FreedomSeekersblog

Goodbye Abdulaziz, murderer of innocent people! (photo from Reuters) 

Savages did this!

Insight Online has obtained a shocking recruitment appeal seeking Iranians to commit suicide in deadly attacks on Israel, against American-led coalition forces in Iraq, on U.S. citizens around the world and, dulcis in fundo, against Salman Rushdie.




Translation:

In the Name of God

Preliminary Registration for Martyrdom Operations

I _____________, child of _____________, born 13_______ [Islamic calendar], the City of: _________________ proclaim my preparedness for carrying out martyrdom operations:

___ against the occupiers of the holy sites [referring to Najaf, Karbala, and other places in Iraq].

___ against the occupiers of [Jerusalem].

___ for carrying out the death sentence of the infidel Salman Rushdie.

Also, I would like to become an active member of the Army of Martyrs of the International Islamic Movement. Yes ____, No _____

Contact telephone:

Applicant's address:

Applicant's signature:

_____________________________________________________________________________

Spartacus

A Paris court on Thursday convicted former film starlet Brigitte Bardot of inciting racial hatred for portraying Muslims in a negative light in a book, comparing them, as the court said, to "invaders, cruel and barbaric."

Bardot and her publishing house, Editions du Rocher, were fined $6,050 each. She had risked a year in jail.

At a hearing in May, she told the court that she never meant to harm anyone with her book, "Un cri dans le silence" (A Cry in the Silence), published last year.

"I never knowingly wanted to hurt anybody. It is not in my character. If I did hurt someone, I'm sorry," Bardot said in May.

In her book, Bardot denounced the "infiltration" of France by Islamic extremists and criticized the ritual slaughter of sheep during Muslim religious ceremonies. She also described what she called the "Islamization of France."

Bardot had previously been found guilty on similar charges.

The court found that the actress had presented Muslims as "invaders, barbaric and cruel, responsible for terrorist acts, wishing to subdue the French people to the point of extermination."

This could lead the reader to "reject members of the Muslim community through hate and violence," the court concluded in its ruling.

The fine is to be paid to two anti-racism groups who had filed the complaint.

During her May trial, Bardot said that her book — which topped France's nonfiction best-seller list last year — was but a simple critique of the religious practices of Muslims and a denunciation of those terrorist attacks committed by Islamists.

"Among Muslims, I think there are some who are very good and some hoodlums, like everywhere," she said at the time. (from news.yahoo.com)

Italy arrested an Egyptian man suspected of helping to plan the Madrid train bombings as police across Europe swooped on Islamic militants in coordinated anti-terror raids, officials said Tuesday.
Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as "Mohamed the Egyptian," was seized in Milan in a operation that Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said was aimed at a "dangerous group of terrorists close to al Qaeda" which had been planning more attacks. (from Reuters)
 

Three Italians held hostage in Iraq for nearly two months and a Polish citizen have been freed as a result of a military operation, according to the U.S.-led coalition. Read article from CNN here.
 

It will be difficult, if not impossible, to read anything better than this today. So, why don't you go and visit Rabbi Lazer Brody at Lazer Beam.

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Do you want to know what this world is coming to? Then go and visit Anti-com.com

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The Greatest Day  

60 years ago we thanked the Allies like this. 

And like this. 

Today, after 60 years, we show our gratitude like this.(photo from Reuters) 

Thank you very much for your kind visit Mr Bush. The great majority of the Italian people are on your side. 

If it wasn't for these brave American soldiers, you wouldn't be able to protest today! Ignorance doesn't pay! 

Ignorance under the Roman sky.  

The Head of the Italian Communist Party protests against Pres. Bush! 

Funeral ceremony of Samuel Salamat Masih arrested under blasphemy laws and killed by police in Lahore on 29 May 2004
 

Christian beaten to death
in hospital by Muslim cop
Policeman: 'I have offered my religious duty ... I'm spiritually satisfied'



Samuel Masih was buried in Lahore, Pakistan, yesterday following injuries he received from a Muslim policeman who beat the 27-year-old Christian with a hammer as he lay in his hospital bed recovering from a bout of tuberculosis.

Masih had been in jail since Aug. 23, 2003, awaiting trial on charges of blasphemy under Pakistan's strict "Law 295" – which forbids desecrating the Quran and "defiling" the name of Islam's prophet, Muhammad. On the day of his arrest, Masih was collecting garden rubbish, which he heaped temporarily against the wall of a mosque in Lahore's Lawrence Gardens section while collecting more that he planned to burn later. This action brought the blasphemy charge, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.



He had been held in the Lahore Central Jail for nine months when he had a severe tuberculosis attack and was transferred to a local hospital. According to reports in the Lahore Daily Times, the constable assigned to guard the prisoner's room at the hospital, Officer Faryad Ali, savagely beat Masih with a hammer used for cutting bricks after learning he had been accused of strewing garbage near the mosque's walls.

Faryad Ali, who has been jailed and charged with murder, reportedly told investigators it was his religious duty as a Muslim to kill the Christian man. According to Voice of the Martyrs, he is reported to have said, "I have offered my religious duty for killing the man. I'm spiritually satisfied and ready to face the consequences."

"This is another example of the danger our brothers and sisters in Pakistan face every day," said Todd Nettleton, VOM spokesman.

Baboo Emmanuel, Masih's father, told the Daily Times he did not know his son was in jail until approximately four months ago. A whitewasher by trade, Masih was frequently away for extended periods while working. But even when informed of his incarceration for blasphemy, the family did not pursue the case because of fear of the police. No one defended him on the charge.

"Poverty, society’s pressure and the lawless wild police system prevented me from following my son's case, Masih's father told the Daily Times.

The Christian minority's fear of the police and Pakistan's blasphemy laws were themes echoed by Lahore Archbishop Lawrence J. Saldanha who led the procession of 500 mourners at Masih's funeral.

"Sections 295 B and C and Section 298 A, B and C of the PPC are vague and can be interpreted in ways that cause suffering and death and devastating pain to society," Saldanha said. "The existence of these laws gives rise to injustices. It is usually the poor and weak who are the victims."

Masih's father, emboldened by the support of several human-rights non-governmental organizations and media publicity, is asking the government to investigate the basis for the blasphemy charge against his son. No one in his senses would attempt blasphemy, he insisted to the Daily Times. "Particularly a person who belongs to a minority would never dare to do so because of the extreme sentence provided in the law," he said. Emanuel believes his son became a victim because he belonged to a minority.

According to human rights groups, Pakistan's blasphemy law is much abused and frequently used to settle personal grudges. Where convictions are made, most are overturned on appeal. However, Reuters notes that several Christians and Muslims accused of blasphemy have been killed by "religious fanatics" while in prison or police custody.

"This is a brutal act of terrorism committed by the police constable and a clear misuse of blasphemy law," said Shahbaz Bhatti, president of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. "This is the time that government should abolish blasphemy law."

President Pervez Musharraf has called for a review of Pakistan's system of strict Islamic law, including the laws against blasphemy introduced in the 1970s during the regime of military dictator Gen. Zia-ul-Haq.

At first, the police reportedly refused to let the family take Masih's body to the church for a Christian funeral, insisting they take the corpse home and bury him quickly. The assistant superintendent of police told the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan this was done to avoid any political protests.

"This is an individual’s case against an individual," he said. "We do not want to make it a political issue."

The family was latter permitted to take the body to Sacred Heart Cathedral for the funeral which was peaceful and without incident. (from WorldNetDaily)



Spartacus

That Al-Qaeda has links with the Mafia is not in question. I have posted several articles on this website about the links between Muslim "activists" and the Calabrian mafia, known as the "'ndrangheta".
Everybody keeps reading statements from al-Qaeda chiefs and the "intelligence" usually ends...with the translation! Great effort!
The statement by the Al-Qaeda chief in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, is quite important, because, for the first time ever, an Al-Qaeda chief talks about links with the Mafia (and other smugglers!)


Saudi Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin is the suspected mastermind of the May and November suicide bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia, in which 53 people died, including nine Americans.

Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin is in his 30s, and he also traveled to Afghanistan when he was 17 for training and later joined the war in Bosnia. He, too, spent time in a Saudi prison, where he learned the Koran by heart.


DUBAI: A statement purported to be from the al-Qaeda chief in Saudi Arabia and posted on a militant website on Thursday urged his followers to wage an urban guerrilla war of assassinations, kidnappings and bombings. The "execution group" or "strike force" in each four-tiered cell should be "trained to carry out operations inside cities, including assassinations, abductions, bombings, sabotage, raids and the liberation of hostages," said the statement attributed to Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin and posted on www.qal3ah.org.
The lengthy statement, the authenticity of which could not be independently confirmed, appeared to be several months old. It was not clear why it was made public now. It refers to the Saudi authorities' announcement "in recent days of the names of 26 Mujahid (fighter) ... which showed the failure of their security agencies to track down the Mujahideen."

The reference was to a list of 26 most-wanted terror suspects issued by Saudi authorities in December following a series of suicide bombings that targeted residential compounds in Riyadh in May and November 2003. Muqrin tops the list of presumed al-Qaeda militants, which is now down to 18. In the statement, Muqrin said each guerrilla cell should be composed of four groups: a field command, an intelligence-gathering group, a third assigned to prepare the equipment and groundwork for operations, and a fourth that would execute the attacks and would be made up of two to four members.

"In a country which has no places suitable for action such as mountains and forests, one should suffice with urban forces and collaborators," the statement said. Militants "need a strong Islamic intelligence apparatus to confront the dangers surrounding clandestine action in cities," it said. The guerrillas in charge of preparing operations should include people "with links to the Mafia or other smugglers, because the latter have experience and can be very useful," the statement said. (From Pakistan Today)

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To Kill a Prime Minister

It was a particularly hot afternoon when I decided to go shopping for permission (Fatwa) to kill the prime minister.

It was probably the summer of 1994 and Benazir Bhutto was laboriously inching through her second non-productive term as prime minister of Pakistan.

At that time, Pakistan’s Blasphemy law was a sword in the hands of the unscrupulous and they were flailing it blindly, right, left and centre.

One day, there was a small news item that a Christian from the Punjab province had been taken into custody for allegedly using some derogatory words against the Prophet of Islam. A few days later, there was another, even smaller, news story that the Benazir government had released the young man quietly and he had been granted asylum in some western European country.

Having a deep love for Prophet Mohammad, I was among those who were very angry at Benazir Bhutto. The dense mass of anger squirming in my mind took a particular direction when the same evening I happened to stumble into a religious gathering where an especially eloquent ‘religious leader’ reproached Banezir Bhutto in many languages and urged the crowd quite convincingly: ‘Is there not even one among you who can take out that enemy of Islam?’

I promised to myself that I would be the one to ‘take out that enemy of Islam.’

Next afternoon I went to the same mosque to seek permission from the Pesh-Imam (prayer leader) to kill the prime minister.

He said that since he was not a Mufti (a religious scholar who is authorized to issue religious edicts – Fatwa), he was unable to issue the kind of permission I sought. He referred me to a well-known Mufti in Karachi.

I went dashing to the Mufti and put my case before him.

“So, you want to kill the prime minister?” asked the Mufti. “Indeed, I do. I feel it is my duty to do so,” I said.

“And why do you think it is your duty to kill the prime minister,” asked the Mufti with a hint of a smile in his eyes.

I narrated all the ‘known details’ of the case and said heatedly, “This proves that the government has deliberately set free a person who insulted our beloved Prophet. There is no choice but to kill the prime minister because, as the head of the government, she is responsible for what happens in her administration.”

“Let’s view the whole thing from a distance and we shall soon find out whether I can give you permission to go ahead with your plans,” reasoned the Mufti.

In his lengthy discourse over a cup of tea laced with substandard milk powder, the Mufti presented the following scenarios:

· The speaker in the last evening’s gathering may have been politically motivated. One needs to verify whether he is a man of ‘solid character’ (Swaleh) and whether one can trust that he had no hidden motive when inciting a crowd to take an extreme action.

· Are there at least four witnesses of solid character who can testify that the Christian young man really insulted the Prophet? What were his exact words, and in what context did he utter those words? Was he aware of what he was saying? Is it possible that he said something in answer to an argument where a Muslim may have insulted Jesus Christ? If so, then the other person who insulted Jesus Christ, should also have been charged under the same law because Jesus is also the prophet of Islam, as are Moses, Abraham and all other prophets.

· Even if we assume that the charges are correctly levelled against the Christian in question, are we sure that Benazir Bhutto personally authorized his release? Is it not possible that some local functionary released him because of sympathy or monetary gratification?

· Killing someone is an extreme action. The basic principle is that we cannot take what we cannot give. Since we cannot give life we should be extremely reluctant to take it. The Blasphemy law, as it is, has many loopholes. Moreover, killing or imprisoning someone means that we are unable to find arguments to refute what they are saying.
My conversation with the Mufti, and his set of arguments as mentioned here, would probably come as a surprise to some who make a beeline to a particular seminary in Pakistan and rush back breathlessly with exciting stories about ‘breeding grounds of terrorism and havens for Al-Qaeda and Taliban.’

The last sentence of Mufti changed my mindset – and my life – then and there: “Killing or imprisoning someone means that we are unable to find arguments to refute what they are saying.”

I died that day, right on the worn-out rug in the Mufti’s office. Or, to put it more precisely, I was born that day.

(from nCaWeeklyColumn: The Mind of a Terrorist, by Tariq Saeedi)(www.newscentralasia.com/). The link to the excellent article is here.


Spartacus

2 Feb. 2004 the title of my post was "Will anyone investigate Mr. Tahir?"
Jeff Ooi, one of my favorite bloggers (but he's more than that!), today reports that Mr Tahir has been detained under the Internal Security Act in Malaysia yesterday.
"His activities came to the attention of the US Central Intelligence Agency and Britain's MI6 following the seizure of "centrifuges" on board a vessel in Italy on Oct 4." Jeff's post is here.
I have written and posted several articles on the vessel BBC China, the centrifuges for Mr Qaddafi and the links between evil countries and evil people (who love to call themselves "Doctors", "Heroes" and "Scientists"!)which you can read here, here, here, here
Well done Malaysia!

Spartacus

Michael Moore's far left politics are bad enough, but the fact that his political films continue to win major awards as documentaries is absurd. (from http://www.CoxAndForkum.com )
 

Spartacus

The C-16 Eurofighter 

So why did Spain buy 87 C-16 Eurofighters? Give me just one good reason!

Spartacus

WASHINGTON (AP) - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Wednesday new information indicates terrorists are planning an attack on America, possibly connected to high-profile upcoming events such as the dedication of a new World War II monument, economic summit and political conventions.

"I can confirm that we have seen for the past several weeks a continuous stream of reporting that talks about the possibility of attacks on the United States," Ridge said.







U.S. counterterrorism and law enforcement officials said Tuesday that new intelligence indicates a group of terrorists already deployed inside the United States is preparing to launch a major attack this summer. This information was described by a senior counterterrorism official on condition of anonymity as extremely credible and backed by an unusually high level of corroboration.

Spartacus

Italian MPs reject Iraq pull-out

Twenty Italian troops have died so far in Iraq
The Italian parliament has defeated a motion tabled by the centre-left opposition, calling for the withdrawal of Italy's 3,000 troops from Iraq. Read it here


North Korean Security Believes Ryongchon Train Explosion an Assassination Attempt

According to a source, North Korea's State Safety & Security Agency concluded that the massive explosion that occurred in the North Korean city of Ryongchon on April 22 had been conspired by anti-North Korean government forces to harm North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. So, from now on, mobile phones are banned from North Korea Read it here


Freedom in China? Not yet...!

"The most important battleground for freedom of speech in China is on the Internet now. The authorities realize that, and they are trying to suppress it," Wu said recently, peering at his smudged computer screen and giving a tour of his Web site. "At the same time, we are continuously challenging their bottom line, and pushing them back. . . . This is a critical time." Read it here


The Communist Syndrome (from FrontPageMagazine)

"...These conspiracy theories advanced by the Left are somehow similar to the
conspiracy theories advanced by the nazis back in the 1930s. Every
demented form of evil is being ascribed to Americans and Israelis --
nothing to the real nazi-wanna-bes -- the Islamofascists." Read it here


Spartacus

"Who Is Abu Zarqawi?"


From the May 24, 2004 issue: What we know about the terrorist leader who murdered Nicholas Berg.
by Robert S. Leiken & Steven Brooke
05/24/2004, Volume 009, Issue 35 The weekly Standard

WHO KILLED NICHOLAS BERG? His grief-stricken family blames the U.S. government for the appalling videotaped beheading of their son in Iraq. A more fitting object of outrage is the executioner. For the terrorist who claims credit for the killing of the Jewish-American civilian is no walk-on, no lackey or even lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. Instead, he is an independent operator with a long history in global jihad--sometimes coordinated with al Qaeda, sometimes not--who may be challenging bin Laden for the leadership of global Sunni terrorism.

Abu Musab al Zarqawi is hot right now. He masterminded not only Berg's murder but also the Madrid carnage on March 11, the bombardment of Shia worshippers in Iraq the same month, and the April 24 suicide attack on the port of Basra. But he is far from a newcomer to slaughter. Well before 9/11, he had already concocted a plot to kill Israeli and American tourists in Jordan. His label is on terrorist groups and attacks on four continents.

Zarqawi was first thrust into the global media spotlight in February 2003, before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when Secretary of State Colin Powell at the U.N. called him an "associate and collaborator" of bin Laden and part of a "sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network." Zarqawi, however, is not Osama's man, and still less was he Saddam's.

Zarqawi was born Ahmed al-Khalayleh to a Palestinian-Jordanian family in 1966 and grew up in a shabby two-story dwelling in a dusty mining town 17 miles north of Amman. The town was called Zarqa--hence the nom de guerre. (1)
But while we know the details of bin Laden's privileged youth, we know next to nothing about Zarqawi's impoverished early years. His parents are dead, and few near relatives have been uncovered by the press. His passport picture is on a U.S. poster offering a $10 million reward for him, but his height and weight are listed as "unknown." Nor do we know what he studied in school; only that he dropped out of high school and locals say he was "pious." Until recently, the mystery man rarely claimed credit for his terrorist exploits. U.S. intelligence once thought he'd been injured in the American assault on Afghanistan and had taken refuge in northern Iraq, later traveling to Saddam's Baghdad to have his leg amputated; now they're not so sure.

(Latest Info from ABC News: After the fall of the Taliban, he fled to northwestern Iraq and worked with poisons for use in potential attacks, officials say.
During the summer of 2002, he underwent nasal surgery at a Baghdad hospital, officials say. They mistakenly originally thought, however, that Zarqawi had his leg amputated due to an injury.)


We do know that like thousands of Muslim youths he rallied to the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan and gained renown as a fighter. Returning to Jordan after the Soviet withdrawal, he may have joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which merged with al Qaeda in 1998. While in Jordan he also associated with Hizb ut Tahrir, an angry, anti-Semitic conclave devoted to the restoration of Islamic rule. Released in 1997 after five years in a Jordanian prison for plotting to replace the monarchy with an Islamic state, Zarqawi fled to Europe. He returned to Afghanistan in 2000 and built his own network of training camps near Herat, seizing control of the clandestine routes between Iran and Afghanistan.
In his camps, Zarqawi dispensed his specialized knowledge of chemical
weapons and poisons to loyal followers, who then dispersed to the Middle
East and Europe. The week of April 19, Jordanian police broke up a
Zarqawi-financed and orchestrated plot they estimate would have detonated 20 tons of chemicals and released a cloud of poisonous gas into central Amman.
The blast could have killed some 80,000 civilians and destroyed the U.S.
embassy and Jordanian intelligence headquarters. In a videotaped confession shown on Jordanian TV, the head of the cell admitted, "I took explosives courses, poisons high level, then I pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al Zarqawi, to obey him without any questioning."


ABU ZARQAWI knows no limits and many continents. Investigating the Hamburg cell after September 11, German authorities came across another terrorist group called al-Tawhid (unity), made up mainly of Palestinian militants trained in Zarqawi's Afghan camps. Tawhid operatives told investigators they got their start in Europe selling stolen and forged documents to militants traveling between the Middle East and Western Europe.

With the outbreak of war in Iraq, Tawhid converted its alien-smuggling and document-forgery ring into a two-way underground railroad between Western Europe and the Middle East. According to European press reports, networks in Spain, Italy, and Germany send recruits into Iraq via Syria. U.S. military officials in Iraq now blame the most heinous terrorist attacks on "the Zarqawi network." But Zarqawi's alien-smuggling system also dispatches Middle Eastern jihadis into Europe via Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Greece. In November 2003, Italian wiretaps recorded two Tawhid operatives speaking of "the jihad part" and its "battalion of 25-26 units" of suicide bombers.

