Posted on 08/07/2006 3:43:15 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
Google Alert - bomb threat
Bomb threat made at Wal-Mart
The Mountain Press - Sevierville,TN,USA
The Wal-Mart on the Parkway was closed for about an hour Saturday after
an anonymous person phoned in a bomb threat. No explosives were found
in the store. ...
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1211&dept_id=169697&newsid=17049442&PAG=461&rfi=9
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/editorialsletters/story.html?id=5f5747c4-1399-4c81-9029-17c12be26ee2
Sunday > August 13 > 2006
To end this war, disarm Hezbollah
National Post
Saturday, August 12, 2006
As of this writing, the UN Security Council appears set to endorse an
agreement
aimed at ending the Israel-Hezbollah war, and deploying a 15,000-strong
UN
peacekeeping force to southern Lebanon. Yet no long-term end to the
fighting
will come -- or should come -- until the UN proves itself serious about
disarming Hezbollah's militia, as the world community has long
demanded.
Hezbollah is a terrorist group that has no other raison-d'etre except
to attack
Israel. And it will continue to do so until it is disarmed.
Two years ago, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution
upholding
the independence and territorial integrity of Lebanon. In particular,
Resolution
1559 called for the disarmament and dismantling of private militias
such as
Hezbollah, which is essentially a division of Iran's Revolutionary
Guards Corps.
Yet Hezbollah never turned in its guns. Far from it, the group amassed
an
arsenal larger than that of many nations, and turned southern Lebanon
into an
armed camp from which to attack Israel -- all under the noses of UN
observers.
While Friday's draft resolution would significantly expand the existing
UN
peacekeeping force, and allow that force to carry guns, those guns
could be
fired only in self defence. In other words, Hezbollah operatives or
rocket crews
would face no military threat from UN forces so long as they did not
attack the
peacekeepers. If Hezbollah launched a repeat of its July 12 attack on
Israel,
the Jewish state would have no choice but to re-invade Lebanon, and
this whole
war-and-peace two-step would be repeated.
There is no long-term gain in that, either for Israel, or for Lebanon,
which has
born the brunt of this war. If UN troops are not given permission to
back up the
ceasefire and destroy Hezbollah's weapons caches by force, the group
will ignore
the current resolution as it did 1559. Within no time, Hezbollah will
have
reinfiltrated south Lebanon and replenished its weapons stores with the
help of
Iran and Syria.
Defenders of last night's deal will point to the fact that the
international
peacekeeping force will be assisted by Lebanon's own small army, which
Western
powers hope will one day exert normal sovereign Lebanese authority over
what is
now Hezbollahland. But for now, at least, no one should depend on that
outcome.
Since the 1970s, Beirut has permitted either Syria or Israel or one of
the
region's many Christian or Islamic militias to defend the sovereignty
of south
Lebanon. Sending the actual Lebanese army to the region is therefore
something
of an untested novelty. In any case, the army's officer corps is known
to be
shot through with Hezbollah-friendly Shiites and Damascene stooges left
over
from the Syrian occupation.
There is a promise of a further, more comprehensive ceasefire to come
in 30 days
time. Canada, the United States and Israel's other Western friends must
use that
time to ensure that this war ends with the right conditions in place
for a
lasting peace. In the meantime, if Hezbollah is not disarmed through
peaceful
means, Israel cannot be blamed for using more violent methods.
C National Post 2006
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=%22Syria%22&ei=utf-8
Relevance | Date
1. Kasuri to visit Syria and Lebanon Open this result in new window
New Kerala - 55 minutes ago
Islamabad, Aug 14: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri will visit Syria and Lebanon in the near future to assess the situation created in the aftermath of the over month-long Israeli attacks.
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2. Syria supports Lebanese approval of UN text Open this result in new window
Khaleej Times - Aug 13 10:34 AM
DAMASCUS - Syria backed Lebanon’s approval of a UN resolution aimed at ending hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah but also expressed reservations on the text, official media said Sunday.
