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Posted on 12/15/2005 5:40:46 PM PST by nwctwx
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Ya'll got to read this possible bird flu news. Strange!
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/90642.asp
Thankin' Bump!
You're welcome hummingbird.
The only "staff" is all the great posters
here on TM -- TEAM WORK.
Eco-weirds does come to mind first, but it could be any assortment of bad guys...
I don't know about this pair, and get mad when I think of how our system works.
They are still here living well.
But honest people who work for a living, have to hire a lawyer and go to court every year, just to stay here.
If there was ever a gov. dept that needs cleaned out, it is the immigration dept.
Could your man be that faris? the truck driver who was going to take down a bridge?
This morning sometime, I think that I woke up long enough to hear that the police and ? ICE had made another raid on sex slaves, in several US cities.
Granny your memory is so much better then mine. You are dead on it
again.<<<
You can top me any day.
My memory has always amazed me, I can recall all kinds of odd facts, but not names.
Names only mean to me, "yes, that one I have seen before"!
December 16, 2005 Anti-Terrorism News
(Afghanistan) Suicide car bomb blast kills two in Kabul: police
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2005/December/subcontinent_December583.xml§ion=subcontinent
Italy: Police raid apartments, shops in anti-terror operation
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3185339,00.html
Italian police on Friday raided apartments and shops believed linked to
a group of 12 Algerians suspected of providing logistical support to
extremist groups in Algeria.
(India) Six killed in fresh Kashmir violence, politician injured
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2005/December/subcontinent_December581.xml§ion=subcontinent
Indian Parliament evacuated following security alert
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2005/December/subcontinent_December576.xml§ion=subcontinent
(Sweden) Kista petrol bomb claimed by "al-Qaeda" group
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=2698&date=20051216
Senators Prepare for Showdown On Patriot Act
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,178898,00.html
France to try 27 suspects over terrorist attack plots
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=25&story_id=26237&name=France+to+try+27+over+terrorist+attack+plots
(UK) Terrorism charge plumber remanded
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4534594.stm
Official: Al-Zarqawi caught, released
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/15/zarqawi.captured/index.html
Authorities didn't realize prisoner was terrorist mastermind
Afghan News Site Claims Bin Laden Tape
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,178845,00.html
Accused terrorists tied to Australia plot
http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20051215-052622-9720r.htm
An alleged Melbourne terrorist group considered bombings to force a
"jihad Australia"
(Spain) 'ETA leader' extradited for notorious murder
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=81&story_id=26215&name=%27ETA+leader%27+extradited+for+notorious+murder
Iraq Authorities Tally Millions of Ballots
http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
Iran developing longer-range missiles
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1134309591984&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Israel) Fatah & Islamic Jihad Claim Responsibility for Terror Attack
http://www.arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=94950
Indonesia to register prepaid mobiles to deter fraud and terrorism
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/183958/1/.html
Friday, December 16, 2005
Egypt’s Muslim Brothers call Israel a ‘cancer’
CAIRO: Israel is a “cancer” in the Middle East and its peace deal with
Egypt
should be submitted to a referendum, the leader of Egypt’s Muslim
Brothers
said in an interview published on Thursday.
“I declared that we will not recognise Israel which is an alien entity
in
the region. And we expect the demise of this cancer soon,” Mohammed
Mehdi
Akef told the state-owned English language Ahram Weekly.
Egypt signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, becoming the first
Arab
country to establish diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.
Islamists opposed to the deal assassinated President Anwar Sadat in
1981 for
signing the Camp David accord and opposition to the normalisation of
relations with Israel remains strong in Egypt.
Akef stopped short of demanding the peace agreement be scrapped but
suggested it should be submitted to a popular referendum. “That is for
the
people to decide... If I had the power I would put it to the people,”
he
said.
The banned but tolerated Brotherhood won 20 percent of the seats in the
454-strong parliament, making it the largest opposition bloc in the
house.
afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=
05\12\16\story_16-12-2005_pg4_11
....
'We take nobody's permission'
The Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef tells Amira
Howeidy the group will not change tactics, and does not trust the US
Mohamed
Mahdi Akef
[From: Al-Ahram Weekly (Cairo) Issue No. 773, 15 - 21 December 2005]
THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD has chosen Mohamed Saad El-Katatni, a
microbiology
professor in El-Minia University to head the MB parliamentary bloc. Two
Brotherhood MPs for the Mina EL-Basal constituency in Alexandria,
Hussein
Mohamed Ibrahim and Hamdi Hassan, were appointed deputy head of the
bloc and
spokesman respectively.
Katatni toured El-Mina two weeks ago, speaking in the Nazlet Ebed
Church.
Father Armia, the church's top priest was quoted as saying it was the
first
time that "our constituency's MP visits us to acquaint himself with our
problems and grievances."
The MB hosted a lavish dinner on Sunday at the five-star
Intercontinental
Hotel in Heliopolis to introduce the outfit's 88 MPs to the media and
public
figures. Addressing the MPs, the group's Supreme Guide Mohamed Mahdi
Akef
said their responsibility was "huge and heavy".
"This is only the beginning," he said.
Citing a long list of tasks awaiting the Muslim Brotherhood, Akef said,
"You
must care for the nations' interests and its citizens, both Muslims and
Copts, men and women. And be punctual in your attendance."
