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SAUDI STORMS

As hurricanes batter the American coast and send oil prices up, Al Qaeda is watching, and drawing lessons.

By Christopher Dickey
Newsweek

Source of Article

Oct. 3, 2005 issue - The shoot-out earlier this month around a seafront villa in the Saudi Arabian city of Ad Dammam lasted almost 48 hours, and ended only when security forces brought in light artillery. They blasted the opulent home until the roof came down on the people inside. In the immediate aftermath police said they couldn't tell from the charred remains just how many members of "a deviant group" had died in the battle. Finally, with DNA tests, they counted five. Police also found enough weapons for a couple of platoons of guerrilla fighters. The inventory given out by the Saudi Interior Ministry included more than 60 hand grenades and pipe bombs, pistols, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, two barrels full of explosives, video equipment, a large amount of cash and forged documents.

It was the documents that really set off alarms. According to a Saudi Interior Ministry statement, they included forged passes to enter "important locations." The Saudi daily Okaz quoted the minister, Prince Nayef, saying the cell—which was linked directly to Al Qaeda—had planned major attacks on some of Saudi Arabia's key oil and gas facilities. "There isn't a place that they could reach that they didn't think about," said Nayef. And their ultimate target was the global economy. Saudi Arabia is the greatest source of oil on earth, with a quarter of known reserves and a proven policy of trying to stabilize prices even in today's volatile markets.

If the incident made few headlines at the time, it's because it ended on Sept. 6, when the United States—and oil traders—were focused on the impact of Hurricane Katrina. Yet precisely because of the shortages brought on by that storm and the damage still being counted from Hurricane Rita, Saudi Arabia is more important than ever to world oil supplies. What's worse, according to several analysts, Al Qaeda knows it. "They're watching Katrina. They're watching Rita. They're watching what it's doing to the United States," says former CIA agent Robert Baer, who has written extensively on Saudi Arabia's vulnerabilities. A few ruptured pipes could be repaired quickly, says Baer, but a concerted attack at several points could bring on the kind of nightmare scenario that U.S. officials have been dreading since the Reagan years, pushing oil prices up from their current prices in the range of $60 to $70 a barrel to well over $100 for weeks or even months.

Since Al Qaeda's campaign of terror inside Saudi Arabia began in 2003, the Saudis have dramatically stepped up protection of their oil installations. Security forces have issued several lists of their most-wanted terrorists, and tracked down or killed most of them. (Four of the five in Ad Dammam were on the latest lists.) Officials have sought to reassure the world that the terrorists are on the run. Anthony Cordesman at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, among others, has backed up that basic analysis.

Yet the cells seem to be replaced almost as quickly as they're taken down. The brother of one of those killed in Ad Dammam, himself a wanted terrorist named Muhammad Abdelrahman Al-Suwailimi, put a voice message on the Web afterward claiming the incident was exaggerated by authorities. He also thanked the infamous terrorist Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, in neighboring Iraq, for his support. Saudi Arabia now is increasingly concerned about the potential blowback of disintegration in Iraq. "I don't see how the Arab countries are going to be left out of the conflict in one way or another," said Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal last week. "I think this is what is going to happen if things continue as they are."

Precisely what the Dammam cell intended to hit, if known, has not been revealed in any detail. But, as Baer points out, Saudi Arabia is a target-rich environment. Certain critical nodes in the general vicinity of Ad Dammam have worried American strategists for years. Past studies suggest a moderate-to-severe attack on the Abqaiq oil-processing facilities, for instance, could cut Saudi output (now about 9.6 million barrels a day) by more than 4 million barrels for two months or more.

Al Qaeda has used suicide boats before. A successful hit against a major offshore loading facility at either Ras Tanura or Juaymah would knock millions of barrels off the market. Baer wrote in 2003 that "a single jumbo jet with a suicide bomber at the controls ... crashed into the heart of Ras Tanura, would be enough to bring the world's oil-addicted economies to their knees." After the one-two punch from Katrina and Rita, it might not take that much.

WEBCAST NEWS GIVES AL-QAEDA VIEW


By Sebastian Usher
BBC World media correspondent

Source of Article

On-screen graphics and images make the producers' message clear
Radical Islamists have started webcasting their own weekly news bulletin.

It is the latest effort to use cyberspace to get their anti-American and anti-Western message across, bypassing mainstream media outlets.

The webcasts have been posted on a variety of forums on Islamist websites - the customary mode of getting news and video material across to its intended audience.

They have been produced by a group calling itself The Global Islamic Media Front, which wants to act as a clearing house for the many communiques coming from Islamic extremists linked to or inspired by al-Qaeda.

The first bulletin featured a masked newsreader, with a video screen showing news footage in the background.

"First, the Sawt al-Khilafa team sends its best wishes to the Islamic nation for the defeat of the Zionist occupation in the land of Palestine," he says.

Aside from the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the other stories featured in the bulletin are the latest militant attacks in Iraq and statements from the man believed to be behind many of them, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

'Wrath of Allah'

The third item is on the hurricanes in US, with the newsreader openly gloating over the suffering of Americans, calling Hurricane Katrina a "divine punishment".

Senior Al-Qaeda figures regularly release video broadcasts
"Broken and completely humiliated, George Bush, a fool who is being obeyed, announced his obvious incapability of dealing with the wrath of Allah that visited the city of homosexuals."

The producers of this and a subsequent shorter broadcast say they will produce them weekly.

An advertisement for The Voice of the Caliphate on Islamist websites shows the logos of news channels such as CNN and Fox News in flames alongside those of Arab broadcasters like al-Arabiya.

The slogan reads: "An accurate word in the face of injustice".

Exposure

Neil Doyle, a British analyst who studies Islamist websites, told the BBC what he believed to be the aim of the group behind the broadcasts, the Global Islamic Media Front.

"They have decided to wrap up all the different communiques and videos from radical Islamic networks in a weekly broadcast."

It is not clear where the group is based, though there are suspicions that it may be operating from western rather than Arab countries.

It remains difficult for intelligence services to trace the source of such videos, although in recent weeks a number of the sites hosting extremist material appear to have been targeted and closed down.

Beyond its immediate audience of radical Islamists, the Voice of the Caliphate appears to be trying to appeal to the wider Muslim community.

But the editor of the UK-based magazine Muslim News, Ahmed Versi, told the BBC that he did not believe that they would succeed in this.

He said their key aim, though, was to get publicity for their views and in this - thanks to a number of articles about the site in the Western media - they had been more successful.

REPORT WARNS OF TERRORISTS' "GREAT RAMADAN OFFENSIVE"


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Posted GMT 9-8-2005 15:39:3
By Sherrie Gossett
www.CNSNews.com
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Al Qaeda's plans for a series of spectacular terrorist strikes in October, targeting American interests as well as U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East and said to be coordinated by Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenant in Iraq - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- are the subject of a non-public report issued by terrorism experts this week.

The attacks, planned to coincide with the Muslim observance of Ramadan and dubbed the "Great Ramadan Offensive," are designed to create a "fateful confrontation" with the U.S. and Israeli forces in the Middle East, according to a May 30 letter from Zarqawi to bin Laden. The contents of the letter are referenced in the report written by Yossef Bodansky, the former director of the U.S. Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.

The Sept. 2 report is accessible only to government officials on the Global Information System (GIS) database. Cybercast News Service obtained the report on the same day as its release. It warns of planned attacks in Western Europe, Russia and perhaps the continental U.S. The specific targets are believed to include airports at Schiphol in the Netherlands and Fiumicino in Italy.

Italy remains on high alert and barricades have been placed around Rome's Colosseum. "Terrorism is coming home," the GIS report quotes one unnamed German senior official. "And it's coming home to those countries whose governments may have believed they were immune from terror because for years they have provided safe haven to notorious Islamic extremists."

An associate of Zarqawi named Abu Abdul Rahman al-Jazaeri, was said to be in Italy, but could not be located by authorities, according to Bodansky, who added that Jazeiri was believed to have recently received from a Zarqawi messenger "the definitive mandate to plan and carry out a major terrorist operation in Italy."

In late August Italy announced that it was at an elevated risk for a terrorist attack. The country expelled 700 suspected militants and arrested 141 others. News organizations reported that locks to the entrances of 49 subway stations had been changed and metal barricades erected around the 2,000-year old Colosseum in Rome.

Piecing it all together

Details of the planned attacks were pieced together from intercepted communications between top al Qaeda leaders in the latter part of August, analysis of what counter- terrorism experts described as a dramatic increase in the volume of communication among jihad forces and the observation of an unprecedented movement of jihadists and messengers around the world apparently delivering instructions.

