[osint] Islamists denounce Blair as 'Satan'
If you listen to them, Muslims are quite comical.when they're not trying to kill you. Bruce Islamists denounce Blair as 'Satan' By Gideon Long April 20, 2005 From: Reuters RADICAL British Islamists broke into a news conference held by moderate Muslims, denounced Prime Minister Tony Blair as Satan and urged Muslims to boycott next month's election. Around 20 protesters, many wearing scarves to hide their faces, ripped a locked door off its hinges at one of London's main mosques and burst into the event organised by Britain's main Islamic lobby group the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). They pushed their way to the front of the room, stood on chairs and shouted slogans against the MCB, Blair, Jews, Christians, apostates and the entire British political system. Tony Blair can go to hell! Tony Blair can go to hell!, they chanted as television cameras turned on them. There is no God but Allah! The protest laid bare tensions within Britain's 1.6 million-strong Islamic community, where a minority of hardliners often garners publicity for radical opinions including praise of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Those tensions are mirrored elsewhere in Europe, notably in France which is home to the continent's largest Islamic community as well as its biggest Jewish community. After about 20 minutes, the protesters - young, male, mostly bearded and wearing traditional Muslim dress including headcaps and flowing robes - left of their own accord. In leaflets handed to reporters, they identified themselves as belonging to a group called The Saviour Sect. The protesters said the MCB, a respected collection of some 400 Muslim organisations throughout Britain, was a mouthpiece of the British government. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] State's Annual Terrorism Report to Be Released (after all...)
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200504190747.html State's Annual Terrorism Report to Be Released By April 30 United States Department of State (Washington, DC) NEWS April 19, 2005 Posted to the web April 19, 2005 Washington, DC Statistics to be published separately by National Counterterrorism Center The U.S. State Department will release its annual terrorism report by April 30, but responsibility for compilation and release of terrorist incident statistics has been shifted to the National Counterterrorism Center created in fall 2004, says department spokesman Richard Boucher. This year's publication will be titled Country Reports on Terrorism and replaces the former Patterns of Global Terrorism, Boucher said in an April 18 briefing. As in previous years, it will contain country reports and regional information; lists and descriptions of foreign terrorist organizations and other terrorist groups; an accounting of state sponsors of terrorism and global jihadi networks; and related articles on anti-terrorism and counterterrorism training and interdiction programs, the spokesman added. As far as the statistical annexes that we have included in the past in various ways, there has been a development this year in terms of the structure of the government's work on terrorism, and we're going to take that into account, said Boucher. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 established the NCTC as the primary organization in the United States for the analysis of global terrorism, including regular reporting requirements. They are the people who do the detailed work, said Boucher. The people of the United States will get all the facts. The world will get all the facts. This is a straightforward attempt to make sure that those who have the best analysis of the countries and the organizations -- that's us -- can put out that analysis, and those who have the best handle on the numbers can put out the numbers. Boucher said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, acting on the advice of the department's counselor and other bureaus, made the decision to have the statistics reported separately by the NCTC, the authoritative source of statistical data on terrorism. Boucher said the NCTC will announce when it will publish its terrorism statistics. http://allafrica.com/img/static/s_trans.gif _ Copyright C 2005 United States Department of State. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). _ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Friend or Foe?
RULE OF LAW Friend or Foe? By DAVID B. RIVKIN JR. and LEE A. CASEY Wall Street Journal April 11, 2005; Page A23 For more than three years now, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has clashed with the United States over the detention of captured al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, and over their classification as unlawful enemy combatants. Its most recent salvo takes the form of a massive Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law. Although this document -- formally released on March 15 -- purports to present a neutral assessment of currently binding international law norms, it is actually an exercise in the very type of political advocacy that characterizes the work of private interest groups like Amnesty International. Indeed, the ICRC has become the leading practitioner of lawfare -- a form of asymmetrical warfare that aims to constrain American power using the law. This approach is fundamentally inconsistent with the ICRC's supposed role as a unique and impartial international interlocutor. It is, of course, this special role that has justified the U.S. Congress in spending tens of millions of American tax dollars annually on the ICRC. The American people are not, however, getting their money's worth. For more than 30 years, the ICRC has been working to change the traditional rules of international law applicable to irregular or unlawful combatants. Because such individuals do not comply with the most basic rules of civilized warfare, including an organized command structure, uniforms, carrying arms openly, and eschewing attacks on civilians, they are not entitled to the rights of prisoners of war when captured. In the 1970s, however, the ICRC prepared, and successfully promoted, a treaty known as Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions. Among other things, this document granted privileged, Geneva POW status to guerilla fighters -- requiring them simply to distinguish themselves from the civilian population at the time of attack or shortly before. Of course, regular armed forces -- like those of the United States -- must distinguish themselves by wearing uniforms at all times during hostilities. Protocol I would create a substantial advantage for guerilla fighters, permitting them effectively to hide among the civilian population up to, or shortly before, the point of attack, while at the same time guaranteeing them POW status if captured. It was primarily on this basis that the United States rejected the protocol in 1987. Predictably, the ICRC's Customary Law Study now claims that this rule -- which the ICRC effectively invented -- has become so widely accepted that it is a universally binding customary international law norm, binding on the United States even without its consent. Indeed, through the peculiar alchemy of language, the ICRC claims the same status for much of the rest of Protocol I based on the wide acceptance of its basic principles -- even by the U.S. This position is not new. It was previously articulated by the group in response to some well-deserved criticism against it contained in the Schlesinger Commission's report on Pentagon detention operations. It is, however, a sleight of hand unworthy of the ICRC. Acceptance of the broad, basic principles contained in Protocol I, such as the rule that captives must be treated humanely or that disproportionate combat damage to civilian areas must be avoided, does not imply agreement to Protocol I's detailed and proscriptive provisions any more than agreement with Oliver Wendell Holmes's remark that taxes are the cost of civilization constitutes approval of every section of the Internal Revenue Code. Moreover, the ICRC has not limited its advocacy activities to the rules governing how prisoners are classified. Over the past years, it has increasingly interposed itself into areas such as arms control -- the Biological Weapons Convention process, for example -- that are well beyond its Geneva mandate. In this respect, the group has been particularly active in efforts to ban the types of landmines that remain critical to U.S. defense needs, particularly in Korea, and the cluster munitions that have proven their worth against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. More generally, it has pushed for legal rules mandating a zero-level approach to collateral damage, thus encouraging rogue states and guerrilla forces to fight from civilian areas so as to inhibit the operations of their law-abiding adversaries. On the ledger's other side, and contrary to widespread public beliefs, the ICRC has done precious little for the United States -- at least since World War II. Captured Americans were treated barbarically in Korea, Vietnam, and by Saddam's forces in the first Gulf War. Yet the ICRC neither provided effective assistance to individual American POWs, nor did it undertake the kind of determined, public campaign against those governments that it has launched against the U.S. over
[osint] Women to face summer clothing crackdown
Women to face summer clothing crackdown April 20, 2005 From: Reuters IRANIAN police have vowed to crack down on the way women dress this summer, when soaring temperatures typically tempt many to flout the country's strict Islamic dress code, newspapers reported. Sartorial battles have become a regular feature of Iranian life in the summer months when police try to confront growing numbers of young women who test the limits of the law with shorter, brighter, skimpier clothing. Iran's Islamic dress code obliges women to cover all but their face and hands and to disguise the shape of their bodies. Violators can receive lashes, fines or imprisonment. But many women, especially in the capital Tehran, shun the traditional head-to-toe black chador to don calf-length Capri pants, tight-fitting, thigh-length coats and brightly-coloured scarves pushed back to expose plenty of hair. Tehran Police Chief Morteza Talaei told the Hambastegi newspaper the crackdown would form part of an all-out war against social vices. In accordance with the law, the police will confront those who appear in public in an indecent and inappropriate way, Mr Talaei said. The change in women's attire over recent years has been one of the more noticeable impacts of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who has encouraged authorities to ease up slightly on social restrictions. But Mr Khatami's second and final term in office comes to an end this summer and one of a number of more conservative candidates is widely tipped to take his place. Nevertheless, political analysts do not expect Iran's new government to push back the meagre gains made in social freedoms too far for fear of sparking a popular backlash. One young woman living in well-to-do northern Tehran said she would not change her appearance despite the increased risk in summer. I love wearing bright colours in summer. I will do so. I am not scared of being arrested, Mina, a 21-year-old student, said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Arab, Iraqi 'Terrorists' Say They Received Training in Syria
Arab, Iraqi 'Terrorists' Say They Received Training in Syria Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah Television in Arabic 1800 GMT 23 Feb 05 [Report] Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah Television in Arabic at 1800-1900 GMT on 23 February carries a program featuring confessions by four Sudanese, three Egyptians, and three Iraqis, all of whom are members of the Liberation Army [Jaysh al-Tahrir] operating in Iraq and who have been recently arrested. Most of those apprehended say they received training in Syria. The interrogator, who does not appear on the screen, begins by saying: Dear viewers in our beloved Iraq, in wounded Iraq where all the forces of repression have ganged up against it, we will show you today the so-called commander of the Liberation Army, the army that comprises Sudanese, Egyptian, and other Arabs who reside in Iraq and who were recruited by the Syrian intelligence to slaughter this people, obliterate their identity, and deepen their already serious wounds. We now have the commander of the Jaysh al-Tahrir. The interrogator asks him to give his name, and the Jaysh al-Tahrir commander says that his name is Qadim al-Duma Umar; he is a Sudanese from Al-Fashir area in Sudan and was born in 1964. Umar adds that he has been in Iraq for the past 15 years and he used to work in the antiquities department, but then moved to work in a restaurant called the Cairo restaurant, adding: I joined Jaysh al-Tahrir Command in Latakiya one year ago. Asked to confirm whether he meant Latakia in Syria, Umar replies: Yes in Syria. Asked who recruited him, Umar says: I do not know his name in full but we called him Abu-Bakr. On how he met Abu-Bakr, Umar says: He met us on the Syrian-Iraqi borders. He took us from there to the camps in Latakia where we were recruited as members of the Jaysh al-Tahrir. Asked whether he met any Syrian intelligence officers, Umar says: I used to meet with them, but I did not know their names. Abu-Bakr was the official who was directly responsible for us. Asked about his role within the group, Umar says: We used to be divided into two groups, the group that carries out slaughtering operations and the group that carries out explosions. Asked about the tasks he had to carry out in Iraq, Umar says: Every commander had to kill 10 people or more. My task was to shoot 10 soldiers and not to slaughter them for I was the commander. Asked whether he knew those he killed, Umar says: They were soldiers, but I did not know them personally. I did not know whether they were Iraqi or US soldiers. Umar says that he was relieved of his duties because he failed to train as many recruits as possible. They wanted me to recruit all the Arabs that were there but I could not carry out such a task. Asked how many persons he has personally killed, Umar says: The number of those I killed directly by opening fire on them is 10. The interrogator, addressing Umar says: Yesterday, the criminals, and the defendants who confessed said that they used to slaughter sheep or any other animal during their training in Latakia. According to the other confessions and the accurate information I got from the defendants whom we see seated behind you, the training to slaughter people used to take place on real people who were kidnapped from Iraq or were brother Syrians who were sentenced to death, and that you all in the Latakia camp were the first to have volunteered to slaughter people. Umar replies: Sir, the word slaughtering is a general term, comprising killing by shooting or slaughtering with a knife. He added that in light of this concept, I was the first to volunteer to kill people by shooting them. Asked how many he killed while in Latakia camp, Umar says: There was no one there to be shot. Umar then speaks about the group that carries out explosion. He says this group planted explosives to kill US soldiers. Asked about financing and how was he paid, how much his salary was and that of the members of the group, Umar says that the person who used to contact him, whose name he does not know used to make him promises at first. Umar says: The first time, he promised to give me sums of money if I succeed to recruit the largest group possible. He told me: I will give you $10,000 for each person that you recruit. He used to make promises but he never paid anything. He added that he used to give us very modest sums of money so that we can start carrying out the operation and that he will pay us the entire sum later. We kept waiting for the money, which never came. Concluding, Umar says that he regrets his actions against the Iraqis and calls on them to unite, act as one family, close rank, and open your eyes and be wary of foreigners so that you may protect your country from the evildoers. The second one to be interviewed says he is a 38-year old Sudanese named Muhammad Hammud Muhammad Musa. He says that he is a member of Jaysh al-Tahrir and Jihad, adding that he has been working for this group for a long time and does not know
[osint] High wire act for Italy's Berlusconi
High wire act for Italy's Berlusconi Prime Minister may face a no-confidence vote. By Sophie Arie | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor April 20, 2005 ROME - A small cartoon in Italy's largest newspaper Tuesday showed a simple sketch of a roof and a chimney with smoke puffing out at the top. Written in the smoke, referring to Italy's prime minister: I'm not resigning. While all eyes watched the Vatican as the cardinals elected a new pope, Italy's pugnacious billionaire PM was battling for his political life. After Britain's Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi is America's staunchest ally in Iraq (with 3,160 Italian troops there). But he now faces a possible no-confidence vote in parliament Thursday. In a nation with a history of changing leaders as often as some people change TV channels, the media mogul is determined to be the first post-World War II prime minister to serve a full five-year term. But after four years, his center-right coalition government is in trouble. His stance on Iraq has hurt him, but the decisive issue is the stagnant Italian economy, analysts say. Although the majority of Italians opposed the war, their biggest concerns are much closer to home, says Franco Pavoncello, a political scientist at Rome's John Cabot University. Silvio Berlusconi offered them an economic miracle. And so far he has failed to deliver. When Mr. Berlusconi - with his personal rags to riches success story - won a landslide election victory here in 2001, he promised Italy an economic miracle. But rising prices and a stagnant economy have left thousands of Italians struggling to make ends meet. The Italian economy has not fully recovered from the post 9/11 global slowdown. Since 2001, according to a World Economic Forum survey, Italy, the world's fifth-largest economy, has fallen 26 places to 47th in the list of the worlds' most competitive countries. Botswana is placed at number 45. Italian public debt has continued to grow under Berlusconi, raising warnings from European Union officials that it is well above the agreed barrier of 3 percent of GDP. We are seeing middle class families whose checks are bouncing, who are having their electricity and telephone lines cut off because they cannot pay the bills, says Guerino di Tora, Rome director of Italy's largest charity, Caritas. It's a new kind of poverty. These people are not starving. But they have lost the quality of life they used to know. According to a Demos poll, for the first time since World War II, almost 60 percent of Italians believe their children will be worse off economically than they are. The government statistics office, ISTAT, reported in 2004 that 18.5 percent of Italian families - almost 10 million people - are facing poverty. For those no longer able to afford a meal out, recent news that their prime minister earned $17 million from his media empire last year just rubbed salt into their wounds. The public made their discontent known on April 2 when they swung in favor of the opposition left in 11 of the 13 regions up for reelection. The defeat - described by Italian media as a massacre - was a strong signal that, after 11 years in politics, the Berlusconi era may be drawing to a close. Critics say that the prime minister has spent too much time furthering his own personal business interests and evading charges of corruption. He has not concentrated enough on making Italy's economy a success. Berlusconi insists that such perceptions are off base. He has focused on tax cuts as his best chance of winning back public support before next year's scheduled elections. The poor showing in regional elections prompted centrist party allies in parliament to revolt earlier this week. The prime minister reportedly agreed to resign Monday, but then changed his mind. This is typical Berlusconi. When his back is against the wall, he is willing to take risks. He is gambling on the fact that his allies won't have the guts to let the government fall, says Roberto Menotti, political analyst at the Aspen Institute in Rome. Some analysts predict that Berlusconi may yet hold on to power by sheer force of personality. The opposition, led by former EU President Romano Prodi, is seen as weak, divided, and unprepared for government. Wednesday, Berlusconi is to address parliament and the senate before Thursday's vote of confidence. The leader of the House of Liberties alliance must convince his recalcitrant allies - Gianfranco Fini, of the post Fascist National Alliance, Umberto Bossi of the Northern League, and Marco Follini of Union of Christian Democrats - not to withhold their votes in the parliament where they have a majority. And Berlusconi seems determined to complete his five year-term. They are wrong if they think they can kill my relationship with the Italian people, the great and real change that I represent, he was reported saying to Italian media in recent days. You are trying to hide my charisma, the Corriere della Sera
[osint] Canada takes steps to lure more foreign students into country
...and terrorists? Bruce http://www.freep.com/news/nw/canada19e_20050419.htm Canada takes steps to lure more foreign students into country April 19, 2005 BY BETH DUFF-BROWN ASSOCIATED PRESS TORONTO -- Canada opened its arms wider to foreigners Monday, enticing international students to join its workforce once they graduate and making it easier for immigrant parents to join children already in Canada. The United States has tried to limit the number of refugees and immigrants since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and also restrict the illegal immigrants who cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Canada, by contrast, is seeking more immigrants to complement its population of 33 million, which needs more skilled workers as well as students on college campuses. Immigration Minister Joe Volpe said Monday he hopes to triple the approvals of parents and grandparents seeking citizenship in Canada to about 18,000 a year. He also said the government would spend an additional $58 million over the next two years to address a backlog of 110,000 cases. Volpe said that starting this week, parents and grandparents waiting for their immigration visas to be processed would be granted 5-year, multiple-entry visas so they could visit their children in the meantime. We manifest our identity as Canadians by fulfilling our obligations and responsibilities as Canadians, Volpe said. Volpe said Canada would also relax work rules on most foreign students, who are currently restricted to on-campus jobs while they study. They'll be able to work off campus, and, once they graduate, they'll be able to work for two years, instead of one, in jobs outside the major metropolises of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. He said the new rules would encourage foreign graduates to seek jobs outside big cities and help universities attract more students, who, on average, contribute about $20,000 a year to the schools they attend. International students who choose to stay in Canada after they graduate greatly contribute to our labor market, Volpe said. Whether they choose to stay in Canada or return to their home country, they will have acquired Canadian experience and values that will enrich their lives. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Kafirs, Believers, and Others
