Posted on 02/26/2007 4:18:14 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
Thanks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/default.stm
English news and the hostage news, too many for me to handle right now.
Mosque imam fears fire was arson
A Nottingham mosque has been severely damaged in a fire described by a leading imam as “an act of terrorism against Muslims”.
Police and fire investigators are trying to determine the exact cause of the blaze at the Madni Masjid Mosque on Alberta Terrace in Forest Fields.
Imam Raza ul Haq said he believed paint was thrown around the inside of the mosque and then set alight.
The fire, which started on Thursday night, is being treated as suspicious.
“It’s not fair. It’s our understanding and belief that this is an act of terrorism against the Muslims,” Imam Haq said.
“It’s completely something which people have done deliberately. Someone has entered the building - he has thrown the paint all over the place.”
More than 900 people worship at the converted church which has been used as a mosque for at least 20 years.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/6532317.stm
Published: 2007/04/06 11:41:12 GMT
© BBC MMVII
[Why did the Pentagon, say there was no prior connection? we know there was, from research]
Cheney asserts Iraq-al Qaeda link
US Vice-President Dick Cheney has repeated his assertion that the al-Qaeda network had links with Iraq before the US-led invasion of 2003.
Mr Cheney told a US radio show: “They were present before we invaded Iraq.”
Hours earlier, a declassified Pentagon report said information obtained from Iraq’s former leader Saddam Hussein had confirmed they had no strong ties.
Its publication followed pressure from Democrats who suggest intelligence was twisted in the run-up to the war.
The belief that Saddam Hussein’s regime and al-Qaeda were working together was an important element in the Bush administration’s case for invading Iraq.
Critics have since suggested the administration “cherry-picked” from available intelligence to bolster that case.
‘Inappropriate’ intelligence
Mr Cheney, in an interview with conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, insisted there had been a link between Saddam Hussein’s regime and the al-Qaeda terror group.
He said former al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been leading the network’s operations in the country before the 2003 US-led invasion.
“He took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq, organised the al-Qaeda operations inside Iraq before we even arrived on the scene and then, of course, led the charge for Iraq until we killed him last June,” he told the show.
The newly declassified Pentagon report was based on interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two of his aides, as well as documents seized in Iraq.
The Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, had pushed for its full release after it was released in summary form in February.
In a statement on Thursday, he said the document showed why a defence department investigation had concluded that some Pentagon pre-war intelligence work had been “inappropriate”.
The report into former Pentagon policy chief Douglas Feith’s handling of intelligence on Iraq was prepared by the defence department’s top watchdog, Inspector General Thomas Gimble.
Under repeated questioning by Mr Levin in February, Mr Gimble said the conclusions reached in reports by Mr Feith were not fully supported by the available intelligence.
In particular, his conclusion there was a “mature and symbiotic relationship” between Iraq and al-Qaeda could not be justified on the basis of the available intelligence.
In addition, an alleged meeting between an Iraqi intelligence officer and a leader of the 9/11 attacks, Mohamed Atta, never took place.
Mr Feith’s supporters stress that the inspector general found no evidence of illegal or unauthorised activity.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6533367.stm
Published: 2007/04/06 16:11:16 GMT
© BBC MMVII
A fairy tale begins “once upon a time”, while a ‘war story’ “now this ain’t no bull”...<<<
I have heard the ‘no bull’ many times, fairy tales were rare.
Bribery comes in all types........glad some got the vacation and even more pleased with the book.
Thanks for the tunnel update, that is priceless.
I want to read that book, but pdf is all but impossible on dial up internet.
Good morning.........
ping to 4158
Taliban Claims Capturing Two French Citizens, Three Afghans in Nimruz Province
Originally published on 4/5/2007 by Jihadist Websites — OSC Summary in Arabic
Terrorism: Taliban Claims Capturing Two French Citizens, Three Afghans in Nimruz Province
On 5 April, a jihadist website posted a statement issued by The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan-Taliban in which the group claimed responsibility for capturing two French citizens and three Afghans in Nimruz Province in Afghanistan. The statement was allegedly copied from Sawt al-Jihad, an “official website” of The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan-Taliban, on 5 April 2007.
