Cuban Bio-Weps a Threat to US?

By Bill West

The Miami Herald reported Wednesday that a Cuban defector who was a Cuban army colonel in charge of their military medical services for ten years has now publicly stated the Cuban government is involved in developing and stockpiling biological weapons. The defector, Roberto Ortega, claims he has now gone public because he believes the US government has not acted sufficiently on the information he previously provided in confidence. According to Ortega, Cuban personnel originally collected samples of the germ warfare material in Africa and Cuban scientists successfully reproduced the deadly agents at a secret underground facility southwest of Havana.

While the official US Government position on Cuba's bio-weapons appears undeterminative, some officials have indicated in the past their belief the Cubans do possess such weapons to some extent. If Ortega's claims are correct, this may pose a serious potential terror threat to the US.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Growing Sunni-Shiite Conflict

By Victor Comras

My colleague Olivier Guitta has just posted an excellent piece on the growing Sunni Shiite conflict. The heightened tensions between these two principal confessions of Islam is already putting great pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood. There has long been a significant movement within the Muslim Brotherhood supporting a closer alliance between Hamas and Hezbollah in their war against western influence in the Middle East and against Israel. Muslim brotherhood members in Egypt and around the Middle East rallied behind Hezbollah and it leader, Hassan Nasrallah during last years Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the early stages of Nasrallah's challenge to the current Lebanese government. But this could all well backfire against the Muslim Brotherhood. They have already lost some key Saudi financial and other support, and are witnessing a growing backlash, in Eygpt, against their identification with on-going Shiite proselyzing activities in Eygpt. This provided a convenient moment for the Egyptian government to crack down on Muslim Brotherhood members and sympathizers.

Interestingly, against this background, the Muslim Brotherhood still went ahead last week – along with Al Jazeera Television -- to bring together, on the same TV platform, Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qarawdawi (Sunni) and Iran ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Shiite). The gathering was termed as “the first high-profile meeting between top Sunni and Shiite Scholars.”

Rafsanjani and Al Qarawdawi both tried to use the meeting to express a common bond against Israel and Western influences in the region. Rafsanjani used the session to garner greater support for Iran’s nuclear program. He blamed “"ignorant" Sunnis and Shiites” for stroking tensions and playing into the hands of Zionism and “Satan” America. These enemies, he said, were trying to pit Muslims against one another and to throw a spanner in the good work of Sunni and Shiite scholars to cement unity. "The acts of extremists from both sides should not be allowed to disunite Sunnis and Shiites,” he said, “Zionism and Israel are the main danger." "The Muslim nation with up to one billion Muslims and some 60 Muslim heavyweight countries with energy sources and great potentials must join forces to defend the unity of Muslims."

Al Qarawdawi also expressed a warm desire for greater Sunni-Shiite unity, but criticized Iran and Shiite leaders for their proselytizing activities. Such proselytizing, he said, had to stop in Sunni dominated countries such as Egypt, Sudan and Tunisia. He warned that Shiite leaders must also put an immediate stop (and should issue a Fatwa banning) those in the Shiite community from continuing to “insult the companions,” referring specifically to Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (the 4th Caliph) who is revered by Sunni muslims. For him, this was the only real stumbling block for greater Sunni-Shiite unity -- rather than the ongoing Shiite-Sunni conflict in Iraq and Lebanon. While he called on Iran's leader's to help stop the violence in Iraq, that appeared throughout his presentation as a secondary issue. When it came to the West, and to Israel, Qaradawi and Rafsanjani sang the same song. Qaradawi made it clear that differences with Shiites should not be used as a pretext by any Sunnis for not supporting Tehran in its confrontation with the United States. "If Iran was attacked by the United States, we would rally behind it, no doubt about that," he said. "We cannot tolerate an aggression on any Muslim country…I said it before for many times that we will support Iran definitely," he said. He also added his personal support for Iran's "right to have a peaceful nuclear technology."

I doubt this joint presentation with Rafsanjani will help improve Saudi - Muslim Brotherhood relations. This is an issue that bears close watching.

Another front on the Sunni-Shiite war

By Olivier Guitta

I just wrote a piece for The Examiner on the aggressive proselytizing going on in the Arab world.
Here is an excerpt:
While the media focuses on the aggressive Iranian expansion in the whole Middle East, another insidious campaign is being orchestrated by Iran to control the region. Proselytizing is the new name of the game.

And since, through this Iranian-sponsored operation, Sunnis have been converting to Shiism in significant numbers, Sunni states are starting to react. That could well open a new front in the Sunni-Shiite war.

Of all Sunni countries, Saudi Arabia is the one feeling the most threatened by this new wave of Shiite proselytizing. “If it’s not to export the revolution like in the time of the Khomeini regime, Shiism exportation, as we see it today is still unacceptable” noted Saudi Social Affairs Minister Abdel Mohsen al Hakas.

Interestingly, Saudi King Abdullah went further in a recent interview with the Kuwaiti daily Al Seyassah when he accused Shiites of trying to convert Sunnis and added that he knew exactly who was behind this campaign, clearly pointing his finger at Tehran.

It is a vital issue for the kingdom, which does not want more potential destabilization since its own Shiite minority already represents 10 percent of the total population and is located in the oil-rich region of the country.

While it looks like ex-Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar is pushing for U.S. military action against Iran, other leaders inside the kingdom are trying to fight off Iran on the religious front. That’s why Rihab Massud, a close advisor to Bandar stated: “Iran will never become the leader of the Islamic world.”

A Small But Important Step on Darfur

By Douglas Farah

The International Criminal Court took the small but important step of naming names in the Darfur atrocities, homing in on the inner circle of president Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The ICC outlines the clear lines of responsibility of senior government officials in the creation and direction of the _janjaweed_ militias now famous for ravaging their own people, raping women and burning desolate huts in a genocidal effort of ethnic cleansing. This is terrorism writ large.

It is not enough, but the name and shame campaign is at least a step. Perhaps the West should go further in naming and shaming, now that the government, while long known to be responsible, is finally being called to some modest account.

Sudan is an Islamic republic, run by leaders of the international Muslim Brotherhood. The Darfur atrocities are as much a religious campaign as it is ethnic. Yet no one asks what, in the name of Allah, gives a government of self-proclaimed Islamists, the right, within its own religious context, to carry out such atrocities? My full blog is here.

UN Counter-Terrorism Handbook -- Form Over Substance

By Victor Comras

Following up on a recommendation contained in last year’s UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the UN has put together a new on-line “counter-terrorism” handbook which is meant to help guide countries wishing to assess UN counter-terrorism support services. As the UN Counter-Terrorism Handbook Site states:

This site has been created to provide Member States with current and relevant information on the United Nations' and its entities' work and resources contributing to countering terrorism. A number of different search functions are provided to help you better determine and access the information you need….The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Online Handbook is an initiative that arose from the call of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy … to “ensure overall coordination and coherence in the counter-terrorism efforts of the United Nations system. Combining information from the { 22-member Counter-Terrorism Implementation} Task Force, the Online Handbook provides Member States, UN country teams, and relevant institutions with information available {from} United Nations counter-terrorism related resources.

While this new "handbook" represents more form than substance, it certainly makes it a lot easier to access and identify what's actually going on within the the 22 different UN agencies, offices and committees that touch on some aspect of counter-terrorism. Unfortunately, when it comes to substance, the information and data now available is quite paltry.

The most useful information is contained on the Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee’s new website. One has access, there, to the Consolidated List of designated individuals and entities associated with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. There is also a link to UNSC Resolution 1735 (2006) which, like previous resolutions, places a clear obligation on all countries to cut off their funding, to freeze their assets, to stop their international travel and to keep arms, explosives and other military equipment out of their hands. Unfortunately, there appears little the committee can do to hold countries failing in these responsibilities accountable.

The new Al Qaeda and Taliban Committee Website also provides separate direct links to the reports issued by the Committee’s Monitoring Team and the previous Independent Monitoring Group. The Monitoring Team reports provide a useful overview of the systemic problems and issues associated with implementing the required measures against al Qaeda and the Taliban. But, they lack the punch, and the “name and shame” accountability that was associated with the more independent Monitoring Group’s reports.

Another useful item now available via the handbook is a just issued “Best Practices in Combating Terrorism” pamphlet just published by Interpol. The pamphlet provides a basic review of Interpol services that can be enlisted by any country to assist in combating terrorism. This includes some very basic services such as helping countries disseminate information and post “look outs” for known and suspected terrorists, including those already designated by the UN Al Qaeda Committee.

The UN Counter-Terrorism Committee has also been given a website facelift. This site provides a useful jumping off spot for researching the various UN offerings with regard to counter-terrorism technical assistance and capacity building. One can also research the various country submitted reports concerning their national counter-terrorism laws and strategies.

While there is still little new substance-wise, the greater transparancy into UN Counter-Terrorism activities may serve as a catalyst to spur on these UN groups to greater, and more effective activities.

Will a Lebanon Deal Come at Syria's Expense?

By David Schenker

Today the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where I am a senior fellow in Arab politics, released my newest analysis of the most recent discussions on the future of Lebanon. Several paragraphs from it follow, and you can read the entire piece on the Washington Institute site.

The basic deal seems to be more power for Hizballah in return for ending the possibility of a renewed Syrian role in Lebanon through a tribunal exposing Syria’s involvement in the Hariri assassination. Still, based on press accounts, an agreement remains uncertain. According to the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, as of February 21, Riyadh and Tehran had crafted a proposal that was being vetted with Damascus. Meanwhile, Nabih Berri had delivered the opposition’s notes on required modifications to international tribunal law for Saudi review. Cabinet composition is still under discussion, according to al-Hayat, with the opposition sticking to its demand for a blocking third.

It is not clear that the Saudis will be able to convince Iran or Hizballah to back down from demands for a blocking third or opposition to the tribunal. Unlike the Fatah-Hamas national unity government deal brokered by Riyadh earlier this month, $1 billion in funding may not do the trick. Moreover, it seems implausible that Iran and Hizballah will be lured into a deal merely by the carrot of avoiding civil war. If money and fears of Sunni-Shiite violence are not enough to convince Iran to allow the tribunal to proceed, this round will likely fail, just as the Arab League mediation did.

For the time being, it appears that Iran and Hizballah will not sacrifice Syria for a Lebanon deal. Ultimately, however, if a deal is to be reached and Lebanon is to avoid civil war, Hizballah will have to consent—even if only temporarily—to approve the tribunal in parliament. The framework of the deal, as currently structured, essentially forces Hizballah to choose between securing its local interests (more political power in Lebanon) and protecting its Syrian ally (by opposing the tribunal). While Hizballah and Iran would like both, it seems likely that, at the end of the day, they will choose to prioritize political power. And this is what troubles Damascus.

Coalition Forces in Iraq Still Finding Foreign Aid For Terrorists in Recent Captures

By Andrew Cochran

Captures in Iraq in recent days highlight the continued prevalence of foreign fighters and funding for Al Qaeda and other terrorists from Iraq's "neighbors" in the Muslim world. Today, according to a Defense Department press release, coalition forces captured a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq emir in Baghdad, three "suspected foreign terrorist facilitators" in operations near Samarra, and eight more in "a foreign fighter safe house" west of Mahmudiyah. DoD announced on February 25 that Iraqi Ninewa Special Weapons and Tactics Team arrested "a suspected member of a foreign fighter smuggling network" who is "believed to be part of a network facilitating the movement of foreign fighters, arms and money into Iraq" that support insurgent attacks targeting Iraqi civilians and Iraqi Security Forces. And another raid in Mosul led to the discovery of "a large amount of Egyptian and Syrian money and false passports and identification cards." Last week, Iraqi police captured Issa Abdul-Razzaq Ahmed, who had traveled to neighbouring countries, especially Syria and the UAE, to collect funds for militant operations in Iraq. Ahmed was one of the most wanted Al Qaeda-connected terrorists in Iraq.

Evan Kohlmann has posted here often, most recently on February 24, on the presence of foreign fighters in the Iraq jihad. The Iraq Study Group report (a.k.a. Baker-Hamilton report) on Iraq, released in December, slammed Gulf states for doing little to stop funding for the insurgency: "Funding for the Sunni insurgency comes from private individuals within Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, even as those governments help facilitate U.S. military operations in Iraq by providing basing and overflight rights and by cooperating on intelligence issues." Will the U.S. push Gulf states to do more to stop this funding, just as it apparently pushing Pakistan to pursue terrorists in Waziristan? Or are we trying to stem Sunni-based terrorism by Al Qaeda and others in Iraq while fomenting a Sunni-vs.-Iran war elsewhere? That kind of "complicated" foreign policy move isn't something at which the U.S. has excelled, especially in the Middle East (remember Iran-Contra?).

Protect the U.S. From British "Homegrown" Terrorists by Ending Visa Waiver Program

By Michael Cutler

The war on terror is continuing and many of the countries that are America's staunchest allies are becoming increasingly aware of the threat that terrorists pose within their own borders. This article released yesterday states that there are more than 1,600 "home grown" al-Qaeda terrorists in Great Britain planning to launch attacks against England. Anyone who would launch a terrorist against attack England would have to see the United States as a potential target as well.

No one can doubt the close relationship that the United States and Great Britain have. Great Britain has assumed a major role in assisting the United States in prosecuting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. England is among the 27 countries whose citizens are not required to obtain visas before seeking entry into our country. However, the disturbing fact is that there are terrorists who live in Great Britain that hate England and the United States. Examples of the hatred abound. Richard Reid, the so-called "Shoe Bomber" was a British national who hid explosives in his shoes, intent on downing an airliner. British citizens participated in the bombing of the famed British subway system called the "Underground" in England. Other terrorist plots have been disrupted when British authorities discovered them before they could be set into motion including a plot to bring seemingly harmless fluids onto airliners, meet up with confederates who carried other fluids that when mixed together would create potent explosives to be used to destroy number of airliners over the Atlantic Ocean as these airliners were en route to the United States. These attempts at concealing explosives in shoes and seemingly innocuous fluids has resulted in a ratcheting up of security measures in the United States. When we travel by plane, these days, we know that we will have to remove our shoes and that we will be severely restricted in the quantity of fluids that we may bring on board the airliner with us. This is our country's response to the threat that explosives may be concealed by terrorists who would use them to blow up airliners in flight and kill hundreds of innocent travelers. Most travelers in the United States just shrug off these impositions and say that it is just a "sign of the times." Indeed, I believe that it is probably prudent to take these measures.

However, why is our nation unwilling to end the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) in this day and age when Americans have gotten used to all sorts of inconveniences and indignities in the name of security? The visa requirement provides 4 major enhancements that would aid our efforts to protect our nation.

What Makes Iran so Different From Other Potential Targets

By Douglas Farah

It is clear that Iran will not halt its nuclear program. How far away the nation is to being able to build a bomb is the subject of much debate, and I don't know enough to opine.

But one thing makes attacking Iran far more difficult and dangerous on a global level than attacking Iraq or Afghanistan because Iran can strike back in many places around the world.

It has a network of well-trained operatives, in the form of Hezbollah operatives and small numbers of Quds forces, already in place, trained in the arts of sabotage, demolitions and intelligence gathering. This network can be activated quickly, if Iran feels the need to retaliate against U.S or European targets.

These groups, in turn, have access to economic resources that make cutting off, even with concerted efforts, because they are deeply entrenched in the grey economies of Africa and Latin America that have been relatively impervious to previous crackdown efforts.

Iran will not be occupied militarily, and will likely be able to continue to function as a state after any possible attack-a state under sanction and pressure, but a state nonetheless, with all the trappings that go with it. My full blog is here.

Egypt's NileSat Takes Al-Zawraa, Militant Iraqi TV Channel, Off Air

By Andrew Cochran

On January 26, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross passed on a story from the BBC that al-Zawraa TV, a 24-hour station set up by the Islamic Army of Iraq and subordinate to the Mujahideen Shura Council, had been picked up by Saudi-run Arabsat. Daveed and Nick Grace had written about al-Zawraa in a January Daily Standard article.

The BBC story noted that Egypt's NileSat was already broadcasting al-Zawraa and quoted an unnamed American official saying, "Al-Zawraa is glorifying the killing of American and Iraqi government officials, which we strongly object to. This needs to be taken care of. . . . This should never have been on air in the first place, much less over the satellite of a country that professes to be a friend of the United States."

Today, Lebanon's Daily Star reports that NileSat has removed al-Zawraa, with this explanation: "'The Iraqi Al-Zawraa satellite channel on NileSat 101 was cut off after it repeatedly interfered with the transmission of several other channels,' the state-owned Al-Gomhuriyah newspaper reported. It said several channels had been experiencing transmission problems that were traced to Al-Zawraa. The channel was initially disconnected on Thursday and the problems stopped immediately."

Good move by the Egyptians. Et tu, Saudis?

Complete Text: "Bin Laden and the Oil Weapon" (from Al-Qaida's Sawt al-Jihad #30)

By Evan Kohlmann

Al-Qaida's Committee in the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia) has recently released the first new issue of its official magazine, Sawt al-Jihad ("Voice of Jihad"), in nearly two years. Among other subjects, Sawt al-Jihad #30 addresses the aftermath of the Abqaiq (Buqayq) oil refinery attack in early 2006 in an article titled "Bin Laden and the Oil Weapon." The author of the piece mocked the response in Western countries to the Abqaiq attack, insisting, "targeting the region’s oil is not an unusual or new thing... Nevertheless, the enormity of the target and the severity of the shock caused many observers to forget past events and led them to claim that Bin Laden had just begun to target oil [interests], and that this was a strategic shift in Al-Qaida policy!!" The article described oil interests as "an easy target for all the enemies of the United States" and urged terrorist strikes on "petroleum interests in all regions that the United States benefits from, and not only in the Middle East", including targeting "oil production wells, export pipelines, loading platforms, tankers--and anything else that will deprive the United States of oil... disrupt and stifle its economy, and threaten its economic and political future."

Click to view complete text of "Bin Laden and the Oil Weapon" (Sawt al-Jihad #30) c/o Globalterroralert.com

See also:
- Al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia Issues Rules on Attacking Oil Facilities (February 2006)
- Al-Qaida claims Abqaiq (Buqayq) operation by "Brigade of Shaykh Usama Bin Laden" (February 2006)
- Al-Qaida names Abqaiq "martyrs" from the "Bin Laden Brigade" (February 2006)
- Al-Qaida statement on recent events in Saudi Arabia (July 2006)
- [NEFA Foundation]: "Al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia: 2002-2003"

Bangladesh Stalled on Enacting Terrorist Finance Law

By Jonathan Winer

Internal political tension over making it illegal to finance terrorism has continued to stall enactment of a strengthened anti-money laundering law in Bangladesh. As a result, the country, whose governance remains among the weakest in the world, continues to be without meaningful legal barriers to money laundering and terrorist finance.

While enactment of an improved AML/counter terrorist finance law would not make it difficult for anyone to launder money through Bangladesh any time soon given the country's universally available hundi system, it would at least provide a foundation for the country's principal banking institutions to begin to develop meaningful AML controls.

The stalled legislation would criminalize terrorist financing; create a functional finnacial intelligence unit; provide for asset forfeiture; and facilitate international cooperation. That it continues to remain stalled because of political forces that view terrorism to be a "political" issues speaks volumes about the growing influence of extreme Islamists in Bangladesh.

Islamist influence has grown almost geometrically in Bangladesh over the past ten years, with growing discrimination against minorities, secularists, and women seeking social reform.

There are, remarkably, some positive signs. The current caretaker government, unlike its predecessor, which left Bangladesh as a near safe-haven for terrorism, is cooperating with India, China, Pakistan and the U.S. among other countries in various counter-terrorism initiatives.

