Target Centermass

Category: General

  • Germany Nabs 2 Suspected al-Qaida Members

    I find this story especially interesting because of the financial twist.

    German police arrested two suspected al-Qaida members Sunday believed to have plotted a suicide attack in Iraq — with a side venture in insurance fraud, taking out a policy on the suicide bomber to use the money to fund the terror organization.

    The chief suspect, 29-year-old Iraqi Ibrahim Mohamed K., is also believed to have tried to obtain nearly two ounces of uranium in Luxembourg.

    He also “played a not unimportant role in al-Qaida, because he showed signs of contact with Osama bin Laden and met with Ramzi Binalshibh,” one of the plotters of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, chief federal prosecutor Kay Nehm told reporters.

    The Iraqi, a resident of Mainz, was arrested on suspicion of recruiting suicide attackers in Germany and providing logistical help to al-Qaida, Nehm said.

    The other suspect, a 31-year-old Palestinian, identified as Yasser Abu S., was allegedly recruited by the Iraqi to be a suicide bomber in an attack in Iraq. The Palestinian is a Bonn medical student, who was born in Libya and has an Egyptian passport, Nehm said.

    Prosecutors said the Iraqi took out a $1 million life insurance policy on the medical student, who was then to fake his death in a car accident in Egypt. The majority of the insurance payoff was to fund al-Qaida activities, they said.

    After the faked death, the Palestinian was to go to Iraq to carry out a suicide bombing, the prosecutor said.

    The story goes on to point out that the Iraqi suspect had trained multiple times at the al-Queda camps in Afghanistan before the terror-loving Taliban regime was toppled. Details of other recent German moves against radical Islamists within their borders are also listed.

  • Thank You, Johnny!

    Johnny Carson, 1925-2005Johnny Carson, the legendary host of the Tonight Show, has passed away at the age of 79. Precious were the nights in my childhood when I was allowed to stay up to watch, if only for his opening monologues.

    As is the way with people of such stature, practically everyone can find something of the man to hold onto and treasure. With Mr. Carson, it may be his character Carnac or his receiving the Medal of Freedom, our highest civilian honor. It could be his life-long love of the sport of tennis or the dry, often self-depracating humor he used to entertain millions for decades. For most of his fans, it will probably just be the years and years of smiles and accumulated memories with which we were blessed by the man.

    “And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it,” Carson said to close his final show. “I bid you a very heartfelt goodnight.”

  • ‘Peek’ May Not Be Worth It

    After back-to-back bunglings on election day polling and state-calling, the media is taking a new look at their practices.

    It wasn’t fraud, it was human error. That’s one conclusion Americans should extrapolate from a report on flawed exit polling practices during the Nov. 2 presidential election.

    After President Bush’s win, some of his stunned detractors, on Internet sites and fast-circulating e-mails, immediately alleged fraud. The president’s re-election, they incorrectly charged, had to be due to shenanigans, since Election Day exit polls showed challenger John Kerry on his way to victory.

    And how could the exit polls be wrong? Well, they were, apparently because many of the surveyors, particularly younger ones, ended up talking to too many Kerry supporters.

    […]

    It seems they secured interviews with a disproportionate number of younger voters, who tended to vote for Kerry rather than Bush. This apparently helped to skew the polling results. To their credit, major news organizations did not use the exit polling data to make any predictions.

    The exit polls, however, created confusion and skepticism. One “next time” change the research firms recommended is making certain those doing the questioning represent a wider range of ages.

    Here’s a better suggestion: Just rethink the use of Election Day exit polling in general.

    The 2004 presidential election was a cliffhanger. It’s hard to fault Americans for trying to sneak a “peek” at results, and the news media for trying to offer one. We all want to know who’s winning, and we want to know as soon as possible. Unfortunately, elections don’t conform to score keeping like sporting events do.

    At some point, Americans and their news outlets are going to have to ask whether the angst, suspicion and embarrassment at risk are worth it. Now is as good a time as any to address the issue.

    Fresh out of the ’04 campaign, I’ll be the first to say I’m sick of exit polls and, for that matter, the overkill of constant poll numbers in the months leading up to the actual voting.

  • Victims’ Families Criticize ‘Al Qaeda Reader’

    It looks like Osama bin Laden’s personal version of Mein Kampf is going to be made available to the U.S.

