Oil-for-Food: Iraqis "Out" Benon Sevan and Volcker Wants to Question Vincent (UPDATE: Kojo Annan Implicated)

By Andrew Cochran

The Financial Times has just reported that Iraqi officials have told Paul Volcker's U.N. inquiry staff that Benon Sevan, who ran the program, personally intervened to steer lucrative oil contracts to Africa Middle East Petroleum (AMEP), a Swiss-based oil trading company. Documents from Iraq's state oil marketing organisation, Somo, names AMEP as "the company that Mr Sevan cited" to the Iraqi oil minister after Mr. Sevan visited Baghdad in the summer of 1998, and Sevan's name appears thereafter in Somo documents, often next to that of AMEP. Have to wonder who is releasing this; the Volcker report is supposed to be released this week. Also reported separately: Volcker wants to question Samir Vincent, who pleaded guilty to 4 counts in NYC and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department, but Volcker and DOJ can't agree on a plan of cooperation. Interesting that Volcker went public with this - is he setting us up for a weak report and excuses? UPDATE: Kofi Annan's son Kojo admits he was involved, despite a December denial.

U.S. District Court Judge: Guantanamo Tribunals Unconstitutional

By Andrew Cochran

U.S. District Court Judge Joyce Hens Green has ruled this morning that the military tribunals used to against most of the Gitmo Bay prisoners are illegal, and the prisoners are entitled to constitutional protections. Story here, the memorandum decision is here, and the order is here. No doubt, the Administration will appeal this ruling.

Interview with Algerian GSPC Commander

By Evan Kohlmann

The online magazine Al-Faath has published a two-part interview with the chairman of the Media Wing of the Algerian Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat (GSPC)--a known Al-Qaida affiliate group active in North Africa.  According to Abu Omar Abdul Bir, the GSPC was founded in order to continue the role of the GIA after the GIA leadership under Antar Zouabri became "deviant" during the mid-1990s.    Abu Omar scoffed at rumors that the Algerian government is close to wiping out the GIA, and congratulated "our mujahideen brothers in Iraq, [Saudi Arabia], Afghanistan, Chechnya, Palestine, the Philippines, Kashmir, and elsewhere... they are a part of us.  We are hurt if they are hurt; what makes them happy will also make us happy."

Click to view English translation (Globalterroralert.com)

Stingy Border Agent Budget Proposal

By Andrew Cochran

In a post on January 25, I said that the Administration's budget proposals for homeland security would have to reach a certain credibility level on the Hill, and that the first reports on the proposed budget for southern border agents were not encouraging. Today's Washington Times is reporting that the proposal to fund one-tenth of the new agents authorized in the intel reform act is drawing fire from current and former agents. Among them is our own Michael Cutler, saying that it's "difficult to understand" why the Administration wouldn't fund more agents in light of recent increases in assaults against Americans along the Mexican border. We don't expect budgetary miracles, but one-tenth of the authorized amount will not meet the credibility test.

Riggs Plea Aftermath: British Ops Sale and PNC Trouble

By Andrew Cochran

The effects of the guilty plea entered by Riggs Bank for violating the Bank Secrecy Act continue. The British branch of Israeli-based Bank Leumi is buying Rigg's UK assets and loan portfolio in London and the Jersey Isles for $37 million (free subscription needed for story). And the Pittsburgh media is no longer "ho-humming" the impact of the plea on PNC's potential purchase, as it did last week. We'll see.

Christians on PalTalk Chat Service Tracked by Radical Islamic Web Site

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

From the New York Sun, Jan. 31, 2005:

Christians on PalTalk Chat Service Tracked by Radical Islamic Web Site

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
Special to the Sun

A radical Islamic Web site systematically tracks Christians on PalTalk.com, an Internet chat service on which a New Jersey man received a death threat two months before he and his family were murdered.  The password protected Arabic Web site, at the address www.barsomyat.com, features pictures and information about Christians who have been particularly active in debating Muslims on PalTalk.

