A Call to Jihad, Answered in America

By ANDREA ELLIOTT

MINNEAPOLIS — The Carlson School of Management rises from the asphalt like a monument to capitalist ambition. Stock prices race across an electronic ticker near a sleek entrance and the atrium soars skyward, as if lifting the aspirations of its students. The school’s plucky motto is “Nowhere but here.”

For a group of students who often met at the school, on the University of Minnesota campus, those words seemed especially fitting. They had fled Somalia as small boys, escaping a catastrophic civil war. They came of age as refugees in Minneapolis, embracing basketball and the prom, hip-hop and the Mall of America. By the time they reached college, their dreams seemed within grasp: one planned to become a doctor; another, an entrepreneur.

But last year, in a study room on the first floor of Carlson, the men turned their energies to a different enterprise.

“Why are we sitting around in America, doing nothing for our people?” one of the men, Mohamoud Hassan, a skinny 23-year-old engineering major, pressed his friends.

In November, Mr. Hassan and two other students dropped out of college and left for Somalia, the homeland they barely knew. Word soon spread that they had joined the Shabaab, a militant Islamist group aligned with Al Qaeda that is fighting to overthrow the fragile Somali government.

The students are among more than 20 young Americans who are the focus of what may be the most significant domestic terrorism investigation since Sept. 11. One of the men, Shirwa Ahmed, blew himself up in Somalia in October, becoming the first known American suicide bomber. The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert M. Mueller, has said Mr. Ahmed was “radicalized in his hometown in Minnesota.”

An examination by The New York Times, based on interviews with close friends and relatives of the men, law enforcement officials and lawyers, as well as access to live phone calls and Facebook messages between the men and their friends in the United States, reveals how a far-flung jihadist movement found a foothold in America’s heartland.

The men appear to have been motivated by a complex mix of politics and faith, and their communications show how some are trying to recruit other young Americans to their cause.

The case represents the largest group of American citizens suspected of joining an extremist movement affiliated with Al Qaeda. Although friends say the men have never thought of carrying out attacks in the United States, F.B.I. officials worry that with their training, ideology and American passports, there is a real danger that they could.

“This case is unlike anything we have encountered,” said Ralph S. Boelter, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Minneapolis office, which is leading the investigation.

Most of the men are Somali refugees who left the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in two waves, starting in late 2007. While religious devotion may have predisposed them to sympathize with the Islamist cause in Somalia, it took a major geopolitical event — the Ethiopian invasion of their homeland in 2006 — to spur them to join what they saw as a legitimate resistance movement, said friends of the men.

For many of the men, the path to Somalia offered something personal as well — a sense of adventure, purpose and even renewal. In the first wave of Somalis who left were men whose uprooted lives resembled those of immigrants in Europe who have joined the jihad. They faced barriers of race and class, religion and language. Mr. Ahmed, the 26-year-old suicide bomber, struggled at community colleges before dropping out. His friend Zakaria Maruf, 30, fell in with a violent street gang and later stocked shelves at a Wal-Mart.

If failure had shadowed this first group of men, the young Minnesotans who followed them to Somalia were succeeding in America. Mr. Hassan, the engineering student, was a rising star in his college community. Another of the men was a pre-med student who had once set his sights on an internship at the Mayo Clinic. They did not leave the United States for a lack of opportunity, their friends said; if anything, they seemed driven by unfulfilled ambition.

“Now they feel important,” said one friend, who remains in contact with the men and, like others, would only speak anonymously because of the investigation.

The case has forced federal agents and terrorism analysts to rethink some of their most basic assumptions about the vulnerability of Muslim immigrants in the United States to the lure of militant Islam. For years, it seemed that “homegrown” terrorism was largely a problem in European countries like Britain and France, where Muslim immigrants had failed to prosper economically or integrate culturally. By contrast, experts believed that the successful assimilation of foreign-born Muslims in the United States had largely immunized them from the appeal of radical ideologies.

The story of the Twin Cities men does not lend itself to facile categorizations. They make up a minuscule percentage of their Somali-American community, and it is unclear whether their transformation reflects any broader trend. Nor are they especially representative of the wider Muslim immigrant population, which has enjoyed a stable and largely middle-class existence.

Uighurs called for jihad, pulled out knives

"The imam then ended the prayers, adding: 'We will definitely not follow you. Get out!'" Good for him, although it is more likely that his disapproval was motivated by political expediency rather than by some deep conviction that Muslims must not wage war in the name of Islam -- after all, the Uighurs who have been fighting the Han Chinese, as well as the ones who ended up in Afghanistan and then in Guantanamo, must have learned about jihad somewhere.

"Uighurs called for 'jihad,'" from AFP, July 14 (thanks to James):

BEIJING - THREE Uighur men tried to incite other Muslims to launch a 'jihad' and attacked a mosque security guard before police shot and killed two of them, state media reported on Tuesday.

The incident began when around 150 Muslims were praying in a mosque in Urumqi, the capital of the northwest Xinjiang region on Monday, Xinhua news agency said, citing an unnamed imam who was giving a service at the time.

One man stood up and tried to take over the prayers but was stopped, the imam told Xinhua. A few minutes later the man reportedly stood up holding a green banner and started calling for a 'jihad'.

The imam then ended the prayers, adding: 'We will definitely not follow you. Get out!", according to Xinhua.

As the man was being ordered from the mosque, two other men took out three 50 centimetre long knives from a bag, Xinhua said.

Security guards then tried to stop the men. One of the guards, aged in his 40s who did not want to give his name, said the group chased him out of the mosque wielding the knives where they met patrolling police, Xinhua said.

Police fired warnings shots to try to stop the men before shooting at the three, killing two and injuring one.

A government statement released on Monday soon after the attack said: 'Police shot and killed two suspected lawbreakers and injured one suspected lawbreaker using legal means.' The statement said the three Uighurs were trying to attack another person from the Uighur minority group.

The government's statement and the Xinhua report conflicted with accounts by two Uighurs who said they witnessed the incident from 50 metres away and that three Uighur men had been trying to attack security forces. 'They hacked at the soldiers with big knives and then they were shot,' said one of the witnesses, who said the incident took place across the street from a mosque....

CIA - Al-Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat

Al-Qaeda Operative Employed in States as Bosnian Muslim Diplomat

Sep 17th, 2008 | By De-Construct.net | In Current

Safet Catovic

Abdel Kadeer Moktari Abu Mali

Main Al-Qaeda Operative for the Balkans Enjoys a Diplomatic Cover

Al-Qaeda operative Safet Catovic [pdf. document] is employed as a counselor in one of three diplomatic-consular offices of the Bosnian federation in U.S., the experts for radical Islam said, as reported by the Serbian media.

The man regarded by the anti-terrorist experts as a key figure of the terrorist Islamic network in the Muslim part of Bosnia is considered a coordinator of all the extremist terrorist actions and operations conducted from the Balkan cells of the Islamic terrorist organizations.

“The key al-Qaeda operative for the Balkans, Safet Catovic works as an ‘adviser’ in a Bosnian Muslim diplomatic office in the United States,” said Darko Trifunovic, professor at Belgrade Faculty of Security.

“Together with Muhamed Sacirbey, Catovic was running the non-governmental organization Global Medical Fund, which was involved in bringing over [to former Yugoslavia] mujahedin mercenaries — the operation known under the codename Winter ‘94,” Trifunovic said.

El Mujahedin and Summer Jihad Camp in the Heart of U.S.

The El Mujahedin unit comprised of Arab mercenaries sent over to Bosnia-Herzegovina to help Izetbegovic exterminate the Serbs during Bosnian civil war counted 3,500 troops. Overall, it is estimated that there were 10,000-15,000 Muslim mercenaries from the Islamic countries operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 civil war. Many were promptly given citizenship by the Izetbegovic regime and settled on the property of the ethnically cleansed Serb population after the war.

“On August 2001, Safet Catovic organized the summer Jihad Camp at the place where one of the planes which targeted the twin towers was downed, together with imam Sirai Fahai, suspect in the first attack on New York Trade Center, in 1993″, Trifunovic explained.

One of Serbia’s main anti-terrorism experts isn’t the only one who raised the red flag over the man behind a Bosnian Muslim “diplomatic counselor”. Bosnia’s Dzevad Galijasevic also claims Catovic is an intruder, hiding behind the false identity.

“Catovic is of African-Asian origin, most likely from Algeria. He is a member of the GIA (Group Islamic of Algeria). Safet Abid Catovic is a false identity he took from the Bosnian Muslim who died in 1992. He is a very important link in the chain, a link between the formal part of the [Bosnian Muslim] government and the informal organizational units,” Dzevad Galijasevic told Bosnian Serb Glas Srpske.

He added that Catovic is probably Abdel Kadeer Moktari Abu Mali, former commander of the Bosnian El Mujahedin unit.

However, Bosnian Muslim officials claim that after his arrival to war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina, Safet Catovic was first issued documents on the name Halid Ibn Abdullah, after which he changed his last name first to Catic (Chatich) and then to Catovic (Chatovich), while all the other data in his documents remained unchanged.

Islamic and American Mercenaries Work Hand-in-Hand in the Balkans

Galijasevic further revealed that this al-Qaeda mercenary was approached in Bosnia by the members of the American mercenary organization MPRI — Military Professional Resources Incorporated — an unofficial Pentagon army with more four-star-generals than the official U.S. Army, for training and militarily aiding terrorists in civil wars around the world, involved on the Croat side in extermination of Krajina Serbs, on the Kosovo Albanian side in terrorizing Serbian police and civilian population to trigger the civil war, on the Bosnian Muslim side to push the Serbs out of most of Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the Georgian side to try to ethnically cleanse South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the recent assault, etc. At the request of a high U.S. official, Catovic was pulled to United States because of the information he possessed and, since then, he is officially an employee of Bosnian Muslim diplomatic-consular office.

“He’s an operative who links troops on the ground with the leadership, financial circles and headquarters. He is always in the positions of the informal nature, at the posts of the military attache, adviser, etc,” Galijasevic stressed.

Assertions [.pdf document] that Catovic is the key al-Qaeda operative for the Balkans, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, are not new. It is assumed that the American security services also possess the information about Catovic to whom Bosnian Muslim leadership issued false documents, conveniently providing him with the identity of a dead man.

Catovic was a deputy director of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Permanent Mission in the UN, and he was also a spokesman for two Islamic “humanitarian” organizations FBI closed due to terrorist activities: Benevolence International Federation and the Global Relief Agency.

According to the earlier information, it was Catovic who enabled Husein Zivalj and Hasan Chengic to get in contact with the international Islamic organization TWRA, Faith’s Third World Relief Agency, through which Bosnian Muslim regime started smuggling weapons for the Muslim army at the start of the Bosnian civil war, in 1992.

http://de-construct.net/e-zine/?p=2751

(Debka ist eine professionelle Informationsquelle zur Terrorbekämpfung)

New Jihadist Army Forming in Balkans

June 24, 2002, 5:12 PM (GMT+02:00)

The next radical Islamic terror attack in America could well originate in a corner of the Balkans, where a new jihad force is taking shape quietly and unhindered. In its last issue, published on Friday, June 21, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources reported that close to 20,000 fighters, battled-hardened veterans and eager young recruits, are already under arms, with more joining up all the time.

An Islamist bloc of nations (whose formation has been reported in the past byDEBKAfile) - made up of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, al Qaeda and Hizballah, with active Palestinian support - is behind the new Muslim Balkan army. Saudi, Iranian and Iraqi intelligence services and al Qaeda operations officers in Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania are tasked with recruitment, training and organization. The units are armed with modern weaponry, including missiles and artillery, while handpicked young Muslim recruits have been sent to sign up at private flying schools, especially in the CzechRepublic and Bulgaria, as the nucleus of an air force.

Having learned the lessons of the war in Afghanistan, planners and commanders keep their heads well down, their training bases and facilities well hidden.

Recruitment is brisk among the ethnic Albanian Muslim populations of Kosovo, Macedonia and Bosnia, as well as Albania proper. Hundreds of mosques are sprouting in these countries, funded from deep Saudi pockets. The mosques open cultural societies to attract boys aged 15 to 16 and enroll them at medressas which, like their Pakistani prototypes, integrate military training in their curricula. The result is an expanding recruiting pool for terrorists, the same as Pakistan’s medressas, before the US invasion of Afghanistan.

Safe Haven" for Al Qaeda and Taliban in Pakistan

The strategic significance of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan stems from its perceived pivotal role in the stabilization of security in neighboring Afghanistan and the war against terrorism. The region is believed to be a “safe haven” used by the al-Qaeda high command for planning future terrorist acts against the US and the rest of the world. In addition, it has been the backyard for the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and a training ground for terrorists, especially suicide bombers. Recently, Michael Chertoff, the US Secretary for Homeland Security, is reported to have categorically stated that “(al-Qaeda) are using their platform in the frontier areas of Pakistan to train operatives.¹

In addition Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has stated that any future terror attack against US interests would most likely be carried out by Islamic militants based in Pakistan's restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
Addressing a press conference he said that tribal groups with ties to Al-Qaeda in Pakistan's FATA area represent the worst security threat to the United States. He said, "I believe fundamentally if the United States is going to get hit, it is going to come out of the planning of the leadership in the FATA” specifically that of al-Qaeda.²

Admiral Mullen’s statement underlined the concern about the FATA region being used as the staging area for attacks against United States.

This paper aims to address the concerns about the FATA region, the impact of the indigenous Pakistan Taliban, and their role in aiding the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. It also seeks to understand the nature of the insurgency and the involvement of different actors in the area. The purpose is not to dismiss security concerns as fabricated and/or exaggerated, but to remember that the unrest in FATA is not only due to the Taliban but also to various other factors. The principal causes are the socio-economic deprivation of the people of the area and the failure to reintegrate the mujahideen fighters from the Afghan jihad back into mainstream society. Further, this piece draws attention to the fact that the instability in Pakistan’s FATA region is the result of conflict and insecurity emanating from neighboring Afghanistan, and not vice versa. Lastly, this study will conclude with recommendations regarding shortcomings in current strategies being employed to deal with unrest in the region, as well as chalking out a development plan that promises to mitigate regional insecurity by seeking the involvement of the Islamic states.

FATA, comprising seven semi-autonomous agencies and six settled frontier regions, has historically posed a governance nightmare for successive regimes. Militant tribes inhabit the FATA, and the rugged terrain of the region is ideal for guerrilla warfare. FATA’s 400 km long border with Afghanistan is porous with multiple unchecked crossing points. The close tribal links between the people on both sides of the border have made it virtually impossible to monitor cross border movement. Pakistan’s proposals to fence and mine the border have met with strong resistance from the Afghan government which fears that any such tacit agreement would be tantamount to accepting the contentious Durand Line as an officially recognized border.³

The prospects of a change in the security situation in the FATA region remain bleak, with overtures to engage the militant groups being met with skepticism and drawing sharp criticism in Washington. In fact, as a result of US pressure, efforts to initiate a dialogue have been shelved at present. This, in particular, relates to the negotiations with the Baitullah Mehsud led Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organization that includes different militant groups. The key TTP objectives include: enforcing the sharia, uniting against NATO forces in Afghanistan and carrying out “defensive jihad against the Pakistan army.”⁴ Mehsud has been categorical in declaring his intent to continue the jihad against the international forces in Afghanistan. This prompted the United States to voice its concern to Islamabad about the ongoing negotiations with the TTP. In an interview given to journalists in May 2008, Mehsud expressed his doubts about the future of any deal with the Pakistani government, stating that any such peace agreement is doomed unless the government changes its policies, stops being subservient to the US, and reasserts its sovereignty.

To make matters worse, in an incident on June 10, a US air attack on a paramilitary check-post killed 11 Pakistani soldiers, including an officer, in the Mohmand Agency. Pakistan reacted angrily even as the US maintained that it had informed them of the air strike conducted to counter an ambush attack on Afghan/coalition forces on the Afghan side near the border. A strongly-worded reaction from the Pakistani army described the attack as “completely unprovoked and cowardly” and “blamed the coalition forces for the violent act and said that the incident had hit at the very basis of cooperation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the coalition in the war against terror,” adding that “such acts of aggression do not serve the common cause of fighting terrorism.” The army emphasized that, “A strong protest has been launched by the Pakistan Army, and we reserve the right to protect our citizens and soldiers against aggression.”⁵ This attack is expected to have a detrimental effect on the confidence of the Pakistani Army as it relates to the need to cooperate with the Americans in the ongoing war against terrorism.

Military Operations in FATA

Faryal Leghari: "It is hoped that the international community, including the US, the EU, and especially the GCC states, will reach out to extend cooperation"

Pakistan first deployed its military in the FATA region in 2002 in an effort to expel foreign fighters, mostly those belonging to al-Qaeda and other affiliated organizations, as well as to counter the growing threat posed by local militants. The military operations in the region evolved over three distinct phases. In the first phase, the operations were focused on dismantling the al-Qaeda and Taliban networks. The second phase focused on the selective scouting of the Taliban, and the third stage dating from 2005 to the present (2008) has consisted of large military operations.

At present the total strength of the Pakistani armed forces deployed along the Afghan border is 100,000 soldiers, with two division-sized forces in Waziristan, despite the lull in military operations. The operations conducted by the armed forces in 2007-2008 included 38 surgical air strikes by the Pakistan Air Force/Army, and 25 ground operations that resulted in 930 militants being killed, of which 508 were foreigners.⁶ The withdrawal of the armed forces and removal of all military checkpoints in FATA as demanded by the TTP is highly unlikely. There were rumors of relocation and withdrawal in some areas but the officials have refuted these. At present, Bajaur, North and South Waziristan, and Mohmand – to some extent – continue to be the most troubled of the seven agencies comprising FATA.

Nature of the Insurgency in FATA and the Key Players

In trying to comprehend the evolution of the current situation, it is important to understand the imbalance in the power structures in the FATA region. Prior to 1979 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the power structure in the region had only two elements – the tribes and the Pakistani government. These two powerful elements co-existed peacefully and the governance of the region was designed around them. It was only after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent hasty departure of the international community from the scene that militant organizations, including jihadist militants of different nationalities, emerged. The traditional power structure was threatened by this violent third element, which led to a power struggle that erupted after the US-led attacks on the Taliban in October 2001. To date, this new element in the power structure has not adapted to nor been accepted by the traditional power setup in the region. In fact, the heavily financed and armed militants outmatched the tribal chiefs who stood up to them. They have killed approximately 120 tribal elders on charges of being spies of the Pakistani government and/or the Americans. It was only when it became clear that these militants had outmatched the Frontier Corps that the army was called in to control the situation.

The main reasons that have led to the emergence of this region as a flashpoint of extremism, terrorism and violent insurgency can be traced to the days of the liberation of Afghanistan and includes several failures on part of Islamabad and the international community. These include:

1) The failure to reintegrate the mujahideen (after the Afghan Jihad and ouster of Soviets);

2) The failure to provide the people of the region with desperately needed socio-economic resources, including basic facilities in health, education and communications ⁷; and

3) The failure to initiate reforms both at the political and administrative level in the FATA region.

The cumulative effect of these factors provided a fertile ground for the emergence of several players/groups that had clearly defined stakes in exploiting the situation.

Any effort to tackle the insurgency requires an understanding of the key local players, their strategic objectives and their linkages to other organizations or groups with vested interests.

Currently we can discern four categories of militants in the tribal areas.

1) The jihadists, who are called “purists”, and whose chief purpose is to fight jihad. For them, there is no difference between the Soviets and the United States/NATO, as they are all perceived as occupiers of an Islamic state. These people are believed to have no desire to indulge in anti-state or criminal activity. It is understood that these “purists” will cross over into Afghanistan to fight jihad. The particular nature of the regional terrain is conducive to their activities and their cross-border incursions are expected to continue.

2) The indigenous Pakistani Taliban, who have regrouped under Baitullah Mehsud’s Tehrik-i-Taliban, and like-minded smaller organizations and groups. The TTP’s emergence as an independent entity with a sophisticated organizational structure and operational capability was formally announced in December 2007. The group had been active in the FATA region, principally in the South Waziristan, Mohmand, and Bajaur Agencies for some years. The TTP has successfully engaged the Pakistan armed forces and currently supports Taliban operations in Afghanistan against NATO forces. This has resulted in other smaller militant groups, like Lashkar-i-Islam, joining them either as associated partners or as followers. Mehsud’s organization, which is reported to be 5,000 strong, has attracted many disbanded terrorist groups that are not confined to the FATA region. In fact, the TTP’s reach now extends to the settled areas of the NWFP, including the districts of Swat, Malakand, Bannu, Tank, Lakki Marwat, D.I.Khan, Kohistan and Buner.⁸

3) The criminal groups who have assumed the mantle jihad in order to exploit the situation to the benefit of their criminal activities.

4) The “shadow” group whose identity is yet to be determined. This group is believed to be involved in attempts to reignite conflict when the situation calms down and some headway is being made in efforts to bring peace.

The multi-layered nature of the insurgency demands a similar approach in dealing with the actors involved. There is a need to strengthen the regional security forces including the police, the khassadars and the levies: ⁹ as an integrated force, they could deal effectively with the criminal elements and the smaller militant groups. In order to ensure the implementation of the strategy to deal with the insurgency, it is crucial to harness the support of the tribes. In fact, the government, by exploiting differences between the Uzbek militants and the Waziri tribes, waged a successful operation in March 2007 that resulted in the killing and expulsion of more than 300 Uzbeks from the area.

Failings of the US Strategy towards FATA

"The strategic significance of FATA of Pakistan stems from its perceived vital role in the stabilization of security in neighboring Afghanistan and the war against terrorism."

It seems that the US has failed in its “winning the hearts and minds” strategy; in fact, it has not even bothered to operate in this context in the FATA region. Conducting air strikes, dismissing civilian (and now military) casualties as “collateral damage”, and then expecting local people to be grateful for development aid seems presumptuous. While development funds are badly needed in the impoverished and radicalized region, the truth is that the tribesmen view any development aid from western quarters as blood money. There is evident hostility towards western aid, a fact exploited by the militants who have termed it haram and have vowed to wage all efforts to sabotage any such projects. As a result of the huge socio-economic deficit – a problem that can be partly considered a failure of the Pakistani government and partly of the international community that abandoned the region after the ouster of the Soviets from Afghanistan – the region has tilted towards extremism and terrorism. The conflict in Afghanistan became the cause for the consequent radicalization, terrorism, weapons proliferation and narcotics trafficking.

