Daily Intel Brief 03-27-09

1. 4,000 More U.S. Troops to Be Sent to Afghanistan as Trainers

By Karen DeYoung and Greg Jaffe Washington Post Thursday, March 26, 2009; 6:28 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/26/AR200903...?

President Obama will deploy as many as 4,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, beyond the 17,000 he authorized last month, as trainers and advisers to the Afghan Army, according to a senior Pentagon official who has seen the new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy Obama will unveil Friday. Obama briefed House and Senate leaders at the White House this afternoon on the strategy, while special envoy Richard Holbrooke outlined the plan to other lawmakers on Capitol Hill...

2. Japan readies defence for North Korea rocket launch
Japan prepares to intercept possible debris from missile; Constitution requires formal order be issued

Satellite launch expected between April 4-8

Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:47pm EDT Reuters By Yoko Nishikawa

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSSP378087

TOKYO, March 27 (Reuters) - Japan on Friday ordered its military to prepare to intercept any dangerous debris that might fall on its territory if a missile launch planned by Pyongyang goes wrong. Pyongyang has said that between April 4-8 it will launch a satellite, but regional powers believe the real purpose is to test its longest-range missile, the Taepodong-2. It has already positioned what is believed to be the missile on a launch pad…

3. Inside the Ring
Bill Gertz INSIDE THE RING Thursday, March 26, 2009 Washington Times

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/26/inside-the-ring-23718486...

Afghanistan debate: The Obama administration has conducted a vigorous internal debate over its new strategy for Afghanistan, expected to be unveiled by the president in a speech Friday. According to two U.S. government sources close to the issue, senior policymakers were divided over how comprehensive to make the strategy, involving an initial boost of 17,000 U.S. troops. On the one side were Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg, who argued in closed-door meetings for a minimal strategy of stabilizing Afghanistan that one source described as a "lowest common denominator" approach. The goal of these advocates was to limit civilian and other nonmilitary efforts in Afghanistan and focus on a main military objective of denying safe haven to the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists. The other side of the debate was led by Richard C. Holbrooke, the special envoy for the region, who along with U.S. Central Command leader Gen. David H. Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton fought for a major nation-building effort. The Holbrooke-Petraeus-Clinton faction, according to the sources, prevailed... North Korea launch: New satellite photos reveal North Korea is getting closer to launching its long-range Taepodong-2 missile, which Pyongyang has said will put a satellite in orbit. Jane's Intelligence Review, the British publication, obtained recent DigitalGlobe imagery of the Musudan launch site that shows the missile erected on a launch pad… Another key indicator of imminent launch is that a crane is visible in the March 16 photo and was moved over the launch pad, suggesting preparations for launch are nearly complete… China military report: China's military tried unsuccessfully to halt the Pentagon's publication of its latest annual report to Congress on Chinese military power…

4. Terror Suspect Faked Mental Illness, Prosecutors Say
By Benjamin Weiser March 26, 2009, 11:18 am New York Times
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/terror-suspect-faked-mental...
IPT NOTE: DoJ release at time of her arrest: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/August/08-nsd-687.html
A federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Thursday that two government psychiatrists had concluded that a Pakistani neuroscientist charged with trying to kill American soldiers and F.B.I. agents in Afghanistan had been faking her symptoms of mental illness. An earlier court-ordered psychological evaluation had concluded that the neuroscientist, Aafia Siddiqui, 37, was unfit for trial as a result of a mental disease, "which renders her unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against her or to assist properly in her defense," a court document shows. Then last month, prosecutors said two new evaluations by government-retained psychiatrists had found differently, that she was not suffering from mental illness. But the prosecutors had not previously said the doctors concluded she was faking. On Thursday, an assistant United States attorney, David Raskin, told a judge in Federal District Court that the psychiatrists, each working independently and unaware of the other's findings, concluded that the symptoms that had been seen "were attributed to malingering."… Ms. Siddiqui, who studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, is being held at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth….