Photo of the Day: Iraqi Election

By Andrew Cochran

On CNN website - AP photo:

Iraqis Begin Historic Vote Amid Attacks

By Evan Kohlmann

9:15am (Baghdad time): [Associated Press] ...Iraqis voted Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century, as insurgents made good on threats of violence with a suicide bombing at a polling station and mortar attacks in several cities.   Police say the suicide bomb attack in western Baghdad killed one policemen and wounded several people.  [Note: MSNBC is reporting that the attack on the polling station was carried out by a suspect wearing a suicide bomb vest].  Heavy explosions and a series of mortar attacks broke out across Baghdad, and in several other cities, including Baquoba, Basra and Mosul, less than two hours after voting began.  Two mortars hit near the Ministry of Interior on the city's eastern edge, one witness said. And there were gunfire exchanges in the New Baghdad area in the eastern part of the city.  The violence came after insurgents had rocketed the U.S. Embassy in downtown Baghdad late Saturday, killing two Americans.  [MSNBC is also now reporting a second suicide car bomb attack outside a joint Iraqi-U.S. checkpoint in Baghdad, killing one Iraqi policeman.]

Update #1, 12:00pm (Baghdad time): News agencies are reporting at least five suicide bombings and nearly 20 dead by noon on Sunday in Iraq.  [Reuters] A suicide bomber strapped with explosives blew himself up at a polling centre in western Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding nine, police sources said.  Earlier a suicide car bomb killed a policeman outside a polling station and another suicide bomber on foot blew himself up among voters queueing at another centre in western Baghdad, causing an unknown number of casualties.  A blast at a voting centre in the Sadr City slums killed at least four people.  A mortar attack in southern Baghdad killed at least two and mortar rounds also rained down and other cities, including Mosul, Baquba and Hilla, where one person was killed.  An explosion hit a polling site in the southern city of Basra, but there was no immediate word on casualties.

Update #2, 7:00pm (Baghdad time): With polls now closed, Iraqi election officials report a 57% turnout and between 35-45 people killed after a rapid series of suicide bombings, mortar rounds, and other insurgent attacks in Baghdad and other cities across the country.  According to eyewitnesses, polls were largely deserted throughout the day in many cities of the Sunni Triangle north and west of the capital, particularly Fallujah, Ramadi and Beiji.  In Baghdad's Sunni Arab neighborhood of Azamiyah, the district's four polling centers failed to open at all.  In Samarra, north of Baghdad, stations were empty for hours, but later hundreds of eager voters showed up.  Several hundred people also turned out to vote in eastern regions of the restive Sunni city of Mosul, a hotbed for recent insurgent violence.  But in western parts of Mosul, clashes erupted between militants and Iraqi soldiers.

Al-Qaida's Committee in Iraq--led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi--has claimed responsibility for the following incidents on election day:

One Great Site: StrategyPage.com

By Andrew Cochran

In the past two weeks, I've discovered StrategyPage.com, a great site for lots of military and special ops tidbits, hosted by leading military expert James Dunnigan. They post paragraphs almost daily on some aspect of the war against terrorists worldwide - here is one such piece about the ongoing efforts by the Philippines government against Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah. I've saved StrategyPage in the "Centers" box in the right sidebar and will post links to new info from them in the "News" box.

Arrest of Suspected Terrorists in France

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Earlier this week, France announced the arrest of a number of Muslims suspected of providing aid to insurgent forces in Iraq.  Yesterday, the prosecutor's office released a statement which claimed that the suspected Islamists were plotting attacks on French and foreign targets in the country.

While the prosecutor's office did not elaborate on that statement, details will almost certainly surface as the prosecution proceeds.  This story is worth following because in the past we gave short shrift to terrorist plots that failed, and thus missed important clues about what the terrorists may have been planning in the future.  With the benefit of hindsight, it's now easy to see the significance of the laptop seized from Ramzi Yousef's hotel room in the Philippines back in 1995 which contained, among other things, a plan to simultaneously blow up a dozen American jumbo jets flying over the Pacific; a plan to dive-bomb an airplane into CIA headquarters; and a plan to hijack a commercial airplane and crash it into a Washington, DC landmark.  One can also now appreciate the importance of the December 1994 hijacking of an Air France flight in Algiers by the Armed Islamic Group, which intended to either explode the plane over Paris or else crash it into the Eiffel Tower.