Wahhabism Grows in Sandzak, Clashes With Traditional Muslim Community Banja Luka Reporter in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 30 Mar 05 pp 26, 27 [Report by Goran Tarlac: Kafirs, Believers, and Others] Commotion in Serbia has not died down since the appearance of leaflets in Novi Pazar a few weeks ago that appealed to Sandzak Muslims not to participate in the celebration of Christian holidays, because that was a major sin and caused God's anger. In Plav, Rozaje, and Gusinje, Montenegrin towns in the Sandzak region were Muslims are the majority population, young man wearing pants with shortened legs and girls in veils and long black dresses can be seen. Wahhabis and Red Rose They are said to be Wahhabis, members of an Islamic sect, who have begun to practice different religious rites and confront local khojas. The believers in mosques in Plav and Rozaje have clashed over how to pray. Young people wearing similar clothes can be seen in towns and villages throughout Sandzak. PhD Radoslav Gacinovic, expert on national security and terrorism from Belgrade, said that Wahhabis had an eye on the Raska area (the preferred Serbian term for Sandzak) for their activities, but offered no proof. He pointed out the danger of Red Rose, the Wahhabi branch allegedly active in Bosnia-Herzegovina [B-H] and trying to infiltrate Serbia. Colonel Momir Stojanovic, chief of the Military Security Agency [VBA] of the S-M [Serbia-Montenegro] Army, also pointed out that based on information gathered by his service and in contacts with the security agencies of other countries, we could expect a significant inflow of radical Islam and terrorism into the West Balkans, including S-M territory, in the near future. The VBA's operative information indicates that Wahhabi and Red Rose, Islamic extremist organizations, are active in Rasko-Polimska area and Northern Montenegro, while Tariqat is active in Macedonia and Al-Qa'ida cells in Kosmet and Northern Albania, Stojanovic pointed out. Evidence is mounting of establishing and reinforcement of ties between the agents of international terrorism and the agents of extremist and terrorist activities in Kosovo and Metohija, Raska-Polimska area, and Northern Montenegro, Stojanovic specified. He explained that activity on the part of extremists and terrorist organizations was a part of implementation of the strategic goal of Islamic extremism, namely a single Islamic state in the Balkans and the creation of the so-called Green Transversal. Religious Chic Those more familiar with the situation in Sanzdak say that Wahhabis have found fertile ground, especially in Sjenica, and that Wahhabism ideas came to the area either via students and khojas trained in Islamic countries or via students and others who went to B-H 10 or 12 years ago. Young Sead Jasavic, a student of the Shariah law in Saudi Arabia, began to spread knowledge about Wahhabism during holidays in his native Plav and now he already has followers, so to speak. In Rasko-Polimska area and Northern Montenegro today, young people in mosques pray in a different way than most people. Those familiar with them say that there are about 200 of them and that they are Wahhabis. Some of them crossed over from B-H because of the increased activity of US special troops and the SFOR [UN-led Stabilization Force]. Bajazit Cecunjanin, until recently secretary of the Committee of the Islamic Community in Plav, confided in a reporter of Belgrade daily Glas Javnosti that he was one of those: I think we should strive to look different from unbelievers. We try to practice Islam in the best possible way, Cecunjanin explained. Rifat Fejzic, reis [leader] of the Islamic Community of Montenegro, did not think it was a major problem that individuals were joining that movement, but found it unacceptable to impose on people a mezheb (method of prayer) different from the one practiced in the area for hundreds of years before the appearance of the Wahhabi movement. Popular Imam Bugari In late 2004, Vecernje Novosti carried a part of a speech by famous Sarajevo Imam Sulejman Bugari in which he called Muslims in Sandzak to jihad and a boycott of Serbian and Montenegrin products. Bugari then told Beta agency that the text carried by Novosti had nothing to do with the truth. It was mentioned in the text that I had called Muslims to jihad, which is not true. Our community is having major problems, and I have no time for such stories. I do not have the time to explain to people whose and what products to buy or not to buy, Bugari said in his short statement for Beta. Hafiz [title for a person who has memorized the Koran] Bugari, who comes from Orahovac, Kosovo, and is now imam of the Sarajevo White Mosque, has become very popular in Sandzak in the past few weeks and gathered many followers, especially among young people. He has had the support of the media in spreading his teaching -- every Thursday a one-hour show on Regional Television Novi Pazar. Bugari's unofficial
[osint] Traditional Medicine Derivatives Kill Cancer Cells
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNewsstoryID=8216894 Traditional Medicine Derivatives Kill Cancer Cells Mon Apr 18, 2005 05:46 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Compounds derived from indirubin, a component of a Chinese herbal medicine, can cause human cancer cells to self-destruct, researchers have shown. A traditional Chinese medicine, Danggui Longhui Wan, is used to treat leukemia. In previous experiments, the active ingredient indirubin has seen to kill cells by blocking an enzyme called CDK and thus interrupting the normal cell cycle. Now, Dr. Richard Jove, from the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, and colleagues report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on another way that derivatives of the indirubin kill cancer cells. The researchers discovered that the compounds induce breast and prostate cancer cells to shut down and die by inhibiting a signaling pathway, known as Src-Stat3. These findings provide evidence of another mechanism for indirubin's antitumor activity, Jove's group writes. One of the derivatives, designated E804, was particularly potent in destroying cancer cells and has potential as an antitumor therapeutic agent in epithelial malignancies, the team concludes. SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, April 18, 2005. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Middle East -- the Syrian Challenge
Burkina Faso: Commentary Suggests Iran, Syria Bush's Next Targets Ouagadougou Sidawaya in French 11 Mar 05 p 40 [Commentary: Middle East -- the Syrian Challenge] The show of force by the Hizballah group last week will not change anything, nor will the moderate opposition's call on the United States not to interfere in the internal affairs of Lebanon. Syria will have to withdraw from Lebanon, and worst of all, the current Damascus authorities will have to give in to the new American version of democratic order. The pro- and anti-Syrian demonstrations that are currently shaking Lebanon are bringing to the forefront once again the shaky history between the two countries, which nothing should have separated. Syria and Lebanon, both of which belonged to the Ottoman Turkish Empire and created at gunpoint under Suliman the Magnificent, were separated officially only in 1920, due to French colonialism. After the First World War, there was the need to redefine the colonial boundaries in the Middle East in order that all of the allied powers could have their share of the cake. The Turkish Empire, which had lost its Afro-Mediterranean portion, lost Syria and Lebanon, with the first going to Great Britain, and Lebanon becoming a French protectorate. However, since common multi-secular history cannot be easily erased, one understands the Hizballah of Hasan Nasrallah for going so far during its demonstrations in favor of maintaining big brother Syrian in Lebanon. Syria took roots in Lebanon at the request of the Lebanese themselves, during the time when the civil war broke out in 1977. This is proof that the Syrian presence on Lebanese soil is not as illegal as one might think, even if Walid Jumblatt, spokesperson of the opposition, after the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri, asked Americans to refrain from any rash interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon. However, the demonstrations of 7 March, just like Walid Jumblatt, came to nothing, for George Walker Bush would not budge. Damascus must withdraw from Lebanon before the elections of next spring, says the American President. Referring to regional urgencies, Bush talked about the fight against terrorism, as well as nuclear proliferation, while making a clear allusion to Iran. Bush is already talking of the day when the Iranian people will be free, as if to justify the next crusade against this country. The main reason underlying Bush's determination to democratize the entire Middle East is to strengthen further the security and military force of Israel in the region. The secondary reason is to control the immense oil resources in the region, and to eradicate the remaining communist pockets. The crusade, which started in 1997 against the Taliban of Afghanistan (former allies, who became dangerous due to their religious rigor), continued against Saddam Husayn's Iraq, and must now be extended to Syria and Iran. In the case of Syria, it has to do first of all with the end of the only existing Ba'ath regime, after Saddam Husayn. Once the purifying work is done, it will be followed by that of political civilizing, with democratic elections of men in favor of Washington, and hence Tel Aviv. This follows the Iraqi pattern, with all of the uncertainties and resistance that brings about wars of colonization. By the way, neither Afghanistan nor Iraq is yet to be pacified, despite the installation of democratic governments in those countries. However, with a docile Syrian Government, the issue of the occupation of the Golan Heights by Israeli troops since 1967 will be given a miss. This issue had always been raised under Hafiz al-Asad, and also under Bashar al-Asad, his son. The problem is that from the summit of the Golan, one has a clear view of the Israeli state, and so Tel Aviv cannot accept the fact that terrorists govern Syria. This is therefore a strategic issue, just as the occupation of the West Bank [historic land of Israel, according to orthodox Jews, who still call it Judea and Samaria] and also an economic one, since the Golan plateau is the watershed of the region. Tel Aviv draws 80 percent of its water resources from the Lake Genesareth. It is also a global geo-strategic stake, since the fall of the current government of Damascus would automatically mean the loss of influence of Moscow in the Near and Middle East. One therefore understands the prudence of Moscow on the Syrian issue; Vladimir Putin recently called for consultation among the big powers, prior to any coercive action against Damascus or Theran. However, since it is cornered by the Chechen issue, and also by the difficulties of its growing economy, Moscow has no choice but to follow the movement, just like in March 2003, in the hope of benefiting from some dividends through financial compensation and the silence of Washington on the human rights violations in Chechnya. Since France has become a medium power, and China has no
[osint] New pope intervened against Kerry in US 2004 election campaign Tue Apr 19, 6:20 PM ET
My kinda prelate. --S. http://beta.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050419/pl_afp/vaticanpopeus New pope intervened against Kerry in US 2004 election campaign Tue Apr 19, 6:20 PM ET German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican theologian who was elected Pope Benedict XVI, intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering bishops to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including presidential candidate John Kerry. In a June 2004 letter to US bishops enunciating principles of worthiness for communion recipients, Ratzinger specified that strong and open supporters of abortion should be denied the Catholic sacrament, for being guilty of a grave sin. He specifically mentioned the case of a Catholic politician consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws, a reference widely understood to mean Democratic candidate Kerry, a Catholic who has defended abortion rights. The letter said a priest confronted with such a person seeking communion must refuse to distribute it. A footnote to the letter also condemned any Catholic who votes specifically for a candidate because the candidate holds a pro-abortion position. Such a voter would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for holy communion, the letter read. The letter, which was revealed in the Italian magazine L'Espresso last year, was reportedly only sent to US Catholic bishops, who discussed it in their convocation in Denver, Colorado, in mid-June. Sharply divided on the issue, the bishops decided to leave the decision on granting or denying communion to the individual priest. Kerry later received communion several times from sympathetic priests. Nevertheless, in the November election, a majority of Catholic voters, who traditionally supported Democratic Party candidates, shifted their votes to Republican and eventual winner George W. Bush. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] BOSNIA: Udba Is Our Fate II: Intelligence Operatives Making Threats
B-H Islamic Magazine Editor in Chief Receives Death Threat From Alleged Arab Spy Sarajevo Saff in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 15 Jan 05 pp 32,33 [Second installment of report by Saff editor in chief Kemal Bakovic: Udba Is Our Fate II: Intelligence Operatives Making Threats] We announced that, in this edition of Saff, we would identify the collaborators of the intelligence services present in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as the Bosniaks who in the previous period were the subject of intensive spying. We will not give this up; however, taking into account everything that has happened since we published the first part of the Udba [former Yugoslav secret police] Is Our Fate article, we have decided to inform the readers of these events. In the previous edition we wrote that the local and foreign intelligence services were spying and eavesdropping on the Islamic organizations present in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Without any evidence or reason, the world's intelligence organizations are trying to make out that all Arabs who work for humanitarian organizations and who came to Bosnia-Herzegovina to help in the most difficult period for our people appear criminals and potential terrorists. The reports of the intelligence services allege that the greatest Islamic authorities, such as Jusuf Kardavi and his followers in Bosnia, are terrorists. They also allege that the biggest Islamic parties in the world, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, are terrorist organizations. The intelligence organizations also have not refrained from the completely illegal eavesdropping on the diplomatic offices and personnel of friendly countries, and have invested major resources in eavesdropping on and surveillance of these people. Bakovic as Kurban We should remind our readers that, in our previous edition, we published the names of several Arabs who take money for spying on the diplomatic offices of Islamic countries and the staff of the most prominent world Islamic organizations. One of the persons whose name we published is Rasid Seta. Following the publication of the article, we received a number of threats from Seta. Considering that we reported this to the police and that the police have done absolutely nothing to stop these threats, we have decided to publish some of the messages that Seta texted to the cellular telephone of Saff's editorial office. Seta wrote, among other things: For Kemal from Rasid Seta: Everything that you wrote in your paper is a lie. But, for this you will pay with your life. For me, you are a kafir [infidel] who should be beheaded. After sending this message, Seta probably conducted an enquiry and, upon learning that Kemal Bakovic was attending an Arab language course, sent the following message: I know where you are. I know that you are attending an Arab language course. I never forget my enemies. You will get a nice present when you finish the course. When one of the colleagues explained to him that Kemal was not attending the course and that he had learned Arabic in Jordan, Seta wrote: Ja kelb [you fake], what brought you to Jordan? He subsequently threatened to destroy the Saff Web page and Kemal Bakovic's private mail. To show that he cared about the opinion of the ulama [Muslim scholars], he sent a message that he had consulted certain scholars, who had told him that all Saff employees were kafirs and that he was allowed to take their entire property and families. The imaginative Seta then remembered that the Kurban-Bayram [Eid al-Adha -- Festival of Sacrifice] was drawing near and told Bakovic that he would, instead of paying 250 convertible marks, use Bakovic as kurban [sacrificial lamb] and thereby save a lot of money. After he received no reply to any of his messages, Seta threatened to rape Bakovic's wife and kill his child. The police obviously did not take any of these threats seriously and had no time to curb this maniac. No human rights protection organization issued a statement on this, either. Alcoholics' Revolution As an old collaborator of foreign intelligence services (we will report in detail on his activities and ties with intelligence services in one of the future editions of Saff), the editor in chief of the Slobodna Bosna magazine [Senad Avdic], a failed journalist and human being, also sided with US spies. He devoted four pages of his magazine to the retelling of our article and to wondering as to who could have supplied the Saff Taliban with the confidential documentation. Writing in the manner that he would have liked us to write, and not in the manner in which we actually wrote the said article, this person, who has been given the opportunity to put on paper the thoughts of an average alcoholic, blames Hasan Cengic [SDA -- Party for Democratic Action -- official] for everything. Who else would he blame? Unfortunately, as long as this state continues to allow such people to make public appearances, we will be
[osint] New pope risked death by deserting German army
New pope risked death by deserting German army Associated Press Apr. 19, 2005 01:30 PM Arizona Republic BERLIN - In May 1945, thousands of German prisoners of war trudged down the highway toward the Bavarian town of Bad Aibling. Among them - tired but grateful to be alive - was 18-year-old Joseph Ratzinger, who days before had risked death by deserting the German army. In three days of marching, we hiked down the empty highway, in a column that gradually became endless, the new pope recalled years later in his memoirs. The American soldiers photographed us, the young ones, most of all, in order to take home souvenirs of the defeated army and its desolate personnel. Like his predecessor, John Paul II, Ratzinger was marked by the terror-filled years of World War II. Karol Wojtyla was forced to work in a quarry and narrowly escaped arrest in a mass roundup of young men by the Germans in Krakow; Ratzinger's experiences were also harrowing. In particular, his decision to leave his army unit just after he turned military age could have cost Ratzinger his life. At the time, he knew that the dreaded SS units would shoot a deserter on the spot - or hang him from a lamppost as a warning to others. He recalled his terror when he was stopped by other soldiers. Thank God they were ones who had had enough of war and did not want to become murderers, he wrote in his book, Aus meinem Leben, published in English as Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977. They had to find a reason to let me go. I had my arm in a sling because of an injury. Comrade, you are wounded, they told him. Go on. Soon he was home with his father, Josef, and his mother, Maria. For years, he and his family had watched the Nazis strengthen their grip on Germany. His father, a policeman and a convinced anti-Nazi, moved the family at least once after clashing with local followers of the party. A local teacher, he remembered, became an ardent follower of the new movement, and tried to institute a pagan May pole ritual as more fitting of Germanic ways than the traditional, conservative Catholicism. In 1941, Ratzinger, 14, and his brother, Georg were enrolled in the Hitler Youth when it became mandatory for all boys. Soon after, he writes in his book, The Salt of the Earth, he was let out because of his intention to study for the priesthood. In 1943, like many teenage boys, he was drafted as a helper for an anti-aircraft brigade, which defended a BMW plant outside Munich. Later, he dug anti-tank trenches. When he turned 18, on April 16, 1945, he was put through basic training, alongside men in their 30s and 40s, drafted as the Third Reich went through its death agony. He was stationed near his hometown - he doesn't say where - but did not see combat with the approaching U.S. troops. After he returned home, the Americans finally arrived - and set up their headquarters in his parents 18th century farmhouse on the outskirts of the town. They identified him as a German soldier, made him put on his uniform, put up his hands, and marched him off to join other prisoners kept in a nearby meadow. Taken to a camp near Ulm, he wound up living outside for several weeks, surrounded by barbed wire. He was finally released June 19 and hitched a ride on a milk truck back to Traunstein. His family was happy to see him. Of course, for full joy, something was missing. Since the beginning of April, there had been no word from Georg, he remembered. So there was a quiet worry in our house. Suddenly, in the middle of July, in walked Georg, tanned and unharmed. He sat at the piano and banged out the hymn, Grosser Gott, wir Loben Dich, Mighty God, we Praise You as his family rejoiced. The war was truly over. The following months of regained freedom, which we now had learned to value so much, belong to the happiest months of my life, he wrote. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement
[osint] Where are the antiwar activists on Darfur?
