Category Archives: U.S.A.

Smuggled US Arms Flood Pak Tribal Belt

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American taxpayers are unwittingly arming the enemy.

SatellitePESHAWAR — Sophisticated US-made arms, either snatched from foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan, or sold out by cash-strapped Afghan soldiers, have flooded the arms markets in Pakistan’s northern tribal belt and are in high demand too.

“We have various kinds of US-made arms, which we procure from Afghan arms smugglers,” an arms dealer from the town of Darra Adamkhel in Pakistan’s western frontier province (NWFP) told IslamOnline.net.
Darra Adamkhel, virtually the arms factory of the tribal areas, is also the hub of illegal shipments of weapons throughout the country and one of the biggest private arms’ markets in Asia.
Till a few years back, China-made weapons and their replicas undisputedly ruled the tribal arms markets.
But after the arrival of stolen US-made arms, the sale of Chinese weapons has reduced to a great extent.
“The (US-made) weapons, we procure, are usually stolen from the warehouses of the US troops,” the arms dealer said.
Not only stolen, the arms are also sold out by Afghan army soldiers who need money.
“A number of Afghan police personnel have sold their pistols to the arms smugglers, who later smuggle them into tribal arms markets.
“In southern and northeastern Afghanistan particularly, Afghan soldiers sell their weapons, provided by US, to the arms smugglers, and report to their high-ups that their weapons were snatched by Taliban,” the arms dealer added.
“Many of them have replaced their actual weapons by replicas made in Pakistani tribal arms market.” Continue Reading →

Stratfor: Obama’s foreign policy test

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Obama’s Move: Iran and Afghanistan
September 28, 2009

By George Friedman

RELATED SPECIAL TOPIC PAGE
The Iranian Nuclear Game
During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, now-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said that like all U.S. presidents, Barack Obama would face a foreign policy test early in his presidency if elected. That test is now here.

His test comprises two apparently distinct challenges, one in Afghanistan and one in Iran. While different problems, they have three elements in common. First, they involve the question of his administration’s overarching strategy in the Islamic world. Second, the problems are approaching decision points (and making no decision represents a decision here). And third, they are playing out very differently than Obama expected during the 2008 campaign.

During the campaign, Obama portrayed the Iraq war as a massive mistake diverting the United States from Afghanistan, the true center of the “war on terror.” He accordingly promised to shift the focus away from Iraq and back to Afghanistan. Obama’s views on Iran were more amorphous. He supported the doctrine that Iran should not be permitted to obtain nuclear weapons, while at the same time asserted that engaging Iran was both possible and desirable. Embedded in the famous argument over whether offering talks without preconditions was appropriate (something now-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attacked him for during the Democratic primary) was the idea that the problem with Iran stemmed from Washington’s refusal to engage in talks with Tehran.

We are never impressed with campaign positions, or with the failure of the victorious candidate to live up to them. That’s the way American politics work. But in this case, these promises have created a dual crisis that Obama must make decisions about now.

Iran
Back in April, in the midst of the financial crisis, Obama reached an agreement at the G-8 meeting that the Iranians would have until Sept. 24 and the G-20 meeting to engage in meaningful talks with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany (P-5+1) or face intensely increased sanctions. His administration was quite new at the time, so the amount of thought behind this remains unclear. On one level, the financial crisis was so intense and September so far away that Obama and his team probably saw this as a means to delay a secondary matter while more important fires were flaring up.

But there was more operating than that. Obama intended to try to bridge the gap between the Islamic world and the United States between April and September. In his speech to the Islamic world from Cairo, he planned to show a desire not only to find common ground, but also to acknowledge shortcomings in U.S. policy in the region. With the appointment of special envoys George Mitchell (for Israel and the Palestinian territories) and Richard Holbrooke (for Pakistan and Afghanistan), Obama sought to build on his opening to the Islamic world with intense diplomatic activity designed to reshape regional relationships.

It can be argued that the Islamic masses responded positively to Obama’s opening — it has been asserted to be so and we will accept this — but the diplomatic mission did not solve the core problem. Mitchell could not get the Israelis to move on the settlement issue, and while Holbrooke appears to have made some headway on increasing Pakistan’s aggressiveness toward the Taliban, no fundamental shift has occurred in the Afghan war.

Most important, no major shift has occurred in Iran’s attitude toward the United States and the P-5+1 negotiating group. In spite of Obama’s Persian New Year address to Iran, the Iranians did not change their attitude toward the United States. The unrest following Iran’s contested June presidential election actually hardened the Iranian position. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remained president with the support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while the so-called moderates seemed powerless to influence their position. Perceptions that the West supported the demonstrations have strengthened Ahmadinejad’s hand further, allowing him to paint his critics as pro-Western and himself as an Iranian nationalist.

But with September drawing to a close, talks have still not begun. Instead, they will begin Oct. 1. And last week, the Iranians chose to announce that not only will they continue work on their nuclear program (which they claim is not for military purposes), they have a second, hardened uranium enrichment facility near Qom. After that announcement, Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy held a press conference saying they have known about the tunnel for several months, and warned of stern consequences.

This, of course, raises the question of what consequences. Obama has three choices in this regard.

