Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.
From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.
One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.
MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.
Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.
Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.
Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.
He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
Come to think of it, none of us know who you are either.
A Lethal Web of Spooks, Oligarchs and Spin
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2006/12/22/003.html
Tuesday, December 26, 2006 / Updated Moscow Time
A Lethal Web of Spooks, Oligarchs and Spin
By Catherine Belton
Staff Writer
Vasily Djachkov / Reuters
Lugovoi, left, and Berezovsky posing for a picture in the North Caucasus winter holiday resort of Dombay in 1998.
Editor's note: This is the second of two articles.
When former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko agreed to give two little-known British academics an interview this year, they couldn't quite believe their luck.
But the tales told by the emigre, who had once worked in the heart of the Federal Security Service's organized crime division, were often as wild as they were detailed.
"We thought a lot of it was too extreme," said one of the interviewers, James Heartfield, a researcher at London's University of Westminster. "He was always offering us inside information on things that were bizarre. His frame of reference was all based on characters out of the Cold War."
Now, however, the agent who worked for tycoon Boris Berezovsky will be remembered as the victim of one of the most bizarre Cold War-style conspiracies of modern history. Litvinenko's poisoning last month in London by polonium-210, the rare radioactive isotope that ravaged his body and left a trail of radioactivity across London, Hamburg and Moscow, could signal a major new chapter in a battle for power between rival factions of the Russian elite.
As the drama has unfolded, players long thought to be retired from Cold War-style spy games have re-entered a fray that is severely shaking President Vladimir Putin's standing in the West and could end up changing the course of his presidency. Together with the former KGB agents coming out of the woodwork is a tangled netherworld of information peddlers, spin doctors, organized crime networks and oligarchs that emerged in the chaos of the Soviet Union's collapse.
Blanket coverage in the Western media of Litvinenko's deathbed accusation that Putin was responsible for his murder has stoked anti-Russian sentiment in the West. Tension was already flaring up this year over Western concerns that Putin was stamping out democracy and using the country's energy might to blackmail neighbors.
For many in Moscow, Litvinenko's death looks like an elaborately orchestrated rebellion by those out-of-favor Western-oriented oligarchs who made vast fortunes out of the Soviet collapse, but are now either in exile or in jail, their Russian assets seized by Putin's government. For some, that group is led by Boris Berezovsky, who has styled himself as Putin's nemesis, publicly vowing to bring down his regime by force.
Berezovsky has denied any involvement in Litvinenko's death.
Others in the West, however, say Litvinenko's death is revenge against an ally of Berezovsky's. "The people who carried this out this are seeking revenge from those who helped cause the collapse of the Soviet Union," said Oleg Kalugin, a former head of KGB foreign counterintelligence whose defection to the United States in the early 1990s led Putin to brand him a traitor.
A third theory is that Litvinenko, working recently as a freelance information peddler and slightly lost in London since his Moscow heyday, had stumbled into a tangle of conflicting criminal interests, crossing other powerful oligarchs as he traded information that could have harmed enormous business interests.
John Stillwell / APP
A man walking past the Itsu sushi restaurant in Piccadilly, London, where Litvinenko met with Scaramella on Nov. 1.
One associate of Litvinenko's, Yury Shvets, a former KGB Washington station chief who defected to the United States in the early 1990s, claims he knows the name of the man who ordered the killing. He said Litvinenko had made a key mistake when he shared the contents of an incriminating dossier on a senior Kremlin official as he rushed to earn more cash. "He was trying to sell information to everyone," Shvets said by telephone this week.
A business partner of Shvets', Karon von Gerhke-Thompson, believes Litvinenko got caught up in a web of double agents and crime that cost him his life. Investigators working on the case say they have "never seen so much money" being transferred in the intelligence business, she said.
No matter who was behind it -- rogue oligarchs, either seeking to tarnish Putin's image or silence Litvinenko, or resurgent secret services now operating with or without Putin's blessing -- the end result is that Putin is facing one of the biggest challenges of his presidency.
For now, the Western media seems to be pinning the blame on him.
"Putin today is at a crossroads," said Alexei Kondaurov, a Communist State Duma deputy and former KGB general who worked as an adviser to now-jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
"The day Putin vowed he would waste Chechen rebels in the outhouse, the course was set for people to be dealt with through arbitrary reprisals, to neutralize and kill opponents," Kondaurov said, referring to Putin's vow in 1999. "He can step back from this course and find the killers, wherever they are -- abroad, here or in the secret services of a third country. If he doesn't, then this stain will remain with him. He will run the serious risk of persecution wherever he goes. He will become an international pariah.
"Such a president could bring so much harm to his country because he will either take his country on a path of confrontation or will make too many compromises and become weak."
The stakes are even higher, he said, because of the way Litvinenko was killed. "This poisoning is very serious. It looks like the world's first example of nuclear terrorism.
"If you need just one-billionth of a gram to poison one person, then it does not take very much more to poison an entire country," he said. "A very dangerous precedent has been set."
The attention of British detectives visiting Moscow this month has focused on two private security agents, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, who met with Litvinenko for tea at the Millennium Hotel in central London on Nov. 1, the day he fell ill.
Shvets said Britain and the United States were bound to call Putin to account over the attack. "I don't exclude that the British and U.S. governments will decide to go directly to Putin and ask him to do something about his closest entourage," said Shvets, who says he worked with Litvinenko on due diligence reports for British firms considering investing in Russia. Shvets said British and U.S. detectives questioned him earlier this month about his knowledge of the poisoning.
A British police spokesman declined to comment.
The Dossier
Shvets said by telephone this week that a dossier he had helped Litvinenko prepare on "a very highly placed member of Putin's administration" had likely prompted the poisoning.
"It was about [the member's] connections to organized crime, to international organized crime," he said. Litvinenko, Shvets said, had won the assignment for an unidentified British company seeking to vet a Russian counterpart for what he said was a deal that could run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
Litvinenko had handed over some of the intelligence work to Shvets and said he had used a network of agents to compile the eight-page dossier. Shvets said it was after he handed it back to Litvinenko, however, that Litvinenko made a fatal mistake.
Litvinenko gave the file to Lugovoi, who had been his associate in the 1990s as head of security for Berezovsky-controlled ORT television. He had intended to show the file to Lugovoi as an example of how such reports should be written for Western companies.
"It was a bad mistake for Sasha," Shvets said. "He'd said he was showing it to a longtime friend. ... He was trying to develop his own network of sources in Russia through Lugovoi."
Berezovsky, his ally Alex Goldfarb and Shvets have said they suspect that Lugovoi became a Kremlin agent sometime after he worked as Berezovsky's security chief. Lugovoi was briefly jailed in 2001 on charges of helping another Berezovsky ally, former Aeroflot deputy general director Nikolai Glushkov, escape from police custody.
Berezovsky has said his suspicions were raised when Lugovoi boasted to him of how well his business was doing in Moscow, despite his jailing and his previous association with Berezovsky. Berezovsky refused to comment further for this article.
Shvets said Lugovoi took Litvinenko's dossier to Moscow "and this is where the attack started." The people involved must have seen the report, triggering the poisoning, Shvets said.
Shvets said he later handed the dossier to the British detectives who came to question him. The BBC's Radio 4, which interviewed Shvets in the United States and carried his claims in a half-hour program last Saturday, said it had seen extracts from the report, too.
But Lugovoi, reached by telephone this week at the Moscow clinic where he is being tested for possible radioactive contamination, rejected Shvets' claims out of hand. "These statements are fit only for psychiatric research, not for investigation," he said, adding that he had heard of Shvets only once before, when Litvinenko had mentioned him as having "huge authority in the United States."
"Now I understand that this is just the latest traitor who has run from who knows where," Lugovoi said. "This is a person who would sell anything to anyone, including his own life."
Shvets said he now felt sorry for Lugovoi, whom he felt had become a victim of a wider conspiracy and was unlikely to be the actual poisoner. "He was used as a useful idiot. He did not realize the full extent of the operation. Now his life and death are in the hands of the FSB. Whatever he says right now is written by the FSB."
The only thing protecting Lugovoi, Shvets said, was the fact that he, Kovtun and another associate, Vyacheslav Sokolenko, had gone public with their story soon after it emerged that they had met with Litvinenko the day he fell ill. "The only reason that [Lugovoi] is still alive is that when the news appeared in the media, they gave interviews."
But much of Shvets' theory may not add up. Why a Kremlin official would order a hit on a washed-out agent for a report that could easily be refuted -- and that may have only cost the individual millions of dollars in lost revenue from a failed deal -- is not clear. Such sums, after all, are small potatoes compared to the oil-fueled avalanche of cash now thundering down on Moscow.
Von Gerhke-Thompson claimed Shvets had been working for Kremlin-linked firms, too. She shared e-mails she claimed Shvets had written, showing he was busy winning business for a number of Russian companies, including the sale of lucrative oil concessions from state-owned oil major Rosneft, which is chaired by Kremlin deputy chief of staff Igor Sechin, and an oil and gas venture, the Babaykov Foundation, that according to an e-mail has links to former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.
Shvets denied he had ever had any work with these companies, saying he had worked solely on producing due diligence reports for British and U.S. companies over recent years. Responding to a question about the purported e-mails on the deals, he said: "The deals we are talking about fly in the hundreds over the Internet. None of them has ever materialized." He denied he had ever sought to play both sides of the fence, working as an agent for both the Kremlin and opposition businessmen. "In this industry, reputation is of utmost priority," he said. "If you fail once or run into a conflict of interest, your business is dead."
Berezovsky Connection
The common thread linking all the players in Litvinenko's death is that they have all worked for Berezovsky. Apart from Lugovoi and Shvets, there is Italian security expert Mario Scaramella, who met Litvinenko at a sushi restaurant on Nov. 1, and Yevgeny Limarev, an emigre in hiding in France to whom Goldfarb said he gave a $15,000 grant in 2002 for running an anti-FSB web site. Limarev sent Scaramella an e-mail warning him that he and Litvinenko were on a hit list put together by an elite squad of KGB veterans, Italian media reported. Limarev could not be reached for comment.
Presiding over the information flow coming out of the Berezovsky camp in the weeks since Litvinenko fell ill has been Goldfarb, a longtime Berezovsky ally who began his career as a microbiologist at Columbia University in the 1970s. Goldfarb first came to prominence through his work in the late 1980s helping refuseniks leave the Soviet Union.
Shvets entered the picture when it emerged he had been a business partner of Litvinenko's. He went public with a Dec. 2 interview to The Associated Press in which he declared that he knew the name of the killer.
Until recently, Shvets has kept a relatively low profile, working at the Alexandria, Virginia-based Center for Counterintelligence and Security Studies with Kalugin, the former counterintelligence chief, and had earned a living mainly by providing testimony to the U.S. immigration service for Russian emigres seeking to live in the United States. In 2002, he landed a $400,000 contract from Berezovsky to transcribe a set of audiotapes that appeared to implicate then-Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in the killing of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze and in sanctions-busting arms deals.
