News

General security, policy

1. Inside the Ring: Pentagon to study space-based missile defenses
Bill Gertz Washington Times Thursday, October 16, 2008
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/16/inside-the-ring/

Space-based defense

Congress voted recently to approve $5 million for a study of space-based missile defenses, the first time the development of space weapons will be considered since similar work was canceled in the 1990s. Appropriation of the money for the study was tucked away in a little-noticed provision of the Continuing Resolution passed recently by Congress and followed two years in which Congress rejected $10 million sought for the study. Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican and a key supporter of missile defenses, said approval of the study highlights the need to provide comprehensive protection from the growing threat of missile attack and to limit the vulnerability of vital satellites to attack...

Afghan report

A military officer in Afghanistan says the threat from improvised explosive devices, IEDs, is real and growing as a combination of insurgents and other armed factions continue to pose a major challenge to U.S. and allied efforts to help stabilize the country. The threat landscape is wide and varied and includes the ousted Taliban and al Qaeda members in addition to warlords and drug-trafficking militia groups… Add to the mix the $4 billion yielded annually by the Afghan opium trade and the equivalent of South American drug cartels with armed forces who hold anti-government political views, and the situation becomes even more complex, the officer said…

China missile defense

China appears to be secretly working on the development of strategic missile defenses, China military affairs specialist Richard Fisher states in a new book on China's military modernization. Mr. Fisher states in "China's Military Modernization: Building for Regional and Global Reach," out this week, that reports from China indicate that China continued work on an anti-ballistic-missile (ABM) system that was supposedly halted after development in the 1960s. China's anti-satellite missile, the SC-19, is likely part of the ABM system, and unlike the fixed interceptors used in the U.S. ABM system, the Chinese ABM will use mobile missiles like the SC-19, he states. Chinese ABM programs are an indication that China's diplomatic efforts to ban weapons in space are a "propaganda campaign intended to limit or delay defensive programs of others," the book states...

Iran nuclear program

A private nuclear-arms watchdog group issued a report this week that concludes that Iran will have the capability of creating a "virtual" nuclear weapon in January. The assessment by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control states that Iran has a bank of centrifuges that are producing low-enriched uranium that can be used for nuclear reactors but that also can be recirculated through the centrifuges to make bomb fuel. "The re-circulation raises the concentration of the uranium isotope U-235, which fissions in nuclear weapons such as the one dropped on Hiroshima," the group stated in a report made public Wednesday. "Based on the amount of low-enriched uranium Iran has stockpiled, and the amount it is believed to be producing each month, the Wisconsin Project estimates that by inauguration day, Iran could have enough U-235 to fuel one bomb quickly," the report said, noting that the time frame would be two to three months to raise the level of U-235 from 3.8 percent enrichment to 90 percent…

2. Videos of beheadings an issue in Fort Dix trial

Philadelphia Inquirer Oct 16, 2008 By George Anastasia

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1249

Videos of beheadings found on the computers of three of the five defendants in the Fort Dix terrorism case demonstrate their "bloodthirsty devotion to violent jihad" and should be part of the evidence presented when the trial begins next week, according to the lead prosecutor in the case. "The defendants' downloading, viewing, sharing and discussions of the beheading videos, accompanied by laughter and taunting, are highly relevant to their state of mind while discussing and plotting" a planned attack on Fort Dix, Deputy U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick wrote in a motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Camden. Fitzpatrick said the videos supported the charges in the case and helped explain the motivations of the defendants. The videos include depictions of seven beheadings and footage of Nicholas Berg of West Chester just moments before he was decapitated by al-Qaeda militants, according to the government's motion. Fitzpatrick said he intended to play the videos up to the point of, but not including, the beheadings…

Jurors picked in Fort Dix, arguments to begin Monday
by John P. Martin Newark Star-Ledger Thursday October 16, 2008, 2:29 PM

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/jurors_picked_in_fort_dix_argu....