But development of comprehensive counter-terrorist activities in Bangladesh would require the country meaningfully to improve its overall governance and to develop functional systems for its underground banking system. These problems continue to "threaten the social fabric" of the country, the chief advisor to the caretaker government told Dhaka businessmen February 25. How is the battle against it going? To clean up the country prior to elections, the military sought and got the resignation of the two senior officials of the country's anti-corruption commission in early February, who were widely seen as protecting the most corrupt senior members of the outgoing government.

With eyes wide open, and recognizing that there will be constant set-backs, the U.S. and other donor countries need to continue to press Bangladesh to enact the comprehensive AML and terrorist finance law. They will then need to provide for significant, long-term assistance and training in AML implementation. These must be accompanied by the provision and implementation of strategies for registering and integrating the country's underground banks into a regulatory system that still readily facilitates remittances for Bengal expatriates working as laborers throughout the Middle East and indeed, the world.

New Video: Al-Qaida's "Convoy of Martyrs" in Iraq

By Evan Kohlmann

The propaganda video "Convoy of Martyrs" that was produced by Al-Qaida's "Mujahideen Shura Council" (the precursor to the current "Islamic State of Iraq") in late 2006 has finally been publicly released. The video includes interviews with many foreign jihadists fighting for Al-Qaida in Iraq--mostly of Saudi and Syrian origin. In a recorded plea to his family, one young man from the Arabian Peninsula, Abu Nasser al-Janoobi, admonishes his brother, "I beg you to depart for the land of honor and manhood. Don't just sit there and stay behind, and don't listen to anyone who tries to stop you. Just go and kill the Americans. Just kill them and don't leave any survivors." Another Saudi national, Abul-Abbas al-Jeddawi, shows off an explosives-packed suicide car bomb and explains jubilantly, "At the end [of the wire], you can see the button which I will press on my way to paradise."

Video: Click to view excerpts from Al-Qaida's "Convoy of Martyrs" in Iraq

See also: Video - "The Role of Foreign Fighters in the Iraqi Jihad" (NEFA Foundation)
- Biography of Sudanese nationals Hassan Abdel Rahman and Sadiq al-Jilani
- Biography of Yemeni national Abu al-Mardiyah al-Yemeni
- "State of the Sunni Insurgency in Iraq: 2006" (Report and Chart)
- [NEW YORK TIMES]: "The Ever-Mutating Iraq Insurgency"
- (November 2006) - Saudi Arabian Prison Escapees Killed in Iraq

Turkish Administrative Court Freezes Yasin Al-Qadi’s Assets

By Andrew Cochran

According to Turkish news reports, Yasin Al-Qadi’s assets in Turkey will finally be frozen after years of delay. Today’s Hurriyet reports (translated for me by a respected source):

Administrative Law Divisions Council of the Turkish Administrative Court repealed the previous verdict that allowed passage of the Council of Ministers decision not to freeze Yasin Al-Qadi’s claims and assets. Previously, a verdict of the 10th Division had allowed the Council of Ministers decision on not freezing Al-Qadi’s assets.

The new decision means that Al Qadi’s entire assets have been frozen definitively. Al-Qadi’s name was included in the terrorist financiers list prepared by the UN Security Council on September 28, 2001. Complying with the UN decision, the Council of Ministers at the time had decided to freeze Al-Qadi’s assets in Turkey along with that of 131 individuals. Al-Qadi, in return filed a lawsuit to repeal the part of the Council of Ministers’ decision that concerned him. The 10th Division of the Administrative Court complied. The Council of Ministers appealed the decision; however, the appellate court dropped the case when Prime Minister declared that "he was a guarantor to Al-Qadi and trusted him as much as he trusted himself."

Administrative Law Divisions Council of the Turkish Administrative Court first denied the not-guilty plea for Al-Qadi at the Court of Appeals, and later on stopped the execution of 10th Division’s rule on the case. At the end of yesterday’s meeting, Al-Qadi’s appeal was reexamined, and ruled that the Council of Ministers was required to enforce the UN decision and that there were no legal irregularities in the previous decision to freeze Al-Qadi’s assets in Turkey.

More on Yasin al-Qadi's Connections to Turkey's Prime Minister
Its time to Put Yasin Al Kadi Out of Business!
U.S. Designates Important bin Laden/Qadi Associate
Switzerland Files Criminal Charges Against Saudi Businessman For Financing Terrorism
Turkey Prosecutor Absolves Yasin Al-Qadi, But Is He Right!

N.Y. Times: U.S. Engagement in Somalia Greater than Acknowledged

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Today the New York Times has an article on Somalia reporting that U.S. military engagement there was greater than the government has acknowledged:

The American military quietly waged a campaign from Ethiopia last month to capture or kill top leaders of Al Qaeda in the Horn of Africa, including the use of an airstrip in eastern Ethiopia to mount airstrikes against Islamic militants in neighboring Somalia, according to American officials. The close and largely clandestine relationship with Ethiopia also included significant sharing of intelligence on the Islamic militants' positions and information from American spy satellites with the Ethiopian military. Members of a secret American Special Operations unit, Task Force 88, were deployed in Ethiopia and Kenya, and ventured into Somalia, the officials said. . . . It has been known for several weeks that American Special Operations troops have operated inside Somalia and that the United States carried out two strikes on Qaeda suspects using AC-130 gunships. But the extent of American cooperation with the recent Ethiopian invasion into Somalia and the fact that the Pentagon secretly used an airstrip in Ethiopia to carry out attacks have not been previously reported.

Actually, that last sentence is not true. Regular CT Blog readers should not be surprised that U.S. military engagement in Somalia was greater than previously acknowledged by the government because I reported this in Pajamas Media well over a month ago, on January 9. An excerpt from my previous report:

U.S. ground forces have been active in Somalia from the start, a senior military intelligence officer confirmed. "In fact," he said, "they were part of the first group in." These ground forces include CIA paramilitary officers who are based out of Galkayo, in Somalia's semiautonomous region of Puntland, Special Operations forces, and Marine units operating out of Camp Lemonier in Djibouti. . . . Pajamas Media previously reported that Ethiopia's use of helicopter gunships capable of targeting the Islamic Courts Union's ground forces was a decisive factor in the army-to-army fighting against the ICU. A senior military intelligence source says that some of the gunships earlier described as Ethiopian were in fact U.S. aircraft. This has been confirmed by Dahir Jibreel, the transitional government's permanent secretary in charge of international cooperation, who said that U.S. planes and helicopters with their markings obscured have been striking targets since December 25.

The CT Blog: you heard it here first.

Iran's Move in Latin America

By Douglas Farah

Seems like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela is not the only one who is entering into new strategic alliances with Iran while much of the world is backing away.

It is not much of a surprise that Nicaragua's new/old president Daniel Ortega has, according to my sources who have seen the documents, already signed agreements to send a small group of "diplomats" to Tehran for intelligence training.

In addition, Nicaragua will support Iran's nuclear ambitions and other Iranian positions. In exchange, Nicaragua will get a hydroelectric plant, a motorcycle factory and other economic toys. This is all in concert with Venezuela, who, as today's Washington Post reports, Chavez is consolidating his control in Venezuela while buying support of other nations. Along with his "brother" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Chavez is pledging a $2 billion investment fund for the region.

Chavez and Ahmadinejad are certainly free to spend their money as they see fit. The aid is given without the stringent marco economic conditions of the loans from the World Bank and IMF. Fine.

But there are conditions nonetheless, and it is truly unbelievable to read that there are those who think this is all done from the altruistic natures of Chavez and Ahmadinejad. My full blog is here.

Explosive situation in Lebanon will continue

By Olivier Guitta

While incidents keep on piling up in Lebanon, precursor signs are pointing to an escalation of the situation triggered by Syria's allies.
First incidents against the international forces of UNIFIL in the South are increasing.
For instance last Sunday Spanish soldiers were attacked with stones by pro Hezbollah villagers in Debbine. Then on Monday it was the turn of French troops, a medical unit composed of doctors and nurses who came to Marun El Ras to treat for free some local villagers. The French were quite violently kicked out by locals favorable to Hezbollah who told them not to come back.
These incidents have not been given much publicity but they spell disaster.
On Tuesday a Minister even denounced Hezbollah's role in fomenting violence against UNIFIL troops. At the same time, UNIFIL troops are playing low profile and downplaying these stories in order to avoid terror attacks against their troops by Hezbollah terrorists.

But the confirmation of new trouble has been given by the always very knowledgeable Kuwaiti newspaper Al Seyassah. Indeed it reports that during his last week end's visit to Tehran, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad was reassured by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameni. Indeed according to the new Iranian roadmap, Syria's allies Nabih Berri and Hassan Nasrallah will not let create the international Court. And Syria must work to implode Lebanon.

Khameni promised Assad that he will prevent the two main Shia leaders: president of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri and the secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah to approve the International Court. On the other hand, Khameni pointed out to Assad that he needs to work on overthrowing the current government. Assad returned to Damascus and told his entourage that he was going “to force Hariri and Siniora to capitulate and to accept an imposed solution”.

Time will tell what's in store but unfortunately it looks like Lebanon is going to plunge again in bloody violence.

Al Qaeda in Iraq Promises Revenge For Alleged Rape in Iraq

By Andrew Cochran

The leader of Al Qaeda's "Islamic State of Iraq," Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, issued an audio tape today titled, “At Your Rescue, Sister,” threatening revenge for the alleged rape of "Sabrin al-Janabi" (a pseudonym for a Sunni woman) by Iraqi police. You can hear the entire tape from Evan Kohlmann's website (over 11 minutes long, of which Muhajir's message is about 7 minutes in length). Comments from Rita Katz's SITE Institute:

Muhajir claims that within ten hours of hearing this news, 300 Mujahideen volunteered for suicide operations, fifty of which are from the Janabiya tribe and twenty who want to marry Sabrin if she is not married. He states: “To you, the caravans of martyrs: Go ahead with Allah’s blessing and engulf their checkpoints in fire, destroy their homes, and spill their blood to flow as streams. Our Emir said: ‘I call upon every Mujahid to bear his arm and do not release it from his grasp until he meets Allah as a martyr or receives Allah’s reward’.” Muhajir adds additional appeals by the Emir of the Believers, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi: “crush their camps, cut them into pieces, and pull their hearts from their bodies.”

Samjhauta Explosion: All Eyes and Ears on March 6 Indo-Pak Anti-Terror Meeting

By Animesh Roul

Somebody has rightly observed that the glass is both half-full and half-empty for India-Pakistan relations, as things stand now. After showing extreme restraint and caution following the February 18 blasts on Indo-Pak peace train (Samjhauta Exp), India has reportedly slammed Pakistan Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed's ‘irresponsible' comments against New Delhi’s alleged non-cooperative attitude in the investigations and in providing details of the victims. Rashid earlier observed that no information was being provided about the dead by India after many futile attempts. However, Indian authority rebuked saying that he should get in touch with his own foreign office.

This blame game is not restricted to sharing information on victims alone. There are few hiccups on the terror-probe front too. Pakistan showed displeasure and has not taken kindly to the India’s fingers towards a possible Pakistani (PoK) connection in this. This is evident from its FO spokesperson’s interview with a local TV channel. On top of it, it was made clear that Islamabad will not allow interrogation of its nationals injured in the tragedy by the Indian officials.

Meanwhile, at least seven people (suspects) detained for questioning so far in a coordinated raid from neighboring states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Old Delhi locality of the National Capital. One of the arrested suspects resembled one of the sketches of two suspects released by the Haryana police on Feb 20. Two of them (See the sketches) had reportedly jumped off the train 15 minutes before the blasts.

Washington Times: Changing Minds

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

I have a column in today's Washington Times about a promising initiative in the American Muslim community designed to promote civic engagement. This initiative picked up steam after the terrorist plot uncovered last month in which nine Pakistani Muslims living in Britain planned to kidnap, torture and behead a fellow British Muslim -- a soldier who had served in Afghanistan. The American Muslim community has not reached the same level of radicalism as Europe's Muslims, and part of the thinking behind the initiative is that one reason for the differences between Muslims on the two continents is that American Muslims are far more engaged in the society in which they live. An excerpt:

But civic engagement is a process, rather than a given. Since the terror plot's announcement, [al-Husein] Madhany has approached officials in American Muslim organizations with a promising idea. It involves focusing a forthcoming conference of a major American Muslim organization on the theme of civic engagement. The conference's speeches would center on this theme, and at the end the organization would announce a contest for excellence in sermon writing that engages the issue of "how North American Muslims, individually or collectively, can take leadership roles in long-term civic engagement efforts."

Using theological sermons to spread this theme would be an important step because those who hold the pulpit are seen as authority figures in the Muslim community. There will be an immediate on-the-ground impact if the pulpit is used not to condemn those who participate in American democracy, but to encourage such participation.

Civic engagement, according to Mr. Madhany, occurs at many levels. Volunteerism, starting at a young age, is central. "We should promote children entering the Cub Scouts, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America," Mr. Madhany says. "It's also not dismissing your Muslim children's career goals if they include becoming fire chiefs, first responders, public servants within government, or policemen."

Mr. Madhany explains that aspects of this project would include involvement in education boards, parent-teacher associations, county boards and tax boards. What is critical is involvement in issues of importance to the community -- not through advocacy organizations (of which there are plenty within the American Muslim community), but through groups focused on social services and the social good.

Read the whole article here. On a personal note, al-Husein Madhany -- who designed the civic engagement initiative that my column discusses -- is a long-time friend of mine, and plays a prominent role in my book My Year Inside Radical Islam.

Cairo Can and Should Seize Hamas Funds

By Matthew Levitt

Over the past year Hamas leaders have smuggled cash into Gaza across the Egyptian border on several occasions in an attempt to circumvent the existing sanctions barring financial transactions with Hamas or the Hamas led Palestinian government.

* In May 2006, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri was caught trying to smuggle $817,000 into the Gaza Strip.

* In June 2006, Hamas’ Mahmoud al-Zahar, the Palestinian Foreign Minister, brought $20 million across the border stuffed into 12 suitcases.

* In November 2006 Mushir al-Masri and Ahmad Bahar reportedly carried suitcases containing over $4 million into Gaza.

* In December 2006, Palestinian Prime Minister and senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh tried – unsuccessfully – to carry approximately $35 million from Iran across the border.

Now, in the wake of the agreement Saudi Arabia brokered between Hamas and Fatah in Mecca, Russia and some European countries are already suggesting these sanctions should be lifted, though that position is both premature and shortsighted. In fact, now is the time to better enforce the existing sanctions regime. Egypt could help.

Imam Musa: "they are not suicide bombers; they are heroes"

By Andrew Cochran

On Monday I posted about Imam Abdul Alim Musa of Washington, who was caught on tape, taken by Steven Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism, supporting Palestinian terrorists. Last night on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes," Steve discussed additional videos taken by IPT of Musa and showed one clip in which he threatens to lead an effort to "burn America down." Steve also revealed that Musa has been to Iran and the Sudan, and discussed other clips in which Musa apparently voices support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran's late Ayatollah Khomeini. You can see the entire "H&C segment here, and the transcript of the program follows below.

As Steve suggested last night, if Musa personally traveled to Iran and the Sudan, did he also send money as "material support" to terrorists in those countries?

New Indictments For Conspiring to Commit Terrorist Acts Against Americans (updated)

By Andrew Cochran

One year ago to this day, I posted about indictments announced that day against three men in Ohio for supporting terrorist attacks in Iraq and of threatening to kill President Bush. Today, DOJ announced additional indictments in that case against the three Ohio men and added two men from Illinois to the superseding indictment. The DOJ press release announced charges against the two new defendants, Zubair A. Ahmed and his cousin, Khaleel Ahmed, both of Chicago, for conspiring to commit terrorist acts against Americans overseas. The three Ohio men (Amawi, El-Hindi and Mazloum) are jointly charged in the new indictment with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Amawi is charged with making threats against the President; Amawi and El-Hindi are charged with distributing information regarding explosives; and El-Hindi is charged with making and using false documents.

You can download all indictments in the case from the website of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, which is leading the prosecution. The indictments provide chilling details of the defendants' alleged training received with the help of another person, named only "the Trainer":

On or about April 29, 2005, AMAWI, MAZLOUM, and another individual practiced target shooting at an indoor range. AMAWI paid for the rental of two shooting lanes, and the rental of two handguns, a Beretta 9 mm pistol and a Glock 40 caliber pistol. AMAWI, MAZLOUM, the Trainer, and the other individual discussed the importance of keeping their training secret. On or about April 29, 2005, the Trainer discussed with AMAWI and MAZLOUM training with real explosives during the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, when the sounds of the explosions would not raise undue suspicion... On or about October 14, 2004, in the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division, the defendant, MOHAMMAD ZAKI AMAWI, knowingly and willfully did verbally threaten to kill or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, to and in the presence of another person.

Mustapha Khalfi, the Moroccan Islamist who spent a year in the US including Congress criticizes the US

By Olivier Guitta

How surprising!
Ilan Weinglass and I have been trying to open some eyes last year about the fact that this dangerous Islamist should not have been allowed in our country and even less given a Fulbright scholarship and work in Congress.
For the full story please click here, here and here.

Then in yesterday's Washington Post, Craig Whitlock interviews Khalfi and of course forgets to mention that Khalfi's party the PJD is an Islamist party very close to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Here's the excerpt:
Mustapha Khalfi, a member of Parliament from the opposition Justice and Development Party, said the government was arresting suspects, based on little evidence, to please U.S. officials. "They are pushing us to do some bad things," he said. "This conflicts with U.S. policy to strengthen democracy and to strengthen human rights."

Khalfi said the number of Moroccans joining the fight in Iraq had been exaggerated. At the same time, he added, as long as the U.S. military remains in Iraq, many Moroccans will feel duty-bound to help the resistance.

"There's a long tradition in the Muslim world of solidarity against occupation," he said. "It's rooted in our society. To explain it and understand it is easy."

Conclusion: we should stop paying for our enemies to come to study in our country with our tax dollars just so that they can spread their venom when they go back home.
Would it have been so difficult to pick a moderate Muslim instead of Khalfi whose blatant anti-Americanism and Anti-Semitism were well known before he reached our shores.

Problems with DOJ's Counterterrorism Numbers

By Douglas Farah

The Washington Post today carried a look at problems with the Justice Department's accounting of the number of terrorism cases it handles and other issues.

One thing stands out: the statement that U.S. attorneys "counted hundreds of terrorism cases that did not qualify for the designation because they involved minor crimes with no connection to terrorist activities."

This may be true in a technical sense, and there may be some deep problems with DOJ record keeping. As the Inspector General said, it may be decentralized, haphazard and in need of an overhaul.

But it is also wrong to summarily discount the cases made against suspected terrorists on other charges, because those are the charges that could be brought. My full blog is here.

Shutting Hezbollah's "Construction Jihad"

By Matthew Levitt

On February 20, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Jihad al-Bina, Hizballah’s construction company in Lebanon, effectively shutting the terrorist group’s firm out of the international financial system. While the designation will not take effect at the United Nations—sanctions under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 only target elements associated with al-Qaeda or the Taliban, to the exclusion of any other terrorist groups—international lenders and donors, including financial institutions, NGOs, and governments, are unlikely to want to assume the reputational risk of working to rebuild Lebanon in partnership with Hizballah instead of the Lebanese government. Moreover—and contrary to conventional wisdom—the designation presents a rare public diplomacy opportunity in the battle of ideas in the war on terror.

The full article can be found here.

Chaos in the Gulf: Kuwait preparing for war and Shia riots in Bahrein

By Olivier Guitta

As I have been pointing out for almost a year, everybody is getting ready for war in the Gulf. Latest sign: Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al Watan believes that Kuwait and NATO will sign a bilateral agreement in March. This agreement will include only Kuwait and will not concern the other monarchies in the Gulf. It will basically allow NATO to use Kuwait as “a point of safe passage made for the armies of the Alliance”. In December 2006, the two parties had already signed an agreement on intelligence sharing. Kuwait thus reinforces the Western umbrella which should protect it in the event of a regional conflict involving Iran.