The parliament, he added, was likely to introduce constitutional
amendments
"to make the people the source of authority, to limit the president's
powers- his term in office should be limited to four years and two
terms- to
promote human rights and abolish the emergency law."
Aziz Sedki, a former prime minister who now heads the National Front
for
Change ñan umbrella for 11 opposition parties and groups formed two
months
ago- addressed the gathering, demanding that "this People's Assembly
work on
releasing political detainees and on stopping flagrant corruption in
this
country."
Rejecting "claims" that the 17 Brotherhood MPs in the outgoing
parliament
practiced censorship, the chairman of the Doctor's Syndicate Hamdi
El-Sayed
said the group "seriously contributed in national issues that matter to
the
people, including health, education and political issues." The outgoing
MB
legistlators, he said, "were active defenders of this nation's health
and I
expect them to perform equally well in the next parliament."
"So do you refer to us as "outlawed" in your paper?" asked the Muslim
Brotherhood's leader Al-Murshid Al-'Aam (Supreme Guide) Mahdi Akef at
the
beginning of this interview on Monday morning before bursting into
laughter.
Marveling at the "absurdity" of the state's relationship with the MB,
77-year-old Akef, who spent 20 years in prison, insisted the group's
legitimacy comes "from the street". He also described recent hints from
Washington that it would like to enter into dialogue with the MB as
insincere, serving "only US interests and arousing people against us".
The group's seventh supreme guide succeeded Mamoun El-Hodeibi in
January
2004 following his election by the Guidance Bureau in a secret vote.
Since
then the "banned" MB has adopted a gradual policy of "de facto
existence"
with the state.
Akef was born in 1928 -- the year the MB was founded by Hassan El-Banna
--
and joined the group at a young age. He worked as a teacher of physical
education following his graduation from the Higher Institute for
Physical
Education in 1950 and was active in resisting the British occupation
till
the 1952 Revolution. In 1954 he was arrested and sentenced to death
after
assisting in the escape from the country of a prominent Muslim Brother
and
army general who had fallen out with Nasser. The ruling was reduced to
a
life sentence and he was released in 1974.
Over the next 30 years Akef's activities were focused mainly on the
International Body of the Brotherhood which he co-founded in the 1980s.
He
was also involved in the expansion of the group's Islamic Youth Camps
in
dozens of Arab, Asian and European countries. His overseas activities
included establishing Islamic centres in New Jersey, in the US, and in
Munich, Germany.
[Center of article has been clipped, it is very long]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[End section of article]
DIALOGUE WITH THE US
When the US State Department spokesman signaled possible contacts with
the
MB you responded by saying you would talk with the US only through the
Egyptian government. Who do you want to reassure?
Take it from me we engage in dialogue with everyone, with institutions,
peoples, universities, civil society organisations, think tanks without
limit, except Israel which we do not recognise.
I'm open to dialogue with any government, but only through the Egyptian
Foreign Ministry.
But you don't recognise the regime's legitimacy. The group's deputy
supreme
guide Khairat El-Shater told Al-Jazeera channel a month ago that the
regime
has no legitimacy.
Because [this legitimacy] wasn't granted by the people. But the regime
is
not Hosni Mubarak. It is institutions and we respect and protect these
institutions.
What does the US want in suggesting a dialogue with your elected MPs?
I have no faith in them.
The view is growing in Washington that it should engage the Islamists.
In whose interest? The US and Israel's. I'm certain they want to engage
in
dialogue with us only to arouse people against us. They also know we
will
clash with them from the very first round because of their policies in
Iraq,
Afghanistan and Palestine.
As for the views in Washington to engage Islamists, again this is in
the
interests of the US administration. We don't think they have anything
to
offer us that will be in our interest.
ON ISRAEL
You were quoted as saying that should you come to power you won't
change the
Egyptian- Israeli peace agreement while your election platform called
for
boycott and anti- normalisation movements to be supported, and a
"reconsidering" of the nature of the Egyptian-Israeli relations.
I declared that we will not recognise Israel which is an alien entity
in the
region. And we expect the demise of this cancer soon...if they want to
live
with us as normal citizens sharing our rights and duties then we don't
mind.
But to remain an occupying tyrannical country, then this will not
happen,
God willing.
Do you think Camp David should be reconsidered?
That is for the people to decide... If I had the power I would put it
to the
people.
TURKISH MODEL
What is your assessment of the Turkish model? It has been hailed as a
pragmatic and a convenient alternative to autocratic regimes in the
Arab
world.
People keep drawing parallels between us and the Turks, Taliban, Iran
and
Algeria, which is nonsense.
But the AKP (Justice and Development Party) is viewed as a success from
a
Western perspective. Does it inspire you?
I knew them well when I lived in Turkey. [Turkish Prime Minister Regab
Tayyip] Erdogan and [former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin] Erbakan
are
good friends. And I'm very familiar with their project and know well
how the
US co-opted Erdogan, who is a talented speaker and impressive
character.
Erdogan took Erbakan's social and economic platforms and implemented
them.
But he left out the political platform. Erdogan succeeded economically
and
socially because these were projects that were years in the making. But
I
think he failed politically. Hosni Mubarak couldn't visit Israel but
Erdogan
did.
