Posted on 08/25/2007 2:26:58 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
Lowry: The CIA's record leading up to Sept. 11 was one of failure By Rich Lowry Article Last Updated: 08/25/2007 09:07:06 AM MDT
The new report from the CIA's inspector general about the spy agency's pre-9/11 failings could be titled, ''What We Did During Our Holiday From History.'' The stretch between the end of the Cold War and the Sept. 11 attacks was supposed to be a shiny new era of globalized peace and prosperity, to which an intelligence service was considered quaintly irrelevant.
The CIA conformed to the zeitgeist by remaining quaintly irrelevant. George Tenet presided over the agency, failing his way to the second-longest tenure of any director of central intelligence, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a $4 million book advance. He made the Peter Principle work for him not just by advancing to his level of incompetence, but by benefiting from it handsomely.
Congressional Democrats pushed for the release of the scathing IG report, completed back in June 2005, to embarrass the Bush administration. But most of the failures identified in the report took place during the Clinton administration, which set the CIA's skewed priorities and selected Tenet in the first place. President Bush should be embarrassed only because he didn't fire Tenet upon taking office or after 9/11, while Bush also has failed to undertake a serious retooling of the sclerotic bureaucracy that is the CIA.
Tenet took terrorism seriously, ''sounding the alarm about the threat to many different audiences,'' in the words of the report. Maybe he should have gone on a lecture tour. Where Tenet fell down was in managing his agency. The thought may be father to the deed, but without the actual deed, the thought is only political cover in after-the-fact memoirs.
Tenet insists that he had a ''robust plan'' against al-Qaida. In reality, he only thought he had. He directed that such a plan be formulated, but according to the IG report, it never happened. Worse, Tenet did not ''work with the National Security Council to elevate the relative standing of counterterrorism in the formal ranking of intelligence priorities.''
In Tenet's defense, he operated within the context of a Clinton administration that basically was uninterested in intelligence. Tenet notes that the intelligence community lost 25 percent of its personnel in the 1990s and ''tens of billions of dollars in investment compared with the 1990 baseline.'' He implored the administration for funding increases in 1998 and 1999, but had to go ''outside established channels to work with then-Speaker Gingrich to obtain a $1.2 billion budgetary supplemental.''
Even with more resources, his managers repeatedly moved funds from counterterrorism programs to other needs, without ever raiding other programs to fund counterterrorism, according to the IG report. What could be more important than counterterrorism? Analytic resources were poured into addressing more pressing matters like the Balkans and the environment.
After 9/11, Clinton officials and Tenet argued whether the CIA had been granted the authority to kill Osama bin Laden, with the Clintonites, in a bout of retrospective bloodlust, insisting that it had. The IG report finds that restrictions on the CIA killing bin Laden had been ''arguably, although ambiguously, relaxed'' for a brief period in late 1998 and early 1999 (how Clintonian). But CIA managers refused ''to take advantage of the ambiguities,'' and even if they had, the agency didn't have the covert-action capability to kill bin Laden. Such was life during history's holiday.
What's more scandalous is how the CIA has escaped serious reform even today. Two CIA directors in a row have resisted the IG report's recommendation for an accountability board to evaluate the pre-9/11 performance of CIA officials. That word - not ''board,'' but ''accountability'' - raises hackles at Langley, where everyone is above-average at fighting al-Qaida. Even though as many as 60 CIA employees knew that two of the hijackers were in the U.S. before 9/11 and no one managed to get the word to the FBI, CIA Director Michael Hayden thinks holding anyone accountable for that or other failures would be ''distracting.'' And so the band plays on.
Vandals cause havoc
Cranbourne News - Pakenham,Victoria,Australia
Police are still investigating whether the destruction at the historic
Jewish golf club was racially or religiously motivated. Police were
again
called out ...
http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/49043
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Academic shock and awe
Al-Ahram Weekly - Cairo,Egypt
Some of those in the forefront of the campaign are Jewish, including
the
art critic Peter Berger, Steven Rose at the Open University, and
Israeli
historian ...
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/864/op1.htm
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Now it is unilateral Honey Moon with darling Condy!
NDTV.com - New Delhi,India
Meanwhile,Israel is lobbying nuclear exporting countries to lift
restrictions that prevent them from doing business with the Jewish
state,
according to ...
http://www.ndtvblogs.com/views/viewcomments.asp?gl_guid=&q_blogid=20364&blogname=palashbiswas&ref=9/28/2007%2012:38:01%20AM
See all stories on this topic:
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29/09/2007 RIA Novosti Agence russe
Georgian President Saakashvili denies corruption accusations - 1
http://en.rian.ru/world/20070929/81637823.html
(Recasts headline, para 3, adds Saakashvili quotes, details, background
in paras 2, 4-9)
TBILISI, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili denied Saturday accusations of corruption and pledged not
to
interfere with the trial of former Georgian defense minister, Irakly
Okruashvili, who had criticized him.
“What Okruashvili did is a very heavy load for me... He accused me and
people close to me, accused us of what I have been purposefully
fighting
- of clan corruption... The court will decide everything,” Saakashvili,
who interrupted his foreign visit to return to Tbilisi, said in his
first comment on the ex-minister’s statements.
Earlier this week, Okruashvili accused Saakashvili of corruption and an
attempt to kill businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili. He also alleged
Georgian authorities had covertly planned to seize control over the
breakaway republic of South Ossetia in 2006 and to split the Georgian
Orthodox Church.
The ex-minister, a former ally of Saakashvili, was detained Thursday,
two days after he announced the creation of an opposition movement, For
United Georgia, and criticized Saakashvili’s policies. He was charged
with blackmail, money laundering, abuse of office, and professional
negligence. A Georgian court has extended his custody by two months.
Georgian opposition parties organized Friday a mass protest against
Okruashvili’s arrest in central Tbilisi.
Several thousand protesters called for Saakashvili’s resignation, the
dissolution of parliament, and early elections. Several protesters were
detained when they blocked a city thoroughfare to press their demands.
Saakashvili called the situation a lesson for himself. “It is beyond
understanding that during my leadership someone dared to steal so many
millions. This is a lesson for me,” he said.
Initially, Saakashvili had planned to fly from New York, where he
attended a session of the UN General Assembly, to Greece, where he was
supposed to arrive on a two-day visit October 1.
A lawyer for Okruashvili, Eka Beselia, earlier called the arrest
political, and linked it to Okruashvili’s statements.
Farc woman steals plane to desert
BBC NEWS
Farc woman steals plane to desert
An armed female member of Colombia’s Farc rebel group hijacked a small
plane
to escape her “tortuous life” with the guerrillas, police have said.
The woman, who was identified only by her alias “Angelica,” took over
the
plane at an airstrip in Puerto Principe, in eastern Colombia.
Carrying a rifle, machete, knife and 150 bullets, she forced the pilot
to
fly her to the city of Villavicencio.
Upon arrival she surrendered her gun and said she wished to desert
Farc.
Colonel Pablo Gomez, head of police in the state of Meta, where the
plane
landed, told reporters her plan was clear.
