REUTERS: Bush to Impose Syria Sanctions Soon, WHouse Says

The White House said on Friday it would soon impose sanctions on Syria for allegedly supporting terrorism and for failing to stop guerrillas entering Iraq.

“Those concerns need to be addressed. Syria needs to take them seriously and work to address those concerns. But we’re going to continue to move forward on these sanctions,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

“We’ll have more to say on that very soon,” McClellan added.

HAARETZ: Report: Hezbollah gives Israel two weeks to reach deal on Kuntar

Hezbollah has given Israel a two-week ultimatum to reach an agreement for the release of Lebanese militant Samir Kuntar, who in 1979 murdered a police officer and three members of the Haran family in Nahariya, according to a report in the Lebanese weekly “Al-Kifah al-Arabi.”

Hezbollah is threatening to “resort to other alternatives” if a deal is not reached, the report said.

In the issue to be published Saturday, the report will also cite sources as saying that “the Israeli navigator Ron Arad, missing in Lebanon since 1986, is being held by Hezbollah, which has improved the organization’s negotiating position with Israel.”

REUTERS: Saudi Identifies Driver of Riyadh Suicide Car Bomb

Saudi Arabia identified on Friday the Islamic militant who killed himself and five others in a suicide car bombing in the capital Riyadh last week.

An interior ministry statement said Abdul-Aziz bin Ali al-Mudayhish had driven the truck packed with more than 1.2 tons of explosives which destroyed a security headquarters, also injuring about 150.

The statement said Mudayhish had been among Islamic militants wanted by authorities, although his name was not on a list of 18 most wanted Islamists with suspected ties to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network.

JERUSALEM POST: US: Syria, Iran biggest sponsors of terrorism

Iran and Syria are two of seven nations designated as sponsors of terrorism, according to a Global Terrorism report conducted by the US State Department published Thursday.

According to the report, Syria provides aide for a range of terror groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The State Department report also stated that there were fewer international terror attacks last year than any time since 1969.

The 181-page Patterns of Global Terrorism Report offered a country-by-country review of terrorist attacks and cooperation in fighting terrorism.

The report said Libya and Sudan “took significant steps to cooperate in the global war on terrorism.” But Cuba, Iran, Syria and North Korea didn’t do enough to sever their ties to terrorism.

JERUSALEM POST: PLO: US will pay if Israel kills Arafat

The PLO’s representative in Lebanon has warned the US that America will pay dearly if Israel were to assassinate PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

America’s interests would be in danger all over the world, Sultan Abu Einen said Friday.

“All our people all over the world will turn into time bombs if this thing happens,” Einen said at a rally in the al-Rashidiya refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

(Sounds like a terrorist threat to me. The old PLO is back.)

JERUSALEM POST: Annan urges Arafat to crack down on terror

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Yasser Arafat on Friday to give Israel’s Gaza pullout plan a chance, saying Palestinians should crack down on terrorists to help revive a broader peace effort, Reuters news agency reported.

In unusually tough language, Annan - in a letter obtained by Reuters - also criticized the Palestinian Authority Chairman for failing to meet obligations under the road map plan including security reforms and putting an end to suicide bombings.

…

“You are aware…that the Palestinian side too has obligations it has not fulfilled,” Annan told Arafat. “The Palestinian Authority should immediately start taking effective measures to curb terrorism and violence.”

“Decisive actions on your part would help the international community ensure that any withdrawal from Gaza is part of the implementation of the road map and not a substitute for it,” he wrote.

HAARETZ: Al-Qaida: If we had chemical bomb, we would have hit Israel

A purported message from Al-Qaida operative Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi said Friday his group did plan to blow up a Jordanian intelligence building, but not with chemical weapons as the authorities have alleged. If Al-Qaida had chemical weapons, he said, it would have used them to attack Israel.

“The [allegation] that there was a chemical bomb to kill thousands of people is a mere lie,” the reported voice of al-Zarqawi says on a tape broadcast via an Islamic site on the Internet.

“God knows, if we did possess [a chemical bomb], we wouldn’t hesitate one second to use it to hit Israeli cities such as Eilat and Tel Aviv,” the voice said.

JERUSALEM POST: Hamas, Jihad skip PLO meeting

A meeting of the PLO executive committee and heads of all Palestinian factions at Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat’s compound in Ramallah on Wednesday night was not attended by Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives, a Palestinian official said.

“They probably stayed away fearing an Israeli assassination attempt,” one PA source said, adding that all Hamas leaders have gone into hiding since the IDF killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

MAARIV: Security inspector prevents major terror attack

“I noticed that something didn’t look right and I checked package after package without giving up. I opened a package that contained a denim jacket and then realized that it was actually an explosive belt”, said “T” a security inspector at the Karni crossing who thwarted a suicide bombing due to her tenacity and alertness Thursday.

At about 16.00, one of the inspectors working at the Karni crossing became suspicious of a container of clothing that Palestinians were trying to transport in to Israel. The inspector alerted “T” who rummaged threw the packages of clothes and found an explosive belt hidden in a denim jacket, “T” called over her superiors who evacuated the area after confirming that it was indeed an explosive belt of the type used by Palestinian suicide bombers.

Border Police sappers arrived on the scene and neutralized the belt.

JERUSALEM POST: France to investigate Hamas

The French State Prosecutor in Paris on Tuesday opened a preliminary investigation against a suspect whose identity remains unknown for “murders, attempted murders and aiding a terrorist organization”, after several complaints were filed in March by French victims of suicide bombings in Israel.

The complaints, also filed for “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”, mainly accuse the president of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat.

The examining judge will be appointed by the president of the magistrates’ court of Paris to conduct the investigation.

The French Ministry of Justice has approved this investigation.

REUTERS: Saudi Minister Say Militants Planned Bigger Strike

Last week’s bombing of a Saudi security building in Riyadh was just one part of militants’ plans for strikes against state targets, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said in remarks broadcast on Thursday.

The attack, which killed five people and the suicide bomber, was “a limited part of a big operation which was foiled,” Nayef told a news conference on Wednesday.

The Interior Ministry said at the time of the attack it had seized five cars laden with more than a toneach of explosives in the days leading up to the Riyadh blast.

“Saudi security thwarted tens of cases which, God forbid, if they had happened would have been a disaster, compared to which Muhayya or the traffic department building would have been nothing,” Nayef said, referring to last week’s attack and a November suicide bombing which killed 18 people.

FOX

terrorism task force was investigating an “uncorroborated” threat to a Los Angeles area shopping mall where federal officials say an attack may have been planned for Thursday.

“As of now, the information is uncorroborated and the credibility of the source is unknown,” the LAPD said in a statement.

No specific shopping mall was named, but the warning indicated a mall near the Federal Building in West Los Angeles could be targeted.

The LAPD will increase patrols at shopping malls in the city and asked mall operators to beef up security while a joint terrorism task force investigates. The department said it would have no further comment beyond the statement issued late Wednesday.

Based on some feedback from readers with military backgrounds and context, I’ve removed this post … sorry I couldn’t get you more help, Tim.

HAARETZ: Court hears Hamas likely contacted Tel Aviv bombers in UK

Two Britons who carried out a suicide bomb attack that killed three people in a Tel Aviv nightclub last April must have been contacted by Hamas in England, a court heard on Wednesday.

Asif Hanif, 21, from London, killed three people and injured 65 others after blowing himself up at the popular seafront bar Mike’s Place.

His co-bomber Omar Sharif, 27, fled after he failed to detonate a second bomb, although his mangled and decomposed body was later found floating off the Mediterranean coast. A post mortem indicated he had drowned.

The bombing was the first of its kind by foreigners in Israel, rather than by Palestinians, during the three-and-a-half year Palestinian uprising.

Three members of Sharif’s family are on trial at London’s Old Bailey for failing to help authorities prevent the attack.

His wife, Tahira Sha Tabassum, 27, brother Zahid Hussain Sharif, 36, and sister Parveen Akther Sharif, 35, all from Derby, central England, deny failure to disclose information about acts of terrorism. Parveen Sharif is also charged with inciting her brother to commit an act of terrorism.

From the AFP via The Australian :

A Hamas militant was killed in the car bombing in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the Islamist movement’s military wing said.

No other details as yet.

HAARETZ: 4 soldiers hurt foiling major Hamas attack in Gaza

Four IDF soldiers were injured, two moderately and two lightly, when they foiled a major suicide car bomb attack Wednesday on Gaza Strip settlers.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a jeep flying an Israeli flag and packed with as much as 300 kilograms of explosives drew the suspicion of Givati Brigade infantrymen on patrol near the Mor Bridge between the Kissufim crossing and the Gush Katif bloc of settlements.

Hamas identified the man as Tariq Khamayed, 24, of the Nuseirat refugee camp.

The IDF believes Khamayed planned to blow himself up against a bus or a convoy on the Kissufim-Gush Katif highway. The military had received general intelligence warnings of the possibility of such an attack.

JERUSALEM POST: Syria attack fabricated?

The still unexplained attacks in Damascus Tuesday night were a fabrication of Syria’s Baath Party hoping for a carte blanche for a crackdown on the regime’s opponents, claimed the dissident Reform Party of Syria (RPS) Wednesday.

Syria blamed Al-Qaida for the attacks, which according to reports left a police officer and at least two militants dead in the Mazza district of the capital, home to several embassies and international organizations.

RPS noted that the attack had little of the telltale markers of an Al-Qaida strike, usually a well coordinated, high-potent attack using a combination of suicide bombers and gunmen. Given Al-Qaida’s predilection for larger attacks, and its use of Syria as a base for operations casts doubt that the Wahabi group was involved, said RPS.

The attackers used small arms and RPGs in attacks on what reportedly were vacant buildings. Earlier this week Jordan unveiled what might have been a massive chemical attack in the kingdom, which security officials there estimate might have killed 80,000 people.

The explosive and chemical laden vehicles stopped by Jordanian Special Forces set out for Amman via Damascus, said Jordan.

Former Ambassador Dori Gold, an expert on Wahabism and its terrorist tentacles also doubted the veracity of the Syrian regime’s claims. He also discounted Kurdish militant’s responsibility arguing that the now hounded Kurds would likely have preferred government symbols to raise consciousness about their plight in the west, rather than western or international targets.

“Anyway, why would Al Qaida, which uses Syria as a conduit to send Mujahideen to Iraq, risk its standing with such an attack,” he added.

An Israeli intelligence source said the nature of the attack and the assailants remain unclear, although Syria, a totalitarian police state, has in the past covered up terrorist attacks. Staging them, he said, is not so different, perhaps even easier.

The purpose of such a fabrication, claims RPS, is that it could offset mounting pressure on the regime to fight terror. It also gives Bashar Al Assad a free hand to wipe out his opponents all while showing that “his ruthless and autocratic regime serves to protect western interests,” said the RPS statement.

(Fifteen linked car bombs with single-digit fatalities and mostly vacant buildings as targets does lead to suspicion that this was not the otherwise maximum-effect-seeking Al-Qaida.)

From the BBC via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Syrian television has said security forces have found a cache of arms and explosives in a raid on the diplomatic quarter of Damascus, where police earlier clashed with gunmen.

Two of the attackers, a policeman and a woman, who was apparently caught in the crossfire, were killed during the battle.

Calm has returned to Damascus after unprecedented explosions and a gun fight on one of the capital’s main roads.

All that remains now is the burnt out facade of the building, which appears to have been the target.

The building was once used by the United Nations.

The windows of the four-storey building have been blown out and cars parked in front badly damaged.

Security has been increased slightly in the city. There are a few more police cars stationed by the side of the road and there armed men in civilian clothes are standing guard.

It is unclear who the attackers were and what their aim was.

Syrian authorities describe them simply as terrorists.

As opposed to the Syrian “militants” fighting in Fallujah and elsewhere.

From the AP via The Australian :

Suspected Islamic militants have clashed with police in Thailand, leaving at least 70 people dead in the worst day of violence in the troubled Muslim-dominated south, officials said.

The clashes erupted after militants launched simultaneous attacks on police bases and checkpoints in several districts of Yala and Pattani provinces, said Yala Governor Boonyasit Suwanarat.

He told reporters that most of the dead were youths attempting to rob weapons from police and army bases who were repelled and shot to death by security forces.

It was the bloodiest day in the south where almost daily attacks by gunmen have left nearly 150 people dead this year.

UPDATE : From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

The death toll from violence in Thailand’s Muslim south has risen to 95, including 93 attackers who mounted a series of dawn raids on police and army checkpoints.

Major Chitnart Bunnothok, spokesman for the Fourth Army that patrols the troubled region, says 93 attackers have been killed, 12 have been injured and one has been arrested.

“The toll is likely to go higher because we have not yet cleared all the areas,” he said, referring to 10 locations where dawn gun battles have been staged.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says the toll among security forces is low because the attackers were only armed with machetes and a few guns.

“Two security forces have died and nine are injured,” he said.

Authorities say fighting is continuing at a mosque in Pattani province where rebels are holed up.

“We have sealed off the mosque in order to get them alive so we can question them and know their real motives,” said Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.

From an earlier article by the ABC :

The attacks are the latest in a series of bombings, raids and murders in Thailand’s five southern provinces bordering Malaysia, which have targeted security forces, Government officials and Buddhist monks.

Machetes are adequate to slaughter unarmed and pacifist Buddhist Monks, but not all Thais are pacifists. Never bring a knife to a gun fight as they say.
(Disclaimer : I’ve done work for the Royal Thai Navy, and am somewhat (Sum Wat?) Thaiophilic. Difficult people to anger, but when you do manage it, watch out. “Proportionate Response” is not in their vocabulary. “Amok”, “Berserk” etc most certainly are.)

AP:

Gunmen attacked a former United Nations office in a diplomatic quarter of Damascus, setting off a battle with police that pelted nearby buildings with bullets and grenades.

The fighting killed two attackers, a policeman and a civilian, the government said.

Via Haaretz ticker, Reuters is reporting at least one dead at the United Nations compound in Damascus.

Keep an eye on UN-SG Statements or the link to the off-the-cuff remarks.

UPDATE:
Bloomberg reports UN building on fire in Damascus, via Al-Arabiya and SANA.

SANA: Security Resource / Statement

A Security Resource on Tuesday evening told SANA that a terrorist and sabotage group opened fire randomly in al-Mezza Street .

“The competent security authorities confronted the terrorist group and the situation was completely controlled”, the Resource added.

The British have confirmed an explosion and the sight of smoke.

…developing…

UPDATE: Syrian state television reports that ‘security forces’ have clashed with [a] ‘terrorist band.’

Arab TV reports 15 blasts in the diplomatic section of Damascus.

Fox News reports blasts at British and Saudi embassy. “The Mazza area houses the embassies of Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and others. The British and Iranian ambassadors have their residences in the area.

UPDATE via Reuters:

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Armed assailants set off an explosive device at a U.N. office in the Syrian capital, Damascus, Tuesday, killing one of the militants, wounding another and setting the building ablaze.

“There were at least two terrorists. One was killed and another one injured after they detonated an explosive device that set the U.N. building on fire and destroyed at least three vehicles,” a diplomatic source told Reuters.

Both Fox and AFP are reporting explosions near foreign embassies.

No details yet, coming soon.

Update: AP is reporting gunfire was heard as well.

Reuters reports that the blasts happened near the British embassy.

BBC is first with details:

A series of explosions and gunfire rocked the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday evening, reports say.
Sources said between three and five explosions were heard in the west of the city from about 1600 GMT. The blasts were followed by heavy gunfire.

The explosions are said to have occurred near the Iranian and Canadian embassies in the city.

They took place on the Mesa highway leading into central Damascus from the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Security sources said the explosions were caused by car bombs, but there has been no independent confirmation of this.

BBC contradicts the Reuters report about which embassy it was near.

UDPATE:

Fox reports that the blast was close the British envoy’s residence. Still no word on casualties.

IRELAND ONLINE: Robbers die trying to hold-up suicide bomber

A Hamas suicide bomber blew up two armed Palestinians who tried to rob him at gun point in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas claimed the “stickup men” worked for Israeli intelligence, while Palestinian security forces said the two were ordinary thieves.

Rather than give up his explosives, the bomber detonated them, killing himself and the two robbers near the border fence between Gaza and Israel.

Palestinian security officials said the the gunmen were criminals who were involved in a car theft ring that brought stolen vehicles from Israel to Gaza.

Hamas said the bomber was on his way to try to infiltrate into Israel, accompanied by another Hamas member and a guide, when they were stopped by the armed men.

The robbers forced the bomber to lie on the ground and tried to steal the bomb, but the militant detonated it, killing all three. The other Hamas man and the guide escaped.

instapundit shares a troubling report from Middle East Newsline (full report requires subscription):

LONDON [MENL] — Sudan has ordered the removal of Syrian missiles and weapons of mass destruction out of the African country.

Arab diplomatic and Sudanese government sources said the regime of Sudanese President Omar Bashir has ordered that Syria remove its Scud C and Scud D medium-range ballistic missiles as well as components for chemical weapons stored in warehouses in Khartoum. The sources said the Sudanese demand was issued after the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry confirmed a report published earlier this month that Syria has been secretly flying Scud-class missiles and WMD components to Khartoum.

The sources said the Bashir regime has been alarmed over the prospect that the United States would discover the Syrian arsenal and conclude that Damascus and Khartoum were cooperating in the area of missiles and WMD. They said this would have delayed or dashed U.S. plans to lift sanctions from Sudan.

A U.S. official confirmed the Syrian missile shipments to Sudan, saying they were meant for use against rebels in the south. But the official said the U.S. intelligence community has not determined that Syria sent WMD systems to Khartoum.

JERUSALEM POST: Australia to bar Islamic Jihad

Australia is set to ban the Islamic Jihad as a terrorist group, reported Al Jezeera Tuesday.

Under Australia’s counter-terrorism laws, anyone belonging to, or training, funding or recruiting members for a banned “terrorist group” can be jailed for up to 25 years.

After passing legislation last year that has so far led to the banning of the Hamas, Hizbullah and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, Attorney General Philip Ruddock said last week he planned to outlaw another organisation as a “terror group”, but refused to reveal the name of the group.

HAARETZ: IDF kills two Palestinian militants in Tul Karm refugee camp

Israel Defense Forces operating in the West Bank city of Tul Karm shot and killed two Palestinians and injured another early on Tuesday. The troops were seeking militants in the city’s refugee camp.

Palestinian witnesses said the soldiers opened fire at a group of armed militants. The gunmen belonged to the Hamas militant group, the witnesses said. They were identified as Ashraf Nafeh and Amjad Amarah.

Israeli military sources said the soldiers identified two gunmen approaching them in the camp and shot both of them before they had a chance to fire back.

The other casualty, reportedly a 16 year old, was evacuated to a local hospital, which IDF troops later surrounded. At present, the man is said to be hospitalized in an Israeli hospital and his condition is unknown.

JERUSALEM POST/AP: Three killed in work-related incident in Gaza

The body of a third Palestinian was found early Tuesday in the Gaza Strip, near the scene of a late-night explosion.

Security officials initially said two Palestinians died in the blast near the fence that surrounds the Gaza Strip, on the edge of the Mughazi refugee camp.

According to the Hamas, one of the three Palestinians was a suicide bomber and the other two – Israeli collaborators. A spokesman for the organization told AP that the two collaborators forced the man to remove his explosives belt at gunpoint. He refused and blew hhimself up instead.

