Replies

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=38496

Mirwaiz Hurriyat inducts Qureshi, Aga in Executive Council
NewKerala.com - Ernakulam,Kerala,India
... Mr Qureshi shot to the limelight when he acted as a mediator between the Centre and
the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen militant outfit in 2000. ...

http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=106190

US U2s, Satellites aid Pakistan Quake Relief.

Thousands of photos, maps, reports given to Pakistan of the quake area's.

http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2005/10/21/pf-1271960.html

Canadians join
insurgency

By BILL RODGERS, Parliamentary Bureau

A number of radicals from Canada -- fewer than 10 --
have slipped across borders to join the fighting in Iraq,
CSIS director Jim Judd said during a break at an annual
gathering of intelligence experts in Montreal yesterday.

"We know of others who may be planning to," he added.
"I don't think there's anything we can do legally to
prevent this."

Judd, who said CSIS had informed the U.S. government,
made the comments at a conference of the Canadian
Association for Security and Intelligence Studies.

Contacted by Sun Media last night, a spokesman for the
Prime Minister's Office directed inquiries to Public Safety
Minister Anne McLellan even though CBC-TV had
reported that Prime Minister Paul Martin's first reaction
was one of anger when informed of Judd's comments.

Alex Swann, a spokesman for McLellan played down the
comments by the spy agency boss, saying Judd alluded
to the participation of Canadian radicals in the Iraqi
insurgency when he appeared before a special Senate
committee reviewing terrorism last March 7.

Judds remarks prompted an immediate response from
Conservative foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day, who
said the Martin government "must do everything
possible to condemn and discourage" such activity.

bill.rodgers@ott.sunpub.com

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1506688/posts

Ready for Jihad
Evning News (Vecernje Novosti) ^ | October 21st 2005. | Milovan Drecun

Posted on 10/21/2005 9:10:04 AM PDT by kronos77

As from 1992 Al-Khaida has ith branches in Bosnia and from 1999 on
Kosovo. On Kosovo, there are intensive terrorist training, new idea is
to attack targets in Serbia and Europe. British ibstructors payed by
Albanian mafia are training Albanian Jihadists on kosovo, speciali
suicide womens bombers, whom relatives and family members were
killed in 1999 war. Emir Mussa Ayzi, recruiter formed in 2003 groud
called "White divills" suicide bombers to act in Serbia, Israel and
Europe. Other instructors are Jihadists from Bosnia, former fighters in
anti-Serb war. Training camps are also in Northern Albania, supported
by present Albanian presidend.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1506770/posts

Three MS-13 members held after cross-country
effort
The Washington Times ^ | 10-21-05 | Amy Doolittle

Posted on 10/21/2005 11:18:35 AM PDT by JZelle

Three suspected MS-13 gang members were arrested in Vienna, Va.,
Wednesday night after police tracked their activity among Los
Angeles, Massachusetts and Virginia for five months. One of the men
is wanted for an MS-13-related slaying in Massachusetts. All three are
illegal immigrants from El Salvador. Alexander Dominguez, 24, is
accused of shooting Miguel Mendez, 37, outside a house in New
Bedford, Mass., in October 2004. He is wanted on a Massachusetts
warrant and has been traveling with Jorge Alberto Platero Castillo and
Jose Zosimo Platero Mercado, two suspected MS-13 members from
Los Angeles. They were arrested by U.S. marshals at about 6 p.m.
Wednesday at the Vienna apartment where they were staying.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...

TerroristWarning.com Terrorism Headlines 10/21/2005 # 1

National:

[WISH TV] INDIANA - Teen Arrested After A Bomb Was Found In His Fishers Home

"14-year-old may have found bomb-making instructions on the internet"

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3996553&nav=0Ra7

[CBC News] CANADA - Suspicious package at mayor's cottage

http://montreal.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=qc-package20051019

[ChicoER.com] CALIFORNIA - Suspicious luggage closes downtown streets for more than three hours

"Officer Ted McKinnon said the placement of the items beside a gas main, outside a federal building, warranted calling in a bomb disposal team and shutting down streets surrounding the post office"

http://www.chicoer.com/local_news/ci_3129926

[Lowell Sun] MASS - Suspicious box brings downtown to halt

http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_3131442

[Decatur Daily] ALABAMA - No danger in suspicious package in Madison

"Apparently one of the staff members opened a letter, it was a strange-looking letter, and they said they felt sick immediately after opening the letter,"

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/051019/danger.shtml

[Statesman Journal] OREGON - Street closes for 90 minutes after discovery of a suspicious suitcase [False alarm]

http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051019/NEWS/510190333/1001

[ChannelCincinnati.com] OHIO - Scary Odor A Mystery

"odor gave crew members itchy, watery eyes"

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/health/5125157/detail.html

[Daily Press] VIRGINIA - Misinformation prompts local bridge-tunnel closing

"The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was closed, but officials aren't sure why"

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-05663sy0oct19,0,6691376.story?coll=dp-news-local-final

[CNN] MARYLAND - Officials: Tunnel threat tip came from Netherlands

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/19/baltimore.tunnel/index.html

[AP] USA - Appeals Court Allows Hatfill to Sue Times

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/19/AR2005101900274_pf.html

[SITE] USA - The Jihadi Nuclear Bomb and Methods of Nuclear Enrichment

http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications108105&Category=publications&Subcategory=0

[AACRAO] OKLAHOMA - Bloggers and Local TV Speculate about Oklahoma Student’s Suicide

"KWTZ correspondent Tamara Pratt reported that Hinrichs had spent “much of his time at the Norman mosque” and had bought an airline ticket to Algeria. Brian Eckert, News 9’s managing editor, stands
by Ms. Pratt’s report."

“no evidence of a conspiracy involving others which creates an ongoing threat to our OU community.”

http://www.aacrao.org/transcript/index.cfm?fuseaction=show_view&doc_id=2908

[Gwinnett Daily Post] GEORGIA - Police respond to package marked 'bomb'

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=32&url_article_id=7670&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2

[East Carolinian] SOUTH CAROLINA - Suspicious backpack near Jenkins Fine Art Center gets authorities attention

http://www.theeastcarolinian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/20/435700069b573

[KFSN] CALIFORNIA - IRS Employees Exposed to Suspicious Material

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=3552306

[Eurekalert] USA - Stopping nuclear smugglers

"It's been a long day at the Port of New York and New Jersey. Officials have wasted precious time and money opening up or X-raying at least 150 incoming freight containers. They turn out to be full of
cat litter, ceramic tiles or bananas "

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-10/ns-sns101905.php

[NBC17.com] NORTH CAROLINA - Wal-Mart Evacuated After Shoppers Report Burning Eyes, Coughing

http://www.nbc17.com/news/5129983/detail.html

[Voices Magazine / Jim Kouri] USA - Former Navy Officer Arrested For Arms Trafficking

",said he made the illegal exports at the direction of Arif Ali Durrani, a Pakistani national convicted in 1987 of exporting missile guidance systems to Iran"

http://voicesmag.com/Archives/kouri/former_navy_officer_arrested_102005.htm

[WGRZ] NEW YORK - Explosive Day in WNY [ ATF Drill ]

http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=32478

[Collegiate Times] VIRGINIA - Animal rights activists shouldn't be labeled as terrorists [ TW Editors Note: We disagree ]

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/news/2/ARTICLE/5914/2005-10-20.html?sid=09045d244ea2ab4e70ce9bc56cc58312

[Amador Ledger-Dispatch] CALIFORNIA - Three ELF defendants plead guilty to arson charges [Earth Liberation Front]

"22-year-old Newcastle man, linked to an environmental terrorist group, pleaded guilty in federal court in Sacramento on Friday to three felonies in the February arson that damaged the Pine Woods
apartment complex in Sutter Creek and earlier attempts to burn two buildings in Placer County"

http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=170759

[BBC] USA / VENEZUELA - US planning invasion, says Chavez

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4359386.stm

International:

[Pravda] RUSSIA - Chechen terrorists rumored to possess nuclear weapons provided by disgraced Russian oligarch

http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/354/16321_Berezovsky.html

[AP] UNITED KINGDOM - British Newspaper Says It Believes Reporter Kidnapped in Iraq

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBIJAFOZEE.html

[Voices Magzaine] NORTH KOREA / USA - Any N. Korean Nuclear Agreement Needs Verification: Rumsfeld

http://voicesmag.com/Archives/News/oct2005/any_nkorean_nuclear_verification_rumsfeld_101805.htm

[Reuters] BANGLADESH - Bangladesh judge hurt in bomb attack

"homemade bomb exploded as he just got out of a car in front of his house in the city if Sylhet"

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-10-19T084007Z_01_MOR931179_RTRUKOC_0_US-BANGLADESH-BOMB.xml&archived=False

