Posted on 09/30/2006 10:18:39 AM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
"Global Trends 2015" Terrorism-Related Excerpts
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The following items are terrorism-related items from the National Intelligence Council's "Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment Experts" report (December 2000).
Transnational Terrorism (page 50)
States with poor governance; ethnic, cultural, or religious tensions; weak economies; and porous borders will be prime breeding grounds for terrorism. In such states, domestic groups will challenge the entrenched government, and transnational networks seeking safehavens.
At the same time, the trend away from state-supported political terrorism and toward more diverse, free-wheeling, transnational networks—enabled by information technology—will continue. Some of the states that actively sponsor terrorism or terrorist groups today may decrease or even cease their support by 2015 as a result of regime changes, rapprochement with neighbors, or the conclusion that terrorism has become counterproductive. But weak states also could drift toward cooperation with terrorists, creating de facto new state supporters.
Between now and 2015 terrorist tactics will become increasingly sophisticated and designed to achieve mass casualties.
We expect the trend toward greater lethality in terrorist attacks to continue.
Reacting to US Military Superiority (page 56)
Experts agree that the United States, with its decisive edge in both information and weapons technology, will remain the dominant military power during the next 15 years. Further bolstering the strong position of the United States are its unparalleled economic power, its university system, and its investment in research and development—half of the total spent annually by the advanced industrial world. Many potential adversaries, as reflected in doctrinal writings and statements, see US military concepts, together with technology, as giving the United States the ability to expand its lead in conventional warfighting capabilities.
This perception among present and potential adversaries will continue to generate the pursuit of asymmetric capabilities against US forces and interests abroad as well as the territory of the United States. US opponents—state and such nonstate actors as drug lords, terrorists, and foreign insurgents—will not want to engage the US military on its terms. They will choose instead political and military strategies designed to dissuade the United States from using force, or, if the United States does use force, to exhaust American will, circumvent or minimize US strengths, and exploit perceived US weaknesses. Asymmetric challenges can arise across the spectrum of conflict that will confront US forces in a theater of operations or on US soil.
Threats to Critical Infrastructure.
Some potential adversaries will seek ways to threaten the US homeland. The US national infrastructure—communications, transportation, financial transactions, energy networks—is vulnerable to disruption by physical and electronic attack because of its interdependent nature and by cyber attacks because of their dependence on computer networks. Foreign governments and groups will seek to exploit such vulnerabilities using conventional munitions, information operations, and even WMD.
Terrorism.
Much of the terrorism noted earlier will be directed at the United States and its overseas interests. Most anti-US terrorism will be based on perceived ethnic, religious or cultural grievances. Terrorist groups will continue to find ways to attack US military and diplomatic facilities abroad. Such attacks are likely to expand increasingly to include US companies and American citizens. Middle East and Southwest Asian-based terrorists are the most likely to threaten the United States.
Analysis: The wages of spin
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE
UPI Editor at Large
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's much-ballyhooed book "In The Line Of Fire," published Monday, contains the standard "sensational disclosure," pre-pub publicity de rigueur in such tomes. He claims soon after the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and Manhattan's Twin Towers, then Deputy Secretary of State Rich Armitage threatened to "bomb Pakistan back to the stone age" unless Musharraf signed on immediately to president Bush's global war on terror. Only problem with Musharraf's narrative is that Armitage didn't resort to Strangelovian Cold War language to get his point across. But Musharraf's intelligence chief did, hoping his boss would reject such a crude ultimatum.
Armitage's interlocutor Sept. 13, 2001, was Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad, the pro-Taliban chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. At the time of 9/11, ISI had 1,500 agents distributed throughout Afghanistan. The Taliban regime was entirely dependent on the Pakistani lifeline.
At all times, Ahmad knew exactly where Osama bin Laden was located. His agents tracked his every move. ISI was also aware of the planning for 9/11. Gen. Ahmad was even accused of authorizing British-born Pakistani terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to make a $100,000 transfer to Mohammed Atta, the operational chief of the 9/11 conspiracy, a charge that met vehement denials.
"Sheikh Omar," as he became known, was tried and sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl in 2002. But his ISI links spared him the gallows. There was little doubt some elements of ISI knew the outlines of the aerial plot against the U.S. and the evidence was turned over to the 9/11 Commission three days after its report had gone to press. It was never made public.
Gen. Ahmad arranged to be in Washington the week of al-Qaida's big terrorist attack -- presumably to take the Bush administration's pulse and gauge probable reactions. After seeing Armitage, he called his boss Musharraf in Islamabad and translated the either-you're-with-us-against-the-terrorists-or-against-us-with-the-terrorists threat to mean Bush planned to "bomb Pakistan back to the stone age" unless Musharraf complied with Washington's wishes.
Afghanistan was in Bush's gun sights before day's end on 9/11 and the U.S. wanted immediate access to Pakistan's air space. Also permission to use air bases for fighter-bombers and transport aircraft, and to support Special Forces. By distorting Armitage's warning, Ahmad was clearly hoping his chief would refuse to buckle to U.S. demands, as he did not believe the U.S. would invade another nuclear power whose population was anti-American and pro-Taliban.
ISI's Ahmad clearly miscalculated. Not only did Musharraf acquiesce to U.S. demands, but also dispatched Gen. Ahmad to Kandahar with orders to get Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, to cough up bin Laden. Ahmad's delegation was made up of six religious leaders and six ISI officers. His gambling instincts failed him yet again. He ignored Musharraf's orders and advised Mullah Omar to hang tough and refuse to surrender bin Laden. Ahmad reported back to Musharraf Oct. 6, 2001 that his mission had failed to persuade the Taliban. The U.S. invasion began next day, Oct. 7.
Five years later, Taliban guerrillas are on the comeback trail, using the tribal areas that straddle the mountain range, which demarcates an imaginary line drawn on a map in 1893 between then British India and Afghanistan. Under U.S. pressure, Musharraf agreed to deploy over 80,000 troops in Federally Administered Tribal Areas where they had been banned since independence in 1947.
After losing some 700 Pakistani troops killed and some 3,000 wounded, Musharraf's generals hadn't made a dent in tribal support for the Taliban and al-Qaida. With some 12 million people from the same tribes on both sides of the non-existent border, Taliban and locals are indistinguishable.
Thoroughly frustrated by U.S. pressure and Afghan president Hamid Karzai's accusations that Pakistan was giving aid and comfort to the Taliban enemy, Musharraf decided to cut a deal -- with the tribal leaders that despise him and protect the Taliban. Musharraf agreed to stand down the army. In return, the turbaned tribal chiefs agreed to keep Taliban fighters from staging cross-border raids up and down an unmarked line of jagged mountains and deep ravines. Pakistan also agreed to release several hundred prisoners, many with known links to al-Qaida.
Heated denials notwithstanding, Taliban and al-Qaida now have privileged sanctuaries in North and South Waziristan where they no longer have to duck when they see a Pakistani soldier. Several thousand foreign guerrillas -- mostly Uzbeks, Tajiks and Arabs who made it out of the Tora Bora battle in Dec. 2001, or stayed on after the Soviets abandoned Afghanistan in 1989, and married local girls -- are also home free.
A year ago, when this reporter was in Waziristan, a score of trainers in suicide and roadside bombing techniques had arrived from Iraq. Today, suicide attacks in Afghanistan are almost as commonplace as in Iraq. Earlier this month, a suicide bomber killed Hakim Taniwal, the governor of Afghanistan's Paktia province. The very next day, at Taniwal's funeral, another suicide bomber killed five and wounded 30 mourners.
