Winds of War: November 11/04

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Thursday. Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• Yasser Arafat is dead. His rotting corpse will be put in a crate, shoved in the back of a cargo plane and sent to be buried in the most famous rubble heap in the Middle East: the al-Muqata compound in Ramallah. Before then, there will be a memorial in Cairo. Europe will not send heads of state, but foreign ministers, to attend. The reactions have varied. Kofi says he was 'deeply moved' upon learning that the career terrorist had died in his bed. Tony Blair sent his condolences to Arafat's family. Jacques Chirac called him a "man of courage". Hamas, the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades and Islamic Jihad all hold Israel responsible for Arafat dying of something Zionist like being old and unhealthy.

• In the Netherlands, the Dutch are moving against known terrorist cells. Politically, they've called for Hezbollah to be listed as a terrorist organisation in the European Union. Several suspects have been arrested in raids across the Netherlands. In the Hague, two police officers were wounded by grenades. Dan Darling has an analysis of the likely perpetrators.

• It's on in Fallujah. So far, so good. Joe Katzman has a continuously updated page of news from the city. Another good resource is The Adventures of Chester, the blog of a former Marine who served in Iraq.

Other Topics Today Include: Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade is back!; Russians nail assassin; U.S. warns of Uzbekistan attacks; Singapore guards facilities; PFLP wanted to hit French; al-Qaeda may disintegrate; GSPC murders innocents; caucasian suicide bomber in Iraq; IAEA: nucelar terrorism a threat (you read it here first); Bahrain Ansar al-Islam threatens U.S. and U.K.

IRAN REPORTS

• Diplomats are leaking reports that Iran will suspend uranium enrichment temporarily. They may have even come to an agreement with the Europeans, a deal which would make Iran a closer ally to the E.U.

• The mullahs are also threatening to withdraw from the NPT and go underground with their nuclear program. Given that their facilities are undergound, and under cities, this seems like a strange threat.

• Iran has admitted to arming Hezbollah with UAVs and FROG missiles.

DOMESTIC SECURITY BRIEFINGS

• A Wyoming student has been arrested for trying to send military equipment to an al-Qaeda Somali terrorist group. Though the Washington Post doesn't tell us, I think we can assume Mark Robert Walker is a Muslim convert.

• U.S. intelligence believes that the American al-Qaeda tape was probably made by Adam Gadahn.

• Terrorism alert levels have been lowered at the five financial institutions believed to have been the targets of an aborted al-Qaeda plot.

• The Spanish have picked up a Pakistani for being a member of a terrorist group.

• Two U.S. based Hamas-funding 'charities' have been found liable for the death of a teenager at the hands of Arab terrorists.

• A Syrian-born doctor, thought to be linked to an al-Qaeda, who kept blueprints of D.C. overpasses and was closely involved in a charity funding al-Qaeda... has been releaseed on bail.

THE WIDER WAR

• Its been a while, but the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades are threatening us with death, carnage and "unbearable hell". Where ya been, guys?

• The Russians got the guys who killed Akhmad Kadyrov.

• The U.S. is warning of terrorist attacks in Uzbekistan.

• Singapore is apparently taking the al-Qaeda threats seriously. Some 8,000 troops are to guard key facilities.

• The PFLP suicide bomber who killed three Israelis in Tel Aviv's Carmel Market was originally to attack the French Embassy. Punishment for Chirac's increasingly anti-Assad line, presumably.

• A British parliamentary committee has been told that al-Qaeda might disintegrate in the next two years. Fingers crossed.

• The GSPC is making up for manpower shortages with brutality. At least 40 civilians have been murdered in the last few weeks, including two sisters whose throats were slit.

• The suicide bomber who killed three Black Watch soldiers in Iraq was a white guy.

• IAEA chief ElBaradei says nuclear terrorism is a threat.

• The 'Bahrain Branch' of Ansar al-Islam has threatened attacks on U.S. and U.K. interests.

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