Daily Intel Report 3-30-09
1. Canadian researchers uncover far-flung cyber espionage network
By Kim Covert, Canwest News Service March 29, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3047
IPT NOTE: The report may be downloaded at http://www.scribd.com/doc/13731776/Tracking-GhostNet-Investigating-a-Cyb.... See also related item #27 below.
Researchers at the University of Toronto have uncovered a vast electronic spying operation that infiltrated computers and stole documents from government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama. The researchers says the system — called GhostNet — sent e-mails that introduced malware into host computers, which in turn fed information back to servers located on the Chinese mainland. "The GhostNet system directs infected computers to download a Trojan (horse) known as ghOst RAT that allows attackers to gain complete, real-time control," the authors write in Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network. "Our investigation reveals that GhostNet is capable of taking full control of infected computers, including searching and downloading specific files, and covertly operating attached devices, including microphones and web cameras." What began as a case study of allegations of Chinese spying, centering on Tibetan institutions, turned up a network of nearly 1,300 "infected hosts" in 103 countries, including the Dalai Lama's private office and the Tibetan Government in Exile...
Chinese hackers 'using ghost network to control Nato computers'
Mike Harvey, Technology Correspondent From The Times (London) March 30, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5996253.ece
A spy network believed to have been controlled from China has hacked into classified documents on government and private computers in 103 countries, according to internet researchers. The spy system, dubbed GhostNet, is alleged to have compromised 1,295 machines at Nato and foreign ministries, embassies, banks and news organisations across the world, as well as computers used by the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles. The work of Information Warfare Monitor (IWM) investigators focused initially on allegations of Chinese cyber-espionage against the Tibetan exile community, but led to a much wider network of compromised machines. IWM said that, while China appeared to be the main source of the network, it had not been able conclusively to identify the hackers. The IWM is composed of researchers from an Ottawa-based think-tank, SecDev Group, and the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto…
Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries
By JOHN MARKOFF March 29, 2009 New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/technology/29spy.html?
… The newly reported spying operation is by far the largest to come to light in terms of countries affected. This is also believed to be the first time researchers have been able to expose the workings of a computer system used in an intrusion of this magnitude. Still going strong, the operation continues to invade and monitor more than a dozen new computers a week, the researchers said in their report, "Tracking 'GhostNet': Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network." They said they had found no evidence that United States government offices had been infiltrated, although a NATO computer was monitored by the spies for half a day and computers of the Indian Embassy in Washington were infiltrated...
2. Search for IAEA Chief Continues
By DAVID CRAWFORD MARCH 28, 2009 Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123815751676756331.html
BERLIN -- The International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors will look for new candidates to head the United Nations' nuclear watchdog after failing to agree on a new director general. "The slate is wiped clean," the board's chairwoman, Algerian Ambassador Taous Feroukhi told reporters Friday at the end of a special IAEA board of governors conference. The search for a new director general to succeed retiring Mohamed ElBaradei of Egypt is particularly important as the IAEA faces challenges verifying nuclear programs in Iran and Syria. The IAEA board of governors remained stalemated after two days of voting -- neither Yukiya Amano of Japan nor Abdul Minty of South Africa achieved the required two-thirds majority in the agency's 35-member board. The deadlock reflects the different views of the IAEA's mission. Mr. Amano's candidacy was backed by developed countries in the European Union and the U.S. who emphasize the agency's role in monitoring the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. Mr. Minty found support in non-aligned developing countries that seek development of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes…
3. Former terror suspect Binyam Mohammed 'admitted weapons training'
Richard Ford From The Times (London) March 28, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5990025.ece
London - Binyam Mohammed, the former Guantánamo Bay detainee, admitted undergoing weapons and explosives training in Afghanistan, according to a summary of his questioning by MI5 released last night. Training in Pakistan was intended to enable him to learn how to attack the US or coalition forces in Afghanistan with landmines. But according to the summary, he denied telling the FBI of a "dirty bomb" plot and referred to having seen something on the construction of an H-bomb on a file in a computer that was a joke. Mr Mohamed has maintained that his confessions were made under duress and that he never intended to engage in terrorism. The summary of the interrogation shows that the MI5 officer, known only as Witness B, believed Mr Mohammed was a liar who had the strength of character to maintain his story "indefinitely". Details of the former detainee's interrogation were released after a ruling by Lord Justice Thomas that two witness statements by MI5 officers in judicial review proceedings could be made public.
