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...
Allah's Recruits; Why more and more Westerners are defecting to Islam
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1229125,00.html
Sunday, Aug. 20, 2006
Allah's Recruits
Why more and more Westerners are converting to Islam and, in some cases, pursuing an extremist path
By JUMANA FAROUKY / LONDON
Jamal Harwood prays five times a day. He doesn't drink, smoke or eat pork. He's active in his local Muslim community, and he's very serious about the need for an Islamic state. But if you passed him on the street, you would have no idea. Not just because Harwood, a financial consultant in London, wears a suit instead of traditional Muslim dress. Or because he keeps his beard cropped fashionably close. But because he's white.
Born in Vancouver, Harwood used to be a model Christian, studying the Bible, attending church and taking religion classes at school. "But I had certain reservations," he says, "certain question marks in my mind--some theological, some societal--that I wanted to reconcile." He went to Southeast Asia to find himself and explored Islam there. At 25 he settled in London, where friends helped him learn more about the faith. A year later, he converted and soon joined Hizb ut-Tahrir, a political party known for its radical views that is banned in many Muslim countries. Harwood, 45, is now a spokesman for the group; he says it is opposed to terrorism. Although his life choices may make him an object of scrutiny by his government--Hizb ut-Tahrir has been on Britain's watch list since the July 2005 terrorist attacks in London--he has no regrets. "I found that Islam was giving me good, solid answers to my questions," he says. "It wasn't difficult for me to embrace it."
That sentiment rings true for growing numbers of Westerners, reared on other faiths or none at all, who are converting to Islam--despite the fact that relations between the Muslim world and the West have rarely seemed so strained. Although figures on conversions to Islam in Western countries are difficult to nail down, it's safe to say that Muslim converts in the U.S. and Europe number in the hundreds of thousands, and anecdotal evidence suggests the number is on the rise. The arrest of at least three English converts in the plot to blow up passenger jets over the Atlantic has raised the troubling possibility that jihadist groups may be drawing some of their most committed operatives from the pool of new believers. "When converts are trying to find their way in their new religion, they are vulnerable to the influence of extremists," says Didier-Yacine Beyens, former president of Belgium's Muslim Executive and a convert. "They can sometimes be persuaded by radical preachers who claim to represent the 'true' voice of Islam, when in fact they represent nothing of the sort."
continued.........................
LOOSE: 16 British bombers
By Mazher Mahmood ANTI-TERROR cops are trying to track down 16 potential suicide bombers believed to be on the loose in Britain.
The men were part of a group of 24 British Muslims who went to an al-Qaeda training camp on the Pakistan and Afghanistan border before returning home.
Undercover investigative reporter Mazher Mahmood followed the terror trail to Pakistan.
Read his chilling
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/british_bombers.shtml
story in full here
Police fear they could be deployed by al-Qaeda bosses at any time and a team of six British counter-terrorism officers have flown to Pakistan, where they are working with local intelligence agencies.
Details of the men emerged during the interrogation of seven suspects— three of them British—arrested in Pakistan in connection with the foiled plot to allegedly blow up aircraft with liquid explosives.
A Pakistan intelligence officer said: "Of the 24 who trained at the al-Qaeda camp, 16 are missing. What is making it difficult to track them down is that they all used fake names while they were here. "But we will do whatever we can to help find these men." ===============================================
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/british_bombers.shtml
LAIR OF THE BOMBER
By Mazher Mahmood
IT is 2pm. I am sitting on an unsteady wooden bench at a street cafe in Rawalpindi. An unshaven waiter pours tea and fennel seeds from a large metal pot into a thick, cracked glass and slaps it on the table. An old Vespa races past firing a salvo of grit and dust over the table.
Opposite me is a well-built man in his 40s. Despite the 32° heat, he insists we sit at the roadside, with people bustling past, rather than attract attention by appearing secretive and seeking the haven of the cafe's interior.
