|
Posted on 03/05/2008 5:59:39 PM PST by nwctwx
|
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,340489,00.html
Christian Pilgrims Mark Good Friday in Jerusalem
Friday, March 21, 2008
JERUSALEM — Thousands of Christians from all over the world crowded the stone alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City to mark Good Friday, retracing the route the Bible says Jesus took to his crucifixion.
Some pilgrims carried large wooden crosses as they walked down the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows, stopping at 14 stations that commemorate events that Christians believe befell Jesus as he was led to his death.
Many pilgrims prayed in the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which tradition holds was the site of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Some chanted hymns, while others prostrated themselves on a smooth stone slab marking the spot where Jesus’ body was believed to have been placed after being removed from the cross.
Visitors in the city hailed from Brazil, the Philippines, Poland, Spain, and African nations.
The crowd in one of the Old City’s streets included two dozen members of an American church group from Ohio, dressed in white. Eileen Joiner, 43, from Akron, said she was moved to be in Jerusalem.
“You see a picture and it looks impressive. You see it in person, and it’s always so much more,” she said.
The group’s pastor, Janice Skeen, said a recent shooting attack in Jerusalem had not deterred them. “You can’t escape the feeling and the presence of God here. This is his special land,” she said.
snip..
What a bittersweet story.
Thank you dryman’s wife.
http://www.truthusa.com/MoreThanCartoons.html
#
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/020410.php
March 22, 2008
Afghan Motoons/Fitna protesters: “Death to Denmark,” “death to the Netherlands, “death to America,” “death to Jews”
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/spain/
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/eta/
#
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1989481/posts
#
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7308640.stm
Last Updated: Friday, 21 March 2008, 21:44 GMT
“Blast hits Spanish police station”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “A car bomb has exploded outside a Guardia Civil barracks in the north of Spain after a warning call from Basque separatists, police say.
The explosion at the city of Calahorra, in the Rioja wine region, left one policeman with a minor injury.
Spanish media said the area was cleared before the device went off at 1300GMT.
The Socialist Party of recently re-elected Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said it “forcefully condemns this new attack by Eta”.
A man claiming to represent Eta telephoned highway police stating the location, make and colour of the vehicle, at around 1230 GMT, half an hour before the blast, Spanish media reported.
A blue Honda, stolen at gunpoint hours earlier from a couple who were later found trussed up and abandoned in a rural area, was used in the attack, according to Spanish media.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/wedding/
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/weddings/
#
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1989782/posts
FBI agent: Terror suspect’s marriage plans may have been ruse
The Associated Press / International Herald Tribune ^ | March 21, 2008 | The Associated Press
Posted on 03/22/2008 1:52:24 AM PDT by JeepInMazar
ATLANTA: Investigators initially thought a terrorism suspect may have been using his wedding plans to cloak the real purpose of his overseas travel, an FBI agent testified Friday. . . .
Inside the lining of the bag, agents found two CDs, maps of Washington, D.C., and Fairfax, Virginia, and some scraps of paper with writing on them.
Previously, prosecutors have alleged that “casing videos” of the Capitol building, the World Bank and a fuel tank farm were sent by computer from a nonprofit where Sadequee worked in Atlanta to a counterpart in London.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_923.html
Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520
This information is current as of today, Sat Mar 22 2008 02:51:53 GMT-0700 (PDT).
KENYA
March 21, 2008
Note: The following text is a quote:
https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=81645
OU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report
Warden Message: Kyiv Cautions Potentially Violent Demonstration, March 23
CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS
Europe - Ukraine
21 Mar 2008
Printer Friendly Email Article
RELATED REPORTS
26 Feb 2008
WARDEN MESSAGE: KYIV DEMONSTRATION, MARCH 1
23 Jan 2008
WARDEN MESSAGE: AVIAN INFLUENZA IN UKRAINE
11 Jan 2008
WARDEN MESSAGE: UKRANIAN NATIONAL LABOR PARTY DEMONSTRATION
26 Oct 2007
WARDEN MESSAGE: KYIV MARCH AND RALLY OCTOBER 27, CAUTION URGED
8 Oct 2007
KYIV MISSIONARY HARRASSED
U.S. Embassy Kyiv issued the following Warden Message on March 21, 2008:
The Ukrainian Neo-Nazi organization “Patriot of Ukraine” will conduct a demonstration and march on Sunday, March 23, 2008, starting at 1800 at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. The participants will assemble at the Polytechnic Institute metro station. This group is alleged to have ties to Ukrainian extremist and ultra-nationalist groups. Such groups are often associated with skinhead groups and/or individuals involved in hate crimes against ethnic and religious minorities and have been associated with violent assaults in Kyiv in the past.
