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...
[more from the same page, note the second one]
Activist is charged with teaching arson
By Seth Hettena, Associated Press Writer | February 22, 2006
SAN DIEGO --Federal prosecutors on Wednesday unsealed an indictment charging an environmental activist with teaching others how to start an arson fire during a 2003 lecture in San Diego, where the costliest act of ecoterrorism in U.S. history had just occurred.
Prosecutors said Rodney A. Coronado gave the lecture 15 hours after a $50 million fire destroyed a massive apartment complex in a north San Diego neighborhood. The indictment, however, does not link Coronado to that fire.
Coronado, 39, was arrested Wednesday in Tucson, Ariz., on a charge of distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction. He will be arraigned there Thursday.
His attorney did not return a message left seeking comment.
Coronado previously served four years in federal prison for a 1992 blaze at a Michigan animal research facility.
Daniel Dzwilewski, agent in charge of the San Diego FBI office, alleged that Coronado was a national leader of the radical Earth Liberation Front. ELF is an underground movement with no public leadership, membership or spokesperson, according to its Web site. An e-mail sent to the Web site didn't elicit an immediate response.
The 2003 fire destroyed a five-story apartment complex, an underground parking garage and a construction crane in San Diego. No one was injured. A banner found at the scene read "If you build it, we will burn it" with the initials of the ELF.
Coronado's subsequent talk covered animal rights and militant environmental activism. According to an account and photos of the speech posted on the Internet, he demonstrated how to build a crude ignition device using a plastic jug filled with gasoline and oil.
While he repeatedly insisted that he had no role in the arson, Coronado has said he sympathized with the arsonists.
Authorities said the charge on which Coronado was indicted has been used only four times since it was written in 1997, most recently in an Ohio case unsealed Tuesday against three men charged with attempting to wage terror attacks against the United States. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Coronado was previously sentenced to nearly five years in prison for a crime in which he said he did not participate: the 1992 firebombing of a Michigan State University laboratory and the offices of two animal researchers that caused $1.2 million in damage.
In December, a federal jury in Tucson, Ariz., convicted Coronado of illegally entering the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area to interfere with efforts to trap and relocate mountain lions. He faces up to 7 1/2 years in prison when he's sentenced in March. That indictment called Coronado a member of Earth First!, perhaps best known for forest protests aimed at halting logging.
Boston.com
Pennsylvania man accused of terrorist plot: report
February 12, 2006
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Federal investigators have accused a Pennsylvania man of trying to conspire with al-Qaeda to blow up major U.S. oil and gas pipelines and wreck the economy, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Sunday.
The FBI says Michael Curtis Reynolds, 47, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. attempted to provide material aid to al-Qaeda to disrupt the federal government, to change its foreign policy, and to turn the public against the war in Iraq, the newspaper said.
The allegations were disclosed in a federal transcript obtained by the Inquirer on Friday.
Reynolds has not been formally charged with terrorist offenses but has been held in a Pennsylvania jail since December 5 on the unrelated charge of possessing a hand grenade, the paper said.
Reynolds, who is unemployed, was drawn into an FBI sting operation in Idaho two months ago in which he meet with a purported al-Qaeda operative who was really a Montana judge who monitors extremist Muslim Web sites looking for potential terrorist activity, according to the report.
At that meeting, Reynolds expected to receive $40,000 to finance a plot to blow up sections of the Transcontinental Pipeline which carries natural gas from the U.S. Gulf Coast to New York City via Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The alleged plot also included a plan to detonate propane trucks along the Alaska Pipeline, and to blow up oil refineries in New Jersey and Wyoming.
The newspaper quoted John Gurganus, a federal prosecutor, as saying Reynolds hoped to "disrupt government function," provoke opposition to the war in Iraq, drive up fuel prices, and "lend to the efforts by al-Qaeda to terrorize this nation."
Reynolds was arrested on the hand grenade charge in December. He told federal agents he was not a terrorist but a patriot trying to trap al-Qaeda operatives, the newspaper said. FBI agents obtained search warrants for his computers and e-mail accounts, which contained information on the alleged plot.
Reynolds, who has lived in many parts of the United States, has a string of bad debts and criminal convictions, including one for attempted arson, according to the Inquirer.
[is this related to the current threat? 2005 threat]
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1855238,00.html
Plans to 'top' 9/11 strikes
23/12/2005 21:13 - (SA)
!
# Pullout 'will lead to attacks'
# US at risk for more attacks
# US had 'bomber' in their hands
# Why is Osama so quiet?
Rome - Three Algerians arrested in an anti-terrorist operation in southern Italy are suspected of being linked to a planned new series of attacks in the United States, interior minister Giuseppe Pisanu said Friday.
The attacks would have targeted ships, stadiums or railway stations in a bid to outdo the September 11 2001 strikes by al-Qaeda in New York and Washington which killed about 2 700 people, Pisanu said.
The Algerians, suspected of belonging to a cell established by an al-Qaeda-linked Algerian extremist organisation, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), were named as Achour Rabah, Tartaq Sami and Yasmine Bouhrama.
The first two were arrested on Friday in the Salerno area south of Naples, and in Curingia, in the southern Calabria region, respectively.
Bouhrama, 32, had been in jail in Naples since November 15 in connection with another investigation of the GSPC.
He is believed to be the head of the Salerno cell and to have liaised with other cells in Milan, Brescia and Naples.
The three in custody are also alleged to have procured false papers and funds to finance the GSPC, a hardline fundamentalist movement that rejects the Algerian government's attempt to draw a line under years of Islamist rebellion.
Pisanu said Friday's swoop was part of a wider operation involving other countries.
Links were uncovered between the GSPC's Italian activities and groups in Britain, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.
Thanks Granny, I appreciate it! (o:
ALL:
I've got that Radio Frequency Procedure on the nerves in my neck in the morning (Friday 8/11 7:45am CST) so I'm going to turn in for the night and try to rest a little.
I didn't get to finish the regular links for today, but I've got them saved, and I'll post those ASAP. I don't think I'll be able put together links for the next few days, but I'll try and add to the Heathrow story if I feel up to it. I shouldn't be in too much pain or anything, so I guess I'll see how it goes.
I just wanted to give you all a heads up in case you were wondering where I disappeared to if I'm not here for a couple of days. (o:
Take care and stay safe everyone! I'll keep you updated on how it goes with my neck as I'm able...
- LR
I'll pray for you.
Take your time in getting better and we'll see you when you get back.
Remember this? from Jan 2006, we need more google alerts, 2 reports here, much more on the site....
I am thinking of all the cells called to action and their prior plans, and that means the planning is already done, or so I would expect....granny...................
http://uncooperativeblogger.com/2006/01/22/web-site-calls-for-terror-attacks-against-alaskas-oil-pipeline/
Jan. 22, 2006
Web Site Calls for Terror Attacks against Alaska’s Oil Pipeline
by The Uncooperative Blogger on 01-22-06 @ 12:08 pm MT.
Filed under U.S. News & Politics
From FNC:
A Web site claiming to be affiliated with Al Qaeda has called for attacks against the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
The posting calls on jihadists to shower the pipe with bullets or hide and detonate explosives along its length, the Anchorage Daily News reported. It also calls for attacks on the Valdez tanker dock.
The unknown author encourages small cells of four or five mujahedeen, or Muslim guerrillas, living in the United States or in Canada or Mexico to mount the attacks.
The 10-page posting includes numerous links to Web sites providing maps and other information about the pipeline.
Attacking oil and gas targets in the United States and other countries is key to bringing down the economy of the “American devils,” the author wrote, saying the message was posted in response to calls from Usama bin Laden and his top Al Qaeda deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
The Arabic posting was discovered and translated in late December by the SITE Institute, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit organization that tracks international terrorists.
Trans-Alaska Pipeline
It could be something, but it appears to be nothing but a website calling for cells in the U.S. to make the attack. This assumes there are cells in the U.S. and that they are in Alaska. Remember you have to cross two borders to get from the lower 48 to Alaska, or take a ferry.