Another sign of Iran creating chaos: Saudi daily newspaper Al Watantells us about the second consecutive night of riots in Bahrein. The two suspects arrested admitted having been involved with about thirty other people to spread violence in Bahreïn. Several regions with Shia majority especially in the north witnessed also violence and rioting.

Knowing of Iran's strategy to destabilize Sunni monarchies with a significant Shia minority, one should not be surprised of these latest events.

Time to Come to Grips with Russia's Real Agenda

By Douglas Farah

Secretary of State Rice seems baffled by Vladimir Putin's recent speech denouncing the United States in some of the harshest terms possible, as Anne Applebaum eloquently points out in the Washington Post.

But the time for treating Russia like a trustworthy ally in fighting global terror, or having common interests with the United States in Latin America, Africa or Europe has long passed. Only the administration, perhaps still tied by Bush's peering into Putin's soul, seems oblivious to what Russia really wants-to reestablish itself as a world power whose interests will often collide directly with the interests of the United States and its allies.

Russia is a sovereign state, and most (with important exceptions) of its clients are also sovereign states, with the right to enter into these international agreements. But it is time to stop pretending Russia's interests are anything but extremely hostile to combatting Islamist terrorism, stabilizing key regions and ending regional conflicts that pose the real threat of becoming much broader wars.

The first is Russia's ongoing supply of weapons to Iran and Hezbollah at a time when both are posing direct threats to U.S. interests in several regions, including Iraq and Lebanon. This has been well documented, including senior Israeli officials' formal protest to Russia over the sale of sophisticated anti-tank weapons that Hezbollah used with great effect in last summer's war.

This link to Hezbollah, in which Viktor Bout is alleged by U.S. and foreign intelligence officials to be directly involved, has drawn little public comment from U.S. officials.

There are other cases cases much closer to home that have drawn little response from the Bush administration. My full blog is here.

High Density Target: Major Terror Attacks on Railway Network in India

By Animesh Roul

Terrorist outfits are increasingly targeting railway and transportation systems for its ‘high-density’ character, to make a visible impact. We have experienced similar bombings in Madrid, London and Mumbai recently. In India, Islamic terror outfits, Left wing extremists (Maoists) and separatist militant groups in Northeast have been targeting rail networks to inflict maximum human casualties and economic disruption in the country. Unfortunately, despite a history of terror attacks against rail and transit systems around the world (and in fact large numbers took place in India) failed to wake the authorities to overhaul the Rail security apparatus in India. Although closed circuit televisions (CCTV) and metal detector (largely ineffective when monitored by inefficient personnel) are in place in some important stations, terrorists manage to sneak into the so called security cordon.

A Timeline of Major Attacks on Railways in India

February 18, 2007: At least 67 people killed and many injured in a terror attack on Delhi -Attari Samjhauta Express. Lashkar e Toiba and SIMI's hand is probed.

July 11, 2006: A series of seven bomb blasts on Mumbai trains killed over 200 commuters and left hundreds injured. Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) & Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) nexus blamed for the synchronized blasts.

March 07, 2006: At least 20 people killed in twin bombings at a cantonment train station and a temple in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi. LeT/SIMI nexus was behind the blasts.

July 28, 2005: Twelve people were killed and 52 others injured in the Shramjeevi Delhi-Patna Express blast. The blast occurred between Jaunpur and Sultanpur stations near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was suspected.

March 27, 2005: Seven people were killed and several injured when a powerful blast triggered by Maoists, ripped through the Ranchi-Asansol Holi Special at Gourinathdham station under Adra division in West Bengal.

Steven Emerson's Investigative Project Catches Radical Islamic Cleric On Tape Supporting Terrorism

By Andrew Cochran

Last night, Sean Hannity of Fox News revealed video tape taken by Steven Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism of Imam Abdul Alim Musa of Washington, DC, openly supporting terrorism. Musa has a long history of supporting terrorists and expressing hatred of America. On September 9, 2001, at the University of California at Irvine, he said, "You think Zionism and Palestine is the only dictatorial power in the world. We’re telling you about apartheid right here in America. Not an apartheid of the 1960s, but an apartheid right now today. When you fight Old Sam, you are fighting someone that is superior in criminality and Nazism." Musa was there to speak at a benefit for Imam Jamil Al-Amin after his conviction of murdering an Atlanta police officer. At a July 1999 rally, Musa openly displayed a cashier's check made out to Hamas to protest the declaration of Hamas as a terrorist organization in 1996.

Last night, Hannity showed a 2002 clip taken by the IPT of Musa supporting Palestinian suicide terrorists, saying at a rally, "They are not suicide bombers they are heroes," and Hannity challenged Musa in an interview to explain his views. Musa denied that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the 9-11 attacks and asserted that OBL "is on an American payroll." He denied that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and said of Hamas, "They are nice people. Very nice people."

You can see the entire tape of the Hannity program here (22 MB), and the transcript of the Hannity interview is below. I have three questions:

1. When will Abdul Alim Musa be arrested and charged with "material support" of terrorism?
2. Why did the Democratic Party invite Husham al-Husainy, another radical Imam, to give the invocation at the DNC winter meeting?
3. Will Democratic Party leaders now publicly condemn al-Husseiny and pledge to not have any more dealings with him?

I suspect we'll see much more of Musa's public statements in support of terrorism from the IPT and others in the near future.

Terror Attack on Indo-Pak Samjhauta Express

By Animesh Roul

Over 60 people have died and around 50 sustained injures in the fire triggered by bomb blasts that ripped through two bogies of the Samjhauta Express (Delhi- Attari-Lahore) on February 18 night. The incident took place near Deewana in Panipat, about 50 miles from Indian capital New Delhi. The train, literally means 'Understanding' connects New Delhi to Pakistan's city of Lahore and runs twice a week, has been the only earliest symbol of unity (initiated in 1975) between two warring South Asian nations.

Around five unexploded IEDs have been recovered from the train, kept in suitcases along with inflammable liquids. Though Intelligence sources ruled out the use of RDX in these blasts, preliminary investigation pointed at cocktail of explosives (sulphur or nitrate) and kerosene bombs were used to trigger the blasts and subsequent fire. Investigating team has found kerosene bottles on the train to facilitate fire to spread to other bogies of the train.

Simultaneous Attacks in Southern Thailand Rock Chinese New Year's Celebrations

By Zachary Abuza

In the first time in several months, Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand executed near simultaneous attacks across four provinces in the troubled south. Ethnic Chinese celebrating the start of the lunar new year were the primary targets. There were roughly 40 bombings and arson attacks that began around 7PM. Eight people were killed (five in drive by shootings) and 62 wounded by the bomb blasts. Insurgents targeted karaoke bars, hotels and other night spots, as well as department stores and gas stations. A power transmission station was also hit, throwing much of Yala into darkness. Yala was hit with 24 bombs, 7 in Betong town, alone. There were 5 bombs in the border town of Sungai Golok, a town with a large Chinese population. The two bombs in Songkhla Province cause considerable alarm to authorities in Bangkok, as the province tends to be a bellweather of whether the insurgency is spreading beyond the three Muslim dominated provinces. One bomb was placed at the door of an army major’s house, killing him. Two bombs were found and defused in a department store. Most of the bombs were 2-3kg ammonium nitrate-based devices placed in metal canisters or fire extinguishers and detonated with small digital watches. In addition to the bombings, two more schools were arsoned.

Some 2,000 people have been killed in the insurgency since January 2004. There has been a sharp up-tick in the violence since the military coup on 19 September 2006 deposed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Despite a sharp increase in deaths, there had not been a major coordinated attack across all four provinces since August 2006. Thai authorities remain unable to quell the violence.

N.Y. Times: Al-Qaeda Gaining Strength in Pakistan, Waziristan Accord Has Failed

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

A report in today's New York Times discusses American intelligence and counterterrorism officials' view that al-Qaeda's senior leadership has "re-established significant control" over the worldwide terror network. Their operations hub is located in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area:

American officials said there was mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan. Until recently, the Bush administration had described Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahiri as detached from their followers and cut off from operational control of Al Qaeda. The United States has also identified several new Qaeda compounds in North Waziristan, including one that officials said might be training operatives for strikes against targets beyond Afghanistan. . . . Officials said the training camps had yet to reach the size and level of sophistication of the Qaeda camps established in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. But groups of 10 to 20 men are being trained at the camps, the officials said, and the Qaeda infrastructure in the region is gradually becoming more mature.

Several factors have allowed al-Qaeda's core leadership to regain its strength, including "[t]he emergence of a relative haven in North Waziristan and the surrounding area." To that extent, the Times reports that officials in Washington and Islamabad are conceding that the Waziristan Accord -- which was signed on September 5, and was designed as a treaty between Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf and tribal leaders -- "had been a failure." This should come as no shock. In the October 2 issue of the Weekly Standard, less than a month after the Waziristan Accord was signed, Bill Roggio and I provided the following analysis:

The agreement is, to put it mildly, a boon to the terrorists and a humiliation for the Pakistani government. . . . The accord provides that the Pakistani army will abandon outposts and border crossings throughout Waziristan. Pakistan's military agreed that it will no longer operate in North Waziristan or monitor actions in the region. Pakistan will return weapons and other equipment seized during Pakistani army operations. And the Pakistani government essentially paid a tribute to end the fighting when it agreed to pay compensation for property destroyed during combat -- an unusual move since most of the property that was destroyed belonged to factions that had consciously decided to harbor terrorists. Of particular concern is the provision allowing non-Pakistani militants to continue to reside in Waziristan as long as they promise to "keep the peace." Keeping the peace will, in practice, be defined as refraining from attacks on the Pakistani military. Meanwhile, since the military won't be monitoring the militants' activities, they can plan and train for terrorist attacks or work to bolster the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan without being seen to violate the treaty.

It is unsurprising that the Waziristan Accord has failed: the truly astonishing news is that so many analysts waited until now to declare it a failure.

I spoke with a senior military intelligence officer about the Times article. He reports that the Times's description that camps in Pakistan have "yet to reach the size and level of sophistication of the Qaeda camps established in Afghanistan under Taliban rule" and its mention of "groups of 10 to 20 men" being trained is only a partial picture of the training camps in Pakistan. The Times article focuses on al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan, camps where militants receive the kind of training that could enable them to carry out terrorist attacks in the West. But there are also larger military training camps -- the kind that are used to train Taliban fighters to attack coalition forces in Afghanistan, or to train Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, or other Kashmiri separatist groups. The training required to carry out a terrorist attack in the West is different than what is needed to fight in Afghanistan or Kashmir.

French Court Orders Defamation Trial For Usama bin Laden's Half-Brother, Yeslam

By Andrew Cochran

For years, terrorism investigator Jean Charles Brisard has pursued financial ties which Yeslam bin Laden might have had with his half-brother, Usama. This month, a French judge decided in Brisard's favor, which could result in a public trial and possibly important disclosures about the sources of Usama bin Laden's funds.

In 2004, a French magistrate ordered an investigation into financial transfers between firms run by Yeslam Binladin (his preferred spelling), who manages assets of the family’s Saudi Binladin Group (SBG). According to a news account at the time, "Although he denied having had any contact with his half-brother for the past 20 years, the paper said, documents held by Swiss banking authorities suggest that Yeslam and Osama bin Laden held a joint account in Switzerland between 1990 and 1997, according to Jean-Charles Brisard - a private investigator hired by families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks." The judge acted after learning of a possible transfer of 241 million euros ($300 million) in 2000 from a SBG company account in Geneva through Paris and eventually to an account belonging to Usama bin Laden and a Pakistani. Yeslam Binladin told NBC News in July 2004 that he had not seen his half-brother in 20 years.

You can see a letter from UBS in German (pages 3 and 4 of the Acrobat file - the original letter) and the English translation (pages 1 and 2 of the file) about the existence of the account held by Yeslam and Usama bin Laden. Note the paragraphs near the bottom of the first page of the German version (page 3 of the file), discussing the existence of the joint account and that it existed until October 9, 1997. The English translation accidentally omits the year "1997' in that sentence (bottom of page 1 of the file).

A year after the investigation was expanded, Binladin gave an interview in which he gave derogatory comments abut Brisard's research, after which Brisard filed his defamation complaint (see interview in French here). Parisian judge Michele Ganascia ruled on tha complaint last week, ordering Binladin, the author of the interview, and the director of the weekly magazine to stand trial under the complaint. You can read the court's trial order here (in French). The trial could provide the first judicial determination of the allegations, since the investigation ordered in 2004 ended after Switzerland refused to turn over requested bank documents.

As-Sahab Video of Suicide Bombing in Afghanistan

By Evan Kohlmann

Al-Qaida's central media wing, known as the As-Sahab Media Foundation, has released a new video depicting a recent suicide car bombing attack in Afghanistan. The video includes a recorded "martyrdom" will by the bomber, footage of the creation of the bomb, and the execution of the actual attack itself. The video also features an excerpt from an interview with Taliban supreme military commander Mullah Dadullah, in which he endorses suicide bomb operations as a key weapon in confronting heavily-armed "superpowers."

Click to view suicide bombing video from As-Sahab Media Foundation

N.Y. Businessman Indicted for Terrorist Financing - Some Interesting Connections (updated 2/19)

By Andrew Cochran

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, 53, a.k.a. "Michael Mixon," a businessman and self-described "peace advocate" in New York, was indicted yesterday on multiple felony counts, including financing terrorism, material support of terrorism, and money laundering. You can download and read the entire indictment from here. With respect to the terrorism charges, Alishtari was indicted of sending $152,000 to Pakistan and Afghanistan to support a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan by funding the purchase of night-vision goggles, and of laundering $25,000 from a New York bank through a bank in Montreal as part of the funding scheme. But he was also indicted for allegedly running a six-year-long scheme through which he and unnamed others "fraudulently obtained millions of dollars in investmentsfrom various individuals by falsely promising high, guaranteed rates of return." According to ABC News, "According to federal sources, Alishtari had agreed to cooperate with investigators but recently had ceased cooperating," so there must be much more to this arrest, and the indictments for investment fraud indicate a potentially much larger terrorist financing scheme.

One question I have is whether the Currency Transaction Report (CTR) that would have been filed with the Treasury Department for the $25,000 transfer, as required by the Bank Secrecy Act, might have played a role in the case. I also wonder whether the NY bank official who executed the transfer filed a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) purusant to the BSA. Dennis Lormel and I have discussed the role of CTRs and SAR's in terrorist financing cases here often, and I recently posted about desired changes to filing mandates. (But see the note at the end of this post from another consultant in this field.)

While researching Alishtari for this post, I found a strange website with a statement on a "Peruvian Forged Gold Bonds Situation," and I have to wonder if there is a link to the case:

"Message From VK Durham Clarifying Peruvian Forged Gold Bonds Situation

Mr. AT Alishtari, the POA and Founder of EDI Secure LLLP, never knew what the Peruvian situation was about and why Messer's Brian Anderson, Gordon Rothwell and Paul Lavoie tried to link him to it. Mr. Alishtari was glad that 2 sites on the Internet independently cleared him from any link to so-called forged Peruvian bonds however the similarity here of forgery for personal gain does make this fall under the ID protection mandate of bloggers seeking to block ID fraud and ID theft in general."

Elsewhere, on an Internet forum, Alishtari described himself as "ex-victim" of identity theft and claims the following, which might also havae a connection to his case: "Mr. Abdul Tawala Alishtari successfully stopped crooks using his good name but they still scammed hundreds of millions USD from innocents victims woldwide from their ID theft trying to blame anyone but themselves for their scams and ID theft done with impunity and hubris. In the specific case, the pertinent government authorities, in that instance, caught one felon who later on admitted his crime in written settlement. That agency, OSC, in Canada sent release letters to Mr. Alishtari's company."

I wish I had time to pursue both of those statements.

Alishtari was no simple businessman; he used his money, in part, to buy a seat at some interesting political tables, all Republican and all after the 9-11 attacks. He made $15,250 in political contributions to GOP entities between April 2002 and the end of 2004 (see the details here). A resume that he posted at MSN Groups boasts of membership in GOP groups open only to high-rollers. It would be interesting to determine which Congressmen and Bush Administration officials met with Alishtari and what they discussed, and whether his companies were awarded major federal government contracts in the past 5 years.

Treasury Hits Iran With Another Proliferation Freeze

By Jonathan Winer

Today, the U.S. Treasury designated three more Iranian companies as proliferators, prohibiting transactions by U.S. persons with the firms.

Each of the three firms -- the Kalaye Electric Company, Kavoshyar Company, and Pioneer Energy Industries Company -- were cited by Treasury as being Iranian state-owned entities that were directly supporting Iranian nuclear acquisition efforts.

Iran acknowledged in 2003 that a workshop of the Kalaye Electric Company in Tehran had manufacturered centrifuge components, but denied they related to nuclear material. But the Iranians refused access to elements of the site during an IAEA inspection that year, which did not enhance Iran's credibility on the issue.

Kavoshyar Company has been characterized in the past as a front company for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and was identified by the British government in February 1998 as having procured goods and/or technology for weapons of mass destruction programs, in addition to non-proliferation related activities.

Pioneer Energy has in the past been cited as involved in building uranium processing plants for the AEOI.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad threatens Secretary Rice and the US

By Olivier Guitta

After the 5 million dollars reward offered by the US State Department for the capture of Abdallah Ramadane Challah, secretary general of Palestinian Islamic Jihad , the radical movement threatens to attack some American leaders: “Rice for Challah”. In an interview to the site Elaph.com, Abu Dajana, one of the military commanders of the PIJ “Al-Quds Brigades”, affirmed that “orders were given to the active cells abroad, in particular in the Arab and Islamic countries, to put American personalities under surveillance and to be ready to respond to any hostile action from the US”. Abu Dajana affirms that “the answer of Islamic Jihad to the remarks of the State Department should occur in the next few days”. He denounced “the reward for the head of Abdallah Challah, and threatens to attack Americans and their interests, including on American soil”. He went on “if the Americans were to target Challah, the response will aim at Condoleezaa Rice, which is right now under surveillance”.

Iranian hands all over armed rebellion in Yemen

By Olivier Guitta

The rebellion of Badreddine Al-Huthi, in the area of Saada, in the north of Sanaa, is reportedly supported and armed by Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been implicated in the destabilization of this border area with Saudi Arabia. According to daily newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi, the Yemeni authorities declared the area of Saada “closed military zone”. Violent fighting has erupted there in the past few days and killed at least 91 among the ranks of the Yemeni army, of which very many officers. Yemeni sources explain the fact that a majority of victims are officers by “the refusal of the soldiers to fight in light of the intensity of the confrontations”. The Al-Huthi militants, supported and armed by Iran, are also very mobile and resort to ambushes. According to sources of the Iranian opposition, the Al-Huthi rebels recently received modern weapons including anti-tank missiles which had been used by Hezbollah against Israel during the July war.

A Madrid Redux: potential terror attacks during forthcoming French presidential elections

By Olivier Guitta

Some recent French intelligence reports leaked to Le Monde and Al Hayat are pointing to that possible threat during the April-May 2007 French presidential elections.
Al Hayat specifically mentioned Al Qaeda related websites calling for attacks against France along with pictures of French presidential campaign.
But for the time being, police officers do not have any information on concrete preparations of attack. However, the recent reports dated January 15, testify to the constant attention paid to the GSPC now called Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Two threats are mentioned here.The first, appeared in December 2005, relates to threats of attack related to “Al-Qaida executives in Pakistani-Afghan zone”, without more precision.
The second one is called” threat of autumn": it focuses on “planning, from the Middle East, of a wave of suicide attacks against a European country not identified, anywhere between September 2006 and April 2007”. The threat would not come inevitably from a possible GSPC cell in Europe. But could come from the transformation of a supporting cell into an operational one and also could be the work of isolated individuals influenced by the GSPC propaganda, in particular via Internet. All the services noted an increasingly assiduous use of Islamist forums. Proof of growing success: a French-speaking site has triple the number of registered members in six months. The police officers noticed a frequent diffusion of satellite views, obtained through Google Earth. For instance, the recent Islamist group dismantled in Tunisia, in January, “had views of the British and American embassies in Tunis and of the French one in Rabat, Morocco.”. Another Islamist site named “PACT OF THE EVIL” , known for helping with the manufacturing of explosives, even put on its site information on the sewers of Paris, which could be a potential target or a way of escape.

