[osint] The World Was Going Our Way

[Bruce Tefft]

 "The power of radical ideologies, the widespread suspicion of the West, and
the general hatred of America and Israel in the Middle East today is the
Soviet Union's posthumous revenge." 
 
http://www.israpundit.com/2006/?p=1755

The World Was Going Our Way
Reviewed by Barry Rubin


The KGB and the Battle for the Third World by Christopher Andrew and Vasili
Mitrokhin.  New York: Basic Books, 2005. 677 pp. $29.95.






Hammer, Sickle, and Crescent

One of the worst mistakes ever made by the KGB, the Soviet security agency,
was to punish one of its agents, Vasili Mitrokhin,  for a critical remark
about the regime in 1972 by demoting him to archivist.  In that position,
Mitrokhin copied large numbers of documents  and hid them at his country
house.  As the Soviet Union was crumbling, he offered the cache to the
British  in exchange for his family's rescue from the country and removal to
safe haven,  which he got.

In cooperation with Christopher Andrew,  Britain's preeminent historian of
intelligence, Mitrokhin authored The Sword and the Shield, a history of
Soviet espionage against the West.  It was perhaps  the best single book
ever on the subject. Now comes the promised sequel, dealing with the KGB and
the Third World, and it does not disappoint.  The book has dramatic new
details - sometimes the kind of data that changes our view of history  - on
every part of the world,  showing how pervasive Soviet influence and
espionage was  during the Cold War.

Especially interesting  are the 120 pages dealing with the Middle East and
34 pages on Afghanistan and Islam in the USSR. The USSR viewed the Middle
East as its "backyard" and devoted a lot of effort  in an ultimately failed
effort to gain influence there. It is easy to forget that,  not so long ago,
Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and South Yemen were brimming with Soviet advisors,
money,  and weapons.

The great Soviet hope in the Middle East  was its relations with Egyptian
president Gamal Abdel Nasser. In addition to reading Egyptian codes  - the
Soviets broke most Arab codes through cryptography or burglaries against
their Moscow embassies - the Soviets recruited key agents, including Sami
Sharaf, Nasser's chief intelligence advisor. On Nasser's 1958 visit to
Moscow (where the KGB, not the Soviet foreign ministry, guided him) he was
very effectively flattered. During a performance of Swan Lake he attended,
for example, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev told Nasser that the black
swan represented U.S. secretary of state John Foster Dulles.

Moscow supported Nasser's regime  by every means.  Soviet agent Kim Philby,
then a journalist, explained to his British readers  that Nasser had turned
Egypt into a "cooperative socialist democracy." The Soviets wrongly saw the
Egyptian army as strong,  so Israel's massive victory in 1967  took them by
surprise, leaving a grudging admiration for Israel,  anger at the Arabs  for
making Soviet weapons look useless, and a total overhaul  in Soviet
intelligence for the region.

Just after that war,  a weakened Nasser  granted more concessions  to the
Soviets, but his successor Anwar Sadat  soon turned toward the United
States.  Although the Soviets spied effectively on his secret communications
with the Americans, they chose not to support actively pro-Moscow Egyptians
plotting a coup against Sadat,  and so, were powerless to stop him. The KGB
restricted itself to forging documents to persuade Sadat  that the Americans
were tricking him  and portraying Egypt's leader in non-Egyptian Arab media
as the dupe of Jewish bankers, a CIA agent, a sexual deviant, a drug addict,
and mentally ill.  Sadat so infuriated KGB officials, some advocated his
assassination. Moscow was never directly involved in such an effort but knew
its contacts in Syrian intelligence and the Palestine Liberation
Organization were, though Islamists beat them to it in 1981.

In Iran, the Soviets, with little influence after the 1953 pro-shah coup,
focused on undermining U.S.-Iran relations. Their forgeries, pretending to
be U.S. documents ridiculing or planning to overthrow the shah, sometimes
even fooled Iran's monarch. Elaborate plans were made for sabotage inside
Iran, but the defection of a key KGB officer involved in these schemes
ensured their cancellation. The Soviets hoped the Iranian revolution would
turn in a leftist direction  but wrongly estimated  the shah was too strong
to be toppled and,  like others,  discounted any chance of an Islamist
revolution

Although the Soviets had few intelligence assets in Islamist Iran, they
continued disinformation efforts there, feeding forged documents-at times
through Yasir Arafat-about U.S. and Israeli plots to overthrow or
assassinate Khomeini. On one occasion, a tough anti-Soviet Iranian foreign
minister was fired and, along with seventy others, shot largely due to phony
coup plans cooked up by the KGB.  But when a Soviet intelligence officer in
Tehran  defected to the West, the CIA passed information to Tehran, allowi

[osint] TURKEY: "Turkey's emerging fear: Iranian influence"

[Bruce Tefft]

 

Turkey's emerging fear: Iranian influence By Iason Athanasiadis Friday,
March 24, 2006
[From: Daily Star (Beirut)]

It was one of those revealing slips of the tongue that laid bare the true
state of geopolitical affairs in the Middle East as seen from Ankara.
Speaking to his Czech counterpart, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
recently confessed that he feared the spread of Iranian influence from
southern Iraq to his own country.

Although Gul later denied having made this statement, his comment was a
valuable insight into Turkey's true concerns over political developments on
its southern flank. There, the Bush administration has subjected three
countries to concerted political pressure in the aftermath of the September
11, 2001 attacks. After five years of such pressure, Iran and Syria are
turning into increasingly isolated international pariahs. The same policy,
when applied by Washington to Iraq, culminated in the country's invasion and
the growing fragmentation of its society along sectarian lines. Both Iran
and Syria include similar ethnic mosaics, so the prospect of persistent
instability could prompt them to dangerously realign along racial, tribal or
sectarian fronts.

Turkey's other big concern is that the Bush administration's clumsy
redrawing of the regional geopolitical map has brought about a potentially
unstoppable rise in Iranian influence. And while Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accepted his country's secularism, he also heads
one of the more overtly Muslim governments in the history of the Turkish
republic. Erdogan appears to sympathize with the concerns of the Arab
world's Sunni regimes that a rise in Iranian influence would upset the Sunni
status quo in the region and threaten Ankara's position.

At a March 3 briefing in Istanbul, Turkish diplomats warned a group of
leading foreign-policy columnists that the escalation of conflict in Iraq
could turn the country into a "new Lebanon." Recently, a group of retired
generals and ambassadors diagnosed the development of "theocratic
nationalism" in Iran and warned of the danger it posed to Turkey.

These are the motives refocusing Turkish policy on Iraq. Iraq was once a
province of the Ottoman Empire, and Turkey still views it as a strategic
backyard in which it often deploys its army and Special Forces units. In the
aftermath of Washington's Iraq invasion, the Americans further alienated
Ankara when they arrested 11 Turkish commandos inside Iraq. The incident
inspired a blockbuster Turkish film that tapped into the wave of popular
anti-Americanism sweeping through Turkish society.

But never since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire prompted a retreat from
Middle Eastern politics, has Turkey deployed its foreign policy supremos
across the region's thorniest conflicts. The incoming Turkish ambassador to
Iran, Gurcan Turkoglu, is Gul's top foreign policy adviser. Ankara recently
announced its willingness to act as an intermediary with Tehran for a
resolution to the dispute over its nuclear program.

It also held controversial meetings with embattled Iraqi Prime Minister
Ibrahim al-Jaafari and senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, after the
Islamist movement won the recent Palestinian elections.
Ankara's re-engagement in the region is worrying Israel (whose only openly
Muslim ally until now was Turkey), even as the Turks offer Washington an
additional channel through which to promote its Middle East initiatives and
exert pressure.

Turkish concerns - shared by the United States - are fuelling a growing
rapprochement between the U.S. and Turkey. And in the event diplomacy fails,
Turkey is one of Washington's more reliable allies in Iran's vicinity that
can help force the latter's hand. A Turkish diplomat recently told me that
Ankara had learned from its previous falling-out with Washington, and would
think twice about opposing an American strike against Iran.

For the moment, the big policy issue facing Turkey is whether Iraq will
descend into civil war. This would set into motion a perilous train of
events as Iraq's Kurds increasingly drift toward a unilateral declaration of
independence. Even more worrying for Ankara would be the unchecked spread of
Iranian influence across oil-rich southern Iraq. While a Kurdish state might
prompt renewed but ultimately containable Kurdish separatist spasms in
southern Turkey, the transformation of Iraq's most economically viable part
into an Iranian zone of influence would turn Iran into a powerful regional
actor threatening both Turkey and Israel.

Such calculations are forcing Turkey to refocus its foreign policy emphasis
in Iraq away from cultivating ethnic allies such as the small and
politically weak Turkmen community and toward more realistic options such as
dealing with Iraq's powerful Shiite bloc. Following the dictum that my
enemy's enemy is my friend, Erdogan received Jaafari last month, angering
the Kurdish leadership.

The Turkmen, realizing that Turkey's support is waning, ha

[osint] LEBANON:Salafi-Jihadist Movement Becoming a New Force in Lebanon

[Bruce Tefft]

 
Salafi-Jihadist Movement Becoming a New Force in Lebanon Murad al-Shishani
[From; Terrorism Focus (The Jamestown Foundation (USA) April 4, 2006 -
Volume III, Issue 13]

In July 2005, French scholar Olivier Roy argued that Iraq and Palestine are
not factors in the prevalence of the Salafi-Jihadist movement. He based his
argument on the fact that there are no Iraqi or Palestinian members in the
Salafi-Jihadist organizations. Now, however, this argument must be
reconsidered. Afghan authorities have expressed their concern over the
"hordes of Iraqi suicide bombers" 
following the arrest of Noman Eddin Majid, aged 35 years, from Diyala
governorate as he was trying to sneak into Afghanistan (al-Hayat, February
3). In addition, the perpetrators of the Amman bombing on November 9, 2005,
and most of those in the recent disbanded terrorist cell in Amman as well,
were Iraqis (Terrorism Focus, March 7). As for the Palestinians, the
attention is becoming increasingly focused on Lebanon with its Palestinian
refugee camps, particularly Ain El- Hilweh, instead of the West Bank.
(Approximately 400,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon.)
 
While the recruitment of Salafi-Jihadists in Lebanon is not restricted to
Palestinians and includes some Lebanese nationals, young men from refugee
camps are more fertile material for recruitment. Following the news of the
arrest of Salafi-Jihadists in Lebanon and the announcement made by the
movement of its responsibility for blowing up a location for the Lebanese
army on February 1 (the movement delivered the threat through a phone call
to the Sada al-Balad newspaper a day before, according to the paper),
Lebanese authorities arrested 31 suspected jihadists. In light of this claim
of responsibility and the arrests, it is important to examine the forms of
recruitment that the Salafi-Jihadists use in Lebanon (al-Watan, February 8).
 
It seems that the activities of the Salafi-Jihadist movement focus on the
poor Lebanese and Palestinian communities. The increasing connection with
the Iraq factor is due to two reasons: the unattractiveness of the secular
Palestinian organizations in the refugee camps compared to the increasing
attraction of the Islamist groups, and the waning control of the
Future/Hariri Party over the Sunni community.
 
Palestinian Refugee Camps
 
Ain El-Hilweh refugee camp was the base for Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat in the 1980s. The camp was a stronghold for the "Palestinian
revolution" organizations, and it remains to this day under the power of
Palestinians to the extent that the Lebanese army does not venture inside it
(al-Hayat, February 26). The power of the secular organizations, however, is
moving to the Islamist organizations, especially since the secular
organizations have been implicated in cases of corruption and have not met
the demands of the Palestinians. The commander of Fatah's militias in
Lebanon, Colonel Mounir Maqdah, proposed "forming a Lebanese-Palestinian
military force to eradicate this fundamental group [from Ain El-Hilweh]."
This clearly indicates the increase in the power of Islamist groups and the
Palestinian organizations' fear of losing their control, especially when
newspaper sources talk of "returnees from Iraq" who aim at declaring
"Lebanon's loyalty" to the "Foundation of Jihad in Iraq" (al-Sharq al-Awsat,
February 4).
 
An indication of the spread of the influence of the Salafi-Jihadist
movements amidst Palestinians in Lebanon, promoted by the "returnees from
Iraq," is what Hazem Amin in al-Hayat calls the "al-Qaeda terminology." The
volunteers in Iraq are in touch with their parents in a way that connects
the parents with information about jihad activities. This terminology is so
widespread that Shiites are now described as "heretics" (al-Hayat, January
25), which is a new feature in the Lebanese sectarian system. In addition,
death threats were made by the al-Qaeda Organization in Bilad al-Sham to
Shiite Lebanese figures (al-Sharq al-Awsat, July 27, 2005).
 
While this is the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon, the influence of the
Salafi-Jihadist movement is not restricted to them. There are Sunni Lebanese
nationals who have headed to Iraq to volunteer in fighting the Americans
(al-Hayat, January 26). Likewise, there was a transformation in the village
of Majdal Anjar, which used to be the stronghold of "traditional Salafism,"
since the arrival of Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani, who later became a close
companion of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after he reached Iraq with his 16-year-old
son, and where they both later died. Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani was Mustafa
Ramadan. He began to spread his jihadist ideas since his return from Denmark
around 2003 (al-Hayat, January 27), and was able to form a nucleus for the
jihadist movement. The influence of those ideas applies to the Sunnis in
Lebanon-not just to the Palestinians.
 
Sunni Lebanese
 
Lebanon-based Addiyar newspaper indicated on February 7, following the
burning of the Danish Embassy

[osint] INDIA: "A terrorist organisation rises again"

[Bruce Tefft]

 

A terrorist organisation rises again
Praveen Swami
[From: The Hindu (Chennai) 24 March 2006]

A MARCH 17 encounter in Ahmedabad shows that the Pakistan-based
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, until recently thought to be defunct, has been reborn
from the ashes and has joined the growing Islamist terror campaign against
India. A register in the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen's office in Islamabad lists
the names of those who gave their lives for its cause: 238 men who were
killed fighting, the forces of first the Soviet Union and then the United
States in Afghanistan, and another
433 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier this month, a clerk at the Harkat office may have added a new entry
to the list of countries against which the terrorist organisation had gone
to war — and then written the names of the first men to die in this
campaign.

On March 17, police in Ahmedabad shot dead Sialkot resident Imran Shehzad
Bhatti, the commander of the first Harkat terror cell to attempt strikes
against India outside of Jammu and Kashmir. Bhatti, who had earlier served
for three years as a field commander in Jammu and Kashmir, died along with
his lieutenant Mohammad `Furkan' Iqbal, who hailed from Karachi, and two
long-standing ethnic-Kashmiri Harkat operatives, Mohammad Ayub Butt and
Mudassir Rather, both from the apple-growing region of Shopian.

Last summer, Bhatti had been given charge of building a new house for the
Harkat: a house from which it could wage war across India. Bhatti, Indian
counter-intelligence officials have found, travelled across much of India,
scouring towns for both recruits and base. He seems to have had more than a
little success in this enterprise. From Punjab, for example, the Harkat
commander even succeeded in purchasing for himself fake documents that
identified him as a policeman serving in the State's vigilance organisation.

Much of Bhatti's network was set up by Butt, a fruit trader from the village
of Laddi, near Shopian in southern Kashmir. Butt's brother, Yakub, had
served for several years with the Jaish-e-Mohammad, before being shot dead
in an encounter last year. Although he worked closely with Bhatti's south
Kashmir Harkat group, Butt's apparently unremarkable life helped him stay
off the radar of the Jammu and Kashmir police. His fruit business, however,
would be critical to Bhatti's plans to expand the Harkat's terror
capabilities.

Travelling with Butt on his visits to fruit markets across India, Bhatti was
introduced to some of the businessman's associates as a friend — and to an
inner circle by the nom de guerre `Azaan,' the term Muslims use for the call
to prayer at mosques. One of Butt's contacts in Punjab helped the Harkat
commander obtain his fake identification; others provided homes and
references to right-wing clerics in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad,
Hyderabad, and at least half-a-dozen smaller cities.

By late last year, the basic elements of Bhatti's new network were falling
in place. Iqbal, who had long been one of the Harkat commander's most
trusted lieutenants, was able to make contact with newly recruited
associates in New Delhi, Goa, Gwalior, Agra, and Kota.
Like Bhatti himself, Iqbal travelled posing as a businessman linked to
Butt's fruit business, using fake identification — in this case, a driver's
licence obtained from the Yashwantpur Regional Transport Office in north
Bangalore, issued against a false address.

A house of war

For his part, Rather succeeded in obtaining admission to a madrassa near the
southern Gujarat town of Valsad, on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route both Bhatti
and Butt were now regularly using. Investigators have found that at least
three seminaries in the State rejected the ethnic Kashmiri's application to
study there, unimpressed by his credentials. The fourth, however, proved
less suspicious of Rather's claims that he wished to become a cleric. Soon
afterwards, in January, Bhatti rented the Ahmedabad apartment.

Bhatt's Harkat cell now had a home, soon to be stocked with explosives and
weapons. Days after the house was rented, Butt told his parents he was going
to close a fruit deal. He never returned. His worried family filed a missing
persons report later that month, but the Jammu and Kashmir police had no
success in locating Butt — until, that is, the morning of March 18, when
photographs of the four terrorists killed in Ahmedabad reached the police
headquarters in Srinagar.

Jammu and Kashmir police officials had been increasingly concerned about the
Harkat's rebirth long before those photographs arrived. Late last year,
investigators had learned that a new commander, operating under the
code-name `Talha,' had been despatched across the Line of Control to rebuild
the group's apparatus. The commander, they discovered, had hidden out in the
Bandipora forests in northern Kashmir, before moving to a safe house in
Srinagar.

Weeks of work finally led the Jammu and Kashmir police's crack Special
Operations Group to a small shop in Srinagar's Soura area

[osint] EGYPT: "Al-Qaeda & Muslim Brotherhood: United by Strategy, Divided by Tactics"

[Bruce Tefft]

 
Al-Qaeda & the Muslim Brotherhood: United by Strategy, Divided by Tactics By
Lydia Khalil
[From: Terrorism Monitor (The Jamestown Foundation,USA) Volume 4, Issue 6,
23 March 2006]

For many years, Ayman al-Zawahiri has denounced Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
for what he claims is the misguided direction they have taken political
Islam. In a recent statement, al-Zawahiri renewed his criticism of the
Ikhwan al-Muslimun ("Muslim Brotherhood") for their participation in Egypt's
parliamentary elections. The Muslim Brotherhood responded to al-Zawahiri's
attack and continues to defend its participation in elections. This recent
public spat between the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda is emblematic of a
growing rift between the Ikhwan and militant salafists over the most
effective means to promote Islamic governance and combat Western hegemony.

On January 6, al-Zawahiri, former leader of Egypt's Islamic Jihad and
al-Qaeda's leading strategist, recorded a videotape released on al-Jazeera
television. Referring to the Muslim Brotherhood, although not specifying the
organization by name, and sarcastically alluding to the position of Egypt's
Hosni Mubarak regime, al-Zawahiri states, "Today you are winning 80 seats
and after five years you will win 100 seats. Hence, at whatever time your
behavior improves, we will offer you more. Once you become secular and
falsely affiliated with Islam.we will let you assume power provided that you
forget about the rule of Sharia, welcome the Crusaders' bases in your
countries, and acknowledge the existence of the Jews who are fully armed
with nuclear weapons, which you are banned to possess."

Despite what al-Zawahiri claims, the Muslim Brotherhood has not relinquished
the goal of Islamic governance, although their methods to achieve it may
have changed. Nor have the Ikhwan embraced the United States. For the Muslim
Brotherhood, Islam cannot be separated from governance or political life.
According to their slogan, "Allah is our goal; the Messenger is our model;
the Quran is our constitution; jihad is our means; and martyrdom in the way
of Allah is our aspiration."
Although the Muslim Brotherhood has moderated its rhetoric, tactics and
approach over the years, its overarching goal of Islamic governance has not
wavered despite its efforts to publicly de-emphasize this fact.

Al-Qaeda also promotes religious governance in the Muslim world but, as
al-Zawahiri's statement indicates, remains critical of the Muslim
Brotherhood's approach to elections. There is a distinct divergence in
perception regarding the significance of the Muslim Brotherhood's increased
representation in the Egyptian parliament. Clearly, al-Zawahiri perceives
the Muslim Brotherhood's election victory not as a positive step for the
Islamist cause, but as a win for the apostate Egyptian government. He
believes that the Muslim Brotherhood only achieved greater representation in
governance because they moderated in a manner that suited the Egyptian
regime and sold out the salafist vision in order to gain a piece of
political power.

The Muslim Brotherhood's strong showing in the recent elections has made the
Ikhwan's participation in government more visible, but elements of the
Muslim Brotherhood have been entrenched in the Egyptian government for
decades. For instance, their influence within the Egyptian Education
Ministry has been ongoing since the 1970s.
Al-Zawahiri sees the Ikhwan's election victory as part of a long trend of
Islamic dilution and acquiescence to the apostate Egyptian regime.
In reality, however, the insidious penetration of the Egyptian government by
the Muslim Brotherhood has enabled the latter to steadily and covertly
Islamize Egyptian society at all levels.

In a recent opinion piece, Issam al-Aryan provides insight into this
sophisticated strategy: "Implementation on the ground [of democratic
development] portends a great victory for the peaceful democratic Islamic
trend, which is represented by the school of the Muslim Brotherhood. This
victory was achieved in all the elections that were held in the region, in a
process of peaceful change in the center of events and the location of the
historical struggle over the future of the region" (al-Hayat, February 24).

Although they share the same end goal, the Ikhwan's divergent strategy is
problematic for al-Qaeda. For salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood is a
cornerstone organization. They articulated the original philosophy on which
all subsequent Salafi-Jihadist activism is based. The writings of Sayyid
Qutb are the intellectual and theological underpinnings behind organizations
like Egypt's Islamic Jihad, a group headed by al-Zawahiri that ultimately
merged with al-Qaeda. If the Muslim Brotherhood is working through
elections, it disrupts al-Qaeda's agenda for the Middle East.

For al-Qaeda, Egypt features prominently in the vision for an Islamic
caliphate in the Middle East and beyond. This is evident in previous
statements made by al-Zawahiri. In his

[osint] INDONESIA: "JI's Two-Pronged Strategy in Indonesia"

[Bruce Tefft]

 

JI's Two-Pronged Strategy in Indonesia
By Zachary Abuza
[From: Terrorism Focus (The Jamestown Foundation, USA) Volume 3, Issue 16
(April 25, 2006)]

Jemaah Islamiya was responsible for the Bali attack in 2002, which killed
over 200 people.
Two recent reports based on Indonesian police and intelligence sources
regarding Jemaah Islamiya's (JI) changing strategies suggest that the
organization continues to have a two-pronged strategy of both targeting
Western interests and fomenting sectarian conflicts. While some analysts
have suggested that these strategies reflect deep-seeded factionalism within
the organization, these reports suggest that the differing strategies and
targeting reflect limited resources and capabilities in the current period.

The first report contends that last year Noordin Mohammed Top, one of JI's
leaders, instructed his subordinates to conduct reconnaissance on Paiton
Energy's coal-fired thermal power plant, some 150 kilometers southeast of
Surabaya. The power plant, which is owned and operated by a consortium of
Japanese, British and U.S. companies, provides much of the electricity for
Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city and the province of East Java. Two
men, arrested for their roles in harboring the JI fugitive, revealed that
the plot was abandoned simply because JI did not have the material resources
to mount an attack on such a large target (Yomiuri Shimbun, April 17).

Those same sources also suggest that Noordin ordered operatives to find
Japanese-related targets in Indonesia. Japan has never been directly
targeted by JI, although there were a number of Japanese victims in the Bali
bombing. This could be seen as an attempt to implement the al-Qaeda line,
espoused in several al-Qaeda statements that identified Japan as an enemy
(Japan was mentioned in Osama bin Laden's October 7, 2001 statement that
aired on al-Jazeera, in a 2004 statement by Abu Hafs al-Masri and in an
audiotape by Ayman al-Zawahiri that aired on al-Jazeera on October 1, 2004).

