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...
[a post for study and research]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201
485_pf.html
Imam From South Africa Denied Entry at Dulles
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 23, 2006; B03
A South African imam who flew to Dulles International Airport yesterday
to
lead Ramadan prayers at a Northern Virginia mosque was denied entry
into the
Unites States, prompting questions from local Muslims.
The imam, Ismail Mullah, arrived at 5:55 a.m. yesterday on a flight
from
South Africa, said Arsalan Iftikhar, national legal director for the
District-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. He said
Mullah was delayed for several hours by customs officers and then sent
back
to South Africa.
The Islamic Community Center of Northern Virginia in Woodbridge had
invited
Mullah, who has come to the United States for Ramadan for the past
three
years, said Nasir Chhipa, the center's director. Ramadan, the Muslim
holy
month, started at sundown yesterday.
Chhipa and CAIR officials called on federal authorities to explain
whether
Mullah was targeted because he is Muslim. They said they were
especially
concerned about a possible pattern, because four other foreign imams
were
denied entry at an airport in Florida this week.
"The whole community is asking questions," Chhipa said. "We don't know
why
they took this action."
Bill Anthony, senior spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
confirmed that Mullah was not allowed to enter the United States but
would
not explain why. He said Mullah "withdrew his application for admission
after being talked to by our people."
"This doesn't preclude him from seeking admission in the future,"
Anthony
said, adding that more than 1,000 people are prevented from entering
the
United States every day for reasons ranging from inadequate travel
documents
to being on a U.S. government watch list.
Shots fired at Fla. mosque as Ramadan starts (back)
Shots fired at Fla. mosque as Ramadan starts
No injuries reported; police to provide extra patrols
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:51 p.m. PT Sept 23, 2006
MELBOURNE, Fla. - A mosque was hit by gunfire as members inside celebrated the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, authorities said Saturday.
No injuries were reported and there were no arrests.
A member of the Islamic Society of Brevard County stepped outside the mosque Friday night to use his cell phone when he heard several gun shots, police said.
continued.............
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14972847/
Date Collected: 9/24/2006
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14972847/
'1,000 J&K terrorists at Hizbul camps in Pak' (back)
'1,000 J&K terrorists at Hizbul camps in Pak'
Press Trust of India
New Delhi, September 24, 2006
Over 1,000 trained J&K terrorists are 'currently stranded' in three camps of the Hizbul Mujahideen in the Hazara region of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), according to a media report.
'Of these (three camps), the Hisari and Batrasi camps are located in Mansehra district while a third camp is located in Boi in district Abbottabad,' The Herald magazine reported.
It quoted unnamed sources saying that thousands of other terrorists were confined in camps run by half a dozen smaller Kashmiri groups or predominantly Pakistani outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Al-Badr Mujahideen in the frontier and PoK regions.
The report quoted an unnamed Islamabad-based terrorist leader saying that the top brass of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had 'conveyed to the J&K terrorist leaders in January 2006 that they should not even think of crossing the Line of Control (LoC), armed or unarmed'.
It said the ISI functionaries 'who had earlier worked with the terrorists have been asked to run routine checks to ascertain the whereabouts of the Kashmiri guides and porters who helped terrorists infiltrate' into India in the past.
The recent decision to stop 'official funding' of these outfits has rung alarm bells among jihadis, many of whom are now fleeing to their villages in Jammu and Kashmir, getting caught or surrendering to Indian armed forces.
However, the magazine quoted former ISI Chief Gen (retd) Hamid Gul as saying that 'Gen Pervez Musharraf's decisions (to contain these terrorist outfits) do not necessarily reflect the army's vision'.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1804671,0008.htm
Date Collected: 9/24/2006
Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1804671,0008.htm
Another Muslim for the US Congress?
This guy is in politics (Democrat) and his website is a bit on the
weird
side.
http://www.drsaid.net/Senate06/StatementCounties.htm
Statement to Washington State counties to be published in their voter's
pamphlet. This was sent to the following counties: Island, Ferry,
Kitsap,
King, Pierce, & Snohomish
Dr. Mohammad H. Said for US Senate
Website: www.drsaid.net
Email: drmhsaid@gmail.com
P O Box 40
Ephrata, WA 98823
Phone: 509-754-4689
Fax: 509-754-3241
War continues in Lebanon and we still occupy Iraq and Afghanistan. Now
Syria
and Iran have become targets of our war campaigns. As a nation, we come
to
the brink of losing our souls and are on the edge of a third world war.