JERUSALEM POST: Saudi FM: “Not funding Hamas or suicide bombers”

Saudi Arabia claimed on Monday that it has halted all funding from the Kingdom to Hamas.

Asked by NBC if Saudi Arabia continued to fund Hamas – two years ago, Saudi Arabia raised $92 million for Palestinian suicide bombers, according to NBC – Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said “absolutely not.”

“Not funding Hamas or suicide bombers,” he said.

He also said he did not think money was being transferred from Saudi Arabia to al-Qaida since “the controls are really very stringent.”

HAARETZ/AP: Jordan to air confessions of alleged chemical bomb attack planners

State television will air confessions from Al-Qaida suspects who allegedly planned chemical and poison gas attacks against the U.S. Embassy and other targets in Jordan, officials said Monday.

Monday’s 20-minute taped program was scheduled for 9 P.M. local time, considered prime time because it follows the main news bulletin. Government spokeswoman Asma Khader and other officials disclosed few details ahead of the program. The number and identities of the suspects who will appear were not announced.

“There will be a detailed announcement on television tonight,” was all Khader would say at her weekly press briefing.

(Cross-post from OTB)

Jason Burke has an interesting web-only on the Foreign Policy website which seeks to debunk several myths about al Qaeda. A couple of excerpts:

It was the FBI—during its investigation of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa—which dubbed the loosely linked group of activists that Osama bin Laden and his aides had formed as “al Qaeda.” This decision was partly due to institutional conservatism and partly because the FBI had to apply conventional antiterrorism laws to an adversary that was in no sense a traditional terrorist or criminal organization.

Although bin Laden and his partners were able to create a structure in Afghanistan that attracted new recruits and forged links among preexisting Islamic militant groups, they never created a coherent terrorist network in the way commonly conceived. Instead, al Qaeda functioned like a venture capital firm—providing funding, contacts, and expert advice to many different militant groups and individuals from all over the Islamic world.

Today, the structure that was built in Afghanistan has been destroyed, and bin Laden and his associates have scattered or been arrested or killed. There is no longer a central hub for Islamic militancy. But the al Qaeda worldview, or “al Qaedaism,” is growing stronger every day. This radical internationalist ideology—sustained by anti-Western, anti-Zionist, and anti-Semitic rhetoric—has adherents among many individuals and groups, few of whom are currently linked in any substantial way to bin Laden or those around him. They merely follow his precepts, models, and methods. They act in the style of al Qaeda, but they are only part of al Qaeda in the very loosest sense. That’s why Israeli intelligence services now prefer the term “jihadi international” instead of “al Qaeda.”

Christopher Hitchens has likewise taking to calling the “war on terror” the “war against jihad,” saying it more correctly identifies our adversary.

Burke dubs a myth the idea that “the Militants Seek to Destroy the West so They Can Impose a Global Islamic State” but his explanation isn’t particularly comforting:

slamic militants’ main objective is not conquest, but to beat back what they perceive as an aggressive West that is supposedly trying to complete the project begun during the Crusades and colonial periods of denigrating, dividing, and humiliating Islam. The militants’ secondary goal is the establishment of the caliphate, or single Islamic state, in the lands roughly corresponding to the furthest extent of the Islamic empire of the late first and early second centuries. Today, this state would encompass the Middle East, the Maghreb (North Africa bordering the Mediterranean), Andalusia in southern Spain, Central Asia, parts of the Balkans, and possibly some Islamic territories in the Far East.

A subtle distinction, to be sure.

HAARETZ: A-Zahar replaces Rantisi as Hamas leader in Strip

Dr. Mahmoud A-Zahar has been elected political leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, say Palestinian sources familiar with the inner workings of the movement. He fills the job held by Abdel Aziz Rantisi until his assassination nine days ago.

Ismail Haniyeh has been appointed as A-Zahar’s deputy, while the new No. 3 in the Hamas hierarchy is Said A-Siam.

Shortly after Rantisi’s assassination, the head of the Hamas political wing, Khaled Meshal, who is based in Syria, ordered the movement in Gaza to elect a new leader. But fearing that the new leader might be targeted by Israel - like Rantisi and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - Meshal also instructed movement members not to make the new leader’s name public.

(There goes his morning carpool.)

HAARETZ: Police nab three members of cell said behind shooting attacks

An undercover police unit on Friday arrested three people believed to be members of a terror cell behind the March murder of a Jerusalem man and last week’s shooting attack in which another young man was seriously.
Details of the case were released for publication on Sunday.

According to the police, the cell murdered George Elias Khoury, a 20-year-old student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on March 19 in the French Hill neighborhood of the capital and seriously injured Nir Gil, 20, on April 19 in the Givat Hamivtar neighborhood. Both were shot at close range.

The three men detained have been identified as Louay Kurnaz, and cousins Amar Abu Alous and Sajid Abu Alous. The cousins are residents of the village of Aqeb, within the municipal boundaried of Jerusalem, and Kurnaz is a resident of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The three, aged 18-19, were apprehended in a police ambush while they were allegedly attempting to carry out another attack in the French Hill neighborhood.

Police spotted a vehicle that appeared to be following a pedestrian. The vehicle was ordered to stop and a loaded gun was found in it. Police suspect the same gun was used in the two previous attacks.

(Al-Aqsa took credit for their original attack, and then apologized for having killed an Arab.)

HAARETZ: Palestinian suspected of planning attack nabbed in south Tel Aviv

A Palestinian was arrested Saturday afternoon in the area of the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station on suspicion of trying to carry out a terror attack.

The Palestinian, who was illegally in Israel, was arrested in wake of a terror attack alert for Tel Aviv. Police were continuing searches of the area.

JERUSALEM POST: Zur: Israel has infiltrated Hamas leadership

Border Police head Cmdr. David Zur, said Saturday that “Israel has people in the leadership of the Hamas.”

Zur was responding to a question posed to him regarding Israel’s success in finding and killing top terrorist leaders, Ynet reported.

Zur was speaking at a cultural event in Beer Sheba.

“We are excelling in everything connected to human intelligence. We’re investing in agents. Israel has excelled beyond belief in this field,” Zur said.

HAARETZ: 3 Jihad militants killed in clash with Border Policemen in Jenin

Three wanted Islamic Jihad militants were killed and a Border Police officer was moderately wounded in an exchange of fire in the West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday.

Undercover Border Policemen entered Jenin to arrest wanted Islamic Jihad militant Kamel Tubasi, who was involved in dispatching a suicide bomber who carried out an attack in a shopping center in Afula last year.

According to military sources, when the Border Policemen surrounded a house in the city, Tubasi came out and opened fire. The troops returned fire, killing Tubasi and two others who were with him, one of whom was 16-years-old. According to Israel Defense Forces sources, all three men were wanted by security forces.

An Al-Jazeera correspondent was moderately wounded in the exchange of fire. According to military sources, the correspondent was shot by Tubasi and his men. he was taken to a hospital in Jenin for treatment.

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So, jump on in, but please keep it respectable and civil. It’s all we ask, and thanks for reading The Post.

For the first time in the short history of Command Post, we have had to not only shut the comments down on a post, but delete them all together.

The ugliness that some people have shown in the posts about Pat Tillman is a complete disgrace to America and a slap in the face to every soldier who every wore a uniform and defended democracy.

We here at The Command Post are not in the habit of silencing dissent, but this was not dissent. This was moral depravity.

I am reprinting the worthy comments here. There will be no open forums on this subject again. If you would like to leave a message here, please email me.

Thank you to all who showed class and restraint.

UPDATE: A revised TCP Comment Policy is forthcoming. ~ Alan

————————————

• Remember Mr Tillman the next time you hear someone bashing Mr Tillman’s country.

Posted by: Paul A’barge at April 23, 2004 02:02 PM

• A great man who deserves to be remembered with respect and honor. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. He put his life where his mouth was, which is more than I can say for many. In response to the previous comment, I will honor his memory by continuing to oppose useless and unwise military actions like Iraq. Our troops deserve better. At least Mr. Tillman did not die as part of that conflict. Think of Mr. Tillman the next time you see some politician jawing on about “sacrifice”.

Posted by: John Harrington at April 23, 2004 03:29 PM

• Thank you, Pat Tillman. I don’t know how we could have possibly deserved you. Thank you.

Posted by: nikita demosthenes at April 23, 2004 03:42 PM

• Eternal Rest grant unto him, O Lord,
  And let Perpetual Light shine upon him.
  May he and all of his fallen Brothers who have laid down their lives selflessly REST IN PEACE, Amen.

May God have mercy on those who speak ill of the Dead.

Posted by: Cap’n DOC at April 23, 2004 04:01 PM

HAARETZ: Lebanon rejects U.S. protest over activities of militants

Lebanon on Friday rejected U.S. protests over the activities of militant Palestinian leaders that Washington labels as terrorists, saying the guerrillas will continue to conduct political and media work in the country as long as Arab lands are occupied by Israel.

U.S. Ambassador Vincent Battle reportedly complained to Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid on Wednesday “regarding the presence, activities and movements” of militant Palestinian leaders in Lebanon, a Lebanese official said.

Battle did not take reporters’ questions following the meeting and the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon said Friday it had no comment on the subject.

This early breaking news is from the Drudge Report. The NFL plans a 1:00 p.m. ET press conference.

Pat Tillman turned down a three-year, $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals to volunteer as an Army Ranger.

Here are some background articles on Pat Tillman from the NFL, USA Today, the Las Vegas Sun, Veterans Advantage, ESPN, and the Army Times.

Former Arizona safety Pat Tillman turned down a three-year, $3.6 million contract offer from the Cardinals to pursue his dream of being a Ranger in the U.S. Army

On the U.S. Army Rangers: Members of the 75th Ranger Regiment - Pat Tillman’s unit - make up an “elite combat unit.” Candidates must pass a stringent orientation course, where they are challenged physically and mentally, before they can even be selected. The Rangers are an infantry force trained to fight against any threat. Their creed: “Rangers lead the way!”

This is a duplicate of the original post from the nikita demosthenes website.

UPDATE: Pat Tillman, KIA. Reports from Army Ranger.com, CNN, and MSNBC.

Per MSNBC:

- - - - - - -

In Afghanistan, Tillman’s batallion was involved in “Operation Mountain Storm,” part of the U.S. campaign against Taliban and al-Qaida groups along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, military officials said.

He was killed during action in the past 24 hours, they said.

- - - - - - -

SECOND UPDATE: A true American hero: the sad news of patriot Pat Tillman’s death, fighting al Qaeda in the line-of-duty along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, reverberates throughout the United States and the world. See:

Fox News,
Associated Press,
The Washington Post,
Reuters,
U.S. Army Ranger Association,
Arizona Cardinals Official Website,
Peggy Noonan - “Privileged to Serve”,
California’s “Patio Pundit” blog,
France’s “Merde in France” blog,
Canada’s “Ghost of a Flea” blog, and
Australia’s Tim Blair.

NFL.com - (April 23, 2004) — Former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman, who gave up an NFL contract to join the Army Rangers, reportedly has been killed in Afghanistan.

NFL.com - (April 23, 2004) In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Tillman turned down a three-year contract with the Cardinals to enlist in the Army.

More from the Arizona Cardinals Official Website:

- - - - - - -

Tillman was a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment, and the Army refers to them as an “elite combat unit.” Candidates must pass a stringent orientation course, where they are challenged physically and mentally, before they can even be selected. The Rangers are an infantry force trained to fight against any threat. Their creed: “Rangers lead the way!”

An unrestricted free agent in 2002 when he made his decision, Tillman declined an offer from the Cardinals to play football that year. That wasn’t the first time Tillman had proven his loyalty — in 2001 he turned down a chance to play with the St. Louis Rams to stay with Arizona for another year.

- - - - - - -

Tillman walked away from a $3.6 million contract with the Cardinals in the spring of 2002 to join his brother as an Army Ranger. He made the move quietly, staging no press conference, granting no interviews and issuing no public remarks about his decision. The move was a personal one for Tillman, who, according to those around him, was deeply moved by the attacks of 9-11. He wanted to “pay something back,” Cardinals defensive coordinator Larry Marmie told reporters at the time.

THIRD UPDATE: Per Iowa Hawk:

- - - - - - -

Pat Tillman 1976-2004

(212) 450-2000.

- - - - - - -

HAARETZ: Border Police kill 3 armed militants in Qalqilyah

Undercover Border Police forces encountered and killed three armed Palestinian militants in the West Bank city of Qalqilyah overnight Thursday, Israel Radio reported.

According to the report, the troops spotted the three militants in the city’s center.

In the incident, the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades leader in the city, Aatef Sha’aban was moderately injured and evacuated by a Red Crescent ambulance.

One of those killed was senior Al Aqsa Brigades activist Abed Rahman Nazal. The two other men were reportedly associated with the Fatah movement.

REUTERS: Saudi Security Forces Kill Two Militants

Saudi security forces killed two militants in heavy gunfire in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Thursday, one day after a suicide bombing in the capital Riyadh killed at least five people.

“Security personnel stormed a residential building in Jeddah where a group of terrorists were hiding,” state television said. “Two of the terrorists were killed and one was wounded. Two were arrested.”

Witnesses reported gunfire in three separate areas of eastern Jeddah. In the Shola district, they said gunmen wounded a driver when they tried to hijack his car, before fleeing to a half-constructed building and opening fire on onlookers.

Police sealed off several streets while officers with loudspeakers tried to persuade the gunmen to surrender.

I know Michele gets paranoid at the drop of a hat, and I’m sure this will help her stay nervous. Dow Jones is reporting that the FBI continues to interview crop dusters across the United States. Of note, buried in the article is this paragraph:

In addition, the capture last year of al-Qaida senior leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, turned up information on computer hard drives and in handwritten notes about the toxin that causes botulism and about salmonella bacteria and cyanide. Other al-Qaida documents have discussed anthrax and how to make the toxin ricin from castor beans.

The AP is reporting that Swedish authorities continue to hold 4 individuals arrested this week for suspected involvement in “terrorist plots outside Europe.” Authorities have not released any details.

VOA is reporting that Afghani authorities have arrested 17 people suspected of planning attacks in Kabul.

The Independent is reporting that MI5 has issued “clear intelligence” warning to British MPs of the possibility of an anthrax or ricin attack on the House of Commons.

If you’re paranoid, reading this string of posts will not make you feel more at ease. It seems two spent nuclear fuel rods are missing from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. They won’t stand out … one of the missing pieces is about the size of a pencil, the other is about as thick but is 17 inches long. According to the AP:

The spent fuel rods are highly radioactive and would be fatal to anyone who came in contact with them without being properly shielded, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said. Spent nuclear fuel could be used by terrorists to construct so-called dirty bombs that would spread deadly radiation with conventional explosives.

“We do not think there is a threat to the public at this point. The great probability is this material is still somewhere in the pool,” Sheehan said. The pieces could also have been sent years ago to a testing laboratory or a low-level nuclear waste disposal facility.

Of course, to paraphrase Kissinger, just because you’re paranoid does not mean someone isn’t out to get you …

Damn. AK-47s intercepted on their way to New York, tanker trucks missing in New Jersey, and now:

Dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement agents searched a warehouse near Oakland International Airport Saturday for weapons including rocket launchers, officials said.

The exact nature of the raid, which began around 6 a.m. Friday and continued Saturday, was unclear because the federal search warrant was under seal.

Read more at the AP, and thanks to reader Ron Wright for the tip.

A gasoline tanker truck has been missing from a Pennsauken parking lot for more than a week, and the FBI is very concerned with where it might be. Here’s the description:

The recently refurbished 1996 Fruehauf tanker, with “TK Transport” in large green letters on its side and the New Jersey license plate number T852SC, was last seen April 8, said Pennsauken Police Capt. Earl Griffin.

Read more at Newsday. If you happen to see said tanker, call the Newark FBI Office at
973-792-3000. Thanks to reader Mark Smith for the tip.

“As far as I’m concerned, when they bomb London, the bigger the better,” says Abdul Haq, the social worker. “I know it’s going to happen because Sheikh bin Laden said so. Like Bali, like Turkey, like Madrid - I pray for it, I look forward to the day.”

“Pass the brown sauce, brother,” says Abu Malaahim, the IT specialist, devouring his chicken and chips.

“I agree with you, brother,” says Abu Yusuf, the earnest-looking financial adviser sitting opposite. “I would like to see the Mujahideen coming into London and killing thousands, whether with nuclear weapons or germ warfare. And if they need a safehouse, they can stay in mine - and if they need some fertiliser [for a bomb], I’ll tell them where to get it.”

And where does this conversation take place? Riyadh? Cairo? Gaza? No, Luton, England. Read more here at This Is London, and thanks to reader Mark Haupert for the link.

JERUSALEM POST: Kaddoumi: PLO charter was never changed

Farouk Kaddoumi, the PLO’s hard-line “foreign minister,” said Thursday that when Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat talks about the need to pursue the struggle against Israel, he is referring to the armed struggle. Kaddoumi said the armed struggle was the only way to force Israel to accept the demands of the Palestinians.

Kaddoumi’s remarks were made in an interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab. He admitted that the PLO charter, which denies Israel’s right to exist, was never changed.

In response to a question what does Arafat mean when he talks about the continuation of the struggle, Kaddoumi, who is one of the few PLO leaders still living in Tunisia, said: “Yes, the national struggle must continue. I mean the armed struggle. In the past we abandoned our political parties in favor of the armed struggle.

“Fatah was established on the basis of the armed struggle and that this was the only way to leading to political negotiations that would force the enemy to accept our national aspirations. Therefore there is no struggle other than the armed military struggle.”

Commenting on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, Kaddoumi said: “If Israel wants to leave the Gaza Strip, then it should do so. This means that the Palestinian resistance has forced it to leave. But the resistance will continue. Let the Gaza Strip be South Vietnam. We will use all available methods to liberate North Vietnam.”

(Nice allusion to Vietnam, Kaddoumi, but don’t you have the map upside-down?)

MAARIV: US: Al Qaida planning to hit maritime targets

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Daley said in Singapore today that Washington the United States believes terrorist groups will soon target critical shipping lanes and and key financial centers in Asia, such as the Malacca and Singapore straits, and Hong Kong.

Speaking separately in Hong Kong, FBI director Robert Mueller said that al Qaida and other militant groups could attack Hong Kong and other economic hubs in Asia.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

[Australian]Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has indicated there may be further terror arrests, after a 34-year-old Sydney architect was charged with seven offences this morning.

”This is a matter in which we continue to investigate, and so there may yet be more,” Mr Ruddock said.

Faheem Khalid Lodhi was arrested by the Australian Federal Police after search warrants were executed on a number of premises in Sydney as part of a joint operation with the New South Wales Police and ASIO [Australian Security Intelligence Organisation].

Lodhi, from the Sydney suburb of Punchbowl, was refused bail by a Sydney court.

His charges include one count of recklessly collecting or making documents to facilitate terrorist acts, one of acts in preparation for a terrorists act, and one of recklessly recruiting for a terrorist organisation.

Magistrate Allan Moore told the court it was not in the interests of the community for Lodhi to be released.

In a statement, AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty says the arrest was part of an ongoing investigation into the activities of Willie Brigitte and was related to last week’s arrest of 21-year-old Sydney man, Izhar Ul Haque.

Both Brigitte, a deported French national, and Ul Haque reportedly have links to the banned Pakistani organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.

French authorities allege Brigitte was trying to start a terrorist cell in Sydney.

