Posted on 07/28/2008 8:37:15 AM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=33079
Democrat Senate Passed 94% of Bills without Debate or Roll Call Vote
Monday, July 28, 2008
By Josiah Ryan, Staff Writer
On the Spot (CNSNews.com) - Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint
(R-S.C.) dismissed Democratic claims of obstructionism and expressed outrage
last week over a government report that shows the majority of bills that
have passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate of the 110th Congress have
done so without any debate or even a vote.
“The U.S. Senate has a nine percent approval rating, because the American
people believe that much of our work is done in secret with no debate, no
transparency and no accountability,” Coburn told reporters at press
conference Wednesday at the Capitol.
continued.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=33087
U.S. Spends $1 Million Researching Syrians ‘Hooked on Hookahs’
Monday, July 28, 2008
By Pete Winn, Senior Writer/Editor
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=33096&print=on
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=33096&print=on
Islamists Threaten Olympics
Monday, July 28, 2008
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor
(CNSNews.com) - The Chinese government for months has warned about the risk
terrorism poses to the Olympic Games, but when an Islamist group claimed
responsibility for recent blasts and threatened to target the games this
past weekend, officials played it down.
In a video message, a Uighur group based in China’s northwestern Muslim
region said it would employ “tactics never used before” in its planned
attacks. The Olympics begin in Beijing on August 8.
A commander named as Sayfallah (”sword of Allah” in Arabic) said the message
was a last warning to those planning to participate in or attend the
Olympics to “change their plans,” according to translations provided by
terrorism analysis sites IntelCenter and Laura Mansfield.
The group said it carried out two bus bombings in Kunming earlier this month
and one in Shanghai in May, as well as two other recent blasts in the
southern cities of Wenzhou and Guangzhou.
But the Xinhua news agency quoted police officials in the four jurisdictions
as reacting to the claims by denying that the explosions were caused by
terrorists or related to the Olympics. Some of the details given in the
video, including dates, appeared inaccurate.
continues.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=33110&print=on
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=33110&print=on
Israel Mulls Ways to Stop Bulldozer Terrorists
Monday, July 28, 2008
By Julie Stahl
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Israeli Prime Ehud Olmert warned Israeli lawmakers
on Monday to expect more terror attacks from Palestinians using heavy
construction vehicles.
The attacks have highlighted a growing problem and prompted calls for a
variety of solutions, including demolishing the homes of attackers,
deporting terrorists’ relatives to Palestinian areas, and even dividing the
city.
Last week, a Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem rammed a bulldozer into
traffic on a busy Jerusalem street on the eve of Sen. Barack Obama’s visit.
Around 20 people were injured.
Earlier this month, a Palestinian — also from eastern Jerusalem — used a
front-end loader to smash cars and buses on another Jerusalem street. He
killed two people.
“We must take into account that residents of Jerusalem can move freely
around the entire country and there is no way of knowing what they might
do,” Olmert was quoted as saying. “There will be bulldozers, trucks and
private cars and no way of preventing terror attacks of this kind.”
In general, Jews live in the western part of Jerusalem while Arabs and
Palestinians live in the eastern part; but in many places, the Arab and
Jewish neighborhoods are interwoven with no physical barriers between them.
continues.
Thanks for the ping, granny. Thanks for all of your posts. BTTT!
Pakistan May Turn Over U.S. ‘Spies’ to Iran
Iran Claims Jundullah Militants, Led by Abdel Malik Regi, Are ‘Spies’ for
the CIA
By RICHARD ESPOSITO and BRIAN ROSS
May 23, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4913927&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4913927&page=1
In another sign of growing tensions with the United States, Pakistan is
threatening to turn over to Iran six members of a tribal militant group Iran
claims are “spies” for the CIA.
continued.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/28/asia/AS-Indonesia-Terror-Plot.php#
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Indonesian terror suspects executed a Christian
teacher in front of his young son and were planning to assassinate an
American language teacher before their arrests this month, a top
anti-terrorism official said Monday.
Top leader of banned outfit held
http://www.dawn.com/2008/07/28/top4.htm
By Saleem Shahid
QUETTA, July 27: A top leader of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi was arrested
on Sunday for his alleged involvement in several acts of terrorism of
sectarian nature.
Shafiq-ur-Rehman was involved in suicide bombings on an Imambargah in 2003
and on an Ashura procession in 2004. The two attacks left over 100 people
dead and about 180 injured, Capital City Police Officer Mohammad Akbar told
a news conference.
continued.
Thank you for the new thread!
Ortega Steps into the Breach with the FARC
http://www.douglasfarah.com/article/376/ortega-steps-into-the-breach-with-the-farc.com
While Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez seem content for the time being to
keep is distance from his (erstwhile?) allies in Colombia, the FARC
guerrillas-tied to international drug trafficking, kidnapping and assorted
criminal and terrorist activities-Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega seems
to have few such qualms.
continues.
You are welcome and I am glad you found us.
So many news releases, that I cannot post them all.
Be very careful.
You are welcome.
Don’t scream when you open your Yahoo mail box, it is full too.
It is always good to see your name here.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121721032825288973.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
In Pakistan Mountains,
Jihadis Train for War
By ZAHID HUSSAIN
July 28, 2008
I took a peek at the mailbox.
Did you hear me gasp? LOL
http://www.americastruthforum.com
NORTH AMERICA
Jihadi Tutorial in Urban Terrorism and the Kidnapping of Americans
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2374320
By Abdul Hameed Bakier
Recent postings in a jihadi internet forum give instructions on how to kidnap Americans and conduct urban terror operations. A posting entitled “The preferred rules of the art of kidnapping Americans” is an in-depth training lesson directed at the conduct of successful kidnappings (al-ekhlaas.net, July 7). In the same context, another posting entitled “Clandestine work inside the city” discussed urban terror training tactics (al-ekhlaas.net, July 7).
A forum participant, nicknamed Abu Hajar Abdul Aziz al-Moqrin, commences his first posting by explaining the definition of security operations against the enemy in depth, the significance of such operations and the different types of these operations. The scope of jihadi operations range from basic security activities to selective targeting and mass casualty attacks.
In the security operations, jihadis are to attack political figures without claiming responsibility whenever it is deemed necessary to liquidate certain harmful anti-jihad figures. Secondly, jihadi security operations are to be attempted whenever a military attack is impractical. Thirdly, terror attacks are directed against economic targets and enemy facilities. Al-Moqrin elaborates on the tactics jihadis must implement depending on battlefield circumstances, such as raids and ambushes. Preparation for a terror raid or ambush involves target selection, casing, planning, preparing gear, setting a date and selecting the right execution elements. Al-Moqrin explains the importance of casing and surveillance in these operations and elucidates the techniques required for casing and surveillance and the temporary and permanent covers needed for an operation.