NATO commanders in Afghanistan say Musharraf's deal with Waziristan's tribal elders cannot possibly make a difference in Taliban infiltrations from Pakistan. NATO Supreme Commander James L. Jones says, "let's be patient and give it 30, 60 or 90 days to see if the border gets better, worse, the same, or whatever." Winter snow shuts down mountain passes, which is when Taliban prepares its spring offensive from its Pakistani sanctuaries.
Presidents Bush, Musharraf and Karzai will dine together Wednesday evening at the White House. The Pakistani will echo Gen. Jones. Be patient. Winter is coming. He'll also tell Bush if he orders U.S. troops into Pak tribal areas to hunt bin Laden, sans Pak hunting license, extremists will score big.
Gen. Jones appealed to NATO members for an additional 2,500 troops to reinforce the 20,000 NATO and 20,000 U.S. troops now on the ground in Afghanistan. The Poles volunteered 1,000, but not before next February, and then not for duty in the southern provinces where the heaviest fighting is taking place. Even Serbia, the country NATO fought over Kosovo in 1999, was solicited. Belgrade volunteered five airport security and logistics officers. Britain, Canada and Romania ponied up another 1,000. Allied armies are stretched thin with a wide variety of peacekeeping and peacemaking missions, most recently in Lebanon.
Friendly governments fear the new Afghan war is unwinnable short of a major 10-year commitment. But parliaments and national assemblies balk. Meanwhile, Afghans know from their centuries old experience sooner or later foreign conquerors leave -- and in this case the indigenous Taliban stays, lavishly funded by its cut of the opium poppy bonanza.
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060925-074525-1833r
Page last updated: 07/27/2006
Al-Qaeda in Iraq: Test nukes on US bases
Terror group leader al-Masri calls in audio message for explosives experts, nuclear scientists to ‘join holy war against West’; adds: Field of jihad can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and large American bases in Iraq are good places to test your unconventional weapons
"The blood has been spilled in Iraq of more than 4,000 foreigners who came to fight," said the man, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir — also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri — the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The voice could not be independently identified.
The Arabic word he used indicated he was speaking about foreigners who joined the insurgency in Iraq, not coalition troops.
The speaker said "the field of jihad" could provide scientists with an avenue for experimentation.
"The field of jihad (holy war) can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases (in Iraq) are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them," he said.
'Enable us to capture some Western dogs'
In the recording, al-Masri also urged Muslims to make Ramadan a "month of holy war" and called for insurgents in Iraq to kidnap Westerners. Sunni Arabs began observing Ramadan in Iraq on Saturday, while Shiites were to begin Monday.
Al-Masri called on insurgents in Iraq to capture Westerners so they could be traded for the imprisoned Egyptian sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted in 1995 of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.
"I appeal to every holy warrior in the land of Iraq to exert all efforts in this holy month so that God may enable us to capture some of the Western dogs to swap them with our sheik and get him out of his dark prison," the voice on the tape said.
Al-Masri, a Sunni Muslim, has been relatively silent since taking over control of al-Qaeda in Iraq earlier this year — a sharp contrast with al-Zarqawi, who frequently issued audiotapes and even a videotape that showed his face a few weeks before his death.
Al-Masri is believed to have succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who died in a US air strike north of Baghdad in June, as the head of al-Qaedain Iraq.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3309393,00.html
Iraq al-Qaeda: Pope, West are doomed
Extremist group vows to continue 'holy war' warns pontiff: 'We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax'
Associated Press Published: 09.18.06, 17:15
An al-Qaeda-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed," as protesters returned to the streets across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence.
The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified.
The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross" saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword."
Islam forbids drinking alcohol and requires non-Muslims to pay a head tax to safeguard their lives if conquered by Muslims. They are exempt if they convert to Islam.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, meanwhile, shops, businesses and schools shut down in response to a strike call by the head of a hard-line Muslim separatist leader to denounce Benedict. For the third day running, people burned tires and shouted "down with the pope."
Protests also raged in Iraq, where angry demonstrators burned an effigy of the pope in Basra, and in Indonesia, where more than 100 people rallied in front of the heavily guarded Vatican Embassy in Jakarta, waving banners that said the "Pope is building religion on hatred."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3305450,00.html
September 29, 2006
www.siteinstitute.org
Terrorism Headlines of the Week
Domestic
Investigation of Islamic charity complicates Ramadan giving
DETROIT Before last week, AbuSayed Mahfuz didn't hesitate to donate to Life for Relief and Development, an international Muslim humanitarian organization that is active in Iraq and Afghanistan and has partnered with the U.S. government.
But an FBI search of the organization's Southfield, Michigan headquarters is making Mahfuz think twice about future contributions.
Just as the holy month Ramadan, which began Saturday, has many Muslims thinking about their religious obligation to give alms, the investigation of the prominent Islamic aid group has prompted fears that giving to charity could bring scrutiny from the U.S. government.
FBI agents assigned to a terrorism task force last Monday searched Life's offices, taking computer servers, donor records and other financial documents. They have also searched the homes of the charity's chief executive, an ex-employee and two board members.
"After hearing this, I don't feel secure at all," said Mahfuz, a computer consultant and editor of a Bangladeshi community newspaper. He said he would still consider supporting the organization, but the investigation would force him to weigh that decision carefully.
No charges have been brought in the case, and Life has sought to reassure the community that it is perfectly legal to donate money to the organization, which was founded in 1992 by Iraqi immigrants.
Source: AP
Experts: U.S. Must Protect Food Supply
The United States needs to continue taking steps to protect its food supply from terrorism just as it would its buildings, airports and other infrastructure, FBI deputy director John S. Pistole said.
"The threat from agroterrorism may not be widely recognized, but the threat is real and the impact could be devastating," Pistole said Monday. "The recent E. coli outbreak in California spinach has captured the public attention even without a terror nexus."
Pistole, keynote speaker at the second International Symposium on Agroterrorism, pointed to a nonterrorism example - a single case of mad cow disease in the United States in 2003 - to illustrate the potential impact.
"Days after the discovery, 53 countries banned U.S. beef imports. The economic loss to the U.S. cattle industry from the loss of beef imports just to Japan was more than $2 billion a year," Pistole said. "Almost three years later, countries have reopened their borders to U.S. beef, but exports still have not reached 2003 levels."
Source: AP
U.S. prosecution of Padilla no slam dunk so far
MIAMI -- The Bush administration's decision to drop the "enemy combatant" label from alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla and prosecute him on civilian terror charges has not gone smoothly, with even the judge in the case raising questions about sketchy evidence and a vague indictment.
Trial for Padilla - an American once accused of planning to detonate a radioactive bomb - and two co-defendants was initially scheduled for early September. But it's now off until January and may be delayed further into 2007 if prosecutors file their expected appeal of U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke's dismissal of a crucial charge.
Cooke has also pronounced the U.S. case "weak on facts" and agreed with defense lawyers that prosecutors must provide more details about what crimes the trio may have actually committed instead of relying on sweeping allegations that they were involved in a violent Islamic jihad over a decade on several continents.