First, he can impose crippling sanctions against Iran. But that is possible only if the Russians cooperate. Moscow has the rolling stock and reserves to supply all of Iran’s fuel needs if it so chooses, and Beijing can also remedy any Iranian fuel shortages. Both Russia and China have said they don’t want sanctions; without them on board, sanctions are meaningless.

Second, Obama can take military action against Iran, something easier politically and diplomatically for the United States to do itself rather than rely on Israel. By itself, Israel cannot achieve air superiority, suppress air defenses, attack the necessary number of sites and attempt to neutralize Iranian mine-laying and anti-ship capability all along the Persian Gulf. Moreover, if Israel struck on its own and Iran responded by mining the Strait of Hormuz, the United States would be drawn into at least a naval war with Iran — and probably would have to complete the Israeli airstrikes, too.

And third, Obama could choose to do nothing (or engage in sanctions that would be the equivalent of doing nothing). Washington could see future Iranian nuclear weapons as an acceptable risk. But the Israelis don’t, meaning they would likely trigger the second scenario. It is possible that the United States could try to compel Israel not to strike — though it’s not clear whether Israel would comply — something that would leave Obama publicly accepting Iran’s nuclear program.

And this, of course, would jeopardize Obama’s credibility. It is possible for the French or Germans to waffle on this issue; no one is looking to them for leadership. But for Obama simply to acquiesce to Iranian nuclear weapons, especially at this point, would have significant diplomatic and domestic political ramifications. Simply put, Obama would look weak — and that, of course, is why the Iranians announced the second nuclear site. They read Obama as weak, and they want to demonstrate their own resolve. That way, if the Russians were thinking of cooperating with the United States on sanctions, Moscow would be seen as backing the weak player against the strong one. The third option, doing nothing, therefore actually represents a significant action.

Afghanistan
In a way, the same issue is at stake in Afghanistan. Having labeled Afghanistan as critical — indeed, having campaigned on the platform that the Bush administration was fighting the wrong war — it would be difficult for Obama to back down in Afghanistan. At the same time, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has reported that without a new strategy and a substantial increase in troop numbers, failure in Afghanistan is likely.

The number of troops being discussed, 30,000-40,000, would bring total U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan to just above the number of troops the Soviet Union deployed there in its war (just under 120,000) — a war that ended in failure. The new strategy being advocated would be one in which the focus would not be on the defeat of the Taliban by force of arms, but the creation of havens for the Afghan people and protecting those havens from the Taliban.

A move to the defensive when time is on your side is not an unreasonable strategy. But it is not clear that time is on Western forces’ side. Increased offensives are not weakening the Taliban. But halting attacks and assuming that the Taliban will oblige the West by moving to the offensive, thereby opening itself to air and artillery strikes, probably is not going to happen. And while assuming that the country will effectively rise against the Taliban out of the protected zones the United States has created is interesting, it does not strike us as likely. The Taliban is fighting the long war because it has nowhere else to go. Its ability to maintain military and political cohesion following the 2001 invasion has been remarkable. And betting that the Pakistanis will be effective enough to break the Taliban’s supply lines is hardly the most prudent bet.

In short, Obama’s commander on the ground has told him the current Afghan strategy is failing. He has said that unless that strategy changes, more troops won’t help, and that a change of strategy will require substantially more troops. But when we look at the proposed strategy and the force levels, it is far from obvious that even that level of commitment will stand a chance of achieving meaningful results quickly enough before the forces of Washington’s NATO allies begin to withdraw and U.S. domestic resolve erodes further.

Obama has three choices in Afghanistan. He can continue to current strategy and force level, hoping to prolong failure long enough for some undefined force to intervene. He can follow McChrystal’s advice and bet on the new strategy. Or he can withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Once again, doing nothing — the first option — is doing something quite significant.

The Two Challenges Come Together
The two crises intermingle in this way: Every president is tested in foreign policy, sometimes by design and sometimes by circumstance. Frequently, this happens at the beginning of his term as a result of some problem left by his predecessor, a strategy adopted in the campaign or a deliberate action by an antagonist. How this happens isn’t important. What is important is that Obama’s test is here. Obama at least publicly approached the presidency as if many of the problems the United States faced were due to misunderstandings about or the thoughtlessness of the United States. Whether this was correct is less important than that it left Obama appearing eager to accommodate his adversaries rather than confront them.

No one has a clear idea of Obama’s threshold for action.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban takes the view that the British and Russians left, and that the Americans will leave, too. We strongly doubt that the force level proposed by McChrystal will be enough to change their minds. Moreover, U.S. forces are limited, with many still engaged in Iraq. In any case, it isn’t clear what force level would suffice to force the Taliban to negotiate or capitulate — and we strongly doubt that there is a level practical to contemplate.

In Iran, Ahmadinejad clearly perceives that challenging Obama is low-risk and high reward. If he can finally demonstrate that the United States is unwilling to take military action regardless of provocations, his own domestic situation improves dramatically, his relationship with the Russians deepens, and most important, his regional influence — and menace — surges. If Obama accepts Iranian nukes without serious sanctions or military actions, the American position in the Islamic world will decline dramatically. The Arab states in the region rely on the United States to protect them from Iran, so U.S. acquiescence in the face of Iranian nuclear weapons would reshape U.S. relations in the region far more than a hundred Cairo speeches.

