10-29-09 Daily Update

General security, policy

1. Rate of Nuclear Thefts ‘Disturbingly High,’ Monitoring Chief Says
By NEIL MACFARQUHAR The New York Times October 28, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/world/28nuke.html

UNITED NATIONS — Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a speech on Monday that the number of reports of nuclear or radioactive material stolen around the world last year was “disturbingly high.” Dr. ElBaradei, in his annual report to the General Assembly, said nearly 250 such thefts were reported in the year ending in June. “The possibility of terrorists obtaining nuclear or other radioactive material remains a grave threat,” he said. “Equally troubling is the fact that much of this material is not subsequently recovered.” Members of Dr. ElBaradei’s staff and outside experts cautioned that the amount of missing material remained relatively small. If all the stolen material were lumped together, it would not be enough to build even one nuclear device, they said. It is also unclear if the rising number of reports of stolen material stems from a growing market for radioactive goods or more vigilant reporting of thefts by member states. However, the idea that there might be a new market for such material is of concern, they said, especially if some of it were to end up in a dirty bomb…

2. Diplomats: IAEA says Syrian nuke info needs probe
GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Oct 28, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1410

VIENNA, AUSTRIA (AP) - Diplomats say soil and air samples from an alleged Syrian nuclear site bombed last year by Israel provide enough evidence to justify a further inquiry. Preliminary results collected by the International Atomic Energy Agency and made public earlier this year were inconclusive. But diplomats told The Associated Press that final evaluation, completed a few days ago, convinced the agency to press on with its investigation. The diplomats, accredited to the IAEA, spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday. Syrian Ambassador Mohammed Badi Khattab told the AP he was unaware the evaluation had been completed and would not comment until his country was told of the findings. Syria denies running a covert program.

3. Air Force team works to lower IED threat
by Chuck Paone 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

http://www.afmc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123121256

10/27/2008 - HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- An Electronic Systems Center office here is working to minimize the threat of suicide bombings at the entry points of controlled access zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. The team has been working since late September to rapidly evaluate technologies designed to detect what are known as person-borne improvised explosive devices, or PBIEDs. The team, which serves as the Air Force Counter-IED Office, brought four contractors here during the last week of September and five more during the week of Oct. 20 to 24. Each one was given a four-hour block to run its technologies through a precise testing protocol that required them to set up some distance away from a "target" zone. Inside the zone, a series of test subjects wearing loose-fitting robes over their clothes, meant to replicate those routinely worn in Afghanistan, entered one by one. Each walked forward and then retreated past a string of orange cones, allowing the detectors to examine them front and back. Some of the walkers were carrying concealed, simulated IEDs, which had been carefully designed to mimic the types most commonly found in theater. Others were clean. It was up to the technology operator to determine which was which, and to pinpoint the location of a potential device when one was found...

4. Fort Dix informant's past is an issue
By George Anastasia Oct 28, 2008 Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1399

The key government witness in the Fort Dix terrorism trial was described by a defense attorney yesterday as a "serial fraud artist" who tried to flee to Canada to avoid cooperating with the FBI and who has repeatedly lied to authorities. Mahmoud Omar, who is expected to take the stand today in federal court in Camden, was the focus of daylong testimony from one of the lead investigators in the case. John Stermel, a police officer with the Delaware River Port Authority and a member of the FBI's South Jersey Joint Terrorism Task Force, spent nearly five hours detailing Omar's criminal past and his role as an informant in the Fort Dix case. Among other things, jurors learned that Omar: … After his aborted attempt to flee to Canada, Omar, 38, became an FBI informant on terrorism-related cases, Stermel said. The investigator said he could not provide details about those investigations. Omar, an Egyptian-born used-car salesman who entered the United States illegally through Mexico in 1992 or 1995 - defense attorneys pointed out that he provided differing dates to the U.S. Probation Department and to the FBI - was asked to develop information about Mohamad Shnewer, one of the defendants in the Fort Dix case, early in 2006, Stermel said…

Is Dix snitch credible, or a 'serial fraud artist'?
By JASON NARK Philadelphia Daily News Oct 28, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1400