If Zarqawi's underground railroad demonstrates the terrorist uses of illegal immigration, the investigation into the Madrid bombings reveals new connections to Zarqawi every week. Zarqawi's lieutenant, a 36-year-old Moroccan named Amer el Azizi, planned the Madrid terror and is the living link between al Qaeda, the Zarqawi network, and the Moroccan immigrant cell that set the Madrid bombs. Azizi also organized and presided over the 2001 meeting in Spain where Mohammed Atta and al Qaeda leaders put the finishing touches on the September 11 plan.

Azizi fled Spain in November 2001 as Spanish authorities dismantled the al Qaeda logistics cell. He jetted to Afghanistan via Iran, where Zarqawi's cross-border networks helped him elude the coalition. While falling in with Zarqawi, Azizi kept an eye on Spain and his Moroccan colleagues, who managed to set off bombs in Casablanca in May 2003. Shortly before the Madrid 3/11 train bombings, Azizi left Iran via Turkey and slipped into Spain to witness the carnage firsthand. He is still at large.

PROBABLY THE MURKIEST and most intriguing feature of this man of many
mysteries is the question of Zarqawi's relations with Osama bin Laden.
Though he met with bin Laden in Afghanistan several times, the Jordanian
never joined al Qaeda. Militants have explained that Tawhid was "especially for Jordanians who did not want to join al Qaeda." A confessed Tawhid member even told his interrogators that Zarqawi was "against al Qaeda." Shortly after 9/11, a fleeing Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the main plotters of the attacks, appealed to Tawhid operatives for a forged visa. He could not come up with ready cash. Told that he did not belong to Tawhid, he was sent packing and eventually into the arms of the Americans.

Zarqawi and bin Laden also disagree over strategy. Zarqawi allegedly
constructed his Tawhid network primarily to target Jews and Jordan. This
choice reflected both Zarqawi's Palestinian heritage and his dissent from bin Laden's strategy of focusing on the "far enemy"--the United States. In an audiotape released after the recent foiled gas attack in Amman, an individual claiming to be Zarqawi argued that the Jordanian Intelligence Services building was indeed the target, although no chemical attack was planned. Rather, he stated menacingly, "God knows, if we did possess [a chemical bomb], we wouldn't hesitate one second to use it to hit Israeli cities such as Eilat and Tel Aviv."

The Tawhid cell (2) uncovered in Hamburg after 9/11 scouted Jewish targets,including businesses and synagogues. Zarqawi's operatives have been
implicated in an attack on a Mombassa hotel frequented by Israeli tourists and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli jetliner. He is also suspected to have played a role in the Casablanca bombings of a Jewish community center and a Spanish social club. In February 2002, a Jordanian court sentenced him in absentia to 15 years' hard labor for his involvement in a failed plot to kill American and Israeli tourists at the turn of the millennium, a scheme coordinated with Abu Zubaydah, a top lieutenant of bin Laden. And another Jordanian court sentenced him, again in absentia, to death for the assassination of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley. Zarqawi is also the prime suspect in the August 2003 truck bombing of the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad.

Zarqawi has been associated with other groups besides Tawhid. Most notorious is Ansar al Islam, a largely Kurdish organization operating out of Northern Iraq, which U.S. officials have linked to al Qaeda. Before the war, Ansar al Islam ran chemical warfare camps in northern Iraq. Last year British counterterrorist investigators traced poisonous ricin found in Manchester to those camps. Zarqawi has been linked with two less-known al Qaeda splinter groups, Beyyiat el-Imam, implicated in attacks in Israel as well as the November 2003 attack on a synagogue in Turkey, and Jund al-Shams, a Syrian-Jordanian group blamed by Jordanian authorities for the assassination of Foley. Zarqawi has also been linked to Chechen jihadis, and Indian intelligence says he belongs to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a Pakistani Sunni group responsible for slaying hundreds of Shias in South Asia.

The slaughter of Shias touches on another Zarqawi beef with bin Laden. While both men follow the strict code of Salafi Islam, which reckons Shias as apostates, bin Laden prides himself on being a unifying figure and has made tactical alliances with Shia groups, meeting several times with Shia militants. Zarqawi, by contrast, favors butchering Shias, calling them "the most evil of mankind . . . the lurking snake, the crafty and malicious scorpion, the spying enemy, and the penetrating venom." American military officials hold Zarqawi responsible not only for assassinating Shia religious leaders in Iraq, but also for the multiple truck bombings of a Shia religious festival this past March, which killed 143 worshippers.

But though bin Laden and Zarqawi differ on strategy, Zarqawi too cloaks his plans for mass murder in the language of the religious zealot. To Zarqawi, "religion is more precious than anything and has priority over lives, wealth, and children." He considers Iraq ideal for jihad especially because "it is a stone's throw from the lands of the two Holy Precincts [Saudi Arabia] and the al Aqsa [mosque, in Jerusalem]. We know from God's religion that the true, decisive battle between infidelity and Islam is in this land [Greater Syria and its surroundings]. . . ." On the tape of the beheading of Nick Berg, entitled "Sheikh Abu Musab Zarqawi executes an American with his
own hands and promises Bush more," Zarqawi rages, "Where is the compassion, where is the anger for God's religion, and where is the protection for Muslims' pride in the crusaders' jails? . . . The pride of all Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and other jails is worth blood and souls."

The CIA has verified that Zarqawi himself spoke on the tape and personally beheaded Berg. Similarly, the videotaped beheading of Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal in February 2002 was carried out directly by another jihadi leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The latter, like Zarqawi, never swore allegiance to bin Laden. In this bloodthirsty crowd, it appears that slitting the throat of an American Jew wins laurels.

IN JANUARY 2004, Iraqi Kurds captured a message from Zarqawi in Iraq to bin Laden. Zarqawi offered bin Laden a chance to expand al Qaeda's role in Iraq. Victory, Zarqawi instructed, meant fomenting sectarian war between Shiites and Sunnis. There are no indications that bin Laden responded, and there are now signs of cooperation between some Iraqi Shia and Sunni militants. Are bin Laden and Zarqawi running competing terrorist organizations in Iraq?

Zarqawi's letter is addressed to a colleague or even a potential competitor rather than to one he regards as his sheikh or emir. He offers darkly, "We do not see ourselves as fit to challenge you." Zarqawi gives bin Laden two choices: "If you agree with us . . . we will be your readied soldiers, working under your banner, complying with your orders, and indeed swearing fealty (sic) to you publicly and in the news media. . . . If things appear otherwise to you, we are brothers, and the disagreement will not spoil [our] friendship."

Zarqawi exemplifies Sunni terrorism after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq,
what some call "al Qaeda 2.0." The Western counteroffensive decimated al
Qaeda's leadership, stripped the organization of safe havens and training camps, and disrupted its command and control. Former al Qaeda subsidiaries became franchises, receiving inspiration from bin Laden's occasional messages but operating independently. Historically speaking, the dynamic of revolutionary movements favors the most radical faction--the Jacobins, not the Girondists, the Bolsheviks, not the Menshiviks. If this dynamic prevails in contemporary Sunni terrorism, Abu Musab al Zarqawi represents the future.

My Notes:
(1)One does not know why he uses Musab as his kuniyat. His real name is believed to be Ahmad Fadil Al-Khalailah, which means Ahmad son of Fadil of al-Khalil, which is the name the Arabs use for the Israeli town of Hebran.His family had apparently migrated to Jordan from al-Khalil (Hebron) and he himself was born in Zarqa. He also uses the kuniyats Abu Ahmad, Abu Muhammad and Sakr Abu Suwayd.

(2)The German authorities arrested on April 23, 2002,Shadi Abdalla, Mohamed Abu Dhess, Aschraf al-Dagma, Ismail Shalabi and Djamel Moustfa on charges of belonging to al-Tawhid and planning to carry out acts of terrorism in Germany. The German account of Abu Musab's jihadi career, according to which he had visited Iran in the past, contradicted the perception of him as anti-Shia.


From NationalReviewonline

Suri State of Affairs
Another “dynamic” duo.

By Lorenzo Vidino

In the eyes of many terrorism experts, Nicholas Berg's tragic beheading has elevated Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to a level approaching that of Osama bin Laden. The comparison seems appropriate, as Zarqawi, like bin Laden, has surrounded himself with other powerful extremists and several valuable contacts in the jihad underworld.


Bin Laden chose a well-connected Egyptian, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as his deputy in order to take advantage of Zawahiri's widespread network of terrorists and political knowledge. By the same token, Zarqawi appears to be teaming up with Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a man who, so far, has not attracted much attention, but whose influence on Zarqawi cannot be overlooked. According to Italian military intelligence, both Zarqawi and Nasar are currently in Iraq, masterminding attacks there and throughout the world.

Nasar, better known by his nome de guerre, Abu Musab al-Suri, is well known to Spanish authorities, who wrote extensively about him in the September 2003 indictment of the Madrid al Qaeda cell. A Syrian veteran of the Afghan war against the Soviets, he spent several years in Madrid in the mid-1990s and acquired Spanish citizenship by marrying a Spanish convert. While in Spain, he befriended a fellow Syrian, Imad Eddin Yarkas, the leader of the Madrid cell. Both had fled Syria in the beginning of the 1980s after the Syrian regime violently cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood.

But while Yarkas immediately went to Spain, Suri went to Afghanistan, where he met bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam, bin Laden's mentor and one of the founders of al Qaeda. According to the Spanish indictment of the Madrid cell, when al Qaeda moved to Sudan in 1991, Suri remained in Afghanistan, traveling sporadically to Khartoum to meet with bin Laden. In 1995 he moved to Europe and lived between Madrid and London, where he was one of the leading minds of the local Islamist scene now referred to as "Londonistan."

But upon realizing that British authorities suspected his involvement in the 1995 Paris Metro bombings, Suri decided to move back to Afghanistan, where he ran a terrorist training camp. According to Spanish authorities, while in Afghanistan Suri maintained contacts with both Osama bin Laden and former Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Suri also became Emir of the Syrians associated with al Qaeda, a title that proves his importance in the organization. The man who facilitated Suri's move to Afghanistan was another Syrian national, Mohamed Bahaiah, whom Spanish authorities have described as "bin Laden's courier in Europe" and who used to travel in Spain extensively.

Bahaiah is just one of Suri's contacts in Spain. Suri maintained a network of operatives there and he is now believed to have masterminded the March 11 train bombings in Madrid. Information provided by some of the individuals detained in relation with the attacks has shown that an intermediary of Suri traveled to Spain at the end of 2003. According to police inquiries, after arriving in Spain, the intermediary made contact with one of the bombers and passed on to him instructions from Suri. After staying in Spain for a few days, the messenger left for London, where Suri had instructed him to activate sleeper cells. Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Suri in relation with the Madrid bombings. If this information is confirmed, it would be definitive proof that the Zarqawi network was behind the Madrid attacks.

But aside from his terrorist contacts throughout the world, Suri's importance lies in the profound political and religious influence he wields over Zarqawi. While Zarqawi is a high school dropout with scant knowledge of world affairs, Suri has a long history of writing about politics and is a Koranic expert who boasts a large following in the radical Islamic underworld. During his stay in London, Suri was one of the editors of the ultra-radical Al Ansar magazine, which for years published propaganda from dozens of Islamic terrorist groups. On one instance, Al Ansar published a fatwah that justified the killing of children and women in Algeria by the Algerian terrorist group GIA. The fatwah was issued by the Palestinian cleric Abu Qatada, a man that Spanish authorities have described as "Bin Laden's ambassador to Europe" and who also served as editor-in-chief of Al Ansar.

A further glance at Suri's extremist ideology is provided by tapes of his sermons that were seized in the apartment of a member of an Algerian terrorist cell dismantled by Italian authorities in Naples in 2000. The tapes reveal Suri's deep hatred for Shiites, whom he considers deviators from pure Islam. While other al Qaeda leaders have expressed their contempt for Shiites but nonetheless cooperated with Shiite groups, Suri categorically rejects any form of cooperation between Sunnis and Shiites. In fact, he points at the "negative influence" that Shiite groups have had on the Palestinian struggle, as some groups like Hamas have decided to work with Shiite groups like Hezbollah. This same contempt for Shiites can be seen in a letter written by Zarqawi last February, in which he openly incited a sectarian war in Iraq between Sunnis and Shiites. Zarqawi urged his followers to carry out attacks against Shiites because they "have declared a subtle war against Islam."

The letter reveals the influence that the older and better-educated Suri has on Zarqawi, who did not express any anti-Shiite sentiment while working closely with the Iranian government (as revealed by the confessions of Shadi Abdallah, a terrorist linked to Zarqawi who was arrested in Germany). Just as Zawahiri's ideas influenced bin Laden's actions and worldview, then, it appears that Zarqawi is acting in accordance with Suri's views. It is too early to say whether — with bin Laden and Zawahiri reportedly relegated to Waziristan — Zarqawi and Suri have become the world's most dangerous terrorist duo. It's also too early to say whether Iraq will represent for them what Afghanistan represented for the other duo. But it is clear that the two have managed to operate undetected for almost a decade and are now reaping the fruits of their work. It is now extremely important to understand Suri's ideas in order to penetrate Zarqawi's violent mindset.

— Lorenzo Vidino is a senior terrorism analyst at the Investigative Project, a Washington-based counterterrorism institute.


Read also "The Zarqawi node in the terror matrix" here

Read also a BBC Profile of al-Zarqawi here

Spartacus

When you, the reader, find the word "islamofascist", you wonder what it means and if it can be applied to the present jihadists infesting the civilised world.


I am thankful to the excellent Italian blog, I Love America, for providing me with a visual answer to the term "islamofascist". Once you see this very interesting video, you too will know what "islamofascist" means!

http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?mediaURL=/me/20030409_me_imam&mediaType=RM

Spartacus

"A military source familiar with Korean Peninsula affairs revealed on 6 May that Syrian technicians were killed in a train explosion incident that occurred on 22 April in Yongch’on in the northwestern part of the DPRK and that the damage was especially serious in that section of the train where the Syrians were aboard, along with large equipment. The same source noted that although the contents of the equipment are unknown, DPRK military-related personnel wearing protective suits arrived on the scene immediately after the explosion and removed debris only from that section of the train where the Syrian group had been aboard. Consequently, there is a strong likelihood that the accident occurred when military materials were being secretly transported between the DPRK and Syria.

According to the same source, the technicians aboard the train had been sent from the Syrian technical research center called Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche Scientific (CERS). Although CERS was established to promote science and technology development, it is suspected of playing a major role in Syria’s weapons of mass destruction development program.

The technicians and the cargo were reportedly aboard the same section of the train. The same source said it was uncertain whether the cargo was the source of the explosion or whether it exploded after being set off by an explosion on another section of the train. The source then said, “The damage to that section of the train was the most serious,” noting that nearly 10 Syrians and accompanying North Koreans were killed" (from Littlegreenfootballs, 15/5/04).


C.E.R.S.

The Syrian Scientific Research Center more commonly is known by its French acronym, CERS (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Scientifiques), and has maintained its government-to-government relationship with France and French state-owned weapons companies.

Intelligence analysts in the United States, Israel and Western Europe agree that CERS is the lead agency in Syria that handles research and development of both conventional and unconventional weapons. So critical is the role of CERS in the procurement of technology and materials for Syria's special-weapons programs that the U.S. and German governments have blacklisted it as a warning to exporters who might otherwise seek its business. CERS is funded and reports directly to the Office of the President of the Syrian Arab Republic. During the 1980s and 1990s, it focused extensively on military research involving radar, missile-telemetry systems, telecommunications, plastics, high-performance lubricants and artificial intelligence, with teams of buyers scouring Europe for dual-use technologies likely to further chemical-, biological- and nuclear-weapons programs.

Today, CERS is in charge of procurement for Syria's strategic-weapons programs. In 1999, it purchased 10 tons of powdered aluminum from Communist China for use as a solid-fuel propellant, according to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

In February 2001, the French Atomic Energy Agency sent a team of physicists to explore nuclear-cooperation projects at Syria's four state universities and at CERS subsidiary ISSAT, known in English as the Higher Institute for Applied Science and Technology. It was set up with assistance from the French Embassy in Damascus in 1983 to facilitate French technical assistance to Syria.

Syrian chemical-weapons plants have been operating for nearly 20 years, and were first mentioned publicly in the United States by then-director of the CIA, William Webster, in testimony before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs on Feb. 9, 1989. "Syria began producing chemical-warfare agents and munitions in the mid-1980s, and currently has a chemical-warfare-production facility," Webster said.

In 1991, Israeli chief of staff Ehud Barak (who later became prime minister) told an audience of leading industrialists in Tel Aviv that Syria's chemical-weapons capability was "larger than Iraq's." Over the years, chemical-weapons plants were identified just north of Damascus, outside of Homs and near Hama, where Syria was believed to be producing VX agents in addition to sarin and tabun. A fourth production facility near Cerin was believed to be manufacturing biological-warfare agents.

Industrial facilities that could be potential targets include a pharmaceuticals plant in Aleppo, a large urea and ammonia plant in Homs, and a superphosphates complex in the desert near Palmyra, where Iraqi technicians reportedly have transferred technology Iraq used with success to extract uranium from raw phosphates ore. Another dozen government-run pharmaceuticals plants are spread across the country, some of which were built by major French, Swiss and German firms and could be used to produce biological-warfare agents.

Last year, the Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot identified a major chemical-weapons plant and Scud-C missile base in northern Syria, near the village of As-Safirah, and published satellite photographs of the site that it had commissioned.

The photographs show an extensive industrial complex, several munitions-storage depots, a missile-silo complex and a separate command-and-control site with a large phased-array radar. The complex is protected by SAM-2 surface-to-air missiles. Three tunnel entrances protected by box-canyon walls give access to buried parts of the site.

The As-Safirah complex, just west of Aleppo near Syria's Mediterranean coast, was built as part of a $500 million deal with North Korea signed in Damascus on March 29, 1990, by North Korean Vice President Yi Chong-Ok.

Bill Gertz, of Insight's sister daily, the Washington Times, first reported on the delivery of Scud-C kits from North Korea to Syria in March 1991. Today, the Israelis believe Syria has assembled several hundred Scud-Cs and is developing "multiple-warhead" clusters in an effort to defeat Israel's Arrow antitactical ballistic-missile system, according to defense analyst Anthony H. Cordesman.

The United States repeatedly has imposed sanctions on Chinese and North Korean state-owned companies for selling Syria missile kits, production technology, guidance kits and solid-fuel components. But U.S. officials acknowledge that the sanctions, which bar those companies from competing for U.S. government contracts, essentially are meaningless.

"We need to take a new look at the proliferation problem," one administration official tells Insight. "We need to start thinking about active intervention, new tools and tactics, and methods of preventing the actual shipment of weapons and weapons technology." (source: Insight on the News. "Sending a Serious Message to Syria" By Kenneth R. Timmerman)


Latest News


"The bodies of the Syrians were carried onto and
transported home on 1 May by a Syrian aircraft, which
had come to Pyongyang to deliver aid supplies.

Syrian and DPRK medical and military personnel who
were involved in transporting [the Syrians and other
victims] were also reportedly wearing protective suits
similar to those worn by the DPRK military personnel
who arrived on the scene immediately after the
accident.

The same source said, "The action taken by Syria and
the DPRK indicates that the cargo was top secret
matter, which the two countries did not want to bring
out into the open." With regard to the DPRK and Syria,
the United States and other countries have indicated
concern that the two countries are continuing to
cooperate in the development of Syria's "Scud-D"
missiles, as well as chemical and biological weapons.

Concerning the cause of the explosion incident, the
DPRK has explained that a train carrying fertilizer
containing ammonium nitrate and a railroad tank
carrying petroleum were being shunted, and, in the
process, came into contact with electrical wires, due
to carelessness."


Syria and the DPRK are playing with fire!

Spartacus

It's not a mere demographical statistic, but a carefully planned infiltration of every aspect of society in non-muslim Europe. All this thanks to the appeasers at the head of Catholic countries like Spain and France. Muslim voters do count now, and they will count more at the next general elections! Give them whatever they ask for...they will be thankful!
If you have a minute to spare, please read also my previous post, written yesterday, on State-supervised French Islam.

Madrid, May 15 – A proposal to constitute a council for Muslims of Spain has been presented to the new Socialist government. The council is aimed at representing Muslims in dealings with the government as well as to look after the affairs of the Muslim minorities in the country. It is estimated that there are 800,000 Muslims in Spain, most of them of Morocco origins.

The oldest profession in the world is still going from strength to strength.

Spartacus

Advice for the New Mother

by Fatima Barkatulla

"...Your good behaviour towards your husband will not go unrewarded insha Allah. Remember the hadeeth, in which Asmaa bint Yazeed ibn as Sakan (radiallahu anha) came to the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) and said:

“Oh Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you. I have come to you on behalf of the women. We have believed in you. We do not go out and we remain in your homes. We are your source of physical pleasure. We carry your children. A man goes out to pray jumu’ah and jamaa’ah and follows the janazah. And if you go out fo Hajj, or ‘Umrah, or Jihaad, we look after your wealth. We wash your clothing. We raise your children. Shall we not share in the reward?”

The Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) turned to his companions and said: “Have you ever heard anything a woman has said better than what she has said?”
Then he said to her: “Understand oh woman, and inform the other women. Indeed a woman’s perfection of her relationship with her husband, her seeking his pleasure, and doing that which he approves of is equivalent to all of that.” Asmaa left exclaiming “La ilaaha illa Allah!”[xi] (from IslamicAwakening.com)

Spartacus

Friday, May 14, 2004

State-supervised Committee To Train French Imams


PARIS, May 13 (IslamOnline.net) - The French experts committee, supervised by the Interior Ministry, to train imams in the European country, will also organize training programs for people interested to know about Islam, said a committee member.

"The main idea is to set up an institute that will not only train imams but also organize courses for journalists and judges to know more about Islam," Eric Geoffroy told IslamOnline.net.

"There are between five to six million French Muslims and France needs institutions to give the French people, both Christians and Muslims, an idea about Islam."
Geoffroy, also an expert in Islamic studies, Strasbourg University, further said that the institute's mission is to "present an open French Islam in harmony with the French environment."

Acknowledging there are 1300-1500 imams in France, he said they should be well trained to "present the French Islam."

State Interference

He confirmed that during the second meeting of the committee on Tuesday, May 11, with the representatives of the Paris Mosque and the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF).

Geoffroy said "they might be afraid of the committee as they have their own projects about the issue [training imams]."

The UOIF has vocalized concerns vis-à-vis the state interference in the setting up of the imam training institute.

The body underlined that France's secularism bans the state from intervening in religious affairs.

It proposed, instead, forming an independent committee affiliated to the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCN).

On May 6, the Paris Mosque announced the formation of a committee to supervise the setting up of an imam training institute in tandem with the French federation of African and Comoran Muslim societies.

However, Geoffroy expressed opposition to CFCN tendency to set up institutes independent from the authorities.

"Muslims should not be left to handle the issue of imams on their own," he said, claiming interference from Algerian, Moroccan and Saudi parties affecting the independence of "French Islam."
French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin denied Wednesday, May 11, that the committee was an official body formed by the state, despite the supervision of his ministry on the appointment of its members.

Source: IslamicAwakening.com

Spartacus

From MPA News:
The extremist group “Revolutionary Struggle” claimed responsibility for the three explosions outside a police station in Kallithea, Athens, on May 5 in a letter published today on the Athens newspaper “Pontiki”, confirming that the attack was not linked with the Olympic Games. In a leaflet issued by the extremists, it is mentioned that the triple attack was in response to the Greek state's participation in Iraq and the new anti-terrorist law.

According to the letter, the bomb blasts were a response to the participation of the Greek state in the “antiterrorist” war and a warning for the imminent “humanitarian” involvement in Iraq by sending troops to the country.

Also, the group mentions that the attack in Kallithea was a response to the new “antiterrorist law” expected to be passed in Greece.

It is also mentioned that the global mercenary killers, state officials and wealthy western Olympic tourists who intend to attend the games are unwelcome.

Citibank in Neo Psychiko, a northern Athens suburb, has been targeted by the Revolutionary Struggle terrorist cell in early March this year, and the daily Eleftherotypia, that always publishes 17 November proclamations, has received a lenghty manifesto (eleven pages) signed by these terrorists.

On Sept. 5 2003, the same group claimed responsibility for two powerful bomb blasts at Athens' main court complex. The blasts were linked to the trial of members of Greece's deadliest terrorist group, known as November 17.

Welcome to the Olympic Games!

Spartacus

This is only the final part of the text of Sheikh Osama Bin Laden’s latest message to Ummah:

"...You are aware of the fact that America has offered major rewards to those who kill the Mujahideen for the sake of Allah. And we in the Al-Qaida organization pledge with the leave of Allah to offer a reward equaling 10,000 grams of gold to he who kills the occupier Bremer or his deputy or the commander of the American forces in Iraq or his deputy.

...The United Nations today is pursuing its evil role against the Ummah. Therefore, he who kills Kofi Annan or the head of his mission to Iraq or his representatives such as Lakhdar Ibrahmi, he will receive the same 10,000 grams of gold as reward. Also, a reward of 10,000 grams of gold will be paid for killing a military or a civilian from among the masters of the veto, such as the Americans and the British, and 500 grams of gold will go to those who kill a military or a civilian from the slaves of the General Assembly in Iraq , such as Japan and Italy. Due to the security situation, the payments of the rewards will be at the earliest opportunity with the leave of Allah.

As for he who dies after killing one of the occupation soldiers, the greatest reward for us and for him would be when Allah bestows martyrdom for his sake; as for his lesser reward, it would go to his inheritors with the leave of Allah."

I can't believe that we are in the year 2004!

Spartacus

Good News at Last!

After all the bad news we’ve heard so far, here comes a good one: Najaf’s senior clerics asked Sadr’s army to leave Najaf and almost condemned him for the chaos in the holy city. After a senior cleric issued the statement, hundreds of protesters marched though the street demanding the removal of Sadr’s militias from Najaf. Sadr’s thugs fired on the protesters and there are reports that the rival Shia group Badr fired back. A Sadr aid indicated that his master is willing to reach an agreement that would allow his militias to leave the city.

See, that’s what I have been calling for. Sadr longed for the backing of the senior clerics but he failed to do so. Since the US army practiced restrain and avoided going into Najaf, Sistani had an opportunity to “choke” Sadr and his aspirations.

from one of my most favourite bloggers:

http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/

Spartacus

May. 12, 2004 20:05

Israel is determined to return the bodies of its fallen soldiers to burial and continue to hunt those animals and their leaders, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Wednesday.

"Some people still say that Palestinians act in this brutal and animalistic way because they are under occupation, but let us not forget that the lynching of Jews and the brutality against Jews and the bodies of Jews has been going on for over one hundred years. We all remember the Arab uprising in 1929 and Gush Etzion and all the outrages throughout the years," Shalom added.

The foreign ministry is taking a "big step towards showing the world what kind of people we are up against." Shalom said however that the pictures of the butchery and carnage in Gaza will not be displayed on the ministry's updated website. "We have also opened an Arabic website so that we can show the Arab world what Israel is really about, and to explain to the whole world about the neighborhood we are in, and against whom we are forced to fight against on a daily basis," Shalom told Israel Radio.

(from the Jerusalem Post)

Spartacus

The video of Nick Berg’s murder is one of the most demonic things I’ve ever seen. It’s available here: http://www.at-tawbah.com/
or here: http://www.analisidifesa.it/anno5/numero45/testata/ita/video.htm/
or here: http://www.analisidifesa.it/anno5/numero45/testata/ita/indice.htm/

Spartacus

The following interview was conducted by a reporter for the Al-Jazeera network with the third-in-command of the Al Queda organization, Mr. Mohammed Al-Asuquf. Al-Asuquf's background is impressive; a doctorate in physics and masters in international economics. In the interview, he talks of Al Queda's plans with total detachment, with deep knowledge and an unshakeable commitment to his cause. This interview was sent to Abel-Bari Atwan, chief editor of Al Quds, an Arabic-language newspaper published in London, but was never printed, due to its highly revealing [inflammatory?] contents. A copy of the interview came to Foz-do-Iguacu, and was translated into Portuguese by a university professor in the city's Arab community. This is probably the only existing version of this interview not in Arabic.

Al-Jazeera: What is the objective of the Al Queda network?

Al-Asuquf: To destroy the Great Satan, that is, the United States and Israel.

Al-Jazeera: Why?

Al-Asuquf: The USA over the past 60 years has been impregnating [infecting] the world with its arrogance, greed and malfeasance. It is the incarnation of all that is evil. The people of this planet don't deserve this torture.

Al-Jazeera: Isn't this view somewhat one-sided?

Al-Asuquf: No; one only has to observe recent events. The disrespect of the Kyoto treaty; the case of the Permanent Court of International Justice, their inaction with regards to our Palestinian brothers; the financial greed and absurd speculations in Third World countries; the complete indifference to other oppressed people and countless other situations which all of the world's leaders well know. And on top of all that, the Bush doctrine of "shoot first and ask questions later." This is an unacceptable abuse and will therefore have very grave consequences.

Al-Jazeera: But the isn't the development and influence of America the fruit of its own competence?

Al-Asuquf: Competence in extortion, competence in subjugation, competence in lying. After the Second World War, the USA was the only industrialized country with its manufacturing infrastructure intact. Loaning money like a good loan shark, it ended up becoming a very rich and powerful country; however, its greed remained undiminished. Today, Americans live like maharajas [?], wasting more than any other people, spending more than $80 billion per year just on gambling. They've lost any notion of spirituality and live in constant sin. With each passing day the USA demonstrates that it doesn't know how to live with other peoples; for this, it deserves destruction.

Al-Jazeera: Wouldn't it be easier to simply assassinate President George Bush?

Al-Asuquf: In the first place, it would do no good, other than turning him into a martyr. When you face a powerful enemy, the best strategy is not to kill him, but to make him lose his leadership due to his incompetence, and let him live to watch this unfold.

Al-Jazeera: Does the Al Queda network have the military capacity to make war on the United States?

Al-Asuquf: If we analyze history, we will see that all great wars, before they were started, were based on previously established concepts [of war]. But if we observe well, we will see that these concepts and strategies came to nothing, since a new type of war was ultimately waged. An example is the construction of the Maginot line by the French before the First World War, which, in reality proved to be completely useless against the invading forces. Aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and spy satellites will be useless in the next war.

Al-Jazeera: American authorities hold more than 1,000 people suspected of terrorism since September 11th. Won't this compromise Al Queda's plans?

Al-Asuquf: Of those imprisoned, perhaps 20 to 30 percent belong to Al Queda. Moreover, they are from the second echelon. We have more than 500 members of the first echelon and 800 from the second, inside the United States.

Al-Jazeera: What do you mean by first and second echelons?

Al-Asuquf: In the first echelon are Al Queda members who have been in the United States for more than 10 years, many married with children. They have detailed knowledge of our plans and are just waiting for a phone call. They are also known as "sleepers." Those of the second echelon have arrived in the last five years and have no idea of our plans.

Al-Jazeera: Are even those who are married, with children, ready to die with their families?

Al-Asuquf: Yes. All of them are ready to die. Long live September 11th.

Al-Jazeera: What was September 11th to Al Queda's overall plans?

Al-Asuquf: As a general step, it was just the beginning. It was a way of calling the world's attention to what is still to come.

Al-Jazeera: How many members does Al Queda have?

Al-Asuquf: In the first echelon, about 5,000; in the second, about 20,000, all over the world.

Al-Jazeera: In the detention camp at Guantanamo, are there any members of the first echelon?

Al-Asuquf: No, in fact, many of those there are not even Al Queda members.

Al-Jazeera: How does Al Queda intend to destroy the most powerful nation in history?

Al-Asuquf: It's a question of logistics. Using its own poison, that is, attacking the heart of what they consider the most important thing in the world: money.

Al-Jazeera: How so?

Al-Asuquf: The American economy is an economy of false appearances. There is no real economic ballast to the American economy. The American GDP of is something around $10 trillion, of which just 1 percent represents agriculture, and just 24 percent represents industry. Therefore, 75 percent of the American GDP is service and most of this is financial speculation. For those who understand economics, and it appears that the American Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neil, doesn't or doesn't see it, it's enough to say that the USA acts like a huge "dot-com," and dollars, strictly speaking, are its shares.

Al-Jazeera: Can you explain that?

Al-Asuquf: The value of a company's shares is directly proportional to the profitability of the enterprise. When a business is just a service provider and doesn't produce any durable goods, the value of its shares depends on its credibility. Which is to say that if the credibility of the USA were shaken, its shares (the dollar) would fall with incredible rapidity and the entire American economy would begin to collapse.

Al-Jazeera: How can you be so sure of this?

Al-Asuquf: On a smaller scale, it's exactly what large financial groups do to the countries of the third world to reap profits in one month that Swiss banks couldn't get in four or five years.

Al-Jazeera: So how will Al Queda shock the American economy to this point?

Al-Asuquf: By provoking a deficit of between $50 and $70 trillion dollars, the equivalent of the United States' GDP for five to seven years.

Al-Jazeera: How will this be done?

Al-Asuquf: With the destruction of the seven largest American cities, along with other measures.

Al-Jazeera: By what means will this be done?

Al-Asuquf: Using atomic bombs.

Al-Jazeera: With all of the security in the USA, how, hypothetically, will these bombs be smuggled onto American soil?

Al-Asuquf: They won't be smuggled in, they're already there.

Al-Jazeera: What are you saying?

Al-Asuquf: There are already seven nuclear devices on American soil which were put in place before September 11th and are ready to be detonated.

Al-Jazeera: How did they get in to the USA?

Al-Asuquf: Before September 11, American security was a fiasco, and even after, were it necessary, we could manage to smuggle bombs into the United States. They entered through seaports, as normal cargo.

Al-Jazeera: How is that possible?

Al-Asuquf: A nuclear device is no bigger than a refrigerator; therefore, it can be easily camouflaged as one. Millions of cargo containers arrive in seaports each day, and no matter how efficient security is, it's impossible to check, search through and examine each container.

Al-Jazeera: Where did these atomic bombs come from?

Al-Asuquf: They were purchased on the black market.

Al-Jazeera: From whom?

Al-Asuquf: We bought five from the defunct Soviet Union and two more from Pakistan.

Al-Jazeera: How is it possible to buy an atomic bomb? Isn't there security?

Al-Asuquf: Before 1989 it was practically impossible, however after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Russian army began a process of self destruction, and some high generals began to lose their privileges, and therefore, highly susceptible to corruption. Even General Lebeb, now deceased, and Hans Blix, the head of the arms inspection commission of the United Nations, have stated this, notwithstanding denials by Russian Defense Minister Seguey Ivanov.

Al-Jazeera: How much does a nuclear bomb cost?

Al-Asuquf: Somewhere around $200 million.

Al-Jazeera: How did Al Queda get this money?

Al-Asuquf: We have numerous sponsors.

Al-Jazeera: Who are they?

Al-Asuquf: There are a number of countries which support us, and also numerous wealthy individuals.

Al-Jazeera: Are all of these countries Arab?

Al-Asuquf: No, there are some European countries as well which have an interest in the fall of the USA.

Al-Jazeera: Who are these wealthy individuals?

Al-Asuquf: People who are also tired of watching the USA suck the wealth out of the rest of the world.

Al-Jazeera: Is Saddam Hussein one of them?

Al-Asuquf: You could say that he's just one of the collaborators, through Abdul Tawab Mullah Hawaish, his vice-prime minister and the person responsible for Iraq's arms program.

Al-Jazeera: Are these atomic bombs powerful ones?

Al-Asuquf: The five Russian devices are from the old T-3 missiles, also known as RD-107s, and their potency is something around 100 kilotons each, that is, 5 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. The Pakistani bombs are less powerful, somewhere around 10 kilotons.

Al-Jazeera: Can't the bombs be detected and disarmed by American authorities?

Al-Asuquf: No, in spite of their age they've undergone modernization and are well hidden. Even if they were found, they have autodetonation provisions should anything get close to them. Even electromagnetic pulses would be incapable of deactivating them.

Al-Jazeera: Don't they emit radiation? Can't they be detected?

Al-Asuquf: No. They are wrapped in thick leaden cases.

Al-Jazeera: A suspected Pakistani ship was recently searched and all that was found were lead bars. Does this have anything to do with the bombs?

Al-Asuquf: Yes, however that lead was just an extra layer, and was not essentially necessary.

Al-Jazeera: How will the bombs be detonated?

Al-Asuquf: There are numerous methods, a cell-phone call, radio frequency, seismic shocks or by timer.

Al-Jazeera: Once detonated, how many deaths will be caused by these bombs?

Al-Asuquf: It depends, since our plans are very malleable.

Al-Jazeera: So what is the entire plan?

Al-Asuquf: The beginning will be the detonation of a nuclear device, which will cause the death of between 800 thousand and one million people and create chaos on a scale never seen before. During this chaos, two or three cropsprayers that are now dismantled and stored in granaries [silos?] close to little-used highways in the countryside will take off on suicide missions to spray two or three large American cities with smallpox. That means that once the smallpox has been identified, all airports and seaports will be closed by quarantine. Land borders will likewise be shut down. Not one airplane, ship or vehicle will enter or leave the United States. This will cause total chaos. White House Press secretary Ari Fleischman will be very busy. (Ari Fleischer is no longer Press Secretary; if this interview took place, it was quite a while ago.)

Al-Jazeera: But the American government has guaranteed that within five days it could produce enough smallpox vaccine to inoculate the entire population. Al-Asuquf: There will be simultaneous suicide attacks against the vaccine production plants. Al-Jazeera: Which will be the first city?

Al-Asuquf: The first city will be that in which optimal conditions present themselves, for example, clear skies, and winds of eight miles-per-hour or less in the direction of the country's center so that radioactive dust can contaminate the maximum possible area.

Al-Jazeera: Will this attack annihilate the USA?

Al-Asuquf: No. But the process will have begun. Who will buy food products from the United States knowing they may have been contaminated by radiation? Who will travel to the United States knowing the possibility of contracting smallpox? Who will continue to invest in American institutions? Just as with the World Trade Center, it will be simply a question of time before the entire economic structure collapses and turns to dust. If our objectives are reached with one bomb and the smallpox, probably we'll save the lives of others, however that's risky [unlikely?], and it's probable that six more bombs will be detonated, one per week, and other attacks with chemical weapons will be carried out.

Al-Jazeera: How many innocent people will die?

Al-Asuquf: According to estimates made by me and Ayman Al-Zawahiro, somewhere around 15 million due to the atomic bombs and their radiation. Of those exposed to smallpox, 25 percent will die, approximately five million, and many more due to the ensuing chaos and disorder.

Al-Jazeera: What about the American military response?

Al-Asuquf: There will practically be none. Even if five or ten cities were chosen at random to be destroyed, that would still be a small price to pay. The problem is the economic despair will be so great that even economizing by not using arms unnecessarily will occur, since the liquidity of American goods will be almost zero and at that point the United States will make more selling its Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, which cost about five billion dollars, to Turkey or Italy for one billion dollars, since the country will so urgently need to recapitalize, though it will be too late. Moreover, how will the morale of American soldiers be knowing that their entire families have died and their country no longer exists. Fight for what?

Al-Jazeera: And won't the global economy also be ruined?

Al-Asuquf: In the beginning it will be very difficult; a serious economic crisis will ensue. However, without the United States, the world will soon arise in a more just and fraternal manner.

Al-Jazeera: And Israel?

Al-Asuquf: As they say... it will be dessert.

Al-Jazeera: Does bin Laden's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gheith, know that you are giving this interview?

Al-Asuquf: It was he and bin Laden who suggested I give it.

Al-Jazeera: Osama bin Laden is still alive?

Al-Asuquf: He is quite healthy, alongside his commanders Mohammed Atef and Khalid Shaik Mohammed and Mullah Omar.

Al-Jazeera: Aren't you fearful that Al Queda's plans will be discovered?

Al-Asuquf: The plan is already in its countdown, and nothing can stop it.

Al-Jazeera: Not even if the United States asks forgiveness and changes its attitudes?

Al-Asuquf: That won't happen, and even if it did, it's too late.

Al-Jazeera: When will the attack begin?

Al-Asuquf: I can't reveal that. Allah Akbar

Spartacus

(from Haya, May 9 2004)

The cancer of anti-Semitism in Europe
By Jeff Jacoby March 16, 2004
Originally published by the Boston Globe.

I have been meaning to write about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe, a topic to which I last devoted a column in April 2002. Jews, I wrote then, "are the canary in the coal mine of civilization. When they become the objects of savagery and hate, it means the air has been poisoned and an explosion is soon to come."

At the time, much of official Europe resented the attention being paid to the return of anti-Jewish hatred to the continent where 6 million Jews were murdered between 1938 and 1945. "Stop saying that there is anti-Semitism in France," the French president, Jacques Chirac, admonished a Jewish editor. "There is no anti-Semitism in France."

Official Europe takes the attacks on Jews, most of which are the work of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East, more seriously now. At a conference in Brussels last month, Romano Prodi, the European Commission president, acknowledged that there are "vestiges of the historical anti-Semitism" in Europe today. "Attacking a Jew," French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has said, "is tantamount to attacking the French republic." Chirac told the president of Israel during a state visit that he would be "uncompromising" in rooting out anti-Semitism.

And yet the hatred spreads.

