Posted on 04/15/2007 4:43:46 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
[google alert....yahoo alert has different ones: bomb threat]
Vero Beach Wal-Mart evacuated after bomb threat
Stuart News (subscription) - Stuart,FL,USA
By KEONA GARDNER INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Wal-Mart store in Vero
Beach
was evacuated this evening after receiving a bomb threat. The threat
was
phoned into ...
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_5584395,00.html
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http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_5584395,00.html
NJ nursing home evacuated, slowly, after false bomb threat
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
It began when a bomb threat was called in to the complex’s receptionist
around 8:20 am, said Lakewood Police Capt. Gregg Miick. Even before
police
arrived, ...
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj—nursinghomeevacua0613jun13,0,7981783.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey
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Bomb threat halts county business
Plattsburgh Press Republican - Plattsburgh,NY,USA
By JOE LoTEMPLIO PLATTSBURGH — Business at the Clinton County
Government
Center was disrupted by a bomb threat late Tuesday morning. ...
http://www.pressrepublican.com/homepage/local_story_163221514.html?keyword=topstory
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School on lockdown after bomb threat
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
BY JOHN VALENTI AND JASON DELREY Students were evacuated from a middle
school on Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst on Wednesday morning after a
bomb
threat was ...
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-libomb0614,0,4733708.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines
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UNA campus closes after bomb threat
The Decatur Daily - Decatur,AL,USA
FLORENCE (AP) — The University of North Alabama shut down its campus
Tuesday after receiving four anonymous bomb threats by e-mail. ...
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/070613/una.shtml
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Bomb threat called into airport
KUAM.com - Dededo,GU,USA
An investigation is underway to determine exactly who called in a bomb
threat to the Guam International Airport Authority. According to GIAA
executive ...
http://www.kuam.com/news/23031.aspx
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Bomb threat closes Capitol temporarily
Monitor - McAllen,TX,USA
AUSTIN - A bomb threat closed the Texas Capitol to incoming traffic for
nearly two hours Wednesday morning, according the Department of Public
Safety. ...
http://www.themonitor.com/news/capitol_3027___article.html/block_dps.html
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Second vague bomb threat found in NF today
Danbury News Times - Danbury,CT,USA
AP Video AP Podcasts NEW FAIRFIELD - A bomb threat written on paper was
found early today in the bathroom of New Fairfield High School. ...
http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1056593&source=breaking_news
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Bomb threat at city court halts all hearings
Douglas Daily Dispatch - Douglas,AZ,USA
Blaine then went to the health department and alerted the employees
there
of the bomb threat. “There were about seven health department employees
and
about ...
http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2007/06/13/news/news1.txt
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Three arrested in school bomb threat
WTNH - New Haven,CT,USA
(Litchfield-WTNH)_State police have arrested three people for their
involvement in a bomb threat that disrupted nearly all school districts
in
Litchfield ...
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=6654189
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Huge Qatar order Interracial preg Airbus plan for new A.
By mmorpg
Botched internal Bank of America fax showing a match lighting afuse
sparked a bomb scare in Ashland yesterday that prompted police to clear
out a shopping mall. Bank of America promotional fax mistaken as bomb
threat. ...
http://blog.model88.com/getgolddown/2007/06/13/huge-qatar-order-interracial-preg-airbus-plan-for-new-a/
American Pastime focuses on a...
http://blog.model88.com/getgolddown
Dreams, Distance, and Home
By eric
It might have only been in my dreams, but I do in fact now remember
little things from the past. If I could only dream about math and be able
to do my taxes or save the world from a bomb threat in French.
http://www.graveerror.net/2007/06/13/dreams-distance-and-home/
Grave Error
http://www.graveerror.net
Davis-Besse security back to normal after possible threat
CARROLL TOWNSHIP — The Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station was on high
alert Monday night while the FBI investigated a potential bomb threat, a
spokeswoman said.
http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/NEWS01/706130303/1002/rss01
thenews-messenger.com - Local News
http://www.thenews-messenger.com
When Schools Automated Calling System Go Very Wrong
By christinemm(christinemm)
In New Fairfield a bus driver found a note that said “Bomb today”. The
New Fairfield school treated this as a bomb threat and prepared a
too-long message to be sent to parents of children in the New Fairfield
school to tell them school ...
http://thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/2007/06/when-schools-automated-calling-system.html
The Thinking Mother
http://thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/
Bomb threat causes Guardian evacuation
A bomb scare in the paint kitchen at Guardian Automotive evacuated the
building Thursday after an unknown male subject called the front desk
clerk advising her he had been fired for the last time, according to
Kentucky State Police.
http://www.themoreheadnews.com/local/local_story_163110319.html
The Morehead News—Local News
http://www.themoreheadnews.com
[We must not forget this one....
Earlier, I posted on how the jihadi should post to brainwash the non-jihadi, the comments with this thread, are a perfect example of jihadi posting to forums....
granny]
Most people have short memories, but here’s something that calls for
remembering:
Last year, Front Page Magazine ran an article about links between the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the London bombings on 7/7
that left 52 dead and hundreds wounded.
Evidence back then showed that the explosives used in the London
subway attacks were found by British and Israeli intelligence
officials to be remarkably similar to those used in a 2003 bombing of
the “Mike’s Place” bar in Israel. Related to this, Israel National
News reported also that British and Israeli intelligence reports
showed that one of the terrorists involved had a British passport,
arrived in Israel on February 19, 2003, and stayed for only one day.
