World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #8 Security Watch

Image: European Community Europe discusses how to prepare itself in the face of bio-terrorism threats and "perversions" of science, not to mention naturally occurring bio-threats to human health.

The EU must work much closer with its 27 national capitals and across the Atlantic to combat the growing threat of bio-terrorism, according to EU and US policymakers and scientists.

The European Commission aims to fire up discussion of the issue and prompt some solutions when it issues a consultative document on bio-preparedness in the coming weeks.

While Washington is pushing ahead with high levels of government spending and close public-private coordination to protect the US population against bio-attacks, policy in Europe still lacks focus and is splintered into separate national policies, despite universal concern among EU and national experts that their continent is highly vulnerable to attack. Pan-European research is just as fragmented, though current and forthcoming EU-funded projects aim to pull researchers in the same direction.

There is no policy coherence in bio-preparedness in general across Europe, whether the issue is one of vaccine production, security at bio- and virological laboratories or national immunization policies.

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/136588.php/London-Polices-anti-terror-chief-warns-against-terror-attacks-by-Islamist-militants

London Police’s anti-terror chief warns against terror attacks by Islamist militants
From our ANI Correspondent

London, Apr 26: London Police have reportedly said cautioned against strikes by Islamist militants in the UK in the near future.

Peter Clarke, the London Police’s anti-terrorist chief, said that the police and security service had stopped a number of attacks in Britain and more than 100 people were awaiting trial on terrorist-related charges.

It was a “sensible assumption” that Islamist militants would strike again in Britain, the Dawn quoted Peter as saying.

Clarke also said that the threat from Al Qaeda was “very different” from the threat Britain faced for 30 years from Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerillas opposed to British rule in Northern Ireland. “The Al Qaeda networks are large, mobile and resilient,” he said.

Clarke said that an alleged plot by Islamist militants to blow up transatlantic airliners, foiled by police last August after which one Rashid Rauf was arrested in Pakistan, was another step in what appeared to be a “trend towards more ambitious and more destructive attack planning”.

Reviewing British counter-terrorism efforts since the 9/11 air attacks in the US, Clarke said that the strategic threat from Islamist militants was “enduring and to a significant extent targeted at the United Kingdom”.

“The extremists have a momentum that must be stopped. Within the country we have people who are sympathetic to the terrorist cause and prepared to carry out attacks against their fellow citizens. Nevertheless, we suffered the appalling attacks of July 2005 and the only sensible assumption is that we shall be attacked again,” the paper quoted him as saying in a lecture.

On July 7, 2005, four British suicide bombers had blown themselves up on London’s transport network, killing 52 people instantly.

Clarke said that he did not disagree with a figure given by Elizabeth Manningham-Buller, former head of the British intelligence agency MI5, who said in November that her agents were tracking some 1600 suspected Islamist militants in Britain.

Police: Device near clinic was a bomb
Sources say it contained nails; federal agencies join investigation.
Listen to this article or download audio file.Click-2-Listen

By Tony Plohetski, Claire Osborn and Elizabeth Campbell
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, April 27, 2007

A package found Wednesday in the parking lot of a South Austin women’s clinic that performs abortions contained a bomb that could have seriously injured or killed people had it not been spotted by a clinic employee, officials said Thursday.

A terrorism task force made up of local and federal investigators is still trying to determine who left the package near the Austin Women’s Health Center at 1902 S. Interstate 35, north of Oltorf Street, and are reviewing footage from the clinic’s security cameras.

During a news conference Thursday, investigators declined to be more specific about the contents of the package — which was in what Austin Assistant Police Chief David Carter called a “carry-all bag” — other than to say that it contained explosive powder.

Two sources familiar with the contents, who didn’t want to be identified because of the ongoing investigation, said the device also contained nails. Jimmie Oxley, a nationally known explosives expert and chemistry professor at the University of Rhode Island, said bomb makers often add nails to devices to make them deadlier.

Investigators also would not say how the device was put together or how the bomb would have detonated. Officials have not commented on possible suspects or motives or why the clinic was targeted.

“The device was a dangerous device,” Carter said. “We believe it was capable of detonation.”

Officials with the Austin Women’s Health Center declined to comment on the incident other than to say in a statement: “We are committed to the health and well-being of our patients. Our office will continue to provide the same outstanding health care we have been providing for the last 30 years.”

The clinic, founded in 1976, was open Thursday; a sign in front warned against trespassing.

The incident renewed fears among some of another wave of violence against abortion clinics. During a rash of attacks against clinics in the 1990s, a number of doctors and employees were murdered.

It also comes at a time when the abortion rights debate has made national headlines: Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

The discovery of the bomb prompted increased vigilance among other Austin clinics where abortions are performed and was condemned by people who support and people who oppose abortion rights.

Joe Pojman, the executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, which opposes abortion, said he was dismayed to hear about the device at the clinic.

“It’s just plain wrong,” Pojman said. “This is very counterproductive to the abortion debate, and it hurts our cause.”

People who want to reduce abortions in Texas should concentrate on getting measures passed to prevent unintended pregnancies, said Laurie Felker Jones, the deputy political director at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. Jones called Wednesday’s incident “unacceptable.”

On Tuesday, as the Supreme Court prepared to rule on the act banning late-term abortions, the professional association of abortion providers in the United States and Canada sent an update to its members, advising them to tighten their clinics’ security measures.

“We know from past experience that any time abortion is featured prominently in the news, there is often an increased chance of violence and disruption at clinics,” said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation. In Austin, several abortion providers declined to discuss their security measures in detail, saying that it could thwart efforts to keep patients and staff members safe. “Most clinics might have cameras, security videotaping and alarm type of situations,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers.

Miller, who is also the executive director of Whole Woman’s Health in Austin — one of four abortion providers in Austin — declined to comment on what security measures her business was taking.

“Security is a reality for us every day,” she said. There are no abortion clinics in Hays County; there is one in Williamson County, Miller said. Sarah Wheat, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, said Austin has always been supportive of women’s health care, including abortions, at her facility.

“I think when something like this happens, it doesn’t fit with the support we have now,” she said.

The last major incident involving a Texas abortion provider was an arson at the Fairmount Center in Dallas in 2002. The case has not been solved, according to the group.

In 2003, the construction of a Planned Parenthood facility in Austin was delayed when abortion-rights opponents launched a telephone and e-mail campaign against contractors who supplied goods or services for the construction of the 20,000-square-foot facility on East Ben White Boulevard.

