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
UPDATE: CAR BOMB DESTROYS SINAI HOTEL. Bombings confirmed at Taba, Ras al-Satan and Neuba. Suez Canal shut down and Sinai Peninsula declared closed military zone. Israeli medical teams and bomb disposal units on the scene. 30 killed, 115 wounded at Taba; 7 killed, several dozen wounded at Ras al-Satan; 43 wounded at Neuba. Unknown number buried in the rubble of hotel - Israeli medical teams suggest number may be low. Reports of Egyptian police making arrests in Taba.
- The international connection to the Chechen jihad is demonstrated again. First, the terrorists at Beslan made at least two phone calls, in Arabic, to the Middle East. One of them was to Saudi Arabia, but the Russians aren't saying where the other call was to. Second, one of the Beslan terrorists was a British citzen, and two others were Britain-based Algerians. All three attended Finsbury Park mosque.
- CNS News have been given 42 pages of Iraqi Intelligence Service documents. They apparently show that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction as late as the summer of 2000, and had links to al-Qaeda and other jihadi groups dating back to 1993.
- Iraq Survery Group head Charles Duelfer says that, while there are no WMD stockpiles in Iraq, Saddam was planning - and able - to restart CBW programs within months, if sanctions were to be lifted.
- Iran's nuclear program advances... See below.
Other Topics Today Include: Iran Report; Domestic Briefing; Iraq jihadis' regional co-operation; suicide bombings in Pakistan; Lebanon al-Qaeda plot; Saudi terror charity shut down; Mauritania assassination attempt; Kashmir intifada; South Korea alert; Phillipines bomb; jihadis want Bashir; Aussie airport shut down.
IRAN REPORTS
- Iran has officially announced that the new Shihab-3 has a range of 2,000km.
- In defiance of the U.N., Iran has processed "tons" of uranium. Rest easy, though: the U.N. is watching.
- An analysis of Israel's options concludes that there are no easy solutions.
DOMESTIC SECURITY BRIEFINGS
- In the Finsbury Park article: The Observer has obtained detailed reports into al-Zarqawi's group compiled largely from 'communications intercepts' by a Western intelligence service. A series of telephones seized from militants has allowed investigators to build up a picture of a European network that stretches from Poland to the UK. There are several references to obtaining false documents from London.
- This isn't new, but confirmation, that Zarqawi wanted to attack Jewish targets in Germany.
- Saajid Badat, a compatriot of Richard Reid, has been charged with plotting a bomb attack.
- TIME Magazine reports that the British suspects arrested in August were planning to build a dirty bomb. The British found a cache of smoke detectors, which they believe were to be cannibalised to recover minute amounts of americium-241.
- France is trying 10 men for planning to bomb Strasbourg market in Christmas 2000.
- Dutch intelligence have found a mole, who leaked information to jihadi terror suspects.
- If there is a major attack in Britain, the police will withhold the casualty count to prevent panic.
- A Missouri mosque is investigated for financing terrorism.
THE WIDER WAR
- Iraqi terrorists are working with Damascus based anti-Israel terrorist groups.
- A suicide bombing at a Shi'ite mosque has been answered by a car bombing at a Sipah-e-Sahaba rally. SeS has been banned by the Pakistani government. That doesn't mean they can't still hold annual demonstrations, though.
- 35 men (of whom only nine are in custody) have been charged by Lebanon of plotting to attacking Western targets.
- A Saudi charity that financed terrorists is being shut down.
- Iraqi insurgents have tried to create ricin.
- An analysis in the Times of India concludes that Pakistan wants to start an Intifada in Kashmir.
- For more on the other Intifada, have a look at Inkgrrl's Roadmap Roundup.
- An attemped assassination of the Mauritanian security chief has failed. You might recall the failed Islamist coup of last year?
- South Korea is on alert after the country was mentioned by an audio-tape released by al-Qaeda. Also mentioned: a man with 20 sticks of dynamite threatened to blow up the presidential house if he was not allowed to meet the president, but his motive is unclear.
- A bomb has killed a man in a regional Islamic government complex in the Phillipines.
- Terrorists in Iraq want Abu Bakir Bashir released, in exchange for two kidnapped Indonesians.
- An adult novelty device vibrating in a trashcan shut down an Australian airport for over an hour.
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Gee, who is more credible: a bunch of translated and totally-unauthenticated documents at a far-right news [sic] site, or the Administration's hand-picked (and conservative) weapons inspector?
No, no half-credit for perserverance.
2004-10-05 22:53
NO BRITONS ON BESLAN TERROR GANG: TORSHIN
LONDON, October 5 (RIA Novosti's Alexander Smotrov) - Whatever might be alleged, there were no British nationals among school-seizing terrorists in Beslan, says Alexander Torshin, parliamentary commission head on the Beslan tragedy and its precedents. There were Britons among the terrorists, The Observer, The Guardian's Sunday supplement, said last weekend.
"We have no information whatsoever to confirm Guardian allegations. I wonder whence they have come," the Russian MP said to the media in London.
AJL:
From your link:
From CNS:
I can't see anything that makes the two pieces mutually exclusive.
Any news or update on the CNS stuff? My understanding is they supplied the documents to some other news agencies and third parties. Has anyone seen anything else on a follow up?
Also.. I think there is a story or a article that should be written here on how memebers of our intel community are trying to play politcs both for and against the current administration with classifed information. Regardless on what side or politcal party you support thats a huge no no and a total disservice to the US public. It is also generally pretty illegal :-)
One final thing about the CNS docs.. there are a number of news agencies that have ran interesting articles and reports on various documents found by those news agencies reporters in Iraq. There is allot of stuff already out there and tons still to be transalted. If anyone is bored they might compile them all and put up a post.
Colt-you're still linking to Motime at the top of these :-)
Hmm... Ah well, there's a redirect. I'll change it next week.