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OTTAWA - Canadian health authorities are worried an outbreak of West Nile virus infection in Louisiana, which has killed four of 58 infected people, could mean the mosquito-borne illness is changing the way it spreads. "Something seems peculiar about Louisiana with such a large number of human cases," said Harvey Artsob, head of zoonotic diseases at Health Canada. "It's important for us to understand why, so that all our messages of reassurance in other parts of North America still hold. What's changed in Louisiana?" As Canadians head to summer cottages this weekend, the official government message remains that West Nile...

December 3, 2002 C.I.A. Hunts Iraq Tie to Soviet SmallpoxBy JUDITH MILLER he C.I.A. is investigating an informant's accusation that Iraq obtained a particularly virulent strain of smallpox from a Russian scientist who worked in a smallpox lab in Moscow during Soviet times, senior American officials and foreign scientists say. The officials said several American scientists were told in August that Iraq might have obtained the mysterious strain from Nelja N. Maltseva, a virologist who worked for more than 30 years at the Research Institute for Viral Preparations in Moscow before her death two years ago. The information came to...

Not In Our Name and the World Wide Terrorism WebBy Michael TremoglieFrontPageMagazine.com | March 19, 2003 In the run-up to this war, Not In Our Name became one of the major “peace” organizers and coalitions in the United States. Not In Our Name has spared no cost purchasing ads in newspapers around the world to publish its anti-American Statement of Conscience.  Its signatories include scores of Hate America bigwigs, like Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Gloria Steinem and Barbara Kingsolver.  Hollywood icons (and many more has-beens) like Danny Glover, Jessica Lange, Tyne Daly, Martin Sheen and Ed Harris have...

American universities rank among the best in the world, but they also boast another, more dubious distinction: They are home to some of the world’s most radical academics. Last month, one of these select individuals, UC Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian, brought his hate-filled show to two extremist Islamic Centers in South Florida. Both of these institutions are in the process of building large-scale mosques in their respective cities. And, given that their guest had previously called for attacks on the United States, the question naturally arose: Were these institutions looking to make friends in the community or to start a holy war?Past...

She's b-a-a-a-ck! Remember Dr. Barbara Hatch Rosenberg? She's the tenured Marxist activist who from circa October 2001 until August, with the media's consent, manipulated coverage of last fall's anthrax attacks, in which five people were murdered and over a dozen sickened by anthrax-contaminated letters. She also engineered the smear campaign that sought to railroad scientist Dr. Steven J. Hatfill for the anthrax attacks. On September 22, 2002, Rosenberg published a long op-ed essay in the Los Angeles Times, in which she sought to resurrect her discredited theory, according to which the anthrax killer was an insider from the American biodefense...

Lebanon's senior-most Shiite Muslim cleric, a harsh critic of U.S. policies in the region, called for an international trial of U.S. President Bush, saying his administration posed a threat to world peace. Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah issued the call over a document allegedly leaked to London's Daily Mirror tabloid. The newspaper claimed the document was a transcript of a meeting in April 2004 between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in which the U.S. leader spoke of attacking Al-Jazeera television headquarters in Doha, Qatar. The newspaper, which cited unidentified sources, said Blair argued against an attack. The...

This is a long report so to save bandwidth you can read the report here. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION TASK FORCE ON TREATMENT OF ENEMY COMBATANTS PRELIMINARY REPORT I do not agree with all of the Tasks Forces finding though. I support Military Tribunals for terrorist both foreign and domestic providing we comply with the rule of law and the US Constitution. In the case of Padella and to some degree Handi we are not. I note and support the findings on US Citizens. It is this simple. If you do not like the law, change it, not subvert it. For...

Hatfill's lawyers alleged that the three officials who leaked investigative details to the news media were Roscoe C. Howard Jr., who from 2001 to 2004 served as U.S. attorney for District of Columbia; Daniel S. Seikaly, who served as Howard's criminal division chief; and Edwin Cogswell, who formerly served as a spokesman for the FBI. .... U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered the lawyers for the government and for Hatfill to seek "mediation" over the next two months. The prospects of a mediated settlement notwithstanding, Walton said he expected a trial could begin in December. Hatfill's lawyers, Grannis and...

For seven years I have remained silent about the false claims magnifying the effectiveness of the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding. I have spoken only in closed government hearings, as these matters were classified. But the release last week of four Justice Department memos on interrogations allows me to shed light on the story, and on some of the lessons to be learned. One of the most striking parts of the memos is the false premises on which they are based. The first, dated August 2002, grants authorization to use harsh interrogation techniques on a high-ranking terrorist, Abu Zubaydah,...

