[osint] India Launches a SAR Satellite Risat-1

2012-04-28 Thread gwen831

http://defense-update.com/20120427_risat-1.html
http://defense-update.com/20120427_risat-1.html

News Desk http://defense-update.com/author/news-desk  April 27, 2012
13:21

The Indian Space Research Organization launched yesterday the second
radar imagery satellite, and the first indiginously built by the
country's space research organization (ISRO). The satellite named
Risat-1 successfully deployed into a polar orbit at an altitude of 480
km and orbital inclination 97.552 degrees.

Risat-1 has an expected life span of five years. The satellite will
provide high resolution radar images, obtained in day and night and also
through clouds, enabling the country to continue monitoring areas of
interest during the monsoon season.

The satellite was launched at 5.47 a.m. on the Polar Satellite Launch
Vehicle C19 (PSLV-C19). At around 17 minutes into the flight, PSLV-C19
delivered Risat-1 into an intermediate polar orbit at an altitude of 480
km and an orbital inclination of 97.552 degrees. Over the weekend the
satellite will be elevated to its final intended orbit at an altitude of
536 km. With Thursday's launch the PSLV rocket has launched
successfully 53 satellites out of 54 it carried – majorly remote
sensing/earth observation satellites both Indian and foreign – and
has been a major revenue earner for ISRO. The ISRO-made Risat-1 is the
heaviest luggage so far ferried by a PSLV since 1993.

India currently has 11 remote sensing and earth observation satellites
in orbit, providing imagery at different resolution levels, from 500
meters to about one meter resolution. These spacecraft include the TES,
Resourcesat-1, Cartosat-1, 2, 2A and 2B, IMS-1, Oceansat-2,
Resourcesat-2 and Megha-Tropiques. Risat-1 joins Risat-2 in orbit, an
Israeli SAR satellite launched in 2009. Both satellites carry synthetic
aperture radars (SAR). Risat-1 operates in C-band while Risat-2′s
SAR works in the X-band.
  http://defense-update.com/20120427_risat-1.html


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[osint] Yemen Crisis Situation Reports: Update 137

2012-04-28 Thread gwen831

http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/yemen-crisis-situation-reports-upda\
te-137-april-26-2012
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/yemen-crisis-situation-reports-upd\
ate-137-april-26-2012 By Sasha Gordon
http://www.criticalthreats.org/users/sgordon
April 26, 2012


The Yemeni army is attempting to regain control of Zinjibar, a southern
city held since last May by Ansar al Sharia, al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula's (AQAP) insurgent arm. Government forces and tribesmen
are fighting Ansar al Sharia militants, who have been trying to regain
control of Lawder, a city to the northeast of Zinjibar that sits along a
main road into al Bayda governorate.

The Yemeni military pushed
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/04/24/yemeni-army-fights-to-center-al\
-qaida-held-city/  into Ansar al Sharia-controlled Zinjibar and secured
several areas in the city center after a six-hour battle that killed 65
militants on April 24. The military hit
http://www.almotamar.net/news/98859.htm  the city with airstrikes
http://www.almasdaronline.com/index.php?page=newsarticle-section=1new\
s_id=31243  and artillery on April 23 before sending
http://www.elaph.com/Web/news/2012/4/731585.html?entry=homepagemainmidd\
le  in army and security units supported
http://www.almotamar.net/news/98828.htm  by civilian fighters to clear
the town. Yemeni military forces moved in from multiple fronts. The
119th Infantry Brigade, approaching from the southwest, was able to
secure the outlying city of al   Kod. The 25th Mechanized Brigade,
stationed southeast of Zinjibar, cleared the southeastern approaches to
the city. The 201st Mechanized Brigade approached from the north and
cleared the surrounding areas. The 39th Armored Brigade entered the city
center from the east, securing
http://www.26sep.net/news_details.php?sid=81218  several buildings on
the morning of April 24. Forces moved cautiously once inside the city to
avoid mines laid by Ansar al Sharia. Yemeni troops then moved to clear
http://www.26sep.net/news_details.php?sid=81218  government buildings.
The 135th Infantry Brigade has been redeployed
http://www.26sep.net/news_details.php?lng=arabicsid=81214  to
reinforce the troops in Zinjibar. Ansar al Sharia denied
http://www.adenlife.net/news/10109.htm  that the army has made any
gains, while military sources say the army is poised
http://yemenpost.net/Detail123456789.aspx?ID=3SubID=5217  to retake
the entire city. Yemeni forces were able to take portions of Zinjibar in
July
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/yemen-crisis-situation-reports-upd\
ate-43-july-26-2011  and September
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/yemen-crisis-situation-reports-upd\
ate-67-september-13-2011  of 2011, but were ultimately unsuccessful in
liberating the regional capital.

An airstrike killed Mohammed Said al Umdah, an AQAP military commander,
in Ma'rib governorate. The strike hit his vehicle
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-appro\
ves-broader-yemen-drone-campaign/2012/04/25/gIQA82U6hT_story.html  on
April 22, killing
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i14OnppTcVCzoqzNKVDK\
jyV7KEFA?docId=CNG.a86eb6b2701ce148592ac01588b748be.171  him and at
least two other militants. Umdah trained
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-appro\
ves-broader-yemen-drone-campaign/2012/04/25/gIQA82U6hT_story_1.html  at
al Farouq camp in Afghanistan before 2001. He was convicted in 2005 for
supporting the 2002 bombing of the Limburg, a French oil tanker, and
escaped prison in a February 2006 jailbreak, along with future AQAP
leaders Nasser al Wahayshi and Qasim al Raymi.

Violence continues in Lawder in northeast Abyan governorate as tribesmen
and the 111th Infantry Brigade battle Ansar al Sharia militants.
Thirteen militants were killed
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i14OnppTcVCzoqzNKVDK\
jyV7KEFA?docId=CNG.a86eb6b2701ce148592ac01588b748be.171  in an
artillery barrage on Ansar al Sharia positions by government forces
assisted http://26sep.net/news_details.php?sid=81179  by civilian
groups of government supporters called Popular Resistance
Committees on April 23. Tribesmen launched
http://almasdaronline.com/index.php?page=newsarticle-section=1news_id\
=31281  two more attacks on Ansar al Sharia positions outside Lawder
the following day. Ansar al Sharia has been active in Lawder district
since last year, and fighting has intensified around the city since
militants attacked a military outpost in the area on April 9, 2012.








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[osint] LeT a dangerous group but not greater than Al Qaeda: US

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/113792/let-dangerous-group-not-great\
er.html
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/113792/let-dangerous-group-not-grea\
ter.html
LeT a   dangerous group but not greater than Al Qaeda: US


Washington, Nov 18 (PTI)
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a profound dangerous
group but not greater than Al Qaeda, a top US
official on counter-terrorism has said.
Obviously, LeT is a profoundly dangerous group and its  
support that it   derives from doing social services is like
Hamas, is like   Hezbollah, and is of   course of great
concern, Daniel Benjamin, State Department   Coordinator
for Counter Terrorism said.

I don't think I ever said LeT was more dangerous than al  
Qaeda, but it is   certainly a very, very dangerous group. That
is why the work   that we are doing   with Pakistan,
aside from the law enforcement cooperation --   and we have been
very supportive of Pakistan's efforts to bring Mumbai  
perpetrators to   justice, Benjamin told reporters in response
to a question

He argued that it was critically important that Pakistan  
continue to develop   its institutions and develop the ability
to provide the   services to its people   so that other
organizations with a radical agenda were not in   there
subverting   the state.

The official said that Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill was  
important... and of course,   in the aftermath of devastating
floods, it was all the more   important to ensure   that
Pakistani people have the basic resources they need to   get on
with their   lives, and it was not being delivered to them with
an   extremist message.

There's been an enormous amount of money pledged, I believe  
something   along the lines of USD 14 billion. It's being
disbursed. I   think this is a   good-news story in the
face of enormous suffering. But as your   question  
suggests, over the long term the key is a strong state that  
can provide the   needs for its people, he said.

The State Department official said the US was delighted that  
many in the   region were very concerned about the LeT threat
and   cooperating much more   effectively.

I mentioned Bangladesh   and India,   which have had a
real breakthrough in this area in terms of   their coordination.
We are working closely with all the partners, he said, adding  
this kind   of cooperation was sensitive.

He assured that the partners were working hard to ensure that  
there was no   future attacks.

Obviously, we know how difficult this business is and how  
hard it is to   achieve perfect success. This is very much on
our screen right   now and very   much a matter of
concern. We don't want to see LeT filling   that hole in the
global extremism as al Qaeda itself is diminished, Benjamin  
said.

As the two-year anniversary of Mumbai approaches, we continue  
to work   very closely with our interagency partners and
international   allies to reduce   the threat from this
very dangerous group. There is growing   cooperation in the
region to thwart LeT, especially between such critical  
partners as India and Bangladesh, he said.

Benjamin said that very few things worry him as much as the  
strength and   ambition of LeT, which is a truly malign presence
in South   Asia.

The counterterrorism expert also noted that Pakistan needed to  
build up   stronger governance institutions to prevent groups
like   Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which   is linked to LeT, to fill
a void during humanitarian crises   like the recent  
floods.

Noting that Pakistan was a   frontline state, he said,
Pakistan   has helped the US   put out of business in
one way or the other more al Qaeda   operatives than any
other country on earth by a large margin.

Pakistan has suffered grievously from militancy and I believe  
that   Pakistan's leadership understands very well the nature of
threat and the   imperative to combat it and I can assure you
that my view on   this is the same   as the President
and the Secretary of State, Benjamin told   reporters.

Benjamin, however, noted that probably the most worrisome  
threat at this time   came from Al Qaeda senior leadership and
Al-Qaeda affiliates   in Yemen following the episode of the two
bombs   mailed from the country to the US.

Al Qaeda and its affiliates, he said, had US and Europe  
squarely in their sights.
AQAP (Al 

[osint] Pheu Thai MP surrenders on terrorism charges

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
ttp://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Pheu-Thai-MP-surrenders-on-terrorism\
-charges-30142581.html
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Pheu-Thai-MP-surrenders-on-terrori\
sm-charges-30142581.html   Pheu Thai MP surrenders on
terrorism charges
  Pheu Thai MP Vichian Khaokham on Thursday surrendered
himself to acknowlege his charges related to terrorism
triggered by the red-shirt rally from April to May.

After reporting to the Department of Special Investigation,
Vichian claimed parliamentary immunity to secure his temporary
release.

He cited his hernia surgery as reason to postpone his surrender
for more than three months.

DSI director general Tharit Pengdit said after notifying
charges, the next step involving Vichian was to forward the
investigative report for prosecution review.

The Nation



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[osint] Interview with Jonathan Rose: Audit the Federal Reserve and Gold ETFs

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/83516/20101118/interview-with-jonathan-r\
ose-federal-reserve-audit-and-gold-etf-audit.htm
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/83516/20101118/interview-with-jonathan-\
rose-federal-reserve-audit-and-gold-etf-audit.htm
Interview   with Jonathan Rose: Audit the Federal  
Reserve and Gold ETFs
By Mark Hoffman   | November 18,   2010 1:23 PM EST
In the following interview of IBTimes with Jonathan Rose,
President and CEO of Capital Gold
http://www.ibtimes.com/topics/detail/240/gold/  Group, he
talks about the recent cool down of the gold price, the impact
of the non-results of the G-20 summit, the different mentality
of investors in the U.S. and Britain regarding gold, and several
other topics.

IBTimes: Let us start with a comment on the sudden slump of gold
prices right after the G-20 summit.

Jonathan Rose: I think it will be another one of those short
lived corrections, as so much demand is coming in with
each move down in prices. Many people are now scared
about a potential dollar collapse, and they see themselves in a
very dangerous situation. That's why you see now even
sophisticated daytraders or hedgefund managers, not just
the general population, looking for the next big move. So I
think whenever some profit-taking is going on, people come back
to the table to take out bigger positions in gold.

IBTimes: What do you say about Robert Zoellick's proposal for a
quasi gold standard to avert an escalating Currency War?

Jonathan Rose: The World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said to
consider gold as an international reference point of
market expectiations about inflation, deflation and future
currency values, and I actually agree with him. And when people
hear about it, having such a high profile figure as Zoellick
saying gold should be included as a kind of hedge or
reserve currency, ideally that's what other countries are on
board with too. The ongoing Currency Wars, where China
http://www.ibtimes.com/topics/detail/227/china/  tries to keep
the value of the yuan low to achieve higher exports, and other
countries are unable to agree on a solution, add to all the
other economic problems we [the U.S.] have. With banks
collapsing and problems further down the road, that are
actually not that far in the future, such as Social Security
and MediCare, it's a melting pot of problems that need to be
addressed. And unfortunately the Currency or rather Trade War
right now is one of them. But besides that we have other
problems at hand. And the $600 billion QE2 package that
was initiated just now, will it really fix everything? Or is it
rather a band-aid, as they are already talking about a QE3.

IBTimes: Regarding the QE2 program, some people said that it
would't have any impact on inflation as it is simply too
small, and also most of it would go to emerging markets or
stay on the bank balance sheets. The bigger problem seems to be,
that this band-aid will just delay any real solutions, and thus
let the problems in the financial system grow even
bigger.

Jonathan Rose: Some people are maybe pro the QE2, saying yes, we
really need this money to survive. But they have to
realize that there were already $780 billion spent in stimulus
money. And what about the $709 billion the U.S. spent on the
Iraq http://www.ibtimes.com/topics/detail/246/iraq/  War, and all the
other hundreds of billions dollars that G. W. Bush spent
during his administration. At some point, although yes, we have
to spend money, there needs to be results! If results are not to
be seen soon, we can come into a situation like Greece.
Debt does matter, and you cannot just keep spending out of debt.
So this [crisis] was already ten years in the making, and
reversing it will likewise not happen overnight. So this
mess could go on for another ten years, and depending on
the outcome it will be our grand-children paying for this in
terms of higher taxes and less entitlements.

IBTimes: How are the imbalances in the world economy, which were
a big topic at the G-20 summit last week, but are still
unsolved, affecting gold?

Jonathan Rose: A big part of the reason that the U.S. is
stagnating is the gigantic $250 billion trade imbalance with   China
http://www.ibtimes.com/topics/detail/227/china/  per year!
This is the kind of bigger picture that people need to focus on.
This 

[osint] Air Force Warns Against Location Based Sites

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?\
articleID=228300144subSection=News
http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/mobile/showArticle.jhtml\
?articleID=228300144subSection=News
Air Force Warns Against Location Based Sites
Military says   careless use could disclose service  
members' position to enemy, compromising safety and  
operations.




By Alison Diana
http://www.informationweek.com/authors/showAuthor.jhtml;jsessionid=3N3Q\
DN2U1P4XJQE1GHPSKH4ATMY32JVN?authorID=6043  ,  InformationWeek 
http://www.informationweek.com/;jsessionid=3N3QDN2U1P4XJQE1GHPSKH4ATMY3\
2JVN
November 18, 2010 12:15 PM



The U.S. Air Force is warning servicemen and women that
popular geolocation services such as Facebook Places,
Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt could inadvertently reveal their
position to the enemy.
More Government Insights
Mitch Wagner gives us a first look at Firefox 3.5, inlcuding
some of its new user interface features, privacy mode,
its geolocation capability, and its new embedded video
and audio functionality using HTML 5.

Where the armed forces once cautioned civilians and enlistees
that loose lips sink ships, today's warning extends beyond the
danger of a conversation overhead in a cafe or on the street. In
an admonition posted on its internal website earlier this month,
the Air Force said careless use of these services by
airmen can have devastating operations security and
privacy implications, according to the Associated Press.

In addition, the Air Force
http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/security/showArticle.jht\
ml?articleID=22695  sent this message to senior commanders
and asked them to spread the word out to their forces, the AP
said.

Discover an affordable source of continuing cost savings and
operational improvements

Geolocation sites can identify a user's position on a
map. Military officials are concerned that the enemy could use
location-based
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/web_services/showArticle.j\
html?articleID=228200660  sites' features to track troop
members who have smartphones and use those networking services
to attack or avoid offensive maneuvers.

Facing the same dangers, next week the U.S. Army
http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/mobile/showArticle.jhtml\
?articleID=227900501  plans to send a similar message to key
personnel about these location-based sites, according to the AP.

Today, the U.S. military has about 95,000 troops in Afghanistan
and approximately 50,000 in Iraq, reports said.

Although Facebook users must check in to a location or
visit the mobile Facebook site to check in, the Air Force is
worried that careless service use by troops could lead to
inadvertent disclosure of military members' positions.
In February, the Department of Defense
http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/security/showArticle.jht\
ml?articleID=228200954  released a policy memorandum
http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13338 
regarding the safe and effective use of Internet-based
capabilities, including social networking services and other
interactive web 2.0 applications.

Commanders at all levels and heads of DoD components
will continue to defend against malicious activity on military
information networks, deny access to prohibited content sites
(e.g., gambling, pornography, hate-crime related activities),
and take immediate and commensurate actions, as
required, to safeguard missions (e.g., temporarily
limiting access to the Internet to preserve operations security
or to address bandwidth constraints), the DoD said.

The Pentagon has long been attempting to juggle freedom
of information, freedom of speech, and protecting the nation's
troops and politicians. In February 2009, Rep. Peter Hoekstra
(R-Mich.) tweeted about what was supposed to have been a
congressional delegation trip to Iraq.

Just landed in Baghdad. I believe it may be first time I've
had bb service in Iraq. 11th trip here, he posted. Hoekstra
continued to keep constituents at home apprised of his
movements around Iraq, prompting the Pentagon to
reevaluate its policies.


Unified communications isn't   just for the big guys; it
can be extremely useful for smaller companies looking to  
streamline operations   and improve productivity. Read our
report and find out more. Download it here

[osint] Scotland - Counter-terrorism probe after blast

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://news.scotsman.com/latest-national-news/Counterterrorism-probe-aft\
er-blast.6631554.jp
http://news.scotsman.com/latest-national-news/Counterterrorism-probe-af\
ter-blast.6631554.jp   Counter-terrorism   probe after
blast
Police   stand at the entrance to the Ross Priory at in the
Garadhban   forest in   Gartocharn near Loch Lomond



  [Click on thumbnail to view image] Published Date: 18 November 2010

An   explosion in a remote forest area is being investigated by
counter-terrorism   officers in Scotland.

A member of   the public reported the explosion in the Garadhban
forest in   Gartocharn near Loch Lomond.

Police said there was damage to trees and that they suspected  
explosives had   been involved. UK-wide agencies are helping
police assess the   scene.

The Northern Diving Group - the Royal Navy's equivalent of the  
bomb disposal   squad - was at the scene today. A Ministry of
Defence   spokesman said it had   been asked for
assistance by Strathclyde Police.

No one was injured and the public was not at risk, the force  
said.

A source close to the investigation said counter-terrorism  
officers were at the   scene.

Chief Superintendent Calum Murray, Divisional Commander for  
Argyll, Bute and West Dunbartonshire, said: As you would  
expect,   when we are dealing with a situation where we suspect
that   explosives may be involved,   it is our immediate
priority to assess the situation and to   call on expertise
where we think it is appropriate.

By its very nature, this type of assessment and investigation  
is complex   and does take time. I can confirm that we are
currently being   assisted by   agencies from across the
UK.

I would stress that the site is secure and that there is no  
risk to   public safety. I would ask that if anyone has seen
anything   suspicious in or   around the area, or has
any information - no matter how   insignificant it may  
seem - that they contact the Police or Crimestoppers. All  
calls will, of   course, be treated in the strictest of
confidence.

As I am sure you can understand, this is an ongoing  
investigation that is   going to take some time to complete. We
will release more   information as that   investigation
progresses.

Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2010, All Rights  
Reserved.



* Last   Updated: 18 November 2010 6:58 PM
* Source: Press  Association
* Location: The Press Association Newsdesk

 
http://news.scotsman.com/latest-national-news/Counterterrorism-probe-af\
ter-blast.6631554.jp


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[osint] China's New Drones Raises Eyebrows

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870337430457562235060450055\
6.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487033743045756223506045005\
56.html
* ASIA NEWS
* NOVEMBER 18, 2010, 1:54 P.M. ET
China's New Drones Raises EyebrowsBy JEREMY   PAGE
http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=JEREMY+PAGEbylinesearc\
h=true
ZHUHAI, China—China is ramping up production of unmanned
aerial vehicles in an apparent bid to catch up with the U.S. and
Israel in developing technology that is considered the future of
military aviation.

  [[crt_airshow]] The Wall Street   Journal

A drone with missiles, CIA-style.

Western defense officials and experts were surprised to
see more than 25 different Chinese models of the unmanned
aircraft, known as UAVs, on display at this week's Zhuhai air
show in this southern Chinese city. It was a record
number for a country that only unveiled its first concept UAVs
at the same air show four years ago, and put a handful on
display at the last one in 2008.

The apparent progress in UAVs is a stark sign of China's
ambition to upgrade its massive military as its global political
and economic clout grows. The U.S. and Israel are the currently
the world leaders in developing such pilotless drones,
which have played a major role in the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and which analysts say could one day replace the
fighter jet.

This year's models in Zhuhai included several designed
to fire missiles, and one powered by a jet engine, meaning it
could—in theory—fly faster than the propeller-powered
Predator and Reaper drones that the U.S. has used in
Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Exhibitors did not give precise details of which Chinese
drones were fully operational, although one confirmed that the
People's Liberation Army, or PLA, had deployed at least two
propeller-powered reconnaissance UAVs, which featured in last
year's 60th National Day parade.

But the large number of UAVs on display illustrates
clearly that China is investing considerable time and money in
development of drone technology, and is actively
promoting its products on the international market.

That has implications for China's external and domestic
security, as well as for many other countries, including Iran,
that have sought in vain to acquire drones either for military
purposes or for police surveillance and antiterrorist
operations.

It is of particular concern to the U.S. and Israel,
whose drones are unrivalled in the world today, and could worry
China's neighbors, many of which have territorial disputes with
China in the East and South China Seas.

China's apparent progress is likely to spur other countries,
especially India and Japan, to accelerate their own UAV
development or acquisition programs.

U.S. anxiety about China's UAVs were highlighted in a
report released Wednesday by the U.S.-China Economic and
Security Review Commission, which was formed by Congress in 2000
to assess the national security implications of trade
and economic relations with China.

The PLA Air Force has deployed several types of
unmanned aerial vehicles for both reconnaissance and combat
purposes, the report said.

In addition, China is developing a variety of medium-
and high-altitude long-endurance unmanned vehicles, which when
deployed, will expand the PLA Air Force's 'options for
long-range reconnaissance and strike,' it said, citing an
earlier Pentagon report.

Military and aviation experts say China's drones are still
probably several years behind U.S. and Israeli models,
noting that many countries have tried and failed to develop
their own UAVs. But they also said that China was catching up
fast in other areas of civil and military aviation technology,
thanks in large part to technology transferred by
foreign aerospace companies in Chinese joint ventures.

They suggested, too, that China had been helped by Israel,
which sold China antiradar drones in the 1990s—to the fury
of the Pentagon, which has since blocked the Israelis
from providing upgrades.

The Chinese drone of greatest potential concern to the
U.S. is the one with several missiles and a jet engine — called
the WJ600 — which was displayed by the China Aerospace
Science  Industry Corp., or Casic, one of 

[osint] Afghanistan troop exit hot button at Lisbon summit

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/892937--afghanistan-troop-exit-h\
ot-button-at-lisbon-summit
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/892937--afghanistan-troop-exit-\
hot-button-at-lisbon-summit   Afghanistan troop exit hot button at
Lisbon summit
Robert Burns and Slobodan Lekic The Associated Press

LISBON, PORTUGAL—NATO is expected to set itself a 2014
target for handing over security to Afghans at a summit that
starts here Friday, as the alliance's appetite for
the conflict dwindles after nine years of fighting, growing
European war angst, and renewed criticism by Afghan President
Hamid Karzai.

The allies appear to agree that the target year is
realistic, but that hardly means the war is ending. The U.S. in
particular is wary of giving the impression that the original
aim of invading Afghanistan in 2001 — to deny Al
Qaeda a base from which to launch more terrorist attacks on the
West — will be achieved by then.

Prime Minister David Cameron insisted Thursday that
British troops will quit their combat role in Afghanistan by
2015, whatever the security conditions or progress made in
tackling insurgents.

Cameron said there wasn't time for a great strategic
rethink.

NATO plans to pledge an enduring partnership with Afghanistan at
the two day summit in Lisbon, while admitting past
mistakes.

I think that, seen retrospectively, we underestimated
the challenge and our operation in Afghanistan didn't have
sufficient resources, and yes, that was a mistake, NATO
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told
Portugal's Renascenca in comments broadcast Thursday as
leaders of the 28 Nato member nations headed to Lisbon.

He added: We're on the right track now and that's
why I'm very optimistic about our Afghanistan
operation and we'll make a positive announcement in Lisbon —
that the handover is about to begin.

The escalating war has given the alliance its biggest
challenge since it was formed 61 years ago. But victory is far
from assured, and a hasty pullout would seriously undermine
confidence in the alliance on both sides of the
Atlantic.

Already, some key allies worry publicly that military
force is not the best way to put Afghanistan on a track to
stability.

France's new defence minister, Alain Juppe, told a radio
interviewer Wednesday that Afghanistan is a
trap for allied troops. He added, however, that French
forces will not withdraw fully until Afghan authorities
have the situation in hand.

Some analysts see a grimmer   scenario.

Success in Afghanistan is almost impossible, said
Shmuel Bar, a director at the Institute of Policy and
Strategy in Herzliya, Israel. If NATO is making its future
contingent on victory in Afghanistan, they are not
living in the real world. All they can expect to achieve are
some limited aims, such as preventing the war from spilling over
into Pakistan.

Karzai is scheduled to address Saturday's session. He
caused an international stir by demanding in a Washington Post
interview last weekend that NATO reduce its military operations
and stop what the military believes is a highly
successful tactic — night raids conducted jointly with
Afghan troops against suspected Taliban leaders.

NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan,
Mark Sedwill, said Karzai's comments were unproductive.

We have different perspectives – that's
natural, Sedwill said. It is much better if we work
those different perspectives out in private.

The Lisbon meeting unfolds against the backdrop of President
Barack Obama's internal review of the war strategy
he announced in December 2009, which included sending 30,000
extra U.S. troops to Afghanistan to regain momentum from
the Taliban. Obama is expected to finish his review by
year's end and face a new Congress in January that may
scrutinize his war strategy more closely following the
Democrats' loss of the House and setbacks in the
Senate.

The NATO leaders are expected to endorse Karzai's
proposal that Afghanistan take lead responsibility for security
— and for the development of its government institutions and
economic development — by the end of 2014. This
process would begin in the first half of next year with an
unspecified but small number of areas transferred to Afghan
control.

The plan would allow NATO members to 

[osint] War crimes probes for Nigeria, Honduras

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/war-crimes-probes-nigeria-honduras-3903309
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/war-crimes-probes-nigeria-honduras-3903309\
   War crimes probes for Nigeria, Honduras
Published: 6:47AM Friday November 19, 2010 Source:
Reuters

The International Criminal Court chief prosecutor has
started preliminary investigations in Nigeria and Honduras,
he said, signs that the global war crimes court is widening the
scope of its probes.

Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters in
his office in The Hague that the ICC had started inquiries into
events surrounding last year's coup in Honduras when the
military ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

He declined to give further details about the Nigerian
case.

The ICC is so far formally investigating five
situations, all of which are in Africa: the Central African
Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Sudan and
Uganda.

Honduras and Nigeria join a list of other countries where it is
conducting preliminary examinations to determine whether
it has the jurisdiction to open formal investigations. The
list also includes Afghanistan, Colombia, Georgia, Guinea,
Ivory Coast and the Palestinian territories.


 
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/war-crimes-probes-nigeria-honduras-3903309\




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[osint] Allies say they're gaining ground in Afghanistan

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2010-11-18-afghanistan-co\
alition-progress_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2010-11-18-afghanistan-c\
oalition-progress_N.htm
Allies say they're gaining ground in Afghanistan

By Virginia Mayo, AP

A man walks   by a logo printed on a wall inside the NATO summit
venue in   Lisbon on Thursday. Heads of State of NATO member
countries   gather for a two-day summit   beginning on
Friday, and will discuss such topics as   Afghanistan and
missile defense.



By Jim Michaels
http://content.usatoday.com/topics/reporter/Jim+Michaels , USA TODAY

Coalition   forces have increased the pace of military
operations in Afghanistan
http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Places,+Geography/Countries/Af\
ghanistanto record levels. Commanders say they are
achieving successes   against the Taliban
http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Military+and+Par\
amilitary/Talibanas   President Obama leaves for a
NATO summit to discuss with   allies when Afghans   can
handle their own security.

Coalition forces dropped a record   1,000 bombs and other
munitions in October, up from 660 a year   earlier,  
according to coalition statistics. The number of Special  
Forces-led raids   against insurgent leaders has increased
sixfold over last   year.

We've had some significant   successes in the last six weeks,
said Canadian air force Lt.   Col. Alex   Day, deputy
chief of the coalition's air operations control   center. We're
going to press home the advantage.

The intensified activity comes just   before the traditional
lull in winter operations and months   before the  
scheduled start of U.S.   troop withdrawals in the summer. The
winter months are   historically quiet   periods when
insurgents retreat to sanctuaries in Pakistan
http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Places,+Geography/Countries/Pa\
kistanto   rest and train.

Hopefully it will deal a major   blow to the Taliban before
they can cross back to their   sanctuaries in Pakistan,
said Jim Phillips, a senior research fellow at the  
Washington-based Heritage Foundation
http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Non-profits,+Act\
ivist+Groups/Heritage+Foundation .

The number of coalition forces,   which includes about 100,000
U.S.   troops, is at its peak, and the White House said it will
begin   withdrawing   forces next July. The pace of that
reduction will depend on   security   conditions, it has
said.

One focus of the NATO summit is a U.S.   plan to complete
the transition of security to Afghan forces by the end of  
2014.

It's a process that begins in   early 2011 with the target of
completion at the end of 2014,   said Lt.   Gen. Doug
Lute, a special assistant to the president for   Afghanistan and
Iraq.

Sen. John McCain
http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Politicians,+Government\
+Officials,+Strategists/U.S.+Senators/John+McCain ,   who has
been critical of the July date to begin withdrawing   U.S.
forces, welcomes the shift in focus to 2014   because it
emphasizes how long U.S.   forces will be there.

I think it's a significant   shift in recognition of reality
and conditions on the ground,   McCain   said. It's
also a recognition that the July 2011 date was an   invitation
to failure.

The coalition command has said it   plans to press the attack
against insurgents during the   winter, but that will  
be difficult if militants leave the battlefield.

They will retreat back to   their safe havens to wait out the
winter months, Day said.   We'll   try and keep the
pressure on as much as possible.

The impact on the Taliban may not   become clear until the snows
melt in the spring.

We'll know more about their   strength when the fighting
resumes, McCain said.

The heart of the coalition's   counterinsurgency strategy as
laid out by Gen. David Petraeus
http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Military/David+Petraeus\
  is to protect civilians by neutralizing the   Taliban and
build the legitimacy of the Afghan government.   Military
operations   are necessary to weaken the leadership and
organization of   insurgent groups,   the Pentagon says.

Convincing the public that the   Taliban is losing helps win
over the population, military   analysts say.

Historically, Afghans tend to   defect to the winning side,
Phillips said.

The coalition has stepped up raids  

[osint] Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria have worst terrorist threat level

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15695288PageNum=0
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15695288PageNum=0
Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria have worst terrorist threat
level

18.11.2010, 20.47

PYATIGORSK, November 18 (Itar-Tass)   -- The highest level of
the terrorist threat in the North   Caucasus is in the  
republics of Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria,   Interior
Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said at field meeting in   Pyatigorsk
on   Thursday.

The crime situation in several   regions of the North Caucasus
Federal District, despite the   measures being   taken,
remains complex and cannot but cause sound alarm, the  
minister   said. The increased level of the terrorist threat
today is   observed in   two territories of the NCFD -
Kabardino-Balkaria and   Dagestan.

For example, in Dagestan   in the current year the
manifestations of terrorism showed a   40-percent  
increase. Shootouts have grown 20 percent and bomb attacks  
almost doubled.   Despite the overall decline in common crimes
there has been   observed a   sharp increase in
homicides, intentional infliction of   grievous bodily harm,
and disorderly conduct, and the number of thefts of motor  
vehicles nearly   doubled, Nurgaliyev said.

In Kabardino-Balkaria militant gangs   operating underground
have grown far more active.

We should study the no easy   situation once again.
Terrorist crimes have grown five times   and more, he
said.

According to the Russian interior   minister, Kabardino-Balkaria
this year saw six time more fire   attacks than in   the
same period of last year and nearly five times more  
explosions.

The leaders of bandit groups   are increasingly focused on the
incitement of interethnic   conflicts and on the  
creation of hotbeds of tension, Nurgaliyev said.

Terrorist attacks in the republic   had provoked greater
tensions among the Balkars with the aim   to  
destabilize inter-ethnic relations.

Hit-and-run raids by militants   in the North Caucasus pursue
the purpose of   undermining the current government. The bandits
wish to draw   the maximum   attention to their
actions, said the interior minister.

Against the background of   positive results of efforts by the
law enforcers for   eliminating underground   militants
- and here I would single out the Chechen Republic   - the
leaders of extremist organizations rely on one-time  
large-scale terrorist   acts, including the use of suicide
bombers, Nurgaliyev said.


  http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15695288PageNum=0





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[osint] Canada Extends Mission in Afghanistan

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.truth-out.org/canada-extends-mission-afghanistan65251
http://www.truth-out.org/canada-extends-mission-afghanistan65251  
Canada Extends Mission in Afghanistan
Thursday 18 November 2010

by: Sandro   Contenta  |  
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/afghanistan/101117/afghanistan-war-c\
anada-combat-mission-military

Toronto,   Canada - The   Canadian government has backed
away from a decision to pull   troops out of Afghanistan
next year. Few are surprised, and many are outraged.

For months, U.S.   officials applied discreet pressure on the
Canadian government   to keep troops in   Afghanistan
past 2011 — a deadline set two years ago by a parliamentary
vote. Last week,   Prime Minister Stephen Harper made clear he
would bow to the   pressure, despite   polls indicating
a majority of Canadians want their 2,500   soldiers back home.

Canadian troops have been fighting in Afghanistan   since the
start of the war, mostly   in volatile Kandahar  
province. So far, 152 have been killed and more than 1,500  
have been wounded.