Lacking the resources, and arguably avoiding the dragnet across central
Java, the second report cites police intelligence that Noordin was planning
a suicide bombing in mid-April in the capital of the strife-torn province of
Central Sulawesi (Detik.com, April 12). This report is interesting for two
reasons. First, it stated that a man carrying a backpack would likely carry
out the operation. Noordin and his compatriot Dr. Azahari bin Husin, who was
killed in October 2005, were unhappy with JI's rate of attacks. Major truck
bomb operations were conducted on roughly an annual basis (for instance,
Bali in October 2002, the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003, and
the Australian Embassy in September 2004). Beginning with last October's
triple bombings in Bali, perpetrated by three suicide bombers with
backpacks, Azahari and Noordin began a wave of smaller bombings in a faster
tempo. When police raided Azahari's East Java safe-house, they found some 30
bombs being prepared.

Second, Central Sulawesi, like the Malukus, has been the site of an
intensified push by JI and affiliated groups to foment a new wave of
sectarian bloodletting. In the immediate post-Suharto period, JI members
established two paramilitary organizations to engage in sectarian conflicts.
Not only did these lashkars, or militias, give JI an important pool of
indoctrinated militants, but they served to discredit the state that did not
come to the defense of the Muslim community.

In 2002, the government brokered a fragile peace in these provinces, but
since then there has been a concerted effort to undermine the fragile peace
process and renew the bloodletting. Since October 2004, incidents in Central
Sulawesi have included the seizure of two caches of more than 125 IEDs, the
bombing of a church, arson attacks in a Christian community that killed six,
the beheading of three Hindu schoolgirls, the targeted assassinations of two
witnesses in criminal trials of Muslim perpetrators of sectarian conflicts,
a bomb that ripped through a crowded marketplace in Palu, killing six and
wounding 45, some three other bombings, and a number of machete attacks.
Very clearly, militants hope to renew the fighting as JI's leaders set about
regrouping and recruiting a new generation of militants (Jakarta Post, May
21, 2005, October 30, 2005, October 29, 2005, November 29, 2005; Tempo,
August 5, 2005). A large percentage of apprehended JI militants come from
these conflict areas.

Additionally, recent press reports suggest that Noordin Mohammad Top has
broken away from JI and formed his own jihadi organization, called Tanzim
Qaidatul Jihad (TQJ). TQJ, according to some analysts, reflects the fact
that most JI members eschew JI's past strategy of focusing on the far enemy,
rather than the near enemy. Yet, the recent reports of Noordin's activities
cast further doubt on the intensity of those factional schisms. The main
determinant in targeting remains available human and material 

[osint] PAKISTAN: "ISI Shifts Dawood Ibrahim to Waziristan?"

[Bruce Tefft]

 
ISI SHIFTS DAWOOD IBRAHIM TO WAZIRISTAN? 
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR--PAPER NO. 84 by B. Raman
[From: South Asia Analysis Group, Paper no. 1869, 08. 07. 2006]
http://www.saag.org/%5Cpapers19%5Cpaper1869.html

Dawood Ibrahim, the Indian mafia leader, was living in Karachi with a
Pakistani passport under a different name since the explosions in Mumbai in
March,1993, in which over 300 innocent civilians were killed. The entire
operation was orchestrated by him from Dubai, where he was living before
March,1993.He had the perpetrators of the blasts trained clandestinely  by
the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan in Pakistani territory.
After the training, they returned to Mumbai and carried out the explosions
with the help of explosives, detonators and timers given by the ISI. These
were clandestinely shipped to landing points on the western coast of India
in boats hired by Dawood.

2.  When his involvement in the blasts was proved, the Government of India
requested the Dubai authorities for his arrest and deportation.
The Dubai authorities advised him to leave their country. He shifted to
Karachi  and started living there. Sections of the Pakistani media reported
from time to time about his presence in Karachi and the activities of his
mafia group from Pakistani territory.  They also reported that many retired
officers of the Pakistani intelligence community had been employed by him as
his security officers.

3.  At the request of the Government of India, the International Police
Organisation (INTERPOL) based in Lyons in France issued many look-out
notices for his arrest and deportation to India if he was found in the
territory of any member-country. The look-out notices also gave his Karachi
address.

4.  In response to these notices, the Pakistani authorities kept denying the
presence of Dawood in their territory. The matter was taken up by Mr.
A.B.Vajpayee, our former Prime Minister, with President Pervez Musharraf
during their meeting in Agra in July,2001, and again during their meeting in
Islamabad in January 2004.Dawood's name also figured in the list of 20
terrorists wanted for trial in India, which was handed over by the
Government of India to Islamabad in the beginning of 2002. The stock
response from Musharraf was that Dawood Ibrahim was not in Pakistan.

5.  In the meanwhile, the Karachi-based Dawood developed contacts with the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and Al Qaeda elements such as Ramzi Binalshibh (since
arrested by the Pakistani authorities and handed over to the US), who had
been given sanctuary in Karachi by the LET.

6.  Following the receipt of information about his contacts with Al Qaeda
and the LET, the US took serious notice of his presence in Karachi. The US
Treasury Department issued a notification in October, 2003,declaring him an
international terrorist. The notification, which recommended to the UN
Security Council the freezing of his bank accounts because of his
involvement in global terrorism, specified that he was residing in Karachi
and gave his address. The Pakistani authorities contended that no person by
the name Dawood Ibrahim or resembling him was living in Karachi at the
address given by the US.

7.  Thereafter, references to his presence and activities in Pakistani
territory became less and less in the Pakistani media. Then suddenly, on
June 18, 2006, the "News" of Pakistan carried a detailed report on him. It
claimed that he had changed his physical appearance by undergoing plastic
surgery, that he had shifted from Karachi to Afghan territory and that the
Afghan security forces were searching for him.

8.  The "News" report said inter alia: " The US-backed Afghan National Army
and the Afghan Police have launched a new hunt---this time for an Indian
fugitive by the name Dawood Ibrahim. The tribal areas bordering Afghanistan
and Pakistan, which were being searched for Osama bin Laden and his
lieutenants, are now being combed for the man accused of the Mumbai blasts
of March,1993Sources in the Pakistani intelligence agencies, however,
express ignorance about the whereabouts of the wanted Indian national.
Afghan sources also claim Dawood Ibrahim might be having a safe sanctuary in
Pakistan, where, they say, he continues to maintain close links with
militant outfits. According to a theory doing the rounds in Peshawar,
close friends in Pakistan may have convinced Dawood Ibrahim to re-locate
himself amid fears he will be targeted by his enemy (Chhota Rajan).
The Afghan sources rule out Dawood's presence in Nangarhar Province, but
hint the restive Kunar  and even the troubled eastern provinces of Paktia,
Paktika and Khost could be the possible hide-outs of the terror suspect.
"This is highly unlikely though,"
says an Afghan security official."

9.  Quoting unidentified Indian officials,  sections of the Indian media
reported on July 7,2006,that the Pakistani authorities have informed the
INTERPOL that Dawood Ibrahim was not living in Pakistan as state

[osint] INDIA: "Students Islamic Movement of India - Steady Subversion"

[Bruce Tefft]

 

SIMI: Steady Subversion
Bibhu Prasad Routray
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management
[From: South Asia Intelligence Review,
Volume 4, No. 52, July 10, 2006]

On July 6, 2006, the Supreme Court upheld the ban on the Students Islamic
Movement of India (SIMI) rejecting a petition that claimed that the
organisation had not been found to engage in any terrorist activities.

Significantly, Mohammad Aamir, the chief of SIMI's Uttar Pradesh State unit
and the prime accused in the Kanpur riots of March 16, surrendered before a
metropolitan magistrate on April 25 after spending a night with the police.
Before the media could get a whiff of the surrender, Aamir, who is believed
to have spent almost a year in terrorist training camps in Bangladesh, was
ensconced in the barracks of Kanpur Jail. With pressure to act against Aamir
mounting, the surrender proved a convenient way out for the State
Government, after an earlier plan for his surrender in March was aborted on
grounds of political expediency.

The September 27, 2001, proscription under section 3(1) of the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, was intended to neutralize SIMI's
capacities, which had become a source of visible threat to national
security. However, the annual renewal of the proscription notwithstanding
(the latest ban order was issued on February 8, 2006), the organisation has
managed not only to continue with its not-so-covert activities in its
traditional strongholds, but to extend activities into new areas. In an age
when `zero tolerance' is the declared policy towards any terrorist challenge
to India's security, the official response has been marked by a typical mix
of administrative lethargy, political opportunism and a lack of a coherent
policy.

Before its proscription, SIMI enjoyed a close working relationship with the
Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in Bangladesh and its students' wing, the Islami
Chhatra Shibir (ICS). Over the years, while old linkages have continued, a
new nexus has been established with the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al Islami Bangladesh
(HuJI-B). Investigations into the July 28, 2005, Shramjeevi Express
explosion near Jaunpur and the Varanasi serial blasts of March 7, 2006,
indicated a role played by SIMI ansars (full-time cadres) and the HuJI-B's
cadres/agents. The prime conspirator of the Varanasi blasts, thirty-two year
Waliullah, the Pesh Imam of Phulpur in Allahabad, who was arrested on April
5 near Gosainganj, on the outskirts of Lucknow, was a SIMI ansar who had
earlier been arrested in 2001, along with three of his brothers, on charges
of harbouring terrorists. Mohammad Zubair, a resident of Bahraich in Uttar
Pradesh, who was involved in the attacks in Varanasi's Sankatmochan Temple
and the Railway Station and was subsequently gunned down in the Handwara
area in the Kashmir Valley, was also a SIMI cadre. Babu Bhai, the man behind
the Shramjeevi Express blasts near Jaunpur, was, again, a SIMI ansar who
received training at an ICS-run training camps in Ukhia, Bangladesh.

These three young men were products of a continuous recruitment drive by
SIMI cadres for the HuJI-B in Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur, Allahabad, Kanpur,
Lucknow, Ambedkar Nagar, Aligarh, Azamgarh, Sonauli, Ferozabad, Hathras
areas. Till the first quarter of the current year, SIMI old-timers like
Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Salman, Mohammad Rehan and Shariq Fahim, most of
whom have spent time in Bangladesh, were in charge of such operations. SIMI
cadres, according to sources, are also involved in safe transportation of
explosives, as well as the creation of channels for funds and securing safe
houses for HUJI-B cadres.

SIMI's operations in the southern State of Kerala reflect a different modus
operandi. Here, SIMI operates under the cover of some 12 front
organisations, at least two of which are based in the capital,
Thiruvananthapuram, and a third in the port city of Kochi. Kondotty in
Malappuram District has also emerged as a hot-bed of SIMI activities.
An official declaration submitted on June 1, 2006, by the State Government
before the tribunal examining the legality of the ban on SIMI, indicated
that the outfit's cadres had `lately' developed links with the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). Reports from various agencies, including the State
Police Special Branch further indicate that SIMI is operating under the
cover of religious study centres, rural development and research centres.
Some of these front organisations were spreading "extremist religious
ideals" among sections of youth in Kerala by acting under the guise of
"counselling and guidance centres working for behavioural change". SIMI is
also reported to have established a women's wing in Kerala. Generous funds
for such activities flow in from contacts in Kuwait and Pakistan.

SIMI activists have reportedly been meeting covertly in different parts of
the State to increase their network of associates and sympathisers. The
State Crime Branch is currently investigating the role played by SIMI cadres
in the

[osint] "Afghanistan & Anti-British Psywar"

[Bruce Tefft]

 
AFGHANISTAN & ANTI-BRITISH PSYWAR -
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR--PAPER NO. 83 by B. Raman
[From: South Asia Analysis Group, Paper no. 1868, 08. 07. 2006]
http://www.saag.org/%5Cpapers19%5Cpaper1868.html

A year after the London blasts of July 7, 2005, in which four suicide
bombers belonging to the Muslim community of the UK carried out acts of
suicide terrorism in the London underground and in a bus killing 52 persons,
one  still does not have  a complete picture  of the conspiracy and planning
that preceded the attacks and of  all the dramatis personae involved.

Many questions continue to defy answers:

Were the attacks orchestrated by Al Qaeda or any of the Pakistani members of
Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front (IIF) or were they merely the
result of a local initiative by these four suicide bombers?

What was the purpose of the visit of Hasib Hussain, one of the bombers, to
Pakistan in  July, 2004, and of the joint visit of two others, namely,
Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer to Pakistan from November 18,
2004, to February 8, 2005? These visits have reportedly been confirmed by
the Pakistani authorities.

Had they already decided to carry out the attacks before the two went
  to Pakistan or were they motivated to carry out the attacks during their
stay in Pakistan?

If they were motivated during their stay in Pakistan, who motivated them?
Who are the persons they met in Pakistan?

Did they meet Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No.2 in Al Qaeda, Prof.Hafiz Mohammed
Saeed, the head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the political wing of the
Lashkar-e-Toiba, Maulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen,
Maulana Masood Azhar, the Amir of the Jaish-e-Mohammad or Mubarik Ali Shah
Gilani, the head of the Jamaat-ul-Fuqra, as believed by many in the jihadi
community of Pakistan? These sources  assert that the two definitely met
Khalil and Gilani. Some Pakistani police officers, on the other hand, claim
that Zawahiri was the only person they met.

Are there any other members involved in the plot, who have not yet been
identified?

Are any more terrorist strikes likely  in the UK or elsewhere in Europe?

While there is so far no evidence to connect the visit of Hasib Hussain to
Pakistan with the preparations for the London blasts, it is fairly clear now
that the subsequent visit of Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer to
Pakistan was connected with the blasts.  It was only after they returned to
the UK on February 8, 2005,that they started earnestly making preparations
for the blasts such as acquiring and storing  materials required for
fabricating the explosive devices.

Two video-recorded messages of Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shezad Tanweer,
explaining their decision to seek what they look upon as martyrdom, are now
under circulation. The message of Siddique Khan was disseminated by the Al
Jazeera TV channel on September 1, 2005. That of Tanweer has now been
disseminated by the same channel on July 6, 2006, on the eve of the first
anniversary of the blasts.

It is evident that these messages were recorded during their visit to
Pakistan and not in the UK. Had they been recorded in the UK, one would have
expected the other two suicide bombers too to have figured in similar
messages.

Whether Al Qaeda was involved directly in the plot or not, it was definitely
involved in the exercise to disseminate these messages in such a manner
through the distribution channel it normally uses in order to give an
impression that the London blasts"the blessed blasts" as Zawahiri called
them---were part of its global jihad against the Crusaders and the Jewish
people.  Both the messages were accompanied by comments of Zawahiri,
apparently  separately recorded and inserted.

Either these two messages were recorded by Al Qaeda in one of its hide-outs
in Pakistan and then disseminated through its distribution channel  or these
were recorded by a Pakistani jihadi organisation and then passed on to the
Al Qaeda for its use.

Pakistani police officers associated with the investigation reportedly
assert that no Pakistani organisation had anything to do with the blasts and
that the messages were recorded during a visit by the two suicide bombers to
the hide-out of al-Zawahiri in the Waziristan area.

There are some intriguing aspects about these messages.

When the message of Siddique Khan was disseminated by Al Jazeera on
September 1, 2005, it was widely known in the jihadi circles of Pakistan
that there was a similar recorded message of Tanweer.

Why were the two messages not released at the same time?

Why did those, who recorded these messages , wait for 10 months before
disseminating the message of Tanweer on July 6, 2006?

Did they keep it pending deliberately till the first anniversary or did they
only come to know now of its existence and got hold of it?

The contents of the two messages are intriguing too.

Siddique Khan's message was very general and did  not refer to any issue in
particular while ta

[osint] IRAN: "Iranian Intelligence Ministry Warns Against 'Velvet Revolution'"

[Bruce Tefft]

 

Iranian Intelligence Ministry Warns Against "Velvet Revolution"
By Safa Haeri
Posted Wednesday, July 5, 2006
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2006/july-2006/jahanbaglou_57
06.shtml


Paris, 5 July (IPS) For the first time, Iranian authorities acknowledged the
existence of new type of revolutions, colourful and non violent, as the
"orange" or "velvet" revolutions that occurred in Kiev or Bishkek.

In his first public interview with Iranian news agencies, Intelligence
Minister Hojjatoleslam Qolamhoseyn Mohseni Ezhe'i revealed that university
professor Ramin Jahanbaglou was arrested "on suspicion of assisting the U.S.
in its efforts to provoke a velvet revolution in Iran".

"However, the Intelligence Ministry has yet to complete its investigations
on him", he added, according to the semi-official "Mehr" news agency
affiliated to the Supreme Council on National Security.

An internationally acclaimed scholar, researcher and philosopher, Mr.
Jahanbaglou had been detained on 27 April at the Tehran airport, on his
arrival from India where he had met Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual
leader.

Since then, he is held without access to a lawyer and some of his colleagues
and friends have expressed concern that he could be under pressure to make
forced confessions, a method used by the clerical led authorities in the
past to discredit critics.

"Iran's Islamic regime is continuing its political repression and human
rights violations like before", Mr. Akbar Ganji, an investigative journalist
and human rights activist said in Berlin.

"One of the tools for political repression is arbitrary and illegal arrests.
They arrest people because of their opinions and because of dissent", added
Mr. Ganji, who spent six years behind bars for exposing the participation of
the regime's highest officials in the assassination of Iranian political and
intellectual dissidents.

In London on Tuesday, Mr. Ganji, who is on a European tour that started from
Moscow, where he received the Golden Pen Award of the World Congress of
Journalists, noted that many human rights activists and intellectuals have
called for the release of Jahanbeglou, Ali Akbar Moussavi Kho'eini, a former
reformist lawmaker and Mansour Osanlou, the Tehran Bus drivers Union leader.

He warned the Iranian authorities to release "immediately and without
condition" the three men or he would call an international hunger strike.

"Since the Iranian Government have not paid attention to these calls, a
general hunger strike seems to be the only way to press for their release",
he warned.

In recent weeks several separate statements have been issued by activists
and intellectuals in protest of the detentions of the three men.

In the case of Jahanbeglou, personalities such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Literature Prize winner J.M. Coetzee, acclaimed Italian
writer Umberto Eco, and prominent historian and author Timothy Garton Ash
have joined the call for his release.

There is also growing concern about Mr. Moussavi Khoeini, who was arrested
in Tehran during a June 12 women's rights gathering.

Seventy men and women were arrested for attending the protest against legal
gender discrimination. All have been freed except for Mr.
Moussavi Khoeini.

"This is a matter of concern because it is possible that they will bring new
charges against him such as espionage or toppling the regime", Mrs Fatemeh
Haqiqat Jou, also a reformist lawmaker, told the Prague-based Radio Free
Europe- Radio Liberty.

"During his term in the parliament he worked hard for the closure of secret
and illegal prisons; he also defended the rights of political prisoners.
These are among issues that can lead to new cases against him especially
because he has been a defender of student rights and also the rights of
women and workers."

Human rights activists are also worried about the fate Osanlou, the
president of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran Bus Company.

He has been in jail since last December on unspecified charges. He
reportedly helped organize demonstrations against bus drivers' work
conditions.

According to Mr. Mohseni Ezheh'i, the Americans are preparing for a "velvet
or colour revolution" not only in Iran, but also in other Central Asian
nations, and Mr. Jahanbaglou was arrested in this framework, having the
mission of coordinating various currents in this issue.

"This is the first time that Iranian authorities introduce the expression of
coloured revolutions into the official jargon. That the Intelligence
Minister talks about velvet revolution means that the country is ready for
such peaceful, non violent event", commented Mr.
Mas'oud Behnoud, a veteran journalist based in England.

"The importance of means at the disposal of Mr. Jahanbaglou as well as his
relations and communications attracted the attention of the
(Intelligence) Ministry of him. Some of his activities were absolutely
organized and organizational, point out to his mission", Mr.
Mohsen

[osint] ITALY: "Italian Probe Broadens Beyond Abduction"

[Bruce Tefft]

 

Italian Probe Broadens Beyond Abduction
Prosecutors in the case of a Muslim cleric seek evidence of illegal spying
by intelligence officers. Some journalists also may be involved.
By Tracy Wilkinson, Times Staff Writer
July 7, 2006
[From: Los Angeles Times]

ROME - What began as an investigation of the alleged CIA abduction of a
radical Muslim cleric has mushroomed into a wider probe of possibly illegal
domestic espionage by Italian intelligence agents compiling dossiers on
judges, journalists and prosecutors.

Investigators raided the files of one intelligence agency Thursday, and
journalists figured into the growing scandal as both the purported spies and
the purported spied-upon.

Prosecutors who had two senior Italian intelligence officials arrested
Wednesday in connection with the CIA case plan to interrogate six other
officers from the same agency, known as SISMI, sources familiar with the
widening probe said Thursday. The arrests were the first official
acknowledgment of Italian involvement in the 2003 abduction of the cleric,
who has said he was tortured after he was transported to Egypt.

Developments in that case sent shock waves through Italy's political
establishment. But it now appears that activities by the intelligence
agency, or a unit within it, went further into murky and possibly illegal
territory.

Prosecutors suspect that SISMI agents were carrying out surveillance on
journalists, magistrates and businesspeople and collecting the data in a
massive secret archive at a government building in Rome, the sources said.
Police began raiding offices housing the archive Wednesday and continued
Thursday, hauling out loads of files and computer disks.

The sources requested anonymity because their information involved an open
case.

The prospect that SISMI may have been engaged in an illicit domestic spying
operation has raised serious questions about the roles of Nicolo Pollari,
the agency's chief, and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. There were
calls Thursday for a parliamentary inquiry.

Under Italian law, the country's secret services must inform judges before
they investigate citizens connected to suspected crimes. SISMI is the
military intelligence agency, one of three secret services.

"There is undoubtedly a need to discuss reforming the services,"
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said Thursday as reporters questioned him
about the new revelations. Amato said Italy must confront "the usual problem
concerning the definition of a clear legal framework for intelligence
operations."

"It is important to clearly define the limits" within which intelligence
operations can be carried out, he said.

Among the material found in the archive was a file on crusading
investigative reporter Giuseppe D'Avanzo of the leftist newspaper La
Repubblica, people familiar with the probe said. D'Avanzo has reported
numerous intelligence scandals, including one involving documents that
purported to show Iraq was buying nuclear material from Niger, an allegation
that figured into Washington's argument for war in Iraq but turned out to be
false.

Prosecutors based in Milan discovered the archive as they deepened their
investigation of the No. 2 SISMI official, Marco Mancini, in connection with
the CIA abduction case. Mancini was one of two Italian spymasters arrested
Wednesday on suspicion of having helped CIA operatives plan and execute the
"extraordinary rendition" of cleric Hassan Osama Nasr, also known as Abu
Omar, from the streets of Milan in February 2003.

Among other elements of the case, prosecutors are investigating whether
SISMI used friendly journalists to spy on unfriendly magistrates. Reporters
with Libero, a small right-wing newspaper in northern Italy, are suspected
of setting up interviews with the lead prosecutor in the abduction case,
Armando Spataro, to inquire about what he had learned, and then passing the
information to SISMI agents.

One of the Libero journalists, Claudio Antonelli, was interrogated by
prosecutors in Milan for four hours Thursday, the Italian news agency ANSA
reported. Editors for the paper have denied wrongdoing. Its offices were
raided Wednesday by police working for the prosecutors.

Spataro's work has been especially problematic for the CIA and its allies in
Italy. In contrast to law enforcement officials in other European countries
where the agency is believed to have carried out similar extraordinary
renditions, Spataro is attempting to prosecute CIA operatives.

He has issued arrest warrants for 26 Americans whom he has accused of being
part of the Abu Omar operation, including the former CIA station chief in
Rome, even though the Berlusconi government tried to shut the prosecutor
down. None of the Americans are in Italy, and none have been detained.

The transcripts of law enforcement wiretaps published in Italian newspapers
showed that Mancini and other SISMI officers referred to Spataro as il
cretino - the cretin. Mancini also can be heard, according to 

[osint] IRAQ: "Lessons from Vietnam in how to 'flip' an enemy"

[Bruce Tefft]

 

Lessons from Vietnam in how to 'flip' an enemy The turncoats' knowledge of
the enemy's methods and habits proved invaluable.
By Patrick Lang
[From: Christian Science Monitor, 07 July 2006}
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0707/p09s02-coop.html

ALEXANDRIA, VA. – Long ago and across the world in Vietnam, I had the job of
persuading enemy soldiers to leave their government to join "our side" in
the long struggle there against revolutionary socialism.
Some of my experiences could be replicated in places such as Iraq and
Afghanistan, although the recent news makes me wonder if it's still possible
to bring people over to our side.