In response to one question about identities of any alleged victims, prosecutors listed armed confrontations against the Russian military in Chechnya and Tajikistan, opposing Muslim factions in Afghanistan and Serbian and Croat forces in Bosnia. They also cited violent acts against more moderate Muslim governments around the world.
Source: AP
International
Court delays verdict for 'Guantanamo six'
PARIS: A French court Wednesday postponed its verdict in the terrorism trial of six former Guantanamo inmates, scheduling more hearings for next May to consider new evidence from intelligence agents.
The court had been expected to hand down a verdict on the six defendants, who were held for up to three years at the US base in Cuba following their capture in Afghanistan in 2001.
"I am sorry," said Judge Jean-Claude Kross, addressing the lawyers. "We have to start again from scratch.
"We may have to consider obtaining access to classified intelligence material," he added.
The court notably wants to hear from French foreign intelligence agents who questioned the suspects in Guantanamo.
At the men's trial in July, defence lawyers accused France of colluding with the US authorities over the Guantanamo detentions by sending secret service agents to question them in Cuba, outside of any legal framework.
Source: Agence France Presse
Tape Tied to Al Qaeda Urges More Attacks in Iraq
An audiotape posted on a Web site today and attributed to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq called for an escalation of attacks and the kidnapping of foreigners to try to force the release of a high-profile Muslim cleric imprisoned in the United States.
A man’s voice, said to be that of the leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, called in the tape for fighters to come to Iraq and join a “jihad,” or holy war, during the current Muslim month of Ramadan. It was the second time this month that Mr. Muhajir has called in an audio message for attacks since he was named successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Qaeda leader who was killed by an American airstrike in June.
“It pleases me at the end of my speech to announce the beginning of a great militaristic campaign,” said an excerpt from the tape, as translated by the SITE Institute, which tracks jihadist messages. “By it, we will eradicate the limb of the infidel and the apostate.”
Source: New York Times
Iraq and jihad: A consensus surfaces
WASHINGTON – The bleak conclusions of a just-declassified intelligence assessment on terrorism are unlikely to push the Bush administration to change its policies in the fight against Al Qaeda. The report's finding - that Islamist terrorism continues to spread around the world - is far from new, say experts. The White House has known of its contents for months.
But the disclosure of the assessment's main points could put the White House on the political defensive at a crucial moment, with midterm elections only weeks away. It also reveals a depth of pessimism in the US government about near-term prospects for the fight against Al Qaeda that surprised some terrorism analysts.
National Intelligence Estimates, after all, represent the thinking of a wide range of US intelligence agencies. It is not as if the CIA alone has decided that the Iraq war is an underlying factor increasing Al Qaeda's appeal in the Arab world.
"It's not the assumptions that surprised me. It's the fact that this was a consensus document," says Jessica Stern, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a terrorism expert.
The existence of the terrorist NIE, along with some of its conclusions, were first revealed Sunday by the The New York Times. On Tuesday, President Bush ordered portions of the document declassified, saying that its contents were being distorted in the media. He said Wednesday he would not release the full report.
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Foreign jihadists seen as key to spike in Afghan attacks
Before the Taliban regime fell five years ago, al Qaeda trained its fighters in Afghanistan's cavernous mountains and dusty valleys, and then exported them to wage war in places like Chechnya and Kashmir.
Today, terrorism experts say, the direction of trade has reversed: Afghanistan now imports international jihadists who have honed their fighting skills in the vast deserts and shrapnel-scarred city streets of Iraq.
The growing involvement of veterans of the Iraq insurgency is a major factor behind the surge of attacks in Afghanistan -- the heaviest since the Taliban government fell in 2001, observers say.
Under their influence, a revived Taliban movement and newer groups are using suicide bombs and remote-controlled bombs to attack U.S. and coalition forces and Afghan civilians, instead of the Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and unsophisticated land mines that were once the hallmarks of the Afghan guerrilla movement.
"The increase in vehicle bombings in Kabul -- that's straight-out-of-Iraq stuff," said Brian Jenkins, an expert on terrorism at the Rand think tank. "Now Iraq is the source of the expertise, and Afghanistan is receiving."
Last Monday, three bombings in different parts of the country killed at least 19 people, including four Canadian soldiers. On Tuesday, Afghan police arrested four militants in Kabul who had been hiding more than 15 highly sophisticated explosives in a mosque. Senior police official Ali Shah Paktiawal told Reuters that the bombs must have come from outside the country.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Key 9/11 planner linked to London bombings: Musharraf
ISLAMABAD - The chief architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks was also linked to last year’s suicide blasts on the London transport network, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf says in his memoirs.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2003, confessed that Al Qaeda sized up London’s subway for an attack at the same time as it hatched a plan to crash jets into Heathrow, Musharraf says in ‘In the Line of Fire.’
Another Al Qaeda militant tasked by Mohammed to carry out the reconnaissance later revealed a connection to two of the bombers who struck in London on July 7, 2005, the controversial book published on Monday says.
‘We had learned from KSM (Mohammed) that Al Qaeda’s planners were thinking seriously about, and discussing, bombing Heathrow Airport in London ... as well as London’s subway system,’ Musharraf writes.
‘The suspect had been told by KSM to carry out reconnaissance of, and prepare a plan to attack, Heathrow Airport. After initial planning, he also suggested Canary Wharf and London’s subway system as additional possible targets.’
Mohammed, the self-proclaimed key conspirator behind the September 11 attacks on the United States, has previously been linked to the foiled Heathrow plot but not to the subway attacks.
Source: Agence France Presse
Bomber convicted for 1993 Mumbai bombings
Mumbai, Sept. 27(AP): An Indian court on Wednesday convicted a man for planting two bombs during the 1993 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 257 people.
Mushtaq Tarani was the 19th person found guilty by Judge Pramod Kode in the lengthiest trial in India's judicial history. More than 100 people have been charged and are awaiting the judge's verdict in the 11-year trial.
Tarani, 33, faces the death sentence for planting two bombs in Mumbai on March 12, 1993. Three people were injured when the suitcase bomb he placed in a hotel room exploded; another bomb he hid in a scooter parked on a crowded downtown street failed to explode.
Source: AP
Qaeda Operative Is Killed in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Sept. 25 — A senior operative of Al Qaeda who brazenly escaped from a high-security American prison in Afghanistan last year was killed Monday in a predawn raid by British soldiers in a quiet, wealthy neighborhood in southern Iraq, an American official and an official in Basra said.
About 250 soldiers wearing night-vision goggles and carrying specially equipped rifles stormed a house in the Junainah neighborhood of Basra, intending to capture the operative, whom the spokesman for the British military in Iraq identified as Omar al-Faruq, an Iraqi. They were fired upon as they entered, and shot back, killing Mr. Faruq.
The British military spokesman, Maj. Charles Burbridge, said Mr. Faruq was “a terrorist of considerable significance” who had been hiding in Basra, but declined to say whether he was the same man who had escaped from the American military detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan, in July 2005. An American official in Washington and an official in Basra, neither of whom was authorized to speak publicly on the subject, said Mr. Faruq was the same man.
At the time of his arrest, in Jakarta, Indonesia, in June 2002, Mr. Faruq was described as one of the most important Qaeda figures ever captured by the United States. He reportedly told C.I.A. interrogators at Bagram that he had been sent to the region to plan large-scale attacks against American embassies and other targets in Southeast Asia.