Details of foiled plots can provide important signals of what the terrorists will attempt in the future.  And foiled plots are also worthy of our attention because if we focus only on those terrorist attacks that actually succeed -- to the exclusion of those plots that law enforcement is able to break up -- then we may end up underestimating the magnitude of the terrorist threat.

U.S. Embassy Baghdad Blast - Updated (again) for More Arrest News

By Andrew Cochran

US Embassy in Baghdad hit by rocket: 2 dead, others wounded ay U.S. Embassy. UPDATE 1, January 30: U.S. forces on Saturday captured seven suspected insurgents believed to be behind an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that killed two Americans and wounded six. UPDATE 2, January 30, DOD press release on arrests.

Ward Churchill at Hamilton College

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Hamilton College -- last seen trying to hire Weathermen Underground terrorist Susan Rosenberg as a faculty member -- has now invited 9/11 celebrator Ward Churchill to participate on a Feb. 3 panel on "Limits of Dissent?"  The panel will be hosted by Hamilton's left wing Kirkland Project for the Study of Gender, Society and Culture.  (Click here to see Churchill's academic profile; as pointed out by a reader over at The Corner, Churchill's list of selected publications does not feature a single book published by an academic press.)

The inclusion of Churchill in this panel has kicked up a storm of controersy because of a truly remarkable essay that Churchill authored on September 12, 2001 about the 9/11 attacks entitled "Some People Push Back:  On the Justice of Roosting Chickens."  The essay is notable for its repugnance; in it, Churchill hails the "gallant sacrifices" of the "combat teams" that struck the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, and asserts that the 9/11 victims got what was coming to them:  "The [Pentagon] and those inside comprised military targets, pure and simple.  As to those in the World Trade Center:  Well, really.  Let's get a grip here, shall we?  True enough, they were civilians of a sort.  But innocent?  Gimme a break.  They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire -- the 'mighty engine of profit' to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved -- and they did so both willingly and knowingly.  If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it."  The essay is also notable for Churchill's obvious ignorance of the subject matter about which he chose to opine.

The chairman of Hamilton's board of trustees, Stuart Scott, has admitted that the decision to invite Churchill was "a bad one," but has said that the school will allow him to speak "as a matter of principle."  For an apt critique of the "free speech" defense of Churchill's appearance, see Roger Kimball's thoughts on the matter.  Churchill's defenders would also do well to consider their commitment to free speech when the shoe is on the other foot.  Daniel Pipes has written about the many times that he has been protested as a speaker on college campuses (and his various writings on the subject are catalogued here).  Those who would defend Churchill's right to speak would, it seems, have no ground to protest Pipes's appearance as a speaker.  Pipes is a highly-respected authority with an enormous amount of expertise in studying the Middle East, and represents a viewpoint (staunchly pro-America and pro-Israel) that is sadly lacking in most Middle Eastern studies departments.

Pipes's supporters, on the other hand, would not be trapped in any fatal contradiction by opposing Churchill's appearance.  Churchill, after all, is an underqualified academic yahoo whose main claim to fame is embracing anti-American academic chic at every juncture.  As OpinionJournal.com recently noted, "his screeds usually attract little notice outside obscure Marxist Web sites."  And unlike Pipes, who provides a perspective that is worth considering even if you ultimately disagree with it, Churchill's writing evinces a laughable ignorance of basic fact. 
  

Oil-for-Food: BNP Paribas has problems

By Andrew Cochran

As brave Iraqis make the transition to democracy, investigators continue to pursue the $20+ billion that Saddam Hussein stole from them through the U.N. Oil-for-Food program. Here is one unclassified summary prepared by a congressional committee of the deficiencies in meeting Patriot Act and Bank Secrecy Act requirements at BNP Paribas, the French-based bank that managed the OFF funds, covering the period from November 2001 through July 2004. For instance, in July 2003, regulators found numerous discrepancies in the OFF files. In February 2004, a banking industry group that reviewed BNP's files reported to BNP management that its program to prevent money laundering was "inadequate," and record keeping and reporting were "weak." There is more, MUCH more, on the way from prosecutors and congressional committees.