"There will be more bombs. Jihadis (holy warriors) will take action against Britain and the West," he whispers. "It's Bush, Mush (Pakistan's President Musharraf) and Blair that are to blame. They are responsible for terrorism. It is their foreign policies that are causing such pain to Muslims." Liquid
I am in Pakistan to find out what led to the liquid explosives scare that all but paralysed Britain's airports. The words are those you'd expect to hear from the head of a terror cell.
Except the man I'm talking to is a Pakistani intelligence officer, tasked with tracking down terrorists.
His views are all too common in these parts.In a country where family and connections are everything, I only got to interview him because my late father's friend is a barrister whose son is an officer in the ISI (the Pakistan Intelligence Service).
No Westerner is going to get anywhere close to this access. "We know that, since 2003, 24 men from Britain trained at an al-Qaeda camp on the Afghan border," he says. "Sixteen of these are still missing. We have good information that they have all returned to the UK. But what is making it difficult to track these men is the fact that they all used fake names while they stayed in Pakistan."
The inference is obvious. That would mean 16 ‘sleepers'...terrorists, possibly suicide bombers, waiting to be activated in Britain.I have visited Pakistan, where I have many relatives, several times. The last was just four months ago. Even in the short time since then the atmosphere has changed.
Once this place felt welcoming. Now, even as my photographer pictures me with innocent people in the street, there is anger in the air. Educated people discuss anti-Muslim policies and worry about the country's coalition with Britain and America. Many of the middle classes believe that 9/11 and 7/7 were Jewish conspiracies and had nothing to do with Islamic extremists, while the poor daub graffiti and burn effigies of Bush and Blair.
Despite Musharraf's desperate attempts to put a lid on extremism, he is fighting a losing battle. It takes me just one phone call, for example, to secure a place at a leading madrassa or Islamic school. The head of the Jamia Binoria school in Karachi, Mufti Naeem, is keen to help when I tell him my two sons want to attend. He promises to convert them into ‘proper' Muslims.
"We can provide accommodation as well," he says. "It's 3,000 rupees (about £26) per student per month. That includes food and everything." Following the 7/7 atrocity, when it was revealed that two of the suicide bombers had undergone Islamic studies in Pakistan, President Musharraf banned all foreign students.
His order is effectively ignored. "We have lots of foreign students here, including several from Britain," Naeem smiles. And in this mix of conflicting loyalties are the many relatives of those arrested over the alleged terror plot — 23 in Britain and seven in Pakistan.
What do they think? To find out I travel to Mirpur, in north Pakistan, to meet Mian Naseer. He is the uncle of Rashid Rauf, the Birmingham man suspected of being the main figure behind the plot, and Rashid's brother Tayib, arrested in Birmingham.
"This is all just to divert attention from the atrocities being committed against Muslims in Israel," he seethed, his long white beard quivering in the sun. "These political tactics are beyond all us simple people."
Except Naseer, in his late 40s, is anything but simple. He lived in Birmingham until eight years ago and now runs a thriving business exporting sweetmeats known here as reveries to Britain. Rauf's family in Birmingham distribute a range of Asian sweetmeats and other food to shops across the Midlands.
Naseer's home is lavish, with a large drive and green lawn in a mountainous area which provides two-thirds of Britain's Pakistani population.
The area, once poor and populated with shacks, is now dotted with fashion able shops, hotels, car showrooms and pillared mansions that wouldn't be out of place in Beverly Hills.
The area has been transformed by vast sums of money being sent home by Mirpuris living in Britain.
Although these are religious people, life in Britain has made many very materialistic. But set against this is an atmosphere of bitterness among those who haven't been fortunate enough to have family in Britain who might transform their lives.
They feel that their old traditional way of life has been invaded by Western culture—and this contributes to a feeling of hatred towards Western values.
But Naseer is adamant that his family are innocent. "We are religious but we are not extremists," he tells me. "Our family have done a lot of charity work."
Indeed they have.