Eight women and four men were sworn today as jurors for the Fort Dix terror trial, ending a two-month selection process and setting the stage for opening arguments on Monday. The panel was culled from an initial pool of nearly 1,500 prospective jurors, most of whom were dismissed based on their written replies to questionnaires sent in August or individual interviews by the attorneys over the last two weeks. Another four women and two men were chosen to serve as alternate jurors. The trial, before U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler in Camden, is expected to last at least two months. Prosecutors say the defendants, all Muslim immigrants from South Jersey and Philadelphia, plotted to storm the military base with automatic weapons. They were arrested in May 2007 after an undercover FBI sting. Each is charged with conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers, a crime punishable by life in prison...

3. 25 years later, bombing in Beirut still resonates
By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY October 16, 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-10-15-beirut-barracks_N.htm
A quarter-century later, the sergeant of the guard that morning says he can still see the face of the man driving the truck. Sgt. Stephen Russell was sitting in his guard booth outside a barracks in Beirut. He was one of about 1,600 Marines who'd been sent to Lebanon as neutral peacekeepers but found little peace to keep. He says he heard something snap behind him and a diesel engine revving. He turned. What he saw, at 6:22 a.m. that bright Sunday in the fourth decade of the Cold War, was the future, coming straight at him, in the form of a 5-ton truck. It was Oct. 23, 1983, a day Ronald Reagan called the saddest of his presidency, maybe his life. The truck would shatter the Marines' building with a bomb more powerful than 12,000 pounds of TNT — the biggest non-nuclear explosion since World War II, the FBI concluded. It would kill 241 servicemembers, including 220 Marines — the Corps' bloodiest day since Iwo Jima. It would drive the U.S. out of Lebanon and lead some, including al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, to conclude that when America gets its nose bloodied, it pulls back. For Americans, Beirut was a seminal moment on a timeline that led to the 9/11 attacks, Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond. It was a first shot in a clash with a militant, fundamentalist Islam — exemplified by groups such as Hezbollah and nations such as Iran — that would replace Soviet communism as the USA's chief adversary...

4. Canadian terror messages worrying officials
Stewart Bell, National Post Published: Wednesday, October 15, 2008

http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=883037

A Quebec man has posted messages on the Internet encouraging al-Qaeda to attack Canada, the latest in a series of similar sentiments that are worrying counterterrorism officials. The author of the messages, who uses the pseudonym Altar, praised terror leader Osama bin Laden and asked why al-Qaeda was focusing its efforts only on Europe instead of Canada. "Allah is great and may Allah bless Sheikh bin Laden. That the sword held by the hand of al-Qaeda hits not only Europe, but that is hits all our enemies. Wherever they are," he wrote in a Sept. 25 posting. "Me, I live in Canada and the Canadian government supports the Americans. The government of Canada supports Israel. Canadian soldiers are sent to Afghanistan and Iraq. "Now it's Canada's turn." …

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

5. RCMP terror unit probes pipeline bombing
MARK HUME From Thursday's Globe and Mail Oct 16, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1257

VANCOUVER — Gas industry employees have been put on alert and the RCMP's terrorist unit has been called in following an attempt to blow up a sour gas pipeline near Dawson Creek, in northeastern British Columbia. Concerns were raised after a hunter found a two-metre-deep crater blasted out of the earth beneath an EnCana line that carries 60 million cubic feet of gas a day to the Steep Rock gas plant. “This is a targeted attack on the infrastructure of British Columbia,” RCMP Sergeant Tim Shields said Wednesday in explaining why the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team has been called in to help other police units with the investigation… The EnCana pipeline was damaged but not ruptured by the blast, which occurred at a point where the pipeline emerges from the ground, about 50 kilometres south of Dawson Creek near the Alberta border…

Explosion rocks second EnCana pipeline
JAMES KELLER The Canadian Press October 16, 2008 at 5:40 PM EDT

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1258

A second sour gas pipeline has been targeted by explosives in northeastern B.C., raising fears in that it could be the start of an ongoing attack on an expanding oil and gas industry. RCMP have brought in the force's national terrorism unit to investigate, saying the latest attack appears linked to another bombing over the weekend and a threatening letter sent to local media last week…

