Al quadi are just a bunch of head hunters

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Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-21-2004 10:33 PM
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The number 1 big boss headhunter got killed in Sadi Arabia in a police raid. These ignorant arab headhunters had the head of the recently murderd American truck driver as a trophy in the house.These uncivilized Africans will never change as they were doing the same thing 2 thousand years ago, and they are still doing it today. They can try to decieve and cover up their heathen ways but there true nature is there for all civilized men to see.

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R H

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

farmin68
8 Point
Member # 3330

posted 07-21-2004 10:44 PM
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An American reporter stationed in Saudi Arabia stated today that he thinks the Saudi government knows a lot more about the kidnappers/terrorists than they are willing to admit. The reporter says he doesn't think it is a coincidence that the Saudis always arrive right after some of the thugs actions.

I don't know who I trust less, John Kerry or the Saudi government.

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One by one, the penguins are stealing my sanity

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Posts: 1564 | From: one ofTN's former number 1 deer counties | Registered: Nov 2003 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-22-2004 06:34 AM
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The arabs are all brothers and they hate us .A snake in the grass will bite you if you play with it, and an arab will cut off your head if you play with it.Treat all snakes alike.

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R H

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-22-2004 07:30 AM
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Saudis find head of slain US captive


Wednesday 21 July 2004, 18:12 Makka Time, 15:12 GMT


Johnson was taken captive on 12 June by an al-Qaida-linked group



Related:
Arab leaders condemn Johnson's killing
Saudi forces kill top al-Qaida leader
Saudi friend pleads for Johnson's release
Captors' deadline looms in Saudi



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The head of Paul Johnson Jr, a US citizen who was seized and executed by an anti-government group in Saudi Arabia last month, was found by the kingdom's security forces in a raid that left two dead, the Interior Ministry said.


One of the dead, Isa Saad Muhammad bin Awshan, was on the Saudi list of "wanted militants".



In a statement broadcast on Saudi al-Ikhbariya television on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said Johnson's head was found in a freezer in an apartment - one of three locations searched following Tuesday's raid.



The rest of the body has not been found, the ministry said.



The US Embassy in Riyadh issued a statement saying the Saudi authorities had informed it they had found "what they believe to be the head of Paul Johnson".



The embassy's consular section was in the process of notifying Johnson's family in order to identify the head, the statement said.




Saudi forces inspecting cars at a
random security check in Riyadh


Earlier, an Interior Ministry official said Saudi authorities were holding the wife and three children of Salih Muhammad al-Awfi, the man believed to be al-Muqrin's successor, after the raid in which two anti-government fighters were killed and three security personnel were wounded.



A pan-Arab news station reported that al-Awfi might be among the casualties.



An Interior Ministry official said a gun battle erupted when a security team came under heavy fire while inspecting a residence suspected of being used by Saudi dissidents.



Execution videotaped



Just last week, US authorities announced the search had been called off for the body of the Lockheed Martin engineer who worked on Apache helicopters.



Johnson, 49, had been in the kingdom for over a decade when he was kidnapped on 12 June in Riyadh by captors who followed through on a threat to kill him if the authorities did not release its al-Qaida prisoners.



An al-Qaida-linked group claiming responsibility posted an internet message on 17 June that showed photographs of a decapitated body. Later a video of the beheading was posted on the same website.



Hours after the pictures of the beheading appeared on the internet, Saudi security forces shot and killed Abd al-Aziz Al-Muqrin, the alleged mastermind of Johnson's capture and execution.

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R H

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-27-2004 05:38 AM
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Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)


Sawt al-Jihad: New Indoctrination of Qa`idat al-Jihad

By Reuven Paz*

*Reuven Paz is founder and director of the Project for Research of Islamist Movements (PRISM), GLORIA Center, The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzeliya. Prism was founded in 2002, in order to combine academic and field research of new developments of radical Islam and Islamist movements.
PRISIM web site is -- www.e-prism.org


Introduction
The Salafist-Jihadist groups of Qa`idat al-Jihad and its affiliated groups, who adhere to and practice the worldview of global Jihad, have been ideologically developed by doctrines derived from a combination between the Egyptian Jihad, Saudi neo-Tawhid, and the globalization of Jihad, espoused by the Palestinian Dr. Abdallah Azzam in Afghanistan. Following the death of Azzam in November 1989, and the end of the anti-Soviet campaign of Jihad in Afghanistan, a younger generation of ideologues took its place. This new generation took over in two waves. First, alongside the rise of the Taliban and the Islamist conflicts in the Balkans in the first half of the 1990s; later on, alongside the organized terrorism of Qa`idat al-Jihad since the mid-1990s. This entire period has been accompanied by the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the rise of the Islamic element within it, although Hamas is clearly affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad with Iran and Hizballah. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has contributed to global Jihad not only through the Palestinian Abdallah Azzam, but also through two of his most important Palestinian successors ? Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi in Jordan, and Omar Abu Qutadah in London.

An important additional development to note here was the gradual drying of the Jihadist ideological sources in Egypt. Sayyed Qutb, Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahman, or Abd al-Qader Abd al-Aziz, are mentioned from time to time. Yet, it seems that only Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden?s deputy, kept his place in the first row of these ideologues, despite his lack of an official Islamic education. No younger or new generation of Egyptian Islamist ideologues or scholars, exists that could influence or contribute to the present developments of Global Jihad.

This reality left the door open for a large group of younger Saudi Islamists eager to assume an increasingly growing important role in developing the present and future trend of Salafist Jihad. Many of them were students and disciples of the older groups of Wahhabi clerics and scholars, who could not come to terms with the American presence on Saudi soil. In recent years they radicalized their positions and began backing up the positions of Qa`idat al-Jihad, including political violence against the United States, Western culture, and in recent years the Saudi royal regime, while providing Islamic legitimacy for these actions. The severe conflict between the younger generation of the Saudi Islamist opposition and the Saudi clerics of the Islamic Wahhabi establishment, which developed alongside the rise of Qa`idat al-Jihad, turned into an open one following the death in 1999 of Sheikh Abd al-Aziz Ibn Baz. For many years Sheikh Ibn Baz, who managed to block the rise of the rivalry into the open, had been respected by various groups within the Wahhabi movement. For about four years after his death, the Islamist opposition was growing, without any real reaction of the government or the weak Islamic establishment. The turning point seems to have been in May 2003, after the suicide bombings in Riyadh that led to the firm and aggressive campaign of the government to block the rise of the Islamist radical opposition.

The battle is to some extent fought on the Internet, at least on the part of the opposition and has also produced books and articles through which the opposition is attempting to sharpen its ideological weapons and tactics. An interesting large book was recently circulated on the Internet, primarily through one of the most important web sites of the Jihadi Salafiyyah, Manbar al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, of the Palestinian/Jordanian scholar Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi. The book is entitled Osama bin Laden: Mujaddid al-Zaman wa-qahir al-Amrikan (Bin Laden: The Reformer of our Times and Defeater of the Americans), by the Saudi scholar Abu Jandal al-Azdi.1 In 460 pages this book raises Bin Laden to a new level of a reformer or reviver, attributes that in modern Islamic history have been bestowed only on very few scholars, such as Hasan al-Bana the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, or Abu al-A`la al-Mawdudi in India and Pakistan.

Mujaddid in Islam was usually kept for those persons who revived the true spirit of Islamic faith and helped the Muslims see the authentic teachings of their religion without the encumbrance of social and cultural habits and ideas. In our times, where the variety of trends, movements, and doctrines, is intensively growing, such terms might be meaningless for the vast majority of the Muslim world. The use of this term with regard to Bin Laden however, is significant to his followers, since it functions as part of a growing personality cult around al-Qa`idah?s leader. Not even Sayyid Qutb, who might have deserved this title from the followers of the Egyptian Jihad, has enjoyed this title. Bin Laden, who is neither a cleric nor an Islamic scholar at all, enjoys this admiration at least by his Saudi sympathizers.

The shift to Saudi scholars as the main indoctrinators of Global Jihad also reflects the shift of the activity of Qa`idat al-Jihad in relation to the Arabian Peninsula. Since the suicide operation against the USS Cole in November 2000, terrorist operations have occurred with growing severity in Yemen, Hadramaut, Kuwait, and have reached at least a temporary peak in May 2003, with the suicide attack in Riyadh. ?The sick man of Najd? as we could describe the present Saudi regime ? a phrase taken from the European view of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th Century ? is perceived by the Islamist opposition in the Kingdom as a kind of gift. In their view it might lead to an ?Iranian style? revolution in under the nose of the American administration and its problematic occupation of Iraq. In any case, for many of the Islamist youngsters in the Islamist Internet forums this shift is another sign of the coming salvation, about which they tend to talk in apocalyptic terms. The hopes that they have thus lost in Egypt, Algeria, and the Sudan, have been replaced by the circumstances within the Saudi Kingdom.

1See the book on-line in: www.almaqdese.com/r?c=2.2.05&I=15 See also a long interview with Al-Azdi published in the form of a book in the same web site ?
www.almaqdese.com/r?c=2.3&I=23



39 ways for Jihad
To consolidate the indoctrination of Global Jihad by new generation of scholars, Qa`idat al-Jihad has recently attempted to resume its official web site, Al-Neda?, which had been closed since April 2003. The web site2 represents an institute called The Center for Islamic Studies and Research, and is widely considered, both by observers and supporters of Qa`idat al-Jihad, to be its official organ. In early June 2003, the Saudi security forces managed to kill a young Saudi cleric by the name of Sheikh Yousef al-Ayiri. He was killed during the campaign against Saudi extremist Islamist elements, suspected in connections to the suicide bombings in Riyadh on 12 May 2003, in which 16 scholars and operatives have been killed so far, and dozens have been arrested so far.

Following the killing of Al-Ayiri, followers of Al-Qa`idah started to publish much information about him, and he thus became known as ?the man behind Al-Neda?.? Furthermore, thousands of Islamist youngsters now admire him as the scholar who wrote many of the unsigned articles published by Al-Neda?. A new web site including his articles was recently opened for his memory.3

In early August 2003, Al-Neda? published a new book titled 39 wasilah li-khidmat al-Jihad wal-musharakah fihi ? ?39 Ways in the Service of Jihad and Taking Part in it,? by the Saudi scholar Muhammad bin Ahmad al-Salem. 4

The book is not very different from other similar works written in the past. It is reminiscent of the well-known comprehensive work on Jihad of the Muslim Brotherhood, written by Sa`id Hawwa in the 1970s.5 Yet, the sources of 39 Ways are quite different, and the author relies primarily on scholars that are identified with Global Jihad in general, and Saudis in particular.6 One of the names he frequently mentioned in the book was the recently deceased Sheikh Yousef al-Ayiri, whose reputation as a Jihadi-Salafi scholar has been known only to a small group of followers in Saudi Arabia and some Gulf States.

2 The present address of this web site is: http://www.cybcity.com/image900/index.htm
3 www.albatar.org The web site seems to be still under construction. One of the more important articles of his found on this web site, and which has not been published in Al-Neda? is a severe attack on the Global Campaign against Aggression of Sheikh Safar al-Hawali and Sheikh Salman al-Awdah (www.maac.ws ). See on-line in:
http://www.albatar.org/pafile/pafile...ion=file&id=11
4 See on-line in: http://www.cybcity.com/books/index.htm
5 Sa`id Hawwa, Jundallah: thaqafatan wa-akhlaqan (The army of Allah: Culture and characters) (Beirut, Dar al-kutub al-`ilmiyyah, 1979). In the 1980s he added another part, titled Jundallah: takhtitan (The army of Allah: planning).
6 A detailed analysis of the book will be published soon by PRISM.



Sawt al-Jihad (Voice of Jihad)
Another attempt to expand the ideological legitimacy of the culture of Global Jihad by Saudi supporters of Qa`idat al-Jihad was recently made by Al-Qa`idah?s Center for Islamic Studies and Research, which published a new virtual magazine ? The Voice of Jihad ? on the new version of their web site -- http://www.cybcity.com/image900/index.htm.7 These attempts are made also in light of the increase of unrest in the Saudi Kingdom, led by the reformist oppositionist movement Al-Islah. The movement uses the unrest in Saudi Arabia unleashed by the suicide operations in Riyadh in May 2003, the Saudi harsh retaliation, and the American pressures on the government to promote some reforms in the Kingdom.
The new magazine, which is supposed to appear twice a month, focuses on the Jihad in Arabia by violence. The first issue contains the beginning of a series of articles about Sheikh Yousef al-Ayiri; as well as an interview with one of the 19 Saudis wanted after the May explosions in Riyadh. The two most important articles in The Voice of Jihad reflect the line of thought of the Salafi-Jihadi opposition. One is the editorial by Sheikh Naser al-Najdi, titled ?Belief first: They are the heretics, the blood of each of them is the blood of a dog.? 8

The article implicitly calls for the killing of every American:

My fighting brother,
Kill the heretic; kill whoever his blood is the blood of a dog; kill those that Almighty Allah has ordered you to kill?.
Bush son of Bush? a dog son of a dog? his blood is that of a dog?
Shut your mouth and speak with your other mouth ? the mouth of the defender against his attacker. Rhetoric might cause retreat.

The other and more important article follows the line of thought that prefers fighting to a political struggle for reforms, such as the one led during the past month by the Saudi Reformist movement Al-Islah, in the form of demonstrations. The author, Abu Abdallah al-Sa`di, argues with the reformers under the title ?Explosion is not the way to reform.? 9

Al-Sa`di insists on viewing the ?explosions? as an integral part of Jihad. ?This is the element that shook the armies of the Cross, and turned the life of the Jews into **** .? And he asks ?Are the suicide operations merely explosions?? And he concludes:

Why should we be surprised? Our times require such amazement. If people are too afraid to respond to the call for Jihad what should they do when their scholars are planting in them the seeds of disgrace and irrigate them with humiliation and collapse. They cover it with disguise of ?wisdom and tranquility? telling them ?explosion is not the way for reform.?

7 See on-line in: http://www.cybcity.com/suondmag/index.htm
8 Innama hum al-Mushrikun?wa-innama damm ahadihim damm al-Kalb. The Dog is one of the most impure creatures in Islam. A true believer is not allowed even to touch a live dog.
9 Al-Tafjir laysa tariqan lil-Islah. This slogan was raised by some of the more radical Saudi Sheikhs who have moderated their tones towards the Saudi regime, following the suicide bombings in Riyadh. Among them are the two prominent scholars Safar al-Hawali and Salman al-`Awdah.




Conclusion
The political circumstances and unrest that have been developed in Saudi Arabia in recent years, and especially in the past six months, have given an opportunity to the most radical Saudi Islamists not only to stand in the front line of Global Jihad, but to lead a violent and open struggle against a regime that in the past decade preferred to plant its head in the sand. The difficulties of the present Saudi government in adjusting itself and its political understanding to the changes of the recent decade turn Saudi Arabia and hence other countries in the Peninsula, into a hotbed of Islamist radicalism. Saudi financing, which directly or indirectly has poured billions of dollars to Islamists all over the world has irrigated a new generation of the most radical form of Jihadists to appear thus far.

Another phenomenon to note here is the fact that unlike the former generation of Saudi radical Islamists, whose roots were either in the Southern part of Arabia bordering Yemen, or the Western region of the Hijaz, the new generation comes from the heart of Wahhabism ? Najd. These are not people from the margins of the Kingdom?s society, where opposition to the Wahhabis existed for many years. The younger generation comes from the Wahhabi homeland, and some of them from respected families or clans. Part of this opposition includes high-educated women acting behind the scenes. Most of them participate in the virtual support for Global Jihad, seeking cover behind the anonymity of the Internet. Others, however, have openly taken part in the demonstrations that were staged in several cities in recent weeks.

The primacy of Saudis in the operational field of Global Jihad and terrorism, as revealed in the September 11 attacks of 2001, has now extended to the fields of indoctrination and ideology. And while this change may have seemed rapid, it was not at all like that. It should also serve as a lesson for the United States to take a close look at what is going on with her opponents, but also her allies. Otherwise, the Iranian surprise of 1979 might repeat itself. In 1979 there were no PCs and Internet. Nowadays, the slightest change of Islamist radicalism spreads throughout the Muslim World within seconds.

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R H

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-27-2004 06:16 AM
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There seem to be a lot of siber-space warriors out there but I cant read most of this stuff they dont need a secreet code







Staff of PRISM
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What is PRISM?




The Project for the Research of Islamist Movements - PRISM - was founded by Reuven Paz in 2002, in order to combine academic and field research of new developments of radical Islam and Islamist movements. The project is part of the GLORIA Center in the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.

The project is dealing with developments of radical Islamic and Islamist movements in the social, cultural, ideological, and political fields; Finance of radical Islamist groups; Sponsoring of Islamic states to Islamist radicalism and terrorism; Islamic communities in the West; The "Culture of Global Jihad" and its attitude toward the Western civilization, Israel, and the Jews; Islamist networks; and support for radical Islam through the virtual global Jihad in the Internet. The focus of its research is on primary sources in Arabic, and the project wishes to fill some vacuum in the use of Arabic sources for the Islamist phenomenon.

PRISM wishes to become a home and platform for scholars in these fields, to conduct research, publish their products, and organize conferences, seminars, and workshops on the above topics.

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New on PRISM








Articles by Reuven Paz:

PRISM Occasional Papers no. 2 vol. 2 (20 July 2004) -- Who Wants to Email Al-Qaeda?

Articles by other scholars:

Documents In Arabic:

Mu`askar Al-Battar (Al-Battar Camp) -- Issue no. 14 (13 July 2004) -- A military on-line magazine of the Saudi supporters of al-Qaeda.

Sawt al-Jihad (Voice of Jihad) -- Issue no. 21 (25 July 2004)

Al-Jama`ah - new organ of the Algerian Salafi group for Da`wah and Combat -- Issue no. 1 (May 2004)

TORA BORA -- The magazine of the Afghan Mujahidin and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan -- Vol. 1 No. 1 and 2 (April and June 2004)



News from the Mujahideen
A new declaration of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia about the failure of the Saudi government to arrest a group of Mujahideen in Riyadh in January 16, 2004. A new declaration of Saut al-Jihad (voice of Jihad) -- No. 3
Hamas' explanation of the legitimacy for using women in suicide operations -- 18 January 2004
`Abd al-Rahman al-Rashed -- Behind the Attack on Sheikh al-Azhar -- Al-Sharq al-Awsat, 21 January 2004
Lewis Atiyyat Allah -- Qiraah fi Khitab al-sheikh Osamah al-Akhir (Reading the last speech of Sheikh Osama) -- from issue no. 9 of Sawt al-Jihad, January 2004. A new interpretation of Bin Laden's strategy by one of his most important intellectual supporters
Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi -- Nisaa Khaledat (Eternal Women) -- A justification by Hamas leadership of the use of women for suicide operations -- 27 January 2004
Ahmad Bahr -- The female suicide bomber Rim al-Riyashi says: "I love my children but I love Allah even more) -- An attempt by Hamas to justify the suicide operation of a mother, which caused a dispute in the Palestinian society (3 February 2004)
Interview with Abu Ibrahim Mustafa - commander of the Jama`ah Salafiyyah lil-Da`wah wal-Qital in Algeria (18 December 2003)
Islamic Stands on Terrorism -- a conference in Riyadh Riyadh - Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University -- 13-14 April 2004
A Message to the Spanish People from Al-Qaeda in Iraq (3 December 2003)
The Road Map of the Mujahidin -- Battalions of Abu Hafs al-Masri -- 1 July 2004
New Islamist Radical Web Sites

The new official site for the memorial of Sheikh Yousef al-Ayiri, former supervisor of Al-Nedaa web site. Killed by the Saudi police in June 2003 -- http://www.yosf.com

Al-Lewaa Center for Information -- http://allewaa.org/home/

Al-Haramayn Brigades -- Death Brigade for Special Operations (Katibat al-Haramayn - Katibat al-Mawt lil-Amaliyyat al-Khassah) -- Special pamphlets of the Brigades -- http://www.hostinganime.com/kataeb

Al-Musliman - new site for the Jihad in Iraq -- http://www.muslman.com/

Khattab -- for the memory of the leader of the Arab battalion in Chechnya -- http://www.khttab.net/index1.php

Al-Battar military camp - an on-line military magazine of the Saudi supporters of al-Qaeda, issue no. 1 -- http://www.hostinganime.com/battar

Jama`at al-Da`wah in Pakistan -- Kashmiruna (our Kashmir) -- web site of the Jihadi struggle in Kashmir in Arabic -- http://www.kashmiruna.org/

Jaysh Ansar al-Sunnah (Supporters of the Sunnah Army) -- web site of one of the Kurdish supporting groups of Global Jihad in Northern Iraq -- http://ansar-alsonnah.8m.com/ change in 21 January 2004 to -- http://ansar-alsonnah.i8.com

Al-Muhajimoun (The attackers) -- new Jihadi-Salafi web site and forum -- http://www.hujoom.com/mbb/portal.php

Ana Irahabi (I am a Terrorist) -- new Jihadi forum (25 January 2004) -- http://www.worldnet2k.net/mbb/

The forum of Kataeb Shuhada Al-Aqsa (Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) of Fatah (31 January 2004) -- http://www.kataebaqsa.org/forums/

Web site of Abu Omar - Jihadi material for downloading - http://www.freewebs.com/abuomar/

Iraqi **** for America - Photos of the war against American forces in Iraq -- http://members.lycos.co.uk/algaheem/iraqihell23/

Weapons and Ammunition - http://members.lycos.co.uk/algaheem/iraqihell23/

Jihadi forum of Sayf al-Islam (Sword of Islam) -- http://www.worldnet2k.net/vb/

Jihadi web site of Al-Lewaa -- http://members.lycos.co.uk/alewa/ and a new forum -- http://members.lycos.co.uk/alewa/vb

New address for the Salafi Group for Da`wah and Combat in Algeria (Al-Jama`ah al-Salafiyyah lil-Da`wah wal-Qital) -- http://www.geocities.com/salafiahweb

Al-Qal`ah forum - new address - http://www.qal3ati.net/vb/

Ajnad al-Islam -- New Salafi-Jihadi web site of a Tawhidi group in Iraq -- http://www.ajnad.50megs.com/

Articles from the International Media
Bombers' Family Hits out at Islamic Jihad -- Chris McGreal/The Guardian January 16, 2004
Hijri-Gregorian Calculator

Date Conversion
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Links to other web sites

IDF/Malam -- http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/

International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) -- www.ict.org.il

Prof. Martin Kramer -- www.martinkramer.org

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R H

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-27-2004 06:23 AM
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Here is one of those sites the study the jewish writings [Hu]







This website is intended to make the work of Martin Kramer?my work?accessible to a wider readership. For thirty years, my field has been the modern Middle East. I have published on a wide range of subjects, always with one purpose: to offer an alternative reading of the history and politics of the Middle East. This website includes a sampler of this work.

www.martinkramer.org includes four elements:

? Sandbox, my own quick comment log, accompanied by my selection of News on the Middle East.
? A virtual Reader including some of my most influential articles, grouped around five themes: Islamism; Hizbullah; Arab politics; Jews and Muslims; and Middle Eastern studies.
? Sandstorm, a weblog of my own commentary and analyses.
? A small Gallery of photographs with commentary.