Our
unfaltering support of Israel is the true instigator. The creation of a
One
State Solution (Palestinians and Israelis would live under a unified
umbrella) will eliminate our problems with the Middle East. For over 26
years I have been struggling for this solution, and in 1990 the Grant
County
Democratic Convention adopted it. As a Palestinian American who has
practiced medicine in the United States for thirty four years, my
international recognition as diplomat is invaluable.
My first priority would be to promote this One State Solution as a
grass
roots campaign among the people. Arabs and Muslims would accept this
internationally. This will pressure Congress, where Pro-Israeli support
is
very powerful. We would give Israel an ultimatum, "We pay the bills, we
call
the shots," emphasizing that a state that is only consisting of Jews
contradicts our Constitution. Secondly, complete withdrawal of our
troops
from Iraq by 12/31/07. For more details enter my main website. And for
balanced coverage of world news visit: www.wrmea.com,
english.aljazeera.net.
http://www.islamonline.com> www.islamonline.com
http://www.islamonline.net> www.islamonline.net
THANK YOU Liberty Rocks.
Have a good day.
Weblog
Pro-bin Laden Arabs
In a completely un-scientific but nonetheless interesting poll, 41,260 viewers of Al-Jazeera replied to five questions on-line between September 7 and 10. The second of them asks "Do you support Osama bin Laden" and the answer is as close to a statistical dead-heat as one could ask, with 20,601 saying yes and 20,659 saying no.
Comment: It would seem that Arabic-speakers are increasingly anti-Western, just as Westerners are increasingly hostile to Islam.
åá ÊÄíÏ ÃÓÇãÉ Èä áÇÏä¿
ÇáÎíÇÑÇÊ ÇáäÓÈÉ ÚÏÏ ÇáÃÕæÇÊ
äÚã 49.9% 20601
áÇ 50.1% 20659
(September 11, 2006)
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Islamists Threaten Civil War in Great Britain – A Good Idea?
I noted the jujitsu-like ability of British Muslim leaders to turn the threat of terrorism to their advantage in "Piggybacking on Terror in Britain." But the specifics documented there pale in comparison to the aggressive comments just made by Muhammad Abdul Bari, head of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Britain will face have to deal with up to two million Islamic terrorists unless there is an end to ‘demonising' of Muslims, the leader of the most influential Muslim organisation has said. Treating all Muslims as if they were terrorists will encourage large numbers to become terrorists. … Dr Bari declared: "Some police officers and sections of the media are demonising Muslims, treating them as if they are all terrorists, and that encourages other people to do the same. If that demonisation continues, then Britain will have to deal with two million Muslim terrorists, 700,000 of them in London. "If you attack a whole community, it becomes despondent and aggressive."
Comment: It remains to be seen how effective this aggressive tactic will be. I am inclined to give it poor prospects, as non-Muslims will likely reject the implicit threat – give us special treatment or we will wage a civil war on you. Moreover, were such a civil war actually to come to pass, Muslims being a small minority could not realistically hope to win it. (September 11, 2006)
Sep. 12, 2006 update: Richard Littlejohn responds in the Daily Mail, using choice words and sound logic to expose Abdul Bari:
With exemplary tact and exquisite timing, the ‘leader' of Britain's Muslims chose the eve of the fifth anniversary of 9/11 to warn that we are facing the threat of two million home-grown Islamic terrorists. The preposterous, self-aggrandising ‘secretary-general' of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Muhammad Abdul Bari, predicted an angry backlash against what he perceives as widespread ‘Islamophobia' in this country. …
Perhaps while the Muslim Council is accusing others of bigotry it would like to share with us its enlightened views on homosexuality and arranged marriages. ‘Islamophobia' is just another of those catch-all, smear-the-messenger fantasies dreamed up to close down debate and stifle free speech. When you examine closely Bari's latest outburst, it is nothing short of monstrous. What he is saying is that every Muslim in this country is a potential terrorist. If anything is guaranteed to increase suspicion of Muslims it is incendiary statements like that.
