MSNBC:Kosovan admits killing 2 US airmen in Germany 21-year-old says video purporting to show American servicemen raping a Muslim girl had prompted hi

Kosovan admits killing 2 US airmen in Germany

21-year-old says video purporting to show American servicemen raping a Muslim girl had prompted him to go on shooting spree

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44338167/ns/world_news-europe/

FRANKFURT, Germany — A Kosovo Albanian man confessed Wednesday to killing two U.S. airmen at the Frankfurt airport, saying at the opening of his trial that he had been influenced by radical Islamic propaganda online.

Arid Uka is charged with two counts of murder for the March 2 slaying of Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden, 25, from South Carolina, and Airman 1st Class Zachary R. Cuddeback, 21, from Virginia.

The 21-year-old Uka also faces three counts of attempted murder for wounding two more airmen and taking aim at a third before his gun jammed.

Although Germany has experienced scores of terrorist attacks in past decades, largely from leftist groups like the Red Army Faction, the airport attack was the first attributed to an Islamic extremist.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, there have been about a half-dozen other jihadist plots that were either thwarted or failed — including a 2007 plan to kill Americans at the U.S. Air Force's Ramstein Air Base.

Uka went to the airport with the intent "to kill an indeterminate number of American soldiers, but if possible a large number," prosecutor Herbert Diemer told a state court in Frankfurt.

No pleas are entered in the German system, and Uka confessed to the killings after the indictment was read, telling the court "what I did was wrong but I cannot undo what I did." He went on to urge other radical Muslims not to seek inspiration in his attack, urging them not to be taken in by "lying propaganda" on the Internet.

Uka, dressed in jeans, sneakers and a crisp white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, smiled at his attorneys as he was brought in and his handcuffs were removed. But he wept repeatedly as he recounted the attack and watched the jihadist videos he said motivated him.

"To this day I try to understand what happened and why I did it... but I don't understand," he said, at times speaking so softly that court officials had to bring in a microphone and put it directly in front of him.

Cooperating with authorities and confessing can help reduce a defendant's sentence — but Uka refused to tell the court where he obtained the 9mm semi-automatic pistol he used, which Presiding Judge Thomas Sagebiel said meant his confession was incomplete.

Uka described becoming increasingly introverted in the months before the attack, staying at home and playing computer games and watching Islamic extremist propaganda on the Internet.
The night before the crime, Uka said, he followed a link to a video posted on Facebook that purported to show American soldiers raping a teenage Muslim girl. It turned out to be a scene from the 2007 anti-war Brian De Palma film "Redacted," taken out of context.

He said he then decided he should do anything possible to prevent more American soldiers from going to Afghanistan.

"I thought what I saw in that video, these people would do in Afghanistan," he told the court, his voice choking with emotion as he wiped away tears.

Uka conceded when asked by prosecutor Jochen Weingarten that the airman driving the bus had not been going to Afghanistan. On the bus on the way to the airport to look for victims, he said he listened to Islamic music on his iPod while nursing doubts that he'd be able to follow through with his plan.

"On the one hand I wanted to do something to help the women, and on the other hand I hoped I would not see any soldiers," he told the court.

He says he now does not understand why he went through with the killings.

"If you ask me why I did this, I can only say ... I don't understand anymore how I went that far."

Video: German suspect said to be Islamic radical

Prosecutors introduced evidence from Uka's laptop, cell phone and iPod, which included hundreds of files containing jihadist videos, literature, sermons and songs.

One song went, "Mother be strong, your son is on jihad," and "do not mourn for me." A video showed rifle-toting Islamic fighters in Pakistan, and a bullet-holed target with "Obama" scrawled on it.

The indictment says Uka went to the airport armed with a pistol, extra ammunition and two knives. Inside Terminal 2, he spotted two U.S. servicemen who had just arrived and followed them to their U.S. Air Force bus.

After 16 servicemen, including the driver, were on or near the bus, Uka approached one of the men for a cigarette, prosecutors said. He confirmed they were U.S. Air Force members en route to Afghanistan, then "turned around, put the magazine that had been concealed in his backpack into his pistol, and cocked the weapon," the indictment said.

He first shot unarmed Alden in the back of the head, the indictment alleged. He then boarded the vehicle shouting "Allahu Akbar" — Arabic for "God is great" — and shot and killed Cuddeback, who was the driver, before firing at others.

He seriously wounded two other airmen — Kristoffer Schneider, 26, lost the sight in his right eye, and Edgar Veguilla, 22, was hit in the jaw and elbow.