There are four permutations Obama might choose in response to the dual crisis. He could attack Iran and increase forces in Afghanistan, but he might well wind up stuck in a long-term war in Afghanistan. He could avoid that long-term war by withdrawing from Afghanistan and also ignore Iran’s program, but that would leave many regimes reliant on the United States for defense against Iran in the lurch. He could increase forces in Afghanistan and ignore Iran — probably yielding the worst of all possible outcomes, namely, a long-term Afghan war and an Iran with a nuclear program if not nuclear weapons.

On pure logic, history or politics aside, the best course is to strike Iran and withdraw from Afghanistan. That would demonstrate will in the face of a significant challenge while perhaps reshaping Iran and certainly avoiding a drawn-out war in Afghanistan. Of course, it is easy for those who lack power and responsibility — and the need to govern — to provide logical choices. But the forces closing in on Obama are substantial, and there are many competing considerations in play.

Presidents eventually arrive at the point where something must be done, and where doing nothing is very much doing something. At this point, decisions can no longer be postponed, and each choice involves significant risk. Obama has reached that point, and significantly, in his case, he faces a double choice. And any decision he makes will reverberate.

Najibullah Zazi desperate for bomb mix, Canadian relatives claim arrest result of racism

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From The New York Post

Fiend put out SOS for bomb mix: feds

By KATI CORNELL and MURRAY WEISS in NY and KEITH COFFMAN in Aurora, Colo.

Last Updated: 9:08 AM, September 26, 2009

Posted: 5:26 AM, September 25, 2009

The Muslim fanatic charged with planning massive terror attacks on New York was frantically trying to get recipes for building a diabolical “weapon of mass destruction” in the days before his arrest, authorities claimed yesterday.

Najibullah Zazi, 24, began researching how to make bombs from household ingredients nearly a year ago — but sought “urgent” help in preparing the devices over the past two weeks, according to papers filed yesterday in Brooklyn federal court.

Zazi’s efforts grew increasingly frenzied in the days leading up to the anniversary of 9/11, the feds said.

EXPLOSIVE CHARGE: Queens imam Ahmad Wais Afzali, who allegedly tipped off bomb-plot suspect Najibullah Zazi, leaves Brooklyn federal court yesterday with wife Fatima after making bail.

Brian Branch Price
EXPLOSIVE CHARGE: Queens imam Ahmad Wais Afzali, who allegedly tipped off bomb-plot suspect Najibullah Zazi, leaves Brooklyn federal court yesterday with wife Fatima after making bail.

READ THE INDICTMENT AGAINST ZAZI

On Sept. 6 and 7, Zazi holed up in a hotel suite in his hometown of Aurora, Colo., and “attempted to communicate on multiple occasions with another individual — each communication more urgent in tone than the last — seeking to correct mixtures of ingredients to make explosives,” a frightening detention memo says.

“Zazi repeatedly emphasized . . . that he needed the answers right away.”

Court papers say little about where and when the alleged attacks were to occur, but counterterrorism officials fear Zazi planned to target passenger trains and stadiums.

READ THE MOTION TO DENY ZAZI BAIL

Residue from acetone, one of the three main components of the explosive he allegedly planned to detonate, was found in a vent above a stove in the hotel room, where authorities believe Zazi was creating a highly concentrated form of the material.

More than a year earlier, in August 2008, Zazi traveled to Pakistan, where he used three e-mail accounts to store jpeg images of “nine handwritten notes containing formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of different kinds of explosives,” court papers say.

The notes allegedly contain details for an explosive known as triacetone triperoxide — the same used in 2001 by airline shoe bomber Richard Reid and in 2005 by the London train bombers — made from hydrogen peroxide, acetone and hydrochloric acid.

Zazi, an airport shuttle driver who lived in Flushing, Queens, before his overseas trip, flew back to New York in January 2009 and moved to Aurora, where he allegedly continued trolling the Internet for bomb-making information.

Over the summer, he and at least three unidentified cohorts bought “unusually large quantities” of the explosive ingredients from beauty-supply stores in the Denver area, the papers say.

According to one law-enforcement official, Zazi’s associates traveled to Colorado specifically to help him stockpile the materials, bought with stolen credit cards.

Zazi also searched the Internet for home-improvement stores in Queens — presumably as a source for additional bomb-making materials, the feds said — before renting a car Sept. 8 and driving to New York.

But he’d been under surveillance and agents were right behind him. They stopped him on the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 10.

Still under surveillance, he was allowed to return to Colorado, where he was formally arrested in Aurora on Sept. 19.

Prosecutors in Colorado yesterday dismissed relatively minor charges that Zazi lied to the feds — so he could be brought to New York to face charges of “conspiracy to use one or more weapons of mass destruction.”

His father, Mohammed Zazi, 53, also charged with lying, but not in the alleged bomb plot, was released to an undisclosed location and will have to wear a monitoring device. Sources said he’d gotten threats and didn’t want to return to his apartment.

Also yesterday, Ahmad Wais Afzali, one of several Queens residents whose homes was raided after Zazi’s arrest, was in Brooklyn federal court and released on $1.5 million bail on a charge of lying to investigators. He, too, has to wear a monitoring device.

