Winds of War: October 21/04

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. Thursday's Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has pledged allegiance to Bin Laden. If he's Osama's rival, this is a funny way to go about undermining the guy. Dan Darling had a piece last week on the case for and against Zarqawi being a senior al-Qaeda member long before this declaration was issued.

• The Pakistani Army has launched a major operation to destroy the terrorists protecting former Guantanamo inmate Abdullah Mehsud. His group kidnapped and threatened to behead two Chinese engineers, but Pakistani forces killed the terrorists - one of the two Chinese was killed during the operation. (There was a rumour of a major AQ leader being captured; Mehsud might be a little small-scale to be considered 'major'. More on the attacks on Chinese in the region...

• Who attacked the Sinai hotels? A letter signed the International Islamic Front and given to a Lebanese paper claims responsibility. Another group claiming responsibility have threatened more attacks against Israel.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; Domestic Security Briefings from Europe & USA; Mortars in Syria fired at Coalition; Hamas declares war on U.S.; Manilla ferry disaster a terrorist attack?; Hezbollah to negotiate?; Saddam's philanthropy of terror; French jihadist Willie Brigitte breaks; and much, much more.

IRAN REPORTS

• Iranian intelligence are operating in Iraq and the Czech Republic.

• Iran might buy nuclear fuel. Hey, anything to shut up the whining infidels in Europe.

• The mullahs claim a yet more accurate Shihab-3 has been tested. Debka says the U.S. and Israel don't believe it.

DOMESTIC SECURITY BRIEFINGS

• Spain is still a target. Seven men planning to blow up the High Court have been arrested, despite the Spanish suggestion of an alliance of civilisations. What gives?

• The leader of these men has links to the Netherlands.

• Mexico as a backdoor for terrorists.

• An al-Qaeda financier has been arrested in Germany.

• Abu Hamza will be charged in the U.K.

THE WIDER WAR

• Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has resigned. Looks like he wants to challenge Lahoud.

• Mortars have been fired from Syria at American and Iraqi troops in Iraq.

• Younis al-Ahmed, Ba'athist insurgency leader, is based in Syria.

• The official Hamas website declared war on the United States. More on Hamas as a global terrorist organisation.

• Guysen News: 23:25 A high ranking Hezbollah official, sheikh Nabil Kawuk, declared that his organization wished to open a dialogue with the United States. (Guysen.Israël.News)

• Saddam's Philanthropy of Terror.

• Jordan has indicted 13 suspects, including Zarqawi, for the foiled plots to attack Jordan with chemical weapons.

• French jihadist Willie Brigitte has sung like a bird.

• Manila says the ferry that sank in February, killing over 100 people, was blown up by Abu Sayyaf.

• The Sahel: terrorist playground. For more (much more), check Dan's latest.

• Former Abu Sayyaf Stronghold Is Now Bush Country. And what's crazier still is that's al-Jazeera.

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