The hatred has been most palpable in France. There have been so many attacks on Jews in recent months that the chief rabbi has urged religious boys and men to wear baseball caps instead of yarmulkes outside their homes. In November, a newly built wing of the Merkaz Hatorah school outside Paris was gutted by arson. Last week, in a newspaper column headlined "Jewish children are in danger," six French scientists described recent episodes of anti-Semitic violence in Parisian schools. In one of them, a girl was thrown to the ground and beaten by 20 students, who were yelling, "Dirty Jew! Dirty Jew!"

Has anything changed since this excellent article was published a few months ago? Have the French done anything to stop antisemitic attacks and the spreading of antisemitic hatred in their country? It doesn't look like it!

As I pointed out in my latest posts, les incidents antisemites en France sont aujourd'hui tres significatifs d'un antisémitisme rampant, de la haine qui passe à l’acte!

Stop Antisemitism NOW, before it gets too far!

Spartacus

As I keep telling you, the situation "dans la douce France" (in France) is getting worse as the days go by! In the news today, the extraordinary and sensational appearance of an anti-Sharon and Pro-Palestinian party which will participate in the next European elections scheduled for next month. Its name is "La Liste Euro-Palestine". For Professor Christophe Oberlin, a 52 yrs. old surgeon at Hôpitaux de Paris, who presides the Euro-Palestine list in the Ile-de-France area (two further lists could take part in the coming elections in the North-West and in the South-East), «60 % of the Europeans believe that the Israeli government represents the most serious threat to world peace».
The Euro-Palestine members are now denouncing threats received by members of the Jewish Community, and in particular by "the zionist extremists of the Betar and by the JDL".
On Oumma TV, Olivia Zemor, President of CAPJPO (committee for a just peace in the Middle-East), and candidate in the Euro-Palestine list, denounces the spiteful violence of "the fascists of Betar and JDL":

« LES NERVIS FASCISTES DU BÉTAR ET DE LA LIGUE DE DÉFENSE JUIVE ONT UN FORT SENTIMENT D'IMPUNITÉ » [Oumma.com 07.05.04

"Au programme aujourd'hui d'OummaTV, un entretien avec Olivia Zémor présidente du CAPJPO (comité pour une paix juste au Proche-Orient), candidate également sur la liste Euro-Palestine pour les élections européennes. Dans cette interview, Olivia Zémor revient sur les menaces d'agression dont elle a fait l'objet, et dénonce la violence haineuse des « nervis fascistes du Bétar et de la Ligue de défense juive » qui bénéficient d'une totale impunité. http://oumma.com/article.php3 ?id_article=1089"

Among these, they point the finger against Roger Cukierman President of the CRIF, Elie Chouraqui film director, Patrick Gaubert President of the LICRA, who leads the UMP liste in the Ile-de-France, Harlem Désir, who leads the PS in the Ile-de-France, Malek Boutih, Claude Lanzmann, and also Alain Finkielkraut and Bernard-Henry Lévy.

According to the Historian Maurice Rajsfus, since 1967 Israel is the "vector" of a new antisemitism, and what we call today "french antisemitism" is nothing less than the reaction of rejected youth, with no hope and with no future, who want to vindicate the oppressed Palestinian people".

This is the list of the members of Euro-Palestine:

PR. CHRISTOPHE OBERLIN, tête de liste

DIEUDONNE

NADIA BEN DHIFALLAH

OLIVIA ZEMOR

YOUSSEF HAJI

MAURICE RAJSFUS

ACACIA CONDES

PR. ROGER SALAMON

PR. SYLVIE DEPLUS

FATH ALLAH MEZIANE

EDOUARD DE VILLERS

LILYA BEN MAHDI

JEAN- CLAUDE PONSIN

MIREILLE CHERCHEVSKY

Bonjour, la France, bienvenue en Europe!

Spartacus

About 500 people have taken part in a moving religious ceremony at the Jewish cemetery in Herrlisheim-pres-Colmar, where 127 headstones were desecrated on April 30. Among the notables the French MP Francois Fillon, Jean-François Collange, President de l'Eglise de la Confession d'Augsbourg d'Alsace et de Lorraine (ECAAL), the Cardinal-Archbishop of Paris, Mgr Jean-Marie Lustiger, and the Chief Rabbi of France, Joseph Sitruk.
Prayers from Psalms 133 and 139 were recited by Mgr Joseph Doré, followed by the Prière pour la République des liturgies concordataires, read by the Chief Rabbi of Colmar Jacky Dreyfus.

Not far from this moving ceremony, another horrible offence to Israel was being perpetrated by the same Neonazis, Neofascists or Islamofascists responsible for the desecration of Herrlisheim!

A memorial to the French Jewish soldiers, who died during World War One, in the Fleury-Devant-Douaumont cemetery near Verdun, in eastern France, has been desecrated. Tombs were sprayed with swastikas and Nazi slogans.

I fear that Antisemitism in France is getting out of control!

Spartacus

The Jewish cemetery in Herrlisheim, eastern France, Friday, April 30, 2004.
About 100 headstones have been desecrated in the cemetery. Whether this barbaric act was the work of Neonazis, Neofascists or Islamofascists, it touches everybody's conscience.
These Barbarians don't have any respect for life or death!These Barbarians don't have a past, present or future! These Barbarians cannot live among civilised people and have therefore to be singled out. There is no place anymore, under any circumstances, for animals like these.

Spartacus

A fellow blogger from Egypt writes the following post, which I report verbatim

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

We don’t deserve it

Events in Basra today and the breakup of the ceasefire in Fallujah forced me once again to start believing that the US and its coalition lost the war. No, no, I don’t mean loosing the war militarily, but loosing the war over the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. I feel so sorry for the US and I can’t express anything but deep appreciation for their efforts to do the impossible, which is to fight a guerilla war and reconstruct a country at the same time. It is so difficult to build and fight an all out war at the same time. The Marshal Plan came after the end of World War 2 and not right in its middle.
The coalition is loosing the hearts and minds simply because Al-Jazerah focuses upon how many civilians were killed and how many mosques were blown up. It totally ignores stories such as the new power station that employs hundreds of Iraqis or the new women rights group that the coalition helped to organize. In addition, Iraqis, just like everyone else in the region, are taught that no westerner will offer any help without sucking something back and no educated Iraqi dares to offer an alternative view lest he be shot at his house doorstep. The situation is very grim because if the US lost the hearts and minds of the shias, its game over. Al-Jazerah knows that very well, this is why they dispatched their most radical correspondent to Fallujah and gave Sadr more airtime than their ads.
Today I watched as angry Iraqis pelted British army vehicles with stones as they rushed to the bombing area. They did that because they believe that they coalition is not doing enough to offer security. This attitude troubles me because if the coalition reacted somehow to provide security, they would also start complaining about the violence. Offering security entails going into houses, seeing women (as if those women are Sharon Stone!), shooting at bad guys, etc. Those actions would definitely further alienate the same Iraqis who pelted the British soldiers for failing to provide security.
I don’t know but I feel that Saddam is laughing in his prison cell right now saying “suckers, I told you idiots, those people deserve someone like me. I, and only I, can keep the lid on. I can keep the lid on those crazy religious leaders who think that Allah ordered them to force His laws on earth, I can keep the lid on anything the “disturbs the peace”. Gamal Abdul Nasser kept the lid on by leading a one-party draconian regime, Hafez El Asad kept the lid on by slaughtering 20,000 people in Hama, King Hussein kept the lid on by crushing a Palestinian challenge to his rule, and I kept the lid on by filling mass graves and killing any damn being who dared to cause trouble”.
I am so sorry for my negative attitude; I hope I can turn positive sometime soon. But I am really depressed because everyday I become convinced that we Arabs deserve Saddam and we cannot live without Saddam.

If you wish, you can visit his weblog by clicking here.

Spartacus

Nice little article, by Peter Hitchens, published today in the Mail on Sunday: "How long will it be before Labour has us all celebrating Ramadan?""How long before the great Muslim festivals become official bank holidays? Perhaps we'll have compulsory Friday closing of shops, too, having got rid of it on the Christian Sunday. I ask because of a fascinating Labour leaflet which has fallen into my hands.
The leaflet, produced by the shopworkers' union USDAW and available on its website, proclaims Labour's commitment to Muslim rights in the workplace, including different dietary requirements in canteens, 'accomodating' religious holidays as annual or unpaid leave, flexible working to allow mosque attendance on Fridays, flexible working during Ramadan and a dress code that 'accomodates' headscarves and the 'need to dress modestly'. Not to mention extended leave to allow family visits to Pakistan.
'The Muslim community is, therefore, always better off with Labour', it asserts. Well, maybe so. But is it the job of a national political party to place itself at the service of a sectional interest like this, especially one that seems very good at looking after itself?
Should Britain become more Muslim, as the leaflet suggests? Or should Muslims become more British? I haven't seen any sign of British workers in Saudi Arabia being allowed to celebrate Christman and Easter, or their wives being allowed out unswhated by enveloping robes. Nor do I expect it.
Do non-Muslim Labour voters and supporters realise that this is how their party is wooing the Muslim vote?"

Spartacus

Don't worry about me! I'm not converting to Islam, but I am fascinated by these sermons given by these Sheikhs on Friday. What scares me most is the inflationary use of the word "Allah". These people justify present and future actions, good and bad, with Allah's will. "Jihad in the Cause of Allah"...is an open invitation to force or kill the infidels unless they convert to Islam. And this is precisely what Jihad means!
Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi - «I think – Allah knows best– that the marvelous fighting carried out by our brothers in Chechnya is considered one of the best kinds of Jihad in the Cause of Allah. They fight – in defense of their lands, honor and religion – a tyrannical oppressive force, which does not fear Allah nor have mercy on any creature. There is a scholarly consensus (Ijma’) that whoever fights in defense of his religion, land and household, and is killed in that fighting, is considered a Martyr (Shahid).

We all know that the people of Chechnya did not launch an attack against anyone; however they have been attacked and killed in their homes. But we are sure that Allah the Almighty will help them put their enemy to rout, grant them victory and help them gain supremacy in their lands. Allah, Exalted be He, says: «Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against them (believers) victory». (Al-Hajj: 39)

The recent days augurs victory for Chechnya, and the Promise of Allah will for sure come true soon. Allah, Exalted and Glorified be He, says, «If Allah is your helper none can overcome you...» (Al ‘Imran: 160)»

Allah Almighty knows best.

The lies and the hypocrisy of these people are overwhelming. Don't they understand that for us they are also infidels? Shall we consider starting Jihad against them?

Spartacus

A number of Muslims were arrested outside London’s Regent’s Park Mosque today 24.4.2004 for disagreeing with Blair’s policy of terrorism in Iraq.
Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, the Ameer and founder of Al-Muhajiroun, made the following appeal following the arrests:

‘This joint operation between the Muslim Council of Britain, the media and the police is preparing the atmosphere to use violence, under the pretext of upholding the law, in order to criminalise members of Al-Muhajiroun and to arrest them. Following statements made individuals, like a mosque committee member in Luton, some Mosques have unfortunately started closing the doors on Muslims and co-operating with police against worshippers. This is a clear violation of the sanctity of the Mosque. Allah (SWT) says in the Qur’an: ‘And who is more unjust than the one who forbids the mention of his name in the mosques of Allah? [2:114]

Our members always carry daw’ah (propagate Islam) and address the foreign policy of this government peacefully, the two individuals concerned, Omar and Muhammad, are active members of Al-Muhajiroun and are well known under the banner of followers of ahl ul Sunnah wa al Jamma’. It seems that this so-called war against terrorism is being used as a tool to instigate terrorism and could lead to a worsening and escalation of confrontations between the hitherto peaceful Muslim community and the Police.

I therefore Appeal to members and supporters of Al-Muhajiroun to be patient, firm, to hold themselves back and not to retaliate or let their emotions or anger for their brothers in Iraq lead to such confrontations and for them to continue their peaceful propagation. I also Appeal to Mosque committees and Imaams not to prevent Muslims from coming to Mosques since this will only invite the anger of Allah. The mosques must be open to allow Muslims to call to his Deen (of Islam) without any discrimination based on nationalism, tribalism, schools of thought or political basis etc… The house of Allah is even open to non-Muslims if they want to know about Islam. It does not make sense that you allow MP’s and non-Muslims to enter mosques to read their kufr (non-Islamic) political agendas and yet prevent Muslims from praying and talking about the word of God!

In addition I deny all that has recently been mentioned in national news agencies from the Lisbon branch of Reuters - that I am aware about Al-Qaeda Europe that they are going to do any operation. I appeal to Muslims and, in particular media monitors, to verify the news before regurgitating it and publishing it because of the sensitivity of the situation that the Muslims face. We fear none but Allah, but that does not mean that we are in confrontation with anyone in this country. Rather we are committed to the covenant of security, which means that we do not fight anyone in this country.

I appeal to the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) to sit and talk and have dialogue and advise us, instead of going to the British authorities and their intelligence departments and co-operating with them. Why not sit with us and advise us, by Allah we are willing to take any Islamic advice and we are ready to meet any Muslims and if you are truly honest with your call to prevent any confrontation or violence to take place in the UK. Why do you reject to even sit and talk to us or even to return our salaams. If you do not want to sit down with us then at least do not listen to what the media says about us without to verify from us. It is about time for those who like to claim that they are moderate Muslims to sit and talk with their own brothers from those they like to call radical Muslims. I think my call will reach deaf ears but it is better to try and fail than to fail to try although I pray to God that I am wrong this time and that I will hear your Call for the sake of peace for all communities in the UK’

AL-MUHAJIROUN
The Voice, The Eyes & The Ears of Muslims

Spartacus

A South-African security guard and his Iraqi interpreter were shot by an unknown assailant, while they were shopping in a supermarket in Baghdad. "A gunman came in and shot them both," said Aslan Khalil, a worker at the shop where the incident took place. "When the gunman came in, he told us 'This is a Jew, why do you deal with him and sell to him?' "

The owner of the supermarket was wounded by a bullet in the leg.

Another witness, Aydan Khalil, said the gunman had a keffiyeh headdress wrapped round his face and used an assault rifle. Afterwards, he left the shop and tried to get into the victim's four-wheel-drive vehicle across the street.

"He tried to smash a car window and then turned and said 'I killed the Jew inside - you burn his car'."

The gunman then left in his own car, the witness said.

Spartacus

From the South-African newspaper Mail and Guardian:
"A South African security guard working for the United States-led coalition was shot dead in the Sunni Muslim district of Al-Adhamiyah in Baghdad on Thursday, Iraq's interim health minister said.
"The person who was killed today in Baghdad was a South African employed as a security agent for the coalition," Khodayyir Abbas said. "He was protecting members of the coalition who worked at the Iraqi Health Ministry."
"As far as I know, he was in a shop with an Iraqi interpreter from the ministry to buy meat and other food products. An unknown assailant opened fire on him and his interpreter and fled," he said, without naming the South African.
A local policeman said US troops rushed to the area, put the body in a plastic bag and took it away.
"I saw a foreigner emerge from his black Land Cruiser to enter the Hadaba supermarket with an Iraqi who was probably his interpreter," said Bilal Karim, who runs a grocery store near the scene of the shooting.
"A few minutes later, a man with his face covered by a scarf entered the store and then I heard automatic weapon fire.
"The assailant calmly left and people gathered in front of the supermarket. The interpreter was wounded along with a vendor who was hit by five bullets in the legs and abdomen," he added.
But what the Mail and Guardian doesn't mention is that the murderer, before shooting the South-African, shouted: "This is a Jew! Why are you attending to him?"
This news was also reported by the ANSA News Agency here.
Killed because he was a Jew! I honestly find it impossible to believe it! It can't be! No...! It can't be!

Spartacus

The SVAD (Servizio Antifrode Doganale), a special branch of the Italian Custom police, seized on Tuesday a huge cache of weapons, hidden inside three shipping containers in the port of Gioia Tauro. This port, situated on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, the southernmost region of Italy, is the most important transshipment port of the Mediterranean.
The SVAD has seized 8.000 Kalashnikovs, hundreds of other weapons, with ammunitions and cleaning kits!
They were found on board a ship, the Adnan Bayraktar, Turkish flagged, coming from Constance, Romania, and directed, apparently to Georgia, USA.
Gioia Tauro, in Calabria, Italy, Ambarli, on the Marmara Sea, Varna, on the Black Sea, and Odessa, Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, are the ports of call of the Adnan Bayraktar.
From the beginning of 2004, this ship has docked in Gioia Tauro three times.
I have discussed at great length about the importance of stricter controls on the port of Gioia Tauro, a small town where the Calabrian Mafia, the famous 'Ndrangheta, rules supreme.
Its links with the Russian, Albanian, and Colombian mafia, are well founded. I have no doubt whatsoever that terrorists can travel as stowaways inside shipping containers (read the story of the Egyptian stowaway found inside a container in Gioia Tauro) from the East, and the Middle-East, carrying weapons (any sort), money (russian roubles and many other currencies), drugs (see my post elsewhere in the blog).
It has happened before, it's happening now...

Spartacus

Italy is bracing for a possible terror attack before the June election. The terrorists may have learned the wrong lesson from Spain. Appeasement to terrorists equals green light for an unprecedented attack against Italy. I have no doubt whatsoever that the Italians will be targeted by al-Qaeda before the next general elections to be held in June 2004. If it worked with the Spanish, it may well work with the Italians! What a shame that the Arabs don't know the Italians that well...!

P.S. Al-Jazeera, we are still waiting to see "that video"...!

Spartacus

Not even "L'Unita'", the left wing Italian newspaper, reports any news about Berlusconi's new trial for "bribery" from the sale of SME in 1980!
Not even "La Repubblica", the written voice of the Italian opposition to Berlusconi's government, reports the news of a new trial against the Italian Prime Minister!
Not even "Il Manifesto", the communist newspaper, reports the news...!
But...guess what? The only place where you can read it is al-Jazeera. Yes, because al-Jazeera is quite interested now in Italian politics, al-Jazeera is quite keen to report on the Italian Prime Minister and you'll find today's article here.
What I would like al-Jazeera to do though is to show us the video of the killing of the Italian hostage! The whole world knows that al-Jazeera has got the video, and everybody knows that the reason for not broadcasting it is that, according to al-Jazeera, the pictures are so "gory", grim, that they might upset the Italians and its viewers!
With all due respect for Fabrizio Quattrocchi, shot in the head by these barbarians, I don't believe for one second that the video could be so "gory"! Consider, among other things, that the Italian hero was wearing a hood on his head. He wasn't allowed to see his murderers!
Could the reason for not showing the video be another? Is al-Jazeera withholding images that could turn the 0.1% of western
sympathizers against these barbarians?
One moment before being shot in the head, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, with firm tone, while trying to remove the hood which covered his head, shouted:" I'll show you how an Italian dies!"
It seems also that, moments before the murder, Fabrizio Quattrocchi saw his assassins digging his grave! It also seems that he was asked to help dig his grave! This is what Ibrahim Hilal, al-Jazeera's director, told Rula Jebread, palestinian journalist of "La 7" (an independent Italian tv channel), who contacted him personally soon after the tragic news!
This horrible story was reported by "L'Unita'", the Italian newspaper, and you can find the article here.
Is this the real reason why al-Jazeera is not showing us the video? It's getting darker and darker in the search for Truth!

Spartacus

I told you before: "I don't trust them!" The NY Times today reports a lenghty article on Pakistan's national hero, Dr. A. K. Khan, who sold plans and technology to build nuclear weapons to countries like Libya and North Korea (inter alia).
By his own admission, during a visit to North Korea five years ago, Dr. Khan
was shown what appears to have been three nuclear devices. It goes without saying that the Koreans have had all the time in the world to replenish their nuclear arsenal and pose a serious threat to the rest of the world. Pyongyang has so far denied any possession of nuclear weapons, but, in the light of Dr. Khan's new revelations, steps will have to be taken to ensure that the country gets rid of all its nuclear devices.
Lies
"Pakistan v Israel".
Keep an eye on this one
Nuclear power and proud of it
North Korean ties

Once again: congratulations, Dr. Khan!

Spartacus

Italian newspapers have proudly reported today that Italian troops in Nassiriya have liberated a British hostage, found in M. Al-Sadr's HQ.
The news was also reported by British media.
The Daily Mail confirms that he was set free by the Italians, stressing that: "...civil worker Gary Teeley has been dramatically freed in a special forces raid on a stronghold of fanatical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr...Mr Teeley was found after locals in Nassiriya had tipped off Italian troops over his whereabouts. It led them to a flat in the north of the city and, when they burst in, they found him alone with his legs tied."
According to the Italian spokesman at the Italian base in Nassiriya: "...in the early hours of Sunday morning our special forces carried out a raid on the HQ of M. al-Sadr to make sure there were no weapons hidden there. As a result of the operation...the English hostage was released."
Somewhat different, once again, the report from the Guardian: "Gary Teeley, who ran laundry services for a US military base, was handed back to American and Italian coalition forces in Nassiriya. The Foreign Office confirmed that he was "safe and well".
It is obvious beyond any doubt that the media are also fighting their personal war in the Middle East! And this is despicable and disgusting!