As if the missile attacks from an unmanned predator aircraft, which caused civilian casualties were not enough – it is now rumored that the Pentagon has planned ground operations in the tribal areas. It is beyond comprehension that Washington seems to have entirely disregarded realities on the ground. Instead, they reveal signs of panic by erring in their policy-making. Their rhetoric about successes in Iraq and control of the situation in Afghanistan is in contradiction to reality, and it seems that the policy makers in Washington are scrambling to take any measure that might indicate some semblance of control over the situation in these two countries.

In order to deter cross-border incursions by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and to gain logistic support from Pakistan, the US should focus on increasing troops on the Afghan border. The villages that have sprung on the Afghan side of the border have been largely ignored by the coalition and Afghan security forces and are believed to also provide sanctuary and logistical support to the Taliban and others. Besides, the refugee problem (Pakistan hosted about 4 million Afghan refugees, of which about 2 million are still to be repatriated) needs to be addressed on an immediate basis.

The US and its allies should also focus on strengthening the institutional structures in Afghanistan and make concerted efforts to root out criminal and corrupt elements within the establishment. The Afghan Army and police trained by the international forces are expected to share more of the burden of the ISAF at some point later in 2008. However, this is not expected to have much of an impact on controlling the Taliban insurgency, as this is in actuality a nationalist movement. Rampant corruption at various levels within the system, ineffective central governance, and the disillusionment of the Afghan people with the establishment are also contributing factors.

The linkages between narcotics production and the insurgency are often discussed but have yet to be fully addressed. There is strong evidence that narcotics serve as the crucial financial supply-line for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. A hard-hitting strategy for narcotics eradication complemented by a viable alternative livelihood plan for the opium farmers is the need of the hour. In addition, the vested interests of international organized criminal groups, specifically the narco-mafia, in an unstable Afghanistan and Pakistan cannot be ignored.¹⁰

As for the Pakistani perception of the “War on Terror”, the truth of the matter is that the Pakistani people, in general, do not consider it their war; they feel they have been dragged into it. Despite being subjected to a wave of suicide attacks and the spread of Talibanization, they feel these are reactions to the government’s support of US policies. Instead of aggravating an already volatile situation by staging ground operations to hunt down al-Qaeda, the US should place the onus on the Pakistani military and beef up the regional security forces with technical training and intelligence support. Any air strikes to hit “high value targets” must be conducted only by the Pakistani armed forces, and these should be kinetic strikes with minimal civilian casualties. Pakistani intelligence services are already in close collaboration with the US and other allies, where intelligence information is shared with about 50 countries on a daily basis. This intelligence cooperation could be enhanced with added focus on the development of human intelligence in the area (FATA and other identified sensitive areas in Pakistan) aided by technical surveillance.

In reaction to the constant haranguing from Western sources regarding the role of the ISI and elements in the armed forces in helping the Taliban, Pakistan has recently issued a strong denial of such activities. It has taken particular exception to the report issued by the RAND Corporation entitled “Counter Insurgency in Afghanistan” which claims that there are Taliban sanctuaries inside Pakistan and that elements within the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Frontier Corps (FC) are providing arms and financial assistance to Taliban. Pakistan has also categorically denied that any of its officials or troops is helping insurgents and has rejected the report’s allegations. A statement issued by the Pakistani military denounced the report, stating that it, “is misleading, factually incorrect and based on propaganda to create doubts and suspicion in the minds of (the) target audience about Pakistan’s role in supporting the coalition forces in Afghanistan.”¹¹

As far as Pakistan is concerned, efforts to catch some of the key al-Qaeda planners and operators have met with considerable success in the past. However, the struggle promises to be a long one, for the organization has now grown into a movement. The strategy in the War on Terror should be to avoid the high-handed approach and the use of language that has generated hatred and extremism against the West in the past. It is naïve to expect that the unilateral use of force could lead to the eradication of terrorism. Recommendations have been made at the international level to address the root causes of grievances and injustices (perceived or real) that lead to radicalization and extremism. However, the growing spread of radicalization not only among the so-called madrassah trained youth but also among the educated classes portends that the problem will not be an easy one to resolve. In fact, there is a clear lack of strategy as well as a lack of commitment to implement and sustain plans geared towards resolving the region’s problems; the lack of understanding of the people, their culture and beliefs is another major problem.

On the other hand, as part of a comprehensive strategy, the US has planned to contribute over $2 billion, with a special development package worth $750 million including the establishment of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) in the FATA region. The US has also drawn up a Security Development Plan estimated to cost $400 million for enhancing the capability of the Frontier Corps, thus improving security in the region.¹² These are commendable initiatives and are expected to yield dividends for the local people. However, as seen in the past, the implementation of such projects has faced obstacles, with a major portion of the funds going towards consultants’ fees in western capitals and very little trickling down to benefit the locals. Afghanistan is facing the same problem where reconstruction funds amount to a meager $7-8 billion compared to military costs of $80 billion. Implementation of such projects can be made acceptable to the people by involving Muslim countries that can play instrumental roles; this will be discussed below in more detail.

Pakistan’s Strategy towards FATA: Suggested Amendments

"The agriculture sector has been neglected due to the lack of resources"

The effort to use military deployment as a means of political negotiation and a facilitator of economic development has been absent from the strategy to deal with the situation in the tribal areas. A political strategy, drawn up in consultation with tribal elders, to spread awareness among the local tribes could clear up any misconceptions and mistrust created by the militants. At this point the presence of military forces in the region as a means to apply sustained pressure to deter any sabotage attempts is important.

Historical facts show that the unilateral use of the force has never been an answer to resolve the FATA’s problems. Though a military presence in the FATA eventually became a necessity, this has had an adverse effect on the administrative set-up as the authority of the political agent has been eroded.¹³ Taking punitive action against the tribes, including blockades and mass arrests, will not work and will likely lead to a worsened situation. In fact, the militants have welcomed blockades of the area as it deprives the locals of the area of their basic economic needs.

In order to rectify the present situation, there should be a graduated response. Political and administrative reforms need to be introduced with the possible merger of the region into the NWFP. (The government has proposed renaming the province, from NWFP, to ‘Pukhtookhwa’ as a first step in addressing the perceived neglect of the region). Until such time, the authority of the political agent must be restored.

As for negotiations with militants and peace agreements, the government needs to show resolve in standing by its objectives of not tolerating any type of activity against the state apparatus or violence against its citizens. Pakistan has expressed its inability to control incursions into Afghanistan on its own. It is only fair that Pakistan and Afghanistan should share the responsibility to stop such incursions. Further, NATO must act upon the government’s proposals to the ISAF command to post extra troops and check movements on the Afghan side of the border. While curtailment of the use of force against groups like the TTP is not a likely option in the foreseeable future, there should be a continuous effort to keep channels of communication and dialogue open with such groups.

Socio-economic Development in the FATA Region

The provincial government in the NWFP plans to initiate a $4 billion development fund for the Frontier province including the FATA region. This is in addition to the $2 billion Sustainable Development Fund (SDP) for the FATA region that could not be implemented due to a lack of resources and funds.

A key factor in the implementation of any development work in the region is consolidating and strengthening local support. It is important to reach an effective agreement with the tribes in the FATA region in order to implement development projects. This in turn will have far reaching implications, as the tribes will realize the benefits of these projects for their areas.

A comprehensive regional development plan encompassing training and provision of jobs, infrastructure, education, health, agriculture and trade development is urgently required. However, for immediate impact, providing jobs to the people from the area either locally or internationally is vital.

Any future development plans for the FATA should include the Islamic states, principally the GCC states, as integral partners with a leading role. This would be immensely beneficial in two ways. Firstly, it would counter the widespread hostility in the area towards western aid and the fears of a broader ‘design’ to subvert the people of the area from their religion and beliefs. Secondly, the locals, who would perceive these projects as an Islamic initiative, would resist sabotage attempts by militants. The projects would also address the concern about unemployed youth being drawn into extremism, as they would aim to provide jobs to young people. ¹⁴Much of the large youth population (approximately 15 percent in Waziristan alone) could also be provided jobs in the Gulf States with strict monitoring from the Pakistani side. Understandably the Gulf States would have security concerns as well, which would need to be addressed by Pakistan.

In fact, the export of labor from these areas to the GCC States would add to employment opportunities. The local tribes can be apportioned a quota that could be flexible and based on performance and good behavior. Providing training opportunities in remote areas could facilitate the recruitment of locals for un-skilled and semi-skilled labor. Mobile training teams would travel throughout FATA with tribal support in order create awareness among the local population about opportunities. The Political Agent and the tribal elders could also be involved in the process in order to facilitate the endeavor in addition to propagating the initiative regionally.

The existing recruitment centers in the Frontier Province and other parts of the country could be utilized for providing further training in various fields to those who have had some basic education and other technical training. It is expected that there will be a larger turnout for labor recruitment in the construction and services sector. This would be mutually beneficial for the FATA area and Pakistan as well as the Gulf States due to booming construction and real estate development in the Gulf. ¹⁵

A key area in dire need of resources is the transportation infrastructure, specifically roads. Any development in the roads network would have an immediate impact on the people’s lives and make the region more accessible. This would also boost trade and commerce in the region. Home to 3.96 million people, FATA suffers from a lack of development in the education, health, energy and agricultural sectors. The literacy rate for FATA is a mere 17.42 percent, according to a 1998 census, compared to 43.92 percent for the rest of Pakistan. The female literacy rate at three percent is the lowest in the country. ¹⁶

Similarly, the health sector also demonstrates poor indicators. The total number of hospitals in the entire FATA region is 33, with a further 301 dispensaries. Sadly, there is only one doctor for a population of 6,970.17

The agriculture sector has also been neglected due to a lack of resources. Addressing the issues of water scarcity, land reclamation and forestry development, the introduction of tunnel farming for off-season vegetables and fruits, and livestock farming could give a boost to overall development in the region. Similarly, the mining of coal, marble and other important minerals is a potential goldmine waiting to be tapped. The region also badly needs energy for village electrification and irrigation purposes. Additionally, tapping sources of hydroelectric power and solar energy is another area that could be explored.

Conclusion

"Tapping resources of hydroelectric power and solar energy is another area that could be explored"

Pakistan’s military cooperation with the US and coalition forces in Afghanistan is likely to continue despite the June 10 air strikes that have elicited a sharp reaction and created tension. However, the air strikes by US aircraft and coalition forces must be curtailed in the larger interest of winning this war. As stated earlier, it is advisable that Pakistani forces carry out any air strikes on targets inside Pakistan. The criticism of Pakistan’s efforts being aired in Washington has caused confusion leading to a debate in the country on whether or not the current situation is part of an induced destabilization process aimed at denuclearizing the country.

In any case, a genuine effort to completely root out extremism requires that the West revise its strategy. It is also mandatory that the internal dynamics of the FATA region be incorporated in any strategy that seeks to deal with the conflict situation.

Pakistan should step up efforts to implement political, administrative and judicial reforms in keeping with tribal traditions. There must be a concerted effort to dispel the feeling among the people that they are not part of the mainstream in the country. More importantly, the government should address their frustration and sense of socio-economic deprivation. As stated earlier, the use of military force should only serve as a supporting tool for implementing the political and economic strategies discussed above. However, it would also help to thwart the militants’ goal of exploiting the situation and recruiting people for extremist activities.

It is hoped that the international community, including the US, the EU, and especially the GCC states, will reach out to extend cooperation for the development of the FATA region. It should be kept in mind however, that there is no short cut to achieve the final objective. While measures implemented on an immediate basis could generate results and change perceptions, a multifaceted strategy that would work on different levels would need a long-term commitment and sustained resources. This is the responsibility the international community must commit to; for Afghanistan’s example is a stark reminder of how an unattended situation can disintegrate into chaos.

Notes:

1 BBC World News, June 1, 2008.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7429699.stm

2 Geo Television Network, June 11, 2008.
http://www.geo.tv/6-11-2008/19148.htm

3 The Pak government, in the face of belligerent Afghan posturing about sending its forces to hunt down Taliban leaders like Mehsud and Mualvi Umer (there was an ambiguity about which “Umer” Karzai referred to, there is the Taliban leader Mullah Umer (Afghan) and then there is Maulvi Umer who is the spokesman of the TTP (Mehsud’s); had also propositioned NATO to increase vigilance on the Afghan side of the border. Border monitoring has to be a collective responsibility in this case and must be shared equally between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the International Coalition Forces.

4 Daily Times, December 16, 2007.

5 The News, June 12, 2008.

6 Information obtained from interviews with some high level Intelligence Officers in Islamabad, May 17, 2008. Identity cannot be disclosed as per prior understanding.

7 This socio-economic deprivation has led to rise in extremism and radicalization. As a result the Taliban and other militant organizations have been able to recruit much of the younger population as well as many of the returnees of the Afghan jihad.

8 The News, December 16, 2007.

9 The establishment of Federal Levies and Khassadrs in FATA and (tribal areas in Balochistan) was introduced by the British and has to date been maintained in order to exercise an effective control over the tribal people and for the maintenance of law and order in the tribal areas. The political agent holds the control of the federal levies and khassadars and runs the day to day affairs of policing the agency. Levies are the community police. They perform all functions that the regular police are supposed to do. Total strength of Federal Levies in FATA is 6785. Khassadar position is hereditary and incumbents carry their own weapons for the duty. Total strength of Khassadars working in NWFP & FATA is 17597.

10 It is believed that the Taliban in Afghanistan are being paid heavily by the organized crime groups running the narcotic trafficking network to allow safe passage of drug consignments to pass into Pakistan and Iran for trafficking to other destinations. The al Qaeda is also believed to be using narco money as a financial supply-line. The narcotics production and trafficking is now directly linked to the financing of the Taliban insurgency and the terrorist funding for al Qaeda and other associated groups. The international community needs to address this on an urgent basis.

11 The News, June 12, 2008

12 Shuja Nawaz, “Rethinking the War in Pakistan’s Borderlands,” The Huffington Post, March 13, 2008.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shuja-nawaz/rethinking-the-war-in-pak_b_91407.html

13 The Political Agent referred to here is the administrator appointed by the Governor of the NWF province and is in charge of running the administration of the agency. This setup has been implemented since the days of British Colonial rule has carried on successfully to date. Ironically with the increased military presence of the Pakistan Army, the role and authority of the Political Agent is now reduced to a nominal stature.

14 Some quarters assert that the GCC states do not fully respect labor rights and question the increased export of Pakistan labor force to the Gulf. Recent press reports also brought to light several incidents where protests over unpaid wages and proper accommodation were staged by the work force especially in the construction sector. This served as an eye opener causing some of these host states to review the problems and address the violations. Many of these workers who were found guilty of inciting and indulging in violence were deported as well. It is not correct to assume that there are no transgressions in the labor sector by private or semi private of even government owned companies but there is marked improvement and more openness about such issues. In fact several of the GCC states are on a self improvement drive.

15 In view of anti trafficking laws and labor reforms being implemented due to international concerns for expatriate labor communities in GCC states, and a desire to improve their image, many of the GCC states have seriously started to take measures to improve abuses within the labor sector. It is not expected to assume a model status but things have improved significantly over the years. It is also true as proved by a study conducted by Gallup Pakistan, that Pakistan labor force prefer the Gulf as a work destination due to closeness to home, perceived higher monetary returns and ideological reasons.

16 Directorate of Education FATA, NWFP, Pakistan Education Survey, 2004-05, Census Report of FATA, 1998.

17 Statistics provided by the FATA Secretariat, Year 2006.

This artice has been first published in Volume II, Issue 10 of Perspectives on Terrorism.

Faryal Leghari
Researcher
Gulf Research Center in Dubai

Senior Al-Qaeda Chemical Weapons Expert 'Killed' In Missile Strike

Abu Khabab al-Masri reportedly killed in US missile strike in Pakistan.

Synopsis: Reports from Pakistan say a leading al-Qaeda chemical weapons expert, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, has been killed in a missile strike. Taliban officials in the tribal area of South Waziristan confirmed to the BBC that he was killed in a missile strike that left at least six people dead. The US , which has a reward of $5m on his head, said it had no information. He was wrongly reported to have been killed in 2006 in a strike aimed at al-Qaeda deputy head Ayman al-Zawahiri. The pre-dawn strike targeted a house near a mosque in the village of Azam Warsak , 20km west of the main town in South Waziristan , Wana. It was suspected to be a strike by US forces, with residents saying they had heard US drones, but this has not been confirmed. Pakistani military spokesman Maj Gen Abbas said it was still awaiting "authentic information" from the area. Also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, is an Egyptian national. The US government's Rewards for Justice Website says he is "an explosives expert and poisons trainer working on behalf of al-Qaeda". It says he trained hundreds of militants in chemical and explosives operations at a camp at Derunta in Afghanistan . The BBC in Islamabad says the militant was considered part of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle and was said to be in charge of efforts to gain access to, or develop, weapons of mass destruction. Local residents said the house targeted belonged to a local tribesman and suspected militants used to stay there. The US is reported to have carried out a number of drone missile attacks in the tribal regions. Pakistan has complained the attacks could damage bilateral relations. The latest strike came shortly before Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani was due to meet US President Bush in Washington . White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said she had no information about the incident. In recent months the US and its allies have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in military and other forms of assistance to help Pakistan 's new government tackle militancy in border tribal areas.

Analysis/Road Ahead: Multiple news sources cite Abu Khabab al-Masri’s death by US missile strike in Pakistan , if confirmed; his death would pose a potentially substantial setback to al-Qaeda as al-Masri was considered an essential dynamic in al-Qaeda’s quest for weapons of mass destruction. An alleged member of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle his death would represent a direct blow to the al-Qaeda leadership and could indicate Osama Bin Laden's own security is at risk as intelligence revealed al-Masri’s location, so Bin Laden is conceivably also susceptible to discovery. While al-Masri was erroneously reported killed in 2006 confirmation of his death is vital otherwise al-Qaeda’s propaganda machine will illuminate/exploit the US failure. This missile strike was also significant as its timing occurred just prior to Pakistan ’s Premier meeting President Bush. Imaginably this missile strike intervention in Pakistan influenced Pakistan ’s Premier’s to vow to fight "extremists/terrorists" and to secure its porous border with Afghanistan .

Sources: BBC, The Scotsman, Times Online, Turkish Press, AFP, NYT, KUNA, Daily Times, Press TV, Reuters, AP, Inter Services Public Relations, 28 Jul 08

Third public hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

Statement of Steven Emerson to the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
July 9, 2003

Overview: The Rampant Allure of Jihad in the Muslim World

Chairman Kean, Vice-Chairman Hamilton, and distinguished Members of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Thank you for inviting me to testify today about the societal factors in the Muslim world that support terrorism and justify violence.

It is important that this hearing and this commission never lose sight of the fact the killers behind the murder of 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001 were not generic terrorists without clear political and religious motives. The terrorists were not simply a band of fanatics who, as so many officials and pundits had repeatedly stated, after 9/11, had simply "hijacked a religion." Because of a fear of engendering charges of racism by Muslim leaders, a charge that is routinely applied to anything critical of militant Islam, there has been an assiduous effort to avoid labeling the terrorists of 9/11 for what they were: militant Islamic terrorists. Their behavior was informed and guided by their misguided interpretation of Islam. Unfortunately, efforts to sanitize the discussion of Islamic terrorism has led to explanations of 9/11 that exonerate the masterminds and ideological perpetrators of any responsibility for their actions: A special Hollywood broadcast after 9/11 noted that the attack of 9/11 was simply "pure evil" and had nothing to do with religion.

In fact, the 9/11 attack had everything to do with religion-- it had to with the doctrinal interpretation of Islam by militants. At the outset, it is critical to point out that militant Islam does not equal Islam. Islam as a religion, like Christianity and Judaism, does not endorse violence. Islam is a vibrant religion that gives spiritual comfort and meaning to its vast number of practitioners around the world. And there are Islamic writers, intellectuals and clerics who openly and unambiguously repudiate violent Islamic militant ideology. For the peaceful majority of Muslims around the world, it is imperative that these distinctions be made. But in the end, it is not the West that is avoiding these distinctions. It is the militants who are trying to erase these distinctions; by claiming there is no such thing as Islamic extremism, the militants have tried to hide under the protection of the mainstream majority.

Anti-American radicalism was pervasive in the Muslim world long before the events of September 11, 2001, and is not limited to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. One need only read translations of the Muslim media in many parts of the world, including the West, to see the resentment, hatred and anger, even in countries that are our strategic "allies." The persistent denial that radical Muslims were responsible for the September 11 attacks, with the belief that Israel or the United States had secretly launched the attacks, is further evidence of the rampant radicalism. The extent of radicalism in the Muslim world has gone unrecognized because of premeditated deception, a cloak of religiosity, intimidation, and a tendency by many in the West to dismiss radical statements as nothing more than mere rhetorical posturing.

Often one cannot draw a clear line between fundamentalist religious dogma and radical action or between the West and the Muslim world. Indeed many of these militants have been educated in the West. Such a belief system, in which anti-Western animus is so entrenched, cannot be remedied by a public relations program launched by outsiders. Rather, any hope for change must come from within the Muslim world itself. As Professors Fouad Ajami and Bernard Lewis have long argued, the roots of Arab and Islamic belligerency towards the US are found in the failure of those regimes to adequately meet the needs of their people. A democratic modernization of the Islamic world, mounted from within, is the only way to defuse these murderous emotions.

In the last two years, there has been a genuine, although belated, recognition in the United States that the problem and threat posed by Al-Qaeda is not limited to card carrying members of this terrorist group. Although Al-Qaeda carried out the horrific terrorist attack of 9/11, the larger problem the US faces is the militant Islamic culture and mindset that gave birth to Al-Qaeda. In this regard, Al-Qaeda is shorthand for a much larger religious phenomena - militant Islamic fundamentalism - that has spawned violence and terrorism against the United States, the West or western-allied states that are deemed to be the "enemies of Islam." Within the framework of militant Islamic fundamentalism, a culture of violent "jihad" has become a common denominator, sanctioning violence and terrorism against moderate and secular Muslims, Americans, Westerners, Christians, Jews, and other "infidels."

To be sure, the Muslim world is not the only religious umbrella under which religious-sanctioned terrorism takes place. There have been Christian, Jewish, Sikh and Hindu terrorists for example.

But today no other religious-inspired violence matches the scope and transnational breadth of militant Islamic fundamentalism. According to research we have conducted, Islamist terrorist attacks have now occurred in or been planned and supported from more than 100 countries around the globe in the past 10 years.

One of the basic problems when confronting radicalism in the Muslim world is the unwillingness by some Western academicians, editorialists and leaders to recognize the pervasive institutionalized support for and dissemination of jihadist ideology. In the West, the concept of Islamic extremism is automatically associated with relatively small portions of Muslim society.