It was Jan. 24, 2005, and Mahmoud Omar had just been offered a well-paid gig as an FBI informant, despite being investigated for his second bank fraud, lying to law-enforcement officers multiple times and even selling his Social Security card in the decade he lived here. Not to mention that he'd snuck into the U.S. from Mexico 10 years before. Omar didn't want the job or the FBI's scrutiny, so he took off for Canada as soon as they left his apartment. The government laid out Omar's many warts in U.S. District Court yesterday, and then explained why it overlooked them to make the Egyptian national their top informant in the Fort Dix terrorism case. "He had access to criminal elements we didn't have," said Officer John Stermel, Omar's personal handler with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. "We were looking for individuals out to commit crimes against our country." Those individuals, the government contends, are brothers Eljvir, Shain and Dritan Duka, along with Mohamad Shnewer and Serdar Tatar...

5. Health of Mastermind of First Trade Center Bombings Deteriorating
Asharq Al-Awsat 28/10/2008 By Ahmed Al Jazar
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=14550
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Fundamentalist sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday that the health of Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman has severely deteriorated. The spiritual leader of the Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyyah, who has been incarcerated in America for the last 15 years, told his family in his last telephone conversation with them a few days ago to 'pray for him'. The source who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of said that 'The Sheik, who was born in the 1920s, suffers from chronic headaches whose cause has not been diagnosed and sleep disorders, as well as the effects of diabetes and old age.' He added 'The blind Sheik still has difficulty getting around and so is confined to a wheelchair'. The source revealed that 'Abdel Rahman- who is serving a life sentence for conspiracy with regards to the New York City Landmarks bomb plot in the early 90s- told his family in his last phone conversation with them that: 'There is nothing but the Quran to stave off the madness'. This is indicative of the harsh treatment the blind Sheik is facing at the hands of the American prison system, especially since he has spent the last 13 years of his sentence in solitary confinement…

6. Federal officials skeptical about alleged plot to kill Obama
Monday, October 27, 2008 5:19 PM ET By Pete Williams and Jim Popkin, NBC News
http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/27/1599014.aspx
IPT NOTE: The ATF press release is posted at http://www.atf.gov/press/2008press/field/102708nash_twomen-charged.pdf. The complaint is posted at http://www.atf.gov/press/2008press/field/102708nash_twomen-charged-compl... and its accompanying affidavit is posted at
http://www.atf.gov/press/2008press/field/102708nash_twomen-charged-affid...
Senior federal officials tell NBC News that the Feds are skeptical about whether there ever was a well-conceived plan to attack Sen. Barack Obama by two alleged neo-Nazi extremists in Tennessee. The officials say that there is no evidence at this early stage of the investigation that the two men, Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman, had ever taken the plan beyond the talking stage. Federal officials arrested the men Thursday in Tennessee, and unsealed an arrest complaint about them today. According to the court documents, Cowart, 18, and Schlesselman, 20, are white supremacists who met on the Internet a month ago and began discussing a violent plot to kill African Americans, including Sen. Obama. Investigators say the men admitted to discussing "killing 88 people and beheading 14 African Americans." They wanted to generate money for their plot by robbing houses and a local gun dealer, to get weapons for a "killing spree." A law-enforcement official says the two described themselves as Nazis and had swastikas and other Nazi-related symbols painted on their car…

7. Charkaoui loses bid to have judge recuse herself
Canwest News Service Published: Monday, October 27, 2008
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1401

IPT NOTE: The court's opinion posted at http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/rss/DES-4-08.pdf [French]

OTTAWA - A Federal Court judge has rejected a motion by lawyers for Montreal teacher Adil Charkaoui, arrested in 2003 under a security certificate, to recuse herself from his case. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service claims to have evidence that Charkaoui is an al-Qaida sleeper agent. His lawyers argued that Justice Daniele Tremblay-Lamer showed bias against him in a telephone conference with federally-appointed special advocates. As evidence of the judge's bias, Charkaoui's lawyer, Johanne Doyon, cited Tremblay-Lamer's warning during the Oct. 2 phone discussion that Charkaoui's lawyers should not be allowed to control the court. Charkaoui's lawyers were not informed of the discussion and were not present, which they contend violates his rights. His lawyers cited other remarks by the judge during the phone conference, which they say indicate bias. But in her written decision, released on Friday, Tremblay-Lamer said that no decisions where made during the case management calls and that "their goal was to organize in an efficient manner the closed-door hearings," for Charkaoui's trial, which was slated to start Monday. She said there was nothing showing that the court couldn't render a fair decision in Charkaoui's case so "as a consequence, the motion to recuse is rejected."…

