Intel and Ops update

Syrian Mufti: May Allah Curse Anyone Who Kills An Israeli Child

In a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Syrian Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun came out with a surprising call: "May Allah curse anyone who kills a Palestinian, Israeli, or Iraqi child or man, because he is killing a person whom Allah honored without connection to his religious belief."

The mufti added that if the Ka'ba, the Church of the Nativity, or the Al-Aqsa Mosque were to be destroyed, someone would rise up to rebuild them, but when a person was killed no one could bring them back to life.

Source: champress.net, January 16, 2008

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/4636.htm

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Arab Human Rights Convention Now In Force

The director of the human rights department in the Arab league, Muhammad Rashed, has announced that the Arab Human Rights Convention is now in force.

The convention is the first of its kind in the Arab world.

He said that Egypt and Yemen will join the convention, which has already been ratified by seven Arab countries - the UAE, Jordan, Algeria, Bahrain, Libya, Syria, and the Palestinian Authority.

Source: Al-Ahram, Egypt, January 15, 2008

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/4632.htm

Human Rights Activists Arrested In Syria

The Committees for the Defense of Democracy Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria reported that two major Syrian human rights activists were arrested on January 12.

The two are Mazen Darwish, head of the Center for Freedom of the Media and Expression and member of the Committees secretariat, and Hassan Kamal, administrative director of the Center.

Source: www.cdf-sy.org, January 15, 2008

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/4597.htm

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Senior Saudi Cleric: Suicide Bombers Doomed To Eternal Torment In Hell

Sheikh Dr. Salah bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan, member of the Senior Ulamaa Council and of the Saudi Fatwa Committee, said that anyone who carries out a suicide attack and calls it jihad in the path of Allah while hoping to die as a martyr is judged as someone who kills himself, and his punishment is eternal torment in hell, because jihad is innocent of such operations.

Source: Al-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 12, 2008

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/4565.htm

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Paki Convenience clicks Currency Converter : Drivinig Directions : Money Gram : Paskistan International Airlines : Pakistani Missions Abroad : Western Union : World Clock : World Map

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New Trojan can drain your bank accounts, on the banks web site.

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UN slaps sanctions on 3 Qaeda-linked Kuwaitis
any connection to the Kuwaiti Death threat against Bush?

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Al-Qaida has little future in the USA franchise

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Most terrorist trails lead back to Pakistan, Britain's MI5 (internal intelligence service) concluded a year ago. An average of some 400,000 Pakistani Brits a year fly back to the old country for vacation or to visit their relatives. From the airports in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, where they land, side trips to the madrasas -- Koranic schools -- where they were originally radicalized, or to a terrorist training camp in the tribal areas that straddle the Pakistani-Afghan border, go undetected. There is no way to keep track of thousands of passengers arriving from the United Kingdom every day. Nor can MI5 cope with up to 1,000 a day returning to their U.K. homes from trips to Pakistan. Germans having same problem with Turkey.
SOURCE:

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Extremists led by Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan captured hundreds of Pakistani soldiers and demanded the release from custody of their colleagues in exchange for the soldiers. Governor Aurakzai initiated negotiations with Mehsud and a deal was struck, under which thirty-two 'terrorists' would be released and the Pakistani soldiers would be set free.

However, when six of the negotiated thirty-two were not released, and one of the released was re-captured from DI Khan, Mehsud accused the government of going back on its word and broke contact. Two senior tribal area advisors to General Aurakzai protested when the deal was violated; both were replaced.

But one thing should be kept in mind that the United States cannot achieve success without involvement of tribesmen in the operaation. Now the question arises as to who will represent the tribesmen in making a deal? The US should select a leader from the tribal areas for making the war on terror successful. The government officials governing the tribal areas at the moment have failed in achieving the results.

