Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

CRS report criticises madrassa reform

WASHINGTON: A report presented to Congress points out that although President Pervez Musharraf vowed to begin regulating Pakistan’s religious schools, and his government launched a five-year, $113 million plan to bring the teaching of “formal” or secular subjects to 8,000 “willing” madrassas, no concrete action was taken until June of that year, when 115 madrassas were denied access to government assistance due to their alleged links to militancy.

The report produced by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and written by its Asian affairs analyst K Alan Kornstadt, notes that President Musharraf set a December 31, 2002 deadline for such schools to register with the government or face closure. In November 2003, the government decided to allocate about $50 million annually to provide assistance to registered seminaries, especially by paying the salaries of teachers hired to teach non-religious subjects.

In July 2004, Pakistan’s then-education minister announced government agreements with private companies to provide computer education at all of the country’s public schools. She later declared Islamabad’s intention to provide financial grants to madrassas that seek to “impart modern-day education”.

According to the CRS report, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is implementing a five-year, $100 million bilateral agreement, signed in August 2002, to increase access to quality education throughout Pakistan, with an emphasis on Balochistan and Sindh.

“Yet the most notable project is Education Sector Reform Assistance (ESRA), which accounts for more than three-quarters of the USAID-reported $77.7 million budgeted to date. In this project, USAID contracted with the North Carolina-based Research Triangle Institute to strengthen education policies and planning, increase the capacity of teachers and education administrators, improve youth and adult literacy, expand public-private partnerships to improve access to and delivery of education services, and establish teaching methods that instil democratic attitudes and behaviours among children and educators and draw families into the life of the school community,” the CRS document states.

In financial year 2005, USAID will increase its funding for its Primary Education and Literacy programme in Pakistan to nearly $67 million, almost tripling the 2004 outlay of $24 million. There are concerns, however, that US funding to assist Pakistan’s education reform efforts has thus far been too small to have significant effect. Some analysts suggest that donors such as the US may do best to direct their resources at reform of Pakistan’s public education sector, as they see in this the most effective and least controversial means of reversing the influence of Islamic extremists and their threat to Pakistani stability.

According to CRS, while wealthy citizens are able to send their children to private, English medium schools, the vast majority of Pakistanis must choose between a deteriorated public system that can be physically difficult to access and religious schools that will feed, clothe, and oftentimes house their children for free. “Some analysts are critical of Pakistan government for what they view as excessive spending on the military in a country where abject poverty is rife. Corruption and economic demands also are factors. In many locales, schools and textbooks are available, and teachers are paid, but never report for work.”

Pakistani officials, the report points out, insist that President Musharraf is serious in his aims to bring madrassa curriculum closer in substance to that provided in non-religious schools, with the long-term goal being a curriculum that is nearly identical.”

Some Western NGOs, working with private donations, have teamed with local Islamic groups to reform madrassa curricula. “Despite President Musharraf’s repeated pledges to crack down on the more extremist madrassas in his country, there is little concrete evidence that he has done so. According to two observers, ‘most madrassas remain unregistered, their finances unregulated, and the government has yet to remove the jihadist and sectarian content of their curricula’. Many speculate that Musharraf’s reluctance to enforce reform efforts is rooted in his desire to remain on good terms with Pakistan’s Islamist political parties, which are seen to be an important part of his political base.”

The CRS document stresses that more than three years after its creation, the Pakistan Madrassa Education Board appears to have had “little success in fulfilling its mandate”. Resistance to reform efforts is not limited to Islamist groups, but can also been seen in the statements of Pakistan’s top political leaders. The September 2004 replacement of Education Minister Zobaida Jalal with former intelligence chief Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi was seen by some analysts as a “setback” to reform efforts.

Yet other observers see the move as potentially shielding the government from criticism by conservatives as it goes ahead with reform efforts. The CRS report says that even setting aside the question of President Musharraf’s sincerity and full commitment on this issue, resistance to the reform of Pakistan’s madrassas is “fierce”, and the schools identified as the most immediately threatening to Pakistani society and US interests - though small in number - may be immune to governmental pressure due to their access to external funding sources and their close connections to powerful Islamist politicians.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_3-1-2005_pg7_11

Note: The following text is an exact quote (minus the graphics):

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Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
www.joyjunction.org
Tel: (505) 400-7145

LAPORTE MAYOR ASKS FOR CONTINUED PRAYER FOR AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN'S SAFE RETURN FROM IRAQ

Image available at LaPorte Chamber of Commerce Website (www.lpchamber.com/ribbon.asp)

It's been more than a month since Indiana businessman Jeffrey Ake was reportedly abducted in Iraq and there is still no word of his whereabouts.