    The original thoughts of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders will be made available in English next year in a book, “The Al Qaeda Reader,” whose publisher says is intended to educate the American people.

    The book, which has been criticized by some who suffered in al Qaeda attacks, offers a history of the radical Muslim group, with interviews with bin Laden and his associates and a tract on Islamic struggle by his right-hand man Ayman al-Zawahri.

    A spokeswoman for publisher Doubleday said it was important for Americans to understand the mind of their enemy.

    “This gives a direct perspective on their philosophy,” Suzanne Herz said on Thursday.

    But some who lost loved ones in the September 11 hijacked plane attacks objected.

    “I do not want to give the terrorists any platform to forward their agenda,” said Jack Lynch, whose firefighter son Michael was killed at New York’s World Trade Center.

    “I fear this book could ignite the lunatic fringe in this country who are sympathetic to al Qaeda,” he said.

    […]

    The book draws on two texts published in the Middle East in the 1990s — one from International Jihad Press, which has no known address, the other printed by a small imprint in Jordan.

    The first text is “The Battles of the Lion’s Den of the Arab Partisans in Afghanistan” — a compilation of interviews with bin Laden and his associates giving an oral history of al Qaeda.

    The second source is “Bitter Harvest,” a treatise on jihad penned by al-Zawahri.

    The publisher stresses that all profits will go to charity. I see the concerns about the possible arousing of sympathizers legitimate; however, I would have to think that the lunatic fringe is already in the terrorists’ camp as much as they can be.

    Besides, there is value in knowing one’s enemy.

  • Text Messaging Lets Iraqis Tip Authorities

    This is an encouraging look at how personal technology is playing an increasing role, as Iraqis are using cell phones to help in the fight against the terrorists.

    The tip came in fast, telegraph-terse, and discreet. Maj. Mohammed Salman Abass Ali al-Zobaidi of the Iraqi National Guard scrolled down to read it: “Black four-door Excalibur. Behind cinema.”

    From cell phone screen to local authorities: Acting on the recent text message tip to the Iraqi National Guard commander, police in a nearby town tracked down a black car behind the theater, and arrested the driver for suspected links to insurgent attacks.

    In the volatile Shiite-Sunni towns south of Baghdad known as the “triangle of death,” Iraqi civilians increasingly are letting their thumbs do the talking, via Arabic text messages sent from the safety of their homes, Iraqi security forces and U.S. Marines say.

    At a time when U.S. and Iraqi security forces are desperate for information on attacks – preferably in advance – mobile phone text messages allow civilians to pass on information from a discreet distance, their identities shielded from security forces and their neighbors.

    Although a cell phone displays the caller’s number, phone records are so chaotic in Iraq that chances are slim anyone could track down a tipster. And text messages can be sent to the most trusted officer, a far safer avenue than calling a police station that might be riddled with informants.

    “Many, many people tell us about the terrorists with this,” al-Zobaidi said, tapping his black cell phone and thumbing down to show more messages.

    “All the time, I hear his phone – beep beep beep beep, beep beep beep beep,” said Sgt. Eddie Risner of Ocala, Fla., part of a Marine contingent working with guardsmen to try to block attacks and put a credible Iraqi security force on the street.

    […]

    In Iskandariyah, Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit say they’ve halved the daily attack rate – in large part through constant patrols devoted to hunts for bombs, weapons caches and possible insurgents.

    On this day, Marines found three bombs the hard way – by running across them on patrols, and by having at least one blow up as they drove by. There were no injuries.

    The fourth bomb of the day was the biggest: a vehicle packed with 10 to 15 100mm mortar rounds.

    Marines found that the easy way – a teenager tipped off Iraqi police, who called the Marines. The Americans blew up the bomb remotely, creating a blast that stopped pedestrians and sent flocks of startled birds into the air.

    Marines befriended the teenager later at a police station. It’s the tips and the cooperation with local security forces that Marines want to encourage, they said.

    But few Iraqi civilians want to risk being seen as informants.

    That’s where text messaging comes in.

    “That way, they’re not seen leaving their homes,” said Marine Sgt. Justin Walsh, of Cleveland.

    Al-Zobaidi, the Iraqi National Guard local commander, put up fliers when he took the position, succeeding a brother who had been assassinated in the same post.

    The fliers had al-Zobaidi’s cell number, and encouraged residents to get in touch if they knew of impending attacks.

