Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Thursday’s Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• We got Zarqawi’s laptop - and Dan Darling has details - plus more details from Bill Roggio snout the capture et. al. We’re getting close.

• Annie Jacobsen gets a visit from the Feds - flight 327 continued.

• Saudi Arabia’s chief justice calls for jihad against U.S. forces in Iraq. All part of the anti-terror crackdown, rest assured.

• Terrorism and Islamism as tools of Moroccan politics. Be sure to read the comments from Joe A and Whig.

Other Topics Today Include: lashing for student; Iran pushes to join a-bomb club; Syria nearly out; Hamas leaders to go to Gaza; Russia will sell Syria SAMs; Sadrists on the march in Basra; Islamists dominate Jeddah vote; jihadis on meth?; Akbar stabs M-P; arms dealer convicted; LAX bomber rolled; Yarkas trial; Russia using jihadis?; Bradford Taliban; Pearl killers tied to banned charity; India convicts terrorist; JI camp found in Indonesia; warning of A-Q attack in Tunisia; jihad in Nigeria; GSPC killings; and more.

Read the Rest…

The Associated Press reports that jurors in Virginia Federal Court Convict Ali al-Timimi on charges he encouraged followers to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops.

From California Yankee.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio of the fourth rail and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• US intelligence keeps saying Zarqawi has nuclear material.

• Israel is telling Washington it expects a full-scale Arab-Iranian war against it to be waged as early as 2006. Colt has more.

• The insurgency with the funnest name may be coming to a negotiated end. MILF and the Phillippines reentered peace talks at a secret location in Malaysia. They reached a breakthrough agreement over disputed ancestral lands, leading to the probability of wider full peace talks in the coming months.

Other Topics Today Include:

Iran Reports; Zarqawi on trial; Troubles in Yemen; Alien terrorist mechanics; FBI’s terror caseload; EMP attacks ignored; Death in Darfur revisited; More Bali-styled attacks; Musharraf the traitor; Swinging in Scotland; Fears in Sweden and Britain; Libya centrifuges gone astray; Moussaoui pleads; The Voice Shairat; and much much more….

Read the Rest…

HAARETZ: Syria joins UN treaty against terror funding

Syria, accused by the United States of being a sponsor of terrorism, has formally acceded to a UN treaty designed to cut off funding for terrorist activities, UN officials said on Sunday.

Syria’s instruments of ratification were submitted at a UN crime conference in Bangkok, where the financing of terrorism, increasingly through money laundering and organized crime, has been a key issue.

“It is an important decision, not only in the context of Syria,” Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told Reuters.

More like the UN Office of High on Drugs, if they believe this.

When Zacarias Moussaoui pleaded guilty today to conspiracy charges linked to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks he said his mission included flying a commercial jetliner into the White House.

In its article on Moussaoui’s guilty plea, Bloomberg reports on Moussaoui’s admissions:

“I came to the U.S. and trained” on a 747 airplane simulator “to eventually use this plane to strike the White House,” Moussaoui said. He denied that he was assigned any direct role in carrying out the Sept. 11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people. “I’m guilty of a broad conspiracy,” he said.

Moussaoui said that, in becoming a trained pilot, the plan for him was to help free blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the Islamic Group’s spiritual leader who was sentenced to life in prison for plotting to blow up several U.S. targets including the United Nations building in New York City.

He said his assignment was to fly a jet into the White House if the U.S. didn’t cooperate in freeing Rahman.

From California Yankee.

Zacarias Moussaoui pleaded guilty to helping al-Qaida carry out the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea.

From California Yankee.

The Associated Press reports on Spain’s trial of accused 9/11 plotters:

The main suspect is Imad Yarkas, a 42-year-old father of six who, under the guise of being a used-car salesman, is alleged to have overseen a cell that provided logistical cover for Sept. 11 plotters like Mohamed Atta, believed to have piloted one of the two airliners that destroyed the World Trade Center

[. . .]

Two other suspects also are accused of planning the attacks. Moroccan Driss Chebli, 33, allegedly helped Yarkas arrange a July 2001 meeting in Spain attended by Atta and Sept. 11 coordinator Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Syrian-born Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, 39, made detailed video footage of the World Trade Center and other landmarks while visiting the United States in 1997.

Those tapes were eventually passed on to “operative members of al-Qaida and would become the preliminary information on the attacks against the Twin Towers,” Garzon wrote in a September 2003 indictment against the three men and 32 other suspects, including Osama bin Laden himself and other key members of al-Qaida.

The other 21 on trial are charged with terrorism offenses but are not directly linked to the Sept. 11 attacks.

From California Yankee.

Let’s see how that so-called ceasefire is going…

JERUSALEM POST: Bullets found in videotape at Hawara checkpoint

At the Hawara checkpoint outside of Nablus, soldiers thwarted an attempt by Palestinians to smuggle 20 bullets hidden in a videotape from Nalbus Friday morning.