Details of the new plan are expected to be   formally  
announced at the summit of NATO heads of state in Lisbon on  
Friday and Saturday. But Harper's   officials have already
made the gist clear.

Up to 1,000 Canadian soldiers are expected to   remain  
for a non-combat mission — training Afghan National Army
recruits. They'll be   there until 2014 — the year the
United States reportedly plans to end   its own combat
mission
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/world/asia/15prexy.html?_r=1hpw .

The American timetable indicates how difficult it   would have
been for the Canadian government to pull out its   troops. U.S.
President Barack Obama has made Afghanistan   his war.
He plans to start handing over security duties to   the Afghan
army   during the next 18 to 24 months — at about the time
he'll be   facing   re-election. A well-trained
Afghan army is crucial to   persuading American   voters
that his plan to end the combat mission is realistic.

Still, Harper faces a tough sell. On Monday,   opposition
members of Parliament threw his own words back at   him, noting
that   in a January interview with the National Post, the prime
minister stressed   there would be no Canadian military presence
in Afghanistan   after 2011.

We will not be undertaking any activities that   require
any kind of military presence, other than the odd   guard
guarding an   embassy … . So, it will become a strictly
civilian mission,   Harper said at the   time.

Harper is also under fire for insisting that the   change of
plan does not require parliamentary approval. That's   only
necessary   for combat missions, he said.

Fight the lies and misinformation;
support truth! Please make a tax-deductible donation to
Truthout today and keep real independent journalism
strong. http://www.truth-out.org/act-now-join-truthout-movement

When we're talking simply about technical or   training
missions, I think that is something the executive can do on  
its own, he told   reporters last week, referring to the
prime minister and his   cabinet.

Jack Layton, leader of the socialist New   Democratic Party,
has warned Canadians that Harper is trying to pull the wool  
over their eyes. He   noted that Harper's Conservative party
came to power in 2006   partly on a   promise to put any
military deployment to a vote of   Parliament. Canada's
Afghan   mission was extended twice after such votes, in 2006
and 2008.

Assuring that Harper's training plan will go   ahead
without a parliamentary vote is Michael Ignatieff, leader of  
the main   opposition Liberal party, who has accepted
Harper's argument.

Harper's cabinet ministers are hinting that a   non-combat
role will result in fewer casualties. But   government
statistics note   that more than 900 of the 1,500 wounded
Canadians in   Afghanistan were injured while not  
taking part in combat. Many were hit by bombs hidden on public  
roads, the same   roads Canadian soldiers will use when training
and   accompanying Afghan soldiers   on patrols.

What also disturbs Canadians is growing evidence   of shoddy
treatment   once wounded   soldiers return home
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/woundedwarriors .

Canada   hasn't seen so many injured soldiers return since
the Korean   War. And   rehab programs are 

[osint] German Alert Followed Namibian Airport Scare

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/asia/19Germany.html?ref=world
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/asia/19Germany.html?ref=world
German   Alert Followed Namibian Airport   Scare  
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_sl\
ackman/index.html?inline=nyt-per  and ERIC SCHMITT
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/eric_schmi\
tt/index.html?inline=nyt-perPublished: November 18,
2010
Namibian   authorities halted and searched a flight  
bound for Munich on Wednesday morning after   luggage screeners
found an untagged laptop bag containing   batteries wired to a
fuse and clock, a discovery made just hours before Germany
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritorie\
s/germany/index.html?inline=nyt-geoissued a rare security
alert.


Michaela   Rehle/Reuters
Passengers passed through   security at Munich's airport on
Thursday.

On   Thursday, Air Berlin said no explosives were found in the
bag.

A   statement by the Namibia
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritorie\
s/namibia/index.html?inline=nyt-geoAirports Company said
that a suspicious parcel had been   found in a luggage
screening area in the airport at Windhoek, Namibia's capital,
at 8:50 a.m.   local time Wednesday, and that as a result Air
Berlin Flight   7377 was delayed   and its 296
passengers and 10 crew members sent back to the   terminal and
asked   to identify their luggage. The flight took off in
mid-afternoon, but its cargo   was kept for further examination,
the statement said. The   plane arrived in Munich early
Thursday.

The   German Federal Criminal Police said in a statement
on Thursday that a scan of the suspicious bag had revealed  
batteries that were   connected by cable to a detonator and
a running clock. A   Namibian official,   Lt. Gen.
Sebastian Ndeitunga, told the Namibian Broadcasting   Company
that the   laptop bag had been wrapped in plastic and was
uncovered in a   routine check. We   are still
investigating how it landed there and went through,   he
said.

In a   hastily called news conference in Berlin about four hours
after the package was discovered, the German interior  
minister, Thomas de   Maizière, announced that said the
government had concrete   indications of a   series
of attacks planned for the end of November and   dispatched
heavily armed   police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs to train
stations,   airports and key   landmarks.

His   declaration and the decision to put on a show of  
force on the streets represented a significant shift in  
Germany's   counterterror strategy. Even as Britain
and France went on high   alert as intelligence reports of
potential plots against   Europe mounted and two  
powerful bombs hidden in air cargo shipped from Yemen   were
intercepted, security officials in Germany had maintained   that
the   country's threat from terrorism was general and
abstract. It   holds that major   warnings alarm the
public while doing little to protect it —   in itself a sort
of victory for terrorists.

Mr.   de Maizière did not mention the alert in Namibia —
a former German colony — or specify the exact nature of the
new information,   saying only that it had emerged after the
interception of the   Yemen bombs, one   of which had
passed through a German airport.

A   German intelligence official said the shift was  
likely not so much a result of a single tip than of the  
buildup of reports that   indicated German targets were at risk
and of increased   concerns about cargo   security,
underscored by the discovery of a small package bomb   in the
mail of   Chancellor Angela Merkel
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/angela_mer\
kel/index.html?inline=nyt-per  that had been sent   from
Greece.

The   official, speaking anonymously on security  
matters, said reports had been streaming in for months that  
teams might be   heading to Germany for a   Mumbai-style
attack or other terrorism strikes, though without   the
specificity   of the Saudi tip that pointed to the Yemen bombs.

The   situation has developed over the past weeks and
months, the official said. There were new messages almost
every day. The   number of messages increased and concentrated
on Germany.

Pakistani   and American officials offered dovetailing 

[osint] New study delves inside a suicide bomber's mind

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11770842
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11770842
17   November 2010 Last updated at 16:51 GMT
New study delves inside a suicide bomber's mind
By Dave Lee BBC Science Unit

Researchers say this study

gives clues to how suicide attacks could be averted at the last
minute

Suicide bombings have become the defining act of
political violence of our time.

From Afghanistan to Madrid, London to Sri Lanka,
they are an all pervasive presence in our political landscape
and a crucial tactic employed in modern day terrorism.

As the inquest into the 7/7 London bombings tries to piece
together the events of that day, little research has ever been
done on the minds of suicide bombers themselves.

Trying to discover exactly why a suicide bomber would
kill themselves to further an apparent cause is, for obvious
reasons, an impossible task.

But one study from Tel Aviv University
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09546550903409312  has endeavoured to find
out if suicide bombers shared any noticeable personality
traits or characteristics - by interviewing and analysing
would-be suicide bombers.

These were men who had attempted to carry out a suicide
attack but had failed for a variety of reasons, including
technical defects (the bomb did not go off) or capture (either
on the way to the target or earlier).

Some of our suicide bombers actually got to their target
and pressed the switch

They discovered a pattern of being unable to handle
stressful situations, an inability to see the bigger picture and
a tendency to be intimidated by people in positions of
authority.

Meanwhile, the organisers - responsible for commanding
and co-ordinating suicide bombings - had bigger egos, were
better equipped mentally to handle stress and, for the most
part, were unwilling to consider a suicide attack
themselves.

Intimate access

Retired professor and world-renowned terrorism expert
Ariel Merari had access to 15 would-be suicide bombers being
held in jail for attempted attacks relating to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Five of the group were sent by Hamas, five by the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and five from Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades.

In addition to this, Professor Merari and his team
interviewed the organisers of suicide attacks - all from the
same groups.

Alongside the organisers and failed bombers were a
control group - 12 men who had been tried and jailed for various
political violence activities from stone-throwing to armed
assaults.

The first challenge for Professor Merari's team was in
convincing subjects to speak. The prisoners insisted on getting
the backing of higher-ranking members of their organisation.

I told them why we wanted to carry out this project,
this study, explained Professor Merari on Radio 4's All in the Mind
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vy0g0 .

There was real lively discussion. In the end they
agreed to participate and that was indeed the key to achieving
the consent of the other organisers.

In recent years, global suicide attacks have increased. Between
1981 and 2000, 17 countries had been the victim of
suicide attacks, compared to 32 between 2001-2008.

Suicide attacks are often tied to a perception of
religious fanaticism from the perpetrator.

However, this latest research suggests religious
significance ranked lower than other factors when the prisoners
made their decision to carry out a suicide attack.

Almost all of them were religious, but the suicide guys
were not more religious than the control group members.

The depth or intensity of religious belief was not
something which distinguished them from other non-suicide
terrorists.

'Afraid'

Instead, Professor Merari found that national
humiliation ranked higher as a reason for an attack.

This was by far the clearest, strongest motivation they
expressed.

It is not a matter of personal suffering; they tried to
avenge their communities suffering. They mentioned events that
they saw on television, not events that happened to them
personally.

The men interviewed as part of the organisers group
were, on average, older, better educated, and, perhaps
predictably, unlikely to put themselves forward for suicide
attacks.

Nine of 14 admitted that they would 

[osint] Confessions of Al-Qaeda killer

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=42575
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=42575
Confessions of Al-Qaeda killer

Hitman for   the terror network recalls his murderous spree at
the height   of Iraq's   sectarian violence.



Middle East   Online

By Ali Mohammed - Iraq


Subhi Abdullah, in his own words, is   a killer. He has been
held in Diyala police headquarters in   the provincial  
capital Baquba for more than two years on charges of murder  
and terrorism. Abdullah   has been officially linked to hundreds
of killings and the   investigation into   his dark past
is still ongoing.

As a self-confessed assassin for   al-Qaeda during the worst of
the sectarian bloodshed,   Abdullah, whose name has  
been changed, has spoken of at times murdering ten people a  
week. He says his   transformation from a neighbourhood labourer
to a hired gun   came as a result of   a desire for
revenge, blackmail and the prospect of earning   lots of money.

Abdullah's chilling story sheds   light on the grim underbelly
of sectarian killing that reached   its height from  
2006 to 2008 in Iraq's   restive western governorates. If he was
ever set free,   Abdullah believes he   would face the
same fate as his victims.

My life before I was a killer   was about making money to feed
my children. It was the same   after I began   working
with al-Qaeda. It has always been about feeding my   children,
Abdullah said. But now, I know I was wrong.

Abdullah was born to a poor Shia   family in a rural district of
Diyala province, married young   and had four  
children. Abdullah appears unusually calm as he recalls his  
past although his   eyes often betray deep emotion, even pain.

At the beginning of 2007, my   brother was killed after
being kidnapped in one of the Shia   districts [of  
Diyala]. I was determined to take revenge. I didn't have a  
weapon, so I joined   the al-Qaeda group in my neighbourhood
because they promised   to help me get my   revenge,
Abdullah said.

A few days later, according to   Abdullah, operatives came to
his house with information on his   brother's   killer.
The insurgents hold on Abdullah was about to begin.

They asked me if I want to   kill the man myself, and, of
course, I said yes right away.   They gave me a gun,  
and drove me to one of the residential areas where security is  
weak. Then, they   pointed out a man sitting in front of shop
wearing a black   dishdasha (a long   robe). They said
he was the man responsible for kidnapping and   killing my
brother. They asked me to kill him and they would provide  
backup,   Abdullah said.

Abdullah said he did as they asked,   shooting the man dead.
After the killing, he said he was   driven away by the  
al-Qaeda agents and taken to meet their ringleader who, in  
turn, thanked   Abdullah for his courage.

I have learned that revenge   like this should be done
[legally]. I was wrong, but at the   time I saw that the
government could not protect its own citizens, he said,  
recounting the   murder.

Abdullah's life was forever changed   by the revenge
killing. A few weeks later, the same al-Qaeda   operatives
arrived   at his home, offering money to help them kill American
and   Iraqi soldiers and   officials. He said he soon
found he had little choice.

Before he had made a decision, it   was revealed by the al-Qaeda
leader that his first killing had   been recorded on  
video by the other gunman at the scene.

I was aware, of course, that   the video tape would be used
against me in case I refused. I   had also closed my  
shop at the time and I was in bad need of money to support my  
family and my   late brother's family. I gave my consent, and
started working   with them, he   said.

It is here that Abdullah's life   began to be dominated by
al-Qaeda and its constant call for   the murder of  
security officials and Sunni supporters of the central  
government. At the   beginning, Abdullah said he was earning
100,000 to 150,000   Iraqi dinar (85 to   128 US
dollars) for each killing. When there were no murder   targets,
he went   along with al-Qaeda insurgent gangs on kidnappings and
bombings.

I used to kill no less than   ten people per week, but then
after about six months the   terrorists began to   force
me 

[osint] Suspected treasurer of Indonesian terrorist group arrested in Java

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-86858.html
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-86858.html  
Suspected treasurer of Indonesian terrorist group
arrested in Java
JAKARTA, INDONESIA : A suspected Indonesian   terrorist,
believed to be a treasurer of the   Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT)
branch in Solo, was arrested in   central Java,  
officials said Thursday.

Toyib was arrested following his involvement with the
JAT paramilitary training camp in Aceh, where Al Qaeda-linked
extremists were allegedly plotting a series of attacks in the
Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

Officials said Toyib's name had been mentioned on several
occasion by other suspects, while investigation revealed that he
allegedly forwarded around USD 115,000 to radical cleric
Abu Bakar Bashir - founder of extremist Islamic
organization JAT who is currently in custody and awaiting trial
- to fund terrorist operations.

Bashir has been linked to several terrorist plots, including the
200 Christmas Eve bombings in Christian churches, the Marriott
Hotel bomb attack in 2003, and the 2002 Bali bombing. In
addition, he is believed to have been funding the Aceh training
camp, as well as being in charge of naming JAT leaders.

Currently, there are 21 Indonesians on trial that have been
accused of planning terrorist attacks and being linked to armed
groups.

--BNO News



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[osint] Arms seizure: Nigeria’s top security officials in crucial talks

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/11/arms-seizure-nigerias-top-security-of\
ficials-in-crucial-talks/
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/11/arms-seizure-nigerias-top-security-o\
fficials-in-crucial-talks/
Arms seizure: Nigeria's top security
officials in crucial talks

News http://www.vanguardngr.com/category/national-news/  Nov 18, 2010

By Daniel Idonor
HIGHEST level security meeting was Thursday staged behind  
closed doors in Aso   Rock with the looming diplomatic row
between Nigeria   and Iran   dominating the proceedings.

Feelers from the crucial session   however point to the fact
that the Federal Government may have   opted for  
diplomatic solution out of the emerging face-off, due to what  
officials   considered as Iran already has more than enough
diplomatic   crises; and in the   spirit of the group of
developing nations, D-8, which both   countries are key
players.

President Goodluck Jonathan locked   in the security parley
chaired the session in his capacity as   the  
Commander-in-Chief of the country's Armed Forces, while the
National Security   Adviser, NSA, Service Chiefs the Inspector-
General of Police,   IGP,   Director-General of State
Security Service, SSS, and Defence   Intelligence  
Agency, DIA, were in attendance.

According to findings, the high   level security session, which
lasted for several hours also   had Mr. Odein  
Ajumogobia, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adetokunbo Kayode,  
Minister of Defence   and other senior government officials in
attendance.

A highly placed Presidency source   close to the meeting
confided in Vanguard that the arms   dispute between Nigeria and
Iran topped the agenda of the   meeting.

It was gathered that Ajumogobia   briefed the meeting of his
visit to the United Nations, UN, on   the Iranian  
issue and the possible way of resolving the dispute  
diplomatically.

The source however stated that the   quick resolution of the
matter lies entirely on how Iran   handles the arms issue and
noted that at the moment the   government was not  
considering severing  diplomatic relations with Iran.

Iran   is one of Nigeria's friendly   nations
and the Nigerian government is not presently thinking   of
cutting off   diplomatic relations with Iran   but the
Iranian government has to reassure us that such a   thing will
not happen   in the future, the source said.

The source, who spoke to our   correspondent on condition of
anonymity said the principal   suspect in the case   was
still with the SSS pending the outcome of the case.

Nobody concerned in this matter has   escaped. It was only
the diplomat involved that was allowed to   return to Iran but
the   principal suspect is still with us, the source stated
further.


 
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/11/arms-seizure-nigerias-top-security-o\
fficials-in-crucial-talks/





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[osint] The Respective Levels of Financing for Non-Profit and For-Profit Actors in Afgha

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/VVOS-8BBQ8U?OpenDocument
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/VVOS-8BBQ8U?OpenDocument
The   Respective Levels of Financing for Non-Profit and
For-Profit Actors in Afghanistan's Reconstruction and  
Development
Source: NATO Civil-Military Fusion Centre   (NATO
CFC) https://www.cimicweb.org/Pages/CMOwelcome.aspx

Date: 18 Nov 2010
  Full_Report
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagentshort\
id=VVOS-8BBQ8Ufile=Full_Report.pdf  (pdf* format - 320.3 Kbytes)

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagentshorti\
d=VVOS-8BBQ8Ufile=Full_Report.pdf
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagentshort\
id=VVOS-8BBQ8Ufile=Full_Report.pdf


The Issue

In   mid-August, Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued  
Presidential Decree 62, which specified that all private  
security companies   (PSCs) operating within Afghanistan,
foreign as well as   domestic, would be   required to
disband by 17 December 2010. Soon thereafter media   reports
began   noting the possibility that private firms and
organisations   involved in   Afghanistan‟s
reconstruction, some   of which utilise PSCs for protection of
offices, construction   sites, staff and   materials,
would be adversely affected. The Scotsman   newspaper, for
instance,   reported that one firm had chartered planes to
evacuate its   staff in the event   that the PSC ban
went into effect. The issue gained momentum   after 22 October,
when the Washington Post cited American officials as  
estimating the PSC ban   would affect USD 1.5 billion in
United States-funded   projects and   would result in
the loss of some 20,000 Afghan jobs associated   with road and
energy infrastructure construction alone. Reuters described  
one American   company, Development Alternatives, Inc., which
has already   begun to wind down   or cancel USD 27.2
million in projects financed by the United   States Agency for
International Development (USAID). Such outcomes were deferred  
though not   resolved by President Karzai‟s recent
decision to delay the effective date of the PSC ban by 90  
days.









  http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/VVOS-8BBQ8U?OpenDocument



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[osint] The Intelligence Challenge: Lessons from the Private Sector

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://blogs.hbr.org/frontline-leadership/2010/11/intelligence-failure-w\
hat-the.html
http://blogs.hbr.org/frontline-leadership/2010/11/intelligence-failure-\
what-the.html   The   Intelligence Challenge: Lessons from
the Private Sector
3:00 PM   Thursday November 18, 2010
by Jake Cusack, Matt McKnight, and Renny McPherson  |  This
post is part of an HBR Spotlight examining leadership
lessons from the military
http://hbr.org/special-collections/spotlights/2010/november .

Since   9/11, the need for increased collaboration and
information   sharing within the   military and
intelligence communities has become a constant   requirement. As
Marine intelligence officers in Iraq   and then as analysts at
national-level security organizations,   each of us has
directly witnessed failures caused by weak communication and  
poor information   sharing practices. These experiences have
pushed us to look to   the private   sector to
understand how the military can most effectively   leverage
innovation   in information collection, management, and analysis
to support   the national   security mission. Many of
the recent HBR blogs on the subject of military   leadership
http://blogs.hbr.org/frontline-leadership/ show what the armed forces
can teach the private   sector. We fully agree   with
many of these arguments, but — in line with Tim Kane's earlier
contribution 
http://blogs.hbr.org/frontline-leadership/2010/11/bleeding-talent-the-u\
s-militar.html — we also contend   that there is much to
learn from knowledge transfer in the   opposite direction.

We have begun to identify a few key problems facing the  
defense and   intelligence community that we believe should be
prime areas   for private   contribution to the public
mission. The list below highlights   our experiences,  
but is by no means an exhaustive catalog of the current  
challenges being   encountered by defense and intelligence
officials. Further, we   recognize that   the many
excellent technology transfer efforts run by   government
organizations   such as In-Q-Tel http://www.iqt.org/ , Army
OnPoint http://www.onpoint.us/about-us/index.shtml , the Small
Business Innovation Research http://www.sbir.gov/  grant
program, and the Defense   Advanced Research Projects Agency
http://www.darpa.mil/ have had much success   both  
fighting these challenges and in increasing the number of  
technology firms (Palantir Technologies
http://www.palantirtech.com/government , Endeca
http://www.endeca.com/ , Keyhole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyhole,_Inc , and others) who  
focus on these issues. Nonetheless, we hope that this comment  
might help   reinvigorate and expand a dialogue around how the
private   sector can better   work with our national
security community.

Here are two illustrative areas where private sector expertise  
is needed:

Failure to Share Information

The flow of intelligence information is generally poor between  
insular military   units with overlapping mandates and between
military and   civilian intelligence   organizations.
Even knowing where to find information is tough   and  
time-consuming. It is frustrating how often analysts who have  
been working on a   particular region or target for long periods
of time will come   across new   information that they
did not know existed because there is   minimal interaction
between two different organizations. Even when information  
does make it across   boundaries, we have seen regulatory and
bureaucratic barriers   cause delays of   weeks to get
an internal intelligence report to the people who   need it.
Misaligned incentives also complicate information flow. Access  
to information   is the currency of intelligence. Both analysts
and   organizations are sometimes   reluctant to share
an insight with others not in their fiefdom   because it might
be replicated without credit and they could lose their  
perceived value (and   funding). Only strong leadership can
overcome a basic psychological bias: sharing
often requires more work without direct personal reward.

To solve   these problems, the best analysts have had to recruit
and   develop their own   human sources outside of
their unit and within the American   defense   apparatus
— ironically, they do this just as a CIA case   officer
would strive to 

[osint] Provocation of the Day: Intellectual Honesty and Terrorism Trials

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/11/provocation-of-the-d\
ay-intellectual-honesty-and-terrorism-trials/66777/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/11/provocation-of-the-\
day-intellectual-honesty-and-terrorism-trials/66777/   Provocation
of the Day: Intellectual Honesty and   Terrorism Trials
Nov 18 2010, 3:07 PM ET

Just a   provocation, or, less provocatively,   food for
thought: The backlash against civilian terrorism   trials, in
response   to the only-partial conviction
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/nyregion/19detainees.html?_r=1hp 
of accused embassy-bombing   conspirator Ahmed Ghailani, says a
lot about the conflicting   desires at play in  
deciding where to try such accused criminals, and hints that  
elements of the   venue debate are a sham.

In selling the concept of civilian trials to the public,  
Attorney General Eric   Holder sought to convince Americans of a
civilian jury's   ability to deliver   convictions,
citing previously accused terrorists who had been   convicted by
federal prosecutors in civilian courts.

At a congressional hearing last November, Holder pledged to  
win convictions   against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other
alleged 9/11   conspirators:   Failure is not an
option, he said. These are cases that   have   to be
won. I don't expect that we will have a contrary   result.

It seems to be the main concern of those who oppose civilian  
trials for   suspected terrorists: that civilian courtrooms will
not be   able to deliver   convictions. Complementary
fears, of course, are that a trial   in the U.S. would  
pose a security threat (or, were it to be held in Manhattan,  
emotionally scar   the city once again), and whether it's safe
to hold convicted   international   terrorists in
domestic supermax prisons. But the warning   issued by Rep.
Peter   King in the wake of Ghailani's only-partial
conviction--that   this result, in particular,   reveals
a lack of wisdom in civilian trials--speaks to a fear   that
civilian   courtrooms simply can't deliver the result King, for
instance,   wants.

Desire for the certainty of conviction, at its heart, is at  
odds with a desire   for application of judicial process. The
need to surely find   someone guilty is   not compatible
with the need to apply the process of assessing   guilt.

Justice and punishment are separate but overlapping concepts.  
One deals with   how we treat those responsible for 9/11; the
other deals also   with how   culpability is determined
and agreed upon.

Complicating this essential difficulty is the fact that the  
man responsible for   deciding where to try these accused
terrorists, Holder, is   simultaneously   responsible
for selling his decision to the public AND for   securing a
conviction in the end. From that conflicted role, we get a  
confused pairing of   messages like: faith in the open American
justice system,   along with promises   of a guilty
verdict. Being responsible for a conviction,   Holder can,
potentially, look at the difficulties in convicting  
Ghailani--the why of his   acquitted counts--and decide on a
different process entirely.   Or, he can simply   look
at the result.

Maybe due process and full rights should not be afforded to  
accused international   terrorists. Military tribunals would
offer a judicial process   that does not   afford such
full rights; a looser standard of evidence would   be employed.

But if a conviction is all we want--and if that is our only  
guiding   measure, if the nuances of evidentiary standards go
largely   ignored, and if it   is simply the failure to
convict Ghailani on all counts,   rather than the  
process-related difficulties of how federal prosecutors failed  
to secure it,   that irks the critics of civilian trials for the
accused   mass-murder KSM--then   we have to be able to
admit that punishment, rather than an   assessment of  
guilt, is at the end of the day what we're after.


 
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/11/provocation-of-the-\
day-intellectual-honesty-and-terrorism-trials/66777/









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





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[osint] Cyber terrorism is proving an uphill battle

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Cyber+terrorism+proving+uphill+b\
attle/3850531/story.html
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Cyber+terrorism+proving+uphill+\
battle/3850531/story.html   Cyber terrorism is proving an
uphill battle
By   Claudine Beaumont, The Daily Telegraph November 18,
2010 4:04   PM

  Mystery may surround some aspects of the latest apparent cyber
attack against web users, but one thing is becoming abundantly
clear - the threat of cyber terrorism is a very clear
and present danger for governments and organisations
around the world.

While full-body scanners and military partnerships with
other nations might help to protect us from the physical threat
of terrorism, cyber warfare presents a unique challenge for
nation states. The fluid and evolving nature of the
Internet, and the rapid development of technologies,
means it is near impossible to monitor precisely what is
happening online, and to mitigate against all potential threats.

There is growing evidence that a number of countries are
dipping their toes in the waters of cyber terrorism, with what
appear to be state-sanctioned hacks of websites and systems, and
sophisticated attempts to breach the cyber defences of key
organisations.

China, for all its protestations of innocence, is a cause for
particular concern. Earlier this year, Google's email servers
were attacked by Chinese hackers in an effort to access
the accounts of human rights activists.

China has a notoriously fractious relationship with the web,
attempting to censor and control access to potentially
subversive websites by using the Great Firewall of
China to block inappropriate web traffic, while still
attempting to embrace the benefits the web brings for e-commerce
and global business.

Cyber terrorism need not mean infecting military
computers with a virus that could launch scores of rockets; a
more likely and insidious threat is to banking systems or
financial services, which could be corrupted by
malicious software and have a cataclysmic knock-on effect on a
region's economy.

There is no evidence that China Telecoms' apparent
diversion of Internet traffic via its servers had any sinister
edge to it. But, much in the same way as Russia sends
its bombers on frequent sorties close to British airspace to
probe at the country's defences and provide a show of strength,
so too it is increasingly likely that hackers, whether
actively sanctioned or simply not discouraged by their
governments, are testing the robustness of our cyber defences.

Governments and security experts face an uphill battle
to keep them out.






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





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[osint] Wikileaks founder Julian Assange 'hiding in Britain as Swedes poised to issue ar

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/8143922/Wikileak\
s-founder-Julian-Assange-hiding-in-Britain-as-Swedes-poised-to-issue-arr\
est-warrant.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/8143922/Wikilea\
ks-founder-Julian-Assange-hiding-in-Britain-as-Swedes-poised-to-issue-ar\
rest-warrant.html   Wikileaks founder Julian Assange
'hiding in Britain as Swedes poised to issue arrest warrant'
Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, is thought to
be hiding in Britain after Swedish prosecutors said the country
would issue an international warrant for his arrest on
multiple charges of rape and sexual assault.



Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks Photo:  
AFP/GETTY   IMAGES

By Amy Willis and Bruno Waterfield 8:57PM GMT   18 Nov 2010

The former Australian hacker faced arrest by Scotland
Yard officers after a Swedish judge indicted him for rape,
sexual molestation and unlawful coercion.

Mark Stephens, Mr Assange's lawyer, confirmed his
presence in Britain but insisted that his precise movements and
location are a matter which is kept confidential.

I have been in touch with Scotland Yard and Europol
today to ask if there were any charges. They said they had
nothing outstanding. No public arrest warrant has been issued,
but they were aware that the Swedish authorities had
issued one, he said.

Mr Stephens admitted that Mr Assange would find it
difficult to travel to Sweden but denied he was 'hiding'.

He said: The difficulty is that when Julian moves from
country to country it takes a significant amount of planning.
That is not to say that we don't want to meet the prosecutors.

He is not in hiding because he has offered to meet
them. He would offer to meet them at the Swedish Embassy or at a
neutral venue.

Mr Assange, 39, hit the headlines this summer after
Wikileaks began to release thousands of secret Pentagon
documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, security
breaches that have deeply angered the American authorities and
allies including Britain.

A Swedish court on Thursday announced that an
international warrant would be issued. It has been decided that
he be detained, said Alan Camitz, a Stockholm district
court judge.

Marianne Ny, a Swedish sex crimes prosecutor, said: I
requested his arrest so we could carry out an interrogation with
Assange. That is the reason. The next step is to issue an
international arrest warrant.

Mr Assange has denied the allegations of sexual assault,
while admitting he had encounters with the two women concerned
in the charges during a visit to Sweden in August. An
original demand for a warrant was dropped three months ago.

In a recent interview, the open information campaigner
said the charges were part of a smear campaign aimed at
discrediting his website and that the US intelligence services
are probably very happy now.

Mr Stephens insisted that Mr Assange had done his best
to discuss the charges with prosecutors.

He says he happens to be in the UK at the moment but
I'm happy to meet at a place of your choosing or happy to meet
at Scotland Yard. We then offer a telephone interview and video
conference. The prosecutors declined, he said.


 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/8143922/Wikilea\
ks-founder-Julian-Assange-hiding-in-Britain-as-Swedes-poised-to-issue-ar\
rest-warrant.html



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





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YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the 
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only. We believe that this 

[osint] Economic cyber terrorism attacks forecast to rise in 2011

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/strategy/item/18878-economic-cyber-terror\
ism-at
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/strategy/item/18878-economic-cyber-terro\
rism-at   Economic cyber terrorism attacks forecast to rise
in 2011
10.11.2010

Cyber criminals have adapted their strategies to address
the social websites and sites with dynamic user-generated
content. Attacks are now more blended, sophisticated, and
targeted

Next year could see more targeted attacks on website
content as well as a new form of cyber attack that takes
cyber terrorism onto the political and nationalistic
stage.

When it comes to dangerous web threats, the only
constant is change and gone are the days of predictable attack
vectors, according to the Websense 2010 Threat
Report http://www.websense.com/2010threatreport .

Instead, modern blended threats such as Aurora, Stuxnet
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/strategy/item/17911-cyber-attack-stuxnet\
-worm , and Zeus
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/strategy/item/18181-info-stealing-trojan\
s-are-n/  infiltrate organisations through a variety of
co-ordinated tactics, usually a combination of two or more.

Phishing, compromised websites and social networking are
carefully co-ordinated to steal confidential data, because in
the world of cyber crime, content equals cash. the latest
tactics have now moved to a political — and
nationalistic — stage.

These conclusions are based on the analysis of Websense
Security Labs researchers, who rely on their ThreatSeeker
Network which every hour scans more than 40 million websites for
malicious code and nearly 10 million emails for unwanted content
and malicious code.

The 2010 evidence and metrics suggest that cyber
criminals and their blended attacks are having a field day
taking advantage of security gaps left open by legacy
technologies like firewalls, antivirus and simple URL
blockers.
Traditional defences don't work
The report showcases how in today's threat landscape,
legacy defences simply don't work. We all have antivirus,
firewalls and proxies installed, but that isn't enough.

Threats are no longer binary files delivered in
attachments, they are script-based attacks and they are embedded
in rich media like Flash. And many spread rapidly on the social
web. Reputation filters provide zero security for
threats delivered via top legitimate websites like
Google, Facebook and YouTube, where 80pc of web traffic goes.

Cyber criminals know that legacy technology simply looks
for known information (signatures) or reputation of previously
identified threats, which is why they are so successful at
exploiting existing defences.

Most of today's blended attacks are considered
zero-day, in that they have not been previously identified.
They are ever-evolving and pre-tested by cyber criminals on
common anti-virus products before they are released.
These threats sail through firewalls and open channels.

The continued rise of organised cyber criminal gangs
and the emergence of targeted advanced malware threats are the
most concerning trend we've seen, said Dan Hubbard,
chief technology officer, Websense.

Security needs to move ahead of the attackers and
focus on contextual classification in order to thwart them.
Simple binary access controls and castle and moat security will
not solve the complex attacks we see today. These are
precisely the type of threats we have in mind when we
build Websense security products.
Social cyber terrorism
In 2010, cyber criminals adapted their strategies to
address the social websites and sites with dynamic
user-generated content. Attacks are now more blended,
sophisticated and targeted. Many of these attacks use new
tricks and methods of delivery.

Script-based attacks, blended email campaigns and SEO
poisoning were all common in 2010. Even the most easily detected
threats and botnets were successfully repurposed with variations
that often allow them to slip through outdated defences.
The majority of attacks in 2010 focused on the same
thing: stealing data.

Whether it is your company's sensitive financial
information, your social networking or online banking
credentials, that content has tremendous value, said Devin
Redmond, vice-president of business development, product
management and marketing, Websense.

[osint] Baghdad Christians in line of fire

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/2010/world-news/baghdad-ch\
ristians-in-line-of-fire
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/2010/world-news/baghdad-c\
hristians-in-line-of-fire
Thursday, 11th November 2010
Baghdad Christians in line of fire
AFP




Destroyed vehicles yesterday, in a mainly Christian
neighbourhood of central Baghdad, following a spate of bomb
attacks on Christian homes. Photo: Ali Al Saadi/AFP

A string of anti-Christian bombings has cost six more
lives in the wake of a Baghdad church bloodbath, sowing panic in
Iraq's 2,000-year-old minority yesterday, many of whom now
want to flee.