Zarqawi, linked to numerous bombings and the beheadings of several Western hostages in Iraq, reportedly titled his letter to bin Laden, "A Message from a Soldier to His Commander." According to the GIS report, Zarqawi's letter to bin Laden alluded to "the forthcoming grand offensive comprised of escalation in the Middle East and a series of spectacular terrorist strikes" meant to overshadow the impact of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes in New York City and Washington, D.C.

The letter also indicated Zarqawi was expecting bin Laden to approve and authorize the escalation: "I think that the plan for the next stage that was drawn up has reached you or is on its way to you. O God. Make the expedition of Osama proceed toward its goal ... We await your orders as to the next stage of the plan," Zarqawi wrote.

An Aug. 8 televised message from bin Laden's overall second-in-command -- Ayman al-Zawahiri - is now viewed as the approval Zarqawi was anticipating. "What you have seen, O Americans, in New York and Washington and the losses you are having in Afghanistan and Iraq, in spite of all the media blackout, are only the losses of the initial clashes ... You will see the horror that will make you forget what you had seen in Vietnam," Zawahiri said.

The al Qaeda official's threat, according to the report, wasn't delivered until the jihad forces were organized and ready to strike.

The GIS report also cites an Aug. 21 message recorded by Zarqawi, which references the next phase of the terrorist jihad. "The [mujahedeen] in Iraq, have, praise be to God, moved the battle from the ground (in Iraq) to the land of the cross."

Zarqawi's message claimed that "[J]ihadist units have been founded in all of Western Europe, to defend the powerless within the nation. For the crimes the Crusaders have committed against the Muslims, they will reap in their own homes, God willing."

A few days later, according to GIS, a doctrinal statement from Zarqawi emerged, which stressed the priority of al Qaeda in Iraq establishing "another base that will export jihad to all parts of the world the same way the mother al Qaeda in Afghanistan was."

'The heart and lair of the Great Satan'

Bodansky's report states that "concrete preparations for the consolidation of Islamist-jihadist springboards against the heart and lair of the Great Satan are being completed -- for Western Europe in the Balkans, for Russian and Eastern Europe in Chechnya, and for the United States in the tri-border area in Latin America."

Widespread anticipation throughout the Muslim world of the Great Ramadan Offensive was being picked up by intelligence analysts in August and then was reinforced by a slew of theological statements -- all buttressing what the GIS report calls "a forthcoming, well-coordinated global onslaught."

The marked increase in the volume of communication, both encrypted and open, exceeded that of the months prior to September 2001, the report states.

Bodansky said there is a growing awareness among Western European intelligence services of the "chatter" and activation of jihadist units, led by veterans of Iraq and Chechnya. In early August 2005 Pakistanis arrested a senior operative called Osama bin Yussaf who had detailed maps of Italian, German and British cities stored in his computer.

Germany faces the challenge of second and third generation immigrants inspired by the idea of a global jihad, the GIS report notes. Such young jihadists often hold down a regular job, have European passports and are valued assets due to their low profile, and easy mobility.

Bodansky also points to the Aug. 23 decree by Islamist rebels in Chechnya establishing an "emergency government." Details of the decree, not previously reported, inidcate that a "war leadership council" was established and would likely "implement the next cycle of terrorist strikes against Russia" as part of the coordinated global attacks.

Hurricane Katrina's message

Terrorist leaders may also have taken the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina as a symbol that God is pleased with their plans to launch the "Great Ramadan Offensive," according to the GIS report.

"Allah has punished America with winds and water," said one imam quoted in the report. America is under "the curse of the Jews," said another.

"It's clear the jihadists regarded Katrina as a sign from God they're doing the right thing," said Gregory R. Copley, president of The International Strategic Studies Association in Washington, D.C.

In a separate analysis, Christopher Brown, research associate with the Hudson Institute's Transitions to Democracy project, warned of the strategic opening that the hurricane aftermath offers jihadists.

"If this attack is launched soon, the devastation to the American economy alone could easily far exceed that of the September 11th attacks and could be equivalent in terms of economic impact to the detonation of a small nuclear device on American soil," Brown said.

He also suggested that the timing of Zawahiri's past video messages indicates a terrorist attack may be imminent.

His first messages, on Sept. 9 and Nov. 9 of 2004, preceded the Dec. 6, 2004 attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Feb. 20 and June 17, 2005 video messages by Zawahiri preceded the July 7 series of bombings in London. A third set of messages - on Aug. 4 and Sept. 1 - also creates cause for concern, Brown contends.

"If the pattern that has been outlined holds true," says Brown, "then al Qaeda is very likely about to launch a new major or series of major attacks within the next month."

Copley agreed, telling Cybercast News Service that, "I think Europe is going to be a prime target, but I think there's no question the U.S. is very much on the schedule.

"There will be big things happening over the next few months," he added.

Ramadan, a religious observance which includes a period of fasting, is scheduled according to the Islamic calendar. This year it is scheduled from Oct. 4 to Nov. 2. Muslim soldiers on the battlefield are exempt from Ramadan.

See Link: http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialRepor ... 0908a.html

IRAQ QAEDA CALLS FOR MORE ATTACKS IN RAMADAN-WEB


04 Oct 2005 09:47:01 GMT
Source of Article
Source: Reuters

DUBAI, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Iraq's al Qaeda urged Sunni Muslims on Tuesday to step up attacks on U.S. forces during Ramadan, the holy month which has seen some of the bloodiest attacks by militants hoping for rewards in paradise.

The group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said in a statement that the "gates of heaven are open" during the fasting month, which began on Tuesday for most Sunnis in the Middle East. Shi'ites mark the start of the month on Wednesday.

"Al Qaeda Organisation in Iraq announces that Tuesday is the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan ... a month of serious work, jihad and initiative," said the statement posted on an Islamist Web site often used by the group.

"Gather your strength and we incite the believers to kill the slaves of the cross who have ... demolished mosques and houses, burnt the Koran and sowed corruption in the land."

In 2003, major attacks were launched during Ramadan in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, bearing the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

Muslims scan the sky at night after the end of their lunar calendar's eighth month in search of the new moon to proclaim the start of Ramadan -- Islam's holiest month when practising Muslims abstain from food, drink and sex from dawn to dusk and believe that good deeds are rewarded 10-fold.

Zarqawi's group has already declared an all-out war on Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims and has intensified attacks ahead of an Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution, opposed by most Iraqi Sunni Arabs.

Tuesday's statement follows a new offensive launched by U.S. troops in western Iraq near the Syrian borders to hunt for al Qaeda militants.

BIN LADEN TO SURFACE AFTER NEW ATTACK ON US SOIL: ex-CIA expert


(AFP)

6 October 2005
Source of Article


WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden is expected to remain in hiding until he stages another attack on the United States, an ex-CIA expert who had tracked the terror mastermind for two decades warned in an interview on Wednesday.

“As soon as he hits us in the United States again we’ll see how important he is in the Islamic world,” Michael Scheuer, the former head of the “bin Laden unit” at the CIA, told AFP in an interview.

Despite his low profile, bin Laden remains powerful, Scheuer said, shrugging off reports that the Al Qaeda chief was isolated and his communication network shattered due to a relentless hunt for him.

“We mistake quiet for defeat or irrelevance. And all quiet is disquiet,” said Scheuer, a fierce critic of the Bush administration and its “War on Terror” policy since he left the CIA in November last year.

Scheuer said that bin Laden’s right-hand-man Ayman Al Zawahiri, who last appeared on a video aired 10 days before the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, seemed to have temporarily taken over the Al Qaeda leadership apparently for the boss to prepare for another US strike.

Bin Laden last surfaced in a video footage aired on the eve of the US presidential elections in November last year. In the tape, declared authentic by the authorities, the Saudi-born radical directly admitted he ordered the September 11 attacks.

Asked why he thought the Al Qaeda leader had not resurfaced since then, Scheuer said: “I don’t think we are going to hear from him until he attacks us again.

“His feature on the eve of the election was simply to say that: This is it, I have warned you four times. I punched my ticket in the Islamic world, I’ve given you all the warning that the religion requires me.

“I think that’s why Zawahiri is taking the lead at the moment,” said Scheuer, the author of the best-selling book “Imperial Hubris,” which was originally published anonymously as required by the CIA.

The United States has offered rewards of up to 25 million dollars each for bin Laden and Al Zawahiri.