[DPA] BANGLADESH - Police unearth bomb factory in Bangladesh mosque

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2005/October/subcontinent_October758.xml&section=subcontinent&col=

[Ahwaz] IRAN - Iran-UK Relations Threatened as New Bomb is "Discovered

"security forces claimed they had foiled an attempt to blow up the Kianpars bridge in Ahwaz City"

http://www.ahwaz.org.uk/2005/10/iran-uk-relations-threatened-as-new.html

[AFX] TURKEY - Bomb blasts hit southeast Turkey, no casualties

"Two separate bomb blasts rocked the mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkish cities of Batman and Yuksekova "

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/10/20/afx2288692.html

[Radio Polonia] POLAND - Bomb alert jams traffic in Polish capital

http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=28779&j=2

[Times of India] INDIA - 'Bomb' sends police in a tizzy

"suspicious object, which was presumed to be a bomb, was found on the railway track near Kalasamudram village in Kadiri"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1267373.cms

[Xinhua] ARGENTINA - Bomb explodes in Argentina prior to Bush's visit

"Argentina has seen a series of attacks targeting US banks and businesses with substantial US investment in the past two weeks."

http://english.people.com.cn/200510/20/eng20051020_215536.html

[Bangkok Post] THAILAND - Militants bomb train carrying troops but none hurt in blasts

"three bombs, believed to have weighed 15kg each, were made out of fire extinguishers stuffed with explosives. They were buried under the tracks."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/20Oct2005_news07.php

[Narromine News and Trangie Advocate] AUSTRALIA - Suspicious substance discovered

http://narromine.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=432660&y=2005&m=10

[Reuters] RUSSIA - Chechen police chief orders masked men to be shot

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1885962.htm

[PTI] SRI LANKA - Tighter security for Lanka candidates amid suicide bomb fears

"fears that Tamil tigers may resort to suicide bombings against key politicians "

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200510201614.htm

[Taiwan News] TAIWAN / CHINA - Taiwan could be 'swallowed' by PRC, European scholar says

"scholar said that if Taiwan refuses to reunify with China on Beijing's terms, then China will use ballistic missiles to attack the island by 2014 or set up a naval blockade of the island"

http://www.etaiwannews.com/showPage.php?setupFile=showcontent.xml&menu_item_id=MI-1123666634&did=d_1129772039_51984_46462c1562bad208_10&area=taiwan&area_code=00000

[AFP] FRANCE - EU troops stage exercise based on protecting an oil-rich country

http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051019131749.6vku6jmw.html

[Xinhua] PHILIPPINES - 2002 Bali bombers hiding in Mindanao: Military

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/19/content_3647345.htm

[The Media Line] USA - Jihadist Forums - Producing a More Savvy Next Generation

"Jihadist groups operating online appear to be raising awareness about information and communications security, and stressing the importance of technical know-how in conducting successful
operations"

http://themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=11566

[Mirror] PAKISTAN - 79,000 DIE And quake toll includes al-Qaeda terrorists

"it was also revealed that hundreds of al-Qaeda terrorists had perished in several of their training camps which were destroyed"

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16270767&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=79-000-die--name_page.html

[The Peninsula] AFGHANISTAN - Afghan official shot dead in mosque [While saying prayers]

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippines+%26+South+Asia&month=October2005&file=World_News2005102032713.xml

[Reuters] IRAQ - U.S. says kills senior Qaeda leader in west Iraq

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-10-20T134614Z_01_ROB049548_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-MILITANT.xml&archived=False

[Sun Star] PHILIPPINES - Huge cache of explosives, guns confiscated from rebel camp

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/man/2005/10/21/news/huge.cache.of.explosives.guns.confiscated.from.rebel.camp.html

[Strategy Page] SAUDI ARABIA - The Lesser of Two Evils in Saudi Arabia

"October 13th, a new Islamic terrorist group announced its formation in Saudi Arabia. The “Echo of Tuwayq Brigades in al-Zulfa" declared themselves part of the Organization of al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula"

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/urbang/articles/20051020.aspx

October 21, 2005 Anti-Terrorism News

International Terrorist Network Active in Russia â€” Prosecutor
http://mosnews.com/news/2005/10/21/shepelsays.shtml

5th Man Arrested in Baltimore Terror Probe
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5357921,00.html

Coast Guard brain is 2nd leak suspect
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/357806p-304841c.html

Iraq is 'great black hole' sucking up radicals: French judge
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=25&story_id=24652&name=Iraq+is+%27black+hole%27+sucking+up+radicals%3A+French+judge

(Thailand criticizes Saudi) Islamic group told to 'read the Koran'
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20051020-114124-1630r.htm

Syria linked to assassination, U.N. says
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/20/lebanon.hariri/index.html

Al Qaeda Big Killed in Iraq
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172895,00.html
Sa'ad Ali Firas Muntar al Dulaymi (aka Abu Abdullah), believed to have
facilitated high-level meetings in Ramadi and Fallujah, killed near
Ramadi - at least 11 other terrorists killed in operation

Abbas asks Bush to free terror chief
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46939
Marwan Barghouti, a founder of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, now serving
multiple life terms in Israeli prison for killings of four Israelis and
Greek monk

Sept group spreading terror (India)
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=6586&CatID=2
"Over two-dozen highly trained terrorists who entered Jammu and Kashmir
in September may be behind the recent high profile attacks"

British Muslim group declares new jihad
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3156809,00.html

UK government angry as terrorism suspects get bail
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051020/wl_nm/security_britain_dc;_ylt=ArCnmuZ6vdx6eZdw6CLgT6is0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-

Bahraini Journalist: Not Since the Nazi Era Has There Been Anything
Like Al-Qaeda's Declaration of War on the Shi'ites in Iraq
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD101005

FBI slammed for fighting 9/11 reforms
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/20/fbi.reform/index.html

(Israel) Hamas Remains a Terror Organization
http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=91578

INFLUENZA - EUROPE: RISK ASSESSMENT *********************************** A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases ___________________________________________________________ [1] Date: Fri 21 Oct 2005 From: ProMED-mail Source: Eurosurveillance Weekly, Volume 10 / Issue 10, Thu 20 Oct 2005 [edited] _____________________________________________________________ Very low risk to human health from A/H5N1 avian influenza in Europe according to ECDC risk assessment -------------------------------------------------------------------- The direct risk to the health of people in Europe from the avian influenza detected in Romania and Turkey is very low, according to experts from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The risk is almost entirely confined to people living on farms with infected poultry or workers involved with culling (killing) and disposal of infected birds. ---------------------------------- There has been considerable confusion in the media about the arrival of avian influenza A/H5N1 into bird flocks in Europe and the arrival of pandemic influenza. Not only could this confusion cause unnecessary anxiety and fear of harmless wild birds, it could undermine efforts to prepare for a pandemic, as a pandemic may not occur for several years and may not be caused by H5N1 avian influenza at all. There are many other candidate human and animal influenza strains. --------------------------------- The ECDC has recently published interim guidance for workers directly involved in controlling avian influenza (1). The guidance will help to ensure that all necessary precautions are taken to prevent human infections among these workers. Protection is based on 6 principles: -------------------------------- (1) Controlling infection in birds (2) Minimising the number of people possibly exposed to the virus (3) Proper use of personal protective equipment for those working with potentially infected animals (4) Vaccinating the above described workers with seasonal influenza vaccine, especially if seasonal influenza is circulating, to aid in correct diagnosis of influenza-like illness and to minimise the chance of viral reassortment should a person become dually infected. (5) Careful surveillance for infection among those potentially exposed, and instant treatment if cases identified --------------------------------- The precautions for the general public in Europe, whether or not they are in a specific risk group in places where A/H5N1 is known or suspected to be present, is normal good personal hygiene (hand washing, especially after contact with birds) and in particular, not touching birds found sick or dead. It is also recommended that people follow pre-existing advice to cook eggs and poultry thoroughly to prevent infection by salmonella and other organisms, as well as the almost non-existent risk of avian influenza. The advice to travellers to regions and countries where A/H5N1 is present remains the same as before. Precautions include avoiding markets where live poultry is sold, avoiding contact with live poultry, and good personal hygiene. --------------------------------- The full risk assessment, guidance for occupational risk in affected regions and travel advice is available on the ECDC website at . _____________________________________________________________ (By the Editorial team (), Eurosurveillance editorial office) __________________________________ Reference: (1) ECDC. Occupational exposure - Current International Guidance on Reducing the Risk of Transmission to humans of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Birds. 13 October 2005 () ______________________________________________________________ ****** [2] Date: Fri 21 Oct 2005 From: ProMED-mail Source: EISS Weekly Bulletin, Week 41, 10 to 16 Oct 2005 [edited] _____________________________________________________________ Low influenza activity in Europe -------------------------------- Summary: This is the 1st European Influenza Surveillance System (EISS) bulletin of the 2005-2006 influenza season. The intensity of clinical influenza activity is low in all parts of Europe. Increasing activity is reported in England South and Central and the Slovak Republic, but the incidence of influenza-like illness is still at baseline levels. Between week 36 and week 41, 3 influenza A cases and 2 influenza B cases have been reported in Great Britain and one influenza A case in the Czech Republic. No human cases of influenza A(H5N1) have been reported in Europe. -------------------------------------- Epidemiological and virological situation: 19 of the 22 networks that reported clinical data reported low intensity of clinical influenza activity, meaning that there is either no influenza activity detectable or influenza activity is at baseline levels. Except for England and the Slovak Republic the influenza activity did not change compared to the previous week. England South and Central and the Slovak Republic reported an increasing intensity of influenza activity, whereas England North reported a declining intensity. ----------------------------------- In all parts of Europe the geographic spread indicator "no activity" was reported, meaning that there is no evidence of influenza virus activity. ---------------------------------- The total number of respiratory specimens collected by sentinel physicians in week 41/2005 was 155. In addition, 453 non-sentinel specimens were analyzed. None of these sentinel and non-sentinel specimens were positive for influenza virus. ------------------------------------ Comment: Based on data reported so far, the current level of clinical influenza activity in Europe is low (at baseline levels) and since week 36/2005 there were only sporadic laboratory confirmed influenza cases reported in Great Britain and the Czech Republic. ----------------------------------- Among the respiratory specimens from sentinel and non-sentinel sources reported to EISS between week 36 and week 41 of 2005 (N=1423), there were 4 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A and 2 of influenza B. Two of the influenza A cases (week 38, unsubtyped) and the influenza B cases (week 39) were detected in Wales. The other influenza A cases were detected in England North and in the Czech Republic (week 40, unsubtyped). ------------------------------------- As the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus A(H5N1) has been detected in birds in Europe (Romania and Turkey), EISS has started collection of data on the detection of the A(H5N1) virus in humans as of 14 Oct 2005. Up to week 41/2005 no human cases have been reported in Europe. --------------------------------- Background: The Weekly Electronic Bulletin presents and comments influenza activity in 25 European countries (28 networks) that are members of the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme (EISS). In week 41/2005, 22 networks reported clinical data and 21 networks reported virological data to EISS. The spread of influenza virus strains and their epidemiological impact in Europe is being carefully monitored by EISS in collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Centre in London, UK. ----------------------------------- [The original report should be consulted for definition of the terms employed and a map of influenza disribution] -- ProMED-mail _____________________________________________________________ [These reports indicate that there have been no suspected or confirmed human cases of avian H5N1) influenza throughout Europe up to week 41 (i.e. up to 16 Oct 2005). Nor are conditions in Eeeuroope suitable at present for genetic interaction between avian and human influenza viruses. - Mod.CP]