From the AP via The Australian :

Security forces have arrested a Yemeni militant involved in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors, a security official said today.

The official said the man, identified only by his surname of al-Nagar, played a major role in the attack in Aden harbour by suicide bombers who rammed an explosives-laden boat into the destroyer.
[…]
Al-Nagar was arrested earlier this month in a house in Lawdar, a town 250 km south-east the capital Sanaa.

Police arrested two other wanted al-Qaeda militants from Yemen in the same town this month.

Earlier this week, unconfirmed reports surfaced claiming that Abu Walid al-Ghamdi, the leader of the International Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade, had been killed by Russian forces in Chechnya. Details of his demise are still sketchy, but according to this account by Kavkaz Center, the chief media outlet for the Chechen insurgents led by al-Qaeda leader Shamil Basayev, al-Ghamdi was shot in the back while preparing for prayer.

Who is this enigmatic Saudi commander? What is al-Qaeda’s history in Chechnya, and what are their goals in the region? And how does al-Ghamdi’s death affect the war on terrorism? This analysis will endeavor to answer these questions.

Read The Rest…

From the AFP via The Australian :

A statement attributed to an extremist group linked to Al-Qaeda and posted on an Islamist website has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s blast in Riyadh that killed at least four people and wounded 148.

No more details yet.

UPDATE : From the AFP via The Australian again :

A radical Islamic group with links to Al-Qaeda, calling itself “The Brigade of the Two Holy Mosques”, has claimed responsibility for the blast in a statement posted on Islamist websites.

From the same story, it appears that no Jews were killed.

“We condemn this criminal and terrorist act against a building of the security agencies in Riyadh and we express our condolences to the families of the victims and hopes for a speedy recovery of the injured,” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a message to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, according to the Sana news agency.

The highest Islamic authority in Syria, Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro, also denounced the bombing as “barbarous and inhuman”.

“Those who commit barbarous and inhuman acts are very far from the spirit of Islam. In this way they serve the enemies of the (Arab) nation,” the mufti said in a public message.

An official United Arab Emirates (UAE) spokesman said: “Such ignoble acts … are contrary to sharia (Islamic law) and all religions and (international) conventions”.

The UAE “is in solidarity with its sister Saudi Arabia and denounces this criminal act,” the spokesman said in a statement carried by the state news agency WAM.

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah also denounced the “criminal explosion” during a telephone call late Wednesday with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, the official Saudi news agency SPA reported.

In Doha, a foreign ministry spokesman said such “criminal acts go against the precepts of Islam and human and moral values”.

No, definitely no Jews.

JERUSALEM POST: Arafat expels 21 Fatah fugitives from Mukata

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat early Thursday expelled 21 Fatah Tanzim fugitives from his Mukata headquarters in Ramallah, fearing that the IDF was about to raid the compound and arrest the wanted men.

The fugitives, all members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, have been hiding in the compound these past three months. Israel has repeatedly demanded they be kicked out.

A fugitive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that last week, Israeli security officials summoned Ismail Jabber, commander of the Palestinian national forces, and told him if the fugitives were not forced out they would invade, and if necessary, pull them out of “Arafat’s desk drawer.”

Following the warning, five of the fugitives left voluntarily. Overnight, at about 3 a.m., Arafat personally told the 21 remaining men to leave, the fugitive said.

CNN: Saudis in ‘total war’ on terror

The Saudi ambassador to the United States says his nation is now in “total war” against terrorists following a car bombing that ripped through the Saudi capital Riyadh earlier Wednesday, killing four people and wounding 148 others.

It marked the third terror attack in the kingdom in less than a year.

“This shows that this group is evil, and they consider everybody their enemy,” Prince Bandar bin Sultan said after meeting with U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice at the White House. “We are going to fight them hard.”

He added: “It’s a total war with them now. And there will be no compromises, and we’re not going to give up on them.”

(I’d make some comment here, but we’re busy with our seasonal tribal warfare right now.)

HAARETZ: 3 armed Palestinians killed in encounter with IDF near Tul Karm

Three Palestinian militants were shot and killed by Israel Defense Forces near the West Bank city of Tul Karm early on Thursday, Israel Radio reported. No IDF soldiers were injured in the incident.

According to the report, the three militants were senior Tanzim officials and were on the IDF’s wanted list.

The IDF patrol encountered the three men in an open field between the West Bank city and the nearby Nur a-Shams refugee camp.

JERUSALEM POST: Lahoud warns Israel against Hamas hits inside Lebanon

Lebanese President General Emile Lahoud on Wednesday warned Israel against attempting targeted killings of Hamas leaders in Lebanon, AFP reported.

“Israel should know that any violence on its part inside Lebanese territory would mean a violation of the Blue Line (border). In a case of this sort of violation, Israel will be responsible for the consequences,” Lahoud said.

(He then repeated his statement while Bashar Assad drank a glass of water.)

ARABIC NEWS: al-Sharq al-Awsat: Information Minister Statement on Israel’s threats to kill Mashaal

Syria’s Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan described as “stupid” the Israeli accusations to assassinate Chairman of Hamas Political Bureau in Damascus, excluding such an Israeli idiocy due to its repercussions.

“The United States will prevent such an action because it will escalate tension in the region at a time the US suffers a real plight in Iraq” Hassan said in an interview given to London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper.

He also asserted that the Israeli policy and irresponsible statements increase violence and block the peace process, pointing out that the Israeli assassinations confirm the state terrorism.

He stressed that Hamas and al-Jihad al-Islami bureaus in Damascus were mere information bureaus, asserting that they were closed months ago.

UPDATE:
Eros: “Stronger.” You see? You see? Your stupid minds. Stupid. Stupid.

Solarans = Syrians?

WaPo/Reuters: Car Bomb Explodes Near Government Buildings in Saudi Capital

A car rigged with explosives blew up near Saudi government buildings in the capital Riyadh on Wednesday, in what officials said was a “terrorist” attack.

Unconfirmed reports say at least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded on Wednesday when a car bomb destroyed a Saudi security service building in the capital, witnesses said.

An Arab television station which reported the body of a suspected “suicide bomber” had been found. It seemed more people may have died, however.

“The front of a building is blown off and smoke is still rising,” a Reuters correspondent said from the scene.

The kingdom, a key U.S. ally and the world’s largest oil exporter, is battling a tide of Islamist militancy linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network.

Last week, Washington ordered non-essential diplomats out of the Gulf state and warned Americans they should leave, citing fresh signals of possible attacks on U.S. and Western interests.

Ambulances rushed toward the site and smoke billowed from damaged buildings in the area, which houses the state television centre, the Information Ministry and a security forces building.

There was no official report of casualties but Dubai-based Arab satellite television channel Al Arabiya said one person, a suspected suicide bomber, was killed and several wounded.

Update: NYT Security Building in Saudi Capital Is Destroyed by Bombs

The attack happened on the second day of a four-day international conference on terrorism, which opened in Riyadh with a call for peace and tolerance, the newspaper, The Saudi Gazette, reported on Tuesday.

Terrorist activity in the Riyadh region in recent days has left six security officers and one militant dead, the newspaper said.

Last year, suicide bombings at foreign residential compounds in Riyadh killed 50 people, including 9 Americans.

On Monday, the Gazette said, Crown Prince Abdullah told his cabinet that “This clique of terrorists, which seeks to undermine the stability of the country can only increase the cohesion and unity of Saudis,” adding that every citizen is a member of the security services.

The conference, the Gazette reported, is aimed at uncovering the roots of terrorism, violence and extremism, outlining the moderation and tolerance of Islam and refuting what the Saudis say are allegations circulated by foreign news media against the kingdom.

HAARETZ: IDF may close Erez industrial area in Gaza Strip

The Israel Defense Forces is leaning toward shutting down the Erez industrial zone in the northern Gaza Strip, due to the spate of terror attacks in the area.

The army is finding it hard to protect soldiers who are deployed at the Erez junction, senior IDF officers told Haaretz yesterday. Under the present circumstances, they said, it is hard to justify an arrangement that endangers the soldiers’ lives.

Last Saturday, a Border Policeman was killed, and three other security personnel were injured, when a suicide bomber sent by Hamas and Fatah attacked the worker terminal area in the industrial zone. Three other attacks have occurred in this area since January, killing five security men.

“It is quite possible we will have no choice but to close the industrial zone, despite the damage this will do to the livelihood of thousands of Palestinians,” a senior IDF officer said yesterday.

A car bomb exploded in Riyadh today, killing one.

The bigger story, according to EuroNews is this: Saudi police were tipped off and were able to diffuse five of six bombs planted.

Update: Latest death toll is ten, with dozens injured.

HAARETZ: Court orders PA to pay millions to family of bomb victims

An Israeli court ordered the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday to pay NIS 74 million ($16.2 million) to six relatives of two Israelis killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber.

This is the first Israeli ruling to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for one of the more than 100 suicide bombings since September 2000, and it will set a precedent for future claims, said the family lawyer, Roland Roth.

Ruth Peled and her granddaughter Sinai Keinan were killed in a suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Petah Tikvah in May 2002.

“The amount of compensation awarded has to take into account the terrible and unusual suffering (of the relatives) and the murderous actions of the defendants,” the court said in awarding each of the six relatives NIS 12 million (US 2.6 million) and an additional NIS 2 million ($440,000) in legal fees.

The Palestinian Authority did not submit a defense, saying it does not recognize the Israeli court.

Wow.

Customs officers in the port of Gioia Tauro, in Calabria, discovered 7,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles after noting irregularities in the documentation.

The cargo, estimated to be worth some 6m euros (£3.9m, $7.15m), was declared as arms for civilian, not military, use.

The weapons were discovered on board a ship flying a Turkish flag that had departed from a port in Romania.

The guns were said to be heading for the US. Italian customs police say the ship was bound for New York.

MAARIV: International exclusive : Rantisi’s last interview

BITTER LEMONS: Do you believe that you will see victory in your lifetime? Rantisi:

RANTISSI: I hope so, but I don’t know when I will die, therefore, I can’t be certain that I will see it, or that I will not.

Read the link for the rest.

JERUSALEM POST: PM: Israel’s hit list is not a short one

“We have harmed the terrorists. We struck out mortally at their leadership and we will continue to do this. We rid ourselves of the first murderer, and the second. But the business is not finished. The list is not short,” Sharon added.

Israel killed Hamas’ top two leaders, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, within one month.

“We have proved to them [the terrorists] that they are the ones who will need to run and hide from our long arm, which will not stop hunting them,” the prime minister said.

This is more in the wealth of evidence indicating that many of Saddam Hussein’s WMD’s ended up in Syria.

- - - - - - -

- - - - - - -

It’s past time to give Syrian President Bashir Assad an ultimatum: voluntarily let the U.S. search Syria for Saddam Hussein’s WMD, or we’ll send in some troops. The rationale for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (to prevent Saddam’s WMD from being used against the U.S. by al Qaeda or other terrorists) is precisely the same rationale present now for the U.S. to go into Syria.

This is a duplicate of the original post on the nikita demosthenes website.

JERUSALEM POST: Terror suspects accused in Sweden

Lena Bjoerken, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Stockholm, said the four may be connected to terrorist activities outside Europe. She declined to elaborate.

Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet reported on its Web site that the four were suspected of helping arrange attacks on YS soldiers in, citing an unnamed source.

The four were arrested Monday night in separate operations in the capital, Stockholm, and in the southern city of Malmoe. They were not identified in keeping with Swedish practice.

“We can confirm that four people have been arrested and questioned,” SAPO spokesman Robert Dahlberg told The Associated Press. “They are suspected of having connections to terrorist activities — Islamic extremism.”

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan served in Peace Corps Uzbekistan from 2000-2001.

TOP TOPIC

• Bombings and shootings broke out across Uzbekistan over a period of three days, prompting fears that a new front would open in the War on Terror.

Other Topics Today Include: Much More on the Tashkent Bombings; Georgia’s Parliamentary Elections; The Ajarian Thorn in Georgia’s Side; I Love You Turkmenbashi!; Armenia Protests; China’s Designs on Central Asia; When Congressmen Get Involved in Custody Cases; Sgt. Hook: Live From a Mountaintop in Afghanistan; Coolio Comes to Baku; and, Much More.

Read The Rest…

GUARDIAN: 3 Terror Suspects Gunned Down in Jordan

Police killed three terror suspects Tuesday in a shootout in the Jordanian capital, the authorities said.

A police statement quoted by the official Petra news agency said the shootout took place in the Hashemi district of Amman following a tip off.

“Information made available to security authorities pointed to the presence of an armed group which had plotted to carry out terror attacks,” the statement said.

MAARIV: Hamas’ Mashal calls for Arab alliance to defeat Israel and US

Khaled Mashal, leader of Hamas’ politburo called Monday for an Arab and Muslim alliance to defeat the United States and Israel. “Our battle is with two sides, one of them is the strongest power in the world, the United States, and the second is the strongest power in the region (Israel),” he told hundreds of people at the al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus.

USA TODAY: Administration says it wants Hamas “put out of business”

Responding to Israel’s slaying of a Hamas leader, the Bush administration denounced the Palestinian group on Monday as a terrorist organization that should be “put out of business.”
Over time the Palestinian government should shut down Hamas and provide Palestinians with the social services that Hamas offers them, spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Taking the approach it usually does when Israel strikes, the State Department said Israel had a right to defend itself but also should consider the consequences of its actions.

(So, what do you think will happen with the UN Security Council resolution today? 14 to 1 veto?)

REUTERS: Saudi Arabia Vows to Stamp Out Militant Attacks

Saudi Arabia vowed Monday it would not be shaken and would stamp out a wave of attacks blamed on al Qaeda that have targeted foreigners and policemen since 2003.

“The terrorists who are targeting the security and safety of this nation, and who are terrorizing the people, will only increase our steadfastness and our unity,” the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, told a cabinet meeting.

“Every citizen is a member of the security forces and everyone is ready to confront those who dare to infringe upon the fundamentals of our nation,” he said in remarks published by the official Saudi Press Agency.

(The Reuters headline calls them militants… heh.)

Three Israelis wounded in rocket attack in Gaza

Three Israelis, including a baby, were lightly wounded Monday night when a Qassam rocket fired by Palestinians hit a house in the Gaza Strip settlement of Nisanit.

Early Monday, another Israeli sustained moderate shrapnel wounds when Palestinian gunners fired two Qassam rockets at Nisanit, in the north of the Strip.

Soon after the first attack on the settlement, a total of six Qassam rockets struck open fields belonging to communities in the western Negev, in a surge of mortar and rocket attacks since the Saturday IDF assassination of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi. There were no injuries reported.

Three more rockets hit another settlement in the northern Gaza Strip around lunchtime Monday. No one was injured, but damage was caused to a restaurant.

Report: Shabak tailed Rantisi’s bodyguard

Israel managed to find and kill Abdel Aziz Rantisi by placing one of his bodyguards under surveillance, Channel two’s Arab affairs analyst reported Monday night.

Rantisi was killed, along with two of his bodyguards, in an IAF missile strike Saturday night.

Channel 2 reported that on the day of his assassination, Rantisi was dressed in disguise as an old Arab man. The disguise included an Arab cloak (Abaya) and headdress (Kafiyeh).

His bodyguard was ‘tailed’ by a Palestinian collaborator, who called in his Israeli contacts the moment Rantisi and his entourage were about to switch cars near Rantisi’s Gaza home, Channel 2 reported.

(Do you think they’ll get the deposit back on the disguise?)

REUTERS: Unseen Hamas military chief stays on the run

Israel might have killed two top Hamas leaders in less than a month, but the man suspected of masterminding scores of suicide bombings remains on the run.

Seldom heard, seldom seen, Hamas military commander Mohammad Deif has survived repeated Israeli attempts to kill him and acquired near mythical status among Palestinians.

As the head of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam unit, he was very near the top of Israel’s hit list even before the airstrikes that killed Hamas’s spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin on March 22 and firebrand Gaza chief Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi last Saturday.

But unlike those leaders of the Islamic militant group, who always denied any military role, Deif is never interviewed. Few even know what he looks like.

“He has the lowest profile. He can be in one place, one room for months and he will never get irritated,” said one acquaintance in the Gaza Strip, who asked not to be named. “He likes to sit and read the Koran.”

From Reuters :

Several Islamic militant groups are preparing attacks on London, making such a strike unavoidable, a radical Muslim cleric said in an interview published on Sunday.
“It’s inevitable. Because several (attacks) are being prepared by several groups,” Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad told Lisbon’s Publica magazine from London where he is based.
[…]
He added: “We don’t make a distinction between civilians and non-civilians, non-civilians, innocents and non-innocents. Only between Muslims and unbelievers. And the life of an unbeliever has no value. It has no sanctity.”

It was important to see accusations of terrorism in their proper context, he said.
[…]
Asked about his comments that he wanted to have the banner of Islam at 10 Downing Street, Muhammad said, “Yes, it’s my dream. I believe one day that is going to happen. Because this is my country, I like living here.”

“I’ve been arrested 16 times. And 16 times freed, because they have nothing against me. These are the contradictions of laws made by man. If they believe in democracy, who are they afraid of? Let Omar Bakri benefit from democracy!”

UPDATE: The Sheik’s organisation is desperately trying to deny it all in a press release.

JERUSALEM POST: Hamas: We thwarted an earlier attack on Rantisi

The Hamas thwarted an Israeli attempt to kill Abdel Aziz Rantisi shortly after the assassination of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Israel Radio reported on Monday.

According to an article in the al-Ayam newspaper, three days after Yassin’s assassination Rantisi’s bodyguards spotted a group of Palestinians who were following Rantisi.

The bodyguards pulled the suspects over, and thus the assassination attempt was foiled, the organization claims.

(Third time’s the charm?)

JERUSALEM POST: Armed Palestinians shot and wounded in Gaza

IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip opened fire at three armed Palestinians who approached the security fence that surrounds the strip, Army Radio reported on Monday.

Two of the Palestinians were wounded and the third managed to escape.

The incident took place near the al-Buriej refugee camp, which has been the site of intense fighting between IDF forces and Palestinians.

From the AFP via The Australian :

Muslim separatist militants in Indian Kashmir narrowly missed a former state chief minister in a grenade attack as the revolt-hit state geared up for national elections, police said.

No one was hurt in the attack which failed to prevent ex-chief Farooq Abdullah from attending an election rally to drum up support for his son Omar, who is running for parliament with the pro-India National Conference Party.

“The rebels fired the rifle grenade in central Budgam district just a few minutes after his motorcade had passed,” a police spokesman said. No further details were immediately available.

Abdullah, whose National Conference party lost power in Kashmir in 2002, has survived at least three earlier attempts against his life.

The grenade blast came after Indian Kashmir troops said they shot dead Monday three Pakistani militants allegedly planning to disrupt elections starting Tuesday. Three other people were also killed in pre-poll violence.

JERUSALEM POST: Saudi authorities seize trucks with explosives

Authorities seized two trucks packed with explosives Monday on a highway outside Riyadh, a Saudi security official said Monday.

It is the second straight day that the Saudis have announced the discovery of vehicles loaded with explosives.

Last year, Riyadh, the Saudi capital, suffered two major attacks by suicide bombers driving vehicles filled with explosives. A total of 51 people were killed in the bombings, including the assailants.

The security official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, said police found the trucks Monday on the Ramah highway, northeast of Riyadh. No more details were immediately available.

