Monday Winds of War Briefing
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. Monday's Winds of War briefings are given by Security Watchtower and Peace Like a River.
Top Topics
* An Iranian declaration to hold direct talks with the United States over Iraq is largely being dismissed as an attempt to divert attention from their nuclear program in the days before the UN Security Council meets to discuss the issue Monday morning. Some reports indicate that Britain is prepared to float a new plan on Monday aimed at drawing the U.S. into talks with Iran.
* At least nine policemen, a former governor, his four companions and a security guard were killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan blamed on the Taliban, officials said. A bomb blast Friday killed nine policemen who were escorting the bodies of four Albanians kidnapped by Taliban fighters last week in an area between Kandahar and neighbouring Helmand province in the south.
* Twenty-two Iranian government and provincial officials were killed and seven others wounded in an ambush near the Shileh Bridge in the south-eastern province of Sistan-va-Baluchistan early Friday morning as their convoy was returning from a gathering in Zabol to the city of Zahedan. Among those injured in the attack was believed to be the governor of Zahedan, Hossein-Ali Nouri, who was shot five times and is in critical condition. The head of security of the Zahedan governorate also died in the attack. Iran is blaming the attack on British intelligence.
Other topics today include: al Qaeda video; Ganji released in Iran; Israeli anti-terror conference; Iran's proxy war; Religious conference in Teheran; Iranian officials ambushed; West Banks security deteriorates; Hamas' cabinet; Mofaz warns Hezbollah; Lodi trial; Moussaoui trial; al Qaeda in Lebanon; TSA focuses on explosives threat; Columbian cocaine bust; new anti-terror legislation in Russia; Weapons caches found in Chechnya; Firefight in Grozny; Belarus elections; Bombing in Ingushetia; Taliban protecting opium crops; Cartoon protests continue in Pakistan; three bombs explode in northwest Pakistan; Terrorists killed in Kashmir; US Peace Corps pulls out of Bangladesh; Bangladesh's war on terror; Rice trip to Asia; UN office in Sudan attacked; US Navy foils Somalian pirates; the Algerian insurgency; Counterterrorism in the Horn of Africa; and more.
Iran & the Middle East
* An al Qaeda video released on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, shows the recently killed al Qaeda leader Fahd al Juweir threatening more attacks against the Saudi Kingdom and calling for Saudis to join him in the holy war.
* Prominent dissident Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji was released from prison on Saturday, after serving six years for "a series of articles implicating regime officials in the murders of political dissidents in 1998." (photos)
* Israel is hosting a four day conference to display state of the art anti-terrorism technology they hope to sell to North America. In attendance are 130 homeland security officials from 37 states and Canada.
* On Friday General John Abizaid said "There's no doubt that there's Iranian intelligence activity throughout Iraq. There's no doubt that there's Iranian intelligence activity in Afghanistan." Recent reports indicate that Moqtada al-Sadr, who recently visited Lebanon, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had consultations with Tehran just prior to the latest threats from the Iranian regime. The meetings leave some wondering whether Iran is fighting a proxy war, while others arrived at this conclusion years ago.
* On Saturday, Iran hosted a two-day conference titled "Constructive Religious Dialogue - Framework for World Order" that was attended by more than 200 religious scholars from almost 40 countries in response to the Danish cartoons.
* According to a World Tribune report, the United States is planning major naval exercises in May to test its response to potential Iranian attempts to blockade the Straights of Hormuz.
* In Sunday's UK Telegraph, Kim Willsher writes that "only a fraction of Teheran's brutality has come to light" as she details the work of exiled Iranian opposition group leader Maryam Rajavi.
* The security situation in the West Bank continues to deteriorate as more Fatah members are becoming involved in attacks against Israel. A firefight between Israeli security forces and al Aqsa Martyrs brigades in the West Bank village of Yamoun left at least one civilian dead. In the nearby city of Nablus, Israeli troops discovered two large bombs and safely detonated them on Friday. Now officials in the Israeli military are pointing to a switching of roles with Hamas refraining from attacks and Fatah members stepping in to pick up the slack.
* In a CBS interview, incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh expressed the view that Hamas could make peace with Israel, then later qualified it by saying that Israel must first lay out the borders for a Palestinian state that Israel rejects. Hamas, which submitted its list of cabinet ministers Sunday, has vowed not to disarm or to recognize the Jewish nation.
* Thair Abbas has an article in Asharq Alawsat on Saturday that provides an overview on al Qaeda in Lebanon.
* Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned Hezbollah on Sunday not to attempt attacks in response to IDF raids in Jericho, warning that "if communities in the North are attacked, Israel will not sit idly by, but will respond with all the strength at its disposal, as it has done in the past." On Sunday, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Palestinian militants seized in the prison raid will be tried in an Israeli court.
America Domestic Security & the Americas
* A scrapbook found in the home of a father and son facing federal terrorism-related charges was filled with Pakistani news articles praising Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban government, a witness testified Thursday. Prosecutors say the scrapbook is among items that show 23-year-old Hamid Hayat held anti-American views and returned to the United States last May prepared to attack grocery stores, hospitals and other sites.
