter things like, 'Those two look like they're
bombers.'
"Then a family stood up and walked off the aircraft. They were joined
by
others, about eight in all. We learned later that six or seven people
had
refused to get on the plane.
"There was no fuss or panic. People just calmly and quietly got off the
plane. There were no racist taunts or any remarks directed at the men.
"It was an eerie scene, very quiet. The children were starting to ask
what
was going on. We tried to play it down."
Mr Schofield, 40, an area sales manager, said: "When the men were taken
off
they didn't argue or say a word. They just picked up their coats and
obeyed
the police. They seemed resigned to the fact they were under suspicion.
"The captain and crew were very apologetic when we were asked to
evacuate
the plane for the security search. But there was no dissent.
"While we were waiting, everyone agreed the men looked dodgy. Some
passengers were very panicky and in tears. There was a lot of talking
about
terrorists."
Patrick Mercer, the Tory Homeland Security spokesman, said last night:
"This
is a victory for terrorists. These people on the flight have been
terrorised
into behaving irrationally.
"For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour
of
their skin is just nonsense."
Monarch said last night: "The captain was concerned about the security
surrounding the two gentlemen on the aircraft and the decision was
taken to
remove them from the flight for further security checks.
"The two passengers offloaded from the flight were later cleared by
airport
security and rebooked to travel back to Manchester on a later flight."
A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Malaga said: "These men had aroused
suspicion because of their appearance and the fact that they were
speaking
in a foreign language thought to be an Arabic language, and the pilot
was
refusing to take off until they were escorted off the plane."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=
401419&in_page_id=1770
AA Flight Delayed By Drinks
No, Not "Drunks"
For all the TSA's stern warnings recently about the consequences should
passengers try to bring drinks or other liquids onboard commercial
flights,
it seems some people just haven't gotten the message -- as those
onboard
American Airlines Flight 40 can attest to.
The Associated Press reports all 150 passengers who had boarded the
Boeing
767 bound for New York from Los Angeles Friday morning had to deplane,
after
the captain of the flight requested the plane be rechecked by security.
The reason? Several passengers had brought their drinks -- which they
had
purchased gateside, after passing through security checkpoints --
onboard
the plane.
Despite the assumed safety of drinks purchased in a secure area...
that's
still a no-no in today's security climate.
"The passengers were deplaned at the captain's request," said LAX
spokeswoman Nancy Castles. "The liquids were surrendered or tossed or
discarded. They conducted a security check of the plane, and the
passengers
were allowed to come back."
American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner says the flight, scheduled for
an 11
am departure, left about an hour late as a result of the rescreening.
FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.aa.com
aero-news.net
Saudi Arabian Airlines To Ban Liquids On Flights To US, Britain
Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) plans to ban liquids on board its
aircraft
flying to Britain and the United States, according to airline sources
quoted
Sunday by the Saudi newspaper Arab News.
The proposal was made last week by the airline's Safety and Security
Administration and an announcement is expected within the next few days
concerning items not allowed in carry-on baggage.
The ban does not apply to internal flights or flights to other
international
destinations unless governments of those countries make an official
request,
said the paper
The ban follows the discovery of an alleged terrorist plot on 10
flights out
of London to destinations in the United States earlier this month.
The terror suspects were allegedly planning to use liquid explosives
concealed in their carry-on luggage. As a result, British and US
authorities
imposed a ban any liquids, including baby milk, in passengers' carry-on
luggage.
http://www.playfuls.com/news_00000002379_Saudi_Arabian_Airlines_To_Ban_Liqui
ds_On_Flights_To_US_Britain_.html
Vietnam Airlines to sue passenger for bomb hoax
National carrier Vietnam Airlines said it will claim damages of
US$25,000
from a passenger who ‘joked’ about a bomb and held up five flights
last
week.
Minutes before a flight was set to leave Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport for
the
central Khanh Hoa province last Friday morning Nguyen Thai Son, 33,
said he
had a bomb in his bag.
Flight attendants immediately delayed the flight and all 150 passengers
and
their luggage were searched. Nothing was found.
Security guards, firefighters, ambulances, and bomb-disposal experts
were
all rushed to the airport.
The caper delayed the flight by four hours and held up four other
flights as
well.
An airlines official said Son, a sectional head at a Hanoi steel
company [a
source previously said Son was a Hanoi tour guide], was an educated man
and
the joke was thus inexcusable.
The airlines plans to invite experts to estimate the loss before suing
Son.
Source: VNA – Translated by Hoang Bao
http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=19060
Aviation body lauds KQ safety standards
Kenya Airways (KQ), the country’s national carrier, and the Kenya
Civil
Aviation Authority (KCAA) have received a vote of confidence from the
Air
Navigation Commission (ANC) over their efforts to ensure aviation
safety in
the region.
ANC is an oversight body of the United Nation’s International Civil
Aviation Authority (ICAO) established to give technical comments on air
navigational and safety data compiled and kept by ICAO.
Members of the commission who comprise various experts in the aviation
industry are nominated by member states of the United Nations General
Assembly. Upon nomination, the commissioners are then appointed by ICAO
to
provide technical comments and advise on all matters that appertain to
aviation within all UN member countries.
ANC President Adrian Sayce who led a delegation of the Commission’s
members to Nairobi was particularly impressed by Kenya Airways’s
safety
record and its expansion plans that have seen the national carrier
record an
aggregate of 25 percent annual growth turnover for the last three
years.
The commission was also impressed by KQ’s vision and capacity to
invest in
long-haul aircraft like the Boeng 777 Dreamliner which they
acknowledged to
be one of the most cost-efficient long-haul passenger aircraft on the
market
today. As a testimony to KQ’s vision to invest in more efficient
aircrafts, the company has constructed a new hanger capable of holding
large
aircrafts like the Boeng 747. It hopes to construct another that would
hold
the gigantic double-decker Airbus A380, which is yet to be rolled out
officially for commercial passenger travel.
Addressing the ANC delegation during a courtesy call to the company’s
Embakasi headquarters, Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Titus
Naikuni said, with a fleet of 21 aircrafts, the company has achieved a
US$700 million-dollar turnover in 2006 compared to US$300 million three
years ago.
Naikuni said this growth has been sustained by a lean but highly
efficient
workforce operating under a highly effective business and management
model.
Kenya Airways’s business model, Naikuni added, has sought strategic
partnership with other foreign airlines, especially the Royal Dutch
Airlines
(KLM) that has a 27 percent shareholding in the national carrier. He
said
the airline has also sought partnerships with other regional and
international airlines in South Pacific Asia and Australia.
But the CEO conceded that the airline experiences enormous challenges
that
come with operating such a business, noting that, apart from very stiff
competition from business rivals, the airline industry is a very
expensive
and highly risky business. He cited operation costs like aircraft
purchase
and maintenance, insurance and retaining qualified human resource as
some of
the big challenges he faces as a CEO.
