Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for category Pakistan

diplomacy: a poke in the eye, a wink across the room…

Feb 5

Posted by A. Peasant in Diplomats, Georgia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Unreality, Venezuela | No Comments

1. Moscow wants answers from US on Romania missile shield plan as US does what looks like a work-around

Moscow is waiting for clarification from the United States over its plans to deploy missile defense elements in Romania, the Russian foreign minister said Friday. Romanian President Traian Basescu said on Thursday his country had approved a U.S. plan to deploy interceptor missiles as part of a missile shield to protect Europe.

“We expect the United States to provide an exhaustive explanation, taking into account the fact that the Black Sea regime is regulated by the Montreux Convention,” Sergei Lavrov said. He said Russia acted on the assumption that “there is an agreement between the two presidents on the joint study of common threats, with the participation of the European Union.” “When we understand that we have a common understanding of possible threats, it will be possible to say what measures could be taken in response,” the minister said.

A U.S. State Department official said the facilities were due to become operational by 2015 and were aimed at defending against “current and emerging ballistic missile threats from Iran.” U.S. President Barack Obama scrapped plans last year for Poland and the Czech Republic to host missile shield elements to counter possible strikes from Iran. The plans had infuriated Russia.

Washington then announced a new scheme for a more flexible system, with a combination of land- and sea-based interceptors, to be deployed in Central Europe by 2015. U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden visited Romania, Poland, and the Czech Republic last October to promote the new missile shield plan. Warsaw and Prague have already expressed their support for the revamped U.S. strategy.

BERLIN, February 5 (RIA Novosti)

2. US determined to park missiles as close to Russia as possible

Russia is very close. There are about 500 kilometers between Romania and Russia’s major naval base in Sevastopol. Russia’s southern areas are close too. Even if the missile base is not going to be a threat to Russia, as the Romanian president said, Russia is not thrilled about such a neighborhood.

Romania was prepared to provide its territory for the missile defense system several years ago. In 2005, Romania was mentioned as a location for CIA’s secret prisons. President Basescu did not feel shy to call the United States Romania’s main strategic partner.

One has to give Basescu credit for his determination as a politician. Romania became a member of the European Union in 2007 despite such deviations from the rules as an extremely low living standard.

The deployment of US military objects in Romania will not improve security in the region, but US and Romanian officials do not seem to care much about it.

more @ pravda

3. Saakashvili attacked on all fronts

The authorities’ opponents say that Saakashvili is losing not only Europe’s support but the support of the blessed West as well. First, there appeared information about the Georgian president being abandoned by his American advisor Daniel Kunin. The press service, however, denied the fact. As was stated by Press Speaker Manana Mandzhgaladze, the information does not quadrate to facts. For instance, one of these days, the All News Georgian edition has published an article titled: “Saakashvili may be seriously concerned about his political future”.

The newspaper pays attention to the fact that the general attitude of the most foreign media towards the Georgian president who had been treated as a golden boy in Washington has switched to negative. “There are many articles saying that Georgia has got an image of an unstable country because of Saakashvili’s policy, which prevents the inflow of considerable investments to Georgia”, - the periodical reports.

The foreign friends seemed to forget to invite the Caucasian democrat to the Munich conference on safety policy that will be held on February 5-7. The oppositional Georgian media noticed mockingly that this fact confirmed Mikhail Nikolaevitch being in disfavor of his friends and partners. The press service asserts that he does not come to Munich because of being too busy. The official authorities did not make any comments as to the fact that leader of the oppositional Alliance for Georgia Irakliy Alasania has been officially invited to Munich to represent Georgia this year.

more @ georgia times

3. Daniel Kunin interview from August 2008 w/ telegraph uk

Meanwhile, Mr Kunin has been working hard to keep himself below the radar. This is his first interview. One of the reasons for this secrecy may be that until March this year he was being paid by USAID (the US government’s development arm). Mr Kunin insists that he was a consultant paid by the US, not an employee - and therefore not beholden in any way - but as the calls on his mobile phone suggest, clearly this is the man that provides the link with America.

If Mr Saakashivili is winning the propaganda war against the Kremlin, Daniel Kunin is his general, tutoring him on his press appearances, advising on strategy and trying to spin the criticism that the Georgian administration is receiving of both breath-taking naivety and recklessness in baiting the bear of Russia. But did the confidence in his pro-West PR campaign create so much confidence that it caused Mr Saakashvili to over-reach himself, over-estimating the support he would get from the West, and thus causing his downfall?

“It wasn’t a case of over-estimating ourselves, but a case of under-estimating Russia,” he says. “There is a tendency to blame victim. Saying that it was Saakashvili’s gamble is a convenient way of ducking the issues, and not accepting responsibility for what they have to do.”

So is there any advice he regrets having given? “None at all,” says Mr. Kunin unrepentantly.

more @ telegraph

4. India breaks the ice, calls Pak for talks. the game seems to have changed a bit.

New Delhi In an incremental step aimed at restoring some official-level conversation on terrorism and a range of issues affecting bilateral ties, India has invited the Pakistan Foreign Secretary for talks to New Delhi.

While modalities will be worked out after a response from Islamabad, sources said the Indian side was hoping for a meeting this month.

In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said there were signals emanating from India that it was willing to hold bilateral talks….Sources said the government is moving cautiously this time given the political backlash after the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint statement which sought to delink the dialogue process from terrorism directed at India from Pakistan soil. This time the government is keen to make the point that the core focus at the talks will be on cross-border terrorism. At the same time, the discussions will look at other “peace and stability” issues….This dialogue also has a bearing on larger issues related to developments in the broader AfPak region. With its overtures drawing no answer from New Delhi, Islamabad had begun to take a more combative approach against involving India in any regional discussion on the future of Afghanistan. It was at Pakistan’s instance that India was not involved in the Turkey-sponsored regional meeting. The US too has been indicating to India that starting a conversation was better than having no interaction at all.

more @ express india

5. more regime change efforts

CARACAS (Venezuela) - VENEZUELA accused the United States on Thursday of portraying President Hugo Chavez’s government as thuggish in an effort to entice the opposition to try to topple the socialist leader.

Venezuela’s ambassador in Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, took issue with an intelligence report presented to US senators earlier this week that described Mr Chavez as an autocratic leader who uses repression to stifle dissent.

In a letter sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s chairman, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Mr Alvarez rebuked the findings of the report, saying it ‘is full of politically motivated and cynical accusations’. Mr Alvarez called it part of a US campaign ‘to criminalise our government and encourage groups within Venezuela’s opposition to seek anti-democratic paths to take power’.

US officials have repeatedly denied they would support any attempt to unseat Mr Chavez through anti-democratic means, and Venezuela’s opposition leaders insist they want to remove the former paratrooper at the polls.

Mr Chavez vehemently rejects allegations that his government has sought to silence criticism, including using trumped up criminal charges to imprison or intimidate outspoken political adversaries. — AP

source: straits times

6. Dora Akunyili, Nigerian Information Minister, tells fellow ministers to stop lying about Yar’Adua

The cabinet must stop lying to Nigerians about President Yar’Adua’s illness and face up to the reality that he is no longer able to perform his duties; information minister Dora Akunyili bluntly admonished fellow ministers yesterday.

At the regular weekly meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation, Mrs Akunyili stunned her colleagues by presenting a memo in which she challenged them to tell Nigerians the truth about the president’s health and stop deceiving the people.