4. Pentagon asks lawyers to defend detentions at condemned Guantánamo camp
BY CAROL ROSENBERG Miami Herald Posted on Fri, Mar. 27, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/guantanamo/story/971714.html
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Even as the Obama administration has dropped the term "enemy combatant" in reshaping its war-on-terror policy, the Pentagon is inviting lawyers to apply for jobs defending its detention of 200-plus captives at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. A Pentagon official circulated a "help wanted" ad through the American Bar Association this month, offering between $39,407 and $130,211 a year for qualified lawyers to help answer habeas corpus petitions in the federal courts. "Attorneys with any litigation experience are encouraged to apply," said the job posting, offering three-year positions. "These positions are located in the Washington, D.C. area, with the potential for some travel to Guantánamo Bay." Curiously, the Justice Department -- not the Defense Department -- has for years been in charge of defending each captive's detention at the U.S. District Court in Washington. Individual captives' cases are coming up before different federal judges, who are weighing whether the Pentagon has enough evidence to hold them as war prisoners. The lawsuits, called habeas corpus petitions, originally accused President Bush of detaining them illegally…
5. Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots
Waterboarding, Rough Interrogation of Abu Zubaida Produced False Leads, Officials Say
By Peter Finn and Joby Warrick Washington Post Sunday, March 29, 2009; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/28/AR200903...?
When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets out of him. The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al-Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads. In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said… Abu Zubaida was not even an official member of al-Qaeda, according to a portrait of the man that emerges from court documents and interviews with current and former intelligence, law enforcement and military sources. Rather, he was a "fixer" for radical Muslim ideologues, and he ended up working directly with al-Qaeda only after Sept. 11 -- and that was because the United States stood ready to invade Afghanistan… The Palestinian, 38 and now in captivity for more than seven years, had alleged links with Ahmed Ressam, an al-Qaeda member dubbed the "Millennium Bomber" for his plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999. Jordanian officials tied him to terrorist plots to attack a hotel and Christian holy sites in their country. And he was involved in discussions, after the Taliban government fell in Afghanistan, to strike back at the United States, including with attacks on American soil, according to law enforcement and military sources… Some U.S. officials remain steadfast in their conclusion that Abu Zubaida possessed, and gave up, plenty of useful information about al-Qaeda...
6. Federal Prosecutors Seek Maximum Sentence For Convicted Ex-sailor
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN The Associated Press 7:26 PM EDT, March 27, 2009
http://www.courant.com/news/local/statewire/hc-ap-ct-navyterrormar27,0,4...
IPT NOTE: The sentencing memo is posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/788.pdf
NEW HAVEN - Federal prosecutors filed papers Friday seeking the maximum sentence for a former Navy sailor convicted of leaking details about ship movements, calling him a traitor who was trying to help foreign terrorists replicate the bombing of the USS Cole. Prosecutors want Hassan Abu-Jihaad, of Phoenix, to get the maximum 10 years in prison when he is sentenced next Friday... The maximum sentence would send a message that a leak of classified information to the country's enemies will result in stern punishment, prosecutors said… U.S. District Judge Mark Kravitz this month overturned last year's conviction of Abu-Jihaad on a charge of providing material support to terrorists, citing the language of the law. He upheld his conviction for disclosing classified national defense information. Abu-Jihaad was a signalman aboard the USS Benfold. He was accused of passing along information including the makeup of his Navy battle group and a drawing of the formation the group would use to pass through the dangerous Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf in April 2001…
7. Van Loan 'alarmed' by terror cells
CSIS probes recruitment of Canadians by overseas group
Stewart Bell National Post March 28, 2009
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1437424
Canada's Public Safety Minister said yesterday he was alarmed at reports that Canadians have gone overseas to join armed Islamist groups in places such as Somalia and Pakistan. Peter Van Loan said in an interview the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was monitoring the issue and suggested that those involved could be prosecuted under the Anti-Terrorism Act once they return. "While the problem is real, I wouldn't want to overstate the degree of it. We are talking relatively small numbers within the community. It's not a widespread phenomenon," he told the National Post. CSIS has been investigating the suspected recruitment of Canadians by a Taliban-like Somali extremist group called Al-Shabab, which has suspected links to al-Qaeda. The CBC, quoting an unidentified government source, reported this week that between 20 to 30 Canadians had joined Al-Shabab. Canadians have also travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to train with and join armed Islamist factions, and security officials remain concerned about homegrown extremists who are not connected to foreign terrorist groups but consider Canada a legitimate terrorist target. Al-Shabab has become a priority in Washington. A senior FBI official told a Senate committee two weeks ago he was concerned that U. S. citizens in Al-Shabab could pose a threat should they return to the United States…
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
8. TSA: Threat prompted gate-screening program
March 27, 2009 By Tom Frank, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-03-27-threat-gate-screening...