Interesting, Overlooked news from Africa

By Douglas Farah

Here is one of several reports from the end of last year that friends at Global Witness and other NGOs have passed on recently, pointing to some of the dangerous trends in the relatively stateless areas of Africa where the United States remains almost totally unegaged. Note that Angola has a long, bloody civil war, largely fueled, like those of Sierra Leone and Liberia, over diamonds. What is interesting is that it is on the record and fairly specific in the information.

From AFP, November 27, 2004 Saturday 9:49 AM GMT
LENGTH: 229 words
HEADLINE: Islamic extremist groups recruiting in Angola: intelligence chief
DATELINE: LUANDA Nov 27

BODY:

Two Islamic extremist groups are trying to recruit commandos in Angola to carry out suicide missions outside the southwest African country, the Jornal de Angola newspaper cited the head of intelligence as saying Saturday.

"We have signs... that indicate that at least two internationally known terrorist groups are present in Angola," General Frenando Garcia Miala was quoted as saying.

The two groups which are in Angola are not only trying to recruit members, they also "trying to gather funds for their overseas operations, and are hiding their members who are sought internationally."

"Recently, a religious sect tried to recruit new members to its ranks, preferring former soldiers who specialised in engineering," Miala said in an interview. "No candidate with the desired experience was signed up because the suicide mentality doesn't exist in our culture, especially not when it's for a foreign cause," he said.

"We have also learned that some Angolans have been awarded scholarships by a so-called religious organisation but they were somewhere in Egypt in a centre where they were learning Muslim fundamentalist doctrine," said the general. The four Angolans he was referring to "ran away to Cairo where they were taken in by our country's representatives. They had failed to adapt because they
saw that (Islamic fundamentalism) was contrary to our culture."

New Report on Saudi-Sponsored Anti-American Propaganda INSIDE the U.S.

By Andrew Cochran

Freedom House�s Center for Religious Freedom released a new report today exposing the dissemination of hate propaganda in America by the government of Saudi Arabia. Here is the press release with highlights, and you can download the actual report here.

Riggs sale in trouble? (UPDATE: Maybe not)

By Andrew Cochran

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the sale of Riggs to PNC might be in jeopardy after Riggs's guilty plea yesterday. Maybe it's a negotiating ploy to lower the price, and maybe the end of Riggs won't be as neat as first thought. UPDATE: The Pittsburgh press is reporting that there is no problem.

Ansar al-Sunnah Army Steps up Campaign Against Iraqi Elections

By Evan Kohlmann

Following in close succession to similar statements from Al-Qaida's Committee in Iraq and other militant groups, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army has issued two final "ultimatums" to the Iraqi people regarding the upcoming democratic national elections.  The statements make clear that Ansar al-Sunnah is intent upon attacking voters, election centers, poll volunteers, and political candidates--even after the election is over.   The Ansar al-Sunnah Army appears to be particularly focused on potential election targets in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.  It is still unclear how significant these threats of violence will be in deterring Iraqi voters from going to the polls.

Click to view translation of Jan. 27 final ultimatum on the Iraqi elections from Ansar al-Sunnah
Click to view translation of Jan. 27 final ultimatum to election center staff in the city of Mosul
Click to view Jan. 27 video of Ansar al-Sunnah breaking into an election center in Mosul and blowing it up with a placed charge (as seen on NBC Nightly News)

Update: For those interested, I will be a guest on MSNBC tonight between 5:30 and 6pm EST discussing various leadership figures in Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaida faction in Iraq who have been recently captured or killed.

Supreme Court Sending Immigration Message ? Deport Deportable Aliens

By Bill West

Recent Supreme Court immigration related cases make it clear the Court supports treating aliens fairly and humanely and with appropriate judicial due process; but a Somali case originating in Minnesota also makes it clear the Court believes aliens who are finally adjudicated deportable should be removed from the United States and the decision gives wider authority and latitude to the Executive Branch of the Government to do just that.