Explore this website through its links, or use the search feature. The search engine covers all entries in Sandstorm and Sandbox, all articles in the Reader, and many of my other writings.

If you are interested in my book Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America, be sure to visit another website entirely devoted to the book and the controversy it has stirred.

Spare time? Know html? I am looking for volunteers who are able and willing to put some of my earlier writings into html code, so that they may be posted and made available through this website. If you are interested, scroll down this page to the "Comment" form and send me a message. You will win my gratitude, that of readers, and an appropriate acknowledgement.








Martin Kramer is a senior associate (and past director) of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is also the Wexler-Fromer Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. An authority on contemporary Islam and Arab politics, Dr. Kramer earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University, and another graduate degree from Columbia University. He has been a visiting professor at Brandeis University, the University of Chicago, Cornell University, and Georgetown University. On two occasions, Dr. Kramer has been a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

His authored and edited books include Islam Assembled; Shi?ism, Resistance and Revolution; Middle Eastern Lives; Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival; The Islamism Debate; The Jewish Discovery of Islam; and Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America.

Click here for his c.v. and full list of publications.

Martin Kramer is presently at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. He will next be at The Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy from September through November 2004. To contact him, scroll down this page to the "Comment" form.

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R H

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-27-2004 06:27 AM
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Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)


Iran's Stirrings in Iraq

By Dr. Nimrod Raphaeli*
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)

Introduction

With the downfall of its nemesis Saddam Hussein, Iran can now pursue two principal objectives in Iraq: the first is to stir up problems for the Americans to keep them pinned down and divert their attention from its nuclear program. The second is to assert its influence over the Hawza, or the Shi'a religious centers in the two holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and to prevent the emergence in these cities of an independent religious and spiritual leadership competing with the Iranian city of Qum.

In a Friday sermon on April 9, delivered at Tehran University amid shouts of "Death to America, Death to Israel," Expediency Council head Hashemi Rafsanjani said: "The present situation in Iraq represents a threat as well as an opportunity... It is a threat because the wounded American beast can take enraged actions, but it is also an opportunity to teach this beast a lesson so it won't attack another country."(1)

Open Borders - An Invitation to Subversion

It is commonly recognized that the coalition forces have been unable to fully control Iraq's borders with its neighbors, particularly with the antagonist neighbors - Iran and Syria. On Iraq's eastern and southern fronts, both Iranian intelligence agents and Iranian-sponsored terrorists have been able to enter Iraq at will. Many of them are easily disguised as religious pilgrims who, for the first time in years, are able to visit the two holy cities of Najaf and Karbala freely. For Shi'a Muslims, these pilgrimages are almost as theologically significant as a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Operating in a friendly milieu in southern Iraq, which is inhabited predominantly by Shi'a Muslims, Iranian intelligence officers have used a combination of incentives and coercion to widen the base of collaborators. According to the Iraqi daily Al-Nahdha, the Iraqi police have arrested many Iranians who are ostensibly pilgrims but, in reality, are intelligence operatives. The newspaper estimates the number of Iranian agents operating in Iraq at 14,000. They are penetrating the country's nascent security forces and taking advantage of the open distribution of books and literature. As a measure of their success to sell their revolutionary dogmas to the Iraqis, the newspaper's reporter has found that, for the first time in modern Iraqi history, a growing number of policemen have grown beards as a symbol of their identification with revolutionary Iran. Pilgrims are also known to have brought to Iraq hundreds of remote controls devices capable of activating explosives.(2)

Al-Sadr's Visit to Iran

The young Iraqi Shi'a revolutionary cleric and rabble rouser Muqtada Al-Sadr has visited Iran in 2004 as a guest of the Revolutionary Guard. During his visit, Al-Sadr met with Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council, as well as the head of the revolutionary guard intelligence, Murtadha Radha'i, and the commander of the Al-Quds Army responsible for Iraqi affairs, Brig.-General Qassim Suleimani, and other government and religious leaders.(3)

Training Camps for Al-Sadr's Supporters

A source in the Al-Quds Army of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard revealed to the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat information relating to the construction of three camps and training centers on the Iranian-Iraqi borders to train elements of the "Mehdi Army" founded by Muqtada Al-Sadr. The source estimated that between 800 and 1200 young supporters of Al-Sadr have received military training including guerilla warfare, the production of bombs and explosives, the use of small arms, reconnoitering, and espionage. The three camps were located in Qasr Shireen, 'Ilam, and Hamid, bordering southern Iraq which is inhabited largely by Shi'a Muslims.

The newspaper also reported that the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad has distributed 400 satellite phones to supporters of Al-Sadr and to clerics and students at the A'thamiyya district of Baghdad, Al-Sadr City, and in Najaf, all of which are inhabited predominantly by Shi'a Muslims.

The Iranian source, known in Iraq as "Abu Hayder," confirmed that the intelligence service of the Revolutionary Guards has introduced to the Shi'a cities radio and TV broadcasting facilities which are used by Al-Sadr and his supporters.(4)

The source estimated the financial support to Al-Sadr in recent months have exceeded $80 million, in addition to the cost of training, equipment, and clothing of his supporters.

The source indicated that elements of the Al-Quds Army and the Revolutionary Guard Intelligence lead many of the operations directed against the coalition forces. These elements are also leading a campaign against the senior Shi'a clerics such as the Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Hussein Al-Sadr [Muqtada's uncle], Ayatollah Ishaq Al-Fayyadh, and others, because of their opposition to the concept of "the Rule of the Jurist" (Wilayat Al-Faqih), which is Khomeini's style of government.(5)

Iranian Intelligence Services in Iraq

An Iranian official known as Al-Haj Sa'idi, who was previously in charge of the Iraqi desk in the Iranian intelligence services, spoke of a dense Iranian presence from the uppermost point in the north of Iraq to the lowest point. The Iranians can draw upon a large reservoir of potential agents from the Iraqi Shi'a but more so from the Iraqi-Iranian nationals who were expelled by Saddam Hussein to Iran and are now coming back to Iraq not only acting as agents but also representing a large reservoir of Shi'a voters who could tip the scale in favor of Al-Sadr in future elections in Iraq. These agents are suspected of assassinating the liberal Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Al-Haqim, the former leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and a former member of the Iraqi governing council, and were about to assassinate Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, another moderate cleric, before their designs were exposed.(6)

Iranian Money to Support Secular Groups

The Iraqi daily Al-Zaman reported a secret investigation being carried out by the CPA and the Iraqi Governing Council on the flow of funds from Iran to secular groups. Meetings with such groups are also known to have taken place in various Gulf countries. While Iran has denied intervening in the internal affairs of Iraq, every available evidence suggests the contrary.(7)

In an article, Al-Zaman criticized Iran for allowing into Iraq members of Al-Qa'ida and of extremist Arab groups loyal to Tehran. It also criticized Iran's attempt to impose its control over the Iraqi Shi'a Islamic centers, and terrorize those who do not acquiesce. Further, the article referred to the smuggling of Iraqi oil, sheep and spare parts, and the destruction of the Iraqi economic infrastructure in the hands of organized Iranian gangs - criminal acts which, the paper argued could not have been carried out without explicit support of the Iranian authorities. The paper characterized Iranian policies as "nefarious and unfathomable."(8)

Hizbullah in Iraq

Another arm of Iran's intervention in Iraq is its proxy - Hizbullah. According to the London daily Al-Hayat Iran sent 90 of its fighters to Iraq shortly after the fall of the Saddam regime. The presence of Hizbullah fighters in Iraq is meant to neutralize any attempt by the coalition forces to activate opposition to Iran from within Iraq. In the words of an Iraqi daily, Iran is telling Washington, "We can help but we can also cause harm."(9) In the meantime, seeking more controversy, Muqtada Al-Sadr announced that he was in alliance with Hizbullah, which has Iranian support, and with the Palestinian Hamas. This alliance was broadly criticized by the Iraqi press.

Pilgrims Inundating Holy Sites

With borders wide open and with no requirement for either a passport or a visa, 150 buses arrive daily in Karbala. The number of visitors was much larger during 'Ashura, when the Shi'a Muslims mourn the death of Hussein, Prophet Muhammad's grandson, or during other religious holidays. Al-Hayat wrote about "black spots" moving from one place to another preceded by someone carrying a flag as is common in tourist groups. The rotating chairman of the Iraqi Governing Council, Muhsin Abd Al-Hamid said Iraq has authorized the visit by 1000-2000, but in fact 10,000 Iranians cross the borders daily.(10)

However, the borders are, in essence, open in only one direction. The Iraqi daily Baghdad writes about the unhappiness of many Iraqis that Iranians can enter the country without passports - and, in some cases, can even bring in drugs which they exchange for fabrics and food. By contrast, an Iraqi citizen has to pay $140 to obtain a visa to enter Iran.(11) According to Iraqi estimates 10 percent of the 5 million Iranian visitors have managed to register as Iraqis and are able to vote in future elections.(12)

Iranian Flags in Karbala

In a piece titled "Do Not be Surprised to See the Iranian Flags over Karbala," the front page editor of the Iraqi daily Al-Mashriq wrote that it is one thing for the Iranians to visit the holy sites or to organize exhibitions in Baghdad to distribute pictures of their religious symbols (referring perhaps to the photographs of Ayatallah Khomeini); it is altogether a different thing to raise the Iranian flags by the side of holy sites or for the Persian language to become the spoken language of the people of Karbala. The editor complained about Iranians who bring drugs or who smuggle Iraqi antiquities, heritage and food. For the newspaper, these events represent "a cultural invasion."(13)

Al-Sistani Issues a Fatwa Calling for Calm

The recent rebellion by Muqtada Al-Sadr and his threat to use his militia to rain "the fire of **** " upon any attempt by the coalition forces to enter Najaf and capture him, has been denounced by the Shi'a religious establishment in Najaf and Karbala. They have called upon Al-Sadr to take his forces out of these two cities to save their inhabitants "death, suffering, fire, and smoke."(14) More importantly, the senior Shi'a cleric, Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani issued a fatwa forbidding anything that would lead to the disruption of peace. The fatwa reads: "In the name of the Almighty - We denounce the methods of the occupation forces in dealing with current incidents, as we denounce the violation on public and private properties and anything that disrupts the peace and prevents Iraqi officials from carrying out their duties in serving the people. We call for treating these matters with wisdom and through peaceful means and the avoidance of any escalating measure that leads to more chaos and bloodshed. It is incumbent on the political and social forces to participate actively to put an end to these tragedies and Allah is the Source of Success."(15)

Al-Sistani believes that in free elections in Iraq, the Shi'a will gain a majority which will lead them to head the post-occupation elected government, and he is not interested in rocking the boat. He sees in Al-Sadr not only a challenge to his authority but a disruptive element that could jeopardize the chances of the Shi'a to reach their goal. It is not surprising that he has refused to meet with Al-Sadr despite the latter's many appeals.

Similarly, it was reported from the city of Qum, the Shi'a religious center in Iran, that Ayatollah Kadhem Hussein Al-Ha'iri, who is considered Muqtada Al-Sadr's spiritual father, has expressed his displeasure with Al-Sadr's conduct and for failing to coordinate with Al-Ha'iri's office in Najaf.(16) In addition, religious and tribal leaders in the Najaf area have denounced the heavy-handed tactics used by the Al-Mehdi Army to impose its will on the local inhabitants.(17)

It is too early to tell how the rebellion led by Al-Sadr will end. It is clear that if the sovereignty of Iraq is to be transferred on June 30 the militias will have to cease to exist. Failing to do so will raise the danger that the various ethnic groups and sub-groups might resort to the use of force to attain their goals. The Ir
anians could help for a price but the CPA is on record against any Iranian involvement in the affairs of Iraq.(18) Hence, other means for removing Al-Sadr and his militia from two holy Shi'a cities of Najaf and Karbala may be inevitable.

*Nimrod Raphaeli is a Senior Analyst at MEMRI.

Endnotes:
(1) Al-Siyassah (Kuwait), April 10, 2004.
(2) Al-Nahdha (Iraq), February 17, 2004.
(3) Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), October 8, 2003.
(4) Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), April 9, 2004.
(5) Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), April 9, 2004.
(6) Al-Furat (Baghdad), April 4, 2004.
(7) Al-Zaman (Iraq), April 17, 2004.
(8) Al-Zaman (Iraq), November 11, 2003.
(9) Al-Hayat (London), November 25, 2003.
(10) Al-Sabah (Iraq), February 23, 2004.
(11) Baghdad (Iraq), February 23, 2004.
(12) Al-Zaman (Iraq), April 14, 2004.
(13) Al-Mashreq (Iraq) February 17, 2004.
(14) Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), April 28, 2004.
(15) Al-Ittihad (Baghdad), April 12, 2004.
(16)Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), April 30, 2004.
(17)Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), April 30, 2004.
(18) See the interview with Ambassador Bremer on Al-Jazeera TV, April 26, 2004.

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-27-2004 06:33 AM
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Iran and the rest of the arabs are all in cahoots with each other and we better wake up .

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)


Iran's Role in the Recent Uprising in Iraq

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)


Reports in the Arabic media reveal the role of Iran in the current disturbances in Iraq initiated by Moqtada Al-Sadr and his followers. The following are excerpts from articles in this week's Arab press:

Iran's Growing Presence in Iraq's Political, Security, Economic, & Religious Spheres

On April 6, the London Arabic daily Al-Hayat(1) discussed recent Iranian activity in Iraq: "In the last 2 days, there has been repeated talk in the Governing Council of Iraq about the major Iranian role in the events that took place in the Iraqi Shi'ite cities.

"The direct Iranian presence in the Shi'ite areas of Iraq in the political, security, and economic affairs can not be ignored anymore. This presence is accompanied by a vigorous Iranian effort to create bridges with different forces in Iraq; first, by material and logistic aid to parties other than the Shi'a, and secondly through the traditional Iranian influence in the religious seminaries [hawza] and in the Marja'iya [religious Shi'a authorities] institutions.

"A member of the Governing Council told Al-Hayat that the Iranians have recently managed to activate a known Marja' [a Shi'a cleric regarded as a religious authority], Kazem Al-Ha'iri, who lives in the city of Qum in Iran, and is known to be close to Al-Sadr's movement, and was regarded as an heir to Ayatollah Muhammad Sadeq Al-Sadr.(2)

"Iraqi security sources say that the escalation erupted after an American decision to oust Hassan Kazemi Qumi, the recently appointed chief Iranian agent in Iraq, who is an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards... The sources connected the ousting of Qumi with Moqtada Al-Sadr's statements that his movement is an extension of the Lebanese Hizbullah and of Hamas... Sources said that the visit of an assistant of Moqtada Al-Sadr to Fallujah before the last uprising and Al-Sadr's statement that his movement is an extension of Hamas were both messages to his new allies among the Iraqi Sunnis.

"It may well be that the Iranians, who apparently have influence in more than one sphere in Iraq, have intervened to reconcile the inner Shi'ite struggle for power. They intervened when Moqtada Al-Sadr sought to take control of the Husseini circle in Karbala, an attempt that the followers of Ayatollah Al-Sistani objected to. The Iranians worked out an arrangement under which large sums of money were sent to institutions belonging to Al-Sadr's family, which placated Al-Sadr, and satisfied him with controlling the Al-Kufa mosque only."

Iranian Defector Claims Iran Spends $70 Million a Month on Activity in Iraq

The London Arabic-Language Daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat(3) quoted extensively the former Iranian intelligence official in charge of activities in Iraq, identified as Haj Sa'idi, who recently defected from Iran:

"Haj Sa'idi told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that the Iranian presence in Iraq is not limited to the Shi'ite cities. Rather, it is spread throughout Iraq, from Zakho in the north to Umm Al-Qasr in the south, and the infiltration of Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Al-Quds Army into Iraq began long before the war, through hundreds of Iranian intelligence agents, amongst them Iraqi refugees who were expelled by Saddam Hussein in the 1970's and 1980's to Iran, allegedly because of their Iranian origin, and who infiltrated back into Iraq through the Kurdish areas that were out of the Iraqi Ba'th government control.

"After the war, the Iranian intelligence sent its agents through the uncontrolled Iraq-Iran border; some of them as students and clerics, and others as belonging to the Shi'ite militias.

"Haj Sa'idi said that the assassination last summer of Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Al-Hakim, who headed the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), was a successful operation carried out by the intelligence unit of the Iranian Al-Quds Army. He also revealed that there was a failed attempt on the life of the highest Shi'ite Marja, Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, at the Eid Al-Adha holiday last year, and that there was another plan to assassinate Ayatollah Ishaq Al-Fayadh.

"Haj Sa'idi claimed that some of the Iranian intelligence officers in Iraq are known to everybody, for example in Al-Suleimaniya and Derebendikhan in the north. However, he said, the real threat comes not from the officers that are known, but from those that are unknown. Amongst them are 18 Shi'ite charities in Kazimiya, in Al-Sadr city in Baghdad, in Karbala, Najaf, Kufa, Nasiriyah, Basra, and other cities with a large Shi'ite majority. In those offices, new agents are recruited every day, under the guise of financial aid, medicine, food, and clothing for the poor.

"Haj Sa'idi said that the Iranian plan to turn Iraq into another Iran is a wide-ranging plan, and it involves the recruitment of thousands of young Shi'ites for the next stage, which will take place with the [first] parliamentary elections in Iraq. Those recruited now are supposed to enlist their relatives to vote for candidates that will be endorsed by the Iranian intelligence apparatuses.

"Haj Sa'idi also mentioned that more than 300 reporters and technicians who are working now in Iraq for television and radio networks, newspapers, and other media agencies are in fact members of the Al-Quds Army and the Revolutionary Guards intelligence units.

"He also mentioned that the Iranian money allocations for activities in Iraq, both covert and overt, reached $70 million per month. He claimed that 2,700 apartments and rooms were rented in Karbala and Najaf, in order to serve agents of the Al-Quds Army and the Revolutionary Guards.

"Haj Sa'idi added that the attempt by the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq to act against the Iranian activities there prompted a reaction by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to incite the Turkmeni Shi'ites in the region against the Kurds. He claimed that many Turkmen Shi'ite commanders traveled to Iran and got huge financial support, as well as guarantees that Iran will stand by them in case of clashes between them and the Kurds."

Iran Sets Up 3 Training Centers for the "Mehdi Army"

A source in the Quds Army of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard revealed to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat(4) information relating to the construction of three camps and training centers on the Iranian-Iraqi borders to train elements of the "Mehdi Army" founded by Muqtada Al-Sadr. The source estimated that about 800-1,200 young supporters of Al-Sadr have received military training including guerilla warfare, the production of bombs and explosives, the use of small arms, reconnoitering and espionage. The three camps were located in Qasr Shireen, 'Ilam, and Hamid, bordering southern Iraq which is inhabited largely by Shi'a Muslims.