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3. Bush hails UN resolution on Lebanon, blames Iran, Syria Open this result in new window
AFP via Yahoo! News - Aug 12 9:52 AM
US President George W. Bush praised a UN resolution aimed at ending the Lebanon crisis and blamed Hezbollah, Iran and Syria for starting an "unwanted war" in the region.
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4. Syria supports Lebanese approval of UN resolution Open this result in new window
Sharewatch - Aug 13 11:29 AM
\"Syria supports Lebanon\'s unanimous decision as well as official Lebanese reservations about UN Security Council Resolution 1701,\" an anonymous Syrian official was quoted by the official SANA news agency as saying.
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5. (AFX UK Focus) 2006-08-13 19:30 GMT: Syria supports Lebanese approval of UN resolution Open this result in new window
Interactive Investor - Aug 13 11:57 AM
DAMASCUS (AFX) - Syria backed Lebanon's approval of a UN resolution aimed at ending hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah but also expressed reservations on the text, official media said.
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6. Syria still transferring supply of rockets, missiles to Hezbollah Open this result in new window
Haaretz Daily - Aug 13 7:55 AM
Syria continues its efforts to transfer large quantities of war materiel, including rockets, to Lebanon, in an effort to assist Hezbollah in its war against Israel, a senior Israel Defense Forces source told Haaretz on Saturday.
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7. Israel-Hezbollah truce will strike blow to Syria, Iran Open this result in new window
Canada.com - Aug 13 4:51 AM
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George Bush said the United Nations resolution to halt the fighting between Israel and Lebanon will stop Hezbollah from acting as a "state within a state" and deal a severe blow to the efforts of Syria and Iran to exert influence in the Middle East.
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8. Army Intel Chief: Syria and Iran Will Continue to Arm Hizbullah Open this result in new window
Israel National News - Aug 13 7:20 AM
(IsraelNN.com) The head of IDF military intelligence, Gen. Amos Yadlin, said at today’s cabinet meeting that Syria and Iran will continue to transfer arms to Hizbullah, despite Security Council Resolution 1701 which calls for a ceasefire.
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9. Lebanon mess: France, Syria, and (lest we forget) Iran Open this result in new window
World Tribune - 2 hours, 22 minutes ago
PARIS — Lebanon’s imbroglio deepens. Militarily the Israeli offensive to seek and destroy the Hizbollah terrorists has not delivered the quick knockout punch as expected. The Hizbollah militias who started the conflict have proven resilient and have acquired a perverse prestige in the Arab world.
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10. Syria and Iran: no talking to the devil Open this result in new window
Radio Netherlands - Aug 13 12:42 AM
Israel and the United States both believe that the Jewish State is not at war with Hizbollah alone, but that Syria and Iran are loitering in the background.
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Machete-wielding woman outside White House
[unknown url]
Genocide site in Cambodia draws tourists
Associated Press
Sunday, August 13, 2006
By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer
Call it crass, macabre or educational, but Pol Pot's shabby grave and a
towering stack of his victims' skulls are drawing a growing number of
visitors to Cambodia's genocide trail. These and other relics of the
Khmer Rouge reign of terror are the grim counterpoint to Angkor Wat,
Cambodia's world-famous ancient temple. Some decry it as "dark tourism" and
"a Khmer Rouge theme park," while officials and private entrepreneurs
argue that it will reap tourist dollars for an impoverished nation.
The latest station on the circuit is Anlong Veng, the final stronghold
of the Khmer Rouge and its leader, Pol Pot, who turned the country into
a vast slave labor camp in which as many as 2 million of their fellow
Cambodians perished from disease, starvation and relentless executions
in the mid-1970s.
"Cambodia is known to the world for two things - Angkor Wat and the
'killing fields.' Some believe one came from God and the other from hell,"
says Youk Chhang, a leading researcher of Khmer Rouge atrocities.
This scruffy town in northwest Cambodia once housed one of the 20th
century's largest assemblages of mass killers. Now, following up on a
government order to preserve Khmer Rouge sites, officials are planning to
restore nearly 40 houses of former Khmer Rouge leaders and build a
museum where the guides are ex-soldiers of the ultra-communist movement.