The anniversary of the attacks on America should be an occasion for sober reflection and remembrance. But the MCB has never met an atrocity it didn't try to exploit. Their tactic is always the same. After their perfunctory condemnation of terrorism, there's always the caveat about British foreign policy in the Middle East and the assertion that the real victims are not those who have actually been blown to smithereens but Muslims themselves. While they could never condone what has happened, we are invited to understand the anger and alienation which cause young men to turn themselves into human bombs.
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A Clash of Civilizations on Europe's Mean Streets
Christopher Dickey writes in Newsweek International about the "increasingly internecine brand of ethnic warfare" taking place at the bottom of Europe's social order. I excerpt the sections particularly pertinent to Muslims. The battle
pits group against group, race against race, in a competition for economic survival featuring Chinese against North Africans, South Asian Muslims against white or fair-skinned Christians from Eastern Europe and Latin America. Their struggle risks becoming a real clash of civilizations in the mean streets of immigrant Europe. Already it's a clash of underclasses and underworlds, mosques and churches, extended families, tribes, triads, mafias and traffickers.
The United Kingdom hosts an especially raging battleground, being one of only three European Union member states to permit citizens of the ten mostly East European member states that joined in 2004 to seek work. Already in 2004, unemployment among Britain's Muslim population was three times the national average.
Then came the staggering influx of Eastern Europeans. Last week, the British government announced that some 600,000, most of them Poles, had come to work in the United Kingdom over the past two years. According to John Salt, director of migration research at University College London, this is the single largest wave of immigration in British history. Government numbers show that 97 percent of those East Europeans found jobs.
Certainly, not all of them took work away from someone else—but many did. Indeed, the impact of the new immigrant invasion can be seen on the streets in Muslim neighborhoods across the United Kingdom. A British Muslim of Arab descent who runs a car wash in Hammersmith, in West London, tells a variation on an increasingly common story. He hires Poles and other newcomers, he freely confesses, because "they work hard and they stick around." But "Kam" refuses to give his full name because he fears the anger welling up in the competing communities. "A white Polish person has a better chance than a dark-skinned Muslim at landing a job," he says. "The Eastern Europeans are 100 percent threatening for Muslims. Being Muslim means it's harder to get work. If your name is Mohammad and you speak English, or Richard and you don't, employers will pick Richard."
Comment: The experiment of Muslims moving to Europe is souring in ways no one could even imagine decades ago. (September 11, 2006)
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Burqa Hospital Gowns
Where, you might wonder, have the world's first burqa hospital gowns been introduced? Saudi Arabia? No. Afghanistan? Nor Yemen nor Iran nor the United Arab Emirates. Guess again.
The burqa hospital gown, invented and made in the U.K.
The United Kingdom is where, and specifically at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire, England.
The blue £12 "Inter-Faith Gowns," writes the BBC, "cover the entire head, neck and body, leaving just a slot for the eyes. The burqa-style gowns come with trousers, two styles of head-dress and elasticated cuffs to prevent women's arms from being revealed." They are the brainchild of Karen Jacob, linen services manager at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals. "I noticed a gap in the market and thought that it would be great if there was a gown that helped to preserve a patient's modesty." The National Health Service owns the patent. Tim Meadows, customer service manager for Interweave, the West Yorkshire-based firm which makes the garments, believes the demand for the gowns could be huge. "We think there is a large market out there," he says. "We hope it will be a success. We have invested a lot of time and money." The gown will be available on November 1.
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Behead Islamists?
Three British far-rightists have adopted jihadi tactics and posted videos of men wearing terrorist-style black masks on YouTube where they threaten to behead British Muslims. Daniel Foggo of The Sunday Times (London) provides details on the three videos posted between August 11 and 19, or right after the airline bombing scare:
The films show balaclava-clad white British men brandishing guns, knives and clubs, calling on all Muslims to leave Britain or be killed. One appears to be a soldier who has served in the Gulf. In one film, a man tells Muslims to "go home" or risk being burned alive. He threatens, "I'll cut your head off", and claims to have "comrades" across Britain who have "had enough". …
In one video, a man with a London accent says: "I wish to know what we are going to do to fight the so-called religion of peace known as Islam." He lists incidents including the racially motivated murder of Ross Parker, a white teenager, on September 21, 2001. The alleged airline bomb plot is also mentioned, with the masked man claiming it has resulted in "no retaliation" against Muslims. He says: "It may be because you fear prison. Well, wake up. I am calling on England, Ulster, Scotland and Wales to stand and defend the island that we love."