Pakistan said last month that bin Laden was now isolated as his communication network had been shattered.

One key Al Qaeda suspect revealed under interrogation that bin Laden was using couriers travelling on foot or horseback instead of communicating by satellite telephone or the Internet to avoid being detected, according to Pakistan’s chief military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan.

But Scheuer, currently an adjunct professor of security studies at Georgetown University, said, “I’m one that believes that we have not destroyed their (Al Qaeda’s) capability to attack us.

“I think bin Laden still commands the international media at a moment’s notice if he decides to make a media appearance. He is very important. So, I think again there is lot of whistling past the graveyard at the moment.”

Scheuer earlier Wednesday told a forum organized by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, that Al Qaeda would survive even without bin Laden, “who is a unique combination of a 12th century theologian and a 21st century CEO.”

Ersel Aydinli, a former counter-terrorism expert with the Turkish police, said bin Laden failed in his bid to drum up support from Muslims to join his jihadist struggle.

“But even if he is captured or killed, probably we still have to deal with the legacy beyond him,” he said, adding that the Al Qaeda had broken up into various “splinter groups with potential for multiple attacks.

“The good news is that it looks like Osama bin laden and Al Qaeda have really failed in terms of getting enough attention for their call for jihad in a violent way,” he said.

Aydinli, who teaches at George Washington University, said field research he conducted last summer among Muslim communities in the Middle East and Europe revealed that there was still continuing debate over bin Laden’s role.

“There is a huge debate whether he served or he really hindered the Muslim world’s interests,” he said.

Ramadan and nuke terror

IS 'AMERICAN HIROSHIMA' SET FOR THIS MONTH?

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Source of Article
Posted: October 7, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Paul L. Williams


The next terrorist attack on the United States – a "nuclear hell storm" planned for seven major cities – is set to occur this month.

That's the word from al-Qaida.

In a communiqué to Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top al-Qaida lieutenant in Iraq, mentions the "Great Ramadan Offensive" that will create a "fateful confrontation" with the United States and Israel.

"I think that the plans for the next stage of the jihad has reached you or will reach you in a few days," Zarqawi writes in the letter. "O God, make the plans of Osama come to fruition!"

The communiqué, dated May 30, was intercepted by CIA officials and remains on the Global Information System database that is accessible only to government officials with high-security clearance.

Most U. S. intelligence officials dismissed Zarqawi's letter as wishful thinking until Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's second in command, appeared on al-Jazeera, the official television network of Saudi Arabia, to deliver a message to the American people.

In the message, which was broadcast Aug. 8, al-Zawahiri said: "What you have seen, O Americans, in New York and Washington and the losses you are having in Afghanistan and Iraq, in spite of the blackouts by your media, are only the losses of the initial clashes. ... You will soon experience horrors that will make you forget the horrors you have encountered in Vietnam."

The al-Qaida chieftain went on to say: "Jihadist forces have been established in all of Western Europe to defend the powerless within the nation. For the crimes that the Crusaders have committed against the Muslims will be reaped by Christians and Jews throughout the Western world."

Zawahiri's video messages are viewed by intelligence officials as telling signs that a terrorist attack is imminent. His televised message Sept. 6, 2004, took place before the December 6, 2004, bombing of the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, while his message of June 17, 2005, preceded the London bombings.

Concerns about an October attack were heightened even more by reports that the radical Islamic community viewed the ravages of hurricanes Katrina and Rita as signs that Allah was pleased with the plans for "the American Hiroshima."

"Allah has punished America with winds and water," one imam is quoted in the GIS report as saying. Another imam reportedly quipped that America, as evidenced by the natural disasters, is "under the curse of the Jews."

Christopher Brown, research associate with the Hudson Institute's Transitions to Democracy project, maintains that the hurricanes have presented al-Qaida with a unique strategic opportunity.

"If this attack is launched soon," Brown said, "the devastation to the American economy alone could easily far exceed that of the September 11 attacks and could be equivalent to the detonation of a small nuclear device on American soil."

Ramadan represents the ninth month of the Islamic year, the month in which the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. According to Muslim tradition, the actual revelation occurred on the night between the 26th and 27th days of the month. On this "Night of Determination," Allah determines the fate of the world for the coming year.

The fate of the world for the next Islamic year, if bin Laden has his way, will include the nuclear destruction of the United States.

Bin Laden has been amassing nuclear weapons and materials since 1992, when he was in the Sudan. This was substantiated by the testimony of al-Qaida officials in federal court during the hearings of "The U.S. v. Osama bin Laden."

When he returned to Afghanistan, bin Laden purchased tactical nuclear weapons from the Chechen Mafia. News of the sale was confirmed by Saudi, Israeli, British, Saudi and Russian intelligence and reported in The Times of London, the Jerusalem Report, Al Watan al-Arabi, Muslim Magazine, Al-Majallah (London's Saudi weekly) and by the BBC.

In 1997, bin Laden made additional small nuclear weapons from materials bought not only from the Chechens but also black market sources in Russia, China, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine.

In 1998, he purchased large quantities of highly enriched uranium from Simeon Mogilevich, a Ukrainian arms dealer. For one delivery of fifteen kilos of uranium-236, Mogilevich was paid $70 million. Bin Laden also purchased several bars of enriched uranium-138 from Ibrahim Abd, an Egyptian arms dealer and several Congolese opposition soldiers.

From 1999 to 2001, bin Laden hired scientists and technicians from the A.Q. Khan Research Facility in Pakistan not only to build new nukes from the highly enriched uranium and plutonium but also to maintain, upgrade, reconfigure, and redesign his "off-the shelf" nukes, including nuclear mines, so that they could be packed into lightweight (less than eight pounds) suitcases and backpacks or molded into warheads that could be launched from 120 or 155 millimeter recoilless rifles.

Upon the arrests of Dr. Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Dr. Chaudry Abdul Majid, two top officials from the Khan facility, the CIA discovered that several of bin Laden's tactical nukes had been forward-deployed to the United States from Karachi.

More information concerning al-Qaida's nukes came with the arrest in Pakistan of Sharif al-Masri, a key al-Qaida operative. Al Masri, an Egyptian national with close ties to al-Zawahiri, operative, informed CIA and ISI (Pakistani intelligence) officials that several tactical nukes for use in the American Hiroshima had been forward deployed to Mexico for transportation across the border by members of Mara Salvatrucha ("MS-13"), a Salvadoran street gang.

These developments caused both President Bush and Sen. John Kerry to speak of nuclear terrorism in the 2004 presidential campaign as "the single greatest danger facing the American people," and for Vice President Cheney to say that a nuclear attack from al-Qaeda appears "imminent."

The seven cities targeted by al-Qaida for nuclear destruction are New York, Washington D.C., Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago.

Several Islamic scholars say that Ramadan is an unlikely time for al-Qaida to strike since it is the holiest month of the year, a time in which Muslims traditionally refrain from warfare to spend time in fasting, meditation, and prayer. But many Islamic battles throughout history took place during Ramadan, including the following:

624 – The Battle of Badr occurred on 17 Ramadan when the Prophet Mohammed led his forces to victory over the Arabian tribes who opposed him.

627 – The Muslims trained for the Battle of Ditch during Ramadan

630 – The soldiers of Islam, under Mohammed, established a training camp in Tabouk during the month of fasting and attacked the Byzantine army.

653 – During Ramadan, the Muslim army conquered Rhodes and melted the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, into weapons for the soldiers.

1187 – The Battle of Hattin in which a combined force of Sunnis and Shiites destroyed the Christian army occurred the morning after the "Night of Determination."

1973 – On Oct. 6, Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise offensive against Israel to launch the Yom Kippur or the 10th of Ramadan War.

2000 – Al-Qaida launches the suicide bombing of the USS Cole in Aden harbor Yemen. The attack of Oct. 5 kills 17 and wounds 39 American sailors.

In 2001, Dr. Fuad Mukheimar, secretary-general of the Egyptian Sharia Association, published an article in which he encouraged bin Laden to launch an attack against the U.S. during the holy month.

"During the month of Ramadan," Mukheimar wrote, "a great Muslim victory was won over the Crusaders under the leadership of Saladin. His advisers counseled him to rest from the jihad during the month of fasting, but Saladin insisted on continuing the jihad during Ramadan because he knew ... that fasting helps to [achieve] victory, because during Ramadan the Muslims overcome themselves through fasting, and thus their victory over their enemies is certain."

Bin Laden, who views himself as Saladin's successor, could opt to heed this advice.