"Pol Pot was cremated here. Please help to preserve this historical
site," says a Ministry of Tourism sign next to a dirt mound bordered by
half-buried soda bottles and protected by a rusting iron roof. The hut
where Pol Pot died in 1998, the movement collapsing around him, has
disappeared.
Thirty yards away, bulldozers are laying the foundations for a South
Korean-built resort with swimming pool. And just down the road, a casino
and massive market will cater to visitors from neighboring Thailand.
Youk Chhang, who heads The Documentation Center of Cambodia, is
concerned that sites such as Anlong Veng will lose their raw, powerful
authenticity.
"We don't want them turned into Disneylands and seen merely as a source
of money," he says.
A private Japanese enterprise, JC Royal Co., last year won the
concession to develop Choeung Ek, the vast killing ground, into a more
tourist-friendly place, while the World Bank is completing a wide, paved road
to speed tourist buses to the site 10 miles south of Phnom Penh.
At Tuol Sleng, the notorious torture and interrogation center in the
capital, some of the desperate prisoner graffiti has been painted over
and Youk Chhang had to dissuade the director from giving all the starkly
drab buildings a whitewash. He said the director told him: "Don't
worry, brother, they will look old again after two or three years."
A harsh critic is former King Norodom Sihanouk who last month objected
to genocide memorials which displayed victims' skulls and bones, saying
this was done "for the pleasure of tourists." He said it did nothing
for the "wandering souls" of those killed and urged that their bones be
cremated according to Buddhist custom.
Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, which charge a $2 entry fee, are on the
itineraries of almost every tour company and are expected to be visited by
many of the 1.6 million foreign tourists expected in Cambodia this
year. Even more interest may be generated next year when the surviving
Khmer Rouge leaders go on trial for genocidal crimes before a long-delayed,
U.N.-backed tribunal.
Youk Chhang's U.S.-funded center, which is delivering boxes of
documents on Khmer Rouge atrocities to the tribunal, plans a museum. One of its
staffers, Sayana Ser, has toured Nazi concentration camps, other
Holocaust sites and Berlin's Jewish Museum while attending a graduate program
at Wageningen University in The Netherlands.
Roberto Rossano, a 22-year-old Londoner, said he knew little about the
Khmer Rouge nightmare until he visited Choeung Ek.
"When somebody tells you one or two million were killed it's just a
number, but when I came and saw just a fraction of what they did - these
skulls - it absolutely shocks you," he said.
He and a friend had just seen the soaring stupa, or Buddhist reliquary,
crammed with 8,985 skulls, some bearing clear evidence of death by
hammers, hoes, bamboo sticks and bullets. Skeletal remains and ragged
clothes lay in surrounding shallow graves. A sign next to a tree explained
how executioners bashed the heads of children against its trunk.
The victims were bused in from Tuol Sleng, a former high school where
up to 16,000 suffered torture and abysmal living conditions before being
"smashed." Also on display are instruments of torture and scores of
haunting photographs of those about to die, taken by their captors.
In the bougainvillea-shaded courtyard are tombs of 14 prisoners killed
just before Vietnamese troops captured Phnom Penh in 1979, driving the
Khmer Rouge into the jungles to fight as guerrillas and eventually to
be squeezed into enclaves like Anlong Veng.
Anlong Veng, only recently cleared of mines, is perhaps the only
"living museum" of the horror. Many of its 26,000 inhabitants are Pol Pot's
former fighters and officials, some of them missing limbs.
Ta Mok, a brutal military commander, lived here until his death last
month. Although he was to have stood trial for atrocities, he was a hero
in Anlong Veng, and people eagerly point out his humanitarian legacy -
schools, clinics, a dam, a sawmill that provided free wood to the poor.
"The people all love Ta Mok," says his nephew, Cheam Ponlok.
The commander whom the Western media dubbed "the Butcher" was seen off
by hundreds of mourners and chanting Buddhist monks, and his ashes
placed in a tomb in a temple - the newest addition to Cambodia's genocide
trail.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
[unknown url]
Plot shows rise of extremism in Europe
Associated Press
Sunday, August 13, 2006
By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer
Britain's struggle to contain Muslim extremism points up a chilling
trend across Europe: the rise of radical Islam, and with it, a willingness
among a small but dangerous minority of young people to answer the call
to jihad.