* The Transportation Security Administration has placed a lawyer on paid leave for coaching witnesses in the penalty hearing for Zacarias Moussaoui. Carla Martin's action led U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to ban the testimony of seven Federal Aviation Administration employees. Prosecutors are trying to determine if they can go forward without the seven FAA witnesses.
* The death-penalty trial of al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is back on track after a judge reversed course and agreed to admit some evidence about aviation security. U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema relented Friday from her earlier order barring all such testimony. She had issued that ruling Tuesday as punishment for the alleged misconduct of Transportation Security Administration lawyer Carla J. Martin, who coached witnesses. "It would be unfortunate if this case could not go forward to some final resolution," Brinkema told trial attorneys in a telephone conference.
* Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Saturday that he does not believe the threat of terrorism has passed and that the United States must work with other countries to combat it. In an hour-long talk as part of a conference on economic crime, the nation's former top law enforcement officer also discussed the importance and challenges of prosecuting financial crime and the emphasis after the 2001 terrorist attacks on "prevention over prosecution."
* TSA says it now considers explosives the No. 1 threat. And Friday, TSA Assistant Secretary Kip Hawley argued that even though bomb materials got through the screeners, there are many other layers of security to keep terrorists with bombs off planes. Among them: watch lists and behavioral analysis.
* Four Republican senators introduced a bill Thursday that they hope will end the furor over President Bush's surveillance program by writing it into law. One of the bill's chief sponsors, Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, said the bill requires the president to go to court as soon as possible to get approval for wiretapping and other forms of monitoring.
* The White House's latest National Security Strategy report Thursday listed Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia among the world's seven top trouble spots that could threaten U.S. interests. The report identifies national security threats and suggests ways the United States should be prepared to respond. It reasserted the need to engage in preventive wars to thwart terrorists and hostile governments, a position initially stated in the previous 2002 report.
* Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party in Northern Ireland, was detained at a Washington airport on Friday after attending a St. Patrick's Day event at the White House, according to a congressman. Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., who had invited Adams to speak at the Buffalo Irish Center, told the audience Friday night that Adams didn't make it to Buffalo in time because he was detained at Reagan National Airport. A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said she could not confirm that Adams was detained at the airport.
* Colombian President Alvaro Uribe tried on Friday to induce leftist rebels to lay down their arms by expanding a leniency offer to include jailed guerrillas who agree to demobilize and convince their comrades to do the same. Colombia's Justice and Peace bill, passed last year, offers reduced prison time and other incentives to members of Colombia's illegal armed groups who turn in their guns and promise to stop breaking the law.
* The Colombian authorities have seized a shipment of cocaine with a street value of $540m on board a ship in the Caribbean port of Cartagena. They found the cocaine, weighing 2.7 tons in a disinfectant container during a routine inspection.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
* After passing through the State Duma and the Federation Council, new anti-terrorism legislation was signed into law by Russian President Vladamir Putin, ushering in new tools for fighting terrorism.
* Russia's UN ambassador, Andrey Denisov, rejected proposals to have the Security Council issue a progress report in the coming weeks, arguing that it was not enough time and it could lead to the bombing of Iran by June.
* Several large weapons and ammunition caches have been discovered in Chechnya over the weekend. One cache was found in the Nozhai-Yurt district, about 40 miles southeast of Grozny near the border with Daghestan. It contained 145 grenade launcher rounds, 20 shells, three mortar mines, and 1.6 kg of TNT. Two caches were discovered in Grozny and contained makeshift grenade launchers, artillery shells, plastic explosives and rounds of different calibers.
* The trial of three Russian policemen, accused of criminal negligence for not boosting security despite warnings before the 2004 Beslan school attack, began in southern Russia with all three pleading not guilty.
* A militant in Grozny was shot dead on Saturday after special Russian police units clashed with gunmen in the Chechen capital. Authorities continue to search for the remainder of the gunmen.
* According to a report prepared by the Bush administration as part of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004, Belarussian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is "likely among the most corrupt leaders in the world." The report was delivered to the U.S. Congress right before Sunday's Presidential vote that Lukashenka is expected to win in a rigged election, and also discussed arms sales by Belarus to Iran.
* Meanwhile the Belarus KGB claims that the opposition forces in the country are plotting a coup backed by the United States and Georgia. A video showing a man who was supposedly involved in this plot proclaims that "the Americans told us to organize four explosions at schools." Early Sunday, hours before the polls were to open, the KGB raided the opposition's offices.
* Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili is urging the European Union not to recognize the presidential election is Belarus as legitimate, saying that international monitors will have their access restricted and be unable to verify the transparency of the vote. One exit poll cites Alexander Lukashenko as already having won 83.5 percent of the vote. After casting his vote on Sunday, Lukashenko declared that President Bush was "the planet’s main terrorist."
* Two bombs exploded on Friday in separate areas of the Caucuses republic of Ingushetia, causing damage but not claiming any casualties.
Afghanistan & Southern Asia
* Taliban rebels determined to keep southern Afghanistan in chaos have teamed up with drug barons against the government and its opium eradication campaign, officials say. The campaign to destroy opium poppy fields was begun March 8 in southern Helmand, the producer of most of Afghanistan's opium crop -- which makes up nearly 90 percent of the world total -- and also one of the provinces worst-hit by a Taliban-led insurgency.