During his stay, he may have met with Asif Hanif and Omar Sharif. Both
of the men, with the assistance of Hamas, would later become suicide
bombers. Hanif and Sharif traveled from Britain to Israel under the
auspices of the ISM’s Alternative Tourism Group, the precursor to the
ISM. Both terrorists told Israeli border police they were entering for
purposes of Alternative Tourism and met with the ISM in Gaza at a
memorial for Rachel Corrie where they “had tea.”
The Alternative Tourism Program, created by Ghassan Andoni, a Bir Zeit
University physics professor, metastasized into the International
Solidarity Movement with Andoni’s guidance and the activism work in
the USA carried out by Palestinian Marxist-communists like George
Rishmawi, Adam Shapiro, his wife, Huwaida Arraf and Neta Golan. The
ISM, also known as the Palestine Solidarity Movement, then became
active across the USA on college campuses. That started in 2001 during
the Second Intifada. The ISM began recruiting other college-aged
anarchists and communists and Arab students on US campuses to become
human shields for terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza. Rachel
Corrie, a college-aged anarchist from Evergreen College in Washington
State, died demonstrating with the ISM when she placed her body in
front of an IDF bulldozer. The ISM’s long-term goal as a communist-
anarchist movement is first to dismantle Israel as a capitalist
democratic state for the PLO Islamists and their pan-Arab cause, and
then to bring the “revolution” back here to the United States to do
the same at home on our border with Mexico.
Plans are already being made with other subversive groups in the
United States to do this. Groups such as La Voz De Aztlan, a Marxist
irredentist group, plan on joining up with Palestinian and Arab-Muslim
students and their anarchist-communist allies on US campuses to bring
the same activities to our border with Mexico as are seen in the West
Bank attacking the security fence in the not so distant future.
Now comes new evidence of a link between the ISM and al Qaeda.
Abed al Hadi al-Iraq, a.k.a. Abu Abdullah, 45, who is considered by
the CIA as of one of Osama bin Laden’s most talented operations
officers, was recently captured and should be a boon to US
intelligence in the War on Terror. People now say he represents the
link between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and al Qaeda, thus justifying our
presence in Iraq. But people have yet to see the link to the
International Solidarity Movement.
Al Hadi is an Iraqi and uses the nom de guerre “Abu Abdallah” (father
of Abdallah) in a style usually used by Palestinian terrorists. Being
Iraqi, Abu Abdallah is part of the closest allies of the PLO and
Hamas, the Ba’ath Party in Iraq. However, Abu Abdallah was captured
crossing into Iraq from Iran. Recent intelligence reports have
remarked at how the Sunnis who make up Hamas in Gaza are now getting
money, weapons and training for the Shiite majority state of Iran to
be used against Israel. For anyone claiming al Qaeda has nothing to
do with Iraq or 9/11, the Iranian-al Qaeda connection is now obvious.
But according to an interview I had with a former veteran Iraqi
national police sergeant at a recent Intelligence Summit who was
introduced by terrorism expert Dave Gaubatz and who is now exiled in
the United States and under the federal witness protection program and
uses only the first name “Hassan,” the Iraqi police were always
hamstrung in arresting many Ba’athists who broke the law, even for
murder or robbery, because they also clandestinely belonged to al
Qaeda. According to the former national police officer, that included
members of Iraq’s national police as well.
The Pentagon has reported that Abu Abdallah had responsibility for
managing al Qaeda’s affairs and possibly even focusing on operations
outside Iraq against Western targets. Interrogated by US Forces, he
has now been credited with the first direct al Qaeda suicide attack on
Israeli soil-an attack in which the ISM was linked to. That attack on
Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv as reported earlier here at Front Page
Magazine is now alleged to have been carried out on direct orders from
Osama bin Laden due to the information obtained from Abu Abdallah.
Three Israelis were killed, including an Israeli army officer whose
family resided in Israel since 1858, and sixty people were wounded.
Al Hadi a.k.a. Abu Abdallah recruited the two British Muslims of
Pakistani origin who entered the Holy Land through Jordan using
Ghandoni’s Alternative Tourism as an excuse, and then proceeded
directly to meeting with ISM leaders just before their attack. Both
terrorists were English-speaking and had EU passports. They were
recruited by Abu Abdallah at the notoriously Wahhabist Finsbury Park
Mosque in London. The ISM also has a major presence, especially on
college campuses, in London and the UK.
Since the explosives used in London on 7/7 could be linked to the ISM
through the Mike’s Place bombing, the involvement of al Qaeda also
infers how the ISM may have been the place where the terrorists picked
up those explosives prior to the Tel Aviv attack, since the terrorists
would have been unable to smuggle explosives in through Jordan prior
to meeting “for tea” with ISM activists. Israeli intelligence reports
showed the two killers only met with the ISM, an organization that has
consistently called terrorist attacks “legitimate resistance.” To this
day, no one knows who for certain gave them or where in Gaza the two
terrorists picked up their bomb and received instructions on where to
attack, but it is clear they met with the ISM and now those same two
terrorists are known to be linked inextricably to al Qaeda by Abu
Abdallah.