Then Uka's pistol jammed and he fled into the airport, where he was chased down by police, prosecutors said.

Some of the American airmen are expected to testify. At least one relative of the victims — Cuddeback's mother — has joined the trial as a co-plaintiff, and officials from the State Department and Air Force are observing the trial.

japantimes:Palestinian state must field Israeli concerns

Palestinian state must field Israeli concerns

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20110829a2.html

JERUSALEM — Israelis and Palestinians are preparing for a showdown at the United Nations in September, when the Palestinian leadership will ask for recognition of a Palestinian state within the borders that existed before the Six Day War in 1967 (when Israel seized control of Jordanian-occupied territory).

The details of the bid remain unclear, and the effort entails serious risks. But a sober assessment of what might follow a U.N. endorsement of Palestine's borders allows for some cautious optimism.

Given the lasting stalemate in bilateral negotiations with Israel, a Palestinian focus on a nonmember state bid at the U.N. General Assembly might very well increase the likelihood of jump-starting the process. The Palestinian plan already has resulted in an unprecedented diplomatic frenzy.

While Palestinians travel the world soliciting votes, Israeli officials are engaged in last-minute efforts to dissuade countries from supporting what they perceive as Palestinian unilateralism.

The diplomatic push has so far yielded somewhat predictable results. While the United States has declared its intention to veto a declaration in the Security Council, several European countries, including the United Kingdom and France, intend to back the Palestinian move should negotiations with Israel remain elusive. In a show of broad Third World solidarity, the majority of states represented in the U.N. General Assembly have signaled clear support for the Palestinians.

These global disagreements reflect competing assessments of the U.N. move in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

In Jerusalem, Minister of Defense Ehud Barak has repeatedly warned of a "diplomatic tsunami" and a new wave of violence if the Palestinians do not change course. In the meantime, voices on the Israeli right have threatened to respond to a U.N. vote by immediately canceling the 1993 Oslo Accords.

So far, these warnings have had only a limited effect in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestine National Authority. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas remains determined to move forward. Last Wednesday, Abbas reaffirmed that the U.N. bid would proceed "even if negotiations resume."

From Abbas' perspective, the ground is well prepared. State-building efforts have reformed previously defunct Palestinian institutions, and have enabled significant economic growth. Of course, there are serious budgetary problems. Paying bills is difficult, not only because Israel is slow in transferring customs revenues, but also because promised aid from Arab countries often never arrives.

Still, the World Bank declared this spring that Palestinian institutions are "well positioned for the establishment of a state at any point in the near future." In addition, strong public support and high expectations in the Palestinian territories would make a last-minute change of course politically risky.

Currently, Palestinians oscillate between two options that imply either addressing the Security Council in a bid for full U.N. membership, or appealing to the General Assembly, should a U.S. veto render success there impossible. While the Security Council would be able to grant legally binding membership status, a vote in the General Assembly would simply upgrade a Palestinian entity to the status of a "nonmember state" — like the Vatican.

Confronted with the prospect of a U.S. veto, an increasing number of international observers flatly oppose the Palestinian plan, on the grounds that it is unlikely to generate concrete political gains and would deflect attention from the main requirement of Mideast peacemaking: a return to negotiations.

But a nuanced Palestinian resolution that moves beyond a zero-sum mind-set and embraces legitimate Israeli concerns is possible, and could very well increase the likelihood of a return to constructive negotiations. Such an approach would need to define the U.N. vote not as an alternative to a negotiated solution, but as an important step towards a viable bilateral peace process.

The week before last, Abbas moved in this direction by declaring that Palestinians would "be ready to resume negotiations even after the U.N. vote."

Here, the lack of detail about the U.N. resolution allows room for maneuver. Such an approach would begin with refraining from forcing an immediate vote — and a dramatic U.S. veto — in the Security Council. Instead, a carefully drafted motion in the form of a nonmember state bid in the General Assembly could mark the way forward.

Drafted with reference to U.N. Resolution 181 (which partitioned Palestine in 1947), such a motion would reaffirm the establishment of a Palestinian state and a state for the Jewish people, based on the 1967 borders, with mutually agreed border adjustments and security arrangements. While such an approach would certainly fall short of maximalist Palestinian demands, it would embrace the parameters outlined in May by U.S. President Barack Obama. It would also indirectly address the Israeli government's demand that the Palestinians recognize a "Jewish state."