JERUSALEM POST: PA Chairman Abbas: Happy Pessah to all Israelis

“I hope that the holiday [Pessah] will pass in peace and freedom for all people,” Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in a telephone call to President Moshe Katsav Friday.

Abbas called to give a holiday blessing to the president and all Israelis, Army Radio reported.

Katsav responded that this is a time of good relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and that the situation should be taken advantage of.

But, Mahmoud, how do your people really feel about Pesach?

JERUSALEM POST: Palestinian teen caught smuggling pipe bombs

A 17-year-old Palestinian was caught attempting to smuggle four pipe bombs at the Beit Furit checkpoint outside of Nablus Friday afternoon.

A military policewoman manning the position stopped the teen for inspection and asked to check the bag he was carrying. At first he refused, but the policewoman later checked inside and discovered the pipe bombs.

He was detained for questioning, and the bombs were blown up by sappers.

Nine-fingered putz.

Okay, just the ladies this time… let’s see how the so-called cease-fire is doing…

JERUSALEM POST: Israeli wounded by roadside bomb near Gaza

An Israeli was wounded on Thursday afternoon when a bomb blew up underneath a vehicle north of the Karni Crossing in northern Gaza.

A helicopter has been summoned to airlift the wounded man to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

Let’s see how that so-called ceasefire is doing…

JERUSALEM POST: Two Palestinians arrested for planning to kill policemen

Two Palestinians are under arrest for allegedly planning to murder a group of Israeli policemen on the outskirts of Jerusalem and then mutilate them, police said Thursday.

The two men were part of a group of 14 suspects, including thirteen Arabs and one Jew, apprehended over the last several days during an undercover sting operation for selling an assortment of weapons and drugs to an undercover police officer.

A court-imposed gag order, which was in place on the case, was lifted Thursday afternoon.

According to police, the two prime suspects, brothers Walid and Nidal Shubaki, 30, of the West Bank village of A-Ram, approached the undercover police officer who was in the midst of his own investigation into allegations of illegal weapons sales, asking him for assistance in carrying out an attack on Israeli policemen during a patrol in the West Bank.

The suspects allegedly planned to open fire on the police jeep, in which three officers were to be traveling at the time, when the windows of the bulletproof vehicle were open and then chop off their feet and steal their weapons, police said. The two Arab men had intended to carry out the well-planned attack on the outskirts of Jerusalem in the coming days, police said.

JERUSALEM POST: Jordan tries terror cell in plot to strike kingdom

State witnesses testified in court Wednesday that alleged terror allies of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi collected data on producing germ weapons, destroying public infrastructure, attacking airports and carrying out assassinations.

Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who is al-Qaida’s point man in Iraq, and three other fugitives are being tried in absentia in Jordan’s military court along with nine men in custody since April last year. All 13 are accused in what Jordanian officials say was a plot to strike the kingdom with chemical and conventional weapons.

The group in question has been identified as Kata’eb al-Tawhid, Arabic for the Battalions of Monotheism, a previously unknown cell said to be linked to al-Qaida.

The Washington Post reports that Zacarias Moussaoui has notified the government that he intends to plead guilty to his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker and the only person charged in the United States in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, tried to plead guilty in 2002, but rescinded his plea a week later:

Moussaoui is charged with conspiring with al Qaeda in the Sept. 11 attacks. When he tried to plead guilty three years ago, he declared his allegiance to Osama bin Laden and said he had detailed knowledge of the Sept. 11 plot. But after Brinkema gave him a week to think about it, Moussaoui withdrew his plea and claimed that although he is an al Qaeda member, he had no advance knowledge of the hijackings.

Also in 2002, Moussaoui fired his attorneys and began representing himself. In his motions, Moussaoui insulted those lawyers, who were appointed standby counsel; taunted the Justice Department; and called Brinkema everything from a “death judge” to a would-be Nazi SS officer. Brinkema later restored Moussaoui’s attorneys to the case, and they are now arguing that he is mentally incompetent to enter a plea, sources said.

From California Yankee.

Let’s see how that disarming first step of the so-called Roadmap is going…

JERUSALEM POST: IDF uncovers explosives hidden in oven in Nablus

The IDF uncovered three kilograms of explosive materials on Monday night that were hidden inside an oven in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus, Army Radio reported.

In addition, the army discovered a medium sized explosive device ready for use.

The intelligence that led to the discoveries came from interrogating a Fatah operative who was arrested a few days ago.

Mmmmmm… nothing like a fresh Palestinian Pie baking in the oven. The taste just explodes in your mouth.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio of the fourth rail and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• Bangladesh is fast emerging as a major hotbed of radical Islamist terror groups. One of the most prominent, Harakat ul Jihad il Islami, is implicated in the arming the brutal Marxist insurgency in Nepal, training terrorists in southern Thailand, the simultaneous bombings in the northern Indian state Assam, and the sheltering of key hunted JI figures. It is becoming a magnet for terrorists and quickly spiraling into failed-state status.