…

According to our sources, Mrs Akunyili had wanted to submit the memo through the cabinet office but was worried that the office might sit on the memo so she took it to the Council meeting to distribute.

NEXT however learnt that as soon as she began to do that, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation stood up to challenge her. He said what she was doing was irregular and she should have passed it through the cabinet office. Both the Minister of Water Resources, Ruma Sayyadi and his colleague in charge of transportation Diezani Allison-Madueke also supported Mr. Aondoakaa that she should follow procedures.

At this point, a perplexed Akunyili looked up to the Vice President for support but Mr. Jonathan told her to withdraw the memo and pass it through the requisite channels. With no support from her colleagues, Mrs Akunyili left the meeting and Mr. Yayale went around collecting all copies of the memo. Inevitably, the meeting which ended in less than two hours, discussed only one memo before it dispersed, without considering even the customary approval of contracts.

In a surprising twist, many of the ministers went to meet her and praised her candour after the meeting.

more @ next

India’s geostrategic role: enhance

Feb 3

Posted by A. Peasant in Canada, China, India, Military, Pakistan, Russia, Terrorism | No Comments

1. Harper for stronger Canada-India ties. kiss kiss hug hug.

Toronto: Canada and India must forge stronger trade, investment and educational ties to build a more productive friendship, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said. “Canada stands besides India as a steadfast and faithful friend,” Harper said in a message to a function organised by Panorama India to commemorate India’s 61st Republic Day celebration here. Outlining the many historical, cultural, social and economic ties between the two countries, Harper said: “These bonds are a solid foundation upon which we can build an even stronger, more productive friendship.”

more @ samachar

2. US more at ease with India’s rise than China’s ascent. and pakistan is at the geopolitical crossroads of the region and so maybe that explains why some people would really like to control pakistan, and the usual way of doing that sort of thing is to destroy the country and take it over from the inside, as in iraq and afghanistan

The Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) 2010 has recognized ”a more influential role in global affairs” for India including in the Indian Ocean region and beyond based on its commonalities with the US, while expressing Washington’s concern about the nature of China’s military development and decision-making processes.

The rise of China and India is a prominent theme underlying the QDR, a four-yearly document that offers a broad outline of US security posture that was released on Tuesday. While jettisoning the long-held goal of being able to fight two conventional wars at once (just when India is considering it) and recognizing a new range of threats including terrorism, the review also spells out US views of the two countries (China and India) it says will shape the international system in the years to come….The US policy projection comes at a time when there is much talk of India and China jostling for position and influence in the Indian Ocean region, and there are doubts and hand-wringing in New Delhi over Washington sidelining India in Afghanistan. in deference to a Pakistan-China flaking move. But the 2010 QDR is distinctly upbeat about its India outlook overall compared to reservations – laced with respect — about China.

…Virtually abandoning the US military’s traditional goal of being able to fight two conventional wars at once, the QDR instead emphases a new range of threats, including irregular warfare and cybersecurity. Urging a rethink on the ”construct” of national security, U.S defense secretary Robert Gates told reporters at Pentagon while releasing the report that ”we have learned through painful experience that the wars we fight are seldom the wars that we planned”

In one of several references to the Af-Pak imbroglio, the QDR says the United States recognizes that Pakistan is at the geopolitical crossroads of South and Central Asia, giving it an important regional role in security and stability. ”Our efforts in Afghanistan are inextricably linked to our partnership with Pakistan. Though our partnership with Pakistan is focused urgently on confronting al-Qaida and its allies, America’s interest in Pakistan’s security and prosperity will endure long after the campaign ends. While the epicenter of the terrorist threat to the US is rooted in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the war against al-Qaida and its allies continues around the world,” it says.

more @ times of india

3. US gives India policing power in the Indian Ocean, citing same report

Taking note of India’s “growing influence” in global affairs, the US has said the country will be a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond with the growth of its military capabilities.

more @ times of india

4. intelligence blooper! 1/29/10 - there weren’t 50 hang gliders procured for terrorism, only 3.

New Delhi, Jan 29: Intelligence inputs that Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba has acquired as high as 50 para-gliding equipments for potential use to launch suicide attacks prompting a security alert in India ahead of the Republic Day appears to be a blooper.The Union Home Ministry has begun a discreet probe into the basis for the inputs with official sources today saying it has now emerged that only three para gliding equipments were procured from China. According to intelligence inputs ahead of the R-Day, LeT is believed to have procured 50 such equipments from Europe sending security personnel into a tizzy.

Official sources said the inquiry will focus on how the quantum of acquisition was apparently inflated irrespective of their source.

Senior officials in the Home ministry claimed that they had been briefed by the officials of the security agencies, who washed their hands off about the possibility of the para gliders being used to carry out terror strikes, sources said.

source

5. Monday: Russian NSA in Delhi to discuss terrorism

New Delhi: With the London conference clearing the way for reconciliation with the Taliban, national security advisers (NSA) of India and Russia will meet Monday to share views on the new strategy of integrating the hardline militia in Afghanistan that is a cause of concern to both countries.

National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Nikolay Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation - the first foreign NSA to visit New Delhi since Menon assumed charge a week ago.

“Negotiations are expected to focus on topical issues of regional and international security, development of multifaceted Russian-Indian cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats,” the Russian embassy said here Sunday while announcing Patrushev’s visit.

The agenda includes exchange of opinions on such urgent problems as fight against international terrorism, illegal production and trafficking of drugs, the embassy said.

more @ zee news

karachi project and related news

Feb 3

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, Identities, India, Mumbai, Pakistan, Terrorism | No Comments

1. tension in Mumbai, sports as the venue

Rejecting Shiv Sena contention of ‘Mumbai for Maharashtrians’ as “pernicious thesis”, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday that the financial capital belonged to all Indians who are free to live and work there. Speaking on Sena threats to Australian and Pakistani players’ participation in the IPL cricket event in Mumbai, the Home Minister asserted that he would “guarantee them full security.”

…Asked about safety of Australian and Pakistani players’ participating in IPL, Chidambaram said, “Let Australian players come to India. Let Pakistani players come to India. Let them play in Mumbai and I will guarantee them full security”. Sena had said its activists would not allow Australian players to play IPL matches in Maharashtra to protest the attacks on Indians in that country. The party has been opposing sporting ties with Pakistan contending that the neighbouring country has been supporting anti-India terrorists.

more @ samachar

2. ‘another LeT strike on India will undermine US efforts’ - PANETTA, CIA

Washington: Amidst reports that terror outfit LeT might be planning a major attack in India, the CIA chief today told US lawmakers that another such strike would undermine US efforts in Pakistan by raising tensions between the two neighbours.

CIA Director Leon Panetta said at a Congressional hearing that besides al Qaeda the US now faces a series of threats from terror groups like al-Shabaab, Hezbollah and Hamas. “A particular concern is Lashkar-e-Taiba which, if they should conduct an attack against India, could very well undermine our efforts in Pakistan,” Panetta said expressing his apprehension of the impact that attack could have on relationship between India and Pakistan.

Panetta said this in his appearance before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence which held a hearing on ‘Current Projected Threats to the United States’.  A US-based security think tank in its yearly forecast had recently said that Pakistan-based terror groups have a “strategic intent” to launch major new attacks on the Indian soil to trigger a conflict between the two countries.

