[osint] Marine Corps Special Operations Command Activated
Marine Corps Special Operations Command Activated By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA American Forces Press Service CAMP LEJEUNE, N. C. , Feb. 24, 2006 – The Marine Corps officially joined the ranks of U. S. Special Operations Command here today in a ceremony that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld called an important milestone in the nation's fight against terrorism. (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2006/screen_20060224144912_15flag-20060224.jpg) Army Gen. Bryan Brown, commander of U. S. Special Operations Command, passes the colors of Marine Special Operations Command to Marine Brig. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, MARSOC's first commander, at the MARSOC activation ceremony at Camp Lejeune, N. C. , Feb. 24. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USAIt pairs two of history's most dedicated groups of warriors -- the men and women of the U. S. Special Operations Command and the United States Marine Corps, Rumsfeld said at the activation ceremony. Special operations forces and U. S. Marines are legendary for their agility, creativity and willingness to take on difficult missions, Rumsfeld said, and Marines have played important roles in past U. S. victories. Today in the global war on terror, we call on Marines again . . . to seek new and innovative ways to take the fight to the enemy, he said. Our country needs agile, highly mobile forces to track down terrorist cells that are dispersed across the globe. The Marine Corps will bring new capabilities to Special Operations Command, Marine Gen. Michael W. Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, said. Marine Special Operations Command will add new foreign military training units to the force, and the first of these teams will deploy in April, Hagee said. The Marines will also increase the logistics capability of Special Operations Command, he said, and will provide maritime raid capabilities for the first time in history. The Marine Corps was added to Special Operations Command because it is the right thing to do for the country, Army Gen. Bryan Brown, commander of U. S. Special Operations Command, said. This is not about change for the sake of change, Brown said. It is about enabling special operations forces to become even more capable against future threats. Today's activation brings together two organizations that are tremendously capable and prepared to meet the threats of the changing battlefield, Brown said. Special operations Marines will be specially selected, organized, trained and equipped, and will be deployed within the next two months to fight the war on terror, he said. The war on terror is a long war that requires a flexible U. S. military force that is able to face unconventional threats, Rumsfeld said. Special Operations Command has always been able to meet these unique threats, and the addition of the Marine Corps to the command gives it even more capability, he said. Our country will now have the benefit of being able to draw on some of the most dedicated, innovative and capable warriors our country has ever known, he said. Marine Special Operations Command is headquartered at Camp Lejeune and includes about 2,600 Marines and sailors. The command has five supporting commands: the Foreign Military Training Unit, Marine Special Operations Battalions East and West, the Marine Special Operations Support Group, and the Marine Special Operations School. Biography: _Donald H. Rumsfeld_ (http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/rumsfeld_bio.html) Related Site: _U. S. Special Operations Command_ (http://www.socom.mil/) (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2006/screen_20060224145020_15colors-20060224.jpg) The colors of the Marine Special Operations Command are uncased at the MARSOC activation ceremony at Camp Lejeune, N. C. , Feb. 24. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA _Download screen-resolution_ (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2006/screen_20060224145020_15colors-20060224.jpg) _Download high-resolution_ (mip://06707258/20060224145020_15colors-20060224.jpg) (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/archive.html) _News Archive_ (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/archive.html) NOTE: View the _original version_ (http://www.defe nselink.mil/news/Feb2006/20060224_4306.html) of this web page on _DefenseLINK_ (http://www.defenselink.mil/) , the official website of the U. S. Department of Defense. Visit the Defense Department's Web site America Supports You at _http://www.americasupportsyou.mil_ (http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/) , that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad. Visit the Defense Department's Web site for the latest news and information about America's response to the war against terrorism: Defend America at _http://www.DefendAmerica.mil._ (http://www.defendamerica.mil/)
[osint] Pentagon: Iraqi troops downgraded
No Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support As we see more of these Iraqi forces in the lead, we will be able to continue with our stated strategy that says as Iraqi forces stand up, we will stand down, President Bush said last month. Oh well, looks like the troops will be home for Christmas...2008. More bad news in Bushland. http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/24/iraq.security/index.html?section=cnn_topstories Pentagon: Iraqi troops downgraded No Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday. The battalion, made up of 700 to 800 Iraqi Army soldiers, has repeatedly been offered by the U.S. as an example of the growing independence of the Iraqi military. The competence of the Iraqi military has been cited as a key factor in when U.S. troops will be able to return home. As we see more of these Iraqi forces in the lead, we will be able to continue with our stated strategy that says as Iraqi forces stand up, we will stand down, President Bush said last month. (Full story) (http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/04/bush.iraq/index.html) The battalion, according to the Pentagon, was downgraded from level one to level two after a recent quarterly assessment of its capabilities. Level one means the battalion is able to fight on its own; level two means it requires support from U.S. troops; and level three means it must fight alongside U.S. troops. Though officials would not cite a specific reason for downgrading the unit, its readiness level has dropped in the wake of a new commander and numerous changes in the combat and support units, officials said. The battalion is still deployed, and its status as an independent fighting force could be restored any day, Pentagon officials said. It was not clear where the battalion is operating within Iraq. According to the congressionally mandated Iraq security report released Friday, there are 53 Iraqi battalions at level two status, up from 36 in October. There are 45 battalions at level three, according to the report. Overall, Pentagon officials said close to 100 Iraqi army battalions are operational, and more than 100 Iraq Security Force battalions are operational at levels two or three. The security force operations are under the direction of the Iraqi government. The numbers are roughly the same as those given by the president last month when he said 125 Iraqi combat battalions were fighting the insurgency, 50 of them taking the lead. In January 2006, the mission is to continue to hand over more and more territory and more and more responsibility to Iraqi forces, Bush said. That's progress. CNN's Mike Mount contributed to this report. -- 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] Reporter hanged by Sadam for spying....
Proved innocent Observer reporter Farzad Bazoft was hanged by Saddam in 1990. Now we have tracked down his interrogator who admits: 'He was no spy' Ed Vulliamy in Nasiriya Sunday May 18, 2003 The Observer His eyes are like stone, but his smile is a ready one, his handshake is firm. This is the face and greeting of the man who arrested and interrogated The Observer' s correspondent Farzad Bazoft, so starting a process that would send the journalist to the gallows in March 1990. His name is Kadem Askar. Back then he was a colonel in Saddam Hussein's intelligence service. Now, tracked down 13 years after Bazoft's barbaric execution, Askar admits that he knew the 31-year-old reporter was innocent of the charge of espionage for which he was hanged - and claims Bazoft was murdered on the orders of Saddam Hussein himself. Askar was himself welcomed into Saddam's presence at least three times during his career in Iraq's intelligence agency. But he says he tried - half-heartedly - to defy the Iraqi dictator over the murder of Bazoft. This is what Askar said at his home in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriyah last week: 'Bazoft was not a spy. He was obviously innocent. He was not a spy, and from my interrogation I could tell he was not, that he was simply chasing a story. And I submitted my report saying that. 'But,' said Askar, grinding a row of prayer beads in his fist as he sat by the light of a paraffin lamp in his front room, 'the order came down from Saddam Hussein himself: that Bazoft was a spy for the Israelis and British. Once Saddam took that position, there was nothing I could do to help this young man. Yes, it went all the way to the top, to Saddam himself. Bazoft was a foreigner - both English and Iranian - and that made this an important case for Saddam.' The Observer 's road to Askar this time around - in a cruel echo of Bazoft's steps - was a curious one. The family of Askar's first wife, in Baghdad, was located. She was a former actress and television presenter on Basra TV, who removed herself from the public glare when word came that Uday Hussein, Saddam's sadistically lecherous son, had noticed and desired her. Once an address for her estranged husband was discovered, The Observer offered a lift to Askar's son, Ali, by way of reuniting him with his father after the disruption of war. Ali accepted and, a few days later, was waiting with packed bag, complete with the pictures of Britney Spears and Celine Dion he takes everywhere. The road wound south, littered with its deadly debris, to his father's home in Nasiriyah. This time The Observer entered Askar's presence not through the door of an interrogation room at Abu Graib jail, on the outskirts of Baghdad, but through the evening light and humid heat and into his home. Instead of the harsh light, the interrogator's desk and plastic chair that would have greeted Bazoft, there is the lamplight and hot, sweet tea. Askar was not aware he was speaking to a reporter and photographer - let alone from Bazoft's newspaper - although by the end of the conversation he may have guessed his visitors were likely to be from the press. Notes of his remarks were taken immediately after they were translated, and confirmed at a gathering, including the Arabic translator, by all three of Askar's guests after the visit. First, there is an introduction to his daughter who, in fluent English, discusses her studies of Beowulf, Chaucer and the Romantic poets, Coleridge being a favourite. We move on to Askar's relief that Saddam's regime has gone. Askar is a Shia Muslim from this town in the heartland of Iraq's persecuted religious majority. He writes poetry, he says, 'about love and gentle things'. He is now without work or income. Despite his studies at the Academy of Arts in Baghdad, his father, he claims, forced him into military service in 1969. 'To be an artist was to be a beggar under Saddam,' he says. In 1975, Askar the soldier spotted 'an opportunity to rise' and transferred to the intelligence service, reaching the rank of colonel by the time Bazoft returned in September 1989 to the country he had previously visited several times. Bazoft left London with a group of colleagues to join an Iraqi government-organised convoy to cover Kurdish elections and rebuilding after the Iran-Iraq war. But, on the day he departed, newspapers in Britain reported a different story: an explosion at the Iraqi military facility of al-Iksandria, in which 700 people were reported killed. The Iraqis said only 17 lives had been lost. Bazoft called his editor and agreed to investigate the story. Along with a team from ITN, he tried to give the Iraqi security forces the slip; the ITN team was stopped, Bazoft got through. He worked diligently and professionally - perhaps too much so. He took photographs of the installation and collected soil samples to