2nd pipeline explosion rocks northern B.C.
Last Updated: Thursday, October 16, 2008 | 5:30 PM ET CBC News
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1268

… RCMP said the charge was deliberately set next to a natural gas pipeline and detonated sometime overnight Wednesday, but was not discovered until 9 a.m. MT Thursday. The blast caused a gas leak, forcing EnCana to shut down the pipeline around 10 a.m… No one was hurt in either of the explosions, but pipeline workers in the area are being warned to be extremely vigilant. RCMP Sgt. Tim Shields said police believe the explosion is linked to a similar blast on the weekend that damaged but did not rupture a sour-gas line about 20 km away… Investigators are treating the explosions as acts of vandalism, not terrorism, Shields said... But David Harris, a security consultant and former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told CBC News the second explosion shows it's time to start looking at a political motive and to do more to protect Canada's critical infrastructure…

B.C. pipeline explosion likely terrorism: ex-CSIS official
Last Updated: Thursday, October 16, 2008 | 12:12 AM ET CBC News

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1269

Former CSIS strategist David Harris says a weekend explosion near the town of Dawson Creek in northeastern B.C. fits the description of terrorism, despite police statements to the contrary… "How on earth anyone could declare this was not terrorism at this early stage is beyond me. Terrorism is associated with an attempt by threat or actual violence … to change policy," said Harris, former chief of strategic planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and now a private security expert…

6. Man Arrested With Explosive At L.I. Airport
By Jonathan Dienst WNBC-TV (NY)11:25 am EDT October 16, 2008 Updated 7:09 pm
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1259

NEW YORK -- A Southwest Airlines passenger was found carrying a possible explosive -- a small pipe bomb or firework -- in his carry-on luggage at MacArthur Airport, police said. Investigators said the man was trying to board a flight to Las Vegas when they discovered the device. Also found in the man's checked luggage was ammunition for a starter gun, m-80's and a knife, law enforcement sources said. Part of the airport terminal was evacuated as a precaution. The man is currently in custody and was questioned by members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a law enforcement official said…

Suspected pipe bomb found at MacArthur Airport
Would-be passenger detained at security checkpoint, officials say

BY JOHN VALENTI Newsday 12:49 PM EDT, October 16, 2008

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-limac1017,0,435494.story

… Law enforcement sources said the specific type of device -- an incendiary that could be a smoke bomb or pipe bomb -- will not be known until it can be defused and examined. The FBI and agents from the U.S. Department of Justice Joint Terrorism Task Force are on the scene, sources said. An airport source told Newsday that the FBI has taken over as the lead investigative agency on the case. A federal source also told Newsday that the man, who is from Las Vegas, has no apparent links to known terrorism organizations -- and is believed to have acted alone…

7. Step-on scanner lets air passengers keep shoes on
Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:51am EDT Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE49B2CL20081013?

LOD, Israel (Reuters) - Israel has introduced a step-on scanner that spares airline travelers the nuisance of having to remove their shoes so they can be X-rayed for hidden weapons, though the new device cannot yet sniff out explosives. Only the shoes of passengers deemed suspicious by Ben-Gurion Airport staff are removed, X-rayed and swabbed for bomb residues. Most people can now keep their shoes on. Installed next to the walk-through scanners at Ben-Gurion, "MagShoe" announces within two seconds whether the footwear of the passenger standing on it contains unusual metal that might be a knife for a hijacking or a bomb detonator part. "This innovation brings enormous logistical value as it significantly cuts down the discomfort and delays associated with standard shoe searches," said Nissim Ben-Ezra, security technologies manager for Israel's Airports Authority. But he said MagShoe must be used in conjunction with other precautions, especially as it would not spot hidden explosives -- a major concern after the botched 2001 "shoe bombing" by al Qaeda sympathizer Richard Reid aboard a Paris-Miami flight. A bomb-sniffing version of the suitcase-sized MagShoe is in the works, an Israeli security source said. The current version, produced by Israeli firm Ido Security Ltd., costs about $5,000. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is assessing MagShoe's feasibility for American airports and several other countries have expressed an interest, the Israeli source said.