Since Tuesday evening, there have been 13 bombs and
two mortar attacks on homes and shops of Christians in which a
total of six people were killed and 33 injured, a defence
ministry official said. A church was also
damaged.

The attacks come less than two weeks after 44 Christian
worshippers, two priests and seven security personnel died in
the seizure of the Baghdad church by Islamist gunmen and
the ensuing shootout when it was stormed by troops.

On November 3, Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the
hostage-taking at the capital's Syrian Catholic cathedral and
warned it would step up attacks on Christians.

The UN Security Council said it was appalled by, and
condemned in the strongest terms, the recent spate of terrorist
attacks in Iraq, including today's.

The campaign of violence against Christians
potentially poses a threat to diversity in the Middle East,
which was one of the fundamental bedrocks of stability,
said British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, reading the council
statement.

French ambassador Gerard Araud said Al-Qaeda's bomb
and shooting attacks were part of a deliberate will to destroy
the Christian community.

As Christians converged on their churches yesterday to
seek counsel from their religious leaders, the capital's Syrian
Catholic archbishop made an emotional appeal for western
countries to come to their rescue.

It would be criminal on the part of the international
community not to take care of the security of the Christians,
Athanase Matti Shaba Matoka said inside the church targeted on
October 31 where he tried to console his flock.

Everybody is scared, he said. People are asking
who is going to protect them, how are they going to stay on in
Iraq. We are trying to encourage them to stay
patient.

Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone described the latest
attacks as very painful.

The protection of Iraqi Christians is an issue that
we hope... will be taken into serious consideration by the
Baghdad government, Italian news agencies quoted him as saying.

The scarred Syrian Catholic cathedral in the central
district of Karrada has become a focus of the fears of Christian
families.

For the past two years now, my wife has been trying
to persuade me to leave the country but I didn't agree, said
42-year-old labourer Raed Wissam from the Dora district of south
Baghdad.

Today, I feel sure she's right because I don't want
to feel guilty if something bad happens to one of my children.

Mr Wissam said he was woken up at 6 a.m. by an
explosion. I ran up to the roof to see what was going on and I
heard three more blasts, with three Christian homes targeted. My
two children wept.

Emmanuel Karim, a 27-year-old IT worker, was about to go
to work from his home in Camp Sara, central Baghdad, when a bomb
exploded. The apparent target was the car of his uncle, who was
among those killed on October 31.

Fifteen minutes later, a second bomb exploded,
killing a neighbour who was trying to put out the fire in the
car... He was a Muslim. He was my friend, said Mr Karim,
fighting back the tears.

He said the faithful were gathering at churches to try
to join the Christian exodus which has been picking up pace
since the 2003 invasion of now violence-plagued Iraq, where
their community's roots date back two millenia.

Monsignor Pius Kasha, also of the church in the
hostage-taking at the end of last month, said a four-month-old
baby was among three people wounded in bombings of Christian
homes in Baghdad's Mansur district late on Tuesday.


 
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/2010/world-news/baghdad-c\
hristians-in-line-of-fire











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




[osint] The Tip of a Dangerous Iceberg

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/11/14/david-horowitz%E2%80%99s-archives\
-the-tip-of-a-dangerous-iceberg/
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/11/14/david-horowitz%E2%80%99s-archive\
s-the-tip-of-a-dangerous-iceberg/
The Tip of a Dangerous Iceberg

2010 November 14

by David Horowitz http://www.newsrealblog.com/author/winniehorowitz/

Huey Newton, right, with Black Panther   Party  
co-founder Bobby Seale.

This article originally appeared in FrontPage Magazine
on April 08, 2003
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=18855 .

When I was a college radical and   anti-war activist forty years
ago, I was quite the   intellectual and (in my  
estimation) cautious and sober. Though I became an editor and  
then co-editor of   the leading radical magazine of the Sixties,
Ramparts,   I never threw a   rock during the entire
era. I never joined a radical sect and   never went to  
Communist Cuba or North Vietnam, which were then the meccas of  
the   radical faith. Although I was a founder of an organization
called the Vietnam   Solidarity Campaign, I never
fooled myself that the Communist   state that would  
result from an American defeat would be a rice roots  
democracy, the way Tom   Hayden and other leaders of the
New Left movement   proclaimed.

Nonetheless, before the era was   over, I was lured by my desire
to do humanitarian good and to   further the cause   of
social justice into working with the Black Panthers, a   group
of radical   gangsters who in 1974 murdered a friend of mine
(the mother of   three children)   and a dozen other
individuals besides.[1] The project I had   become involved in
with the Panthers was building an elementary school.

From the vantage of the political   and cultural left, my
activities with the Black Panthers were   neither marginal
or extreme. At the time, the Panthers were icons of the  
progressive   intellectuals, symbolizing strong black leaders
who were   standing up for their   oppressed
community. The entire liberal culture supported   them. Leading
cultural figures like Garry Wills and Murray Kempton were  
writing praises of   the Panthers in the New York Times Sunday
magazine   Kempton even compared   their leader Huey
Newton to Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther   in the Times'
august pages. To this day The New York Times, The Washington
Post and   other pillars of the American political culture,
celebrate the   Panthers – the   murderers of my
friend and a dozen others – as icons of the   social
struggle.

Fortunately, the Panthers   disintegrated in the early
Seventies, dragged down by their   criminal  
activities, internecine battles and the sordid brutality of  
their leaders, Huey   Newton and Eldridge Cleaver. Before he
died, Cleaver told a Sixty Minutes audience,  
If people had listened to Huey Newton and me in the Sixties,
there would have   been a holocaust in this country. Many
radicals, among them   Cleaver's most   prominent
promoter – Los Angles Times columnist Robert   Scheer —
looked   forward to that holocaust and actively encouraged it.
The   Panthers were the   noble savages of
liberal compassion, symbols of the   injustice that America
was said to be inflicting on American blacks.

What would have happened if the   Panthers had remained intact
to the present? What if they had   been the arm of   an
international terror network whose goal was the destruction   of
the United   States? There are such groups in America today.
They are   radical groups who   identify with the
violent jihad of Islamacist terror   organizations like
al-Qaeda, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas. And they have  
the support of a   radical culture that regards America as the
Great Satan, and   Muslims and Arabs   as the people
whom America oppresses.

On campuses across this country,   embedded in the leadership of
every radical anti-war protest   group, are  
organizations that promote the culture of Islamic terrorism  
and its   anti-Western, anti-Israeli and anti-American agendas.
One that   will serve as an   example for the others is
the radical Muslim Student   Association (MSA). The  
Muslim Student Association is an organization financed by the  
Saudis and also   by student funds at every university where it
operates. The   ideas and   enthusiasms that it promotes

[osint] Eulogizing a life of secrets

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/Eulogizing+life+secrets/3846302\
/story.html#ixzz15ejSjXLA
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/Eulogizing+life+secrets/384630\
2/story.html#ixzz15ejSjXLA   Eulogizing a life of secrets
Tyler Anderson, National Post

Maureen Hooper, the wife of former Canadian spy Jack
Hooper, pays her last respects at his funeral in Toronto
on Wednesday.

Comments http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/#Comments

Stewart   Bell, National Post · Wednesday, Nov.   17,
2010

When members of Canada's intelligence community gathered
at a Toronto cemetery on Wednesday to pay their respects to
veteran counterterrorist Jack Hooper, a lot was left
unsaid.

At the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, where he
was Deputy Director of Operations, Mr. Hooper took part in
all the country's major counterterrorism investigations, from
Air India to the Toronto 18.

But how do you eulogize a life of secrets? From time to
time, Mr. Hooper's name surfaced at public inquiries but much of
what he did during his lengthy public service will never be
known outside intelligence circles.

Unfortunately we can only communicate part of the story
but that's the nature of our work and we accept it,
said Charles Bisson, also a former CSIS Deputy Director of
Operations. Doing our work is our own gratitude; we're not
expecting publicity or any type of gratitude. That's the work we
do and we can't speak about many things.

At the packed service at Mount Pleasant cemetery, one
eulogist described how, when CSIS was planning to send people to
Afghanistan, Mr. Hooper went first to check things out. A photo
of Mr. Hooper holding a military assault rifle was included in
the memorial's slide show.

Friends and associates remembered him as an influential
intelligence officer who helped guide CSIS through the turbulent
years after 9/11, and on whose watch al-Qaeda and its followers
never succeeded in attacking Canada.

No one worked longer hours nor digged down deeper into
a case, said Charles Coghlin, a former CSIS colleague
and one of several current and former senior intelligence
officials in attendance. I am absolutely certain that Canadians
are more secure because he was one of us.

Mr. Hooper collapsed and died last Friday. He was 57. He
left CSIS in 2007. Since then he had lived in Peachland, B.C.,
with his wife Maureen, worked for Public Mobile and volunteered
at True Patriot Love, a foundation that helps military families.

Frank and passionate about counter-terrorism, he was the
public face of CSIS for a time. At the Air India
inquiry, he testified about the agency's controversial decision
to destroy surveillance tapes of the suspects, and a blunt memo
he wrote was released at the inquiry into the Maher Arar
affair.

His colleagues said that while he has been caricatured
as a maverick spy, that is off the mark; while he was
colourful and opinionated, he was a meticulous stickler for
detail in a field where mistakes can cost lives.

He was always very thorough in his work and checked
everything he handled with a fine tooth comb, said a
former CSIS colleague, Stewart Sweet. Mr. Hooper constantly
reminded those around him that counter-terrorism and
counter-intelligence are 24-hours-a-day occupations, that there
can never really be any total down-time, he said.

Luc Portelance, who worked with Mr. Hooper at CSIS and
is now president of the Canada Border Services Agency, described
him as a very intelligent individual, very rigorous ... his
attention to detail was quite significant. He was a guy I had a
lot of respect for in terms of his approach, his rigour,
his commitment.

William John Jack Hooper began his career in the RCMP
in 1974. Posted to Burnaby, B.C., he joined the RCMP
security service in 1981 and was assigned to various
counterintelligence and counter-terrorism desks.

In 1984, he was among those who left the RCMP to join
the new civilian intelligence service, CSIS. A year later, Sikh
extremists from B.C. bombed Air India Flight 182, killing 329
people, most of them Canadians. Preventing another such disaster
became his guiding philosophy.

He rose through the ranks from counter-terrorism analyst
to manager of 

[osint] Nigeria: Government forces and rebels resume battle over Niger Delta

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.afrik-news.com/article18473.html
http://www.afrik-news.com/article18473.html
Nigeria: Government forces and rebels resume battle over
Niger Delta

Thursday 18 November 2010
http://www.afrik-news.com/archives-2010-11.html  / by Konye Obaji Ori
http://www.afrik-news.com/writer1217.html



An   operation by the Nigerian Joint Task force (JTF) to enforce
peace and break   down rebel activity in the oil-rich Niger
Delta will continue   until the   desired level of
security and peace is achieved in the Niger   Delta and the
region is rid of criminal and illegal actions by the so-called  
militants,   a top Nigerian official said after JFT rescued a
total of 19   hostages including   Nigerians and
foreigners.

Nigerian Joint Task force (JTF)   enforcing peace and breaking
down rebel activity in the   oil-rich Niger Delta  
region have attacked rebel hideouts and rescued Nigerian and  
foreign captives. A   total of 19 hostages including two French,
two Americans, two   Indonesians, and   a Canadian were
freed.

We've got confirmed reports   that, yes, all 19 have been
reported freed. It was a JTF   operation, AP   quoted a
security source as saying.

Nigeria's main militant group the Movement   for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had claimed  
responsibility for kidnapping 14 of the hostages
http://www.afrik-news.com/article18451.html .

The victims were captured during a   recent raid on oil
facilities in the Nigeria's Niger Delta   region. However,
there was no claim of whether ransoms were paid for any of the  
hostages.

Fighting between rebel groups and   the Nigerian military may
have resumed following a statement   released by MEND  
on Tuesday, which warned of a major operation and claimed  
one of   its camps had come under military fire on Monday.

In response, the Nigerian   authorities confirmed operations
were underway to hunt down   the rebel militias   and
kidnappers.

According to Lieutenant Colonel   Timothy Antigha, the operation
would continue until the   desired level of   security
and peace is achieved in the Niger Delta and the   region is rid
of   criminal and illegal actions by the so-called militants.

France's   foreign minister earlier   confirmed that
the two French nationals were freed.

According to reports, those released   were believed taken in
three separate incidents achieved in   the Niger Delta and
the region is rid of criminal and illegal actions by the  
so-called   militants.

The Niger Delta continues to   experience unrest as rebel groups
claiming to fight for a   fairer distribution   of oil
revenue, engage in criminal activities that have   slashed oil
production   in Nigeria.

The Nigerian government subsequently   offered an amnesty deal
http://www.afrik-news.com/article15957.html  to the militants last
year. But   some analysts believe the amnesty has failed to
address   underlying issues of   poverty and
unemployment in the Niger Delta.

Observers feared that militant who   surrendered their weapons
in exchange for stipends would   eventually be replaced
by others, they warned.

However, the amnesty was credited   with greatly reducing unrest
in the region and oil production   has rebounded to   an
estimated 2.2 million barrels per day, but there has been a  
new round of   attacks in recent months.

France's   foreign minister earlier   confirmed the
release of its two French nationals.

Michele Alliot-Marie is   pleased with the release of the two
Frenchmen who had been   taken hostage, along   with
five other people, on an oil platform in Nigeria   overnight
November   7-8, a statement read.

Canada's   Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon   also
welcomed the news.

We would like to thank   everyone who worked to ensure a safe
and peaceful resolution   to this   incident, Cannon
was quoted.


  http://www.afrik-news.com/article18473.html



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





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[osint] Former CSIS boss had warned about domestic terrorism

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Former+CSIS+boss+warned+about+domestic+\
terrorism/3457833/story.html
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Former+CSIS+boss+warned+about+domestic\
+terrorism/3457833/story.html   Former CSIS boss had warned
about domestic terrorism


Chris Wattie/Reuters

Former Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director
Jim Judd has warned the government not to underestimate
the spectre of domestic terrorism.

* Comments http://www.nationalpost.com/news/#Comments

Ian   MacLeod, Postmedia News · Monday, Aug.   30,
2010

OTTAWA — The day after his unexpected resignation was
announced last spring, Canada's former spy master
warned the government not to underestimate the spectre of
domestic terrorism.

It has sometimes been suggested that the phenomenon
of terrorism has been exaggerated in Canada in the course of
this decade and especially in the post-9/11 period. In fact, a
brief survey of our experience in this period might lead
to a relatively different conclusion, CSIS director
Jim Judd wrote in a secret April 15, 2009 memo to
then-public safety minister Peter Van Loan.

Five months later, RCMP and Ottawa police launched
Project Samosa, the massive probe into a suspected
Ottawa-based Islamist terror cell plotting a bombing campaign,
culminating in the recent arrests.

In a censored copy of the memo, obtained by Ottawa
researcher Ken Rubin under the Access to Information Act, Mr.
Judd summarizes how Canadian citizens and residents had
been caught and prosecuted for terrorism in Canada, the United
States and other countries.

An additional number of individuals — the
precise number cannot be accurately determined — have been
killed in terrorist or `insurgent' related activities
outside of Canada.

Within the country today, we have [word redacted]
individuals currently under active investigation for terrorist
or extremist-related activities. (CSIS has since said it is
tracking more than 200 individuals in Canada with
suspected links to as many as 50 terrorist groups.)

Richard Fadden took over as head of the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service six weeks later and wasted little
time publicly reiterating Mr. Judd's concerns.

Despite a history of domestic terrorism, from Air India
to the Toronto 18, Canada has a serious blind spot
acknowledging that violent extremism imperils our national
security, Fadden said in his first public speech, to an Ottawa
security-intelligence conference.

The following day, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott,
speaking at the same conference, warned that despite success
thwarting the Toronto 18 and Momin Khawaja terrorism plots the
current threat environment remains severe, from a
resurgent al-Qaeda and fugitive Tamil Tigers to nuclear
technology smuggling and border concerns. Islamic radicalization
of Canada's Somali community is becoming a particular
national security concern, he said.

Success in countering the dangers require police to take
on more of a national security role and put more terrorism
cases before the courts and more terrorists in jail, he said.
Arrests and prosecutions would help send a strong message
to the world that we are serious about prosecuting
accomplices to terror.

Canada hosts one of the largest Somali diaspora communities
in the western world. Somali-Canadians are at risk of being
radicalized and recruited to fight with Islamist al-Shabaab (the
youth) extremist movement in Somalia's civil war, he
said.

The ranks of the Somali insurgency are attracting
thousands of young men who have been radicalized by the harsh
reality of depravation and civil war, said Mr. Elliott.

The potential follow-on threat, from a Canadian and
RCMP perspective, is Somali-Canadians who travel to Somalia to
fight and then return, imbued with both extremist ideology and
the skills necessary to translate it into direct action.

Meanwhile, al-Qaeda along with its offshoots, associates
and hangers-on, and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror
groups remain highly virulent to Canada, he said.

As far as al-Qaida is concerned, Canada is the enemy,
he said, referring to Osama bin Laden's infamous 2002
communique placing Canada and five other U.S. allies on
its global hit list.

Since then, there has not been a single 

[osint] Former CSIS boss had warned about domestic terrorism

2010-11-18 Thread gwen831
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Former+CSIS+boss+warned+about+domestic+\
terrorism/3457833/story.html
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Former+CSIS+boss+warned+about+domestic\
+terrorism/3457833/story.html   Former CSIS boss had warned
about domestic terrorism


Chris Wattie/Reuters

Former Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director
Jim Judd has warned the government not to underestimate
the spectre of domestic terrorism.

* Comments http://www.nationalpost.com/news/#Comments

Ian   MacLeod, Postmedia News · Monday, Aug.   30,
2010

OTTAWA — The day after his unexpected resignation was
announced last spring, Canada's former spy master
warned the government not to underestimate the spectre of
domestic terrorism.

It has sometimes been suggested that the phenomenon
of terrorism has been exaggerated in Canada in the course of
this decade and especially in the post-9/11 period. In fact, a
brief survey of our experience in this period might lead
to a relatively different conclusion, CSIS director
Jim Judd wrote in a secret April 15, 2009 memo to
then-public safety minister Peter Van Loan.

Five months later, RCMP and Ottawa police launched
Project Samosa, the massive probe into a suspected
Ottawa-based Islamist terror cell plotting a bombing campaign,
culminating in the recent arrests.

In a censored copy of the memo, obtained by Ottawa
researcher Ken Rubin under the Access to Information Act, Mr.
Judd summarizes how Canadian citizens and residents had
been caught and prosecuted for terrorism in Canada, the United
States and other countries.

An additional number of individuals — the
precise number cannot be accurately determined — have been
killed in terrorist or `insurgent' related activities
outside of Canada.

Within the country today, we have [word redacted]
individuals currently under active investigation for terrorist
or extremist-related activities. (CSIS has since said it is
tracking more than 200 individuals in Canada with
suspected links to as many as 50 terrorist groups.)

Richard Fadden took over as head of the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service six weeks later and wasted little
time publicly reiterating Mr. Judd's concerns.

Despite a history of domestic terrorism, from Air India
to the Toronto 18, Canada has a serious blind spot
acknowledging that violent extremism imperils our national
security, Fadden said in his first public speech, to an Ottawa
security-intelligence conference.

The following day, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott,
speaking at the same conference, warned that despite success
thwarting the Toronto 18 and Momin Khawaja terrorism plots the
current threat environment remains severe, from a
resurgent al-Qaeda and fugitive Tamil Tigers to nuclear
technology smuggling and border concerns. Islamic radicalization
of Canada's Somali community is becoming a particular
national security concern, he said.

Success in countering the dangers require police to take
on more of a national security role and put more terrorism
cases before the courts and more terrorists in jail, he said.
Arrests and prosecutions would help send a strong message
to the world that we are serious about prosecuting
accomplices to terror.

Canada hosts one of the largest Somali diaspora communities
in the western world. Somali-Canadians are at risk of being
radicalized and recruited to fight with Islamist al-Shabaab (the
youth) extremist movement in Somalia's civil war, he
said.

The ranks of the Somali insurgency are attracting
thousands of young men who have been radicalized by the harsh
reality of depravation and civil war, said Mr. Elliott.

The potential follow-on threat, from a Canadian and
RCMP perspective, is Somali-Canadians who travel to Somalia to
fight and then return, imbued with both extremist ideology and
the skills necessary to translate it into direct action.

Meanwhile, al-Qaeda along with its offshoots, associates
and hangers-on, and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror
groups remain highly virulent to Canada, he said.

As far as al-Qaida is concerned, Canada is the enemy,
he said, referring to Osama bin Laden's infamous 2002
communique placing Canada and five other U.S. allies on
its global hit list.

Since then, there has not been a single 

[osint] Tourists banned from Big Ben over terrorism fears

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.themovechannel.com/news/02044896-8e4d/
http://www.themovechannel.com/news/02044896-8e4d/   Tourists
banned from Big Ben over terrorism fears   Wednesday,
November 10, 2010   Catherine Deshayes
Tourists from overseas are no longer allowed to take
tours around Big Ben because of concerns over security...

Foreigners hoping to learn more about one of London's most
famous icons are now banned from taking the tour due to mounting
fears over terrorism.

Clearance checks for foreigners which were to ensure
that terrorists could not target the historic clock tower became
too complex and costly.

British citizens are still allowed to visit Big Ben, but
must apply by writing to their MP.

The tour includes a trip to the top of The Great Clock,
popularly known as Big Ben but it is now no longer an option for
the millions of tourists who flock to the capital each year.

Michael McCann, the Keeper of The Great Clock, said the
policy had to change to maintain security at the iconic London
monument.

He said: 'We used to get a lot of foreign tourists but
you have to be a British citizen now. It just got too
complicated with the security checks, as you can imagine.

'We don't do public tours but you can write to your MP
with a reason for wanting to see it and they arrange a tour for
you. We do a tour up to three times a day which sounds a lot but
there are only 16 people on a tour.'

Before taking the 75-minute tour, guests have to pass
through strict security checks at Portcullis House.

Under the supervision of armed police, each visitor
passes through a metal detector and a wall-mounted camera takes
a picture of their face before being issued with a photo
security pass.

They are guided around the famous tower of Parliament,
learning the history of the tower, the bell and how the most
accurate public clock in the world works.

Keeper of the Great Clock Michael McCann by the
mechanism of Big Ben

The tour culminates at the top of Big Ben, looking at
the clock's mechanism, the clock faces, and the bell itself.

A spokesman for the House of Commons confirmed the ban
on foreigners but said: 'The house does not comment in detail on
security matters.'

He added: 'The process involves people approaching their
MP and some kind of security checks take place, based on their
residency in the UK.'

The UK Parliament website says: 'UK residents can
arrange a tour through their local MP.

However, please be advised that space is extremely
limited and early booking, 3-6 months in advanced, is strongly
recommended. Overseas visitors cannot currently visit the
tower.'





  http://www.themovechannel.com/news/02044896-8e4d/



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





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[osint] British police say Yemen mail bomb could have exploded over eastern US

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/british_police_eastern_yemen_mail_\
SqS8ED8meUrBGPqfr9RNXM?CMP=OTC-rssFEEDNAME
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/british_police_eastern_yemen_mail\
_SqS8ED8meUrBGPqfr9RNXM?CMP=OTC-rssFEEDNAME =  British police say
Yemen mail bomb could have exploded over eastern US
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/british_police_eastern_yemen_mail\
_SqS8ED8meUrBGPqfr9RNXM
NEWSCORE

Last Updated: 1:19 PM, November 10, 2010

Posted: 12:11 PM, November 10, 2010
 
http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/national/british_police_eastern_yeme\
n_mail_SqS8ED8meUrBGPqfr9RNXM
Police in the UK said Wednesday that bombs placed on
cargo planes could have detonated over the eastern
seaboard of the US.

On Oct. 29, two explosive-laden US-bound packages posted
in Yemen were intercepted on cargo planes in the UK and
Dubai. The bombs, containing the explosive PETN, were hidden in
compromised printer toner cartridges and were powerful
enough to have brought down an aircraft, officials said.

Forensic examination has indicated that if the
device had activated it would have been at 10:30hrs BST [British
Summer Time] on Friday, 29 October 2010, the Metropolitan
Police Service said in statement Wednesday. If the
device had not been removed from the aircraft the
activation could have occurred over the eastern seaboard of the
US.

US authorities received a tip about the explosives from Saudi
Arabia the day before the packages were discovered.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for
the foiled plot.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said
Monday it would ban high risk cargo, such as toner and
ink cartridges weighing over 16 ounces, from all passenger
flights. The TSA has also banned air cargo from Somalia
and Yemen.



 
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/british_police_eastern_yemen_mail\
_SqS8ED8meUrBGPqfr9RNXM?CMP=OTC-rssFEEDNAME





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





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[osint] Terrorism threats in Indonesia worry US officials

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics/associated-press/articles/2010/11/10\
/115815-terrorism-threats-indonesia-worry-us-officials.htm
http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics/associated-press/articles/2010/11/1\
0/115815-terrorism-threats-indonesia-worry-us-officials.htm
November 10, 2010
Terrorism threats in Indonesia worry US officials
By Associated Press ,



WASHINGTON (AP) — The discovery of a militant training camp
in Indonesia, along with persistent terrorist attacks there,
have increased U.S. concerns that extremists are
regrouping and eyeing Western targets.

With President Barack Obama set to visit Indonesia on
Tuesday, there's renewed attention on terrorists there who in
the past year appeared to be banding together into a new
al–Qaida influenced insurgency.

The Pentagon has renewed a training program with Indonesia's
special forces and bolstered military assistance. Those moves
are seen as signs that the U.S. believes Indonesia needs
more help tracking and rooting out insurgents — particularly
those who rejoin the fight once they're released from jail.


 
http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics/associated-press/articles/2010/11/1\
0/115815-terrorism-threats-indonesia-worry-us-officials.htm



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





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[osint] No Hindu can ever be a terrorist: RSS leader Mangalore,

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/111757/no-hindu-can-ever-terrorist.h\
tml
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/111757/no-hindu-can-ever-terrorist.\
html
No Hindu can ever be a terrorist: RSS leader Mangalore,
November 10, DHNS:


Veteran RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat came down heavily  
on Central   government for using the word 'Hindu terrorism'. He
said that   the coinage has   hurt the Hindu sentiments,
thereby defaming the religion.


Addressing a protest rally organised by RSS Dakshina Kannada
district Unit, opposing the centre's anti-Hindu policy, at
Nehru Maidan on Wednesday, Bhat said that the central
government has been unnecessarily defaming RSS by
calling its activities as `Hindu terrorism'.

No Hindu can ever be a terrorist because there is no reason for
a Hindu to be a terrorist in his own land. Congress party has
coined the term `Hindu terrorism' to lure the
minorities and grab their votes, he said adding that
government has spent Rs 31 crore on Ajmal Kasab and has provided
him a luxurious life inside the jail, while Sadhwi
Prajna Singh who has been put behind the bars has been
ill treated.

The UPA government has been indulging in divide and rule like
the Vritisher's posing a severe threat to the country.

Reservation has been provided to Muslims in each and every
sector. The introduction of 10 per cent reservation for Muslim
youth in Indian army is unfair. This kind of resevation
widen the divide between Hindus and Muslims rather than
uniting them, he said.

Bhat further said that RSS will never allow to build a mosque in
Ayodhya at any cost.
Rajashekharananda Swamiji of Vajradehi Matt said that the
protest has not been organised to manifest the strength and
unity of Hindus.

Litterateur Erya Lakshminarayan Alva said that it is unfortunate
that RSS has been tagged as a terrorist organisation. RSS
never asked for power, but it has always toiled to
strengthen the nation, he said.

Thousands of RSS workers and members of other Hindu
organisations took part in the protest.

The partcipants shouted out slogans on various issues including
Jammu and Kashmir autonomy, death sentence to Ajmal Kasab,
conversion and terror attacks. It was decided to hand
over a 23 point letter to the Deputy Commissioner, which would
be forwarded to the Prime Minister.


 
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/111757/no-hindu-can-ever-terrorist.\
html



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[osint] NJ Transit to offer terrorism awareness training

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.northjersey.com/news/111010_NJ_Transit_to_offer_terrorism_awa\
reness_training.html
http://www.northjersey.com/news/111010_NJ_Transit_to_offer_terrorism_aw\
areness_training.html
NJ Transit to offer terrorism awareness training

Wednesday,   November 10, 2010

The Record

THE   ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEWARK — About 9,500 NJ Transit workers will soon
receive terrorism awareness training.

The program is funded with a $9 million grant from the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security's Transit Security Grant
Program.

NJ Transit says the training is designed to teach frontline
employees how to quickly recognize potential high-risk
individuals through observation and assessment of
their behavior.

NJ Transit is the third largest transit system in the country,
providing more than 895,000 weekday trips on 240 bus routes,
three light rail lines and 12 commuter rail lines.

NEWARK   — About 9,500 NJ Transit workers   will
soon receive terrorism awareness training.

The program is funded with a $9   million grant from the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security's   Transit Security  
Grant Program.

NJ Transit says the training is   designed to teach frontline
employees how to quickly recognize   potential  
high-risk individuals through observation and assessment of  
their   behavior.

NJ Transit is the third largest   transit system in the country,
providing more than 895,000   weekday trips on 240   bus
routes, three light rail lines and 12 commuter rail lines.


 
http://www.northjersey.com/news/111010_NJ_Transit_to_offer_terrorism_aw\
areness_training.html









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[osint] FBI: Al-Qaeda's Yemen group not behind Dubai crash

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831

  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3982795,00.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3982795,00.html
FBI:   Al-Qaeda's Yemen   group not behind Dubai
crash
Published: 11.10.10, 19:24   / Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3082,00.html

The   FBI and Homeland Security say al-Qaeda's affiliate
in Yemen was not behind the   Sept. 3 crash of a UPS cargo plane
in Dubai.

The   militant group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula  
claimed responsibility for that crash last week along with  
taking the responsibility   for the recent mail bomb plots. The
FBI and Homeland Security   say they do   believe the
group is responsible for the mail bomb plot, but   add that the
group   falsely took credit for the Dubai   crash to
bolster its image, according to an internal bulletin   obtained
by The   Associated Press. (AP)


  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3982795,00.html



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[osint] Denmark to look into rumours of espionage

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://jp.dk/uknews/article2242017.ece
http://jp.dk/uknews/article2242017.ece   Denmark to look
into rumours of espionage
Published 10.11.10   17:12

Justice Minister sceptical about   the accusations  
Danish authorities have called for an investigation into  
whether espionage has   been taking place on Danish soil, in
response to accusations   of US spying in Norway and Sweden.
I have asked the Danish   Security...

Danish authorities have called for an investigation into whether
espionage has been taking place on Danish soil, in
response to accusations of US spying in Norway and Sweden.
I have asked the Danish Security and Intelligence Service
[PET] to ensure that no such activities have taken place
here, Justice Minister Lars Barfoed told Berlingske Tidende
newspaper.

Barfoed clarified that he did not believe Americans have
been engaging in illegal activities, but that an investigation
is a necessary response to the rumours.

I have no reason to believe that Americans are not
complying with Danish regulations. Of course they are. It would
be entirely unacceptable for a country represented here to
violate Danish laws. Of course, if they were breaking
the rules, we would have to take serious action. But I am
sure that the Americans, and others for that matter, are not
doing so.


  http://jp.dk/uknews/article2242017.ece



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[osint] No charges for destroying CIA interrogation videos

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=23588
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=23588
No   charges for destroying CIA interrogation videos

By The Associated Press
11.10.10

WASHINGTON — A special prosecutor cleared the CIA's former
top clandestine officer and others yesterday of any charges for
destroying agency videotapes showing waterboarding of terror
suspects, but he continued to investigate whether the harsh
questioning went beyond legal boundaries.

The decision not to prosecute anyone in the destruction of the
videotapes came five years to the day after the CIA
destroyed its cache of 92 videos of two al-Qaida operatives,
Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Nashiri, being subjected to
waterboarding, which evokes the sensation of drowning. The
deadline for prosecuting someone under most federal laws
is five years.

The part of the nearly 3-year-old criminal investigation that
examines whether U.S. interrogators went beyond the legal
guidance given them on the rough treatment of suspects
will continue, a Justice Department official said. The
Associated Press reported that the official spoke on condition
of anonymity because that part of the probe is still
under way.

CIA Director Leon Panetta said the agency welcomed the decision
and that we will continue, of course, to cooperate with
the Department of Justice on any other aspects of the
former program that it reviews.

Jose Rodriguez, who was the CIA's top clandestine officer when
the tapes were destroyed, worried that the videos would
be devastating to the agency if they ever surfaced and
approved their destruction. Rodriguez's order was at odds with
years of directives from CIA lawyers and the White House.

Rodriguez's lawyer, Robert Bennett, said the department made
the right decision because of the facts and the law
and called his client a true patriot who only wanted to
protect his people and his country.

In January 2008, President George W. Bush's last attorney
general, Michael Mukasey, appointed Assistant U.S.
Attorney John Durham as a special prosecutor to investigate the
videotape destruction. Later, President Barack Obama's attorney
general, Eric Holder, added the inquiry into the conduct of the
harsh questioning.

A team of prosecutors and FBI agents led by Durham has
conducted an exhaustive investigation into the matter, said
Matthew Miller, chief Justice Department spokesman.

As a result of that investigation, Mr. Durham has concluded
that he will not pursue criminal charges for the
destruction of the interrogation videotapes, Miller said.

The department's carefully phrased announcement did not rule out
the possibility of charging someone with lying to
investigators looking into the tape destruction.

Separately, the Justice Department advised the House and Senate
judiciary committees that it had reviewed newly found
e-mails sent by Bush administration lawyer John Yoo and
stands by a conclusion that Yoo did not commit professional
misconduct in authorizing CIA interrogators to use waterboarding
and other harsh tactics. The department's letter to the
committees, obtained yesterday by the Associated Press,
stood by the earlier finding that Yoo had merely exhibited poor
judgment.

CIA officers began the videotaping to show that Zubaydah was
brought to a secret CIA prison in Thailand already wounded from
a firefight and to prove that interrogators followed broad rules
Washington had laid out.

Almost as soon as taping began, top officials at agency
headquarters in Langley, Va., began discussing whether to
destroy the tapes, according to current and former U.S.
officials and others close to the investigation.

Dozens of CIA officers and contractors cycled in and out of
Thailand to help with the questioning. If those videos ever
surfaced, officials feared, nearly all those people
could be identified.

