Daily Intel Report 3-25
1. Irish Trading Firm and Its Officers Charged in Scheme to Supply Iran with Sensitive U.S. Technology
US Dep't of Justice Press Release Tuesday, March 24, 2009
NSD (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-nsd-264.html
WASHINGTON – An Irish trading company and three of its officers have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and other aircraft components from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program. The 25-count indictment, which was filed under seal in federal court in the District of Columbia in July 2008 and unsealed today… The defendants charged in the indictment include Mac Aviation Group, doing business as Mac Aviation Limited and Mac Aviation Nigeria (collectively "Mac Aviation"), which is a company registered in Ireland that brokers aircraft parts and related goods for foreign customers. The remaining defendants are Thomas McGuinn, also known as Tom McGuinn, a 72-year-old citizen and resident of Ireland who is the owner, director and principal officer of Mac Aviation; as well as his son, Sean McGuinn, a 40-year-old citizen and resident of Ireland, who serves as sales/procurement director of Mac Aviation; and Sean Byrne, who serves as the commercial manager of Mac Aviation…
2. Captured U.S. journalists questioned in North Korea
The Associated Press Tuesday, March 24, 2009
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/24/asia/north.php
SEOUL: North Korean military intelligence officers in Pyongyang are questioning two U.S. journalists for alleged espionage after they illegally crossed into the country from China, a South Korean newspaper reported Tuesday. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, journalists working for Current TV, a media outlet based in San Francisco, were being subjected to "intense interrogation," with investigators poring through their notebooks, videotapes and camera for signs they were spying on the North's military facilities, the The JoongAng Ilbo reported, citing an unidentified South Korean intelligence official. The two journalists were being held at a guesthouse run by the North Korean military intelligence agency on the outskirts of Pyongyang, the report said. The main South Korean spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were keeping a close watch on the case but that it could not immediately confirm the report… A third U.S. journalist, Mitch Koss, who works as a cameraman for Current TV, reportedly escaped arrest last week but was detained by Chinese border guards. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said in Beijing that Koss left the country Tuesday, but he did not provide further details. The detentions come at a tense time on the Korean peninsula…
3. Al-Marri pleads not guilty to terror charges
By ANDY KRAVETZ Journal Star (Peoria, IL) Mar 24, 2009
http://www.pjstar.com/homepage/x110661800/Al-marri-pleads-not-guilty
IPT NOTE: The Al-Marri docket sheet is posted at http://www.ilcd.uscourts.gov/media/docket.html [scroll down for linked documents filed with court]
PEORIA — Despite likely reams of evidence, a federal judge on Monday said he's hopeful the trial for alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri could begin by year's end. U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm set a May 26 trial date, though he admitted it was merely set to satisfy al-Marri's right to a speedy trial. However, the judge set aside thoughts that a trial was more than a year off when he told the attorneys they were "on notice," because he believed the trial could begin by November or December. Al-Marri, 43, formerly of West Peoria, made only his second public appearance in six years during the 30-minute hearing Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Peoria. There, his attorney, as expected, entered a plea of not guilty to charges he conspired with others to aid al-Qaida and that he actually did help the terrorist group… Also, Mihm set an April 14 hearing so both sides could haggle over evidence… No new information was presented about the allegations that he conspired with others to aid al-Qaida in mid-summer 2001 until his arrest in December 2001. Prosecutors have long maintained he was in the United States to lead a second wave of terrorist attacks against America…
Al-Marri timeline: Timeline of events in 'enemy combatant' case
Posted Mar 23, 2009 @ 06:31 AM
http://www.pjstar.com/archive/x599208300/Al-Marri-timeline
4. Objects Harmless, Defense Says
By ELAINE SILVESTRINI Tampa Tribune Published: March 19, 2009
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/19/na-objectsharmlessdefensesays/
TAMPA - What prosecutors describe as dangerous explosives were actually harmless, homemade model rockets, a defense attorney told jurors as the trial of former University of South Florida student Youssef Megahed opened Wednesday. And Megahed didn't know that his college buddy, Ahmed Mohamed, had packed the "sugar rockets" in the trunk of the car of Megahed's brother, which the pair had borrowed for a low-budget road trip to see beaches of the Southeast, assistant federal public defender Adam Allen said in his opening statement…
FBI Expert Testifies At Megahed Explosives Trial
By ELAINE SILVESTRINI The Tampa Tribune Published: March 23, 2009
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/23/fbi-expert-testifies-explosives-...