Sharif failed to detonate his bomb belt after Hanif exploded himself
in the busy bar, a hangout for Americans in Tel Aviv. After fleeing
the scene, Sharif was found later floating face down in the
Mediterranean. Palestinian terrorists do not murder their own kind
when they fail on suicide missions, knowing that the Israelis have no
death penalty and that in the future they may even be released from
prison in negotiations or prisoner swaps. As mentioned, Western
intelligence agencies feel the capture and information from Abu
Abdallah show the international terrorism network is not made up of
just disparate groups with myriad goals. Al Qaeda and bin Laden can
now be linked to Hamas and the PLO. The fact that Sharif, a British
national, may have known too much about the ISM and al Qaeda being
behind his attack may have prompted Hamas to liquidate him not just
for the al Qaeda link, but for the one to the ISM as well. There was
simply too much to lose, because had the connection to the ISM been
established exposing the network of the terrorist-support movement
that is found on so many campuses throughout the USA and most of
Europe, it might have led to its demise.
Homeland Security needs to take an even deeper look into the ISM and
if Abu Abdallah himself ever had contacts with ISM leadership in the
USA and Europe during his operational activities for bin Laden.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28601
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/topics
The culture of the United States of America.
[Click the star to watch this topic] Hamas is kicking Fatah’s ass.
Such is why the world will be run by Islamic Fundamentalists in the near future. Noone can or will stand up to them. One day what we are seeing in Gaza, with Islamic militants overriding the more moderate factions, what we see in Somalia, with the Islamic militants overriding the moderate factions, what we see in Afghanistan, with the... more »
By Justin Pate - 12:43pm - 1 new of 1 message
[Click the star to watch this topic] GREEN ZONE-CARBON ZONE
Explosions rock Baghdad, smoke rises above Green Zone The Associated PressPublished: June 14, 2007 BAGHDAD: Explosions rocked central Baghdad mid-afternoon Thursday, and smoke billowed over the American-guarded Green Zone. A witness inside the zone, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his job, said about half a dozen mortars fell in... more »
By Venceremos - 12:19pm - 1 new of 1 message
[Click the star to watch this topic] The benefits of cooperation
The benefits of cooperation No Contest is a must-read book for anyone wishing to create, build and invent. It shows how cooperation allows us to excel. “Superbly researched, lucidly written, and delineated with admirable clarity.” - Los Angeles Times Book Review “Alfie Kohn marshals the evidence that competition is not the mainspring of... more »
By Neew, news, news - 12:12pm - 1 new of 1 message
[Click the star to watch this topic] Tax Protesters Ed & Elaine Brown Will Hold Press Conference Next Monday - If they’re still alive
[link] Browns To Hold National Press Conference Randy Weaver to join tax protestors on Monday Steve Watson Prison Planet Thursday, June 14, 2007 Tax Protestors Ed and Elaine Brown have exclusively revealed today that they are to hold a press conference at their home in Plainfield New... more »
By Speeders & Drunk Drivers are MURDERERS - 11:52am - 1 new of 1 message
[Click the star to watch this topic] Kuwait says US cannot use bases for any Iran strike
...Overheard, Cheney to Rice phone call yesterday: Dick Cheney: “...and call that towel-head whatshisname in Kuwait, and tell him we’ll be using their airbases to launch the first wave against Bushehr.”
By Nomen Nescio - 11:32am - 1 new of 1 message
[Click the star to watch this topic] Racism and TV in Venezuela
June 13, 2007 RCTV’s Colonial Television Racism and TV in Venezuela By RICHARD GOTT After days of rival protests in the streets of Caracas, memories have been revived of earlier attempts to overthrow the Bolivarian revolution of Hugo Chávez, now in its ninth year. Street demonstrations, culminating in an attempted coup in 2002 and a prolonged lock-out at the national oil industry, once seemed the last resort of an opposition unable to make headway at the polls. Yet the current unrest is a feeble echo of those tumultuous events, and the political struggle takes place on a smaller canvas. Today’s battle is for the hearts and minds of a younger generation confused by the upheavals of an uncharted revolutionary process.... more »
By r|³· - 10:31am - 5 new of 5 messages
[Click the star to watch this topic] Projet d’édition d’une monographie sur Trévisse, artiste peintre
Ceux ou celles qui s’intéressent à la création contemporaine, n’hésitez pas à cliquez sur le lien suivant: [link] du site Espace Trévisse: [link]
By chri.schmitt - 9:25am - 1 new of 1 message
[Click the star to watch this topic] PBS show : Six Days In June (about six day war)
PBS show Six Days In June After seeing this the other day, one has to ask, is “land grab” the same as losing a war? [link] [link]
By Zeno - 9:12am - 1 new of 1 message
[I have not checked the links...granny]
Warning Shots Fired by Sailor at Unidentified Person
14 Jun 2007 - 14:09
TRINCOMALEE: A SENTRY ON DUTY AT THE NAVAL DETACHMENT in ALLES GARDEN
area having observed an unidentified person approaching the detachment
warned verbally and fired a few warning shots as he continued to walk
despite his warning towards the point around 10.30 p.m. yesterday (13).
A sailor who was performing sentry duties issued verbal warnings and
as there was no response fired warning shots at the unidentified person
who walked towards the security area. The unidentified person has then
run towards the Club Oceanic hotel in TRINCOMALEE.
On investigations it was revealed that the person who had approached the
detachment during dark was a Pilipino national named “Aptonio Vilamor”
working in a NGO named “Mercy Corps” in TRINCOMALEE. Due to the warning
shots, the Pilipino national sustained minor injuries and was taken to
the TRINCOMALEE hospital and later transferred to Colombo for medical
treatment.
UPPUWELI Police are conducting investigations.