Another video, dated August 19, shows a balaclava-clad man with a Welsh accent telling Muslims to "go home" or be burned. Brandishing a 30cm-long hunting knife with a serrated blade, he says: "We are going to rip the life out of you. I am going to tear your guts out. I'll cut your head off." In a reference that may indicate a military background, he says the slaughter would remind him of being "back in the Gulf".
Comment: It is nearly inevitable that Islamist barbarism provoke anti-Muslim barbarism. Recall the Nepalese example of 2004. One can only hope the Islamists will call off their hordes before things get out of hand. (September 4, 2006)
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Omran Salman v. CAIR and MPAC
Omran Salman, a Bahraini journalist and editor in chief of the liberal and pro-American website in Arabic, www.aafaq.org, has an important article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer, in which he points out the failings of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Titled, "Misguided Muslim groups: Focus should be on extremists' war against the West," it notes that CAIR, MPAC, and the Muslim American Society, rather than condemn the thwarted Aug. 10 plot to blow up U.S.-bound jetliners over the Atlantic "sought to both legitimize terror and portray Muslims as victims." He explains:
The basic narrative of these self-described civil-rights groups is twofold: The United States provokes terrorism because of its foreign policy, and Muslims in the West face a backlash in the wake of terror. On July 31, for example, Salam al-Marayati, executive director of MPAC, penned an op-ed piece in the Denver Post arguing that "we should not be surprised" when Islamist extremists "respond with belligerence to their continued humiliation and not-quite-human treatment by the international community." He made no mention of the Saudi religious schools that indoctrinate generations of children into a philosophy of hate and violence.
After law enforcement stopped the mid-Atlantic massacre, Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, warned, "We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslim." He called on Muslims to step up security at mosques and community centers to counter negative backlash to news of the plot.
He goes on the deride such talk of a backlash: "According to the 2004 FBI hate-crimes report, the latest published, there were 156 incidents of anti-Muslim hate crimes; in comparison, there were 95 anti-Christian, and 954 anti-Jewish attacks in the United States. Rather than fear American freedom, most Muslims embrace it. At more than $42,000, average income for Muslim families is higher than the American average."
Omran Salman.
The Washington-based Salman makes the rarely-heard argument that these organizations do not represent Muslims in the West. "Rather than help Muslims in America, most Muslim organizations hinder them. Self-appointed representatives downplay religious extremism and focus more on the image of Muslims rather than on the loss of innocent life. They remain silent on the assault waged on liberalism by Islamists." He even states that it is these groups' "apologia of Islamic extremism, rather than discrimination or religious hatred in Western society, which most victimizes American Muslims."
Truly representing American Muslims would mean adopting a quite different approach, being "at the forefront of defending both Muslims and non-Muslims against Islamic extremists who hate moderate Muslims almost as much if not more than Western governments." That's because the real threat consists of "Extremists who find motivation in religion to preach intolerance and wage war against Western values and peoples."
Comment: (1) It is encouraging to see a moderate Muslim come out against CAIR and MPAC, and doubly so to have the mainstream media publish him. (2) Moderate Muslims do exist and each one who speaks out makes it just a little easier for the next one to do so. (August 31, 2006)
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Lawful Islamism in Algeria
I argue that "terrorism does radical Islam more harm than good" in the West, and that working within the system will prove more useful to Islamists than illegal and violent means; "without education by murder, the lawful Islamist movement would make greater gains."
It bears noting that this same argument applies to Muslim-majority countries as well. Repeatedly, a pattern has emerged of a failed Islamist insurrection turning into a political movement, for example in Egypt and Syria. Algeria also provides a dramatic case of this, as explained by Reuters' William Maclean in "Algeria's Islamists make quiet comeback."
Algeria's Islamists are making a modest political comeback after failing to win with the bullet what they once sought with the ballot. With an armed insurrection long in decline, most Islamists these days want to work in the political mainstream, using peaceful means to build Islamic rule in the oil exporting nation. It is an approach that is winning them powerful friends.
