Winds of War: Feb 21/05

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 Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report today.

Today's Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio of the fourth rail and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Austin Bay agree! Al Qaeda is losing in Iraq.

• Hezbollah backs the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and warns a civil war could break of if Syria withdraws.

• Signs of insecurity: Syrian President Bashar Assad appoints his brother in law as chief of military intelligence.

• A Kuwaiti newspaper reports Syrian and Lebanese officials plotted the murder of former Prime Minister Hariri. Six suspects are thought to have left Beirut and headed to Australia. Liberating Iraq takes a look at the impact of Hariri's murder.

• A review of the past week's events in Iran.

Other Topics Today Include:

Russia plans to continue aiding Iran's nuke program; UFO/IFOs in Iran; Leaving Gaza; Tunnel war tech; Iraqi irregulars; CIA/FBI terror briefs; The PDB's future; another Saudi "charity" indicted; Pakistani insecurity; India's Patriot [missile] games; Deconstructing Theo's murder; Projecting power; More claims against SEALs; and more....

IRAN REPORTS

• Russian President Vladimir Putin does not believe Iran intends to manufacture nuclear weapons. Perhaps it is time to court India as an ally in Asia.

• Iran fears an American attack and accelerates mobilization programs.

• Chester reviews the UFO/IFO sightings in Iran and the military implications of US drones flying in Iranian airspace.

THE MIDDLE EAST

• The Israeli cabinet has approved the withdrawal from Gaza. Israel will also release 500 Palestinian prisoners as a "gesture" to the Palestinian Authority.

• Defensetech reviews Israeli efforts and technology used to fight the tunnel wars beneath the Gaza Strip.

• Phil Carter looks at the rise of irregular Iraqi defense forces and American efforts to co-opt these units.

AMERICAN DOMESTIC SECURITY

• Dan Darling parses CIA director Goss and FBI director Mueller's recent Senate testimony.

• Larry Johnson of the Counterterrorism Blog speculates on the future of the PDB (Presidential Daily Brief), the President's intelligence briefing, in light of the new intelligence changes and appointment of John Negroponte as the National Intelligence Director.

• A Saudi charity in Oregon (Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation) and two of its officers are under indictment for fraud.

AFRICA

• Morocco and Spain claim cooperative efforts to fight terrorism have been successful.

ASIA & AUSTRALIA

• The Rand Corporation reports that Pakistani security forces are "ill-equipped" to fight terrorists in an urban setting.

• The U.S. agrees to sell Patriot missile systems to India, which are capable of shooting down Pakistani nuclear missiles.

EUROPE

• An in depth look at the murder of Theo Van Gogh, based on a report from the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment.

THE GLOBAL WAR

• John Rob of Global Guerrillas looks at the decline of the nation-state as terrorist groups are now able to project power formerly reserved to states.

• Froggy investigates the cases of SEALs accused of torturing and killing al Qaeda members, and how the media mischaracterized their actions.

• And finally, Winds of Change.NET brings you a Saudi wingnut who supports al-Qaeda, right in our own comments section. IP trace indicates that he's probably an employee of Saudi Aramco, a large oil company.

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