Posted on 07/28/2008 8:37:15 AM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
Is U.S. Bioterror Attack Just A Matter of Time?
The overriding question is whether the U.S. is “ready” for a bioterror attack. The answer could well rely on the “other” question of what bio-agent and what’s the source? In 1991, 40,000 Russian scientists dispersed throughout the World, with knowledge of what the U.S.S.R. was doing in chemical and biological weapons. The question is to whom did they sell their knowledge? Some believe former Soviet scientists sold technology to countries like Iran, Syria, and North Korea. Lurking is the spectre of al-Qaeda, a group that the Pentagon says continues to pursue biological weapons.
Another scenario is an outbreak of a pandemic. How would the U.S. deal with an infectious disease outbreak? The picture, despite reassurances, is not pretty. Until now, the U.S. has experienced two major biological attacks.
In 1984, the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers attempted to take over the town of the Dalles, Oregon by contaminating salad bars in the town. In 2001, there was the as yet unsolved mystery of the anthrax letters that killed five people.
But the question of bioterrorism extends to potential threats against our food supply and our clean water resources. It also extends to the threat of outbreaks of diseases in our animals populations. Here, the concern are diseases that attack animals but that can jump to humans. These are referred to as zoonotic diseases. The World Health Organization defines zonnotic diseases as:
Read More
See petition at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/stopaig/petition.html
See also articles at:
http://anti-jihad.org/blog/2008/12/aig-defies-us-taxpayers/
http://anti-jihad.org/blog/2008/11/stopsharianow/
http://anti-jihad.org/blog/2008/10/sharia-bailout/
WorldNetDaily.com has now also addressed the issue of AIG and its Islamic supremacist Sharia-based products, including the announcement this week to promote such Sharia-based products in the United States.
Bailed-out AIG offers Islamic insurance to U.S.
Company sells Shariah-compliant policies after massive taxpayer-funded cash grab
Posted: December 05, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling
WorldNetDaily
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82726
“After American International Group Inc, or AIG, reached two major bailout agreements totaling $152.5 billion in taxpayer dollars, the company is stepping up its dealings with Islamic finance by offering Shariah-compliant homeowners insurance to the U.S. – outraging critics over AIG’s support of a ‘”discriminatory ideology, that is against equality, and that is against liberty.’”
“Specifically, while American taxpayers are loaning money to AIG and hold 80 percent equity interest in the company, AIG owns a Shariah-compliant insurance company, offering accident, health, motor, personal contents, property and casualty insurance coverage. “
“Now Risk Specialists Companies, Inc., or RSC, a subsidiary of AIG Commercial Insurance, is introducing its Shariah-compliant Takaful Homeowners Policy to the U.S., according to a Dec. 1 AIG announcement. The new insurance is said to be the ‘first installment’ in a ‘series of Shari’ah-compliant (Takaful) product offerings in the U.S.’”
continued....
If reposting elsewhere, please credit source of this research as UnitedStatesAction.com
Health Officials Issue Tuberculosis Warning
Infected Passenger Was On Bus In August
POSTED: 5:28 pm MST December 2, 2008
UPDATED: 7:32 am MST December 3, 2008
SANTA FE, N.M. — Health officials on Tuesday issued a tuberculosis alert to passengers of a commercial bus that traveled through New Mexico from Texas to Colorado in August.
The New Mexico Department of Health said a person recently diagnosed with infectious tuberculosis was a passenger on the bus Aug. 3 and Aug. 9. Only passengers who rode the bus with this person are at risk for being exposed.
The bus, chartered by El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Express, Inc., left El Paso, Texas, the morning of Aug. 3. The person with TB boarded the bus later that day in Albuquerque and continued on to Greeley, Colo.
The person returned to Albuquerque on the same bus line Aug. 9, health officials said.
continued..
Radio Free Dar al Harb returns this Saturday.
Big show this Saturday. Time 2-3 p.m.
Grab some eggnog and cozy up to these sugar plum fairies.
We’re going to cover:
Inside the Mumbai. Report from the Counterterrorismblog panel discussion in
DC.
The Mattel Dawa Doll (www.labelthatdoll.com) CAIR Banquet and Legal Troubles
Holy Land Foundation Victory SCOTUS vs. POTUS-elect: Show me the birth
certificate...maybe.
If there’s anytime left, will discuss use of US soft power vs. hard power,
and some changes that may come in the coming administration.
Extra bonus, if we get to discuss the Pentagon’s civil brigades vs Obama’s
proposed national force...buy a gun or two for everyone you know, nothing
helps you settle in for a long winters nap like the blanket of security a
.45 provides.
—
Radio Free Dar al Harb: Every time you listen, a Jihadi cries.
Bring the Pain at:
blogtalkradio.com/radiofreedaralharb
radiofreedaralharb.blogspot.com
December 5, 2008 Anti-Terrorism News - UnitedStatesAction.com
(India) Mumbai attacks: First evidence of home-grown terror link — more ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3567048/Mumbai-attacks-First-evidence-of-home-grown-terror-link—bombay-india.html
-— Faheem Ansari, born in India, accused of joining Lashkar-e-Taiba
(LeT) “after emigrating to Dubai five years ago”
-— “Officials said that he subsequently travelled to Pakistan where he
was trained by LeT leader Yusuf Muzammil at the same camp where the
lone survivor of the Mumbai attacks, Amir Azam Qasab was allegedly trained”
-— “Ansari was arrested in February [2007] in northern India carrying
hand-drawn sketches of hotels, the train terminal and other sites that
were later attacked in Mumbai, said Amitabh Yash, director of the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh police”
-— “Mr Ansari also had up-to-date blueprints of the Taj Mahal Palace
hotel that were better than those available to the security services, Mr Yash said”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3567048/Mumbai-attacks-First-evidence-of-home-grown-terror-link—bombay-india.html
(India) Mumbai attacks: Mumbai cops to seek custody of LeT’s Fahim Ansari from India’s Uttar Pradesh police
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Mumbai_cops_to_seek_custody_of_LeTs_Fahim_Ansari_from_UP/articleshow/3798281.cms
Indian terror suspects linked to Mumbai plot
-— “Four Indian Muslims arrested as early as February were involved in
the plot by Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group, to attack
Mumbai, a senior police officer who handled the case told The Times today”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5292508.ece
(India) Mumbai attacks: Perpetrators of Mumbai carnage should be punished: PM
-— report: “India will await the outcome of the international community’s efforts in this regard before deciding on its options”
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?id=4422f185-99fd-4dfe-9db3-e825311e99a3Mumbaiunderattack_Special&&Headline=India+will+await+the+outcome+of+int%27l+effort%3a+PM
-—— Indian Congress rejects joint India-Pakistan probe
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\05\story_5-12-2008_pg1_2
(India) Mumbai attacks: There were security ‘lapses’ in Mumbai: Union Home Minister Chidambaram
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai_attack_Chidambaram_admits_security_lapses/articleshow/3796698.cms
— Sole Mumbai terrorist captured alive reveals he training in Pakistan
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1958563&Language=en
India to take tips from Israel on tackling terror
-— Times of India refers to India as “[a] known ‘softie’”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/India_to_take_tips_from_Israel_on_tackling_terror_/articleshow/3794987.cms
—— December 3, 2008 - 4100 terror attacks in India from 1970-2004
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/4100_terror_attacks_in_India_from_1970-2004/articleshow/3788135.cms
(India) Hero nanny tells her story for 1st time
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702443015&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Pakistan will not hand over LeT founder to India: Front organization Jamaat-ud-Dawah
-— Front organization Jamaat-ud-Dawah “created by Lashkar-e-Taiba
(LeT) founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed has said the Pakistan
government is not ‘so weak’ that it will accept India’s demand for the
handing over of the ‘jehadi’ leader and ideologue in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pakistan_will_not_hand_over_LeT_founder_to_India_Jammat-ud-Dawa/articleshow/3797463.cms?TOI_latestnews
—— Rice hopes Pakistan, India will keep communicating
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\05\story_5-12-2008_pg1_1
(Pakistan) India has sought three suspects, not 20, says interior adviser
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\05\story_5-12-2008_pg1_5
(Pakistan) US demand on LeT a litmus test for Pak
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/US_demand_on_LeT_test_for_Pak/articleshow/3794437.cms
Pakistan army chief reviews troop preparedness
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pak_army_chief_reviews_troop_preparedness/articleshow/3794379.cms
(Pakistan) ISI chief meets Pak PM amid tension with India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/ISI_chief_meets_Pak_PM_amid_tension_with_India/articleshow/3797972.cms
(Pakistan) NWFP: 20 dead, 70 injured as bomb explodes in Pakistani market — in Peshawar
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/244886,20-dead-70-injured-as-bomb-explodes-in-pakistani-market.html
-— Car bomb kills 17 in Pakistani city of Peshawar
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/05/asia/AS-Pakistan-Violence.php
(Pakistan) NWFP: Taliban militants kill policemen in rocket attack - in Bannu
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.2784544631
http://www.geo.tv/12-5-2008/30136.htm
— December 1, 2008: Pakistan’s The News - Army official calls Baitullah Mehsud, Fazlullah ‘patriots’
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=18709
(Pakistan) NWFP: Girls’ school set on fire in Swat
http://www.geo.tv/12-5-2008/30139.htm
(Pakistan) NWFP: Swat militants announce ceasefire on Eid
-— after knocking out power, burning down school, and suicide bombing
http://www.geo.tv/12-5-2008/30160.htm
(Pakistan) FATA: Ten killed in suicide explosion in Pakistan — Orakzai tribal agency
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1958561&Language=en
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24757824-23109,00.html
-— July 19, 2008: Pakistan signs peace accord with Taliban in Orakzai tribal agency
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/07/pakistan_signs_peace_1.php
-— November 6, 2001: Orakzai Taliban chief extends full help
http://www.dawn.com/2001/11/06/nat19.htm
(Pakistan) MEMRI: In TV Interview, Pakistani Security Expert Accuses
Western Zionists, Hindu Zionists of Planning 11/26 Mumbai Terror Attacks
-— MEMRI version of report on previously reported story
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD214008
Pakistan has created its own Frankenstien monster: Defense analyst Maroof Raza
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Pakistan_has_created_its_own_Frankenstien_monster_Defense_analyst_Maroof_Raza/articleshow/3798132.cms
Afghan jail operation kills 8 prisoners in Kabul
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081205/wl_nm/us_afghan_violence_7
(Afghanistan) Denmark’s Kabul embassy moved for security reasons
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_re_eu/eu_denmark_afghanistan_embassy_1;_ylt=Ajkw1_C3_3dObRYx2Hvpw_gBS5Z4
(Iraq) Sadr movement focuses on reinvention in Iraq
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28065554/
(U.S.) Fort Dix plot suspect talks about a holy war in the U.S.