The undeniable fact is that Islamic militants dominate or exercise disproportionate influence over the religious, academic, and media institutions in the Muslim world, with the notable exception of several countries such as Turkey and Indonesia. Within the Muslim world, the religious hierarchy has been traditionally controlled by Islamic fundamentalists; major Islamic media institutions, from newspapers to television, mirror the Islamic fundamentalist influence over the message dictated to the masses.

The Appeal of Al Qaeda

In attacks in Saudi Arabia, Bali, Morocco, and Tunisia, Al-Qaeda cells have demonstrated an ability to strike western interests despite intensive multilateral efforts to dismantle the organization since September 11. Military strikes, law enforcement actions, financial seizures, and international cooperation have severely curtailed bin Laden's ability to operate, but the damage done to Al-Qaeda's present military and financial interests does not address bin Laden's political capabilities, and leaves intact Al-Qaeda's recruitment infrastructure and ideological support system.

Al-Qaeda's most serious challenge to international security lies in its ability to quickly replenish its ranks with dedicated operatives. Underpinning this challenge is an abstract and hate-based ideology of "jihad." Based on an absolutist interpretation of Islamic law, and cloaked in a veneer of extremist terminology, this ideology harnesses and directs angry and alienated people in the Muslim world against non-Muslim scapegoats.

Al-Qaeda's culture of "jihad' engenders a breeding ground for new acts of international terrorism. Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist movements are entirely dependent on their potent ideological message to attract fresh recruits. Under the guise of a social program, Islamic radical movements generate moral and political support in Muslim communities worldwide. The jihadist ideology mandates that "true" believers oppose the "enemies" of Islam and spread Islamic sovereignty, thus breeding violence and terrorism.

The typical path of indoctrination in the Islamic radical worldview starts at the fundamentalist mosque. Radical imams from Long Beach, California to Long Island, New York use passionate religious rhetoric to criticize the West and proclaim the "universal victimhood of Islam." In lectures and study circles, these imams teach students that since Islam is a total system, offering solutions to every problem, the current hardships of Muslim societies are a direct result of Christian or Zionist conspiracies. Islamic bookstores from Falls Church, Virginia to London, UK provide reading materials to substantiate these claims. Acquainted with the radical texts, students form study groups and learn of further options to continue their indoctrination in Islamic theology. These options usually include travel to madrassahs in the Arabian Gulf or South Asia and training camps in Afghanistan or other 'lands of jihad.' There young Muslims pass through the first level of recruitment into Al-Qaeda.

Sociology of Muslim Enmity Toward the West

In Muslim countries, widespread resentment and envy of the West and the United States create a fertile ground for the growth of terrorist movements. Political leaders often fan the flames of hatred to divert popular wrath from grotesque levels of misgovernment. Opposition figures and dissident groups, particularly those with religious pretensions, have leaped at the chance to profit from this rancor.

For centuries Muslims had good reason to consider themselves at the vanguard of civilization. They had conquered much of the Old World, beaten off the Crusaders and absorbed the Mongols.

But beginning with Napoleon's invasion and conquest of Egypt in 1798, the Muslim world found the Christians of Europe had advanced by leaps and bounds. Many humiliations followed on both the military and technological fronts.

Bernard Lewis, the premier scholar of the Muslim world, has written:

In the course of the twentieth century it became abundantly clear that things had gone badly wrong in the Middle East-and, indeed, in all the lands of Islam. Compared with Christendom, its rival for more than a millennium, the world of Islam had become poor, weak, and ignorant.

Attempts were made to reform and catch up, but:

The results achieved were, to say the least, disappointing. The quest for victory by updated armies brought a series of humiliating defeats. The quest for prosperity through development brought in some countries impoverished and corrupt economies in recurring need of external aid, in others an unhealthy dependence on a single resource - oil.

Worst of all are the political results: the long quest for freedom has left a string of shabby tyrannies, ranging from traditional autocracies to dictatorships that are modern only in their apparatus of repression and indoctrination.

'Who did this to us?' is of course a common human response when things are going badly, and many in the Middle East, past and present, have asked this question. They have found several different answers. It is usually easier and always more satisfying to blame others for one's misfortunes.

The obvious scapegoat is the West, now led by the United States.

Teaching Hate in Schools

It should not come as a surprise that educational institutions provide the most effective mechanism to teach, indoctrinate and perpetuate the culture of jihad. The Saudi government distributes textbooks to Islamic schools in Pakistan, the United States, and elsewhere around the world. These books incite hatred of Jews and Christians and praise Jihad.

For instance, a single exercise in one eighth-grade Arabic grammar book-a book which has been distributed by the Saudi Embassy in Washington to Islamic schools in the United States-- has students repeating the following sentences:

• I said to my sister: "We have triumphed over our unjust enemy."
• Our two armies wiped out the enemy and won a great victory.
• The Muslims achieved a great victory.
• The female Mujahideen won by the grace of God.
• The two commanders said to the troops: "You are fighting for our dignity, and making your nation last forever."
• Oh, female Mujahideen, you have obtained from us the best praise.
• Oh, sister, say, "Praise be to Allah for this clear-cut victory."

An 11th grade textbook states:

Since friendship with infidels is forbidden in the religion of Allah, no one will do this unless he has a sickness in his heart. There are hypocrites who profess Islam, but their hearts are sick and empty of faith. They are afraid of the infidel and fear them. They take their side, and appoint them over the Muslims to confirm their victory over the Muslims.

Since the hypocrites love the infidels and take them as friends, the believer must do the opposite and love his believing brother, make friends with him, and show him affection and love. He must show the infidels rudeness and violence, and wage Jihad in the way of Allah without fear of the Infidels and hypocrites, or terror of their arms and numbers.

Preaching Hate from the Pulpit

Islamic fundamentalist preachers continue the Saudi government's inculcation of anti-Western and intolerant attitudes in schools and add to it a layer of Islamic theory.

Shaykh Abdulaziz Bin Baz

Shaykh Abdulaziz Bin Baz, the late Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one example of religious leaders preaching hate.

As the chief sanctioned religious voice of the Saudi Kingdom, Bin Baz's words carried the weight of the Saudi government. Though Bin Baz was attacked by the most stringent of Salafi Muslim radicals as a munafiq (traitor) for his cooperation with the Saudis, Bin Baz himself backed militant confrontation with the West.

In his 1999 book, The Ideological Attack, Bin Baz states explicitly that non-Muslim peoples are attacking the Muslim world. Bin Baz writes:

Yes, the Muslims in general…are all subject to a great ideological attack from the various nations of kufr [infidels] from both the east and the west. The severest and most serious of these attacks are: the attack of the Christian crusaders; the Zionist attack; the communist and atheistic attack.

He continues:

[t]he attack of the Christian crusaders is today at its most intense…The Muslim whose mind has not been corrupted cannot bear to see the infidels wielding authority…[t]herefore such a Muslim strives [to] his utmost to expel and distance them-even if he has to sacrifice his own life, or his most cherished possession for this cause.

Bin Baz goes on to describe the parallel "Zionist plot" against Islam, saying, "The Jews scheme and crave after possessing the Muslim lands, as well as the lands of others. They have fulfilled some of their plans and continue striving hard to implement the rest of them."

Between 1993 and 1998, Shaykh Bin Baz appeared repeatedly as a featured guest at the International Islamic Relief Organization's (IIRO) annual donors conferences in Saudi Arabia. At the 1996 conference, Bin Baz donated 10,000 Saudi Riyals to IIRO and, speaking before attendees, congratulated the efforts of IIRO officials and thanked the Saudi royal family for supporting IIRO's activities. In 1998, Bin Baz again donated 10,000 Saudi Riyals to IIRO, urging others at that event "to donate generously… and earn manifold reward in the process." The Canadian government has said IIRO "secretly fund[s] terrorism." According to Canadian officials, Mahmoud Jaballah, a suspected Egyptian Al-Jihad member jailed in Canada and accused of having contact with Al-Qaeda agents, spent at least 3 years working for IIRO in North America. Indian intelligence has reported that IIRO financed a military training camp in Kunduz, Afghanistan for "holy warriors" preparing for combat in Bosnia, Chechnya, and Kashmir. When leaving home, September 11 hijacker Fayez Ahmed Al-Shehri told his father he was going to work for IIRO and subsequently joined Al-Qaeda.

Grand Mufti Bin Baz himself had contacts with various prominent members and supporters of Al-Qaeda. Hassan Al-Suraihi (a.k.a. Abu Abdelrahman) is a former Imam of Shaykh Abdelaziz Bin Baz's mosque in the Al-Shashah neighborhood of Mecca. Al-Suraihi is a veteran Arab-Afghan, having fought alongside Usama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and "witnessed the birth" of Al-Qaeda. Al-Suraihi later served six years in a Saudi jail for an undisclosed number of "state security violations."

When senior Al-Qaeda recruiter Shaykh Abu Abdel Aziz Barbaros was interviewed in 1994 about his experiences organizing the Arab-Afghan jihad in Bosnia, he explained:

I-alhamdulillah-met several prominent Ulema. Among them…Sheikh Abdel Aziz Bin Baz…and others in the Gulf area. Alhamdulillah, all grace be to Allah, they all support the religious dictum that "the fighting in Bosnia is a fight to make the word of Allah supreme and protect the chastity of Muslims."

Yusuf al Qaradawi

Perhaps the most prominent living Islamist is Yusuf al Qaradawi. Qaradawi fled his native Egypt in 1962 and has lived in Qatar ever since. He is a longtime leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Qaradawi's popular weekly television show on al-Jazeera satellite television enables him to spread Islamist teachings to a vast audience.

Qaradawi has from time to time issued fatwas or given speeches diverging from traditional hard-line teachings, and several US journalists have taken to referring to him as a "moderate." However, even a cursory examination of his statements reveals a committed Islamist, a supporter of terrorism, and an advocate of violence.

In December, 2001 the highest religious authority in Egypt, the Sheikh of Azhar, issued a fatwa condemning attacks on civilians in response to a wave of suicide bombings which killed 25 Israelis. Qaradawi immediately issued a refutation, describing the attacks as "acts of martyrdom." Qaradawi appeared on al-Jazeera asserting the fatwa did not apply to Palestinians because they were the victims, not the aggressors. He further claimed that since Palestinians were defenseless in confronting an enemy with a sophisticated military arsenal, terrorism was "their only weapon."

Qaradawi reasons that the Palestinians "have every right to defend themselves with any means at their disposal," and that since, "in Israel, all men and women are soldiers…They are [therefore] all occupying troops." Thus Qaradawi denies that any Israeli is truly innocent. He concludes that suicide bombings are "effective because they frighten Israelis."

In an interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, Qaradawi expanded upon his reasons for supporting suicide bombings:

He who commits suicide kills himself for his own benefit, while he who commits martyrdom sacrifices himself for the sake of his religion and his nation…He fights his enemy and the enemy of Allah with this new weapon [suicide bombing], which destiny has put in the hands of the weak, so that they would fight against the evil of the strong and arrogant.

Qaradawi rejects the fundamental tenets of separation of church and state, saying:

Secularism may be accepted in a Christian society but it can never enjoy a general acceptance in an Islamic society.

Islam is a comprehensive system of worship ('ibadah) and legislation (Shari'ah), the acceptance of secularism means abandonment of Shari'ah, a denial of the divine guidance and a rejection of Allah's injunctions; it is indeed a false claim that Shari'ah is not proper to the requirements of the present age.

For this reason, the call for secularism among Muslims is atheism and a rejection of Islam…

Qaradawi also rejects democracy as a whole:

Islam wants this nation to consult with each other, and stand as a united body, so no enemy can penetrate it. This is not what democracy is for. Democracy is a system that can't solve all societal problems. Democracy itself also can make whatever it wants as lawful, or prohibit anything it does not like...Our society should abide by what have been made lawful by Allah SW and abide by what also made unlawful by him SW. In comparison democracy, with a slim majority can cancel all laws and rules…I want [to] draw the attention to the issue of the spread of deviance in the democratic societies. We should take the "good", and abandon the "bad". For instance, many democratic countries have allowed types of sexual deviance to spread, and even legalized such behavior. Gays and Lesbians now can marry each other legally.

In another sermon, Qaradawi charged that any US war against Iraq is in fact intended to benefit Israel, saying "they want to actually wipe out Iraq to help Israel." He also demanded that no country in the region allow their bases to be used for an attack on Iraq.

Finally, Qaradawi issued a fatwa urging Muslim soldiers in the US military to attempt to avoid if at all possible taking part in fighting against other Muslims, i.e. in Afghanistan or Iraq.

World Assembly of Muslim Youth

The jihadist lessons taught by the governments and preachers in the Muslim world are then incorporated by youth organizations into their itinerary.

The World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) is the world's largest Muslim youth organization. WAMY was founded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1972. According to a letter signed by WAMY Assistant Secretary General Dr. Hameed al Shaygi, WAMY has offices in London, Washington DC, Kuala Lampur, Auckland, Dhaka, Nairobi, Dakar, Moscow, Cordoba (Argentina), and headquarters in Riyadh. WAMY's US website, www.wamyusa.org, says "WAMY has 66 regional, local offices and representatives in the five continents." WAMY's US office was incorporated in Falls Church, Virginia in 1992 by Osama bin Laden's brother, Abdullah bin Laden.

WAMY's goal, according to its pamphlet "Islam at a glance" is to "arm the Muslim youth with full confidence in the supremacy of the Islamic system over other systems."

While claiming to Western audiences that it seeks coexistence with the West, WAMY has a comprehensive program for supporting the Jihad. WAMY literature and lectures teach young people that non-Muslims are abhorrent to God, WAMY pays for promising students to continue their Islamic education at radical madrassahs in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and the affiliates of WAMY have been used provide cover or logistical support to Islamic terrorists.

WAMY Books and Publications

WAMY produces books and pamphlets, some in conjunction with the Saudi government, to spread its message.

Islamic Views is an Arabic language book written by WAMY and printed by the Saudi Government's Armed Forces Printing Press. Under the heading "The Prophet asks for Jihad," Islamic Views says, "The Prophet Mohammad fought against the infidels and the Jews till he triumphed over them and conducted himself about twenty invasions and he sent tens of regiments led by his companions for Jihad…Damn from Allah to the Jews who made graves of their prophets as Masjid."

Later, Islamic Views says Islam "is a religion of Jihad" and that Jihad "was an answer for the Jews, the liars."

[T]each our children to love taking revenge on the Jews and the oppressors, and teach them that our youngsters will liberate Palestine and al-Quds when they go back to Islam and make Jihad for the sake of Allah.

Islamic Views exhorts Muslims to wage "Jihad against the Satan," and that "You should not back the Jews and the Christians and the Communists against the Muslims; the Communists, the Infidels, the Jews, and the Christians, those who do not believe in Mohammed. You should say they are infidels."

Additionally, WAMY runs camps on six continents to recruit and teach young Muslims, and has produced a handbook entitled, Islamic Camps: Objectives, Program Outlines, Preparatory Steps, as a guide for other Muslim groups planning camps. The book lists steps for starting a camp, creating a program, inviting participants, establishing goals, and other technical advice. The book includes sample schedules, sports to play, lectures, meals, and free time. In the index, Islamic Camps suggests chants such as "Hail! Hail! O Sacrificing Soldiers! / To Us! To Us! So we may defend the flag / on this Day of Jihad, are you miserly with your blood?!…Come! So we may revive the times the times of our predecessors!"

Finally, WAMY produced, A Handy Encyclopedia of Contemporary Religions and Sects, a tract of anti-Semitism comparable to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The book purports to describe various Jewish sects such as "Al-Sabi'a: these are the followers of Abdullah ibn Sab'a, entered (sic) Islam to destroy it from within;" "The Rotaries…a Masonic organization dominated by the Jews of the world. The real objective of these organizations is for the Jews to have an opportunity to mingle with others, this would afford them the chance to gather crucial information needed for their economical and political success as well as to influence the society;" The "Lions' Club…looks like it is a benevolent organization but undoubtedly, it is a member of the Masonic group and the Jewish hands are in it because their objectives are also to dominate the world. They teach Zionist ideology to their members;" "The Dogha Jews" are "[a] group of Jews [who] have joined Islam but actually they remained Jews at heart; they planned to hurt Islam. They dominate the economy, education, and the media. They took part in undermining the Ottoman state and caliphate."

Freemasonry is "Traditionally the name of a secret Jewish terrorist organization; it is well known and works for the domination of the Jews in the world. It promotes atheism and immorality." The "Encyclopedia" goes on to describe the freemasons:

Their ideology includes: Denying God's existence, plotting to being (sic) down all legitimate governments; using women and sex to achieve their objectives, creating divisions among the gentiles in order to better dominate them, working toward controlling the heads of states or changing them, controlling the major media and using it to steer the professional leaders, promoting volunteer vasectomy and pushing for Muslim's birth control, controlling the international organizations such as the UN and other youth and educational entities.

The international (Universal) Masonry is the highest of all entities; the Jewish leaders in it are above the World emperors, kings and presidents; they all plan ahead through the organization for the well being of Israel.

Masonry is a hunting weapon on (sic) the hands of the Jews to exert their influence over the uneducated people. The Masonry was behind all the woes that plagued the Muslim world. They were behind the French Revolution, Russian revolution and the British.

The Masonries have a wide international influence through the world leaders that they have entangled; they became like puppets in the organization's hands. It dominates the major world media. It controls most of the international economic resources. It has many terrorist gangs to carry out the criminal tasks and to eliminate anyone who stands in its way.

Under "Animosity toward the Jews," WAMY lists reasons for Muslims to hate Jews:

the seed of the Gulf-war was planted by a Jew; the Jews are enemies of the faithful, God and the angels; The Jews are humanity's enemies; they foment immorality in this world; The Jews are deceitful, they say something but mean the exact opposite; Who was behind the biological crisis which became like brain washing? A Jew; Who was behind the disintegration of family life and values? A Jew; The one that stirred-up hate and turned the individuals against their Muslim governments in the Arab peninsula - a Jew; Who promoted Atheism and made the countries thrive on Muslims' blood? The Jews; Every tragedy that inflicts the Muslims is caused by the Jews.

WAMY's Support for Terror

Spreading its message, WAMY supports jihad in Israel, Kashmir, Bosnia, and the Philippines, among others.

Terrorism Against Israel

WAMY supports terrorist attacks against Israel financially and ideologically. WAMY invited Khaled Mishaal, Political Head of HAMAS, to be the featured guest at the "Muslim Youth and Globalization" conference on October 29, 2002. According to Agence France Presse, "[Mishaal] was hugged and kissed by hundreds of participants."

The Arab News of April 12, 2002 reported, "The World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) has decided to raise its monthly contribution to Palestinian Intifada from [$800,000] to [$2.7 million]…" The increase in monthly aid to the Intifada was "in addition to the over $70 million they had collected from donations through WAMY offices abroad and on special occasions." In addition, WAMY, according to intelligence sources, has provided financial assistance to Hamas.

Terrorism Against India

According to a Pakistan Government website WAMY is located at PO Box 1055 is Peshawar. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) lists PO Box 1055, Peshawar, Pakistan as an address of the Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization, Benevolence International Foundation (BIF).

The Associated Press and CBS News report that WAMY's Peshawar office was raided in November, 2001 in a joint FBI-Pakistan intelligence operation. A WAMY employee was subsequently questioned for hand delivering a recorded message from Osama bin Laden to local media. In that tape, Bin Laden praised various terrorist attacks, including the Bali nightclub bombing that killed over 200 people, and the Chechen takeover of a theatre in Moscow that led to over 150 deaths.

Nazir Qureshi is assistant Secretary-General of WAMY. He has been accused by the Indian government of supplying money to Kashmiri terrorist groups headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The Pakistani paper The News reported on March 25, 2001 that the Pakistani youth organization Jamiat Taleba Arabia is the only Pakistan-based member organization of WAMY. The article continued, "WAMY is also involved in religious and Jehadi training for its member organizations." According to The News, Jamiat Taleba Arabia, the WAMY member-organization, was:

involved in Afghanistan from the very beginning. It joined the Jehad in Kashmir as soon as the Kashmiris started their armed struggle in 1990 and was fully involved by 1993. The members of the Jamiat Taleba Arabia fought under the umbrella of Gulbadin Hakmatyar's Hizbe Islami in Afghanistan and, in Occupied Kashmir, under the discipline of the hizbul Mujahideen …Jehad has become the focus of the Jamiat's activities in the last two decades.

According to the Indian magazine Frontline, Mohammed Ayyub Thukar, President of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement, was a financier of Hizbul Mujahideen, a Kashmiri terror organization. During his exile in Saudi Arabia, Thukar was affiliated with Muslim World League, WAMY, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sardar Ija Afzal Khan, Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami since early June, 2002, "highlighted [the] freedom struggle of the Kashmiris at the forums of World Assembly of Muslim Youth…"

The Indian government contends that "90 percent of the funding [for Kashmir militants] is from other countries and Islamic organizations like the World Association of Muslim Youth…"

Terrorism Elsewhere

Beyond the Middle East and India, WAMY works to immerse its students in its hateful ideology. For example, Philippine resident Zam Amputan told the Christian Science Monitor that WAMY paid for him to attend a madrassah in Peshawar in 1987. According to the Monitor, "There he was exposed to the Wahhabi ideology." Amputan told the Monitor he returned to the Philippines "thinking of ways to create a separate Islamic state in the Southern Philippines." The Washington Quarterly reports that "IIRO is not the only charitable organization in the Philippines suspected of financing terrorism. Manila is investigating five other Muslim charities active in the Philippines [including] the World Alliance of Muslim Youth…"

Similarly, according to Professor S.V. Seshagiri Rao, the organization Deendar Anjuman "was involved in militant activity in Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya through the World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi Arabia based fundamentalist outfit." Deendar Anjuman is banned by the Indian government.

Likewise, the Romanian newspaper, Bucharest Ziua, reported on February 12, 2002 that "the Muslim Brotherhood organization operates under the screen of the Islamic and Cultural League in Romania [LICR], the 'al-Taiba' humanitarian foundation, the Crescent humanitarian society, and the 'As Salam' association. The vast majority of its funds come from the World Association of Muslim Youth [WAMY], with its headquarters in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, and from the al-Taiba humanitarian foundation, with its headquarters in the United States."

Ahmed Ajaj's Military Manual

WAMY's education is not limited to Islamic theology. When Ahmed Ajaj was arrested in 1992 investigators confiscated his belongings. Among them was an official WAMY envelope printed with the organizations's return address in Saudi Arabia. After serving a six month prison term for attempting to enter the country with a false passport, Ajaj was released. Ajaj was rearrested and convicted in connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing on March 4, 1994. He was sentenced to 240 years in prison on May 24, 1994.