Naikuni however acknowledged that all these challenges are surmountable
if
proper structures are put in place. He said Kenya Airways will continue
to
exploit the strategic location of Nairobi as a hub in order to
transform KQ
into an airline of choice in Africa. He said KQ is active on the
highest
number destinations in Africa than any other airline but cited
insecurity in
some African countries as an impediment to effective expansion.
He revealed that KQ has established a scheme of training pilots where
qualified candidates are given loans to enrol for commercial pilot
training
programmes and pay them back through a check-off system upon employment
by
the company. Presently KQ trains most of its pilots in South Africa and
Ethiopia.
Mr Sayce also expressed satisfaction with the air navigation system and
procedures at the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority. After a tour of the
air
traffic control room at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the
ANC
president and his team said they were impressed to learn that Kenya has
complied with ICAO standards, saying their system is as good as any
other in
Europe and North America.
Said he: “I have not heard any adverse comment from any member of the
Air
Navigation Commission delegation when they toured the facility.â€
Although he pointed out that his delegation was not an inspection tour,
Mr
Sayce urged KCAA to invest in training and retention of highly
qualified
personnel and also called for constant but systematic upgrading of the
air
navigation equipment in order to keep pace with dynamics of the
industry.
The ICAO official also lauded the quality of training at the Kenya
School of
Aviation and encouraged stakeholders in the aviation industry to invest
more
in that institution.
KCAA Director-General Chris Kuto assured the ANC delegation of
Kenya’s
commitment to ensure aviation safety especially in the face of the new
global threat of terrorism.
The delegation comprised of commissioners from France, Britain, Brazil,
Senegal, Belgium, Canada and Asia. The ANC President, Adrian Sayce, is
a
nominee of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
http://www.timesnews.co.ke/21aug06/business/buns1.html
UN aviation agency to assess risk of liquid explosives
MONTREAL (AFX) - Experts from the International Civil Aviation
Organization
will examine the danger of liquid explosives in airplanes in a bid to
improve aviation security, the UN agency said Friday.
A panel of experts will discuss the issue during its September 11-15
meeting
at ICAO headquarters in Montreal, the agency said a week after British
authorities foiled an alleged plot to bomb US-bound aircraft with
liquid
explosives.
'In a unanimous decision, the (ICAO) Council agreed that the Panel
should
fully assess the danger associated with liquid explosives and report as
quickly as possible on practical and sustainable recommendations to
further
improve the security of civil aviation,' said Council President Roberto
Kobeh Gonzalez said in a statement.
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2006/08/20/afx2960815.html
Antarctic supply flight departs Christchurch
The first supply flight to Antarctica in four months, since winter
darkness
fell, is on its way south.
The first sunrise over Scott Base heralds the start of flights to the
icy
continent.
The Hercules C17 left Christchurch just after 7 o'clock this morning.
It is the first of four flights planned over the next week.
They are taking fresh fruit and veges, mail, magazines and newspapers.
The planes will also deliver new science equipment, and transport key
personnel for the summer season.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10397133
[2 reports of messing with things in bathroom]
Miami-bound flight makes emergency landing for security concern
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A Miami-bound flight made an emergency landing
Saturday
at a Tampa airport because the plane's crew became suspicious of two
locked
lavatory doors, an airport spokesman said. The plane was searched but
allowed to continue to Miami.
American Airlines flight 2036 from Dallas landed at Tampa International
Airport shortly after 7:30 p.m., airport spokesman Fred Dettmann said.
The
flight crew became suspicious after noticing that two lavatory doors in
the
back of the aircraft had been locked for a long period of time,
Dettmann
said.
After the plane landed, police, air marshals and Transportation Safety
Administration officials searched the aircraft and used K9 dogs but did
not
find anything suspicious. They unlocked the bathroom doors, but no one
was
inside, Dettmann said.
"There was no security threat detected," American Airlines spokesman
Tim
Smith said.
Smith would not confirm the details of why the plane made the
unexpected
stop.
The flight took off again after 9 p.m. and arrived in Miami just before
10
p.m., Dettmann and Smith said.
The Boeing 737 was carrying 104 passengers and five crew members, Smith
said.
Also on Saturday, bomb-sniffing dogs swept a Delta Airlines flight from
Atlanta when it landed in San Antonio after authorities said a
passenger
tampered with a smoke detector and moved ceiling panels in a lavatory.
The
passenger was being questioned by federal authorities.
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/15316305.htm
Pilot killed in helicopter crash ID’d as Wash. man
NEWPORT, Wash. (AP) — A logging helicopter crashed Friday afternoon
in the
remote northeastern corner of Washington state, killing the pilot, the
Pend
Oreille sheriff’s office said.
The male pilot was the only person on board, sheriff’s Sgt. Alan
Botzheim
said in a statement.
The pilot was identified late Friday night as Bret W. Ahler, 24, of
Walla
Walla.
The helicopter was owned by Horizon Helicopters of LeClede, Idaho, and
crashed while working at a logging site near Sullivan Lake, the
statement
said.
Witnesses said it was flying about 150 feet above the ground, moving
some
logs that were suspended by a cable, when they heard a loud
‘‘pop’’
from the aircraft and it crashed.
The helicopter was described as a Kaman K-600 by the sheriff’s
office.
The crash site, about 15 miles northeast of Ione, is close to the
borders of
both Idaho and British Columbia.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation
Safety
Board were notified and will be investigating, the sheriff’s office
said.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/08/20/montana/f02082006_01.txt
Pilots hit out at ban on liquids in cockpit
Pilots have attacked security measures which ban them from taking
toothpaste
or contact lens solution on to aircraft.
They called for a Government summit to re-examine security measures in
the
wake of the latest terrorist threat.
Subjecting pilots to the same restrictions as passengers made "no sense
at
all", officials from the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa)
said
yesterday.
Even when travelling away from home for days at a time, pilots
complained
they could not take into their cockpits toothpaste, contact lens
solution
and other liquids and gels.
Balpa chairman Capt Mervyn Granshaw said: "Since the extra security
measures
have been introduced we have seen some good practice and some very poor
practice.
"Some airports have coped and some, like Heathrow, have struggled.
Whilst
the disruption for passengers has understandably caught media
attention,
there have been endless practical and frustrating problems for flight
crew
who have to operate the aircraft.
"We need a security summit of representatives of airport operators, the
airlines, TranSec (the Department for Transport's security team),
pilots,
cabin crew and ground staff.
"We need to re-examine all security initiatives and ask if they are
advancing the safety of the public, or have become an unnecessary and
unintended burden in several critical areas.
"If we don't learn from the lessons of the past two weeks we shall be
in
trouble and aviation could grind to a halt for all the wrong reasons."
