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Locked on 12/01/2006 8:45:06 PM PST by Admin Moderator, reason:
New thread here. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1747324/posts |
Posted on 11/01/2006 8:20:24 PM PST by nwctwx
the new TM will be up in the next few hours.
Pope Benedict XVI entered a mosque yesterday in an attempt to build bridges with Muslims just hours after a police operation netted 18 al-Qaeda suspects.
Pope Benedict followed custom as he took off his shoes to enter the famous Blue Mosque in the heart of Istanbul on the third day of his visit to Turkey. Two months ago the German-born pontiff had angered Muslims by giving a speech in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who said that everything Islam had brought to the world was "inhuman and evil".
Security for his visit was tight and a ring of steel was thrown around the six-towered Blue Mosque and nearby Santa Sophia Museum.
As part of the clampdown and following a threat posted on the internet by an Iraq-based terror group, police carried out a number of arrests ahead of yesterday's visit and held 18 people they said were associated with Osama bin Laden's terror organisation.
Thank you Oorang
KARACHI: An eyewitness in the trial for the killing of US diplomat David Foy identified on Thursday an al Qaeda suspect before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) as the man who came with the alleged suicide bomber in a car right before the bomb blast.
Osman Ghani and Anwarul Haq are charged with preparing a plot for a car bombing near the US consulate in Karachi on March 2, 2006 in which four persons, including US diplomat David Foy and three Pakistanis, were killed and 48 others were injured.
According to the prosecution, the alleged suicide attacker, who was later identified as Mohammad Tahir, rammed a car packed with explosives into a vehicle carrying the US diplomat as soon as it left the consulate’s gate. Prosecution witness Ali Zaman, who identified Anwarul Haq as the man who came with the alleged suicide bomber, was examined before the court. The witness said he was standing outside the canteen on the morning of March 2 when two persons came in a white Toyota car and stopped near the Naval surgical hospital.
Excerpted
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006/12/01/story_1-12-2006_pg7_16
Syria sent 200 terrorists to assassinate 36 Lebanese leaders
Wednesday, 29 November, 2006
Beirut- Syrian President Bashar Assad was reported on Wednesday to have sent about 200 terrorists to Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon to assassinate 36 Lebanese figures.
Excerpted
http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/11/syria_sent_200.php
Related to the above article/link:
Lebanon: Two Syrian-Sent Would Be Assassins Seized
Beirut, 29 Nov. (AKI) - Lebanese authorities have arrested two Syrian agents who were planning to murder 36 senior Lebanese officials, a Beirut-based daily reported on Wednesday. Al-Mustaqbal, a newspaper owned by the family of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, also said Syria has sent some 200 pro-Damascus militants to the Palestinian refugee camps Al-Badwaii and Borge Al-Baragna in Lebanon. The militants were prepared to carry out instructions sent them from Syria, the report continued.
Two of the "terrorists", carrying Syrian passports, were arrested recently and admitted working under orders of Syrian intelligence, al-Mustaqbal said.
Excerpted
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.364386710&par=0
Saudi-based Islamic organization with chapters in 55 countries
-Founded by Osama bin Laden’s nephew
-Holds conferences and distributes literature promoting jihad and anti-Semitism
-Raises funds for Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas
-Has been linked to both the 9/11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
A non-governmental youth and student group affiliated with the United Nations, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) defines itself as "an independent organization and Islamic forum that supports the work of Muslim organizations and needy communities the world over." While WAMY's international headquarters are located in Saudi Arabia, the organization also maintains satellite chapters in 55 additional countries and is affiliated with some 500 other Muslim youth groups on five continents.
SNIP:
The World Assembly of Muslim Youth is also one of the vehicles through which the Saudi Wahhabi government funds Islamic extremism and international terrorism. WAMY was co-founded by Kamal Helwabi, a former senior member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and by Osama bin Laden's nephew, Abdullah bin Laden (who served as WAMY's President through 2002 and is now its Treasurer). WAMY raises funds for the terrorist group Hamas, and in October 2002 made Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al an “honored guest” at a Muslim youth and globalization conference held in Riyadh. WAMY also helps finance the Kashmir insurgency against India, characterizing it as a "liberation" movement.
Excerpted
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6425
We actually ended up with nothing more than a record high of 75 here in DC... the front came through without much more than a few clouds. It's cooling off quick now though. ;)
The German parliament has agreed on the creation of a much-debated anti-terror database and the expansion of laws brought into effect after Sept. 11. Critics continue to voice concerns about threats to civil liberties.