The envelope marked WAMY contained a manual detailing how to establish and maintain clandestine cells titled "Military Lessons in the Jihad Against the Tyrants." Another version of the same manual, with several added sections, was found in the London apartment of African Embassy bomber Khalid al-Fawwaz in 1998. Fawwaz has since been indicted, and the United States is seeking his extradition from England.

The Ajaj manual refers repeatedly to the role and importance of the "youth" in carrying out Jihad and re-establishing Muslim rule. The manual's "dedication" says, "what [the apostate regimes] know is the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, explosion and destruction, and the politics of the machine gun." It continues:

An Islamic state has not and will not be formed through peaceful solutions or through the Assemblies of Polytheism. It will be formed as it did through the written words and the gun, through the word and the bullet.

The manual instructs "the principal mission for the military organization is to overthrow the atheist regimes and replace them with Islamic ones," and lists strategies such as kidnapping enemy soldiers, assassinating personnel and foreign tourists, spreading rumors, and blowing up, destroying, and sabotaging places of entertainment as secondary duties of the military organization. The ultimate goal, repeated over and over, is "get[ting] rid of people who stand in the way of the Islamic Call," and "establishing an Islamic State."

The manual goes on to provide in-depth instructions for obtaining and storing false documents, finding housing, obtaining and storing weapons, conducting reconnaissance, planning attacks, carrying out attacks, avoiding detection, and using other tactics.

Public Opinion Polls in the Muslim World

The effect of the constant recitation of these lessons has been profound, even on Muslims living in the West. Opinion polls conducted since September 11 illustrate the continuing impact such widespread teachings have had on Muslim populations throughout the world. Ultimately, the constant vilification of Jews, Christians and others has led populations in the Muslim world to believe they are the target of a vast conspiracy.

For example, between November 2nd and 11th, 2001, ICM conducted a telephone survey of 500 British Muslims on behalf of the BBC. ICM reported the following results:

• Q: "From what you have seen or heard, do you think the USA are justified in blaming Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda Group for the attacks in America on September 11th?"
  • 67% replied "unjustified"

• Q: "Taking all things into account, do you think the military action by the United States and Afghanistan is justified or unjustified?"
  • 80% replied "unjustified"

• Q: "Some people we have spoken to have said they approve of British Muslims going to fight America and its allies in Afghanistan. Do you approve or disapprove of Muslims going to Afghanistan to fight America and its allies?"
  • 24% said they "approve."

• Q: "Do you think military action in Afghanistan should…"
  • 76% said "stop now."

In 2002, Gallup conducted a poll in conjunction with USA Today in which Gallup interviewed nearly 10,000 people in nine mostly Muslim countries: Turkey, Kuwait, Iran, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, and Lebanon.

• 77% said that "U.S. military action in Afghanistan [is] morally unjustifiable."
• 61% said that Arabs did not carry out the September 11th attacks.
  • More specifically: 86% of Pakistanis and 89% of Kuwaitis do not believe that Arabs were responsible for the attacks.

Without a doubt, the last result is the most troubling (especially viewed in conjunction with the BBC survey), for many in the Arab world continually refuse to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence that links bin Laden and his terror network to the September 11 attacks. As a CBS News report has documented, much of the Arab world believes instead that the Mossad carried out the attacks, and that 4000 Israelis who allegedly worked in World Trade Center stayed home on 9/11.

Indeed, governments in the Arab world have propagated this view. By refuting Arab involvement in 9/11, proponents of the Jewish conspiracy theory avoid confronting the deep-rooted problems that exist in their own societies. Their failure to inspect the domestic issues that lead to terrorism makes them unable, and in some cases unwilling, to prevent future 9/11-style attacks.

For example, Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass, has voiced his support for the Mossad theory, and the Saudi government has encouraged speculation that Saudi citizens were not really involved.

Also in 2002, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press conducted its Global Attitudes Survey. Surveyors asked this question: "Some people think that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilian targets are justified in order to defend Islam from its enemies. Other people believe that, no matter what the reason, this kind of violence is never justified. Do you personally feel that this kind of violence is often justified to defend Islam, sometimes justified, rarely justified, or never justified?" Pew reported the following results:

• More than 25% of those in Indonesia (88% Muslim ), Pakistan (97% Muslim ), and Mali (90% Muslim ) felt "this kind of violence" was "often justified" or "sometimes justified."
• More than 40% of those in Jordan (approximately 92% Muslim ) and Bangladesh (83% Muslim ) felt "this kind of violence" was "often justified" or "sometimes justified."
• And an astonishing 73% of those in Lebanon (70% Muslim ) felt "this kind of violence" was "often justified" or "sometimes justified."

These results reflect the Muslim world's failure to draw a sharp contrast between support for "legitimate resistance" and support for terrorist actions.

The same 2002 Pew Global Attitudes Survey asked respondents in a number of countries: "And which comes closer to describing your view? I favor the US-led efforts to fight terrorism, OR I oppose the US-led efforts to fight terrorism." Pew reported the following results:

• More than 50% of those in Indonesia, Turkey (99.8% Muslim ), and Senegal (94% Muslim ) "oppose the US-led efforts to fight terrorism."
• 79% of those in Egypt (94% Muslim ) and 85% of those in Jordan "oppose the US-led efforts to fight terrorism."

The latest Pew poll illustrates the growing anti-Western view among Muslims throughout the world. This year's Pew Global Attitudes Survey involved 16,000 interviewees in 20 countries and the Palestinian territories. Surveyors asked respondents to rate their "confidence in world figures to do the right thing regarding world affairs." Pew reported that Osama bin Laden is one of the three most trusted leaders in Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, and the Palestinian Authority. Respondents in the PA trusted bin Laden the most.

When asked about the US war in Iraq, "Overwhelming majorities in Morocco (93%), Jordan (91%), Lebanon (82%), Turkey (82%), Indonesia (82%), and the Palestinian Authority (81%) say they are disappointed the Iraqi military put up so little resistance."

The magnitude of hostility and hatred towards the United States in the Muslim world has led some editorialists and policymakers to conclude that the United States is to blame for incurring Muslim wrath-that the anger is the result of bad US policies or ineffective public relations marketing programs. In fact, no matter what policies or pr programs the US adopted, the anger and hatred of the Muslim world would still be pervasive. It is the very success of the United States as a world power and the pluralist principles underling our country that menaces Islamic fundamentalists.

Al-Qaeda's Ties to Western Society

In the United States and Europe, militant Islamic leaders and groups, often operating under the false guise of serving as "civil rights" groups or "religious action" monikers, have fueled the ideology of jihad by promoting support for the various mujahideen around the world. In other cases, "mainstream" Islamic leaders here have facilitated the ideology of terrorism by creating a grey area between legitimate and extremist discourse. While First Amendment protections guarantee the rights of these leaders to spread their message, this periphery enables militant Islam to maintain ties with Western society and recruit sympathizers, financial and logistical supporters, and ultimately, members.

A review of several prominent Islamic conferences, bookstores and relief organizations reveals a campaign of deception and indoctrination which strengthens Al-Qaeda at home and abroad.

• At the July 2000 annual convention of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) in Baltimore, speaker Tayyab Yunus pleaded with the audience:

  The youth is very important…And, we all want to see our youth to succeed to become doctors, to become engineers; but how many of you can actually say that you want to send your sons to Jihad, to Chechnya? How many of you can actually say that? [Takbir! Allahua Akbar!] How many of you can actually say that you want to send your child… How many of you can actually say that you want to send your youth to fight in Jihad or to send them to…to these Islamic Institutions to become educated? I'm sorry. Other than that, I honestly believe in my heart that this is the time, right now is the time.

• According to various attendees of an ICNA conference held in Georgia in the late 1990's, an award ceremony was held in memory and honor of a convert to Islam by the name of Abu Adaam Jibreel Al-Amreekee. This young American from Atlanta went to Kashmir in November of 1997 to train with Lashkar-i-Taiba, a US Government designated terrorist organization. Abu Adaam died conducting a Lashkar raid in Kashmir which killed 34 Indian soldiers.
  • In June, 2003, eleven members of what federal prosecutors call the "Virginia Jihad Network" were indicted for training with Lashkar-i-Taiba. Lashkar-i-Taiba has been blamed for attacks killing over 300 Hindu civilians in Kashmir between 1996 and December 2001.
• At a November 2000 conference organized by the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP) in Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Rasha Dsuqi exclaimed:

  We're so far behind. On behalf of sisters, I'd like us to collect as many donations as possible in order to support jihad in Palestine not only the food, not only the medications, but also the weapons to kill the Zionists. And, I know that I might be watched by some people, Alhumdililah, this is a word that I'd like to say and I'm not scared of anybody that's here! Alhumdilah, I lost my job because I talked about Palestine more than once, and I have nothing to lose.

• At IAP's 1996 Annual Convention in Illinois, Abdulrahman Alamoudi explained to the crowd:

  I think our attitude toward America should change…we have a chance, in America, to be the moral leadership of America. The problem is when? It will happen, it will happen (unclear word) Allah, I have no doubt in my mind, Muslims sooner or later will be the moral leadership of America. It depends on me and you, either we do it now or we do it after a hundred years, but this country will become a Muslim country. And I (think) if we are outside this country we can say oh, Allah destroy America, but once we are here, our mission in this country is to change it.
  …
  When will you talk to the President to free Brother Musa Marzook? When will you talk to the President to free Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman? Brothers, it's an investment, we all are in this together, unless you help us with it, we cannot do it.

  Musa Marzook is a Hamas leader deported by the US in 1997; Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in the 1995 plot to bring down airliners and blow up New York City landmarks.

• At IAP's 1997 convention in Chicago, Islamic Action Front member Ahmed al-Kufahi exhorted:

  …In Islam, if your enemy occupies a small piece of your land, then you have to declare jihad against the enemy. Jihad becomes a must and a religious obligation on all Muslims to go and fight the enemy … women must go for jihad without taking permission from their husbands… slaves without taking permission from their masters… boys without taking permission from their fathers…Palestine is occupied by the enemy. The occupation of Palestine shouldn't be dealt as a regional one [issue] but as an Islamic obligation, because occupation of any Islamic land is a violation to the Sovereignty of Islamic world.

• The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) magazine, Islamic Horizons, recommended the following in 1996:

  It is also pertinent that Muslims enlighten their children about the valor of their co-religionists who are sacrificing their lives to establish the way of Allah. Muslim children need to know and honor not only those martyrs who are laying down their lives in Algeria, Bosnia, Chechenya, Kashmir, Palestine and Mindanao, but also those who are sacrificing their livelihoods to establish the rule of Allah in lands that are now held hostage to the whims of despots.

• Islamic bookstores on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York contain materials espousing violence and hatred toward the west and reinforcing the victimization of Muslim at the hands of infidels. They also carry numerous books criticizing traditional Muslims, Shiites and anybody else that does not conform to their Salafist ideology. For example, at these stores, the following books can be found:
  • Abu Hamza al-Masri, Ruling by Man-made Law, Is it Minor or Major Kufr? Explaining the Words of Ibn Abbas. From the series entitled "Enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong." Published by Supporters of Shari'ah.

    Abu Hamza is a militant, London-based cleric considered by US authorities to be an Al-Qaeda recruiter. On April 19, 2002, his assets were frozen by the US Treasury Department.

  • Shaikh Abdur-Rahmaan Abdul-Khaaliq, "The Islamic Ruling on the Peace Process." Publisher is unnamed.

    I have like to write briefly about the attitude which, according to Shari'ah the members of the Islamic 'ummah should adopt toward these treaties they call Peace Treaties.

    The Jews have been the enemies of the Islamic 'ummah since the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, began his call to Allah; and heir hostility to this 'ummah will continue till the Day of Resurrection.

    As regards making a call for peace in the sense of abandoning war once and for all, and concluding peace with the unbelievers for all time to come, and discarding of war and fighting absolutely, that is disbelief in Allah and exit from the community of Islam and revocation of the duty of Jihad which Allah has made incumbent on every Muslim till the Day of Resurrection…"

    It is not lawful for a Muslim to stipulate with the unbelievers, whether Jews or other, for ending war forever between them and the Muslims; for war or Jihad is an obligatory duty which remains in force till the Day of Resurection. It is not lawful to eliminate it from the legal code. Whoever thinks that Jihad is not an obligatory duty or endeavors to nullify it or to set it aside is a kafir and unbeliever in Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and he leaves the millah of Islam and denies an essential and well-known aspect of the of the din; for fighting [for the din] is a continuing duty till the Day of Resurrection."

• Bookstores on London's posh streets offer similarly disturbing fare. Mein Kampf in Arabic can be found prominently displayed on tables in the middle of the stores, books and tapes by Abu Hamza al-Masri are plentiful and various other items glorifying martyrdom and venerating Jihad leaders are available, such as:
  • Motah-Hary, Morteza, The Martyr, Published by Free Islamic Literatures, Inc. P.O. Box 35832 Houston, TX 77035 (English
  • Abdurahman, Sheikh Omar, The Present Rulers and Islam. Are they Muslims or Not?, Published by Al Firdous LTD., Finsbury Park, London. Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in the 1995 plot to blow up airliners and landmarks in New York.
  • Shaheed, Abdul Qadir Audah, Islamic System of Justice, Translated by S.M. Hasnain, M.A., Published by Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi. This book contains a chapter outlining the 'Obligation of Jehad' another chapter calls for Khalifah at any means. Last sentence of book is "Let us get ready for the last and decisive battle. The hour of decision is at hand."
  • Declaration of War which contains the biography and last will and testament of Bin-Ladin's mentor and co-founder of Al-Qaeda, Abdullah Azzam, Bin-Ladin's Ladanese Epistle and "What the Kuffar Say about Sheikh Usamah Bin Laden.

Non-Profits and NGOs support Terror

An analysis of reactions from "moderate" Muslim leaders in the US to domestic counter-terrorism efforts since 9/11 illustrates an ingrained distrust for US actions, and a policy of inculcating the Muslim population in anti-government and anti-integrationist propaganda.

It is tempting to believe that these speakers, conventions and bookstores are aberrations, that they do not represent any significant portion of the population. However, while it is more common for speakers to couch their support for terror in terms of human rights, freedom of speech, and ultimately self-determination, a large portion of US Muslim leaders refuse to condemn terrorist groups by name, or even acknowledge the existence of "Islamic fundamentalism," a term they claim is an invective and racist concoction against the Muslim world. When terrorist arrests have been made since 9/11 or the assets of terrorist groups frozen, these same Islamic leaders-many of whom have been invited to the White House in recent years or to Congress-have condemned government actions as "anti-Islam" and even as part of the on-going "crusades" against Islam. Perpetuating this victimhood mentality that Islam is under attack is the same ideological mechanism used by Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezzbollah and every other militant Islamic group to justify their terrorist attacks

Even regarding the horrors of September 11, US Muslim and Arab leaders have been reluctant to accept that Muslims were responsible for the attacks. Some US Muslim leaders and organizations actually joined with fringe and racist groups in formulating elaborate conspiracy theories claiming that Israel was behind the attacks, possibly with US government complicity. After the release of a video in which bin Laden took credit for the attacks, some leaders claimed the tape was a U.S. government forgery.

Even when finally accepting Osama bin Laden's responsibility for the attacks, some of these organizations offer only partial condemnations of terrorism. For years, groups have justified terrorist acts against Israel, saying Israel's actions in Lebanon and against Palestinian terrorists make Israel a deserving target. Since September 11, various leaders and groups have argued that attacks on US interests are an extension of the same justifiable conflict, as the US supports Israel and undemocratic Middle Eastern regimes.

Islamic Assembly of North America

Some groups, though, do actively and openly support terror. The Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA) was incorporated on December 8, 1993 in Aurora, Colorado. According to the IANA website, the founders established the group in order to "reviv[e] the Islamic nation to its proper state and condition" by "engag[ing] in a complete and comprehensive form of Islamic work…based on the principles of [Sunni Islam]…aim[ed] at bringing together the efforts of many dawah [missionary] activities and coordinating the activities of different Islamic centers and groups." As stated by IANA, one of the central efforts in that regard is to "[o]bserve and analyze the current events in the Muslim world" and to "[a]ssist the oppressed and tyrannized scholars, Islamic workers, and Muslim masses in any locality."

In order to achieve its goal of promoting the spread of fundamentalist Islam, IANA and its officers have spent large sums of money on sponsoring extremist political conferences in the United States, publishing websites, books, and magazines written by radical anti-American (predominantly Saudi and Kuwaiti) clerics, and by obtaining controlling stakes in a number of prominent American mosques. IANA was the only American Muslim organization promoted on Azzam Publication's website, which itself was considered the premier English-language mouthpiece for Al-Qaeda.

In December 1993, senior Al-Qaeda recruiter Shaykh Abu Abdel Aziz Barbaros was the featured speaker at IANA's third annual convention. In Barbaros's speech at the Arabic-language session he said:

Allah is going to help certain people to control the world and this control will come according to certain Quranic verses and as we know Allah said be prepared for the enemy by all means. Also, Allah said he is going to give us Tamkeen [control over the world]… it is a promise from Allah that those that believe in Allah and wage Jihad will go to Paradise. So to wage Jihad is one of the most important characteristics of the Believer… Whenever there is a pure Islam, there will be blessing or we will always be fighting with the enemy. Even the Prophet (SWS) participated in 27 battles and now we say that we are believers. Tell me Brothers, how many times you participated in Jihad or even thought about it? …this western tool, democracy, is not our way to have the Tamkeen. We have to follow the path of Allah and listen to his word, 'Make ready against [the enemies of Allah] with the utmost of your power.'

IANA is also responsible for publishing an online Arabic-language magazine, Al-Asr ("The Era"). In May 2001 - just months before the September 11 terrorist attacks - Al-Asr published three fatwas (Islamic legal opinions) endorsing so-called "martyrdom attacks." Among the examples sanctioned by one fatwa was the crashing of an airplane into an enemy target. The fatwa was issued by extremist spiritual leader Sheikh Hamid Al-Ali of Kuwait, who as of 1999 was under investigation by Kuwait's state prosecutor. Sheikh Al-Ali's fatwa discussed different kinds of justifiable suicide operations such as "storming enemy lines without hope of survival" or dying "to destroy a vital enemy command post." Al-Ali's fatwa concluded that, "The modern version of that is to use bombing methods or to crash one's plane on a crucial target to cause great casualties."

IANA is the exception, though, and most US-based organizations prefer to support Jihadist causes by maligning US counter-terror efforts and arguing that terrorism is the inevitable result of US support for Israel.

Council on American Islamic Relations

CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, is the largest American Muslim civil rights organization. Given its growing prominence, CAIR is in a position to mold U.S. Muslim opinion.

Prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, CAIR attempted to shield Osama bin Laden from US attention. In 1998 a Los Angeles television station put up billboards showing people in the news, including a picture of bin Laden labeling him "the sworn enemy." CAIR called the depiction "offensive to Muslims." Following the 1998 bombing of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, CAIR issued a press release, "American Muslims ask journalists to exercise restraint in reporting on embassy bombings."

Even in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, CAIR showed great reluctance to accept bin Laden's involvement. Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR's Communications Director, refused to condemn Bin Laden outright for the attacks. He would only say, "if Osama bin Laden was behind it, we condemn him by name."

More explicitly, Al-Haj Ghazi Khankan, Executive Director of CAIR's New York chapter, told The New York Times more than a week after the attacks that the United State government had not proven Usama bin Laden's role in the terrorism. "We need to have proof. We need to have facts. If there is something wrong, let's get together through the United Nations, not act as a lynch mob."

On September 15, 2001, Khankan appeared on an ABC News Special "Answering Kids' Questions," saying:

I am sure that if we have full evidence and proof that Osama bin Laden is guilty of these atrocious terrorist acts, he will be brought to justice. America is great because a person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law - not by assumptions and speculations.

When we can prove that bin Laden is guilty, then he should be brought to trial. But to stoop to the lower level of uncivilized behavior and go bomb other countries, we could be accused of behaving like those terrorists.

A member of Khankan's congregation told the reporter in Khankan's presence that Bin Laden was a Muslim equivalent of David Koresh. The reporter replied that Koresh had no international network plotting suicide missions against the U.S. Khankan responded, "What about the world Zionist network? Why are you in the media not looking at them?"

On October 7 at CAIR's annual fundraising dinner held in Vienna, Virginia, Khankan asked his audience:

Why is it assumed that Muslims were behind the attack on September 11? We know at least three people supposed to be hijackers, who are still alive in the Middle East. The question is, who is impersonating these Muslim names? Who benefits from assuming that Muslims are behind this tragedy, and who benefits from this tragedy? I think the media should seriously go and investigate these 3 and find out if they are really the 3 hijackers, or someone else is impersonating them. I think it is a very important thing that we insist that the media not cover up these facts.

Khankan has also sought to link 9/11 to U.S. foreign policy. On the September ABC Program, he told a young questioner who asked why terrorists hate the United States, "Look what our country has done overseas to other countries. These terrorists do not hate the American people, but they might hate what the government has done to their people and their families." Specifically linking the attacks to U.S. support for Israel, Mr. Khankan went on to say,

We need to reexamine our foreign policy in the world, especially in the sensitive area of the Palestine question. We know from statistics, for example, we have given the Israeli governments, since 1949, $134 billion and helped them take over the homes of the Palestinian people, and made them refugees.

The U.S.-made F-16s and helicopters that shoot rockets are being used by the Israelis to kill more Palestinians. And so the Palestinians think that we are in cahoots with the Israelis against the Palestinians.

Nihad Awad, CAIR's founder and Executive Director, has also attempted to relate terrorism against the U.S. to American foreign policy. After September 11, he said, "We can suppress terrorism by force, but not eliminate it except by justice. We have to understand when people abroad are angry with this country and come up with solutions."

CAIR officials, together with virtually every top "mainstream" Islamic organization in the United States, with several notable and courageous exceptions, have attacked the freezing of Hamas and Al-Qaeda assets in the United States as well as the Justice Department's indictment of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Sami al-Arian in Tampa Florida. The evidence in the public domain showing the ties between terrorist groups and the Holy Land Foundation, Benevolence International and Global Relief-the three non-governmental groups whose assets were frozen by the US Government-is massive and overwhelming as is the case against Al Arian.

Muslim Public Affairs Council

The Muslim Public Affairs Council, MPAC, is another large Muslim American group that has failed to unequivocally condemn terrorism. Like CAIR, MPAC refuses to consider Muslim culpability in anti-US terror, and has implied that US support for Israel caused the 9/11 attacks.