He added: "This is not about special pleading but pilots are already
responsible for the lives of hundreds of passengers. The Government
needs to
revisit its risk assessment and see that there is no logic at all in
denying
pilots the ability to take on board what they need to operate their
flight
safely, often for days at a time away from home.
"Do officials really believe that we need to be prevented from using
liquids, given that we freely load and carry many thousands of litres
of
volatile aviation kerosene every day?
"The measure is illogical and frankly bizarre."
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=170
7769
Northwest Airlines Applies For New China Route
Northwest Airlines has filed a request with the U.S. Department of
Transportation for new authority to expand its service to China.
The airline is asking government approval to provide daily, nonstop
service
between Detroit and Shanghai.
"Detroit to Shanghai nonstop service is Northwest's top international
route
priority. Our 122-gate, WorldGateway at Detroit terminal complex is
perfectly situated to serve as an efficient gateway to China and is the
only
major hub that can easily offer competitive service to existing nonstop
service from Chicago O'Hare," said Phil Haan, Northwest executive vice
president of international, alliances, and information technology and
chairman, NWA Cargo.
Northwest proposes to commence nonstop Detroit to Shanghai service on
or
about March 25, 2007, using its Boeing 747-400 with 65 World Business
Class
and 338 coach class seats.
Northwest Airlines is the world's fifth largest airline with hubs at
Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam, and
approximately 1,200 daily departures. Northwest is a member of SkyTeam,
an
airline alliance that offers customers one of the world's most
extensive
global networks. Northwest and its travel partners serve more than 900
cities in excess of 160 countries on six continents.
http://www.chinahospitalitynews.com/2006/08/21/northwest-airlines-applies-fo
r-new-china-route/
Man using saw dies following explosion
WBAY - Green Bay,WI,USA
... for assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and
the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Justice to help determine the cause
of the explosion. ...
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=5303944
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D5303944
Virginia seeing immigrant explosion
Richmond Times Dispatch - Richmond,VA,USA
... real estate agent. A strong economy and a welcoming climate are a
powerful
combination for the immigrant explosion. Add in favorable ...
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190087919&path=!news&s=1045855934842
Another Explosion in Windsor County
WCAX - Burlington,VT,USA
There's been another explosion in Windsor County and police are
investigating
whether its part of a recent arson spree. Police say ...
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=5304307&nav=4QcS
EXPLOSION SENDS MAN TO HOSPITAL
KFDX-TV - Witchita Falls,TX,USA
... it exploded just before two o`clock Saturday afternoon.
Investigators
are still trying to figure out why the explosion occurred.
http://www.kfdx.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=12782
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=38227
August 21, 2006 Edition > Section: New York > Printer-Friendly Version
Columbia-Educated Doctor Will Argue He Had To Help Al Qaeda
BY JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
August 21, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/38227
The Columbia University-educated doctor charged with promising to provide medical care to Al Qaeda operatives will argue that professional ethics require him to offer medical aid to all patients, even terrorists.
This legal defense by the accused doctor, Rafiq Sabir, is outlined for the first time in court papers submitted recently in Manhattan. Lawyers for Dr. Sabir will challenge whether rendering medical services to terrorists counts as providing "material support" to a foreign terrorist organization, which is illegal under federal law. The case against Dr. Sabir presents questions about the line separating an ethical physician from a terrorist supporter who happens to hold an M.D.
Dr. Sabir, of Boca Raton, Fla., is one of four co-defendants charged with a loosely connected plot to aid Al Qaeda that prosecutors made public last year. In a Bronx apartment in late May 2005, Dr. Sabir swore fealty to Osama bin Laden and pledged to provide medical assistance to jihadists who were wounded while training, a criminal complaint charged.
But in a recent court filing, Mr. Sabir's attorneys, Edward Wilford and Natali Todd, argue that the prosecution is unconstitutional because it impinges on a doctor's ability to practice medicine.
"As a medical doctor, Dr. Sabir is committed to saving lives, regardless of the status of the individuals because to do otherwise, would be to violate his cannons of ethics," his attorneys wrote. "A doctor, similar to an attorney, should not be limited to who he can treat, however unpopular such an individual may be."
The prosecution of Dr. Sabir, 51, and his three co-defendants is still in its early stages, and the judge, Loretta Preska of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, has not yet ruled on any of the defense's motions to have the charges dismissed.
One medical ethicist said that doctors are bound to treat all patients, including the "jihadist in the emergency room." But the ethicist, Robert Veatch of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, said yesterday, in a telephone interview that both professional ethics and the law would require that a doctor report the encounter afterwards to the authorities if there was reason to believe the patient intended to launch an attack.
Mr. Veatch said there was nothing inherently unethical about pledging one's medical services to a specific group of patients, as Dr. Sabir is accused to have done. Mr. Veatch noted that doctors may decide to dedicate their careers to provide care to the indigent or to women who seek abortions, for example.
"I don't think there is anything illegal with pledging to focus your practice of medicine on a certain type of patient, although it would probably be illegal if that meant you refused to provide aid for someone who wasn't in the chosen group," Mr. Veatch said.
Mr. Veatch anticipated that the government's case could center around the oath of fealty Dr. Sabir allegedly swore to Osama bin Laden.
"Just because you are a physician doesn't mean you are exempt from American law," Mr. Veatch said. Legal observers have said that such an oath of fealty may be illegal under the material support statute as the law is currently written.
Dr. Sabir, a graduate of City College and Columbia University Medical School, is a licensed physician in New York. A devout Muslim, Dr. Sabir also practiced medicine at a military base in Saudi Arabia, he told an undercover FBI agent.
The criminal complaint filed last year does not indicate whether Dr. Sabir treated any known jihadists. The oath of allegiance to Mr. bin Laden that Dr. Sabir allegedly made in May 2005 occurred in the presence of an undercover federal agent posing as an Al Qaeda recruiter.
The material support law that Dr. Sabir is charged under does contain an exemption for providing medicine. Dr. Sabir's lawyers argue in their legal brief that medicine consists not only of drugs and pills but also consists of a doctor's services.
Lawyers familiar with Justice Department prosecutions say prosecutors seek to prove, with as much specificity as possible, exactly what type of aid the defendant sought to provide for a terrorist group.
Some courts, most notably the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, have expressed skepticism with some aspects of the material support statute, which has emerged at the center of the Justice Department's strategy in prosecuting terrorism charges.
Dr. Sabir's attorneys argue that the law, originally passed in 1996 following the Oklahoma City bombing, is unconstitutionally vague.
August 21, 2006 Edition > Section: New York > Printer-Friendly Version
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=38245
August 21, 2006 Edition > Section: National > Printer-Friendly Version
Co-Defendant Of Al-Arian Is Sentenced
BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
August 21, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/38245
A co-defendant in the terrorism-related trial of a Florida college professor was sentenced in Chicago on Friday to an additional 14 months in prison for food-stamp fraud, according to press accounts.
