World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #5

October 1, 2006 Anti-Terrorism News

Al-Qaeda to target westerners in Iraq - New leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq
targeting contractors in Iraq
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2383146,00.html

Focus: Chilling message of the 9/11 pilots - Yosri Fouda, who obtained
new video, analyzes messasge
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2382788,00.html

The laughing 9/11 bombers - Exclusive film of suicide pilots at Bin
Ladenâ€™s HQ - UK "Sunday Times" obtains film of 9/11 bombers with OBL in
Afghanistan
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2383229,00.html

Smiling Atta in apparent martyrdom tape - Sept. 11 hijacker pictured at
bin Laden speech in Afghanistan in Jan. 2000
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15082633/

Iraq says it's closing in on terror head (Abu Ayyub al-Masri aka Abu
Hamza al-Muhajir)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=AnYkgdJmpFvP1u.rKORxT2RX6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

(Iraq) 23 corpses found around Baghdad; signs of torture
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/October/focusoniraq_October4.xml&section=focusoniraq

(Iraq) U.S.: Guard planned Green Zone attack
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060930/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=A0SOwk_VCB9FZoABPQys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

(Iraq) Curfew lifted after terror arrest
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20507511-1702,00.html

(USA) Senate passes Iran sanctions bill
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8800

US, EU fail to reach airline passenger data deal
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193349351&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

(Southeast Asia) Homegrown jihadists 'ready to go' - network of
homegrown converts to radical Islam has emerged as a major terrorist threat in
South-East Asia
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20508703-1702,00.html

India to Give Pakistan Bombings Evidence - of ISI involvement - ,
India's foreign secretary said Sunday
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INDIA_TRAIN_BOMBINGS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL

Pakistani spy agency under fire from all sides
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/October/subcontinent_October30.xml&section=subcontinent&col=

(Pakistan) Militants fire rockets at military base in Pakistani tribal
region
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/October/subcontinent_October26.xml&section=subcontinent&col=

Yemeni forces kill two top al-Qaeda fugitives
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20509083-1702,00.html

(Turkey) Three injured in hospital bomb blast
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20508944-1702,00.html

Jordan's king pardons 2 Islamist MPs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060930/ap_on_re_mi_ea/jordan_terrorism;_ylt=AtGjBIaHp5HVU4KJTOUiMk8LewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

Release of two Jordanian Islamist MPs "insufficient"
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/October/middleeast_October19.xml&section=middleeast&col=

Gulf nations fortify against terror attacks
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20061001-124246-8306r.htm

NATO to Lead U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHAN_NATO?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL

Extremist Islam may be rising in Morocco
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060929/ap_on_re_af/morocco_terror_plot;_ylt=ArpqWbxSz.SOFwVybBwggkys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-

Israel Forces Complete Pullout From Lebanon
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,216870,00.html

(Israel) Security forces on high alert for Yom Kippur
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193348787&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Commentary: One Last Thing | Post-9/11 conflicts rooted in history
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/special_packages/sunday_review/15648243.htm

Commentary: Adieu France, 'allo land of the free
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2382612,00.html

Commentary: I'm sorry... for the terrible crimes committed by Muslims
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Mansur_Salim/2006/09/30/1923945.html

161 posted on 10/01/2006 8:32:17 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

The West at the Gates

// Russia and the U.S. are fighting over Georgia//

Russian President Vladimir Putin has openly accused the West of
throwing its weight behind Georgia, saying Georgian authorities act
"with support of foreign sponsors." Thus he has made clear that Moscow
in fact fights Washington rather than Tbilisi in the current
Russian-Georgian conflict. Russia and the United States have entered
an open struggle over Georgia and do not even try to hide it.
Russia Makes a Threat

Vladimir Putin said yesterday at a session with permanent members of
the Russian Security Council in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence who
actually is behind the spy scandal in Georgia and arrests of Russian
officers. "There are forces whose job is to create more new crises,
thinking that it will distract attention from old problems," the
president said. "It may have this effect in the short term outlook.
But it will hardly help settle old deep-rooted international crises."

Putin complained that despite Russia's adherence to the troops
pull-out from Georgia, "our servicemen have been arrested and thrown
to prison" there. He called actions of Georgian authorities "state
terrorism and hostage taking. The president virtually drew a
comparison with the crisis in Lebanon in which Israel launched a
strike on the neighboring state in response to the capture of its
soldiers by Hezbollah. "They try to pinch and provoke Russia as much
as they can, which must be obvious for everyone. In all likelihood,
those who do it think that the anti-Russian course of Georgia serves
interests of the Georgian people," Vladimir Putin said.

Trying to point to those who are encouraging the insolent behavior of
Georgian authorities, Putin explained clearly whose protection Tbilisi
hopes to secure in the conflict with Russia. "These people think that
under the protection of foreign sponsors they may be safe and sound,"
the president said, almost openly accusing the West of inciting
Georgia to confront Russia. "Is it really so? I would like to listen
to opinions of representative of civil services and military experts."

The press did not get to listen to the answer of the Siloviks as the
session of the Security Council was to finish behind close doors.
Meanwhile, all Russian military bases in Georgia have been transferred
to martial law and alertness state, following the order of Defense
Minister Sergey Ivanov. A well-informed source of Kommersant at the
ministry did not rule out the most severe steps towards Georgia: "All
diplomatic steps used in this kind of tensions have been exhausted.
The break-off of diplomatic relations and a military operation could
be the next step. All options are under consideration now."

Georgia Stands Firm

Russia's military mood leaves Georgia unfazed, though. Tbilisi is
still rejoicing that their intelligence forces managed to catch Moscow
red-handed. What is more, Georgia's Interior Ministry reported last
weekend that it has information that the detained Russian officers not
only spied but were also engaged in sabotage and terrorist activities.
They are suspected of organizing a terrorist attack in the city of
Gori in 2005 and participating in bombing the Liakhvi and Kartli-2
power lines as well as blowing up the oil pipeline in Khashuri and the
groundwork of the railroad in Kaspi in 2004.

Georgian Defense Minister Irakliy Okruashvili, the country's chief
hawk, said that the arrest of Russian officers helped not only to
disarm dangerous spies but also to achieve an important foreign
political goal.

"First, we have broken up a spy network," Okruashvili said in an
interview with the Imedi TV channel. "But, more importantly, the world
has finally seen that conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are no
ethnic clashes. These are conflicts between Georgia and Russia.
Therefore, when we say that Russian peacekeepers should leave the
conflict zones we mean that Russian leave talks on settling the
conflict. We don't need this sort of mediator."

Georgia's Foreign Ministry also picked up the aggressive tone of the
Defense Ministry, releasing an irate declaration on the participation
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia's presidents Sergey Bagapsh and Eduard
Kokoity in the Kuban-2006 economic forum in Sochi. "We are all the
more concerned and shocked as the event is organized by official
agencies of Russia – Russian Foreign Ministry, Economic Development
and Trade Ministry and Trade and Industry Chamber," the statement
reads. The Georgian Foreign Ministry called these actions of Russia "a
violent interference in domestic affairs of Georgia and another
example of the policy of creeping annexation." "Russia's emphatic
support for separatism shows that the Russian Federation is no
impartial and unbiased mediator in the settlement of conflicts on the
territory of Georgia. It shows one more time that the current format
of negotiations and peace keeprng forces must be altered," the
Georgian Foreign Ministry concluded.

Nino Burdzhanadze, speaker of the Georgian Parliament, also answered
to Moscow. She said the uproar caused by the arrest of Russian
officers was a wrong reaction. "Russia should have first found out
what grounds for the accusations we had, and then they might as well
mention a political bias and threaten Georgia with nuclear war, or
whatever," the speaker said.

Foreign Countries Rush to Help

The confidence of Georgian officials in the confrontation with Russia
is evidently due to the support it gets from the West at any moment of
the exacerbation of tensions. When Moscow submitted a draft of a
strict resolution condemning "provocations of Georgia" at an
extraordinary session of the UN Security Council in New York last
Friday, the United States blocked the vote. "We are not satisfied with
the document as it is," US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton explained
Washington's stance.

The resolution was re-worded following a request of the American
delegation. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian mission at
the UN, told the press that "amendments of the American party have
changed the nature of the statement and made it impossible to be
adopted." Yet, Moscow does not lose spirit and hopes to get back to
the discussion of the resolution in a few weeks. "We will try to have
this resolution adopted," Andrey Krivtsov, deputy head of the press
department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said.

In the meantime, Washington made another emphatic step to demonstrate
its approval of Tbilisi's actions last weekend. A draft bill to back
Georgia's accession to the NATO was submitted to the U.S. Senate on
Saturday. Among the bill's movers are a group led by Bill Frist,
leader of the Republican majority at the Senate. Head of the Foreign
Affairs Committee at the Senate Richard Lugar and quite influential
Senator John McKane have also thrown their support behind Georgia. The
draft backs the further enlargement of the NATO, including such
countries as Georgia, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia. The 2006 Act on
Freedom Consolidation at the NATO provides for the allocation of $19.8
million to assist the aforementioned countries in the field of
security. The greatest part of the money, $10 million, is to be
earmarke for Georgia. "I am looking forward to athe day when Georgia,
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia will become America's allies at the
NATO and when the most successful alliance in the history will become
even stronger," Bill Frist said, commenting his initiative.

&
Russian Officers Called Spies

The Georgian Interior Ministry has put video on its official web-site,
www.police.ge, showing testimony of Georgian nationals who admitted to
cooperating with the detained Russian officers. The four men admitted
to have cooperated with officers of Russia's Chief Investigations
Department in their espionage activities.

Artashes Baloyan said that he "collaborated with an officer of the
Russian intelligence service, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Saava and
made commissions for him."

Goderdzi Dzuliashvili, another Georgian accused of parricide, said
that he also "collaborated with the military intelligence of the
Russian Federation." "I was commissioned to obtain information on the
disposition and movement of units of the Georgian Defense Ministry,
including a tank unit in Gori, a Navy element in Poti and the
Sanakskaya brigade," Dzuliashvili said during the interrogation. Pyotr
Ashrapyan also admitted to ties with Russian intelligence services: "I
cooperated with officers of the Chief Investigation Department of
Russia who worked under cover at the 12th Russian military base in
Batumi."

Another Georgian arrested for espionage, Viktor Orekhov has given a
detailed report about the people he collaborated with. "In 1997-1998,
I did military service at the Grouping of Russian Forces in
Transcaucasia as an officer of reconnaissance equipment. I carried on
working them under the name of Filbert. I was commissioned to help
Russian intelligence officers in their reconnaissance activities after
the pull-out of Russian forces," Orekhov said. "In 1999, I was in
contact with the head of the Russian military intelligence abroad
Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Shulga. In 2002, I assisted Colonel Alexey
Kutygin. In 2004 I was in contact with Lieutenant Colonel Alexander
Terekhov. I have been in touch with Colonel Dmitry Kazantsev up to the
latest moment." Viktor Orekhov said that he "was given commissions to
search for information on political and economic situation in Georgia,
large business projects and state of affairs in the country's armed
forces." In addition, "his sphere of interests embraced the situation
on the Georgian-Turkish border, including the passport and visa
regime."

Vladimir Solovyev

All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 02, 2006
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.html?docId=709217

162 posted on 10/01/2006 8:47:33 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1002/p01s04-wosc.html

Pakistan said to play both sides on terror war

Accusations from Mumbai to Kabul to London finger Pakistan's spy agency
for
backing terror and the Taliban.

By
http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/encryptmail.pl?ID=CDE1F2EBA0D3E1F0F0E5EEE6
E9E5ECE4

Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science
Monitor
October 02, 2006
NEW DELHI

Indian officials pointed a warning finger at Pakistan this weekend,
saying
that Pakistan's top intelligence agency masterminded and funded July's
train
bombings in Mumbai (Bombay).