“Her intention was to escape, to desert the subversives because she was
tired of this tortuous life that she had in the mountains.”
I didn’t threaten the pilot. I simply asked him the favour of taking me
and
well, he was scared.
Angelica
Rebel deserter
Colombia TV news broadcast images of medical professionals treating the
woman, who was wearing camouflaged cargo trousers.
She said: “I didn’t threaten the pilot. I simply asked him the favour
of
taking me and well, he was scared.
“I had my weapon but no, at no moment did I point it at him. Nor did I
take
out my machete nor my knife nor anything.”
Police said the hijacker would not be charged with a crime and would be
admitted to the government’s rebel rehabilitation programme.
Amnesty laws apply to combatants who willingly disarm in Colombia’s
half-century civil conflict.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/7019434.stm
Published: 2007/09/29 04:59:24 GMT
C BBC MMVII
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=%22FBI%22&ei=utf-8
News Stories for “FBI”
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* 1.
London Internet whiz was vital militant link: FBI Open this result in new window
ZDNet - 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
A London student, whose online alias translates as “Terrorist 007,” served as a vital link in three militant plots, says the FBI. A London student known online as “Irhabi 007” served as a vital communications link in three militant plots that had once appeared unrelated, FBI Director Robert...
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FBI fears over Xue Open this result in new window
TVNZ - Sep 29 2:16 PM
American authorities hunting fugitive Nai Xin Xue fear he will continue his crime spree in the US. The FBI and US Marshals have committed teams of officers to track down Xue, a self-described kung fu master who has been on the run in the US for more than a week.
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FBI suspicious of surviving boaters Open this result in new window
Orlando Sentinel - Sep 29 6:45 AM
The 2 passengers are in jail, but with no bodies of the missing crew, the case is tough. Without bodies or more evidence than they have revealed so far, federal prosecutors and the FBI might have to depend on a confession to solve the disappearance of four crew members of a fishing charter boat.
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London Internet whiz was vital militant link: FBI
London Internet whiz was vital militant link: FBI Open this result in new window
Reuters via Yahoo! News - Sep 28 12:30 PM
A London student known online as “Irhabi 007” served as a vital communications link in three militant plots that had once appeared unrelated, FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Friday.
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Former FBI agent now a senior pastor at Brooklyn church Open this result in new window
New York Daily News - Sep 29 1:29 AM
Retired FBI agent Lucian Gandolfo, whose career highlights include putting away gangsters and ex-con Martha Stewart, is now fully involved in his other vocation - as a minister.
* 6.
FBI man to Jefferson: Where’s ‘my $100,000’? Open this result in new window
MSNBC - Sep 28 7:17 PM
U.S. Rep. William J. Jefferson, now facing charges of bribery, racketeering and more, was apparently quite astonished during an interview in August 2005 at his New Orleans home when asked by FBI Special Agent Timothy Thibault what he had done with “my $100,000,” according to a new court filing in the case.
* 7.
Judge: Accused FBI agent’s attorney won’t testify Open this result in new window
New York Daily News - Sep 29 1:32 AM
Accused rogue FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio won’t have to find a new lawyer now that a judge has rejected prosecutors’ bid to put his attorney on the stand.
Mafia;
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FBI Ranks Memphis Metro Area First Violent Crime Rate Open this result in new window
The Morning News - Sep 28 10:31 PM
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis metropolitan area is back on top of the FBI’s national ranking for violent crime.
* 9.
FBI: Enhancing international information exchange aids terror fight Open this result in new window
WMCTV Memphis - Sep 28 9:52 PM
Associated Press - September 29, 2007 12:34 AM ET JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The executive assistant director of the FBI says the fight against terrorism hinges on legal and connectivity issues that...
* 10.
Warren wants FBI to probe arrest Open this result in new window
Tribune Chronicle - Sep 28 9:35 PM
WARREN — Warren has asked the FBI to investigate a police officer’s repeated use of a Taser during an arrest earlier this month, Mayor Michael O’Brien said Friday.
News Stories for fbi crime report
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Candidates debate significance of new FBI crime numbers Open this result in new window
WREG-TV Memphis - Sep 27 7:42 PM
The FBI released a report ranking the Memphis metro area number one when it comes to violent crime. Candidates in the heated mayor’s race have different views about what the report’s significance.
* 2.
FBI Ranks Memphis Metro Area First Violent Crime Rate Open this result in new window
The Morning News - Sep 28 10:31 PM
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis metropolitan area is back on top of the FBI’s national ranking for violent crime.
* 3.
FBI Releases Annual Crime Report Open this result in new window
WRBL Columbus - Sep 27 12:15 PM
The FBI is out with its final crime numbers for 2006 and so far this year, Columbus has already surpassed those numbers. There are three months left in the year, and crime numbers in Columbus are higher than all of last year.
* 4.
Greece PD says FBI Crime Report Misleading Open this result in new window
News 10 NBC Rochester - Sep 25 3:53 PM
A new FBI report shows crime is increasing in our community. In 2006, Rochester had more than 2,600 violent crimes. In Irondequoit the number was 93 and in Greece the number was 97...
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FBI ranks Memphis metro area 1st in nation for violent crime rate Open this result in new window
Pine Bluff Commercial - Sep 27 5:49 PM
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis metropolitan area is back on top of the FBI’s national ranking for violent crime. The eight-county metro area recorded 1,262.7 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2006 _ the highest rate in the nation, according to an annual crime report released this week.
* 6.
FBI releases crime data report; how does your city rank? Open this result in new window
ABC 15 Phoenix - Sep 25 12:41 PM
The FBI has released their annual crime report, documenting all reported offenses around the country. The report includes a breakdown of violent crime in Arizona, including murder, rape, robbery and assault.
* 7.
Desert Hot Springs Tops FBI Crime Report Rankings Open this result in new window
KESQ Palm Springs - Sep 25 4:05 PM
Desert Hot Springs is topping the charts of a not-so flattering list. The FBI Report of Crime Statistics says DHS had the highest violent crime rate for any city fewer than 100,000 residents in Riverside County in 2006.
* 8.
Alarming Increase of Violent Crime in Florida Open this result in new window
Diario Las Americas - Sep 29 11:40 AM
According to the latest FBI report about crime across the nation, there are thirty-four states where violence has increased alarmingly. Among them is Florida. It must be said that the increase here ....
* 9.
FBI Ranks Albuquerque Among Worst Crime Cities Open this result in new window
KOAT TheNewMexicoChannel.com via Yahoo! News - Sep 26 5:58 PM
According to a new FBI report, the Albuquerque metro area ranks among the top 10 cities for violent crimes. The Albuquerque Police Department said that people should not get too worked up about the statistic because it is misleading. The report doesn’t just look at the city of Albuquerque, it also looks at crime that happens in the counties of Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance, and Valencia. When ...
* 10.
Randolph tops South Shore crime list: FBI reports statistics based on population Open this result in new window
The Patriot Ledger - Sep 27 5:19 AM
Randolph had the highest crime rate among the local towns that reported 2006 crime statistics to the FBI. The agency’s annual ‘‘Crime in the United States’’ report shows that Randolph had 286 crimes per 10,000 people in 2006.
