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
- An Iraqi election commercial implores Iraqi citizens to stand together against terrorism.
- The US has a plan to deal with Pakistan if its nukes fall into the hands of an extremist government. The article does not mention it, but no doubt India would be concerned as well.
- Yasser Arafat Martyrs Brigades (the media curiously still calls them Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) and Islamic Jihad indicate they are ready to accept a cease-fire. There are conditions, of course. Hamas says nyet to a ceasefire, however.
Other Topics Today Include:
Iranian agent caught in Iraq; Iran President uncowed by US pressure; Reza Pahlavi asks US to avoid intervening militarily in Iran; Saudi Arabia wants to build 4500 new madrassas; How US keeps terrorists from Canada out; Egypt nuke program investigated by IAEA; Israel pleased with Abbas moves; Rumsfeld determined to supplant CIA; Posse Comitatus weakened; Chinese woman held in Boston dirty bomb plot; Pentagon offers incentives to keep SF troops enlisted; Sudan releases Islamist kingpin; South Africa disarms poor blacks; ISI recruiting illegal immigrants for terrorism in India; Mullah Omar continues to bluster; JI is training MILF; India is Bush country; Pakistani general says Binnie ain't in Pakistan; Ukraine wants to join EU; Germany to deport hundreds of Islamists; UK's Straw ruling out supporting US strikes on Iran; Russia restructuring security forces; Germany arrests 2 in dirty bomb plot and much more...
IRAN REPORTS
- Iran's hand in Iraq's bloodshed continues to be revealed as a member of an elite Iranian unit (The so-called "Jerusalem Force") was arrested with large cash on his person and quickly confessed.
- A U.S. F-16 operating from Iraq has violated Iranian airspace.
- Israel may not wait for approval to address Iran's nuclear program, according to Vice President Dick Cheney. Khatami strikes a belligerent tone, saying Iran will defend itself and is not intimidated by America's psychological warfare.
- The Shah's son asks the US not to intervene militarily in Iran, advocating instead a cessation by Europe and America of all talks and ties with the regime. A Telegraph editorial agrees with him, offering that we should give the Iranian people the tools to overthrow the mullahs.
THE MIDDLE EAST
- Muslim pilgrims in Mecca imagine they are stoning the Devil Bush at the Haj ritual.
- Syria, Israel, Russia and a sorted web of weapons deals. Russia's Foreign Minister denies selling missiles to Syria, however.
- Egypt's nuclear program is being investigated by the IAEA.
- Israel is pleased with the initial deployment of Palestinian security forces in Northern Gaza, and sees signs that Abbas may be serious about addressing Israel's security concerns.
- Saudi Arabia has plans to construct 4,500 madrasa in Asia.
AMERICAN DOMESTIC SECURITY
- Accidentally unsecured DHS documents republished by cryptome.org shed a little light on US measures to keep terrorists from infiltrating here from Canada.
- The Washington Post calls Donald Rumsfeld's new espionage powers "vast", saying he is determined to build a service to rival the CIA. The Pentagon predictably denies it and John McCain predictably finds a way to whine about it on national TV.
- Posse Comitatus continues to be weakened as highly secretive special forces took a role in providing inauguration security.
- One of the 16 people being sought by the FBI for questioning, a Chinese woman, is now in custody. The sixteen, including two Iraqis, 13 Chinese and one person of indeterminate national origin, are suspected of a dirty bomb plot.
AFRICA
- Sudan releases Islamist Hassan al-Turabi, former patron of Osama bin Laden.
- South Africa's draconian new gun control law is predictably causing poor blacks to be unable to defend themselves legally. Had this blacks-disarmament law been introduced by the former Apartheid government it would have been rightly condemned by the entire world.
ASIA & AUSTRALIA
- Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar vows to continue the jihad.
- Jemaah Islamiya is training the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
- Al Qaeda is recruiting from the Jamat-e-Islam in Bangladesh.
- India is warm to the idea of President Bush's reelection, partially due to its aggressive fight against Islamist terrorism.
- The Tamil Tigers will temporarily forgo their "freedom struggle" to recover from the tsunami
EUROPE
- A majority of Dutch fear Muslims, and view them as a threat.
- Britain argues against any military action against Iran. Way to take the military option off the table, that should increase your negotiating power. Meanwhile, Iran believes it has broken the Western alliance.
- This Prospect piece argues that Islamophobia is a myth.
- Putin orders the restructuring of security forces to better fight terrorism, and steps up the hunt for Beslan plotters.
THE GLOBAL WAR
- The Counterterrorism Blog takes look at a recent Zarqawi tape. Did we mention Zarqawi is part of al Qaeda? In his latest tape, Zarqawi declares "a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy". Rumors of his capture have not been confirmed.
- EagleSpeak looks at al Qaeda's threat to shipping near navigational choke points.
- The Army is deploying SWORDS, its new robotic warrior. Some more background here.
We try to close on a lighter note if possible.
- Saddam Hussein going insane? It couldn't happen to a nicer guy...it's debatable whether he was really sane in the first place.
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For ongoing tips, email "MondayWindsOfWar", over here @windsofchange.net.
3/11 perpetrator living free in Morocco
From Libertad Digital
A translation of some parts follows:
Mohamed Haddad, identified placing one of the bombs in a 3/11 train, lives in the Moroccan city of Tetouan. El Mundo newspaper informs that Haddad went to Morocco after the attacks, where it was detained and later released. This salafista [a kind of islamic extremist] had been related to Al-Qaeda and the terrorist Amer Azizi, also resident in Spain"[...].