WASHINGTON — The Transportation Security Administration is worried about a group of terrorists sneaking weapons components through an airport checkpoint, assembling them after going through security and bringing a weapon on an airplane, an agency official said Friday. Douglas Hofsass, head of commercial-airport security for TSA, told an airports conference that the TSA recently launched a stepped-up program of screening randomly chosen passengers at airport gates partly in response to that threat. Under the program, uniformed TSA screeners pull some passengers out of lines as they are waiting to board planes to view their IDs, search their belongings or check them for weapons with a handheld metal detector. The TSA is "concerned about the ability of multiple people bringing individual items through the checkpoint," Hofsass told about 100 airport executives at a Washington, D.C., conference center. The decision to launch the gate-screening program was partly driven by "intelligence and threats," Hofsass said. But the program has generated concern among airport officials who fear passengers will feel harassed by the gate screening…
Financing, identity theft, money laundering
9. Judge orders Iran to pay millions for killing
U.S. teen's kidnapping halted Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in 1994
The Associated Press updated 2:40 p.m. ET, Fri., March. 27, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29917476/
WASHINGTON - A U.S. judge on Friday ordered Iran to pay $25 million plus interest to the family of Israeli soldier who was kidnapped and executed by Hamas in 1994. Nachshon Wachsman was a 19-year-old U.S. citizen and corporal in the Israeli Defense Forces when he was taken by four members of Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States. His abduction damaged Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations at the time, as he pleaded on videotape for his life. Wachsman's mother and six brothers filed the lawsuit in 2006 against Iran and its ministry of information and security, saying Tehran was responsible for the death because it provided training and support to Hamas. Iran has refused to respond to the lawsuit, resulting in a default judgment in favor of Wachsman's family…
10. Convicted Holy Land Foundation organizers will be sentenced in May
04:32 PM CDT on Friday, March 27, 2009 By JASON TRAHAN The Dallas Morning News
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3048
The five former charity organizers for the Holy Land Foundation convicted last fall of aiding the terrorist group Hamas will be sentenced in May. U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis ruled Friday that Shukri Abu Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain and Ghassan Elashi will received their sentences on the morning of May 27. He will sentence Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh that afternoon. The men face from 15 years in prison to life. Last fall, a jury convicted all five men of using the former Richardson charity to funnel money to Hamas. In 2007, another jury deadlocked on the case, causing a mistrial.