Al Qaeda's Propaganda Machine Kicks Into High Gear

By Douglas Farah

This past week has been interesting for the sudden re-emergence of the high-profile al Qaeda/salafist propaganda machine, showing a broad range of Islamist actions to demonstrate the movement is alive and well, and triumph is inevitable.

The different fronts in the propaganda war are interesting and seem to have some coordination, at least the timing if not the entire scope of all the messages.

We get the publishing a slick web zine, the "Voice of Jihad," after a two-year hiatus, including directions from Osama bin Laden to attack oil facilities; a Zawahiri interview blasting Bush for fairly current events; the release of videos by al Qaeda in Afghanistan, supposedly showing attacks on Coalition forces; and, as Evan Kohlmann finds new video releases by Al Qaeda in Iraq, including the biographies of foreign troops killed there.

This media onslaught is not a small accomplishment, especially given the relatively good quality of the products. They are far better than some of the recent jihadi websites out of the Salafist forces in Somalia, for example. My full blog is here.

Al-Qaida in Iraq Officially Denies Capture of Top Commander

By Evan Kohlmann

In a statement issued today, Al-Qaida's "Islamic State in Iraq" has officially denied claims made yesterday by the Iraqi government that it has captured the wounded leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq. The Iraqi government and U.S. military have identified the current leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq as an Egyptian national "Abu Ayyub al-Masri"--however, this has never been acknowledged by Al-Qaida itself, which instead consistently refers to its supreme commander in Iraq as "Abu Hamza al-Muhajir." According to Al-Qaida's latest statement, "it appears that the Maliki Persian government has no options left but to circulate lies through the media... in order to hide its failures and failures in front of the world... After... failing to stop the blows of the mujahideen and their operations, praise be to Allah, then this government claimed that [Iraqi security forces] had wounded the fighting Shaykh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir and killed his aide north of Baghdad." The statement continued, "Allah's enemies know that Shaykh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir... fights under the flag of the Amir al-Mumineen Abu Omar al-Baghdadi--may Allah protect him--within the army of the Islamic State [of Iraq]... The fabrication of such news [about the capture of Abu Hamza] by the [Iraqi] government--the same which was even denied by their American masters--is evidence of their failure and their confusion." Addressing those critics who doubt the growing influence of Al-Qaida's "Islamic State" inside Sunni regions of Iraq, the communique demanded, "where is the media coverage in Mosul, and Al-Anbar, and Diyala, and south of Baghdad?"

How to Sanction Iran: Target the IRGC

By Matthew Levitt

The most robust and effective non-military tool available to the international community in its effort to deal with Iran is to apply Resolution 1737 in full – targeting the IRGC.

As I argue in an OpEd published in today’s Washington Times, a simple reading of Resolution 1737 requires member states to apply financial measures against the financial assets and economic resources controlled by the head of the IRGC. Moreover, targeted financial measures against the IRGC can work, for several reasons: Enforcing this existing multilateral sanction requires the passage of no new domestic legislation; it fulfills Europe's strong preference for only multilateral action against Iran; it targets bad actors vs. the population at large; it buttresses domestic criticism of the regime's cronyism; and it pulls at the purse strings of the specific element of the Iranian bureaucracy responsible for the regime's most egregious behavior.

Read the full OpEd here.

New "Martyr" Stories From Al-Qaida's Network in Iraq

By Evan Kohlmann

Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq" and its supporters have distributed a new series of biographies detailing the lives of prominent fighters who have been killed while fighting U.S. and Iraqi government forces over the past three years. The stories include the history of two young mujahideen recruits from Sudan, one of whom was a member of Al-Qaida's feared Al-Baraa bin Malik suicide brigade and likewise a former online subscriber to the notorious Muntada al-Ansar Internet forum. Another eulogy describes the life and death of an unusual Yemeni mujahideen commander who was slain during the siege of Fallujah in 2004, and who was previously featured in a widely-watched interview with Lebanese satellite television channel LBC.

Click to view biography of Sudanese nationals Hassan Abdel Rahman and Sadiq al-Jilani
Click to view biography of Yemeni national Abu al-Mardiyah al-Yemeni

Video: Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq" claims downing of U.S. Apache near Taji (Feb. 2 2007)
Video: Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq" claims downing of U.S. Chinook near Karma (Feb. 7, 2007)

See also: Video - "The Role of Foreign Fighters in the Iraqi Jihad" (NEFA Foundation)
- "State of the Sunni Insurgency in Iraq: 2006" (Report and Chart)
[NEW YORK TIMES]: "The Ever-Mutating Iraq Insurgency"
(December 2005) - Al-Qaida Eulogizes Yemeni Fighter Killed in Iraq (Abu Tarek al-Yemeni)

Al-Qaeda Affiliate Urges New Attacks on Oil Facilities

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

The Associated Press reported yesterday that in the online magazine Sawt al-Jihad (Voice of the Jihad), the terrorist faction Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula called for attacks on oil facilities throughout the world. The terrorist group included Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela in the list of targeted countries:

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said in its monthly magazine posted on an Islamic Web site that "cutting oil supplies to the United States, or at least curtailing it, would contribute to the ending of the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan." The group said it was making the statements as part of Usama bin Laden's declared policy.

Al-Qaeda's position on attacks on oil installations has been developing for some time. When Osama bin Laden declared war against the West in 1996, he stated that the oil wealth in Muslim countries was off limits as a military target because he viewed it as a critical resource of the coming caliphate: "I would like here to alert my brothers, the Mujahideen, the sons of the nation, to protect this [oil] wealth and not to include it in the battle as it is a great Islamic wealth and a large economical power essential for the soon to be established Islamic state, by Allah's Permission and Grace." But as bin Laden came to see crippling the U.S. economy as critical to the defeat of the West, his thinking evolved. In the video that bin Laden dramatically released just before the 2004 election, he trumpeted his "bleed-until-bankruptcy plan" for defeating America. Later that year, in December 2004, bin Laden for the first time called for attacks on oil facilities as an outcropping of the "bleed-until-bankruptcy" strategy:

One of the main causes for our enemies' gaining hegemony over our country is their stealing our oil; therefore, you should make every effort in your power to stop the greatest theft in history of the natural resources of both present and future generations, which is being carried out through collaboration between foreigners and [native] agents. . . . Focus your operations on it [oil production], especially in Iraq and the Gulf area, since this [lack of oil] will cause them to die off [on their own].

No Capture of Leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq: (rewritten 2/16)

By Andrew Cochran

REVISED FEB. 16: An Iraq Interior Ministry spokesman claimed on February 15 that al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri was wounded and his aide, identified as Abu Abdullah al-Majemaai, was killed. A number of wire services and networks reported that information. I wrote at 6 pm ET that "Iraqi Interior Ministry elements are well known for releasing incorrect information. Last October, the U.S. military had to deny reports of al-Masri's death. And as recently as February 5, our officials in Iraq had to deny a claim that al-Masri was stuck in an Egyptian jail. U.S. authorities have neither corroborated nor denied the new story as of 6:20 pm ET. I suggest waiting until U.S. forces in Iraq confirm this new report before breaking out the champagne." And none of my usual sources inside the U.S. intel community had any "buzz" indicating any real action.

Now as I write at 10:30 am ET on February 16, the Islamic State of Iraq has denied the claim, Iraqi officials have backtracked, and, most importantly, U.S. officials have flat-out denied that it happened. Rita Katz's SITE Institute issued a press release on the statement by the ISI: "The group states: “The fabrication of the government of such news - which was denied even by their American masters - is proof of their bankruptcy and confusion, may Allah fight them.” And this from a U.S. military spokesman: "We are pretty confident that Masri was not killed or wounded. In fact, we believe that Masri was not even involved in any kind of gun battle yesterday." And instead of claiming of killing the al-Masri aide, the Iraqis are now quoted as claiming that he has been captured.

Case closed. But the episode hurts the Iraqi government's credibility in the eyes of the American press and people, and it's a stupid move while Americans are rethinking and debating the continued U.S. involvement in Iraq.

Who Brainwashed American Terror Suspect and Supported His Training in Somalia? (updated)

By Andrew Cochran

On February 14, I posted on statements by terrorist suspect Daniel Maldonado, who was arrested in Houston and charged for assisting Al Qaeda. Richard Miniter has done more digging and found Maldonado's personal blog, on which Maldonado described himself as a "Die Hard Wahabbi." The Maldonado case raises additional questions about the conversion and radicalization tactics used to breed "homegrown" Islamic terrorists like Maldonado in the U.S, and raises the following issues with respect to him (equally applicable to any prospective "homegrown"):

Which Islamic mosque, school, or website did Maldonado walk into to start his search for what he calls "true Islam?" Who was his Imam or spiritual director, what is that person's background, and how is that facility funded and supported? What is the level of membership or readership for that facility's teachings and publications? How extreme is that Imam and that facility and its teachings and publications?

Did Maldonado pay for his trips to Egypt and Somalia or did he have help and by whom? Are those supporters American-based and, if so, are they associated with another group based overseas? Did Maldonado have access to an account during his trip, in which financial institution is that account maintained, and how did he access the account?

Did Maldonado have a plan to re-enter the country? What would have been his stops along the way, and where was he planning to live and work upon his return from Somalia? Did he work at or near Houston-area oil or port facilities? Did he have regular contact with anybody at those facilities prior to his departure?

His blog indicates that his wife had their third child in July 2006. Where is she now and what was her role in his conversion and radicalization? (UPDATE, Feb. 17: She is reported to have died of malaria contracted in Africa.)

UPDATE: "Internet Haganah" has been digging into Maldonado's connections and posted important information on his friends and supporters before I posted, and they had this observation: "Attitudes like Daniel's don't develop in a vacuum. They develop and are nurtured in community with other Muslims, and that community is found online. Islamist forums function like little terrorist factories. Muslims enter at one end, and terrorists and their plots issue forth from the other end."

We've discussed issues such as these with respect to prior American "homegrowns" in Lodi, California and in northern Virginia - a sample:

What the FBI Needs Now

Lodi Imams Allegedly Planned to Open Radical School

Who Trained Kevin James, a Prison Inmate, to Be an Radical Islamist?

Lodi Imam Admits to Telling Pakistanis to Fight Americans

Lodi Terror Case Draws Attention to Alleged Al-Qaida Training Camps in Pakistan

Testimony: Intercepting Radicalization at the Indoctrination stage

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali Convicted in Northern Virginia

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross' Testimony on Prison Radicalization (updated)

Daniel Maldonado, American Homegrown Terror Suspect

Army Translator Case Raises Troubling Security Questions

By Michael Cutler

This article in today's Washington Post, "Translator Who Faked Identity Pleads Guilty To Having Secret Data," raises a number of troubling questions for our counter-terrorism efforts.

First of all, let us start with the way that the government, especially under this administration is apparently determined to privatize as many functions as possible. Why the military does not employ those people who serve vital functions for the United States is disturbing. By allowing private corporations to provide employees for the government creates an unwieldy system that make accountability more elusive. Additionally, because a private company is involved, the individual employee is probably paid less than if he or she worked directly for the government. The privatization of government functions inserts a "middle man" into the process who gets paid for his involvement. This only benefits the contractor and the politicians but does not, in my judgement, enhance our government's ability to attract the best employees, provide them with incentives to do an effective job by providing an opportunity to work towards a government pension by accruing years of service that would be applicable should that employee decide to change jobs within the government.

Next we need to ask, how did the translator obtain resident alien status and then go on to acquire United States citizenship through the naturalization process? It is really disturbing that the prosecutors are now conceding that they do not even know the true name of the translator who, in effect, engaged in espionage. There have been a number of naturalized United States citizens from a wide variety of countries who have engaged in espionage against our government, using their acquired citizenship as a means of embedding themselves within our nation so that they would be eligible to be granted high-level security clearances to enable them to have access to highly sensitive military information or knowledge about highly important technology with clear national security ramifications.

It is interesting that the unnamed Justice Department officials who were quoted in the article stated: "The translator obtained U.S. citizenship under a false identity before securing a job in August 2003 with Titan Corp., which supplied translators to the U.S. military to aid in fighting the war in Iraq. The man then used his false identity to get secret and top-secret clearances -- access to extremely sensitive material that is supposed to be given only after thorough background checks --..." This is the same sort of statement made when we hear about the way that applications for a wide variety of immigration benefits are vetted, through "background checks." What is interesting about that term is that a background check is not the same thing as a background investigation.

North Korea, Terrorism, and the Negotiations

By Aaron Mannes

This morning National Review Online ran my article on North Korea's long history of supporting terrorism and how that will play into negotiations over the new agreement.

February 15, 2007, 6:00 a.m.

The T Word
The lifting of North Korea’s designation as a terrorist-sponsoring nation has a lot to do with Japan.

By Aaron Mannes

One of the conditions of the agreement with North Korea is that the United States starts the process of removing North Korea from the list of terrorist-sponsoring nations. Although North Korea’s nuclear program is the central issue, removal from the U.S. list of sponsors of terrorism has been a North Korean priority since February 2000. Inclusion on this list restricts U.S. exports to North Korea and requires the U.S. to veto World Bank and IMF aid to North Korea. The primary complainant regarding North Korean terrorism is Japan, which would also be a major donor in the event of a long-term aid package to North Korea. (For an excellent backgrounder on this issue see the CRS report North Korea: Terrorism List Removal.) Consequently, the bilateral North Korean-Japanese negotiations will be much more than a sideshow—they may provide an important window into North Korean strategy. Read the complete article here.

Terror and Stock Market: India Wakes Up To Novel Threat

By Animesh Roul

Terrorist attacks on vital institutions and installations often send stock indexes tumbling in the past. But the scenario is changing fast. Jihadi groups are now floating fictitious companies to manipulate stock markets to generate funds for their operations. India’s National Security Advisor (NSA), M K Narayanan warned of similar developments in India citing isolated reports of companies that had come in from the Mumbai and Chennai stock exchanges, some of which were traced to terrorist outfits. The NSA aired his inputs at the 43rd Conference on Security Policy in Munich on Feb 11. Though all his revelations on methods employed by terrorist outfits to generate funds (in the context of South Asia) are not startling, and well known facts now in counter terror circle, couple of points, especially terror infiltration/manipulation in Stock market operation and misuse of legitimate banking channels are somewhat new fangled.

The NSA observed:

Stock market operations: Isolated instances of terrorist outfits manipulating the stock markets to raise funds for their operations have been reported. Stock Exchanges in Mumbai and Chennai (India) have, on occasions, reported that fictitious or notional companies were engaging in stock-market operations. Some of these companies were later traced to terrorist outfits.

Misuse of banking channels: Legitimate banking channels are regularly being used to fund terrorist operations. Many instances of funds received via banking channels from so-called safe locations such as Dubai and UAE intended for terrorist organizations have been detected by Indian Counter-Terrorist Agencies. Each individual transaction tends to be small so as not to attract attention and to avoid detection. Use of both real, and fraudulent, ATM cards has also been resorted to at times.

CAIR Continues to Support Tariq Ramadan, Excluded From Entry For His Actions

By Andrew Cochran

Tariq Ramadan, who was denied a visa to enter the U.S. last September, has written an article for "The Chronicle of Higher Education" in which he asserts once again that his denial was due to his criticism of American foreign policy and a general "fear of ideas." The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) chose to highlight a link to Ramadan's article on its home page and include more text on another page.

Clearly CAIR management wanted to support Ramadan's efforts to show that the Administration excluded Ramadan for political reasons with no reference to his own actions. We've already been through Ramadan's own actions which merited his exclusion, but since CAIR and Ramadan choose to continue their propaganda campaign instead of living in reality, here is what I wrote on October 2 of last year, with links to numerous posts by our Contributing Experts:

We have tracked Ramadan's repeated attempts to enter the U.S. and hide his past; I last wrote on them on August 30, with links to other entries by Doug Farah, Steven Emerson (who wrote of Ramadan's support for attacks against the U.S., Israel, and Russia), Olivier Guitta, Lorenzo Vidino, and Bill West. Then, in his post here on September 29, Doug Farah discussed European intel detailing contacts between Ramadan and numerous terrorists, including Al Qaeda #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri (when he was still running Egyptian Islamic Jihad), Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (the 1993 WTC bombing), and others. Other terrorism experts have provided more details of Ramadan's statements or publications in support of terrorism. And far from being "humanitarian organizations," as Ramadan claims, the two groups to which he contributed "have appeared in several terrorist investigations since 1995..."

CAIR's support of a man with known terrorist connections contradicts any claim that it opposes terrorism.

The Pakistan Taliban

By Jonathan Winer

The recent spate of suicide bombings in Pakistan are just one troubling aspect of what some are now terming "the Pakistan Taliban," a force that is exercising increasing influence throughout the country, and which by some accounts now controls North and South Waziristan.

President Musharraf today stated expressly that "Talibanization will not be tolerated in Pakistan," even as he acknowledged that it was spreading to the point where it had become "a dangerous epidemic."

This mirrored the testimony this week of Lt. General Karl W. Eikenberry, outgoing commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, who told the House Armed Services Committee in testimony on February 13 that the U.S. needed to carry out "steady and direct" attacks on the Taliban's sancturaries in North Waziristan and elsewhere in Pakistan, where refugee camps are incubating suicide bombers. His testimony also stated unequivocably that Al Qaeda, as well as Taliban forces, continued to retain sanctuary in ungoverned areas in Pakistan, threatening Afghan stability and our efforts to fight terrorism on a global basis.

Recent Videos of IED Attacks by GSPC/Al-Qaida in Algeria

By Evan Kohlmann

I have posted new download links to recent videos of bombing attacks released by the Algerian Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat (GSPC)--now known as "Al-Qaida's Committee in the Islamic Maghreb." The videos include the December 10, 2006 roadside IED attack on a bus in Bouchaoui carrying U.S. contractors and a new compilation released today depicting five bomb attacks on Algerian security forces.

Video: "The Battle of Bouchaoui": Attack on bus carrying U.S. contractors (Dec. 10, 2006)
Video: "Five bombings [targeting] Algerian apostates" (February 14, 2007)

CAP Releases Its Second Terrorism Index Survey

By Bill West

The Center for American Progress has just released its second bi-annual “Terrorism Index” survey conducted of more than 100 foreign policy and counter-terrorism arena experts. The nonpartisan results are informative and perhaps not necessarily good news for senior policy makers in Government. The general consensus from the survey is the world is becoming a more dangerous place for America. Learn more about the Terrorism Index here.

Too Few Lessons Learned Too Late

By Douglas Farah

Two very pessimistic reports on the combat situation in Afghanistan point to the fundamental risk there of failure, a risk that is also very high in Somalia, where the same mistakes are being repeated by the United States, the local government and the international community.

The danger in Somalia is borne out by the Texas arrest of U.S. citizen who was trained in Somalia and acknowledges spending time with al Qaeda operatives there, according to an FBI affidavit. Along with numerous Europeans and other Africans, Daniel Maldanado went to Somalia to fight for a true Islamic republic, the affidavit says.

Two things are distressing about the bleak assessments, although they are welcome for their uncharacteristic candor. The first is that the lessons of Afghanistan appear to have not been assimilated at all in the policy community.

That is, the lessons of the first Afghanistan fiasco, when, following the Soviet retreat, little attention was paid to developments there.

The resulting Taliban triumph within a few years, and the rise of the radical _salafist_ theology that seeks to obliterate us, should have been as much of prod to learn lessons as there can be. Yet, despite the loss of blood and treasure there since 9-11, virtually nothing appears to have been learned. My full blog is here.