Air, rail, port, health & communication infrastructure security

IPT NOTE: For more infrastructure news, see Dep’t of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/editorial_0542.shtm; Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/dir/index-eng.aspx

8. TSA likely to ease restrictions on liquids in 2009
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY October 28, 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-10-27-tsa-liquids_N.htm

WASHINGTON — Airline passengers will likely be able to carry large bottles of liquids on airplanes some time next year, the Transportation Security Administration says. The TSA expects by next fall to lift restrictions that limit passengers to carrying 3-ounce bottles of liquids, gels and aerosols in airplane cabins, agency chief Kip Hawley said on the agency's website. Passengers would still have to remove liquids from carry-on bags at airport checkpoints and put them through X-ray machines separately….

9. NRC advises safeguards for counterterrorism programs
10/27/08 Gov't Computer News By William Jackson
http://www.gcn.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.display.printable?client.id=gcn&story....
The National Research Council recently offered some good advice about counterterrorism programs that rely on data mining to spot possible terrorist activity. All programs that collect or mine personal data, such as phone, medical and travel records or Web site visits, should be systematically evaluated for effectiveness, lawfulness and their effects on privacy, NRC said. The study was done at the request of the Homeland Security Department and National Science Foundation. NRC concluded that both classified and unclassified programs should be evaluated before going operational and periodically for as long as they operate. The council also recommended that Congress reexamine privacy laws and consider methods of redress for people harmed by the programs…

10. Protecting network ports
North Carolina authority uses Webgate security appliance to filter online traffic
Gov't Computer News 10/27/08 By William Jackson

http://www.gcn.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.display.printable?client.id=gcn&story....
WHEN JOHN FLISHER took the job of information technology manager at the North Carolina State Ports Authority two years ago, the agency was just finishing a major upgrade of its network. “It was long overdue, and it worked out rather nicely,” Flisher said. However, “we had no Web filtering at all. It was an afterthought.” Although it was an afterthought two years ago, protecting Web gateways has become an increasingly important priority for enterprises. “The Web now represents the most targeted and exploitable attack surface in an organization’s network,” said Doug Camplejohn, chief executive officer of Mi5 Networks, whose Webgate security appliance filters traffic for the ports authority. Distributing malware through Web sites is a growing industry, as hackers, spammers and phishers transition from e-mail to Web sites, said Mark Sunner, chief security analyst at MessageLabs. According to the company’s latest threat intelligence report, 30.5 percent of all malicious code found in Web traffic during May was new, and more than 1,300 sites hosting malware were discovered each day. It is becoming more difficult to tell the good sites from the bad…

11. Metro to Randomly Search Riders' Bags

By Lena H. Sun Washington Post Tuesday, October 28, 2008; A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/27/AR200810...

Metro officials yesterday announced plans to immediately begin random searches of backpacks, purses and other bags in a move they say will protect riders and also guard their privacy and minimize delays. The program is modeled after one begun three years ago in New York that has withstood legal challenges. However, experts said it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of such searches, beyond assuring the public that police are being vigilant. New York officials declined to say what they have found in their searches; none of the other transit systems conducting random searches have found any explosives, officials said. Metro officials said the program was not in response to a specific threat but prompted by increased security concerns before next week's election and the inauguration as well as by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and later bombings of commuter trains in Madrid, London and elsewhere. Although Metro police said the program will begin immediately, they would not say which of their 86 rail stations or more than 12,000 bus stops would be subject to inspection on any given day. On some days, there might be no inspections, or there might be several. Fifteen officers have been trained to perform searches, and more will be trained, officials said…

12. Feds seize lead toys from China
By JON NAITO Seattle Post-Intelligencer Oct 28, 2008
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/385187_toys28.html

IPT NOTE: The US Customs and Border Protection press release is posted at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/10222008_7.xml

A large shipment of Chinese toys found to have high concentrations of lead was seized earlier this month in Seattle. On Oct. 14, officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Consumer Product Safety Commission confiscated 499 cartons of toy jewelry bound for Marietta, Ga. Samples taken from the shipment were tested and shown to have unacceptable levels of lead, a violation of the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. Customs officials valued the shipment, which contained 4,990 pieces of jewelry, at over $48,000.