The accusations continue the neighboring countries' decades-long
pattern of
blame and denial. This time, however, other nations are joining the
chorus.

Last week, a think tank in Britain's Defence Ministry released an
incendiary
report saying that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency
"has
been supporting terrorism and extremism, whether in London ... or in
Afghanistan or Iraq."

On top of that, Afghan President Hamid Karzai spent most of the past
week
condemning Pakistan for ignoring and even abetting extremism, while
frustrated American military officials decried Paki- stan's inability
to
clamp down on the Taliban in its border territories.

Pakistan's contradictions in the war on terror have long been obvious:
It is
both a crucial American ally and a primary training-ground for
terrorists.
But events in recent weeks suggest that, for the moment at least,
pressure
on Pakistan is increasing as the United States and Britain seek
solutions to
problems in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The [Pakistani] Army's dual role in combating terrorism and at the
same
time promoting the MNA [a coalition of Islamist parties], and so
indirectly
supporting the Taliban through the ISI, is coming under closer and
closer
international scrutiny," said the British Defence Academy report.

It added: "Indirectly Pakistan, through the ISI, has been supporting
terrorism and extremism whether in London on 7/7 or in Afghanistan or
Iraq."

ISI plans attacks too, says India
But India's claims of ISI involvement break new ground. Indian
officials
have long accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism in India in order to
foment communal riots and destabilize the nation. The Mumbai (formerly
Bombay) blasts on July 11, which killed 187 people, were no different,
say
Mumbai police.

Yet Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy went further when he announced
the
findings of his investigation Saturday. In the past, Pakistan was
accused
only of helping terrorists by allowing them to train in the country. In
this
case, Mr. Roy said the leading July 11 terrorists were Pakistanis, and
that
ISI plotted the attack before handing over the execution to the
terrorist
group Lashkar-i-Tayyaba.

So far, police authorities have presented little evidence to support
these
claims, though officials say they hope their findings are strong enough
to
win convictions within two years.

Pakistan has denounced the accusations. "The reported statement by
[the]
Mumbai Police Commissioner is irresponsible and [it is the] repetition
of
baseless allegations," reads an e-mail statement by Pakistan's Foreign
Office.

Yet Pakistan has frequently found itself on the defensive in recent
weeks.
Pakistan's truce with militant tribes has led to a threefold rise in
attacks
across the border in Afghanistan, according to US military officials.

And
Afghan President Karzai's repeated complaints about Pakistan's
unwillingness
to rein in radicals forced last week's meeting in Washington, where
President Bush sought to soothe tempers between America's divided
allies
Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Perhaps the most surprising criticism, however, has come from Britain.

The
report from the Defence Ministry think-tank was so inflammatory that
Prime
Minister Tony Blair had to personally reassure President Musharraf that
the
leaked document was merely the work of some government analysts, not
government policy.

And in a London court just a few days earlier, an accused terrorist
testified that he had attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan
run by
the ISI. Thereafter, he refused to give any further testimony, saying
ISI
agents had threatened his family.

If true, "this is quite sensational, because it is the first official
confirmation of the involvement in terrorism of the ISI, an agency of a
country which Washington and London has regarded as an ally, and
Washington
gives $3 billion in aid to," says M.J. Gohel, a terrorism expert at the
Asia-Pacific Foundation in London.

A history of suspicion surrounding ISI
The Mumbai police report only sharpens scrutiny of ISI, an organization
with
a well known history of incubating militant outfits. In a bid for
greater
influence in Afghan affairs, ISI is believed to have helped the Taliban
during its rise a decade ago. Indeed, Pakistan was one of only three
countries to recognize the Taliban government. The ISI is also widely
believed to have become involved with terrorist groups directed toward
the
conflict in Kashmir.

Islamabad claims it disbanded those groups after 9/11. But many
analysts and
critics suggest that some continue to operate under different names and
fronts, often unofficially supported by factions of the intelligence
community.

"Gradually after 9/11 there's been a restructuring of militant
outfits,"
says Ayesha Siddiqa, a defense analyst in Islamabad. "In the process,
some
have gone, some have been merged, some have been divided, but the
phenomenon
still remains."

She and others argue that ISI compartmentalizes its policy where it
meets
Pakistan's strategic goals - for example, by fighting international
terrorist groups like Al Qaeda while at the same time unofficially
supporting other elements of the militant community.

The dual policy exposes Pakistan's peculiar view of terrorism in the
region,
analysts say.

"People in Pakistan believe that the conflict in Kashmir is a freedom
movement, and that those people should be able to fight," says Kamal
Matinuddin, a retired general who is now a military analyst in
Rawalpindi.

"That is where the difference arises between the people of Pakistan and
the
rest of the world."

Musharraf's next move
Whether the recent criticism of ISI will force Musharraf to take some
action
is open to question. Bob Ayers of Chatham House, a London think-tank,
doubts
it will. Blaming "Pakistan is the flavor du jour," he says.

At least Musharraf is playing along with the West, he says. Mr. Ayers
and
other Western analysts fear that if the US pushes too hard, Musharraf
could
fall, and someone far more problematic could come to power. "This is
just a
cycle," says Ayers. "It deflects attention away from our lack of
results in
the war on terror."

It could have much greater consequences for the eggshell-strong peace
process with India, though. Last month, the leaders of India and
Pakistan
took an unprecedented step - agreeing to share intelligence as part of
joint
antiterror efforts.

Saturday's announcement will present a new obstacle.
Some see it merely as a blip. "All that will happen is that talks will
be
delayed by 15 or 20 days," says Pakistani retired General Matinuddin.

But the prejudices among the intelligence agencies on either side of
the
border are deep, and they indicate how difficult a joint intelligence
project could be.

Hamid Gul, a former ISI director dismisses the idea that ISI is a rogue
agency working to terrorize India.

"Pervez Musharraf is in complete control of the ISI. To assume or
insinuate
that there is a cavity in the ISI that is pursuing its own agenda is
utterly
wrong," says Mr. Gul.

Instead, he suggests that India is blind to its own problems. The
realities
on the ground in India, including poverty and discrimination against
Muslims, provide ample reason for disgruntled Indians to wage war
against
their own government, he says.

By contrast, a former senior Indian intelligence official says the ISI
is
just up to its old tricks. "Pakistan uses terrorism as a tactical move
to
achieve what its Army cannot on the war front and what its bureaucrats
cannot on a negotiating table," says Ajit Doval, former chief of
India's
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

India's foreign secretary said Sunday that he will share evidence from
the
Mumbai investigation with Pakistan. "This will be the test case of the
[joint] mechanism," says Mr. Doval. "If they are sincere, they'll act
on the
evidence."

But he is skeptical. Echoing the sentiments of many Indians - and
pointing
to the level distrust to be overcome - he asks: "What is the point of
sharing evidence with someone who is party to the crime?"
. Correspondents Anuj Chopra in Mumbai; David Montero in Islamabad,
pakistan; and Mark Rice-Oxley in London reported for this article.

163 posted on 10/01/2006 8:54:50 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

Kidnap suspects being questioned in Yemen
Gulf Times - Doha,Qatar
The security forces also freed substitute hostages delivered to the
kidnappers
in return for the Frenchmen’s release, the paper said. ...

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=110573&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp%3Fcu_no%3D2%26item_no%3D110573%26version%3D1%26template_id%3D37%26parent_id%3D17

164 posted on 10/01/2006 8:56:46 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

[apost for study and research]

http://ap.lancasteronline.com/4/pa_voter_fraud_charges

LancasterOnline.com

Voter fraud charges still tripping up voting rights group
By Andrew Welsh-huggins
Associated Press Writer

Published: Oct 01, 2006 11:01 AM EST

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An advocacy group that registered about a million voters two years ago is wrestling with new charges of voter fraud and sloppy work weeks before crucial midterm elections.

In Philadelphia, the city's voter registration office has rejected about 3,000 cards submitted by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now since April because of missing information or invalid addresses.

Election officials in three of Ohio's largest counties have cited problems with hundreds of voter registration cards. ACORN is accused of submitting cards with nonexistent addresses, forged signatures and in one case for someone who died seven years ago.

"In my opinion there's a lot of words but little action in terms of fixing the problem," said Matt Damschroder, the elections board director in Franklin County in Ohio.

County election officials in Denver forwarded about 200 cards to the secretary of state's office after discovering identical handwriting on signatures. Colorado officials investigated similar problems two years ago.

ACORN, which has about 220,000 members nationally, registered 1.2 million people to vote in 2004 and is running voter registration drives in 17 states this year.

The nonprofit dispatches workers and volunteers to poor neighborhoods, gas stations, courthouses and other places to sign up new voters such as April Harris, 40, a car wash manager in Jacksonville, Fla., who said the group's pitch "made me feel I can try to change things."

Voter registration has become a battle cry for parties and advocacy groups in recent years. In the Nov. 7 election, Democrats hope to regain control of the U.S. House and narrow or erase the GOP majority in the Senate. Ohio, which gave President Bush the White House in 2004, has tight campaigns for governor and U.S. Senate this fall in two of the most closely watched races in the country.

ACORN also was accused of fraud in 2004 in Ohio, Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina and Virginia and in 2003 in Missouri.

Prosecution is rare, and federal lawsuits against the group were dismissed in Florida. More often, the allegations have led to changes in state law.

ACORN says it's working to reduce problems, and officials with the Ohio group promise to fire any workers found committing fraud.

"We'll continue to personally encourage people to register to vote and exercise their franchise, and we're going to continue to stand up for people's voter rights," said Kevin Whelan, a spokesman for the New Orleans-based group.

Such statements do little to appease critics. Even groups supporting the organization's efforts question why fraud allegations keep cropping up.

"They're sort of their own worst enemy," said Bill Faith, who directs Ohio's largest homeless advocacy group and shares many of ACORN's goals.

"They want low-income people to register to vote but because of the kind of problems that come from their program, it provokes a reaction from the Legislature that actually makes it harder to run such programs," Faith said.

The Denver Election Commission says it's been unsuccessful in working with ACORN to reduce problems with voter registration cards.

ACORN says it meets regularly with election officials to address concerns. The Colorado chapter has registered about 42,000 voters since 2004.

"We hold our workers to a very high standard, we ensure they make every vote count and we're going to continue to do that work," said Ben Hanna, head ACORN organizer in Colorado.

In Franklin County, prosecutors are looking at almost 400 cards the county elections board said included already registered voters or people with the wrong address.

The elections board is also looking at hundreds of other ACORN cards with alleged irregularities. The Hamilton County board is concerned about errors and missing information on hundreds of ACORN cards, while problems with about a dozen cards were reported in Summit county.

Meanwhile, ACORN continues a largely successful legal campaign to reduce voting obstacles for the poor. In September a federal judge in Ohio threw out a requirement that individuals who register voters — instead of groups — must turn in the completed forms, in a lawsuit brought by ACORN and other voting rights groups.

ACORN has filed a similar suit against Georgia's voter registration laws. It won a similar case in Washington state this year and in Maryland last year.

In a steady rain outside the Franklin County Courthouse, ACORN employee Carlos McCoy — wearing sunglasses and juggling a black umbrella and clipboard — politely but assertively approaches person after person, asking if they're registered to vote.

Only 17, McCoy is already a veteran ACORN canvasser, having worked at similar jobs since 2004. A high school senior, he spent a few days registering voters for $9 an hour before school started.

He attributes problems with other ACORN workers to inexperience and asking the wrong questions. He says he took the job for the money but also because he likes being involved in politics and community organizing. A resident of the city's poor south side, he says the work affects his life.

"You want where you live to be taken care of," McCoy said.