Tunisia, new target of GSPC

By Olivier Guitta

I just wrote a piece for the Daily Standard on the latest attacks against Tunisia. You can read it here.
Here's an excerpt:
WHILE SOMALIA HAS been grabbing all the headlines, it isn't the only area of Africa that has seen a recent surge in terror activity among al Qaeda linked groups. Jihadists have been making advances in the Maghreb--that part of North Africa composed of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia--as well. While Algeria and, more recently, Morocco have been pinpointed as potential terrorist hotbeds, Tunisia was, for a long time, relatively quiet. But on December 23, 2006, and then again on January 3, 2007, Salafi terrorists armed with RPGs engaged hundreds of Tunisian police, army, and secret service in battles which saw anywhere from 12 terrorists and two security forces-official tally--to at least 60 killed according to the French daily Le Parisien. And so, Tunisia has woken up to a grim new reality. Al Qaeda is infiltrating the traditionally quiet and safe European vacation spot.

The surge of activity wasn't entirely out of the blue. As early as January 2006, a loose organization called "Al Qaeda in the Maghreb" had taken shape, formed from a coalition of the Algerian GSPC, the Moroccan GICM (responsible for the Casablanca and Madrid bombings in 2003 and 2004 respectively), and other Tunisian elements.

American "Homegrown" Terrorist Suspect Confirms Al Qaeda Presence in Somalia

By Andrew Cochran

"An American citizen charged with receiving terrorist training at an Al Qaeda camp in Somalia — including classes in how to become a homicide bomber and 'wage violent jihad' — was taken into custody by FBI agents and returned to the U.S. Monday night night..." Daniel Joseph Maldanado, 28, a.k.a Daniel Aljughaifi, was charged with receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization and conspiring to use an explosive device outside the United States. The criminal complaint provides the following information about Maldanado:

He is a Muslim convert who moved in August 2005 fiom Boston to Houston, and then traveled to Egypt in November 2005. A year later, after the UIC took over Somalia, he moved there "in search of a country where he could practice true Islam" and "believed that he was fighting for a legitimate Islamic government." He told the FBI he had "no problem" killing or fighting Americans, because he was angry with America, and had "no problem" with the September 11 attacks. He admitted "participating in military training" and received "weapons, explosives, and physical fitness training" and, at one point, assisted in interrogating a "spy." He also learned how to manufacture and use IEDs.

Most importantly, Maldanado confirmed an Al Qaeda presence in Somalia: "...while residing with the young mujahadin in Mogadishu, he became aware that al Qaeda members were residing and training in the same compound. A Yemeni who personally knew bin Laden, and MALDONADO, participated in nightly gatherings during which stories of bin Laden were told by the Yemeni. MALDONADO identified certain members at the camp as being al Qaeda, although he did not know for sure who all of the a1 Qaeda members were. MALDONADO opined that a1 Qaeda fighters were given much more respect than members of the ICU." The FBI reports that a cooperating witness who corroborated much of Maldanado's story "heard an individual at one of the compounds who said he had worked for 'Sheikh Usama' in Sudan." Late in January 2007, after Ethiopian troops liberated Mogadishu, Maldanado was captured by Kenyan soldiers after fleeing Somalia.

The actual presence on Al Qaeda there was doubted by some commentators (see here and here).

Previous CT Blog posts on Al Qaeda's presence and influence in Somalia:

Douglas Farah:
The Wrong Questions on Somalia
Blind Spots on Somalia

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross:
Somalia's Terrorists

This arrest also raises new questions about the number of American "homegrowns" and their conversion. More on that later.

Pakistan Alert, Identifies Islamabad Airport Bomber

By Animesh Roul

Pakistani officials indicated that they have identified Hafiz Mohammed Younus, an Islamic cleric as the suicide bomber who targeted the Islamabad airport on Feb. 6. The bomber has died in an explosion of a grenade he carried during the ensuing shootout with the security forces stationed at the Airport. Younus, a resident of Dera Ghazi Khan in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) reportedly had close links with a militant group and was disappeared six months ago from the area, Geo TV, Pakistan indicated quoting Intelligence and interior ministry sources. However, the media report is silent about the outfit.

Police had arrested two of his accomplishes who arrived at the airport with the attacker.

Meanwhile, in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), security stepped up following possible suicide bombing threats. A news report citing Intelligence inputs said that a banned outfit was planning for suicide attacks at sensitive International infrastructures, government buildings and could target political personalities.

GSPC (now "Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb") Claims "Battle of Shaykh Abul Baraa Ahmad"

By Evan Kohlmann

Yesterday, the Algerian Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat (GSPC)--now known as "Al-Qaida's Committee in the Islamic Maghreb"--claimed responsibility for a series of six car bomb attacks targeting "apostate police stations" in Tizi Ouazu and Boumerdas, "destroying 5 fortresses for the apostates, in addition to killing and wounding more than 140 of them." The statement detailed the various attacks and targets, and boasted, "their casualties are eyewitnesses to the cruel blows dealt by the soldiers of Islam. We inform the thieves and the French who follow the Christians and the Jews that the young Muslim men of the Maghreb are determined to liberate their homeland from every crusader, apostate, and co-conspirator." Abul Baraa Ahmad (a.k.a. Ahmad Zarabib) was reported killed by Algerian security forces on January 17, 2006 in the mountains of the Bejaia province east of the capital Algiers. According to the Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat (now known as “Al-Qaida’s Committee in the Islamic Maghreb”), Abul Baraa held rank as "the Chief of the Shariah Council and the Judiciary Council [of the GSPC] for many years and he is considered to be one of the co-founders of the GSPC."

Click to view English translation of statement c/o Globalterroralert.com

See also: (CTBLOG, Jan. 26) - "GSPC in Algeria Announces New Name: "Al-Qaida in the Land of the Islamic Maghrib"

GSPC hits hard in Algeria

By Olivier Guitta

GSPC which is now named Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb perpetrated today six near simultaneous attacks in Kabylia in a twenty-mile radius. According to government figures, six people died and 13 were injured. The targets were police stations. It is one of the most spectacular wave of attacks orchestrated by the GSPC. It has also the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.

Furthermore, an official statement of Al-Qaïda has just claimed responsibility for the “Raid of Abou Al Baraa” and evokes 140 victims, including dead and wounded. The official statement which circulates on islamist sites close to Al-Qaïda congratulates the "brave mujahideen" for having hit a hard blow to the Algerian “impious” and its agents. It specifies that six booby-trapped cars, remote-controlled entirely destroyed police stations while saving the Muslim population. Al Qaeda in the Maghreb confirmed it is committed continuing the jihad until “the eradication of the traitors and the allies of the Crusaders and the Jews."

For the past few days the Algerian army has used thousands of soldiers heavily armed to comb that region in search of GSPC terrorists. This is response to four attacks over the weekend. Just in January, over 30 people died in terror related attacks in Algeria.

This just confirms what I have been saying for months that the national reconciliation plan of the Algerian government was doomed to failure. Here's the beginning of an article I wrote for the Weekly Standard back in July:

On July 10, a group of terrorists entered a campground in Gouraya, a Mediterranean resort 75 miles from Algiers, and randomly massacred 5 people. The victims were among the 22 killed by terrorists in Algeria in the first half of July--putting that month on track to be a little less bloody than those preceding it. In April, the death toll was 60; in May, 54; in June, 65--this in a country with a population roughly the size of California's, and a government insistent that Islamist terrorism has been basically defeated.

Despite the official happy talk, kidnappings by Islamists to raise money for their cause are a routine occurrence in Algeria. And not a day goes by without terrorists' attacking military personnel, government employees, or ordinary civilians, whom they regard as allies of the government. Just in recent weeks, the GSPC (Algerian Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat), the al Qaeda affiliate that is now the main Algerian terrorist group, orchestrated an assault that killed 17 customs officers when their vehicles were riddled with bullets; another that killed 7 police officers when their truck was hit by an RPG; and the execution of 5 farmers who were shot, then finished off with daggers, their bodies burned. The GSPC also plants bombs in public places to create panic. Boumerdès, for example, about 25 miles from the capital, was hit twice by terror attacks near the main downtown bus station. Authorities are wondering whether Algiers will be next.

Writing Now on Wall for Handling of Iranian Assets

By Jonathan Winer

Today's announcement by the EU that it will be adopting wider economic sanctions against Iran contains limits, caveats, deferrals, and safe harbors -- all the kinds of things one would come to expect from an economic union that has continued to do lots of business with Iran throughout the period of U.S. sanctions.

But one immediate result going forward is that foreign financial institutions in the EU that are still doing business with Iran have to now recognize that the liabilities associated with such transactions, from the perspective of reputational risk as well as transactional risk, are now high and getting higher all the time. Iran has no anti-money laundering laws, and its foundations or bonyads have been heavily involved in proliferation activity as well as in legitimate business activity. How any compliance officer is to sort out what is legitimate Iranian activity from what is not in such an environment is far from obvious.

Yes, the EU actions relate only to entities identified as proliferators. Yes, the EU action includes the usual EU folderol and hesitancy, which includes the requirement that each state undertake whatever legislative actions are required over whatever period of time it happens to take to make the sanctions possible.

Still, because the action telegraphs liability risks to institutions required to minimize such risks it will quite promptly bring further steady pressure on Iran's ability to move funds at low cost and high efficiency.

Will Iran continue to sell oil to Asia and use Middle Eastern and Asian financial institutions despite the developing reach of sanctions? Surely it will. But the process of change is necessarily incremental. As we have just seen with North Korea, economic sanctions imposed through financial institutions can play an important role in behavorial change.

Al-Zawahiri Blasts Bush, Calls For Muslim Unity in New Tape (updated with video link)

By Andrew Cochran

In a new 40-minute tape released by Al Qaeda's As-Sahab media arm titled, “Tremendous Lessons and Events in the Year 1427 AH,” Al Qaeda #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri unloads on President Bush. He claims that Bush is an alcoholic and addicted to drinking, lying, and gambling. But he's not enamored with Bush's opponents either, finding no difference between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Here is a quote about the Americans from Laura Mansfield's translation:

Bush suffers from an addictive personality, and was an alcoholic. I don't know his present condition (Americans know best about that, as they are experts in alcohol and addiction to it), but the one who examines his personality finds that he is addicted to two other faults: lying and gambling. As regards lying, his record is well known, and he has gone down in history as one of its most notorious liars... As for the Democrats in America, I tell them: The people chose you due to your opposition to Bush's policy in Iraq, but it appears that you are marching with him to the same abyss, and it appears that you will take part with him in the defeat and certain failure, with God's permission. And the American people shall discover that you are all one side of the same coin of tyranny, criminality and failure; that failure which – by the grace of God – has neutralized the endeavors of the traitors who entered Kabul and Baghdad...

Zawahiri calls on Muslims to unite under Taliban leader Mullah Omar, stop trying to form secular governments and instead follow strict Islamic Sharia law. Zawahiri urges followers in Lebanon to not give up any land, and he does so without differentiating between Sunni or Shiite there. But, according to a press release by the SITE Institute, he "charges that the leaders of Fatah are apostates, and encourages its members to 'return to Islam' and fight, but not necessarily join Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad, or al-Qaeda." By talking out of both sides of his mouth, Zawahiri is trying to have his cake and eat it too - he's trying to provide leadership but avoid entanglement in the Sunni-Shiite split which is now a key issue facing the Muslim world, and which he helped to build through his years in Sunni-based Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Al Qaeda.

The tape consists of a still picture of Zawahiri (below) with audio and the English subtitles. This is the first tape of Zawahiri released since January 22, when he issued a warning and offered a "deal." In the first tape released this year, on January 5, he boasted of the weakness of the U.S.

State Department Acts Against Hezbollah & PIJ Terrorists, Sends Signals to Lebanon & Germany

By Andrew Cochran

Secretary of State Rice today added Mohammed Ali Hamadei and Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, leaders in Hezbollah, and PIJ, respectively, to the U.S. State Department Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Program, each with a potential reward of up to $5 million. According to the State Department announcement, Hamadei and Shallah were added at the request of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, and both are already on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List. These additions are long overdue and send a strong signal to Lebanon and to Europe that the U.S. is serious about pursuing leaders in both groups.

The two are veteran terrorists and leaders in their groups. A federal grand jury indicted Hamadei on 15 charges in 1985 for his role in planning and participating in the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in Beirut, which resulted in the murder of Petty Officer Robert D. Stethem of the U.S. Navy. Shallah, Secretary-General and leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad since 1985, is one of founders. He has been a Specially Designated Terrorist in the U.S. since 1995 pursuant to Executive Order 12947, and was indicted on 53 counts in U.S. court in Florida in 2003 for racketeering activities such as bombings, murder, extortions and money laundering as part of the Sami al-Arian case (see Bill West's post on that verdict).

The action against Hamadei should receive special attention in Germany, since the government there secretly released him in December 2005 in a unique act of cowardice and weakness, and Hamadei fled to Lebanon. Michael Kraft, who was involved in U.S. government actions pertaining to the 1985 attack as a State Department official, posted when Germany released Hamadei about the machinations of the German government. Later, when it became apparent that the Lebanese government would not hand Hamadei over to the U.S., Michael posted on the possible punishment which the Bush Administration could take, but probably would not, against Lebanon.

Pictures of Shallah and Hamadei (FBI)

The More Things Change...

By Douglas Farah

Several recent events show just how little the world has changed since 9-11, despite promises, proclamations, and flat-out falsehoods that try to paint a different picture.

The two incidents that stand out are the Saudi arrests of 10 "terrorist financiers," and the continued hate that appears in Saudi and Iranian textbooks.

The charade has gone on since 9-11, and is unlikely to change anytime soon. The current reason that the actions are likely to continue unabated is the Shi'ite resurgence, which is shaking the Sunni regimes of the Gulf to their core. The escalating conflict between Sunni and Shi'ite seems to have launched a new wave of sectarian attacks between the two, carried out in newspapers, TV shows and textbooks so that children learn to hate early.

Since 9-11 the pattern with the Saudi on these issues has been unchanging. Protests are raised, the Saudi say they are changing and/or cracking down, criticism subsides and then life goes back to normal. Adel Al Jubeir, the Saudi ambassador-designate to the U.S., is a true master of offering the various and shifting Saudi defenses of the indefensible. Let's hope the Congress keeps him plenty busy by continuing to ask the necessary questions and demanding the administration follow up.

At the same time the Saudis are touting the arrest of mostly political dissidents as terrorist sponsors, the elites of Saudi society are working extremely hard to get the few designated terror supporters (Wa'el Julaidan, Yasin al Qadi et al) off the U.N. and U.S. sanctions list. Others are being rehabilitated in other ways. My friends following this closely say the Saudi government has given virtually everyone designated a clean bill of health, allowing them to again write in Saudi newspapers and lifting whatever minor restrictions may have existed on their activities. My full blog is here.

Pakistan’s Date with Suicide Terror: Sectarian Schism or Taliban’s Ire?

By Animesh Roul

Pakistan has been battling a two-headed monster: sectarian militant forces and pro-Taliban elements. The country, often tagged as ‘safe heaven’ and ‘breeding ground’, experienced a wave of suicide attacks in the last fortnight. While couple of them was carried out in the capital Islamabad, at least five more such attacks took place in the restive North West Frontier Province (NWPF). Long-standing sectarian divide in the Pakistani society and pro-Taliban outrage thought to be the cause of these attacks. Pakistani authorities seem largely clueless, but suspect Taliban sympathizers and groups directly affiliated with al Qaeda in Waziristan, are responsible.

This could be plausible as the ongoing backlash was expected against Musharraf regime for its anti-Taliban tirade, along with Western forces in the Afghanistan border. He has been trying too hard to rein the Jihadi element and simultaneously wish to win back the confidence of USA and Western alliance by “doing enough to tackle homegrown terror.” (Recently, a documentary broadcasted by BBC World Television, highlighted Pakistan’s involvement in the war against terror and also President Pervez Musharraf’s role in it.)

Not long ago, Baitullah Mehsud a Taliban commander vowed to avenge air strikes at Zamzola (in South Waziristan) in mid-January. The air strike killed over 20 suspected Talibans. Military strike at Bajaur is still fresh in Taliban mind as well. Also, the recent drive against shadowy Mosques and Madarsas that angered many in Pakistan would not be ruled out as an igniting factor. Meanwhile, Baitullah denied any role in recent suicide attacks.

After the Marriott hotel and Peshawar incidents, Pakistan security forces carried out extensive swooping and taken many into custody. Lahore police have arrested five Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) cadres including Rizwan, who is supposed to have taken charge of the outfit presently after the Akram Lahori’s arrest. In a crack down intelligence agencies have arrested 11 more militants, including one linked to Baitullah Mahsud, from Karachi and Hyderabad in early February.

Although Pakistan intelligence apparatus were aware of at least 10 terrorist plots, which could target hotels and buildings, frequented by high profile Pakistani and Western officials, they failed to prevent the Jihadi elements so far. Also intelligence inputs indicated that female fidayeens and couple of Uzbek nationals have been assigned to carry out suicide attacks on these installations. More attacks of similar nature cant be ruled out.

American Airstrikes in Pakistan: Bush Sends Message to Musharraf

By Andrew Cochran

It is no coincidence that the meeting between new Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was preceded by admissions by U.S. commanders in Afghanistan that they've fired artillery units at Taliban forces across the border in Pakistan. The commanding general who made those statements also reiterated what U.S. officials have said since the Waziristan "accords" - that Taliban incursions into Afghanistan have increased markedly, by one count a threefold increase. So the general's admission to the press, made after talking to the U.S. Army vice chief of staff, was probably intended as a shot across Musharraf's bow and and a first step towards increased U.S. and NATO action in Afghanistan and possibly Waziristan this spring. Recently departed State Department counterterrorism coordinator and CIA veteran, Ambassador Henry Crumpton, spoke last month at a Potomac Institute event, and I asked him if we could do with respect to Waziristan or whether it would be a permanent training ground for Al Qaeda and Taliban, and his reply was very pessimistic. Newsweek ran a very good story in late December with details of the recruitment and training activities there for worldwide attacks.

We've addressed the Pakistan's surrender and the Al Qaeda-Taliban presence in Waziristan often here - a sample:

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross:

New York Times: "Taliban Mini-State" in Waziristan
Cross-Border Raids into Afghanistan Accelerate
Pakistan's Peace Deal with Terrorist Factions a Major Blow to U.S.

Animesh Roul:

Oxymoronic Perception: “Pakistan is genuine in fighting terror,” & “Al Qaeda active, strong in Pakistani hideout”

My posts:

Is Musharraf Buying His Survival and Is Bush Giving Up on Him?
Pakistan Expert Discusses Powerful Al Qaeda-Taliban Network in Waziristan

EU Undertakes Major Assault on PKK, Backed By US

By Jonathan Winer

Outside of Turkey, there has been remarkably little attention paid to the major European raids against the PKK, which began in early February in France and have now included operations in Belgium and by some accounts, possibly Germany as well, with arrests of some 40 people in all on charges relating to terrorism and terrorist finance.

According to wire reports and articles in the Turkish press, the operation is being conducted within the scope of an investigation into the financing of terrorism, organized crime, and money laundering, including trafficking in narcotics and extortion in order to finance the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist organization. In Paris, PKK Council members Riza Altun and Nedim Seven were reportedly being questioned, while the head of PKK Kongra-Gel, Zubeyir Aydar, was released after supplying police with required information.

The activities come in the wake of long-standing U.S. efforts to press for greater action against the PKK. According to Turkish sources, the U.S. provided the Turkish Foreign Ministry with a list of 148 names of PKK activities involved in terrorist activities in 2006, which included PKK operatives in a number of European countries and operating in northern Iraq.