Financing, identity theft, money laundering

13. Israeli Official Links Hamas Social Work to Political Power
IPT News October 27, 2008
http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/796
DALLAS – Cradle-to-grave social support - from kindergartens to medical supplies to aid for needy families - helped Hamas win the hearts and minds of Palestinians and vault the terrorist group to power, an Israeli security official said Monday. Avi," a lawyer with the Israeli Security Agency, was accepted as an expert witness on Hamas' financial infrastructure in the trial of five men accused of illegally funneling millions of dollars to the terrorist group. He was allowed to testify anonymously for security reasons. Spectators were cleared from the courtroom before his testimony and a camera feeding the proceedings to a second courtroom was covered. Avi described his research into Hamas' finances and social systems in the course of Israeli investigations dating back to 2000. He prepared a Power Point presentation showing how Hamas social programs serve Palestinians throughout all phases of the life cycle. Hamas runs kindergartens, primary and high schools and universities, Avi said. They provide medical supplies and cash support for the families of men imprisoned by Israel, killed by Israeli soldiers or who died carrying out terrorist attacks. The defendants, officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), directed millions of dollars to those social committees prosecutors say were controlled by Hamas. Previous evidence and testimony showed HLF officials at rallies praising Hamas and collecting money. Defense attorneys argue the foundation merely sought to provide aid to needy Palestinians…

14. San Diego Man Accused of Identity Theft In Debit Card Fraud

Last Update: 6:18 pm Oct 27, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1402

SAN DIEGO - A San Diego man who allegedly obtained other people's personal identification numbers from sources in Russia and used the stolen numbers to withdraw cash from the victims' bank accounts was arraigned Monday on identity theft and other charges. Mikhail M. Tuknov Jr., 28, is charged in a 44-count indictment with debit card fraud, identity theft and conspiracy to launder money. According to the indictment, Tuknov got the debit card numbers and associated personal identification numbers of actual people and distributed them to an unnamed associate in the Dominican Republic. That individual then used the numbers to encode blank debit cards that were delivered to other criminal associates in New York City, who used the fake debit cards at ATMs to withdraw cash from the victims' bank accounts, prosecutor Mitch Dembin said. According to the indictment, the proceeds were sent to Russian sources who paid Tuknov his commission and sent new numbers to him to generate more cash. Between August 2005 and March 2006, Tuknov allegedly provided about 1,044 fraudulent debit cards numbers and 1,045 related personal identification numbers to his associates, resulting in losses of $371,000, Dembin said…

Border security, immigration, customs

15. Interpol agent passed information to Beltrán-Leyva cartel in Mexico

The informant fed classified information about anti-drug operations to the feared Beltrán-Leyva cartel

Jacqui Goddard From The Times (London) October 28, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article50267...

One of the most dangerous drug cartels in the world has infiltrated the US Embassy in Mexico and America's top anti-trafficking agency, it emerged last night. A captured informant codenamed Felipe admitted to Mexican prosecutors that he used his job as an Interpol agent working at the US Embassy in Mexico City and at the international airport in the city to feed classified information about anti-drug operations to the feared Beltrán-Leyva cartel. The revelation came as prosecutors also admitted that two staff in the Mexican Attorney-General's Office for Organised Crime - a government unit that fights the drug mafia — had been found to have been in the pockets of the cartel for four years, as were at least three federal policemen with inside information on surveillance targets and potential raids. Each were paid between $150,000 (£97,000) and $450,000 a month by the cartel. It was the worst known case of law enforcement in Mexico being compromised by drug lords since the arrest in 1997 of General Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo, the head of the country's anti-drug agency, who was convicted of assisting Amado Carrillo, a kingpin…

MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

16. US strike in Syria "decapitated" al Qaeda's facilitation network
Written by Bill Roggio on October 27, 2008 4:51 PM The Long War Journal
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/10/us_strike_in_syria_d.php
IPT NOTE: The two West Point reports are posted at

http://ctc.usma.edu/harmony/pdf/CTCForeignFighter.19.Dec07.pdf [Report] and

http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/pdf/Sinjar_2_July_23.pdf [Report]

http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/Sinjar2.asp [Overview and raw data]. See item #26 below.