—

On the Net:

http://www.acorn.org/

http://www.sos.state.oh.us

©2004 The Associated Press

165 posted on 10/01/2006 9:12:15 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

To: All; LibertyRocks

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34939

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34939

DEATH PENALTY:
Seven Women Face Stoning in Iran
Alison Langley*

BERLIN, Sep 29 (IPS) - Amnesty International has issued an urgent
appeal calling on its members to write letters to the Republic of Iran
asking them not to stone seven women.

Nearly all of the women have been sentenced to die by stoning for
adultery. Officially Iran had placed a moratorium on the cruel and
painful
practise in 2002, but Amnesty claims sentencing continues. The group
has
received credible reports that two people were stoned to death in May.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has ruled that treating
adultery and fornication as criminal offences does not comply with
international human rights standards.

"The sentence of execution by stoning for adultery breaches Iran's
commitment under article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil
and
Political Rights that death sentences will be imposed 'only for the
most
serious crimes'," Amnesty wrote in its appeal.

Under Shari'a law, a prisoner is buried up to her breast, her hands
restrained. Rules also specify the size of the stones which can be
thrown
so that death is painful and not imminent. Both men and women can be
sentenced to die by stoning. In practise, however, an overwhelming
number
of women receive that penalty.

"It's high time this brutal practise ends. Not only are people deprived
of their right to life by the state but they are tortured in the
process," Nicole Choueiry, Amnesty's Middle East press officer, told
IPS.

"Iran should review its legislation as a matter of urgency to bring it
into line with international human rights standards," she added.

According to an independent legal analysis of the country's penal code,
Iranian judges are required to issue these mandatory sentences. Rarely,
IPS sources inside Iran said, are these sentences carried out.

One lawyer, who asked not to be named, told IPS that the head of the
judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, frequently has been able to postpone
executions. He does not, however, have the authority to commute death
sentences to life imprisonment.

In addition to the seven women mentioned in the latest report, Amnesty
earlier issued reports of two other Iranians also allegedly at risk of
being stoned.

According to Amnesty, Parisa A. received her execution sentence while
working as a prostitute in the city of Shiraz. She claims she had been
forced into prostitution by her husband due to her family's poverty.
Her
sentence was upheld by a branch of the Supreme Court in November 2005.
Her case is under review by the high court.

Iran E., an Ahwazi Arab from the Bakhtiari clan, was sentenced to be
stoned for adultery. Her verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in
April.

Khayrieh V., another Ahwazi Arab, was reportedly subjected to domestic
violence by her husband when she allegedly began an affair with one of
his relatives, who then murdered her husband, the Amnesty report said.
She has denied any involvement in the murder but has admitted to
adultery.

The Supreme Court has upheld her sentence and the case now apparently
has been sent to the Head of the Judiciary for permission to be
implemented. Amnesty quoted her as saying, "I am ready to be hanged,
but
they
should not stone me. They could strangle you and you would die, but it
is very difficult to have stones hitting you in the head."

Shamameh Ghorbani (also known as Malek), was sentenced to die by
stoning for adultery in June after relatives killed a man they found in
her
home. Her case is being re-examined.

Kobra Najjar, 44, is at imminent risk of execution, Amnesty said. She
claims to have been forced into prostitution by her husband, a heroin
addict who was violent towards her.

"In 1995, after a severe beating by her husband, she told one of her
regular customers that she wanted to kill her husband. The customer
allegedly murdered her husband after Kobra Najjar took him to an
arranged
meeting place. The customer was sentenced to death, but he was pardoned
by the victim's family, to whom he paid blood money," Amnesty added.

Soghra Mola'i was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for being an
accomplice to the January 2004 murder of her husband Abdollah and to
execution by stoning for adultery. She claims her lover killed her
husband.
Her boyfriend has been sentenced to hang for the homicide, after
receiving 100 lashes for "illicit relations."

In May 2005, a Tehran court sentenced Fatemeh, whose surname is
unknown, to pay retribution for being an accomplice to murder, and to
be
stoned for having an "illicit relationship" with a man named Mahmoud.
Her
husband has been sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment as an accomplice
to
the murder. Her case is under review with the Supreme Court.

In addition to these women, Amnesty officials said the human rights
group was concerned about the fates of Ashraf Kalhori and Hajieh
Esmailvand, also convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned.

* Kimia Sanati in Tehran contributed to this report. (END/2006)

166 posted on 10/01/2006 9:15:50 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

Sun., October 01, 2006 Haaretz
Doors of re-entry shut to Palestinians
By Amira Hass

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/769331.html

AMMAN - Seven months after Swedish citizen Somaida Abbas was refused
entry through Ben-Gurion International Airport, the insult can still be
heard in every sentence spoken by this successful economic adviser
describing his efforts to return to his wife and three children in
Ramallah. Finally, they came to him in Amman.

His wife, Saada Shobaki, took a half-year's leave of absence from the
Palestinian Economy Ministry. His kids left their school and
kindergarten. They now live in a rented, furnished flat without
personal
character except for the charming mess of the children's toys and
drawings. Hanging by the door are the keys to Abbas' house in Ramallah.
He already lost one set of keys -- to his house in Jerusalem. Abbas was
born in 1959 in Jerusalem, where he lived and studied until about 20
years ago. Because he went to study and work abroad, Israel revoked his
residency rights.

Abbas was among the first Palestinians with Western citizenship to be
hurt by the new, undeclared Israeli policy of prohibiting Palestinian
re-entry to the country. This policy affects people who want to visit
family or return and live in the occupied territories, as they had for
the previous 10 or 15 years on tourist or work visas that only Israel
has the authority to grant, and did so until 2000.

The massive wave of refusal of entry and non-renewal of visas began in
early spring of this year, after the establishment of the Hamas
government. Abbas was refused entry on February 6 when he returned from
a short business trip to Sweden and Turkey. In Sweden he took part in
an
initiative to advance economic cooperation between Palestinian, Israeli
and Swedish business people. In Turkey he talked with officials from
the
Turkish Foreign Ministry about re-opening the Erez industrial zone.

At first Abbas, his friends, and the many people with which he was
professionally involved, including many Israelis, thought that a
mistake
had been made, that there was a misunderstanding. After all, only a
mistake could bar entry to a senior economic adviser appointed by the
Palestinian Authority to develop the idea of shared Israeli-Palestinian
industrial zones after Israel began increasingly to limit the entry of
Palestinian workers to its territory.

"If Moses wouldn't come to the mountain, we'll send the mountain to
Moses," Abbas said was the idea. "Industrial zones would insure income
for the Palestinians and security for the Israelis. The donor nations
would finance it. Yitzhak Rabin, Yossi Beilin, Abu Ala (Ahmed Qureia, a
senior PA figure) -- everybody believed in the idea. And I was
appointed
to lead the project in 1995. The intent was that these zones would
compete [by offering lower wages - A.H.] at first with countries like
Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Egypt and then with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
and
the Philippines."

The hope that this economic horizon would mark the way to peace, Abbas
says, led to him leave a lucrative job in Sweden, where he had studied
and became a citizen years ago. The dozens of meetings he took with
Israeli representatives were held in Defense Ministry offices in Tel
Aviv, where he entered "without their even checking me," and in the
Civil Administration offices in Beit El and Tul Karm.

But all this did not help him when he landed at Ben-Gurion Airport in
February with his Swedish passport. "The woman took my passport, and I
waited. An hour went by. That's normal. When two hours went by I felt
something bad was going on. A Russian [-Israeli] officer came - I knew
he was Russian by his accent - and said 'Abbas, that's enough. You're
cheating the State of Israel. You work in Israel.' I answered him, 'I
never worked in Israel, I work in Ramallah.' I showed him my file
number
in (the Civil Administration) in Beit El. But he kept on. 'This is not
legal.' 'How is it not legal?' I answered him. In 1996 I got a work
permit every half-year. We stopped getting work permits from Beit El in
2000, but we renewed our tourist visas every three months. My wife and
children are in Ramallah, not in Israel.' But he said: 'Nonsense,"
Ramallah belongs to Israel.'"

Abbas landed at one o'clock in the morning on what he calls "black
Sunday." At 7 A.M., the shift of "the Russian" ended, and he wanted to
put Abbas back on a plane to Stockholm. Abbas refused. Voices were
raised. He demanded that the two tough policemen not touch him. He
called the emergency number for the Swedish Embassy, which could do
nothing because it was Sunday, and Israel was a sovereign country. He
called an acquaintance at the Peres Center for Peace. He could do
nothing either. Abbas was put in a detention cell at the airport.

"Suddenly I became a criminal," he said and did not hide his tears of
insult.

"They persuaded me that it was just a question of laws and procedures
and that I had to receive a 'service visa' and then there would be no
problem." They put Abbas on a plane to Turkey, from which he went on to
Jordan. More than a month later, with the intervention of an Israeli
businessman in the department for the peace process in the Foreign
Ministry and of a United Nations development company in which he
worked,
Abbas received a service visa from the Israeli Embassy in Amman for
three months. It was signed by Consul Shaul Moseri.

But on March 22, at the Allenby Bridge, Abbas was refused entry. The
visa was from the Foreign Ministry, and the Interior Ministry did not
approve his entry, he was told.

"I can find work in 16 different countries," Abbas says. "But Sweden
spoiled me. I got used to being a human being, who is treated with
respect, who has rights like other people. No one has the right to take
a father from his children. Not even Ehud Olmert. You are preventing
Palestinian parents from living with their children in their country,
and then you ask why the Palestinians hate Israel."

167 posted on 10/01/2006 9:18:17 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

To: nw_arizona_granny

These examples of cruelty supported by people who follow this religion are exactly why it makes me so angry that the "left" is defending these ___ (fill in the blank). Thanks for posting this. BTW, didn't see your message earlier till now, and yes I do wish we could think of other things and deal with problems less serious than those we face today. I guess this has been going on in one form or the other since the beginning of time though, so what are we to do? Keep fighting for what is right I guess and trying to persuade those who are confused to come around somehow -- so frustrating.

168 posted on 10/01/2006 9:21:32 PM PDT by LibertyRocks (Liberty Rocks Blog: http://libertyrocks.wordpress.com)

To: nw_arizona_granny; DAVEY CROCKETT

Thanks for the new thread Davey, and the ping Granny. (o:

169 posted on 10/01/2006 9:22:42 PM PDT by LibertyRocks (Liberty Rocks Blog: http://libertyrocks.wordpress.com)

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=6995

Issue 113 , August 2005
A British jihadist
by Aatish Taseer
Hassan Butt, a 25 year old from Manchester, helped recruit Muslims to
fight
in Afghanistan. Like most of the London bombers, he is a British
Pakistani
who journeyed from rootlessness to radical Islam
Aatish Taseer is a former "Time" reporter. He is now a freelance
journalist
It is not hard to imagine what the Leeds suburb of Beeston was like
before
it became known that three of London's tube bombers worked or lived
there.
For someone like me- a Punjabi with parents from each side of the
India/Pakistan border-the streets of Beeston reveal a pre-partition
mixture
of Punjabi Muslims and Sikhs. Despite the commotion caused by half the
world's media, men in shalwar kurta (traditional dress from the
subcontinent) stand around on street corners chatting as if in a bazaar
in
Lahore. They oppose Britain's involvement in the Iraq war, they "hate"
America, they might even think that the west has united in a fight
against
Muslims, but these are not the faces of extremism. Their involvement in
7/7
is a generational one: they have raised the people who are the genus of
Islamic extremism in this country-the second-generation British
Pakistanis.

One appears next to his father on the street corner. Unlike his father,
there is nothing about his appearance that indicates he is a Punjabi
Muslim.
He is wearing long Arab robes and keeps a beard cut to Islamic
specifications. I ask him why he is dressed the way he is. "It's my
traditional dress," he says in English. "Isn't your father in
traditional
dress?" I ask. "Yes, but this is Islamic dress," he clarifies. His
father
looks embarrassed. A man standing next to me jokes of how he complained
to
his neighbour that his son never did any work, and the neighbour said,
"You
think that's bad, mine's grown a beard and become a bloody maulvi
[priest]."