Judge Milton Shadur ordered a 51-month sentence for Hatem Fariz, 33, who was already facing a 37-month term for assisting Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
While the former convenience store owner seemed to receive a more serious punishment for fraud than for an offense connected with a deadly terrorist group, Judge Shadur said the 51-month sentence was what Fariz would have received if the two cases had been handled together.
"I will serve my time quietly and productively, and I just want to get this behind me and go on with my life," Fariz said, according to the Associated Press.
Last year, a six-month trial of Fariz, the former professor, Sami Al-Arian, and two other men, resulted in an outcome disappointing to prosecutors. A Tampa, Fla., jury acquitted Fariz and Al-Arian of some charges, while failing to reach a verdict on others.
Earlier this year, Fariz and Al-Arian separately agreed to plead guilty to a single count of providing aid to a designated terrorist group.
In the Chicago case, Fariz was charged with making $1.4 million off a scheme which involved giving food stamp recipients a discounted amount of cash in exchange for credits on their electronic benefit cards. He has been ordered to repay the swindled money.
Prosecutors said in 1999 and 2000 that Fariz redeemed $1.6 million in credits while ringing up only $149,000 in eligible food sales.
August 21, 2006 Edition > Section: National
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=38242
August 21, 2006 Edition > Section: Foreign > Printer-Friendly Version
Iran Declares New Defense Plan, Fires 10 Missiles
BY Associated Press
August 21, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/38242
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran test-fired 10 surface-to-surface short-range missiles on yesterday, a day after it launched a series of large-scale military exercises throughout the country, state-run television reported. The Saegheh missile had a range of between 50 and 150 miles, the report said. It did not specify whether the missile was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but it was not believed to be.
State-run television said the missile was built based on domestic know-how, although outside experts say much of the country's missile technology originated from other countries.
Iran said it launched the new military exercises Saturday to introduce a new defensive doctrine.
"We have to be prepared against any threat, and we should be a role model for other countries," local newspapers quoted an army spokesman, General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, as saying.
The military exercises come as Iran faces heightened international scrutiny because of its contentious nuclear program and for supporting the guerrilla group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution last month calling for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment by August 31 or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Iran, which claims its nuclear program is peaceful, has rejected as "illegal" the binding resolution, saying it had not violated any of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But it promised to offer a formal response to a package of Western incentives tomorrow.
Iran also has denied Israeli accusations that it is arming and training Hezbollah fighters but also has declared Hezbollah victorious in its battle against the Jewish state.
The Islamic Republic is concerned about the American military presence in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan. It also has expressed worry about Israeli threats to destroy its nuclear facilities.
Iran already is equipped with the Shahab-3 missile, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. An upgraded version of the ballistic missile has a range of more than 1,200 miles and can reach Israel and American forces in the Middle East.
Last year, a former defense minister, Ali Shamkhani, said Tehran had successfully tested a solid fuel motor for the Shahab-3, a technological breakthrough for the country's military.
Iran's military test-fired a series of missiles during large-scale war games in the Persian Gulf in March and April, including a missile that it claimed was not detectable by radar and that can use multiple warheads to hit several targets simultaneously.
State-run TV also reported that a small military training plane had crashed yesterday. The plane was not participating in the military maneuvers, the TV said, stating that the crash was due to technical failures and that the only pilot in the plane parachuted to safety.
August 21, 2006 Edition > Section: Foreign
[a post for study and research]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20199530-601,00.html
The Transcript: What Thomas told Four Corners
From the ABC's Four Corners program
21aug06
THIS is the full program transcript of Sally Neighbour's Four Corners report on Jack Thomas's story, which was removed from the ABC's web site last Friday.
Reporter: Sally Neighbour
Date: 27/02/2006
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Four weeks ago at home in Melbourne, Jack Thomas began getting ready. He was preparing for an event that would make legal history in Australia, and change his family's lives forever.
MARYATI THOMAS: Love, Dad just wants to say all the best to you.
JACK THOMAS: OK, Great, alright. Alrighty, love ya, Dad. Love ya, Dad.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Jack Thomas was about to go on trial, the first person in Australia charged with receiving funds from and providing resources to a terrorist organisation.
What do you believe about whether you're guilty or not?
JACK THOMAS: What do I believe? It's not what I believe. I was the one there at the place. They don't have any witnesses to the events. I mean I know, I don't believe, I know. I know in my heart.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Jack Thomas would soon be farewelling his family again. His judgment day came on Sunday when a jury found him not guilty on two terrorism-related charges, but guilty on another two, one of which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
Jack Thomas didn't testify at his landmark trial. Tonight on Four Corners he tells his story for the first time. And whatever you make of it, it is an extraordinary tale, a journey from Australian suburbia to al Qaeda's inner sanctum in Afghanistan, where, by his own account, he was picked out to be Osama bin Laden's man in Australia.
Why should Australians believe that you had no intention of having any further contact with these people, of having any involvement in terrorism?
JACK THOMAS: Well I'm not going to convince anyone. I don't believe in killing innocent people and I don't really care what people think. People who know me know that. I can't make people believe, as far as I'm concerned words don't mean anything, it's just your actions that count. So, believe it or not.
PATSY THOMAS: This is our house in Williamstown, our little Californian bungalow that we've lived in since 1971.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas's story begins in this very ordinary family home in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
PATSY THOMAS: Jack was born in 1973, two years later, and there he is, cute little funny looking little fella. There's Jack in the backyard with his blackboard, he loved his blackboard always writing on the blackboard. Now his daughter loves the blackboard.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Was he good at school?
PATSY THOMAS: No - great socially, academically, no. He knew his numbers but didn't know why he needed them.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: What sort of a kid do you think you were?
JACK THOMAS: A terror.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: A terror? In what way?
JACK THOMAS: Well, I used to come home from head to foot with mud and you know, just running amuck really.
PATSY THOMAS: We never knew where he was or what he was up to.
IAN THOMAS: Would always be, "Where's Jack? Where is Jack now?"
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: His family were enthusiastic members of the local light opera company and young Thomas took to the stage with relish.
PATSY THOMAS: This was Aladdin, a panto, and this was one of his dance performances. As he tells it, it wasn't so much the performing that he enjoyed. All I did the shows for was to go back to the parties and have a good time.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: What kind of parties were they?
JACK THOMAS: They were fairly raunchy.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: For a while Thomas aspired to a career on the stage.
PATSY THOMAS: One day he came to me and said, "Look, I'm 10 years old, I know what I want, when do the ballet classes start?" I said, "But why?" He said, "Why would you want to play with a ball when you can dance with women.
JACK THOMAS: I enjoyed the physical fitness and being the only guy surrounded by all these girls, beautiful ladies. It was very hard to cop, really.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas was serious enough to enrol in the Victorian College of the Arts to study dance. But after a year, to his great disappointment, he was rejected for being too stocky. So he joined his brother's punk rock band, the Lobotomy Scars.