Source: New York Times
Scientists develop more powerful nuclear fuel
Fri Sep 29, 2006 1:59pm ET
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By Scott DiSavino
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have designed a reactor fuel that they believe can make nuclear power plants 50 percent more powerful and safer, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said.
Researchers say their new technology should be ready for commercial use in existing reactors in about 10 years.
In a nuclear reactor, the fission of uranium atoms provides heat used to produce steam for generating electricity.
Already, one pickup truck full of uranium fuel in a nuclear reactor can supply a city with enough electricity for a year. The MIT scientists believe they have found a way to make the fuel go even further, boosting output by about 50 percent.
Uranium fuel typically is formed into cylindrical ceramic pellets about half-inch in diameter. The pellets look like a smooth, black version of food pellets for small animals.
Pavel Hejzlar and Mujid Kazimi of MIT recently completed a three-year project for the U.S. Department of Energy, along with scientists from Westinghouse and other companies. The researchers looked at how to make fuel for pressurized water reactors more efficient while maintaining safety margins.
About two-thirds of the 103 reactors operating in the United States are pressurized, using high pressure to prevent the water from boiling.
The scientists changed the shape of the fuel from solid cylinders to hollow tubes, adding surface area that allowed water to flow inside and outside the pellets, increasing heat transfer.
The new fuel design also is much safer because it reaches an operating temperature of about 700 degrees Celsius, much lower than 1,800 degrees for conventional fuel and further from the 2,840 degrees melting point for uranium fuel.
Hejzlar, a principle research scientist in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, said it could take up to 10 years to commercialize the new fuel concept.
Hejzlar did not have time to patent the concept before accepting more than $2 million in federal research money and publishing the results. He said several reactor manufacturers and utilities have expressed interest in the new fuel.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-09-29T175909Z_01_N29401524_RTRUKOC_0_US-UTILITIES-NUCLEAR-FUEL.xml&WTmodLoc=USNewsHome_C2_domesticNews-3
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Good read...IMHO China is becoming just a big capitalist country, BUT Russia we gots problems....
Oil weapon: It's time for a long, hard look at Russia
Robert R. Amsterdam International Herald Tribune
Published: September 29, 2006
LONDON A global economic challenge has been presented by Russia, driven by energy markets and threatening to distort the foundations of international trade.
This challenge to the world follows grand-scale state theft and the subjugation of the rule of law in Russia. It is based on a flawed meta-narrative avowing that Russia is a victim: The West victimized Russia in the 1990s through shock therapy and Market Bolshevism, resulting in the domination of the country by oligarchs and its enfeeblement on the geopolitical stage.
Therefore whatever path Russia takes today is somehow deemed acceptable as an antidote or corrective to the penuries of the 1990s.
Beyond this ideological screen the Kremlin's offensive represents the most brazen attack on the free market in a generation. It includes the development of state enterprises in the energy sphere acting as Trojan horses to freeze out Western players in Russia while at the same time distorting foreign energy markets by demanding access on the basis of free market principles.
The Kremlin has stolen one of the world's key oil producers and then resold it to Western investors who have now bought the same assets twice, with the complicity of Western banks.
It has steered its foreign relations so as to divide the West. No sooner does the Kremlin have Romano Prodi accept market access for Gazprom than Gazprom seals a deal with Algeria to tie up over two thirds of Italy's energy supply.
In addition to disaggregation there is asymmetry.
The failure to soften the Gazprom monopoly, which violates fundamental norms of competition, is somehow deemed acceptable because Western financiers and investors can participate in the resulting windfalls.
The true brilliance of the Kremlin's strategy is the concept of cooptation. Whether turning Germany against Poland or political leaders against their own people or ABN AMRO against a proud Dutch history of sensitivity to human rights, not only does everyone have a price, but everyone avoids shame while loudly declaring the beauty of the emperor's clothes.
The consequences are worrisome when political considerations trump capital markets logic and respect for law. It now seems that the first dividend of the Rosneft flotation was Russia's revocation of Shell's license to complete its $20 billion development of the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project. Who is next?
Another feature of the Russian offensive is speed. From Algeria to Iran to Venezuela, a new gas cartel is being formed. From Norway to Canada to Brazil, new opportunistic energy market players are being co- opted. From Slovakia to Lithuania to Poland and Ukraine, old-style energy hardball is being played involving everything from phony pipeline repairs to outright blockade.
Indeed, political realists should applaud the Kremlin: Behind the smokescreen of relations with Brussels, the Russians are preparing to dominate the EU's energy markets and are already driving wedges into the European economic space.
Russia's fuel diplomacy, and the abuses of state authority that have engendered it, present a challenge of historic proportions for the West.
Western leaders must challenge their own assumptions about the real nature of the current Russian regime. A parallel may be drawn to 1946, when George Kennan dispatched his celebrated "long telegram" from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The 8,000-word dispatch provided an elaborate explanation of the undercurrents of the emerging post-war Soviet foreign policy.
For more than a generation, Washington's Cold War strategy of containment was grounded in the analysis and recommendations in the telegram.
Today the world stands at a similar geopolitical turning point. Russia is mutating rapidly, and the post-Cold War window of opportunity to engage Russia as an ally and partner is closing.
It is time for someone to write the "long telegram" of 2006 - not to reignite a Cold War, but to avert one by awakening to the realities and implications of a kleptocracy that poses real threats to global economic and political security.
Robert R. Amsterdam, partner in the Canadian law firm Amsterdam & Peroff, is international defense counsel for Mikhail Khodorkovsky. This article expresses the author's personal views.
LONDON A global economic challenge has been presented by Russia, driven by energy markets and threatening to distort the foundations of international trade.
This challenge to the world follows grand-scale state theft and the subjugation of the rule of law in Russia. It is based on a flawed meta-narrative avowing that Russia is a victim: The West victimized Russia in the 1990s through shock therapy and Market Bolshevism, resulting in the domination of the country by oligarchs and its enfeeblement on the geopolitical stage.
Therefore whatever path Russia takes today is somehow deemed acceptable as an antidote or corrective to the penuries of the 1990s.
Beyond this ideological screen the Kremlin's offensive represents the most brazen attack on the free market in a generation. It includes the development of state enterprises in the energy sphere acting as Trojan horses to freeze out Western players in Russia while at the same time distorting foreign energy markets by demanding access on the basis of free market principles.
The Kremlin has stolen one of the world's key oil producers and then resold it to Western investors who have now bought the same assets twice, with the complicity of Western banks.
It has steered its foreign relations so as to divide the West. No sooner does the Kremlin have Romano Prodi accept market access for Gazprom than Gazprom seals a deal with Algeria to tie up over two thirds of Italy's energy supply.
In addition to disaggregation there is asymmetry.
The failure to soften the Gazprom monopoly, which violates fundamental norms of competition, is somehow deemed acceptable because Western financiers and investors can participate in the resulting windfalls.
The true brilliance of the Kremlin's strategy is the concept of cooptation. Whether turning Germany against Poland or political leaders against their own people or ABN AMRO against a proud Dutch history of sensitivity to human rights, not only does everyone have a price, but everyone avoids shame while loudly declaring the beauty of the emperor's clothes.
The consequences are worrisome when political considerations trump capital markets logic and respect for law. It now seems that the first dividend of the Rosneft flotation was Russia's revocation of Shell's license to complete its $20 billion development of the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project. Who is next?