As a half-Indian, half-Pakistani with a strong connection to this
country, I
have observed the gulf between what it means to be British Pakistani
and
British Indian. To be Indian is to come from a safe, ancient country
and,
more recently, from an emerging power. In contrast, to be Pakistani is
to
begin with a depleted idea of nationhood. In the 55 years that Pakistan
has
been a country, it has been a dangerous, violent place, defined by
hatred of
the other-India.

For young British Muslims, if Pakistan was not the place to look for an
identity, being second-generation British was still less inspiring.
While
their parents were pioneers, leaving Pakistan in search of economic
opportunities, enduring the initial challenges of a strange land, the
second
generation's experience has been one of drudgery and confusion.
Mohammad,
who owns a convenience store on Stratford Street in Beeston and who
knew all
the local bombers, says, "They were born and raised here, we did the
work.
and these kids grew up and they haven't had a day's worry. They're
bored,
they don't do any work, they have no sense of honour or belonging."

Britishness is the most nominal aspect of identity to many young
British
Pakistanis. The thinking in Britain's political class has at last begun
to
move on this front, but when our tube bombers were growing up, any
notion
that an idea of Britishness should be imposed on minorities was seen as
offensive. Britons themselves were having a hard time believing in
Britishness. If you denigrate your own culture you face the risk of
your
newer arrivals looking for one elsewhere. So far afield in this case,
that
for many second-generation British Pakistanis, the desert culture of
the
Arabs held more appeal than either British or subcontinental culture.
Three
times removed from a durable sense of identity, the energised
extra-national
worldview of radical Islam became one available identity for
second-generation Pakistanis. The few who took it did so with the
convert's
zeal: plus Arabe que les Arabes.

The older generation of Beeston is mystified as to where some of their
children found this identity. By all accounts it was not in the mosque.
I
met Maulana Munir of the Stratford Street mosque, which, according to
some
newspapers, was attended by some of the London bombers. Munir, a small,
soft-spoken man, said he had never known them. "This younger
generation," he
says, "are owners of their own will, they come when they like, they
don't
when they don't like. The mosque is not responsible for these people."
Munir, like the others of the older generation, is a man cut off from
the
youth movements around him. He has not faced their loss of identity and
meaning.

Hassan Butt, the young British Pakistani who was a spokesman for the
extremist group al-Muhajiroun, and active in recruiting people to fight
against the coalition forces in Afghanistan, embodies this journey from
frustration and rootlessness to radical Islam. The world he describes
before
he was first approached, aged 17, by members of the Islamist group,
Hizb
ut-Tahrir (HT), was a disordered one. When I interviewed him last year,
he
described HT as showing him an Islam that could bring order to his
life.
Accepting Islam meant the creation of a social equilibrium that had
been
absent before. Islam was playing the role it had in 7th-century Arabia
of
bringing law and structure to decaying communities.

Butt parted ways with al-Muhajiroun (itself a breakaway from HT) and
its
founder Omar Sheikh Bakri because they supported the Islamic idea of a
"covenant of security," by which Muslims in Britain are forbidden from
any
type of military action in Britain. Butt believed that military action
against Britain would be unwise for the practical reason that it would
jeopardise the protection "Londonistan" was offering radical Muslims,
but he
could not tolerate the position that such action was un-Islamic.

I was reminded of Butt's cold hatred for Britain when a colleague of
mine
said that Beeston's younger generation were saying to her, a week after
the
London bombs, "Well what's the difference between al Qaeda and MI5
anyway?"
and "It's sad people died, but what about the ones who died in Iraq?"

There it is again, the extra-national sentiment, in which no nation
matters
save the Islamic nation and its Arab culture. Butt spoke passionately
about
Arabia and wants to go there. "I believe the Arabic language will give
me
that key to have access to those things I don't have access to at the
moment." Again, that yearning for Islam to fill the gaps in his own
identity.

And yet, on the one occasion he came close to having a national
identity, he
seemed to love it. From the way he described his two years in Lahore,
it
sounded like the only place he ever felt a sense of belonging. "I've
never
had a better two years in my life. I see Pakistan as the only country
having
the potential to lead the Muslim world out of the disarray it is in."

Butt is an ardent supporter of "martyrdom actions." Whether he will
achieve
the martyrdom he desires remains to be seen. But during our interview,
he
did say something very interesting in the light of the London bombs.
"If
someone were to attack Britain, they would be a completely and utterly
loose
cannon. It would be someone who wasn't involved in the network." What
worried me when I went to Beeston and met some of its youth, many as
full of
vitriol as Butt, was that maybe the London bombings had been such a
"loose
cannon" operation. The bombers certainly had outside support, but there
seemed to be a frighteningly independent quality about the operation, a
cottage-industry terrorism growing in Hamara youth centres.

Radical Islam draws recruits from many walks of life, but in Britain
its
agents are of a type-second-generation British Pakistanis. Somehow they
have
been worst hit by the populations shifts of the last 50 years and the
alienation that came with them. A few have rallied under a banner which
brings an intense sense of grievance. And when they are done chasing
absurd
dreams of caliphates, there is always martyrdom. "For me there's
nothing
bigger," said Butt. I met many in Beeston with his makings: small,
rootless
lives, seeking bigger things.

Butt briefly became a minor celebrity of British Muslim extremism when
he
returned from his recruitment activities in Lahore in December 2002. He
was
arrested, had his passport revoked, and remains under surveillance.
This
interview took place last year in his home town, Manchester. Butt is
short
but powerfully built and was wearing robes. He has an Islamic beard and
a
pleasant, friendly face. He collected me at the station and we went to
Sanam, a restaurant in Manchester's curry mile which does not serve
alcohol.
Everyone there knew him and greeted him like a celebrity.
_____

Butt: I used to be part of al-Muhajiroun, but we parted because of
differences. They have this idea-derived from the Koran, a valid
Islamic
opinion but not one I believe is applicable to British citizens-of a
"covenant of security." This means Muslims in Britain are forbidden
from any
military action in Britain. Now, I am not in favour of military action
in
Britain, but if somebody did do it who was British, I would not have
any
trouble with that either. Islamically, it would be my duty to support
and
praise their action. It wouldn't necessarily be the wisest thing to do,
but
it wouldn't be un-Islamic, as al-Muhajiroun said.

This, I believe, is a compromise when it comes to representing certain
key
concepts of Islam. I've always had a policy that if you're going to
come to
the media, either speak the truth or don't speak at all. Don't come to
the
media if the heat is too hot for you.

Taseer: Where do you think the covenant of security idea comes from? I
spoke
to an imam who said that you cannot strike against your host country.
If you
want to support Iraqis, go there and support them.

Butt: Most imams, as you know, have come here not as British citizens.
There
is a difference between a citizen who is born in a country and someone
who
is here on a visa or a permit. Islamically, I agree that someone who
runs
from the middle east-where people like me are persecuted-and says,
"Britain,
I want you to protect me" has entered a covenant of security. They say,
"Look, protect my life and as a result I won't do any harm to you."
That I
agree with 100 per cent, but most of our people, especially the youth,
are
British citizens. They owe nothing to the government. They did not ask
to be
born here; neither did they ask to be protected by Britain.

Taseer: So they've entered no covenant?

Butt: They have no covenant. As far as I'm concerned, the Islamic hukum
(order) that I follow, says that a person has no covenant whatsoever
with
the country in which they were born.

Taseer: Do they have an allegiance to the country?

Butt: No, none whatsoever. Even the person who has a covenant has no
allegiance, he just agrees not to threaten the life, honour, wealth,
property, mind, and so on, of the citizens around him.

Taseer: Your argument is based on these people being "British," so
don't
they necessarily have some loyalty to Britain?

Butt: No, that's what I'm saying. They have no loyalty whatsoever; they
have
no allegiance to the government.

Taseer: Perhaps not the government, but to the country?

Butt: To the country, no.

Taseer: Do you feel some?

Butt: I feel absolutely nothing for this country. I have no problem
with the
British people. but if someone attacks them, I have no problem with
that
either.

Taseer: Who do you have allegiance to?

Butt: My allegiance is to Allah, his Shari'a, his way of life. Whatever
he
dictates as good is good, whatever as bad is bad.

Taseer: Has it always been this way for you?

Butt: Always? No. I grew up in a very open-minded family; there are
only
four of us. My parents never made us pray, never sent us to the mosque,
which was very different from your average Pakistani family who would
make
sure that the child learned something. I learned absolutely nothing.

Taseer: So how did you discover Islam, or rediscover it?

Butt: Well, being Kashmiri, I'm hot-headed by nature, and so are my
brothers. Even before I was a practising Muslim, I was very hot-headed.
That
hot-headedness was leading us down a path of destruction. A lot of the
people I grew up among were on drugs, were involved in crime,
prostitution,
at very young ages. I remember when I came across the first Muslim who
talked to me about Islam in a language I understood. He pointed out
that I
had a lot of anger and frustration that I should direct in a more
productive
manner. It was from there that I got discussing Islam seriously-even
though
we were hotheads, me and my brothers always had brains, we weren't
thugs. We
were still excelling in our studies and getting top grades in our
exams.

Taseer: How old were you when you changed?

Butt: I was 17 when I really started practising.

Taseer: Was it through a mosque?

Butt: No. It was through individuals whom I met, who started speaking a
language that I understood, who went beyond just the prayer. I
understand
the huge importance of that.

Taseer: How did they approach you?

Butt: My elder brother was in college, I was still at secondary school.
The
college being a bit more open to Islamic activities than high school,
we met
some members of Hizb ut-Tahrir inside a masjid (mosque) and got
talking. At
that time the masjid was full anyway, since it was Ramadan. They showed
me
that beyond the recitation of the Koran, the praying, the fasting, the
hajj-that Islam is a complete system, a complete way of life, and how
that
applied to us and our place in society.

Taseer: What is the philosophy of Hizb ut-Tahrir?

Butt: The idea is that Muslims in Britain need to keep to their Islamic
identity and work for the re-establishment of an Islamic caliphate, or
khalifah as they would say, based upon the first four caliphates of
Islam.

Taseer: Where?

Butt: In the Muslim countries. That is one of the differences I had
with
them.

Taseer: You would like to see the caliphate here too?

Butt: Absolutely. How could we restrict something that initially
started in
Medina but then spread through the entire Muslim world?

Taseer: Would everyone have to be a Muslim, or would it work within our
existing society?

Butt: No, it's a structure of law and order.

Taseer: A central authority?

Butt: A central Islamic authority. Whether the people are Muslim or not
is
irrelevant. But even orientalist authors like Gilles Keppel agree that
Islam
was so powerful that it was the only way of life that both the
conquered and
the conqueror embraced. When the Mongols attacked Islam, they became
Muslims; the same happened with the Turks. Even the people Islam
conquered,
they themselves embraced the way of life. People say it was forced by
the
sword, but if so, when the sword was removed, why did these people not
revert back? Simply because it was never actually forced upon them. The
inherent beauty of Islam made people want to embrace it.

Taseer: There are places it didn't happen, like India.

Butt: For me, the subcontinent was a tragedy; it never had the Islam
that
was introduced in Spain, for example, or north Africa. Very early on,
the
Mughals took power and India distanced itself from central Islam. The
Arab
Muslims never concentrated on these people enough, which is why the
majority
of Muslims there never embraced it.

Taseer: You said that you were once hot-headed; are you calmer today?