SOURCE:

( We have an email into author abput the first sentenance? No reply as of yet. )

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Intel and ops update

Waziristan

• Militants Seized Scouts Fort in Waziristan - Jan 16, 2008 - unknown
• Talks for release of officials collapse - Jan 16, 2008 - unknown
• 13-year-old suicide bomber sole casualty in Mohmand blast - Jan 16, 2008 - unknown
• Terror camps shift to J&K - Jan 16, 2008 - WJ
• Militants Escape Control of Pakistan, Officials Say - Jan 16, 2008 - WJ

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Egyptian Liberal Authors: It Is Up to the Arabs to Bring Peace to the Middle East ( Now where have you heard that before. )

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Bin Laden: Saudis are main enemy in Iraq.

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Mehsud-Wazir tension grows after power cut

Daily Times, Pakistan

- Jan 16, 2008- 7 hours ago

By Iqbal Khattak PESHAWAR: Tension between the Mehsud and Ahmedzai Wazir tribes is growing in South Waziristan after power supply to Wana was apparently ..

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OP's and Intel update:

Police hunt for 'English brothers' who spent year in al-Qaeda camp
Zahid Hussain in Islamabad and Daniel McGrory
Police are trying to trace a gang of British Muslims who are thought to have returned to plot terror attacks in Britain after being trained abroad for more than a year by al-Qaeda, Nine Britons, all said to be in their twenties, were among a group of 12 Western recruits groomed by al-Qaeda at a secret camp near the Afghan border to set up new terror cells in London and other Western capitals.

Police do not know the real identities of this gang, who are known as the "English brothers" because of their shared language. As well as nine Britons, they include two Norwegians and an Australian who were smuggled into the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan in October 2005.

They are believed to have been under the command of an al-Qaeda veteran suspected of training some of the Britons accused of the alleged plot to blow up passenger planes flying to the US from Heathrow airport in the summer.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1264108.ece

http://tinyurl.com/32frty

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Report: Germany expelled Iran diplomat who sought nuke parts
By Reuters
Tags: Iran, uranium enrichment

BERLIN - Germany expelled an Iranian diplomat in July after he tried to acquire components for the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear program, a magazine reported on Saturday.

The Der Spiegel weekly said the expulsion came after the diplomat contacted a specialist firm in the southern state of Bavaria to buy a systems control component which would be essential in the enrichment of uranium.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/934727.html

http://tinyurl.com/2yarlg

Iran's strange reaction? GUILTY, SCARED?
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LOST

Blog by Erla Ósk Arnardóttir Lillendahl:

(English Translation: Gunnar Tómasson, Certified translator)

During the last twenty-four hours I have probably experienced the greatest humiliation to which I have ever been subjected. During these last twenty-four hours I have been handcuffed and chained, denied the chance to sleep, been without food and drink and been confined to a place without anyone knowing my whereabouts, imprisoned. Now I am beginning to try to understand all this, rest and review the events which began as innocently as possible.

http://eggmann.blog.is/blog/eggmann/entry/389611/

http://tinyurl.com/2dukmm

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Intel and Ops update:

NIE mess.
By Walid Phares
Thus, logically, as a conglomeration of various interests is using the NIE findings as tacit approval for shielding the Iranian regime, Washington naively has trapped itself with the product of the best of the best in its national intelligence apparatus. Every word now used by this writer will be put to the task of demonstrating to my readers that, if anything, this NIE Report has revealed a major systemic problem with United States national security analysis; and that further, America's ability to understand and detect threats against itself has been compromised.

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/12/misestimating_irans_nuclear_st.php

http://tinyurl.com/25q2a8

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By Evan Kohlmann
On December 4, the Izzadeen al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement) published the transcript of an English-language question-and-answer session conducted over e-mail with one of its spokesman known as "Abu Obaida." During the public interview, Abu Obaida bluntly dismissed Al-Qaida Deputy Commander Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri's recent criticisms of Hamas as merely a "media" spectacle: "We do not tell Al-Dhawahry [Al-Zawahiri] what to do in Afghanistan since we are not aware of his situation...His judgments and opinions are his; but they are not correct. More importantly, we are not awaiting approval or blessing from anyone except Allah."