• Pakistan plans on continuing to defy the US over Khan, while trying to minimize its dependence on the US. The US is also mounting new pressure on Pakistan to sign the NPT before a May NPT conference, so the IAEA can inspect Pakistan’s nuclear sites. Pakistan is hedging its bets with new secret military deals with the Central Asian states with a rapidity that has stunned the US. On the economic front, complete privatization (to Gulf Arab investors) of all major state-owned enterprises over the next five years is planned to allow Pakistan to divorce itself from the need for US aid.

• Israel is to allow Egypt to deploy combat helicopters, anti-tank weapons, LAVs, and 750 commandos along the Gaza-Israel border. Meanwhile, the PA’s measures contra weapons-smuggling tunnels are ineffective and all the armed parties are intensifying their efforts to get weapons.

Other Topics Today Include:

Iran Reports, including EU-3 negotiations, cruise missiles, and demonstrations; Israel withdrawal pains in Gaza; Abbas’ security issues; Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations in Cairo?; Yemeni crackdowns, Bahraini Patriot Act; Jihad in Memphis; No Fly growing pains; Venezuelan reserves and opposition update; Philippines the next Afghanistan?; Algerian al Qaeda caught in Pakistan; the return of the PKK in Turkey; Bulgarian jihad; Ricin in the UK; the Taliban attacks; and much, much more…

Read the Rest…

Let’s see how that so-called ceasefire is holding up…

JERUSALEM POST: Two Israelis wounded, one seriously, in Gaza attack

Two Israelis were wounded Monday by a Palestinian sniper who fired at a group of construction workers near the IDF’s Hardon post on the Philadelphi route in the southern Gaza Strip.

One of the wounded was listed to be in serious condition, while the second was reported to have sufferred light to moderate wounds.

They were being evacuated by helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.

Let’s see how that so-called ceasefire is working out, shall we?

JERUSALEM POST: Soldier wounded by sniper fire in Gaza

A soldier was lightly wounded by Palestinian sniper fire directed at an IDF post near Gadid in Gush Katif on Sunday morning. Earlier, shots were fired at an IDF post near Rafah.

Shots were fired at soldiers deployed near Kadim in northern Samaria while in an early morning raid, security forces arrested Muhammad Abu Leila in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus, a member of Fatah, who planned to carry out attacks.

Let’s see how that so-called ceasefire and the incarceration of an Israeli Tourism minister’s murderers are doing so far…

HAARETZ: 3 East Jerusalem men held in plot to kill Shas’ Yosef

The Shin Bet security service has arrested three residents of East Jerusalem in connection with a suspected plot to assassinate Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, according to information released Sunday.

One of the three has already been charged and the other two are still undergoing questioning by Shin Bet agents.

The three - French citizen Salah Hamuri, Mutsan Mohammed Yavsha and Moussa Mohammed Darweesh - are members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The cell belongs to the same East Jerusalem faction of the PFLP as those behind the murder of cabinet minister Rehavam Ze’evi in a Jerusalem hotel in October 2001.

Ze’evi’s killers, jailed in Jericho, had apparently given their blessing to the attack on the rabbi.

Willie Horton never had it so good.

Let’s see how that so-called ceasefire is coming along…

HAARETZ: Hamas threatens to end truce over PA election delay

The Hamas movement said Saturday that any delay in Palestinian Legislative Council elections could affect the current truce the regional calm.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said if the balloting will not be held on time, the group would have to rethink its commitment to an informal cease-fire with Israel. Hamas agreed to the de facto truce on the understanding Abbas would pursue reforms in the PA.

The group plans to field candidates for the first time during the July 17 elections, and said the possible delay in vote was caused by fears among Fatah leaders that Hamas would gain political much power at Fatah’s expense.

Let’s see how the so-called cease-fire is doing…

From the front page of Haaretz:

A Palestinian boy jumping through a ring of fire during an Islamic Jihad rally in Gaza, Friday. (AP)

Words fail me.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Thursday’s Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• Three British men have been indicted for plotting WMD attacks on financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington D.C.

• Prime Minister Sharon and Defense Minister Sha’ul Mofaz have told a Knesset committee that they envision 4,000 Egyptian soldiers patrolling the Israel-Egypt border.

• Spanish police have arrested a man who allegedly helped buy the explosives used in the Madrid train bombings. In other 3/11 news, 11 Pakistanis have been arrested for funding al-Qaeda cells, including Mohammed the Egyptian, as well as Amjad Farooki (believed responsible for the Daniel Pearl murder).

Other Topics Today Include: Iran denies uranium smuggling; IRGC seethes; Germany’s biggest trade partner; Cairo bomber’s family arrested; Hezbollahland; Karami quits against; Hamas terror mall; A-Q leaders nabbed in Baghdad; LAX bomber spills the beans; CAIR-founder funded terrorism; Bourgass trained in poisons in Afghanistan; BND thinks A-Q have radiological weapons; MILF A-Q links don’t matter; Taliban caught; UN approves treaty; and more.