Butt: I find myself just as emotional as I was then, but more able to
express that emotion in an Islamic manner. I would hate to be an
emotionless
person. You hear this a lot in the Muslim world today, from certain
intellectuals: "Don't be emotional about it, think rationally, think
logically." I guess it's an imperial complex from being under British
rule
for so long. British people are seen as being very cool-headed, calm
and
collected, but if your sister has been raped, your mother tortured and
your
father is being brutalised, how could you stay without emotion? Having
no
emotion is like being a brick. Now I can channel my emotion in an
Islamic
way rather than an un-Islamic way.

Taseer: Tell me a bit about your daily life. Do you read books and see
movies?

Butt: No, no, no. (He laughs)

Taseer: How do you pass the day?

Butt: Daily routine would be getting up to pray the fajr without
failure,
staying awake for as long as I can, for at least an hour, an hour and a
half, reciting the Koran, purely in Arabic.

Taseer: Is your Arabic good?

Butt: My Arabic, unfortunately, is not the best and I guess I have my
parents to blame for that. But I do plan, once they give me back my
passport, to go to an Arab country. I think it's the key to everything.

Taseer: Do you work?

Butt: I don't want to go into specifics. I do have business partners,
but
they don't like me coming out publicly and saying that they're
affiliated
with me. I do various different trading things. I don't have a normal
nine-to-five type of job. Whenever I have applied for a job in the
past,
they have found out who I am and the views I hold, and as a result they
don't want me. But wherever I go, I will always be involved in Islamic
work.

Taseer: At work?

Butt: Even at work. I'm always trying to help my colleagues, as
Muslims, to
have a more Islamic way of life.

Taseer: How would you describe yourself as a Muslim, given that there
are so
many labels bring thrown about-"moderate," "extremist" and so on?

Butt: I would agree to being called a radical and one day I may even be
called a terrorist, if Allah permits me. That is something it would be
an
honour to be called.

Taseer: Surely, even in an Islamic context, that can't be a positive
label?

Butt: There is a speech by the Prophet in which he says: Allah gave me
five
things. One of them was the power to strike fear, to strike terror into
the
heart of the enemy from a mile's distance, and this was a reference to
a
battle he had commenced. The way the warriors had prepared themselves
was so
terrifying that the enemy didn't even turn up to the battle. Besides
that,
in the Koran the word irhab is the root word for terror in Islam, and
irhabiyun is the word for terrorist. Allah mentions the word in the
Koran
many times-the one who strikes terror into their hearts is an
irhabiyun. If
I could have that title Islamically then I would be more than happy to
take
it and be proud of it. But unfortunately, I haven't reached that level
yet.

Taseer: Why not?

Butt: Because I am stuck in this country. It would be unwise to carry
out
military operations here.

Taseer: Why?

Butt: It would harm a lot of people. Britain is a very liberal country
in
comparison to America where Muslims don't have many rights. This is the
type
of country where you do have a lot more rights. Now with Afghanistan
gone,
the Muslims don't really have a place where they can come back to and
regroup, have time to think and relax, without the authorities
breathing
down your neck.

Taseer: Was it difficult growing up here as a Muslim? Did you sense an
anti-Islamic feeling?

Butt: The British establishment has always hated Islam. Look at the
crusades. I watched that programme on the BBC, The Secret Policeman (an
undercover report on trainee policemen) and one of the police officers
had
the honesty to admit what he felt: he said he would kill a Muslim if he
could get away with it. What he said briefly is that he represents the
majority, the only difference being that he has the courage to
articulate
it. And I do believe in my heart of hearts that the majority of British
people-the majority being outside of London-would do that if they had
the
opportunity. Historically speaking, there has always been an enmity. I
experienced it as I was growing up, going into majority white schools
and
having a problem trying to be a Muslim.

Taseer: Would you try to leave?

Butt: If they give me my passport, I will fly straight out of here. I
won't
be here a day longer than I have to.

Taseer: And never come back?

Butt: And never come back unless absolutely necessary.

Taseer: Until they give you your passport back, you can't leave?

Butt: There's no point in my leaving. I could leave if I wanted to, but
it
would be illegal and it wouldn't be very hard for them to start taking
criminal proceedings against me.

Taseer: In the past you have demonstrated the failures of British
security.
Has it improved?

Butt: It's funny you asked me that. I have been reading a book-Jihad by
Gilles Keppel-not for the sake of learning anything, but to see whether
these people have understood us. In the past, and I'm talking 100, 200
years
ago, the reason the British were successful in destroying Islamic
government
or the Ottoman caliph is that they actually lived among them and they
made
an effort to understand what they wanted to destroy. Now they're trying
to
understand something that is a theory. It's in my mind, it's in
peoples'
minds, but it's not a practical manifestation of the system that we
aspire
towards, so it's very hard for them to contain it. As a result of that,
the
security services have lost their ability to analyse how Muslims
think-I
mean real Muslims, the ones who are not ashamed to talk about their
opinions
and to express them in public. That is why they will lose this war on
terror, because guys like Keppel don't understand us.

Taseer: Do many Muslims in Britain feel like you do?

Butt: I would say the majority of Muslims in this country care about
neither
moderate nor radical Islam; they care about living their day-to-day
life.
They're happy with that. But of those people who are practising, the
majority of them hold my views. The difference is that some people come
out
publicly and others keep quiet.

Taseer: What would you say the size of this latter group is?

Butt: Official figures say there are 3m Muslims here. [There are in
fact
1.6m.] Out of that, I would say there are 750,000 who have an interest
in
Islam and about 80 per cent of those were over the moon about 9/11.

Taseer: Why?

Butt: The motivation is the pleasure of Allah, first and foremost.
Allah
says in the Koran "We have sent you,"-the Muslims-"the best nation in
the
world, to mankind." But there are conditions attached to that because
you
must enjoy goodness and forbid evil. As long as Muslims do this, they
will
see themselves as the best nation. And the reason why the majority of
Muslims feel this inspiration is because we understand that Islam is by
its
nature beautiful; it is not a backward, medieval-type way of life as a
lot
of westerners believe. That's why, historically, even after Islam had
left
these areas as a political force, people still held on to its way of
life.
Even in the crusades you had Muslims and Jews fighting alongside one
another
in order avoid Roman rule because they said Islam was just towards
them;
Islam gave them rights. In the 15th century, during the Spanish
inquisition,
where did the Jews run to? To the Ottoman caliphate, Islam was an
inspiration. All human rights are based on Islam, to ensure peace and
security in the world.

Taseer: So given the situation in the world today, what is the duty of
the
Muslim?

Butt: Every Muslim must work for the Shari'a to be implemented as a
political way of life. They can do that physically, by involving
themselves
in revolutionary coups, or through political means. As long as they
don't
attack or compromise other Muslims who are doing something different
from
them, I have no problem with any of these ways of establishing the
Shari'a.

Taseer: Is it going to be possible for Muslims to live alongside
non-Muslims?

Butt: We did it in the past, why can't we do it now?

Taseer: Would it have to be a Muslim polity?

Butt: Yes.

Taseer: Or could it be like England?

Butt: No, it couldn't be like England. The so-called liberal countries
in
the world, France for example, boast about liberty and their so-called
revolution, but they are banning headscarves. Where have the rights of
the
Muslims gone there? Where are the rights of Muslims in Britain to be
able to
support their brothers who are being attacked in Kashmir? So many of
the
organisations proscribed by the British government are Kashmiri freedom
fighters, or terrorists as you would call them.

Taseer: Why is it that an attack on Muslims in another part of the
world
affects British Muslims?

Butt: Because Allah is the way of love. Racism has infiltrated
Christianity
and Judaism. It is inbred in the people. Christians never see
themselves as
one brotherhood, but rather many dominions, whereas Muslims, no matter
what
colour they are, no matter what race they are, no matter what
nationality
they are, see themselves as one brotherhood. Ultimately this is what
Islam
teaches; that black, white, brown, red, green-if there were aliens in
Mars-these people are brothers. Poor or rich, it has no effect on how
we
should treat one another. It doesn't mean that we should divide. And
that is
why when Muslims are being attacked, the majority of Muslims kick up a
fuss,
because these are their brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, there are
Muslims today whose only reason to pick up a cause is for political
support
or their personal ambitions. Ultimately, if your brothers and sisters
were
being killed in any part of the world, you would make your utmost
effort to
try to help them.

Taseer: Where do you see Muslims under attack?

Butt: Everywhere. It's not limited to just one place. Wherever Muslims
are
they are under attack and until they start viewing themselves like
that,
they will always remain an inferior nation.

Taseer: And why are they under attack?

Butt: If they're not being attacked physically, they are being attacked
mentally. They are being told that their way of life is backward,
they're
being told that for women to cover themselves is against human rights,
they're being told that to cut the hand of the thief, which Allah
ordains in
the Koran, is outdated. They're being told that their way of life is
inferior and bad and should not be followed. And they're often stripped
of
their identity, as they were in Bosnia: Muslim by name only, no culture
whatsoever. That is still a war as a far as I'm concerned.

Taseer: Why is there a "Muslim problem" today? Ten or 15 years ago
there
wasn't the sort of movement you see today. What changed?

Butt: I don't agree with you. Ten to 15 years ago the Muslims had just
experienced their first victory of the 20th century, against the
Soviets in
Afghanistan. The belief that this was due to American support is
ridiculous.
Muslims, especially from the middle east, financed the jihad just as
much,
if not more. This is well documented. With that victory under their
belt,
the Muslims began to realise that they could control their own
political
destiny, whether by revolution or other violent means. To be honest
with
you, I don't think the Americans, British or French are the best
lecturers
on how to change a society, simply because they have themselves
experienced
revolution to attain the way of life they believe in. So why, when we
do it,
are we so different from them? Muslims woke up. You then had Iraq being
attacked, you had Chechnya, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia, Algeria, you had
all
these Muslim areas being attacked and you had Muslims waking up and
saying,
"Hang on, this isn't a coincidence."

Taseer: Why do you think that is?

Butt: Because after the fall of communism, America began to realise
that
Islam was a threat.

Taseer: The larger fall of communism wasn't the result of Islam even if
you
think that that may be the case in Afghanistan...

Butt: That's what I'm saying; it was a catalyst for collapse in
Afghanistan.

Taseer: Why?

Butt: Because Islam is a way of life, a way of life superior to
communism
and capitalism. Christianity is a mere religion and can't cater for
people's
way of life, but Islam can. With the fall of the Soviet Union, people
started turning to Islam as a way of life, whereas America wanted to
spread
capitalism across the world. That's why Islam became the enemy.

Taseer: Yes, but why are Muslims the only enemy? Are they the only ones
fighting American colonialism?

Butt: No, you have your South American states that are involved in the
struggle. But with the exception of them and a few African nations, the
majority of the people fighting against American colonialism are not
Muslim
nations, but Muslim people. Muslim governments are more than happy to
embrace the other way of life in order to stay powerful.

Taseer: Do you consider yourself a religious teacher of sorts? Do you
speak
to people in the community?

Butt: I speak to a lot of people in the community. I have a gym in my
house
where I invite people to come back and exercise and we have regular
study
circles at my house.

Taseer: What sort of people are these?

Butt: A lot of them are youth because I believe that when Islam is
being
practised by youth, Islam will be alive. If it's practised by the older
generation, it will always remain old, slow.

Taseer: Are they receptive to your views or do they resist and say,
"No, we
want to go out with girls and drink" and so on?

Butt: A lot of people will say that to me, but when it comes to their
absolute happiness, a lot of people realise that Islam is their way of
life.

Taseer: What do you say to them?