Another feature of the Russian offensive is speed. From Algeria to Iran to Venezuela, a new gas cartel is being formed. From Norway to Canada to Brazil, new opportunistic energy market players are being co- opted. From Slovakia to Lithuania to Poland and Ukraine, old-style energy hardball is being played involving everything from phony pipeline repairs to outright blockade.
Indeed, political realists should applaud the Kremlin: Behind the smokescreen of relations with Brussels, the Russians are preparing to dominate the EU's energy markets and are already driving wedges into the European economic space.
Russia's fuel diplomacy, and the abuses of state authority that have engendered it, present a challenge of historic proportions for the West.
Western leaders must challenge their own assumptions about the real nature of the current Russian regime. A parallel may be drawn to 1946, when George Kennan dispatched his celebrated "long telegram" from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The 8,000-word dispatch provided an elaborate explanation of the undercurrents of the emerging post-war Soviet foreign policy.
For more than a generation, Washington's Cold War strategy of containment was grounded in the analysis and recommendations in the telegram.
Today the world stands at a similar geopolitical turning point. Russia is mutating rapidly, and the post-Cold War window of opportunity to engage Russia as an ally and partner is closing.
It is time for someone to write the "long telegram" of 2006 - not to reignite a Cold War, but to avert one by awakening to the realities and implications of a kleptocracy that poses real threats to global economic and political security.
Robert R. Amsterdam, partner in the Canadian law firm Amsterdam & Peroff, is international defense counsel for Mikhail Khodorkovsky. This article expresses the author's personal views.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/29/opinion/edamster.php
Thank you for the new thread, it is perfect.
The prior threads in this series are:
World Terrorism prior threads:
WT Thread #1: [Started on January 1, 2006]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1550424/posts?page=4809
WT Thread #2: [The communist manifesto, muslim manifesto and list of elected in U.S. who belong to the Socialist party, on the first page of the thread]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1607641/posts?q=1&&page=4951
Thread #3:
Beginning of Israel/Lebanon War and so much more.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1650751/posts?q=1&&page=4601
Thread #4:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1679491/posts?q=1&&page=1
LOL, now to fill #5.
plane crashes
Two die as small plane crashes in eastern Pakistan
People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
A small plane crash in eastern Pakistani city of Lahore Friday killed two people on board, the NNI news agency quoting officials reported. ...
See all stories on this topic
Plane Crashes on I-75 Near Macon
WXIA-TV - NE Atlanta,GA,USA
Provided By: AP. MACON, Ga. (AP) -- Authorities are responding to a report of a plane down near Interstate 75 in Macon. Bibb County ...
Single-engine plane crashes at El Paso airport (8:21 pm)
El Paso Times - El Paso,TX,USA
... investigation. The small airplane was considered an experimental plane because it was privately-built, El Paso airport officials said. ...
See all stories on this topic
train derails
CPR coal train derails in BC Interior
CBC British Columbia - Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada
A Canadian Pacific Railways coal train derailed Friday morning in a remote area along the Kootenay River near Cranbrook. Sixteen ...
See all stories on this topic
Brief evac in western Hennepin after CP train derails
Pioneer Press - St. Paul,MN,USA
... Twenty people evacuated their homes briefly when seven cars of a Canadian Pacific Railway train derailed. ... The 122-car train was headed from St. ...
See all stories on this topic
http://www.globalcrisiswatch.com/060929.php
[There are several photos from video here and also listen to the radio program, it is the top of the home page..granny...]
As-Sahab Releases "Bush, the Catholic Pope, and Darfur: The Crusader's Wars"
By Nick Grace and Richard Lafayette
September 29, 2006
The thirteenth video of al Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri was released on the Internet today by as-Sahab, the terror network's media wing. The 18-minute production, titled "Bush, the Catholic Pope, and Darfur: The Crusader's Wars," is not as well produced as previous Zawahiri messaging products and appears to have been rushed by as-Sahab "onto the street" in order to respond quickly to current events.
The video features two separate videos of Zawahiri - one which is well-produced using computer-generated and bluescreening techniques, and a second one that appears to have been hastily taped in front of a tarp in an open air environment. The well-produced segment is an 8-minute response by aZawahiri to a speech that President Bush delivered on September 7, 2006, relating to the Global War on Terror and the intelligence gains the U.S. has achieved through detainee interrogations. The second and poorly produced video is a 10-minute speech about the situation in Darfur and the controversial September 12, 2006, lecture by Pope Benedict XVI. The transition between the two segments is a hard cut in the video.
Interestingly, a key theme that has been visible in recent as-Sahab products but which is conspicuously absent from this video is al Qaeda's effort to undermine secular and moderate Muslims.
The video
The contrast between the cameras, lighting and environment used in both segments is light and day, and it is clear that the second video was recorded somewhat in haste. What remains unclear is why as-Sahab chose to bundle the two speeches into a single messaging product.
http://www.globalcrisiswatch.com/aq/060929_zawahiri.rm [38.1 Megs]
In advance of the product release onto the Internet , an animated gif banner was posted in advance on the al-Bouraq and Ekhlaas Forum message boards late on Wednesday, September 27.
The video was released in three file formats (DixX, RealMedia and 3GP) and packaged in the RAR format, which is usually used to "zip" multiple files together. The RAR files are password-protected, presumably to block the video from being opened and viewed by Web surfers who discover the files through random searches, with the password, "AVdeoC2008."
A total of four different file sizes have been posted to exactly 328 links on free file transfer sites.
183 Megs (DivX): 56 links
28.2 Megs (RM): 84 links
18.9 Megs (RM): 111 links
5.52 Megs (3GP): 77 links
Interestingly, the name of the RAR file varies on some of the links.
183 Megs (DivX): nd2-k.rar, ikjiokkkkkkawaer.rar, uytp.rar, oipf.rar, sauder4555.rar, tttttyttttyuucd.rar, 8iuuyyyyuuuu7.rar
28.2 Megs (RM): pend2m.rar
18.9 Megs (RM): dr_paN.rar, p-G3nd.rar, dr-paN.rar, drpaN.rar, N_low.rar
5.52 Megs (3GP): pGGnd.rar
The reason for the use of multiple file names is probably for security and counterintelligence purposes. In the event of a leak or mole within as-Sahab's nebulous network of Internet seeders, al Qaeda could determine the source of the leak by identifying who had access to and responsibility for a compromised file.
Segment 1
The first segment features Zawahiri wearing a white tunic and black turban and sitting in an office environment and reading from cue cards held just to the left of the camera. Close examination of the video, however, reveals that the "office" is a well-produced 3D graphic. Behind him is a flag bearing "No God but Allah" written in Arabic, a smaller desk flag, which cannot be identified, to his left and to his right a miniature model of a cannon, which symbolizes the ceremonial cannon used in the Middle East that is fired daily at sunset during the month of Ramadan to announce the break of the fast.
Indeed this segment has clearly been bluescreened. Although As-Sahab's bluescreening capabilities are increasingly sophisticated with the release of each new messaging product, the lighting used in the raw video footage is too bright against the softer tones of the background collage. The hard edges of the bluescreen matte is visible in his finger when he points upwards and also on his left shoulder, directly under the model cannon. The sides of his beard also display a "halo effect," which is a common problem when bluescreening is attempted. The "halo effect" is also noticeable in the blur of his hand and finger when he moves quickly. See examples here and here. Furthermore, the light of the lamp to his right does not contain a "hot spot" where the bulb would be and also does not shine onto the flag that "hangs" on the wall.