Police suspect Afzali, a Muslim cleric and sometime informant for the NYPD, tipped Zazi that he was being watched. “I never did, never will, and would never do it,” he said outside his home.

He admitted only that, in his role as an imam, he knew Zazi when the alleged terrorist was 14.

Zazi has denied any involvement in terrorist activities.

Meanwhile, as The Post reported Sunday, a senior NYPD commander in the terror probe, Inspector Paul Ciorra, has been transferred amid questions about the handling of Afzali. The imam telephoned Zazi after detectives from Ciorra’s division started asking questions about him around Queens earlier this month.

A source told The Associated Press he’ll head the Highway Patrol.

Additional reporting by Austin Fenner and Julia Dahl, with AP

—————

Meanwhile in Canada, Zazi’s angry relatives claim his arrest is the result of nothing more than racism because he is Afghan and a Muslim…….

From The Calgary Herald.


Jummah ‘prayer’ on Capitol Hill-a day of Islamic unity

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IslamonCapitolHill

Poster promoting Jummah prayer on Capitol Hill for September 25, 2009.

“Our Time Has Come!”

The worshipers were invited to come to pray on Capitol Hill 50,000 strong. 90% didn’t show up. Prior to the event, organizer and president Hassen Abdellah of Dar-ul-Islam of Elizabeth touted, “This is not a protest. Never has the Islamic community prayed on Capitol Hill for the soul of America. We’re Americans. We need to change the face of Islam so people don’t feel every Muslim believes America is the great Satan, because we love America.

The soul of America? We love America?

Really Mr. Abdellah? Then explain this:

Muslim white house

Islamoncapitolhill, a site set up to promote the event, charges, “In the name of Allah. The objective of this gathering is to invite the Muslim communities and friends of Islam to express and illustrate the wonderful diversity of Islam. We intend to manifest Islam’s majestic, spiritual principles as revealed by Allah to our beloved prophet, Muhammed in Arabia. Likewise; we intend to inspire a new generation of Muslims to work for the greater good of all people. We shall serve all people, regardless of race, religion or national origin”.

Included on their site is a woman fully decked out in burqa attire. I wonder if the muslimah will have to pray separately in the backyard of Capitol Hill?

Anyone who even has a basic understanding of the Islamist mindset knows full well this objective is a lie, especially given the sentiment of the invited speakers at the event, Sheik Muhammed Jebril and Sheik Ahmed Dewidar (two Egyptians, home based to the Muslim Brotherhood). Atlas Shrugs gives an excellent and thorough analysis of these two ‘bridge builders’. For starters, Jebril attained a degree in sharia law from Al-Azhar University and was named Imam of the extremist mosque Amr Ibn Al’Ass in Cairo in 1988. He is also a university professor in Jordan.

Sheik Dewidar claims that American society is controlled by the Jews, has hinted that the 9/11 attack was an American conspiracy and believes the American media/press is under Zionist control which spreads a negative perception of Islam. (Who needs the western press to give Islam a bad name; Muslims are quite capable of doing this themselves on a daily basis).

And what of event organizer Dar-ul-Islam president Hassen Abdellah? Well, he is also president of The Muslim Brothers Inc., and as an attorney, defended Mahmoud Abonhalima who was charged with the bombing of the World Trade Center-he also defended Faruq Brent who plead guilty to providing material support for Lashkar-e-Taiba. Abdella is quoted to say:

“We are going to the White House , so that Islam will be victorious, Allah willing, and the White House will turn into the Muslim House”.

It’s hard to say why only 5,000 of the faithful showed as opposed to the predicted 50,000 (although some reports indicate as few as 1,000). Regardless, does the United States really want Islamists ‘praying’ on Capitol Hill spurred on by Jew-haters, sharia advocates and terror sympathizers in the very same place Presidents have been inaugurated, or for that matter any place at all?

Islam on Capitol Hill portends: ” The peace, beauty and solidarity of Islam will shine through America’s capital”.

Here’s how Islam’s peace, beauty and solidarity shines throughout the world:

Gaza: Children’s programme incites anti-Jew hatred, violence.

Sydney: Do it yourself terrorist handbook, Provisions of the Rules of Jihad: a Practical Guide to Achieving Martyrdom editor busted;

Converts to Christianity prevented from leaving Egypt;

Brussels: Woman murdered for not wearing veil;

Egypt: Muslim beheads Christian in Egypt;

Milan: Muslim attacks Italian politician for burqa stance;

Turkey: Christian tombs desecrated.

Kenya: Muslims kill Christian for carrying Bibles.

Peace, Beauty, Solidarity. Majestic, spiritual, inspirational.

FBI Arrests Man Trying To Bomb Fountain Place Skyscraper Downtown – Dallas Texas

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fountain_place_terror_plot

Dallas Police have arrested Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian citizen after he allegedly placed a device described as an inactive car bomb near a skyscraper in downtown Dallas.
Breaking reports say Smadi was charged with “attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.”

Apparently according to news reports, Smadi had been under FBI surveillance for some time after expressing “his desire to commit violent jihad” numerous times.

FBI says agents arrested Smadi after he placed what he thought was a bomb at the base of Fountain Place, a 60-story skyscraper located in downtown Dallas.