During the investigation, agency lawyers were forced to turn
over long lists of documents, including classified
cables from around the world. Former CIA Director Porter
Goss was summoned before a grand jury, as were the agency's
former top lawyer, John Rizzo, and its current station chief in
London.

Despite standing orders from the Bush White House not to destroy
the tapes without checking 

[osint] DOJ: Lawyer's recovered e-mails show no misconduct

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_justice_lawyer_\
interrogations
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_justice_lawyer\
_interrogations   DOJ: Lawyer's recovered e-mails show no
misconduct
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Pete Yost, Associated Press
– Tue Nov 9,   6:30 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The Justice   Department
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_justice_lawyer\
_interrogations  reviewed newly found e-mails sent by a
Bush administration lawyer and stands by a conclusion that
the attorney did not commit professional misconduct in
authorizing CIA interrogators to use waterboarding and other
harsh tactics, a department letter shows.

The review of the additional e-mails did not alter the
earlier assessment that the lawyer, John   Yoo
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_justice_lawyer\
_interrogations , merely had exhibited poor judgment,
according to the letter to the House and Senate judiciary
committees. The letter was obtained by The Associated Press on
Tuesday.

The content of the newly found e-mails was not described
in the letter. Department officials, however, briefed
congressional staffers on the matter last Friday after making
the recovered e-mails available to the two congressional
committees for review, the letter said.

The issue of Yoo and missing e-mails arose in one of the
major lingering investigations into the counterterrorism  
policies
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_justice_lawyer\
_interrogations  of former President George W. Bush's
administration.

Liberal Democrats had pressed for action against the
former Justice Department lawyers who wrote the so-called
torture memos — Yoo and Jay Bybee.

An initial examination by the Justice Department's
Office of Professional Responsibility found that Bybee, now a federal
appellate judge
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_justice_lawyer\
_interrogations , and Yoo, now a law professor, had committed
professional misconduct. However, the Justice
Department's top career lawyer reviewed the matter and
disagreed.

In its report released in January, OPR investigators
said they were told that most of Yoo's e-mail records had been
deleted and were not recoverable, nor were some of the e-mail
records of another lawyer in Yoo's office, Patrick
Philbin.

The department has conducted a review regarding e-mails
of Yoo and Philbin that were not available to OPR during its
investigation, the department's letter to Capitol  
Hill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_justice_lawyer\
_interrogations  said. Nothing in the e-mails changes
the conclusion about Yoo and Bybee, who also was found
by top career lawyer David Margolis to have exhibited poor
judgment but not to have committed professional misconduct.

The former president's new memoir, Decision Points,
recalls his attitude toward harsh   interrogation techniques
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_justice_lawyer\
_interrogations .

When the CIA asked whether it could subject professed
9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to waterboarding, which
evokes the sensation of downing, Bush's response was, Damn
right, according to the memoir.

The president added that the CIA interrogation program
saved lives.


 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_justice_lawyer\
_interrogations





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intelligence related issues, 

[osint] French security arrests 5 terrorism suspects

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1597720.php/F\
rench-security-arrests-5-terrorism-suspects
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1597720.php/\
French-security-arrests-5-terrorism-suspects   French security
arrests 5 terrorism suspects
Nov 9, 2010, 14:53 GMT

Paris - French officials Tuesday confirmed media reports that
security officers had arrested five people on terrorism
suspicions.

The officials confirmed a report by the broadcaster RTL
in which the suspects were believed to have originated with
terrorist cells in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

Two of the suspects were seized at Charles de Gaulle
airport on Monday after their arrival on a flight from Egypt.

The other three were arrested Tuesday morning in Paris within
the framework of an investigation of terrorism cases being
carried out by a court. Specific information about the
allegations were not given.

But according to RTL, some of the suspects were under
suspicion of having made threats against Dalil Boubakeur, the
rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris who is regarded as a
moderate.

Amid heightened anti-terrorism measures, French
authorities have by government accounts arrested more than 80
terror suspects since January. Of these, some two dozen
remain in custody.




 
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1597720.php/\
French-security-arrests-5-terrorism-suspects





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[osint] NSA Says Its Secure Dev Methods Are Publicly Known

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/10/214256/NSA-Says-Its-Secure-Dev-Me\
thods-Are-Publicly-Known?from=rss
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/10/214256/NSA-Says-Its-Secure-Dev-M\
ethods-Are-Publicly-Known?from=rss
NSA Says Its Secure Dev Methods Are Publicly Known
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/10/214256/NSA-Says-Its-Secure-Dev-M\
ethods-Are-Publicly-Known

on Wednesday November 10, @04:52PM

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday November 10, @04:52PM
from the nothing-special dept.

government http://yro.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=government

security http://yro.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=security

Trailrunner7 writes Despite its reputation for secrecy and
technical   expertise, the National Security Agency doesn't
have a set of secret coding practices or testing methods
http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/nsa-our-development-methods-are-open-\
now-111010  that magically make their   applications and
systems bulletproof. In fact, one of the   agency's top
technical experts said that virtually all of the methods the  
NSA uses for   development and information assurance are
publicly known.   'Most of what we do   in terms of app
development and assurance is in the open   literature now. Those
things are known publicly now,' Neil Ziring, technical  
director of the NSA's   Information Assurance Directorate, said
in his keynote at the   OWASP AppSec   conference in
Washington   Wednesday. 'It used to be that we had some methods
and   practices that weren't   well-known, but over time
that's changed as industry has   focused more on  
application security.'


 
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/10/214256/NSA-Says-Its-Secure-Dev-M\
ethods-Are-Publicly-Known?from=rss





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[osint] Turkey - Families of slain soldiers link espionage gang to Heron scandal

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-226893-101-families-of-slain-sold\
iers-link-espionage-gang-to-heron-scandal.html
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-226893-101-families-of-slain-sol\
diers-link-espionage-gang-to-heron-scandal.html
Families of slain soldiers link espionage gang
to Heron scandal

The   discovery of a conversation of two military  
officers who in July discussed how to protect PKK terrorists  
has devastated the   families of soldiers killed in terrorist
attacks.

The   families of Turkish soldiers killed in clashes  
with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and their  
lawyers have argued   that if the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had
managed to shed   light on scandalous   phone
conversations between members of the air forces in 2007,   in
which members   discussed how to down Heron unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) to   protect PKK terrorists,   the
prostitution gang within the naval forces would have  
collapsed.

Prosecutors   have recently discovered that the gang was
hoping to extract vital state security information from  
high-ranking officers   and senior bureaucrats through blackmail
to sell to foreign   intelligence   services. According
to new evidence in the investigation, the   gang has  
connections to two military officers who talked about downing  
Herons to protect   PKK militants in 2007.

The   new evidence was found on the computer of Lt. Emrah
Küçükakça during a search of the suspect's house. The document
says the Heron   project should be impeded. In July of this year
a voice   recording that was   picked up by the National
Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T) in   2007 when 13  
soldiers died in a PKK attack on a military outpost in the  
village of Dağlıca   in Hakkari's Yüksekova district
was made public. The phone   conversation was   recorded
only 11 days before that attack. In the conversation,   a member
of the   air forces asks another to down Herons to protect PKK
terrorists. This case of   treason, which is being investigated
separately, will now be   examined along   with the
espionage gang. The prosecutors are now looking into   possible
links   between Küçükakça and Selçuk Çakmaklı,
one of the two officers   in the earlier   wiretapped
conversation that could be identified.

The espionage gang was hoping to extract   vital
information about state security from   high-ranking
officers and senior bureaucrats by   blackmailing them
and to sell the information to   foreign intelligence
services. The gang has   connections to two military
officers who talked about   downing Herons to protect
terrorist PKK members in   2007

Martyrs   and Widows' Association's Ä°zmir branch head
Volkan Kaya said if the Turkish military had initiated an  
investigation into   the Heron scandal in 2007 and found out who
was behind the   phone conversation   in time, then the
espionage gang would not have gained so much   power and would
have eventually collapsed.

The   brother of Selçuk Gürdal, who was killed in the
Dağlıca attack, noted that while he worked to find out what
was behind the   attack, military officers worked to cover up
the issue.   Military authorities   wanted to
silence me due to a speech I delivered on the   anniversary of
the   Dağlıca attack. An investigation was launched
against me, he   recalled.

Lawyer   Sinan Kılıçkaya, head of the Jurists'
Union, said documents   seized from the prostitution gang
are mainly military projects to finish off the terrorist PKK.  
These are among   the most strategic projects of the TSK. A
group within the   armed forces does   not want the PKK
to be finished off. Had [related authorities]   fought the
gangs, then the PKK would not exist today, he added.  
Kılıçkaya also complained   that almost no serious
action was taken against the scandalous   Heron  
conversation between members of the air forces though the  
conversation was   discovered by MÄ°T in 2007. The
result is so evident. If the   PKK is still alive  
today, then that's thanks to a number of people that betrayed
the state, he   stated.
Colonel   confesses to `Heron inaction' in voice
recording
In   the meantime, a voice recording of Col. Ünal Atabay
has shown that the military deliberately did not take action  

[osint] Canada -Top spy bristles at Air India inquiry concerns about lingering problems

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/13--top-spy-bristles-at-a\
ir-india-inquiry-concerns-about-lingering-problems
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/13--top-spy-bristles-at-\
air-india-inquiry-concerns-about-lingering-problems   Top spy
bristles at Air India inquiry concerns about lingering
problems
Published On Wed Nov 10 2010

Jim Bronskill The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—Canada's top spy bristled at a federal
inquiry's finding that the intelligence community is
plagued by lingering co-ordination problems.

In a letter to the public safety minister, Canadian
Security Intelligence Service director Dick Fadden clearly takes
exception to some of former Supreme Court Justice John
Major's conclusions about the 1985 Air India
bombing.

The Canadian Press obtained a declassified version of
the secret June 29 memo from Fadden to Public Safety Minister
Vic Toews under the Access to Information Act.

Though several passages of the memo were withheld from
release, it's evident Fadden did not agree with Major's
conclusion that while co-ordination within the spy community had
improved, central issues remain unresolved.

Major's extensive inquiry report catalogued a litany
of federal failures before and after the terrorist attack, which
killed 329 people, most of them Canadians.

Fadden's letter says, While we believe the findings
of the commission related to the period immediately pre- and
post-1985 are largely legitimate,. . . (the rest of the
sentence was blacked out).

Fadden says things have changed, pointing to better
relations between the RCMP and CSIS, a more mature security
intelligence service, and better training and resources.

Most important, he adds, there is a focus on and
sensitivity to terrorist threats and investigations unparalleled
in history.

The successful criminal prosecution of individuals
engaged in terror-based activities over the past year are an
example of improved co-operation in investigation and
prosecution, and the priority now placed on meeting this
threat.

Liberal public safety critic Mark Holland said Fadden
seems to be very defensive.

And it would appear to me, more interested in
justifying what's going on rather than taking action, Holland
said Wednesday after reading the memo.

He's not acknowledging that there are problems.
He's not acknowledging that changes have to be made or that
problems exist.

There's no doubt that relations between CSIS and the
RCMP have improved since 1985, said lawyer Norm Boxall, who
represented many families who lost loved ones in the bombing.

But that's because the starting point was so low
there was tremendous room for improvement.

In releasing his report last June, Major noted the
federal government had long suggested that whatever weaknesses
existed at the time of the terrorist attack have been fully
recognized, analyzed and fixed.

The commission rejects that position, he told a news
conference. There remains a failure to recognize what went
wrong, why, and what should be done today.

He recommended new powers for the national security
adviser — currently a low-profile official in the Privy Council
Office — to supervise and coordinate intelligence
activities.

The adviser would essentially become a national
intelligence czar, served by a deputy and a staff of
representatives from key security agencies including the RCMP,
CSIS, the Canada Border Services Agency and Foreign
Affairs.

Major also said the current practice of limiting the
information CSIS provides the RCMP — in order to prevent
disclosure in possible criminal proceedings — is misguided
and results in an impoverished response to
terrorist threats.


 
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/13--top-spy-bristles-at-\
air-india-inquiry-concerns-about-lingering-problems





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[osint] Moscow -Secret Services Chiefs Discuss Anti-Terror Cooperation

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=541866
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=541866

Secret Services   Chiefs Discuss Anti-Terror Cooperation

MOSCOW, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- The 29th session of the
Council of the Directors of the Security Services (SORB) of the
Commonwealth of Independent States which opens in Dushanbe on
Monday, will discuss cooperation in fighting terrorism
and trans-national organised crime, Russian news agency,
Itar-Tass, reported.

Representatives of the secret services of Germany, Spain, Italy
and France, as well as the delegations of Russia's foreign
intelligence service and Kazakhstan's foreign
intelligence service (Syrbar) have been invited to attend
the meeting as observers, the press service of Russia's Federal
Security Service (FSB) told Itar-Tass.

The participants plan to work out the measures to step up their
interaction in ensuring the safety of the fuel and energy
sectors of the CIS states, and map out the ways towards
perfecting cooperation in stopping illegal activities in
motor transportation and illegal migration, the press service
said.

Also, they will discuss the improvement of interaction in
protecting personal data and combating cyber crime.

The SORB members will coordinated the list of events of the CIS
Anti-Terrorist Centre planned for 2011. The SORB session will
last until November 10.

-- BERNAMA


  http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=541866



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[osint] Macedonia Refuses to Probe Spy Claims

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-spy-file-rejected
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-spy-file-rejected
10 Nov 2010 / 16:02
Macedonia Refuses to Probe Spy Claims
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-spy-file-rejected
The Lustration Commission, tasked with rooting out
former spies, will not investigate a file naming an ethnic
Albanian leader because it cannot vouch for its authenticity.

Sinisa jakov Marusic

Skopje

The head of the Lustration Commission said they could
not launch a probe into Ali Ahmeti based solely on
photocopies of documents.

Tome Adziev said they could not verify the authenticity of
documents unless they were originals.

The file, codenamed Ibar, is one out of four files that name
high-ranking members of Ahmeti's Democratic Union for
Integration, DUI, as men who formerly cooperated with the secret
service in Belgrade.

The Commission recently rejected two other files, Mama and
Uncle, for the same reason. The forth file, Archer, was rejected
because it named a figure who was not a current
office-holder.

The file naming Ahmeti has raised by far the most controversy in
Macedonia.

The DUI chief gained much of his patriotic image among
ethnic Albanians from the time when he headed an Albanian
guerilla insurgency during the short-lived armed conflict in
Macedonia in 2001.

The file allegedly says that Ahmeti worked for Yugoslav
intelligence in the 1980s and later for Serbian intelligence
during the era of Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s.

The DUI has threatened to sue those behind the allegations,
though it has not said who it believes put the files into the
public domain.

Three of the files were submitted to the Commission in
mid-October by an Albanian university professor from the western
town of Tetovo who claimed he found them in his
backyard.

The forth file, Ibar, appeared later that month in the pages of
the daily newspaper Dnevnik. The newspaper did not reveal its
source while submitting the file to the Commission.


  http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-spy-file-rejected







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[osint] Iran to test own model of S-300 missile

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/DEF_188878.html
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/DEF_188878.html

Iran to   test own model of S-300 missile
Tehran: Wed, 10 Nov 2010




Iran has developed a version of the Russian S-300 missile and
will test-fire it soon, the official news agency IRNA
said, two months after Moscow cancelled a delivery of the
sophisticated system to Tehran to comply with UN sanctions.

The Iranian (version) of the S-300 system is undergoing
field modification and will be test-fired soon, IRNA
quoted Brigadier General Mohammad Hassan Mansourian, a
commander in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, on Wednesday as
saying.

World powers are locked in an eight-year-old stand-off
with Iran over its nuclear energy programme, which they believe
will be used to develop nuclear bombs rather than be
devoted to peaceful generation of electricity, as Tehran
says.

Some Western officials suspect Iran's development of
more sophisticated missiles and some much-publicised missile
tests could serve the goal of developing a deliverable nuclear
weapon.

The Islamic Republic denies such accusations, saying its
missile development efforts are for defensive purposes
only.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev banned the delivery of the
high-precision S-300 air defence system to Iran in September,
scuttling a tentative deal in gestation for years,
saying it would violate expanded UN sanctions imposed in
June over Iran's defiance of demands to curb its nuclear
programme.

Iranian officials said after Russia scrapped the sale that
Tehran had decided to build its own model of the S-300.

Buying S-300 missiles from the Russia was on
the agenda to meet some of the security needs of our country,
said Mansourian. But under the pretext of the (UN Security
Council) resolution and due to American and Zionist
pressure, Russia refused to deliver the defensive
system.

Pieter Wezeman, a researcher on military issues at the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
(SIPRI), said he was sceptical about Iran's ability to build its
own S-300.

Producing such a system is an extremely complex thing
to do. These are advanced systems which only have been produced
by countries with a very extensive, well-functioning arms
industry with a large industrial base, Wezeman told Reuters.

The United States and Israel had urged Moscow to scrap
the deal, fearing Iran could use S-300s to shield nuclear
facilities that they suspect are part of an atomic bomb
programme.

US and Israeli officials have not ruled out a
pre-emptive attack to knock out Iran's nuclear sites if
diplomacy fails. -Reuters


  http://www.tradearabia.com/news/DEF_188878.html







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[osint] N.Korea's Chief Nuke Scientist 'Held for Spying'

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/11/10/2010111000401.ht\
ml
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/11/10/2010111000401.h\
tml   N.Korea's Chief Nuke Scientist 'Held for Spying'
A senior researcher at North Korea's National
Academy of Sciences has been arrested on espionage charges, it
emerged on Tuesday.

A high-level North Korean source quoted rumors that Kim So-in,
who is believed to have been in charge of the North's nuclear
and missile development, and his family were arrested by
the State Security Department and taken to the notorious
Yodok concentration camp in May.

A math prodigy who received his doctorate in his early 20s, Kim
was said by the state media to have been behind the supposed
launch of the North's first satellite -- an event widely
believed to have been a long-range ballistic missile
test.

The source said Kim is accused of assisting his father Kim
Song-il, a researcher at the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex, in
delivering top secret documents on nuclear development
to a foreign agency.

The security department is nervous because many senior officials
in various areas are suspected of attempting to earn dollars by
selling confidential information, with top secret
documents about the regime's nuclear and missile
development being leaked abroad, the source added.

Pak Kyong-chol, an official in the Committee for the Peaceful
Reunification of the Fatherland, has also recently been sent to
a labor camp for spying, and Kim Won-bom, the chief of
the Wonsan office of the North Korean military bureau in
charge of earning hard currency, has been arrested after US$1.5
million was found at his home.

And a senior official at the Kumgang bureau of the Majon Mine
has been taken into custody for stashing away $100,000 after
selling confidential information in conspiracy with
military officers.

Senior officials are trying to sell confidential information
because of economic difficulties since the botched currency
reform late last year and the Chinese government's
recent crackdown on drug and counterfeit dollar
transactions.

The security services have been ordered by regime heir Kim
Jong-un to look out for unusually rich senior officials, the
source added.

englishn...@chosun.com mailto:englishn...@chosun.com  / Nov. 10, 2010
08:53 KST



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[osint] FBI appoints new counterterrorism division chief

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/10/fbi-appoints-new-countert\
errorism-division-chief/
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/10/fbi-appoints-new-counter\
terrorism-division-chief/   FBI appoints new counterterrorism
division chief
By The Associated Press,

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 3:57 p.m.

WASHINGTON — The FBI has appointed an official who once was
the agency's on-scene commander in Afghanistan as the
new assistant director for the counterterrorism division at FBI
headquarters.

Mark F. Giuliano comes to the job after having overseen
all domestic terrorism operations in the United States and
having led a group of FBI personnel who supported U.S. Special
Forces components in Afghanistan.

Giuliano replaces James W. McJunkin, who has been named
assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field
office. The office is one the bureau's largest.

During an FBI career that began in 1987, McJunkin led a
team of FBI personnel with the on-scene investigation of a
terrorist attack against the U.S. consulate in Karachi,
Pakistan.

The Associated Press

 
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/10/fbi-appoints-new-counter\
terrorism-division-chief/   


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[osint] Ilyas Kashmiri one of world's most dangerous men

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Ilyas-Kashmiri-one-of-worlds-mo\
st-dangerous-men/articleshow/6907241.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Ilyas-Kashmiri-one-of-worlds-m\
ost-dangerous-men/articleshow/6907241.cms   Ilyas Kashmiri one of
world's most   dangerous men
IANS,   Nov 11, 2010, 03.14pm IST

WASHINGTON: Counter-terrorism   officials on three continents
consider Ilyas Kashmiri
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Ilyas-Kashmiri , leader of an
anti-India Pakistani terror group, as one of the most  
dangerous men in the   world, according to CNN. Kashmiri
considers India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/India  his
number one enemy. His   group   was thought responsible
for the bombing of a bakery popular   with foreigners in
Pune in 2009. But there is plenty of evidence he has ambitions  
beyond South Asia http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/South-Asia
, the US TV channel said.

He has one eye, a thick beard streaked with henna and has  
lost a finger. He   wears thick aviator-style dark glasses, it
said Wednesday   citing sources.   There are very few
photographs of 40-something.

As commander of Brigade 313, part of Harakat-ul-Jihad-Islami
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Harakat-ul-Jihad-Isla\
mi  (Movement for an   Islamic Holy War), he formed a close
relationship with al-Qaida
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=al-Qaida  in the
wild frontier   territory of Pakistan.

Now intelligence sources on both sides of the Atlantic believe  
Kashmiri is   trying to get teams into Europe
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Europe  that would launch
coordinated Mumbai-style attacks in several cities, CNN
said.

There are plenty of foreign fighters in the Pakistani tribal
territories -- as many as 10,000 according to a Pakistani
military commander.

One of them, Ahmed Sidiqi
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Ahmed-Sidiqi , was detained
in Kabul http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Kabul  last July and
interrogated by US forces at the Bagram Airfield. According to  
European   counter-terrorism sources cited by CNN, Sidiqi said
he had met   Kashmiri, though   there is no confirmation
that he did.

Another man alleged to have sought out Kashmiri is Chicago
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Chicago  taxi driver Raja
Lahrasib Khan, who travelled to Pakistan
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Pakistan  in 2008 and 2009,
CNN   said. He was   arrested this year in the United
States http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/United-States  and
charged with   attempting   to provide support to
al-Qaida.

Intelligence officials cited by CNN say that besides being an  
experienced   operator, Kashmiri has also managed to navigate
the often   perilous waters of   jihadist rivalries,
attracting members of other Pakistani   groups to his  
313 Brigade and retaining a measure of autonomy despite  
pledging   allegiance to al-Qaida.

If Osama bin Laden is al-Qaida's spiritual leader and  
Egyptian   cleric Ayman al Zawahiri its philosopher, Kashmiri is
the   organization's   military brain, they say.

As one US   official cited by CNN put it recently, Kashmiri is
the key   ingredient in   the bad stew of senior
terrorists who are planning operations   in the region and
beyond.






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[osint] Sunnis miss out again in new Iraqi government

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/10/kurdish-leader-deal-new-iraq-gov\
ernment-sealed/
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/10/kurdish-leader-deal-new-iraq-go\
vernment-sealed/   Sunnis miss out again in new Iraqi
government
Published November 10, 2010

| Associated   Press

BAGHDAD –  The deal on a new Iraqi government appears to
sideline the country's Sunni minority yet again while
returning Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to power.

The deal confirmed early Thursday by Massoud Barzani,
president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, was hammered out
after eight months of political deadlock following
inconclusive elections on March 7.

A Sunni-backed coalition led by former Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi won the most seats in the vote, but Allawi missed
out on bids for both the prime minister job and the presidency.

Barzani confirmed the Kurds, the bloc that came in
fourth place in the election, will retain the presidency — the
second highest position in Iraq's political structure.

Al-Maliki, whose Shiite bloc was second behind Allawi's
Iraqiya, aligned months ago with a large Shiite bloc led by
anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Together, the coalition
brought them close to a majority in the 325-seat parliament and
all but ensured that Iraq's government for the next four years
would continue to be dominated by conservative Shiite parties
close to Iran, much like the outgoing regime.

The deal reached late Wednesday reflects a significant victory
for neighboring Iran, which had pushed for al-Maliki's return.

One of the biggest concerns in the haggling over a new
government was that the Sunnis could be politically sidelined
again, fueling the sectarian tensions that underlie much of the
violence in Iraq. The outlines of the new government
certainly keep those concerns alive.

The lack of significant roles for Allawi's Sunni-backed
coalition casts doubt on whether members the Sunni population
will support the new government.

The minority Sunnis dominated Iraq's government under Saddam
Hussein, but after he was ousted in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion
of Iraq, Shiites took power. Alongside a Sunni
insurgency against the government and the foreign forces, years
of Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence ensued and brought the
country to the brink of civil war.

Barzani said Allawi will be in charge of a new council
with authority over security.

But a key question going forward will be how much
authority the yet-to-be-created council will actually have and
whether al-Maliki will try to sideline it in an attempt to keep
power until himself. Iraqiya has tried to make sure the
council position has real teeth, but that remains to be
seen.

Iraqiya also won control of the parliament speaker
position, the third most important job in Iraqi politics.

But the unwieldy nature of the deal, which includes
roles for all the blocs, seems to guarantee more political
gridlock in the future.

Barzani, whose Kurdish politicians won a significant
victory by retaining the presidency, called the deal fair to all
blocs.

We cannot expect that any block gets everything, he
said.


 
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/10/kurdish-leader-deal-new-iraq-go\
vernment-sealed/



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[osint] Two get 10-yr RI for plan to bomb city

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Two-get-10-yr-RI-for-plan-\
to-bomb-city-/articleshow/6904170.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Two-get-10-yr-RI-for-plan\
-to-bomb-city-/articleshow/6904170.cms   Two get 10-yr RI for plan
to bomb city
TNN,   Nov 11, 2010, 04.05am IST

NEW DELHI: Two Kashmiri men, alleged to be Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Lashkar-e-Toiba%20ter\
rorists , were on Wednesday sentenced to 10 years rigorous
imprisonment by a trial court for carrying
explosives in battery-operated toys to trigger blasts on the
eve of New Year in 2007 in the national capital and for
facilitating terrorist activities.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma imposed a fine of
Rs 1.5 lakh each on Shamiullah Sheikh (23) and Ali Mohd
Sheikh (38) both brothers besides the jail term.

The court held them guilty under various provisions of the Explosive
Substances Act
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Explosive%20Substance\
s%20Act , the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Unlawful%20Activities\
%20Prevention%20Act  and IPC. The prosecution, however,
could not prove the charges of waging war against the
country and that of being the member of banned terrorist
organisation LeT.

Convicts have been found in possession of IED. The
prosecution has been able to prove that the convicts were
carrying explosives in battery-operated toys
with detonators and dry cells... The convicts were nabbed
before they could drop the IED at some vantage point in
densely-populated areas,'' the court noted.

In its judgment, the court pointed out that the prosecution
has proved that the convicts were out to carry out blasts in
the capital on the New Year's day. The
prosecution has been able to probe that the convicts were
acting in pursuance of a criminal conspiracy so as to cause
bomb blasts,'' the court said.

During the arguments on sentence, defence counsel M S Khan
sought leniency for the convicts on the ground that they had
been in jail for four years and their father had
been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir as he did not
support them. Public Prosecutor Neelam Narang, on her part,
sought severe punishment for the convicts saying
that they were involved in terrorist activities and deserved
no leniency.

According to the prosecution, a team of special cell
officers of Delhi Police led by inspector M C Sharma had
apprehended the convicts from New Delhi Railway Station
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=New%20Delhi%20Railway\
%20Station  on December 31,   2006, on a tip off received
by then assistant commissioner   of police Sanjeev
Yadav.

The police arrested them after they alighted from Andaman  
Express train and   recovered the explosives carried in toys
from Kashmir.   The duo hailed from Baramullah in Jammu and
Kashmir.





 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Two-get-10-yr-RI-for-plan\
-to-bomb-city-/articleshow/6904170.cms



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For more information go to:

[osint] Suspects held in French raids 'plotted terror attack'

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11733634
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11733634
11   November 2010 Last updated at 10:23 GMT
Suspects held in French raids 'plotted terror attack'
Mr Hortefeux was inspecting security forces on patrol in Paris

Continue reading the main story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11733634#story_continues_1

Five suspects arrested in and around Paris were
French Islamists planning a terror attack, French Interior
Minister Brice Hortefeux has said.

The five were detained on suspicion of having trained as
militants in the Afghan-Pakistan border region, security sources
said at the time.

But Mr Hortefeux said only one of the five had visited
Afghanistan while others had planned to go to Pakistan.

One of the four men and one woman had been ready to die,
he added.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden warned France last month that
its planned ban on the Islamic full-face veil in public places
and its involvement in the war in Afghanistan justified
attacks on its nationals.

Mr Hortefeux said then that the country faced a real
terror threat and he urged total vigilance.

'Jihadi sites'

The five suspects are all French nationals, some of them
of Algerian origin, and clearly belong to the radical Islamist
movement, the minister told reporters.

What we can say is that, over the last few days with
these arrests... there was what we call a conspiracy to prepare
a terror attack, he said on a visit to police and soldiers at
Montparnasse railway station in Paris.

The suspect who visited Afghanistan was unquestionably
very familiar with jihadi internet sites, according to the
minister.

Mr Hortefeux went on to say that one of the suspects had
been involved in an alleged plan to murder the head of the grand
mosque in Paris, Dalil Boubakeur.

The alleged plot to kill Mr Boubakeur was taken all the
more seriously because a wave of terror attacks on France in
1995 began with the killing of an imam, the minister said.

'Permanent threat'

Mr Boubakeur has been under police protection since
death threats against him were reported in September.

Eight people were killed and more than 100 wounded in
the attacks, which were organised by Algerian Islamist
militants.

Alain Chouet, former chief of France's DGSE foreign intelligence
service, said France faced a real and permanent
threat.

When we have five million Muslims in the country... if
we have one in 10,000 that decides to turn to violence, that
makes for a healthy reservoir, he was quoted as saying by
Reuters news agency.


  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11733634





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[osint] Taliban Seek A Way Out

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/2010.aspx
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/2010.aspx  
Taliban Seek A Way Out
November   11, 2010: The Taliban have been around for nearly two
decades,   and have become   quite corrupt. This is a
quite common progression for fanatic   organizations.  
The religious angle provides a powerful, and culturally  
respected, tool for   terrorizing those who would not do as they
are told. Like   other successful   organized crime
organizations, the Taliban have their internal   squabbles, but
still maintain an overall public image and public relations  
effort. While in   the early 1990s most Taliban were out to
bring (Islamic) law   and order to a   chaotic
Afghanistan   (then in its second decade of war), it's all about
money now.   The few real   religious zealots left in
their ranks are tolerated and   ignored. If these  
fanatics interfere with money making activities, they die.

Opium has made some Afghans very   rich, but 90 percent
of the population are either nor part of the drug culture, or  
are victims of   it. For every Afghan that is producing drugs,
or carrying a   gun to protect that   production,
another Afghans is an addict. These addicts beat   their wives
and   children, killing people while stealing to buy more drugs
and   cause more grief   and mayhem than the average
Taliban gunman. Most Afghans are   very   anti-drug.
This is bad for the Taliban, which cannot exist   without the
drug   money.

In terms of popularity, the   Taliban have been on a  
downward spiral since the late 1990s. While they were  
initially hailed for   ending (for the most part) the civil war
that followed the   Russian pullout, the   civil war
only ended in the south, among the Pushtun factions.   The
non-Pushtun   tribes in the north never surrendered. There's
little Taliban   violence in the   north, and what is
usually reported as Taliban activity in the   north is drug
related. But since the Taliban have maintained some unity,  
there is general   enthusiasm for making some kind of peace deal
with the   government. This is the   traditional Afghan
way. If some group is organized and has a   lot of weapons,
you try to negotiate. The Taliban have already demonstrated a  
willingness to   make this work, by offering to sever all ties
with al Qaeda   and similar groups.   Their puritanical
lifestyle police attitudes are already   collapsing under the
weight of all that money and the consumer goods it buys. That,  
and factionalism   has given the Taliban leadership more
headaches than all the   foreign troops and   Afghan
security forces. The Taliban are also looking for a way   out.

Most Afghans are concerned about   the economy  
(especially unemployment) and corruption, but the biggest  
problem is seen as   the tribal violence. This mayhem is a part
of Afghan culture,   but it has been   out-of-control
since the late 1970s and most Afghans just want   it to stop.
Then   there's the cultural mayhem. Since the 1970s, millions of
Afghan have been   exposed to a rapidly changing modern world.
The medieval   Afghan culture (at   least outside the
cities) was not prepared for this. But   things like TV, cell
phones, education for girls (and in general) and modern  
medicine have had a   tremendous impact on traditional Afghan
culture. The Taliban   represent   opposition to the
modern world, and that's a battle no one has   ever won. Most
of Afghanistan has been enjoying peace, and growing  
prosperity. Because of   modern communications, news of this has
spread to the areas   where violence is   still raging.
The people there (mostly in the south) are not   happy with
their   situation. Most of the Afghan refugees caught, around
the   world, trying to get   into Western countries, are
Pushtuns from southern   Afghanistan. Those left  
behind want help.

The Taliban organization is   divided on how to deal  
with their inability to defeat, or even hurt much, the foreign  
troops. NATO   forces are increasingly going after drug
production,   especially the labs that   refine the
opium down into heroin and morphine. This hits the   Taliban
right in   the wallet. Without all that drug money, the Taliban
becomes 

[osint] NYPD counter-terrorism department describes Awlaki as 'most dangerous man in wor

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831

http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-81319.html
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-81319.html
NYPD counter-terrorism department describes Awlaki as
'most dangerous man in world'
Washington, Nov. 11 : Yemen-based   American-born Al-Qaeda
suspect Anwar Al Awlaki   has been described as 'the most
dangerous man in the world' by   an intelligence  
research specialist attached with the New York Police Department's
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-81319.html 
counter-terrorism division.

According to Fox News, this assessment is based on
Awlaki's longstanding links to terrorism, his proven track
record of radicalizing Muslims, his suspected involvement in
planning and encouraging attacks such as 9/11, the 7/7 and 7/21
transatlantic plots, the Fort Hood shooter, the Times
Square attempted bomber, the underwear bomber and more.

His ongoing propaganda campaign thru DVD's , web postings and
the online magazine Inspire is also being cited as a factor
for this identity.

The NYPD presentation in Saudi Arabia was one of many regular
briefs with private security
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-81319.html  officials who
are members of the SHIELD program, considered a force
multiplier by NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Kelly has described the 7000 SHIELD participants as extra eyes
and ears for police, an important part of the protection
protocol involving large offices and corporations across the
city where the department can quickly spread the word
about watches, alerts and potential threats including mail bombs
and suspicious packages.