Is the MB capable of contesting municipal council elections and
providing
services that compete with the state bureaucracy?
We've done it before and we won in councils like Suez and Giza. When we
proceed with something like that it is considered and fits with our
abilities.
How many will contest the coming elections?
It is not for me to decide. We're still in the process of arranging
this.
Do you think the state will allow you?
Allow us or not we are going ahead anyway. I don't take permission from
anyone. I spent 20 years in prison.
LEGAL STATUS
What are you going to do about your legal status?
It's absurd. A couple of weeks ago I was surprised to see that the word
outlawed disappeared from the national press. [The state-owned]
Al-Ahram,
Al-Akhbar and Al-Gomhouriya interviewed me and referred to me as the
Supreme
Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood without the word outlawed. And then
they saw
the extent of our street presence and the size of the Brotherhood and
the
outlawed returned along with excessive attacks against the group. So
who am
I dealing with exactly? An establishment? Or despotic mentalities that
manipulate their positions to humiliate and rob our people? From day
one I
knew that my legitimacy is from the people, the street, not the regime.
So you're content with your illegal status, which leaves the MB open to
arrests and harassment?
Are we missing something? This [pointing to the small office we were
in] is
the office of the MB's Supreme Guide. I had a much bigger office before
I
became the supreme guide. I won't apply for political party status as
long
as the Political Parties Committee exists. Once it is abolished and I
can
exercise my constitutional right to declare a party I will. If that
happens
and we form a party the MB will still remain an Islamic organisation.
Do you feel it's your right to have MB cabinet ministers as was
suggested by
Al-Masry Al-Yom's columnist Magdi Mehanna earlier this week?
[Chuckling] When we get our parliamentary rights first! Am I not
one-fifth
of the parliament? Shouldn't I head one-fifth of its committees? But
no, the
NDP elects the heads because they're the majority... that is the
mentality
of the masters of the NDP.
Is there more than one mindset among those running the country?
Yes.
What does that mean?
It's an indication of the struggle to come and I pray to God to have
mercy
on this country. And it's not just a struggle in the interests of
Egypt, but
a struggle against power and money.
The MB and parliament: a chronology
1938 : MB founder Hassan El-Banna decides to contest elections in
Ismailia
constituency. Mustafa El-Nahhas, the then prime minister, prodded by
the
British occupation authorities, persuades El-Banna to withdraw.
El-Banna
agrees on several conditions: that the group gain recognition from the
El-Nahhas government, be allowed to publish a daily MB newspaper and
licensed brothels be closed. All the conditions are met.
1942 : Following the decision of its sixth convention in 1941 the MB
decides
to contest elections as a group for the first time. El-Banna runs in
Ismailia and five MB members stand in other constituencies despite
government pressure to stop them. None of them win, and they accuse the
British of rigging the vote to prevent El-Banna from entering
parliament.
1976-1979 : MB candidates stand for election as individuals and not a
group.
Salah Abu Ismail and Hassan El-Gamal win. It is the first public
activity
the MB has taken since the Nasserist clampdown that extended from 1954
to
1965, when several of the group's leaders were executed and thousands
more
sentenced to long periods in prison.
The 1976 elections mark President Anwar El-Sadat's first move towards a
multi-party system.
1984 : Under the electoral slate system the group forges an alliance
with
the liberal Wafd Party and run as a single list. They secure 58 seats,
eight
occupied by the Brotherhood.
1987 : The MB forms a tripartite "Islamic alliance" with the Labour and
Liberal parties and together they win 60 seats, 32 going to Brotherhood
candidates, including the then member of the Guidance Bureau Mahdi
Akef,
deputy secretary-general of the Doctors' Syndicate Essam El-Erian and
professor at Assiut University Mohamed Habib. Adel Hussein, the
Marxist-turned Islamist Labour Party leader, coins the alliance's
slogan
"Islam is the solution".
1995 : Under the slogan "Islam is the solution" the MB fields 150
candidates
and is met with a major security clampdown. Eighty-eight leading
members --
including El-Erian and Habib -- are tried before military courts; 54
receive
three- to five-year sentences with hard labour. Only Ali Fath El-Bab
manages
to secure a seat in parliament.
2000 : With elections conducted under judicial supervision for the
first
time the group fields 75 candidates of which 17 make it to parliament
despite a security clampdown. According to the Egyptian Organisation
for
Human Rights approximately 6,000 MB members are arrested in the
elections.
2005 : For the first time in its 77-year history the MB is allowed to
campaign under its own name and candidates openly promote their
affiliation
and platform. They field 150 candidates in a third of Egypt's 222
constituencies and win 88 seats -- 20 per cent of the total -- despite
widespread claims of fraud and the arrest of many MB members during the
second half of the poll.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/773/eg5.htm
.....................................................................
When the law is -- and is not -- the law It may be unclear who benefits
from
maintaining the anomalous position of Muslim Brotherhood MPs but,
writes
Galal Nassar, it is clearly not in Egypt's interest
[From: Al-Ahram Weekly (Cairo) Issue No. 773, 15 - 21 December 2005]
In the parliamentary elections 88 members of the banned Muslim
Brotherhood
won seats in the People's Assembly. The puzzling thing is that the MB
contested the elections in full view of the authorities that banned it.