News Stories for fallout shelter Alabama
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Alabama city may turn old mine into massive fallout shelter Open this result in new window
Tucson Citizen - Sep 28 12:14 AM
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation’s most ambitious fallout shelter plan.
* 2.
US city working on ambitious plan to build fallout shelter Open this result in new window
Taipei Times - Sep 28 7:04 PM
In an age of al-Qaeda, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the US’ most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground.
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Alabama city reopening fallout shelters Open this result in new window
AP via Yahoo! News - Sep 27 12:57 PM
In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation’s most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground.
* 4.
Alabama City Revives Fallback Of Fallout Shelters Open this result in new window
Hartford Courant - Sep 28 12:16 AM
Places For 300,000 To Find Safety In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation’s most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground.
* 5.
Alabama city reopening fallout shelters Open this result in new window
The Charlotte Observer - Sep 27 11:10 AM
In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation’s most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground. Others would hunker down in college dorms, churches, libraries and research halls that planners hope will bring the community’s ...
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Alabama City Reopening Fallout Shelters Open this result in new window
ABC News - Sep 27 11:50 AM
Wary of Nuclear Terrorism, Alabama City Reopens Fallout Shelters
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Wary of nuclear terrorism, Alabama city reopens fallout shelters Open this result in new window
The Daily Comet - Sep 27 12:34 PM
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation’s most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground.
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Wary of nuclear terrorism, Alabama city reopens fallout shelters Open this result in new window
CNews - Sep 27 3:19 PM
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the country’s most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground.
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Fallout shelters revived in Ala. Open this result in new window
Denver Post - Sep 29 12:13 AM
In an age of al-Qaeda, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation’s most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground.
* 10.
City prepares fallout shelters Open this result in new window
The State - Sep 27 9:30 PM
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation’s most ambitious fallout shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground. Others would hunker down in college dorms, churches and libraries that planners hope will bring the community’s ...
EU Says Airlines Must Cut Carbon Dioxide Emissions
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evwecqIfwf2zzI1
The EU has reaffirmed a controversial plan to force airlines using
European airspace to cut greenhouse gas emissions despite opposition
from both the aviation industry and the US.
Landmark Ruling Upholds Germans’ Right to Clean Air
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evwecqIfwf2zzI2
A landmark case upholding the citizen’s right to non-polluted air
could lead to local governments in Germany being held responsible
for the health of their constituents and the cleanliness of their
immediate environment.
“Cyber Jihadist” Trial Opens New Front in Anti-Terror Fight
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evwecqIfwf2zzI3
In a landmark case, a court in Germany will decide whether posting
terrorist propaganda and calls to violence on the Internet is
tantamount to supporting terrorism as it tries a man for conducting
a “virtual jihad.”
September 29, 2007
Fault Line on Jihad: Why the Omeish Reaction is Important
By Jeffrey Imm
The Counterterrorism Blog
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/09/omeish_and_jihad.php
On September 28, the Investigative Project on Terrorism’s (IPT) Lorenzo Vidino was on FOX news addressing IPT’s release of videos regarding Muslim American Society (MAS) president Esam Omeish showing his documented support of Jihad. The interview points out once again the problems with the America government failing to clearly identity the enemy and failing to have a clearly defined policy on Jihad and on political Islamism. Moreover, we need to agree on the definition of “Jihad” and not be misled by apologists, as pointed out by Walid Phares.
America has to come to grips with the question: “What does it mean for Islamists to call for Jihad?” While for IPT and many others, myself included, the answer to this is obvious, without a clear American policy on Jihad, the ambivalence on Jihad will continue to undermine American national security efforts, where the FBI defines its “fight” against terrorists, but cannot address the ideological issues. The reaction of the Washington Post, Alan Colmes, and others to Omeish’s resignation once again highlights this massive fault line in American national security.
Last month, Virginia Governor Kaine appointed MAS president Esam Omeish to a Virginia state immigration commission. After the release of the IPT videos of Omeish’s comments on Jihad, on September 28, Esam Omeish resigned from the commission, telling the Washington Post that IPT conducted a “smear campaign”. On September 29, the Washington Post has a follow-up article on this subject, where it quotes Omeish as stating that in his previous speeches where he called for “the Jihad way”, that he meant Jihad as a broad term meaning “struggle”.
In a video showing a December 2000 Washington DC area Jerusalem Day rally, Omeish clearly supports Jihad for Palestinians stating “you have learned the way, that you have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land.” (The complete video is here). Moreover, as IPT reports, Omeish “congratulates Palestinians for giving up their lives for the sake of Allah in another video.”
Yet Governor Kaine, the Washington Post, and FOX News Commentator Alan Colmes seem determined to defend Esam Omeish’s views. It is as important to ask why they defend Omeish’s views, as it is to reveal research on individuals like Omeish, because America continues to face an ongoing problem with its lack of a policy on Jihad and political Islamism, as previously addressed.
The Washington Post publishes without questioning that Esam Omeish’s call for “the Jihad way” at rallies in the Washington DC area are nothing more than a call for “struggle” as Omeish says in the September 29 Washington Post. Moreover, the Washington Post provides character references for Omeish, such as well-known Stalinist Brian Becker of A.N.S.W.E.R. organization (and Communist Worker’s World Party). The Washington Post report quotes Stalinist Becker on the IPT revelations of Omeish’s call for “the Jihad way” in DC rallies as stating: ‘we were stunned and shocked that a small group of right-wing anti-Muslim bigots would launch a campaign’ against him.”
In the September 28 interview of IPT’s Lorenzo Vidino, FOX News’ Alan Colmes challenges IPT’s criticism of Omeish for calling for “the Jihad way”. Alan Colmes asks Lorenzo Vidino “isn’t this conservative political correctness? lets say he’s got radical views, whats wrong with having a commission.. we have all kinds of views, even extreme views.. on a commission.” When Lorenzo Vidino replies that Omeish endorsed Jihad in Palestine at the peak of October 2000 intifada, Alan Colmes replies: “is it possible to see his point of view that he feels that the Palestinians have been the victims of violence and he is countering that?” and asks “is he truly a threat to the United States?” It is also enlightening to see comments to the IPT YouTube posting of this interview condemning IPT’s research as “propaganda” and saying to IPT that “their day will come”.
Here once again, the fault line in American national security regarding Jihad and political Islamism can be seen in stark relief. There is no national hue and cry against Alan Colmes for criticizing IPT’s reporting that someone called for “the Jihad way” in a Washington DC rally is nothing more than mere “conservative political correctness”, because there is no agreed upon policy on Jihad, on political Islam, and on the war and identity of the enemy that we are fighting today.
In the debate over details, logistics, and tactics, it is vital that such massive national security strategic fault lines are not ignored. This is just another warning sign.
