Author Archives: taffy

Islamic Militants claim Kashmiri attack

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    lashkar-e-taiba1BBC News March 25-2009

The Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba says it was involved in a five-day gun battle with troops in Indian-administered Kashmir.

At least 25 people died in fighting at Kupwara, including eight soldiers.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is the group which India holds responsible for the armed attacks in Mumbai last November in which more than 170 people died.

The army says the militants were well trained and equipped and had the backing of agencies in Pakistan.

“Militarily prepared”

“The maps and communication equipment [recovered from dead gunmen] indicates that [Pakistani] state and security forces’ assistance was there as such material is not available in the civil domain,” Brig Gurmeet Singh told a press conference in Srinagar on Wednesday.

“The majority of the militants have been killed and those left, if any, will also be eliminated.” Continue Reading →

Orphanage run by Stockport charity was being used as training camp for Islamist militants

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child-terrorists

 

Helen Carter- Gaurdian.co.uk

March 25, 2009

Bangladesh orphanage run by British charity raided by anti-terror forces

Security forces claim orphanage run by Stockport charity was being used as training camp for Islamist militants

An orphanage run by a British charity in Bangladesh has been raided by local security forces who claim it was being used as a training camp and arms factory for Islamist militants.

The anti-terrorism Rapid Action Battalion said today that it had arrested four people, including a teacher and three caretakers, and was searching for the head of the charity, a British citizen known as Faisal.

The arrests came after a raid yesterday on the Green Crescent madrasa and orphanage on the remote southern island of Bhola, Lieutenant Colonel Munir Haque, an officer involved in the operation, said. The charity’s headquarters is thousands of miles away in the town of Stockport, south of Manchester.

“We found small arms ? about nine or 10 in total ? plus equipment to make small arms, about 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two walkie-talkies, two remote control devices and four sets of army uniforms,” Haque said.

“We also found enough explosives and other equipment to make several hundred grenades. We found some ordinary Islamic books, but others that are in line with extremists like Bin Laden.” Continue Reading →

The Truth Exposed: Islamic Terrorist Training & Fundraising in America

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lego-terrorist

  It’s not a game. These are not people just talking tough around the kitchen table. These are groups of people that are organised and backed up with both skill and finance. When will the Americas wake up to the fact that this danger can no longer be ignored? As the man ringing the alarm bell goes deaf, Canada and the U.S. continue to sleep.

By Doug Hagmann The Canada Free Press March 24-09

Since 2004, investigators of the Northeast Intelligence Network have been performing an extensive investigation and surveillance operation of the activities of Jamaat ul Fuqra, an Islamic terrorist group that is currently active and operational across the US and Canada. The findings of our investigation and surveillance operations are as extensive as they are disturbing.

This organization of Muslim terrorists are actively training for urban warfare, infiltrating our government institutions, securing positions of public trust, and raising substantial sums of money through a wide range of white collar criminal activity and Islamic charities which is being funneled to terrorist kingpin Sheikh Mubarek Ali Gilani in Pakistan. The money is used for terrorist operations and organizational advancement. From their US headquarters in rural Delaware county, New York at the base of the Catskills where recruitment is brisk, especially from within our prison system, they have also reinforced their operations into Mexico, Latin America, the Virgin Islands, and elsewhere. Their primary focus, however, remains the US and Canada, and their targets are both religious and secular in nature, with emphasis on the former. Such targets include Jews and Christians, churches and synagogues, and perhaps most insidiously, our schools and school children. The latter will be for psychological effect.

Members associated with this terrorist organization have killed and will kill and attack again, although their future attacks will be much more horrific. Mark my words. Continue Reading →

Kenney nails the language issue

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jason-kenny

   Mr. Kenny wants to take a step back in Canada’s immigration policy. He would like to help insure that immigrants coming to Canada will more easily integrate into Canadian society without having to face a language issue on arrival. Being fluent in one of Canada’s two official languages allows the newly arrived persons to more easily explore this great country without having to settle into an area populated by those who speak a similar foreign language. Better opportunities for work and places to live. Being able to meet and greet their new neighbors. Integrating and becoming Canadian instead of being locked into a sub-culture in Montreal or Toronto. So a step back to a policy that was in place when I immigrated here in the late 60’s might be a step in the right direction.