http://www.njherald.com/story/news/NJ-FortDixPlot-web2008-12-03T21-02-39
(U.S.) Pentagon raises status of ‘irregular warfare’
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Top_Headlines/Pentagon_raises_status_of_irregular_warfare/articleshow/3794832.cms
(U.S.) FBI helps bring remains of Somali suicide bomber back to US; given Muslim burial
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023791.php
-— One of Five Suspected Somali Suicide Bomber Laid to Rest
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7997132&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Iranian tech threat — regarding AMD proposed joint venture
-— Senator Kyl “worried that sensitive U.S. chip technology will reach Tehran”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/04/inside-the-ring-70978545/?page=2
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/04/inside-the-ring-70978545/?page=3
Lebanon’s Hezbollah says sure to win legislative polls
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2008/December/middleeast_December61.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
(Lebanon) Progressive Socialist Party’s (PSP) meets with Hizbullah
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=98108
(Lebanon) Hizbullah Women March on Border, Yell ‘Death to Israel’
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/156807
(Gaza) UN Security Council Rejects Libyan Attempt to Reach Gaza
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128699
Palestinians reject partition, blame a misunderstanding
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/05/palestinians-reject-partition-blame-a-misunderstan/
(Israel) Kassam rocket strikes western Negev; no wounded reported
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702444579&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Israel) Security forces arrest Hamas operative north of Ramallah
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702443224&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Israel) Fatah Terrorist, Pardoned by Olmert, Plotted Tel Aviv Bombing
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128692
(Somalia) Shelling kills at least 15 in Somalia’s capital
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5194754/shelling-kills-at-least-15-in-somalias-capital/
(Somalia) German Navy wards off suspected pirate attack on cruise ship
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/244882,german-navy-wards-off-suspected-pirate-attack-on-cruise-ship.html
— Danish navy sinks suspected pirate vessel drifting off Somalia
http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/156501
Sudan: Gunmen attack aid workers in Darfur
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.2784544168
Nigeria: Senate Probes Jos Mayhem
-— Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu blames “selfish persons,” not Islamic supremacism
http://allafrica.com/stories/200812050030.html
Switzerland bans al-Qaida for another 3 years
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702444992&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Spaniards protest against ETA violence
http://www.expatica.com/es/articles/news/Spaniards-protest-against-ETA-violence.html
(Thailand) 5 killed, 10 police and 2 civilians injured in Narathiwat bomb attack
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30090295
-— Also
—— “In nearby Pattani province on Thursday evening, a 60-year-old man
and a 32-year-old policeman were killed in separate drive-by shooting”
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=713b9a4c-5272-4f36-b3f7-9d8b74aba573&&Headline=%275+killed+in+bomb%2c+shootings%27
(Philippines) Three government troops wounded in southern Philippine explosion
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/244814,three-government-troops-wounded-in-southern-philippine-explosion.html
(Philippines) Blast in southern Philippines wounds 6 civilians - outside drug store
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/ap/20081205/tap-as-philippines-explosions-fe2a5de.html
(North Korea) US envoy says next NKorea nuke talks will be tough
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/05/asia/AS-NKorea-Nuclear.php
Other News:
(U.S.) WorldNetDaily: Bailed-out AIG offers Islamic insurance to U.S.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82726
—— Should US Taxpayers Be Bailing Out Sharia? by Diana West
http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryID/627/Default.aspx
-—— See Also:
-—— AIG Defies American Taxpayers by Promoting Sharia in the United States - by Jeffrey Imm
http://anti-jihad.org/blog/2008/12/aig-defies-us-taxpayers/
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/118.html
-—— End U.S. Ownership of Sharia Business Now Petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/stopaig/petition.html
(U.S.) Mapping Shari’a Project
http://www.mappingsharia.us/
—— Pamela Gellar reports on Mapping Sharia Project’s findings
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/12/mapping-sharia.html
-—— “75% of the mosques are Shariah-adherent (on a scale of 1-10, they are 7 or higher)”
-—— “The correlation between Shariah-adherence and the use of literature calling
for violence against the infidel and apostate and Jihad was 0.9—an almost 1:1 relationship”
-—— “In most mosques where this violent literature was found, the Imam
actively encouraged our researcher posing as a new attendee to study this violent material”
(UK) Campaign against Sharia law in Britain to be launched at the House of Lords - on December 10
http://www.secularism.org.uk/campaignagainstsharialawinbritai.html
(Gambia) British missionaries in Gambia spend seventh day in prison
-— “after being accused of spreading sedition in the Muslim state”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/gambia/3567113/British-missionaries-in-Gambia-spend-seventh-day-in-prison.html
-— British missionary couple in Muslim African country face months in jail ‘hell hole’ after being charged with sedition
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1092040/British-missionary-couple-Muslim-African-country-face-months-jail-hell-hole-charged-sedition.html
-— London Times report
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5293461.ece
—— Related Reports:
-—— October 2007: Gambia: Jammeh Calls for Islamic Solidarity
http://foehammer.net/2007/10/jammeh-calls-for-islamic-solidarity-while-blaming-the-west.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710170786.html
-—— Gambia Tourist Support: Shariah the Debate
http://www.gambiatouristsupport.com/Sharia.htm
(Bulgaria) Sofia: Calls against Islamic center
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2008/12/sofia-calls-against-islamic-center.html
Italy: Top Muslim representative responds to Vatican official — on “mixed marriages”
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=3.0.2784827320
(Italy) Rome: ‘The deserted mosque’
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2008/12/rome-deserted-mosque.html
Europe: EU court rules headscarf ban not a human rights violation
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2008/12/europe-eu-court-rules-headscarf-ban-not.html
(Sweden) The Local: “Sweden’s Sharia pension fund outperforms market”
http://www.thelocal.se/16162/20081205/
(Mexico) Suspicious package near Israeli embassy in Mexico
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Top_Headlines/Suspicious_package_near_Israeli_embassy_in_Mexico/articleshow/3795310.cms
Commentaries:
The ‘Islamophobia’ canard after Mumbai — by Joel J. Sprayregen
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/12/the_islamophobia_canard_after.html
__._,_.___
If reposting elsewhere, please credit source of this research as UnitedStatesAction.com
The Roots of Violent Islamist Extremism and Efforts to Counter it
by Maajid Nawaz
London, 2008, 16. pp.
Maajid Nawaz
http://www.democratiya.com/review.asp?reviews_id=213
Editors Note: This testimony was presented before the US Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Thursday 10th July 2008.
*
Chairman Lieberman, ranking member Collins and esteemed members of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee, please allow me this opportunity to thank you all for inviting me here to testify before you today. I convey to you warm salutations from all our staff at The Quilliam Foundation in London, and in particular from my friend and co-Director Ed Husain who is currently in Egypt as part of an official Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) delegation sent by the British Government. Violent Islamist extremism is truly the bi-partisan issue of the day. This phenomenon affects those on all sides of the political spectrum, and as such it is one of those rare issues concerning which people of differing political persuasions and backgrounds can find common ground, especially through independent voices.
As Director of The Quilliam Foundation, Britain’s first counter-extremism think tank, I have made it my aim to spare no effort in directly challenging the Islamist ideology wherever I happen upon it. I believe that my staff and I are uniquely placed for this endeavour due to our past involvement, at a senior level, with various Islamist organisations. In fact, my own history involves thirteen years as a committed activist with the extremist Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (The Liberation Party). I served on Hizb ut-Tahrir’s UK leadership and personally exported the group from London to Pakistan and Denmark. My international activities eventually led to my witnessing torture and serving a five-year prison sentence in Egypt, where I was adopted by Amnesty International as a ‘prisoner of conscience.’
The makings of an international Islamist ideologue: my story
Having been born and raised in the boisterous county of Essex, the early nineties exposed me to situations that I never should have had to witness as a teenager. Despite my liberal British upbringing, I was subject to an appalling level of racist violence by a minority of thugs. Many of my white friends were stabbed before my eyes simply for associating with me. Arrests were made but repetitive procedural errors amidst boasts of ‘contacts’ in the police meant that the perpetrators were never convicted. By the time I reached fifteen I had been falsely arrested at gunpoint by the police because somebody had earlier seen my older brother, himself only sixteen at the time, playing with a plastic pellet gun. We were released the next morning with an apology, and the plastic gun was returned to us broken. The culmination of such incidents eventually led me to a crisis of identity. Not feeling fully accepted in the country of my birth left me wondering whether I was British, English, Pakistani, Muslim or even something else entirely. What I did know was that I could not relate in any way to the Pakistani heritage of my grandfather. The religious mosque imams could not speak English and I in turn found it almost impossible to relate to what they preached. Whilst such a crisis of identity initially concerned only racial and ethnic dimensions, the tragic slaughter of white Muslims that was to eventually play out in Bosnia-Herzegovina brought to the fore of my mind Europe’s ‘Muslim Question.’ Through this rude awakening, and for the first time in my life, I became critically aware of a Muslim identity. I could not, however, relate to my religion as taught by the poorly educated mosque imams. I began instead to relate to a mid-nineties trend whereby American rappers would use radical Islamic messages through Hip-Hop to engender a sense of empowerment and identity into African-Americans. The early Malcolm X, with his radical and uncompromising message, quickly became my inspiration as I became more and more disillusioned with my own society. I somehow conveniently ignored the fact that even Malcolm tempered his views before he was assassinated – and I believe that a great deal can be still be learnt from this man’s late change of heart.
At this critical juncture in my life, whilst already feeling quite anti-establishment, I stumbled across an articulate medical student from my hometown who had gone to London and returned as a Hizb ut-Tahrir activist. Here was a man who could speak my language, who felt my pain and who most importantly of all could answer my questions concerning identity and faith in a radically different way. Since Malcolm X, I had never heard Islam presented in this way. Islam was not about mere rites and backward rituals. Islam was a revolutionary ideology that came to liberate man from being a slave to other men’s colonial laws. Muslims must refuse the artificial identities imposed upon them by colonialism. We were not Pakistani or British, rather we hailed from the pre-colonial Caliphate, an exclusively Muslim political entity for an exclusively Muslim political identity that was wiped from the minds of our fathers through years of colonial education. Muslims must reject calling Islam a religion, rather ours was a comprehensive and divine political ideology surpassing Communism and Capitalism in its detail and potential power. All we needed to do was to re-ignite this forgotten ideology in the hearts and minds of the Muslim Ummah, or global community, and this sleeping giant would automatically arise from his slumber to challenge Western hegemony over the world. The fire within me finally found its oxygen and at the tender age of sixteen I joined Hizb ut-Tahrir not because I was in any way religious, but because I sought a radical political solution to the various grievances I felt. I wanted to be an ideologue and now I had discovered a divine ideology.