The names we hear daily in the news - "Haditha," and "Hamandiya" among
several others - represent serious investigations into atrocities allegedly
committed by American troops. It's impossible to say now what the outcome of
these investigations will be. Many of the allegations involve the treatment
of Iraqi and Afghan civilians. Some include people who were clearly
combatants on the other side in the war.

The responsibility of our soldiers - or anyone's soldiers - to safeguard
non-combatants is crystal clear in our law and in international law. The
problem of how to deal with enemy fighters is another and more complicated
issue.

At the commencement of this war on terror the Bush administration decided
that enemy fighters would not be considered "prisoners of war," although
they would be afforded comparable protections. This judgment, in my view,
has made possible the questionable internment and interrogation facility at
Guantánamo, "rendition" of prisoners to countries that are known to torture
prisoners, such as Egypt, and a general lowering of standards in the
treatment of prisoners in places such as the Abu Ghraib prison complex. From
personal experience as a military intelligence officer who dealt with
prisoners of war in Vietnam, I can tell you that the rules were quite
different.

In Vietnam, enemy prisoners of war were treated in accordance with the
Geneva Conventions and were given the POW designation. Many people have seen
photographs of American or South Vietnamese soldiers with prisoners from the
other side, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. Although there were
undoubtedly instances in which individual Americans abused prisoners, I
would defy anyone to provide photographic evidence of such abuse in a
facility for the detention of enemy prisoners of war in Vietnam.

The enemies captured in Vietnam were held by US or South Vietnamese military
police (MPs), interrogated by US Army or South Vietnamese military
intelligence, and then sent to prisoner-of-war camps that were run by the
South Vietnamese Army under the tutelage of American MP advisers.

Some exceptions applied. Underground political cadres (communist politicians
secretly running a shadow government), for example, were not considered to
be prisoners of war because they were neither soldiers nor organized
guerillas and thus were not protected by the Fourth Geneva Convention on the
treatment of prisoners of war. They were treated as criminals and traitors
to the South Vietnamese state.

Enemy intelligence personnel apprehended in civilian clothes were subject to
the sanction traditionally reserved for spies. There's the famous picture of
South Vietnam's chief of police, for example, shooting a captured North
Vietnamese intelligence officer in the street during the 1968 Tet offensive.
The South Vietnamese general thought he was acting within his legal rights.

Nevertheless, the great majority of captured enemies, and by that I mean
soldiers and guerrillas captured on the battlefield, went to prisoner-of-war
camps.

These camps were located throughout the country. They housed thousands of
enemy soldiers until the end of the war under conditions that met the
standards of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the organization
charged with monitoring adherence to the Geneva Conventions.

Part of my job that year was proselytizing in these camps, trolling for
those who might want to change sides. I visited a number of these camps in
1972 and did not see anything very objectionable about them.
When the war finally ended, these imprisoned soldiers were returned to their
own side.

But as in any war, soldiers who are not so firmly anchored to one side can
be persuaded to "come over." Often these men are among the most intelligent
and experienced, who have come to see war itself as a cynical game played by
the powerful at the soldiers' expense.

Hundreds of prisoners decided to change sides during the Vietnam War and
join with US or South Vietnamese forces. One of the most useful projects
that the "turncoats" served in were the "Kit Carson Scouts."
These former enemy soldiers wore our uniforms, bore arms as part of our
combat forces, and accompanied our own soldiers in the field.
Their knowledge of the enemy's methods and habits proved invaluable.
After demonstrating their loyalty to the American forces during 

[osint] LeT, SIMI hand in Mumbai blasts

[Bruce Tefft]

Times of India
 [ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1733318.cms ]
NEW DELHI: The terror attack on Mumbai trains was carried out by
Lashkar-e-Toiba and local Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)
activists and was designed to trigger communal conflagration in the
country's financial capital, intelligence sources said. 

While still waiting for clues to emerge, top intelligence sources in New
Delhi seem pretty sure the blasts on the trains were plotted by Lashkar
modules which are increasingly collaborating with activists of SIMI, which
boasts of strong pockets of influence across Maharashtra. 

The estimate of intelligence agencies here is derived from the scale of the
attack, as well as precise information about the Lashkar's sleeper cells
that have proliferated in Maharashtra. 

Sources in the home ministry, in fact, said that a carnage had seemed very
much on the cards with information pouring in about stockpiling of arms and
explosives by religious extremists. 



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] ' We Will See the Banner of Islam 'Flying Over Big Ben and the British Parliament'

[Bruce Tefft]

  http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD120306 

July 12, 2006 No.1203 
 
Exiled British Islamist Sheikh Omar bin Bakri in Beirut: We Will See the
Banner of Islam 'Flying Over Big Ben and the British Parliament'

Sheikh Omar bin Bakri, Syrian-born British Islamist and former leader of the
Islamist "Al-Muhajirun" organization in Britain, whose activities in Britain
were stopped in October 2005, now resides in Beirut. In an interview, Sheikh
Omar bin Bakri told the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that he would not
consider returning to Britain until it "repealed its terrorist laws through
which it terrorizes peaceful Muslims in Britain" and that "loyal Muslims in
Britain will one day turn it, with Allah's help, into 'Islamistan.'" He also
repeated statements he had made in 2001 about the "banner of Islam" flying
over British landmarks and government buildings. [1] 

The following are excerpts from the interview: [2] 

Question: "Do you still stand by your previous fatwas, and in particular the
one forbidding the handing over of information concerning terrorists?" 

Omar Bakri: "The handing over of information concerning Muslims - whether
they are those who fight jihad for the sake of Allah or just plain Muslims -
to the British or American police or to any other infidel or apostate
security force [i.e. those of Arab or Muslim states], is a forbidden act
according to the shari'a. This is one of the severe forms of heresy that
removes one from the [fold of the] religion [of Islam]. This is because this
is a kind of aid to the infidels against the Muslims, and Allah said:
'Whosoever among you befriends them, he is [like] one of them [Koran
5:51].'" 

Question: "Are you thinking of returning to Britain?" 

Bakri: "I am not thinking of returning to Britain as long as it does not
repeal its terrorist laws through which it terrorizes peaceful Muslims in
Britain under the pretext of fighting terrorism. For someone like me to
return is forbidden according to the shari'a, since this instance falls into
the category of 'one who gives himself up as a prisoner.' Islam forbids one
to give oneself up as a prisoner… to infidels." 

Question: "Don't you feel today that you have become isolated from the
Islamic mainstream in Britain?" 

Bakri: "Perhaps [today], with my being outside of Britain, I am even closer
to the Islamic mainstream than in the past, but I am as far away as can be
from the hypocritical stream [of Islam] that sold its religion and its
[Islamic] nation for a bit of money in order to appease the British
authorities and [acquire] government jobs under the name of the British
Islamic Council [the Arabic name for the Muslim Council of Britain]." 

Question: "What do you recommend to the British Muslim youth and to your
students who are far away from you?" 

Bakri: "I recommend to the Muslim youth in general, and to my beloved
students in particular, that they not assimilate into the pagan [jahili]
British society, [but at the same time] not distance themselves from people.
They should preach for the sake of Allah, they should command good and
forbid evil, they should obey Allah and distance themselves from infidels
and polytheists, and [distance themselves] from their customs, traditions,
and laws, and stay true to the Koran and the Sunna in accordance with the
understanding of the first believers in Muhammad's generation." 

Question: "In your opinion, has 'Londonistan' come to an end and its gates
been closed?" 

Bakri: "What is today called 'Londonistan' is in fact 'Heretistan,' that is,
dar al-kufr [the abode of heresy]. I think that loyal Muslims in Britain
will one day turn it, with Allah's help, into 'Islamistan,' that is dar
al-islam [the abode of Islam], as the first Muslims did in Ethiopia and in
Indonesia. Then the great Islamic dream will be fulfilled - that we will see
the banner [proclaiming] 'There is no God but Allah' flying over Big Ben and
the British Parliament, with Allah's help." 

Question: "Do you think that London is still safe today, after most of the
sheikhs of the fundamentalist movement have disappeared from it?" 

Bakri: "I think that the presence of 'ulama and preachers from the Islamic
movement was a safety valve for Britain, and not the opposite, like some
naïve people think. Britain is not considered safe, not since the
anti-terror laws were passed in 2002. There is no doubt that the
disappearance, arrest, or expulsion of the majority of the 'ulama and the
preachers will make Britain an unsafe country subject to [risk of] attacks
by those who think that it must be fought because it is participating
alongside the U.S. in the global Crusader campaign of fighting Islam and the
Muslims." 






[1] For more on Sheikh Omar bin Bakri, see MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No.
73, " Radical Islamist Profiles (2): Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad - London,"
October 24, 2001,
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archi

[osint] Tunnel Plot Terrorists are Al-Qaeda

[Bruce Tefft]

 

 
Tunnel Plot Suspects Linked to Al-Qaeda


By Spencer S. Hsu and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 11, 2006; A08

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/10/AR2006071001
223_pf.html



The Lebanese man arrested in an alleged plot to bomb New York transit
tunnels under the Hudson River had been recruited by al-Qaeda three years
ago and members of his cell had been attempting to seek help from the
organization for the attack, U.S. and Lebanese officials said yesterday.

Authorities announced the arrest of Assem Hammoud, 31, on Friday. They said
he had been held in Beirut since April 27 and had been planning an assault
on PATH commuter trains this fall, though the alleged conspiracy never
reached the point of the suspects beginning to gather intelligence and
explosives.

In addition to Hammoud, U.S. officials say, two suspects are being held
overseas without charges, five others are at least partly identified and six
foreign governments are cooperating.

Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, commander of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces, said
one suspect left Syria for Libya, where he has been arrested. Authorities
would not say where the third suspect in custody is being held. At some
point, Rifi said, the suspects were in Bosnia, Canada, Denmark and the
United Arab Emirates. Rifi said one of the suspects was an Iranian Kurd who
has not been arrested.

FBI Assistant Director John Miller said, "It was a self-initiating foreign
cell that had access to al-Qaeda's connections."

Law enforcement officials went on an offensive yesterday in reaction to
skepticism from some U.S. counterterrorism experts about how serious the
alleged plotters were. One expert had dismissed the plot as "jihadi
bravado."

Miller acknowledged that the FBI had not completed the investigation but
said the agency went public last week because of Lebanon's decision to
charge Hammoud. "I can consider it a happy problem that we're being pressed
on the question of 'Did we disrupt a plot too early?' rather than 'Did we
wait too long and have one go forward?' " he said.

Hammoud was recruited to al-Qaeda in 2003 by a Syrian who later took him
twice to Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, Ain al-Hilweh, for
weapons training, Rifi said. He said the Syrian, who has not been arrested,
told Hammoud to use the Internet, where last year FBI agents monitoring Web
sites and chat rooms uncovered the plot.

A U.S. law enforcement official said that among the eight main suspects, one
"had a connection high up" in the organization of al-Qaeda's former leader
in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, before Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. and
coalition air strike last month. "What we know is one individual in the plot
said that they had that connection, and could tap into it for money," the
official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because elements of
the investigation are classified.

Rifi said Hammoud had some access to Zarqawi, saying, "He is one of a group,
but there is no proof that he has a direct link to Zarqawi personally."

Although FBI officials said Friday that none of the group had been in the
United States, yesterday they said Hammoud visited relatives in Northern
California in 2000 and may have entered other times that were not
documented. U.S. border agents may permit crossings by people with a
government identity card who say they are Canadian citizens. Hammoud
attended Concordia University in Montreal from 1995 to 2002, graduating with
a bachelor's degree in finance and international business.

Researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

FAIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this
message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to
these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed
within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with
"Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The
Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain
permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials
if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria
for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies
as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four
criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is
determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not
substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use
copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 

THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.  COPYING AND DISSEM

[osint] Chicago Train Derailment

[Bruce Tefft]

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local
 &id=4357023
 

CTA derailment, fire prompts rush-hour evacuation


More than 150 taken to hospitals


 


July 11, 2006 (Last Updated: 9:22 PM) - More than 150 people were
transported to Chicago hospitals after a CTA train derailed in a subway
tunnel during Tuesday's evening rush hour. Service on CTA's Blue Line has
been shut down between downtown and the city's Wicker Park neighborhood.


 

Most of the victims suffered from smoke inhalation and were transported to
area hosptials. Three people are in critical condition and four are in
serious condition. Another 33 people received medical attention at the
scene. 

Patients were transported to the following hospitals: St. Anthony, Mercy,
Mount Sinai, St. Joseph, Swedish, Illinois Masonic, Grant/Lincoln Park,
Northwestern, St. Mary, Michael Reese, Stroger and Rush. Four of the 14
people reportedly taken to Mercy have been released. 


Dozens of commuters were evacuated and a section of the city's transit
system is shut down after a train derailment and fire in a subway tunnel in
the Loop. Passengers reported that smoke rapidly poured into train cars
after the derailment. Officials said there was no indication the incident
was terrorism related. 

 
  

The last car of a Blue Line train leaving the Clark-Lake station derailed
shortly after 5 p.m. When the operator realized there was a problem, he
stopped the train and called for power to the train to be cut, said Chicago
Transit Authority president Frank Kruesi. 


All commuters, some covered in soot, appeared to have been evacuated from
the subway through an emergency exit near the intersection of Clinton and
Fulton by about 6 p.m. Some passengers appeared out of breath and received
oxygen. 


Service on the busy route has been shut down between downtown and the city's
Wicker Park neighborhood while crews remove the train and repair the tracks.
A bus service will be provided between the Clark/Lake station and Damen
station. For updates on CTA service call 888-YOUR-CTA. 


Joel Johnson, 24, of Chicago said he was on the train three cars from the
back when "it felt like it jumped the line, and a fire started in the car
behind me." 


"I saw the orange flames but I didn't hear it," he said. "People started
running to the front (of the train), the whole place was filled with smoke,
I could barely breath." 


Bomb and arson detectives were on the scene, said Chicago Police
Superintendent Philip Cline, but he said "there is no (indication of) foul
play at this time." 


Officials said it was too early Tuesday evening to say what had caused the
derailment. Kruesi said the National Transportation Safety Board had been
contacted and was expected to investigate. 


The Red Cross has set up a hotline for those looking for friends and family.
You can call (312) 729-6100. 


Blue Line evacuees can retrieve belongings at police station 


CTA Blue Line riders who evacuated their train following a derailment
Tuesday afternoon will be able to retrieve the belongings they may have left
behind. 


Personal belongings that were left behind on the Blue Line train can be
picked up at the Central District police station, 1718 S. State St.,
"anytime after 6 a.m. Wednesday," said police News Affairs Officer Kristina
Schuler. If anyone who was on the train would like to call the Central
District before they head down there, the phone number to call is (312)
745-4290, she added. 


Passenger: 'No announcement from conductor' 



Passenger Christopher Smith said he was thinking about walking home Tuesday
after work but got on the train instead. 


"I was standing on the train, wasn't sitting down, and heard a loud noise,
could hear this loud reverberation, not an explosion but more like a crash.
And from what I thought in my head, it sounded like cars were derailing in
the back, and apparently that's what happened," Smith said. 


"I was in like the fourth car in the front, so our car shook just a little,
not much, but the noise was very loud, and that's what I heard the most. And
you could hear one after another and another, and it sounded like the cars
were just one by one falling off the track." 


"Within minutes, the train, the cars were filled up with smoke. You can see
on my face, covered in soot, but other people were even worse. I can imagine
there were more in the back of the car." 


Smith said the evacuation was not particularly ordered or well organized. 


"There was no announcement from the conductor whatsoever, and there was no
flashing lights in the tunnel. People didn't know which way to go at first,
whether to go forward or backward, didn't know what happened. Some people
were screaming, some people were yelling. Some people we

[osint] Bomb Attack on Bombay Trains Kills 190

[Bruce Tefft]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060712/D8IQ7H7G0.html
 
Bomb Attack on Bombay Trains Kills 190

Jul 12, 12:19 AM (ET)

By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM 


BOMBAY, India (AP) - Eight bombs exploded in first-class compartments of
packed Bombay commuter trains Tuesday, killing 190 people and wounding
hundreds in a well-coordinated terror attack on the heart of a city that
embodies India's global ambitions. 


Suspicion quickly fell on Kashmiri militants who have repeatedly carried out
nearly simultaneous explosions in attacks on Indian cities, including
bombings last year at three markets in New Delhi. 


Pakistan, India's rival over the disputed territory of Kashmir, quickly
condemned Tuesday's bombings. Even so, India alleges that Pakistan supports
the Muslim militants, and analysts said a Kashmiri link to the blasts could
slow - or perhaps even derail - a peace process that has gained momentum
between the nuclear rivals over the past several years. 


Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said "terrorists" were behind the
attacks, which he called "shocking and cowardly attempts to spread a feeling
of fear and terror among our citizens." 


Security was tightened in cities around the world from New Delhi to New York
after the eight blasts, which struck seven trains within minutes of each
other during the early evening rush hour. The bombings appeared timed to
inflict maximum carnage in this bustling Arabian Sea port of 16 million,
more than 6 million of whom ride the crowded rail network daily. 


The Press Trust of India news agency said early Wednesday that police had
increased the toll to 190 killed and 625 injured. In the hours immediately
after the attacks, officials put the toll at 147 dead and 439 injured. 


Some residents returned to ride the trains to work early Wednesday, but
there was not the usual crush of passengers. In many first-class cars - the
target of the bombings - there were fewer than half the usual 60 to 70
people. 


"Our trust in Bombay has been shattered, we had always thought trains were
safe, but what can we do - in this city trains are the lifeline," said
Brijesh Ojha, 35, who boarded the train at Bandra station, where the first
blast occurred. "They can't scare us this way." 


Emergency crews struggled to treat survivors and recover the dead in the
wreckage during monsoon downpours, and the effort stretched into the night.
Survivors clutched bandages to their heads and faces, and some frantically
tried to use their cell phones. Luggage and debris were spattered with
blood. 


The mobile phone network collapsed, adding to the sense of panic across the
city. With train services down until midnight, thousands of people were
stranded without any way of reaching their families. 


There was no immediate indication if suicide bombers were involved. Police
inspector Ramesh Sawant said most of the victims suffered head and chest
injuries, leading authorities to believe the bombs were placed in overhead
luggage racks. 


The Press Trust of India, citing railway officials, said all the blasts hit
first-class cars - a sign the assailants were targeting the professional
class in a city that has come to embody India's 21st century ambitions. 


Bombay, also known as Mumbai, is the center of India's booming financial
industry and the home of Bollywood, a city that presents itself to the world
as a cosmopolitan metropolis where bankers dine with movie stars and fashion
models party until dawn. 


While that image captures one side of life in the city, Bombay is also
crowded and largely poor. And across the city, the prosperous and
downtrodden worked together to aid survivors. 


As police and rescue services struggled to reach the blast scenes through
Bombay's jammed, chaotic everyday traffic, bystanders pulled the wounded
from the debris, offering them water and bundling them into every available
vehicle - from trucks to three-wheeled auto-rickshaws. 


Others wrapped bodies in railway blankets and carried them away. Police
collected body parts in white plastic bags streaked with blood and rain. 


Those survivors who could walked from the stations to hospitals. 


There, they found scenes of chaos and carnage. 


Doctors and volunteers wheeled in the wounded and dead, one after the other.





"I can't hear anything," said Shailesh Mhate, a man in his 20s, sitting on
the floor of Veena Desai Hospital surrounded by bloody cotton swabs. "People
around me didn't survive. I don't know how I did." 

Another man, bloody bandages over his eyes, held out a phone to a nurse,
begging her to call his wife and tell her he was OK. 


The first bombing hit a train at Bandra station at 6:20 p.m. The blasts
followed down the line of the Western Railway at or near stations at Khar,
Jogeshwari, Mahim, Mira Road, Matunga and finally Borivili, which was struck
by two blasts at 6:35 p.m., according to the Star News channel. However,
other reports gave different timelines. 


Some passengers reportedly jumped f

[osint] Multiple Bombs Detonated on Bombay Rail System

[Bruce Tefft]

 

 

Multiple Bombs Detonated on Bombay Rail System (Updated)


By Bill Roggiohttp://counterterrorismblog.org/


 <http://counterterrorismblog.org/maps/mumbai-map.php>  

Map of the Bombay rail system. Orange dots indicate bombing sites. 

Last Update at 4:20 pm ET. The railway system and rush hour commuters were
the targets of a series of bombings in the Indian city of Bombay (Mumbai),
the country's financial capital. According to an updated
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_re_as/india_train_explosion;_ylt=
AsWAZMWb3nVwcSzPFsP2wK2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--> Associated
Press story, "Tuesday evening's first explosion hit a train at a railway
station in the northwestern suburb of Khar, said a police officer who spoke
on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the
media. Other blasts followed down the line of the western railway at the
Mahim, Bandra, Matunga, Borivili, Mira Road and Jogeshwari stations...
Deshmukh, the state's top elected official, also corrected initial reports
of seven blasts, saying there had actually been eight, including two at one
station." The attacks occurred at stations on the Western Metro Line, in a
series of stations along a straight line (the 'red' line in the accompanying
map) in just an 11-minute span.

Reuters
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060711/ts_nm/india_blast_dc;_ylt=AvoIAct1tM2wT
pqvyQUNYgis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-> reports at least 163
people have been killed and 460 wounded. The
<http://bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=108367> Bangkok
Post reports, "The blasts were timed to inflict maximum fatalities during
the rush-hour when people were on their way home from work." "Right now it
is not possible for us to give the number of fatalities. We are busy rushing
the injured to the hospitals and removing the dead," said Bombay Police
Commissioner AN Roy. 

Other terrorist attacks in India: Near-simultaneous
<http://counterterrorismblog.org/2005/10/bombings_in_new_delhi_kill_doz.php>
explosions in three locations in New Delhi on October 29, 2005 killed
dozens, hours after India and Pakistan began talks on opening border in
disputed Kashmir to aid earthquake victim. The city of Bombay was rocked in
2003 when two
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/25/newsid_3921000/3
921475.stm> car bombs were detonated near a hotel and a Hindu temple. The
2003 bombings killed 44 and wounded over 150. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the
Pakistan terrorist organization with deep ties to al-Qaeda, was implicated
in this attack. LeT <http://billroggio.com/archives/2005/08/let_it_be.php>
was also responsible for the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament,
where 15 were killed. This incident nearly caused a war between India and
Pakistan. The Times of
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/100727.cms> India has a
chronology of Mumbai attacks since December 2002.

The major Indian
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1731651.cms> cities have
been placed on high alert after the bombings. "Police contingents had been
deployed at shrines and vital installations in the capital [Delhi],"
according
<http://www.teluguportal.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7622> to IANS.
Police dogs, spotters, and other assets have been deploted at railway
stations and airports. There is no indication at this point if the attacks
are al-Qaeda related or one of the various India insurgent groups, no group
has claimed responsibility yet (12 noon ET) . The attacks are reminiscent of
the March 11, 2004 strikes on Madrid's railway system, as there are multiple
bombs detonated nearly simultaneously during a heavy travel period, with the
purpose of inflicting mass-casualties.

An  <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1733318.cms> anonymous
intelligence source told the Times of India the attacks were "carried out by
Lashkar-e-Toiba and local Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)
activists and was designed to trigger communal conflagration in the
country's financial capital." MSNBC reports Indian intelligence view Dawood
Ibrahim, an Indian terrorist and underground crime boss with links to Osama
bin Laden and al-Qaeda, as the prime
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13815413/> suspect in today's bombings. Dawood
was designated as a  <http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js909.htm>
terrorist by the U.S.Treasury Department on October 16, 2003:

 dawood_ibrahim.jpg
<http://counterterrorismblog.org/images/dawood_ibrahim.jpg> 

Dawood Ibrahim

Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian crime lord, has found common cause with Al Qaida,
sharing his smuggling routes with the terror syndicate and funding attacks
by Islamic extremists aimed at destabilizing the Indian government. He is
wanted in India for the 1993 Bombay Exchange bombings 

[osint] Andalusi: What's in a Name?