Panetta said one of the greatest concerns was of an al Qaeda attack on the United States, and the threat was a prime reason why the US has undertaken the task of dismantling terror infrastructure. He said the greatest threat comes from the fact that al Qaeda, which had launched the 9/11 attacks, had adapted its methods making them difficult to detect.

“We have done a very effective job at disrupting their operations in FATA,” forcing them to move to other regional nodes like Yemen and Somalia, the Maghreb and others, Panetta said. “I think intelligence confirms that they are finding it difficult to be able to engage in planning and command-and-control operations to put together a large attack,” he said.

He said the terrorists were now pursuing an effort to try to strike at the US in three ways, including deploying individuals like Zazi and Headley in the country and by using terrorists who have hitherto had “clean credentials” like Abdulmutallab. “And the third is the loner, an individual like Hasan (Texas military base shooter) who, out of self-radicalisation, decides that the moment has come to engage in an attack by himself,” Panetta said.

The bottom line here, he said, is that the war on terrorism is against a series of groups confronting the US.

Appearing before the same committee, FBI Director Robert Mueller said al Qaeda trainers see Pakistan’s tribal areas as less secure and this had led al Qaeda to franchise into regional components in places such as North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. “This evolution has been most rapid with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which has changed from a regional group with links to al Qaeda to a global threat with reach into American cities such as Detroit,” he said.

source: zee news

3. suspected US drone strike kills 16 in NW Pak, Karachi violence continues - VOA

Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at several suspected militant hideouts in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region Tuesday, killing at least 16 people. North Waziristan is known as a base for the Taliban-allied Haqqani group, which is blamed for cross-border attacks against U.S., NATO and Afghan troops in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials do not publicly comment on the drone strikes, which have raised tensions between Pakistan and the United States in the past.

Meanwhile, the death toll from four days of violence in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi has reached at least 26, after at least six more people were killed Tuesday. The clashes appeared to be between activists from rival political parties - the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Awami National Party - which traditionally gather support from different ethnic groups.

source: VOA

4. Headley and Khwaja both talk about “karachi project” in which Pak trains Indian nationals to commit terror in India. so Pakistan can get Indians to strike India, and India can still blame everything on Pakistan for turning these people into terrorists i guess. right? but that would make Leon Panetta very sad, because he predicts that another LeT strike on India will ‘undermine US efforts’ with Pakistan, and perhaps spark a war between India and Pakistan…..which can be blamed on…….Pakistan.

Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI is planning to carry out terror attacks in the country and has put together a team of Indian jihadis in Karachi for the same, a media report claimed on Monday.  The alleged plot has been revealed to investigators by terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Mohammad Amjad Khwaja, the report added.

The FBI had arrested Headley in Chicago in October last year. He is accused of conducting a recce of Mumbai and several other Indian cities on behalf of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) for the 26/11 attacks. Khwaja, who is a member of Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul Jihad-i Islami (HuJI), was nabbed on January 18, and is currently in the custody of Hyderabad police.

The plot has been named “Karachi project”, details of which Headley has shared with FBI sleuths. The US investigating agency, on its part, has forwarded the details to New Delhi. According to sources, Headley has told the FBI that Indian nationals are being regularly trained for terror activities both by the ISI and the LeT. Once trained, these Indian jihadis are sent back to India for “terror projects” from time to time.

HuJI’s Khwaja, who was arrested by the Chennai police following his return from Saudi Arabia on a Pakistani passport, too has told investigators that the ISI-LeT Karachi project was a reality. According to sources, Khwaja has revealed that Karachi had a huge number of highly-indoctrinated jihadi Indian nationals.

Khwaja is also believed to have revealed that he met alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorists Amir Raza Khan and Riyaz Bhatkal in Karachi, both of whom are staying in Karachi’s Defence Enclave, probably under the ISI protection.

source: zee news

5. possibly related, i guess we’ll see if they’re part of the same shadowy network:  Indian militant arrested, confessed to planning air attacks, also “mastermind” arrested in multiple train blasts from 1993.. .

The arrested Indian Mujahideen (IM) militant and Delhi bomb blast accused Shehzad Ahmed alias Pappu confessed that the outfit was planning air attacks through its air terror module, reports Zee News. As per reports, Shehzad had undergone pilot training in Bangalore and was planning to carry out aerial attacks on key installations. He was also actively involved in the regrouping the IM following the death of key operative Atif Amin in the Batla House encounter and the arrest of Sadiq Sheikh. As per Sehzad’’s confession, besides the plan to carry out aerial attacks, the IM had also planned to plant bombs in education centres during the counselling season in May-June. He also, reportedly, revealed that the IM had sent young men out of the country for terror training by packing them in containers. As reported earlier, Shehzad was arrested by a joint team of Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Delhi Police from his native village in Azamgarh District on February 1.

source

also: train blast mastermind nabbed

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh police on Tuesday arrested Hamiduddin alias Hamiruddin alias Salim, who was wanted in connection with the serial bomb blasts on running trains in different parts of the country in 1993.

Hamiduddin, who carried a reward of Rs. 50,000 on his head, was nabbed by the Special Task Force after an encounter on the outskirts of Lucknow, Additional Director-General ( Law and Order, STF and ATS) Brij Lal said here. A .32 bore pistol, a hand grenade and a fuse were seized from Hamiduddin, who had been absconding for the past 16 years. “Three other serial bomb blasts accused, Syed Abdul Kareem, Mohammad Tufail and Irfan Ahmed, are still at large. They belong to Ghaziabad, Hardoi and Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh,” Mr. Lal said. Hamiduddin was among the 15 persons who were instrumental in planting bombs aboard the Rajdhani Express, the Flying Queen Express and the A.P. Express in December 1993.

source

take one for the team

Feb 3

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, FBI, India, Israel, Limited Hangouts, Mossad, Mumbai, Pakistan, Terrorism | No Comments

aangirfan asks:

Were the Mumbai Attacks of 2008 an inside-job, involving the CIA, Mossad and corrupt elements of the Indian security services?

Recent news suggests that the Indian military is corrupt.

…The alleged Mumbai Attacks mastermind, the American David Headley, claimed to know the names and titles of senior Defence personnel in Mumbai and New Delhi. (HEADLEY-GATE)
On 8 February 2009, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi revealed that the Mumbai terror attacks could not have been carried out without internal help from India. (Indian Non Cooperation in the Mumbai Investigations)

On 12 February 2009, the Mumbai police Chief Hassan Ghafoor admitted that two Indians who were arrested by the Indian police had been involved in the Mumbai carnage.

Something to keep in mind when India accuses Pakistan of “dragging it’s feet” on the Mumbai investigation.

Today we learn of the “Karachi project.” Both Headley AND Khwaja have told their interrogators of this project. What could this mean?

The ISI has put together a team of Indian jihadis in Karachi, and is waiting to launch them into the country on a terrorist project, alleged terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Mohammad Amjad Khwaja have told their interrogators.

Headley was arrested by the FBI in Chicago in October last year, and is accused of recceing Mumbai and other Indian cities for the Lashkar-e-Toiba as part of the preparations for 26/11. Khwaja, belonging to the Harkat-ul Jihad-i Islami, was arrested on January 18, and is being held in Hyderabad.

Headley has described the “Karachi project” to FBI interrogators, details of which have been shared with New Delhi, sources said. He is believed to have said that both the ISI and the Lashkar have been training Indian nationals in terrorist activities, and using them for anti-India “projects” from time to time.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also been able to unearth significant details about Headley’s movements in Pakistan through his e-mail correspondence. Contents of his Gmail account were shared with New Delhi following an official request to Google.