TAMPA - Plastic pipes in the trunk of a car pulled over in South Carolina in 2007 contained a "low-explosive" mixture of sugar and potassium nitrate, an FBI expert testified this morning in the federal trial of a former University of South Florida student. Such a pyrotechnic mixture functions by "rapid burning" as compared to detonation, or the quick release of energy, of a high-explosive mixture, said Ron Kelly, a forensic chemist with the explosives unit of the FBI lab in Quantico, Va. Kelly was testifying in the trial of Youssef Megahed, who was arrested Aug. 4, 2007, when deputies in South Carolina pulled over a car in which he and Ahmed Mohamed were riding. At the time, Megahed and Mohamed were USF students. Both are from Egypt – Mohamed was in the United States on a student visa and Megahed, here since he was 11, is a legal, permanent resident. Mohamed is serving 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to helping terrorists by posting on YouTube a video in which he demonstrates how to detonate a bomb with a remote-controlled toy. Megahed is not charged with terrorism. He is on trial on charges of transporting explosives and possession of a destructive device – each carrying a maximum prison sentence of 10 years…
Expert Discusses Devices At Heart Of Explosives Trial
By ELAINE SILVESTRINI The Tampa Tribune Published: March 24, 2009
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/24/expert-discusses-devices-heart-e...
TAMPA - Trying to show that the devices at the center of a federal explosives trial were dangerous, prosecutors today presented an expert witness who testified they could easily be assembled into an incendiary device. But Richard Stryker of the FBI explosives lab testified he had to try five configurations of the devices, along with safety fuse and a partly filled gasoline can, before he could start a fire… The devices consisted of four roughly 4-inch sections of PVC pipe stuffed with a mixture of powdered sugar or corn syrup and potassium nitrate, or stump remover. Some of the items had plugs at one or both ends made of kitty litter. Stryker said the items could not be considered rockets because they didn't have nose cones or fins to control their direction of travel...
5. Diab's lawyer calls case 'weak'
Charged with bombing in France, Ottawa academic seeks bail
By Kate Jaimet, The Ottawa Citizen March 24, 2009
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Diab+lawyer+calls+case+weak/1420712/st...
The French murder case against Hassan Diab is so weak that he would never be convicted in Canada, his lawyer argued in court Monday as he sought bail for the Ottawa academic who is being held at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre pending his extradition to France. "This is an extremely weak criminal case for the Canadian courts," Don Bayne told the Ontario Superior Court. "It would never support a criminal conviction in Canada because it is so bereft of evidence." Diab, 55, is charged in France with murder, attempted murder and the destruction of property for his alleged role in the 1980 bombing of the Copernic Street synagogue in Paris. Four people died in the blast. He taught at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa until his arrest in November… Diab's presumed innocence was a strong theme in court Monday. His common-law wife, Rania Tfaily, said she would be willing to let him live with her while on bail despite his marital infidelity…
6. No entrapment, court rules in terror case
Mar 24, 2009 02:38 PM Isabel Teotonio Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/GTA/Crime/article/607467
Paid police mole Mubin Shailkh did not entrap a youth into an alleged homegrown terror cell, a judge ruled this afternoon in a Brampton court. Justice John Sproat did not read out his 51-page ruling but did deliver his "bottom line ruling." "There has not been any entrapment and there has not been any abuse of process," Sproat told the court. "It's clear the application must be dismissed." Shaikh's status came under unusual scrutiny, given the unprecedented nature of this landmark case involving 14 men and four youths, who were charged in the summer of 2006 with belonging to a cell plotting to detonate truck bombs. To date, four adults and three youths have had their charges stayed. The remaining youth, who is now 21, was found guilty of terrorism-related offences in September, but his lawyers put forth a motion alleging their client was lured into the group by Shaikh and entrapped and should have his charge stayed. Court heard that Shaikh originally worked as an agent for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which tasked him to infiltrate the group in November 2005. In early December, his services were transferred to the RCMP, where he initially preferred to work as an informer, rather than an agent, because he wished to remain confidential and did not want to testify. But Shaikh eventually agreed to become a police agent and it was the timing of that transition that came under debate in these proceedings...