Shvets said he no longer does any work for Berezovsky. But the connection did provide him with an introduction to Litvinenko, he said.
Shvets said Litvinenko introduced him last year to Scaramella, who has courted controversy with his claims that the Soviets left nuclear mines in the Bay of Biscay and that Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi had links to the KGB.
In a recent telephone interview, Scaramella said he began his career as a lawyer and then advised U.S. universities on environmental security issues, work that landed him a post as secretary general of a little-known organization called the Environmental Crime Prevention Program, which has a rotating presidency held by countries including Angola and Samoa.
Scaramella said he had been hired as an expert on the KGB for the Mitrokhin Commission, an Italian parliamentary inquiry set up to investigate links between Italian politicians and the KGB.
But instead of coming up with much information on KGB links to Italy, he would often telephone the commission's office with tales of plots by Kremlin agents seeking to kill him, said Paolo Guzzanti, the head of the commission.
"It actually gave me a strong headache," Guzzanti said. "I always took him in a very cautious way. There is not a line coming from Mr. Scaramella in the Mitrokhin Commission report. Nothing was used.
"I have no reason to blame him and I have no mistrust. But I was extremely cautious about him because I was aware of his connections with the Russian circle in England."
Litvinenko did not appear to trust Scaramella, either. He regarded him as the prime suspect in his poisoning for at least three or four days after he was in the hospital, said Shvets, who was in telephone contact with Litvinenko.
"I was saying over and over again, 'Forget about Scaramella,'" Shvets said. When Litvinenko finally recalled the meeting with Lugovoi too, Shvets said he told him: "Sasha, you are crazy. All big security companies in Moscow are controlled by the FSB."
Among the tangled chain of agents, former or otherwise, is another voice: that of Julia Svetlichnaja, the academic who interviewed Litvinenko together with Heartfield.
Svetlichnaja, a postgraduate art and politics student at the University of Westminster, spent hours talking with Litvinenko. She said in an interview that he had said he was going to blackmail, or sell information on, Kremlin officials and oligarchs alike.
London's The Sunday Times said in a recent report earlier this month that Litvinenko had crossed Russian mafia figures. It cited sources in Spain as saying he had provided information that helped lead to the arrest in May of nine suspected members of a mafia gang. RIA-Novosti reported at the time that a lawyer for Yukos, Alexander Gofstein, was among the detained.
LOL, I am retired and sleep, when I need to.
My hope in this, is that the fact we are arresting the Iranians in Iraq, as terrorists, will reach mainstream news.
So many Americans, have bought every word jimmy carter feeds them.
I go into pure shock, when I realize that half of America voted for al gore.
Darn it, have a mental block, can't recall the name of the Marine WMD inspector in Iraq, that now writes for aljeezera?
Scott Ritter? I think that is it....LOL, never could recall names, only facts. He was arrested for picking up teenagers on the internet and got away with it, according to the papers.
I listen to a San Francisco radio station on the weekends, it is KGO.com, it gives me deep insight, as to what we are up against.
A sweet little old lady, phoned the John Rothman talk show.
John was attempting to inform the fools, what was coming from Iraq, he should have never tried to offer facts and truth.
The lady, said she had been on a cruise, recently, and Scott Ritter was seated at ther table, she had been totally brainwashed, on all Iraq and Iran facts.
To listen to her, was to read an article in al jazeera, it is all the evil American's fault.
That is the job for me, traveling on a cruise ship and offering up pure brainwashing.
It is "Wake up America" time.
I have noticed more arab voices calling the radio talk shows and spewing their hate.
They are coming out in the open, just as the communists did when kerry ran for president.
There will always be attempts to brainwash folks, that is what the banned Freeper was doing.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1758399/posts?page=3
Stationing of U.S. missile defenses in Poland a threat to Russia - analyst
Interfax ^ | Dec 25, 2006
Posted on 12/25/2006 5:15:16 PM PST by lizol
No, that isn't what the banned poster was doing. I know him, he hates the mad mullahs and has good reason to. He wasn't trying to make people think the mad mullash were the good guys, he was trying to show that the large majority of the Iranian people don't hate everyone.
Thank you for filling me in on the poster.
Those who freely call the talk shows, in the west, are not wanting to do anything but spread hate for America.
I did not follow the Freeper's posts, so cannot judge him.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1758403/posts
US wants anti-missile radar in Japan
Herald Sun ^ | 26 December 2006
Posted on 12/25/2006 5:58:02 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
THE United States has asked to install anti-ballistic missile radars in Japan, following North Korea's nuclear weapons test in October and missile launches in July, a report said today.
US military troops and the US Department of Defense have lodged a request with Japan's Defense Agency to locate a radar in Japan aimed at counter-attacking inter-continental ballistic missiles, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported, without clarifying sources.
Japan's Defense Agency, following the US approach, is considering the plan, in light of Japan-US Security Treaty, which demands "providing security of Japan and keeping peace in the Far East'' as conditions for offering US troops facilities in Japan.
Japan was prompted to boost its missile defenses in cooperation with the United States in 1998 when North Korea sent a suspected long-range missile over its main island and into the Pacific.
North Korea's October 9 atom bomb test, in addition to its July 5 firing of seven missiles into the Sea of Japan (East Sea), also fueled the drive for the joint missile scheme.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
It's not who I am but what I write and what I post.
Since invariably, without exception if on subject, it has clear ANTI-Mullah sources and slant without any subtle prevarication, then this speaks for itself.
if what I write or post defends the Mullah regime in the slightest, or proffers their talking points even indirectly, or represents Islamic Iran as being "not so bad" then you begin to question the who. And the why.
If every action and position - including my opposing pro-Mullah regime activity by others - changes or is suddenly weak and unfocused, then question the who. And the why.
I am not being judged on what or who I CLAIM to be but by what I have presented and posted. Clearly, like Alan, ANTI-Islamic regime. No two ways or doubts about it.
Fair enough?
You'll notice that, despite the fact that I never gave you may name to put on your ping list, I rarely ever reply to you. Something about you just doesn't ring true to me.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1758306/posts
Iraqi President 'Unhappy' About Iranian Detentions
CNN ^ | December 25th 2006
Posted on 12/25/2006 9:01:38 AM PST by KantianBurke
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is "unhappy" that U.S. forces detained two Iranian officials during their recent visit to Iraq, a Talabani spokesman said Monday. "Two Iranian officials who came to Iraq at the invitation of President Talabani have been apprehended by U.S. troops, and the president is unhappy about it," the spokesman said. "The invitation took place during the visit of President Talabani to Tehran. It was done in the framework of an agreement to improve security in Iraq." The spokesman said the Iranians were arrested last week after arriving in Iraq in late November. He described the Iranians as "security officials" but gave no further details. No one was immediately available for comment at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. The U.S. military has not responded to requests for comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
IRAN STEPS UP TRAINING OF HAMAS
TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Iran has accelerated military training of Hamas.
Israeli officials said up to several hundred Hamas operatives have recently left the Gaza Strip for Iran. They said the operatives were undergoing several weeks of military training by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"The Hamas terrorists enter [Egypt's] Sinai Peninsula and then make their way to Syria and then Iran," an official said. "We have been detecting an increase in the flow of Hamas operatives leaving for Iran over the last two months."
Hamas leaders have discussed expanding cooperation with Iran. In November, Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Said Siyam said Iran agreed to >bolster training and funding to security forces aligned with Hamas.
Islamic republic sentences 'at least 2,600 people every day,' 1 million a year
Iran: 600,000 jailed since start of year
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3343931,00.html
Islamic republic sentences 'at least 2,600 people every day,' 1 million
a year
Yaakov Lappin Published: 12.24.06, 15:05
Well over half a million Iranians have been imprisoned by their regime
since
the start of the year, Director-General of the Cultural and
Disciplinary
Committee of the Iranian Prisons Organization Mansour Moqareh-Abed told
Iranian newspaper Jomhouri Islami.
The interview was cited by the website of the National Council of
Resistance
of Iran (NCRI), an umbrella organization for Iranian opposition groups
in
exile.
According to the NCRI, Moraqeh-Abed added in the interview that "it is
not
possible to accommodate 'the cultural and disciplinary' needs of this
many
prisoners."
The NCRI noted that "everyday 2,600 people are sent to prison; thus, in
a year
the figure grows to 1 million," a figure described as an "unprecedented
world
record."
The NCRI added in its statement: "Obviously, the actual number of
detainees
in Iran is much higher than the official figure since it does not take
into
account various unofficial penitentiaries and prisons.
"In particular, the regime has stepped up suppression to an
unprecedented
level and street arrests have increased in order to combat the rising
number
of popular demonstrations and uprisings."
Calling for human rights organizations to take up the plight of Iranian
prisoners, the NCRI drew special attention to political prisoners
jailed for
their opposition to the Iranian regime.
'Help the NCRI'
In 2002, the offices of the NCRI were shut down in Washington DC, after
the
State Department said the organization was a front for the People's
Mujahedin
of Iran, a militant Iranian opposition group dedicated to toppling the
Iranian
government.
Since then, a number of politicians and analysts in the West have said
that
the NCRI should be made legal again, as it was a crucial representative
of
Iranian groups working to overthrow the government of Ayatollah
Khameini and
President Ahmadinejad.
On Saturday, a British member of the House of Lords, Lord Fraser,
called on
the British government to take the NCRI off the list of banned groups.
Fraser
was reported by the NCRI as saying that he had been threatened by what
appeared to be Iranian government agents, due to his support for the
NCRI.
NCRI President-Elect Maryam Rajavi said Saturday that she "welcomed the
adoption of a resolution by the UN Security Council against the
mullahs'
regime," saying it was "the first necessary step towards preventing the
ruling
religious fascism in Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb."
Congress clamps down on selling of cell phone records
http://www.suntimes.com/business/185525,CST-NWS-cell25.article
Congress clamps down on selling of cell phone records
December 25, 2006
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter
A year ago, a Chicago Sun-Times story shocked lawmakers in Congress and
the Illinois General Assembly after the newspaper showed that anyone's
phone calling records were for sale on the Internet.
"Most consumers have been under the assumption that their information
is protected," said Jon Samuels, a spokesman for Rep. Jan Schakowsky
(D-Ill.). "It was shocking for consumers to see in the news how easy it is
for criminals to obtain their personal information."
This month, the Republican-controlled Senate passed legislation
allowing for prison sentences of up to 10 years for anyone obtaining an
individual's telephone records without permission -- a crime known as
pretexting. The House passed a similar bill earlier this year.