From the squalid suburbs north of Paris to the gritty streets of
Sarajevo, young, disaffected Muslims are increasingly receptive to
hard-liners looking to recruit foot soldiers for holy war, European
counterterrorism officials and religious leaders warn.
The continent, they caution, remains vulnerable to attacks by homegrown
militants despite the heightened security and attempts at
inter-religious dialogue that followed the deadly 2004 train bombings in Madrid and
last year's suicide attacks in London.
"Their numbers are still relatively small, but I fear they could become
larger as more young Muslims embrace militancy," said Fawaz Gerges, a
professor of Islamic studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York.
Gerges calls it "the jihad generation": converts to extremism in
Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and elsewhere who are
becoming radicalized - partly in response to the conflicts in
Afghanistan and the Middle East - and are spawning "self-generating" networks
and cells.
"They're not part of al-Qaida, but in their own eyes, they are foot
soldiers" who share Osama bin Laden's ideology, he said.
Little is known of what may have motivated the 23 suspects in British
police custody to allegedly plot to blow up U.S.-bound jetliners with
liquid explosives. But many in their middle and working class
neighborhoods said the communities have become alienated by U.S. and British
policy in the Middle East.
"Governments in Europe insist this is a problem of ideology, but the
real cause of this phenomenon is the political crisis that is sweeping
the world with the war in Iraq and the situation in Palestine," said
Azzam Tamimi, director of the London-based Institute of Islamic Political
Thought.
Like the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the London bombings on July 7, 2005,
"should have been lessons for everybody - that government policies
endanger the security of everyone," Tamimi said. "The root cause has never
been addressed. Unless they open a debate, the threat will never go
away."
Recruiters for hard-line Islamist groups can turn some Muslim youths
with little interest in religion into extremists in a matter of weeks,
contends Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, head of France's counterterrorism
agency.
An estimated 5,000 French Muslims embrace extremist Islam, according to
a 2005 police intelligence report. France is home to about 5 million
Muslims, the largest Islamic community in western Europe, and French
authorities claimed to dismantle several cells earlier this year.
"Young people who are indifferent to religion fall in a matter of weeks
into the toughest kind of Islam and, almost without any transition,
into the most worrisome kind of activism," Bousquet de Florian told the
newspaper Le Parisien last month.
But the rise of homegrown extremists - many of whom operate in small,
close-knit circles difficult for law enforcement to penetrate - has
complicated counterterrorism efforts in many countries.
The Netherlands has been on high alert since a Dutch Muslim of Moroccan
descent murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004. Spanish authorities
have been monitoring some 250 suspected Islamic radicals, and in Bosnia
five men are on trial for allegedly plotting an attack on an
unidentified European country - significantly, one with troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
An open letter published this weekend by prominent British Islamic
groups said the "debacle in Iraq" and the failure to quickly secure a
cease-fire in southern Lebanon as Israel waged a military campaign against
Hezbollah militants has made Britain a target.
Britain's archbishop of York, the Most Rev. John Sentamu, said he
thinks disenfranchised young Muslims turn to extremism not because of Islam
but "because they are alienated, because they have been given a vision
which is so imaginatively wicked."
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Google Alert - support jihad
Brevard residents gather to support Israel
Florida Today - Melbourne,FL,USA
... It was a similar message, from fundraising to flag waving, of
support
for Israel ... Weldon, saying that Israel was on the frontline of a
"global
jihad" waged by ...
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060813/BREAKINGNEWS/60813017
See all stories on this topic:
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Pandits hail Hizb
GreaterKashmir.com (press release) - Srinigar,India
Srinagar: Senior Kashmiri Pandit leaders on Sunday welcomed the
statement
of Kashmir’s frontline militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen in which it
has asked the ...