Positive Changes at Key U.S. House Committee

By Andrew Cochran

Rep. Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, has announced major changes that, in my opinion, will result in a very forceful role on counterterrorism issues, beyond the current position as the leading House committee in the Oil-for-Food investigation. Highlights: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher will chair a new Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee that will focus on the corruption at the U.N. The corrupt or incompetent bureaucrats at the U.N. who let Saddam steal billions are in for a shock - Rep. Rohrabacher will surely pursue the investigation and proposals for changes in U.N. governance at full speed. Rep. Ed Royce will chair the International Terrorism & Nonproliferation Subcommittee. He is passionate in their desire to defeat Islamic-based extremism and very knowledgeable, having studied the issue for years at that committee and the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Chris Smith will chair an expanded Subcommittee on Africa, Human Rights, and International Operations. This is bad news for weak-kneed bureaucrats and so-called "allies" who don't keep their promises. I predict that "House IR" will be one of the most energetic committees on the Hill during the next two years.

Dear Readers: Thanks and Invitation

By Andrew Cochran

We completed our third week yesterday. On behalf of the Contributing Experts, I want to thank the thousands of visitors to the site from around the world, especially other experts and analysts. Thanks also for your compliments, comments, and even criticisms. I'm going to add Contributing Experts and new items to the Counterterrorism Library soon. Now an invitation: I have the most trouble finding good public seminars and training events that I can put into that area on the left sidebar. So if you have something planned and you want free advertising, especially in the U.S., send me the details, and I'll post as many as I can.

Hezbollah and the Antiglobalization Movement

By Matthew Levitt

The World Social Forum (WSF) is currently (January 26�31) convening a Global Anti-War Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Among the issues to be addressed are coordinating actions across borders, determining which tactics to use, finding ways of penalizing countries that act as U.S. allies in conflicts like the Iraq war, and building stronger links between the anti-globalization movement and movements in the Arab and Muslim worlds. The Beirut Assembly, the most recent of these gatherings, committed to struggling against what it termed �the occupation of Iraq, Palestine, corporate-led globalization, and dictatorships.� It also provided some interesting indications that certain elements in the antiglobalization movement are prepared to work with Hizballah. To read the complete report by Ely Karmon, click here.

Houston Chronicle article: Border travelers warned of violence

By Michael Cutler

The article that appeared in Today�s Houston Chronicle reported on the fact that on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 the United States Department of State issued a travel advisory to citizens of the United States because of increased violence in the northern regions of Mexico that extends to the border of the United States. The alert stopped short of recommending that Americans not travel to Mexico, but it is certainly incredible that the country that shares our southern border and sends us more illegal aliens than any other country, should be experiencing such extreme levels of violence while the president of that country talks about the need to virtually dismantle the border that separates the United States from Mexico. Additionally, the administration has stated that although Congress has authorized the hiring of an additional 2,000 Border Patrol agents to secure the border, only about 10 percent of that number will be hired. The article can be found at: www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/3011137

Al-Qaida Issues Final Warning Before Iraqi Elections

By Evan Kohlmann

After claiming responsibility for dozens of recent suicide attacks, roadside bombings, and ambushes across central and northern Iraq,  Al-Qaida's Committee in Iraq--led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi--has issued a final warning on the eve of the Iraqi elections: "take care not to go near to the centers of sin and disbelief (election centers) and this is your warning so do not blame us for anything that will happen as a result... We ask the gardens and the virgins in heaven to prepare themselves, and for the Martyrs Brigade to be happy because the wedding of the martyrs is very close.�

Click to view English translation
Click to view video of Al-Qaida roadside bombing in Iraq on Jan. 13

Riggs Bank, the Arthur Andersen of banking

By Andrew Cochran

It has finally come to this: Riggs Bank, which used to advertise itself as "the most important bank in the most important city in the world," is finally about to plead guilty to a criminal count of violating the Bank Secrecy Act and pay a fine of $16-18 million, according to today's news. The Washington Post is reporting that the settlement still enables PNC to buy Riggs and doesn't end the ongoing criminal investigations into directors' actions. The story attempts to put the relatively low fine (compared to AmSouth's $40 million) in context. Others will raise recent stories about a "Riggs-CIA connection" as a reason for the lighter fine and its continued existence. No matter: Riggs is basically finished - it is the Arthur Andersen of banking, and won't exist as a living institution within a year or two. The Andersen breakup was painful to watch, and nobody in official Washington circles reallty wants to kill thousands of innocent jobs over the stupid, possibly even corrupt, actions of senior employees. The Riggs sale will be much neater. The real question is how many other Riggses are there in DOJ's sights?