They may be at it again
Legislation requiring telephone companies to safeguard their customers'
records was scrapped. But Schakowsky and fellow Democrats, who now
control both chambers in Congress, will continue to push for such a bill in
2007, Samuels said.
Gov. Blagojevich, meanwhile, signed a law this year outlawing
pretexting for personal information.
Following the Sun-Times' stories on pretexting in January, phone
companies and state attorneys general across the country, including Illinois
Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sued information brokers for pretexting.
1st Source Information Specialists, a company the Sun-Times paid $110
to obtain a reporter's phone records, has been hit with a total of $2.13
million in court judgments in lawsuits brought by Cingular Wireless and
Sprint Nextel Corp., records show. Madigan has won a default order to
prevent 1st Source from obtaining phone records.
Privacy experts say most such companies stopped providing calling
records when Congress starting holding hearings earlier this year.
"They are starting up again," warned privacy expert Robert Douglas.
"They are still selling this stuff."
Hewlett-Packard scandal
The Senate bill was stalled this year until a major scandal surfaced
within Hewlett-Packard Co., the computer and printer giant.
In September, the company disclosed it hired investigators to uncover
the source of boardroom leaks and they secretly obtained the phone logs
of directors, employees and journalists.
California's attorney general sought felony indictments Wednesday
against former Hewlett-Packard Chairman Patricia Dunn and four others
involved in the spying scandal.
Once the H-P scandal broke, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)
received a letter from House Republicans calling for prompt action on
the anti-pretexting bill in the Judiciary Committee. The bill passed
Dec. 8.
Also was used by FBI
The head of the Federal Trade Commission has hailed the legislation,
saying it makes pretexting a serious crime. But privacy experts said the
Senate could have gone further to penalize telephone companies that
fail to safeguard their records from pretexters.
Congressional hearings revealed that the FBI and other law enforcement
agencies -- which were worried that criminals could access their
agents' phone records illegally -- were obtaining phone records from the same
Internet brokers.
"Not only do Americans have to worry about whether Big Brother is
listening to our calls without a warrant, but they must also be concerned
that he is working with con artists to obtain our phone records,"
Schakowsky said in May.
fmain@suntimes.com
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=%22Syria%22&ei=utf-8
1. Olmert says he'd like to renew talks with Syria Open this result in new window
USA Today - Dec 25 12:22 PM
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday said he would like to renew peace talks with Syria, but insisted that Damascus first end its support of anti-Israel militant groups in the Palestinian areas and Lebanon.
Save
2. Fourth US senator in trip to Syria Open this result in new window
AFP via Yahoo! News - Dec 25 10:50 AM
The fourth US senator to visit Syria this month arrived in Damascus, where he was expected to hold meetings with senior officials.
Save
3. Israeli Goodwill To Syria And Palestinians Open this result in new window
CBS News - Dec 25 8:10 AM
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he'd like to renew peace talks with Syria, while his defense minister says he supports a Palestinian prisoner release without preconditions and has ordered the closing of West Bank checkpoints.
Save
4. Arab League Chief Says Syria Supports Mediation Effort in Lebanon Open this result in new window
Voice of America - Dec 25 3:21 PM
The head of the Arab League says he has won Syria's support for his efforts to mediate a solution to Lebanon's political crisis. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told reporters in Damascus that he is relieved after his meeting Thursday, with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
Save
5. Olmert Says He Wants to Renew Peace Talks with Syria Open this result in new window
Voice of America - Dec 25 2:51 PM
Israel says it would like to revive negotiations with neighboring Syria. But as Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, Israel is setting down some tough pre-conditions.
Save
6. U.S. Republican senator arrives in Syria for talks Open this result in new window
People's Daily - Dec 25 4:07 PM
U.S. Republican Senator Arlen Specter arrived in Syria on Monday for talks with Syrian leaders on bilateral relations and situations in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories, according to the independent Syria-News website.
Save
7. Israel PM Insists Syria End Anti-Israel Militant Support Open this result in new window
Nasdaq - Dec 25 4:57 AM
JERUSALEM (AP)--Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday said he would like to renew peace talks with Syria, but insisted that Damascus first end its support of anti-Israel militant groups.
Save
8. Involve Syria in settling conflict Open this result in new window
Central Chronicle - Dec 25 9:41 AM
The US State Department has reminded the world that Syria was forced into international isolation for its ties with Iran and for supporting terrorism. But the Moscow visit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belies this statement.
Save
9. Olmert wants to talk to Syria Open this result in new window
News 24 South Africa - Dec 25 11:38 AM
PM Ehud Olmert says he will like to renew peace talks with Syria, but insisted that Damascus first end its support of anti-Israel militant groups.
Save
10. Olmert sets conditions for Syria talks Open this result in new window
Al Bawaba - Dec 25 8:30 AM
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday said he would like to renew peace talks with Syria, but insisted that Damascus first end its support of anti-Israel groups in the Palestinian areas and Lebanon.
Save
That's your privilege and I have no quarrel with it. I am not trying to persuade you of anything so I'm not bothered. Probably would be if I were playing a role.
In any event, be well and be happy. And retain your doubts until you feel differently. Or not. I wish you well, regardless, as you have not harmed me or my anti-mullah cause.
All the best,
Egypt
Date: Mon 25 Dec 2006
From: Nati Elkin nati@poultrymed.com
Source: Website of the 4th International Conference on Avian
Influenza in Bamako, Mali, 6-8 Dec 2006 [edited]
http://www.avianinfluenzaconference4.org/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF_Uploads/presentations/Session_1.2/Egypt_MoHP_Presentation.pdf
[The following text is derived from an electronic presentation by Dr.
Nasr El Sayed, 1st Undersecretary, Ministry of Health and Population,
Arab Republic of Egypt.]
Recent and Foreseeable Developments in the Avian Influenza Epidemic:
Egypt; Examples of best practices noted in Egypt
South Korea
Date: Sun 24 Dec 2006
From: Mary Marshall tropical.forestry@btinternet.com
Source: The Korea Times [edited]
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200612/kt2006122419054668040.htm
Pigs, Chickens Culled As Bird Flu Spread
China
Date: Sun 24 Dec 2006
From: Dan Silver dgsilver@yahoo.com
China, Avian Influenza: Poultry Markets Closures; vaccinations
http://www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=72418
Armed Nigerian group says it will not be swayed by hostages' pleas
Posted by: mortiz on Dec 24 - 15:08
RealNews Items An armed separatist group in southern Nigeria which is holding four foreign oil workers hostage said that it will not be swayed by their pleas for release and indicted Italian oil firm Agip for allegedly attempting to pay a ransom. "We have kept these hostages for more than two weeks now. Do you imagine they have not pleaded with us on their own? Why should we be swayed because their appeal is now printed on the pages of an italian paper," a spokesman a for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an email statement to AFP. Full Story
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L25229222.htm
Al Qaeda militant urges militants to keep up jihad
25 Dec 2006 13:52:02 GMT
Source: Reuters
Background
Afghan turmoil
More
DUBAI, Dec 25 (Reuters) - A man believed to be a top al Qaeda militant who escaped from a U.S. airbase in Afghanistan last year said in a statement that the tide had turned against the West but urged Muslims to keep up their holy war.
A Web site often used by Islamists posted the statement from a man identified as Abu Yahya al-Libi in which he said Muslims should remain vigilant and not give up force in favour of dialogue.
"There is no way to reach what is required but through jihad (holy struggle). Leaving jihad causes humiliation, weakness and suffering, but carrying it out and excelling in it is the way," he said in the statement which appeared on Monday.
continued
http://www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=72437&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Three terrorists arrested, 11 kg RDX seized
Posted by: heminger on Dec 25 - 08:44
RealNews Items Three members of a lesser known terrorist group - International Sikh Youth Federation - were arrested on Sunday and a large number of arms and ammunition recovered from them, police said. A huge cache of explosives, arms and ammunition including 11 kg of RDX, 11 detonators, four hand grenades, 11 timer devices, two pistols with four magazines, 100 live cartridges, 10 meter of wire and one walkie-talkie set was recovered from the arrested persons of ISYF-rode group, Senior Superintendednt of Police, Jalandhar, Naunihal Singh said. Full Story
Yemen: Media says spy arrested, security denies
http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1010&p=front&a=3
Media says spy arrested, security denies
Yemen Times Staff
SANA'A, Dec. 23 — A security source denied media allegations that
some
foreign investigation-linked secret agents, including those for
Israel, were arrested, according to the Army's September.net web site.
Noting that the information is baseless, the source requested mass
media verify such news via specialized and reliable parties before
publishing it.
The Yemeni Sons League web site, Raynews.net, reported Friday that
security apparatuses in Sana'a arrested numerous individuals of
various Arab nationalities on suspected links to foreign
investigations, including Israel and some Islamic nations.
Several official sources were contacted in an effort to verify the web
site report; however, they declined to comment, assuring that numerous
suspects are being investigated for acts believed to be against Yemeni
interests.
The league's report coincides with President Ali Abdullah Saleh's
warning last Wednesday about some political powers trying to ignite
sedition in Yemen.
Entering the country under the pretext of starting a business,
operating tourist tours or even working as mosque preachers, most such
individuals were arrested one by one, possessing detailed maps of
security-sensitive sites and investigation equipment.
The same source added that initial investigations revealed that some
suspects were involved in spying while some are agents for many
countries at the same time.
The number of suspects wasn't specified; however, the source said
approximately 40 detainees are being subjected to intense
investigations before being referred to judiciary.
Established in 2002 under U.S. instruction, the National Security
Apparatus is headed by Ali Al-Ansi, President Saleh's office manager
and Amar Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, the president's nephew.
Is Saudi Pressure behind a reported US arms embargo on Israel?
This is the full version of an abbreviated report sent earlier. If true, it also helps explain why Israel has refrained from responding to Palestinian missile strikes, despite repeated violations of the "truce," and why Israel is launching a peace initiative at this time: According to this report, the US is responding to Saudi pressure, because the US believes that Saudi Arabian support is a key factor to success in Iraq.
The arms embargo has not been reported elsewhere and has not been confirmed. A hypothesis based on the interest of the Saudis in the welfare of the Palestinians is questionable, and the role the Saudis might play in Iraq may be marginal.
U.S. BLOCKS ARMS, TECHNOLOGY TO ISRAEL
[MENL] -- The Bush administration has blocked arms and technology transfers to Israel.
Israeli and U.S. sources said the State Department has blocked the transfer of weapons and technology to the Jewish state over the last three months. The sources said the halt reflected deteriorating relations between the two countries since the end of the war in Lebanon in August 2006. "Nobody will say openly that there is a problem," a government source said. "But there is a serious problem that reflects the marginalization of Israel in U.S. strategy."
The unofficial suspension of U.S. arms deliveries began in late September, the sources said. They said the suspension halted the airlift of air-to-ground and other munitions conducted during and immediately after the Israeli war with Hizbullah. "Several weeks after the war, the U.S. supplies stopped," the source aid. "There was no real explanation."