http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=f38d897f8f8818412fb11cc2c68b7912#

In Italy, Al Qaeda Turns to Organized
Crime for Protection

News Analysis, Paolo Pontoniere,
New America Media, Oct 21, 2005

Editor's Note: Italian media report that Al Qaeda is moving operatives
through Italy on their way to North Africa and Europe with the help of
a Naples-based criminal network similar to the Mafia.

Italian investigators say Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization is
moving deep into the Mediterranean peninsula's underworld of
organized crime.

Italian media recently revealed that hundreds of Al Qaeda operatives
coming from North Africa are being sent to Northern Europe though a
maze of safe houses belonging to the Neapolitan Camorra, a
Naples-based criminal network akin to the Mafia.

The internationally connected Camorra organization specializes in
drug trafficking, prostitution, gambling and human and arms
trafficking. Historically, the Camorra has worked with terrorist groups
from all latitudes and political persuasions.

According to Italian investigative sources, the Camorra could help Al
Qaeda obtain forged documents and weapons for its operatives, who
disembark almost daily from ships connecting Italy to the Arab
countries of North Africa. In addition, in exchange for substantial
cargoes of narcotics, these operatives are moved through Camorra's
connections from Naples to Rome, Bologna, Milan and eventually to
other major European cities such as Paris, London, Berlin and Madrid.

"The connections are there and real," says Michele del Prete, a district
attorney investigating the Algerian Islamic Brotherhood in Italy, "and
the exchange currency cementing those trades is drugs."

The new Al Qaeda arrivals are swallowed by Naples' intricate network
of alleys called vicoli, where traditional craft shops and street-level
houses mix with computer stores, Chinese bazaars, pizzerias,
merchant stalls, illegal casinos, antique boutiques, churches and
museums.

Structurally and socially similar to a Middle Eastern souk, this urban
architecture and its social milieu provide familiar territory and an
impenetrable refuge for Al-Qaeda. Boroughs like il Vasto, la
Maddalena, il Pendino and i Quartieri Spagnoli, which border the
railroad and port, also offer easy escape routes.

"Should any trouble arise at any time, the Camorra's soldiers will see
them off on one of the many trains leaving hourly from the city's main
station, or via speed-boat -- the same vessels the Camorra uses to
traffic cigarettes, drugs and illegal aliens," says Dario Del Porto, a
reporter for Il Mattino, Naples's major daily.

According to a report by DIGOS, Italy's political crime unit, the
number of Al Qaeda operatives who have chosen to seek refuge in
Naples or have passed through the city on their way to Northern
Europe may exceed 1,000. Many of them come from Algeria, Morocco,
Tunisia and Egypt. Il Roma, Naples's second-largest daily, estimates
their numbers could be as high as 5,000.

"Nothing new here," affirms Giacomo Serafini, a Neapolitan political
consultant. "The usefulness of these escape routes was tested during
the years when the Camorra collaborated with domestic terrorists, red
and black (Communist and Fascist) alike. Al-Qaeda doesn't even have
to sweat.

"Not even the apparent absentmindedness of the police when it comes
to apprehending Al Qaeda operatives should surprise," Serafini says.
"In the end it was a covert agreement between the state and the
terrorists that spared Italy most of the carnage that was taking place
in Europe during the 1970s."

Serafini refers to a secret pact during the 1970s forged by Giulio
Andreotti, one of modern Italy's founding fathers. In exchange for the
safe passage of operatives and weapons, Arab terrorist groups --
mainly the Palestinian group Al Fatah -- agreed to refrain from
attacking Italy.

The evolution of Al Qaeda into a criminal-terrorist group is not
unusual, and does not necessarily signal an abandonment of its goal
of establishing an Islamic Caliphate across the Middle East and North
Africa. Instead, it may mark a skillful adaptation to the new
environment created by the attacks against the organization since the
start of the war on terror.

"Something similar happened to Italian terrorist organizations once
the Italian state stepped up its war on terror," Serafini says. Though
they are not so powerful and deeply rooted as they were in the 1970s,
domestic terrorist organizations like the Red Brigades still hit Italian
political targets.

According to the Italian daily La Repubblica, the magnitude of this
convergence has been recognized also by the United States, which
recently moved the western headquarters of the Foreign Counter
Intelligence -- the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's office for
counter-espionage and counter-terrorism -- to Aversa, Italy.

A town outside Naples with a large blue collar and underemployed
population, Aversa in the past has been prime recruiting ground for
Italian "terroristi" and political hotheads. From Aversa, FCI now
scrutinizes terrorist activities from Scandinavia to South Africa.

Italians, in the meantime, are drawing lessons from their fight against
the Mafia to devise new ways to combat Al Qaeda in Italy. "We should
improve the way district attorneys, judges, investigators and
intelligence operatives interact with one another, and exchange
information," Franco Roberti, head of antiterrorism for Naples' Federal
Court, told La Repubblica recently. "We need to create a National
Antiterrorism Directorate with local ramifications, because terrorist
cells are interwoven with local criminal networks."

Roberti, who leads the Neapolitan Court, has taken the helm in
pushing for the institution of such a directorate. The creation of a
central commission to fight crimes of a political nature is an admission
that investigators take the Al Qaeda threat very seriously. Italy did not
take such steps even during the "Years of Lead" in the 1970s and '80s,
when domestic terrorism raged.

PNS contributor Paolo Pontoniere is a correspondent for Focus, Italy's
leading monthly magazine.

http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=0ce024518729b63de4cfcae3b8fb027c#

To Isolate Al Qaeda, U.S. Must Keep
Fundamentalist Islamic Groups in
'Political Process'

News Analysis, Jalal Ghazi,
New America Media, Oct 21, 2005

Editor's Note: To legitimize U.S.-backed elections in the Arab world,
Washington has taken steps to keep popular and militant Islamic
groups involved in the political process. Arab media call Washington's
engagement with the groups "the American-Islamic dialogue."