Welcome! Our goal is to give you power-packed briefings of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leave you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today we also have a separate in-depth Iraq Report. and both reports are brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS

• Abu Walid al-Ghamdi, the leader of the International Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade in Chechnya and kin to 3 of the 9/11 hijackers, is dead in a major operation by Russian forces. Al-Ghamdi has been responsible for numerous high-profile attacks in both the Caucasus and throughout Russia.

• Hamas leader Rantissi is dead, killed in an Israeli missile strike. The Oompa-Loompas have some advice to offer.

• As is already widely known by now, Osama bin Laden or someone who sounds like him has offered a truce to European nations in return for staying out of the war on terrorism. He appears to have found quite a receptive audience for such an offer among many Euroean commenters on the BBC website. You can read my own analysis of the tape’s message as well as that of the Washington Post.

• The Arab newspaper al-Hayat is reporting that a planned attack in Jordan involved the use of chemical weapons. You can read my round-up as well as the ICT coverage of the thwarted attack.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; al-Qaeda wins round 1 in Waziristan; Pakistani tribals unite for terrorist hunt; LeT is the new al-Qaeda trainer post-Afghanistan; Taliban kill 10 in hit-and-run attack; Hekmatyar lieutenant captured; Zarqawi lieutenant ordered 3/11; David Hicks requested to serve as suicide bomber; Australian medical student arrested as LeT member; Saudi grand mufti issues fatwa on Fallujah; new al-Qaeda recruits in Saudi Arabia; JI hideouts identified in North Cotabato; Tunisia thwarts bomb plots; and the Star Trek communicator becomes a reality.

Read the Rest…

Al Arabiya: Top Arab Militant in Chechnya Killed

DUBAI: Arab television station Al Arabiya said on Sunday that the leader of Arab fighters in Chechnya, Saudi-born Abu al-Waleed al-Ghamdi, had been killed in the rebel Russian region.

An official at Dubai-based Al Arabiya said the channel received the news from sources close to Ghamdi’s family in Saudi Arabia who declined to give any details except that the family was receiving condolences.

Abu al-Waleed is said by the Kremlin to be among those behind February’s bombing in Moscow.

In March, Arab television channel Al Jazeera broadcast videotape it said was by Abu al-Waleed vowing to stage a new wave of attacks inside Russia.

The Kremlin blames Chechen rebels for a spate of attacks including a suicide bombing which killed close to 50 people on a train in southern Russia before last December’s parliamentary polls and the attack on the underground, which killed around 40.

The Kremlin believes Abu al-Waleed was also among those behind the 1999 apartment bombings across Russia that prompted President Vladimir Putin to send troops back into Chechnya.

HAARETZ: Israel: Hamas leadership in Syria could be targeted

Israel will consider attacking Hamas’ compound in Damascus should the organization move its main power base to Syria following the assassinations of its former leaders, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, in Gaza.

There is no proof at this stage that orders to carry out terror attacks are being delivered by Hamas leaders in Damascus to members of the organization in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. However, during meetings recently held by Israeli political and security officials, participants agreed that should intelligence information point to Damascus as Hamas’ nerve center, the option of targeting the organization in Syria could be considered.

Given Hezbollah’s increasing support for Palestinian terror, Israel also will consider attacking the organization’s targets in Lebanon, according to Israeli sources.

AFP: Hamas vows “volcano of revenge” after Rantissi assassination, Sharon defiant

Hamas threatened a “volcano of revenge” against Israel as some 200,000 Palestinians packed the streets of Gaza for the funeral of the Islamic movement’s assassinated leader Abdelaziz Rantissi.

His killing late Saturday prompted a chorus of international condemnation, except in the United States, and sparked anti-Israeli and anti-US protests in Arab countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait and Tunisia.

(Ed- After Yassin’s death, Rantisi threatened an earthquake of revenge. Apparently, Hamas is holding its asteroid of revenge in reserve.)

MAARIV: PFLP declares open war on Israel and US following Rantisi killing

Leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Jibril, declared open war on the US and Israel Sunday following the assassination of Hamas terror leader Ratisi by the IAF Saturday.

JERUSALEM POST: Palestinian boy nabbed with 20 firebombs

IDF forces nabbed a 15-year-old Palestinian with 20 firebombs in his possession, two lit and read for use after a short chase on Sunday evening.

The soldiers spotted the Palestinian monitoring the vehicles on Road 60 near Homesh and set out in pursuit capturing him shortly after.

Also, an indictment against the “retard” bomber from a few weeks back.

JERUSALEM POST: Kerry: Rantisi’s killing was justified

US Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said on Sunday Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi was justified because Israel “has every right in the world to respond to any act of terror against it.”

“Hamas is a terrorist, brutal organization,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press.

“It has had years to make up its mind to take part in a peaceful process. They refuse to … and I support Israel’s efforts to try to separate itself and to try to be secure.”

(The Palestinians had better start practicing making effigies of Kerry, just in case.)

REUTERS: N.Korea Says Linking It to Terrorism Is Far-Fetched

North Korea said Sunday that comments by Vice President Dick Cheney linking the one-party Asian state to terrorism were far-fetched.

Cheney said in a speech Friday that North Korea was ruled by a tyrannical government that thrived on terrorism and pointed to the fate of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for threatening the United States.

“It is quite understandable that the U.S. can not sleep in peace, terror-stricken by Al Qaeda, but its unreasonably linking the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) to such (an) organization is an expression of total ignorance and nothing but a far-fetched attempt to justify its hostile policy toward the DPRK,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying.

CNN is now reporting that Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has ordered removal of all Spanish troops from Iraq “as soon as possible.”

1:17 PM EDT Update — Here is the earliest time-stamped Web report of this story after the CNN report; Associated Press via Minneapolis Star Tribune.

REUTERS: Saudi Arabia Arrests Eight Suspected Militants

Saudi Arabia said in a statement Sunday it had arrested eight suspected militants linked to a wave of clashes with police in and around the capital Riyadh.

Suspected militants killed five policemen and two neighborhood patrol guards last week and police discovered and defused three car bombs in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is battling a surge in militant violence believed to be linked to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network.

Of course, they also arrested a religious “reformist”, too.

HAARETZ: IDF kills two armed Palesitinians in Gaza Strip

Israel Defense Forces troops killed an armed Palestinian who infiltrated into the hothouses of the Gaza Strip settlement of Netzarim late Saturday, Israel Radio reported.

Another Palestinian was killed by IDF troops near the Kissufim crossing in the Strip. Weapons and ammunition were found next to his body, the radio said.

(I guess they don’t get to go to the funeral now.)

(Cross-posted from Iraq page)
From the AFP via the BBC :

Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists planned a chemical attack on Jordan’s spy headquarters that could have killed 20,000 people, officials have said.

Earlier this week King Abdullah said a massive attack had been thwarted by a series of arrests, but named no target.

Now unnamed officials say the suspects have confessed to plotting to detonate a chemical bomb on the Amman HQ of the Intelligence Services.

The plot was reportedly hatched by al-Qaeda suspect Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi.

Washington has accused the 38-year-old Jordanian radical of masterminding a string of spectacular suicide bombings in Iraq.

An official involved in the inquiry in Jordan told AFP news agency: “We found primary materials to make a chemical bomb which, if it had exploded, would have made nearly 20,000 deaths … in an area of one square kilometre.

“The target of this bomb was the headquarters of the Intelligence Services,” situated on a hill in the western suburb of Amman, he added.

The official said another operation planned by the network was to use “deadly gas against the US embassy and the prime minister’s office in Amman … and other public buildings in Jordan”.

Jorsna’s King Abdullah confirmed the chemical weapons entered Jordan via Syria. From the San Francisco Chronicle via NewsMax :

Jordan’s King Abdullah revealed on Saturday that vehicles reportedly containing chemical weapons and poison gas that were part of a deadly al-Qaida bomb plot came from Syria, the country named by U.S. weapons inspector David Kay last year as a likely repository for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

”It was a major, major operation. It would have decapitated the government,” King Abdullah told the San Francisco Chronicle.
[…]
King Abdullah said that trucks containing 17.5 tons of explosives had come from Syria, though he took pains not to implicate Syrian President Bashir Assad in the al-Qaida plot, saying, “I’m completely confident that Bashir did not know about it.”

In his testimony before Congress last year, weapons inspector Kay said U.S. satellite surveillance showed substantial vehicular traffic going from Iraq to Syria just prior to the U.S. attack on March 19, 2003.

While Kay said investigators couldn’t be sure the cargo contained weapons of mass destruction, one of his top advisers described the evidence as “unquestionable.”
[…]
A car belonging to the al-Qaida plotters, containing a chemical bomb and poisonous gas, was intercepted just 75 miles from the Syrian border.

UNITED NATIONS: Secretary General Statements

The Secretary-General condemns Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Abdelaziz Rantissi. He reiterates that extrajudicial killings are violations of international law and calls on the Government of Israel to immediately end this practice. He is apprehensive that such an action would lead to further deterioration of an already distressing and fragile situation.

The only way to halt an escalation in the violence is for Israelis and Palestinians to work towards a viable negotiating process aimed at a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement, based on the Quartet’s Road Map.

THE AUSTRALIAN: New Hamas leader to stay secret

Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal today called on his group’s members in Gaza to promptly select a new leader, but without disclosing his name.

His comments came after the death of Abdelaziz Rantissi who was killed by Israel this morning.

“Select a leader for the movement in Gaza to replace our brother, martyr and fighter Abdel Aziz Rantissi, but do not disclose his name,” Meshaal said in an interview with the Qatar-based Arab satellite television al-Jazeera.

UPDATE:
The new leader has been selected.

REUTERS: Hamas Vows ‘100 Retaliations’ for Rantissi Killing

The Hamas militant group on Sunday vowed “100 retaliations” to avenge Israel’s killing of top leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in a missile strike.

“We declare the status of alert and public readiness within all our fighting cells…until the 100 retaliations, which will shake the criminal entity, are done,” its military wing Izz al-Deen al-Qassam said in a statement.

(They would have vowed 101, but were worried about getting sued by the Walt Disney Company for copyright infringement.)

REUTERS: U.S. Official Urges Israel Mull Hamas Consequences

A State Department official urged Israel to consider the consequences of its actions after the Jewish state killed a top Hamas leader on Saturday in an attack that drew vows of revenge.

The official said Washington had not changed its opposition to Israeli assassinations and denied that a landmark pro-Israel shift in U.S. policy this week had tacitly given the green light for the deadly strike, as senior Palestinians alleged.

“There’s been no change in our policy. We think Israel should bear in mind the consequences of what it’s doing and we also think the Palestinians should get a handle on terrorism,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

“Israel has a right to defend itself,” he added.

JERUSALEM POST: Arab officials decry Rantisi hit

Reached by telephone from Damascus, Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was shaken, and said in a sad and low voice that he could not comment on the killing.

REUTERS: UK Condemns Killing of Rantissi as Unlawful

“The British government has made it repeatedly clear that so-called ‘targeted assassinations’ of this kind are unlawful, unjustified and counter-productive,” Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a statement.

REUTERS UK: Hamas has “right” to avenge Rantissi death

A top Hamas political leader has said the group has the right to avenge in kind the assassination of its military wing leader, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, in Gaza.

“The group has the right to revenge and revenge can and should be in kind. The issue for us is beyond revenge. The main issue is to confront occupation and this is a pledge that we have made and we will keep,” Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy chief of the group’s political bureau, told Reuters by telephone from an unknown location.

When asked if the assassination on Saturday was a blow to the group he said, “Don’t you worry, there are ranks of men behind ranks of men who will to carry the mission.”

(Reuters puts quotes only around the word right, not the entire headline.)

JERUSALEM POST: Likud activists want Arafat assassination

Likud central committeee members praised Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday night for the assassination of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, saying that such moves will increase the chances of Sharon’s unilateral disengagement plan passing in a May 2 referendum of Likud members.

The activists said they hoped that if the plan is trailing in the polls ahead of the referendum, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat could be assassinated as well. Sharon’s advisers dismissed such talk as ridiculous.

“Defense forces acted according to orders that came from the diplomatic level weeks ago,” one Sharon adviser said.

“The prime minister runs the country according to his responsibility and his understanding and not according to the wishful thinking of Likud
central committee members.”

(That’s odd… so why the referendum on Gaza?)

Ha’aretz news flash:

Hadash MK Barakeh: Sharon has turned himself into godfather of Mideast, using diplomacy of underworld

Similar quote attributed to Saeb Erekat, comparing Israel to Mafia state.

(I can hear it now… “Rantisi sleeps with the Gefilte fishes.”)

Breaking of FOX:

An Israeli missile strike killed Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantissi (search) on Saturday in a strike on his car, hospital officials said. Rantisi’s son Mohammed and a bodyguard also were killed in the attack, the officials said.

The militant Hamas leader was one of Israel’s top targets after it had assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin (search) in an airstrike last month.

Rantissi’s car was hit with missiles Saturday evening on the road outside his home, leaving only the burned, destroyed vehicle.

Rantissi was taken to the hospital in critical condition, his body pocked with bloody wounds, and rushed into emergency surgery, but he died five minutes after arriving at the hospital

AP: Saudis Seized Car Packed With Explosives

Saudi police on Saturday seized a car packed with explosives that they have been searching for since February, an Interior Ministry official said.

In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the unidentified official said the wanted GMC Suburban was found “packed with an amount of explosives.”

The vehicle was secured, the statement added.

No further details were released, including where the car was found or if anyone was arrested. Officials were not immediately available for comment.

HAARETZ: 4 Israelis hurt in suicide bombing at Erez Crossing in Gaza

Four Israelis were wounded Saturday in a suicide bombing at the Erez crossing, which leads from the Gaza Strip into Israel. All four sustained light-to-moderate wounds.

This is the fourth suicide attack this year. In January, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the exact same location, killing four Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

UPDATE:
From Haaretz: Border policeman dies in attack.

REUTERS: Militant Calls for Seizure of Israeli Soldiers

In the Gaza Strip, Abdullah al-Shami, a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad group called for kidnapping Israeli soldiers as a tactic to ensure the release of prisoners.

“The policy of kidnapping Zionist soldiers should be adopted,” said Shami, whose group had carried out numerous suicide bombings against Israelis. He said militants “are working on this.”

Israel in January freed hundreds of Palestinians among some 400 prisoners released under a deal with the Lebanese Hizbollah group in exchange for an Israeli businessman and the bodies of three soldiers.

Hours before Saturday’s protests, Islamic Jihad militants issued a statement that one of its members had been killed in a “holy war” action near the West Bank city of Nablus.

From The Australian :

The arrest of a Sydney student on terrorism training charges has intensified the police focus on four Sydney men allegedly linked to a Pakistan-based terror cell that ASIO [Australian Security Intelligence Organisation] suspects plotted to bomb Australian military bases last year.

Fourth-year medical student Izhar Ul-Haque has spent his second night in the nation’s highest-security prison, the Supermax at Goulburn, after becoming only the second person charged in Australia with terrorism offences since the 1978 Hilton bombing.

NSW [New South Wales] Premier Bob Carr confirmed yesterday that his Government had been asked to make preparations to house more than one suspect in its prison system. “We were told several days ago to prepare several cells,” he said.

The federal Government confirmed that Ul-Haque’s arrest stemmed from a wide investigation into the activities of French terror suspect Willie Brigitte and his alleged Sydney associates.

HA‘ARETZ: Report: Islamic Jihad man killed, 2 injured in explosion in Nablus

An Islamic Jihad militant was killed on Friday night and two others were injured in an explosion in an apartment building at a refugee camp outside the West Bank town of Nablus, according to Palestinian hospital officials.

The officials said that the three men were working with explosives that accidentally went off.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen.

SPRING OFFENSIVE

• Last month we started to see the beginnings of the much talked about Spring Offensive in Afghanistan and Pakistan to round up elements of the Taliban and Al-Queda. Pakistan has made a large showing of force but has seemed to have had little success. Pakistan’s efforts so far have been mixed with few success and many major blunders which give a lack of credibility to Pakistani claims that they can deal with the threats of Al-Queda and Taliban forces in their country as they claim in this news video.

• Last month we reported on the idea that the US has made a deal with Mushraff in light of Dr Khan’s involvement in a Global Nuclear Weapons ring . It does seem many share this opinion now Mushraff has survived multiple assassination attempts that seem to have been sponsored by Al-Queda and has more than one reason to go after them. Regardless though of what pundits say it is obvious that coalition forces are planning to make a serious effort to deal with Al-Queda in the area.

Other Topics Today Include: Pakistan Becomes a MNNA, India Reacts, Enemy Within, Proliferation, Terrorism in South Asia; and more.

Read The Rest…

JERUSALEM POST: Islamic Jihad boasts new missile

The Islamic Jihad claims to have manufactured a new missile with a maximum range of 4 KM.

The missile was made in the group’s Gaza workshops, reported Israel Radio Thursday night.

(It’s for the Palestinian Space Agency, right?)

MAARIV: Palestinian apprehended at entrance to Ariel with 25 kg. of explosives

A Palestinian woman was apprehended a short time ago at the entrance to the city of Ariel in Samaria with a bag containing an estimated 25 kg. of explosives.

(Next time, try bringing flowers.)

JERUSALEM POST: Arafat warns Palestinian resistance will continue

The Palestinian people will continue to strive “for an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said in a press conference in Ramallah Thursday morning.

Arafat called the conference following Wednesday night’s press conference in the White House in which US President George W. Bush expressed his full support of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s unilateral withdrawal plan from the Gaza Strip and four other West Bank settlements.

The Palestinians have a right to return to their homeland, Arafat said, thus countering Bush’s statement that the refugees would be resettled only in the areas of a future Palestinian State and not within the boundaries of Israel.

Arafat threatened that Palestinian “resistance” will continue, and said that Israel will not achieve security as long as it continues the occupation of Palestinian territories and the assassination of Palestinian leaders, referring to the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin last month.

A new audio tape, presumed to be from bloodthirsty madman Osama bin Laden, is seeking a truce with Europe but vows continued hostilities against the U.S., according to this report from Voice of America:

Identified by two Arab satellite television stations as being the voice of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the man says all operations against European countries will be stopped in return for their promise not to attack Muslim countries.

The man says the truce will begin as soon as all European soldiers leave Islamic nations. He said there would be no truce with America.

Among other things, the voice on the tape vowed revenge against Americans for last month’s missile attack by Israel against Hamas terror leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

MAARIV: Rafah: IDF finds tunnel used for smuggling weapons

IDF forces in Rafah discovered a tunnel used by Palestinians to smuggle weapons from Egypt in to the Gaza Strip Thursday. The 6 meter deep tunnel was found under an abandoned cowshed. Soldiers are expected to blow up the tunnel in the next couple of hours.

That’s the question posted in this CSM article. It offers, in part, the thoughts of presidential historian David McCullough:

Although the Aug. 6 memo stands in hindsight as a stark warning, people acquainted with how presidencies work say its failure to prompt action by the Bush team is not necessarily surprising. It must be understood in the context of multiple demands, the often murky nature of warnings, and the fact that such a PDB (president’s daily brief) was not generally expected to prompt action.

“You can’t ever judge why people did things the way they did in the past unless you take into consideration what they didn’t know,” says presidential historian David McCullough. “Looking back, we say: They should have known, or listened to him or to her. It’s never that simple.”

HAARETZ: Hamas: Bush’s statement proves that Palestinian resistance is the ‘only way’

Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday President George W. Bush’s statement that Israel could keep parts of the West Bank proves armed resistance is the only way for Palestinians.