Al Qaeda leader Abu Ghadiya was killed in yesterday's strike inside Syria, a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal. But US special operations forces also inflicted a major blow to al Qaeda's foreign fighter network based in Syria. The entire senior leadership of Ghadiya's network was also killed in the raid, the official stated. Ghadiya was the leader of al Qaeda extensive network that funnels foreign fighters, weapons, and cash from Syria into Iraq along the entire length of the Syrian border. Ghadiya was first identified as the target of the raid inside Syria late last night here at The Long War Journal. The Associated Press reported Ghadiya was killed in the raid earlier today. Several US helicopters entered the town of town of Sukkariya near Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, just five miles from the Iraqi border. US commandos from the hunter-killer teams of Task Force 88 clear the buildings sheltering Ghadiya and his staff…

AP IMPACT: Al-Qaida's route though Syria persists
By ROBERT H. REID –October 28, 2008 Associated Press

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5halRKzrciy8L-PCQoqmlz8JLZe9AD943LM680

BAGHDAD (AP) — For years, he operated along Syria's remote border where donkeys are the only means of travel. He provided young Arabs from as far away as Morocco and the Persian Gulf with passports, guides and weapons as they slipped into Iraq to wage war. But recently, the Iraqi man known as Abu Ghadiyah began doing even more — launching his own armed forays into his homeland, U.S. and Iraqi officials say. Finally the United States lashed out, frustrated it says, after years of vainly pressuring Syria to shut down his network supplying the Sunni insurgency. The Americans carried out a bold daylight raid Sunday in a dusty farming community of mud and concrete houses known as Abu Kamal, just across the border in Syria. The U.S. says Abu Ghadiyah and several bodyguards were killed. Syria says eight civilians died. At least one villager says U.S. forces seized two men and hauled them away. Whatever Abu Ghadiyah's fate, the attack targeting him has become a seminal moment — casting rare light on the hidden, complex networks that recruit foreign fighters and then deliver them across Syria to the battlefields of Iraq…

Strike kills senior al Qaeda leader
Sara A. Carter Tuesday Oct 28, 2008 The Washington Times

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1403

… Anthony Cordesman, a military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the smuggler also went by the name of Sulayman Khalid Darwish and that another senior smuggler was captured. While Syria has cracked down on foreign fighters in recent years, Syria is "still the key source of support for al Qaeda in Iraq," Mr. Cordesman said. "Jordan and Saudi Arabia have done a pretty good job of keeping things under control, but the rat lines still go through the Syrian border." …

17. Iraqi Court Convicts Man for Killing U.S. Soldiers

By Ernesto Londoño Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, October 28, 2008; 8:40 AM

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1404

BAGHDAD, Oct. 28 -- In the first case of its kind, an Iraqi judge on Monday convicted an Iraqi man of abducting, torturing and killing two American soldiers in the summer of 2006. Ibrahim Karim Muhammed Salih Al-Qaraghuli was found guilty and sentenced to death, after expert testimony that his fingerprints matched photos of bloody prints found on the front panel of the pick-up truck used to drag the soldiers, Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas Tucker. Citing lack of evidence, Judge Munther Raouf Haadi acquitted Qarahuli's two co-defendants. Insurgents abducted Menchaca and Tucker June 16, 2006, while the two soldiers were manning a checkpoint in Yusufiya, a village south of Baghdad. Their bodies were tied to the back of a pick-up truck and dragged them through town. One of the soldiers was beheaded. The case marked the first time an Iraqi investigative judge filed charges in the slaying of American soldiers...

18. Islamists stone to death Somali woman for adultery

28 Oct 2008 10:48:28 GMT Source: Reuters

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LS38222.htm

KISMAYU, Somalia - Somali Islamists have stoned to death a woman accused of adultery in the first such public killing by the militants for about two years, witnesses said. The 23-year-old woman was placed in a hole up to her neck for the execution late on Monday in front of hundreds of people in a square of the southern port of Kismayu, which the Islamist insurgents captured in August. Stones were hurled at her head, and she was brought out of the hole three times to see if she had died. When a relative and others surged forward, guards opened fire, killing a child, the witnesses said…

19. Egypt's Inexplicable Arrests
By IPT News Mon, 27 Oct 2008 at 10:47 PM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2008/10/egypts-inexplicable-arr...