As a result, the building’s original general contractor, San Antonio-based Browning Construction Co., withdrew from the project in November 2003. Planned Parenthood opted to serve as its own general contractor and didn’t release the names of its subcontractors, aiming to protect them from protesters.

More than 200 arsons and bombings have occurred at reproductive health care clinics across the United States and Canada since the mid-1970s, according to the National Abortion Federation’s Web site.

According to the federation, 32 incidents of violence or disruption against abortion providers in the United States and Canada were reported in the first three months of 2007, along with five hoax devices or suspicious packages. In 2006, abortion clinics reported seven bomb threats and four attempted bombings or arsons.

tplohetski@statesman.com; 445-3605

Links referenced within this article

Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/27/27clinic.html

14:33 26.04.2007
Permanent news address: http://www.regnum.ru/english/819098.html

Activists to protect Bronze Soldier Monument denied medical assistance after encountering with police

Today, at about 04:30 a.m., officers of Estonian special police forces detained a group of activists protecting the Bronze Soldier Monument in Tonismagi Square, Tallinn. As REGNUM was told at the Night Watch organization, members of which were detained, the police officers broke windows in their car, punctured the tires and applied physical force against the activists including a woman.

Now, all the detainees are at the police station, they are charged with non-obeying police orders. According to a Night Watch spokesperson, the activists are held without food or water and are denied medical assistance that the woman hurt during the arrest needs.

15:36 26.04.2007
Permanent news address: http://www.regnum.ru/english/819357.html
Estonian police: Woman hurt while encountering with police was given medical assistance

Traffic has been restored near the Bronze Soldier Monument in Tonismagi Square, Tallinn, Estonia, and there are no restrictions on traffic now, Pohja Police Prefecture told REGNUM today. The prefecture press office said that in order to secure order the traffic was stopped near the Tonismagi at 04:30 a.m. today for the time of installing special protective constructions near the monument. At 05:30, the traffic was opened for municipal transport, and at 06:30 a.m. it was fully restored.

The prefecture admitted a conflict with activists to protect the monument at 04:30 a.m. According to the police, three people ignored police instructions and locked themselves in a car. To identify the persons in the car, police officers had to apply force and broke a car window. The people from the car were taken to a police station for investigation. Under police officers’ request, doctors examined a hand of the woman, who was hurt in the detention, and rendered necessary assistance, the prefecture informs. By 01:00 p.m., the situation in Tonismagi Square remained calm. Police asked people “not to yield to provocations and obey the law.”

17:28 24.04.2007
Permanent news address: http://www.regnum.ru/english/817953.html

Estonian prime minister: Drunken looters are buried under the Bronze Soldier Monument

Speaking at the Estonian parliament and answering a question about the Bronze Soldier Monument in the Tonismagi Square, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said that excavations would be certainly held there and then it will become known, whether there are any burial grounds there at all, Estonian Youth newspaper reports today.

According to the source, he sounded rumors of the grave appearing in September 1944. First, Ansip informed about “total binge” that took part in Soviet troop after capturing Tallinn, as a consequence of which drunken soldiers were run over by their own tank and buried in Tonismagi. The second scenario, according to the prime minister is the following: the tankman was drunk and ran over his mates. The third scenario: looters, who had been executed, were buried there. The fourth version is that patients of a nearby hospital are there.

22:29 23.04.2007
Permanent news address: http://www.regnum.ru/english/817371.html

Estonian foreign ministry: The Russian note contains lies and slander

The Estonian foreign ministry confirmed it received the Russian protest note, but it has not decided yet whether and how to answer it. “Lamentably, the document contains deliberate lies and slander,” Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Ehtel Halliste told Delfi (Estonia). In this issue, like in all others, the foreign ministry will be guided by Estonian legislation, international law and good traditions, she added.

Estonia’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation Marina

Kaljurand was summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs today. As REGNUM was told at the press office of the Russian foreign ministry, the Estonian ambassador was handed over a note expressing resolute disagreement with the intention of the Estonian government to start exhumation of Soviet soldiers’ remains buried near the Monument to the Soldier-Liberator (the Bronze Soldier Monument) in central Tallinn. The document contains a call to the Estonian leadership to give up the plans to transfer the monument and the remains, which are “aimed at revision of role of the countries – members of the anti-Hitler coalition and contradict not only to norms of the international law, but elementary principles of human morale and humanism.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1824185/posts

France: Woman attacked for wearing Star of David (by “yoots”)
YNet ^ | Apr. 26, 2007 | Yael Branovsky

Posted on 04/26/2007 2:45:51 PM PDT by Alouette

22-year-old French woman says youths of Middle Eastern origin snatched her Star of David necklace, lifted her shirt and drew a swastika on her stomach

Yael Branovsky Published: 04.26.07, 23:41 / Israel Jewish Scene

A 22-year-old French woman said Thursday she was the victim of an anti-Semitic attack by two youths at an underground train station in Marseille.

The youths, who the woman said were of Middle Eastern origin, snatched her Star of David necklace, then lifted her shirt and drew a swastika on her stomach before fleeing the scene.

According to the Jewish Agency, the French police have refrained from releasing the details of the incident before it was proven that the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism.

The head of the Jewish Agency delegation in France, David Roche, told Ynet that representatives of the local Jewish community would continue to follow the investigation.

“We will be in touch with the woman and provide her with all the help she needs,” he said, adding that the attack was the most severe anti-Semitic incident in France since the murder of Ilan Halimi in February 2006.

Jewish Agency Chairman Ze’ev Bielski released a statement saying that “specifically during the course of the largest display of democracy France has known in many years this barbaric act is carried out.

“We are doing our utmost so that the issue of the fight against anti-Semitism will top the agenda of the candidates for the presidency and of the candidate who is elected,” he said.

A Madrasa Grows in Brooklyn (back)

April 24, 2007

Come September, an Arabic-language public secondary school is slated to open its doors in Brooklyn . The New York City Department of Education says the Khalil Gibran International Academy , serving grades six through 12, will boast a ‘multicultural curriculum and intensive Arabic language instruction.’

This appears to be a marvelous idea, for New York and the country need native-born Arabic speakers. They have a role in the military, diplomacy, intelligence, the courts, the press, the academy, and many other institutions — and teaching languages to the young is the ideal route to polyglotism. As someone who spent years learning Arabic, I am enthusiastic in principle about the idea of this school, one of the first of its kind in the United States .