The newspaper also reported that the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad has recently distributed 400 satellite phones to supporters of Al-Sadr and to clerics and students at the A'thamiyya district of Baghdad, Al-Sadr City, and the holy city of Najaf, all of which are inhabited predominantly by Shi'a Muslims.

The Iranian source, known in Iraq as "Abu Hayder" confirmed that the intelligence service of the Revolutionary Guard has introduced to the Shi'a cities radio and TV broadcasting facilities which are used by Al-Sadr and his supporters.

During his recent visit to Iran, Al-Sadr met with Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council as well as the head of the revolutionary guard intelligence, Murtadha Radha'i, and the commander of the Al-Quds Army responsible for Iraqi affairs, Brig. General Qassim Suleimani and other government and religious leaders.

The source estimated the financial support to Al-Sadr in recent months have exceeded $80 million, in addition to the cost of training, equipment and clothing of his supporters.

The source indicated that elements of the Al-Quds Army and the Revolutionary Guard Intelligence lead many of the operations directed against the coalition forces. These elements are also leading a campaign against the senior Shi'a clerics such as the Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Hussein Al-Sadr [Muqtada's uncle], Ishaq Al-Fayadh and others because of their opposition to the concept of "the Rule of the Jurist" [Wilayat Al-Faqih] which is Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's style of government.

Endnotes:
(1) Al-Hayat (London), April 6, 2004.
(2) He was assassinated by the Iraqi Ba'ath regime, and according to sources was executed by Saddam Hussein himself in 1980.
(3) Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), April 3, 2004.
(4) Al-Sharq Al-Aswat (London), April 9, 2004.

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-27-2004 07:17 AM
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Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)



List of Entities declares ?Unlawful Organizations? in Israel by order of
Israeli Prime Minister, according to Israeli Emergency Defense Regulations
(article 84 2 A) 1945 due to their Connection to Hamas


Number Arabic Name and Organizational Identification English Name Location Date of Israeli Action
1.
Lajnat Amwal Al-Zakkah
Jenin
(Hamas)
Zakkah Funds Committee Jenin
Jenin
Feb. 2002

2.
Lajnat Al-Ighatha Al-Islamia
Nablus
(Hamas)
Islamic Assistance Society Nablus
Nablus
Feb. 2002

3.
Jamaiat Al-Tadamon (Hamas)
Islamic Solidarity Charity Society
Nablus
Feb. 2002

4.
Lajnat Zakkah Tul-Karem

(Hamas)
Zakkah Committee Tul Karem
Tul-Karem
Feb. 2002

5.
Jamaiat Al-Quran Wal-Sunnah Qalqilia
(Hamas)
Quran And Sunnah Society Qalqilia
Qalqilia
Feb. 2002

6.
Jamaiat Al-Islah Al-Islamia Al-Bireh
(Hamas)
Reform) )? Islah Society El Bireh
Ramallah
Feb. 2002

7.
Lajnat Zakkah Ramallah
(Hamas)
Zakkah Committee Ramallah
Ramallah
Feb. 2002

8.
Jamaiat Ra'iat Al-Yatim Bethlehem
(Hamas)
Orphan Care Society Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Feb. 2002

9.
Jamaiat Al-Islah Al-Khiria Jerricho
Islah (Reform) Society Jericho
Jerricho
Feb. 2002

10.
Al-Jamaia Al-Islamia Al-Khiria Al-Khalil
(Hamas)
Islamic Charity Society Hebron
Hebron
Feb. 2002

11.
Jamaiat Al-Shuban Al-Muslemin
(Hamas)
Society Of Muslim Youth
Hebron
Feb. 2002

12.
Al-Mujma Al-Islami
(Hamas)
Islamic Center ( Mujma )
Gaza Strip
Feb. 2002

13.
Jamaiat Al-Salah Al-Islamaia
(Hamas)
Islamic Virtue Society
Gaza Strip
Feb. 2002

14.
Al-Jamaia Al-Islamia Al-Khiria
(Hamas)
Islamic Charity Society
Gaza Strip
Feb. 2002

15.
Jamaiat Al-Wafa LiRayat Al- Musenin
(Hamas)
Loyalty Society To Care For The Aged
Gaza Strip
Feb. 2002

16.
Jamaiat Mubarat Al-Rahme LilAtfal
(Hamas)
Society Of Charity And Grace For Children
Gaza Strip
Feb. 2002

17.
Jamaiat Dar Al-Quran Wal-Sunnah
(Hamas)
House Of Quran And Sunnah Society
Gaza Strip
Feb. 2002

18.
Jamaiat Dar Al-Quran Al-Karim Wal-Sunnah
(Hamas)
House Of Blessed Quran And Sunnah
Gaza Strip
Feb. 2002

19.
Lajnat Al-Zakkah Al-Rahme Khan Yunes
(Hamas)
Zakkah And Mercy Society Khan Yunes
Gaza Strip
Feb. 2002

20.
Jamaiat Al-Nur
(Hamas)
El-Nur Society
Gaza Strip
Feb. 2002

21.
Bait Al - Mal Al-Falastini Al-Arabi Al-Musahema Al-?Ama Al-Mahdooda
(Hamas)
Beit Elmal Alfalastini Elarabi Ltd.
Ramallah, Nablus
May 1998

22.
Hai'at Al-Ighatha Al-Islamia
Al-?Alamia
(affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood)
Islamic International Relief Organization (IIRO)/Islamic International Charitable Foundation (IICF)
Saudi Arabia
Feb. 2002

23.
Al-Nadwa Al-Islamia LilShabab Al-Islami
(affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood)
World Assembly Of Muslim Youth
Saudi Arabia
Feb. 2002

24.
' Itilaf Al-Khair
(affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood and to Hamas itself)
Union Of Good
Worldwide
Feb. 2002

25.
Falastin Al-Muslima
(Hamas)
Palestine Al-Muslima
UK
June 1997

26.
Muassasat Al-Ard Al-Mukadasah LilIghatha WalTanamia
(Hamas)
Holy Land Fund For Rekief
And Development
USA
June 1997

27.
Muassasat Al-Aqsa Al-Khiria
(Hamas)
Al-Aqsa Fund
Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark
June 1997

28.
Al-Sunduq Al-Falastini Lil-Ighatha Wal-Tanamia- INTERPAL
(Hamas)
Palestine Relief And
Development Fund-INTERPAL
UK
June 1997

29.
Al-Lajna Al-Khiria LiMunasarat Falastin
(Hamas)
Le Commite De Bienfaisane
Et De Solidarite Avc Palestine
France
June 1997

30.
Al-Kutla Al-Islamia
(Hamas)
Elkutla Elislamia
Universities in the Territories
June 1997

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-27-2004 07:42 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)


ISLAMISTS AND ANTI-AMERICANISM
By Reuven Paz*



The leading element of anti-Americanism in contemporary world politics is the radical Islamist one, which, since the 1990s, has viewed the United States as its strongest and principal enemy. This perception, especially after the American occupation of Iraq, is often accompanied by a demonization of the United States in an apocalyptic sense within a concept of a war that heralds the end of the world.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks and the onset of a global war against terrorism led by the United States, anti- Americanism has become an integral part of world politics. The debate over war in Iraq and then the war itself, invoked even more anti-Americanism in the Arab and Muslim World, as well as in parts of Europe. In parts of the world, anti- Americanism is also linked to anti- Globalization.

Yet, the leading element of anti- Americanism in contemporary world politics is the radical Islamist one, which, since the 1990s, has viewed the United States as its strongest and principal enemy. This perception, especially after the American occupation of Iraq, is often accompanied by a demonization of the United States in an apocalyptic sense within a concept of a war that heralds the end of the world.

The roots of Islamist anti- Americanism were deep long before the rise of the Jihadist movement in the 1990s, or the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. They were developed by the anti- American atmosphere of secular Arab regimes, such as the Nasserist and Ba'thist ones, and encouraged by their alliance with the Soviet Union. Millions of Arabs grew up with and were indoctrinated by anti-American slogans, and the perception of the United States as an enemy that was plotting against them by supporting Israel.

Secular Arab anti-Americanism was mainly political, and not part of a cultural worldview. But, it heavily contributed to the development of Islamist anti- Americanism, by contributing one very important element -- the sense of a global Western conspiracy against the Arabs and the Arab and Muslim world.

The sense of confronting a conspiracy is a crucial element in understanding contemporary Islamist anti-Americanism. It provides the Islamists with their main justification and motive for developing the image of the "American enemy." The fact that the Islamists became the leading proponents of anti-Americanism in our time supported the notion that a cultural clash of civilizations was occurring. In previous decades, Arabs and Muslims had vacillated between being pressured by their governments to espouse political hatred of the United States, while, at the same time, there was admiration for its culture, education, freedom, and wealth. Millions of Arabs and Muslims had been dreaming about immigration to the United States and some of them managed to fulfill these dreams. The Islamists managed to turn this dual situation among certain circles--especially intellectuals and highly educated Muslims--into a war of cultures. They spread anti-American feelings, not to mention support and justification for terrorism against the United States.


SAYYID QUTB--THE ROOTS OF ISLAMIST ANTI-AMERICANISM

The first Islamist to declare a cultural war against the United States and Western civilization was the Egyptian scholar Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966). Qutb was a senior official in the Egyptian Ministry of Education in the late 1940s, and a member of the then influential movement of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1949 he was sent to the United States for two years to study methods of education. During the two years that he spent in the United States, he began to develop his radical ideas and doctrines, which, in the 1960s and 1970s, would become the philosophical basis of a wide spectrum of Jihadi groups.

Malise Ruthven, who spent time exploring the writings of Sayyid Qutb, wrote that he "was as significant in that world as Lenin was to Communism." Ruthven characterized his visit to the United States as "the defining moment or watershed from which 'the Islamist war against America' would flow."

Sayyid Qutb wrote many articles and letters from the United States. Many of them were collected in a book published in Saudi Arabia in 1985.(1) Many references to his views on the United States are found in his writings, including his monumental interpretation of the Koran, "In the Shadow of the Koran" (Fi Zalal al-Koran).

In his letters and writings, Sayyid Qutb laid the foundation for the perception that American society, and hence Western culture, was the new form of Jahiliyyah--the pre-Islamic period, which represents ignorance of God's rule and the rule of arbitrary law instead. In his famous book, Milestones (Ma'alim fi al-Tariq), Qutb draws the most important element of his conclusions from his interpretation of Western society in the American paradigm:

The leadership of mankind by Western man is now on the decline, not because Western culture has become poor materially or because its economic and military power has become weak. The period of the Western system has come to an end primarily because it is deprived of those life-giving values, which enabled it to be the leader of mankind.

It is necessary for the new leadership to preserve and develop the material fruits of the creative genius of Europe, and also to provide mankind with such high ideals and values as have so far remained undiscovered by mankind, and which will also acquaint humanity with a way of life which is harmonious with human nature, which is positive and constructive, and which is practicable.

Islam is the only System, which possesses these values and this way of life.

From these conclusions, he then defines the nature of the clash between Islam and the West/United States:

The enemies of the Believers may wish to change this struggle into an economic or political or racial struggle, so that the Believers become confused concerning the true nature of the struggle and the flame of belief in their hearts becomes extinguished. The Believers must not be deceived, and must understand that this is a trick. The enemy, by changing the nature of the struggle, intends to deprive them of their weapon of true victory, the victory, which Islamists and Anti-Americanism can take any form, be it the victory of the freedom of spirit?.(2)

Qutb argued that the worst form of colonialism, which had outlasted the formal end of European colonialism, was "intellectual and spiritual colonialism." He advised the Islamic world to destroy the influence of the West within itself, to eradicate its residue "within our feelings." Anti-Americanism, according to Qutb's philosophical legacy for the generations that followed him, was "the greater Jihad" in Islam--the Jihad of the self or Jihad al-Nafs. This Jihad would therefore require the emergence of a new generation of Muslims who should fight the West primarily in their own minds long before moving to launch a military Jihad.

Twenty-five years after Sayyid Qutb's Milestones, one of his major followers, the Palestinian Dr. Abdallah 'Azzam, spiritual father of Qa'idat al-Jihad, wrote an article in Afghanistan that set the principles of the group that would become al-Qa'ida:

Every principle needs a vanguard (Tali'ah) to carry it forward and, while forcing its way into society, puts up with heavy tasks and enormous sacrifices. There is no ideology, neither earthly nor heavenly, that does not require such a vanguard that gives everything it possesses in order to achieve victory for this ideology. It carries the flag all along the sheer endless and difficult path until it reaches its destination in the reality of life, since Allah has destined that it should make it and manifest itself. This vanguard constitutes the solid base (al- Qa'ida al-Sulbah) for the expected society.

As long as the ideology - even if it originates from the Lord of the Worlds--does not find this self-sacrificing vanguard that spends everything in its possession for the sake of making its ideology prevail, this ideology will be still-born, perishing before it sees light and life. The motto of those who carry this ideology forward must be:

'Call your partners (of Allah), and then plot against me, and give me no respite. My protector is Allah, who has revealed the Book. He will choose and support the righteous.' (Surat al-A'raf, 195- 196)?

Now America is trying to grab the fruits of this great Jihad and to rule without recourse to Allah's book. Accordingly, the solid base has to face international pressures and temptations from all over the world. But they refused to bow their heads before the storm. They decided to continue their march along a path of sweat and tears and blood.(3)

Sayyid Qutb not only laid the basis for radical Islamist anti-Americanism, but was also one of the ideologues that most influenced the emergence of various trends of present-day Islamism and its sense of being attacked by a global, American led, conspiracy.

Islamists tend to give a "scientific" cover to their analysis of global and historical developments. However, their analysis is rather unscientific since the model for the norms of true Islamic behavior is always Muhammad the Prophet and the first generation of Muslims (Al-Salaf al-Salih). Further, the way to relate to this model is through evidence derived from a series of citations from the sacred sources of Islam, and the historical developments of the Muslims.

In some ways, Qutb's influence was similar. He wrote his impressions of American society and culture at a time when the United States was still a mystery for most Muslims, especially in the Arab Muslim world. The enemy then was Great Britain, either in the Arab world, India or Malaysia. In the 1950s, even the creation of Israel was still perceived as a British conspiracy.

In the eyes of many Islamists, the change of developments in the Middle East and the growing direct involvement of the United States made Sayyid Qutb seem quite prescient. Therefore, his writings about American society and culture became a kind of sacred source to refer to in developing the blunt anti- Americanism of the 1990s. Sayyid Qutb introduced anti-Americanism to the Islamic world. His followers developed and merged this element into their interpretation of Islam, and made it a part of the religion and one's religious duties.

An Egyptian Islamist, Dr. Tareq Hilmi, opened his October 2003 article entitled "America that We Hate," with the statement: "We worship Allah by hatred of America." Then he gave a summary of the reasons for this hatred, culled from numerous other articles and publications:

"This is the America that declared war against Islam and the Muslims under the title of world terrorism. This is the America that gives unlimited and unconditional support for the Zionist entity. This is the America that wants the Muslims to surrender and submit to the forces of occupation, otherwise they are considered terrorists. This is the America that is using weapons that are internationally prohibited to crush the Muslims of Iraq and Afghanistan, and is using its planes and missiles to attack the Muslims in Palestine. This is the America that protects the agent governments in the Islamic world, which act against the will of the Muslim peoples? The history of America is full of evilness against humanity?

"This is the America that occupies the world with the culture of sex and deviation. This is the pagan civilization in Christian disguise? This is the American civilization whose object is the body and its means is materialism. The spirit has no place in the system of American values. They are dressed with Christian clothes on hearts that know nothing but stealing, robbing, and occupying the possessions of others. Has America left one place in our lives as Muslims without corrupting it?" (4)



THE CULTURE OF GLOBAL JIHAD
These kinds of articles are primarily aimed at "The cursed, who are not fighting by Jihad? their brothers are killed and they remain asleep? their sacred laws are violated and they remain calm? they love miserable life and hate the honorable death." These articles portray the United States as the "mother of all evils" in the world. They demonize American politics, culture, and society, in everything they do. Is this just the search for the devil and its allies by religious people indoctrinated by Islam to divide the world into two strict parts--the world of Islamic belief and sovereignty (Dar al- Islam) vis-a-vis the world of the infidels against whom there must be waged a constant war (Dar al-Harb)? The answer lies in the emergence of what we might call the "culture of global jihad." Since the 1990s, anti- Americanism, like the doctrines of modern Islamic anti-Judaism and the doctrines of a global conspiracy against Islam and the Muslims, has been a means to mobilize the Muslim world within the culture of global Jihad. Such a culture is Islamists and Anti-Americanism as much based on the enemy as it is on its own particular innovations.

The public support for Islamist terrorist groups, so vital to their success, is the consequence of several social and psychological factors underlying the Islamic social-political renaissance:

--Islamic and Islamist movements and groups have succeeded in the past three decades in planting in Arab and Muslim societies the notion of a global cultural war, in which they are confronting a global conspiracy against Islam as a religion, culture, and way of life. Thus, many in the Islamic world now view concepts synonymous in Western political culture with terrorism and political violence to be Islamic religious duties. Such concepts include Jihad, Takfir (refutation), Istishhad (Martyrdom, including by suicide), and Shahid (Martyr). The central notion, common to most of the Islamic movements and groups--those that carry out terrorism and political violence, and those that justify it and feed the atmosphere that promotes such activity--is that of being in a state of siege, which calls for self defense. To those who believe in this concept, the confrontation justifies the use of all means--particularly when these means are given religious legitimacy.

--Many of the Islamist and Islamic movements and groups have succeeded in convincing many in the Muslim world that they represent the true contemporary interpretation of Islam. Moreover, most of these groups developed out of the perceived need to return to the earliest fundamental sources of Islam. Thus, they based their views on Islamic scholars like Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Taymiyyah of the Middle Ages, and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab of the 18th century, who were the leading fundamentalist religious scholars, as well as the most unyielding.

--The success of the Islamist movements lies in the basic diversity of Islam. However it also owes a lot, on the one hand, to the lack of a single Islamic center that enjoys the confidence of the majority of the Muslim world, and, on the other, to the control the modern secular regimes in the Arab and Muslim World have over the religious establishments. Large parts of the public view those religious establishments as servants and puppets of the secular state ('Ulama' al- Salatin), whose interpretations and rulings buttress the interests of the state. Thus, Islamic and Islamist groups and individuals have become the spiritual guides of a large Islamic population, and maintain a great deal of power and influence.

--Most of the Islamic movements and groups, primarily those that emerged during the 1970s and after, portray the Arab and Muslim regimes--and in some cases rightfully--as symbols of arbitrary oppression and distortion of the social justice that is rooted in orthodox Islam. Thus, they instill in and bring their followers to sympathize with and support those who present themselves as the protectors of the weaker elements of society. In many cases they manage to recruit the social, political, cultural and economic elements that are protesting against various Arab and Muslim regimes. These elements also see themselves as opposing the alleged global enemies and conspirators: The United States, Israel, the Jews, Western "Crusader" heretic culture, etc.

--The Islamic socio-political revival, particularly since the 1960s, has been linked both to social changes in the Arab and Muslim World, and to the formation of an educated middle class in different countries. This middle class has in part distanced itself from Western secular modernization and the institutions of the modern state: the military, government administration, social and economic institutions controlled by the state, the public media, etc. Another part of this class--mainly members of respected professions such as physicians, lawyers, pharmacists, engineers, academic scholars, or merchants who have suffered from the state's tendency to nationalize the economy--have found in the Islam propounded by modern Islamists the solution to their problems. This process created a large and highly educated group of individuals, who viewed themselves as a social vanguard, and adopted Islamic and Islamist theories as the basis of their social struggle.

--The next stage was characterized by massive activity within the existing Islamic groups, along with the formation of new Islamic radical groups, followed by the publication of new doctrines and ideologies that did not necessarily correspond with orthodox Islam. Many of these new doctrines won many adherents in the course of the ensuing violent struggle.

--All these processes assisted the Islamist groups in gaining more power and public support, and enabled them in some cases to attract a certain segment of society who were protesting and struggling for increased human and civil rights. But, there is another very important element to note here. This is what we may call the "Islamic atmosphere" that is created by movements and groups that are not connected to political violence or terrorism, some of whom even publicly condemn it or express their reservations about the use of violence. Their importance concerning anti-Americanism lies in two linked elements:

-- These groups and movements carry out the vast majority of political, social, cultural and educational Islamic work, both in the Muslim world and among Muslim communities in the West. Therefore, they serve as the most important elements in creating and preserving the "Islamic atmosphere" that is used by more extremist and violent Islamist groups. They are, in many cases, a sort of greenhouse for the emergence of violent groups as well as the preservation of worldviews where hostility towards the West or Western culture dominates.

