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Posted on 12/01/2008 6:12:32 PM PST by nwctwx
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bttt
EL PASO -- A Lebanese man who was part of a complex federal investigation into a suspected U.S. terrorist network with ties to al-Qaida is in custody at the El Paso immigration detention center facing deportation, officials have confirmed.
According to court documents, Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi, 44, told the FBI he was a freedom fighter in 1988 and 1989 against the Soviets in Afghanistan, where he also attended a jihad military training camp, provided small-arms instruction and was a sniper.
Elaine Komis, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review in Falls Church, Va., said her office could not discuss anything about the case due to a "non-disclosure order" by the Department of Justice. She said that the Department of Homeland Security initiated the case, and that it's now up to the Justice Department to decide Elzahabi's immigration status.
Adelina Pruneda, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, in San Antonio, said Elzahabi is being held at the El Paso federal detention center. No other details, including his hearing date and name of his new lawyer, will be released as long as the non-disclosure order is in effect.
Elzahabi caught the attention of authorities in Canada, Minnesota, New York and Massachusetts, who learned he and three other men fought in Afghanistan and all became cab drivers in Boston. Elzahabi has continually denied he was part of a sleeper cell or terrorist group.
Excerpted
Thanks for the ping Oorang.
Unfortunately he is one of 1000’s of terrorists coming through our borders illegally.
Thanks for the ping, O. Ditto your sentiment WCG.
Latest on Gaza campaign. Israeli intelligence was very much spot on. Hamas rocket response dropped to near zero and currently is substantially lower than previous days. Rockets being used are even less accurate.
It seems the air strikes are switching from stratigic targets to those necessary to shape the battlefield for a ground assault.
Iran is being shown as impotent by the current operations. Hizzbolah in Lebanon is silent. The only thing sturring in Iran are a bunch of fat clerics who’d wet their pants if they faced real combat.
Thanks, ‘zilla. I imagine those “fat clerics” are squirming a bit.
No, the photos I saw still had them in Iran, trying to learn how to goose-step.
Thanks much for the update. My online time has been brief the past few days so I appreciate the synopsis.
Israeli news reports more rockets coming from gaza, however many are striking in the desert and away from people. IAF has nailed trucks carrying rockets to launch points - with multiple secondary explosions.
Sure do hope this isn't a Wag The Dog exercise for the Israeli elections....BZ on the IAF job so far in any case.
Agree. However, I've seen some disconnections between politics and the military at times. The strike on the Syrian nuclear facility for one. The fiasco in Lebanon a couple of years ago was micro managed by the politicos to provide cover for their illegal activity - which is in the open now. Finally, the IAF is going to hot and heavy on Hamas targets - and with great accuracy, definitely a well planned operation so far.
DUSHANBE -- Tajik authorities have arrested a local leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in Afghanistan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. The arrest follows a December decision by Tajik and Afghan security officials to cooperate in the arrest and extradition of wanted terrorist militants.
The IMU is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and other countries. According to Tajik spokesman Nozirzhon Buriev, IMU leader Anvarzhon Kaumov was transferred to Dushanbe to face trial for a string of attacks against police forces in northern Tajikistan last summer.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Tajik_Agents_Arrest_Suspected_Terrorist_In_Afghanistan/1364791.html
N. Korea May Conduct 2nd Nuclear Test
12-29-2008
North Korea may raise the stakes with a threat to test-launch ballistic missiles or carry out a nuclear test early next year in line with the inauguration of the new United States government in a bid to get the upper hand in multilateral negotiations over its nuclear program, a report said Monday.
Excerpted
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/12/113_36963.html
LONDON, Dec 28: Where is Al Qaeda going to hit next? tops a list of 14 key questions the Observer said would dominate the headlines in 2009 and concluded that the most likely next target would be the UK. However, before discussing the likely targets of Al Qaeda during the next year, Observer correspondent Jason Burke in his report claims that the terror organisation leadership itself was now on the run because of attacks from US drones in Pakistan’s tribal areas and also that Bin Laden was under attack from within the jihadi movement for failing to stage any major attack since 9/11.
“The Al Qaeda leadership, said by security sources to comprise between 20 and 30 key figures, has been having a hard time of it recently. A concentration of attacks from unmanned American Predator drones in Pakistan’s western tribal zones has meant surviving has become as much of a priority as trying to organise spectacular militant attacks across the world aimed at radicalising and mobilising the world’s Muslim masses. These strikes have taken such a toll that Al Qaeda has launched a series of internal investigations aimed at finding the mole passing intelligence to the Americans.
Excerpted
http://www.dawn.com/2008/12/29/top14.htm
Monmouth MP David Davies calls for arrest of all ‘Al-Qaeda’ residents
Dec 29 2008
A WELSH MP yesterday called on the UK Government to either deport or arrest all British residents who appear on a United Nations list which names members and associates of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Monmouth Conservative MP David Davies, the only Welsh member of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, said he was shocked to see 15 British residents on the list. All but three are apparently free.