7. Quiet Muslim-Only Town in N.Y. Founded by Alleged Terrorist
Monday , March 23, 2009 Fox News By Rick Leventhal
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,510218,00.html
HANCOCK, N.Y. — If you didn't know where to look, you'd probably never find Islamberg, a private Muslim community in the woods of the western Catskills, 150 miles northwest of New York City. The town, sitting on a quiet dirt road past a gate marked with No Trespassing signs, is home to an estimated 100 residents. There are small houses and other buildings visible from the outside, but it is what can't be seen from beyond the gate that has some watchers worried. Islamberg was founded in 1980 by Sheikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani, a Pakistani cleric who purchased a 70-acre plot and invited followers, mostly Muslim converts living in New York City, to settle there. The town has its own mosque, grocery store and schoolhouse. It also reportedly has a firing range where residents take regular target practice. Gilani established similar rural enclaves across the country — at least six, including the Red House community in southern Virginia — though some believe there are dozens of them, all operating under the umbrella of the "Muslims of the Americas" group founded by Gilani. Federal authorities say Gilani was also one of the founders of Jamaat al-Fuqra, a terrorist organization believed responsible for dozens of bombings and murders across the U.S. and abroad. The group was linked to the planning of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and 10 years earlier a member was arrested and later convicted for bombing a hotel in Portland, Ore. Shoe bomber Richard Reid has been linked to the group, along with convicted D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad. But it is Sheikh Gilani who creates the most controversy and concern...
8. $50,000 bond in Jewish school threat case
Jeff Coen March 24, 2009 11:15 AM
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/03/50000-bond-in-jewish-school-t...
A Jordanian national charged last week with making a bomb threat against a Jewish school in December will be released on $50,000 bond, a federal judge decided today. Mohammed Alkaramla, 24, will be released to the custody of his father and placed on electronic monitoring, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier said. Alkaramla was arrested Friday at his home in the 6000 block of North Artesian Avenue and charged with mailing a threat to the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago. Alkaramla was under investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in connection with the vandalism of several synagogues and Jewish schools in the wake of Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip. The charges against him do not include those incidents.
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
9. TSA: Vitter wasn't security threat at airport
Associated Press March 24, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-03-24-tsa-vitter_N.htm
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — U.S. Sen. David Vitter didn't pose a security threat when the Louisiana Republican set off a security alarm at Washington Dulles International Airport earlier this month, the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday. A statement issued by TSA said Vitter triggered a door alarm but didn't enter a restricted area of the airport. A TSA spokesman said the agency has closed its review of the incident, but he wouldn't elaborate on the statement. Vitter has said he was rushing to catch a flight home when he accidentally went through a wrong door at the gate leading to the jetway for the United Airlines plane he was trying to board...