Spartacus

An excellent article, by Sandro Contenta, on Pakistan's nuclear weapons bazaar appeared today in the Toronto Star.
It sums up what I have been writing for a considerable time about Islamabad and the Pakistani Intelligentsia. One day with George and one day with Osama!
Lies
"Pakistan v Israel".
Keep an eye on this one

Spartacus

Mr. Berlusconi is the present Italian Prime Minister and a staunch ally of Mr. Bush and Tony Blair.
Yesterday, 10 April 2004, he flew to Iraq where he spent five hours with the Italian troops stationed in Nassirya.
Mr. Bertinotti is the Secretary of the Italian Communist Party. He's against the war in Iraq. He's also a very good friend and supporter of Fidel Castro. He too flies abroad! Photo from AP (8 April 2004)

Spartacus

Dr. Taher al-Issawi, Director of Falluja General Hospital, cries in a worldwide broadcast by al-Jazeera: «Help us! This is a war of extermination! This is not anymore a hospital, but a slaughterhouse full of dead bodies torn to pieces!». The interviewer from al-Jazeera's studio, with a lump in her throat, and almost in tears, then addresses a Sunni religious leader from Baghdad by asking him: «Until when are you going to continue with peaceful protests against the US occupation forces? Are you not contemplating other means..?" More than a question, it sounded like an incitement to violence.

Spartacus

The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has made a surprise visit today to the Italian troops in Nassirya. He spent five hours with the soldiers, explaining that: "I have come here not just as your Prime Minister, but also as an Italian citizen...I wish everybody a Happy Easter and I want to thank you for what you are doing here. We are all very proud of you, because you are not just helping the Iraqis towards their economic and socio-political development, but you are also demonstrating that Italy is a country capable of bringing to this part of the world legal and civil rights. Thanks to you, your country and your Prime Minister receive the appreciation of the international community. Even President Bush has telephoned today to congratulate the country for what it's doing."

Spartacus

I find MEMRI one of the most enjoyable, trustworthy and informative websites on Middle-Eastern affairs. Tonight though, I found something which I can't quite understand.

"April 6, 2004

Former Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee Head Sets Out the Jews' 20 Bad Traits As Described in the Qur'an

On March 22, 2004 Sheikh 'Atiyyah Saqr, former head of the Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee who in the past issued a Fatwa declaring Jews "apes and pigs,"was asked the following question this week in an online chat room: "What, according to the Qur'an, are the Jews' main characteristics and qualities?" The following is his answer:

Sheikh Saqr lists one positive trait of the Jews (bless him!), and then 20 bad traits; (in brief) fabricating; listening to lies; disputing and quarreling; hiding the truth and supporting deception; rebelling against the Prophets and rejecting their guidance; hypocrisy; wishing evil on people; feeling pain at others' happiness and feeling happiness at others' afflictions; rudeness and vulgarity; murder of innocents; mercilessness and heartlessness; breaking promises; cowardice; and miserliness."

You can read this delirious nonsense here , if you don't believe me!

But now comes the reason of my humble post!!! What is the need by MEMRI to publish an article "like this"? I have to repeat the same question once again, simply because I expect an answer! An honest answer! What's the need by MEMRI to publish an article like this?
An article published on the 06.04.04 by MEMRI should be, as always, informative, new, refreshing!
Instead I find the same article, by the same man, in many anti-semitic (anti-jewish) sites (!!!), in so many old webpages (!!!), in so many different languages (!!!), that to find it AGAIN in MEMRI leaves me with unsurmountable doubts!!! Have a look here!
And here

Reproducing "material" like this, once again, may (just may) foment and stir up hatred among
people and could justify, in a sick mind, racism and violence against Jewish people.
I will continue reading MEMRI. Their reports and articles are always stimulating! But today they have been stimulating for the wrong reason!

Spartacus

I told you before. I'll tell you again: "We are at war...and we are losing on all fronts!"
They are killing our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are killing us on our own soil. They are threatening terror attacks against our countries! They are actually doing it! The situation is now unsustainable! A severe warning has been issued yesterday by Ansar al-Qaeda to Spain, if this country doesn't withdraw its troops not only from Iraq, but also from Afghanistan! A fax, in arabic, sent to ABC, warns Spain that without:"— La inmediata y completa retirada de vuestras tropas de Afghanistán e Iraq, y el compromiso de no volver a dichos países.
— El cese en el apoyo a los enemigos de la Umma Islámica (Estados Unidos y sus aliados) contra el Islam y los musulmanes.
Si no se satisfacen estas reivindicaciones, os declaramos la guerra, y juramos por Alá el Altísimo y Sublime que convertiremos vuestro país en un infierno y que haremos fluir vuestra sangre como ríos.Esta se considera nuestra última advertencia al pueblo español y a su Gobierno." The deadline was 04.04.04! The muslim terrorists warn Spain that, unless they bow to the "terrorists'" requests, they will declare war on them and will transform the country in "hell", and Spanish blood will flow like rivers!!!
(signed by)
ABU DUJANA AL AFGANI
GRUPO ANSAR
AL QAIDA EN EUROPA
Read the fax sent by these charming people to ABC here
We are left with two options! Only two! We have tried all the others already! You don't have to be Einstein to understand this! It's clear to all: If we accept (they are telling us every day!) that we are at war, then it is wise to: 1st = withdraw all our troops from every Muslim country and 2nd= EXPEL WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT Muslim people from Europe and the rest of the Western world!!! How about that?! Let's see who is going to win this war! I remind you once again before I take leave from you: THERE IS NO OTHER SOLUTION, if we still want to win this war of civilizations!!! We leave your countries! You leave our countries!
NOW OR NEVER!

Spartacus

The fruit of evil.

February 2002


Operation Safe Commerce (OSC) is a collection of 18 projects designed to improve container supply chain security. These projects identify and explore commercially viable business processes, technologies and initiatives that protect commercial shipments from threats of terrorist attack, weapons of mass destruction, smuggling and contraband, while minimizing the economic impact on transportation system. These projects analyze existing practices and test security solutions in an operational environment. The projects are conducted at the 3 largest container load centers in the United States.
Purpose of OSC:
OSC is a collaborative effort between the federal government, business interests, and the maritime industry to develop and share best practices for the safe and expeditious movement of containerized cargo. Its goal is to protect the global supply chain while facilitating the flow of commerce.
The 18 selected projects focus on container supply chain security shortcomings (from point of origin to point of destination). They examine technologies and practices while testing innovative solutions in an operational environment.

March 15, 2004
TACOMA - Right now, ships are steaming toward Puget Sound ports with the newest in anti-terrorism technology.
It's a $30 million test called "Operation Safe Commerce," designed to find the best way to keep cargo containers, and our communities, safe.
In less than two weeks, cargo containers from Malaysia and Japan (!) will arrive in Tacoma with a guarantee no other containers have: that they are safe from terrorist tampering.

From words to facts! The US, once again, leads the International community in finding ways to prevent and fight international terrorism. The article from Tacoma, which you can read here, is indicative of the US resolute and deserved leadership and of the EU immaturity.
I'm afraid though when I read that only cargo containers from Malaysia and Japan will be safe from terrorist tampering. Recent events of terrorist tampering of cargo containers have seen Mediterranean ports heavily involved. And the port of Gioia Tauro, the largest in Europe with over 2.500.000 cargo containers per year, has been from the very beginning tampered with by the 'Ndrangheta (the most effective and powerful of all the Italian mafias), and through the 'Ndrangheta, and only with her permission, Russian mafiosi, Albanians (of any extraction!), Colombians and Muslim terrorists, can achieve, reach, dispatch, obtain and see any dream come true!

08 November 2002
Italy Joins U.S. Container Security Initiative.
(U.S. customs agents to screen U.S.-bound cargo at Italian ports)
Italy has agreed to participate in a U.S. security plan aimed at preventing terrorists from smuggling their emissaries or weapons of mass destruction into the United States in sea-borne cargo containers, the U.S. Customs Service says.
Under the agreement, U.S. Customs agents will be stationed at two Italian ports, La Spezia and Genoa, to help local customs agents identify U.S.-bound high-risk cargo containers, according to a November 7 U.S. Customs press release.

You see...the will to do well is there! But, what is missing is usually the last 1% of "intelligence"...
Why on earth would you station US Customs agents at La Spezia and Genoa, when nothing out of the ordinary ever happens in those two Ligurian ports? (and..please refrain from lecturing me on the importance of securing those two old ports!).
They have lost most of the cargo containerships since Gioia Tauro opened a few years ago! How about establishing and stationing US and EU customs agents in the port of Gioia Tauro, known to "have been" under the strongest influence of the 'Ndrangheta from the day of..."creation"!
“Abbiamo il passato, il presente e il futuro”, dicevano teatralmente gli uomini del clan ai dirigenti della Medcenter-Contship, la società che ha inventato lo scalo marittimo calabrese facendolo diventare in breve tempo il più grande del Mediterraneo, con tremila navi all'anno in banchina e due milioni di containers movimentati. " ("We own the past, the present and the future" said the local 'ndranghetisti to the Directors of Medcenter-Contship, the Society which created the port of Gioia Tauro...!)
Thanks to political, financial and institutional contacts, they have managed to monopolize services, labour and supplies, to enjoy financial facilities and EU grants, to cash in protection money and even to furnish departing containerships with drinking water! It was the 'Ndrangheta that ran landings, and access to the port of the big containerships. (Read "Mappa Lunardi" here)
Terrorists (or the Mafia) would not find it difficult to sneak a nuclear device into the United States or any other country. The nuclear material required is smaller than a football. Even an assembled device, like a suitcase nuclear weapon, could be shipped in a container. After September 11th, the number of containers that are X-rayed has increased to approximately 10%: 500 of the 5,000 containers currently arriving daily at the port of New York/New Jersey. But as the chief executive of CSX Lines, one of the foremost container-shipping companies, put it: “If you can smuggle heroin in containers, you may be able to smuggle in a nuclear bomb.”
Can the 'Ndrangheta do that?
It has been done already! As I wrote in one of my previous posts, the 'Ndrangheta can smuggle nuclear material with ease (enriched uranium was in their hands some time ago), can hide terrorists in comfortable containers, can smuggle huge quantities of drugs from South America inside cargo containers, can trade anything with anybody thanks to the superb facilities at their disposal. The Italian Government has shown its incapacity to deal with the 'Ndrangheta. This is a fact. The battle with the 'Ndrangheta has been lost more than two decades ago (and for many controversial reasons..). The International community and the international Institutions cannot allow this "status quo" in the centre of the Mediterranean, in a NATO country, in an important member of the EU, to continue to undermine international security, freedom, trade and commerce.

28 January 2004 (from BBC)
Thousands of kilogrammes of cocaine were found hidden in a marble shipment in Gioa (sic) Tauro, Calabria, police said.
About 100 people were also reportedly arrested in Italy, along with about 30 in Colombia and 17 in Australia, France, the Netherlands and Spain.
Officers from three continents were involved in the three-year operation.
Italian police said the operation was run by a local Mafia organisation known as the 'ndrangheta.
The main significance is the fact that, internationally, law enforcement agencies from six other countries were able to come together and work as a team.
More than five tonnes of cocaine have reportedly been found in the course of the investigation - in which more than 1,000 Italian police were also involved.
Police said one of the largest hauls was uncovered when they found hundreds of kilogrammes of cocaine stashed inside a consignment of marble blocks hidden in shipping containers in a ship in the southern Calabrian port of Gioa (sic) Tauro. (read it also here), or directly from the US-DEA

26 February 2002
Twentysix tons of smuggled cigarettes found in a cargo container in the port of Gioia Tauro.

8 May 2003
Cigarettes with market value of £ 1.200.000 found in cargo containers in the port of Gioia Tauro.

26 September 2002
Nerve gas of Russian origin buried in the Plain of Gioia Tauro. According to a local supergrass, the Pesce family, one of the major " 'ndrine " of the area of Gioia Tauro, has received the gas directly from the Russians and buried it underground, awaiting future deals.

October 18, 2001, Gioia Tauro, Calabria, Italy.
Strange sounds coming from a cargo container on board the German-owned Ipex Emperor, docked in the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro, South of Italy, the newest and biggest transshipment port in the Mediterranean, attracted the attention of port police. An Egyptian-born stowaway, Rigk Amid Farid, was found inside a container, which was fitted with all the necessary luxuries for a 3-week journey to Toronto, Canada. An investigation showed the container-suite had been loaded on the Ipex Emperor at Egypt’s Port Said and painted over with signs labeling it as the property of the giant Danish Maersk Sealand container company, which it replaced. The container was to have been transferred at Gioia Tauro to a Rotterdam-bound vessel and transshipped again to a ship bound for Canada.
The Egyptian had a Canadian passport, a portable computer, cameras, cellular phones (including a satellite phone), international airport documents, an airline mechanic certificate valid for JFK airport in New York, Newark, Los Angeles International and O'Hare Chicago airport!
The local Authorities from the Palmi Tribunal (Gip del Tribunale di Palmi), seen article 270(ter) of the Italian Penal Code, made legal history on such occasion convalidating his arrest on "international terrorism" charges. Upon appeal made by the defendant's lawyer, an Italian court released him from jail in mid-November 2001. He has vanished without a trace.

Before it is too late, stricter controls on this port should be enforced by the EU Authorities. The US must be present in discussions and plans for safer maritime routes along the Mediterranean. Do not fall for the "fight"-against-the-'Ndrangheta talk, because that is what the Italian governments have been doing since the end of the 2nd WW. Go straight for the Port! Run it and do not allow anyone in an "Armani suit" to enter the perimetre fence. Invest in security now, before it's too late! Maybe it is too late already!

The End

Spartacus

The channels of evil.

Sunday, March 14, Ashdod, Israel. Ten Israelis, all port workers, lose their lives in a suicide attack carried out by two Palestinians. Thanks to strict border controls between Israel and the Gaza Strip, it is, under normal circumstances, almost impossible for any Palestinian to enter the port of Ashdod. Investigations carried out by the Israeli Authorities to establish the cause of the security failure, led to the conclusion that the terrorists entered the port hidden inside a container! According to DEBKAfile "a port worker, who pulled a ring fixed to the wall of an incoming container found, to his astonishment, a secret compartment. Israeli security experts’ initial conclusion was that al Qaeda devised the Palestinians’ clever Trojan horse use of a shipping container to smuggle the two suicide bombers into the heavily secured strategic Ashdod Port area on Sunday. The container used at Ashdod had a concealed compartment with a cot and food for the terrorists, who were apparently outfitted with Israeli army uniforms.
Al Qaeda has used lavishly appointed secret containers in the past to smuggle terrorists into and out of ports around the world. The Ashdod container had transited another port before arriving in Israel, raising the possibility that al Qaeda experts had carried out the conversion before it reached the Gaza Strip. Back on November 30, 2001, DEBKA-Net-Weekly , followed later by DEBKA file, were the first media outlets to draw attention to the danger of ship containers being used by terrorist groups, and especially by al Qaeda".

October 18, 2001, Gioia Tauro, Calabria, Italy. Strange sounds coming from a cargo container on board the German-owned Ipex Emperor, docked in the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro, South of Italy, the newest and biggest transshipment port in the Mediterranean, attracted the attention of port police. An Egyptian-born stowaway, Rigk Amid Farid, was found inside a container, which was fitted with all the necessary luxuries for a 3-week journey to Toronto, Canada. An investigation showed the container-suite had been loaded on the Ipex Emperor at Egypt’s Port Said and painted over with signs labeling it as the property of the giant Danish Maersk Sealand container company, which it replaced. The container was to have been transferred at Gioia Tauro to a Rotterdam-bound vessel and transshipped again to a ship bound for Canada.
The Egyptian had a Canadian passport, a portable computer, cameras, cellular phones (including a satellite phone), international airport documents, an airline mechanic certificate valid for JFK airport in New York, Newark, Los Angeles International and O'Hare Chicago airport!
The local Authorities from the Palmi Tribunal (Gip del Tribunale di Palmi), seen article 270(ter) of the Italian Penal Code, made legal history on such occasion convalidating his arrest on "international terrorism" charges. Upon appeal made by the defendant's lawyer, an Italian court released him from jail in mid-November 2001. He has vanished without a trace.
The case of the stowaway just mentioned above unfortunately is not the first and will not be the last. The cargo container is unlikely to have been a lone case, but more likely a link in a comprehensive container route for smuggling terrorists into the US. The container of Gioia Tauro is similar to the other 2.500.000 containers which pass each year through the Calabrian port. Lack of security measures, like accurate screening of cargo containers, combined with the involvement of criminal organizations (local and foreign), and their cooperation with terrorist groups, along maritime routes that from the Middle East reach North Atlantic countries, are putting the world in danger. Shipments of terrorists, drugs, weapons, via cargo containers is now the preferred "route" used by these evil gangs.

September 10, 2002, New York.
During the evening of September 10, the M/V Palermo Senator, a 708-foot containership owned by a German subsidiary of South Korea-based Hanjin shipping, and sailing under Liberian registry, was detained by authorities as a result of a "suspect cargo".
LISCR, the US company which manages the Liberian Registry, was notified by authorities that the Palermo Senator was being detained in New York due to an unspecified concern with one or more cargo containers onboard. The ship was diverted to Port Newark, New Jersey, to be checked for stowaways. But when low radiation traces were detected, it was escorted six miles out to sea for further examination by the US Nuclear Emergency Security Team – NEST -- and Navy SEALS. New Jersey Radiation Protection Team, however, was not invited to participate in the federal efforts relating to the M/V Palermo Senator. The radiological investigations were conducted solely by personnel from federal agencies.

The final press release from the FBI, Coast Guard and USDOE says:

"The Coast Guard initially boarded the 708-foot Liberian-flagged
containership at sea 2 a.m. Tuesday morning and heard suspicious
sounds. Believing a possible stowaway situation existed, the Coast
Guard ordered the ship to Port Newark for a more thorough inspection.
The ensuing shore-side inspection, conducted by federal , state and
local inspectors determined no stowaways were aboard, but detected cargo
with low levels of radiation. As a precautionary measure, the Coast Guard ordered the ship out of Port Newark Tuesday to a position 6-miles
off the New Jersey coast and established a security zone around the ship".
Investigations carried out by the US Authorities determined that the ship had docked in the United States after taking on its container cargo at Gioia Tauro on August 25. US Authorities had been alerted before its arrival. Thorough searches failed to turn up the 40 terrorists reportedly aboard.
The Palermo Senator began its journey July 29 in Pusan, South Korea and stopped Aug. 22 at El Suweis in Egypt. In the course of its usual 91-day circuit the ship made calls at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Khorfakkan, the United Arab Emirates, among other ports.
End of Part 2

Spartacus

The secret source of evil.

I know I shouldn't be writing this post! Friends and family advised me not to! The subject is off-limits, and in some places in Europe it is "taboo" even to raise a question about "it". You can say and write virtually anything you want about Bush, Blair, Berlusconi, the Pope, al-Qaeda, the Muslims, the Fascists, the Communists, and so on...nothing terrible will happen to you. But when you touch the subject I'm going to write about, then you risk your life, no matter where you hide or who you know! I know this from personal, long and painful experience. I have waited, to tell you the truth, for a considerable time before deciding that it is time to expose "it"! Before I continue, I have also to warn you that my writing will not be as straightforward as the reader would expect. It will be "cryptic", "blurred" for some, whilst others will be able to read between the lines without further details. I apologise for this in advance.
There are many ways I can begin writing about it. I could start from the past, the present or even the future. I haven't decided yet, I will let the keyboard lead me. Let's for example try the following as an appetiser, just to get you involved.
What's the name of the Colombian mafia's major partner in the world? I could give you the answer at the end of a lengthy post, but I prefer to say it now: it's the most powerful of the italian mafias, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta! To put it mildly, the 'Ndrangheta controls "every activity" in Calabria, which is the toe of the Italian mainland.
As you know, Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine and exports 700 tonnes annually to the United States as well as Europe where it is increasingly available and used as a recreational drug.
One gram of cocaine currently sells for $US100 ($128), but could be purchased cheaper if one got closer to the source. But only few elected can do that. Traffickers use various methods to smuggle the drug, but favour shipping containers which make it easier to hide the cocaine.
It is impossible to search each and every ship and the challenge facing police is to determine which container to open. Due to this insurmountable difficulty, shipping containers are the smuggling tools of choice. And the 'Ndrangheta can supply all of that: ships, containers, millions of dollars and a port in the middle of the Mediterranean.