According to a Turkish press account the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson, a well-regarded career diplomat, told Turkish business leaders last week that the US had pressed for a Europe-wide crackdown on the PKK, stating that the U.S. was working to ensure "that the financial sources of the PKK will be cut and main leaders of the PKK are detained." Wilson was quoted as saying that the US had been trying to convince the European governments that they should take the PKK issue "more seriously" since the autumn of 2005.

In a press conference, Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried confirmed U.S. efforts to press Europe to take action against the PKK, and expressly linked it to the need to segregate PKK terrorists from Kurdish political institutions in northern Iraq. Fried said that the arrests in Europe were "good news," and promised that there would be more arrests to come, as well as the closing of the Makhmour refugee camp in Northern Iraq, which he said had been heavily infiltrated by the PKK. Ambassador Fried also hinted that there "are other things which might be done, but they are of a nature that should not be discussed with the media openly."

Time for Real TF “Arrests” in Saudi Arabia

By Matthew Levitt

The short-lived excitement over recent reports that Saudi officials arrested 10 individuals said to be involved in financing terrorism outside the Kingdom quickly dissipated when the defendant’s lawyers identified them as political dissidents and human rights groups questioned the arrests. The fact that the Saudis have provided no further information on the individuals, their activities, or the terrorist groups they are purported to have been affiliated with, suggests to many that such information may simply not exist. (See Andrew Cochran’s blogs below for more details).

The episode itself has produced more questions than answers, but what it has not produced is a renewed discussion about the need for the Saudis to actually hold individuals engaged in terror financing accountable for their actions. Senior U.S. officials have been calling for just such action for years now. Consider, for example, the following from an article I wrote for the Weekly Standard three years ago:

“Since June [2004], intermittent reports have suggested Riyadh was on the verge of taking firm action against terror financiers among the Saudi elite. After a series of unexplained delays, a U.S. delegation visiting the Saudi capital in December finally secured Saudi agreement to shut the offices of the al Haramain Foundation in Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Pakistan, and take action against senior al Haramain officials in Saudi Arabia. Specifically, the Saudis were expected to announce criminal proceedings against the foundation's recently fired director of 13 years, Sheikh Aqel al Aqel, who according to well-informed sources was caught transporting millions of dollars out of the country via couriers. This week, when the much anticipated press conference was finally held, the closure of a few more al Haramain branches proved anticlimactic in the glaring absence of any action against al Aqel or any of the other prominent Saudis bankrolling terror.”

Nor is al Aqel by any means the only prominent candidate.

Evidence of Iran's War Against Coalition Forces in Iraq Unveiled (updated Feb. 12)

By Andrew Cochran

For some time, there have been claims of Iran's direct involvement in attacks against Iraqi and U.S. troops, but without the presentation of sufficient actual evidence to persuade Congress or the American public at large. Congress - Members of both parties and key staff - have been very reluctant to trust any such claims ever since the Iraqi WMD intelligence debacle.

That might change after today, when U.S. officials on the ground in Iraq - not just at the CIA or the Pentagon in Washington - revealed reliable evidence of Iran's direct involvement, from the highest levels in the government, in the attacks. "(O)ne of six Iranians detained in January in a raid on an office in the northern city of Irbil was the operational commander of the Quds Brigade, a unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that trains and equips Shiite militants abroad. He was identified as Mohsin Chizari, who was apprehended after slipping back into Iraq after a 10-month absence, the officer said. The Iranians were caught trying to flush documents down the toilet, he said. Bags of their hair were found during the raid, indicating they had tried to change their appearance, he added. He said the dates of manufacture on weapons found so far indicate they were made after fall of Saddam Hussein -- mostly in 2006. He said the "machining" on the components was traceable to Iran but did not elaborate."

For the first time, American officials were able to quantify the casualties resulting from Iranian-made armaments: "Sophisticated Iranian-built bombs smuggled into Iraq have killed at least 170 US and allied soldiers since June 2004 and wounded 620 more, senior US defence officials have said. Iran is involved in supplying explosively formed projectiles or EFPs and other material to Iraqi extremist groups." And the briefing included a description of the route used by Iranian agents to smuggle the weapons into Iraq: "The U.S. officer said Iran was working through 'multiple surrogates' -- mainly 'rogue elements' of the Shiite Mahdi Army -- to smuggle the EFPs into Iraq. He said most of the components are entering Iraq near Amarah, the Iranian border city of Meran, and the Basra area of southern Iraq."

We need public hearings in Congress to examine these findings, show the American people this evidence, and question the troops and officials involved in this disclosure to ensure that the evidence presented today is irrefutable.

UPDATE, Feb. 12: Sources tell me that the initial reaction by leading Congressional Democrats lies somewhere between "skeptical" to "they're lying to us like they did on Iraq." See this BBC story with quotes.

Pictures of impact of Iranian-supplied armaments (ABC News & AFP/U.S. Military)

Iranian & Saudi Textbooks Also Preach Intolerance Which Promotes Violence (updated Feb. 12)

By Andrew Cochran

On February 8, I wrote here about new textbooks used in Palestinian schools which promote hatred of other religions and support terrorism. But this problem certainly isn't isolated to that area; it appears to be more of a systemic effort by numerous Muslim educators worldwide to brainwash their children. Textbooks used in Iran refer to the United States as the "Great Satan" and to Israel as "the regime that occupies Jerusalem," according to a study released this week by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace. In a separate policy statement, the co-authors write, "The books reveal an uncompromisingly hostile attitude towards the West, especially the United States and Israel. In fact, the curriculum’s declared goal is to prepare the students for a global struggle against the West which bears alarming Messianic-like features to the point of self-destruction." You can download the entire report from the CMIP site.

An outcry arose this week in the UK over textbooks funded by the Saudi Ministry of Education and used in the King Fahd Academy in West London. BBC Two's "Newsnight" programme translated textbooks used there and found that they preached intolerance of Judaism and Christianity. Phrases found in some of the books include the following: "(E)very religion other than islam is worthless... They are the Jewish observers of Saturdays whose youth God turned into monkeys and their elders into pigs as their punishment... The monkeys... are the Jews. And the pigs: they are the Christian infidels at Jesus' table." The Academy's principal waffled when pressed on BBC to remove the textbooks. At one point she promised to remove the offensive chapters, but at another point in the interview, she said that the books "have good chapters that can be used by the teachers." You can see the initial expose and interview of the Academy's principal here, and a followup story by "Newsnight" here.

This isn't the first time the Saudis have been discovered brainwashing Muslim youth. Last year, Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom released a report analyzing Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks in use for elementary and secondary students. The authors found that the books "(c)ommand Muslims to 'hate' Christians, Jews, 'polytheists' and other 'unbelievers,' including non-Wahhabi Muslims, though, incongruously, not to treat them 'unjustly'... teach that 'Jews and the Christians are enemies of the [Muslim] believers' and that 'the clash' between the two realms is perpetual" and "instruct that 'fighting between Muslims and Jews' will continue until Judgment Day, and that the Muslims are promised victory over the Jews in the end."

The Saudis' role in teaching intolerance has been the subject of inquiry by the U.S. Congress. In November 2005, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled, "Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe in the War on Terror?" on the role of Saudis in disseminating hateful anti-American and anti-Israeli propaganda thoughout Islamic schools and mosques in the U.S. Contributing Expert Steven Emerson testified at that hearing. You can download his statement and those of other witnesses from the committee's website, and I posted about that hearing and a previous study of Saudi-sponsored propaganda in U.S. mosques and schools.

UPDATE, Feb. 11: Thanks to Philip Henika for sending me this December 2002 article by Steven Stalinsky for MEMRI on this subject, and also this August 2004 "American Prospect" article about the Wahhabi influence in Southeast Asia. Apparently nothing has changed in the past four years.

UPDATE, Feb. 12: See this Sunday London Times article on the Academy - even after the exposure of the hateful books, the principal vows to continue using them.

Sanctions against Iran would work but they won't be tried

By Olivier Guitta

I just have an article on this topic in the latest issue of The Weekly Standard.
You can read the whole piece here.
Here's an excerpt:

After nearly four years of fruitless negotiations between the EU-3 (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) and Iran over the nuclear issue, the U.N. Security Council on December 23 passed Resolution 1737. It imposed limited, almost meaningless, sanctions on the mullahs' regime. But it also set a clock ticking: If Iran has not agreed to suspend its enrichment of uranium by February 21, the Security Council may contemplate more severe sanctions.

The evidence that sanctions could work is significant. Consider the economic picture inside Iran. A roughly 100-page report prepared by the foreign affairs and defense commission of the Majlis, the Iranian parliament, and dated September 2006 was recently leaked to the French daily Le Monde. The report analyzes the economic and social consequences of potential international sanctions. The product of six months' intensive discussion among economists and oil specialists, it was circulated at the highest levels of the regime, and to president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The report underscores the vulnerability of the Iranian economy--especially the oil sector--to sanctions. At first glance, it might seem that a country with the second-largest gas and oil reserves in the world has nothing to worry about. But as the report notes, 85 percent of Iran's revenue comes from the sale of oil abroad. At the same time, Iran imports most of the refined products it uses, like gasoline. Iran consumes half a million barrels of petroleum products per day, of which 40 percent is imported, at a cost of $3 to 4 billion a year. In the last few years, Iran's consumption of petroleum products has increased 10 percent per annum, putting added pressure on the oil sector. Rising consumption should come as no surprise, given population growth and the government-subsidized price of gasoline, among the lowest in the world at 800 rials a liter, or about 33 cents a gallon. Iran exports 2.5 million barrels of oil a day (3 percent of world consumption). An embargo on these exports would have a great impact, though it would not be felt for at least a year.

Palestinian Militants Declare Solidarity With Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq"

By Evan Kohlmann

On February 2, the Salahudeen Brigades in Palestine--an Islamic militant faction associated with the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC)--released a new statement on behalf of commander "Abu Abir" (a.k.a. Mohammed Abdul Aal). In the communique, Abu Abir directly endorsed Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq" as "a symbol of dignity that every Arab Muslim is proud of." Moreover, according to Abu Abir:

"...we are proud of what you are achieving in the righteous land of Iraq, which is both ours and yours... We have been fighting the same battle and it extends all the way from here—the Land of Ribat [Palestine]—to the Tigris and the Euphrates, and to all of the righteous rivers. The forces of oppression have together pounced upon us. The conspiracy [in Iraq] is the same conspiracy [in Palestine] and infidelity is infidelity, regardless of its various names and types. All of us are blessed with the honor of crushing the tyrants in this world under the hooves of the steeds of the mujahideen and the sandals of our warriors... You can rest assured that we keep track of your courageous operations that destroy the fortresses of the enemy, shake the ground beneath him, and bring happiness to our hearts and the hearts of the believers.”

Click to view English translation c/o Globalterroralert.com

Regulators Provide Current Stats on Results of BSA Reporting

By Jonathan Winer

In a speech delivered February 9 by FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair, at a money laundering symposium, Chairman Bair defended the effectiveness of the use of Section 314 of the Patriot Act by which FinCEN has "pinged" financial institutions to locate accounts and transactions belonging to people that may be involved in financing terrorism or money laundering.

According to Chairman Bair, the Section 314 information sharing has yielded "productive leads" for terrorist financing, arms and drug trafficking, international identity theft, nationwide investment fraud and operations with a U.S. sanctioned country involving some 3,200 transactions and 2,200 accounts.

Her statistic-rich speech stated that over the past five years, the use of the Section 314 information has led to the issuance of more than 1,700 subpoenas, over 100 indictments, 99 arrests, nine convictions, and the location of $22 million in suspect funds.

Also of interest in her speech was the statement that between 30 to 50 percent of the FBI's targeted terrorist subjects matched names listed in the FinCEN database, and that 20 percent of the SARS coded for terrorist finance actually contained the names of subjects of open FBI terrorism investigations.

September 11 WTC Victims' Remains Still Being Discovered

By Andrew Cochran

Many of the families who lost loved ones at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, are still monitoring repair and construction work around the site for discoveries, and remains are found often. Here are the texts of e-mails sent from New York City officials this past week on several discoveries of human remains:

February 8: "No potential human remains were recovered today. Work will resume tomorrow. Thanks."

February 7: "Today, 2 potential human remains were recovered at 11 Water St. Work will resume tomorrow. Thanks."

February 5: "Today 2 potential human remains were recovered at 11 Water St. Work will resume tomorrow. Thanks."

February 2: "Today, one potential human remain was recovered at 11 Water Street and one potential human remain was recovered at the 39th St. site. Thanks."

And our thanks to the dedicated and caring NYC personnel who continue the grim but necessary task of bringing closure to those who have heard nothing about the missing. NEVER FORGET.

A Plan Colombia for Afghanistan: Exporting Success?

By Aaron Mannes

Speaking in Bogotá a few weeks ago, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Peter Pace praised Colombia’s success at battling a drug fueled insurgency and cited it as a “good model” for Afghanistan. He wasn’t just praising his hosts; the new U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan will be the outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, William Wood. While there are many positive lessons to be learned from Colombia’s successes (and failures), U.S. anti-narcotics efforts may not be the most important factor. In particular, the United States should consider carefully before initiating aerial spraying against poppy growers in Afghanistan. Read the full blog here.

The Muslim Brotherhood Triumph in the Palestinian Territories

By Douglas Farah

The big winner in the Hamas-Fatah peace pact appears to be the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an armed branch.

While giving up very little Hamas, through the intercession of leaders of the Brotherhood, has sidestepped the issue of recognizing Israel while ceding little to Fatah and opening the way, they hope, for international recognition. This is a common tactical decision by the Brotherhood, which is often willing to trade off short-term contradictions for long-term gains, with the clear understanding that anything written now can be rewritten later.

But the fundamental issue between Fatah and Hamas ( and the Brotherhood) is deep and perhaps irreconcilable, and goes to the heart of the Islamist project. For Hamas, it is a religious matter of faith that Israel cannot be recognized and the Caliphate must be reestablished. Fatah, for all its bumbling incompetence, sees the territorial issues as a matter of policy and politics.

The noted scholar Mamaoun Fandy, recently warned in an article excerpted in the Middle East Media Research Institute, the Muslim Brotherhood has now conquered Palestine as a symbol in the Arab world.

This conquest "will transform [the Palestinian problem] from a resolvable territorial struggle into a religious struggle that cannot be resolved," he wrote. A reversal of this trend is highly unlikely because al Jazeera is, at least in large part, controlled by the Mulim Brotherhood, giving it the dominant medium in the region. My full blog is here.

Top al Taqwa officers and Ibrahim El Zayat on trial in Egypt?

By Lorenzo Vidino

Ikhwanweb, the Muslim Brotherhood’s official English language website, reports some very interesting details about the recent crackdown of the Egyptian government against the group. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that some of the 40 Muslim Brotherhood leaders that have been indicted and whose cases have been referred to a military tribunal are well known for their activities in the West (all of them, given the fact that they do not live in Egypt, are being tried in absentia).

Two of them are Yussouf Nada and Ghaleb Himmat, the two masterminds of the al Taqwa Bank. The two, while having their assets frozen by various designations and having undergone investigations in at least three countries, have never been formally charged for their activities in al Taqwa. The Egyptian government is now charging them for their membership in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Equally interesting is the fact that Egyptian authorities have charged Ibrahaim El Zayat. El Zayat is the president of the Islamischen Gemeinschaft in Deutschland (IGD), Germany’s most important Muslim organization and closely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Founded by Said Ramadan (Hassan al Banna’s right hand man, Muslim World League founder and Tariq Ramadan’s father), the IGD was then run by al Taqwa’s Ghaleb Himmat and, since 2002, by El Zayat. A few years ago I wrote this about El Zayat and IGD:

The IGD, of which the Islamic Center of Munich is one of the most important members, represents the main offshoot of the Egyptian Brotherhood in Germany. But the IGD is also the quintessential example of how the Muslim Brotherhood has gained power in Europe. The IGD has grown significantly over the years, and it now incorporates dozens of Islamic organizations throughout the country. Islamic centers from more than thirty German cities have joined its umbrella.[29] Today, the IGD's real strength lies in its cooperation with and sponsorship of many Islamic youth and student organizations across Germany.

.....Meckenheim police also link Zayat to Institut Européen des Sciences Humaines, a French school that prepares European imams. Several radical clerics lecture at the school and several European intelligence agencies accuse the school of spreading religious hatred. German authorities also highlight the fact that he is involved in several money laundering investigations. Zayat has never been indicted for terrorist activity, but he has dubious financial dealings and maintains associations with many organizations that spread religious hatred. The IGD may have changed leadership after the U.S. Treasury's designation of Himmat, but it did not change direction.

The news reported by Ikhwanweb needs to be confirmed. If actually taking place, the Egyptian proceedings, while probably lacking transparency, might provide additional proof of the penetration of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West

Hezbollah preparing for a civil war in Beirut?

By Olivier Guitta

It surely looks like it.
After the recent provocations at the Lebanese-Israeli border plus the planting of five bombs Hezbollah is definitely upping the ante again.

Lebanese security forces intercepted today a semitrailer charged with individual weapons at the outskirts of Beirut. Large quantities of kalashnikov and weapons hidden under hay were seized in Hazmieh. Lebanese customs affirm that the truck was monitored since its departure of Bekaa towards Beirut, but the truck broke down in Hazmieh and security forces decided to intervene. The Ministers of Defense and Justice, informed of this serious event during the Council of Ministers, left the meeting to go to the site and gave their instructions to the police force. At the end of the Council of Ministers, the spokesman of the government, Ghazi Aridi, refused to answer the journalists “before the investigation is over”. Hezbollah confirmed that “the truck belongs to them and that its load was intended for the “Resistance””. The party of God demands that “the vehicle and the weapons are given back and hopes that the authorities are going to cooperate”. The question is why would Hezbollah transfer individual weapons to Beirut, whereas it holds more than 20.000 long range missiles and that it affirms that no weapons are directed against the Lebanese people? Most likely Hezbollah is following Syria's orders to cause chaos in Lebanon, and at the border with Israel, and to delay the formation of the international Court and therefore make it possible for the regime in Damascus to escape justice.
Hezbollah might have wanted to arm its militants in order to prevent the majority from commemorating on February 14 the second anniversary of the assassination of Rafic Hariri.
Hezbollah and Syria would have much to gain from a triggering of combats in central Beirut.

Al Qaeda Renews Call to Attack Oil Supplies

By Andrew Cochran

In the new issue of "Sawt al-Jihad" (Voice of Jihad), issued today, Al Qaeda returns to an attack policy used in 2005 and 2006, that of targeting oil supplies intended for the West. Rita Katz's SITE Institute provides this commentary: "The Abqaiq oil refinery suicide attack from February 2006 is featured throughout the magazine, some pieces concentrating on individuals involved, and another, titled: “Bin Laden and the Oil Weapon”, discussing this incident, as well as the impact of the Mujahideen targeting oil vis-à-vis America’s dependence upon this resource, and future targets on oil producing countries." Laura Mansfield has made the entire issue available (untranslated).

Our Contributing Experts have addressed this theme often, particularly after attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and in Iraq:

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross:
"Al-Qaeda's Hurricane Lesson: Target the Oil Supply"
"Al-Zawahiri Calls for Attacks on Gulf Oil Facilities"
"Latest Targeting of Iraqi Oil Sources Perpetuates Trend"
"Al Qaeda's Oil Weapon" (Weekly Standard)

Evan Kohlmann:
"The State of Al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia, Connections to Zarqawi in Iraq"
"Al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia Issues Rules on Attacking Oil Facilities"
"Al-Qaida Claims Attack on Saudi Oil Refinery"

Palestinian Textbooks Preach Hate and Support Terrorism

By Andrew Cochran

The Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli-based organization which examines Palestinian culture, today released an important new report on the content of textbooks introduced at the end of last year into the 12th grade in schools run by the Palestinian Authority. The books lie about the U.S., Israel, and the West in general, and brainwash the kids into believing that terrorist attacks against us are appropriate and meritorious. At a press conference today with PMW to announce the report, Sen. Hillary Clinton branded the textbooks as "indoctrination" and part of a campaign which "poisons minds" of Palestinian children against any tolerance of Israel and the West.