5. Director of FBI Urges Renewal of Patriot Act
Portions of Law to Expire This Year

By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Thursday, March 26, 2009; A08

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/25/AR200903...

IPT NOTE: Director Mueller's prepared statement is posted at http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress09/mueller032509.htm

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III urged lawmakers yesterday to renew intelligence-gathering measures in the USA Patriot Act that are set to expire in December, calling them "exceptional" tools to help protect national security. The law, passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, created divisions between proponents, who said it was necessary to deter terrorism, and privacy advocates warning that it tramples on Americans' civil liberties. Portions of the law are up for reauthorization this year… One of those provisions, which helps authorities secure access to business records, "has been exceptionally helpful in our national security investigations," he said. In response to a question from Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), Mueller said that his agents had used the provision about 220 times between 2004 and 2007.…

6. Federal judge says he favors pretrial secrecy of 9/11 documents over families' quest to know
LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press 7:03 PM EDT, March 25, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3030

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge said Wednesday he favors keeping Sept. 11-related documents and interviews secret until the trials for several families of victims suing the airline industry, an opinion that upset several victims' family members. Donald Migliori, a lawyer for families of three people who died on hijacked planes in the 2001 attacks, asked U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to make nearly a million pages of evidence and 200 depositions public, saying there was no reason for secrecy. Hellerstein did not rule, but he said he favored not publically disclosing evidence that had been gathered and shared with lawyers for the victims under a confidentiality agreement until a trial occurs. No trial has yet been scheduled…

7. Security Worries in the Suburbs
Possible Move of Terrorist Suspects To Alexandria for Trial Raises Outcry

By Jerry Markon Washington Post Wednesday, March 25, 2009; B01
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3021

An outcry is growing in Alexandria over a prospect no one seems to like: terrorist suspects in the suburbs. The historic, vibrant community less than 10 miles from the White House markets itself as a "federal friendly zone." But it has turned decidedly unfriendly to news that the Obama administration might move some detainees from their highly controlled military fortress at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Alexandria to stand trial at the federal courthouse… The 2006 death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was convicted of conspiring in the terrorist attacks of Sept, 11, 2001, turned the neighborhood into a virtual encampment, with heavily armed agents, rooftop snipers, bomb-sniffing dogs, blocked streets, identification checks and a fleet of television satellite trucks. President Obama has vowed to close Guantanamo by January, and the government is reviewing files on the roughly 240 detainees. The administration has strongly indicated that some will be transferred to federal courts, and a senior Justice Department official recently named Alexandria, along with Manhattan, as possible destinations…

8. In the Loop
The End of the Global War on Terror
Updated 4:58 p.m. 3/24/09 By Al Kamen Washington Post

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/23/the_end_of_the_global_war...?
IPT NOTE: See related item # 44 below.
The end of the Global War on Terror -- or at least the use of that phrase -- has been codified at the Pentagon. Reports that the phrase was being retired have been circulating for some time amongst senior administration officials, and this morning speechwriters and other staff were notified via this e-mail to use "Overseas Contingency Operation" instead. "Recently, in a LtGen [John] Bergman, USMC, statement for the 25 March [congressional] hearing, OMB required that the following change be made before going to the Hill," Dave Riedel, of the Office of Security Review, wrote in an e-mail. "OMB says: 'This Administration prefers to avoid using the term "Long War" or "Global War on Terror" [GWOT]. Please use "Overseas Contingency Operation.'" Riedel asked recipients to "Please pass on to your speech writers and try to catch this change before the statements make it to OMB." An OMB spokesman took issue with the interpretation of OMB's wishes.…

9. U. Va. engineering students designing new body armor
By Carlos Santos Published: February 17, 2009 Richmond Times-Dispatch

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3023

CHARLOTTESVILLE U.Va. student Jeff O'Dell, an Army soldier who has been at war, knows the value of body armor. "You live in that armor," the second-year biomedicaland mechanical-engineering student said. "You wear it like a T-shirt." Now O'Dell, with a team of three other University of Virginia second-year engineering students, is working on a new type of body armor that could save the lives of American soldiers. The new armor design will be lighter, more flexible and better able to withstand armor-piercing bullets than the 30-pound vest now used by the Army. The initial design the young team formulated is so promising that experts from the Army will visit the H.P. White Lab in Maryland this month to observe how the armor holds up...