--ANI









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[osint] Better technology is vital in fight against terrorism

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_16577629
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_16577629   Better technology
is vital in fight   against terrorism
New   airline screening machines boost security, but better
technology is coming and   should decrease inconveniences.

By   The Denver Post

Posted: 11/11/2010   01:00:00 AM MST

It's   easy to empathize with airline pilots who are balking at
airport security rules   that require full body scans or
invasive body pat- downs. Who   among us relishes   such
an intrusion?

But pilots know better than most just how   important it is for
security measures to keep up with the   newest plots that
terrorists are hatching to wreak havoc on the world.

We all know the drill: Take off your   shoes, severely limit the
liquid you carry on a plane and now   submit to a scan  
or search that leaves little modesty intact. These are  
intrusive measures and   we hope they're not forever a part of
our travel routine. But   unfortunately,   for now,
times like these require such drastic steps and   pilots ought
to go   through screenings, just like the rest of us.

We are not persuaded by the argument that   pilots don't need
explosives to cause a disaster because they   could simply fly
a plane into the ground. They'd have to fight a co- pilot to  
do so, and   skipping screenings would leave them more capable
of carrying   deadly devices or   substances that a
co-pilot might not have a chance of   combating.

Ideally, better technology will end these   security nuisances.

Janet Napolitano, secretary of the   Department of Homeland
Security, recently visited with The   Post's editorial  
board and told us she knows full well the irritation  
experienced by air   travelers who have grown weary of the
battery of security   measures.

She said technologies are being developed   — but have yet
to be perfected — that would enable travelers   to go
through   security with shoes on while carrying greater amounts
of   liquid than currently   allowed.

Such advances would be a relief.

Technology is a vital part of fighting   terrorism. A recently
deployed tool — the one causing the   controversy — is
called Advanced Imaging Technology, or AIT. It's the most  
effective technology   the government has for detecting small,
dangerous items, such   as explosives,   that could be
concealed on passengers' bodies.

These scanners deliver a very low dose of   radiation to the
person being screened. The U.S. Food and Drug   Administration
has issued an advisory saying the amount of radiation is so  
low, there is no   need to limit the number of screenings a
person can undergo in   a year.

The Transportation Security Administration   has deployed more
than 300 AIT machines at 65 airports   nationwide. The goal is
to have 1,000 of them in operation by the end of 2011. A USA  
Today/Gallup poll   conducted earlier this year found 78 percent
of respondents   said they approved   of using the
machines.

However, since then fears have been stoked   by scientists who
have raised questions about radiation   exposure, saying people
have different sensitivities, especially children and  
developing embryos.

These are legitimate questions that the   Obama administration
needs to address quickly and fully while   working to end
these tedious measures.










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[osint] Afghanistan military secrets sold for £18.87 on eBay after army officer dumped l

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328667/Afghanistan-military-sec\
rets-sold-eBay-army-officer-dumped-laptop.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328667/Afghanistan-military-se\
crets-sold-eBay-army-officer-dumped-laptop.html   Afghanistan
military secrets sold for £18.87 on eBay after army
officer dumped laptop in a skip
By Daily Mail Reporter
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=yauthornamef=Daily+Mail+\
Reporter
Last updated at 10:19 AM on 11th November 2010

Security breach: Captain Robert Sugden, whose laptop was
found in a skip and sold, pictured with wife Amy

An Oxford-educated army officer's laptop containing
military secrets was sold on the internet for £18.87 after he
threw it in a skip.

Captain Robert Sugden, 29, was today being investigated
by MoD chiefs after the security breach which risked the lives
of soldiers in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan veteran's scavenged computer, sold
on eBay for `spares or repair', could have been used to
deadly effect by the Taliban.

Files – none of which required passwords -  included
troop numbers, patrol details, ammunition stock lists and
locations of every police command post in a Helmand town.

The shocked buyer, who handed the laptop to the MoD,
also found it contained hundreds of photos, along with names and
other details, of locals risking their lives by joined the
Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army.

Also stored on the Toshiba Satellite A30 laptop was a
copy of the Afghan National Police's tactical handbook,
giving details of every aspect of how to take on and defeat the
enemy, including how to identify IED roadside bombs.

The computer was used by Sandhurst-trained Cpt Sugden
during seven months with the Coldstream Guards in Afghanistan.

After handing it over to the MoD, the IT engineer who
made the winning bid on the internet auction site told The Sun:
`I couldn't believe it - the laptop could have been bought
by anyone.

`I realised straight away it wasn't the kind of
stuff that should have been for sale on eBay. I contacted the
seller to ask if he wanted a copy of the data - but he said
no.'

Cpt Sugden - married to barrister Amy, 27, and
originally from Tanzania - is so highly thought of he was
appointed assistant Queen's Equerry after his Afghanistan
tour.

His year in the plum role, seen as a stepping stone to
higher things, ended only last month.

The officer, an anti-tank platoon commander in
Afghanistan, told top brass he thought the laptop's hard drive
had been wiped when he dumped it.

As a further precaution, he used a hammer to wreck the
machine.

But once the IT expert who purchased the machine opened
it up, he discovered the hard drive intact and found details
that could have highly valuable for terrorists.

Many documents were classed as secret or restricted.

The locations of police command posts was even
conveniently filed under the heading `Nato Secret'.

Referring to one of the bases, the report states:
`Many police asleep or high on heroin'.

Other documents detail corruption in the Afghan police
and among local leaders.

One secret file on `key personalities' details
14 senior figures in the Helmand town of Gereshk.

The damning verdict on one is: `Skims money off
reconstruction funds for personal gain, and has connections with
narcotics trade.'

Another document includes detailed backgrounds and
pictures of the chiefs of police in Helmand.

An MoD spokesman told Mail Online: `We take
information security extremely seriously. We are now in
possession of the laptop and are investigating the
incident.'






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[osint] Saudi Arabia on alert for al-Qaeda attack

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/saudi-arabia-on-ale\
rt-for-alqaeda-attack-2010-17paw.html
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/saudi-arabia-on-al\
ert-for-alqaeda-attack-2010-17paw.html   Saudi Arabia
on alert for al-Qaeda attack
November 11, 2010 - 7:14PM

Jihad and International Security It deserves a wide
readership

AP

The Interior Minister says Saudi Arabia is on alert for a
possible al-Qaeda attack next week during hajj, the annual
Islamic pilgrimage that draws millions of worshippers to
the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Prince Nayef did not mention any specific threat or intelligence
on an attack. But when he was asked at a news conference about
the possibility of an al-Qaeda strike during the hajj, he said:
We don't rule out any possibility of something that
disturbs the security of the pilgrims.

The hajj begins on November 15 and lasts for several
days.

Saudi Arabia gave the West key intelligence on two mail bombs
recently intercepted after they were sent on planes from
neighbouring Yemen. Al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed
responsibility.

© 2010 AP
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/action/displayCopyrightNotice?sourceOr\
ganisation=AP



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[osint] Kurdish Leader: Deal On New Iraq Government Sealed

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131226064
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131226064  
Kurdish Leader: Deal On New Iraq Government Sealed
by The Associated Press

November 11,   2010

The Kurdish regional president confirms that Iraqi
politicians have agreed on a new government that returns Nouri
al-Maliki to power and allows the Kurds to maintain the
presidency.

Massoud Barzani calls the deal fair to all blocs.

Speaking to reporters in Baghdad on Thursday, he confirmed the
broad outlines of a tentative deal hammered out Wednesday night.
He said former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, the head of a
Sunni-backed bloc that had been opposed to al-Maliki,
would be in charge of a new council with authority over
security.

Allawi's Iraqiya bloc had been pushing for the council
to have substantial powers but it's not yet clear whether they
were successful. Iraqiya also got the job of parliament speaker.

The deal breaks an eight-month impasse that paralyzed
the government, encouraged insurgent attacks and rattled
potential foreign investors. The Sunni-backed secular coalition,
which had vehemently opposed al-Maliki, finally resigned
itself to serving in his government along with the other
main political groups.

Finally, fortunately, it's done. It's finished. All the
groups are in it, said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman, who
took part in the nearly seven hours of negotiations Wednesday
following talks the previous two days.

The deal involves concessions to both the Kurds and to
Iraqiya. U.S. officials have worried that a government without
the backing of minority Sunnis could spell a return to
sectarian warfare.

The White House welcomed the development.

The apparent agreement to form an inclusive government
is a big step forward for Iraq, said Tony Blinken, national
security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, the
administration's point man for Iraq. All along we've said the
best result would be a government that reflects the
results of the elections, includes all the major blocs
representing Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups, and that does
not exclude or marginalize anyone.

But the return of al-Maliki to the premier's post
underscores Iran's rising influence in Iraq at a time
when American forces are leaving. It was Iran that engineered
al-Maliki's recent endorsement by anti-American cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr, who controls 40 seats in the new parliament.
The two men, fellow Shiites, had been enemies in the
past.

It was unclear what role al-Sadr and his hard-line
Shiite faction might play in a new government — and whether
al-Maliki's partnership with the Sadrists could derail
pro-Western security and commercial policies.

One of the leaders of the Iraqiya coalition, Saleh
al-Mutlaq, blamed Iran for al-Maliki's likely return to office.

The pressure of Iran was too much, he said.

Lawmakers familiar with the negotiations described the
general outlines of Wednesday's deal as follows: Allawi's bloc
will choose the parliament speaker. It was not known who that
would be, but their pick was expected to be ratified
when lawmakers meet Thursday for only the second time
since the March 7 election.

The government will also create a new council with
authority over security issues. That is intended as a concession
to Allawi's coalition, which has pushed heavily for ways to
reduce al-Maliki's power in exchange for offering its
support. But details apparently still need to be worked
out, and it was not immediately clear that Iraqiya would end up
controlling the council or that it will have real authority.

Allawi's bloc also won a concession to end the so-called
de-Baathification law in two years, according to the Iraqiya
official. The law regulates efforts to purge members of Saddam
Hussein's former regime from government jobs. Sunnis detest the
law because they consider it a thinly veiled attempt to
keep them from power.

It was uncertain what role, if any, Allawi himself would
play in the government. Othman said Allawi had signed off on the
deal. The Kurds, who have played the role of king-maker in Iraqi
politics since the fall of Saddam, were granted their
demand that President 

[osint] 10th Mountain Aviation Takes over Afghan Skies

2010-11-11 Thread gwen831
http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2010/11/10th-mountain-aviation-t\
akes-over-afghan-skies.html
http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2010/11/10th-mountain-aviation-\
takes-over-afghan-skies.html   Thursday, November 11, 2010
10th Mountain Aviation Takes over Afghan Skies
From one Falcon to another; 10th CAB takes control of RC-East
aviation 
http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/.a/6a00e551d9d3fd8833013488df6894970\
c-popup operations

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – After several weeks of
gradually taking over aviation missions in Regional Command
– East, the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Falcon,
officially replaced the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, also known
as TF Falcon, in a transfer of authority ceremony Nov. 10 at the
Combined Joint Task Force - 101 Headquarters here.

The 3rd CAB deployed to RC-East in support of Operation Enduring
Freedom in November 2009. During their 12-month deployment, the
3rd CAB provided direct and general support aviation
operations to RC-East and RC-Capital. They also provided
humanitarian assistance to Afghan and Pakistani citizens
affected by an avalanche an earthquake and devastating floods.
Following the ceremony, the brigade's soldiers left to
their home station of Hunter Army Air Field, Ga.

It has   been an honor to command TF Falcon in combat,
said U.S. Army   Col. Donald   Galli, 3rd CAB commander,
a native of Havertown, Pa. I am   even more honored to
have served with each and every one of the Dog Face soldiers  
of TF Falcon -   from Falcon 7 and my battalion command teams to
my aircrews;   from my staff to   the soldiers turning a
wrench, fueling an aircraft or serving   a meal. I have
been humbled by my soldiers' tireless efforts and selfless  
service to our   nation. They have proven to be the finest of
Americans, the   toughest of   warriors and true
American patriots. I thank them all for   their service.

The 10th CAB, constituted Aug. 21, 1965, has contributed  
significantly in   combat from Vietnam,   Operation
Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. In   addition, the
brigade has been called upon to serve during Hurricane Andrew  
in Florida, in Somalia,   Haiti and Bosnia. To   prepare
for this 12-month deployment, soldiers of 10th CAB   trained in
Fort   Carson, Colo., Whiteface, N.Y., and Fort Rucker, Ala.

For the soldiers of the 10th CAB, now TF Falcon; you have an
enormous challenge   facing you, said U.S. Army Col. Pedro
Almeida, 10th CAB   commander, a native of   New
Bedford, Mass. You have trained hard to be here, and   you
have done it exceptionally well. You will face   difficulties
and challenges   you have never confronted before, and you will
prevail. I am   honored and   privileged to be in the
same formation with you and I have the   utmost  
confidence in your ability to get the mission done.

The 10th CAB is organized by five multifunctional task forces  
comprised of   UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and medical
evacuation   helicopters, AH-64D Apache   Longbow attack
helicopters, CH-47D Chinook helicopters, and   the OH-58 Kiowa
Warriors. In addition, the 10th CAB benefits from the skills  
of their aviation   support battalion, elements of an aerial
exploitation brigade   – TF ODIN-A, and   aviation
units from Czech Republic and South Korea.


 
http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2010/11/10th-mountain-aviation-\
takes-over-afghan-skies.html





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[osint] Kenyan court frees 17 suspected pirates arrested by US Navy for lack of evidence

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jo5oJNGE6A3\
QiYJpE9LZBy9RasZg?docId=5043815
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jo5oJNGE6A\
3QiYJpE9LZBy9RasZg?docId=5043815
Kenyan   court frees 17 suspected pirates arrested by US Navy
for lack   of evidence

By Tom Odula (CP) –


NAIROBI, Kenya — A Kenyan court on Friday freed 17
Somali men detained by the U.S. Navy at sea and accused of
piracy, saying the Navy didn't provide the necessary evidence to
convict the suspects.

The decision has left authorities in a dilemma over what
to do with the Somali men since the court did not order
them repatriated back to their country, the men's lawyer said.

Attorney Jared Magolo said a magistrate's court in the
coastal town of Mombasa ruled that there was insufficient
evidence to prove that the Somali men attacked the MV
Amira, an Egyptian-flagged ship, in May 2009.

Magolo said the magistrate blamed the loss of the case
on the U.S. Navy, who captured the Somalis, for not
providing video and photographic proof that the Navy claimed to
have.

Magolo said the magistrate court did not order the men
repatriated to Somalia because international law
prohibits extraditing a person back to a country at war.

He said the police did know what to do with the Somalis
since they cannot put them back in prison without orders
from the court.

Somali pirates usually seize ships in the Gulf of Aden,
one of the world's busiest waterways, for multimillion dollar
ransoms. Pirates have also increased attacks in the
Indian Ocean off East Africa.

Kenya is among a handful of countries that have prosecuted
pirates. One of the key concerns about jailing pirates is
what to do with them once their sentence is up.

Kenya has previously said it is reviewing agreements with the
international community to prosecute pirates from Somalia, its
East African neighbour. A key concern is the security threat
Somalis suspected of piracy may pose if they are acquitted or
after they have served their jail term.

Kenya wants other countries to share the burden of prosecuting
pirates. The country currently has   some 136   pirates among
its 53,000 inmates.

Last May the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said
American sailors apprehended the 17 Somalis for
allegedly attacking the Egyptian-flagged merchant ship Amira in
waters off Yemen.

The sailors from the guided-missile cruiser USS
Gettysburg also seized eight assault rifles and a
rocket-propelled grenade launcher when they boarded the pirates'
vessel.

The Gettysburg launched the operation with the help of
the Korean Destroyer ROKS Munmu the Great after pirates
fired at the Motor Vessel Amira about 75 miles south of Yemen's
al-Mukalla port, the Navy said.



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[osint] Judge blocks Okla. amendment banning court use of Islamic law

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/11/judge-bl\
ocks-amendment-to-okla-constitution-banning-court-use-of-islamic-law/1
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/11/judge-b\
locks-amendment-to-okla-constitution-banning-court-use-of-islamic-law/1
Nov 08, 2010
Judge blocks Okla. amendment banning court use of Islamic law
01:10 PM

A federal district judge has issued a temporary restraining
order to block an amendment to the Oklahoma state
constitution that would prohibit state courts from considering
international or Islamic law when deciding cases.

The amendment was approved by 70% of voters last
Tuesday.

The order today by Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange will
remain in effect until a Nov. 22 hearing, the Associated Press
reports.

The order was sought in a lawsuit by Muneer Awad, an
Oklahoma Muslim and executive director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, who argues that
the amendment against sharia law demonizes his religion.

(Posted by Doug Stanglin)


 
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/11/judge-b\
locks-amendment-to-okla-constitution-banning-court-use-of-islamic-law/1



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[osint] Illegals Say TSA Approved Flight Training

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/r/25655647/detail.html
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/r/25655647/detail.html   Illegals
Say TSA Approved Flight Training   3 Claim Documents Show
Federal Clearance
POSTED:   8:55 am EDT November 6, 2010
UPDATED: 9:12 am EDT November 6, 2010



BOSTON -- Three Brazilian nationals accused being in the country
illegally while studying to be pilots at a Stow flight
school said they were cleared by the federal Transportation
Security Administration for flight training.

The men, who agreed to talk to NewsCenter 5 under a condition of
anonymity, said they came to the United States legally but now
have expired visas. They said the TSA never asked them about
their immigration status.

I did an application for the TSA. They looked at my background
and there's nothing criminal, said one. I'm not a
terrorist,'' he said.

The owner of the TJ Aviation Flight Academy and more than 30
students accused of being in the United States illegally
received clearance to train as pilots despite strict
security controls put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.

Each of the three showed documents from the TSA approving pilot
lessons through the federal agency's alien flight student
program.

If I was not supposed to do it, they were supposed to block
everything and not give me permission. Not just me, but others,
another said.

You cannot start classes without clearance from the TSA, he
said.

After being allowed to fly for dozens of hours each, they now
risk being deported and each said they fear being
stereotyped as some kind of foreign terrorists.

All the people going to the school have to work hard to pay
money, pay the taxes. Why should I be a terrorist? said one.

TSA officials said they will review the process through which
foreign nationals obtain clearance to take flight lessons and
acquire pilots' licenses.

TSA is responsible for checking foreign nationals who apply for
flight training in the United States or with FAA-certified
flight training providers anywhere in the world. TSA performs a
thorough background check on each applicant at the time
of application to include terrorism and other watch list
matching, a criminal history check and checks for available
disqualifying immigration information, TSA said in a statement.

The school's owner, Thiago DeJesus, denies he is in the U.S.
illegally.





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[osint] Terrorized Terrorists Run For Cover

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/india/articles/20101108.aspx
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/india/articles/20101108.aspx

Terrorized Terrorists Run For Cover

November 8, 2010: The American UAV offensive against Islamic
terrorist leaders in northwest Pakistan has driven some
of the enemy to seek safely just across the border in
Afghanistan. So far this year, there have been 97 U.S.
missile attacks in Pakistan, compared to 53 in all of 2009 and
35 in 2008. Over 90 percent of this year's attacks have
been in North Waziristan, where many Taliban and al Qaeda have
long been based. The Pakistani Army has refused American
requests that the area be cleared of hostile forces. Many in the
Pakistani military and counter-terrorism establishment consider
these Islamic terrorists as a useful tool to maintain some
control in Afghanistan, and as a weapon against India.


But the American missile attacks have made life increasingly
risky for the terrorist leadership, and the easiest
place to run to is just across the border. The American
UAVs can still strike there, but the strategy appears to be to
get away from the spies and informers among the tribesmen in
North Waziristan. The tribes across the border are more hostile,
and have a ceasefire with the Haqqani Network, which regularly
moves men from North Waziristan to make attacks in
Afghanistan. But the U.S. doesn't just rely on tribal
informants for targeting information. There are also
lots of electronic eavesdropping and sensors (various types of
vidcams and special cameras) along with data mining tools. It
will soon become apparent if you can run and hide. There
are other problems for Haqqani, as the tribes just
across the border tend to be Shia. While a minority of Pushtuns
are Shia, they do not get along with Islamic radicals like al
Qaeda, Taliban or Haqqani, because all three of these
consider Shia heretics.

While the Pakistanis refuse to attack in North
Waziristan, they are still chasing down Taliban in nearby areas.
Between that, and continued unrest in the southwest
(Baluchistan) there are several hundred casualties a week in
Pakistan, making nearly as violent as Afghanistan.

Pakistan is making yet another attempt to curb rampant
corruption among government officials. This time, the
anti-corruption effort will be monitored by the intelligence
agencies (especially ISI) to prevent corruption among the
anti-corruption officials. While ISI has long harbored
Islamic radical sympathizers, the radicals justify their
use of violence as part of an effort to eliminate corruption.
Despite that, many believe that ISI contains corruption prone
Islamic radicals (which exist in large numbers).


Few Pakistanis expect the new anti-corruption drive to
be much more successful than previous efforts. India is also
pressuring the United States, which gives Pakistan
billions of dollars a year in economic and military aid, to put
more pressure on the Pakistanis to stop supporting Islamic
terror groups trying to carry out attacks in India.
The Pakistanis deny they are doing so, but the evidence says
otherwise.

In eastern India (Bihar state), Maoists blew up a
section of track and derailed a freight train. The
Maoists have called for a nationwide protest to the visit of the
U.S. president, but most Indians are celebrating the event. So
the Maoists will amp up their usual violence to try and
compensate for this lack of hostility.

India is also pressuring Nepal to investigate claims that
Nepalese Maoists (who are a large political party there,
and still have a large militia) have been providing bases and
combat training for Indian Maoists.

November 7, 2010: In North Waziristan, the Taliban
publicly executed three men accused of spying for the United
States. These killings are a regular occurrence in the area, but
the Americans continue to find their targets. The
accusations and executions are often off the mark, which
just increases local hatred for the Islamic radicals, who are
basically ruling  by fear.

November 5, 2010: In northwest Pakistan, two mosques
used by anti-Taliban militias were bombed by Islamic terrorists.
Over 70 people were killed. The government supports these
militia, which provide 

[osint] China:The Lesson

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/china/20101107.aspx
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/china/20101107.aspx
The   Lesson

November 7, 2010: China keeps hammering away at the U.S.
over recent sales of $6 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan.
While Chinese diplomacy and threats delayed the sales a
few years, the deal eventually went through. China is still
trying to stop it, and calls the sale a major obstacle to good
relations between the U.S. and China. The eventual
absorption of Taiwan is a bigger deal in China than it
is in the United States, which annoys the Chinese, who see
themselves simply being brushed aside by an imperious
United States. At least that's how it's played in the Chinese
government controlled press.

Meanwhile, the free press in Japan is playing the
nationalist card as well, and the Chinese don't like that. But
China has caused the problem by prompting and allowing popular
(nationalist) demonstrations against Japan. Now the
Japanese are angry, and the media in Japan has picked up on
that. The Chinese leadership is upset with this development.
That's because the Japanese military is smaller, but
much more professional and effective, than their Chinese
counterparts. Plus, if this hate race keeps going, it could lead
to Japan building nuclear weapons. This prospect frequently
comes up in the Japanese media, and Japanese politicians
freely admit to how possible this would be.

The Chinese hate/hate relationship goes back a long way.
For centuries, China basically ignored Japan, and
considered them some violent malcontents living uneasily
together on some islands way out in the Eastern Ocean. The only
serious attempt to conquer Japan was carried out by
Mongols, who were slowly swallowing most of China. The
Mongols failed to take Japan (and couldn't hang onto China).
The Chinese considered anything involving Japan to be a sideshow
of little consequence. But then, in the mid-19th century, the
Japanese decided to join the west, at least economically
and militarily. China was having a hard time adjusting
to the military, technical and economic superiority of the West.
Not so the Japanese.

For most of the last few thousand years, China had been
more powerful than the West, but too far away for that to
make much difference. But now the Westerners had developed new
ship designs that allowed them to move large forces to East
Asia. China was humbled in several small wars. The
westerners, unlike the Mongols, had no interest in
conquering China, they just wanted some trade deals, and no
interference from China. But a suddenly modernized Japan, 130
years ago, began to threaten, and then defeat, China
with its new, Western style
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/china/20101107.aspx  military. Until
1945, China could only slow down, but not stop the
Japanese. It took Western armies (mainly from the U.S.,
Russia and Britain) to finally crush the Japanese menace. China
resents that as well, and the mediocre performance of Chinese
forces in Korea (1950-53), on the Russian border (the
1970s) and against Vietnam (1979) has not helped. The only
victory was against India in 1962, but that was a high altitude
skirmish in the mountains on the Tibetan border. Nice, but not
indicative of a trend. Chinese military capabilities
appear to have gone downhill since then

The U.S. and Japan are being more public about their
joint military planning against potential Chinese military
moves in the region. China has made claims on disputed islands
in the region, bringing it into direct conflict with powerful
neighbors like South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Three of these nations are treaty allies of the United
States, which has 70,000 troops stationed in the region. Then
there's India, being threatened by China, which still claims the
Tibetan border lands (now part of India) that caused the
1962 skirmish. The only major neighbor China makes nice
to is Russia, which is also the only neighbor with enough
nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to cripple China. The
lesson is not lost on the rest of China's nervous neighbors.

October 29, 2010: A Japanese destroyer successfully used
its Aegis anti-missile system to intercept a ballistic

[osint] PA: Shin Bet officers met with top Hamas officials 'over coffee'

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/pa-shin-bet-officers-met-with-\
top-hamas-officials-over-coffee-1.323677
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/pa-shin-bet-officers-met-with\
-top-hamas-officials-over-coffee-1.323677
* Published 01:03 09.11.10
* Latest update 01:03 09.11.10
PA: Shin Bet officers met with top Hamas officials 'over
coffee'   Senior Palestinian Authority officials say
reported meeting embarrasses senior Fatah officials in Ramallah;
Shin Bet refused to comment on the reports.
By Avi Issacharoff
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/avi-issacharoff-1.307  and Amos
Harel http://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/amos-harel-1.285

The Palestinian Authority complained to Israel
recently that Shin Bet officers were in contact with high-level
Hamas members around Jenin, senior Palestinian sources told
Haaretz.




Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad attending Eid el Fitr
prayers in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sept. 10,
2010.

Photo by: AP

The Palestinian sources said that 10 days ago a number
of low ranking Shin Bet officers met with senior figures of
Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Among the Hamas figures was the former Hamas Prisoner
Affairs minister, Wusfi Kabha, a Jenin resident; Fadil
Busnak a lawyer representing mostly Hamas men, who also resides
in Jenin; and A'san Zreydi, an important Hamas figure in the
area and a former prisoner. Also at one of the meetings
was Adnan Hader, a member of Islamic Jihad from the village of
Arabe.

None of the four are considered to be involved in armed
resistance and are all recognized as political figures.

According to the Palestinian sources, the Shin Bet
officers visited the four in their homes late at night,
were permitted to enter and then explained that they did not
intend to arrest the four, but to talk over a cup of coffee.

The Palestinian sources claimed that the questions the
Shin Bet officers asked their Hamas and Islamic Jihad
interlocutors were not security related, but appeared to be an
attempt at having an exchange with the Islamist groups.

The activists were asked about their views on the
chances that peace talks would succeed, and the possibility of a
peace agreement with Israel, according to the sources.

The Palestinian sources said that the PA complained
about the matter to GOC Central Command Avi Mizrahi, because
the meeting embarrassed senior Fatah officials in Ramallah, who
could not understand the meaning or purpose of the meeting.

However, in the past the Shin Bet have held warning
meetings with senior political figures of Hamas and
Islamic Jihad, in an effort to warn them against linking up to
terrorist activities or the funding of militants.

The Shin Bet refused to comment on the reports.

A meeting between senior Hamas and Fatah figures is
scheduled to take place in the coming days in Damascus, as part
of an effort to reconcile the two rival groups.

The meeting is meant to bridge differences over the
future of the official Palestinian Authority security
forces and Hamas.


 
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/pa-shin-bet-officers-met-with\
-top-hamas-officials-over-coffee-1.323677





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[osint] Lessons from abroad – Countering terrorism in Japan – Part I (on culture)

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/25/lessons-from-abroad-counter\
ing-terrorism-in-japan-part-i-on-culture/
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/25/lessons-from-abroad-counte\
ring-terrorism-in-japan-part-i-on-culture/   Lessons from abroad
– Countering terrorism in Japan – Part I (on
culture)
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/25/lessons-from-abroad-counte\
ring-terrorism-in-japan-part-i-on-culture/
October   25th, 2010 - by Donovan C. Chau
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/authors/donovan-c./

Last month, I spent a fortnight conducting field
research on counterterrorism in Japan. Because East Asia is
often overlooked in terms of terrorism analysis (even Southeast
Asia garners scant attention from but a small handful of
scholars, analysts and commentators), I felt and continue to
feel compelled to learn from the Japanese counterterrorism
experience. Learning from like-minded liberal democracies
(including the United Kingdom and Israel) benefits U.S.
national security as well as the broader international security
community. The focus of my efforts, thus, was to comprehend how
the Japanese government counters terrorism –
particularly its culture, system and methods. This is the
first in a three-part series.

In his 1993 influential article (later published in book
format), the late Samuel Huntington raised the specter of a
clash of civilizations (it was originally a question, not an
assertion). Since the terrorist attacks on September 11,
2001, Huntington's thesis was ostensibly proven correct. The
Western civilization was attacked by the Islamic
civilization, causing our current international security
environment.

I bring this up because, of the seven or so
civilizations mentioned by Huntington, the Japanese civilization
stood out to me. How could it be that a geographically
small country with about 127 million people (and declining)
possessed its own civilization? And to what extent did this mean
that the Japanese civilization dealt with security threats in
its own unique manner, that is, its own strategic
culture? Though this is not the forum to discuss in
depth Japanese strategic culture, or the lack thereof (which
requires a book, or at least a scholarly journal article, to
begin with), this space does afford me the opportunity
to discuss the Japanese cultural perception of terrorism as
a national security threat.

The history of terrorism in Japan allows us to understand
better the Japanese cultural view of terrorism, or so it would
seem. Well before September 2001, Japan experienced
attacks of various sorts that were labeled terrorism. These
comprised, initially, left-wing student radicals inspired by
worldwide communism from the 1960s onward. The students
organized and protested violently against the U.S.-Japan
security alliance and U.S. bases in Japan (which are
still targets of protest). They also protested rising student
fees, the construction of Narita International Airport
(which I flew into, conveniently) and other evil expressions of
capitalism.

Out of these left-wing student groups emerged a most
infamous organization, the Japanese Red Army (Nihon Sekigun),
whose members conducted terrorist attacks in Europe and the
Middle East. (The Japanese Red Army must not be confused with
the Red Army, Sekigun-ha, or the United Red Army, Rengo
Sekigun, which was formed after elements of the Red Army
merged with members of the Keihin Anti-Treaty Joint Struggle
group, Keihin Ampo Kyoto.) Often forgotten, Japanese citizens
actually joined the Palestinian struggle for
independence, viewing their actions within the overall framework
of communist revolution against global capitalism.

Alongside these left-wing terrorists were right-wing
nationalist elements which caught (and continue to catch) the
attention of the Japanese government. Though much less has been
written about them, right-wing extremists protested and
used violence in support of nationalistic and patriotic
causes, at times targeting specific individuals or organizations
that disgraced the Emperor or Japan's imperial past.

In light of this summer's tensions between Japan and China
over islands in the East China Sea, right-wing groups may once
again gain in prominence. Outside of these politically

[osint] Lessons from abroad – Countering terrorism in Japan – Part II (on the system)

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/11/02/lessons-from-abroad-counter\
ing-terrorism-in-japan-part-ii-on-the-system/
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/11/02/lessons-from-abroad-counte\
ring-terrorism-in-japan-part-ii-on-the-system/   Lessons from
abroad – Countering terrorism in Japan – Part II (on
the system)
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/11/02/lessons-from-abroad-counte\
ring-terrorism-in-japan-part-ii-on-the-system/
November   2nd, 2010 - by Donovan C. Chau
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/authors/donovan-c./

My first day in Japan found me at the headquarters of the
National Police Agency (NPA) in the heart of Tokyo's
government district around Kasumegaseki station. Though not
formally designated as such, the NPA is really the lead
government agency countering terrorism in Japan. The NPA
serves as the headquarters element of Japan's police, performing
important administrative, training, and support functions,
including intelligence collection and analysis.

Meanwhile, Japan's prefectural police (led by the Tokyo
Metropolitan Police Department, akin to New York's finest)
span the breadth of the country and are the operational arm.
From a policy perspective, my discussions with NPA
officials demonstrated a clear understanding of
terrorism and its potential threat to Japan (to review the
threat, see Part I
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/25/lessons-from-abroad-counte\
ring-terrorism-in-japan-part-i-on-culture/ ).

Unlike America's federalized police, Japan's
national police force is overseen by the National Public Safety
Commission, a five-member oversight body appointed by the Prime
Minister. Regional bureaus, which serve supervisory
roles over prefectural police, add another layer of
bureaucracy to Japan's police system, which is based on the
post-World War II Police Act and its subsequent amendments.
While I learned a great deal from my visit to the NPA, I
was also becoming cognizant of the larger system of
counterterrorism in Japan.

Japan's constitution is what really provides the legal
framework (some say, constraints) within which the
police conduct counterterrorism. Many may be familiar with the
creation of the so-called peace constitution. In the aftermath
of World War II, General Douglas MacArthur led American
occupation forces, civilian and military, for several
years helping to shape Japan's political system, its
constitution in particular. Article 9 of the constitution
forswears the use of military force and prohibits Japan
from maintaining a standing, offensive military. This legal
abandonment of what is arguably the fundamental sovereign right
of any nation-state has ramifications for
counterterrorism: It imposes artificial restrictions on the
use of force which has negative consequences on the country's
overall security capabilities, including counterterrorism.

The government takes these democratic values seriously,
as is seen in the activities of its legislative and executive
organs, the Diet and Cabinet Secretariat. Both play roles in
shaping and influencing counterterrorism policy; however, it is
the Japanese bureaucracy that does the heavy lifting.
While Japan's police may be considered the central
organization countering terrorism in Japan, it is by no
means the only one. Just as homeland security spans across
the behemoth U.S. government, counterterrorism in Japan cuts
across powerful bureaucratic lines.