In practice, however, I strongly oppose the KGIA and predict that its establishment will generate serious problems. I say this because Arabic-language instruction is inevitably laden with pan-Arabist and Islamist baggage. Some examples:

Franck Salameh taught Arabic at the most prestigious American language school, Middlebury College in Vermont . In an article for the Middle East Quarterly, he wrote: ‘even as students leave Middlebury with better Arabic, they also leave indoctrinated with a tendentious Arab nationalist reading of Middle Eastern history. Permeating lectures and carefully-designed grammatical drills, Middlebury instructors push the idea that Arab identity trumps local identities and that respect for minority ethnic and sectarian communities betrays Arabism.’

For an example of such grammatical drills, see the just-published book by Shukri Abed, ‘Focus on Contemporary Arabic: Conversations with Native Speakers’ (Yale University Press), one chapter of which is titled ‘The Question of Palestine.’ Its intensely politicized readings would be unimaginable in a book of French or Spanish conversations.

The Islamist dimension worries me as well. An organization that lobbies for Arabic instruction, the Arabic Language Institute Foundation, claims that knowledge of Islam’s holy language can help the West recover from what its leader, Akhtar H. Emon, calls its ‘moral decay.’ In other words, Muslims tend to see non-Muslims learning Arabic as a step toward an eventual conversion to Islam, an expectation I encountered while studying Arabic in Cairo in the 1970s.

Also, learning Arabic in of itself promotes an Islamic outlook, as James Coffman showed in 1995, looking at evidence from Algeria . Comparing students taught in French and in Arabic, he found that ‘Arabized students show decidedly greater support for the Islamist movement and greater mistrust of the West.’ Those Arabized students, he notes, more readily believed in ‘the infiltration into Algeria of Israeli women spies infected with AIDS … the mass conversion to Islam by millions of Americans,’ and other Islamist nonsense.

Specifics about the KGIA confirm these apprehensions, including its roster of sponsors and enthusiasts. The school’s key figure, principal-designate Dhabah (’Debbie’) Almontaser, has a record of extremist views, as William A. Mayer and Beila Rabinowitz have shown at PipeLineNews.org.

a.. Arabs or Muslims, Ms. Almontaser says, are innocent of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001: ‘I don’t recognize the people who committed the attacks as either Arabs or Muslims.’ Instead, she blames September 11 on Washington’s foreign policies, saying they ‘can have been triggered by the way the USA breaks its promises with countries across the world, especially in the Middle East, and the fact that it has not been a fair mediator.’

b.. At a community meeting with the New York Police Department commissioner, she berated the NYPD for using ‘FBI tactics’ when informants were used to prevent a subway bombing, thereby polarizing the Muslim community. For Ms. Almontaser, it appears, preventing terrorism counts less than soothing Muslim sensibilities.

c.. She calls George W. Bush a ‘nightmare’ who is ‘trying to destroy the United States .’

Rewarding these views, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a foreign-funded front organization, in 2005 bestowed an honor on Ms. Almontaser for her ‘numerous contributions’ to the protection of civil liberties.

Her intentions for the KGIA should raise alarms. An Associated Press report paraphrases her saying that ‘the school won’t shy away from sensitive topics such as colonialism and the Israeli-Palestinian crisis,’ and she notes that the school will ‘incorporate the Arabic language and Islamic culture.’ Islamic culture? Not what was advertised — but imbuing pan-Arabism and anti-Zionism, proselytizing for Islam, and promoting Islamist sympathies will predictably make up the school’s true curriculum.

Source: http://www.danielpipes.org/article/4441

Al-Qaeda Toying with Radioactive Weapons (back)

April 23, 2007

Al-Qaida leaders in Iraq are planning a mass-casualty attack against British and other western targets, possibly with radioactive-dispersal weapons, according to a secret British security intelligence assessment.

The warning is one of two reported since Friday from British and European counter-terrorism officials that a reinvigorated al-Qaida is mustering fresh resources for a major strike against the West.

‘They have got to do something soon that is radical otherwise they start losing credibility,’ a British security source told London ‘s Sunday Times. The newspaper reported Sunday that al-Qaida leaders in Iraq are planning ‘large-scale’ terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran . The other western nations were not named.

The information, from a leaked report by Britain’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre - the country’s premier organization for assessing international and domestic terrorist threats - appears to provide evidence that al-Qaida is active in Iran and has ambitions far beyond the improvised attacks it has been waging against British and American soldiers in Iraq, the newspaper said.

Produced earlier this month, the intelligence assessment quotes one al-Qaida leader in Iraq saying he was planning an attack on ‘a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki ‘ in an attempt to ‘shake the Roman throne,’ a reference to the West.

Analysts believe the reference to Hiroshima and Nagasaki , where more than 200,000 people died in nuclear attacks on Japan at the end of the Second World War, is unlikely to be a literal boast, the newspaper said. Despite aspiring to a nuclear capability, al-Qaida is not thought to have acquired weapons-grade material.

However, several plots involving ‘dirty bombs’ - conventional explosive devices surrounded by radioactive material - have been foiled. What’s more, an al-Qaida leader in Iraq last year called on nuclear scientists to apply their knowledge of biological and radiological weapons to ‘the field of jihad.’

‘It could be just a reference to a huge explosion,’ a counter-terrorist source, referring to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki claims, told the newspaper.

The assessment says al-Qaida would ‘ideally’ like to carry out an attack before Prime Minister Tony Blair Blair steps down this summer.

It also makes it clear that senior al-Qaida figures in the Iraq region have been in recent contact with operatives in Britain . But it says there is ‘no indication’ an attack would specifically target Britain , ‘although we are aware that AQI (al-Qaida in Iraq ) ... networks are active in the Britain .’

Details from the assessment follow a Friday report in London ‘s Financial Times quoting unnamed European officials and terrorism specialists saying al-Qaida is reaching out from its base in Pakistan to turn militant Islamist groups in the Middle East and Africa into franchises charged with intensifying attacks on western targets. The efforts could see radical Islamist groups use al-Qaida expertise to switch their attention from local targets to western interests in their countries and abroad.

‘For al-Qaida, this is a force multiplier,’ a British terrorism official told the newspaper.

The more immediate concern, however, appears to be al-Qaida in Iraq , backed by Iran , and its suspected intent to stage a mass-casualty assault against the West. The concerns over a plot to attack Britain before Blair steps down stem from a letter written by Abdul al-Hadi al-Iraqi, an Iraqi Kurd and senior al-Qaida commander.