A translation of the statement follows:
“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
“Capturing two French citizens with three Afghans in Nimruz province
“(Al-Hafiz/Muhammad Yusuf) - 5 April 2007
“Yesterday, Wednesday, 4 April 2007, the mujahidin of The Islamic Emirate [of Afghanistan] captured two French citizens, a man by the name of Eric, and a woman by the name of Selma with three Afghans, two of whom are engineers, one by the name of Hadrat and the other Muhammad Hashim, and the third is a driver by the name of Rasul. They were on their way to Helmand province on board a vehicle when the mujahidin captured them in Khash Rud district in Nimruz province. The captives will be dealt with in accordance with the decision of the leadership council of The Islamic Emirate [of Afghanistan].
“Source: The Sawt al-Jihad page on 5 April 2007, an official website of The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan-Taliban”
Poll: 68% of Danes Support Military Force To Stop Iran From Getting Nuclear Arms
Ritzau Bureau report: “Danes Most Bellicose Towards Iran”
Originally published on 4/4/2007 by Politiken (Internet Version-WWW) in Danish
If military force is required to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons, then two-thirds of Danes are ready to use it. The prime minister is against it.
Danes are at the top in the EU on the issue of using military force against countries like Iran if it is a question of preventing them from acquiring nuclear arms.
This is shown in an opinion poll from British think tank Open Europe.
According to the numbers, as many as 68% of Danes agree that “we must stop countries like Iran from getting nuclear arms even if it means military force.”
In the EU as a whole, 52% of respondents agree with the use of military force against countries like Iran.
If the survey holds true, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Liberal Party) is completely out of step with the population on the Iran issue.
As late as on 13 March, he said that a military attack on Iran is not the solution to the problems with Iran’s nuclear activities.
: Copenhagen Politiken (Internet Version-WWW) in Danish — Independent, left-of-center national daily close to Radical Liberal Party
Crimes against Children -wanted poster:
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/fugitives/cac/fug_cac.htm
Federal Bureau of Investigation Crimes Against Children Update
Roy Hyatt, a fugitive from Florida wanted for possession of child pornography, has been added the the FBI web site in the Featured Fugitives, Crimes Against Children section.
You are subscribed to Crimes Against Children for Federal Bureau of Investigation. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/kidmiss.htm
Amy Bradley, a missing woman, has been added to the FBI’s Kidnapping/Missing Persons web page.
You are subscribed to Kidnapping & Missing Persons Investigations for Federal Bureau of Investigation. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
Iran Says It Received Letter of Apology from Blair
Iran’s Al-Alam TV Reports Velayati Saying UK Premier Apologized Over Sailors
Corrected version: correcting first paragraph, only sentence, changing “following” to read “on the eve of” after monitor recheck
Originally published on 4/5/2007 by Al-Alam Television in Arabic
Ali Akbar Velayati, the advisor to the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i] for international affairs [and member of the Expediency Council], has said that Tehran received a letter of apology from British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the eve of the pardon granted to the 15 British seamen.
Velayati added that his country had proven in the issue of the detained seamen that it was serious about defending its sovereignty against any attack and that it had achieved its objectives in the aforementioned case, including Britain’s admission that it had violated its territorial waters and offering an apology in this regard.
: Tehran Al-Alam Television in Arabic — IRIB’s 24-hour Arabic news channel, targetting a pan-Arab audience
Al-Quds al-Arabi: A Mysterious End to the Sailors’ Crisis
Al-Quds al-Arabi Editorial Views End of British Hostage Crisis with Iran
Editorial: “A Mysterious End to the Sailors’ Crisis”
Originally published on 4/5/2007 by Al-Quds al-Arabi (Internet Version-WWW) in Arabic
The crisis of the British sailors is reaching its end following the decision of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to release them and hand them over to their country’s embassy. However, this does not mean that the bigger crisis, the Iranian nuclear issue, is moving toward a solution.
President Ahmadinejad wanted to send a message to the Western countries underlining his readiness for dialogue by showing significant flexibility with regard to the British sailors’ crisis and their release. He may have benefited from the Libyan precedent in this respect—that is, using the British door to reach the American window.
This approach was clear in the statement he made yesterday in which he said that it is possible to establish relations with the United States if it reconsidered its policy toward Tehran and we saw goodwill on its part. This statement coincided with the announcement of the Iranian decision to release the hostage sailors.
Many lessons can be learned from this crisis, the most significant of which is that the British and American positions in the region have become weak because of Iran’s increasing influence in Iraq and its ability to affect negatively the two countries’ occupation plans in it.