SAN FRANCISCO--American success in isolating Al Qaeda depends on
Washington's ability to keep broad-based Islamic militant groups
involved in the U.S.-supported "democratic political process" unfolding
in the Middle East.

Al Qaeda has been desperately trying to derail elections, not only in
Afghanistan and Iraq, but also in Egypt and the Palestinian territories.
Its aim is to destabilize "U.S.-backed regimes" by casting doubt on the
transparency and legitimacy of these elections.

For its part, the U.S. launched a series of meetings between retired
American officials and popular Islamic groups such as Egypt's Muslim
Brotherhood and the Palestinian Hamas, with the aim of getting their
participation and thereby legitimizing the elections.

Al Jazeera television called these meetings "the American-Islamic
dialogue." The fundamentalist groups' involvement in the voting in
Egypt, Iraq and the Palestinian territories deepened their differences
with extremist groups, Al Qaeda in particular.

A month before the referendum on the draft Iraqi constitution, Al
Jazeera aired an audiotape of Al Qaeda's Iraq commander Abu Musab
Al Zarqawi in which he strongly warned participating Sunni officials
that they "have betrayed God and his prophet and sold their religion
for little reward on earth" while "Sunnis are being massacred in Tal
Afar, Al Qaeam and other places."

The Islamic Party of Iraq, the largest Sunni political party, boycotted
the January 2005 elections, but this time around it cooperated with
the interim National Assembly's drafting of the new constitution and
surprised everyone by calling on its supporters to vote "yes."

Moreover, the Association of Muslim Scholars, the most prominent
Sunni religious entity that had rejected any form of cooperation with
the U.S.-led occupation, now called on people to ignore Zarqawi's
threats and vote in the referendum.

The strongest criticism of Zarqawi came from Adnan Al-Delemi, head
of the Sunni Waqfs (endowments), who on Sept. 15 on Al Jazeera
answered Zarqawi's threats: "The claims and threats of those who
want to derail this path will not scare us and we do not care about
them. We will participate in the next elections no matter what
happens."

These words of defiance were significant, considering that three Sunni
Arab members of a team drafting the constitution were shot and killed
in Baghdad in July.

In Egypt on Sept. 7, Osama bin Laden's second in command, Ayman Al
Zawahiri, attacked the presidential elections and other proposed
democratic reforms, saying, "It is impossible to have reforms as long
as our governments are run from the American embassies, which put
their nose in everything in our countries."

But to Al Zawahiri's chagrin, the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest
opposition group in Egypt, decided not only to participate but also to
support the American-backed candidate Ayamn Nour. (U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice even cancelled her trip to Egypt to protest
Nour's detention.)

The Muslim Brotherhood's participation saved the day for the
government of Hosni Mubarak. According to an article in the Sept. 16
issue of Al-Quds Al-Arabi by Amira Al-Tahawi, the turnout reached 23
percent, partly due to the Muslim Brotherhood's call on Egyptians to
vote in large numbers. In comparison, Al-Tahawi writes, the 1999
turnout for the presidential election was only 3 percent (inflated by the
government to 53 percent).

Muhammad Diab pointed out in the Sept. 17 issue of Al-Quds Al-Arabi
newspaper that the Muslim Brotherhood used the election to humiliate
Noaman Gomaa, the leader of very prominent Al-Wafd Party, by
backing Ayamn Nour, leading to the latter's surprise victory (7.9
percent) over Gomma, who received only 2.7 percent of the vote.
Diab explained that the Muslim Brotherhood wanted to punished
Gomma for refusing to support its desire to form a political party.

The biggest election surprise came from the Palestinian territories.
The Islamic resistance group Hamas called on militants "to stop
attacks against Israel outside Gaza" even after Israel resumed
targeted killings by assassinating prominent Islamic Jihad leader
Mohammed al-Sheikh Khalil and his deputy in an air strike in Gaza.

Hamas viewed the Israeli attacks as a provocation aimed at derailing
its participation in the parliamentary elections set on Jan. 25, 2006.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had threatened "not to aid
(Palestinian elections) if Hamas participates."

Sharon added that during elections he would not remove the
roadblocks separating Palestinian areas and that prevent the
movement of Palestinian voters. Israel also arrested 400 Hamas
members, including dozens of candidates.

Ironically, Al-Zawahiri, a founder of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, is similarly
opposed to Hamas' involvement in the elections. In videotape aired on
Al jazeera on June 16, he beseeched Hamas "not to renounce their
jihad, not to lay down their arms and not to allow themselves to be
dragged into the game of secular elections under a secular
constitution." Hamas has not changed its mind.

Should the United States succeed in keeping key Islamic opposition
groups in the Middle East engaged in "the political process" and
"democratic reforms," it follows that it must also be willing to accept
the Islamic Party in Iraq, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Hamas
in the Palestinian territories should these groups gain power through
democratic elections.

Of course, the United States must also reconsider who belongs to its
list of terrorist organizations, to accommodate the new realities.

Jalal Ghazi monitors and translates Arab media for New California
Media (a project of PNS) and Link TV.

http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c9069875861880b360ffad94a658305a#

Lodi Highlights Battle Over America's
Mosques

News Feature, Clayton Worfolk,
New America Media, Oct 18, 2005

Editor's Note: Muslims in Lodi, Calif., still reeling from an FBI
terrorism investigation in June, are now split by rival mosque factions
-- a pattern increasingly seen in other Muslim communities across
America.

LODI, Calif.--Though FBI vehicles and
small-engine aircraft no longer circle the town,
Muslims in Lodi, Calif., still feel under siege. Four
months after the government launched a highly
public terrorism investigation that ensnared five
Pakistani men here in June, the community is still
reeling, not just from the pressures stemming
from the federal probe, but also from a pre-existing split in the
community that some say the FBI exploited.

"Everyone is just kind of hiding their head under the sand, hoping the
storm will pass," says Taj Khan, an outspoken Pakistani Muslim leader
in Lodi.

Father and son Umer and Hamid Hayat, alleged to have ties to a
terrorist training camp in Pakistan, now await trial in Sacramento
County Jail. Local Muslim clerics Muhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir
Ahmed and Adil Khan's 19-year-old son selected to depart for Pakistan
in August instead of fighting immigration violation charges.

Equally contentious, though, is that the Farooqia Islamic Center, a
Muslim school and community center Adil Khan and his protégé Ahmed
were planning, is now all but defunct. And those heading the existing
mosque are not shedding any tears over its demise.

Such conflicts within American mosques are becoming increasingly
common as Muslim communities grapple with conflicting ideologies
regarding "women, interfaith events, the West, education, civic
service and marriage," says Asra Nomani, activist and author of
"Standing Alone in Mecca."

"Pakistan is undergoing a fierce battle for the hearts and minds of its
people. It's natural that this flows into immigrant communities,"
Nomani says.

Pakistanis have made Lodi their home for almost a century, and since
1978, the Lodi Muslim Mosque, an inconspicuous yellow building that
was once a Jehovah's Witness Hall, has served an estimated 500
members from a community of 2,500. Men relax on the mosque
veranda between scheduled prayers, and boys in Pakistani tunics play
basketball across the street. Females are not barred from entering the
mosque, mosque members say, but the facility is not large enough to
accommodate women, who traditionally pray in separate lines behind
the men. Few Pakistani women are to be seen there or in other public
places in Southeast Lodi, where many in the community live.

Planners of the Farooqia Islamic Center envisioned an 18-acre
establishment where women's education programs, K-4 schooling and
interfaith gatherings could be held. Adil Khan, who immigrated to Lodi
from Pakistan in the spring of 2001 and was named mosque imam
shortly thereafter, kick-started the project, organizing conferences
with local Christian and Jewish leaders in the wake of the Sept. 11
attacks and publicly signing a "declaration of peace" with a rabbi and
reverend.

"I think the most important thing it would have brought is more open
communication between Muslims and non-Muslims," says Pamela
Parvez, 48, a white Muslim from nearby Stockton who converted 20
years ago. "But it would also be nice to have a place where women
can go ... to read the Quran, to study Islam together."

County supervisors halted the Farooqia project on Sept. 27, citing
land-use concerns. Parvez and other supporters -- Taj Khan, in
particular -- blame the project's defeat primarily on the terror
allegations, but also on leaders of the existing mosque.

Three months before Adil Khan's arrest, in March, Lodi Muslim Mosque
president Mohammed Shoaib and others sued Adil Khan and four other
Farooqia organizers for $200,000, alleging fraud and deceit in the
group's fund raising, notably its sale of the mosque-owned land, which
Adil Khan used to finance the purchase of a separate 18-acre plot for
the center. In their suit, Shoaib and his faction indicated that Adil
Khan had overstayed his religious worker visa.

Taj Khan has steered the Farooqia project in Adil Khan's absence, and
his supporters claim Shoaib deliberately provoked the imams' arrests.
Shoaib denies that accusation, blaming the imams themselves for
attracting the FBI. "If you believe in the justice system here, the court
has convicted them," he says.