Egyptian police have arrested two relatives of an Islamic scholar who runs a U.S.-based center advocating for democracy and human rights in the Muslim World. According to the International Quranic Center (IQC) http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/aboutus.php , officials arrested Mustafa Kamel Mohamed Ali Sunday. Ali is not politically or religiously active. But he is a cousin of IQC President Ahmed Subhy Mansour. Later, authorities arrested a second cousin who is who writes for the IQC. Mansour, a former professor of Islamic history at Al-Azhar University, has managed to anger radical Islamists and the Mubarak government in Egypt. Mansour left Egypt after being fired from his job and jailed by the government. According to the Center's post on the arrests, it's part of a troubling escalation in intimidating Mansour and his supporters through his relatives. Read the whole thing here http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_news.php?main_id=3817

ASIA / PACIFIC

20. Helicopter downed in Afghanistan after Prince Harry announces pilot intention
A US helicopter has been shot down by Taliban fighters the day after Prince Harry announced his intention to return to Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot.
The Daily Telegraph (London) By Jon Swaine Last Updated: 4:35PM GMT 28 Oct 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1405
The Black Hawk was hit by shrapnel from a rocket-prepelled grenade while firing on rebel fighters based on a hilltop, and was forced to make a crash landing in a field 30 miles to the west of the capital Kabul. All 10 people on board survived and were safely rescued. At least two of the fighters were killed in the incident. A US military spokesman said: "The helicopter crew was exchanging fire with the enemy prior to sustaining damage. "All personnel onboard have been extracted. The helicopter is secure and is being recovered," the spokesman said. The incident came after Prince Harry, who has already served a 10-week tour of the country, requested a transfer from the Household Cavalry to the Army Air Corps (AAC). His decision follows a move made by his brother, Prince William, who disclosed last month that he would be training to fly Sea King helicopters as a pilot for the Royal Air Force's search and rescue force. The Prince, 24, intends to be trained in flying Apache attack helicopters, and could also be put in charge of Gazelle and Lynx aircraft...

U.S. Mulls Talks With Taliban in Bid to Quell Afghan Unrest
Gen. Petraeus Backs Effort to Win Over Some Elements of Group
By YOCHI J. DREAZEN, SIOBHAN GORMAN and JAY SOLOMON
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122515124350674269.html

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is actively considering talks with elements of the Taliban, the armed Islamist group that once ruled Afghanistan and sheltered al Qaeda, in a major policy shift that would have been unthinkable a few months ago. Senior White House and military officials believe that engaging some levels of the Taliban -- while excluding top leaders -- could help reverse a pronounced downward spiral in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. Both countries have been destabilized by a recent wave of violence. The outreach is a draft recommendation in a classified White House assessment of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, according to senior Bush administration officials. The officials said that the recommendation calls for the talks to be led by the Afghan central government, but with the active participation of the U.S. The idea is supported by Gen. David Petraeus, who will assume responsibility this week for U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Gen. Petraeus used a similar approach in Iraq, where a U.S. push to enlist Sunni tribes in the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq helped sharply reduce the country's violence. Gen. Petraeus earlier this month publicly endorsed talks with less extreme Taliban elements. The final White House recommendations, which could differ from the draft, are not expected until after next month's elections. The next administration wouldn't be compelled to implement them. But the support of Gen. Petraeus, the highly regarded incoming head of the U.S. Central Command, could help ensure that the policy is put in place regardless of who wins next month's elections…

21. Indonesian Muslim cleric in the dock for having illegal sex with 12 year old wife
October 28th, 2008 - 2:29 pm ICT by ANI -
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1406

Jakarta, Oct 28 (ANI): The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) is planning to report to the police a rich Muslim cleric in Semarang, Central Java, who married a 12-year-old girl, accusing him of having illegal sex with a minor. KPAI secretary Hadi Supeno said on Sunday that the commissions fact-finding team sent to Semarang at the weekend found that cleric Pujiono Cahyo Widianto, 43, owner and head of an Islamic boarding school there, had married and very likely slept with 12-year-old Lutfiana Ulfa. According to the girls parents and some witnesses, the marriage between Pujiono and Lutfiana is valid according to religion (kawin siri), but it is not registered with the state, The Jakarta Post quoted Hadi, as saying. What surprises us is that she was selected through a contest involving Pujis first wife and followers as a panel of judges. Puji married the girl after she beat her competitors…