* A suicide car-bomber was killed when he rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a US-led coalition convoy in southern Afghanistan, a witness and an official said but there were no military casualties. A local police commander in the restive Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province said the convoy comprised several vehicles of French troops operating under the US-led coalition in the region.
* More than 20,000 supporters of a radical Islamic group held a peaceful rally against the publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons Friday in an eastern Pakistan city and accused the government of being "soft" on the West over the controversy. "The government should have taken a hard stance against those countries where these cartoons were published to insult our beloved Prophet Muhammad," Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the leader of the Jamaat al-Dawat group, told the mass gathering at a park in the city.
* Suspected Islamic militants set off three bombs Sunday, one of which exploded near a police van and killed seven people in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. The two other bombs damaged walls of a police station and a government building.
* A bomb has injured four people when it exploded outside a shop in the latest violence to hit Pakistan's restive southwestern Baluchistan province, police said. The blast happened in the town of Mutch outside the provincial capital Quetta, local police said. "It was placed outside the grocery store and appeared to be a timed device," police officer Mohammad Jadoon said.
* Seven homemade bombs toppled two giant high-power electricity transmission towers in southwestern Pakistan and disrupted power to thousands of homes for several hours, officials said.
* Police in Indian-administered Kashmir say suspected militants have shot dead a 52-year-old man and his wife in Bajja village in Jammu's Doda district. Armed men forcibly entered Abdul Gani Mallik's house late on Wednesday night and killed the couple, PR Manhas, the district police chief told the BBC.
* Police have shot dead four suspected Islamic militants believed to be plotting attacks and recruiting fighters for a campaign against Indian rule in Kashmir, officials said. The men, including two Pakistanis, were killed in a shoot-out during a raid at a home on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in western Gujarat state, officers said.
* India has rejected the idea of any talks with Pakistan-based separatist outfit United Jihad council. The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said the Indian government will not participate in any dialogue with United Jihad Council chief Syed Salahuddin, who is spearheading terrorism in the state from his base in Pakistan.
* In New Delhi, a man in possession of a live bomb was arrested on Friday in front of the South Block that houses the Prime Minister's Office and the defence and foreign ministries.
* One person was injured when a crude bomb exploded near a medical shop under Cantonment area of Varanasi on Thursday night, police on Friday said. On March 7, twin blasts had rocked Varanasi at Sankatmochan Temple and Cantonment Railway Station, killing at least 17 persons including several devotees, besides wounding scores of others.
* The US Peace Corps has suspended its activities in Bangladesh indefinitely for fear that Americans may become the targets of Islamic militants. A spokeswoman said all 70 volunteers had now left the country. Bangladesh said the move was "ill-advised".
* Here are the daily updates from the South Asia Terrorism Portal for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
* The four Jamaatul Mujahideen, Bangladesh (JMB) cadres arrested in Brahmanbaria on Thursday confessed to police that they were involved in the August 17 bomb blasts in the district town.
* Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman has confessed before the law enforcers that the suicide bombing in Netrakona on December 8 killing eight people and injuring 50 others was in retaliation for not releasing two JMB operatives. After Netrakona police arrested JMB cadre Sanaullah on October 11 and Kawser Alam Sumon on October 13 at Mawa in Gouripur upazila of Mymensingh, the militants phoned the superintendent of police in Netrakona. They asked him to release the two immediately or face reprisal for the arrests.
* In Bangladesh, militant leader Bangla Bhai and his guru Shaikh Abdur Rahman are now in police custody and one may think that their dreams of a Taliban-model Islamic rule in Bangladesh have been shattered. However, the miniscule model of Shariah rule Bangla Bhai introduced in Bagmara in northwestern Rajshahi district remains as a footnote in Bangladesh’s political annals.
Far East & Southeast Asia
* The Australian government has drafted an Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill, in an effort to address the billions of dollars in illegal money laundered through the nation's banks and brokers. The proposals would impose major compliance and regulatory obligations on the banking, life insurance, managed funds and pension sectors.
* According to reports on Sunday, Australian al Qaeda terrorist David Hicks trained with a number of British extremists at the al-Farooq camp in Afghanistan, including Richard Reid. Prior to that, Hicks trained with Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir.
* US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and their Australian counterpart Alexander Downer met in Sydney on Saturday with regional security and the growth of China at the top of the agenda. Iran was also a major focus of the meeting, with the trio releasing a joint statement calling on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and resume negotiations.
* China has endorsed a Russian proposal for the construction of international nuclear fuel centers under the jurisdiction of the IAEA, based on the belief that every country has the right to develop nuclear energy. Iran has already declined the Russian offer.
Europe
* Europe must accept that Hamas will lead the next Palestinian government and open dialogue with the militant Islamic group, a senior member of Europe's leading human rights watchdog said Thursday. Mikhail Margelov, who leads a committee on the Middle East at the Council of Europe's advisory Parliamentary Assembly, said it was important not to isolate a Palestinian government run by Hamas, which the European Union considers a terrorist organization.