[Bruce Tefft]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23297
 
Andalusi: What's in a Name?
By Shelomo  
Alfassa
Israel Insider | July 11, 2006


This week the United States Office of Homeland Security released a statement
saying that, "Working closely with the Intelligence / Information
Directorate within the Internal Security Forces of Lebanon and with other
foreign law enforcement and intelligence partners, we have disrupted a
terrorist network that was in the planning stages of an attack against the
transportation system in the New York-New Jersey area." The plot included a
plan to attack a major underwater tunnel that would collapse and cause
massive flooding throughout New York City. One FBI official described the
plot as using "martyrdom and explosives." "It was very serious," said FBI
Supervisory Special Agent Richard Kolko in Washington, "These guys were
going to do this." 

The FBI reported that the name of the terrorist mastermind was Emir
Andalusi, an unusual name, but one that immediately gives away his ideology
to those who are students of history. 'Emir Andalusi' is a name which
translates from the Arabic as 'Prince of Andalus.' It was not his real name,
which was Assem Hammoud, but his pseudonym told something of his outlook on
the world, it was a window into his political agenda. 'Andalusi' is
reference to the once Islamic strong hold of Al Andalus, the Arabic language
name given to the parts of Iberian Peninsula that were governed by Muslims
from 711 to 1492. Utilization of a nom de guerre is quite common in the
Arabic world, but those which are in reference to old Muslim Spain are being
seen as increasing common among jihadists who have set themselves against
the Western world. 

Using 'Andalus' as a surname was already common in 2000 when Amer Azizi, an
Al Qaeda member in Istanbul, re-named himself Othman Al Andalusi (Othman of
Spain). Azizi was later directly linked to 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta. He
was also connected to the Madrid train bombers that in March 2004 killed 191
people and wounded 1,741 in their desire to reclaim the land of Spain as an
Islamic trophy. Upon the coalition bombing of Afghanistan in October of
2001, Osama Bin Laden released a video tape stating "Let the whole world
know that we shall never accept that the tragedy of Andalusia would be
repeated in Palestine..." Bin Laden's chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, later
swore that "the tragedy of Al Andalus" must not be repeated. 

Reference to the once Muslim empire of Al Andalus are common among Islamic
terrorists because one of the goals of radical Islam is the stated desire to
control the world, specifically and firstly with the lands they lost on the
battlefield, this includes modern Spain. In the Islamic world, few symbols
are as resonant as the downfall of Al Andalus in the 15th century. To many
militants, its fall, because of internal strife among rival Muslim princes
and tribes, marked the end of Islam's so-called 'golden age.' 

Al Qaeda is not alone in their desire to reclaim a land they once
administered. While it is true that many Islamic preachers regularly refer
to Spain as occupied territory in their sermons and on their Websites, Hamas
has also requested Spain surrender their country to them. Hamas itself has
demanded the return of the city of Seville to Islam. On the Website 'Al
Fateh,' Hamas demanded the return of Seville to the "lost paradise" of Al
Andalus. "Dress me, for I am the bride of the land of Al Andalus" the online
Children's magazine said, as it cheerfully detailed the lives and deaths of
the Arab suicide bombers they like to refer to as "martyrs." 

With the rise of anti-Jewish activities in Babylonia, the previous center of
Jewish thought, Al Andalus would become the center of Jewish intellectual
life. It was the home of great Jewish thinkers such as Alfassi, Ibn Ezra,
Maimonides, Nahmanides, and other intellectuals because of its relative
tolerance. In the time of Maimonides, during the 12th century, two radical
Muslim groups skirmishing against once another (each over a stricter
interpretation of Islam) helped destroy not only the Jewish communities
throughout Spain, but also each other. 

The Almoravids and the Almohads, both which would clearly be called
Wahabbists by today's definitions, sought to instill the strictest
regulations of Islamic orthodoxy amongst the non-Islamic world. When the
Almoravids failed, the Almohads replaced them instilling their own brand of
radical Islam. Yet, eventually, the Almohads themselves were defeated by the
Christian armies of the Spanish kingdoms in the 13th century and lost all
but one solitary piece of land which they eventually surrendered in 1492.
Five hundred years later, reinvigorated and funded by wealthy Islamic
states, the jihadists want to take their former land back and bring it under
Islam. 

The Lebanese terrorist with an Arabic-Spanish name arrested this week on
plotting to

[osint] Coalition, Afghan Forces Kill 30 Militants

[Bruce Tefft]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060711/D8IPKBQO0.html
 



Coalition, Afghan Forces Kill 30 Militants


Jul 11, 2:31 AM (ET)

By NOOR KHAN 



KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Coalition and Afghan forces killed an estimated
30 extremists Tuesday in a raid on a hideout in southern Afghanistan, the
military said. Coalition aircraft destroyed a helicopter damaged in an
emergency landing during the operation. 


The firefight came a day after a U.S. warplane bombed another militant
hideout in southern Afghanistan, killing more than 40 Taliban fighters, the
military claimed. 


The latest raid happened in Sangin village in the volatile Helmand province,
where more than 3,000 NATO-led British troops have been deploying to take
over security control from U.S. forces. 


A coalition statement said troops were tipped off on the location of the
militant hide-out after interviewing detained fighters. 


"While conducting the raid at the hideout location, Afghan and Coalition
forces killed enemy fighters," said the statement. The military estimated
that 30 militants died, but it did not explain how it came to that figure. 


More than 700 people, mostly militants, have died since mid-May in the
deadliest spate of violence since the Taliban's late 2001 ouster, according
to Afghan and coalition casualty figures tallied by The Associated Press. 


Coalition forces also discovered a large weapons cache in the Helmand
hideout and destroyed it. 


As the troops left the area, a malfunctioning helicopter was damaged "beyond
repair" in an emergency landing and destroyed by a coalition airstrike. No
coalition or Afghan forces were hurt. 


The raid was conducted as part of Operation Mountain Thrust, a large-scale
anti-Taliban offensive across southern Afghanistan involving more than
10,000 U.S.-led troops. 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] China's Islamic Frontier

[Bruce Tefft]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23175
 
China's Islamic Frontier
By Robert T.  
McLean
 July 11, 2006


On June 27 the government of Uzbekistan transferred Huseyincan Celil, now a
Canadian citizen, to Chinese custody to await execution. While authorities
of the People's Republic of China charge that Mr. Cecil is guilty of killing
Chinese delegates in Kyrgyzstan in 2000, the evidence suggests that Cecil
was in fact in Turkey at the time under the direction of the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees. The Toronto Star noted that the man "was
sentenced to death in absentia for founding a political party to work on
behalf of the Uighur people in Xinjiang province." Beijing's insistence on
the execution of a man who is likely to be purely a human rights activist is
not difficult to explain, but rather illustrative of the anxiety the Chinese
Communist Party maintains over the country's Muslim west. 

If China's west is to be won, it will largely take place in the following
decade. The Xinjiang Autonomous Uighur Region, located in China's northwest,
is home to approximately eight million Uighur Muslims - there are several
million Hui, Kazakh, and Tajik Muslims as well - and is the likely
flashpoint should any ethnic separatist movement threaten the mainland's
territorial integrity.  The region's most radical group, the East Turkistan
Islamic Movement (ETIM), not only has ties to al-Qaeda, but is also
providing the government in Beijing with a pretext for solidifying their
control over the province's Uighur population.

The vast majority of the limited debate that has occurred in the United
States on this matter has mistakenly focused on the question of whether the
Chinese do indeed have a terrorist problem, and in either conclusion,
whether the CCP has manipulated the situation to consolidate their hold on
the country's restive population.  While both issues must be taken into
account when examining the situation in Xinjiang, the aspect that best
encompasses the question of China's Islamic west is the frontier factor.

 

The total population of Xinjiang remains relatively sparse.  Of China's 1.3
billion people, only about 20 million live in Xinjiang despite the fact that
the province constitutes about one-sixth of China's total landmass.  The
region's expanding importance to China's economy, the Islamic presence in
the region, and the threat of separatist and terrorist organizations have
led Beijing to conclude that the country's northwestern frontier must be
tamed.  

 

The government's handling of their Muslim citizens in the Chinese west has
been both authoritarian and effective.  Under the "Strike Hard" campaign
begun in the mid-nineties, those who have studied in madrassahs abroad are
monitored by Chinese authorities, and all material considered subversive is
confiscated at the border from those returning from the Central Asia or the
Middle East.  Executions of suspected terrorists are frequent, while arrests
are often made for the slightest potential infraction.  Last year more than
18,000 were arrested in Xinjiang for what Beijing classifies as "endangering
state security."

 

As is the case with all religions in China, few decisions by Muslim leaders
are made independent of CCP interference.  There is one Islamic seminary in
China and all imams must be graduates of this state-run institution.  Imams
are employees of the state and few actions are conducted without supervision
by the official security apparatus or their informers.  Such efforts are not
limited to Chinese territory.  About 350,000 Uighur immigrants live in
neighboring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and Beijing has called on these
Central Asian states to maintain a firm control of these populations to
ensure that none come to pose a threat to China's hold on Xinjiang.

 

The People's Republic of China is among the world's foremost violators of
human rights.  This has created a dilemma for Washington in both conducting
the war on terror and in its relations with Beijing.  In a diplomatic row
between the two countries in May, Chinese officials harshly condemned the
United States' decision to send five Chinese Muslims detained at Guantanamo
Bay to Albania rather than back to their home country.  Foreign ministry
spokesman Liu Jianchao revealed his displeasure when he noted: "This act by
the US and Albanian sides is a gross violation of international law and we
are strongly opposed to this."  Pressure from Beijing was so strong not to
accept these Chinese citizens that Albania was the sole country of more than
twenty not to be intimated by the PRC's demands. 

 

In a piece in The Wall Street Journal on June 27, Uighur human rights
activist Rebiya Kadeer detailed the nefarious methods used by the PRC in
maintaining their uncontested authoritarian rule over Xinjiang.  Ms. Kadeer
was arrested in 1999 for sending newspaper clippings to the United States
and plan

[osint] Watchdog: Homeland Database Too Faulty

[Bruce Tefft]

July 11, 2006, 10:11PM
Watchdog: Homeland Database Too Faulty 


By LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press Writer 
C 2006 The Associated Press 

WASHINGTON - A Homeland Security database of national monuments, chemical
plants and other structures vulnerable to terror attacks is too faulty to
accurately help divide federal funds to states and cities, according to the
department's internal watchdog.

Much of the study by Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner
appears to have been completed before the department announced in May it
would cut security grants to New York and Washington by 40 percent this
year. But the report, which was released Tuesday, affirmed the fury of those
two cities _ the two targets of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks _ which claimed
the department did not accurately assess their risks.

Instead, the department's database of vulnerable critical infrastructure and
key resources included an insect zoo, a bourbon festival, a bean fest and a
kangaroo conservation center. They represent examples of key assets
identified in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Maryland.

The database "is not an accurate representation of the nations CI/KR
(critical infrastructure and key resources)," inspectors concluded.
Additionally, the database "is not yet comprehensive enough to support the
management and resource allocation decision-making envisioned by the
National Infrastructure Protection Plan."

The report noted that Indiana has 8,591 assets listen in the database _ more
than any other state and 50 percent more than New York. New York had 5,687
listed. It did not detail which ones, but the Homeland Security assessment
of New York this year failed to include Times Square, the Empire State
Building the Brooklyn Bridge or the Statue of Liberty as a national icon or
monument.

A Homeland Security spokesman did not return a call or e-mail for comment
Tuesday night. But in an April 13 response to a draft of the report,
department Undersecretary George Foresman said the database represented a
range of national assets that could face different levels of threats at
different times.

The data "have been and are currently being utilized to support allocation
decision making processes for the department," wrote Foresman, who oversees
the database and the grant funds.

He added: "The process also continues to mature and improve."

Part of the problem lies in what inspectors noted was "quirky totals" by
states that submitted lists of vulnerable assets.

The database does not rank the assets it tracks by perceived threats and
consequences they face, the report found. An earlier attempt to do so with
1,849 assets "was unreliable."

___

On the Net:

The report can be found at:

http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/OIG_06-40_Jun06.pdf



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Something is new at Yahoo! Groups.  Check out the enhanced email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/SISQkA/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] Australian Terrorist Wants to be deported to Lebanon

[Bruce Tefft]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/terror-suspect-seeks-lebanon-prisoner
-swap/2006/07/11/1152383741230.html
 
Terror suspect seeks Lebanon prisoner swap
Sarah Smiles, Canberra
July 12, 2006

 

SYDNEY terror-suspect Bilal Khazal would "jump at the chance" to be
extradited to Lebanon under a prisoner swap deal favoured by Lebanese
authorities, says his lawyer.

The former Qantas baggage handler, awaiting trial over terrorism charges
here, was convicted in absentia to 10 years' jail by a Beirut court in 2003
for funding a terrorist group behind a string of bomb attacks in Lebanon.

Lebanese officials hope to exchange a Sydney man wanted in NSW, Saleh Jamal,
who recently finished a two-year sentence in Beirut on terrorism related
charges and who will likely be extradited to Australia.

Khazal's lawyer, Adam Houda, says his client feels persecuted in Australia
and "wants out" of the country - even if that means facing Lebanon's
"oppressive" military courts.

"Bilal would love that opportunity," said Mr Houda of an exchange. "He would
jump at the chance to go to Lebanon to face those charges ."

A spokesman for the federal Attorney-General said Khazal's Australian trial
remained an "impediment" to his extradition.

"Khazal has some outstanding charges (in Australia) and they would have to
be resolved prior to any extradition (to Lebanon)," he said.

Khazal is charged with collecting documents likely to facilitate a terrorist
act. He allegedly downloaded inflammatory material from an Islamic website.

His passport has been confiscated and he is not allowed to leave the
country.

The lawyer for Jordanian-born Jamal said her client did not want to be
extradited to Australia, where he faces shooting-related offences, because
he had admitted guilt.

Jamal fled to Lebanon in 2004 while awaiting trial over the 1998 shooting at
a Lakemba police station.

While Jamal admitted before Beirut's Military Court in 2004 that he was
"guilty of many mistakes in Sydney", he pleaded innocent to the
terrorism-related charges in Lebanon, his lawyer, May Khansa, said.

NSW Police have sought the extradition of Jamal.

Ms Khansa said Lebanese authorities were waiting for Australian police
officers to arrive in Lebanon to collect him.

Jamal has also been the subject of terrorism-related investigations in
Australia but has yet to be charged.

The Attorney-General's spokesman said Lebanon requested Khazal's extradition
after he was sentenced for funding a Sunni Islamic terrorist cell that
bombed several Western businesses in Lebanon, including a McDonald's
restaurant in Beirut in April 2003.

He said that if Khazal was sentenced in Australia, Lebanese authorities
would have to make a new request for extradition after he completed his
sentence.

Mr Houda stressed that Khazal would willingly return to Lebanon, his country
of birth.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Something is new at Yahoo! Groups.  Check out the enhanced email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/SISQkA/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] The Quiet Subversion of Sir Richard Dearlove

[Bruce Tefft]

http://blogs.theatlantic.com/aspen/index.php?/archives/26-The-Quiet-Subversi
on-of-Sir-Richard-Dearlove.html#extended
 

 
 Saving This One for Tomorrow

Since nearly all members of your blogging team were present at a (very
interesting) session just ended on "Terrorism and Technology," I suspect
that you'll get an overview of the presenters and their points from one of
them. 

I'm writing to put down a marker for one tantalizing theme that didn't end
up getting explored in the Q&A. As it happens, I'll have a chance to ask
more about it tomorrow, when I'm scheduled to moderate a discussion that
includes the person who made the point.

The speaker in question was Sir Richard Dearlove. He is famous as a former
director of MI6, Britain's secret intelligence service, and he was favored
on this panel by being addressed as "Sir Richard" when the other people were
"Jim" or "Danny." Without ramming home the point, at four or five instances
he suggested that just about everything in the American approach to the war
on Islamic terrorism had been ill-conceived. 


The minor instances came when the other participants, all American, talked
about this or that reorganization of the intelligence agencies or the
Department of Homeland Security, and Sir Richard (I can't really call him
"Dearlove," can I? Maybe "C," his James Bondish organizational name?)
confined himself to a one-liner about such organizational details usually
being the least important aspects of creating an effective intelligence
system. The Americans talked about the expansion of executive power after
9/11, and worried about the larger tension between civil liberties and
military security. "C" wrapped up that discussion in two sentences, saying
(a) that whenever civil liberties were being infringed, it was crucial that
the change be made through legislation rather than sheer executive action,
since it built in at least the chance of political debate; and (b) that what
had been done via executive action in the United States "would be illegal in
Great Britain, as a matter of common law."

But the main tension involved the larger U.S. emphasis on a "Global War on
Terror." "Terrorism is an extreme form of political communication," he said.
"You want to be sure that, in your response, you don't end up amplifying the
messages that terrorists are trying to convey." This understanding, he said,
explained why his country approach counter-terrorism in so different a way
from America's.

That's what I wanted to hear more about - in what ways, exactly, he thinks
the United States might have "amplified" the Al Qaeda message, and what a
different approach would look like. Similarly, he threw out the assertion
that the only way to live with a terrorist threat was through "risk
management," as opposed to the "risk minimization" that he said the United
States had erred in adopting.

Where would all this lead, as a matter of concept and of policy? That's one
of the things I'll hope to find out tomorrow. 

 
As
 mentioned earlier, I had some left over questions to ask
Sir Richard Dearlove - aka "C," the former head of Britain's MI6. At a forum
two days ago, he had given off numerous small signals about his disapproval
of the general U.S. strategy in the "Long War" or "Global War on Terror." I
wanted to hear more about those - and about his role in the famous Downing
Street Memo, in which he reported to the Blair government in the summer of
2002 that in the United States intelligence was "being fixed around the
policy" and that an invasion of Iraq was "seen as inevitable."


About the memo - and the Iraq war in general - he said mainly that there was
little he could say. "I am less than two years out of government, and I have
my pension," he said, making a joke of it - but then added that even after
two years he would probably not feel free to speak further on this point.
"Check out the archives in Pembroke College, Cambridge in a hundred years!"
he said. He recently became master of that college. He did offer this one
explanation, which he said he had tried without success to get noted in the
U.S. press: "The version of the memo that is most often quoted was not the
final version," he said. "I made some important changes" - although he would
not say what these pentimenti might have been.

All this occurred as I was moderating a conversation between Dearlove and
Shashi Tharoor, an Indian novelist, man of letters, and U.N. official who is
in the running to be the next UN Secretary-General. The topic was the
general state of terrorism in the world, and each was offering large-scale
historical perspectives on the evolution of Islam, the nature of grievances
against the West, and so on. Resolutely, Sir Richard continued his campaign
of quiet subversion against current U.S. anti terrorism policy

[osint] Rethink 'war on terror' strategy, says former MI6 head

[Bruce Tefft]

 

 
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1817930,00.html

Rethink 'war on terror' strategy, says former MI6 head 

Former head of the Secret Intelligence Service tells Guardian Unlimited that
CIA rendition flights and Guantánamo Bay would be illegal under British law 

Oliver King and Simon Jeffery
Tuesday July 11, 2006
  Guardian Unlimited 


Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of the Secret Intelligence Service,
MI6, has criticised two current US policies in the "global war on terror"
saying they would have been "illegal" under British law. 

Sir Richard, formerly known in Whitehall as "C" and now master of Pembroke
College, Cambridge, singled out CIA rendition flights and the indefinite
detention of prisoners in Guantánamo for rebuke. 


Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado before an audience of
global politicians, experts and commentators last week, Sir Richard also
said the west was "doomed" unless it "reclaimed the moral high ground". 

  _  


According to an
 online
report on the website of the Atlantic magazine, the co-sponsor of the
conference, Sir Richard was questioned about which policies he was referring
to when he said they "would have been illegal under British common law". 

Sir Richard replied: the "whole Guantánamo operation" and CIA "rendition",
where suspected terror suspects are knowingly transferred to third countries
where torture was practised. 


When contacted by Guardian Unlimited to confirm his comments Sir Richard
said he "wouldn't disassociate" himself from the Atlantic's report and that
he was merely expressing a view that was held by many leading UK lawyers. 


"Terrorism is an extreme form of political communication," he said. "You
want to be sure that, in your response, you don't end up amplifying the
messages that terrorists are trying to convey," he told his audience. 


The former British spy chief told the conference that it was a "strategic
necessity" that the US held to its "best traditions" because it was easier
to recruit agents if they believed they were acting in a "good cause". 


"We need to think very carefully about long-term strategy. If we don't hold
to the moral high ground in the medium to long term it will much more
difficult to conduct a successful counter-terrorist strategy. 


"The general approach of the "war on terror" made sense for a while after
9/11 but as time passes it may well need adjustment," he told Guardian
Unlimited in his first on-the-record comments to a British news organisation
since leaving MI6. 


He insisted that he wasn't critical of "day-to-day" operational necessities
but wanted the wider strategy of the "war-on-terror" to be reconfigured. 


While his view of Guantánamo is shared by many in the British government,
including the present attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, his comments on CIA
rendition in front of an American audience are more controversial. 


As MI6 chief, Sir Richard would have maintained a very close relationship
with colleagues in the CIA, where considerable amounts of intelligence on
the terror threat would have been shared. 


His tenure coincided with a period when it is alleged that al-Qaida suspects
were being "rendered" to third countries and finally to Guantánamo Bay. 


Intelligence analysts believe it is inconceivable that he didn't know about
CIA rendition flights even though the first reports of the practice emerged
as he retired from MI6 in May 2004. 


Under the 1988 Criminal Justice Act, MI6 Officers can be charged with a
criminal offence if it is found they have acquiesced in an act of torture
even if it takes place outside the UK. 


As the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, Sir Richard never gave
on-the-record comments and even had his identity obscured when he gave
evidence to the Hutton inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death
of the government scientist Dr David Kelly in 2003. 


He also recommended in Aspen that when western democracies wanted to
infringe civil liberties in the name of counter-terrorism it was better to
do this through legislation rather than executive action as this ensured
political debate and greater legitimacy. 


Sir Richard's comments were echoed by former US secretary of state Colin
Powell and Republican senator and presidential hopeful John McCain, who told
the conference that it was time to close down Guantánamo. 


In the closing keynote session Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political
advisor, responded to the demands for closure, saying: "And do what? When we
close Gitmo, the question is 'what do we do with the bad guys at Gitmo?'
What do you do with them?" 


Sir Richard was also asked about the minutes of a Downing Street meeting,
leaked to a newspaper, in which he told Tony Blair in the summer of 2002
that in the US "intelligence and facts were bein

[osint] Mumbai - Indian Train Bombing Linked To Al-Qaeda Operative Dawood Ibrahim

[Bruce Tefft]

 





Mumbai - Indian Train Bombing Linked To Al-Qaeda Operative Dawood Ibrahim


July 11, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Indian authorities
believe that today's bombing in Mumbai [131 confirmed dead, 200 injured] is
the work of Dawood Ibrahim a key player in the al-Qaeda terror network.
Ibrahim is believed to have been responsible for planning other Indian bomb
attacks including one in 1993 - also in Mumbai - which claimed 260 lives.
Ibrahim financially underwrites the Kashmiri Muslim terror group Lashkar e
Tayyiba. 


Ibrahim travelled to Afghanistan in the 90s for training in bin-Laden's
camps and was officially declared a terrorist by the US Treasury Dept in
2004. 


According to the Dept. of State factsheet: 





Dawood Ibrahim ("IBRAHIM"), the son of a police constable, has reigned as
one of the pre-eminent criminals in the Indian underworld for most of the
past two decades. 

Ibrahim's syndicate is involved in large-scale shipments of narcotics in the
U.K. and Western Europe. 


The syndicate's smuggling routes from South Asia, the Middle East and Africa
are shared with Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network. Successful routes
established over recent years by Ibrahim's syndicate have been subsequently
utilized by bin Laden. A financial arrangement was reportedly brokered to
facilitate the latter's usage of these routes. In the late 1990's, Ibrahim
traveled in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban. 