On the subject of kidnapping, al-Moqrin says the objective of kidnapping important enemy personnel (such as high ranking officers, aviation officials or diplomats) includes forcing the enemy to acquiesce to demands to release imprisoned fellow jihadis, collecting intelligence from the kidnapped, capturing equipment and documents useful in future jihad operations, raising money through ransoms and the demoralization of the enemy. Prior to execution, the jihadis must collect sufficient intelligence on the target through surveillance. Factors in target selection include:
• Easy access
• The target is a mature male
• The target is isolated from security protection details
• The target is physically weak and easy to subdue
• The target does not maintain vigilance
Kidnapping cells must be equipped with silenced weapons, anesthetic injections, wires, a device to deliver electric shocks, tape, blindfolds and three vehicles—two for reconnaissance and one to transport the target. The victim is to be held in an isolated place with multiple entrances and exits and must be large enough to bury the victim in case the victim is executed.
Al-Moqrin’s training lesson is very thorough, covering many small details. The lesson ends by emphasizing discretion, saying the possibility of detecting and uncovering the cell is 3 percent during preparation, 2 percent during execution and 95 percent after execution.
In another posting in the same forum, entitled “Clandestine work inside the city,” al-Moqrin says a four-member jihadi cell should be properly trained in urban terror warfare before activation. Cell members should be locals working under suitable covers and carrying the necessary identity documents. Living expenses are higher in some cities than others; therefore the cell has to be properly funded. Jihadis must learn from past mistakes and operate on a need-to-know basis. The cell that collects information on a target must not know the purpose of the collected information and the cell that secures weapons and equipment must not know the target or the time of execution. Therefore, the urban cell has to have a commanding unit, an intelligence unit, a logistics unit and an execution unit. The units are to communicate indirectly through using the dead letter box technique. Types of jihadi operations in the city include assassinations, kidnappings, vandalism and raids to release imprisoned jihadis.
Al-Moqrin warns jihadis not to attack religious figures because it harms the jihadi cause. An exception is made for cases of great necessity, such as the case of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was killed in 1990 “for cursing the Prophet Muhammad.” Instead, urban jihad cells should seek economic targets, such as Jewish investments in Muslim countries, international companies, international economic experts, exports from “Crusader countries” and raw materials being “stolen from Muslim countries by the enemies,” with al-Moqrin calling for attacks on oil wells, oil pipeline and oil tankers.
The human target-list, according to al-Moqrin, should be prioritized as follows:
1. Jews: Jews from Israel and the United States have priority over Jews from the UK and France
2. Christians, especially those from the United States, the UK, Spain, Australia, Canada and Italy
3. Apostates, particularly Muslim leaders who keep close ties with Jewish and “Christian governments,” such as Egyptian President Husni Mubarak and the leaders of the Gulf States
4. Secular individuals, including spies and security officials who protect Jews and Christians
Postings of this type demonstrate the professional knowledge of some jihadis in security and intelligence matters. Jihadis are constantly exchanging tactical knowledge to perfect their terror techniques, hoping to succeed in hitting hard targets rather than the soft targets they have attacked so far.
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Was Alleged al-Qaeda Attack a Failed Attempt to Occupy the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul?
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2374323
By Emrullah Uslu
The July 9 attack on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul refocused international attention on al-Qaeda’s Turkish branch. Three attackers and three police officers died in the ensuing gun battle. Unlike al-Qaeda’s trademark bomb attacks, this assault took the form of a gun battle. If it was indeed carried out by al-Qaeda, it would have been a rare instance of the organization engaging in a gun battle outside of the “jihad zones” of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Investigators identified the assailants as Erkan Kargin, Bulent Cinar and Raif Topcil. Cinar has a criminal record for theft and Kargin for swindling. It has been determined that Kargin traveled from a border province, Agri, to Iran in September 2006 and then re-entered Turkey through Ataturk International Airport in May 2007. Police confirmed that Kargin hitchhiked his way to Afghanistan during his absence and received training there in Salafist ideology and terrorism methods (Milliyet, July 10; Today’s Zaman, July 12).
As part of its strategic thinking, al-Qaeda has formed various coalitions in the Muslim world to organize its bases and carry out attacks in a range of countries. The Turkish press, on various occasions, has reported that al-Qaeda’s Turkish branch formed institutional ties with the radical Great Eastern Islamic Raiders’ Front (Islami Buyukdogu Akincilar Cephesi - IBDA-C) and recruits former or active militants from the Turkish Hizbullah (for IBDA-C ties with al-Qaeda see Terrorism Focus, December 5, 2007; for the Turkish Hizbullah, see Terrorism Monitor, January 24). For instance, in its devastating synagogue bombing in 2003, one of the al-Qaeda attackers was a former Hizbullah member (Hurriyet, December 1, 2003). Following the bombing, the Turkish press reported that an anonymous person made a phone call to the state-owned news agency, Anadolu Ajansi, and claimed that the attack was a joint operation of IBDA-C and al-Qaeda (Radikal, November 20, 2003).
Police believe that the attack on the U.S. consulate is a joint effort of IBDA-C and al-Qaeda (Radikal, July 9; see also Eurasia Daily Monitor, July 10). Al-Qaeda documents were reportedly found in the assailants’ residences in Istanbul (Hurriyet, July 10). In an interview with the weekly magazine Aktuel, Saadetin Ustaosmanoglu, editor of the IBDA-C Furkan magazine, said: “People should be surprised if a Muslim who lives in a remote corner of the world and Muslims who live here do not cooperate. When it comes to IBDA-C—al-Qaeda relations, I neither accept nor deny it” (Aktuel [Istanbul], July 17).
If the U.S. consulate attack was indeed a joint project of IBDA-C and al-Qaeda, what was the reason behind the attack? Why was the attack carried out as a gun battle, not as a suicide bombing?
Turkish dailies reported that the reason behind the attack could be “revenge” for the death of a friend of attack leader Erkan Kargin. Kargin’s friend, Abdul Fettah, a Turkish al-Qaeda member, was killed by U.S. troops while fighting in Afghanistan five days before the consulate attack (Hurriyet, July 10). The liberal daily Taraf also claimed that the attack was planned to take revenge for a January operation by the Turkish police against al-Qaeda in Antep province (Taraf, July 10). The police operation in Antep ended with a gun battle in which a police officer lost his life and five others were wounded, while two al-Qaeda members were killed and 18 others detained (Hurriyet, January 24). Baran magazine, an IBDA-C publication, claimed that the operation against al-Qaeda in Antep was planned by the United States and carried out by the Turkish police (Baran, January 31).
The Turkish media’s claim that revenge was a motive in the assault appears to contradict the nature of carefully planned al-Qaeda attacks. A friend of Erkan Kargin told the police that Kargin was forming a group in a mosque outside state control and asked him to join. One day Kargin said that he was planning to attack the U.S. consulate and take some hostages there. In addition Kargin said that he had examined the place where the consulate is located and made a plan to occupy the building (Radikal, July 14). Two hand-drawn sketches of the consulate were found by police in one of the attackers’ home (Ihlas Haber Ajansi, July 11).
Interior Minister Besir Atalay announced that the assault was a suicide attack, but some local terrorism analysts argued that the attack was intended to be a “hit and run” operation, arguing that assailants did not calculate the presence of traffic police officers who were in the area at the time and joined the gun battle when they saw terrorists attacking their colleagues guarding the U.S. consulate (Milliyet, July 11; Taraf, July 14; Star [Istanbul], July 14).