Butt: One of the first questions I ask them is: why do you celebrate
Eid? If
you like their way of life, celebrate Christmas. That provokes thought
in
their head that the reason they celebrate Eid is because they are
different.
It's not just Eid or Christmas, it's their whole way of life being
different. How they speak to their people, how they speak to their
fellow
brothers and sisters, how they speak to their teachers, how they
progress in
their education: they have different ways. Ultimately, if someone
believes
in Allah and his messenger, he will always have at the back of his mind
the
notion that he'll go back to Allah when he dies. And I'll ask people,
"Don't
lie for the sake of me, you don't have to say something to please me,
but do
you believe in Allah? Ask yourself that question, do you really, really
believe in Allah? Do you really believe that there is hellfire, do you
really believe that there is heaven and hell, or not?" And if someone
believes that, there is no reason why they won't realise that, "Yes,
our
life does belong to us." And from there, we'll go further. To those
brothers
who say, "I pray all the time," I reply, "That's not enough: give your
life
for Allah, that's what he wants, he wants you to live and die for him,
that
is the ultimate sacrifice, he gave you that life, give it back to him."

Taseer: Given that the Koran is incontestable to the letter, and that
it is
unique because there is no another religion in which there is a text so
pure, handed down from God to man, can there be a moderate Muslim?

Butt: No. You've hit the nail on the head. If someone believes that
it's the
incontestable word of Allah, how can he take a moderate view? We must
fight
if it is the will of Allah. I don't want to say that Muslims don't
believe
in Allah, but what I will say is that their faith in Allah is weak.
They
fear man the same way that the Jews feared the pharaoh, who they feared
more
than Allah and that's why they were afraid to do anything against him,
until
Moses came and liberated them. The lack of leadership in the Muslim
community is simply because they are too afraid to stand up against
this
so-called undefeatable giant of the United States.

Taseer: Coming back to the youth, are they angry?

Butt: Many are from quite wealthy families, as I am.

Taseer: So you don't see this rise of extremism among British Muslims
as
rooted in economic disadvantage?

Butt: I think that's a myth, pushed forward by so-called moderate
Muslims.
If you look at the 19 hijackers on 9/11, which one of them didn't have
a
degree? Muhammad Atta was an engineer [he was actually an architect and
town
planner] at the highest level. His Hamburg lecturer said, "I didn't
have a
student like him." These people are not deprived or uneducated; they
are the
peak of society. They've seen everything there is to see and they are
rejecting it outright because there is nothing for them. Most of the
people
I sit with are in fact university students, they come from wealthy
families.
Islam caters for everybody: the economically deprived and the most
educated
person. It doesn't make any difference: the message will still be the
same.
But this myth-that the only reason these people go for Islam is because
they
have nothing else to do-is a lie and a fabrication. People who say that
should be very careful. Even Osama himself, Sheikh Osama, came from
wealth
that I could never dream of and he gave it all up because it had no
value to
him. Who can say he came from an economically deprived condition? It's
rubbish.

Taseer: Clearly you have a sense of an enemy. What is the face of this
enemy? Is it America?

Butt: At the moment, America.

Taseer: Who else is part of it?

Butt: You have an apparent enemy and a hidden enemy.

Taseer: The apparent enemy?

Butt: The American enemy. As far as I'm concerned, you have America
spearheading the attack, followed by Britain, France, the EU, the UN,
the
World Bank, the IMF.

Taseer: India?

Butt: India.

Taseer: Thailand?

Butt: Thailand, especially after what happened recently. [Attacks on
Muslim
rebels in the south of the country]

Taseer: What does it take to join the enemy?

Butt: To support them. The Japanese only have 500 troops in Iraq; as a
result they've declared war on Islam. China from day one has been
testing
its nuclear missiles in the Xinjiang province; it's a Muslim...

170 posted on 10/01/2006 9:57:38 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

To: LibertyRocks

Keep fighting for what is right I guess and trying to persuade those who are confused to come around somehow -- so frustrating.<<<

No one can ask more than this of us.

171 posted on 10/01/2006 10:02:56 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2382789,00.html

The Sunday Times October 01, 2006

Focus: CIA abandoned plan to snatch Bin Laden from Afghan farm

Tarnak Farm, near Kandahar, where Mohammed Atta’s video was shot, has a special place in the history of Al-Qaeda: it was once Osama Bin Laden’s personal kingdom within Afghanistan.

Exclusively Arab, it was home for Bin Laden’s wives and children, as well as for the elite fighters being trained for special operations. And, as we now know, for a few weeks in early 2000 it was home to Atta, leader of the 9/11 hijackers.

The farm, which covered about 100 acres, lay on a patch of desert about three miles south of Kandahar airport. It had originally been constructed by the Afghan government as an agricultural co-operative.

A mud-brick wall was built 10ft high to create a compound; inside there were about 80 one and two-storey buildings, including dormitories, storehouses, a small mosque and a building that Bin Laden converted into a medical clinic for his family and followers.

US intelligence knew Bin Laden, already a wanted terrorist, used Tarnak as his base, and in spring 1998 the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center began working on a plan to capture him at the compound, partly with the help of Afghan tribal fighters.

Afghans scouted and mapped the farm, and the CIA photographed it from space. The plan called for about 30 fighters to assemble at a staging post before driving to a second position a few miles from Tarnak.

From there the main raiding party would walk to the farm, arriving at 2am and avoiding minefields by crawling through drainage ditches. A second group would make its way towards the front gate, taking out the two guards as the main party attacked the group of huts where Bin Laden’s wives slept.

The plan was to bundle Bin Laden into a Toyota Land Cruiser and drive him to to a cave complex 30 miles away already stocked with food and water.

However, getting the plan accepted at CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia, was not straightforward. It was known that dozens of women and children lived in the compound, and security chiefs feared there would be many casualties.

By June 1998, much to the disappointment of the field officers responsible for devising the plan, nobody at a senior level within the CIA seemed willing to support it. Nor was there any support within the White House.

The plan was called off shortly afterwards.

Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd.

172 posted on 10/01/2006 10:08:05 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

More military flights over Oaxaca City
By Dan Feder,
Posted on Sun Oct 1st, 2006 at 03:34:47 PM EST
The Mexican news agency Notimex reports:

OAXACA: A Mexican Navy helicpter again flew over both the outskirts and center of the state capital, provoking uneasiness among the members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO in its Spanish initials) and teachers who have occupied parts of the city since May.

Just after 10:30 a.m., an aircraft could be heard in the cloudy Oaxacan sky that was later confirmed to be one of the two that flew by the night before, but on this occasion its flight was slower and higher in altitude.

People who have participated in the barricades and on the APPO’s Security and Vigilance Committee launched rockets, just as they had the night before, but did not manage even to slow the aircraft.

Just after noon, a Mexican Navy airplane also passed over the city. The radio station 710 AM, “The Law of the People,” occupied by the APPO since August 21, broadcast messages requesting that people not make rash decision: “Let us not fall into making decisions out of desperation; let remain calm.”

(…)

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/10/1/153447/243

173 posted on 10/01/2006 10:14:12 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

To: All; Founding Father

[there are several versions of this battle, that I will be posting here]

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2105.html

Preparations for War in Oaxaca
Military Aircraft Doing Reconnaissance Flights Over APPO Encampments

By Diego Enrique Osorno and Óscar Rodríguez
Milenio

October 1, 2006

The Mexican Navy carried out a reconnaissance operation over the buildings and public spaces occupied by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO in its Spanish initials).

Two MI-17 helicopters and one CASA C212 Navy airplane with registration number AMP-118 flew over the streets of the city – where opponents of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz have maintained several encampments over the past 130 days – for about 40 minutes.

The zocalo, or central city square, the Oro and La Ley radio stations, the state government building, the Brenamiel and El Rosario radio antennas, as well as the Department of Finance building – all places where the rebels have installed protest camps – were reconnoitered by low-level flights of military aircraft.

As they passed over the Radio Oro facilities, the two helicopters were fruitlessly “attacked” with rockets and fireworks that teachers of the National Education Workers’ Union local Section 22 launched from Conzatti Garden. The airplane then made four more passes over the areas around the zocalo and returned to the airport, where five other military aircraft were stationed.

At 5:30 that afternoon, the naval surveillance plane and two AMHT-202 and AMHT-205 helicopters landed on a city airstrip and let out 18 soldiers in black-and-grey camouflage, bulletproof vests, helmets and firearms.

Lino Celaya Luría, state secretary of Citizen Protection, confirmed that the objective of the military flights was to “reconnoiter” the scene of the conflict, but claimed not to know if this was the prelude to an eventual federal operation to remove the protesters.

The state official limited himself to saying: “We were informed that a flight would occur over the areas where the dissidents are present. We believe this is to obtain field information on the situation.”

Meanwhile, from the occupied radio stations, the rebels again declared a maximum alert in the face of what they imagine could be the beginning of a removal/eviction operation against the popular and teachers’ movement.

Broadcasting on the radio station 710 AM, known as “The Law of the People,” the Popular Assembly’s “vigilance committee” directed a message to listeners, urging them to remain calm and prudent in the face of what they called an “act of provocation.”

In several different city neighborhoods, residents and APPO sympathizers began building barricades hours earlier than what has become a nightly custom, and also unleashed a thundering chorus of fireworks to alert the general population to the situation.

At night, a convoy of 30 military vehicles mobilized on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. At 10:00, Section 22 reinforced its barricades and warned over the radio that it will block people from entering or leaving the city.

Flavio Sosa, a member of the provisional leadership committee of the APPO, warned assistant interior secretary Francisco Yáñez Centeno via telephone: “Fox is going to stain his hands with blood if he allows this to happen.”

“They hope to bend us through terror,” said teacher Rogelio Pensamiento, another member of the leadership committee. “Nevertheless, the APPO has demonstrated its political capacity because we are willing to negotiate, but only under conditions of equality. We will not accept them intimidating us. We call for people to remain in the encampments.”

Translation: Narco News

Click here for more from The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign

Lea Ud. el Artículo en Español

174 posted on 10/01/2006 10:17:18 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2107.html

Zapatistas in Atenco: Chapias Caracoles Reopen Today; “Intergalactic” Gathering Is Called for December 30 to January 2, 2007
Comandanta Hortensia Will Travel North with Marcos

By Juan Trujillo
The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign in Mexico City

October 1, 2006

MEXICO CITY, September 30, 2006: After his arrival last night in this city, Insurgent Subcomandante Marcos and seven comandantes from the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee-General Command (CCRI-CG in its Spanish initials) of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) met this afternoon in the town of San Salvador Atenco. This information has been confirmed to Narco News by Jorge Salinas – a telephone operator and member of the Other Campaign and one of the people who faced the brutal repression begun on May 3 in Atenco. Salinas was invited to the meeting at the Emiliano Zapata auditorium at 1:00 p.m.

Marcos and Zapatista delegates prepare to leave Chiapas
Photos: Irene Sanchez and Chris Alonso
Speaking to Narco News later in the day, at an event in memory of slain student Alexis Benhumea, Salinas said that the meeting between the EZLN comandantes and subcomandante and the members of the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) was “private” in nature, a first step toward the direct support that the Chiapas-based indigenous rebel group has promised to the communal farmers of Atenco.

The seven comandantes constitute a new group of delegates that will support not only Subcomandante Marcos (“Delegate Zero”), but also the fight for the release of the 28 political prisoners still held in the Santiaguito Prison, in Mexico state. The rebel leaders who will hold public events with the FPDT in Mexico City and Atenco are: Grabiela (“Delegate One”), Zebedeo (“Delegate Two”) and Miriam (“Delegate Three”). Comandanta Gema (“Delegate Four”) and Comandantes David (“Delegate Six”) and Tacho (“Delegate Seven”) will return soon to Chiapas. As for Comandanta Hortencia (“Delegate Five”) and her young daughter Lupita (“Delegate Five-and-a-Quarter”), they will accompany Subcomandante Marcos (“Delegate Zero”) in his tour through northern Mexico beginning October 8.