-- On the one hand, the social, political, cultural, economic, educational, and charity infrastructures of these movements are the main avenues of finance and support for Islamic projects that, as a by-product, are also used to finance violent and terrorist groups. On the other hand, they are most active in consolidating Muslim communities in the West, and therefore set the stage for massive fundraising, political support, and, in some cases, recruitment for militant Islamist groups, among their communities.

--The Islamist "terrorist culture" can be sketched as a pyramid. The base is the large-scale activity of the Islamic moderate and non-violent groups, associations, institutes, and projects of all kinds. The top of the pyramid is the radical Islamists and pro-terrorist activity. The middle is the various processes that refine certain social elements into hatred, revenge, and the search for power and violence. This violence is in many cases indirectly supported and financed by innocent elements as a result of the culturally violent influences.

These elements are consolidated through the creation of a common enemy -- the United States. Ayatollah Khomeini tried to use this anti-Americanism to export his Islamic revolution to the Sunni Muslim world, but failed. The scholars that stand behind Qa'idat al-Jihad are using anti-Americanism to create a culture of global Jihad, which they hope will spread all over the Arab and Muslim world to Muslim communities in the West -- and eventually the whole world -- thus opening new fronts in the war against the same enemy. United by hatred of the United States and the sense of a global conspiracy, this war is conceived as an asymmetric war of selfdefense. In such a war, Jihad becomes terrorism justified as a religious duty.

THE FINAL CONFRONTATION WITH THE UNITED STATES
The third stage is linked to the fourth: the final direct confrontation with the United States in order to "purify the world from the American power.... By destroying the United States and defeating it on its soil. Defeating the United States means the defeat of the West, which would lead to the shift of the international center of gravity back to the Islamic world."
And then what? Do these radical Islamists possess a real political vision? Not necessarily. Similar to other Islamic groups that have no political vision of a modern Islamic state, it seems that al-Qa`idah is no different. The author, speaking on behalf of bin Ladin, claims that "we have our perceptions of how the Islamic world would look after the fourth stage, and we have already planned it in details, yet, what we really look for is the awakening of the nation.... Until that day we must do our best in fighting the enemies of Allah, through the sword, the pen, and the word in order to chain their hands and deport them from the Islamic world, and stop their support for the Jews in Palestine."

Where are those political plans for the future Islamic world? Are they not important for the motivation and recruitment of the Muslims? There is no answer, only a utopian vision of a world that "would be more just, purer, cleaner, and nicer, without the United States. We act for the day in which we wake up and there is no America."



JUSTIFICATION OF TERRORISM
The first Islamic ruling (Fatwah) to legitimize the September 11 attacks by Qa'idat al-Jihad, was issued by the Saudi Salafist Shaykh Hammoud al-'Uqla al- Shu'aybi:

? Having said this, you should know that America is a kufr state that is totally against Islam and Muslims. In fact it has reached the peak of that arrogance in the form of open attacks on several Muslim nations as it did in Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Philistine, Libya and others, where it -- America -- allied with the forces of Kufr such as Britain, Russia and others in attacking and trying to exterminate them. Similarly, America expelled the Palestinians from their homes and housed the 'brothers of pigs and apes' in them; and stood firmly in support of the criminal Zionist state of the Jews, giving them all they need in the form of wealth, weapons and training.

How then can America after all these things not be considered an enemy of the Muslim nations and at war with them?

But, because they have reached the peak of tyranny and arrogance; because they have seen the collapse of the Soviet Union in the hands of the Muslims in Afghanistan, they thought that they are the Ultimate Power above which there is no power. Unfortunately, they forgot that Allah, the Exalted and Mighty, is stronger than them and can humble and destroy them.

We pray to Allah that He helps His Religion and raises His Word and exalts Islam and the Muslims and the Mujahideen and to destroy America and its followers and those who assist them. Verily He has that power and is able to do so.(5)

Al-Shu'aybi paved the way for the issuance of dozens of fatwas by many scholars, all of them Arabs, which gave Islamic legitimacy to every act of terrorism carried out by Islamists against the United States, Western targets, or Israeli and Jewish ones. Dozens of Islamist scholars legitimized not just acts of terrorism but the wish to destroy the United States. Since September 2001, the object of the war against the United States is not just to push the Americans out of the Middle East, but also to follow the Americans to their homeland in order to destroy it. The easy occupation of Iraq played a great part in this development. Another element was the shift in al- Qa'ida's policy to begin launching terrorist attacks against Westerners on Muslim soil as well, even at the cost of Muslims being killed as well.

Anti-Americanism was no longer just an ideology to consolidate support for Islamist groups, but a justified Jihad as an integral part of religious personal duty. It became the war of the Army of God-- Jund Allah--against the army of the Devil--Jund al-Shaytan. It was accompanied by apocalyptic visions, marked by the end of the United States.(6)

The Saudi Shaykh Salman al-'Awdah, a leading figure in crafting Islamist doctrines of Global Jihad wrote in one of his articles entitled the "End of History":

? I pray for Allah to witness with our own eyes his victory over the dominant infidel nations of the West. We wish him to show us and our descendents the collapse of these nations that controlled the Muslims, enslaved them, dominated their minds, ruled their media, and destroyed their economy. May Allah take revenge on them. The oppressors are the swords of Allah on earth. First Allah takes his revenge by them, and then against them. The same as Allah has used, in Islamist eyes, the United States in order to destroy the Soviet Union, so he will take revenge against the Americans by destroying them.(7)



CONCLUSION
The nature of Islamist anti- Americanism is cultural rather than military or political. It is based on the sense of an ongoing and eternal global conspiracy against Islam and the Muslims. The threat emerged in the Prophet's time, continued with the Crusaders, and through the Muslim defeats in the twentieth century, until salvation emerged in Afghanistan in the form of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of Qa'idat al-Jihad and similar groups. The United States is just another force in history that represents the devilish factors seeking to fight the true believers.

Surrounded and supported by such doctrines, Islamist anti-Americanism is part of a broad religious worldview. Hence, it is not subject to compromise. In Islamist eyes, since this is a war of selfdefense and an asymmetric one as well, hatred of the enemy is total. As a result of the religious nature of this worldview, Islamists are publishing dozens of fatwas, articles, and books, which rely on the Koran and the sacred Islamic sources to mobilize large parts of the Muslim world into adopting various degrees of anti- Americanism.

In December 2001, one of these scholars, Muhammad Abu 'Arafah, wrote an article that became very popular. It is entitled "The Glorious Koran Foresees the Destruction of the United States and the Drowning of the American Army."(8) According to the author, the article is an analysis prepared shortly after the September 11 attacks. The "analysis" is based on the Koranic stories that were taken from the Bible about Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. According to Abu 'Arafah, the end of the United States is going to be in 2004, with the end of the rule of President George W. Bush, "Ramses the 2nd."

Present day anti-Americanism makes such articles very popular among Islamist youngsters, whether they actually believe it or just read it as expressions of wishful thinking. Yet there is a strong wish for a very violent revenge. As the only superpower, the United States is perceived as the major target against which to channel this struggle for Muslim honor. Islamist anti-Americanism is also a kind of default act among a wide range of Muslims, and easily adoptable by broad circles.

As long as there is a need for an enemy and for revenge, anti- Americanism will remain part of Islamist religious and cultural doctrines, and will go on fueling the Islamist Jihad, either its violence and terrorism, or its political element. A change away from this approach can only come from within the Muslim world, through social and cultural developments.

NOTES
1. Salah Abd al-Fattah al-Khalidi, "Amrika min al-Dakhil bi-minzar Sayyid Qutb [Inside America in the Eyes of Sayyid Qutb]" (Jeddah: Dar al-Manarah, 1985).
2. Sayyid Qutb, Ma'alim fi al-Tariq (Milestones). For an English translation Islamists and Anti-Americanism Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 7, No. 4 (December 2003) 61 on-line, see: .
3. Abdallah 'Azzam, "Al-Qa'ida al-Sulbah (The Solid Base)", al-Jihad (Afghanistan), No. 41 (April 1988), pp. 46-49.
4. Dr. Tareq Hilmi, "Amrika alati nabghad (America That We Hate)," Al- Sha'b , October 17, 2003. See on-line at: .
5. Fatwa on events following September 11, October 2001, .
6. For a typical example of such writings, see Khaled Abd al-Wahid, "Wa'd al- 'Aakhirah: Nihayat Israeil wal-Wilayat al-Mutahhidah al-Amrikiyyah (The Ultimate Promise: the End of Israel and the United States)," 1 st edition, July 20, 2001; 2 nd edition, October 15, 2001. Online at: .
7. Shaykh Salman bin Fahd al-'Awdah, "Nihayat al-Ta'rikh (End of History)," January 2003, at: .
8. Muhammad Salah al-Din Abu 'Arafah, "Al-Qur'an al-'Azim yunabbi' bidamar al- Wilayat al-Mutahhidah wagharq al-Jaysh al-Amriki," December 2001, .

* First published in MERIA, Vol 7, No.4. Reuven Paz is a Senior Fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and director of its Project for the Research of Islamist Movements (PRISM). He is also the author of "Middle East Islamism in the European Arena" which appeared in the September 2002 issue of MERIA.

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

nimrod777
8 Point
Member # 3139

posted 07-27-2004 07:46 AM
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Can't wait for deer season.

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You can always take a shot, but you can never take it back.

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Posts: 2108 | From: Chattanooga | Registered: Sep 2003 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-27-2004 08:12 AM
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Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)


Osama Bin Laden Speech Offers Peace Treaty with Europe, Says Al-Qa'ida
'Will Persist in Fighting' the U.S.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)


MEMRI has obtained and translated a copy of the most recent speech by Osama bin Laden, purportedly offering a peace ["sulh"] treaty to European countries that withdraw soldiers from Arab countries, while still
maintaining the United States as a legitimate target. The following are excerpts from the speech1)

" September 11 and March 11 is Your Own Merchandise Coming Back to You"

"This is a message to our neighbors north of the Mediterranean, with a proposal for a peace treaty, in response to the positive reactions which emerged there".

"What happened in September 11 and March 11 is your own merchandise coming back to you. We hereby advise you ... that your definition of us and of our actions as terrorism is nothing but a definition of yourselves by yourselves, since our reaction is of the same kind as your act. Our actions are a reaction to yours, which are destruction and killing of our people as is happening in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine".

"It suffices to see the event that shocked the world - the killing of the wheelchair-bound old man Ahmad Yassin - Allah's mercy upon him - and we pledge to Allah to avenge [his murder] on America, Allah willing".

"By what measure of kindness are your killed considered innocents while ours are considered worthless? By what school [of thought] is your blood considered blood while our blood is water?"

"Therefore, it is [only] just to respond in kind, and the one who started it is more to blame..."

"We Will Continue to Fight the U.S. and U.N."

"When you look at what happened and is happening, the killing in our countries and in yours, an important fact emerges, and that is that the oppression is forced on both us and you by your politicians who send your sons, against your will, to our country to kill and to be killed".

"Therefore, both sides have an interest in thwarting those who shed the blood of the peoples for their own narrow interests, out of vassalage to the White House gang..."

"This war makes millions of dollars for big corporations, either weapons manufacturers or those working in the reconstruction [of Iraq], such as Halliburton and its sister companies..."

"It is crystal clear who benefits from igniting the fire of this war and this bloodshed: They are the merchants of war, the bloodsuckers who run the policy of the world from behind the scenes".

"President Bush and his ilk, the media giants, and the U.N. ... all are a fatal danger to the world, and the Zionist lobby is their most dangerous member. Allah willing, we will persist in fighting them..."

"I Hereby Offer [Europe] a Peace Treaty"

"Therefore, in order to thwart opportunities for the merchants of war, and in response to the positive developments that were expressed in recent events and in the public opinion polls, which determined that most European peoples want peace, I urge ... the establishment of a permanent commission to nurture awareness among Europeans regarding the justness of our causes, particularly the cause of Palestine, and that use be made of the vast media resources to this end".

"I hereby offer them a peace treaty, the essence of which is our commitment to halt actions against any country that commits itself to refraining from attacking Muslims or intervening in their affairs, including the American conspiracy against the larger Islamic world".

"This peace treaty can be renewed at the end of the term of a government and the rise of another, with the agreement of both sides".

"The peace treaty will be in force upon the exit of the last soldier of any given [European] country from our land".

"The door of peace will remain open for three months from the broadcast of this statement. Whoever rejects the peace and wants war should know that we are the men [of war], and whoever wants a peace treaty and signs it, we hereby allow this peace treaty with him".

"Stop shedding our blood in order to protect your own blood. The solution to this easy-difficult equation is in your own hands. You should know that the longer you delay, the worse the situation will become, and when that happens, do not blame us, blame yourselves..."

"As for those who lie to people and say that we hate freedom and kill for the sake of killing - reality proves that we are the speakers of truth and they lie, because the killing of the Russians took place only after their invasion of Afghanistan and Chechnya; the killing of the Europeans took place only after the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan; the killing of the Americans in the Battle of New York took place only after their support for the Jews in Palestine and their invasion of the Arabian Peninsula; their killing in Somalia happened only after Operation Restore Hope. We restored [i.e. repelled] them without hope, by the grace of Allah."

Endnotes:
(1) Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar) and Al-Arabiyya TV (UAE), April 15, 2004.

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Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-27-2004 08:23 AM
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With deer season happening at the same time as the elections I wonder how much hunting we are going to do on AEDC and Fort Cambell this year. I hope you get a 12 point 777 good luck.

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 07-28-2004 05:13 AM
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Crappie Luck2
10 Point
Member # 2688

posted 07-27-2004 11:54 AM
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I don't know why I chose the political forum for this. But you may just want to print it out and save it rather than reading the whole thing online. I've printed it and will save it in a photo album for my son.

Best Regards,
CL
____________
THE WORLD SITUATION - A LETTER TO MY SONS

This was written by a retired attorney, to his sons, May 19, 2004.

Dear Tom, Kevin, Kirby and Ted,

As your father, I believe I owe it to you to share some thoughts
on the present world situation. We have over the years discussed a lot
of important things, like going to college, jobs and so forth. But
this really takes precedence over any of those discussions. I hope this might give
you a longer term perspective that fewer and fewer of my generation are
left to speak to. To be sure you understand that this is not politically
flavored, I will tell you that since Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led us through
pre and WWII (1933 - 1945) up to and including our present President, I have
without exception, supported our presidents on all matters of international
conflict. This would include just naming a few in addition to
President Roosevelt - WWII: President Truman - Korean War 1950; President
Kennedy Bay of Pigs (1961); President Kennedy - Vietnam (1961); [1] eight
presidents (5 Republican & 4 Democrat) during the cold war (1945 -
1991); President Clinton's strikes on Bosnia (1995) and on Iraq (1998). [2]
So be sure you read this as completely non-political or otherwise you will
miss the point.
Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence,
as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes
WWII).
The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there
are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer
who realize what losing really means. First, let's examine a few basics:
1. When did the threat to us start?
Many will say September 11th, 2001. The answer as far as the United
States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the
following attacks on us: Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979; Beirut, Lebanon Embassy
1983; Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983; Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am
flight to New York 1988; First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996; Nairobi, Kenya US
Embassy 1998; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998; Aden, Yemen USS Cole
2000; New York World Trade Center 2001; Pentagon 2001. (Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).
2. Why were we attacked?
Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks
happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 1,
Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats as there
were no provocations by any of the presidents or their immediate
predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.
3. Who were the attackers?
In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims.
4. What is the Muslim population of the World?
25%
5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?
Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the
predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under
the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who claimed to be Christian),
that made no difference. You either went along with the administration or you were
eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis
for political reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests).
(http://www.nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm). Thus, almost the same
number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as the 6 million holocaust Jews
who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the
Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had
no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the
Jews or of taking over the world -German, Christian or any others. Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill all in the
way - their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else. The point
here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone
from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no
protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are
fanatically bent on doing - by their own pronouncements - killing all
of us infidels. I don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if
the choice was shut up or die?
6. So who are we at war with?
There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than
the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid
verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't
clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.
So with that background, now to the two major questions:
A. Can we lose this war?
B. What does losing really mean?
If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal
questions. We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may
sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the
answer to the second question - What does losing mean? It would appear that a
great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing
the troops home and going on about our business, like post Vietnam. This is
as far from the truth as one can get.
What losing really means is: We would no longer be the premier
country in the world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily
increase.
Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted
us quiet, they would not have produced an increasing series of attacks
against us over the past 18 years. The plan was clearly to terrorist attack us
until we were neutered and submissive to them. We would of course have no
future support from other nations for fear of reprisals and for the reason
that they would see we are impotent and cannot help them. They will pick off
the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will be increasingly easier
for them.
They already hold Spain hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was
right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Spain did it because
the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the
troops.
Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished.
The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that
they might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished too,
in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it
may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading
fast. If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of
life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or
deal with us if they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the Muslims,
how
could anyone else? The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war
and
therefore are completely committed to winning at any cost. We better
know it
too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost. Why do I go on at
such
lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the
costs of
losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of our thoughts and efforts
into
winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to win.
So, how can we lose the war? Again, the answer is simple. We can
lose the
war by imploding. That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize
the
enemy and their purpose and really digging in and lending full support
to
the war effort. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If
we
continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win. Let me give
you a
few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life and death
seriousness of this situation.
President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of
Transportation.
Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men
between
17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling.
Does
that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war. For
the
duration we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we
have
become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to lose some of our
civil
rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them
permanently.
And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil

rights during WWII and immediately restored them after the victory and
in fact added many more since then. Do I blame President Bush or
President

Clinton before him? No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can
maintain all of our Political Correctness and all of our civil rights
during this conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of
those words apply
to war. Get them out of your head.
Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the
Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us

lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is

because they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that

conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and
weakening, it concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our
cause.
Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and
media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war perhaps
exemplifies best
what I am saying. We have recently had an issue involving the treatment
of a
few Muslim prisoners of war by a small group of our military police.
These
are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their
own
people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their
tongues and
otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam
Hussein. And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically

killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also
the same type enemy fighters who recently were burning Americans and
dragging
their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq. And still more
recently the same type enemy that was and is providing videos to all news
sources internationally, of the beheading of an American prisoner they held.
Compare this with some of our press and politicians who for several
days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of
some Muslim prisoners - not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses

through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them. Can
this be for real? The politicians and pundits have even talked of
impeachment of the Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of
comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are

fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous
results of losing this war, nothing can. To bring our country to a
virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his

fiddle as Rome burned - totally oblivious to what is going on in the
real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this
internal strife.
Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or
media people are disloyal. It simply means that they absolutely oblivious to
the magnitude of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim
terrorists have been pushing us for many years. Remember, the Muslim terrorists
stated goal is to kill all infidels. That translates into all non-Muslims -
not just in the United States, but throughout the world. We are the last
bastion of defense.
We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant'. That
charge is valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that
we are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds
of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we
can defeat anything bad in the world. We can't. If we don't recognize
this, our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in
the World will survive if we are defeated.
And finally, name any Muslim country throughout the world that
allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of
the press, equal rights for anyone - let alone everyone, equal status or
any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that
contributes to the good of the World. This has been a long way of
saying that we must be united on this war or we will be equated in the history
books to the self-inflicted fall of the Roman Empire. If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be written or read. If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little on the established French traditions.
The French will be fighting among themselves over what should or
should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them from any
united resolve. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar? Democracies don't have
their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead,
they give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by politically
correct piece. And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown,
worldwide, that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even
to themselves, once they are in power. They have universally shown that
when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over
who will be the few who control the masses.
Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the
"peaceful Muslims"? I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If
we are united, there is no way that we can lose. I believe that after the
election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the
critical situation we are in and will unite to save our country. It is
your future we are talking about. Do whatever you can to preserve it.

Love,
Dad

--------------------
If you ain't doing something to help hunting, your hurting hunting - Fred Bear

--------------------
R H

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Posts: 431 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

[Stick]

Thanks for showing us the flip side of the coin. Read it all and came to some scary conclusions.
Final conclusion, we're doomed if we fail.

[Seascamp]

Thanks for the good information,

As I understand the scenario, when the Al Qaeda operatives dumped off a body, someone got their car plate numbers and turned the number over to the Saudi police and that is when the severed head evidence was discovered. I?m not sure I?d call those particular Al Qaeda members Africans though one was from Algeria, thus North African. The African contingent of Al Qaeda would more likely be from the Sudan or the Horn of Africa area and maybe Northern Nigeria. And it?s not likely they would be operating in Saudi Arabia being non-Arabs and all, but anything is possible I suppose. The Mindanao, Philippines, area Al Qaeda contingent; called Abu Sayeff, is notorious for dismembering and disemboweling their victims while still alive. A joint US-Philippine military operation has now killed their Commander and the number two Abu Sayeff Commander is now captured and in the Camp Crame prison. Camp Crame is the Philippine National Police GHQ in Manila and is not a US facility.
For the greater part, Algeria has killed off a quiet a number of Al Qaeda operatives with still a long way to go and that war has been going on for a very long time; a decade or so, and is as gory and bloody as it gets anywhere.
All in all, I think we as US media recipients have not been provided the perspective that Al Qaeda has been at war within the global Moslem community for years and the tragedy of 9/11 is an episode in the continuing, attempted, global jihad that Al Qaeda so desperately seeks.