According to the intelligence assessment, Hadi ‘stressed the need to take care to ensure that the attack was successful and on a large scale.’

The plan was to be relayed to an Iran-based al-Qaida facilitator. al-Qaida’s attempts to expand across the Middle East and North Africa, while still at an early stage, follow the rebuilding of the group’s core in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan , near the Afghan border, after six years of U.S.-led military action.

The group’s central organization appears to have reconstituted around about 20 senior figures in farms and compounds that also act as training camps, western officials told The Financial Times. While there is no evidence of a formal relationship between al-Qaida, a Sunni group, and Iran’s Shi’ite regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, experts suggest that Iran’s leaders may be turning a blind eye to the terrorist organization’s activities.

It was revealed last year that up to 150 Britons had travelled to Iraq to fight as part of al-Qaida’s ‘foreign legion.’ A number are thought to have returned to the Britain , after receiving terrorist training, to form sleeper cells, according to the newspaper. The terrorist threat rating in Britain has remained at ‘severe,’ meaning an attack is ‘highly likely,’ since last August’s discovery of alleged London-based plot to destroy a fleet of airborne trans-Atlantic jetliners bound for the United States .

Source: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=20189aeb-a66e- 43e0-8ed7-7cf59db55ef8&k=90968

Australians Warned of Threat at Gallipoli Commemoration (back)

April 24, 2007

The thousands of Australians who will attend Gallipoli to mark Anzac Day have been warned to exercise a high level of caution.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a warning last Friday saying there was a ‘high threat’ of a terrorist attack.

Today, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Bruce Billson said the Gallipoli peninsula was not considered to be more of a target than any other area in Turkey , but urged everyone travelling there to exercise caution.

‘We are encouraging all visitors to Turkey , anywhere in Turkey , to exercise a high degree of caution,’ Mr Billson told the Nine Network.

‘We are encouraging people that might be considering travelling to the border with Syria to reconsider the need to travel there.

‘But in relation to visitors to the Gallipoli peninsula, there is no additional threat warning, no additional assessment of risk at the Gallipoli peninsula compared to anywhere else in Turkey,’ he said.

More than 10,000 people are expected to gather at the Gallipoli Peninsula to commemorate the fallen diggers.

Mr Billson said those travelling there need to be aware, cautious, and alert to information around them.

‘There’s a first class security arrangement in place for the Gallipoli peninsula and we have taken all necessary precautions given the general environment in Turkey ,’ he said

‘The Turkish authorities did an outstanding job and we are not anticipating any incident of concern regarding the Gallipoli commemoration this year.’

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/high-threat-of-gallipoli-terror-attack /2007/04/24/1177180606597.html

Mega Attack Against Sarkozy in French Elections? (back)

April 24, 2007

The right-centre contender Nicolas Sarcozy has a better than good chance of winning France ’s presidential runoff on May 6, after his 31% vote in the first round topped the 26% gained by his leading rival, the Socialist Segolene Royal.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report: The countdown has begun at the contenders’ campaign headquarters, but also at the secret lair of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the latest manifestation of the vicious Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat -GSPC. Its heads are plotting to run interference on the poll’s outcome by a major terrorist attack in Paris , possibly coordinated with strikes in several French cities. French and Spanish security and anti-terror agencies concur on the probability of this scenario and are therefore taking precautions.

The mass-circulation Spanish El Pais reported Monday, April 23, that al Qaeda is deep in preparations for mega-attacks in Spain and France.

Aware of the threat, Sarcozy told Radio Europe 1 last Thursday, April 19: “The principal menace to France comes from Algeria , from the GSPC network that has transformed into al Qaeda. They have members in several European countries, including France .”

Our counter-terror sources confirm the intelligence that the Algerian GSPC is working hard to repeat the “success” of al Qaeda’s 2004 Madrid rail bombings, which left 200 dead and hundreds more maimed - and turned Spain ’s elections around. The ruling conservative Popular Party, one of the Bush administration’s foremost allies in Iraq , was consigned to defeat, and the Socialist Workers’ Party, opposite number of Segolene Royal’s Socialists, was elevated to power.

The analogies are an open temptation to al Qaeda.

1. In 2007, as in 2003, al Qaeda’s North African and European networks are in high gear, focusing on Algeria and Morocco , Spain and France . The group mounted two attacks in Algiers on April 11, coming dangerously close to government center to kill 24 people and injure 200. In Morocco , a hot chase by security forces starting on April 10 exposed the fact that a band of 12 terrorists was at large in Casablanca .

Our sources report the two operations were not coordinated, but they were orchestrated by the same headquarters and point to the impressive operational capabilities of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

2. The al Qaeda jihadists view Sarkozy as a dangerous enemy of radical Islamic organizations in France, who must be prevented from attaining presidential office, exactly like Spain ’s Jose Maria Aznar. His foreign policy is likely to friendlier to the United States than that of Royal.

3. Sarkozy is viewed as foe by millions of Muslims living in France from his tough record as interior minister. Royal in contrast wooed the Muslim vote with promises of advantages. A terrorist attack that brings the Socialist contender to power will give al Qaeda a huge prestige boost with French Muslims.

4. DEBKAfile reports that the sources warning of the danger to Sarkozy’s candidacy add that it is shared by British premier Tony Blair, who steps down next month. Al Qaeda seeks vengeance on Blair and his Labor government for sending the British army to fight its legions in Iraq and Afghanistan .

Source: http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4108

Will Muslim Imam Who Made Death Threats Be Allowed To Speak? (back)

April 24, 2007

The Johnstown campus of the University of Pittsburgh is courting controversy after having promised a local imam - who advocates killing those who forsake their faith in Islam - an opportunity to address its student body.

Responding to a lecture at the campus given by an ex-Muslim promoting a book critical of Islam, the imam of the Islamic Center of Johnstown. Fouad ElBayly called the speaker’s comments ‘poisonous’ while advocating that apostates should be killed, ‘If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death.’

Preceding ElBayly’s fatwa [a determination made by a religious scholar on matters of Islamic jurisprudence] regarding how the speaker should be dealt with, he and the Islamic Center of Johnstown’s president, Mahmoud Qazi met with the university’s Vice President of Student and Academic Affairs, Dr. Jerry Samples.

During that meeting Mr. Samples agreed to allow the two access to the university so they could present their objections to the speaker’s ideas.

Contacted today Mr. Samples stated that he wanted to ‘give them a separate time for them to come and discuss their religion on campus,’ and indicated that ‘they have been here before.’

