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 & Friday. Monday's Winds of War briefings are given by Peace Like a River and Security Watchtower.

Top Topics

* The Supreme Court declared 5-3 that the president's attempt to resurrect a type of military trial last used in the aftermath of World War II violates U.S. military law and the Geneva conventions that set international standards for dealing with people captured in armed conflicts. Lots of commentary and reaction from Bench Memos, Mark Levin, SCOTUSBlog, Michelle Malkin, and Bainbridge.

* During a hunt for kidnappers police detained six men for suspected involvement in the kidnapping. The Taliban have threatened to target Afghan nationals working for the foreign military or civilian companies. Meanwhile, two suspected Taliban fighters were killed and four others were injured, also on Thursday, after they attacked a police building in neighbouring Zabul province, police chief Noor Mohammad Paktin said.

* Hamas is threatening to attack targets inside of Israel if the IDF does not end their Gaza offensive. Syrian government officials say they will pressure Hamas only if the Israeli operations in Gaza are halted. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is ratcheting up the pressure as strikes continue.

Other topics today include: Iranian militias; Kuwaiti elections; Turkey expands anti-terror laws; Kurds attack Turkish troops; Israeli offensive in Gaza; Foreign fighters in Iraq; FBI raid in Pittsburg; More on Guantanamo; Updates on Florida terror suspects; Canada increases military expenditures; Putin offers reward for Iraq killers; Russian anti-terror exercises; Russia to improve security at embassies; Heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan; Executions in Pakistani tribal land; Bombings in Baluchistan; Violence in Kashmir; Terror convictions in India; Islamic charity tied to terror; Clashes in Bangladesh; Tamil Tigers attack Sri Lankan naval vessel; Police station in southern Thailand attacked; Five JL suspects arrested in Singapore; Australia-Philippine cooperation against terror; Fighting intensifies in southern Philippines; Detained Iraqis were to attack UK; British reports on the war on terror; Janjaweed continue attacks in Sudan; Somalia Islamic group tied to al Qaeda; Ethiopian troops enter Somalia; Somalian terror camps; terror support network in Europe before 9/11; Osama bin Laden audio messages; Zarqawi buried in Baghdad; and more.

Iran & the Middle East

* Iran continues to support efforts to squash internal dissent, arming two brigades of the Baseej militia with heavy weapons according to Rooz Online. Both the Ashoora and Al-Zahra brigades have also been trained in urban combat and frequently disguise themselves as ordinary citizens.

* None of the twenty-eight Kuwaiti women running for office for the first time in parliamentary elections won seats, despite females making up 57 percent of the electorate. Two of the women received more than 1,000 votes each.

* Saudi ambassador to the U.S. Prince Turki al-Faisal, is calling on the United States to release all Saudi nationals held at Guantanamo and a return of them to the kingdom in order to face trial.

* The Turkish Grand National Assembly has broadened the country's anti-terror laws by adopting new legislation that delays a suspect's guaranteed access to a lawyer for the first 24 hours of detention and expands the definition of offenses classified as terrorism.

* Kurdish militants killed two Turkish soldiers and injured five others during an attack on a police station in the Bingol province. Some reports indicate that Turkey is trying to cover up bombings in an effort to safeguard their tourism industry.

* Israeli airstrikes targeted the terror infrastructure in Gaza strip again on Friday, striking the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza city and setting the structure ablaze. Artillery and naval assets also pounded Hamas and Fatah training camps along the Gaza.

* The US military said it has several hundred foreign fighters in custody in Iraq and that most of them come from Egypt, followed by Syria, Sudan and Saudi Arabia. "We have several hundred foreign fighters in captivity at this point of time and the greatest number come out of Egypt," said Major General William Caldwell.

* According to Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt, Syria is "trying to turn Lebanon into another Iraq by exporting Al-Qaeda fighters into the country."

* Seymour Hersh reports in the New Yorker that top unidentified Pentagon officials don't believe airstrikes would destroy Iran's nuclear program. Last year Hersh reported U.S. special forces were operating on the ground inside of Iran.

* Thousands of Iranian exiles held protests in Paris, calling on western powers to prevent Teheran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

* Fighting broke out between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops on Saturday, near Khan Younis in the Gaza strip. A three man Hamas suicide squad was killed by Israeli forces near the Dahaniya airport. In the West Bank, IDF troops searched the hospital in Nablus for a terrorist wounded earlier.

* Michael Totten has an interesting read at his Middle East Journal on interaction with Kurdish Islamists, whom he generally regarded as more moderate than the Egyptian Brotherhood, or Hezbollah whom he described as "psychotic."

* A Saturday editorial in the Washington Post titled "Hamas's War" is critical of Hamas and endorses the Israeli offensive in Gaza as justified in the face of the kidnapping of the IDF soldier last week (Hat tip: Vital Perspectives).