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The URL says it all, sometimes, I do not understand people.
http://www.prisonradio.org/revolutionary-ecology.htm
a sept. 2001 post with forgotten reports in it...granny
http://www.sundayherald.com/print18498
Sunday Herald - 16 September 2001
CHAPTER ONE: The Terror Trail
The roots of the worst terrorist attack in history
By Neil Mackay
THE evening had gone superbly well. Osama bin Laden bade farewell to his guests and retired to his room. February 22 1998 was a crisp, silent evening in Kandahar, and the desert surrounding the bombed-out town in southern Afghanistan was patrolled by small squads of Taliban fighters and a cadre of bin Laden's personal bodyguard.
The Saudi millionaire, then aged 41, sat at his desk, picked up his pen and began to draft the most important announcement of his life. The handful of paragraphs he wrote that night -- for dissemination among his own supporters and Islamic terrorist leaders sympathetic to his particular brand of militancy -- set in motion the train of events which were to climax with suicide dive bombers in America.
The four men bin Laden had earlier entertained -- with a meal of mutton stew, rice and nan bread, accompanied by black and green tea -- were no ordinary guests. They had travelled a long way to see him and spent days thrashing out the text now lying in front of him. Those men were Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of Islamic Jihad; Adbul Salam Mohamed from Bangladesh; Abou Yassir Ahmed Taha from Egypt's Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, representing all Islamist groups in north Africa, and Fadhi Errahmane Khalil, leader of the Pakistani movement, Ansar.
Between them they were responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the 1990s, including the 1997 massacre of 57 foreign tourists at Luxor. That night, they founded a new pan-Arab terrorist organisation with the clumsy but sinister name, the International Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. The document which ushered it into existence was in essence a fatwa from its de facto leader, bin Laden. In it he railed against the presence of the US and its allies in the Middle East. It read: 'The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, civilians and military, is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible ... This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God.' On February 24, when the CIA passed a classified memo on this meeting to Senator Jon Kyl, then chairing Senate hearings into foreign terrorism, they were clear that this was a declaration of war. The touch-paper which would finally ignite in New York, had been lit.
Bringing the war to mainland America wasn't a new plan, but now, thanks to the Kandahar meeting, it had fresh impetus. Bin Laden had attempted to take out New York's twin towers in 1993, when his protŽgŽ Ramzi Yousef, the British-educated and Kuwaiti-born career terrorist, tried to topple the World Trade Centre with a massive car bomb.
He failed, but within a year he had infiltrated America with new teams of sleeper agents ready for one more big push. One of the members of Tuesday's four suicide teams, Walid Al Shehri, had been living in Daytona Beach in Florida since 1995. This suggests some sort of renewed attack on symbolic American buildings had been planned for at least six years.
But bin Laden had probably been training his men for Tuesday's atrocities for even longer. He bought a commercial jet and began recruiting his first pilots in the US in 1993. The plane had a range of around 1500 miles -- not far off the distance between Boston and Los Angeles -- and it was purchased in Arizona. One of bin Laden's main men in America then was Essan Al-Ridi, who worked as a flight instructor in Texas. He was contacted that year by Wadih El-Hage -- who was later jailed for his part in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa which killed 244 people -- and asked to help buy jets.
The deal went through for about $250,000, and bin Laden offered Al-Ridi a job as a pilot. The plane was later flown out of the US to bin Laden's former base in Khartoum in Sudan. America aided bin Laden both by funding his Mujahidin forces that fought the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and also by unwittingly giving flight training to the suicide pilots who attacked the Pentagon and the twin towers. This aircraft was used to transport the missiles from Pakistan which killed American special forces in Somalia. The plane was also bought at the 'bone yard' in Tucson, Arizona -- the local name for the storage unit at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Centre at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base where retired aircraft are kept. The US military, therefore, sold the plane to bin Laden -- and it was the Pentagon which gave permission for the aircraft to leave the base.
Such slipshod intelligence by the US itself has plagued the American authorities in the wake of the attacks. Intelligence chiefs admit they just don't have enough 'humint' -- human intelligence, gathered by double agents -- on bin Laden's terrorist network, Al Qaida. They knew he was planning something, but they didn't know what. The CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA) were overly reliant on satellite tracking and high-tech surveillance rather than concentrating on getting agents inside bin Laden's group.
As Frank Cilluffo, a senior analyst at the US Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, says: 'It's not easy to knock on bin Laden's cave and say we'd like to join. These are hard targets for Americans to infiltrate.' Instead of getting inside Al Qaida, the best the US did was store a voice-recording of bin Laden in the NSA vaults and trawl every communi cation by phone that was intercepted in Afghanistan for a match. Bin Laden knew exactly what the US was up to and simply got his underlings to do the ringing for him.
Electronic surveillance in the hours after the attack did, however, apparently pick up communications between terrorists linked to bin Laden claiming that 'targets had been hit'. But by then it was all too late. The head of the NSA, General Mike Hayden, has admitted that bin Laden 'has better technology' than the US. The Saudi terrorist is now using some of the most sophisticated encryption codes on earth to relay orders over the internet.
America's intelligence failures also ran straight up against the new enemy that is extreme fundamentalism. While it might be possible to slip a Muslim intelligence officer into the ranks of Al Qaida, it is almost impossible to 'turn' an active Islamic terrorist. They are, after all, fighting for their faith, something most people are unlikely to betray easily. To add further to American woes, the US badly dropped the ball over a tip-off from the French intelligence service, the DST, which passed information to the FBI prior to last week's suicide attacks about a 31-year-old French-Algerian arrested in Boston a month ago carrying a false passport. The French told the Americans that the man, who was taking flying lessons in the US, had made frequent trips to Afghanistan and was linked to bin Laden. The FBI made no request for more information until 24 hours after the World Trade Centre tumbled to the ground. Even worse, an Iranian, know as Ali S, phoned the American authorities from a deportation cell in Germany to warn of an attack 'which would change the world'. The Justice Ministry has confirmed that the man called 'several times' but was ignored. A ministry spokesman, Frank Woesthoff, said the US secret service did not tell the ministry about the calls from Langenhagen jail until after the attacks. The 29-year-old was apparently dismissed as mentally unstable. Similar warnings also came from a Moroccan in a Brazilian jail.
By 1998, Florida-based Walid Al Shehri had graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical science, the university's commercial pilot training degree. He also had a pilot's licence. Bin Laden's plan to train his men in America, where they would learn the tools of their trade, was by now well under way.
Around the same time, two men who would go on to be key co-conspirators with Al Shehri, Mohammad Atta and his cousin Marawan Alshehhi, were in Hamburg in Germany studying construction and electronics at the city's Technical University.
Atta, who was born in United Arab Emirates but carried a Saudi Arabian passport, was implicated in a 1986 bus bombing in Israel. The men's trip to Germany was the beginning of their education in terrorism. According to the German equivalent of MI5, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there are more than 800 members of the fundamentalist Islamic group Hezbollah in the country, and at least 1000 Islamic extremists in Hamburg alone.
It is still unclear, says Robert Mueller, the director of the FBI, whether the suicide teams were directly under the control of Al Qaida or were members of another Islamic terror group that was working to fulfil the aims of bin Laden. Atta and Marawan lived in a quiet cobbled street called Marienstrasse. They were peaceable, spoke fluent German with scarcely a hint of an accent, and set up their own Islamic student society. It is a pattern, intelligence sources say, that has been repeated time and again across the world: extremists enter a Western country, usually on the pretext of seeking an education, and lay the foundations of a terrorist sleeper cell which can wait, sometimes almost indefinitely, to be activated.
In Germany more than 60,000 federal detectives have investigated if it is the European nerve-centre of bin Laden's network. The country's federal prosecutor, Kay Nehm, believes a terrorist group was quickly established in Hamburg to 'attack the United States in a spectacular way through the destruction of symbolic buildings'.