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/12/hamas_distances_itself_from_za.php

http://tinyurl.com/ysrto8

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By Michael Jacobson
Some analysts are arguing that because last week's National Intelligence Estimate concluded that Iran halted its covert nuclear program in 2003, sanctions against Iran are no longer necessary. In fact, the opposite conclusion could be drawn from the report, which suggests that Iran is vulnerable to outside pressure on the nuclear issue - and much more still needs to be done on this front.

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/12/iran_report_makes_case_for_kee.php

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By Victor Comras

Kosovo’s Albanian community leaders will likely unilaterally declare Kosovo’s secession and independence from Serbia in the next few weeks. This follows the failure of UN sponsored negotiations on Kosovo’s final status. This will not be a smooth separation and is likely to be accompanied by inter-ethnic violence and growing tension along Kosovo’s borders with all its neighbors. The United States and Europe are poised to quickly recognize Kosovo, but Russia and other Slavic countries bordering Kosovo are not. The repercussions are likely to be felt throughout the Balkan region, and especially with regard to Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke’s excellent November 25th Opinion Piece in the Washington Post should serve as a wakeup call to this very dangerous situation. Ambassador Holbrooke wrote:.....

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/12/keeping_kosovo_from_becoming_a.php

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This is our automated Taliban tracking section.

Currently featuring "Musa Qala".
A quick way to check OSINT
You tube vids
news feeds
our Blog feeds
and below "search top 50 terror blogs.

Gerald

http://paradigmintel.blogspot.com/index.html

http://tinyurl.com/yu4uuj

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Al-Shayi':

In the interview, titled "I Set Out to Seek Jihad - And They Turned Me into a Pawn for Killing Innocents... My Going There Was a Grave Mistake," Al-Shayi' recounted the unfolding of events from the time he left Saudi Arabia for Iraq via Syria to his injury while detonating a truck bomb in Baghdad, his arrest, and his extradition to Saudi Arabia, where he renounced his jihadist views.

"I left for Iraq in order to participate in the jihad, and to fight the occupiers - [at least] that was what I thought at the time. The commander of my group, Abu 'Abd Al-Rahman, asked me to deliver a fuel tanker to a particular place in the Al-Mansour residential neighborhood in Baghdad, and drew me a diagram of the spot. I told him that I didn't know how to drive a heavy vehicle, but he said that [it] was easy.....

http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD178007

http://tinyurl.com/ywfxk9

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Fake Passports ID's and Cash Seized from Illinois Man Now Held On $3 Million Bail

December 4, 2007

Mohammed Afzal Sodagar is facing charges that include identity theft, possession of phony ID and domestic battery. He was arrested after Morton Grove police responded to a call for help from his son and searched the family home.

In court documents, prosecutor Sharon Kanter says police found $59,000 and a dozen different passports from Pakistan, Jamaica and the United States, each with a different name. Kanter says officials also found eleven Illinois ID cards with Sodagar's photo but different names and dozens of credit cards and Social Security cards.

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/04/fake-passports-ids-and-cash-seized-from-illinois-man-held-on-3-million-bail/

http://tinyurl.com/26wrb7

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By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan Dec 10, 2007 (AP)
Hundreds of Taliban fighters fled in trucks and motorbikes Monday as Afghan and international troops fought their way into the only important town controlled by the hard-line Islamic movement.

Afghan officers reported some militants, possibly al-Qaida, were still resisting in the center of Musa Qala, and said the attacking force controlled the southern town but was moving slowly toward the center because streets were boobytrapped with improvised bombs.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3978930

http://tinyurl.com/25ou4c

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Afghan forces detain alleged key Taliban facilitator


KABUL, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have detained a "high value" target during a Dec. 6 operation in Bermel district of southeastern Paktika province, said a statement issued here Saturday by the U.S.-led Coalition forces.

The ANSF raided a compound suspected of housing the militant after receiving credible intelligence provided by a rival facilitator, it said.

The detainee, according to the Coalition statement, is suspected of being a major Taliban Improvised Explosive Device (IED) facilitator and intelligence collector for a terrorist network

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/08/content_7219194.htm

http://tinyurl.com/27ozk6

Ops and Intel update:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 A September raid near the Syrian border uncovered what U.S. military officials term "an al-Qaida Rolodex" of hundreds of foreign fighters in Iraq.