This segment is subtitled in English and appears to have been translated by a native English speaker. Common grammatical mistakes - leaving commas outside of end quotes - are prominent and the acronym "KIA" (Killed in Action) is used.
Zawahiri addresses President Bush, "the lying failure" and "deceitful charlatan," and focuses heavily on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), whose interrogations Bush specifically cited in his September 7 speech on the Global War on Terror. While stating that the "liberation" of KSM and other al Qaeda assets in U.S. custody is "a debt on our shoulders which we must fulfill," Zawahiri takes pains to make the point that KSM "has hurt you thousands of times more than you have hurt him."
Zawahiri claims that the U.S. is retreating in the face of advances by the Mujahideen in Iraq and Afghanistan, and repeatedly calls Bush a "liar" whose bluff the speech is meant to counter. "Can't you be honest at least once in your life," he states, "and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq... And do you have the courage to stand in front of your people and tell your nation that you lied to them and drove them – and continue to drive them – to terrible things because of foolish fantasies?"
The video ends abruptly and hard cuts to the second segment.
Segment 2
The second segment features Zawahiri sitting in front of a brown tarp and appears to have been recorded in an open air environment with ambient lighting. The overall effect is odd, especially in comparision with the first segment, because the lighting is very poor and it appears that the source video was of very low quality. The sound of wind against the microphone clipped to his shirt is audible at times and the tarp ripples throughout the video. Nevertheless, Zawahiri is more relaxed in the segment as he reads cue cards to the side of the camera, gesticulates with both of his hands and even cracks a smile at one point.
This segment is not subtitled in English and its publication seems to have been rushed.
Zawahiri connects two subjects in the speech - the September 12 lecture by Pope Benedict XVI that led to outrage and riots across the world as well as the proposal over the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to war-torn Darfur.
Regarding the Pope, Zawahiri calls him a "charlatan" and states that the Pope "accused Islam of being incompatible with rationality while forgetting that his own Christianity is unacceptable to a sensible mind." According to the SITE Institute, he calls upon the Pope and Christians to convert to Islam. "We will call upon him," he says, "and all of the Christians to become Muslims who do not recognize the Trinity or the crucifixion, and say that Allah united with the human."
He then rallies his audience to converge onto Darfur, where a largely Christian black minority is under siege from Sudanese Muslim Arabs, and states "O Muslim nation, come to defend your lands from Crusaders masked as United Nations (forces). Nothing will protect you except popular jihad."
Transcript of Segment 1
In the name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and may peace and prayers be upon the Messenger of Allah, and his family, companions and allies. Muslim brothers everywhere: peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
The murderer and spiller of Muslim blood, Bush, has stated that he has secret prisons, in which he holds the dangerous leaders of the group Qaida al-Jihad, including the Mujahid brother Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him), and he has stated that during the three years after Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad’s arrest, the interrogators have been able to get from Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad valuable information which has helped the Crusaders to kill and arrest a number of leaders of al-Qaida.
But I ask this lying failure: who are these leaders of al-Qaida whose killing or capture was facilitated by the information extracted from Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad?! And I say to him: you lying failure!
What is the extent of your losses after the capture of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him)?
Bush – you deceitful charlatan – three and a half years have passed since your capture of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad, so how have you found us during this time?
Losing and surrendering? Or – by the grace of Allah – attacking, seeking martyrdom, advancing and injuring you on a daily basis, with Allah’s help?
The strikes of the Mujahideen have deprived you of the pleasure of quenching your thirst for revenge with the capture of our champions, those who repeat what Abu Firaas said:
I have been captured, although my friends are not defenseless in war
Nor is my horse a foal or its master unskilled
But if the elimination of a man is decreed
Then neither Earth nor sea can save him
And my friends said, “Either flight or death”
So I said: they are two things the sweetest of which is bitter
But I will go to that in which there is no shame
And enough for you are two things the best of which is captivity
They say to me, “You’ve sold safety for death”
So I said: by Allah, I have not suffered loss
And will death abandon me for an hour if captivity doesn’t abandon me?
Death is loss, so choose that which preserves your memory
For man has not died as long as his memory is preserved.
And I tell him: you lying failure, why can’t you be brave at least once in your life and inform your nation of the disasters being faced by your forces in Afghanistan and Iraq? Why don’t you tell them how many million citizens of America and its allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people’s sons in order to increase your profits?
Can’t you be honest at least once in your life, and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq under the pretext of the presence of nuclear weapons there and under the pretext of al-Qaida’s connections with Saddam Hussein, following which evidence proved that you intentionally lied and misled?
And do you have the courage to stand in front of your people and tell your nation that you lied to them and drove them – and continue to drive them – to terrible things because of foolish fantasies?
And I tell him: you foolhardy charlatan, if the arrest of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him) has helped you in the “war on terror,” why then are your forces retreating in secret from the south and east of Afghanistan and being replaced by the forces of NATO which are screaming for help due to the horribleness of what is happening to them at the hands of the Taliban and al-Qaida?
And I tell him: if the capture of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him) has enables you to inflict blows on al-Qaida, why then are your forces hastily arranging their pullout from Iraq?
And I tell him: Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him) has hurt you thousands of times more than you have hurt him.
Abu Firaas says,
They boast of removing my clothes, while
My clothes are red with their blood
And a sword’s hilt whose blade broke in them
And the butt of a spear whose head was destroyed in them
Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad is a soldier of Islam who has been fighting its enemies, the Russians and the Americans, for more than 20 years.
And I tell him: Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad is the leader of a march, pioneer of an awakening and vanguard of a nation, and he has left behind him thousands who have either learned from him or learned from those who learned from him and who take as their example his life story and his continuing sacrifices and giving of himself in Allah’s path for the word of Allah to be the highest and the word of the unbelievers the lowest.
And I say to him: what you have perpetrated against Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad and the other Muslim captives in your prisons and the prisons of your slaves in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and elsewhere, is not hidden from anyone, and we are a people who do not sleep under oppression and who do not abandon our revenge until our chests have been healed of those who have aggressed against us.
And we, by the grace of Allah, are seeking to exact revenge on behalf of Islam and Muslims from you and your soldiers and allies.
So persevere – if you can – through the horrors of war, because we – with Allah’s help – are persevering.
Al-Baroodi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
When the people call on each other and the spears cross
And the war turns on its axis
When the people want to flee from death
And the horses’ chests heave and the blows become severe
And when the empty earth turns with us as if we
Have drunk of a cup from which no one awakes
I persevere in it until its sky clears
And I persevere when misfortune strikes
Bush, you deceitful charlatan: you’ve captured Ramzi Yousef, Umar Abd al-Rahman, Wali Khan, Ibn al-Shaykh, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Khalid al-Shyakh, Abu al-Faraj al-Libi and hundreds of Mujahideen and champions of Islam in your war against Islam which you call the “war on terror.”
And you agents in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have captured thousands of the youth and soldiers of Islam whom you made to taste at your hands and the hands of your agents various types of punishment and torture.
But we, by Allah’s grace, are taking revenge on their behalf daily from your troops and the troops of your allies and agents in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula and all Muslims countries from Indonesia to Morocco, and moreover, on your own soil every day.
And the terribleness of the fighting only increases our determination to sacrifice and give of ourselves in the Path of Allah.