—
For genuine Situation Report visit:
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk
http://www.defence.lk/
http://www.army.lk/index1.php
http://www.nmatnet.com/
http://www.sinhalaya.info/index-EN.php
Worth to look following to see how brutal Tamil Tiger Terrorists are
Child Soldiers of LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorists in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/childwar.htm
Ethnic Cleansing in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/ethnic_cleansing_in_sri_lanka.htm
LTTE TAMIL TIGER ATROCITIES
http://www.spur.asn.au/ltteatrp.htm
SL Naval troops apprehend LTTE logistic movement- Mannar
SL Naval troops operating in the coast of Pesalai area in Mannar
apprehended an LTTE logistic sea movement recovering 10 sacks of cement,
while arresting 05 terrorist suspects in the course yesterday (13), at
03:30 p.m.
The Naval troops on observation duties detected a suspicious boat
movement consisting of three fibre glass dinghies (FGDs) along the
coastal waters, ‘making-way’ towards the un-liberated shoals off
Vedithalathivu, North of Mannar.
The Naval sea units intercepted the boat movement having already
informed the suspicious boats to drift until initial investigations were
done and the boats cleared off.
On sighting the arrival of the SLN sea units the terrorist suspects
onboard the FGDs had thrown overboard 10 cement filled sacks intended to
be transported to the un-liberated areas, on instructions of the LTTE.
Later according to the Naval Spokesperson Commander D.K.P Dassanayake,
05 terrorist suspects were arrested, who were onboard the FGDs and
handed over to the Talaimannar Police for further investigations.
—
For genuine Situation Report visit:
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk
http://www.defence.lk/
http://www.army.lk/index1.php
http://www.nmatnet.com/
http://www.sinhalaya.info/index-EN.php
Worth to look following to see how brutal Tamil Tiger Terrorists are
Child Soldiers of LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorists in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/childwar.htm
Ethnic Cleansing in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/ethnic_cleansing_in_sri_lanka.htm
LTTE TAMIL TIGER ATROCITIES
http://www.spur.asn.au/ltteatrp.htm
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=427585&lng=1
NATO goes ahead with own missile shield
NATO’s defence ministers have tacitly agreed to a planned US missile defence shield in eastern Europe despite reluctance by Moscow.
The alliance will examine the implications of the US plan and deliver its result by February, ahead of the next NATO summit when Washington hopes the 26 members will agree to start work on the system.
The US announced plans in January to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland, and a radar base in the Czech Republic by 2013.
The idea is to be able to counter attacks from what Washington regards as “rogue states”, in particular Iran.
But Turkey, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria would only be partially covered.
To resolve this problem, the alliance wants to add a smaller missile system to the planned one.
The US scheme angered Russia which said it represented a threat to its own security.
Moscow retaliated with threats of turning its own arms toward Europe.
However, last week Russian president Vladimir Putin made a surprise offer to Washington to set up a joint radar base in Azerbaijan. Both sides are studying the project.
On a recent visit to Prague, US President George W Bush was greeted by angry demonstrators. Two-thirds of the Czech population are opposed to hosting a US radar base.
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=427656&lng=1
Abbas dissolves Palestinian government: state of emergency declared
Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has dissolved the unity government and declared a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
But Fatah’s rival, Hamas, immediately rejected the Presidential decree as it continued to seize Fatah strongholds in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas now controls strategic government buildings once dominated by Fatah and has given its former coalition allies less than 24 hours to surrender all weapons.
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=427565&lng=1
Tougher Chinese laws could reduce adoptions
At the US Consulate in Guangdong, China, a group of American parents have come with their adopted Chinese children to swear that they will be good parents.
But in the future, Western adopters may find it much harder to come to China to find a baby. Last month, the Beijing authorities tightened up the regulations to reduce the flow of babies out of the country.
The move could affect Guangdong’s reputation as the adoption capital of the world.
“They are China’s children and China has the right to impose whatever policies they like, and I know they need to slow down the flood of people trying to come over here,” says Jane Backus, one of the mothers. “It doesn’t affect us so I don’t feel really strongly one way or the other. And we would have met the new adoption requirement anyway.”
Last year a total of 13,000 Chinese children were adopted. 8,000 of them went to the USA, while 2,700 went to families in Spain.
The new law bars potential adopters if they are homosexual, a batchelor or unmarried, invalid or obese. You can’t adopt if you are under 30 or over 50 either. As parents, you would also be required to prove you have an income of more than 10,000 dollars each and that you own your home.
The official newspaper “People’s Daily” says these new measures are intended not so much to reduce the number of Chinese babies being adopted overseas, but to ensure they have the best possible future.
It raises the question: if fewer babies are adopted, will Chinese orphanages become overcrowded?
Jeffrey Reed, one of the new adopting dads, says: “Perhaps it’s a perception, every government wants to give the perception to the rest of the world that they are protecting their children and China is doing that. I mean they are giving that perception, but at the same time there are so many orphans in the orphanages that they are going to create a bigger log jam.”
It could also affect the commercial and retail environment in Guangdong city which has become renowned for the numerous shops selling baby goods and hotels catering for prospective parents.
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=427592&lng=1
Russian court rules in landmark Chechnya case
A court in Rostov-on-Don in Southern Russia has given long jail sentences to four Russian soldiers for killing six civilians in Chechnya. However only one of the men was in court. The other three are fugitives and were sentenced in absentia. The missing trio includes their commanding officer, Captain Eduard Olman, who received the longest jail term of 14 years.