If there's no anti-American agenda, there's no interest from the anti-war hypocrites. Bruce http://search.csmonitor.com/search_content/0419/p09s02-coop.html Where are the antiwar activists on Darfur? By Max Boot NEW YORK - To anyone who didn't know better, it might seem that the world is finally getting serious about stopping the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, which over the past two years has claimed at least 300,000 lives and displaced at least 2 million people. After months of huffing and puffing, the UN Security Council finally agreed to freeze the assets of war-crimes suspects, impose a travel ban on them, and refer them for trial to the International Criminal Court. The latter resolution was the subject of tortuous negotiations between the Bush administration, which loathes the ICC (even though it hasn't done anything wrong yet), and other Security Council members who argued, correctly, that an ICC proceeding would be the most expeditious way to get the gears of justice turning. The Security Council deserves kudos for putting its ideological differences aside in this case. But, important as the war crimes resolution is, who will deliver the bad guys to court? Not the Sudanese government, which is in cahoots with the Arab Janjaweed militia committing atrocities against blacks in Darfur, who happen to be fellow Muslims. The Islamist regime in Khartoum, led by Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, is one of the most loathsome on Earth. It has been responsible for mass murder not only in western Sudan but in the south, where victims have been black Christians and animists. The Security Council voted to send 10,700 peacekeepers to southern Sudan, but even if they're competent (history suggests otherwise), who will bring peace to Darfur in the west? At the moment, there are just 2,000 lightly armed peacekeepers from the African Union covering all of Darfur, a region the size of France. And they have no authority to stop rape, pillage, or murder; they're only supposed to monitor a meaningless cease-fire proclaimed last year between Khartoum and two rebel groups. So who'll stop the killing? That question should trouble any tender soul who has ever mindlessly muttered, Never again. That incantation is repeated after every genocide - after the Holocaust, the Cambodian killing fields, Rwanda - and yet the next time mass slaughter breaks out, the world conveniently averts its gaze. The major exceptions in recent years have been Kosovo and Bosnia, which had the good fortune to be on Western Europe's doorstep. The rest of the world is treated to high-minded clucking and, maybe, ex post facto prosecutions. The only way to save Darfur is to dispatch a large and capable military expedition. But Security Council members France, China, and Russia have blocked a UN decision on armed intervention because they covet trade ties with Sudan. That still leaves the possibility of civilized states acting independently of the UN, as they did in Kosovo. But the only nation with a serious military capacity, the US, is overstretched in Afghanistan and Iraq. The European Union should step into the breach. Its economy is as big as that of the US and its population is even bigger. But it has chosen to spend its euros on extravagant handouts for its own citizens rather than on the kind of armed forces that might bring a ray of hope to the heart of darkness. Although the European members of NATO actually have more ground troops than the US - about 1.5 million soldiers - only about 6 percent are readily deployable abroad. The Europeans could still scrape together the 25,000 to 50,000 soldiers it would take to pacify Darfur, but it would be a stretch for them, given their existing commitments, and not one they're willing to make. Even if they're not willing to send their own troops, the US and the EU could offer to provide much more logistical support to allow the African Union to dispatch more of its own peacekeepers to Sudan. That's not asking a lot, yet it's more than anyone has been willing to do so far. Remember how exercised everyone around the world was about crimes committed at Abu Ghraib? Infinitely worse deeds are being done in Darfur daily. Where's the outrage? The street rallies that might spur Western governments into action? Aside from a handful of journalists and human rights activists, the only Westerners who've shown sustained interest in Sudan are evangelical Christians, who've been exercised primarily about the fate of their coreligionists in the south. The silence of the antiwar masses speaks volumes about their priorities: They don't object to war crimes as long as they're not committed by Americans. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM
[osint] High-tech Probes Sneak Inside Your Cells
What happens when these things are left in the body? http://www.livescience.com/technology/050415_nano_probes.html High-tech Probes Sneak Inside Your Cells By Bjorn Carey LiveScience Staff Writer posted: 15 April 2005 11:03 am ET The newest generation of nano-sized probes should give scientists a look into the secret lives of nuclei within your body, researchers say. The tiny probes, called quantum dots, are a melding of biology and technology. The crystalline semiconductors with a biological protein coating are no larger than a few hundred atoms. Importantly, they shine brilliantly when hit with a laser. Quantum dots are leaps and bounds better than current fluorescent probes, according to developers Fanqing Chen of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Daniele Gerion of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Not only are the dots non-toxic to the cell, but they don't fade when exposed to light. The advantage is that they don't photo-bleach like conventional fluorescent dyes, Chen told LiveScience. The dots can stay in cells for weeks, Chen said, adding that it looks like the protective coating we put on there is quite good. The tricky part was to get the dots through a nuclear membrane. Part of the solution is just a matter of making them tiny. But nuclear membranes have gate-keeping mechanisms to keep foreign objects out. To get past this barrier, Chen borrowed a page from a virus' playbook. The virus SV40 coats itself with a special protein that allows it to sneak into the nucleus. By attaching this protein to the quantum dot, the part biological, part nano-sized semiconductor slips through the membrane. Scientists attach probes to cellular molecules, such as DNA and proteins, to monitor their travels through a cell. Similarly, the probes could be attached to disease-fighting drugs and scientists could track how they go to work, Chen said. This type of information could help doctors in prescribing medications. The work was announced last month and detailed earlier in the journal Nanoletters. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Kommersant Vlast: Reagan Provoked Us to Slam the Door
KOMMERSANT Vlast, APRIL 20, 2005 Reagan Provoked Us to Slam the Door Vlast magazine continues to publish interviews with people who shaped the Soviet Union's foreign policy in the years of 'perestroika'. Valentin Falin who at that time headed the international department of the CC CPSU, told the Vlast correspondent Marina Kalashnikova about the emergence of the new political thinking. Americans carried out the operation to deprive the USSR of currency How did you get to Gorbachev's team? In December 1985 he invited me, through Shevardnadze, to join his team. At first I refused. I said I was quite happy with my present work and was not going to change it. In January Yakovlev phoned me and asked whether I wasn't tired of my holiday-making. He had in mind my research work at the Institute of US and Canada Studies and journalist work in the Izvestia. He invited me to come to his country house. I agreed. It turned out that Yakovlev set up a group of authors of the foreign-policy section of Gorbachev's report to the 27th CPSU congress. He said to me that I was completely free to write anything I think fit to change our foreign-policy doctrine and course in all directions. I insisted that a passage on China be included. Another point of mine was to mention Reagan who provoked us to slam the door, but, as I said, we will not please him with this act. Instead we will work out a doctrine of defence sufficiency. Yakovlev looked through my text and added something. That was how the new political thinking came into being. How was the main task of perestroika' in foreign policy formulated? The task was to build a wall between the period of Gromyko and the new period. Shevardnadze was appointed Foreign Minister, although he didn't know the history of the problem, what was to follow what, and in general, didn't want to know. He was not a professional diplomat. Just remember the Decembrist Lunin who would say: Politics is the same profession as, say, medicine. Especially foreign policy. And what was the international department like, where you landed in the heat of perestroika'? I was appointed there in November 1988. Work was built on the principle of partnership, as it were. We had about 200 partners, most of them the so-called Marxist communist parties and parties of socialist orientation. The rest were bourgeois-democratic, social-democratic and liberal parties. For some reason or other, representatives of Judaism were favourably disposed toward me and asked me either to help the Moscow synagogue, or build synagogues on the territory of Ukraine and Byelorussia, or do something somewhere. I was given an assignment to reduce the number of jobs at three departments: international, on connections with the socialst countries and on the personnel working abroad, and merge them in one department. Now we should have a new questionnaire for people going abroad for work or on a visit on just one page. The only reason for refusal was access to classified information with a limitation period from three to five years. It's intertesting to note that the then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Abe, didn't want to deal with our Foreign Ministry, but wished to get in touch with me personally. He talked on the subject of the northern territories, and there emerged an interesting model of solving the problem. I suggested that Gorbachev use it during his visit to Japan in April 1991. But he didn't, the favourable moment was missed and everything crumbled. My first proposal as the head of the international department (and one of the first clashes with Shevardnadze) was one on the establishment of trade relations with South Korea. The Foreign Ministry objected, fearing a conflict with North Korea. With Yakovlev's help we managed to persuade Shevardnadze to agree and he, with Gorbachev's consent, assured the leadership of North Korea that our relations would not be spoilt. My model was simple: to recognize the status quo of the two Korean states, just as we did with regard of the status quo of the two German states. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to talk of the normalization of the situation on the Korean Peninsula. And what did you suggest for foreign policy toward Europe? I had an argument with the Minister of Defence, Dmitry Yazov. What's the purpose of having 60,00 tanks. If there's going to be a war in Europe, it'll be nuclear. And he answered: Honestly, I don't know the reason myself. Recently I arrived to a tank corps at night unawares and ordered ready for action'. One-third of the tanks couldn't start their engines. The inertia of thinking is a bad thing. When we had no nuclear weapons or very few of them, tanks were the most effective means for crossing atomic fields after explosion. The United States built a mine belt along the eastern border of the Federal Republic of Germany, and our tanks were supposed to cross it. Our industry manufactured 3,000 tanks annually, and they were the
[osint] Brussels Policy Disarray in Georgia and Moldova
Friday, April 15, 2005 -- Volume 2, Issue 74 EU POLICY DISARRAY IN GEORGIA AND MOLDOVA by Vladimir Socor Javier Solana's ill-prepared, mishap-filled visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi (see EDM, April 11) culminated with an incident that was kept under wraps for some days before finally outing in Brussels. The European Union's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy was, in effect, set up by Putin to hold a meeting with the Abkhaz and South Ossetian secessionist leaders, Sergei Bagapsh and Eduard Kokoiti, whom Putin had brought to his residence for this purpose. Bagapsh's and Kokoiti's preparations to go to Sochi had been publicly reported during the preceding days (see EDM, April 6). However, Solana seemed caught off-guard and accepted Putin's entreaty to meet and hold a conversation with the two. Rightly aghast at the prospect that this meeting can be construed as precedent-setting, EU officials in Brussels contend (still off-the-record) that Solana delivered a strong message during the brief discussion: namely, that those conflicts can only be resolved politically, not through force; and that the EU supports Georgia's territorial integrity. These talking points sound, however, no different from Russia's standard rhetoric. While Russia and the EU may differ over the meaning of those phrases, the EU is not being heard objecting to Russia's military seizure of Georgian territories and their ongoing, manifest incorporation de facto into Russia. Last week in Brussels, after three months of desultory discussions, the EU finally rejected even the most modest options for a Border Monitoring Operation (BMO) in Georgia, which could have replaced the 150 well-equipped observers and eight posts of the OSCE's BMO after its Russian-dictated termination. Instead of a mission that would have met the two basic requirements -- presence on and reporting from the border -- the EU decided to send three observers, to be stationed in an office in Tbilisi and travel periodically to the border. On April 11-13, the EU's newly appointed Special Representative for Moldova, Ambassador Adriaan Jakobovits de Szeged of the Netherlands, paid his first visit to Moldova in that capacity. Tiraspol leaders Igor Smirnov and Valery Litskay seemed pleased to confirm at the concluding news conference, The EU does not have and will not soon have a conflict-resolution plan . In this respect, the key event will be the Russia-EU summit on May 10 in Moscow, when the [Moldova/Transnistria] issue will be in the focus. To Tiraspol's delight and Chisinau's dismay, the EU envoy confirmed that any EU participation in conflict-resolution negotiations would only be possible at the request of both sides (Interfax, April 12). In practice, this means subjecting the EU's participation to Tiraspol's veto -- or that of Moscow behind Tiraspol's. It also implies continuing to treat Moldova and Transnistria as co-equal parties. This notion seemed to pervade Jakobovits' remarks to official interlocutors in Chisinau. Dialogue among the sides, search for a common denominator, mutually acceptable solutions were the EU envoy's key words in this fourteenth year of the conflict and of the negotiating process. He urged the Moldovan parliament leaders to establish links with the Transnistria Supreme Soviet, again implying equivalence between a democratically-elected body and the antithesis of one. The EU insists on treating this as a conflict between two parts of the country, instead of recognizing it for a Russia-Moldova conflict. This evasion partly explains why the visiting Special Representative avoided any discussion of Russia's refusal to withdraw the troops from Moldova (Moldpres, Basapres, April 12-13). The EU in Brussels is similarly failing to react to Moscow's official statements (which are multiplying in the run-up to the summit) about retention of Russian troops in Moldova indefinitely. Jakobovits urged Chisinau to concede a far-reaching autonomy to Transnistria, based on existing positive models of autonomy in Europe. He overlooked the fact that none of those positive examples could have been created if Russian troops were in place there; and none would have been possible if one of the sides had been led by citizens and officers of Russia on assignment there, as is the case in Transnistria. The envoy stated that the 2002 Kiev document (mainly Russian-drafted) and the 2004 mediators' document (mainly Russia-OSCE) contain some valuable parts that can serve as a basis for resuming the negotiations. In Sochi on April 5, Solana had said that he highly appreciated parts of the Kremlin's 2003 Kozak Memorandum (see EDM, April 6). All of those documents envisaged Moldova's federalization under mainly Russian guarantees. In his meetings with Moldovan parliamentary leaders in Chisinau, the EU's ambassador successfully insisted on conducting the entire dialogue in Russian, instead of allowing the use of
[osint] The United Nations: rot at the top
http://www.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=181736 http://www.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=181736c=96 c=96 The United Nations: rot at the top Paul Greenberg Columnist In his latest wholly inadequate performance, Kofi Annan claimed he'd been exonerated by the latest report on the latest U.N. scandal, the $64 billion Oil-for-Food swindle. Back in the real world, which begins as soon as you leave that Tower of Babel on the East River, the report found that His Excellency had failed to investigate conflicts of interest at the U.N. And generally managed the whole Oil-for-Food scandal badly. As this investigation notes, the U.N.'s secretary-general showed a remarkable incuriosity about where all this money was going. Much of it seems to have wound up in the pockets of go-betweens like his own son Kojo and the U.N. official whom he picked to run the program - Benon Sevan, whom the investigation found had a grave conflict of interest. While claiming exoneration, Mr. Annan said he would take note of the report's criticism of his actions, or rather inaction. Sound familiar? This is the same discreet tack he took after his indifference to the genocide in Rwanda was revealed. For a sense of the horrors Kofi Annan has presided over, it's hard to beat the movie Hotel Rwanda. There should be continuous showings of it on a big screen behind the rostrum whenever he rises to give one of his long, platitudinous speeches about world peace. So no one is misled His real policy in times of moral crisis? Wash his hands of responsibility. Kofi Annan's infamous instruction to the commander of the U.N.'s peacekeeping force in Rwanda, Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, who actually wanted to do something to prevent the massacres there, remains a classic example of carefully nuanced neutrality between good and evil: You should make every effort not to compromise your impartiality or to act beyond your mandate but may exercise your discretion to do so should this be essential for the evacuation of foreign nationals. As for the natives, who cares? If a 19th-century imperial power had shown such a fine disregard for the lives, property and welfare of its colonial subjects, it would have earned the obloquy of enlightened opinion. But when the U.N. and its secretary-general do the same, they are defended by all right-thinking members of the left. It's an ingrained reflex by now. When his role in Rwanda came to light, Kofi Annan would say only that I believed at that time that I was doing my best. Even worse, he may have been. Just as he did his best in the Balkans, where he presided over the massacre at Srebrenica with supreme indifference. His best remains bloody awful, as this latest investigation reveals. Exonerated? To quote Mark Pieth, a member of the independent commission assigned to conduct the investigation into this monumental scandal: We did not exonerate Kofi Annan. We said he was not dishonest, but at the same time he mismanaged the inquiry. ... We should not brush this off. A certain mea culpa would have been appropriate. Instead, Kofi Annan has been brushing off the commission's criticisms of himself like mad. If this report was an exoneration, you have to wonder what an expose would be. Considering the dearth of any real influence the United Nations has, its secretary-general can't do too much harm beyond giving aid and comfort to the Saddam Husseins of the world while they commit their crimes. But think of what the United Nations might have been under better management. The great tragedy of that organization isn't the evil it condones but the good it fails to do. Imagine a United Nations that stood up for freedom instead of betraying it at every turn. Imagine a world in which all that Oil-for-Food money had actually gone for food - instead of billions being siphoned off by Saddam and his accomplices. Imagine a world in which international help for tsunami-stricken survivors in places like Banda Aceh on Sumatra would be delivered in less than the month it took the U.N. to act. The U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines were on the case in days, maybe hours. But as long as Kofi Annan heads the United Nations, such a world is hard to imagine. No, all the U.N.'s various problems are not going to be solved simply by finding the U.N. another secretary-general. But it would be a good start. Address correspondence to Paul Greenberg, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053 C 2005 The Joplin Globe http://www.joplinglobe.com/ . A subsidiary of Community Newspaper Holdings, http://www.cnhi.com/ Inc. Terms of use http://www.joplinglobe.com/terms.php for this service. Read our privacy guidelines http://www.joplinglobe.com/privacy.php . Contact us. http://www.joplinglobe.com/contact/index.php [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable
[osint] Dollars of Terror
Dollars of Terror By Rachel Ehrenfeld http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/authors.asp?ID=579 FrontPageMagazine.com http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=17730 | April 18, 2005 When referring to the enemy's money we are usually concerned with how the terrorists collect the funds they need. As we know, the government efforts to stop terrorists financing have not been very successful thus far. However, equally, if not more disturbing is the possibility that terrorists may be using their money to buy into our national infrastructure in order to undermine our economy and security from within. Was Ptech, the Massachusetts-based company, used in this manner? The privately owned technology company, based in Quincy, Massachusetts, received at least $20 million in financing from Saudi investors between 1994, when it was founded, and 2001. Fourteen million came from Yassin Al-Qadi, who was listed as a specially designated global terrorist on October 12, 2001. Ptech is used primarily to develop enterprise blueprints at the highest level of US government and corporate infrastructure. These blueprints hold every important functional, operational, and technical detail of the enterprise. A secondary use of this powerful tool is to build other smart tools in a short period of time. Ptech's clients in 2001 included the Department of Justice, the Department of Energy, Customs, Air Force, the White House, the FAA, IBM, Sysco, Aetna, and Motorola, to name just a few. Examples of information gathered utilizing Ptech's capabilities would include the following: A complete blueprint of a nuclear waste disposal site would detail the security procedures required to access military bases during transfer of nuclear waste materials. It would also include security rules, revealing where tight security searches vs. random searches exist for conducting detailed identity screening and security checks. These are typically noted in the architecture process, and surely, would be of interest to terrorists. A second example is a complete blueprint of food distribution patterns, which would include food suppliers, warehouse locations, distributors, vehicles and schedules. With this knowledge, fraudulent deliveries of contaminated food would not be difficult to accomplish. Another example is Product specifications in the blueprint for Smartcards as implemented in various defense facilities. It would include enough information to provide templates for duplication, and for unauthorized production of fake Smart IDs, which are a basic tool in the arsenal of criminals and terrorists alike. Ptech's Middle East branch called Horizons, received projects directly from Ptech, and is used to outsource projects for Ptech's US clients. Other clients come from the Middle East and include clients such as the Egyptian military, the Saudi Bin Laden Company, and the Afghan based BTC Bin Laden Telecom, which provided pre-paid telephone calls. Among Ptech's top investors and management in 2001 was Yassin Al-Qadi, who was listed as a specially designated global terrorist on October 12, 2001. His investment of $14 million in Ptech in 1998 made him Ptech's major investor. Al-Qadi was the Director of the Saudi-based Muwafaq Foundation (Blessed Relief) that fronted for, and funded, Makhtab Al-Khidamat (MK), Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the Abu-Sayyaf organization, to name just a few. According to a Treasury Department letter to Switzerland's Attorney General in November 2001, there was a reasonable basis to believe that Mr. Kadi has a long history of financing and facilitating the activities of terrorists and terrorist-related organizations, often, acting through seemingly-legitimate charitable enterprises and businesses. Al-Qadi's businesses extended throughout the world, and included banking, diamonds, chemicals, construction, transportation, and real estate. It would be hard to find a more strategically placed individual to advance the agenda of Al-Qaeda, or any other terrorist organization. Last August, the Swiss government indicted Al-Qadi for financing terrorism. The identities and connections of some other Ptech major investors and managers should have also raised a red flag: Suliman Biheiri, an Egyptian, is alleged by the government to have funneled $3.7 million from the Saudi funded charity, the SAAR Foundation, to Islamist terrorists through BMI, a now-defunct New Jersey-based Islamic investment firm of which he was the founder and president, and which fronted for and funded Hamas. Biheiri, who was convicted in October 2004, for lying about businesses with Hamas' Mousa Abu Marzook, was already in prison for immigration fraud. He also had links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda's money-laundering machine, the Al-Taqwa network. One of Al-Taqwa's companies, which was designated as a terrorist entity, was used not only to fund Al-Qaeda, but also to launder Saddam Hussein's money. Yakub Mirza, a Pakistani, was not only a business
[osint] The Church and Islam
The Church and Islam. La Civiltà Cattolica Breaks the Ceasefire Through the prestigious magazine, the Vatican denounces with unusual harshness the oppression of Christians in Muslim countries. A testimony from Egypt ROMA There is a conspicuous absence among the new cardinals created on October 21 by John Paul II: Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The current explanation is that Fitzgerald was not made cardinal because of his excessively placid approach to Islam. And it is true that, together with this exclusion, an article was printed in La Civiltà Cattolica that contrasts markedly with the matter of Fitzgeralds rebuke. La Civiltà Cattolica, edited by a group of Jesuits in Rome, is a very special magazine. Every one of its articles is reviewed by the Vatican secretary of state before publication. So the magazine reflects his thought faithfully. In its October 18 edition, La Civiltà Cattolica published a strikingly severe article on the condition of Christians in Muslim countries. The central thesis of the article is that in all of its history, Islam has shown a warlike and conquering face; that for almost a thousand years, Europe lived under its constant threat; and that what remains of the Christian population in Islamic countries is still subjected to perpetual discrimination, with episodes of bloody persecution. What follows is an ample extract from the article printed in La Civiltà Cattolica no. 3680, October 18, 2003, and used here with the kind permission of the magazine: Christians in Islamic Countries by Giuseppe De Rosa S.I. How do Christians in Muslim-majority countries live? [...] We must first highlight a seemingly rather curious fact: in all the countries of North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco), before the Muslim invasion and despite incursions by vandals, there were blossoming Christian communities that contributed to the universal Church great personalities, such as Tertullian; Saint Ciprian, bishop of Carthage, martyred in 258; Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo; and Saint Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe. But after the Arab conquest, Christianity was absorbed by Islam to such an extent that today it has a significant presence only in Egypt, with the Coptic Orthodox and other tiny Christian minorities, which make up 7-10 percent of the Egyptian population. The same can be said of the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Mesopotamia), in which there were flourishing Christian areas prior to the Islamic invasion, and where today there are only small Christian communities, with the exception of Lebanon, where Christians make up a significant part of the population. As for present-day Turkey, this was in the first Christian centuries the land in which Christianity bore its best fruits in the areas of liturgy, theology, and monastic life. The invasion of the Seljuk Turks and the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmet II (1453) lead to the founding of the Ottoman empire and to the near destruction of Christianity in the Anatolian peninsula. Thus today in Turkey Christians number approximately 100,000, among whom are a small number of Orthodox, who live around Phanar, the see of the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople, who has the primacy of honor in the Orthodox world and who holds communion with eight patriarchs and many autocephalous Churches in both East and West, with approximately 180 million faithful. In conclusion, we may state in historical terms that in all the places where Islam imposed itself by military force, which has few historical parallels for its rapidity and breadth, Christianity, which had been extraordinarily vigorous and rooted for centuries, practically disappeared or was reduced to tiny islands in an endless Islamic sea. It is not easy to explain how that could have happened. [...] In reality, the reduction of Christianity to a small minority was not due to violent religious persecution, but to the conditions in which Christians were forced to live in the organization of the Islamic state. [...] THE WARRIOR FACE OF ISLAM: JIHAD According to Islamic law, the world is divided into three parts: dar al-harb (the house of war), dar al-islam (the house of Islam), and dar al-ahd (the house of accord); that is, the countries with which a treaty was stipulated. [...] As for the countries belonging to the house of war, Islamic canon law recognizes no relations with them other than holy war (jihad), which signifies an effort in the way of Allah and has two meanings, both of which are equally essential and must not be dissociated, as if one could exist without the other. In its primary meaning, jihad indicates the effort that the Muslim must undertake to be faithful to the precepts of the Koran and so improve his submission (islam) to Allah; in the second, it indicates the effort that the Muslim must undertake to fight in the way of
[osint] Reports reveal Zarqawi nuclear threat
Okay, folks: change Zarqawi to Saddam and 2005 to 2002. What would you do? --S. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050419-102106-5456r.htm Reports reveal Zarqawi nuclear threat By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES Recurrent intelligence reports say al Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi has obtained a nuclear device or is preparing a radiological explosive -- or dirty bomb -- for an attack, according to U.S. officials, who also say analysts are unable to gauge the reliability of the information's sources. The classified reports have been distributed to U.S. intelligence agencies for several consecutive months and say Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, has stored the nuclear device or dirty bomb in Afghanistan, said officials familiar with the intelligence. One official said the intelligence is being questioned because analysts think al Qaeda would not hesitate to use a nuclear device if it had one. However, the fact that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has reported the nuclear threat in several classified reports distributed since December indicates concern about it. A DIA spokesman had no comment. The Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who last year formally linked up with Osama bin Laden's terror network, is thought to be operating inside Iraq and has specialized in suicide bombings and large-scale vehicle bombings. He had several close encounters in recent weeks with Iraqi and U.S. forces. Senior U.S. intelligence and security officials said in congressional testimony in February that a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear, chemical or biological arms -- is likely. CIA Director Porter J. Goss said such a terrorist strike may be only a matter of time. Dirty bombs are made by mixing radioactive material with conventional explosives. A report by the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction faulted U.S. intelligence agencies for not understanding al Qaeda's unconventional weapons programs in Afghanistan prior to 2001, when U.S. forces helped oust the Islamist Taliban government. There are critical intelligence gaps with regard to each al Qaeda unconventional weapons capability -- chemical, biological and nuclear, said the report, made public March 30. The commission said bin Laden told a Pakistani newspaper reporter in November 2001 that al Qaeda has both nuclear and chemical weapons. The CIA then speculated in a report that the terrorist group probably had access to nuclear expertise and facilities and that there was a real possibility of the group developing a crude nuclear device, the commission report said. The commission also said U.S. intelligence agencies think development of a radiological bomb is well within al Qaeda's capabilities. The reported threat of nuclear terrorism comes amid other intelligence indicating that Zarqawi is planning an attack on the United States. Still other intelligence says Zarqawi was planning a chemical weapons attack in Europe, officials said. In February, U.S. intelligence and security officials said information showed bin Laden had asked Zarqawi to focus future attacks on targets inside the United States. The threat was contained in a classified bulletin to state and local security officials. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the
[osint] KhaleejTimes: Kuwaiti women get voting rights [Bush Doctrine unfolds...]