Scamp

[locksly]

Africans as a lot of them live in Africa not racially speaking of course there are muslims every where now as its the fastest growing religion in the world.

[locksly]

Hello, Locksley [ log out ] Tennessee Deer Talk ? General Forums ? TnDeer General Forum ? More terroism not less


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Author Topic: More terroism not less
Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 08-01-2004 05:40 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Someone is poisoning baby food in the stores could this be more muslim terroism in america? The el-quati are out to do any harm that they can.The goverment warns us to watch and report any odd behavior and report it as people did during WWII and other big wars that involved terrism. Do we have the will to resist these evil people? THEY are bombing churches in Irak now just because the christians are there. Are we prepared to resist our churches being targets here, as the election growes near?

--------------------
R H

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Posts: 486 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 08-01-2004 07:43 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Christians of Iraq


Monday 02 August 2004, 2:37 Makka Time, 23:37 GMT


Ex-deputy premier Tariq Aziz is the best known Iraqi Christian



Related:
Several dead as bombs target Iraq's churches



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Religious minorities in Iraq, including Christians, represent some 3% of the population, or approximately 700,000 out of a total population of 24 million mainly Shia and Sunni Muslims.


Iraq's provisional new constitution signed in March and in force until a general election guarantees freedom of all religions. Article Seven says Islam is the official state religion "and a source of the legislation".

"This Constitution respects the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi population while guaranteeing complete freedom of all other religions and religious practices," it says.

The 1970 constitution adopted under the old regime guaranteed freedom of religion and prohibited any religious discrimination. It also acknowledged that the people of Iraq consisted of "two principal nationalities," Arab and Kurd, and "other nationalities," whose rights were considered legitimate.

In December 1972, the head of the ruling Baath Party identified these by decree as the Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syriacs.

The Chaldeans, whose 600,000 people represent the majority of Christians in Iraq, are an oriental rite Catholic community. The Chaldean church emerged from the Nestorian doctrine which it renounced in the 16th century while preserving its rites.


Many Chritians started leaving
Iraq in the early 1980s

Former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, currently in custody, is the best known of the Chaldeans.

The Assyrians, believed to be approximately 50,000 in number, are Christians who remained faithful to the Nestorian doctrine.

The Nestorian church became a dissident movement in the year 431 after the Council of Ephesus, affirming two separate personalities within Christ, namely both human and divine nature, and not a single
personality possessing both human and divine nature as Catholicism asserted.

In Iraq, there are also Catholic and Orthodox Syriacs, Catholic and Orthodox Armenians, and more recently since the time of the British mandate after World War I, Protestants and Roman Catholics.

Bilingual

Many Iraqi Christians still speak Aramaic-Syriac, the language of Christ. During the 1970s, bilingual cultural magazines in Arabic and Syriac were published and and radio and television transmitted programmes in Aramaic.

In the northern region of Kurdistan, Christians number about 150,000, mostly Chaldeans.

Christians are represented by only one minister in the interim Iraqi government to which the US-led occupation handed over power on June 28.

Poverty and war induced many Christians to start leaving Iraq starting in the early 1980s. Nearly half-a-million have gone in the last 15 years.

--------------------
R H

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 486 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
4 Point
Member # 1548

posted 08-02-2004 02:06 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several killed in attack on Iraqi churches

Car bombs have exploded outside at least five Christian churches in Iraq, killing more than a dozen people and wounding many more. FULL STORY
Several killed in attack on Iraqi churches


Monday 02 August 2004, 8:11 Makka Time, 5:11 GMT


At least 15 people are known to have died from the attacks so far



Related:
The Christians of Iraq



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Car bombs have exploded outside at least five Christian churches in Iraq, killing more than a dozen people and wounding many more.


In an apparently coordinated attack timed to coincide with evening prayers, four blasts hit churches in Baghdad and two in the northern city of Mosul on Sunday.



At least 12 worshippers died at a Chaldean church in southern Baghdad when an attacker detonated himself and his vehicle in the building's car park.



An explosion at the Armenian church in Baghdad shattered stained glass windows and sent chunks of hot metal flying. Another bomb exploded 15 minutes later at a nearby Assyrian church.



"Worshippers were inside the church and during the service a bomb went off," said worshipper Shakib Musa Jibril.



An ambulance driver said two people were killed in the explosion at the Assyrian church and several wounded.



"We are expecting a huge number of casualties," an Interior Ministry source told journalists, confirming five explosions.



"Those are terrorist acts against the Iraqi people and against Iraq, and we're going to finish them [the perpetrators]," Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib told reporters at the Assyrian church.



Vatican condemnation



The Vatican condemned the blasts - the first attacks on churches during the 15-month insurgency - echoing concerns among Iraqis that they aimed to inflame religious tensions.



"It is terrible and worrying because it is the first time that Christian churches are being targeted in Iraq," said Vatican deputy spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini.



US Colonel Mike Murray of the 1st Cavalry Division said at least 50 people had been wounded at one church alone, some seriously.



In Mosul, officials said at least one person was killed in a blast at a church and 15 wounded.



The US military said the attackers fired a rocket at the Mar Polis Catholic Church before detonating a car bomb. It put the toll from the attack at one dead and seven wounded.



There are about 700,000 Christians in Iraq, most of them in Baghdad.



Several recent attacks have targeted alcohol sellers throughout Iraq, most of whom are Christians of either the Assyrian, Chaldean or Armenian denominations. Home Site Guide Contact Us Set As HomePage Add to favorites






The Christians of Iraq


Monday 02 August 2004, 8:11 Makka Time, 5:11 GMT


Ex-deputy premier Tariq Aziz is the best known Iraqi Christian



Related:
Several killed in attack on Iraqi churches



Tools:
Email Article
Print Article
Send Your Feedback



Religious minorities in Iraq, including Christians, represent some 3% of the population, or approximately 700,000 out of a total population of 24 million mainly Shia and Sunni Muslims.


Iraq's provisional new constitution signed in March and in force until a general election guarantees freedom of all religions. Article Seven says Islam is the official state religion "and a source of the legislation".

"This Constitution respects the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi population while guaranteeing complete freedom of all other religions and religious practices," it says.

The 1970 constitution adopted under the old regime guaranteed freedom of religion and prohibited any religious discrimination. It also acknowledged that the people of Iraq consisted of "two principal nationalities," Arab and Kurd, and "other nationalities," whose rights were considered legitimate.

In December 1972, the head of the ruling Baath Party identified these by decree as the Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syriacs.

The Chaldeans, whose 600,000 people represent the majority of Christians in Iraq, are an oriental rite Catholic community. The Chaldean church emerged from the Nestorian doctrine which it renounced in the 16th century while preserving its rites.


Many Chritians started leaving
Iraq in the early 1980s

Former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, currently in custody, is the best known of the Chaldeans.

The Assyrians, believed to be approximately 50,000 in number, are Christians who remained faithful to the Nestorian doctrine.

The Nestorian church became a dissident movement in the year 431 after the Council of Ephesus, affirming two separate personalities within Christ, namely both human and divine nature, and not a single
personality possessing both human and divine nature as Catholicism asserted.

In Iraq, there are also Catholic and Orthodox Syriacs, Catholic and Orthodox Armenians, and more recently since the time of the British mandate after World War I, Protestants and Roman Catholics.

Bilingual

Many Iraqi Christians still speak Aramaic-Syriac, the language of Christ. During the 1970s, bilingual cultural magazines in Arabic and Syriac were published and and radio and television transmitted programmes in Aramaic.

In the northern region of Kurdistan, Christians number about 150,000, mostly Chaldeans.

Christians are represented by only one minister in the interim Iraqi government to which the US-led occupation handed over power on June 28.

Poverty and war induced many Christians to start leaving Iraq starting in the early 1980s. Nearly half-a-million have gone in the last 15 years.


by Nicholas Aljeloo The Assyrian Australian Academic Society (TAAAS), Sydney, Australia

July 2, 2000




Introduction
Although uniting the children of one nation through their ancestral language, the term ?Syriac-speaking? also allows much space for them to divide themselves into Assyrians, Chaldeans, Aramaeans, Syriacs, Syrians, Maronites, and the list goes on. It does not allow for one national designation for one people. Some may disagree but the people that call themselves any of the above things today are Syriac-Speaking or of a Syriac-Speaking background and heritage and hence are of Assyrian origin. Many issues disputing whether they are Assyrian, apart from the concept of self determination, can be answered by some statements and research made by eminent historians and scholars, purely from a historical and scholarly perspective. In this paper I shall set out to demonstrate first of all about whom we can say are Assyrians, the regions inhabited by Assyrians in the Middle East and what Assyrians have always called themselves. I have gathered and shall be using the opinions of eminent scholars to back up these arguments and using them I shall make apparent the origin of the word Syriac itself, linking to the ancient Assyrians. Although the research has not yet been exhausted, it has been proven without a doubt that all ?Syriacs? are Assyrians.

The Political Dictionary of the Modern Middle East[1] defines Assyrians as, ?Remnants of the people of ancient Mesopotamia, succeeding the Sumero-Akkadians and the Babylonians as one continuous civilization. They are among the first nations who accepted Christianity. They belong to one of the four churches: the Chaldean Uniate, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Syrian Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. Due to the ethnic-political conflict in the Middle East, they are better known by these ecclesiastical designations. The Assyrians use classical Syriac in their liturgies while the majority of them speak and write a modern dialect of this language. They constitute the third largest ethnic group in Iraq with their communities in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iran, Russia and Armenia. Today they remain stateless and great numbers of them have left their homeland and settled in Western Europe, the United States and Australia.? The author of this fails to mention the members of the Syriac Maronite Church as Assyrians or to recognise the existence of non-Christian Assyrians.[2]

The Assyrian homeland encompasses what was once the core of the Assyrian Empire of antiquity and are now the areas of northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, southeastern Turkey and northeastern Syria, although there are Assyrian communities all over the Middle East, especially Lebanon. Northern Iraq includes the regions of Mosul, Dohuk, ?Aqra and Zibar, Mezuriyeh, Gourzan (Gahra), Supna (Amadiya), Zakho and Adiabene (Arbil and Kirkuk). Southeastern Turkey includes the Assyrian regions of Hakkiari (Hakkari), Van, Bohtan (Cizre), Bedlis (Bitlis), ?Ayn-Sliwa / ?Ayn-Slibo (Siirt), Amed / Omed (Diyarbakir), Lagga / Lago (Lice), Tur-?Abdin (Jebel Toor), Mirda / Merdo (Mardin), Siverek, Tella-Shleela (Viransehir), Kharput (Harput), Malatya, Perin (Adiyaman), Palu, Gerger, Shmeishat (Samsat), Urhay / Urhoy (Sanliurfa), and ?Ayn-Tawa / ?Ayn-Towo (Gaziantep). Northwestern Iran includes the Assyrian region of Urmia and Salamast and northeastern Syria includes the Khabour region, the Euphrates valley and the villages around Aleppo. Now, though, Assyrians no longer inhabit many of these places as a result of the persecutions that are the topic of today?s seminar.[3]

The Assyrians, whatever their region of origin, call themselves ?Surayeh / Suroyeh? and their language ?Surit / Surayt? according to their plentiful dialects[4]. Those of the Nineveh Plains and those of the southern and eastern regions of Hakkiari in southeastern Turkey call themselves ?Sorayeh? and their language ?Surath?, those of the northern and central regions of Hakkiari and Van in southeast Turkey and Salamast in northwestern Iran call themselves ?Su-reh? and their language ?Soorit?, those of the Urmian regions of northwestern Iran call themselves ?Surayi? or ?Suryayi? and their language ?Suyrit? or ?Suyrayi?, and those of the regions to west of the Tigris River in southeastern Turkey, Syria and Lebanon, call themselves ?Suroyeh? or ?Suryoyeh? and their language ?Surayt? or ?Suryoyo?. To be sure, many opinions have been expressed about this name, but relatively few of them have approached the truth.

It is safe to say that the ethnic, national, civic, administrative and other aspects of Assyrian daily life stopped being written and preserved by the Assyrians after the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC, with the exception of the few periods when the smaller Assyrian kingdoms of Adiabene, Haran and Osrhoene were in power. Thus, Assyrian history entered a national literary vacuum and began to live its long period of foreign manipulation.

The Word ?Syriac? - its Meaning and Link to Assyrian The name ?Assyrian? is read differently in different languages. In the Egyptian hieroglyphics it is read as ?Iswer?[5], in ancient Assyrian Aramaic and latter Syriac records, ?Athor / Othur?, in Biblical Hebrew and Arabic Assyrian is translated variously as ?Ashouri? or ?Athouri?, in Greek Assyria becomes ?Assyrios? and Assyrians, ?Assyrioi?.

In accordance with the law of phonetics[6] ?Athoraya / Othuroyo? has changed to ?Assuraya / Ossuroyo? because in the evolution of certain words we see that the letter ?TH? changes into ?S?. According to these phonetic rules, the sounds T, TH, S and SH are all interchangeable. The change of sound from ?TH? to ?S? is noticeable in the dialects of the Assyrians of Sena (Sanandaj, Iran)[7], Margosoreh (near Zakho, Iraq) and S?irt (Siirt, Turkey)[8] in the Eastern group of dialects and those of Mlahso / Mlahtho and ?Ansha (near Diyarbakir, Turkey)[9] and Bo-Qisyon / Ba-Qisyan (in Tur-?Abdin, Turkey) in the western group. The Assyrians of these villages pronounce the word ?qriytha / qriytho? as ?qriysa / qriyso? (village) and the word ?Allahutha / Alohutho? as ?Allahusa / Alohuso? (divinity). By the same law of phonetics it becomes very easy to identify the word ?Assuraya / Ossuroyo? with ?Suraya / Suroyo?.[10]

We may also say that ?Suraya / Suroyo? comes from ?Ashuraya / Ashuroyo?. As Dr. John A. Brinkman[11] points out, the name Ashur is written the same way, in cuneiform, for different usages and was only prefixed with different syllables signifying city, god, or country (matu ? the modern Assyrian mata / motho). Around 1000 BC, the pronunciation of Ashur changed to Assur[12], again showing the interchangeability of the letters SH and S. Probably as early as 337 BC when Alexander the Great and his men passed through Assyria, they called the ?Ashurians? they met ?Assurioi? not only because of the new pronunciation of Ashur, but also because they do not have the letter SH in their alphabet and it is also a non-existent sound in the Hellenic language.

What we now know as Syria once consisted of several city-states, which were later incorporated into the Assyrian Empire. The region became known as ?Abar-Nahra (?Across the River?) by the Assyrians, Babylonians and later by the Persians. The Greeks and the Romans knew it as Syria, short for Assyria, because it had long remained under Assyrian rule[13]. When, in 64 BC the Roman Emperor Pompey annexed the land west of Euphrates and incorporated them into the Roman Empire, the area came to be known as Syria, short for Assyria, as Assyria proper lay within the boundaries of the Persian Empire[14]. As The Encylopedia Americana writes, under the entry Syria, ?It is now certain that the name ?Syria? is derived from the older ?Assyria?[15]

Herodotus, a well-known Greek historian from the mid-fifth century BC, clearly indicates that the word ?Syrian? is merely a Greek corruption of the word ?Assyrian?. He describes the Assyrian infantry in the Persian Army during the rule of King Xerxes (485-465 B.C.) as follows:

?The Assyrians went to war with helmets upon their head, made of brass, and plated in strange fashion, which is not easy to describe... These people, whom Greeks call Syrian, are called Assyrian by the barbarians. The Babylonians serve at their rank?[16]

The last part of this passage has also been translated as, ?The Greeks call these people Syrians, but others know them as Assyrians.?[17]

In the first century prior to the dawn of Christianity, the geographer Strabo (64 BC-21 AD from Amisos in Pontus) confirms Herodotus? statement by writing that,

?When those who have written histories about the Syrian empire say that the Medes were overthrown by the Persians and the Syrians by the Medes, they mean by the Syrians no other people than those who built the royal palaces in Babylon and Ninus (Nineveh); and of these Syrians, Ninus was the man who founded Ninus, in Aturia (Assyria) and his wife, Semiramis, was the woman who succeeded her husband... Now, the city of Ninus was wiped out immediately after the overthrow of the Syrians. It was much greater than Babylon, and was situated in the plain of Aturia.?[18]

Strabo also lists several of the traditional cities (including Nineveh and 'Calachene' [Kalhu]) in the Assyrian heartland, which he calls ?Aturia?.

Mor Michael the Great, Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East (1166 - 1199), wrote[19] that those who inhabit the land to the west of the Euphrates River were properly called Syrians, and by analogy, all those who speak the same language, which he calls Aramaic (Aramaya / Oromoyo), both east and west of the Euphrates to the borders of Persia, are called Syrians. He continues that the basis of the Syriac language is from Edessa (Sanliurfa, Turkey). Even more interesting is his list[20] of the names of peoples who possessed writing. Among them are ?Aturayeh d-hawiyn Suryayeh / Othuroye d-hawiyn Suryoyeh? (?Assyrians?, i.e. ?Syrians?), by which presumably he means the ancient Assyrians, whom he identifies with his contemporary speakers of Syriac. This book by a learned native speaker shows the continuous equating of the terms ?Syrian? and ?Assyrian? for many Eastern Christians. His late Holiness, in his famous history book, also makes mention that, ?It has been shown by Assyrian and Chaldean kings that they used the Aramaic language and were familiar with its literature? and that, ?They are all, then, usually named; the Chaldeans by their old name and the Ashurayeh / Oshuroyeh, i.e. Athorayeh / Othuroyeh, are called after Ashur who settled Nineveh. This is what Eusebius says. The Jewish writer Josephus, calls Ashur Assur, as in the Greek language, and makes mention of, Assur, the ancestor of the Assurayeh / Ossuroyeh, who built Nineveh. He mentions that the Chaldeans are those that with the Assyrians (Assurayeh / Ossuroyeh) and Aramaeans form the Syriac (Suryayeh / Suryoyeh) people.?[21] The name Syrian was never used by Arabs to identify themselves with until the creation of the Syrian Arab Republic. Even then, they do not call themselves Syriani / Suryani (the name of the Christian ?Syrians?) but Suri.[22]

After many centuries, it is evident that the Syriac appellation had not really changed. Badger in early nineteenth century noted that the oldest and the most important Chaldean community in Diyarbakir could only boast of the name ?Sooraya? and ?Nestoraya?[23]. Even by the end of the nineteenth century Rassam concedes that, ?the peasantry do certainly call themselves ?Sooraya? and ?Msheehaya???[24]

It is also worth noting that the historically constant designation of the Assyrians by the Armenians, Turks and Persians is Asori / Asuri (Assyrian; an adjective meaning ?belonging to Ashur?). Horatio Southgate wrote the following about the Assyrians of the Kharput region, ?I began to make enquiries for the Syrians? I observed that the Armenians did not know them under the name which I used, Syriani; but called them ASSOURI, which struck me the more at the moment from its resemblance to our English name Assyrians, from whom they claim their origin, being sons, as they say, of Assour, (Asshur,)??[25] and ?Their common language in the district is Turkish, in which language it is that the Athour of the Syriac and Arabic is converted into Asour, and the Athouri of the Arabic, (Syriac, Othoroyo,) into Asouri, the common name of the Syrians.?[26]

Assyrians and the Aramaic Language

Dr. Brinkman states that in the 7th century BC, Aramaic had begun to replace Assyrian in Assyria and the king had to insist that letters from his officials be written in Assyrian and not Aramaic. He also theorises that the Aramaic language took over because of its simple alphabet as opposed to the 600-700 syllables of the Assyro-Babylonian language.[27] In fact it had attained such a high status in the Assyrian imperial period and was used so profusely by Assyrians that, as highly esteemed Assyriologist Dr. Simo Parpola relates, ?The Greek historian Thucydides reports that during the Peloponnesian wars (ca. 410 BC) the Athenians intercepted a Persian who was carrying a message from the Great King to Sparta. The man was taken prisoner, brought to Athens, and the letters he was carrying were translated ?from the Assyrian language?, which of course was Aramaic??[28]And so it becomes evident that, just as Aramaic was the Imperial Assyrian language, the very similar Syriac (or if one agrees with the Greek historians - Assyrian) also later became the ecclesiastical language of the Assyrian Eastern Churches.

