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Posted on 10/01/2005 8:27:27 AM PDT by nwctwx
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Threat Matrix HTML designed by: Ian Livingston
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http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.223834268&par=0
ERRORISM: INTERNET TERROR THREATS TO OMAR SHARIF
AKI - Rome,Italy
(AKI) - Death threats to the ... A threatening message from user 'bachirma1' on one of
the forums used by jihadi groups linked to al-Qaeda, reads:"In my view Omar ...
Night has just fallen in that area, so I wonder of the "Night of
Determination" has begun a worldwide sweep.<<<
You could be correct.
There are attacks by terrorists in India every day, it is just rare that you hear it on the news.
For some reason, I have set google alerts that catch them, many are at sites that I cannot open, but I get a line or two on them.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=19694#
The spies just may end up loving us
By Rami G. Khouri
Commentary by
Saturday, October 29, 2005
This is a moment of potential change in Washington and its foreign policy, for two main reasons: domestic pressures, legal problems and
strengthening opposition may reduce President George W. Bush's power in the last three years of his second term; and new approaches or
tactics may be sought to address some of the nagging issues that challenge the United States abroad, especially with respect to Iraq, Iran
and the declared American policy of promoting democracy and freedom.
The Middle East has been the focus of the Bush team's foreign policy since September 11, 2001, and it continues to define important
aspects of America's engagement with the world. Viewed from both the U.S. and the Middle East alike, the relationship between these two
regions seems to touch on a series of issues that is each important in its own right. Together, they comprise a rich and compelling agenda
of mutual engagement that offers both befuddling challenges and historical opportunities. Into this broad tapestry of issues has now been
added the striking and important announcement that was made in Washington earlier this week, namely that efforts "to bolster the growth
of democracy" are now among the top three missions for American intelligence agencies around the world.
This is intriguing, to say the least, and a very positive development in many ways, but also perilous in others. It has to be viewed within
the wider context of the multiple big issues that define U.S.-Middle East relations: Iraq; Arab-Israeli peace-making; Iran's nuclear
ambitions; terrorism; the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; the promotion of democracy and the rule of law; the enhancement
of socio-economic development and meeting basic human needs; Turkey and its moves to enter the European Union; global diplomatic
intervention in the Lebanon-Syria arena via the UN Security Council; and securing energy supplies.
Other issues in the region also deserve our attention, such as Darfur, the status and rights of women, youth conditions and prospects,
minority rights, migrant workers' rights, and water sharing and environmental issues, to mention just a few. But the 10 issues I mentioned
above resonate widely around the region and the world, and in most cases have already generated serious interventions by foreign powers.
The U.S., whether one likes it or not, remains the major power that usually tries to define the agenda, and the means, of foreign
intervention in the Middle East. This is done through war and occupation, regime-change threats or implementation, economic pressures
and embargos, diplomatic action or positive economic and other inducements that aim to foster changes in the behavior of various Middle
Eastern governments or political movements.
At this moment of subtle reassessment in how it intervenes and engages diplomatically in the region, Washington is also absorbing the
important lessons of several parallel dynamics: its difficult military and political experience in Iraq, the more successful effort to pressure
Syria via UN Security Council resolutions, the ongoing diplomatic engagement of Iran via EU states, the apparent breakthrough on nuclear
issues with North Korea, and the still strong backlash around the world to U.S. attempts to define a global agenda on fighting terror,
promoting democracy and holding accountable perpetrators of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
So when Washington's new strategy document formally makes promoting democracy among the top three missions for its intelligence
agencies (the other two are counterterrorism and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction), we in the Middle East
should judge this in the wider context of the issues that concern us and the dynamics that bind us to the U.S. and other foreign powers. In
this respect, it is certainly good that Washington now institutionalizes democracy and the rule of law as primary, long-term goals of its
foreign policy, moving beyond only the rhetorical flourishes of presidential speeches aimed mainly at domestic audiences.
It is more problematic that this is to be done in part through the work of the CIA and other intelligence agencies. This is not unusual for
the U.S., though, which normally talks about and dances around the challenge of promoting democracy and freedom in the Middle East,
rather than grappling with it directly through a more consistent set of policies that seek freedom in Palestine as well as Iraq, and
democracy in Tunisia as well as Lebanon. It is somewhat awkward for the U.S. to promote democracy through spies and spin doctors - in
other words through its intelligence agencies and its naive public diplomacy efforts now headed by the heroic Karen Hughes, who carries the
burdens of her impossible mission on strong Texan shoulders.
Despite these misgivings, the world should seriously explore this new U.S. strategy. We should welcome the professed American goals to
promote democracy, especially throughout the Middle East, but we should also make it clear that this policy will fail if it is implemented with
the same inappropriate tactics and tone - unilateralism, militarism, selective and erratic implementation, the dictating of goals, efforts to
buy partners and friends - that have plagued other American efforts in this respect. We who are the intended beneficiaries and targets of
this policy should engage the U.S. and others in the West to ensure that it does bring about flourishing Middle Eastern democracies that we
have long sought for ourselves. Such success requires a change in traditional American diplomatic policies, tactics and styles, as well as a
change in Arab attitudes that have generally shunned or discounted the seriousness of American efforts in this direction.