LES THOMAS: Jack had an extraordinary amount of confidence. He was somebody who I think is driven by emotion and you know, he'd really put in 100per cent whenever we'd perform in front of a crowd.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: The songs were classic anti-establishment punk rock. His singing of them reflected Thomas's more serious and sometimes angry side, according to his family. The teenaged Thomas also joined the St John's Ambulance and helped out in a soup kitchen for the poor.
IAN THOMAS: Honestly, Jack always had a sense of fairness and a sense, a sense of injustice. He had a great social conscience, he still does today, and that was the injustices, any injustices, that Jack could see in the world, that's what he was writing and singing about. He got very angry about all these things and that was his outlet.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: From the soup kitchen, Thomas graduated to some of Melbourne's top restaurants as an apprentice chef. He also took up scuba diving and sky diving.
JACK THOMAS: I think I had a deep thirst for adventure, but to just drift down and see the mountains or see the trees and the rivers running their course, oooh, it's a very peaceful time.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas's thrill-seeking had by now evolved into a quest for a more spiritual high.
JACK THOMAS: Personally I feel we're all in our own way searching, and mine became a conscious search, looking at Eastern meditation, you know, meditation type, to find peace and to find tranquillity
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: After dabbling in Buddhism and the occult, Thomas was introduced to Islam by his best friend from school. His Muslim friend played him Youssef Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, records and took him along to the Newport mosque. At first, Thomas was a sceptic.
JACK THOMAS: I never really thought that I'd be a Muslim. I'd say, "Oh look I really love your religion, but I really love my beer.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Out of respect for his friend, Thomas agreed to try fasting the month of Ramadan. The contrast with his previously indulgent lifestyle was a revelation.
JACK THOMAS: I felt, looking back I felt lighter in my soul. I just felt a link from all the prophets of Adam and Noah and Moses and Abraham and all the prophets coming from one God and Confucius and Buddha and all the people being messengers and all my whole world came together.
LES THOMAS: Well, Jack never does anything by halves. He always gives 100 per cent of himself when he sets out on a particular course, and with Islam it was certainly no different.
PATSY THOMAS: His conversion, it was just after this Christmas that Jack spoke to us about converting or trying Ramadan, trying the fasting. And as you can see from this photo he enjoyed it. He started to find inner peace and he's still the same smiling, happy Jack. It's what he was looking for, and he became more and more content as time went on.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: In the tradition of Muslim converts, Thomas cast about for a Muslim name and was drawn to the Arabic word meaning striving or struggle.
JACK THOMAS: So I chose the name Jihad, an Aussie battler or struggler. From there we got from the media the lovely headlines.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas was also keen to find a Muslim wife. Some friends suggested a woman called Maryati, an Indonesian policeman's daughter with degrees in arts and information systems from Monash University. She was studying in South Africa at the time. Impetuous as ever, Thomas flew there to meet her and they married the same day.
PATSY THOMAS: Until then, we didn't even really know that she existed.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: And what was your reaction?
PATSY THOMAS: I thought, "The bugger, he's done it again".
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas and his wife made their home in Melbourne where they would soon start a family. Maryati was happy to be filmed for our story but did not wish to be interviewed and avoided showing her face to the camera. After marrying they moved to Brunswick and Thomas became a regular at the Michael Street mosque, reputed as among the most extreme in Australia. The fiery sermons about avenging the plight of Muslims apparently struck a chord.
LES THOMAS: Jack's always somebody who has been moved by people who have suffered unjustly. So unsurprisingly he was, I think, upset by what he saw as the oppression of people in different parts of the Muslim world and the kind of complete ignoring of that oppression by large parts of the Western media.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Through his wife, Thomas became involved in the local Indonesian community, many of whom were exiled opponents of the former dictator Suharto and supported an Islamic state in Indonesia. Some of them were followers of the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, which was just setting up an Australian branch and had not yet turned to terrorism. In 2000, Thomas met JI's leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, during a stopover in Malaysia after going on the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Why did Abu Bakar Bashir come to meet you?
JACK THOMAS: He's a family friend.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Of?
JACK THOMAS: Well, my wife had gone to school with his wife. They went to school together, as far as I know.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: He also met the Australian leaders of JI, the Indonesian twin brothers Abdul Rahim and Abdul Rahman Ayub. It was an innocent connection according to Thomas.
JACK THOMAS: I mean, our paintballing games which have caused quite a stir had it been anyone else, I don't think it would have been a problem.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: The Ayub twins arranged a series of bush camping trips where their followers played paintball war games, practiced military drills and sometimes fired live weapons. They called it "jihad training". Thomas attended one such camp in Victoria and organised another session in NSW.
JACK THOMAS: It was boys in the woods.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: And how was this jihad training, what was meant by that?
JACK THOMAS: Well I suppose everyone knows that jihad is a military, you know, it can be considered a military struggle. And part of jihad is fighting.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: By early 2001 Jack Thomas was ready to put his jihad training to the test. For more than two decades Afghanistan had been a magnet for Muslim zealots from around the world. They had helped to defeat the Soviet army in the 1980s. In the '90s the turbaned warriors of the Taliban had swept to power with their draconian brand of Islamic law. The Taliban was still at war, against its old enemy the Northern Alliance, and Thomas wanted to join the fight.
You've said you were going to fight for the Taliban. Were you going to join al Qaeda?
JACK THOMAS: I had no idea about al Qaeda. I mean I knew of a man called Osama bin Laden, but I honestly had no idea about al Qaeda or had any intentions about working, what they call working, or conducting, you know, any terrorist attacks against a population.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas knew his parents would disapprove, so he told them he was going to Pakistan to study Islam.
IAN THOMAS: When he announced to us in this very room that they were heading off, my first words were, "You're taking my granddaughter to a shithole. How dare you? " And the argument went like that for about 15 minutes. How dare you? Mum, you don't understand, it's going to be an idyllic life. Everybody there follows the laws of Islam, everybody reads the Koran, it's just going to be absolutely wonderful for Amatullah, you've got it all wrong, Mum.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Why didn't you tell your partners you were going to Afghanistan?
JACK THOMAS: I didn't tell my parents I was going to Afghanistan because it's a crazy thing to do.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas arrived in Kabul with his family in March 2001. It was six months before the September 11 attacks on America. He was eager to get to the frontline with the Taliban, but all new arrivals had to do basic military training first. Through his contacts in Melbourne, Thomas was introduced to a Taliban commander who vetted him, then sent him to a guesthouse in Kandahar for new recruits. From there, Thomas was sent to the legendary mountain training site, Camp Faruq.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: What training did you do?
JACK THOMAS: I did what they call tatzizi training or basic boot camp training.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: And what did that involve ?