On August 13, 1998, five days after the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania MPAC Director Salam al-Marayati wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "Hostility toward Islam is rising in light of speculation (emphasis added) that Muslim groups comprise the main suspect list in the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings."

Speaking on the Los Angeles radio station KCRW only hours after the September 11 attacks, al-Marayati immediately blamed Israel for the attack. "If we're going to look at suspects we should look to the groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list because I think this diverts attention from what's happening in the Palestinian territories so that they can go on with their aggression and occupation and apartheid policies."

The next day, Al-Marayati said, "It's still early, all the facts are not in yet. The concern is that there will be opportunists trying to slam Islam, so we always have our doubts until all the facts are known." Likewise, in a Live Dialogue on IslamOnline, October 22, 2001, Mahdi Bray, National Political Director of MPAC, refused to blame Bin Laden for 9/11, saying only that, "I cannot speak for Bin Laden, but I can speak to the horrific events of September 11th, which the media and the government have attributed (emphasis added) to Bin Laden."

On October 9, 2001 in response to a statement from bin Laden supporting the September 11 attacks, MPAC did issue a condemnation. However, the statement implicitly rejects US military action against terror, saying, "it is MPAC's position that the eradication of terrorism must be predicated on a careful attention to the root causes of it. We encourage the president to peruse the course of action he has endorsed to combat terrorism, which includes an analysis and consideration of root causes of terrorism."

Also in October, 2001 MPAC ran advertisements on a Los Angeles radio station resorting to blaming the US-Israel relationship for anti-US terrorism. The ad said "United States intervention in the Middle East had inflamed anti-America sentiment in the region."

Salam al-Marayati has made statements in defense of Hezbollah as well, despite the group's official designation as a terrorist organization. In November, 1999, appearing on the "News Hour with Jim Lehrer," al-Marayati said:

If the Lebanese people are resisting Israeli intransigence on Lebanese soil, then that is the right of resistance and they have the right to target Israeli soldiers in this conflict. That is not terrorism. That is a legitimate resistance. That could be called liberation movement, that could be called anything, but it's not terrorism.

In a June, 1999 "position paper" MPAC justified Hezbollah's suicide bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut:

Hezbollah organized the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 killing 241 marines, the largest number of American troops killed in a single operation since the end of the Vietnam War. Yet this attack, for all the pain it caused, was not in a strict sense, a terrorist operation. It was a military operation, producing no civilian casualties -- exactly the kind of attack that Americans might have lauded had it been directed against Washington's enemies."

Margaret Zaknoen, MPAC's Communications Director and Program Director for American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ), wrote Congress Holds Israel Pep Rally, Calls It 'Hearing' about the September 25 House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Asia hearing on U.S policy toward the Palestinians. The article finds U.S. foreign policy the cause of anti-American terrorism:

One after another, these distinguished lawmakers lambasted those who recommend that the U.S. reexamine its place in the world in the wake of this national tragedy. These people would have us believe that there is no connection between America's behavior abroad and the world's perception of America. While there can be no justification for terrorism at any level, by anyone, what is clear to the vast majority of observers is that these atrocities and the hatred that produced them do not exist in a vacuum.

Members' wholesale dismissal of those who point to America's extreme pro-Israel bias as a cause of anti-American sentiment is misguided. It is done not to safeguard American policy, but to protect Israel from scrutiny.

Islamic Society of North America

Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, former President of the Board of Directors and current member of the Majlis al-Shura (conslutative counsel) of the Islamic Society of North America, has articulated his doubt about Bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks. He told CNN on September 23, 2001:

If Osama bin Laden and his group are the criminals, they are the ones that have done this, then they should be punished, and those who harbor them should be punished. But, it has to be proved.

In September 2002, a full year after the 9/11 attacks, speakers at ISNA's annual conference still refused to acknowledge Bin Laden's role in the terrorist attacks. According to conference proceedings, Jamal Barzinji, Director of International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), said, "It is not only that we don't have any proof (of Bin Laden's guilt), but the FBI doesn't have any proof. They are still looking." Muzammil Siddiqi, former President of ISNA, added, "We did not say it is Muslims who did it. We did not say this and that. But the point is that whosoever did it, it was wrong."

At the same conference, Suhail al Ganouchi, President of the Muslim American Society (MAS), commented, "Probably we'll never know who actually did it, or who, what, or what groups." Zulfiqar Shah, President of ICNA, refused to comment on Bin Laden's guilt.

Opposition to Counter-Terrorism Measures

Radical U.S. Muslim organizations have fought nearly every counter-terrorism measure the United States has undertaken since September 11. In addition to opposing domestic legislation, they have also spoken out against military operations abroad.

Soon after the attacks, on September 21, a group of U.S. Muslim organizations issued a statement, American Muslim Response to the September Attacks, articulating a general opposition to counterterrorism efforts:

We urge the U.S. government not to abandon the due process of law in determining responsibility for the attacks and punishing the guilty parties.

We are saddened by the possibility of military action, as we do not believe that terrorism can be eliminated solely or even effectively through military force. Rather we call upon our leaders to recognize that in order to rid the world of the ugliness of terrorism, our nation must understand its root causes. We hold out the hope that these root causes can be addressed through non-violent means, in a way that promotes peace and harmony between the nations of the world.

Sami al-Arian

On February 20, 2003, the US Department of Justice released a 50-count, 121-page federal indictment describing in extraordinary detail Sami al-Arian's tenure as head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in North America. In response, American Muslim organizations decried the "persecution" of "innocent" Muslims. A statement by the American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC), which is comprised of the American Muslim Council (AMC), Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), American Muslim Alliance (AMA) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), stated:

The community is gaining the perception that people are rounded up and targeted because of their political opinions and because they exercise their right to dissent on current US policy. Our community is in dire need to understand how these charges are founded on concrete evidence of criminal activity and not guilt by association or political association…It was disturbing that Attorney General John Ashcroft inserted religious expressions, like Jihad and martyrdom, to a major federal investigation and indictment…Our security policy should not be driven by the turmoil of the Middle-East but rather by seeking the interest and protection of the United States of America.

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) separately released the same statement.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) released a statement saying, "The ADC notes that Sami Al-Arian has been under heavy investigation for many years, and that thus far no evidence has ever been presented suggesting his involvement with any illegal activity…Prof. Al-Arian's case has become heavily politicized."

Omar Ahmad, the chairman of CAIR's board commented, "We are very concerned that the government would bring charges after investigating an individual for many years without offering any evidence of criminal activity. This action could leave the impression that Al-Arian's arrest is based on political considerations, not legitimate national security concerns."

The day of the indictment, CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper appeared on the MSNBC show, Buchanan and Press:

Patrick Buchanan: Is Sami Al-Arian associated with a group which is responsible for killing individuals, civilians, for political motives?

Hooper: I don't believe he is. Let's see the evidence. Let's see them bring evidence that shows that he's given material support. But the idea of material support to terrorism is getting very broad…He's actively supported Islamic causes and the struggle of the Palestinian people to be free of Israeli occupation. That gets you into trouble."
…

Bill Press: Islamic Jihad is a terrorist organization. Would you admit to that?

Hooper: Islamic Jihad is a terrorist organization. It's yet to be shown he is any way supportive of it…

Press: Well, here's one of the pieces of evidence which is not a secret. It's Mr. Al-Arian himself on a videotape, where he is saying - quote - "Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel. Revolution, revolution until victory, rolling, rolling to Jerusalem.

Hooper: You may not like those views, but it's not criminal speech, not yet, at least.

Press: …Mr. Hooper, help me out with this. The war on terror started 9/12, 2001, against the al Qaeda terrorist network. Sami Al-Arian is accused of supporting the Islamic Jihad. What is the equivalence or are they the same, the al Qaeda terrorists and the Palestinian, let's call them, terrorist organizations fighting for different causes? Are they the same?…

Hooper: …I think the problem we're seeing is that the Israelization of American policy and procedures, the failed tactics of the Israelis, where, if you just kill a few more people, destroy a few more homes, seize a few more acres, everything will be OK. We don't want to take that and translate it into the American setting. And I think that's what we're seeing happening.
…

Press: So, do you think that the United States, with this arrest, is doing Ariel Sharon's dirty work?

Hooper: The entire controversy began with the attack dogs of the pro-Israel lobby going after Sami Al-Arian, the Holy Land Foundation, other groups in the United States. They wanted to shut them down because they oppose the occupation in Palestine. After more than a decade, they're finally getting their wish."

Finally, in March 2003, Agha Saed, national chairman of the American Muslim Alliance, testified at Al-Arian's bail hearing, noting that Al-Arian's "…role has been one of senior statesman in the community.'' (It should also be noted that one of the top Islamic chaplains in the US military, Yahya Hendi, also testified as a character witness on al-Arian's behalf)

The Holy Land Foundation

On Dec. 4, 2001, the Bush administration froze the assets of three groups accused of financing Hamas, including the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). Several major U.S. Muslim organizations asked President Bush to reconsider his decision to freeze HLF's assets, including AMA, AMC, CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, MAS, MPAC, and MSA:

American Muslims support President Bush's effort to cut off funding for terrorism and we call for a peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict. These goals will not be achieved by taking food out of the mouths of Palestinian orphans or by succumbing to politically-motivated smear campaigns by those who would perpetuate Israel's brutal occupation.
…

We ask that President Bush reconsider what we believe is an unjust and counterproductive move that can only damage America's credibility with Muslims in this country and around the world and could create the impression that there has been a shift from a war on terrorism to an attack on Islam.

Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR's spokesman added, "This action is really creating outrage in the Muslim community."

On November 22, MPAC issued a press statement:

American Muslims consider the diversion of the funds of these charities...a clear violation of our 1st Amendment right for the free exercise of religion.

Congress, in passing this unconscionable legislation, has enabled the public to confuse zakat from American Muslims, intended for the most poor and destitute (Muslims make up the largest percentage of the refugee population in the world) for terrorist funds. Our zakat money had nothing to do with September 11. Our zakat money does not cause suicide bombings. Our zakat money is intended for the poor and destitute, and any diversion of that money to sources other than the needy (high-priced Washington D.C. attorneys not included) is an outrageous violation of our first amendment rights that American Muslims will fight tooth and nail. The war on terrorism has been exploited by special interest groups to create an industry that funnels charitable donations to more lobbyists and lawyers.

The US-Israel Relationship

The dominant theme among apologists for terror against the United States is that bin Laden only hates the United States because of our support for Israel. Bin Laden's own words refute this assertion.

In a statement issued on February 23, 1998, bin Laden explicitly links his war against the United States to the American military presence in Saudi Arabia. In his fatwa declaring Jihad against the West, bin Laden says, "…for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula…All these crimes are sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on Allah, his messenger, and Muslims." Bin Laden later repeats his opposition to the US military presence in Muslim lands:

The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies - civilian and military - is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it…and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah'

Bin Laden concludes the fatwa by stating that it is God's will that Muslims kill Americans:

We with Allah's help call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah's order to kill the Americans…We also call on Muslim Ulema (scholars), leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson."

It is telling that in his most influential sermon, bin Laden declared the presence of kufr (infidels) soldiers on Saudi soil to be the ultimate source of his wrath. This led to his contention that "there is no more important duty than pushing the American enemy out of the holy land" as "the occupying American enemy is the principle and the main cause of the situation."

In a January, 1999 interview published in TIME Magazine, bin Laden claims even that, "hostility toward America is a religious duty, and we hope to be rewarded for it by God." In the same interview, bin Laden expresses his personal pride in killing Americans, saying, "the U.S. knows that I have attacked it, by the grace of God, for more than 10 years now…America has been trying ever since to tighten its economic blockade against us and to arrest me. It has failed…We expect to be rewarded by God."

Conclusion:

As accustomed to creating solutions for every problem Americans face, the reality is that there are no silver bullets in the challenges posed by Islamic radicalism. All solutions are going to painstakingly slow but we need to abide by a set of principles.

1. The first requirement for any hope of change is that we all recognize who and what the enemy is -- it is not an amorphous group of "terrorists," but rather it is those who work to advance the cause of global militant Islam through the spread of its ideology and violence. Unless we can name the enemy without fear, we cannot construct effective ways to counter its strategy. As described by Daniel Pipes, "It is not a war on terrorism, nor a war on Islam. It is a war on a terroristic version of Islam." (Daniel Pipes, "A War Against What?", New York Post, Oct. 1, 2002)
2. Second, we must act consistently in our approach to fighting the battle. Changing our behavior, our policies, our democratic belief system to conform to militant Islamists' "wish list" will not serve our purpose of eradicating the violence. Rather, accommodating their demands will only empower those who wish to see the West fall. The religious dogma that is the underpinning of militant Islam will not change, regardless of our actions.
3. Third, we must continue to provide law enforcement with effective tools to shut down the financing and training of terrorist networks, working with other countries around the world at all levels. The actions taken by the FBI, Department of Justice, Treasury, CIA, Homeland Security and other agencies in shutting down terrorist conduits must be supported on a long term basis-and not have powers suddenly withdrawn because of the false perception that the threat is declining.
4. We must empower genuine moderates in the Islamic world. At the same time, this means not legitimizing militant purveyors of hatred and violence. In practical terms, this means that the United States truly has to stop allowing the State Department the continued license to invite Islamic militants to the United States under the guise of "outreach"; it means that the United States has to stop pandering to Saudi Arabia and demand that they truly cease supporting and financing Islamic militant groups. In the United States, militant Islamic leaders who only pretend to be moderate should not be afforded political legitimacy by being embraced by the White House, Congress or other governmental agencies. This sends a terrible message to the community of genuinely moderate Muslims.
5. The US , should help create the seed money for endowed chairs at universities around the world that would sponsor genuine Islamic moderates. Today, much of Middle Eastern academia is dominated by the ideology of militant Islam or anti-Americanism.
6. And finally, we must be learn to be patient and strong. The resentment of militant Islam has festered for many years and will not diminish over night. Anti-Americanism in the Muslim world stems from the anger that many who live in that world cannot freely express toward their ruling governments. The cancerous spread of the ideology and violence from the Middle East to Muslim societies of Africa, Asia and the Pacific is further evidence of the growing extent of the problem. We must stay the course for as long as it will take.

Steven Emerson
Executive Director, The Investigatvie Project
5505 Conn. Ave, NW #341
Washington DC 20015

Germany - 9 People Detained As Germans Raid Islamic Centers

 

Source: IHT, 23 Apr 08

Scores of German police officers carried out raids on Islamic centers in several big towns and cities Wednesday, detaining nine German citizens suspected of trying to establish a criminal organization and winning over converts to their radical form of Islam, prosecutors said.

            No terrorism charges were filed, they added. The 16 raids, carried out by 130 police officers, took place in Ulm , Bonn , Berlin and Leipzig . The security authorities had been observing cultural centers, a publishing house and private houses for more than two years. One of the main focuses of the raid was the Bavarian town of Neu-Ulm , where several raids have been staged over the past few years during anti-terrorist operations. There, according to the police, the Multi-Kultur-Haus, an Islamic cultural center, had become a meeting point for radical Islamists. At one stage the center was under surveillance by U.S. anti-terrorism agencies, according to media reports here. The Multi-Kultur-Haus was formally dissolved in 2005 order to pre-empt a prohibition order, but the authorities said they suspected its members had remained covertly active. One of the members of the center was Reda Seyam, a German of Egyptian origin considered by law enforcement to be linked to Al Qaeda, although he had never been charged. The police said the individuals detained Wednesday would be charged with belonging to a criminal group whose aims were to encourage radicalism among Muslims, particularly Germans who had converted to Islam. They said the suspects had used the Internet, as well as audio and video materials, for anti-constitutional pursuits. They are also suspected of sedition.

            Those detained, ages 25 to 47, all have immigrant backgrounds, the prosecutors said. None were identified by name. The raids are a continuation of an investigation into the Multi-Kultur-Haus. Last year, the German police arrested three men in the rural village of Oberschledorn , saying that they were planning a terrorist attack. Two of them were German converts to Islam, one of them a man from Ulm . The raids coincide with a heated debate about the limits of police surveillance on individuals. Last week, the interior and justice ministries agreed on a new set of online surveillance guidelines, despite strong opposition from the Social Democrats who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc. Even some members of Merkel's own Christian Democrats spoke against the proposal. Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said that under the proposals, which could become law by summer, the measure would allow German investigators to use wiretaps and surveillance cameras in homes of innocent citizens to keep tabs on terror suspects. The federal police would be permitted to install "hidden technical equipment, that is to say bugs or cameras inside or outside apartments" in case of "a pressing danger for state security," the Interior Ministry spokesman, Stefan Paris, said at a news conference Friday. "I would urgently like to stress that there are very, very strict conditions," he said. "It is not the case that everywhere in this country secret cameras or listening devices will be installed in living spaces." According to the draft law, recording and filming must normally be restricted to the suspect and the suspect's own home, but exceptions are possible.

 

German Police Raid Homes Of Islamist Suspects

Source: Reuters, 23 Apr 08

German police said on Wednesday they were searching the homes and offices of nine Islamist suspects, who are accused of trying to radicalise Muslims and non-Muslims in Germany.

            Officials were searching 16 sites across Germany , including apartments and offices in the western city of Bonn and the eastern cities of Berlin and Leipzig , police said. "The suspects are ... suspected of purposefully influencing people with their activities and encouraging their readiness for jihadi activities at home and abroad," police in the southern state of Bavaria said in a statement. The suspects were German nationals, mostly of immigrant origin, and were aged between 25 and 47 years, it said. Authorities said no arrests had been made. Germany has not suffered a major domestic attack in recent years, but the government has said the threat of one is high. Last year, German authorities arrested three men they said were planning to carry out bomb attacks against U.S. installations in Germany .

 

Agency Admits Spying On Afghan Politician And Spiegel Journalist

Source: Der Spiegel, 24 Apr 08

The head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency has come under fire over admissions his employees monitored e-mails exchanged between a minister in the Afghan government and a SPIEGEL journalist.

            Chief spy Ernst Uhrlau will likely keep his job, but the scandal is expected to shake up the organization. BND chief Ernst Uhrlau says he first became aware that his agency was spying on an Afghan politician and a Spiegel journalist in December 2007, long after the operation had stopped. BND chief Ernst Uhrlau says he first became aware that his agency was spying on an Afghan politician and a Spiegel journalist in December 2007, long after the operation had stopped. Earlier Thursday, it looked as though Ernst Uhrlau, the head of Germany 's foreign intelligence service, might lose his job. Urhlau came under fire this week after it was revealed his agency had been monitoring e-mails exchanged between an Afghan government minister and a Spiegel journalist. A number of new details are emerging that suggest the head of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) lost control over some of the agents in his organization and failed to inform the Chancellery of Chancellor Angela Merkel or parliament in a timely manner about what he knew. The Chancellery is officially responsible for supervising the foreign intelligence agency's activities. But after a meeting of the German parliament's intelligence oversight committee Thursday, the panel's chairman, Thomas Oppermann of the center-left Social Democratic Party, said Uhrlau could keep his post. After a two-hour period of questioning, he said it was clear there would be consequences for BND personnel and that new structures would be put in place on the level of department heads and staff units. He said the relationship between the intelligence oversight committee and the BND had been damaged and that it had to be re-established. Oppermann also said these changes should be managed by Uhrlau, who is already working to correct other legacy problems at the foreign intelligence agency.

            Other politicians on Thursday, led by Hans-Peter Uhl of the conservative Bavarian party the Christian Social Union, had been calling for Uhrlau to step down. But during the oversight committee's meeting, the senior Left Party member on the panel, Wolfgang Neskovic, said his resignation wouldn't change anything. But the senior committee member from the business-friendly Free Democratic Party, Max Stadler, described the espionage case as evidence that the BND was turning into a state within a state. Stadler called for an increase in parliament's power over the BND's work. Speaking for the Greens, panel member Hans-Christian Ströbele concurred. Earlier Thursday, new information emerged about the incident first revealed last Friday that sparked this week's Bundestag hearings. For months, the BND monitored e-mails exchanged between Spiegel correspondent Susanne Koelbl and an Afghan minister during 2006. It has since emerged that Koelbl was not the BND's original target. The intelligence service was attempting to install a so-called "Trojan horse" computer program on the computer of Afghan Trade and Industry Minister Amin Farhang that would send copies of his e-mail to the BND. The agency had hoped to obtain information about Farhang. In its surveillance, the agency also came across e-mails exchanged between the reporter and the minister. At first, it was unclear why the BND wanted to monitor the Afghan minister, who also holds a German passport and lived in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia for years. The incident is also expected to raise new questions for the BND -- especially why the German foreign intelligence agency would spy on a minister of a foreign government. After all, Afghanistan is recognized by Germany as a sovereign state.

            In its previous reporting, Spiegel did not name Farhang because it had sought to protect him as a source for the magazine. But after his name began circulating amongst politicians in Berlin on Thursday, Spiegel obtained permission from Farhang to publish his name. Spiegel also announced on Thursday it would consider bringing a lawsuit against the BND over its actions. "Over a period of six months," the intelligence service "monitored e-mail between Susanne Koelbl and an Afghan politician." This is an "unacceptable situation," the newsmagazine stated. The situation isn't getting any easier for Uhrlau, who must now answer questions about how he, as head of the service, could be kept in the dark about such a sensitive operation undertaken by his own people. During a hearing in the Bundestag on Wednesday, Uhrlau said that he was first made aware on Dec. 21, 2007 that his agency had been monitoring e-mails between Koelbl and Farhang. Afghan Trade and Industry Minister Amin Farhang was the target of German espionage for six months. Afghan Trade and Industry Minister Amin Farhang was the target of German espionage for six months. So far, it is clear that in the summer of 2006, one BND sub-unit made the decision, without consulting with senior management, to place a tap on the computer of a member of the Afghan government. The operation included the installation of software on the politician's computer that monitored all of his communication and sent copies to the BND. The monitoring continued for a good six months, and BND employees first expressed their unease about the operation in November 2006. Shortly thereafter, the monitoring stopped. Uhrlau reportedly first learned of the operation in December 2007. Two months later, an anonymous letter began circulating in Berlin that provided details of the BND operation. The letter is believed to have originated from a BND employee who disapproved of the operation. The question also remains unanswered why the intelligence issues committee of the German parliament, the Bundestag, was informed so late by Uhrlau -- and why officials didn't tell Spiegel until last Friday that Susanne Koelbl's emails had been monitored. Koelbl has reported on war-ravaged Afghanistan for Spiegel for a number of years.

Qaeda Will Continue Attacks: Zawahiri

Source: Zeenews, 22 Apr 08

Al Qaeda still has plans to target Western countries involved in the Iraq war, Osama bin Laden`s chief deputy warns in an audiotape released Tuesday to answer questions posed by followers.