After I joined Hizb ut-Tahrir, I immediately decided to leave my hometown for London so as to enrol at the heavily Muslim-populated Newham College for the purpose of using this campus as a recruitment ground. On this campus, after joining forces with Ed Husain, I was quickly elected as President of the Students’ Union with my union committee all being Hizb ut-Tahrir activists too. Now, as this powerful collective and with funds from the Students’ Union at our disposal, we embarked upon radicalising the campus and recruiting more activists. My time at Newham College was brought to a sudden end when one of our non-student associates used our rhetoric to justify murdering a non-Muslim student on campus. The entire Students’ Union committee was subsequently expelled from this college, but my reputation grew amongst party ranks.
Soon I was to become a national speaker, and then an international recruiter to Hizb ut-Tahrir. In 1999 the global leadership of Hizb ut-Tahrir requested that I personally travel to Pakistan to set up the group there. Pakistan had just acquired a nuclear bomb and I was told that the Caliphate would benefit immensely from this development. I duly took leave from my UK law degree and moved to Pakistan, moving from city to city leaving party cells in my wake. After my return to the UK in 2000, the group again requested that I travel to Denmark to aid with recruitment there. In between resuming my law degree I would fly out every weekend at the expense of Hizb ut-Tahrir until I had set up a sufficient amount of recruits for the Danish branch of the group to take over. My travels eventually led me to Egypt, where in 2002 my house was subjected to a dawn-raid and I was taken blindfolded to the Egyptian State Security headquarters in Cairo, a building known as the Apparatus, or al-Jihaz in Arabic. After witnessing torture and being held incommunicado in extended solitary confinement, I was eventually sentenced by Egypt’s Supreme State Security Emergency court to five years of imprisonment.
My time in Egypt’s notorious Mazra Tora prison gave me the opportunity to finally study Islam myself from its primary Arabic sources. I also had the opportunity to debate with some of Egypt’s most well-known convicted terrorists, such as the surviving assassins of late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and the founders of al-Gama’a al-Islamiyyah – formerly Egypt’s largest terrorist group. I also had access to imprisoned liberals such as the runner-up in the Egyptian Presidential election Ayman Noor, and the then imprisoned Sociology Professor Saad el-Din Ibrahim. My adoption by Amnesty International as a ‘prisoner of conscience’, and in particular the tireless efforts of one Amnesty activist – John Cornwall – served to open my heart to non-Muslims again for the first time in 10 years. My mind, however, would still not follow without rigorous investigation. After four years of daily debate and organised studying with the whole spectrum of reformed political prisoners I gradually came to the realisation, subconsciously at first, that what I had thought was Islam, was in fact a modern political ideology masquerading as the ancient faith of Islam. Islamists had taken modern day political paradigms and superimposed them onto religion. I now refer to this ideology as Islamism, so as to distinguish it from Islam the faith.
Upon returning to the UK in March 2006 I continued in my activities with Hizb ut-Tahrir at the leadership level. At this stage I was in psychological denial, after thirteen years of Islamist activism, that I could have been so wrong. The more my status grew on the Islamist circuit, the more I felt hypocritical for no longer believing that Islam was a divine political ideology. I had become one of the most recognised figures amongst Islamists generally and in Hizb ut-Tahrir ranks specifically, yet I could not face the fact that I no longer believed in the ideology. I eventually learnt that the group was preparing me for leadership of the UK branch, and this news brought me to my final tipping point. In May 2007, thirteen years after joining, I unilaterally announced my resignation from Hizb ut-Tahrir, and in September 2007 I appeared on national television to declare that I now recanted Islamism itself.
Understanding the ideology of Islamism
In understanding what the ideology of Islamism is, it would help to begin with the name. The suffix ‘ism’ has been added to Islam so as to draw attention to the political nature of the subject matter. Islam is a faith; Islamism is an ideology that uses Islam the faith as a justification. Some of you may be reluctant to call this ideology Islamism. There exists an understandable concern of not wanting to alienate Muslims. It is my contention however that only by using Islamism can one popularise the notion that the ideology is indeed distinct from the faith, and that Islam is innocent from the excesses of Islamism. The presence of Islam in the title should be no more troubling for Muslims than the presence of ‘social’ in Socialism is for sociologists. The presence of the word Islam in Islamism, like social in socialism, indicates the justificatory claim made by the ideologue rather than an admission of the validity of such a claim. I firmly believe that by claiming the word Islamism, and helping shape how it is used, one can direct the debate in the right way with the intention of distinguishing the ideology from the faith. Finally, for all their feign of offence, Islamists use this word in Arabic when differentiating themselves from other Arab political trends, such as Bathism.
When dealing with this question one must remain cognisant of the fact that the majority of Muslims are not Islamists. Generally, non-Islamist Muslims are from the conservative camp, such as traditionalist Sufis or Deobandis, or the literalist Wahhabis. [1] This camp holds to socially conservative views and is historically apolitical. Non-Islamist Muslims could also be of the progressive camp, such as many leading theologians and academics today. Many in this grouping, and some from the conservatives, may even be politically active. These form the nascent post-Islamist movement of morally-inspired and politically active Muslims, or Muslim Democrats. However, the majority of progressives are simply secular legal positivists, believing that religion and morals cannot be a basis for strictly defining legal and political decisions. Key to the political activism of the above Muslims is that their politics is not driven by ideology.
The natural question then arises: what is the difference between an Islamist and an ordinary Muslim who may be politically active? Here some identifiers will be highlighted, not as hard and fast rules, but as general guidance on the fundamental beliefs that the vast majority of Islamists will hold dear. It is important to note that just as there is no one single definition of Communism, it is likewise for Islamism. This, of course, does not mean that Communism does not exist just as it does not mean that there is no such thing as Islamism. If, as is claimed, Islamism is a modern ideology, it follows that there must be some basic ideational factors that help shape it, ideas that can be clearly traced as being modern. In this endeavour, I aim to identify an Islamist’s ideology, law, people and state.
The first identifier of Islamism is the Islamist belief that Islam is not a religion, but a divine political ideology surpassing Communism and Capitalism. An implication of this is the Islamist assertion that Islam must have provided a detailed and divinely pre-ordained stance on matters such as political structure or the economy and these must lie, by definition, in contradistinction to structures already available in Capitalism and Communism. If these structures and systems are deemed absent, the Islamists will work to bring them about. Hence the Islamist desires to ‘Islamise’ all aspects of society and life. This also carries with it the Islamist assertion, subsequently also subscribed to by prominent non-Muslim commentators, that Islam is in perennial conflict with other ideologies, just like Communism in the cold war. In fact, the founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir used to be a Bathist or an Arab Socialist, which is where he found much of his political inspiration. Moreover, Islamists have long suffered due to their lack of theological legitimacy having been founded by political activists rather than theologians. The founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna, was a school-teacher. The founder of the Indian subcontinent offshoot of the Brotherhood, Jamat-e-Islam, was a journalist by the name of Abul ‘Ala Mawdudi. Al-Qa’idah’s Osama Bin Laden is an engineer and Ayman al-Zawahiri a medical doctor. The man who recruited me to Hizb ut-Tahrir all those years ago, the current head of Hizb ut-Tahrir in the UK, was also a medical doctor. Due to the Islamists’ emphasis on modern political thought they tend to attract those who have a modern education, those who can grasp discussions on sovereignty, statehood and the economy yet whose disciplines are not these social science subjects themselves, thereby explaining their willingness to adopt political ideas that lack nuance. A qualified theologian would rarely claim that Islam is a political ideology, unless he has been reared exclusively by an Islamist party to become a theologian so as to reinterpret the theology in light of the ideology, such as the Brotherhood reared Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
The second identifier is the Islamist claim that the Muslim religious code, known as the Shari’ah, demands implementation on state level as codified law. In other words, the legal and illegal of state law must be synchronised with halal (permissible) and haram (impermissible) of the religious code. This again is a modern innovation unheard of in traditional Islamic sources. Muslim history is in fact bereft of examples of any type of Shari’ah being wholesale adopted as state law. Despite this, Islamists place so much emphasis on synchronising the Shari’ah with codified state law that they consider it a matter of apostasy if someone claims otherwise. Such a demand gives rise to Islamist claims of un-Islamic, hence illegitimate, laws that subsequently need to be Islamised. On the contrary, ordinary Muslims are perfectly happy for the Shari’ah to remain a personal code of conduct.
The third identifier is the Islamist notion of the ummah, or Muslim community, forming a political rather than simply a religious identity. This has parallels with the Communist idea of the international proletariat. The subsequent implication for Islamists is that loyalty and allegiances are owed to this global community above all else. Hence, an Islamist will not consider a non-Muslim as being from ‘his people’, nor will he accept any national identity. Ordinary Muslims, on the other hand, consider the ummah as a religious community; hence they are free to adopt as their political identity any number of things. In fact, the Prophet himself declared, as a civil leader, that Jewish, Christian and Muslim residents of his city-state were all ‘one ummah’, as ‘citizens.’
The final identifier is the Islamist dream of having an ideological entity to represent the above three elements in the form of an expansionist Muslim bloc, the Caliphate. Its ideology will be Islamism, its law an adoption on Shari’ah and its people the global Muslim political bloc. Just as the international proletariat, the global political bloc for Communists, required an expansionist state to proactively ‘liberate’ workers from the tyranny of Capitalism, likewise the Caliphate must proactively intervene in the affairs of other states so as to ‘liberate’ Muslim residents from the yoke of kufr, or disbelief. Ordinary Muslims have no such expansionist dreams. Muslim theological authorities in each country have time and time again made the point that the days of religiously-inspired expansionism went out with the Middle Ages.
It is not strange that a modern-day supremacist ideology with aspirations of a super-state and a higher people emerged in the Middle East after World War I. The end of the age of empires led to the same phenomenon in Europe. Whereas European Fascist, Communist and Nazi parties emerged from the ashes of defeated European empires, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to Islamist parties emerging in the Middle East. The very same characteristics of expansionist super-states, a higher-people, and political party organisation are to be found in each of these supremacist phenomena. Such a development can be explained by the crisis of identity experienced by collective peoples in the aftermath of the old-world order empires collapsing.
Trends in Islamist movements
The above four elements, in general, form common ground for all types of Islamists. Despite sharing these core ideological goals however, Islamists may differ in both the intensity and candour with which they advocate them. Moreover, they certainly do differ in their strategic methodology of bringing about these four. There are three overarching strands of methodology employed by Islamists: political, revolutionary and militant. There is a great deal of rivalry both within and between the many groups of each strand.
Political Islamists form the original expression of religion as ideology. Founded in 1928 by a school teacher, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood now employs entry-level tactics to gain power in Muslim-majority countries through the ballot box with a view to gradually ‘Islamising’ the political structure and laws via a fifth column of committed activists. The Muslim Brotherhood, Ikhwan al-Muslimin, encompassed a social movement more than an ideology, though the party was very well disciplined. In 1941 a journalist by the name of Abu ‘Ala Mawdudi founded the Indian movement Jamat-e-Islam. By building on the Brotherhood’s generalised expression of Islamism, Mawdudi articulated a clearer intellectual case for Islamism with slightly more conservatively religious tendencies, but still adhered to entry-level tactics.