Details of Headley’s movements in and out of India, reported in The Indian Express last Thursday, show that he flew into Mumbai from Karachi and returned to the same city twice over the last three years — once in late 2006, and then again in April 2008.

Evidence of the ISI-Lashkar Karachi project has also come independently from HuJI man Khwaja, who was picked up by Chennai Police on his return from Saudi Arabia on a Pakistani passport. Top sources said Khwaja has told his interrogators that a large number of highly-indoctrinated jihadi Indian nationals have been housed in the Pakistani port city.

Reportedly, Headley had earlier told investigators of other targets, including high-profile boarding schools:

Then comes an input from the FBI’s interrogation of David Coleman Headley and Pakistani Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana that the prestigious National Defence College in New Delhi, Doon School, Dehra Dun, and Woodstock, Mussoorie, both high-profile boarding schools in Uttarakhand, are on the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba’s target list. America and Israel have already issued advisories on travel to India.

Killing promising young people? That is certain to get a response.

More recently, it was reported that Headley was in the process of finalizing the next target in India at the time of his arrest.

Mumbai, Jan. 31: American terror suspect David Headley was scheduled to visit India aga-in in November last year ap-parently to finalise the next target for LeT group and set up a base in Delhi.

Sources privy to the investigations said that Headley had told his friends in India that he was coming to the country in November for his business. Headley’s messages to his friends, who have recorded their statements before the NIA, stopped in the last week of September, barely a few days before he was arrested by the FBI at O’Hare airport in Chicago on October 3 last year, the sources said.

After recording the statements, the sleuths believe that since Lashker had postponed its planned terror strike on Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten because of international pressure following 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, Headley, who was arrested just before he could board a plane for Philadelphia en route to Pakistan, was coming to India for finalising the next target.

The friends, which included some women, told the investigators that Headley was constantly in touch with them from the US and before being arrested he had said that he was coming to India and that they will have a get-together.

According to the documents shared by the FBI, Headley had been asked by his handler, a Pakistani Army official, that he should wind up his office — First World Office — in Mumbai and “open up a new business centre in Delhi to be used as a cover for future activities”.
The travel details of Headley, who is now turning out to be the globe-trotting prize asset of LeT, was being examined by various agencies, the sources said.

The investigators believe that the last visit of Headley to India in March last year may have been to finalise synchronised terror strikes on Jewish houses located in five cities. —PTI

Headley frequently introduced himself as a CIA agent. I’m pret-ty sure that it’s illegal to impersonate a CIA agent. I bet the “various agencies” are poring over Headley’s travel details. We will probably learn some more interesting details about them soon.

Why would Headley and Khwaja get pinched and start talking about the “Karachi project,” which now implicates India?

One possibility: Limited Hangout

A limited hangout is a form of deception, misdirection, or coverup often associated with intelligence agencies involving a release or “mea culpa” type of confession of only part of a set of previously hidden sensitive information, that establishes credibility for the one releasing the information who by the very act of confession appears to be “coming clean” and acting with integrity; but in actuality by withholding key facts is protecting a deeper crime and those who could be exposed if the whole truth came out. In effect, if an array of offenses or misdeeds is suspected, this confession admits to a lesser offense while covering up the greater ones.

A limited hangout typically is a response to lower the pressure felt from inquisitive investigators pursuing clues that threaten to expose everything, and the disclosure is often combined with red herrings or propaganda elements that lead to false trails, distractions, or ideological disinformation; thus allowing covert or criminal elements to continue in their improper activities.

Victor Marchetti wrote: “A ‘limited hangout’ is spy jargon for a favorite and frequently used gimmick of the clandestine professionals. When their veil of secrecy is shredded and they can no longer rely on a phony cover story to misinform the public, they resort to admitting - sometimes even volunteering - some of the truth while still managing to withhold the key and damaging facts in the case. The public, however, is usually so intrigued by the new information that it never thinks to pursue the matter further.”

You know… take one for the team……?

Khwaja speaks

Feb 1

Posted by A. Peasant in India, Pakistan, Terrorism, The West, UK | No Comments

As we learned last week, Mohammed Abdul Khwaja, the terrorist arrested recently in India, gave authorities intelligence that lead to the recent UK terrorism alerts. He was allegedly plotting terrorist attacks on Western tourists in Goa, India, and recruiting locals for training. I did a run-down on Khwaja here.

According to the Indian police, Kwaja has been involved in other terrorist plots.

According to the police, Khwaja, who is a close associate of Shahid Bilal, a Huji commander, masterminded the suicide attack on Hyderabad’s Special Task Force (STF) headquarters in October 2005. Khwaja told the police that he and his accomplices attacked the STF office to avenge the killing of Hyderabad youth Mujahid Saleem by a team of the Gujarat police in the Andhra capital in 2004.

Khwaja rose through the ranks to become a commander of the Harkat-ul-Jihadi, better known as Huji, following the death of his classmate Shahid Bilal, the mastermind of the Hyderabad twin blasts. Educated in a convent school in Hyderabad, he is one among the many youth who took to jihad following the Gujarat riots.

The Gujarat Riots took place in 2002. Apparently, the numbers involved have been the topic of considerable dispute.

“The Gujarat riots was a reaction to the Godhra train burning. An entire coach was burnt down by a mob of 2,000 local Muslims in which 58 Hindus were killed. The victims included 25 women, 14 children that were returning from Ayodhya. Hindu mobs rioted after this incident. Gujarat administration completely failed to control the riots effectively in time. More than 700 people from both the communities were killed in this and the following riots.”

What is the actual toll of Gujarat Riots?
NOT 2000, 5000 or 10000 as may be claimed by the Jihadis and anti-nationals.
The death toll is about 700+ (including 58 killed by the strong mob of 2000)
Hindus 250+ Muslims 400+ Policemen 100+ …….facts and figures

The Gujarat riots might be the topic for another day. But until then, one might consider them a triggering event, as described by this expose in Frontline (India’s National Magazine) from January 2004:

Memories of the demolition of the Babri Masjid had begun to fade, and even the war in Jammu and Kashmir attracted little attention among South Asian Muslims. Then, in 2002, came the communal massacres in Gujarat: and the voice of the Lashkar’s spiritual head began to resonate in many young minds. Along with hard currency, terror has now become a major remittance to India: a source of growing concern to the intelligence community. Lashkar cells based in Kuwait and Dubai have emerged as central to several major terrorist actions in India over the last two years.

Gujarat made Lashkar relevant. The strategy of tension.