For residents, the lack of news is frustrating, according to LaPorte, Ind. (www.city-data.com/city/La-Porte-Indiana.html) Mayor Leigh Morris.

"People are still very concerned and would like to find a way to help," Morris told the LaPorte Herald-Argus (www.heraldargus.com/content/story.php?storyid=6225). "Without hearing anything or knowing anything, it's uncertain what is happening and it doesn't seem like there is anything that can be done."

In the meantime, Morris urged the community to continue to pray for Ake's safe return.

"I have a feeling anything that can be done to help free Jeff is being done. I know the U.S. government has a policy of not negotiating with terrorists and I understand that, but I'm sure other measures are being taken," Morris told the Herald-Argus.

Rev. Carl Galloway Jr., the pastor of the family's church, LaPorte Missionary Church, declined to comment, the Herald-Argus reported, "out of respect for the family."

The last news of Ake, 47, CEO and president of Equipment Express in Rolling Prairie (www.equipmentexpress24.com/About%20Us/abt-03-22-04.shtml),
came on videotape aired by Al-Jazeera television two days after he was reportedly abducted from a water treatment plant near Baghdad on April 11.

Image of Ake through Aljazeera

The tape, Al Jazeera reported (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CBACAB0D-1FAE-4BBE-9565-A34B59144DD1.htm ), showed Ake sitting behind a wooden desk and holding what appeared to be a passport and photo identification, as three men pointed their guns towards him. Ake pleaded with the US administration to open a dialogue with the "Iraqi resistance" and to work towards saving his life. Ake also urged American forces to leave Iraq.

Aljazeera commented that Ake's statements seemed to have been made under what it called "abnormal circumstances."

Aljazeera did not air the audio portion of the video or say how it obtained the tape.

Ake's company was contracted in 2003, the Herald-Argus reported, to build a system to manufacture, label and package water bottles in Iraq to be distributed to the war-torn country. The company also built a machine that fills containers with cooking oil to be used by Iraqis.

The FBI is working on the case. Special Agent Wendy Osborne, of the Indianapolis field office, told the Herald-Argus that there is no new information about the investigation she can currently release publicly.

Ake's wife, Liliana, and their four children have said nothing, the Herald-Argus reported. However, there is a "For Sale" sign outside the family home.

Relatives and friends of the family have also kept quiet. According to the Herald-Argus, Jeff's brother, Greg Ake, was "not available for comment" Monday, according to his wife, and company representatives at Equipment Express refused to comment when asked about the mood at the facility since Ake's disappearance.

Ken Coe, president of radio station WCOE in LaPorte, said callers to the station's talk shows have been puzzled by the silence.

"People are calling wanting to know what's going on, saying it's so quiet it's eerie," he told the Associated Press (AP) earlier this month.

Coe said the family asked the station to try to avoid talking about Ake, saying they feared any attention could endanger his life.

Experts in abductions told the AP there is good reason for the silence.

"The secrecy, or the silence, is beneficial only because every element of information that goes out should be very measured," said former FBI agent Bob Scigalski to the AP. "Just to report something might affect the guy's life. One doesn't know how they will react to it."

No group has yet claimed responsibility for Ake's apparent abduction.

In the days that followed the reported abduction, the Herald-Argus reported, the community planned a prayer vigil, which was later cancelled, and handed out ribbons to show support.

In an effort to raise money for the family, the LaPorte Wal-Mart began selling customized pins two weeks ago that read, "Jeff Ake: In our hearts and prayers, LaPorte, Indiana," beneath prayerful hands. But the Herald-Argus reported that at Liliana Ake's request, the money is instead going to the Rotary Club, of which Ake is a member, for its Shoes for Kids program.

More than 100 pins have been sold so far, Wal-Mart Assistant Manager and Community Involvement Coordinator Brian Bartlette told the Herald-Argus.

The Ake family approved the design before the store began selling the commemorative pins.

"We try to do whatever we can to help families in need," Bartlette told the Herald-Argus.

LA man arrested for falsely reporting relative to FBI as terrorist
May 17, 2005

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A long-running feud over property in Pakistan led a man to call a New Jersey police department and falsely accuse a relative of being an al-Qaida member plotting to blow up the "British Embassy" in Toronto, the FBI said.