A senior U.S. military official in Baghdad has confirmed to CNN that the raid netted documents listing the identities of more than 700 foreign fighters believed to have entered the country in the past year.

The official said the documents, along with other intelligence, indicated that as many as 60 percent of the foreign fighters were from Saudi Arabia and Libya, CNN reported.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/146903.html

http://tinyurl.com/yuzory

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Hackers Abuse Domain-Name Trust
November 20, 2007
By Andy Patrizio

Using variations on trusted, popular domains has long been a common tactic for scammers, spammers and porn sites. But cyber criminals have devised a new twist on the misspelled domain-name trick by hijacking IP addresses. And they tried it on Yahoo.

To fix the old problem, server-based security products would trace the IP address of the server behind the domain. Once the IP address resolved the misspelled domain name, the products would then compare the IP address against a database of known fraudulent sites or questionable locations. So if a site were masquerading as eBay but the filters found it was really a server in China that had only been established one week earlier, it would block access.

In the case of Yahoo, security firm Finjan said hackers exploited an unused IP address within Yahoo's hierarchy and used that as the domain address behind a forged Google Analytics domain name. This fooled the Web-filtering products into believing a person was going to a highly trusted Yahoo domain. The victims never knew they were on a malicious Web site, and neither did the security mechanisms on the network.

"They managed to resolve the domain name to an IP address owned by Yahoo. How they added an address into a DNS server to appear to be an IP address owned by Yahoo is unknown," Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CTO of Finjan, told InternetNews.com. He added that Yahoo, while responsive and quick to shut down the compromised address, did not disclose exactly what equipment was behind the compromised IP address.

http://www.esecurityplanet.com/trends/article.php/3712121

http://tinyurl.com/2t4yje

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Australian police get go-ahead on spyware

A new law gives Australian police the power to install spyware and Trojans on suspected criminals' computers.

By Munir Kotadia
Special to CNET News.com

Published: December 15, 2004, 8:18 AM PST

Australian police have been given the power to install spyware and Trojans on suspected criminals' computers under the new Surveillance Devices Act.

The Surveillance Devices Act allows both federal and state police to use key logging and tracking software when investigating offenses that carry a maximum sentence of three years, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Neil Campbell, national security manager of IT services company Dimension Data, said the laws needed updating because of confusion when dealing with new technologies. Campbell previously spent six years working with the Australian Federal Police computer crime team.

"If the police intercept SMS messages that have not yet been delivered, should that be classified as a telephone interception or as a regular search? Getting a search warrant is relatively easy--you need to show reasonable grounds that executing the search will provide evidence as to the commission of an offense. But getting an interception warrant is difficult," Campbell said.

SOURCE:

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Pak-Afghan border to be guarded with new system Saturday November 24, 2007 (0226 PST)

KABUL: Afghanistan will install electronic Sensor system on a number of spots on the border areas of the country to avoid cross-movement of the anti-social elements, security officials said .

Brig Gen Said Amanullah Saddat deputy chief of the border police in the Interior Ministry told Pajhwok Afghan News preliminary works for installation of the electronic machines had been completed.

Speaking during a certificate distribution for 27 Rapid-Action Forces graduates for the eastern Nangarhar province, he said the project would cost $45m to be provided by United States.

Though it was not know when the project would be functional but Sadat said that cross border movement was the attention of both Kabul and Islamabad due to the increasing terrorist activities.

SOURCE:

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ISNA - Tehran
Service: Foreign Policy

TEHRAN, Nov. 23 (ISNA) Iran's ambassador to Russia said that Iran is ready to provide the Islamic states with its nuclear technology on the condition that the IAEA principles are obeyed.