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=14_8_2006&ItemID=14&cat=1
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7 Russian Invaders Terminated in Chechnya
Kavkaz Center - Istanbul,Turkey
A mobile group of Mujahideen attacked Russian invaders some 1.5 km
south
of village Aghishty, killing 2 and wounding 3 kafirs (infidels). ...
http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/08/13/5272.shtml
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JCO, HIZB COMMANDER KILLED IN ENCOUNTERS
GreaterKashmir.com (press release) - Srinigar,India
Srinagar, Aug 13: Two soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer
(JCO), four militants including the battalion commander of Hizbul
Mujahideen
and a woman ...
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=14_8_2006&ItemID=19&cat=1
Journalist Carroll asked to be shot
Bomb scare at ferry terminal delays sailing
CKNW - Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada
DELTA/CKNW(AM980) - The RCMP Bomb Squad has determined that suspicious
package found on board the BC Ferry Queen of Vancouver was, in fact,
harmless.
...
http://www.cknw.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428109912&rem=45152&red=80110923aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060814&Category=API&ArtNo=608140573&SectionCat=&Template=printart
Published Monday, August 14, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Britain's 'Fake Sheik' in Media Glare
By TARIQ PANJA
Associated Press Writer
Picture
Copies of Britain's News of the World Sunday newspaper with some of Mazher Mahmood's, "The Fake Sheik" stories from 2006 in London Thursday Aug. 3, 2006. Disguised as a wealthy Arab sheik, Mazher Mahmood would lure celebrities into whispering confessions on luxury yachts over champagne _ then spill their secrets to the world. But after a decade of front page scoops, Britain's most famous investigative reporter is himself in the media glare. (AP Photo/Martin Cleaver)
LONDON
His stings have ensnared royalty, pop icons and sports stars. Disguised as a wealthy Arab sheik, Mazher Mahmood would lure celebrities into whispering confessions on luxury yachts over champagne - then spill their secrets to the world.
But after a decade of front page scoops, Britain's most famous investigative reporter is himself in the media glare.
"The Fake Sheik" claims to have broken over 500 exclusive stories, and his tabloid weekly, The News of the World, says his stings have led to 200 convictions, including fraudsters and immigration racketeers.
To critics, however, Mahmood is a rogue journalist who goads victims into committing crimes or tricks them into divulging misdeeds.
This month, Mahmood found his credibility damaged when three men he claimed to have caught trying to embark on a terrorist plot were acquitted by a jury after one of his sources turned defense witness and testified he had been paid to set up earlier stings.
In many ways, Mahmood is a product of the industry that has made him a superstar.
The British newspaper market has long been one of the most competitive in the world, and the rivalries here are becoming increasingly intense as the Internet siphons off readers.
The pressure has been particularly acute for the mass-market tabloids - known here as the "red top" press because of their crimson mastheads - which are taking big circulation hits, said media commentator Roy Greenslade.
"It's desperation - pressure to survive," Greenslade said. "The red tops are losing circulation faster than any other sector. Not that people are turning their backs on the sleaze. People are just going elsewhere for their news."
Rupert Murdoch gained his foothold in British media in 1969 when he acquired the News of the World, and the paper, with a circulation of some 3.5 million, exemplifies Murdoch's successful mix of sex and sensation.
But with the pressure on to be the last man standing in the tabloid market, the newspaper has found itself locked into a series of embarrassing criminal and court cases.
Last week, police investigating alleged eavesdropping on officials in Prince Charles' office arrested the paper's royal editor, Clive Goodman, and charged him and another man with conspiring to intercept phone messages .
The newspaper declined to comment on the allegations of impropriety by Mahmood or provide a list of the 200 criminal convictions it claims he brought about. Efforts to reach Mahmood through the News of the World and other channels were unsuccessful.
One of Mahmood's most famous scoops was a 2001 sting involving Prince Edward's wife. Posing as an aide to a Saudi Arabian prince interested in hiring her public relations company, Mahmood charmed Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, into making indiscrete comments about the British government. She also was caught on tape describing Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife, Cherie, as "horrid, horrid, horrid."
Other Mahmood stings have caught British notables taking drugs, while stars, including rocker Mick Jagger, have been exposed as adulterers. Some operations led to the break-up of pedophile rings.