Revolutionary Islamists are those, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir (1953), who are fundamentally anti-establishment. This category believes in instigating military coups against regimes with the purpose of coming to power in one clean sweep. They advocate that to use the ballot box legitimises the system of Kufr – or apostasy – and hence is absolutely forbidden. Founded by Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, a former Arab Socialist – or Bathist – Hizb ut-Tahrir crystallised the generalised ideological expression of the Brotherhood by heavily borrowing from Communist ideological paradigms and Bolshevik party political theory. Uniquely, Nabhani was the only qualified Islamic jurist amongst the founders of the major Islamist movements and had served as a Shari’ah court appeals judge in Jerusalem. His academic background allowed Nabhani to skilfully weave European political thought with Shari’ah legalisms, combining them with the Bathist tactic of military coups. Through Hizb ut-Tahrir, Islamism had found its polemicists. In 1964 Sayid Qutb, having met and debated with Nabhani in Jerusalem, marked a departure from the Brotherhood’s generalised ‘social movement’ by exporting a combination of Nabhani’s revolutionary Islamism and Mawdudi’s conservative Islamism into Egypt through his book, ‘Milestones.’ Nabhani’s ideas were also shared by his good Iraqi friend Baqir al-Sadr, a hugely revered Shi’ah theologian, who popularised Islamism to many Shi’ah in Iraq through his book ‘Our Philosophy.’
Militant Islamists, or Jihadists, built upon the solid theoretical grounds provided to them by Nabhani and Qutb but believed in creating their own army, instead of using Nabhani’s theory of recruiting from the existing army, so as to remove the infidel regimes. This category forms the violent Islamists, many of whom legitimise terrorism as a tactic, and which eventually leads to what is witnessed today in the activities of the loosely-affiliated group known as Al-Qa’idah.
Islamist roots behind the tactic of terrorism
Not all Islamists employ terrorism as a tactic, but Islamist terrorists are by definition a product and offshoot of Islamist groups. This in no way implies that non-violent Islamists should be legally proscribed; rather it highlights the need for civil society to challenge Islamists even if they are to remain legally tolerated. Civil tolerance must be and always has been distinct from legal tolerance. In the UK the British National Party (BNP) are legal, but are shunned in civil society. Such a shift in attitude is only possible through education about what it is that Islamists actually believe, and how their beliefs act as ideological inspiration to terrorists. The heritage of Islamist terrorists can be traced both via the ideational inspiration behind key terrorist leaders and via the historical evolution of terrorism as a tactic.
Ideational roots
In 1953 it was Nabhani, and Hizb ut-Tahrir, who first expressed the three aims most commonly associated with Al-Qa’idah and Ayman al-Zawahiri today. These three aims, stated clearly in Nabhani’s early works, are to: i) overthrow Muslim-majority regimes; ii) establish in their wake an expansionist Caliphate ruled by Shari’ah: and iii) destroy Israel and then conquer the rest of the available world via Jihad. It was Nabhani who first classified the entire world as Dar al-Harb, the abode of war, due to the dominance of Kufr throughout. It just so happens that Nabhani’s methodology in fighting this war was to use pre-existing militaries rather than creating his own army. Only a return to ruling by the Shari’ah would restore Dar al-Islam, the abode of peace to the world. Nabhani also considered that no legitimacy could be granted to the existing rulers, as they were violating God’s mandate by ruling with Kufr. Hence, forcibly removing them was legitimate and no international treaty or law of theirs was to be recognised. It isn’t a huge leap from Hizb ut-Tahrir’s stance of recruiting from an existing army to Al-Qa’idah’s stance of recruiting their own.
Historical evolution
The above ideational history is born out by historical cases where many violent offshoots have indeed emerged from Islamist groups where ever they have operated. It is important to note that Islamism began as a non-Wahhabi, Salafist [2] reform movement in Egypt. Politically, it grew into a rigid dogma, yet socially it remained relatively liberal, even through the emergence of Hizb ut-Tahrir. In fact, much to the protestations of non-Islamist conservatives, Islamists dressed in Western dress, listened to music and did not oblige women to cover their faces. These modern political ideologues eventually found themselves seeking asylum in the Gulf. Here, the political rigidity of Islamism fused with the social rigidity of conservatives, in this case the Wahhabis, and it is through this powder keg that Islamist terrorism emerged.
The historical evolution from Islamism to Jihadism, after mixing with conservatism, requires proper attention. In Egypt, the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s assassins, known as Tanzim al-Jihad, eventually split into al-Gama’a al-Islamiyyah and al-Jihad al-Islami. These groups are Wahhabi in creed. The teacher of the parent group, the terrorist Tanzim al-Jihad, was a non-Wahhabi Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamist member known as Salim al-Rahhal. To cite another example, the Islamist Mohammad Qutb, Sayid Qutb’s brother, was Wahhabi Osama Bin Laden’s teacher. Abdullah Azzam, the first leader who inspired Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan was also a non-Wahhabi Islamist Muslim Brotherhood member. In Great Britain, Omar Bakri, the former leader of Islamist but non-Wahhabi Hizb ut-Tahrir UK began glorifying terrorism after becoming a Wahhabi. The same phenomenon, of Islamism merging with conservatism to produce terrorism, occurred on the Indian sub-continent. The very conservative Deobandi denomination was exposed to Islamism via Pakistan and the Afghan Jihad, leading to the emergence of the Taliban.
The above submission has focused thus far on Islamist ideology, or the pull factor behind terrorism. What also cannot be ignored are the grievances that may be exploited by Islamists to further aid their recruitment. The aforementioned evolution of political Islamism to the more extreme revolutionary Islamism, ending with militant Islamism, largely occurred through Egyptian prisons. However, what is noteworthy is the way in which ideology interacts with grievances. Ideology serves to reinterpret local grievances as a global ideological struggle, in turn ‘discovering’ more grievances where the ideological solution is deemed absent. If such local grievances could be minimised, the fodder that ideologues use to plant new pastures would be denied to them. Policy grievances, however, must only be changed if they form bad policy, not merely because terrorists hold a country hostage.
Concluding recommendations
The Quilliam Foundation has been established in London as a counter-extremism think tank aimed at simultaneously providing advice on policy reform where needed, and for the first time to provide a thorough counter-narrative to the Islamist ideology. An alternative Western Islam, which should be at one with its host society, is encouraged as the long-term option.
In concluding this submission to the Senate, I recommend that the US government does not enter into the ‘representative’ game with the organised minority who have hijacked, as I once did, the voice of the silent non-Islamist majority. I recommend that work must be done to solve this problem without subconsciously accepting any Islamist premise. Hence, a ‘Muslim’-based approach by government, who are seeking to find the ‘Muslim political voice’ will only serve to aid the Islamist cause of seeing Muslims as a political bloc rather than religious community. This assumes that Muslims must indeed have one political stance on any given matter, as they form one ideological bloc defined by religion. Rather, a localised, problems-based bottom-up approach, treating Muslims as citizens, is advised. This approach has been adopted by the British government and involves networking amongst ordinary non-Islamist local Muslims who are working in their communities to make better neighbourhoods for all. Governments cannot win arguments in communities; only civil society can achieve this. Governments can, however, empower civil society to make the necessary arguments and some very encouraging efforts towards this already exist. Existing State Department fact-finding missions to Europe should be encouraged and broadened so that networking and support can truly be facilitated for Europe’s nascent voices rising against the dominant Islamist discourse. Banning non-terrorist Islamist movements is counter-productive, gives them kudos and would merely drive them underground. However, government cooperation with Islamist groups provides them with much-craved legitimacy and should be avoided. Rather, civil society should be fully equipped in dealing with and challenging Islamist ideas and groups where they emerge.
Senator Leiberman, ranking member Collins, Committee members and staff I thank you all for your time and for presenting me with the opportunity to address you here today. I hope that my contributions serve to distinguish the noble faith of Islam from the scourge that is Islamism, so that adequate policies can be adopted when dealing with this problem without targeting or alienating ordinary Muslims, who are as much victims of this scourge as anybody else. The Quilliam Foundation’s staff stand ready to be called upon whenever they may be required, and hope to assist in any way possible to liberate Islam from Islamism.
Maajid Nawaz is Director of The Quilliam Foundation.
Notes
[1] Wahhabism is a conservative revisionist Sunni movement, which was founded by Muhammad bin Abdul-Wahhab (often mistakenly referred to as Abdul Wahhab) in the 18th century. It is popular in Saudi Arabia and retains a non-ideological, socially conservative, austere and literalist interpretation of Islam. Wahhabis are not Islamists. But when the Wahhabi literalist mindset combines with Islamism, this ca lead to the creation of Jihadist readings of scripture and results in militant Islamism.
[2] Salafism is a Sunni movement, which originated as a puritanical revivalist movement in the 19th century, focused on revising traditional interpretations of Islamic beliefs and practices. It is divided into modernist and conservative factions, the conservatives being more widely known as Wahhabis. The modernist forefathers of Salafism are Afghani, Abduh and Rida. They espoused an ideology seeking to synthesize modernity and revisionist Islam, which developed the original thought paradigms for Islamists
__._,_.___
http://sanjuan.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2008/sj120408.htm
U.S. Department of Justice
Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez
United States Attorney
District of Puerto Rico
Torre Chardon Suite 1201 (787) 766-5656
350 Carlos Chardon Street
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: U.S. Attorney’s Office
Date: December 4, 2008 Lymarie Llovet-Ayala
Public Affairs Specialist
787- 282-1820; 787-340-1835
PUERTO RICO POLITICAL CONSULTANT PLEADS GUILTY TO MONEY LAUNDERING CONSPIRACY
WASHINGTON – Alberto Goachet, 67, a political consultant and aide to Puerto Rico Sen. Jorge De Castro Font, pleaded guilty today to participating in a conspiracy to launder illegal campaign contributions and other payments, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez announced.
Goachet pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Francisco Augusto Besosa in the District of Puerto Rico to a one-count information that charged him with conspiring with De Castro Font and others to launder cash provided by a Puerto Rico businessman to De Castro Font. As part of the plea agreement, Goachet admitted that he and others laundered the money through the use of fake invoices purporting to reflect legitimate payments to a political consulting firm owned by Goachet. Goachet also admitted in the agreement that the false invoices were meant to conceal the businessman’s illegal payments to De Castro Font.
Goachet further admitted that in August 2008 he was asked by the FBI about the money laundering scheme, and during that interview he falsely claimed that the invoices were legitimately written for services rendered to the businessman and denied that the money was intended for De Castro Font. Goachet admitted he in fact knew the invoices were fraudulent and the money was intended for De Castro Font.
