Trained killer stalks US troops (HIGHLY trained assassin is stalking American soldiers)

Trained killer stalks US troops By Peter Wilson, Baghdad July 12, 2003 A HIGHLY trained assassin is stalking American soldiers on the streets of Baghdad, according to the most senior US military commander in Iraq.

General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of the Joint Coalition Taskforce for Iraq, confirmed the operations of the hitman, whose activities had been rumoured on the streets of the capital for weeks.

"This is a very well-trained assassin who knows how to identify his target. He knows how and when to attack and when to escape. There is no doubt in my mind this is a professional," he said.

Of the 65 US soldiers who have died since President George W. Bush declared a cessation of hostilities on May 1, 31 have been killed by hostile action and about half a dozen may have been killed by the main assassin, who has been nicknamed "The Hunter" by many Iraqis.

The early killings attributed to "The Hunter" were carried out by a single sniper bullet believed to come from a Russian-made Dragunov rifle with a high-powered scope.

But General Sanchez singled out the killing of a young US soldier near Baghdad University last week as an example of the hitman's work.

In that "hit", the soldier was walking away from a street vendor after buying a soft drink when his attacker strolled up to him from behind and shot him in the back of the neck with a hand gun before escaping into the crowd of a nearby bus station.

An average of about a dozen attacks a day are being launched on the mainly American occupation forces. Some 381 injuries have been suffered by coalition forces although no serious injuries have been reported among the small contingent of Australian soldiers performing duties such as guarding Australia's diplomatic presence in Baghdad.

The streets of Baghdad were almost deserted late last night but many of the attacks have been aimed at US patrols enforcing an 11pm to 4am curfew.

General Sanchez told a media briefing that his intelligence officers had gathered significant amounts of information about the forces behind the attacks.

The coalition has stressed it does not see signs of any nationally co-ordinated guerilla army operating in Iraq but General Sanchez said there were locally co-ordinated campaigns of resistance. During the past week there had been an unprecedented number of mortar attacks, instead of the previous pattern of only light arms being fired at coalition troops.

In the 24 hours to noon on Thursday, for instance, there were seven attacks on the road from Amman, Jordan, to Baghdad, including several using mortars.

In the same period, mortars were fired on coalition forces near four cities that were previously Saddam Hussein strongholds – Ramadi, Fallujah, Tikrit and Balad.

The hostile forces included members of Hussein's Baath party, the volunteer Saddam Fedayeen militia and "maybe some special Republican Guards", General Sanchez said. "We have also seen some Iraqis who have been paid to go and attack Americans and they will do it because they are in dire need." "The war is not over – I keep saying that," he said. "There is terrorism and war fighting going on in Baghdad."

Apart from the politically motivated attacks, General Sanchez said the general level of crime in Baghdad was about the same as that of an American city of a similar size.

General Sanchez said he believed the coalition had a limited "window of opportunity" to get on top of the problems in Iraq before things could get worse.

It was crucial the economy be revived to improve living conditions and stop Iraqi society becoming more fractured and hostile to the coalition.

Members of the re-formed Iraqi police force in Fallujah, the site of several bloody clashes between locals and US troops, held their own protest on Thursday to demand that US forces leave the country.

Threatening to resign from the force unless the Americans set a departure date, the new police said that as long as their country was occupied by foreigners it would be impossible for them to do their job.

General Sanchez said it was the democratic right of the newly appointed policemen to protest but if they did quit they would simply be replaced by new recruits.

US commanders in Baghdad have dropped any pretence that the coalition operation and handover to Iraqi rule could be nearly as fast as American officials initially predicted.