Ibrahim's syndicate has consistently aimed to destabilize the Indian
government through inciting riots, acts of terrorism, and civil
disobedience. He is currently wanted by India for the March 12, 1993 Bombay
Exchange bombings, which killed hundreds of Indians and injured over a
thousand more. 


Information, from as recent as Fall 2002, indicates that Ibrahim has
financially supported Islamic militant groups working against India, such as
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). 

C1999-2006 PipeLineNews.org, all rights reserved. 

http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=india71106.htm

FAIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this
message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to
these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed
within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with
"Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The
Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain
permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials
if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria
for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies
as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four
criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is
determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not
substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use
copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 

THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.  COPYING AND DISSEMINATION
IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

 




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:

[osint] At least 179 killed in Indian train blasts

[Bruce Tefft]

 

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-07-
12T030814Z_01_SP141887_RTRUKOC_0_US-INDIA-BLAST.xml 
 
Indian police pick through bomb-hit Mumbai
Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:08 PM ET




By Krittivas Mukherjee

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Investigators picked through the mangled wreckage of
trains and stations in India's biggest city on Wednesday as millions of
people commuted to work and school following a string of bomb blasts that
killed at least 179.

Mumbai authorities were searching for clues as to who was behind Tuesday's
seven coordinated bomb blasts aimed at the vital railway artery that serves
the city of 17 million.

Nearly 700 people were wounded in the rush hour blasts -- the worst since
1993 when more than 250 people died in explosions -- and the toll was
expected to rise as many were in critical condition.

Extra police were deployed across the country to prevent possible communal
retaliation as suspicion immediately fell on Muslim militants fighting New
Delhi's rule in Kashmir.

Pakistan, which denies Indian charges of tacit support for the militants,
condemned what it labeled a "terrorist attack".

Authorities were running more buses on routes where train services had yet
to resume.

"Mumbai has come to accept all this as part of life," said Yogesh Bafana, a
rail commuter who took an early morning train with far fewer passengers than
usual.

"We are scared but life must go on. We must be brave and stick to our
routine," a middle-aged man told NDTV television as he boarded.

India's financial markets were expected to suffer with analysts saying the
attacks were likely to hit foreign investor confidence.

The Mumbai bombs went off hours after suspected Islamist militants killed
seven people, six of them tourists, in grenade attacks in Indian Kashmir's
main city.

The first bomb detonated at 6.24 p.m. (1254 GMT) with the rest following in
quick succession -- five planted in train carriages and two at stations in
Mumbai's western suburbs.

The city is a teeming metroplis of contrasts, with glitzy highrise office
and apartment blocks standing side-by-side with slums and pavement dwellers.

Home to Bollywood, the world's biggest movie industry, the city is a lure to
millions of rural poor, attracted by the promise of riches.

But despite sometimes been known as hard-hearted, Mumbai residents went out
of their way to help fellow city dwellers, offering rides in cars, providing
water and biscuits as well as taking the dead and injured to hospitals.

Overnight, streams of people crowded hospitals to identify family members
and friends among the corpses, many badly mutilated and charred.

"Some of the bodies had received severe burn injuries and a couple of them
are beyond recognition," said Dr. Anirudh More, speaking at a state hospital
in the city.

The Mumbai explosions brought worldwide expressions of outrage including
from Washington and arch rival Pakistan.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurseed Mehmood Kasuri told Reuters in
Washington that the blasts underlined the need for Pakistan and India to
resolve their disputes.

The neighbors, both nuclear-armed, have fought three wars since 1948.

(Additional reporting by Sanjay Rajan and Nitin Luthra)

 

.
 
 
 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Something is new at Yahoo! Groups.  Check out the enhanced email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/SISQkA/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the c

[osint] News Flash: Israeli Air Force exercise focuses on shoulder-fired missile threat

[IntellNet]

Israeli Air Force exercise focuses on shoulder-fired missile 
threat 


--
The Israel Air Force has concluded the first exercises to defend 
against a potential Palestinian surface-to-air missile threat. 

--

World Tribune
 [ http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2006/me_israel_07_11.html ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups.  See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: LeT, SIMI hand in Mumbai blasts

[IntellNet]

LeT, SIMI hand in Mumbai blasts


--
The terror attack on Mumbai trains was carried out by 
Lashkar-e-Toiba and local Students Islamic Movement of India 
(SIMI) activists and was designed to trigger communal 
conflagration in the country’s financial capital, intelligence 
sources said. 

--

Times of India
 [ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1733318.cms ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Israel Begins New Incursions Into Southern Gaza

[IntellNet]

Israel Begins New Incursions Into Southern Gaza


--
Israeli tanks and troops began moving into southern Gaza early 
Wednesday in a new phase of Israel's two-week offensive, 
apparently heading in the direction of the city of Khan Younis, 
Palestinians and the military said. 

--

Fox News [ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,202903,00.html ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Hackers target State Dept. computers

[IntellNet]

Hackers target State Dept. computers


--
The State Department is recovering from large-scale computer 
break-ins worldwide over the past several weeks that appeared to 
target its headquarters and offices dealing with China and North 
Korea, The Associated Press has learned. 

--

CNN [ http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/07/11/state.hackers.ap/ ]
Fox News [ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203040,00.html ]
The Age
 [ 
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Technology/State-Department-suffers-widespread-computer-breakins/2006/07/12/1152637706169.html
 ]
Sydney Morning Herald
 [ 
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Technology/State-Department-suffers-widespread-computer-breakins/2006/07/12/1152637706169.html
 ]
USA Today
 [ http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-11-state-department_x.htm ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups.  See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Exiled British Islamist Sheikh Omar bin Bakri in Beirut: We Will See the Banner of Islam 'Flying Over Big Ben and the British Parliament'

[IntellNet]

Exiled British Islamist Sheikh Omar bin Bakri in Beirut: We Will 
See the Banner of Islam 'Flying Over Big Ben and the British 
Parliament' 


--
Sheikh Omar bin Bakri, Syrian-born British Islamist and former 
leader of the Islamist "Al-Muhajirun" organization in Britain, 
whose activities in Britain were stopped in October 2005, now 
resides in Beirut. 

--

MEMRI [ http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD120306 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] The Moderate Voice - The Hamas Deceit

[Bruce Tefft]

 
 
http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1152472162.shtml
 
The Hamas Deceit

by Michael van der Galien

   

Although Hamas is incredibly honest about its ambitions in its Charter (to
destroy Israel among other things), most MSM and Western politicians seem to
think that they can somehow negotiate Hamas to moderate itself. 

Benny Morris, a professor Middle East history at Ben-Gurion University
destroys that illusion in The New
 Republic
today. 

It is a great article, an absolute must read for everyone who wants to
understand Hamas - and the problems facing Israel and the West. In order to
read it, you must have a subscription, but I believe it's possible to sign
up for a free trial period.

The main point of his article is the systematic deceit Hamas and
organizations like it use. One example of that is the so-called liberation
of Western-occupied lands. What they, however, really mean with 'liberation'
is: 


the extirpation of all Western influence ("pollution," in their jargon) from
the sacred Islamic lands, stretching from Pakistan to the Atlantic Ocean:
all Western music and cinema and books, all Western companies, all
Westerners--in short, all modernity and all liberalism, all of what the West
stands for.



Furthermore Mr. Morris points out that the goal of Islamists - you can ever
hear it being preached in mosques in the West - is not simply to 'extirpate
all Western influence' in the Middle-East. Not even 'just' the destruction
of the state of Israel. 
They believe the entire world belongs to 'Allah' and all men should be
converted to Islam. If not voluntarily then by force. 
In fact, he explains, to Islamists, the world exists out of land that is
formerly Islamic territory and - thus - rightfully belong to the Islamic
world (Dar al Islam) and land that's inhabited by 'infidels' and always was
inhabited by 'infidels'. That land, for instance the U.S. and most of
Europe, is called Dar al Harb: Land of War. (Enough said)

To them the clash of civilizations is real and is happening right now. Not
just in Iraq or between Israel - Palestine, but everywhere in the world
where Muslims live.

He also goes into something that's incredibly important to understand so we
can see through it when 'they' try it again: the culture, the deceit, of
playing the victim. Whenever something happens that (remotely) involves
Muslims, Islamists will act as if Muslims are always the victim. 
Meanwhile they are laughing at the West for going along with it. They are,
so he states, laughing when the West ignores atrocities committed in the
name of Islam, while condemning the actions of those who try to fight
against Muslim extremism.

Using Matthew Levitt's book called Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism
in the Service of Jihad he uncovers part of the deceit Hamas uses daily.

One of the deceptions Hamas uses is darwa (social programs; building
schools, hospitals, etc). What might seem to be a good and noble thing is -
in fact - quite the opposite: Hamas not only uses it to 'help' the poor, but
it uses it, for instance, to hide weapons and explosives as well and Hamas
uses its darwa to spread its hate filled propaganda and to indoctrinate
children. Lastly it uses the 'charitable organizations' to collect money.
Not just in the Middle-East, but also in the West. Hamas uses the money they
collect via these organizations to pay for weapons, explosives and to 'pay'
the families of individuals who blow themselves up in an attempt to kill
Israeli civilians.

Then, the illusion that Hamas, somehow, might become more moderate now it is
in power. Mr. Morris uses Hamas own Charter to deal with that. Some excerpts
of Hamas' Charter:



Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it,
just as it obliterated others before it.

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.
Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time
and vain endeavors.

The present Zionist onslaught has also been preceded by Crusading raids from
the West and other Tatar raids from the East. Just as the Moslems faced
those raids and planned fighting and defeating them, they should be able to
confront the Zionist invasion and defeat it. This is indeed no problem for
the Almighty Allah, provided that the intentions are pure, the determination
is true and that Moslems have benefited from past experiences, rid
themselves of the effects of ideological invasion and followed the customs
of their ancestors.

Arab countries surrounding Israel are asked to open their borders before the
fighters from among the Arab and Islamic nations so that they could
consolidate their efforts with those of their Moslem brethren in Palestine.

The day The Palestinian Liberation Organization adopts Islam as its way of
life, we will become its soldiers, and fuel for its fire that will burn

[osint] RE: Pre-emptive arrests in terrorism plots attract criticism

[Bruce Tefft]

 

  _  

From: 
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 9:09 AM
To: Bruce Tefft
Subject: Re: Pre-emptive arrests in terrorism plots attract criticism


Bruce,
 
"Talk without any kind of an action means nothing," said Martin Stolar, a
New York defense lawyer.

"You start to criminalize people who are not really criminals."

 
As a Doctor of International Law, you'll know that it's time to put this
kind of defense spin about "pre-emption" out of our misery.
 
In most of the significant Anglo-American jurisdictions a crime of
conspiracy, including one involving terrorism, can be considered complete
long before conspirators get into any sort of involved planning or
operationalizing.  In such jurisdictions the crime of conspiracy is
typically recognized where prosecutors can show:
 
1. two or more people agreeing to commit a criminal offence;
2. an intention of these people to agree; and,
3. an intention to put into effect the "common design".
 
"It is not necessary that there be proof of any overt act in furtherance of
the conspiracy, to complete the crime," write Edward L. Greenspan, QC, and
Justice M. Rosenberg, Ontario Court of Appeal, in their textbook assessment
of a prominent Canadian Supreme Court conspiracy judgment.  
 
Commentators become so fixated on the absence of an explosion that they miss
two key points deriving from all this.  First, that conspiracy, itself, is a
crime.  And second, that for good legal and practical reasons, conspiracy
can be proved without such show-stopping overt acts as the ordering of
explosives or the reconnoitering of targets.
 
But you can't blame good defence counsel for trying.
 
Dave, Frustrated Anti-Terr Lawyer

- Original Message - 
From: Bruce Tefft   
To: Bruce Tefft   
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 1:48 AM
Subject: Pre-emptive arrests in terrorism plots attract criticism

 

 
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4033886.html
 
Pre-emptive arrests in terrorism plots attract criticism
Attorneys raise concerns that people are rounded up for words, not actions


By ERIC LIPTON
New York Times 

WASHINGTON - In Miami last month, and now in New York, terrorism cases have
unfolded in which suspects have been apprehended before they lined up the
intended weapons and the necessary financing or figured out other central
details necessary to carry out their plots.

For officials in Washington, it is a demonstration of the much-needed
emphasis on pre-emptive arrests in the post-9/11 era.

"We don't wait until someone has lit the fuse to step in," Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday at a news conference about the New
York plot.

But the Miami and New York cases are inspiring a new round of skepticism
from lawyers who are openly questioning whether the government, in its zeal
to stop terrorism, is forgetting an element central to any case: intent to
commit a crime.

"Talk without any kind of an action means nothing," said Martin Stolar, a
New York defense lawyer.

"You start to criminalize people who are not really criminals."

In the two most recent suspected plots, the authorities have simultaneously
warned that the suspects were contemplating horrific attacks - blowing up
the Sears Tower in Chicago and setting off a bomb in a tunnel between New
York and New Jersey - but then added that as far as they knew, no one was
close to actually making such a strike.

In the Miami case, an FBI official said at a recent hearing that the
suspects apparently did not have written information on how to make
explosives, details on the layout of the Sears Tower or any known link to a
terrorist group.

In New York, officials said Friday that none of the eight suspects thought
to be planning the tunnel attack were in the United States, that they
apparently did not have bomb materials and that they had not completed
reconnaissance on their supposed target.

The arrest on April 27 in Beirut, Lebanon, of Assem Hammoud, 31, a Lebanese
man who is accused of being the mastermind of the tunnel plot, came after
the authorities monitored Internet chat rooms used by Islamic extremists.

In announcing the case, federal officials, including Chertoff, said the
government could not waste time trying to determine whether the suspects
were smart enough or serious enough to turn their threats into destructive
action.

"It is a mistake to assume that the only terrorist that's a serious
terrorist is the kind of guy you see on television, that's a kind of James
Bond type," Chertoff said Friday. "The fact of the matter is mixing a bomb
in a bathtub does not take rocket science."



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PR

[osint] North Korea's Failed Pearl Harbor?

[Bruce Tefft]

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23273

North Korea's Failed 
 
Pearl Harbor?
 
By   Andrew Walden
FrontPageMagazine.com | July 7, 2006 
 
A Tokyo-based newspaper  
reports in its Friday AM edition that North Korea's failed Taepodong-2
missile was aimed at an area of the ocean close to Hawaii. The target should
have been no surprise: the islands' far-Left leadership has rendered Hawaii
uniquely vulnerable to attack. 
 
Citing multiple sources in the U.S. and Japan, the Sankei Shimbun article
indicates that U.S. and Japanese tracking of the missile's altitude and
angle of approach after takeoff indicate it was headed for what Reuters
describes as, "waters near Hawaii". Sankei Shimbun has no English-language
edition. The Reuters article reprises the content of the Japanese article. 
 
Wednesday's North Korean launch was the decrepit Stalinist regime's first
attempt at firing a Taepodong 2 missile. Because it has never been flown
before, expert estimates of its range vary with some believing that it can
hit Alaska, others believing it can hit the US mainland. Hawaii lies between
the two extremes. 
 
According to Reuters, "North Korea may have targeted Hawaii to show the
United States that it was capable of landing a missile there, or because it
is home to the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific fleet." "An alternative
explanation might be that a missile could accidentally hit land if fired
towards Alaska.."
 
The waters off Hawaii are currently hosting
 the annual RIMPAC
naval war games. In addition to U.S. forces, the games include Japan,
Australia, South Korea, Canada, Britain, Chile, and Peru. Ironically,
anti-American war protesters and so-called "environmentalist" lawyers from
the misnamed "Natural Resources Defense Council" convinced
 U.S. District Judge
Florence-Marie Cooper to block the US Navy from training with use of "active
sonar" technologies necessary to detect North Korean and other diesel
submarines until July 18. The excuse was the poorly documented claim that
whales and other sea mammals are injured by US Navy Active Sonar. Appointed
by former President Bill Clinton in 1999, the Canadian-born Cooper is a 1971
graduate of City College San Francisco and a 1975 graduate of the Whittier
School of Law.
 
In Hawaii, the two fronts of the War on America meet. In 2004, Hawaiian
Democrats pledged one-third of their delegates to support Dennis Kucinich
for president. Hawaii was the only state to give Kucinich significant
support. Kucinich and many other leftist Democrats have opposed the
development of missile defense technologies capable of knocking down
incoming missiles. The University of Hawaii-Manoa was recently the scene of
anti-American protests against military research on campus. 
 
North Korea claims to have constructed several nuclear weapons. There have
been no reports that the Taepodong 2 missile or any of the other missiles
North Korea launched on Wednesday were armed. The missiles fell into the Sea
of Japan a few hundred miles from their launch areas.
 
Strategic Defense System technology for destroying enemy missiles in flight
are
 developed and tested at Naval Station Barking Sands, host
to the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai. Anti-missile systems were
deployed on Aegis-based .U.S and Japanese Navy cruisers in the Sea of Japan.
There have been no reports that they fired on any of the out going North
Korean missiles.
 
North Korea is reported to have positioned several missiles for additional
launches. Their payload and potential destination remain unknown. The Left's
policies of disarming Hawaii deserve to be more widely recognized.
 
 
 Click Here to support Frontpagemag.com.
 
North Korea's Failed Pearl Harbor?
 
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23273
 
FrontPageMag.com:
  http://frontpagemag.com/
-


  _  

Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try
 it free.  


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups.  See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.in

[osint] News Flash: Mystery Surrounds Chechen Warlord's Death

[IntellNet]

Mystery Surrounds Chechen Warlord's Death


--
The death of Russia's most-wanted man, Chechen warlord Shamil 
Basayev, ends a long hunt for the fugitive, but questions were 
raised Tuesday over what caused the dynamite-filled truck next to 
his car to explode. 

--

Casper Star Tribune
 [ 
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/07/11/ap/international/d8ipvi8g2.txt
 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Number of Murdered in India Train Bombing Up to 160

[IntellNet]

Number of Murdered in India Train Bombing Up to 160


--
The number of people murdered by the seven-pronged terror bombing 
in Mumbai, India has risen to at least 160. 

--

Arutz Sheva - Israel National News
 [ http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=107041 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: NYC boosts security after India attacks

[IntellNet]

NYC boosts security after India attacks


--
New York City increased its transit security Tuesday, sending 
hundreds of additional officers to patrol subways and conduct 
random bag searches following deadly bombings on a busy commuter 
rail system in India. 

--

The Kindred Times
 [ 
http://www.localnewsleader.com/kindred/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=201808
 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups.  See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: FBI Investigates MySpace.com for Quran Shooting Video

[IntellNet]

FBI Investigates MySpace.com for Quran Shooting Video


--
The FBI will investigate an online video that showed two men 
shooting a Quran with a military-style rifle and then leaving the 
bullet-riddled holy book outside a Chattanooga mosque, an agent 
said. 

--

Fox News [ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,202974,00.html ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Possible al-Qaida link to India train attacks

[IntellNet]

Possible al-Qaida link to India train attacks


--
Indian intelligence believes the attacks on Mumbai’s commuter 
train network on Tuesday, killing scores during the evening rush 
hour, might be the work of Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian Muslim with 
ties to al-Qaida. 

--

MSNBC [ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13815413/ ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] GITMO: More Times "Despair" Nonsense

[Bruce Tefft]

 
http://oslosyndrome.com
More Times "Despair" Nonsense
16 June 2006


While the three prisoners who recently killed themselves at Guantanamo
apparently left suicide notes, one can argue that what motivated them cannot
be known with any precision. But the New York Times, in a June 12 editorial
("The Deaths at Gitmo") claims to know: "It was the inevitable result of
creating a netherworld of despair..." the Times explains, before going on to
excoriate the Administration once more for its treatment of Guantanamo
detainees.

The editorial later quotes Guantanamo camp commander Rear Admiral Harry
Harris Jr. on the deaths:


"I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical
warfare waged against us."


Harris went on to say, the Times informs us, that the inmates "have no
regard for life, neither ours nor their own." Wagging its editorial pen at
Harris, the Times editors conclude: "These comments reveal a profound
disassociation from humanity."

But,  of course,  it is the Times editors who demonstrate a profound
disassociation, from reality. The invoking of "despair" is a sacrosanct
concept, catechismal, in the Times' belief system.  If the Arab world is
caught up in Islamo-fascist frenzy, it is because of political and economic
tribulations that U.S. policy has ignored, creating cadres of embittered and
impoverished who, in their despair, are easy prey for extremist mullahs; and
the answer is for America to change its wrongheaded ways. If Palestinian
terrorists blow up Israeli children at a pizzeria or on a school bus, it is
not because their leaders incite them in their media, mosques and schools to
pursue Israel's destruction and promote suicide bombing as a powerful weapon
for undermining the morale and resistance of the Israelis. No, it is because
of Palestinian "despair" that must be assuaged with ever more Israeli
concessions.

Never mind that there never has been a correlation between, for example,
impoverishment and enthusiasm for Islamo-fascist jihad. The Times wishes to
rationalize the threat and to believe that if only America, and Israel,
would show sufficient sensitivity and make sufficient concessions all would
be well. But despair was not responsible for the popularity of totalitarian
ideologies in the last century, or for people's willingness to die to
advance those ideologies, and it is not responsible for the Islamic version
now holding such sway in the Arab world or Islamo-fascism's ready "martyrs."

Admiral Harris offers a measured, informed and rational explanation for what
likely prompted the Guantanamo suicides. But don't expect to have that
acknowledged, or even characterized as other than sacrilege, in a Times
editorial.

--

Yesterday:

"David P. Steinmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Guantanamo Probe Finds Evidence of  Plot

9 July 2006


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico,  AP -An investigation into three apparent suicides at
the Guantanamo Bay prison  has found that other detainees may have helped
the men hang themselves or were  planning to kill themselves too.


Authorities who searched other  detainees' cells after the three were found
hanged discovered instructions on  tying knots, along with several notes in
Arabic that were "relevant" to an  investigation of a possible broader plot,
officials said in court papers filed  late Friday in Washington.


The detention center's commander, Navy Rear  Adm. Harry B. Harris, said in
an affidavit that investigators believe


"the  suicides may have been part of a larger plan or pact for more suicides
that  day or in the immediate future."


Authorities confiscated personal  papers from nearly all 450 prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay to "determine whether  other suicides were planned or likely
to be planned," Carol Kisthardt, the  Naval Criminal Investigative Service
agent in charge of the investigation,  said in an affidavit.


Both affidavits were filed in support of a  request for a judge to appoint a
special review panel to review all the  detainees' documents, which include
letters from attorneys.


Lawyers for  Guantanamo detainees have condemned the confiscation of the
legal papers as a  violation of attorney-client privilege and asked a judge
to order their  immediate return.


Investigators said they confiscated about 1,100  pounds of personal
documents after three detainees were found hanging from  their steel mesh
cells before dawn on June 10 - the first reported deaths of  prisoners at
the prison.


Bill Goodman, legal director for the New  York-based Center for
Constitutional Rights, which represents about 200  detainees, said Saturday
that a special review panel would undermine trust  between prisoners and
their lawyers and delay the legal process.


"It's  another roadblock," Goodman said.


The government said the panel's  independence would be assured, and
detainees' rights protected, by its  including lawyers, law enforcement and

[osint] News Flash: Hizbullah can hack Israeli computers

[IntellNet]

Hizbullah can hack Israeli computers


--
All Israeli computers within 15-20 kilometers of Hizbullah 
positions along the northern border, including those belonging to 
IDF bases and officers and containing highly sensitive data, are 
vulnerable to hacking via wireless networks, Channel 10 reported 
Tuesday. 

--

Jerusalem Post
 [ 
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1150885972526
 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Pinochet 'sold cocaine to Europe and US'

[IntellNet]

Pinochet 'sold cocaine to Europe and US'


--
Augusto Pinochet's $26m (£14m) fortune was amassed through 
cocaine sales to Europe and the US, the general's former top aide 
for intelligence has alleged. 