When the attack is analyzed closely, however, it seems that neither the interior minister nor the terrorism experts are right in their claims. If it was a suicide attack, one might have expected the use of explosives. If it was a hit and run attack, the attackers appear to have exposed themselves needlessly in a futile assault. The site of the gun battle is located at the bottom of a valley with many buildings. If they had considered a hit and run attack, the assailants could have easily hidden in one of those buildings, firing on the consulate and escaping from there.
The plan, however, appears to have been to occupy the consulate, taking several hostages on behalf of al-Qaeda. Although it escaped the notice of much of the Turkish press, a terrorism expert of the Turkish police mentioned that the police “are working on the possibility of whether the attack was planned to occupy the consulate… The terrorists preferred to attack against the busiest entrance of the consulate where civilians enter for visa applications. The terrorists could plan to create panic by killing the police officer at the door and sneak into the consulate during the panic. However when the traffic police joined the gun battle they could not carry out what they planned to do” (Milliyet, July 11).
The materials found on the dead terrorists, such as a Koran and what police described as “Arabic scripted fabrics,” suggest that Kargin’s group was planning to occupy the consulate (Vatan, July 10). During the occupation, the terrorists may have wanted to use these materials as propaganda tools. It is not common for al-Qaeda militants to carry such materials in their possession on their way to an attack because it could endanger the entire operation if one of the attackers is stopped by a random police search on the street and such materials are discovered. Although no further details on the “fabrics” are available at the moment, it is possible the attackers had planned to display these materials in the windows of an occupied consulate.
The Turkish interior minister’s hasty press release declaring the incident a suicide attack suggests that the authorities may be aware of the aim of the attack. It might indeed have been an attempt to occupy the consulate to take hostages, but authorities probably did not reveal these aspects because it might have inspired other terrorists around the world to plan similar attacks. If it was not an attempt to occupy the consulate, it needs to be explained why an individual trained in terrorist methods in Afghanistan would lead such a high-risk but ultimately ineffectual operation.
Assuming that it was an attempt to occupy the strongly defended U.S. consulate, the attack would have been a grave embarrassment for U.S. and Turkish security institutions if successful. A Turkish counter-terrorism expert specializing in al-Qaeda suggests that “as long as there is an American consulate it is a target to al-Qaeda.” Since there is no way to drive a truck loaded with explosives into the consulate, it seems likely that the leader of the cell, Erkan Kargin, planned to occupy the consulate in order to humiliate the United States and Turkey. Thanks to random police officers who happened to be at the scene and had the courage to join the gun battle, the attackers failed to carry out their assault. Although it failed, the attack at least has the potential to inspire al-Qaeda operatives or home grown terrorists to attempt the occupation of foreign embassies and consulates around the world.
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Green Light For Profiling
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4002
By Online Thursday, July 17, 2008
Stephen Brown, FrontPageMagazine.com
Nearly seven years after the 9-11 attacks, the Bush administration is finally reconsidering its opposition to one of the most effective counterterrorism weapons at its disposal. In the months ahead, FBI agents may be able to profile potential terrorists on the basis of suspicious traits and activities, including their ethnic and religious backgrounds. Those most likely to commit acts of Islamic terrorism will no longer be able to hide in plain sight.
It is a modest step. The Justice Department insists that the “FBI is not going to open an investigation simply on the basis of race, ethnicity, or religion.” Still, the fact these factors can now be taken into consideration at all represents significant progress. Contrary to what one may hear from its opponents, profiling has a record of proven success on the counterterrorism front.
Consider the case of Maher “Mike” Hawash. Outwardly, Hawash was an immigrant any country would want. Young and educated, a successful engineer and family man, the Palestinian-born Hawash had arrived in America in 1984, at age 20, and appeared well integrated into his new country’s society.
But that changed in 2000. Hawash began to grow a beard, wear Arab clothing, and pray five times a day at his mosque. In his home, he hosted suspicious Middle Eastern-looking men.
Concerned neighbors took notice. They reported Hawash’s unusual lifestyle changes to the FBI that year, triggering an investigation. In 2003, agents arrested Hawash, who subsequently received a seven-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to aiding the Taliban.
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Gaubatz: Falls Church, VA Jihad Manual
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2862
By Sean Osborne Thursday, May 1, 2008
Gaubatz: Islamic Manual in Falls Church, Virginia Calls on Muslims to Attack Olympians, Kill Priests and Nuns, Wage War on All Christians
Dave Gaubatz has posted a very distrubing discovery regarding a Jihad manual being sold at the Halalco Supermarket in Falls Church, Virginia. As Dave explains it on his Kids&Terrorism Blog:
“On 29 April 2008, I shopped at Halalco to verify the book is still available. It is located in the “Jihad” section of the bookstore. The manager ‘Tariq’ can show you the book and it is available for $12.95.
Following are some of the quotes:
1. “It is, in short, time to identify the enemy and declare the Jihad. Identify the enemy. Declare the Jihad. define its parameters. Indicate its opening statements. Delineate its outcome and indicate its end”.
2. “The enemy is not merely a personnel but a method, a deen, with its Temples, the banks; with its holy places, the Stock Exchanges of the world; and its false scriptures, the data banks of figures, these magical millions and billions that hold the world’s poor to ransom for the sake of a small elite of kafir power brokers, their core jewish, their allies the lawless Christians. It is with these the war must be waged”.
3. “He who equips a fighter in the way of Allah, or looks after a fighters family at home is as good as one who fought”.
4. “Priests in their churches, unlike recluse worshipping monks, should, of course be killed without any exception. Nuns along with Monks, deserve killing even more”.
5. “No one has yet contemplated the impact of one destroyed Stock Exchange or Central Bank Archive”.
6. “Not taking the jews and Christians as friends, not following their deen, not submitting to bid’a, neither its holidays (National Days, etc), nor in habits, not entering their places of worship, nor participating in their festivals-all this is vital in the prelude to the attack of a new Jihad.”
7. “Strike at the time least expected. It follows that one should also strike at the place not expected. By extension, in light of the current situation, one may strike at several centres all at the same time, thus causing havoc in the enemy and in their response”.
8. “One thing is certain-if the kuffar accept us and approve of us and claim they can live alongside us, then we have lost our Islam. The whole body-worshipping mushrik cult of Olympic fire worshipping sport is something unacceptable”.”
Sean Osborne, is the Associate Director, Military Affairs Northeast Intelligence Network.
Sean can be reached at letters@canadafreepress.com
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National Guard Teams Prepare for Terrorist WMD Attacks
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4143
By Jim Kouri Sunday, July 27, 2008
In 2006, Denys Ray Hughes, 59, of Phoenix, AZ, was found guilty of Attempted Production of a Biological Toxin for Use as a Weapon, Possession of an Unregistered Destructive Device and Possession of an Unregistered Silencer, by a federal jury.
The evidence at his trial showed that Hughes grew castor bean plants and cultivated thousands of their seeds, which contain the toxin called ricin. Hughes further possessed the necessary precursor materials, as well as written instructions for extracting the toxin.