Such a vote would also address international calls for bilateral diplomacy. Instead of closing doors, such a redefinition of the statehood bid at the U.N. would provide the Palestinian leadership with a much-needed symbolic success, including a framework from which to restart negotiations — a long-standing Palestinian demand.

As such, the U.N. bid might well transform a confrontation into a potentially constructive tool of diplomacy. Focusing on the looming September showdown should not prevent decision makers from looking ahead. Any vote at the U.N. will be followed by the day after. Palestinians and Israelis need to prepare for that day now.

Michael Broning is director of the East Jerusalem office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a political foundation affiliated with Germany's Social Democratic Party. He is the author of "The Politics of Change in Palestine: State-Building and Non-Violent Resistance." © 2011 Project Syndicate

jpost:Candidly Speaking: Explaining doublespeak to our friends

Candidly Speaking: Explaining doublespeak to our friends

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=236215

Obama’s Middle East policies have forced Israelis to partake in the theater of the absurd.

Talkbacks (5)

These are difficult times, as we simultaneously confront threats from our neighbors and intensified pressure from every direction.

The situation is aggravated by the upheavals in the Arab world, which have in all instances resulted in radical anti-Israel Islamic elements either taking control or significantly strengthening their influence. Even our peace treaty with Egypt is now in question. And at the same time, Hezbollah and Hamas have accumulated arsenals of deadly rockets which in the event of a conflict would be directed toward all the country’s major populated areas.

In this context, the enthusiastic bipartisan congressional support accorded Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on his recent Washington visit should not create excessive euphoria. It is the White House, in the main, that controls foreign affairs, and in view of the current economic meltdown, the pro-Israel Congress is more likely to be concentrating on issues of urgent domestic concern rather than confronting Obama over his Middle East policies. We also have legitimate grounds for unease if Obama obtains a second term and no longer faces election constraints and party pressures; he will likely intensify his one-sided demands on us.

To this day, Obama has not diverged from his initial approach of appeasing Islamic states and making harsh demands on Israel. Yet the American president is respected by neither friend nor foe. The manner in which he unhesitatingly abandoned long-standing US ally Hosni Mubarak while delaying calls for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad have encouraged America’s traditional Muslim allies to lose confidence in him. At the same time, his adversaries consider him a wimp who capitulates on every front. Even dovish former Labor minister Yossi Beilin maintains that Obama “holds zero accountability for his presidency” and “waits for someone else to implement his grand plan.”

We are confronted with a major challenge in September. Irrespective of whether the UN General Assembly endorses Palestinian statehood, there are likely to be concerted attempts to encourage tens of thousands of Palestinians to bypass roadblocks into Israeli territory. We will be obliged to exercise force to protect our security and sovereignty. Even taking maximum precautions, there will almost certainly be casualties, and Israel is likely yet again to face global condemnation.

In the face of these imminent challenges, only idiots or those relying exclusively on divine intervention would dismiss the crucial importance of maintaining US support. Aside from our essential defense requirements, only the US is in a position to economically pressure the Egyptian military regime to resist Islamic extremists baying for the annulment of the peace treaty with us. In addition, the absence of a US diplomatic umbrella would leave us at the mercies of the Europeans, who would have no compunction about supporting boycotts and sanctions at the UN in order to appease the Arab and Third World countries.

Politics is the art of the possible, and we must therefore resist populist attitudes exhorting us to be “tough” and face the world alone. In this context, one would not envy the role of an Israeli prime minister. He is obliged to retain the support and friendship of the American people and Congress. To achieve this in such a fake environment requires an extraordinary diplomatic balancing act in which he remains firm on essentials but must not be perceived as an obstacle to resolving the conflict.

It is in this context that one must assess the unconfirmed reports that Netanyahu has tentatively agreed to Obama’s “revised” formula of employing “1967 borders with swaps” as a benchmark for negotiations with the Palestinians. In return, Obama has allegedly undertaken to revert to the Bush recognition of demographic changes that entitle Israel to retain the major settlement blocs and defensible borders.

Netanyahu is said to have made this offer subject to a quid pro quo by the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

As this would imply a repudiation of the Arab ‘right of return’ – something the Palestinians would never endorse – this exercise remains an extension of the theater of the absurd, in which we are obliged to make meaningless motions to humor the Obama administration.

Unfortunately, previous experience has demonstrated that vague understandings are frequently selectively implemented. An example is the total disregard of the clause in the Quartet road map stipulating that prior to any further Israeli concessions, the terrorist infrastructure would be dismantled.