De Castro Font was indicted in October 2008 for a series of wide-ranging schemes in which he allegedly received approximately $500,000 to $525,000 in cash and payments through bribery and extortion. The indictment alleges that De Castro Font concealed the payments from the various schemes either by not disclosing them at all or by falsely disclosing them on required ethics or campaign disclosure forms or in his Puerto Rico tax filings.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law. De Castro Font’s trial is set for Jan. 12, 2009, in the District of Puerto Rico.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacqueline Novas and Timothy R. Henwood of the District of Puerto Rico, as well as Trial Attorney Matthew L. Stennes of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. The case is being investigated by the FBI’s San Juan Field Office.
December 5, 2008 PM Anti-Terrorism News - UnitedStatesAction.com
(India) Mumbai attacks: 3 Kolkata SIM cards used in Mumbai attacks
-— “The cards were procured and sent to Pakistan in the last two months
not just for Mumbai terrorist attacks but as part of a larger terror design”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/3_Kolkata_SIMs_used_in_2611_attacks/articleshow/3798259.cms
(India) ‘Scan barren islands for LeT, JeM presence’
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Scan_barren_islands_for_LeT_JeM_presence/articleshow/3798959.cms
India sets sights on Pakistani camps — in Pakistan-administered Kashmir
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL06Df04.html
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\06\story_6-12-2008_pg7_2
(India) Pakistan’s ISI involved in attacks, alleges Indian media
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\06\story_6-12-2008_pg1_7
(India) Terror link whiff in Bangladesh border arrest
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata_/Terror_link_whiff_in_Bangla_border_arrest/articleshow/3794523.cms
(India) ‘We’ll enable cops to tackle international terrorism’
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai/Well_enable_cops_to_tackle_international_terrorism/rssarticleshow/3798808.cms
(India) Maoists kill 5 cops, loot rifles in Jharkhand
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Maoists_kill_5_cops_loot_rifles_in_Jharkhand/articleshow/3798486.cms
(Pakistan) “Islamabad has assured the United States it will take action at the right moment against those involved”
-— LeT/JUD spokesman Yahya Mujahid: “There is no pressure
on us so far, nor is there is any reason for the arrest of the top leadership”
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.2786256406
—— Pakistan Daily Times: “Pakistan now acting on shared Mumbai evidence”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\06\story_6-12-2008_pg1_4
Pakistan link to Mumbai attacks evident: Obama’s adviser - Bruce Riedel
-— also “a new report said ISI had a plan to deploy sea-borne terrorists for an operation in Kashmir last year”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Pakistan_link_to_Mumbai_attacks_evident_Obamas_adviser/rssarticleshow/3798295.cms
(Pakistan) NWFP: Taliban conflict jeopardizes security in northwest
-— Taliban kidnaps 60 people this week in Peshawar
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.2786700561
(Pakistan) FATA: Taliban kill ‘US spy’ in Waziristan
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\06\story_6-12-2008_pg7_5
(Pakistan) FATA: Three dead in suspected US missile strike in Pak: Official - North Waziristan
— “targeted the houses of a suspected Taliban militant north of Mir Ali”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Top_Headlines/Three_dead_in_suspected_US_missile_strike_in_Pak_Official/articleshow/3798603.cms
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\06\story_6-12-2008_pg1_3
(Pakistan) Rawalpindi: Police submit charge sheet to Anti-Terrorism Court against Marriott blast suspects
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\06\story_6-12-2008_pg11_5
(Pakistan/Afghanistan) Taliban’s Mullah Omar Warns U.S.
— MEMRI: Taliban Leader Warns U.S, NATO Not to Send New
|Troops to Afghanistan; Claims Current Financial Crisis Result
of ‘Belligerent U.S. Policy’; Warns Mujahideen Against Internal Strife
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD214108
-— U.S. Rewards for Justice: “Seeking Information Against International Terrorism: Wanted - Mullah Omar - Up to $10 Million Reward”
http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/english/index.cfm?page=MullahOmar
-— November 26, 2008: Karzai Offers Taliban Leader Mullah Omar ‘Protection’ For Peace
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20081126\ACQDJON200811261221DOWJONESDJONLINE000762.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na
-— October 3, 2008: Karzai proposes Mulla Umar to return to Afghanistan
http://www.geo.tv/10-3-2008/26156.htm
AP: “Afghanistan, Pakistan to fight al-Qaida together”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_afghanistan_pakistan_6
-— Comment: Just like they are fighting Taliban’s Mullah Omar together...
(Afghanistan) Troops kill 17 insurgents in Afghanistan: military — in Herat and Helmand provinces
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2008/December/international_December345.xml§ion=international
(Afghanistan) US preparing for troop buildup in Afghanistan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_afghanistan;_ylt=AlV5v2VsfvzWfQfkBPHtsl6s0NUE
Afghanistan looms as potential quagmire for Barack Obama administration
— tactical-focused article makes no mention of the challenge in fighting an undefined enemy based on Islamic suprmemacism
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/12/05/2008-12-05_afghanistan_looms_as_potential_quagmire_.html
(U.S.) Families of 9/11 victims seek answers at Gitmo
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_guantanamo_sept11_trial
(U.S.) Supreme Court to hear appeal of only ‘enemy combatant’ held in U.S.
-— Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri in Navy brig in North Charleston, South Carolina
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/05/scotus.enemy.combatants/index.html
-— Court to decide president’s reach on detentions
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28072004/
(Israel) Rocket fire on western Negev continues
— “5 Kassams, 2 mortar shells fired from Gaza; no casualties; Palestinian protest on Gaza streets”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702446524&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Israel) Kassam lands near in open area near Sderot; no casualties
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702446440&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Somalia: Top UN envoy appeals for release of hostages — 4 journalists, 2 nuns held
— UN’s Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah: “On the eve of Eid al-Adha, a period
of forgiveness, I appeal to all Somalis to help ensure that those hostages
being held, both Somalis and foreigners, are allowed to enjoy their freedom and to return home safe and sound”
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.2786257142
(Somalia) New York Times’ John S. Burnett says Somalian Islamic Supremacists Answer to Somalian Pirates (my title)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/opinion/05burnett.html?em
-— See also:
—— November 19, 2008 - Somalia: Pirates ‘working with Islamists’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7737375.stm
—— November 22, 2008 - Battles over booty loom as militias and rebels drawn to pirate gold
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5209344.ece
Moroccan sentenced over links to Madrid bombings — Hicham Ahmidan
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/05/africa/AF-Morocco-Spain-Bombings.php
(Sudan) Article in Sudanese Daily: 9/11 – A Great Victory for the Jihad-Fighting Muslim Nation
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD214208
(Denmark) IPT News: New Danish Book Draws Jihadist Ire
-— Danish journalist Lars Hedegaard’s book Groft Sagt (Rough Talk)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/909
Turkish planes bomb Kurdish rebel bases in Iraq
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Turkish_planes_bomb_Kurdish_rebel_bases_in_Iraq/articleshow/3798916.cms?TOI_latestnews
Spain: Basque militant lawmakers must go
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/05/europe/EU-Spain-Basques.php
Other News:
(U.S.) Pentagon to recruit aliens on visas — seeks foreigners in U.S. military for “language skills”
— “Defense Secretary Robert Gates has authorized the Army,
Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to recruit certain legal residents
whose critical medical and language skills are ‘vital to the national interest’”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_recruiting
-— More from the Defense Secretary who brought us the “War on Extremism”
-— October 6, 2008 - AP reported that U.S. Defense Secretary
Robert Gates “endorsed efforts to reach out to members of the
Taliban or other militants in Afghanistan who may be considered reconcilable, much like what has happened in Iraq.”
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/oct/06/gates-afghan-militants-key-to-countrys-future/
-— More on Gates and “reconciliation” with Islamic supremacist Taliban
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/109.html#Gates
-— April 13, 2008 - Gates: Enemy in Iraq is extremism
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/04/13/Gates_Enemy_in_Iraq_is_extremism/UPI-69821208117940/
-— June 2008 - U.S. National Defense 2008 document (PDF) — enemy defined as “extremists”
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/documents/national_defense_strategy_073108.pdf
(U.S./Indonesia) Donor: Obama suggested Jakarta visit
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1208/Donor_Obama_suggested_Jakarta_visit.html
-— August 13, 2007: Indonesian group rallies for world Islamic rule
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/13/2002914.htm
Kenyan girls flee forced genital mutilation
-— “some as young nine years old”
-— “One aid worker says at least 200 girls are being circumcised in the area every day”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/06/2439586.htm?section=justin
(Italy) ‘Honour killing’: Italian court upholds sentence for Pakistani father
-— claims that 21-year old Hina Saleem was murdered because she “disrespected... ethnicity and culture”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\06\story_6-12-2008_pg7_44
(Germany) Mosques are ‘land grab, not a place of prayer’, says Ralph Giordano
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5295628.ece
(Australia) Islamic school lifts ban on national anthem
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/05/Islamic_school_lifts_ban_on_anthem/UPI-58771228518266/
(Pakistan) John McCain arrives in Islamabad
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\06\story_6-12-2008_pg7_48
(Saudi Arabia) 3 million Muslims in Mecca for pilgrimage
— “Just 50 years ago, the pilgrimage attracted only about 10,000 people”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_saudi_hajj;_ylt=Ai3qAisZpzuxRHPPoKFNaUms0NUE
Propaganda:
(U.S.) CNN’s Peter Bergen claims “WMD terrorism fears are overblown”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/05/bergen.wmd/index.html
-— Bergen is more focused on getting U.S. to “engage with Islamists.... [who] are not our enemies and can even be our friends.” (Reference, New America Foundation working papers, page 11).
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/107.html#Bergen
http://www.americaspurpose.org/downloads/working_group_papers.pdf
—— Bergen “not to engage with Islamists is ridiculous”
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/107.html#Bergen
-— and more recently, Bergen dismisses Islamic supremacist Jihad in Mumbai as merely a “regional problem”
-—— Bergen: “It is a regional problem requiring a regional solution”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/04/bergen.pakistan/index.html?section=cnn_latest
__._,_.___
If reposting elsewhere, please credit source of this research as UnitedStatesAction.com
Pakistani Nuclear Scientist: ‘None Of India’s Cities Can Remain Safe From Our Missiles’; ‘Our Missile System… Can Be Fired in Only 10 Minutes – They Are On the Launchers’
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD213808
Amid growing tensions between India and Pakistan following the 11/26 Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr. Samar Mubarakmand spoke of the readiness of Pakistani missiles and of their capability to target Indian cities. Dr. Mubarakmand, who has steered the Pakistani nuclear program for the past several decades alongside disgraced nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, expressed his views during a talk show.
Following are excerpts from the interview, as published in the Urdu-language Pakistani newspaper Roznama Express: [1]
“Pakistan’s nuclear assets are in safe hands.
“Every Indian city is on the target of our missiles, and [Pakistan’s] atomic technology is better than that of India. [We] can fire the missiles at only 10 minutes’ notice...