The sources said the administration has held up a list of weapons requested by Israel in wake of the Lebanon war. They said the weapons and equipment -- including the Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM -- were ment to replenish munitions and other stocks in preparation for a larger war that would include Syria in mid-2007. "The administration has not rejected any Israeli request," a U.S. official said. "Instead, the State Department and Defense Department have said that all requests must be examined."
The administration refusal to approve the Israeli requests has also hampered military cooperation between the two countries. In November, the Israel Air Force canceled plans to send delegations to the United States to examine air systems and munitions. A U.S. official said the White House was deeply disappointed by the Israeli failure to defeat Hizbullah. The official said the war undermined U.S. confidence in Israel's military and government. "The word in the White House was that Israel lost the war," the official said. "That alone led to a plummet in Israel's stock in the administration, particularly the Pentagon."
The U.S. refusals have also hampered Israeli defense programs. The sources said the State Department has prevented the transfer of data and technology, even from projects that included Israeli participation. In one case, State prevented Northrop Grumman from providing details ofits Skyguard laser weapon, which the company has sought to sell to Israel. The ban led to the suspension of Israeli negotiations to procure Skyguard, designed to intercept short-range rockets and missiles.
The sources said the halt in U.S. weapons exports to Israel was designed to assuage Saudi Arabia. They said Riyad has increasingly linked regional cooperation with Washington to pressure on Israel to halt attacks on Palestinian insurgency strongholds in the Gaza Strip. "The White House believes that Saudi help is vital for the United States in Iraq," a diplomatic source said. "There's nothing like stopping the weapons flow to Israel to show the Saudis that the United States means business."
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=plane+crash&ei=utf-8
1. Principal Dies in Mono County Plane Crash Open this result in new window
KTVN Reno - Dec 25 2:38 PM
The pilot killed in small plane crash in Mono County over the weekend has been identified as a 56-year-old principal from Schurz. The Mono County authorities say Joel Hodes was killed Saturday when his plane crashed in the Bodie Hills area outside Bridgeport.
Save
2. Sister of Marshall plane crash victim Open this result in new window
Louisville Courier-Journal - Dec 25 2:53 AM
The movie "We Are Marshall," about the 1970 plane crash that killed 42 members of the Marshall football program and the story of the resilience of those left behind, opened Friday. Sally Cottrell of Tucker, Ga., was left behind, too.
Save
3. Wreckage Removed From Plane Crash Open this result in new window
The Chattanoogan - Dec 25 9:09 AM
Wreckage was removed Sunday from a plane crash in North Hamilton County that took the lives of a Florida family of four. Pieces of the single-engine plane were taken to Atlanta as part of the investigation of the Friday night crash.
Save
4. Deadly Plane Crash Open this result in new window
WNCT Greenville - Dec 25 4:32 AM
Authorities say 58-year-old Dr. Ray Armistead of New Bern was flying the plane. His 54-year-old wife, Patricia, and their two daughters -- 27-year-old Lauren Armistead and 25-year-old Kristin Armistead -- also were killed in the crash.
Save
5. Plane crash investigation could take days Open this result in new window
News Interactive - Dec 24 7:40 PM
IT could take air safety investigators at least another two days before they learn what went wrong in a fatal plane crash in southwest Victoria yesterday.
Save
6. Probe begins into fatal plane crash Open this result in new window
ABC via Yahoo!7 News - Dec 24 1:21 PM
Air Safety Investigators will today begin their investigation into a fatal light plane crash in far south-western Victoria.
Save
7. Plane Crash Update Open this result in new window
WRCB Chattanooga - Dec 24 7:29 PM
New information about the plane crash that killed a family of four near Harrison, TN. Investigators say the pilot did not follow landing instructions provided by air traffic controllers. Friday night's crash killed a couple and their two teenage daughters.
Save
8. Plane Crash Investigation Open this result in new window
WMBB TV Panama City - Dec 24 4:19 PM
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Fla. - The weather is hampering the investigation into a plane crash that killed five Panhandle residents.
Save
9. Plane Crash Victims Identified Open this result in new window
WDEF Chattanooga - Dec 24 7:51 AM
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA spent today at the scene of that fatal plane crash last night in the highway 58 area. Authorities held a news conference earlier this afternoon. read more
Save
10. PLANE CRASH Open this result in new window
Warrnambool Standard - Dec 25 4:12 PM
A PILOT is dead after his plane crashed shortly after take-off near the Nelson-Portland Road on Christmas Eve. A police media spokeswoman said the 59-year-male took off from an airstrip on private property about one kilometre east of Nelson.
Save
Iran criticizes hypocrisy of Security Council over Israeli WMDs
http://www.uruknet.info?p=29277
Iran criticizes hypocrisy of Security Council over Israeli WMDs
FARS News Agency
December 24, 2006
Iran denounced UN sanctions imposed on its nuclear program, accusing
the Security Council of double standards for ignoring Israel's recent
admission of its nuclear capabilities.
Speaking after the adoption of a Security Council resolution aimed at
pressuring Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment program, Iran's UN
ambassador on Saturday called the sanctions illegal and accused Europe
and the United States of trying to prevent Iran from pursuing peaceful
nuclear technology.
"A nation is being punished for exercising its inalienable rights,''
Javad Zarif said in a speech after the vote, accusing the Council of
acting at the "behest of a dangerous regime with aggression and war crimes
as its signature brand of behavior,'' referring to Israel.
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to
abandon Israel's longstanding policy of ambiguity on nuclear weapons when
he listed Israel among countries that possess them.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry was equally strong in its reaction to the
council vote, declaring that the government will defy the resolution
and continue enriching uranium.
"Iran considers the new UN Security Council resolution ... an
extralegal act outside the frame of its responsibilities and against the UN
Charter,'' the statement said.
"The Iranian nation, relying on its national capabilities and within
the framework of its rights stipulated in the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty, will continue its peaceful nuclear activities,'' it added.
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=bomb+OR+explosive+device&ei=utf-8
1. US Military: 3 Soldiers Killed In Baghdad Bomb Explosion Open this result in new window
Nasdaq - Dec 24 8:27 AM
BAGHDAD (AP)--A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded another in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Sunday. "Their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device at approximately 12:20 p.m. in east Baghdad" on Saturday, the military said.
Save
2. Explosive Device Found In Nashville Apt. Open this result in new window
WKRN Nashville - Dec 22 1:24 PM
An investigation is underway Friday afternoon after a homemade explosive device was found in a Nashville apartment. | | According to officials, a suspicious purchase made at a Nashville hardware store prompted store workers to notify police. When officials arrived at the downtown apartment of the man who made the suspicious purchase, located at 21st Avenue South at Sunset Place, they...
Save
3. Bomb Attacks in Iraq Leave 6 Soldiers Dead, U.S. Military Says Open this result in new window
Bloomberg.com - Dec 24 11:35 PM
Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Six soldiers were killed in bomb attacks in and around Iraq's capital Baghdad on Dec. 23, bringing this month's death toll to at least 82, the U.S. military said in four statements e-mailed yesterday.
Save
4. Explosive device was third found in Cinnaminson Open this result in new window
phillyburbs.com - Dec 19 7:16 AM
The homemade bomb found outside Cinnaminson High School last week was the third explosive device found near local schools during the last month, police said yesterday.
Save
5. Second brother enters guilty plea in alleged bomb plot Open this result in new window
KAALtv.com - Dec 23 5:16 PM
FAIRBAULT, Minn. (AP) - A Kenyon man accused of helping his brother in an alleged plot to blow up the Rice County Courthouse and law enforcement center has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting possession of an explosive device.
Save
6. Restaurant Victim Of Bomb Threat Open this result in new window
KKCO Grand Junction - Dec 24 4:45 PM
A bomb threat called into a Clifton restaurant has police looking for suspects and answers. No explosives were found in a search following the bomb threat at the Dos Hombres restaurant off of I–70 Business Loop in Clifton.
Save
7. 1996 Olympic bomber's explosive device also was a statement Open this result in new window
The Oregonian - Dec 24 12:19 AM
E ric Rudolph spent more than five years hiding from the FBI in the woods of western North Carolina.
Save
8. Motorcycle rigged with bomb found in Sultan Kudarat Open this result in new window
INQ7.net - Dec 25 12:15 PM
COTABATO CITY -- A motorcycle set to explode in Esperanza town in Sultan Kudarat province was discovered by government security forces on Saturday, an official said Monday.
Save
9. PFC. SHANE PELTIER: Searching a house, taking sniper fire Open this result in new window
Detroit Free Press - Dec 25 3:35 AM
Shane Peltier, 20, of Bad Axe doesn't e-mail much, according to Kris and Ernie Peltier, his parents. But he sent this instant message about "tossing," or searching, a house after an improvised explosive device killed two Marines from the battalion. From Shane to Kris
Save
10. Four people injured in bomb blast in Balochistan Open this result in new window
New Kerala - Dec 20 8:12 PM
Islamabad, Dec 20: At least four people were injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan's Balochistan province Wednesday. The explosive device planted on a bicycle went off in the provincial capital Quetta injuring four passers-by, local police told Geo news channel.
Save
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=%22FBI%22&ei=utf-8
1. FBI chided for OKC bomb investigation Open this result in new window
AP via Yahoo! News - Dec 25 1:36 AM
A two-year congressional inquiry into the Oklahoma City bombing concludes that the FBI didn't fully investigate whether other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols with the deadly 1995 attack, allowing questions to linger a decade later.
Save
2. Report rebukes FBI over Okla. City probe Open this result in new window
AP via Yahoo! News - Dec 24 6:47 PM
The FBI failed to fully investigate information suggesting other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, allowing questions to linger more than a decade after the deadly attack, a congressional inquiry concludes.
Save
3. Lennon FBI Files Released Open this result in new window
antiMUSIC - Dec 25 4:30 PM
(AP) The FBI has released its final surveillance documents on John Lennon to a university historian who has waged a 25-year legal battle to obtain the secret files.
Save
4. FBI Chided for OKC Bomb Investigation Open this result in new window
ABC News - Dec 25 5:55 AM
AP Enterprise: Congress Report Rebukes FBI for Oklahoma City Investigation
Save
5. Congress report rebukes FBI for Oklahoma City investigation Open this result in new window
Boston Herald - Dec 25 2:24 PM
WASHINGTON - A two-year congressional inquiry into the Oklahoma City bombing concludes that the FBI didn't fully investigate whether other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols...
Save
6. FBI attacked by inquiry over Oklahoma bombing Open this result in new window
The Herald - Dec 25 5:07 PM
A two-year congressional inquiry into the Oklahoma City bombing concludes that the FBI did not fully investigate whether other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols with the deadly 1995 attack.