Ostensibly coordinated by the Prime Minister through the
Cabinet Secretariat, organs conducting counterterrorism in Japan
include: the Ministry of Justice, which includes the Public
Security Intelligence Agency (PSIA); the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (MOFA); the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure and Transport, which includes the Japan Coast
Guard; the Ministry of Defense (MOD); the Ministry of Health,
Labor and Welfare; the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry; Ministry of Finance; the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; and the
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. And, as a
foreigner (gaijin) I undoubtedly omitted some agency or
ministry that does something related to counterterrorism.

Nevertheless, with this list, one gets a genuine sense
of the bureaucratic politics and challenges facing the Japanese
government, which are 

[osint] Lessons from abroad – Countering terrorism in Japan – Part III (on the methods)

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/11/08/lessons-from-abroad-counter\
ing-terrorism-in-japan-part-iii-on-the-methods/
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/11/08/lessons-from-abroad-counte\
ring-terrorism-in-japan-part-iii-on-the-methods/   Lessons from
abroad – Countering terrorism in Japan – Part III
(on the methods)
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/11/08/lessons-from-abroad-counte\
ring-terrorism-in-japan-part-iii-on-the-methods/
November 8th,   2010 - by Donovan C. Chau
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/authors/donovan-c./

When one thinks of Japan, popular American images that
come to mind are affordable and reliable automobiles (I drive a
Toyota Camry Hybrid), sophisticated electronics and gadgetry (I
have an iPod nano), and, to those who have been there,
the most advanced toilets in the world (you really have
to experience them for yourself).

In short, a commonly held view of this island
nation-state is one of extraordinarily advanced technological
wonder – robots, Shinkansen (bullet trains) and all. I will
be the first to admit that these and other images ran
through my mind on the direct flight from LAX to Narita; I
wondered how such mastery of machines translated to countering
terrorism in Japan. In my first meeting in the heart of Tokyo,
my fantasies and preconceived notions were thoroughly dispelled.

The Japan Science and Technology Agency's Research
Institute of Science and Technology for Society
(RISTEX) http://www.ristex.jp/EN/index.html  sounds about as
innocuous and typically Japanese as any bureaucratic
organization. Yet, as it turned out, I may have learned more at
this initial meeting than I learned during my entire
fortnight in the land of the Rising Sun.

I was early to RISTEX and sat in a modern yet simplistic
meeting room, nondescript blue-gray carpet and walls with
light-beige built-in shelving. The unusually hot September
morning caused difficulties for foreigners and locals alike. As
it turned out, my interviewee was delayed not because of
the Tokyo Metropolitan Subway (which would be unusual,
indeed) but because of his normal walk, a forty minute jaunt, as
opposed to the fifteen-minute ride underground. Counterterrorism
in Japan, as it turns out, is more akin to the sweaty
forty-minute walk than the efficient Tokyo subway system.

In my discussions at RISTEX, as well as the National
Police Agency (NPA) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), I
learned that the traditional counterterrorism approach in Japan
involves encirclement, monitoring and observation, as
needed. While advanced technological tools are
undoubtedly used, the Japanese focus on the traditional craft of
counter-espionage and counter-intelligence in their
counterterrorism operations, relying on human intelligence
(HUMINT) as opposed to technical intelligence.

The focus on HUMINT and first-line-of-defense reveals
the Japanese tendency toward prevention, especially through
border control (i.e., garrisoning), in countering terrorism.
Over the past fifty years, Japan has developed tactically
proficient human methods of counterterrorism, so much so that
Japan shares its techniques with others across East Asia
(e.g., seminars with Southeast Asian security agencies). Rather
than relying on high-tech solutions, Japanese counterterrorism
as it turns out places much emphasis on the human
element.

Yet, considering the Aum Shinrikyo attacks in 1995 and
left-wing terrorist incidents during the Cold War, Japan's
history of counterterrorism may be criticized as decidedly
deficient. Strategically, as I learned during my
meetings in Tokyo, Japanese counterterrorism is sorely lacking.
The decidedly non-security oriented society may be one
impediment; higher education in the topics of national
security and strategy as well as study of potential regions of
the world of concern such as the Middle East and Africa is
deficient. Moreover, the legal framework for countering
terrorism is absent and even constraining (terrorists
have fundamental human rights, for example). Certain security
lapses have not resulted in meaningful punishments and
wiretapping remains severely circumscribed for countering
terrorists. What does this all mean for counterterrorism
in Japan?

Like most, if not all, liberal democratic 

[osint] Overcoming Fear Of Spying

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20101108.aspx
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20101108.aspx
Overcoming   Fear Of Spying

November 8, 2010: Even before September 11, 2001,
counter-intelligence experts had discovered that it was
very difficult to get agents into Islamic terrorist
organizations. Since then, it's become easier. But the process
is difficult, and very dangerous for those who agree to go
undercover in these terrorist organizations. So far,
Islamic terrorists know dozens of these agents. Two of
the most prominent double agents cane from Guantanamo. Abdul
Rahman, an Afghan, who was released, returned to terrorism in
Pakistan and found out and killed. The another, a Saudi
Arabian, was released in 2007, returned to Saudi Arabia,
went through a mandatory rehabilitation course.


There he was apparently recruited by Saudi intelligence.
Once out of rehab, the man went to Yemen, joined the al Qaeda
organization, and then got back to Saudi Arabia two months ago
with all sorts of useful information. This included news of the
printer toner cartridge plot that was disrupted (and
failed) at the end of October. But there are apparently a
lot more (perhaps hundreds) more such agents out there, and some
you will have to wait a long time to find out about.

Even the details of the recruiting process are top
secret, in order to protect the agents recruited, and make it
more difficult for the wrong people (potential double agents) to
be hired. But the process tends to work best on those who have
become disillusioned with Islamic radicalism. There are
a lot of these men, but most simply walk away. Others
wish to fight against the cause they lost faith in. All the
Americans had to do was get hip to the cultural buttons, and
learn how to push them. Apparently the Israelis helped
with this, as the Israelis have long run extensive informant
networks in Arab populations. The Israelis have a thick
playbook, and the U.S. apparently got them to share.

There are plenty of prospects. Every man (and some
women) arrested as suspected terrorists are potential agents.
There are over 500 men released from Guantanamo, along
with nearly 100,000 arrested in Iraq, Afghanistan and
elsewhere. For example, last year, the U.S. released over 5,000
suspected terrorists it was holding in Iraq. Since then,
dozens of them have been killed carrying out terror attacks, or
arrested by Iraqi police for being part of terrorist groups.


Iraqi and American counter-terrorism warned that a
wholesale release of American held terror suspects would
get people killed. But letting all those guys (they were mostly
guys, and mostly Sunni Arabs) go was the politically correct
thing to do, and off they went. Several hundred Iraqis, and a
few Americans, at least, have died as a result. So far.
But there were also apparently some agents recruited
from among those released, not just last year, but in previous
years as well.

It may never be known exactly how many of the released
suspects returned to their murderous ways, or agreed to
spy for the Americans. All of them were held because there was
some evidence of involvement in terrorist activity. But the
Iraqi police would not accept all the American evidence
or, in many cases, did not consider it sufficient for an
Iraqi arrest warrant. All this was driven by the desire to empty
the U.S. prisons, without overwhelming the Iraqi justice system.
Mission accomplished. However, as long as these men were
in custody, recruiting attempts went forward. Many potential
spies were willing to work with the Americans, but not the Iraqi
government. The Americans were considered more reliable, and
could get you out of Iraq (perhaps even to America) if you
delivered.

Guantanamo, on the other hand, is a more difficult place for
recruiting. Over ten percent of the 534 terrorism suspects
released from Guantanamo had returned to Islamic radical
activities. This was not a big surprise, except for the
extent of the recidivism. There had long been reports of men
released from Guantanamo backsliding. Before the
Guantanamo revelation, Saudi Arabia announced that at least 14
of the 117 Saudis released from Guantanamo Bay, have returned to

[osint] The Real New Middle East Order – Part I – “The Twin-Pillar Strategy”

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/19/the-real-new-middle-east-or\
der-part-i-the-twin-pillar-strategy/
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/19/the-real-new-middle-east-o\
rder-part-i-the-twin-pillar-strategy/   The Real New Middle East
Order – Part I – The Twin-Pillar Strategy
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/19/the-real-new-middle-east-o\
rder-part-i-the-twin-pillar-strategy/
October   19th, 2010 - by Akram Elias
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/authors/akram-elias/

History is a Prologue

The Middle East has undergone a sea change at the
geostrategic level, presenting U.S. policymakers with a new set
of serious challenges. Today's Middle East order is being
shaped by these fundamental realities:

* Egypt and Jordan are no longer key shapers of   regional
politics and are fast becoming irrelevant to the   emerging new
order in the Middle East.
* Saudi   Arabia today is more of a   liability than
an asset for the United States; while its   security and
stability remain a U.S. top priority, its Wahhabi   identity is
the source of its vulnerability.
* Israel remains the most powerful regional   power but has
been relatively weakened by the emergence of   an
asymmetrical strategic environment in the region.
* Iran, which had been relatively dormant   from
1979 to 2004, emerged since 2005 as a new regional player   to
be reckoned with. Iran today projects its influence   throughout
the Middle East and Central Asia region of the   world.
* Turkey,   which was for decades secular-driven and Europe
focused (while   being a strong ally of Israel), has in recent
years built a   strategy focused on the Middle East and Central
Asia rather   than Europe. By recapturing its Muslim identity
and making it   a basis for its new national security strategy,
Turkey   reversed its pro-Israel stance of the past and
positioned   itself as a new independent and engaged regional
player.
* Iran and Turkey are forging closer relations   and fast
becoming the key shapers of Muslim opinion and   power
(Shiite and Sunni respectively) in the region.
* China, which has the ambition and long-term   potential of
becoming a superpower that could rival the United   States in
ways not even the Soviet Union could achieve in its   heydays,
is aggressively seeking oil and gas agreements in the   Muslim
dominated region of the Middle East and Central Asia.

The emergence of Turkey and the entry of China as new
players in the region has driven the last nail in the coffin of
the old Mideast order and ushered a new era of power politics,
with the Middle East and Central Asia becoming
practically one, interdependent and inseparable geostrategic
theater. Given this new Middle East order, what should the
United States be doing to safeguard its vital and strategic
interests in the region?

To design a new approach to the region that would have
resonance with the key players and be ultimately successful in
preserving its vital interests, the United States needs to fully
understand and assimilate why and how this
shift has taken place in the region.

I will attempt in this series to shed some light at the
root developments that have caused the demise of the old Mideast
order, the birth of the new order and its significant impact on
U.S. strategic interests, and the viable policy options at the
disposal of the United States, given the new realities of the
region.

The Old Mideast Order and the   Containment of the Soviet Union

The Cold War was the most defining phenomenon of the
second half of the twentieth century.  In its efforts to contain
Soviet influence around the globe, the United States
designed a Mideast policy aimed at denying Soviet access to that
oil and gas-rich region of the world. Oil security became
the most important pillar supporting U.S. policy in the Middle
East with Iran as the key ally in this endeavor since 1953 under
the Shah
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/387594/Mohammad-Reza-Shah-Pah\
lavi .

The one event that changed fully the equation of power
in the region was the1956 Suez Canal crisis, prompted by a
tripartite military operation undertaken by Israel,
Britain and France. Fearing Soviet penetration of the Middle
East oil rich region, the United States responded to the crisis
by pressuring Britain, France and Israel to withdraw. This
single most important act convinced 

[osint] The Real New Middle East Order – Part II – “Oil Security at Risk”

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/21/the-real-new-middle-east-or\
der-part-ii-oil-security-at-risk/
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/21/the-real-new-middle-east-o\
rder-part-ii-oil-security-at-risk/   The Real New Middle East Order
– Part II – Oil Security at Risk
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/21/the-real-new-middle-east-o\
rder-part-ii-oil-security-at-risk/
October   21st, 2010 - by Akram Elias
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/authors/akram-elias/

In Part I of this series
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/19/the-real-new-middle-east-o\
rder-part-i-the-twin-pillar-strategy/ , we discussed the
emergence of a U.S. strategy towards the Middle East built on
two pillars – Oil Security and Israel Security –
and the introduction of a third pillar in support of the
first two – the Peace Process. In this part, we explore the
impact of regional developments and U.S. actions and/or
reactions on the security of oil from a U.S. strategic
interest.

Oil Security Pillar Shaken
The region's single most important event of the last 20-plus
years of the twentieth century was the establishment of the
Islamic Republic of Iran. The overthrow of the
Shah's government by Islamic Revolutionaries in 1979
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111944123  and
its subsequent events, such as the storming of the U.S. Embassy
in Teheran and the taking of American hostages, resulted in a
total and complete breakdown in diplomatic relations
between the United States and the newly established
Islamic Republic of Iran.

With the loss of Iran as its main ally to ensure oil security,
the United States was presented with a difficult dilemma: how to
pursue oil security in the Gulf region without resorting to
direct U.S. military intervention? The root cause of this
dilemma was the unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict; any
increased direct military intervention on the part of the United
States in the Gulf would almost immediately translate into
increased pressure on Arab oil Gulf countries to break
their oil neutrality vis-à-vis the United States. The
only two countries in the Gulf that could possibly act as the
replacement to Iran and assist the United States in safeguarding
its oil security pillar were Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

The invasion of Iran in 1980 by Iraq's Saddam Hussein
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm
and the eight-year war that followed made it impractical for the
United States to choose Iraq as a replacement to the Shah's
Iran.  On the other hand, in the absence of an end to the
Arab-Israeli conflict, Saudi Arabia, which had been
agreeable to a low profile American military presence on
its territory, was not receptive to the idea of being the
replacement of the Shah's Iran for fear of being perceived
by Arab and Muslim populations in the region as a
traitor to the Arab and Palestinian cause.

Faced with this unpleasant reality, the United States
chose to increase its military profile in the region by boosting
its naval presence and pursuing military and security agreements
with member countries of the newly established Gulf
Cooperation Council http://www.gcc-sg.org/eng/index.php 
(GCC). The profile increase resulting from
the enhanced American direct military presence, though
problematic in the long run, was an acceptable risk
for the United States to take as long as Iraq and Iran were busy
fighting each other and not destabilizing the oil region.

The abrupt end to the Iraq-Iran war brought about
unilaterally by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1988, however, presented
the United States with a new challenge in the gulf region –
an increasingly assertive Iraq. The invasion and occupation
of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1990 led the
United States to construct the biggest military buildup in
history with the aim of liberating Kuwait from Iraqi
occupation to safeguard its oil security pillar. The liberation
of Kuwait by U.S. troops necessitated a huge increase in U.S.
military personnel on Saudi territory, causing an unwanted and
unwelcomed reaction in the Saudi Kingdom.

Liberation of Kuwait:   A Missed Opportunity

If there is one event in the Gulf region that could be
considered the turning point for U.S. oil security
interests, it is the liberation of Kuwait. Let me explain.

With the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989,   

[osint] The Real New Middle East Order – Part III – “Israel Security at Risk”

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/11/09/the-real-new-middle-east-or\
der-part-iii-israel-security-at-risk/
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/11/09/the-real-new-middle-east-o\
rder-part-iii-israel-security-at-risk/   The Real New Middle East
Order – Part III – Israel Security at Risk
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/11/09/the-real-new-middle-east-o\
rder-part-iii-israel-security-at-risk/
November 9th, 2010 - by Akram Elias
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/authors/akram-elias/

In part II of this series
http://securitydebrief.adfero.com/2010/10/21/the-real-new-middle-east-o\
rder-part-ii-oil-security-at-risk/ , we focused on Oil Security
and the regional developments that shaped the environment
leading to the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United
States. In this part, we will explore the root causes for the
instability in the environment affecting Israel Security and
shaking its foundations.

1. Israel Security: An American   Strategic Asset
Having learned from the Suez Canal episode with Britain and
France in 1956, Israel shifted its strategic focus to bring it
into alignment with the United States: containing Soviet
influence in the Middle East region. From that point onward,
Israel Security became the second pillar on which the United
States built its Mideast policy (the first pillar being Oil
Security as discussed in Part I and Part II of this series).

Israel, equipped with superior American weaponry, could defeat
Soviet equipped Arab armies and contain militarily Soviet
expansionist desires in the Middle East. In contrast with
Southeast Asia, the United States did not need to deploy its own
troops to contain the Soviet Union; Israel could do it alone. In
fact, the Six-Day War in 1967 clearly showed Israeli military
superiority over the combined Arab armies of Egypt, Jordan and
Syria and enabled Israel to occupy the Arab lands of Sinai,
Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank. From 1956 and until the
Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1992, Israel Security was of
strategic importance to the United States.

What about the Middle East   Conflict?
Israel's narrative of the conflict with Palestinians has always
been framed as part of a larger Arab-Israeli conflict: Jewish
nationalism against Arab nationalism. Arabs, having rejected the
partition of Palestine in 1947, fought the establishment of the
State of Israel and lost Arab lands in the 1967 war. From
Israel's perspective, a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict
should be based on Israel returning Arab occupied lands (not
necessarily all Arab lands) in exchange for obtaining full peace
with Arab countries. Palestinian refugees were in Israel's eyes
Arab refugees who would then settle permanently in Arab
countries as part of an Arab-Israeli peace agreement. The
conflict pitted Jewish nationalism against Arab nationalism.

Palestinian statehood was never   part of this Israeli
narrative.

This Israeli prism, which was fully embraced by U.S. foreign
policy makers, explains the actions undertaken by Israel and
practically accepted even when not fully supported by the United
States from 1967 until the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Settlement Policy
Settlements in the territories occupied by Israel during the
1967 war were considered by the Israeli Government as a
necessity to consolidate and reinforce the consensus among the
key Israeli establishments:

* Security Establishment: Given the lack of
strategic geographical depth of the State of   Israel, building
settlements in the occupied territories   enhances Israeli
security.
* Religious Establishment: For   many religious
Israeli Jews, Judea and Samaria are   historically Jewish lands
that must be reclaimed as quickly as   possible through a
proactive settlement policy.
* Political Establishment:   Political leaders in
Israel, irrespective of their party   affiliation, have, with
very few exceptions, considered the   settlement policy as
strengthening Israel's negotiating hand   in any future
peace talks with the Arabs.

Peace Process
The Arab-Israeli conflict that erupted with the partition of
Palestine and its rejection by Arabs was not in its nascent days
a top priority for U.S. foreign policy-makers because it had no
real impact on its Oil Security Pillar and proved to be
incapable of damaging Israel Security. As explained in Part I of
this series, the United States introduced the Peace Process as a
necessary means to better manage its two-pillar policy in the

[osint] Afghan Forces Arrest Taliban Arms Supplier

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2010/11/afghan-forces-arrest-tal\
iban-arms-supplier.html
http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2010/11/afghan-forces-arrest-ta\
liban-arms-supplier.html   Tuesday, November 09, 2010   Afghan
Forces Arrest Taliban Arms Supplier
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 VOA News NATO says Afghan
security forces have arrested a suspected Taliban arms supplier
at Kabul International Airport.

The international security force says Afghan authorities
noticed the suspect had boarded a plane Monday that had taken
off for Saudi Arabia. Afghan authorities ordered the
plane to return to the airport in Kabul and arrested the
suspected insurgent without incident.

NATO says the man was a part of the Haqqani insurgent
network and was wanted for providing weapons and ammunition used
in attacks against Afghan and international forces.

NATO also said Afghan and international forces have
captured three senior Taliban leaders.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the heart
of al-Qaida remains in the border area between Afghanistan and
Pakistan.

Speaking during a visit to Malaysia Tuesday, Gates said
al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan and Pakistan provide
guidance, priorities and legitimacy to al-Qaida
affiliates in other areas such as Yemen and north
Africa. But he said the United States and its strong partners
have the resources and capabilities to take on the Islamist
militants.

Meanwhile, NATO says violence in Afghanistan has killed
two of its service members.

The coalition did not identify either service member. One
of the victims was killed Monday in an insurgent attack in
eastern Afghanistan; the other was killed by a bomb Tuesday in
the south.

With more than 623 troops killed, this year has been the
deadliest for international forces since the war in Afghanistan
began in 2001.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, authorities said a local
official was killed in eastern Paktia province when his vehicle
hit a roadside bomb.

Some information in this story was provided by AFP.



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[osint] Carla Bruni feared to be on al-Qaeda's hit list

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_carla-bruni-feared-to-be-on-al-qaed\
a-s-hit-list_1464206
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_carla-bruni-feared-to-be-on-al-qae\
da-s-hit-list_1464206
Carla   Bruni feared to be on al-Qaeda's hit list

Published: Tuesday, Nov 9, 2010, 12:49 IST
Place: London | Agency: ANI




Security around France's first lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy
has been tightened up amid fears that she may be the
priority target of a terrorist assassination plot.

Security services believe President Nicolas Sarkozy's
wife is now high up on al-Qaeda's hitlist of potential VIP
victims in France, it was revealed.

Fears for Bruni's safety come after Osama bin Laden
issued a chilling personal threat to kill French citizens in
revenge for France backing the war in Afghanistan and
their new law banning the burqa.

The al-Qaeda terror chief released an audio tape last
week warning, It is a simple equation, if you kill, you
will be killed.

France's Pure People website said it had information that the
Presidential Protection Team had now received further
'credible intelligence' that the threat to the couple had
increased.

Security has always been high around the First couple,
but we have learned that it has now been heavily
increased around Ms Bruni herself, the Daily Mail quoted the
website as saying.

There is no question of her ever going out without an
armed escort and details of all her movements are being
kept secret until the very last moment.

Her schedule is randomly changed and even her family
and friends are not being told where she is going until
she arrives. From now on, neither will she travel in the same
car or other means of transport as her husband, the website
added.

Bruni's immediate family were also being given extra
security details, the website said.

It added, Their movements and whereabouts are being
kept secret at all times.

It is inconvenient for Ms Bruni and her loved ones, but
the security services believe these drastic measures are
currently necessary for their safety.

The security alert comes a month after France's domestic
intelligence cheif Bernard Squarcini warned that the recent
burqa ban had 'seriously increased' the threat of a
major terrorist attack on French soil and that 'all the red
lights were flashing'.


 
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_carla-bruni-feared-to-be-on-al-qae\
da-s-hit-list_1464206



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





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[osint] Pakistani Daily: Sophisticated Terrorist Group, a Splinter of Lashkar-e-Taiba, i

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4750.htm
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4750.htm

November 9, 2010  
Special Dispatch No.3363

Pakistani Daily: Sophisticated Terrorist Group, a Splinter of
Lashkar-e-Taiba, is Fighting in Afghanistan



An   investigative report in a leading   Pakistani
newspaper notes that a highly sophisticated   terrorist
organization,   which allegedly split from Lashkar-e-Taiba, is
reportedly   fighting against U.S. and NATO troops in
Afghanistan.

The   report in the Lahore-based Daily Times newspaper confirmed
that the U.S.   and NATO troops have recently witnessed a new
enemy which is   not the   Taliban or the Haqqani
group.

Following   are excerpts from the   report:[1]
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4750.htm#_edn1

Officials confirm the presence of a new, more modern
and sophisticated Punjabi Taliban in Kunar province of
Afghanistan. They are a more militant section of the
Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who had broken off from
their mother organization and refused to take orders from LeT
supremo Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

In reality, this rebellious group, which had just split
from the LeT, is the old Tehreekul Mujahideen (TM) and a
faction of the previously split Kairun Naas (KN) of the LeT,
which had been formed by the more fanatical Ahl-e-Hadith that
held the Kashmir Conference in 1990, attended by both
Hafiz Saeed and Professor Sajid Mir [leading to the
beginning of terrorism in Indian Kashmir].

Daily   Times investigations reveal two reasons behind
the split: Pakistani intelligence agencies have finally
decided to split the jihadi groups as a policy to make
them weaker, and Jamaatud Dawa (JD), LeT, TM, and KN split as
they had become too powerful; sectarian and ideological tensions
within the Ahl-e-Hadith faction about the concept of
jihad, as the more fanatical group fighting in
Afghanistan is more into the Arab mujahideen camp.

It is to be noted that previously a faction split from
the JD in 2004 when armed clashes broke out in the
premises of its headquarters [at Muridke in Lahore], and the
breakaway faction, KN, vowed to kill Hafiz Saeed, the JD head.
Saeed had previously joined the Afghan jihad pretty late
in 1987 on the insistence of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who
had traditionally headed the operational part of the LeT [and
Lakhvi is now under Pakistani custody for his role in the 2008
Mumbai terror attacks].

Organizational structures of the JD and LeT were
severely hurt by accusations from within the JD about Hafiz
Saeed's involvement in nepotism, corruption, his second marriage
to a fallen comrade's widow, which became a personal issue with
Prof Iqbal, a top JD council member, who himself married
an underage Baltistani girl. In a series of blunders,
Saeed appointed his brother-in-law, Maulana Abdul Rehman Makki,
then a teacher at Medina University in Saudi Arabia, second in
command of JD, which did not go down well with a lot of people,
especially with Lakhvi, as it was seen as an attempt by
Saeed to control the finances of JD.

In 2001, Saeed also came under fire when he renamed
Markaz Dawat Wal Irshad as Jamaatud Dawa, and separated it
from LeT. Lakhvi disapproved of the decision then and Daily
Times can confirm that he has finally fallen out with the JD
chief now and is in-charge of most of JD's properties in
Sindh and directly controls the Muridke centre, popularly
known as 'Markaz-e-Tayyaba.'

Lakhvi, said to be the mastermind behind the Mumbai
attacks, has developed links with Arab militants in
Pakistan, where he married his sister off with the top Al-Qaeda
terrorist, Abdul Rehman Sherahi. He was the one who
helped Lakhvi connect with top Al-Qaeda and Arab
leaders, and heavily invested in LeT's infrastructure.

It should also be taken into account that the Jamaat
Ahl-e-Hadith also opposed the formation of Markaz Dawat
Wal Irshad (JD) because of possible Saudi support to it, which
did not happen. JD was also barred from recruiting students from
the Ahl-e-Hadith madrassas as they were under the
control of Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith and openly supported by the
Saudis. And it looks now, confirmed a former spy chief, 'that
the new 

[osint] Understanding Counterinsurgency Strategy

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/ISN-Insights/Detail?lng=enid\
=123528contextid734=123528contextid735=123525tabid=123525123528
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/ISN-Insights/Detail?lng=eni\
d=123528contextid734=123528contextid735=123525tabid=123525123528
08 November 2010
Understanding Counterinsurgency Strategy
Afghan and NATO troops

US counterinsurgency strategy is frequently talked about but
also frequently misunderstood. A better grasp of its
broad-spectrum approach to warfare is warranted.

By Gail Harris for ISN Insights

For months, media coverage of the war in Afghanistan has
focused on the failures of counterinsurgency (COIN) at the heart
of US President Barack Obama's strategy shift outlined
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-address-na\
tion-way-forward-afghanistan-and-pakistan  in December 2009. While
criticizing the impact of COIN efforts, media outlets have
simultaneously latched onto the successes of the stepped-up
capture and kill techniques used in recent months. While the
counterinsurgency strategy has shown little success […] what
has turned out to work well is an approach American officials
have talked much less about: counterterrorism,
military-speak for the targeted killings of insurgents from
Al Qaeda and the Taliban, stated
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/world/asia/01afghan.html?scp=1sq=afg\
hanistan%20strategyst=cse  a recent New York
Times article.

This media analysis signals a general lack of
understanding about COIN strategy, setting up a false dichotomy
between COIN and counterterrorism. COIN is more than a 'hearts
and minds' campaign; it is a military operation that
also employs more traditional forms of warfare that
include counterterrorism.

Toward a workable definition

COIN consists of three basic phases: First, neutralize
or kill insurgent forces in order to provide a secure and stable
environment for the host nation; second, train host nation
security forces to successfully deal with external and
internal threats; and, finally, turn over all aspects of
security operations to the host nation.

In a recent interview
http://www.defense.gov/Blog_files/Blog_assets/20100804_ferrari_transcri\
pt.pdf , Colonel John Ferrari, the deputy commander for
programs of the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A),
elaborated:

COIN is a strategy of warfare   which includes the full
spectrum of warfare. So it includes everything from  
reconstruction to   reintegration to building the security
forces to being with   the population, but   it also
includes killing the enemy […] if the insurgents or   enemy
doesn't want   to be reconciled and they want to fight, then the
military   here, as part of the   COIN strategy, will
kill them […] or they can come in and be   part of  
reconciliation.

Thus, what the public and many in the media seem to
misunderstand - as illustrated in the NYT excerpt above - is
that killing or capturing the enemy is part of the COIN
strategy. When he assumed command of NATO troops in Afghanistan
in August this year, General David Petraeus put out a detailed
COIN Guidance memo
http://www.isaf.nato.int/images/stories/File/COMISAF-Guidance/COIN%20Gu\
idance%2001%20Aug%2010.pdf . It included 21 points, two of
which - pursue the enemy relentlessly and fight hard and
fight with discipline - directly address combat operations.

It appears then that the stepped-up efforts to kill and
capture insurgents is not so much a shift away from COIN but a
shift of priorities within the COIN strategy itself.
This shift itself adheres to the COIN principle
http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/coin/repository/FM_3-24.pdf  addressing
the need to constantly adapt and change tactics, techniques
and procedures as the situation requires. Thus, a shift toward
more targeted killings does not mean abandoning the training of
Afghan security forces, for example. Instead, the
training and fielding of Afghan security force continues.
The two objectives are not mutually exclusive, but instead
complementary.

Modest gains?

The shift in COIN strategy seems to have merited some
successes of late. In September while traveling with reporters,
Petraeus outlined how increased counterterrorism efforts have
yielded some tangible results. He stated
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/03/analysis-gen-petraeus-promotes-\

[osint] Piracy - An Ancient Crime Goes Modern

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101108/lf_ac/2224968_piracy__an_ancient_cri\
me_goes_modern
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101108/lf_ac/2224968_piracy__an_ancient_cr\
ime_goes_modern
Piracy - An Ancient Crime Goes Modern

K. N. Singer
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ac/lf_ac/byline/2224968_piracy__an_anc\
ient_crime_goes_modern/38437430/SIG=11uusgbig/*http:/www.associatedconte\
nt.com/user/311458/k_n_singer.html  K. N. Singer – Mon Nov 8,
5:41 pm ET

Contribute   content like this. Start here
http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/SIG=11kkaiovl/**http%3A/www.associatedcontent.c\
om/join/yahoonews .

Piracy isn't just for Hollywood these   days. Piracy  
has been around as long as sea trade has been around - by some  
accounts, piracy   dates back to the 13 th century BC (Source:
Wikipedia
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ac/lf_ac/storytext/2224968_piracy__an_\
ancient_crime_goes_modern/38437430/SIG=115re5igi/*http:/en.wikipedia.org\
/wiki/Pirate ). Modern-day piracy is a major   headache for the
shipping industry
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101108/lf_ac/2224968_piracy__an_ancient_cr\
ime_goes_modern , especially around Somalia   and Nigeria,
although pirate   attacks around southeast Asia and South
America   are also not uncommon. Far from being romantic Robin
Hoods of   the high seas, today's pirates
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101108/lf_ac/2224968_piracy__an_ancient_cr\
ime_goes_modern  are more akin to a sea-faring version of  
gangsters - with the AK-47s to prove it.

How modern piracy is carried out

Most of today's modern pirates use   speedboats to quickly
encircle large freight ships that have   trouble escaping
the much faster boats. Armed with shoulder-launched rockets  
and AKs, the   pirates warn the ship's captain
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101108/lf_ac/2224968_piracy__an_ancient_cr\
ime_goes_modern  that the ship will be blown out of the water  
unless   the ship is turned over to the pirates. The ship's
captain,   usually only   lightly armed and with much
more at stake than the pirates,   acquiesces and   hands
over the ship. At that point, the pirates contact the   ship
owners and   demand a ransom in order for the release of the
ship and its   cargo. (Source: NPR
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ac/lf_ac/storytext/2224968_piracy__an_\
ancient_crime_goes_modern/38437430/SIG=11vsvtipu/*http:/www.npr.org/temp\
lates/story/story.php?storyId=97187437 )

This is when the navy sails in with   white hats and saves the
day, banishing the pirate scum,   right? No, not quite.
To the contrary, most of the time, the pirates' demands are  
met; a ransom is   paid, and the ship and her crew are released.
And the pirates   move on to their   next victim.

Why do ship owners give in to the   pirates' demands? Well, do
the math: You have a ship that's   worth $150 million,  
together with cargo that's worth another $100 million. If a  
pirate asks you for   a one million dollar ransom, this is worth
1/250 th of the   cost of your ship   and your cargo,
not to mention that the lives of your crew are   at stake. Would
you rather pay this somewhat paltry amount to the pirates, or  
wait for   reinforcements, which might or might not be able to
save your   ship and your   crew?

Why piracy is so prevalent near Somalia

Currently, most modern-day piracy   occurs right off the coast
of Somalia
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101108/lf_ac/2224968_piracy__an_ancient_cr\
ime_goes_modern . In fact, according to the International  
Chamber of Commerce's weekly piracy report, most of the last  
fifteen piracy   incidents happened either in the Gulf of Aden,
which is off   the coast of northern Somalia
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101108/lf_ac/2224968_piracy__an_ancient_cr\
ime_goes_modern , or just east of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital
city.

There are two main reasons for Somalia   being a hotbed of
modern piracy: first, Somalia is a   notoriously unstable nation
that has been embroiled in civil   war for decades. The
current Somali government claims (probably rightly) that it  
does not have the   resources to pursue the pirates (Source: NPR
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ac/lf_ac/storytext/2224968_piracy__an_\
ancient_crime_goes_modern/38437430/SIG=11vsvtipu/*http:/www.npr.org/temp\
lates/story/story.php?storyId=97187437 ).

Second, Somalia's geographic location   makes   it a
perfect place for pirates to pick off large ships.   Because of
its   proximity to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101108/lf_ac/2224968_piracy__an_ancient_cr\
ime_goes_modern , 

[osint] Netherlands unable to refuse entry to Iranians

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/dutch-news/netherlands-unable-to-refuse-\
entry-to-iranians_108969.html
http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/dutch-news/netherlands-unable-to-refuse\
-entry-to-iranians_108969.html   Netherlands  unable to
refuse entry to Iranians   08/11/2010

RNW

Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal   says the Netherlands cannot
refuse entry to, or freeze the   bank accounts of Iranians
suspected of human rights   violations. However, the minister
said he would call on the   European Union to introduce such
sanctions at some point in   the future.