            The voice in the lengthy file posted on an Islamic Web site could not be immediately confirmed as al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri`s. But it sounded like past audiotapes from the terror leader, and the posting bore the logo of As-Sahab, al Qaeda`s official media arm The two-hour message is billed as the second installment of al-Zawahiri`s answers to more than 900 questions submitted on extremist Internet sites by al Qaeda supporters, critics and journalists in December. Responding to a question of whether the terror group had plans to attack Western countries that participated in the US-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent war, al-Zawahiri said, "My answer is, yes. We think that any country that joined aggression on Muslims must be deterred." In a question signed by the Japanese news agency Kyodo asking if Japan remains a target because it once had troops in Iraq , al-Zawahiri said Japan provided help "under the banner of the crusader coalition" and "therefore it participated in the crusader campaign against the lands of Islam." "Our Islamic faith urged us to resist the injustice and aggression even if they were the most powerful on Earth.

            Should Japan take a lesson from this?" he said. Japan deployed non-combat troops to southern Iraq in 2003 to carry out reconstruction work. It withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2006 and now conducts airlifts to help supply US-led forces. Al-Zawahiri also denied a conspiracy theory that Israel carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, and he blamed Iran and Shiite Hezbollah for spreading the idea to discredit the Sunni al Qaeda`s achievement. Al-Zawahiri accused Hezbollah`s al-Manar television of starting the rumor. "The purpose of this lie is clear -- (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it," he said. "Iran`s aim here is also clear -- to cover up its involvement with America in invading the homes of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq," he added. Iran cooperated with the United States in the 2001 US assault on Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban, an al Qaeda ally. The comments reflected al-Zawahiri`s increasing criticism of Iran, which al-Zawahiri has accused in recent messages of seeking to extend its power in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and through its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon. Until recent months, he had not often mentioned the Islamic republic. Al Qaeda has previously claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. Answering questions about Iraq in Tuesday`s tape, al-Zawahiri said the Iraqi insurgent umbrella group led by al Qaeda, called the Islamic Nation of Iraq, is "the primary force opposing the crusaders and challenging Iranian ambitions" there. As he often does in his messages, al-Zawahiri denounced the "crusader invasion" of Iraq, but on Tuesday`s tape he paired it with a mention of "Iranian complicity" or "Iranian agents." Al-Zawahiri addressed several issues, including global warming -- which he said reflected "how criminal, brutal and greedy the Western crusader world is, with America at the top."

            He predicted that global warming would "would make the world more sympathetic to and understanding of the Muslims` jihad against the aggressor America ." Asked if there are any women in al Qaeda, the terror leader answered simply: "No." In a follow-up, he said, "There are no women in al Qaeda jihadi group, but the women of the mujahedeen are playing a heroic role in taking care of their houses and sons." In several parts of Tuesday`s audio message, al-Zawahiri claimed that the Taliban took over 95 percent of Afghanistan and is sweeping Pakistan as well. "Residents of the provinces and various regions welcome the Taliban and urge them to come to purify their regions of corruption; this is the secret of Taliban quick deployment and gripping control of 95 percent of Afghanistan ," he said. "The crusaders and their agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan are starting to fall," al-Zawahiri said. In another answer, al-Zawahiri said it was against Islamic religious law for any Muslim to live permanently in a Western country because in doing so they would "have permanent stay there under the laws of the infidels." As-Sahab announced in December that al-Zawahiri would take questions from the public posted on militant Web sites and would respond "as soon as possible." Queries were submitted on the main Islamist Web site until the cutoff date of January 16.

Bin Laden's Balkan connections: Al-Qaeda fighters have been quietly infiltrating the ranks of ethnic Albanian guerrilla forces in Macedonia Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo for years

Posted in the Ottawa Citizen

By Scott Taylor

As the U.S. manhunt for Osama bin Laden and his followers intensifies in the wake of the Taliban's fall, the Americans will turn their attention to other countries suspected of harbouring terrorists -- Sudan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, and areas under Palestinian control.

Foremost among these trouble spots will be the Balkans, where al-Qaeda fighters have been quietly infiltrating the ranks of ethnic Albanian forces in Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo for years.

Macedonian intelligence officials say mujahedeen, or Islamic freedom fighters, especially Mr. bin Laden's followers, form the veteran core of the ethnic Albanian guerrilla army known as the National Liberation Army, or UCK, which has mounted a successful military offensive against Macedonian security forces from their base in Kosovo since last March: By the time a shaky peace was brokered in September, the UCK controlled nearly 30 per cent of Macedonian territory. Macedonian security forces attribute the success of the UCK, which was initially inexperienced and ill-equipped, to the support of as many as 120 mujahedeen among them.

On Nov. 20, when extremists from around the world were volunteering to join the ranks of the Taliban, Pakistani police apprehended five Muslim "fighters" carrying Macedonian passports at the Afghan border -- further proof, Macedonian authorities say, of Mr. bin Laden's Balkan connection.

, a senior director with Macedonian intelligence services, confirmed that, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, his agency "supplied a substantive dossier to the CIA," outlining the activities of Mr. bin Laden's followers in the Balkans. The information included accounts by Macedonian civilians who had been held hostage by mujahedeen, along with photos and videos captured from Albanian guerrillas.

Ljubo Boskovski, the Macedonian minister of interior, is anxious for his police forces to return to areas controlled by the Albanian guerrillas to uncover more evidence of mujahedeen involvement. Since Nov. 13, Macedonian security forces have been exhuming a mass grave outside the ethnic Albanian village of Trebos. To date, the police have unearthed the bodies of six Macedonians (in all, 21 civilians in the area disappeared following UCK attacks). Intelligence officer believes mujahedeen perpetrated the Trebos massacre "because of the manner in which the bodies were cut up and scattered."

He also suspects Islamic extremists were behind a brutal ambush of security forces last April, in which eight policemen were shot outside the village of Vejce, and their bodies dismembered to provide the victors with grisly trophies.

The Macedonian authorities are not the only ones who suspect the mujahedeen in the Vejce atrocities. During the summer offensive around Tetovo, Albanian guerrillas admitted they had gained combat experience in previous conflicts. Twenty-three-year-old Commander "Jimmy" claimed he was a veteran of Chechnya and Kosovo, while "Snake" Arifaq bragged of service in Bosnia and displayed a scar he had received during the fighting in Croatia. The two Albanians acknowledged "volunteers" from Afghanistan and other Arab countries had helped train members of the UCK. As for the Vejce incident, Commander Jimmy said such an atrocity could "only have been committed by the foreigners because Albanians do not cut up bodies."

When the Albanian insurrection began, the Macedonian government hastily acquired

a fleet of six Ukrainian helicopter gunships. "Shortly after that, our pilots reported being tracked by sophisticated (U.S.-made) Stinger missiles" said , adding that, according to Macedonian Intelligence, "the UCK received these Stingers from their mujahedeen connections in Afghanistan."

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Since Sept. 11 the Macedonians have noted a shift in U.S. foreign policy. "The CIA have been much more receptive to our reports about the al-Qaeda," said . "Particularly after they discovered that one of the suicide hijackers had been active in both Kosovo and Macedonia."

Macedonian police have been working closely with their Yugoslavian counterparts to neutralize the Albanian terrorists. More importantly, as part of the U.S.-led global initiative to combat terror, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has been reinstated in Interpol -- after a 10-year banishment. Intelligence officers from the Yugoslavian Army have supplied a wealth of information outlining mujahedeen activity in both Bosnia and Kosovo. Yugoslav intelligence officers believe at least 50 of the 150 mujahedeen who fought in Kosovo remain active members of the UCK.

Even before they got the information from Yugoslavia, Interpol had been tracking al-Qaeda's activities in the Balkans. On Oct. 23 this year, the agency released a report outlining Mr. bin Laden's personal links to the Albanian Mafia. Interpol alleges that a senior al-Qaeda lieutenant had been the commander of an elite UCK unit in Kosovo during the fighting in 1999, when NATO intervened to support the ethnic Albanians, largely at the urging of the U.S.

The CIA was aware of Mr. bin Laden's Albanian connections well before NATO's commitment in Kosovo, numerous media reports clearly show.

On Jan. 17, 1999, an alleged massacre of 45 Albanian Kosovars in the village of Racak made headlines around the world. Pointing to this incident (later proved by UN pathologists to have been an Albanian hoax), former U.S. president Bill Clinton proclaimed the West could no longer overlook "Serbian atrocities," setting the wheels in motion for NATO's confrontation with Yugoslavia.

That same day, Greek media outlets revealed that Taliban members were pouring into

Albania, at the invitation of

ex-president Sali Berisa and former head of intelligence Bashkim Gazidede. According to The Tribune, an Athens daily paper, Albanian security official Fatos Klozi confirmed that "bin Laden was one of those who had organized and sent groups to fight in Kosovo. There were Egyptians, Saudis, Algerians, Tunisians, Sudanese and Kuwaitis from different organizations among the (UCK) mercenaries."

Ten days later, on Jan. 27, 1999, the Arab-language news service Al Hayat reported that an Albanian commander in Kosovo, code-named Monia, was directly connected to Osama bin Laden. The piece also reported that "at least 100 Muslim mujahedeen" were serving with Monia's force in Kosovo.

In August 1998, the Washington Post reported that the CIA was not only aware of Mr. bin Laden's association with the Albanian regime, but that U.S. operatives had been "prominent" in the arrest of four al-Qaeda agents in Tirana. At the time, U.S. State Department officials even speculated that the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania might have been Mr. bin Laden's revenge for the Tirana arrests.

The al-Qaeda suspects detained by the CIA in Albania had been operating the Islamic Revival Foundation, "a charitable organization that official sources say provided a useful cover for the (suspects') efforts on behalf of bin Laden," the Washington Post reported.

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In February 1998, the U.S. State Department had removed the UCK from their list of terrorist organizations. However later that same year, the CIA and their Albanian SHIK intelligence counterparts successfully shut down an Islamic terrorist cell operating with the help of Albanians in Kosovo.

Some of the most revealing links between Albanian fighters and Mr. bin Laden surfaced in December 1998, when al-Qaeda agent Claude Sheik Abdel-Kader was arrested in Tirana for the murder of his Albanian translator. During his trial,

Mr. Abdel-Kader confessed to being a senior commander in Mr. bin Laden's network, and claimed he had recruited a force of some 300 mujahedeen to fight in Kosovo.

European media covering the trial reported his revelation that Osama bin Laden -- although a wanted terrorist -- had travelled freely to Tirana in 1994 and 1998 to meet with senior Albanian officials. Mr. Abdel-Kader also confessed that when the Albanian regime of Sali Berisa collapsed into anarchy in 1997, state armouries and government offices were looted. According to Mr. Abdel-Kader, many of the 10,000 heavy weapons and 100,000 passports that went missing fell into the hands of al-Qaeda members.

Osama bin Laden -- stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994 -- is alleged to have retained the Bosnian passport he was issued in Vienna in 1993. According to a Sept. 1999 report in Dani, a Bosnian Muslim weekly paper, Alija Izetbegovic, then president of Bosnia, granted Mr. bin Laden a passport in recognition of his followers' contributions to Mr. Izetbegovic's quest to create a "fundamentalist Islamic republic" in the Balkans.

Dani also reported that al-Qaeda terrorist Mehrez Aodouni had been arrested in Istanbul while carrying a Bosnian passport. Like Mr. bin Laden, his citizenship had been granted "because he was a member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina army."

Canadian soldiers serving with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) were among the first to report the presence of mujahedeen among the Bosnian Muslims as early as 1992.

The Asian edition of the Wall Street Journal reported that, in 1993, Mr. bin Laden had appointed Sheik Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda's second-in-command, to direct his operations in the Balkans.

While no exact numbers exist, it is estimated that between 1,500 and 3,500 Arab volunteers participated in the Bosnian civil war. Their main area of operation was the region of Zenica, with most serving in a brigade under Gen. Sakib Mahmuljin, nicknamed "the Guerrillas." Identified by red and green "Rambo" bandannas emblazoned with a crest that read, "our road is Jihad," this unit quickly gained a reputation for brutality.

On June 27, 1993, the Sunday Times reported that even Bosnian Muslim officers had reservations about the mujahedeen

volunteers. Col. Stjepan Siber, then deputy commander of the Bosnia-Herzegovina army, admitted to the Times that "It was a mistake to let (the mujahedeen) in here. They commit most of the atrocities and work against the interests of the Muslim people. They have been killing, looting and stealing."

According to reports, it was the mujahedeen who committed some of the worst atrocities of the war, under Gen. Nasir Oric in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica. Beheadings of Serbian civilians were commonplace, and in some villages the mujahedeen would dynamite homes with the inhabitants trapped inside.

No attempt was made to hide such atrocities. In fact, Gen. Oric would often address the media at the site of the massacres. On one such occasion, while standing in front of mujahedeen displaying decapitated human heads as trophies, Gen. Oric pointed to a smouldering building in ruins and proudly announced to reporters, "We blew those Serbs to the moon."

Alija Izetbegovic was also proud to display the fighting prowess of his mujahedeen volunteers. Following a successful attack against Serbian positions around Vozuce on Sept. 10, 1995, the Bosnian president held a televised medal presentation. Mujahedeen warriors had served as the vanguard of the assault force, and were awarded 11 decorations for valour, including the Golden Crescent, Bosnia's highest honour.

Yugoslav intelligence estimates that citizenship was granted to more than 1,500 mujahedeen, including al-Qaeda members, following the Dayton Peace Accord in 1995. Most of those soldiers are believed to have settled in the Zenica region.

According to Miroslav Lazanski, author of the new book, Osama bin Laden Against America, al-Qaeda members still maintain two bases in Bosnia, one of them reserved for top fighters.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, FBI and CIA agents uncovered evidence that two of the suicide hijackers had originated from this Bosnian camp. The commander of the camp, an Algerian named Abu Mali, was subsequently arrested while travelling in Istanbul on a Bosnian passport.

The U.S. military has taken a keen interest in mujahedeen activities in the Balkans since Sept. 11. Late last month, U.S. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers visited NATO troops in Bosnia to warn them against a possible al-Qaeda retaliation attack. And on Dec. 4, the White House added two Albanian terrorist groups operating in Macedonia and Kosovo to its list of outlawed organizations.

And so, Mr. Clinton's dubious decisions in the Balkan conflagration two years ago have come back to haunt the U.S.

 

This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event 1993: Bosnian President Izetbegovic Grants Bin Laden Passport as Gesture of Appreciation. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.

Eve-Ann Prentice. [Source: BBC]In 2006, London Times reporter Eve-Ann Prentice will testify under oath during Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s international war crimes tribunal that she saw Osama bin Laden go into a meeting with Muslim Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic. Prentice was there with Der Speigel reporter Renate Flottau waiting for an interview with Izetbegovic when bin Laden walked by (see 1994). Prentice will later recall, “[T]here was a very important looking Arabic looking person is the best way I can describe it who came in and went ahead just before I was supposed to go in to interview, and I was curious because it obviously looked as if it was somebody very, very important, and they were shown straight through to Mr. Izetbegovic’s office.” Curious, Prentice asked around and found out from Flottau and another eyewitness that the person was bin Laden, then Prentice confirmed this for herself when she later saw pictures of bin Laden. Interestingly, the judge at Milosevic’s trial will cut off questions about the incident and there will be no mentions of it by journalists covering the trial, though a transcript of the exchange will eventually appear on the United Nation’s International Criminal Tribunal website. [International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, 2/3/2006] Prentice apparently will no longer be reporting by 2006, but in 2002 she mentioned in passing in a Times article, “Osama bin Laden visited the Balkans several times in the 1980s and 1990s and is widely believed by Serbs to have aided Muslims in the Bosnian war and the Kosovo conflict.” [London Times, 3/5/2002] Bin Laden also visited Izetbegovic in 1993 (see 1993).

Entity Tags: Slobodan Milosevic, Osama bin Laden, Alija Izetbegovic, Eve-Ann Prentice, Renate Flottau

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
Bin Laden’s Balkan Connections

September 2001

IN MEMORIAM
Dedicated to all victims of terrorism, including a member of The Centre for Peace in the Balkans who is still listed as missing in the World Trade Centre bombing.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 2, 1999, CIA Director George Tenet warned of the worldwide threat posed by the Bin Laden network:

"There is not the slightest doubt that Osama Bin Laden, his worldwide allies, and his sympathizers are planning further attacks against us. Despite progress against his networks, Bin Laden´s organization has contacts virtually worldwide, including in the United States. And he has stated unequivocally that all Americans are targets. Bin Laden´s overreaching aim is to get the United States out of the Persian Gulf, but he will strike wherever in the world he thinks we are vulnerable. We are anticipating bombing attempts with conventional explosives, but his operatives are also capable of kidnappings and assassinations. We have noted recent activities similar to what occurred prior to the African embassy bombings, Mr. Chairman, and I must tell you that we are concerned that one or more of Bin Laden´s attacks could occur at any time."

According to the September 15, 2001 issue of the New York Times (U.S. Demands Arab Countries ´Choose Sides´ by Jane Perlez) the United States has issued a communiqué to its embassies around the world "…listing the conditions that nations were expected to meet in order to qualify for membership in the anti-terror coalition." Considering that the US supports countries where many terrorists originate or are trained (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania), we are concerned about the fallout should those countries fail to meet the stated US demands.

Furthermore, we must note with tragic irony that the United States trained and financed Islamicist “freedom fighters” during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, to the tune of $10 billion (September 13, 2001, Washington Times). Osama Bin Laden was part and parcel of that military “aid” program.

Yet, it would be willful blindness to suggest that the roots of terror begin and end in Afghanistan or the Middle East. When examining events that have transpired in the Balkans over the past ten years, Osama Bin Laden’s name appears prominently. Bin Laden directly aided the Bosnian Muslims, both financially (weapons procurement) and with training. In addition, that same “aid” was extended to the separatist Albanians of Kosovo and Macedonia. Ironically, the US found Bin Laden and his supporters “convenient” allies when dealing with Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians, again in another so-called struggle for “freedom”.

Bosnia

Bosnian Muslim weekly “Dani” reported on September 24, 1999, that Osama Bin Laden, the most wanted terrorist in the world, was issued a Bosnia-Herzegovina passport. Bin Laden was issued the Bosnian passport by the Bosnian embassy in Vienna in 1993. However, Bin Laden was not the only one. A number of suspected terrorists have traveled the globe utilizing “legally issued” Bosnia-Herzegovina documents.

According to ‘Dani’, the Bosnian Foreign Ministry was seized by panic when Mehrez Aodouni, another Bosnian passport bearer, was arrested in Istanbul on September 09, 1999. Aodouni was believed to have close ties with Bin Laden. The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) [Bosnia´s main Muslim party led by Bosnian President, Alija Izetbegovic] issued a statement that on September 23, 1999, Audouni obtained the Bosnia-Herzegovina citizenship and a passport because he was a member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Army.

The Bosnian Muslim daily "Oslobodjenje" published that three men, believed linked to Saudi extremist Osama Bin Laden, were arrested in Sarajevo in July 2001. The three, one of whom was identified as Imad El Misri, were Egyptian nationals. The paper said that two of the suspects were holding Bosnian passports.

The arrest, carried out by police from Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat Federation, was requested by the United States, Oslobodjenje said.

The Dayton peace agreement, that ended Bosnia’s civil war, ordered all foreign soldiers to leave the country, including those who fought alongside the mainly Muslim government army. Many of those who fought in the Bosnian Muslim Army included ranks of Islamicist radicals from the Arab world, Afghanistan, Pakistan and South East Asia. However, an undisclosed number remained, obtaining Bosnian citizenship as members of the army or by marrying Bosnian women.

At the end of the civil war many of these so-called mujahadeen remained on territories controlled by the Bosnian-Croat Federation, instructing Muslim forces in terrorist activities. Those activities came to light on December 18, 1995, with the premature detonation of an automobile bomb in Zenica. It is widely speculated that the bomb was meant for U.S. NATO troops serving in Bosnia-Herzegovina as revenge for the life sentence given to Sheik Omah Abdel Rahman, the brain behind the World Trade Centre bombing in New York.

Also noteworthy is the raid conducted by NATO forces on the training center of the Bosnian Muslim secret police (AID), located in the ski center near Fojnica in February of 1996, and the arrest of several persons for preparing to conduct terrorist actions. Iranian instructors were teaching future terrorists from AID how to disguise bombs as children’s toys, dolls, and plastic ice cream cones.

In its June 26, 1997 Report on the bombing of the Al Khobar building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the New York Times noted that those arrested confessed to serving with Bosnian Muslims forces. Further, the terrorists also admitted to ties with Osama Bin Laden.

Defence and Foreign Affairs analyst Yossef Bodansky wrote in 1997 that Iran, from its terrorist bases in Bosnia-Herzegovina, planned the assassination of Pope John Paul II. The assassination was planned towards the end of September 1997. A terrorist group consisting of 20 members holding Croatian, Bosnia-Herzegovinian, Tunisian, Algerian and Moroccan passports were to assassinate the Pope during his Bologna visit. The leaders of the group were all former mujahadeen from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Logistical support for the group was secured through a local terrorist network which was closely associated with GIA. Italian authorities discovered the assassination attempt in time and managed to arrest 14 members of the terrorist cell.

Many mujahadeen in Bosnia are now located in what was the pre-war Serbian village of Bocinja Donja. Today, a sign on the road into the town warns visitors to "be afraid of Allah."

The village´s 600 residents include 60 to 100 former mujahadeen, Islamicist guerrillas from the Middle East and elsewhere who came to help Bosnia´s Muslims during the 1992-95 civil war. Since the conflict ended, they and their families have organized a community that stands apart from the rest of Bosnia, whose Muslim majority largely follows a relaxed version of Islam. Bocinja Donja´s affairs, in contrast, are governed by a strict interpretation of Islamic law. Women must wear veils and long black robes; men must have long beards. Smoking and drink is forbidden, as well speaking to visitors.

Washington and its allies have complained periodically about the mujahadeen, who were technically obligated by international treaty to leave the country in 1995. But Western complaints lacked urgency until late 1999, when U.S. law enforcement authorities discovered that a handful of the men who have visited or lived in this area were associated with a suspected terrorist plot to bomb targets in the United States on New Year´s Day.

Among them was Karim Said Atmani, who was identified by authorities as the document forger for a group of Algerians accused of plotting the bombings. He is a former roommate of Ahmet Ressemi, the man arrested at the Canadian-U.S. border in mid-December 1999 with a carload of explosives. Atmani has been a frequent visitor to Bosnia, even after Ressmi´s arrest.