We wish to remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. American citizens are strongly urged to avoid areas in and around the rally area and to exercise an increased level of security awareness.
For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs web site at http://travel.state.gov, where the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Alerts, and Travel Warnings can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S., or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-317-472-2328. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
In the event further information is obtained regarding this or any other security or safety situation in Ukraine, the Embassy will provide updates via this same channel and on the Embassy’s web page: http://kyiv.usembassy.gov. American citizens who need to contact the Embassy may do so during working hours by calling American Citizens Services unit at (38-044) 490-4445 or the main Embassy telephone number at (38-044) 490-4000. The Embassy’s duty officer may be reached after hours via this same number, or by contacting (38-050) 311-1796.
https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=81630
YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report
Warden Message: Timor-Leste Extends Emergency Rule within Select Districts
CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS
East Asia / Pacific - Timor-Leste
21 Mar 2008
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1161.html
Worldwide Caution
January 17, 2008
SNIPPET: “This Worldwide Caution updates information on the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against Americans and interests throughout the world. American citizens are reminded to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.”
PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/yemen/
UPDATE:
Note: The following news brief is a quote:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3522071,00.html
Yemeni Interior Ministry: Al-Qaeda cell responsible for attack
Published: 03.22.08, 10:51 / Israel News
A Yemeni Interior Ministry official says that al-Qaeda was behind the attack on the US embassy in Yemen that hit a nearby girls’ high school, killing a security guard.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, because he is not authorized to speak to media, the official says that al-Qaeda militant Hamza al-Dayan is the leader of the group which attempted to fire three mortars at the US embassy building last week. (AP)
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/globaljihad/
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/jihad/
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/gwot/
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/wot
#
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/mukasey.terrorism/index.html
updated 7:49 p.m. EDT, Fri March 21, 2008
“Mukasey ‘surprised’ by scope of terrorist threats”
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
From Terry Frieden
CNN
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON (CNN) — Attorney General Michael Mukasey has been taken aback by the scope and variety of potential terrorism threats facing the United States, he told reporters Friday at an informal meeting in his office.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey receives terrorism updates during national security briefings.
“I’m surprised by how surprised I am,” said Mukasey, who as a federal judge presided over terrorism-related trials in New York.
“It’s surprising how varied [the threat] is, how many directions it comes from, how geographically spread out it is,” he said.””
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,340613,00.html
Cyber Vigilantes Track Extremist Web Sites, Intelligence Experts Balk at Effort
Saturday, March 22, 2008
By Carmen Gentile
MIAMI, Fla. — While the debate grows on how to tackle global jihadism on the Internet, some security experts warn that “cyber vigilantes” — people who track and help shut down terror-related Web sites — are compromising government investigations with their amateur sleuthing tactics.
Michael Radu, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and an expert on terror-related Web sites, said the government is already overburdened trying to monitor the thousands of sites on the Web believed to contain radical Muslim messages. These cyber vigilantes, he said, are not helping.
“It is very unlikely they will find something of significance in the Internet that the government doesn’t already know,” Radu said. “They are redundant at best.”
Cyber vigilantes typically troll the Internet, searching message boards, Web sites and media sharing sites for incendiary postings from people with ties to terror groups like Al Qaeda. Using Arabic translation software, they monitor postings and even assume fake identities to join online conversations.
One of them is Bill Warner, a Sarasota, Fla.-based private investigator and a self-proclaimed cyber-crusader.
Just last month alone, Warner was instrumental in helping shut down three Web sites hosted by a Tampa Internet service provider (ISP) that contained text, images and video related to attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One site contained footage of a U.S. military mine sweeper being blown up by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). According to Warner, the site claims that all the troops aboard the vehicle were killed. (www.alekhlaas.info)
The same site, which is still operational, shows what appears to be footage of fighters in Afghanistan firing on U.S. troops and what is believed to be the destruction of an American mine sweeper in Iraq.
Warner said the popular site is nearing 19 million hits over the last 10 months, and is among a growing number meant to incite would-be followers to join the ranks of extremist groups like Al Qaeda and provide information on how to carry out attacks and build weapons.
“This is what Al Qaeda does now,” said Warner.
He said the World Wide Web is where the real fight for global jihad is being fought.
Sites such as these are often hosted by ISPs in the U.S. because they have large bandwidth, making posting and viewing large videos easier. Because of the anonymous nature of the Internet and foreign language content, U.S.-based ISPs can’t provide sufficient screening and oversight.