Saber Rattling in Tehran

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

I've previously written about how Iran continued the long process of back-tracking from its moves toward moderation when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reaffirmed the fatwa against Salman Rushdie by referring to Rushdie as an apostate whose blood may be shed with impunity.

Many concerns have been expressed about Iran's nuclear program.  An Iran armed with nuclear weapons -- given what we know about the nature of that country's regime -- would be bad news for the world.  Yesterday, Israeli intelligence announced that it expects Iran's nuclear program to reach the "point of no return" by the end of the year, at which point Iran may be capable of enriching uranium for military purposes.

Iran chimed in today with some saber-rattling.  Brigadier-General Mohammad-Ali Jafari, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, was quoted today as saying, "We will counter any stupid action by Israel and its master [the United States] with firmness and in an astonishing way."  Referring to the 1980-88 war with Iraq, Jafari stated, "We pushed the Baathist enemy from our country within one and a half years.  With the experience and skills from that war and in the case of any invasion, the invaders will be defeated in less than one and a half months."

The Bush administration is obviously concerned about Iran's nuclear program.  President Bush has said that he could not rule out the use of force if Tehran refuses to rein in its nuclear program, while Vice President Cheney has warned that Israel might launch a pre-emptive strike on its own to take out Iran's nuclear capabilities.

The Foreign Mujahideen "Martyrs" of Iraq: '03-'04

By Evan Kohlmann

During 2003-2004, hundreds--perhaps thousands--of foreign fighters from across the Middle East, Asia, and even Europe traveled to Iraq to join Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other militants in a jihad against the U.S. and its coalition allies.  These men include both trained Al-Qaida veterans from conflicts like Afghanistan, and Chechnya, and also less-experienced but still quite zealous young recruits.  A Globalterroralert.com dossier is now available for download profiling a group of foreign mujahideen killed in Iraq during 2003-2004--including top commanders, reputed suicide bombers, and even one of the masked executioners of U.S. hostage Eugene Armstrong.

Click to view dossier on Iraq's foreign fighters...

Is there meat (real money) on the bone (Bush Administration plans)? (Updated)

By Andrew Cochran

Two items in this week's news that are the subject of some discussion and recent concern on the Hill: DHS Secretary Ridge admitted that the 2,000 new border agents authorized in the intel reform act won't be fully funded, and the DOJ Office of Special Investigations, which was authorized to take on new responsibilities in the intel reform act, might not be quite ready for prime time, from what we hear from several sources. UPDATE: Administration plans to spend much more to crack down on undocumented workers and arrest and deport illegal immigrants, but increase Broder Patrol by 210 agents.

A New Designation Points to an Independent Zarqawi Financial Network

By Douglas Farah

The U.S. Treasury Department just designated Sulayman Khalid Darwish, a Syrian, as a terrorist financier. He is the first person to be designated for directly offering financial support to the Zarqawi network (Jama'at al Tawid al Jihad) in Iraq. What is interesting about the designation is that is clearly shows a separate financial pipeline to Zarqawi, one that operates independently of the Baathist elements who finance themselves with Saddam's cash. This separation has been the topic of some debate within the U.S. intelligence community, although my European friends had no doubt about the separation. There may even have been specific times when Zarqawi actually gave financial aid to the Baathists, when the Baathist money shipments were delayed. Darwish was responsible for sending $10,000 to $12,000 to Zarqawi every 20 to 25 days. He also is responsible for recruiting combatants for Iraq, and is an expert in forging documents. Replacing him in the latter operation may be the most difficult and most crucial for the network. While there are numerous replacements for bagmen and recruiters, a good document forger is hard to find.