Today The Hindu reports new connections made since the arrest of Khwaja:

Mumbai police investigators say they may have succeeded in putting a face to an until-now-unidentified Indian Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who played a key role in guiding the operations of the team that attacked Mumbai in November 2008.
Based on information provided by India’s intelligence services, as well as interviews with arrested jihadists, the police believe the Indian national in the Lashkar’s control room could be Syed Zabiuddin Syed Zakiuddin Ansari, a Lashkar-linked Maharashtra resident who has been a fugitive since 2005.
The unidentified Indian operative was one of several Lashkar personnel who used voice-over-internet links to provide orders to the assault team. Last month, The Hindu had broken the news that one of the operatives in the Lashkar control station spoke Mumbai-inflected Hindi, in stark contrast to the Punjabi used by the others.
Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, the Lashkar terrorist arrested in the course of the assault, said his team had been trained by an Indian national identified as Abu Jindal — the alias also used by the unidentified controller, and a nom de guerre known to have been adopted by Ansari in the past.
The police say Ansari played a key role in a plot to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, an operation meant to avenge the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat. Ansari is alleged to have been the key leader of an Aurangabad-based Lashkar cell, which received assault rifles and military-grade explosives from Pakistan to stage an attack which would have closely resembled the Mumbai operation in tactics and execution.
Eleven men linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Students Islamic Movement of India were held for their alleged role in the 2005 Aurangabad-based plot. However, Ansari eluded the police after a high-speed car chase and has been sought by Interpol since then. He was last sighted at a Lashkar safe house in Karachi by Hyderabad-based jihadist Mohammad Amjad Khwaja, who was arrested earlier this year.
Imran Babar, one of the two terrorists who took hostages at the Chabad House Jewish prayer centre, was told by the Hindi-speaking controller [Ansari] to call the media with a manifesto to condemn what he described as the Indian government’s “two-faced policy” towards Muslims.
The Lashkar manifesto demanded that Muslims held in jails be released; the Indian Army be pulled out of Jammu and Kashmir; the land on which the Babri Masjid stood be returned to Muslims and a new mosque constructed; India break off its alliance with Israel; and what the organisation called “Muslim states be handed back to the Muslims.”

To recap: Khwaja was planning and recruiting for attacks on Western tourists in Goa. But he was captured. (Phew!) After capture, he gave Indian investigators intelligence that led to the UK raising it’s terror alert. So very helpful. Now he has also given up the intelligence that Ansari, who last got away after a high-speed car chase (eyeroll), was the very same guy with the Mumbai Hindi accent, who directed one of the two terrorists who held the Chabad House, to contact the media with a Muslim “manifesto.”

So you can see what a good thing it was they they captured Khwaja, hmm? He’s providing some “new” information that will allow the investigations to take some twists and turns and swerves, to avoid all the giant holes in the Mumbai narrative.

As an afterthought, it’s interesting to note that Kasab flip flops — until he says something useful. Then he’s a good witness.

updates on various fronts

Jan 28

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, India, Lebanon, Military, Pakistan, Philippines, Politics, Sri Lanka, Terrorism | No Comments

1. black box found. what will it say? let us hope the box is recovered without incident. so many experts around…

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the French body for civil aviation security Bureau D’Enquetes et D’Analyses (BEA) have sent experts to join a team investigating the tragedy. The search operation has been led by Lebanese navy troops, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as well as US navy destroyer the USS Ramage and a civilian boat from Cyprus with sonar equipment.

more @ naharnet

2. Headley pleads not guilty, said to be cooperating with investigators

CHICAGO - AN AMERICAN pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to US charges that he scouted targets for a militant Pakistani group blamed for the attack on Mumbai in 2008 that killed more than 160 people. David Headley, 49, has been cooperating with US investigators since his arrest in October….

Headley, who was born in the United States but spent several years in Pakistan, has previously pleaded not guilty to similar charges. His accused co-conspirator, 49-year-old Pakistani-born Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana, entered a not-guilty plea on Monday to charges he provided material support to the plots and to Lashkar. — REUTERS

source: straits times

3. did Headley cut a deal with DoJ? and why does Dana Perino come out of the woodwork all of a sudden??? to support the intelligence services having maximum latitude and political cover at all times, or they can’t do their job and we’ll all be killed.

As Mumbai terror plot accused David Coleman Headley pleaded not-guilty during an arraignment in Chicago, he could become the centrepiece of a debate on how to treat terror suspects in the US. Headley, who was presented before US Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys on Wednesday morning, expectedly entered a plea of not guilty to all the 12 counts of indictment against him.

Just one day before the arraignment former Bush White House press secretary Dana Perino used his case to challenge the Obama administration’s strategy to deal with such cases. The main point of contention of President Barack Obama’s detractors and critics is that in such cases it makes no sense to treat suspects as criminal defendants.

Citing the Obama administration’s supposed argument Perino and Bill Burck, a former federal prosecutor and deputy counsel to president Bush, wrote in the National Review Online: “Most recently, David Headley, who has been indicted in Chicago for helping plan the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has given us information of enormous intelligence value.”

The two then countered it saying: “So the Justice Department has cut a deal with Headley to get him to talk. It will be interesting to see how much prison time will be shaved off for his cooperation. We’ll find out after he pleads guilty and is sentenced. Headley’s deal might give us a preview of how much time the Justice Department is contemplating for Abdulmutallab: 50 years? 20? Two?”

The reference to Abdulmutallab is about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian who nearly blew up a Delta jet on Dec 25 flying in from Amsterdam.

Perino’s mention of Headley is part of a larger piece titled “Obfuscation after obfuscation” that wonders whether the Obama administration’s statement on Abdulmutallab’s interrogation hides more than it reveals. It is critical of the decision to treat Abdulmutallab as a criminal defendant “with Miranda rights, a decision we now know was made without consulting the intelligence services whose job it is to protect the country from attacks”.

source: hindustan times

4. Philippines: air force general and 8 others killed in Cotabato City, southern Philippines, near Jolo Island. general stationed in Zamboango City, very near to Jolo Island, where Abu Sayyaf allegedly operates from.

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—(UPDATE 4) An Air Force general and eight other people were killed when a military Nomad plane crashed into a residential area here before noon Thursday, authorities said. Mayor Muslimin Sema said the Nomad plane crashed into at least two houses in Barangay Rosary Heights here around 11:35 a.m., killing all eight passengers, including Maj. Gen. Mario Lacson of the 3rd Air Division based in Zamboanga City.

Gumitom said she heard a loud noise before the plane hit her house.

…Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said Lacson and his party were on their way to Zamboanga City. “The plane crashed two minutes after takeoff,” Cabangbang said by phone.

Maj. Gen. Carlix Donila, commander of the 5053rd Search and Rescue Squadron based in Davao City, said moments before the crash the “pilot made a call (to the Cotabato airport tower) and he said ‘power loss.’” Sema said based on witnesses’ account, the plane was trying to land again at the airport after takeoff and appeared to be having “some trouble.” “It was flying in a zig-zag mode and crashed.”

more @ enquirer

5. tension in Sri Lanka — Colombo also involved in the recent capture of Mohammed Abdul Khwaja, a purported LeT terrorist, who during interrogation made statements that led to the recent terrorist warnings in the UK

COLOMBO - SRI Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse won his second war in a year, crushing an electoral challenge by his former army chief, who was left holed up in a hotel surrounded by troops yesterday. But a defiant General Sarath Fonseka refused to accept the result, which gave Mr Rajapakse 57.9 per cent of the popular vote in Tuesday’s presidential election against his own 40.1 per cent.

He vowed to challenge the result in court because of ‘obvious rigging’. In an apparent effort to dispel the acrimony of the campaign, the 64-year-old President said: ‘From today onwards, I am the President of everyone, whether they voted for me or not.’ He urged Sri Lankans to join together to rebuild the country, which is still recovering from a 26-year civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels that ended last year.

Speaking from the Colombo hotel where he has been encamped since Tuesday evening, Gen Fonseka accused Mr Rajapakse of intimidation and said his staff had received threatening phone calls.

source: straits times

politics, terrorism and sports

Jan 27

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, Central America, India, Pakistan, Terrorism, UK | No Comments

This story appeared recently (1/21/10) in what appears to be an Indian tabloid-style paper. It has several important details about Mohammed Abdul Khwaja, a purported terrorist.