--

Guardian Unlimited
 [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/chile/story/0,,1818137,00.html?gusrc=rss ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] Terrorism arrests, prosecutions

[Bruce Tefft]

 

http://www.silive.com/newsflash/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-19/11523905701827
00.xml&storylist=simetro 
 

Terrorism arrests, prosecutions

7/8/2006, 4:10 p.m. ET 

By The Associated Press 
The Associated Press   


(AP) - Recent arrests and prosecutions in the government's counterterrorism
campaign:

. July 7, 2006: U.S. authorities announce the arrest of Assem Hammoud, a
Lebanese man they claim was plotting to bomb New York City train tunnels.
Hammoud was arrested in April in Lebanon, but his detention was kept secret
while the investigation continued, officials said.

. June 22, 2006: Seven people are in Miami and Atlanta are charged with
being in the early stages of a conspiracy to blow up skyscrapers in Chicago.
An FBI official describes the group as "more aspirational than operational."

. June 3, 2006: Authorities announce the arrests of 17 people in Canada on
charges that they were planning attacks against targets there and had
acquired tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, a potential bomb fuel.

. May 24, 2006: A Brooklyn man, Shahawar Matin Siraj, is convicted of
plotting to plant a bomb in a Manhattan subway station. The defense claimed
he was a patsy coaxed into the scheme by a government informant.

. April 25, 2006: A federal jury convicts a young farm worker in Lodi,
Calif., of supporting terrorists by visiting an al-Qaida training camp
during a trip to Pakistan. Prosecutors had claimed that Hamid Hayat wanted
to attack hospitals, banks and grocery stores, but they presented no
evidence of such plans at trial.

. Nov. 23, 2005: A Pakistani man is convicted in New York of trying to help
an al-Qaida operative sneak into the United States. Uzair Paracha, an
outwardly pro-American man who lived in New York, said he was unaware that
the man was a terrorist.

 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/2pRQfA/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] 40 dead as R.O.P followers bomb Mumbai Trains

[Bruce Tefft]

 

 

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/two-blasts-on-mumbai-local-train-several-injured
/15219-3.html


SEVEN SERIAL BLASTS ROCK MUMBAI, 40 KILLED 

CNN-IBN
   
Posted Tuesday , July 11, 2006 at 18:30 
 
 Email  
New Delhi: Seven major explosions rocked Mumbai on Tuesday. The serial
blasts occurred at Borivili, Khar, Meera Road, Matunga, Jogeshwari,
Bhayander railway stations and a seventh on the Khar-Santacruz subway.
Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy has confirmed that 40 people were killed
in the blasts. First reports on the casualty coming in from Mumbai said at
least 50 people were injured in Matunga alone.
Mumbai Helpline Number: 022-22005388 
All seven were high-intensity explosions and initial reports said wired time
devices were used in all the cases.
Around 12 to 15 people were injured at Santa Cruz station. All of them were
taken to nearby V N Desai Hospital. The entire first-class bogey has been
emptied.
However, eyewitnesses at Matunga railway station said the RPF jawans arrived
only after half-an-hour. They said at least 50 people have been injured.
The first blast occurred at Khar on a train going from Church Gate to
Borivili. The explosion took place at 6:25 PM between Santacruz and Khar
station.   
CNN-IBN Correspondent Jency Jacob, who was on the train, said the blast took
place in a first-class compartment. He said several blood-stained bodies
were seen lying on the tracks.
All the explosions took place in first-class compartments of the trains. The
Matunga blast appears to be the most severe blast at the moment.
The first five blasts occurred within a span of 15 minutes. Some of the
injured have been taken to the Raheja hospital in Mahim.
Another 20 injured were admitted to the KEM hospital in Central area of
Parel, hospital sources said.
Mumbai city has been put on red alert, all local trains on Western Railway
have been stopped. 
Relief and rescue operations have been affected because of heavy rains.
All local phones, including mobile services, in the city has been jammed
apparently due to congestion in the system as anxious people tried to reach
their loved ones.
All major railway stations, temples and major monuments in and around Mumbai
have been cordoned off. All Western Railway services have been suspended.
Mumbai Police Commissioner AN Roy has appealed to the people of Mumbai to
remain calm.
Union Home Secretary V K Duggal said that there is no connection between the
Mumbai blasts and the Kashmir blasts, which took place earlier on Tuesday.
Intelligence sources, however, said the terror strikes were an attempt by
the terrorists to divert India's attention from elections which are being
held in Pak-occupied-Kashmir on Tuesday.
Police Commissioner Roy said the blasts could be related to the terrorists
who were arrested a few days back. Police had also recovered huge
consignments of RDX from several places, including Aurangabad, Nasik and
Malegaon.
Intelligence sources said parts of Maharashtra have become haven for terror
modules.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a special meeting on 1930 hrs (IST)
on Tuesday to review security measures across the country.
All airports across the country have been put on high alert. However, no
airport will be closed. Delhi has also been put under high security alert.
Security has been stepped up in all the sensitive installations in the
Capital.
A red alert has also been declared in Bangalore. Police have taken positions
outside all vital installations.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/2pRQfA/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 

[osint] FBI Investigates Online Video Of Destruction Of Muslim Holy Book

[Bruce Tefft]

FBI investigates?  Why?  Under what jurisdiction or authority?
 
Bruce
 

  _  


Subject: 7/11/2006 - FBI Investigates Online Video Of Destruction Of Muslim
Holy Book - Breaking News - Chattanoogan.com


THE FBI ARE AFTER THE WRONG PEOPLE
 
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_88951.asp
 
FBI Investigates Online Video Of Destruction Of Muslim Holy Book 
posted July 11, 2006

FBI officials said they are looking into an online video showing two men
shooting a Quran and then tossing the Muslim holy book down outside a mosque
in Chattanooga.

The video was posted June 17 on MySpace.com and is titled "kill the koran." 

One scene shows the two men taking turns shooting the Quran with a military
rifle and then tossing it onto the sidewalk outside the Islamic Center at
1410 Cemetery Ave.

The location is just off Central Avenue near the National Cemetery.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations of Washington, D.C., asked federal
officials to investigate.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Something is new at Yahoo! Groups.  Check out the enhanced email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/SISQkA/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] Tunnel Plotters Discussed Wildfire in California

[Bruce Tefft]

Past time for authorities to re-examine Islamic arson in last several years
of wildfires in the West.
 
Bruce
 

Tunnel Plot May Have Been Wider

>From the Los Angeles Times
Tunnel Plot May Have Been Wider
U.S. officials say suspects also discussed bombing subways and setting a
wildfire in California.
By Josh Meyer
Times Staff Writer

10:10 PM PDT, July 9, 2006

WASHINGTON - The alleged mastermind of a plot to bomb train tunnels
connecting New York City and New Jersey also discussed blowing up subway
cars in Manhattan, and even toyed with the idea of setting a wildfire in
California, U.S. counter-terrorism officials said Sunday.

U.S. and Lebanese officials said they learned about those alleged
discussions between Assem Hammoud and at least several co-conspirators by
monitoring their e-mail traffic on a website used by Islamic militants, and
by scouring Hammoud's computer and his Beirut home and office after his
arrest April 27.

Such discussions, U.S. authorities said, suggested that Hammoud and as many
as seven other accomplices were still searching for ways to strike the
United States when the plot was disrupted.

Two U.S. intelligence officials said that so far, no evidence indicated the
alleged co-conspirators were about to enter an operational phase - as some
U.S. and Lebanese authorities have said in recent days - or that they had
even decided to go forward with the plot.

"There have been suggestions that this was a lot further along than it was,"
said one of the U.S. officials. "The bottom line is that there may have been
less here than meets the eye."

Hammoud, 31, has been charged in Lebanon as the alleged mastermind of the
plot. Authorities there say he has confessed to his role in it and to
pledging an oath of allegiance to Al Qaeda.

Two other men are being held in undisclosed locations overseas, and
authorities have linked five others to the alleged plot.

The U.S. intelligence official said that authorities in the United States,
Lebanon, Denmark and other countries were trying to unravel threads of the
alleged plot that could give them a clearer picture of the suspected
terrorists' intentions.

He said U.S. authorities were trying to reconcile their intelligence with
claims by Lebanese authorities that Hammoud had connections to Al Qaeda and
was intent on launching an attack.

But, the official cautioned, "There is good reason to be skeptical about how
far along this had gone It was in large part jihadist bravado."

"They had no logistical arrangements, they certainly hadn't done the kind of
thorough intelligence check, they didn't have explosives," said the second
intelligence official, adding that comments about an Al Qaeda connection to
the plot appeared to be somewhat overblown.

"These were people who had associations with people who had associations
with potential [terrorist] networks. You're talking a couple steps removed,"
the official said.

These officials and other U.S. authorities interviewed Sunday spoke on
condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation and the sensitivity
of working with foreign intelligence services on three continents.

One federal law enforcement official confirmed, but also downplayed,
Hammoud's alleged discussions about setting a wildfire in California, which
could have potentially caused millions of dollars in damages.

That official said that Hammoud had visited relatives near San Francisco in
2000 but that authorities had found no connections between the visit and any
alleged terrorist activity or planning. He described the wildfire
discussions as "chitchat" in an Internet chat room frequented by jihadists
who often made hyperbolic statements.

The law enforcement official also said that though the communications of the
alleged plotters indicated they were focusing on detonating suicide bombs in
the tunnels below the Hudson River, they had also discussed setting off
backpack bombs or other explosive devices on New York subways.

Over the weekend, Lebanese authorities released more information on the
case, some of which appeared to contradict the speculation by the U.S.
intelligence officials.

Acting Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said Sunday that Lebanese authorities
had found "very important" incriminating evidence on Hammoud's personal
computer, including maps and "bombing plans that were being prepared."
Fatfat's comments, made during a TV interview in Beirut, were reported by
the Associated Press.

"This information helped the investigators make Hammoud confess to his role
in plotting a terror act in America," one official told the AP, speaking on
condition of anonymity.

A statement by the general directorate of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces
said Hammoud, also known as Amir Andalousli, appeared to be "living a life
of pleasure, far from suspicions" before his arrest.

But the Lebanese security force said Hammoud sent detailed maps about
possible terrorist targets to his "partners" through the Internet, and was
intending to trav

[osint] Russia: 3 More Airplane Incidents

[Bruce Tefft]

 
As Ian Fleming wrote: First time accident, second time coincidence and third
time is enemy action.
 
Bruce
 

 
Russia: 3 More Airplane Incidents 

 
July 11, 2006
World Briefing | Europe
Russia: 3 More Airplane Incidents 
By C. J. CHIVERS
Three Russian passenger planes made emergency landings after suffering
malfunctions one day after a jet burst into flames in Siberia after crashing
during a landing. No one died in the new incidents, but three people were
injured when their Tu-134, carrying the navy chief of staff, Vladimir
Masorin, caught fire after it overran the runway at a military base in the
Crimea region of Ukraine. An Airbus A-310 operated by S7 Airlines made an
emergency landing in Ukraine after an engine malfunctioned, and a Urals
Airlines Tu-154 flight from Yekaterinburg landed in Irkutsk after one of its
engines broke down. On Sunday, an S7 A-310 crashed in Irkutsk; 124 people
died and 4 were missing.


 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/world/europe/11briefs-004.html?pagewanted=
print
 
  _  

FAIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this
message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to
these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed
within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with
"Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The
Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain
permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials
if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria
for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies
as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four
criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is
determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not
substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use
copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.  COPYING AND DISSEMINATION
IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
 
 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/2pRQfA/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] At War Against North America?

[Bruce Tefft]

 

In Defense of the Constitution

News & Analysis
029/06  July 11, 2006


CAIR: At War Against North America? 


In June 2006, an article was posted on the Anti-CAIR (ACAIR) web site
concerning the recent dismissal of a defamation lawsuit against me.  The
lawsuit was filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a
Washington, D.C. based Islamic group, with "chapters" in many American
cities.  CAIR also has an office in Canada, under the name of "CAIR-Canada"
(or "CAIR-CAN") with branch offices in many Canadian cities.  

CAIR sued me, claiming that my statements regarding CAIR's support for
terror, its foreign funding sources, and its desire for implementation of
Sharia law in place of the U.S. Constitution were false and defamatory.
However, while the lawsuit has been dropped, my statements stand.

Let us be clear: as I said two years ago, CAIR uses foreign money to fund
its activities.  A recent endowment by the United Arab Emirates - a country,
according to the Congressional Research Service, that recognized and
supported the Taliban, lacks any democratic institutions, and is
characterized by the human trafficking of women and girls for domestic
servitude and sexual exploitation, and of boys to serve as camel jockeys -
has given CAIR a cool $50 million (USD) to help CAIR convince North
Americans of the peaceful nature of Islam.  However, why does a peaceful
religion need to explain how peaceful it is?  Do we see the Catholic Church
advertising how peaceful Catholics are?  How about the Protestants?  The
Amish?  The Jewish?  
Why is Islam the only religion in North America that finds it necessary to
ram its message of peace down our throats, and why is CAIR, whose leader was
heard professing his allegiance to a terror group on FBI wiretaps, the one
to be delivering this message?
 
CAIR might claim that its propaganda campaign is necessary because 9/11 and
the "neo-con/Zionist conspiracy" are turning all non-Muslims in America into
overnight "Islamophobes".  However, there is absolutely no proof of this.
Even immediately following the 9/11 attacks, FBI statistics show Jews were
still the preferred targets of bigots and racist nut-jobs in the United
States; in fact, even leaving aside 9/11, it is the Muslims in America that
have perpetrated the most heinous hate crimes over the past decade,
murdering innocent Americans (most specifically because they were Jews) on
the streets of New York and in the Los Angeles airport, among other places.
 
As I said two years ago when we examine CAIR's leadership, we see that
Ahmad, Awad, and Hooper (the heads of CAIR) were spawned from the Islamic
Association of Palestine (IAP), an Islamic hate-group that lionized suicide
bombings and was held civilly liable for funding terrorists who killed an
American teen-ager .  
 
>From the IAP web site:
 
[T]he real nature of the conflict is a civilizational conflict waged
between, on the one land (sic) Islamic Civilization with its divinely
inspired laws and mission to create on this earth the society of justice and
freedom which has been ordained by God; and on the other hand, Western
Civilization with its materialistic culture, worship of ethnicity and the
state, and denial of God's supremacy.  The existence of a Jewish state in
the heart of the Muslim World.is symbolic of the weakness of the Muslim
Ummah and Muslims' own straying from the path of Islam in embracing imported
ideologies.the Blessed Lands of Palestine do not belong to the Palestinians
or Arabs alone but to all Muslims, and only when the Muslim's (sic) return
to their faith and see the conflict in its real terms can they liberate
Palestine as was done in the 12th Century by Salah al-Din Al-Ayyubi who,
while not an Arab, knew his Islamic responsibility in undertaking the
civilization struggle against the West."
 
More hate speech.  CAIR has never condemned these hateful words, nor has it
ever specifically condemned any Islamic terrorist group.
 
Does CAIR's leadership believe that the U.S. is at war with Islam? .or is it
the truth that CAIR is at war with America?
 
This is Anti-CAIR's position on CAIR's "war posture" which we filed in
papers with the court:
  
"CAIR is afraid to openly admit that it is a Moslem fundamentalist group. It
is afraid to openly admit it supports, and has knowingly served as a conduit
to raise funds for, the genocidal anti-Semites of hamas. It is afraid to
openly admit it works on behalf of, and relies on monies "donated" by,
virulently anti-Christian Saudis."
 
"[A]nti-Christian", "Moslem fundamentalist group", ".raise funds for the
genocidal anti-Semites of hamas". - these are the facts as set forth in our
papers. 
 
So why was CAIR afraid to have these issues brought up in court?  Because
CAIR, which self-describes itself as a "Muslim civil rights group", clearly
is not about "civil rights" in the normal, American sense.  Rather, as I
said over two years ago CAIR supports terrorist groups and is dedicated to
the overthrow

[osint] Islam Now Trying To 'Build Bridges' Instead Of Bomb Them

[Bruce Tefft]

If they get smart they WILL be dangerous.
 
Bruce
 

 

http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives/Columns/Gorin/20060710GorinBomb.html
 
Islam Now Trying To 'Build Bridges' Instead Of Bomb Them
by Julia Gorin [comedian] 7/10/06   

Europe's biggest Islamic cultural event, IslamExpo, opened
  in London Thursday to reach out
and "build bridges" to show that Islam is "not a danger or a threat."

Though the event coincides with last year's bombing of that city, organizers
say the four-day festival was planned in 2002.

Now let me ask you: If you're putting together a "good will" image campaign,
wouldn't you have the decency, taste, sensitivity or humility to adjust the
timing a little? Should Americans expect an IslamExpo telling us that Islam
is "not a danger or a threat" on the fifth anniversary of September 11th?


 


 

I guess this ongoing pattern was set in motion just two months after 9/11,
when Muslims raised a ruckus that the U.S. Post Office forgot
  to include in
its holiday-stamp poster the new Eid al-Fitr stamp (an Islamic winter
holiday). The Russian language has a word that's a stronger version of
"gall" or "chutzpah." The term is "naglost," and it's when you defecate on
someone's doorstep then ring the bell to ask for toilet paper. 


ArabicNews.com reports
 :
"Speakers from 22 countries around the world are attending the festival,
representing Christian and Jewish faiths as well as an array of cultural,
ethnic, professional and ideological trends. London Mayor Ken Livingstone,
former Iraq hostage Norman Kember and the BBC's security correspondent,
Frank Gardner, who survived an attack in Saudi Arabia, are among those
sharing the platform with many prominent Muslims." 



So all these chumps are converging on London this week to dutifully assuage
Western suspicions and insist that there's no need for whatever vigilance we
may have left in us, proving that Islam isn't a threat, but merely our
future. The Muslims should keep killing us just for being stupid. 



"A corresponding economic conference to promote London as a center for
investment for the Islamic world is also being held in Carnary Wharf in east
London." 



Which is just grand. With Western nations already dependent on Muslim
countries for oil, let's make our economies hinge on Muslims even more, so
we have even less wiggle room to piss them off by fighting terror. (For
example, a 116-page report
  by the
London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission released this week equates the
British government's anti-terror measures to a "latter-day witch-hunt" of
Muslims, and recommends repealing existing anti-terrorism legislation,
disallowing ethnic profiling and not using words like "extremism.") 



Ihtisham Hibatullah, of the Muslims Association of Britain, which planned
IslamExpo, said that mainstream Muslims would be "condemning terrorist
atrocities taking place in London and elsewhere against innocents...There
will be a strong message from the mainstream Muslim community against all
violence by extremists." 



Just as the new UN Human Rights Council has done this very week! The body
yesterday voted on a resolution that condemns
  Israel and dispatches a special fact-finding mission to
Gaza. 



To wit, among IslamExpo's main speakers will be Palestinian-born Azzam
Tamimi, who in a 2004 BBC interview said
  that he would sacrifice himself for the
"noble cause" of Palestine if he "had the opportunity..Millions of people
say this around the world." 



Expo spokesman Anas Altikriti reiterated that the conference is intended to
"build bridges" between Muslims and non-Muslims, adding "I think I speak on
behalf of all at IslamExpo in saying we are extremely proud to have Dr.
Tamimi involved." I guess we know at least one bridge they want to build
with the non-Muslim world. (The 116-page report likewise calls for the
British government to stop its occasional objections to Israel-bashing.) 



The only Brit who didn't play nicely this week was Tony Blair who, according
to BBC, "called on moderate Muslim leaders to speak out more against
extremists within their communities. But Muslim Council of Britain secretary
general Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari accused Mr Blair of playing an 'unhelpful
blame game' by suggesting moderate Muslims were doing too little to
challenge extreme views." 



So ju

[osint] Lebanese authorities find maps, bombing plans in al-Qaida suspect's computer

[Bruce Tefft]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,202667,00.html
Lebanese authorities find maps, bombing plans in al-Qaida suspect's computer
By HUSSEIN DAKROUB Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon
Lebanese authorities found maps and bomb plans on the personal computer of
an al-Qaida suspect arrested in an alleged plot to attack train tunnels in
New York City, a senior Lebanese official said Saturday.

"The information found in (Assem) Hammoud's personal computer was very
important because it contained maps and bombing plans that were being
prepared," acting Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said in a local television
interview.

The FBI announced Friday that U.S. authorities had uncovered a plot to
attack train tunnels under the Hudson River that carry thousands of
commuters between New York and New Jersey every day. U.S. officials said the
plot involved at least eight people overseas, including Hammoud _an alleged
al-Qaida operative arrested in Lebanon.

"We received information from the FBI in April about an attempt to plot a
terror act in New York City through Internet communications in Lebanon,"
Fatfat said. "Based on this information, security forces acted and arrested
Mr. Assem Hammoud."

Following Hammoud's arrest, Fatfat said Lebanese security services
cooperated with the FBI to apprehend other members of the ring.

Officials said Hammoud confessed to the plot and had sworn allegiance to
Osama bin Laden.

"During the investigation, Assem Hammoud admitted that he was planning to go
to Pakistan for four months for training on the implementation of this
operation in New York and that the implementation date was the end of 2006,"
Fatfat said.

Bin Laden and his closest aides are believed to be hiding in the mountains
along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported Saturday that Hammoud, 31 and
codenamed Amir Andalousli, was the "mastermind" of an international ring to
strike America.

In addition to Hammoud, the paper said a Syrian suspect was lured to Libya
and arrested there, in addition to a third suspect whose nationality was
unknown.

Other suspects still at large include a Saudi, a Yemeni, a Jordanian, a
Palestinian, an Iranian Kurd and a sixth whose nationality was not known,
As-Safir said.

A senior Lebanese security official, speaking on condition of anonymity
because the investigation is ongoing, said Hammoud was "a prime suspect" in
the New York terror plot.

Security officials said they obtained "important information" from Hammoud's
computer and CDs seized from his office at the Lebanese International
University, where he taught economics.

"This information helped the investigators make Hammoud confess to his role
in plotting a terror act in America," one official said, speaking on
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Hammoud, who lived in Beirut, was arrested April 27 by police acting on
information from the FBI.

"Hammoud is a member of al-Qaida and he confessed to this information
frankly and without coercion," the official said. The suspect told
investigators he was acting "on a religious order from (al-Qaida leader
Osama) bin Laden and said 'I am proud to carry out his orders'," he said.

The suspect's family denied any al-Qaida links and his mother, Nabila Qotob,
said Hammoud was an outdoors person who drank alcohol, had girlfriends and
bore none of the hallmarks of an Islamic extremist belonging to the terror
group.

Lebanese police issued a statement Friday saying that Hammoud belonged to
"an extremist group that was in the process of preparing to carry a major
terrorist act in the United States."

Under interrogation, Hammoud said he had downloaded detailed maps of the
target from the Internet.

In New York, the FBI said the terrorist plot involved "martyrdom and
explosives": suicide bombers who would attack train tunnels used by tens of
thousands of commuters in an effort to bring death and flooding to lower
Manhattan.

Eight suspects had hoped to pull off the attack in October or November, U.S.
federal officials said. But federal investigators working with their
counterparts in six other countries intervened before the suspects could
travel to the United States and become a more serious threat, officials said
Friday.

Initial reports said the suspects wanted to attack the Holland Tunnel, a
major thoroughfare that carries cars beneath the Hudson River and into
Manhattan.

But officials said the group, with five suspects still at large, had
specifically mentioned only the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation
train tunnels, which carry more than 215,000 passengers each weekday between
New York and New Jersey.

"This is a plot that involved martyrdom and explosives," said FBI Assistant
Director Mark J. Mershon.

hd-lf 
060708 200627

 

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 

FAIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles an

[osint] GOP turns its focus to N. Korea, terror

[Bruce Tefft]

 
About time.
 
Bruce
 

 

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/07/10/gop_turns_i
ts_focus_to_n_korea_terror/
 

GOP turns its focus to N. Korea, terror


Guantanamo, missile shield cited


By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff  |  July 10, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans, on the defense over the unpopular
war in Iraq, are hoping this week to shift the national security debate to
the North Korea missile crisis and to countering terrorism.