Taj Khan, who now attends a mosque in Stockton that advertises
"Friday prayers for women also," is now one of several plaintiffs suing
Shoaib and others on the mosque board claiming the president
resigned in 2004 and has no authority over the governing body.
"These people are being used by FBI," Taj Khan says. "They plan and
conspire and do stuff against the rest of members of the community."

Author Asra Nomani says adding federal investigators into this kind of
religious dispute makes conditions ripe for the kind of back-stabbing
that occurred in Lodi. "People point fingers at each other trying to
stoke this fear of Muslims," she says. "It's like walking on egg shells."
Both cases are still pending in San Joaquin Superior Court.

Regardless of their outcome, they have revealed in the community a
deep divide. Taj Khan says that most of Lodi's Muslims backed the
plans for a more open mosque, but that Shoaib and his supporters,
many of whom are related, disliked the project's progressive aims.

"They're following the Wahabi sect in Saudi Arabia, and other people
don't like that," Khan says.

Shoaib says that his opponents have mislabeled him, and that Adil
Khan, an educated native of metropolitan Karachi, was an interloper
who did not respect community members from the poorer districts of
Pakistan's Northwest Frontier province, where most Lodi Muslims have
their roots.

"We're not against women, not against another mosque," he protests.
"We're against the way it is being run."

Whatever their differences, Khan and Shoaib agree on one thing: that
the lasting feud has kept the community from regrouping.

In mid-August, organizers called off an annual Pakistani Independence
Day celebration in recognition of Adil Khan's and Ahmed's detention.
Shoaib says that was a missed opportunity to show non-Muslims that
the community had nothing to hide.

Outside attempts to bring Lodi's Muslim community together have
faltered, as well.

A proposed "Million Muslim March" -- promoted by Lodi Mayor John
Beckman and local conservative radio show host Mark Williams as a
way to affirm the community's stance against terrorism -- was
scrapped in July due to community division, Beckman said.

The Council of Sacramento Valley Islamic Organizations organized
talks to patch the rift, but they too fell through, says Shoaib.

Reconciliation does not appear likely amid unresolved lawsuits and the
imminent terrorism trial, according to six-year mosque member Sultan
Afsar.

"The wounds are too deep to be healed," he says.

PNS contributor Clayton Worfolk is a freelance reporter studying
journalism at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. His
reporting is supported by a special James Irvine Foundation grant to
develop reporting fellowships for U.C. students and the ethnic media.

October 21, 2005
www.siteinstitute.org

For your review, the SITE Institute’s Director, Ms. Rita Katz, published an article to National Review Online
discussing the letter written by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Emir
of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

It’s Real
The arguments over that Zawahiri letter suggests we don’t know our enemy.

By Rita Katz

On October 8, 2005, the U.S. government unsealed a letter allegedly written by Dr. Ayman
al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden’s deputy, to “the Emir (prince) of al-Qaeda in Iraq,” Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi. The letter’s authenticity was largely questioned; as reported by Reuters on
October 14: “U.S. intelligence officials who released a letter purporting to be from an al
Qaeda leader to Iraq insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi this week said on Friday they
could not account for a passage that has raised doubts about the document's authenticity”.

A Los Angeles Times op-ed titled “Fake Letter, Real Trouble,” said that "there are reasons to
doubt that it is authentic.” The main question over authenticity appears to arises from a
passage that concludes the letter: “By Allah, if by any chance you are going to Fallujah, send
greetings to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.” If the letter is written from Zawahiri to Zarqawi, the
reports implicated, why does the former ask the latter to send regards to himself? How could
Zawahiri, the purported writer of this letter, forget that it was already addressed to Zarqawi?

In spite of these and similar doubts, Reuters quoted a spokesman for John Negroponte, U.S.
director of national intelligence, who acknowledged that the greetings passage did appear
confusing, but that the intelligence community was confident the letter was authentic. Other
terrorism experts suggested that perhaps the letter was not addressed to Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, but rather to abu Musab al-Suri, also known as Mustafa Setmarian Nasser, al
Qaeda ideologist and expert on urban warfare.

Media representatives, U.S. government officials, and experts who doubt the credibility of
the letter may have jumped to the wrong conclusion. The greetings in the passage in
question, if anything, strongly confirm the letter’s authenticity. What all these pundits are
sometimes missing is a familiarity with the vernacular of the jihadi community.

Since November 2004, following battles with the Coalition Forces in Fallujah, jihadis on the
Internet have been widely using a slogan that was borrowed from a poem. The poem
included the following lines:
It will be destroyed on the arrogant son of an arrogant

You who rule countries by his infidels

You can kill flies with chemicals

You who are riding the fast thing

By Allah, where are you going to?

If you are going to Fallujah

Send my regards to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

And all the jihadis in his group . . .1

The poem has caught on in jihadi circles. Members of hundreds of online jihadi forums, not
just ones directly connected to the insurgents in Iraq, had posted and discussed it. Some of
these discussions are down now, but others are still active. Examples are the Jihadi
Palestinian Forum where the poem has been posted since November 15, 2004, and the
Yemen Youth Forum, which still features an active link.

Because of its success, music was composed for the poem that was then circulated as a song
and posted on jihadi message- boards and websites all over the world. An example is the
Arabic Saudi Forum, a very popular forum, which posted links to the audio on December 14,
2004.

On November 14, 2004 ,the Buradh jihadi message board posted a new thread titled “By
Allah, if by chance you are going to Fallujah, send greetings to Abu Musab al-zarqawi.” The
entire al-Ghamidi poem was posted, but the focus of discussion was the slogan. Likewise, on
January 23, 2005, a member of a Palestinian forum signing as “Muhammad the engineer”
posted a new thread, with the same title. Shortly thereafter, the slogan turned into a
synonym for Zarqawi’s “great war” against the “crusaders.”Some message-board members
even use it as a signature and in response to al Qaeda communiqués. The slogan is also
frequently used in greetings, blessings, or, as in Zawahiri’s letter, as concluding statements.

The sentence with which Zawahiri closed his letter to Zarqawi, is, in fact, that slogan: “By
Allah, if by any chance you are going to Fallujah, send greetings to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”
Not only is it reasonable for him to conclude his letter to Zarqawi thus, but it also
demonstrates that he is well-informed on the very latest developments in the jihadi
community.

As for the suggestion that the addressee is in fact al-Suri rather than Zarqawi, in the body of
the letter Zawahiri makes note of beheadings in Iraq: This could only apply to Zarqawi, as no
beheadings are attributed to al-Suri.

An erroneous interpretation of the letter is a typical example of how superficial
understanding of the al-Qaeda network and its workings continues to imperil the war on
terror. Wrong conclusions based on partial or incorrect information can lead to wrong
decisions, tactics, and strategies. The fight over the letter is bad news: The West just
doesn't know it's enemy.

— Rita Katz is the author of Terrorist Hunter and the director of the SITE Institute.