America Domestic Security & the Americas

* The Supreme Court decision striking down military commissions for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has renewed calls for the government to close the facility that has held terrorism suspects for four years. The problem facing U.S. officials is how to shut down Guantanamo and what to do with the 450 men who are still there -- in particular, about 100 they consider too dangerous to ever release.

* FBI agents Friday raided a North Side residence known to many in the neighborhood and the Pittsburgh Islamic community as both an Islamic school and mosque. The agency would say only that the search was in connection with a "criminal investigation" and wouldn't elaborate.

* The leader of a group accused of plotting to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago and other buildings viewed the attacks as a prelude to the overthrow of the U.S. government and its replacement by an Islamic regime, prosecutors said at a hearing Thursday. Prosecutors also said they have video of the group's members swearing allegiance to Osama bin Laden in a March meeting, and that they had pledged to support a plan to bomb FBI buildings in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Washington. The plan came from an FBI informant posing as an al-Qaida operative.

* A mystery man has emerged in the Miami terror case involving seven men allegedly plotting against Chicago's Sears Tower and sites in Florida. The man known as Sultan Khanbey, 51, for a time mentor for Narseal Batiste, leader of the group, is reportedly providing prosecutors with an inside view of the alleged terror organization, the Miami Herald says.

* The White House has given federal agencies 45 days to beef up safeguards to prevent citizen identities from being lost or stolen, the latest reaction to the numerous data disclosures suffered by the government in May and June. The government has been embarrassed by several prominent data breaches, including the massive May VA incident, the loss of two Federal Trade Commission (FTC) notebooks, a large disclosure of U.S. Navy personnel identities, and a breach at the Department of Agriculture.

* To understand the promise biometrics and radio frequency identification technology hold for the Homeland Security Department, look no further than two Coast Guard facilities—one in the District of Columbia and one in Washington state. At Coast Guard headquarters in D.C., a voluntary program—which both campuses use—called RapidGate lets vendors gain easier access to the facility by voluntarily registering for a biometric identification card.

* Willie T. Hulon has been tapped to head the FBI’s new National Security Branch, making him the seventh official to run the bureau’s counterterrorism operations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

* Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government has announced the most aggressive upgrade of Canada's military equipment in decades, laying out new expenditures of $15.3 billion to improve transportation capacities.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

* Russian President Vladmir Putin announced a $ 10 million reward for information leading to the capture of those responsible for the execution of 4 Russian diplomats in Iraq.

* The president of Chechen Republic, Alu Alkhanov, has expressed his full support for Vladamir Putin's announcement of his intent to hunt down the killers of four Russian diplomats in Iraq.

* Russian forces conducted an anti-terror exercises in the Dagestan capital of Makhachkala on Saturday. The drill, aimed at preventing terror attacks, featured hostage release scenario.

* Russia test-fired a ballistic missile Friday from a submarine in the Barents Sea to the Kamchatka peninsula in the country's far east, 3,000 miles away.

* On Saturday, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that Russia would allocate extra funds to tighten security at its embassies abroad.

* Russia is denying U.S. reports that top Iranian missile specialists were trained at a facility in southern Russia.

* Gateway Pundit has commentary on the terror attacks in Nalchik last summer and notes one of the terrorists involved was a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay.

Afghanistan & Southern Asia

* Coalition soldiers tracked a group of militants to an eastern Afghanistan safe house and killed 14 in an attack on the compound, the military said. The insurgents were seen carrying AK-47 submachine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to a compound in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan province, a coalition statement said.

* Afghan officials claimed on Thursday that they had captured two Pakistani nationals who were part of a 20-member team that entered southern Afghanistan to carry out suicide attacks. Two other men from the same group were killed on Wednesday when they detonated a car bomb near a US-led coalition convoy in Zabul province, while 16 other Pakistani nationals were still at large, a police official said.

* Two suicide car bombers killed only themselves in an attack on U.S. forces Wednesday, while a U.S.-led coalition soldier died in a land mine explosion and 12 Taliban militants were killed in a raid on their compound, officials said.

* Two rockets fired by insurgents slammed into the main coalition military base in southern Afghanistan, wounding seven foreign soldiers and three civilian contract workers, military officials said Saturday.

* The two special forces soldiers killed during an hour-long gunfight in southern Afghanistan were part of a daring raid on a Taleban stronghold in which four key commanders on the “Most Wanted” list were seized. The details of the “snatch” operation emerged as the next of kin were told of their deaths.

* Two British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in an attack on their base in the south of the country, the latest clash in the bloodiest phase of violence since the militants were ousted in 2001. The two were killed in the volatile Sangin district of Helmand province, where more than 3,000 British troops are based.