"The Islamist movement tried to challenge the state head on and it failed miserably," said Azzedine Layachi, an Algerian political scientist at St. John's University in New York. "But Islamist sentiment has not been defeated. On the contrary, Islamists are now part and parcel of the political and cultural scene. This is the new reality of Algeria."
This topic is in the news because of the expiry of an amnesty for the remaining mujahidin still at war with the armed forces. Some 300 turned themselves in, leaving an estimated 400-500 still on the loose.
Back in the early 1990s, Islamists mounted a violent insurgency that killed an estimated 150,000 Algerians. The day of what Maclean calls "isolated groups of die-hards" has long passed. Rather, momentum belongs to
those who have explicitly given up confrontation with the government who are making inroads into the political and cultural mainstream of Africa's second largest country. One such is Madani Mezrag, who negotiated the surrender of his Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), the FIS armed wing, in the late 1990s. "We will do whatever possible through democratic means to set up an Islamic state here," Mezrag said. "The positive aspect of this war [of the 1990s] is that it allowed the Islamists to understand their limits ... and to talk to others even if they disagree with them." …
"We have observed a rallying of Islamists behind his [a reference to Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a nationalist politician who spearheaded efforts at national reconciliation] agenda," Layachi said, adding secular Algerians had in effect "been crushed" by perceived Islamist gains. So high has morale been in Islamist ranks that the more radical have drawn criticism for arrogance. Many former fighters have refused to apologise for the violence, and at least one has hinted that bloodshed will not end until there is Islamic rule.
Comment: Worldwide, Islamists eventually will realize that lawful Islamism provides a much better route to power than violence. However, the ideological infatuation with violence will take years and decades to shed. (August 28, 2006)
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Liberty, I am impressed with your new look.
I like it, all the fancy stuff on some sites kills me on dial up.
Does your link for Lemon for podcasts, mean that my computer can be used as a podcast or radio?
Looks as tho this computer has iTunes already, but I have not tried to use it.
Thanks for your links, an excellent job of collecting the news all in one spot for easy reading.
A security system valued at $1,100 was reported stolen from the Clifton Water District’s Water Intake Building at 34 Road and Grand Valley Canal Road.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/09/21/9_21_3A_Blotter.html
Appears to be Glenwood Springs, Co., this is all there is to the story, shows up on the police blotter.
An odd item to steal, unless, one wanted free access to the water intake building and if so, why?
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5020240,00.html
URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5020240,00.html
Hazmat hoaxes shut down two buildings
By Rosa Ramirez, Rocky Mountain News
September 25, 2006
Suspicious material found in letters sent to two separate government buildings earlier today were determined to be non-threatening, Phil Champagne, a spokesman with the Denver Fire Department, said.
One of the letters sent to government offices at 1313 Sherman St. contained sugar, Champagne said. The letter was found on the 7th floor of the building, and a hazardous material team was called to the scene. The entire building was evacuated, he said. Four people were exposed to the material in the letter.
The second letter, sent to the World Trade Center building at 1625 Broadway, contained sugar substitute, Champagne said. Hazardous material agents were also called to the building. The letter was found on the 27th floor. Three floors were evacuated.
He said he didn’t know if there is any link between the two incidents.
"The timing is surely suspect," he said, adding that further investigation will be left to other federal agencies. "It could be a disgruntled employee for all we know."
Copyright 2006, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
Note: Radio at 850koa.com said 4 letters, note the name of the 2nd building above.............
granny
[Post for study and research, I would say this is a well thought out threat, look at the words in the names of the dept and buildings........reads like the plan for 9-11.
Hit the money and cripple the country, this time Denver, that one to the food dept, gets my worry.
granny]
URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5021656,00.html
Hoaxes put state on alert
Government sites in metro area get threats, powders
By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News
September 26, 2006
State workers who handle incoming mail will be on the alert today after four state offices received threatening letters containing white powdery substances Monday.
The contents turned out to be benign, but the hoaxes resulted in evacuations of four buildings, disruptions of lunchtime traffic and a federal investigation into the source of the letters.
Officials, concerned there may be more letters still wending their way through the mail, alerted state workers to be watchful today.
The substances turned out to be sugar, sweetener and a still-unidentified non-hazardous household product.