[osint] Why Bush is stuck on the port deal
The energy-rich Persian Gulf nation is currently taking delivery of about US$8.4 billion worth of military equipment, mostly state-of-the-art fighter aircraft, ordered from the US ($6.4 billion) and France ($2 billion) over the past five years. The delivery of 80 US-built F-16 E/F fighter planes - described as one of the biggest single arms packages to a Middle Eastern nation and finalized in March 2000 - is to be completed in 2007. If I had to hazard a guess on the potential impact of the current imbroglio, there will be increased interest on the part of the UAE military to move to further arms source diversification - and away from relying too heavily on the US. Ah yes, now it becomes clearer. Cancelling the deal would endanger the bilateral free trade negotiations with UAE (a free trade agreement would lower the import cost of oil from UAE, benefiting CICBush43 oil buddies who probably would not pass lower costs on to consumers). If the deal goes through, it means work for U.S. defense contractors who contribute mightily to CICBush43 and Republicans (plus Carlyle Group, Daddy's favorite firm, owns defense contractors who would profit) and lots of future orders that would keep defense contractors going and fill Pentagon money coffers as the Iraq conflict, hopefully, draws down. Kill the DP World deal and UAE will be miffed, ready to shift purchases elsewhere, kill the free trade agreement and limit U.S. naval operations and logistics out of Dubai. Politics, cronyism, strategy and money are hard, immediate requirements that trump the more intangible (no attacks this week) Global War On Terror (aka Long War) and the pitiful, starving Homeland Security stepchild (no attacks there yet) called Port Security. Maybe no terror attack in, or tied to, a U.S. port will happen until CICBush43's term is nearly over. And even if it does, he can jump up with big bullhorn speeches to defend us again from those al Qaeda bad guys still smirking, sarcastic and free in Afghanistan. CICBush43 gambled on Iraq, gambled on Katrina...gambling again on UAE. David Bier http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB25Ak04.html Feb 25, 2006 Why Bush is stuck on the port deal By Thalif Deen NEW YORK - The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the center of a growing controversy over its proposed management of US port terminals, is one of the world's most prolific arms buyers and a multi-billion-dollar military market both for the United States and Western Europe. The energy-rich Persian Gulf nation is currently taking delivery of about US$8.4 billion worth of military equipment, mostly state-of-the-art fighter aircraft, ordered from the US ($6.4 billion) and France ($2 billion) over the past five years. The delivery of 80 US-built F-16 E/F fighter planes - described as one of the biggest single arms packages to a Middle Eastern nation and finalized in March 2000 - is to be completed in 2007. US President George W Bush's threat to veto any attempts to block last week's deal permitting a state-owned UAE company to take over the management of six US port terminals has underlined the significance of the political and military relationship between the two countries. Despite growing bipartisan opposition to the deal - mostly prompted by a fear psychosis that US ports should not be managed by a state-owned Arab company because of possible terrorist infiltration - Bush says the UAE has been a strong US ally in the fight against global terrorism. Despite potential terrorist threats, the president sees no risk in a Middle Eastern company overseeing US ports and shipping terminals . But an equally significant fact in the longstanding bilateral relationship is that the UAE is a vibrant arms market not only for the US but also its allies in Western Europe, particularly France and Britain. The UAE [arms] market is definitely important to the US, said Tom Baranauskas, a senior Middle East analyst at the Connecticut-based Forecast International, a leading provider of defense market intelligence services. Just the order for 80 of the newest-generation F-16E/Fs alone was a major buy from the US, he said. Interestingly, there are already upgrades planned for these fighter planes even though they have not completed delivery, Baranauskas said. The upgrades and maintenance of the already delivered aircraft - and proposed new arms purchases - will be ensured only by a continued military relationship between the UAE and the US. But he also pointed out that the UAE military's procurement priorities were shifting, and this shift may affect the US competitiveness, and actually benefit Europeans more than the US. Besides French Mirage fighter planes, the UAE has also taken delivery of about 36 British Aerospace Hawk, 100 trainer/ground attack aircraft, four warships from Germany and two frigates from the Netherlands. Additionally, France has supplied about 400 battle tanks in a deal worth nearly $3.8 billion. With an armed force of
[osint] The superhawk's big flap
How would you feel if, in the aftermath of September 11, the US government had decided to contract out airport security to the ... country where most of the operational planning and financing of the attacks occurred? he asked in his weekly column in the right-wing Washington Times, February 14. It seems a safe bet that you, like most Americans, would think it a lunatic idea, one that would clear the way for still more terror in this country, he argued, concluding, If the President will not, Congress must ensure that the United Arab Emirates is not entrusted with the operation of any American ports. While protection of US ports from Islamofascists is his priority of the moment, he is particularly concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions. At a recent Committee on the Present Danger forum in Congress, he warned that Tehran is working toward a capability that could destroy America as we know it. Iran's missile program, he asserted, appears designed to detonate a nuclear weapon in space high above the United States, unleashing an immensely powerful electro-magnetic pulse that would destroy the US electrical grid. The result could reduce the US to a pre-industrial society in the blink of an eye. Gaffney makes an excellent point about the DP World deal. After being constantly and repeatedly pumped up with fear by CICBush43 inflammatory rhetoric about Islamic terrorists about to attack the U.S., he then appears to swing to the far left to support DP World's deal. Borders on political suicide and alienation of a big chunk of his conservative core constituency already not happy with the clueless handling of Iraq pacification. But Gaffney is even more accurate about what would happen if Iran goes forward with its nuclear program coupled with North Korean and Russian missile technology. For a really good look at a simulation of a U.S. post-EMP society, go pull some of the TV episodes of the Fox program Dark Angel that was on the tube in 2001 (truncated swiftly after 9/11) starring Jessica Alba. Discount the government mutants but take a cold hard look at what happens to the average American reduced to abject grinding peasantry when suddenly there is no financial system and the only law is martial law. Ain't pretty... David Bier http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB25Ak03.html Feb 25, 2006 The superhawk's big flap By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON - Love him or hate him, Frank Gaffney is effective. The founder and president of the Washington-based Center for Security Policy (CSP), a small think tank funded mainly by US defense contractors, far-right foundations and right-wing Zionists, Gaffney was among the first to seize on the government's approval of a Dubai company to manage terminals at six major US ports and helped blow it up into a major embarrassment for President George W Bush. Indeed, it was Gaffney who wrote the first nationally syndicated column about the approval, which, if sustained, would turn over the management of terminals in the ports of New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Miami, Baltimore and New Orleans to Dubai Ports World (DPW), a government-owned company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). How would you feel if, in the aftermath of September 11, the US government had decided to contract out airport security to the ... country where most of the operational planning and financing of the attacks occurred? he asked in his weekly column in the right-wing Washington Times, February 14. It seems a safe bet that you, like most Americans, would think it a lunatic idea, one that would clear the way for still more terror in this country, he argued, concluding, If the President will not, Congress must ensure that the United Arab Emirates is not entrusted with the operation of any American ports. With the help of other right-wing columnists and broadcast commentators who quickly rallied to his call, Gaffney's alarum - much like the famous ride of Paul Revere, the colonist who warned towns around Boston at the outset of the war for independence that the British are coming! - helped transform what had been a relatively routine decision by a high-level inter-agency committee that reviews major foreign investments in the US into the biggest story in Washington within just seven days. Indeed, eight days after publishing what a Nexis data-base search identified as the first broadside against the deal, and many television (especially Fox News) and talk-radio appearances later, Gaffney was claiming victory, this time in an article published by National Review Online, where he is a contributing editor. President Bush has dug in his heels on a fight he surely cannot win, wrote Gaffney, noting the president's threat to veto any legislation that would annul the DPW deal. The deal will ... be aborted. Indeed, on Thursday, the Dubai company offered to delay the part of the deal related to the US to give the Bush administration more time to convince lawmakers the deal posed no
[osint] A British bastion in the heart of Taliban territory