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/Ap ril/middleeast_April532.xmlsection=middleeastcol= Kuwaiti women get voting rights (Reuters) 20 April 2005 KUWAIT - Kuwait's parliament approved a law yesterday allowing women to vote and run for the first time in municipal elections in the country, fuelling hopes for wider female suffrage. The National Assembly approves women's participation in the Municipal Council elections, state news agency Kuna reported. Kuwaiti women are not allowed to vote or run in parliamentary polls but the government has introduced a bill to grant full female suffrage that has yet to be approved by the 50-man house. Last month, Kuwaiti lawmakers passed a municipal elections law without a government-proposed article to let women participate, setting back hopes the house would approve broader female suffrage. Yesterday, 26 MPs out of 49 in attendance backed the bill allowing women to take part in municipal elections. Twenty lawmakers were against while three abstained, Kuna said. The amended draft stated ... that women will have the right to run, vote and be appointed as Municipal Council members, it said. Six council members would be appointed by the state. Parliament also approved a postponement of municipal polls by no more than six months, but did not immediately say why. Some hardline MPs have said they would back the right of women to vote but not to run in parliamentary polls. Other conservative or tribal lawmakers oppose the bill altogether. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Iran warns Europe to heed its proposal or face collapse of nuclear talks
_ http://www.turkishpress.com/ turkishpress.com Wednesday, April 20, 2005 http://www.turkishpress.com/ Home Page http://www.turkishpress.com/world/ World News http://www.turkishpress.com/national/ National http://www3.turkishpress.com/us/ U.S. http://www.turkishpress.com/opinions/ Opinions http://www.turkishpress.com/business/ Business http://www.turkishpress.com/politics/ Politics http://www.turkishpress.com/sports/ Sports http://www.turkishpress.com/science/ Technology Science http://www.turkishpress.com/health/ Health http://www.turkishpress.com/entertainment/ Entertainment http://www.turkishpress.com/travel/ Travel http://www.turkishpress.com/weather/ Weather http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?ID=35510 Key events of the year 2004 http://www.turkishpress.com/directory/ Turkish Web Directory http://www.turkishpress.com/1/about.asp About Us http://www.turkishpress.com/1/feedback.asp Feedback Page updated on 04-20-2005 at 00h27 From AFP http://www3.turkishpress.com/world/ World | http://www3.turkishpress.com/us/ US News | http://www3.turkishpress.com/business/ Business | http://www3.turkishpress.com/sports/ Sports Iran warns Europe to heed its proposal or face collapse of nuclear talks LONDON (AFP) Two Iranians work at the zirconium production plant, part of the nuclear facilities in Isfahan, in March 2005. Europe must heed an Iranian proposal on uranium enrichment or risk a collapse of talks about Iran's nuclear programme, the country's top nuclear official said in an interview. Two Iranians work at the zirconium production plant, part of the nuclear facilities in Isfahan, in March 2005. Europe must heed an Iranian proposal on uranium enrichment or risk a collapse of talks about Iran's nuclear programme, the country's top nuclear official said in an interview. (AFP/File) Europe must heed an Iranian proposal on uranium enrichment or risk a collapse of talks about Iran's nuclear programme, the country's top nuclear official said in an interview. The warning by Hassan Rowhani, head of the supreme national security council, came as diplomats from Britain, France and Germany -- the EU Three -- began talks with their Iranian counterparts in Geneva, ahead of a more senior-level meeting in London on April 29. The Europeans should tell us whether these ideas can work as the basis for continued negotiations or not, Rowhani told the Financial Times, referring to the Iranian proposal made last month that would allow some uranium enrichment. If yes fine. If not, then the negotiations cannot continue, he said. These ideas are the very last possible ideas that we could come up with as compromise options. EU negotiators have been studying the suggestion, and there have been hints of a crack in their unity over this issue. But one European diplomat told AFP Tuesday, repeating a comment made last week, that the European trio remains rock-solid on cessation by Iran of uranium enrichment, which makes fuel for nuclear reactors but can also be the explosive core of nuclear bombs. The United States charges that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons. The Financial Times noted that Britain, France and Germany would be struggling over the next 10 days to find a formula that would keep the talks going, without compromising on uranium enrichment. It cited Western diplomats as saying that concessions to Tehran would undermine Washington's support for the talks. Rowhani stopped short of threatening a resumption of uranium enrichment, which Iran agreed to suspend while the talks continued, but the newspaper said a complete breakdown in negotiations would probably end the suspension. Such a development would also send the matter to the UN Security Council, where Iran could face sanctions -- a prospect that the Europeans would not relish, Rowhani suggested. For our dossier to be sent to the Security Council would be a great failure on the part of Europe, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and multilateralism as a whole, he told the Financial Times. In a bid at a co-ordinated strategy with Europe, the United States dropped objections to Iran joining the World Trade Organisation last month and to the sale of aircraft spare parts to Tehran, the economic daily said. In return, Britain, France and Germany agreed to support the US bid to send Iran's case to the United Nations if Tehran resumed uranium enrichment. Rowhani said the recent American steps were symbolic. But he cast doubt on the potential for a thaw in relations with Washington. The key is held in Washington itself. A country which expresses interest to hold talks at the same time cannot be working for regime change. So the US must clearly announce its strategy towards my country, he said. Copyright 2005 http://www.afp.com/english/afp/?cat=copyright/ Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News
[osint] US upgrades terror list, includes five new aliases of Lashkar-e- Toiba
http://www.newz.in/large35.asp?catid=1 http://www.newz.in/large35.asp?catid=1number=4476 number=4476 US upgrades terror list, includes five new aliases of Lashkar-e- Toiba Published on : 4/20/2005 5:54:00 AM Taking its global war on terror forward, the U.S.State Department has in a public notice amended its Executive Order of September 23, 2001 on the list of terrorists and terrorist groups worldwide to include five more transliterations by the which the militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba is reportedly known by. In the new Executive order dated April 13 and announced publicly on Tuesday (April 19), the State Department said that it had received intelligence that suggested that the Lashkar-e-Toiba was using five new aliases in addition to the seven that were already listed by it. The order was issued on the eve of General Musharraf's visit to Delhi asp art of his cricket diplomacy initiative. It was indicative of Washington's determination to crackdown on terrorist organisations across the board, and particularly in the Indian subcontinent. The order said that the five new aliases viz. Paasban-e-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle-Hadith, Pasban-e-Kashmir, Pasban-e-Ahle-Hadith and Paasban-e-Ahle-Hadis would be added to the present list to ensure effective security measures against their representatives as and when they showed up. The Lashkar-e-Toiba is already known by the following names -- Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (Let), Lashkar-i-Taiba, Al Mansoorian, Al Mansooreen, Army of the Pure, Army of Righteous and Army of the Pure and Righteous. In its statement released and signed by U.S.Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the State Department said that the amendments to the Executive Order of 2001 had been undertaken after consultations with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security. It said that now with the inclusion of these five new aliases in the U.S.Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control's (OFAC) list, persons affiliated or representing these units and having a Constitutional presence in the United States would not be able transfer funds instantaneously. The Lashkar-Toiba is among the most active and ruthless terrorist organisations operating in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere. It is the military wing of the Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI), an Islamic fundamentalist organisation of the Ahle-Hadith sect in Pakistan with its headquarters based in Muridke (Pakistan). The LeT was formed in 1990 from mujahideens and Islamic fundamentalists. It is among the few terrorist organisations to have resorted to strikes on Indian territory outside Jammu and Kashmir during the last decade. The LeT was first involved in the mujahideen resistance during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it is alleged that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) later assigned it various operations in Kashmir. The LeT is led by its Amir, Professor Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. The operational chief is said to be Commander Saifullah, Pakistani mercenary. Almost all LeT cadres are said to be foreigners, mostly Pakistanis educated at madrasas (Muslim seminaries) and Afgahn veterans. (ANI) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from
[osint] Ridge looks at future of U.S. security
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_2669983 Ridge looks at future of U.S. security Former secretary of homeland security calls for better identification methods, strong enforcement By Angela Woodall, CORRESPONDENT Inside Bay Area WASHINGTON - To secure its borders and prevent future terrorist attacks, the United States needs strong enforcement, better identification methods and a program for undocumented workers, said Tom Ridge, the former secretary of homeland security. Speaking at American University here Monday night, Ridge called for using biometrics - to scan the iris of the eye - and a full set of fingerprints instead of just one finger. He also supported a worker program for undocumented immigrants crossing into the United States from Mexico in the search of jobs. Our challenge is open doors and secure borders, he said. America needs a worker program for economic and security reasons, he said, adding that Mexican workers send $15 billion to $20 billion to their families at home and are a major contributor to the U.S. economy. But such a program requires stronger border enforcement, such as penalties for businesses that hire non-citizens illegally. He discouraged the recent border patrols by private citizens in Arizona, saying that they should work through the border guards. Ridge, who was head of the Department of Homeland Security from its beginning in 2001 until early this year, favored the creation of a national identity card. He predicted its eventual use when Americans develop an adequate comfort level. His comments came during a discussion with 9/11 Commission member Daniel Marcus and the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, Joe Whitley. They addressed a group of about 30 at the American University law school about efforts to secure the country against future terrorist attacks like those launched by al-Qaida on Sept. 11, 2001. The ultimate solution is dealing with it more on a global basis, Ridge said, referring to how the nation will prevent another attack. And, although America's traditional allies disagree about the war in Iraq, they agree about the need for law enforcement and intelligence strategies to prevent terrorist attacks, he said. International acceptance is growing for the idea that we need international identification standards, like biometrics, to secure the borders and ports around the world, he said. But the United States should be a leader for other countries, he said. Ridge recalled the challenges of setting up the Homeland Security department after 9/11, requiring the consolidation of more than a dozen agencies into four new sections under the department. Today, the department has grown well beyond the original vision to 180,000 employees. In February, Michael Chertoff replaced Ridge as secretary. For Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania, the department's main mission is risk management. That is, preventing terrorist attacks by reducing the nation's vulnerability by using intelligence. Secondly, the department should be talking to state and local law enforcement so they can prevent attacks. One of the most visible methods of communication is the system of color-coded threat levels, which Ridge authored and championed. Ridge called it a good system and hoped it would survive, despite criticism. Ridge explained that the homeland security department confers with the state, defense, and justice departments, as well as the national security adviser before deciding to change the color. The alert code, which ranges from green for the lowest level to red for the highest threat level, has been at yellow since Nov. 10, 2004. The last high alert, or code orange, was in late 2003. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and
[osint] Pope Benedict XVI: Enemy of Jihad
Finally. Bruce http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17772 Pope Benedict XVI: Enemy of Jihad By Robert Spencer http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/authors.asp?ID=1240 FrontPageMagazine.com http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=17772 | April 20, 2005 In choosing Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to succeed Pope John Paul II as Pope Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church has cast a vote for the survival of Europe and the West. Europe will be Islamic by the end of the century, historian Bernard Lewis predicted not long ago; however, judging from the writings of the new Pope, he is not likely to be sanguine about this transition. For one thing, the new Pope seems to be aware of the grave danger Europeans face: he has called upon Europe to recover its Christian roots if it truly wants to survive. For while his predecessor kissed the Quran and pursued a consistent line of conciliation toward the Islamic world, despite numerous provocations and attacks against Catholics in Muslim countries, the new Pope Benedict XVI, while no less charitable, has been a bit more forthcoming about the reality of how Islam challenges the Catholic Church, Christianity, and even the post-Christian West. He has spoken up for the rights of converts from Islam to Christianity, who live under a death sentence in Islamic countries and increasingly live in fear even in the West. He has even spoken approvingly of Christians proselytizing Muslims a practice that enrages Muslims and is against the law in many Islamic countries. The new Pope has criticized Europes reluctance to acknowledge its Christian roots for fear of offending Islams rapidly growing and increasingly influential presence in European countries a presence which, as historian Bat Yeor demonstrates in her book Eurabia, has been actively encouraged and facilitated by European leaders for over three decades. What offends Islam, said Cardinal Ratzinger, is the lack of reference to God, the arrogance of reason, which provokes fundamentalism. He has criticized multiculturalism, which is so constantly and passionately encouraged and supported, because it sometimes amounts to an abandonment and disavowal of what is our own. He contrasts the modern-day resurgence of Islam with the enervation of Europe. In old Europe, he has said, we are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value ones own ego and one's own desires. Islam, on the other hand, is anything but relativistic: The rebirth of Islam is due in part to the new material richness acquired by Muslim countries, but mainly to the knowledge that it is able to offer a valid spiritual foundation for the life of its people, a foundation that seems to have escaped from the hands of old Europe. In line with his call to Europeans to recover their own spiritual heritage, the new Pope opposes Turkeys proposed entrance into the European Union: Turkey, he has declared, has always represented a different continent, always in contrast with Europe. But his objection is not simply geographical in fact, he opposes the geographical oversimplifications that underlie Turkeys EU bid: Europe, he has explained, was founded not on a geography, but on a common faith. We have to redefine what Europe is, and we cannot stop at positivism. A Europe newly defined as in some sense a Christian entity may outrage secularists, but a secular and relativist Europe has so far proved powerless against the Islamization of Europe despite the fact that that Islamization threatens cherished Western notions of the equality of rights and dignity of all people. Europe, the new Pope has written, appears to be at the start of its decline and fall. It may be too late, as Bat Yeor believes, to arrest that decline and fall. However, the first thing a physician does when he treats a disease is identify the problem. No healing can proceed from a misdiagnosis. It is heartening to see that Pope Benedict XVI has already, in various speeches and writings before his accession to the papacy, dared to speak more clearly about the threat that Islam poses to Western civilization than his predecessor for all his many and remarkable gifts ever quite managed to do. Late in 2003 the semi-official Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica departed from John Paul IIs policy toward Islam and published a scathing criticism of the mistreatment that Christians suffer in Islamic societies. It represented the first indication that any Catholic officials recognized the dimensions of the religious conflict that jihadists are waging against Christians and others around the world. La Civiltà Cattolica pointed out that for almost a thousand years Europe was under constant threat from Islam, which twice put its survival in serious danger. Now, through jihad terrorism and demographics Islam is threatening Europes
[osint] UK: Multiple identities that hid an al-Qaeda sleeper agent
http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=185320 UK ; Multiple identities that hid an al-Qaeda sleeper agent 3 Hour,40 minutes Ago [UK News] KAMEL Bourgass was an incredibly dangerous al-Qaeda sleeper agent, according to anti-terrorism officers. But such was the web of lies he told about his background - claiming variously to have been born between 1973 and 1975 in Tunisia, Morocco or Algeria - that police are still unsure about his true identity. It is now thought that his real name was actually Nadir Habra - a name previously assumed to be an alias - and that he was born in Souk Ahras, Algeria, in 1973. Police are convinced his arrest was a major catch in the war against terrorism. One senior detective said: He was an incredibly dangerous individual, committed to his cause, who showed no compunction in killing. Bourgass told the court that he left school in Algeria at the age of 17 and had worked as a police officer for a year. The first time he is known to have been in Britain was in January 2000 when he claimed asylum while living in Croydon. According to his story, he had travelled to France where an Arab people smuggler arranged for him to travel from Calais to Dover in the back of a lorry. His application was eventually rejected and he went underground, living in London and Manchester, taking jobs in a pizzeria and as a dustman. Sidali Feddag, the young Algerian who lived in the ricin-factory flat with him in Wood Green, north London, and who was cleared of terrorist offences, described Bourgass as a secretive individual, with no family or friends in the UK, and a devout Muslim. He said he knew Bourgass as Nadir and had invited him to stay at the flat after meeting him through worship. Mr Feddag said Bourgass had asked him to help collect apple seeds and cherry stones - the raw ingredients for cyanide - and told him it was for use in making herbal medicine. He also said he had got his father to bring castor beans - the raw ingredient for ricin - into the country because Bourgass wanted them for making medicine. His co-accused Mohamed Meguerba claimed - while under interrogation and possibly torture in Algeria - that Bourgass was an al-Qaeda agent. The judge in his case ruled this evidence as inadmissible, but Meguerba said he and Bourgass had been trained in Afghanistan, where they learned about chemistry. After arriving in Britain, they came up with a plan to make toxic poisons and smear them on car door handles and houses in north London. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Spain Keeps a Vigilant Eye on Al Qaeda Threat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2944-2005Apr19.html Spain Keeps a Vigilant Eye on Al Qaeda Threat By Nora Boustany Wednesday, April 20, 2005; Page A21 Although 75 members of al Qaeda have been arrested in Spain, the terrorist group's efforts to recruit followers among Muslim residents of that country remains a threat, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos told Washington Post reporters and editors last week. Moratinos, who also met with Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice while on a brief visit to Washington, said Spain had reached agreements with most Arab countries to launch an early warning system to keep track of any movements by possible al Qaeda suspects planning subversive activity in Spain. A source of special concern, he said, has been the surging migration of North African youths seeking employment opportunities in Europe. Moratinos said his government was being very vigilant for fear of al Qaeda operatives infiltrating the country via this route. Spain has given Morocco $40 million for a system that will help control and monitor the country's southern border. The Maghreb is becoming the first stop for illegal migrants from other African countries, he said, referring to the continent's northern region, which includes Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Economic growth in Spain has diminished the number of Spaniards filling low-paying jobs and has drawn foreign laborers to the market, he explained. The relationship between Washington and Madrid has been somewhat frosty since the current socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, won in a landslide last spring and unilaterally pulled Spanish troops out of Iraq. But Moratinos insisted that his country wanted to create a real partnership with the Bush administration. The United States and Spain have a responsibility to share views, and to share strategy on what is going on in that part of the world, he said of developments in the Western Hemisphere, especially in South America, where most countries were once Spanish colonies and Spain is the second-largest foreign investor after the United States. Moratinos defended Spain's decision to sell troop transport planes and naval patrol boats to Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez has angered U.S. officials by making threatening comments about the United States, forming an alliance with Fidel Castro in Cuba and cracking down on press freedom. The minister asserted that the military transport would not be used for offensive purposes, but to ferry Venezuelan soldiers within the country and to control smuggling. Spain's decision to engage Chavez rather than shun him was not some crazy policy, he said, but a result of his government's conviction that it was preferable to work with a country's leadership rather isolate it. The only way to succeed is to engage, Moratinos said. He pointed out that U.S. officials had chosen to engage Libya and its leader, Moammar Gaddafi, as a means of ridding the oil-exporting North African country of its weapons of mass destruction. While acknowledging that Spain is not a superpower, he also said it did not want to blindly follow U.S. policies or demands. The Italian government, however, is on a different page. Italy's new foreign minister, Gianfranco Fini, said in an interview last Wednesday that his country would not make any move concerning the deployment of its 3,300 troops in Iraq without consulting the United States first. There are theaters in which Italy plays a role in symphony with the United States, Fini said following meetings with Rice and Vice President Cheney. The more the Iraqis are able to ensure their own security, the easier it would be to work out the time frame and the modalities for phasing out. But they have to be decided together, not unilaterally but with a consensus. Fini said the situation in Iraq remained complex but that Italy would follow an international agreement reached in Egypt last year that outlined three stages in the process of giving Iraq back to the Iraqis. When we make a commitment, we maintain it, the minister said. We had talked of giving Iraq back to the Iraqis by 2005. The road has been paved, and I think the worst has passed, but it may take a little longer, beyond the end of this year. Costa Rican Joins Hudson Institute The former Costa Rican ambassador, Jaime Daremblum, has joined the Hudson Institute as a senior fellow and director of its new Center for Latin American Studies. Daremblum served as ambassador here from 1998 to 2004 and then moved to the Organization of American States as senior adviser until the end of last year. Daremblum, a lawyer by training, graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, where he earned a doctorate in law and diplomacy. The new center at the Hudson Institute will organize seminars and conferences to exchange ideas among Latin American leaders and academics and their American counterparts.