8. Deakin University innovation improves airport security

MEDIA RELEASE 15 October 2008
Issued by: Mandi O’Garretty, Senior Media Officer Phone 03 5227 2776 Mobile 0418 361 890
http://www.deakin.edu.au/news/upload/151008saeidnahavandidw.pdf

New Deakin University software is helping revolutionise airport security systems around the world. Researchers at Deakin have developed an innovative software platform—believed to be the first of its kind in the world—which allows for simulation of baggage handling systems and how they would cope with changes to airport security…

9. 250 POUNDS OF EXPLOSIVES STOLEN FROM A REMOTE CANYON IN THE
MOUNTAINS OF ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

For Immediate Release FY09-02 October 11, 2008

http://www.atf.gov/press/2008press/field/101108la_explosives_stolen.pdf

Contact: Michael Hoffman – PIO
Office: (818) 265-2507 Cell: (213) 925-4547

LOS ANGELES - Possibly between October 5th and October 8th, large quantities of explosives were stolen from a locked container on a remote hillside in Blackstar Canyon located adjacent to the Cleveland National Forest. The items taken consisted of the following: • 250 pounds of blasting powder (NG) based, believed to be either Trojan or Hercules, stored in 5‐50 pound cardboard boxes. Each box contained an unknown number of “sticks” (approximately 10” long x 1” in diameter), similar in appearance to a cartridge of Dynamite. • 3 boxes (25 caps per box) of number 1 electric blasting caps, possibly by Atlas. They either have yellow and orange wires or blue and white wires. • 1 box of millisecond delays, possibly by Atlas. • 500’ of time fuse, black tar coated, in a cardboard box. Unknown make. • 250’ of “primacord” (AKA: detonating cord) in a cardboard box. Unknown make and color…

10. GBI automates intell management

By Kathleen Hickey Government Computer News Oct 16, 2008

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/47359-1.html

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is automating its intelligence and case management functions through a data management tool from Memex Inc. The Memex solution will enable GBI to manage and retrieve intelligence and efficiently predict, prevent and respond to threats in real-time via software, workflow management, multi-level security and an information-sharing platform. Law enforcement can use the system to uncover unexpected facts and connect patterns between people and events, including accessing unstructured data such as e-mail attachments…

11. New lab security report may signal need for pause
New government report on bio-defense lab security may signal need for pause
LARRY MARGASAK Associated Press Oct 16, 2008
http://www.newsweek.com/id/164141

Another frightening new government report is heightening fears about the safety of U.S. biodefense laboratories that study some of the world's deadliest germs. The latest worry: Intruders could easily break into two of the labs due to lax security. Now some lawmakers and members of a new citizen coalition are asking whether it's time for a timeout in the expansion of the Bush administration's biowarfare defense program…

12. FDA will open inspection office in China this year
By MATTHEW PERRONE – Associated Press Oct 16, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1260

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration will establish its first office in China before the end of the year as part of a broader plan to assure the safety of imports from the developing world. FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach on Thursday laid out a plan to place more than 60 food and drug regulators worldwide over the next year, with a particular focus on India, Latin America and the Middle East. The plan for permanent outposts marks a break from the agency's current practice of sending inspectors abroad on individual assignments. The safety of imported food and drugs has become a growing concern as domestic manufacturers shift operations overseas and foreign producers make inroads here. Over the past year, the FDA has been criticized for failing to prevent a string of safety problems, including contaminated blood thinners manufactured in China and salmonella-tainted peppers imported from Mexico…

13. Terrorism drill takes aim at foreign animal diseases
By JEFF CRAVEN Philadelphia Daily News Posted on Thu, Oct. 16, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1270

Terrorism came to Philadelphia and Chester County yesterday. Or at least authorities acted like it had. In an exercise that was more than a year in planning, the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies said, they conducted an "agroterrorism" test to see how the region might react to introduction of a "foreign animal disease" in livestock. The test was deemed a success. "The whole objective is to learn how to minimize the impact of a potential or actual outbreak," said Jerri Williams, an FBI spokeswoman. "So, it was pretty successful." The daylong test was conducted by the FBI's Philadelphia division, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Task Force…