Please don't call it our Dien Bien Phu, said a senior officer, referring to the siege of French forces that brought their occupation of Vietnam to an end in 1954. When the Afghan war began Tony Blair said: This time we will not walk away, as the West had done when it used and then abandoned Afghanistan following the conflict with the Russians. Critics say that is precisely what he did by following President George Bush in shifting the focus of the war on terror from Afghanistan to overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Now, five years later, the Taliban and their Islamist allies are back with a vengeance, carrying out suicide and roadside bombings, murdering aid workers, burning schools and beheading teachers for offering education to girls. Just over a week ago US and Afghan government forces fought a pitched battle with more than 200 Muslim militants in Helmand and a squadron of RAF Harriers based at Kandahar have been in regular action against targets across southern Afghanistan. Man for man, the Americans consider this is now a more dangerous operation than Iraq - and obviously we are aware of the risks involved, said Lieutenant-Colonel Simon Winkworth, of the Royal Engineers. We have taken all the measures necessary and we have our own way of doing things. Afghanistan is more bad news building to an explosion this spring and summer. The Taliban have loads of new weapons and equipment from the Tamil Tigers arms network (flown in by Bout, no doubt). Al Qaeda has ordered many of its combat veterans back from Iraq to augment the Taliban with small unit leaders and tactical planning. The 200 man combat noted in the article was a company sized operation that used a sophisticated box ambush technique seen often in Iraq; pinning down a large Afghan force and requiring large numbers of Afghan and U.S. troops to extricate them from the Taliban ambush which faded away with minimum casualties. Plus the Taliban is making full use of Iraqi-style car bombs and suicide bombers to wreak psychological havoc in Afghan towns and cities. They are strong enough to control several Pakistan border provinces. The Musharraf government is on shaky ground and may be replaced any day by an Islamist government supporting the Taliban. The Afghan government will need LOTS of foreign troops. Unless CICBush43 abandons Karzai, many U.S. troops in Iraq many not be going home when they leave Iraq. David Bier http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article347540.ece 25 February 2006 14:49 A British bastion in the heart of Taliban territory By Kim Sengupta at Camp Bastion, Helmand Published: 25 February 2006 The vast camp spreads across an unforgiving landscape, the biggest British military base since the Second World War, a potent symbol of the new British presence in Afghanistan. Camp Bastion is being built in Helmand, the most dangerous part of this highly dangerous country. It is from this desolate spot that British operations against a resurgent Taliban and al-Qa'ida will be run. Please don't call it our Dien Bien Phu, said a senior officer, referring to the siege of French forces that brought their occupation of Vietnam to an end in 1954. But if the isolated British base in the heart of hostile country does turn into the same sort of debacle, it won't be because the British, unlike the French, made the mistake of underestimating their enemy. When the Afghan war began Tony Blair said: This time we will not walk away, as the West had done when it used and then abandoned Afghanistan following the conflict with the Russians. Critics say that is precisely what he did by following President George Bush in shifting the focus of the war on terror from Afghanistan to overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Now, five years later, the Taliban and their Islamist allies are back with a vengeance, carrying out suicide and roadside bombings, murdering aid workers, burning schools and beheading teachers for offering education to girls. Just over a week ago US and Afghan government forces fought a pitched battle with more than 200 Muslim militants in Helmand and a squadron of RAF Harriers based at Kandahar have been in regular action against targets across southern Afghanistan. Man for man, the Americans consider this is now a more dangerous operation than Iraq - and obviously we are aware of the risks involved, said Lieutenant-Colonel Simon Winkworth, of the Royal Engineers. We have taken all the measures necessary and we have our own way of doing things. Camp Bastion will house 2,300 of the 5,700-strong British expeditionary force, including Royal Marines and paratroopers. It is adjacent to a camp, Sharabak, being built by the Americans for the Afghan army. The aim of the joint force is to counter the flood of insurgents crossing the border from Pakistan - with the complicity, the Afghan government says, of elements within the Pakistani intelligence service - and drug lords who control 25 per cent of the opium crop in the country with the
[osint] Identity of Official to Be Kept From Libby
During a hearing Friday afternoon, Walton said Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald can keep secret the other government official's identity because that person has not been charged and has a right to privacy. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5646110,00.html Identity of Official to Be Kept From Libby Saturday February 25, 2006 1:46 AM By TONI LOCY Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Former White House aide I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, charged with perjury in the CIA leak case, cannot be told the identity of another government official who is said to have divulged a CIA operative's identity to reporters, a federal judge ruled Friday. At the same time, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said Libby could have copies of notes he took during an 11-month period in 2003 and 2004 while serving as chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. The judge also set the stage for a showdown in late April over the defense's plans to subpoena reporters and news organizations for notes and other documents in the leak of Valerie Plame's identity. During a hearing Friday afternoon, Walton said Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald can keep secret the other government official's identity because that person has not been charged and has a right to privacy. The judge put off deciding whether Libby can have access to highly classified presidential daily briefs, summaries of intelligence on threats against the United States that Libby and Cheney received six days a week from a CIA official. Walton said he is concerned that Libby's request could ``sabotage'' the case because President Bush probably will invoke executive privilege and refuse to turn over the classified reports. ``The vice president - his boss - said these are the family jewels,'' the judge said, referring to Cheney's past description of the daily briefings. ``If the executive branch says, 'This is too important to the welfare of the nation and we're not going to comply,' the criminal prosecution goes away.'' Libby, 55, was indicted last year on charges that he lied about how he learned Plame's identity and when he subsequently told reporters. Libby's trial is set for January 2007. The CIA operative's identity was published in July 2003 by syndicated columnist Robert Novak after Plame's husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence about Iraq's efforts to buy uranium in Niger. The year before, the CIA had sent Wilson to Niger to determine the accuracy of the uranium reports. Libby's lawyers and Fitzgerald disagreed over whether the unidentified government official - who does not work at the White House - was referring to Plame or her husband when he said, ``Everyone knows,'' during a taped interview with investigators. The defense said the official meant that most reporters knew that Plame worked at the CIA, as Libby testified before a federal grand jury. But Fitzgerald said the reference was to Wilson, who was not identified in initial media reports about the trip to Niger. Ted Wells, another Libby lawyer, said the judge shouldn't worry about provoking the president, the CIA or the media and needs to take time to make sure Libby gets the evidence he needs to defend himself. ``If it's done in a quick and dirty way, he's going to be convicted,'' Wells said. Walton denied a defense request to stop Fitzgerald from filing information that only the judge can review, such as strategy memos and classified information that he wants withheld from Libby's legal team. Walton said he needs to see what Fitzgerald is withholding from the defense to ensure the prosecutor is making the correct call. The defense was told that the White House had recently located and turned over about 250 pages of e-mails from the vice president's office. Fitzgerald, in a letter last month to the defense, had cautioned Libby's lawyers that some e-mails might be missing because the White House's archiving system had failed. The 2-hour hearing not only kicked off the battle over how much classified information a jury will hear when Libby's case goes to trial, but also showed how cumbersome it is to deal with such secret evidence. When Wells tried to hand Walton a blue pouch - complete with a key - containing classified documents, a court security officer called the judge's clerk over and whispered instructions, presumably on its handling. ``I would not be a good safe-breaker,'' Walton joked as he fumbled with the pouch's lock before opening it. -- 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
[osint] Washington told to justify port deal in court
The Port Authority said it has a right to review changes in port management under the existing lease agreement. The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court in Newark, urged the court to declare that the purchase of PO requires consent of the Port Authority under the lease, that the container terminal is in breach of its lease, and that the lease is terminated. The Port Authority has been deprived of its right to conduct a thorough review of the purchase ... of the identity, qualifications, experience and reputation of the purchasers ... and of the proposed impact that the change may have on the control and ownership, the lawsuit said. Ouch! Here is the place, in court, where the government's failure to observe the Bryd amendment will have great impact. David Bier http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=politicsNewsstoryid=2006-02-24T214824Z_01_N24228025_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-PORTS-NEWJERSEY.xml Washington told to justify port deal in court Fri Feb 24, 2006 4:48 PM ET166 By Jon Hurdle PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Bush administration was ordered by a U.S. federal judge on Friday to explain why it did not give New Jersey officials documents and information Washington had about a deal allowing an Arab company to take over management of a container terminal in Newark. U.S. District Court Judge Jose Linares signed an order demanding to know why the government did not carry out a full investigation into the change of ownership of the container terminal at Port Newark. The judge set a hearing for Wednesday and said in the order he would issue a preliminary injunction blocking the deal, pending a full investigation, unless he was satisfied with Washington's answers. The judge asked in the order that federal officials explain why New Jersey officials were not given the same documents and information that Washington used to approve the deal, under which state-owned Dubai Ports World would take over management from the British company PO. On Thursday, the State of New Jersey sued the federal government to block the deal on the grounds it violated the 10th Amendment, which says states control anything not explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Earlier, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine urged the governors of states with ports affected by the deal -- Louisiana, New York, Florida, Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania -- to join the lawsuit. Democrat Corzine issued the invitation in letters to each governor, saying the lawsuit will seek to enjoin this sale of vital assets to a foreign nation without our states having had the opportunity to determine the extent of the threat to the safety of our citizens. The latest developments came as a second lawsuit was filed in New Jersey over the controversial deal. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey filed a lawsuit on Friday to stop the change of management of its container terminal at Port Newark in New Jersey. The authority, jointly owned by the states of New York and New Jersey, said the deal violates the terms of PO's lease. The transaction is part of a $6.85 billion deal under which the United Arab Emirates company Dubai Ports World DPW would manage terminals at six major U.S. ports. The plan has sparked protests from federal and local lawmakers and officials who fear the ports' security will be hurt if they are managed by a company whose owner has been accused of having links with terrorist groups. The Port Authority said it has a right to review changes in port management under the existing lease agreement. The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court in Newark, urged the court to declare that the purchase of PO requires consent of the Port Authority under the lease, that the container terminal is in breach of its lease, and that the lease is terminated. The suit names PO Ports North America, and Port Newark Container Terminal LLC as defendants. U.S. lawmakers opposed to the takeover have cited links between UAE and al Qaeda but President George W. Bush has defended the deal, calling the UAE an ally in his war on terrorism. The Port Authority has been deprived of its right to conduct a thorough review of the purchase ... of the identity, qualifications, experience and reputation of the purchasers ... and of the proposed impact that the change may have on the control and ownership, the lawsuit said. -- 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
[osint] Homeland Security Objected to Ports Deal
We were not prepared to sign off on the deal without the successful negotiation of the assurances, Baker told the AP. Officials from the White House, CIA, departments of State, Treasury, Justices, and others looked for guidance from Homeland Security because it is responsible for seaports. We had the most obvious stake in the process, Baker said. Baker acknowledged that a government audit of security practices at the U.S. ports in the takeover has not been completed as part of the deal. We had the authority to do an audit earlier, Baker said. The audit will help evaluate DP World's security programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials at its seaport operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. Note that while the talking heads today on TV are saying DPW would not be responsible for security, they really are and DHS was supposed to audit their ability to perform security. But DHS hasn't done the audit yet. Not surprised. DHS was supposed to audit security practices at all U.S. ports over three years ago per a requirement in an appropriations bill. But they have yet to do a comprehensive audit. Thus, without any benchmarks to work from, they have also failed to develop a comprehensive security plan providing for phased upgrades and security protection standards. To date, DHS has piecemealed port security requirements with fragment plans such as the Cargo Security Initiative. Note, if Congress and the people had not stepped in, the deal would have gone forward WITHOUT THE AUDIT. Not only failure but COMPOUNDED failures in this whole mess because of lax port security. DHS failed at Katrina, threw lots of money at airport security to birth a horrendously awkward system and has failed miserably at even finding out the sad state of port security, much less fixing it. And don't forget what similarly hasn't been done by DHS for the chemical and information technology critical infrastructures as well. Note, one port authority has already obtained an injunction, the Governor of NJ is suing and at least one company in one of the ports is also filing suit and DPW has delayed the transaction. Hadley may be able to get in the Famous Last Words record book. David Bier http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060225/ap_on_go_pr_wh/ports_security Homeland Security Objected to Ports Deal By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company's taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent. The department's early objections were settled later in the government's review of the $6.8 billion deal after Dubai-owned DP World agreed to a series of security restrictions. The company indefinitely has postponed its takeover to give President Bush time to convince Congress that the deal does not pose any increased risks to the U.S. from terrorism. Some lawmakers have pressed for a new and intensive review. Despite persistent criticism from Republicans and Democrats, the president has defended his administration's approval of the ports deal and threatened to veto any measures in Congress that would block it. Hearings are to continue this week. A DP World executive said the company would agree to tougher security restrictions to win congressional support only if the same restrictions applied to all U.S. port operators. The company earlier had struck a more conciliatory stance, saying it would do whatever Bush asked to salvage the agreement. Security is everybody's business, senior vice president Michael Moore told The Associated Press. We're going to have a very open mind to legitimate concerns. But anything we can do, any way to improve security, should apply to everybody equally. The administration approved the ports deal on Jan. 17 after DP World agreed during secret negotiations to cooperate with law enforcement investigations in the future and make other concessions. Some lawmakers have challenged the adequacy of a classified intelligence assessment crucial to assuring the administration that the deal was proper. The report was assembled during four weeks in November by analysts working for the director of national intelligence. The report concluded that U.S. spy agencies were unable to locate any derogatory information on the company, according to a person familiar with the document. This person spoke only on condition of anonymity because the report was classified. Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., and others have complained that the intelligence report focused only on information the agencies collected about DP World and did not examine reported links between UAE government officials and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks. The uproar over DP World has exposed how the government routinely approves
[osint] Russia ready to supply Tupolev-204 planes to Iran
That's our buddy...KGB Officer Putain in charge of Russia! Always willing to give us a hand. -Bruce TEHRAN, February 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia is ready to supply Tupolev-204 planes to Iran, the head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, said. Our plant at Perm has done some research and is ready to meet Iran's technical requirements in terms of safety, prices, and implementation of the contract irrespective of supplies from third countries, Kiriyenko said after talks with Iranian Minister of Economics and Finance Davoud Danesh-Ja' fari on Saturday. He said Iran's wishes that the planes be provided with Rolls-Royce engines were being studied. C ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. -- 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] Al Qaeda renews oil threat
Count on more refinery fires and explosions and attacks against pipelines and shipping. Bruce Al Qaeda renews oil threat From: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in Dubai February 26, 2006 AL-QAEDA's Saudi network has vowed to attack more oil facilities, according to an Internet statement posted overnight after a thwarted attack on the desert kingdom's largest oil installation. We reaffirm our determination to defeat the crusader and tyrannic forces, stop the plunder of the Muslims' riches, free Muslim land and cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of infidels, said the statement by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the network's local branch is known. We will not stop attacks until (the presence of infidels) has been eliminated, the statement said. Its authenticity could not be confirmed. The chilling message cast a pall on Riyadh's efforts to reassure markets made jittery by the failed double suicide bomb attack Friday on the world's largest oil-producing centre that left two security guards and the two bombers dead. The Al-Qaeda statement also identified the two martyrdom-seekers who died in what the group claimed was a successful attack on the Abqaiq facility in the oil-rich Eastern Province. The Internet posting named the pair as Abdullah Abdul Aziz Ibrahim al-Tuwaijri and Mohammed Saleh Mohammed al-Ghaith, both of whom figured on a 36-strong list of wanted militants issued by Saudi authorities last June. We warn against the spurious allegations of Saudi media that the operation was thwarted and the two cars exploded at the entrance (of the complex), the statement said, deriding Riyadh's efforts to portray the botched attack as a tribute to the OPEC kingpin's security forces. Saudi Arabia announced on Friday it had foiled an attack against its major oil processing plant, the first known attempt against such an installation in the world's top oil producer since a wave of Al-Qaeda terror broke out in May 2003. Security (forces) and staff of Saudi Aramco (the state oil conglomerate) succeeded in thwarting a terrorist attempt against the Abqaiq oil processing plants, Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said immediately after the attempted attack. Al-Qaeda's local branch had issued another statement overnight claiming responsibility for the attempted assault in the kingdom, which sits on a quarter of the world's proven crude reserves. A security official told AFP that two security men and at least two assailants were killed in the attempted suicide car bomb attack at the gates of the Abqaiq complex. The death of the two security men was confirmed in a statement by the interior ministry Saturday. The closest Al-Qaeda's militants had previously got to Saudi oil installations was in May 2004, when a shooting rampage in a petrochemical complex in the Red Sea industrial port of Yanbu left six Westerners dead. World oil prices leapt on news of the attempted attack. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, soared 2.37 dollars to 62.91 dollars per barrel in closing trading after spiking as high as 63.25 dollars. At least 90 civilians, 54 security personnel and 125 militants have now died since Al-Qaeda's wave of terror began in the desert kingdom, triggering a relentless crackdown by security forces on suspected extremists. Hundreds more have been wounded. In December 2004, Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden called on his followers to target oil installations in both the Gulf and Iraq. Saudi Arabia currently pumps around 9.5 million barrels of oil per day and has an output capacity of 11 million bpd. The Eastern Province was the scene of a major attack at the height of the unrest in May 2004, when a shooting and hostage-taking rampage in the city of Al-Khobar left 22 people dead, including four Westerners. A top oil and security adviser told AFP that terror attacks on Saudi oil facilities, like the one attempted Friday, are doomed to fail given security measures in the kingdom. Unless you have a specialised force of a foreign army, such attacks are impossible to succeed, said Nawaf Obaid, managing director of Saudi National Security Assessment Project, a government consultancy. At any given time, there are 30,000 troops on average guarding the massive oil and gas network in the vast kingdom, he said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- 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