Rashid and Tayib's father, Abdul, is one of the founding trustees of the Crescent Relief charity that collected funds after last year's cataclysmic earthquake in Kashmir—though he left in 2001. Yesterday it was revealed that the Charities Commission is investigating reports of links between Crescent Relief and other British-based charities and the alleged bomb plot.
And last night Pakistani intelligence sources confirmed that they have arrested Abdul. He was picked up as he headed to Islamabad airport from his family home in Mirpur.
As sun sets it is now another stiflingly hot evening. I hear the call to prayer. For many it remains the sound of peace.
But for others, shuffling their way to imams of hate, it's a clarion call to Jihad.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/21/wmid221.xml
Hizbollah pushes past guards in show of force
By Patrick Bishop in Naqoura
(Filed: 21/08/2006)
Hizbollah mourners on a funeral parade shoved aside anti-tank barriers
at a
United Nations base in Lebanon yesterday in a demonstration of their
new
political strength.
The party had been told it would be allowed to bury three "martyrs" at
the
Naqoura town cemetery inside the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil)
compound, but only if there was no flag-waving or political
sloganising.
When the chanting procession, several hundred strong, reached the
gates, it
found the way barred by cruci-form steel tank traps. Mourners argued
with
the French guards, but failed to gain entry.
A mob of young men then dragged the barriers away and the UN opened the
gates. "They will eat us alive," said a middle-aged official as the
throng
surged in.
A column of black-shirted men carried the three coffins to the
graveyard.
They waved yellow Hizbollah banners and portraits of the movement's
leader,
Hassan Nasrallah, and yelled anti-Israeli and anti-American doggerel.
Among the mourners was Naqoura's mayor, Hussein Darwish, a 59-year-old
former teacher. "Israel is allowed to carry on raiding our country
without
Unifil doing anything," he said, referring to an abortive raid by
Israeli
commandos in the Bekaa valley the previous day. "Why do they try to
stop us
burying our dead the way we wish?" The angry scenes were seen as a
troubling
portent of what may happen when a boosted UN force begins deploying to
police the delicate, week-old ceasefire.
"Until now we've had good relations, but I don't know what will happen
after
this," said Mr Darwish. "Every-one is waiting." Others among the
mourners
complained that when they sought shelter at the base during the
bombardments
of the month-long conflict, they were placed in open ground without
bedding
or water.
Unifil's hitherto easy dealings with the locals are partly due to its
initial mandate, which only required it to observe and report. The new
force
will be expected to fill the space left by the departing Israelis and
Hizbollah fighters, and police the border area, although its rules of
engagement have not been finalised.
Its activities will inevitably bring it into close contact with
Hizbollah,
which has moved fast to consolidate its political grip on the region.
Nowhere in the border area yesterday was there any sign of the Lebanese
Army. It has been warned by Israel that it will not be allowed to
deploy
close to the frontier before the arrival of international troops. There
was
little sign yesterday that the security vacuum would be filled soon.
UN officials are desperate to get a vanguard force of 3,500 on the
ground
within a fortnight. But Israel is opposing the use of troops from some
of
the Muslim countries with which it does not have diplomatic ties but
have
offered to supply soldiers.
By last night, Unifil's standing force of 2,000 had been supplemented
only
by the arrival of 49 French military engineers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1688049/posts
Live Rattlesnakes Released in Arizona 'Snakes on a Plane" Theater
The National Ledger ^ | 8-22-06 | CK Rairden
Posted on 08/22/2006 8:40:22 AM PDT by Coastal
Two live rattlesnakes were released in an Arizona theater during a showing of the new film, 'Snakes on a Plane.' The snakes were released after the film began rolling in the dark theater at the AMC Desert Ridge multi-plex at Tatum and the 101 in north Phoenix.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalledger.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1688032/posts
India: Armed Intruder Alert At Nuclear Plant
Breaking News.ie ^ | 8/22/06
Posted on 08/22/2006 8:07:07 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Police today began searching a nuclear power plant in western India following claims by some local villagers that they had seen two men armed with automatic weapons entering the complex.