Sources:
September 28, 2007 - Omeish Says He’s the Victim of a Smear — The Investigative Project
September 29, 2007 - Washington Post - Va. Muslim Activist Denies Urging Violence
September 28, 2007 - Washington Post (cached) - Omeish Says He’s ‘Victim of Smear Campaign’
Video Excerpt - Esam Omeish at Jerusalem Day Rally - IPT
Video Esam Omeish, Jerusalem Day Rally, 12-22-2000, Full Speech — IPT
Video - Esam Omeish in front of the Israeli Embassy
September 18, 2007 - IPT News: Introducing the Muslim American Society
October 29, 2002 - LA Weekly News - Behind the Placards
July 18, 2007 — Family Security Matters: Preventing the West from Understanding Jihad — Walid Phares
September 17, 2007 - 9/11 and the Inconvenient Truths about Jihad and Islamism - Jeffrey Imm
September 29, 2007 - The New York Post: FBI’s three-front war on terrorists
September 14, 2007 - The Washington Times - Inside The Ring, page 2 - “No war on ideas” - FBI testimony reported
[Live urls and live hidden urls at site]
September 29, 2007
Are the Taliban “The Enemy” or Not?
By Jeffrey Imm
The Counterterrorism Blog
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/09/are_the_taliban_the_enemy.php
Once again, another national leader of an American “ally” in the “war on terror” has offered to help the Taliban regain political power. AP has reported that Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai offered “to meet personally with Taliban leader Mullah Omar for peace talks and give the militants a high position in a government ministry as a way to end the rising insurgency in Afghanistan.” AP reports that Karzai stated: “If a group of Taliban or a number of Taliban come to me and say, ‘President, we want a department in this or in that ministry or we want a position as deputy minister ... and we don’t want to fight anymore ... If there will be a demand and a request like that to me, I will accept it because I want conflicts and fighting to end in Afghanistan.” This echoes comments this week by the UK Defense Minister that “the Taliban will need to be involved in the peace process”.
In February 2007, the Afghanistan parliament granted immunity to the Taliban’s Mullah Omar and other Mujahideen for 25 years worth of activities. Now Afghan President Karzai wants to meet personally with Taliban leader Mullah Omar for peace talks to allow the Taliban to join the Afghanistan government. (There is no word if the U.S. State Department would continue to offer $10 million for the whereabouts of Mullah Omar, although he is no longer on their main page of wanted terrorists.) Taliban leader Mullah Omar was reputed to have signed last year’s Taliban peace truce with Pakistan.
But isn’t the Taliban “the enemy” of the United States of America?
If not, what exactly does the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) call for? The AUMF called for war against “those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations”, which surely included the Taliban. Furthermore, there are 171 clustered references to the Taliban in the Final Report of the 9/11 Commission. What more exactly does the United States need to view the Taliban as “the enemy”? Based on the AUMF, how can the Taliban be any less of an enemy to the United States, than Al Qaeda itself?
And if the Taliban are “the enemy”, how can Americans accept the Taliban or the Taliban ideology in any political organization of an “ally” nation, let alone ones that American taxpayers provide millions of dollars to? Where is the outrage from American political leadership on this? Why is there no outrage among American political leaders at offers to “legitimize” the same Taliban that helped Al Qaeda in its Jihadist camps to kill 3,000 Americans? As previously discussed, the lack of clarity in identifying the enemy in this war is precisely what allows such disturbing realpolitik considerations.
What do such “peace at any cost” negotiations with an enemy of the United States mean to Jihadists in justifying the use of political terrorism? If the Taliban regain political power in Afghanistan, does American leadership agree that we should lose the Afghanistan war to end the fighting? Isn’t that what, in other words, we call “surrender”? Or has our ambiguity about the identity of the enemy gotten so dense that American leadership can now rationalize the Taliban itself?
Earlier this month, Karzai called for peace talks with the Taliban, but the Taliban rejected such talks until “foreign troops” leave Afghanistan. This is a demand that Karzai has rejected on the basis: “[i]t should be very clear until all our roads are paved, until we have good electricity and good water, and also until we have a better Afghan national army and national police, I don’t want any foreigners to leave Afghanistan”. Is Karzai saying that he just doesn’t want western aid to stop, as it did for Hamas?
Karzai’s offer for political empowerment to the Taliban in Afghanistan comes as UPI and the Daily Telegraph report that the Taliban has publicly released its “Constitution of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, which provides insight into what the Taliban would do if indeed such political empowerment was realized. The Daily Telegraph reports that the “23-page document envisages a country where women would remain veiled and uneducated, ‘un-Islamic thought’ would be banned and human rights would be ignored if ‘contrary with the teachings of Islam’ “, where “violators will be punished according to sharia”, and that stipulates that all other constitutions are void. Furthermore, the Taliban constitution has called for “good relations” with those countries supporting Afghanistan “during jihad”. I think we can make an educated guess that the Taliban would not consider such countries to include the United States.
Is this the legal system with “its roots in Islamic law” that the UK Defense Minister was stating this week would be a solution to fighting in Afghanistan?
This follows the August offer by Pakistan President Musharraf to help the Taliban become a mainstream political organization. At the August 12 jirga meeting, President Musharraf reflected that as “Taliban are a part of Afghan society”, and “all of them are not diehard militants and fanatics”, that reaching the Taliban and pro-Taliban population required “a more comprehensive political and development approach”. President Bush was reported to have congratulated Pakistan President Musharraf on his efforts at the jirga.
Realpolitik negotiators may believe that there is a “bad Taliban” and a “good Taliban”. In Presidents Karzai and Musharraf’s views, the “bad Taliban” is violent, and the “good Taliban” is well, just simply “fundamentalist” in their Islamist view of the world. Does America agree with that assessment? Because that is the direction that war in Afghanistan is going based on these outreach efforts to bring the Taliban into the political mainstream. Realpolitik negotiators may believe that bringing the Taliban into a “democratic” political process will end the conflict and fighting in Afghanistan.
Did bringing Hezbollah into the Lebanon government end fighting in Lebanon?
Did Hamas’ election to the Palestinian government bring peace to the Palestinian territories?
Did the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic government in Iran bring peace to Iran and its relations with the world?
Has the growing influence of Islamist political and other groups in Pakistan brought stability and peace to Pakistan?
Yet NATO, UN, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the US are all tolerating the idea of peace talks with the Taliban to bring them back into political power in the Afghanistan government. Americans don’t even have to compare this to Islamist Iran as an analogy. We have already seen what the Taliban did when they held political power in Afghanistan. Our national homeland was physically attacked and thousands of Americans died as a result. On this near anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, how could we forget that? What next - will we be negotiating a political “mainstream” party for Al Qaeda?
Moreover, with their latest constitution, the Taliban has told us specifically what they plan to do, if they do get back into power. We know who and what the Taliban are and what they plan to do if they regain power. Yet still, American leadership is not denouncing talks to allow the Taliban to return to Afghanistan government power.
If so, this begs the obvious question, what are we fighting for?