Last week's attacks on the US involved at least 50 terrorists, including 19 hijackers, most of whom have distinctive tribal names from Saudi Arabia. A few others appear to be Yemeni. Among them were seven pilots, most of whom trained in Florida. At least another 50 people are wanted for questioning. Two of the hijackers were in the US on visas, and the United Arab Emirates was the last known address of another. Speculation about the nationalities of these 'soldiers without frontiers' has ranged across the Middle East, from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Afghanistan. A few have been connected to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. It is this, the FBI says, which connects the hijackers directly to bin Laden.
Three of the hijacked planes were taken over by cells of five terrorists and one by a cell of four. There was a support and logistics cell in Florida, where at least a dozen of the suspects lived, looking after details such as the acquisition of false documents, hiring cars, misappropriating the identities of innocent Arabs living in the US and preparing credible cover stories for the assassins. Other cells were strung out across the country, including one in New York which was apparently filming the attack on the World Trade Centre, and ones in Boston, Newark in New Jersey, and Washington. There are also thought to be cells operating in Arizona, California and Rhode Island. None of the cells knew precisely what the others were doing, but one command cell headed by the mission leader, thought to be part of Al Qaida's 055 brigade, was in full control of the plot. There may also have been a plan to hijack a fifth plane in either Texas, Atlanta or Richmond, according to FBI investigators who interviewed people linked to the suicide teams on the day of the attacks as the huge emergency response operation swung into action. In a coast to coast operation, the FBI detained two men -- Mohammed Azmath and Ayub Khan -- in Fort Worth, Texas. They had tried, on the day of the attacks, to fly from the east coast to Texas, but eventually travelled by train. During the journey they were found with box cutters similar to those used by the hijackers. A man, who tried to board a plane at Kennedy airport after showing a pilot's licence issued to his brother, was also arrested in New York by the Joint Terrorist Task Force.
At least two of the men named as hijackers were on an FBI 'watch list'. Information about them was received two weeks ago and the CIA asked the Immigration Service to stop them from entering the US. They were, however, already in America. When the FBI alerted its German equivalent, the BKA, to the fact that at least two of the World Trade Centre terrorists -- Atta and Alshehhi -- lived in Hamburg, eight flats were raided and two people detained -- a black-veiled Egyptian woman, who police say is not a suspect, and an airport worker, who was close to Atta and who was later released. But there was nothing, not a shred of evidence, to be gleaned from Atta and Marawan's former home. When they left Germany in May, they made sure the flat was stripped eradicating all clues. All that can be proved is Atta was a master of hiding the truth about himself. He is remembered as a student who wanted to promote 'harmony among the religions'.
Ironically, for a man who flattened Manhattan, he also studied urban renewal. His professor, Dittmar Machule, said Atta -- who claimed at that time to be from the UAE and shared a flat with a Yemeni and another man from UAE -- frequently returned to Syria and Egypt, and often changed his appearance by growing a beard and then shaving it off. A third hijacker has also been identified as having a former base in Bochum in Germany. The home of Ziad Jarrah, who went down on the flight which crash-landed in a field near Pittsburgh, was searched by police and a suitcase with airline papers was removed.
After Germany, Atta and Alshehhi's trail was soon picked up on the other side of the Atlantic. Atta, says the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, made his way into America from Nova Scotia by catching a tourist ferry to Portland in Maine, as did another suspect, Ahmed Al Haznawi, who took part in the hijack of the fourth plane which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Certainly, Atta was in Florida by July, moving to the town of Venice, which bills itself as a beach paradise on the Gulf of Mexico. He and Alshehhi enrolled in the Huffman Aviation School, paying for the courses with $10,000 cheques apiece, training on small Cessna aircrafts and sharing a room together once again. This time it was one owned by the school's book-keeper, Charles Voss. His wife, Dru, said the pair kept themselves to themselves but became increasingly insulting to her when her husband was out, saying things such as: 'It must be nice to sleep all day.'
She threw them out and they moved to Coral Springs. After completing the basic Huffman course, they needed to learn how to fly bigger jets. Coral Springs, close to Palm Beach Airport, was just the place to hone their skills. Marian Smith, who owns Palm Beach Flight Training, said: 'I remember [they said they] wanted to get in 100 hours.' The hijack team also trained on computer flight simulators which had the topography of New York -- including the twin towers -- stored in their memory banks. Atta took two three-hour courses at SimCentre Inc in Florida, where he trained on a Boeing 727 full-motion flight simulator. Two weeks ago, the FBI detained an Arab man in Minnesota, on immigration reasons. At the time he was trying to find a simulator for large airliners.
Chuck Clapper, who owns the Lantana Air charter in Florida, said several Florida flight schools had contracts with Saudi Arabian airlines and some had exemptions from visa checks. Some Arab nationalities have to satisfy the State Department of their suitability to obtain flight instruction in the US, but Clapper explained: 'Saudis don't. Iranians do. Libyans do. But the Saudis are allies, so they don't.' Marawan Alshehhi lived in Saudi before going to Florida, as did another hijacker called Wail Alsheri, aka Waleed Alshehri, who held a commercial pilot's licence for Saudi Arabian Airlines in Jeddah. Wail may have been schooled in the Yemeni border town of Khamis, attending teacher training college there. He then spent several years in bin Laden's terrorist training camp at al-Farouk in Afghanistan. Another Florida-based hijacker, Aabdul Alomari, lived for nearly a year in Vero Beach with his wife and three children, but was last seen at his home on September 3. By then his family had already left, claiming they were returning home. He and Amer Kamfar also took flying lessons in the state with Flight Safety International. Both said they were Saudis working for Saudi airlines. Kamfar, according to the FBI, is on the loose, armed with an AK-47. It is thought he was a member of one of the ground cells. An all-points bulletin has been posted for his arrest. He also lived in Vero Beach, telling neighbours he was a flight engineer, but abruptly left the home he shared with his wife and four children two weeks ago. Neighbour Debbie Habora says they threw everything out in the trash -- clothes, dishes, furniture, pots and pans.
Last Friday Atta, the most prominent face of the hijack teams and the man who linked them together, and two other Middle Eastern men were spotted at a bar in Holly-wood in Florida called Shuckums. They ran up a bill and started rowing with waitress Patricia Idrissi over the cost of their vodkas and rums. Atta shouted at the manager: 'You think I can't pay? I'm a pilot for American Airlines. I can pay my f***ing bill.' He pulled out a wad of $100 and $50 bills and threw money at Idrissi, leaving her an insultingly small tip. The day before the attack they may also have been in the lapdancing bar, The Pink Pony, in Daytona Beach. One man matching the description of Atta and two other Arabs were overheard voicing anti-American sentiments, and speaking of 'coming bloodshed'.
On the eve of the attack, Atta and Marawan stayed at the Panther Motel in Deerfield Beach, New Jersey. They rented a Mitsubishi sedan and made their way to Logan Airport in Boston. It was later found abandoned containing flight manuals written in Arabic and suicide notes to the men's parents. In the parking lot they argued with another driver over spaces. Even the seats they sat on in the departure lounge have been taken away and scoured for possible DNA clues from hair they might have left behind.
Atta, Marawan, Waleed Alsheri, Aabdul Alomari and Walid Al Shehri all bought one-way tickets at Logan Airport. Waleed and Walid are believed to be brothers who fought together in Afghanistan. Many of the other hijackers also appear to be related. Two had employee passes, thought to come from a robbery in Italy where American Airlines staff had a pilot's uniform, passes and badges stolen. Another cell of Islamic fundamentalists is suspected of operating in the country.
