Al-Qaeda reportedly planned to target Spain as the weakest link of the coalition in Iraq to force its troop pullout, according to a document from the terror network. "We consider that the Spanish government cannot suffer more than two to three strikes before pulling out (of Iraq) under pressure from its own people," said the document obtained Wednesday by AFP from Raido France Internationalâs regional office in Beirut. "If these (Spanish) forces remain after the strikes, the victory of the socialist party would be near-guaranteed and the pullout of Spanish forces from Iraq would be on its agenda," said the document, distributed ahead of the March 11 attacks in Madrid.
The document has apparently been issued in late February, as it refers to the early days of the Islamic new year which fell on February 21. Made-up of 54 pages in Arabic, the document has been authenticated by western experts of the Islamic radical terror network of Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden. The document, entitled "the Iraq of Jihad (holy war): hopes and dangers," was prepared by the "information agency for the support of the Iraqi people -- office of services for the Mujahedeen (holy warriors)." A lengthy chapter of the document focuses on "the main allies of the United States in their aggression against Iraq: Britain, Italy, Poland and Spain, as well as some Arab countries." But most of the chapter is about Spain, considering that the pullout of Spanish troops would "constitute a pressure on the British (military) presence that (Prime Minister) Tony Blair would not be able to bear."
"It will not take long for pawns to fall, but the headpiece (US) still has to be knocked down," it said. It called for striking US forces in Iraq on a daily basis in order to force them "to disperse on the territory, weaken their efficiency and strike the morale of the soldiers... The operations should be concentrated on the Arab Sunni sector... (given) the absence of motives for the explosion of the situation in the Shiite southern regions and the Kurdish north." The booklet, presented as a handbook for the "Mujahedeen," called on the "Iraqi resistance (to form) a movement which gathers the factions of the Jihad... and unite in the same objective, as currently they are not united in the same organisation."
"The Mujahedeens in Iraq should now concentrate on the complete pullout of all foreign forces from all Iraqi territory," it said. "They should not carry out any operation targeting the daily life of the Iraqi people or its future, such as the basic services or education, except for oil which should not be exploited under occupation. Oil exports are the main American hope to gain the financial resources necessary for the occupation." The document also contains a chapter on the economic situation of the United States, seen from the angle of the occupation of Iraq. It said the US plan was "to build an Iraqi state as conceived by the United States...and enslave Saudi Arabia politically, fight against Islamic proselytism as a salafist and jihadic movement. This would be (for the US) the first step toward the eradication of hardline Islam in the entire world."
The can see that easily enough. Somehow the Dems continue to claim to miss that point...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2004 4:25:36 PM ||
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Nice to be known as the weakest link - now shut up and hide while the rest of us fight for your future existence. We'll tell you how you made out when we're done.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2004 16:49 Comments ||
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Isn't this the same document as the one that surfaced a few days after the Madrid bombing? It seems authentic. I recall that the suspects originally arrested by the Spaniards were held incommunicado for a few days. When they finally got to meet with a lawyer, their first question was "who won the election?"
Posted by: Tibor ||
06/30/2004 16:56 Comments ||
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#3
"This would be (for the US) the first step toward the eradication of hardline Islam in the entire world,"
#4
Tibor: Yep..this is the same document. This would be (for the US) the first step toward the eradication of hardline Islam in the entire world,"
Actually, Afghanistan was, but they get the picture.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/30/2004 17:20 Comments ||
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#5
""We consider that the Spanish government cannot suffer more than two to three strikes before pulling out (of Iraq) "
Wow, you know you're lame when even the Islamoloonies overestimate your scrote.
Posted by: Carl in N.H ||
06/30/2004 18:17 Comments ||
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By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published June 29th, 2004
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abu Musab Zarqawi is using the Internet to recruit more terrorists and get money to finance his insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, according to a senior coalition military official.
The official said Zarqawi also remains "a significant threat" to the Iraqi authorities and is trying to prevent an effective government from emerging, according to the official in Iraq, who disclosed an intelligence assessment of Zarqawi on the condition of anonymity.
"Zarqawi continues to easily use the Internet and media to get his message across both to recruit new fighters and obtain resources such as money, along with getting out his political intimidation statements and threats against the coalition, the Iraqi government and any civilian organization or company supporting the rebuilding of Iraq," the official said.
Other U.S. intelligence officials said leaders of Saddam Husseinâs deposed regime are using Syria as a base for providing support to anticoalition fighters in Iraq. The support includes money, weapons, explosives and expertise.
Zarqawiâs terrorist methods follow asymmetric warfare techniques, including terrorist actions designed to shock, such as kidnappings, assassinations and large-scale bombing or shooting attacks.
"He and his group remain a significant threat to the fledgling interim Iraqi government and their security services," the official said. "He is likely attempting to increase the tempo of his terrorist operations in order to destabilize the Iraqi interim government and prevent the Iraqi security services from becoming a viable entity.