The group’s political leader, Khaled Meshaal, said Bush’s policy marked the end of “illusions that there can be a U.S.-sponsored political settlement” between the Israel and the Palestinians.

“This stance proves that resistance is the only way,” Meshaal told Reuters in a telephone interview from Beirut.

Hamas, which has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, envisages having Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of a Palestinian state. It rejects any settlement with Israel, including a U.S.-sponsored peace road map.

“(Bush) fired a fatal bullet at the road map and at any other settlement plan that comes under any other title,” said Meshaal.

“This is a dangerous and critical turning point that requires Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians to respond with a joint stance - folding the page of (political) settlement…to support the choice of resistance,” he said.

(Hold that target up high where the IDF can see it.)

MAARIV: Gaza: Palestinian student accidentally killed by terrorists

Ali Amar a Palestinian student at a Gaza university was accidentally killed today when Tanzim activists on campus shot in the air during a rally marking the death of a terrorist leader.

REUTERS: Israeli Troops Raid Southern Gaza Refugee Camp

Israeli soldiers raided a refugee camp on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, hours after President Bush pledged support for an Israeli withdrawal, witnesses and military sources said.

Witnesses said about 40 armored vehicles backed by two helicopters were brought into the Rafah area.

An Israeli military source said the troops were there to identify and destroy tunnels used to smuggle weapons into Gaza from neighboring Egypt.

Palestinian gunmen detonated an explosive to try to keep the soldiers away, and Israeli troops returned fire, Palestinian witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Apparently, 9-11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick is on the wrong side of the witness stand in the ongoing hearings. This news items appeared earlier this afternoon on FederalNewsRadio.com:

- - - - - - -

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner called on Jamie Gorelick to resign from the Sept. 11 commission Wednesday, citing a memo she wrote as a deputy attorney general on separating counterintelligence from criminal investigations.

The Landmark Legal Foundation, a conservative law firm, also has called on Gorelick to step down, citing the memo.

- - - - - - -

Via Instapundit.

This follows today’s piece in the Washington Times and this recent article in National Review Online.

Attorney General John Ashcrof has declassified this Gorelick memo - prepared while Gorelick was a Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration - setting up a draconian wall between FBI intelligence officers and other agents.

This draconian wall within our own domestic law enforcement and intelligence gathering capabilities is the chief culprit of 9-11. Gorelick is on the wrong side of the witness stand. When will the mainstream press ask her for an apology?

See more on Jamie Gorelick’s conflicts here.

This is a duplicate of the post at the nikita demosthenes website.

UPDATE:

Here is Congressman Sensenbrenner’s statement.

JERUSALEM POST: Islamic Jihad: Bush declared war on Palestinians

Islamic Jihad`s Khaled Al-Batsh said President Bush`s denial of the Palestinian right of return is a declaration of war against Palestinian people, Reuters reported.

“Bush and Sharon will have to take responsibility for a new cycle of violence,” Al-Batsh said.

MAARIV: Palestinian government to convene in view of Bush statement

The Palestinian government is to hold an emergency session later tonight following President Bush’s endorsment of the disengagement plan. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Queria is slated to hold a press conference shortly in which he will respond to the latest developments.

(ed - In other sources, Queri has been quoted as threatening disturbing responses to the Bush declaration, similar to the recent reports about Arafat’s authorization of a “message” to bBush that took the form of the attack on the convoy in Gaza. If terrorist activity is authorized by Queri and not Arafat, does that count as an “empowered” Prime Minister in Palestinian parlance as per the Roadmap?)

JERUSALEM POST: Hungarian terror group received Saudi funding

The mosque run by a man detained by police on suspicion of planning to bomb a Jewish museum received money from an Islamic organization suspected of financing al-Qaida, a Muslim community leader said Wednesday.

The Dar-Assalam mosque, run by Palestinian-born dentist Tayseer Saleh, 42, received funds from the Saudi-based Al-Haramain charity after the mosque broke away from Hungary’s main Islamic group, the Hungarian Islam Society, society leader Zoltan Bolek said.

JERUSALEM POST: IDF destroys suicide bomber’s house for second time

IDF forces demolished the home of Tanzim member Sabikh Abu al-Sa’ud from the Rafidiyah neighborhood in Nablus. Sa’ud committed suicide in a terror attack five months ago near the West Bank city of Kalkilya, in which a soldier was lightly wounded.

Abu Saud became the youngest suicide bomber in 3 1/2 years of conflict when he blew himself up in the West Bank village of Azzoun last November _ just days after his 16th birthday.

The demolition came 18 years after the military razed the family’s home after Abu Saud’s uncle killed a Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel, said Abu Saud’s father, Kamal.

“This is the second time they have destroyed our home,” Kamal Abu Saud said, adding that all he managed to salvage from his home were his clothes and his television set.

Opening staff statement from today’s hearings can be found here.

More full statements will be linked as they become available.

AP: Tenet: U.S. Lacks Tools to Combat al-Qaida

CIA director George Tenet predicted Wednesday it will take “another five years of work to have the kind of clandestine service our country needs” to combat al-Qaida and other terrorist threats.

“The same can be said for the National Security Agency, our imagery agency and our analytic community,” Tenet testified before the commission investigating the worst terror attacks in the nation’s history.

Readily acknowledging that intelligence agencies “never penetrated the 9-11 plot,” he added, “We all understood (Osama) bin Laden’s intent to strike the homeland but were unable to translate this knowledge into an effective defense of the country.”

Tenet testified that when he became the nation’s top intelligence officer in 1997, agencies had lost “close to 25 percent of our people and billions of dollars in capital investment” in the preceding several years.

He made his appearance after the commission released a report that noted the same erosion in resources dating to the end of the Cold War.

(Thank you, Frank Church.)

CNN: Report: Spain’s Jews terror target

A Jewish cemetery and cultural center on the outskirts of Madrid were targets for suspected Islamic terrorists linked to the Madrid train bombings last month, a Spanish newspaper reported Tuesday.

Jacobo Israel Garzon, president of the Jewish community in Spain, told CNN he could not confirm the El Mundo report that it did not seem unusual.

“It’s sad information,” he said. “This demonstrates the same as the March 11 attacks in Madrid, that the elements are here and they are violent and will attack anything that goes against their interests.”

From today’s hearings, provided by AP:

COMMISSIONER RICHARD BEN-VENISTE: To your knowledge, coming back to the United States, was the intelligence information accumulated by the year 2001 regarding various plots, real or otherwise, to crash planes using suicide pilots integrated into any air defense plan for protecting the homeland, and particularly our nation’s capital?

FORMER FBI DIRECTOR LOUIS J. FREEH: I’m not aware of such a plan.

BEN-VENISTE: Can you explain why it was, given the fact that we knew this information, and given the fact that, as we know now, our air defense system on 9-11 was looking outward in a Cold War-posture, rather than inward in a protective posture, that we didn’t have such a plan? Was that a failure of the Clinton administration, was that a failure of the Bush administration, given all of the information that we had accumulated at that time?

FREEH: I don’t know that I would characterize it as a failure by either administration.

I know, you know, by that time there were air defense systems with respect to the White House. There were air defense systems that the military command in the Washington, D.C., area, you know, had incorporated.

I don’t think there were probably _ at least I never was aware of a plan that contemplated commercial airliners being used as weapons after a hijacking. I don’t think that was integrated in any plan.

But with respect to air defense issues and that threat, it was clearly known and it was incorporated, as I mentioned, into standard special events planning.

___

COMMISSIONER CHAIRMAN THOMAS H. KEAN: I read our staff statement as an indictment of the FBI for over a long period of time. …

The present director, your successor, has a whole series of reforms that he is trying to put to make the agency work better. You tried reforms. You tried very hard to reform the agency. According to our staff report, those reforms failed.

I guess my question to you is, looking at this director’s efforts to reform the agency, can those reforms work or should there be some more fundamental changes to the agency and the way we get our intelligence?

FREEH: Well, first of all, I take exception to your comment that your staff report is an indictment of the FBI. I think your staff report evidences some very good work and some very diligent interviews and a very technical, almost auditing, analysis of some of the programs.

I think the centerpiece of your executive director’s report, as I heard it, came down to resources and legal authorities.

So I would ask that you balance what you call an indictment, and which I don’t agree with at all, with the two primary findings of your staff. One is that there was a lack of resources. And two, there were legal impediments.

With respect to your question, I certainly support and applaud the director’s efforts. The Patriot Act, the court of review, a couple of billion dollars is certainly a big help when we’re talking about changes.

With respect to the jurisdiction of the FBI, I do not believe that we should establish a separate domestic intelligence agency with respect to counterterrorism. I think that would be a huge mistake for the country for a number of reasons.

One, I don’t think in the United States we will tolerate very well what, in effect, is a state secret police even with all of the protections and the constitutional entitlements that we would subscribe it with. Americans, I don’t think, like secret police. And you would, in effect, be establishing a secret police.

Secondly, if you look at the models around the world where this has been tried, it hasn’t worked very well, in my opinion.

The other thing, it would take a long time to integrate. If the Homeland Security Department and 170,000 people to be integrated is going to take a couple of years, standing up a brand new domestic intelligence agency would take a decade and we would lose very precious time at a very dangerous time for the United States.

___

COMMISSIONER BOB KERREY: But even absent a declaration of war, why did we let their soldiers into the United States? Because that’s what the al-Qaida men were, they were soldiers. …

FREEH: Well, again, I think part of my answer is that we weren’t fighting a real war. We hadn’t declared war on these enemies in the manner that you suggest that would have prevented entry had we taken war measures and put the country and its intelligence and law enforcement agencies on a war footing. …

A war footing means we seal borders. A war footing means we detain people that we’re suspicious of. A war footing means that we have statutes like the Patriot Act, although with time set provisions, give us new powers.

We weren’t doing that.

Now, whether there was a political will for it or not, I guess we could debate that. But the fact of the matter is we didn’t do it and we were using grand jury subpoenas and arrest warrants to fight an enemy that was using missiles and suicide boats to attack our warships.

___

COMMISSION VICE CHAIRMAN LEE H. HAMILTON: I took a quick look at the appropriations for the FBI from 1996 to 2001. It went up from $2.3 billion to $3.3 billion, roughly. That’s a very, very dramatic increase.

The amount of FBI personnel and funding dedicated to counterterrorism more than tripled between 1993 and 2001. …

My sense of your testimony is that you could have done an awful lot better if you’d had a lot more resources. And in fact, you were receiving a lot more resources.

FREEH: No, there’s no question we were receiving a lot of resources. I think my position, which was the attorney general’s position, is there were not enough resources to work a counterterrorism program as the lead agency for the United States.

As I said in my testimony, the FBI had 3.5 percent of the government’s counterterrorism resources.

And as you see in my recommendations _ you know, the FBI only has 200 more agents now than it had back in 1999. It’s not just a question of allocating agents from criminal programs to counterterrorism programs. It’s really substantially enhancing not just the numbers, but the training, the expertise, the continuity of people in that particular program.

___

COMMISSIONER SLADE GORTON: The staff report reads, “The FBI’s inability or unwillingness to share information reportedly frustrated White House national security officials. According to the former national counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke, the National Security Council never received anything in writing from the FBI whatsoever.

“Former Deputy National Security Adviser James Steinberg stated that the only time that the FBI provided the National Security Council with relevant information was during the millennium crisis. Clarke told us that Attorney General (Janet) Reno was notified that the National Security Council could not run an effective counterterrorism program without access to FBI information.”

Is that a correct characterization?

FREEH: I don’t think it is.

I can’t speak for the frustration of other people, but with respect to sharing information, you know, I didn’t provide written memos to (former National Security Adviser) Sandy Berger or the president or anybody else at the NSC, but as I said before, the attorney general and I, every two weeks, almost like clockwork in the last 14 or 15 months of our overlapping tenure, sat with Sandy Berger in his office for at least an hour, perhaps two hours, and went over every single piece of counterterrorism, counterintelligence case that we have.

JERUSALEM POST: Jordan: Mega-attack thwarted

Jordanian officials said Tuesday night that security forces have thwarted a major attack that could have killed hundreds or thousands of people, AFP reported.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II said “terrorists had planned an attack a crime the likes of which has not been seen in this Kingdom. It would have led to the deaths of thousands.”

IMRA/MENL: Arafat approved attack on U.S. Convoy

The United States has determined that Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat approved an attack on a U.S. embassy convoy in which three Americans were killed in 2003.

U.S. diplomatic sources said a U.S. investigation into the bombing of the
embassy convoy in the Gaza Strip in October 2003 pointed to a clear role by
Arafat. The sources said Arafat granted approval to a plan to strike U.S.
interests in PA areas.

Arafat, the sources said, did not draft or approve any details for a
Palestinian attack. But they said Arafat agreed to a proposal relayed by a
high-level aide for the Palestinians to “pass a message” to the United
States.

(By killing the diplomats, Arafat also caused the Fulbright Scholarships for the Palestinian students to be rescinded, ruining their chances of a real education at a slight-less-than anti-Israeli, anti-American university within the United States.)

“We understood from early on in the Clinton administration that terrorism posed a great threat to Americans on American soil,” said former President Clinton’s attorney general, who took office in March 1993. “It has been an issue that has been with me ever since I first became attorney general.”

Reno speaks to 9/11 Commission

HAARETZ: IDF captures two men in Nablus apartment after 6-hour siege

Israel Defense Forces troops captured two Palestinians wanted by the Shin Bet internal security service on Tuesday following a six-hour siege of the apartment in which they were hiding adjacent to Al-Najah University in Nablus.

Paratroopers surrounded the building at 6 A.M. and used a loudspeaker to call residents to evacuate the premises.

The two wanted men remained inside the building after the residents walked out, and IDF troops threatened to blow up the building if they did not surrender.

After six hours of waiting, the wanted men handed themselves over to Israeli soldiers.

(Read the rest of the article for the Palestinian “eyewitness” account)

HAARETZ: 10 suicide bombings foiled over Passover holiday

Israeli security forces managed to scuttle a total of 10 attempted suicide bomb attacks on Israeli targets during the Passover holiday, which ended Monday night, Army Radio reported on Tuesday.

Among those attacks foiled was a plan to use AIDS-infected blood. Two attacks were also due to be carried out by women.

One of two Tanzim activists caught at the end of March told interrogators the group that sent them had planned a series of other attacks, including one with a device to which blood infected with AIDS would be attached.

Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security sources, however, agree that the plan had not reached a practical stage.

From Reuters, via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A suspected Muslim militant and a Saudi policeman have been killed in a shoot-out in the Saudi capital Riyadh, in which four policemen have also been wounded.
[…]
An Interior Ministry statement read out on state television says the firefight broke out after the police stopped a suspicious car with two men on board.

The men shot at the police and then took off, coming to a stop in front of a house in the Faiha area in eastern Riyadh.

At the home, more militants started using various weapons against the security forces, including rocket propelled grenades.

The statement says police are still surrounding the neighbourhood, which security sources earlier identified as Rawabi.

NEWS.COM.AU: Blasts rock Riyadh

GUNFIRE and explosions were heard in an eastern neighbourhood of Riyadh this evening as security forces chased suspected militants, residents said.

“A confrontation between security patrols and a group of wanted militants began at 6.30pm,” said a resident of the Sley neighbourhood.

“Heavy gunfire is being heard as well as blasts apparently resulting from rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades,” he said.

Dozens of police cars were seen speeding to the area, but heavy traffic made it difficult to reach the scene of the clash, an AFP correspondent reported.

JERUSALEM POST: Three Palestinians killed in Gush Katif

A Shimshon battalion ambush thwarted a terror attack by three armed Palestinians inside the Netzarim settlement in Gush Katif overnight Sunday.

Based on intelligence received, an ambush was prepared near the settlement greenhouses.

Towards 5 o’clock Monday morning, one Palestinian succeeded infiltrating the hothouse area, and simultaneously, two others attacked IDF positions surrounding the community. Soldiers shot and killed the infiltrator and shot at the other two, mortally wounding at least one.

The body of the second Palestinian, officials said, is located in the Palestinian-controlled area near the community, and the third Palestinian, who was apparently wounded, appears to have fled.

HAARETZ: IDF operating in Jenin, Tul Karm

IDF troops surrounded a house where Tanzim militants were staying, and called on them to surrender, Israel Radio reported. When they refused, the troops fired warning shots, military officials said.

Mohammed Abu Kaber was shot in the head as he looked out the window from the house that troops had surrounded, neighbors said.

The army said Abu Kaber was killed by “warning shots.”

AP: Hezbollah Sponsoring Anti-Israel Attacks

The Islamic group Hezbollah has become a key sponsor of Palestinian violence, funding suicide bombings that have killed dozens of Israelis in recent months, Israeli intelligence sources, Palestinian Authority officials and militants have told The Associated Press.

The Iranian-backed group, based in Lebanon, first earned a foothold in the 3 1/2-year-old Palestinian uprising by giving money to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, ideological allies that also seek the destruction of Israel.

In recent months, it has pulled off something akin to a hostile takeover of some of cells of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, wrenching them away from Yasser Arafat’s secular Fatah movement and turning them into a proxy army.

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US,” the memo to Bush stated. “Bin Laden implied in U.S. television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and “bring the fighting to America.”

Story so far

More than 50 inmates, including many suspected members of a Muslim extremist group, used a smuggled pistol to escape from a southern Philippine prison on Saturday, officials said. At least nine were killed by police.


Provincial spokesman Christopher Puno said 53 of 137 inmates at the Basilan Provincial Jail, including many members of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, escaped.

JERUSALEM POST: US won’t withhold loans on account of fence

The US will not withhold loan guarantees to Israel on account of the security fence, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Appropriations Committee late Thursday.

“Israel has a right to build a fence to protect itself if it feels that’s what it needs to keep the terrorists from getting into Israel,” Powell told the committee’s hearing on foreign operations appropriations for 2005.

HA‘ARETZ: Palestinian sources: Hamas wants to join PA security bodies

Palestinian sources said Saturday that in addition to a full political partnership with the Palestinian Authority, the militant Hamas movement would also like to participate in the different Palestinian security organizations.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said new Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi made the request during closed meetings with PA officials.

The most recent meetings took place in Gaza on Wednesday, when Rantisi met with the former PA minister of internal security Mohammed Dahlan and other leaders of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip after an Israel Defense Forces withdrawal.

The report comes despite a statement by a Hamas spokesman Thursday that the militant group does not intend to join the current PA government, despite the ongoing high-level talks.

“Hamas will not participate in the current Palestinian Authority,” said Gaza Hamas official Sa’id Siam. “Discussion of this possibility is misplaced. Hamas does not intend to abandon the armed struggle so long as the conquest remains intact.”

AP: Uzbek Terrorists Said Trained by al-Qaida

The suspects behind a wave of suicide bombings and attacks on police in Uzbekistan got military training from Arab instructors who also taught al-Qaida fighters, the country’s top prosecutor said Friday.

Prosecutor-General Rashid Kadyrov also said the militants were influenced by Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extremist Islamic group that claims to disavow violence, and the Islamic Movement of Turkestan — a terrorist group believed to have emerged from the remains of an Uzbek group decimated in U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.

Kadyrov did not offer any evidence or take questions from reporters at his news briefing. Uzbekistan has been keen to portray itself as the latest victim of global terrorism, but the authoritarian regime has created many enemies at home through its oppressive policies and crackdown on Muslims who worship outside state-affiliated mosques.