The detention of these sailors has clearly exposed the limits of the two countries’ abilities to obtain their release and the confusion of the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair in dealing with this unexpected crisis. Blair thought that his forces had the upper hand in Iraq and could do what they wanted without harassment.
Ahmadinejad wanted to tell the British first and then the Americans that the time of kidnapping Iranian diplomats and intelligence agents in Iraq has gone forever and that his country’s forces would treat the American and British forces the same way—that is, abduction with abduction. The one that starts this process should bear the consequences.
The release of the British hostages definitely did not take place because of the generosity of the Iranian president and his government and their keenness to establish good relations with Britain only. A deal must have been reached through secret channels, which resulted in a happy end to this crisis that engaged the world in the past two weeks. Saying that Britain apologized for violating Iranian territorial waters and promised not to repeat its provocations against the Iranians and cross their borders was not enough alone to prompt the Iranian Government to release the sailors. This is particularly true if we take into consideration Iranian demands to release Iranian diplomats who were making plans to open an Iranian consulate in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
We are currently facing a struggle of wills in Iraq and the Arab region. It seems clear that the Iranian will has prevailed, at least temporarily, in the hostages’ crisis. This could develop into other victories if the current tension between Iran and the United States on the Iranian nuclear issue continues, with southern Iraq, the Gulf waters, and Shatt al-Arab, in particular, constituting its principal stage.
: London Al-Quds al-Arabi (Internet Version-WWW) in Arabic — London-based independent Arab nationalist daily with an anti-US and anti-Saudi editorial line; generally pro-Palestinian, pro-Iraqi regime, tends to be sympathetic to Bin Ladin. URL: http://www.alquds.co.uk/
http://phoenix.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2007/ph040207.htm
MAN SENTENCED TO 50 YEARS FOR AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A MINOR
PHOENIX – Emerson Boyd Austin, 27, of Nageezi, New Mexico, was sentenced here to 50 years, by U.S. District Judge Stephen M. McNamee. Austin had been found guilty by a federal jury on December 12, 2006, of Aggravated Sexual Assault and Sexual Abuse of a Minor.
On April 24, 2005 Austin met the fifteen year old victim at a party. Austin took the victim for a ride and eventually parked on a remote hilltop. Austin then began to try to touch the girl’s breast. The victim told Austin “No” and tried to exit the vehicle. Austin then grabbed a knife and the victim. Austin forced the victim back into the truck at knife point. He then assaulted the victim by hitting her, choking her and holding the knife to her throat. Austin then forced the victim to remove her pants and underwear and he forced the fifteen year old victim to have penile/vaginal intercourse with him. The victim pleaded for Austin to stop, but Austin continued to assault and threaten her. The partially clothed victim was eventually able to escape from Austin by running over a mile. through a field to a relative’s house.
At sentencing, it was determined that Austin had two other convictions for crimes of violence and was therefore a career offender. Judge McNamee noted that this was one of the most heinous crimes he had heard of during his seventeen years on the bench.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Navajo Department of Law Enforcement. The prosecution was handled by Kimberly M. Hare, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.
CASE NUMBER: CR-05-485
RELEASE NUMBER: 2007-097(Austin)
Syrian Papers Comment on Pelosi’s Visit, Stress Importance of Dialogue
Originally published on 4/5/2007 by Syria — OSC Summary in Arabic
Syrian newspapers on 5 April give prominence to reports on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Syria and her talks and statements in Damascus.
The papers publish on their front pages reports on Pelosi’s meetings with Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, Vice President Faruq al-Shar’a, and Foreign Minister Walid al-Mu’allim and the statements that she and the Syrian foreign minister made to reporters in Damascus. The reports are published under the following headlines:
Damascus A-Thawrah in Arabic, government-owned newspaper: “President Al-Asad: Direct Dialogue Explains Facts; Pelosi Leaves with Good Impressions: Damascus Is the Road to Peace.”