10. Police Probing Logan Laser Incident
Pilot Reports Light Shined At Plane
POSTED: 11:16 am EDT March 24, 2009
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/19001471/detail.html
BOSTON -- Massachusetts state police said Tuesday they are investigating an incident at Logan International Airport where a laser-type light was reportedly pointed at an aircraft. They said a pilot reported the laser was pointed at his plane at about 12:47 a.m. Tuesday morning as the plane was taxiing on a runway. The incident may be the latest in a string of ongoing laser "attacks" reported by pilots at airports across the United States. A 24-year-old Washington state man was arrested by the Port of Seattle police earlier this month and charged with shining a laser at landing airplanes near Sea-Tac Airport. The arrest followed several weeks of complaints by pilots there that both green and red lasers were being shined into their cockpits…
Financing, identity theft, money laundering
11. FBI breaks up $25 million 'car cloning' ring
Rich Phillips CNN Senior Producer March 24, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/24/cloned.cars/
TAMPA, Florida (CNN) --… One moment, Guiseppe "Joe" Pirrone was on a long weekend at the beach. The next moment, he finds out the pickup that he bought a year ago is stolen, and he is still on the hook for the $27,000 loan. Stories like Pirrone's are scattered across the country, and today the FBI is expected to announce it has broken up one of the largest auto theft cases in the U.S. Capping "Operation Dual Identity," arrest warrants for 17 people were executed in Tampa and Miami, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; and in Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico. They were accused of "cloning" vehicles, which is making stolen cars look like legal ones. Further details of the alleged conspiracy will be announced at a news conference later today. The FBI says that the ring was operating in the U.S. for more than 20 years. More than 1,000 vehicles were stolen in Florida, with more than $25 million in losses to consumers and banks. Car theft rings clone vehicles by taking license plates, vehicle identification numbers (VIN), and other tags and stickers from a legal car and put them on a stolen vehicle of similar make and model…
12. Two Men Face Money Laundering Charges, Shipped Millions in Gold to Lebanon
By Jeff Miller Posted: 03/24/09 12:53
http://www.diamonds.net/news/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=25771
IPT NOTE: Gov't materials are posted at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae/press_releases/docs/2009/02-12-09WarrenArr... and http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae/press_releases/docs/2009/02-20-09CavellCom...
RAPAPORT... A federal grand jury for the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California, returned a 44-count indictment against two men from the Sacramento area. The indictment includes charges of wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering, the latter related to the purchase of millions of dollars in gold that one suspect took to Lebanon. It alleges that Christopher Jared Warren, 26, of Folsom, California, and Scott Edward Cavell, 27, of Sacramento, used their mortgage brokerage, Triduanum Financial, to steal more than $7 million during December 2008 and January of this year by misrepresenting themselves to a mortgage lender in Florida. Warren and Cavell allegedly approved mortgages, but instead of funding the mortgages and recording the deeds, money wired by the Florida lender went directly into the men's own accounts. The money laundering charges stem from those cash transactions, and they describe how the men redirected millions of dollars to gold bullion dealers, rare coin dealers, a Swedish bank account, a jewelry company and others, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The indictment also charges Warren and Cavell with stealing the identities of two men to fraudulently obtain true passports in their names. Warren is in custody after having been apprehended in February at the U.S.-Canada border. Cavell is still at large and is believed to have fled the country. "The scope and brazenness of the criminal conduct carried out by these two mortgage brokers over just two months astounds," said Lawrence Brown, acting U.S. attorney, in his remarks on the indictment and the search warrant affidavit…
13. IRS: Deceased I-Drive tycoon owes millions
Amy L. Edwards | Orlando Sentinel 4:39 PM EDT, March 9, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3018
The IRS wants millions of dollars from the estate of Jesse Maali, the International Drive tycoon who died four years ago amid a controversial criminal prosecution. Documents recently filed in federal and Orange County court states the Internal Revenue Service wants more than $3 million from Maali's estate from unpaid tax liabilities from 1998 to 2002. Maali was indicted in 2002 on a list of charges, including money laundering and income-tax evasion. In January 2005, as he was preparing for trial, 59-year-old Maali died at an Orlando hospital after a several-month battle with lung cancer… Jesse Maali built a business empire in Orange and Osceola counties, including the Big Bargain World and Sports Dominator shops. By 2002, its worth approached $70 million and included several shopping centers along International Drive and U.S. Highway 192...