Save
7. Congress faults FBI in probe of McVeigh Open this result in new window
The Buffalo News - Dec 25 5:58 AM
WASHINGTON - The FBI failed to fully investigate information suggesting that other suspects might have helped Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, allowing questions to linger for more than a decade after the deadly attack, a congressional inquiry concludes.
Save
8. Congressional report to rebuke FBI on Okla. bombing probe Open this result in new window
Boston Globe - Dec 25 12:48 AM
WASHINGTON -- The FBI did not fully investigate information suggesting that other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols with the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, allowing questions to linger more than a decade after the deadly attack, a congressional inquiry has found.
Save
9. FBI ripped over Okla. City probe Open this result in new window
New York Daily News - Dec 25 1:26 AM
WASHINGTON - The FBI failed to fully investigate information suggesting other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols carry out the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, allowing questions to linger more than a decade after the deadly attack, a congressional inquiry concludes.
Save
10. FBI Arrests Slidell Man In Murder-For-Hire Plot Open this result in new window
WDSU.com - Dec 25 9:49 AM
The FBI has arrested a Slidell man accused of attempting to pay off an undercover informant in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme.
Save
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/24/AR2006122400916.html
Interior, Pentagon Faulted In Audits
Effort to Speed Defense Contracts Wasted Millions
By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Scott Higham
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 25, 2006; Page A01
The Defense Department paid two procurement operations at the
Department of the Interior to arrange for Pentagon purchases totaling $1.7
billion that resulted in excessive fees and tens of millions of dollars in
waste, documents show.
Defense turned to Interior, which manages federal lands and resources,
in an effort to speed up its contracting. Interior is one of several
government agencies allowed to manage contracts for other agencies in
exchange for a fee.
continued.....
Monday, 25.12.06, 19:30 Uhr UTC
DAILY BULLETIN from DW-WORLD
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Pope Pleads for Lasting Peace in Middle East
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evu578Ifwf2zzI0
Pope Benedict XVI on Monday made a fresh appeal for a "just and
lasting peace" in the Middle East and an end to "brutal violence"
in Iraq.
German Town's Craftspeople Fight Chinese Imports
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evu578Ifwf2zzI1
The Christmas market in the eastern German town of Seiffen has
become a globalization battleground as local craftspeople try to
protect traditional, handmade decorations from a store selling
cheaper Asian imports.
A Flowering Future for Old East German Uranium Mines
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evu578Ifwf2zzI2
A German environmental catastrophe has been transformed into a
magnificent nature park. The former area of the Ronneburg uranium
mines will host Germany's famous Federal Garden Show (BUGA) next
year.
In Christmas Address, German President Urges More Reform
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evu578Ifwf2zzI3
German President Horst Köhler has used his traditional Christmas
address to again set out his case for enacting far-reaching
reforms in Europe's biggest economy.
Christmas Away From Home
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evu578Ifwf2zzI4
The Bonn organization Experiment e.V. arranges for foreign
students stuck in Germany over the holidays to experience a
German Christmas with local families.
Investor Group: Railway Not Ready for Stock Market Listing
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evu578Ifwf2zzI5
A leading German investor representative group has roundly
criticized Berlin's plans for selling off the nation's railway
company, saying Deutsche Bahn AG was not ready for a stock market
listing.
Iran Defies Sanctions, Vows to Expand Enrichment
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evu578Ifwf2zzI6
Iran vowed Sunday to start work immediately on drastically
expanding its capacity to enrich uranium, defying the first UN
sanctions against the Islamic republic's nuclear program.
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/357
Daily Column
Iraqi Students Protest
The Scoop from Key Arabic-Language Web Sites
By ZEYAD Posted 16 hr. 36 min. ago
A group of students from the Mustansirya University - College of Dentistry and the Union of Iraqi Students and Youth wrote an appeal to President Jalal Talibani, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the Minister of Higher Education asking them to reconsider a decision to relocate their school from Karama, west of the Tigris, to the main Mustansiriya University campus at Palestine Street, south of Sadr City, in Baghdad. "There is a plan today to relocate 500 students from the Mustansirya University - College of Dentistry to the campus of horror and dread in Palestine Street ... where militias work day and night to spread fear among students," wrote the students. "This is a perilous decision that should be reversed before a huge disaster similar to the one that took place in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research."
In a related development, the Haqq Agency reported that leaflets distributed in different areas of Baghdad warned Sunni students and professors from going near the Mustansiriya University in Palestine Street as "it is a target for the Mujahideen, since it has turned from a bastion of knowledge into a bastion for Sadr, where his followers spread vice and commit crimes of murder and rape against virtuous Muslim women." The leaflets referred to unconfirmed news two days ago of an incident in which Mahdi Army militiamen allegedly kidnapped three Sunni female students from Mustansiriya University, whom were then raped and killed by the militiamen. Their corpses were purportedly found on the Army Canal road, south of Sadr City. The Organization to Defend Women in Iraq also reported the incident. SMS messages and fliers were circulating in Baghdad and calling for revenge, while the Media Bureau of the Council of Ministers and deputy chancellor of Mustansiriya University denied the incident in a press release Sunday.
The Sunni fundamentalist website Islam Memo reports that joint U.S.-Iraqi forces are raiding civilian residences in Fallujah and breaking up TV sets of families who are caught watching the banned Zawraa TV satellite channel. At least one resident, Kamel Ahmed Hamadi, of Nazzal district in Fallujah, was detained. One person reportedly asked the raiding force in English about freedom of the press and as a result got a slap in the face by an American soldier, Nazzal district residents said.
"Safavids are Forbidden to Enter" was scrawled under a sign that reads "Welcome to Baghdad" at the Mahmudiya intersection, south of Baghdad, according to an Islam Memo correspondent. Safavid is a reference to the Persian Safavid Empire that invaded Iraq during the 16th and 17th centuries and massacred thousands of Sunnis. It is a derogatory term used by Sunni insurgents and fundamentalists to describe the Shia, their militias, and even Iraqi security forces. Two IEDs that were placed under the sign exploded when a police commando force attempted to wipe out the graffiti, killing and wounding several policemen.
The Iraqi Rabita website posts a warning to residents of the Sunni districts of Fadhl, Sulaikh, Waziriya, Jihad and Sheikh Ali in Baghdad of an imminent, coordinated attack by Mahdi Army militias, supported by governmental security forces during the curfew that is expected to be announced for the first ten days of the Islamic month of Muharram under the pretext of guarding Shia mourning processions to Karbala.
There were nighttime clashes at the districts of Jihad and Furat, southwest of Baghdad, between Sunni and Shi'ite gunmen, according to Buratha News, which describes the clashes as being between "popular committees and terrorist elements of the Omar Brigade."
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/topic/21
Exclusive
Black Market Bullet Prices Skyrocket
As Sectariation Violence Worsens, Baghdad Bullet Prices Soar
By EASON JORDAN 12/11/2006 03:00 AM ET
Amid the surge in sectarian violence in Iraq, the black market price for AK-47 bullets has tripled in recent weeks in the Shia Baghdad neighborhood of Shaab, while doubling in Sadr City and southern Baghdad neighborhoods. A single bullet that a month ago cost 250 dinars (17.5 U.S. cents) now costs 750 dinars (52.4 U.S. cents) in Shaab and 500 dinars (35 U.S. cents) in most other Shia Baghdad neighborhoods. The source of most of the black market bullets: Shia Iraqi police officers sympathetic with sectarian fighters or looking to make extra dinars or both. Tomorrow, we'll report on the surging black market prices for weaponry.
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/362/Sunnis_Kidnapped_from_Mosque_Found_Dead
Sunnis Kidnapped from Mosque Found Dead
Mosque's Sheikh, His Son, and a Deputy Tortured, Slain
Posted 0 hr. 57 min. ago
The bodies of three Sunnis kidnapped from a Baghdad mosque Friday were found today (Monday), sources tell IraqSlogger.
Friday, Shia militiamen belonging to the Mahdi Army raided the Abdullah Bin Omier mosque in the Binook area near the Sadrist stronghold of Al-Sha'ab in eastern Baghdad. The raid occurred during the important noon prayer, when a large congregation gathers to hear a sermon. The mosque's sheikh, the muadhin who calls to prayer, and a third man who opened fire on the Mahdi Army men were all kidnapped. Their corpses were found today, showing signs of torture, and it was revealed that the third man who opened fire during the raid was actually the sheikh's son.
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/361/Iraqi_Papers_Tuesday_Sadr_In_or_Out
Iraqi Papers Tuesday: Sadr In or Out?
Sadr Deputies Say U.S. Military Presence is Key Hitch
By AMER MOHSEN Posted 1 hr. 6 min. ago
The current Iraqi political crisis involving the Sadr Current has received the lion's share of political reporting in Iraqi dailies today. The Sadr bloc had suspended its participation in the parliament and the government after Maliki's meeting with the American President in Amman. According to As-Sabah al-Jadeed, the Sadr bloc says that its discord with the government stems from the failure to agree on a schedule for an American withdrawal from Iraq. As-Sabah al-Jadeed quoted Haidar al-`Abadi from the Iraqi Coalition (the larger parliamentary alliance, which includes the Sadr movement along with six other parties) as saying that the Sadr Current ‘is on its way back' to the parliament and the cabinet. The Sadr bloc has 30 parliamentary seats and 6 cabinet ministers. According to As-Sabah al-Jadeed, Sadr's conditions to resume cooperation with the government include al-Maliki's soliciting the UN Security Council for a withdrawal schedule and the improvement of services and security.
The withdrawal of the Sadr Current from the political institutions has been accompanied with louder critiques of the Sadr movement and its involvement in the sectarian violence that has been ravaging the country. Some analysts see the ‘New Security Plan' in Baghdad as being partially- directed against al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. Clashes have also erupted between the Mahdi Army and the Iraqi police in different areas in Iraq. Az-Zaman reported that 3 men have been killed in Rumaitha when elements from the Mahdi Army exchanged fire with the Police. Similar incidents in Samawa yesterday have led to the imposition of a general curfew, which has led to the closing of schools and public institutions in the area, according to Az-Zaman. The clashes, which lasted for 4 days now, have led to over 30 casualties among civilians, policemen and Mahdi Army fighters. The Minister of Interior Jawad al-Boulani said that his forces will ‘punish' those who break the law and ‘impose order', he added that what has happened in Samawa is ‘normal' and occurs ‘everywhere in the world', with people breaking the law and the police using force to deter them. Az-Zaman added that army units have been brought to Samawa in order to support the Police efforts, and As-Sabah al-Jadeed said that the Sadr headquarters in Samawa has been occupied by the Army forces and that over 40 members of the Sadr militia have been arrested.