Financing, identity theft, money laundering

14. US Treasury plans more Iran terror finance actions
Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:55am EDT Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSWBT01002720081016

WASHINGTON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Thursday vowed to take additional actions to target the risk of terrorist financing emanating from Iran following a new warning from an international anti-money-laundering body. The 34-nation Financial Action Task Force again urged states on Thursday to warn financial institutions of risks associated with Iran but welcomed Tehran's pledge to boost safeguards and urged it to take action quickly. Responding to the report, the Treasury said it has repeatedly expressed its "deep concerns about Iran's financial and material support to deadly terrorist groups."…

Treasury Responds to FATF's Call for Strengthened Measures Against Iran

US Department of the Treasury Press Release HP-1216 October 16, 2008
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1216.htm

15. Analysts: al-Qaida has funds despite economic woes
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT Associated Press Oct 16, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1262

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Al-Qaida, which gets its money from the drug trade in Afghanistan and sympathizers in the oil-rich Gulf states, is likely to escape the effects of the global financial crisis. One reason is that al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorists have been forced to avoid using banks, relying instead on less-efficient ways to move their cash around the world, analysts said. Those methods include hand-carrying money and using informal transfer networks called hawalas. While escaping official scrutiny, those networks also are slower and less efficient — and thus could hamper efforts to finance attacks...

Evolution of Islamic terrorist financing

By The Associated Press 5:39 PM EDT, October 16, 2008
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1264

A look at the ways analysts say al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorist groups get money and how it has changed over time:…

Border security, immigration, customs

16. US shifts Visa Waiver Program authorization to Internet

Agence France Presse Oct 16, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1255

Travellers from Japan, western Europe and a number of other countries must request authorization to enter the United States on the Internet from January 2009, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Thursday. These countries are currently exempt from visa requirements to enter the United States for short visits under the Visa Waiver Program, and the new program will keep travel to the United States "visa free" for travelers from VWP countries. Instead of travellers filling out paper I-94 visa waiver cards en route to the United States, the new measure requires online registration…

Other items

17. Reporter skips deposition about unnamed sources

Thursday, October 16, 2008 By ED WHITE, Associated Press

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1265

DETROIT — A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter did not appear at a deposition in Detroit to answer questions about unnamed sources used in a 2004 story about a terrorism prosecutor. A lawyer for Richard Convertino, the former federal prosecutor in Detroit, says reporter David Ashenfelter was obligated to appear Thursday. Stephen Kohn says he'll likely ask a judge to hold the Detroit Free Press reporter in contempt. Convertino wants to know who in the U.S. Justice Department supplied information to the newspaper about an ethics investigation. A judge in August said Ashenfelter could not cite a reporter's privilege to avoid the deposition…

18. Religious-Bias Filings Up
By PHRED DVORAK CAREERS Wall Street Journal OCTOBER 16, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122411562348138619.html?mod=googlenews_w...

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1266

Mass firings at meatpacking plants in Colorado and Nebraska last month highlight growing conflicts over how to accommodate religion in the workplace. The plants, owned by the U.S. unit of Brazil's JBS SA, collectively fired about 200 Muslim Somali workers who walked off the job over prayer disputes. The workers had asked management to adjust their evening break times so they could pray at sunset. Managers at both plants initially agreed but then reversed their decisions after protests by non-Muslim workers. The tension in the JBS plants comes amid a surge in workplace disputes over religion. Claims of religious discrimination filed with federal, state and local agencies have doubled over the past 15 years and rose 15% during 2007 to 4,515, a record...