Things started to unravel for Mahmood in late 2002 following his exclusive report on an alleged plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham, the former Spice Girl and wife of soccer superstar David Beckham.
After the front-page scoop, police arrested five men - but the case collapsed. Prosecutors dropped it when it became clear Mahmood's main informant, Florim Gashi, had been paid $18,500 and could not be considered a reliable witness.
Greenslade, a professor of journalism at London's City University, has long accused Mahmood of debasing journalism.
"I think you have a rogue journalist on a rogue newspaper," he said. "The truth is there have been too many occasions on which his stories have led to the same kind of accusations of entrapment by his victims.
"Firstly they are offered inducements and secondly they are goaded into something, by what I would call an agent provocateur," Greenslade said.
A colleague at the News of the World, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Mahmood acts independently from the rest of the newspaper's reporters. His enterprises involve a secret staff, with hidden cameras and intricate operations that cost thousands of dollars.
That Mahmood operates in the shadows is well known. To protect his identity from the next victim, his image is displayed only in silhouette by the News of the World.
But much information about Mahmood emerged in the recent terror trial, in which three men were charged with trying to obtain radioactive material to make a bomb.
Gashi, his one time informant, turned key defense witness. He testified it was Mahmood himself who devised the Victoria Beckham kidnap plot, asking him to get a gang together and persuade them to discuss an abduction.
"Maz said I would get 10,000 pounds ($18,750) and another 5,000 pounds ($9,375) if they got prosecuted," Gashi testified.
The News of the World came to Mahmood's defense, saying its star investigator had acted properly and that investigations with "clear public interest" would continue.
Despite the setbacks, even critics predicted Mahmood will not be hanging up his disguise.
"I have no doubt the fake sheik's robes have just been sent to the cleaners and they will be on his back again soon," Greenslade said.
Hezbollah’s Calls for Genocide of Jews Ignored By UN
FrontPage magazine.com - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... in a highly-politicized resolution that muted the Council’s voice
by ignoring ... Hitler fought the Jews,’ the great Islamic nation of
jihad should ‘fight ...
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23841
Pakistan says 'ringleader' admits link with al-Qaida
Arrested Briton has given 'many clues' but campaigners say he was tortured
Duncan Campbell in Islamabad and Randeep Ramesh in Lahore
Monday August 14, 2006
Guardian
The suspected ringleader of the alleged plot to blow up flights out of Heathrow has provided details that directly link the conspiracy to al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said yesterday. The interior minister, Aftab Sherpao, said Rashid Rauf had given investigators "many, many clues which link this plan with Afghanistan, especially the al-Qaida of Osama bin Laden".
He said Mr Rauf had been brought before a court and had been remanded in custody for a further two weeks.
Mr Rauf, a British citizen, was held last week in Pakistan and has been pinpointed by security sources in the UK and Pakistan as the plot's prime mover. British officials said moves were under way to extradite him to Britain.
Tasneem Aslam, the Pakistan foreign ministry spokeswoman, told the Guardian last night that information from Mr Rauf had led to last week's arrests in Britain, which included his brother Tayib, and confirmed that the plot was believed to have originated with "al-Qaida based in Afghanistan".
Intelligence sources suggested that Mr Rauf was believed to have spent time in Lahore with members of the radical group al-Muhajiroun, now a proscribed organisation in Britain.
Members of the group, who were supposedly in the country to do welfare work with earthquake victims, were required to leave when it transpired that they were British citizens. Yesterday there were unconfirmed reports in the Nation newspaper that Mr Rauf had been seeking to contact Matiur Rehman, who is wanted for an assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf and has a 10 million rupee (£88,000) bounty on his head. But though Mr Rehman has been named in the UK as a possible mastermind of the plot, this was played down yesterday by security officials in both countries.
The investigation is continuing in Pakistan with further arrests - said to number between seven and 20 - understood to have taken place in the past few days.
The foreign ministry spokeswoman described reports of how the alleged plot had been funded by an earthquake charity as "speculation and fabrication".