10. US rests in third Sears Tower terror trial
The Associated Press March 25, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/967289.html
MIAMI -- The prosecution has rested in the third trial of six Miami men accused of plotting with al-Qaida to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices. The retrial of the so-called "Liberty City Six" began Feb. 18. Prosecutors rested Wednesday, and now it's the defense's turn. Two previous trials have ended in hung juries for alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste and the other five men. A seventh defendant was acquitted after the first trial. Prosecutors contend the group's planned attacks were intended to overthrow the U.S. government. Dozens of FBI audio and video recordings are the backbone of the case…

11. Intelligence files released on Egyptian terror suspect
By Stewart Bell, National Post March 25, 2009 7:01 PM

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3032

TORONTO — An Egyptian, Canada is trying to deport for terrorism was referred to in monitored conversations as "the second-in-command," according to intelligence files unsealed Wednesday. The Federal Court released summaries of conversations and surveillance reports concerning Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub who CSIS calls a senior member of the terrorist group Vanguards of Conquest. Justice Simon Noel delayed releasing several other intelligence documents for 10 days so Mahjoub, alias "Shaker," could review them and decide whether to challenge their release on privacy grounds. According to the newly released materials, another Egyptian terror suspect, Mahmoud Jaballah, had characterized Mahjoub as an important figure "second-in-command after Abdel Hamid and he was also maintaining Abdel Hamid's accounts." CSIS says Abdel Hamid is the alias of Vanguards leader Kamel Agiza…

Air, rail, port, health & communication infrastructure security

IPT NOTE: For more infrastructure news, see Dep't of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/editorial_0542.shtm; Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/dir/index-eng.aspx; TSA Press Releases http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/index.shtm

12. 15,300 government workers have access to agents of bioterror

USA Today By Dan Vergano Posted at 03:34 PM/ET, March 10, 2009
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sciencefair/2009/03/15300-governmen.html

Nationwide, about 390 labs are certified to work with microbes or toxin that might be used for bioterrorism, and 15,300 people have security clearances to work with these "select agents", reports a Congressional Research Service analysis http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R40418.pdf...

13. 3,000 U.S. School Campuses Now Protected by Federally Certified Anti-Terrorism Technology
Schools actively prepare for campus shootings and other emergencies to help protect students and staff

PRESS RELEASE

http://www.prweb.com/releases/Rapid_Responder/crisis_management/prweb226...

Seattle, WA (Vocus/PRWEB ) March 25, 2009 -- More than 3,000 K-12 and higher education campuses are now using Prepared Response Inc.'s Rapid Responder crisis management system. The system is being used in more than 350 school districts in 15 states and over 600 public safety agencies nationwide. Rapid Responder provides first responders and school security with instant access to critical campus information including emergency plans, floor plans, aerial imagery, interior and exterior photos, geospatial (GIS) information, hazardous materials locations, utility shut-offs, and evacuation routes for students and staff… Rapid Responder is the only "all hazards" campus crisis management system to be certified for anti-terrorism use by the federal government under the SAFETY Act of 2002...