Two Senate committees and a House committee will hold hearings in coming
days on how to prosecute Guantanamo Bay terror suspects. The panels will
address the recent Supreme Court decision rejecting the Bush
administration's use of a military commission to try the detainees.

GOP lawmakers are already accusing some Democrats of favoring ``special
privileges for terrorists" by praising the high court ruling.

Meanwhile, some Republicans are turning the international crisis caused by
North Korea's missile launch into a political weapon, assailing Democrats
for not supporting full funding for the national missile defense program.

With public frustration over the war in Iraq growing, Democrats had begun to
make headway earlier this year against the GOP's longtime political
advantage on national security, an issue that helped Republicans maintain
their majorities in the House and Senate in 2002 and 2004.

Polls this spring showed Democrats tied or even slightly ahead of
Republicans on the question of whom voters trusted more to battle terrorism
and keep the country safe, and Democrats insist they can make the issue
theirs by election day.

But Republicans are now seeking to strengthen their public image on national
security by seizing on North Korea and the Supreme Court ruling, as well as
the decision by several newspapers to report on an international bank
surveillance program that the US government is using to track the finances
of suspected terrorists.

``When the discussion centered on the reasons why we got into Iraq, it was
tough ground for the Republicans. For the longest period of time,
Republicans could not buy a break," said Whit Ayres , a GOP consultant. But
``in recent weeks, the scales have been balanced. Now we can have a debate
about whether the terrorists deserve the same legal rights as American men
and women in uniform. I believe the Republicans will win that debate."

The hearings this week by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate and
House Armed Services committees are aimed at coming up with a way to try
Guantanamo suspects that passes constitutional muster.

Some Republicans want to codify into law the military commission rejected by
the Supreme Court. Democrats, while applauding the high court ruling as an
affirmation of due process and the Geneva Conventions, have also said a new
system must be created, but are urging that it be ``legitimate" in the eyes
of both the court and the American public.

``The whole world is watching how our country handles this issue, and our
committee will proceed on any legislation very carefully, in a bipartisan
way, to ensure America's credibility," Senate Armed Services Committee
chairman John Warner , Republican of Virginia, said Friday in announcing the
hearings.

But while many Democrats and Republicans share a desire to create a system
to deal with the Guantanamo decision, the issue itself helps Republicans,
analysts say, by shifting the national security debate away from the daily
news of death and instability in Iraq and toward efforts to capture and
punish terrorist suspects.

In condemning the news media this month for publishing information about the
SWIFT financial surveillance program, House Republicans also sought to move
the focus -- and the blame -- away from the administration for its handling
of Iraq.

``It's not exactly an ace in the hole, but it's a good, solid king or
queen," said John Zogby , an independent pollster. ``They have the
opportunity to frame [the debate] where, at best, Democrats can be
reactive."

After North Korea launched a series of missiles into the Sea of Japan last
week, Republicans moved quickly to blame Democrats for failing to support
the missile defense program meant to shield the nation from an attack.

``I just want to make the point that Democrats, the majority of Democrats,
have really not been supportive of the funding. Republicans have tried
through decades to move this forward, to get the funding that's necessary to
have a missile defense system that is complete," Senator Elizabeth Dole ,
Republican of North Carolina and chairman of the National Republican
Senatorial Committee, said last week.

``I am just trying to underscore that as we go into the election in just
four months," she added. ``I think it's important to remember the party that
has been out in front leading the way, whether it's the Patriot Act and
whether it's mis

[osint] Computer Yields Leads In NYC Terrorism Plot

[Bruce Tefft]

 
http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/3318006.html
 
Computer Yields Leads In NYC Terrorism Plot 
 
http://video.ap.org/vws/search/aspx/ap.aspx?t=
s60&p=ENAPus_ENAPus&g=0710dvs_terror_plot&f=1139949','_blank','width=788,hei
ght=598,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1'));> Computer Yields New Evidence
in Investigation 
 

(July 10, 2006)--Investigators in Lebanon say they've found important
evidence on the personal computer of a suspect in the New York tunnel
bombing plot arrested in the Middle East.

The computer had maps and bombing plans.

A U.S. official says the suspect had visited the U.S. at least once, six
years ago.

Lebanon's acting interior minister is describing the information found on
31-year-old Assem Hammoud's computer as "very important." 

The computer was seized from his office at the Lebanese International
University, where he taught economics.

A spokeswoman for Concordia University in Montreal says Hammoud studied
there for seven years beginning in 1995. 

He graduated with a bachelor's degree in commerce in 2002.

Meanwhile a vocal critic of White House plans to cut local anti-terrorism
funding says the revelation of a plot to bomb New York tunnels highlights
the funding mistake.

New York Senator Charles Schumer and New Jersey's Robert Menendez both plan
to propose increased funding for mass transit security.

Schumer has been the most vocal critic of recent funding decisions by
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that would cut New York City's
share by 40 percent. 

He says the recent reported terrorist plot shows again the fallacy of basing
federal anti-terrorism grants on what he calls "whims and not on risk."



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] Muslim doubts terror link

[Bruce Tefft]

al-Taqiyya: Muslim legal doctrine requiring Muslims to lie to advance Islam.
 
Bruce
 

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/07/10/1676918-sun.html
 
Muslim doubts terror link

MONTREAL -- A prominent member of Montreal's Muslim community says he does
not believe a man suspected in an alleged New York terrorist plot has any
connection to Canada. 


Salam Elmenyawi said despite reports Assem Hammoud studied at the city's
Concordia University, he led prayers at the university mosque during the
period in question and does not recall Hammoud or anyone who looked like
him. 


"I don't remember him at all," Elmenyawi, of the Muslim Council of Montreal,
said yesterday. "I was there at this time, leading prayers, and I don't
remember him at all." 


And he said he's frustrated with U.S. efforts to blame Canada for terrorist
activity south of the border. 


"The United States has unfairly targeted Canada as a source of terrorism,"
he said. 


U.S. officials say eight al-Qaida-linked suspects, one of them reported to
be a Canadian, were planning an attack on New York in October or November. 


Initial reports said the suspects -- including Hammoud and two others in
custody elsewhere -- wanted to attack car and rail tunnels under the Hudson
River. 




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] TURKEY: The facts about the international fight against terrorism

[Bruce Tefft]

 
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=48360
 
The facts about the international fight against terrorism 
 
Terrorism, which is a crime against humanity, has taken on an international
dimension. This fact requires the fight against terrorism also to be
international. Otherwise, a definite and permanent victory over this
shameful act aimed at innocent people will never be achieved. If not fought
against, terrorism will eventually find and strike those who have remained
negligent in this fight. 

Ali KÜLEBÝ 

  Terrorism, which is a crime against humanity, has taken on an
international dimension. This fact requires the fight against terrorism also
to be international. Otherwise, a definite and permanent victory over this
shameful act aimed at innocent people will never be achieved. If not fought
against, terrorism will eventually find and strike those who have remained
negligent in this fight. 


  The reality of the "asymmetric war" in which the United States is today
entangled has in effect come along as the result of this reality. In the
1980s the United States had played the religion card in Afghanistan to
facilitate the defeat of the Soviet army, but in the course of time the
policy of planting various religious groups from various Muslim countries in
Afghanistan got out of control. Once the United States' global designs
conflicted with their own interests, these groups, which received training
at the very hands of the United States, later constituted one of the parties
in the asymmetric war of terrorism fought on the international level. The
facts that the attack could target any place on earth, that the whereabouts
of terrorists are unknown, that their number and social profile cannot be
estimated and that the sorts of weapons at their disposal are numerous make
this war asymmetrical in the full sense of the word. 


   


Various terrorist organizations:   


  Although due to the world's limited sources of communication and
transportation terrorism remained a regional phenomenon in the past, it has
now crossed borders with the help of commercial and tourism activities and
hence has become an international issue. The immense contribution of
technology to terrorist violence has enabled terrorism to wage an asymmetric
war. In brief, the asymmetric war could be explained as a
random/unpredictable fight conducted by a relatively weak army against an
omnipotent one. Varying degrees of terrorism as a means of fighting an
asymmetric war of the kind that today troubles state security forces are
cited below: 


  1. Terrorism as a consequence of common crime. 


  2. Terrorism pertaining to an organized political movement. 


  3. Terrorism with an ethnic and religiously fundamentalist character. 


  The disruptive acts pursued by terrorist organizations are in general
materialized in the ways described below: 


  1. Incidents fueled by financial motives or the fanatical tendencies of
individuals or groups organized on a small scale. 


  2. Fully planned actions of terror led by well-trained and flawlessly
organized groups. 


  Fighting an asymmetric war, individual attempts on a small scale could
grow to assist the major terrorist organizations for monetary reasons. Such
an alliance is likely to take place on the international level. Individual
groups acting as the instruments of terror lords could aim at destroying
public spheres, energy facilities and transportation systems and strike
internationally. Terror by the well-trained and flawlessly organized groups
is generally pursued to gain political eminence and designed to exercise
influence over the masses in the long run. Terrorism with an ethnical and
religiously fundamentalist character, on the other hand, aims at serious
damage that will dominate the public view. Such terrorist attacks of great
scale can only be put into action through international cooperation. The
support for them and the war against them can only be fought on the
international level. The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, for instance, were financed
by those who were trained in the Afghan terror camps constructed with the
help of the United States together with certain organizations and
individuals who were situated in some Middle Eastern countries and were put
into action by the masterminds in Hamburg. Although individual terrorism
exercises influence over a limited area and hence the fight against it
remains restricted to that particular area, political, fundamentalist or
ethnic terrorism and the fight against it require stable and continuous
cooperation on an international level. 


   


The force behind the terror against Turkey: 


  An international dimension exists concerning the facts behind the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terror against Turkey. The considerable
amount of support in the form of finance, shelter, military aid and
intelligence granted to terrorists by neighboring countries such as Greece,
Syria, Russia, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon rendered 

[osint] POLICE AND TSA BUTT HEADS

[Bruce Tefft]

 



http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=5

&id=31468
 
Houston Officer Defends Passenger Boarding Plane With Bomb Components 
 

Houston police and the federal Transportation Security Administration
disagree over who is responsible for allowing a man with what appeared to be
bomb components board an aircraft at Hobby Airport last week.

Although the FBI eventually cleared the man of wrongdoing, police officials
have transferred the officer involved and are investigating the incident
while insisting that the TSA, not police, has the authority to keep a
suspicious person from boarding a flight.

"Our job is not to be the gatekeepers," police Capt. Dwayne Ready said.
"That burden falls squarely on the airline and TSA to make that final
decision.

"We are looking at our role in the situation to make sure our policies were
adhered to," he said. "During follow-up, we are finding that there simply
was not a material threat."

TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said screeners have the authority to stop
people from going beyond the checkpoint to the boarding areas, but they rely
heavily on local police.

"It's just agencies talking with each other," Ready said, downplaying the
disagreement.

Details of the dispute

McCauley and Ready would not comment about the June 26 incident, but a
confidential TSA report obtained by the Houston Chronicle details a dispute
between screeners and a police officer on duty at the airport.

The report states that a man with a Middle Eastern name and a ticket for a
Delta Airlines flight to Atlanta shook his head when screeners asked if he
had a laptop computer in his baggage, but an X-ray machine operator detected
a laptop.

A search of the man's baggage revealed a clock with a 9-volt battery taped
to it and a copy of the Quran, the report said. A screener examined the
man's shoes and determined that the "entire soles of both shoes were gutted
out."

No explosive material was detected, the report states. A police officer was
summoned and questioned the man, examined his identification, shoes and the
clock, then cleared him for travel, according to the report.

A TSA screener disagreed with the officer, saying "the shoes had been
tampered with and there were all the components of (a bomb) except the
explosive itself," the report says.

The officer retorted, "I thought y'all were trained in this stuff," TSA
officials reported.

The report says the TSA screener notified Delta Airlines and talked again
with the officer, who said he had been unable to check the passenger's
criminal background because of computer problems.

FBI involvement

The incident gained enough attention at higher levels of the TSA that the
FBI was asked to investigate. The TSA issued a statement saying its
screeners "acted in accordance with their training and protocols."

FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett in Atlanta said agents there investigated
the passenger.

"It was looked at and deemed a non-event," Emmett said, declining to give
further details.

Meanwhile the officer involved in the dispute, J.O. Reece, has been
transferred to a desk job, "the same place they send officers who are
relieved of duty," said Chad Hoffman, attorney for the Houston Police
Officers Union.

Hoffman said Reece doesn't understand why he was transferred "when it seems
clear from the onset of the investigation that he didn't have probable cause
to detain anybody and that his actions were consistent with the law and HPD
policy."



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyon

[osint] Un-Islamic Islam

[Bruce Tefft]

Last sentence is key...this is a very dangerous man.
 
Bruce
 

 
 

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/L
ayout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=
1152483907379&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1129025140139
 


Un-Islamic Islam



 


 
  

Canadian Muslims 'need to stop behaving as though everything is normal'

By Imam Dr. Yahya Fadlalla
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 10, 2006) 

In the aftermath of the 17 Toronto-area people charged with planning
terrorist acts, we have to remember they are innocent until prosecuted
fairly and transparently and proven guilty in a court of law -- not by the
public, the media or our Prime Minister who already judged them: "They hate
us because of our way of life."

We also have to remember that these are only 17 from about 750,000 Muslims
in the greater Toronto area, most of whom are highly educated and a
community with an extremely low crime rate.

In my opinion, Canada will likely face major terrorist acts in the future if
certain things do not change. There are three aspects to this: government,
media and the Muslim community. If all three are dealt with, I believe the
problem can be confronted successfully.

No doubt the vast majority of Islamic establishments, such as mosques, work
hard to better and benefit their communities. But some of them are tangled
in many problems. It seems to me that the way some so-called imams or
leaders run their mosques or organizations is akin to the way the countries
they came from are run: by the iron fist of a dictator who seems not to look
after anyone except himself, his goals or his ideology.

This is un-Islamic.

Where is our government while some of these organizations collect monies
and/or receive funds from foreign lands with ties to terrorists, but are not
audited?

Where was the government (and police) when wise Canadian Muslims brought to
their attention violations of the law that occur in some mosques and the
radical behaviours of some so-called imams and leaders?

As a matter of fact, government and police seem to put wind under the wings
of these so-called imams or leaders by meeting and accepting them as
liaisons to the Muslim community. In some cases some government officials
seem to intentionally get close to the so-called leader or Imam in order to
be invited by him to solicit votes from the community, indirectly and
unconsciously helping him and his perilous ideology to prosper. This needs
to change.

As for the media: They seem not to realize that they are pumping up people
who are not only unqualified to give Islamic opinions as they do, but also
do not represent the Muslim community. The media, to the insult of many
Muslims, call these people community leaders or spokesmen.

The media seem to choose far-leftist Muslims who say the hijab (Muslim
women's head-covering) is old-fashioned and must be abolished or state that
there are horrifying "problems with Islam." The other faction the media
appears to propagate is made up of extremists who classify any beardless
Muslim man as an idiot sinner and view Jews and Christians with
narrow-mindedness, declaring them kafirs -- infidels who deserve kidnapping
and beheading. (This is contrary to the Koran that calls them with respect
Ahl-ul-Ketab --people of the scriptures revealed upon Moses and Jesus).

It is true that there are a few informed Muslim thinkers sporadically
interviewed by the media, but much better can be done to depict a true
picture of Islam and of Muslim Canadians. Why does the media use terms like
"Muslim terrorists", "Muslim radicals" and "Muslim extremists"? Not only
does the media seem to insist on using these terms but in publishing the
views of some of those extremists, they help spread their radical
ideologies.

It is a fact that there are extremists among Muslims, but why are they
referred to by their religion? This taints Islam in the eyes of the public
and consequently affect Muslims in their job searches and relationships with
non-Muslim friends, neighbours, colleagues and, in some cases, family
members.

This, in turn, creates and stirs anger in the Muslim community on top of the
ongoing frustration caused by what their Muslim brothers and sisters are
facing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and other parts of the world. This
anger usually appears to be directed towards the West, including Canada,
while it creates sympathy toward Al-Qaeda and Taliban.

The media needs to correct certain practices when it comes to reporting on
Muslims and Islam.

Muslim community involvement is important. It starts at home. The only fear
parents seem have of the children and the Internet is pornography. But there
are thousands of websites that give shocking details of how to, among other
things, plan

[osint] News Flash: Mumbai bombs kill at least 135

[IntellNet]

Mumbai bombs kill at least 135


--
At least 135 people were killed and hundreds injured in seven 
bomb explosions on packed commuter trains and stations on Tuesday 
in Mumbai, India's financial hub, officials said. 

--

Reuters (UK)
 [ 
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-11T163220Z_01_BOM186676_RTRUKOC_0_UK-INDIA-BLAST.xml
 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/2pRQfA/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Death Toll at 105 in India Train Bombings

[IntellNet]

Death Toll at 105 in India Train Bombings


--
Death Toll Rises to 105 in India Train Bombings, News Agency 
Reports; PM Blames Terrorists 

--

ABC News
 [ http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2178409 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Something is new at Yahoo! Groups.  Check out the enhanced email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/SISQkA/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: White House: Detainees entitled to Geneva Convention protections

[IntellNet]

White House: Detainees entitled to Geneva Convention protections


--
The Bush administration said Tuesday that all detainees held at 
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in all other U.S. military custody 
around the world are entitled to protections under the Geneva 
Conventions. 

--

CNN
 [ 
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/07/11/congress.guantanamo.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories
 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Up to 100 feared dead in Bombay blasts

[IntellNet]

Up to 100 feared dead in Bombay blasts


--
Seven explosions hit Bombay's commuter rail network during rush 
hour Tuesday evening, killing as many as 100 people, the city's 
police chief said. Chaos engulfed the crowded rail network in 
India's financial capital following the blasts that ripped apart 
train compartments. 

--

Yahoo! (AP)
 [ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_re_as/india_train_explosion_16 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups.  See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] The covert war to strangle North Korea

[Bruce Tefft]

 
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19734859-31477,00.html
 

The covert war to strangle North Korea

The West is weighing how far Kim Jong-il can be pushed before he plays his
trump card, plutonium, Michael Sheridan writes from Seoul

  _  

July 10, 2006

A PROGRAM of clandestine action against nuclear and missile traffic to North
Korea and Iran is to be intensified after last week's missile tests by the
Pyongyang regime.


Intelligence agencies, navies and air forces from at least 13 nations are
quietly co-operating in a secret war against Pyongyang and Tehran. 


It has so far involved interceptions of North Korean ships at sea, US agents
prowling the waterfronts in Taiwan, multinational naval and air surveillance
missions out of Singapore, investigators poring over the books of dubious
banks in the former Portuguese colony of Macau and a fleet of planes and
ships eavesdropping on the "hermit kingdom" in the waters north of Japan. 

Few details filter out from Western officials about the program, which has
operated since 2003, or about the American financial sanctions that
accompany it. But together they have tightened a noose around Kim Jong-il's
bankrupt, hungry nation. 

"Diplomacy alone has not worked, military action is not on the table and so
you'll see a persistent increase in this kind of pressure," a senior Western
official says. 

In a telling example of the program's success, two Bush administration
officials indicated last year that it had blocked North Korea from obtaining
equipment used to make missile propellant. 

The US also persuaded China to stop the sale of chemicals to North Korea's
nuclear weapons scientists. And a shipload of North Korea-bound precursor
chemicals for weapons was seized in Taiwan. 

According to US ambassador to the UN John Bolton, the man who originally
devised the program, it has made a serious dent in North Korea's revenues
from ballistic missile sales. But the success of Bolton's brainchild, the
Proliferation Security Initiative, whose stated aim is to stop trafficking
of weapons of mass destruction, might also push North Korea into extreme
reactions. 

Australia is a member of the initiative, which was announced by President
George W.Bush in Poland in 2003, and has held meetings of operational
experts. Other participants include Britain, New Zealand, Japan, Italy,
Spain and Singapore. 

There has been almost no public debate in the countries committed to
military involvement. A report for the US Congress says it has "no
international secretariat, no offices in federal agencies established to
support it, no database or reports of successes and failures and no
established funding". 

To Bolton and other senior officials, those vague qualities make it
politically attractive. 

In the past 10 months, since the collapse of six-nation talks in Beijing on
North Korea's nuclear weapons, the US and its allies have also tightened the
screws on Kim's clandestine fundraising, which generated about $US500
million ($666 million) a year for the regime. 

The US undersecretary for arms control, Robert Joseph, has disclosed that 11
North Korean entities -- trading companies or banks -- plus six from Iran
and one from Syria were singled out for action under an executive order,
numbered 13382, signed by Bush. 

For the first time, the US Secret Service and the FBI released details of
North Korean involvement in forging $US100 notes and in selling counterfeit
Viagra, cigarettes and amphetamines in collaboration with Chinese gangsters.


The investigators homed in on a North Korean trading company and two banks
in Macau. The firm, which had offices next to a casino and a "sauna", was
run by North Koreans with diplomatic passports, who promptly vanished. 

The two banks, Seng Heng bank and Banco Delta Asia, denied any wrongdoing.
But the Macau authorities stepped in after a run on Banco Delta Asia and
froze $US20 million in North Korean accounts. 

Last week, the North Koreans demanded the money as a precondition for talks
but the Americans brushed off their protest. 

Kim told Chinese President Hu Jintao in January that his Government was
being strangled, diplomats in the Chinese capital say. 

"He has warned the Chinese leaders his regime could collapse and he knows
that is the last thing we want," a Chinese source close to the Foreign
Ministry says. 

The risk being assessed between Washington and Tokyo this weekend was how
far Kim could be pushed against the wall before he undertook something more
lethal than last week's display of force. 

The "Dear Leader" has turned North Korea into a military-dominated state to
preserve his own inherited role at the apex of a Stalinist personality cult.
Although he appears erratic, and North Korea's rhetoric is extreme, most
diplomats who have met him think Kim is highly calculating. 

"He is a very tough Korean nationalist and he knows exactly how to play the
power game -- very hard," says professor Shi Yinhong, an e

[osint] Kim envies attention Iran gets from U.S.

[Bruce Tefft]

 
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/137086
 

Expert: N. Korea's Kim envies attention Iran gets from U.S. 

By Jeff St. Onge 
Bloomberg News 
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.09.2006
 
  
 
 
The CIA's former top expert on Kim Jong Il says a major reason the North
Korean dictator launched missiles last week was resentment over the
attention that Iran's nuclear program is getting from the United States. 
"I believe that he, as a fellow resident of the 'axis of evil' with the
Iranian leadership, has really been affronted that we have been devoting so
much attention to Iran," said Jerrold Post, the CIA's leading psychological
profiler of foreign leaders until he retired after 21 years. 
Kim, said Post, is "kind of saying, 'I'm the biggest and baddest of them
all. I do have a nuclear capability.' " 
Post, now a professor at George Washington University in Washington who
specializes in political psychology and international affairs, said he
thought the missile launches were deliberately timed for July 4, America's
Independence Day. 
Post, who has done exhaustive studies of Kim's psyche and whose recently
released book has a chapter on the North Korean leader, also said that with
the failure of North Korea's long-range Taepodong-2 missile, Kim "assuredly
lost face" in his effort to attract world attention. 
Kim's core characteristic is malignant narcissism, according to Post. "It's
a very serious personality disorder," he said. 
Kim suffers from "extreme self-absorption, such a messianic view of himself,
he has no capacity to empathize with the pain and suffering of others -
including his own people" and "a paranoid attitude," Post said. 
North Korea "is really falling apart; it's an economic basket case," he
said. Kim sustains his leadership by "being always in this external crisis."


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Rumsfeld says Taliban wont succeed

[IntellNet]

 Rumsfeld says Taliban ‘won‘t succeed‘


--
The Taliban will be defeated in Afghanistan although cross-border 
movement of militants is continuing, Defense Secretary Donald H. 
Rumsfeld said in a surprise visit Tuesday. 

--

Sky Valley Journal
 [ 
http://www.localnewswatch.com/skyvalley/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=201744
 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Military probes reports of resumed terror training--source

[IntellNet]

Military probes reports of resumed terror training--source 


--
THE MILITARY is verifying reports the al Qaeda-linked groups Abu 
Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) have resumed training in the 
mountains of Central Mindanao in the southern Philippines, a 
ranking intelligence official said. 