Read the Rest…

So, how is that so-called cease-fire doing?

JERUSALEM POST: Bomb explodes by Kisufim crossing, no one wounded

An explosive device was detonated Friday afternoon near the Kisufim crossing in the Gaza Strip as IDF soldiers were passing through the area on routine patrol.

No one was wounded in the attack and no damage was caused, Israel Radio reported.

Also Friday, soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip discovered an explosive device weighing 40 kg.

Let’s see how that so-called ceasefire is doing…

HAARETZ: IDF captures Fatah man who infiltrated from Syria

A Fatah militant who infiltrated into the Golan Heights from Syria was captured Friday morning after a shootout with Israel Defense Forces troops, security sources said.

In a rare flare-up in the normally quiet Golan, a gunman penetrated the border fence and opened fired on the IDF’s Tel Hezka outpost, northeast of Katzrin.

IDF sources identified the attacker as a 21-year-old militant from Fatah, and said the man, who was wearing shirt emblazed with the Palestinian flag, told investigators he had planned to abduct an IDF soldier and take him back to Syria.

The gunman, who came from a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, penetrated the border fence and fired nine rounds into an IDF post in an attempt to explode a petrol container, officials said. IDF soldiers fired at him twice before taking him into custody for questioning, the sources said.

Fateh, as in Mahmoud Abbas’ Fateh.

Syria, as in Occupying Lebanon, Hosting Palestinian Terror Groups Syria.

No casualties were reported in the incident.

According to the IDF spokesman, “The responsibility for the incident lies with Syria and it must act to prevent similar incidents in the future.”

No French military officers serving as UN “observers” were harmed in this incident.

Yet.

Let’s see how that so-called cease-fire is progressing…

JERUSALEM POST: IDF confiscates 5000 bullets slated for Gaza

Soldiers of the Duhifat Batallion searching a Palestinian vehicle at a checkpoint at Ein Sinaya north of Ramallah on Thursday afternoon, discovered bags containing 5000 six milimeter bullets.

According to security officials, the bullets were purchased in Jericho and were slated for the Gaza Strip. The car driver succeeded in fleeing the area.

Also, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a terrorist group wholly controlled by the terrorist-sponsoring Fateh party, is distributing leaflets saying that the truce is voer.

Like it ever started.

Let’s check out that so-called ceasefire, shall we?

HAARETZ: Fatah threatens to end calm after IDF kills Al-Aqsa member

The leaders of Fatah factions in Nablus threatened Thursday to end a two-month period of calm with Israel after a member of the movement’s military wing was shot dead by Israel Defense Forces soldiers during a raid at the Balata refugee camp close to the West Bank city.

An IDF source said Ibrahim Samiri, identified as a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was shot when he opened fire on undercover troops who were trying to arrest him.

An IDF source told Israel Radio that Samiri was responsible for a large number of terrorist attacks, and had been classed by the IDF as a “ticking bomb.” Israel has said that despite the mutual truce declared in February it would continue to target those Palestinians it identified as an imminent threat.

So his shooting at those coming to arrest him isn’t his own personal end of the cease-fire?

Also, the fact that he went active to “ticking bomb” concern means that Mofaz probably told Abbas to either arrest him or the IDF would take care of him themselves. Abbas did nothing, IDF was forced to act.

Let’s see how the disarming of terrorists as the first step of the Roadmap is going…

JERUSALEM POST: Hamas fugitive arrested

A Hamas fugitive who was arrested by security forces in Nablus Thursday morning handed over his personal weapon to the soldiers, which was primed and ready to fire, and hidden in his sister’s underpants.

The army said that soldiers searching the fugitive’s home also uncovered bullets and a handgun, in the raid.

Elsewhere in the city, soldiers arrested a Tanzim fugitive.

Let’s see how the so-called cease-fire is doing…

REUTERS: Palestinian Gunmen Sign Peace Pledge for Jobs

More than 200 Palestinian militants have pledged not to carry out acts of violence in exchange for jobs, in a first step toward disarming gunmen wanted by Israel, a Palestinian official said on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Authority is seeking signed commitments from a thousand militants to allow them to join security forces or get civilian government jobs, but the program stops short of taking away their weapons immediately as Israel has demanded.

…

The effort to secure signed pledges has been aimed mainly at Fatah militants in the West Bank. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Islamic factions sworn to Israel’s destruction, have refused to lay down arms although they have committed to a de facto truce.

But Zakaria al-Zubaidi, a West Bank leader of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, said he, too, would never disarm. “Abandoning a gun is like abandoning one’s honor,” he said.

What honor?

So let’s see how the so-called ceasefire is going…

JERUSALEM POST: Another boy-bomber caught at Hawara *

A 15-year-old Palestinian was caught at the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus on Tuesday afternoon carrying five pipe bombs.

The teenager reached the checkpoint and unsuccessfully attempted to detonate one of the bombs. Soldiers aroused by his suspicious behavior aimed their weapons at him prompting him to drop the four other bombs that he had in his possession.