The government also proved at trial that Hughes possessed a destructive device, specifically, a pipe bomb, and multiple silencers.
Hughes’ conviction for Attempted Production of a Biological Toxin for Use as a Weapon carried a penalty of life imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine.
To prepare for potential attacks in the United States involving weapons of mass destruction, the US Congress approved the development of National Guard’s Civil Support Teams which are responsible with identifying chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive weapons; assessing consequences; advising civil authorities on response measures; and assisting with requests for additional support.
So far, 36 of the 55 approved teams have been fully certified to conduct their mission. The National Guard Bureau is in the process of establishing, certifying, and planning for the long-term sustainment of the CSTs, according to an unclassified report submitted to the National Association of Chiefs of Police by the GAO.
The established CSTs have thus far been trained, equipped, and staffed and have command and control mechanisms in place to conduct their domestic mission. However, confusion resulting from a lack of guidance on the types of non-WMD missions the CSTs can conduct to prepare for their WMD terrorism mission could impede coordination between state authorities and local emergency management officials on the appropriate use of the CSTs.
CSTs were created to focus on assisting civil authorities in domestic WMD events. Based on its review of the CSTs’ training, equipment, and staffing criteria; analysis of CST readiness data; site visits to 14 CSTs; and discussions with state, local, and federal responders, analysts from the Government Accounting Office found the certified teams visited to be ready to conduct their mission.
NGB and the states have a clear structure for operational command and control of the CSTs. Though current NGB guidance and the CSTs’ message to state and local officials emphasize the CST mission as being focused on WMD events, some CSTs have responded to non-WMD events, such as providing emergency assistance to the Gulf Coast states after the 2005 hurricanes.
While NGB views such missions as useful preparations for WMD events, guidance has not been clarified to reflect the type of non-WMD missions that would be appropriate. This lack of clarity has caused confusion among state, local, and NGB officials, potentially slowing coordination efforts.
Also, the Department of Defense is proposing a limited role for the CSTs to coordinate and operate with Mexican and Canadian officials in the event of a cross-border WMD incident. DOD and NGB are informally considering limited overseas missions for the teams, though they have no plans to request a further expansion of the CSTs’ mission to encompass overseas operations.
According to NGB and the CST commanders, some overseas missions could provide valuable experience and have a positive effect on CST readiness, while other, more demanding missions, such as supporting the warfighters, could be detrimental to the readiness and availability of the CSTs.
Although NGB continues to develop a long-term sustainment plan for the CST program, going forward, it faces challenges to the administration and management of the CSTs that could impede both the progress of newer teams and the long-term sustainment of the program. NGB has made progress in establishing an administrative management structure for the CSTs, including issuing a broad CST management regulation and initiating a standardization and evaluation program.
But the CSTs face challenges in personnel, coordination plans, equipment acquisition and planning, training objectives, readiness reporting and facilities. Also, insufficient NGB guidance on state National Guard roles and responsibilities for overseeing and supporting their CSTs has resulted in varied support at the state National Guard level.
NGB is aware of the challenges and has efforts under way to address them. While these challenges have not yet undermined CST readiness, if NGB efforts are unsuccessful, the progress of newer teams could be impeded and the long-term sustainment of the CST program put at greater risk.
Jim Kouri, Vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. Jim writes for many police and crime magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer, Campus Law Enforcement Journal, and others.
Jim can be reached at: [email]jkouri@thenma.org[/email]
INTERNATIONAL
Moroccan Crackdown on Salafiya Jihadiya Recruitment of Fighters for Iraq
By Thomas Renard
For the third time this year, Morocco has announced the dismantling of a terrorist group. The latest operation occurred only a few months after the complex Belliraj affair in February and the arrest of a cell in May suspected of plotting attacks in Morocco and Belgium (see Terrorism Focus, March 4; June 10). These multiple arrests underscore the importance of the jihadi threat in Morocco but, like the two previous operations, the latest crackdown raises many questions about the nature of the threat.
Police announced the arrest of 35 alleged recruiters for al-Qaeda operations in Morocco, Iraq and Algeria on July 2. According to the police, the recruiters formed an organized network active across the entire country. The arrests took place in Tangiers, Larache, Oujda, Tetouan, Rabat, Khouribga and Fes (AFP, July 2).
The network, which had been under surveillance for several months, was finally dismantled earlier this month, as there were signs of an imminent attack. The local cells were apparently at the stage of pinpointing targets and the group leaders were waiting for the green light from al-Qaeda’s core leadership in order to launch bombing operations, according to security sources (Assabah, July 4). If this claim is confirmed, it would indicate that the planned operation was intended to be very significant.
In a recent interview, Abdelhak Bassou, head of Morocco’s Renseignements Généraux, the domestic intelligence agency, said that 11 terrorists arrested in May were preparing attacks planned for this summer against tourist hotels in Morocco. Bassou did not specify whether the cells dismantled in May and July were related. However, he suggested that they were carrying out similar activities—recruiting for international jihad and plotting domestic attacks (AP, July 11).
Local cells dismantled this month across Morocco were only recently activated. New cells have also been created, including those in towns that had been untouched by extremism so far, such as El Hajeb and Taourirt. While several members of the network—including the alleged leader, known by his nom de guerre, Abu Makhlouf—traveled across the country to recruit volunteers, returnees from Iraq were charged with training the recruits according to security sources (Assabah, July 4). Although more information is still needed in this case, the central role played by Iraqi veterans in the creation and training of Moroccan cells should serve as a reminder of the danger constituted by former Iraqi fighters returning to their home countries or leaving for other destinations, following a similar pattern to the Afghan veterans.
Although a wave of returnees is observed, the export of Moroccan jihadis continues. Indeed, most individuals recruited by the Abu Makhlouf network—around 30 jihadi candidates—were sent to Iraq. This represents only a fraction of the Moroccan fighters in Iraq. The data from Moroccan security services indicate that 16 other cells—previously dismantled—had managed to send more than 130 volunteers within the space of three years (Elaph, June 18). Considering that at least 15 more cells have been dismantled, some cells are still under surveillance, some cells are unknown to the police and some individuals travel by themselves, the number of Moroccan fighters in Iraq is probably much higher than official estimates.
A security source revealed to Elaph the detailed itinerary of Moroccan jihadis joining the Iraqi insurgency. First, they board an aircraft to Istanbul, Turkey. From the airport, they take a cab to a travelers’ station where they buy a bus ticket to Damascus, Syria. Once arrived, volunteers wait at a hotel for a smuggler, who is paid around $15,000 cash per trip (Elaph, June 18).
The Abu Makhlouf network was also responsible for recruiting volunteers to join al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Three individuals were allegedly sent to Algeria. There are also indications that Abu Makhlouf personally traveled to southern Algeria, Mali and Mauritania in order to establish contacts with AQIM leadership (Assabah, July 4).
According to the police, the recently dismantled cells were part of the Salafiya Jihadiya, a Morocco-based Salafist movement. Moroccan authorities blamed this group for the 2003 Casablanca bombings. The Salafiya Jihadiya was also allegedly involved in the 2004 Madrid bombings and was accused of plotting an attack against U.S. Navy ships in the straits of Gibraltar in 2002.