Bukhtiar Abdul Latif Katchi, 34, of Los Angeles, was arrested Tuesday afternoon at his home and charged with making a false bomb threat. The relative, who was not identified, lived in Plainfield, N.J., and the two had been quarrelling over a piece of land in Pakistan, said Steven Siegel, an FBI special agent in the Newark office.

Katchi faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. He was being held without bail pending a hearing Thursday. He has agreed to go to New Jersey to face the charge, said U.S. attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek.

Katchi had made previous false accusations linking the relative to terrorism "but none had risen to this level of federal involvement," Siegel said.

The relative was thoroughly investigated and cleared of any terrorist links, Siegel said.

"The vast majority of investigations like this are poison-pen cases, anonymous calls or letters saying: 'Mister X is going to blow something up.' Unfortunately, in this day and age, they know we have to follow up every lead, no matter how preposterous it might sound," Siegel said.

The investigation wasted the time of numerous law-enforcement agents since the call was received last week.

"You had guys working 24-7 on this," Siegel said.

Pedro Ruiz, acting special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark office, said the case should serve as an example to others.

"When someone acts so irresponsibly that they would make a false alarm of this magnitude, their actions put the general public at risk. Those actions will not go unpunished," Ruiz said.

Katchi was accused of making an anonymous telephone call to the North Plainfield Police Department on May 8 from a pay phone in California. During the call, he told a dispatcher an individual who was a member of al-Qaida living in New Jersey was planning to bomb the "British Embassy" in Toronto, court documents said. Britain has a consulate in Toronto but does not have an embassy there.

After an investigation by the FBI's Newark and Los Angeles offices that included agents from the terrorism task force interviewing Katchi's relative at his home, agents then questioned Katchi.

He admitted placing the call to North Plainfield police and falsely accusing his relative, adding he came up with the idea after watching news coverage of a small explosion outside the British Consulate in New York City on May 5, the same day as Britain's national election, court documents said.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/05/17/1044282-ap.html

Some posters here may be interested in this:

Articles released to promote awareness of Islamic extremist threats in U.S.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1405319/posts

The United American Committee released it's newsletter today with articles by Robert Spencer, and other experts on Islamic terrorism in America. The U.A.C. Press is looking for contributors who may be interested in submitting articles for future issues. The newsletter can be found at http://www.unitedamericancommittee.org/uac_press_may_05.pdf Please forward this newsletter to all FReepers and fellow concerned citizens of America.

List of Hazards of Working with Different Chemical Substances

By SITE Institute
May 17, 2005

A message posted on al-Qaeda affiliated message board, which contains a special military section, on Thursday, May 12, 2005, provides a 3-page “List of Hazards of Working with Different Chemical Substances,” which contains a detailed map of the potential consequences of handling and being exposed to a range of 24 elements and their derivatives, including poisoning from lead, antimony, mercury, phosphorus, hydrocyanic acid, and tetrachloroethylene.

The author goes into considerable depth in describing the processes that may render lethal or carcinogenic forms of these substances, be it exposure to dust or fumes from chemical or physical reactions, or the elements themselves, and where they may be encountered. For example, concerning platinum poising, the message states that such a hazard may result from: “any process requiring exposure to platinum. This includes: intermediary chemical processes; work at petrol refineries; sulfure and nitrogen acids industry; and mixtures industry.”

http://siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications46805&Category=publications&Subcategory=0

The Army of Ansar Al Sunnah is momentarily found here :

http://ansar-army.tripod.com/

Some new video communiques from the Army of Ansar Al Sunnah :
???? ????? 9/ ???? ??????/1426 17/ ????/2005 ??????? ????

http://juggler.jp/Rinca/cgi-bin/source4/No_0006.zip
http://www.angelfire.com/ri2/ansar/KBR.zip
http://www.fastpages.com/thekingman/KBR.zip
http://webapp.fedriz.com/~play-yan/cgi-bin/source/yan0086.zip
http://keneath.gotdns.com/cgi-bin/uploader/source/yorumoni0357.zip

Also more operations in Iraq:

http://www.iaiiraq.net/16-5-2005.mpg

From ribaat.org:

Here are some moving images of the mujahideen brothers at the time of their passage in front of the court of injustice in Egypt..And the brother who sings whereas his torturers gather themselves together to apply their injustice to him..

http://hackjaponaise.cosm.co.jp/terror/1023200401.WMV

Al-Qaeda's "Center for Islamic Studies and Research" Warns Muslims About Information Leakages and Calls for the Use of Denial and Deception Technique