He stressed that the offer had been made so ‘that they could come and talk about the book’ since the university is an academic forum where people should be able to discuss differing ideas.

Samples also made clear that he was unaware of ElBayly’s extreme statements and that his offer was extended before they had appeared in the press.

For now at least, Mr. Samples indicated that though the offer for the university to host ElBayly still stands that it is subject to a review process which will take place in mid-summer at which point a final determination will be made.

He indicated that an evaluation of the imam’s statements will be part of that review process and that the matter will be run by the university’s legal team, ‘we will sit down and look at all of this information… [and] go to our legal people [to] make sure we are within the bounds of the law.’

Source: http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=ali42407%2Ehtm

Why CAIR Dropped its Lawsuit (back)

April 26, 2007

by Joseph Prudoe

Andrew Whitehead, a former serviceman with the U.S. Navy has a website named Anti-CAIR on which Whitehead accused CAIR of partially funding terrorist organizations. CAIR routinely tries to intimidate the likes of Whitehead in the hope of stifling any criticisms and/or allegations made against it.

On March 31, 2004 CAIR filed a lawsuit against Andrew Whitehead in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court demanding $1 million in damages from Whitehead for what it called ‘libelous defamation.’ The lawsuit, scheduled to begin in the summer of 2006 was dismissed in April 2006.

Last Thursday, April 12, 2007, the Philadelphia/South Jersey chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) under the leadership of Regional Director Scott Figelstein, hosted a program with Reed Rubinstein, Esq. of the Washington, DC-based law firm of Greenberg Taurig. The RJC serves as a liaison between the Jewish community and Republican decision makers.

Reed Rubinstein, with the backing of his law firm, provided pro-bono counsel for Andrew Whitehead in the CAIR v. Whitehead lawsuit. Rubinstein is credited with defeating the defamation suit ‘by an Islamic extremist group against the U.S. Navy enlisted man.’

On January 6, 2004, CAIR attorney Jeremiah A. Denton III of Virginia Beach , VA sent Whitehead a personal and confidential letter in which he cited the alleged defamatory paragraphs on Whitehead’s Anti-CAIR website. He concluded his letter with, ‘Notwithstanding my recommendation, in lieu of a lawsuit CAIR has asked me to give you the opportunity to voluntarily cease and desist the publication of defamatory statements about CAIR on your website and elsewhere. If you persist in the publication of defamatory remarks about CAIR, or if you elect to publish this personal and confidential letter to any person, a suit will be filed forthwith.’

The ‘false and defamatory’ statements irking CAIR officials made by Whitehead were: CAIR is a ‘terrorist front organization that is partially funded by terrorists’; CAIR is an ‘organization founded by Hamas supporters which seeks to overthrow the constitutional government in the U.S’; and, ‘Why oppose CAIR? CAIR has proven links to, and was founded by, Islamic terrorists…CAIR is here to make radical Islam the dominant religion in the U.S…In addition, CAIR receives direct funding from Islamic terrorist-supporting countries.’

Whitehead, not easily intimidated, responded by filing over 300 separate interrogatories, requests of documents and requests for admission. CAIR then filed an amended ‘motion for judgement’ dropping the allegations regarding CAIR’s ties to Hamas and terror were false and defamatory, some discovery answers, and a motion for protective order. Whitehead then filed a motion to compel, seeking a court order obligating CAIR to answer his information requests.

In court, CAIR was asked to admit that ‘Hamas murdered innocent civilians’ to which it replied: ‘Objection, calls for legal conclusion…’ Questioned as to whether CAIR has had ‘one or more communications with Abu Musa Marzook?’ The Plaintiff’s reply was, ‘To be subject to Plaintiff’s motion for Protective Order…’, restricting the response to Whitehead’s counsel.

Called to confirm Article Seven of the Hamas Charter which states that ‘the Hamas has been looking forward to implementing Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews, until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!’ CAIR again refused to respond by stating: ‘CAIR objects because the Hamas Charter speaks for itself and because the Plainiff is without means to obtain current, accurate, and reliable copy of the Hamas Charter.’

Shortly before the court hearing on the motion to compel the case settled. There was no apology, and no retraction. The ‘false and defamatory’ allegations remain posted on Whitehead’s website. CAIR simply did not wish to supply the requested documents.

Rubinstein learned a great deal about CAIR while preparing for the trial. According to Rubinstein CAIR ‘is not a domestic grassroots organization in the usual sense of the term.’ It is, instead, a ‘top down’ group. CAIR, Rubinstein said ‘was formed by Hamas supporters, apparently as part of an integrated anti-Israel and anti-Jewish strategy.’ In addition, Rubinstein observed that, ‘CAIR is dedicated to spreading Islam in the U.S. and that it is an evangelical organization whose activities are funded by foreign Arabs.’

Steven Emerson, a former CNN reporter who produced ‘Jihad in America, a PBS documentary on Islamic groups in America, said in a testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, in February 1998 that he has ‘found links between CAIR and the radical Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.’ Emerson added, ‘Pretending to be a civil rights group, CAIR is representative of the new transformation of militant Islamic groups.’ Emerson indicated that ‘CAIR was formed not by Muslim religious leaders throughout the country, but as an offshoot of the Islamic Association of Palestine.’

Why did CAIR drop its lawsuit against Andrew Whitehead? Apparently it feared exposure that would reveal its leaders connections to terrorist groups like Hamas. If that is the case, namely, CAIR’s fear of exposure, why has the media been silent on this matter? Rubinstein explained, ‘CAIR is protected by the mainstream media,’ which he said, ‘has studiously ignored a decade of evidence, and has, instead, adopted a ‘see no evil, speak no evil’ stance.’

Although CAIR is legal under the constitution, it is important to remember that the Communist party and the neo-Nazi parties in America were legal too. The activities of these organizations, including CAIR, however, is not necessarily sanctioned by the constitution, especially since CAIR represents a ‘profoundly anti-Semitic and anti-Christian ideology, and relies for its existence and activities on foreign Arab money.’ As Rubinstein has put it, ‘In another time (before the onset of a PC culture), activities such as those CAIR is involved in, would have been labeled as subversive.’

Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28019>

Not a War on ‘Terror’ But Against Radical Islam (back)

April 25, 2007

by Bryan Fischer

Robert Spencer, one of the world’s leading experts on Islamic jihad, delivered a well-attended lecture this week on the campus of Boise State University on the subject of radical Islam.