Brijesh Kumar Jha, a local police officer said: “We have sealed the power plant and the entire area around it, but we have no indication or clue about these people."
The state-run Kakrapar nuclear power plant is located near Surat, a diamond trading area in Gujarat state. The area is nearly 690 miles south-west of New Delhi.
S. K. Jain, chairman of India’s Nuclear Power Corporation, said there were double-layer fences and electrical security devices inside the complex. “I can assure you nothing will go wrong,” he said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1688021/posts
Cash-bollah (Is Hezbollah Handing Out Money Counterfeited By North Korea?)
Hot Air ^ | August 22, 2006 | Bryan
Posted on 08/22/2006 7:49:53 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Part of the cash-bollah story isn’t all that hard to figure out: Hezbollah said it was getting money from Iran; Iran can turn on the petrodollar spigot any time it wants just by mouthing off; so Iran should have no trouble sending legit money to Hezbollah that it has generated from black gold.
But there’s the matter of the crisp, newness of Hezbollah’s cash. And the possible connection to North Korea’s master counterfeiters. And a few other things, besides.
http://freealabamastan.blogspot.com/2006/08/cash-bollah-3-advancing-story.html
More on the Hezbollah money
No Survivors In Russian Jet Crash
August 22, 2006 Anti-Terrorism News
(UK) Wales 'terror suspects' freed
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=17603917&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=wales--terror-suspects--freed--name_page.html
Bomb wounds NATO soldiers in Afghanistan
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4132896.html
Iran Delivers Decision on Nuclear Incentives Package
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209722,00.html
Hizbollah pushes past guards in show of force - UNIFIL guards brushed
aside, "They will eat us alive," says UN peacekeeper
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/21/wmid221.xml
(Afghanistan) U.S. forces raid suspected terror camp - 3 suspects, arms
and weaponry seized in raid against known al-Qaida facilitator
http://washtimes.com/upi/20060822-092941-8848r.htm
(British Terror Plot) 11 Terror suspects arrive at court - for
preliminary hearing
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=EK1XEO2JGNB3LQFIQMGSFFOAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/08/22/ucourt.xml
(British Terror Plot) Charges Against 11 Suspects (my title) - 8
charged with conspiracy to murder and preparing acts of terrorism, 3 charged
with offenses under Terrorism Act of 2000; Suspects include two
converts to Islam, mother of an eight-month-old baby, 17 year old
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2323072,00.html
(British Terror Plot) Profiles of the eleven charged: Ahmed Abdullah
Ali, 25; Cossar Ali, 24; Oliver Savant, 25; Adam Khatib, 19; Brian Young,
28; Waheed Zaman, 22; Tanvir Hussain, 25; Assad Ali Sarwar, 26; Abdul
Muneem Patel, 17; Mehran Hussain, 23
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401720&in_page_id=1770
(Pakistan) Rashid Rauf confesses to al-Qaeda links
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/rauf-confesses-having-qaeda-links/19170-2.html
(India) Mumbai police kill suspected (Pakistani) militant, arrest
another
http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/August/subcontinent_August847.xml§ion=subcontinent
(UK) Saudi dissident (Muhammed Al-Massari) living in Britain makes
mockery of terror laws
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401681&in_page_id=1770
(UK) Firebrand Islamic academic: 'dying for your beliefs is just':
British-based Muslim radical Azzam Tamimi
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401481&in_page_id=1770
(UK) Anger over radical's suicide bomb boast
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401635&in_page_id=1770
British Law Against Glorifying Terrorism Has Not Silenced Calls to Kill
for Islam
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/world/europe/21london.html?ei=5065&en=f26c3c69326c5d85&ex=1156824000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print
CIA search of British banking transactions 'may breach privacy laws'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401625&in_page_id=1770
(British Terror Plot) High Wycombe is coming to terms with notoriety
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2319582,00.html
(UK Schools) Extremist groups set to recruit freshers - Hizb ut-Tahrir
http://www.thes.co.uk/current_edition/story.aspx?story_id=2031867
UK may cut Iraq force in half by mid-2007: commander