He was handed over to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for questioning. IDF sappers are preparing to perform a controlled detonation of the charges.

Tuesday’s attempt to utilize a teenager to smuggle bombs past checkpoints is the fourth in the past year.

Five pipe bombs, eh?

Must have been for playing soccer.

Three individuals face charges in relation to a terrorism threat last summer to financial institutions in New York, northern New Jersey and Washington, D.C., the Justice Department said.

The charges against the suspects, who were detained in London, were under seal but would likely be announced during a press conference on Tuesday.

So, how is that so-called ceasefire working out?

HAARETZ: Fatah man arrested for planning terror act at Hezbollah’s behest

Israel Defense Forces soldiers entered Nablus on Sunday and arrested a Fatah member suspected of planning a terror attack on behalf of Hezbollah.

The suspect, Firas Tanbor, had holed up in a building in the Jibal Simali neighborhood of the city. Paratroopers surrounded the building and threw stun grenades into it. The suspect then turned himself in.

Clashes broke out between soldiers and Palestinians in the area, according to Palestinian sources. Soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas, wounding ten Palestinians.

A blogospheric exercise with direct relevance to the Global War on Terror has started.

From Silent Running :

Bloggers have opinions. It’s what we do. But how many of us have actually wondered what we might do, and how we might respond, in the event of a major terrorist attempt at replicating a 9/11 scale attack? It’s all very well for us to opine to our hearts content about what the West ought to do in the face of a generalised threat from radical Islam, but how would the blogosphere respond in an actual emergency? Can we put ourselves emotionally in that position? It isn’t easy, is it?

Would we fall to pieces? Would we be simply struck dumb? Would we urge massive lashing out in retaliation? Or would blogs become a useful resource of opinions, options, information, argument and debate? Would it become the closest thing this planet has to a gigantic neural network of linked minds, all concentrated on a single issue?

SIMTERROR ‘05 is an experiment designed to help us think about the ways blogs might be able to respond to a sudden crisis using a simulation of real world events, but getting blogs to respond as if the events were real. In a sense, SIMTERROR ‘05 will be the first test of the Emergency Blogger System.

For more details, contact the coordination centre at Silent Running. This is a serious exercise, and for once, you can help make the news, not just read about it.

To distinguish “Exercise” data from “real” data, all posts on blogs should be marked as such.

Please do not use The Command Post for this exercise.

Let’s see how that so-called ceasefire is doing…

HAARETZ: Sharon condemns Palestinian mortar shelling on Gaza

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday condemned mortar shelling by Palestinian militants against Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, calling the barrage ‘a flagrant violation of the (Sharm el-Sheikh) understandings.

Speaking to reporters on his plane en route to the U.S., Sharon said that he will raise the issue during Monday’s meeting with President George W. Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

IDF sources said roughly 70 shells have been fired in all. According to Israel Radio, the IDF did not respond.

The shelling damaged several houses in the Gaza Strip settlements. Children were advised to evacuate yards and kindergartens.

They scream when the Israelis talk about demolishing the houses in Gaza settlements, but they still blast at them with mortar fire.

What do they WANT?

Oh. Wait. I know the answer to that. To kill Jews.

How silly of me.

HAARETZ: Police detain Hamas leader who entered Mount

Israeli police Sunday detained a senior Hamas leader after he entered the Temple Mount of the Old City of Jerusalem, violating a ban on worshippers from the West Bank.

Some 3,000 police were deployed the Old City of Jerusalem early on Sunday in a bid to head off expected protests by extreme rightists on the Temple Mount, and by young Palestinians angered by the killings over the weekend of three Palestinian youths in Gaza.

Witnesses said the Hamas leader, Hassan Yousef, was driving back to the West Bank from Jerusalem when he was stopped at an Israeli checkpoint and taken from his vehicle by police.

Updating a previous post, from the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday its security forces had killed the Al Qaeda chief in the kingdom and the Moroccan mastermind of the Madrid train bombings in a three-day gunbattle which dealt a heavy blow to the terror network.

Saud al-Otaibi, “head of the gang” responsible for a string of shootings and bombings since May 2003, and Abdel Karim al-Mejati were among 15 extremists killed in Al-Qassim, some 320 kilometres north of Riyadh and viewed as a haven for Islamist militants, the interior ministry said.
[…]
The killing of Otaibi, whom the ministry portrayed as the militants’ chief and identified by his middle name of al-Qotaini, and Mejati, had previously been reported but not confirmed in an official statement.

Palestinian propaganda has been shattered by reports that the “soccer-playing youths” were engaged in an entirely different activity…

The Arab press reported that the soldiers fired on innocent children who were playing soccer. Mofaz asked the PA to control the terrorists. The PA did not publicize that the youths were trying to smuggle weapons despite Israeli reports that the PA later caught two of them. PA chairman Abu Mazen insisted that the youth “were unarmed and did not endanger Israel.”

No corrections over AP and Reuters yet.