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
14. Homeland Security beefs up security on Mexican border
By GREGG CARLSTROM Federal Times March 24, 2009
http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=4003775
IPT NOTE: The DHS press release is posted at http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1237909530921.shtm
The Homeland Security Department will send hundreds of new employees to the Mexican border and invest billions of dollars in technology to screen traffic at border crossings, Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today. The moves respond to growing violence in Mexico, fueled by a war among drug cartels and law enforcement organizations that killed nearly 6,000 people last year. U.S. officials say they're worried about some of that violence spilling across the border; Congress has already approved $700 million to help Mexican law enforcement deal with the cartels. Napolitano's initiative is aimed at securing the border, and cutting off the flood of guns and money that has been traveling from the U.S. to Mexico…
Secretary Napolitano Announces Major Southwest Border Security Initiative
Department of Homeland Security Release Date: March 24, 2009
Office of the Press Secretary Contact: 202-282-8010
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1237909530921.shtm
DHS looking at options on SW border
Secretary "still considering" use of National Guard
By Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke National Guard Bureau March 24, 2009
http://www.ngb.army.mil/news/archives/2009/03/032409-Border.aspx
WASHINGTON, D.C. (3/24/09) – Along with several other initiatives, the Department of Homeland Security is "still considering" the use of National Guard troops along the U.S.-Mexico Border, the DHS secretary said in a White House press briefing today…
15. Department of Justice Announces Resources for Fight Against Mexican Drug Cartels
US Department of Justice Press Release Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Public Affairs Office (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/cartels032409.htm
WASHINGTON – Today Deputy Attorney General David Ogden announced increased efforts and reallocation of DOJ personnel to combat Mexican drug cartels in the United States and to help Mexican law enforcement battle cartels in their own country. Deputy Attorney General Ogden was joined in announcing a comprehensive response to the situation on the Southwest border by Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano and Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg…
16. Tories not behind move to bar anti-war British MP, Kenney says
CAMPBELL CLARK From Tuesday's Globe and Mail March 24, 2009 at 3:57 AM EDT
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3019
OTTAWA — Conservative politicians did not instigate the move to bar outspoken British MP George Galloway from entering Canada, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said yesterday. The Canada Border Services Agency has told Mr. Galloway that an aid convoy he led into Gaza earlier this month amounted to engaging in terrorism and being a member of a terrorist organization because he said he would donate the aid to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Mr. Galloway, who has four speaking engagements scheduled in Canada next week, is a five-term British MP who was kicked out of Tony Blair's Labour Party in 2003 for statements opposing the Iraq war. Mr. Kenney said Mr. Galloway is being barred for providing financial and material support to Hamas, not for his views, and the decision won't be overruled... But Mr. Galloway's Toronto lawyer, Barbara Jackman, argues the grounds that Canada has cited for excluding Mr. Galloway would make many aid groups terrorists, too… Ms. Jackman said new reports make clear that most of the aid provided by the "Viva Palestina" convoy went to the Red Crescent Society, although Mr. Galloway did give about $45,000 to Mr. Haniyeh's administration…
Other items
17. Dept. of Ed. wants out of IGH charter, ACLU suit
Updated: 03/24/2009 2:51 PM KSTP.com By: Becky Nahm
http://kstp.com/news/stories/S847184.shtml?cat=206
The Minnesota Department of Education wants to be removed from an ACLU lawsuit involving an Inver Grove Heights charter school. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS first reported on the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, or TIZA, last year after a substitute teacher accused the school of blurring the line between church and state. In January, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota sued TIZA. The suit claims the school's operation and funding promote the Islamic religion and should be declared unconstitutional. As a charter school, TIZA receives tax dollars and is not supposed to be a religious institution. The MN ACLU included the Minnesota Department of Education, or MDE, in the suit alleging that the state's funding of TIZA violates the state constitution and the state's charter school law… The MN ACLU also wants an order requiring TIZA and the MDE to make sure the school operates legally. It also wants TIZA to return all state funds to the department. In a new court filing, the MDE argues it's immune from being sued in federal court on state law claims.
MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA
18. Weapons Intelligence Team Provides Battlefield Forensics
U.S. Air Forces Central, Baghdad Media Outreach Team
Story by Staff Sgt. Tim Beckham Date: 03.24.2009
http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=31518
CAMP Troy, Iraq – When an improvised explosive device is detected most people run and take cover but the Weapons Intelligence Team heads to the site to start the crime scene investigation. The WIT provides counter IED intelligence through collection, analysis and tactical exploitation in support of Multi-National Corps Iraq. "As you may know our adversaries are out there using modified explosives and trying to find unique ways to use those weapons against Iraqis and coalition forces, so our role is to go out there and provide battlefield forensics, to better defeat them and beyond that, try to stop them from ever being on the streets," said Chief Master Sgt. Kevin Touhey, WIT superintendent. By staying ahead of the curve, the WIT help U.S. and coalition forces prepare for future attacks by learning how the enemy is operating…
19. New Al-Zawahiri Tape: The ICC Warrant against Al-Bashir Is a Plot to Destroy Islam in Sudan
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Special Dispatch - No. 2295 March 24, 2009
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD229509
On March 24, 2009, the Al-Qaeda media company Al-Sahab distributed to jihadi websites a 17-minute audio recording, from Al-Qaeda Deputy Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri on the topic of the ICC's arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir. To view this report you must be a member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). To register as a JTTM subscriber, visit http://subscriptions.memri.org/content/en/member_registr_jttm.htm. To view the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3195¶m=APT.
ASIA / PACIFIC
20. DoD Identifies Army Casualty
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 186-09 March 23, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12569
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Pfc. Adam J. Hardt, 19, of Avondale, Ariz., died March 22, at Forward Operating Base Airborne in Wardak Province, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation…
DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 187-09 March 23, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12568
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. Daniel J. Geary, 22, of Rome, N.Y., died March 20 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C…
Foreign Service Jobs in Afghanistan to Grow
By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Tuesday, March 24, 2009; A04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR200903...
The State Department will significantly expand its presence in regional capitals in western and northern Afghanistan in coming months, part of the Obama administration's plans for a "surge" in civilians going to the country. "As part of our expanding efforts in Afghanistan," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a cable sent Saturday to all Foreign Service officers, "the Department intends to create 14 additional FS positions in Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif." The cable called the jobs "priority" assignments and "new opportunities" for diplomats about to bid on new postings for later this year. President Obama's senior national security officials have proposed a new overall strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, which he is expected to approve this week. It includes sending hundreds of U.S. civilian officials to Afghanistan, increasing the size of the embassy and its outposts by about 50 percent -- to about 900 personnel...
21. The swelling force of extremism
A comprehensive survey of the Pakistani jehadi groups and their 'links'
By Amir Mir The News (Pakistan) March 22, 2009
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2009-weekly/nos-22-03-2009/enc.htm#1
The monster of Islamic militancy is spreading in Pakistan even though the Bush era has ended amid an endless war against terror. Taleban are claiming new grounds and Al-Qa'idah network is thriving by establishing a modus operandi which exploits its local affiliates -- militant outfits active in Kashmir and Afghanistan -- to pursue the global jehadi agenda of the Usamah-led terror outfit. The swelling forces of extremists along the Pak-Afghan border not only pose a threat to the US-led Allied Forces in Afghanistan but also to the people of Pakistan. Like their Afghan counterparts, Taleban militias are compelling the Pakistan government to impose their version of Islamic Shariat. Although Musharraf had decided to align with the US in the aftermath of 9/11, the infrastructure of Islamic extremism built during the last two decades allegedly by the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment was not dismantled as he deemed it fit to employ terrorism as state policy both in Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir. Resultantly, the fanatic jehadis are literally marching on the state. The militancy is now spreading from FATA and other the border areas to the urban settlements of Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. The most recent instance: attack on Sri Lankan cricketers, allegedly by a group of Pakistani militants in Lahore on March 3, 2009.