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-08-22T104645Z_01_LAL001809_RTRUKOC_0_US-BRITAIN-IRAQ.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-2
(Indonesia) Pair deny knowledge of Bali attacks
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20218972-1702,00.html
(Australia) Bomb scare on flight to Sydney
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20212307-1702,00.html
Romanian oil rig comes under Iranian fire
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_re_eu/romania_iran_shooting
Israel should prepare for Iranian attack: minister
http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/August/middleeast_August596.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
(UK-Supplied) Hezbollah kit still a mystery
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2323059,00.html
Italy to send up to 3,000 troops to Lebanon
http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/August/middleeast_August598.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
Italy: IDF Hostages Alive, Not in "Great" Condition
http://www.arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=110523
Europe Remains Center of Islamist Focus
http://www.douglasfarah.com/article/92/europe-remains-center-of-islamist-focus
Germans' sense of safety punctured by terror case
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/21/news/germany.php
Lebanon 'helped Germany' catch train-terror bomber
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_content_subchannel.asp?subchannel_id=26&name=Germany+Home+Page
Terrorism: Manila Asks for EU Help in Restive Southern Philippines -
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.332602618&par=0
Powerful bomb discovered in Sri Lanka
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1916163.cms
(Sri Lanka/NYC) - Update: U.S. charges 8 over 'Tiger plot' - Group
tried to buy missiles, bribe officials, prosecutors say
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/21/srilanka.terror/index.html
(Sri Lanka/NYC) Supporters of the Tamil Tigers offered a $1 million
bribe to a State Department official to remove the Sri Lankan rebel group
from a terrorist watch list
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/445697p-375169c.html
http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2006/08/22/news/top_story/top1.txt
TUESDAY AUGUST 22, 2006 Last modified:
Monday, August 21, 2006 9:28 PM PDT
NEIL YOUNG/The Daily News TESTING: Assistant Fire Chief and lead hazmat technician Joe Anderson tests white powder found Monday afternoon at the Lakeside Drive Post Office.
Post office shut down, evacuated
By NEIL YOUNG
The Daily News
BULLHEAD CITY - The post office at 1882 Lakeside Drive was shut down and evacuated by Bullhead City police at 3:30 p.m. Monday, after postal employees found a white powdery substance on an envelope and a box.
It's not certain whether the substance was on the front counter and got transferred to the items, according to Larry Tunforss, Bullhead City Fire Department public information officer.
The department got the call at 2:50 p.m. and after a brief investigation, asked the BHCPD to close the facility.
After a few hours of testing, hazardous materials technicians from the fire department found the substance tested positive for a few things, including protein, which meant it could have been from a powder drink substance.
Tunforss said the fire department has been in close contact with the postmaster in Las Vegas, where some of the mail was taken for testing. The results of the tests were not known at press time.
Tunforss said at about 6:45 p.m., the fire department turned over samples of the substance to the Mohave County health department. It will be taken to Kingman, then flown by DPS helicopter to a lab in Phoenix where it will be tested. He said the results of the test should be known about 4 a.m. today.
***[About 26 miles from me...........................granny]
Google Alert - explosion
2 Russians Killed in a Landmine Explosion in Chechnya
Kavkaz Center - Istanbul,Turkey
Two Russians from a gang of special forces' troops were exterminated by
a mobile group of Mujahideen in a landmine explosion near village Dachu
Borzoi when the ...
http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/08/22/5370.shtml
Explosion seriously injuries soldier
Scottsboro Daily Sentinel - Scottsboro,AL,USA
Lt. James O. Barclay IV, 24, whose grandmothers live in Scottsboro, was
seriously injured in an explosion in Afghanistan on Saturday. ...
http://www.thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=02f078f695950b0a
Engine explosion caused F-16 to crash in cornfield
Tucson Citizen - Tucson,AZ,USA
An engine explosion caused the crash of an Air Force F-16C fighter jet
in a Glendale cornfield, the military said Monday. The explosion ...