14. U.S. and U.K. exchange railroad security, counterterrorism practices

By Hannah Simon PoliceOne Staff 03/06/2009

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3024

WASHINGTON — Members of the Amtrak Police Department (APD), Amtrak Officer of Security Strategy and Special Operations (OSSSO) and British Transport Police (BTP) are on joint patrol this week at several train stations along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. The visit from British police marks the first part of a major exchange between the U.S. and U.K. of railroad security and counterterrorism practices.…

15. To Sketch a Thief: Genes Draw Likeness of Suspects
In the Field of DNA Forensics, Scientists Identify Genetic Markers for Traits Revealing Appearance and Ethnicity
By GAUTAM NAIK SCIENCE JOURNAL MARCH 27, 2009 Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123810863649052551.html

… Researchers are identifying genes that give rise to a person's physical traits, such as facial structure, skin color or even whether they are right- or left-handed. That could allow police to build a picture of what a criminal looks like not just from sometimes-fuzzy eyewitness accounts, but by analyzing DNA found at a crime scene. Forensic experts are increasingly relying on DNA as "a genetic eyewitness," says Jack Ballantyne, associate director for research at the National Center for Forensic Science at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, who is studying whether a DNA sample can reveal a person's age. "We'd like to say if the DNA found on a bomb fragment comes from the young man who carried the bomb or from the wizened old mastermind who built it." The push to predict physical features from genetic material is known as DNA forensic phenotyping, and it's already helped crack some difficult investigations… In 2007, a DNA test based on 34 genetic biomarkers developed by Christopher Phillips, a forensic geneticist at the University of Santiago de Compostelo in Spain, indicated that one of the suspects associated with the Madrid bombings was of North African origin…. Using other clues, police later confirmed he had been an Algerian, thereby validating the test results. But the technique is still in early stages of development, and no one has developed a gene-based police sketch yet…

16. Theft of farm fertilizer sparks probe
Material could be used in making illegal meth
by Lance Martin, Daily Herald (Va.) Wednesday, March 25, 2009 2:42 PM CDT

http://www.rrdailyherald.com/articles/2009/03/25/news/doc49ca87e012a1019...

HALIFAX — The theft of a common fertilizer also used to make crystal meth is the target of a joint probe by the Halifax County Sheriff's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation.… The theft of the chemical, which is used in the first eight weeks of farming operations, occurred over a matter of several weeks. The thieves apparently used small cylinders to tap into the larger cylinders where it is stored, Lt. Bobby Martin said…

Financing, identity theft, money laundering

17. Handling Of 'State Secrets' At Issue
Like Predecessor, New Justice Dept. Claiming Privilege

By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Wednesday, March 25, 2009; A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/24/AR200903...

Civil liberties advocates are accusing the Obama administration of forsaking campaign rhetoric and adopting the same expansive arguments that his predecessor used to cloak some of the most sensitive intelligence-gathering programs of the Bush White House. The first signs have come just weeks into the new administration, in a case filed by an Oregon charity suspected of funding terrorism. President Obama's Justice Department not only sought to dismiss the lawsuit by arguing that it implicated "state secrets," but also escalated the standoff -- proposing that government lawyers might take classified documents from the court's custody to keep the charity's representatives from reviewing them. The suit by the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation has proceeded further than any other in challenging the use of warrantless wiretaps, threatening to expose the inner workings of that program. It is the second time the new Justice Department has followed its predecessors in claiming the state-secrets privilege, which would allow the government to exclude evidence in a civil case on grounds that it jeopardizes national security...

18. EXCLUSIVE: Swiss bankers claim 'war' with U.S.
John Zarocostas SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES Friday, March 27, 2009
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/27/swiss-bankers-fear-econo...

GENEVA - Swiss bankers see sinister motives behind the mounting international pressure on the country to loosen its strict bank-secrecy laws. The bankers said the United States and Britain - backed by France, Germany and other Group of 20 powers - are waging an "economic war" to force the staunchly neutral nation to bring its tax disclosure norms for offshore accounts into conformity with global transparency standards. Switzerland risks being blacklisted if it fails to comply, they said... Swiss banks manage an estimated $2.42 trillion in offshore accounts...