“We are satisfied with this decision,” said a relative of one victim. “However, from our point of view, the verdict is too mild, but this is up to the court.”
The military court overturned two previous jury trial aquittals.
The actions of Ulman’s group, which opened fire on a truck at their checkpoint in January 2002, sparked outrage from Chechens and human rights groups.
The head of the Russian office of NGO Human Rights Watch called the verdict a “significant victory for justice”, and added there was now “hope there would be a long series of trials of people guilty of crimes in Chechnya”.
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=427530&lng=1
Lebanon mourns another murdered politician
Thousands of people have turned out in the streets of Beirut for the funeral of Walid Eido. Prominent among the mourners was the leader of Lebanon’s anti-Syrian parliamentary majority Saad al-Hariri, whose father was killed in a similar attack in 2005.
Also present by Hariri’s side was the leader of Lebanon’s Druze community, Walid Jumblatt, and many other political and religious figures.
An ally of Hariri, Eido was assassinated yesterday in a car bombing near the beachfront along with his eldest son Khaled and eight other people.
Shops, banks, and schools have closed in the capital and in many other places, and a national day of mourning has been declared.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is demanding that the recently-formed UN inquiry into the murder of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, blamed on Syria, be extended to include this latest attack.
Today, the Lebanese press had no doubt that Syria was again to blame, and denounced “Syrian terrorism”.
There has been no comment from Damascus. Eido is the seventh prominent anti-Syrian figure to be killed since the Hariri assassination.
The Lebanese police are saying that the methods used in the attack, and the type of explosive, are identical to those employed to kill Hariri.
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=europa&article=426615&lng=1
Galileo funding decisions postponed
The EU is not breaking any speed records over Galileo. The member states’ transport ministers have agreed for the project to be funded publicly but they have put off discussing the details till autumn. The satellite navigation system’s concession holders backed away from coming up with 2.4 billion euros to top up one billion euros of public money already invested.
The European Commission, Parliament and most of the countries in the bloc back taking this out of existing EU funding. But EU officials say Britain, Germany and the Netherlands want individual states to contribute to the European Space Agency budget - to limit Commission influence and broaden the industrial application scope. “I can’t believe...” said Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot, almost at a loss to explain, “that Europeans and their governments can’t find a way, when the goal is such an absolute priority!”
Berlin says it is confident of finding a solution this year. Any new private sector role in the construction phase is also up in the air. Only one of Galileo’s satellites has been launched. The second of an intended 30 satellites missed its launch because of a short-circuit. It is a toss-up what will be the bigger challenge now: technical or political.
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=europa&article=427267&lng=1
EU agree deal on criminal data transfer
Police in the European Union will get automatic access to DNA and digital fingerprint databases across the bloc.
EU Interior Ministers say the measure will help detectives track down suspects by hair, sperm or fingernails samples as they will be able to compare data gathered in other member states.
Ministers approved a plan to better control who can enter the bloc by setting up a common database for visa applicants’ pictures and fingerprints.
The deal also allows police from different EU states to set up joint patrols and even to deploy, pursue and police their citizens across borders as demonstrated last year during football’s World Cup in Germany.
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=europa&article=427253&lng=1
Malta demands help with illegal migrants
A complete mess - Malta’s assessment of Europe’s efforts to deal with illegal migrants stranded at sea.
After a day of talks EU Interior Ministers remain divided over what to do, with Malta facing resistance over its call to share them among member states.
Malta’s Justice Minister, Tonio Borg, says hundreds are dying because the tiny island cannot cope with the influx.
“It is fair that those immigrants are distributed on a rotation basis through the 27, and temporarily should go to the nearest country until a destination country is designated.”
Last month, 27 shipwrecked Africans spent three days clinging to tuna nets in the Mediterranean while Malta and Libya argued over who should rescue them.
Diplomats say a deal is unlikely, given that EU countries have so far refused to share out refugees and migrants.
Although the EU has set-up and EU-wide agency, known as Frontex, to patrol its borders, this is not intended to run rescue operations.
Ministers have, however, agreed a deal to establish a pool of 500 on-call border guards for emergency operations.
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=europa&article=427605&lng=1
EU-Cuba ties remain on hold
A refusal to wave sanctions against Communist Cuba hinges largely on what a statement in Brussels said was a “deplorable” lack progress towards democracy.
At a meeting of the 27 EU ambassadors, Britain, the Czech Republic and Sweden rejected a proposal to drop a four-year-old freeze in contacts with Havana, though the freeze was suspended in 2005.
The foreign ministers will review this on Monday.
Spain has been leading a push for relations to be fully normalised. Yet diplomats said several eastern European countries with vivid memories of repression under communism believed normalising ties would send the Cuban leadership the wrong signal.
Europe imposed the freeze after a crackdown on dissidents on the one-party socialist island in 2003.
The key EU policy priority is still to urge the authorities in Havana to release all political prisoners, and make economic and political reforms.
Cuban dissidents last month complained a Spanish government delegation had shunned meetings with them to discuss rights abuses.
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=europinion&article=410607&lng=1
Organised crime must be addressed at European level
With trafficking of drugs, weapons and people, organised crime is growing in Europe. Questioned by Eurobarometre, Europeans said they were concerned about that and they want to see European Community policy beefed up in this area.
French criminologist Xavier Raufer analysed their responses for this edition of Europinion.