Assyrian Continuity?
Anglican missionary, Rev. W. A. Wigram, in his book The Assyrians and Their Neighbours[29] (1929), writes, ?The Assyrian stock, still resident in the provinces about the ruins of Nineveh, where Mosul, Arbela, and Kirkuk were already great cities, seem to have been left to its own customs in the same way.?[30]

Esteemed Assyriologist, H.W.F. Saggs, Professor Emeritus of Semitic Languages of the University College at Cardiff, tells us of the continuity of the Assyrian identity from the fall of the Assyrian Empire and into the Christian era, in his book, The Might That Was Assyria[31]. He states that,

?The destruction of the Assyrian Empire did not wipe out its population. They were predominantly peasant farmers, and since Assyria contains some of the best wheat land in the Near East, descendants of the Assyrian peasants would, as opportunity permitted, build new villages over the old cities and carried on with agricultural life, remembering traditions of the former cities. After seven or eight centuries and after various vicissitudes, these people became Christians. These Christians, and the Jewish communities scattered amongst them, not only kept alive the memory of their Assyrian predecessors but also combined them with traditions from the Bible. The Bible, indeed, came to be a powerful factor in keeping alive the memory of Assyria and particularly of Nineveh. Nineveh was at the center of one of the most fascinating of the Old Testament legends, the story of the prophet Jonah who attempted in vain to escape the God-given duty of preaching to the great pagan capital. On part of the ruins of Nineveh there was a sacred mound, and this - probably originally an Assyrian temple - Christians and Jews came to identify with the spot where Jonah preached. A church was built on the site. When the Muslims conquered Mesopotamia in the seventh century AD, they adopted the local traditions of the Christians and Jews amongst whom they lived, and Jonah became significant to Muslims no less than to Jews and Christians. A mosque replaced the church but retained - and retains to this day - the association with Jonah.?[32]

Dr. John A. Brinkman[33] states that, ?For several centuries people lived in Assyria after the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (614-610 BC) and followed the Assyrian religion and can be classified as Assyrians.?[34]When asked if there was racial continuity in Assyria after the empire Dr. Brinkman replied, ?There is no reason to believe that there would be no racial or cultural continuity in Assyria since there is no evidence that the population of Assyria was removed.?[35]

The Historical Evidence

Dr. Brinkman makes mention of the fact that Assyrian cuneiform did not die out with the empire?s destruction, four Assyrian texts written by Assyrians in the Assyrian dialect and script being found at a site called Dur-Katlimmu (Sheikh Hamed), on the Khabour River in Syria. These are ?couched in Assyrian legal formulae? and date to the second and fifth years of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, i.e. from 603-600 BC, between nine and twelve years after the fall of Nineveh. So Assyrian cuneiform had survived the empire.[36] James Henry Breasted in his book; The Conquest of Civilization[37], mentions that, ?... the remnants of the Assyrian army fled westward and with Egyptian support held together for a short time...?[38]. Professor Saggs also says that, even after the empire?s fall, the Assyrians were ?not yet finished?[39]. Those of the Assyrian army that were able to flee Nineveh escaped hundreds of miles westward to Harran, where Ashur-Uballit II of the Assyrian royal family was proclaimed king of Assyria.

Konstantin Petrovich Matveev in his book The Assyrians and the Assyrian Question[40] writes that, ?It has been documented that Meneshe, an Assyrian prince, was able to escape towards the north during the fall of Nineveh and fortify in the mountains of Ashur.? (Translated from Arabic by Fred Aprim[41]). A report by Reuters from 1987, states that, ?The new evidence shows that rather than dispersing, surviving Assyrians formed small societies some distance away from their main cities.?[42] The new evidence refers to Assyrian Tells (mounds) in Iraq dating to the third century BC, three centuries after the fall of their empire. Dr. Brinkman also states that in the Assyrian religious capital Assur, Assyrians tried to keep the religion alive by rebuilding two shrines and reusing inscriptions and decorations from the old temples.[43] Rev. W. A. Wigram in his book The Assyrians and Their Neighbours also states that, ?At least they [the Assyrians] were there in days of Tiglath-Pileser I, the founder of the Assyrian Empire in the year 1000 BC, and they were there still in the year 400 BC, when Xenophon with his Greeks fought his way homeward through their mountains.?[44]

In 400 BC, a Greek general named Xenophon, employed by the Persian king Cyrus son of Darius, wrote his chronicle[45] as he and his 10,000 strong army retreated through Assyria along the river Tigris.He always comments on the plentiful supplies that were available, arguing a considerable production of grain. He writes that Assur, which was now called Kinai, was a prosperous city and that his army bought cheese and wine from the local inhabitants. It seems, from his writings, that many of the buildings and houses had survived the destruction of the city in 614 BC. He also wrote of many surviving villages in Kalhu, which was now called Larissa, and of a village called Mespila near a large undefended fortification, which may be identified with today?s Mosul.[46]By careful examination of the topography described by Xenophon, scholars have determined[47] that the fortification was the city of Nineveh, though under the eponymic name of Ninus. Mespila, on the other hand, as suggested by Hayim Tadmor[48] and Stephen A. Kaufman[49], is the Aramaic ?mashplah? as heard by Xenophon from the local population, meaning "the fallen one". The Assyrians living in Mosul have never forgotten that their city had a glorious past. As E.B. Soane wrote in 1892, ?The Mosul people, especially the Christians are very proud of their city and the antiquity of its surroundings. The Christians, regard themselves as ?direct descendants of the great rulers of Assyria?[50]

Documents show that when Hurmizd Rassam was negotiating with the authorities to excavate one of the two tells at Nineveh, he was told that its legal name was ?Ninua?. Though according to Xavier Koodapuzha, Mar Yuhannan Sulaqa, the first ?Chaldean? Patriarch, was proclaimed Patriarch of ?Mosul and Athour? on February 20th 1553 by Pope Julius III and Vatican documents originally refer to Sulaqa as the elected Patriarch of ?the Assyrian Nation.?[51] Henry Burgess explains that this should not sound odd as, ?In many Syriac manuscripts, Mosul is styled as Athour and it is not uncommon practice with ecclesiastical writers of the present day to use the same phraseology.?[52]Stephanie Dalley, though, writes that, ?In Syriac Church literature ?Athour? is the name of Mosul, on the bank of the Tigris opposite Nineveh; but it also designates a metropolitan see, including Mosul, Nineveh and other towns.?[53]

Dr. Brinkman also makes mention that the Romans captured Nineveh, which they called Ninus, in 115 BC and again in 200 AD when they set up the province, which they named Assyria.The temple of Nabu at Nineveh was also repaired in the first century AD. Assyrian, Aramaic, and Greek inscriptions have been found in Nineveh, dating to this time. Kalhu was also resettled and the temples rebuilt.Assur became a great and prosperous city again and the temple of Assur restored. The inhabitants, though, had now lost the idea of a ziggurat as a religious building and began to use it solely as a watchtower.All the gods of the Assyrian pantheon were still being worshipped 800 years after the fall of the Assyrian empire.[54] This is backed up by esteemed archaeologist and historian Georges Roux in his book Ancient Iraq.[55]

Between the second century BC and third century AD, authors Patricia Crone and Michael Cook state in their book Hagarism[56] that,

?Assyria? had been left virtually alone by the Achaemenids and Seleucids; condemned to oblivion by the outside world, it could recollect its own glorious past in a certain tranquillity. Consequently when the region came back into the focus of history under the Parthians, it was with an Assyrian, not a Persian let alone Greek, self-identification: the temple of Ashur was restored, the city was rebuilt, and an Assyrian successor state returned in the shape of the client kingdom of Adiabene.?[57]

Georges Roux, the author of Ancient Iraq[58], mentions that after the introduction of Christianity into Assyria, ?We know that some of the ancient temples were restored, that Ashur was worshipped in his home town, that a cult was rendered to Nabu in Borsippa until, perhaps, the fourth century AD.?

Roux further states that, "After the fall of Assyria, however, its actual name was gradually transferred to Syria. Thus, in the Babylonian version of Darius I inscriptions, Susa f, Eber-nari ("across-the-river," i.e. Syria, Palestine and Phoenicia) corresponds to the Persian and Elamite Athura (Assyria). Besides, in the Behistun inscription, Izalla, the region of Syria renowned for its wine, is assigned to Athura.? (Izalla or Izla / Izlo is the southern part of the Tur-?Abdin region in which is the famous monastery of St. Eugenius)

Assyrians and Syriac Christianity

Aziz Suryal Atiya, a historian and professor of history, discusses the origin of Syriac / Assyrian Christianity under the heading of ?Age of Legend? thus, ?Assyrian or Syriac traditions link the establishment of Syrian [the Greek for Assyrian] Christianity with the earliest Apostolic age. Some even assert that the evangelization of Edessa occurred within the lifetime of Jesus Christ himself. Accordingly, the Nestorians promoted three legends in support of that contention while relating them to the three Magi and their visit to the infant Jesus, the story of King Abgar of Edessa, and the Acts of St. Thomas the Apostle... Whatever the historicity of those legends may be, the moral is that the roots of Assyrian Christianity are deep in antiquity. Though it may be hard to accept the hypothesis of Abgar V?s conversion around the middle of the first century AD, Abgar VIII (176-213) is known to have been a Christian from the testimony of Sextus Julius Africanus, who visited his court.?[59]

We read in ?Edessa the Blessed City?[60] by J.B. Segal that Abgar the black of the first century AD wrote a letter to Narsai King of Assyria. Historical evidence indicates that Narsai King of Adiabene also known as King of Assyria was a contemporary of the Abgar the Great (177-204 AD). Reportedly the Parthians drowned Narsai in the Great Zab for his pro-Roman symphaties.[61]

A reference from the Encyclopedia Britannica CD 98 takes one back to the fourth century AD of Assyrian Christianity. ?Aphraates became a convert to Christianity during the reign of the anti-Christian Persian king Shapur II (309-379), after which he led a monastic life, possibly at the monastery of St. Matthew near Mosul, Iraq... insulated from the intellectual currents traversing the Greco-Roman ecclesiastical world, the "Homilies" manifest a teaching indigenous to early Assyrian Judeo-Christianity.?

The history of the Assyrian Churches has no shortage of names of martyrs who affixed Assyrian to their names from the early days of Christianity. We read of Tatian the Assyrian, a philosopher who was born in AD 130, and Mar Behnam and his sister Sarah, the children of Sennacherib, king of Ashur, who were martyred in AD 352.[62]

Rev. Aubrey R. Vine in his book The Nestorian Churches[63] mentions that the Church of the East had Metropolitan Sees at Nisibis and Adiabene (Arbil) and Bishoprics at Nineveh and Singara, all formerly Assyrian imperial cities.[64]

Philip Hitti, Professor of Semitic literature at Princeton University, in his book History of Syria[65], writes that, ?Before the rise of Islam the Syrian (Suryani) Christian Church had split into several communities. There was first the East Syrian Church or the Church of the East. This communion, established in the late second century, claims uninterrupted descent in its teachings, liturgy, consecration and tradition from the time the Edessene King Abgar allegedly wrote to Christ asking him to relieve him of an incurable disease and Christ promised to send him one of his disciples after his ascension. This is the church erroneously called Nestorian, after the Cilician Nestorius, whom it antedates by about two and a half centuries...?[66] Hitti continues later, ?The East Syrian Church was represented at the beginning of the First World War by? members domiciled around Urmiyah, al-Mawsil (Mosul) and central Kurdistan. Those who survived have since drifted into Iraq and Syria. As an ethnic group they would rather be called Assyrians, an appellation that does not seem inappropriate when the physical features of many of them are compared with the Assyrian type as portrayed on the monuments.?[67]

Conclusion

The Assyrian nation, apart from undergoing an ongoing genocide, has also suffered a cultural genocide that has attacked the Assyrian identity and questioned its origins and unity as a people. Assyrians have come to be called Nestorians, Chaldeans, Jacobites, Syriacs, Syrians, Maronites and Melkites through religious influences and by the governments that now rule over portions of what is their ancestral homeland. As esteemed social anthropologist Dr. Arian Ishaya of UCLA in her paper Intellectual Domination and the Assyrians[68] states, there are different ways of dominating a people, those most direct being to take hold of their land and resources, deny them statehood, and force their manpower to do the labour work or fight the battles of the conqueror. But she also mentions that domination may also come in a more indirect, abstract form which is intellectual, this form being the most dangerous as it penetrates the victim?s inner feelings and thoughts. Thus, she determines, the victim remains unaware and willingly subjugates itself to intellectual domination.[69]

Dr. Ishaya goes on to point out that, last century the Assyrians fell victim to the wave of western Orientalism that swept the world, which attacked the culture of the ?Easterners? and was an era when numerous diplomats and missionary movements attempted to ?civilise? them. In the twentieth century, though, social scientists and academics replaced the missionaries or the diplomats of the previous century as the ?experts? on the Assyrians. But although the experts have changed, the orientalist bias is still there, and reappears in a new guise. If one examines recent manuscripts and publications on the Assyrians one will notice that it has become almost fashionable for most dissertations, books, or articles to either directly or indirectly start with the question: ?Are contemporary Assyrians really Assyrian?? Some claims from certain groups thus question the linkage of today?s Assyrians to those of antiquity. We hear of claims hinting that the Assyrians of antiquity simply disappeared and vanished from the face of the earth after the fall of their last capital in 612 BC, while, others imply that today?s Assyrians are different peoples, and it just happened that they coincidentally acquired that name some 150 years ago. One good example may be found in The Church of the East and the Church of England[70] by J.F. Coakley. This question is then followed by a painstaking comparison of the racial and cultural traits of the Assyrians of today with the remnants of archaeological relics to establish if the historical continuity between the two exists or not!

In Dr. Ishaya?s opinon, ?What these scholars and some of their readers do not seem to realize is that to question the legitimacy of the name of today?s Assyrians is not a ?scientific? act; it is a political one, because this is the type of question that the colonial powers raise to deny the territorial and cultural rights of several dominated peoples.?[71]

Dr. Ishaya then continues to mention the Kurds in Turkey, the Africans in South Africa and the Assyrians in Iraq, within the borders of which, the heartland of ancient Assyria lies. All of these peoples face the same problem. Their very name is denied so as to deny their national legitimacy. For the Turkish government the Kurds are ?Mountain Turks?, and for the Afrikaners, the former white ruling minority of South Africa, the native Africans were just diverse Bantu tribes, and not a single people. In the same way the Assyrians are merely ?Syriac-speaking Christians" from the perspective of the Arab Ba?athist government of Iraq, which also calls them Arab or Kurdish Christians. What Dr. Ishaya does not address is that the Turkish government also denies its Assyrian population the right to a national identity, calling them ?Semite-Turks? or ?Turco-Semites? or even, derogatorily, ?Armenians?.[72]

Dr. Ishaya goes on to state that it is evident, in view of these facts, that, ? ? scholars, by posing the very question of identity, are providing the ruling powers with a weapon to use against their minorities. What other purpose can an utterly unscientific question serve? Why is the question unscientific? Because there has been a tremendous amount of cultural and racial admixture among human societies through the centuries. Cultural and racial continuity is impossible to be established for ANY national group.

Moreover, during the 20th century old nations have been dismantled and new ones created without any regard to cultural and historical realities - as a glance on the map of Europe readily shows. In Europe after World War I people who shared the same language and culture were torn apart to constitute different ?nations? and people with diverse linguistic and racial characteristics forcefully sandwiched together to form one nation. And since the arrangement suited the superpowers, no questions are asked as to the legitimacy of these nations on cultural or historical grounds and yet the Assyrians are on the millstone for those very reasons!?[73]

The Assyrians call themselves and other people of Syriac-speaking heritage Assyrians for a very simple and convincing reason: they are the age-old inhabitants of ancient Assyria. It is their homeland. They have churches there that date as far back as third and fourth century AD and still others, such as St. Mary at Kharput[74] and St. Mary at Urmia[75], that are of apostolic foundation. That is sufficient and says it all. There is no need to engage in the inconclusive argument of racial and cultural purity. When any nation says that it is what it is, it is that because its forefathers inhabited that region since time immemorial. The Assyrians say they are Assyrians because their forefathers inhabited Assyria and the French say that France is their homeland because they have lived there for many centuries. One claim is as valid as the other. What makes the French claim more respectable and that of the Assyrians questionable isn?t science. It is politics pure and simple. Thus, Dr. Ishaya concludes, ? ? the question of whether the contemporary Assyrians are Assyrians, should never be asked. When a scholar makes that a topic of research, he is playing POLITICAL GAME in the guise of science. There is no excuse for the academics to remain naive any longer. The scholars have no choice but to decide what they want to do with their profession: put it in the service of the people or use it to promote the interest of the ruling powers. Whatever choice they make, they can be sure that they can no longer fool the people.?[76]

Thank you!


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[1] Korbani, Agnes G. (1995), The Political Dictionary of the Modern Middle East, Lanham, Md.: University Press of America

[2] ?But if it be maintained, that the modern Nestorians are descendants of the ancient Chaldeans, and may therefore justly lay claim to the title, no valid objection can be urged against the assumption; but in this national acceptance of the term, the Nestorian proselytes to Rome, the Jacobites, Sabeans, Yezeedees, and many of the Coords of this district, may with equal right take to themselves the appelative, there being as much proof to establish their descent from the Chaldeans of old, or rather the Assyrians, as there is in the case of the Nestorians.? p. 179

Badger, G.P. (1987), The Nestorians and their rituals : with the narrative of a mission to

Mesopotamia and Coordistan in 1842-1844, and of a late visit to those countries in 1850 : also, researches into the present condition of the Syrian Jacobites, Papal Syrians, and Chaldeans, and an inquiry into the religious tenets of the Yezeedees

London : Darf Publishers

[3] The fact that Assyrians inhabit or once inhabited these areas is well attested by the varied accounts of travellers such as Austen Henry Layard, George Percy Badger, E.B. Soane, Justin Perkins, the Wigrams,

Lord Warkworth, Lady Bishop, F.N. Heazell, Asahel Grant, W.H. Browne and countless others.

[4] ?[the Nestorians and Chaldeans] call themselves Sooraye (Syrians), and their language Soorith (Syriac).?Op. cit. no. 2, p. 178

[5] Figure 1.1, p.4 of Demovic, M. & Baker, C. (1999), New Kingdom Egypt South Melbourne: Addison Wesley Longman, 1999

[6] As demonstrated in ?The Fluidity of Language? table, p. 185 of Rohl, D. (1998), Legend: the Genesis of Civilisation

London: Random House

[7] Quoting Mar Toma Oddo on p. 69 of Dr. Pera Sarmas (1965), Who Are We? Assyrian Youth Cultural Society Press: Tehran, Iran

[8] Ibid., p.69

[9] An extensive study of this particular dialect has been published by esteemed scholar of Aramaic, Otto Jastrow (1994), Der neuaram?ische Dialekt von Mlahs?

Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz

[10] This explanation is also advocated by Dr. Pera Sarmas op. cit. no. 7, pp. 68-70

[11] Charles H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Mesopotamian History in the Oriental Institute and in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations at the University of Chicago, Editor of

the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary and Curator of the Oriental Institute?s Cuneiform Tablet Collection.

[12] Dr. Brinkman in a lecture entitled Assyrians After the Empire, held at the Mesopotamian Museum in Chicago on January 17, 1999, hosted by the Assyrian Academic Society in conjunction with the

museum. This is mentioned at http://aas.net/brinkman.htm

[13] Professor Richard N. Frye of Harvard University, USA Ethnic Name Designations: the Case of the Assyrians

The Assyrian Australian Academic Journal, Vol. 4 (July 1999)

Sydney: TAAAS

p. 7

[14] Ibid, 7-8
[15] The Encyclopedia Americana, International ed. (c1986) Danbury, Conn.: Grolier

[16] Herodotus, translation by Aubrey de S?lincourt (1972), Herodotus: The Histories Harmondsworth: Penguin Books

[17] Herodotus, trans. Harry Carter (1958), The History of Herodotus New York: The Heritage Press

[18] P. 195 (16. I. 2-3) of Strabo, translated by Horace Jones (1917), The Geography of Strabo London : W. Heinemann ; New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons

[19] His Holiness Patriarch Mor Michael the Great (1899), The Book of the Histories Paris

[20] Ibid, Vol. 1, p. 32

[21] Ibid, p. 748

[22] Assad Sauma-Assad, The Origin of the Word Suryoyo-Syrian The Harp, Vol. VI No. 3 (December 1993)

Kottayam, India: SEERI

p. 171-172

[23] Op. Cit. no. 2, p. 180

[24]Rassam, H. (1897), Asshur and the Land of Nimrod London

[25] Southgate, H. (1844) Narrative of a Visit to the Syrian [Jacobite] Church of Mesopotamia : With Statements and Reflections Upon the Present State of Christianity in Turkey and the

Character and Prospects of the Eastern Churches

New York: D. Appleton

p. 80

[26] Ibid, p. 87

[27] Op. Cit. no. 12

[28] In Assyrians After Assyria by Dr. Simo Parpola. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol. XIII No. 2, 1999

Published at Chicago, USA

[29] Rev. W.A. Wigram (1929), The Assyrians and Their Neighbours London

[30] Ibid, p. 26

[31] H.W.F. Saggs (1984), The Might That Was Assyria London: Sidgwick & Jackson

[32] Ibid, p. 290

[33] Op. cit. no.12

[34] Ibid

[35] Ibid

[36] Ibid; also Assyria 1995: Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Symposium of the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project / Helsinki, September 7-11, 1995.