Ramadan began Tuesday, Oct. 4, and ends Nov. 2. The Night of Determination will occur Oct. 29.

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© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

MESSIANIC MADNESS OF NUCLEAR OSAMA

Heavenly Signs, Bin Laden's Mahdi Complex Raise Current Threat Of 'American Hiroshima'

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October 23, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Source of Article
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

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Signs in the heavens and a popular notion in the Islamic world that Osama bin Laden is the "Mahdi," a long-awaited messianic deliverer, increase this month's risk of mega-terror attacks on the U.S. – including raising the threat of al-Qaida's nuclear "American Hiroshima" plan, says an author and expert in a report released today to WND.

Paul L. Williams, author of "The Al Qaeda Connection" and a former FBI consultant, warns in a report that first appeared in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin terror attacks on the U.S. before Nov. 2 would have special spiritual significance.

"Islamic clerics point out that the signs in the heavens are propitious for such an event," writes Williams. "This year, Muslims will experience solar and lunar eclipses during the holy month. These great heavenly signs, according to Islamic visionary Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Sahib, foretell the coming of the "Mahdi," the mighty warrior of the Apocalypse, who will defeat the army of Yajuj wa-Majuj ("the infidel unbelievers"), led by the Dabbah or "the Beast." He will lead the Muslims to great victory and bring forth the Day of Islam, when all of creation falls before the throne of Allah."

Millions of Muslims worldwide already regard bin Laden as the "Mahdi," say Williams and other analysts of Islam.

"Islamic tradition says that the Mahdi will be a descendant of Muhammad through his daughter Fatima," writes Williams. "He will have a distinctive forehead, a prominent nose, and a black mole on his face. He will arise from Arabia and will be called from a cave by Allah to serve as the savior of all true believers."

Williams points out bin Laden's followers see significance in his high forehead, the prominent nose, the black mole, his origins in Arabia and his calling from a cave in Afghanistan.

"Bin Laden speaks of the president of the United States as Dabbah, the beast he must slay, and of the American people as the Yajuj wa-Majuj, the nation of Gog that he must destroy," reports Williams. "In his edicts and official correspondence, he no longer signs his name as Osama bin Laden but as Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden."

Is bin Laden the "Mahdi"? Many Muslims think so. And these are prophetically significant times for those who believe. A solar eclipse occurred Oct. 3 and a lunar eclipse followed Oct. 17. This is a unique phenomenon that only occurred once before -- during the Ramadan of 1894. At that time, Muslim scholars said that the next occurrence of twin eclipses will signal the appearance of "the divinely guided one" and the end of human history.

"One Muslim, who views bin Laden as the Mahdi, is Sheikh Nasir bin Hamid al Fahd," explains Williams. "Al Fahd recently issued a religious ruling or fatwa on behalf of the clerics of Saudi Arabia that granted bin Laden and other terrorists the permission to use nuclear weapons against the United States."

In the fatwa, titled "A Treatise on the Legal Status of Using Weapons of Mass Destruction against Infidels," al Fahd ruled that international law should not be taken into consideration while determining if America should be nuked. Islamic law, he says, overrides all man-made laws.

"Al Fahd justifies the mass casualties and destruction that would be caused by the 'American Hiroshima' -- the al Qaida plan to detonate seven tactical nuclear weapons in seven major U.S. cities -- by arguing that an estimate of the number of Muslims killed by Americans would total almost 10 million," writes Williams.

In addition to the Double Occultation of the sun and the moon, many Muslims see other signs that Allah seeks the destruction of the United States, including the devastation wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Williams points out that, in a communiqué to bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top al-Qaida lieutenant in Iraq, mentions the "Great Ramadan Offensive" that will create a "fateful confrontation" with the United States and Israel.

"I think that the plans for the next stage of the jihad has reached you or will reach you in a few days," Zarqawi writes in the letter. "O God, make the plans of Osama come to fruition!"

The communiqué, dated May 30, was intercepted by CIA officials and remains on the Global Information System database that is accessible only to government officials with high-security clearance.

"Most U. S. intelligence officials dismissed Zarqawi's letter as wishful thinking until Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's second in command, appeared on al-Jazeera, the official television network of Saudi Arabia, to deliver a message to the American people," explains Williams.

In the message, which was broadcast Aug. 8, al-Zawahiri said: "What you have seen, O Americans, in New York and Washington and the losses you are having in Afghanistan and Iraq, in spite of the blackouts by your media, are only the losses of the initial clashes. ... You will soon experience horrors that will make you forget the horrors you have encountered in Vietnam."

The al-Qaida No. 2 man went on to say: "Jihadist forces have been established in all of Western Europe to defend the powerless within the nation. For the crimes that the Crusaders have committed against the Muslims will be reaped by Christians and Jews throughout the Western world."

"Zawahiri's video messages are viewed by intelligence officials as telling signs that a terrorist attack is imminent," says Williams. "His televised message Sept. 6, 2004, took place before the December 6, 2004, bombing of the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, while his message of June 17, 2005, preceded the London bombings."

Williams says concerns about an October attack were heightened more by reports that jihadists viewed the ravages of hurricanes Katrina and Rita as signs that Allah was pleased with the plans for "the American Hiroshima."

"Allah has punished America with winds and water," one imam is quoted in the GIS report as saying. Another imam reportedly quipped that America, as evidenced by the natural disasters, is "under the curse of the Jews."

IRAN LEADER CALLS FOR ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
Wed Oct 26, 3:34 PM ET

Source of Article

TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Wednesday that Israel is a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map" — fiery words that Washington said underscores its concern over Iran's nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad's speech to thousands of students at a "World without Zionism" conference set a hard-line foreign policy course sharply at odds with that of his moderate predecessor, echoing the sentiments of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution.

The United States said Ahmadinejad's remarks show that Washington's fears about Iran's nuclear program are accurate.

"I think it reconfirms what we have been saying about the regime in Iran," White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters in Washington. "It underscores the concerns we have about Iran's nuclear intentions."

Ahmadinejad also condemned Iran's neighbors which seek to break new ground in their relations with Israel. "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury," state-run television quoted him as saying.

Relations between Israel and several Persian Gulf states have been thawing amid Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September. Bahrain announced in September it was ending a decades-old law banning trade ties with Israel. In October, Qatar said it was donating $6 million to help build a soccer stadium for a mixed Arab-Jewish team, the first such financial assistance by an Arab state for any town inside Israel.

Israel has been at the forefront of nations calling for an end to Iran's nuclear program, which the United States and many others in the West say is aimed at acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Iran insists the program is for generating electricity.

Referring to Palestinian suicide bomb attacks in Israel, Ahmadinejad said: "there is no doubt that the new wave in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot from the face of the Islamic world."

Ahmadinejad's speech came hours before a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in the Israeli town of Hadera, killing five people. Iran aids several militant Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, with support and training through proxies among Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

"Ahmadinejad has clearly declared the doctrine of his government," said Mohammad Sadeq Hosseini, an expert on Middle Eastern affairs. "He is returning Iran to the revolutionary goals it was pursuing in the 1980s."

Reacting to the Iranian president's speech, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Ahmadinejad and Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar "speak openly about destroying the Jewish state ... and it appears the problem with these extremists is that they followed through on their violent declarations with violent actions."

Ebrahim Yazdi, a former Iranian foreign minister, said Ahmadinejad's remarks harmed Iran.

"Such comments provoke the international community against us. It's not to Iran's interests at all. It's harmful to Iran to make such a statement," he said.

In Madrid, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos summoned Iran's ambassador to protest Ahmadinejad's comments. Moratinos said he rejected the remarks in the strongest possible terms.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Baptiste Mattei also condemned the remarks "with the utmost firmness."

Ahmadinejad became president in August after winning elections two months earlier. He replaced Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who advocated international dialogue and tried to improve relations with the West.

Iran announced earlier this year that it had fully developed solid fuel technology for missiles, a major breakthrough that increases their accuracy. The Shahab-3, with a range of 810 miles to more than 1,200 miles, is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East.

End of article

SYRIA CALLS FOR BACKING OF ARAB LEAGUE


by Aljazeera

Source of Article
Tuesday 01 November 2005 10:51 AM GMT


Syria has called on the Arab League for an urgent summit to adopt a pro-Damascus position to counter international pressure imposed on the country due to the al-Hariri probe.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has sent two delegations to the Gulf countries regarding the recent United Nations Security Council resolution, Arab diplomats at the Arab League said on Tuesday.