The report took whole sections of the textbooks and translated them into English, and the translations are stunning in their hatred and radicalism. To quote from the report, "The PA schoolbooks teach that fighting Israel is not merely a territorial, nationalistic conflict, but a religious battle for Islam. The educators define the conflict with Israel as "Ribat"- a concept from Islamic tradition signifying Muslims defending the border areas of Islam." Israel's founding is described as "a catastrophe that is unprecedented in history," and the kids are taught to envision a world in which Israel does not exist. Israel is referred to repeatedly as “the Zionist enemy;" “the enemy of this people;” and "the Zionist gangs.” Hezbollah is described as "Lebanese resistance for its liberation," and the books teach that any country trying to prevent terrorism is guilty of violating international law. Quoting again, "The PA textbooks teach that everyone participates in Jihad, especially when it becomes necessary, as with the war to fight Israel and liberate 'Palestine.'"

The U.S. doesn't fare much better: "Both from what the PA has included about the United States as well as what was omitted, it is clear that the educational goal is to present the US as an enemy of the Arabs and Palestinians." Terrorist attacks against U.S, and British soldiers are described as "brave resistance," while U.S. economic aid for the PA is completely omitted, even though we have been among the chief providers of aid to the Palestinian people.

The lies and hatred taught to Palestinian schoolchildren are discussed in detail for pages in this report. You can download it in Acrobat or a Word document from the PMW site.

The question I have is whether the U.S. should continue funding the PA and the hate-filled textbooks used in indoctrinating Palestinian youth. Last week, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, who helped put the 1993 WTC bombers behind bars, proposed a cessation of all funding after another attack by Aqsa Brigades terrorists, who are tied to Abbas, Fatah, and Hezbollah. Obviously, American taxpayers' funds have already been used to brainwash Palestinian kids into hating America and their own neighbors. Hopefully Congress, when passing foreign aid appropriations for the next fiscal year, will either cut off all aid or condition further aid on a change in the PA educational system to excise the hate.

Early 2007 Trends in Thailand's Insurgency

By Zachary Abuza

Wednesday morning saw an audacious bombing that appeared to target the beloved Crown Princess of Thailand, Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who is visiting Thailand’s restive southern provinces. The bomb was placed not far from her helicopter’s landing pad. A security patrol that was sweeping the area, discovered the cell-phone detonated IED. The bomb was not a large one, compared to what has been detonated recently. Detonated in a controlled manner, it created a crater a yard in diameter and 12 inches deep.

While Bangkok is still abuzz over whodunit over the New Year’s Eve bombings, the southern insurgency continues to escalate. The level of killing has gone up to over two people a day, minor by Iraqi standards, but still the most lethal conflict in Southeast Asia, bar none; and it has the potential to grow dramatically in 2007.

It is not necessary to detail all the daily pillion killings and bombings, but it is worth recounting some of the more significant acts violence in 2007. The Minister of Defence, Boonrod Somthat glumly noted that the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinasi (BRN-C) "has refused negotiations so far as it is gaining the upper hand and winning greater support from local residents."

What is Going on in Madagascar?

By Douglas Farah

It is passing strange that Madagascar, the large island off of East Africa, has come up several times in the past week in relation to terrorism and terror finance.

The first was the death of Osma bin Laden's brother-in-law Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, well-known for his support of radical Islamists. He happened to be on the island as a gemstone dealer.

Seems as though the group that killed him took his computer and some personal belongings, but not the stones that were there. Seems somewhat unlikely for a robbery. Given Khalifa's extensive ties to al Qaeda financial activities and various designated terrorist financiers and charities, the connection to the gemstone trade is tantalizing.

From the earliest days of my diamond coverage I was told of a strong al Qaeda connection to rubies and sapphires in Madagascar, begun at about the same time as al Qaeda's interest in diamonds in West Africa and tanzanite in Tanzania.

This fits with the timeframe of al Qaeda making a concerted move to put their assets into commodities. The move came after the August 1998 bombing of two American embassies in East Africa and the subsequent freezing of some $220 million of Taliban and al Qaeda gold in the Federal Reserve system by the Clinton administration. My full blog is here.

Irksome Iraq Irony

By Bill West

Andy Cochran, on February 6, posted about Iraqi member of parliament Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, who may have been convicted of terrorism crimes in Kuwait from 1984, including an attack against the US embassy there in 1983, and is alleged by US Military Intelligence to be currently involved with Iranian agents supplying weapons inside Iraq. Supposedly, US authorities are conferring with the al-Maliki government on the Mohammed issue. Meanwhile, Mohammed enjoys parliamentary immunity from Iraqi prosecution and US officials have not indicated any immediate public willingness to take action.

In May 2004, I wrote an article about the possibility of US authorities taking advantage of our post-war possession of Iraqi government records and access to senior Iraqi military and government prisoners to identify former members of the Iraqi military and security services who had engaged in human rights violations such as torture and political assassination. That effort could particularly focus on any such violators who, over the years, may have found their way into the United States as refugees or in some other immigrant status. There has been little effort by the US Government to pursue such matters.

Andy’s posting on Mohammed is a glaring reminder that no matter the arguments for or against US involvement in Iraq there have been significant missed opportunities to pursue otherwise indisputably worthy “bad guy” targets that are Iraqi-related in the counter-terrorism and other national security arenas that stem far more from mismanagement than bad policy.

Somalia - Still on the Brink and Without Sufficient U.S. Support

By Andrew Cochran

A Senate hearing yesterday disclosed the fragile state of affairs in Somalia, and news today of multiple arrests of suspected terrorists (stories here and here) indicates that Islamists there are back on the offensive. Ethiopian troops may have dislodged the Union of Islamic Courts from the seat of power in Mogadishu, but they did not provide lasting security, and the African Union looks unlikely to backfill with sufficient force and moral authority. Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, a leader in the Islamic Courts now in Kenyan custody, will reportedly travel to Europe to meet with Somali communities and pave the way for a reconciliation conference in Mogadishu, a step encouraged and backed by the U.S.

At the hearing, Dr. J. Stephen Morrison of the Center for Strategic & International Studies discussed the findings of a conference on Somalia in Washington several weeks ago sponsored by CSIS, the U.S. Institute for Peace, and the Council on Foreign Relations. To summarize, Dr. Morrison reported that U.S. policy towards Somalia can still be characterized as "too little and almost too late" - specifically, "It continues to lack a clear vision backed by a functioning interagency process that bridges the United States’ ‘hard’ counter-terrorism equities with its ‘soft’ power interests in promoting a negotiated, broadened compact for governing Somalia, meeting dire humanitarian needs, and beginning reconstruction efforts."

Doug Farah and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross have posted often here on the initial promise offered by the Ethiopian incursion and the subsequent disappointing follow-up by the U.S. Daveed sent me a quote for this post about continuing conflicts among U.S. government policymakers: "Defense has favored dispersing a larger amount of aid to the TFG to get the government up and running, while State wants to disperse money slowly to gain maximum influence over the TFG. The problem is that this government needs resources. Its civil servants and soldiers aren't getting paid. A weak TFG paves the way for the ICU's return. It's astonishing, and sad, that apparently our government has put so little thought into how to stabilize our ally in Somalia." Previous posts by Daveed and Doug include:

Doug Farah:
"The Closing Window in Somalia"
"The Strategy on Somalia"

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross:
"Blackhawk Up"
"Will the U.S. Win in Somalia?"

New Delhi: A Favorite Terror Target !

By Animesh Roul

Four suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants, arrested following a heavy exchange of gunfire with the Delhi Police on Feb 4, have been remanded to police custody. Meanwhile, the suspected JeM men were identified as Shahid Gafoor (from Sialkot, Pakistan) Bashir Ahmed, Fayyaz Lone, and Abdul Majeed Baba (all from Jammu and Kashmir). Initial investigations suggested that three Kashmiri militants, who had arrived in Delhi from Jammu by the Malwa Express earlier that day. The encounter took place near the Ranjit Singh flyover, close to bustling Connaught Place area. Police recovered three kg of RDX, four detonators, a timer, six hand grenades, 30 bore firearm, USD 10,000 and INR 50,000 from them.

As a matter of fact, this is a lot of money, which shows the monetary strengths of terror outfits. (I hope this would initiate a probe on terror financing in this part of the world). The other most disturbing fact was that the explosives were carried safely from Jammu using passenger train to be delivered to Gafoor to carry out the destructive act in Delhi’s vital places. Early this year Gafoor had flown to Dhaka (Bangladesh) from Karachi, taking a safe route to be inside the country. Then sneaked to India through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border and back in Delhi on Feb 03 from Kolkata (West Bengal, India) by Poorva Express. Gafoor reportedly told the police that he was supposed to configure three improvised explosive devices (IED) and plant them at busy and prominent market places in and around Delhi.

New Study on Terrorism in North Africa

By Matthew Levitt

In August 2006, al-Qaeda's second-in-command announced a new alliance with the Algeria-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), with the stated aim of becoming a "thorn in the neck" of America and the West. This radical network -- which is little known in the United States but has become one of the top terrorist threats in North Africa -- is active in Europe and may even have connections to aspiring militants in North America.

"Islamist Terrorism in Northwestern Africa: A 'Thorn in the Neck' of the United States?" examines how the intersection of local conflicts with al-Qaeda's global ideology and technological expertise is prompting U.S. officials to focus on North Africa, as both a potential target of attacks and a safe haven or recruiting ground for terrorists intent on attacking elsewhere. In particular, it assesses the State Department-led multi-agency effort to empower counterterrorism partners in countries such as Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, and Tunisia.

The full report is available here.

Saudi "Terror Finance" Arrests: Still More Questions Than Answers (updated)

By Andrew Cochran

On Saturday I posted about the arrests of 10 people by the Saudi government, ostensibly for funding terrorism outside the Kingdom. Soon after the arrests, an attorney for some of the arrested cried foul, claiming the suspects are actually just dissidents, silenced for trying to exercise their basic human rights. "They are pure reformists par excellence. Nothing about them is remotely linked with terrorism." He named some of the men as Sulaiman Rushoudi, Essam Basrawy, Abdel-Rahman al-Shimary, Abdelaziz al-Khuraijy and Mousa al-Qarny. Days later, detailed information on the arrested suspects is still scant and lacking, and Amnesty International has now questioned the bases for arrests. "They are held incommunicado and are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Some of them had been detained before because of their work."

Contributing Experts Jonathan Winer and Dennis Lormel are quoted in a newswire story today on the questions surrounding the arrests and their significance if they are really for funding extraterritorial terror. Jonathan: "We just don't know enough. We don't know who these people are." Dennis: For the "Saudis to overtly take action that received media attention they were either pressured by the U.S. government or felt the need to generate positive publicity."

What is most telling about that story and the arrests, to me, is the lack of any statement by any U.S. senior official, off or on the record, since the arrests. If these are really terror-related arrests, it is in the Saudis' interests to privately share information about the subjects with other countries which can use the information in their counter-terrorism operations, and which also enables U.S. officials to publicly congratulate the Saudis. The silence from Washington is deafening and leads me to think, so far, that the arrests had no nexus to real terrorism.

UPDATE: There will be a closed-door hearing on Saudi Arabia which will be held this Thursday at the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Interesting coincidence. And Jean-Charles Brisard has additional background information on some of the subjects, with one having been designated in 2004 for ties to bin Laden. Brisard reports that two others have past links, dating back to the early 1990s, to Osama bin Laden, and they also worked with reformers. Brisard questions the timing of the arrests. His article includes additional links to important information about these subjects.

Treasury Seeks $ to Hire New Specialists on Rogue States

By Jonathan Winer

One small but provocative line-item in President Bush's budget request for the coming year is the request by the U.S. Treasury for $385,000 in new funds for its Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes to "disrupt and dismantle rogue regimes."

According to Treasury, it would use the money to hire additional policy advisors to cover North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Central Asia "on pressing financial issues."

Reading between the lines, it appears that Treasury wants the additional staff to focus on building cases for designating particular front-companies and bank accounts associated with proliferators and terrorists, leveraging the authorities it has by having the staff to actually do the work needed adequately to prepare the cases and to fan out on the related diplomacy required to let counterparts know about USG intentions.

U.S. Should Initiate Designation Process For Iraqi Parliament Member For Possible Terrorist Activities (updated 2/7)

By Andrew Cochran

Today we learn that a sitting member of the Iraqi Parliament, Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, might be a convicted and still-active terrorist. Mohammed was sentenced to death in Kuwait in 1984 for the bombings of the U.S. and French embassies there in 1983, in which 5 died and 86 were wounded. News reports also cite the U.S. military's assertions that Mohammed currently assists Iranian special forces in Iraq as "a conduit for weapons and political influence." Yet Mohammed now sits in Iraq's Parliament as a member of Prime Minister al-Maliki's ruling coalition. CNN reports that the U.S. Embassy there claims they are pursuing the case with the al-Maliki government.

The terrorist designation process in the U.S. government takes considerable research, discussion, and deliberation between numerous agencies before a final decision is reached (see these comments about the process by the senior Treasury official involved in designations). But if either the evidence underlying Kuwaiti conviction was accurate and not tainted by political or cultural bias, or if the current military intel on Mohammed's alleged Iranian ties is accurate, then Mohammed is a terrorist, should be so designated, and strong U.S. diplomatic and judicial measures should be pursued. The victims of the 1984 bombings deserve justice, and we cannot let the al-Maliki government just delay, deny, or obfuscate. Let the deliberations begin.

UPDATE, Feb. 7: Bill West sent me this link to a blog post on connections between al-Maliki's Dawa party and Hezbollah. "Maliki went to school with the Hezbollah leadership ... Hezbollah in mid 1980s worked to free 'the Dawa 17' -- arrested by Kuwait for a suicide bomb that killed three Americans in the US embassy in Kuwait."

Fatah and Hamas Make the Pilgrimage to Mecca: Toward National Unity or Civil War?

By David Schenker

Tomorrow (February 6), Hamas and Fatah leaders are slated to meet in Mecca, Saudi Arabia to discuss the escalating intra-Palestinian violence in the Palestinian Authority (PA). A meeting in Saudi had been rumored for some time, but the parties finally agreed to meet after the most recent ceasefire deteriorated, resulting in a bloody weekend of kidnappings and violence in Gaza.

According to the Palestinian press, among those scheduled to travel to Mecca include: Syrian-based Hamas leaders Khalid Mashal and Musa Abu Marzouk, PA Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyyeh, and Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al Zahar, as well as the PA’s Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), his advisor Nabil Amro, and Fatah’s PA Security Chief in Gaza Muhammed Dahlan.

With the exception of Syria and Iran, all the key players will be present in Mecca. Still, prospects for “success”—i.e., reaching agreement on a ceasefire and on establishment of a Palestinian national unity government—are indeterminate.

At a press conference yesterday in Damascus, Khalid Mashal urged Hamas and Fatah to avert bloodshed and exercise self control: “dialogue is the only way to solve the political differences,” he said, “Palestinian blood is off limits.” He added “we are all confident that we will succeed [in Mecca]…The situation does not accommodate failure.”

Whether Mashal’s comments reflect a growing Hamas concern about developments in Gaza or his statements were merely pre-meeting propaganda, is open to debate. Until recently, Mashal opposed accommodation such as a Fatah-Hamas deal and/or the return of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Instead, he apparently preferred to undermine both Abu Mazen and Haniyyeh by pushing for an even harder-line Hamas policy.

Perhaps the increased internecine violence and fears of civil war have spurred a change in Hamas policy. More likely, though, what we are seeing is a tactical shift by Hamas. Hamas is essentially adapting to Fatah’s unanticipated strong reaction to the Hamas political power play. Now that Fatah has essentially raised the stakes in Gaza, Hamas has been left with some unpalatable choices. For Hamas, a trip to Mecca, an enduring ceasefire, and the prospect of a national unity government is relatively benign exit from the current crisis.

Arrest in Spain of Alleged Key GSPC-Al Qaeda Terrorist

By Andrew Cochran

Spanish authorities have announced the arrest in Catalonia of a Moroccan, Mbark El Jaafari, who was wanted in his home country for allegedly sending suicide bombers to Iraq. If the allegations surrounding Jaafari are true, it would represent an important arrest of a key operative. Jaafari is alleged to belong to GSPC, the Algerian-based terrorist group now pledged to Al Qaeda, for which he allegedly sent 32 suicide bombers to launch attacks in Iraq, with other operations planned in Morocco. He is also thought to trained in Al Qaeda's Afghanistan camps in 2001 before the U.S. cleaned them out. For Jaafari to have been arrested in Spain is extremely troubling, indicating possible plans to carry out attacks there and in Europe and a network of supporters and sympathizers sufficient to support his presence there.

CT Blog Contributing Experts have posted breaking news and analysis on GSPC's terrorist activities and transformation. Evan Kohlmann announced that GSPC had changed its name to "Al-Qaida in the Land of the Islamic Maghrib" in his post here on January 26. On January 17, Lorenzo Vidino of The Investigative Project on Terrorism analyzed the dismantling by the Tunisian government of a serious GSPC plot to attack Western interests, and Lorenzo noted, "As it often happens when the GSPC is involved, the Tunisian cell had strong ties to Europe." On January 11, Evan Kohlmann disclosed a new statement from GSPC leader Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud titled, "We are Coming," inviting bin Laden's instructions. Olivier Guitta discussed the GSPC European network in his post on December 11, and Evan Kohlmann posted on that same day on GSPC's claim of responsibility for the nurder of Western contractors in Algeria.

A New Look at Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia

By Douglas Farah

The Washington Post carries on a prominent academic who argues that wahhabism in Saudi Arabia emerged not solely from religious motivation, but from political considerations as well.

This reinterpretation core Saudi history by Khalid al-Dakhil has been largely blocked from publication in Saudi Arabia and around the Gulf because it weakens one of the fundamental articles of faith of _Wahhabi_ legitimacy: that the Wahhabi movement was purely and divinely a relgious movement ordained to bring wandering Muslims back to the true way.

Al-Dakhil argues that the religious component of the Wahhabists was a supplement to their political motives of establishing a single state on the Arab peninsula at at time when the region was governed by dozens of micro-states.

As one analyst told the _Post_, such a fundamental questioning of the divine origins of wahhabism would be akin to finding that the Pilgrims were in fact atheists. My full blog is here.

London warning: A new step in Jihad Terror

By Walid Phares

Last Thursday a security report from the UK may have been a low level announcer of a new benchmark in Jihadi Terrorism. British Police said it arrested nine, including an Amjad Mahmoud, for “allegedly plotting” what authorities called “Iraq-style kidnapping.” Counter Terrorism units arrested the men for planning on “kidnapping a British Muslim soldier and post his beheading on internet.” According to the reports the serviceman, in his 20s, has served in Afghanistan. The suspects, per the reports are of Pakistani origin wanted to act a la Zarqawi. They had been monitored for six months by Scotland Yard before the arrests would take place. Besides, the city of their “plot” had witnessed a previous sweep. Last summer, raids foiled a plot involving suspects from Birmingham, London and other British cities who had planned to blow up ten trans-Atlantic flights. Last week's arrests, conducted in Birmingham, would be a crossing of a new benchmark in the Jihadi war against Britain, perhaps even in Europe. Here is why:

Hezbollah provoking Israel right at the border

By Olivier Guitta

Indeed Hezbollah flags were deployed on February 2 on the Lebanese-Israeli. According to the site “Elaph.com”, “militants of Hezbollah deployed this Friday about thirty flags of their party all along the Lebanese-Israeli border. Hoisted on some six meter high poles, the flags are dispersed from Nakoura, on the Mediterranean, to Shebaa in the Eastern sector of south Lebanon”, within a few meters of the blue line marking the border drawn by UNIFIL. This latest action of Hezbollah, realized under the nose of the U.N. peace-keeping forces, seems to be a calculated provocation. Indeed, since the end of hostilities last on August 14, Hezbollah does not have any more official presence in the area ranging between the border and the Litani river, about 25 miles to the north.
This just confirms the inefficiency of the UNIFIL and its will of "laissez faire" attitude. Since Hezbollah has been rebuilding its stock of rockets to level higher than before the July war, it's just a matter of time for a resuming of the conflict.
It will suffice for Hezbollah to target UNIFIL soldiers to see this contingent withdraw from the area and leave once again South Lebanon under the full control of Hezbollah.
This latest Hezbollah provocation could be explained by two reasons:
1- try to trigger even a limited war with Israel in order to gain back support in the Shia community which has been dwindling recently.For more on this please read this. In the past week Nasrallah and his followers have been back focusing on their motto: "Death to Israel, death to America".
2- also this occurred the next day of Prime Minister Olmert's testimony on the July war where he expressed his satisfaction over UNIFIL's presence at the border and Hezbollah's alleged withdrawal.