Analysts say the menace of Talebanisation is escalating rapidly because a new generation of highly-charged and committed Islamic militants is emerging in and around the Pak-Afghan tribal belt. Generally referred to as the Pakistan Taleban, these new militant leaders, new jehadi cadres and new militant groups are linked to Al-Qa'idah and Taleban. Predominantly Pakistani, they emerged after the US invasion of Afghanistan, and are presently leading the rebellion against the Pakistani establishment's decision to join hands with Washington in the war on terror. They are technology and media-savvy, are influenced by various indigenous tribal nationalisms, and honour tribal codes that govern social life in Pakistani rural areas. This new generation of militants is replacing the original Taleban, led by Ameerul Momineen Mullah Mohammad Omar, who ruled till 2001, and were believed to have been created by Pakistan's intelligence agencies. The old guards, mostly Afghan fighters and a product of the Soviet invasion, no longer enjoy as much command as they did before the 9/11 terror attacks... The worrisome aspect for Pakistan is that US intelligence agencies firmly believe that with a gush of motivated youth flooding towards the realm of jehad and joining the Al-Qa'idah-cadres, Pakistan is a potential site for jehadi recruitment and training for Al-Qa'idah, despite the capture of over 500 operatives from within Pakistan... Let's now briefly examine the key militant groups based in Pakistan and their hidden and known links…
22. Weapons seized in Bangladesh seminary: police
Agence France Presse March 24, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iq_vlMIC2NapcKYYRocGP...
DHAKA (AFP) — Security forces in Bangladesh on Tuesday recovered a large cache of weapons from an Islamic seminary as part of a crackdown on suspected militants, police said. The country's elite Rapid Action Battalion found the weapons when they raided Green Crescent Madrassa, run by an Islamic charity in southern Bhola island, local police chief G.M Azizur Rahman said. "RAB officers have so far recovered revolvers, shotguns, long-barrel guns, explosives and gunpowder from the madrassa. Some students and teachers of the madrassa have been detained," he said. Bangladesh authorities have long viewed madrassas as being recruiting grounds for Islamic militant groups. The country was hit by a series of coordinated bomb attacks in August 2005…
EUROPE
23. Turkey arrests 3 suspected PKK militants over attack plans
Turkish police and gendarmery arrested three suspected PKK militants in the city of Istanbul, governor said on Saturday.
Sunday, 22 March 2009 09:47 Anatolia News Agency (AA)
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=38693
"Turkish police and gendarmery staged a joint operation, and detained three members of the terrorist organization PKK who were preparing for a sensational attack", governor Muammer Guler told reporters. "The terrorists caught with guns, hand grenades, explosives and organization documents in operations staged in Esenyurt and Uskudar neighborhoods", Guler also said. Guler said that "three more people who aided and abetted the terrorists were also detained." "It is certain that these three terrorists were preparing for a sensational attack against certain people or institutions, and we will find out their targets during the interrogation," Guler told reporters…
24. Al Qaeda-trained Britons return from Pakistan
By Bill Roggio Long War Journal March 24, 2009 6:32 PM
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/03/al_qaedatrained_brit.php
More than 20 Britons who have trained in al Qaeda terror camps inside Pakistan have returned to Britain, according to Pakistani intelligence. The Britons, whose families are from Pakistan, were monitored by Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency, Sky News reported. But the ISI failed to notify British intelligence until after the men entered the country, the news agency reported. Pakistani intelligence officials were indifferent about the activities of the Britons, sources told Sky News. "We know the number of British Pakistanis engaged in what we would call suspicious activities is much higher -- probably in the hundreds -- but, to be frank, this isn't a Pakistani priority," one official said. "The intelligence services here have much bigger things to worry about and these guys haven't committed any crime on Pakistani soil." Four of the Britons are thought to have actively fought inside Afghanistan. The men claimed to have entered Pakistan to visit relatives, study, vacation, or work for a charity. "The suspects are aged between 17 and 23 and have apparently created 'sufficient suspicion' with their activities for the ISI to believe they pose a 'potential danger' to Britain," Sky News reported. British intelligence officers are nearly overwhelmed with tracking terror suspects operating inside Britain, many of whom are Pakistanis…
25. U.K.: Terrorists Could Launch 'Dirty Bomb' Attack
British Officials Worried Terrorists Could Assemble Radioactive Materials for Attack
By JIM SCIUTTO ABC News March 24, 2009
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7158943&page=1
IPT NOTE: The new counterterrorism strategy, known as CONTEST, may be downloaded at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/taking-new-approach-ct