“I am very satisfied with the defense preparedness. As long as [we] didn’t have nuclear weapons, India had a three and a half advantage [over Pakistan]. But this advantage was levelled when we conducted the nuclear testing.
“Following the nuclear testing, we tested missiles like the Shaheen, the Ghaznavi, the Shaheen II, and the Ghauri. After this, India’s tone and language [vis-à-vis Pakistan] changed...
“The nuclear tests carried out by India were of eight to 10 tons, whereas our [atomic tests] were of 25 to 30 tons, and the one we conducted in Kharan [Desert, in Baluchistan] were of 10 to 12 tons. This is why our weapons are better [than India’s]...
“Our Shaheen missiles hit targets [during testing]; the world recognized their delivery system. None of India’s cities can remain safe from our missiles... Pakistan’s width is less than India’s, which is 1,200 to 1,400 kilometers. Therefore, no corner of India is safe from the Shaheen II...
“We have also developed cruise missiles. And Pakistan is the fourth country in the world to have cruise missiles...
“We should talk to India strongly... Even while giving the message of friendship, we should make [Indians] realize that we are not weak...
“Being a small nation, if we abandon the option... to launch a nuclear attack, then there won’t be any use of the second option. This way you end one advantage...
“Our missile system is ready, [and] can be fired in only 10 minutes - they are on the launchers...”
http://sandiego.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/sd_120508.htm
For Immediate Release
December 5 , 2008 Karen P. Hewitt, United States Attorney
Southern District of California
(619) 557-5610
Two Plead Guilty to Bombing U.S. Courthouse in San Diego
United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Ella Louise Sanders pled guilty today in
federal court in San Diego before the Honorable Margaret M.. McKeown to one count of possession and use of a destructive device to commit a crime of violence, to wit: conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c). As part of her guilty plea, Sanders admitted that she conspired with others to construct and detonate a series of pipe bombs, including the bombs used against the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse in San Diego on May 4, 2008, and a Federal Express distribution center in San Diego on April 25, 2008.
In her plea, Sanders admitted that she purchased explosive material and stole pipes for the purpose
of constructing pipe bombs. Sanders admitted that she and a co-conspirator constructed two pipe bombs, which were then used against the Federal Express distribution center on 47th Street in San Diego on April 25, 2008. Sanders also admitted that, on May 3, 2008, she helped the co-conspirator construct three more pipe bombs. The next day, Sanders helped the co-conspirator conceal her identity shortly before the coconspirator detonated three pipe bombs at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse.
On September 25, 2008, Eric Robinson pled guilty before United States Magistrate Judge Peter C. Lewis to the same conspiracy charge as Sanders. Robinson’s guilty plea was entered subject to final acceptance by Judge McKeown. Today, Judge McKeown formally accepted Robinson’s guilty plea. Robinson is scheduled to appear before Judge McKeown in federal court in San Diego for sentencing on June 15, 2009 and Sanders is scheduled for sentencing on August 3, 2009, both at 9:30 a.m.
DEFENDANTS
Criminal Case No. 08-CR-1895-MMM
Ella Louise Sanders
Eric Reginald Robinson
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c) - Possession of a Destructive Device in Relation to a Crime of Violence; Maximum penalties: Not less than 30 years in prison
AGENCIES
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Joint Terrorism Task Force
http://sandiego.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/sd110408.htm
For Immediate Release
November 4, 2008
Karen P. Hewitt, United States Attorney
Southern District of California
(619) 557-5610
Highyield Investment Manger Sentenced
United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Clementine Estrada, age 67, was sentenced in federal court on December 3, 2008, by United States District Judge Barry T. Moskowitz, following her conviction on one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud related to two fraudulent highyield investment programs she managed and operated in Escondido, California: the Crystal Rose and Sterling Rose Capitalization Programs. Estrada was sentenced to serve 50 months in custody and three years of supervised release following her guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement. Estrada was ordered to pay approximately $1,800,000 in restitution to the victims of her crime. A hearing to determine the final amount of the restitution is scheduled for December 23, 2008, before Judge Moskowitz. Estrada was remanded into custody immediately after receiving her sentence.
In the plea agreement, Estrada admitted that between December 2001 and August 2004, she conspired to defraud 68 investors out of nearly $2,000,000 through these fraudulent investment programs. Estrada promised investors high rates of returns, up to 90% per month in some cases, while guaranteeing the investors’ principal. However, her promises and guarantees to the investors were false. She admitted in the plea agreement that she made false representations to the investors to induce them to participate in her investment programs, which she then misappropriated and dissipated the investors’ money, and that she provided false and misleading reports to the investors about bogus fund recovery efforts.
Estrada further admitted that she attempted to obstruct justice during the Government’s investigation of her activities and agreed that her criminal conduct violated the terms of a permanent injunction previously entered against her in the Southern District of California following an action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
United States Attorney Hewitt said, “The United States Attorney’s Office remains fully committed to the prosecution of individuals who commit economic crimes of the sort in which this defendant engaged.
The victims deserve full justice, a measure of which was achieved with this sentence.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Keith Slotter commented, “The case against Ms. Estrada represents precisely the type of criminal behavior we warn the public about. Anyone contemplating investing with someone who promises such outrageous rates of return should consider the extreme risk they are taking in doing so. As always, people should fully understand that there are no guaranteed returns with these types of investments.”
DEFENDANT Case Number: 07CR1465-BTM
Clementine A. Estrada Age: 67
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 - Conspiracy
AGENCY
Federal Bureau of Investigation
http://sandiego.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/sd110408a.htm
For Immediate Release
November 4, 2008
Karen P. Hewitt, United States Attorney
Southern District of California
(619) 557-5610
Guilty Plea Entered in Sex Trafficking of Children
United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Christopher Black entered a guilty plea today in United States Magistrate Court in San Diego to one count of Conspiracy to Engage in Sex Trafficking of Children and one count of Coercion and Enticement of a Juvenile into Prostitution. Black tendered his guilty plea before United States Magistrate Judge Louisa S. Porter, subject to final acceptance by United States
District Court Judge Larry A. Burns at the time of sentencing.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tenorio, who is prosecuting the case with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Black admitted that he recruited and enticed a juvenile to work as a prostitute for his financial benefit between August 15, 2007 and October 11, 2007. Black admitted that he took photographs of the juvenile wearing lingerie and in provocative poses that were then placed in ads
posted on the “Craigslist” website to solicit dates. The dates, however, were prostitution “johns” who responded to the ads and made arrangements to have sex with the juvenile in exchange for payment. Black drove the juvenile to and from hotels, where she performed the prearranged acts of prostitution. Black further admitted that he received all of the proceeds the juvenile received in exchange for acts of prostitution.
According to court documents, Black was charged in a ten-count superseding indictment with various offenses committed in 2007 along with co-defendants Jordan Arnold and Jessica King. Arnold and King are scheduled for trial on the superseding indictment in United States District Court on February 3, 2009, before the Honorable Larry A. Burns.
Sentencing for Black is scheduled for February 17, 2009 at 9:30 a.m., before Judge Burns.
DEFENDANT Case Number: 08CR0274-LAB
Christopher Black Age: 21
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Count 1 Title 18, United States Code, Sections 371, and 1591 (conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of children)
Maximum penalty: 5 years in custody; 3 years of supervised release; $250,000 fine
Count 6 Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2422(b) and 2
(coercion and enticement of juveniles into prostitution)
Minimum penalty: 10 years in custody (where the victim has not obtained18 years of age)
Maximum penalty: life in custody; 5 years of supervised release; $250,000 fine
AGENCIES
Federal Bureau of Investigation
San Diego Police Department
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htchem/articles/20081205.aspx
Syria Denies Everything
NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS
December 5, 2008: The UN is accusing Syria of trying to conceal nuclear weapons development work at four different locations. Syria refuses to allow the UN inspectors to investigate the sites. Syria has signed an international agreement to not develop nuclear weapons, and that treaty allows UN inspectors to double check.
Last month, UN nuclear weapons inspectors found traces of processed uranium at the site of a suspected nuclear weapons research center in Syria. Commercial satellite photos of the suspected Syrian nuclear facility, which was bombed by Israel in September, 2007, showed structures that indicated a nuclear research facility was under construction. The Syrians promptly removed the structures, both the ones that were bombed and those left intact, after the Israeli raid. In response to the UN allegations, Syria claimed that Israel had planted the nuclear material their by including it in their bombs.
It is also known that North Korean technicians were involved with whatever was going on there, although Syria denied any nuclear work was taking place. Denying that North Koreans were around was difficult, as North Koreans have been seen entering and leaving this area for months. North Korea is believed to be still selling weapons, and possibly nuclear technology, to Syrian mentor Iran.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/05/Sources_Spies_confirm_Syrian_nuke_effort/UPI-76111228494206/
Sources: Spies confirm Syrian nuke effort
Scary Press Releases
December 5, 2008: Watching Russian mass media, you’d have a hard time finding out that the Russian stock market has plunged 75 percent in the last four months, and that oil exports have dropped as well. Russia is suffering from a recession, but the state controlled mass media has been ordered to ignore it. Older Russians feel a twinge of nostalgia, for the Soviet period and the need for rumor networks to find the truth that the state controlled press hid. The Internet makes it easier to find the truth, although the government is putting a lot of effort into limiting what news gets into Russia via the web. The government also wants to prevent Russians from getting the truth about Russian history. There is a campaign underway to rewrite the history books and play down the mass murders and state sponsored terror of the Soviet period. During the seven decades of communist, Russia had a third of its population killed off. The Soviet government killed more Russians that German armies and nazi death camps, and the current Russian government wants to keep that knowledge buried along with all of Stalin’s victims.
Criminal gangs in the south Caucasus (mainly Chechnya and its neighbors) are growing bolder and more troublesome. The gangs contain separatists and religious fanatics, and are trying to intimidate local police into backing off. Attacks on police stations, and individual cops, are on the rise. The national government has sent down more counter-terror forces, which are also getting hit by the local gangs. Long term, the government usually wins these wars, but determined gangsters can win a lot of the battles.
Russia is making a lot of noise about the U.S. anti-missile systems being installed in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia believes the anti-missile systems are meant to negate Russia’s nuclear weapons (the only really effective military weapon Russia has left). East European countries are fine with that, but the main purpose of the anti-missile system is to knock down the handful of ballistic missiles Iran might be able to fire at Europe in the near future. Nevertheless, Russia sees the anti-missile system as a threat, and has made a series of announcements about new ICBMs being developed that will negate the anti-missile system. In fact, Russia has not been able to develop a new ICBM design, to replace it’s “heavy” Cold War era ICBMs (the SS-18 and SS-19). All it really has is the Topol-M (SS-27 in NATO parlance), which was developed at the end of the Cold War. The Topol-M was modified to serve as a new sea launched ICBM (Bulava) and as a heavy ICBM (RS-24) to replace the elderly SS-18s and SS-19s. There is no money for a major new ICBM development program, but Russia can afford to create some scary press releases.