He made the observation that the phrase ‘war on terror’ is a misnomer, simply because ‘terror’ is a tactic, not an enemy. The reality, he went on to say, is that we are at war with radical Islam.

Osama Bin Laden, for instance, the architect of 9/11, has consistently cited the Koran and the teachings of Muhammad to justify his attacks on the United States . The terrorist Zarqawi, who personally beheaded civilian contractor Nicholas Berg and then released the video of the deed to the internet, justified beheading on the grounds that this is the example Muhammad set for his followers when he beheaded his enemies in his own day.

In fact, Spencer, pointed out, Muhammad engaged in jihad 77 times during his first 10 years in Medina, and the Koran teaches that jihad — the use of force to advance the cause of Islam — is in fact the highest expression of human endeavor.

Jihad experienced a revival in the late 1960’s with the publication of a book entitled ‘Jihad: The Forgotten Obligation,’ which urged modern day Muslims to imitate the example of the Prophet. The book reminded readers of a particular teaching of Muhammad, who, when asked what deed is greater than jihad, said, ‘I do not know of such a deed.’

A terrorist cell of Yemini Muslims in Lackawanna, New York was inspired to turn to jihad by this teaching of the Prophet, convinced that jihad was an act of such nobility that it would ensure their salvation by outweighing any and all bad deeds on the scale Allah uses to determine who is permitted to enter paradise.

Despite many who say that jihadists have ‘hijacked’ a peaceful religion, jihadists themselves, with good reason, insist that in fact it is they who are practicing the true and pure form of Islam.

Spencer reminded the audience that in Islamic thought, the only three options that infidels — Jews and Christians — have are these: conversion, submission, or war. Either convert to Islam, show abject submission to Islam by paying the jizya, essentially a protection tax, or prepare for war.

Since the West is not prepared to convert, and unwilling to pay submission taxes to Islam, war on the West has complete moral justification in the minds of these Muslims.

According to Spencer, we must understand that most Muslims believe sincerely that the Koran reveals not just a religious system but a political system as well, and reveals the social order that Allah has ordained for all mankind. Evidence that the Koran is political as much as religious is that the Islamic calendar is dated from the moment when Muhammad became a political leader.

Since Islam contains the highest form of society ever revealed to man, Muslims have a duty before Allah to establish the hegemony of Islamic culture all over the world. It is incumbent upon them to impose this culture at the point of the sword, if necessary, in order to bring nations into the Islamic social order.

Spencer warned, well before the U.S. military invaded Iraq , that the quest to rebuild Iraqi society in a Western mold was doomed to fail, simply because Muslims sincerely believe that the social order prescribed in the Koran, by Allah, is superior to any other expression of society, including representative democracy. Because Muslims consider representative democracy inferior to the social order of the Koran, they cannot be compelled to embrace it.

The best we can do, Spencer suggested, is to use the military might of the U.S. to contain the energy and force of jihad, but he indicated that it is unlikely that we will see any genuine political reforms in Muslim countries as long as they remain Muslim.

Once again we see that Christianity, which gave birth to the republican form of government we enjoy in the West, with its blend of liberty and justice, is the last, best hope for mankind.

Spencer concluded by saying that all of us in the West must recognize the threat that Islam poses to us. Its threat is not reserved for either conservatives or liberals, but instead targets any and all who will not bow the knee to Allah.

Although it is fashionable to blame Israel for Islamic fanaticism, Spencer pointed out that the Muslim Brotherhood, the wellspring of much jihadi thought and action, was founded in 1928, 20 years before Israel even existed as a sovereign nation.

Further, poverty and oppression cannot explain jihadism — many jihadis are in fact not poor at all (bin Laden being a prime example) and typically are better educated than most Muslims. And for centuries, even when Islam had considerable autonomy and political power, and had no fear of political oppression, it still waged jihad against the nations of Europe .

George Otis wrote a book over 15 years ago, The Last of the Giants, which made the case that it would take more than economic or political conflict to drive the nations of the world to Armageddon. It will take, he said, a dark spiritual energy to drive us to the final cataclysm, and he suggested, correctly in my view, that Islam is the source of that energy.

Spencer suggested that part of the solution to the threat from radical Islam is for the West to become energy independent. This would argue, in my view, that increased domestic energy production is essential not only for our economic growth but in fact now has become a matter of national security.

Opening up new oil fields in Alaska , in the Gulf of Mexico , and off both the east and west coasts is essential in our battle with Islamic jihad. Petrodollars are funding an enemy who is determined to wipe us from the face of the earth, and we will only be safe when that revenue stream slows to a trickle.

As a footnote, and not that this will come as a surprise to anyone, a BSU student who wanted to inform fellow students of Spencer’s appearance on campus was denied the opportunity to send out a departmental email, even though students pushing events sponsored by Planned Parenthood and liberal feminist campus groups were able to do so quite freely.

Source: http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/fischer/070425

North African ‘Mergers’ Worry Spain ‘s Secret Services (back)

April 23, 2007

Spanish intelligence services are on heightened alert as North African Salafite groups appear to be merging with al-Qaeda, strengthening the network in the Iberian peninsula , according to police anti-terror sources quoted by daily El Pais. Spain and neighbouring France are the countries most ‘at risk’. But other European countries where Algerian group the Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb - formerly the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GPSC) - has penetrated are also vulnerable, the sources said.

France , Spain and the UK are the countries most severely affected by terrorism, and France , Spain , Italy and the Netherlands are the countries where in 2006 the highest number of Islamist terrorist suspects were arrested, according to a report on terrorism in Europe released on 10 April by the European police agency Europol.

The majority of the arrested suspects were born in Algeria , Morocco and Tunisia and had loose affiliations to North African terrorist groups such as the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) and the Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the Europol report said.

Prosecution offices have begun to cooperate in investigating Salafite terrorist financing networks, El Pais reported. The GSPC has been active in Spain for around a decade and is especially involved in terror financing, recruitment of jihadists to fight in Iraq , Chechnya and Afghanistan and in proselytising activities.

The deadly suicide bombings in Morocco and in Algeria earlier this month have gravely worried Spain ‘s authorities. They have stepped up police checks at Spanish ports, especially in the Strait of Gibraltar , but have not so far raised the country’s official alert level from ‘moderate’ currently to ‘high’.

Spainish police have admitted they know very little about the Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which claimed responsibility for the twin suicide attacks in Algiers on 11 April that killed 30 and injured over 100.