* Coalition air strikes have killed eight Taliban in southern
Afghanistan after two soldiers, an interpreter and 12 other rebels died in a major battle.

* Pro-Taliban rebels held a public execution in northwest Pakistan, allowing relatives of two murdered men to shoot the alleged killer with a Kalashnikov, witnesses and officials said. Around 200 villagers watched the blindfolded man executed under Islamic Sharia law, residents said, in one of the first incidents of its kind in Pakistan's restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

* Federal Minister for Interior Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao has said that there is no need to deploy 10 thousand more army troops on Pak-Afghan border justifying that over 78 thousand troops already deployed on the border were enough to monitor.

* Suspected tribal militants, fighting for greater political and economic autonomy, blew up a railway line linking southwestern Pakistan to Iran early on Saturday, a railway official said. Four bombs exploded at the railway track near the town of Noshki in southern Baluchistan province several hours before the train bound for the Iranian border town of Zahedan was due to pass. Noshki is 60 miles (100 km) southwest of Quetta, capital of Baluchistan.

* Here are the daily updates from the South Asia Terrorism Portal for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

* An army officer and 10 suspected militants have been killed in two separate clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir, officials say. The officer was killed in a clash in which two militants were also killed, officials say. Eight suspected militants who tried to cross the Line of Control which divides Kashmir are also said to have been killed in a separate clash.

* Indian troops shot dead four suspected Muslim guerrillas on Sunday as they tried to cross into Indian Kashmir from Pakistan, the second infiltration attempt to be foiled in past three days, the army said.

* A court Saturday convicted three men of involvement in a 2002 terrorist attack on a Hindu shrine in western India that killed 33 people, and it sentenced them to death, a news report said. The court, at a high-security jail in Ahmadabad, convicted and sentenced three others in the attack — one to life in prison, one to five years, and one to 10 years, the Press Trust of India reported.

* Four officials of a Kuwaiti non-governmental organisation, Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, widely suspected to have channeled funds to militant organisations, have been asked to leave Bangladesh by 31 July, according to sources. The sources said intelligence agencies found evidence that Heritage had sent over 716,000 dollars to extremist organisations at home and abroad.

* In Bangladesh, a Jessore court yesterday acquitted all 23 accused in the sensational case for bomb attacks on an Udichi conference seven years ago in the district that killed 10 people and injured over 150. While pronouncing the judgment, the court observed that the prosecution has failed to prove the charges against the accused beyond doubt.

* Two people were killed and nearly 200 injured in clashes in Bangladesh on Sunday as opposition parties enforced a countrywide transport shutdown, police and witnesses said. A policeman was killed after being pelted with stones and hit by stick-wielding activists in Sonargaon, 30 km from Dhaka. A 45-year-old man was killed in the capital and 100 people were hurt. The opposition Awami League said the man had been hit by a rubber bullet but police said he was killed in a stampede.

* Sri Lankan forces sank a Tamil rebel boat as it approached a strategic harbor in the island's north, rebuffed an attack on an army patrol, and killed a suspected guerrilla in the east, the military said Saturday.

Far East & Southeast Asia

* Islamic militants gunned down two Muslims in southern Thailand and attacked a police station in Yala on Saturday.

* A day after releasing five terror suspects, authorities in Singapore have arrested five other men, suspected of being Jemaah Islamiyah operatives.

* Indonesian authorities have recovered a 34-page computer file titled "The Bali Document" that outlines the plotting of the 2005 Bali bombings that killed 20 people.

* Australia is playing an active role in cooperating with the Philippines on anti-terrorism measures, including the donation of equipment and information, and joint training operations in the future. The two share a common security threat in Jemaah Islamiyah, al Qaeda's southeast Asian branch.

* An editorial in the Bangkok Post discusses cyber terrorism and some of the counter measures that have been implemented in southeast Asia.

* Hundreds of people fled four villages in Mindanao as Muslim militant separatists exchanged mortar and gunfire with Filipino paramilitary forces, and at least twenty people have been killed. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been negotiating with Manila since 1997 to end a nearly 40-year conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people.

* Filipino military forces fired howitzer rounds on MILF positions in the southern Philippines on Friday, as the separatist group denied involvement in a recent bombing.

* East Timor's former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has urged thousands of supporters to take their fight to the ballot box amid hopes of an end to the political crisis paralyzing the country. At least 21 people have died in recent fighting.

* Filipino troops battled communist militants over the weekend in several clashes that left seven insurgents and two police officers dead. The New People's Army (NPA) is listed by the United States as a terrorist organization.

Europe

* MI6 has warned that Iran could direct terrorist attacks on British interests, if diplomacy over its nuclear programme fail. The assessment was revealed in a report by MPs and peers who were given access to the confidential work of Britain's intelligence agencies. The agency is also warning that a significant number of white Brits have been lured into Islamic terrorism.