A strategy document for U.S. intelligence agencies for promoting democracy and the rule of law around the world is a lot more meaningful
in my book than a speech by the American president. We must move quickly to find out if this is another Western or American deception,
or a serious strategic shift. We must call America's bluff on this to determine if it is, indeed, a bluff or not. If it is serious, however, we
would be criminally negligent to ignore what may be a historic opportunity for Arabs, other Middle Easterners, Americans and the Western
democracies to work together - perhaps for the first time in the past century - for goals that would generate a win-win situation for all
concerned. We have work to do.
From nw_arizona_granny's post:
http://www.efenews.com/detalleFrontPage.asp?opcion=0&id=291495
Argentine police focus on preventing disturbances at summit
Posted on Friday, October 28, 2005 at 9:47am
The security chief for the upcoming Summit of the Americas said
Thursday that Argentine officials' focus was on preventing disturbances
during the gathering of 34 heads of state and government. Carlos
Pardal, a high-level Argentine Federal Police official, said security
planners contemplate the possibility of clashes with demonstrators out to
protest the presence of U.S. President George W. Bush during the Nov.
4-5 summit in Mar del Plata, a resort city some 400 kilometers (249
miles) south of Buenos Aires.
Full Story at the link
I always appreciate you links, LiberyRocks.
Unable to open this site:
http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=43600
HM man arrested with mobile phones, sim card
NewKerala.com - Ernakulam,Kerala,India
Jammu: A Hizbul Mujahideen(HM) supporter was apprehended by security forces at
Khara, 14 km south-east of Suigarh, in Doda district. ...
I'm not hitting the keys this morning...forgive my errors.
Why on earth is President Bush even going there?
They need to take the Sheriff from Georgia there, he did a good job of that last meeting of G-8.
If 10,000 show up in a small town, it is going to be a real danger to everyone there.
This just sounds like a test to see how quickly the "test smell" penetrated the area. I hate to think what comes next.
Total of 6 explosions now. Confirmed Terrorist Attack (per live News from India - DDLive). They are rumors and such that the attack is much like typical Al Qaeda type strikes... Many dead. At least 20 bodies in one hospital. Feed keeps cutting out on me, so it's hard to get a clear picture of what's happening - lots of confusion. Tense faces, but not a lot of fear...
I think it's 95% if you don't reach a doctor in about the first day or two. If you do reach one, the mortality will still be high, just not quite 95%.
Nasty stuff.
OK, now they are saying only 3 bombs again... reported at least 50 fatalities... I'll try to get more accurate information.
>> So when you hug Clyde, for me, call him King. <<
Will do Granny. Will do.
I've been cautioned about about someone possibly stealing Clyde. When out I never leave him. IN fact, the ladies at the Dollar Store let me bring him in to shop with me.
OK Confirmation of 6 blasts from this site:
http://www.india-defence.com/reports/773
SIXTH LEAD
1) Nearly confirmed 50 dead, 125 injured in 6 blasts in New Delhi.
2) City Police Commissioner suspects this to be a Lashkar revenge attack on the Hindu community.
Looks like they are updating the above site frequently. The live feed just went back to non-English reporting.
It might well be the same person, but one of the frustrating things for the alphabets has been the number of Muslims who share the same name. This isn't too uncommon even for English names (as it turns out my own name is identical with several other people's names which has caused a little confusion over the years). It is however apparently much worse in Arabic where the first and last names are each chosen from a much smaller pool of common names.
Definitely worth a look though.
Off Topic:
An interesting report on his trip to Tanzania and Zanzibar,
not politics, simple and cheap real life tourist.
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2005/10/28/news/tanzania.html
The terrorists are able to find a reason to strike, out of thin air.
In India, today is called "Black Day", I posted it on the India thread, about post 53.
Thank you for the updates..
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=9283
US Demands Syria Shut Down Islamic Jihad
The Conservative Voice - Kernersville,NC,USA
By Sher Zieve -- Joining Russia, the UN and the EU, on Friday the US demanded that
Syria shut down Islamic Jihad offices in Damascus. ...
http://www.fox23news.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=2210207C-10A5-4B1B-9472-22A4D106253E
Muslim doctor is sent to prison for more than two decades for charity fraud
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - An Iraqi doctor once tagged as a terrorism suspect and later convicted of conspiring to
violate U.S. sanctions was sentenced Thursday to 22 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors had continued to argue that Dr. Rafil Dhafir had terrorist ties that made him a national security
threat and urged a sentence of at least 24 years.
Defense attorney Deveraux Cannick had sought leniency for his 57-year-old client, saying he had done good works
for patients and for Iraqis who suffered because of Saddam Hussein and the first Gulf War.
Dhafir was convicted in February on 59 counts including misusing $2 million that donors gave to his unlicensed
charity, Help the Needy, and spending $544,000 for his own purposes.
The jury said Dhafir - an oncologist who practiced in Rome, N.Y. - also defrauded Medicare out of $316,000 by
billing for treatments as if he'd been in his office, when he was actually out of state or overseas. Dhafir was also
found guilty of evading $400,000 in federal income tax payments by writing off the illegal charity donations.
Source: The Associated Press
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