Beyond America, the trail leads around the world. Just like the regime it proclaims to hate, Al Qaida -- which translates as 'the Base' -- operates along the principles of globalisation. Bin Laden, in an irony not lost on the FBI, runs a network that is effectively baseless, with units in 34 countries, including Britain, whose members are now in hiding, according to Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad. Although the FBI appears to have got to grips with the number of hijackers and support terrorists involved, the logistics of the plot are colossal. Arrests, detentions and raids are gathering pace, indicating that the back-up and planning of these atrocities spanned the globe. London, Rotterdam, Brussels, Mexico, Manila and the Azores have all been areas of intense police activity.
On the day of the dive-bombings, there were also plans by Muslim extremists in the Philippines to hijack a commercial jet in Manila which was destined for the US. The general manager of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Edgardo Manda, said the target was Philippine Airlines. An Omani who was on board one of the hijacked American jets, had been questioned in Manila three days before the terrorist attacks for filming the US embassy in the Philippines. Raids on hotel rooms in Manila revealed residue of bomb-making equipment. The three Omanis who stayed there are now in Thailand. A pilot for Saudi airlines in Manila was also taken in for questioning. He is apparently the brother of one of the US hijackers.
Money, knowledge and manpower from every corner of the world were now, obviously, being channelled to the shores of the US for bin Laden's final attempt to destroy the twin towers.
Last Tuesday, American Airlines Flight 11 from Logan Airport in Boston showed just how slick, controlled, ruthless and professional his followers really were. Flight 11 was bin Laden's blueprint hijacking. It worked like a dream. On board were Mohammad Atta, Walid Al Shehri, Aabdul Alomari, Satam Sugami and Waleed Alsheri. Piloted by John Ogonowski and Tom McGuinness, the aircraft received clearance for take-off to Los Angeles at 7.45am on Tuesday. Among the 92 passengers on board were Berry Berenson, the actress and widow of actor Anthony Perkins, and David Angell, executive producer of Frasier and former writer of Cheers. The hijackers struck at 8.10am at 10,000ft, seizing three air stewardesses and dragging one, screaming, to the end of the plane.
Atta and his team tried to break into the cockpit but the pilots had barricaded themselves in. The hijackers threatened to start killing passengers and crew unless the controls were handed over to them. It was then that calls started to come from the plane as passengers used their mobile phones. Some said two stewardesses were dead ; another was intercepted by the emergency services as a passenger screamed: 'Oh God, they are killing us ... help us ... help us ... we will die up here.' The pilot and co-pilot left their cabin after keying their mic so everything could be heard on the ground by horrified air traffic control teams. One of the hijackers, believed to be Atta, told passengers over the PA system in perfect, almost accentless English: 'Don't be afraid, you're not going to get hurt.' The plane was tracked turning left to fly over the Hudson River to New York City, and the ground crew heard the hijacker tell Ogonowski: 'Don't do anything foolish. You're not going to get hurt. We have more planes, we have other planes.'
The plane's transponder, which allowed it to be tracked and to communicate with air traffic control, was switched off as it began to make its descent over New York. The hijackers ordered anyone with a phone to contact their loved ones. It was time to say their goodbyes.
Peter Hanson, a Massachusetts architect, was in economy class with his wife, Susan, and his 11-year-old daughter, Christine. His father, Lee, said he called twice. The first time he said an air stewardess was stabbed to death, but he was then cut off. The second time he said the plane was going down and that he loved his mother and father. The plane hurtled along the line of the Hudson and at 3000ft and travelling at 400 mph, circled Manhattan and New York harbour. At 8.45am it smashed into the north tower of the World Trade Centre.
Next into the air was United Airlines Flight 175. It left Logan just seconds after Flight 11 was hijacked in the air. On board were Ruth Clifford McCourt and her four-year-old daughter Juliana. Ruth's brother, Ronnie Clifford, an Irish businessman, escaped from the rubble of the north tower minutes before the plane his sister was on crashed into the south tower. Along with the innocent passengers was another five-man hijack crew -- Marawan Alshehhi, Fayez Ahmed, Mohald Alshehri, Hamza Al Ghamdi and Ahmed Al Ghamdi.
The pattern was the same -- the hijackers jumped the air crew, stabbed flight attendants, broke into the cockpit and told passengers they would be all right. This time, however, the passengers fought back. One, Charles Falkenberg, rang his neighbour saying: 'We've been taken hostage, but they've promised not to harm us. We've tried to fight them off but they have weapons.' He was then cut off. At 9.03am the aircraft slammed into the second tower, killing all 56 passengers and nine crew. One American Airlines captain said he believed the hijack teams were 'the equivalent of crack commandos'. He also said pilots and co-pilots were extremely vulnerable to an attack. Sitting in the cockpit with their backs to anyone entering, they would be dead in seconds if a hijacker was planning murder. 'These guys obviously acted very quickly, snapping necks and slitting throats,' he said. 'There was nothing the crew could have done.'
As the second plane crashed into the side of the south tower, vice-president Dick Cheney was staring in disbelief at the television screen in his office in the White House. When the first jet crashed, many believed it had been a terrible accident, but a second smash, on the same target, meant there were kamikaze attackers dive-bombing America.
Cheney's secret service officer knew exactly that, and grabbed his boss unceremoniously by the jacket, dragging him down to the basement to the President's Emergency Operations Centre. This underground facility is able to withstand a nuclear blast.
Cheney was told that another plane was heading for the White House and got straight on the phone to President George W Bush, who had just boarded Air Force One in Florida, telling him not to return to Washington under any circumstances. Cheney was joined by Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser, and transportation secretary Norman Mineta. Then more terrifying news came in: four international jets were headed across the Atlantic for Washington and another from Korea. Nobody had any idea whether they were hostile or not. US fighters were scrambled. Claims came in that seven domestic flights had been hijacked. None of these developments turned out to be true. The next communication, however, is truly frightening, especially for the US secret service. Codes known only to the most senior security and defence officials were, according to intelligence sources, used by 'terrorists to make a credible threat'. That threat was simple: 'Air Force One is next.' At that point the President was in the air. Seemingly overcome with the drama of the day, Bush became a little bullish. His senior adviser, Karl Rove, said the president got 'pretty antsy' and told him: 'I don't want some tinhorn (sic) terrorist keeping me out of Washington.'
Rove went on: 'The Secret Service informed him that the threat contained language that was evidence that the terrorists had knowledge of his procedures and whereabouts. In light of the specific and credible threat, it was decided to get airborne with a fighter escort.' Rove did not say it, but there is only one implication from the story he related: that somewhere, maybe in the White House, the NSA or the CIA, there is a mole who is selling information to terrorists.
At 8.10am, American Airlines flight 77 took off from Dulles International Airport near Washington on its way to Los Angeles. Among the 64 passengers on board was Barbara Olson, the CNN anchorwoman and wife of the US solicitor-general, Ted Olson. She should have been on an earlier flight but held off, wanting to have breakfast with her husband on his birthday.
These hijackers added an extra dimension to the horror their captives were facing. Unlike Atta's team and those Alshehhi led on board UA flight 175, this group did not lull their victims into a false sense of security with promises that everything would be all right. When they took over the controls, they told the passengers to phone their families as they were 'all going to die'. Once again it was another five-man team at the controls: Khalid Almihdhar, Majed Moqued, Nawaf Al Hazmi, Salem Al Hazmi and pilot Hani Hanjour. After telling the people on board that they were going to die, they then gave away exactly how their deaths were planned. The plane, they said, would hit the White House in a few minutes. It did not. At 9.43am, it crashed into the south-west side of the Pentagon, killing at least 800 government staff on the ground. The crash effectively wiped the voice recorder in the plane's black box, irreparably damaging the subsequent investigation, now named Penttbom.
As New York and Washington burned, chaos was breaking out in the US executive as well. Bush was now at an air force base in Louisiana, and boiling with rage that he had to make a tape for broadcast rather than go live on air in the capital and be seen to be leading his people at the centre of command. He ranted and raved at Cheney about getting to Washington, but the secret service said no. In times such as these, even the president can be over-ruled for his own safety by his security advisers. Cheney delayed going on air himself, afraid that Bush might interpret this as an attempt to usurp his authority.