Reports in Pakistani newspapers yesterday that Mr Rauf had "broken" under interrogation were described by a Pakistani human rights group as confirmation that he had been tortured. Asma Jehangir, of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said that it was obvious how the information had been obtained. "I don't deduce, I know - torture," she said. "There is simply no doubt about that, no doubt at all."
She said it was difficult to get information on the identities and circumstances of those held. "Gone are the days when you could take at face value what the government was saying." She said often detainees' families were not notified of their whereabouts and they might be provided with lawyers who were close to the government.
Talat Masood, a leading political and security analyst, said that one reason that the Pakistan security services had been able to penetrate organisations planning attacks was that they and the US security services had links with them stretching back to the conflict between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. At that time, the US and Pakistan backed the same guerrilla groups fighting the Soviet Union.
"They have been using them in the past, there was a very close relationship," he said. He echoed the views of many in Pakistan that if the issues in the Middle East were not addressed, such plots would continue. "All these events today are totally inter-related - Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon," he said. "Until all of those are resolved we can expect more of the same."
Pakistan felt that its commitment to tackling such plots was sometimes not given full credit, he said. "Over 600 Pakistani troops have died in Afghanistan, more than any other country has lost, and 700 top militants handed over and there are 80,000 troops there," he said.
In Kabul, Afghanistan's foreign ministry denied any Afghan connection. "As the recent evidences and ongoing investigations have revealed, al-Qaida continues to enjoy safe haven outside Afghanistan," the ministry said, calling Pakistan's allegation "diversionary".
Afghanistan has long complained that militants are able to hide out on Pakistan's side of the border.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1843997,00.html
Kelly: imams failing to deter radicals
David Hencke and Hugh Muir
Monday August 14, 2006
Guardian
Senior imams and Muslim leaders are to be criticised by Ruth Kelly today for "not doing enough" to counter extremist propaganda among young radicals.
The communities and local government secretary will tell senior members of the Muslim community that they should do more to deter extremism. The move also reflects some anger among cabinet ministers about comments from leading Muslims in a letter to Tony Blair, blaming Britain's Middle East policy for the rise in planned terror attacks.
A spokesman for Ms Kelly said today's meeting with imams would also give them a chance to air their grievances. He said planned consultations with Muslim communities in Leicester, Birmingham, Bradford, Oldham, Manchester, London, Leeds and Burnley would go ahead.
But the message to senior Muslims would be that they must take stronger action to dissuade extremists. "The feeling is that they have just not done enough and that extremist literature is still circulating," said a government source. "It is important to get across that if another attack does occur Muslims will be among those who will suffer. The imams are in a position to do something about this."
Yesterday ministers re-emphasised the government's irritation over the open letter criticising Mr Blair's foreign policy, saying there had been a "dreadful misjudgment that foreign policy of this country should be shaped in part, or in whole, under the threat of terrorism activity".
The shadow home secretary, David Davis, also criticised the letter. "It [foreign policy] might be part of the catalyst, but to explain this is not to excuse it. There are plenty of people with legitimate arguments with the government's foreign policy on Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Lebanon and the Middle East, but none of them take the stance of attempting to murder many thousands of their fellow citizens".
But Sadiq Khan MP, one of the signatories, said he had a responsibility to reflect the views of a significant number of constituents. "There has been huge support from the community and from around the country from people saying that these were things that needed to be said. I have had a number of Labour MPs ring to say that they agree with the points we raised.
"We have not said that there is a link between foreign policy and acts of terrorism but rather that there is a link with the sort of materials that are used to radicalise young people. Many of us feel that we are trying to address these issues but it seems that we are in a boat trying to empty out water and that the vessel has a massive hole in it which is our foreign policy."
Inayat Bunglawala, a Muslim Council of Britain spokesman, said signatories from a "wide cross section" merely sought a "sensible" reassessment of whether national security was being enhanced or damaged by foreign policy.