Posted: March 24, 2009, 9:06 AM by National Post  Editor : Original article by Rudyard Griffiths
Jason Kenney, minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, should be commended for kick-starting a much need public discussion about the language skills and civic literacy of aspiring Canadian citizens.
 
For too long Canada has avoided the kind of common sense dialogue about its settlement policies that Minister Kenney is galvanising. The reality is the “quietism” of successive federal governments about all things related to immigrant selection and recruitment is a public policy debacle of historic proportions: ten of thousands of newcomers languishing in dead end jobs, the out migration of up to 40 percent of professional male immigrants in the last decade alone, and the justifiable hardening of attitudes among visibility minority groups who rightly feel they are being exploited economically.  
 
Minister Kenney is spot on in his assertion that the ability to speak one of Canada’s two official languages is fundamental to an immigrant’s economic success and overall social integration. In fact, detailed multi-decade research shows that language proficiency outstrips job experience and educational background as the factor which has the greatest positive impact on a newcomer’s ability to settle themselves successfully in Canada Continue Reading →

Warning Over Terrorist Attack In Israel

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bomb-aftermath-in-israel1A sophisticated ‘terrorist infrastructure’ is planning a mass attack on civilians in Israel after a botched attempt which could have killed hundreds.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says ‘a huge disaster was prevented’ in Haifa after a car packed with dozens of kilos of explosives did not explode.

Police say a passerby heard a small explosion in the car, thought to be the detonator going off.

It failed to ignite the rest of the device and police were called and defused it manually.

Authorities say the attack could have killed hundreds of civilians had it gone to plan.

Israeli shopping malls are protected from car bomb attacks because vehicles are searched on entry.

These attackers evaded inspection by parking the car outside the mall, but close enough to do massive damage if the device gone off.

The attempted attack is causing alarm here both because of the numbers of casualties it could have caused and the apparent sophistication of the group responsible.

The worst terror attacks in Israel have killed two or three dozen at the most.

That is far less than the number the Israeli Prime Minister claimed could have been killed in Haifa over the weekend

According to reports here, the attackers stole the vehicle number of another car to enable them to present licences had they been stopped and asked for them.

They also bought and stored substantial amounts of explosives and had the expertise to add bits of metal to create a shrapnel effect which would have killed and maimed more people.

A little known armed group called Liberators of the Galilee claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israeli newspapers are speculating about the possible involvement of Hizbollah, Lebanon’s Shiite militant movement.

Hizbollah has yet to fulfil its threat of retaliation for the assassination of one of its key commanders, Imad Mughniyeh, in a car bomb in Damascus widely blamed on Israel.

The anniversary of his death passed last month.

Dominic Waghorn, Middle East

Sky News UK

Organizers plan court challenge, physical escort of Galloway into Canada

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george-galloway1TORONTO — Organizers of the four-city speaking tour of British anti-war MP George Galloway are going to challenge the decision to bar him from Canada in court.
The organizers also say if that fails, they’ve already prepared plan B.

Organizers are to announce Monday they will file an emergency injunction in Ontario federal court on Tuesday seeking to overturn Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s entry ban on the outspoken politician.

Should that fail, a delegation of Canadian MPs, lawyers and activists is assembling to escort Galloway from the U.S., where he is on tour, across the Canadian border.

“Our hope is the decision will be overturned by the courts when it actually looks at the merits of the decision of the government,” said organizer Laith Marouf, national branches co-ordinator of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights.

“But also … we’re not going to stop at that. We will mount our physical delegation.

“On Monday the 30th in the morning, Mr. Galloway will attempt to cross the border. It has not been decided yet which land crossing – most probably in Quebec,” he said.

“He will be met by throngs of supporters on the other side.”

The government has said the decision to keep the Scottish MP from giving his speaking engagements was based on security grounds. It has riled up the opposition and freedom of speech proponents, who call it censorship.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has also drawn fire for declining to intervene. His office notes Galloway has expressed sympathy for the Taliban cause in Afghanistan and provided financial support to the Palestinian group Hamas, listed in Canada as a terrorist organization.