* Three years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, war-weariness has seeped into public opinion in European coalition countries and the anti-war movement struggles to mobilise crowds. The protest organised in London last February drew only 2,500 people onto the capital’s streets, a far cry from the estimated 750,000 to two million who marched in February 2003 to voice their opposition to the prospect of war.
* Two journalists were charged with exposing German state secrets on al Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a case their defenders called a blow to press freedom. Prosecutors in the city of Potsdam, near Berlin, said on Wednesday they were pursuing a case against German reporter Bruno Schirra and the foreign editor of Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick, Johannes von Dohnanyi, over an article for the German political monthly Cicero in April 2005. Authorities believe Dohnanyi obtained a classified report produced by the German federal police (BKA) and passed it on to Schirra, who quoted it in a story alleging links between Zarqawi and Iran.
* In London, a man has been jailed for nine years after admitting directing a terrorist organisation, including providing weapons and funds to the group. Mohammed Ajmal Khan, 31, from Coventry, received an eight-year term for his involvement with the group fighting against India in Kashmir.
* In the UK, an Algerian man who was held at Belmarsh prison as a suspected terrorist has begun negotiations to return voluntarily to his home country. The man, 39, who is only known as 'A', said he and five other Algerians were being "mentally tortured" in the UK.
* The United States, which has long provided Iceland with its only military forces, has decided to withdraw most of its service members and all of its fighter jets and helicopters from the country later this year, the U.S. ambassador said Thursday. Iceland's government, which recently had offered to take over some of the cost of its defense from the United States to keep U.S. forces here, said it regretted the decision.
Africa
* Libya and France have signed an accord for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The signing took place during the visit to Tripoli by France's director of atomic energy commission, Alain Bugat. The two countries are looking to cooperate on future projects involving nuclear power for civil use.
* Two gunmen attacked an office of the UN refugee agency in southern Sudan, killing a local guard and wounding two workers, the agency says. The UNHCR said it was still seeking more details about the attack in the southern town of Yei.
* Travelling 25 miles off the coast of Somalia on Saturday, the USS Cape St. George and USS Gonzales came across a vessel towing two smaller skiffs towards the coast. Moving in closer and preparing to board, the sailors noticed the pirates were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, which seconds later they used to open fire on the Navy vessels. Both ships returned fire and killed one suspect when their main vessel burst into flames. Twelve other pirates were fished out of the water and taken into custody, including five that were wounded.
* Up to 200,000 Algerians have died in a 15-year Islamic insurgency, the head of the government human rights body said Saturday, the highest official toll ever given. The fighting started in 1992 when the army canceled a second round of voting in Algeria's first multiparty legislative elections, to thwart a likely victory by the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front.
* A senior Sudanese official said on Saturday that an upcoming summit of the Arab League, to be hosted by Khartoum later this month, would not make compromises to any foreign pressure. Maj. Gen. Bakri Hassan Salih, Minister of the Sudanese Presidency and Head of the Preparing Committee for the Arab summit, said at a press conference that the summit would not issue any statement or take any decision contrary to the collective will of the Arab nations.
* While news from Iraq and Afghanistan dominates headlines worldwide, counter-terrorism operations in the Horn of Africa by elements of the 2nd Marine Division go virtually unreported. But according to a former Los Baños resident, quietly helping the millions of people who inhabit the seven countries in the Horn is no less an important mission of Operation Enduring Freedom than offering a chance for democracy to the people of the Middle East.
The Global War
* U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Thursday the U.N. Security Council appears determined to send a "strong and clear signal" to Tehran about its suspect nuclear program, after a meeting of the powerful U.N. body that he described as the best so far. In an informal gathering of the 15 council members, diplomats agreed to hold the first formal Security Council consultations on Friday — a sign that a split between Britain, France and the United States on the one hand, and China and Russia on the other, may have closed somewhat.
* North Korea has asked Norway to act as a mediator in disputes with the United States over North Korea's nuclear program, saying "Norway not only has a good reputation as a peace mediator, but also very good experience in settling international conflicts."
* Thousands of anti-war protesters marched in Australia, Turkey and Asian countries at the start of global demonstrations Saturday, as campaigners marked the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq with a demand that coalition troops pull out. Demonstrations were planned for cities across Europe later in the day. Police in London shut down streets in the heart of the capital's shopping and theater district ahead of a demonstration which organizers said they hoped would be attended by up to 100,000 people.
* More than a half million U.S. and coalition forces are now engaged in the fight against global terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, a senior U.S. general said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday. "There's well over 600,000 people under arms fighting against common foes and dealing with common problems, all designed to defeat extremism in the region," Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said.
* A paper by James Phillips at the Heritage Foundation, entitled The Evolving Al Qaeda threat, examines the nature of Al Qaeda, four crucial fronts in the war against Al Qaeda, and possible strategies for defeating Al Qaeda. (HT: Vital Perspective)
* Steven Hayes looks at terror ties between the Iraqi Intelligence Services (IIS) and Abu Sayyaf, a relationship apparently acknowledged in recently disclosed captured documents from post-Hussein Iraq.
* As part of its Newport Papers series, a paper from the Naval War College Press entitled Reposturing the Force: U.S. Overseas Presence in the Twenty-first Century examines how America's global defense posture should look given today's threats. The paper, available here in PDF, is edited by Carnes Lord and is about 200 pages long.