What's the name of the Russian mafia's major partner in the world?It is without any doubt whatsoever the calabrian 'Ndrangheta. Huge deals have been made between the two criminal organizations in the past and the relashionship is as good as ever. As the excellent Jane's reported not long ago, the Russians have been very active since the break-up of the USSR, forging strong ties with the 'Ndrangheta and being active in activities such as acquiring property, money laundering, counterfeit money operations, traffic in arms and synthetic drugs. Collaboration with the Russians has facilitated a supply of Russian-made arms to the Mafia and the acquisition of large sums of roubles for investment in a bank, a steelworks and chemical plant in St. Petersburgh. Someone even said that the 'Ndrangheta had "bars of enriched uranium" in its hands and that it was desperately trying to sell as quickly as possible!
Who is successfully fulfilling every wish of the Albanian Mafia from inside and outside Albania and giving, when requested, military and logistic help?
You know the answer: it's the 'Ndrangheta. The Albanians are acquiring, among other things, the "'ndranghetistis" mentality, and most of the high-profile mafiosi on both side of the Adriatic "spend alot of time together", planning all sorts of criminal activities. All sorts! None excluded! Several key figures of the Albanian Mafia seem to reside frequently in the Calabrian towns of Africo, Plati and Bovalino (I only name three out of 123!), fiefs of the 'Ndrangheta.
Which is the major crime syndicate outside the American and Asian continents that has the monopoly on drug trafficking in Western and Eastern Europe?Easy! The 'Ndrangheta has a virtual monopoly in Western Europe, thanks to the close ties with Medellin; and the establishment of "brotherhood" with the Russians, both using the hard-working Albanians, has opened up the Eastern-European market as well.
Who has been flooding Europe with Eastern European prostitutes? Russians and Albanians have been providing thousands of women to the "rich" West, smuggling them to Italy and Germany thanks to the Calabrian Mafia.
Who has bought entire quarters and opened banks and businesses in the EU, Russia, Australia, the whole of South-America (let alone the old favourite, the US)? I'm not saying anything that you don't know already! Only last week, the Italian newspapers reported (they had nothing better to do on that day!) that the 'Ndrangheta has bought an entire quarter in the centre of Bruxelles! What a great discovery! That proves how much Italians know about what's happening in the South of the country! Shame on them!
For obvious reasons I am not going to talk about its infiltration into the political life, at any level, local and national, of an unnamed European country, because, of all people, politicians are often the most vindictive and bilious...
I will never mention who has substituted the State in some parts of old Europe and is virtually running public, political and financial life in those "growing" areas of the continent.
Their power is unlimited! Their financial acumen is second to none. Gone are the days of kidnapping, protection money etc. That belongs to the history books, to "folklore".

End of Part 1

Here you find a good article on the 'Ndrangheta (in french)
Here there is one in Italian (from Corriere della Sera)
Here one in Spanish
Here one in English (from Jane's)

Spartacus

Iran`s state radio has quoted an informed source as saying that Osama bin Laden had been captured in a tribal region in Pakistan.
The radio`s external service, broadcast in Pushtun, said US
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld`s trip to Pakistan on Thursday
had been made in connection with the capture.
This was the news on 28/2/04. Nobody believed it around the world. Why? Because the source was unreliable (I'm not referring to Iran's state radio!). As soon as a high-profile American politician is on his way to Pakistan, the Pakistanis put up a big show: "the world has to know that we fight terrorism and the Americans are our friends"! The good news about the capture of some terrorist leader usually lasts the time of the American's visit to Islamabad.

Now, for the past week, coinciding with Colin Powell's visit to Pakistan, the news has been about the capture of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader n. 2!

Western and Pakistani mass media have been releasing discrepant reports about battles in Waziristan Province in Northern Pakistan, inhabited by the Pashtu. After CNN reported, referring to General Musharraf, that a senior Al-Qaeda leader has been surrounded in that area, the reports started coming in that Bin Laden was allegedly there too.

The story changed a few hours later. A Pakistani official announced that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Al-Qaeda No. 2 man, has been surrounded. But this story did not last too long.
Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir told Fox News that he had spoken over the phone with the commander of the operation in the area, and was told they were battling Chechen Resistance, not Arabs.«I have talked to the commander», he said. «He said most of the people fighting are not Arabs, they are Chechens», adding that the Pakistani forces may have a Chechen leader cornered, not Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden or al-Zawahiri.
Meanwhile the sources inside the Pakistani Government keep saying that it is still Bin Laden’s top deputy who was surrounded. From time to time BBC and CNN keep releasing the reports about it.
Chief of External Subcommittee of the Informational Council of State Defense Council 'Majlis al-Shura' of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI), Movladi Udugov, called the FoxNews report about Chechen units fighting in the battles in Northern Pakistan absolutely false and not reflecting the reality. He stated that there are no Chechen fighters in that area, and that the Pakistanis should stop blaming the Chechens everytime they run into difficulties. He confirmed categorically that no Chechen leader has been caught by the Pakistanis nor indeed any Chechen fighter.
Pakistan admits that Bin Laden’s No. 2 Zuwahiri was not in area of battles in Waziristan as first claimed. DEBKAfile's sources, always precise and reliable, reported Friday that chief of Pushtun Ahmadi tribal federation is leading the rebel side. Harm to him would spark wholesale tribal war offensive against Pakistan.

So, were the Pakistanis actually fighting a battle against a local tribe in the mountains of Waziristan and claiming, for public consumption, that they had cornered 1) al-Qaeda's leader Bin Laden 2) al-Qaeda's leader Al-Zawahiri 3) a Chechen leader.
I have made up my mind! Next time someone from the US decides to pay a visit to Pakistan, I'll keep the radio switched off!

Spartacus

"A plot is being organized to replace Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf with the nuclear engineer, Dr. A. Q. Khan, who sold the country's secrets to America's self-avowed enemies, according to one of the political and religious leaders involved."
This is only the beginning of an article which appeared today in the Washington Times and you can read it here.
Can you trust anyone (military as well as... "doctors") in that part of the world?! You can read about the growing importance and stature of Pakistan in the Muslim world in one of my latest posts: "Pakistan v Israel".

Spartacus

I had just finished my last post, when I came across a superb, excellent, article, published by The Jerusalem Post, which (I'm proud to say) summarizes what I have been saying in my last posts: the world is at war! There is no doubt about it. We are being attacked, bombed, killed by muslim terrorists on our own soil on a daily basis. How do we reply to these vicious attacks? With yet more meetings, intergovernment discussions, roundtables, diplomatic interventions and, if necessary, perhaps, more "roadmaps"?! Poor Europeans! We had it too good for too long! And now that the time to work together has come...divided we stand! Please enjoy the article by clicking here.

Spartacus

"We will not sit idly by and allow them to hit our citizens..." Who said that today? You may think that the new Spanish Prime Minister, Mr. Zapatero, has changed his mind and wants to hit back at the terrorists who brought so much pain to his Country. Or was it the President of the European Union, Romano Prodi, in an attempt to calm down fears running high in every European country?
Unfortunately no European leader said that, but once again it was a voice originating from a Country that has been dealing with terrorists and threats of any kind for many years. It was once again Israel, the only Country that defends "ferro ignique" every single Israeli citizen and its democracy (incidentally, the only democracy in the Middle East!). Israel has learned tough lessons from history and knows how to deal with murderers and terrorists.
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz, a member of the security cabinet, told Army Radio that Israel will respond swiftly to bombings and threats from Palestinians or any other terrorist group! Old Europe has still alot to learn...

Spartacus

"You can't bomb a people just in case" they pose a perceived threat, Mr Zapatero said in statements just five days before the first anniversary of the March 20 start of the war.
Mr Zapatero, new Spanish Prime Minister, should know better! The Americans and the British, let alone Italian, Polish and Japanese troops, have not bombed "a people" just in case...! They have bombed a tyrant called Saddam Hussein and have done their very best to oust him from power and to plant the seed, for the very first time, of democracy in Iraq! Mr Zapatero is failing to understand that the war is not against the Iraqi people, but against terror and terrorism, the same terrorism that has killed 200 of his compatriots! The Italians have suffered great losses in Nassiryia a few months ago, but they have shown a united front against the terrorists and rallied in support of their troops in Iraq! In those very sad days, from the Alps to Sicily, the Italians resolutely showed their commitment to the cause! Italian soldiers were queuing up to be sent to Iraq to replace their colleagues who had fallen victim to muslim terrorists.
"Wars such as that which has occurred in Iraq only allow hatred, violence and terror to proliferate," Mr Zapatero said.
There was no war in Iraq when thousands of innocent Americans were killed on 9/11 by muslim terrorists! Very bad start, Senor Zapatero...very bad indeed!

Spartacus

In the war against terrorism, Bin Laden has scored an important victory in Spain. Aznar, the former Spanish Prime Minister and first European leader to join the US and Great Britain in the war against Iraq (and terrorism), has lost his leadership in the last three days leading to the Spanish general elections. Bin Laden will be very happy now! And even happier to hear that Mr. Zapatero, new Spanish Premier and a Socialist, has promised to withdraw the Spanish troops from Iraq by the end of June! From today's ABC: "Rodríguez Zapatero reiteró su visión de que la guerra en Iraq fue "un error" y de que la ocupación del país "se ha gestionado mal", y se reafirmó por ello en su intención de ordenar el regreso de las tropas españolas si la ONU no asume el futuro del país. La fecha límite es el 30 de junio.

Spartacus

The Islamic Khilafah state is that entity which will unify the ranks of the Muslims under one leadership, in one super state (spanning parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East), which will then work to extinguish American dominance and the dominance of other Kufr states over the Islamic lands, and to throw out all their armies and to carry Islam as a message of guidance and light for all the world.

Members of Al-Muhajiroun UK
Followers of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah

11th Muharram 1425 Hijri
03rd March 2004 CE

Yet another sickening article (which you can read here) on the "peaceful means" adopted by Jihadists to save the world!

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Interesting article from Stratfor here
Musharraf Cursed if He Does, Ousted if He Doesn't?

"Despite the media hype and fresh military operations on both sides of Pakistan's northwestern border, Osama bin Laden and the top leadership of al Qaeda are nowhere to be found. Certain elements within the Pakistani state and society are known to sympathize with the group, and it is likely that certain rogue elements within the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment are helping al Qaeda members evade capture."

That's what I'd call an intelligent (intelligence?) report!

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The Western World (aka the civilised world and with good reason!), victim of a vicious, undeclared war, cannot afford to wait any longer to wipe out these medieval barbarians from the face of the earth. The time has come to face up to reality: the last battle has started with 9/11 and we have not yet struck back. They are hitting us, on our own soil, with bombs, missiles, nuclear weapons, continuous treachery, hypocrisy, threats and lies! Civilised countries of the world: "Time has come!" Let's fight back for the sake of our children and their children! They deserve a better world!

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Yesterday Pakistan test-fired one of the most potent nuclear missile ever produced in this sick part of the world. It can reach every single city in neighbouring India. Shaheen-2, the name of this evil threat, is only aimed at India and nobody else! Today, India's cricketers arrived in Pakistan amid heavy security for their first full tour of the country in over 14 years, the latest sign of thawing ties between the nuclear-armed rivals (as Reuters report from Lahore).
Leaders from both countries hope that the tour, rekindling one of the greatest rivalries in the sport, will help maintain momentum towards a lasting peace after the neighbours came to the brink of a fourth war in 2002 over the disputed Kashmir region.
Sickening...absolutely, hypocritically sickening! I can understand that governments may use diplomatic jargon to fool millions of people from time to time, but, trust me, this is not diplomacy! This is sheer hypocrisy!

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I do hope you don't mind if I post this excellent article from Desinfos.com, which shows, without any doubt whatsoever, the hypocrisy which permeates the Palestinian Authority.
"Le négociateur en chef de l'Autorité Palestinienne (AP), Saëb Erekat, est le dernier responsable palestinien en date à avoir démontré que les dirigeants de l'AP font passer un message donné quand ils s'adressent à leur peuple en arabe et un message complètement différent lorsqu'ils l'adressent aux médias internationaux en anglais.
Les nouvelles de cette semaine ont apporté un exemple frappant de cette duplicité. En apprenant que trois jeunes Palestiniens, âgés de 13, 14 et 16 ans ont été arrêtés par Israël alors qu'ils allaient perpétrer une mission suicide, Saëb Erekat a aussitôt su créer l'impression pour les médias anglais que l'AP s'oppose à de tels actes.
"C'est tout à fait inacceptable" a déclaré Saëb Erekat à l'agence de presse Associated Press. "Nos enfants devraient vivre dans l'espoir et avoir un avenir et ne devraient pas devenir des bombes humaines. Nous voulons qu'ils soient médecins et ingénieurs." Saëb Erekat fait preuve d'une grande hypocrisie lorsqu'il fait cette déclaration. Car, tout comme les autres dirigeants de l'AP, il est le moteur de l'endoctrinement des enfants palestiniens. Endoctrinement qui a pour but de les persuader qu'il leur faut aspirer à la mort pour Allah - Shahada -. Comme l'a rapporté PMW, il y a quelques mois seulement Saëb Erekat ainsi que d'autres dirigeants de premier plan de l'AP, y compris Yasser Arafat, ont été les commanditaires d'un tournoi de football en l'honneur de 24 Shahids ("Martyrs islamistes"). Parmi ces Shahids se trouvaient des terroristes tels que Yechya Ayach, le premier responsable du Hamas à avoir eu recours à des terroristes suicide et qui a été le maître d'oeuvre des attentats suicide palestiniens. A l'honneur également ce jour-là Adin Al Kassam, nom de la branche des terroristes suicide du Hamas, Raid Carmi, un dirigeant régional d'une unité de terroristes suicide, Jamal Mansour et Salah Drowza du Hamas."

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Today Pakistan test-fired an intermediate-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, which could reach all the cities in neighbouring India.
State-owned Pakistan Television announced that the missile could travel 2,000 km (1,250 miles) and carry all kinds of warheads!
Pakistan says its weapons programme is a response to that of nuclear-armed rival India. The test came after Israel last week concluded a deal to sell India a strategic airborne radar system despite warming ties between Islamabad and New Delhi.
Another solid, expensive and dangerous investment of the Pakistani government, in a country where poverty is thriving and nuclear weapons bazaars tout for custom! In a country with a current ballistic missile arsenal comprising the famous Ghauri-1 (aka Hatf-5, similar to the North-Korean Nodong) with a range of 1.512 km, with the Ghauri-2 (aka Ghaznavi, based on the North-Korean Taepo-Dong-1) with a range of 2000-2300 km, with plenty of Hatf-1,2,and 3 with shorter range than the previously mentioned Ghauris, and quite useful for local action against targets in North-West India, Afghanistan, Jammu and Kashmir in particular, with the exceptional Shaheen-1, based on the Chinese M-9 and also found in countries like North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran and Egypt, with a range of 750 km, what need was there to develop and test now the Shaheen-2, when the whole world has been denouncing the dubious activities of nuclear weapons production and sale by Pakistan to countries of the"Axis of Evil"?! And yes...! I almost forgot to mention it..! The Shaheen-2 missile can reach and destroy every single corner and every single living creature of the Indian continent! Congratulations! That's real progress!

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Tehran, March 8, IRNA -- "Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi
said here Monday that Iran is optimistic over the possible results
of today`s meeting of the IAEA Governing Council on Iran`s nuclear
activities since the country has been fully cooperative with the
agency.
Remaining issues between Iran and the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) have been fully resolved or are being resolved, Asefi
added. "Iran is committed to its promises," he stressed.
"We have close cooperation and coordination with members of the
Governing Council and the three European states (Britain, Germany and
France) and we think the case is logically being divested of its
political character," the spokesman said. "The Islamic Republic of Iran insists on normalization of its relations with the IAEA and is determined to pursue matters within
the framework of its commitments under the Additional Protocol
so as to normalize and do serious business with the agency," Asefi
added."
So, everything seems to be going well...
Everybody sounds optimistic in the Iranian camp and rightly so...with one small exception:
Senior Iranian official Rohani called on nuclear watchdog to close Iranian dossier. He said Iran must be accepted in world’s nuclear club. Monday’s IAEA board meeting in Vienna will not take tough decisions on Iran’s concealed nuclear program. Washington has eased pressure to refer Iran’s non-compliance to UN Security Council, giving Tehran until June to come clear.
But today, the well-informed DEBKAfile reveals: " UN inspectors when last at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site scraped 80 pc enriched uranium from wall."
Who is lying here? And this is certainly no small lie! The Iranians have to make up their minds once and for all. They either admit possessing nuclear weapons and face the consequences, or they can continue lying by telling the world they use their Natanz nuclear site for economic (?!) purposes.

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Kabul is in the midst of a construction boom. (today's article here)
"Since November 2002, Kabul has been transformed. Construction cranes are everywhere. A huge new US Embassy is being built – with construction going on around the clock. High-rise office towers and hotels financed by Iranian, Turkish, Chinese and Afghan investors have drastically altered the once low-rise Kabul skyline.
In late 2002 there was one internet cafe, now there is one on almost every downtown block and the World Wide Web now extends into virtually every Kabul neighborhood. There is even an internet kiosk at Kabul airport. The old Kabul Hotel, scene of the February 1979 assassination of then US Ambassador Adolph Dubs, is being transformed into a five-star hotel by the Aga Khan’s Serena Hotel Chain.
Diners - those who can afford it - mostly foreign workers - can now choose from Chinese, Indian, German, Iranian, Thai and Italian restaurants. Satellite phones have been replaced by cell phones - some people carrying two - one from each of the two phone service providers in the capital - since it is almost impossible to call from one carrier to the other. In every neighborhood, Afghans are working on their own to rebuild their bombed out homes.
Two new private airlines - Kam Air and Pamir have started internal air routes competing with the national Ariana Air lines. Traffic and pollution are only getting worse. While Kabul is not like most areas of Afghanistan, where security concerns are still very real, the construction and entrepreneurial activity offer a sign of hope for a better future."

In a short time, once freedom and democracy will be restored in Iraq, and fanaticism and terror banished from this beautiful land, Baghdad could enjoy what decades of war and dictatorship have kept at bay! The Iraqis fully deserve a better country, where democracy will reign supreme, and military and religious oppression will be part of a distant past.

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The United States will shortly apply sanctions to Syria, under a 2003 law giving President George W. Bush the authority to do so, a source close to the US administration told the AFP. A White House official did not specify the nature of the sanctions or when they would be imposed, but said they were expected soon.

The signing of Iraq's interim constitution was delayed indefinitely Friday after five Shiite members of the Governing Council - in a last minute move - rejected the makeup of the presidency and concessions to Kurds.

A large-scale terrorist attack was thwarted today at the Erez Crossing between Israel and Gaza. Armed terrorists in four vehicles had planned to reach IDF posts at the crossing and attack Israeli targets.

Three of the four vehicles exploded near PA police positions, probably as they tried to prevent them from carrying out the attack. The fourth car managed to reach an IDF position, but soldiers opened fire and thwarted the attack. Two terrorists were killed, while four Palestinian policemen lost their lives as the jeeps exploded near their positions. In addition, fifteen policemen sustained injuries. The Hamas, Islamic Jihad and El-Aqsa Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the failed attack.

Squeezed out of sanctuaries elsewhere in the world, al-Qaida may be looking to the deserts and jungles of Africa as a haven where terrorists could train recruits and plan new attacks, the deputy head of U.S. forces in Europe Air Force Gen. Charles Wald told The Associated Press, eyeing a map of Africa in his office in Stuttgart. "We need to drain the swamp." Wald said some terrorists had been sent to Iraq from North Africa, and there were indications that al-Qaida has established a presence and tried to recruit in North Africa over the past two years.
The Pakistani media, both print and electronic, gave wide coverage to the three-day visit of Iran`s First Vice-President Dr. Mohammad Reza Aref.
His meetings with President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime
Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali were given front-page coverage
with photographs in both Urdu and English newspapers.

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According to an article which appeared today on "Albalagh", "Pakistan will be expected now to play a more active role in the affairs of the Ummah. There was a time when Pakistan was actively involved in such matters. Based on its newly acquired status, (i.e. nuclear) it will again have to shoulder those responsibilities. It must not shy away from those responsibilities. Rather it must enlarge its vision and its view of itself. There is no sense in defining Pakistan's nuclear policy solely in terms of India. Al-Aqsa is not a "Palestinian mosque" and Jerusalem is not just a Palestinian issue. Therefore Israel cannot be just a Palestinian or Arab problem. It is a problem for the entire Ummah and Pakistan must now be willing to stand up to its responsibilities in this matter."
Haven't you noticed that Pakistan is already standing up to its responsabilities...?!