19. Federal appeals court refuses to let Wisconsin wholesaler sell stolen baby food
By Associated Press 10:22 AM CDT, March 25, 2009
http://www.fox6now.com/news/sns-ap-wi--stolenbabyfood,0,193306.story
IPT NOTE: Some background in this interesting case is found at
http://www.jsonline.com/business/29578289.html and in additional articles linked there.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal appeals court is refusing to let a Wisconsin wholesaler sell thousands of cans of stolen baby food. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Kaloti Wholesale, Inc., on Wednesday. Kaloti wants to be able to sell roughly 16,000 cans of powdered baby food it says will expire by January. Another 64,000 cans has already expired. The appeals court upheld a lower court's ruling denying the request, saying the food may not be safe for babies to eat. The food is in storage while the New Berlin wholesaler is defending a federal lawsuit that it knowingly bought more than $4 million worth of stolen baby formula with the intent to resell it…

Wholesaler sued for fake condoms
New Berlin grocery company also target of FBI inquiry into stolen baby formula
By Cary Spivak of the Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee) Posted: Jan. 20, 2008
http://www.jsonline.com/business/29578289.html
Already caught up in an FBI investigation of a scheme to sell stolen infant formula, a New Berlin grocery wholesaler is also in the middle of a complex lawsuit involving the sale and distribution of millions of counterfeit condoms. Kaloti Enterprises has steadfastly denied dealing in stolen infant formula. But it admits buying and selling a shipment of counterfeit Trojan condoms as well as a load of fake Duracell batteries. The company's defense: It didn't know the products were counterfeit…

Bank steps into baby formula fight
It claims financial stake in cans seized from grocery wholesaler
By DAVID DOEGE Posted: Sep. 17, 2007 Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee)

http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/29337709.html

A New Berlin grocery wholesaler that federal investigators suspect sold large quantities of bootlegged baby formula has been joined in its legal battle over 81,000 cans of seized formula by a bank that lent the firm $6.6 million…

Bootleg baby formula allegations spread
Federal investigators look at New Berlin firm
By DAVID DOEGE Posted: Jul. 7, 2007 Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee)
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/29364469.html

…According to federal investigators, Kaloti Enterprises reached across state lines to take in $4 million in suspected stolen baby formula in one year alone. It's a scheme that the FBI says it has seen repeatedly in recent years...

U.S. alleges $4 million trafficking operation
New Berlin grocery wholesaler resold stolen baby formula, affidavit claims; firm denies allegations
By DAVID DOEGE Posted: Jun. 23, 2007 Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee)
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/29433099.html

Baby formula sales examined
Stolen-goods dealing suspected at New Berlin wholesaler
By DAVID DOEGE Posted: Jun. 2, 2007 Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee)
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/29266639.html

How Investigators Say the Operation Worked…

20. Undercover operation results in fraud charges against professional in the mortgage loan industry
U.S. Department of Justice, Northern District of Illinois, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, US Attorney
WEDNESDAY MARCH 25, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2009/pr0325_01.pdf
CHICAGO – Federal law enforcement officials announced today that 24 defendants, most of whom are professionals in the mortgage loan industry – including mortgage brokers, loan officers, loan processors, attorneys, accountants, an appraiser, and a banker – were named in 10 indictments charging them with federal offenses relating to mortgage fraud in the Chicago area. Nine of the indictments were the product of Operation Madhouse, an undercover investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, in which undercover law enforcement agents posed as straw buyers of houses, seeking assistance in financing and closing fraudulent mortgage transactions. In each of the nine cases, multiple real estate professionals worked to carry out the frauds. Each case involved a different fraudulent mortgage loan arranged by a different group of defendants based in the Chicago area.… The cases announced today are:
US v. Mohammed Ali Moallem and Bahidad Javid (09 CR 228); US v. Abe Karn, Donna Books, Hichem Julani and Daniel Lietz (09 CR 229); US v. Marwan Atieh and Ruwaida Dabbouseh (09 CR 230); US v. Ruwaida Dabbouseh and Khalil Qandil (09 CR 231); US v. Khaja Moinuddin, Mohammed Nasir and Ruwaida Dabbouseh (09 CR 232); US v. Louis L. Javell, Aysha M. Arroyo, and Juan Gil (09 CR 233); US v. Michael Salem, Hakim A. Jaradat, and Robert Goldberg (09 CR 234); US v. Hakim A. Jaradat, Oscar Paredes, Maryam Khan, & Ruwaida Dabbouseh (09 CR 235); US v. Babajan Khoshabe, Sunil Kaushal and James Kotz (09 CR 236); US v. Siamak Safavi Fard, Sunil Kaushal, and Noel Parmar (09 CR 247)