United Airlines Flight 93 took off from Newark at 8.01am, heading west to San Francisco. The exact fate of the 45 people on board is shrouded in mystery. It was destined, the FBI believe, for either the presidential retreat at Camp David, an FBI facility or the CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia. What is known is that it was taken over by probably the most inexperienced team, this time a four-man unit. They were Ahmed Al Haznawi, Ahmed Alnami, Ziaad Jarrah and Saeed Alghamdi. Perhaps the most upsetting phonecall of all came from one of Flight 93's passengers, Thomas Burnett, who is now being hailed as an all-American hero. He called his wife, Deena, shortly after the hijackers struck. 'I know we are all going to die,' he said, 'but there are three of us who are going to do something about it.' The last words his wife heard him say were: 'I love you, honey.' At 10.10am, the plane crashed in a field in Somerset County in rural Pennsylvania, some 80 miles south of Pittsburgh. Like the other planes it was carrying around 200,000 lbs of fuel for its six-hour flight to the west coast. Unlike the Pentagon plane, the voice recorder in its black-box remained in- tact. The US authorities are now investigating whether this amount of fuel legally categorises the suicide planes as weapons of mass destruction.
At first it seemed Burnett and some of the other passengers really had fought the hijackers to a standstill and somehow the plane had ditched before reaching its target. But last Thursday federal investigators said the UA jetliner may have been shot down. FBI agent Bill Crowley said: 'We have not ruled that out. We haven't ruled out anything.' Last Tuesday, the US Defence Department vigorously denied claims that Flight 93 had been downed by the military.
However, it is now clear that fighter jets were scrambled and in the air. The Boeing 757 was also found in two large pieces six miles apart. A plane hitting the ground would have most of its wreckage confined to one crash site. Only an aircraft that broke up in the air before impact would have its fuselage scattered over such a wide area. There are also claims one of the passengers made a phonecall saying the hijackers had a bomb.
Apart from the final cataclysmic seconds of each flight, there is only one thing we can be sure of, one thing that was inevitable with the four missions. As with all the suicide-bombers who have killed hundreds of civilians in Israel, the Islamic pilots, destined for martyrdom and a place by Allah's side, would have strengthened their resolve and uttered just three last words before driving their guided missiles filled with human beings into the two towers, the Pentagon and rural Pennsylvania: 'Allah O Akbar', or 'God is great'.
www.interpol.int
www.whitehouse.gov
www.washingtondc.gov
www.fbi.gov
www.nyc.gov
www.fema.gov
www.nytimes.com
www.washingtonpost.com
Copyright © 2001 smg sunday newspapers ltd. no.176088
Back to previous page
http://www.wanttoknow.info/9-11timeline60pg
This is a collection of reports/articles on terror from
1982 until 2005.
Several are interesting and unknown to me.
My prayers go up for you.
Get well and quick.
The whole world needs you..........
From the looks of the googles of tonight, you will have enough to read, found interesting reading.
Will have to dump the whole project and get on the ball or I will be stuck in the past all night.
Good luck.
Have you checked this website?
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/engsite/home/default.asp
Plotter's Martyrdom Tape
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=122&id=4899&t=Last+wish+of+Indonesian+Catholic+on+death+row
Last wish of Indonesian Catholic on death row
Domani Fabianus Tibo will be unjustly executed by firing squad together with his friends da Silva and Riwu. His last words are an appeal to the president and a denunciation of the country’s legal system.
Friday, August 11, 2006
by Asia News See all articles by this author
New Stories
Chavez says Israel attacks similiar to Nazis
Last wish of Indonesian Catholic on death row
Activists face Israel military aid vigil charge
Bombers in action throughout Lebanon
Ethiopian general defects, joins rebels
US warns of likely terror attacks in India
Pakistan makes arrests in Britain terror plot
UK terror plot investigation deepens
Standing in the gap in New Orleans
5 Chinese Christians receive arrest notifications
Full Coverage
Somalia Conflict
Mel Gibson Scandal
Vatican Update
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Evolution Debate
North Korea
G8 Summit
Israeli, Hezbollah Conflict
Rick Warren in the news
Pope in Spain
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Internet and Media News
Pregnancy and Family News
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Three Indonesian Catholics on death row are only a few hours away from their execution in Palu, central Sulawesi province. Tomorrow, a few minutes after midnight (local time), they will be brought before the firing squad that will kill them. Their hopes in an act of clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono are dimming but have not been completely extinguished. One of the men condemned to death, Fabianus Tibo, has turned to the head of State to express the so-called “last wish” allowed him by Indonesian law. “I hope my president will be so good as to review my case,” he said last night from Petobo prison in Palu. For several months, defence lawyers and human rights groups have been calling for a review of the men’s trial that was held to be unfair and conditioned by pressure from extremist groups. New witnesses and evidence that would have absolved the three men was never taken seriously by the court.
Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus “Domi” da Silva and Marinus Riwu were condemned to death because they were found guilty of masterminding the massacre of hundreds of Muslims in Poso in 2001, during an inter-faith conflict that shook the area between 1998 and 2001. So far, not one Muslim has been tried in relation to the clashes that claimed a high death toll among Christians too.
In his last words, Tibo hit out at the Indonesian legal system “that condemned three innocent peasants to death when all they did was offer help to Catholic victims of the violence in Poso. Why will those criminals who raped, killed and looted during those times be spared?”
Visibly shaken by his fate, Tibo anyhow is continuing to socialize with other detainees. Yesterday he received a visit from his family: his wife Nurlin Kasiala, his eldest son, Robertus, and his daughter. The priest who supported the three men in these difficult times, Fr Jimmy Tumbelaka of Tentenna, was also there. The men’s relatives forcefully reiterated their negation of the “unjust” penalty. Their sorrow and frustration is echoed by the country’s Catholic community that is “profoundly saddened by one of the greatest tragedies of Indonesia’s history, where Catholics seem to have become the scapegoats.”
Everything has already been prepared for the funeral of the condemned men. Tibo himself has said his body will be buried in Poso. The funeral will be celebrated by the bishop of Manado, Mgr Peter Canisius Mandagi, in the Cathedral of Palu, where burial chambers will be prepared for Riwu and da Silva who will be buried in Maumere and Kupang, province of East Nusa Tenggara.
[unknown url]
Jihad Manual (p. 230) says:
Candidates for Recruitment Are:
1. Smugglers
2. Those seeking political asylum
3. Adventurers
4. Workers at coffee shops, restaurants, and hotels
5. People in need
6. Employees at borders, airports, and seaports
Subject: Heathrow worker one of arrestees
One must look at Muslims working in sensitive positions closely.
-CNN (talking to ITV reporter) is reporting now that one arrested worked
at
Heathrow airport and that he was wearing Heathrow pants/overalls when
arrested.
Others arrested were students. Several of them traveled to Pakistan,
and
the head of the AT squad said that their movements have been tracked,
as
well as their spending patterns.
MSNBC this morning stressed the homegrown element of the operation.
14% of Pakistanis in UK are unemployed, compared to 4% of population at
large there.
[I did not find it, from one of the newsgroups]
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 5:04 PM
To:
Subject: Breaking: Air Canada plane halted: suspicious package
Fox News is reporting that an Air Canada plane has been forced
to land in Baltimore (rather than Reagan Intl Airport) because of a
suspicious package.