Warner said he alerted the local police and the FBI in Tampa after he identified three Web sites hosted by the Florida ISP. In some cases the sites were removed within hours. But he said others remained online for days after he reported their presence.
But not everyone thinks Warner’s vigilance is helpful.
“There are a lot of weekend warriors and quasi vigilantes out there that think they can do what the government can’t,” said a private intelligence contractor for the U.S. government who has been investigating jihadist Web sites for more than 15 years. The contractor spoke to FOXNews.com on condition of anonymity due to his continuing work with U.S. intelligence.
He said that when cyber-sleuths alert authorities or ISPs to the whereabouts of an extremist site, the page is removed — only to reappear somewhere else, and sometimes within hours.
“For those working in the intelligence community, it becomes extremely costly, because then they have to go looking for the sites all over again,” said the private intelligence contractor, noting that U.S. intelligence often knows of the sites for a long time and monitors their traffic to look for clues to their origins, creators and visitors.
When the site comes down, he said, intelligence investigations can be ruined.
“They have good intentions, but end up doing more harm than good,” he said.
But Yigal Carmon, President of the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Middle East media monitoring group, said the sites reported by Warner are tools of “ideological recruitment” that should be removed from the Internet entirely, and especially from American ISPs.
“Why is it that [an] American ISP can host them?” Carmen asked. “When these sites appear there, the whole war on terrorism becomes a joke.”
Lt. Col. Joseph Felter of West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center said the increased participation to battle online terrorists is a good thing.
“The more people that we get involved combating the threat, the better,” said Felter. “God knows the enemies are getting a whole lot of people on board.”
But Radu warns that without specific knowledge of extremist groups or languages like Arabic, Urdu and Farsi, Cyber vigilantes don’t always understand what they’re looking at.
“Those people are nuisances, nuisances that already burden an overworked government and should be discouraged,” Radu said. “No matter what their intentions are, they are overburdening the government” and “have nothing to contribute.”
Cyber vigilante Aaron Wisesburd has taken a similar approach to Warner, tackling terror-related Web sites and reporting his findings to authorities.
Wiseburd, the creator of the Web monitoring site Internet Haganah, which collects and stores intelligence for governments to use, said he was responsible for the dismantling of thousands of extremist sites.
Weisburd’s critics say posting of sensitive material on his site may reveal too much and jeopardize ongoing investigations.
Wiseburd is reticent to discuss his efforts, due to safety concerns — he said he has received death threats and a handwritten note mailed to his home from a disgruntled site creator. But he said he won’t stop fighting the emerging threat of cyber terrorism.
He and Warner say their work is an important part of stopping terrorist groups from gaining a recruiting foothold in the U.S. and inspiring others to form their own spin-off extremist groups.
“If a Web site is calling for U.S. citizens to be killed, it should be shut down,” Warner said. “If it incites these wackos who don’t have direct allegiance to Al Qaeda to commit attacks, then it shouldn’t be on the Internet, period.”
But a private intelligence contractor said winning the War on Terror isn’t just about shutting down sites; it’s about tackling the heart of the problem.
“Great. Somebody shut down a bunch of websites. What we’re trying to do is find out where the terrorists are.”
Thank you drymans wife for the post.
The sun is shining here.
It should be a wonderful day.
http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/006307.html
22 March 2008
“FOX NEWS JOINS THE “FAKE BUT ACCURATE” SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM”
by Aaron Weisburd
http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/006308.html
22 March 2008
“A LETTER TO THE EDITORS AT FOXNEWS.COM”
by Rose Weisburd
LETTER SNIPPET: “The article “Cyber Vigilantes Track Extremist Web Sites, Intelligence Experts Balk at Effort” by Carmen Gentile, which was posted on the FoxNews site on Saturday, March 22, 2008 contains gross mischaracterizations and sheer speculation.
Speaking as someone who has considerable knowledge of Aaron Weisburd’s professional activities and motives, I wish to respond to a number of these inaccuracies.
This freelance journalist writes as if he either interviewed Weisburd, or contacted him and was refused an interview. Neither is the case. Gentile never contacted Weisburd, therefore these passages are misleading:”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/020416.php
March 22, 2008
“Jailed jihadist ex-prof refuses to testify about Islamic charities in Virginia”
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/191893.php
(YAHOO)
March 22, 2008
“Pakistan Troops Shut Down 3 Illegal FM Radio Stations”
Yahoo
PESHAWAR, Pakistan
SNIPPET: “Pakistani troops shut down three FM radio stations Friday and arrested eight employees after the stations aired a speech by a pro-Taliban cleric, the military said.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