    The message is still getting out. In Iskandariyah on Friday, Marines urged a group of men on a street corner to come forward with information. One looked reluctant, and drew his hand across his throat to show why he wouldn’t be providing his name.

    “Do you have the chief of police’s cell number?” he asked.

  • Incentives Target Special Ops Troops

    Keep ’em if you’ve got ’em. Consider it an investment.

    The Pentagon has approved an incentives package designed to retain special operations troops in the military, Pentagon officials said Friday.

    The package — approved December 22 for $168 million over three years — is aimed at keeping Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets and other troops trained to fight terrorists from taking lucrative positions with security contractors or other government agencies, the officials said.

    The incentives are directed at troops with a good deal of wartime experience and highly specialized skills that take considerable time and money to replace.

    Only “operators” — troops on the ground conducting missions — are targeted, not everybody in the 49,000-person special ops community, the officials said.

    Depending on how long special ops troops commit to stay with the military, they could receive an additional $8,000 to $150,000 beyond their regular salaries.

    […]

    “This is not about a need to increase the size of the [special ops] community,” said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Joe Richard.

    “It is about keeping the ones we already have and keeping that experience and skill level without having to continually train large numbers to replace the ones that left.”

    The package is not that unusual. In the past, the Pentagon has offered incentives to pilots to try to keep them from leaving for higher-paying jobs in the commercial airline business.

    I whole-heartedly agree with this. We’re not talking about dumbass tankers (DATs) such as I used to be. We’re talking about elite, skilled and highly-trained troops who offer more value to our defense than we’ve often been willing to compensate financially.

  • U.S. Safely Passes Latest Terror Milestone

    So the Olympics and the presidential inauguration went off without dirty bombs or crashed planes. Does that mean we’re safe?

    The terror attack that Attorney General John Ashcroft warned of last spring never happened, President Bush’s inauguration marking the last of a series of major events that he considered prime targets.

    U.S. officials and counterterror experts say it’s unclear whether any plots were thwarted, and they warn the relative quiet should not be viewed as evidence terrorists have turned their attention elsewhere.

    Back in May, Ashcroft and other senior administration officials said intelligence channels had picked up persistent indications that the al-Qaida network or its confederates wanted to mount an attack aimed at disrupting the U.S. elections. “A clear and present danger” was how Ashcroft described it.

    Then came a succession of high-profile events, starting with the G-8 summit of leading industrialized countries in June at Sea Island, Ga., and continuing through the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions the following two months. The Olympics occurred amid extraordinary security in Greece in August, followed by the hectic final weeks of the U.S. presidential campaign and the Nov. 2 election itself.

    The final event was Thursday’s inaugural ceremony, parade and festivities, again under unprecedented security. The worst that happened was a minor scuffle between anti-war protesters and police.

    […]

    Nothing happened.

    While all of the events mentioned were certainly high profile, that does not necessarily mean that they were ever thought of as targets by al-Quida. If anything, the terrorists have shown that any regular ol’ day can become high profile. There was a time when Sept. 11 was just another day on the calendar.

    So, was the drumbeat of warnings necessary? Or, was it, as some Democrats claimed, a calculated move by the Bush administration to scare Americans into re-electing a president whose campaign centered on keeping the country safe.

    “All of the intelligence pointed to al-Qaida’s readiness and fervent intent to hit us and hit us hard,” Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said. “We know al-Qaida wants to hit us now. They’ve been unable to because of the vigilance of the American people and the dedication of federal, state and local law enforcement officers.”

    The heightened threat announcements and heavy security at major events are becoming the norm in the aftermath of the 2001 terror attacks. No government agency or private company wants to be blamed for not doing enough to prevent the next terror plot, which still is almost universally expected.

    That any Democrats made such a claim about the alerts is simply disgusting, especially knowing that those same Democrats would have sought to make political hay of an attack by arguing that we were not safe under Bush.

    Dale Watson, former counterterror chief at the FBI, said the potential magnitude of an al-Qaida attack requires a full-scale response to every terrorism tip, no matter its source or perceived veracity.

    “Since 9/11, you can’t afford to say, `Well, this is nuts, we’re not going to do anything about it,’” said Watson, now with the Booz Allen Hamilton consultancy company. “If you don’t do everything you can, you’re setting your head on a block to be chopped off if something happens.”