Flight 7652 (I believe, by memory) left from Montreal. NFI
(no Internet supporting story yet)
Interesting, reports.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Breaking%3A+Air+Canada+plane+halted%3A+suspicious+package&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Air+Canada+plane+halted:+suspicious+package&sa=N&tab=nw
http://www.google.com/search?q=Air+Canada+plane+has+been+forced+to+land+in+Baltimore&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
[unknown url]
US judge denies bail to terror suspect who claims misgivings
By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press Writer
MIAMI
A judge denied bail Thursday to a seventh member of a group accused of plotting U.S. terror attacks despite the man's claims that he had misgivings about group's direction and attempted to break free by moving hundreds of miles (kilometers) away.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Garber, ruling on the same day British authorities foiled a major terror attack involving U.S.-bound airliners, agreed with prosecutors that 31-year-old Lyglenson Lemorin should remain in custody while awaiting his trial in March.
Lemorin and the other six are accused of conspiring to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and government buildings in Miami, New York, Washington and elsewhere. Authorities have said their plot never got beyond the planning stage and that they never acquired any explosives or weapons for the attack.
Garber ruled that Lemorin, a Haitian immigrant, would be a danger to the community and a risk to flee if released on bail. His co-defendants, including alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste, are also being held without bail.
Lemorin gave a statement to the FBI after his June 26 arrest in Atlanta indicating that he moved because he wanted nothing more to do with Batiste's group after he and the others took an oath of loyalty to al-Qaida. The ceremony included a Middle Eastern man the group thought was an al-Qaida operative, but who was actually an FBI informant.
Lemorin's lawyer, Joel DeFabio, said Lemorin was not part of Batiste's inner circle and did not take an active role in any attack planning or reconnaissance.
"At best, they have Mr. Lemorin taking an oath, with nothing more. There are no overt acts," Lemorin said.
Federal prosecutor Richard Getchell said a video of the al-Qaida oath ceremony shows that Lemorin went first and showed no hesitation in joining "the most fearsome terrorist organization in the world."
"That's what is truly frightening about this case _ the willingness to stand up, just like that, and say 'Yes, I'll help al-Qaida destroy buildings and overthrow the government of the United States,'" Getchell said.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Thanks for the tip regarding the website.
As to the London terrorist names in post 412, I can certainly see why Bush/Blair administrations are afraid to refer to them as muslims. A lot of nice Irish names there.
Hizbullah declares victory
In latest video aired on Al-Manar TV terror group says it ‘defeated the invincible army’
Roee Nahmias
Hizbullah did not wait for the official UN Security Council announcement on a ceasefire and launched its own media campaign declaring it had 'won the war against Israel.'
In the latest video aired on Al-Manar TV the terror group says it “defeated the invincible army” and “July-August 2006: Legend shattered.”
These clips, which are aired between regularly-scheduled programs, include excerpts from Hassan Nasrallah speeches in which he had promised victory; similar videos were aired during the IDF’s withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese government is preparing for war’s conclusion; Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabi Berri to discuss the deployment of the army in the south. Some reports said a Hizbullah member also took part in the meeting, but Berri’s associates denied the reports.
It was also reported that Arab League and Lebanese representatives met in New York with US and French officials.
It appears that Lebanon will agree to the compromise offer according to which the IDF will gradually pull out of the country.
Last Wednesday Nasrallah said in his speech that Hizbullah supported a decision by the Lebanese government, which includes a Hizbullah minister, to deploy 15,000 troops to the border if that would bolster Lebanon's calls for the resolution to include a demand for Israel's immediate withdrawal from the south.
"If everyone sees that deploying the army will help find a way out politically that would result in the halting of aggression ... This for us is a national and honorable way out," he said.
Lebanese officials estimate that Iran and Syria will not oppose a ceasefire deal; this seems reasonable in light of the fact that the two countries have repeatedly called for a ceasefire, apparently in a bid to keep Hizbullah from collapsing so that it may take part in future confrontations with Israel.
Tel Aviv Univ. Poll: 67 Percent Backs Retaliation
05:24 Aug 11, '06 / 17 Av 5766
(IsraelNN.com) Two-thirds of the Jewish population in Israel back continued retaliation against Hizbullah terrorists, according to a new poll issued by the University of Tel Aviv.
Almost half of the respondents also said they support staging negotiations with the Hamas terrorist organization, while slightly more than one-third backs talks with Hizbullah terrorist leaders in order to return two kidnapped IDF soldiers.
The Arab sector overwhelmingly favors talking with Hamas and Hizbullah and only one-quarter said that Israel's retaliation is justified.
Olmert cannot remain in the prime minister's office
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 11:24 11/08/2006
By Ari Shavit
Ehud Olmert may decide to accept the French proposal for a cease-fire and unconditional surrender to Hezbollah. That is his privilege. Olmert is a prime minister whom journalists invented, journalists protected, and whose rule journalists preserved. Now the journalists are saying run away. That's legitimate. Unwise, but legitimate.
However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please.
There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front.
Still, if Olmert had come to his senses as Golda Meir did during the Yom Kippur War, if he had become a leader, established a war cabinet and called the nation to a supreme effort that would change the face of the battle, a penetrating discussion of his failures could be postponed. But in blinking first over the past 24 hours, he has become an incorrigible political personality. Therefore, the day Nasrallah comes out of his bunker and declares victory to the whole world, Olmert must not be in the prime minister's office. Post-war battered and bleeding Israel needs a new start and a new leader. It needs a real prime minister.
World War III---Twenty One Days in August
Day One: 4:05 PM PST
This time it’s real. I’m sure of it. And although today’s news coming out of Germany might not be seen as the spark that ignites WWIII, most wars start when people are not ready for it. There’s been other ‘conflicts’ that could have sparked a world war like the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon a few years back. A cease fire was called when Europe and the US eventually agreed to send in NATO forces as armed peacekeepers in a 20 mile no-mans land in southern Lebanon. But all that just shaped the battlefield, so to speak. Lebanon’s conflict between Israel and Hezbollah made Hezbollah stronger and more popular than ever and resulted with Hezbollah gaining majority power in the election. This and the newly formed Islamic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan helped Iran reach its dream of a Shiite Islamic empire stretching from Pakistan to the Mediterranean. The fall of Syria into the hands of the Shiites and the installation of the new Caliphate completed their goal.
Besides, the war between Israel and Lebanon would not be enough to bring Europe into the conflict which would be necessary for a world war – even though it was reported that NATO forces did have several ‘incidents’ with Hezbollah. Yes, one pundit said that a word war would not begin until France surrendered but I believe that Europe’s entry into a world war would come when, and only when, the oil supply to them is cut off.
But that was then, this is now. This latest crises feels different so I’ve decided to start this blog as a diary of events as they happen.
It’s funny that the last two World Wars came out of Germany. And now, it’s happening again. A rape and murder of two German teenagers by, what the European press called ‘North Africans’, brought retaliation by a gang of German youths who firebombed the Multi-Kultur-Haus association center in the southern town of Neu-Ulm in Bavaria and abducted and hung three Muslim males found there. The Multi-Kultur-Haus association was long known for promoting extremist ideas and armed "holy war” so the connection was pretty much understood. The press wrote it off as just another hate crime that has plagued European cities over the last year or so. The rape epidemics by Muslim immigrants that started in Sweden and spread throughout Europe, though not attended by murder, have been reported before.
But what the press did not report was a parchment nailed to the Multi-Kultur-Haus association center’s front door. The attack was claimed by Nationale Liste, a once banned now reconstituted neo-Nazi group, whose agenda was to rid Germany of the Muslim immigrant scourge. "Deutschland für Deutscher - Ausländer Raus!" - Germany for Germans - Foreigners out – was written in bold letters on the parchment and threatened to attack more immigrant hostels throughout the country as they did in the previous few months.
Though not revealed publicly, but posted on the Danish blog On the Wing, German and EU officials feared that this retaliation and the future threats against immigrants were not like those of the past. Here was a group that freely admitted this attack and those over the last few months. On the Wing reported that this was not a knee-jerk reaction of some isolated crazed individuals as the main stream press was reporting. They were organized.