According to the Indian police:

  • Khwaja, age 30, commands a militant group, Huji for South India
  • Khwaja was caught by the Hyderabad Special Task Force recently
  • Khwaja recruited local youth for training
  • Khwaja recruited and/or trained Raziuddin Nasir, who was arrested, to conduct suicide attacks on Western tourists in Goa
  • Khwaja is a close associate of Shahid Bilal, who masterminded the suicide attack on Hyderabad’s Special Task Force headquarters in 2005
  • Khwaja is also linked to the Hyderabad twin blasts of 2007
  • Khwaja worked in Saudi Arabia
  • Khwaja is Nasir’s handler

Click here to watch some television reports about this by an Indian program, Inside Story (a la Fox News). Some points made:

  • RAW nabs Khwaja, Huji commander and pointman for arranging terrorists locally (part 1)
  • ISI planning to strike oil refineries in India, RSS headquarters, and public events
  • with the aim of wrecking the Indian economy
  • senior ISI officer Mohd coordinates strikes against India
  • ISI coordinating activities of LeT, HuM, JeM and manages terror camps
  • RAW lured him into a trap in Colombo, Sri Lanka (part 2)
  • Khwaja has named names to RAW
  • terrorism, politics and sports are interlinked, since athletes are the “ambassadors” of a country (part 3)
  • the passions from a sports snub have taken on a life of their own (part 4)

^^^^^^^

“Terrible events produce outrage, and when people are outraged, they are all the more likely to seek causes that justify their emotional states, and also to attribute those events to intentional action.” — from Cass Sunstein’s conspiracy paper, download here and hang upside by your ankles while you read it — it’s basically their mind-fucking instruction manual

^^^^^^^

Attacks against India conflate with attacks against the UK. According to a report in the Sri Lanka Guardian, it was Khwaja who provided the intelligence that led to the UK terrorism alert last weekend. Worth a read, as he manages to mention every talking point plus the kitchen sink.

According to the “Sunday Times” of the UK as quoted by “The Hindu” of January 25,2010, the Indian intelligence agencies are reported to have alerted MI-5, the British security service,about the suspected plans of Pakistan-based pro-Al Qaeda elements to hijack an Indian aircraft originating from Delhi or Mumbai and crash it into a British city. The recent upgradation of threat level in the UK from “substantial” to “severe” but one below “imminent” has been attributed to this Indian warning. There is a possibility that the terrorist plans might be related to the January 28 London conference on Afghanistan. According to the “Sunday Times”, the Indian intelligence came to know of this plot during the interrogation of Amjad Khwaja of the HUJI, who was arrested recently in India.

Another source: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has asked all airlines to conduct a mandatory 100 percent secondary ladder point check until January 31 on all aircraft flying between Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Hmm. I wonder what happens after January 31st.

In any event, India’s response for public celebrations: With intelligence inputs warning of threats posed by LeT and other militant groups, security establishments in Delhi and the state capitals on Monday went on top alert putting in place a ground-to-air apparatus to thwart any attempt to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations. A heavy security blanket was thrown around the capital with snipers and mobile hit teams fanning across the city and nearly 15,000 police and paramilitary personnel being deployed to guard the 8-km-long route of the Republic Day parade and other key installations. Anti-aircraft guns have also been stationed in certain crucial areas.

Good timing huh?

^^^^^^^

Some recent attacks on athletes — Sri Lanka, Angola, Mexico (they’re getting closer…):

3/4/09 - Sri Lankan cricket team: Pakistani police hunted on Wednesday for gunmen who mounted a bold attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket team in Lahore as officials tried to figure out who was behind it. The attack on Tuesday killed seven Pakistanis — six police and the driver of a bus carrying match officials. Six members of the Sri Lankan team and a British coach were among 16 wounded in the daylight attack as their bus approached the cricket stadium.

That attack was linked to Huji: The prosecution on Friday, told a Delhi court that a Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-jehadi Islami (HUJI) terrorist, who along with five others are accused of plotting to kidnap Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, had confessed that he came to abduct the cricketers and then bargain the release of two members of the outfit….Besides three Pakistan-based accused, Tariq Mohammed, Ashfaq Ahmed and Arshad Khan, the others are - Mufti Israr, Ghulam Qadir Bhatt and Ghulam Mohd Dar.

1/3/10 - Attack on Togo’s football team in Angola: Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor escaped unharmed after a bus carrying the Togo national team came under attack from gunfire in Angola. … According to reports, at least three Togo players and the bus driver suffered injuries during the attack. Some reports suggest the driver was killed.

South African response for the World Cup: South Africa’s police force has bought helicopters for air surveillance, acquired mobile police stations to be stationed at all key venues and will supply a 24-hour ground patrol using more than 40,000 specially trained officers and private security guards. The military has also been called in to provide additional security.

1/26/10 - Salvadore Cabanas shot in Mexico City nightclub: Two suspects were captured on a security camera walking out of the nightclub toilet where Cabañas was found. Another camera filmed them leaving the building less than a minute later and driving away in a car without number plates. Mexico City’s attorney general, Miguel Angel Mancera, said the suspects were José J Balderas Garza, nicknamed El Modelo, and his bodyguard. Balderas was a regular at the Bar Bar club, which was also popular with footballers and other celebrities. With robbery ruled out by the authorities, the motive remains a mystery. Balderas is reportedly from Sinaloa, a state in Mexico renowned for its drug traffickers, although no evidence has yet emerged of any link to organised crime.

Not yet.

^^^^^^^

Now, this is just me, but I can’t help but wonder if the evidence will lead in a certain direction, like, for instance, to Lebanon and Hizbollah, perhaps. Because we have lately heard about connections and drug smuggling between Venezuela, West Africa and over to Europe and then Lebanon. And corruption in Africa. And threats to Israel. And we’ve also seen the forward connections established in corporate media between Lebanon and West Africa, in light of the Ethiopian plane crash. So all this has been floating around in the herd attention space. All this stuff is part of the narrative. It’s part of preparing people, in baby steps, for what is going to happen next.

sabotage ruled back in and other news

Jan 27

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan, Southeast Asia, Terrorism | No Comments

1. CIA denies ever knowing David Headley, ever, at any point in time, ever. Period.

Washington, Dec 17: America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) today strongly refuted reports that Pakistani- origin US national David Coleman Headley, charged with criminal conspiring in the 26/11 terror attacks, was its agent at any point of time.“I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation, but any suggestion that this individual worked for the CIA is flat wrong,” CIA spokesperson Marie E Harf told PTI when specifically asked about Headley and his links with CIA. Headley now languishing in a Chicago-jail was arrested by the FBI on October 3 when he was planning to go to Pakistan via Philadelphia. He has been charged by the federal prosecutors for being involved in the planning of the Mumbai terrorist attack.

News reports from India, quoting unnamed officials from investigating agencies, and several news reports in the US in the past few days have said that Headley may well have been a “double agent” working for the CIA as well as Pakistani terror groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which carried out the Mumbai terrorist attack.

source: zopag.com

many many sublinks re: headley if you click through to the source

2. Malaysia arrests 10, including 9 foreigners, for acts of terror — internationally linked, countries not identified

Malaysia said Wednesday it had arrested 10 people including nine foreigners for “acts of terrorism,” saying they were members of an international terror team and threatened national security. Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the 10 were being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

“I can confirm that 10 people have been arrested under the ISA for acts of terrorism,” he told a press conference. “They are internationally linked and will affect the security of our country if we do not take action,” he said. “We have worked with international intelligence organizations in this operation.”