LONDON, March 24, 2009 — It is becoming "more realistic" that terrorists could get hold of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons to attack the United Kingdom, the British Home Office said today. The warning was included in an updated counter-terrorism strategy designed to tackle what Home Office officials called an evolving terrorist threat. Rather than acquiring a nuclear warhead, British officials worry more that terrorists could gather radioactive material to build a so-called "dirty-bomb." That risk has existed for some time, but it's increased due to the security situation in several failed states as well as a growing market in radioactive materials. In an off-camera press briefing this morning for a handful of journalists, British officials said they continue to track a large number of British nationals of Pakistani origin who are traveling to Pakistan for terror training, and to fight in the insurgency, or both. However, they said there are some hopeful signs from Pakistan's new government. "The new civilian government has given a higher priority to anti-terror measures than the military government that preceded it," officials said. In assessing terror risks around the world, British officials are paying particular attention to failed states where terror groups are increasing their activity and training. These include Somalia, Yemen, the sub-Saharan states of Mali and Niger, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan…
Taking a new approach to counter-terrorism
24 March 2009 The Home Office (UK)
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/taking-new-approach-ct
26. Six arrested over embassy protest
Story from BBC NEWS: Published: 2009/03/24 15:14:16 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7960618.stm
Six men suspected of violent disorder during a series of demonstrations outside the Israeli embassy in central London have been arrested during raids. The arrests follow protests in Kensington in December and January against Israeli action in Gaza. Some protesters attacked police and tried to raid the Israeli embassy. BBC News has learned that one of the men, an 18-year-old, was arrested at the west London home of jailed extremist preacher Abu Hamza. The Metropolitan Police said the arrests were the first phase of a long-running operation to identify 40 people believed to be involved in the clashes. The arrests concern the demonstrations on 3 and 10 January… "What happened during these demonstrations in January and what our officers and those shop keepers were subjected to was not and cannot be described as lawful protest," said Ch Supt Ian Thomas. "A small minority of people set out that day not to air their views but to fight police and cause damage... Abu Hamza, who was born in Egypt and is married with seven children, is serving a seven-year prison sentence for inciting murder and racial hatred. He is also facing extradition to the United States on terrorism charges...
27. George Galloway attacks Charity Commission over Gaza appeal
Failure of Viva Palestina trustees to respond to requests for information sparks investigation
David Hencke, Westminster correspondent guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 March 2009 15.07 GMT
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3020
George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, today attacked the Charity Commission over its announcement that it was opening a statutory inquiry into a charity that has raised more than £1m in humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip. The commission said that while the objectives of the Lifeline for Gaza Viva Palestina charity appeared to fall within charity guidelines, the failure by the trustees to respond to detailed requests for information had sparked an investigation. A statutory inquiry gives the commission the power to suspend trustees or officers, freeze bank accounts and appoint its own interim managers. The commission can use these powers any time during the investigation to protect assets of the charity...
28. Islamist cleric in UK prison issues statement against British government
BBC Monitoring Middle East – Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
March 23, 2009 Monday Copyright 2009 British Broadcasting Corporation
Text of report by London-based independent newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi website on 20 March
http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/index.htm subscription req'd, available on NEXIS/Westlaw
[Unattributed report, from London: "Abu-Qatadah Attacks British Government from Long Lartin Prison"]
Shaykh Umar Mahmud Abu-Umar, alias Abu-Qatadah, has issued a statement from high-security prison Long Lartin, of which Al-Quds al-Arabi has obtained a copy through the Islamic Media Observatory. In his statement, Abu-Qatadah reveals what he calls "violations" in the British prisons of the rights of Muslims. The statement also includes a comment on the decision by the British House of Lords to deport Abu-Qatadah to Jordan. Abu-Qatadah attacks the British Government and its laws of which he says "these laws have been issued only to encroach upon the Muslims alone." … Abu-Qatadah talks about the phenomenon of the spread of Islam in British prisons, and that many Britons declare their conversion to Islam in the prisons after they mix with the Muslim prisoners, which is a phenomenon which the British newspapers have been discussing during the past months. The statement says: "By God's grace, we see His great evidence in these prisons; I have seen how youths convert to Islam, and are transformed into scholars who learn Arabic and Shari'ah in a few months, who acquire an understanding of the truth of monotheism that those who lived as Muslims in Muslim countries lack."…