Day Two: 8.40 AM PST
Just what I feared. The Nationale Liste is just one group of a larger anti-immigrant organization in Europe. This was reported in the Blog Islam in Europe. Most of these groups regularly work together, and their leaders frequently hold cross-memberships in several organizations at once. Some of the groups have clear ties to openly racist organizations, and even some espouse thinly disguised bigotry. There was some chatter in the bloggosphere about a combined organization called Euro Liste. They were proved right.
Euro Liste hacked into the home pages of the BBC, LeMonde, De Telegraaf , Jyllands-Posten, Der Spiege, Göteborgs-Posten, andBrussels Journal and posted their manifesto demanding the removal of all Muslim immigrants from the EU and the cessation of dhimmitude in Europe. They accused the EU leadership and European countries of unfettered immigration and ‘funding our own colonization’. “Do something about it – or we will” was there final demand. To punctuate their demands and in a coordinated effort, hostels in Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden and Holland were attacked last night. All of the attacks were claimed to be the actions of the Euro Liste.
The Euro Liste was now very public. But the EU leadership tried to calm the Muslim population with platitudes and promises to protect them from the “anti-democratic racist reactionaries” who seek to destroy the peaceful coexistence of multiculturalist Europe. It was the usual PC position of addressing the results and not the causes of the tensions.
Day Three: 3.40 PM PST
It was the hack that did it. Massive demonstrations in Europe by every conceivable Muslim organization gridlocked the cities of Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Amsterdam, and Madrid. The protestors carried signs calling Europe racist. The extremist fringe was out too, carrying signs and shouting that Europe will fall and soon become an Islamic state. To make matters worse, anti-protestors egged on, then attacked, the Muslim demonstrators. Riots ensued in cities outside of the capitals of the affected European cities and as of this post, the rioting has not been contained. Pundits from the different European media claim the riots are 100 times worse than the French Riots of 2006. Others claimed that the riots in the different cities were not centrally organized but “sympathy riots’.
Not so for the anti-protesters. On the Wing claims the anti-protesters are members of the Euro Liste who are intentionally creating these confrontations to support their position that Muslim immigrates are an inherent danger to Europe and must be thrown out.
Day Four: 10.40 AM PST
Rioting continues in Europe. And it’s getting nasty. The fearful public is demanding harsh government action. Some governments act but others are paralyzed and are incapable of taking action causing citizens to defend themselves. The BBC reports that mosques are being burned in some cities in Europe. Many men with a turban and a beard or a woman in a veil have been attacked in broad daylight. The Infidel Bloggers Alliance is doing a good job of compiling reports from around Europe on the rioting. It seems the main stream media is playing down the worst aspects of the riots and still will not call the rioters Muslims even as they shout “Alah Akabar” as they run through, what has come to look like, war torn streets.
Norwegian blogger, Fjordman, was interviewed by FrontPage Magazine and said that this was the opening salvos of civil war in Europe. And it was going to get worse. In the interview he said, “I predicted a several years ago that immigration will trigger wars in Europe. This continent has simply lost control over its own borders, and the native population is being replaced at an astonishing rate in many of its major cities. Europe has a rather violent history, and migrations of this magnitude have usually triggered wars between the original population and the newcomers:”
It appears that Fjordman is being proved right. If these riots are not contained and stopped, will Europe enter a civil war between Muslim and non-Muslim populations? It doesn’t look good from the US.
Day Five: 11.15 PM PST
It escalates. The local police can not control the riots. This evening the news from Europe was bleak. Pictures of flames illuminated an eerie glow framing the Eifel Tower. The beautiful Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen looks like a battlefield. Muslims supporters have occupied the Gardens and the Muslim neighborhoods in many European countries have been ‘no-go’ zones for the local police. The military has been committed to the streets of Europe. News pundits bemoan the fact that Europe is on the brink of civil war between two fascisms - Euro-Fascism vs. Islamo-Fascism.
Day Six: 9:05 PM PST
This was not unexpected. No surprise here. Daily Briefing on Iran quoted the Iranian President that Iran condemns the persecution of “our Muslim brothers and sisters”. But even more ominously, the Daily Briefing reported that they would support them in the struggle – no idea yet on what that means. Daily Briefing was told by unknown sources that the statement was warning to be taken seriously.
Then this a little while ago. MosqueWatch reports that mosques throughout Europe were raided by the military and many were found to have weapons and ammunition stored there. EU authorities admit that the open borders of the EU countries made it too easy for Jihadists to move weapons into mosques all around Europe. These reports added fuel to the fire and more mosques were raided and desecrated by elements of the Euro Liste. Up to now, Britain has been spared most of the civil war in Europe because of the Channel. They were able to quickly close entry to the island and contain the terrorist cells and restore some semblance of order by arresting the worst of those causing the civil strife. A very disturbing rumor from the Infidel Bloggers Alliance said that the British government has set up internment camps in northern Scotland.
Day Seven: 12:35 AM PST
A very disturbing report from Jihad Watch today. There are reports that Iran using Hezbollah cells in Europe are smuggling in sophisticated weapons through Bosnia. A little known piece of news reported by Jihad Watch claims that Russia had found chemical weapons in raids on Chechnya strongholds. Russia declined comment. Turkey withdraws from the EU and more rumors fly that it is supplying weapons to the Muslim separatists in several European cities.
Day Eight: 6:10 PM PST
This is not good! Egypt’s Grand Mufti visiting EU offices in Berlin to help quell the riots was shot dead outside the Berlin Hilton. The killer yelled "Deutschland für Deutscher - Ausländer Raus!" as he was subdued by police. Muslims and non-Muslims alike are stunned. EU authorities and PMs of several European countries condemned the assassination “in the strongest terms”. Muslim organizations throughout the EU demand that the Euro Liste members be hunted down and executed. The Muslim street in the Middle East is aflame with hate calling for the destruction of “European pigs and apes.”
Day Nine: 6:10 PM PST
The words of the EU authorities have done little good. The violence is out of hand. Today a wave of terrorist attacks has spread across Europe. The media across Europe are asked by governments – sounded like pleaded to me - to report these incidents without raising undue alarm.
Yeah, right.
The Counter-Terrorism blog reports that car bombings outside restaurants and other public places and suicide attacks on the centers of Europe’s transportation networks have forced people to lock themselves in their homes, afraid to venture out. Once popular and packed European landmarks and entertainment areas are ghost towns. More NATO troops are called unto the streets. Several major cities in Europe become large Sarajevos. Many cities are under Martial Law.
The European intelligence agencies are looking desperately for some kind of central control who may be directing the Muslim riots. But the jihadists are not centralized. They cannot always control the actions of their diverse cells or lone fanatics. Sooner or later someone will go too far.
Day Ten: 7:30 AM PST
The unthinkable has happened. At the height of the work day rush to office, several chemical bombs go off killing thousands in Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Moscow and Madrid. Hugh explosions damage or destroy symbolically important targets, the cathedral at Charters, the Louvre, the Kremlin, and the Channel Tunnel. Europe in under siege. Martial Law is declared throughout Europe. To make matters worse, right wing demagogues prowl the streets demanding that any and all Muslims be rounded up and interned to prevent further terrorist attacks. Political opportunists in the now impotent EU, play to these right wing fascist elements to gain political power in their countries. The EU as a functioning entity is dead. The UN continues to debate the term ‘terrorism’ and what to do about the crisis in Europe. DAFKA reported that all NATO forces are recalled from their peace keeping duties In the Mid-East. This does not bode well for Israel.
Day Eleven: 7:30 AM PST
It didn’t take long. The day after NATO troops were withdrawn from the mid-East, Hezbollah launched long range rockets from Lebanon deep into Israel. Debka reports that Iranian rocket crews are manning the Zelzal-2 missiles on their mobile launchers and were deployed along the Syrian side of the Syrian-Lebanese border. When the order was given the rocket crews crossed the Lebanese/Syrian border and launched on cities just north of Tel Aviv. Israel warned that it will strike at the missile launches inside Syria to halt the attacks. Debka writes that this plays into Syria and Iran’s hands. If Israel attacks Syria, Iran said they will “Wipe the Zionist pigs from the face of the earth”. The President of the US pledges that if Israel is attacked by Iran, “We will support our ally” and warns Iran in the strongest terms not to enter the war with Israel.