Syrian and some Lebanese groups have rejected and condemned the UN Security Council resolution threatening Syria.

Speaking to Aljazeera, Numair Ghanim, Head of Syria's parliamentary committee on international relations, said: "Syria has demanded an urgent session of the Arab League to hold talks among Arabs and transfer the dangers behind the current events in the Middle East, particularly the pressure imposed on Syria."

US plan

"All our Arab brothers should be aware of what is going on, as this series, which the United States wants to play in the area, would not stop in Syria and Lebanon," he said.

"Al-Hariri's blood has been used as a tool to achieve their [US] previously planned objectives," he added.

"In addition, they have now exceeded the limits of revealing the truth," Ghanim said.

"Therefore, Syria wants to hold talks with its Arab brothers to be put in front of their responsibilities," he added.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had previously sent an envoy, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallim, to some Gulf Arab countries to deliver his message and inform them of the situation while garnering support, Ghanim said.

"Syria's policies are clear. It has a definite position towards this case and wants to inform all its Arab brothers of the truth taking place on the ground," he added.

Full cooperation

"Syria has previously announced it would fully cooperate in order to achieve the main objective of the probe committee which is to reveal the truth behind al-Hariri's assassination," Ghanim said.

He believes that the use of the word cooperation is relative and open to interpretation and is the key in this case.

Ghanim said if this cooperation serves the objective of revealing the truth, then Syria would cooperate fully with the committee.

"However, if this cooperation is meant to achieve objectives other than revealing the truth behind al-Hariri's assassination, Syria will then adopt a different position," he added.

Mehlis back in Beirut

Meanwhile the UN team investigating the February murder of five-time Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri was back in Beirut on Tuesday buoyed by the unanimous backing of the Security Council for its demands for better cooperation from neighbouring Syria.

UN chief investigator Detlev Mehlis flew into Beirut on Monday evening as Resolution 1636 was being passed in New York, Lebanese officials said.

Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, whose government was praised by Mehlis's report to the Security Council last week, welcomed the new resolution.

"I hope our Syrian brothers will now match words with deeds and cooperate fully with the international inquiry," said Siniora, who was for years the slain al-Hariri's right-hand man in both politics and business.

Further extension

Siniora expressed satisfaction with the resolution, even though it had been watered down from earlier drafts circulated by Britain, France and the United States, saying it would help the UN team's inquiry.

He also raised the possibility that the commission's mandate might be extended beyond its current 15 December expiry date "if the Lebanese government requests it".

Mehlis's team was already given one three-month extension to allow it more time to complete its investigation, and in particular to interview senior Syrian officials.

CLASHES CLOUD LEBANON NATIONAL DAY


by Aljazeera + Agencies
Source of Article
Tuesday 22 November 2005 5:56 PM GMT


Deadly clashes between Israel and Hizb Allah on Lebanon's southern border have shadowed the country's 62nd Independence Day anniversary.

A fresh Israeli air attack in the south and shelling across the frontier on Tuesday followed the previous day's bloody clashes in which four Hizb Allah fighters were killed and 11 Israeli soldiers wounded.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said the attacks in the past 24 hours were the fiercest by both sides since Israeli troops quit south Lebanon after 22 years' occupation, a withdrawal claimed as victory by Hizb Allah.

Meanwhile, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, under pressure since Syria pulled out its troops from Lebanon in April, sat in frosty silence next to his rival, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, at an Independence Day military parade.

In a gesture towards Damascus, he said Beirut wanted good relations with its large neighbour, which had been active in Lebanon since its troops were sent to the country in 1976 after a resolution at an Arab summit in Cairo.

But it depends on Syria, Siniora said. "We want to have excellent relations with Syria, based on mutual respect."

He added: "The problem is not on the side of Lebanon, which unceasingly expresses its stand for ties based on cooperation and mutual respect."

Relations between Damascus and Beirut deteriorated dramatically after the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq al-Hariri in February and led to the pullout of Syrian forces two months later.

Confrontation

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli artillery shelled a Hizb Allah post in the divided village of al-Ghajar (Gypsies in English), said an AFP correspondent. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Part of al-Ghajar lies on Lebanese territory and part in the occupied Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which Israel seized from Syria in 1967.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli military spokesman said: "This attack targeted a position used by Hizb Allah to fire rockets and mortar shells at the north of Israel."

Hizb Allah forces were on high alert in the disputed Shebaa Farms district, where Monday's clashes took place. The area was captured by Israel from Syria at the same time as the Golan but is now claimed by Beirut.

Siniora blamed Israel for the latest clashes, saying that Israeli aircraft "have never stopped violating Lebanese airspace in the past weeks", fuelling tension at the frontier.

An official with the UN peacekeeping force said that the situation in the southern frontier zone remained "very tense and dangerous".

Chants

The Islamic Resistance (the armed wing of Hizb Allah) on its website accused the Israelis of entering al-Ghajar village, prompting Hizb Allah fighters to respond.

The website said its fighters inflicted deaths among the Israeli attacking force.

Chants of "Death to Israel, Death to America" rang through village Zibqin as thousands of Hizb Allah supporters attended the funeral of Yussef Ali Barak, one of the four fighters killed on Monday.

"Islamic Resistance has given one of the most beautiful pictures of defending Lebanon's sovereignty and independence against Israel," Shaikh Nabil Qauq, the local Hizb Allah official in the south, told mourners.

"We are determined to free Shebaa Farms and release the prisoners held in Israeli prisons," he added.

AMERICAN HIROSHIMA – THE NEXT 9/11?


Aljazeera
by Shaheen Chughtai in London
Source of Article
Friday 25 November 2005 10:55 PM GMT


When Australian police announced recently that eight men arrested on terrorism charges were planning a bomb attack against a nuclear reactor near Sydney, many security observers elsewhere were not surprised.

Officials and analysts in the United States have been warning that al-Qaida or associated groups are planning such attacks on American soil.

Dubbed American Hiroshima, the plan apparently targets New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston and Washington, DC.

Former US Defence Secretary William Perry says there is an even chance of a nuclear attack on the US this decade. Renowned investor Warren Buffet has predicted "a nuclear terrorist attack ... is inevitable".

David Dionisi, a former US army intelligence officer, is convinced that plans for a nuclear attack are under way.

Once a conservative Republican, Dionisi enjoyed success as a Fortune 500 business executive after leaving the army. But he later rejected his political beliefs and now advocates peace, social justice and humanitarianism.

In his new book, American Hiroshima, Dionisi argues decades of unjust US foreign policies will be largely to blame for sowing the seeds of hostility and vengeance which could lead to a nuclear catastrophe.

Aljazeera's Shaheen Chughtai caught up with Dionisi in London.

Dionisi had just flown from Liberia where he helps run a Catholic orphanage.

Aljazeera.net: You were once a conservative Republican. What made you change your beliefs?

Dionisi: The transformation was a discovery process. When I joined the military, I had a very limited view of what the US was doing around the world. Through my experiences as a military intelligence officer and later as a business executive doing international volunteer work, I started to see our foreign policies were often hurting people and making the world more dangerous.

One of the more dramatic moments in this process was when I was assigned to a unit focusing on implementing US foreign policy in central America. I was part of a rapid deployment team designed to go in and suppress forces working for social justice in places such as Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.

You describe the US public as uninformed - why?

The major media outlets are owned by a handful of corporations interested in promoting advertising and pro-government messages. Anything that challenges the existing power structure very often fails to receive air time. I highlight Fox as an extreme example of the Republican propaganda machine.

But when your country is fighting a war, you have an obligation to understand what's really going on. If you don't, you can become an agent of injustice. If people can find the time to watch baseball or soccer etc, they can make an effort to read, travel, talk and not be limited to the messages of fear.

They also need to understand their history. In 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff presented a plan called Operation Northwood, which is now declassified. It proposed conducting mass casualty attacks on American targets and blaming it on Cuba to rally public support for war against Fidel Castro. President Kennedy rejected the plan. So we shouldn't just assume any future attack on our soil is the work of al-Qaida.

Your book condemns alliances with repressive regimes. Can't these be justified if they serve a greater cause?

History teaches us that when you form alliances that promote injustice, you can only expect injustice in the future. Kindness begets kindness and the inverse is also true.

The US fought the largest secret war in its history during the 1980s in Afghanistan - over $6bn was funnelled into that war. As a result, US collaboration with and responsibility for al-Qaida goes well beyond what most even informed Americans understand.