U.S. raids firms over arms gear sold to Iran

By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Search warrants and grand jury subpoenas were served yesterday on 18 U.S. companies in 10 states in a massive raid by federal agents targeting the reported illegal exportation of American-made military components to a London front company that procures arms for the Iranian military.
The subpoenas and warrants were executed in Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin by agents from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS).
No arrests were reported, and no formal charges have been brought against any of the companies. The investigation is continuing.
"Keeping sensitive U.S. military technology from falling into the wrong hands is one of the most important missions of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security," said ICE Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia. "This case is a prime example of cooperation between ICE and the DCIS in our efforts to protect the American homeland and U.S. troops deployed around the world."
Affidavits filed in the case said the companies are suspected of illegally exporting items on the U.S. Munitions List without obtaining the required State Department export license — in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. ICE officials said the items included components for HAWK missiles, F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, F-4 Phantom fighters, F-5 fighters, C-130 Hercules aircraft, military radar and other equipment.
The affidavits also said the components were illegally shipped from the United States to Multicore Ltd., in London, a front company also known as AKS Industries, which is involved in procuring items for the Iranian military. The affidavits said Multicore conducts no legitimate business and receives military purchasing instructions directly from Iran.
"The lives of American war fighters can be placed at direct risk through illegal transfer of military components in violation of the Arms Export Control Act," said Defense Department Inspector General Joseph Schmitz.
"The protection of the American war fighter is the core mission of the DCIS, and as such, my office stands ready to deploy DCIS investigative resources, as necessary, to prevent any company from circumventing U.S. controls on technology transfer."
ICE officials described yesterday's raids as the culmination of a joint investigation that began in February 1999, when Customs Service and Defense Department agents received information on a Bakersfield, Calif., company known as Multicore Ltd. that was reportedly involved in the purchase of F-14 Tomcat parts.
The F-14 fighter is flown by two military services in the world: the U.S. Navy and the Iranian air force.
According to the officials, the agents determined that Multicore's parent company was in London. They executed search warrants on Multicore's storage facility in Bakersfield in December 2000 and seized thousands of aircraft and missile components bound for Iran, via Singapore, the officials said.
The items included HAWK missile components and parts for F-14 Tomcats. Agents documented more than 270 shipments of parts delivered to Multicore in Bakersfield from various U.S. companies, the officials said.
In December 2000, Multicore officers Saeed Homayouni, a naturalized Canadian from Iran, and Yew Leng Fung, a Malaysian citizen, were arrested in Bakersfield and charged with arms-export violations. In June 2001, Homayouni pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act. Fung pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, meaning he knew of a crime but failed to report it.
Based on the U.S. government's preliminary investigation, British authorities began their own inquiry into the export of military goods to Iran by Multicore. In May 2002, they executed search warrants on the company's London office, one residence and two storage facilities, finding thousands of aircraft and missile components as well as documents from the Iranian government asking Multicore to purchase military components.
ICE officials said British authorities also arrested Soroosh Homayouni, brother of Saeed, on charges of violating United Kingdom export laws. His case is pending in London.
In August 2002, ICE and DCIS agents met with British authorities to review evidence seized at Multicore's London office, including what authorities described as "voluminous documentary evidence in the form of parts, correspondence, shipping documents and invoices."
The evidence, ICE officials said, showed that more than 50 U.S. companies had shipped articles directly to Multicore in London after the U.S. raids on Multicore's Bakersfield storage facility in December 2000. The affidavits said each of the companies was investigated to determine whether it had complied with U.S. law by acquiring the necessary export licenses.
"The Department of Homeland Security protects our homeland in many ways not normally seen by the public," said Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border transportation security at the Department of Homeland Security. "This case illustrates one of those ways: keeping military components out of the hands of people who, by law, cannot possess them.
"We will continue to work with our partners throughout the world ... to control the illegal shipment of arms and military parts, and to protect the world from terrorism on all fronts," he said.

....and I think they may all be connected to the same small group.....

Aye. This was never out of the question. But if you are an organization and you have a man willing to kill (believe it or not fellow Freepers- to kill another human being is an incredible hurdle for anyone to overcome) it is sensible to assign numerous missions to one who has proven his ability to carry them out.

Let's put this in practical terms. Let's say you have one hundred young men who "profess" a willingness to make the jihad. But in practical terms, they only want a little pu$$y from the local women. They talk a big line of BS and deliver little other than to go out and shoot a lot of ammo through their AKs.

But then you have a fellow who doesn't brag at all. He has never made a big impact. He isn't after women. But privately, in his own twisted thoughts, he only wants to kill. Now, he has the perfect opportunity. He goes out and does it. He demonstrates his "power" to you. He goes out and does it again. Now you are convinced. You have a willing killer. He will profess to the jihadist cause so long as this means he can kill again. Who are you going to deploy if you have a few dollars to spend in this fight?

This must be considered.

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