Prayer leads to work disputes
By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY October 16, 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-10-15-Muslim_N.htm

Requests by Muslims to pray at work have led to clashes with employers who say they cannot accommodate the strictly scheduled prayers. The conflicts raise questions about religious rights on the job. Muslims say they are being discriminated against and are taking their complaints to the courts and the federal government. Employers say the time out for prayer can burden other workers and disrupt operations. Disputes boiled over at two JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in September during the holy month of Ramadan…

MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

19. Al-Qaeda number two killed by US was Swedish
Agence France Presse Oct 16, 2008

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j3Bbn_CLW6mO2AMdj8L-ywi8FT-w

KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) — Abu Qaswarah, described as Al-Qaeda's number two in Iraq who was killed earlier this month by the US military, held Swedish citizenship, the Iraqi defence ministry said on Thursday. "Abu Qaswarah is a Swede of Moroccan origin," ministry spokesman General Mohammed al-Askari told AFP. The US military on Wednesday revealed that Abu Qaswarah had been killed on October 5 during a raid on a building in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul where suspected Al-Qaeda militants were holed up. Also on Wednesday, Sweden's security police, Saepo, said a Swedish citizen of Moroccan descent had been killed by US forces in northern Iraq at the beginning of October. The Swedish news agency TT later said the man was Abu Qaswarah. A statement on Wednesday by the US military said "Abu Qaswarah, also known as Abu Sara, was the Al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leader of northern Iraq."…

Terrorist linked to Stockholm mosque
Published: 16 Oct 08 12:51 CET The Local (Sweden)
http://www.thelocal.se/14998/20081016/

Abu Qaswara, the Swedish citizen killed by US forces in Iraq in early October and thought to be a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda’s Iraq operations, has been connected to a Stockholm-area mosque. US military officials confirmed for the TT news agency that Qaswara died when he detonated a vest filled with explosives after having been shot by US forces. The incident, which took place on October 5th in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, makes Qaswara the fourth Swedish citizen suspected of engaging in terrorism abroad to be killed or jailed. Qaswara, who was born in Morocco and became a Swedish citizen in the 1990s, has been linked to a mosque in the Brandbergen district of the Stockholm suburb of Haninge. The same mosque has also been connected to Ahmed Essafri, another 55-year-old naturalized Swede from Morocco, who is currently serving a three-year prison sentence in the country of his birth after he was convicted of terror-related crimes in June of this year…

20. Trial Postponed for Three Iraqis Suspected of Killing U.S. Soldiers
By Gina Chon October 15, 2008, 11:29 am Baghdad Life - Wall Street Journal Blog

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1261

The Central Criminal Court in Baghdad’s Rusafa area postponed a trial today for three men suspected of being involved in the kidnapping, torture and killing of two American soldiers. The soldiers, Private First Class Kristian Menchaca and Private First Class Thomas Tucker of the 101st Airborne, were guarding a checkpoint June 16, 2006on the Euphrates River in the Yousifiyah area south of Baghdad, then a hotbed of insurgency. Another soldier, Specialist David Babineau, was killed at the checkpoint when insurgents attacked it and kidnapped Mr. Menchaca and Mr. Tucker. The two kidnapped soldiers’ bodies were found three days later. Their bodies were mutilated and Mr. Tucker was beheaded. A video that had circulated on the Internet showed the bodies tied to the back of a truck and dragged. It’s taken more than two years for the case to come to trial, partly because of the difficulty of gathering evidence in Iraq due to a lack of capacity. There was also fear among the Yousifiyah population that prevented them from cooperating with investigators. But since violence has gone down this year, investigators were able to gather five witness statements in support of the case against the suspects...

21. La Russie soupçonnée de livrer en secret des armes au Hezbollah
Liberation JEAN-PIERRE PERRIN Monde 14 oct. 6h51
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1250

A l’exception des journaux locaux, l’événement est passé inaperçu : le 4 juillet, l’Angela, un cargo battant pavillon de Gibraltar fait l’objet d’une fouille approfondie dans le port bulgare de Varna où il a fait escale. Apparement, les services bulgares sont en possession d’informations sérieuses. Dans deux containers, policiers et douaniers découvrent des tubes en métal à usage dual, à la fois civil et militaire, produits en Russie. Les rainures des deux côtés des tubes donnent à penser qu’il s’agit de pièces destinées à l’assemblage de missiles. Ce qui ne correspond en rien à la cargaison mentionnée par le livre de bord…