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/katz200510210928.asp

This is not the one that I have.....DM, is this the same disease as was in the eye drops? granny _____________________________________________________________ RALSTONIA, HUMAN, RESPIRATORY DEVICE - USA ****************************************** A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases _____________________________________________________________ Sponsored in part by Elsevier, publisher of The International Journal of Infectious Diseases _____________________________________________________________ Date: Fri, Oct 2005 From: ProMED-mail Source: Morbid Mortal Week Rep 2005; 54:1052-1053 [edited] _____________________________________________________________ Ralstonia associated with Vapotherm oxygen delivery device - USA, 2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In Aug 2005, a health care facility in Pennsylvania reported the occurrence of _Ralstonia spp._ in 6 patients aged 21 days to 8 years to the Philadelphia Department of Health and CDC. --------------------------------- Preliminary laboratory and epidemiologic investigation identified the Vapotherm 2000i oxygen delivery device (Vapotherm Inc., Stevensville, MD, USA) as an associated risk factor for recovery of the organism from blood and respiratory tract samples. Although the source of _Ralstonia_ has not yet been identified, Vapotherm has created new infection-control procedures to reduce the risk for infectious disease transmission among patients using their machines. This report summarizes the initial results of this ongoing investigation and provides recommendations to prevent further spread of _Ralstonia_ species in hospitals. ---------------------------------- The Vapotherm device is capable of delivering high concentrations of medical gases, such as oxygen, via nasal cannula. Breathing gas is distributed alongside a discrete water chamber, where it is warmed and humidified and then delivered to the patient. The machine employs a reusable 0.01 micron cartridge filter, which should prevent passage of bacterial microorganisms from the water chamber to the air compartment. Approximately 4 500 Vapotherm units are in service in the USA. --------------------------------- _Ralstonia_ species are Gram negative bacilli that grow well in moist environments and are an infrequent cause of colonization and infection in humans. Although ubiquitous in the environment, the organism is rarely found in hospitals. _Ralstonia spp._ have traditionally exhibited low virulence in humans but have been implicated in several nosocomial outbreaks involving contaminated solutions (1-3). -------------------------------- Surveillance performed through pediatric and neonatology electronic mail listserv groups identified 10 hospitals in 7 states that have recovered_Ralstonia_ species from clinical specimens and/or Vapotherm devices. During Jan-Sep 2005, a total of 18 pediatric patients with positive _Ralstonia_ respiratory or blood cultures were reported from 5 hospitals in 5 states. Investigations to determine which cases represent infections (as opposed to colonization) are ongoing. 17 of these patients were exposed to a Vapotherm system before culture specimens were obtained. 4 of the 10 hospitals cultured the organism from Vapotherm systems and reusable filter cartridges after they had been disinfected according to the manufacturer's previously recommended reprocessing protocol. Whether the remaining 6 hospitals followed Vapotherm's recommended reprocessing protocol is unclear. Failure to reprocess the system properly might have allowed development of a biofilm, which the previous reprocessing protocol did not address. -------------------------------- In response to this investigation, Vapotherm has developed new infection-control guidelines. Vapotherm continues to recommend that machines be reprocessed after each patient use or every 30 days if a single patient uses the device. Furthermore, the company now advises that each filter cartridge either be used for a single patient or be subjected to the new high-level disinfection reprocessing protocol. Moreover, the suggested maximum service life of the filter cartridge now is 60 cumulative days. Finally, Vapotherm now recommends use of sterile water in the delivery circuit, instead of following previous guidelines, which allowed use of tap water. --------------------------------- CDC recommends that users of the Vapotherm device follow the manufacturer's recommendations. More information on the new reprocessing protocol is available at _____________________________________________________________ . CDC also encourages health-care facilities to adhere to strict infection-control practices while administering respiratory therapy to prevent transmission of organisms such as _Ralstonia spp._ that thrive in warm,moist environments. Information on appropriate infection-control procedures is available at . _____________________________________________________________ 1. Labarca JA, Trick WE, Peterson CL, et al: A multistate nosocomial outbreak of Ralstonia pickettii colonization associated with an intrinsically contaminated respiratory care solution. Clin Infect Dis 1999; 29:1281-86. -------------------------------- 2. Maroye P, Doermann HP, Rogues AM, et al: Investigation of an outbreak of Ralstonia pickettii in a paediatric hospital by RAPD. J Hosp Infect 2000; 44:267-72. -------------------------------- 3. Moreira BM, Leobons MB, Pellegrino FL, et al: Ralstonia picketti and Burkholderia cepacia complex bloodstream infections related to infusion of contaminated water for injection. J Hosp Infect 2005; 60:51-55. ______________________________________________________________ -- ProMED-mail -------------------------------- [Whether disease was caused by the _Ralstonia_ bacteria in these individuals is not stated which suggests that the organism was only colonizing the respiratory tract of those involved. --------------------------------- The genus includes some organisms that had previously part of _Pseudomonas_, _Alcaligenes_ and _Cupriavidus_. The genus is also one, like _Burkholderia_, that contains organisms that may cause human disease and others that are related to diseases in plants. --------------------------------- _R. pickettii_ has been associated with nosocomial outbreaks caused by cotaminated aqueous solutions as well as "pseudoepidemics" related to cotaminated solutions in a diagnostic laboratory. Other _Ralstonia_ species such as _mannitolilytica_ and _insidiosa_ have also been linked to human infection (1, 2). -------------------------------- _R. solanacearum_ is a cause of common bacterial wilt in geraniums and affects a number of solanaceneous plants such as tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. It is also a problem in the potato industry and can be harbored by a number of plants without causing disease. _R. solanacearum_ is not known to cause disease in man. ------------------------------- The nightshades (Family Solanaceae) are a family of dicots, many of which are edible, while others are considered poisonous. The name of the family comes from the Latin solanum "nightshade," but the further etymology of that word is unclear; it has been suggested it originates from the Latin verb "solari," meaning "soothing." This would presumably refer to alleged soothing pharmacological properties of some of the psychoactive species found in the family. It is more likely, however, that the name comes from the perceived resemblance that some of the flowers bear to the sun and its rays. The term is also sometimes informally referred to as the potato family. The family includes the Datura or Jimson weed, eggplant, mandrake, deadly nightshade or belladonna, capsicum (paprika, chile pepper), potato, tobacco, tomato, and petunia. The Solanaceae family is characteristically ethnobotanical, that is, extensively utilized by humans. It is an important source of food, spice, and medicine. However, Solanaceae species are often rich in alkaloidal glucosides that can range in their toxicity to humans and animals from mildly irritating to fatal in small quantities. --------------------------------- 1. Coenye T, Vandamine P, LiPuma JJ: Infection by Ralstonia species in cystic fibrosis patients: identification of R. pickettii and R. mannitolilytica by polymerase chain reaction. Emerg Infect Dis 2002; 8:692-96. ------------------------------- 2. Van der beek D, Magerman K, Bries G, et al: Infection with Ralstonia insidiosa in two patients. Clin Microbiol Newsletter 2005; 27:159-61. - Mod. LL]

http://FederalistPatriot.US/current2004a.asp

Texas Border:

Encouraging border-security news: Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry
has become the latest state chief executive to respond to the
urgent problems posed by illegal immigration. Gov. Perry cited the
119,000 illegal entrants (from elsewhere than Mexico) nabbed in
Texas from January till July who were then let go. He then noted
the increasing probability of Jihadi terrorists exploiting the
border's existing criminal infrastructure to aid an attack. He is
therefore setting out plans for added police and state troopers,
new "border jails," and using the Texas National Guard in response
to border emergencies. Illegal immigration is the constitutionally
mandated "common defense" duty of the national government that
Congress must soon confront.

Article21 October 2005
Osama bin Laden: more media whore than guerrilla warrior
The author of a refreshing new book says al-Qaeda has more in common with new global
movements than with nationalist armies of old.
by Brendan O'Neill

Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality,
Modernity, by Faisal Devji, Hurst & Company (London),
2005.

'It is disingenuous to try to claw back all these recent
events and attacks - things that I think are actually
quite new - and put them into old ways of seeing
political acts.' Faisal Devji, author of a refreshing new
book on al-Qaeda, Landscapes of the Jihad, has had
quite enough of the various attempts to explain the
antics of Osama bin Laden and his henchmen as having
some traditional political or national motivation.

Ask yourself the question: what the hell does Osama
bin Laden want? Why did he authorise (apparently) the
worst terrorist attack of modern times on 9/11, and
why do groups or individuals linked to him, or inspired
by him, detonate crude bombs - and often themselves,
too - everywhere from beachside cafeterias in Bali to
bank forecourts in Istanbul to Tube trains packed with
working men and women on a sunny Thursday morning
in London?

The oft trotted-out answer to these questions is that
bin Laden wants a free Palestine. Or he wants
America's grubby mitts off Saudi Arabia and an end to
the sell-out House of Saud's domination of that state.
Or he wants to liberate Iraq and Afghanistan from
American and British occupation and that however
bastardised and bloody his tactics may be, he is
nonetheless part of an 'arc of resistance' to Western
meddling in the Middle East (1).

In short, many argue: it's about territory, stupid! This
view is held by thinkers on both sides of the left/right
divide. So some of a leftish persuasion have come
dangerously close to gushing over al-Qaeda and its
offshoot groups, or at least seeking to explain their
actions with reference to historic movements for land
and freedom. Tariq Ali, for example, compares the
al-Qaeda-inspired insurgents in Iraq - those
car-bombing killers of children and religious
worshippers - to the French resistance to the fascist
Vichy regime, and said of the 9/11 attacks that 'the
subjects of the [American] Empire had struck back',
demonstrating the 'universal truth that…slaves and
peasants do not always obey their masters.' (2) He
wilfully overlooked the fact that the 'peasants' who
organised 9/11 were in fact middle-class students with
cushy lives.

On the right, al-Qaeda is referred to as an
'Islamo-fascist' movement seeking to create a 'Greater
Islamic State' in which sharia law will be ruthlessly
enforced and the people will dream of the good old
days when they were dominated by comparatively
civilised and mild-mannered Westerners. A recent
piece on Open Democracy went so far as to describe
al-Qaeda as 'classically imperialist', since it wishes to
'craft the next chapter of human history in its own
image' (3). Come off it: al-Qaeda's leaders can't even
craft an escape route from Waziristan, never mind
human history. Such views wilfully overlook the fact
that al-Qaeda is mostly made up of pissed-off posh
kids who spend their days fantasising about jihad in
chatrooms on the world wide web and occasionally
muster up enough nerve to strap a homemade bomb to
themselves and murder some civilians. History is not
normally made by such individuals.