FBI Press Release

James T. Jacks, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, and Robert E. Casey, Jr., Special Agent in Charge for the Dallas Office of the FBI, announced today that Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19, has been arrested and charged in a federal criminal complaint with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Smadi, who was under continuous surveillance by the FBI, was arrested today near Fountain Place, a 60-story glass office tower located at 1445 Ross Avenue in downtown Dallas, after he placed an inert/inactive car bomb at the location. Smadi, a Jordanian citizen in the U.S. illegally, lived and worked in Italy, Texas. He has repeatedly espoused his desire to commit violent Jihad and has been the focus of an undercover FBI investigation.

“The highest priority of the FBI and the Department of Justice remains the prevention of another terrorist attack within the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Jacks. “In that effort, it is the job of the FBI to locate and identify individuals intent upon carrying out any type of attack upon this country and its citizens/residents. Whether as part of a group or acting alone, persons contemplating such acts need to know that all components of the government are working together to ferret out their activities and to insure that such individuals face the full measure of the law. The identification and apprehension of this defendant, who was acting alone, is a sobering reminder that there are people among us who want to do us grave harm,” Jacks continued.

Special Agent in Charge Casey said, “Today’s arrest of Hosam Maher Husein Smadi underscores the FBI’s unwavering commitment to bring to justice persons who attempt to bring harm to citizens of this country and significant danger to this community. Smadi made a decision to act to commit a significant conspicuous act of violence under his banner of “self Jihad.” He will now face justice. The many agents, detectives, analysts and prosecutors who helped to bring about Thursday’s arrest deserve special thanks for their efforts. This case serves as a reminder of the continuing threats of terrorism we face as a nation and the FBI’s resolve to meet those threats. The arrest of Smadi is not in any way related to the ongoing terror investigation in New York and Colorado.”

“The criminal complaint alleges that Hosam Smadi sought and attempted to bomb the Fountain Place office tower, but a coordinated undercover law enforcement action was able to thwart his efforts and ensure no one was harmed,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

Smadi will make his initial appearance tomorrow in U.S. District Court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez.

According to affidavits filed today with the complaint and search warrants:

Smadi was discovered by the FBI espousing his desire to commit significant acts of violence. Smadi stood out because of his vehement intention to actually conduct terror attacks in the U.S.

The FBI developed an investigative plan to determine Smadi’s true intent while also protecting the public’s safety. Smadi made clear his intention to serve as a soldier for Usama Bin Laden and al-Qa’ida, and to conduct violent Jihad. Undercover FBI agents, posing as members of an al-Qa’ida “sleeper” cell, were introduced to Smadi, who repeatedly indicated to them that he came to the U.S. for the specific purpose of committing “Jihad for the sake of God.” Smadi clarified that he was interested in “self-Jihad,” because it was “the best type of Jiihad.” Smadi was interested in violent Jihad against those he deemed to be enemies of Islam. The investigation determined Smadi was not associated with other terrorist organizations.

Throughout the investigation, undercover FBI agents repeatedly encouraged Smadi to reevaluate his interpretation of Jihad, counseling him that the obligations a Moslem has to perform Jihad can be satisfied in many ways. Every time this interaction occurred, Smadi aggressively responded that he was going to commit significant, conspicuous acts of violence as his Jihad.

In June 2009, Smadi identified potential targets in the Dallas area; but in mid-July, he notified an undercover FBI agent that he had changed his mind regarding the targets. On July 21, 2009, Smadi met with an undercover FBI agent and directed the agent to drive them to a Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Dallas. Smadi and the undercover FBI agent then drove to 1445 Ross Avenue where the Fountain Place office tower is located. A Wells Fargo Bank is located in that building. Smadi went into the building where he conducted his own reconnaissance.

In late August 2009, while meeting with one of the undercover FBI agents in Dallas, Smadi discussed the logistics and timing of the bombing, stating that he would have preferred to do the attack on “11 September,” but decided to wait until after the month of Ramadan, which ended on September 20, 2009. At the conclusion of the meeting, Smadi decided that a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) would be placed at the foundation of the Fountain Place office tower. Unbeknownst to Smadi, the FBI ensured the VBIED contained only an inert/inactive explosive device which contained no explosive materials.

A federal complaint is a written statement of the essential facts of the offenses charged, and must be made under oath before a magistrate judge. A defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The offense of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction carries, upon conviction, a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case is being investigated by the FBI in conjunction with members of the FBI-sponsored North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson is in charge of the prosecution. The Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division is assisting in the prosecution.

h/t Solstice

Obama appoints a radical Muslim to top position in the Department of Home Security

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H/T Nick Vandergragt:

Vincent Gioia
BrookesNews.Com
Monday 21 September 2009

Vincent GioiaPurported non Muslim Barack Hussein Obama made a presidential appointment of Muslim Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Arif Alikhan for a top job at the federal Department of Homeland Security. In his new job Arif Alikhan will be Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy Development at the Department of Homeland Security. Alikhan has been Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles — in charge of public safety for the city. Why Muslim Alikhan at the Department of Homeland Security you might ask? DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said Alikhan’s “broad and impressive array of experience in national security, emergency preparedness and counterterrorism will make him an asset —yes, but on behalf of the US or Muslims? I am not sure what she is talking about and she probably doesn’t know either. IndiaWest.com

Alikhan says a big part of his job will be fostering communication between agencies. Alikhan, like Obama, also wants to help improve America’s image with Muslims around the world. He will now set policy on security at the highest levels of the federal government. But what policies has the new Assistant Secretary embraced? During his years in Los Angeles, Alikhan was responsible for derailing the Police Department’s plan to monitor activities within the Los Angeles Muslim community, where numerous radical mosques and madrassas existed, and where some of the 9/11 hijackers had received support from local residents. Continue Reading →

US authorities arrest 2 men for suspected terror plot.