Hishammuddin said that “all 10 are involved in international terrorism” but would not reveal whether they had planned or carried out attacks. He also declined to say when and where they were arrested. Neither would he say which intelligence organizations had helped in the arrests, but said that “if they are with an international terror organization and if they are caught in Malaysia, then we will take action on them.”

Malaysia’s controversial ISA has been used in the past against alleged militants, including members of regional terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) which is linked to al-Qaida. Government officials said there were now 25 people, including the 10 new detainees, being held under the ISA. Detainees are typically held at the Kamunting detention centre in the northern state of Perak.

more @ naharnet, including a little “rule of law rule of law” whining…that might be a clue re: who is involved

3. Nigeria: four killed in naval helicopter crash, chopper left from Liquified Natural Gas plant, 4 dead, important documents retrieved

A helicopter flying from Bonny to Port Harcourt crashed on Tuesday afternoon at Isiokpo, near Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, killing all four persons aboard. The naval helicopter crashed into a swamp at about 2pm on Tuesday, at Isiokpo, headquarters of the Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State. The zonal coordinator of the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Emenike Umesi, said the four occupants comprised two pilots and two engineers, said to be of Lieutenant Commander Rank. The NEMA chief, in charge of the south-south zone, said the aircraft took off from Bonny, which is home to the Liquefied Natural Gas plant.

A search and rescue operation commenced immediately after the crash, with massive a crowd gathering around the crash site. Just one body had been recovered at the time of this report. The Joint Task Force (JTF) spokesperson, Timothy Antigha, also confirmed the crash, saying “a search party has been dispatched to the crash site which is in a swamp.” He offered no other details. Security agents at the accident scene however said naval personnel recovered “some vital documents” at the scene. Officials of the Accident Investigation Bureau of the ministry of aviation were yet to arrive at the scene to unravel the reason for the air crash at press time. The last time such a fatal crash happened in Nigeria was just a few months ago, when a Wings aircraft went down in Cross River State in May 2009.

source: next

4. Lebanon: Imam kidnapped

Imam of the eastern Lebanese town of Majdal Anjar, Sheikh Mohammed Abdel Fatah al-Majzoub, was kidnapped Tuesday night, the National News Agency reported. NNA said al-Majzoub was kidnapped by unknown assailants from outside the mosque at 11:30 pm Tuesday. The agency said his white Mercedes was still parked on the side of the road when Lebanese security forces arrived to the area. His white turban was also found on the floor. The army immediately threw a tight security dragnet around the town and internal security forces launched an investigation into the alleged kidnapping.

naharnet

5. SABOTAGE ruled back in in Ethiopian plane crash in Lebanon

Hypotheses and speculations mounted about a “sabotage” action in the Ethiopian plane crash which plunged into the Mediterranean sea in stormy weather earlier this week with 90 passengers and crew on board feared dead. the Ethiopian plane crash which plunged into the Mediterranean sea in stormy weather earlier this week with 90 passengers and crew on board is likely a “deliberate” attack, some media reports said Wednesday.

While the daily al-Liwaa said the crash is likely a “deliberate” attack, pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat did not rule out “sabotage” after the disaster presumably killed all 90 passengers and crew.

OTV, meanwhile, which is close to Hizbullah and is reputed to have strong ties with Hizbullah circles, cited official circles as saying that the Ethiopian plane was likely hit by a rocket.

Al-Liwaa based its hypothesis on Hizbullah’s heightened concern about the catastrophe and the fact that a Hizbullah delegation, including Hashem Safieddine and MP Nawar al-Sahili, was supposed to be on the plane. It said the trip was cancelled at the last minute upon instructions by Speaker Nabih Berri to allow Sahili to attend a parliamentary session scheduled for Monday. Berri, however, called off the meeting after the plane crash disaster.

Al-Liwaa also pointed to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s keenness to “personally” attend the funeral of one of the plane victims identified as Hasan Tajeddine in the southern town of Hanaway. It said Tajeddine has close ties with Hizbullah.

Navigation sources, meanwhile, told Asharq al-Awsat that “all possibilities are open.” They said an “explosion” likely took place on the plane, pointing out that lightning by itself cannot bring down an aircraft.

The sources also raised the possibility that the lightning hit the plane in a “sensitive area” that, together with human and technical errors, led to the crash.

Witnesses said the aircraft was in flames as it dropped into the sea.

Lebanese leaders, including President Michel Suleiman, Defense Minister Elias Murr and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi, have ruled out sabotage in the plane crash. (AP photo inside shows Sheik Nabil Kaouk, right, Hizbullah’s commander in south Lebanon, and Hizbullah MP Hasan Fadlallah, left, attending Tajeddine’s funeral on Tuesday.)

naharnet

clash of civilizations in hyperdrive

Jan 25

Posted by A. Peasant in France, Germany, India, Iraq, Israel, Media, Mind-fucking, NWO, Pakistan, Psychology, Religion, Symbolism, Terrorism, UK | No Comments

the plane crash in Lebanon was noted but ECLIPSED by some other stories…

1. Guardian: Baghdad suicide bombers kill dozens in hotel attacks, three separate attacks on targets used by WESTERNERS in center of Iraqi capital. BUT WHO DIED? DID THE PEOPLE OF THE WEST DIE OR DID THE IRAQIS DIE? one cannot help note the symbolism of the names of the hotels and the method of attack: suicide bomber at the Palestine hotel, explosion at Babylon hotel, and of course the gunman at the Al Hamra hotel, and then the decoy “white van” broke through the security barrier to explode. oh wow do you think they are using symbolism? i think so. just like the new al queda threat will be from women suicide bombers who look Western.

At least 30 people have died in an attack by suicide bombers and gunmen on three hotels used by westerners in central Baghdad. Iraqi police gave the number of dead and said more than 40 were wounded by the blasts, which occurred in the last hour.

The attack began when a suicide bomber detonated his charge in the Palestine hotel. Minutes later a second explosion caused severe damage to the Babylon hotel, which is used by Iraqi travellers and sometimes for government meetings.

Gunmen then opened fire outside the Al Hamra hotel, where many foreign journalists are based. Security guards and Kurdish peshmurga fighters returned fire and the street was cleared, but a white van with a flashing red light – looking like an emergency vehicle – broke through the hotel’s security barriers and exploded inside the perimeter.

One report said the explosions took place in the Abu Nawas street area and that smoke was seen in the parking lot outside the entrance to the Ishtar Sheraton hotel, next to the Palestine, with the shock wave blowing open doors and sending dust into nearby offices.

more @ guardian

2. meanwhile, the Independent reports that Iraq executes Saddam henchman “chemical Ali” — such timing, that he would be hanged now, when he has been sentenced to death four times already since 2007. miraculous that the brutal Arab criminal is finally brought to justice for his crimes against humanity.