22. Just married and determined to die
Story from BBC NEWS: 2008/10/13 13:05:42 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7667031.stm

There is a ceasefire in Gaza, but the BBC has found evidence of militant groups preparing for a return to violence. One group, Islamic Jihad, is training female suicide bombers. Middle East correspondent Paul Wood went to meet a Palestinian woman who has volunteered. The young, veiled woman was sitting quiet and still as the room bustled around her. The black flag of Islamic Jihad was pinned on the wall behind her and two Kalashnikovs were carefully placed in camera shot. Her husband, an Islamic Jihad fighter himself, tied on her "martyr's" headband. Umm Anas - not her real name - had just graduated from a programme to train female suicide bombers in Gaza. Our meeting was a highly-orchestrated propaganda event laid on by Islamic Jihad. It was almost theatre - and certainly Israel accuses the Palestinian leadership of manipulating young women like 18-year-old Umm Anas. Yet, although she nervously twisted her wedding ring, Umm Anas did not appear to be a cipher. She was articulate - more so than the men staging the event - and she knew her own mind. When she spoke of becoming a suicide bomber, Umm Anas's voice was strong and steady: "This is a gift from God. "We were created to become martyrs for God," she continued, her eyes burning behind the full face veil. "All the Palestinian people were created to fight in God's name. If we just throw stones at the Jews they get scared. Imagine what happens when body parts fly at them." The bomb belt which she hopes will end her life - and kill many Israelis - rested on the table next to us. Her main motivation in becoming a suicide bomber appears to be religious rather than nationalistic - the fulfilment of a long-held ambition. Even getting married recently hadn't changed her mind…

23. Trial Of Belliraj Cell Opens In Morocco

Posted at: 2008-10-15 The MEMRI Blog

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/10535.htm

Tomorrow, October 16, the trial of suspected members of the terror cell of Abdelkader Belliraj is expected to begin in Morocco. The suspects – among them Islamist party chairmen, a member of the Party of Justice and Development, an emissary from Hizbullah's Al-Manar television, and Belliraj himself – are accused of planning to assassinate senior government officials and to strike Jewish targets. There are reports that Belliraj, a Moroccan-Belgian citizen, met with Ayman Al-Zawahiri in 2001 to receive operating instructions, but the same reports also say that at that time Belliraj was also a Belgian intelligence agent.

Moroccan Islamist refuses to face trial judge
Thu 16 Oct 2008, 12:31 GMT Reuters
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnLG213899.html

RABAT, Oct 16 (Reuters) - A Moroccan accused of leading a radical Islamist cell that included well known politicians refused to stand before the judge as his trial got under way on Thursday… Belliraj, a Moroccan who lived in Belgium, was among more than 30 people arrested in February including businessmen, government employees, a hotel manager in the popular tourist destination of Marrakesh, and a television reporter. The government said the alleged network was tied to al Qaeda and other groups and planned a spate of killings in Morocco, a solid ally of the United States in fighting terrorism. The operation also saw the arrest of leading Islamist political figures Mustapha Moatassim, Mohammed Amine Ragala and Mohamed Merouani, surprising analysts who said the three had a reputation as moderate democrats…

24. Two 20-kg bombs seized in West Bank
Oct. 15, 2008 ap and jpost.com staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1254

Four members of an Islamic Jihad terror cell were arrested Thursday in a joint IDF-Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) operation in Kabatiya, south of Jenin. During the operation, troops found two 20 kilogram bombs. Sappers safely detonated the explosives. Earlier Thursday, IDF troops shot dead an armed Palestinian as he was preparing to throw a Molotov cocktail at soldiers in the West Bank village of Kufr Malik. The IDF said he was one of three men an army patrol spotted carrying firebombs under cover of darkness and he was shot when he ignored warning fire. The other two escaped...

ASIA / PACIFIC

25. US military: Afghan policeman kills US soldier

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer Oct 16, 2008

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanis