Thursday Winds of War: April 28/05

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. Thursday's Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• We got Zarqawi's laptop. More details from Bill Roggio. We're getting close.

• Annie Jacobsen gets a visit from the Feds - flight 327 continued.

• Saudi Arabia's chief justice calls for jihad against U.S. forces in Iraq. All part of the anti-terror crackdown, rest assured.

• Terrorism and Islamism as tools of Moroccan politics. Be sure to read the comments from Joe A and Whig.

Other Topics Today Include: lashing for student; Iran pushes to join a-bomb club; Syria nearly out; Hamas leaders to go to Gaza; Russia will sell Syria SAMs; Sadrists on the march in Basra; Islamists dominate Jeddah vote; jihadis on meth?; Akbar stabs M-P; arms dealer convicted; LAX bomber rolled; Yarkas trial; Russia using jihadis?; Bradford Taliban; Pearl killers tied to banned charity; India convicts terrorist; JI camp found in Indonesia; warning of A-Q attack in Tunisia; jihad in Nigeria; GSPC killings; and more.

IRAN

• An Iranian student has been sentenced to 76 lashes and 18 months in prison for taking part in anti-regime demonstrations.

• Iran-EU talks have been suspended until after Iranian 'elections' on June 17.

• European diplomats say that the EU agrees with the US and Israel that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, and that Iran is pressuring Europe to accept it.

• WND says Iran plans to send the U.S. back to the 19th century with a single bomb. I guess this is better than the man-made tsunami idea.

• As ever, Regime Change Iran has daily briefings.

THE MIDDLE EAST

• The Syrian withdrawal is almost complete. More here. Lebanese protesters have clashed with security forces.

• Syria is to sign a Counter-Terrorism Financing Convention. The CT blog calls it an empty gesture.

• The Hamas leaders in Damascus will set up shop in Gaza after Israel retreats.

• The "Green Revolution" and the Hamas Strategy to Take Over the Palestinian Authority.

• The U.S. is urging Saudi Arabia to give financial aid to the PA.

• Russia has confirmed that it will sell SAMs to Syria.

IRAQ AND THE GULF

• Al-Sadr's militias are patrolling Basra streets. I guess the 'softly, softly' approach of the British Army means letting terrorists do whatever they please.

• France could be a strategic ally of France, according to a study by the Washington Institute.

• Iraqi WMD might have been moved to Syria by unofficial... officials. If that makes sense.

• Islamists have (again) dominated Saudi municipal elections, this time in Jeddah.

• Terrorists are sometimes drug addicts, according to the Saudi Interior Minister.

THE AMERICAS

• PIJ leader Sami al-Arian's lawyers want his beliefs kept out of trial. They're concerned that the defendant being a genocidal anti-semite might politicise the trial. More here.

• Hasan Akbar, the murderous traitor who killed two American soldiers, has stabbed an M-P. Judge Stephen Henley said he didn't think what he called an "opportunistic stabbing" two years after the attack inside the Army camp in Kuwait showed a pattern. Maybe if he was better at killing Americans, it'd be a pattern?

• New York firefighters discovered a room covered in clippings about Osama Bin Laden, beheadings and Iraq. The JTTF says they don't suspect terrorist activity. The building owner might be worth a look: Hamdan, 53, of Brooklyn, served jail time in the late 1970s and early 1980s for arson, reckless endangerment, weapons possession and conspiracy, according to the records.

• Hemant Lakhani has been found guilty of trying to sell a shoulder-launched SAM to terrorists.

• An Islamic scholar has been found guilty of preaching holy war.

• The LAX bomber has been singing like a canary. Since he's done talking, maybe he should be sent to Gitmo with his compatriots?

EUROPE

• Abu Dahdah says he supports jihad as a defensive concept. He doesn't know what 'radical' means. Another suspect has had a case of amnesia.

• Europe's Mujahideen: Where Mass Immigration Meets Global Terrorism.

• A witness claims they told Dutch intelligence about the plot to murder Theo van Gogh.

• Two Belgians have been returned home from Guantanamo Bay.

• Are Russian intelligence agents planning to use jihadi groups to attack American targets in the Caucasus?

• Grassroots Vice & Virtue squad in Bradford. Two Asian Muslims are jailed (and listed as sex offenders) for attacking and sexually assaulting prostitutes.

ASIA & AUSTRALASIA

• Pakistani investigators have connected Daniel Pearl's killer to a terrorist-financing charity called Al-Akhtar Trust International.

• A bomb on a Pakistani railway line has wounded three police officers.

• An Indian court has convicted a terrorist of organising an attack on an American cultural centre in Calcutta in 2002. Five police officers were killed.

• Jihadi incitement in Kyrgyzstan.

• Indonesian police are investigating a JI training camp. The Indonesian security forces never fail to fill me with confidence: "They have already left," General Rasyid said. "We have not identified the goal of the training."

• Two Filipino soldiers have been killed by an Abu Sayyaf landmine.

• Malaysia has rejected the UN's definition of terrorism. Root causes, colonialism, why can't we kill Jews, etc.

AFRICA

• The U.S. is warning of an A-Q attack in Tunisia.

• 24 Algerian GSPC arrested in Algeria, and 20 GIA surrounded...

• Plus four Tunisian volunteers arrested in Algeria.

• The GSPC murdered a small town's mayor, as well as two civilians and two security guards.

• Nigerian Christians are concerned about threats of jihad by northern Muslim leaders.

• Mauritanian authorities have arrested several Islamist leaders.

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