Emphasizing on the nationalization of the nuclear science in Iran, Gholam Reza Ansari said, "These are technologies that have been acquired by Iranian scientists."

http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1038816&Lang=E

http://tinyurl.com/2zn9ls

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US Admiral Timothy Keating: US more prepared than ever to face threat from Iran

November 23, 2007, 6:29 PM (GMT+02:00)

The admiral, head of US military operations in 41 countries, said the United States military machine is undiminished after four years of fighting in Iraq and more prepared than ever to face any threat from Iran. He spoke in Bahrain Friday, Nov. 23, after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad labeled the US army "shabby" and said the West had "rusty and disabled weapons." Adm. Keating went on to say: "Because of our continued presence and exercises we've had… the Fifth Fleet and Central Command's ability to provide for peace and stability is even better than before."

http://www.debka.com/

http://tinyurl.com/1jxm

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ops and Intel update:

Shifting its strategy, the United States has drafted a proposal to build an armed tribal paramilitary force in Pakistan's frontier areas by enlisting local leaders to counter the expanding base of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the region.

If adopted, the proposal is likely to expand the presence of the US military trainers in Pakistan, directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force, that until now has proved largely ineffective, and pay militias, who agreed to fight Al Qaeda and foreign extremists, the New York Times said, quoting officials.

http://ia.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/19pak.htm

http://tinyurl.com/359fmf

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But Osama has had a tough six years. Consider the consequences of 9/11. His Afghan bastion fell quickly. Yes, the Taliban still murder villagers and send suicide bombers toward Kabul, but the Taliban of today is a fanatic fragment of the organization that once ruled 90 percent of Afghanistan by terror.

Osama also sought to transform an intra-Muslim war. Sept. 11 was his violent magic trick, the sensational abracadabra that would cover the Muslim world's fissures and fractures with the facade of a pan-Islamic jihad. Osama, of course, would serve as the new caliph, thank you.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071117/OPINION/711170305/1049

http://tinyurl.com/3yctwo

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In August 2004, for example, the U.S. military deployed satellites, high-flying U-2 spy planes, and 16 surveillance drones to stare at a 20-kilometer stretch of road from Baghdad to Balad. The idea was to spot any improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, being planted on the critical route. Despite hundreds of thousands of pictures taken, not a single bomb was found.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/joshua-r-fairle.html#more

http://tinyurl.com/2ox254

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First, let's start with an underreported explosion that occurred in a Syrian military base outside Aleppo on July 26. Jane's Defense Weekly reported, citing Syrian defense sources, as saying the explosion took place during a test to fit a "Scud C" missile with a mustard-gas warhead. It quoted the sources as saying the explosion occurred when fuel caught fire in the missile production laboratory.

But there might be another explanation. Kuwait's Al Seyassah newspaper recently reported that a Shiite Lebanese religious cleric claimed the Iranians were allegedly supervising a chemical weapons manufacturing program and that tens of Iranian experts and engineers died as a result of that explosion. He also said Israelis attacked the base. He added that Western officials told him they received proof from Israel on the Syrian chemical weapons program. Even if Israel's involvement is not proven, what remains sure is that it must be very happy that a chemical weapons facility in Syria has been partly destroyed.

You can read the rest here.

http://counterterrorismblog.org/

http://tinyurl.com/e64k5

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I'm sorry, I just never tire of the idea that there's a JTAC on the ground, under fire, who calls in for CAS to a pilot in a trailer in Nevada, who sends a command to a robot plane buzzing overhead, which drops the bomb perfectly, which kills the enemy, which saves the JTAC and his unit.

http://www.defensetech.org/

http://tinyurl.com/622wh

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According to a short story by Walter Pincus in the Washington Post, the State Department has a small crew of Arabic speakers whose job is to zorch around the internet and dive into Islamic and mid-East-oriented blogs when they take a nasty, anti-American turn.