JACK THOMAS: It involved light, you know, weapons that are like Kalashnikovs, light firearms and pistols. The topography or the map and compass reading and the signals and signs that you make when you're walking around on patrol to stop and go to the ground and helicopter and different signs. And the demolition course.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: What was explosives?
JACK THOMAS: Yeah.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Did you know it was a bin Laden camp?
JACK THOMAS: Originally, at the start, no, not until he arrived on the first occasion.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Osama bin Laden was a frequent visitor to Camp Faruq, often accompanied by his chief adviser, Dr Ayman al Zawahiri. Thomas saw bin Laden there three times and once shook hands with him.
JACK THOMAS: There'd be lots of celebrations with explosions and anti-aircraft guns doofing away.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: What was your impression of him and of how he was regarded?
JACK THOMAS: Very polite and humble and shy. He didn't like too many kisses, you know, he didn't mind being hugged but kisses he didn't like. He was just, seemed to float, float really across the floor.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Three months of al Qaeda training proved too gruelling for some recruits, but Thomas relished the ordeal.
JACK THOMAS: It was where men were men. You know, it's being in the mountains and...I'm, you know, that type of freedom where you can roam in, you know, roam through the frontier with a Kalashnikov. I mean, a lot of people ran off into the desert and went home, went back to Kandahar, couldn't cop it and ran home. And I felt like doing it many times. But it was a personal thing, it was really a personal struggle that I had to personally - if I do this, this is so good because it's against all my desires and all my creature comforts and all my needs. It's just, it's like a diploma in the school of hard knocks.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: For inspiration the recruits were shown propaganda videos of events like the al Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, which killed 17 American sailors. It was after one of these viewings that Jack Thomas found a mate among his fellow trainees.
JACK THOMAS: There was this Aussie, there was this guy who looked a bit like - well, he looked like a bushranger. We started speaking and, you know, he was from Australia. I was very suspicious. And I was a bit annoyed that I wasn't the first.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: The Aussie was David Hicks, who was one of four Australians in Camp Faruq at the time.
JACK THOMAS: He's a top bloke. He's a really good bloke. He's a real you know, blue-singlet wearing Aussie. He actually snuck through the trenches out the back, came down across the river, across the valley, up the back, to the back of our tent and came and then just appeared. And he had these chocolates with him, which was like contraband at that time.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: At the end of their training Thomas and Hicks both went to the frontline to join the Taliban against the Northern Alliance. It was the last time they saw each other. Thomas spent a week on the frontline but wasn't sent into combat. He stayed in Afghanistan for another four months and had contact with the most senior al Qaeda leaders. He spoke to bin Laden's adviser, Al Zawahiri, about earning an income in Kabul and sought help from al Qaeda's military chief, Mohammed Atef, to find accommodation. Mohammed Atef referred him to his deputy, Saif el Adel.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: How come you were in personal contact with the very top al Qaeda leaders, people like Zawahari, Saif el Adel, Abu Zubaida?
JACK THOMAS: I was in contact with ah, at that time I had no idea who I was dealing with.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: So no idea they were top al Qaeda leaders?
JACK THOMAS: Absolutely not.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Bin Laden and his men were about to cement their place in history with their most diabolical attack. The attacks on September 11, which killed nearly 3,000 people, reverberated around the world, from New York to Afghanistan.
How did you hear about it?
JACK THOMAS: On the BBC. I, ah, just shock and disbelief really.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: As the Taliban and al Qaeda battened down for America's retaliation, Thomas says there was heated debate among them over the consequences of taking on the United States.
JACK THOMAS: I could see that there was a number of groups and bin Laden's group was one. And the Libyan group and this group and that group was complaining as to why these attacks had taken place and they shouldn't have been allowed to happen. They were annoyed that they weren't informed.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Four days after September 11, Thomas rang his family, still insisting he was in Pakistan. His parents wanted him home.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: What did Jack actually say about September 11?
IAN THOMAS: He was bloody horrified, too, as I, as you do, as I would expect. And I said to Jack, "I think it might be a damn good idea if you're out of the place".
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Three weeks later the US launched its counterattack against Afghanistan, with bombing raids and cruise missile strikes on Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds. Camp Faruq, already evacuated, was destroyed. As refugees began fleeing Afghanistan, Thomas packed up his wife and daughter to fly home to her family in Indonesia. Unable to arrange transport for himself, Thomas decided to stay and fight. When I saw, well, I was told and I heard the stories of the bombings in Kabul and the brothers being blown into pieces with arms and torsos and different body parts on the road, there's no doubt that I did go back to Bag ram to fight the Americans.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: As Afghanistan descended into chaos, Thomas checked into an al Qaeda guesthouse in Kabul run by Rami bin Al Shih, later revealed as one of the planners of September 11. The Taliban were already on the run, and instead of heading for the frontline, Thomas joined a convoy of fighters fleeing to Pakistan. His escort was a high-ranking al Qaeda figure, Abu Zubaida, known as a top recruiter for bin Laden. Thomas and Abu Zubaida had a conversation which would later be cited in the case against him. Thomas offered in his own words to "do some work.
JACK THOMAS: I asked Abu Zubaida if there was any possibility of somebody that I could possibly do to help because of what I'd heard and been told by personal friends about what had happened in Kabul.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: You talked about doing some work. What was meant by that?
JACK THOMAS: Well I had no idea, but all I knew was that I saw what I didn't like to see which was what I - families innocent people being killed. No matter what side, you don't like innocent people dying. When I said I wanted to work to help prevent that in any way I could because I felt that my Muslim brothers were being slaughtered.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: What did you have in mind that you might do?
JACK THOMAS: Well, I'd do anything that I could to stop that.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas volunteered this information in notes he made later for the Federal Police while imprisoned in Pakistan. He told them Abu Zubaida said "He wanted to see me again and speak to me more about working". He noted in brackets that by working, Abu Zubaida meant terrorism. Thomas claims that's not what he meant. He told the AFP he meant obtaining passports or checking out locations.
You were basically offering your services to help out in any way they wished to use you?
JACK THOMAS: And I didn't have any idea in my own mind as to what I could do. I never went down to Kabul – oh, it starts with a K - Karachi to follow up.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas spent the next year in Pakistan hiding out in the teeming cities of Karachi and Lahore, staying in safehouses used by al Qaeda and its Pakistani offshoot, Laskar-e-Toiba. While there, he overheard discussions about using a rocket launcher to explode a jet carrying Pakistan's President Musharraf and blowing up a house full of Pakistani police. The prosecution would later cite these conversations as evidence that Thomas was part of an inner circle.
By the end of 2002, Thomas, still in Karachi, was desperate to get home. Before he left, one final crucial meeting would take place which would later provide the most damning evidence against him. The meeting was with a veteran al Qaeda operative, Khalid Bin Attash, the accused mastermind of the USS Cole bombing. Bin Attash came to see Thomas in the safehouse where he was staying. He had a dramatic proposition.