Let’s check on how that so-called cease-fire is going…

HAARETZ: IDF kills 3 Gaza youths; Jihad wing rescinds truce

“The Jerusalem Brigades is free of any commitment to calm after the Israeli shedding of Palestinian youths’ blood,” said Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Abdallah. “This means that now we are no longer committed to truce.”

…

According to Palestinian sources, the youths was playing on the outskirts of the Rafah refugee camp, several hundred meters from the frontier. IDF forces opened fire on them from the south.

“I saw a group of youths playing soccer in a playground about 50 meters from the fence,” said Wael Barhoum, 26. “Suddenly there was gunfire toward the youths from the Israeli side. I ran towards the playground and we saw two of the youths were dead and a third was wounded.”

Three men had approached a buffer zone near Israel’s border with southern Gaza in the Rafah refugee camp. Troops fired at them after they failed to heed warning shots, a military source said. Israel Radio quoted an IDF official who said the youths were crawling toward the fence.

(Note from friend: “I didn’t realize that soccer is played with bolt-cutters and knives.”)

UPDATE:
Another turbaned moonbat reverses the earlier statement.

So how is that so-called cease-fire holding up?

JERUSALEM POST: Israel to Abbas: Stop those firing Kassams

Israel called upon PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Friday morning to act quickly against those firing Kassam rockets, Army Radio reported.

The call comes after a Kassam was launched at Sderot Thursday night, after three months of quiet.

The rocket landed near a cemetery, and no one was hurt.

The warning system in the city failed when the rocket was fired, Army Radio reported.

Abbas had better choose a hat quickly, because it’s going to be needed for his chair for Christmas celebrations.

HAARETZ: Report: Hezbollah to drop arms if Israel quits Shebaa

Hezbollah would be prepared to discuss conditional disarmament if Israel withdrew from a disputed border area, the Lebanese guerrilla group’s deputy leader said in a British newspaper interview on Friday.

Sheikh Naim Kassem told the Financial Times that disarmament, called for by Washington and the United Nations, could pave the way for Hezbollah’s fighters to become a kind of reservist army working with Lebanese authorities.

But he said talks could not take place while Israel remained in the Shebaa Farms area, a tiny disputed border enclave between Lebanon, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, conquered from Syrian during the 1967 Six Day War.

JERUSALEM POST: Italian FM: Hizbullah belongs on EU terror list

Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom that the Italian government supports Israel’s claim that Hizbullah should be included in the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations, Israel Radio reported.

In a meeting between the two in Rome, Fini promised that Italy would work to persuade fellow European Union member countries that Hizbullah belongs on the terror list.

Fini was scheduled to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei on Friday.

He promised Shalom that he would relay Israel’s request to the Palestinians regarding the need for complete cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians during Israel’s disengagement from Gaza.

So, let’s see how that so-called ceasefire is holding up…

REUTERS: Militants Fire Rocket Into Israel Despite Truce

Palestinian gunmen fired a rocket into Israel on Thursday in the first such incident since January when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took power and persuaded militants to cease fire.

There were no reports of casualties from the rocket launched from northern Gaza into Israel’s western Negev desert, according to Israeli military sources and Palestinian witnesses, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The area took frequent rocket fire in a 4 1/2 year Palestinian uprising.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Thursday’s Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• The Straits Times reports that Jemaah Islamiyah is planning another attack in Indonesia this year that could be as devestating as the Bali bombing. They base this on a document allegedly written by a JI operative, and believed to be authentic by a senior Indonesian counter-terror official.

• Newsweek looks at the terror-brokers who liased between Bin Laden and Zarqawi.

• Jalal Talabani - Iraq’s new interim president.

• Well, well, well, what have we here?? Damn good question. I hope Spain, and maybe a few foreign intelligence agencies, are starting to ask it.

• Israeli security services are concerned that SAMs smuggled in to Gaza by the PLO might be used to shoot down commercial airliners.

• The EU says that their trade agreement with Syria is conditional on a full withdrawal from Lebanon.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran-EU shenanigans; Canada shows spine; PLO police recruit suicide bombers; IDF prepares for new terror war; Hamas-Hezbollah accord; Syria builds intel network in Lebanon; new A-Q beheading video; Saudi cleric offers slavery instead of death after MEMRI exposure; 14 terrorists killed in Saudi Arabia; U.S. holds WMD attack plotter; Pentagon produces pessimistic study for Bush doctrine; Dutch court acquits terrorist despite obvious; Iraqis in Sweden charged with aiding Zarqawi; Albania worried about Salafis; 100 kilos of Semtex found in France; tension in North Ossetia; Kashmir bus complex attacked; Chinook crash kills 16 Americans; police officer behind church attacks in Indonesia; GSPC moves east; and much more.

Read The Rest…

A U.S. military helicopter crashed in bad weather in southeast Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least nine people, including four American crew members, the military said.

An Afghan police official said the death toll could be higher, and that all aboard appeared to be American, but the U.S. military would not confirm that or give the nationalities of the passengers.