11. Judge Favors Lower Bond in Case Against Palestinians
By BENJAMIN WEISER New York Times March 28, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/nyregion/28plo.html
Citing an economic crisis in the Palestinian territories, a federal magistrate judge has recommended reducing a $192.7 million bond that the Palestinian Authority was ordered to post in order to defend a terrorism lawsuit in New York City. But the magistrate judge said the Palestinians should still post a $120 million bond, payable on an installment plan — $20 million down, and the rest in $5 million monthly increments. The recommendation, which now goes to a federal district judge, is the latest twist in a case filed under a law that allows American victims of international terrorism to sue for triple damages in the United States courts. The lawsuit was filed by the family of Aharon Ellis, the sole American killed when a Palestinian gunman burst into a bat mitzvah celebration in 2002 in northern Israel, killing 6 people and wounding more than 30. The suit charged that the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization had orchestrated the attack, and when the Palestinians refused to defend the suit on the merits, a judge, Victor Marrero of Federal District Court in Manhattan, ordered a default judgment, and the family was awarded $192.7 million in damages. Later, the defendants, saying they had changed leadership, had new lawyers and were committed to defending the suit in good faith, asked for a second chance. They argued that the gunman acted alone, without their direction or assistance. Judge Marrero agreed to set aside the verdict on the condition that the defendants post a $192.7 million bond. When the Palestinians, saying they were "teetering on the verge of bankruptcy," proposed a smaller bond of $15 million, a new legal battle erupted. A lawyer for the family, David J. Strachman, opposed reducing the bond, arguing that the defendants owned valuable tracts of land and had hidden bank accounts that were once controlled by the P.L.O. chairman Yasir Arafat, who died in 2004. A magistrate judge, Theodore H. Katz, who was assigned the matter, wrote on Thursday that the plaintiffs' lawyers, with "some justification," viewed the defendants' representations about their assets "with great skepticism." But, he said, contrary to the plaintiffs' contention, "there is no evidence that the P.A. and P.L.O. have concealed millions of dollars, or 'have huge and vast reserves of assets' that are readily available."…
12. Three in Stockton face charges in alleged $2 million food stamp scheme
By Scott Smith March 28, 2009 Stockton Record
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090328/A_NEWS/9032...
IPT NOTE: The gov't's press release is posted at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae/press_releases/docs/2009/03-27-09KhanIndic...
STOCKTON - A Stockton man, his brother and daughter have been indicted on charges they ran a food stamp fraud scheme netting $2 million from a downtown smoke shop, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento said Friday. Brothers Ahmad Khan, 51, and Mumraiz Khan, 48, have been charged with conspiracy, food stamp fraud and money laundering, among other charges. Ahmad Khan's daughter, Naheed Khan, 23, has been charged with conspiracy. In the alleged scheme, the three bought food stamps at 50 cents on the dollar from customers at the Smoke Shop & Snack at 425 E. Miner Avenue. The shop had been redeeming the food stamps for five and a half years, prosecutors said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Lapham said this type of scheme is common. He prosecuted a large case in Stockton about 10 years ago, taking down three unscrupulous store owners. The reality is it enables substance abuse among customers, he said… Federal agents used confidential informants to make purchases, according to a 33-page affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint that details the investigation. The investigation revealed that last year alone, the family-run shop reported selling $6,818 worth of food, yet it redeemed $718,056 in food stamps, prosecutors said...
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
13. Drug violence threatens U.S. truckers
Audrey Hudson Washington Times Saturday, March 28, 2009
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/28/drug-violence-trucker-th...
American truck drivers operating near the U.S.-Mexico border are being warned of increasing violence among warring drug cartels and are being told to stay alert against attacks or hijackings. "Violence amongst Mexican drug cartels in the border states, on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border, has exponentially increased in the past year," according to the alert from First Observer, a trucking security program funded by a Department of Homeland Security grant. "Truck drivers carry a risk, as they are involved in operations that might interest these criminals," the alert said. The alert cited the efforts of Mexican President Felipe Calderon to crack down on cross-border smuggling of drugs, which it says has hurt the cartels' operations…
Thwarted on land, they're smuggling by sea
With tougher enforcement and new barriers rising along the U.S.-Mexico border, many smugglers are taking to the sea to move drugs and immigrants.
By Richard Marosi March 29, 2009 From the Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-smuggling-boats29-2009mar29,0,69...
Reporting from Popotla, Mexico — … With tougher enforcement and new barriers rising on land along the U.S.-Mexico border, many would-be immigrants like the ones crowded aboard the Tiburon are taking to the sea. More than 310 people have been arrested on suspected smuggling boats since October 2007, more than triple the number from the previous 18-month time period. Marijuana seizures have also surged, with more than 29 tons seized in the same time frame, a more than tenfold rise from the previous period. The increase in maritime smuggling has raised concerns with U.S. officials that Mexican trafficking groups are moving to exploit a perceived weakness in border defenses. Though sea journeys are risky, smugglers appear increasingly willing to take their chances on evading the handful of U.S. boats that patrol an area roughly twice the size of Los Angeles…
14. Md. driver's license bill riles foes
Michael Drost Sunday, March 29, 2009 Washington Times
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/29/foes-denounce-drivers-licens...