In the last few months, there has been some unrest in the military over major reforms underway. One of these was the dismissal of about half the officer corps. Most of these guys were basically on welfare, with jobs that really had no responsibilities (like commanders of reserve units that lacked equipment, or reserve troops to man the non-existent equipment). Retirement pay is less than active duty pay, and the younger officers won’t even get the pension (but a smaller lump sum separation payment instead). With over 150,000 officers getting sacked, there was bound to be some grumbling. But since most of these officers were drones, not go-getters, this is all smoke (and not much of that) and no fire.
Oil exports last month were down 15 percent compared to a year ago, and the oil price continues to plummet (towards $40 a barrel, compared to $140 six months ago).
November 25, 2008: Russia’s nuclear-powered battlecruiser, Peter the Great, the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, and a supply ship, arrived in Venezuela, to provide to support for the leftist government (and major customer for Russian weapons) there. While Russia has made some well publicized naval deployments, most Russian warships are not getting a lot of sea time.
November 23, 2008: Natural gas is again being used as a diplomatic weapon. Two years ago, Ukraine was paying bargain rates ($130 per thousand cubic meters, which is equivalent to $74 per barrel of oil, a price that is nearly half what natural gas went for on the world market). After much diplomatic pushing and shoving, Russia raised the price to $179.50. Now Russia wants to boost the price to $400, and also collect $2.4 billion in unpaid (and disputed) gas bills. Ukraine complains that Russia is demanding higher prices from them than Western Europeans pay. There, the price of natural gas is based on the price of oil. That price has declined over 60 percent this year. At most, Ukraine was expecting to pay $250 per thousand cubic meters of natural gas in 2009. These negotiations make Western Europe nervous, because there were threats of interrupting supplies of Russian gas to Western Europe. Russia can’t stop gas shipments to Ukraine without cutting off supplies for Western Europe. Such interruptions were a major issue when Russia first proposed selling natural gas to Western Europe. Russia promised that the gas supply would never become a political issue. Now it is, and West Europe’s traditional distrust of Russia is revived. Western Europe is paralyzed by fear of losing a quarter of its natural gas supplies. Two years ago, when Russia cut Ukraine off, the Ukrainians simply diverted gas meant for Western European customers.
November 22, 2008: After earlier hinting, that the long planned deal to lease a new Akula II nuclear submarine to India, was off, officials now insist the deal is still on. The submarine in question, which was completed with Indian financing, was on sea trial last month when a poorly designed fire extinguishing system (it was too easy to accidently turn it on) was activated and killed twenty people. Russia has had major accidents like this in its nuclear subs several times before. Sloppy work and poor design are typical in Russian weapons, even high tech ones. Users learn to live with it, and suffer additional (compared to similar Western equipment) deaths and injuries. India has been using Russian equipment for decades, and knows what they are getting into. The earlier Russian suggestion that the Russians might keep the Akula II sub, was quickly dropped because the Russian government is facing a big deficit because of how hard Russia getting hit by the global recession. Mainly, the drop in oil prices (off over 70 percent from an earlier peak of about $140 a barrel) and shipments has cut Russia’s main source of export sales, and main source of government income.
A U.S. Burke class guided-missile destroyer arrived in Georgia for a four day visit. This annoys the Russians a great deal, as they had long seen the Black Sea as their own private late. The U.S. destroyer visit also reduces the glamour of the Russian battlecruiser visiting South America.
November 20, 2008: Russia agreed to allow Germany to ship military equipment to NATO troops in Afghanistan. Earlier, Russia agreed to allow rail shipment of non-military goods (food, medical equipment, fuel) to NATO troops in Afghanistan.
November 17, 2008: Apparently as part of a deal that had Russia halting shipments of S-300 (similar to the U.S. Patriot) SAM missile system to Iran, Russian arms buyers are negotiating to buy Israeli UAVs. Russia UAVs are a generation or two behind what Israel and the U.S. have. Apparently Israel is going to help Russia catch up, and keep S-300s out of Iran.
November 16, 2008: Russian troops in the south Caucasus continue to allow local militias to cause mischief. Militia gangs in South Ossetia fire, and sometimes move, across the border into Georgia. But if the Georgians fire back, or chase the militiamen into South Ossetia, they risk clashing with Russian troops. Russia is still punishing Georgia for not showing proper deference to Russia. This is something that is happening to all of Russia’s borders.
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/russia/articles/20081205.aspx
Israeli Telephone Commandos Strike Again
December 3,
2008: Recently, Israel hacked into the Syrian phone system, and sent thousands
of messages to Syrians offering a $10 million reward for information on the
whereabouts of missing Israeli soldiers. Syrian intelligence officials believe
the campaign was more interested in recruiting intelligence agencies. Many
Syrians thought it was all an attempt by their own government to find and
identify disloyal citizens. Whatever the case, such an attack is nothing new.
For the last
two years, Israel has been hacking into Lebanon based Hezbollah radio and TV
broadcasts, and inserting messages that point out mistakes Hezbollah has made,
or lies Hezbollah has been pushing, or simply ridiculing the Islamic radicals.
Israeli Information War teams have also spammed Lebanese cell phone users with
anti-Hezbollah voice mail and text messages.
This sort of
thing confirms to the Arabs that the Israelis are evil, in league with the
devil and thus in possession of some kind of magic. Other Arab pundits point
out that Arab countries need to increase their spending on education, so that
Arab geeks can hack Israeli communications. But the magic angle tends to be
more popular with editors and government censors.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20081203.aspx
Saddam’s Spies Survive In America
December 4, 2008: As U.S. troops became more familiar with Iraq, and the details of Saddam’s foreign espionage efforts came to light, it became known that Saddam had some U.S. citizens on the payroll. Over a dozen suspects were uncovered, and most were charged, if not prosecuted, for espionage. In Michigan, where the largest concentration of Arab-Americans live, four U.S. citizens have been prosecuted in the last few years. Some of Saddam’s agents even took jobs as interpreters in Iraq after 2003.
Saddam was not looking for James Bond grade spies, but simply people who could provide Iraqi intelligence with an accurate picture of what was going on in the United States, at least as it related to Iraq. Having many agents in Michigan (mainly in and around Detroit) also enabled Saddam to monitor Iraqi expatriates who worked to overthrow him.
Because these Iraqi agents were operating at such a low, grassroots, level, they rarely appeared on the FBI radar. Saddam’s espionage service was efficient enough to set up ways to get information to and from his American spies. This is nothing new. Many other nations, both friendly and hostile, have similar spy networks inside the United States. And many of these low level spies are never caught.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htintel/articles/20081204.aspx
Could prove interesting:
Very interesting:
Very interesting:
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5758
DEBKAfile - We start where the media stop
Covert marine operation uncovers Syria’s return to plutonium production
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
December 5, 2008, 1:21 PM (GMT+02:00)
In the face of Damascus’ refusal to allow UN inspectors access to three suspect “research laboratories, Western agents recently carried out a daring covert operation to collect water samples from the Orontes river in Syria where it drains into the Mediterranean, DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources reveal. Their discoveries were presented to a closed session of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency’s board on Nov. 27-28.
Situated on the river bank near Homs is one of the three research institutes where Syrian, Iranian and North Korean technicians and scientists are suspected of reprocessing plutonium for Syria’s clandestine military nuclear program. The Orentes samples confirmed the suspicion that Syria has gone back to the plutonium project which was cut short when Israeli destroyed its reactor at Al Kibar in September 2007.
The Orontes rises at Tal al Musa north of Damascus and south of Homs. It flows into the sea near Antakya, which is north of Latakiya and west of Aleppo, not far from the Turkish border.
The IAEA board meeting was told in general teams how the tainted river samples were obtained. DEBKA file’s military sources add that western nuclear technicians collected them from a boat which sailed surreptitiously up to the river mouth in Syria. To make sure of their finding, they collected river water on three different dates in the last two months.
Their discovery tied in with a separate report reaching the nuclear watchdog board that Iran and North Korea were frantically drafting in nuclear specialists to help Syria revive its plutonium reprocessing project. The product is to be stored in protected hideouts.
It was the view of some board members that Tehran and Pyongyang had determined to prove that the Israeli attack had not put Syria off its nuclear program. Both were even more insistent on showing the world that the Iranian nuclear program of which the Syrian project was a part was unstoppable.
Syria and North Korea accordingly renewed their clandestine nuclear cooperation accord on Oct. 22, so making sure of an uninterrupted flow from Pyongyang of nuclear materials, technology and experts for Syria’s covert nuclear facilities.
Copyright 2000-2008 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.
The New Issue of Technical Mujahid, a Training Manual for Jihadis ...
Also mentioned in other jihadi publications, the “Secrets of the
Mujahideen” is a ... Unmasking Terror Volume III: A Global Review of
Terrorist Activities ...
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=1057
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel08/topten_120508.htm
For Immediate Release
December 5, 2008
Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 5, 2008
1. Birmingham: Mayor and Others Indicted
Birmingham Mayor Larry P. Langford; Albert W. LaPierre, lobbyist; and William B. Blount, investment banker, were indicted in connection with a long-running bribery scheme. Full Story
2. Chicago: Undercover Sting Nabs 15 Law Enforcement Officers
Fifteen law enforcement officers were among seventeen defendants charged in an undercover FBI operation for allegedly providing armed security for drug deals. Full Story (pdf)
3. Seattle: Millennium Bomber Sentenced Again
Ahmed Ressam, Algerian native and an Al-Qaeda trained terrorist, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his failed plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport. Full Story
4. Buffalo: Police Officer Arrested
Niagara Falls Police Officer Ryan G. Warme was arrested for sexually attacking two women and cocaine trafficking. Full Story
5. Washington Field Office: CEO Pleads Guilty in Ponzi Scheme
Preston Pinkett, III, president and CEO of International Fiduciary Corporation (IFC), plead guilty to conspiracy charges relating to a $40 million international Ponzi scheme operated through IFC. Full Story (pdf)
6. New York: Founding Member of American Stock Exchange Pleads Guilty
Elliot J. Smith pled guilty to submitting false documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission during his investigation for insider trading. Full Story (pdf)
7. Boston: Travel Agent Sentenced
Frank Serio, owner of Providence-based Travel Concepts, Inc., was sentenced for defrauding airlines and Amtrak in a bogus ticket refund scheme. Full Story
8. San Antonio: Border Patrol Agent Indicted
Salomon Ruiz was charged with accepting bribes in exchange for escorting narcotic loads. Full Story
9. New Orleans: Chief of Police Convicted
The Chief of Police of Boyce, LA, Claude E. Williams, was convicted of illegal possession of unregistered firearms. Full Story
10. Norfolk: Former Government Employee Arrested
A criminal complaint charged Yue Cheng with five counts including marriage fraud and making false statements to the FBI in order to become a special agent. Full Story
December 6, 2008 Anti-Terrorism News - UnitedStatesAction.com
(U.S.) ‘Architect’ of 9/11 to go on trial — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM)
— trial to begin Monday, December 8
— “charged with 2,973 counts of murder, one for each person killed on September 11”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/3628457/Architect-of-911-to-go-on-trial.html
(India) Mumbai attacks: police admit there were more than ten attackers - at least two escaped
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3628614/Mumbai-attacks-police-admit-there-were-more-than-ten-attackers.html
(India) Mumbai Attacks: Two more arrested for Mumbai terror attacks
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Two_more_arrested_for_Mumbai_terror_attacks/articleshow/3800470.cms
(India) Mumbai Attacks: ABC: “Mumbai Terrorist Amped Up on Steroids, Amphetamines”
— “Investigators Say the Drugs Were Used to Enhance the Attackers’ Performance”
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6401729&page=1
(India) Mumbai Attacks: Murder and torture shakes an ancient pillar of the city
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5295469.ece
(India) Al-Qaeda to target Goa installations
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Al-Qaida_may_target_Goa_State_govt/articleshow/3802141.cms
(Pakistan) Mumbai attacks: Rice asks Pak to act urgently, else US will act
-— Times of India reports “Rice has told Pakistan that there is
“irrefutable evidence” of involvement of elements” in Pakistan in Mumbai attacks
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rice_asks_Pak_to_act_urgently_else_US_will_act/articleshow/3801376.cms
-—— Comment: Why doesn’t India have a right to defend its nation?