Day Twelve: 9:10 AM PST
Iran raises the ante today. Iran Watch reported the Iranian government’s response to the US warning. "The White House's 80 years of exclusive rule are likely to become 80 seconds of hell that will burn to ashes. Those who resist Iran will be struck from directions they never expected. Iran will cause the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization. There are 29 sensitive sites in the U.S. and in the West. We have already spied on these sites and we know how we are going to attack them."
Debka reports this quote from an Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer, “Iran's missiles are now ready to strike at Western targets, and as soon as the instructions arrive, we will launch our missiles at their cities and installations." The warning was written off by the President saying there are no reports of Iran having ballistic missiles that can reach the US. The public is not assured.
It could all be bluster but I told my wife to go down to Costco and stock up on canned goods and other household supplies, including bottled water. I told her it was just a precaution but I knew things were about to get dicey.
Just heard that Homeland Security raised the terrorist threat level to ‘Extreme’. The cable news channels all report that HomeSec has intelligence of an imminent terrorist attack. They ask citizens to be aware of suspicious activity by individuals and report it immediately to their local police or FBI. The Counter Terrorism blog reports of Hezbollah cells ordered to activate by Iran. I call my wife and tell her to double the amount of toilet paper.
Day Thirteen: 6:10 PM PST
It happened. What Israel experiences every other day has arrived in America. Five suicide bombers entered the Mall of America and 4 other popular large malls in Chicago, New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Antonio and detonated themselves. Hundreds of back to school shoppers are killed or maimed. The TV channels show what they can but the scenes at the malls are a gruesome bloody mess. YouTube posts some nasty scenes and they are passed around the Net infuriating the public. Then, within the next hour, the New York subway, DART in Denver, BART in the Bay Area, and MART in Atlanta are also hit. This time with backpack bombs timed to go off simultaneously. The TV and radio stations run continuous news on the tragic events even canceling all prime time shows on the network channels. Some clueless viewers complain to their local stations for preempting ‘American Idol’. You wonder where some people’s heads are at.
Day Fourteen: 7:10 AM PST
Woke up to video news footage of several burned out mosques in the European cities that were attacked. The cable news channels are running ‘Man in the Street’ interviews with Muslims – when they can find them. Jihadist web sites chant that this is only the beginning of Jihad in America. CAIR puts out a general release charging the government with collusion in the persecution of Muslim-Americans and demands action. The President responds saying the charges are absurd and have no basis accusing CAIR and other Muslim organizations for inciting hatred. The President says the government will protect Muslims in this country.
Day Fifteen: 12:00 PM PST
I’m afraid the Presidents words now ring hollow. A small EMP device has detonated outside of the Pentagon. Where the hell did that come from? How did terrorists get their hands on that? Reports are sketchy but the EMP device was large enough to knock out most communication at the Pentagon with military commands overseas not to mention several hundred people whose brains were fried when the weapon went off. HotAir reports that the EMP weapon was smuggled in through an unnamed New Jersey seaport.
This just in. More suicide bombers have detonated their bombs in local restaurants during lunch time in several medium size cities including Des Moines, Kansas City, Billings, Trenton, and Portland. And this chilling report from MSNBC. In a raid on a terrorist safe house in the Washington DC area, the FBI located a dirty bomb ready to be used.
Day Sixteen: 12:00 PM PST
The news is bleak. Many demonstrations throughout cities in the US demand that the government do something about the Muslim threat. The Administration is under siege and there are calls by Congress to quarantine the threat. Some of the public are not waiting. In the southwest from Arizona to Texas, vigilante groups roam the frightened cities of their cities doing ‘citizens arrests’ of any young Muslim male. They are taken to secure places like auto impound lots and herded into make shift compounds. The local police side with the vigilantes and refuse to force them to release the Muslim youths. Michelle Malkin’s blog reports that the governor of those states call out the National Guard but the local residents surround the make shift internment camps and riots breakout between them and the guardsmen. There are casualties on both sides.
The President calls out the US ARMY but instead of freeing the Muslim youths, he orders the Army to take them to specially set up internment camps that are being constructed for the detaining of all Muslim youths between the ages of 14 and 35 and their families for their ‘protection’. The ACLU, NAAACP, CAIR and other civil liberties organization demand action from Congress and the Supreme Court to cease the internment of Muslim-Americans. We are headed towards a constitutional crisis.
Day Seventeen: 8:50 PM PST
I can’t believe my eyes. But there it is in a grainy color cell phone picture. It’s an image of a mushroom cloud over Tehran. All the TV news stations are running the picture with their talking heads analyzing the event. What we can gather is this much. Tehran did not expect this. But what else would Israel think after all the threats of extinction from Iran?
Iran probably thought that with Europe and the US mired in civil war and terrorists attacks, it was time to act on Israel. It seems Tehran launched a long range ballistic missile at Tel Aviv. Israel figured it was a nuke and let off one to Tehran. As it turned out, and Israel confirms this, it was a conventional missile meant to be a warning of things to come and exploded near Tel Aviv. But how would Israel know? Iran has the bomb and has continuously threatened to wipe Israel off the map. What a tragic blunder by Iran. Iran promises a swift retaliation. I fear the balloon has gone up in the Middle-East.
Day Eighteen: 7:15 AM PST
That’s it. It happened. Nuclear war in the Mid-East. Iran counter-attacked last night with nukes and many of Israel’s cities are in ruins. On the other hand, many of Iran's major cities have been decimated by overwhelming Israeli nukes which outnumbered those of Iran by 20 to one – many with MIRVs (Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles). Israel also used neutron bombs (not very well known, even by NATO) on Iran's oil infrastructure killing the human occupants with short-term deadly gamma radiation but leaving the physcial infrastucture intact. But the fallout from Iran's nukes on Israel has poisoned the Palestinian West Bank and Jordon. The radioactive fallout is working its way towards Syria and Iraq. Iraqis and Western contract workers are fleeing the country and oil production is at a standstill.
But that’s not all. The Straits of Hormuz are closed by the Iranians. They have sunk three fully loaded tankers in the Straits with cruise missles and then, taking a leaf out of Saddam's book, lit fire to the oil slick. All tanker traffic is at a standstill. Pipelines carrying Iranian oil out of the country have been severed by what’s left of the Israeli air force. Europe will be freezing in the dark in a few months.
Day Nineteen: 9:40 PM PST
Christ! Can things get any worse? Islamist terrorists have overthrown the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There are reports that the kingdoms of Yemen, Oman, UAE and Qatar are also under siege. Here in the US, the internment of Muslim-American has been made official. The Administration declares general internment citing the precedence of Japanese-Americans in WWII. The Attorney General suspends ‘habeas corpus’. Muslim organizations are shut down indiscriminately until the Attorney General can ascertain whether they pose a threat to national security. The offices of CAIR in both the US and Canada are shut down.
Day Twenty: 10:15 AM PST
The BBC reports that NATO troops are being sent to the Arabian Peninsula to secure the oil fields. China states emphatically that they will not accept US and European forces occupying the Arabian Peninsula. The US tells China that they are willing to give China access to oil after the region is ‘stabilized’. India sides with China and demands that it’s allowed to send a military mission to the Arabian Peninsula. Pakistan threatens war if India follows through.
Day Twenty One: 8:05 PM PST
I feel this is the end. I left my home and fled to our cabin up in the north woods. The New York Times reported that North Korea, prompted by China, has fired nuclear missiles at Japan and China has invaded Taiwan. The President ordered a full retaliatory attack on North Korea decimating its military capability. Tonight, as we pack up the last of our belongings, we hear reports from the bloggosphere that China has ordered its citizens into fallout shelters.
May God help us.
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