He said: “In terms of criminal strategies, they’re reaching higher levels. If you want proof of that, look at the statistics from the police; they show that not so long ago, in the whole of the year 2000, about two to three tonnes of heroin was brought into the European Union through the Balkans. Today, in 2006, the latest figures we have, show that the amount of heroin illegally brought into the European Union is about eight to ten tonnes a month.”
Of those questioned, 56% thought that organised crime should be a priority for the European Union, and 86% believed policy on this subject should be coordinated at a European level.
However, Raufer said: “As can be seen with the Schengen Zone, in almost all of 15 EU countries, people can move around at will within that zone, (with no border controls) - there’s absolutely free movement of goods and people, but the courts and the police are still stuck inside the national borders. And at the present time EU efforts - like Europol for the police and the judicial cooperation organisation Eurojust - are still not sufficient. There is no equivalent of the federal police agency that exists in the United States, where the FBI can investigate across state borders. So the traffickers take advantage of the situation that exists right now in Europe, where they can circulate freely and where of course the police forces and the courts can’t yet make arrests and operate equally freely.”
Asked about identity theft, 61% believed it is on the increase in their country, 47% thought it can be fought more effectively at a European rather than a national level.
Raufer’s comment on that: “In the digital world, everything is fakable. I can create a false identity, put it in the computer system and very easily claim that it is real. It is not a European problem, it is a world problem. Those who are doing that are criminals and they must be tracked and challenged and stopped. If the authorities don’t mount full scale moves against them, then the effort is pointless. The crooks just move across a border and lay low for two or three years, and keep moving as the authorities track them.”
NATO Has Intercepted Iranian Arms (back)
June 13, 2007
NATO has intercepted Iranian weapons shipments to Afghanistan ‘s Taliban insurgents, providing evidence Iran is violating international law to aid a group it once considered a bitter enemy, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.
‘There’s irrefutable evidence the Iranians are now doing this,’ Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on CNN. ‘It’s certainly coming from the government of Iran . It’s coming from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps command, which is a basic unit of the Iranian government.’
Speaking separately to The Associated Press, Burns said NATO must act to stop the shipments. The Iran-Afghanistan frontier is ‘a very long border. But the Iranians need to know that we are there and that we’re going to oppose this.’
‘It’s a very serious question,’ he said, adding that Iran is in ‘outright violation’ of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Burns did not give details on the scope of the alleged Iranian shipments, although he appeared to indicate that they were limited. ‘I don’t think it’s made a substantial difference in the greater theater of the war,’ he said.
‘It is not going to turn the tide against us, but it is very troublesome, it is illegal under international law ... and the Iranians need to stop it,’ Burns told the AP.
Burns, who was holding talks in Paris , first accused Iran on Tuesday of transferring weapons to the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan _ the most direct comments yet on the issue by a ranking American official.
In Afghanistan last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Iranian weapons were falling into the hands of anti-government Taliban fighters, but he stopped short of blaming Tehran .
Iran ‘s possible role in aiding insurgents in Iraq has been hotly debated, and last month some Western and Persian Gulf governments alleged that the Islamic government in Tehran is also secretly bolstering Taliban fighters.
In an AP interview Monday, U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill said Taliban fighters are showing signs of better training, using combat techniques comparable to ‘an advanced Western military’ in ambushes of U.S. Special Forces soldiers.
‘In Afghanistan it is clear that the Taliban is receiving support, including arms from ... elements of the Iranian regime,’ British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote in the May 31 edition of the Economist.
Iran , which is also in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, denies the Taliban accusation, calling it part of a broad anti-Iranian campaign. Tehran says it makes no sense that a Shiite-led government like itself would help the fundamentalist Sunni movement of the Taliban.
Burns acknowledged that it was ‘curious’ that Iran would aid the Taliban.
‘It’s quite surprising,’ he told CNN. ‘The Iranians had said that they were the mortal enemies of the Taliban in 2001 and ‘02.’
On the nuclear issue, Burns claimed that sanctions already leveled against Iran were being felt and reiterated the threat of more if the country refuses to suspend uranium enrichment _ which the West fears could be meant for the production of nuclear weapons.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday dismissed the possibility that a third set of Security Council sanctions would harm Iran .
Burns disagreed.
‘I think most people would say that the Iranians are experiencing considerable economic difficulties because of the financial sanctions that have been taken outside the Council and because of Security Council sanctions,’ he told CNN.
While diplomatic solutions are preferable, ‘they will get sanctions if they choose confrontation,’ Burns said. ‘All of us want to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons power. That’s the policy of the entire world.’
Source: http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2007/06/13/688281.html
Lebanese Army Vows to keep Pressure on Fatah Al-Islam (back)
June 12, 2007
Three soldiers and two Red cross workers were killed Monday during fighting between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam militants at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli that began on May 20. Clouds of white and black smoke continued to rise from within the camp as the army pounded away at ravaged buildings the military says are used regularly by Fatah al-Islam fighters to launch mortar and machine-gun attacks.
“We have more martyrs added to our ranks,” an army source told The Daily Star, raising the total to 61 soldiers killed since the battle began.
“We will not stop until those responsible for killing our men at their posts [and] starting this whole battle are brought to justice,” said the source, who added that the army views the militants who ambushed troops outside the camp on May 20 differently than those now engaged in the battle.
Two Lebanese Red Cross workers were also killed on Monday by a shell fired from inside the camp, officials from the Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed. The two workers were killed at the northeastern entrance to the camp, where several rescue vans have been parking as part of relief efforts.