Any agreement along these lines with Obama may thus return to haunt us. In the absence of clear definitions of defensible borders and “major settlement blocs,” these new undertakings could be exploited to pressure us into making territorial concessions with potentially disastrous long-term consequences.

The even more detrimental outcome of these theatrics is the confusion and bewilderment it sows among Diaspora Jews and our friends. On the one hand, we occasionally speak the truth and expose the Palestinians as a criminal society promoting a genocidal culture. Then, to placate our Western “allies” we relate to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as a ‘peace partner,’ and babble on about negotiating for a settlement.

One day our prime minister has a confrontation with the US president and the next day Defense Minister Barak proclaims that Obama is God’s gift to Israel. In contrast, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has a penchant for occasionally making aggressive statements (often based on reality) that enthuse his supporters but embarrass the government and detract from our international standing.

Of course, ministers of a government should ideally speak with one voice. However, the concept of cabinet responsibility in Israel has been ignored for many years, so individual ministers feel entitled to say what they like, even in stark opposition to the policy of their own government.

Nevertheless, within the constraints of the fantasy world in which our government must operate, a strategy must be devised to ensure that despite the doublespeak which portrays those seeking to destroy us as “peace partners,” we ensure that Diaspora Jews and our friends are able to comprehend the reality of the situation.

haaretz:Peres can't save Netanyahu from UN debacle Reports have emerged that Prime Minister Netanyahu will ask President Peres to represent Israel in

Peres can't save Netanyahu from UN debacle

Reports have emerged that Prime Minister Netanyahu will ask President Peres to represent Israel in the General Assembly in the vote on Palestinian statehood. The president should not agree to go.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/peres-can-t-save-netanyahu-from-un-debacle-1.381853

Around 130 countries have pledged to vote in the UN General Assembly in about three weeks to recognize an independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories. Barak Ravid reported in Haaretz this week that Israel's UN ambassador, Ron Prosor, sent a classified cable to Jerusalem saying Israel had no chance of putting together a significant bloc of countries to oppose the resolution. Prosor said that only a few countries would vote against the Palestinian move and that at most a number of countries would abstain or be absent. This means a diplomatic defeat accompanied by Israel's deepening international isolation.

Against this backdrop, a number of reports have emerged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ask President Shimon Peres to represent Israel in the General Assembly. The president should not agree to go. From the outset, Israel should have dealt completely differently with the challenge the Palestinians have placed before it in the international arena. Israel should have supported the Palestinian move while conditioning it on renewed negotiations. After that didn't happen, there's no point in sending the president on a mission to persuade the world's representatives to support Israel's positions.

While Israel's leaders speak loftily about a two-state solution, Israel is trying to garner a majority to vote against international recognition of a Palestinian state. In the meantime, it is continuing its unilateral actions in the form of settlement-building. That's an impossible mission, even for a figure with as much sympathy around the world as Peres.

Under these conditions, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations should present the government's position on the establishment of a Palestinian state. It's not the president's job to represent the positions of the Israeli government, becoming a kind of foreign minister or a substitute for the public diplomacy minister. The government and the Foreign Ministry cannot divest themselves of their heavy responsibility for Israel's complex and difficult international situation.

President Peres should stay home. In any case, he does not have the power to change the UN's decision, and his participation in the General Assembly will only add to Israel's humiliation and isolation.

NYTIMES:Iran Concerned West Will Benefit From Arab Uprisings

Iran Concerned West Will Benefit From Arab Uprisings

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/world/middleeast/01tehran.html?ref=world

Iran’s supreme leader admonished the West and Israel on Wednesday not to seek advantage from the antigovernment uprisings convulsing the Arab Muslim world, delivering the warning in a nationally broadcast speech that appeared to reflect new unease in Tehran over the course of events among its strategic neighbors, particularly Syria.

The speech by the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, given at Tehran University to commemorate Id al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday, was officially described in Iran’s state-run press as a respectful tribute to the revolutionary movements that have reawakened Muslim populations to “their genuine Islamic identity.”

But the speech included a cautionary caveat that suggested Iranian leaders are worried about the possibility of outcomes that diminish their influence as these movements progress.

“The events taking place in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain and certain other countries today are decisive and destiny making for the Muslim nations,” the ayatollah said. However, he said, “if the imperialist and hegemonic powers and Zionism, including the U.S. tyrannical and despotic regime, manage to use the ongoing conditions in their own favor, the world of Islam will definitely face big problems for tens of years.”