Federal postal investigators took over the probe into the mailings, which disrupted three offices downtown and one in Lakewood.
It is a federal felony to send threats through the mail.
Dan Hopkins, spokesman for Gov. Bill Owens, wouldn't detail the instructions that will go out in the e-mail alert today.
The threats were sent to a seemingly random assortment of state agencies.
Those included the state geologist, the Economic Development and International Trade Division, the state Department of Agriculture and the office that handles professional registrations for occupations that range from engineers to hairdressers.
The letters contained life-threatening wording, said Lt. Phil Champagne, spokesman for the Denver Fire Department. The hazardous materials team from Denver responded to the three downtown calls, and West Metro Fire District's team worked the one in Lakewood.
The spate of letters came one day after a southeast Denver bank reported receiving a strange substance in the mail. Workers at UMB Financial Corp.'s Columbine Center called in Denver's hazardous materials team early Sunday after five capsules of powder were found in an envelope in the mail they were processing.
Champagne said that substance turned out to be a B3 vitamin complex, and was not dangerous. He said the UMB incident appears unrelated to Monday's events.
The substances sent to the three state offices downtown were sugar in one case and a sugar substitute in the other two, Champagne said.
The first call came in at 12:54 p.m. from the office of the Colorado Geological Survey. It is on the seventh floor of the state's Centennial office building, 1313 Sherman St., a block south of the Capitol.
Lunchtime crowds lined the sidewalk and about 300 workers were evacuated.
At 1:11 p.m., the second call came in from the 27th floor of the World Trade Center, 1625 Broadway.
That suite houses the Colorado Economic Development Commission, the Colorado International Trade Office and the Colorado Minority Business Office, among other agencies.
Firefighters evacuated that floor, plus the ones directly above and below it.
Shuttle buses on the 16th Street Mall had to skirt around some of the half-dozen emergency trucks on Cleveland Place outside the building.
Then at 2:50 p.m., the third letter was reported at the Colorado Department of Agriculture, 700 Kipling St., in Lakewood.
The entire four-story building that includes the Colorado Department of Public Safety was evacuated, affecting about 400 people.
Shortly before 5 p.m., the fourth call came in from the Department of Regulatory Agencies, 1560 Broadway.
The 13th floor, which houses the Division of Registrations, was affected. It is diagonally across Broadway from the site of the second scare.
flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247
Copyright 2006, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
[A post for study and research]
URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5018786,00.html
This hero needs a hand
Man stabbed while pursuing thieves loses home to bills
By Rosa Ramirez, Rocky Mountain News
September 25, 2006
A little more than two months ago, Jay Miller had his hands in Lance Price's gaping wound, trying to control the bleeding caused by a purse snatcher's knife.
Now, he and his fiancée hope to help Price reclaim his life.
Miller and Price had never met before July 1, but the strangers are now united by the painful memory of that day.
Price, 32, was stabbed in the chest as he came to the aid of a 65-year-old woman who was mugged and assaulted in the Safeway parking lot at 7150 Leetsdale Drive.
Miller, who saw the attack and helped the Good Samaritan until paramedics arrived, worries that Price's kindness may have come with too high of a cost.
Price did not have health insurance at the time and his family is now facing medical bills exceeding $50,000, according to Price's wife, Dionna.
"We think about it quite often - that could have been me," Miller said. On that day, however, his knee was hurting and he couldn't chase after the teens as Price did.
On Saturday, Miller and his fiancée, Jeanette Walker, hosted a garage sale at the Erin Learning Center in Aurora, hoping to raise money to help pay Price's medical bills.
Price's wife said that while the couple's financial problems started before the incident, the strain was exacerbated when the medical bills began to accumulate and their income stopped. The couple recently lost the two-bedroom condominium they purchased some 11 years ago.
They are now living in a hotel near the Denver Tech Center with their 13-year-old son, Keegan. On Aug. 31, when the family should have been celebrating their son's 13th birthday, they were moving their furniture out of their home to a storage facility in Denver, Dionna Price said.
"We're taking it day by day," she said of the family's current situation. "He (husband) has good days and he has bad days."