Sources:
September 29, 2007 - Afghan president offers Taliban a place in government for peace deal
September 29, 2007 - The Daily Telegraph: Taliban unveils hardline Afghan constitution
September 29, 2007 - UPI: Taliban constitution made public
September 25, 2007 - Pakistan Daily Times: Kabul working to bring Taliban ‘back to the fold’
September 26, 2007 - Gulf Times: Taliban must be involved in Afghan peace process: UK
Authorization for Use of Military Force (Enrolled Bill), September 18, 2001
September 18, 2001 - U.S. Authorization for Use of Military Force
CTB Blog: August 13, 2007 - Pakistan President Seeks Mainstream Taliban - Jeffrey Imm
August 13, 2007: Pakistan Daily Times - Musharraf says not all Taliban terrorists
August 12, 2007: Associated Press - Pakistan, Afghanistan mired in extremism, Pakistan president says
August 15, 2007 - Pakistan Times: Bush congratulates Musharraf on successful peace Jirga
PBS Online Focus on The Taliban
Wikipedia: Taliban
September 24, 2006 - The Daily Telegraph: Omar role in truce reinforces fears that Pakistan ‘caved in’ to Taliban
U.S. State Department Poster: “Wanted - Mullah Omar - Up to $10 Million Reward” — “Although Operation Enduring Freedom removed the Taliban regime from power, Mullah Omar remains at large and represents a continuing threat to America and her allies”.
U.S. State Department Updated List of Wanted Terrorists - not including Mullah Omar
National Counter Terrorism Center - Mullah Omar Wanted - Contact FBI
February 4, 2007 - Europe Sun: Taliban leader Mullah Omar granted immunity
February 1, 2007 - Reuters: Afghan assembly grants immunity for war crimes
[has many hidden live urls at site]
Interview with Mike German, terrorism expert and former FBI agent
IPS (Latin America)
September 28, 2007 Friday
899 words
Interview with Mike German, terrorism expert and former FBI agent;
I’ve Peeked Behind That Curtain and It’s an Unholy Mess&
German left the FBI in 2004, after going public with evidence that the
FBI’s
Tampa bureau had made illegal tape recordings of a group under
investigation. German’s superiors tried to hide the evidence of
wrongdoing,
rather than address it.
German, a self-taught terrorism expert who works with Global Security,
a
Washington think tank, and the American Civil Liberties Union, is now
is a
vocal critic of the agency and its entire national security operation,
pointing to the secretive programme as dysfunctional and unaccountable.
‘I have peeked behind that curtain and what you find is an unholy
mess,’ he says.
In his book, ‘Thinking like a Terrorist - Insights of a Former FBI
Undercover Agent’, German maintains that the illegal methods used by
the
FBI in its war against terrorism, such as torture and National Security
Letters, pose a grave threat to U.S. democracy and liberty, and true
security.
IPS: You were a special agent for 16 years and you spied on Americans
— how
can you now say you fear the FBI is threatening American democracy?
MG: It might seem strange that a former FBI agent could be a civil
libertarian. But my actions, while secret, were not unaccountable. I
worked
on the criminal justice side of the FBI.
I relied on legal, constitutionally-sound techniques to gather evidence
against known criminals. I targeted only those members of a group who
were
known to be involved. At the end of the day I knew I’d be in a
courtroom and
I’d be under cross-examination, and that the judge and jury would
review my
conduct.
On the national security side of the FBI there has never been this kind
of
scrutiny.
IPS: Why did your superiors choose you to infiltrate these groups?
MG: I am white with blonde hair and blue eyes. That’s it! I had
literally no
training. I was very lucky. There were many situations that could have
gone
very bad. In each case we were brought into the group by a citizen
witness
concerned about the activities of the group.
IPS: What is the difference between domestic terrorist groups and
international terrorists, in terms of their motives and goals?
MG: There is no difference. They use the same strategies and methods.
Basically, the idea of a terrorist group is to represent an aggrieved
community. They have no authority to, but they hope to. Their purpose
is to
get the government or an authority to retaliate against the community
they
pretend to represent. The terrorists’ hope is that the community
members
would then have to turn to them for help.
In countering a strategy like that you would think that the government
would
never acknowledge the group.
IPS: Even al Qaeda and neo-Nazi groups use the same organising
techniques?
MG: If you talk to so-called terrorist experts today, they talk about
the
ingenious al Qaeda network, a network of disparate cells. But this
organising technique was taken from white supremacists. In 1992, the Ku
Klux
Klan published a ‘Leaderless Resistance’ paper. It was followed by
the Klan, white supremacists and now al Qaeda.
IPS: Is there evidence that the methods the U.S. government is using to
counter terrorism are working?
MG: The U.S. State Department shows that the number of terrorist
attacks
reached an all-time high in 2003. The number of attacks then tripled in
2004. Six years after President [George W.] Bush started the global war
on
terrorism, we are no safer than we were in 2001 despite the tremendous
amount of funds spent and the loss of our civil liberties.
And there is less security when you give up your liberty.
IPS: How should we be combating terrorism?
MG: We should be focusing on criminal activity, not ideology. There are
very, very few terrorists. There is a division of labour in these
groups and
people who write the group’s materials are different from the people
who
make the bombs. So much of our effort is aimed at people who say things
we
don’t like. But if you give someone a chance to speak out they will
feel
much better and will be less violent.
IPS: As someone who studies the FBI and U.S. intelligence gathering,
what
can you tell us about the National Security Letters, the secret
requests for
information on many ordinary Americans?
MG: At least 143,000 National Security Letters have been served. When
the
Department of Justice Inspector General did an audit, he found more
abuses
in the use of the letters than the FBI had reported. Some people who
were
served the letters didn’t understand them and provided much more
information
than the FBI had requested. The FBI filed this information. This shows
the
corruption that can occur with secrecy.
The Inspector General tried to tease out how many of these letters
actually
brought prosecutions, and the answer is 200 — with one resulting in a
terrorist-related prosecution.
IPS: Is there intimidation within the FBI as well?
MG: I teach a class about terrorism and we study terrorist manifestos.
People in government who are students in the class come to me and say,
‘I’m afraid to read these because I’ll be put on a list.’ And these
are people in the intelligence community.
IPS: You seem to think the FBI can be fixed. What needs to happen?
MG: We need a transparent system and accountability. There has been an
increase in corruption and incompetence in the national security
division.
To this day, there is a lack of understanding of terrorists. C 2007
NoticiasFinancieras - IPS - All rights reserved
September 28, 2007
Iran: Revolutionary Guard commander assassinated
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Fri, 09/28/2007 - 02:42.
http://ww4report.com/node/4485
A commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards died after an ambush on
Sept. 20
by Ahwazi militants. Mehdi Bayat was killed near the Revolutionary
Guards
base in Hamidiyah, near Ahwaz City in western Khuzestan province, where
Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority have launched a struggle for autonomy or
independence. Bayat was a commanding officer responsible for training
members of the Bassij militia in Khaffajiyah. The town of Khaffajiyah
has
witnessed a number of disturbances by Ahwazi Arab groups which have
been
brutally put down by the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Ashura Brigades.