If you consider that there are over 500 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay from over 40 countries - though not a single one is from Iraq - and that the CIA recruited thousands of people from over 40 countries to be part of that war - none from Iraq - you can better understand how the US played a direct role in creating what became the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Bush supporters argue the removal of Saddam and the Taliban was beneficial and therefore justified military action.

That starts from an artificial premise. When the Bush administration says, "Well, it's great that Saddam's gone," it fails to acknowledge that Bush's father and President Ronald Reagan were key forces that helped create Saddam Hussein.

Looking at what happened in 1979 it can put a lot of this in perspective. As Reagan came into office, the US embassy hostages in Iran were released after 444 days in captivity. Americans don't know this wasn't a coincidence. The US had agreed in writing not to attack Iran and also paid Tehran $8bn. That's why that media event (of the hostages' release during Reagan's inauguration ceremony) occurred with such precise timing.

How do you know this?

These are facts that were subsequently published. The agreement with Iran was submitted for review by the current administration to see if it would be binding and prevent an attack in the near future.

Bush administration attorneys concluded it was signed under duress and therefore not binding. I know this from a former senior member of the Bush administration, a seasoned CIA officer named Ray Flynn.

The US felt humiliated; the Reagan administration wanted to hurt the Iranians but its hands were tied. So Saddam Hussein was used as the agent for that. He ended up invading Iran ... and you had this brutal war from 1980 to 1988 that killed over a million people.

What was the US role in that war?

By 1982, Iran had recaptured lost territory and Saddam asked the US for help. So President Reagan signed a National Security Decision Directive - NSDD 114 - to provide all means of support to Saddam Hussein. Donald Rumsfeld then went on a very sensitive mission to deliver satellite intelligence, other forms of intelligence and weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

That's why the current Bush administration was so confident Saddam had chemical and biological weapons; they knew the US had supplied the ingredients in the 1980s.

Saddam broke with the US, however, when he found out we were selling weapons to Iran in the mid-1980s - the Iran-Contra affair. All this puts the invasion of Kuwait into perspective. Saddam got clear messages from the US saying he could invade; plus he felt the US owed him one after betraying him over Iran.

All these wars form a continuum of injustice. Look at the UN economic sanctions in the 1990s that the US and UK refused to lift: over a million Iraqis died, including 500,000 children. That's more than the number who died from the Nagasaki and Hiroshima atomic bombings.

You list numerous "unjust" actions that led to attacks on US targets - isn't that justifying terrorism?

I talked to the CIA's Michael Scheuer, head of the "find Bin Ladin" team, and he stresses that people in the Muslim world are not fighting us because of our freedoms or elections but our foreign policy. This is something the Bush administration constantly twists.

The basic principle is: if you hurt someone, they're going to want to hurt you. We need to ask questions like: Why did 9/11 happen? Bin Ladin has a very clear articulation of why he's at war with the US, Britain, Israel and others. If Americans read it, they'll see it's very clear about things such as US forces on Arab land.

And it's not just an Arab or Muslim issue. I learnt this in South Korea where the US has had troops since 1950. When you're there that long, it sends a powerful message that you're not there to liberate, you're there to occupy.

You describe the US as the biggest WMD proliferator. Why?

The US has spent $5 trillion on 70,000 nuclear weapons since 1945 - more than the rest of the world combined. A Congressional report in 1999 found the designs for every deployed nuclear warhead - and for some not built yet - had been stolen and passed to China. Israel acquired its programme from the US too.

Despite this, ordinary Americans are more concerned about the Bush administration's lies and hyped-up warnings about WMD in places such as Iraq.

Is Iran really a threat to the US? An alliance between Shia Iran and Sunni-led al-Qaida seems far fetched.

Iran will not attack the US if the US does not attack Iran. Congressman Curt Weldon (who accuses Tehran of plotting to attack the States) talks about attacking Iran but such talk makes the world more dangerous. If we were Iran, we'd develop nuclear weapons simply because Israel has them. So the US should facilitate a process whereby Israel eliminates its nuclear weapons.

As for the religious differences between Iran and al-Qaida, yes, that's been true - but Bush's War on Terror has been pushing the sects together. Intelligence reports indicate Bin Ladin's son Saad has been based in Iran. No, we can't be certain they're helping each other. But in any case, the Bush administration does not want peace with Iran.

You say "kindness begets kindness". What's your evidence?

After the first world war, the Treaty of Versailles punished Germany harshly, producing hardship and hostility that the Nazis exploited. But after the second world war, when the Marshall Plan helped rebuild Germany and Japan, the US did more to promote democracy than at any time during the Cold war.

To make the world a safer place, we must aggressively attack the causes of suffering and hostility. Imagine if Bush had said after 9/11: "People are capitalising on our mistakes in the Middle East. So, let's ensure there is no hunger, lack of clean water, lack of education etc in the Muslim world." We would have made more friends and drained support for our enemies.

If we can't expect US foreign policy to change soon, isn't it too late to stop an American Hiroshima?

It's not too late although your point is realistic. But we can still influence the US response. Far more people will die in the retaliation and the counter-retaliation.

If the US had the wisdom, we could make the world safer. The US military budget was over $420 billion in 2005. We could split that three ways: a third on economic development in the Middle East, especially Iraq; a third on tackling injustice at home, such as providing universal healthcare - and that would still leave us with the world's biggest military budget.

People have to become more involved. The anti-Vietnam war movement is an example - but it failed to hold government to account. If we had tried (former Defence Secretary) Robert McNamara or (former Secretary of State) Henry Kissinger for crimes such as the illegal bombing of Cambodia, it would have sent a powerful message to future leaders. The Bush government today wouldn't have been so bold.

Ultimately, Americans need to understand many of them will die and parts of their country will become uninhabitable unless they hold their government to account.


***

AL QAEDA VIDEO IS 'GREEN LIGHT' FOR ATTACK, ANALYST WARNS

By Sherrie Gossett
Source of Article
Jan 11, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - The recently released video message from al Qaeda's number two leader is part of a pattern that signals a countdown to a major terrorist attack within the next 30 days, warns a Washington D.C.-based analyst.

The new video was aired by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite network on Jan. 6. In it Ayman al-Zawahiri portrays U.S. government discussion of troop withdrawal from Iraq as a victory for Islam.

"If your forces with all its aircraft, missiles, tanks and fleets are moaning, bleeding and looking for an escape from Iraq, then will the hypocrites, conspirators, infidels (the Iraqi government) resist what the 'greatest power in the world' has failed to resist?" al-Zawahiri asked.

But it is not the content of the video that is a sign of a possible imminent strike, said terrorism expert Christopher L. Brown. Instead, it is the timing of the video that is consistent with previous patterns. Brown, a researcher with a Washington think tank, has briefed members of Congress and senior administration officials on key threats, and he has prepared testimony and briefing materials for officials at the Department of Defense, State Department, CIA, National Security Council and the White House.

The pattern Brown observed is that each Zawahiri video appears to be part of a pair, with the second video followed by a significant attack within 30 days, outside of the major combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The videos released on Sept. 9 and Nov. 9, 2004, were the first "set" and were followed by the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, bombings on Dec. 6, 2004. The second "set" of videos was released Feb. 20 and June 26, 2005, followed by the July 7 London bombings. A third set of videos was released Aug. 4 and Sept 1, 2005, followed by the bombings in Bali, Indonesia, on Oct. 1, 2005.

A Cybercast News Service exclusive report on Sept. 8 of last year detailed Brown's warning regarding an impending October attack.

The fourth set of videos, according to Brown's theory was released on Oct. 23, 2005 and last week -- Jan. 6.

"This pattern has held for at least three of al Qaeda's last large-scale attacks," said Brown, "This most recent video is likely a signal that a large-scale operation is about to be launched within the next 30 days. The question is where."

A clue may be found in the Internet postings of the enigmatic Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, said Brown. The brigades appear to be 'green-lighting' coming attacks prior to the release of the second video of each pair, Brown said.

The video that preceded the London bombings was itself preceded by a post by the "European division" of the brigades under the title, "Letter to mujahedeen in Europe." The posting stated in part, "We now call on the mujahedeen around the world to launch the expected attack." The message appeared on an al Qaeda-linked Internet forum.

Brown believes the larger pattern of two videos sandwiching an Internet posting by the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades was repeated when a November web message declared that the upcoming attack would occur in the "land of the Romans," widely seen as a reference to Italy.