The Maryland House of Delegates struck an uneasy compromise last week on a bill that would, in effect, allow thousands of illegal immigrants to renew their driver's licenses but require proof of legal status to obtain a new license beginning next month. Opponents say the measure would create two classes of driver's licenses for those who can or cannot prove legal status - for example, with a Social Security number or a pay stub - and also provide a backdoor amnesty for those staying in the country illegally. "It's a bait and switch - it's an amnesty bill under a different name," said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell, Calvert Republican. The amended bill, which is expected to pass the House this week, purports to bring Maryland into compliance with the federal Real ID Act of 2005, which requires states to set tighter standards for documenting residents. Maryland is one of only four states - along with Hawaii, New Mexico and Washington state - that do not check the immigration status of persons trying to obtain a driver's license. Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, and Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) officials came out against the current practice last month. The situation has gotten so bad that businesses run classified ads in Spanish-language publications in the District, Virginia and Maryland urging "undocumented Hispanic friends" to take advantage of the opportunity to get a Maryland ID without having to prove they are in the country legally. In one case, Maryland motor vehicle officials say, 68 people applying for licenses and identification cards gave the same address for an 800-square-foot home in Baltimore...
15. Saturday interview: This man wants to reinvent Canadian multiculturalism
Kevin Libin, National Post March 28, 2009
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1437143
Caught in a rare moment inside his Parliament Hill office, Immigration and Multiculturalism minister Jason Kenney is finished his interview with Fox News to talk about American military deserters seeking refuge in Canada. And an interview with a B.C. television station to discuss the case of a Chinese grandmother needing a special permit to visit Canada to tend to an injured grandson. And a TV reporter wanting to talk about Croatian visa policy. At the same time, his communications staff was fielding calls from reporters about the government's decision to ban British MP George Galloway from visiting Canada, as well as the latest turn in a public battle with the Canadian Arab Federation, and reports on abuses in Canada's refugee system - after finally managing to put aside, for now, the media and political fallout from the minister's comments days earlier about strengthening language proficiency requirements for new citizens. For the past few weeks, and despite pressing matters in portfolios related to the economy, Mr. Kenney has arguably been the most public face of the federal Conservative government, daily stickhandling everything from tricky, politically charged issues, with accusations of racism and unethical political interference, to local-interest immigration sagas. It is, Mr. Kenney admits, an "emotionally draining ... tough position." But, for Mr. Kenney, a full-fledged Cabinet minister for not quite six months, the most challenging and politically perilous work planned for his portfolio - reshaping Canada's approach to immigration and multiculturalism - has scarcely begun. The higher profile matters - the Galloway issue, the scuffle with Arab groups, the language abilities of immigrants - form the early marks of a pattern of what is to come. Rejecting the CAF's support for Islamic terrorists and arguably anti-Semitic messages, Mr. Galloway for financially supporting Hamas, calling for newcomers to better integrate: These are of a piece with efforts to fortify what the Conservatives would call The Canadian Identity. It is, Mr. Kenney makes clear, a vision for a country that stands up for its pluralism, but also for its core liberal traditions of tolerance, democracy and secularism. "We can't afford to be complacent about the challenge of integration," he says. "We want to avoid the kind of ethnic enclaves or parallel communities that exist in some European countries. So far, we've been pretty successful at that, but I think it's going to require greater effort in the future to make sure that we have an approach to pluralism and immigration that leads to social cohesion rather than fracturing."…
Lawyers seek injunction to let Galloway in Canada
Sunday, March 29, 2009 National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1441812
TORONTO -- A Federal Court judge will rule Monday afternoon whether to allow British MP and outspoken antiwar crusader George Galloway to enter Canada for a speaking tour. Lawyers were at a court hearing Sunday seeking an injunction on the ban by Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney so Galloway, who is currently in the U.S., can enter Canada until a judicial review is heard. Meanwhile, supporters of Mr. Galloway said Sunday they plan to move ahead with the controversial politician's Canadian speaking tour by videolink. About 150 people attended the hearing Sunday...
16. DHS Signals Policy Changes Ahead for Immigration Raids
By Spencer S. Hsu Washington Post Sunday, March 29, 2009; 1:19 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/29/AR200903...