[osint] UAE terminal takeover extends to 21 ports
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060223-051657-4981r UAE terminal takeover extends to 21 ports By PAMELA HESS UPI Pentagon Correspondent WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported. The Bush administration has approved the takeover of British-owned Peninsular Oriental Steam Navigation Co. to DP World, a deal set to go forward March 2 unless Congress intervenes. PO is the parent company of PO Ports North America, which leases terminals for the import and export and loading and unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports, 11 on the East Coast, ranging from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the company's Web site. President George W. Bush on Tuesday threatened to veto any legislation designed to stall the handover. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. said after the briefing she expects swift, bi-partisan approval for a bill to require a national security review before it is allowed to go forward. At issue is a 1992 amendment to a law that requires a 45-day review if the foreign takeover of a U.S. company could affect national security. Many members of Congress see that review as mandatory in this case. But Bush administration officials said Thursday that review is only triggered if a Cabinet official expresses a national security concern during an interagency review of a proposed takeover. We have a difference of opinion on the interpretation of your amendment, said Treasury Department Deputy Secretary Robert Kimmitt. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, comprised of officials from 12 government departments and agencies, including the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security, approved the deal unanimously on January 17. The structure of the deal led us to believe there were no national security concerns, said Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael P. Jackson. The same day, the White House appointed a DP World executive, David C. Sanborn, to be the administrator for the Maritime Administration of the Department of Transportation. Sanborn had been serving as director of operations for Europe and Latin America at DP World. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R- Va., said he will request from both the U.S. attorney general and the Senate committee's legal counsel a finding on the administration's interpretation of the 1992 amendment. Adding to the controversy is the fact Congress was not notified of the deal. Kimmitt said Congress is periodically updated on completed CFIUS decisions, but is proscribed from initiating contact with Congress about pending deals. It may respond to congressional inquiries on those cases only. Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley stated in a letter to Bush on Feb. 21 that he specifically requested to be kept abreast of foreign investments that may have national security implications. He made the request in the wake of a controversial Chinese proposal to purchase an oil company last year. Obviously, my request fell on deaf ears. I am disappointed that I was neither briefed nor informed of this sale prior to its approval. Instead, I read about it in the media, he wrote. According to Kimmitt, the deal was reported on in major newspapers as early as last October. But it did not get critical attention in the press until the Associated Press broke the story Feb. 11 and the Center for Security Policy, a right-leaning organization, wrote about it Feb. 13. CSP posited the sale as the Treasury Department putting commerce interests above national security. Kimmitt said because the 2005 Chinese proposal had caused such an uproar before it ever got to CFIUS, the lack of reaction to the Dubai deal when it was reported on last fall suggested it would not be controversial enough to require special notification of Congress. Central to the debate is the fact that the United Arab Emirates, while a key ally of the United States in the Middle East, has had troubling ties to terrorist networks, according to the Sept. 11 Commission report. It was one of the few countries in the world that recognized the al-Qaida-friendly Taliban government in Afghanistan; al-Qaida funneled millions of dollars through the U.A.E. financial sector; and A.Q. Khan, the notorious Pakistani nuclear technology smuggler, used warehouses near the Dubai port as a key transit point for many of his shipments. Since the terrorist attacks, it has cut ties with the Taliban, frozen just over $1 million in alleged terrorist funding, and given the United States key military basing and over-flight rights. At any given time, there are 77,000 U.S. service members on leave in the United Arab Emirates, according to the Pentagon. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England warned that the uproar
[osint] FW: Emirates - DUBAI
_ From: Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 5:33 PM To: Bruce Tefft Subject: Emirates Bruce, I have been going through the recovered documents from Afghanistan and came across this one on the emirates, note the infiltration they acknowledge into the security services in Paragraph 3. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- 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] FRANCE: Muslim Barbarians Inside the Gate
http://www.city-journal.org/html/12_4_the_barbarians.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114083643710283317.html EDITORIAL BOARD Barbarians Inside the Gate By MATTHEW KAMINSKI, 25 February 2006; Page A10 PARIS -- In life, Ilan Halimi sold cellular phones on a boulevard named after Voltaire, off a square dedicated to la République. He was an ordinary young Frenchman, except for one thing; he was Jewish, which got him killed. So in death, after 25 days of torture, Ilan Halimi became a symbol of this Continent's failures in dealing with its poor and maladjusted Muslims. His story is shaking France in a deeper, possibly more lasting, way than the recent riots or the ongoing fracas over the Muhammad cartoons. Last week, on a Monday morning, Ilan was found naked, handcuffed, with burns and bruises over 80% of his body, stumbling on train tracks in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, south of Paris. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Each detail of his kidnapping and ordeal that emerged in the past week fed widespread popular outrage. On Jan. 20, the 23-year-old Ilan went for a rendezvous with a young woman he met at his store and fell right into the hands of his kidnappers. In the previous month, this group tried to entrap six other men, four of them Jewish, using women as bait. Ilan was whisked to the cité de la Pierre-plate, a large housing project in Bagneux, a Paris suburb (or banlieue) that's home to immigrant and French lower-middle-class families. In an empty third-floor apartment and later a basement utility room, he was tortured to death. Several times, as Nidra Poller this week reported in the Journal's European editorial pages, the kidnappers called Ilan's family and read them verses from the Quran while their son screamed in agony in the background. Their demands for ransom from Ilan's modest parents never turned out to be serious. Once unmasked, the identity of these barbarians came as no surprise. The police believe that up to 15 young men and women from the banlieue, maybe more, took part. These youths, a French euphemism, grew up together in Bagneux. The gang is a mixed lot. Most, but not all, are Muslims born in France to Arab or African parents of limited means. In their raids, police found Islamist literature and documents supporting a Palestinian aid group. But last year's bonfires of cars set by similar youths showed that the bonds formed among the delinquents of the projects often transcend religion or ethnicity. That doesn't make the gangrene in French society, in the acid words of the left-leaning Libération yesterday, any less difficult to live with. As it happens, the gang that murdered Ilan Halimi calls itself the Barbarians. The crime was orchestrated by their leader Youssouf Fofana, a 26-year-old Muslim with a criminal past who refers to himself as the brains of the Barbarians. On the run for a week, he was arrested late Wednesday in the Ivory Coast, the birthplace of his parents. Fofana told the Ivorian police that Ilan Halimi was kidnapped because Jews have money; he denies that he or his accomplices were motivated by hatred for Jews, specifically. By all accounts, Fofana is a vicious thief, and now admitted killer, who could never keep a job and, according to one acquaintance quoted in the French press, spent all his time with kids of 16-17, around whom he could feel superior. This murder dredges up the ghosts of French anti-Semitism past (Dreyfus, Vichy), but that's more than a trifle unfair. The police and media early on downplayed the racial motive, fearing as is their habit these days a backlash from Muslims, yet soon changed their tune. Now the whole establishment is united in condemning what the government calls an anti-Semitic hate crime. The French president, prime minister, head of the biggest mainstream Muslim organization, the archbishop of Paris and the leader of the Socialist opposition stood together at a Thursday night memorial ceremony for Ilan at a synagogue in Paris. Hundreds marched in Bagneux, in the words of a banner, against barbarism, anti-Semitism and racism. Home to 600,000 Jews, the most of any European country, France has succeeded in reducing anti-Semitic violence, which peaked in 2004. Yet France's bigger worry is its Muslim population of five million, also Europe's largest. So it's not the anti-Semitism but the crime itself and the profile of the perpetrators that best explain the national revulsion. To put it bluntly, Ilan Halimi, many people here figure, could just as easily have been a Christian. Since the riots petered out in early November, the country, contrary to impressions, hasn't been calm. On New Year's Day, a gang of some 40 young, mostly Arab men terrorized a Nice-Lyon train, sexually assaulting and robbing passengers, car by car. A female applied arts teacher in a Paris banlieue was repeatedly stabbed this December by one of her male students
[osint] Islam: A Totalitarian Ideology?