In a related development, the British forces have occupied and demolished a police station in Basra that contained a prison and the headquarters for the ‘major crimes unit' in the Iraqi Police. According to Az-Zaman's international edition, the police station was manned by members from the Iraqi Coalition. The British forces liberated the prisoners, who, according to a British army spokesman, were in danger of being executed by the police; the British Major added that signs of torture were apparent on the bodies of the 178 prisoners.
Al-Mada released additional details regarding the Baghdad ‘Security Plan'. The newspaper said that the Iraqi army will be equipped with 16 airplanes, 400 APCs and 1800 wheeled vehicles. In a press conference by Mohammad al-`Askari from the defense ministry, he assured Baghdadi citizens that a ‘tangible improvement' will be felt in terms of security in the city. `Askari added that the army equipments were negotiated during the last visit of the American Secretary of Defense to Baghdad.
Lastly, the Iraqi Presidency was angered by the decision of the American Army to arrest a group of Iranian diplomats who were visiting Iraq upon the invitation of Iraqi President Jalal Talbani. According to Al-Mada, Talbani expressed his ‘annoyance' at the arrest of the Iranians, who included high-ranking military officials. The American army claims that the Iranian diplomats were released, but the New York Times said, on Sunday, that two members of the delegation were still in American custody.
http://billroggio.com/archives/2006/12/alzawraa_responds_to.php
Al-Zawraa Responds to Muj TV
Mashaan Jabouri, the owner of al-Zawraa, responds to my post, Muj TV
While in Fallujah, I wrote about al-Zawraa, or what the Iraqis refer to as "Muj TV." This is a satellite television station that broadcasts attacks on U.S., Coalition and Iraqi security forces, as well as calls for incitement against Shiites and Iranians. Al-Zawraa was founded by Mishan al-Jabouri (or Mashaan Aljabouri), a former member of parliament who has been charged by the Iraqi government with embezzling money from the government and supporting al-Qaeda.
In al-Zawraa: Muj TV, I noted there is little reason to make distinctions between the Islamic Army in Iraq, the insurgent group that sponsors al-Zawraa, and al-Qaeda, at this point in time. Since Muj TV was published, it has been reported the Islamic Army in Iraq has joined the Islamic State in Iraq, al-Qaeda's political front organization designed to legitimize its role in the insurgency. I also noted the Iraqis that I viewed this program with felt al-Zawraa was strictly a Baathist/secular program. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Nick Grace were ore forceful and declared al-Zawraa an arm of al-Qaeda.
Mishan al-Jabouri has responded to the claims of links between al-Zawaraa and al-Qaeda, and categorically denied any association. He states al-Zawraa is "an Iraqi patriot station," "has no sponsor and it is independently financed by its owner," and "has no relations whatsoever with Al-Qaeda... but it respects those Mujahideen who devoted and sacrifice themselves to defend Sunnis..." Al-Jabouri also called Prime Minister Maliki "an agent of Iran."
It should be noted that Mishan al-Jabouri has a vested interest in dissociating himself from al-Qaeda. He has been implicated with colluding with al-Qaeda by the Iraqi government, and the Iraqi government and Coalition forces have been quite clear that senior al-Qaeda operatives will not be granted amnesty in any future reconcilliation program.
Mishan al-Jabouri's letter to me is published in full below, unedited:
Fakes and lies against Alzawraa TV
In relation your article published at The Forth Rail at December, 23; we want to inform you that Alzawraa TV is an Iraqi patriot station that expresses the attitude of the majority of Iraqi people toward the current situation after the U.S occupation, distraction and the sectarian crimes against Sunnis people of Iraq which occur every day as daily massacres.
Alzawraa TV has no sponsor and it is independently financed by its owner, Mr.Mashaan Aljabouri to express its resistance against occupation and sectarian crimes. Alzawraa transmits some news or documentary films that it receives from foreign agencies which shows what we call Mujahideen and you call insurgents activities against US army or other forces Alzawraa transmits also some materials from its archive that express its own independent thoughts against sectarians and political parties supported by Iran.
We can assure you that Alzawraa TV has no relations whatsoever with Al-Qaeda as you claimed but it respects those Mujahideen who devoted and sacrifice themselves to defend Sunnis who are targeted by both American army and Sectarian militias encouraged by the sectarian Government of Al- Maliky and other slaughterers...
We believe that as US had claimed the presence of Mass Destruction weapons in Iraq the US media also continues to fabricate fakes and lies against Alzawaa TV.
We here by assure that our station represents our Bloc for reconciliation and Liberation as a political movement supporting Liberation...not the Occupation of our country and we are pure Iraqis whether political movement or TV station.
Our attitude to resist crimes against our people and destruction of our mother land that’s why we find that all information about Alzawaa TV is not true but on the contrary serving the interest of the sectarian government of Almaliky who is a humble servant of Iran with The Shiites coalition against Iraqi people who suffer from poverty, diseases and sectarian killing.
Hoping to find our response published in your next edition.
Regards
Mashaan Aljabouri
Tags:
* Iraq
By Bill Roggio on December 25, 2006 10:43 AM | Permalink
http://billroggio.com/archives/2006/12/alzawraa_responds_to.php
Merry Christmas Sheepdogs
Posted By Blackfive
Russ Vaughn, milblogger poet laureate, sends this poem (also at American Thinker) to wish all you Sheepdogs a very Merry Christmas:
To Our Sheepdogs
It’s so easy to forget them there,
As we warm beside the fire,
Those spread so far out everywhere,
Those sent to man the wire.
Patrolling on the front line,
As peacefully here we bask,
Protecting what is yours and mine,
That’s their hard, dreary task.
Like sheep we are protected,
From the far off wolves of war,
And our Sheepdogs as expected,
Never waver from their chore.
In peace we sheep ignore their kind,
Wary of their violent trends;
But when the wolves attack we find,
These Sheepdogs are our friends.
Forever this has been the way,
Since time for us began,
Sheep fearing that the Sheepdogs may
Disrupt our placid plan.
Yet time again Dogs surely prove,
When comes a wolfine danger,
The Sheepdogs will most swiftly move
To guard the lambs, the manger.
So here’s to Sheepdogs everywhere
At this Christmas time of year;
Just know the flock is with you there,
And we wish you Christmas cheer.
We wish we could advance the clock,
Cause truth is, Dogs, we miss you,
To the day that you’ll rejoin the flock,
When we’ll sheepishly then kiss you.
Russ Vaughn
To more fully understand the “Sheepdogs” reference, the reader should go here:
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2004/10/i_only_hang_wit.html
and here:
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2004/10/russ_vaughn_res.html
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20972976-421,00.html
Hundreds of fake marriages to gain visas
By Nicolette Burke
December 26, 2006 02:55am
ALMOST 900 NSW residents tried to scam an Australian visa by faking a marriage in the past year, according to the latest figures.
continued
http://simsps.livejournal.com/857.html
Animal Rights Terrorist: Who they are, What they want, and Why we care
The Major Players
Hunt Saboteurs Association
Animal Liberation Front
Earth Liberation Front
Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty
Hunt Saboteurs Association
Founded in 1970s in England
Focused on ending hunting in England / EU
No known direct connection to ALF or SHAC
Targets have been in England and Europe
Animal Liberation Front
Founded in 1976 in England
Focused on direct terrorist actions against Businesses conducting animal research.
Operates in small self financed cells
Militant spin off HSA
Claims to have cells in 18 countries
Earth Liberation Front
Partner to ALF
Broader environmental focus
Often claim joint credit for ALF operations
Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty
Founded in England
Formed SHAC USA in 2000
Focused on direct terrorist actions against Huntington Life Sciences and businesses associated with HLS
Major organizer of AR events
Claims to be nonviolent
Stated goals of the Animal Rights Terrorist
Liberate animals from places of abuse, i.e. labs, factories, and farms.
Inflict economic damage to all who profit from animal misery
Reveal the horror of atrocities committed against animals
To avoid harm to all animals (humans too)
Humans Too!?!
For most of its history the animal rights movement has focused on conducting nonviolent protest and direct action against the property of so called animal rights offenders. Over the last 5 years there has been a substantial change in the tactics of the movement. “There is know question that the fringes of the movement have become increasingly radicalized.” said Mark Potok, Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligences Project
According to Tim Horner, Director of Kroll International, “Their tactic don’t just target the CEO or chairman of the board, they go after assistants, engineers, lab techs…. It could be anybody.”
As reflected in recent events, the ART movement are targeting friends and relatives of executives involved in the bio tech industry at there homes, schools, and places of work in an attempt to intimidate and embarrass them.
ART Movement Training
The ART movement provides its members with a variety of training manuals with detailed instruction on how to carry out targeted actions known as “monkey wrenching”. These manuals include guidance on recruiting, building camaraderie, researching targets, and executing an action against a target. The manual titled “ Security Culture” covers security within a cell as well as interaction between cell members and law enforcement and security officers.
Social Engineering- Most common method used by ART to gain information on companies, employees, and business partners for use during their campaigns.
Examples- ART member calls an employee pretending to be CIT. The employee is told that a network wide virus has been traced to their system. The ART member walks the employee through the removal of a benign file from the system. The employee is then told that in order to insure that the virus was removed the ART member required access, i.e. via password or GoToMyPc.
ART members are very adept at mining for information that may be useful in their planned action or the actions of another cell. ART info mining techniques include but are not limited to dumpster diving, cold calls, impersonation, email fraud, and web traffic tracking software.
Due to the sophisticated nature of their techniques, viewing their websites on company computers is prohibited. Employees are also discouraged from using their home computers to view these sites.
Go With Who You Know
A main focus of ART cell training is cell security. This security begins with cell members. ART cell members are encouraged to discuss cell activities only with active cell members. A cell usually consist of people with a history together and who trust each other completely. Members are told if they have any doubts about a cell member the planned action must be cancelled.
Modus Operandi
Provide broad guidance and potential targets to potential members via web site or member meetings
No central leadership
Organize into small close knit cells
Perform a formal induction / loyalty ceremony
Conduct in-depth recon on potential targets
Once a target is identified repeat attacks are common
Secondary and tertiary targeting of business associates and family members is common
Biotech; A new target
Due to recent success and high media exposure the Biotech industry has come to the attention of the ART movement.
Animal Rights Terrorist Activity
The activity of the animal rights terrorist has exploded in the last decade. This is due in large part to their ability to propagandize via the internet.
Common Actions Taken by ART
There are a variety of activities supported by the ART members.
Vandalism
Spray paint, paint bombs, and stickers / posters are common tools used to vandalize property.
VADALISM: EXAMPLE
Date – 7/26/2005
Target – Roche (Genentech parent), NJ
ART Group – SHAC
Activists were arrested for giving a police officer fake identities after they were stopped on foot outside the Hoffman-LaRoche facility in Nutley, police said. The activists were later charged with criminal mischief and criminal trespassing in connection with other vandalism of a home.