How
can a group that is legally banned field candidates and be allowed to
use
slogans identifying itself to all and sundry? How is it that such a
group is
allowed to hold rallies and say things that breach the prohibition on
the
use of religious slogans in politics? Who allowed the MB to run openly
in
elections? No one seems to know.
Some people are pleased to see the MB being integrated into the
country's
political life. Others are less ecstatic. All, though, are puzzled, by
the
way this is being done.
There has been no official explanation for the MB's implicit admission
into
political life. The law has not changed and there has been no
suggestion
that it is about to be changed. The MB is not a political party.
That it is acting as if it is represents a major shift in the country's
political life. Not surprisingly many suspect that the National
Democratic
Party and the MB have made some sort of a deal. If such a deal has in
fact
been made its aim is to undermine the presence of Egypt's legitimate
political parties.
Political, racist and religious groups are banned in other parts of the
world. Such prohibitions need not undermine democracy, so long as the
overwhelming majority of the nation agrees to the ban. Germany
prohibits
Nazi and neo-Nazi groups. Italy bans the fascists. France has banned
several
groups and parties, and there are those who want to see the extreme
right-wing National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen similarly prohibited
despite
the fact that it attracts a far from negligible amount of popular
support.
Nations ban parties that espouse the intolerance that impedes progress.
The
essence of modernity is the acceptance of others and openness to the
outside
world. This acceptance and openness are qualities possessed in no great
measure by fundamentalists.
The world is undergoing transformation, one that is on par with the
transformations that accompanied the industrial revolution and the
technological revolution that followed. If we are to benefit from these
changes then we must embrace the values that come as part and parcel of
the
transformation. If we burden ourselves with a religious establishment
that
rejects all sorts of things because they are insufficiently divine we
will
be unable to keep up with the times.
If we all agree that parties espousing a religious ideology and
propagating
religious slogans such as the MB are acceptable, then we should lift
the ban
on all religious parties. We should allow Christian parties to appear.
And
if we are ready to do that then we are ready for other types of parties
purporting to represent the interests of other minorities and sects.
The risk is clear, for the country could be divided along sectarian
lines.
Some people would say that this is nothing new, that sectarianism
already
exists. This may or may not be the case. But what is certain is that
the
dominance of any single religious current in Egypt will act only to
exacerbate already existing problems.
"No charter and no constitution, only the word of God and the prophet,"
ran
one of the MB slogans used in the recent campaign.
It is sufficient, is it not, to tell you something about the nature of
this
banned group?
Some people argue that the MB is a reality in Egypt and as such its
existence must be acknowledged and it should be integrated into the
political arena. We also have crime in this country, and yet we
continue to
fight it, and no one is arguing that criminals be integrated into the
political scene. There is bribery and corruption, which we are supposed
to
oppose. Not every reality is worthy of acceptance. Criminals go to
prison
for assaulting individual members of society. How much more important,
then,
to ensure that groups that are dangerous to society as whole, that have
a
propensity to usurp public rights, are not granted acceptance?
Political
Islam usurps not just the rights of people divine prerogatives. Such
groups
give themselves the right to judge other people's beliefs, which is a
right
only God possesses. Furthermore, the MB shares many of the most
criticised
traits of the current regime which has an old guard that is calling all
the
shots and insisting on doing things the old way. So is the MB's old
guard
that is doing nothing about financial and administrative corruption
within
the group.
Some say that the fundamentalists have as much right to power here as
the
neo-conservatives in the US. But the US has a legacy of democracy that
we do
not have. The US has mechanisms for self-correction that we lack. The
US has
strong civil and political forces that are powerful and active enough
to get
the country back on track. US liberals are already fighting against
legislation passed following 9/11 that jeopardises the rights of Muslim
and
other minorities. In our part of the world the rise of fundamentalists,
be
they Muslim or Christian, is far more ominous for we lack the
corrective
mechanisms.
We have a law in this country. And when you have a law you have to
respect
it. We cannot have a law and implement it selectively since doing so
sends
us sliding down the slippery Machiavellian slope of selective morality.
The
MB is accustomed to secretive machinations which is why it has always
ended
up antagonising the regime. The MB has incurred the wrath of successive
governments. The government of Ibrahim Abdel-Hadi clamped down on the
MB
before 1952. Gamal Abdel-Nasser turned against the MB in 1954 and in
1965
arrested everyone thought to be linked with it. Since Anwar El-Sadat's
assassination in 1981 the government has periodically rounded up MB
members
and sympathisers, and not without reason.
The MB needs to turn itself into a political party. To do so it will
have to
tone down its religious ideology and allow all Egyptians to become
members
regardless of faith. It will have to operate as a purely Egyptian
entity
rather than a branch or the centre of a cross-border movement. Its
finances
will have to be subject to audit, and it can maintain no military wing.
These are the regulations Egyptian law applies to parties without
exception.
So long as the MB fails to comply it will remain an extra-legal group.
The MB has a plan to take over the country by adopting a step-by-step
approach. The MB wants to establish a religious state and make Egypt
the
centre of an Ottoman-style caliphate. This much is explicit in the
teachings
of Hassan El-Banna, the group's founder. It has been reiterated by
followers
over time. What the MB wants is to conquer Egypt from within.