The National News Agency identified the dead as Boulos Mamaari, born in 1982, and Haitham Suleiman, born in 1981, and added that a third worker was critically wounded.
Parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri condemned the “terrorist attack” on the relief workers.
“This attack on humanitarian agencies proves once again that this terrorist gang does not differentiate between civilians and the army,” he said in a statement released by his office on Monday. “They aim to spread terrorism and to use killing as a means to destabilize the country.”
Several soldiers were wounded on Monday - as was Sheikh Mohammad Haj, one of the Palestinian clerics who have been trying to broker an end to the fighting.
According to local media reports, Haj was leaving the camp after holding talks with Fatah al-Islam when he was shot.
“Someone was calling on Haj to take two wounded people with him, and when he didn’t answer, he was shot in his leg,” said Mohammad Othman, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Lebanon
Haj’s spokesman, Sheikh Walid Abu Heit, told reporters at the hospital that the incident would not stop mediation efforts.
“We do not blame anyone for the incident at this point,” he said.
Meanwhile, other mediators warned that the conflict might expand, with Islamic Action Front leader Fathi Yakan declaring his mediation efforts a failure and saying the issue was now in the hands of Al-Qaeda.
“We haven’t been able to contact Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi, nor his deputy Abu Hureira, and the Saudi national Shahine Shahine is now in command of the group,” said Abu Hassan al-Badoun, a spokesman for the Islamic Action Front.
“It appears that the group now is controlled by Al-Qaeda, making the issue more dangerous, and it needs to be handled differently because we were initially fooled into thinking that this was just a small gang,” said Badoun.
“This requires stronger and more encompassing mediation efforts now, perhaps even international efforts,” he added.
However, another Palestinian cleric dismissed any connection to Al-Qaeda and insisted that both Abssi and Abu Hureira are “in control and in good health.”
“Shahine Shahine is Palestinian, and not Saudi. The door is still open for reaching a solution,” said Sheikh Ali Youssef, a member of the League of Palestinian Clerics.
When Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was asked by reporters about Fatah al-Islam’s connection to Al-Qaeda, he said: “I am not here to give an answer. It’s a difficult battle and it’s clear who wants to spread destruction.”
In a separate interview with France 24 television on Monday, Siniora said: “Fatah al-Islam’s entry into the Nahr al-Bared camp shows the failure of the Palestinians‘ autonomous security system.”
Speculating on the next stage in the conflict, local daily An-Nahar warned on
Monday that “the Nahr al-Bared battle is headed toward a big escalation,” saying that the Lebanese military had brought in reinforcements, including more effective artillery and additional naval forces, while pro-Syrian Palestinian factions had joined Fatah al-Islam militants in their fight.
HOMELAND SECURITY
New State Department Center Aims to Counter Terrorists’ Messages (back)
June 12, 2007
A long-awaited Bush administration public diplomacy strategy, intended to counter the steep decline in America ‘s global image, calls for the creation of a new State Department center aimed solely at countering the spread of terrorist ideology.
U.S. officials said the Counterterrorism Communications Center , now being formed at the State Department and staffed heavily with military and intelligence officers, will provide a rapid response to propaganda by U.S. adversaries.
It will develop messages ‘to undermine and marginalize extremist ideology and propaganda’ and ‘aggressively rebut and efficiently respond to actions and statements by terrorist groups and leaders across the world.’
The recommendation is one of several in a 34-page strategy document, which was completed last month by Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, a longtime confidante of President Bush. It has been shared with some members of Congress but hasn’t been formally released.
The report also calls for a major expansion of international exchange programs and greater publicity for U.S. humanitarian aid to the world’s less fortunate, which it calls the ‘diplomacy of deeds.’
Critics say better diplomatic public relations is unlikely to change the low global opinion of the United States .
The report says the United States should ‘underscore our commitment to freedom, human rights and the dignity and equality of every human being.’ It makes no mention of U.S. abuses of detainees and detention policies, which have been decried by human rights groups.
It also says the United States should highlight its support for ‘those who struggle for freedom and democracy.’ Bush, however, continues to rely on such autocratic regimes as those in Saudi Arabia , Pakistan , Egypt and elsewhere to cooperate in fighting terrorism.
‘From a public diplomacy standpoint, I don’t know how you come out and talk about all the stuff you do, for human rights, to support democracy. . . . When people hear that, they stop and say, `What about Abu Ghraib? What about Guantanamo ?’ said Price Floyd, who was the State Department’s director of media affairs until earlier this year.
‘I almost feel sorry’ for the Bush administration, said Floyd, who said he was aware of the strategy document, but hadn’t seen it. ‘It’s almost too late. ... The opinion of the world is set.’
Hughes was traveling in the Czech Republic and unavailable for comment, an aide said.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the report, which Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered, is the first comprehensive, national-level strategy to guide U.S. public diplomacy activities.
McCormack brushed off criticism that Bush administration policies have run counter to that goal. ‘You’re always going to get people criticizing policy. That’s part of our system,’ he said.
The report came about in response to a 2005 Government Accountability Office report that criticized White House initiatives as uncoordinated and called for a national strategy.
Top officials, starting with Bush, have repeatedly said that the ‘war on terrorism’ ultimately will be won more by persuasion and diplomacy than by military battles.