The Salafiya Jihadiya is a particularly understudied and obscure jihadi organization. Its mere existence is challenged by some individuals who accuse the government of using one convenient label for all terrorist activities in Morocco in order to blame international Salafism for domestic terrorism and avoid looking at internal problems, such as low education, poverty and ill-planned urbanization. Most of the suicide bombers of the 2003 attacks came from Morocco’s slums (see Terrorism Monitor, May 19, 2005).
There is nevertheless a jihadi current specific to Morocco which can be defined as the Salafiya Jihadiya ideology. It finds its roots in the 1980s, when Moroccan King Hassan II allowed Saudi Arabia to spread Wahhabism in order to counter political Islam in Morocco. As a result, a new generation of radical preachers was schooled in Saudi Arabia, including Omar al-Haddouci, Hassan Kettani, Ahmed al-Raffiki, Abdelkarim Chadli and Muhammad Fizazi, all considered key ideologues of the Salafiya Jihadiya. After the 1991 Gulf War, however, these radical preachers distanced themselves from the Saudi regime which had helped the U.S. invasion and started criticizing the Moroccan monarchy.
Ideologically, the Salafiya Jihadiya is inspired by the writings and speeches of Sayyid Qutb, Omar Abd al-Rahman, Abu Qatada and Osama Bin Laden. The resulting doctrine is a radical version of Salafism that advocates the overthrow of the monarchy through the use of violence. The Salafiya Jihadiya rejects democracy and accuses the Moroccan regime of apostasy. The Salafiya Jihadiya claims that local action against Muslim apostates is more important than the war against the “infidels.”
In the 1990s, Afghan veterans—including Zakariya Miloudi, who was implicated in the 2003 Casablanca bombings—helped establish a jihadi network in Morocco, mainly in poor neighborhoods. These cells today constitute the base of jihadi activism in Morocco. However, it is unclear whether these various cells and networks are connected within a common organization—the Salafiya Jihadiya.
Evidence of the existence of the Salafiya Jihadiya as an operational group is scarce. The Salafiya Jihadiya is most correctly described as a radical ideology, rooted in Morocco and spread by a network of local preachers. The discourses of the Salafiya Jihadiya are used by local militants to recruit jihadis and to legitimate the use of political violence.
Although links between the ideological and operational levels are very likely, it is uncertain whether Salafiya Jihadiya actually constitutes a cohesive organization. In fact, this seems doubtful after witnessing various Moroccan terrorists and ideologues remorselessly denouncing each other during the trial that followed the 2003 Casablanca attacks. The loose nature of the Salafiya Jihadiya, nevertheless, does not make the jihadi threat in Morocco less real, especially in the light of jihadi groups such as the al-Qaeda-related Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain (GICM). The GICM, assorted local cells and even isolated self-radicalized individuals constitute a direct threat to Morocco and to regional stability as they foster the Algerian and Iraqi insurgencies. The Salafiya Jihadiya continues to promote this instability within Morocco.
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Thai police seize more than 1,000 fake passports in raid 27 Apr 2008 10:02:32 GMT
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BKK146385.htm
Source: Reuters
BANGKOK, April 27 (Reuters) - Thai authorities have seized more than a thousand fake Asian and Western passports and arrested a man in one of the biggest anti-counterfeiting operations in recent years, police said on Sunday.
Mohammed Karim, a 56-year-old from Bangladesh, was nabbed in a Bangkok townhouse late on Saturday where they found a sophisticated passport making operation and more than 1,000 finished and unfinished documents, Police Major-General Chaktip Chaichinda said.
“He admitted that he made fake passports,” Chaktip told Reuters, adding that his partner, a Myanmar national, escaped arrest.
The passports were for several countries including the United States, New Zealand, France, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Malta. Police seized two computers, a scanner, three printers and rubber stamps for several countries.
“This guy is rich. He has a BMW. He said he made about 300,000-400,000 baht per month (around $10,000),” Chaktip said.
The passports were sold to a group of Thai and Burmese middlemen who then sold them to gangs engaged in prostitution, terrorism and smuggling, he said.
If convicted, Karim faces up to 20 years in jail.
“It’s the biggest fake passport case in the past four to five years,” Chaktip said.
Passport fraud is a common problem in Thailand, where police seized 100 fake documents last year. ($1=31.69 Baht) (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by David Fox)
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German court rejects early release for terrorist
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-55/1217334242242000.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
7/29/2008, 8:18 a.m. EDT
By DAVID RISING
The Associated Press
BERLIN (AP) — A leftist terrorist serving a life sentence for the murder of a U.S. soldier and the deadly bombing of an American base is not eligible for early release, a German court ruled Tuesday.
Birgit Hogefeld, who has been in prison for 15 years, must serve at least three more years before parole can be considered, given the “severity of the crimes,” the Frankfurt state court said in its ruling.
Hogefeld, 52, was a member of the notorious Red Army Faction terrorist organization, which emerged from German student protests against the Vietnam War.
According to testimony at her 1996 trial, she lured U.S. Army Spc. Edward Pimental of New York City out of a disco near Mainz the night of Aug. 7, 1985, to obtain his military ID. He was later found shot in the head in nearby woods.
The bombers used Pimental’s ID card to get a Volkswagen sedan packed with 529 pounds (240 kilograms) of explosives onto the U.S. Air Force Rhine-Main Air Base as people were arriving for work the next morning.
Airman 1st Class Frank H. Scarton, 19, of Woodhaven, Mich., and Becky Joe Bristol, a civilian Air Force employee from San Antonio, were killed by the blast and more than 20 others were wounded.
Hogefeld was arrested in 1993 after police caught up with her and her lover, fellow Red Army Faction terrorist Wolfgang Grams, at a train station in the eastern town of Bad Kleinen.
In the ensuing gunbattle, both Grams and a policeman were killed, while another officer and a train engineer were wounded.
Hogefeld, a former schoolteacher who was put on West Germany’s most-wanted list of Red Army Faction terrorists in 1986, was charged in the death of the officer. During her trial, however, the court threw out the charge, saying she was already handcuffed and in custody when the shooting began.
She was, however, convicted of murder in the deaths of Pimental, Scarton and Bristol. She also was found guilty of attempted murder in a failed attack on the federal Finance Ministry state secretary Hans Tietmeyer in 1988, and bombing and destroying a prison complex being built near Darmstadt on March 27, 1993.
Tietmeyer, a key adviser to then Chancellor Helmut Kohl, was uninjured when a masked assailant fired at his car as he was traveling to work through a Bonn suburb. Meanwhile, the bomb at the high-security prison site caused an estimated US$100 million damage at the time.
Last year, German President Horst Koehler turned down a request for clemency from Hogefeld.
Still, Hogefeld’s accomplice, Eva Haule, was paroled last year after serving 21 years of a life sentence, with the Frankfurt state court ruling she was no longer a danger to the public.
The Red Army Faction waged a violent, 22-year campaign against what members considered U.S. imperialism and capitalist oppression of workers.