More on Yasin al-Qadi's Connections to Turkey's Prime Minister

By Andrew Cochran

In his new article, “Will Turkey have an Islamist President?” Michael Rubin highlights some unanswered questions on the connection between terrorist financier Yasin al-Qadi to the Turkish Prime Minister. He writes:

Cuneyd Zapsu, Erdoğan’s chief advisor, has donated money to Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi businessman identified by both the U.S. Treasury Department and the United Nations as an al Qaeda financier. While Zapsu initially denied the charges--and even threatened to sue those repeating them--Council of Financial Crime Investigations files leaked to the press confirmed that Zapsu had donated $60,000 to a foundation run by al-Qadi in 1997. Two years later his mother transferred another $250,000

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, the government of Erdoğan’s predecessor froze al-Qadi’s assets. But with his business partner serving as advisor to the prime minister, al-Qadi appealed on technical grounds. Erdoğan endorsed the appeal, vouching for al-Qadi and even calling him a philanthropist in a Turkish television interview. The prime minister acknowledged knowing al-Qadi personally, which raises an important question: how Did Zapsu introduce his business partner to the prime minister, and if he really did so, why? Only subsequent court intervention forced Erdoğan to keep al-Qadi’s assets frozen. The questionable company chosen by Zapsu has become the rule rather than the exception: on March 27, 2006, Erdoğan traveled to Khartoum for a two-day Arab League Summit. While there, he skipped an official dinner to meet instead with Fatih al-Hassanein, a Sudanese financier with ties to al Qaeda and arms smuggling. Erdoğan has yet to explain the purpose of this meeting.

Zachary Abuza, "Top Al Qaeda Financier Dead, Denied Links to Osama to His Dying Day"
Victor Comras, "It's time to Put Yasin Al Kadi Out of Business!" (with links to posts by Doug Farah and Evan Kohlmann) - also "Switzerland Files Criminal Charges Against Saudi Businessman For Financing Terrorism" - also "Turkey Prosecutor Absolves Yasin Al-Qadi, But Is He Right!"
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, "U.S.-Turkish Relations on the Brink?" which cites an article in which PM Erdogan is quoted as saying about al-Qadi, "I believe in him as I believe in myself."

And al-Qadi's freedom is more evidence of the lack of action taken by the Saudi government against its citizens who finance terrorism outside the Kingdom, as I discussed here yesterday.

After the Danish Cartoon Controversy

By Lorenzo Vidino

My friend Pernille Ammitzbøll and I recently published a long analysis of the origins, developments and aftermath of the Danish cartoon controversy in the Middle East Quarterly. As tomorrow marks the anniversary of the peak of the crisis, it might be interesting to read it to see, a year later, what lessons we have learned from it.

On February 5, 2006, at the height of the tension following the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, Muslim protesters torched Denmark's embassies in Beirut and Damascus. While many in the West looked on with bewilderment, protests spread across the Muslim world, and stores in Muslim areas removed Danish products from their shelves. Even as the cartoon crisis captured headlines around the world, most people outside Denmark remain unfamiliar with the forces propelling it. Like the Salman Rushdie affair before it and the furor over Pope Benedict XVI's remarks at Regensburg University after it, the cartoon controversy had less to do with genuine outrage over the depiction of Islam's prophet and more to do with the ambitions, first, of a small group of radical imams and, later, of jousting Middle Eastern powers. Now that the dust has settled, what is the legacy of the crisis, not only for Denmark but also for the Western world?

The background
Beginning in the late 1960s, a small Muslim population of Turks, Lebanese, and Somalis began to settle in Gellerup, a Western suburb of Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city. Gellerup, known to most locals as "the ghetto," suffers not only lower income, poorer education rates, and a higher crime rate than the rest of the city but also physical isolation. Its high-rises, which 28,000 Gellerup residents call home, are surrounded by a thick ring of public green and large boulevards. Designed in 1968 to house blue-collar workers and students from the local university, within two decades, Gellerup had become the destination of thousands of foreign immigrants who had moved to Aarhus to work in the city's food industry. By the mid-1990s, few ethnic Danish residents remained in the development.

While some politicians and commentators embraced an extreme tone, as when a People's Party spokesperson compared Muslims to cancer cells, much of the debate was constructive. For the first time, newspapers began to report crimes committed by gangs of teenage immigrants and honor killings of young Danish Muslim women. Politicians detailed overrepresentation of immigrants in benefit abuse and criminal activities. For example, in 2004, Danish authorities pressed charges against five times as many second generation immigrants than against ethnic Danes. In Copenhagen, three in four minors arrested is of immigrant background.

You can read the rest of the article here. Two interesting developments have taken place since the publication of the article, both affecting the two chief architects of the controversy. In November Raed Hlayel left Denmark to move back to his native Lebanon, from where he has sworn to continue his battle against Denmark. Ahmed Abu Laban, the country's most famous imam, died of cancer Friday in a Copenhagen hospital.

Saudi Arrests for Iraqi Terrorist Financing: Breakthrough or "Show Arrests"? (updated Feb. 4)

By Andrew Cochran

Readers of the Iraq Study Group report will recall that the ISG was highly critical of the disinterest shown by the Saudis and other Gulf states in stopping the terrorism in Iraq and assisting in stabilizing the country. Quoting from page 25 of the report:

These countries for the most part have been passive and disengaged. They have declined to provide debt relief or substantial economic assistance to the Iraqi government. Several Iraqi Sunni Arab politicians complained that Saudi Arabia has not provided political support for their fellow Sunnis within Iraq. One observed that Saudi Arabia did not even send a letter when the Iraqi government was formed, whereas Iran has an ambassador in Iraq. Funding for the Sunni insurgency comes from private individuals within Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, even as those governments help facilitate U.S. military operations in Iraq by providing basing and overflight rights and by cooperating on intelligence issues.

SURPRISE! Now the KSA has announced the arrest of 10 suspects for sending funds to other "suspected parties" who used the money in "dragging the sons of the nation to disturbed places," possibly alluding to Iraq. Details are sketchy at this writing, and I hope U.S. authorities can obtain more information. Is this a breakthrough towards real cooperation or just a "show arrest" to keep the new Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress from starting embarrassing investigations? Let's stay skeptical until we see more and hope it's real thing.

UPDATE, February 4: There is another possible explanation for the arrests, which I should have foreseen but did not - that those arrested might be dissidents arrested to stop their protests against the Saudi regime. The Bush Administration and Congress should press the Saudis for more information to ensure this isn't an exercise in the denial of basic human rights.

Iran, Syria, Hezbollah…At What Point Accountable

By Dennis Lormel

According to Wikipedia, willful blindness is a term used in law to describe a situation in which an individual seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally putting himself in a position where he is unaware of facts which would render him liable. When it comes to a broad spectrum of actions taken by Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, most of the world has chosen to ignore them, rendering themselves willfully blind.

Iran has been the most egregious. They openly fund and support Hezbollah; support insurgent groups in Iraq; instigate violence between factions in Gaza; assist the Palestinian Islamic Jihad with suicide bombings in Israel; promote anti-American sentimentality with countries in Latin America, most notably with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. More troubling, Iran is flaunting the development of nuclear capabilities. The American government has become aggressive in dealing with Iran in Iraq. Saudi Arabia has pushed back against Iran in Palestine by hosting meetings between Fatah and Hamas. What will it take for the international community to take their collective heads out of the sand and take serious actions against Iran? Hopefully, it won’t be a nuclear incident.

Syria has continuously supported Hezbollah with funding, weapons, supplies and guidance. Likewise, Syria has assisted Hamas. Syria can be likened to a stalker for the manner in which it visibly lusts for possession of Lebanon. The assassinations of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hairi and Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel have each implicated Syria. What will it take for the international community to take their collective heads out of the sand and take serious actions against Syria? Hopefully, it won’t be the overthrow of Lebanon.

Following the conflict with Israel, Hezbollah openly failed to disarm. In fact, they visibly rearmed with the aid of Iran and Syria. In provoking a conflict with Israel, Hezbollah was responsible for the devastation in Lebanon. Instead of being contrite, Hezbollah flaunted Iranian funding and provided money to Lebanese citizens to rebuild their homes and towns. In doing so, Hezbollah disingenuously made themselves out to be heroes instead of cowards. Hezbollah has since put pressure on the Lebanese government through protests and strikes in an attempt to overthrow the government. What will it take for the international community to take their collective heads out of the sand and take serious actions against Hezbollah? Hopefully, it won’t be another deadly conflict with Israel.

At some point, the world community must insist that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah be responsible and accountable for their indiscretions. Continued willful blindness by the international community will only result in greater catastrophes.

Chicago HAMAS Verdicts; Bad Passports

By Bill West

Several other CTB contributors have expertly commented on yesterday’s verdicts in the Chicago HAMAS support trial wherein the two defendants were acquitted on the more serious racketeering charges and convicted of “lesser” felony obstruction violations. The defendants and their many supporters are hailing the verdicts as a major victory, claiming vindication and they were proven not to be terrorism supporters. They can spin the results any way they choose.

Steven Emerson & Walid Phares Featured in New Documentary on Radical Islam

By Andrew Cochran

On Saturday at 9 pm ET and again at midnight (and Sunday, February 4 at 4:00 pm ET and Monday, February 5 at 3:00 am ET), the Fox News Channel will broadcast “Radical Islam: Terror in Its Own Words,” a special documentary with the jihadists proclaiming their intent to kill, maim, and destroy the West. Steven Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism and Walid Phares of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies contributed to the documentary. Here is a description of the documentary from a Fox News Channel press release:

The program contains a shocking variety of rarely seen news clips, interviews and Al Qaeda video purportedly of suicide bombers as they prepare for their missions and blow themselves up in bids to kill Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq. One of the videos was aired on Al Jazeera, the most-viewed Islamic news station. The other was posted on an Islamic web sight. (FOX News was unable to independently verify whether the suicides actually took place.)

Alongside those harrowing images are interviews with the mothers of terrorists who rationalize the loss of their children in bombing attacks, film clips of Islamic clergy urging further murderous assaults, and even video of children being taught to hate and kill Americans and Jews.

Footage shows the violence is not intended to just stay in the Middle East.

The FOX News documentary also contains never-before-broadcast video of Islamic clerics in the United States predicting and even threatening violence against Americans at home. As one of those Islamic clerics put it as he took a stage on the campus of the University of California at Irvine just two days before 9/11, “If you don't give us justice, if you don't give us equality, if you don't give us our share of America,” he said. “We're gonna burn America down.”

That speech was caught on tape by staffers for The Investigative Project, a Washington, DC-based organization, which has been tracking the spread of radical Islam in this country since 1995.

Hamas Verdicts and New Methods

By Douglas Farah

As Matt Levitt wrote of yesteray's verdict in the Hamas trial: "The case highlights the difficulty of prosecuting individuals for their support to terrorist groups when that support is conducted under the cover of humanitarian or political activity."

This is why new methods of tracing potential terrorist finance activity is so crucial. The Justice Department and IRS are finally breaking new ground in this type of investigation, as shown by the Overland-DMI case now before a grand jury.

It is almost always impossible to prove that one action (fund raising, hate preaching etc.) leads directly to another (bus bombs, suicide bombs, airplane hijackings). _Jihadi_ internet sites praise these actions, call for the death of Muslim British soldiers and urge the killing of infidels. But can you prove that one specific message on a website led one person to carry out a suicide bombing or plot the assassination of British soldiers?

Very difficult, if not impossible. My full blog is here.

Sowing Mustard Seeds in Poso and Ambon

By Zachary Abuza

It is hard to get people outside of Indonesia to take notice of small bombs going off in remote islands. They’re not going off in the discos where we dance, the hotels where we sleep and embassies where we work. The death toll is low, and the victims are all Indonesian, whether they be Muslim, Christian or Hindu. Yet it is incumbent upon us to take notice as this is part of the militants’ – including Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) – strategy to regroup and they don't want us to notice.

JI is clearly a weakened organization. The 2005 death of top bomb-maker, Dr. Azahari bin Hussin and the capture of his enormous cache of explosives set the group back: for the first time since 2002, there were no major bombings in Indonesia in 2006. The Indonesian police along with regional security services deserve tremendous credit. But we have to think long-term, because that’s how JI and other Islamist militants think. JI’s own documents saw the conflict as a protracted one that would last at least 40 years. JI has now adopted a more overt strategy based on social welfare and dawah, and is focusing on religious purification. The other leg of its regrouping strategy is fomenting sectarian violence, what JI was deeply involved in from 1998-2001.

There has been an alarming up-tick in attacks, including bombings, targeted assassinations, and raids on military/police facilities. Since October 2004, there have been at least 28 successful bombings, resulting in the deaths of 48. Most were small and a handful of larger bombs killed the majority of the victims. Police found, seized or defused 260 IEDs. There have been more than 60 bombings since the Malino peace agreement was signed on 12 March 2001. More than 21 people, including five police, were gunned down, and most infamously, militants beheaded three schoolgirls. Most of the bombs are quite small and three were responsible for almost half the casualties.

Security forces have been trying to cope with the problem. On 22 January 2007, government forces responded to a large number of armed militants was amassing near Poso. The raid set off a gun battle that killed 15 suspected fighters and one officer. In all 17 suspected terrorists were killed in January in clashes with the police. Over 10 people were arrested, yet more than 50 suspected militants were able to escape. Two days ago, two more militants linked to JI were arrested.

Attacks, including the beheadings of three schoolgirls, are meant to undermine confidence in the state. Clearly people are out to undermine the Malino Accords. It is clearly a reprisal of the “uhud project” of 1998-2001 in which JI sought to establish hijrah, a secure base area governed by sharia where they could train and emanate outwards. JI seeks to provoke attacks based on its broadened definition of a defensive jihad.

EU Privacy Czar Claims Right to Prohibit US Access to EU Financial Records

By Jonathan Winer

In a sweeping assertion of his institutional power to decide whether or not the U.S. has the right to see EU financial data, Europe's Data Protection Supervisor, Peter Hustinx announced today that he and Europe's other privacy czars had the authority to exercise "independent scrutiny" of the SWIFT system and all other aspects of the EU's payments system to decide whether privacy laws are being violated.

The opinion was taken with the goal of stopping forever the ability of the U.S. Treasury to trace terrorist transactions through the SWIFT payment system based in Belgium. The breathtaking EU opinion takes the position that Europe's privacy czars have the legal obligation to ensure that information in the payments system is used only to make payments, not as leads in terrorism or other law enforcement cases. It also says that those holding the data have the obligation immediately to provide the data subjects with information concerning everyone who has received the data, such as any law enforcement or intelligence agency that obtains access to particular records.

The opinion by the EU's privacy czar included a warning that a foreign government like the U.S. cannot be trusted with EU financial data, because it might be a cover for broader spying. In the words of the opinion, "lack of compliance with data protection rules would not only breach EU citizens' fundamental right to protection of personal data, but could also expose European companies to risks of use for economic espionage of data relating to their commercial transactions."

In proposing next steps, the EU privacy czar was careful not to overstep his immediate power, even as he turned the screws on the EU's financial regulators. He called on the European Central Bank and other financial institutions in the EU to immediately prepare "at the latest by April 2007" a report about what it would do to implement the privacy requirements demanded by the opinion. He concluded with a tough warning: "it would not be acceptable that the architecture of the European payment systems would continue to allow and facilitate that personal data relating to any euro payment between Member States are transferred to third countries in breach of the data protection legislation and made available -- routinely, massively, and without appropriate guarantees -- to third countries authorities."

In response, the European Central Bank immediately punted the issue back to the EU's politicians, saying it was not up to it to decide on the balance between privacy and fighting terrorism. Accordingly, it is not certain what will happen next.

Acquitals in Hamas Trial

By Matthew Levitt

After 14 days of deliberation, a Chicago jury acquited Mohamed Salah and Abdelhalim Ashqar of charges they were involved in a racketeering conspiracy by financing and supporting Hamas terrorism. The two were accused of laundering funds and providing recruits for Hamas but were convicted only on minor charges (obstruction of justice and criminal contempt).

The case highlights the difficulty of prosecuting individuals for their support to terrorist groups when that support is conducted under the cover of humanitarian or political activity. By nature, terrorists and their supporters are engaged in covert activity, usually under the cover or guise of some more legitimate, over activity. That cover provides operatives day jobs, income, and - if caught - cause for "reasonable doubt." While Salah and Ashqar's lawyers portrayed the ruling as "a great day for justice," the reality is that two major Hamas activists evaded justice.

Consider, for example, an FBI affidavit from 1998 noted that Mr. Salah facilitated Hamas terrorist training in the U.S. that "included mixing poisons, development of chemical weapons, and preparing remote control explosive devices." The affidavit also said Mr. Salah gave a Hamas member more than $48,000 to buy weapons for use in Hamas attacks.

In a 1994 telephone conversation secretly recorded by the FBI, Sheik Jamil Hamami, a Hamas political leader in the West Bank, told Mr. Ashqar and a fellow Hamas member in Yemen: "We ... will act to make [the peace process] fail too. Operations [of] particular types will take place to shake this self-rule administration," according to the FBI.

As prosecutors demonstrated at trial, Ashqar received thousands of dollars from senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook while he was a graduate student at the University of Mississippi in the early 1990s. He passed this cash along to Hamas terrorists in what amounted to a classic money laundering operation. Prosecutors also demonstrated that Salah delivered $230,000 from accounts Marzook controlled to Israel in January 1993. When he was arrested officials found $97,000 in cash in his East Jerusalem hotel room. (Marzook was also charged in the case and is still listed as a fugitive from justice. He is believed to reside in Syria).

Government Loses Terrorism Case in Chicago Hamas Trial

By Andrew Cochran

Two men accused of providing money and recruits to Hamas were acquitted by a federal jury of terrorism-related charges but were convicted on lesser charges. Muhammad Salah was convicted of obstruction of justice for giving false answers in a civil lawsuit. Abdelhaleem Ashqar was convicted of criminal contempt and obstruction of justice for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury after being given immunity. This is another defeat and disappointment for the government in a terrorism trial, similar to the outcome of the Sami-al-Arian trial last year. Matthew Levitt testified at the Hamas trial as an expert witness while serving at the Treasury Department, and Steven Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism covered the trial and posted several updates. You can read all the Hamas trial posts in Steve's archives section.

Matthew Levitt, Former Senior Treasury Official, Rejoins As Contributing Expert

By Andrew Cochran

Matthew Levitt, one of our original Contributing Experts, rejoins us today as a Contributing Expert. Matthew returns to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as the Director of the Stein Program on Terrorism, Intelligence, and Policy after a stint as deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury Department for intelligence and analysis at the Treasury Department's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Matthew is highly respected in the CT community known for his outstanding work on Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as on other groups, and for his contributions to the investigations of the financing of the 9-11 attack. You can read his past CT Blog posts in his archives section. He's the author of two books, Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad and Targeting Terror: U.S. Policy toward Middle Eastern State Sponsors and Terrorist Organizations, Post-September 11.