Two prominent Jewish organizations, B’nai Brith Canada and the Canadian Jewish Congress, have applauded the government’s decision.

Several of the tour organizers held an emergency meeting Sunday at Ryerson University in Toronto to discuss the court challenge plans.

A legal team, led by prominent immigration and refugee lawyer Barbara Jackman, has assembled support of more than 50 organizations.

Groups include the Council of Canadians, Canadian Civil Liberties Union, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, anti-war coalitions in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, several large labour unions and many community organizations, Laith said.

“We’re feeling very positive, we’re having unbelievable amounts of support pouring in through calls, emails. The sales of tickets (to the planned speeches) have skyrocketed – most of the venues are almost sold out,” he said.

Galloway was banned from Britain’s Labour party in 2003 and is now sitting as a left-wing Respect MP.

He had planned to speak Monday at a conference hosted by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War – entitled Resisting War from Gaza to Kandahar – and in neighbouring Mississauga the next day.

He’s now scheduled for engagements on March 30 in Toronto, March 31 in Mississauga, April 1 in Montreal and April 2 in Ottawa.

More than 12 venues across the country are also booked to broadcast his first lecture to a public audience.

Now is the critical time to allow Galloway to speak in Canada, Laith said.

“Galloway is coming to speak about the failed war in Afghanistan, where more and more Canadian soldiers are dying for no reason. And this is on top of the thousands of Afghani civilians who are dying as we are speaking,” he said.

Due to the emergency nature of the court challenge, Laith said they expect to learn whether the government’s decision to ban Galloway will be overturned by the weekend

From the Canadian Press March 22-09

Saudi Clerics Urge Ban on Women, Music on Television

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia —  A group of Saudi clerics urged the kingdom’s new information minister on Sunday to ban women from appearing on TV or in newspapers and magazines, making clear that the country’s hardline religious establishment is skeptical of a new push toward moderation.

In a statement, the 35 hardline clergymen also called on Abdel Aziz Khoja, who was appointed by King Abdullah on Feb. 14, to prohibit the playing of music and music shows on television.

“We have great hope that this media reform will be accomplished by you,” said the statement. “We have noticed how well-rooted perversity is in the Ministry of Information and Culture, in television, radio, press, culture clubs and the book fair.”

Although it raises the pressure on the new minister, the recommendation is likely to have little effect. Khoja’s appointment was part of a government shake-up by Abdullah that removed a number of hardline figures and is believed to be part of an effort to weaken the influence of conservatives in this devout desert kingdom.

“No Saudi women should appear on TV, no matter what the reason,” the statement said. “No images of women should appear in Saudi newspapers and magazines.”

Saudi Arabia was founded on an alliance with the conservative Wahhabi strain of Islam that sees the mixing of sexes as anathema and believes the playing of music violates religious values

The former information minister, Iyad Madani, earned the ire of hardliners several years ago by allowing music in government-run TV and female journalists to interview men, despite the country’s strict gender-segregation rules.

Women also appear on Saudi television with their faces showing, though most in public totally cover themselves.

Newspapers publish pictures of Saudi women, but almost always with their heads covered, while pictures of Western entertainers are shown but bare arms and cleavage are painted over.

The clerics include several professors from the ultra-conservative Imam University, Islamic research scholars, a judge in a court in the resort of Taif and some government employees.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, in town for meetings with Saudi officials, told a news conference that during lunch he sat between a female Saudi surgeon and a female journalist. He said while one woman is allowed to perform surgery and another is allowed to teach, neither is permitted to drive.

“I find that bizarre,” he said.

Fox News March 22-09

Thousands getting terror training – BBC March 22-2009

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towerlondon1Instead of combating the radicalisation of Britain’s Muslim population Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has decided instead to prepare for the worst.

Thousands of UK workers are being trained to help respond to a future terror attack as part of an updated counter-terror strategy, ministers say. 60’000 hotel and shop workers will receive training an how to deal with a terrorist incident.

From BBC news