The minister made his remarks in reaction to parliamentary
questions by the Christian Union, the Christian Democrats, the
conservative VVD, the Freedom Party PVV and the orthodox SGP.
The five parties wanted to know whether the Netherlands could
refuse entry to eight Iranians on a US black list.

Mr Rosenthal says there is no legal basis for such a move in
either Dutch or EU law. EU sanctions on Iranian citizens are
limited to those active in the Iranian nuclear programme. This
applies to Mohamed Ali Jafari, head of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards. He has been blacklisted by the United States and is
involved in Iran's controversial nuclear programme, so the
EU can deny him entry and freeze his assets.

The Dutch parliament wants to ban entry for Iranians guilty of
serious human rights violations. The five parties have pointed
to the oppression of peaceful protesters and activists after the
2009 elections. The United States has already introduced an
entry ban for Iranians suspected of human rights violations.



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





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[osint] German Foreign Minister: Iran’s Words Are not Enough

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/news.aspx/140516
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/news.aspx/140516
German Foreign Minister: Iran's Words Are not Enough


by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

Visiting Germany Foreign Minister   Guido Westerwelle told a
press conference that Iran's words   are not
enough but   added he still seeks a diplomatic solution
over the Islamic   Republic's   unsupervised nuclear
program.

He will visit Gaza during his tour but   will boycott Hamas. He
also will visit the family of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

At the press conference welcoming   his German counterpart,
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman   said that Iran is the
biggest threat in the Middle East. Not   only Iran
with its nuclear problem, but Iran   through its proxies in its
terrorist activity in all our   regions, is a danger,
he added. We see Iranian activities through proxies in  
Lebanon through Hizbullah, in the Palestinian   Authority
through Hamas, their deep involvement in Iraq,   in Yemen, in
Somalia and, of   course, this threat may be the biggest threat
that we are   facing as a Western   society, as a free
society in the modern world.

Foreign Minister Lieberman, in his   usually frank manner, said
that Germany   and Israel   don't have an
understanding on the settlement issue, but   really, it's clear
for me that the settlements are not obstacles to peace…. You
must understand   that we started with the settlement activity
only after '67,   and I don't   remember that during 19
years, between '48 and '67, when the   Arab world  
controlled all this territory, anybody tried to create a  
Palestinian state.

Nevertheless, Westerwelle replied,   We think it would be a
wise decision to freeze these   settlement activities.

Westerwelle called on Israel to lift its   partial blockade on
exports, arguing that it strengthens the   radicals and
weakens the moderates and the opposite is what we should be  
doing. Foreign   Minister Lieberman answered, We are ready
to export all their   [Gaza's] products to Germany,
to the United States, to Japan. I'm not   sure that there is a
place in the market. The problem of the   Gaza exports, first of
all, is the problem of   the market.

Regarding Shalit, who has been in   captivity for more than four
years and whose condition is not   known, the   visiting
Foreign Minister told reporters, We think that our  
Israeli friends   know that they can count on us. And I do not
want to comment   any further   because it is very
important that we help the family, that we   help this poor
young man and that we see him as soon as possible, safe and  
healthy, back in the   arms of his family.

So please understand that I do not want to comment on  
anything, not in this   and not in the other direction. It is
just a statement of   solidarity of what I   want to do
here, what I want to address.

Westerwelle said relations with Israel   are excellent, not only
because ofa very special responsibility for Israel
but also because   we both   follow democratic
values, and this is what counts for the   future.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)



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For more information go to:

[osint] UK - Islam Channel censured by Ofcom

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/08/islam-channel-ofcom
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/08/islam-channel-ofcom
Islam Channel censured by Ofcom

Programmes on the London-based   broadcaster had advocated
marital rape and violence against   women

* Josh Halliday
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/josh-halliday
* guardian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/ , Monday 8 November
2010 15.34 GMT
* Article  history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/08/islam-channel-ofcom#history\
-link-box

The presenter Nazreen   Nawaz on Islam   Channel, which
has been ruled as in breach of the broadcasting   code.

Ofcom http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/ofcom  has   ruled that
Islam http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/islamChannel, a
London-based broadcaster, broke the broadcasting   code for
advocating   marital rape, violence against women and describing
women who   wore perfume   outside of the home as
prostitutes.

Five programmes broadcast on the   satellite TV channel were
ruled to be in breach of   broadcasting guidelines, the
media regulator said today. Ofcom launched its investigation  
into the   programmes, which aired in 2008 and 2009, following a
report by the Quilliam thinktank
http://quilliamnews.org/JI3-AMRJ-2Q5VTJ-44ZJ0-1/c.aspx  that was
published in March.

In a programme first broadcast in   April last year, Ofcom ruled
that the Islam Channel host   Nazreen Nawaz condoned  
marital rape when she said: And really the idea that a woman  
cannot   refuse her husband's relations this is not strange to a
Muslim   because it is   part of maintaining that strong
marriage. But it shouldn't be   such a big problem  
where the man feels he has to force himself upon the woman.

The channel also broke the   broadcasting code by encouraging
violence against women, in a   QA session   on marital
violence, and for labelling women who wore perfume  
prostitutes.

The broadcaster, which was fined   £30,000 by Ofcom in 2007
for a series of breaches
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/jul/31/ofcom.broadcasting ,
also broke impartiality regulations for broadcasting one-sided  
coverage of   international affairs and the Middle East
conflict.

Ofcom remains concerned about   Islam Channel's understanding
and compliance processes in   relation to the  
[broadcasting] code, the media regulator said. This is  
particularly   the case, given that the Islam Channel has
previously been   fined for breaches   of the code
relating to due impartiality.

Ofcom is so concerned it has called   in the management from
Islam Channel for a top-level meeting   to explain and  
discuss its compliance processes in relation to the code.

Talal Rajab, author of the original   Quilliam report into Islam
Channel, added: At the same time,   there are  
encouraging signs that the channel is now making efforts to  
improve its output   and to give greater airtime to a wider
range of more   mainstream Muslim voices.   We stand
ready to help Islam Channel further improve and   diversify its
output   in order to avoid further problems. The Islam Channel
could   yet become a   powerful voice for greater social
harmony.

The report published in March by the   Quilliam thinktank had
found that Islam Channel regularly   promoted violent  
extremist views and regressive attitudes towards women. The  
foundation   monitored the channel's output over a three-month
period and a published a report in March
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/mar/26/islam-channe\
l-intolerant-islamclaiming that Islam Channel was implicit
in spreading   reactionary,   intolerant messages.

Following the report, Ofcom   requested recordings of a number
of Islam Channel programmes   citing the   allegations
raised potential issues under the broadcasting   code regarding
impartiality and harm and offence.

In a submission to the Ofcom report,   Islam Channel said that
it does not condone or encourage   violence towards  
women under any circumstances, and that it does not condone  
or   encourage marital rape. Ofcom considered that the
presenter   at the time   was clear that some form of
physical punishment towards a   woman was acceptable,  
in contrast to the channel's formal position.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email
edi...@mediaguardian.co.uk mailto:edi...@mediaguardian.co.uk 

[osint] “Defamation of Religions”, United Nations' failure to address the persecution of

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/29660
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/29660  
Defamation of Religions, United Nations' failure to
address the persecution of Christians   UN Resolution will
legitimize persecution of Christians
  By Nathan Tabor  Monday, November   8,   2010

Remember the prisoners as if   you were in prison  
yourself Hebrews 13.3

At least 52 Iraqi Christians were killed and over 60
injured in a terrorist inspired bloodbath at Baghdad's Our Lady
of Deliverance Catholic Church. U.S. special forces
troops, together with Iraqi security forces, launched a deadly
attempt to free the Christian being held hostage by the
terrorist captors.

The Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq claimed
responsibility and threatened to exterminate Iraqi Christians.
This shadowy jihad terror network justified the savagery on
religious grounds, claiming that the church was an
obscene nest of the polytheists [infidels] and a
base for their struggle against the religion of Islam.

Since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, more
than half of Iraq's Christian population has been forced by
targeted violence to seek refuge abroad or to live away
from their homes as internally displaced people.

Meanwhile, officials in the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea continue see Christianity as a threat to their
philosophy of state control. While North Korean
authorities deny imprisoning, torturing and killing
Christians—in the same way they denied working on a nuclear
weapon—Christians living North Korea have suffered
government-sanctioned persecution since the brutal communist
regime came to power.

The Christian human-rights group Open Doors reports that
North Korea is number one on its annual World Watch List (WWL),
which ranks countries by the intensity of
persecution that Christians face for actively pursuing their
faith. However, North Korea and Iraq are not the
only countries whose Christian population are mistreated, abused
and killed on a daily basis.

As if the United Nations' failure to address the
persecution of Christians weren't bad enough, that international
body's resolution called Defamation of Religions 
will lay the legal ground work for a country to legalize
persecution of their citizens if they believe in a
different religion than the state. Such a resolution would be of
great assistance to Muslim, communist and socialist nations who
view the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible
impediments to their political or theological goals.

Few should be surprised that the Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC), an inter-governmental organization of 57
states with majority or significant Muslim populations, has been
working for several years through the United Nations
system to justify and advance the Defamation of
Religions Resolution. The Resolution, introduced in the UN,
seeks to criminalize words or actions that are deemed to be
against a particular religion, especially against Islam.

Although proponents justify the defamation of
religion concept as protecting religious practice and promoting
tolerance, it really promotes intolerance and human rights
violations of religious freedom and freedom of speech
for religious minorities in these countries.

The Defamation of Religions Resolution has the effect of
providing international legitimacy for national laws that punish
blasphemy or otherwise ban criticism of a religion.

The Muslim members of OIC are expected to propose to the
UN General Assembly another defamation of religions
resolution to be voted on late November/early December of this
year.

Now the officials at Open Doors—a Christian ministry
that reaches out to those in prison, helps defend those without
advocates and protects defenseless Christian families—has
initiated a campaign to halt the U.N.`s threat to
religious freedom and tolerance.

Called Free to Believe,its goal is to generate support
against the anti-Christian U.N. resolution that will lay the
legal ground work for a country to legalize persecution of their
citizens if they believe in a different religion than
the state.

Few know of the growing violence against Christians in
places like India today. Believers are cut 

[osint] Failed Al Qaeda plot involved sewing bombs inside dogs

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/man_worst_fiends_in_dog_plot_\
1h93g9Om3R6t0AGAR7XOtI
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/man_worst_fiends_in_dog_plot\
_1h93g9Om3R6t0AGAR7XOtI
Failed Al Qaeda plot involved sewing
bombs inside dogs
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/man_worst_fiends_in_dog_plot\
_1h93g9Om3R6t0AGAR7XOtI

By BILL SANDERSON

Last Updated: 11:29 AM, November 7,   2010

Posted: 9:33 PM, November 6, 2010

Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq   tried to   unleash deadly
terror in the skies by deploying a pair of   kamikaze canines on
a   US-bound plane, a French newspaper reports.

The diabolical plot   failed because the bombs were so badly
stitched inside the   poor pooches that   they died,
said the respected Paris   daily Le Figaro.

This case   illustrates the determination of al Qaeda
militants, who are   trying to   circumvent terrorism
controls by any means, French   criminologist  
Christophe Naudin, an aviation security expert, told the  
newspaper.


RUH-ROH! Al Qaeda evildoers took advantage of Americans'
sympathy for suffering dogs in Iraq to plant
bombs in US-bound pooches -- and they would have gotten away
with it, too, if not for some meddlingGIs.

YEMEN MANHUNT
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/yemen_manhunt_72Um8BDxPRPMZf\
dZvO5K6O

The plot unfolded two   years ago, when al Qaeda bomb makers
grabbed the two stray   dogs off the street   and
surgically implanted powerful explosives and detonators in  
each.

The dogs were then   placed in kennel carriers and sent to the
Baghdad   airport for a flight to the US.   Le Figaro
didn't say what city they were headed for.

It's not unusual for   dogs to fly from Iraq to the  
US.   Several animal-rescue groups work to give Iraqi dogs new
US   homes, and US soldiers   have also adopted pooches
there.

It's believed al Qaeda   planned for the dogs to explode in
flight.

But before the dogs were   put aboard their plane, US  
soldiers working in the airport's cargo area noticed they had  
died -- and soon   discovered the bombs stitched inside them.

US intelligence agencies   shared the   story of the
dogs' cruel fate with other Western spy agencies   and
distributed   necropsy photos of the dogs and bombs to aviation
security   professionals, Le   Figaro said.

Also, the International   Civil Aviation Organization alerted
security agencies around   the world of the  
possibility of kamikaze canine attacks.

Details are still   emerging of last month's terror plot in
which Yemeni al Qaeda   operatives   stashed bombs
inside computer printer cartridges, which they   hoped to blow
up   aboard US-bound cargo jets.

That plot unraveled when   Muhammad bin Nayef, a Saudi prince
involved in intelligence   work, learned of   the plan
and the packages' tracking numbers and passed them on   to the
CIA.

Just as they tried to   hide bombs in dogs' bodies, al Qaeda has
also tried hiding   bombs inside people.

Last year, an al Qaeda   suicide bomber tried to assassinate bin
Nayef with an   explosive device hidden in   his rectum
like a suppository. Bin Nayef was slightly injured   in the
attack.

bill.sander...@nypost.com mailto:bill.sander...@nypost.com




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included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of 
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as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use 
this copyrighted material for purposes of 

[osint] Federal judges in Norfolk wrestle over definition of piracy

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/11/federal-courts-norfolk-wrestle-over-defi\
nition-piracy?cid=mc
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/11/federal-courts-norfolk-wrestle-over-def\
inition-piracy?cid=mc   Federal judges in Norfolk wrestle
over definition of piracy   Posted to: Crime
http://hamptonroads.com/category/pilotonline.com/news/crime  Military
http://hamptonroads.com/category/pilotonline.com/military  News
http://hamptonroads.com/category/pilotonline.com/news  Norfolk
http://hamptonroads.com/category/norfolk
  [X]

Click a thumbnail to view the full-size image. Buy Pilot
photos here. http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/virginianp



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Close Gallery



  A suspected   pirates skiff burns after being destroyed near
the amphibious   dock landing ship   Ashland. (U.S.
Navy photo)



attack   no. 1
The incident Shortly after midnight April 1, the   Nicholas, a
Norfolk-based frigate, took small-arms fire from   men in a
small   skiff. The Nicholas returned fire and then chased down
the   skiff and its mother   ship, capturing five
Somalis.

The legal case   U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis upheld 14
charges of piracy   and related   charges. The trial
begins Tuesday in Norfolk.
attack   no. 2
The incident Around 5 a.m. April 10, the Ashland, a Little  
Creek-based amphibious dock   landing ship, took fire from men
in a small boat. The Ashland   shot back, setting fire to the
skiff.   Six Somalis were rescued and captured. One died.

The legal case   U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson ruled
piracy is defined   by robbery at   sea, based on a
Supreme Court ruling in 1820. The case was halted and
the government has appealed.



By Tim McGlone http://hamptonroads.com/2007/10/tim-mcglone
The Virginian-Pilot
© November 8, 2010

NORFOLK

For the first time since the 19th century, piracy
suspects will go on trial in a federal court in a case that
legal experts see as precedent-setting.

Already there are conflicting rulings in the cases
against two groups of Somali nationals charged with attacking
Navy ships off the Horn of Africa earlier this year.

But only one group is now going to trial. Jury selection
in that case begins Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The other
group must wait for a decision by the federal appeals court or,
ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis last month upheld
piracy and related charges in a 14-count indictment against the
five Somalis charged in the April 1 attack on the Nicholas, a
Norfolk-based frigate.

Davis' conclusion was opposite the one reached by Judge
Raymond A. Jackson, sitting two floors below Davis in the same
courthouse, in August in a case involving the April 10 attack on
the Ashland, based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek.

Jackson determined that he must interpret the piracy statute as
it was meant at the time it was enacted, which was 1819. He
found, citing an 1820 Supreme Court case, that piracy is
defined only as robbery at sea. Since there was no robbery
of the Ashland, he threw out the piracy charge. The government
appealed and the case was halted.

The conflicting decisions have set legal scholars abuzz.

These decisions in the federal court in Norfolk have stirred up
quite a bit of interest, said University of Virginia Law School
professor George Rutherglen. It was last thoroughly litigated
in the 19th century. Without a whole lot of precedent,
the judges are reasoning from rather remote principles.

The jury chosen this week will be asked to decide, for
the first time in this country since 1819, whether someone is a
pirate.

Just after midnight on April 1, the Nicholas, while on
anti-piracy patrol off the Somali coast, took fire from men in a
small skiff. The Nicholas returned fire and then chased down the
skiff and its mother ship, capturing five Somalis.

Some of the Somalis are expected to say at the trial
that they were fishermen kidnapped by the real pirates, who they
say got away that day.

Three boats were involved in the incident. When the
Nicholas returned fire, one skiff sank while another escaped.
The mother ship 

[osint] UK - Freeing terrorists could cost taxpayer millions

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8116881/Freei\
ng-terrorists-could-cost-taxpayer-millions.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8116881/Free\
ing-terrorists-could-cost-taxpayer-millions.html   Freeing
terrorists could cost taxpayer millions   The   cost of
supervising 46 convicted terrorists   released from jail in
Britain   could exceed £20 million a year, it can be
disclosed.


Image 1 of 2

Aabid Khan   (L), who recruited Britain's   youngest
terrorist Hammaad Munshi and his cousin and   right-hand man
Sultan   Muhammad Photo: PA

  [Sohail
   Qureshi was jailed for preparing to commit terrorist acts in
   October 2006 at London's Heathrow airport as he prepared to
   fly to Pakistan]



Image 1 of 2

Sohail Qureshi was jailed for preparing to commit terrorist acts
in October 2006 at London's Heathrow airport as he
prepared to fly to Pakistan Photo:   REUTERS

  [Andy
 Bloxham]  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/

By Andy   Bloxham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/andybloxham/  6:23AM GMT 09 Nov
2010

Monitoring the former prisoners and ensuring compliance
with a series of restrictions is likely to cost 10 times more
than keeping them behind bars.

The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Monday
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8116234/Fort\
y-six-dangerous-terrorists-go-free-from-jail.html  that the men and
women who have been either released from prison or are
close to being freed pose a risk to the public.

The Ministry of Justice has issued probation officers
with detailed orders setting out limits to their freedom, which
were set out after warnings from security officials.

Although they are not identical, the licences are likely to
share a number of the conditions imposed under control
orders, which cost an average of around £225,000 per person a
year to implement.

So, if the cost of monitoring the 46 terrorists was at
this level, the annual total would run to just under
£10.4million.

However, some estimates put the potential figure at
double that.

Monitoring of suspects in often done in two teams of
eight to 12 officers, working 12-hour shifts, four of which
count as overtime.

Harry Fletcher, of the National Association of Probation
Officers, said he anticipated it would cost a minimum of
£10,000 per suspect per week, meaning that if all 46
convicted terrorists were monitored in this way, the
annual bill would be around £24m.

By contrast, the average cost of keeping a prisoner in
jail is around £40,000, varying from around £8,000 for a
low-security prison such as Kirkham to upwards of £60,000 for
a high-security unit such as Belmarsh.

The restrictions on the terrorists are understood to
include bans on: using computers, associating with anyone with a
criminal record, visiting certain mosques, and contacting imams
who are not on the approved Government list.

The conditions of the licences, which are issued
individually, could also prevent them from working, which would
mean they would become eligible for thousands of pounds each in
benefits per year.

Keeping convicted terrorists in Britain also has other
costs, not least the £8m in legal fees the Government has
generated in defending the relevant legislation against
challenges since it was introduced.

The cost comes at a time of belt-tightening in the
public sector: the Home Office has been told to make cuts of
27%; several thousand police jobs will go, with thousands more
among court staff and prison officers in the Ministry of
Justice. Several police forces are likely to merge.

Mr Fletcher, of Napo, said: It's extremely difficult to
reconcile the cuts to police and probation services
while terrorists are being released because they have come
to the end of their sentence.

A spokesman for the Prison Officers' Association said:
The cost of monitoring like this can be very high: the level of
intelligence and supervision required is going to be
significant.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: We do not
recognise these figures. Ensuring compliance with licence
conditions for terrorist offenders does not cost more or less
than for other offenders of similar risk. Licence
conditions should not be confused with control orders.

Public 

[osint] UK - 'Sexual predators': Gang of Asian men weep as they are jailed for total of

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327056/Gang-Asian-sexual-predat\
ors-jailed-grooming-girls-young-12.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327056/Gang-Asian-sexual-preda\
tors-jailed-grooming-girls-young-12.html'Sexual predators':
Gang of Asian men weep as they are jailed for total of 32 years
for abusing white girls as young as 12
By Paul Sims
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=yauthornamef=Paul+Sims
Last updated at 4:54 PM on 6th November 2010

A gang of Asian `sexual predators' were jailed
yesterday for abusing white girls as young as 12.

The five men preyed on their victims over several months
and threatened them with violence if they refused their
advances.

One of the men branded his victim a `white
bitch' when she resisted, while a second smirked: `I've used
you and abused you.'

Mohsin Khan, 21, left (jailed for four years) and Razwan
Razaq, 30 (jailed for 11 years) were convicted of a
string of sexually related offences against girls as young as 12

Umar Razaq, 24, left (jailed for four and a half years)
and Zafran Ramzan, 21 (jailed for nine years), prowled
the streets looking for girls, attacking them in parks and in
the back of their cars

Adil Hussain, 20, was jailed for four and a half years

The men, all British-born Pakistanis, attacked the four
girls in play areas, parks and in the back of their cars,
Sheffield Crown Court heard.

They gave them gifts and introduced them to their
friends. The girls were abused so frequently that after many
months it `became a way of life'.

The girls, who were being monitored by social services,
were eventually rescued by police and removed from their homes
amid growing concerns for their safety.

Two of the men wept in the dock yesterday as they were
jailed.

Judge Peter Kelson QC told them: `I've listened
to the backdrop of some of you sobbing – I have to say your
weeping cuts no ice with me at all.

`You had what you regarded as your fun, now you will
take your punishment.'

The five, Umar Razaq, 24, Razwan Razaq, 30, Zafran
Ramzan, 21, Adil Hussain, 20, and Mohsin Khan, 21, were found
guilty of a string of sexually related offences against the
girls, one aged 12, two aged 13 and one aged 16.

Ramzan was found guilty of raping the 16-year-old girl
in her own home, and the other four were found guilty of
sexual activity with a child.

Umar Razaq was jailed for four and a half years, while
the judge gave Razwan Razaq 11 years.

Ramzan was jailed for nine years, and Hussain and Khan
both received four years. All five were placed on the sex
offenders register. Three further men were cleared.

The attacks took place in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, during
2008, the court was told. Khan, a mortgage adviser who
owned a BMW, described his victim as a `little stick'
who looked as if she had not reached puberty.

Despite this he told her he loved her and would spoil
her like a `princess'.

During the seven-week trial the jury were told how the
men drove around the streets looking for girls. The teenagers
believed they were in relationships with the much older men.

On one occasion Umar Razaq tried to pull the clothes off
one of the 13-year-olds.

When she resisted he pulled her hair and called her a
`white bitch'.

On another occasion Umar introduced the girl to his
brother Razwan who had sex with her in his car.

Afterwards he told her: `I've used you and
abused you.' When Ramzan was asked by police what age he was
attracted to he later replied: `As long as they are not too
young and they're legal, that's it.'

The authorities were alerted after some changes were
noted in the behaviour of the victims and they were removed from
their homes.

Joyce Thacker, director of Rotherham's children and young
people's services, said the girls were under child
protection plans following family breakdowns or other
issues with their behaviour.

`When we pieced together a map of what was happening
we stepped in very quickly to move these girls to a place of
safety outside Rotherham,' she said.

`It started off as a grooming exercise by the men
who became friendly with the girls, gave them gifts and
introduced them to their friends.

`When they got used to being abused it just became 

[osint] Gaddafi son's reporters arrested in Libya

2010-11-09 Thread gwen831
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/gaddafi-sons-reporters-arrest\
ed-in-libya-20101109-17kqu.html
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/gaddafi-sons-reporters-arres\
ted-in-libya-20101109-17kqu.html
Gaddafi son's reporters arrested in Libya

November 9, 2010

AFP

Libyan police have arrested 20 journalists working for titles close to
the reformist son of veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi, amid a mounting
backlash from conservatives, their employer said on Monday.

The Oea weekly and the Libyapress news agency, both run by the Al-Ghad
publishing company sponsored by Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, said that 10 of
their journalists had been picked up by agents of the Internal Security
Agency, among them three Tunisians and two Egyptians.

A further 10 journalists working for Al-Ghad titles were rounded up in a
second wave of arrests, the company said.

Libyapress condemned what it called the shameful and scandalous
detention of its staff and demanded their immediate release.

Al-Ghad said it had been ordered to suspend publication of Oea after the
state printing press produced its own version of the paper on Sunday
with the slightly amended title Sabah Oea (Morning Oea) but with the
same masthead and editor's name.

The company said the fake government version had no connection with
the real paper and condemned what it called a first in the annals of
the Libyan press.

The Al-Ghad titles said the arrests may have come in response to an
editorial in Oea calling for a return to government of some of the
leaders of the 1969 revolution that brought Gaddafi to power who have
since been driven from office.

The editorial said that the return of men like Abdelsalem Jalloud,
currently without any public position, would help in the fight against
rampant corruption.

Other Libyan sources said that the security police had also been angered
by the publication by Libyapress last Thursday of a report that 1980s
strongman Ahmed Ibrahim had launched a campaign against the
rehabilitation of political exiles, a key policy championed by Seif
al-Islam.

Since Oea and its sister title Quryna first hit the news stands in
August 2007, the Al-Ghad titles have covered a raft of sensitive issues,
including corruption, human rights and the Islamist opposition.

The company already lost its television channel Al-Libiya in June last
year when the government made broadcasting a state monopoly.

Oea has also had to switch from being a daily to a weekly, officially
for financial reasons.

Long a key figure in Libya's foreign policy and an architect of the once
pariah state's rapprochement with the West, Seif al-Islam has become an
outspoken champion of domestic reform over the past three years.

As well as greater press freedom and the return of exiles, he has
advocated privatisation of big swathes of Libya's large state sector and
the relaxation of restrictions on the Berber minority.

© 2010 AFP
http://news.smh.com.au/action/displayCopyrightNotice?sourceOrganisation\
=AFP


 
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/gaddafi-sons-reporters-arres\
ted-in-libya-20101109-17kqu.html



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[osint] Purported bomber warns Denmark of more attacks

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831
Purported bomber warns Denmark of more attacks
By KATARINA KRATOVAC

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — A new al-Qaida video identifies the Saudi
purportedly behind a suicide bombing at the Danish Embassy in Pakistan,
and he is shown warning in a taped last testament that more attacks will
punish Denmark over newspaper caricatures of Islam's founder.

In the 55-minute video posted on the Internet late Thursday, the alleged
bomber is referred to both by a nom de guerre, Abu Ghareeb al-Makki, and
by his real name, Kamal Saleem Atiyyah al-Fudli al-Hathli. He appears in
an explosives vest as he recounts his plan for the attack.

As for my final message to the worshippers of the cross in Denmark, I
tell them, Allah permitting, this isn't the first nor the last
retaliation, al-Makki says. We will wipe you from the face of the
Earth.

The June 2 blast killed six people, including a Danish citizen. Al-Qaida
claimed responsibility, saying it was carrying out Osama bin Laden's
promise to exact revenge for the 2006 publication by Danish newspapers
of a dozen cartoons showing the Prophet Muhammad.

Islam forbids any depiction of Muhammad, even favorable, for fear it
could lead to idolatry, and the cartoons sparked riots across the Muslim
world. Denmark's PET intelligence service warned last month that the
country faced its worst terror threat in many years.

The video also shows al-Qaida's top commander in Afghanistan, Mustafa
Abu al-Yazeed, praising al-Makki bomber and warning of more attacks.

In August, Pakistani officials said they were trying to confirm whether
a suspected militant killed in fighting in the tribal Bajur area was Abu
al-Yazeed, but there has been no comment since. Thursday's video did not
indicate when the footage of Abu al-Yazeed was taped.

The video's authenticity could not be independently verified. It was
posted on an Islamic militant Web forum commonly used by al-Qaida to
issue videos.

Jakob Scharf, chief of the PET intelligence service, said the agency
believes the bomber featured in Thursday's video very likely executed
the attack in Pakistan.

Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Egypt, and Jan M.
Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hPsHRGnpEArRKBmgy60-UqRALV3gD930PUO80
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hPsHRGnpEArRKBmgy60-UqRALV3gD930PUO8\
0


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[osint] Saif Al-Islam: Lockerbie Families were 'Very Greedy'

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831

Saif Al-Islam: Lockerbie Families were 'Very Greedy'
07/09/2008 01:21:00














Photo: Saif al-Islam al-Qathafi

In an interview on the same BBC2 programme, Saif al-Islam al-Qathafi,
chairman of the Al-Qathafi Foundation for Human Rights accused relatives
of the Lockerbie victims of being very greedy during negotiations over
payouts for the deaths of their loved ones. He said that the Lockerbie
families had traded with the blood of their sons and daughters during
negotiations.

Saif went on to say that the Libyan government had only taken
responsibility for Britain's worst terrorist attack in order to get
international sanctions lifted.

You have to ask the families of the victims, he said. The negotiation
with them, it was very terrible and very materialistic and was very
greedy. They were asking for more money and more money and more money.

He continued: I think they were very greedy and I think they were
trading with the blood of their sons and daughters.

He admitted to the program's producer Guy Smith that the Libyan
government had merely accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing
in order to get international sanctions lifted.

Yes, we wrote a letter to the Security Council saying we are
responsible for the acts of our employees... but it doesn't mean that we
did it in fact.

In the meantime, Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was one of the 270
people killed in the Pan Am explosion, said the compensation received by
relatives could never make up for the loss of loved ones.

Implying that the truth about the Lockorbie case was lost because of its
politicization, Swire added that he just wished that the needs of the
relatives, namely a thirst for the truth and for justice would be
attended to, rather than an alleged hunger for money.

http://tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1i=2348
http://tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1i=2348







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[osint] Islam group urges forest fire jihad

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831
Sunday,  September 7, 2008  Islam group urges forest fire jihad
http://www.theage.com.au/national/islam-group-urges-forest-fire-jihad-2\
0080906-4b53.html?page=-1
* Josh Gordon
* September 7, 2008

AUSTRALIA has been singled out as a target for forest jihad by a group
of Islamic extremists urging Muslims to deliberately light bushfires as
a weapon of terror.

US intelligence channels earlier this year identified a website calling
on Muslims in Australia, the US, Europe and Russia to start forest
fires, claiming scholars have justified chopping down and burning the
infidels' forests when they do the same to our lands.

The website, posted by a group called the Al-Ikhlas Islamic Network,
argues in Arabic that lighting fires is an effective form of terrorism
justified in Islamic law under the eye for an eye doctrine.

The posting — which instructs jihadis to remember forest jihad in
summer months — says fires cause economic damage and pollution, tie
up security agencies and can take months to extinguish so that this
terror will haunt them for an extended period of time.

Imagine if, after all the losses caused by such an event, a jihadist
organisation were to claim responsibility for the forest fires, the
website says. You can hardly begin to imagine the level of fear that
would take hold of people in the United States, in Europe, in Russia and
in Australia.

With the nation heading into another hot, dry summer, Australian
intelligence agencies are treating the possibility that bushfires could
be used as a weapon of terrorism as a serious concern.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the Federal Government remained
vigilant against such threats, warning that anyone caught lighting a
fire as a weapon of terror would feel the wrath of anti-terror laws.

Any information that suggests a threat to Australia's interests is
investigated by relevant agencies as appropriate, Mr McClelland said.

Adam Dolnik, director of research at the University of Wollongong's
Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention, said that bushfires (unlike
suicide bombing) were generally not considered a glorious type of attack
by jihadis, in keeping with a recent decline in the sophistication of
terrorist operations.

With attacks like bushfires, yes, it would be easy. It would be very
damaging and we do see a decreasing sophistication as a part of
terrorist attacks, Dr Dolnik said.

In recent years, there have been quite a few attacks averted and it has
become more and more difficult for groups to do something effective.

Dr Dolnik said he had observed an increase in traffic on jihadi websites
calling for a simplification of terrorist attacks because the more
complex operations had been failing. But starting bushfires was still
often regarded as less effective than other operations because
governments could easily deny terrorism as the cause.

The internet posting by the little-known group claimed the idea of
forest fires had been attributed to imprisoned Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab
Al-Suri. It said Al-Suri had urged terrorists to use sulphuric acid and
petrol to start forest fires.

Source: The Age
http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2008/09/islam-group-urges-fores\
t-fire-jihad.html
http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2008/09/islam-group-urges-fore\
st-fire-jihad.html


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[osint] Prosecutors: German terror cell targeted Americans

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831
Prosecutors: German terror cell targeted Americans


  2008-09-05 15:34:03 -

BERLIN (AP) - Terrorist attacks plotted by a German cell of an al-Qaida
linked group were intended to kill as many Americans as possible, and
members had looked into bombing restaurants, pubs, discos and airports,
federal prosecutors said Friday.
Two German converts to Islam _ Fritz Martin Gelowicz, 29, and Daniel
Martin Schneider, 22 _

and Adem Yilmaz, 29, a Turk living in Germany, were all charged Tuesday
with membership in a terrorist organization in the plots allegedly led
by Gelowicz. No attacks were ever carried out.
Another man, Attila Selek, a 23-year-old German national, was arrested
in November 2007 in Turkey. Germany is seeking his extradition.
A fifth suspect, identified only as Dana B., remains under
investigation, said Frank Wallenta, a spokesman for federal prosecutors
in Karlsruhe.
He would not comment, however, on whether authorities know the
whereabouts of Dana B. or whether there are other suspects. He said he
could also not give the names of the suspects' defense attorneys.
The suspects operated as a German cell of the radical Islamic Jihad
Union _ a group the U.S. State Department says was responsible for
coordinated bombings outside the U.S. and Israeli embassies in July 2004
in Uzbekistan _ according to a statement with new details on the alleged
plot from the federal prosecutors' office.
«The goal of those accused was to carry out bombing attacks in
Germany, in particular against American citizens and American facilities
to cause the greatest number of casualties,» the statement said.
At least the three charged this week in Germany trained at a camp run by
the Islamic Jihad Union in the border area of Pakistan and Afghanistan,
the statement said.
Upon their return at the end of 2006, they scouted possible targets _
including the U.S. military's base in Hanau _ and stockpiled hundreds of
kilograms (pounds) of highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide at a rented
cottage in central Germany, prosecutors said. The chemicals were enough
to build bombs equal to at least 410 kilograms (more than 900 pounds) of
dynamite, prosecutors said.
Authorities have said the bombs would have been more powerful than those
that killed 191 commuters in Madrid in 2004 and 52 commuters in London
in 2005.
As work was being done on the bombs, Gelowicz sent Selek to Turkey to
purchase triggering mechanisms, which were to be smuggled back to
Germany in the soles of his shoes, prosecutors said.
The group was looking at attacks in many cities, including Frankfurt,
Dortmund, Duesseldorf, Cologne, Stuttgart, Munich and Ramstein _ home of
a large U.S. Air Force base _ which were to be carried out before
parliament voted in October, 2007, to extend Germany's commitment of
troops to Afghanistan, prosecutors said.
Despite their well developed plot, authorities say they were never close
to reaching their goals.