[osint] Scottish terror mastermind committed suicide in jail
http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=185332 Scottish terror mastermind committed suicide in jail 3 Hour,40 minutes Ago UK News, A FORMER mastermind of the Scottish National Liberation Army was found hanged in his cell in a prison segregation unit only hours before he was due to appear in court on charges relating to a major security alert linked to the opening of the Scottish Parliament, a Fatal Accident Inquiry heard yesterday. Andrew McIntosh, 49, convicted 11 years ago of organising a Scottish National Liberation Army terror campaign, committed suicide by tying a ligature to a tap in his cell in Aberdeen's Craiginches prison. McIntosh, known as the Tartan Terrorist, took his own life nine days after being arrested on the day the Queen performed the official opening of the Holyrood building. Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told that a prison doctor, two experienced nurses and a large number of prison officers had all come to the conclusion that McIntosh was not a suicide risk in the days leading up to his death. The Fatal Accident Inquiry, however, also heard that McIntosh had been admitted to the segregation unit without going through the normal reception assessment procedures when he was transferred from Perth Prison back to Craiginches three days before he died. Sheriff Jessop ruled at the conclusion of the evidence that McIntosh's death could not have been avoided. He said: I am satisfied that, even had he been assessed by the reception officer or nurse, no different conclusion would have been reached. This departure from procedure was understandable and did not play any part in the death of the deceased. McIntosh was jailed for 12 years at the High Court in Aberdeen in December 1993, after being convicted of being the SNLA cell commander behind a letter-bomb and bomb-hoax campaign in Scotland and England. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Lago appointed Executive Secy of US National Security
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=78458cat=world Lago appointed Executive Secy of US National Security Council Washington | April 20, 2005 10:11:56 AM IST V Phillip Lago, a senior Intelligence official, has been appointed the Executive Secretary of the US National Security Council. Lago has worked in the U.S. Intelligence community for more than 25 years, holding various management and analytical positions in the CIA. Most recently Lago served as the Executive Secretary for the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) and was responsible for the DCI's continuity of operations and continuity of government programmes, a White House release said. PTI [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Save city cops from al-Qaeda
http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2005/april/107754.htm Save city cops from al-Qaeda By: Shibu Thomas April 20, 2005 _ Fearing arrest, 30 cops, directly or indirectly involved in the Khwaja Yunus murder case, have applied for anticipatory bail. This is easily the largest instance of en masse anticipatory bail filed by cops in the city. The 30 cops include Ambadas Pote, the assistant commissioner of police and the investigating officer, to even police Naiks and constables. The cops, from the Powai and Ghatkopar units, have said that the Yunus case, filed on the basis of a complaint by blast accused Dr Abdul Mateen and Muzamil Jameel, is in line with the al-Qaeda manual. The 12th lesson in the al-Qaeda manual among other instructions says, 'The brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them and complain to the court of mistreatment'. The manual was seized in December 2002 from the office of Pragma Soft, owned by blast accused Shaikh Mohammed Muzamil Zamil Ahmed. According to the police, the manual distributed to its cells by the al-Qaeda, gives details on training of members, use of weapons and espionage, and instructions to be followed if a member is arrested. The cops have also alleged that there was a conspiracy to eliminate the investigation officers. The cops' application will be heard by additional sessions Judge P Malwankar today. Additional public prosecutor R V Kini said, We will oppose the application by the police officers. The roster of 30 cops Ambadas Pote R S Joshi Suresh Phadtare Harish Bansode Prabhakar Thakur Sunil Bhasane Mohan Shinde S V Jagdale G V Kesare G V Ingale A C Barkande Mangesh Mahajan Yadav L Jadhav Prakash Patel Prabhu Belhar Santosh Jadhav Vijay Ambekar M G Pote Suresh Patil Surendra Pole D T Mohite S G Sonawane Arun Kansekar M B Bhujbal Dattaram Jori K P Thorat D N Mohite Girish Gore N D Birmole G S Bore Lesson 12 of the al-Qaeda manual Prisons and detention centres If an indictment is issued and the trail begins, the brother has to pay attention to the following . The brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them . Complain to the court of mistreatment . Make arrangement for the brother's defence with the attorney . If the state security investigator to testify against the brothers lures them, they may be treated gently and should be offered good advise . It is possible to resort to a hunger strike . Take advantage of visits to communicate with brothers outside the prison and exchange information . Brothers should create an Islamic programme for themselves inside the prison . The brother in prison should be a role model in selflessness . In prison, the brothers should memorise the Koran [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] CIA Information Sharing with the Department of Homeland Security
July 24, 2003 Statement for the Record of V. Phillip Lago Deputy Executive Secretary Central Intelligence Agency on Information Sharing with the Department of Homeland Security Before the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism House of Representatives Select Committee on Homeland Security Washington, D.C. Good afternoon Chairman Gibbons, Ranking Member McCarthy and the Members of the Subcommittee on the Intelligence and Counterterrorism of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. I appreciate the opportunity to join my colleagues from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the state and local law enforcement community to discuss information sharing with the Department of Homeland Security. At the outset, let me be clear that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is committed to providing all of the information required for the Department of Homeland Security to execute the mission assigned to it by the Homeland Security Act of 2002. In fact, there are significant initiatives underway within the CIA and across the intelligence Community aimed at providing intelligence support to the national effort to protect our homeland. This support is evolving over time, and through an interactive partnership, we are all learning as we go. The CIA and DHS have a very unique relationship. While our mission has always been to collect information upon foreign threats to our nation and, as directed by the President, take appropriate action to negate or reduce that threat, we now also have the responsibility to support DHS in its new mission to protect the homeland. Our missions are complimentary, and reflect the intent of Congress in both the National Security Act of 1947 and the Homeland Security Act of 2002. We work together to ensure that no gaps exist in our defenses. For many years, the CIA has had relationships with several of the major organizations that were brought together to form DHS. As DHS stands up and evolves, our relationship with it is also evolving. Under Secretary Libutti and Acting Assistant Secretary Parrish have already made great strides in defining the type of information that the department needs to ensure it can perform its mission. We have been addressing those issues, we are addressing those issues today, and we will continue to address them in the future. One of the truths about the future that I am sure of is that this relationship will continue to evolve and change over time as we, as a nation, continue our discussions on how to keep the homeland secure while protecting civil liberties. Let me quickly walk you through the evolution of our relationship with DHS. Shortly after the attacks of 11 September 2001, Director Tenet designated a focal point for coordinating DCI support to this vital mission. CIA has taken an active interest in identifying the needs of the homeland security community and improving the availability of information on terrorism. For example, the CIA significantly increased the number of reports and products that not only had compartmented information but also versions that could be released in collateral or unclassified formats. The CIA sponsored numerous, non Intelligence Community individuals for expedited security clearances to ensure that critical personnel in high-risk areas could have access to information. We provided officers to certain FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to help prevent the terrorists from finding a seam in our defenses. When the President named, then Governor Ridge as his Homeland Security Advisor, and established the Office of Homeland Security, we made immediate contact with Governor Ridge and contributed personnel and resources to help stand up this vital office. We went through our next budget cycle projecting the need for us to support Governor Ridge and an Office of Homeland Security that would have about 300-400 officers. In early 2002, we announced the creation of the position of Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Homeland Security (ADCI/HS) including a small staff to help focus CIA and Intelligence Community support to this Office. Shortly after the announcement, the nation evolved in its planning and established a Department of Homeland Security with over 170,000 officers. Clearly we had to resize our efforts. Initially, CIA officers were assigned to both the former Office of Homeland Security and the transition team for the new Department. Since the activation of DHS on 1 March, CIA has expanded the range of products and services provided to DHS. CIA officers are assigned to the Directorate of Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) and other elements of DHS, working to provide both a core analytic capability and establish an infrastructure for the care and feeding of the new Department. These officers have supported tasks as diverse as information analysis,
[osint] RE: AL-QAEDA ALREADY STARTED USING CHILDREN TO MURDER OPPONENTS
_ From: Bruce Tefft [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 9:43 AM To: Subject: RE: ALREADY STARTED USING CHILDREN TO MUDER OPPONETS Give me a child for the first 5 years of his life and he will be mine forever. Vladimir Lenin Palestinian teenager Hussam Abdo, identified by neighbors as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, stands isolated at a Israeli checkpoint south of the West Bank town of Nablus Wednesday March 24, 2004, while wearing an explosive-packed belt in this image from television. Israeli troops on high alert since the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin stopped the youth and later disarmed the device. The Jesuits used to say, Give me a child for the first seven years, and you may do what you like with him afterwards.1 They knew that by the time a child had reached seven, his character would largely be set and, even at that tender age, you could see the man * www.qoqaz.net http://www.qoqaz.net/February 2001 * 6. Some sports and activities that will be an asset in Jihad training for your children (and yourselves), in addition to being enjoyable, healthy, and fun: Martial arts training Swimming Archery Target-shooting (with different kinds of toy weapons) Darts Horse-back riding Orienteering (learning to navigate your way in the woods) Exercise (running, jogging, push-ups, etc.) to build stamina Skiing Driving (a range of different vehicles) Camping / Survival Training (an excellent and enjoyable method of training!) 7. Get your young children interested in Jihad by getting military books (preferrably with pictures) and other similar books, CDs, videos, and by visiting web sites such as the http://web.archive.org/web/20010205182300/http://www.qoqaz.net/ along with your children, and utilizing other internet resources. Show them the pictures of Mujahideen and encourage them to become like these people at the least. These activities can be done with children even as young as a couple years or even younger. Don't underestimate the lasting effect of what those little ears and eyes take in during the first few years of life! No child is ever too young to be started off on Jihad training in one form or another, the minimum being simple encouraging words and verses from the Qur'an that the young child will never forget Insha-Allah. -Original Message- From: Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 9:27 AM To: 'Bruce Tefft' Subject: AL-QAEDA ALREADY STARTED USING CHILDREN TO MURDER OPPONENTS Good old Islam sending children to their deaths saw it Vietnam and I still cannot fathom the kind of mind that would use their own children in this manner Bruce. However, I can assure you that just like the South Vietnamese in Vietnam I would shoot the bastards that sent this kid without any remorse or trial on the street in front of the entire community if I thought it would prevent one more child from dying. I could care less about the adults who are set in their ways and beliefs in many countries but a child has the ability to change. D Cut of martyrdom [aalshblyn] the militants Adam (9 years) and good good (13 year) Build the commander of the militant ((generous slave [aalmjaaTy] Moroccan)) In battle [aalrs] on land of islet Arabic Their uterus of wide Allah mercy Adam having the nine years the bullet from his pistol on chief released so lie down land Forces of the security at her penetration of the villa surprised which fortifies in her the militants in their hearing Crying of child inside the villa. Request one of the chiefs from [zmlaay'h] cease-fire to approached Signed specification of the infancy. When witness of the infancy cries and pregnancy of the child tried 9 years outside. Suddenly months the child of pistol and released the fires in direction of the chief Who [aartmY] on the land [wTaasht] free so the child attack did him mouth was from officer Last except face luminous towards the child for protection his colleague and rubbish of the infancy [Srye'aaAA]. Forces of the security across the amplifiers: Surrender [yaa] good. So reply on them in the bullet After martyrdom [e'bdaalkrym] [aalmjaaTy], request men the security across amplifiers of the roadsign from Refuse him having 13 year of the surrender and but he refused and started in shooting the in direction of men The security from his weapon who was loads him and circle of the battle between army [aalTwaaGyt] and this Until his death found For they brother other brand him Elias in prison since years and the age informs from 11 Year only These their sons of the jihad and this she education the men. This way their front forces of the security Who developed lying the preparation high and the technological technician call so be unable about capture Those [aalshblyn] in spite of smallness
[osint] Illegal Mexican Immigrant Influx Angers Many in US Border State
Illegal Mexican Immigrant Influx Angers Many in US Border State By Greg Flakus VOA NEWS Sells, Arizona 18 April 2005 The recent arrival of some 700 citizen volunteers on the Arizona border with Mexico has drawn attention to the problem of illegal immigration on the border. While many Americans express sympathy for poor immigrants seeking honest work in this country, many citizens are also angered by the damage immigrant crossers have done to pristine desert areas. The civilian volunteers, who call themselves Minutemen, have come to watch the border and report illegal crossings to the Border Patrol. They have plenty of critics in Arizona, but along the border they enjoy general support among landowners and residents who blame illegal aliens for a rise in violent crime as well as damage to property and the environment. One local man drove out to greet the Minutemen the other day and thanked them. The main reason I am glad these guys are out here is because the bottom line is it is illegal, he said. That is the bottom line. In the last five years that we have lived here I have seen it triple, in numbers of people coming across. It is illegal to do what they are doing, they are trashing this place. The trash left by immigrants includes discarded clothing, plastic bottles, food wrappers and plastic bags, which can be seen flapping in the breeze on trees and shrubs all over the desert. Ranchers accuse the immigrants of knocking down fences, breaking water pipes and damaging other infrastructure. About 300 kilometers to the west of where the Minutemen are staging their month-long border watch, immigrants continue to flow across the border into military reserves, national park land, and an Indian reservation. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Superintendent Kathy Billings says the thousands of immigrants who pass over the border into this federally protected natural area each year have a devastating effect on cactus like the Organ Pipe and Saguaro. The undocumented immigrants, when they are laying up during the day to escape the heat, will camp underneath these trees and then there is a lot of soil compaction, said Billings. They will tear branches off to put more shade around them, thereby destroying the nurse tree that protects the saguaros. She says the National Park Service, in cooperation with the Border Patrol and other agencies is trying to prevent further damage, but the flow of illegal migrants remains strong. There are many areas that are highly impacted by the trails and by the places where the people camp and just leave their trash and human waste, continued Ms. Billings. There is a spider web of trails through the park that have been created by that illegal activity, but there is still a large part of the monument that is still very pristine. The illegal border crossers traversing the National Monument include drug smugglers and criminals, too. In 2002, two fugitives from justice in Mexico killed a Park ranger here. Such incidents have scared some tourists away. Cross-border criminal activity has also had an impact on the nearby lands of the Tohono O'Odham Indian reservation. The police chief of the reservation, Richard Saunders, says the environmental damage being done by illegal immigrants distresses his people, who have a great reverence for the land. He says tribal officials have worked in vain to keep their lands clean of the trash left by undocumented immigrants. As soon as you clean up an area, there are people coming back through it the next day, discarding trash and articles all over again, said Mr. Saunders. So, it is a constant battle there. Police Chief Saunders says the Tohono O'Odham people have always welcomed strangers and tried to help travelers in the desert, but, he says, they cannot cope with the numbers of people coming over the border from Mexico. It is a harsh environment out here and so, with that, there is the importance of giving and to assist there. We have always been a giving people, he said. However, with these large numbers coming through on an annual basis, it is overwhelming to the Tohono O'Odham people. Immigrant advocates say the blame for this situation rests with the U.S. government for failing to provide workers a safe and legal way to come into the country to do jobs most Americans will not do. Jennifer Allen of the Border Action Network says current policies ignore economic reality. We have a false economy in this country that is incredibly dependent on undocumented labor, explained Ms. Allen. There was just a call put out by the Yuma, Arizona Grower's Association to the Border Patrol to back off at some of their checkpoints in western Arizona because they could not get enough lettuce pickers to come in and harvest the crop. But many people here say state and local governments are paying the price for the cheap immigrant labor some industries exploit in health care, education, and other social services. Last year, voters in
[osint] Experts, Lawmakers Concerned About Nuclear Terrorism, Aviation Security
Experts, Lawmakers Concerned About Nuclear Terrorism, Aviation Security By Dan Robinson VOA NEWS Capitol Hill 19 April 2005 Experts testifying before Congress say the United States needs to be more aggressive and organized in defending against possible nuclear terrorist attacks. The testimony on Capitol Hill came as lawmakers expressed concern about new reports on weaknesses in aviation security. Appearing before a House subcommittee, the experts said that while laudable, steps to strengthen safeguards against nuclear and biological attacks lack intensity and organization. Under legislation approved since the September 11, 2001 al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the United States, the government has undertaken new efforts to help reduce the chances of such attacks. These include a new Domestic Nuclear Deterrence Office within the Department of Homeland Security, to help coordinate efforts to prevent the smuggling of nuclear weapons or materials into the United States. However, Fred Ikle of the Center for Security and International Studies says what is needed is nothing less than a major effort modeled on the Manhattan Project that developed the U.S. atomic bomb during WWII. What we need is to pull these laboratories together, like we did for the Manhattan Project initially, like we did in a different context for the Apollo project, with one manager [who] can run it with a flexible budget, and can attract the best people, he said. A continuing concern is that terrorists might be able to get a radiological weapon through detection measures in force at the nation's seaports. Congress approved billions of dollars to bolster port security including sophisticated detection equipment to scan shipping containers. But many lawmakers say that is still not enough, and other witnesses assert such measures may be missing the point. Graham Allison is a former Assistant Secretary of Defense, now heading the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, and a critic of what he calls incoherent strategies to prevent nuclear terrorism. We remain a country almost without borders,!( he said. !'So, a terrorist who is bringing a nuclear bomb or material for a bomb into the country is going to come through a highly protected port, or portal, where they get inspected? And if we build a fence higher, higher and higher, and we have 100 miles with no fence what happens? We have actually run this experiment down by San Diego. So we have a huge fence and no one comes through the fence amazingly, but more people come [across the border] than came before, because they come around the fence. Mr. Allison says one of the best defenses against nuclear terrorism remains to secure or eliminate nuclear materials at their source, mentioning as an example joint efforts with Russia and former Soviet republics. Randall Larsen, head of Homeland Security Associates, questions the emphasis on nuclear detection being in major ports. Now, let's face it, if you had an arsenal of three nuclear weapons and you're a terrorist organization, are you just going to put it in a shipping container and say hey send it to Chicago?!( he asked. !'I would put it inside a Gulfstream [jet] and fly across the United States. I'd put it in a ship, the press says al-Qaida may have up to 80 ships, I would put it in a ship and drive it into a port, it would never get to your detector there in your screening place. You know set it off in Long Beach or Los Angeles or in New York, just as it's pulling into port. What good is a detector going to do there? There are 7000 miles of unguarded border here, so we say we're going to put these detectors at these major crossing points. They [terrorists] are not stupid. The focus on potential nuclear and biological terrorism coincides with new reports concerning aviation security since September 2001. One by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security cites a lack of improvement in the ability of airport screeners to detect hidden weapons. A similar assessment is expected in an upcoming report by the Government Accountability Office. Three-and-a-half years after those horrific terrorist attacks there is still a very vital need for some immediate aviation security improvements, said Congressman John Mica, chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee. In 2002, the federal government's new Transportation Security Administration assumed responsibility for airport screening. Homeland security officials maintain that Americans are safer as a result, but attribute remaining weaknesses to problems with training, equipment and management. 000. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM
[osint] ACLU Smoking Dope at Border?