Damascus Tishrin in Arabic, another government-owned newspaper: “Pelosi Notes the Opening of Horizons for Dialogue and Stresses She Got Impressions; President Al-Asad: Dialogue and Peace Constitute the Common Language among Nations; Syria Is Willing for Peace as Strategic Option”
Damascus Al-Ba’th in Arabic, newspaper of the ruling Ba’th Party: “President Al-Asad Receives the American House Delegation and Stresses that Syria is Eager for Peace, Iraq’s Unity, and Accord in Lebanon: Dialogue and Peace Constitute the Language of Nations”
Damascus Al-Watan in Arabic, an independent newspaper: “Pelosi Received by Al-Asad, Al-Shar’a, and Al-Mu’allim: The Road to Damascus Is the Road to Peace”
The papers also carry reports on statements that Syrian Information Minister Muhsin Bilal made to some Arab satellite televisions. The minister describes the Al-Asad-Pelosi meeting as “fruitful and positive” and says the House speaker’s visit “broke the barrier that the US Administration built around Syria.” He stresses the importance of dialogue to solve the problems of the region.
In its report, Al-Watan cites “high-ranking Syrian sources” expressing “major satisfaction with the visit and the atmosphere of the talks.” The sources are quoted saying that “one of the results of this visit is the admission that President Bush’s closed-doors policy was a failure.”
In their comments on the visit, the papers stress the importance of dialogue to solve the problems of the Middle East.
Tishrin says in a 500-word editorial by Izz-al-Din al-Darwish that Pelosi sensed in Damascus “a strong desire for constructive dialogue and serious work for peace.” The paper adds: “It was natural for Syria to tell the prominent guest that dialogue is the common language that nations understand and that peace is the shortest way to solving problems. A direct dialogue, where both the opinion and the opposing opinion are heard, would clear a great deal of misunderstanding, clarify things, and pave the way for resolving the major issues.”
The paper stresses, however, that “for Syria, dialogue with the Americans is a means, not an end. It is a means to address the unresolved issues between the two countries and pave the way for the achievement of a just peace, security, and stability in the region.”
The paper stresses that Syria wants stability in Iraq through “a comprehensive national reconciliation and a timetable for the withdrawal of the American forces.” As for the Arab Israeli conflict, the paper says, “Syria does not want more than what the international community, represented by the United Nations and its resolutions on the region’s conflict, wants. In other words, Syria wants to regain its land and the other occupied Arab territories in order to achieve peace, security, and stability in the region.”
The paper concludes by saying: “Mrs Pelosi came in direct contact with these Syrian positions. There is hope for the continuation of the dialogue, for a broad American understanding of Syria’s policy, and for a common movement toward peace in the region, away from bias, falsehoods, and threats.”
Al-Thawrah publishes the following article by columnist Ahmad Hamadah:
“US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not happy with the disastrous results her country attained from its occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.
“She publicly rejected a repeat of the ‘precautionary wars’ and ‘preemptive strikes’ to serve the interests of the United States in the region.
“Pelosi realized that the interests of her people require a change in the American political approach toward the issues of the region, so she announced positions the like of which Congress never heard in the past four years.
“She repeatedly suggested that she rejects the policies of exclusion and threats. She rejected the so-called isolation principle. She is armed by a Democratic majority that has always demanded that the course of the US policy be corrected because safeguarding the interests of the United States, fighting terror and tyranny, and defending the alleged freedoms in the world cannot be done through wars and constructive instability. The Americans paid heavily for these policies, and they can no longer bear their heavy burden.
“Hence one can understand the significance of Pelosi’s visit to Damascus on the basis of her conviction that the information that the Baker-Hamilton committee circulated and the proposals and recommendations it made concerning security in Iraq and peace in the region require a new approach based on dialogue and nothing else.
“At any rate, it is certain that the visit helped Pelosi see firsthand Syria’s sincere desire for a serious dialogue with any international party to achieve security and stability in the region.”
In a 600-word front-page article in Al-Watan, Umar Ka’wash says Pelosi’s visit to Syria “dealt a strong blow to the policy of ‘Syria’s isolation’ that the US president has been leading since 2004.”
The writer, however, believes that the visit will not result in a change in the US policy toward Syria. “I believe people should not wager much on the results of the visit. It is part of the effort to open the doors of dialogue at a time when there is tension in the relations between the US Administration and both Syria and Iran. There is no doubt that the American failure in Iraq and the high cost of the occupation tipped the balance in favor of those who call for opening windows and embarking on dialogue as an alternative to the policy of isolation and arrogance. But the current US Administration, for its part, is not in favor of this option. It seeks to wage wars these days, with fears of a possible military strike against Iran getting stronger.”