VADALISM: EXAMPLE
Date – 7/10/2005
Target – Peninsula Labs, San Carlos, CA
ART Group – ALF
Activists raided a research lab in Northern California, destroying property, spray painting the building, and leaving broken glass. Peninsula Labs is a subsidiary of Bachem AG, which has been targeted because of its connection to HLS. A video was released to the press of the raid.
Animal Liberation / Theft
ART members often break into labs and destroy equipment, release animals.
Animal Liberation / Theft: Example
Date – 4/22/2005
Target – LSU, Baton Rouge, La
ART Group – ALF
Activists claim to have taken 21 mice (although later reports indicate only 10 mice) from a university lab. The activists also claim to have vandalized the lab, breaking aquariums, smashing windows, and throwing paint stripper on walls.
Animal Liberation / Theft: Example
Date – 11/13/2004
Target – University of Iowa
ART Group – ALF
ALF activists claimed responsibility for damaging two science buildings at the University. The activists stole 400 animals, destroy research, and vandalized labs and buildings. University officials later put the final damages at $450,000.
Arson / Explosives
One of the most dangerous practices of the ART movement is the use of incendiary devices to destroy property.
Arson / Explosive: Example
Date – 8/28/2003
Target – Chiron, Emeryville, CA
ART Group – ALB-Revolutionary Cells
Two homemade bombs exploded early on Thursday at Chiron Corp. headquarters, shutting down work at one of the nation's largest biotech companies in what industry experts said might have been an attack mounted by animal rights activists. The explosions, which occurred outside the company's buildings, caused no injuries and only limited damage.
Arson / Explosive: Example
Date – 8/21/2003
Target – Auto Dealerships, CA
ART Group – ELF
Apparent arson fires destroyed or damaged dozens of Hummers and other SUVs at a car dealership vandalized by anti-pollution graffiti. Similar slogans were found spray-painted on SUVs at three other dealerships in neighboring cities. The 5 a.m. blazes caused more than $1 million worth of damage
Preparedness / Response - General
Be aware of your surroundings - wherever you are.
Report unusual behavior, suspicious packages, or strange devices to security personnel
Move or leave if you feel uncomfortable or if something does not seem right
Pay attention to emergency exits in buildings
Ensure that employees, business associates, and family members are aware of the security issues concerning ART
Security officers and employees should report any strange activity to SCC immediately.
Identify at least two emergency meeting points for EC members
Develop an emergency response plan
Assemble an emergency supplies kit
Always remember people with special needs or medical conditions
Focus on the Realities
Probability of being involved in or affected by an incident is high
Companies that have been targets are likely to be hit again
Preparation is key
Education of employees concerning the risk of ART actions is critical
The one with the baby:
http://community.livejournal.com/cat_macros/216728.html#cutid1
"There is Pie"
http://community.livejournal.com/cat_macros/
A nonsense site, for cat lovers, saw a couple 'fowl' words.
Israeli PM Orders Checkpoints Dismantled
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2006/dec/25/122508058.html
Today: December 25, 2006 at 9:35:11 PST
Israeli PM Orders Checkpoints Dismantled
By MATTI FRIEDMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM (AP) -
Israel's prime minister on Monday ordered the military to dismantle
more than
two dozen of the West Bank checkpoints that have disrupted Palestinian
travel,
as part of a package of gestures Israel hopes will boost Palestinian
President
Mahmoud Abbas.
After meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, top security officials
agreed to
remove 27 roadblocks of the hundreds that dot the West Bank, but did
not say
which would come down.
In a separate meeting, Defense Minister Amir Peretz also told
parliament's
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he supports Olmert's call to
release
of some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners Israel holds, even
without a
deal on freeing an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants.
Olmert had previously rejected any prisoner release until Cpl. Gilad
Shalit
returns home. But since meeting Abbas on Saturday night, Olmert has
softened his
position.
Israel hopes a prisoner release, as well as easing travel restrictions,
would
convince the Palestinian public that Abbas is able to deliver them
benefits that
his militantly anti-Israel Hamas rivals, who control the Palestinian
parliament
and Cabinet, cannot.
In an effort to mediate the standoff between the Palestinian rivals,
Jordan has
invited Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas for talks
this week
with Abbas in Amman, the Jordanian capital.
At Saturday's meeting between Abbas and Olmert, the first between
Israeli and
Palestinian leaders in 18 months, Olmert offered to dismantle
checkpoints and
give Abbas tens of millions of dollars in frozen funds.
The checkpoints have carved up the West Bank into separate blocs,
making travel
more and more difficult and constraining the local economy.
Lawmakers who attended the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
meeting said
Peretz told them 59 checkpoints would come down in two stages.
"We must consider easing roadblocks in places where this does not pose
a
danger," the defense minister said after the meeting.
Peretz gave no timetable for taking down the checkpoints. He has asked
the army
to decide which checkpoints should be taken down in each of the phases,
something that could delay the process because of military opposition
to easing
travel restrictions.
Palestinians welcomed Peretz's decision. Although hundreds of
roadblocks will
still remain, "we still consider this a step in lifting the internal
closure in
the West Bank," said Saeb Erekat, a top Abbas aide.
Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh, Israel's West Bank commander, has warned in
recent
internal discussions that dismantling checkpoints would make it harder
for the
military to prevent suicide bombers from attacking Israeli targets,
security
officials said.
Speaking to reporters at parliament, Peretz said that freeing
Palestinians might
improve prospects for the Shalit's release.
"Every year there has been a humanitarian release of prisoners" around
the
Christmas and (Muslim) Eid al-Adha holidays, and the government should
carry out
a similar goodwill gesture this year, he said.
A spokesman for one of the three Hamas-allied groups that captured
Shalit said
Egyptian-brokered talks on a prisoner swap had reached an impasse.
"There are no developments in the prisoner exchange talks. I can go so
far as to
say talks have reached a deadlock," said Abu Mujahed of the Popular
Resistance
Committees.
Shortly after Shalit was captured, Israel rounded up dozens of Hamas
lawmakers
and Cabinet members in what was widely viewed as an attempt to collect
bargaining chips for the soldier's release.
On Monday, Israel's Supreme Court began deliberating a petition by four
of the
arrested lawmakers against Israel's decision to revoke their Jerusalem
residency.
Israel meted out the unprecedented punishment after the officials
refused to
renounce their membership in Hamas. Lawyers said they expected the
court
proceedings to take months.
Also Monday, Olmert said he would like to renew peace talks with Syria,
but
insisted that Damascus first end its support of anti-Israel militant
groups.
Syria has recently indicated it would like to resume negotiations with
Israel.
Olmert has rejected the offers.
"If Syria agrees to stop the violence, stop its support for Hamas, stop
its
support for Hezbollah, and sever its appalling connection with Iran,
then we'll
be able to engage in a diplomatic process," Olmert told a meeting of
lawmakers
from his Kadima party.
Problems or questions?
Read our policy on privacy and cookies.
All contents C 1996 - 2006 Las Vegas Sun, Inc.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20061223T230000-0500_117036_OBS_MANDEVILLE_LAWYERS_SHUN_SUSPECTS_.asp
Mandeville lawyers shun suspects
Reluctant to provide legal services to accused in missing couple case, say police
BY KARYL WALKER Sunday Observer staff reporter
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Mandeville lawyers, apparently troubled by the abduction of Richard and Julia Lyn, a popular business couple, have abandoned cherished legal tradition and are refusing to represent three persons being held in connection with the foul deed, the police have complained.
As a result of unwillingness of the attorneys based in the mid-island town to take the case, police said they would transfer the accused persons to Kingston this week to seek legal representation.
Green. we hope they get counsel in Kingston
"The detainees will be taken into Kingston on Wednesday so we can get them interviewed. We hope to get attorneys in Kingston," head of the Major Investigation Task Force, Assistant Commissioner Les Green, told the Sunday Observer. "We hope they get counsel in Kingston."
All accused persons in custody must be questioned in the presence of a lawyer or legal aid council and their conversations with the police without a lawyer present cannot be used in court.
Last week, Green had told the Sunday Observer that local lawyers were reluctant to get involved with the case. "We have a problem at the moment trying to find an attorney for them. There seems to be a reluctance on the part of local attorneys from being involved and we have to look further afield."
The Lyns have been missing since December 10 and the police have now concentrated their search around a landfill at Martin's Hill in Manchester. The cops say two barrels they believe to be at the dump can provide them with evidence.
"It is a very, very difficult, smelly and dirty job and the officers are conducting a search with mechanical equipment," Green said.
The Lyns are very popular with residents in the town, and head of the Bar Association of Jamaica, John Lieba, stopped just short of saying lawyers in the town were shirking from the case because of the social status of the victims and the perceived barbarity of the crime.
"It is understandable when you have particularly heinous crimes. There is a serious problem with crime, and the society wants to see an end to it," Lieba told the Sunday Observer.
He, however, expressed the hope that the three persons now in custody would be afforded legal representation.
"As lawyers we can't resile from our duty. In time they will get representation," Lieba said.
Kingston-based attorney, Gaile Walters said lawyers had a right to refuse their services to any person or potential client, despite the traditional position that all accused persons were entitled to a defence.
"It's a personal decision, a personal choice that a lawyer has to make. There are other considerations besides the guilt or innocence of an accused person," said Walters, who is the legal officer for the Jamaica Observer newspaper.
"A lawyer may have a conflict of interest with the potential client, or a personal interest in the other party. There is sometimes an emotional connection with the party which could prevent the lawyer from handling the case as passionately as they should," she argued.
Walters said she knew of no canon that compelled a lawyer to take a case, and she referred to a similar situation when Kingston lawyers refused to represent the accused in the trial for the 2002 murder of attorney Shirley Playfair.
Traditional practice is that where an attorney is unwilling to represent an accused person, that person must be appointed a legal aid lawyer who is duty bound to represent the individual. Under the Legal Aid Act, the court may grant an accused person a legal aid certificate to facilitate the police interview. The order can also be made for any person who is detained.
All criminal cases where imprisonment is part of the sentence attracts legal aid, except money laundering and drug trafficking, and the service must be given to accused persons who are not represented and intend to plead not guilty in court.
However, even the legal aid lawyers are shying away from the Lyns' case, according to police sources.
But one Mandeville-based attorney, Norman Manley, denied the police claim. Contacted for comment, Manley said: "Nobody has approached me. To that extent, what the police are saying is untrue."
The police believe the accused persons were part of a housebreaking ring that used a truck to transport their ill-gotten goods.
Two of the detainees are Kevin Powell, Lennox Swaby, also known as 'Son Son' and Swaby's 50-year-old mother, June White. Swaby and White have been charged with illegal possession of ammunition after police said they found several bullets at a house they occupied at New Green district in Manchester.