"He realizes that if the interim Iraqi government and their security services become effective, then he and his group will likely be defeated in Iraq," the official said.
U.S. officials think Zarqawi was the hooded terrorist who beheaded U.S. contractor Nicholas Berg on videotape. His group also videotaped the execution-style killing of South Korean translator Kim Sun-il. Both videotapes were posted on Islamist Web sites and circulated worldwide.
Last week, Zarqawi also said he planned to assassinate Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. The audiotaped message was posted on an Internet site.
The U.S. government has moved quickly to shut down Web sites being used by Islamist terrorists. However, Zarqawi has been able to find numerous Internet outlets to get audio and video messages out, often without the knowledge of the Internet service providers.
U.S. intelligence agencies also have used the Internet to track down terrorists, either through their supporters or through their communications. The gathering of intelligence from Islamist Web sites is one reason they often are not shut down after their use as a communications channel is discovered.
U.S. officials said terrorists from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, where a U.S. contractor also was killed recently, have used two Arabic language Web sites. One is Kuwaiti.com, and the other is called Symphoniyat Loli Nagham al-Mawaqi al-Arabiyah. A third site that has been used in the past by Islamists is a British portal to Lycos.
Other Web sites are usually paid for by foreign Web site owners, who give space to those who access the site.
Islamist terrorists such as Zarqawi use the sites to post messages, photographs or video clips at these sites, officials said. They also use e-mail to send messages and images to a clandestine supporter in a foreign country, who then posts the material on the Internet.
According to the coalition military official, Zarqawiâs followers are "relatively few" in number and are estimated to be in the hundreds, not thousands.
The Jordanian-born Zarqawi "gathers foreigners from throughout the Muslim world to his cause," the official said.
"To date, we have seen relatively few true foreigners fighting in Iraq. However, it takes relatively few to commit spectacular acts," the official said.
Most of the several thousand foreign fighters in Iraq crossed into the country during the beginning of the U.S.-led military operation to oust Saddam, and most died in battles with U.S. forces in southern Iraq or fled, the official said.
Zarqawi, however, has managed to attract "small numbers of religious extremists who are recruited generally from mosques or through the Internet," the official said.
"These are predominantly young men who hear the call to do their religious duty and take up Jihad," the official said. "Some of Zarqawiâs fighters likely come from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Kuwait and other Muslim countries along with extremist Kurds who he was associated with from Ansar al Islam."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/30/2004 4:35:36 AM ||
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Using the web is the best way to recruit overweight liars - E Harmony.com
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2004 16:56 Comments ||
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Debate raged on Islamic Web sites about the propriety of killing fellow Muslims who work for coalition forces in Iraq, after militants released three Turkish hostages they had threatened to behead. The Tawhid and Jihad movement of terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi announced Saturday it would kill the three Turks within 72 hours unless Turkish companies stopped doing business with American forces in Iraq. On Tuesday, however, the movement released them "for the sake of Muslim brothers and mujahedeen in Turkey," according to a statement broadcast on Al-Jazeera television. That contrasted starkly to the treatment of several non-Muslims recently. Al-Zarqawiâs movement claimed responsibility for the beheading of Kim Sun-il, a South Korean who worked for a company delivering supplies to American forces, and Nicholas Berg, an American businessman. al-Qaeda-linked militants in Saudi Arabia decapitated American engineer Paul Johnson Jr. and posted pictures of his severed head on the Internet.
Most people who post messages on several Islamic Web sites known for their extremist bent believe those are justified. But the issue of whether it is proper kill Muslims taken captive because of their links to the U.S. military has been a hot topic. Opinions are mixed. Some people appealed on the kidnappers to spare the Turks because they were "fellow Muslims." Others urged militants to decapitate them. "Turkish Muslims should be the first to demand that those hypocrites be beheaded, as they are allied with the devil," meaning the Americans, one person wrote on a Web site that has published al-Zarqawi statements and claims of responsibility for other killings. "They should serve as an example to every apostate."
Another contributor who identified himself as "enemy of the foreign infidels" said he supported the decapitation of hostages â but not Muslim ones. "Slaughtering is something you started with the infidel Crusaders and their allies, and we hope you wonât deviate from that path," he wrote. But "theyâre Muslims, so donât kill them ... as long as they didnât cause direct harm." Yet another writer suggested that if Muslims must be killed, their deaths shouldnât be filmed. Muslims should be spared from decapitation, the writer said, because "beheadings should only be for the Crusader invaders as a lesson for them that we donât bow our heads."
The practice of publicizing such killings appears aimed at increasing the shock value of the militant campaign against Westerners, especially Americans. Islamic scholars and newspaper commentators throughout the region have condemned the practice, although the Web postings suggest that at least some Muslims believe the tactic is justified. "There is a lot of confusion concerning this beheading issue, and more so in the case of beheadings of Muslims," said Diaâa Rashwan, a Cairo expert on Islamic militants. Rashwan, whose book the Electronic War is to be published soon, said militants use car bombs, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades in their real war against Westerners, "but resort to swords and knives in the symbolic media war theyâre waging on the Internet."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2004 10:02:12 AM ||
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This is exactly the kind of division we want in the Islamofascist world.