(Pakistan) Mumbai attacks: We don’t condemn attacks on a retail basis: LeT man Abdullah Muntazir
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/We_dont_condemn_attacks_on_a_retail_basis_LeT_man/articleshow/3799667.cms
-— December 2, 2008: LeT/JUD’s Rashid Minhas: “We teach jihad because it’s part of Islam and we can’t remove it from holy Quran ... but we don’t give jihadi training.”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\03\story_3-12-2008_pg7_48
http://in.reuters.com/article/specialEvents2/idINIndia-36832020081202?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
-— (India) Terrorists distort Quran: Shah Rukh Khan
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Terrorists_distort_Quran_Shah_Rukh_Khan/rssarticleshow/3802104.cms
(Pakistan) Dawn reader comments: “If you are saying that these
terrorists are stateless actors then you also agree to the fact that any state or agency may hunt down these men”
http://www.dawn.net/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/dawn/news/pakistan/what-are-our-readers-saying2-yn
(Pakistan) Death toll in Peshawar blast rises to 30, 140 wounded
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1958684&Language=en
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jrwyNnNC5zttXGVXDkJ9fz4K3OMA
-— Police probe deadly Peshawar bombing
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/06/Police_probe_deadly_Peshawar_bombing/UPI-75861228565235/
(Pakistan) Washington Post: “Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/10/AR2008111002897.html?wprss=rss_politics%2Fadministration
(Afghanistan) Three ISAF soldiers, four militants killed in Afghanistan - in Herat and Patika provinces
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1958685&Language=en
(Iraq) Suicide attack targets Iraqi police recruits
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702448236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
-— Police: Attacks Targeting Security Kill 6 in Iraq
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122856917871585483.html?mod=
(Iraq) Three Sahwa members killed in Diyala Province
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1958707&Language=en
(Iraq) The Girl Turned Into A Human Bomb
— interview with Rania al Ambaki, fitted with suicide bomb and handcuffed to a gate
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/05/eveningnews/main4651268.shtml?source=mostpop_story
(U.S.) Chertoff Cites Mumbai Attacks in Calling for Tighter U.S. Security
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/03/AR2008120303383.html?wprss=rss_politics%2Fadministration
— Comment: won’t define Islamic supremacist enemy ideology, however
(UK) Royal Navy and police step up River Thames patrols after Mumbai terror attacks
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/majornews/3569769/Royal-Navy-and-police-step-up-River-Thames-patrols-after-Mumbai-terror-attacks.html
(UK) Don’t deny campus radicalization
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/06/islam-religion-edmunds
(Israel) Palestinian factions fire missiles at S. Israel overnight
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1958681&Language=en
-— Gaza terrorists fire 8 Qassam rockets, two mortars into western Negev
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1044028.html
(Egypt/Gaza) Report: Egypt finds massive weapons cache in Sinai
— “Cache destined for Gaza reportedly contains 250 k. TNT, shells from
which terrorists planned to extract dynamite; 2 mortar shells hit Negev”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702448383&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Palestinians: Gunman killed in Gaza
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3634195,00.html
Somalia’s Al Shabaab seize central town, 13 dead
— town of Gurael under control of Al Shabaab
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L6272113.htm
http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2008/12/06/somalias_al_shabaab_seize_central_town/
Somalia: Al Shabaab And Sufi Group Battle for Second Time
— more fighting among Islamic supremacists
http://allafrica.com/stories/200812060003.html
(Somalia) Defiant Somali pirates await EU navy
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view/20081206-176508/Defiant-Somali-pirates-await-EU-navy
German group petitions to confiscate terrorists’ fees
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/244983,german-group-petitions-to-confiscate-terrorists-fees.html
(Philippines) 2 suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels captured in Zambo City
-— Hassan Abejarin and Jay Alpad linked to kidnapping operations
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/137927/2-suspected-MILF-rebels-captured-in-Zambo-City
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081206/tap-philippines-muslim-unrest-5cc1ef8.html
(Philippines) Troops clash with MILF rebels in Zamboanga City
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/137878/Troops-clash-with-MILF-rebels-in-Zamboanga-City
(Philippines) Army links ‘rogue’ MILF men to Isulan bombing
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/137877/Army-links-rogue-MILF-men-to-Isulan-bombing
(Philippines) Bangkok Post: “Anti-terrorist gun fight kills 17 in Manila”
-— NOTE: other reports state this was only a battle with “robbery gang”
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=135180
Sri Lankan military jets bomb rebel positions
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702448333&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Other News:
(U.S.) WND Poll on AIG’s Sharia Business
What do you think of U.S. insurance companies offering Shariah-compliant financial products?
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82860
-— Related Article - “Bailed-out AIG offers Islamic insurance to U.S.”
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82726
(U.S.) Online Petition Calling for Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury to Demand
AIG Divest Sharia Business As U.S. Owns $40 Billion in AIG Shares
http://www.petitiononline.com/stopaig/petition.html
(U.S.) Radical Rabbi Arthur Waskow calls for Obama to praise efforts with unindicted co-conspirator group ISNA
-— Washington Post reports Waskow says Obama “should praise
the efforts at Jewish-Muslim inter-education by the Union for Reform
Judaism and Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and urge churches and mosques to pursue the same kind of efforts”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/05/AR2008120503402.html
-— Radical Arthur Waskow has history of celebrating radicals, including black supremacist Black Panther group
http://www.israpundit.com/2006/?p=835
-— Black Panther supremacist group listed on SPLC’s Hate Group listing
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/type.jsp?DT=3
(U.S.) Get an insider’s view of CAIR’s banquet - See more Islamic leaders served with notice of lawsuit
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82826
(U.S.) The Saudis’ New Man in Congress -— Representative Gerry Connolly
— article by Paul Sperry
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=33562844-321D-460F-930D-1BF93922637C
Abdulkarim Soroush comments on Muhammad’s role in creating Qur’an
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/magazine/07wwln-essay-t.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1228573481-6Mq7Rs8vwAwypyhoApv7RA
Propaganda:
UK Guardian: Inayat Bunglawala: “Our stake in free speech”
— Inayat Bunglawala defends Hizb-ut Tahrir while claiming support for Universal Declaration of Human Rights
-— “Inayat Bunglawala is an Advisor on Policy and Research at ENGAGE,
an initiative designed to encourage British Muslims to interact more effectively in politics and the media in the UK”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/06/humanrights-islam
http://www.iengage.org.uk/
— In fact both Hizb-ut Tahrir and other Islamic supremacists are against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
— this is why Islamic supremacists created the Sharia-based, Islamic supremacist “Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam”
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/090.html#A
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/cairodeclaration.html
Archive Articles:
Mapping Sharia Project related to December 5 reports
— 3 in 4 US mosques preach jihad and anti western sentiments
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57141
November 11, 2008 - (Afghanistan) Obama to Explore New Approach in Afghanistan War
-— “looks favorably on the nascent dialogue between the Afghan government
and ‘reconcilable’ elements of the Taliban, according to Obama national security advisers”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/10/AR2008111002897.html?wprss=rss_politics%2Fadministration
—— See also: October 17, 2008 - Jihad and the “Reconciliation” with Islamic Supremacism
http://anti-jihad.org/blog/2008/10/reconciliation/
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/109.html
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Pilot dies in northern Michigan plane crash Open this result in new window
WZZM 13 Grand Rapids - 1 hour, 28 minutes ago
Pilot dies in northern Michigan plane crash
* 4.
More information on Kalkaska County Plane Crash Open this result in new window
9&10 News Cadillac - 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
Emergency responders are on the scene of a plane crash in Kalkaska County which has killed the pilot of the plane. No one else was on-board. This is what we know so far. The accident happaned shortly after 3:00 this afternoon, in the village of Lodi, just off M-66.
* 5.
Media: Probe Of Plane Crash Points To Transponder Open this result in new window
WCBS-TV New York - Dec 06 9:55 AM
A Brazilian Air Force investigation has concluded that a switched-off transponder contributed to a plane crash that killed 154 people in 2006, local media reported on Saturday. The Estado de Sao Paulo and Folha de Sao Paulo newspapers said that Air Force investigators determined that the two American pilots of a New York-based executive jet had inadvertently placed the transponder and the ...
* 6.
Health insurer’s CEO killed in plane crash Open this result in new window
The Columbus Dispatch - Dec 06 3:01 AM
CLEVELAND (AP) — The chief executive of the health-insurance company Medical Mutual of Ohio has died in a small-plane crash in Puerto Rico, a company spokesman said.
* 7.
US investigator leads plane crash probe Open this result in new window
AP via Yahoo! News - Dec 05 6:07 AM
A U.S. investigator is studying the charred wreckage of a small plane that plowed into a Puerto Rican rainforest to pinpoint the cause of the deadly crash.
* 8.
Small plane crash-lands off Sunshine Coast, pilot rescued Open this result in new window
CBC - Dec 05 5:09 PM
A small plane crash-landed Friday afternoon in the waters off the Sunshine Coast, northwest of Vancouver, after its single engine stopped.
* 9.
CEO dies in plane crash Open this result in new window
The News-Herald - Dec 06 1:58 AM
CLEVELAND (AP) — The chief executive of the Medical Mutual of Ohio health insurance company has died in a small plane crash in Puerto Rico, a company spokesman said.
* 10.
Small plane pilot survives crash in B.C. Open this result in new window
Canada.com - Dec 05 8:31 PM
The pilot of a small plane has survived a crash on the B.C. coast Friday.
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