After years of heated debate, the German Bundestag agreed Friday on the creation of a new anti-terror bill that is designed to promote communication and sharing of information between federal and state security services. It will also include the creation of a controversial national security database and increased surveillance powers for the police and intelligence agencies.
Excerpted
RED HOUSE -- If you want to know the history of the Muslims of America community in Charlotte County, just flip through the 2-inch-thick file at the county administrator's office.
A county employee started collecting various articles and filings years ago in response to the many inquiries about the Muslim enclave in western Charlotte County. It is a compilation of a relationship that one professor noted shortly after the community's establishment was bound to have conflict because of the "culture shock" on the part of the local residents and the Muslims.
The community -- or compound, as a federal prosecutor called it -- was established in the mid-1990s on 44 acres in this rural county of about 12,400 people. Most of the homes there are trailers, and about 20 families were estimated to live there several years ago.
Excerpted
Good for Germany -- this should have been done a lot time ago.
I agree. Better late than never I suppose.
WASHINGTON: The October 31 Bajaur airstrike either killed Al Qaeda’s deputy chief Ayman al-Zawahri or hit so close to home that it has forced him to go deeper underground, according to a commentary issued by Stratfor, the Texas-based news intelligence service.
The commentary by Stratfor’s South Asia expert Kamran Asghar Bokhari points out that Al Qaeda’s top leaders have traditionally been very keen on keeping the world abreast of their status. It is, therefore, strange that nearly a month since the airstrike, there has been no word from al-Zawahri. There has been no word from Osama Bin Laden either.
Stratfor argues that the first possibility seems unlikely for a number of reasons. First of all, had al-Zawahri been killed, the jihadist communication network by now would have leaked the news of his death. It would be very hard to hide the death of either al-Zawahri or Bin Laden, even if US intelligence could not confirm the killing.
“It could be that the Oct 31 missile strike has created technical obstacles to issuing videotapes, which would explain why there has not been much output from As-Sahab, Al Qaeda’s , since the madrassa was hit. But given that As-Sahab’s production facilities are unlikely to be located in the remote tribal badlands straddling the Afghan-Pakistani border, technical difficulties are not likely the case. The lack of a communiqué from al-Zawahri is much more likely the result of a conscious decision to maintain radio silence because of a breach in Al Qaeda’s operational security net,” according to Stratfor.
In other words, argues the commentary, al-Zawahri has likely survived, and is trying to stay beneath the radar. The strike, while it did not eliminate al-Zawahri, must have come very close to doing so.
Al Qaeda views the location and timing of the madrassa strike as a penetration of the movements and schedules of Al Qaeda. From Al Qaeda’s point of view, US and/or Pakistani intelligence has come very close to one of its inner concentric security perimeters. More significantly, Al Qaeda at the time of the strike - and this may still be the case - did not know where this penetration had taken place. Therefore, it has brought its communications, especially its communication to the outside world, to a grinding halt.
And it is going to maintain this posture until it identifies the security breach and seals it. This could be matter of weeks or of months. Once it is confident that it has re-established operational security, Al Qaeda will resume releasing video communiqués.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006/12/01/story_1-12-2006_pg7_2
OPINION (from looking at the 'net): Zawahiri is still alive.
Trieste, 1 Dec. (AKI) - In an international anti-terrorism operation, Italian police were searching on Friday the homes of dozens of suspects across Italy whom they believe are members of an Islamic terror cell operating in the country and the Balkans. Searches took place in the north-eastern Italian cities of Trieste, Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, Treviso, Bergamo and Siena, in the centre. Anti-Mafia and anti-terror investigators in Trieste believe Bosnian and Macedonian citizens living in Italy were in close contact with alleged terrorists in the Balkans and other European countries, notably Austria.
The suspects are charged with international terrorism and the smuggling of illegal immigrants.
After the one and a half-year-long investigation, officials believe the suspects were part of an international network recruiting militants and publicising jihad through CDs, DVDs, internet chat rooms, radio programmes and magazines.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.365136111&par=0
Four Islamists Convicted Of Planning Attacks
Amsterdam, 1 Dec. (AKI) - Four Islamists have been convicted by a Dutch court in the so-called "Piranha Trial" but the prosecution is appealing against the sentences, saying the jail terms are not tough enough. The public prosecution had accused the suspects of forming a terrorist organisation, possessing illegal weapons and plotting to kill politicians and attack the building of the security service and requested up to 20 years. But the court handed down sentences of between three and eight years.
According to the magistrates the brains of the group was Samir Azzouz, 20, who had prepared a video which announced a suicide bomb attack intended to cause many deaths and sufficient to "create terrible fear among the Dutch people."
Excerpted
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=
Thanks for the heads up, Oorang. I didn't know about this.
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