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Top Topics
* An Iranian declaration to hold direct talks with the United States over Iraq is largely being dismissed as an attempt to divert attention from their nuclear program in the days before the UN Security Council meets to discuss the issue Monday morning. Some reports indicate that Britain is prepared to float a new plan on Monday aimed at drawing the U.S. into talks with Iran.
* At least nine policemen, a former governor, his four companions and a security guard were killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan blamed on the Taliban, officials said. A bomb blast Friday killed nine policemen who were escorting the bodies of four Albanians kidnapped by Taliban fighters last week in an area between Kandahar and neighbouring Helmand province in the south.
* Twenty-two Iranian government and provincial officials were killed and seven others wounded in an ambush near the Shileh Bridge in the south-eastern province of Sistan-va-Baluchistan early Friday morning as their convoy was returning from a gathering in Zabol to the city of Zahedan. Among those injured in the attack was believed to be the governor of Zahedan, Hossein-Ali Nouri, who was shot five times and is in critical condition. The head of security of the Zahedan governorate also died in the attack. Iran is blaming the attack on British intelligence.
Other topics today include: al Qaeda video; Ganji released in Iran; Israeli anti-terror conference; Iran's proxy war; Religious conference in Teheran; Iranian officials ambushed; West Banks security deteriorates; Hamas' cabinet; Mofaz warns Hezbollah; Lodi trial; Moussaoui trial; al Qaeda in Lebanon; TSA focuses on explosives threat; Columbian cocaine bust; new anti-terror legislation in Russia; Weapons caches found in Chechnya; Firefight in Grozny; Belarus elections; Bombing in Ingushetia; Taliban protecting opium crops; Cartoon protests continue in Pakistan; three bombs explode in northwest Pakistan; Terrorists killed in Kashmir; US Peace Corps pulls out of Bangladesh; Bangladesh's war on terror; Rice trip to Asia; UN office in Sudan attacked; US Navy foils Somalian pirates; the Algerian insurgency; Counterterrorism in the Horn of Africa; and more.
Iran & the Middle East
* An al Qaeda video released on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, shows the recently killed al Qaeda leader Fahd al Juweir threatening more attacks against the Saudi Kingdom and calling for Saudis to join him in the holy war.
* Prominent dissident Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji was released from prison on Saturday, after serving six years for "a series of articles implicating regime officials in the murders of political dissidents in 1998." (photos)
* Israel is hosting a four day conference to display state of the art anti-terrorism technology they hope to sell to North America. In attendance are 130 homeland security officials from 37 states and Canada.
* On Friday General John Abizaid said "There's no doubt that there's Iranian intelligence activity throughout Iraq. There's no doubt that there's Iranian intelligence activity in Afghanistan." Recent reports indicate that Moqtada al-Sadr, who recently visited Lebanon, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had consultations with Tehran just prior to the latest threats from the Iranian regime. The meetings leave some wondering whether Iran is fighting a proxy war, while others arrived at this conclusion years ago.
* On Saturday, Iran hosted a two-day conference titled "Constructive Religious Dialogue - Framework for World Order" that was attended by more than 200 religious scholars from almost 40 countries in response to the Danish cartoons.
* According to a World Tribune report, the United States is planning major naval exercises in May to test its response to potential Iranian attempts to blockade the Straights of Hormuz.
* In Sunday's UK Telegraph, Kim Willsher writes that "only a fraction of Teheran's brutality has come to light" as she details the work of exiled Iranian opposition group leader Maryam Rajavi.
* The security situation in the West Bank continues to deteriorate as more Fatah members are becoming involved in attacks against Israel. A firefight between Israeli security forces and al Aqsa Martyrs brigades in the West Bank village of Yamoun left at least one civilian dead. In the nearby city of Nablus, Israeli troops discovered two large bombs and safely detonated them on Friday. Now officials in the Israeli military are pointing to a switching of roles with Hamas refraining from attacks and Fatah members stepping in to pick up the slack.
* In a CBS interview, incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh expressed the view that Hamas could make peace with Israel, then later qualified it by saying that Israel must first lay out the borders for a Palestinian state that Israel rejects. Hamas, which submitted its list of cabinet ministers Sunday, has vowed not to disarm or to recognize the Jewish nation.
* Thair Abbas has an article in Asharq Alawsat on Saturday that provides an overview on al Qaeda in Lebanon.
* Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned Hezbollah on Sunday not to attempt attacks in response to IDF raids in Jericho, warning that "if communities in the North are attacked, Israel will not sit idly by, but will respond with all the strength at its disposal, as it has done in the past." On Sunday, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Palestinian militants seized in the prison raid will be tried in an Israeli court.
America Domestic Security & the Americas
* A scrapbook found in the home of a father and son facing federal terrorism-related charges was filled with Pakistani news articles praising Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban government, a witness testified Thursday. Prosecutors say the scrapbook is among items that show 23-year-old Hamid Hayat held anti-American views and returned to the United States last May prepared to attack grocery stores, hospitals and other sites.