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/23548.php
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Seven Chinese confirmed injured in Moscow market explosion
People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
An official from the Chinese Embassy in Russia said Tuesday that seven
Chinese were confirmed to have been injured in the Moscow market
explosion.
...
http://english.people.com.cn/200608/22/eng20060822_295766.html
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HOSTAGE: THE JILL CARROLL STORY: Part 7
San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA
... beliefs would allow them to deprive me of my freedom and kill Alan,
yet also lead them to express sincere concern over my health and
well-being
as their hostage ...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/22/MNGRNKMJVA1.DTL
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http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ffile%3D/c/a/2006/08/22/MNGRNKMJVA1.DTL
Soldiers, militant youths’ clash claims 11 lives
The Tide - Port Harcourt,Niger Delta,Nigeria
... Olusegun Obasanjo had informed the nation that the tea party with
militant
groups in the Niger Delta region was over, warning that any
hostage-taker
would be ...
http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=08/22/2006&qrTitle=Soldiers,%20militant%20youths%E2%80%99%20clash%20claims%2011%20lives&qrColumn=FRONT%20PAGE
22/ 08/ 2006 RIA Novosti Agence russe
UN's inaction, Israel's fury, and Hizbollah's calmness
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060821/52940441.html
MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov) - UN
Secretary
General Kofi Annan has denounced the recent Israeli attack on
Hizbollah.
According to the Israeli military, it was aimed at stopping the
smuggling of arms into Lebanon.
The UN head's concern is understandable, since the operation ruptured a
fragile truce in the region. But the position of the UN Security
Council
as regards Lebanon is totally unclear. The UN can kill all hopes for a
lasting peace in the Middle East, especially through its sluggishness
and inaction.
It is believed that the UN resolution on Lebanon is the best one
possible at present, and its main advantage is a balanced approach.
This
may be true from the viewpoint of bureaucratic wording. But what about
effectiveness? Can it be implemented and bring at least an extended
respite to the embattled region? To my mind, it is like a beautiful car
without an engine.
It has two main problems concerning the peacekeeping force and the
disarmament of Hizbollah, which was included in the previous resolution
but never implemented. Worse still, for years the UN calmly watched as
neighboring countries supplied thousands of missiles to Hizbollah,
laying the groundwork for the latest war.
A truce can turn into a lasting peace only if a neutral and effective
peacekeeping force with a proper mandate is deployed in a buffer zone
between Israel and Lebanon. However, drawing up the resolution seems to
have worn out the UN Security Council, which has no strength left to
form the peacekeeping force and dispatch it to Lebanon.
Many countries have raised their voice in support of peace in Lebanon,
but few of them want to contribute to peacekeeping there. France, which
has been offered leadership of the force, complains that the Security
Council has not formulated a clear mandate. This would have been
logical, if not for the fact that France co-authored the resolution
jointly with the United States.
The countries that are most eager to contribute are Indonesia and
Malaysia, two countries with which Israel has no diplomatic relations.
Some sources report that they had planned to supply fighters and
weapons
to Hizbollah.
During his visit to Beirut, Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed
Hamid Albar protested against taking into account Israel's opinion on
ways to form an international stabilization contingent in southern
Lebanon.
Kofi Annan heartily thanked Indonesia and Malaysia for their sincere
offer. This seems very odd to me. If Indonesia and Malaysia are
considered neutral, why not deploy Iranian and Syrian troops in the
buffer zone? The Iranian president calls every week for banishing
Israel
from the face of earth, while the Syrian leader has said he is proud
that his country is accused of supporting Hizbollah.
