No comment. Bruce Bomb Plot Shocks Germans Into Antiterrorism Debate http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?tntget=2006/08/22/world/europe/22germ any.html <http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?tntget=2006/08/22/world/europe/22ger many.html&tntemail0=y&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print> &tntemail0=y&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print By <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/mark_landler/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> MARK LANDLER FRANKFURT, Aug. 21 The disclosure that a botched plot to bomb two German trains last month involved a 21-year-old Lebanese man has punctured the sense of immunity many Germans felt from the Islamic terrorist attacks that have haunted other European countries. The bombing plot, which has led to the arrest of the Lebanese suspect in northern <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/ge rmany/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> Germany and an intense manhunt for a second suspect, is also reshaping a politically charged debate in Berlin over how much latitude to give law enforcement authorities in fighting terrorism. On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed her support for expanded use of closed-circuit cameras in train stations and other public places. A camera caught grainy images of two men with suitcases boarding trains in Cologne, and the police arrested one, identified as Youssef Mohammed E. H., on Saturday, a day after they broadcast the videotape. The suitcases, stuffed with propane bombs and left on the trains, failed to explode because of a technical defect, according to the German federal prosecutor. That close call has led Germans to rethink their historic reluctance to measures like video surveillance and extensive database searches. We havent had this serious a threat since 9/11, said Rolf Tophoven, a prominent terrorism expert. Its clear we have people in Germany who are willing to carry out a huge and harmful attack. While the extent of the plot is still shrouded in mystery, prosecutors said it was unlikely that the would-be bombers were acting alone. The men may have been motivated by anger over the war in Lebanon, in which the German government has agreed to play a limited, peacekeeping role. On Monday, prosecutors said Lebanons military intelligence agency had offered the German authorities decisive information that led to the arrest. That has added to worries that Germany is now in the sights of Islamic terrorists. The threat has never been greater, Wolfgang Schäuble, the German interior minister, said in an interview over the weekend with the German broadcaster ZDF. Terrorism experts stopped short of comparing the train plot to the foiled attempt to blow up passenger planes flying from Britain to the United States. The explosives, Mr. Tophoven noted, were clumsily made, and there is no evidence that the perpetrators intended to be suicide bombers. Still, the case has rattled Germans, many of whom have clung to the belief that their governments opposition to the war in Iraq would insulate them from attacks like those in London or Madrid. The trouble-free World Cup in Germany last month reinforced the sense of security. People thought for the longest time that Germany would be safe because we didnt send troops to Iraq, said Johannes Schmalz, the president of the agency for the protection of the constitution a rough equivalent of the <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal _bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Federal Bureau of Investigation in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. This presumption is wrong, he said. The enemy of violent Islamists is the Western world as a whole. That blunt reality is influencing the debate over how strongly to respond a debate that goes back to 2001, when the Sept. 11 hijackers hatched their plot while posing as students in Hamburg. Germany, owing largely to its Nazi past, has been reluctant to pursue more aggressive antiterrorism measures that are standard in Britain and the United States. Berlin and other cities have far fewer surveillance cameras than does London, and the government does not keep a central antiterrorism database. Now, though, there is widening support for more sweeping measures, specifically in the area of video surveillance and the collection of data on suspicious people. We must continue to discuss the balance between video surveillance, which Im totally in favor of, data protection and the restriction of certain rights, Mrs. Merkel said at a news conference in Berlin. Mr. Schäuble is pushing to install more video cameras and to create a central database with information on suspicious people something Germany has resisted out of privacy concerns. It is inevitable, Mr. Tophoven said, that Germany would install a surveillance network as extensive as that in Britain. There are already some video cameras in train stations and along the autobahn. The scope of the proposed antiterrorism database remains in dispute. Germanys data-protection commission would support a database that included basic information, like names, addresses and motor vehicle registrations, according to a spokeswoman, Ira von Wahl. But a richer database known as a full-text database would raise privacy concerns, Ms. von Wahl said, by making a wide range of personal information available to the police and other authorities. Terrorism experts said such details would have helped unravel this plot, which has raised a host of questions. The investigation has been effective, said Berndt Georg Thamm, an expert on terrorism. But we really need the antiterror database. God forbid that we would need an attack to change the debate. The police found the suitcases with the bombs on July 31, on regional trains in the western cities of Dortmund and Koblenz. The explosives were timed to detonate at 2:30 p.m., shortly before the trains reached their destinations.
Using DNA evidence from one of the suitcases as well as the videotape, the police narrowed their search to Kiel, a northern university town, where Youssef Mohammed E. H. was about to begin studies (under German law, the full names of suspects in criminal cases are not disclosed). He was arrested around 4 a.m. at Kiels main railway station. The videotape, which showed an image of the man wearing a German soccer jersey and lugging a bag, was broadcast widely here. Among those who saw it was the suspect, who called his family in Lebanon to ask for advice, according to a report by the state broadcaster ARD on Monday. Lebanese intelligence picked up the call, ARD said, and tipped off the Germans. German officials said it was probable that the Lebanese man was part of larger organization within Germany, though they have not yet suggested any links to <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaed a/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Al Qaeda, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/hezboll ah/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Hezbollah or other groups. Are these home-grown terrorists, like in London, or is it Al Qaeda? Mr. Schmalz said. We have to be prepared for everything. We dont have a consistent picture of the Islamic terrorists here yet. 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/
