Parma, 12 Sept. 2007 - One of Italy's most prominent experts of the effects of explosive devices has warned the country is 'ill-equipped" to deal with possible terrorist bomb attacks such as those that have struck Madrid in 2002 and London in 2005.
"We continue to lull in the fact that so far all has gone fine," Danilo Coppe, director of the Parma-based Institute of Research in Explosives told Adnkronos. Coppe was speaking about the findings of the year-long European Union-funded ABVERC Project which investigates the vulnerability to terrorist attacks of a series of potential targets throughout Europe.
"In our country (Italy) we need to change mentality," said Coppe who was participating in an international round table discussion in Parma from Wednesday through Friday to discuss the project's findings.
Excerpted
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1300762440
Poll: Bin Laden tops Musharraf in Pakistan
9/11/07
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf -- a key U.S. ally -- is less popular in his own country than al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to a poll of Pakistanis conducted last month by an anti-terrorism organization.
Additionally, nearly three-fourths of poll respondents said they oppose U.S. military action against al Qaeda and the Taliban inside Pakistan, according to results from the poll conducted by the independent polling organization Terror Free Tomorrow. "We have conducted 23 polls all over the Muslim world, and this is the most disturbing one we have conducted," said Ken Ballen, the group's head. "Pakistan is the one Muslim nation that has nuclear weapons, and the people who want to use them against us -- like the Taliban and al Qaeda -- are more popular there than our allies like Musharraf."
The poll was conducted for Terror Free Tomorrow by D3 Systems of Vienna, Virginia., and the Pakistan Institute for Public Opinion. Interviews were conducted August 18-29, face-to-face with 1,044 Pakistanis across 105 urban and rural sampling points in all four provinces across the nation. Households were randomly selected.
Excerpted
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/11/poll.pakistanis/index.html
Pakistanis Oppose US Terror Hunts
9/12/07
WASHINGTON — Only a quarter of Pakistanis support their military working with U.S. forces to pursue terrorists inside Pakistan, and even fewer favor letting American forces mount such operations on their own, a poll released on Tuesday said.
In a broader measure of America's unpopularity in its erstwhile ally against terrorism, 19 percent of Pakistanis see the U.S. favorably — half the number with a positive view of India, a bitter rival Pakistan has fought in three wars since 1947. The U.S.-backed Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is less popular than Osama bin Laden, though both are far better liked than President Bush.
Excerpted
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gwiVhWW3WkWgHNYUkBy95Su8IKcg
Despite their fatwah saying terrorism is haram (forbidden) in Islam, some of CAIR’s signatories to the fatwah attended a conference honoring a cleric who is listed by the U.S. as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” FSM Contributing Editor Patrick Poole has the details.
On July 28, 2005, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held a press conference trumpeting a fresh fatwa issued by the Fiqh Council of North America allegedly condemning terrorism, a document that was subsequently signed by CAIR and more than one hundred other American Muslim organizations. The Fiqh Council of North America/CAIR terrorism fatwa specifically states:
In the light of the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah we clearly and strongly state:
1) All acts of terrorism targeting civilians are haram (forbidden) in Islam.
2) It is haram for a Muslim to cooperate with any individual or group that is involved in any act of terrorism or violence.
3) It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities to protect the lives of all civilians.
The CAIR media event, which featured the premiere of a public service announcement by the group heralding the issuance of the “anti-terror” fatwa, was covered by the New York Times and the Washington Post, and picked up by countless other media establishment outlets.
At the time, Steve Emerson of the Investigative Project commented at Counterterrorism Blog, “The Islamic Leaders’ ‘Fatwa’ is Bogus,” on the vacuous nature of the document:
In fact, the fatwa is bogus. Nowhere does it condemn the Islamic extremism ideology that has spawned Islamic terrorism. It does not renounce nor even acknowledge the existence of an Islamic jihadist culture that has permeated mosques and young Muslims around the world. It does not renounce Jihad let alone admit that it has been used to justify Islamic terrorist acts. It does not condemn by name any Islamic group or leader. In short, it is a fake fatwa designed merely to deceive the American public into believing that these groups are moderate. In fact, officials of both organizations have been directly linked to and associated with Islamic terrorist groups and Islamic extremist organizations. One of them is an unindicted co-conspirator in a current terrorist case; another previous member was a financier to Al-Qaeda.
Excerpted
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/terrorism.php?id=1325249