Abd al-Rahman, son of Hassan bin Thabit (Allah was pleased with them both) said,
I am from an honorable people who increase in
Hostility and courage with the severity of events
Bush, you deceitful charlatan: be aware that the liberation of our captives is a debt on our shoulders which we must fulfill, with Allah’s help and power.
And be aware, you deceitful charlatan, that you are not facing individuals or organizations, but rather are facing the Muslim nation in which the spirit of Jihad flows and which refuses humiliation under Zionist/Crusader arrogance.
So are you able to kill or capture the nation of Islam?
Therefore, stop the bluffing that you have captured so-and-so and killed so-and-so, because Iraq and Afghanistan are overflowing with the bodies of your KIAs, and their buddies are fleeing from death to death, suicidal and despondent.
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[I think the President spoke for your new thread subject, this morning..]
30 September 2006
Bush Says Iraq Action Has Not Worsened Terror Threat
Says United States will keep its commitments to Iraqis who desire liberty and peace
President Bush rejected the notion that the 2003 U.S. and coalition military action in Iraq has worsened the threat from terrorism. He also warned that a premature withdrawal from Iraq would embolden extremists.
Speaking September 30 in his weekly radio address to the American public, Bush made his comments in reference to portions of the classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that recently were leaked to the press and, in the president’s words, have “created a heated debate … and a lot of misimpressions about the document's conclusions.” (See related article.)
The president said the NIE concludes that extremists are exploiting four factors in an effort to attract supporters.
“[F]irst, long-standing grievances such as corruption, injustice, and a fear of Western domination; second, the jihad in Iraq; third, the slow pace of reform in Muslim nations; and fourth, pervasive anti-Americanism,” he said.
He warned against “buy[ing] into the enemy's propaganda that the terrorists attack us because we are provoking them,” and said the United States and Americans are targeted by terrorists because “they hate everything America stands for, and because they know we stand in the way of their ambitions to take over the Middle East.”
The president said the United States “keeps its commitments to those who long for liberty and want to live in peace,” and would not withdraw its forces from Iraq until their mission is accomplished.
“We will stand with the nearly 12 million Iraqis who voted for their freedom, and we will help them fight and defeat the terrorists there, so we do not have to face them here at home,” he said.
A withdrawal also would embolden extremists, he said. “It would help them find new recruits to carry out even more destructive attacks on our Nation, and it would give the terrorists a new sanctuary in the heart of the Middle East, with huge oil riches to fund their ambitions.”
The president also said that the only way for the United States to protect its citizens is to go on the offensive against terrorists around the world.
“When terrorists spend their days working to avoid capture, they are less able to plot, plan, and execute new attacks on our people,” he said.
An audio link to the president’s remarks is available on the White House Web site.
Following is the transcript:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
Saturday, September 30, 2006
RADIO ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NATION
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today I want to talk to you about a matter of national security that has been in the news -- the National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism. The NIE is a classified document that analyzes the threat we face from terrorists and extremists. Parts of this classified document were recently leaked to the press. That has created a heated debate in our Nation's capital, and a lot of misimpressions about the document's conclusions. I believe the American people should read the document themselves and come to their own conclusions, so I declassified its key judgments.
The National Intelligence Estimate confirms that we are up against a determined and capable enemy. The NIE lists four underlying factors that are fueling the extremist movement: first, long-standing grievances such as corruption, injustice, and a fear of Western domination; second, the jihad in Iraq; third, the slow pace of reform in Muslim nations; and fourth, pervasive anti-Americanism. It concludes that terrorists are exploiting all these factors to further their movement.
Some in Washington have selectively quoted from this document to make the case that by fighting the terrorists in Iraq, we are making our people less secure here at home. This argument buys into the enemy's propaganda that the terrorists attack us because we are provoking them. Here is what Prime Minister Tony Blair said this week about that argument: "This terrorism isn't our fault. We didn't cause it. It's not the consequence of foreign policy." Prime Minister Blair is right. We do not create terrorism by fighting terrorism. The terrorists are at war against us because they hate everything America stands for, and because they know we stand in the way of their ambitions to take over the Middle East. We are fighting to stop them from taking over Iraq and turning that country into a safe haven that would be even more valuable than the one they lost in Afghanistan.
Iraq is not the reason the terrorists are at war against us. Our troops were not in Iraq when terrorists first attacked the World Trade Center in 1993, or when terrorists blew up our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, or when they bombed the USS Cole, or when they killed nearly 3,000 people on September the 11th, 2001. Five years after the 9/11 attacks, some people in Washington still do not understand the nature of the enemy. The only way to protect our citizens at home is to go on the offense against the enemy across the world. When terrorists spend their days working to avoid capture, they are less able to plot, plan, and execute new attacks on our people. So we will remain on the offense until the terrorists are defeated and this fight is won.
In my recent speeches, I've said we are in the early hours of a long struggle for civilization, and that our safety depends on the outcome of the battle in Iraq. The National Intelligence Estimate declares "perceived jihadist success there would inspire more fighters to continue the struggle elsewhere." It also says that "Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight."
Withdrawing from Iraq before the enemy is defeated would embolden the terrorists. It would help them find new recruits to carry out even more destructive attacks on our Nation, and it would give the terrorists a new sanctuary in the heart of the Middle East, with huge oil riches to fund their ambitions. America must not allow this to happen. We are a Nation that keeps its commitments to those who long for liberty and want to live in peace. We will stand with the nearly 12 million Iraqis who voted for their freedom, and we will help them fight and defeat the terrorists there, so we do not have to face them here at home.
Thank you for listening.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
http://usinfo.state.gov/utils/printpage.html
URGENT OPEC: Nigeria, Venezuela to slash oil production from Sunday
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2006/09/29/afx3055391.html
UPDATE 2-Strong quake jolts Venezuela, Trinidad
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-09-29T221045Z_01_N29402073_RTRIDST_0_QUAKE-VENEZUELA-UPDATE-2.XML
****** long but good read...
SAVING AFGHANISTAN
The Wild East
By Susanne Koelbl
Sheer desperation is driving many Afghans back into the arms of the fanatical Taliban movement. Once again, the holy warriors have taken control of entire regions and are seeking to ensnare the Western allies in a bloody guerilla war.
The two Western intelligence agents in Kabul can finally breathe a sigh of relief. This day, this bloody, violent day, is finally drawing to a close. It seems like the beginning of the end.
Bombs went off at hourly intervals in the Afghan capital. The first struck a military bus ferrying young Afghan soldiers downtown. Screaming, the blood-soaked officers scrambled through the shattered windows, flames licking at their uniforms. In all, 39 people were hurt. The next exploded beside a bus filled with employees from the Trade Ministry. Six civilians were seriously injured; one didn't make it to the hospital. A third blast in the eastern part of the city ripped apart another army transporter.
snip
The militias still receive infusions of cash from sponsors in Saudi Arabia and Egypt; both rich private donors and religious foundations generously fund their cause. But the poppy fields remain the Taliban's biggest money spinners. The spokesman for the one-eyed Mullah Omar announced the summer offensive to a British reporter via satellite telephone: "When the foreigners arrive, we will turn the country into a river of blood."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,440017,00.html
6 wounded in grenade blast in southern Philippine university, police rule out terrorism
The Associated Press
Published: September 28, 2006
MANILA, Philippines An unidentified man tossed a grenade during a concert at a university in the southern Philippines, wounding six people, police said Friday.