By SITE Institute
May 17, 2005

A past lecture authored by al-Qaeda’s research center, “The Center for Islamic Studies and Research”, also known as al-Neda, has been re-posted to the internet. The message directs Muslims not to "spread any information about the mujahideen which the enemy could benefit from." According to the Center, "It is well known that… America…is making a huge effort to collect information about the jihad and mujahideen from everywhere…the enemy has designated special organizations to analyze information, make links between the [pieces of information], and make conclusions out of [the information]." Thus, "Any Muslim who supports jihad and the mujahideen should not spread any information about the mujahideen…The most dangerous information is information which mentions the names of the mujahideen, times, places, numbers of mujahideen, amounts of supplies and weaponry, and ways of communication."

In several places throughout the lecture, the author alludes to the use of "prevention security", better known in the military as a Denial and Deception campaign of providing false information to the enemy. This technique "...is intended to spread false information to mislead the enemy…" The author entreats readers to understand that "The mujahideen know which information to say, which to keep, and what false information to spread to fool the enemy…They know what they are doing, and they have information channels that they can use to spread any information they want to spread... War is not an information race…"

The Center describes American intelligence picking "up information that the mujahideen are about to execute a large operation, but the information does not say when or where this operation is….then the enemy picks up another piece of information which talks about selling a certain quantity of military weaponry and ammunition from a specific place…Then, the enemy picks up another piece of information pointing out the movement of a number of mujahideen to the mountains surrounding a certain city…Once they get all this information collected in one center, they analyze it in detail using a preexisting database. They tie all of the messages together and can come up with what the mujahideen intend to do…"

He finishes by asking civilian Muslims to "…let the mujahideen manage the information war as they let them manage the military war…"

http://siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications47005&Category=publications&Subcategory=0

How does this sole survivor guy sleep at night?

I wish the lady who wrote "Overlooked immigration points" would sit down and have a heart to heart with Pres. Bush.

Hi Oorang! Found myself in total agreement with that commentary and your wish as well!

Hmmm..

If I'm not mistaken, I've seen fastpages and juggler used before as urls.

Thanks Penguino.

...investigation into how a lethal strain of tularemia ended up in a Boston University laboratory, where three workers were exposed to the bacteria while working on what they believed was a dormant sample of tularemia.

So how promising does that delay sound for these 3 workers?

>> This is the reason I found FR and TM. We can't count on the MSM to tell us the truth (without editorial slant) or to give us more of the type of news that actually matters to Americans (NOT entertainment news). I'll have no trust of those who spin the news toward their agenda until they themselves are tossed.

Well said, as usual, and so true. Personally, I find much better editors and journalists right here.

They were dated today and claiming them new, so I just put them out there.

AQ refers to Condoleeza Rice as The Crusaders Hag

Oh no doubt they are new.
I meant the root url

Thanks Mama Dearest for that post.

Let's take a look at some of their other
peaceful and profound statements.

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050517/ts_nm/iraq_qaeda_sunnis_dc_1

"Iraq's Qaeda warns Sunnis against constitution"
Tue May 17, 2:46 AM ET
DUBAI (Reuters) -

ARTICLE SNIPPET: :"The crusaders' hag (Rice) came to sully the land of the caliphate...and wants the participation of apostates and secularists claiming to be Sunnis," the group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said in the statement posted on Tuesday on a Web site used by Islamists on Tuesday.

"Would anyone draft the constitution other than those who do not believe in God's book...," said the statement dated May 16.

"Our Sunni faith stipulates that the sword and bullets be the only dialogue between us and worshippers of the cross.""

Thank you and much appreciated penguino. Newspapers are losing money daily in this country and TV news anchors are figureheads (entertainers themselves) with attitude. They are NOT charismatic purveyors of credible news.

It's no wonder radio talk shows and the internet are the most popular sources of news information.

Who is willing to pay for bytes of the Big Apple?

Newspapers losing subscribers

ON THE NET...

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=15888_PA_Sermon-_Muslims_Will_Rule_the_World_Jews_Are_a_Virus&only

"The crusaders' hag (Rice) came to sully the land of the caliphate..

Incredible how they spew venom at the US and its leaders, yet become totally finger-pointing, name-calling, irrational and hateful in unison by what appears to be the majority of their population for even the hint of an unproven innacurate claim. They show no respect TO us, but expect it FROM us.