So far, the UN has not formulated the mandate for the peacekeeping
force
or created a truly neutral contingent that could act as a reliable
buffer between Israel and Hizbollah.
The situation with the provision on disarming Hizbollah and stopping
foreign arms deliveries to it is even stranger. The UN insists that
Israel should immediately lift the marine blockade of Lebanon because
it
hinders the delivery of international humanitarian aid to Beirut. This
is true, but the UN has not sent a single boat with observers into
Lebanese territorial waters to at least register the amount of weapons
smuggled into Lebanon. As for stopping this channel... Don't make me
laugh.
The issue of Hizbollah's disarmament was actually removed from the
discussion agenda as soon as the UN resolution stipulating it was
adopted. However, the provision is not being taken seriously by anyone,
including the Lebanese government, which makes it clear that it will
confiscate only such weapons as Hizbollah turns over. Hizbollah will
turn over old weapons it has no use for, and the provision will be
considered formally implemented.
In the end, it will be a formal effort on everyone's part, since the
peacekeepers do not want to clash with Hizbollah.
It deserves praise that the international community has joined hands to
reconstruct war-ravaged Lebanon. But reconstruction is proceeding in a
strange way, with the number of bricks equaling the number of mines. It
looks like both the UN's inaction and badly considered actions are
laying the foundation for a new war in the Middle East.
Davey Crockett, please get back here tout suite! Ruth is over-googling again and the topic is sewing. I swear all I did was ask if she wanted to fly to New Jersey to crash the Islamic Day event. Next thing I know she is googling sewing!
But I am smiling...I like when you google on- or off-topic! Your written story telling skills in so many of your posts have always been awesome (something I have alluded to previously).
And, I am reading a print out of a Granny Google from a few months ago -- in fact, I'm considering preparing a lavendar and vanilla mixture to add to my spa tonight. Remember those googles?
Thank you ladies! I took your advice without even seeing it last night... LOL I went to sit down to take a "break" and ended up falling asleep. (o: I appreciate the reminders to take it easy though, I am the type of person prone to over-doing it.
Neither Islamtoday, nor Wikepedia are correct sources for information concerning islam.
There are a number of problems with the verses quoted...no mention is made of the verses that follow the ones listed and muslims do not consider non-believers, "civilians".
If I find something related to terrorism or the complicity of Islam in such acts I will surely send it your way arizona. Have a great day, and when the 12th Imam comes to town, remember, a .45 in the forehead is always the best thing for him.
[Thank you Milford 421 for finding this]
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/9718668/detail.html
Police: Traffic Stop Leads To Suspicion
POSTED: 3:15 pm EDT August 22, 2006
A traffic stop in Detroit has led to serious suspicion , police
said .
Detroit police officers pulled over a vehicle near Atkinson and
Second streets on a traffic stop. When officers questioned the
driver, the man said he was from West Africa.
In the trunk of the vehicle, police found license plates from
different states, identifications cards and Arabic literature, Local
4 reported.
The man was taken in to custody on a traffic violation. Police will
not comment on the items found in the vehicle, but did say they are
working with federal authorities.
And, I am reading a print out of a Granny Google from a few months ago -- in fact, I'm considering preparing a lavendar and vanilla mixture to add to my spa tonight. Remember those googles?<<<
That sounds very special, you will be glad you made it up.
Maybe if the lady in your post this morning was diving into a pool of Lav. and Vanilla, she would not offer her kids up to death.
You said you wanted a photo of mens clothing, LOL, I offered my findings.
I was mad as all get out, when I found out that the pants I had bought the fabric for, were copies of what the muslims wore. Never made them.
That was my life before 9-11 and Freepin, I spent many happy hours printing everything I could find, as I had no computer memory, so it was print it or loose it.
LOL, for me the computer is the liabrary, no matter what I can think of, someone knows something about it.
Hugs to you, it may be time to go crazy and do something, different, killing is getting old.
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