Iraq today executed Ali Hassan al-Majeed, the Saddam Hussein henchman widely known as “Chemical Ali”, for crimes against humanity, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said. “The death sentence against Ali Hassan al-Majeed has been carried out,” Dabbagh said. Majeed, a cousin of Saddam’s who earned his nickname because of his use of poison gas, was executed by hanging, the government said in a statement.

more @ independent

3. and the Indians — we can’t forget them. they are practically People of The West now that they have officially come over to Team US & Israel. so there was a plot to hijack an Indian plane and that sparked a UK alert

LONDON: Indian authorities are reported to have warned British intelligence agencies about a suspected plot by al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Pakistan to hijack an Air India or Indian Airlines plane, originating from Delhi or Mumbai, and “crash” it into a British city….

In a front-page report, The Sunday Times claimed that India told MI5 about the alleged plot early last week after the interrogation of Amjad Khwaja, a suspected militant, arrested in India recently. Khwaja was described as a “leader” of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, which is alleged to have been behind terror attacks in India.

The newspaper said the warning was contained in a “detailed threat assessment sent to MI5 by the Indian Intelligence Bureau.”

more @ the hindu

4. here is the information on Khwaja, who was plotting attacks on Western tourists in Goa, a place you may recall from reading aangirfan: David Headley and Jews. in addition, see this jpost article ‘israelis in Goa disastrous for tourism’

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447428661&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Khwaja is believed to have hired a suicide bomber to target Western tourists in Goa

Mohammed Abdul Khwaja (30), a commander of the militant group Huji for South India who was caught by the Hyderabad Special Task Force recently, was in-charge of recruiting youth from the region and training them to be terrorists, say the police.

It is believed he was  responsible for making Raziuddin Nasir, who was planning serial blasts in Goa, a suicide bomber.

more @ mid day

5. but wait. there’s so much more. the veil ban in public buildings courtesy of Sarkozy

PARIS - A FRENCH parliamentary panel will stop short of recommending a ban on face-covering veils in the street and instead will ask for the garb to be banned in public facilities such as hospitals, the panel’s president says. The 32-member panel’s report due Tuesday culminates a six-month inquiry into the wearing of all-encompassing veils that began after President Nicolas Sarkozy said in June that they are ‘not welcome’ on French territory.

more @ straits times

6. Germany: extremist Swede gives anti-Islam party millions, because nobody takes the danger of Islam seriously enough. right.

Swedish far-right businessman Patrik Brinkmann has announced he will pour €5 million into the coffers of Pro NRW, an anti-Islam populist party based in Cologne….In a report to air Sunday night on Germany’s public broadcaster WDR, Brinkmann says he fears Germany is becoming “too foreign” and that Sharia law will be introduced in the country.

“However, there are no, or very few, politicians who take this seriously,” Brinkmann said.

more @ the local

7. UK: Muslim leader says more 7/7 attacks to hit

BRITAIN faces more 7/7-style ­suicide bomb attacks for generations because Muslims have not fully integrated into British society, a senior Muslim adviser to the Government warned yesterday. Iqbal Wahhab, a leading businessman and member of the ­Ethnic Minority Advisory Group, fears that a ­terrorist attack on the UK could be imminent….He blamed the Government for the divisions between some ­Muslims and the wider British community. And he claimed that high unemployment among ­Muslims was also partly to blame.

more @ express

8. in Pakistan, the insidious Indian propaganda — opinion, excerpt:

Stereotyping Muslims justifies all actions to destabilize Pakistan and even to launch a war if necessary.

The hate against Muslims is a combined strategy of US, Israel and India. The so called ‘War on Terror’ has a covert design to suppress the Islamic resurgence and undermine its identity through a well orchestrated plan. Pakistan should not dismiss it as a ‘whimsical idea’. There is a method in madness. They have killed around 90,000 Muslims in Kashmir in alone notwithstanding regular communal riots like the one in Gujrat, where Muslims were cut into pieces like vegetables. Besides Muslims, Sikhs have been killed to the tune of 250,000 in the operation against Golden Temple. A significant number of Christians have been slaughtered only in Orissa. Dalits are being most brutally treated at the hands of Hindus and yet the propaganda is to whitewash the Hindu propensity for violence. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was indeed a man of great foresight. He saw through the game, the Hindus were playing that they were the true inheritors of the British Empire and every one else was to be left high and dry.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world is uncritically accepting the Indian propaganda that it is a vibrant democracy, quite oblivious of the reality that India is notoriously following its apartheid repressive policy against its religious minorities. They are covertly planning to destabilize through subversion in Balochistan, tribal areas and extending it to Punjab and Karachi. George Orwell said very rightly: “In time of universal deceit, telling to truth is a revolutionary act.” The truth must be heeded to and our countrymen must rise against Indian machinations.

read the whole thing

the narrative progresses

Jan 24

Posted by A. Peasant in Pakistan, Terrorism, The West, UK, Yemen | No Comments

Aha, the Defne Bayrak “Western” photo, which appears to my eyes a bad photoshop experiment, followed by her high profile interview on teevee… PLUS Sarkozy’s obsession with 2000 veiled Muslim women in France, who should remove their veils in public places because it’s dangerous, makes a lot more sense now.

Now that we know al qaeda is training women to attack The West.

LONDON: Al-Qaida in Yemen has trained a group of woman suicide bombers with ‘non-Arab’ appearance to attack Western targets, including airliners and power stations, US officials have warned.

Details of the bombers emerged just hours after Britain raised the UK threat state to “severe” [naturally! timing is everything - ed.] amid fears that al-Qaida was planning a wave of attacks against western targets, ‘The Sunday Telegraph’ reported.

The woman suicide bombers, who may be travelling on Western passports, have been prepared for their missions by al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen responsible for the botched Christmas Day attempt to blow up a US airliner, it said.

US officials quoted by the paper as saying that airliners and all forms of transport could be targeted as well as sports stadia, ports and power stations.

The report came as Foreign Ministers from across the world, including external affairs minister S M Krishna, are preparing to meet in London this week for two conferences to discuss the threat of terrorism in both Yemen and Afghanistan.

But official sources insisted that there was no specific intelligence which suggested that either conference was a potential target.

I covered the sports stadia idea here.

You may also notice that since these suspected women terrorists will be traveling on Western passports, that now further justifies the increased vigilance and scrutiny of: women with Western passports. Not a few people. Happy trails.

Though the terrorism could come from Yemen or Africa or Southeast Asia, it will surely be linked back to Pakistan, which our officials and experts assure us remains the heart of al qaeda.

by Sharon Weinberger, a national security reporter based in Washington

(Jan. 20) – The attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S.-bound flight may have increased the visibility of the Yemen-based wing of Al Qaida, but Pakistan’s tribal area remains the terrorist organization’s strongest base of support, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said today.

“I would still say the [Federally Administered Tribal Areas] FATA is the beating heart of al-Qaida,” Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, told a group of journalists this morning.

Al-Qaida still has closer ties to the tribal areas of Pakistan than with any other affiliate group, said Benjamin, who previously served on President Clinton’s National Security Council and has co-written two books that trace the rise of al-Qaida.

…On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report saying that three dozen Americans traveled to Yemen to train with al-Qaida. And in congressional testimony today, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center said that analysts had been looking at threats from al-Qaida in Yemen for several months, but failed to make the connection to Abdulmutallab.

Damn, not that Human Error again…

And see? Now we know that some of those three dozen American terrorists-in-training may have been women.

And notice how the narrative develops in an orderly fashion, like a well-oiled machine.

[For additional context see: foreshadowing, pakistan is being totally screwed, and india so important. also: the flames burning all around]