Bad weather appeared to have caused the crash of the Chinook helicopter near Ghazni city, 80 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore told The Associated Press.

Read more…

Update: Latest reports say 16 dead, including four American crew.

About the first step of the so-called Roadmap…

HAARETZ: Palestinian militants tell PA won’t hand any weapons over

A new low-key attempt by the Palestinian Authority to disarm at least some militants has already run into trouble: gunmen said Wednesday they’ll keep their weapons out of sight, but won’t hand them over.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is under growing pressure from the United States and Israel to rein in militants. He has said he will do so by persuasion, not force, and has bought himself some time by getting militants to agree to a temporary truce with Israel.

“We agreed to hide our weapons, to keep them out of public view, but we are not going to hand them over to the Palestinian Authority,” said Kamal Ghanem, an Al Aqsa fugitive. “They asked them to give us the serial numbers of our guns, but we did not.”

Hamas and Islamic Jihad spokesmen also said Wednesday that the groups would not hand over weapons.

“We stopped using these weapons after the declaration of quiet, despite the daily violations (of the truce) by Israel,” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman. He said a demand that gunmen hand over their weapons “is not acceptable.”

About that so-called ceasefire…

JERUSALEM POST: IDF soldier wounded south of Jenin

A soldier was lightly wounded by Palestinian gunfire near Kabbatiyah south of Jenin on Wednesday afternoon. Security forces were deployed in the Jenin area after warnings were received that terrorists planned to launch attacks.

Soldiers deployed south of Jenin also came under fire in an additional incident in the area.

About that so-called ceasefire…

JERUSALEM POST: Bomb detonated next to IDF patrol, near Sderot

Reports of a Kassam rocket falling near the southern town of Sderot have been investigated and proven incorrect.

In fact, the sounds heard by residents of Sderot were not the result of a rocket, but a roadside bomb detonated near an IDF patrol close to the security fence. No one was wounded.

About that so-called cease-fire…

HAARETZ: Hezbollah planned attacks on senior Israeli officials

A Palestinian was arrested by the security services in late February on suspicion of aiding Hezbollah in planning terror attacks on senior Israeli officials, the Shin Bet revealed on Wednesday.

Relatives of Nablus resident Wasem Nasser arranged a meeting with Hezbollah operatives during a family visit he made to Lebanon.

Nasser, a 21-year-old student at Al-Najaf University, underwent military training in Lebanon during the course of which he learned how to use various firearms and studied methods of collecting intelligence and operating eavesdropping devices.

His Hezbollah operators ordered him to photograph checkpoints, settlements and Israel Defense Forces bases and send them the images via the internet.

Hezbollah also succeeded to getting Nasser to smuggle back into Israel from Lebanon a GPS satellite navigation system hidden inside a car stereo.

Using the GPS device, Nasser pinpointed for his operatives the locations of checkpoints and bases in the Nablus area.

Saudi forces overpowered a group of gunmen last night after a ferocious three-day battle in which officials said they had killed two of the kingdom’s most wanted men.

As the confrontation ended an interior ministry spokes man, Mansour al-Turki, said at least 10 militants had been killed “and I would expect it to be more”. Last night, state-run television reported that 14 militants had died and at least six others had been captured.

“They [security forces] have complete control of the location,” Mr Turki said. “There is no resistance any more.”

[…]

A senior military official, who asked not to be identified, named two of the dead men as Abdulkarim al-Mejjati and Saud al-Oteibi. They were originally ranked at 12 and 20 on the kingdom’s list of the 26 most-wanted al-Qaida suspects.

Read more..

HAARETZ: IDF: Hezbollah reduces pressure for terror attacks

Over the past few weeks, Hezbollah has eased the pressure it had been placing on Palestinian terror organizations to carry out attacks on Israelis, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer said on Tuesday.

The IDF believes the decline in Palestinian violence will continue through the implementation of the disengagement plan.

The senior officer said the current period of relative calm serves the interests of most of the Palestinian players and added that he does not expect an outburst of violence before the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, which is scheduled to begin in July.

The IDF attributes the change in Hezbollah’s position to the group’s internal politics in Lebanon in light of the call to withdraw Syrian military forces from the country.

Syria has also passed on requests to leaders of the Palestinian groups in Damascus to refrain from carrying out attacks that could create connections between Syria and anti-Israel terrorism.

(Create, or highlight?)

About that so-called “ceasefire” …

HAARETZ: Gunman wounds Israeli near Gaza settlement

A Palestinian gunman wounded an Israeli working near the southern Gaza Strip settlement of Morag on Tuesday afternoon.

The attack came as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepared to meet representatives of some Gaza Strip settlements, whose members seek to be moved as a group to the Nitzanim area south of Ashkelon.

The man, shot while working on a fence in the hothouse area of the Rafah-area settlement, was rushed to medical care nearby, then evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva where he underwent surgery.

His condition was initially reported as serious, but rescue workers later said his wounds were not life-threatening.