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at U.S. workplaces in recent weeks, asking agents in her department to apply more scrutiny to the selection and investigation of targets as well as the timing of raids, federal officials said. A senior department official said the delays signal a pending change in whom agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement choose to prosecute -- increasing the focus on businesses and executives instead of ordinary workers... Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to reduce immigration, said Obama aides are trying to manage the issue until an economic turnaround permits an attempt to overhaul immigration laws...
Other items
17. Muslim Coalition Supports FBI Freeze of CAIR
by IPT News Mon, 30 Mar 2009 at 10:35 AM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3049
An advertisement in the new issue of the Weekly Standard is most welcome to those who argue the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) inflates its support among American Muslims. The ad notes that U.S. government officials have been "mostly baffled by extremism among American Muslims," a state best illustrated by past, warm relations with CAIR: "We, the undersigned American Muslims, have long known the true character of CAIR and its allies." The FBI broke off most contacts with CAIR last summer and has indicated "certain issues" must be resolved by CAIR leaders before its access is restored. Those issues appear connected to evidence in the terror-finance trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) which ended with the conviction of five men on 108 counts related to Hamas-support last November. Sentencing is scheduled for late May. Evidence in the trial places CAIR founders in pivotal conversations among members of a secret Hamas-support network in the U.S. Other transcripts indicate CAIR was a direct outgrowth of that network. The advertisement It was placed by the Center for Islamic Pluralism and signed by four center officials – President Kemal Silay, Executive Director Stephen Suleyman Schwartz, fellow Imaad Malik, Nawab Agha Mousvi and Southern Director Jalal Zuberi. Joining them were Supna Zaidi, an assistant director at Islamist Watch, M. Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Khalim Massoud of Muslims Against Sharia, Kiran Sayyed of the Council for Democracy and Tolerance, and Shia.Protest@yahoo.com. Under the heading "American Muslims Commend FBI for Rejection of CAIR," the group explains the reasons it supports the FBI move. Among them:… Click here to see the entire ad http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/259.pdf
MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA
18. N. Africa Qaeda demands hostages-for-militants swap
Sat Mar 28, 2009 1:16pm EDT Reuters By Tiemoko Diallo
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52R1M120090328
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North African arm has demanded 20 of its members be released from detention in Mali and other countries as a condition for releasing six Western hostages, an Algerian newspaper reported on Saturday. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has said it is holding two Canadian diplomats seized in Niger in December, including the U.N. special representative to the West African country, and four European tourists kidnapped nearby in Mali in January...
19. Al-Qaeda's spreading tentacles in West Africa opposed by traditional leaders
Traditional Islamic leaders from across West Africa are meeting to try and form a common front against al-Qaeda's growing influence in the region.
By Amil Khan in Bamako, Mali The Sunday Telegraph (London) 29 Mar 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3050
Amid the hectic bustle of people and vehicles on the streets of Mali's capital city, Bamako, there are signs of the growing influence of austere Islamic practice that is causing social rifts across Africa. In the market next to the grand mosque in the centre of town, Muslim women with their hair covered but their shoulders and arms bare barter for T-shirts emblazoned with photos of US President Barack Obama. In another part of the market, a young man in the austere Saudi-inspired dress of trousers hitched up at the ankle and long beard berates a bookstall owner for not carrying the "right sort of works". The books the man is referring to are the texts of an austere form of Islam seeping into Africa's Muslim nations that seeks to strictly delineate Muslims by their religious practice and denounce those who fall short as non-believers. It is commonly referred to as "Takfiri". This interpretation, which counts Osama bin Laden among its supporters, is worrying the continent's traditional Islamic leaders, who are meeting in Timbuktu over the weekend to try and decide on a common response…
20. Latest Ship Seizures Broaden Counter-Piracy Challenge
By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service March 27, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53682
WASHINGTON, March 27, 2009 – Two ship seizures in the Indian Ocean in recent days appear to indicate that pirates have broadened their focus beyond the heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden. Pirates hijacked two chemical tankers: the Bahamian-flagged, Norwegian-owned vessel Bowasir on March 25 and the Panamanian-flagged, Greek-owned Nipayia yesterday, a Navy spokesman confirmed. Bowasir and its 23-member crew were operating more than 380 nautical miles southeast of Kismayo, Somalia. Nipayia and its 19 merchant mariners were pirated 490 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, the official said. The seizures were the farthest yet from the Gulf of Aden, where the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet and the international community stepped up patrols after piracy soared last year. "This appears to be a new round of attacks well off the east coast of Somalia vs. in the Gulf of Aden where we had seen the majority of attacks last year and in 2009 to date," the official said. The latest hijackings expand the pirates' operating area, creating what the official called "a monumental challenge" to those working to prevent piracy...