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15393 Islam: A Totalitarian Ideology? By FrontPage http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/authors.asp?ID=1492 Magazine FrontPageMagazine.com | October 18, 2004 Below, Ibn Warraq, the author of Why http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0879759844/qid=1046250311/sr= 8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-9536624-4605550?v=glances=booksn=507846 I am Not a Muslim, argues that Islam is a totalitarian ideology. A rebuttal follows from Thomas Haidon, a member of the Board of Advisors and President of the New Zealand Chapter of the http://www.freemuslims.org/ Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism -- The Editors. * Islam. A Totalitarian Ideology By Ibn Warraq Islam is a totalitarian ideology that aims to control the religious, social and political life of mankind in all its aspects -- the life of its followers without qualification, and the life of those who follow the so-called tolerated religions to a degree that prevents their activities from getting in the way of Islam in any manner. And I mean Islam. I do not accept some spurious distinction between Islam and Islamic fundamentalism or Islamic terrorism. The terrorists who planted bombs in Madrid on March 11, 2004, and those responsible for the death of approximately 3000 people on September 11, 2001 in New York, and the Ayatollahs of Iran, were and are all acting canonically. Their actions reflect the teachings of Islam, whether found in the Koran, in the acts and teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, or in Islamic Law that is based upon them. Islamic Law, the Sharia, is the total collection of theoretical laws that apply in an ideal Muslim community that has surrendered to the will of God. According to Muslims, it is based on divine authority that must be accepted without criticism, doubts and questions. As an all-embracing system of duties to God, Sharia controls the entire life of the believer and the Islamic community. An individual living under Islamic Law is not free to think for himself. Given the totalitarian nature of Islamic law, Islam does not value the individual, who has to be sacrificed for the sake of the Islamic community. Collectivism has a special sanctity under Islam. Under these conditions, minorities are not tolerated in Islam. Freedom of opinion and the freedom to change one's religion, the act of apostasy, are punishable by death. Under Muslim law, the male apostate must be put to death, as long as he is an adult, and in full possession of his faculties. If a pubescent boy apostatizes, he is imprisoned until he comes of age, when if he persists in rejecting Islam he must be put to death. Drunkards and the mentally disturbed are not held responsible for their apostasy. If a person has acted under compulsion he is not considered an apostate, his wife is not divorced and his lands are not forfeited. According to Hanafis and Shia, a woman is imprisoned until she repents and adopts Islam once more, but according to the influential Ibn Hanbal, and the Malikis and Shafiites, she is also put to death. In general, execution must be by the sword, though there are examples of apostates tortured to death, or strangled, burnt, drowned, impaled or flayed. The caliph Umar used to tie them to a post and had lances thrust into their hearts, and the Sultan Baybars II (1308-09) made torture legal. The absence of any mention of apostasy in the penal codes of some contemporary Islamic countries in no way implies that a Muslim is free to leave his religion. In reality, the lacunae in the penal codes are filled by Islamic Law, as in the case of Muhammad Taha, executed for apostasy in the Sudan in 1985, and hundreds of others have been executed for apostasy in Iran in recent years. In 1998 Ruhollah Rowhani, 52, was hanged for converting to the Baha'i faith in Iran. All Islamic human rights schemes such as the 1981 Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights; the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (circa 1990), etc., severely restrict and qualify the rights of individuals, particularly women, and minorities such as non-Muslims and those such as apostates, unbelievers, and heretics who do not accept Islamic religious orthodoxy. As for religious minorities, the relations of Muslims and non-Muslims were set in a context of a war: jihad. The totalitarian nature of Islam is nowhere more apparent than in the concept of Jihad, the Holy War, whose ultimate aim is to conquer the entire world and submit it to the one true faith, to the law of Allah. To Islam alone has been granted the truth -- there is no possibility of salvation outside it. It is the sacred duty -- an incumbent religious duty established in the Koran and the Traditions -- of all Muslims to bring it to all humanity. Jihad is a divine institution, enjoined specially for the purpose of advancing Islam. Muslims must strive, fight and kill in the name of God: IX .5-6: Kill those who join other gods with God wherever
[osint] Al Qaeda Claimed To Have Infiltrated DUBAI/ UAE Government Three Years Ago
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/64126.htm Al Qaeda Claimed To Have Infiltrated UAE Government Three Years Ago by Joe Gandelman http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/64126.htm This New York Post report could prove one more headache for the Bush administration as it digs in its heels on its approval of a highly criticized plan to let a United Arab Emirates company manage key U.S. ports: Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it infiltrated key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military. The warning was contained in a June 2002 message to UAE rulers, in which the terror network demanded the release of an unknown number of mujahedeen detainees, who it said had been arrested during a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. ...Little is known about the origins or authorship of the message. You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship and monetary agencies, along with other agencies that should not be mentioned, the message said. Therefore, we warn of the continuation of practicing . . . policies which do not serve your interest and will only cost you many problems that will place you in an embarrassing state before your citizens. The Post also quotes terrorism expert Lorenzo Vidino as noting that this does show that the United Arab Emirates is cooperating with the United States on the terror war. On the other hand, he says: But it also reveals that even though they [the UAE] are our friends, al Qaeda seems to have people on the inside in the UAE, just as it has in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar and Kuwait. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- 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] RE: Al Qaeda Claimed To Have Infiltrated DUBAI/ UAE Government Three Years Ago
_ From: Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 8:12 PM To: Bruce Tefft Subject: RE: Al Qaeda Claimed To Have Infiltrated DUBAI/ UAE Government Three Years Ago The Author was Bin Ladin _ From: Bruce Tefft [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 4:39 PM To: Bruce Tefft Subject: Al Qaeda Claimed To Have Infiltrated DUBAI/ UAE Government Three Years Ago http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/64126.htm Al Qaeda Claimed To Have Infiltrated UAE Government Three Years Ago by Joe Gandelman http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/64126.htm This New York Post report could prove one more headache for the Bush administration as it digs in its heels on its approval of a highly criticized plan to let a United Arab Emirates company manage key U.S. ports: Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it infiltrated key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military. The warning was contained in a June 2002 message to UAE rulers, in which the terror network demanded the release of an unknown number of mujahedeen detainees, who it said had been arrested during a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. ...Little is known about the origins or authorship of the message. You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship and monetary agencies, along with other agencies that should not be mentioned, the message said. Therefore, we warn of the continuation of practicing . . . policies which do not serve your interest and will only cost you many problems that will place you in an embarrassing state before your citizens. The Post also quotes terrorism expert Lorenzo Vidino as noting that this does show that the United Arab Emirates is cooperating with the United States on the terror war. On the other hand, he says: But it also reveals that even though they [the UAE] are our friends, al Qaeda seems to have people on the inside in the UAE, just as it has in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar and Kuwait. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- 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] Re: FW: Emirates - DUBAI
I'm sure paragraph 3 is very interesting, BUT, it was not included in your post. I even tried three different browsers and two different ISP's this time. Please transcribe the text or provide a link or don't bother because, apparently, Yahoo considers attachments non-text and deletes them. David Bier --- In osint@yahoogroups.com, Bruce Tefft [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: _ From: Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 5:33 PM To: Bruce Tefft Subject: Emirates Bruce, I have been going through the recovered documents from Afghanistan and came across this one on the emirates, note the infiltration they acknowledge into the security services in Paragraph 3. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- 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] Harris Got Illegal Donations
The contractor, Mitchell Wade, former chief executive of MZM Inc. in California, pleaded guilty to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Republican Randy Duke Cunningham of California and receiving more than $150 million in Defense Department contracts in return. He also pleaded guilty to making about $80,000 in illegal campaign contributions to two other Congress members - identifiable from court papers and election records as Harris and Rep. Virgil Goode of Virginia, both Republicans - in hopes of receiving federal appropriations. Reportedly, Cunningham wore a wire for prosecutors before his guilty plea went public. Although quieter than the Abramoff scandals, there probably will be more ripples from the Cunningham case involving contractors and other members of Congress. Bet the Florida democrats are overjoyed with this one on Katherine. Naturally I fully believe her protestations that there was nothing illegal going on between her and Wade. Naturally... David Bier http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBCTZRG3KE.html Feb 25, 2006 Harris Got Illegal Donations By WILLIAM MARCH and KEITH EPSTEIN The Tampa Tribune TAMPA - A defense contractor who pleaded guilty Friday to bribing a California congressman told federal authorities he also funneled illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris of Longboat Key, who's running for the U.S. Senate. The contractor, Mitchell Wade, former chief executive of MZM Inc. in California, pleaded guilty to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Republican Randy Duke Cunningham of California and receiving more than $150 million in Defense Department contracts in return. He also pleaded guilty to making about $80,000 in illegal campaign contributions to two other Congress members - identifiable from court papers and election records as Harris and Rep. Virgil Goode of Virginia, both Republicans - in hopes of receiving federal appropriations. The Harris contributions were made to her 2004 campaign for re-election to the House. At the time, MZM, its officers and its political action committee were Harris' largest single source of campaign funds. Wade also told prosecutors he met with Harris in early 2005 for dinner at an expensive Washington restaurant, where they discussed two possibilities: Wade holding a fundraiser for Harris, who was then considering a run for Senate, and U.S. Navy funding for an MZM center in Harris' district. The program was never funded, according to the U.S. attorney prosecuting Wade. It is illegal for Congress