:
Th Aug 11 -

SLY OPS -

*The Guardian has today published a Comment piece by Sa'ad al-Fagih. Al-Fagih is described as 'a leading exiled Saudi dissident and director of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia'. I am concerned that the Guardian does not know that on 23 Dec 2004, Mr Al-Fagih was included on the United Nations 1267 Committee consolidated list of individuals belonging to or associated with the Al Qaida organisation.

My concern is this. If the Comments Editor of the Guardian did not know that al-Fagih is included on the United Nations list, he should have known. If he did know, the article should have informed your readers of al-Fagih's status.*

:: dave t at Harry's Place ::
-- from a Letter to the Editor --

...

:
Th Aug 11 -

DIA's *ABLE DANGER* UNIT -

*Members of the commission are reviewing claims that more than a year before the 2001 attacks defense intelligence officials had identified ringleader Mohammed Atta and three other hijackers, and that they were already inside the United States. A statement could come by the end of the week.*

:: FOXNews ::

...

:
Th Aug 11 -

OZ QAEDA -

*Australian intelligence officers are studying a video broadcast on Arab television showing a masked militant with an apparently Australian accent making terror threats, officials said on Wednesday.*
--------------------------
*ASIO officers were stunned when this balaclava-clad man appeared on Arab television yesterday threatening a bloody campaign against Western countries with troops inside Iraq...

Deliberately switching between a London cockney and Australian accent, the man appeared determined to disguise his origins.

But language experts yesterday told The Daily Telegraph the man probably spent part of his childhood in Australia and it was more likely his British accent was fake.

"From listening to this man speak, it's clear he has spent quite a bit of his youth in Australia," Dr Felicity Cox from Macquarie University said.*

Accent on terror ...
do you recognise the voice?
---------------------------
*Forensic linguist Georgina Heydon, of Monash University, said the man's speech suggested his parents came from a non-English-speaking background, but it was not possible to say where in Australia he had lived.

Further, detailed, phonetic analysis of the man's voice was possible, but it would take weeks, Dr Heydon said.*

...

:
Th Aug 11 -

OPPRESSED MOSLEM YUPPIES
Make Full-Length Terror Movie -

*The three-part video, titled The War of the Oppressed People, depicts what appears to be a few months in the lives of a group of fighters in wilderness camps in the Afghan mountains.

The two-hour tape, which Al-Arabiya SAT TV described as a documentary and ran over the weekend, bears the name of Al Sahab Productions - the production company used by Al Qaeda for numerous other videos.

It’s subtitled in Arabic but carries interviews in English, French, Pashtu, Urdu and Arabic spoken with Yemeni, Saudi and Iraqi accents. English-speaking members address people in the West directly.*

Hey, Martha--
it's got subtitles, too!

:: FOXNews: Terror Tape ::

...

:
We Aug 10 -

IRAQI WOMEN'S STATUS -

*The final version of the Iraqi constitution is set to be completed by Aug. 15, and drafts currently circulating the country include proposals that could significantly weaken the status of women in Iraq.*

Kay Granger and
Ellen Tauscher Op-Ed piece:
:: Undermining Iraqi women ::

*In spite of the heat and the dust that's covering Baghdad for the 2nd day, more than a hundred Iraqi women representing NGOs and active groups gathered to declare their demands in equality and a civil family and personal affairs law.*

IRAQ THE MODEL has a long
entry with photos on this issue:
:: ITM: perma ::

...

:
T/We Aug 10 -

BAKRI JUST ON HOLIDAY -

"No one can stop me
returning to London."

Whitehall officials
believe that they can...

*Immigration rules will be changed within days to ensure that the extremist Muslim cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed will never be allowed back into Britain.*

:: The Times of London ::

...

:
T/We Aug 10 -

KEEP LONDON FLYING:
Ad Provokes Complaints -

*The advert showed Winston Churchill making his famous V for Victory sign along with a speech bubble saying: "We shall fly them to the beaches, we shall fly them to the hills, we shall fly them to London!"

Text at the bottom
of the advert said:
"Let's keep London flying."*

:: SKYNEWS ::

...

:
T/We Aug 10 -

BAGHDAD MAYOR "FIRED" -

Alaa al-Tamimi has been sacked
as Mayor of Baghdad under
murky circumstances.