But Khalid Mahmood, the Muslim MP for Perry Barr in Birmingham, said he had refused to sign the letter and accused those behind it of "grandstanding"."It is just an attempt to raise their own individual profiles so they can ... appease some of the more radical elements of Islam."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1843946,00.html
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/technology/orl-tech1406aug14,0,5934946.story?coll=orl-technology-headlines%3E
TECHNOLOGY
United Arab Emirates snaps up Lockheed wares
Richard Burnett and Chris Cobbs
Sentinel Staff Writers
August 14, 2006
With the announcement last week of a $125 million contract for a locally based Lockheed Martin Corp. partnership, it appears that the United Arab Emirates is becoming a prized customer of Lockheed's.
Longbow LLC, the Lockheed partnership with Northrop Grumman Corp., pocketed a nice piece of change when it landed the deal to produce Longbow Apache weapons systems for the UAE. The deal also includes a few systems for the U.S. Army.
Earlier this decade, Lockheed agreed to build advanced F-16 fighter jets for the UAE. Price tag: More than $1 billion. That included about $200 million for test equipment built by Lockheed's electronics unit in east Orlando. The F-16s themselves are built by Lockheed units in Texas and Georgia.
Oddly enough, the Pentagon never purchased those advanced F-16s for its own fleet, opting instead to go with even newer aircraft.
Defense experts say that if the U.S. did decide to buy the newer F-16 models, it would now have to pay a royalty to the United Arab Emirates. Credit shrewd UAE negotiators for trying to get the U.S. to pay royalties on its own technology, experts said.
Clicking in
An Altamonte Springs high-tech company is testing a Web-based service that offers free phone calls, 411 directory assistance and text messages.
The free services are part of www.Click4Me.net, developed by VoIP Inc., a provider of telecommunications and broadband services to the voice-over-Internet-protocol industry.
Click4Me.net is available for testing at http:/labs.voiceone.com, a Web forum that allows computer users to try and react to new Internet protocol communications services.
Click4Me.net is a Web-click phone-to-phone calling service. It differs from Skype, another free calling service, which is based on computer-to-computer connections.
Subject: Google Alert - explosion
Explosion in Tiraspol trolley bus: 6-year-old girl died of ...
Regnum - Moscow,Russia
Two people of ten injured in an explosion in a trolley bus in Tiraspol
died, a REGNUM correspondent is told at the Republican Clinical
Hospital.
...
http://www.regnum.ru/english/accidents/687965.html
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.regnum.ru/english/accidents/687965.html
3 NATO soldiers injured in explosion in Afghan capital
People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
"There was an explosion in northern Kabul this morning as a result
three
ISAF soldiers received minor injuries," Euan Downie told Xinhua. ...
http://english.people.com.cn/200608/14/eng20060814_292952.html
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://english.people.com.cn/200608/14/eng20060814_292952.html
ISRIA
--- Hezbollah's Antitank, Rockets & Missiles' Arsenal
A Briefing giving details and a technical overview of the Hezbollah's
offensive arsenal: Rockets, Anti-Tank Weapons, Missiles.
http://www.isria.net/article.php?art=654&chx=126&nav=
ISRIA
--- Jihad Connection : Matiur Rehman
A one-page PDF file introducing alleged jihad connections of Matiur
Rehman: People, Organization, Areas, Roles & Involvements
http://www.isria.net/article.php?art=656&nav=289&chx=126
--- Updated Crisis Cell : Terror Plot in Britain
http://www.isria.net/article.php?art=644&nav=289&chx=126
Britain Probes Terror Cells Involving Islamic Students
New York Sun - New York,NY,USA
... wouldbe terrorists from the flood of belligerent, radical jihadi
"chatter"
are ... men, both British born and foreign, have passed through
training
camps run by ...
http://www.nysun.com/article/37864
USAToday
Posted 8/13/2006 8:42 PM ET
The Jill Carroll Story - Part 1: The kidnapping
By Jill Carroll and Peter Grier, The Christian Science Monitor
Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor,
was kidnapped by Sunni Muslim insurgents in Baghdad on Jan. 7, 2006.
Over the next 82 days, she was shuttled blindfolded among at least six
safe houses and had closer contact with Sunni insurgents than any
American who has lived to tell the tale. This is her story.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-08-13-jill-carroll_x.htm
My chief captor had an idea about how to prod the U.S. government into
action: another video.
continued..................
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