members to discuss or accept money in return for performing specific governmental acts. A Harris spokeswoman confirmed Friday that Harris did have dinner with Wade and discussed both subjects, but denied there was any connection between them. Harris has acknowledged accepting the MZM contributions but said she did not know they were illegal and never performed any service for MZM in return. She has since donated the contributions to charity. Wade did not tell Harris and Goode the contributions were illegal, according to the prosecutor. Today's announcement is an unfortunate reality, Harris said in a written statement. I am disappointed by the disrespect shown by a few individuals to the rule of law. Harris' statement said she and Wade had discussed opening a defense plant in Sarasota that would create numerous high-skilled, high-wage jobs in my district. She did not respond to a request for an interview. Investigation Continues Under Wade's plea agreement, he faces up to 11 years and three months of incarceration. A sentencing date has not been set. The prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein of the Washington district, said the investigation continues and that Wade is cooperating. According to a news release by Wainstein, Wade hoped to curry favor with Harris and Goode because he thought they could request appropriations that would benefit MZM. Wade, however, needed a way around the campaign contribution laws, which limit contributions to $2,000 per person, Wainstein said. His solution was to have his employees and their spouses make contributions ... under their own names, then reimburse them - a technique known as 'straw contributions' that is a felony under federal election law. In a news conference announcing Wade's plea, Wainstein added, Wade personally handed a number of those checks to each representative, followed by the inevitable request that that representative seek appropriations funding that would benefit MZM. When news reports first surfaced last year suggesting that Wade had coerced employees to make contributions, Harris offered to return the money to any MZM employee who desired it. She got no response, she said. After Cunningham pleaded guilty in December, Harris promised to give the money away. Two weeks ago, she donated more than $50,000 to Habitat for Humanity - the MZM contributions plus others from Indian tribes linked to indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
[osint] Outcry in Germany as anti-Semitic film sells out
Outcry in Germany as anti-Semitic film sells out By Tony Paterson in Berlin (Filed: 26/02/2006) Sunday Telegraph A virulently anti-Semitic film about the Iraq war has provoked a storm of protest in Germany after it sold out to cheering audiences from the country's 2.5 million-strong Turkish community. Valley of the Wolves, by the Turkish director Serdan Akar, shows crazed American GIs massacring innocent guests at a wedding party and scenes in which a Jewish surgeon removes organs from Iraqi prisoners in a style reminiscent of the Nazi death camp doctor Joseph Mengele. Scene from the fim US soldiers storm a wedding party in a scene from the film Bavaria's interior minister admitted last week that he had dispatched intelligence service agents to cinemas showing the film to gauge audience reaction and identify potential radicals. Edmund Stoiber, the state's conservative prime minister, has appealed to cinema operators to remove what he described as this racist and anti-Western hate film from their programmes. The £6 million film, the most expensive Turkish production ever made, had already proved a box office hit in Turkey, where it first opened last month at a gala attended by the wife of the country's prime minister. The production went on general release in Germany a fortnight ago and has had full houses ever since. More than 130,000 people, most of them young Muslims, saw the film in the first five days of its opening. At a packed cinema in a largely Turkish immigrant district of Berlin last week, Valley of the Wolves was being watched almost exclusively by young Turkish men. They clapped furiously when the Turkish hero of the film was shown blowing up a building occupied by the United States military commander in northern Iraq. In the closing sequence, the hero is shown plunging a dagger into the heart of a US commander called Sam, played by Billy Zane. The audience responded by standing up and chanting Allah is great! Afterwards, an 18-year-old member of the audience said: The Americans always behave like this. They slaughtered the Red Indians and killed thousands in Vietnam. I was not shocked by the film, I see this on the news every day. The nature of the film and the enthusiastic reception given to it by young Muslims, has both shocked and polarised politicians and community leaders. Bernd Neumann, the culture minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government complained last week that the reaction to the film raises serious questions about the values of our society and our ability to instil them. Kenan Kolat, the head of Germany's Turkish community, insisted that a ban on the film would make matters worse. If it is withdrawn, it will raise levels of identification with the film, he said. A democracy must be able to endure films that it doesn't approve of. Alin Sahin, the film's distributor in Germany, argued: When a cartoonist insults two billion Muslims it is considered freedom of opinion, but when an action film takes on the Americans it is considered demagoguery. Something is wrong. But those arguing for a ban on Valley of the Wolves appeared to have won a partial victory last week when Cinemaxx, one of Germany's largest cinema chains, announced that it was withdrawing the film. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- 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] Data mining program continues after lawmakers order it closed
Research under the Defense Department's Total Information Awareness program -- which developed technologies to predict terrorist attacks by mining government databases and the personal records of people in the United States -- was moved from the Pentagon's research-and-development agency to another group, which builds technologies primarily for the National Security Agency,... But of course. Why would the Bushland gang let that pesky Congress get in its way? After all, CICBush43 is unilaterally in charge. David Bier http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Controversial_data_mining_program_continues_after_0224.html Data mining program continues after lawmakers order it closed 02/24/2006 @ 11:33 am Filed by RAW STORY Pentagon graphic http://www.ilgop.org/content/img/f9794/Pentagon.jpg A controversial intelligence data mining program, which was closed by lawmakers over privacy concerns two years ago, has continued to receive funding and remained in operation under different code names in different agencies, according to today's National Journal. Excerpts from the Journal's article follow: # A controversial counter-terrorism program, which lawmakers halted more than two years ago amid outcries from privacy advocates, was stopped in name only and has quietly continued within the intelligence agency now fending off charges that it has violated the privacy of U.S. citizens. Research under the Defense Department's Total Information Awareness program -- which developed technologies to predict terrorist attacks by mining government databases and the personal records of people in the United States -- was moved from the Pentagon's research-and-development agency to another group, which builds technologies primarily for the National Security Agency, according to documents obtained by National Journal and to intelligence sources familiar with the move. The names of key projects were changed, apparently to conceal their identities, but their funding remained intact, often under the same contracts. It is no secret that some parts of TIA lived on behind the veil of the classified intelligence budget. However, the projects that moved, their new code names, and the agencies that took them over haven't previously been disclosed. Sources aware of the transfers declined to speak on the record for this story because, they said, the identities of the specific programs are classified. Two of the most important components of the TIA program were moved to the Advanced Research and Development Activity, housed at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., documents and sources confirm. One piece was the Information Awareness Prototype System, the core architecture that tied together numerous information extraction, analysis, and dissemination tools developed under TIA. The prototype system included privacy-protection technologies that may have been discontinued or scaled back following the move to ARDA. A $19 million contract to build the prototype system was awarded in late 2002 to Hicks Associates, a consulting firm in Arlington, Va., that is run by former Defense and military officials. Congress's decision to pull TIA's funding in late 2003 caused a significant amount of uncertainty for all of us about the future of our work, Hicks executive Brian Sharkey wrote in an e-mail to subcontractors at the time. Fortunately, Sharkey continued, a new sponsor has come forward that will enable us to continue much of our previous work. Sources confirm that this new sponsor was ARDA. Along with the new sponsor came a new name. We will be describing this new effort as 'Basketball,' Sharkey wrote, apparently giving no explanation of the name's significance. Another e-mail from a Hicks employee, Marc Swedenburg, reminded the company's staff that TIA has been terminated and should be referenced in that fashion. Sharkey played a key role in TIA's birth, when he and a close friend, retired Navy Vice Adm. John Poindexter, President Reagan's national security adviser, brought the idea to Defense officials shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The men had teamed earlier on intelligence-technology programs for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which agreed to host TIA and hired Poindexter to run it in 2002. In August 2003, Poindexter was forced to resign as TIA chief amid howls that his central role in the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s made him unfit to run a sensitive intelligence program. It's unclear whether work on Basketball continues. Sharkey didn't respond to an interview request, and Poindexter said he had no comment about former TIA programs. But a publicly available Defense Department document, detailing various cooperative agreements and other transactions conducted in fiscal 2004, shows that Basketball was fully funded at least until the end of that year (September 2004). The document shows that the system was being tested at a research center jointly run by ARDA and SAIC Corp., a major defense and intelligence
[osint] The FBI seizes suspicious documents in raid of Yemen airline Yamaniya offices in
The raid was carried out after Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Salah refused a White House request to arrest the prominent radical Sheikh Abdul Majid Zindani, head of the powerful Islamist al-Islah (Reform) party and Iman University of Sanaa, for inciting to terrorism... ...although the sheikh is on a UN list of terrorists, Salah included him in his official party to the Islamic Conference summit in Mecca last December. He has been recorded in a speech as accusing Bush and the Jews of conspiring to carry out the Sept. 11 attack in New York. http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=1979 The FBI seizes suspicious documents in raid of Yemen airline Yamaniya offices in Dearborn, Detroit February 25, 2006, 10:32 PM (GMT+02:00) The raid was carried out after Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Salah refused a White House request to arrest the prominent radical Sheikh Abdul Majid Zindani, head of the powerful Islamist al-Islah (Reform) party and Iman University of Sanaa, for inciting to terrorism. DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources report that although the sheikh is on a UN list of terrorists, Salah included him in his official party to the Islamic Conference summit in Mecca last December. He is respected as a scholar in Saudi Arabia. The Yemeni president demanded US intelligence proofs of Zindani's involvement in terrorism. Iman University is known as a breeding ground for radical Islamists. He has been recorded in a speech as accusing Bush and the Jews of conspiring to carry out the Sept. 11 attack in New York. -- 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] Shia-Sunni talks on Iraq killings