The government and the People's Assembly need to take a stand on the
88 parliamentarians who won their seats through campaigning on MB
slogans.
Either the ban on the MB is lifted, in which case the MB should proceed
to
form a political party with a clear agenda, or the ban stays, in which
case
critics of the MB should file lawsuits against the presence of MB
members in
the parliament.
Egypt belongs to all its citizens, regardless of their creed. We can
have a
secular state, and we can have a modern state but first we must have
the
courage of our beliefs. We need to remain steadfast on the path of
reform.
We need to uphold our own laws. And we need to remain committed to
equality,
justice and freedom, the crux of all true religions.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/773/eg62.htm
..................................................................
Akef: Egyptians must vote on 1979 treaty By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Friday, December 16, 2005
CAIRO: The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called for the
country's
peace treaty with Israel to be submitted to a referendum and described
the
Jewish state as a "cancer" in the region. "I declared that we will not
recognize Israel which is an alien entity in the region. And we expect
the
demise of this cancer soon," Mohammad Mehdi Akef told the state-owned
English language Ahram Weekly in an interview published Thursday.
Egypt became the first Arab country to establish diplomatic relations
with
Israel when it signed a peace treaty in 1979.
But Islamists opposed to the treaty assassinated president Anwar Sadat
in
1981 for signing the Camp David accord.
Akef stopped short of demanding the peace treaty be scrapped but
suggested
it should be submitted to a popular vote.
"That is for the people to decide ... If I had the power I would put it
to
the people," he said.
The banned but tolerated Brotherhood won 20 percent of the seats in the
454-strong Parliament in month-long elections that wrapped up last
week,
making it the largest opposition bloc in the house.
Following the unprecedented electoral gains, the United States hinted
it
might open channels of communication with the Brotherhood, which
continues
to be anxious about U.S. support for Israel.
"The Muslim Brothers do not recognize Israel. 70 million Egyptians, 300
million citizens in the Arab world and 1.5 billion Muslims across the
world
do not recognize Israel," Akef said in another interview with the
London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published on Sunday.
Most Egyptians are opposed to the development of stronger ties with
Israel,
particularly because of its continued occupation of the Palestinian
territories.
Professional unions have expelled members for visiting the Jewish state
and
the Culture Ministry maintains a ban on Israeli participation at
international events it hosts such as the Cairo book fair and cinema
festival. Agriculture remains the only sector that has seen close
cooperation between Egypt and Israel, with a regular exchange of visits
by
officials and experts.
Egypt withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv in 2000 in protest at
Israel's
handling of the Palestinian intifada or uprising and appointed a new
envoy
only a few months ago. Founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, the Muslim
Brotherhood is the largest Islamic movement in Egypt.
The group was banned in 1954 after a failed a attempt on the life of
then
president Gamal Abdel-Nasser, who brutally suppressed the Brotherhood.
The
movement, which renounced violence in the 1970s, says it wants to
establish
a moderate Islamist state in Egypt and has in recent months tried to
assuage
concerns of the country's Coptic Christian minority over its agenda. -
AFP
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=&categ_id==2&article_id=
782
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=%5CSpecialReports%5Carchive%5C200512%5CSPE20051216a.html
Will The Real Al Qaeda No. 3 Please Stand Up?
By Sherrie Gossett
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
December 16, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - The reported killing of a senior al Qaeda
operative by a CIA-launched missile in Pakistan on Dec. 1 has
sparked debate among terrorism experts over the true identity of
the target and the accuracy of numerical rankings that the
Pentagon and White House have attached to other captured or
killed terrorists.
Some say the rankings represent public relations run amok, while
others say they prove that the U.S. continues to rely on faulty
Pakistani intelligence.
On Dec. 3, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told reporters
that Abu Hamza Rabia had been killed in an explosion two days
earlier. An aide to Musharraf told reporters that Rabia was "very
important in al Qaeda, maybe number three or five" in the terror
group's hierarchy. Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao
added that Rabia's death was a "big blow to al Qaeda."
Several American news organizations, including the Washington
Post and Los Angeles Times, then quoted multiple, unnamed U.S.
intelligence officials as saying that Rabia was al Qaeda's
number-three man, the operational commander or military
commander, all terms typically used interchangeably. Headlines
around the world trumpeted the death of the "al Qaeda number
three man"
Last weekend, Stephen Hadley, national security advisor to
President Bush, appeared on CNN and Fox News Sunday,
describing Rabia as "the chief operational planner for al Qaeda,"
who had been "involved in planning attacks against the United
States."
But the day before Hadley's appearances, terrorism expert and
author Christopher L. Brown was labeling it all a case of mistaken
identity. Rabia was wanted for plotting to assassinate Musharraf,
Brown said, was probably a local senior member of al Qaeda, but
was far from being its military mastermind.
Brown, a researcher with a Washington think tank, has briefed
members of Congress and senior administration officials on key
threats, and he has prepared testimony and briefing materials for
officials at the Department of Defense, State Department, CIA,
National Security Council and the White House.
Rabia has never appeared on the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists"
list and no known reward has been posted for his capture, Brown
points out.