Al-Qaeda instructed the GSPC to take under its command other groups such as the GICM, several extremist Tunisian groups and Libya’s Islamic Group, forming a single terror network for North Africa and Europe called the Union of the Arab Maghreb, Catalan daily El Periodico reported last November, citing unnamed Spanish anti-terror intelligence sources.

The GSPC last year swore allegiance to al-Qaeda and changed its name in January to the Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Created in 1998, the GSPC was the only militant group to have remained active and refused to abandon armed guerrilla fighting in Algeria in exchange for an government amnesty granting immunity to militants who surrendered.

Source: http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid= 8.0.407458198&par=0

Author Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Visit Stirs Religious Freedom Debate (back)

April 22, 2007

Say what you want about your religion.

Go ahead, say anything that comes into your mind — even if you don’t agree with your minister, your priest, your rabbi. Even if you think you’re right and they’ve got it all wrong, as long as you’re not making a direct threat to someone, you can disagree or turn your back and walk away to another faith or to no faith at all.

Here, in America , it’s OK. In a land of more than 3,000 diverse religions, your right to religious liberty is a guaranteed protection under the First Amendment.

‘The key in the U.S. from the beginning has been to make sure all religious groups not only understand freedoms, but connect them to their own commitment,’ said Charles C. Haynes, senior scholar and director of educational programs at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va., and Nashville.

A community debate over religious freedom surfaced in Western Pennsylvania last week when Dutch feminist author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who has lived under the threat of death for denouncing her Muslim upbringing, made an appearance at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown .

Islamic leaders tried to block the lecture, which was sponsored through an endowment from the Frank J. and Sylvia T. Pasquerilla Lecture Series. They argued that Hirsi Ali’s attacks against the Muslim faith in her book, ‘Infidel,’ and movie, ‘Submission,’ are ‘poisonous and unjustified’ and create dissension in their community.

Although university officials listened to Islamic leaders’ concerns, the lecture planned last year took place Tuesday evening under tight security, with no incidents.

Imam Fouad ElBayly, president of the Johnstown Islamic Center, was among those who objected to Hirsi Ali’s appearance.

‘She has been identified as one who has defamed the faith. If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death,’ said ElBayly, who came to the U.S. from Egypt in 1976.

Hirsi Ali, an atheist, has been critical of many Muslim beliefs, particularly on subjects of sexual morality, the treatment of women and female genital mutilation. In her essay ‘The Caged Virgin,’ she also wrote of punishment, noting that ‘a Muslim’s relationship with God is one of fear.’

‘Our God demands total submission. He rewards you if you follow His rules meticulously. He punishes you cruelly if you break His rules, both on earth, with illness and natural disasters, and in the hereafter, with hellfire,’ she wrote.

In some Muslim countries, such as Iran , apostasy — abandoning one’s religious belief — and blasphemy are considered punishable by death under sharia, a system of laws and customs that treats both public and private life as governable by God’s law.

Sharia is based largely on an interpretation of the Quran, the sayings of the Prophet Mohammed, a consensus of Islamic scholars and reasoning, according to the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. In some countries, sharia has been associated with stoning to death those who are accused of adultery, flogging for drinking wine and amputation of a hand for theft.

One of the most noted cases of apostasy in recent years involved author Salman Rushdie, whose novel ‘The Satanic Verses’ offered an unflattering portrayal of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. The book prompted Iran ‘s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa — a religious decree — in 1989 calling for Rushdie’s assassination.

Although ElBayly believes a death sentence is warranted for Hirsi Ali, he stressed that America is not the jurisdiction where such a crime should be punished. Instead, Hirsi Ali should be judged in a Muslim country after being given a trial, he added.

‘If it is found that a person is mentally unstable, or a child or disabled, there should be no punishment,’ he said. ‘It’s a very merciful religion if you try to understand it.’

Zahida Chaudhary, a member of the education council and education secretary at the Muslim Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Monroeville , insisted that Islam is a peaceful religion.

‘The Prophet Mohammed was a peacemaker and a role model for humanity,’ she said. ‘My understanding is that he was a peaceful person who believed that religion was a choice. He tried to teach people and bring them into it, not punish them.’

Haynes, who has studied and written extensively about religious liberty and has worked with many Muslim groups, said he was ‘stunned’ by ElBayly’s comments.

‘There are more radical, extreme views of Islam in European counties than in the U.S. It’s rare to hear it and even more rare to learn that American Muslims believe it,’ he said.

While Hirsi Ali is viewed as an infidel among the Islamic community, those who speak out against other religions usually are met with discussion, prayer and counseling. In extreme cases, critics might be shown the door.

‘One is free to choose whatever religion and body of truths one wants to believe,’ said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese. ‘The church fosters freedom of religion. That’s a decision everyone has to make on their own.’

Centuries ago, Lengwin said, the church imposed harsh punishment — including execution — upon people viewed as heretics. He cited as an example the Roman Inquisition trial of 15th century Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who was tried by the church, threatened with torture and sentenced to prison for his teachings on the motions of the earth.

With the evolution of the church, things have changed.

For example, Lengwin said, the church has faced criticism from many of its own priests who have disagreed with various beliefs and practices. When that happens, there is discussion and clarification of beliefs, he said.

It doesn’t always work.

‘We’ve had people walk away and start churches of their own or join Lutheran or Presbyterian or other churches,’ he said. ‘The role of the church is to teach the truth as effectively as you can. There’s no jail if you don’t agree with us.’

The Rev. Douglas Holben, executive presbyter for the Redstone Presbytery, which covers Westmoreland, Fayette, Somerset and Cambria counties, said the Presbyterian Church ‘as a community of faith would try to find a common ground’ when confronted with differing opinions.

‘We seek to find things to unite us,’ Holben said.

If faced with criticism, it’s best to ‘find ways in which they find the church to be faithful to the Lord,’ he said.

Holben said the church has formed a Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity that includes people from different backgrounds and perspectives. Discussions among the group were productive, he said, adding that the members did not condemn or judge each other for their differences.

‘They were able to say that even though we don’t agree with your opinion, we can agree upon a common faith,’ he said.

Rabbi Sara Perman, leader of the Congregation Emanu-El Israel in Greensburg , explained that before the French Revolution emancipated Jews in Europe , those who spoke out against Judaism faced ‘cherem’ or excommunication. Cherem resulted in both a spiritual and economic ‘death’ because people who were excommunicated were unable to make a living in their community.