21. Senate panel OKs plan targeting money-laundering
By BRENDAN RILEY Associated Press Posted: 03/26/2009 11:30:16 AM PDT

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12002540?

CARSON CITY, Nev.—A plan allowing no-warrant seizures of funds on prepaid debit or stored-value cards, to block money-smuggling by drug-dealers or financing for terrorists, was approved Thursday by a Nevada Senate panel despite critics' constitutional concerns…

22. Amid the £231 Million Lloyds Bank Penalty, Asia Pacific Entities Face Heightened Risk of U.S. Sanctions Enforcement
Hong Kong, China (March 27, 2009)

http://www.chinanewswire.com/pr/20090327105217928

ChinaNewswire.com/ — Senior legal and compliance executives from Credit Suisse, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Baker Hughes, Norinco and J.P. Morgan will be discussing how to overcome heightened screening and sanctions compliance challenges at The C5 Group/American Conference Institute's Asia Forum on Economic Sanctions & OFAC Compliance, scheduled for June 18-19, 2009 in Hong Kong. Adam Szubin, Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), U.S. Department of the Treasury (Washington), will be the conference Keynote Speaker. The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC) has been increasingly willing to treat a foreign entity's use of the US financial system as the basis for US jurisdiction, even if the transaction begins and ends outside the US, with no other US element involved...

Border security, immigration, customs

IPT NOTE: For more details, see US Customs and Border Protection releases at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/ ; US Immigration and Customs Enforcement http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/2754 , and Canada Border Services Agency http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html

23. Glitches delay 'dirty bomb' detection at U.S.-Canada border
By David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen March 5, 2009
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=1358002&sponsor

Technological glitches have put on hold a U.S. plan to equip its customs agents along the Canadian border with portable equipment designed to detect radioactive material being smuggled into the country… But that program has been put on hold, and the devices may not be in place until 2012, according to a newly released report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an organization similar to Canada's auditor general… More than $33 million U.S. has been requested for the portable equipment, but the overall cost of the program has not been determined…

24. Somali refugee arrested at U.S. border
Adrian Humphreys, National Post Published: Wednesday, March 25, 2009

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1427973

A Somali refugee living in Canada has been arrested at the United States border, accused of using false documents to enter America just 10 days before he was supposed to appear in a Canadian courtroom on drug charges. "It appears that [Keise Mahamud] Mohamed may have been fleeing Canada in an attempt to avoid prosecution," said Kevin Corsaro, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Mr. Mohamed, 20, was one of six Somali nationals travelling in a van from Canada to the United States when it stopped for inspection on the U.S. side of the Rainbow Bridge border in Niagara Falls, according to authorities…

25. Hezbollah uses Mexican drug routes into U.S.
Sara A. Carter The Washington Times Friday, March 27, 2009

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/27/hezbollah-uses-mexican-d...