A LexisNexis database search turns up no news articles written
about Rabia prior to his reported killing, except for an Aug. 18,
2004, announcement by the Pakistani government of a reward for
his capture and that of six other al Qaeda suspects accused of
attempting to assassinate President Musharraf on Dec. 14 and
25, 2003.
The 'real' al Qaeda number three, Brown contends, is Saif al-Adel
(also known as Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi), who was
previously reported by numerous independent sources to have
become al Qaeda's chief of the military committee (operational
commander) following the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in
March 2003.
Unlike Rabia, al-Adel and his ranking are mentioned in numerous
news articles, briefings and even in congressional testimony. On
May 20, 2003, Reuters quoted terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna
as saying that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's arrest elevated al-Adel
because he was "the most competent man" and "extraordinarily
bright." Gunaratna also pointed out that as a "highly structured
organization," Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda "would have made a
point of formally appointing a successor to Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed."
Saif al-Adel is also still listed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists
list with a $5 million reward offered for his apprehension. Al-Adel
is suspected of having trained some of the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist hijackers and has been linked to the Aug. 7, 1998,
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and
Nairobi, Kenya. The U.S. has sought al-Adel since his alleged
involvement in the training of Somali rebels, who killed 18 U.S.
servicemen in Mogadishu in the notorious 'Blackhawk Down'
incident in October 1993.
In March of 2005 Jordanian analyst Bassam al-Baddarin wrote of
al Qaeda's "2020" plan, which outlined the vision of the "strategic
brain" of the group -- Saif al-Adel. The "2020" plan made world
headlines.
Al-Adel's Iranian connection
Following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the battle at Tora
Bora, some al Qaeda fighters, including al-Adel, were reported to
have fled to Iran.
"We began to converge on Iran one after the other," Saif al-Adel
recalled in a recent book by an Egyptian journalist. "The fraternal
brothers in the peninsula of the Arabs, Kuwait, and the United
Arab Emirates who were outside Afghanistan, had already arrived
... We set up a central leadership and working groups ..."
Brown said Iran's announcement that it "seized" al-Adel in May
2003 was not credible. He pointed to another report in a London
Arabic daily newspaper that quoted Iranian sources and indicated
that al-Adel and his al Qaeda cohorts left Iran following the May
12, 2003, bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and headed for the
triple border area of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In June 2005, the German investigative magazine Cicero, known
for its intelligence contacts, reported that about 25 al Qaeda
leaders, including al-Adel and three of bin Laden's sons were
running terrorist operations from their refuge in Iran, where they
were provided safe haven, logistical support and equipment by
the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Soon after the reports of the CIA missile attack on Abu Hamza
Rabia, Iran's top intelligence official announced that "there are
no al-Qaeda leaders inside Iran.
"We do have a long border with Afghanistan and when the
Americans bombed the country, some people crossed this area,
but we extradited them or sent them back," the Iranian official
added.
Dan Darling, consultant for the Manhattan Institute's Center for
Policing Terrorism, has also asserted that Saif al-Adel is "the real
al Qaeda No. 3." And the Israeli intelligence group, DEBKA File,
reported that "[Rabia] is not a member of al Qaeda's high
command and certainly was not Osama bin Laden's Number
Three."
When questioned about Rabia, former CIA Director R. James
Woolsey told Cybercast News Service that he had never heard
of the man.
On Dec. 5, the well-known Indian terrorism expert B. Raman,
sent Cybercast News Service an analysis stating that the
reported killing of Rabia was "mired in contradictions," including
the fact that no body had been recovered. Raman is the former
head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research & Analysis
Wing in India's external intelligence agency.
Still another al Qaeda number three official
Raman also referenced Abu Faraj al-Libbi, another terrorist
previously described by Pakistani intelligence, then U.S. officials,
as al Qaeda's third ranking official when he was captured in May
of this year. "[W]hile the FBI did not believe that Abu Faraj and
Rabia were that highly placed in Al Qaeda, the CIA rated both of
them as among the top planners of Al Qaeda." Raman noted.
Raman reported that before the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., Rabia
was trained by Midhat Mursi (aka Abu Khabab), another
Egyptian, in an Afghan camp to do research and development on
chemical and biological weapons, particularly toxins. "[This] was
not highlighted by the Pakistani authorities in their media
briefing," Raman said.
On Dec. 5, the global intelligence firm Stratfor reported that
neither Rabia nor Abu Faraj al-Libbi were likely the masterminds
Pakistani and U.S. intelligence agencies made them out to be. "It
is more likely that these individuals, rather than being third in
command of the jihadist network, were high-level leaders
involved in day-to-day operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan,"
the Stratfor report stated.
"The Pakistanis would have an interest in propagating the notion
that al Qaeda's third-highest ranking member was killed. By
assigning a high value to Rabia, Islamabad can placate
Washington by showing progress and cooperation in the war on
terrorism," according to Stratfor.
"The Pakistani officials [previously] stated that they were not
aware of the involvement of Abu Faraj [al-Libbi] in any act of
jihadi terrorism outside the Pakistan-Afghanistan region," Raman
noted. "They were unable to explain why they projected him as
the international operational head of Al Qaeda when there was no
evidence of his role in any terrorist strike outside the
Afghanistan-Pakistan region."
Why the confusion?