The right cites al-Qaeda's alleged territorial and
political ambitions as a justification for a continuing
Western presence in the Middle East (because if we
leave they will set up hostile and barbaric Islamist
regimes), while the left cites them as the reason we
should get out of the Middle East (because if we stay
they'll keep blowing us up). Into this tiresome and
unconvincing debate, where both sides have effectively
made that amorphous thing we call al-Qaeda into a
petty proxy army for their own prejudices and actions,
comes Devji's fascinating new book.

Devji, an assistant professor of history at the New
School University in New York, argues that al-Qaeda
cannot be understood in traditionally political, strategic
or territorial terms. Rather than trying to force
al-Qaeda into political boxes where it simply doesn't fit
- whether it's those labelled 'nationalist', 'imperialist'
or even 'traditional terrorist' - Devji has conducted a
fairly exhaustive study of al-Qaeda's own statements
and actions and come up with some surprising
conclusions: that this outfit is more ethical than
political; that the main landscape for its jihad is the
media rather than the towns and cities of Afghanistan,
Palestine or Chechnya; and that it is not unlike other
new global movements, including environmentalism
and the anti-war movement.

In his book, Devji describes al-Qaeda as a group that
has dispensed with 'an old-fashioned politics tied to
states and citizenship' (4). At the most basic level this
can be glimpsed in al-Qaeda's make-up: its members
and associates come from all over the place, and often
never even meet. They do not have a shared history or
geography, as nationally-inspired movements like the
Palestine Liberation Organisation or the Irish
Republican Army did in the past; nor do they share a
clear political outlook or 'vision for the future', in
Devji's words, in the same way that the old
internationalist movements that also were made up of
different nationalities did, such as the International
Brigades who fought on the side of the communists in
the Spanish Civil War.

Rather, al-Qaeda is a new and peculiarly globalised
movement. Its people can hail from Riyadh, Paris or
Huddersfield, and can claim to be acting on behalf of
Muslims in Iraq, Chechnya or Palestine - or even across
historic periods as well as borders, as in the case of bin
Laden's claim that he wanted vengeance for the Moors
who were booted out of Spain over 500 years ago.
They blow up civilians in London or Madrid as payback
for the killing of civilians in Grozny or Ramallah, and
profess to represent Muslims in nations they have
never visited, and which they might have difficulty
pointing to on a map (a bit like their arch enemy,
George W Bush, perhaps), but which they once saw on
an evening news bulletin. 'Take Mohammed Siddique
Khan', says Devji, referring to the Leeds-born former
supply teacher who blew up himself and six others at
Edgware Road in London on 7 July. 'He said he was
motivated by Iraq. When did he ever go to Iraq? What
does he truly know about Iraq?'

This is not a movement tied by territory, history or
politics; it looks more like an outfit with a chaos-theory
reading of international affairs. The idea that a
Yorkshireman can kill people in London as revenge for
the bombing of 'my people' in Baghdad or Bethlehem
brings to mind the old saying about a butterfly flapping
its wings in one part of the world and causing a
hurricane in another.

In Landscapes of the Jihad, Devji argues that
al-Qaeda's relations are 'not the kind of relations that
had characterised national struggles in the past, which
brought together people who shared a history and a
geography into a political arena defined by processes
of intentionality and control'. The jihad, he writes,
'unlike the politics of national movements…is grounded
not in the propagation of ideas or similarity of interests
and conditions, so much as in the contingent relations
of a global marketplace' (5). In short, the disparate
individuals who are part of al-Qaeda, or who claim to
be part of al-Qaeda, are not bonded by any common
experience of oppression (many of them are well-to-do
and Western-educated) or by shared political visions,
but rather by fleeting and fluid relationships, often
forged in the planning and execution of a one-off
spectacular event rather in the pursuit of a
future-oriented programme of ideas and tactics.

So al-Qaeda's fanciful war is not for something
tangible; it is not about making a state or an Islamic
territory. Where the Islamic radicals of the past - from
the Iranian revolutionaries of 1979 to that last gasp of
Islamic fundamentalism in the shape of the Taliban's
takeover of Afghanistan in 1996 - were motivated by
the desire to create an ideological state, al-Qaeda's
actions are better understood as a pose, Devji tells me,
as 'ethical gestures'. 'Their acts function as
exclamation marks', he says.

'Prior to al-Qaeda and networks of that ilk, the form
that radical Islam took was fundamentalism - a form
that explicitly drew from the communist imagination',
says Devji. 'These were movements dedicated to
setting up, through revolution, an ideological state, and
they made use of all those terms: revolution; ideology;
ideological state; even workers' committees and all
that. They had critiques of capitalism built into them to
various degrees. That is no longer evident and it is not
invoked at all by al-Qaeda. They have taken leave of
that.'

He points to the recent letter allegedly written by
Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's Egyptian deputy, to
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the mysterious Jordanian who
is accused of causing mayhem and bloodshed in
postwar Iraq apparently in the name of al-Qaeda. 'In
the letter - if we believe it is genuine - al-Zawahiri says
he is afraid that the Iraqi insurgency will degenerate
into a standard-issue national movement', says Devji.
'So he says: look, the jihad is not meant to stop with
Iraq. In fact, jihad is something that goes on until the
day of resurrection. By that, I don't think he necessarily
means that it will be suicide techniques and violence all
the way, but he sees it as a specifically ethical act that
is part of everyday Muslim life in whatever form it
occurs. It is not something that is simply meant to
institute new states.' So much for those who argue -
often from a position of moral cowardice more than
political conviction - that the terror might stop if
coalition forces leave Iraq.

What about Palestine? I have lost count of the number
of times I've been on radio or TV shows or at
conferences to discuss terrorism and heard someone
say 'Palestine is the issue!', where it's argued that
al-Qaeda's grievances are mostly motivated by Israel's
domination of the Palestinians and therefore we must
address that issue if we are to put a stop to terror. I
once attended a conference with some fairly high-level
journalists and thought I might have wandered into a
meeting of the Al-Qaeda Defence League by mistake:
my suggestion that al-Qaeda's actions were more
nihilistic than a political response to Palestine were
brushed aside as 'rubbish'.

Devji argues that al-Qaeda refers to Palestine mostly
opportunistically. 'Both al-Zawahiri and bin Laden tend
to refer to Palestine more as a symbolic than an actual
cause', he says. 'It's well known that they haven't
devoted much time to it - apart from saying, both of
them, that isn't it interesting that the issue of Palestine
seems to arouse people?' It's also been pointed out
that, post-9/11, bin Laden only started namechecking
Palestine after it was raised by commentators and
politicians in the West as the most likely explanation
for the terrorist attacks. In his book Devji quotes
al-Zawahiri's view of Palestine, in a book al-Zawahiri
wrote while on the run in Afghanistan in late 2001,
titled Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet. 'The
fact that must be acknowledged is that the issue of
Palestine is the cause that has been firing up the
feelings of the Muslim nation from Morocco to
Indonesia for the past 50 years', wrote al-Zawahiri. 'In
addition, it is a rallying point for all the Arabs, be they
believers or non-believers.' (6) In short, if you want to
make an impact, mention Palestine. Bush and Blair do
the same thing.

Devji locates al-Qaeda, not in traditional international
relations, but more in the collapse of international
relations as we previously knew them. 'Bin Laden and
al-Zawahiri explicitly trace their origins to the Cold
War, or the end of the Cold War', he says. 'They don't
trace it to some peculiarly Islamic thing, but to a global
phenomenon: the end of the Cold War. It is a global
network, and self-consciously sees itself as emerging
from the collapse of the Soviet Union and a certain kind
of international communism or Marxism.' It strikes me
that it was the falling apart of the old world order - one
based on relations between states, and conflicts over
nation and territory - that allowed the rise of a
post-national, non-state actor like al-Qaeda which sees
jihad as some kind of endless duty rather than the
means to the end of an ideological entity.

In these post-political circumstances, al-Qaeda fights
its battles in the media: its attacks are aimed at
making global headlines rather than winning
incremental victories towards some definable end. In
his book, Devji argues that al-Qaeda's acts of
martyrdom only achieve meaning 'by being witnessed
in the mass media'. He describes one video obtained
by Time magazine, which showed martyrs reading their
last testaments and bidding farewell to their families
before blowing themselves up in various parts of Iraq,
as 'the closest the jihad has come to creating its own
form of a reality television show'. The video is 'replete
with scenes straight from Hollywood', he argues: for
example, one martyr dramatically kisses goodbye his
beloved through her veil, which is 'hardly an acceptable
public spectacle for any Muslim tradition' (7). Just as
the media has increasingly become the place where
politics happens across the West - a new political arena
that has superseded crisis-ridden or sluggish
parliaments - so it is also the 'landscape' in which
al-Qaeda fights its weird war, or at least imprints its
exclamation marks.