EXCLUSIVE: Hezbollah is using the same southern narcotics routes that Mexican drug kingpins do to smuggle drugs and people into the United States, reaping money to finance its operations and threatening U.S. national security, current and former U.S. law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism officials say. The Iran-backed Lebanese group has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in South America's tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Increasingly, however, it is relying on Mexican narcotics syndicates that control access to transit routes into the U.S. Hezbollah relies on "the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers and transportation experts as the drug cartels," said Michael Braun, who just retired as assistant administrator and chief of operations at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). "They work together," said Mr. Braun. "They rely on the same shadow facilitators. One way or another, they are all connected. "They'll leverage those relationships to their benefit, to smuggle contraband and humans into the U.S.; in fact, they already are [smuggling]." His comments were confirmed by six U.S. officials, including law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism specialists. They spoke on the condition that they not be named because of the sensitivity of the topic….

Iran Setting Up Shop South of the Border
Posted By Todd Bensman March 27, 2009 @ 12:00 am Pajamas Media
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/iran-setting-up-shop-south-of-the-border/
… While America's political and diplomatic glitterati are riveted on Mexico's civil drug war — and Mexico is appropriately busy managing its biggest existential peril since Pancho Villa — the Islamic Republic of Iran is about to slip into the country before anyone really notices. Late last month, the mullahs sent emissaries to Mexico City to pitch vastly expanded trade ties of the sort that, at least in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, have given national security establishment types the hives. According to a February 27 [1] press release put out by Mexico's department of foreign relations, Secretary Maria Lourdes Aranda Bezaury met with Tehran's deputy foreign minister for the Americas, Ali Reza Salari. The Mexicans fielded an Iranian proposal to expand ties in the "political, economic, and cultural arenas," the release stated. There was one short AP wire story on February 26 about the meeting that got no play in the United States, then complete silence...But since relations with Iran about its nukes also are sky high on Obama's foreign policy agenda, I thought the Iranian overture to Mexico City was worth at least a few reportorial phone calls. It turns out once again, as with my coverage of Iran's move into [2] Nicaragua, that I remain the only U.S. reporter to inquire. Here's what I learned:…

26. Law firm was corrupt, witness testifies in asylum fraud case
By Denny Walsh Sacramento Bee Published: Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2009 Page 8B

http://www.sacbee.com/crime/story/1726634.html

A woman has told a Sacramento federal jury her ideals suffered a jarring blow when she learned that her first job out of law school was at a corrupt law firm. In testimony Monday and Tuesday, Wazhma Mojaddidi described her shock and dismay when a fellow lawyer informed her that their firm was submitting false information to support clients' asylum applications. She had worked in the Sacramento office of Sekhon & Sekhon barely two months at the time of the revelation in December 2003, and within days she quit, Mojaddidi testified… Mojaddidi's role as a government witness is an unlikely one. She represents Hamid Hayat, a young Lodi man of Pakistani descent who was found guilty by a jury in 2006 of providing material support to terrorists and lying to FBI agents to hide his conduct. The verdict is on appeal…

27. US fights to keep visa ban on Muslim scholar
Agence France Presse March 24, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gJOIobYlb-rXuomoTfQx6...

NEW YORK (AFP) — A US government lawyer argued against revoking a high-profile travel ban on leading Oxford University Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan in a court appeal on Tuesday. The visa ban -- apparently based on Ramadan's donations to a group linked to the Palestinian militants Hamas labeled a terrorist organization by Washington -- was instituted under former president George W. Bush's administration… But prosecutor David Jones told the Second Circuit Appeals Court in New York on Tuesday there has been no change in the US position on Ramadan's case…

Banning of British MP to be challenged in court
Application to review decision to be filed today, lawyer says

Mar 25, 2009 04:30 AM Richard J. Brennan OTTAWA BUREAU Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/607800

OTTAWA – The battle against "crass politics" barring controversial British MP George Galloway from entering Canada is headed to court today, Toronto lawyer Barbara Jackman says. "We will file an application to review the decision that he is inadmissible to Canada, and the decision taken presumptively that he can't have an exemption," Jackman said yesterday. Galloway was barred from Canada based on allegations he funded Hamas when he recently led an aid convoy into Gaza. Canada has banned Hamas as a terrorist group…

MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

28. DoD Identifies Army Casualty

U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 192-09 March 25, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12572
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Jose R. Escobedo Jr., 32, of Albuquerque, N.M., died March 20 in Baghdad, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident the night before at Forward Operating Base Kalsu in Iskandariyah, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment in Schweinfurt, Germany. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation…

29. 'Strike obliterates Iranian ship at sea'

Mar. 26, 2009 JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727547715&pagename=JPArti...

