Colt's Winds of War: Aug 9/04

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday.

Round 2 of our auditions is in progress, and today's Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Colt of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• British police are holding several men on terrorism charges. Babar Ahmad was in possession of strategic plans about a U.S. Navy battle group, but was charged with aiding Muslim joining the Taliban and Chechen groups. More in the Domestic Briefing.

• Diplomacy has failed to slow down Iran and North Korea in their development of nuclear weapons programs [NYT article permalink]. "Senior administration and intelligence officials" say covert operations are the next American move. Will that work?

• The Weekly Standard takes a look Inside the Zarqawi Network. Based on the interrogation of one of Zarqawi's deputies, it details ties between the Tawhid and Jihad network, Ansar al-Islam, Iran and Syria. The most interesting details is about the Iraqi town of al-Qaim on the Iraq-Syria border, which serves as a depot for the group. This intelligence might have prompted Operation Phantom Linebacker. Al-Qaim, by the way, was a source of yellow cake for the Iraqi nuclear weapons program.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; Domestic Security Briefing; Dubai nets al-Qaeda big fish; Jordan tries to silence radical imams; the Mindanao hudna is over; Dahlan's deadline for Arafat is tomorrow; al-Qaeda in P.A. territories; Abu Sayyaf update; Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan primer; top Saudi terrorist captured; suicide bombers psychologically "normal"; Australia fights Pacific terror; U.S. special forces hunt al-Qaeda in Sudan; Israel hands out radiation antidote; What, me worry?

IRAN REPORTS

• Iran will soon test an advanced version of the Shihab-3. To protect itself against Israel, of course. Iranian Defence Minister Shamkhani: "[W]e have to invest on nuclear defense preparation".

• Jane's Defence Weekly alleges that Iran is testing ballistic missiles for the North Koreans, which Iran denies. Jane's describes the two new systems as "appreciably expanded the ballistic-missile threat".

• The Monkerat, the Iranian religious police, are stepping up their oppression.

• Reformist parties are backing a Mir Hossein Mousavi as the next president of Iran. Hopefully he'll work out better than the last guy.

• Speaking of whom... 'Moderate' sell-out President Khatami says Iran cannot tolerate U.S. attacks on Najaf.

DOMESTIC SECURITY BRIEFINGS

• Of the original 13 al-Qaeda suspects arrested in the U.K, two have been released without charge and another two charged with having forged documents. Another two of them were trained by Hamas. A summary of the arrests can be found here.

• Time Magazine has been informed by "unnamed U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials" that al-Qaeda discussed using petrol tankers and limousines to attack financial targets in the United States. Given the barricades around the Capitol, this will come as no surprise: Officials: Capitol among new U.S. terror targets Drudge has more...

• Australian intelligence finds that 10 more of their citizens trained with al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba. However, they cannot be prosecuted, as they trained before the groups were outlawed in September 20

• An FBI sting operation in New York has led to the arrests of two men - one a mosque-founder, the other an imam at said mosque. The Deputy Attorney General suspects they are linked to Ansar al-Islam. The bogus plot concerned a SAM attack on a Pakistani diplomat.

• The Abu Hafs al-Masri's "truce" offer with Italy ends on August 15. This comes during a time of unusual 'chatter' on al-Qaeda linked message boards.

THE WIDER WAR

• Authorities in Dubai have captured Qari Saifullah Akhtar, wanted for involvement in two attempts of Musharraf's life. He has already been flown to Pakistan.

• Jordan is trying to prevent radical preachers from inciting hatred of the United States.

• Wretchard at the Belmont Club looks at the end of the Hudna in Mindanao.

• Mohammed Dahlan's deadline for Arafat to hand over control of the terrorist militias P.A. security forces is tomorrow.

• An al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade leader says the P.A. territories may be infiltrated by al-Qaeda. I took a look at this here.

• In the Phillipines, an Abu Sayyaf kidnapper of an American is captured. Meanwhile, the military is hunting Abu Sayyaf leader Kaddafy Janjalani in the province of Tawi-Tawi.

• A primer on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

• Of the 26 names on Saudi Arabia's most wanted list, only 11 remain alive and at large. Faris Ahmed Jamaan Al-Zahrani, who was #11, surrendered to police after a chase by police.

• According to a psychiatrist who works for the C.I.A., suicide bombers and terrorists are sane and normal, not mentally disturbed.

• The Aussies pledge to fight terrorism in what PM John Howard called "our patch".

• The legendary Delta Force are in Sudan hunting al-Qaeda.

• Israelis near the nuclear research centre at Dimona are being given radiation antidote. Perhaps the Israelis are preparing to bomb something? Maybe something Iranian...?

• Finally, for someone predicted to lose in November, Dubya seems pretty relaxed...

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