Thanks for the update Cindy. Will be interesting to see what they say tomorrow.
Yep.
A man who sold eight stolen army rocket launchers has told a Sydney court he didn't think twice about the potentially disastrous consequences of the deals. The witness, identified only as Harrington, told Sydney's Central Local Court he received the rocket launchers from former army officer Dean Steven Taylor, who is charged with receiving and possessing two stolen rocket launchers, two rockets, and five handgrenades stolen from the army in 2002.
Mr Taylor was allegedly given the rockets by his brother-in-law and army captain Shane Della-Vedova and sold them on to Harrington, a criminal associate. At today's committal hearing for Mr Taylor, Harrington said Mr Taylor offered him the weapons on the first day they met during a visit by Mr Taylor to Long Bay Jail.
An inmate at the time, Harrington said Mr Taylor made the offer knowing his criminal connections. He said that as well as the rocket launchers, rockets and grenades, Mr Taylor offered him bulletproof vests and night-vision goggles. He said the rocket launchers were so lightweight they could be lifted with a single finger and slipped easily inside a sports bag.
He on-sold five grenades and eight of 10 rocket launchers to various criminal associates, including Taha Abdul Rahman and Sam Sayed, he told the court. "I was just on-selling them to whoever I could," Harrington said. "I don't know what (Abdul Rahman) wanted them for, I just supplied them to him."
Mr Taylor's lawyer Peter Doyle said the items were dangerous. "They could easily lead to death and destruction," Mr Doyle said. "But as long as you were paid money, you didn't care?" Harrington replied: "At the time, no."
He said Mr Taylor also had given him a copy of a book called The Terrorist Handbook, which he had discarded in a cupboard of his spare bedroom. Detective Sergeant Darryal Abeyasekera told Magistrate Brian Moloney that police had found a copy of the book during raids on Mr Taylor's house.
Commonwealth prosecutor Paul Roberts SC had earlier told the court that terrorism-related charges had been laid as a result of the launchers "falling into the wrong hands". Harrington turned informant and wore a wire when meeting Mr Taylor and Mr Della-Vedova in March this year. The hearing continues.
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,22822459-922,00.html
Wales Prince Charles visited Konya and Mevlana Museum with his wife Camilla. Charles quoted from Koran in his speech and showed his interest in Islam.
Britain alters its vocabulary to avoid offending Muslim radicals
Snippets: British counter-terrorism officials have said that government ministers must abandon “offensive and inappropriate” language. They were not talking about profanity, however. The “language” referred to was politically incorrect statements that could offend Islamist sympathizers.
National Security Service (MI5) chief Jonathan Evans warned earlier this month that terrorists were radicalizing people as young as 15 to carry out acts of terrorism in Britain. Britain’s youth are turning against their own country. As a means of curbing this trend, Evans has said that close attention must be paid to “our use of language” so as to avoid offending any would-be Islamist terrorist. “We are tackling a threat which finds its roots in ideology, so words really do matter,” he commented.
MI5 chiefs argue that the phrase “war on terrorism” is an exaggeration that legitimizes the actions of suicide bombers. To avoid offense, it is now the “struggle against terrorism.”
One counter-terrorism official said that the terrorist threat must never be described as a “Muslim problem.
As journalist Melanie Phillips said, “Far from upholding and protecting the culture that is under attack, the British government and counter-terrorism establishment are instead pushing us all further down this dark path. The lights are going out in Britain. This is the way freedom dies.”