*Mr Tamimi himself said 120 gunmen
stormed his office and installed the
provincial governor in his place.*

:: BBC: ousted ::

:
T/We Aug 10 -

SPECTATORS -

"How can so many
people watch Iraq as if
they were spectators?"

Christopher Hitchens
writes a compelling essay:

:: The Iraq War ::

...

:
T/We Aug 10 -

KHALID ON ICE -

How did I miss this??? Khalid Jarrar
was arrested by the new Iraqi MI5. This
entire episode whizzed right past me!

Then finally I understood why I was there, after few hours. Security guards at the university had printed out all the websites I was reading while I was online there. They were accusing me of "reading terrorism sites" and "having communications with foreign terrorists."

"Do you know what these
pages are?" [he asked me].

I looked at them and figured out they were the comment section of Raed in the Middle!!

I had opened the comments section while browsing in the university, read some comments, and didn’t even post anything.

Well, fancy that! MI5 suspected that his brother Raed's blog was some sort of gathering place for terrorists. How could they have thunk such a thing?! Now, there's a real thumb-sucker for you to mull over :-)

Anyhoo, they finally figured out that Khalid is just a mixed-up teenager. And they let him go. But not before lots of Americans and others apparently wrote to the authorities on his behalf.

Glad to learn that he was exonerated.

:: KHALID'S BLOG: perma ::

...

:
T/We Aug 10 -

WORD-SNIFFERS:

*Harmless drudges hot on
the trail of patooties, muppets,
ginks, chuckleheads and chavs.*

A new edition of the Oxford
Dictionary of English
hits the streets.

Cute article by Alan Hamilton.

:: The Times of London ::

...

:
T/We Aug 10 -

DEFEDE FIRING at Romenesko -

*Diaz ... said ... he and Fiedler wanted
to verify that the columnist continued
to record Teele after he refused to go
on the record. "That was important
to us," Diaz said.*

:: From Mon, Aug 9th ::
:: From Tues, Aug 10th ::

Past Entries Here:
:: DEATH: Aug 2 ::
:: Tangle: Aug 3 ::
:: DYING WISH: Aug 8 ::

...

:
T/We Aug 10 -

SHADID'S BOOK: A Preview -

The long-awaited book on Iraq
by Anthony Shadid will be published
Sept. 7 by Henry Holt. The book is titled:

Night Draws Near:
Iraq's People in the
Shadow of America's War.

:: From E+P ::

...

:
T/We Aug 10 -

DO-IT-YOURSELF DEPT -

Running out of theories
about Current Events?

Here's a handy-dandy little
machine to help you along.

It's a Bush Random
Conspiracy Theory Generator :-)

:: Generator ::

...

:
M/Tu Aug 9 -

AGITATOR LEAVES -

*Omar Bakri Mohammed, the man who founded Hizb'ut Tahrir UK, Al Muhajiroun, and the Saviour Sect has quit the UK for Lebanon. Poor Lebanon.*

"He left London via Heathrow
airport on Saturday morning."

:: Harry's Place: Bye Bye Bakri ::


And he couldn’t resist a final dig
at the nation that has supported
him in benefits since 1985.

He said from Beirut:
"I left on Sunday. Britain is now
like living under Saddam Hussein."

:: Neil Syson at The Sun ::

...

:
Mo Aug 8 -

DEFEDE DEFIES
DYING MAN'S LAST WISH -

Have only recently relocated to South Florida, I am not familiar with the people involved in this situation, but was horrified by the recent news episode of Arthur Teele's suicide.

Although reporter DeFede was discharged from his columnist position at The Herald newspaper, he hasn't let that stop him from continuing to publicize the lurid elements surrounding Teele's death.

He appeared last Sunday on a local TV show hosted by Michael Putney. And the following is an excerpt from the Howard Kurtz national CNN TV show, Reliable Sources:

KURTZ: Let's explain what happened here.
Why did Art Teele call you shortly
before committing suicide?

DEFEDE: Well, I hadn't spoken to Art in about four months, and when he called me, he was calling me -- he was very upset, as you said, he was very distraught. He was almost in tears. He wanted to talk to me about allegations that were about to surface that he'd had a homosexual affair with a transvestite prostitute, who was in jail telling his story to various news media, and he was devastated by this. And as I started talking to Art, I didn't turn on the tape recorder until several minutes into the conversation, because initially I thought Art was just venting.