I am happy for the hostages that they are free, but I cannot help but admit that I wish the jihadis would have been stupid enough to lop their heads off.
If only because it would save more lives in the future by encouraging Muslims to question and reject the Islamofascists.
#4
This is an astonishing debate to those of us in the civilized world who find such conflict tactics unthinkable. In terms of equivalent shock, you would have to see major "experts, commentators, authors, and scholars" in the US debating on whether anesthesia-less castration was ok for Muslims only or ok for both Christians and Muslims.
(I thought the âTreasure of Allahâ was Oil?)
Lebanonâs Hezbollah guerrilla movement is siphoning profits from West Africaâs diamond trade, in part by threatening Lebanese diamond merchants, U.S. diplomats charge.
Blood diamonds, a terrorist's best friend.
"One thing thatâs incontrovertible is the financing of Hezbollah. Itâs not even an open secret; there is no secret," said Larry Andre, deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy in diamond-rich Sierra Leone. "Thereâs a lot of social pressure and extortionate pressure brought to bear: âYou had better support our cause, or weâll visit your people back home,"â Andre told The Associated Press. More than 100,000 Lebanese live in West Africa, where they have made up the core of the merchant class for over a century and have long handled much of the diamond business. Only 6,000 Lebanese are thought to remain in Sierra Leone after this countryâs 1991-2002 war for control of the eastern diamond fields surrounding Koidu, West Africaâs richest-known deposits. West Africaâs so-called blood diamonds helped buy arms and fighters in insurgencies that roiled the region in the 1990s. With the end of fighting and the advent of an industry-backed certificate of origin program, Sierra Leone estimates its legal exports of diamonds have soared from $1.4 million in 1999 to $76 million last year. The U.S. Embassy in Sierra Leone says between $70 million to $100 million worth of rough gems still are smuggled out of the country each year. Itâs due largely to the illegal trade that Hezbollah can extract cash by threats, beatings and destruction of property, analysts say. Victims, many of whom may have business dealings they do not want exposed, have little legal recourse. "Theyâre (Hezbollah) asking for contributions and theyâre going to use the culture card and the nationality card," says Joseph Melrose, former U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone. "Will they use threats? Sure." The amount of money is huge: in December 2003, an airliner that crashed off Benin had a courier on board carrying $2 million in Hezbollah-bound funds, diplomats and news reports said. One of Sierra Leoneâs top diamond exporters denied any ties to Hezbollah. "This is a lie. Thereâs never been any connection between these people and Hezbollah," said Kassim Basma, who was born in Sierra Leone to a Lebanese family. "For me, I couldnât support them. For what? To cause myself problems?"
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy says stepped up enforcement in South America drove some Hezbollah hard boyz activists to West Africa. As a result, the groupâs illegal fund-raising efforts in the region - including protection rackets and threats - may be on the rise, said Levitt, a former FBI agent. "As we crack down on one part of the world, things will crop up elsewhere," he said.
You can't squeeze the balloon, you have to pop it.
In Koidu, indigenous Sierra Leoneans make up only about 35 of the roughly 200 legal diamond buyers, said Prince Saquee, chairman of the Diamond Dealers Association. Most of the rest are Lebanese, he said. Many in the State Department and officials at U.S. embassies in West Africa have long played down any West Africa conduits to Hezbollah, saying any contributions to Hezbollah appeared to be voluntary donations by individuals. Alex Yearsley, of London-based Global Witness, alleges that the CIA and FBI long had tried to publicly minimize links between conflict diamonds and Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaida. The U.S. security agents feared exposure of their own longtime links with Charles Taylor, the ousted Liberian leader who played a main role in West Africaâs insurgencies and blood diamond trade, Yearsley said.
"Liars and thieves, all of them!"
Taylor received CIA payments until January 2001, Yearsley claimed in a telephone interview. Diplomats and some independent experts have questioned some of Global Witnessâs allegations about links between West Africa diamonds, al-Qaida and Hezbollah, saying they are short on proof.
"What proof? The witnesses are all dead!"
The fate of West Africaâs diamonds ultimately bridges faiths and rivalries: Sold by the Lebanese merchants, many of the gems are brokered via Jewish or Israeli traders in Antwerp, Belgium, and Tel Aviv, ending up in the United States. "To us, we donât see Christian or Muslim or Jew," said Basma. "Weâre businessmen."
"It's all blood money to us."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/30/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Oh, I forget to include Hizballah's profitable naro-trade in central Lebanon's Bekka Valley, with 'oversight' with Jr, 'Dr' Assad and his 30.000 plus Syrian troops, making sure all those drug shipments make it on time to southern French ports of call, and other locations.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/30/2004 0:52 Comments ||
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#2
Well they are the Party of God after all, and extortion, theats, beatings, and destruction of property just shows how pious they are.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