EUROPE

22. Corporal Daniel James: I am a victim of a conspiracy by the CIA

Michael Evans, Defence Editor From Times Online (London) October 28, 2008

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5026301.ece

A British Army interpreter told police he was the victim of a conspiracy by the CIA which made up an espionage plot against him, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. Corporal Daniel James, who is accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act while serving in Afghanistan, said the deliberate attempt to undermine him was the result of a growing division between the Americans and the British over how to run the campaign in the country. Corporal James, from Brighton, was the personal interpreter to General Sir David Richards when he was commander of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in 2006. The Iranian-born Territorial Army corporal is accused of spying for Iran. When arrested on suspicion of spying he told the police he had been “set up” by the CIA in a plot to undermine General Richards because the Americans were angry that the British commander wanted to find a peaceful solution to the war with the Taleban rather than adopt the US approach of attacking the insurgents. Mark Dennis, QC, prosecuting, however, told Corporal James the allegation was “rubbish”, and he went on to highlight a whole range of different explanations the TA soldier had “come up with” for why he had sent e-mails and made numerous phone calls to Colonel Mohammad Heydari, a military assistant at the Iranian embassy in Kabul…

23. Couple face terror pamphlet charges

Press Association (PA - UK) Published Date: 28 October 2008
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1407

An Oldham couple accused of publishing a pamphlet encouraging terrorism are going on trial. Amjad Mahmood, 29, and his wife Shella Roma, 28, are accused of circulating a document telling others to go abroad to fight a jihad or holy war. They allegedly designed and printed the pamphlets and distributed them outside a mosque in Oldham. The couple, who have a baby, face joint charges of dissemination of terrorist publications and encouragement of terrorism. The charges cover the period between October last year and January and were brought under the Terrorism Act 2006…

24. Civil servant fined for leaving documents on train

PA Tuesday, 28 October 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1408

A high-flying civil servant was today fined £2,500 after leaving top-secret documents on a train. Richard Jackson, 37, a deputy director of a department in the Cabinet Office, admitted breaching the Official Secrets Act by failing to take proper care of the documents when he appeared at City of Westminster magistrates' court. An investigation was launched in June after Jackson lost the intelligence files relating to al-Qa'ida and Iraq…

25. Foreign preachers of hate must renounce views or be banned from UK
Foreign-born "preachers of hate" must renounce their views or be banned from entering the UK, under Government plans.
By Matthew Moore and Jon Swaine 28 Oct 2008 The Daily Telegraph (London)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1409

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has announced a package of measures aimed at making it harder for extremists to enter the country. The new rules will also affect anyone suspected of advocating illegal action to stir up tensions, including anti-abortionists, far-right groups and animal rights activists… Under the new plan, foreign-born extremists will be forced to retract controversial statements, and will have to refute specific allegations made against them. Currently, the burden of proof lies with the authorities, who must show that alleged extremists still hold the views ascribed to them. Those accused of advocating illegal action may also have to make a public statement of their support for democracy if they want to stay in Britain. The new rules also hand new powers to the Home Office to name people blocked from entering Britain and share their details with other countries. Currently individuals involved are guaranteed anonymity unless they choose to go public and fight their ban. On Monday, Miss Smith said the Government planned to "name and shame" some extremists banned from entering the UK…

COMMENT / ANALYSIS

26. Al Qa`ida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq: A First Look at the Sinjar Records,
based on al Qa`ida in Iraq’s personnel records for fighters entering Iraq through Syria

Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (CTC) - Harmony Project

Authors: Joseph Felter and Brian Fishman Dec. 19, 2007

http://ctc.usma.edu/harmony/pdf/CTCForeignFighter.19.Dec07.pdf [Report]

Bombers, Bank Accounts, and Bleedout: al‐Qa`ida’s Road In and Out of Iraq

This report expands on the first Sinjar Report, introducing new documents and new analysis to provide a better picture of al Qa`ida in Iraq’s operations and its prospects for the future

Editor: Brian Fishman

Authors: Peter Bergen, Joseph Felter, Vahid Brown, Jacob Shapiro

Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (CTC) - Harmony Project

July 22, 2008

http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/pdf/Sinjar_2_July_23.pdf [Report]

http://www.ctc.usma