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The Pakistanis have done it again! Not happy with selling nuclear weapons to countries like Iran, North Korea, Iraq, Libya, they didn't miss a chance yesterday when meeting Nigerian government officials in Abuja. Nigeria today withdrew an earlier claim that a visiting Pakistan defence chief had offered to help Nigeria acquire nuclear power. The statement was a mistake and should be ignored, it said. "The reference to nuclear power in the statement earlier issued was a mistake, a typographical error,"defence ministry spokesman Nwachukwu Bellu, said, confirming the reaction of the Pakistani authorities to the issue.
"There were no discussions at all on nuclear power, development and acquisition," Bellu added. He said the portion of the statement on nuclear power issued after yesterday's meeting between visiting chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff, General Muhammad Aziz Khan, and Nigeria's Defence Minister Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in Abuja, should be ignored.
"It was a mistake. The section concerning nuclear power should be ignored. Nothing on that matter was discussed at the meeting," he added. The statement had quoted General Khan as saying "his country is working out the dynamics of how it can assist Nigeria's armed forces to strengthen its military capability and to acquire nuclear power".
But Pakistan, known to have a range of nuclear missiles, immediately denied the claim, saying it was baseless.
"We are denying it. This is baseless. He said nothing of this kind," military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said.
Diplomacy at work! Infantile diplomacy at work! Old, double-faced, diplomacy at work! Liars! A poor bunch of liars! You can deny whatever you like, and perhaps few people here and there will pretend to believe you and trust you for the time being, at least until they catch Osama bin Laden (if you know what I mean...!). But what is the meaning of a statement like the following: the chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff, General Muhammad Aziz Khan, meeting yesterday Nigeria's Defence Minister Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in Abuja, said that Pakistan was prepared to open its doors to Nigeria especially in the production of defence equipment.
Pakistani, he explained, built its nuclear device, to defend itself against external aggression.The Pakistani military chief told Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff and other top military officers in Abuja, that “Pakistan is a nation of 150 million and to ensure the security of its people, we entered into the strategic development leading to nuclear and missile development capable of protecting ourselves.”
We were not the ones who initiated this, our neighbours had started doing that, so we had to follow them. Our neighbour had exploded a device in 1974, and since then we have been asking the world to pay attention, because that poses a direct threat to our security.
We didn’t find any response, so Pakistan had to develop its own strategic defence, adding again in 1998, our Eastern neighbour detonate another device, and we had to respond two weeks later.”
We are so disappointed with you, Pakistan!

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Guess what? Now they blame the Americans! After the terror attacks on holy muslim shrines in Karbala, Bagdad and Quetta in Pakistan, the Iraqis (and the Iranians) accuse the US of...everything! They were not protecting the holy sites, they were not patrolling the huge processions of millions of Shi'ites, they were even accused of the actual attacks against the pilgrims! One can understand that fantasy and imagination, fuelled by hatred against the US, can alter man's common sense, but when the accusations start coming from representatives of muslim governments or high religious figures in the Arab world, then one has to understand that time has come to leave these people to their own destiny!
All over Iraq, Shiite Muslim mourners chanted today slogans against the United States, venting their anger at Iraq's instability.
- A letter purported to come from al-Qaida denied responsibility for bombings that killed at least 117 people during a Shiite Muslim festival in Iraq blaming American troops instead. "The American troops have carried out a massacre to kill innocent Shiites in Karbala, their (Shiites') infidel city, and in Baghdad," the letter, received on Wednesday via e-mail by the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper and shared with The Associated Press in Cairo. "We say to the Muslims that we are innocent of this act, and that we are not guilty of worshipping as Shiites worship, except that we believe in God." The letter was signed by al-Qaida's Abu Hafs al-Masri brigades, and its authenticity could not be verified. Al-Qaida often claims responsibility for suicide bombings, but it is unusual for it to put out a message indicating it was not involved in a certain attack. Very nice, brotherly words from al-Qaida! Only few days ago, a letter from one al-Qaida leader, A.M. al-Zarqawi, didn't share much sympathy for the Shiites, claiming: "[They are] the insurmountable obstacle, the lurking snake, the crafty and malicious scorpion, the spying enemy, and the penetrating venom. We here are entering a battle on two levels. One, evident and open, is with an attacking enemy and patent infidelity. [Another is] a difficult, fierce battle with a crafty enemy who wears the garb of a friend, manifests agreement, and calls for comradeship, but harbors ill will and twists up peaks and crests. Theirs is the legacy of the Batini bands that traversed the history of Islam and left scars on its face that time cannot erase. The unhurried observer and inquiring onlooker will realize that Shi`ism is the looming danger and the true challenge. “They are the enemy. Beware of them. Fight them. By God, they lie.” History’s message is validated by the testimony of the current situation, which informs most clearly that Shi`ism is a religion that has nothing in common with Islam except in the way that Jews have something in common with Christians under the banner of the People of the Book. From patent polytheism, worshipping at graves, and circumambulating shrines, to calling the Companions [of the Prophet] infidels and insulting the mothers of the believers and the elite of this [Islamic] nation, [they] arrive at distorting the Qur’an as a product of logic to defame those who know it well..."
These Muslims do know how to love each other...!

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Iraq - Governing Council member Mowaffaq al-Rubaie blamed the attacks on Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian whom Washington suspects of working for al-Qaida and whom some U.S. officials describe as the key link between al-Qaida and toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
"This is a message from Zarqawi to the Iraqi people," Rubaie told CNN from Baghdad. "We will not react in a sectarian way and his (Zarqawi's) intention of fomenting civil war in this country will not succeed." The U.S. military in Iraq admitted previously that they had intercepted a computer disc with a letter from Zarqawi which, it said, urged suicide bombings against Shi'ites in a bid to spark civil war. "We've got the rebels in Iraq on the run!" So says a letter intercepted by U. S. Forces in Iraq in January (Dexter Filkins, New York Times, 02/08/04). According to the U.S. authorities, the letter was intended for al-Qaida, and proposes a joint attempt to provoke civil war between Iraq's Sunni and Shia. The letter confirms that the Bush administration was right about the war in Iraq.
Firstly, because it clearly demonstrates the al-Qaida-Iraq connection, by virtue of its authorship (Zarqawi, al-Qaida associate) and its destination (al-Qaida's "elite").
Secondly, the letter establishes that the insurgency is being carried out by foreign jihadis, who are planning to destabilise the country.
It's getting darker and darker in Iraq...!

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Pakistan- Armed men set off an explosion and opened fire on Shiite Muslim worshipers during a religious procession in southwestern Pakistan today, killing at least 41 people and wounding more than 150 others, authorities said.
The attackers struck in Quetta on the Ashoura holiday -- the holiest day in the Shiite calendar -- just hours after a series of coordinated blasts in Iraq hit major Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and Baghdad, killing at least 143 people. There was no indication the attacks were connected.
Iraq- Several explosions rocked major Shiite shrines in Karbala and in Baghdad Tuesday morning where thousands of pilgrims were gathered for the religious festival of Ashoura, killing more than 140 people and wounding dozens of others. A "prime suspect" in the attacks was al-Qaida-linked militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who U.S. officials claim is trying to start a Sunni-Shiite civil war, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt. In Iran, which lost at least 22 countrymen in the attacks, Iranian vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi also blamed al-Qaida.
Gaza -Gunmen shot and killed a well-known adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza City today, security officials said.
Khalil al-Zaben, 59, was hit by 12 bullets has he left his office in the Sabra neighbourhood, hospital and security officials said.
Mr al-Zaben published a weekly magazine devoted to Palestinian affairs and human rights. He joined forces with Mr Arafat in the 1960s and served in a number of capacities, including media adviser and personal secretary. "We have lost a hero among the Palestinian people... in a cheap assassination," Arafat told reporters at his West Bank headquarters. "We cannot stand silent before what happened."
Iran- Iran`s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid- Reza
Asefi, condemned explosions in Iraqi city of Karbala and at
the holy Shrine of Hazrat Moussa Kazem, the 7th Imam of prophet Mohammad`s (PBUH) infallible household in Kazemein on Tuesday, calling the incidents as "brutal."
Asefi questioned, "How can one take a terrorist move and kill the
innocent and defenseless people, who mourned with love in their sanctities in a spiritual and holy place?" Definitely, he said,those committing such crimes are not the least humane.

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Three Palestinian boys, aged 12, 13 and 15 were arrested by Israeli forces while trying to slip into Israel to shoot people in Afula! The news has sparked genuine horror among concerned mothers (fathers also?) and Palestinian authorities.
Militant groups were blamed for recruiting boys (and young mothers?) for suicide attacks against innocent Israelis. Palestinian Minister Saeb Erekat said: "That's absolutely unacceptable. Our children should have hope and a future and should not be suicide bombers!"
The use of children and women in planning suicide attacks against the Israelis, and the ever increasing number of these innocent Palestinian people (mothers and children) is once again a proof of the deep-rooted cowardice of Palestinian militants.
Palestinians have carried out thousands of attacks against Israelis during 41 months of violence, killing 930 people.

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France acknowledged Monday that Pakistan`s nuclear capability is a "reality" and "fact".
Visiting French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin admitted
this while replying to a question at a joint news conference with his
Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri in Islamabad on
Saturday. Asked whether France recognizes Pakistan as a nuclear power, he
said, "We must face the reality". .
He said France is proposing a summit of heads of state on
proliferation in the coming months and expects Pakistan to participate
in it. Foreign Minister of Pakistan Khurshid Kasuri said Pakistan is a
declared nuclear power and there was no question of rolling back of its nuclear program. He added within this context Pakistan is fully prepared to
cooperate with the international community against proliferation.

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Visa Requirements

Everyone who enters the Kingdom should have a valid passport with at least 6 months validity and the appropriate visa.

Unless you are a visitor from a GCC country or in transit, all other nationalities require a visa to enter the Kingdom. Visas can be for business, tourist, transit, residency, family, Hajj, or conference attendance.

Visas can be obtained from the visa department in the Saudi Embassy of the visitor's home country or from Saudi Consulates available in all main cities around the world.


The cost of a visa is generally 200 Saudi Riyals however visitors should ensure that they check with the Saudi Embassy or Consulate.

Visas will not be issued for the following groups of people:

An Israeli passport holder or a passport that has an Israeli arrival/departure stamp.
Those who don't abide by the Saudi traditions concerning appearance and behaviors. Those under the influence of alcohol will not be permitted into the Kingdom.
There are certain regulations for pilgrims and you should contact the consulate for more information.
Jewish People
Important Instructions:

If a woman is arriving in the Kingdom alone, the sponsor or her husband must receive her at the airport.
Every woman must have confirmed accommodation for the duration of her stay in the Kingdom.
A woman is not allowed to drive a car and can therefore only travel by car if she is accompanied by her husband, a male relative, or a driver.
All visitors to the Kingdom must have a return ticket.
Pilgrims must also have all valid documentation and a passport that is valid for 6 months.

Can't you believe it? Read it here then!

Back to the Dark Ages!

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Iran`s state radio says Osama bin Laden captured

Tehran, Feb 28, IRNA -- Iran`s state radio has quoted an informed
source as saying that Osama bin Laden had been captured in a tribal
region in Pakistan.
The radio`s external service, broadcast in Pushtun, said US
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld`s trip to Pakistan on Thursday
had been made in connection with the capture.
The radio said, "The capture of the al-Qaeda leader has been made
sometime before, but (US President George W.) Bush is intending to
announce it when the American presidential election is held."
Osama`s head on a platter is believed to be a big boost to Bush`s
presidential chances, which are increasingly being eclipsed by
Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry.

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Addendum: the US and Pakistan deny the above report from Tehran Radio and have issued a statement which Haaretz reports here
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A day in the life of Israel!

Israel man and woman from Beersheba found shot dead in their car on highway near Eshkolot, NE of Beersheba Friday night. Car windows were smashed. Police suspect terrorist attack, hunt murderers.

Israeli troops uncover secret 60 meter-long Gaza Strip tunnel opening out on Israeli side of Erez checkpoint. It is thought to have served two Palestinian terrorists, who shot Sgt. Maj. Amir Zimmerman dead Thursday.

Palestinian cyclist blew himself up near Kfar Darom. No one hurt in both Gaza Strip incidents.

Hundreds of Palestinians rampage on Temple Mount at end of Friday prayer throwing rocks and stones. Israeli police storm mount to disperse mob with tear gas and stun grenades. One officer injured. Arabs also hurled stones down on the women's prayer area at the Western Wall below.

A Jewish home in the Gaza settlement of Neve Dekalim sustained heavy damage after being struck in an earlier "Palestinian" mortar attack on the community.

Israel's Internal Security Service (Shin Bet) reported Friday morning it had 50 credible intelligence warnings of planned "Palestinian" terror attacks, Israel Radio reported.

IDF forces operating in the divided Judean city of Hebron overnight apprehended two wanted Hamas terrorists.

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Bush announced this week he would support a constitutional definition of marriage.

Bush told reporters on Tuesday that his support for this constitutional amendment is necessary because of efforts to subvert the law by liberal judges and elected officials.
"In recent months ... some activist judges and local officials have made an aggressive attempt to redefine marriage," Bush said. "Unless action is taken, we can expect more arbitrary court decisions, more litigation, more defiance of the law by local officials, all of which adds to uncertainty."
Speaking on the issue of marriage, Bush said, "Ages of experience have taught humanity that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society. Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious, and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society."

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Hizbullah has instituted a payment system that rewards Palestinian insurgents for each Israeli casualty.
Israeli officials said Hizbullah revised its payment system in 2003 to encourage mass casualties in Israel. They said Hizbullah set a scale that pays for each Israeli Jew killed in a strike.
The result has been Hizbullah payments that have ranged from $25,000 and $40,000 per suicide bombing, officials said.
Hizbullah was said to have been the major sponsor of Palestinian suicide bombings inside Israel over the last six months.
Most of the Hizbullah agents in the West Bank, the officials said, have been Fatah insurgents. They said the insurgents were paid a salary as well as bonuses for each Israeli casualty, regardless of the circumstances.

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As I reported in one of my previous posts: "Just how many countries did kill Yandarbiyev?", the main culprits, implicated in his assassination, were the Russians, who have been looking for the Chechen leader since the year 2000.
Two Europeans, detained a week ago by the Qatari authorities on suspicion of having murdered Chechen rebel leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in Doha, have turned out to be Russian security officers. On Wednesday evening official charges were brought against the two.
Chechen rebel websites have blamed Russian special services for the blast, as did much of the Russian media, despite repeated denials.
The SVR, Russia's equivalent of MI6, said that they are not involved in his murder, while the FSB said the blast was probably the result of an internal Chechen dispute over money.
The assassination came a week after a suicide bomber killed 41 Moscow commuters on a Metro train.
Read the article here
Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, dismissed today the Qatari arrests of the two SVR agents, claiming that they were after funds for the financing of terrorist organizations.

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Iraqi Shiite Leader Seyyid Ali Al-Sistani warned that he would call for an intifada, if American soldiers stayed in Iraq after the handover of power on June 30, 2004. He also insisted that there should be a significant role for the Shiite in the future administration of the country, as they make up the majority of the population.
Sistani spoke to the German magazine Der Spiegel and said: "The U.S. presence in Iraq should not be prolonged. The Iraqi public knows how to act. If the U.S. presence is drawn out longer than necessary, I will call for an intifada." The necessary posters reportedly have already been printed and are awaiting distribution to every corner of the country.
Not more than a week ago, A.M. al-Zarkawi, leader of al-Qaida, warned the Americans that the creation of Iraqi police forces and army brigades wouldn't be tolerated: "There is no doubt that the Americans’ losses are very heavy because they are deployed across a wide area and among the people and because it is easy to procure weapons, all of which makes them easy and mouth-watering targets for the believers. But America did not come to leave, and it will not leave no matter how numerous its wounds become and how much of its blood is spilled. It is looking to the near future, when it hopes to disappear into its bases secure and at ease and put the battlefields of Iraq into the hands of the foundling government with an army and police that will bring the behavior of Saddam and his myrmidons back to the people. There is no doubt that the space in which we can move has begun to shrink and that the grip around the throats of the mujahidin has begun to tighten. With the deployment of soldiers and police, the future has become frightening..."
There is no doubt that many Arab leaders are listening carefully to what al-Qaida broadcasts from time to time, whether it is out of fear or cowardice or political gain is difficult to say, but it is quite clear to the expert eye that what we see is one thing, and what is going on in the Arab world is another!

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This is an excerpt from today's Maariv: "Islamic conference: Israel has no right to build security fence"
The Islamic Conference is the only entity to have argued that Israel cannot construct any security barrier, because it has not agreed upon borders.
Its legal representative, Monique Chemillier-Gendreau said that the Islamic Conference does not mean to negate Israel's right to exist by this statement, but that it is merely pointing out that Israel's borders, even those prior to 1949, have yet to be finalized. Only when Israel's borders are finalized, can it construct a security barrier.
"Even if the wall were to be moved to the 1949 line, it wouldn't make the wall a lawful construction. It remains unlawful because it is built on an invalid acquisition that has never been validated," said Chemillier-Gendreau. You can read the rest of this (in my opinion: pathetic) report here
Now, as usual very briefly, I want to ask you just one simple question: is this lady the same person who, in 1998, wrote that "..Les Israéliens doivent sacrifier leur orgueil théocratique et renoncer à l'idée dans laquelle ils se sont enferrés que leur terre leur aurait été donnée par Dieu. Et c'est par cette normalisation acceptée qu'ils aideront les Palestiniens à faire barrage à la montée chez eux de l'extrémisme et du fondamentalisme" (read it here).
Good luck!

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PRESS RELEASE BY INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE
IN RELATION TO INVESTIGATION ON THE ALLEGED PRODUCTION OF COMPONENTS
FOR LIBYA’S URANIUM ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME. (Released : 20 February 2004 0700hrs)
here
THE ROLE OF MR BUHARY SYED ABU TAHIR here

INTERNATIONAL COVER-UP. BRITS SAY NOTHING. Straw accused of covering up Libya weapons seizure. Read it here

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Another article on BBC China here

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The United States confirmed it had led an operation to seize uranium enrichment components from a German freighter (BBC China) headed for Libya that may have sealed Tripoli's decision to publicly renounce weapons of mass destruction this month.
"A ship was diverted based on intelligence it was carrying centrifuge parts in early October," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters, calling it "a significant and important development".
However, the point today is: if, as we are led to believe, this German-owned Antiguan-flagged vessel was carrying components for the construction of nuclear weapons to Libya only three months ago, can anyone explain what this freight vessel is doing in and around American waters these days?
"U.S. Coast Guard personnel are investigating the cargo onboard an Antigua Barbudan flagged vessel that requested to moor in Honolulu on Wednesday evening.
The 400-foot freight vessel, BBC China, was reportedly behind schedule for its delivery to Portland, Ore. when it requested to enter the port without the required 96-hour advance notice..." Read the press release here

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Photographs of the items or components (described in my previous post) were shown to local experts at the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB), which is responsible for the implementation of guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) connected with ‘IAEA safeguard system’ in MALAYSIA, and also the Malaysian Institute of Nuclear Technology Research (MINT). They admitted that trained eyes like theirs found it difficult to positively confirm that the seized components were part of a ‘centrifuge’ unit. This is because the said components could also be used by other industries besides Nuclear Technology. It was important and necessary to know the existence of a secret international network that planned to supply centrifuge components to LIBYA before making any assumptions on its use. In relation to this, it is appropriate to extract the AELB view on the seized components:

“The sets of graphic images presented, it may be parts of many possible mechanical device or devices. These parts could easily be fitted into many industrial or home components. Without knowing the full or a significant portion of the total of sub assembly no definitive use of assignment of the possible device may be made”

OTHER INFORMATION CONNECTED TO THE ACTION AGAINST THE VESSEL BBC CHINA

The action against vessel BBC CHINA should also be viewed with scepticism in the light of the following allegations made by BSA TAHIR, head of Dubai's Gulf Technical Industries (GTI):
BSA TAHIR claimed that ’ together with the seized components on board BBC CHINA on October 4, 2003, was a consignment sent by GUNAS JIREH, a Turkish national who supplied ‘aluminum casting and dynamo’ to LIBYA for its ‘machine shop 1001’ project. These items were delivered through DUBAI using the services of TUT Shipping (TS) via vessel BBC CHINA. It is surprising that the consignment from GUNAS JIREH direct to LIBYA was allowed without any action; and
Two weeks after action taken against BBC CHINA, BSA TAHIR claimed to have arranged a ‘transshipment of electrical cabinet and power supplier-voltage regulator’ to LIBYA through DUBAI on behalf of SELIM ALGUADIS. These transshipment too arrived in LIBYA without any obstruction and this is unusual. SELIM ALGUADIS is said to have known Abdul Qadeer Khan, head of the illicit network supplying nations with nuclear technology, since the 1980s’.
to be continued

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"When I was in a taxi, I closed my eyes and was dreaming of killing more than one hundred Jews. Two hundreds would be even better. I was thinking only about this. To sacrifice myself to make hundreds of Jews dead.
I did not tell anybody about this. I am a very sensitive girl, and nobody could imagine I was able to do this.
Men are promised 70 virgins in paradise. I was told I would be as a mermaid, a beauty Queen in paradise if I became a martyr."
This is only an excerpt of the terrifying interview with a Palestinian woman, who failed to blow herself up in Jerusalem and who is now serving a prison sentence in an Israeli jail.
Do Palestinians really believe these fairytales? Who is behind these blatant lies? This is the road to Hell, not Heaven!