[37] Breasted, H.J. (1954), The Conquest of Civilization New York, Harper & Row, 1954

[38] Ibid, p.175

[39] Op. cit. no. 29, p. 120

[40] Qustantin Bitrufij Matfif Barmti (1989), al-Ashuriyun wa-al-mas'alah al-Ashuriyah fi al-`asr alhadith

Dimishq : al-Ahali lil-Tiba`ah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi`

[41] http://www.nineveh.com/continuity.htm

[42] Printed in Nabu Magazine, Vol. 3, Issue 1 (1997)

[43] Op. cit. no. 12

[44] Op. cit. no. 27, p. 7

[45] The Persian Expedition by Xenophon text, with introduction and notes by Jeremy Antrich and Stephen Usher

Bristol : Bristol Classical Press, [1981?]

[46] Op. cit. no. 12

[47] Also based on narratives in Ktesias, as preserved in Diodorus Siculus (II: 26-27)

[48] Tadmor, H. (c. 1991), Ah, Assyria: studies in Assyrian history and ancient Near Eastern historiography

Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University [49] Kaufman, S.A. (1974),The Akkadian influences on Aramaic

Chicago : University of Chicago Press

[50] Soane, E.B. To Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in Disguise John Murray: London, 1912

p. 92

[51] Koodapuzha, Xavier Faith and Communion in the Indian Church of St. Thomas Christians

Oriental Institute of Religious Studies: Kerala, India

p. 59

[52] Burgess, Henry The Repentance of Nineveh Sampson Low: Son and Co., London, (1853)

p. 36

[53] Dalley, Stephanie (1993) Nineveh After 612 BC

Alt-Orientanlische Forshchungen #20

p.134

[54] Op. cit. no. 12

[55] Roux, Georges (1964), Ancient Iraq Great Britain: Allen & Unwin Ltd.
p. 351-352

[56] Patricia Crone and Michael Cook (1977), Hagarism

Malta: Interprint

[57] Ibid, p. 55

[58] Op. cit. no. 53, p. 353

[59] Aziz Suryal Atiya (1968), A History of Eastern Christianity London: Methuen

[60] Segal, Judah Benzion (1970), Edessa ?The Blessed City? Oxford : Clarendon Press

[61] Ibid, pp. 70, 79

[62] Read Poutrus Nasri (1974), History of Syriac Literature Cairo

[63] Rev. Aubrey R. Vine (1937), The Nestorian Churches: a Concise History of Nestorian Christianity in Asia from the Persian Schism to the Modern Assyrians

London: [s.n.]
[64] Ibid, p. 57

[65] Hitti, Philip Khuri (1957), History of Syria, including Lebanon and Palestine Macmillan; St. Martin's P.: London, New York

[66] Ibid, p. 517

[67] Ibid, p. 519

[68] Intellectual Domination and the Assyrians, Nineveh Magazine, Vol. 6 No. 4 (Fourth Quarter 1983), published in Berkeley, California.

Dr. Arian Ishaya wrote this article when she was a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at the University of

California, Los Angeles.

[69] Ibid

[70] J.F. Coakley (1992), The Church of the East and the Church of England : a History of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Assyrian Mission

Oxford [England]: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press. [71] Op. cit. no. 66

[72] pp. 13-16 Des Suryoye vus par le ?Turkish Daily News?? / Suryoye Seen by the ?Turkish daily News??, Droits de l?homme: Sans Frontiers ? Journal Europeen des Droits de l?homme, 9e annee no.

1-2 / 1997, published in Brussels, Belgium

[73] Op. cit. no. 66

[74] Horatio Southgate confirms this whan he writes that, ?The priest informed me that the Church was built originally by the Apostle Adi, or Thaddeus?? op. cit. no. 23, p. 86

[75] Arthur John Maclean and William Henry Browne write, ?It is said to have been built by the Magi, and to contain the tomb of one of them.? In The Catholicos of the East and his People: being the impressions

of five years' work in the "Archbishop of Caterbury's Assyrian mission," an account of the

religious and secular life and opinions of the Eastern Syrian Christians of Kurdistan and Northern

Persia (known also as Nestorians) , London : S.P.C.K. ; New York : E. & J.B. Young. This point is also

supported by Dr. Abraham Yohannan (1916) in The Death of a Nation, or, The Ever Persecuted

Nestorians or Assyrian Christians, New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, where he openly states this fact

and mentions it in the caption under the picture of the church.

[76] Op. cit. no. 66

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R H

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Posts: 486 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

Locksley
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Member # 1548

posted 08-02-2004 08:59 AM
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Security Tightened at Financial Centers
Government Warns Terrorists May Try to Target Economy
By KATHERINE PFLEGER SHRADER, AP

NEW YORK (Aug. 2) -- Federal authorities had prominent financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, N.J., under heavy scrutiny Monday after unusually detailed information on a purported al-Qaida plot prompted them to raise the government's terror alert.





The government acted on intelligence that Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge called alarmingly specific, but he said officials could not tell whether an attack might be imminent and he encouraged people to go about their business.

''We have to go on being America,'' he said on ABC's ''Good Morning America.'' ''We can't button up and be what we're not.''

A cache of recently obtained information - including photos, drawings and written documents - indicates that al-Qaida operatives have undertaken meticulous preparations to case five specific buildings: The Citigroup Center building and the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington and Prudential Financial Inc.'s headquarters in Newark.

Ridge on Sunday raised the terror threat level for financial institutions in the three cities to orange, or high alert, the second highest level on the government's five-point spectrum. Elsewhere, he said, the alert would remain at yellow, or elevated.



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Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge holds a press conference on the threats.

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''Iconic economic targets are at the heart of (the terrorists') interest,'' Ridge said.

The fresh intelligence did not give crucial details about when, where or how terrorists may strike, Ridge said, but government analysis indicates terrorists may favor car or truck bombs or other means to physically destroy targets.

In New York, police were banning trucks, starting Monday, from the Manhattan-bound side of the Williamsburg Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. Commercial vehicles also were banned from the inbound of the Holland Tunnel from New Jersey, among other measures.

In Newark, police set up metal fences surrounding the Prudential Plaza building, blocked off two city streets and toted assault rifles.

And in Washington, Mayor Anthony Williams put the entire city on an orange alert, although the Homeland Security Department has not officially raised the threat level outside financial-sector buildings. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said teams of bomb-sniffing dogs would sweep areas around the World Bank and IMF headquarters, and officers will conduct more traffic stops of large vehicles in the area.

Officials have warned that the al-Qaida network, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, may launch a large-scale assault in hopes of disrupting the Nov. 2 elections and demonstrating that it remains capable of offensive actions despite international efforts to combat terrorism.


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An example of that international cooperation, Sunday's warning stems in large part from Pakistan's capture of an al-Qaida operative several weeks ago, a U.S. counterterrorism official said, speaking only anonymously. Officials would not identify the operative.

That detention led to the discovery of the documentary information about the extensive surveillance of the five buildings, the counterterrorism official said. The official said the scouting was going on before and after Sept. 11, 2001, but it's unclear how recently.

That information was also discovered in Pakistan. Ridge would not comment on specific sources of the intelligence, but he credited strong partnerships with allies around the world, specifically citing Pakistan.

Pakistan's information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, told The Associated Press on Monday that Pakistani intelligence agents discovered plans for new attacks on the United States and Britain on a computer seized during the arrest of a high-ranking al-Qaida operative.

He said the plans were in e-mails on the computer of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian arrested July 25 after a gunbattle in the eastern city of Gujrat.


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Authorities have also arrested another top al-Qaida suspect believed to be a computer and communications expert, and that that man was cooperating with investigators, Ahmed said.

A senior intelligence official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the intelligence gathered from several sources indicated scouting had been done to identify security in and around these buildings; the best places for reconnaissance; how to make contact with employees who work in the buildings; traffic patterns; and locations of hospitals and police departments.

Examples of the detail the official cited: midweek pedestrian traffic counts of 14 people per minute on each side of the street for a total of 28 people. The official said he had not seen such extraordinary detail in his 24 years in intelligence work.

Officials in New York, New Jersey and Washington encouraged people to continue their normal activities but remain vigilant. All the buildings identified as potential targets were to open for business.

Local authorities in Washington said additional security measures were being put in place at the IMF and World Bank, as well as at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where the nation's paper currency is produced, and the Federal Reserve, the most potent symbol of America's financial strength.


08-02-04 0831 EDT

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press

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Al Qaeda Seeks to Disrupt U.S. Economy, Experts Warn
By DON VAN NATTA Jr. and LESLIE WAYNE

Published: August 2, 2004


he five financial buildings in New York, Washington and Newark singled out as terrorist targets were barricaded yesterday behind fences, flanked by armed police officers and otherwise sealed up. The extra security reflected both the new threats and a growing reality that the country's financial institutions were becoming increasingly attractive targets for terrorist attack.
Al Qaeda's leaders have spoken more openly in recent months about using terrorist attacks to disrupt the American and world economies, counterterrorism officials and experts saidyesterday.

Since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden has implored terrorists on several occasions to strike targets that will harm the economy in the United States and elsewhere. But a man claiming to be Mr. bin Laden went even further in a tape-recorded statement released April 29, saying that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks devastated the American economy and the United States government's budget. For the first time, it appeared, Mr. bin Laden estimated the economic impact by citing specific statistics.

"After the strike of the New York blessed days, thanks to God, their losses exceed a trillion dollars," the recording said in assessing the overall damage to the American economy. "Their budgets have been in deficits for the third year in a row."

In recent weeks, on Web sites and in chat rooms connected to Al Qaeda, statements have highlighted the economic impact of past terror strikes, including the train bombings on March 11 in Madrid that killed 191 people.

One recent Web site message attributed to a Qaeda affiliate hailed the "disruption" to the economy of several recent attacks. "As a result of the blessed strikes in Madrid, for instance, the entire European economy suffered," the message read.

Financial institutions, already under tightened security since the Sept. 11 attacks, were taking additional precautions following yesterday's announcement from Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warning of terrorist plans to strike the five buildings.

In Washington, the two institutions identified as targets, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, said they had taken additional security measures, including the addition of two bomb-sniffing dog units to patrol the World Bank. Both institutions are just blocks from the White House.

At the Newark headquarters of Prudential Financial, identified as another target, police officers armed with assault rifles have been put into place, and a two-block radius around the firm has been sealed off.

Many financial institutions were reluctant to discuss their security measures, saying that merely to be identified as a potential target might draw attention to them. Others said they were worried that Mr. Ridge had publicly identified this group, rather than warning them in private. Mr. Ridge's public action, they said, could become self-fulfilling, almost daring terrorists to attack.

"We don't want to raise our heads, because that could put lives at risk," said an official at one financial firm who asked not to be identified.

Counterterrorism officials and experts said they had noticed a shift in the statements attributed to Al Qaeda's leaders, and their allies, in recent months. They talk less about the symbolism of attacks, and much more about the practical effects, they said. "An attack on Citibank headquarters in New York would still make a powerful statement, but it would also have huge consequences for the economy," one official said.

The desire by Al Qaeda's leaders to inflict economic damage on the United States, Britain and other Western countries is not a new goal, several officials said yesterday. But the unusual decision by Mr. Ridge to identify five individual buildings that he said were live targets seemed to surprise several counterterrorism officials based in Europe.

An Arab intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said intelligence accumulated since even before the Sept. 11 attacks showed that Al Qaeda and its affiliates wanted to attack financial institutions. "This was not something that was just learned yesterday," the official said.

However, the official said there had been a spike in recent intelligence pointing to financial targets. He said he believed that two banks in New York were specific targets, although he declined to identify them. He also said intelligence showed that Al Qaeda and its affiliates wanted to bomb banks in Britain and Switzerland. "They don't just want to attack buildings - they want to attack the financial structure of the United States, Britain and other European countries," the official said.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, terrorists have struck economic targets numerous times. The October 2002 bombings in Bali were intended to harm the tourist industry. Last November, terrorists bombed the Turkish headquarters of HSBC, the London-based international bank, as part of coordinated attacks in several locations in Istanbul, including the British Consulate, that killed a total of 62 people. And in recent months, terrorists in Saudi Arabia have struck at the infrastructure of the oil industry.


"They know they are hitting the Saudi system at its most sensitive points, because of what the price of oil means to the American economy and the world economy," Michael Chandler, the former chairman of the United Nations Monitoring Group concerning Al Qaeda, said yesterday. "They are not stupid, these guys. They have some very good ideas, and they know what will have an impact.''Experts Praise Narrow Focus of Terrorism Warning
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, AP

WASHINGTON (Aug. 2) - The government's uniquely detailed warning to financial institutions raises questions about the next step for terrorists and defenders, even as it may deter this bombing plot.

There was wide praise for the detail and narrow focus of the warning Sunday to a handful of financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, N.J. - even among security experts and former counterintelligence officials who had criticized previous terrorism warnings as too vague or perhaps politically motivated.

In the long run, the plot and the warning raise such questions as: Couldn't the al-Qaida network easily shift such a truck bomb plot to nearby targets that were not warned? How far should security against truck bombs go in closing streets? Will al-Qaida begin letting U.S. agents discover detailed false plots to divert attention from real ones, or has it already?

The short-run outlook was more optimistic.

"If I worked in one of those buildings, I would feel very safe now," and not just because their security will be tightened, said Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism chief. "Given that it's captured material and now made public, there's a good chance it won't happen. Al-Qaida has to realize the mission has been compromised."

Among the extraordinary detail that al-Qaida operatives had assembled about potential target buildings, a senior intelligence official said:

Architectural elements that might prevent collapse; a count of 14 pedestrians per minute along the sidewalk outside one building at midweek; locations of security checkpoints inside buildings and identification of days when fewer guards worked or elevators were off.

That level of detail suggests U.S. agents got hold of a surveillance report and operational plan of the kind prepared for Osama bin Laden's personal approval before big attacks, Cannistraro said.

A similarly detailed operational plan covering targets in Singapore and prepared for top-level al-Qaida approval was captured during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, but the ouster of al-Qaida from its normal bases there apparently aborted that plan, he said.

American targets as prominent as those disclosed Sunday represent the kind of ambitious attack al-Qaida's leaders long for and might be unwilling to risk after a public warning, Cannistraro said.

The government's willingness to cite specific buildings as targets "is a step forward, compared to the past when they just waved a red flag and said `al-Qaida's coming, al-Qaida's coming'," said I.C. Smith, a retired FBI field office chief who spent most of his 25-year career in counterintelligence.

"You are going to end up with some awfully nervous people who work in and around those buildings," Smith said, instead of citizens mystified over what to do about the vaguer earlier warnings.

But if the captured data isn't outdated or part of a discarded plot, the warning could abort a planned truck bombing, Smith said. A counterterrorism official, requesting anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity, said al-Qaida operatives conducted the vulnerability assessments in the captured material both before and after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Smith said authorities need to be alert for possible al-Qaida deception. "Someday they are going to send us indications they are going one way and then go another way," he said.

John Pike, a defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, said Sunday's alert "was outstanding compared to previous ones. At least I know which buildings to stay away from."

But the proximity of the target buildings to the street raised questions in Pike's mind. Would Pennsylvania Avenue be closed outside the World Bank? Washington police planned tighter vehicle checks but did not immediately close any streets.

"And all the enemy has to do is dial down its list of prominent targets," Pike added. "If they can't reach the World Bank, maybe they'll go for the Federal Reserve or the FBI," both only a handful of blocks away in either direction.

At some point, he said, "if you going to try to defend all the high-value targets in Washington from truck bombs, you might turn the entire federal core into a pedestrian mall."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Michael J. Sniffen has covered intelligence and law enforcement in Washington for 30 years.


08/02/04 04:16 EDT

Copyright 2004 The Associated PressOfficials Say Their Focus Is on Car and Truck Bombs
By DAVID JOHNSTON and ANDREW C. REVKIN

Published: August 2, 2004


ASHINGTON, Aug. 1 - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on Sunday that federal authorities believed terrorist plotters were conducting intense surveillance intending to destroy a large financial institution using a car or truck bomb, the most reliable and still one of the most deadly weapons in Al Qaeda's improvised arsenal.


Mr. Ridge said analysts had determined that whoever was behind the scouting operations planned to use a bomb-laden vehicle. "Based on what we've gleaned so far, the preferred method of attack or what's being suggested in the reporting is car and truck bombs - the physical destruction or attempted physical destruction of these facilities,'' he said, adding that security would be tightened in the vicinity of specific buildings that have been under surveillance by unidentified terrorists.

The concern about truck and car bombs was apparent in an announcement by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which said that beginning at 12:01 a.m. Monday, commercial traffic would be indefinitely banned from the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River. The possibility that terrorists might use car or truck bombs indicated how vulnerable buildings and their inhabitants remain to such weapons - whose devastating power was first brought home to many Americans in April 1995, when two men with little technical training or money detonated a fertilizer and fuel-oil bomb packed in a rental truck outside the Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds of others.

Vulnerabilities to terrorism still permeate the American trucking industry, experts and industry officials say. The gaps are particularly worrisome, they have said, because trucks laden with fuel, explosives or both have proved to be a popular mobile weapon, used from Oklahoma City to Baghdad, from Tunisia to Israel.

"We still do live in a very vulnerable situation," said Clifford J. Harvison, the president of National Tank Truck Carriers, a trade association representing 200 companies with 60,000 trucks used to haul fuels, chemicals and other liquid products.

Most of the attacks carried out by Al Qaeda since the mid-1990's have used cars, trucks or boats packed with dynamite, military explosives or even crude materials like ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. In some bombs, like those used in the Bali attacks carried out by a Qaeda affiliate in 2002 that killed more than 200 people, propane tanks were packed into the vehicles to create an even more terrifying fireball effect.

Sometimes the bombs have been detonated by suicide attackers, sometimes by remote control. There have also been instances in which officials have said they suspect some drivers were blown up by remote control to make an attack appear as if it was carried out by a Qaeda follower on a "martyrdom mission.''

In part, counterterrorism officials say, they believe the apparent preparations they uncovered involved a car or truck bomb because the suspected target buildings and meticulous scouting operations, as described by officials on Sunday, suggest Al Qaeda was planning precisely such an attack.

One senior official said intelligence gathered from several sources indicated that surveillance had been conducted to identify security in place at these buildings, the best positions for reconnaissance, architectural plans for the buildings, and days when there might be gaps in security. Moreover, counterterrorism officials say, they believe the people involved in the latest threat lack the technical and organizational skill required for more exotic types of weapons.

In addition, car bombs are cheap and relatively easy to build using stolen or legally purchased chemicals and using rudimentary designs that were taught at several of Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan- like the remote-control bombs used in March in the commuter train attacks in Madrid.

Some initiatives to cut the risks of truck attacks have moved ahead.

Trucking companies are now required to have corporate-wide programs in place to secure their fleets and spot potential terrorists or suspicious activities like someone scouting out a fuel depot.

Mr. Harvison said the program was proving effective and companies faced random audits. At any time, he said, federal transportation officials "will walk into a carrier's headquarters and say, 'We want to see your security program and training records of individuals who've attended security sessions.' "

A 1998 trucking-safety program, Highway Watch, has been transformed into a security program and in March was bolstered with $19.3 million from the Transportation Security Administration to train 400,000 people.

The program includes a staffed office handling hot-line calls from truckers, said Mike Russell, a spokesman for the American Trucking Association, the largest trade group for the industry.

But many security experts say these types of efforts, while helpful, cannot possibly plug the many gaps in the country's vast trucking network, with more than 2.6 million tractor-trailers rolling on highways every day.

Such experts, and some truck drivers, say truckers still frequently take rest stops by parking on a darkened highway ramp or in a corner of a parking lot. In cold weather, trucks are often left running while a driver seeks a cup of coffee or a meal.


David Johnston reported from Washington for this article, and Andrew C. Revkin from New York.
We're not going to let threats or this kind of information turn us into Fortress America," Tom Ridge, the homeland security secretary, said on Sunday as he raised the threat level for the financial sector in New York, northern New Jersey and Washington. "We're going to keep on being America."

But what kind of country has America already become in this strange and episodic semi-war? One that just escaped a week of the Democratic National Convention in Boston unscathed, or one that must yet fear the worst when the Republicans gather in New York at the end of the month? One that is safer for being forewarned, or more at risk for unknown months to come?

There is no ready answer, no simple response.

For all its frightening precision - a possible truck or car bomb at the New York Stock Exchange or Citigroup in Manhattan, the headquarters of Prudential Financial in Newark and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank here - the warning means one thing for the thousands of people who work in those buildings or live near them, quite another for the millions more who live in the same region, and still another for the rest of the nation.