The separate financial pipeline is important because it not only opens up another front that need to be dealt with in the efforts to cut off funding (as opposed to simply going after the Baathist money), but it also means that the financial needs of the Salafist/al Qaeda/Zarqawi network are growing. I have heard nothing to hint they are having any difficulty meeting these new needs, and that is bad news, indeed.
The rest of the blog can be read here.

Treasury Designates al-Zarqawi & al Qaida Financier - Involved in Jordan Chemical Bomb Plot

By Andrew Cochran

The Treasury Department announced that they designated Sulayman Khalid Darwish, Syrian financier of the al-Zarqawi network and al Qaida, as a terrorist, and will send his name to the U.N. for further action by other countries. Jordan sought his extradition from Syria last August, with no success, for planning the chemical bombing of the Jordanian intelligence building in early 2004 - here's an AP story on that plot at that time.

Hamas Fronts Active in Europe

By Matthew Levitt

Recently released documents siezed from the West Bank offices of charities and other organizations affiliated with Hamas highlight the central role Western front organizations play in financing Hamas. While some documents refer to otherwise innocuous donations such as �food packages� and �holiday packages,� many specifically note �The project of assistance to the families of the martyrs, the wounded and those who sustained damage.� Chief among these Western Hamas fronts are the London-based Interpal and the al Aqsa Charitable Foundation with offices throughout Europe.

For more on these front organizations, clikc here or here.

Malkin Exclusive on plane forced down in Texas

By Andrew Cochran

Michelle Malkin has exclusive details on the plane involving three Arab flight students tracked by the FBI. BIG kudos to Michelle.

Al-Qaida Affiliates Respond to Zarqawi's Call

By Evan Kohlmann

Apparently, the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi audio recording released last week featuring greetings to various terrorist leaders around the world did not go unnoticed.  The Algerian Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat (GSPC) has issued a written statement on behalf of its leader Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud thanking Zarqawi and Al-Qaida in Iraq for "pleasing our hearts" by killing "the enemy crusaders and their agents."  The message added, "we apologize for not returning your greeting directly by audio but our situation in Algeria is different from what is faced in Iraq, Chechnya, or Saudi Arabia because the mujahideen are entrenched in remote places."

Click to view English translation at Globalterroralert.com...

Questions Concerning Arrest of "Top" Zarqawi Lieutenant in Baghdad

By Evan Kohlmann

Yesterday, Iraqi security forces announced the January 15 arrest of an alleged senior lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.  The suspected bomber in custody, identified as Sami Mohammed Ali Said Jaaf � also known as Abu Omar Kurdi � was described in a government statement as having admitted to masterminding over "75%" of the car bombings in Baghdad since March 2003, including the spectacular truck bomb assassination of Shiite leader Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim in August 2003 in Najaf.

Here's the problem that arises... Jaaf's alleged mea culpa to the Iraqis appears to possibly contradict with the account of Abu Anas al-Shami--Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's infamous former right hand man until his death last September. 

Top Zarqawi Lieutenant Captured

By Matthew Levitt

As noted below, the interim Iraqi government announced on Monday that Sami Muhammad Al Said al-Ja'af (aka Abu Umar al-Kurdi) was arrested in Baghdad on January 15th. He confessed to police that he was responsible for 75% of the car bombs used in Iraq since March.

To read the official Iraqi security press release, click here.

Reminder: Saddam Used Oil-for-Food $$ for Suicide Bombers (Chart of Payments)

By Andrew Cochran

When U.S. Senators debate and vote this week on the confirmation of Dr. Rice to be Secretary of State, they should keep in mind that one clear "collaborative relationship" that Saddam Hussein had with terrorists was through the Oil-for-Food program. In the hearing held by the House International Relations Committee last November 17, Rep. Henry Hyde, committee chairman, stated that "Saddam paid $25,000 rewards to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers through the Iraqi ambassador to Jordan out of accounts in the Rafidain Bank in Amman which held kickback money Saddam demanded from suppliers to his regime." The committee displayed the following chart of the payment scheme, which has, to the best of my knowledge, not heretofore been released on the web (click on thumbnail).