A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records--conducted at the urging of the United States--revealed other former mujahadeen who are linked to the same Algerian group or to other suspected terrorist groups and who have lived in this area 60 miles north of Sarajevo, the capital, in the past few years.

One man, a Palestinian named Khalil Deek, was arrested in Jordan in late December 1999 on suspicion of involvement in a plot to blow up tourist sites; a second man with Bosnian citizenship, Hamid Aich, lived in Canada at the same time as Atmani and worked for a charity associated with Osama Bin Laden.

A third suspect, an Algerian named Abu Mali who was regarded as a community leader in Bocinja, was asked to leave the country with his family in spring of 1999 after Washington accumulated evidence that he worked for a terrorist organization. Mehrez Amdouni, another former resident, was arrested by Turkish police in September of 1999 in Istanbul, where he arrived with a Bosnian passport. Amdouni was charged with counterfeiting and possessing stolen goods.

The Centre for Peace in the Balkans wrote in Spring of 2000:

The December 14, 1999, arrest of Algerian national Ahmet Ressemi at a U.S.-Canada border crossing in British Columbia – he was in a car full of nitroglycerin and bomb-making materials – was headline news in North America. Many theorized that Ressemi planned to blow up a major structure in the U.S. to start the new millenium.

The theorists could have saved themselves some time by taking a closer look at Ressemi’s past ties, especially those with terrorists trained in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Ressemi fought as a mujahadeen.

It has been confirmed that Ahmet Ressemi had ties with Said Atmani, another terrorist who fought in the "El Mujahadeen" unit in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Canadian authorities deported Atmani back to Bosnia-Herzegovina on October 18, 1998, supposedly without knowing of his alleged participation in terrorist activities through Europe.

The NY Times, in it´s "Magazine" edition of February 6, 2000 published that: "Last year, sources in Jordan say, the Mukhabarat, the intelligence service, alerted the C.I.A. to at least three plots by Bosnia-based Islamic terrorists to attack U.S. targets in Europe."

Recently, Kenneth Katzman, of the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service, released an updated report on terrorism. That report identified cells of the Bin Laden Al-Quaida Network in the Middle East, Africa, Bosnia, and Albania.

Albania/ Kosovo Albanians

Osama Bin Laden’s activities in Albania are well known and documented. As a matter of fact at one point the presence of his network in that country was so powerful that US Defence Secretary William Cohen cancelled a scheduled visit July 1999 for fear of being assassinated.

It is believed that Bin Laden solidified his organization in Albania in 1994 with the help of then premier Sali Berisha. Albania’s ties to the Islamicist terrorist blossomed during Berisha´s rule when the main Kosovo Albanian KLA training base was on Berisha´s property in northern Albania.

Fundamentalists were well established in Albania, despite several raids by the CIA and Albanian security forces that seized five key members of Islamic Jihad and other Middle Eastern groups in summer of 1998.

Around that time, a joint CIA-Albanian intelligence operation has reported mujahadeen units from at least half a dozen Middle East countries streaming across the border into Kosovo from bases in Albania. The American request came at a meeting of US envoys with the leaders of the ethnic-Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army at their headquarters in Geneva.

A few years ago, Albanian authorities working with the Central Intelligence Agency claimed to have uncovered a terrorist network operated by Osama Bin Laden. The network is said to have been set up to use Albania, a nominally Muslim country, as a springboard for operations in Europe.

Fatos Klosi, the head of Shik, the Albanian intelligence service, said that Bin Laden had visited Albania himself.

Bin Laden’s organization was one of several fundamentalist groups that had sent units to fight in Kosovo, the neighboring province of Serbia. Apparent confirmation of Bin Laden´s activities came when Claude Kader, 27, a French national and self-confessed member of Bin Laden´s Albanian network, was jailed for the murder of a local translator. He claimed during his trial that he had visited Albania to recruit and arm fighters for Kosovo, and that four of his associates were still at large.

Bin Laden is believed to have established an operation in Albania in 1994 after telling the government that he was head of a wealthy Saudi humanitarian agency keen to help Europe´s poorest nation.

In April 2000 the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said the "notorious international terrorist" and "Islamic fanatic" arrived in Kosovo from Albania.

"Until recently, Bin Laden was training a group of almost 500 mujahadeen [Muslim fighters] from Arab countries around the Albanian towns of Podgrade and Korce for terrorist actions in Kosovo."

The report added that an eventual 2000-strong group of "extremists" planned "to set off a new wave of violence in southern Serbia (the area linked by the towns Presevo, Bujanovac, Medvedja)."

In March of 2000, the BBC reported that KFOR raided a Saudi charity operating in Kosovo after being tipped off by U.S. officials that it may have links to Bin Laden. The Islamic relief organization strongly denied the allegations.

Before the NATO air campaign, the Yugoslav government said on its website that KLA fighters from Kosovo had been attending terrorist training camps in Arab states, "financed by some renegade Saudi businessmen" - an apparent reference to Bin Laden.

In May of 1999, the Washington Times reported that the KLA had borrowed money "from known terrorists like Osama Bin Laden."

Two months earlier, Israeli investigative journalist Steve Rodan wrote that, according to European security and diplomatic sources, "Kosovo has become the latest and most significant arena for radical Islamic states and groups that seek to widen their influence in Europe."

Macedonia

The danger exhibited by Macedonia was foreseen by Henry Kissinger in his Washington Post article of February 22, 1999 ("No U.S. Ground Forces for Kosovo: Leadership Doesn´t Mean That We Must Do Everything for Ourselves"):

"Ironically, the projected peace agreement increases the likelihood of the various possible escalations sketched by the president as justifications for a U.S. deployment. An independent Albanian Kosovo surely would seek to incorporate the neighboring Albanian minorities -- mostly in Macedonia -- and perhaps even Albania itself. And a Macedonian conflict would land us precisely back in the Balkan wars of earlier in this century. Will Kosovo then become the premise for a NATO move into Macedonia, just as the deployment in Bosnia is invoked as justification for the move into Kosovo? Is NATO to be the home for a whole series of Balkan NATO protectorates?"

The connection between Macedonia, its conflict and Bin Laden’s involvement can be gleaned from a Washington Times editorial on June 22, 2001, ("Bin Laden´s new special envoys"):

"[The NLA] is fighting to keep control over the region’s drug trafficking, which has grown into a large, lucrative enterprise since the Kosovo war. In addition to drug money, the NLA also has another prominent venture capitalist: Osama Bin Laden.

The Muslim terrorist leader, according to a document obtained by The Washington Times and written by the chief commander of the Macedonian Security Forces, puts out the front money for the rebel group through a representative in Macedonia: "This person is representative of Osama Bin Laden, who is the main financial supporter of the National Liberation Army, where to date he has paid $6 to $7 million for the needs of the National Liberation Army.”

It is important to point out that in Macedonia, local drug-trafficking is now out of control. Osama Bin Laden is realizing that this growing reality of Albanian narco-terrorism could lead to the emergence of a situation in which his venture may become powerful enough to control one or more states in the region. In practical terms, this will involve either Albania or Macedonia, or both. Politically, this is now being done by channeling profits from narco-terrorism into local governments and political parties.

Strategically, Macedonia is very important to Osama Bin Laden and his followers from another perspective as well. It closes the loop between East and West, and more particularly it gives him an open hand when it comes to control of the new pipeline that is planned to stretch from Bulgaria to Albania ports. This way Osama Bin Laden would have the ability to control the distribution of oil to the United States.

Conclusion

This article has attempted to deliver the reader with the evidence of the influence gained by Osama Bin Laden in the Balkans. The Centre for Peace in the Balkans, throughout its existence, has warned that tacit cooperation with terrorists like Osama Bin Laden would undoubtedly result in catastrophic consequences around the globe. Turning a blind-eye while Bosnian Muslims and Albanians in Yugoslavia and Macedonia actively worked with Islamicist terrorist elements, right under the nose of NATO, was bound to destabilize other parts of the world. Strengthened and emboldened by success in the Balkans, these terrorists have now gone on to fulfill what in essence was the Crown Jewel of terror, terror over the whole of North America. In fact, it is certain that the New York and Washington catastrophes served as a recruitment advertisement for the movement.

Yesterday it was the Balkans, today the USA, tomorrow it’s anybody’s guess. After the events of September 11th, it appears that our imagination is too conservative for the minds of terror. The United States and NATO countries found these terrorist elements “useful” in the service of past policy objectives, whether it was Afghanistan, Bosnia or Kosovo. The real question now is who was using whom? Radical terrorists, whether Islamicist or not, are tigers which cannot be ridden. The foolishness of how any Pentagon, CIA or State Department analyst could have viewed otherwise became horrifically apparent on September 11, 2001.










Links


Balkan wars and terrorist ties

Director of the U.S. Congress' Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional warfare: "Some Call It Peace"

NATO Probes Claims that Bin Laden is in Kosovo

Persecution Watch : Kosovo

Defang the KLA

Destabilizing the Balkans: US & Albanian Defense Cooperation in the 1990s

Bin Laden in Kosovo

Bosnia Arrests Three Suspected Bin Laden´s Associates

A Bosnian Village's Terrorist Ties; Links to U.S. Bomb Plot Arouse Concern About Enclave of Islamic Guerrillas

Bin Laden opens European terror base in Albania

US tackles Islamic militancy in Kosovo

US alarmed as Mujahidin join Kosovo rebels

Bin Laden suspect held in Bosnia

BRUSSELS, Belgium --A man suspected of having links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network has been detained in Bosnia, NATO has said.

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson said on Friday that the individual was among a number of suspects held by allied forces and local police in the Balkan country.

Bosnian police, in cooperation with NATO-led forces, have detained dozens of suspects since the September 11 attacks in the United States.

Most have been released but six people of Algeria origin remain under investigation by the Supreme Court, the only Bosnian tribunal dealing with suspected terrorism cases.

"There have been a number of arrests and detentions and deportations in Bosnia- Herzegovina carried out by the NATO-led Stabilisation Force, SFOR," Robertson told reporters.

"At least one of the detained people is known to have direct links with al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

"The action taken by SFOR has disrupted a number of terrorist networks, not all of them al Qaeda networks. They show the effectiveness of our operation in seeking out and cracking down on terrorism."

One of the suspects, Bensayah Belkacem, was arrested on October 8 on the basis of foreign intelligence reports that he allegedly made telephone calls to an aide of bin Laden, who is the West's main suspect behind the September 11 attacks on the U.S..

Police said they found a number of blank passports from various countries at his house, Reuters reported.

British and U.S. officials in Bosnia last week closed their embassies in Bosnia, citing credible security threats.

An unnamed official close to the government of the Croat-Muslim federation told the Associated Press that one of the five other Algerian suspects arrested last week was a member of the Armed Islamic Group, an Algerian terrorist organisation.

The source said another was a member of the Egyptian terrorist organisation al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, while one of the five had a relative working in the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo.

Robertson said the arrests were "achieved through excellent cooperation with other agencies."

"We also welcome and have been impressed by the actions of the government authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina," he said.

"The threat however has not gone. These networks have been disrupted, not eliminated. Investigations are continuing. Our work is therefore not finished."

Bin Laden in the Balkans
Bosnia, Kosovo and Metohija
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From the 'The Washington Times' June 22, 2001

"The rebels would have their big brothers in America - the same heroes who led the NATO mission against their enemies, the Serbs - believe that the violence they are now perpetrating in Macedonia is merely about protecting minority rights. But the National Liberation Army (NLA), a splinter of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), also has another motive: It is fighting to keep control over the region's drug trafficking, which has grown into a large, lucrative enterprise since the Kosovo war. In addition to drug money, the NLA also has another prominent venture capitalist: Osama bin Laden. The Muslim terrorist leader, according to a document obtained by The Washington Times and written by the chief commander of the Macedonian Security Forces, puts out the front money for the rebel group through a representative in Macedonia: 'This person is representative of Osama Ben laden sic , who is the main financial supporter of the National Liberation Army, where up to date he has paid $6 million to $7 million for the needs of the National Liberation Army.'"

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From 'The Canberra Times' (Australia ) April 28, 2000 - Page 8

"BIN LADEN IN KOSOVO ACTS

"BELGRADE: Islamic Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, wanted for terrorism by the United States, is in Kosovo. The official Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said bin Laden, whom it described as a " terrorist and Islamic fanatic" , arrived from Albania after having formed a group of 500 Islamic fighters in the eastern region around Korce and Pogradec to carry out " terrorist acts" in Kosovo.

"He planned similar acts in the southern region of Serbia bordering on Kosovo, including Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, the agency said."

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'The Charleston Gazette.' November 30, 1998 - Page 2A

"BIN LADEN RUNS TERRORIST NETWORK, REPORT SAYS

"LONDON - The man accused of orchestrating the U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa operates a terrorist network out of Albania, The Sunday Times reported.

"The newspaper quoted Fatos Klosi, the head of the Albanian intelligence service, as saying a network run by Saudi exile Osama Bin Laden sent units to fight in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

"Bin Laden is believed to have established an Albanian operation in 1994 after telling the government he headed a wealthy Saudi humanitarian agency wanting to help Albania, the newspaper reported.

"Klosi said he believed terrorists had already infiltrated other parts of Europe from bases in Albania. Apparent confirmation of Bin Laden's activities came earlier this month during the murder trial of Claude Kader, 27, a French national who said he was a member of Bin Laden's Albanian network, the newspaper said.

"Kader claimed during the trial he had visited Albania to recruit and arm fighters for Kosovo.

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FROM 'THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN,' May 28, 1999

"...As U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe long has predicted, American troops go into Kosovo against the Serbs, they'll be fighting alongside a terrorist organization known to finance its operations with drug sales - including some to the United States.

"By joining hands with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which intelligence sources say bankrolls itself by selling heroin and cocaine, the United States also would become partners of a sort with Osama bin Laden, the international terrorist behind last year's bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Washington Times reports. According to the newspaper's sources, the KLA is linked to an extensive organized crime network headquartered in Albania. In 1998 the State Department listed the KLA as an international terrorist organization that supported itself with drug profits and through loans from known terrorists like bin Laden.

"Such an ally is the result of Bill Clinton choosing sides in a centuries-old civil war. "They were terrorists in 1998 and now, because of politics, they're freedom fighters," a top drug official told the Times.

"In Bill Clinton's war, where bombing has been turned into a humanitarian application, such a paradox fits right in.

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In 1999, the newspaper, 'Dani,' announced that bin Laden had been issued a Special Passport from the Washington-Backed Bosnian Government in 1993. Two weeks ago, the Bosnian government issued a denial. Given that this denial took two years and came immediately after September 11th, we suggest it be taken with a grain of salt.

"BIN LADEN WAS GRANTED BOSNIAN PASSPORT

"Agence France Presse September 24, 1999

"SARAJEVO

"Osama bin Laden, the Saudi billionaire wanted by the United States for organising bloody terrorist attacks, was granted a Bosnian passport in 1993 by the country's [i.e., Bosnia]embassy in Vienna, an independent weekly reported Friday.

"'The Bosnian embassy in Vienna granted a passport to bin Laden in 1993,' Dani magazine said, quoting anonymous sources, emphasizing that files and traces linked to his case have recently been destroyed by the [Bosnian] government.

"However, Bin Laden 'did not personally collect his Bosnian passport,' Dani said, without elaborating or explicitly stating that his passport was ever collected.

"'High Muslim officials of the Bosnian foreign ministry agreed that it [the destruction of files linked to bin Laden] was the top priority. It was even more important than investigating a person responsible for granting a passport to the most wanted terrorist in the world,' Dani reported.

"According to the article, Muslim political circles claim that six years ago officials at the Bosnian embassy in Vienna could not have known who bin Laden was.

"During the 1992-1995 Bosnia's war, the Vienna embassy has been 'making contacts with many Arab-world people seeking aid' for the mainly Muslim Bosnian army, the article said.

"The foreign ministry issued no comments on the article. Bin Laden, believed to be in Afghanistan, is accused by the United States of masterminding bloody bomb attacks against its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August of last year. Over 200 people were killed in these attacks. Washington has offered a reward of five million dollars for information leading to his arrest.

"Earlier this week the Bosnian government confirmed it had granted citizenship and passport to a Tunisian-born senior aide of bin-Laden in 1997. The government said citizenship was given to Mahrez Amduni, known in Sarajevo as Mehrez Amdouni, on the basis of his Bosnian army membership, stressing that there was no Interpol arrest warrant against him at that time.

"Amduni was arrested by Turkish police at Istanbul airport on September 13, in an operation in which Interpol also took part.

"During the Bosnia 1992-95 war some Islamic fighters battled alongside Muslim soldiers in central Bosnia against Bosnian Serbs and Croats. Most of them left the country after a US-brokered peace deal was signed in 1995. Some of them gained Bosnian citizenship as members of the Bosnian army or by marrying Bosnian women.

"The government has never revealed how many foreign fighters were granted Bosnian citizenship."

Copyright 1999 Agence France Presse

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The following article, while not specifically about bin Laden, talks about how the Mujahideen functioned in Bosnia:

"Polish Press Reports On Training Of Mujahideen In Bosnia

"From Tanjug, 12/16/97

"Intelligence services of the Nordic-Polish SFOR Brigade suspect that a center for training terrorists from Islamic countries is located in the Bocina Donja village near Maglaj in Bosnia, Warsaw daily Rzecspospolita writes on Tuesday.

"The author of the article, Marek Popowsky, who used to be in both SFOR and its predecessor IFOR in Bosnia, writes that mujahideen had first come to Bosnia in 1992, and numbered over 3,000 in the summer of 1995.

"Besides mujahideen from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, there were several hundred Muslim extremists who had come from Italy, France, Germany and Britain, he notes.

"Deserters from the Turkish, Malaysian and French UNPROFOR battalions also volunteered as mujahideen, Popowsky writes. In addition to dangerous military actions, the mujahideen also carried out a religious and ideological mission, enforcing abidance by the Koran and recruiting young soldiers to die for Allah, Popowsky writes.

"Noting that Bosniac (Muslim) troops respected their allies but feared them at the same time as Allahs' warriors used to carry out high-risk actions and were cruel fighters, Popowsky quotes Serb officers as saying that the mujahideen never took prisoners. Wounded enemy soldiers were usually decapitated or slaughtered by mujahideen, Popowsky writes.

"The Dayton Agreement committed (Bosnian Muslim leader) Alija Izetbegovic to remove all foreign fighters from Bosnia, but about one thousand mujahideen who obtained Bosnian citizenship in the meantime remain in Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica and about ten villages, the daily writes.

"The largest group of mujahideen is now in Bocina Donja, a formerly Serb village near Maglaj, the daily writes, adding that the Nordic-Polish intelligence service G-5 is following the activities of such unusual "settlers", as it suspects that a camp for training terrorists is located in the village following reports from Serb and Croat forces' commanders.

"Noting that Islamic states had allocated to the Muslim part of Bosnia military and humanitarian aid to the value of over one billion dollars and that decisions to this effect had been taken not only by governments but also by various extremist Muslim groups and informal institutions, the daily writes that the activities of mujahideen in Bocina Donja would continue to be monitored by international special services to prevent the village from being transformed into a base for launching terrorist operations." (Tanjug, Warsaw, December 16)

Osama Bin Laden remains top of the wanted list

Shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks, the US issued a list of al-Qaeda suspects. Some have now been captured or killed, and some new names have been added to those still at large.

Few details about key figures have been officially released. BBC News Online pieces together what little is known about some of the key al-Qaeda suspects.

Osama Bin Laden ( Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya.....)

Osama Bin Laden is the man the US accuses of masterminding the 11 September suicide hijackings and other attacks on US interests.

He has been indicted for the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa and the attacks on the USS Cole in October 2000.

He founded al-Qaeda in 1979, originally as a guesthouse in Peshawar for Arab fighters.

Despite an extensive military operation in Afghanistan, it is still not known where he is or even if he is definitely still alive.

Arab broadcasters regularly air recordings of speeches attributed to the fugitive al-Qaeda figurehead.

A video released during the US presidential election in October 2004 showed him warning Americans of new attacks.

From 'The Canberra Times' (Australia ) April 28, 2000 - Page 8

"BIN LADEN IN KOSOVO ACTS

"BELGRADE: Islamic Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, wanted for terrorism by the United States, is in Kosovo. The official Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said bin Laden, whom it described as a " terrorist and Islamic fanatic" , arrived from Albania after having formed a group of 500 Islamic fighters in the eastern region around Korce and Pogradec to carry out " terrorist acts" in Kosovo.

"He planned similar acts in the southern region of Serbia bordering on Kosovo, including Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, the agency said."

'The Charleston Gazette.' November 30, 1998 - Page 2A

"BIN LADEN RUNS TERRORIST NETWORK, REPORT SAYS

"LONDON - The man accused of orchestrating the U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa operates a terrorist network out of Albania, The Sunday Times reported.

"The newspaper quoted Fatos Klosi, the head of the Albanian intelligence service, as saying a network run by Saudi exile Osama Bin Laden sent units to fight in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

"Bin Laden is believed to have established an Albanian operation in 1994 after telling the government he headed a wealthy Saudi humanitarian agency wanting to help Albania, the newspaper reported.

"Klosi said he believed terrorists had already infiltrated other parts of Europe from bases in Albania. Apparent confirmation of Bin Laden's activities came earlier this month during the murder trial of Claude Kader, 27, a French national who said he was a member of Bin Laden's Albanian network, the newspaper said.

"Kader claimed during the trial he had visited Albania to recruit and arm fighters for Kosovo.

Ayman al-Zawahiri

Egyptian in origin, Ayman al-Zawahiri is believed to serve as Bin Laden's spiritual adviser and doctor. He is also the architect of the al-Qaeda ideology.

Ayman al-Zawahiri serves as a spiritual adviser

In 1998, he was the second of five signatories to Bin Laden's notorious "fatwa" calling for attacks against US civilians.

He was a key figure in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group, which later merged with al-Qaeda.

Zawahiri has appeared alongside Bin Laden in al-Qaeda videotapes released since 11 September. His wife and children were reported killed in a US air strike in late November or early December 2001.

He has eluded capture despite a $25m bounty on his head. He escaped a reported US air strike targeting him in Pakistan in January 2006, in which a close relative was said to have died.

Zawahiri has been indicted in the US for his role in the US embassy bombings in Africa, and was sentenced to death in Egypt in absentia for his activities with the Islamic Jihad group in the 1990s.

Abu Hamza al-Muhajir

The US says it believes Muhajir and Masri are the same person

Little is known about the man named as successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the militant leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq killed in a US air strike.