Al-Ba’th was not observed to publish any comment on the visit.
OSC Jordan Bureau plans no further processing.
Russian Foreign Ministry says USA should treat Iran with respect
Originally published on 4/5/2007 by ITAR-TASS in Russian
Russian Foreign Ministry says USA should treat Iran with respect
Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS
Moscow, 5 April: Sabre rattling in the current difficult situation in the Gulf zone “is fraught with unpredictable consequences”, Aleksandr Maryasov, director of the second Asian department at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in charge of relations with Iran, told ITAR-TASS today.
“One wouldn’t want to speculate about a US military operation against Iran,” he said. “We are taking note that, as our American counterparts tell us, the movement of various military structures in the Gulf area is part of a scheduled rotation.” However it is obvious that “the situation there is extremely tense, and any manoeuvres there involving navy and aviation could aggravate the situation further”. Sabre rattling in this situation, he continued, and in this “explosive region is fraught with unpredictable consequences”.
Russia, the diplomat stressed, proceeds from the fact that “any military action in the proximity of our borders is unacceptable and we shall do everything we can to prevent the situation around Iran from developing according to a negative scenario”.
At present, he said, “one should focus on seeking ways for a peaceful settlement of the situation around the Iranian nuclear programme”. “The new resolution adopted by the UN Security Council provides such an opportunity,” Maryasov said. “Its content clearly points to the fact that the door for Iran to go back to the negotiating table remains open.” Moreover, he said, “it clearly outlines the prospect of the restrictive measures against Iran, which the UN Security Council is introducing, being lifted, providing Tehran meets the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] demands as regards its nuclear programme”. The resolution “includes a clause to the effect that further moves by the UN Security Council, if needed, will be taken exclusively in the framework of peaceful measures”. “We are convinced that the Iranian nuclear problem can be resolved effectively only in the political-diplomatic sphere,” Maryasov said.
[ITAR-TASS, in Russian, 1536 gmt 5 Apr quoted Maryasov saying that “US actions regarding Iran should be in line with UN Security Council resolutions Nos 1737 and 1747”. “One should talk to Tehran from a position of principle but also with mutual respect and within the diplomatic framework,” he said. “It is not worth whipping up tension around the Iranian nuclear programme, making belligerent statements and threatening with ‘fists’ - it won’t help, moreover it may result in Tehran rejecting even those elements of encouragement that the UN Security Council and the group of six offer in exchange for ‘cooperation’ on the nuclear file.”
In Maryasov’s opinion, the agency said, “a large-scale political dialogue between the USA and Iran, including on regional security issues, is long overdue, taking into account the complicated situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon”. “Tehran is one of the most important regional players on whom stability and security in the Middle East to a large extent depend,” he said. “It is in the USA’s interests, it seems to us, to develop normal interaction with the Iranians.”
ITAR-TASS, in Russian, 1545 gmt 5 Apr quoted Maryasov saying that Moscow “welcomes Iran’s initiative to host the second summit of the Caspian Five - Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan”.
“We assume that the process of preparation for the summit will serve as a good impetus towards bringing the positions of the sides on the unresolved issues of the status closer together and towards finalizing the draft agreements on cooperation in the sphere of fishing, hydrometeorology and navigation,” the diplomat said.
“The Russian and the Iranian approaches to Caspian problems have a lot in common,” he said. “We share the position that military presence in the Caspian by forces outside the region is inadmissible and that the 1921 treaty between the RSFSR [Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic] and Persia and the 1940 treaty between the USSR and Iran on trade and navigation should remain in force until the new status of the Caspian is finalized.”]
: Moscow ITAR-TASS in Russian — main government information agency
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/187272.php
April 05, 2007
Yemen Supporting Terrorists in Iraq
Jawa Report co-blogger Jane Novak has written an article for The Weekly Standard on Yemen’s at best “inconsistent” assistance in the GWOT and its consistent support and training for terrorists and foreign fighters in Iraq.