(Libertad Digital) Mohamed Haddad lives today in Tetouan, without his passport and with the express prohibition to leave the country or to speak with any journalist. According to El Mundo, Moroccan secret services analysts have shown their surprise because of the special treatment given to this "salafista" in Morocco where many of their companions have been condemned several years of prison on charges of being members of an Islamic organization.
This fact, according to the information of the Madrid's newspaper, would mean that Haddad was an informer of the DST (Moroccoan Terrorism Surveillance Unit) in Spain or that he knows things that the Moroccans do not want the Spaniards to know. According to a lawyer of some salafistas terrorists, "it is impossible, with the Morocco police of today, that an accused islamist that have perpetrated an attack can take a walk freely" in the streets of Tetouan.
Who is actually Haddad?
In a chronicle signed by its special envoy, the Moroccan journalist persecuted by the Mohamed VI [King of Morocco] regime, Alí Lmrabet, El Mundo newspaper explains that the implication of Haddad in the attacks of Madrid is amply proven [by several witnesses, one of them] was travelling on a 3/11 train.
El Mundo newspapaer explains that Haddad was detained by the Turkish police with other islamists on October 10th, 2000 in an apartment in Istambul. With him, were captured Lahcen Ikassrien, - released to the Moroccan Embassy of Ankara before traveling towards Afghanistan, where he was arrested by American soldiers in 2002 and sent to Guantánamo -, Azizi - suspect of being one of the masterminds of 3/11, married with a Spanish woman and resident in Madrid, Said Berraj - his whereabouts at the moment not known -, and Salahedine Benyaich, detained in Morocco accused of being behind the attacks of Casablanca on May 16th, 2003 [against Spanish interests, a few days before Spanish local elections on 5/25]
Hopefully, El Mundo and its journalist Lmrabet don't stop here, in the last part of the report, a former top official of the Spanish police tells that the callings the terrorists did using their mobile phones before commiting suicide (and killing a SWAT agent) where taped by Moroccoan police:
The terrorist contacted with their families in Tetouan to communicate their decision, but before that, they spoke with other people. Nine months later nothing new is known on this subject. The former top official says that "nothing made me think in the beginning that they wanted to commit suicide". "Something had to happen", he says, and he does not discard that "the terrorists had decided to commit suicide after receiving a coded message". For that reason, he thinks that the Parliament would have to have access to those recordings and to investigate the collective suicide.
Furthermore:
The Moroccan press accuses Spanish newspapers to create a climate of suspicion
you can also see a photo of Hadded there
More Liberal Democrat uglyness
From tearing posters out of a childs hand, ( remember that?) to kicking a Republican family and children standing in line to eat outside our convention, assulting a cop, their willingness to put a fist in the face of counter protestors, shooting rifle rounds into our field volunteer offices is several states ... cutting tyres ,, smashing cars that dare display a bush bumper sticker,
to this..
Perhaps some day the "Liberals" (soft left,soft evil) will take notice of the toxic crimes-agaist-humanity-guilty idology driven that vote with them, that they find common cause with, and perhaps re-evaluate if your on the right side of good and evil or not.
When satan is casting the same ballot you are and your time at the podium is shared with demon creatures, perhaps you should re evaluate your position. perhaps there is ... just might be,,, something wrong !
Well as a rule, Republicans dont do that, we carry guns, and dont use them either, but if i am attacked by a mob like that,,,, well lets just say im glad i live in a state where years of liberal rule has NOT made it impossible to defend myself. (manic democrats get BOLD in those 2nd amendment violating liberal controled (communist) states eh ?)
This is the ugly left of Stalins terror corps NKVD, Hitlers Brown shirts, Maos Terror bregades of the Cultural revolution, and PolPots tenders of the killing fields, Mugabes thugs, and the sadistic strongmen behind Hugo Chavez and Castro.
If you want to know what the evil of leftist terror looks like when it first starts to bubble, what hitlers brownshirts were like in the years before they got the brown shirts
Behold the democrats,
There is a vein running through conservatism that is remarkably tender and easily wounded. It is really a caricature of the PC liberals, quick to point fingers and say "see! theose liberals are rude and mean!"
Right after Pat Tillman died in Afghanistan an email circulated about some liberal professor disparaging Pat.
The funny thing is the only person I have heard say anything like that, and I live in a liberal college town, was a soldier, a Bradley gunner with 4th Infantry Division, back from a year of occupation duty.
Raymond, you listen to way too much silly talk radio. Wake up.
I provided links ... what part did i say that is not 100% true ?
Exactly, typical leftist debate method, shooting blanks.
I stand by my words, they will withstand scrutiny
C
I think you mean "sordid" rather than "sorted."*
Of course the U.S. military has a plan for this particular scenario. It also has plans for thousands of other scenarios. That's their job and I, for one, am glad they're thinking ahead so that we can while away our lives blogyammering.
Just to note, some months ago, reports surfaced that the US had moved in some operators of some variety or another into Pakistan, and either established plans to take, took direct control of, or installed a permissive action link on the Pakistani nukes, to prevent a scenario like the one referenced in the article above.
This was done with the full consent and cooperation of the Musharref government.
I provided links ... what part did i say that is not 100% true ?
For starters, the cartoonish blanket categorizations alone render the rest suspect. You are engaging in what is commonly called "cherry-picking". That is, you are picking out a few examples of wretched behavior by liberals, and pretending that this is representative of the whole. It is untrue and dishonest, and I think you know it.
I could do exactly the same thing with conservatives--examples of individual conservatives engaging in bullying, assault, fraud, and general loathesome skullduggery abound. If I did this, I would be rightly slammed for it.
I stand by my words, they will withstand scrutiny
...for all of five seconds--until someone reads them who isn't wedded to the fantasy world that blanket demonization of your political opponents requires.