JACK THOMAS: Khalid Bin Attash had said that there was a need for an Australian to work, or Osama bin Laden would like an Australian white person to work for him in Australia. His drift was that, would you consider going back to Australia, going back to work and travelling from Australia outside regularly. After a period of 6 to 12 months contacting me via email or someone else and then having a meeting outside of Australia written you would, if you considered doing this, find people - you would be told of people in Australia to get in contact with. To do what he didn't say. In what state he didn't say.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: So he said there were already people in Australia who you would be put in contact with?
JACK THOMAS: Yes.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: What did you think Osama wanted this Australian to do?
JACK THOMAS: Well I'm sure after his comments that it was definitely to, well it was definitely involved with terrorism.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Bin Attash mentioned the al Qaeda bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 in which more than 200 people were killed and said Australia needed such an attack. He went on to say he would pay US$10,000 to anyone willing to carry out a similar attack. He also asked Thomas to identify military installations in Australia. Thomas says he was shocked.
JACK THOMAS: I definitely in my heart and soul was just dumbfounded and struggled with what benefit that could do. But also this guy is a Muslim and I'm a Muslim and it was like a struggle to understand how I got myself here with this kind of - that was just beyond belief.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: And was he suggesting that you carry out an attack like this?
JACK THOMAS: No, he said that that would be a good thing. And I couldn't believe that - he didn't ask me to do that. I think maybe, well I'm sure he saw my reaction, which was like jaw dropping disbelief and well, I'd walked away.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Just before Thomas's departure, bin Attash came to see him again. He gave Thomas US$3,500 in cash. He was separately given a plane ticket back to Australia. Bin Attash also gave Thomas an email address and a phone number and told him to make contact in 6 to 12 months time. The prosecution would later claim that by accepting the ticket and the money, Thomas was agreeing to work for al Qaeda.
Did you intend to follow their instructions, to come back to Australia, keep your head down and then make contact again?
JACK THOMAS: Absolutely not. The suggestions that were made to me were - I had had a gutful long before that. I sat through to just get home.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Why did you take their money if you weren't intending to work for them?
JACK THOMAS: Because the money I took was not, wasn't at all for terror work. The money I took was meted out $1500 for a year's maintenance and $2,000 for waiting so long.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: It was January 2003 and Thomas was about to fly out of Karachi when he was arrested. He'd been picked up with a falsified passport in which the original Afghanistan visa had been removed and a fake Pakistan visa inserted to make it look like he'd only been there for two weeks. Thomas was now handed over to Pakistan's notorious intelligence agency, the ISI.
JACK THOMAS: They blindfolded and hooded me. We drove to what I understand, well some kind of a base. They wanted to know where I'd been and who I'd been staying with. And that went on for...
When they wrenched up the pressure and started threatening to execute me and electrocute me, I was getting more and more distressed by the heat and being stifling and the hood with my hands behind my back shackled to a large steel plate which can be bolted to the floor. I was totally helpless.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: So you refused to give them the information they wanted about where you'd been and who helped you. So what did they do?
JACK THOMAS: Well they started getting violent and actually the shorter Pakistani guy grabbed hold of the hood and strangled the hood around like that. So you've got the whole hood pulling on your face. Totally helpless with your hands behind your back and you're being strangled until you submit, until, you know, until you are suffocated.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: During five months in detention in Pakistan, Thomas was interrogated for more than 100 hours. In the hands of the Pakistanis and Americans he soon buckled and took them to 11 safehouses, some of which were later raided.
JACK THOMAS: I was taken from what I'd call purgatory to hell and purgatory to hell and back and back, sleeping on a concrete floor with these four rings on the cell where they can easily hang you. And your brothers are screaming in the cells next to you.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: You could hear people screaming?
JACK THOMAS: You could hear people screaming. Are you next? Are you next? And even if you do cooperate you're still being threatened with being sent back over the border to Bagram to have your balls twisted and crushed and this is the latest device we've got, a seat with a vice in front.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Who made the comment that they had, that their newest device was a seat with a vice in front?
JACK THOMAS: He called himself Joe and he was I believe CIA in Lahore.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: So that was one of the Americans who said that?
JACK THOMAS: Yes. And he threatened my wife. He threatened, he said your wife will be getting lonely now, we can send an agent down there to rape her.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Two weeks into his detention, Thomas was flown to the capital Islamabad. An official from the Australian High Commission came to see him for the first of five consular visits to Thomas's great relief. Next to arrive were ASIO and the Federal Police.
JACK THOMAS: Well then I was very happy to see some Australians because I felt that these guys could do something.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: This was the Federal Police, or ASIO?
JACK THOMAS: They were ASIO and AFP. If I could have hugged them I would, but they might have biffed me, so I didn't.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: But you were pretty happy to see them?
JACK THOMAS: Oh yeah.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: The police asked Thomas to put down in writing his activities in Australia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Eager to cooperate, Thomas wrote them 13 pages of notes which described his training, his meetings with al Qaeda leaders and his discussions about Osama bin Laden wanting an Australian. He also cooperated in six interrogations by ASIO.
After two months in detention, the Federal Police asked Thomas to do a formal record of interview. Under Australian law they were obliged to offer him access to a lawyer. They told him he was entitled to one, but that none would be available.
AFP OFFICER: OK, now I want you to understand that you’re not under any obligation to participate in this interview. Do you clearly understand?
JACK THOMAS: Yes.
AFP OFFICER: What we’re trying to understand is, are you willing to participate in the interview and assist us in our inquiries?
JACK THOMAS: I’m no lawyer. I’ve got no, I’ve got no bloody idea what I should do, OK. Now the only thing I can think of is to pray again and ask if it’s the right thing to do because I have no legal experience. I’m dumb, I’m totally in the wilderness here.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: The Federal Police knew they were on shaky legal ground. The Pakistanis would not provide a lawyer, but the police went ahead anyway. After praying for guidance Thomas agreed once again to cooperate.
So you agreed to a formal record of interview?
JACK THOMAS: I agreed to a lie detector test, anything, just don't torture me. I agree, because I have no choice. Nothing is of my own free will. I'm in indefinite detention. You've got Australians sitting there, grab ‘em. That's the only thing I could think of. Do whatever they want so that I can get home.
I really want, I want to go back to my family and, you know, be a good Australian citizen. I want the prosecution to really think about all the places or the people, all the things that I’ve given away and help that I’ve provided. It’s just enormous. It’s a goldmine.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: In an 80-minute taped interview, Thomas recounted in detail his activities over the past two years. It was this interview that provided the sole evidence on which he was later charged with terrorism offences.