REUTERS: Hamas Launches Campaign in Gaza to Collect Funds

Worshippers handed over cash and jewelry to armed and masked men at Gaza mosques on Friday, at the start of a drive by the militant group Hamas to raise money for its armed wing amid U.S. pressure to choke off its funds.

The collectors passed around charity boxes, netting about $120,000 in the first hours of the campaign for Hamas’s Izz el-Deen al-Qassam armed wing, responsible for killing hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings. “Now you can help buy ammunition for the fighters,” said a Hamas statement distributed at the mosques.

The campaign, the first of its kind by the Islamic group, is a sign Hamas has become strapped for cash under U.S.-led pressure to freeze its bank accounts and shut down Islamic charities that funnel funds from around the globe.

AP:

A video has been found in the rubble of a Spanish apartment where some suspects in the Madrid train bombings blew themselves up.

The Spanish interior ministry says it warns Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. The video says if Spain doesn’t do so within a week, the country will face new attacks.

Authorities say the tape shows three heavily armed people reading a statement.

It’s not clear when the video had been filmed or when the deadline period would begin. It’s also not known if any of the three who appeared on the tape were among the suspects who blew themselves up in the apartment.

NY TIMES: Provincial Capital in Afghanistan Is Seized by a Warlord’s Forces

Forces loyal to Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum seized control of the capital of Faryab Province in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, forcing the governor to flee and drawing a sharp rebuke from President Hamid Karzai and his ministers in Kabul.

The central government ordered in troops of the Afghan National Army, along with their American trainers, but they arrived too late to prevent the takeover of power. It was more a political coup than a military clash, with just some shooting in the air in the city, witnesses said. But militia loyal to General Dostum had seized control in four districts throughout the province, they said.

The governor and his top officials fled in the morning after a demonstration turned violent and protesters began stoning the governor’s office, the interior minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, told a news briefing. The governor of a neighboring Sar-e-Pul Province also fled his post, he said. There were no reported casualties.

(Good luck to the Spanish troop reinforcements going there, unless the incoming government pulls troops out of Afghanistan due to Al-Qaida pressure, too.)

HA‘aretz is reporting that the IDF is changing its policy on the bodies of armed Palestinians killed in confrontations. The bodies may not be returned to the Palestinian Authority, and they may be buried in Israeli cemeteries.

(Will the Palestinian Authority invokes the Geneva Convention on this when the dead are non-uniformed combatants, nor is the PA a signatory to the G.A.?)

HAARETZ: Hamas says it won’t join current PA leadership

Hamas does not intend to join the current Palestinian Authority government, despite continuing talks between top delegates from the organization, the PA and Fatah, a Hamas spokesman said Thursday.

“Hamas will not participate in the current Palestinian Authority,” said Said Siam, a Hamas leader from the Gaza Strip. “Discussion of this possibility is misplaced. Hamas does not intend to abandon the armed struggle so long as the conquest remains intact.”

Siam’s statements were in response to hints made by PA officials about the possibility of Hamas joining the Palestinian Authority structure. Hamas has boycotted the PA since its formation in 1994.

A bomb alert prompted the evacuation Thursday evening of all stations on a train line that cuts across the French capital, as well as Metro stations connecting to it, police said.
Traffic on the RER-A line, which crosses Paris and links it to the suburbs, was interrupted at 8:15 p.m., police said. All stations, both in Paris and the suburbs, were evacuated so officers could search.

Also evacuated were subway stations that connect the underground network to the train line, the RATP public transport company said.

The armed forces in the Philippines say they have killed one of the five leading members of the Abu Sayyaf - an armed group of Filipino Muslims notorious for kidnapping hostages.

The army says the man, Hamsiraji Sali, was killed during an exchange of fire with an elite unit who cornered him in a village on the southern island of Basilan.

... The US had offered a reward of $1m for the capture of Sali who was wanted for his alleged part in kidnapping three Americans in the Philippines nearly three years ago.

FIELDING: Thank you for being here, and thank you for all your service presently and in the past to your country.

RICE: Thank you.

FIELDING: As you know, our task is to assemble facts in order to inform ourselves and then ultimately to inform the American public of the cause of this horrible event, and also to make recommendations to mitigate against the possibility that there will ever be another terrorist triumph on our homeland or against our people.

FIELDING: And as we do this with the aid of testimony of people like yourself, of course there will be some discrepancies, as there always will, and we will have to try as best we can to resolve those discrepancies. And obviously that’s an important thing for us to do.

But as important as that ultimately might be, it also is our responsibility to really come up with ways, and valid ways, to prevent another intelligence failure like we suffered. And I don’t think anybody will kid ourselves that we didn’t suffer one.

So we must try to look at the systems and the policies that were in place and to evaluate them and to see — getting a view of the landscape, and I know it’s difficult to do it through a pre-9/11 lens, but we must try to do that, so that we can do better the next time.

And I’d like to follow up with a couple of areas with that sort of specificity, and one is the one that you were just discussing with Commissioner Ben-Veniste.

We’ve all heard over the years the problem between the CIA, the FBI, coordination, et cetera. And you made reference to an introduction you’d done to a book, but you also, in October 2000, while you were a part of the campaign team for candidate Bush, you told a radio station, WJR, which is in Detroit, you’re talking about the threat and how to deal with Al Qaida.

And if I may quote, you said, “Osama bin Laden, the first is you really have to get intelligence agencies better organized to deal with the terrorist threat to the United States itself. One of the problems that we have is kind of a split responsibility, of course, between the CIA and foreign intelligence and the FBI and domestic intelligence. There needs to be better cooperation, because we don’t want to wake up one day and find that Osama bin Laden has been successful on our territory,” end of your quote.

Well, in fact, sadly, we did wake up and that did happen.

FIELDING: And obviously, there is a systemic problem.

And what I’d really like you to address right now is what steps were taken by you and the administration, to your knowledge, in the first several months of the administration to assess and address this problem?

RICE: Well, thank you.

We did have a structural problem, and structural problems take some time to address.

We did have a national security policy directive asking the CIA, through the foreign intelligence board, headed by Brent Scowcroft, to review its intelligence activities, the way that it gathered intelligence. And that was a study that was to be completed.

The vice president was, a little later in, I think, in May, tasked by the president to put together a group to look at all of the recommendations that had been made about domestic preparedness and all of the questions associated with that; to take the Gilmore report and the Hart-Rudman report and so forth and to try to make recommendations about what might have been done.

We were in office 233 days. And the kinds of structural changes that have been needed by this country for some time did not get made in that period of time.

I’m told that after the millennium plot was discovered, that there was an after-action report done and that some steps were taken. To my recollection, that was not briefed to us during the transition period or during the threat spike.

But clearly, what needed to be done was that we needed systems in place that would bring all of this together. It is not enough to leave this to chance.

If you look at this period, I think you see that everybody — the director of the CIA — Louis Freeh had left, but the key counterterrorism person was a part of Dick Clarke’s group.

And with meeting with him and, I’m sure, shaking the trees and doing all of the things that you would want people to do, we were being given reports all the time that they were doing everything they could. But there was a systemic problem in getting that kind of shared intelligence.

One of the first things that Bob Mueller did post-9/11 was to recognize that the issue of prevention meant that you had to break down some of the walls between criminal and counterterrorism, between criminal and intelligence.

RICE: The way that we went about this was to have individual cases where you were trying to build a criminal case, individual offices with responsibility for those cases. Much was not coming to the FBI in a way that it could then engage the policymakers.

So these were big structural reforms. We did some things to try and get the CIA reforming. We did some things to try and get a better sense of how to put all of this together.

But structural reform is hard, and in seven months we didn’t have time to make the changes that were necessary. We made them almost immediately after September 11th.

FIELDING: Well, would you consider the problem as solved today?

RICE: I would not consider the problem solved. I believe that we have made some very important structural changes.

The creation of a Department of Homeland Security is an absolutely critical issue, because the Department of Homeland Security brings together INS and the Customs Department and the border people and all of the people who were scattered — Customs and Treasury and INS and Justice and so forth — brings them together in a way that a single secretary is looking after the homeland every day.

He’s looking at what infrastructure needs to be protected. He’s looking at what state and local governments need to do their work. That is an extremely important innovation.

I hope that he will have the freedom to manage that organization in a way that will make it fully effective, because there are a lot of issues for Congress in how that’s managed.

We have created a threat terrorism information center, the TTIC, which does bring together all of the sources of information from all of the intelligence agencies — the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and the INS and the CIA and the DIA — so that there’s one place where all of this is coming together.

And of course the Patriot Act, which permits the kind of sharing that we need between the CIA and the FBI, is also an important innovation.

But I would be the first to tell you — I’m a student of institutional change. I know that you get few chances to make really transformative institutional change.

And I think that when we’ve heard from this commission and others who are working on other pieces of the problem, like, for instance, the issues of intelligence and weapons of mass destruction, that this president will be open to new ideas.

I really don’t believe that all of our work is done, despite the tremendous progress that we’ve made thus far.

FIELDING: Well, I promise you that we’re going to respond to that, because that is really a problem that’s bothering us, is that it doesn’t appear to us, even with the changes up until now, that it’s solved the institutional versus institutional issues, which — maybe it has, but, you know, it’s of grave concern to us.

I would also ask — I don’t want to take the time today, but I would ask that you provide our commission, if you would with your analysis on the MI-5 issue. As you know, it’s something we’re going to have to deal with, and we’re taking all information aboard that we may. So we’d appreciate that if you could supply that to us.

RICE: I appreciate that.

I want to be very clear. I think that we’ve made very important changes. I think that they are helping us tremendously.

Every day now in the Oval Office in the morning, the FBI director and the CIA director sit with the president, sharing information in ways that they would have been prohibited to share that information before.

So very important changes have taken place. We need to see them mature. We need to know how it’s working. But we also have to be open to see what more needs to be done.

FIELDING: It may be solved at the top. We’ve got to make sure it’s solved at the bottom.

RICE: I agree completely.

FIELDING: And kind of related to that, we’ve heard testimony, a great deal of it, about the coordination that took place during the millennium threat in 1999 where there were a series of principals meetings and a lot of activity, as we are told, which stopped and prevented incidents. It was a success. It was an intelligence success. And there had to be domestic coordination with foreign intelligence, but it seemed to work.

The time ended, the threat ended, and apparently the guard was let down a little, too, as the threat diminished.

FIELDING: Now, we’ve also heard testimony about what we would call the summer threat, the spike threat, whatever it is in 2001. A lot of chatter — you shared some of it with us directly — a lot of traffic, and a lot of threats.

And during that period — actually you put in context, I guess it was the first draft of the NSPD was circulated to deputies. But right then, when that was happening, the threats were coming in, and it’s been described as a crescendo and hair on fire and all these different things.

At that time the CSG handled the alert, if you will. And we’ve heard testimony about Clarke warning you and the NSC that State and CIA and the Pentagon had concerns and were convinced there was going to be a major terrorist attack.

On July 5th, I believe it was, domestic agencies, including the FBI and the FAA, were briefed by the White House. Alerts were issued. The next day, the CIA told the CSG participants, and I think they said they believed the upcoming attack would be spectacular, something quantitatively different from anything that had been done to date.

So everybody was worried about it. Everybody was concentrating on it. And then later the crescendo ended, and again it abated.

But of course, that time the end of the story wasn’t pleasant.

FIELDING: Now, during this period of time, what — and I’d like you to just respond to several points — what involvement did you have in this alert? And how did it come about that the CSG was handling this thing as opposed to the principals?

Because candidly it’s been suggested that the difference between the 1999 handling and this one was that you didn’t have the principals dealing with it; therefore, it wasn’t given the priority; therefore, the people weren’t forced to do what they would otherwise have done, et cetera. You’ve heard the same things I’ve heard.

And would it have made a real difference in enhancing the exchange of intelligence, for instance, if it had been the principals?

I would like your comments, both on your involvement and your comments to that question. Thank you.

RICE: Of course. Let me start by talking about what we were doing and the structure we used. I’ve mentioned this.

The CSG, yes, was the counterterrorism group, was the nerve center, if you will. And that’s been true through all crises. I think it was, in fact, a nerve center as well during the millennium, that they were the counterterrorism experts, they were able to get together. They got together frequently. They came up with taskings that needed to be done.

I would say that if you look at the list of taskings that they came up with, it reflected the fact that the threat information was from abroad. It was that the agencies like the Department of State needed to make clear to Americans traveling abroad that there was a danger, that embassies needed to be on alert, that our force protection needed to be strong for our military forces.

The Central Intelligence Agency was asked to do some things. It was very foreign policy or foreign threat-based as well. And of course, the warning to the FBI to go out and task their field agents.

RICE: The CSG was made up of not junior people, but the top level of counterterrorism experts. Now, they were in contact with their principals.

Dick Clarke was in contact with me quite frequently during this period of time. When the CSG would meet, he would come back usually through e-mail, sometimes personally, and say, here’s what we’ve done. I would talk everyday, several times a day, with George Tenet about what the threat spike looked like.

In fact, George Tenet was meeting with the president during this period of time so the president was hearing directly about what was being done about the threats to — the only really specific threats we had — to Genoa, to the Persian Gulf, there was one to Israel. So the president was hearing what was being done.

The CSG was the nerve center. But I just don’t believe that bringing the principals over to the White House every day and having their counterterrorism people have to come with them and be pulled away from what they were doing to disrupt was a good way to go about this. It wasn’t an efficient way to go about it.

I talked to Powell, I talked to Rumsfeld about what was happening with the threats and with the alerts. I talked to George. I asked that the attorney general be briefed, because even though there were no domestic threats, I didn’t want him to be without that briefing.

It’s also the case that I think if you actually look back at the millennium period, it’s questionable to me whether the argument that has been made that somehow shaking the trees is what broke up the millennium period is actually accurate — and I was not there, clearly.

But I will tell you this. I will say this. That the millennium, of course, was a period of high threat by its very nature. We all knew that the millennium was a period of high threat.

And after September 11th, Dick Clarke sent us the after-action report that had been done after the millennium plot and their assessment was that Ressam had been caught by chance — Ressam being the person who was entering the United States over the Canadian border with bomb-making materials in store.

RICE: I think it actually wasn’t by chance, which was Washington’s view of it. It was because a very alert customs agent named Diana Dean and her colleagues sniffed something about Ressam. They saw that something was wrong. They tried to apprehend him. He tried to run. They then apprehended him, found that there was bomb- making material and a map of Los Angeles.

Now, at that point, you have pretty clear indication that you’ve got a problem inside the United States.

I don’t think it was shaking the trees that produced the breakthrough in the millennium plot. It was that you got a — Dick Clarke would say a “lucky break” — I would say you got an alert customs agent who got it right.

And the interesting thing is that I’ve checked with Customs and according to their records, they weren’t actually on alert at that point.

So I just don’t buy the argument that we weren’t shaking the trees enough and that something was going to fall out that gave us somehow that little piece of information that would have led to connecting all of those dots.

In any case, you cannot be dependent on the chance that something might come together. That’s why the structural reforms are important.

And the president of the United States had us at battle station during this period of time. He expected his secretary of state to be locking down embassies. He expected his secretary of defense to be providing force protection.

RICE: He expected his FBI director to be tasking his agents and getting people out there. He expected his director of central intelligence to be out and doing what needed to be done in terms of disruption, and he expected his national security advisor to be looking to see that — or talking to people to see that that was done.

But I think we’ve created a kind of false impression — or a not quite correct impression — of how one does this in the threat period. I might just add that during the China period, the 11 days of the China crisis, I also didn’t have a principals meeting.

FIELDING: Thank you, Dr. Rice.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Have at it.

[This was like celebrity death match with politicians]

BEN-VENISTE: Good morning, Dr. Rice.

RICE: Good morning.

BEN-VENISTE: Nice to see you again.

RICE: Nice to see you.

BEN-VENISTE: I want to ask you some questions about the Augusth PDB was prepared and self-generated by a CIA employee. Following Director Tenet’s testimony on March 26th before us, the CIA clarified its version of events, saying that questions by the president prompted them to prepare the August 6th PDB.

Now, you have said to us in our meeting together earlier in February, that the president directed the CIA to prepare the August 6th PDB.

The extraordinary high terrorist attack threat level in the summer of 2001 is well-documented. And Richard Clarke’s testimony about the possibility of an attack against the United States homeland was repeatedly discussed from May to August within the intelligence community, and that is well-documented.

You acknowledged to us in your interview of February 7, 2004, that Richard Clarke told you that Al Qaida cells were in the United States.

XXX in the United States.

BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president, at any time prior to August 6th, of the existence of Al Qaida cells in the United States?

RICE: First, let me just make certain…

BEN-VENISTE: If you could just answer that question, because I only have a very limited…

RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but it’s important…

BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president…

RICE: … that I also address…

(APPLAUSE)

It’s also important that, Commissioner, that I address the other issues that you have raised. So I will do it quickly, but if you’ll just give me a moment.

BEN-VENISTE: Well, my only question to you is whether you…

RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but I will…

BEN-VENISTE: … told the president.

RICE: If you’ll just give me a moment, I will address fully the questions that you’ve asked.

First of all, yes, the August 6th PDB was in response to questions of the president — and that since he asked that this be done. It was not a particular threat report. And there was historical information in there about various aspects of Al Qaida’s operations.

Dick Clarke had told me, I think in a memorandum — I remember it as being only a line or two — that there were Al Qaida cells in the United States.

Now, the question is, what did we need to do about that?

And I also understood that that was what the FBI was doing, that the FBI was pursuing these Al Qaida cells. I believe in the August 6th memorandum it says that there were 70 full field investigations under way of these cells. And so there was no recommendation that we do something about this; the FBI was pursuing it.

I really don’t remember, Commissioner, whether I discussed this with the president.

BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.

RICE: I remember very well that the president was aware that there were issues inside the United States. He talked to people about this. But I don’t remember the Al Qaida cells as being something that we were told we needed to do something about.

BEN-VENISTE: Isn’t it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6th PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?

RICE: I believe the title was, “Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.”

Now, the…

BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.

RICE: No, Mr. Ben-Veniste…

BEN-VENISTE: I will get into the…

RICE: I would like to finish my point here.

BEN-VENISTE: I didn’t know there was a point.

RICE: Given that — you asked me whether or not it warned of attacks.

BEN-VENISTE: I asked you what the title was.

RICE: You said, did it not warn of attacks. It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no new threat information. And it did not, in fact, warn of any coming attacks inside the United States.

BEN-VENISTE: Now, you knew by August 2001 of Al Qaida involvement in the first World Trade Center bombing, is that correct?

You knew that in 1999, late ‘99, in the millennium threat period, that we had thwarted an Al Qaida attempt to blow up Los Angeles International Airport and thwarted cells operating in Brooklyn, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts.

As of the August 6th briefing, you learned that Al Qaida members have resided or travelled to the United States for years and maintained a support system in the United States.

And you learned that FBI information since the 1998 blind sheikh warning of hijackings to free the blind sheikh indicated a pattern of suspicious activity in the country up until August 6th consistent with preparation for hijackings. Isn’t that so?

RICE: Do you have other questions that you want me to answer as a part of the sequence?

BEN-VENISTE: Well, did you not — you have indicated here that this was some historical document. And I am asking you whether it is not the case that you learned in the PDB memo of August 6th that the FBI was saying that it had information suggesting that preparations — not historically, but ongoing, along with these numerous full field investigations against Al Qaida cells, that preparations were being made consistent with hijackings within the United States?