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43867 ACLU smoking dope at border? Minutemen say photos show 'legal observers' getting high -- -- Posted: April 19, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern C 2005 WorldNetDaily.com ACLU legal observers allegedly smoking marijuana while observing Minuteman volunteers (Photo: South East Arizona Republican Club) Volunteers with the Minuteman Project in Arizona say legal observers sent by the ACLU to monitor the citizen border patrol have been seen smoking marijuana in violation of the law. Photographs were posted on the website of the South East Arizona Republican Club after Minuteman participants reported they saw, and smelled, the ACLU workers smoking pot. Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, did not respond to a request for comment given to her assistant by WorldNetDaily. As WND reported, ACLU activists shadowing the Minuteman Project at the U.S.-Mexican border are actively aiding and abetting aliens attempting to enter the country illegally, according to a spokesman for the volunteer civilian force. Grey Deacon told Joseph Farah's nationally syndicated WorldNetDaily RadioActive audience Friday that ACLU monitors sent to the border to watch Minuteman activity and report civil-liberties abuses to authorities have begun flashing lights, sounding horns and warning off illegals and their coyote human smugglers from entering territory patrolled by the volunteers. They are actively engaging in criminal activity, said Deacon. Deacon said the ACLU activists are resorting to new tactics because of the success the Minuteman Project is having in assisting the Border Patrol in spotting illegal aliens and in generating publicity about the insecure U.S.-Mexico border. The ACLU dispatched its representatives to the 23-mile section of the Arizona border patrolled by the Minutemen after predicting the group would abuse the rights of illegal aliens. No such abuses have materialized to date. The ACLU's position is that illegal aliens have a right to enter our border and stay in this country as long as they want, said Deacon. That's what one of the leaders of the group told me personally. A volunteer reported, according to the South East Arizona Republican Club, The ACLU is getting desperate to get something on the Minutemen and are trying to provoke incidents now. They pushed one of the Minutemen the other night trying to get him to push back. Didn't work. Then last night they walked up and shined a spotlight right in a Minuteman's face from six inches or so away. Didn't work that time either. We immediately report these types of contacts with them to the sheriff to counter any claims they try to make against us. They should be called the UCLU (Un-American Civil Lawsuit Union). They give us the middle finger every chance they get to try to get us to react. We are still trying to figure out if that is their age or IQ. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] U.S. should `close borders' with Mexico,CA. governor says
== http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/11439982.htm Posted on Wed, Apr. 20, 2005 U.S. should `close borders' with Mexico, governor says REMARK ELICITS ANGER FROM STATE DEMOCRATS By Laura Kurtzman Mercury News Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday the United States should ``close the borders'' with Mexico, in answer to a question about what policies he would recommend on immigration. ``It's a federal issue, and the only thing I can say and add to this is, really, close the borders,'' Schwarzenegger said during a question-and-answer session at a national convention for newspaper publishers in San Francisco. ``Close the borders in California and all across between Mexico and the United States, because I think it is just unfair to have all of those people coming across and to have the borders open the way it is and have this kind of a lax situation. I think we here in California have to still finish the border.'' Margita Thompson, the governor's press secretary, was quick to tell reporters that Schwarzenegger did not really mean what he said at the Newspaper Association of America conference. ``He means secure the borders,'' she said. However, the governor made a similar remark during the 2003 recall election in an interview with Fox News. ``We have to close the borders, make them tighter,'' he said Tuesday. He then he went on to speak about the need to ``negotiate with them,'' referring apparently to political leaders in Mexico. Several leading Democrats reacted angrily to the governor's remarks, which come as volunteer Minutemen are patrolling the border in Arizona to intercept illegal immigrants and as Congress prepares to take up new immigration reforms. ``The governor should ratchet down his rhetoric and retreat from this narrow-minded approach to immigration policy,'' Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, said in a prepared statement. ``Closing our borders to commerce and culture is an idea that comes from political extremists, not rational policy-makers. Even President Bush rejects the idea of a closed border with Mexico. We need an immigration policy that preserves our productive relationship with Mexico and respects the rule of law.'' Núñez's spokesman, Steve Maviglio, added, ``It sounds like he's hanging around with the Pat Buchanan crowd,'' a reference to the conservative commentator and former presidential candidate who is virulently anti-illegal immigration. ``And I don't hear him wanting to close the border with Canada. It's just `Those people.' '' Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said, ``He's become an Austrian Minuteman now.'' He said Schwarzenegger was taking the low road on immigration to deflect from his troubles with nurses, teachers, firefighters and police officers, in the same way that former Gov. Pete Wilson used the issue to win re-election despite his unpopularity during a recession. ``It's very sad to see that someone with that capacity to lead and to govern is resorting to that,'' Torres said. Schwarzenegger, whose past is shadowed by questions about whether he worked without a proper visa when he first came to the United States in 1968 and later in 1971, went on to say that he thought several upcoming proposals to reform immigration ought to be given a fair hearing. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., are expected to introduce reform legislation soon that combines tougher enforcement with a guest worker program. The law is also expected to include a mechanism that would allow illegal immigrants to earn legal status. ``It is a very important debate,'' Schwarzenegger said to the newspaper group. ``I think that it is necessary that we solve the problems, rather than everyone kind of trying to run the other way, because it's just such a hot issue and such a delicate issue. So I think they have to eventually get together and really solve those problems. But, like I said, it's a national issue. There's not much that we can do here in California.'' At the luncheon with the newspaper group, the governor also made a conciliatory gesture toward Democrats, who spent the weekend trashing him at their convention in Los Angeles. ``The thing that I am most proud of is that I was able to bring the Democrats and the Republicans together, because this is the only way we can accomplish things,'' he said. ``This is why we accomplished so much last year.'' -- Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] --
[osint] AL JAZEERA WANTS-----TO OPEN A CHILDREN CHANNEL
Naturally. Children are the easiest targets of propaganda... -Bruce Knight-Ridder newspapers [USA] Posted April 18, 2005 Controversial Arab satellite channel al Jazeera tries to go global By Warren P. Strobel Knight Ridder Newspapers http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11426369.htm DOHA, Qatar - Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite-TV network best known in the United States for broadcasting Osama bin Laden's videotapes, is starting a children's channel. The network is reaching to transform itself from a bad-boy upstart that has enraged both Arab governments and Washington to an international media presence on a par with the British Broadcasting Corp. and CNN. The most ambitious project, al Jazeera International, a global English-language channel, is supposed to begin broadcasting before year's end. We are increasingly a global brand name, said Jihad Ballout, the network's smooth-talking, blue jeans-wearing official spokesman, sitting in the modified trailer that serves as his office. Across the way, in al Jazeera's crowded and surprisingly small headquarters building, workers on scaffolding are constructing a spacious new newsroom and TV studio. But the station still has a slightly scruffy, disorganized feel. And staff members acknowledge that the November launch date for al Jazeera International could slip. Whether al Jazeera, begun in 1996, can make the leap beyond its regional roots remains to be seen. The launch of this new channel is a gamble, said Hugh Miles, a British freelance journalist whose book, Al-Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That Is Challenging the West, was published earlier this year. The station has angered the Bush administration with its Iraq war coverage focused on Iraqi civilian casualties, which at times seemed to glorify the violent insurgency. The U.S. government has veered between pressuring its owner, the emir of Qatar, to rein it in and offering interviews with top officials - including President Bush - to counter its perceived bias. Al Jazeera reporters are banned from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Yet some U.S. officials also give al Jazeera silent credit, as one put it, for its extensive coverage of mass protests in Lebanon and recent elections in Muslim countries, footage seen throughout the Arab world. Bush says that promoting Middle East democracy is his foreign-policy priority. And al Jazeera has taken on topics that the region's ossified state-owned television stations never would, including social issues such as premarital sex and the role of women in society. Al Jazeera also was the first Arab news station to interview Israeli officials. All this was too much for some viewers. Said Ballout: We were declared to be on the one hand bin Laden's mouthpiece and on the other hand a CIA creation. The challenges are financial as well as political. Despised by many Arab regimes even more than by Washington, the network is boycotted by the Saudis, the region's economic powerhouse. It was supposed to be self-sustaining by 2002, but continues to lose money and is subsidized by the Qatari leadership. There's been speculation about privatization. An international consulting firm is studying the feasibility of that step. It won't happen unless it includes protection for the network's jealously guarded reputation for independence from government control, the station's journalists said. For employees, the key thing is the editorial line, the independence is not going to be affected, said editor in chief Ahmed Sheikh, a BBC-trained reporter who has been with al Jazeera from the first day. The Bush administration doesn't see privatization as an improvement, since it would eliminate the only pressure point - Qatar's rulers - that Washington has over the station, said the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Not that it's much of a pressure point. When then-Secretary of State Colin Powell met Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al Thani and urged him to clamp down on the network, the Qatari reportedly responded: I'll make you a deal: You rein in `The O'Reilly Factor' and I'll rein in al Jazeera. He referred to a program on Fox News, widely regarded in this region as anti-Arab and a tool of the Bush administration's foreign policy. Miles, the author, said he doubted that privatization would occur. It's like trying to persuade the Swiss to give up their banks. It's (the emir's) baby. He loves it, Miles said. Promises to study the issue are merely a way for Qatar to deflect U.S. pressure, he added. Al Jazeera claims an audience of roughly 40 million and as much as 75 percent of the Arabic-language satellite-TV network in some countries. That's far ahead of the Dubai-based al Arabiya and the U.S. government-owned al Hurra station. Al Jazeera Live, a sort of Arabic version of C-SPAN, is being launched this month, and a documentary channel is in the works. Miles said the network, which became known for its coverage of
[osint] FW: [PMCs] Why Russia is putting Stalin back on to his pedestal By Nick Allen in Moscow
Because communists never change. Bruce Why Russia is putting Stalin back on to his pedestal By Nick Allen in Moscow (Filed: 20/04/2005) The cult of Joseph Stalin, once worshipped as a near deity but later reviled as one of history's worst monsters, is enjoying a revival across Russia and beyond. To the dismay of many, proposals to erect new monuments to the tyrant for what apologists see as his outstanding war leadership have won support from figures close to President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin. The figure of Stalin in the sculpture by Zurab Tsereteli A shiny effigy of the Communist dictator in a prominent position might even put uppity foreign powers in their place, said one senior politician. They never miss a chance in the West to rewrite history and diminish our country's role in the victory over fascism, so that's even more reason not to forget Stalin now, said Lyubov Slizka, a parliamentary vice-speaker. While usually couched in terms of admiration for his part in defeating the Nazis 60 years ago, the language of the campaign to rehabilitate the dictator suggests a more sinister interpretation, liberals fear. Under this theory, the Kremlin is seeking a return to Stalinist xenophobia, discipline and veneration of the state, if not the out and out terror that sent millions to perish in the gulag. Stalin's first prominent statue in modern times was to have risen in the Crimea, seated with Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt at the Yalta palace, where the three leaders carved up post-war Europe in 1945. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin are to be sited in Volgograd But a change in Ukraine's leadership last year and protests by Stalin's surviving victims forced its sculptor, Zurab Tsereteli, to find a new home for the trio in the Russian city of Volgograd, the former Stalingrad. Elsewhere, and largely unnoticed, a handful of villages have already put up small Stalin memorials of their own over the past two years. Plans have also been mooted for a huge monument near the Russian city of Kursk, site of the biggest tank battle in history, that would also include Marshal Zhukov to balance the ideological composition, the region's governor said. Officials in Moscow have insisted that no statues of the dictator will appear in the Russian capital. But his name resurfaced last year when a Kremlin memorial plaque to Volgograd was replaced with one to Stalingrad. That city was renamed Volgograd in 1961. Since then, veterans' associations and the Communist Party have lobbied to have the name change revoked, citing the importance of its victory over Hitler's armies in 1943. But, while preferring to stay above the debate, Mr Putin has spoken against the move, saying: I'm sure that it would give rise to suspicions that we are returning to Stalinist times. The resurgence of Stalin, no matter what the context, threatens to open fresh rifts in a society still traumatised by the horrors of his rule, critics argue. Imagine the reaction to Hitler monuments in Germany - that's how we regard this, said Boris Belenkin of Memorial, a human rights group originally founded to remember Stalin's victims. This individual has no moral or historical right to any monuments. Stalin's reputation reached its height in the last 15 years of his life when his personality cult eclipsed that of Hitler's. The father of nations was portrayed as all-powerful and all-knowing, almost divine. But three years after his death in 1953 he was publicly denounced by the Communist leadership and in 1961 his body was removed from its place of honour in the Red Square mausoleum. Floral tributes still abound at his bust by the Kremlin wall while millions of Russians revere his legacy to this day. In a nationwide poll published before Stalin's birthday last December, 29 per cent of respondents credited him with the Soviet Union's survival and victory in World War Two, despite compelling evidence that his tactical misjudgments nearly proved disastrous. A further 21 per cent saw Stalin as a wise leader who built a mighty, flourishing country. And 16 per cent said only a similar figure could restore order in today's Russia. Previous story: Ethiopia rejoices as Italy returns plundered obelisk Next story: War of the black magic cults brings death to Nigeria's universities Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL
[osint] TSA Watch - Report: Private screeners outperform government workers (Duh!)