21. Hardline Prince moves closer to Saudi Arabia's throne
One of Saudi Arabia's most conservative Princes has moved closer towards the throne, casting a shadow over the Kingdom's tentative reforms.
By Richard Spencer in Dubai 30 Mar 2009 The Daily Telegraph Telegraph (London)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3051
Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, the interior minister and a half-brother of King Abdullah, has assumed second place in the line of succession. His appointment as second deputy prime minister places him next in line after Crown Prince Sultan. Because King Abdullah is about 84 and the Crown Prince is of the same vintage and in poor health, this makes Prince Nayef highly likely to succeed to the throne. He will take temporary charge of Saudi Arabia while the King attends the G20 summit in London and Crown Prince Sultan recovers from surgery in New York. Prince Nayef, who at 75 is a relatively youthful member of the royal family's senior circle, is a deeply controversial figure. Shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, he was sceptical about the involvement of any Saudis and publicly suggested that "Zionists" were responsible. But he adopted a tough line against al-Qaeda after the kingdom was rocked by a series of attacks in 2003 and 2004. Prince Nayef's elevation has caused a rare public split in the royal family. Prince Talal, a noted reformist, asked the King for assurances about the succession. "I call on the royal court to clarify what is meant by this nomination and that it does not mean that he will become Crown Prince," said Prince Talal…
22. Israeli drones destroy rocket-smuggling convoys in Sudan
Uzi Mahnaimi From The Sunday Times (London) March 29, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5993093.ece
ISRAEL used unmanned drones to attack secret Iranian convoys in Sudan that were trying to smuggle rockets into Gaza. The missiles have the range to strike Tel Aviv and Israel's nuclear reactor at Dimona, defence sources said. The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) attacked two convoys, killing at least 50 smugglers and their Iranian escorts. All the lorries carrying the long-range rockets were destroyed. Had the rockets been delivered to Hamas, the militant Islamic group that controls Gaza, they would have dramatically raised the stakes in the conflict, enabling Palestinians to wreak terror on Tel Aviv. According to western diplomats, Israel attacked the Iranian convoys at the end of January and in the first week of February in the remote Sudan desert, just outside Port Sudan. The convoys had been tracked down by agents from Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence agency. The raids were carried out by Hermes 450 drones. One source claimed they were accompanied by giant Eitan UAVs, which have a 110ft wingspan, similar to that of a Boeing 737. The drones, controlled via satellite, can hover over a target for 24 hours. The Hermes 450 squadron is based at the Palmahim air base, south of Tel Aviv, but it remains unclear from which airfield they took off…
23. Al-Qaeda in Yemen run by capable states, former operative claims
[28 March 2009] Saba News (Yemen)
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news179502.htm
RIYADH, March 28 (Saba) – Mohammed Ateeq al-Aufi al-Harbi, an al-Qaeda leader who was earlier handed over to Saudis after he handed himself in to Yemeni authorities, has said that al-Qaeda in Yemen has links to Iranian intelligence services and Houthi rebels in Saada. In his confessions aired by the Alarabiya channel, al-Aufi said al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen are run by intelligence apparatuses of capable governments which administer them in the name of Mujahedeen targeting Yemen and Saudi Arabia. " We receive money from these governments through Mujahedeen," he said, adding Houthis came to us once and offered us money and logistic support and then I, in my capacity as a filed commander of al-Qaeda in Yemen, started to understand that our group is administered by countries.. but not youth as we learnt. We realized there was a delusive administration for us, he went on. He revealed al-Qaeda new plans to attack foreign targets and oil facilities in Yemen and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. "Al-Qaeda in Yemen became stronger after we, Saudi al-Qaeda branches, came to the country and merged with those colleagues in Yemen," he said. "Al-Qaeda in Yemen was not effective but when Saudi al-Qaeda members arrived in the country a real al-Qaeda network started to take shape, he added...