The organization killed 34 people and wounded hundreds. It declared itself disbanded in 1998.
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Teenagers trained into terrorists near Peshawar for fighting NATO troops in Afghanistan
http://www.andhranews.net/Intl/2008/July/29/Teenagers-trained-into-56297.asp
Islamabad, July 29 : A remote mountaineous region in Pakistan that has almost turned into a dry riverbed, houses a terrorists training camp where about two dozen young men, most of them being in their teens, receive rigourous training for the war against NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan, said a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The camp is located just a few miles away from Peshawar. To reach here, one requires an armed escort on a 20-minute walk from a village along a muddy track. It is under the control of Haji Namdar, a top Taliban commander based in the Khyber Agency.
According to the paper, for these terrorist-trainees the day starts at 4 am with prayers, followed by a six-mile run along the riverbed, swimming, and weapons training.
“One has to go through this rigour to prepare for the tough life as a fighter,” the report quoted a 27-year-old identified as Omar Abdullah, as saying. He said that he had fought alongside the Taliban against the US-led troops in Afghanistan before returning home to Pakistan a few weeks ago to organize training for the new recruits.
The report quoted one young man saying he was a student at a business school in Peshawar and recently completed his 40 days of fighter training. He said he was waiting to join the war in Afghanistan. “There is a long queue, but I hope my turn would come soon,” he said.
The existence of camps like these is a major reason why the US-led war in Afghanistan, just across the border, is foundering. Pakistan’s military is struggling to locate the camps and eradicate them, in part because many locals are sympathetic to the militants, said the report.
The WSJ report claimed that this particular camp had no formal or permanent structure. The boys live in a nearby village. “The villagers look after us,” said Abdullah.
Western diplomats and Pakistani security officials say that hundreds of volunteers trained in these camps were now involved in fighting in Afghanistan. “It’s not possible to seal the entire 1500-mile-long border running along treacherous mountainous terrain,” said a senior military officer.
The number of such camps has increased in the past year as the Pakistan government has taken a more conciliatory approach to the militants in the hope of securing peace.
Many of the trainees in such camps came from Islamic seminaries, or madrassas, which have sprouted across Pakistan over the past three decades. Others come from secular educational institutions. All of them speak Pashto and come from the surrounding area. The volunteers go through intense scrutiny before they are enlisted and usually arrive with recommendations from clerics. “We don’t accept everyone. Only those with solid credentials are enlisted for training,” the report quoted Abdullah as saying.
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Turkey-Terrorism
Istanbul bombings kill 15, wound 100
http://www2.irna.com/en/news/view/line-20/0807293146123802.htm
Two bombs exploded within minutes of each other late Sunday in a crowded pedestrian area of Istanbul, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 100.
The double bombing appeared to be the worst incident of terrorist violence in Turkey in nearly five years and seemed to take the Turkish authorities completely by surprise.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility, although Kurdish separatist militants were initially suspected.
The Istanbul neighborhood that was targeted, which is almost completely residential, had no obvious reason to be the object of a terrorism plot.
The first blast, which the police and witnesses said was relatively minor, attracted scores of onlookers curious about the commotion, with at least some of them thinking it was caused by a gas leak explosion.
Many of the curious onlookers were hit by flying shrapnel and debris from the second, more powerful blast about 10 minutes later and about 20 yards away, the governor, Muammer Guler, said in a news briefing carried on Turkish television.
Witnesses described a scene of panic with victims lying on the street in pools of blood.
The timing of the bombings appeared to deliberately coincide with the summer pastime of many residents of the pedestrian area of Gungoren, in central Istanbul, to stroll in the cool late evening before going to bed.
The double-bombing appeared to be the most serious terrorism attack here since twin truck bombings at two Istanbul synagogues killed 23 people and wounded more than 300 on Nov. 15, 2003.
An obscure group linked to al-Qaeda took responsibility for the synagogue blasts, which were the worst in a series of explosions blamed on Islamic extremist groups that year that killed more than 60 people.
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Eighteen live bombs found, panic grips Surat city
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Nine-live-bombs-found-panic-grips-Surat-city/341895/
Surat, July 29: Panic gripped the diamond city as police on Tuesday recovered eighteen live bombs, one after another within a span of five hours, from different parts of the Varacha area where most of the diamond units are located.
Three bombs were recovered and successfully defused by the bomb disposal squad at the Mini Diamond Market area of Varacha soon after another three were de-activated in the same locality, police said.
Later, police received information of four bombs, one did not turn out to be an explosive device. Police said three bombs were recovered from under the Varacha-Kapodra flyover, which were also defused by the bomb squad.
City Police Commissioner RMS Brar said, “Several bombs have been found in the city. We cannot confirm the number at this stage.”
Earlier, police had successfully defused three bombs found from Labheshwar, Santoshinagar and Matavadi areas of Varacha.
According to police most of the bombs were found in residential areas which are usually crowded.
In Matavadi area, the bomb was found hanging on a tree, while in Labheshwar it was found inside an abandoned bag. In both the cases the bombs were found from near a police outpost.
Police have sounded a high alert in the city after the recovery of eighteen live bombs of similar kind.
All schools and shop in the Varacha area have been asked to close by the police commissioner.
Chairman of the Surat Diamond Association C P Vanani said, “We are very concerned about recovery of bombs from the Varacha area. It is affecting our business. All our members will be meeting and decide on the further course of action.”
On Monday, the bomb disposal squad had successfully defused a live bomb which was found in a residential part of Varacha area. Forensic experts have found explosives in the defused bomb.
Police had also released the sketch of a suspect who might have parked the explosive-laden car in the Heerabaugh area on Sunday.
The sketch was based on the description given by a watchman of a near-by building who had seen the man parking the vehicle.
On Sunday the police had recovered two explosive-laden cars from two different parts of the city. Large amount of explosives, shrapnels and timer devices were found inside the cars bearing fake number plates.
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ISTANBUL BOMBINGS RAISE FEARS OF NEW WAVE OF TERRORIST ATTACKS
http://www.jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2373265
By Gareth Jenkins
Monday, July 28, 2008
On the evening of July 27, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were detonated in Menderes Caddesi, a street in the Istanbul working class neighborhood of Gungoren. By midday local time on July 28 the death toll stood at 17, all of them civilians. Another 154 people were being treated for injuries. Seven were reported to be in serious condition, raising the possibility that the death toll could increase (NTV, CNNTurk, July 28).
No organization has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Nor is there yet any conclusive evidence to link it to any known radical group. But what is clear is that, whether it was carried out by an established organization or a hitherto unknown one, the nature of the bombing is unprecedented in recent Turkish history.
By day, Menderes Caddesi is a busy shopping thoroughfare. The heat and humidity of the Istanbul summer mean that, in the evening, Menderes Caddesi is still crowded with people strolling and meeting with friends. Eye witnesses said that the first explosion occurred at around 9:45 PM local time (Milliyet, Radikal, Hurriyet, July 28). There are conflicting reports about the number of casualties in the first blast. But eye witnesses were unanimous that most of the deaths and injuries occurred as a result of a second, much larger blast, about 50 yards (meters) from the first at around 9:55.