In a website statement, the al-Qaeda in Iraq group said Abu Hamza al-Muhajir was "knowledgeable" and had a history of fighting a holy war.

Muhajir was not among the names al-Qaeda analysts had expected as a probable successor, and is thought to be a pseudonym.

The US military has said it believes him to be an Egyptian militant based in Baghdad, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

He is understood to have trained in Afghanistan and helped Zarqawi form the first al-Qaeda cell in Baghdad.

Sheikh Said

A Saudi, Said is Bin Laden's brother-in-law and al-Qaeda's financial controller. He first linked up with Bin Laden in Sudan during the late 1990s.

US investigators believe he wired money to Mohammed Atta, alleged ringleader of the hijackers, shortly before the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.

Saif al-Adel

Adel is thought to be Bin Laden's security chief

An Egyptian in his late 30s, al-Adel is Bin Laden's security chief.

He is believed to have assumed many of the late Mohammed Atef's duties in al-Qaeda.

He was a colonel in the Egyptian army but joined the mujahideen fighting to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan.

He is also suspected of teaching militants to use explosives and training some of the 11 September hijackers.

He has been linked to the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The US further accuses him of training the Somali fighters who killed 18 US servicemen in Mogadishu in 1993.

In 1987, Egypt accused Adel - whose real name is Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi - of trying to establish a military wing of the militant Islamic group al-Jihad, and of trying to overthrow the government.

Abu Mohammed al-Masri

Also Egyptian, he is frequently believed to use the name Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah and to be about 40 years old.

He ran al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, including the al-Farooq camp near Kandahar.

He is also believed to have been involved in the East Africa embassy bombings. The US has put a bounty of $5m on his head.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith

Abu Ghaith: Stripped of Kuwaiti citizenship

Nominal al-Qaeda spokesman, Abu Ghaith is a Kuwaiti and believed to be in his mid-30s.

A former religious studies teacher, he left Kuwait in 2000.

He was stripped of his citizenship after an appearance on Qatar-based al-Jazeera television in which he vowed retaliation for US air strikes against Afghanistan.

Bin Laden can be seen poking fun at him in one of the videotapes released since 11 September.

In July 2003, a Kuwaiti minister said the Iranian government had offered to extradite Abu Ghaith to Kuwait, but that Kuwait had refused to take him. It is unclear whether he is currently in Iranian custody, or indeed in Iran at all.

Thirwat Salah Shirhata

Also Egyptian, Shirhata is al-Zawahiri's deputy in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group.

He has received two death sentences in absentia in Egypt for alleged terrorist activities.

Abu Faraj al-Libbi

Abu Faraj al-Libbi was arrested in Pakistan along with five other al-Qaeda suspects in May 2005, after a gun battle in Waziristan, North-West Frontier Province.

Pakistan said it had seized al-Libbi after a gun battle

He is said to have taken over as third in command of al-Qaeda when his mentor, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was captured in 2003.

He is a Libyan who is described as the mastermind of two failed attempts to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

He is thought to have used Pakistan as his base, and from there was reportedly in contact with militants in the UK. Following his arrest, he was handed over by Pakistan to US custody.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (holder of Bosnian passport and veteran from Bosnian War) 

Sheikh Mohammed, accused of masterminding the 11 September 2001 attacks, has been sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Sheikh Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003

He had been in US custody at an undisclosed location from March 2003, when he was captured in a safe house in Pakistan.

A Kuwaiti from the Baluchistan region of Pakistan, Sheikh Mohammed grew up in a religious family and claims to have joined the Muslim Brotherhood at the age of 16.

After attending college in the United States, he went to Afghanistan to participate in the anti-Soviet jihad. It was there that he is believed first to have met Osama Bin Laden.

According to Sheikh Mohammed, he himself first pitched the idea of the aerial-style attacks on the US, calling for the hijacking of 10 jetliners on both coasts of the US and crashing nine of them.

He features prominently in the US 9/11 Commission Report on how the attacks were carried out, and its authors drew heavily on his statements during interrogations.

Testimony from Sheikh Mohammed was also used by defence lawyers for Zacarias Moussaoui, who was jailed for life in 2006 for his role in the 11 September attacks.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf alleges in his memoirs, published in September 2006, that Sheikh Mohammed either killed or at the least took part in the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.

Gen Musharraf also links Sheikh Mohammed to a foiled plot to attack Heathrow Airport in the UK with hijacked planes and claims the Kuwaiti helped lay the groundwork for the 7 July 2005 attacks in London.

Abu Zubaydah

Abu Zubaydah, who is thought to have served as Bin Laden's field commander, was captured in Pakistan in March 2002 and has now been sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abu Zubaydah: Captured in Pakistan

The Americans describe him as a "key terrorist recruiter and operational planner and member of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle".

Zubaydah, who is believed to have been born to Palestinian parents in Saudi Arabia, is also known as Zayn al-Abidin Mohammed Husain and Abd al-Hadi al-Wahab but has used dozens of other aliases.

He has strong connections with Jordanian and Palestinian groups and was sentenced to death in his absence by a Jordanian court for his role in a thwarted plot to bomb hotels there during millennium celebrations.

US officials believe he is also connected to a plan to blow up the US embassy in Sarajevo, and a plot to attack the US embassy in Paris.

According to a Senate report, Zubaydah has told US interrogators that while he believed some al-Qaeda members had good personal relationships with Iraqi government officials he was unaware of any real relationship between Baghdad and the network.

Ramzi Binalshibh

Captured in Pakistan in September 2002, the Yemeni national is said to have become a key member of the al-Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, after seeking asylum there in the late 1990s.

Ramzi Binalshibh: Captured in Karachi

According to officials, he met Mohammed Atta, the leader of the Hamburg cell and one of the alleged masterminds of the 11 September attacks, through a local mosque in 1997.

Intelligence officials say Binalshibh may also have been involved in the attacks on the USS Cole and a Tunisian synagogue.

He has been sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi

Believed to have been a senior al-Qaeda operational commander planning attacks around the world.

Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi: Arrested in late 2006

The US said he was on his way to Iraq to take over al-Qaeda operations when he was arrested. His detention was announced by the US on 27 April 2007.

Formerly a major in the Iraqi army in the 1980s, he fought and ran training camps in Afghanistan.

Believed to be a key contact between Osama Bin Laden and killed Iraqi al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Reports said Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was also involved in plots to assassinate Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.

Mohammed Haydar Zammar

Zammar is believed to have been in Hamburg with Mohammed Atta and other members of his cell - including hijackers Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah.

Mohammed Haydar Zammar: Sent to Syria

Investigators have said that it was he who recruited them to the al-Qaeda cause, although doubts have since been cast on whether he did in fact carry out this role.

A German citizen, he was arrested in Morocco after he left Germany in the wake of the 11 September attacks. Moroccan authorities later sent him to Syria.

Syrian interrogation is reported to have provided US investigators with details about the attack and plans for more possible al-Qaeda operations, according to reports.

Ali Abdul Rahman al-Ghamdi

Described as al-Qaeda's top leader in Saudi Arabia, Ghamdi is suspected of masterminding the deadly 2003 bombings in Riyadh.

He surrendered to the Saudi authorities shortly after the attacks. His reasons for doing so remain unclear, although it is thought his family had come under immense pressure to reveal his whereabouts.

He was born in 1974 and is said to have gained battlefield experience in Afghanistan and Chechnya. He is also believed to have been present at the beginning of the battle for the Afghan cave compound at Tora Bora in late 2001 - where Osama Bin Laden is alleged to have hidden.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi

Slahi is alleged to have played a key role in the recruitment of Atta's cell in Hamburg.

A Mauritanian who lived in Germany through much of the 1990s, Slahi was turned over to the United States by the government of Mauritania after 11 September on suspicion of involvement in a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport during the 2000 millennium celebrations.

He is believed to be held in Guantanamo Bay.

Mohsen F

In November 2002, security officials in Kuwait arrested the man thought to be a senior member of al-Qaeda.

Identified only as Mohsen F, a 21-year-old Kuwaiti national, local press said he had been plotting to blow up a hotel in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a.

Zacarias Moussaoui

In May 2006 Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan origin, was sentenced by a US court to life in prison without possibility of parole for his role in the 11 September 2001 attacks.

Moussaoui has been sentenced to life in prison without parole

He had pleaded guilty a year earlier to conspiring with the 19 men who carried out the suicide hijacking attacks on New York and Washington.

The US government sought the death penalty for Moussaoui, the only person in the US charged over 9/11, but defence lawyers successfully argued for life imprisonment.

Moussaoui has lodged an appeal against the sentence. His lawyers asked the appeal court to review the trial and to reconsider a ruling that refused him leave to withdraw his guilty plea after sentencing.

Moussaoui was arrested on immigration charges at a flight simulator school in Minnesota in August 2001.

Although he was in jail at the time of the 11 September attacks, prosecutors said he told lies to allow the plot to continue. His defence said he should not be executed because he played a limited role and was mentally ill.

Mounir al-Motassadek

In 2003, Mounir al-Motassadek, a Moroccan, was the first person in the world to be convicted in connection with the 11 September attacks. But he appealed and in 2004 Germany's Supreme Court threw the verdict out and ordered a retrial.

Motassadek's conviction was struck down over access to evidence

The court ruled he had been denied a fair trial because the US had refused his defence team access to testimony from al-Qaeda suspects in US custody.

Before the retrial in Hamburg the US justice department provided summaries from the interrogation of Binalshibh and other suspects, but did not allow them to testify.

At the retrial Motassadek was cleared of knowing about the 9/11 plot but was jailed instead for seven years for membership of a terrorist organisation.

However an appeal by prosecutors resulted in the Moroccan being found guilty of being an accessory to the 9/11 murders. A lower court will decide on his sentence.

Throughout proceedings Motassadek insisted he was innocent - that he knew nothing about the attacks, and knew the hijackers only socially.

Richard Reid

British-born Richard Reid was sentenced to life in prison in January 2003 after being found guilty of trying to blow up an airliner with explosives hidden in his shoes.

Richard Reid: Admitted trying to blow up a plane

During his trial Reid - the so-called "shoe bomber" - changed his plea to guilty on all eight charges against him and declared himself a follower of Osama Bin Laden.

Speaking during sentencing, Reid told the court: "I admit my actions... I do not apologise for my actions and I am still at war with your country."

Reid was arrested after a disturbance on an American Airlines Paris-to-Miami flight on 22 December 2001.

Despite Reid's pledges of support to Bin Laden, his defence team made the case that he was acting alone and was not truly affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri

A Yemeni court in September 2004 sentenced Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri to death over the bomb attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 sailors in 2000.

However, he remains in US custody, in an undisclosed location and was tried in absentia.

The Saudi-born militant was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in October 2002 and handed over to Washington.

He was believed to have been the leader of the network's operations in the Gulf.

Nashiri, also known as Abu Asim al-Makki, has also been linked by the US to the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

After the Cole attack, he is said to have travelled to Afghanistan, escaping via Pakistan to Yemen after the US-led invasion that ousted the Taleban.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian also known as Ahmed al-Khalayleh, was killed in a US air strike on a safe house near the Iraqi city of Baquba in June 2006.

He stood accused of spearheading al-Qaeda's campaign against the US occupation of Iraq.

Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a top terror suspect in Iraq

In February 2004, the US military released a letter it claimed to have intercepted in which Zarqawi apparently asks al-Qaeda to help ignite a sectarian conflict in Iraq.

His name was linked to the deadly suicide bombings targeting Iraqi Shia Muslims and security services. He was also suspected of direct involvement in the kidnappings and execution of foreign workers in Iraq.

A $25m bounty was placed on his head, although some experts believe that much terrorist activity in Iraq - while inspired by him - was taking place independently of him.

US forces said in April 2005 they had come close to capturing him in Iraq.

Zarqawi was tried in absentia and sentenced to death for planning attacks in his native Jordan. Intelligence officers in Morocco and Turkey also implicated him in high-profile suicide attacks there during 2003.

He is thought to have travelled extensively after 9/11, reportedly spending time in Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

Amjad Farooqi

Farooqi allegedly trained and sheltered several al-Qaeda suspects

Amjad Farooqi, alias Amjad Hussain, is said to have risen through the ranks of Pakistani Sunni militant groups to become a key al-Qaeda operative.

Pakistani security services allege he organised two failed assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf.

He was also wanted in connection with the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

He was reportedly killed in a shoot-out with security forces in southern Pakistan in September 2004.

Mohammed Atef

Mohammed Atef died in an air strike near Kabul

Mohammed Atef, also known as Abu Hafez, was believed to be one of Osama Bin Laden's most important lieutenants and the military commander of al-Qaeda.

Before joining forces with Bin Laden, Atef was an Egyptian policeman and member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that he was believed to have been killed in the US bombing campaign in Afghanistan in November 2001.

Ali Qaed Senyan al-Harthi

Ali Qaed Senyan al-Harthi: 'Killed in Yemen'

Also known as Abu Ali, he is believed to be one of six al-Qaeda suspects killed by a US operation in Yemen in November 2002.

He was a prime target in the US counter-terrorism campaign because of his suspected involvement in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole ship in Yemen's Aden harbour.

Abu Hazim al-Shair

US intelligence officials had identified Abu Hazim al-Shair, once one of Osama bin Laden's bodyguards, as al-Qaeda's new chief of operations for the Gulf states.

The 30-year-old Yemeni was believed to live in Saudi Arabia, and featured high on the list of 19 most-wanted al-Qaeda operatives in the country.

Thought to have been a key planner in the May 2003 bombings of Western residential compounds in Riyadh, he was reported to have been killed in the east of the city during in an exchange of fire with Saudi security forces in March 2004.

Omar al-Farouq

An Iraqi citizen brought up in Kuwait, Omar al-Farouq was one of four suspected militants who escaped from a US detention centre in Bagram, Afghanistan, in July 2005.

Osama Bin Laden's top lieutenant in South East Asia, Farouq had been arrested in June 2002 in a village near Jakarta in Indonesia on suspicion of planning attacks against US embassies in the region.

He is also believed to have been a key link between al-Qaeda and militant Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for bombings in Indonesia including the Bali attacks of 12 October 2002 in which more than 200 people were killed.

Farouq taunted his pursuers in a video released on an Islamist website in February 2006, but was tracked down to a hide-out in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

On 25 September 2006, security sources said he was surrounded there by at least 200 British troops and was killed in an exchange of fire.

Trial Begins For Three Accused Of Aiding London Bombers

Source: New York Times, 11 April

Three British Muslims accused of helping the suicide bombers who carried out the attacks on London’s transportation system in July 2005 went on trial on Thursday, in the first case against people accused of helping plan the attacks. 

The jury was shown a home video, previously kept secret, that depicted Mohammed Sidique Khan, believed to have been the leader of the bombers, bidding farewell to a young daughter before a trip to Pakistan in late 2004. The video offers a personal side of a man who later cast himself as a soldier in a war against the West.  “Sweetheart, not long to go now,” Mr. Khan says as he holds his daughter and kisses her. “And I’m going to miss you a lot.”  He concludes: “I’m doing what I’m doing for the sake of Islam, not, you know, it’s not for materialistic or worldly benefits.”

            The men on trial, who were arrested in March 2007, are accused of carrying out a preparatory mission seven months before the attacks on three subways and a bus on July 7, 2005. The prosecutor, Neil Flewitt, said Thursday that on Dec. 16 and 17, 2004, the men accompanied some of the bombers, all of whom later died in the attacks, to locations that “bore a striking similarity” to the places where bombs were set off the following July, as well as to a number of tourist areas.  In a separate terrorism case in which eight men are on trial, prosecutors on Thursday released what they said were two so-called martyrdom videos found in the trunk of a car in August 2006 after the police arrested several people in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb American and Canadian airliners over the Atlantic.  The cases are part of a series of trials that have been unfolding in London over several months. The terrorism cases are sometimes cited by the authorities to bolster arguments for tougher counterterrorism laws.

            The cases have also highlighted links between some of the suspected conspiracies and, on occasion, have shown the kind of detailed preparation that apparently went into choosing targets.  Britain ’s worries over terrorism carried out in the name of militant Islam began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States but intensified greatly after the four suicide bombers killed 52 people and themselves in London .  At that time, many Britons assumed the attackers had acted alone. But in court on Thursday, three men — Waheed Ali, 24, Sadeer Saleem, 27, and Mohammed Shakil, 31 — were accused of conspiring with the bombers to pinpoint targets.  Mr. Ali is from East London, and Mr. Saleem and Mr. Shakil were said to have lived in the same Beeston area of Leeds in northern England as did three of the four suicide bombers.  The three men were said to have carried out their reconnaissance mission in December 2004, with two of the July 7 bombers, Hasib Mir Hussain and Jermaine Lindsay. Mr. Flewitt said in court that the three men did not make or carry bombs but assisted the others “in one particular and important aspect of their preparation for the London bombings.”

            The men have all denied the charges against them. “Rather it is their case that the purpose of their journey was to enable Waheed Ali to visit his sister in East London ,” Mr. Flewitt said. “Further, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil accept that they visited the Natural History Museum, the London Eye and the London Aquarium but maintain they did for purely social reasons.”  In the trial relating to the so-called airlines plot of August 2006, which opened last week, one of the eight men accused of conspiracy to murder and other charges was Umar Islam, 29, who appeared in a video that was found in the car trunk and shown to the jury on Thursday.  In the video, he urged Muslims to attack “military targets, economic targets and government targets.”

 

Men "Scouted Targets" For British 7/7 Bombings: Court

Source: Reuters, 10 Apr 08

The first three men to be charged in connection with the July 7, 2005 London suicide bombings went on trial on Thursday, accused of scouting for potential targets in the capital.

            Mohammed Shakil, 31, Sadeer Saleem, 27 and Waheed Ali, 24, were friends with the bombers and shared common beliefs, Kingston Crown Court was told. The bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain killed 52 people and wounded hundreds in co-ordinated morning rush hour attacks on three underground trains and a bus. During a reconnaissance weekend seven months before the bombings, two of the accused visited the London Eye, the Natural History Museum and the London Aquarium, prosecutors alleged. They said various types of evidence would help explain the group's motivations including contacts with people convicted of terrorist activity; traveling to Pakistan and possessing radical ideological material. The court heard the accused had extensive contact with the bombers, which had been uncovered through mobile records, fingerprints on documents, family videos and surveillance. Prosecutors say that between November 17, 2004 and July 8, 2005, the defendants "unlawfully and maliciously" conspired with the four bombers and others unknown to cause explosions likely to endanger life or cause serious harm and injury. The group, all from Beeston, Leeds , deny the single charge under the Explosive Substances Act 1883. Dressed casually in open necked shirts, they sat in the dock, listening with arms crossed. Prosecutor Neil Flewitt told the jury the group had developed violent thoughts against Britain . When they were arrested, police uncovered material including praise for the September 11, 2001 U.S. attacks, letters revealing Jihad ambitions and Web sites supporting Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Two of the group, Shakil and Ali, also separately traveled to Pakistan with Khan, the court was told.

            Flewitt said it was not the prosecution case they had been directly involved in the London bombings by either making or transporting the bombs. "However," he told the jury, "it is the prosecution case that the defendants associated with and shared the beliefs and objectives of the London bombers and so were willing to assist them in one particular and important aspect of their preparation for the London bombings." In December 2004 the group traveled to London where they spent two days scouting for targets. The trip was an "essential preparatory step in the ... plan to bring death and destruction to the heart of the UK ", the court heard. The men have denied the trip was suspicious. Instead they said it was to enable Ali to visit his sister in East London . Saleem and Shakil admitted they had visited the London Eye, the museum and the aquarium but only "for purely social reasons". The group, Flewitt said, admitted they knew the bombers but maintained their friendship was innocent and that they did not know about the plans to bomb the capital. The trial, before Justice Peter Gross, continues.

UK Dismayed After Jordanian Wins Deportation Appeal

Source: Reuters, 09 Apr 08

A Jordanian man described by Britain as a "significant international terrorist" won a court appeal on Wednesday against deportation.

            Abu Qatada, linked by Britain to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, is one of a group of Middle Eastern men the government has been attempting to deport on grounds of national security, while acknowledging it does not have sufficient evidence to put them on trial. The Court of Appeal also upheld the cases of two Libyan men against deportation. The rulings are a setback to British efforts to deport suspected Islamist militants to nations where human rights groups argue they would be at risk of torture. Home Office Minister Tony McNulty expressed disappointment. "We will continue to push for deportations for people who pose a risk to national security," he said in a statement. He said the government would seek to challenge the ruling on Abu Qatada, whom Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon once described as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe ". "We are seeking to overturn that point, and I believe that we will be able to secure his deportation to Jordan and we will push for it as soon as possible. In the meantime, he will remain behind bars," McNulty said. The government has sought to counter rights groups' fears of torture by securing special agreements with the countries concerned that deportees will not be ill-treated. Gareth Peirce, lawyer for Abu Qatada and one of the two Libyans, said such assurances were unenforceable and offered no redress against "regimes that continue to practice torture".

            Asked if the rulings would effectively kill off the government's deportation program, she said: "That remains to be seen." The Abu Qatada decision reversed a court ruling in February 2007 that he could be deported to Jordan despite the likelihood he would face a flawed trial there. In that ruling, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) had said that while Abu Qatada would likely be interrogated on his return by Jordanian security and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the cleric would benefit from intense local and international media scrutiny. "We take the view that all the relevant Jordanian authorities would be scrupulous to observe the law, under the spotlight," it said. The government case against Qatada described him as a "significant international terrorist" whose presence posed "a continuing threat to national security and a significant terrorism-related risk to the public". He has twice been convicted in absentia in Jordan of involvement in terrorist plots. His lawyers argued that if sent home to Jordan , he would be subject to a "flagrant denial of justice" and retried using evidence obtained from witnesses under torture.

 

Bin Laden's 'Right-Hand Man' Set For Life On British Benefits

Source: Europe News, 10 Apr 08

One of the world's most dangerous terror suspects was last night preparing for a life on benefits in Britain after judges ruled that his deportation would breach human rights law.

            Abu Qatada, dubbed Osama Bin Laden's "truly dangerous" ambassador in Europe , could be released from jail within months following the Court of Appeal verdict. Yesterday's decision has left Britain 's anti-terror laws in tatters. It means the Jordanian father of five - who has been linked to a string of global terror conspiracies and is held in a high security prison under immigration powers - can expect to receive £1,000 a month in handouts. The taxpayer also faces a bill of tens of thousand of pounds to keep the hate-filled cleric under 24-hour surveillance by security services under a control order unless a last-ditch Home Office appeal is granted by the House of Lords. Even if it is, Qatada could appeal again, to the European Court of Human Rights. (...)