* The Transportation Security Administration has placed a lawyer on paid leave for coaching witnesses in the penalty hearing for Zacarias Moussaoui. Carla Martin's action led U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to ban the testimony of seven Federal Aviation Administration employees. Prosecutors are trying to determine if they can go forward without the seven FAA witnesses.
* The death-penalty trial of al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is back on track after a judge reversed course and agreed to admit some evidence about aviation security. U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema relented Friday from her earlier order barring all such testimony. She had issued that ruling Tuesday as punishment for the alleged misconduct of Transportation Security Administration lawyer Carla J. Martin, who coached witnesses. "It would be unfortunate if this case could not go forward to some final resolution," Brinkema told trial attorneys in a telephone conference.
* Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Saturday that he does not believe the threat of terrorism has passed and that the United States must work with other countries to combat it. In an hour-long talk as part of a conference on economic crime, the nation's former top law enforcement officer also discussed the importance and challenges of prosecuting financial crime and the emphasis after the 2001 terrorist attacks on "prevention over prosecution."
* TSA says it now considers explosives the No. 1 threat. And Friday, TSA Assistant Secretary Kip Hawley argued that even though bomb materials got through the screeners, there are many other layers of security to keep terrorists with bombs off planes. Among them: watch lists and behavioral analysis.
* Four Republican senators introduced a bill Thursday that they hope will end the furor over President Bush's surveillance program by writing it into law. One of the bill's chief sponsors, Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, said the bill requires the president to go to court as soon as possible to get approval for wiretapping and other forms of monitoring.
* The White House's latest National Security Strategy report Thursday listed Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia among the world's seven top trouble spots that could threaten U.S. interests. The report identifies national security threats and suggests ways the United States should be prepared to respond. It reasserted the need to engage in preventive wars to thwart terrorists and hostile governments, a position initially stated in the previous 2002 report.
* Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party in Northern Ireland, was detained at a Washington airport on Friday after attending a St. Patrick's Day event at the White House, according to a congressman. Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., who had invited Adams to speak at the Buffalo Irish Center, told the audience Friday night that Adams didn't make it to Buffalo in time because he was detained at Reagan National Airport. A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said she could not confirm that Adams was detained at the airport.
* Colombian President Alvaro Uribe tried on Friday to induce leftist rebels to lay down their arms by expanding a leniency offer to include jailed guerrillas who agree to demobilize and convince their comrades to do the same. Colombia's Justice and Peace bill, passed last year, offers reduced prison time and other incentives to members of Colombia's illegal armed groups who turn in their guns and promise to stop breaking the law.
* The Colombian authorities have seized a shipment of cocaine with a street value of $540m on board a ship in the Caribbean port of Cartagena. They found the cocaine, weighing 2.7 tons in a disinfectant container during a routine inspection.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
* After passing through the State Duma and the Federation Council, new anti-terrorism legislation was signed into law by Russian President Vladamir Putin, ushering in new tools for fighting terrorism.
* Russia's UN ambassador, Andrey Denisov, rejected proposals to have the Security Council issue a progress report in the coming weeks, arguing that it was not enough time and it could lead to the bombing of Iran by June.
* Several large weapons and ammunition caches have been discovered in Chechnya over the weekend. One cache was found in the Nozhai-Yurt district, about 40 miles southeast of Grozny near the border with Daghestan. It contained 145 grenade launcher rounds, 20 shells, three mortar mines, and 1.6 kg of TNT. Two caches were discovered in Grozny and contained makeshift grenade launchers, artillery shells, plastic explosives and rounds of different calibers.
* The trial of three Russian policemen, accused of criminal negligence for not boosting security despite warnings before the 2004 Beslan school attack, began in southern Russia with all three pleading not guilty.
* A militant in Grozny was shot dead on Saturday after special Russian police units clashed with gunmen in the Chechen capital. Authorities continue to search for the remainder of the gunmen.
* According to a report prepared by the Bush administration as part of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004, Belarussian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is "likely among the most corrupt leaders in the world." The report was delivered to the U.S. Congress right before Sunday's Presidential vote that Lukashenka is expected to win in a rigged election, and also discussed arms sales by Belarus to Iran.
* Meanwhile the Belarus KGB claims that the opposition forces in the country are plotting a coup backed by the United States and Georgia. A video showing a man who was supposedly involved in this plot proclaims that "the Americans told us to organize four explosions at schools." Early Sunday, hours before the polls were to open, the KGB raided the opposition's offices.
* Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili is urging the European Union not to recognize the presidential election is Belarus as legitimate, saying that international monitors will have their access restricted and be unable to verify the transparency of the vote. One exit poll cites Alexander Lukashenko as already having won 83.5 percent of the vote. After casting his vote on Sunday, Lukashenko declared that President Bush was "the planet’s main terrorist."
* Two bombs exploded on Friday in separate areas of the Caucuses republic of Ingushetia, causing damage but not claiming any casualties.
Afghanistan & Southern Asia
* Taliban rebels determined to keep southern Afghanistan in chaos have teamed up with drug barons against the government and its opium eradication campaign, officials say. The campaign to destroy opium poppy fields was begun March 8 in southern Helmand, the producer of most of Afghanistan's opium crop -- which makes up nearly 90 percent of the world total -- and also one of the provinces worst-hit by a Taliban-led insurgency.