"If there's a plane on the way, or a bomb outside, I'm not going to go into it," Thomas Schwartz, 20, in Washington for a job interview, said as he walked by the White House, just blocks from the World Bank, where police cars with flashing lights stood like silent sentinels. "But I'm not going to be changing my lifestyle or sweating bullets for terrorists. That's what they want."

A show of similar bravado led the New York Stock Exchange to announce that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg would ring the opening bell on Monday, and all the threatened institutions urged their employees to come to work, promising stepped-up but unspecified security measures. "You should go about your business," Mr. Bloomberg said.

In one sense, such advice is obvious. But in ways that are harder to measure, it may not be easy to follow. In recent months, as Mr. Ridge's periodic warnings bounced back and forth from orange to yellow without a new attack, some commentators found the whole scheme easy to mock. Earlier, internal warnings to police departments about possible instruments of terror (crop-dusting planes, scuba gear) or about targets themselves (strip malls, the Golden Gate Bridge) invariably seeped out, again without disaster in their wake.

But Mr. Ridge's personal and public warning, delivered Sunday to television audiences in the midst of baseball games and other national pastimes, seemed an altogether different matter, even for the vast majority of Americans who would not be affected in immediate or concrete ways.

"Outside of New York and Washington, this is a national problem and not a personal problem," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press here. "When terrorist warnings are elevated, people understandably react to them, but not to the point of paralysis. However, I wonder what will happen if there's a continuing drumbeat about an attack before the election."

That is a possibility that might play out at many levels.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, doubtless spoke for much of official Washington and the public when he said on "Late Edition" on CNN that he doubted President Bush or Mr. Ridge "would raise an alert level and scare people for political reasons."

But in a larger sense, a big part of the current election is a real and sharp debate about how best to respond to the threat of terrorism in a post-Sept. 11 world, and whether Mr. Bush has made the nation safer or more at risk through his actions. The commission on the Sept. 11 attacks recently questioned the utility of declaring war on terror without also addressing the causes of poverty, anti-Americanism and violent fundamentalism in the Muslim world.

In that debate, Mr. Ridge, the former Republican governor of the vital swing state of Pennsylvania, did not shrink Sunday from taking a side.

"We must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president's leadership in the war against terror," Mr. Ridge said. "The reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world such as Pakistan. Such operations and partnerships give us insight into the enemy so we can better target our defensive measures here and away from home."

The alert, and the intelligence that prompted it, puts the Bush administration in a bind. If the administration had such specific warnings of possible attack and failed to share them, it would be fairly accused of withholding vital information from the public. But the mere revelation of the new threat also serves to underscore the administration's contention that it has yet to finish the job against Al Qaeda and its ilk.

One member of the Sept. 11 commission, former Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, now president of the New School University in Manhattan, said the warning should spur Congress and the president "to put a line in the Department of Defense budget that is just for New York City, before they ever get to how much to appropriate for homeland security."

For the rest of the nation, Mr. Kerrey added: "After a while, you've got to live. You can't let these moments cause you to run aground and run away. You just can't. We've just got to stay calm and continue our lives. Enough is enough."

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posted 08-02-2004 09:25 AM
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Captured Man Led Way to Information Behind Warning

By DOUGLAS JEHL and DAVID ROHDE, The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 - The unannounced capture of a figure from Al Qaeda in Pakistan several weeks ago led the Central Intelligence Agency to the rich lode of information that prompted the terror alert on Sunday, according to senior American officials.

The figure, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, was described by a Pakistani intelligence official as a 25-year-old computer engineer, arrested July 13, who had used and helped to operate a secret Qaeda communications system where information was transferred via coded messages.

A senior United States official would not confirm or deny that Mr. Khan had been the Qaeda figure whose capture led to the information. But the official said "documentary evidence" found after the capture had demonstrated in extraordinary detail that Qaeda members had for years conducted sophisticated and extensive reconnaissance of the financial institutions cited in the warnings on Sunday.

One senior American intelligence official said the information was more detailed and precise than any he had seen during his 24-year career in intelligence work. A second senior American official said it had provided a new window into the methods, content and distribution of Qaeda communications.

"This, for us, is a potential treasure trove," said a third senior American official, an intelligence expert, at a briefing for reporters on Sunday afternoon.
The documentary evidence, whose contents were reported urgently to Washington on Friday afternoon, immediately elevated the significance of other intelligence information gathered in recent weeks that had already been regarded as highly troubling, senior American intelligence officials said. Much of that information had come from Qaeda detainees in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia as well as Pakistan, and some had also pointed to a possible attack on financial institutions, senior American intelligence officials said.

The American officials said the new evidence had been obtained only after the capture of the Qaeda figure. Among other things, they said, it demonstrated that Qaeda plotters had begun casing the buildings in New York, Newark and Washington even before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Among the questions the plotters sought to answer, senior American intelligence officials said, were how best to gain access to the targeted buildings; how many people might be at the sites at different hours and on different days of the week; whether a hijacked oil tanker truck could serve as an effective weapon; and how large an explosive device might be required to bring the buildings down.

The American officials would say only that the Qaeda figure whose capture had led to the discovery of the documentary evidence had been captured with the help of the C.I.A. Though Pakistan announced the arrest last week of a Qaeda member, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted in connection with the bombings of American embassies in East Africa in 1998, the American officials suggested that he had not been the source of the new threat information.

An account provided by a Pakistani intelligence official made clear that the crucial capture in recent weeks had been that of Mr. Khan, who is also known as Abu Talha. The intelligence official provided information describing Mr. Khan as having assisted in evaluating potential American and Western targets for terrorist attacks, and as being representative of a "new Al Qaeda."

The Pakistani official described Mr. Khan as a fluent English speaker who had told investigators that he had visited the United States, Britain, Germany and other countries. Mr. Khan was one of thousands of Pakistani militants who trained in Afghanistan under the Taliban in the 1990's, the Pakistani official said.

If indeed Mr. Khan was the man whose arrest led the C.I.A. to new evidence, his role as a kind of clearinghouse of Qaeda communications, as described by the Pakistani intelligence official, could have made him a vital source of information. Since his arrest, Mr. Khan has described an elaborate communications system that involves the use of high and low technology, the Pakistani official said.

The question of how much to rely on information obtained from captured foes has always weighed on the intelligence business. In recent weeks, even as they cited accounts from some captured Qaeda members as the basis for new concerns about terrorism, American intelligence officials have acknowledged that another captured Qaeda figure, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, had recanted claims that Iraq had provided training in illicit weapons to Qaeda members.

Mr. Libi's earlier claims had been the primary basis for assertions by President Bush and his top advisers that Iraq had provided training in "poisons and gases" to Qaeda members.

In explaining the decision to call a new terror alert, American officials would say only that the evidence obtained by the C.I.A. after the arrest of the Qaeda figure in Pakistan had provided a richer, more credible source of intelligence than could have been provided by any single individual. They declined to say whether the "documentary evidence" included physical documents or might also include electronic information stored on computers, like copies of e-mail communications.

The Qaeda communications system that Mr. Khan used and helped operate relied on Web sites and e-mail addresses in Turkey, Nigeria and the northwestern tribal areas of Pakistan, according to the information provided by a Pakistani intelligence official.

The official said Mr. Khan had told investigators that couriers carried handwritten messages or computer disks from senior Qaeda leaders hiding in isolated border areas to hard-line religious schools in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province.

Other couriers then ferried them to Mr. Khan on the other side of the country in the eastern city of Lahore, and the computer expert then posted the messages in code on Web sites or relayed them electronically, the Pakistani official said.

Mr. Khan had told investigators that most of Al Qaeda's communications were now done through the Internet, the official said. After a message was sent and read by the recipient, the entire communication and related files were deleted to maintain secrecy, he said. Mr. Khan had told investigators that e-mail addresses were generally not used more than a few times.

The young computer engineer, who received a bachelor's degree from a university in Karachi, is the unemployed son of an employee of Pakistan's state airline and a college botany professor, the official said. Heavily built and 6 feet 2 inches tall, he speaks English with a British accent, and was arrested carrying a fake Pakistani identification card.

The Pakistani official said Mr. Khan told investigators that he had received 25 days of training at a militant camp in Afghanistan in June 1998. By the time Mr. Khan had risen to his current position, the official said, Qaeda figures had arranged his marriage and were paying him $170 a month for rent for his house in Lahore and $90 for expenses.

Mr. Khan was in contact with the brother of the Indonesian Qaeda leader Hambali, who was studying in a religious school in Karachi, and who was deported in December 2003. Mr. Khan has told interrogators that his Qaeda handler was a Pakistani he knew as Adil or Imran, who assigned him tasks related to computer work, Web design and managing the handler's messages. His correspondents included a Saudi-based Yemeni, Egyptian and Palestinian nationals and Arabs in unknown locations, and someone described as the "in-charge" in the city of Khost in eastern Afghanistan.

Asked about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mr. Khan has told interrogators that even the top Qaeda commanders do not know, the Pakistani intelligence official said.

Douglas Jehl reported from Washington for this article, and David Rohde from Karachi, Pakistan.


08-02-04 06:45 EDT

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posted 08-02-2004 09:33 AM
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Updated: 10:17 AM EDT
Bombs Sow Fear of More Horror for Iraq's Christians
By Matthew Green, Reuters

BAGHDAD (Aug. 2) - Bombings at Iraqi churches did more than kill worshippers, smash tombstones and shatter stained glass -- they destroyed any hope among the Christian community of staying off the hit list for attacks.

"Now, as a Christian I feel like a target," said 40-year-old factory owner, Ayad Zaya, speaking a day after car bombs at five churches killed at least 11 people.

"This is the first time that this has happened in the history of Iraq," he said, standing near a bomb site at the Assyrian church in Baghdad. "When I leave my house I say my prayers in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit."

Already scared of what could happen to them in the uncertainty gripping postwar Iraq, one of the Middle East's oldest Christian communities is reeling from the shock of the first attacks on churches during 15 months of insurgency.

Christians, who make up only about three percent of Iraq's population of 25 million people, have traditionally kept a relatively low political profile, mindful of the precariousness of their position in an overwhelmingly Muslim society.

A spate of recent attacks on alcohol sellers fuelled fears that Christians might be singled out for attacks, but unlike the mosques targeted by extremists for bombings in the past year, their places of worship had seemed sacrosanct.

Faceless enemies changed that on Sunday, when four car bomb attacks in Baghdad and one in the northern city of Mosul killed and maimed worshippers at evening prayers.

Now many fear there may be more to come.

"Christians are frightened," said Imad, 30, a taxi driver, standing near the blackened walls of the Armenian Church in the capital, where the smell of burned rubber wafted from cars scorched in one of the blasts.

"Ignorant people might think we're infidels because we're Christians like the Americans," he said.

While many Christians hated Saddam for his oppression, they were generally free to worship in their churches while majority Shi'ite Muslims faced years of persecution.

Conscious of their status on the political margins, Christians are nevertheless proud that their faith came to Iraq in the first century while Islam only entered the area in the 7th century.

Since then, their relative numbers have plunged. Many Christians fled abroad after last year's U.S.-led invasion to escape crime flourishing in the chaos, further whittling down their numbers.

"We're the Red Indians of Iraq," said Shmael Benjamin, a member of the political bureau of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, a Christian political party.

"We were the majority, today we're the minority, our percentage is reducing day by day in this country."

Raising the spectre of religious strife, Iraqi officials say they fear the attacks on the churches aimed to foment tensions between Iraq's communities -- although there was no sign of friction at the scene of the bombing at the Assyrian church.

"There's no problems between us, we live together like brothers," said Adnan Mohammed, a 53-year-old Muslim, visiting his brother's house which was damaged in the blast.

But for Christians who count many Muslims among their friends, the shock of the bomb attacks proved that as far as Iraq's future is concerned, there are few certainties.

Adil al-Sabbagh, 64, gazed at the crater in front of the Assyrian church where he was married in 1970, remembering how Muslim friends mingled with the other guests, not dreaming that the church would one day be hit by bombers.

"Once they've attacked a church, and a mosque, there's nothing sacred for them," he said, as a man swept away broken glass. "The people who did this are capable of anything."


08/02/04 09:58 ET
A group linked to Zarqawi also executed a Turkish hostage. In response to the killing and a wave of kidnappings of Turkish drivers, a Turkish truckers' group said it would stop transporting goods to U.S. forces in Iraq.

Muslim leaders including top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemned the car bombings, which were timed for Sunday evening church services in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul. The attacks were the first on the minority Christian community's churches since the start of a 15-month insurgency.

''There is no shadow of a doubt that this bears the blueprint of Zarqawi,'' said national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, adding the militants wanted to spark religious conflict.


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''Zarqawi and his extremists are basically trying to drive a wedge between Muslims and Christians in Iraq. It's clear they want to drive Christians out of the country,'' he told Reuters.

The Jordanian-born militant has claimed responsibility for many major car bombings in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was ousted last year and also the killing of several foreign hostages among dozens seized in recent months.

TURK EXECUTED

In a videotape of the Turk's execution shown on Islamist Web sites, a masked man shot the hostage while he was seated. When he fell to the ground, the gunman shot him twice more with a pistol while shouting ''God is Greatest.''

The Turkish captive, dressed in a shirt and trousers, earlier identified himself on the tape as Murat Yuce.


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''I saw American oppression in Iraq with my own eyes. But I stayed here to earn a bit of money,'' he said before being shot.

The Turkish truckers' decision was a blow for Washington and another success for kidnappers who have forced Philippine troops to withdraw and several firms to halt operations in Iraq.

''Until security can be guaranteed we have stopped transporting goods for U.S. forces,'' said Cahit Soysal, head of the International Transporters' Association (UND).

The group represents around 30 to 40 companies. Many Turkish firms are involved in reconstruction projects in Iraq.

Sunday's car bombs hit at least five churches in Iraq, including four in Baghdad. Police defused two more bombs outside other churches, one in Baghdad and the other in Mosul.

The attacks killed at least 11 people and wounded 55, the U.S. military and police said.

Christians make up three percent of the Iraqi population and have generally had good ties with the Muslim community, although several recent attacks have targeted alcohol sellers, most of whom are Christians. Some Christians, fearing growing Islamization in Iraq, have fled to Syria and Jordan.

Insurgents have mainly tried to provoke conflict between Sunni Muslims and members of the Shiite Muslim majority.

MUSLIM LEADERS, POPE CONDEMN ATTACKS

In a statement, Sistani condemned the blasts as ''grotesque crimes'' and said Iraqi minorities had to be protected.

Adnan al-Asadi, a senior member of the Shi'ite Dawa Islamic party, added that Muslims shared the pain of the Christians.

''We reject these criminal acts which want to create religious and sectarian strife in Iraq,'' he said.

Pope John Paul branded the bombings ''unjust aggression.''

Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin said the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was trying its best to combat the insurgents and uproot their networks.

''This shows there are no borders to the barbarity of the crimes of these terrorists,'' he said in response to the attacks.

Parish priest Bashar Muntihorda, speaking outside a Chaldean church in Baghdad that was hit, said Christians were devastated.

''The damage that was done is so high to the courage of the people, to their feelings, to their hopes that a bright future is coming,'' Muntihorda said, as volunteers swept up debris, including a broken stained-glass window depicting the figure of Christ.

Adding to Iraq's burden is the wave of hostage-taking.

In one hostage stand-off, a tribal sheikh is negotiating to secure the release of seven foreign truck drivers.

The seven, three Indians, three Kenyans and an Egyptian, were taken last month and threatened with death.

A Somali held by militants also linked to Zarqawi will be freed after his Kuwaiti employer agreed to halt operations in the country, Al Jazeera television said.

Scores of hostages from two dozen countries have been seized by kidnappers in the last four months. Most have been freed but several have been executed -- at least four by beheading.


08-02-04 10:08 EDT

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Posts: 486 | From: Antioch TN | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged

[locksly]

NEW YORK (Aug. 2) - Police searched trucks, blocked streets and posted machine-gun toting officers outside financial landmarks Monday, a day after the government's chilling warning that terrorists might target the buildings with bombs.

Thousands of employees at some of the largest financial institutions in the country stood in line to get to work, patiently showing identification tags.

"You realize that's the world you live in, and you deal with it," said Kenneth Polcari, a trader at the New York Stock Exchange, one of five buildings the government says al-Qaida operatives have studied.

Recent intelligence - including photos, drawings and written documents - indicates terrorists have focused on the stock exchange and The Citigroup Center in Manhattan, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington and Prudential Financial Inc.'s headquarters in Newark, N.J., officials said.

"What we're talking about here is a very serious matter based on solid intelligence," President Bush said.

Employees at the targeted buildings began their work week with extra checks of bags and identification, added barricades and police officers outside.


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Police closed Manhattan streets around Grand Central Terminal and banned trucks from some bridges and tunnels. Trucks passing landmarks or traveling on major thoroughfares also were subject to random searches. In some cases, truck drivers were asked to show documentation on where they were headed.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki rang the opening bell at the stock exchange to show confidence in the city's security response.

"America and New Yorkers are pulling together here, and they're not going to be cowed," Bloomberg said.

He and Pataki visited the Citigroup building with First Lady Laura Bush and her twin daughters in the afternoon.

"I want to thank people for coming to work. I'm really glad to be here today," the first lady said as she stopped to chat with some office workers at the 59-story skyscraper in midtown Manhattan.

Peter Manzi, a banker from suburban Long Island, said seeing the high-profile entourage at Citigroup was "very encouraging."

"You can't let the bad guys win," he said after briefly meeting the president's family.

Authorities said the terror intelligence did not specify timing of an attack.

"Since 9/11 I think any of us who work here know we're a target," said Donna Mendez, who works on the 27th floor. "We're not going to let (terrorists) stop us from doing what we do. That's what they want."

In Newark, officials set up concrete barriers and police teams around the 24-story Prudential building, where about 1,000 employees work. They showed identification to get into the building and its underground parking garage.

"I'm a little nervous," said analyst Tracy Swistak, 27. "But I'm confident Prudential's doing everything they can to ensure our safety."


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President Bush called for a new national counterterrorism center and intelligence czar position Monday, but he said the czar should not be in the White House as the 9/11 panel suggested.
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John Kerry accused Bush of being sluggish to institute reforms since 9/11 and said the intelligence czar position should be within the White House.
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Greater security was also more visible in the nation's capital, where authorities have already fortified key buildings against terrorism. Capitol Hill was filled with tourists on a busy summer morning while police went on 12-hour, six-day-a-week shifts in response to the heightened security alert, spokeswoman Sgt. Contricia Ford said.

Police checked identity cards as employees filed in to the World Bank headquarters; inside, security guards checked them again. Across the street, guards at the International Monetary Fund swept the underside of cars with detecting devices as they entered the garage.

"I'm concerned, but we have to carry on as normal," said IMF employee Shirley Davies.


'Preferred Method'


"Based on what we've gleaned so far, the preferred method of attack... is car and truck bombs."
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Washington, D.C., police chief Charles Ramsey said the upgraded security is likely to continue at least until after the November election.

None of the newly discovered terror intelligence involved specific threats to the Republican convention in Manhattan or the election process, authorities said Monday. The warnings won't affect security for the convention, which begins Aug. 30.

"It's not going to require any significant shift," said Paul Browne, chief spokesman for the New York Police Department.

Security plans for the convention already included extra protection for Wall Street and other financial centers - long considered possible targets for terrorists.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Sunday raised the terror threat level for financial institutions in the three cities to orange - high alert, the second highest level on the government's five-point spectrum. Elsewhere, he said, the alert would remain at yellow, or elevated.

Treasury Secretary John Snow, quick to reassure investors and Americans, said the nation's financial system operated normally under the alert.

"People around the world rightly have confidence in the U.S. financial markets," Snow said. "While we must always remain vigilant against terror, we will not be intimidated and prevented from enjoying our lives and exercising our freedoms."

Nevertheless, the specter of an attack shadowed the market, weighing on stock prices. John Thain, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, said security has been a priority since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Our business is going forward as normal," he said.


08/02/04 17:13 EDT

[locksly]

This kind of throws a big wrench in the Liberals crying that the treat is 2-3 years old.

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Fresh Details Back Threats

Tue Aug 3, 7:55 AM ET

By Josh Meyer and Greg Miller Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON ? Some of the surveillance files that triggered the nation's latest terrorism alert were reviewed and updated by Al Qaeda just months ago and dovetail with other, fresh intelligence that indicates the terrorism network remains intent on launching a major U.S. attack during the presidential election campaign, U.S. authorities said Monday.

Despite the elaborate details about five financial institutions in New York; Newark, N.J.; and Washington that are contained in the files, officials said they had been unable to learn whether Al Qaeda had agents in this country preparing for attacks.

But several senior U.S. counterterrorism officials said that the surveillance, obtained in Pakistan and reviewed late last week by authorities in Washington, came amid a continuing stream of intelligence corroborating Al Qaeda's determination to launch strikes in the U.S.


"It's like you have this blank piece of paper and it's filling up with more and more dots. It all points to an attack," said one senior Department of Homeland Security official...
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