U.S. officials acknowledge that America ‘s adversaries have been more successful in exploiting technology - even everyday communications such as text messaging - than the U.S. government has.
Christopher Lamb, an expert at the National Defense University in Washington, expressed support for the new counterterrorism center, saying that the United States has been ‘slow and reactive’ in responding to terrorist attacks and statements.
‘A disciplined system for reacting quickly and how one might best respond to developments and rumors and sometimes misinformation is a good idea,’ Lamb said.
Most of the report’s recommendations involve initiatives that are already underway and in many cases have been expanded since Rice took over at State.
They include highlighting U.S. aid in emergencies, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami; booking senior U.S. officials on foreign TV broadcasts; working with moderate religious leaders; and improving Americans’ cultural understanding and language skills.
‘It would be an illusion to think this document is going to reverse public opinion’ about the United States, said John H. Brown, a senior fellow at the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy. The Hughes report was posted on the Center’s Web site this week.
Even the report’s emphasis on foreign exchanges is open to question.
Muslims who have visited the United States are more - not less - likely to support terrorism, according to a May study by Ethan Bueno de Mesquita of Washington University in St. Louis , who based his findings on polling data.
McClatchy Newspapers correspondent Jonathan S. Landay contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/17360009.htm
U.K. Launches Counter-Terrorism Tech Strategy (back)
June 12, 2007
The U.S. already has the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, or HSARPA, and now U.K. is set to launch its own counter-terrorism tech initiative:
An initiative to increase use of new technology to tackle terrorism is to be launched, Home Secretary John Reid told MPs.
The security and counter-terrorism science and innovation strategy has been developed by the new Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism within the Home Office.
Mr Reid, making his final question time appearance as Home Secretary, told MPs: ‘It is a practical example of how we are developing a more strategic and integrated response to the threat.
‘Science and innovation will be critical in driving forward these changes and delivering new counter-terrorism capabilities.’
No details yet on what this initiative involves, however.
Source: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/06/uk_launches_cou.html
TERRORISM RESPONSE
In Iraq , Sometimes Death is the Only Justice (back)
June 12, 2007
‘Chemical Ali,’ others face death penalty for chemical attacks against Kurds
In a continuation of the series of trials that saw Saddam Hussein and some of his closest circle hanged in December 2006 and January 2007, it appears that the gallows at the former Directorate of Military Intelligence compound in the Khazimiyah section of Baghdad may have new victims.
The most famous of the accused is Ali Hassan al-Majid, more commonly known as “Chemical Ali” and the “Butcher of Kurdistan.” Al-Majid (Saddam’s cousin) is charged with a variety of war crimes, including genocide for his role in the Anfal campaign against the Kurds. It was during this campaign that 5,000 Kurds were killed in the village of Halabjah in March 1988.
Also in the dock with al-Majid is former defense minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Jabburi al-Tay and Sabr Abd Al-Aziz al-Duri, former director of military intelligence. The Associated Press reported the verdict will be announced on June 24.
I have met both of these officers personally, and served with one professionally.
‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’
In 1988, during the last year of the Iran-Iraq War, I was sent to Baghdad as a liaison officer to the Iraqi Directorate of Military Intelligence. Gen. Sabr (al-Duri) was that organization’s director. I was in Baghdad working with Sabr when the Iraqis conducted their chemical attacks on Halabjah. It is doubtful the attacks on the Kurds could have been conducted without Sabr’s knowledge; someone had to develop the targeting information for the Iraqi pilots.
Once we learned of the attacks, we immediately halted the flow of American intelligence information. The halt was short-lived. After a series of meetings in Washington , it was decided that it was more important to ensure that Iran did not emerge victorious than to refuse to assist the Iraqis for their chemical attacks on the Kurds. This decision defines the Middle East adage: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
In the ensuing months, Iraq continued to use chemical weapons against Iranian troops in a series of offensives beginning in April 1988 and lasting until the Iranians gave up later that summer. I was aware of Iraqi use of chemical weapons; I had gathered the evidence while on tours of the battlefields. There was no doubt Gen. Sabr was an integral part of the military decision-making process. Ironically, Sabr will be hanged in the same compound that housed his intelligence directorate.
The U.S.-Iraqi relationship was based on political reality. The Iraqis were astute enough to realize our efforts were about containing Iran , not supporting Iraq . That’s why it ended almost immediately after the end of the war.
Weighing the death penalty
Sultan Hashim Ahmad, then a lieutenant general and Iraq ’s military operations chief, was the senior Iraqi officer present at the military-to-military talks at Safwan on March 3, 1991. I was the interpreter for General Norman Schwarzkopf for those talks and was the one who introduced the two generals to each other.
My initial meeting with Sultan Hashim was a bit contentious. I had gone over to his vehicle to escort him to meet General Schwarzkopf. As I introduced myself (in Arabic), he glared at me, prompting my use of some Iraqi slang that caught his attention. It seemed to amuse him. After I told him we were going to search him before admitting him to the meeting tent, he again glared. After he realized he was going to be treated as a professional, he acted the same in return.
As the invasion of Iraq began in 2003, I was on set at CNBC and who was giving a televised briefing to Saddam Hussein? None other than Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad.
More than most, I am acutely aware of the seriousness of the charges against these two officers. I had the opportunity to visit Halabjah in 1995 while serving in northern Iraq . It was a visit I will never forget. These two officers were a part of that operation.
I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but in this case, it may be the appropriate punishment. For the Kurds, it may be the only punishment.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19184313/
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