* A suicide car-bomber was killed when he rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a US-led coalition convoy in southern Afghanistan, a witness and an official said but there were no military casualties. A local police commander in the restive Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province said the convoy comprised several vehicles of French troops operating under the US-led coalition in the region.
* More than 20,000 supporters of a radical Islamic group held a peaceful rally against the publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons Friday in an eastern Pakistan city and accused the government of being "soft" on the West over the controversy. "The government should have taken a hard stance against those countries where these cartoons were published to insult our beloved Prophet Muhammad," Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the leader of the Jamaat al-Dawat group, told the mass gathering at a park in the city.
* Suspected Islamic militants set off three bombs Sunday, one of which exploded near a police van and killed seven people in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. The two other bombs damaged walls of a police station and a government building.
* A bomb has injured four people when it exploded outside a shop in the latest violence to hit Pakistan's restive southwestern Baluchistan province, police said. The blast happened in the town of Mutch outside the provincial capital Quetta, local police said. "It was placed outside the grocery store and appeared to be a timed device," police officer Mohammad Jadoon said.
* Seven homemade bombs toppled two giant high-power electricity transmission towers in southwestern Pakistan and disrupted power to thousands of homes for several hours, officials said.
* Police in Indian-administered Kashmir say suspected militants have shot dead a 52-year-old man and his wife in Bajja village in Jammu's Doda district. Armed men forcibly entered Abdul Gani Mallik's house late on Wednesday night and killed the couple, PR Manhas, the district police chief told the BBC.
* Police have shot dead four suspected Islamic militants believed to be plotting attacks and recruiting fighters for a campaign against Indian rule in Kashmir, officials said. The men, including two Pakistanis, were killed in a shoot-out during a raid at a home on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in western Gujarat state, officers said.
* India has rejected the idea of any talks with Pakistan-based separatist outfit United Jihad council. The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said the Indian government will not participate in any dialogue with United Jihad Council chief Syed Salahuddin, who is spearheading terrorism in the state from his base in Pakistan.
* In New Delhi, a man in possession of a live bomb was arrested on Friday in front of the South Block that houses the Prime Minister's Office and the defence and foreign ministries.
* One person was injured when a crude bomb exploded near a medical shop under Cantonment area of Varanasi on Thursday night, police on Friday said. On March 7, twin blasts had rocked Varanasi at Sankatmochan Temple and Cantonment Railway Station, killing at least 17 persons including several devotees, besides wounding scores of others.
* The US Peace Corps has suspended its activities in Bangladesh indefinitely for fear that Americans may become the targets of Islamic militants. A spokeswoman said all 70 volunteers had now left the country. Bangladesh said the move was "ill-advised".
* Here are the daily updates from the South Asia Terrorism Portal for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
* The four Jamaatul Mujahideen, Bangladesh (JMB) cadres arrested in Brahmanbaria on Thursday confessed to police that they were involved in the August 17 bomb blasts in the district town.
* Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman has confessed before the law enforcers that the suicide bombing in Netrakona on December 8 killing eight people and injuring 50 others was in retaliation for not releasing two JMB operatives. After Netrakona police arrested JMB cadre Sanaullah on October 11 and Kawser Alam Sumon on October 13 at Mawa in Gouripur upazila of Mymensingh, the militants phoned the superintendent of police in Netrakona. They asked him to release the two immediately or face reprisal for the arrests.
* In Bangladesh, militant leader Bangla Bhai and his guru Shaikh Abdur Rahman are now in police custody and one may think that their dreams of a Taliban-model Islamic rule in Bangladesh have been shattered. However, the miniscule model of Shariah rule Bangla Bhai introduced in Bagmara in northwestern Rajshahi district remains as a footnote in Bangladesh’s political annals.
Far East & Southeast Asia
* The Australian government has drafted an Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill, in an effort to address the billions of dollars in illegal money laundered through the nation's banks and brokers. The proposals would impose major compliance and regulatory obligations on the banking, life insurance, managed funds and pension sectors.
* According to reports on Sunday, Australian al Qaeda terrorist David Hicks trained with a number of British extremists at the al-Farooq camp in Afghanistan, including Richard Reid. Prior to that, Hicks trained with Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir.
* US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and their Australian counterpart Alexander Downer met in Sydney on Saturday with regional security and the growth of China at the top of the agenda. Iran was also a major focus of the meeting, with the trio releasing a joint statement calling on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and resume negotiations.
* China has endorsed a Russian proposal for the construction of international nuclear fuel centers under the jurisdiction of the IAEA, based on the belief that every country has the right to develop nuclear energy. Iran has already declined the Russian offer.
Europe
* Europe must accept that Hamas will lead the next Palestinian government and open dialogue with the militant Islamic group, a senior member of Europe's leading human rights watchdog said Thursday. Mikhail Margelov, who leads a committee on the Middle East at the Council of Europe's advisory Parliamentary Assembly, said it was important not to isolate a Palestinian government run by Hamas, which the European Union considers a terrorist organization.
* Three years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, war-weariness has seeped into public opinion in European coalition countries and the anti-war movement struggles to mobilise crowds. The protest organised in London last February drew only 2,500 people onto the capital’s streets, a far cry from the estimated 750,000 to two million who marched in February 2003 to voice their opposition to the prospect of war.