The Internet posting, under the name of al Qaeda's reputed military commander Saif al-Adel, mentioned future attacks involving unidentified poisonous substances and surface-to-air missiles procured from Chechnya. Brown notes that the Abu-Hafs Al-Masri Brigades are overseen by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top al Qaeda terrorist in Iraq who is also known to have ties to Chechnya.

"It is even more interesting to note that Western intelligence officials believe that al Qaeda has had some of the most advanced Russian man-portable surface-to-air missile systems (the SA-18) within Europe for at least one year."

On Oct. 29, 2005, the London Telegraph reported that Abu Atiya, an al Qaeda operative close to al-Zawahiri, revealed to French authorities that a group called the "Chechen network" entered France with the missiles and chemical and biological agents such as botulin, ricin and cyanide. The missiles were reportedly purchased in 2002 and eventually smuggled through Georgia and Turkey to be used in a planned attack against French airliners in 2004.

Following the London bombings the brigades posted a communique on the Internet, stating: "We are in Italy, and not one of you is safe as long as you refuse [Osama bin Laden's] offer. Get rid of the incompetent (Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi or we will truly burn Italy."

A July 19, 2005, story in Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper indicated that Italian intelligence feared the statement was a coded message activating known cells in Italy, which had previously been providing only logistical support.

Three more messages from the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades were posted in July, promising to "burn Italy down.

"We will raze the cities of Europe to the ground and you will be the first, Berlusconi!" one of the messages declared. On July 31, the brigades claimed to be "calling up all our cells in Rome and other Italian cities for this war ..." Another Internet message followed in August.

However, the November reference to the "land of the Romans" could be misdirection Brown said, since al Qaeda is known to use coded language in many of its communications. The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) has indicated that al Qaeda intentionally labeled Italy as its target, prior to the London bombings.

If the "land of the Romans" doesn't refer to Rome, what might it refer to? Dan Darling of the Manhattan Institute believes it could be a reference to the United States. "It could just as easily apply to the U.S. -- America as the new Rome," said Darling.

Brown also believes the al Qaeda threat could apply to the U.S. and that America is the likelier target.

The "land of the Romans" could be a symbolic reference to the "countless examples of Romanesque architecture in Washington, D.C.," said Brown.

The missiles reportedly obtained from Chechnya have not been located and Brown believes it is possible that some of the weapons have been smuggled into North America since individuals involved in the "Chechen network" who procured the missiles were allegedly involved in the 1999 conspiracy to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.

About Brown's theory of a timing pattern and imminent strike, Dan Darling said "I definitely think there's something behind this theory. One of my earliest observations about al Qaeda is that when people look for patterns they tend to forget to include events in places like Kashmir, Chechnya, Iraq. "

Darling also noted that analysts often fail to take into account thwarted attacks. "Italy has arrested several members of GSPC cells intent on attacking Italy or U.S.-related installations," said Darling. The GSPC is also known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, an Algerian group linked to al Qaeda. Italian officials announced on Dec. 23 that the suspected terrorists had plans to carry out attacks against the U.S. that would have surpassed 9/11.

Terrorism expert B. Raman told Cybercast News Service that Brown's theory is "fascinating" but that he was not in a position to agree or disagree with it.

"I personally feel that while the London explosions were externally inspired from Pakistan, the timing and the modus operandi used were decided locally. I would have difficulty in connecting it to Zawahiri's second message," said Raman. He also believes that Zawahiri's importance as an operational head tends to be over-estimated by many Western analysts.

"I also feel on the basis of my reading of the situation that there is a very high probability of a terrorist strike against Italian lives and interests this year," said Raman.

"In Europe, Al Qaeda's next targets in the order of probability are Italy (its Prime Minister is closely identified with Bush), France (ban on head scarves, its interior minister is hated in the Islamic world) and Germany (its role in Afghanistan)."

Raman is the former head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research & Analysis Wing in India's external intelligence agency and director or the Institute of Topical Studies, Chennai, India.

Italy has been bracing for possible attacks targeting the February Winter Olympics in Turin or the April 9 general elections. Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told media last month, "The global resonance of the Games, and the coincidence with the election campaign could be of great interest to terrorist organizations, which carry out major attacks in order to rock public opinion and influence political stances."

The CIA has declined to comment on Brown's theory. "We don't comment on our own analysis. And we can't comment on Mr. Brown's theory either," said the spokesman.

Regarding the video release pattern, "once can be an interesting anomaly, twice could be a coincidence, but three times is a pattern," Brown said, indicating "that in all likelihood al Qaeda will launch a major attack sometime in the next month."


***

BUSH SAYS NUCLEAR-ARMED IRAN A THREAT TO THE WORLD


January 13, 2006
Source of Article

President George W. Bush said that Iran would be a threat to the world if it had a nuclear weapon but that he wanted a diplomatic solution to the crisis with the Islamic Republic.

Speaking after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bush said that the United States and its European allies believed a nuclear armed Iran was "unacceptable" and that going to the UN Security Council would be the "logical" next step.

"The reason it's unacceptable is because Iran armed with a nuclear weapon poses a grave threat to the security of the world," Bush told a press conference.

He highlighted how Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of Israel. "And that's unacceptable," declared the US leader.

"And the development of a nuclear weapon seems to me would make them a step closer to achieving that objective."

Highlighting the new rappochement in German-US ties, Merkel said Western countries "will not be intimidated" by Iran's decision to resume sensitive nuclear research.

Germany, Britain and France have led efforts over the past two years to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear programme, which the European allies and the United States believe is intended to produce a nuclear weapon.

Ahmadinejad said Friday that Iran will not back down from its nuclear programme, which his country insists is peaceful.

Representatives of the European Union, United States, China and Russia are to hold talks on Iran in London on Monday. They are expected to set a date for a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which could refer the case to the UN Security Council.

Bush made no mention of any possible sanctions and stressed the need to search for a diplomatic solution.

The US president said that he and Merkel "spent some time talking about the Iranian issue and the desire to solve this issue diplomatically -- by working together."

Bush said he would not "prejudge what the United Nations Security Council should do" and also emphasized the multilateral stance that has also been stressed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"What we're doing now is beginning to lay out the strategy of what happens in the Security Council. That's what friends do. We consult, we talk, we strategize as to how to achieve an important objective, which is for Iran not to have a nuclear weapon."

Bush said he and Merkel discussed reported opposition to UN Security Council involvement from China's envoy to the United Nations.

"We did talk about the Chinese statement. Our job is to make it clear to all parties that it is in the world's interest that Iran not have a nuclear weapon, in other words."

"You're going to see a lot of public discussion about this matter. And the Chinese have got an opinion, the Russians have an opinion. We have opinions. Everybody has opinions."

Bush praised Germany's role in efforts to negotiate with Iran. "Germany's played an incredibly constructive role in this dialogue," he said.

Merkel said she was "greatly encouraged" by the talks with Bush and indicated that her country would take a hard line with Iran.

"To us Germans too, it is totally unacceptable, what Iran has said recently, for example as regards questioning the right of existence of Israel, the statements that were made with reference to the Holocaust," the chancellor told the press conference.

"And it's essential, we feel, that the EU-3, together with the United States, take a common position here, become active, that we try to persuade as many other countries as possible to join themselves to us, to ally themselves with us.

"And we will certainly not be intimidated by a country such as Iran," she declared.

US-German ties were tense following opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq which was opposed by Merkel's predecessor Gerhard Schroeder.

Merkel, who was on her first trip to Washington since becoming chancellor, returns to Germany on Friday.

***

PAKISTAN CONDEMNS PURPORTED CIA AIRSTRIKE


By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer
January 14, 2006
Source of Article


Pakistan on Saturday condemned a purported CIA airstrike on a border village that officials said unsuccessfully targeted al-Qaida's second-in-command, and said it was protesting to the U.S. Embassy over the attack that killed at least 17 people.

Thousands of local tribesmen, chanting "God is Great," demonstrated against the attack, claiming the victims were local villagers without terrorist links and had never hosted Ayman al-Zawahri.

Two senior Pakistani officials told The Associated Press that the CIA acted on incorrect information in launching the attack early Friday in the northwestern village of Damadola, near the Afghan border.

Citing unidentified American intelligence officials, U.S. news networks reported that CIA-operated Predator drone aircraft carried out the missile strike because al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, was thought to be at a compound in the village or about to arrive.

"Their information was wrong, and our investigations conclude that they acted on a false information," said a senior Pakistani intelligence official with direct knowledge of Pakistan's investigations into the attack.

His account was confirmed by a senior government official who said al-Zawahri "was not there." Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.