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BBC China is definitely not a media broadcast, but the name of a German ship, which has changed Col. Qaddafi's life! You may call it "love affair", but the truth is that when his darling BBC China was stopped in the port of Taranto, south of Italy, on 4.10.2003, she gave herself up to the Italians and surrendered her hidden trophy to them!
To tell you the truth, the first to have had a "close" look at her were the British and the Americans (MI6 and CIA ), who, after careful examination in Taranto, decided to hand her to the local "servicemen". Her well-concealed treasure was taken by the Italians, and Comm. Tiberio Piattelli, as if nothing had happened, said: "For us, there was nothing abnormal...we have to examine her in more detail!"
More than 2000 components for centrifuges, part of a large nuclear project worth around 40 million US dollars, fell (and still remain) in the hands of the Italians.
BBC China reached the port of Tripoli, Libya, on the 7 October. Mr. Moussa Koussa, head of the Libyan intelligence, was there waiting for her. Col. Qaddafi, like a betrayed lover, was watching the sunset in the gulf of Sirte, sipping his usual cup of tea.

APPENDIX

SEARCH ON BBC CHINA VESSEL:
A total of 5 containers to LIBYA were seized following allegations it contained certain components for ‘centrifuge.’ The containers were sent by BSA TAHIR from DUBAI. Several items inside the container that is said to be components of a ‘centrifuge’ are as follows :

Description Part Numbers Total
Casing 4 2,208
Molecular Pump 5 2,208
Top spacer 6 608
Positioner 8 10,549
Top end 9 1,680
Crash Ring 12 2,208
Stationary Tube 59 1,056
Clamp holder 73 400
Flange 77 4,525

to be continued...

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How many more pictures do people need to see, before they start to understand?

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I can't stand this double game anymore! We are watching it every day, and it makes me sick!
Today they preach allegiance with those who fight terror, tomorrow they stab you in the back!
The sad thing is that everybody knows about this double game, still... they keep on playing it..
We know who is playing! Let me describe to you one of the two players: Pakistan.
Pakistan was the first Muslim country to have an Atom bomb and making its proclivities about the Bomb clear by naming it with its religion - The Islamic Bomb.
Pakistan proved itself to be the proliferator of Nuclear capability to other Muslim countries.
Pakistan was the country to give asylum to Al Qaeda's Osama Bin Laden.
Pakistan has been working against the interests of the USA since the end of the Cold war. Apart from building up the now deposed Taliban regime, it has provided Al Qaeda with its recruits from the thousands of Jihad preaching madaresahs in Pakistan.
With 9/11, this game was called off with the American ultimatum to Musharraf. With a reversal of policy, started Pakistan's double game of making a show of supporting the US War on Terror while trying to undermine it through proliferating nuclear capability to the enemies of the USA like Iran, North Korea and Libya.
Whether the nuclear weapons bazaar was open to muslim countries before or after
Gen. Musharraf took power in Pakistan is of little importance now (Benazir Bhutto, in today's Financial Times, claims that, while she was in charge of the country, she was approached by Pakistani scientists and asked permission to export nuclear components abroad!).
What is at stake today is Pakistan's credibility in the eyes of the civilized world and Pakistan, unfortunately, is doing very little about it.

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It's all clear now! This is the Road Map the Palestinians are following:



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Another terrorist attack against innocent jewish people in the heart of Jerusalem!
It's final! The road map that the Palestinians are using serves only to plan more terrorist attacks against Israel!
There is only one peaceful solution that Israel can pursue: make the wall higher or, even better, double!
According to the latest update from Haaretz, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said that it was likely the terrorists behind the suicide bombing were motivated by the scheduled start Monday of the International Court of Justice deliberations over the legality of the West Bank separation fence which Israel is erecting.
Mofaz said the barrier was instrumental in preventing attacks on Israelis.
Mofaz added that the terrorists likely wanted to demonstrate how ineffective the separation fence was, but stressed that "we know the fence is effective and contributed to the drastic decrease in the possibility of executing attacks originating in areas where it has been erected.."
In view of today's attack, once again against innocent people, Israel should consider making the wall higher or doubling it!

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PA officials have announced that Monday will be a "Day of Rage" throughout Judea and Samaria in honor of the hearing at The Hague beginning this Monday, at which Israel will be put "on trial" for defending itself by building a wall between its citizens and neighboring Palestinians.
Paradoxically, Monday should be declared "Day of Peace" by the PA! So many lives will be saved by the wall that Israel is building at its own expense (and in my humble opinion, any contribution from the PA would be appreciated).

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The I.A.E.A. reports today that between the early 1980s until the end of 2003, "Libya imported nuclear material and conducted a wide variety of illicit nuclear activities." Libya "failed to declare imports of UF 6" in 1985, 2000 and 2001. UF6 is a uranium compound used in the enrichment process.
Sri Lankan businessman, Buhary Abu Sayyid Tahir, head of Dubai's Gulf Technical Industries (GTI), who is implicated in the nuclear black market, has said Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the head of the illicit network supplying nations with nuclear technology, has told him of shipments to Libya of UF6.
Very good step forward! What's next?
Dr.Khan has been generously pardoned by Gen. Musharraf (whilst six of his associates are still in jail!).
Mr. Tahir is as free now as he was before the scandal erupted.
Gen. Qaddafi of Lybia is being praised on a daily basis by the US and Great Britain and wined and dined all over the world!
Are we missing something?

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Miscellaneous news:
More than 100 armed Taliban fighters have gathered in a remote mountainous region in southern Afghanistan sparking expectations of an imminent attack in the area.
Two people have been arrested in Qatar in connection with last week's assassination of former Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.

In a February 13, 2004 sermon at the Al-Quds mosque while on a visit to Sidon, Lebanon, the Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Al-Hilali, called for Jihad against Israel.

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As I reported in my previous post "Impossible ways to achieve democracy", Saudi Arabia is on high alert for a possible attack in the capital Riyadh.
The Saudi interior ministry warned residents in Riyadh that a car laden with explosives registered to a wanted suspect could be used in an attack on American Forces.
The vehicle is a burgundy 1991 GMC Suburban with the licence plate number 034, "last seen in the Al Rabwa neighbourhood, east of the capital."
The vehicle's back windows have been covered and there is a curtain separating the driver and front passenger seats from the rest of the vehicle.
All the back seats have also been removed.
Plenty of information; lots of details; there remains only one little question: are we absolutely sure that the attack will be against the Americans and not against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
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In two days time, the European Commission will hold a conference on the increase of anti-Semitism in Europe in cooperation with the World Jewish Congress and the European Jewish Congress.
There is no doubt whatsoever that in Europe anti-semitic attacks against jewish people are definitely on the increase.
Some may argue that this is due to the actions of the Israeli government and its way of dealing with the Palestian problem.
Some may also cite a huge increase of Muslim population in the old continent, which will dramatically increase when Turkey joins the E.U.
Others will underline the huge amount of antisemitic propaganda which the internet and the so-called "freedom of speech" help to diffuse worldwide.
I'm prone to cite just one small example, which I came across today while reading one of the most authoritative newspapers in the arab world: al-Hayat.
"Judging Israel is based on the crimes of the extremist right-wing Israeli government. Furthermore, new anti-Semitism has been caused by Israel's crimes. Anyone saying otherwise is either lying or in denial since one cannot admit that Israel is a Nazi-like state. This last accusation is not mine it is the Europeans' "(says the journalist...).
With propaganda like this, it's no wonder that anti-semitism is on the increase!

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Among the measures that the Thai government is going to introduce, to stem the wave of attacks on innocent buddhist monks in the south of the Peninsula by islamic terrorists, is the construction of a "security fence" along parts of the 650 km border with Malaysia.
The army will build the fences across suspected escape routes, used by Muslim secessionists, who have recently been responsible of raiding an army base and the burning of 21 state schools.
Some officials believe those behind the attacks may have links to Jamaah Islamiah, widely regarded as the Southeast Asian branch of al-Qaida.

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Mansoor Ijaz, a Fox News foreign policy analyst, known for his impartiality and accuracy, reports of a possible, imminent terrorist attack on US forces in Irak. He claims that up to 29 large warheads, between 6-12 being chemical weapons, have been smuggled into Irak from neighbouring Iran, for a massive attack on the American forces.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia is on high alert for a possible terrorist attack in their capital. Today, the British Foreign Office has launched a warning of an imminent attack in Saudi Arabia and British Airways has cancelled a flight to Riyadh.
Justice and democracy in an Arab country? I don't know where to look for it!

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Why is Dr. Abdul Qaader Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic program, who has confessed to leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, free and still beloved by his people (thanks to gen. Musharraf's pardon), whilst his assistants and colleagues are still in jail for unknown reasons?
Here are their names: Dr Mohammad Farooq, Director of KRL; Dr Nazeer Ahmad, Chief Engineer of Metallurgy Department, KRL; Brig (Retd) Sajawal Khan, retired director-general of KRL; Dr Naseemuddin, currently head of Missile Manufacturing, KRL, Kahuta; Brig (retd) Mohammad Iqbal Tajwar, former Director-General of Security, KRL, Kahuta, and Maj (retd) Islamul Haq, Principal Staff Officer of Dr A.Q. Khan.
Not everybody is equal before the Law!

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The UK newspaper, The Guardian, reports today on the dispute about the wall, which Saudi Arabia is building along the border with Yemen.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is expected in Riyadh for talks with Crown Prince Abdullah in a bid to calm tension over a Saudi "border screen", Yemeni official sources said yesterday.
Yemen says the wall is being built in a common area designated by a 2000 border treaty as a free grazing area.
Yemeni officials say the barrier violates the 2000 Jeddah treaty, which stipulates that an area of 20 kilometers along the line of the border be allocated for pasturing activities from both sides of the border.
Lt. Gen. Talal Angawi, director general of the Saudi Border Guard, said the fence aims to curb infiltration and arms smuggling operations across the borders into Saudi territory.
Angawi also dismissed comparisons between the Saudi barrier and Israel’s barrier through the West Bank.
What's the difference? Only one: Israel has to appear in front of the Supreme (?!) European Court, whilst Saudi Arabia will not!

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Cancer cells are spreading allover. Metastases are forming in every continent. They multiply quite rapidly and by the time you manage to spot one, another has already been produced. This is only the beginning of a worldwide investigation and already several countries (Lybia, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Malaysia, UAE, to name but a few) are under scrutiny for illegal trading in nuclear weapons and nuclear technology!
According to "The New Zealand Herald", the United States has sent investigators to South Africa to probe a possible link to an illicit network in nuclear technology after the arrest of a Cape Town man in the US.
South African police said on Thursday the US had asked for their help in investigating possible associates of Asher Karni, a former Israeli army officer accused by the US government of conspiring to export 200 US-made nuclear weapons detonators to Pakistan via South Africa.
Confirmation of the probe came a day after US President George W Bush called for an intensive global effort to stop a nuclear black market and referred to "procurement agents" in Africa.
Diplomats have named South Africa, which voluntarily dismantled its nuclear weapons capability when white minority rule ended in 1994, as a possible link in a global "nuclear supermarket".
They say several South African scientists are believed to have provided their technical expertise without government knowledge.
US federal agents arrested Karni, 50, who has lived in South Africa for the last 18 years, when he arrived at Denver International Airport on January 1. He was released on bail last month but placed in home detention in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Prosecutors say Karni, using an American broker, acquired nuclear triggering devices from their manufacturer in the US after falsely representing they were destined for a South African hospital.

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As I reported earlier in "Welcome to the nuclear weapons bazaar", there is strong suspicion that Tahir was the go-between producers and buyers of WMD. But, as it often happens with arab countries, nobody seems to take action to investigate the wrong-doings of people who, in any other western country, would be put under house-arrest pending legal investigation.
Central Bank Governor Sultan Nasser Al-Suwaidi said the United Arab Emirates would only launch a probe into the affairs of B.S.A. Tahir — head of Dubai’s Gulf Technical Industries (GTI) — if proof of wrongdoing came to light.

Asked about reports of possible links between Tahir and the Iranian and Libyan atomic programs, Al-Suwaidi told reporters: “This is speculation. If we find something real then we’ll investigate it financially, but these are news items. If and when the time arises we might investigate.”

US President George W. Bush has described Tahir as a deputy to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic program, who has confessed to leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Bush said Tahir was in Malaysia and an intelligence source there told Reuters that Tahir was under investigation, but was free to come and go.

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As I reported yesterday, it is quite possible that Saddam's WMD were moved from Syria to Pakistan with the help of the Pakistani establishment.
Now it is quite likely that those WMD were transferred to Pakistan from the following Syrian sites:

1. Tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria. These tunnels are an integral part of an underground factory, built by the North Koreans, for producing Syrian Scud missiles. Iraqi chemical weapons and long-range missiles are stored in these tunnels.

2. The village of Tal Snan, north of the town of Salamija, where there is a big Syrian airforce camp. Vital parts of Iraq’s WMD are stored there.

3. The city of Sjinsjar on the Syrian border with the Lebanon, south of the city Homs.

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"Pakistani sources claim that there has been another bombshell in the admissions of guilt made by Khan's colleagues and juniors, who are still under custody and questioning. They are reported to have stated that during his over 40 visits to Dubai in the last three years, he had met Iraqi intelligence officials who sought his help in having some of the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) material of Iraq airlifted from Syria to Pakistan for being kept in safe custody there to prevent their falling into the hands of the UN inspectors. Khan allegedly agreed to their request. According to them, in October,2002, Khan had a Pakistani aircraft, which had gone to Iran to deliver some equipment, stop in a Syrian airport on its way back . It picked up the Iraqi WMD "material" and brought it to Pakistan for safe custody on behalf of Iraq. It is not clear what did they mean by material---only documents or something more? " (from saag.org/papers).
Khan had been willing to sell nuclear secrets "to anybody who could pay his price", the British Foreign Minister Jack Straw told a joint press conference in London with Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. "We don’t still know the full scale of the activity. But as President Bush explained in his speech last night, what we had here was somebody who had made a bomb, an operational bomb, who knew all the technology and who was selling this on the black market basically to anybody who could pay his price. And we know that he had sold this technology to Libya and to other countries," Straw said.


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Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a leading Chechen separatist and alleged terrorism financier, was torn to pieces in Qatar by a sophisticated booby trap operated by remote control.
Local media in Doha, the capital, reported that Yandarbiyev's jeep had been booby-trapped before it drove him, his two bodyguards and 13-year-old son, Daud, home after Friday prayers. The bomb was detonated 300 metres away from the mosque. Yandarbiyev died from his wounds in hospital last Friday.

Russia's security services, the FSB, have long sought the extradition of Yandarbiyev from Qatar, where they claim he was being sheltered in a diplomatic compound under police protection. Qatar has denied all links to terrorism. The FSB accused him of helping to finance terrorist acts, including the Nord Ost theatre siege in which 40 Chechen gunmen held 800 Muscovites hostage.

The assassination came a week after a suicide bomber killed 41 Moscow commuters on a Metro train.

Chechen rebel websites have blamed Russian special services for the blast, as did much of the Russian media yesterday, despite repeated denials.

The SVR, Russia's equivalent of MI6, said that they are not involved in his murder, while the FSB said the blast was probably the result of an internal Chechen dispute over money.

None the less, the blast sent a clear signal to those in the Gulf who are believed to be sponsoring Chechen extremists.
The newspaper Kommersant drew parallels between the Doha blast and the way Israel's Mossad operates, yet concluded that the Russian secret services had the strongest motive. Israel and Russia have a history of co-operation in security operations.

'A targeted hit such as that sounds like an Israeli job,' said one security analyst who is familiar with foreign intelligence operations. 'But there is no reason why it would not be the Russians. They are more likely to use proxies than do the job on the ground themselves. It is a pretty hardcore operation.'

He added that such an operation would probably not have been performed in the tranquil US-backed state - where the Pentagon has a long-established military presence - without some level of consent from Washington.

President Vladimir Putin and President George Bush spoke hours after the Metro blast and agreed to intensify their mutual fight against terrorism, according to the Kremlin press service.

These Gulf states may be small, but there is so much going on behind the facade of opulence and sunshine!

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Guerrillas shouting "God is great" launched a bold daylight assault on an Iraqi police station and security compound west of Baghdad on Saturday, freeing prisoners and sparking a gunbattle that killed 22 people and wounded 33, police and hospital officials said. Around 25 attackers, some of them masked, faced little resistance as they surrounded the police station and stormed in, going from room to room throwing hand grenades and firing heavy machine guns, survivors said. Few police, most with only small weapons, were present at the time. "I only had a pistol with me," said Kamel Allawi, a police lieutenant. "Right away I fell on the ground and blood was gushing out of my left leg."

The attackers freed 75 prisoners held at the station, killing the guards and shooting open the cell doors, police Lt. Col. Jalal Sabri said. The prisoners were criminals — most arrested for murder or theft — and none of them were suspected of involvement in the anti-U.S. insurgency, Sabri said. The gunmen, shouting Islamic slogans "God is great" and "There is no god but Allah," also attacked the nearby, heavily barricaded compound of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

Can anyone tell these barbarians that God, no matter which one (!), disapproves murder in His name? Will these barbarians ever learn that they are not allowed, under any religious law, to kill humans in His name?
Will these barbarians ever learn that they have killed our brothers and sisters in the name of God?!
What will these barbarians achieve by killing innocent people the way they do?
If their God, in their fanatic, crippled and sick mind, is going to forgive them for the heinous killing of innocent people, then I can tell you this much, they are worshipping the Devil!!!

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Jailed Israeli atomic whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu is among a record 173 nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize.
"I'm speculating about Vanunu (winning), although I don't think that the Nobel Committee will be sufficiently daring to provoke Israel," said Stein Toennesson, director of the Peace Research Institute, Oslo."
Very strange and provocative affirmation from a man with a high profile position!
Mr Toennesson is the one who is sufficiently daring to provoke Israel! Shame that it doesn't fit with his position, which should be reviewed as a matter of urgency!
For all the peace-loving people of the earth there is however good news: Vanunu will be freed in April after an 18-year jail term for treason for leaking details of Israel's secret nuclear program.

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The United States and the I.A.E.A have determined that SMB Computers, an UAE company, is the go-between for the traffic of nuclear weapons components to countries as Iran, Libya and North Korea (Malaysia ?).
The company, based in Dubai, is a key element of the nuclear weapons baazar coordinated by the Pakistani scientist, Dr. Qadeer Khan.
The White House has today confirmed that Dr. Khan and his partners "in arms" used a factory in Malaysia for the production of centrifuges which, according to Malaysian police, SCOPE built in Shah Alam to fill an order from B.S.A. Tahir, head of the Dubai-based Gulf Technical Ind.
From the UAE the nuclear weapons components were then sold to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
The question is: have any of these nuclear weapon components ended up in al-Qaida's or other terrorist organizations hands?

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Yes! The news about the barrier that the Saudis are building along the border with Yemen is true.
In my previous post I reported an article (the first?) about the security fence that Saudi Arabia is building for "security" reasons and that tension is mounting between the two countries.
A prominent sheik of the Wayilah tribe, which lives along the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, told Yemen Times that up to 3,000 tribesmen are preparing to fight Saudi forces unless Saudi Arabia pulls out of Yemen.
The sheik claims that Saudi Arabia has already built a security fence 4 to 7 km beyond the neutral zone inside Yemen, stretching from Jabal Hobash to Jabal Al Fara.
“Saudi Arabia has already built a security fence inside Yemen,” said the sheik, “and we are ready to fight any time...!
Shouldn't Saudi Arabia, and not just Israel, be summoned to the European Supreme Court of Hague?
Hypocrisy is the rule of the game! And this game stinks...!

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Almost on a daily basis, the Saudis, quite hypocritically as I will explain later, accuse Israel of building a security fence in the West Bank to protect the Country and its people from the vicious attacks of terrorists.
But, unknown to most, Saudi Arabia is erecting a barrier along the border with a fellow muslim country, Yemen, for the same reason.
Read this interesting article from John R. Bradley, which appeared today in the Straitstimes.
SA'ADA (Yemen) - Although Saudi Arabia has been a vocal critic of Israel's 'security fence' in the West Bank, it is quietly erecting a controversial barrier of its own along its porous border with Yemen.

The Cause: Firearms, grenades and launchers are openly sold in shops in Sa'ada
The Saudis say explosives and weapons smuggled across the border have been used by terrorists for at least a decade, including those involved in two massive suicide attacks inside Saudi Arabia last year which killed more than 50.

A Yemeni delegation arrived in Jeddah for emergency talks on the issue on Tuesday, after submitting an official complaint about the 'fence'.

The whole article is here

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