According to Salinas, the message of “brotherhood” from the CCRI-CG of the EZLN, through the voice of its representatives, was one of total solidarity with the farmers of Atenco. “You are not alone,” the comandantes expressed, “we will support you in this struggle until the last prisoner is released.” With an emotional tone in his voice, Salinas said that Comandante David remarked “the pain we all feel is provoked by capitalism,” and asked: “How long will this pain go on that we all feel, farmers, women…? Until we organize ourselves in a unified manner.”

Salinas commented that in the meeting, three “axes” of action were delineated: 1) the organization of the comandantes; 2) the call for an international encounter (the long-awaited “Intergalactic?”) in Chiapas from December 30 to January 2, 2007; and 3) the reopening of the Zapatista caracoles in the rebel autonomous territories of Chiapas, with the goal of spreading information. There was no decision to lift the Red Alert that has been in effect in rebel towns since May 3.

Finally, the elder peasant-farmers of the FPDT presented several machetes to the Zapatista comandantes, which symbolize their struggle. They announced that a commission of Atenco leaders will travel to the north of the country with Subcomandante Marcos.

“Alexis Lives, the Struggle Continues”

As an example of the self-organization of the different collectives that have adhered to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, an homage to Ollin Alexis Benhumea was held this afternoon and evening in the Contraras Cultural Forum (located just in front of the offices of the Mexican intelligence agency known as the Center for Research and National Security, or CISEN). Benhumea died in a Mexico City hospital on June 7, after a long period of agony that resulted from being struck on the left part of the head with a teargas grenade in the early morning of May 4 in Atenco.

Organized by the Benhumea family and the Other Campaign’s west Mexico City section, the event saw five hours of dances, music, theater, poetry, photography and live expressions of art. Some 200 people, between relatives, friends and Sixth Declaration adherents and Other Campaign members, including Jorge Salinas, were in attendance to proclaim that “Alexis lives, the struggle continues.”

Peoples’ faces expressed solidarity and confusion, although there was also an insatiable spirit for the continuation of the Other Campaign and the struggle for the freedom of the political prisoners. The message was clear: the people must be made aware of what happened in Atenco, and must remember Alexis.

As Chela, the mother of the slain student, danced to danzon music with six other women, down in the auditorium seats, to this reporter’s left, Alexis’ aunt spoke with great sadness of the great nostalgia that such tributes produce in her. She let a few tears fall and said, “Olli Alexis must be here, watching his mother being happy.”

The sound of the sublime language of poetry was constant at this forum. The actors with their monologues and performances came and went but lingered in the minds and hearts of the hundred-or-so people who heard them. A musical group went onstage as a sensual flamenco dancer finished her short but beautiful presentation.

Outside the auditorium, Alexis’ father, Ángel Benhumea, a member of the workers’ sector of the Other Campaign, spoke with Narco News about the national and international criminal case being prepared on the issue of his son’s murder, and about the struggle for the prisoners’ freedom. He said that he is working with attorney Barbara Zamora and a team of lawyers from the Other Campaign and the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Center. In the past, there had only been partial legal actions. Nevertheless, he said that now “we are awaiting the best time to file the criminal complaint. According to Ángel, this legal action will be announced in less than a month and will name the Mexican state as his son’s murderer. It will make public the participation of President Vicente Fox and the governor of Mexico state, Enrique Peña Nieto.

The goal of the legal struggle is for the case to “be heard by the Supreme Court of Justice and for a commission to be named that will judge those responsible for the death of my son, and to also take on the issue of Atenco in general, including the political prisoners.”

In response to a question on the public actions that the seven EZLN comandantes will hold in Atenco and the capital, Ángel emphasized that “the commandants will strengthen not just the struggle for the prisoners’ release, but also the punishment of the guilty.”

Alexis’ father occasionally interrupted the tribute event to salute his people and thank them for their shows of solidarity. He looked happy. On the Other Campaign’s current situation, he said, “the organization here and in the north must be reinforced. We must pick up the pieces and find the people who have come on board in the last few years, and thus build the National Program of Struggle.”

For his part, Jorge Salinas, asked about the struggle for the freedom of the prisoners, said that “we will keep building the pressure; there is not nor will be there be any retreat. This all depends on how strong we are as the Other Campaign.” Alluding to the speech by Comandanta Hortensia this afternoon in Atenco, he concluded: “As she would say, we are not afraid of the government’s bullets, and they will have to understand that the struggle continues.”

Click here for more from The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign

Enter the NarcoSphere for comments on this article

Lea Ud. el Artículo en Español
Leia este artigo em português

175 posted on 10/01/2006 10:20:06 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

To: All; Founding Father

[Something tells me, that we are about to be hit from south of the border, this is a rabble rousing post]

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2093.html

Tijuana Sí
The Workers at this Border City Keep on Fighting

By Gloria Muñoz Ramírez
La Jornada

September 27, 2006

Thousands of people, the majority women, suffer so much exploitation everyday at the border that it has elements of human slavery. In the industrial park of Otay, one of the biggest in Tijuana, one can see food stands, groups of men and women, many of them young, and several buses, which transport the worker women wearing their ragged uniforms, waiting for their shift to start. They cannot waste a single minute. All of them, from the time the wake up until they go to bed exhausted, work in one of the more than eight hundred maquiladoras (sweatshops) that the huge transnational companies have built here since 1965, the year when the Border Industrialization Program was launched.

The workers come from different states in México, mainly from Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacán and Hidalgo (it is estimated that eighty percent come from other parts of México, while twenty percent come from the city of Tijuana and neighboring towns). They face ten hour shifts everyday, and in some companies, such as the multinational company Sony, the shifts are 12 hours, with half-hour breaks for lunch and a half hour-break for dinner. Here, there are no eight-hour shifts as the Constitution dictates.

The average salary in these ignominious centers is 750 pesos per week (less than $70 dollars), a ridiculous pay in one of the most expensive areas of the country, where the minimum rent is 1,500. To this expense, they need to add transportation, food, clothing, education and healthcare expenses for their families.

Margarita suffered humiliation and exploitation in five maquiladoras. She came from Puebla, where she worked in the countryside and then as a domestic worker before she moved to Tijuana looking for a better life. With more than five years of hard work, occasionally taking shifts up to twenty-four hours, she endured low salaries, poor working conditions, long shifts, discrimination, exposure to toxic substances, illegal contracts of one, two and three months, pregnancy tests (also illegal), irrational punishments for being one minute late and an unending list of daily offenses.

There have been many struggles here led by the working class. “We’ve given them two or three good punches,” says Jaime Cota, a social activist, former maquiladora worker and, since, 1991 defender and counsel to the workers in the legal processes they face.

Today, the organized movement is smaller, but there is always a group of workers who, tired of so many injustices, start getting to know their rights, organizing, and, more importantly, they start envisioning a different life, a more dignified one. To support them in their organizing to demand their labor rights, you can go to El Centro de Información Para Trabajadores y Trabajadoras or send an email at cittac@telnor.net.

Published in Spanish in Muñoz’ “Underdogs” column of September 23 in La Jornada

Click here for more from The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign

Enter the NarcoSphere for comments on this article

Lea Ud. el Artículo en Español
Legga questo articolo in italiano

176 posted on 10/01/2006 10:23:39 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

To: All; Founding Father

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2092.html

Tijuana’s Resistance
The Other Campaign Comes to the Border

By Gloria Muñoz Ramírez
La Jornada

September 27, 2006

Tijuana is the bustling city of immigrant passage. It represents the exploitation of the worker in more than 800 maquiladoras (sweatshops), the trafficking of women and children destined for the sex trade, the impunity with which the drug traffickers move, the displacement of Indian communities from their ancestral lands, and a myriad of other violations perpetrated against a population that is in constant movement. But Tijuana is also a place of social struggle and resistance.

In Tijuana, Mexican Independence Day was the point from which to begin conversations about displacement and exploitation and, above all, to discuss the social organizing taking place on this and the other side of the border. The invasions of the lands of the Kumiai, Kiliwa, Pai Pai, Cucapas, Mayos and Series of northeastern Mexico; the resistance to the creation of gas plants along the coast of Baja California; the struggle against the toxic waste plant in Siobac, Sonora; the Yaquis’ organized rejection of the “Escalera Nautica” project [the “Nautical Stairway,” a multibillion-dollar series of marinas intended to attract vacationers]; the extreme marginalization in which the Triqui and Mixtec people (of Oaxacan origin) survive in this zone, and the tireless defense of the precious Tiburon Island, were just a few of the topics that initiated the first Across-Borders Meeting of the Other Campaign.

At the intersection of 2nd St. and Constitution, in the centre of the city, on one side of the red-light district known as La Coahuila, the voice of more than 30 men and women of San Salvador Atenco, who have been unjustly held in prison for more than three months, could be heard. Men and women from Mexicali, Ensenada, Tijuana, Sonora, San Diego, Los Angeles, Oxnard, Oakland and San Francisco gathered here to demand the liberty of these prisoners and the punishment of the authorities responsible for the violations and many abuses committed against the population of San Salvador Atenco during the police operations that occurred on the 3rd and 4th of May.

The testimony of Josefina, the representative of the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land, reminded us that the resistance of Atenco has been persecuted by the government. The Mexican state holds political prisoners, has forced some to become fugitives and has raped women. This community today still suffers harassment at the hands of the state and continued persecution in its subjection to daily police rounds.

A convention of “women with rebel faces” was held beside one of the hundreds of “table-dance” venues that proliferate in the city. In the Sotano de Rita, work in the maquiladoras and the mistreatment of women was discussed, poetry was recited, prehispanic and Arab dances performed, painting and photography shown, and an eclectic variety of stage performances was presented. Upstairs, a half-naked woman pleased a handful of customers. Outside, thousands of youths, some of them having had a few too many drinks, from this and the other side of the border, filled the streets, dressed in national colors and riding in vehicles that – I swear – appeared to dance on their tires. This is Tijuana.

Voices of the indigenous resistance could be heard in an old cinema that is today known as the Multikulti. Here, a Kumiai woman, an indigenous leader of the Pena Blanca community, spoke of the constant invasions into her territory and of the unceasing struggle in defense of these lands. “They invade us, but we do not abandon our lands,” she said.

Published in Spanish in Muñoz’ “Underdogs” column of September 19 in La Jornada

Click here for more from The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign

Enter the NarcoSphere for comments on this article

Lea Ud. el Artículo en Español
Legga questo articolo in italiano

Email this story to a friend

177 posted on 10/01/2006 10:25:41 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

To: All; Velveeta; Rushmore Rocks

Signs of Al Qaeda's Weakening Apparent in Zawahiri's Message?

by Laura Mansfield

The video released yesterday by Al Qaeda second-in-command Dr.
Ayman al Zawahiri was supposed to be a ranting attack against the US
administration, with vitriolic jabs at President George W. Bush, and
was intended to influence the US public just a month before the 2006
interim elections.

Instead the video gave the appearance of an organization that has
become distracted and is on the run.

It is surprising what can be gleaned from a mere 18 minutes or so of
video tape.

The first ten minutes of the tape containing the diatribe
against Bush is recorded in what appears to be some sort of studio,
like the last several Zawahiri tapes, with proper lighting and what is
most likely a chromo-key backdrop. That portion of the tape has English
subtitles.

The backdrop features a white flag containing the words "There
is no God but Allah; Mohamed is the Messenger of Allah" in Arabic.
These words form the Islamic "shahada", the words that a person must
recite to become a Muslim and which are readily recognizable to anyone
familiar with Islam. Al Qaeda uses these same words on their black flag
of jihad that is seen so frequently on Islamist websites. (As a side
note, these same words are found in white letters on green on the flag
of Saudi Arabia.)

On his left, there is a small cannon pointed to his right, and a light
on his left side as well.

Zawahiri's trademark weapon, which has appeared in many of his
videotapes, is missing in this video.

Approximately ten minutes into the tape, when the portion
discussing Bush ends abruptly, a dramatic shift in video quality is
seen.