ASIA / PACIFIC
24. DoD Identifies Navy Casualties
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 199-09 March 28, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12577
The Department of Defense announced today the death of two sailors who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lt. Florence B. Choe, 35, of El Cajon, Calif., and Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV, 26, of Narragansett, R.I., died March 27 when an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire on personnel assigned to Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan at Camp Shaheen, Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan...
Experts confirm deadly IED attack targeted Afghan civilians
ISAF Public Information Office March 28, 2009
http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/pressreleases/2009/03/pr090328-296.html
KABUL, Afghanistan (March 28) – Explosives experts have determined that insurgents deliberately attacked an Afghan civilian bus on Wednesday, in Khowst province, killing 10 civilians and wounding six others. The device used in the deadly explosion was an operator-controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED) rather than a victim-triggered mechanism such as a pressure plate configuration. Afghan National Police (ANP) were the first to respond to the explosion in Naar village, Bak District. The police provided security to the site and coordinated the medical evacuation of the victims in conjunction with International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The ANP also worked closely with ISAF to collect evidence from the site. Forensic examinations by U.S. Counter-IED investigators found that the device was manually detonated from a near-by location. ISAF military reports found that there were no ISAF or Afghan National Security Forces in the area at the time of the explosion, which further indicated that the attackers deliberately targeted the bus which was transporting approximately 20 Afghan civilians.
25. Profile: Richard Kerbaj, investigations reporter at The Times
Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore meets Richard Kerbaj to talk about reporting religious scandal, burning sources, and why the story is the most important thing of all
March 27, 2009 City University Journalism Department Magazine
http://xcity-magazine.com/?p=1308
In 2006, a young reporter flew across Australia to meet an anonymous source at a secret location. On arrival, the reporter, Richard Kerbaj, was handed hundreds of confidential documents, exposing sexual abuse and fraud within a leading Islamic council. It was a colossal scoop. The series of stories that followed in The Australian http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/ rocked the foundations of Australia's Muslim community and toppled the powerful eight-person council executive… Kerbaj, 30, has made a career from exposing corruption within the Muslim community. Today he is on secondment at The Times (London) investigations team. Born in Melbourne, Kerbaj is Druze – a minority religious group found mainly in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. From the ages of two to ten Kerbaj lived in Lebanon, after his family became trapped there while visiting relatives during the civil war... Kerbaj got his big break in December 2005, covering the race riots in the beach-front suburb Cronulla, Sydney. The riots erupted between groups of Lebanese and white, including supremacist, Australians… One hindrance, however, has been the expectations of fellow-Arabic speakers. In 2006 Kerbaj was anonymously sent a recording of a Ramadan sermon, which was delivered by the country's most pre-eminent Muslim cleric, the Mufti Sheik Al-Hilaly. In the sermon Sheik Hilaly trivialized the notorious Sydney gang rapes committed by a group of Lebanese youths. The mufti compared women to "uncovered meat" that attracts voracious animals and described uncovered women as "weapons" used by Satan to control men…
26. Government troops pull back to save ICRC hostages
By Roel Pareño Updated March 29, 2009 12:00 AM The Philippine Star
http://www.philstar.com/ArticlePrinterFriendly.aspx?articleId=453125
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The government has agreed to withdraw troops from a jungle area in Indanan, Sulu in a bid to save three kidnapped Red Cross workers threatened with beheading... The Abu Sayyaf seized Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, Swiss Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni last Jan. 15. Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad has threatened to behead one of them unless the military withdraws from the area by tomorrow, and said one hostage would be set free if the demand was met... Founded in the 1990s by Afghan-trained firebrand Abubakar Abdurajak Janjalani to fight for an independent Islamic state, the Abu Sayyaf is the smallest but most radical of Muslim groups in Mindanao. Janjalani was killed in a clash with police in 1998 and the group degenerated into a terrorist organization specializing in bombings, extortion and high profile kidnappings. It is blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks, and is believed to have established links with the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group. The group has been known to behead its captives.