The cell came to the attention of law enforcement officials in 2006,
when Gelowicz, Selek and Dana B. were spotted scouting the Hanau base on
New Year's Eve and were put under surveillance, authorities have said.
Over the next six months, they were observed gathering the chemicals,
and German authorities _ acting partially on intelligence from the U.S.
_ covertly swapped out all of the hydrogen peroxide with a more diluted
solution that could not have been used to produce a bomb.
Gelowicz, Schneider and Yilmaz all were arrested Sept. 4,  2007, in
Germany and have been held ever since. Selek was arrested a month later
in Turkey.
During Schneider's arrest, the suspect grabbed a police officer's
handgun and managed to squeeze off a shot, prosecutors said. The officer
was uninjured, but Schneider faces a charge of attempted murder, which
carries a possible sentence of life in prison.
In addition, Schneider, Gelowicz and Yilmaz all face charges of
membership in a terrorist organization, preparing bombing attacks and
conspiracy to commit murder and a bombing attack _ which together carry
a 10-year maximum.
Wallenta said it is not yet sure when the case would go to trial.

http://www.pr-inside.com/prosecutors-german-terror-cell-targeted-r790404\
.htm
http://www.pr-inside.com/prosecutors-german-terror-cell-targeted-r79040\
4.htm







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[osint] Islamic Jihad to protest against Hamas

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831
Islamic Jihad to protest against Hamas
(AFP)

6 September 2008



GAZA CITY - Teachers loyal to the Islamic Jihad movement on Saturday
planned to protest against both the Hamas-run government's recent
sacking of civil servants and the resulting territory-wide strikes.

Ahead of the demonstration, which was planned for 10:00 am (0800 GMT),
Hamas summoned Mohammed Shalah -- the brother of exiled senior Islamic
Jihad leader Ramadan Shalah -- for questioning, a Jihad spokesman told
AFP.

Doctors and teachers across the isolated territory have been on strike
for more than a week in protest at the Islamist-run government's firing
of civil servants who belong to the Fatah party of Palestinian president
Mahmud Abbas.

The two main Palestinian movements have been bitterly divided since
Hamas seized power in the impoverished territory of 1.5 million people
after routing Abbas's security forces in a week of bloody street battles
in June 2007.

Islamic Jihad and other smaller Palestinian factions have generally
remained neutral in the dispute while calling for national unity.
 
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=section=middleeas\
txfile=data/middleeast/2008/September/middleeast_September78.xml
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=section=middleea\
stxfile=data/middleeast/2008/September/middleeast_September78.xml


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[osint] Palestinian official says Iran supports Hamas and Islamic Jihad

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831

Palestinian official says Iran supports Hamas and   Islamic Jihad









2008-09-06 17:56:41









 RAMALLAH,   Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iran provides support to Islamic  
Palestinian groups of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in West Bank and Gaza
Strip, a Palestinian   factional official said on Saturday.

 Iran supports Hamas, the Islamic Jihad   movement and other
Palestinian groups and this is not a secret, said   Samir Ghousha, a
leader from the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front.

 Hamas   controls Gaza Strip since last year after it routed the
secular Fatah   movement of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who
consolidated the   Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) rule in West
Bank while Hamas Islamists tightened   their grip on Gaza.

 To   support Egypt's efforts to settle the split   between Gaza and
WestBank,   Ghousha said his movement asked Egypt to send security
advisers and   monitors to Gaza Strip to help reforming and
restructuring the security   forces there away from Hamas' criteria.

 Ghousha   says his movement still welcomes the Egyptian proposal to
send Arab forces to   Gaza. But since Hamas rejects the   idea, he said
that Egyptian security experts may resolve the crisis among the  
security services.

 Hamas   says that the security services, loyal to Abbas, tried to
block its rule   which was gained by winning parliamentary elections in
2006 and this has made   the Islamic movement forcibly takeover the Gaza
Strip.







Editor: Lin Liyu



http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/06/content_9808258.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/06/content_9808258.htm



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[osint] India_Tasks for Zardari

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831
Tasks for Zardari
By Farhan Bokhari and Daniel Dombey

Published: September  5 2008 03:00 | Last updated: September  5 2008
03:00

Less than a year ago, Asif Ali Zardari would have hardly been considered
a likely candidate for high office. His image was that of a flamboyant
polo-playing former businessman who had to fight allegations of
corruption and shake off the nickname of Mr Ten Per Cent.

But tomorrow he is widely expected to become the next president of
Pakistan - a nuclear-armed state with a raging insurgency on its hands
and al-Qaeda safe havens on its territory. As Pakistan's strategic
importance to the west grows ever greater, he is set to become a central
figure in America's war against terror.

The nightmare for Washington is that Pakistan's nuclear weapons fall one
day into the hands of Islamist extremists. Among its very highest
priorities are preventing al-Qaeda from planning another September
11-style attack from its Pakistani base and stopping support for the
Taliban in Pakistan's border regions from fatally weakening Nato's
efforts in Afghanistan. But in Pakistan, where civilian power has often
been constrained and where anti-American sentiment is on the rise, there
may be real limits to Mr Zardari's willingness or ability to co-operate
with such an agenda.

The 53-year-old's unlikely rise came after the assassination of his
wife, Benazir Bhutto, plunged him into the heart of Pakistani politics
last December as co-chair of her Pakistani People's party, together with
their 19-year-old son Bilawal.

On Tuesday, Mr Zardari was reminded once more that the risks politicians
face in Pakistan are far from just electoral, when shots were fired at
the bullet-proof car of Yusuf Raza Gilani, prime minister. No one was
hurt but the attack on the prime minister's well-protected motorcade was
another pointer to how Pakistani leaders remain vulnerable to a bloody
backlash by Islamic militants who oppose any government support for the
US and its aims.

Parliamentary elections in February, in which the PPP emerged as the
biggest party, and the subsequent marginalisation of Pervez Musharraf,
long Pakistan's US-backed ruler, gave Mr Zardari real power. Now the
highest office in the land is his for the taking, thanks to Mr
Musharraf's resignation last month under heavy pressure from the
civilian politicians.

The PPP does not have a majority in the federal parliament on its own.
But Mr Zardari has won support from regional political parties,
including a bloc of Islamists as well as independent candidates. That
should net him well over half the required votes from the electoral
college of 700 federal and provincial MPs. Although he will not have the
authority of his late wife, the leading PPP figure for three decades, Mr
Zardari is eager to emerge as a unifying figure in a country in which
militancy is on the rise. Our politics is aimed at saving Pakistan from
disintegration, he said in remarks published in the Pakistani press on
Wednesday.

His opponents see things differently. If, God forbid, Mr Zardari
becomes the president, there are enough controversies over him that
would make him a divisive figure to lead this country, says Mushahid
Hussain, a presidential contender from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid
e Azam (PML-Q), the party previously loyal to Mr Musharraf. Given the
challenges we face as a country, we need national unity rather than
disunity. Zardari should be the last man to become president.

Nor do those who question Mr Zardari's fitness for office refer just to
the past allegations of corruption - which his friends say have never
been conclusively proved. In instances where he has been sentenced,
there were sufficient grounds to enter an appeal in a higher court, Mr
Zardari's friends add. A Financial Times investigation last month
revealed he had submitted documents to a court in the UK citing
psychological problems such as dementia, major depressive disorder and
posttraumatic stress disorder. Mr Zardari used the medical diagnoses to
argue successfully for the postponement of a now-defunct English High
Court case in which Pakistan's government was suing him over alleged
corruption.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, high commissioner to the UK and a friend of Mr
Zardari, says the concerns about his psychological health are
exaggerated and stem from the days when he was imprisoned in Pakistan,
tortured and threatened with assassination. His doctors have declared
him medically fit to run for political office and free of any symptoms,
he says.

Still, any leader, no matter how fit, might find it difficult to
maintain a grip on Pakistan, not least because of its political
instability and the still unclear dividing lines between civilian
authorities and the military that has run the country for most of its 61
years as an independent state.

The real fear in Washington is that this sense of instability and
fragility will impede any progress, says Daniel Markey, a former US
official now at the Centre on 

[osint] Terrorism definition needed, says UAE

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831
Terrorism definition needed,
says UAE
James Reinl, United Nations Correspondent

* Last Updated: September 06. 2008 11:37PM UAE / September 6. 2008
7:37PM GMT

UNITED NATIONS // The UAE declared its commitment to tackling terrorism
during a UN debate on bolstering global co-operation but believes that
international efforts are being hampered by a failure to determine its
legal definition.

A two-day General Assembly forum concluded on Friday with the adoption
of a counter-terrorism resolution, but the world body's 192 members
remained deeply divided over what constitutes terrorism.

Despite years of discussion, there is no internationally accepted
definition of terrorism, partly because of the long-standing dispute
between Israelis and Palestinians.

What Israel describes as terrorist attacks are seen by many in the
Muslim world as the legitimate response of an occupied population to its
oppressor. In this analysis, Israel is seen to perpetrate what has
controversially been termed state-sponsored terrorism.

During the debate, the UAE, together with other Muslim nations, raised
the right of occupied populations to fight oppression, as well as
arguing against associating Islam with terrorism.

Anwar al Barout, chargé d'affaires of the UAE mission to the UN,
said: The UAE is convinced that terrorism is one of the greatest
challenges of the 21st century, and reiterates its commitment to
implementing the UN counter-terrorism strategy.

Speaking only days before the seventh anniversary of the September 11
attacks on New York and Washington, Mr Barout said the UAE had passed
federal laws that served to criminalise illegitimate activities
related to terrorism.

As well as legislation to tackle cyber crime and freeze the assets of
terrorist suspects, the Emirates was stepping up the battle against the
illegal trafficking of guns and drugs.

The UAE has introduced legislation and conducted educational
initiatives to ensure all possible measures were taken against
extremism, including through co-operation with Interpol, he said.

But the diplomat warned that the global fight against terrorism was
running into difficulties.

Mr Barout said: There is no legal definition of terrorism that
would distinguish between the rights of peoples to fight against
aggression in occupation and terrorism per se. He also endorsed
concerns expressed by many delegates from the Muslim world that
terrorism had become associated in the minds of many people with Islam.

We underscore again that it is impossible to link terrorism to any
religion or civilisation or specific ethnic group, thereby undermining,
jeopardising or instigating the undermining of religions and leading to
xenophobia.

The UAE's position was echoed by delegates from other Arab League
and Organisation of the Islamic Conference governments, with some
highlighting the lack of consensus on state-sponsored
terrorism, which they argued was perpetrated by Israel.

Daniel Carmon, an Israeli diplomat, reiterated his government's
position on attacks carried out by militants, saying his country had
been challenged from terrorism from its very beginning.

Israelis and Israeli interests have been the target of terrorist
attacks abroad, along our borders to the north and south, and in the
very heart of the country, he told delegates at UN headquarters in
Manhattan.

Disagreements over the definition of terrorism have long hindered
co-ordination efforts, with the General Assembly adopting the UN Global
Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Sept 2006 only after a year of fractious
negotiations.

The strategy focuses on addressing conditions that give rise to
terrorism, improving states' abilities to fight the problem and
ensuring that human rights and the rule of law are observed.

According to Srgjan Kerim, president of the General Assembly, the
strategy has improved global co-operation on intelligence-sharing,
technical assistance and training and helped tighten border controls and
banking systems.

Mr Kerim said that by reaffirming the UN's adoption of the
counter-terrorism strategy, members had risen above political
differences and taken collective and practical action on a
daunting and politically sensitive issue.

Robert Orr, chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force,
said UN members had put aside their differences in order to co-operate
on the genuine threats posed by terrorists.

We would love to see that definition tomorrow if all member states
could agree on it, said Mr Orr. But the point has been that
member states themselves decided to... adopt a strategy and proceed even
before a definition was adopted.

Mr Orr added that there were already 13 UN conventions defining specific
terrorist acts, such as hijacking, hostage-taking and bombing.

It is not like the lack of a definition means that there is a
Hobbesian free-flow, he said. A definition is important, but
there is already a large body of international law out there.

[osint] 13 Years since Tokyo: Re-Visiting the 'Superterrorism' Debate (part I)

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831
Volume II, Issue 2  Perspectives on Terrorism -   13 Years since Tokyo:
Re-Visiting the 'Superterrorism' Debate
By Adam Dolnik
Introduction [1]
On 20 March 1995, members of the Aum Shirikyo cult used sharpened
umbrella tips to pierce plastic bags filled with sarin nerve agent
onboard five trains converging at Tokyo's Kasumigaseki station.
Twelve people died and 1,039 were injured in what remains the largest
nonconventional terrorist attack in history. Then, only a month later,
an explosives laden truck detonated in front of the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring over
800 others in what at the time was the most lethal terrorist attack on
United States soil. These two events, while unrelated, served as the
catalyst for the overwhelming perception that it is no longer a question
of if a mass casualty terrorist attack using chemical,
biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons will occur, but
rather the question of when it will happen. In 2008, 13 years
since these two tragic events, we are still waiting for these gory
predictions of CBRN superterrorism to materialize. This
article will revisit some of the core questions in the
superterrorism debate, particularly in relation to recent
trends, such as the apparent decentralization and de-territorialisation
of the phenomenon.

The debate

Even in 1995, the concerns about the threat of superterrorism
were not new. As far back as 1975, Brian Michael Jenkins had already
asked the most important questions.[2] Many other contributions into
this largely theoretical debate followed, especially in light of the
heightened sense of uncertainty and vulnerability to non-state actors as
the end of the Cold War neared. Originally, the discussion concentrated
primarily on capabilities, where the alleged ease of acquisition of CBRN
materials following the breakup of the Soviet Union, as well as the
arguably more widespread availability of expertise needed for the
production and weaponization of such agents. Through the acknowledgment
of technical hurdles associated with the successful delivery of CBRN
agents, as well as the possible motivational constraints involved in the
decision of terrorist groups to use such weapons; the debate became less
theoretical. Another shift in the debate was represented by the claim
that the rise of a phenomenon known as the new terrorism had
eroded these constraints. In other words, the experts now believe the
new terrorists – typically defined primarily by the
religious nature of their ideology -- were not constrained by the
political considerations that had traditionally led secular terrorist
organizations to place limits on their violent activities. [3] The
events of 1995 seemed to confirm this dire prediction. Even more
importantly, 9-11 seemed to have once and for all resolved the perpetual
question of whether terrorist groups would or would not be interested in
causing mass casualties. Nevertheless, one question remains: why have we
not witnessed another Tokyo?

Lessons from the past and their implications for the future

To answer the above question, it is useful to draw lessons from the
history of CBRN terrorism. One of the first incidents of chemical
terrorism in the post World War II environment was the 1946 poisoning of
bread designated for a U.S. POW camp near Nuremburg by a group of Jewish
terrorists known as Avenging Israel's Blood (DIN). The attacks, in
which arsenic mixed with glue was smeared onto the bottom of 2,500-3,000
loafs of bread, succeeded in hospitalizing 207 former SS officers, but
failed to kill a single person. Another noteworthy attempt was the
unsuccessful 1986 plot by the apocalyptic white Christian supremacist
-Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord (CSA)- to poison the water supply
of several large U.S. cities using a mere 30 gallons of cyanide. In June
1990, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) became the first group
to use chemical agents in a guerilla campaign, when they attacked a Sri
Lankan Army encampment in eastern Kiran with canisters filled with
chlorine. [4] Then on 27  June 1994, the first modern act of chemical
terrorism took place in Japan, when six members of Aum Shinrikyo
released sarin out of a van parked in a residential neighborhood of
Matsumoto, killing seven people and seriously injuring 144 others. [5]

The first notable biological incident was an unsuccessful 1972 plot by a
tiny environmentalist cult calling itself R.I.S.E.. This group attempted
to culture large quantities of salmonella typhi and then contaminate the
water supply of several large cities.[6] The first successful
bioterrorist attack occurred in 1984 when the Rajneeshee cult used a
causative agent, salmonella, to contaminate salad bars in a small Oregon
town in an effort to influence a local election. The cult, which chose
an incapacitating rather than lethal agent, succeeded in making 751
people ill, but no one died. Then in 1994 and 1995, four Minnesota men,
all 

[osint] 13 Years since Tokyo: Re-Visiting the 'Superterrorism' Debate (part II)

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831

Volume II, Issue 2   Perspectives on Terrorism -13 Years since
Tokyo: Re-Visiting the 'Superterrorism' Debate
By Adam Dolnik




Acquisition and weaponization of CBRN agents

Admittedly, any analysis that seeks to address the threat of CBRN
terrorism collectively as a monolithic phenomenon is inevitably too
vague to be useful, given the fact that C vs. B vs. R vs. N are very
disparate threats with regards to issues such as difficulty of
acquisition, potential to cause significant damage, technological
hurdles involved in mass production and weaponization, and challenges
posed for states on the side of detection, prevention, and response.
[17] In light of this limitation, it is not the ambition here to provide
an exhaustive analysis, but only a general coverage of the core issues.

For most CBR (but not N) agents the acquisition step is not difficult
because many weapons-usable substances have legitimate uses and are
therefore relatively widely available. Further, the boom of information
technologies and the Internet makes the necessary know-how for
successful procurement of cultures more widely available than ever
before. On the other hand, the production of large quantities of a
biological agent, as well as its successful weaponization (the process
of producing a mass casualty capable delivery system for the acquired
agent), is a much more complex and difficult endeavor than generally
believed. [18] The difficulty of weaponizing chemical and biological
substances varies greatly based on the agent of choice. Inflicting mass
casualties with chemical and non-contagious biological agents such as
anthrax or tularemia requires a high-tech delivery because every victim
has to come into direct contact with the agent in order to be affected.

One popular scenario for a bioterrorist attack has been the mass
contamination of a city's water supply. A major difficulty of
successfully perpetrating such an attack is represented by the fact that
most water-borne organisms die in the presence of sunlight, ozone, or
chlorine. One possibility solution would be the contamination of water
post-treatment/ Such an operation would involve pumping enormous
quantities of agent into the water distribution system while avoiding
detection – not an easy feat considering the huge quantities of
agent needed and the fact that the water in the pipelines is under
pressure. Assuming terrorists overcame all of the hurdles associated
with contamination of a city's water supply, the chances of
inflicting mass casualties are minimal, unless the agent used is
colorless, tasteless, and odorless, in order to facilitate mass
consumption. Despite the fact that this seems common sense, past plots
and a review of dozens of terrorist chemical and biological weapons
manuals demonstrate the lack of realization of this simple fact on
behalf of most terrorist groups. Consider, for instance, the February
2002 plot to poison the water supply of the U.S. Embassy in Rome, which
has been widely cited as evidence of al Qaida's chemical
weapons capability. [19] In this case, the four Moroccan
perpetrators arrested in Italy possessed 8.8 pounds of potassium
ferrocyanide - enough to theoretically kill several individuals, but
certainly not suitable for a water borne attack – but were
unsuccessful because the agent changes color significantly when mixed
with water. Thus, providing ample warning to the possible target. [20]









The next commonly discussed scenario is the open-air dissemination of a
non- contagious agent such as bacillus antharcis (a.k.a. anthrax).
Anthrax is the prototypical biological weapons agent - it is relatively
easy to produce, it is extremely virulent, and the infection is not
contagious, so the outbreak will not spread beyond those affected
directly. Most importantly, anthrax forms rugged spores when exposed to
environmental stresses, and these spores facilitate processing and
weaponization. However, significant hurdles to effective open-air
dissemination of anthrax exist as well. While the liquid form is
relatively easy to produce, it is much more difficult to deliver
effectively because it is susceptible to clumping into heavy droplets
that fall to the ground instantly, providing insufficient time for the
victims to inhale the agent. Conversely, the powder form is
significantly less challenging to disseminate, but is much more
difficult to produce; its effective dissemination requires an aerosol
composed of particles between one and five microns in diameter.
Production of such fine aerosol requires a sprayer system that is
equipped with specialized nozzles that are not widely available.
Finally, an open-air dissemination of aerosol is also highly susceptible
to meteorological conditions that make targeting much less controllable.

Contagious agents on the other hand, allow for a much less efficient
delivery, as it is only necessary to infect a small group of people, who
can then spread the disease by secondary transmission. In 

[osint] Abu Yahya’s Six Easy Steps for Defeating al-Qaeda

2008-09-07 Thread gwen831
Volume I, Issue 5  Perspectives on Terrorism -   Abu Yahya's Six
Easy Steps for Defeating al-Qaeda
By Jarret Brachman

In his 10 September 2007 video release, Shaikh Abu Yahya al-Libi offered
the United States several unsolicited tips for better prosecuting its
`war of ideas' against al-Qaeda.[1] Although his comments
brought al-Qaeda propaganda to new heights of arrogance, the fact is
that Abu Yahya's recommendations are nothing short of brilliant.
Policymakers who are serious about degrading the resonance of the
Jihadist message, therefore, would be remiss in ignoring his strategic
recommendations simply because of their source.

Abu Yahya, a senior member of al-Qaeda, is one of the world's
foremost experts on the strengths and vulnerabilities of the
contemporary Jihadist Movement. He became a household name within the
counterterrorism community when al-Qaeda began marketing him in their
propaganda following his July 2005 escape from detention at Bagram air
base in Afghanistan. In the past two years, Abu Yahya has become the
al-Qaeda High-Command's attack dog, chastising a variety of Muslim
groups for failing to follow the proper path: with the Shia, Hamas and
the Saudi royal family seemingly bearing the brunt of his rage.[2]
Al-Qaeda has also promoted Abu Yahya's softer side, showing him
reciting poetry and informally dining with his students. He has become,
in a very real sense, the Jihadist for all seasons.

Abu Yahya's decision to volunteer strategic advice to the United
States was neither out of goodwill nor self-destructive tendencies.
Rather, his comments embodied the explosive cocktail of youth, rage,
arrogance and intellect that has made him a force among supporters of
the Jihadist Movement. By casually offering his enemy a more
sophisticated counter-ideological strategy than the U.S. has been able
to implement or articulate to date, Abu Yahya's point was clear: the
U.S. lags so far behind the global Jihadist Movement in its war of ideas
that al-Qaeda has little to fear any time soon.

Abu Yahya's strategic plan for improving America's
counter-ideology efforts centers on turning the Jihadist Movement's
own weaknesses against it. He first suggests that governments interested
in weakening the ideological appeal of al-Qaeda's message should
focus on amplifying the cases of those ex-Jihadists (or
backtrackers as he calls them) who have willingly renounced
the use of armed action and recanted their previously held ideological
commitments. Using retractions by senior thinkers and religious figures
who already have established followings within the Jihadist Movement
helps to sow seeds of doubt across the Movement and deter those on the
ideological fence from joining.

Although Arab governments, most notably the Saudis and the Egyptians,
have successfully leveraged this approach for decades, there may be
particular value in amplifying these retractions in the West. In
November 2007, for instance, the legendary Egyptian Jihadist thinker,
Dr. Sayyid Imam Sharif, released a book renouncing his previous
commitment to the violent Jihadist ideology.[3] As could be expected
given Sharif's senior stature in the Movement, the story made
front-page news across the Arab world. In the English-language media,
however, the story was little more than a minor blip. The media's
non-coverage of such a major ideological victory against global Jihadism
is due to the fact that few in the West appreciate Sayyid Imam's
significance to groups like al-Qaeda.

Abu Yahya suggests that the public media can play an effective role in
publicizing ideological retractions, particularly by conducting
interviews with those reformed scholars, publishing their articles and
printing their books. The media's effort to promote the retractions
helps to redirect public attention away from the role of the host
government in prompting those retractions in the first place. The more
distance these reformed scholars have from their host governments the
more they are likely to be perceived as legitimate.

Abu Yahya also recommends that the United States both fabricate stories
about Jihadist mistakes and exaggerate real Jihadist mistakes whenever
they are made. These may include blaming Jihadist terrorism for killing
innocents, particularly women, children and the elderly. But he does not
stop there. Jihadist mistakes should not simply be highlighted as being
anomalous or extraordinary: rather, governments ought to characterize
them as being at the core of the Jihadist methodology. In short,
governments need to convince their populations that the murder of
innocent people is a core part of global Jihadism.

The most effective way to pursue this strategy, he contends, is to
exploit mistakes made by any Jihadist group, whether they are al-Qaeda
or not, by casting that action as being emblematic of the entire
Jihadist Movement. Abu Yahya calls this strategy of blurring the
differences between al-Qaeda and other Jihadist groups when it serves
propaganda 

[osint] Shift in Tactics Aims to Revive Struggling Insurgency

2008-02-12 Thread gwen831

Shift in Tactics Aims to Revive Struggling Insurgency

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Hopes A Softer Approach Will Win Back Anbar Sunnis





By Amit R. Paley
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/amit+r.+paley/

Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 8, 2008; Page A13

BAGHDAD -- The Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/iraq.html?nav=el 
is telling its followers to soften their tactics in order to regain
popular support in the western province of Anbar
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Anbar+Province?tid=info\
rmline , where Sunni tribes have turned against the organization and
begun working with U.S. forces, according to group leaders and American
intelligence officials.

The new approach was outlined last month in an internal communique that
orders members to avoid killing Sunni civilians who have not sympathized
with the U.S.-backed tribesmen or the government.

From internal documents and interviews with members of al-Qaeda in Iraq,
a picture emerges of an organization in disarray but increasingly aware
that its harsh policies -- such as punishing women who don't cover their
heads -- have eroded its popular support. Over the past year, the group
has been driven out of many of its strongholds. The group's leadership
is now jettisoning some of its past tactics to refocus attacks on
American troops, Sunnis cooperating closely with U.S. forces, and Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Iraq?tid=informline 's
infrastructure.

Dedicate yourself to fighting the true enemy only, in order to avoid
opening up new fronts against the Sunni Arabs, said the Jan. 13
communique, signed by the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza
al-Muhajer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Abu+Ayyub+al-Masri?tid=\
informline . Do not close the door of repentance in the face of those
Sunnis who turned against us, said the message, posted in Anbar mosques
frequented by the group's followers.

The communique does not order an end to attacks against Shiite Muslims,
whom al-Qaeda in Iraq has long seen as heretics, and it was unclear
whether the views of group members in Anbar would apply in parts of the
country where al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters are more active. Iraqi officials
have blamed the group for two bombings Feb. 1 in predominantly Shiite
areas of Baghdad
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Baghdad?tid=informline
that officials said killed as many as 100 people.

American intelligence officials said the communique is consistent with
the past leadership style of Muhajer, an Egyptian also known as Abu
Ayyub al-Masri, who took command of the group after his predecessor, Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006.

Zarqawi did a lot of just indiscriminate killing -- it didn't matter
when, where, why or how, said one senior intelligence analyst who, like
others interviewed for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity
under military ground rules. Masri is more picking his targets and
trying to get away from the massive indiscriminate killings, because it
created a big black eye for al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The U.S. military
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Armed+Forces?tid=i\
nformline  says it destroyed much of the leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq
in 2007, killing 2,400 suspected members and capturing 8,800, while
pushing the group almost completely out of Baghdad and Anbar province.
Although U.S. officials and their Sunni allies caution that al-Qaeda in
Iraq remains dangerous and could find ways to regenerate, they assert
that the group now is largely a spent force.

We do not deny the difficulties we are facing right now, said Riyadh
al-Ogaidi, a senior leader, or emir, of al-Qaeda in Iraq in the Garma
region of eastern Anbar province. The Americans have not defeated us,
but the turnaround of the Sunnis against us had made us lose a lot and
suffer very painfully.

'We Made Many Mistakes'



Resting on a blanket in the garden of a squat concrete house in Garma,
Ogaidi lamented al-Qaeda in Iraq's reversal of fortunes over the past
year.

Ogaidi, 39, once traveled with 20 bodyguards in a four-vehicle convoy.
But during the recent interview, he was nearly alone, wearing a white
cap on his bald head and a gray dishdasha, or floor-length tunic, to
disguise himself as a poor villager.

We made many mistakes over the past year, including the imposition of
a strict interpretation of Islamic law, he told a Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+Washington+Post+Com\
pany?tid=informline  special correspondent. Al-Qaeda in Iraq followers
broke the fingers of men who smoked, whipped those who imbibed alcohol
and banned shops from selling shampoo bottles that displayed images of
women -- actions that turned Sunnis against the group.

Ogaidi said the total number of al-Qaeda in Iraq members across the
country has plummeted from about 12,000 in June 2007 to about 3,500

[osint] Underestimating al-Sadr — Again

2008-02-12 Thread gwen831

Underestimating al-Sadr — Again

Monday, Feb. 11, 2008 By BRIAN BENNETT/WASHINGTON

  [Moqtada al-Sadr]

Mehdi army members escort Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during his
visit to the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, Feb. 27, 2006.

Ali Abu Shish / Reuters

The six-month ceasefire that Moqtada al-Sadr called in August 2007 is
set to expire at the end of February. Observers believe the freeze in
operations of his Mahdi Army is a major reason for the recent security
successes in Iraq; and most expected it to be extended. But recently the
Sadr camp has said that it might end the ceasefire. On January 18, a
spokesman for Sadr in the religious capital of Najaf issued a statement
warning that the rationale for the decision to extend the freeze of the
Mahdi Army is beginning to wear thin. Is the U.S. alarmed? It is not
— and that is alarming.

Though American officials recognize the importance of Sadr's inactivity,
they are now saying that the cleric's political influence in Iraq has
diminished. On Thursday, the senior diplomat overseeing U.S. policy in
Iraq, David Satterfield, told a room of foreign policy experts at the
Middle East Institute that the 34-year-old cleric was a deeply troubled
young man who is spending most of his time in Iran watching events in
Iraq move beyond his ability to influence. Those are strong words
about the surviving scion of a revered religious family who has proven
time and again to be a thorn in the side of U.S. efforts in Iraq.

Satterfield said Sadr's political influence has waned since November
2006 when the cleric made a political gamble and lost. That was when
Sadr withdrew his party's ministers from Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki's cabinet after Maliki refused to set a timetable for U.S.
troop withdrawal. When the government did not collapse, Satterfield
argued, the limits of al-Sadr's political power were exposed. That's
when Maliki no longer felt the need to protect his biggest constituent
in Parliament and gave U.S. forces the green light to enter Sadr City,
the cleric's popular stronghold in north Baghdad. Ever since, Iraqi and
U.S. units have been arresting commanders of the militia who have not
gone underground.

Satterfield is underrating the Mahdi Army's boss. I met Moqtada al-Sadr
in November 2003 at his office down a narrow alleyway in Najaf. We sat
on pillows on the floor and he answered my questions with short,
perfunctory statements. Barely 30, he had a round face, broad shoulders
and a habit of glaring at guests beneath his thick, black eyebrows. He
came across as menacing yet dull. At the time, he was holding massive
Friday-afternoon prayer rallies that he populated with poor workers
bused in from the slums of Sadr City in Baghdad 100 miles to the north.
I was hearing rumors that his followers were kidnapping and beating
religious students who criticized him. The Coalition Provisional
Authority was dithering about whether to arrest him on charges of
killing a rival cleric the April before. To most observers, including
myself, he seemed to be a thug with a lot of bluster and little
substance.

Then, in 2004, he launched two uprisings against the U.S. occupation. He
then outmaneuvered his Shi'ite rivals in the political process and
became the kingmaker who installed Maliki as Prime Minister. His militia
was instrumental in carrying out thousands of reprisal killings after
the February 2006 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, bringing Iraq
to the verge of all-out civil war.

He was underestimated. And now it seems, the folks that matter in the
Administration are making the same mistake again — pointing out his
shortcomings and his inability to influence events. That's a very
optimistic way of looking at it, says Vali Nasr, author of The Shi'a
Revival, of Satterfield's comments, Moqtada al-Sadr still commands the
largest social and political movement in southern Iraq. Nasr and others
believe the Mahdi Army's leader is biding his time out to develop
stronger religious credentials and strengthen his control over a
militia. Sadr's gameplan, it appears, extends far beyond the next year
or two. The game in Iraq is not over, says Nasr, he has been beefing
up his strength.

In fact, the ceasefire has allowed Sadr to purge his militia forces,
some of which had been hijacked by criminal gangs running lucrative
kidnap-for-ransom schemes. The indiscriminate thuggery had damaged
Sadr's reputation among average Iraqis. So had the perception that Sadr
was an Iranian stooge. Some of elements of the Madhi Army had morphed
into groups that answered directly to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps and were operating beyond Sadr?s control. He has stood by as those
elements have been arrested by U.S. forces.

The U.S. believes Sadr has been spending most of his time in Iran. So
what's he up to? He is likely in the Shi'ite religious center of Qom
studying to achieve the higher rank of ayatollah, a position that would
allow him to issue fatwas, and garner more respect from the 

[osint] Three rebels with suspected links with Pakistan''s ISI gunned down NE India

2008-02-12 Thread gwen831

Three rebels with suspected links with Pakistan''s ISI gunned down NE
India



MIL-INDIA-ASSAM-ISI
Three rebels with suspected links with Pakistan's ISI gunned down NE
India

NEW DELHI, Feb 11 (KUNA) -- As many as three   insurgents with suspected
links with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence   (ISI) were killed in
an encounter in Goalpara district in India's   Northeastern state of
Assam Monday.

The Indian security forces have recovered a nine mm pistol, a magazine
with   five rounds of ammunition, two hand-grenades, a local pistol and
several   documents from the slain insurgents, news agency Press Trust
of India reported.

The three maintained links with ISI aiming to create disturbances in
India's Northeastern   region, the news agency said, quoting an Assam
police official.

Assam is home to number of insurgent groups including outlawed United  
Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), alleged to maintain close ties with
ISI. India has also alleged   that ULFA's top leadership operate from
neighbouring Bangladesh. (end) dr.

bs



KUNA 112131 Feb 08

http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=enDSNO=1070042
http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=enDSNO=1070042



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