The initial evidence suggests that the first blast was the result of a “come hither” IED, designed to draw in and concentrate people into a small area so as to maximize casualties when the second, larger IED was detonated. It is a method which has been used in other countries to target first responders, whether the security and medical services or members of a specific ethnic group (for example, in Iraq). But the method has never been used in Turkey before. Although there are neighborhoods in Istanbul which are known to contain a high concentration of members of a specific ethnic or religious minority, Gungoren is not one of them. The perpetrators would have been aware that the first responders to the first explosion—and thus the majority of casualties in the second—would have been ordinary people from the neighborhood.
Despite the long, and under-reported, history of Islamist violence in Turkey, radical Islamist groups in the country have no record of indiscriminately killing civilians. Although they have often been prepared to accept “collateral casualties” amongst bystanders, radical Islamists have always had a specific target—usually one associated with Western interests or non-Muslim minorities. There is no such target in Gungoren.
Elements in both the Turkish and international media have attributed the bombings in Gungoren to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), with the BBC suggesting that the attack bore “all the hallmarks of the PKK” (BBC, July 28). This is misleading.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s in particularly, the PKK sometimes massacred Kurdish villagers—including women and children—in southeast Turkey an attempt to intimidate the local people into supporting the organization. Since returning to violence in June 2004, the PKK has pursued a two front strategy: Combining a rural insurgency in southeast Turkey with an urban bombing campaign in the west of the country. The bombing campaign has been conducted by militants trained in the PKK’s main camps in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq and dispatched to western Turkey with a list of categories of acceptable targets (see EDM, September 7, 2007). The list includes the tourism sector, with the result that PKK militants have killed foreign tourists and Turkish bystanders by detonating IEDs in Istanbul and resorts along Turkey’s Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. The PKK’s primary aim is to exert political pressure on the Turkish authorities by damaging the country’s economy. Gungoren is some distance from the main tourist areas in Istanbul. However, it is possible that someone may have calculated that international news reports of bombings in Istanbul would be sufficient to deter foreigners from visiting Turkey.
PKK militants have sometimes detonated small IEDs in urban areas in western Turkey, although the limited quantity of explosives used suggests that the main aim is to create panic rather than inflict mass casualties. In recent years, civilians have been killed in PKK bomb attacks, although mainly as a result of the organization’s willingness to inflict “collateral casualties” rather than because they were the primary target. For example, on May 22, 2007, six civilians were killed by a PKK bomb in Ankara in what appears to have been a botched assassination attempt against leading members of the Turkish military. On January 4, 2008, five civilians were killed by a PKK car bomb in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir during an attack against a bus carrying military personnel.
Nevertheless, there have been concerns that—given the PKK’s inability to escalate its rural insurgency to the levels of the early 1990s and with the organization’s camps and bases in northern Iraq now under regular attack from the Turkish military—the PKK might attempt to counter the perception that it is a dying force by staging a large, mass casualty attack in western Turkey (see Terrorism Focus, January 8).
There will inevitably also be speculation in the pro-government media in Turkey that the Gungoren bombings were the work of a Turkish ultranationalist group seeking to avenge the recent waves of arrests of hard-line opponents of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) (see EDM, July 24). There is evidence to suggest that in recent years ultranationalist groups have detonated IEDs in western Turkey. However, all have been relatively small devices designed to create noise rather than cause casualties.
Although the identity of the perpetrators of the July 27 bombings in Gungoren currently remains unclear, there is no doubt that they are unprecedented. None of the many terrorist attacks in Turkey in recent years has seen the use of two explosions coordinated to maximize civilian casualties. Whether they were the result of a new strategy adopted by the PKK or were conducted by a hitherto unknown group, the bombings in Gungoren are a worrying development.
MIDDLE EAST
SPOTLIGHT
COMMENTARY
Bin Laden Morphs into Che Guevera
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4180
By Alan Caruba Tuesday, July 29, 2008
It’s become so commonplace as to receive only a minor mention in the news. Predator drones under the command presumably of the CIA or the Air Force find and kill some ranking member of al Qaeda in far-off Waziristan.
Silently traversing the skies above the otherwise impenetrable region, death must come as a surprise to the masters of Islamic hatred and terror.
Recently a senior Saudi cleric, Sheikh Saleh bin Muhammad Al-Luhaidan, the head of the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council, had some harsh words for al Qaeda and its founder. The scion of one of Saudi Arabia’s most distinguished families outside of the royal one, Osama bin Laden has been a pariah there for years. The Saudis were among the earliest to recognize the danger he posed.
“His actions speak for him,” said the Sheikh of bin Laden. “He is not the one to direct a person onto the right path. Indeed, he is a promoter of evil and depravity, and whoever follows him, pursues depravity.”
The Sheikh said of his followers, “These deviants, who were not tolerated in their (own) countries, went to Iraq and to other countries with the purpose of destroying of (Saudi) kingdom.” He called them criminals.
I don’t know what he thought of the 15 Saudis who participated in 9/11, but presumably he thinks they’re criminals as well. The fact is that Saudi Arabia has been a major center for al Qaeda recruitment for years. The Sheikh’s comments reflect this unpleasant truth.
It is a great irony that a nation that has spent billions for the propagation of Islam around the world has spawned this terrorist response as an outgrowth of its efforts. Worse yet for them, the jihadists want to overthrow the Royal family.
While the U.S. predator drones circle lazily above the frontier areas of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden is morphing slowly into the Che Guevera of the Islamist movement; more symbol than active participant.
Bin Laden is frequently said to be dead, but when one of our drones finds him, he will join the growing list of others who have been delivered to paradise with an assist from a guided missile or two.
We can take comfort in knowing that terrorists tend to rapidly wear out their welcome. Iraq is a perfect example of that. Those who continue to insist it was a mistake to go there and kill jihadists have been proven wrong. Unfortunately, one of them is running for President.
The fact is, we have neither heard, nor seen much from Bin Laden. As Martha Stewart would say, “That’s a good thing.”
Alan has a daily blog called Warning Signs. His latest book is Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy.
Alan can be reached at acaruba@aol.com
Older articles by Alan Caruba
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Hezbollah’s Newest Nazi - the Child Murdering Samir Kuntar
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4100
By Sean Osborne Thursday, July 24, 2008
How absolutely Hileresque the image above of recently released terrorist and child murderer Samir Kuntar is. How demonically appropriate as well. Look into Kuntar’s eyes, there’s almost a distinct, demonic-red glow to them. And it also occurs to me that the only thing missing from Kuntar’s camouflage uniform is a red, black and white swastika armband.
However, the turbaned Shi’te Hezbollah Islamo-Nazi’s in the image suffice in lieu of the missing swastika. You see, there really is no difference between the Nazi’s of WWII and the Shi’ite Muslims of modern day Iran and Lebanon. They want to achieve the same “final solution” against the Jew’s and Israel as their forebears did in Europe a generation ago.
It was at 2:30 in the morning on April 22, 1979 when Samir Kuntar, then the 17-year old leader of a squad of Palestinian PFNLP terrorists, landed their rubber inflatable boat on Nahariya beach in extreme northern Israel. Their plan was to kidnap Israeli’s and take them back over the border into Lebanon. Sound like a familiar tactic? It is as the events of summer 2006 do attest.