The State Department, departing from traditional public diplomacy techniques, has what it calls a three-person, "digital outreach team" posting entries in Arabic on "influential" Arabic blogs to challenge misrepresentations of the United States and promote moderate views among Islamic youths in the hopes of steering them from terrorism.
The department's bloggers "speak the language and idiom of the region, know the culture reference points and are often able to converse informally and frankly, rather than adopt the usually more formal persona of a U.S. government spokesperson," Duncan MacInnes, of State's Bureau of International Information Programs, told the House Armed Services subcommittee on terrorism and unconventional threats on Thursday.
"Because blogging tends to be a very informal, chatty way of working," MacInnes said, "it is actually very dangerous to blog." So State has a senior experienced officer, who served in Iraq, acting as supervisor and discussing each posting before it goes up. "We do not make policy," MacInnes added.
The State Department team's approach is to join a blog's conversation, often when it turns to the motivation for U.S. policy toward Iraq, and when others are claiming that the U.S. occupation is meant to help Israel or to secure oil. "Our job is to address that motivation issue and show them that that's not the motivation," MacInnes said.

But it seems to me State's internet commandos are well aware that they could be raked over the coals, and they're careful in how they approach the blogosphere.

Even though the State Department employees were not going into hard-core terrorist sites, the worry, MacInnes said, was that after identifying themselves and using their own names, "we would be, in the parlance of the Internet, 'flamed' when we come on" -- meaning their entries would be subjected to intense attacks.
They were not, and there were such posts as, "We don't like your policies but we're sure glad you're here talking to us about it,"

http://www.defensetech.org/

http://tinyurl.com/622wh

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Intel and OPs update

+ Lockheed Martin Ships 500th Patriot To The US Army
Dallas TX (SPX) Aug 17, 2007 - Lockheed Martin recently recognized delivery of the 500th PAC-3 Missile to the U.S. Army during a celebration at the PAC-3 Missile production facility in Camden, AR. PAC-3 Missiles have been delivered and deployed around the world with U.S. forces and U.S. allies. The PAC-3 Missile is currently the world's only fielded pure kinetic energy air defense missile. ... more


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+ Russian bombers getting closer to US: American commander
Washington (AFP) Aug 14, 2007 - Long-range Russian bombers are flying more often and closer to US territory, a top US commander said Tuesday, as Moscow made its latest show of military might with exercises over the North Pole. General Gene Renuart, Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command, the agencies charged with protecting US and Canadian airspace, said that US forces would c ... more

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MILF Seeks Leverage as Fighting Against Abu Sayyaf and MNLF Escalates

On August 3, U.S. federal agents arrested Rahmat Abdhir, a 43-year old dual Malaysian national working as a computer engineer in California. In the 16-count indictment, he was charged with providing material support to a designated terrorist, Zulkiflir Abdhir (aka Zulkifli bin Hir or Marwan)—a senior leader of Jemaah Islamiya (JI), currently based in the southern Philippines—and Rahmat's younger brother (Terrorism Focus, April 3). Rahmat was in frequent e-mail contact with Zulkifli, and sent him more than $10,000, and also packages of materials, including ammunition clips, two way radios, rifle scopes, uniforms and other equipment. Perhaps the most interesting part of the indictment was e-mail correspondence between Zulkifli and Rahmat's brother that sheds some important light on the very complicated dynamics of the ongoing relationship between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), hardline elements within the MILF and JI. The spate of fighting between the MILF and government forces in June-August puts the relationship into further context.

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Abu Yahya al-Libi: Al-Qaeda's Theological Enforcer - Part 2
By Michael Scheuer

Today, the most lethal strategic danger to al-Qaeda's viability and goals is the same as when Osama bin Laden declared war on the United States in 1996: the threat of a premature, worldwide intra-civilizational conflict between Sunni Muslims and Shiites. Bin Laden has always kept al-Qaeda's three main strategic priorities clear and consistent: first, to use incremental increases in force to drive the United States as far as possible out of the Muslim world; second, to destroy the apostate Muslim regimes and Israel; and finally, once the first two steps have been accomplished, to violently settle the Sunnis' historical scores with the heretical Shiites. Having set this agenda in the mid-1990s, bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri have repeatedly reinforced the absolute need to avoid widespread Shiite-Sunni conflict. Bin Laden made this point on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in February 2003 (Waaqiah.com, February 14, 2003); al-Zawahiri reemphasized it to brutally anti-Shiite Abu Musab al-Zarqawi—then al-Qaeda's chief in Iraq—in July 2005
As noted in Part 1 of this article,