A number of assassinations and attempted assassinations have been
carried
out in Ahwaz in recent months with members of the Revolutionary Guards,
the
police and clerics targeted. In June, militants assassinated Hisham
Saimeri,
the imam of Zahraa mosque in the Hay al-Thawra district of Ahwaz City,
which
has experienced the highest levels of Arab unrest. The provincial
governor
blamed “saboteurs, evildoers and Wahhabis.” (click here for further
details)
At the time, the Canada-based Hizb al-Nahda al-Ahwaziya (Ahwazi
Renaissance
Party (ARP) welcomed http://www.al-mohamra.nu/BHN_HakemHa_23hze.htm
the
assassination and warned Hijazi of “the consequences of continuing the
criminal policies committed against Ahwazis.” The ARP has also
http://www.al-mohamra.nu/Aalhamidia_23ai.htm
welcomed the
assassination of
Bayat, stating that “Ahwazis have proved through this heroic act to the
Persian invader authorities that their repressive practices and
executions
would not stop their struggle to regain their usurped rights.”
It is unclear what, if any, links the ARP has with the assassins. It is
a
separate group from the Harkat al-Nedhal Alarabi (Arabic Struggle
Movement
for Liberation of Al-Ahwaz-ASMLA), which has claimed responsibility for
a
number of bomb attacks in Ahwaz City.
Iranian officials claim a group called Jebheyia Khalghi Al-Ahwazyeh
(Ahwazi
Nation or People Front) was responsible. No group has claimed
responsibility
for the killing. (Al-Ahwaz News
http://www.ahwaz.org.uk/2007/09/iran-revolutionary-guards-commander.html
,
UK, Sept. 26)
On Sept. 26, the US Senate approved a resolution urging the Bush
administration to designate the Revolutionary Guards as a foreign
terrorist
organization. The White House is considering whether to label the
entire
Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group or to take a narrower step
focused
only on the Quds Force, an elite unit of the corps. (NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/washington/27congcnd.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
Sept. 27)
The Short (but Notable) Career of Fatah al Islam
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20070928.aspx
September 28, 2007: At the beginning of September, the Lebanese
military
announced it had cleared the Nahr al Bared refugee camp
of the Islamic terrorist organization, Fatah al Islam (”The Victory of
Islam”). In the four month long fight, the top leadership of the group
was
killed except for the emir (leader). This fellow, Shaker al Absi, was a
personal friend of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the late Al Qaeda in Iraq
emir.
Together they trained in Afghanistan where they formed a group of
Islamic
terrorists from Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and
Syria
called Jund ash Sham. Many members of the group were also past members
of
another Lebanese/ Palestinian terrorist group called Asbat al Ansar.
The
goal of all of these groups was to form an Islamic caliphate
in the Levant (eastern Mediterranean) region.
Combined with the other al Qaeda-affiliated organizations, the Levant
fits
in nicely between the planned Mesopotamian, Arabian Peninsula
, and North African caliphates. The Levant is a
key
piece to the global caliphate
plan.
What made the career of Fatah al Islam so notable was its use of the
internet as a propaganda tool to create a following. Online forums
were used as a tool for conveying the group’s
message,
attracting recruits and building links with other organizations. In the
past, Islamists used social networks
to do the same - they knew people who knew
people. The
use of the internet allows these groups to interact with a global
audience.
That means the terrorists can build a larger support base for their
activity. The good news is that they are easily penetrated and
accessible to
private intelligence organizations.
Fatah al Islam has likely been eliminated as a viable organization. The
few
remaining survivors will continue their terrorist activities with
groups
such as Asbat al Ansar or Jama’at Tawhid wa Jihad fil Bilad ash-Sham
(The
Monotheism and Struggle Group in the Land of the Levant). Fatah
al-Islam,
however, has set a precedent for using the internet as an important
terrorism tool (and one which has been fully exploited).
U.S. spy plane crashes in Pakistan tribal area: report
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0709294983110913.htm
Saturday September 29, 2007
Pakistan-U.S. spy plane /WRD/
U.S. spy plane crashes in Pakistan tribal area: report
Islamabad, Sept 29 IRNA - An American spy plane crashed in the
Pakistani border region last night, a TV channel reported. There was
no official confirmation of the report. Geo television reported that
the American pilot-less spy aircraft came down at Lund Muhamamd Khan
village, some 15 km from Miranshah, the headquarters of North
Waziristan.
Quoting local sources, the TV reported that tribesmen showed parts of
the drone to each other.
The Pakistani tribal regions are under observation from the Americans
because of activities of al-Qaeda and Taliban linked suspects.
Hundreds of al-Qaeda remnants have fled to the Pakistani tribal
regions from neighboring Afghanistan since the U.S-led coalition
forces have launched military operation in 2001.
Radical Syrian cleric ‘shot dead’
A Syrian cleric suspected of recruiting foreign militants to fight in
Iraq
has been shot dead in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, his aides
have
said.
Sheikh Mahmoud Abu al-Qaqaa was shot several times by a gunman as he
left
the Imam Mosque after Friday prayers.
The gunman tried to flee the scene of the shooting, but was chased by a
crowd and later arrested, the aides said.
Correspondents say Abu al-Qaqaa was a charismatic Sunni cleric with
thousands of radical Islamist followers in Syria.
His anti-American sermons attracted a wide audience after the US-led
invasion in Iraq in 2003, and his reputation rapidly spread.
‘American agent’
After the shooting, one aide to the cleric told the Associated Press
that
“terrorists” had killed the sheikh, whose real name was Mahmoud Qul
Aghassi,
for his “nationalist positions”.
The one who carried out the assassination was a prisoner of the
American forces in Iraq and had been released some time ago
Sheikh Samir Abu Khashbeh
Another aide, Sheikh Samir Abu Khashbeh, said the gunman had told him
that
he had killed the cleric “because he was an agent of the Americans”.
“The one who carried out the assassination was a prisoner of the
American
forces in Iraq and had been released some time ago,” Abu Khashbeh said.
“He
is known to us.”
In June 2006, a group of militants killed while attempting to carry out
an
attack in the capital, Damascus, were found to be carrying CDs of
sermons by
Abu al-Qaqaa in which he called for US forces in the Middle East to be
slaughtered “like cattle”.
Afterwards, the sheikh denied he had called on Syrians to go to war in
Iraq.
Others have claimed that Abu al-Qaqaa was an agent of the Syrian
government,
who was used to appease rising anti-American discontent amongst the
country’s Muslims and to keep the authorities informed of the
activities of
his fellow jihadists.
Abu al-Qaqaa is said to have kept a low profile in the last year since
he
was appointed head of a religious school by the Syrian government and
he did
not openly criticise the authorities.
The Syrian government has yet to make an official statement about the
incident.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7019253.stm
Published: 2007/09/28 20:19:52 GMT
C BBC MMVII
The new bin Laden -Fawaz A Gerges
VIEW: The new bin Laden -Fawaz A Gerges
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C09%5C27%5Cstory_27-9-2007_pg3_2
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/images/2007/09/27/20070927_ed01.jpg
According to the new bin Laden, this global system of big capital that
benefits the wealthy class is responsible for the tragedies in Iraq,
Afghanistan, the poverty of Africa and the huge gap between the haves
and
have-nots within the US
After Osama bin Laden reappeared on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary,
television and newspaper commentators pondered the meaning of his newly
blackened beard and the significance of his message. Barely noticed in
the
Western media barrage was the reaction of a Saudi cleric that could
have
far-reaching impact on the fortunes of Al Qaeda.