* Two journalists were charged with exposing German state secrets on al Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a case their defenders called a blow to press freedom. Prosecutors in the city of Potsdam, near Berlin, said on Wednesday they were pursuing a case against German reporter Bruno Schirra and the foreign editor of Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick, Johannes von Dohnanyi, over an article for the German political monthly Cicero in April 2005. Authorities believe Dohnanyi obtained a classified report produced by the German federal police (BKA) and passed it on to Schirra, who quoted it in a story alleging links between Zarqawi and Iran.
* In London, a man has been jailed for nine years after admitting directing a terrorist organisation, including providing weapons and funds to the group. Mohammed Ajmal Khan, 31, from Coventry, received an eight-year term for his involvement with the group fighting against India in Kashmir.
* In the UK, an Algerian man who was held at Belmarsh prison as a suspected terrorist has begun negotiations to return voluntarily to his home country. The man, 39, who is only known as 'A', said he and five other Algerians were being "mentally tortured" in the UK.
* The United States, which has long provided Iceland with its only military forces, has decided to withdraw most of its service members and all of its fighter jets and helicopters from the country later this year, the U.S. ambassador said Thursday. Iceland's government, which recently had offered to take over some of the cost of its defense from the United States to keep U.S. forces here, said it regretted the decision.
Africa
* Libya and France have signed an accord for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The signing took place during the visit to Tripoli by France's director of atomic energy commission, Alain Bugat. The two countries are looking to cooperate on future projects involving nuclear power for civil use.
* Two gunmen attacked an office of the UN refugee agency in southern Sudan, killing a local guard and wounding two workers, the agency says. The UNHCR said it was still seeking more details about the attack in the southern town of Yei.
* Travelling 25 miles off the coast of Somalia on Saturday, the USS Cape St. George and USS Gonzales came across a vessel towing two smaller skiffs towards the coast. Moving in closer and preparing to board, the sailors noticed the pirates were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, which seconds later they used to open fire on the Navy vessels. Both ships returned fire and killed one suspect when their main vessel burst into flames. Twelve other pirates were fished out of the water and taken into custody, including five that were wounded.
* Up to 200,000 Algerians have died in a 15-year Islamic insurgency, the head of the government human rights body said Saturday, the highest official toll ever given. The fighting started in 1992 when the army canceled a second round of voting in Algeria's first multiparty legislative elections, to thwart a likely victory by the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front.
* A senior Sudanese official said on Saturday that an upcoming summit of the Arab League, to be hosted by Khartoum later this month, would not make compromises to any foreign pressure. Maj. Gen. Bakri Hassan Salih, Minister of the Sudanese Presidency and Head of the Preparing Committee for the Arab summit, said at a press conference that the summit would not issue any statement or take any decision contrary to the collective will of the Arab nations.
* While news from Iraq and Afghanistan dominates headlines worldwide, counter-terrorism operations in the Horn of Africa by elements of the 2nd Marine Division go virtually unreported. But according to a former Los Baños resident, quietly helping the millions of people who inhabit the seven countries in the Horn is no less an important mission of Operation Enduring Freedom than offering a chance for democracy to the people of the Middle East.
The Global War
* U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Thursday the U.N. Security Council appears determined to send a "strong and clear signal" to Tehran about its suspect nuclear program, after a meeting of the powerful U.N. body that he described as the best so far. In an informal gathering of the 15 council members, diplomats agreed to hold the first formal Security Council consultations on Friday — a sign that a split between Britain, France and the United States on the one hand, and China and Russia on the other, may have closed somewhat.
* North Korea has asked Norway to act as a mediator in disputes with the United States over North Korea's nuclear program, saying "Norway not only has a good reputation as a peace mediator, but also very good experience in settling international conflicts."
* Thousands of anti-war protesters marched in Australia, Turkey and Asian countries at the start of global demonstrations Saturday, as campaigners marked the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq with a demand that coalition troops pull out. Demonstrations were planned for cities across Europe later in the day. Police in London shut down streets in the heart of the capital's shopping and theater district ahead of a demonstration which organizers said they hoped would be attended by up to 100,000 people.
* More than a half million U.S. and coalition forces are now engaged in the fight against global terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, a senior U.S. general said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday. "There's well over 600,000 people under arms fighting against common foes and dealing with common problems, all designed to defeat extremism in the region," Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said.
* A paper by James Phillips at the Heritage Foundation, entitled The Evolving Al Qaeda threat, examines the nature of Al Qaeda, four crucial fronts in the war against Al Qaeda, and possible strategies for defeating Al Qaeda. (HT: Vital Perspective)
* Steven Hayes looks at terror ties between the Iraqi Intelligence Services (IIS) and Abu Sayyaf, a relationship apparently acknowledged in recently disclosed captured documents from post-Hussein Iraq.
* As part of its Newport Papers series, a paper from the Naval War College Press entitled Reposturing the Force: U.S. Overseas Presence in the Twenty-first Century examines how America's global defense posture should look given today's threats. The paper, available here in PDF, is edited by Carnes Lord and is about 200 pages long.
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