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Head of Islamic Jihad Taught Middle East Studies at US University
16:24 Mar 07, '05 / 26 Adar 5765

(IsraelNN.com) The terrorist behind the Stage Club in Tel Aviv over a week ago taught Middle East Studies at a University in the US before he moved to Syria.

47-year-old Ramadan Shallah is the head of Islamic Jihad who was caught on tape ordering the attack by telephone from Damascus. A transcript of the call was given to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Shallah was a PhD student at Durham University, in England from 1985-1990, where he wrote his thesis on the merits of Islamic Banking.

Shallah then moved from Durham to the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he taught Middle Eastern studies and headed the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, a think tank affiliated with the university.

In 1995 he became the head of Islamic Jihad and is now wanted for murder by Israel.

http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=77982

Steven Emerson to Testify at Helsinki Commission Russia-Syria Hearing

The U.S. Helsinki Commission will hold a hearing on March 9, from 1 to 3 pm, in 226 Dirksen Senate Office building, on the Russian-Syrian connection and threats to democracy in the Middle East and the greater OSCE region. Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) will preside over the hearing, and Steven Emerson will testify.

Other witnesses will include Dr. Walid Phares of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy; Farid N. Ghadry, President, Reform Party of Syria; Entifadh K. Qanbar, Special Envoy and Spokesperson, United Iraqi Alliance; and Ilan Berman, V.P. for Policy at the American Foreign Policy Council.
http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/03/steven_emerson_.html

The U.N. Returns to Mushy Reporting

The United Nations Monitoring Team, designed to support the U.N. Security Council's Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee has made public its second report.

Unfortunately, it shows a marked return toward the vague generalities, endless qualification and toothlessness that characterizes so much of the U.N. (and U.S. government) reporting. It was not always like this. When the Monitoring Group was led by Michael Chandler, (and where our collegue Vic Comras did admirable work) the unit produced comprehensive, educational reports with valid case studies and sometimes-biting critiques of member nations. It also, for that brief time it was operational, had the audacity to name names, and take individual member states to task for such serious lapses as allowing specially designated individuals to move their money around at will, despite international freezing orders. That seems to have been the Group's undoing. After what turned out to be its last report, the U.N. Security Council, responding to member pressure, disbanded the Group and replaced it with a two-person Team. The difference is that the Team, no matter how well intentioned, has neither the resources nor the mandate to do its job. Not that the Group had the resources, but it did a great deal with very little.

Now the cuts in resources and staff are so draconian as to render the Team reports virtually meaningless. It is a major loss, because the Group had access to a wide array of information and intelligence that the U.S. intelligence community and others do not routinely access.

There are a few nuggets tucked away in the report, but almost everything reported is so blindingly obvious even to the uninitiated that it is hard to get through. One thing of interest we find is that, since 9-11, no country has reported stopping anyone on the international travel ban list. This is a stunning indictment of the lack of effectiveness of that list. No one stopped even one person in 3 1/2 years. Wow! A whopping 30 percent of the world's nations have not bothered with the U.N. requirement to submit a series of reports on terrorist activities, a number that is surprising only because 70 percent have actually tried to do something. We learn al Qaeda may be interested in weapons of mass destruction and still has access to money. Shocking! It can all be found here. For the full blog go here.

Posted by Douglas Farah at 04:31 PM | Permalink

http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/03/the_un_returns_.html

Thanks Velveeta.
I learn something new everyday.

http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=77982
"Head of Islamic Jihad Taught Middle East Studies at US University"
16:24 Mar 07, '05 / 26 Adar 5765

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speaking of Islamic Jihad -- Note: The following text is an exact quote:
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http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/003764.html

March 07, 2005

Hamas and Islamic Jihad deny Syria's expelling their chiefs

www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-07 21:26:46:
GAZA, March 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The Palestinian radical groups Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) denied on Monday that Syria had deported their Damascus-based chiefs.

The denial was made following US media report that Syria had expelled the militant groups' leaders.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told reporters, "There is nothingnew in the Syrian attitude toward the movement's leadership that deserves to comment on it."

Abu Zuhri added that the movement's leadership moves freely in the Arab countries and that the movement has no bureau in Syria or in any other countries to be closed.

Meanwhile, sources of Jihad also denied the US report, saying, "This is a mistaken report and faraway from any truth and this is considered a part of the international pressures campaign that is imposed on Syria."

Khaled al-Batch, local leader of Jihad in the Gaza Strip, said he believed that these claims "aim to divide the Palestinians."

The US and Israel accused Damascus-based Islamic Jihad leaders of plotting and ordering the suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv nightclub on Feb.25 which left five Israelis dead and more than 50 others wounded, and Syria was therefore held responsible for the attack. But Damascus denied the charge.
CONTINUE...

Posted by aaron at March 07, 2005 10:39 AM