--

INQ7.net
 [ 
http://newsinfo.inq7.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=9249 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Somali Islamists vow to crush resistance as last warlord flees

[IntellNet]

Somali Islamists vow to crush resistance as last warlord flees


--
Islamists now in full control of the Somali capital have vowed to 
"destroy" all resistance to their religious rule as the city's 
last secular warlord fled after surrendering in fierce battles. 

--

AFP
 [ http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/060711123149.qjt4bfon.html ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: N.Korea open to 6-party talks if US sanctions end

[IntellNet]

N.Korea open to 6-party talks if US sanctions end


--
North Korea is willing to return to six-party talks on its 
nuclear program if the United States drops financial sanctions 
against Pyongyang, Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Hyong Jun said on 
Tuesday. 

--

Reuters
 [ 
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=12804385&src=rss/topNews
 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: 6 Explosions Hit Trains in Bombay, India

[IntellNet]

6 Explosions Hit Trains in Bombay, India


--
Six explosions hit Bombay's commuter rail network during rush 
hour Tuesday evening, ripping apart train compartments and 
reportedly injuring dozens of people, police and Indian media 
said. 

--

TBO (AP)
 [ 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INDIA_TRAIN_EXPLOSION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
 ]
Houston Chronicle
 [ http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4038882.html ]
KCCI.com [ http://www.kcci.com/news/9496836/detail.html ]
Kentucky.com
 [ http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/world/15013266.htm ]
NBC 4.com [ http://www.nbc4.com/news/9496836/detail.html ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] News Flash: Saddam Trial Adjourned for Two Weeks

[IntellNet]

Saddam Trial Adjourned for Two Weeks


--
Two defendants in the trial of Saddam Hussein made their closing 
arguments Tuesday before the judge adjourned the proceedings for 
nearly two weeks in an attempt to resolve a boycott of the court 
by the former Iraqi leader and his lawyers. 

--

TBO (AP)
 [ 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SADDAM_TRIAL?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
 ]

News Flash Provided by IntellNet [ http://www.intellnet.org ]
-The Intelligence Network




 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups.  See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] CHRONOLOGY-Messages attributed to al Qaeda

[Bruce Tefft]

 
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N07233321.htm
 
CHRONOLOGY-Messages attributed to al Qaeda
 
 July 7 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda released a 31-minute video on Friday on the
one-year anniversary of four suicide bombings on the London transport
system. Excerpts of the video had been aired by Al Jazeera television on
Thursday. 

Following is a chronology of major statements attributed to al Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri or their allies this year. At
least 36 messages have been broadcast since Al Jazeera aired the first
statement by bin Laden in 2001. 

2006 

-- Jan. 6 - Zawahri says in a video that U.S. President George W. Bush's
plans to withdraw troops from Iraq means Washington has been defeated by the
Muslims. 

-- Jan. 19 - Bin Laden warns that al Qaeda is preparing new attacks inside
the United States but says the group is open to a conditional truce with
Americans, according to an audiotape attributed to him and aired by Al
Jazeera. 

-- Jan. 30 - Zawahri says in a videotape aired by Al Jazeera that he
survived a U.S. air strike in Pakistan. The attack struck a village
stronghold of pro-Taliban Islamists in Pakistan on Jan. 13. 

-- April 23 - In an audiotape aired by Al Jazeera, bin Laden says Western
efforts to isolate the Palestinian Hamas government and the Darfur crisis in
Sudan are examples of the West's "crusader war" against Islam. 

-- April 25 - A 34-minute video of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of
Iraq's al Qaeda wing, is posted on the Internet, the first known tape to
show an unmasked Zarqawi delivering an extended rallying address. 

-- April 29 - Zawahri says in a video posted on the Internet that hundreds
of suicide bombers have "broken America's back" in three years of war in
Iraq. 

-- May 23 - Bin Laden says in an audiotape posted on the Internet that
Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in
connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, had nothing to do with them. The
speaker says he personally assigned tasks to the 19 hijackers who staged the
attacks. 

-- June 1 - Zarqawi calls on fellow Sunnis to reject any reconciliation with
"infidel" Shi'ites, in an audiotape posted on the Internet. 

-- June 9 - Zawahri urges Palestinians to reject a referendum on a statehood
proposal that implicitly recognizes Israel, in a video aired on Al Jazeera
television. 

-- June 22 - Zawahri vows vengeance against the United States for the death
of Zarqawi in a U.S. air strike. On the same videotape, he also urges
Afghans to fight foreign troops in their country. 

-- June 30 - Bin Laden praises Zarqawi as a "lion of jihad," and vows al
Qaeda will continue to fight U.S. forces and their allies "everywhere,"
according to an Internet audiotape. 

-- July 1 - Bin Laden warns Iraq's Shi'ite majority of retaliation for
attacks on Sunni Arabs and says his group will fight the United States
anywhere in the world. 

-- July 7 - On the one-year anniversary of the London bombings, al Qaeda
issues a video on the attacks, featuring comments from Zawahri, bin Laden
and one of the bombers. It was unclear if bin Laden's remarks were new or
recycled from previous tapes. Al Jazeera television had aired excerpts of
the video on July 6. 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] Pakistan, Iran, Turkey to set up ECO bank

[Bruce Tefft]

 
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=44240
 &NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
 
Pakistan, Iran, Turkey to set up ECO bank   
   
Monday, July 10, 2006 - C2005 IranMania.com 


LONDON, July 10 (IranMania) - Pakistan, Iran and Turkey have agreed to set
up ECO trade and development bank, IRNA reported. 

According to 'The News', this was decided in a meeting of bank officials of
the three countries in Ankara. 

Head of Iran's Foreign Exchange Reserves, Muhammad Jafar Mojjarab said that
ECO trade and development bank would play vital role in the economic
development of the three countries, the daily added. 

The bank is likely to be set up in Istanbul in two and half months with its
branches in Iran and Pakistan. 





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups.  See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] Iran wants nuclear team leader turfed

[Bruce Tefft]

 

 
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/International/2006/07/10/1676573-sun.html
 

Iran wants nuclear team leader turfed

Mon, July 10, 2006

By AP

 

  




BETINA, CROATIA -- Iran has asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to
remove the head of the inspection team probing Tehran's nuclear program, UN
officials said yesterday. 

The inspector, Chris Charlier, has not been back to Iran since April because
of Iranian displeasure with his work, the officials said. 

However, Charlier remains the head of the team, they said, speaking on
condition of anonymity because the issue was confidential. 

The German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported yesterday that Charlier had
been removed from his post and assigned to other duties. It quoted him as
saying he believes Iran is operating a clandestine nuclear program and
suggested it was linked to weapons. 

IAEA spokespeople in Vienna, Austria, declined comment yesterday. 




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] Bush takes Iran, NKorea issues to G8

[Bruce Tefft]

 

 
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=113073
 

Bush takes Iran, NKorea issues to G8

Monday Jul 10 13:27 AEST

US President George W. Bush leaves for the Group of Eight summit in Russia
later this week hoping to get some help for pounding diplomatic headaches
over weapons programs in Iran and North Korea.

With China invited to join seven major industrialized democracies plus
Russia at the weekend summit in Saint Petersburg, Bush will come
face-to-face with many of Washington's key partners in both protracted
disputes.

He was to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his
host, and was to see Chinese President Hu Jintao -- both of whom have
resisted US-backed calls to punish North Korea over a seven-missile barrage.

Both are also involved in efforts, led by the United States, Britain, France
and Germany, to ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear arms. Tehran
denies its civilian atomic program hides a weapons quest.

"The G8 will be an opportunity for those of us involved with this issue to
make it clear to the Iranians that we're firm in our resolve for them not to
have a nuclear weapon," Bush said at a press conference in Chicago on
Friday.

The US president suggested that part of his job at the summit would be to
press US partners in both diplomatic disputes to see past their "economic
interests" and take a harder line.

"Some nations are more comfortable with sanctions than other nations. And
part of the issue we face in some of these countries is that they've got
economic interests," he said.

"And part of our objective is to make sure that national security interests,
security-of-the-world interests, trump economic interests. And sometimes
that takes a while to get people focused in the right direction," he said.

US officials declined to predict specific action on either front at the G8,
saying there were too many variables in either dispute to say much more than
it was a "safe bet" that leaders in Saint Petersburg would discuss the
disputes.

It was unclear whether and when the UN Security Council would vote on a
resolution pushing for sanctions on North Korea.

And US officials hope -- despite Iran's denials -- that Tehran would have a
firm answer by the date the summit starts on July 15 to a Western proposal
aimed at ensuring the Islamic Republic does not get nuclear weapons.

Bush courted Hu and Putin's support on North Korea by telephone on Thursday,
but the White House said he had not directly broached the issue of sanctions
and confirmed that there was not yet a "unified front" on the way forward.

"They're also going to see each other in Saint Petersburg next week, so my
guess is that there will be more intense dialogue," White House spokesman
Tony Snow told reporters.

Bush, who will meet with Putin before the broader summit gets underway and
with Hu on the sidelines of the G8, also hopes that the assembled countries
will agree on a joint statement on both standoffs.

Putin told Bush by telephone Thursday "that nuclear weapons on the Korean
Peninsula now will be part of the G8 discussions" and that he hoped to work
through the G8 and the UN Security Council "to develop a unified approach
and message on the issue," said Snow.

The United States has been pleading for patience with diplomatic efforts to
rally its partners in six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons
programs -- China, Japan, Russia and South Korea -- and speak with "one
voice" on the missile crisis.

At the same time, Bush has rejected any new concessions to Pyongyang and
warned that he has "other options" beyond diplomacy.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on

[osint] Guantanamo inmates won't be moved to U.S.

[Bruce Tefft]

 
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1009362006
 
 

Guantanamo inmates won't be moved to U.S. -W. House


By Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prisoners from Guantanamo Bay will not be moved to
U.S. soil or tried in civilian courts and are in a "holding pattern" after a
Supreme Court ruling against a military tribunal system, the White House
said on Monday.

The Bush administration is trying to determine how to proceed after the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that the tribunal system it set up to try the terrorism
suspects was illegal.

Most of the inmates have been held for more than four years without charges
at the detention facility built in Cuba after the September 11 attacks.

Bush has said the high court's silence on the use of Guantanamo as a prison
signalled acceptance of his decision to hold prisoners at that facility.

Criticism of the treatment of detainees has led to international calls to
close Guantanamo, where three prisoners committed suicide on June 10. The
White House says Guantanam cannot be closed until its prisoners are either
repatriated or tried.

"We are not going to move them into places on American soil and to the civil
justice system," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

"There are no plans at this point to move them into another facility except
to the extent to which we are able to repatriate those who might, in fact,
be tried and cared for elsewhere," he said.

The White House has interpreted the high-court ruling to mean that it must
go to Congress to authorise a system for trying the prisoners. Congress
planned to hold hearings this week.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he was consulting with the White
House and planned to reach out to Democrats to craft legislation that likely
will be on the floor in September.

"This does give us an opportunity to update our laws to respond to new
realities of a post 9/11 world," the Tennessee Republican told reporters.

Frist said he expected Congress would address Geneva Convention issues on
prisoners' rights as it worked on legislation, "and I think that is going to
take a lot of debate."

Snow said the prisoners were in "a holding pattern to the extent that those
who are not being repatriated are going to be staying there."

The White House argues that the terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay
are different from prisoners taken in a war between armies of two countries
and thus need to be handled differently.

"How do you bring those properly to justice?" Snow asked. "In some cases, it
means repatriating and in some cases it's going to mean finding a proper
way, acceptable to the Supreme Court, to conduct trials.

"I think there's a lot of head-scratching going on," he said. "And people
really are trying to figure out what exactly does the Supreme Court opinion
imply about the way in which we can proceed forward."



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] Mastermind 'Raised' Idea Of Explosive Backpacks

[Bruce Tefft]

 
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_191175107.html
 

Mastermind 'Raised' Idea Of Explosive Backpacks


Subway System, Brooklyn Bridge Likely Intended Targets

  

  Marcia Kramer
Reporting

(CBS) NEW YORK There is a new development in the alleged plot to attack PATH
train tunnels under the Hudson River. 

The suspected ringleader was also targeting New York City.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said an international manhunt is now on
for his accomplices.

The underground PATH train tunnels weren't the only terror targets discussed
by a Lebanese man apparently at the center of an al Qaeda plot to strike New
York around the fifth anniversary of 9-11.

Federal officials said Assem Hammoud and his band of terrorists also
"raised" the possibility of using explosive-filled backpacks on the New York
City subway system, and considered the Brooklyn Bridge as a potential
target.

"As information is developed from what this individual in Lebanon has, we're
going to learn more," Kelly said. 

The terror mastermind also reportedly considered the Golden Gate Bridge and
the possibility of setting wildfires in California. However, Kelly, who
testified at a federal terror hearing on Monday, said the probe is ongoing
and there may be much, much more yet to come out.

"I'm a little bit constrained," Kelly said. "Some of this information is
classified about this case. This investigation is still going forward.
There's lots of aspects to this investigation that hopefully will prove
fruitful to protecting this country."

Kelly said officials are still trying to round up all the suspects, and a
manhunt is underway

"There are three individuals who are in custody, five individuals have been
identified and we know where they are," Kelly said. "There are other
individuals involved with this case that had contact with these people."

Commissioner Kelly said one thing that makes it difficult to round up all
the suspects is that they are in multiple countries, connected by the
Internet.

The commissioner also said some are in countries the United States "doesn't
have the best relationships with."

But the probe is ongoing. More developments are expected. 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 

[osint] "Why Can't We Get Osama bin Laden?," Asks 9/11 Commission

[Bruce Tefft]

 
Because he is in Iran and has been there for years...and we do not want to
take on Iran.  Duuh.
 
Bruce
 

http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=17778
"Why Can't We Get Osama bin Laden?," Asks 9/11 Commission 
 
 
July 10, 2006, Greencastle, Ind. - "Why can't we get Osama bin Laden?," asks
Lee H. Hamilton, vice chair of the 9/11 Commission and 1952 graduate of
DePauw University. "He is the most wanted man in the world and among the
most recognizable. He is unusually tall, reportedly somewhat ill, and
occasionally manages to record and distribute audiotapes to the wider world.
Yet nearly five years after he masterminded the murder of nearly 3,000
Americans, the United States has come up empty in one of the largest
manhunts in history." 

Writing in the Indianapolis Star, the former U.S. Congressman continues,
"The recent strike against Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist who
became an insurgent leader in Iraq, should give us hope. Among the many
positive elements of Zarqawi's death was a demonstration that the U.S. can
locate and eliminate an elusive al-Qaida leader. Yet unlike bin Laden and
his top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri, Zarqawi was operating in a country
occupied by nearly 150,000 U.S. troops."  


Hamilton, director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
in Washington, D.C., states that, even though America is "fairly certain of
bin Laden's location: somewhere on the Pakistani side of the northwestern
Afghan-Pakistani border," apprehending him is a challenge because of the
region's terrain and political climate. Trying to remove bin Laden through
airstrikes or an invasion of Pakistan would result in "extensive civilian
casualties" and likely lead to political upheaval there, Hamilton states. 


"The key is better intelligence, and that depends on gradually closing in on
the ring of associates who are in some kind of contact with bin Laden. Even
though he is cut off, he is still the leader of a network, and is dependent
on others for food, shelter, medical care and the distribution of his
messages. To put it simply, we have to continue to look for someone who can
tell us where he is." 


The Democrat urges patience, and an effort that involves cooperation from
foreign governments, "particularly Pakistan's. Finding a single individual
in a distant land is nearly impossible without help." He asserts, "We will
either get bin Laden, or he will die in a remote corner of the world. In the
process of getting him, we can strengthen our intelligence gathering in a
vital front in the war on terrorism. But we should not give bin Laden the
kind of legacy he wants: a clumsy strike on Pakistan that kills innocent
Muslims and opens further the chasm between the U.S. and the Islamic world."



Access the complete op-ed by clicking
 here. 


Lee Hamilton and 9/11 Commission co-chair Thomas Kean have been elected
 2006 Fellows of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) and will be inducted in October. In
2005, the Hamilton and Kean were honored with the
 Four Freedoms Medal by the
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Hamilton, who was recently called
"the Democrats' Mr.  
Integrity," will return to his alma mater to participate in DePauw Discourse
2006, October 26-28.  Learn more in
 this previous story.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
  Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Unsubscribe:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]


*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of 
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT 
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, 
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other 
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes 
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material 
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' 
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
  

[osint] Russia leaves behind post-Soviet inferiority complex

[Bruce Tefft]

 

 
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1004472006
 

Russia leaves behind post-Soviet inferiority complex


By Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - With its political disarray over and its economy on the
rise, Russia, which hosts the G8 summit this week, is ditching its
post-Soviet inferiority complex and shaping a new foreign policy.

"We don't think we were defeated in the Cold War," President Vladimir
Putin's aide Vladislav Surkov, said. "We believe we beat our own
totalitarian regime."

Gone are the days when first post-Soviet foreign minister, Andrei Kozyrev,
vowed Moscow's adherence to the "community of world democracies".

Instead, Russia is shaping a new foreign policy line.

Putin now tells his diplomats to revive Russia's independent global role and
promote its own interests rather than tail any international camp.

"We should not only take part in solving issues of a global agenda, but also
make a solid contribution to forming it," he told a recent conference of
Russia's ambassadors.

Apart from steady economic growth on the back of high energy prices,
Russia's ambitions are pinned to the emergence of new strong global players,
like China and India, which Moscow sees as a sign of a shifting
international balance of powers.

Russia has stepped up strategic ties with China, once a foe in their clash
for supremacy in the communist world.

The Shanghai Security Organisation, dominated by the two, now claims to have
a stability role in the vast region including resource-rich, but restive
ex-Soviet Central Asia.

Putin has made clear that when leaders of eight industrial nations, the
United States, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy and Canada, meet in St
Petersburg this week, Russia intends to position itself as a bridge between
the West and the rising South.

"Everyone favours Russia's active role in the club because no one wants the
G8 to become a gathering of fat cats," he said in January when he took over
the G8 chairmanship.

OWN WAY

Some elements of Russia's new diplomacy have raised eyebrows in the West.

Russia is resisting Western pressure to punish Iran, which is suspected of
working on its own nuclear weapons, and North Korea, which says it has
already got one.

It hosted Hamas leaders in March despite calls by Israel and the United
States to isolate the radical Palestinian movement which vows to destroy the
Jewish state.

Putin has rejected any suggestions that Russia was pulling together a new
camp to confront the West. "We are not going to join any 'holy alliances',"
he told his ambassadors.

But Russian officials do not hide their disenchantment with the West, which
in Moscow's eyes has failed to match its political progress, including
support in the war on terror, with appropriate economic incentives like
access to Western markets.

Russia also accuses the United States and Europe, which supported
pro-Western revolutions in ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia, of poaching in its
traditional sphere of influence.

"Russian leaders have abandoned the hope that the country can become a part
of the West and have begun to create their own system, revolving around
Moscow," political analyst Dmitry Trenin wrote.

GAS WEAPON

Although Russia has lost most of its Soviet-era military might and allies,
the growing international demand for energy resources has given it a new
strong diplomatic weapon.

A brief disruption of gas supply in the middle of a price row with Ukraine,
which many in the West saw as a punishment for Kiev's new pro-Western
stance, scared Europe in January.

State controlled monopoly Gazprom has warned the story might repeat itself
next winter and made clear it wanted Europe to put pressure on Ukraine to be
more compliant.

"Ukraine is a common problem of Russia and the European Union," company
spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said.

Russian leaders have also said access of Western companies to lucrative
Russian gas market had to be matched by Gazprom's access to European
networks.

However, Putin has made clear he does not want disagreements with the West
to grow into new confrontations and he is sure to use the G8 summit to show
he wants to keep Russia in the pack of mainstream global players.

"Our aim is to make it so that after the summit other G8 leaders acknowledge
that Russia shares G8 values although it will not submit to a common stand
among partners if it believes they are wrong," his pointman Igor Shuvalov
said.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups.  See the new email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM
~-> 

--
Want to discuss this topic?  Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
--
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.intellnet.org

  Post message: osint@ya

[osint] US show of power in the Pacific aimed at the Chinese

[Bruce Tefft]

 "'There is no real explanation for why China is doing all this, what the
limit is, or how much longer it will go on. What is the purpose of it?'" 
 
Of course there is...China knows the US is the enemy.
 
Bruce
 


 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=G2BNZGKFHBB0VQFIQMGCFG
GAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/07/10/wpacific10.xml
US show of power in the Pacific aimed at the Chinese
By Francis Harris aboard USS Bonhomme Richard,  The Daily Telegraph,  10
July 2006


When the huge American helicopter carrier USS Bonhomme Richard left Pearl
Harbour with its bristling pack of escorts last week, every crewman on deck
turned to salute the sunken wreck of the battleship Arizona, destroyed in
the Japanese surprise attack of 1941.

More than six decades after that attack, America is once again worried about
the emergence of a powerful rival on the other side of the Pacific. This
time it is China and America is determined  not to be caught by surprise.

With little fanfare, it is building up its military strength in the Pacific
and has launched a series of manoeuvres across the ocean, unmatched in scale
for a generation, to confront the relentless build-up by China.

The Bonhomme Richard is one of 41 surface vessels and submarines and 160
aircraft joining the biennial rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) exercise. It is
the world's largest maritime war game this year and involves seven other
countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru, Japan, South Korea and a small
detachment of divers from the Royal Navy.

Last month America brought together three of its giant aircraft carrier
battle groups, a total of 28 ships and 280 aircraft, off the island of Guam.
It was the biggest carrier exercise since the Vietnam war. A two-carrier
exercise is due next month.

"The biggest thing we are doing out here is learning to work together," said
Cdre Jonathan Picker, explaining the purpose of Rimpac 2006, aboard the
44,000-ton Bonhomme Richard.

Was the exercise aimed at any one country? "No, absolutely not. It is never
aimed against anybody."

But it is clear that America is sending a message to at least two nations:
North Korea and China. Iran will figure too. North Korea's seven-missile
salvo last week, which caused international outrage, was launched just as
the Rimpac exercise began.

On board the Bonhomme Richard, wardroom chatter among the cheerful officers
turned half-jokingly to the prospect of another war in Korea.

Gary Schmidt, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says the
permanent shift of forces to the Pacific


"is meant to bolster an area of the world where there is potential for a
major conflict, not just in China but in North Korea too".


It is part of a cautious new approach termed "the hedging strategy". Boiled
down, it is a simple insurance policy: military readiness is being
significantly raised in case China and North Korea turn openly hostile. If
they remain peaceful, no harm is done.

The Pacific, studded with palm-fringed islands, is a holidaymaker's dream.
But the vast spaces of this ocean also provide a playground for the
muscle-flexing of rising powers.

China, which has a rampant economy, has raised military spending by more
than 10 per cent a year for 15 years. That has given the People's Liberation
Army a bristling array of high-tech weaponry, including carrier-killing
weapons. They threaten the vessels that have kept the Pacific a United
States lake for more than half a century and that could block China's
long-cherished dream of snuffing out the small democratic breakaway state of
Taiwan.

Mr Schmidt suggested that the growing rivalry had parallels with the
dreadnought-building race between Britain and Germany in the years before
the First World War. He said the Chinese, after watching this summer's
demonstration of American power, had probably concluded:


 "Yes, we see how powerful you are and that is going to make us work twice
as hard."


Michael Pillsbury, a China expert who advises Donald Rumsfeld, the defence
secretary, and who helped to craft the hedging strategy, told The Daily
Telegraph:


"There is no real explanation for why China is doing all this, what the
limit is, or how much longer it will go on. What is the purpose of it?"


In a previous age, Japan's agents sat on the teahouse terraces on the
verdant hills above Pearl Harbour, secretly chronicling the strength of the
American naval deployment.

Now, American officers say that it is Chinese agents who routinely track the
movements of the Pacific fleets. It remains an elegantly simple form of
espionage - anyone can watch without arousing suspicion. This summer the
spies will surely be claiming overtime.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~--> 
Something is new at Yahoo! Groups.  Check out the enhanced