Of course private enterprise outperforms government bureaucrats. Bruce The Associated Press April 20, 2005, Wednesday, BC cycle 12:29 AM Eastern Time Washington Dateline Report: Private screeners outperform government workers By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON A congressional investigation found airport screeners employed by private companies do a better job detecting dangerous objects than government screeners, according to a House member who has seen the classified report. The Government Accountability Office found statistically significant evidence that passenger screeners, who work at five airports under a pilot program, perform better than their federal counterparts at some 450 airports, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. and chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, said on Tuesday. You get a statistically significant improvement if you go to federal supervision with private screening companies, Mica said. In a separate report issued Tuesday, the inspector general for the Homeland Security Department faulted the Transportation Security Administration for allowing lavish spending on a $19 million crisis management center, including about $500,000 to acquire artwork, silk plants and other decorative and miscellaneous items. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Congress ordered every commercial airport but five to switch from privately employed screeners to a government work force. The five exceptions - in San Francisco; Tupelo, Miss.; Rochester, N.Y.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Jackson Hole, Wyo. - all have private workers supervised by Transportation Security Administration officials. Mica wants to see that system at all U.S. airports. Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, a senior Democrat on the aviation subcommittee, opposes private screeners. DeFazio, who has seen the classified GAO report, said the difference between the private and government screeners was statistically significant but still slight. Neither number is adequate or reassuring to me and the difference is not very large, DeFazio said. TSA screeners' ability to find guns, weapons and other dangerous items since the Sept. 11 attacks has been an ongoing concern. The Homeland Security Department's acting inspector general, Richard Skinner, issued a separate report on Tuesday that said the screeners' performance hadn't improved since the previous audit - which indicated that screeners hadn't improved since before the 2001 terrorist attacks. In both inspector general audits, undercover agents tried to smuggle fake weapons and bombs past screeners. Though the screeners were diligent and responsible, Skinner said, the lack of improvement since our last audit indicates that significant improvement in performance may not be possible without greater use of new technology. TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield Jr. said the TSA has deployed new baggage screening technology at three airports and plans to spend $30 million to install the new machines at 100 more. The TSA has also installed walk-through bomb detection machines at airports in 15 cities and plans to install them at the 40 busiest airports. Finally, the agency expects to start testing backscatter machines, which can find plastic weapons and improvised bombs, sometime later this year, Hatfield said. Congress allowed airports to opt out of the federal system and hire federal screeners as of Nov. 19. Only one airport in Elko, Nev., has asked to use private screeners. Steve van Beek, executive vice president of the Airports Council International, said airports are interested in using private screeners, but there are still questions about liability if there's a terrorist attack. Some airports would like to form subsidiaries to run the screening operations, van Beek said, but are prohibited by state law. There's also a lack of flexibility, he said. You basically have to ask, 'Can I do it this way, can I do it that way?' Unfortunately, a program that was supposed to be creative and innovative has turned into a 'Mother May I' system, van Beek said. The Homeland Security inspector general also reported that the project manager and facility operating officer improperly purchased decorative and miscellaneous items for its new crisis management center in Herndon, Va. They kept the nature of the purchases hidden by charging them to the construction contract as equipment and tools, according to the report. The project spent $252,392 on artwork, $29,032 on art consultants, $30,085 on silk plants and $13,861 on lamps and other equipment, the report said. The vendor added a 20 percent markup, a credit for future purchases and overpayments that totaled more than $174,000. The project manager, facilities operation officer and an employee of the Transportation Security Operations Center also used the government purchase card to buy furniture and
[osint] ISLAMIC variation of Nigerian Internet Scam: Peace Be With You.
-Original Message- From: ahli [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 2:52 PM Subject: Peace Be With You. Assalamu Alaikum, In the name of Allah the Beneficent; the Merciful,the Master of the day of Judgement , I greet you in the name of Allah.I am formally Miguel Marcos Llera from Cuba.I was born into a strong and devoted catholic family.All through mylife i have been doing business and i was into gold mining and selling.I met our creator and the meciful one Almigthy Allah when i was having a business deal with one of my partners from U.A.E and from the day i was given the Islamic bath(Tawheed) my name changed to Al Ahli Usman. On 10th Feburary 2004 myself and my family and my business partner took a flight from kish to sharjah and we flew kish airline.We had a plane crash and all members of my family including my very good friend lost thier lives.I give thanks to Allah that i am one of the lucky ones that survived the crash.The airline was under the management of one Mr Shabab Attarzadeh who was later sacked after this incidence.I had to return to my home town in cuba and i am now left with my relatives to take care of me. Owing to the fact that my relatives knows i have reverted to islam,they have left me to suffer in pain.what disturbs me most is stroke that i have.I have developed paralyses from my waist region downward i am taking this bold step to let you know that i want to leave in your care the sum of $12.8million United States Dollars i deposited in a security company for the enhancement and propagation of the word of Almigthy Allah. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a mosque,or an islamic organisation or better still a muslem that will utilize this funds the way I am going to instruct here in. My main aim of doing this is for the propagation and upholding of the message of Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon Him).I want this funds to be used for Zakah and for helping the poor in performing pilgrimage.Also In the western world,you find out that the message of Allah has not yet really gotten there.The message of Islam must not only be preached and upheld,but also our youths have to be called back to the right path and thereby reawaken their consciousness. Allah didnt send Muhammad(peace be upon him)to one particular tribe,but to mankind at large.Surah #2.254 Allah commands His slaves to spend outof what He has provided them in His way,in charity that they may accumulate thier reward with thier lord and proprietor.It is for this reason they should hasten up to do in this world before the Day of Resurrection in which neither bargaining nor friendship nor intercession shall avail. No one can bail himself out or can he ransom himself even if he spent,for that purpose,and earth load of gold.Nor can kinship avail him.(#23.101) For now i dont want any calls from you because of the presence of my relatives that are always around me and i dont want them to know my plans.Do get back at me to my private mail address:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Hoping to hear from you soonest and do notify your interest to help me to propagate islam. All praise is due to Allah Who brought everything into existence and may the peace and blessing of Allah be upon our noble Prophet Mohammad(peace be upon him) and His virtous adorers till the day of Judgement. May Allah bless you as you respond to my plea. Ma-Salam, Al Ahli Usman. ___ Mail sent from WebMail service at PHP-Nuke Powered Site - http://yoursite.com Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law.
[osint] Zimbabwe: Mugabe turns back on west and looks east
Once a communist terrorist, always a communist terrorist (note Putin as well). Interesting payback for the British who liberated Mugabe's Shona tribe from the murderous thralldom they were held in by the Matabele. Bruce Mugabe turns back on west and looks east Andrew Meldrum in Pretoria Tuesday April 19, 2005 Guardian President Robert Mugabe marked Zimbabwe's 25th anniversary of independence yesterday by attacking the west and defending his land-grab policy. In a 35-minute speech in the national sports stadium in Harare broadcast on national television, he repeatedly harked back to the days of colonialism and white minority rule. To this day we bear the lasting scars of that dark encounter with colonialism, often described in the west as civilising, he said. Newly acquired Chinese jet fighters screamed over the Chinese-built stadium to emphasise his policy of friendship with Asian powers We have turned east, where the sun rises, and given our back to the west, where the sun sets, he told the crowd, reported to be between 8,000 and 40,000. The approach had brought new economic partnerships with the Asian tigers. Scorning accusations that the March 31 parliamentary elections had been rigged, he said: We made our democracy and we owe it to ourselves, not to anyone, least of all Europeans. Until we beat them at the battlefield, Britain and her kith and kin here would not concede voting rights to Africans. The 81-year-old president, who has ruled since overthrowing the white regime which severed Southern Rhodesia from Britain in 1965, spoke of the strangled shrieks of brave guerrilla fighters facing execution in the bush war. He described his land seizures as one of the greatest achievements since independence. We have resolved the long-outstanding land question and the land has now come to its rightful owners, and with it, our sovereignty as well, he said. He did not refer to the food shortages. He has been criticised for handing the seized white farmland to cabinet ministers, judges and army officers rather than poor black Zimbabweans, and last month he said that 44% of the seized land was not now being cultivated. Agriculture has collapsed to the extent that Zimbabwe has had to rely on international food relief for three years. The economy has almost halved since 2000, when Mr Mugabe's militants began invading white-owned farms. Seventy per cent of the people are unemployed and live in poverty. Mr Mugabe awarded state honours to past presidents of Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, saying: We proclaim our pan-African spirit, stressing we shall never be a colony again. Many rejected his claims. What have we got from the Chinese? Bad quality goods, buses that break down, and a badly built stadium, a factory worker said, withholding his name because it is a crime to criticise the president. We are hungry. Food is short. We need to rebuild our ties with the west, whether Mugabe admits it or not. We are not celebrating this independence anniversary. We are just surviving, just barely surviving. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC opposition, said the celebrations underlined the country's poverty. The 25 years merely registered a period of sustained economic decline, he said. We have nothing to show for it except overwhelming poverty, a systematic loss of our basic freedoms and a national crisis. Change of tune: What he said then and now 1980 'The wrongs of the past must now stand forgiven and forgotten. If ever we look to the past, let us do so for the lesson the past has taught us, that oppression and racism are inequalities [we should shun]' Yesterday 'We will never forget the strangled shrieks of brave guerrilla fighters facing execution. To this day we bear the lasting scars of that dark encounter with colonialism' 1980 'I wish to assure you that there can never be any return to the state of armed conflict which existed before our commitment to peace and the democratic process of election under the Lancaster House agreement' Yesterday 'We made our own democracy and we owe it to no one, least of all the Europeans. Let it be forever remembered: it was the bullet that brought the ballot' 1980 'It could never be a justification that because the whites oppressed us ... the blacks must oppress them ... An evil remains an evil, whether practised by white against black or black against white' Yesterday 'The British find us a very proud, determined, solid and stubborn and unyielding people, especially [about] our birthright, the land ... Zimbabwe shall never be a colony again' Guardian Unlimited C Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~-
[osint] Muslim Canadian Congress Statement On Jamaat-i Islami Controversy
Muslim Canadian Congress condemns Bangladesh Minister's statement that criticising Jamaat-e-Islami is tantamount to criticizing Islam. TORONTO: The Muslim Canadian Congress has expressed shock at the statement of a Bangladesh cabinet Minister who claimed that criticising Jamaat-e-Islami is tantamount to criticizing Islam. In a report published in the Dhaka newspaper The Daily Star, Industries Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami was reported as saying that speaking against Jamaat-e-Islami amounted to a conspiracy against Islam. Rizwana Jafri, president of the MCC said she was shocked at Mr. Nizami's equating of Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami as one and the same. This indicates a very fascist streak among Islamic fundamentalists who will do anything to destroy democracy and install Taliban type governments across the Muslim world. She added that the Muslim Canadian Congress denounces such claims in clear terms as absolutely unislamic and undemocratic. It shows a clear lack of understanding of Islam's divine peace-message. Tarek Fatah, a Board member of the MCC said any party who was complicit in the genocide of the Bangladeshi people in the 1971 Liberation War and worked as collaborators, should hang its head in shame instead of lecturing about Islam. The jamaat-e-islami's record is tainted as anti-democracy, not only in Bangladesh, but also in Pakistan, from where it draws much of its origin. As Muslim Canadians who cherish democracy and a separation of religion and state, we are alarmed at the silence of the Bangladeshi government in dealing with islamic fundamentalist forces that are trying to destroy the intrinsically democratic nature of Bangladeshi society. Throughout Muslim history such efforts to monopolise Islam as the ownership of a selected few hardliners has caused immense harm and bloodshed; it is time to stop this in Bangladesh. - Rizwana Jafri President Muslim Canadian Congress www.muslimcanadiancongress.org Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Communism in the 21st century
Losers. Bruce http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/AWorldToWinNewsService/ CoRIM May Day statement: Communism in the 21st century 18 April 2005. A World to Win News Service. Following is a statement by the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (CoRIM) on the occasion of May Day 2005. The world seethes and moans with discontent and resistance on the part of the people. Through war in Iraq and the threat of wars in the Middle East and elsewhere, the imperialist powers, in particular the US, are desperately trying to hammer into place a new world order with itself as king of the heap. Their hands drip with blood. Many people are in a reflective mood, angered that their struggles in the millions to stop the war failed. Valiant resistance is taking place on the ground in Iraq. Regrettably, painfully, the target is not always the imperialist forces of occupation and oppression and the reactionary regime. May Day is a time to take stock of where we stand in our struggle to overthrow the ruling exploiting classes. What we need is a world where the interests of humanity and not the endless search for profit is at the centre of society, where the masses are no longer faceless, regarded as beasts of burden, locked out of any possibility of utilising their creative energy to consciously transform the world and themselves. The global plan of US imperialism is sinister - one world, one empire. They are unleashing naked military intervention on a scale that no other power can rival to enforce and organise globalised exploitation. A range of possibilities exists for the world's people, from devastating defeats to great advances, including revolutions in a number of countries. The outcome is up to us all. Propelled into resistance, new generations have stepped onto the stage. They lack knowledge of our past achievements. Or they only hear the ruling class propaganda machine spewing out that Communism has failed. The masses need the clear vision of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to guide them in their struggles. They need a vanguard leadership wielding this ideology in each country and a new communist international to help different streams of revolution form a worldwide torrent against the capitalist system. As with all science, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism cannot stand still. It must be a living, developing tool that can analyse new conditions and questions. Communist ideology advances amidst a turbulent process. New understandings must overcome the inertia of past ways of looking at things, and correct and incorrect viewpoints must be sorted out. The ideas that derive from different realms of humanity's experience will be further tested and developed in the course of changing the world. This whole process is marked by what communists refer to as the two-line struggle. Rebels and visionaries of the past have sacrificed greatly to try to transform society. Marx and Engels developed a scientific understanding of the nature of the capitalist system. In the Communist Manifesto Marx called for rupturing with traditional property relations, the social relations based on those property relations and the traditional ideas and institutions that reinforce those social relations in the whole world. That is what communism is about. Lenin and Mao Tsetung further developed and applied this science. Great victories were achieved during the Paris Commune, the October Revolution in Russia and Mao's socialist China with the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution at its pinnacle in the 1960s and 70s. These were crushed by the reactionary forces in general and the weight of thousands of years of class exploitation and the traditional ideas and institutions that serve and reinforce it. The Maoist forces around the world analysed the 1976 coup in China and went forward to unite and form the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM), the embryonic centre of the world's Maoist forces. RIM has called for a wide discussion and debate inside and outside its ranks over the most vital issues facing the communist revolutionaries today, such as summing up the experience of exercising proletarian dictatorship (USSR and China), understanding the dynamics of how the imperialist system works, analysing the socio-economic developments that are taking place in different countries and understanding their implication for revolutionary strategy, as well as other important questions. Through this process RIM itself has and will continue to be tempered and strengthened. Today our comrades in Nepal have made great strides in their struggle. The poor and downtrodden of Nepal have established their own revolutionary political power in 80 percent of the country and are now using those red base areas to attack the fortresses of the enemy in order to seize political power countrywide. Communism remains the only hope for humanity. But this lofty hope can only be realised through struggle, hard
[osint] Top Al Qaida Member Linked to Child Abduction Plot
Mass murderers are not going to have problems with kidnapping children. Bruce _ Top Al Qaida Member Linked to Child Abduction Plot By Emily Dennis, PA A leading member of al Qaida got money for a plot to bomb the US embassy in Paris while helping to abduct five children from this country, a court heard today. Djamel Beghal, 39, was described as being a key member of an extreme and puritanical group financed by Osama Bin Laden, Norwich Crown Court heard. He is one of a group accused of conspiring to abduct five children from their home in the city to Libya five years ago. Beghal, an Algerian, was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this year for associating with a terrorist organisation. A statement from him in prison was read in court today on behalf of the Crown. In it he admitted making reservations for the ferry crossing to take the children by Hoverspeed from Dover to Calais. However, he said he thought he was taking the youngsters to Disneyland, Paris, and did not realise they were being kidnapped. The children were snatched from their mother Anita Elgirnazi, 36, on June 10 2000. The prosecution alleges that their Libyan father Azzedin Journazi devised a plan to take them and recruited seven people including Beghal to help. At the time Rumaysa Elgirnazi was 11, Safiya Elgirnazi, nine, Ali Elgirnazi, seven, Hamza Elgirnazi, four, Aisha Elgirnazi, two. It is claimed they were taken out of Dover through France and Spain. Mustapha Abushima, 38, and his wife Wedad Ahmed, 45, both from Chorlton cum Hardy, Manchester, deny conspiring to abduct children. While cross-examining Ian Fox, the Norfolk police officer who led the investigation into the missing children, Martin Taylor, defending Abushima, told the court that Beghal had recruited young Muslims for the Jihad while living in the UK from mid 1999 until July 2000, concentrating on London and Leicester. He said: He was a key member of a group called Tak Fir-Wal-Hirja that has been described as an extreme and puritanical organisation financed by Osama Bin Laden. It is a group once thought beyond the pale even by Osama Bin Laden's organisation. The group believes that everybody who doesn't adhere to the group should be counted as infidels and legitimate targets in the Holy War. The group is of Egyptian origin which specialises in support for terrorist networks, finance and supplying false documents. In that group Beghal was described even amongst the extremists, he stood out as being one of the most dangerous. After being arrested at Dubai international airport in July 2001, Beghal came clean about his al Qaida links, helping intelligence services around the world build a profile of the organisation, Mr Taylor said. He claimed the shoe-bomber Richard Reid and Zacharia Moussaoui, described as the 20th hijacker in the September 11 attacks on the US, were among his recruits. He added: Mr Beghal was returning to France in 2001 to give the go-ahead for surveillance to attack the American Embassy at the Place de la Concorde in Paris using a lorry or a helicopter. The trial was adjourned until tomorrow. Latest News: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to:
[osint] How can I Train Myself for Jihad?