An Israeli police officer, Eliyahu Shahar, arrived in the area in his patrol car and was immediately murdered in a hailstorm of bullets fired from the Palestinian terrorists AK-47 assault rifles. Samir Kuntar’s terrorist squad then assaulted an apartment occupied by Danny and Smadar Haran and their two children, 4-year old Einat and 2-year old Yael. Smadar and Yael managed to hide in an attic, where tragically Smadar accidentally smothered Yeal while trying to keep her cries from alerts the terrorist to their hiding place. Danny and daughter Einat were captured by the apartment front door and immediately taken to the beach for an anticipated escape, only to find the boat had been deflated.
Arriving Israeli security forces then engaged the terrorists in a fire fight on thebeach. At one point Danny stood up tall, waved and attempted to tell the Israeli forces that his daughter was in harms way during the firefight. Samir Kuntar then murdered Danny by shooting him point blank in the back, and then used the butt of his assault rifle to crush in the innocent skull of 4-year old Eitan against a rock on the beach. Eitan’s brain tissue found on Kuntar’s rifle butt was part of the pathologists testimony and evidence in Kuntar’s trial.
Samir Kuntar is now Hezbollah’s newest Islamo-Nazi terrorist since his 16 July 2008 release from the Israeli Hadarim Prison. His release was in exchange for the mutilated remains of Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whom Hezbollah had kidnapped on 12 July 2006 setting off the intense war of that summer.
This is the face of the enemy. Look closely at it. Memorize it. Understand it. Evaluate the threat it represents. And prepare to fight it when it once again bursts into America’s front door just as it did in 1979 and many times since.
Sean Osborne, is the Associate Director, Military Affairs Northeast Intelligence Network.
Sean can be reached at letters@canadafreepress.com
Older Articles by Sean Osborne
July 28, 2008 PM Anti-Terrorism News - UnitedStatesAction.com
(Afghanistan) ‘Al-Qaeda’ woman in Afghan prison, claims activist - UK Islamist Yvonne Ridley claims Aafia Siddiqui held at Bagram
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.2372718194
- FBI Seeking Information Notice on Siddiqui
http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/siddiqui.htm
— previous stories - FBI placed Siddiqui in Boston, MD and Gaithersburg, MD
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unitedstatesaction/msearch?query=Aafia+Siddiqui+&submit=Search&charset=UTF-8
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/04/10/roxbury_address_eyed_in_fbi_probe/
http://www.resonant.org/news/2003/2003.03.29-first_woman_al-qaida_suspect-upi.com.html
(Pakistan) Key Al Qaeda Bomb Maker and Poisons Expert Killed (update) - Abu Khabab al-Masri,
aka “Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar” - ran training camp in Afghanistan, wrote explosives manual
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5464190&page=1
(India) Fear grows over India car terror
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24091819-2703,00.html
US-produced Al-Qaida movie played at Gitmo trial - Evan Kohlmann’s “The Al-Qaida Plan” shown to jurors at Hamdan trial
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlkUMaokG6I7flYKGhlBfsW9qP9wD92729281
Al-Qaeda video urges Saudi monarch’s killing for dialogue with Pope
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.2373661466
Jihad Economics and Islamic Banking
http://www.rightsidenews.com/200807271543/homeland-security/jihad-economics-and-islamic-banking.html
Iran main entry route for rebels, says Afghan paper
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=232415&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23
(Russia/Thailand) Thai extradition case delay for alleged arms dealer - update on Viktor Bout
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jG2eV11OLF84brFYMiwpNp6cZDZA
(Macedonia) The Bin Ladens of the Balkans, Part II - Michael Totten on Wahhabi influence in Macedonia
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/07/the-bin-ladens-1.php
(Philippines) Basilan launches drive vs kidnap-for-ransom gangs
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/109967/Basilan-launches-drive-vs-kidnap-for-ransom-gangs
(China) Beijing cites numerous Olympic threats
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_on_re_as/china_olympic_threats;_ylt=ApfxH5y0J6w8FdU_oFPxttCs0NUE
(Venezuela) FARC Member Allegedly Arrested in Venezuela
http://english.eluniversal.com/2008/07/28/en_int_art_farc-member-allegedl_28A1843399.shtml
Commentaries:
Damsels of Death: Female Suicide Killers in Iraq — by Phyllis Chesler
http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2008/07/28/damsels-of-death-female-suicide-killers-in-iraq/
The Deobandi Fatwa Against Terrorism didn’t treat the Jihadi root — by Walid Phares
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/07/the_deobandi_fatwa_against_ter.php
Abu Khabab al-Masri, Al Qaeda “Master of Terror,” Killed... Maybe — by Andrew Cochran
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/07/abu_khabab_almasri_al_qaeda_ma.php
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If reposting elsewhere, please credit source of this research as UnitedStatesAction.com
The Threat Here - 2008: As-Sabiqun
Today, July 28, 2008, 5 hours ago | Madeleine Gruen & Frank Hyland
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/07/the_threat_here_2008_assabiqun.php
Go to full article
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/07/the_threat_here_2008_assabiqun.php
This is the third in the series of articles by Madeleine Gruen and Frank
Hyland on the threat of terrorism in the United States. This article will
provide Counterterrorism Blog readers with an in-depth analysis of one of
the groups in the United States whose expressed ideology is in accord with
Al Qaeda’s - As Sabiqun.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70671
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70671
Web jihadist employed by federal contractor
Communications worker says dead GIs ‘bring great happiness to me’
_____
Posted: July 27, 2008
7:33 pm Eastern
C 2008 WorldNetDaily
A young American Muslim has been employed by a federal contractor while
running a radical website promoting al-Qaida.
Until just last week, 22-year-old Samir Khan worked at the Charlotte, N.C.,
branch of Convergys Corp., which in March was awarded part of a $2.5 billion
federal contract to set up emergency communications centers in the event of
terrorist attacks and other national disasters.
The company and Khan parted ways after a local news crew showed up at his
office to interview him about his jihadist website
http://www.revolution.muslimpad.com/ , which features graphic photos of
dead U.S. soldiers and praise for al-Qaida leaders and terrorists, who he
calls “martyrdom bombers.”
In one photo posted on his site, American soldiers are shown in a plane
heading to Iraq above the caption, “Here they come.” A second photo posted
below it shows flag-draped coffins aboard a U.S. military plane with the
words, “And here they go.”
continues.
I took a peek at the mailbox.
Did you hear me gasp? LOL<<<
Yes, I hear your gasp, every time I add your name to a post.
LOL.....
Race,
Thank you for posting, there were a couple of them that I had not read and all of them are good for a look at what is going on.
Your post:
Jihadi Tutorial in Urban Terrorism and the Kidnapping of Americans
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2374320
By Abdul Hameed Bakier<<<
I have suspected is being carried out, they say by gangs, but I hear of attempted kidnapping or kidnapped people on the police scanners in the western area and most do not appear in the news.
Your posts are good information.
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