Washington had no comment on the reports that the attack was aimed at al-Zawahri, who has a $25 million U.S. government bounty on his head. Like bin Laden, he is believed to have been hiding along the rugged Pakistan-Afghan frontier since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Pakistan says it does not allow Afghan or the 20,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan to cross the border in pursuit of Taliban and al-Qaida believed to be hiding there. The war on terror is opposed by many in this Islamic nation of 150 million people.

Pakistan's information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, called the "incident" in Damadola "highly condemnable."

The Foreign Ministry later issued a statement saying a protest had been filed with the U.S. Embassy.

"According to preliminary investigations there was foreign presence in the area and that in all probability was targeted from across the border in Afghanistan," the Foreign Ministry said.

"The investigations are still continuing. Meanwhile the Foreign Office has lodged a protest with the U.S. ambassador in Islamabad."

U.S. Embassy spokesman Rakesh Surampudi said the protest had not been received by Saturday evening.

An AP reporter who visited Damadola about 12 hours after the attack saw three destroyed houses, hundreds of yards apart. Villagers had buried at least 15 people, including women and children, and were digging for more bodies in the rubble.

Villagers denied hosting al-Zawahri or any other member of al-Qaida or Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, and said all the dead were local people.

More than 8,000 tribesmen staged a peaceful protest in a nearby town Saturday to condemn the airstrike, which one speaker described as "open terrorism." Police dispersed a smaller protest in another town using tear gas. A mob burned the office of a U.S.-backed aid agency near Damadola, but nobody was injured, residents said.

NBC News reported that U.S. and Pakistani officials said Predator drones had fired as many as 10 missiles at Damadola in the Bajur tribal region. ABC quoted anonymous Pakistani military sources as saying al-Zawahri could have been among five top al-Qaida officials believed killed.

A second Pakistani intelligence official told AP that the remains of some bodies had "quickly been removed" from Damadola after the strike and DNA tests were being conducted, but would not say by whom. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.

The official said that hours before the strike some unidentified guests had arrived at the home of a tribesman named Shah Zaman.

Zaman, who said three of his children were killed when his home was destroyed, told AP he was a "law-abiding" laborer and had no ties to al-Zawahri or any other militants.

"I don't know him. He was not at my home. No foreigner was at my home when the planes came and dropped bombs," Zaman said.

Local lawmaker Sahibzada Haroon ur Rashid, who visited Damadola soon after the attack, said the dead had been buried and that no foreigners were among them. They came from a local family of jewelers, he said, adding that none of the bodies was burned so badly that identification was difficult.

In Washington, Pentagon, State Department, National Security Council and intelligence officials all said they had no information on the reports concerning al-Zawahri. A U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, Lt. Mike Cody, referred questions on the matter to the Pentagon.

Doctors told AP that at least 17 people died in the attack, but residents of Damadola, a Pashtun tribal hamlet on a hillside about four miles from the Afghan border, said more than 30 died. They recounted hearing aircraft fly overhead before explosions in the village that were felt miles away.

Speaking as he dug through the rubble of his home, Zaman said he heard planes at around 2:40 a.m. and then eight huge explosions. He said planes had been flying over the village for three or four days.

At another destroyed house, Sami Ullah, a 17-year-old student, said 24 of his family members were killed and vowed he would "seek justice from God."

The attack was the latest in a series of strikes on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan that have not been explained by authorities but are widely suspected to have targeted terror suspects or Islamic militants.

Pakistan lodged a protest Monday with the U.S. military in Afghanistan after a reported U.S. air strike killed eight people in the North Waziristan tribal region last Saturday. Pakistan says it does not allow U.S. forces to cross the border in pursuit of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

In Afghanistan, Mohammed Hasan, deputy police chief of Kunar province, which is opposite Bajur, said U.S. forces had for weeks been patrolling in airplanes along the rugged border, which he described as a hide-out for Arab terrorists.

Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian, has appeared regularly over the Internet and in Arab media to encourage Muslims to attack Americans and U.S. interests worldwide.

___

Associated Press writers Munir Ahmad, Sadaqat Jan and Matthew Pennington in Islamabad contributed to this report.



*******

OFFICIALS: AL-ZAWAHRI EVADED U.S. ATTACK


By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer
January 15, 2006
Source of Article

Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader was invited to a dinner marking a Muslim festival on the night of the devastating U.S. missile strike in a Pakistani border village, but he failed to show up, Pakistani intelligence officials said Sunday.

Ayman al-Zawahri sent aides instead, the officials said, and investigators are trying to establish if any of them were among the at least 17 people killed in the attack, which sparked a second day of anti-U.S. protests across the country Sunday.

Some 10,000 people rallied in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, chanting "Death to America" and "Stop bombing against innocent people." Hundreds also protested in Islamabad, Lahore, Multan and Peshawar, burning U.S. flags and demanding U.S. troops leave neighboring Afghanistan.

Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., and other American lawmakers on Sunday defended the airstrike.

"This war on terror has no boundaries," McCain, a former Navy combat pilot who challenged George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, told CBS. "We have to go where these people are, and we have to take them out."

David Almacy, a White House spokesman, declined to comment directly on the airstrike, saying only, "Pakistan is a valued ally on the war on terror."

Pakistan says it does not allow American forces on its soil to attack or hunt militants. On Saturday, the government condemned the attack and lodged a diplomatic protest, saying it had killed innocent civilians.

In a sign of tensions over the attack on Damadola village, two top Pakistani officials — one from the military, the other from the civilian administration — said privately Sunday that the government was only informed of the strike after it happened.

However, U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record), a Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he had "every reason to believe" high-ranking officials in the Pakistani government knew in advance.

Many in this nation of 150 million people oppose the government's ties with Washington and there is increasing frustration over a recent series of suspected U.S. attacks along the rugged frontier aimed at militants.

Bayh said the problem is the Pakistani government does not control the border region where Osama bin Laden, al-Zawahri and other militants are believed to have been hiding since the U.S.-led military ouster of Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban regime for hosting al-Qaida.

"It's a regrettable situation, but what else are we supposed to do?" Bayh told CNN. "The Pakistani border is a real problem."

Two Pakistani intelligence officials said Sunday that al-Zawahri, who has a wife from a tribe prominent in the region around the attacked village, had been invited to a dinner in Damadola to mark last week's Eid al-Adha holiday, but apparently changed his mind.

One of the officials said al-Zawahri sent some aides instead and investigators were trying to determine whether any were in the three houses destroyed in the attack.

The officials agreed to discuss the situation only if their names were not used, because they are not authorized to speak to journalists. They said their information came from Pakistan's own security agencies and intelligence shared by the CIA after the attack.

The second intelligence official said 12 bodies, including seven foreigners, had been taken from the village, which is about four miles from Afghanistan. He said the bodies were reclaimed by other militants, but another Pakistani official said Saturday that some were taken away for DNA tests.

It was not possible to reconcile the conflicting accounts, which reflect widespread confusion over the attack and the refusal of the government to comment publicly on the details of what happened.

Residents of Damadola, which is in the tribal region of Bajur, insisted no militants were staying in the village and all the dead were local people.

But the civilian Pakistani official said the government had been investigating reports that al-Zawahri had visited Bajur in recent months — a tip gleaned from the interrogation of Abu Farraj al-Libbi, a senior al-Qaida figure arrested in Pakistan in May.

Al-Libbi is accused of masterminding two failed assassination attempts on Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in 2003 that killed 17 people. He was interrogated in Pakistan and later handed over to the United States.

Thousands of men from Bajur and other nearby tribal areas crossed into Afghanistan to fight against the U.S.-led offensive that toppled the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on America.

They were mobilized by Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, a radical movement that demands enforcement of Islamic laws in the region. It was outlawed by Pakistan in August 2002.

Two clerics linked to that group are suspected of having been invited to the same dinner as al-Zawahri, and according to a report in Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, helped remove bodies of militants killed in Friday's airstrike.

The governor of the Afghan province across from Bajur said Afghanistan's government had formed a 1,000-man tribal militia to watch the border and stop Islamic militants from infiltrating.

"But the border is so long and so rugged that it's easy for them to come and go," Kunar Gov. Assadullah Wafa said.

The United States has 20,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, but military officials declined to discuss troop movements or say whether they had stepped up their presence in Kunar in case al-Zawahri fled west into Afghanistan after the airstrike.

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Associated Press writers Sadaqat Jan in Islamabad, Zarar Khan in Karachi, Daniel Cooney in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Foster Klug in Washington contributed to this report.