JACK THOMAS: I had plenty of opportunities, plenty of opportunities. Osama bin Laden was right there in front of me three times. Could have come up to him and said, “Listen, mate, I pledge allegiance to this, this, this and this, to the big man”. I thought about pledging allegiance many times. And I thought, no, I will not do that.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Did you realise that you could incriminate yourself, that you were incriminating yourself by doing this?
JACK THOMAS: I didn't feel that I'd committed any crimes apart from changing my passport, so all I wanted to do was get home.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: In June 2003 Jack Thomas was finally released by the Pakistani authorities and flown home to Australia.
ROB STARY, THOMAS’S LAWYER: He has been exonerated and, indeed, on his return to Melbourne he's at large now. He's not curtailed in his liberty at all. So there's certainly no evidence to suggest that he's a terrorist.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: For the next year and a half, Thomas and his family resumed a relatively normal life. They bought a house on the outskirts of Melbourne. Thomas worked at a fruit market, drove taxis and then set up a catering company at home. They hoped their ordeal was over, until November 2004 when ASIO and the Federal Police finally moved.
PATSY THOMAS: We were driving out of the drive, we just hit the gutter and all of a sudden we were aware of cars screeching up behind us and people running towards us. We were being raided as well.
ABC NEWS REPORTER: Australian Federal Police swooped on this house south-west of Melbourne early this morning. They arrested 31-year-old Joseph Jack Thomas.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Seventeen months after returning to Australia Thomas faced court charged with receiving funds from and receiving resources from al Qaeda that would assist in a terrorist act.
JACK THOMAS: I'm an Australian, five generations. I'm a Muslim, but my whole family is here. How could I possibly think of ever doing anything to this country or its people. It's not a possibility. It's not going to happen, no matter what.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: On January 30 this year, the Thomas family was up soon after dawn. This was to be a momentous day, in more ways than one. It was Thomas's daughter Amatullah’s first day at school.
JACK THOMAS: Darling Amatullah, I think you can turn that off darling and we've got to go.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: There was a new family member to be packed into the car, a baby boy born in December. After the school run it was home again to prepare for the other major event of the day. At his mother's insistence, Thomas had already shaved off his beard in readiness for day one of his long-awaited trial.
What do you think the verdict will be?
JACK THOMAS: Like I said, mate, not guilty.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: And you’re confident about that?
JACK THOMAS: Yeah.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Why are you so sure about that?
JACK THOMAS: ‘Cause I'm not. Doesn't matter what they say, still not guilty.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Are you prepared for the worst?
JACK THOMAS: I think you have to be, yes.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: And what would the worst be?
JACK THOMAS: Having to go away again from my family. Yeah, that's the worst bit, isn't it? Yeah.
SALLY NEIGHBOUR: Thomas's trial lasted only a few days, there was so little evidence. The defence called it a trophy trial. On Sunday, the jury returned its verdict. In a blow to the prosecution, Thomas was found not guilty on the two major charges of providing resources that would assist in a terrorist act. On the two other charges he was found guilty of travelling on a falsified passport and receiving funds from al Qaeda - an offence punishable by up to 25 years in jail. Thomas will face sentencing later this week.
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Smoke alert shuts Channel Tunnel
From correspondents in London
22aug06
SERVICES were suspended through the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France after smoke was seen coming from a freight shuttle train, officials said.
Eurotunnel, which runs the undersea tunnel, was hoping to resume services later in the day after closing the facility and evacuating all inside.
“The evacuation was carried out smoothly,” said a spokeswoman for Eurostar, which operates high-speed passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel linking London with Paris and Brussels.
“All services, including passenger and freight shuttle trains and through-train and freight services, are not running at present,” she said. “We are standing by to start services again as soon as we can.”
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Ayatollah vows to continue nuke plan
From correspondents in Tehran
21aug06
SUPREME Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's highest authority, said today the Islamic Republic had decided to press ahead with its pursuit of nuclear energy, suggesting Iran will not heed a UN demand to stop enriching uranium.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has made its decision and, in the issue of nuclear energy, will continue its path powerfully ... and it will receive the sweet fruits of its efforts,” Khamenei was quoted as saying on state television.
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Convicted terrorist gives evidence
By Mariza Fiamengo
21aug06
CONVICTED terrorist Jack Roche has told a court a letter seized from the home of one of 13 Victorian terror suspects indicated its holder wanted to perform jihad "to the point of martyrdom".
Roche, who was convicted under 2002 federal anti-terror laws, appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court by video-link from an undisclosed location today.
He was giving evidence in the committal hearing for the 13 men who are charged with being members of a terrorist group.
The British-born Australian, who lived in Perth, was asked by Australian Federal Police for his opinion about a letter written in Arabic and translated to English that was seized from the Yarraville home of one of the accused, Amer Haddara, 26.
The letter, whose writer was not identified, states its holder is a “known friend to us and has a desire to go out in Allah the Almighty's cause”.
It asks: “Please receive him and organise a suitable suite for him.”
The holder of the letter had a desire to perform jihad and possibly martyrdom, Roche said in a statement tendered to the court.
“The phrasing of the letter lends itself to somebody intending to commit jihad in the way of Allah,” Roche said in the police statement.
He said the most concerning aspect of the letter was the phrase: “Go out in Allah, the Almighty's cause.”
“That to me suggests a quite serious and specific, rather than general, desire of the holder of the letter to perform jihad possibly to the point of martyrdom for Allah's cause,” Roche said in the police statement.
Roche was jailed for nine years, with a minimum of four-and-a-half years, in June 2004 for conspiring to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra.
He said he needed a letter of introduction when he attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in 2000 and suggested this letter may have been for a similar purpose.
“It is definitely a possibility that this letter may be intended for use by a person who wishes to do some kind of training,” he said.
When questioned by Haddara's lawyer, Tony Trood, Roche agreed he had not read the contents of his own “letter of introduction”, also in Arabic, which he cannot understand.
Roche attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan and met its leader Osama bin Laden in 2000.
While in Afghanistan, Roche agreed to conduct surveillance at the Israeli Embassy in Canberra, he told the court.
He was also asked to monitor the movements of Melbourne Jewish business man Joe Gutnick and establish a cell in Australia comprising caucasian Muslims interested in jihad.
The other 12 men charged with being members of a terrorist group are Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 46, of Dallas, Aimen Joud, 21, of Hoppers Crossing, Fadal Sayadi, 26, of Coburg, Majed Raad, 22, of Coburg, Ahmed Raad, 23, of Fawkner, Abdullah Merhi, 21, of Fawkner, Hany Taha, 31, of Hadfield, Shoue Hammoud, 26, of Hadfield, Izzydeen Atik, 26, of Williamstown, Bassam Raad, 24, of Brunswick, Ezzit Raad, 24 of Preston and Shane Kent, 29, of Meadow Heights.
The committal hearing before Magistrate Paul Smith continues tomorrow.
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