In an open letter, one of his prominent Saudi mentors, preacher and
scholar
Salman Al Oadah, publicly reproaches bin Laden for causing widespread
mayhem
and killing. “How many innocent children, elderly people, and women
were
killed in the name of Al Qaeda?” asks Al Oadah on his website,
Islamtoday.com, and in comments on an Arabic television station. “How
many
people were forced to flee their homes and how much blood was shed in
the
name of Al Qaeda?” The reaction of his former pupil is not known, but
the
angry denunciation by bin Laden’s supporters leaves no doubt that it
hurts.
The significance of that can be appreciated only in the context of the
position al Oadah holds in Islamic orthodoxy. He’s a heavyweight Salafi
preacher with a large following in Saudi Arabia and abroad. In the
1990s the
Saudi regime imprisoned Al Oadah, along with four leading clerics, for
criticising the kingdom’s close relationship with the US, particularly
the
stationing of American troops there after the 1991 Gulf war. That
decision -
posting forces in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam - was the
catalyst
that drove bin Laden to attack the US. Throughout the 1990s bin Laden
cited
Al Oadah as a dissident voice and critic of the Saudi royal family and
fellow Salafi traveler who shared his strict religious principles and
worldview.
Although Al Oadah and other senior Muslim scholars condemned the 9/11
attacks, they had refrained from direct criticism of bin Laden. With Al
Oadah’s new frontal assault on the elusive Al Qaeda leader, any
ambiguity
vanished. He holds bin Laden personally accountable for the occupation
of
Muslim lands in Afghanistan and Iraq, displacement of millions of
Iraqis,
killings of thousands of Afghans, internment and torture of promising
and
deluded young Muslims, and a tarnished image of Islam all over the
world.
“Are you happy to meet Allah with this heavy burden on your shoulders?”
Al
Oadah, a highly prolific scholar and media commentator, presses bin
Laden.
“It is a weighty burden indeed - at least hundreds of thousands of
innocent
people, if not millions [displaced and killed].”
Ironically, the letter includes no criticism of US foreign policy
toward the
Muslim world, a dramatic departure from the norm.
The widespread suffering of Muslims stems from “crimes” perpetrated
against
civilians by Al Qaeda on September 11, Al Oadah said. Islam, he reminds
his
former disciple, prohibits the killing of any bird or animal, let alone
“innocent people, regardless of what justification is given.”
The letter to bin Laden received coverage by the Arab media, including
Al
Jazeera network and Islamonline.com, and elicited angry reactions by Al
Qaeda’s supporters. The targeted attack on bin Laden and his militant
group
by a respected religious authority is lethal, coming at a critical
juncture
for Al Qaeda and like-minded factions worldwide.
Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia - largely independent from Al Qaeda Central -
faces
the beginning of an internal revolt by Sunni tribes and fighters fed up
with
its sectarian fanaticism. Sunni resistance to Al Qaeda in Iraq gathers
steam, limiting the group’s movement and options. Another militant
group -
Fatah al-Islam, which subscribes to Al Qaeda’s ideology and was active
in
the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el Bared in North Lebanon - was
dealt a
mortal blow by authorities and universal rejection by Muslim
Palestinian and
Lebanese opinion. Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Saudi Arabia has suffered
major
setbacks and is on the run.
Although Al Qaeda appears to revitalise its infrastructure in
Pakistan-Afghan tribal areas, it faces insurmountable challenges in the
Arab
hinterland - its historic social base of support.
Perhaps in implicit recognition of his success in tapping marginalised
youth
in Europe, bin Laden went to great length in his videotape to project a
new
image and message, an effort to appeal to a larger audience. He has
exchanged his military fatigues and Kalashnikov for a white robe,
circular
cap, and beige cloak, portraying himself as a spiritual figure, not the
old
rifle-toting self.
In his address to the American people, bin Laden borrows the language
of the
left and anti-globalisation movement, an attempt to galvanise Americans
against their oppressors - big capital, multinational corporations, and
globalisation. His use of secular-political language is a conscious,
yet
naive, attempt to drive a wedge between Americans and their leaders
who, he
says, serve the interests of the capitalist system and war industry.
According to the new bin Laden, this global system of big capital that
benefits the wealthy class is responsible for the tragedies in Iraq,
Afghanistan, the poverty of Africa and the huge gap between the haves
and
have-nots within the US. By rejoining the debate raging in the US over
the
war in Iraq and due legal process, a growing wealth gap connected with
anti-globalisation sentiment, bin Laden aims at broadening his
constituency
and scoring gains in another war - the war of ideas.
Contrary to common sense, bin Laden believes that Westerners will buy
his
new message and assign blame to “warmongering owners of the major
corporations.” Apparently, he had never expected a direct rebuke by one
of
his spiritual Salafi mentors. Dispensing with formalities, Al Oadah
pins the
blame squarely on bin Laden for the 9/11 spark that lit subsequent
fires
throughout the world:
“You are responsible - brother Osama - for spreading Takfiri ideology
[excommunication of Muslims] and fostering a culture of suicide
bombings
that has caused bloodshed and suffering and brought ruin to entire
Muslim
communities and families.”
The Saudi scholar admonishes his elusive countrymen for turning Muslim
nations like Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco and others into a battlefield
where
no one feels safe. “To what end, even if your plan succeeds by marching
over
the corpses of hundreds of thousands of people?” Al Oadah inquires. “Is
Islam only about guns and war? Have your means become the ends
themselves?”
Never before has bin Laden been subjected to such direct, withering
censure
by a Salafi scholar who cannot be dismissed by militants as a vessel of
the
ruling regime. His record of defiance of the Saudi royal family speaks
volumes of independence of judgment and moral courage. His credibility
as a
defender of Muslim rights worldwide is unassailable. In November 2004,
Al
Oadah, along with 25 prominent Saudi religious scholars, posted an open
letter on the internet, urging Iraqis to support fighters waging
legitimate
jihad against “the big crime of America’s occupation of Iraq.”
Adding insult to injury, Al Oadah praises those jihadist “brave hearts”
and
“courageous minds” that defected from Al Qaeda and distanced themselves
from
its terrorism. “Many of your brethren in Egypt, Algeria and elsewhere
have
come to see the end road for Al Qaeda’s ideology,” he states. “They now
realise how destructive and dangerous it is.”
Al Oadah’s public censure of bin Laden deepens internal fissures within
the
Salafi universe which supplied his group with many of its foot
soldiers.
Al Oadah concludes his letter by citing the words of elderly pious
scholars
who distanced themselves from those misguided: “O Allah! I plead my
innocence to You from what Osama is doing, and from those who affiliate
themselves to his name or work under his banner.” History will judge
whether
bin Laden, the left-wing revolutionary, will have better luck than bin
Laden, the prophet of anti-West Jihad.