What Rabia and al-Libbi have in common is they both targeted
Pakistani President Musharraf for assassination, said Brown.
"The truth is Pakistan is yanking our chain on al Qaeda and
getting America and the CIA to eliminate threats to their regime,"
he added. The elimination of lower level leaders or threats to
Musharraf is "not necessarily a bad thing," but relying on
Pakistani intelligence to rank al Qaeda members "puts us in
potential danger."
Saif al-Adel is believed to still be operating today and remains
listed on the FBI's list of Most Wanted Terrorists.
When questioned about the doubts raised by terrorism experts, a
CIA spokesperson told Cybercast News Service that "these
titles are somewhat fluid.
"This is not uncommon to have disagreements over titles.
Number three is certainly applicable. It's certainly where we
came down on it, but there [are] always disagreements among
academics and think tanks. Not necessarily everyone agrees. If
it's more comfortable, you can use 'senior' and 'certainly planning
operations.'"
When asked whether Rabia had been planning international or
local operations, the CIA spokesperson declined comment.
When asked to comment on Saif al-Adel's current status, she also
declined comment. "We don't usually comment until after they're
gone."
Jean-Charles Brisard disagrees with those who doubt the roles of
Rabia and al-Libbi in the al Qaeda hierarchy. Brisard is a
well-known terrorism financing investigator and chief investigator
in the lawsuit filed by the family members of the victims in the
9/11 attacks. He is also the author of "Zarqawi: the New Face of
Al-Qaeda," a book praised for its first-hand information about
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terror mastermind in Iraq.
"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) had two principal lieutenants,"
Brisard said, "Abu Hamza Rabia for external operations and Abu
Faraj al-Libbi for the Pakistani-Afghan operations. This is why I
refuted at the time that al Libbi had replaced KSM and played the
same role."
Brisard said that based on various intelligence sources with whom
he has consulted, Rabia was actually a protege and confidant of
the undisputed number two man in al Qaeda -- Ayman
al-Zawahiri.
"Zawahiri was the one who insisted in naming [Rabia] as Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed's deputy," Brisard said. "According to
interrogations of al-Libbi, [Rabia] maintained a direct contact
with Zawahiri for planning and operations. He was a high value
target, a key al Qaeda member and one of the few who
interacted between the al Qaeda historical leaders and foreign
cells, and surely not someone we can downgrade to a simple
'ground commander.'"
Terrorism expert and author Evan F. Kohlmann, however,
believes that the whole Pentagon and White House practice of
assigning numeric rankings to terrorists "doesn't make any
sense.
"This is the reality. We really don't know who the number three
is," said Kohlmann. "Even when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was in
charge of al Qaeda's military wing, was he number three in the
organization? There's no way to quantify that."
Since Mohammed's capture, al Qaeda's structure has become
"more nebulous," Kohlmann asserted. "It's not even clear what
the precise role of bin Laden's son is.
"This isn't a Fortune 500 company with clearly defined roles. It's
more like the mafia. You shoot up in the organization by violence,
by inspiring fear and respect in others," Kohlmann said.
"That's the problem of the numbers game. It's a way to sell a
story to media. But people wind up then doubting credible
information coming from the military, for example," he added.
"This is a PR guy's dream, turned nightmare."
[copyrite by CNS News]
Sweden: Attempted Stockholm Fire-Bombing Claimed by Group 'Close' to
Al-Qa'ida
A petrol bomb attack on an Iraqi election office in Stockholm has been
claimed by a group which said it was close to Al-Qa'ida, according a
letter
quoted by a leading newspaper Friday [ 16 December].
Early Thursday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a voting station in
the
Stockholm suburb of Kista hours before people across Iraq turned out to
choose the first four-year term parliament since the downfall of former
dictator Saddam Husayn in 2003.
The bomb did not explode and nobody was injured.
"A Swedish group claiming to be a branch of the terror network
Al-Qa'ida has
claimed the attack on an Iraqi election office in Kista," the Dagens
Nyheter
daily said, adding it had received a letter from the group.
Dagens Nyheter said that in the letter, written in Swedish and posted
on
Wednesday [ 14 December], the group said that Thursday's attack would
be
followed by others.
"To my knowledge, no similar attack has been committed in Sweden in
Al-Qa'ida's name. It's the first of its kind," terrorism expert Magnus
Norrell told Dagens Nyheter.
[Description of Source: Paris AFP in English -- North European Service
of
independent French press agency Agence France-Presse]
Source Date: 12/16/2005
[granny's note: from a news group, no exact URL given]
[edited]
Malawi dispatched blood and tissue samples to neighboring South Africa on Friday to be tested for avian influenza after thousands of migratory birds were found dead on a hill in the central Ntchisi district.
Agriculture officials expressed alarm after local villagers started scooping up the dead fork-tailed drongos -- known locally as namzenze -- to eat earlier this week in the district about 200km east of the capital, Lilongwe.
"Someone alerted police that people are feasting on mysterious manna from heaven," said Wilfred Lipita, director of livestock and animal health in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. "We sent officials to caution the people not to eat them, since they may have the avian flu which has proved deadly to humans in other countries."
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has ravaged poultry stocks across Asia since 2003, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 160 billion birds. It has also killed at least 71 people. Health officials fear the virus could spark a pandemic if it mutates into a form easily passed from human to human.