RICE: What the August 6th PDB said, and perhaps I should read to you…

BEN-VENISTE: We would be happy to have it declassified in full at this time, including its title.

(APPLAUSE)

RICE: I believe, Mr. Ben-Veniste, that you’ve had access to this PDB. But let me just…

BEN-VENISTE: But we have not had it declassified so that it can be shown publicly, as you know.

RICE: I believe you’ve had access to this PDB — exceptional access. But let me address your question.

BEN-VENISTE: Nor could we, prior to today, reveal the title of that PDB.

RICE: May I address the question, sir?

The fact is that this August 6th PDB was in response to the president’s questions about whether or not something might happen or something might be planned by Al Qaida inside the United States. He asked because all of the threat reporting or the threat reporting that was actionable was about the threats abroad, not about the United States.

This particular PDB had a long section on what bin Laden had wanted to do — speculative, much of it — in ‘97, ‘98; that he had, in fact, liked the results of the 1993 bombing.

RICE: It had a number of discussions of — it had a discussion of whether or not they might use hijacking to try and free a prisoner who was being held in the United States — Ressam. It reported that the FBI had full field investigations under way.

And we checked on the issue of whether or not there was something going on with surveillance of buildings, and we were told, I believe, that the issue was the courthouse in which this might take place.

Commissioner, this was not a warning. This was a historic memo — historical memo prepared by the agency because the president was asking questions about what we knew aISTE: If you are willing to declassify that document, then others can make up their minds about it.

Let me ask you a general matter, beyond the fact that this memorandum provided information, not speculative, but based on intelligence information, that bin Laden had threatened to attack the United States and specifically Washington, D.C.

There was nothing reassuring, was there, in that PDB?

RICE: Certainly not. There was nothing reassuring.

But I can also tell you that there was nothing in this memo that suggested that an attack was coming on New York or Washington, D.C. There was nothing in this memo as to time, place, how or where. This was not a threat report to the president or a threat report to me.

BEN-VENISTE: We agree that there were no specifics. Let me move on, if I may.

RICE: There were no specifics, and, in fact, the country had already taken steps through the FAA to warn of potential hijackings. The country had already taken steps through the FBI to task their 56 field offices to increase their activity. The country had taken the steps that it could given that there was no threat reporting about what might happen inside the United States.

BEN-VENISTE: We have explored that and we will continue to with respect to the muscularity and the specifics of those efforts.

The president was in Crawford, Texas, at the time he received the PDB, you were not with him, correct?

RICE: That is correct.

BEN-VENISTE: Now, was the president, in words or substance, alarmed or in any way motivated to take any action, such as meeting with the director of the FBI, meeting with the attorney general, as a result of receiving the information contained in the PDB?

RICE: I want to repeat that when this document was presented, it was presented as, yes, there were some frightening things — and by the way, I was not at Crawford, but the president and I were in contact and I might have even been, though I can’t remember, with him by video link during that time.

The president was told this is historical information. I’m told he was told this is historical information and there was nothing actionable in this. The president knew that the FBI was pursuing this issue. The president knew that the director of central intelligence was pursuing this issue. And there was no new threat information in this document to pursue.

BEN-VENISTE: Final question, because my time has almost expired.

Do you believe that, had the president taken action to issue a directive to the director of CIA to ensure that the FBI had pulsed the agency, to make sure that any information which we know now had been collected was transmitted to the director, that the president might have been able to receive information from CIA with respect to the fact that two Al Qaida operatives who took part in the 9/11 catastrophe were in the United States — Al-Hajmi (ph) and Minhar (ph); and that Moussaoui, who Dick Clarke was never even made aware of, who had jihadist connections, who the FBI had arrested, and who had been in a flight school in Minnesota trying to learn the avionics of a commercial jetliner despite the fact that he had no training previously, had no explanation for the funds in his bank account, and no explanation for why he was in the United States — would that have possibly, in your view, in hindsight, made a difference in the ability to collect this information, shake the trees, as Richard Clarke had said, and possibly, possibly interrupt the plotters?

RICE: My view, Commissioner Ben-Veniste, as I said to Chairman Kean, is that, first of all, the director of central intelligence and the director of the FBI, given the level of threat, were doing what they thought they could do to deal with the threat that we faced.

There was no threat reporting of any substance about an attack coming in the United States.

RICE: And the director of the FBI and the director of the CIA, had they received information, I am quite certain — given that the director of the CIA met frequently face to face with the president of the United States — that he would have made that available to the president or to me.

I do not believe that it is a good analysis to go back and assume that somehow maybe we would have gotten lucky by, quote, “shaking the trees.” Dick Clarke was shaking the trees, director of central intelligence was shaking the trees, director of the FBI was shaking the trees. We had a structural problem in the United States.

BEN-VENISTE: Did the president meet with the director of the FBI?

RICE: We had a structural problem in the United States, and that structural problem was that we did not share domestic and foreign intelligence in a way to make a product for policymakers, for good reasons — for legal reasons, for cultural reasons — a product that people could depend upon.

BEN-VENISTE: Did the president meet with the director of…

KEAN: Commissioner, we got to move on…

BEN-VENISTE: … the FBI between August 6th and September 11th?

KEAN: … to Commissioner Fielding.

RICE: I will have to get back to you on that. I am not certain.

Fox News has the text of Condoleeza Rice’s opening statement before the 9/11 Commission.

Full transcript courtesy of FOX.

HAMILTON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Dr. Rice, you’ve given us a very strong statement, with regard to the actions taken by the administration in this pre-9/11 period, and we appreciate that very much for the record.

I want to call to your attention some comments and some events on the other side of that question and give you an opportunity to respond.

You know very well that the commission is focusing on this whole question of, what priority did the Clinton administration and the Bush administration give to terrorism?

The president told Bob Woodward that he did not feel that sense of urgency. I think that’s a quote from his book, or roughly a quote from Woodward’s book.

The deputy director for Central Intelligence, Mr. McLaughlin, told us that he was concerned about the pace of policymaking in the summer of 2001, given the urgency of the threat.

The deputy secretary of state, Mr. Armitage, was here and expressed his concerns about the speed of the process. And if I recall, his comment is that, “We weren’t going fast enough.” I think that’s a direct quote.

There was no response to the Cole attack in the Clinton administration and none in the Bush administration.

Your public statements focused largely on China and Russia and missile defense. You did make comments on terrorism, but they were connected — the link between terrorism and the rogue regimes, like North Korea and Iran and Iraq.

HAMILTON: And by our count here, there were some 100 meetings by the national security principals before the first meeting was held on terrorism, September 4th. And General Shelton, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said that terrorism had been pushed farther to the back burner.

Now, this is what we’re trying to assess. We have your statements. We have these other statements. And I know, as I indicated in my opening comments, how difficult the role of the policymaker is and how many things press upon you.

But I did want to give you an opportunity to comment on some of these other matters.

RICE: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Let me begin with the Woodward quote, because that has gotten a lot of press. And I actually think that the quote, put in context, gives a very different picture.

The question that the president was asked by Mr. Woodward was, “Did you want to have bin Laden killed before September 11th?” That was the question.

The president said, “Well, I hadn’t seen a plan to do that. I knew that we needed to — I think the appropriate word is ‘bring him to justice.’ And, of course, this is something of a trick question in that notion of self-defense which is appropriate for…”

I think you can see here a president struggling with whether he ought to be talking about pre-9/11 attempts to kill bin Laden. And so, that is the context for this quote.

And, quite frankly, I remember the director sitting here and saying he didn’t want to talk about authorities on assassination. I think you can understand the discomfort of the president.

RICE: The president goes on. When Bob Woodward says, “Well, I don’t mean it as a trick question; I’m just trying to your state of mind,” the president says, “Let me put it this way. I was not — there was a significant difference in my attitude after September 11th. I was not on point, but I knew he was a menace and I knew he was a problem. I knew he was responsible. We felt he was responsible for bombings that had killed Americans. And I was prepared to look at a plan that would be a thoughtful plan that would bring him to justice and would have given the order to do just that.

“I have no hesitancy about going after him, but I didn’t feel that sense of urgency and my blood was not nearly as boiling. Whose blood was nearly as boiling prior to September 11th?”

And I think the context helps here.

It is also the case that the president had been told by the director of central intelligence that it was not going to be a silver bullet to kill bin Laden, that you had to do much more.

And, in fact, I think that some of us felt that the focus, so much focus, on what you did with bin Laden, not what you did with the network, not what you did with the regional circumstances, might, in fact, have been misplaced.

So I think the president is responding to go a specific set of questions.

All that I can tell you is that what the president wanted was a plan to eliminate Al Qaida so he could stop swatting at flies. He knew that we had in place the same crisis-management mechanism, indeed the same personnel, that the Clinton administration, which clearly thought it a very high priority, had in place.

And so, I think that he saw the priority as continuing the current operations and then getting a plan in place.

Now, as to the number of PCs. I’m sorry, there is some difference in our records here.

RICE: We show 33 Principals Committee meetings during this period of time, not 100. We show that three of those dealt at least partially with issues of terrorism not related to Al Qaida. And so we can check the numbers, but we have looked at our files and we show 33, not 100.

The quotes by others about how the process is moving, again, it’s important to realize that had parallel tracks here. We were continuing to do what the Clinton administration had been doing under all the same authorities that were operating. George Tenet was continuing to try to disrupt Al Qaida. We were continuing the diplomatic efforts.

But we did want to take the time to get in place a policy that was more strategic toward Al Qaida, more robust. It takes some time to think about how to reorient your policy toward Pakistan. It takes some time to think about how to have a more effective policy toward Afghanistan. It particularly takes some time when you don’t get your people on board for several months.

So I understand that there are those who have said they felt it wasn’t moving along fast enough. I talked to George Tenet about this at least every couple of weeks, sometimes more often. How can we move forward on the Predator? What do you want to do about the Northern Alliance? So I think we were putting the energy into it.

And I should just make one other point, Mr. Hamilton, if you don’t mind, which is that we also moved forward on some of the specific ideas that Dick Clarke had put forward prior to completing the strategy review. We increased assistance to Uzbekistan, for instance, which had been one of the recommendations. We moved along the armed Predator, the development of the armed Predator. We increased counterterrorism funding.

RICE: But there were a couple of things that we did not want to do.

I’m now convinced that, while nothing that in this strategy would have done anything about 9/11, if we had, in fact, moved on the things that were in the original memos that we got from our counterterrorism people, we might have even gone off course, because it was very Northern Alliance-focused. That was going to cause a huge problem with Pakistan. It was not going to put us in the center of action in Afghanistan, which is the south.

And so, we simply hadhank you for a careful answer.

Another question. At the end of the day, of course, we were unable to protect our people. And you suggest in your statement — and I want you to elaborate on this, if you want to — that in hindsight it would have been — better information about the threats would have been the single — the single most important thing for us to have done, from your point of view, prior to 9/11, would have been better intelligence, better information about the threats.

Is that right? Are there other things that you think stand out?

RICE: Well, Mr. Chairman, I took an oath of office on the day that I took this job to protect and defend. And like most government officials, I take it very seriously. And so, as you might imagine, I’ve asked myself a thousand times what more we could have done.

I know that, had we thought that there was an attack coming in Washington or New York, we would have moved heaven and earth to try and stop it. And I know that there was no single thing that might have prevented that attack.

RICE: In looking back, I believe that the absence of light, so to speak, on what was going on inside the country, the inability to connect the dots, was really structural. We couldn’t be dependent on chance that something might come together.

And the legal impediments and the bureaucratic impediments — but I want to emphasize the legal impediments. To keep the FBI and the CIA from functioning really as one, so that there was no seam between domestic and foreign intelligence, was probably the greatest one.

The director of central intelligence and I think Director Freeh had an excellent relationship. They were trying hard to bridge that seam. I know that Louis Freeh had developed legal attaches abroad to try to help bridge that.

But when it came right down to it, this country, for reasons of history and culture and therefore law, had an allergy to the notion of domestic intelligence, and we were organized on that basis. And it just made it very hard to have all of the pieces come together.

We’ve made good changes since then. I think that having a Homeland Security Department that can bring together the FAA and the INS and Customs and all of the various agencies is a very important step.

I think that the creation of the terrorism threat information center, which brings together all of the intelligence from various aspects, is a very important step forward.

Clearly, the Patriot Act, which has allowed the kind of sharing, indeed demands the kind of sharing between intelligence agencies, including the FBI and the CIA, is a very big step forward.

I think one thing that we will learn from you is whether the structural work is done.

HAMILTON: Final question would be: One of your sentences kind of jumped out at me in your statement, and that was on page 9, where you said, “We must address the source of the problem.”

I’m very concerned about that. I was pleased to see it in your statement. And I’m very worried about the threat of terrorism, as I know you are, over a very long period of time — a generation or more.

There are a lot of very, very fine — 2 billion Muslims. Most of them, we know, are very fine people. Some don’t like us; they hate us. They don’t like what modernization does to their culture. They don’t like the fact that economic prosperity has passed them by. They don’t like some of the policies of the United States government. They don’t like the way their own governments treat them.

And I’d like you to elaborate a little bit, if you would, on how we get at the source of the problem. How do we get at this discontent, this dislocation, if you would, across a big swathe of the Islamic world?

RICE: I believe very strongly, and the president believes very strongly, that this is really the generational challenge. The kinds of issues that you are addressing have to be addressed, but we’re not going to see success on our watch.

We will see some small victories on our watch. One of the most difficult problems in the Middle East is that the United States has been associated for a long time, decades, with a policy that looks the other way on the freedom deficit in the Middle East, that looks the other way at the absence of individual liberties in the Middle East.

And I think that that has tended to alienate us from the populations of the Middle East.

RICE: And when the president, at White Hall in London, said that that was no longer going to be the stance of the United States, we were expecting more from our friends, we were going to try and engage those in those in those countries who wanted to have a different kind of Middle East, I believe that he was resonating with trends that are there in the Middle East. There are reformist trends in places like Bahrain and Jordan. And recently there was a marvelous conference in Alexandria in Egypt, where reform was actually was on the agenda.

So it’s going to be a slow process.ple,” they didn’t mean me. It’s taken us a while to get to a multiethnic democracy that works.

But if America is avowedly values-centered in its foreign policy, we do better than when we do not stand up for those values.

So I think that it’s going to be very hard. It’s going to take time.

One of the things that we’ve been very interested, for instance, in is issues of educational reform in some of these countries. As you know, the madrassas are a big difficulty. I’ve met, myself, personally two or three times with the Pakistani — a wonderful woman who’s the Pakistani education minister.

We can’t do it for them. They have to have it for themselves, but we have to stand for those values.

And over the long run, we will change — I believe we will change the nature of the Middle East, particularly if there are examples that this can work in the Middle East.

And this is why Iraq is so important. The Iraqi people are struggling to find a way to create a multiethnic democracy that works. And it’s going to be hard.

RICE: And if we stay with them, and when they succeed, I think we will have made a big change — they will have made a big change in the middle of the Arab world, and we will be on our way to addressing the source.

HAMILTON: Thank you, Dr. Rice

MAARIV: IDF detains Palestinian female would-be suicide bomber

An elite IDF force has arrested a young Palestinian woman who planned to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel. The woman was detained near Bethlehem this morning, but the story was only cleared for publication at this time.

(I guess they ran out of retarded kids to send.)

Thanks to reader Elvis (is your name really Elvis?) who just emailed this.

Rice Testimony: Questioning by Kean.

KEAN: Thank you very much, Dr. Rice. I appreciate your statement, your attendance and your service.

I have a couple of questions. As we understand it, when you first came into office, you just been through a very difficult campaign. In that campaign, neither the president nor the opponent, to the best of my knowledge, ever mentioned al-Qaida. There had been almost no congressional action or hearings about al-Qaida, very little bit in the newspapers.

And yet, you walk in and Dick Clarke is talking about al-Qaida should be our number-one priority. Sandy Berger tells you you’ll be spending more time on that than anything else.

What did you think, and what did you tell the president, as you get that kind of, I suppose, new information for you?

RICE: Well, in fact, Mr. Chairman, it was not new information. I think we all knew about the 1998 bombings. We knew that there was speculation that the 2000 Cole attack was al-Qaida. There had been, I think, documentaries about Osama bin Laden.

I, myself, had written for an introduction to a volume on bioterrorism done at Sanford that I thought that we wanted not to wake up one day and find that Osama bin Laden had succeeded on our soil.

It was on the radar screen of any person who studied or worked in the international security field.

But there is no doubt that I think the briefing by Dick Clarke, the earlier briefing during the transition by Director Tenet, and of course what we talked with about Sandy Berger, it gave you a heightened sense of the problem and a sense that this was something that the United States had to deal with.

I have to say that of course there were other priorities. And indeed, in the briefings with the Clinton administration, they emphasized other priorities: North Korea, the Middle East, the Balkans.

One doesn’t have the luxury of dealing only with one issue if you are the United States of America. There are many urgent and important issues.

But we all had a strong sense that this was a very crucial issue. The question was, what do you then do about it?

And the decision that we made was to, first of all, have no drop-off in what the Clinton administration was doing, because clearly they had done a lot of work to deal with this very important priority.

And so we kept the counterterrorism team on board. We knew that George Tenet was there. We had the comfort of knowing that Louis Freeh was there.

And then we set out - I talked to Dick Clarke almost immediately after his - or, I should say, shortly after his memo to me saying that al-Qaida was a major threat, we set out to try and craft a better strategy.

But we were quite cognizant of this group, of the fact that something had to be done.

I do think, early on in these discussions, we asked a lot of questions about whether Osama bin Laden himself ought to be so much the target of interest, or whether what was that going to do to the organization if, in fact, he was put out of commission. And I remember very well the director saying to President Bush, Well, it would help, but it would not stop attacks by al-Qaida, nor destroy the network.

KEAN: I’ve got a question now I’d like to ask you. It was given to me by a number of members of the families.

Did you ever see or hear from the FBI, from the CIA, from any other intelligence agency, any memos or discussions or anything else between the time you got into office and 9-11 that talked about using planes as bombs?

RICE: Let me address this question because it has been on the table.

I think that concern about what I might have known or we might have known was provoked by some statements that I made in a press conference. I was in a press conference to try and describe the August 6th memo, which I’ve talked about here in my opening remarks and which I talked about with you in the private session.

And I said, at one point, that this was a historical memo, that it was - it was not based on new threat information. And I said, No one could have imagined them taking a plane, slamming it into the Pentagon - I’m paraphrasing now - into the World Trade Center, using planes as a missile.

As I said to you in the private session, I probably should have said, I could not have imagined, because within two days, people started to come to me and say, Oh, but there were these reports in 1998 and 1999. The intelligence community did look at information about this.

To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Chairman, this kind of analysis about the use of airplanes as weapons actually was never briefed to us.

I cannot tell you that there might not have been a report here or a report there that reached somebody in our midst.

Part of the problem is - and I think Sandy Berger made this point when he was asked the same question - that you have thousands of pieces of information - car bombs and this method and that method - and you have to depend to a certain degree on the intelligence agencies to sort to tell you what is actually relevant, what is actually based on sound sources, what is speculative.

RICE: And I can only assume or believe that perhaps the intelligence agencies thought that the sourcing was speculative.