Fawaz A. Gerges, holds the Christian A. Johnson Chair in International
Affairs and Arab and Muslim politics at Sarah Lawrence College. This
article
appeared in YaleGlobal Online (www.yaleglobal.yale.edu), a publication
of
the Yale Centre for the Study of Globalisation, and is reprinted by
permission. Copyright (c) 2003 Yale Centre for the Study of
Globalisation.
Coalition Forces kill likely successor to Abu Ayyub al-Masri
http://www.blackanthem.com/News/Allies_20/Coalition_Forces_kill_likely_successor_to_Abu_Ayyub_al-Masri10345.shtml
Coalition Forces kill likely successor to Abu Ayyub al-Masri
By MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ
Sep 28, 2007 - 2:12:23 PM
Blackanthem Military News
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Coalition forces positively identified a foreign
terrorist killed in an operation Tuesday in Musayyib as a senior
al-Qaeda in Iraq member.
Abu Usama al-Tunisi was in the inner leadership circle of Abu Ayyub
al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and was a likely successor to
him. Al-Tunisi was the military emir of Baghdad’s southern belt and
took over the role of emir of foreign terrorists when al-Masri became
the overall leader.
Al-Tunisi facilitated foreign terrorists and helped equip them for
improvised explosive device attacks, car-bombing campaigns and suicide
attacks throughout Baghdad. Foreign terrorists conduct most of the
high profile attacks in Iraq. Over 80 percent of the suicide attacks
are conducted by foreign terrorists.
During an operation Sept. 25, Coalition forces targeted al-Tunisi and
other al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders. Credible intelligence from several
previous operations led Coalition forces to the location of a known
al-Qaeda in Iraq meeting and supporting aircraft attacked the time
sensitive target. Al-Tunisi and two other terrorists were killed
during the attack.
Reports indicate that al-Tunisi was involved in the planning and
operation of numerous attacks on Coalition forces and is believed to
have operated in Yusufiyah since the second battle of Fallujah in
November 2004.
Al-Tunisi, like the other top leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq, was not
Iraqi. He was Tunisian and had been in Iraq since at least 2004.
“This is one more al-Qaeda in Iraq criminal who will never kill
another innocent civilian,” said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I
spokesman. “We will relentlessly pursue all terrorist leaders who
threaten Iraqi citizens, their elected government, and Iraqi and
Coalition forces.”
http://mountainrunner.us/2007/07/for_official_secret_squirrel_u.html
For Official Secret Squirrel Use Only: the ACORN
The Autonomous Coordinated Organic Reconnaissance Network speaks for itself.
Agent 000:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Squirrel
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/189565.php
September 28, 2007
Al Qaeda Terrorist Arrested in Italy: Targetted US Bases in Iraq
Italian police have arrested an Iraqi man named Hussein Saber Fadhil said to be part of a group linked to al Qaeda. Some reports claim Fadhil was arrested at the Venice airport, and others in Padua, but it is clear that the arrest warrant was issued by a judge in Venice.
Hussien Saber Fadhil was on his way to Damascus, Syria, where he would then meet up with other jihadis who have already been involved in multiple kidnappings and murder in Iraq. The group is said to be “close” to al Qaeda in Iraq, whether it is the Islamic State of Iraq—which would make it more than “close” to al Qaeda, that is al Qaeda—or other Salafist terrorists affiliated with them has not been disclosed.
Reports say that Hussien Saber Fadhil is a former member of the Baath partyand indicate that he felt betrayed by nationalist fighters who have turned on al Qaeda in Diyala and Anbar. He recently learned to fly an airplane. The plot would have packed a small airplane with explosives using it as an suicide bomb.
The 45 year old man is said to have been carrying with him items which he would use in the plot. My best guess would be some kind of GPS equipment.
The police are also searching the homes of other Iraqis in Italy.
UPDATE: This AP story sheds some more light on Fadhil, that he:
had been in touch with aides of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida in Iraq ....
“It is documented that he was in contact with the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group,” D’Auria told The Associated Press by telephone. “He was organizing an attack against American bases in Iraq.”
The attack would have employed suicide bombers, anti-tank weapons and ultra-light helicopters that the group planned to buy from an Italian company, investigators said.
Three other homes were searched, but the men were not arrested.
Hussein has lived in Italy for 25 years selling kebobs at a kiosk. 25 years in Italy, and he still supported al Qaeda? Talk about an integration problem.
He was sending $4,200 a month to Iraq to support the al Qaeda cell. How can a kebob seller afford to send that much money a month to Iraq? I’m guessing he also raised funds from others. Probably start at the mosque he attended and go from there.
Sources: AFP, Stratfor, Reuters, EuxTV, AP
By Dr. Rusty “John Doe” Shackleford at September 28, 2007 03:09 PM | Comments (3) |
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/189566.php
[photos and video here]
September 28, 2007
Tucker/Menchaca Torturer/Murderer Killed! UPDATE: Now with VIDEO!
Bumped: Video added of Abu Usama al-Tunisi’s hideout getting bombed in an airstrike. Video at the end of this post.
The man who lead the al Qaeda cell responsible for the brutal murders of Thomas Tucker and Kristian Menchaca has been killed. The group later released two videos showing the bodies of the two soldiers being desecrated.
The cell also killed Spc. David J. Babineau before they took Tucker and Menchaca hostage. Others in the cell had been previously killed or captured.
In fact, some time ago I was asked by the US military to send them a copy of the video to be turned over to Iraqi prosecutors in the case. I don’t know what happened, but I pray they got the death sentence.
Literally hundreds of others in the military have asked for the video. Some of them knew the victims and felt they needed to see it for some sense of closure. Some of them were very close to the family. Some in the family.
Others wanted it so they could use it in training to show what our enemies are really like, as they portray themselves in their own propaganda videos.
The first of the two Tucker-Menchaca videos is so sickening, that it’s hard to describe. But it includes a decapitated head. The second Tucker-Menchaca video shows the victims’ bodies being dragged behind a truck and later lit on fire.
Death is too good for Abu Usama al-Tunisi and all those involved in the murders of Thomas Tucker and Kristian Menchaca. His death will not bring them back, but I will sleep with a smile on my face knowing this piece of filth has been sent to hell.
RIP: David J. Babineau, Thomas Tucker, and Kristian Menchaca
Below: DOD footage of Abu Usama al-Tunisi’s hideout getting pwned!
Thanks to my friend Iraqi Translator Marine for uploading it and to GM for pointing out that there was video.
By Dr. Rusty “John Doe” Shackleford at September 28, 2007 05:39 PM | Comments (17) | Tr
[3 videos]
September 27, 2007
Video: Chemical Weapons Attack in Iraq (+ War Porn)
We’ll start with this video of a chemical weapon IED. Max, who posted the video , says, “An IED in a mound on the side of one of alternate route. Ended up being a chemical Attack, Soldiers had to evacuate the scene, some soldiers sustained some chemical burns on thier body, cause the smoke seaped threw the cracks of thier vehicles...”
Chemical. Weapons. So, er, where’s the outrage at another Geneva Convention violation?
Cow IED detonated and more below.
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Surrendering to an Apache helicopter. PWNED!
By Dr. Rusty “John Doe” Shackleford at September 27, 2007 06:28 PM |
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/189547.php
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