Miller and Walker are not alone in lending a helping hand to a couple they barely know. Dozens of individuals have made contributions to the Lance Price Good Samaritan Donation Fund established at the Wells Fargo bank in Denver. Others donated furniture, books and clothing for Price's benefit garage sale.
"The community has really gathered to help Lance," Walker said Saturday.
Dionna Price understands that her husband's actions touched a lot of people.
"People have responded very positively," she said, adding that she created the blog lanceprice.blogspot .com to inform others about her husband's progress.
Walker, who was with Miller during the stabbing, still remembers the 65-year-old woman hitting the asphalt.
"There was terror in her face. She was shaking," Walker said.
When Price got hold of one of the two youths involved, he thought he would be able to persuade him to return the handbag and apologize to the woman, Price later said.
But something went wrong. When the teen saw a police car, he got spooked and stabbed Price.
"I've been stabbed," Miller recalls Price telling him.
Miller said he quickly took off his shirt and put pressure on the wound.
Dionna Price said that her husband later said he thought the wound was fatal.
"He really thought he was going to die," she said. "His main concern was to see me and my son."
Neither of the juveniles involved has been apprehended.
Copyright 2006, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
Random shooter, that shot/killed Cop in Denver, for some reason his face is not allowed to be photographed.....
Long record, is he a prison jihadi?
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5012838,00.html
There is way too much ugly news here for me today, the trial of the man who drug the woman. He is an illegal.
Arson and murder. Identification theft ring..........
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/
[unknown url]
The Independent, Sep.24, 2006
Afghan warlords unite to fight Nato
IAN MATHER DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT (imather@scotlandonsunday.com)
AS Nato struggles to find more troops to send to Afghanistan, the
alliance appears to have achieved the impossible, but dangerous feat
of uniting previously disparate warlords, tribes and militia.
US and British troops have stopped identifying them by their
allegiance, and refer to them all as ACM - short for Anti-Coalition
Militias - a collective word for the mixture of Taliban supporters,
Pakistani jihadists, armed tribesmen, loyalists to various warlords
and a sprinkling of foreign fighters who represent al-Qaeda.
Click to learn more...
One American soldier told a reporter at a US base: "I'm just a
jarhead, sir, but if you ask me, sir, they're all bad guys. We find
'em, we kill 'em."
Most disturbing to the allied commanders is that at least two of the
enemy warlords, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, received
many millions of dollars in cash, plus sophisticated weapons from the
CIA and the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI), when they were
fighting against the Soviet occupation of their country in the 1980s.
Those weapons have now been turned against their former providers.
Lieutenant-General Karl Eikenberry, commander of Combined Forces
Command in Afghanistan, with 20,000 US soldiers under his control,
said western intelligence had identified a "Taliban triumvirate" that
has been operating since spring of this year.
The most colourful member is Hekmatyar - self-styled Lion of the
Mountains, who was considered to be so effective as an anti-Soviet
commander that the CIA and ISI allocated the highest percentage of all
covert aid to him.
At that time, the Americans did not care that Hizb-i Islami, the
militant group founded by Hekmatyar, espoused an extremist religious
and anti-Western ideology, and attracted thousands of religious
radicals to Afghanistan, among them Osama bin Laden himself.
Hekmatyar even became prime minister twice in the 1990s. After
September 11 2001, he sided with Osama bin Laden, and was named as a
global terrorist by an executive order of the US government. He has
issued a tape calling for a jihad against the US and offering rewards
for those who kill US troops.
Then there is Haqqani, who also fought against the Soviets with
American support before moving to the Taliban. According to Michael
Scheuer, author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on
Terror, who formerly ran the CIA's Bin Laden unit and met with Haqqani
in the early 1990s, he is a "border brigand out of Kipling". Haqqani
commands the eastern sector of the insurgency, along the border with
Pakistan.
But Haqqani, now an elderly Islamic scholar, has excellent high-level
contacts in the Arab world, especially among oil-rich fundamentalists
in the Gulf. One of his wives is a Kuwaiti aristocrat, and members of
the Saudi Arabian royal family are thought to have contributed to the
construction of several large religious schools under his control.
"Haqqani's organisation has remained intact from the Soviet era, and
is much more closely aligned with the Arabs than the Taliban are,"
according to a defence intelligence official. These Arab sponsors
provide fighters to lead operations by Haqqani's Pashtun fighters, he
says. The third member of the triumvirate, the lesser-known Mullah
Mohammed Dadullah, has recently become the Taliban's top military
commander.