Swaby was out on bail for the 2004 murder of a 14-year-old girl whose body was found in a water tank at the time of his arrest. He was also accused of carnally abusing the teenager.
walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
[There is a photo, she is a nice looking lady]
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161072649
RALLY FOR VINDRA
Hindus, Christians, Muslims pray for kidnapped businesswoman
Roxanne Stapleton rstapleton@trinidadexpress.com
Tuesday, December 26th 2006
Vindra Naipaul
THEY POURED in by the hundreds, forfeiting their Christmas lunch and holiday limes to pray and stand in solidarity for their "mom," kidnap victim Vindra Naipaul-Coolman.
Naipaul-Coolman, 51, the chief executive officer of Xtra Foods supermarket, was snatched by kidnappers and her teeth knocked out at her Lange Park, Chaguanas, home last week.
Since her kidnapping there has been an outpouring of support with several chambers of commerce and various charity groups demanding her safe release.
The turn-out at yesterday's staff-organised prayer vigil and rally surpassed the expectations of one of the organisers, Xtra Foods human resource manager, Ann Marie Geeban.
Visibly absent was Rennie Coolman, Naipaul-Coolman's husband, and other relatives who were awaiting word from the authorities.
Coolman told the Express yesterday he "did not have many words at this time" and was simply waiting to hear from the police.
The band-stand at the Grand Bazaar, off the Uriah Butler Highway, was transformed into a church altar, temple and mosque as various religious leaders offered prayers on Naipaul-Coolman's behalf.
Tears flowed down the cheeks of several Xtra Foods workers, customers, suppliers and friends, many hoping that their Christmas wish for her safe release could still be granted before sunset.
Xtra Foods supplier, Kelvin Beepath, said: "Kidnapping in itself is an indignity to a human being.
"This is especially so for a woman, you know when nature calls. And furthermore it is Christmas Day, when everybody wants to be around the warmth of their families and loved ones, this can't be right," a distraught Beepath said.
Other suppliers, Harry Misreelal and Carol Narsiah of AS Bryden, relayed that Naipaul was simply a gem and a person with "the most healthy holistic outlook on life", adding that they wanted the ordeal soon over with her safe release.
Opening the prayer session, prophet Dave Alleyne of Flaming Word Ministries said that the principle of "do unto others as you would have them do to you" bears reference in this case.
"You cannot engage in creating pain, without bringing pain unto yourself... there is such a thing as jurisprudence, a cosmic justice and a day of reckoning," Alleyne said.
He pleaded with the kidnappers to repent and turn away from evil intent, stating that people can turn themselves around "from a path of denigration".
He also prayed that God touch the hearts of the kidnappers.
Other religious leaders offering prayers were Brother Harrypersad Maharaj of the Raja Yoga Centre, Pundit Ramdhir Maharaj of the Chaguanas Hindu Temple and Asim Abdullah imam of the Bamboo Settlement Mosque.
A statement from Coolman which was released on Sunday said that Naipaul-Coolman's status remained unchanged and that they were unaware of her location.
It also said that they were able to speak to her "very briefly" and they did not know if she was in good health.
A ransom was paid, the statement said.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,49701.html
Free prisoners, $10,000 for Christmas
By NALINEE SEELAL Monday, December 25 2006
click on pic to zoom in
Xtra Foods CEO, Vindra Naipaul ....
Xtra Foods CEO, Vindra Naipaul ....
« prev photo next photo »
A man claiming to be the “watchman” of Xtra Foods CEO Vindra Naipaul telephoned Newsday several times yesterday saying he wanted to free the mother of three on the condition that two of his close associates who are in prison be freed by the State.
The man also demanded $10,000 to give to his family for Christmas.
Each time he was asked his name and contact number he hung up the phone.
The information was reported to the Chaguanas police who relayed it to officers at the Anti-Kidnapping Squad for investigation.
Rennie Coolman, the husband of the kidnap victim, was also told of the calls by the man.
Coolman told Newsday that he too was contacted by a man who also demanded $10,000 for the release of his wife. He said the man who was “checked out” by the police turned out to be a hustler.
In a subsequent release yesterday, Coolman said the family was able to speak to Naipaul briefly and based on the manner of her abduction, they believed she was in “fairly good health.”
He said her abduction had touched the lives of many in the country who had contacted the family offering words of encouragement and spiritual support. He also made a plea for her kidnappers to safely release her.
Police officers told Newsday that they also got several calls from members of the public who alleged that Naipaul was being kept in homes in and around the Chaguanas area.
Officers said the information provided were checked but had no truth to it.
Coolman and Ryan Naipaul, the brother of the kidnap victim, again spent yesterday awaiting a call from the kidnappers.
They said they are worried about the safety of Naipaul.
The mother of three was snatched outside her Lange Park home on Tuesday night.
Police investigators believe she was beaten and shot while being snatched.
Her kidnappers contacted relatives on Tuesday night and again on Wednesday, but they have failed to contact the family since then.
Newsday learnt that the kidnappers have been paid a huge ransom for the release of Naipaul.
© newsday.co.tt - www.newsday.co.tt
http://farooqhasnat.wordpress.com/
December 25, 2006
PAK-AFGHAN RELATIONS IN MURKY WATERS
Filed under: FOREIGN POLICY — farooqhasnat @ 10:11 pm
[logo.jpg]
Tuesday, August 02, 2005y, August 2, 2005
DR. SYED FAROOQ HASNAT
He writes and translates Pakistan articles..................
Iran: Laughing all the way to ground zero
Please vote for this article at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/readerarticles/?period=all
Iran: Laughing all the way to ground zero
12/25/2006
http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000546.htm
Time out for a bit of history. The year is 1935. Italy had invaded Abyssinia, the League of Nations failed to stop it.
According to a laundered and standard account in Wikipedia
The League of Nations condemned Italy's aggression and imposed economic sanctions in November 1935, but the sanctions were largely ineffective. As Stanley Baldwin, the British Prime Minister, later observed, this was ultimately because no one had the military forces on hand to withstand an Italian attack.
Actually, Stanley Baldwin was an authority on this issue. He, more than anyone else was responsible for the fact that Britain had not the military forces on hand to withstand an Italian attack. Though his government had been repeatedly warned of the ambitions of Hitler and Mussolini by Churchill and others, he ignored them. It was not actually necessary to have any forces. A real embargo of Italy would probably have sufficed. Italy did not have the strategic materials needed to continue with the war. However, none of the great powers were willing to impose real sanctions on Italy, because it would hurt their own economies. They were making good profits from selling war materials to Italy. Armies and economic embargoes were expensive, you see. Consequently, the League passed a watered down set of economic sanctions that only deprived Italy of things it did not need.
History is repeating itself. The Wikipedia dorks of 2070 will record that "sanctions were largely ineffective" in discouraging Iran's program of nuclear weapons development. The unclear world policy on Iranian nuclear development is now clear, if it was not before. "Speak loudly and carry a wet macaroni."
After the Iranians predictably thumbed their noses at UN Security Council Resolution 1696, Security Council members floundered about for several months. Evidently, they were looking for a formula that would satisfy honor, but do nothing. Eventually, they found it. A part of the process, which involved giving in to Russian demands, is explained in an interim report. UN Security Council Resolution 1737 goes through the motions of imposing sanctions of Iran, without really imposing much of anything, because everything important is exempt from sanctions, and everyone important is exempt from financial and travel restrictions either entirely or on a "case by case" basis.
Barry Rubin characterized the resolution thusly:
The elephant has gone into labor and brought forth a mouse. That's the most apt remark about the end-game in the international effort to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons.
After three years of intensive diplomacy involving the highest-ranking policy-makers and "best minds" of the Western countries, the Iranian government has literally run rings around its adversaries. Tehran has repeatedly lied and misled its interlocutors, rejected good offers and broken its own promises.
And, at the end, the UN Security Council proposes to pass a resolution not only without teeth but with scarcely any gums either...
An impressive list of paragraphs and subparagraphs and annexes hides the facts, with many of the paragraphs cancelling the effectiveness of previous paragraphs. Iran is forbidden to export any missiles or UAVs or other gadgets except for the ones that it actually exports. Iran is frobidden to import anything except for what it needs.
According to paragraphs 12 and 13, funds of problem agencies and individuals are frozen except in 2 cases:
1- If the funds are needed to meet regular expenses.
2- If the funds are needed to meet extraordinary expenses.
Other eventualities are to be judged on a case by case basis. All of this is left up to the judgment of the member nations of course.
To determine whether or not Iran has complied with the demands of the irresolution, a committee will be set up. If (when) Iran does not comply in 60 days there might be further ineffectual sanctions imposed under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. The measures may (or may not) include, "complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations." That is serious. Ahmadinejad may not be able to send any more of his famous letters of advice to European and American leaders. He is surely quaking in his boots.
By then, America may decide to "engage" Iran as the Iraq Study Group report recommends. After all, a regime that arrests 2,600 people a day and holds Holocaust denial conferences can't be all bad. They must be eligible for "egnagement." But why should Ahmadinejad bother with engagement and marriage, when he already has such a yielding partner, who gives him everything he wants without the sanctity of wedlock?
Virtually everyone is silent about the truth, hailing the resolution as a great victory. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Russian allies of convenience maneuvered the US and its supporters to the perfect position. The Bush administration and its supporters do not want to admit a humiliating defeat. The Iranians want to show that they are persecuted by the USA and the evil Jewish conspiracy, the Russians and Chinese want to make believe they aren't supporting a fascist regime in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction. From all these points of view, the resolution is commendable. From the point of view of putting a halt to Iran's nuclear weapons drive, it is worthless. Ahmadinejad capitalized on the boon. The Iranian regime announced "defiantly" that is going to add 3,000 new gas centrifuges to its program and accelerate the rate of enrichment. The UN set up a paper tiger, and Ahmadinejad could score points by "defying" it, knowing full well that the ferocious roar was a recorded soundtrack.
Perhaps the US should have vetoed this shameful document. The alternative was almost assuredly nothing, but pseudo-action that meets with a humiliating rebuff may be worse than nothing.
Ami Isseroff
Original text copyright by the author and MidEastWeb for Coexistence, RA. Posted at MidEastWeb Middle East Web Log at http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000546.htm where your intelligent and constructive comments are welcome. Distributed by MEW Newslist. Subscribe by e-mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please forward by email with this notice and link to and cite this article. Other uses by permission.
http://cryptome.org/iq-nuke/iq-nuke.htm
24 December 2006
Related: http://cryptome.org/iraq-nuke-docs.htm
A writes:
Iraq nuclear documents downloaded from the Foreign Military Studies Office's (http://leav-www.army.mil/fmso/) Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents website (http://70.168.46.200/).
(PDF files Zipped by Cryptome.)
CMPC-2004-005041.zip (54 pages, 1.5MB)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