-- ProMED-mail
[Clearly, everyone is on the alert for avian influenza. We look forward to hearing the official test results.
Although it is not unheard of for one particular avian species to be more susceptible to the virus, it seems unlikely that only one type of bird in a region would be affected. The description of "manna from heaven" makes me wonder if the birds were literally falling out of the sky. If that were the case I might be inclined to think about a metabolic toxin of some kind.
For those not familiar with the drongos, they are a common bird with black feathers and distinctive red eyes. Although usually they are diurnal, lights around buildings will prompt them to eating the moths attracted to the light, well into the dark hours. A good picture can be found at : - Mod.TG]
Italian police storm apartments, shops in anti-terrorism raid www.chinaview.cn 2005-12-16 19:41:03
ROME, Dec. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Italian police on Friday raided apartments and shops believed to be linked to a 12-strong Algerian group suspected of financing and supporting extremist groups in Algeria.
Fake documents, forged money and cell phones, which turned up in raids in the southern city Naples, were believed to be destined for the extremist organizations, said Italian police.
These organizations include the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which is believed to be linked to al-Qaida, and the radical Armed Islamic Group, according to police.
The preliminary investigation showed that the supplies were sent to Algeria on buses that drove from Naples to southern France and then crossed to the North African country.
Police said they had stopped one such bus Friday near the border between Italy and France.
Police had made no arrests during the raids, although some of the suspects were already detained on separate charges.
Thanks granny for this post and amen.
IMHO everyone should be praying daily for our members of the Armed Forces wherever they may be and a special prayer for military families left behind while their loved ones are assigned at distant countries, recovering from battle wounds or having given their lives for the cause of freedom.
National Bio/Chem/Nuclear Weapons
NORTH CAROLINA: Officials searching for stolen radioactive material
STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina officials are searching for two
stainless steel tubes containing radioactive material stolen last week
from
a locked vehicle outside a Statesville restaurant.
The so-called sealed sources, used for quality assurance and testing of
equipment in nuclear medicine facilities, contain two millicuries of
Americium 241 in two stainless steel tubes, which are mounted in a
container
about the size of a 35-mm film canister. The stainless steel tubes are
marked with yellow caution labels.
Officials with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural
Resources' radiation protection section said if handled improperly,
prolonged exposure to the tubes could pose a health and safety risk.
Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., which owns the vehicle, will be
cited
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Granny's note: clipped for copyrite.....said that there is a fine for not reporting promptly, stay 5 foot away to avoid being exposed and to call the police if found.
This may be one of the listed reports from the long list of links that I posted this morning, this copy came without a URL from one of my news groups.
granny
[above is posters opinion, not mine]
Snippet.
Landslide victories for Hamas in key cities Haaretz Israel | By Arnon Regular
Tel Aviv, Israel Hamas appears to have defeated Fatah by a sizable margin in three of the four major West Bank cities where local elections were held yesterday: Nablus, Jenin and Al-Bireh, which is next to Ramallah.
C 2005 Haaretz
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php%3Farticleid%3D2369850
Results 1 - 2 of 2 related articles. Search took 0.02 seconds.
...as al-Zawahiri Tries to Boost Jihadi Morale
Global Terrorism Analysis, DC - 6 hours ago
An extended audio statement from Ayman al-Zawahiri, believed to have been made in mid-September,
was posted on December 9 on the al-Safinat jihadi forum (http ...
Al-Zawahiri Encourages Targeting of Gulf Oil...
Global Terrorism Analysis, DC - 6 hours ago
Along with the "Impediments to Jihad" audiotape, the al-Sahab Media Productions company produced
on September 19 a 43-minute video featuring a meeting with ...
<<<"Someone alerted police that people are feasting on mysterious manna from heaven,">>>
I hope we get some follow-up on this. It's important to know 1. if the birds died from avian flu 2. why it appeared to only affect these particular birds and 3. if eating an infected bird infects a human. I would assume they cooked them.
I would dread to think that something like this could be a catalyst that may assist the mutation of the virus to a H2H strain somehow.
Al-Qaida leader killed in Southern Russia
MOSCOW, Dec. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday an al-Qaida leader had been killed by Russianforces in the country's southern region.
Abu Omar al-Seif, leader of the al-Qaida network in Russia's North Caucasus region, was killed in the southern part of Dagestanin November, FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev said, quoted by Russian news agencies.
Russian authorities had accused al-Seif of helping to plot the Beslan school seizure and apartment house bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk in 1999, as well as other attacks.
Al-Seif, a Saudi national, was sent to North Caucasus by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden 10 years ago. He had been running underground terrorist cells in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia under the cover of a non-governmental organization, the Al-Haramein Islamic Foundation, an FSB spokesman said.
Al-Seif "received and distributed funds from abroad to stage terrorist attacks and acts of sabotage in Russia" and played an active part in "plotting terrorist attacks and promoting extremistreligious and political ideas," the spokesman said.
He was appointed al-Qaida's leader in the North Caucasus region after former leader, Abu al-Walid, was killed in April 2004, and, this year, he moved from Ingushetia to Dagestan, the spokesman said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-12/16/content_3932794.htm
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