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 Colt of Eurabian Times and USMC_Vet of The Word Unheard.

Top Topics

• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld put forth one of his famous ‘snowflakes’ in October 2003 asking direct and open-ended questions regarding the prosecution of the War on Terror. Resulting from that was a study on precisely how to win the War on Terror. Expected shortly is an unclassified version of the signed and adopted report, “National Military Strategic Plan for the War on Terrorism”. (Speaking of plans, have you seen the new Army Force Structure revisions?)

• General Jack Keane says that over 50,000 Iraqi insurgents have been either killed or captured by American and Iraqi forces in Iraq since the beginning of 2005.

• Egyptian authorities were tipped off to an impending attack at Sharm al-Sheikh, but tightened security around casinos rather than hotels. A passionate exchange involving an Egyptian parliament minister, Hamadein Sabahi, on an Egyptian television network is stunning. The minister praises al Qaida ‘when it kills Americans…Any kidnapping and slaughtering of an Amerinca in Iraq is good.’ His counterpart condemns al-Qaeda and bin Laden…because they do not lend material support to Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Palestine and Tel Aviv is still standing.
  These are among the leaders of Egypt, the country to whom Israel is going to turn over security along the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egyptian border in October.

• The British bombers who failed in their attack attempts on 7/21 were seen by neighbors returning to their apartment to rearm themselves for another attack. While British intelligence and police search their land for terrorists, Kofi Annon hopes old Irish nuns receive equal scrutiny.

Other Topics Today Include:
Iran resuming enrichment, no matter what, now; The Rise of the IRGC; Algerian diplomats killed in Iraq; Army Force Structure revised; Mullah Omar calls for Jihadist unity as Arab Afghans name an Egyptian as head; Syria in the crosshairs; Has al Qaeda infiltrated the CIA and FBI?; School for suicide bombers discovered in northern Italy and much, much more.

Read the Rest…

AP:

A group citing ties to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the bombings that killed at least 62 people Saturday at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The group, calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades in Syria and Egypt, made the claim in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.

It said its “holy warriors targeted the Ghazala Gardens hotel and the Old Market in Sharm el-Sheikh.”

The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified.

Breaking: 7:10 pm - 7/22

Reuters:

An explosion shook the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday, starting a fire and sending a cloud of smoke up over the town, a resident said.

The explosion, audible more than one km (half a mile) away, appeared to take place in a market area which includes shops popular with tourists, said the resident, who asked not to be named.

Will update.

update:

The first explosion, shortly after one a.m., was audible more than one km (half a mile) away, he said. It started a fire and smoke billowed over the town.

About 15 minutes later, two explosions were audible from the direction of Naama Bay, about six km (four miles) away, he said. Naama Bay has dozens of luxury hotels popular with divers and holidaymakers from Europe.

This source says three killed in five blasts.

Update: MSNBC is saying car bombs

AP

At least two large explosions rocked the Red Sea tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheik on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula late Friday, and a hotel was heavily damaged, witnesses said.

The explosions could be felt miles from the site and smoke was seen rising from the area, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties.

One blast hit the Ghazala Gardens hotel, a four-star resort on the main tourist strip in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheik, witnesses said. A second blast was heard in the Old Market, another Sharm neighborhood.

“The hotel was completely burned down, destroyed,” said Amal Mustafa, 28, an Egyptian who was visiting with her family and who drove by the Ghazala Gardens.

Reuters reports that there were four car bombs.

A third person, Ahmed Fawzi, an Egyptian lawyer visiting Naama Bay on business, told Reuters that one of the explosions ripped the door of his office off its hinges.

When he went outside to find out what happened, bystanders said four cars had exploded in the car park of the Moevenpick Hotel. President Hosni Mubarak has a holiday villa in the adjacent Golf Hotel

At least 20 dead

100 wounded, at least

Fox says 25 dead

Map of area

Ghazala Gardens

Sources say rescue forces are having trouble reaching the bomb scenes.

Update: Death toll at 30.

Fox is reporting SEVEN blasts.

Reports that death toll is near 40.

Al Jazeera says 27 Egyptian soldiers are missing in the wake of the blast.

More updates (5am):

More details about the bombings:

At least four car bombs were used in the attack, said a security official in the operations control room in Cairo monitoring the crisis. One went off in the driveway of the Ghazala Gardens hotel, a 176-room four-star resort on the main strip of hotels in Naama Bay, said the governor of South Sinai province, Mustafa Afif………..Another car bomb exploded in the Old Market, an area a few miles away, killing 17 people — believed to be Egyptians — sitting at a outdoor coffee shop, the control room official said. Three minibuses were set ablaze. It was not clear if they were carrying passengers, the official said.

Another blast went off near the Movenpick Hotel, said a receptionist there who declined to identify himself.

More details:

In the most devastating attack, a bomber rammed his car into Ghazala Gardens Hotel, according to an eyewitness.

“A suicide car bomber forced the barrier at the entrance of the hotel. A member of the security staff tried to stop him but he sped towards the reception and there was a huge explosion,” an unnamed hotel employee told AFP news agency.

Parts of the front walls of the hotel collapsed, trapping people under the rubble.

A few hundred metres away, a bomb went off in a car park near the Moevenpick Hotel and popular nightlife spots, causing widespread damage and casualties.

In the Old Market area blast, about four kilometres (2.5 miles) away, 17 people - believed to be Egyptian workers - were killed as they gathered at a street cafe, rescue officials said.

7:22 am:

Death toll has been raised to 83.

: Eight foreigners were among at least 83 people killed in multiple bombings in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday, Egyptian police said.

Two Britons, two Italians, one Ukrainian, one Russian, one Dutch citizen and one Israeli of Arab descent died, the sources told AFP.

Egyptians were believed to have taken the brunt of the blasts with medics putting the overall death toll at 83.

Police said 30 bodies still had to be identified.