The grenade went off late Thursday, about 200 meters (yards) from an area where more than 5,000 students at the state-run university in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province, about 900 kilometers (560 miles) southeast of Manila, where watching a band play, police said.
The town's police chief, Senior Superintendent Abello Junggaya, ruled out terrorism, but didn't elaborate.
Muslim and communist rebels are active in the area.
MANILA, Philippines An unidentified man tossed a grenade during a concert at a university in the southern Philippines, wounding six people, police said Friday.
The grenade went off late Thursday, about 200 meters (yards) from an area where more than 5,000 students at the state-run university in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province, about 900 kilometers (560 miles) southeast of Manila, where watching a band play, police said.
The town's police chief, Senior Superintendent Abello Junggaya, ruled out terrorism, but didn't elaborate.
Muslim and communist rebels are active in the area.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/29/asia/AS_GEN_Philippines_Grenade_Blast.php
The "World of Terrorism #5" is open and ready for posting.
Please join us in the learning and keep up to date, on the world of terrorism.
My thanks to Davey Crockett for keeping us supplied with blank threads to fill with the world's reports.
Zawahiri Attacks Bush in New Video Posted on Web
Friday, September 29, 2006
E-MAIL STORY PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
SITE
CAIRO, Egypt — The deputy leader of Al Qaeda called President Bush a failure and a liar in the war on terror in a video statement released Friday, and he compared Pope Benedict XVI to the 11th century pontiff who launched the First Crusade.
"Can't you be honest at least once in your life, and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq," Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a portion of the video released by the Washington-based SITE Institute.
Al-Zawahiri also criticized Bush for continuing to imprison Al Qaeda leaders in prisons, including Al Qaeda No. 3 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind who was captured in Pakistan in March 2003.
"Bush, you deceitful charlatan, 3 1/2 years have passed since your capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, so how have you found us during this time? Losing and surrendering?" he said, according to the SITE Institute.
"What you have perpetrated against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other Muslim captives in your prisons and the prisons of your slaves in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and elsewhere is not hidden from anyone, and we are a people who do not sleep under oppression and who do not abandon our revenge until our chests have been healed of those who have aggressed against us," the Virginia-based IntelCenter quoted the message as saying. "And we, by the grace of Allah, are seeking to exact revenge on behalf of Islam and Muslims from you and your soldiers and allies."
Al-Zawahiri, the deputy to Usama bin Laden, accused the United States and its agents of torturing Muslim prisoners seized across the Middle East.
"Your agents in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have captured thousands of the youth and soldiers of Islam whom you made to taste at your hands and the hands of your agents various types of punishment and torture," al-Zawahiri said, according to the IntelCenter. "But we, by Allah's grace, are taking revenge on their behalf daily from your troops and the troops of your allies and agents in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula and all Muslim countries from Indonesia to Morocco, and moreover, on your own soil every day."
According to the IntelCenter, al-Zawahiri said Benedict is reminiscent of Pope Urban II, who in 1095 ordered the First Crusade to establish Christian control in the Holy Land.
Al-Zawahiri's remarks about Benedict were a clear response to the pontiff's comments earlier this month that sparked outrage across the Muslim world. In that speech, Benedict cited a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."
"If Benedict attacked us, we will respond to his insults with good things. We will call upon him, and all of the Christians to become Muslims who do not recognize the Trinity or the crucifixion," al-Zawahiri said, according to the SITE Institute.
Al-Zawahiri also called a U.N. resolution to send peacekeepers into Sudan's war-torn Darfur region a "Crusader plan" and implored the Muslims of Darfur to defend themselves.
"Do not allow the government of Khartoum to interfere, nor the governments of the Western Crusaders to interfere in your business. Be ready to stop the Crusaders campaign against you," he said, according to the SITE Institute.
The nearly 18-minute statement, titled "Bush, the Pope, Darfur and the Crusades," was produced by Al Qaeda's media arm, as-Sahab. An initial segment shows al-Zawahiri in an office-type setting, while in the second part, he is in front of a brown backdrop, according to the IntelCenter. The first segment also has English subtitles.
After conducting a technical analysis of the videotape, the CIA concluded "with confidence" that the speaker is in fact Ayman al-Zawahiri, said a CIA spokesperson who spoke on condition of anonymity.
An intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. experts view the latest video as a typical propaganda message, whose main thrust is a call for more people to join the jihad, or holy war.
It wasn't immediately clear when the message was recorded, but al-Zawahiri's reference to the pope indicated the message was produced sometime after Benedict's comments about Islam, which were made on Sept. 12, the official said.
Al Qaeda has released a string of videos earlier this month timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, showing increasingly sophisticated production techniques in a likely effort to demonstrate that it remains a powerful, confident force despite the U.S.-led war on terror.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,216697,00.html
just the highlights too many links to open...
Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda's No. 2 Zawahiri Blasts Bush, Pope in New Video
FOX News - USA
Al Qaeda's no. 2 Aymen al-Zawahiri attacks President Bush and the pope in a new videotape that surfaced on the internet Thursday. ...
Latest al-Qaeda video lambastes Bush
USA Today - USA
CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri ... this month. al-Qaeda released a string of videos for the anniversary of Sept. 11, showing ...
See all stories on this topic
Zawahiri: Bush failed in war on al-Qaeda
Aljazeera.net - Qatar
Aljazeera reports that Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two, in a new video message has called US President George Bush a liar who had failed in his war ...
See all stories on this topic
Al-Qaeda and Iraq prompted Madrid bombings
Daily Telegraph - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
THE war in Iraq and al-Qaeda provided the stimulus for the March 11, 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid which left 191 dead and 1900 injured, according to a ...
See all stories on this topic
CHRONOLOGY-Messages attributed to al Qaeda
Reuters.uk - UK
Sept 29 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al Zawahri called US President George W. Bush a "lying failure" for saying progress had been made in the war ...
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Taliban-al-Qaeda Alliance Defies Truce
ThreatsWatch.Org - USA
In another open defiance of the truce deal signed between the Pakistani government and the Taliban-al-Qaeda alliance in North Waziristan, the Taliban have ...
See all stories on this topic
Al Qaeda in Iraq beckons nuclear scientists
Boston Globe - United States
BAGHDAD -- Al Qaeda in Iraq's leader, in an audiotape released yesterday, called for nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war and urged insurgents to ...
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US confirms voice on audiotape is that of al-Qaeda leader in Iraq
Kuwait News Agency - Kuwait
... Abu Hamza assumed the leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq last June after US bombers in Iraq killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former head of al Qaeda in Iraq. ...
Tribes fight Al Qaeda; capture five
Peninsula On-line - Qatar
ramadi • Iraqi tribes who have vowed to take on Al Qaeda captured five militants yesterday, including three foreign fighters from Yemen, police and tribal ...
See all stories on this topic
Bush called out by Al-Qaeda!
Blogger News Network - USA
... Quit.....bring home the troops....impeach Bush...dismantle the military...and pretend that Al-Qaeda wont ever bother us any more. ...
See all stories on this topic
your new thread subject
WAY off topic even for granny and I. This is just a trashy story you have to read to believe, thanks to granny RITFLOL>>>>>
Daddy's Girl
A local millionaire learns a valuable lesson: Don't sleep with your daughter and then sue her
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2006-09-28/news/feature.html?src=news_rss
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