http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/63.249.218.164/html/articlesjihadt rain.htm How can I Train Myself for Jihad Disclaimer http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#disclaimer 1.0 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#10 What is Jihad 2 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#20 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#20 .0 Military Training is an Islamic Obligation not an Option 3.0 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#30 Sincerity of Intention 4.0 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#40 Training in your Country of Residence 4.1 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#41 Physical Training 4.2 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#42 Martial Arts 4.3 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#43 Survival and Outdoors Training 4.4 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#44 Firearms Training 4.5 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#45 Important Note on Live-Ammunition Jihad Firearms Training within the UK 4.6 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#46 Military Training 5.0 http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#50 Jihad Training Abroad http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#40 And prepare against them all you can of power, including steeds of war to terrorise the enemies of Allah and others besides whom you may not know, but Allah does know. And whatever you shall spend in the Cause of Allah shall be repaid unto you, and you shall not be treated unjustly. [Quran 8:60] In commenting on this verse, the Messenger (SAWS) said: Indeed, power is shooting, power is shooting, power is shooting. [Sahih Muslim] Narrated Abu Hurairah (RA) that the Messenger (SAWS) said: If anyone keeps a horse for Jihad in the Way of Allah, motivated by his faith in Allah and his belief in His Promise, then he will be rewarded on the Day of Resurrection for what the horse has eaten or drunk and for its dung and urine. [Sahih Al-Bukhari] After receiving a number of e-mails asking about this topic, we decided to include a small article about this subject. It is broken down into sections, but should be read from beginning to end for maximum benefit. Disclaimer The information contained in this document is for background information purposes only. Azzam Publications and the maintainers of the qoqaz web-sites do not encourage you to commit any illegal acts, and disclaim liability for the same. We cannot answer specific questions about information contained in this document. We do not 'sponsor', 'organise' or provide 'contacts' for people to go for Jihad or Jihad training. There are no exceptions to this: we are only a news and information outlet, so please do not contact us asking for contact details and the likes. 1.0 What is Jihad? Jihad literally means 'to struggle'. In the military sense it is meant in the context, 'to struggle against oppression'. Jihad is therefore an act to liberate people from the oppression of tyrants. Jihad is not illegal acts of terror against innocent people. When tabloid journalism mistakenly informs the masses that Jihad is 'to commit illegal acts of terror', they are revealing the lack of their research and the extent of their unprofessional approach to the subject. Go http://web.archive.org/web/20010208143107/http:/63.249.218.164/html/article sjihadtrain.htm#top to Top 2.0 Military Training is an Islamic Obligation not an Option According to the verse above (And prepare against them all you can of power...), military training is an obligation in Islam upon every sane, male, mature Muslim, whether rich or poor, whether studying or working and whether living in a Muslim or non-Muslim country. The Prophet (SAWS) explained the meaning of the term 'power' in the above verse during a Friday Sermon by mentioning that power was specifically shooting. The verse mentions 'what you can...', meaning that the Muslims must prepare to the utmost of their ability and circumstances. 'Steeds of war' refer to the horses that were prepared for battle. In this day and age, the scholars of Islam have explained this term to mean all forms of modern weaponry such as infantry weapons, tanks, artillery, aircraft, etc. The above verse is a clear evidence that military training of all sorts is an Islamic obligation, not something optional. Furthermore, the
[osint] Border Patrol rescues 77 immigrants in desert
Border Patrol rescues 77 immigrants in desert Associated Press Apr. 20, 2005 07:30 AM Arizona Republic TUCSON - U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued nearly 80 undocumented immigrants in the desert after they overtook their smuggler and used his cellphone to call for help. The 77 men, women and children were split into two groups, one of which wrote HELP in the sand to aid a search helicopter locate them, authorities said. The immigrants had been traveling for about five days when many of them became sick and could not go on, said Rob Daniels, a Border Patrol spokesman. When their guide was going to abandon them Monday, some of the immigrants ganged up on him and took away a phone they knew he was carrying and called 911. The caller was able to provide agents with enough information to locate them in the desert north of the Village of San Pedro, on the Tohono O'odham reservation near the Silver Bell Mine. Of the 77 immigrants, four were taken by ambulance to Sells for treatment. Agents were not able to find the smuggler, Daniels said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] NIMS compliant ICS training
WASHINGTON - The National Incident Management System (NIMS) Integration Center has developed guidelines for Incident Command System (ICS) training providers that will help them ensure that the training they offer meets the requirements of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Since one of the first steps for becoming compliant with NIMS is institutionalizing the use of ICS across the response system, ICS training must be consistent with the concepts, principles and characteristics of the NIMS ICS training offered by DHS training entities along with that of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). The NIMS National Standard Curriculum: Training Development Guidance outlines the system's ICS concepts and principles, management characteristics, organizations and operations, organizational element titles and recommendations for a model curriculum. It also provides an evaluation checklist for content that may be used to make sure that ICS training meets the as taught by DHS standard. The model NIMS ICS curriculum organizes four levels of training - ICS-100, Introduction to ICS; ICS-200, Basic ICS; ICS-300, Intermediate ICS; and ICS-400, Advanced ICS. ICS training provided by the Emergency Management Institute, the U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Academy, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard follow this model. According to the NIMS Integration Center emergency management and response personnel already ICS trained do not need retraining if their previous training is consistent with the DHS standard. This would include courses managed, administered or delivered by the Emergency Management Institute, the National Fire Academy, NWCG, USDA, EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard, the NIMS Center said. For more information about NIMS ICS e-mail the [EMAIL PROTECTED], or call 202-646-3850. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Manila and rebels reach agreement
Won't last.Infidels can't negotiate lasting agreements with Muslims or terrorists, unless you're surrendering. Bruce Manila and rebels reach agreement The Philippine government and Muslim rebels have announced a breakthrough in preliminary peace talks in Malaysia. Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said they had reached an agreement over ancestral land, a major stumbling block in negotiations. A joint statement hailed the talks as a breakthrough toward a just and durable solution to the Mindanao conflict. The MILF has fought for a separate state in the predominantly Catholic Philippines for nearly 30 years. The statement was made after three days of meetings between both sides in the port city of Georgetown, northern Malaysia, which began on Monday. The announcement did not give details of the agreement but stated that formal peace talks would begin within months. The MILF has been demanding rights over its ancestral domain, an area covering most of the southern island of Mindanao. But MILF officials have said they would be prepared to consider a compromise deal. The group agreed a truce with Manila in 2003 but attempts to reach a settlement have been hampered by sporadic clashes between troops and militants. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Yemeni forces facing threats on two fronts
Yemeni forces facing threats on two fronts By AHMED AL-HAJ ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER SAN`A, Yemen -- After years of working to shake its reputation as a hotbed of Islamic militancy, Yemen is now trying to keep the lid on two separate threats, both of which have bubbled up into violence and can do so again. One threat is al-Qaida and its sympathizers among Islamic extremists who have targeted foreigners in this mountainous nation at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. A group of al-Qaida suspects is standing trial - raising fears of revenge attacks. Vague security warnings have Western embassies wary, prompting the U.S. and British missions to shut down briefly earlier this month. The government has hinted of a new crackdown targeting underground schools teaching extremism. At the same time, the government is facing a persistent rebellion by Shiite tribesman - followers of cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi, who was killed in September after months of battles with Yemeni security forces. This month, troops had to put down a resumption of violence by his followers, thought to be led by his father, Badr Eddin al-Hawthi, in fighting that tribal sources say killed 250 people on both sides. The elder al-Hawthi escaped the crackdown. The two movements are not linked. Al-Hawthi's followers are angry at the government, saying it has become too closely allied with Washington, and have focused their attacks on security forces. But they oppose Wahhabism - the ultraconservative stream of Sunni Islam said to feed al-Qaida-style militancy - and reject attacking foreigners. Still, the two threats together have the country on alert. Yemeni troops are in the hills of the northwest region of Sa'dah, hunting for al-Hawthi's fighters. In the capital, extra soldiers are guarding government buildings. The United States and British embassies in San`a both shut down April 9, and the State Department warned Americans not to travel to Yemen. Officials refused to specify the nature of the threat. The British embassy reopened within a day and the American within two, but the U.S. travel warning remains in effect. Security officials acknowledged to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity concern about new sabotage attempts by al-Hawthi's followers - and about the possibility of new al-Qaida attacks to capitalize on the tense situation. Yemen has long had a reputation of tolerating lawlessness and Islamic militancy. It is the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and has witnessed many attacks on foreign targets, including the 2000 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors. After the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the Yemeni government aligned itself with the U.S.-led war on terror, avoiding American retribution but angering some Yemenis. The country is now putting some al-Qaida suspects on trial - including seven suspects charged with plotting attacks on the British and Italian embassies and the French cultural center. Prime Minister Abdul-Kader Bajammal hinted at a further crackdown, saying Saturday the government won't stay silent about underground Islamic extremist schools with some 330,000 students. He warned such teaching will bring disaster to Yemen. The government has depicted al-Hawthi's followers as an outlaw movement in this country where tribes often resist central authority and where private weapons are widespread. It accused the younger al-Hawthi of forming an armed group, The Believing Youth, with the aim of inciting against the United States through speeches in mosques and illegally organized demonstrations. A Western diplomat speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity said al-Hawthi's followers are not considered terrorists and that the situation is instead considered a rebellion. But in a nation where authorities estimate 60 million firearms are circulating - averaging about three per citizen - any armed clash can become a major security concern. So far, the revolt hasn't spilled over into attacks on foreigners, the diplomat said. But any time there is any armed conflict, you're worried in general. --- Associated Press reporter Rawya Rageh contributed to this report from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message
[osint] All Samples of Killer Flu Virus Found
We'll see, won't we? -Bruce WHO: All Samples of Killer Flu Virus Found By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS Associated Press Writer GENEVA All samples of the killer influenza virus sent outside the United States have been destroyed except for one in Lebanon, the U.N. health agency said Wednesday. The sample that had gone missing in Beirut was found at the airport, said Maria Cheng, spokeswoman for the World Health Organization. Previously unaccounted for samples sent to Mexico and South Korea already have been destroyed, she said. Dr. Walid Ammar, director general of Lebanon's Health Ministry, said in Beirut that the sample was being kept in a safe place until the ministry was instructed on whether to destroy it or send it back to the College of American Pathologists. Cheng said WHO had contacted the College of American Pathologists to see if they would accept this package back or if they wanted to ship it to another lab to be destroyed. Because of fears of a global pandemic should the virus be released, WHO has been urging destruction of the 50-year-old H2N2 virus. The kits were sent to 61 laboratories in 18 countries outside the United States. Cheng said South Korean officials had previously reported to WHO that they had destroyed half the samples they had been sent, but hadn't confirmed they also destroyed the other half. The destruction of all the samples sent to South Korea has now been confirmed, she said. A missing shipment to Mexico has been tracked down in a warehouse and has also been destroyed, she added. There are still some laboratories in the United States that haven't confirmed the destruction of the samples they were sent, Cheng said, adding that at last word 98 percent of the U.S. samples had been destroyed. U.S. laboratories received the vast majority of the 3,747 kits sent out in October and February. The so-called Asian flu strain of 1957 killed between 1 million and 4 million people. It has not been included in flu vaccines since 1968, and anyone born after that date has little or no immunity to it. Most of the samples were sent starting last year at the request of the College of American Pathologists, which helps labs do proficiency testing. The last shipments were sent out in February. ___ Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this story. 050420 211349 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Imam at center of corruption case pleads guilty to four counts
Imam at center of corruption case pleads guilty to four counts By DAVID B. CARUSO Associated Press Writer PHILADELPHIA A politically connected Muslim cleric pleaded guilty to four counts of tax evasion Wednesday, just before his trial began on dozens of other counts. Shamsud-din Ali, the leader of a West Philadelphia mosque, is a major figure in the indictments filed by federal prosecutors as part of a sweeping investigation that involved surveillance of several city officials, including the mayor. Prosecutors said he siphoned tens of thousands of dollars from a religious school associated with his mosque. He also accepted payments from drug dealers who thought they were contributing to the school, prosecutors said. During his plea hearing, Ali continued to deny that he took drug money or money from the school that wasn't due him. He acknowledged, however, that he had income from the school and his business that he didn't report to the government and that he had never paid taxes on. Opening statements for a trial on the other charges were to begin later Wednesday afternoon. Ali, known for his close ties to city Democrats, paid kickbacks to obtain no-work city contracts and used his connections to extort money from city vendors, prosecutors have said. He is also charged with threatening to use his political connections to have a businessman's sludge-hauling contract canceled unless he paid them a $25,000 bonus. The case against Ali is based partly on FBI wiretaps installed as part of a series of related corruption investigations. The probe was made public when police discovered an FBI bug in Mayor John F. Street's office. Street has not been charged. The U.S. attorney has said Ali was able to get what he wanted because people believed he had the ear of city leaders, including Street. 050420 203341 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] Courses planned for tracking terrorists in the border backcountry
Courses planned for tracking terrorists in the border backcountry By JOHN K. WILEY Associated Press Writer PRIEST LAKE, Idaho Constable Kim Bloy and two other Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers on snowmobiles were following tracks across the border into northern Idaho, when their machines became bogged down in deep powder snow. The trail became so narrow and the snow so deep that the snowmobiles had to be physically lifted to turn them around as other officers from the United States and Canada made their way to the trapped Mounties. Communications were spotty. Two-way radios didn't work and cellular telephone coverage was limited by weather and satellite coverage, Bloy said. We learned many things that day; that being unprepared for anything, anywhere is not acceptable, Bloy said Wednesday. We were OK physically, we had food and water. The Americans knew where we were. Our outfit knew where we were. It was just a matter of getting to us. Their 12-hour ordeal last Nov. 1 prompted the formation of the new law enforcement mountain operations course, a joint effort to teach survival skills to officers who routinely work the mountainous border regions. Bloy is among a dozen federal, state, provincial and local officers from both countries who are organizing the courses, which will be offered next winter to teach officers how to safely equip themselves while chasing their quarry through the backcountry. We hope that by this training, officers who go through the course will be in a position to help people, rather than become victims themselves in the woods, said U.S. Forest Service Special Agent Mike Bonszano, another participant who will help teach the courses. The winter skills course, put together by a number of agencies is the first of its kind for people that work along the borders, said U.S. Attorney Jim McDevitt of Spokane, Wash., whose office prosecutes many of the federal smuggling, illegal entry and money laundering cases in Eastern Washington. The course is being coordinated by Steve Tomson, a former Whitman County, Wash., sheriff who is McDevitt's liaison with law enforcement agencies. More officers are patrolling the border because of terrorism concerns, as well as a burgeoning drug trade, human trafficking and influx of illegal aliens, Tomson said. Many of the agents who patrol the south side of the border are with the U.S. Border Patrol, an agency of the federal Department of Homeland Security. They often come from working the border with Mexico, and are unfamiliar with thick forests, deep snow and below-freezing temperatures. The biggest challenge is working safely in the natural environment. If not properly clothed and equipped, an officer can become a casualty quicker to hypothermia than to terrorists, Tomson said. Not everybody's an outdoorsman. For instance, nearly every law enforcement officer has some background in basic first aid. But in the remote wilderness, officers need to know much more to save a wounded colleague's life, Tomson said. There are things you would do differently in the backcountry than you would do in town, he said. You can't treat them and wait for the ambulance to arrive. Medical training will be a large part of the classes, along with compass and map skills, avalanche safety, wilderness survival techniques and appropriate clothing and gear, Tomson said. The courses, which will be taught about twice a year, also will include anti-terrorism tactics and techniques to catch smugglers and illegal aliens moving through the vast expanses near the border. We have to keep our focus on the officers who have no real experience in working in this environment, he said. We want to teach the average patrol officer how to survive. The officers are part of the Okanogan Integrated Border Enforcement Team responsible for the stretch from the crest of the Cascade Range in Washington to Glacier Park in Montana. It is one of 14 such teams of Canadian and U.S. law-enforcement agencies covering the border from the Pacific to the Atlantic. In about 75 percent of the Okanogan team's territory, the border crosses federal forest or park land, much of it inaccessible to wheeled vehicles, Tomson said. Horses and four-wheel vehicles don't work where snow can pile 20 feet or more in winter, so the courses will stress traversing the backcountry on snowmobiles or even snowshoes, he said. The costs of the sessions are being paid with federal law enforcement funds, while individual agencies pay for food, lodging and other expenses of the officers being trained. Tomson and McDevitt said they hope Homeland Security money will be available to continue the training. We've put together a lot of people with a lot of expertise, McDevitt said. We can save ourselves time and trouble and the taxpayers' money by getting people together in a partnership. ___ On the Net: Homeland Security Department: http://www.dhs.gov 050420 213718 [Non-text portions of this message have
[osint] Military report finds Sweden ill prepared for large-scale terror attack
Military report finds Sweden ill prepared for large-scale terror attack STOCKHOLM, Sweden Sweden is ill prepared to deal with a large-scale terror attack, and the number of young Islamic activists in the country is growing, according to a military report released Wednesday. The report by Sweden's defense research agency, FOI, says Swedish police lack the personnel and equipment to face heavily armed terrorists or to deal with large-scale hostage situations, despite plans for improving police capabilities after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Swedish security police also lack the ability to cooperate with other authorities in preventing terrorism, it says, warning that there's a growth of new, younger extreme Islamic activists living in Sweden. Currently, there are members and activists from all major terrorist groups living in Sweden, and security police say about 20 people have visited Islamist camps in Pakistan, the report says. No terrorist organization, however, has placed a main office in Sweden, it says. The report recommends that authorities create a national crisis center to deal with extreme threats in extreme situations, and pass legislation to allow the government to use military resources, if needed, to respond to civilian threats. Known members of terror groups are under police surveillance, but are largely left alone unless they commit crimes. Two Iraqi citizens are standing trial in Sweden on charges of having collected and transferred money to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other terrorists in Iraq. 050420 121843 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM ~- -- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[osint] UPI: WMD panel threatened resignations over co-operation
Please find below an example of UPI's continuing coverage of intelligence reform and related matters. A shorter version appeared on page A3 of Tuesday's Washington Times. I hope you find it interesting. You may link to it on the web here: http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20050415-022457-1565r If you have any comments or questions about this piece, need any more information about UPI products and services, or want to stop receiving these alerts, please get in touch. UPI subscribers received this piece when it was first published last week. Thank you, Shaun Waterman UPI Homeland and National Security Editor E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 202 898 8081 WMD panel threatened resignations over co-operation By Shaun Waterman UPI Homeland and National Security Editor WASHINGTON, April 15 (UPI) -- Members of the presidential commission that examined U.S. intelligence failures told White House officials they would resign en masse if President Bush did not ensure that the nation's spy agencies cooperated with their inquiry -- and had to repeat the threat more than once. Laurence Silberman, the federal judge who was co-chairman of the inquiry said he told officials, If we did not get support from the White House at any time we ran into any difficulties, I and others would resign. I did occasionally have to remind the White House of the commitment I had made to resign, Silberman continued, saying he had done so to focus their attention. But he also said the president had backed the commission team, personally intervening to get the man they wanted as executive director when his existing boss, U.S. plenipotentiary in Iraq L. Paul Bremer, would not release him. When we decided we wanted him and we offered him the job, there was a problem -- Bremer didn't want to let him go -- which required the president of the United States to arbitrate the decision, Silberman told a Washington breakfast organized by the American Bar Association Thursday. When the judge was appointed in February last year, he recalled, there was much discussion of the fact that, unlike the Sept. 11 commission that preceded it, the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction did not have subpoena power. Silberman said some commissioners fretted that, without it, they might not get the cooperation they needed, but that he himself believed the threat of resignation was a more effective sanction. As it happened, the concern about not having subpoena power turned out to be unjustified, he said. Ultimately, I think everyone agreed that ... we did get good cooperation, he said. One area of potential conflict that went more smoothly than expected, commission officials said, were the negotiations with intelligence agencies over how much material could be put in the public, unclassified version of the commission's report. Unlike the two recent major congressional inquiries into intelligence failures, the Silberman panel chose to write a declassified report, separate from the classified version, rather than do as the lawmakers did and publish the redacted version of their classified report, bearing the familiar-to-Washington-insiders black bars and boxes over the classified sections. It was an effort to create something more readable and less mysterious, Stewart Baker, the commission's general counsel told United Press International. Commission officials said they began with the classified version and then rewrote the text of sensitive parts so as to exclude or provide unclassified summaries of classified information. The consent of the agencies that provided the information had to be negotiated. The process took about a month Silberman told UPI the two versions of the report were 90 percent identical. Baker added that the commissioners were surprised at how much could be discussed in an unclassified format. That same day, Bush, answering journalists' questions at the American Society of Newspaper Editors, praised the commission for striking a good balance between openness and protecting the country's secrets. I think people following this issue were surprised that so much was declassified. And yet the -- the Silberman-Robb commission made it really clear that had the other 10 percent been declassified, it would have created -- it would have jeopardized our capacity to protect the country. It would have -- it would have exposed sources and uses, Bush said. On the other hand, critics charge that at least redactions enable the readers to see what is being hidden from them, and they say the commissioners missed at least one golden opportunity. Three chapters of the report -- dealing with the state of U.S. knowledge about the weapons programs of Iran and North Korea and with covert actions -- were excised from the public version. By excluding them, freedom of information campaigner Steven Aftergood told UPI, The commission missed an opportunity to help educate and inform the