    This lack of this edge was the attitude, albeit somewhat understandably pervasive at the time, that allowed the events of 9/11. Can such an edge be maintained?

    Former FBI deputy director Weldon Kennedy said a danger exists that without an attack people will tire of the incessant warnings and begin to ignore them, and governments and business will begin balking at spending the enormous sums needed for extra security.

    “Now is not the time to cease and desist. Al-Qaida is not going away,” said Kennedy, now with the Guardsmark LLC security firm. “The biggest fear is that we will slip into a mind-set where we ask, ‘Is it really worth it?’”

    Yes, that is the fear. Yes, they will try again on our homeland, and we will continue to try to thwart them. Can we sustain the effort the vigilance requires as we seek to cut the legs out from beneath the terrorists’ movement abroad? I honestly expect more successful terror on our soil, as we have to be right every time while the Islamist bastards only have to get through once.

  • Blogging Will Commence

    … when Battlestar Galactica ends. See ya then.

  • Inauguration Speech

    I missed it. You know, work, earning a living, all that jazz. I’m going to read it tonight or tomorrow but I’ve caught enough bits and pieces to feel I can approve of the gist of it.

    Strike that. After reading some of the British media reaction, I feel safe in saying I strongly approve.

  • Afghan Warlord Survives Suicide Attack

    Mildly interesting.

    One of Afghanistan’s most powerful warlords survived an apparent al-Qa’ida assassination attempt when a suicide bomber blew himself up just yards away at a prayer service yesterday.

    Twenty five people were injured, two critically, but General Abdul Rashid Dostum was shaken but unharmed after a bearded man, pretending to be a beggar, detonated explosives strapped to his body.

    General Dostum told a local television station: “After Eid prayers, I greeted some people and when I wanted to put on my shoes, my bodyguards were trying to stop people coming toward me.

    “Suddenly there was a very big explosion. Fortunately, with the grace of God, I was not injured.”

    General Dostum’s brother and two of his bodyguards were among the wounded. Qadir Dostum said: “I was embracing my brother, then suddenly something exploded and I was injured in my face.”

    The explosion happened just behind General Dostum as worshippers queued up to kiss his lapels, apparently as guards prevented the bomber from approaching the warlord.

    The prayers, held in General Dostum’s fiefdom of Sheberghan in northern Afghanistan, were to mark the beginning of the Muslim Festival of Eid al-Adha.

    A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was an act of revenge for General Dostum’s alleged killing of captured Taliban fighters in 2001. Mullah Abdul Hakim Latifi said one of its members had mounted the attack to avenge the alleged slaughter. “Thousands of Taliban had surrendered, but Dostum and his men killed them,” Mullah Latifi said in a satellite telephone call from an undisclosed location. “We will attack any Afghans who are allies of the Americans or the present government.”

    The body of the attacker, who was believed to be in his twenties, was too mutilated to be identified. Most suicide attacks in Afghanistan are believed to have been carried out by foreign al-Qa’ida operatives, perhaps at the behest of the Taliban. Police later claimed to have arrested a Bangladeshi in connection with the attack, which coincided with a defiant call to arms from the fugitive Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, who recently scorned talks about amnesties for low-level guerrillas.

    General Dostum is one of Afghanistan’s most hated men and has a long list of enemies, although the nature of the assassination bid pointed firmly at al-Qa’ida or one of its allies.

    Analysts warned that if a rival warlord was eventually blamed for the attack, further violence could be expected. “The important thing now is Dostum’s perception of this attack, whether he sees this as an attack from the outside, from the Taliban or al-Qa’ida, or from the inside, from his enemies in Kabul,” Reuters quoted one diplomat from northern Afghanistan as saying.

    General Dostum is blamed for killing thousands of civilians and is notorious for repeatedly switching sides during the country’s years of civil war until the Taliban drove him into exile. He returned to power as an ally of the US in 2001 and came fourth in last year’s presidential election. The ethnic Uzbek strongman is particularly hated by the Taliban because he stands accused of killing thousands of their fighters by cramming them in metal containers where they suffocated in 2001. He rarely emerges from his fortified palaces and is always surrounded by security guards.

    I always love to see failure by the terrorists but, after reading about this warlord, it seems there was no way humanity could’ve lost in this case.

    In a related point, Warlords was one of the few paddle-controlled games for the Atari 2600 that was actually fun, especially if you had four players going at it.