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I must say, his looks are a surprise. You don’t often see terror suspects who look like this fellow. They usually look more like this:

21terror_650

From The New York Times:

Federal authorities arrested an airport shuttle bus driver and his father in Colorado and another man in New York City on Saturday night, charging them with lying to investigators about an alleged terrorist plot to detonate an improvised explosive against an unknown target in the United States.

Acting swiftly late Saturday after a week in which investigators worked intensely in New York and Denver to put together a case, F.B.I. agents arrested Najibullah Zazi, 24, his father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, who both reside in Aurora, Colo., and Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, who lives in Flushing, Queens.

The arrests indicated the case was rapidly accelerating and provided for the first time — in a sometimes confusing week of events — an explanation of why authorities were investigating the men and provided details about the alleged plot still under investigation in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere.

In a statement issued early Sunday, David Kris, the chief of the Justice Department’s national security division, said: “The arrests carried out tonight are part of an ongoing and fast-paced investigation. It is important to note that we have no specific information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack.”

Affidavits filed in the case said that during a search of the younger Mr. Zazi’s rental car on Sept. 11, agents found a laptop computer that contained an image of nine pages of handwritten notes. The notes, according to affidavit, “contain formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of initiating explosives, main explosives charges, explosives detonators and components of a fusing system.”

Last Wednesday, the affidavits said, when agents interviewed Mr. Zazi in Denver, he falsely said he had never seen the handwritten notes and told agents that he had not written the notes.

In two additional interviews on Thursday and Friday, Mr. Zazi told agents that during a 2008 trip to Pakistan, he attended courses and received instruction on weapons and explosives at an Al Qaeda training camp in a tribal area.

The affidavits also said that the elder Mr. Zazi and Mr. Afzali, who was said to have been a source for the New York Police Department, also lied to investigators about their conversations concerning the younger Mr. Zazi and their knowledge of his activities.

The father and son were scheduled to make an initial appearance on Monday in Federal District Court in Denver and Mr. Afzali will make his appearance, also on Monday, in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Government officials said the charges, which carry a maximum penalty of eight years in prison, were preliminary and were likely to be followed by an indictment with more detailed accusations as the investigation continues.

The Zazis and Mr. Afzali are from Afghanistan. The elder Mr. Zazi is a naturalized citizen, while Mr. Afzalie and the younger Mr. Zazi are legal immigrants.

Wendy S. Aiello, a spokeswoman for Arthur Folsom, the lawyer representing the Zazis, said both men were arrested late Saturday night.

“Their attorney is with them,” said Ms. Aiello, who declined further comment.

Earlier on Saturday, following three days in which the younger Mr. Zazi had been intensively questioned by the F.B.I., he declined to meet with its agents, as planned, she said.

“He’s at home,” she said earlier in the day, adding that no plea arrangement was being negotiated on Mr. Zazi’s behalf.

At the same time, The Denver Post reported on Saturday that Mr. Zazi said in a telephone interview that he had not admitted any link to Al Qaeda, to participation in insurgency training in Pakistan or to involvement in a terrorist plot.

Government officials briefed on the matter have said that as Mr. Zazi voluntarily answered questions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, he admitted that he had perhaps unwittingly crossed paths in Pakistan with extremists allied with the terrorist organization. There were also indications that Mr. Zazi underwent training in explosives and bomb-making while overseas.

“If it was true, they wouldn’t allow me to leave,” Mr. Zazi told The Denver Post. I don’t think the F.B.I. or the police would allow anyone who admits being a terrorist to go free for one minute.”

In an investigation that went from covert to overt last week, the authorities were moving swiftly to check clues and track the movements of Mr. Zazi and those associated with him — even as they moved in federal court to file affidavits in support of the arrests.

On Monday, the authorities raided four residences connected to Mr. Zazi in Queens, and later executed search warrants his home in Aurora, and the home of his relatives there.

Investigators have copied or mirrored the hard drive of his laptop and are looking for e-mails, downloaded material and any trail of Internet sites that had been visited. The search of the hard drive did yield information about searches of sites connected to public gatherings in New York.

However, investigators have not yet determined what Mr. Zazi’s apparent interest in those sites suggests.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has been briefed regularly on the status of the investigation, as has the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, and officials at the White House and the Pentagon.

Aside from Mr. Afzali’s arrest, several people in New York have been questioned in the case. Three men at a fifth-floor apartment on 41st Avenue, in Flushing described how they had been interrogated on at least three separate occasions since their home was raided about 2 a.m. Monday.

Naiz Khan, 26, said he was interviewed for eight hours Thursday at what he believed was the Brooklyn offices of the United States attorney for the Eastern District. He said he voluntarily provided his fingerprints, DNA samples and prints of the soles of his shoes. A roommate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he submitted to a similar interrogation.

Each man described how they were repeatedly asked series of questions about Mr. Zazi, who they said had spent the night of Sept. 10 sleeping in their apartment.

As they spoke in their home on Saturday, the men said they were not terrorists. Mr. Khan said he had spoken to Mr. Zazi only occasionally in recent years and the other man said he had yet to meet him. Mr. Khan said he doubted Mr. Zazi was a terrorist and expressed frustration over the fallout from his visit.

“He put us into trouble,” he said. “Why do they have to bother me and my roommates? Why do they have to go to my father’s house?”

A defense lawyer with experience in terrorism cases in New York said that three men that he knew of who had had contact with Mr. Zazi had been questioned and fingerprinted by federal authorities.

Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the United States attorney in Brooklyn, Benton J. Campbell, would neither confirm nor deny the questioning.

Mr. Khan said he had not retained a lawyer.

As he spoke he displayed a several pages of search warrants that agents left with him after the Monday raid. The court papers outlined two pages of items to be seized, specifying that they wanted anything to do with explosives or their building blocks: chemicals, fusing caps, timers or blasting caps, among other things.

But the papers also listed what the authorities left with: cellphones; a laptop computer; papers and notebooks with Arabic writing; tools; 100 tongue depressors; a Con Edison bill; immigration papers and nine backpacks.

New York police officers returned on Tuesday and took a green nylon suitcase from a back bedroom, said Mr. Khan. He said his uncle Faiz Mohammed had packed the backpacks into the green suitcase and was planning to bring them to Karachi, Pakistan, for his children and those of his brother.

Mr. Khan also said the authorities asked him whether he had gone to rent a U-Haul on Sept. 9 in Queens and he emphatically said he did not.

“They said, ‘Did you go to U-Haul?’ and I said, ‘No,’ ” said Mr. Khan. “ ‘Did you pack anything, did you store anything in the U-Haul?’ I said, ‘No.’ ”

Ronald L. Kuby, a lawyer, said that Mr. Afzali, an imam in a mosque in Queens, did not rent any truck from U-Haul, though he, too, was questioned by agents in the recent days.

“He has not been in a U-Haul facility since 2004, when he rented a truck to help move his family,” Mr. Kuby said.

Terrorist arrested in N.Y.C.

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H/T Solstice

(CNN) — Najibullah Zazi, the man at the center of a probe into a suspected terror plot against a target in the New York area, has admitted ties to al Qaeda, an administration official familiar with the matter told CNN Friday.

Either a plea deal or charges are possible, the official said.

The terror plot that came to light this week following raids in New York may have been targeting a major transportation center, sources close to the investigation told CNN on Thursday.

There was planning and preparation for an attack, presumably in the New York area, where there would be a large number of people and where security screening is lax such as a large railroad or subway station, essentially where there is no airport-style screening, the sources said.

Zazi, a 24-year-old Colorado resident, met this week with FBI agents in Denver as his lawyer disputed a report that bomb-making plans were found on the man’s computer.

Federal agents searched Najibullah Zazi’s apartment and another home in the same Denver suburb on Wednesday in connection with the terrorism investigation. A law enforcement official told CNN that diagrams showing how to make bombs were found on the computer that Zazi had with him when he was stopped in New York during a recent visit, but his lawyer, Arthur Folsom, dismissed that allegation.

Authorities are taking the plot seriously, because, the sources said, they think it involves “real-deal terrorists” operating and planning an attack in America.

Because of that fear, an unprecedented level of resources is being devoted to the investigation, the sources said. That includes the placement of a hostage rescue team in New York for possible raids and the deployment of additional resources to the Denver area in Colorado, where another phase of the probe is taking place.

The federal terrorism probe emerged Monday with a series of raids in the New York borough of Queens.

A former counterterrorism official who has been briefed on the investigation said bomb instructions were found, but could not say where.

The former official said backpacks, computers and maps were found during the searches in New York, and field tests turned up positive for explosives. But initial tests often yield false positives, and the former official was unaware whether more definitive tests had been concluded.

The backpacks support a theory that an attack similar to the 2004 train bombings in Madrid, Spain, was being planned.

The Madrid bombings — coordinated attacks on four morning-rush commuter trains — killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.

“There’s no diagram of a bomb. There’s no information like that,” Folsom told reporters as he walked his client to his second meeting with federal agents. If something like that had turned up on Zazi’s computer, he asked, “Do you really think the FBI would have allowed us to walk out of here last night?”

Zazi, an Afghan national, gave writing, fingerprint and DNA samples to FBI agents Wednesday during a “very friendly, very cordial” interview, Folsom said. He said Zazi has no ties to terrorism, and he thinks his client drew investigators’ attention “because he stayed at a house owned by an old friend of his who was under observation from the FBI.”

According to law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation, the Colorado searches were part of a probe that began with Zazi and led to New York.

Zazi has driven limousines for First ABC Transportation in suburban Aurora, near Denver International Airport, for about six months, according to a worker who answered the phone at the company.

The man, who identified himself only as “Joe,” said he was startled to hear Zazi was under investigation. He said Zazi was a hard-working man who was single-handedly supporting his family.

“He is a young, nerdy, kind of good kid — nothing to do with religious or anything,” the man said. “He is a kid.”

Joe said co-workers called Zazi “the bearded one” in a lighthearted way. When he heard that Zazi might be associated with a bomb plot, he said, “I was literally laughing.”

“I agree with his lawyer he has nothing to do with that kind of stuff. His character is much better than that,” Joe said.

The case began with a New York police informant, with authorized FBI wiretaps used to further develop the case, the former counterterrorism official said. Agents launched the raids after police stopped Zazi on the George Washington Bridge during a recent visit to New York, raising concerns that he would figure out he was under surveillance, the former official told CNN.

Wednesday, Folsom said Zazi stayed in one of the apartments that was raided after he drove to New York from Denver to sort out a business issue. Sources close to the investigation told CNN that the Queens raids were spurred by a confluence of events in the city — including the upcoming U.N. General Assembly session and President Obama’s Wall Street speech on Monday.

It’s thought to be the first time Afghan nationals have been suspected of involvement in a terror plot targeting the United States. But FBI Director Robert Mueller told a Senate committee Wednesday that he did not think the investigation had revealed any “imminent danger.”

Bin Laden: Obama ‘powerless’ in Afghanistan

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CBC… President Barack Obama is “powerless” to stop the war in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden reportedly said in a tape released Monday.

Bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in the mountainous region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, typically addresses the American people in a message timed around anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“We have demonstrated and stated many times, for more than two and a half decades, that the cause of our disagreement with you is your support to your Israeli allies who occupy our land of Palestine,” bin Laden says in the 11-minute video, which shows a still picture of him.

“The delay in your knowing those causes has cost you a lot without any result whatsoever,” he said in the tape released by al-Qaeda’s media wing, as-Sahab in Cairo.

“This position of yours, combined with some other injustices, pushed us to undertake the events of [Sept. 11, 2001],” bin Laden said.

He said that if Americans realized the extent of the “suffering from the injustice of the Jews … you will realize that both our nations are victims of the policies of the White House,” which he described as “a hostage” to interest groups and companies.

3 U.K. men convicted in airline bomb plot

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From left, Assad Sarwar, 29, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 28, were all found guilty of conspiring to murder crew and passengers on transatlantic flights by detonating explosives on aircraft by a London jury Monday. (CBC)

From left, Assad Sarwar, 29, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 28, were all found guilty of conspiring to murder crew and passengers on transatlantic flights by detonating explosives on aircraft by a London jury Monday. (CBC)

 CBC News…  A London jury convicted three British Muslims Monday of conspiring to blow up at least seven airliners bound for the U.S. and Canada in what was intended to be the largest such attack since Sept. 11, 2001.

Their alleged plan was to kill thousands of people by blowing up commercial passenger planes in mid-air with liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Assad Sarwar, 29, and Tanvir Hussain, 28, were all found guilty of conspiring to murder crew and passengers on transatlantic flights by detonating explosives on aircraft.

Four other alleged conspirators were acquitted while the jury could not reach a verdict on an eighth man.

The trial heard the plotters were likely just days away from launching their suicide attacks when police rounded up 25 people in dawn raids in August 2006.

Prosecutors said suspects had identified seven specific flights from London’s Heathrow airport — to New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal — as their targets.

If they had been successful, about 2,000 passengers would have died. If bombs were detonated over U.S. and Canadian cities, hundreds more would have been killed on the ground, officials said.

They had planned to assemble bombs in airplane toilets using hydrogen peroxide-based explosives injected into soda bottles.

The men’s arrests in 2006 led to huge travel chaos, as hundreds of flights were grounded and thousands of people had their trips disrupted.

They also triggered changes to airport security — including restrictions on carrying liquids on planes — that persist to this day.

Libya Reportedly Paid for Evidence That Led to Lockerbie Bomber’s Release

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Megrahi, heros welcome

Megrahi, heros welcome

 FOX NEWS… Medical evidence that led to the release of the Lockerbie bomber was reportedly paid for by the Libyan government, which encouraged doctors to say he only had three months to live.

The life expectancy of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was crucial, The Sunday Telegraph reported, because Scottish law mandates that prisoners can be freed on compassionate grounds only if they are considered to have three months or less to live.

Al-Megrahi, 57, is suffering from terminal prostate cancer and was released by Scottish officials last month. He was the lone person convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. The attack killed 259 people aboard the plane, most of them American, and 11 on the ground.

Two of the three doctors commissioned by the Libyans provided the required three-month estimates, The Sunday Telegraph reports, while the third also indicated that the prisoner had a short time to live. That’s in contrast with findings of doctors in June and July who had concluded that al-Megrahi had up to 10 months to live, which would have blocked his release.

“The figure of three months was suggested as being helpful [by the Libyans],” Professor Karol Sikora, one of the examining doctors and the medical director of CancerPartnersUK in London, told The Sunday Telegraph. “To start with I said it was impossible to do that [give a three-month life expectancy estimate] but, when I looked at it, it looked as though it could be done — you could actually say that.”