‘Now, the reality is that if you are unsatisfied and speak out against Judaism, there isn’t much we can do about it in this country,’ Perman said. ‘Within the general Jewish community, there isn’t much you can do except not give them a forum or ignore them.’

Haynes said the key to America ‘s success in religious diversity is for people of all religions to understand that you ‘can’t just tolerate’ the fact that Muslims or Catholics or Protestants or Mormons or Jews have a right to be here. He said this country is a ‘level playing field’ where everyone is free to practice their religion, but not to carry out extreme ideas that violate basic principles.

‘I don’t think there’s anyplace on the planet with more religious diversity,’ Haynes said.

‘This is a big challenge in 21st century America to make sure we can live with the deepest differences, and religious differences are the most difficult to navigate.’

Source: http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/rss/print_503977.html

‘Boy Killer’ To Face US War Court (back)

April 26, 2007

A YOUNG Canadian will follow Australian David Hicks as the second Guantanamo Bay inmate to face a military tribunal on terrorism charges.

Omar Khadr was just 15 when he allegedly threw a grenade at US soldiers attacking a suspected al-Qaida compound near Khost , Afghanistan .

The blast killed US Army Sgt (1st Class) Christopher Speer, 28, a medic who died after 11 days, and partially blinded both Khadr and another American soldier.

Khadr, now 20, has been charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support to terrorism and spying, and could face life in jail if convicted.

Susan Crawford, the military judge overseeing the war crimes tribunals at the navy base in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , formally approved the charges yesterday.

The Pentagon said prosecutors would not seek the death penalty.

However, his lawyers said the decision to try him before a ‘kangaroo court’ was abhorrent.

They say he should never have been held or charged, but should have been treated under international law as a ‘child soldier’ in a conflict zone.

He had been held ‘in conditions equal to or worse than those given to convicted adult criminals, such as prolonged solitary confinement and repeated instances of torture,’ they said.

The US has accused him of helping al-Qaida convert land mines into roadside bombs, plotting with them to kill US troops, having weapons training and watching US military convoys to prepare al-Qaida attacks.

Hicks, 31, pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism for a nine-month prison sentence, mostly to be served in Australia .

Khadr’s fate is less certain. While Hicks’ five-year imprisonment without trial became a cause celebre in Australia , Khadr’s has elicited little sympathy in Canada .

The Khadr family, which settled in Toronto in 1977, has been cast as radical Muslims who’ve moved between Canada , Pakistan and Afghanistan , and who’ve at times socialised with Osama bin Laden’s family.

Khadr’s father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was killed in a shootout with Pakistani authorities in 2003.

His younger brother, Karim, was paralysed in that shootout. Another brother, Abdullah, 25, is under indictment in Boston for allegedly supplying weapons to al-Qaida.

The charges describe Khadr as the scion of a terrorist family and say that through his father he met bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders.

A Canadian government spokesman would not criticise the decision to try Khadr, the only Canadian at Guantanamo .

‘The choice of mechanisms put in place to try Guantanamo detainees is a matter for US authorities,’ Foreign Office spokesman Alain Cacchione said.

Canada has ‘sought and received assurances’ of Khadr’s humane treatment, he said, and Canadian officials had carried out ‘several welfare visits with Mr Khadr and will continue to do so’.

The Pentagon defended the process, saying, ‘Khadr is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.’

Source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985, 21621858-663,00.html

FBI Arrests Power Grid Employee Accused of Computer Tampering (back)

April 19, 2007

Federal agents on Wednesday arrested a contract employee they say tampered with computers at the headquarters of the agency that controls California ‘s electricity transmission.

Lonnie Charles Denison, 32, of Sacramento , faces a felony charge of destruction of an energy facility. The crime carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Denison is being held in Sacramento County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in federal court in Sacramento .

The tampering, coupled with a bomb threat at the agency’s Folsom headquarters on Monday, had drawn the attention of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force because of the potential impact on the state’s power grid.

The California Independent System Operator manages 25,000 miles of electrical transmission lines and operates wholesale power markets.

Stephanie McCorkle, spokeswoman for the agency, said employees at the Independent System Operator were relieved to learn of the arrest. ‘Employees are obviously feeling more comfortable,’ she said.

The tampering began at 11:30 p.m. Sunday and continued into the early morning hours on Monday, according to the FBI’s arrest affidavit.

The affidavit said Denison , hired to operate computers, used a security key card to gain access to a data center at the facility.

Once inside, Denison used a hammer to break a glass plate covering an emergency power-off button. By pressing the button, he cut the facility’s internal power supply to the majority of the data center, preventing the agency from controlling computers used to buy and sell energy in real-time.

Denison was working for Science Applications International Corp., an information technology firm that had performed contract work for the agency for more than a year, McCorkle said.

His security clearance had been revoked last week after a dispute with his employer, the affidavit said. He had twice tried to access the agency’s computer system remotely on Sunday but was denied.

A telephone message left for the San Diego-based company late Wednesday was not immediately returned, and Denison could not be reached for comment. He does not have a listed telephone number, and the Office of the Federal Defender said an attorney had not been assigned to him.

McCorkle said neither the tampering nor the bomb threat disrupted the agency’s operations.

Denison has not been charged in connection with the bomb threat, which occurred 12 hours after the initial tampering. But in a statement issued Wednesday, the Independent System Operator said Denison had made the threat.

The ISO ‘received a credible threat of physical harm to the facility via an e-mail from the same suspect,’ the agency said in the statement. ‘The threat was taken very seriously and a decision was made immediately to evacuate all three (agency) buildings at the Folsom campus.’

Employees were evacuated for about 5½ hours Monday afternoon because of the threat. During the evacuation, control of the state’s power grid was transferred to a Southern California facility.

The overnight power outage also did not affect the agency’s core transmission program, the energy management system, McCorkle said. Nevertheless, the agency said it was reviewing energy prices and other data during the power outage to ensure accuracy.

The affidavit also quotes agency officials saying that if the shut-off of the emergency power had occurred during normal morning business hours, ‘electric consumers in the Western United States would have experienced disruptions in their electrical supply.’

The affidavit said card access security logs and video surveillance cameras at the Folsom facility showed Denison was the only one in the data center at the time of the power outage. Denison also was seen in the facility at the time by another employee.

It was unclear why Denison still had his access card after his clearance was revoked or why it remained activated to allow him physical access to the data center.

‘That’s part of the investigation,’ said McCorkle, the ISO spokeswoman.

Source: http://www.nbc4.tv/news/12513376/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

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