Dadullah, who lost a leg fighting for the organisation during its rise
to power in the mid-1990s, recently claimed the Taliban had registered
500 Afghans ready to be used as suicide bombers against "the intruders
who have occupied our Islamic country".
Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University, said:
"As far as we can tell, it's elements of the old Taliban leadership
who are at the forefront of what is happening now. But they are
overseeing a very diffuse group. Many of them would describe
themselves as adherents to the Taliban outlook, but it includes people
who are essentially allied to local warlords.
"It certainly includes small landowners, who are concerned about
losing their capacity to grow opium poppies because of the eradication
campaigns. The Taliban's offers to protect farmers from eradication
campaigns will have boosted their popularity in major poppy-growing
provinces like Helmand."
The current Taliban coalition has its roots in a "council of war" held
earlier this year in a village on the Pakistani border. It was agreed
a closer alliance would be built to kill British and other troops due
to arrive in Helmand province.
Al-Qaeda was represented by Abu Khalid Al-Misir, on behalf of Musab
Al-Zarqawi, the now dead al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.
Misir told the gathering: "We have been washing the infidels with
their blood; you should do the same. If Afghans defeated the Russians
why not the Americans?"
Meanwhile, the Afghan president Hamid Karzai, holed up in Kabul, is
increasingly marginalised, as the insecurity has shaken faith in the
elected government.
Hekmatyar has even taken to taunting Karzai. Earlier this month he
called the president and told him he should be able to tell from the
telephone number where Hekmatyar was speaking from. He challenged
Karzai to arrest him.
However, Hekmatyar, Haqqani and Dadullah - "the bad, the ugly and the
uglier", as one US intelligence officer described them - are likely to
be at large for some time.
Google Alert - today's fatwa
Islam needs a central authority — such as a pontiff
USA Today - USA
... Today, Islam is chockablock with Muslim Luthers claiming to have a
monopoly on the Quran's true meaning. Murderers can shop around for a
fatwa endorsing the ...
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/09/islam_needs_a_c.html
Google Alert - hostages
YEMEN TRIBESMEN FREE FOUR FRENCH HOSTAGES - YEMENI GOVERNMENT OF
Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
Faisal bin Shamlan (L), a Yemeni opposition candidate for the September
elections, waves next to his bodyguard Hussein al-Jirdani during a
rally
in Sanaa in ...
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L25854593.htm
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L25854593.htm
French hostages 'freed in Yemen'
Aljazeera.net - Qatar
... a Yemeni legislator, told the AP news agency on Monday: "After hard
and tiring negotiations throughout the night, an agreement was reached
to free the hostages ...
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FAE338A2-043B-4E18-9C44-4850A760DDD0.htm
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FAE338A2-043B-4E18-9C44-4850A760DDD0.htm
https://www.cia.gov/csi/kent_csi/docs/v19i2a02p_0001.htm
CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM
2 JULY 96
CONFIDENTIAL
On bringing all of the analytical disciplines to bear
THE CASE FOR A HOLISTIC INTELLIGENCE
Lloyd F. Jordan
The central thesis of this paper is that the increasing complexity of national security problems requires that the Central Intelligence Agency adopt a new approach to intelligence analysis.
continued...........
Found here, an amazing collection of reports, covering 60 years or so.........
https://www.cia.gov/csi/kent_csi/Default.htm
Good Morning, you have Freeper mail.
Austin State House
Suspicious powder in letter
http://keyetv.com/topstories/local_story_268151220.html
That means Denver and Texas got powder yesterday, how many more?
Texas Senator on 9-11-2006
Montana State on 9-21-2006
2 letter bombs in India.
http://news.google.com/news?client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&tab=wn&q=suspicious+powder+state+office&btnG=Search+News
Sheriff's office in California and Canada
http://news.google.com/news?client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&tab=wn&q=suspicious+powder++office&btnG=Search+News
More powder:
http://news.google.com/news?client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&tab=wn&q=suspicious+powder+&btnG=Search+News
This is the report on the bullets that killed JFK, long and involved.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.conspiracy.jfk/msg/6631ea883a303313?&q=suspicious+powder
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