All that I can tell you is that it was not in the August 6th memo, using planes as a weapon. And I do not remember any reports to us, a kind of strategic warning, that planes might be used as weapons. In fact, there were some reports done in ‘98 and ‘99. I was certainly not aware of them at the time that I spoke.

KEAN: You didn’t see any memos to you or any documents to you?

RICE: No, I did not.

KEAN: Some Americans have wondered whether you or the president worried too much about Iraq in the days after the 9-11 attack and perhaps not enough about the fight ahead against al-Qaida.

We know that at the Camp David meeting on the weekend of September 15th and 16th, the president rejected the idea of immediate action against Iraq. Others have told that the president decided Afghanistan had to come first.

We also know that, even after those Camp David meetings, the administration was still readying plans for possible action against Iraq.

So can you help us understand where, in those early days after 9-11, the administration placed Iraq in the strategy for responding to the attack?

RICE: Certainly. Let me start with the period in which you’re trying to figure out who did this to you.

And I think, given our exceedingly hostile relationship with Iraq at the time - this is, after all, a place that tried to assassinate an American president, was still shooting at our planes in the no-fly zone - it was a reasonable question to ask whether, indeed, Iraq might have been behind this.

I remember, later on, in a conversation with Prime Minister (Tony) Blair, President Bush also said that he wondered (if) could it have been Iran, because the attack was so sophisticated, was this really just a network that had done this.

When we got to Camp David - and let me just be very clear: In the days between September 11th and getting to Camp David, I was with the president a lot. I know what was on his mind. What was on his mind was follow-on attacks, trying to reassure the American people.

He virtually badgered poor Larry Lindsey about when could we get Wall Street back up and running, because he didn’t want them to have succeeded against our financial system. We were concerned about air security, and he worked very hard on trying to get particularly Reagan (airport) reopened. So there was a lot on our minds.

But by the time that we got to Camp David and began to plan for what we would do in response, what was rolled out on the table was Afghanistan - a map of Afghanistan.

And I will tell you, that was a daunting enough task to figure out how to avoid some of the pitfalls that great powers had in Afghanistan, mostly recently the Soviet Union and, of course, the British before that.

There was a discussion of Iraq. I think it was raised by (Defense Secretary) Don Rumsfeld. It was pressed a bit by (Defense Undersecretary) Paul Wolfowitz. Given that this was a global war on terror, should we look not just at Afghanistan, but should we look at doing something against Iraq? There was a discussion of that.

The president listened to all of his advisers. I can tell you that when he went around the table and asked his advisers what he should do, not a single one of his principal advisers advised doing anything against Iraq. It was all to Afghanistan.

When I got back to the White House with the president, he laid out for me what he wanted to do. And one of the points, after a long list of things about Afghanistan, a long list of things about protecting the homeland, the president said that he wanted contingency plans against Iraq should Iraq act against our interests.

There was a kind of concern that they might try and take advantage of us in that period. They were still - we were still flying no-fly zones. And there was also, he said, in case we find that they were behind 9-11, we should have contingency plans.

But this was not along the lines of what later was discussed about Iraq, which was how to deal with Iraq on a grand scale. This was really about - we went to planning Afghanistan, you can look at what we did. From that time on, this was about Afghanistan.

KEAN: So when Mr. Clarke writes that the president pushed him to find a link between Iraq and the attack, is that right? Was the president trying to twist the facts for an Iraqi war, or was he just puzzled about what was behind this attack?

RICE: I don’t remember the discussion that Dick Clarke relates. Initially, he said that the president was wandering the situation room - this is in the book, I gather - looking for something to do, and they had a conversation. Later on, he said that he was pulled aside. So I don’t know the context of the discussion. I don’t personally remember it.

But it’s not surprising that the president would say, What about Iraq, given our hostile relationship with Iraq. And I’m quite certain that the president never pushed anybody to twist the facts.

Testimony is just beginning, she is making her opening statements. Stay tuned.

Clinton admn briefed Bush admin on terrorism. Condi is talking about retaining the entire Clinton counter-terrorism team, including Clarke.

Bush met with Central Intel nearly every day. He received up to date intel from senior officials.

There were 40 brieifing items about al Qaeda in Jan. 2001. Rice spoke with people about al Qaeda often.

They were also concerned with Iraq and WMD at that point, when Iraq was shooting at American airspace.

They engaged in making a strategy to respond to al Qaeda, not by swatting flies one attack at a time. om 9/4, this method was approved. Elimination of al Qaed was the first counter terrorism directive approved by the Bush admin.

They wanted to eliminate al Qaeda, it was to be a high priority, use all aspects of power to meet that goal. Sec of State was to keep all countries from giving sanctuary to al Qaeda. Directed CIA to engage in covert ops to disrupt al Qaeda.

Ensure that contigency planning included all aspects of eliminating al Qaeda and dealing with WMD.

*****************

al Qaeda was a patron of Taliban, which was backed by Pakistan and admin wanted to sever those ties. Urged Paki president to close AQ training camps.
Juen 2001, Rice said that that AQ was related to Afghanistan, which was related to Pakistan, and they had to deal with it that way. They met with specialists from other countries for strategic approach to Afghanistan. Tried to persuade Paki to drop support of Taliban.

Dick Clakre proposed strategies about AQ, some had been on table since 88. Seizse terrorist assets, increase fundings for counter terrorism, change approach to India.

HIgh state of alert and activity in summer 2001. Crisis mgt. depended on Clarke’s group.

*********************

CSG met almost daily to review actions and responses to AQ and othe threats. in spring and summer 2001, threats were not specific, but they were there. Mostly of AQ acitivty outside US, in mideast and Africa. Most accurate threats dealt with overseas attacks.

Chatter:

News coming in weeks. Big event.Veyr big uproar. attacks in near future.

Rice: ddin’t tell us where, when or how.

8/6/01 - asked about AWQ intentions to strike US. Reports referred said that terrorists might atttempt to hijack planes to blackmail US ot get US to rleease 93 WTc bombing suspsects. There were NO reportsabout using planes as missiles. Meeting were held to increase security, detect, prtotect against and distrupt plans for attacks.
DoD issued at least five warnings about potentionl AWQ attacks. Taliban was wrned about being held responsible. FBI alerted coiunries and otherrs that attacks overeas could happen, but attack son US could not be ruled out.

FAA issued at least five alerts, specific warings about potential hijakcings. Wnated increased assistance from intelligence.

No silver bullte to prevent 9/11. Needes specific threats to prevent 9/11.

(lots of typos, will fix later)

********************

I will never forget sorrow or anger, courage relsilence of people, leadership of Bush.

We have opporunity to move forward. Catastrphy leads to change. 9/11 made possible sweeping changes. Bush established intergration of thtreat information, homeland securiruty, got organizations to work together in a better way to share information.

Work is far from complete. we neecd structural reform. Stronger analayiss. We welcome new ideas.

We are at war. Have to be right 100% of the time. To inflict damage, terrorists only have to be right once and they are trying every day. if we learned a lesson from 9/11, it is we cannot wait while dangers gather. narrow war or broad war? narrow victory or lasting peace. bush chose bolder course. Bush chose broad war. dispruting terrorist operations worldwide, one by one. nexus between terrorism and wmd, prevent wmds from getting into hands of terrorists. saddam wil never agiain use wmnd agianst pepplle or neighbors.

removing rooots of terrorism in mideast. helping iraq and afgahn build free socoieties, dmeocracies as alternative to insabtlity hatred and terror. defeat of terror will serve interest of our nation and insprie hope through mideaas. right choices for Americans, only choices of safetyfo future.

***********
Questions for Rice coming now.

9/11 Families want to know if the admin every got word that terrorists would use planes as weapons.

Rice says no, never remembers any reports, memos, warnings about this.

*****

Was Bush admin concentrating too hard on Iraq?

Where was Iraq placed after 9/11? (priority wise)

Rice: Iraq was still shooting at planes at that point in no fly zones, Bush and Blair had suspected, besides al Qaeda, both IRan and Iraq at first.

: I know what was on Bush’s mind. Get financial system back and running. Get airports back and runnign, so terrorists don’ thtnk they succeded. Afghanistan was the main thing on the table. Did disucss Iraq, raised by Rumselfs and Wolfowitz, should we look at wider response, nto just afganh but iraq as well. no one advised doing anything against iraq, they all concentrated on afghan.

Bush wanted contingemcy plans against iraq should iraq act against our interests, taking advantage of post 9/11 climate. Not along lines of what was dicussed later about iraq, this wasn’t on a grand scale yet. it was all about aghanistan.

Clarke says pres pushed to find a link bweteen iraq and 9/11. is this true?

Rice: Not suprrising that bush would ask about iraq but I am certain he never pushed anyone to find a link.

**************

Ben Veniste re: 8/6 memo

on 2/7 richard clarke toldyou aq cells were in US - did you tell pres of hte existence of of those cells:
(ooh, fiestiness!)

historical info about aspecs of aq - dick clarke told her in memo that there were cells in US - what did we need to do about that? Understood the fbi was pursuing iraaq cells, 70 full investigatoins underway - no recomm that we do something becasue the fbi was pursuing it. dont remember if i discussed it with pres. pres was aware that there were issues in US, aq cells were not something we were told that we needed to something about.

didnt the 8/6 memo (bin laden determind to attack in US) did not warn of attacks, just historical information, no new info, no warnings.

They are now semi aruging about the 8/6 pdb.

*************
Look! The whole opening statement transcript without typos!

*************

Ben Viste is just a little bit, shall we say, caustic.

**************

On structural problems within all organziations dealing with terrorism: The problems are not all fixed. More changes need to be implemented. But progress has been made. Need more freedom to manage Homeland Security in a better way. WE didn’t have the time to make the needed changes in these structures before 9/11. We have made instiutional change, not all the work is done.

*****************

Not ecxactly riveting testimony here. Still talking about how the information received about threats were not specific enough and most of the threats that were specific had to do with threats in Mideast.

********

Rice: There were definitely differences in the Clinton admin’s plans for AQ and the Bush admin’s plans. Significant differences.

Rice: There were definitely differences in the Clinton admin’s plans for AQ and the Bush admin’s plans. Significant differences.

WE have hurt not destroyed AQ - they are more entrenched than people recognize. Not displaced, but theyd0 realize this is an all-out war.

Q: Do you not think that they are engaged in terrorism in other countries because its easier than the US?

Rice: its possible that they recognize our heightened security, its harder to attack here. But we have not made it impossible, safer but not safe.
**********

Rice on preemption: should we have acted against afghan sooner? Why did we wait until catastrophic attack to use strategic military power? After 9/11 we have learned not to let threats gather, yet we continue to debate whether we have go after threats before they materialize on our soil.

****************

She’s really standing her ground in the face of some hostile questioning.

They are asking her about responding the Cole attack - which happened in October of 2000.

***********

Options of Clinton admin were missile strikes, perhaps long range bombers. We knew bin laden was bragging about withstanding response – we believed best approach was to put in place a plan to eliminate the threat of AQ.

Rice: do not believe it would have been good to respond to Cole with the plan that was made – the Bush admin was not presented with a plan for responding to Cole, we had a memo with a series of actionable items, a set of ideas and the delinda plan, which was considered in 98 but not adopted.

[Bob Kerrey is, in my opinion, being a incredibly hostile.]

I’m trying very hard not to interject opinion into this, but Kerrey has some pair to try to blame the Bush admin for not responding to the Cole bombing. Like this guy, I notice that Condi did not retort by brining up the obvious that THE COLE BOMBING HAPPENED DURING THE CLINTON ADMIN!

**********

The 8/6 memo was declassified this morning. Rice reiterates that while preparations for possible hijackings were in effect, there was no time to take other actions.

***********

I was interrupted briefly by my children who dared to ask for breakfast while I was trying to simulblog this thing.

However, Powerline blog is on the job, so we’ll quote him (whose kids seem to not be begging him for breakfast) on the latest:

10:20 — John Lehman is pointing out that all of the key people were carryovers from the Clinton administration. Bush essentially had the same government in place. He’s struck by continuity of the policies, not differences. Rice says she wasn’t told about the number of young Arab males in flight training. Lehman walks through a number of issues that she was not made aware of until after 9/11. Immigration policies, among others. She didn’t know that airlines get fined if they are questioning more than two young Arab males at a time. He’s now giving her an opportunity to expound on the difference between law enforcement and war. Instead of hitting the slow pitch, she goes off an analysis of bureaucratic issues. Finally, she gets to his question: Bush doesn’t think this is law enforcement, he thinks it’s war. For all of the war rhetoric before 9/11 we were not at war. We were focused on law enforcement. No sustained effort to destroy al Qaeda or deal with those who harbored al Qaeda. Bush put states on notice after 9/11.

**********
Rice makes the point I’ve been making all along - let’s blame the terrrorists, not the front office.

Rice: Clarke’s ideas wouldn’t have prevented 9/11 - in fact, they might have taken us in the wrong directon.

**********

The questiioning has ended. Complete transcripts will be posted as they become available. Look for our open discussion post on this issue.

JERUSALEM POST: Report: Madrid terrorists planned to bomb mall

Terrorists who blew themselves up last weekend as police moved in to arrest them over the March 11 bombings had been plotting an imminent attack on a sprawling shopping center outside Madrid, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Police combing through the apartment found evidence that included maps of Parquesur, a retail and leisure complex less than a mile (1.6-kilometer) from the apartment in the town of Leganes, El Mundo said, quoting police.

The police also found at least two backpacks and a belt, all packed with dynamite and wired to detonators, the paper said.

Interior Ministry officials were not available to comment on the report.

Just breaking on Fox News (tv)…no link yet.

The airport has been evacuated, no word on whether the bomb was real or not.

A “suspicious” device was found in the bathroom at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport today, according to the Atlanta FBI.

Authorities would not comment on the contents or potential of the device pending the outcome of their current investigation.

“We are not prepared to share with you at this time anything in regards to that device,” said Gregory Jones, special agent in charge for the Atlanta FBI, at a Wednesday afternoon news conference at the airport.

“We do not know what we have. I do not want to describe it for you,” he said.

More here -hat tip to reader Mark.

THE PHILIPPINE government has "first claim" on the suspected terrorists in its custody, including one whose extradition the United States is seeking to stand trial for the abductions and subsequent murders of its two citizens at a resort in Palawan province in 2001, a Malacaņang official said on Wednesday.

"We acknowledge that the US is an ally but at this point, they would have to wait first because we have the first claim," said Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye, a day after it was reported that the US has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to start extradition proceedings against Alhamzer Manatad Limbong, alias "Kosovo."

Kosovo is one of six suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf arrested last month for allegedly planning to bomb establishments in Metro Manila.

... the US government wants Kosovo so he can stand trial for the 2001 kidnapping of Americans Guillermo Sobero and Martin and Gracia Burnham from the Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan, and for the subsequent killing of Sobero and Martin Burnham.

REUTERS: U.S. Says No Plans to Chase Militants Into Pakistan

The U.S. military said on Wednesday it had no current plans to chase Islamic militants fleeing its forces in Afghanistan into Pakistan, despite comments by the U.S. ambassador suggesting it might have to do so.

According to news reports Ambassador to Kabul Zalmay Khalilzad said in a speech in Washington on Monday that Pakistan must eliminate terrorist sanctuaries or the United States would have to step in and do so itself.

Although Pakistan is a key ally in the U.S.-led “war on terror,” U.S. forces are not currently allowed to conduct combat operations inside the country.

U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Matt Beevers told a news conference in Kabul it would be inappropriate for him to comment on Khalilzad’s remarks.

“That said, our relationship with the Pakistani army in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas remains unchanged,” he said. “I think they are making some significant leaps and bounds there, so we expect that to continue and we look forward to continuing to work in a complementary and parallel fashion as we work on the Afghan side of the border and the Pakistanis work on their side.”

(Notice the quotes around war on terror, but no quotes around the word terrorist.)

REUTERS: Pakistan Raids Islamic Terror Group, Arrests Nine

Pakistani police have arrested nine suspected Islamic militants in connection with a suicide bombing at a U.S. consulate in 2002 and an attack on a hotel that killed 11 French nationals, police said Tuesday.

The men belonged to the shadowy Harkat-ul Mujahideen al-Alami and include the group’s leader, Syed Sohail Akhtar, known as “Mustafa,” said police chief Syed Kamal Shah. They were detained in Karachi in overnight raids, he said.

“It’s a huge success,” said Shah. “Their arrest should convey a message to all terrorists that one day they will have to face the law. Police found a large cache of weapons and bomb-making material with them,” he added.

Via today’s Washington Times:

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More detail on how the national security failures of Clinton and Clarke helped unleash global terrorism, see the recent book on the subject, “Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton’s Failures Unleashed Global Terror” by Richard Miniter:

Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton’s Failures Unleashed Global Terror

Per Amazon.com’s review of Miniter’s book:

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For more on this story, see: Instapundit, Captain’s Quarters, National Review, QandO, and Croooow Blog.

Via Instapundit.

This is a duplicate of the original post at the nikita demosthenes website.

JERUSALEM POST: US Embassy in Jordan warns it was potential target

The US Embassy was the target of a terror plot hatched by armed Muslim terrorists detained in Jordan last week and believed to be linked to al-Qaida.

US Embassy spokesman Justin Siberell said Tuesday that while Jordanian authorities were interrogating the suspected terrorists, it “emerged that one of the targets was the US Embassy” in Jordan.

Jordanian officials were not immediately available for comment.

JERUSALEM POST: Report: chemical attack plot foiled in Britain

British and US intelligence agencies and police foiled a plot to create a chemical vapor bomb in Britain, the British Broadcasting Corp. said Tuesday.

The alleged plot involved osmium tetroxide, a catalyst used in industry, but there was no indication that the suspected plotters had obtained any of the substance, the BBC said, citing security sources.

London’s Metropolitan police said they “were not prepared to discuss” the report.

HA‘ARETZ: Moratinos: Israeli-Palestinian conflict delaying Al-Qaida defeat

Al-Qaida will not be defeated until there is a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain’s new foreign minister and former EU envoy to the Middle East, told the Financial Times in an interview published Monday.

Spanish police have arrested several Moroccans in connection with the attacks and a manhunt for more bombers ended on Saturday when five suspects blew themselves up after a gunfight with police in a Madrid suburb. Police believe the Madrid bombers had ties to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

(The tone of foreign policy for the incoming Socialist administration for Spain has been set: blame Israel.)

From the BBC :

Intelligence agents in the UK and US have foiled an alleged chemical bomb plot in Britain, the BBC has learnt.

The plot was believed to involve detonating a combination of explosive and a chemical called osmium tetroxide.

Experts say in gas form it could be lethal in a confined space.

The plotters were thought to be sympathetic to the aims of al-Qaeda and the intended target was believed to be British civilians, probably in London.

The chemical has a legitimate scientific use for research but is highly destructive to peoples’ eyes, lungs and skin.

The plot was foiled after US and British intelligence intercepted communications between the plotters and it is not thought that they had managed to obtain any of the chemical, osmium tetroxide.
[…]
Alastair Hay, Professor of environmental toxicology at Leeds University, said…it would have to be obtained from a specialist chemical supplier and it did not fit the profile of a typical chemical warfare or dirty bomb agent.

“It would not be in the same category as some radioactive substance which would continue to emit radiation and cause a problem in terms of clean up.

“This would be something present, like a heavy metal like lead, in the environment. I don’t think it would be a major hazard and clean up would not be a major problem,” he said.