Jane Novak Via The Weekly Standard: YEMEN OPERATES LARGELY under the radar as a supporter of the global jihad. Both Yemeni and U.S. officials publicly tout Yemen’s partnership with the United States in the war on terror. The U.S. embassy in Sana’a described the February 2006 escape of 23 al Qaeda operatives from a maximum security jail as “understandable in a way,” considering Yemen’s rampant corruption, weak institutions, and bureaucratic incompetence. (The escapees included several Cole bombers and an American associated with the Lackawanna, New York terror cell.) Presidential assistant Frances Townsend has described the Yemeni regime as an “inconsistent” partner in the war on terror, but Yemen has been quite consistent in its appeasement and facilitation of al Qaeda and related jihadi groups, and, as a result, has played a significant role in the destabilization of Iraq.
…In May 2005, a Yemeni government official stated that elements of the Yemeni secret services had established training camps for exiled Iraqi Ba’athists who wished to fight U.S. forces in Iraq. A number of sources reported that Yemen was using chlorine gas against the Shiite rebels in 2005, a full year before foreign fighters in Iraq adopted the same tactic…
…The courts in Yemen have also gone to great lengths to appease jihadists. A Yemeni court ruled in July that Yemeni law does not criminalize fighting with terrorists forces in Iraq. Nineteen suspects were tried on charges of belonging to the al Qaeda linked “Zarqawi Cell.” Six of the nineteen were convicted on a lesser charge of forging official documents, though the defendants admitted fighting with the Iraqi resistance. A Yemeni court found that joining the Iraqi insurgency did not violate Yemeni law as “Islamic Shari’a law permits jihad against occupiers.”
You may comment on Jane’s story at her home blog, Armies of Liberation.
By Howie at April 5, 2007 07:35 AM
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/187308.php
April 06, 2007
Nuclear Theft in Pakistan
Oh. Snap. Can someon please explain to me just WTF a “uranium based Ash analyzer” is and whether I should just be generally afraid about lax security in a state which is increasingly becoming Talibanized, or if I should be specifically afraid and start dropping some brick shaped turds?
The story says that the “ash analyzer” isn’t dangerous......as long as the seal isn’t broken. But that people within 1.5 km of it might need to get out of Dodge if that were to happen.
By Dr. Rusty “John Doe” Shackleford at April 6, 2007 11:05 AM
http://byzantinesacredart.com/blog/2007/04/serbian-radicals.html
Rooting Out Serbian Patriotism While Breeding Islamic Fundamentalism in Serbia
Western mainstream media has been relentlessly denouncing Serbian “radicals” all these years, branding those who have managed to preserve the basic sense of patriotism in the midst of unsurpassed avalanche of hatred for all things Serbian as atavistic troglodytes under the common denominators of “ultra nationalists” and “radical elements.”
In part, these labels aimed at evoking taboo-fears of cannibalism and the kind of sadistic butchery Croat Nazis — Ustashas — have brought to a level of an art form during the WWII, are commonly stapled over the collective forehead of members of the Serbian Radical Party, but generally any prominent Serb who refused to accept the basic premise that Serbs are guilty for everything from global warming to extermination of the whales, has been branded “Serbian nationalist” and even an “ultra nationalist” or a “radical,” such as Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica who happens to be a constitutional lawyer by profession and couldn’t be a stauncher democrat and more Western-oriented than he already is.
Recently, however, there has been a not-so-slight turn (one could even say a radical turn), with the same Western mainstream getting it right for once, by more appropriately designating a whole other segment of Serbia’s population as “Serbia’s radicals” — radical Muslims infiltrating Serbia through Islamic Bosnia, half-Islamized newly independent Montenegro and a Very Radical Kosovo-Metohija province, all radicalized courtesy of Western powers who have, knowingly and consciously, opened the Balkans’ gates wide to the Middle Eastern mujahedeens and Muslim mercenaries, using them as another — particularly nasty — weapon from their arsenal in the brutal Western war against Serbs.
Serbian Police Cuts Off Another Weapons Smuggling Route
Serbian Novi Pazar police reported today that it has cut off the channel for weapons smuggling from Montenegro to Serbian Raska region (Muslims refer to it as “Sandzak”). The Albanian Muslim, Zaim D. (age 44), who was transporting guns and explosives from the town of Rozaje in Montenegro has been detained.
This event follows the arrest of six Muslims last month and the discovery of al-Qaeda training camp and weapons cache in Raska region in Serbia proper.