Mr Davies said: “This is not a speculative list – the UN is not known to exaggerate or make unfounded claims. These people have been named as involved with Al-Qaeda and I don’t think they should be walking the streets of this country. Either they should be deported or locked up.
“It is little consolation that none of those named are said to be living in Wales. I hope at the very least they are all under constant surveillance. If they do the slightest thing, they should be locked up for a very long time. Al-Qaeda, as we all know, is a very dangerous terrorist organisation responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. I intend to raise this matter in Parliament in the New Year.”
The 15 British residents on the list, which can be seen online at www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/consolidatedlist.htm, are all named as associates of terror group Al-Qaeda. They are:
~Libya-born British citizen Ghuma Abd’rabbah, living in Birmingham;
~Libya-born British citizen Abdulbasit Abdulrahim, living in London, said to have raised funds for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group;
~Libya-born Abd Al-Rahman Al-Faqih, living in Birmingham;
~Saudi Arabian Dr Saad Rashed Mohammad Al-Faqih, living in London;
~Saudi Arabian Khalid Abd Al-Rahman Hamd Al-Fawaz, living in London;
~Syria-born British citizen Mohammed Al Ghabra, living in London;
~Egyptian Hani Al-Sayyid Al-Sebai, living in London;
~Gloucester-born Sajid Mohammed Badat, currently in prison in the UK after pleading guilty to planning to blow up an aircraft with a shoe bomb;
~Libyan Maftah Mohamed Elmabruk, living in London, said to have raised funds for the LIFG;
~Libya-born British citizen Abdelrazag Elsharif Elosta, living in London, said to have raised funds for the LIFG;
~Egyptian Al Sayyid Ahmed Fathi Hussein Eliwah, living in the UK with a UK passport;
~Egypt-born British citizen Mostafa Kamel Mostafa Ibrahim, better known as the radical cleric Abu Hamza, in jail after being convicted on 11 charges, including six of soliciting to murder;
~Libya-born British citizen Abdulbaqi Mohammed Khaled, living in Birmingham;
~Jordanian national Uthman Omar Mahmoud, better known as the radical cleric Abu Qatada, currently in prison in the UK after breaching bail conditions relating to his appeal against deportation. Wanted on terrorism charges in Algeria, the United States, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Jordan;
~Libyan Tahir Nasuf, living in Manchester.
The list also includes six organisations with bases in the UK:
Excerpted
bttt
Weather and distraction by the calls for a cease fire has allowed Hamas to regroup and pull out rockets not destroyed in the initial attacks. Hamas is using its longer range rockets and is back to about 70-100 per day. Though inaccurate, psychologically effective. Israel stands at a cross roads. If they launch a ground operation, they will face internation scorn (though only Iran has really voiced support for Hamas). If they don’t, they will be shown as weak and afraid - an act that will embolden Hamas and Hezbollah. A half way effort will cause excessive Israeli combat casualities - further demoralizing the country and causing a greater leadership crisis at a time where they must consider their response to Iran’s nuclear potentials.
See y'all in 2009.
Israel’s truly “at a crossroad”.
May or may not be held responsible for starting this fight, but da** well better not back away from this chance to finish at least a part of it.
Have a happy (or at least as tolerable as you can make it) New Year.
I’m off to take the grandkids to the movies, then sip hot chocolate with ‘em at midnight. Good stuff.
Enjoy those grandkids!
Wow, far more exciting than my nite (which will probably find me in bed by 9 asleep)
A Canadian citizen who was stopped at the Peace Bridge while trying to enter this country was charged Monday with conspiring to spy for his native Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The Justice Department criminal complaint accuses Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish, 47, of accepting payment from Iraqi government officials and intelligence officers for his information.
Darwish, who lived and worked in Maryland at the time, beginning in 2000 passed along secrets that included the news that the American military was training Iraqi volunteers in this country. Darwish and a co-conspirator who pleaded guilty are among at least a dozen people charged by the Justice Department since the American invasion of Iraq with spying on behalf of the Iraqi government or its intelligence agency under Saddam, federal authorities said.
Darwish was arrested on an FBI warrant last Wednesday at the border crossing in Buffalo. He is scheduled to appear today in U. S. District Court here. A Justice Department spokesman did not know Monday whether Darwish has a lawyer. After today, any future proceedings will take place in Maryland, said William J. Hochul Jr., chief of the National Security Division in the U. S. attorney’s office in Buffalo.
Excerpted
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/535754.html
Stowaways caught in LA
December 30, 2008
Two stowaways onboard a container ship were apprehended at the Port of Los Angeles. A joint federal team from the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection was mobilized early Sunday to investigate a report of stowaways on a vessel en route to the port. The Coast Guard had been notified that two stowaways were discovered on the LA-bound container ship Zenit during an earlier port call. The stowaways were reported to be Nigerian nationals.
At approximately 6:30 a.m. Sunday the vessel was boarded by officers from the Coast Guard Cutter Halibut, a boarding team from the Maritime Safety and Security Team and Customs agents. The group took custody of the suspected stowaways and removed them from the ship.
http://www.joc.com/articles/news.asp?section=ocean&sid=47414
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