About that so-called “ceasefire” …

HAARETZ: Shin Bet foils bombing attack at Latrun museum

Security forces have captured the members of a Palestinian terror cell who planned to carry out a triple bombing attack at the Latrun junction between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and a shooting attack on soldiers in the Ramallah area.

Security forces arrested the three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine cell some three months ago, the Shin Bet announced Monday evening.

The cell members, from the Ramallah region, admitted that they planned to dispatch two suicide bombers and a booby-trapped car to attack the Armored Corps museum located adjacent to the Latrun junction.

They also planned to ambush an Israel Defense Forces jeep near the West Bank city of Ramallah, kill the soldiers inside and hold the bodies in nearby Bir Zeit as bargaining chips.

About that so-called “ceasefire” …

HAARETZ: Militants fire explosive which hit Palestinian barracks

Palestinian militants fired either a mortar shell or a Qassam rocket before dawn Saturday, which hit a barracks housing Palestinian security officers, Israel Radio reported.

The militants launched the explosive from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, according to Israel Radio.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report today.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio of the fourth rail and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• This analysis looks at the implications for US security and policies in the Mideast in light of Chinese paranoia and energy opportunism. Two specific recent events are cited as telling-an editorial exposing the Communist regime’s paranoia and hostility towards the US program of Middle East democratization, and a Chinese promise to Iran to block any moves against it in the Security Council.

• Sandia boffins want to “abolish anonymity, the terrorist’s friend, and establish a voluntary decentralized surveillance system.” This was one of a many different approaches under discussion via worksops, scenario sessions, etc. The Sandia article explains.

• The PLO is inviting Hamas and Islamic Jihad to join the party. Abbas cannot muster the will to crack down on Palestinian “gunmen” who attack his own seat of government. Now that’s moderate! When Palestinian security chiefs resign over the lawlessness, it must be real bad.

• Arthur Chrenkoff’s latest Good News from Afghanistan briefing is up today!

Other Topics Today Include:
The Islamic revolution is over; Khomeini set aside a cool 2.5 bil for nukes in 2004; Saudi terror duplicity; Hamas terrorist admits of Syrian training; Day 1 of the Minutemen; FBI to blame in intel turf wars; Al Qaeda can carry out attacks at will in N. Africa, Europe; Mugabe ready to forgive wicked Blair; Pakistan finna blow; AQ Khan met Al Qaeda; Musharraf imitates Comical Ali; Zarqawi wants to imitate Chemical Ali; Mullah Krekar faces deportation at sweet long last; Al Qaeda are bourgeois pigs; surprising Al Qaeda progress on weaponizing bioagent; Osprey undergoing final tests and much, much more…

Read the Rest…

Note: Also available at the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. Many thanks, as always, to James Taranto and Joe Katzman for their support for this ongoing project, and to all of you fellow readers and bloggers who continue to assist and publicize it.

Like Grinch who stole Christmas, Taliban in their days had banned the popular holiday of Nowroz, the first day of the Afghan year. A few weeks ago, people all around Afghanistan got the chance to celebrate, for the fourth time in their free country, a new beginning. “The new year arrived with snows and rains. May it be full of peace and security as well,” Allah Mohammad, a resident of Kabul, had expressed a popular sentiment.

Considering how much snow fell on Afghanistan this winter, wishing for an equal bounty of peace, security, and prosperity might be somewhat optimistic. But even a moderate precipitation of good and stable government and economic growth will guarantee that this war-shattered, impoverished and traumatized country continues its slow and often painful - yet at the same time very inspiring - ascent from the nightmare of its past twenty-five years of history.

Below are some snapshots from that journey that no longer attracts much media attention, but one that, nonetheless, matters a lot not only to the Afghans themselves but also all those around the world who believe in the redeeming power of freedom.

• Society
  
• Reconstruction
  
• Humanitarian aid
  
• The Coalition troops
  
• Security

HAARETZ: Fatah-linked militants admit getting funds from Hezbollah

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades have received money from Hezbollah to fund terror attacks, members of the Palestinian militant group revealed in an interview published Sunday.

In the article, published in the U.K.’s Sunday Times, a Brigades leader in the West Bank city of Nablus, Allah Sanakra, said that while he no longer receives money from Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad continues to do so. Brigades militants from the Nablus area, however, said Hezbollah officials remained in touch with them.

Sankara said he believes the money comes from Iran.

The interviews appear to confirm Israel’s contention that Hezbollah is trying to sabotage the quiet in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by supporting terror organizations there. Israel has declined to release proof of these allegations.

Reuters reports Sandy Berger pled guilty to stealing National Security Documents from the National Archives.

Berger explains:

“I exercised very poor judgment in the course of reviewing the files,” Berger told reporters outside the courthouse after pleading guilty. “I deeply regret it. It was mistaken and it was wrong.”

“My motivation was to help prepare myself and others,” he said.

Did ya forget the hoopla from the summer? Check here and here for what happened to land us here.