Balkans’ White al-Qaeda Supports Islamic Insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq
The presence of White al-Qaeda — “Muslims with Western features who could easily blend into European or U.S. cities and carry out attacks” — in Serbia proper, according to the April 3 AP report, “is linked to the advent of mujahedeen foreign fighters who joined Bosnian Muslims in their battle against the Serbs in Bosnia’s 1992-95 independence war.” The article also mentions that Serbian Raska (Sandzak) Muslims “like to be called Bosniaks because they believe they ethnically belong to Bosnia, not Serbia.”
AP reporter describes the Raska region’s biggest town, Novi Pazar, as “more Saudi than Serbian.”
Chants of muezzins echo from minarets across the town of 100,000, which is nearly 90 percent Muslim. Beggars crowd around yellow-brick buildings, and vendors at makeshift markets peddle everything from framed Quran verses to counterfeit designer blue jeans, watches and perfumes. Many women are clad head to toe in black.
Among fundamentalists like Edin Bejtovic, an unofficial spokesman for the conservative Muslim community, the mood is staunchly anti-American and in support of the radical Islamic insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“According to the Americans, every average Muslim is a potential terrorist,” said Bejtovic, who denied claims in Serbian media that his group is financed by Saudi Arabia-based radicals and that it was plotting attacks.
But he warned: “It can all become true if the Americans don’t stop their destruction of Muslim nations and Islam.”
Kosovo-Metohija Province, Another Western Experiment in Repotting Saudi Brand of Terror
Around the same time Serbian police discovered the al-Qaeda training camp along with a large supply of weapons, ammunition, hand grenades and explosive at Ninaja Mountain, 30 kilometers from Novi Pazar, Serbian media reported about the well entrenched al-Qaeda cells in southern Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija, confirming that “Wahhabis have been active in the province since the early 1990s. The reports claim that the radical Islamic sect has 30 religious schools in Kosovo, adding that [...] the expansion of Wahhabism in the province has been aided by the foreign NGOs that still operate under the umbrella of the joint Saudi committee for assistance to Kosovo and Chechnya. These organizations arrived in the province in the wake of the 1999 war and stayed on in the field, obeying the Saudi government’s position to ‘remain as long as they’re needed’.”
Explaining that “Wahhabi terrorism is by no means the only form of jihad that threatens the rest of the world” and that “the followers of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahab [...] usually describe themselves as ‘Unitarians,’ or else as ‘Salafis’,” one of the world’s foremost experts on Islam and its concept of jihad, Dr. Srdja Trifkovic points out that “Western intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s has enabled Islamic extremism, including Wahhabism, to penetrate into the Balkans. The connection has already been established between similar camps in Bosnia and Islamic terrorist activities all over the world.”
Supporting Ahtisaari’s Proposal Leads to Creation of a Jihad Terrorist State in the Heart of Europe
The focus on the mainstream, i.e. non-Wahhabist leadership among the Slavic Muslims and Muslim Albanians in the former Yugoslavia is on the continued demographic expansion of their communities, notably in the region of Raska (“Sandzak”) in southwestern Serbia, where the exodus of the local Serbs is continuing quietly but continuously. If this trend continues, the Muslims may well be able to realize part of their dream of the Green Transverse. It is the geopolitical project that connects Istanbul in the southeast with the northwestern-most point of Islamic penetration in the Balkans in the area of Cazin in northwest Bosnia.
[...] It is unfortunate that Serbia is facing obstacles in its struggle against Islamic terrorism from those same governments that claim to be fighting it themselves. By supporting the Ahtisaari’s plan for Kosovo’s independence, many Western governments are effectively working to support the establishment of a black hole of criminal lawlessness and jihad terrorism in the heart of Europe. Some of the E.U. governments are aware of the problem, but they are not particularly influential. Romania, Slovakia, and less openly Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy, are far from enthusiastic about Ahtisaari’s proposal.
The manner in which western policies have facilitated Islamic objectives in the Balkans over the past fifteen years is something of a taboo in the West. Washington and Brussels have preferred to be in a state of permanent denial about the existence of the Islamist threat in the former Yugoslavia, even though Western law-enforcement officials and anti-terrorism experts are perfectly aware that there is hardly a terrorist action around the world that does not have a Balkan connection. They have sowed the seeds of terrorist infiltration through their policy, and what they have reaped so far was, unfortunately, to be expected. Innocent people who were not privy to those decisions, and who were misinformed about those decisions by the mainstream media, are paying the price.
Posted by Svetlana on April 5, 2007
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