Moqtada al-Sadr's militia and the Sunni Association of Muslim scholars vowed to help each other defend holy places. Not surprising as al-Sadr has had extensive Sunni insurgency contacts for a long time and is suspected, in conjunction with Imad Mughniyeh who is a senior leader of both Hizballah and al Qaeda, to be the source of Iran-made shaped charges Sunni insurgents have been using against U.S. forces. Al-Sadr's forces revolted against the U.S. in 2004 and cut our supply lines to Kuwait sufficiently for us to agree to a truce and not enforce the outstanding Iraqi murder warrant against him. He wants to rule Iraq, and might just do it with Sunni help. That is if he can delude them long enough. I say delude because his long term goal, regardless of the assistance he and Imad Mughniyeh have given the Sunnis to date, would certainly be either genocide or conversion of Sunnis to the Shiite version of Islam along with the Sunni Kurds. David Bier http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4751702.stm Shia-Sunni talks on Iraq killings One of Iraq's main Shia militias has met Sunni clerics for talks after days of bloodshed following the destruction of the Shia shrine at Samarra. Moqtada al-Sadr's militia and the Sunni Association of Muslim scholars vowed to help each other defend holy places. US President George W Bush rang faction leaders backing a unity government and urging a common front against violence. The move came after another day of attacks. At least 165 people have died in sectarian violence since Wednesday. Attacks on Saturday left at least 36 people dead - 12 of them Shia family members gunned down in Baquba, north of Baghdad, officials said. The bodies of 14 Iraqi commandos were also recovered in south Baghdad following a gun battle with Shia militiamen. In other developments: * A car bomb in the shrine city of Karbala kills eight * Two die in an attack on the funeral of a prominent Iraqi journalist killed in the aftermath of the al-Askari shrine bombing * Iraq's national security adviser disputes a US military report which says not a single Iraqi army battalion is able to fight the insurgency without US help * A curfew is extended in Baghdad to try to quell the violence. Civil war fear The bombing of the al-Askari shrine in the city of Samarra, one of the country's holiest Shia sites, has led to fears that Iraq may descend into civil war. Nobody will profit from civil war... we have to work together Defence Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi The joint statement issued by Moqtada al-Sadr's militia and the Sunni clerics condemned the destruction of the shrine and its violent aftermath. They agreed to look into the possibility of the Mahdi army being deployed to protect mosques and other sites of religious importance in Iraq. BBC correspondents in Baghdad says the deal is fraught with potential difficulties because many of these sites are currently controlled by rival armed groups or the Iraqi armed forces. It would also contravene an order announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari on Saturday that bans the carrying of weapons in public by anyone other than the official security forces. Mr Jaafari and President Jalal Talabani were among senior Iraqi political leaders who met for talks on Saturday. The Iraqi government has now extended until Monday morning a ban on cars in Baghdad. The authorities had earlier renewed a curfew covering Baghdad and the provinces of Diyala, Babil and Salahuddine. Defence Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi called for Iraqis to unite against extremists, saying no one would benefit from civil war. Plea for calm Despite measures taken by the authorities, violence broke out on Saturday at the funeral of Atwar Bahjat, a prominent Iraqi journalist. The funeral procession came under fire as it was approaching the cemetery, and then was bombed as it returned after the burial. At least two people are reported to have died in the blast, and five more were injured, some seriously. Ms Bahjat and two crew members from al-Arabiya TV were killed in the wake of the attack on the al-Askari shrine. In Karbala, a predominantly Shia market city which is not under curfew, at least eight were killed and 30 injured in a car bombing. The centre of Baghdad was calm, with streets virtually empty for a second day and no newspapers published. -- 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
[osint] High health costs to hurt troops
By now you have probably heard that the Department of Defense (DoD) proposes to raise the Tricare fees for those military retirees under age 65. They also want to raise the pharmacy fees, and this will affect Medicare-eligible military retirees and active duty/Guard/Reserve families, as well. In some cases, the proposed fees would be double or triple what they are now. Apparently, even the Joint Chiefs of Staff support these raises because, with a politically constrained DoD budget, they believe that retiree medical care costs are keeping them from buying hardware and are becoming a readiness issue. First rules of military survival: Don't get seriously wounded or old. If you are not combat ready, you are nobody. Support Our Troops! David Bier http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060123-122639-8920r.htm High health costs to hurt troops Published January 23, 2006 Dear Sgt. Shaft: My husband served for 24 years in the Air Force. It is bad enough that we can't get the free medical care that was promised us. My husband heard a rumor at work that Tricare Prime was going to increase our premium to $900 a year instead of the $450 we pay now. Is this true? A lot of retirees can't afford that. Irene R. Dear Irene: The following letter speaks to your concern. Military retirees are once again bearing the brunt of spiraling health-care costs. Dear Sgt. Shaft: By now you have probably heard that the Department of Defense (DoD) proposes to raise the Tricare fees for those military retirees under age 65. They also want to raise the pharmacy fees, and this will affect Medicare-eligible military retirees and active duty/Guard/Reserve families, as well. In some cases, the proposed fees would be double or triple what they are now. Apparently, even the Joint Chiefs of Staff support these raises because, with a politically constrained DoD budget, they believe that retiree medical care costs are keeping them from buying hardware and are becoming a readiness issue. We are surprised that DoD leaders seem to be forgetting their history. In past years, when the leadership started cutting future retirement benefits, those on active duty -- and they are very smart people -- eventually ended up voting with their feet. People who should, and could, have stayed in got out when the DoD began playing with the REDUX retirement system, which cut benefits for those who joined the military on or after Aug. 1, 1986. You may recall that the REDUX law had to be repealed in 1999, when service leaders at that time complained that it was hurting retention and readiness. The military is not General Motors Corp. While industry is offloading more health-care expenses on their employees, our service members have far more arduous conditions of service -- deployments, hostile environments, family separations, 24-hour duty, forfeiture of some civil liberties, the inability to leave the job quickly if not satisfied and many more. Military health care, retirement and other institutional benefits are the primary offsets that our nation offers for those unique and extraordinary demands. Budget people love to go after these programs because they are easy, short-term targets. The current leaders and budgeteers focus on current problems and usually won't be around to deal with future recruiting and retention consequences caused by budgetary shortsightedness. Congress funds what it wants to fund. The current administration advocates a strong national defense. It's time for all leadership to remember history and realize that strong national defense comes at a cost -- now or later. America can afford both weapons and military health care. Political leaders should not be putting the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the position of having to choose between them. Sincerely, Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr. President, Military Officers Association of America Shaft notes Changes in the VA Home Loan Guarantee limits mean veterans are able to get no-down-payment loans up to $417,000. The previous ceiling was $359,650. For more than 60 years, VA has assisted our veterans to become homeowners, said Jim Nicholson, secretary of veterans affairs. This increase is another example of our commitment to ensure VA benefits keep pace with the needs of our veterans in today's housing market. The Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2004 tied increases in the VA guaranty to increases in the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation's conforming loan limit. When this limit increases, VA guaranty limits also go up, allowing the VA to keep pace with rising home values. Banks and mortgage companies make VA-guaranteed home loans to veterans, service members and reservists. With the VA guaranteeing a portion of the loan, veterans can receive a competitive interest rate without making a down payment. More information about VA home-loan benefits is available at http://www.homeloans.va.gov or
[osint] A Statement Praising Usama bin Laden and Jihad
A Statement Praising Usama bin Laden and Jihad Against the Alleged Aggression by the West upon Islam By SITE Institute February 24, 2006 http://www.siteinstitute.org/images/hr.gif A statement praising Usama bin Laden and discussing his sayings was recently distributed by a member of a password-protected al-Qaeda-affiliated forum, in which the author argues that the awe and power of Islam has stricken the European and American civilizations with fear and militancy. He believes that Islam as a movement stands in contrast to the interest of the West, and have branded those mujahideen once supported in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion as terrorists. The document reads: It is only natural that they wish that we shall not have power but rather servility and obedience to them while they make use of our peoples as instruments for the fulfillment of their goal. Usama bin Laden, who is representative of those jihad fighters aided by the U.S. during the Soviet-Afghan war, has chosen to donate the wealth Allah provided him to the service of the religion and for the raising of the phrase of truth [No God, but Allah] in the face of America. The author states that bin Laden seeks not only the promulgation of Islam, but political goals in the founding of an Islamic state. References to ten statements from bin Laden, indicating belligerence towards the West and calls to jihad are provided by the author, amongst which he states: Let them come and catch us if they can. We have felt the waning of the strength of the Americans. They are not willing to enter long wars, but only short and cold wars, as their defeat in facing Somalia proves and Death is easier for me than living in a European country. http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications151406 http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications151406Categor y=publicationsSubcategory=0 Category=publicationsSubcategory=0 FAIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with Fair Use criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. The principle of Fair Use was established as law by Section 107 of The Copyright Act of 1976. Fair Use legally eliminates the need to obtain permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials if the purposes of display include criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 establishes four criteria for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies as a fair use. A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four criteria to qualify as an instance of fair use. Rather, fair use is determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use 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 THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- 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/