It was my distinct impression that Teele was so distraught because he didn't want his young son exposed to these lurid allegations and was desperate to shield the boy from what Teele seemed to believe would psychologically damage his son.

Despite Teele's evident wishes, DeFede continues to circulate this lurid discourse. I find DeFede's behavior monstrously insensitive.

Granted, there are some publications which cover such topics. But The Herald may not choose to join them.

...

:
Mo Aug 8 -

SUSPECT INTERNET HONCHO -

Babar Ahmad, a 31-year-old computer whiz and mechanical engineer, is in a British prison fighting extradition to the US.

*His case shows how a well-educated engineer operating in London could allegedly use the Web to project a message of Islamic extremism to a global audience.*

This is a rather long report by Craig Whitlock at the WaPo. So far, the first page looks like it's very good. I'm going to try to return to read more of it later on-- memo to myself.

:: His Bully Pulpit ::
-- Reg Req'd --

...

:
Mo Aug 8 -

DISSECTING THE U.S. FATWA -

*A number of North American-based Muslim organizations, clerics and activists held a recent press conference in Washington to release a 'fatwa against Terrorism.' The religious edict, unveiled at a critical time following the London bombings, is certainly the subject of significant interest.*

Walid Phares examines the issue.

:: The Washington fatwa ::
-- WashTimes --

...

:
Mo Aug 8 -

CLIPPINGS - Some Items
from The Khaleej Times -

# THE SECRET IN THE WELL:
Saudi police have seized weapons and explosives in Kuraidah, south of Madinah, according to Al Watan. The cache was found inside an abandoned well.

Saleh Al Oufi, KSA's Most Wanted Terrorist, comes from that area and is believed to be hiding out in the vicinity.


# DISARRAY IN GAZA:
*A representative of Faruq Kaddoumi, the chairman of the ruling Fatah party, was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip yesterday, just days after announcing the creation of a new "popular army," his office said.*

+ There are going to be
competing armies in Gaza???


# THE PHONE GUY:
*Police and intelligence agents have arrested the operator of a public telephone call shop in eastern Pakistan under suspicion that he has links to Al Qaeda...

Osama bin Yousaf was arrested late Sunday night in Faisalabad, Punjab Province... He is suspected of providing shelter to foreign Al Qaeda militants and acting as a communication link for members of the network, an official said.*

+ Is this too good to be true or what?

:: Khaleej Times: Front Page ::

...

:
Mo Aug 8 -

CHATTERING FEELGOODism -

*Opposition to the liberation
of Iraq has become a cause-celebre
for the broader British elite.

And this is why William Shawcross'
book Allies is a timely
contribution to the debate.*

Amir Taheri reviews the book.

:: Gulf News ::

...

:
Su Aug 7 -

SICK NEW CYBER GAME -

*London Underground bosses have
slammed a sick new Internet game where
virtual suicide bombers blow themselves
up on the London Underground.

In the twisted game - called
Mind The Bombs - terrorists have
boarded trains and you have to stop
them carrying out their missions
by defusing the explosives.*

An Internet Exclusive
By Dave Masters

:: The Sun ::

...

:
Su Aug 7 -

THE FANTASTIC FOUR -

Remember "The Magnificent 19"?

*A London Times undercover investigation has caught leaders of a radical Islamic group inciting young British Muslims to become terrorists and praising the Tube bombers as "the fantastic four"...

The Saviour Sect was established 10 months ago when its predecessor group Al-Muhajiroun was disbanded after coming under close scrutiny by the authorities.*

:: Inside the sect ::

...

:
Su Aug 7 -

FRACTIOUS MOSLEM LEADER -

As if the Brits haven't already had enough of the small handful of hate-mongering Moslem clerics among them, another Moslem leader seems to be emerging as an irritant.

Dr Mohammed Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, is detrimental to good community relations, according to Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood. There have been calls for him to resign, but Naseem claims that 4,000 worshippers have voted for him to stay.

:: BBC: sparks fresh row ::

...

:
Su Aug 7 -

CHITCHAT: overheard,
overwrought and over there -

It was revealed Saturday that Allied Forces in northern Iraq seized a letter last week during a raid on a safe house written by an enemy agent, the self-styled "Emir" Abu Zayd, kvetching to mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi about the decline in quality of the work by the mujahideen in his Mosul area territory.

Who died and appointed
him the Pope of Mosul?

Well, you can't get good
help anywhere these days.

:: CNN: Iraqi insurgent ::

...