According to Devji, al-Qaeda is not that different from
other movements that inhabit our changed world - in
terms of its substitution of moral posturing for politics
and its appeal to the media rather than to a grassroots
constituency. Indeed, Devji says al-Qaeda associates
'resemble the members of more familiar global
networks, such as those for the environment or against
war and globalisation'. He writes: 'Like the gestures
that mark the environmentalist or anti-war
movements, those of the jihad arise from the luxury of
moral choice. This is a world whose concerns are global
in dimension and so resistant to old-fashioned political
solutions, calling instead for spectacular gestures that
are ethical in nature. The passion of the holy warrior
emerges from the same source as that of the anti-war
protester - not from a personal experience of
oppression but from observing the oppression of
others. These impersonal and even vicarious passions
draw upon pity for their strength. And pity is perhaps
the most violent passion of all because it is selfless
enough to tolerate monstrous sacrifices.' (8)

Devji is at pains to point out that he isn't saying
al-Qaeda and Greenpeace are the same thing. 'One
uses murderous violence, the other doesn't!', he tells
me. But he does think we need to interrogate the new
political and social forces that have created something
like al-Qaeda if we are going to come up with better
ways of dealing with terrorism than simply by saying
'sort out Palestine and everything will be okay'. It is
time to ditch the lazy explanations that really are
political hangovers from a bygone era, and look afresh
at the problem of terrorism today.

Landscapes of the Jihad by Faisal Devji is published
by Hurst & Company. Buy this book from Amazon(UK)
or Amazon(USA).

Read on:

spiked-issue: War on terror

(1) Palestine is now part of an arc of Muslim
resistance, Seumas Milne, Guardian, 25 March 2004

(2) The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihad
and Modernity, Tariq Ali, 2002

(3) Whose al-Qaeda problem?, Sasha Abramsky, Open
Democracy, 4 October 2005

(4) p87, Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality,
Modernity, Faisal Devji, Hurst & Company, 2005

(5) p11, Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality,
Modernity

(6) p28, Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality,
Modernity

(7) p95, Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality,
Modernity

(8) A war fought for impersonal passions, Faisal Devji,
Financial Times, 25 July 2005

Reprinted from : http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CADD4.htm

This might be the most accurate report on al Qaeda, makes sense to me..........granny

http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications109405&Category=publications&Subcategory=0 ------------------------------------------------------------ SITE Publications The Fighting Policy of Qaedat al-Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers By SITE Institute October 21, 2005 A presentation of “The Fighting Policy of Qaedat al-Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers,” recently issued by the Global Islamic Media Front, an al-Qaeda mouthpiece, and authored by Abu Abdullah Ahmad al-Omar, seeks to explain the phases and ultimate goal of the insurgency of al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by its emir, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, against Americans and the current, interim Iraqi government. -------------------------------------- According to the text, Zarqawi had formulated a strategy against the American Army following the fall of Afghanistan, nearly a year before the start of the War in Iraq, and his actions and that of his group follow a pragmatic, yet Shari’a applicable course to defeat America. ------------------------------------------- According to the author, Zarqawi fled with some companions to Kurdistan after Afghanistan fell and prepared to fight Americans before they “invaded Iraq for more than a year,” establishing camps and warehouses, and recruiting followers from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Zarqawi is stated to have not launched the insurgency until the Iraqi Ba’ath regime toppled, so it will be the “clean start for Abu Musab away from the accusations of supporting the Ba’ath party, which was represented by Saddam”. ---------------------------------------- The jihad in Iraq, then, entails three distinct phases, each possessing specific targets and desired ends. ---------------------------------------The first phase, to “isolate the American Army,” entails the murder of Arab translators who represent the link between the Americans and the Iraqis, and the murder of Iraqi security forces, who “became shields to the American Army.” As the American casualties increase over a protracted period, the author believes that they “will find it imperative to withdraw,” regardless of alleged lies by the media. -----------------------------------The second phase includes the targeting of Arab or foreign ambassadors, to isolate the Iraqi government and make it only recognizable on paper. According to the text, the murder of the Egyptian and Algerian diplomats was not only justified, but al-Qaeda in Iraq is absolved of blame because they “warned all nations several times” to not send their ambassadors. -------------------------------------- The third phase involves the targeting of the “infidel’s militia” of the Shi’ites in al-Ghadr Brigade, which the author alleges to be supported by ---------------------------------------- Iran and Syria, and have also been attacking the Sunnis. The author finds that the area must be cleared from any “competitor” before the American Army withdraws from Iraq, so the mujahideen may control the land and set up Shar’a courts to fight the “heretic doctrine and forbidden things.” THe mujahideen in Iraq represent the “new generation,” training in explosives and car bombs, and “that is what the whole world is afraid of!” -------------- ------------------------- A full translation of the presentation is provided to our Intel Service members.

Links to the news on the Avian Flu, all over the world.

Note: Arizona Governor, says the Feds are not stocking enough medicine, so Arizona is also going to stock up, as a state project.

Arizona could be a larger danger that some areas, due to the people who walk across the border and are not in any way checked for disease.

http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/markalexander/2005/10/21/172463.html

Jihadis set their sights on The
Queen
London October 21, 2005 4:37:28 PM IST

Terrorist group Al Qaeda has reportedly
threatened to assassinate English monarch Queen
Elizabeth II.

Al Qaeda has released two videotapes that show
the terror group promising to attack the Queen
unless British troops were pulled out of Iraq.

Femalefirst quoted a report in the Daily Star as
saying that the tapes contained footages of the
9/11 WTC attack, a map of UK on fire and a voice
that said that the Queen was the primary
assassination target

The tape posted on various websites also pointed
out US President George W Bush as a probable
target.

Other footage contained in the films, include
images of jihadi camps showing military training
and scenes of men apparently assembling bombs.
One of the films also shows Al-Qaida operatives
urging British Muslims to "take the decision now"
to join them.

Officials said that the British radical Islamic
group, Supporters of Sharia, was likely to be
behind the tapes, adding that these emerged in
defiance of the British government's stringent new
anti-terror measures. (ANI)

http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=143214&cat=World

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4351204.stm

Weeks' before al-Qaeda judgement

Judgement has been reserved in a case involving a man with suspected al-Qaeda links alleged to have downloaded
information on how to blow up a plane.

Abbas Boutrab, 27, denies possessing 25 computer discs containing instructions on bomb-making downloaded from
the web.

Belfast Crown Court judge Mr Justice Weatherup said it would take him "some weeks" to prepare and give his
written verdict on the case.

His defence claimed Mr Boutrab only viewed the material "out of curiosity".

They claimed that the "evidence, taken as a whole, is weak evidence".

Mr Boutrab, who has been charged under three different aliases, has an address at Whitehouse on the Shore Road
in Belfast.

The prosecution claim that between October 2002 and April 2003, he downloaded details of how to construct a
bomb capable of downing a plane and how to make a silencer for an assault rifle.

Source: BBC

http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2005/10/20/65701.html

Thousands of people remonstrate against Taliban

Thousands of people marched through an eastern Afghan town Thursday shouting "Die terrorists" to protest against
the Taliban for allegedly killing a top Muslim cleric in a mosque bombing, officials said.

It was one of the biggest anti-Taliban demonstrations since U.S.-led forces ousted the fundamentalist regime in
late 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden. The demonstration occurred in Khost province, an area plagued by
insurgent violence.

Mohammed Ayob, the region's police chief, said "thousands and thousands of people" had filled the small town's
streets, alleyways and a downtown square.

Mohammed Akbar Zadran, a government district chief, put the number of protesters at 4,000.

"People are shouting, 'Die terrorists! Die terrorists!"' he said. "They are demanding the government protect the
clerics so no more are killed."

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=2&story_id=54070

Jemaah Islamiyah still training in Mindanao

MANILA -- Members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) extremist network are still training in the southern Philippines
despite commitments by Muslim separatists to help the government hunt them down, a military official said Friday.

"The JI is still making use of some Mindanao bases for training activities," said military deputy chief Lieutenant
General Samuel Bagasin.

He said JI was operating in the mountainous areas of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanaoon on the main southern island
of Mindanao and the nearby small island chains of Basilan and Jolo.

JI members were recruiting locals and had also forged links with Abu Sayyaf, a local Muslim outlaw group with ties
to the Al-Qaeda network, Bagasin said after a meeting of senior military officials.

However he stressed that he was not saying JI members were training in the camps of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF), the country's main Muslim separatist group that has signed a ceasefire with Manila.

The MILF, which is negotiating a peace deal with the government, has committed to help the government crack
down on JI but intelligence officials have said some MILF commanders are sheltering the foreign militants in their
camps.

Source: Agence France Presse