Following unconfirmed reports that the US or Israel attacked a convoy of trucks carrying weapons headed for the Gaza Strip in Sudan, a new report by Sudanese sources cited an additional strike on a ship possibly making its way to Sudan from Iran. "There were indeed two strikes in Sudan, in January and February," Sudan's deputy transportation minister told Channel 10 on Thursday evening. "I cannot confirm that Israel or the US were behind the attack, but I know that the US controls the airspace there," he said. "The second strike was against a ship at sea and it was completely destroyed," another Sudanese official said. Also Thursday evening, Senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil denied reports the convoy was bound for Gaza. He was quoted as saying that the claims were circulated in order to justify an attack on Sudan. Earlier, Sudanese State Minister for Highways Mabrouk Mubarak Saleem said that American aircraft had carried out the first attack...

'Sudan strike told Hamas, Iran: Your smuggling route is exposed'

Mar. 26, 2009 Yaakov Lappin, THE JERUSALEM POST

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727553708&pagename=JPArti...

The alleged Israeli air force strike on a weapons convoy in Sudan was a signal to Hamas and Iran that Israel had exposed their smuggling route, and that they should cease using it, a security analyst said on Thursday…

30. Al-Qaeda recruits young in Yemen
[25 March 2009] Saba (Yemen)

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news179280.htm

SANA'A, March 25 (Saba) – Security sources have said that al-Qaeda had recruited over last months young people, less than 18 years old, to carry out terrorist attacks in the country. Al-Qaeda leaders trained these people inside and outside Yemen. The announcement comes almost two weeks after the arrest of Abdullah Abdul Rahman al-Harbi a suspect who was mostly wanted by Yemeni and Saudi authorities. He was held mid this month. Investigations with al-Harbi revealed he has been living in Yemen for nine months and that he, during the period and while he has worked as a tailor shop manager, recruited some faces to be al-Qaeda affiliates. A leader of an extremist group of those groups inspired by the ideology of al-Qaeda has married him to a Yemeni girl…

10 al-Qaeda affiliates seized: security sources

[26 March 2009] Saba (Yemen)
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news179422.htm

SANA'A, March 26 (Saba) - During the last few days, security apparatuses have arrested ten al-Qaeda suspects within a terrorist cell known as 'Qasem al-Raimi' cell, official security sources have told the state-run 26sep.net. The sources said that most of the arrested are young whom were recruited by al-Qaeda to carry out suicide and ravage attacks. The security hunt for those elements and the other al-Qaeda suspects especially at Osailan area in eastern province of Shabwa, is based on the information that the security apparatuses already got from the arrested al-Qaeda elements as well as the important information told by two Saudi al-Qaeda elements, Mohammed al-Aufi and Abdullah al-Harbi, whom recently were seized by Yemeni security authorities and extradited to Saudi authorities, the sources added…

UPDATE 1-Yemen says holds 6 al Qaeda suspects planning attacks
Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:53pm GMT Reuters

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKLP95898820090325

SANAA, March 25 (Reuters) - Yemeni authorities have arrested six suspected al Qaeda militants who were planning 12 attacks on oil installations, foreign targets and tourists in the Arab country, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday...

31. Saudi clerics want women banned from TV, media
Agence France Presse March 25, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3026

RIYADH (AFP) — Hardline Saudi clerics have called on the government to ban women from appearing on television and to prohibit their images in print media, which they called a sign of growing "deviant thought."…