* Six Iraqis sent to Britain to allegedly carry out attacks are at the heart of the growing "constitutional battle" over the government's anti-terrorism laws. According to the Times Online, the men were to carryout mass casualty bombings.

* The Italian government has vowed to maintain Italian troops deployed in Afghanistan, despite opposition from pacifists who are threatening to vote against the mission in parliament.

* Authorities in the Czech Republic are investigating an explosion in Prague on Sunday, that fortunately didn't cause any casualties.

* A high tech body scanner has been unveiled at Paddington station in London ahead of a four week trial. Subway passengers will be randomly selected to pass through the device at the Heathrow express platforms.

* According to a government report, Britain could scale back its nuclear arsenal now that the Cold War is over, a revelation that will set the tone for months of debate over the fate of Britain’s nuclear weapons. Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he will decide later this year whether or how to replace the fleet of Trident missile-carrying submarines that form Britain’s nuclear arsenal.

* The British foreign affairs selected committee completed a report on the war on terrorism and among other findings stated that "Al-Qaeda continues to pose an extremely serious and brutal threat to the United Kingdom and its interests."

* The British Home Affairs committee have indicated that the 28-day limit for police to hold terror suspects will likely need to be extended.

Africa

* Nearly two months after the signing of a peace accord between Sudan and a rebel group in Darfur, the humanitarian situation there appears to have worsened, while Khartoum-backed Janjaweed militia continue to attack towns and villages in neighbouring Chad.

* At the end of July, the people of Congo will participate in free and democratic elections for the first time since 1965. It will be the most expensive election ever held in Africa, costing international donors more than $400 million. Millions of ballots and tens of thousands of ballot boxes must be distributed across a country the size of Western Europe but with only 300 miles of paved roads.

* Somalia's interim government has vowed to prevent Islamic militias from asserting authority across the Horn of Africa. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, head of the Council of Islamic Courts, denies he has ties to al Qaeda or terrorist activity.

* According to a U.S. State Department official, funds are flowing into Somalia from Saudi Arabia and Yemen to support the Islamic Courts movement that seized the capital Mogadishu this month.

* About 100 Ethiopian troops crossed the border into Somalia on Saturday, witnesses said, the latest sign that Ethiopia might try to bolster this country's weak interim government as an Islamic militia gains power.

* Dan Darling writes the "individuals that now control much of southern Somalia can be directly linked to al Qaeda, as well as the murders of a number of U.S. servicemen." Bill Roggio has an excellent look at Somalia's Terror camps.

* Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were both in attendance at an African summit in Gambia, and used the forum as an opportunity to attack the west and the United States. Ahmadinejad reiterated Iran's refusal to surrender uranium enrichment.

The Global War

* The September 11 attacks precipitated the uncovering of extensive al-Takfir wa al-Hijra (Excommunication and Exile) networks across Europe specialized in logistical support to terrorist groups. While the obscure group had been previously encountered by law enforcement, many were surprised at the extent and reach of its networks. Once thought of as nothing more than a fringe group in Egypt, in the last 15 years the ideology has undergone a surprising internationalization and evolution with Takfir groups involved in terrorist attacks, criminal activities and cooperating with the al-Qaeda network in its jihad against the West.

* A Canadian Muslim activist faces possible execution as Uzbek authorities confirmed Friday the man was deported to his native China. Huseyincan Celil, a 37-year-old naturalized Canadian citizen, was sentenced to death in China for human rights work he did on behalf of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.

* According to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov, the Ukrainian firm Progress supplied Iran and China with two dozen X-55 (AS-15) long-range, nuclear capable cruise missiles in 2000 and 2001. Ukranian officials have strongly responded by declaring the claims untrue, and said the only nation they've sold missiles of this nature to is Russia.

* Osama bin Laden endorsed the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq in an Internet posting Saturday, and he warned Shiites there against collaborating with the United States in its fight against Sunni insurgents. In his fifth audio message this year and his second in two days, bin Laden also warned nations not to send troops to Somalia. James Robbins asks if this is the best Osama can do while Dr. Walid Phares offers additional analysis.

* According to an unidentified top Iraqi official, the body of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was buried in Iraq at an undisclosed location in Baghdad. Um Mohamed, the wife of the former al Qaeda leader, is claiming that al Qaeda asked the U.S. to kill Zarqawi because he had become "too powerful."

* Michael Freund writes in the Jerusalem Post about the ambiguous nature of a website run by the U.S. State Department when it comes to identifying Palestinian terrorism.

Thanks for reading! If you found something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Winds of War". If you think we missed something important, use the Comments section to let us know. For ongoing tips, email "MondayWindsOfWar", over here @windsofchange.net.