Pair Are Plotting Attacks, Sources Say JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 27 – Two figures who have assumed critical roles in the al Qaeda hierarchy in recent months, including one reported dead by the Pentagon, are being sheltered in Iran along with dozens of other al Qaeda fighters in hotels and guesthouses in the border cities of Mashhad and Zabol, according to Arab intelligence sources.The two – Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian on the FBI's most-wanted list, and Mahfouz Ould Walid, also known as Abu Hafs the Mauritanian, whom U.S. officials reported had been killed near the eastern Afghan city of Khost...

A Louisiana man shot by Lee Boyd Malvo before the criminal spree that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area in 2002 has received a letter of apology from the convicted sniper. John C. Gaeta, 58, of Albany, said Thursday that he's glad Malvo wrote him but remains skeptical about Malvo's intentions. "I'm glad he wrote the letter," Gaeta said. "I do wonder, though, if he's truly sorry or if this is a part of him trying to get his sentence reduced. He knows that he should express remorse, so I question whether it is genuine and from the heart." Gaeta was...

Rats or Humans? Inside Saddam's Extermination Plant(August 29, 2002)This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/ He was introduced as director of research and development at Falluja, one of the remote factories where the United States claims Saddam Hussein could be making chemical and biological weapons. Asked if he had worked on any of Saddam's chemical weapons programs, Dr Mohammed Frah played a straight bat: "In the early 1980s I worked for five years on the chemical and biological programs at Al-Muthanna." This is the name of a critical centre in Saddam's weapons program - a huge pesticide complex that produced...

Coiffed, groomed and impeccably suited, Mithal al-Alusi cuts an imposing figure at this trendy hotel. In the empty bar lounge, he makes himself at home to a breakfast of fresh fruit, strong coffee and a constant flow of cigarettes. The leader of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation is in town to promote his vision for a new Iraq and accept an accolade from an unlikely sponsor – the American Jewish Committee – who honored him with a Moral Courage award at their annual dinner last week. His act of courage was an attempt to break Iraq's long-standing taboo...

Al-Qaida assassins after GadhafiIntelligence suggests Libyan dictator's sudden cooperation due to holy war Posted: December 24, 20035:00 p.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Canadian intelligence suggests al-Qaida-backed militants in Libya want to assassinate Col. Moammar Gadhafi, possibly shedding light on the dictator's sudden efforts to cozy up to the West. Libyan President Col. Moammar Gadhafi (Courtesy: Sky News) Citing a Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, report, The National Post reports the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG, is waging holy war against Gadhafi in an effort to establish an Islamic state in Libya. "In order to achieve their goals, the LIFG has...

I never give time frames, because you never know where you'll have sufficient evidence to go public with a prosecution, " Mueller said.

Several pro-government Egyptian newspapers and media outlets are attacking the United States following the Bush administration's decision not to increase financial aid to the North African nation. The Egyptian press has attacked U.S. policy and policymakers in the past, usually at low points in the oft-rocky relationship between Washington and Cairo. But the new attacks are particularly vitriolic and have even gone so far as to compare some U.S. officials to Nazi Germany's Third Reich. "[Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld is a new Hitler in America," wrote columnist Kamal Abd Al-Raouf for the government weekly Akhbar Al-Yaum last week, predicting the...

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police have arrested a man suspected of having links to arms trafficking and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network for travelling on a false passport, according to a police spokesman. Police acting on a tip-off, arrested Sanjivan Ruprah, 36, in the northern town of Cremona, outside Milan, on Friday. He was travelling on a false Belgian passport, the spokesman said on Saturday. "Sanjivan Ruprah is an internationally known figure," he said. "He is known as an international trafficker of arms and diamonds and has already been arrested in Belgium, from where he was released on bail."...

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have arrested Wan Min Wan Mat, a key leader of Kumpulan Militant Malaysia (KMM) during an operation in Kota Baru Friday morning. Inspector-general of police Tan Sri Norian Mai said the 42-year-old former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) lecturer was arrested at about 9.30am. Police are looking for eight suspects who are key KMM members and are offering a RM50,000 reward for information on each leader.

WASHINGTON -- CIA interrogators waterboarded an Al Qaeda prisoner 183 times, according to a 2005 Justice Department legal memo, and another prisoner 83 times, the New York Times reported on Monday. Quoting the CIA inspector general in a 2004 investigation, the memo from May 30, 2005 says interrogators used the waterboard at least 83 times during August 2002 against Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking member of Al Qaeda and close associate of Usama bin Laden, the Times said. In March 2003, the controlled method of simulated drowning was used on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the admitted mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001...

<p>Some of the high-tech, gadget-loaded planes that could be used in a campaign against Iraq include the EA-6B Prowler (above).</p> <p>August 13, 2002 -- The U.S. Navy is seeking to charter a large ship to carry military helicopters and ammunition from the United States to two ports in the Red Sea, shipping brokers said yesterday.</p>