The remaining two segements of the three-segment tape are
videotaped in front of what appears to be a sheet of brown fabric.
Although Zawahiri wears a microphone, the lighting is of a much poorer
quality, as is the sound quality, resulting in a dramatically different
appearance for Bin Laden's lieutenant.

Based on the way the hanging fabric backdrop moves, it is possible that
this portion of the tape was filmed outdoors.

It's interesting to note that in the first portion of the tape,
Zawahiri wears a white robe with a black turban and scarf; but in the
second and third portion of the tape he wears a white turban.

The tape, which was released just two weeks after the remarks
by Pope Benedict XVI regarding Islam, gives the appearance that the
first portion was complete and ready to release, but that the
statements of the Pope compelled Zawahiri to film a postscript of sorts
to address those comments.

The fact that Zawahri did not film the portions of the tape
dealing with the Pope and Darfur in his studio may indicate some sort
of time pressure to get the tape out on schedule. It also seems to
demonstrate the existence of some sort of logistical issues in reaching
his usual studio or having a cameraman with a portable studio come to
his location.

This is further evidenced by an examination of the digital
signatures of the different portions of the tape, which indicates that
they were filmed using two different camera types.

In addition to examining the tape itself, a review of the
content of the message is also somewhat different that previous
Zawahiri messages.

The first ten minutes or so of the tape was devoted to the
diatribe against President Bush, with Zawahiri calling him a liar
repeatedly, as well as a charlatan, and claiming that he is lying to
the American people about the "disasters they face in Iraq and
Afghanistan".

In each tape, Zawahiri, who has never been a Bush supporter,
seems to become bolder and more overtly hostile to President Bush, this
time spewing insults at the President repeatedly.

He stresses over and over that the US could not possibly have
gotten any valuable information from captured Al Qaeda mujahid Khalid
Sheikh Mohamed. In fact, after listening to his repetition of this
claim several times during the first few minutes of the message, the
phrase "me thinks he doth protest too much" comes to mind.

Instead of convincing the world that no information has been
obtained from Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, Zawahiri gives the impression that
valuable intelligence has in fact been obtained, and that it has hurt
his organization.

Zawahiri shows that he is in touch with western media reports,
echoing the sentiments of the American anti-war movement, claiming that
the reasons that Bush cited for going to war with Iraq were
fabricating, citing the failure to find nuclear weapons in Iraq and the
lack of evidence linking Al Qaeda with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Zawahiri implies the existence of current Al Qaeda terror
attacks in the US on a daily basis but offers no proof or even specific
information about these alleged attacks in this statement: "But, by the
grace of God, we are taking revenge on their behalf on a daily basis
from your soldiers and the soldiers of your allies and agents in
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, and all Muslim
countries from Indonesia to Morocco and even in your own country every
day."

The Bush portion of the tape appears incomplete; it is possible that we
will see more of this tape at some point in the future.

It is interesting to note that Zawahiri made no mention
whatsoever of Ramadan in the tape; some sort of Ramadan greetings would
have been expected. That may indicate that the portion of the tape
dealing with Bush was not specifically planned to be a Ramadan message.
That makes it even more likely that we will be seeing another tape from
Zawahiri in the next week or two. (Note: It would be very
uncharacteristic for neither Zawahiri nor Bin Laden to address the
Ummah on the Eid at the end of Ramadan.)

There is also no mention of the rumors of the death of Bin
Laden; in fact, Zawahiri doesn't even mention Bin Laden's name at any
point in the nearly eighteen minute tape. This may simply be a timing
issue, and it may be something he addresses in another message in the
near future.

The remaining seven minutes of the tape discuss the Pope's comments,
and make reference to the situation in Darfur, Sudan.

Zawahiri calls the Pope a charlatan, and compares him to Pope
Urban II, who launched the first Crusade in 1095. Zawahiri threatens
the Pope with the same fate as that of Urban II, which is somewhat
confusing considering that Pope Urban II died fourteen days after
Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders.

Zawahiri accuses Pope Benedict of blaspheming the Prophet
Mohamed. He claims the Pope has forgotten that the book (a reference to
the Bible) "does not have an authentic source and did not descend on
Jesus".

He accuses the Pope of pretending to forget that "Christianity
cannot be accepted by a sound mind because it includes superstitions
like the trinity, the crucifixion, redemption, the original sin, the
infallibility of the pope, and the church's forgiveness of sins."

In the segment on Darfur, Zawahiri tells the Muslims of the
region that they must stand up against the "Zionist-Crusader threat",
which their own government is too weak or corrupt to withstand. It's
worth noting that although Zawahiri called upon the people of Darfur to
stand up to the "Zionist-Crusader" threat, he did not reiterate his
previous promise to send fighters to help this. This may very well
indicate that a further degradation in the strength of Al Qaeda;
Zawahiri may simply not have mujahideen available to send to assist in
Darfur.

Please see the full translation for more information.

For more translations and news on terrorism, visit
http://www.lauramansfield.com

178 posted on 10/01/2006 10:31:03 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

To: All; milford421

Google Alert - bomb threat

Courthouse emptied after bomb threat
NorthJersey.com - Hackensack,NJ,USA
The courthouse and four surrounding county buildings along Hamilton and
Grand streets were inspected by the Passaic County Sheriff's Department
Bomb Squad and K ...
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk1NyZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Njk5OTA4OCZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTM=

Bomb Threat Fails to Scare off Bulgarian PM
Sofia News Agency - Bulgaria
Bulgaria: An anonymous bomb threat was on the way to spoil a public
meeting
of Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev in Varna, police said. ...
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=70438

179 posted on 10/01/2006 10:35:57 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20508703-2,00.html

More Jihadists ready to go

By Emma-Kate Symons in Manila
October 02, 2006 12:46am

Article from:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/?from=ni_story

The
Australian

A NETWORK of homegrown converts to radical Islam has emerged as a major
terrorist threat in South-East Asia, teaming up with higher-profile
al-Qaeda
offshoots Jemaah Islamiah and Abu Sayyaf to plot attacks on Western and
local targets.

Manila's top anti-terrorism official has told The Australian that the
group
of former Christians known as Rajah Solaiman is highly educated and
well-financed and lacked the profile of traditional Islamist terrorist
groups, making it easier to evade detection.

His warning came as Indonesian and Australian mourners remembered the
20
people killed in JI's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Bali_bombings

last major terror attacks, at Jimbaran Bay and Kuta in Bali a year ago
yesterday.
Terrorist experts believe that while JI has suffered some significant
setbacks in the past 12 months, its alliance with southern Philippines
groups such as Rajah Solaiman mean it is still a potent force.
The Australian understands that Canberra is closely monitoring the
pursuit
of Rajah Solaiman, which shares JI's goal of a pan-Islamic state in
Asia.

Rajah Solaiman has direct links to al-Qaeda's leadership and to JI's
2002
Bali bombers Umar Patek, who was killed last month, and Dulmatin, who
is
still on the run in the war-torn southern Philippines.

Philippines defence undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said Rajah
Solaiman
was hiding out in the country's impenetrable south, conducting joint
training exercises and plotting terror attacks with its JI and Abu
Sayyaf
allies.

Mr Blancaflor said Rajah Solaiman was a "classic case of homegrown
terrorism" that could be compared to Australia's problems with small
extremist groups of Lebanese Muslim migrants.

"These homegrown terrorists are messengers of hate - hate of the West
and of
Christianity," he said.

"We have to understand that terrorism today goes way beyond al-Qa'ida,
it
has no boundaries and no geographical limits."

He called on Australia to support a UN blacklist of the new force,
which is
understood to have carried out JI's orders in executing the 2004
Philippines
SuperFerry bombing that killed 116 people - the second-worst terrorist
attack in South-East Asia after the 2002 Bali bombs.

Rajah Solaiman's name is taken from a 16th-century Filipino king, a
Muslim,
who was the last of the homegrown monarchs before the Spanish conquest.

Australian authorities believe it poses a significant threat not only
to
Philippine interests, but also to Western interests abroad, including
Australia's - from foreign embassies to shopping malls, passenger
ferries
and nightclubs popular with Western tourists.

Rajah Solaiman leader Ahmed Santos, captured late last year in
Mindanao,
even sheltered Patek and Dulmatin at his family farm in the southern
Philippines, where JI, Rajah Solaiman and Abu Sayyaf operatives
established
a joint training camp, where bomb-making was taught.

Santos converted to Islam in the 1990s via the Islamic Studies Call and
Guidance, a group linked by US intelligence to Osama bin Laden's
brother-in-law Mohammed Jamal Khalifa.

Dulmatin and Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani and members of Rajah
Solaiman have managed to evade capture despite the sustained US-backed
Philippines military offensive in Mindanao and the Sulus. This has been
under way since August 1, and has led to the deaths of at least 15
Philippines soldiers and dozens of militants.

The US has offered a $10 million bounty for the capture of Dulmatin,
the
Malaysian explosives expert who is believed to have planned the 2002
Kuta
attacks.

Last month, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11,
2001,
attacks in the US, a leaked Philippines intelligence report said two
Rajah
Solaiman explosives experts had arrived in Manila.

This followed arrests of three Muslim converts in May, suspected of
planning
to bomb malls and foreign embassies in Manila.

The Philippines military has been attacking southern rebels since
August 1,
with the support of the US, in an operation that has resulted in the
deaths
of more than a dozen Filipino soldiers and perhaps dozens of rebels.

"One of our aims is to make the southern Philippines as inhospitable
for
these guys as possible. So we have them on the run," Mr Blancaflor
said.
"And if we have them on the run we are going to catch them sooner or
later."

He also called on Canberra and Manila to go further with a military
pact
currently before the Philippines Senate, which would see Australian
troops
conducting training exercises in the country's south.

"The agreement needs to go beyond the military," Mr Blancaflor said.
"The
defence agreement is the usual stuff - guns, boats and armaments. But
the
agreement should also have non-military stuff - like desktop computers
and
communications equipment.

In Jakarta, a former senior JI member warned that more attacks by
terror
leader Noordin Top could not be ruled out, as police admitted they
still had
no idea where Indonesia's most wanted man was hiding.

Nasir Abas, a Malaysian whose sister Farida is married to death-row
Bali
bomber Ali Ghufron, warned that while Top's ability to conduct large
attacks
had been diminished as the police net around him tightened, he remained
in
control of an unknown number of small cells that could still launch
effective strikes.

"Noordin's potential to conduct a major bombing is quite small, since
Azahari's gone, as has Jabir, so that the number of people he could use
(in
an operation) is diminished," Mr Abas said.

"However I would also point out that his intention is to murder people
- and
that doesn't have to be a big operation. His ability has been reduced
but
his desire to kill has never diminished."

Mr Abas has been a key source of information on JI since his defection
from
the organisation after being arrested in 2003.

Mr Abas cast some doubt on a recent leaked US intelligence report
suggesting
JI was acquiring the ability to spread further across the archipelago
and
possibly launch attacks against US allies including Australia.

"Well, that's according to them," Mr Abas said, pointing out that the
active
terror elements in JI were now more focused on small cells operating
independently of each other under Top's direction. "Just as with the
second
Bali bombing, they continue to be directly organised by Noordin," he
said.
"He is the big boss, with (Abu Bakar) Bashir continuing to be revered
as a
leader of the movement."

These cells, if they are indeed planning attacks, are doing so under
the
radar of national and international intelligence agencies, who admit
they
have no indication there is a strike being planned for the current
so-called
"bombing season".

However, it was precisely one such cell, answering directly to Noordin,
that
carried out the triple suicide bombings in Kuta and Jimbaran exactly a
year
ago, much to the surprise of those whose job it was to anticipate such
things.

180 posted on 10/01/2006 10:42:18 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (Time for the world to wake up and face the fact that there is a war going on, it is world wide!)

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794