The omission of Syria in his remarks was especially conspicuous, underlining Iran’s own ambivalence about how to deal with events unfolding there. Iran has been the strongest ally of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, throughout the five-month-old antigovernment uprising in that country, which Mr. Assad has sought to suppress with ferocious brutality in the face of growing international isolation. But in recent days even Iran has asked the Assad regime to find a way to accommodate demands of the Syrian protest movement, worried that Mr. Assad’s downfall could prove destructive to Iran’s own strategic interests in the Middle East.

On Saturday, Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, called on Mr. Assad’s government to recognize the Syrian people’s “legitimate” demands, the first such remarks to come from Iran since the Syrian uprising began.

Iran relies on Syria to help facilitate arming and financing Hezbollah, the powerful political, social and military movement in Lebanon, as well as Hamas, the militant Islamist group that governs Gaza. Both are avowed enemies of Israel and are considered terrorist groups by Israel and the United States.

Ayatollah Khamenei’s speech also illustrated the awkward line that Iranian leaders have walked in commending the uprisings that have toppled or threatened autocratic leaders in neighboring countries while suppressing antigovernment demonstrations at home, particularly since the disputed 2009 Iranian presidential election that Iranian dissidents say was fixed to ensure victory for the hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The ayatollah appeared to acknowledge Iran’s own election difficulties, saying they had always been a “challenging issue” in the 32-year-old history of the Islamic republic. But he also warned Iran’s dissidents, who have been relatively silent for months, not to make trouble in advance of the next presidential election, to be held in 2013.

“Elections are the manifestation of religious democracy,” he said. “However, enemies seek to misuse elections to harm the country.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

NYTIMES:In Milestone, Month Passes With No U.S. Soldier Killed in Iraq

In Milestone, Month Passes With No U.S. Soldier Killed in Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/world/middleeast/01iraq.html?ref=world

BAGHDAD — Under increased pressure from the United States, an Iraqi crackdown on Iranian-backed Shiite militias has helped produced a previously elusive goal: For the first time since the American invasion of Iraq, an entire month has passed without a single United States service member dying.

The milestone is particularly remarkable because it comes after 14 troops were killed in July, making it the most deadly month for the Americans in three years, and it has occurred amid a frightening campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations from Sunni insurgents that killed hundreds of Iraqis, resurrecting the specter of the worst days of sectarian fighting.

“If you had thought about a month without a death back during the surge in 2007, it would have been pretty hard to imagine because we were losing soldiers every day, dozens a week,” said Col. Douglas Crissman, who is in charge of American forces in four provinces of southern Iraq and oversaw a battalion in Anbar Province during the troop increase. “I think this shows how far the Iraqi security forces have come.”

None of the roughly 48,000 troops in Iraq were killed in August, a remarkable if fragile achievement, officials said. In all, 4,465 American soldiers have died here since the United States invasion in 2003, according to Defense Department figures.

American military commanders attribute the drop in deaths to the Iraqi government finally pushing back against Iran and the Shiite militias, as well as aggressive unilateral strikes by United States forces. If the Americans are correct, and August is not just a statistical blip, it may also be connected to the continuing negotiations between American and Iraqi officials over whether to leave some troops behind after the end of the year, experts said. Though all sides in Iraq have said they want the Americans to leave, each has some interest in seeing that some troops stay behind.

The Iraqi government continues to rely on American forces and expertise to preserve security. Shiite militias would lose some of their rationale for existence and Al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents could lose a useful foil. For the United States, domestic political concerns would also make it easier to sell an extension to a war-weary public if there were fewer causalities.

“The militia groups involved are being paid by the Iranians to make trouble for the Americans, and that means that their main objective is no longer there if the Americans withdraw all their troops," said Joost Hiltermann, the International Crisis Group’s deputy program director for the Middle East. "It doesn’t mean they won’t exist altogether but their violence will be harder to justify.”

American military and diplomatic officials said Iraq has not only pressed the militias, but also sent word directly to Tehran to back off on attacks. The Iranians had used the militias, which are primarily based in the southern part of the country and Baghdad, to wage a proxy battle with the Americans for dominance and influence in Iraq. Those militias were responsible for 12 of the 14 deaths in June, many the result of rocket or mortar attacks on military bases.

American officials increased pressure on Iraqis to clamp down after the spate of attacks in June, and Iraq eventually responded. The government increased its counterterrorism operations against the militias, brought judges from Baghdad into the southern part of the country to ensure those captured were not summarily released, and replaced poorly performing generals, officials said.

Colonel Crissman, who worked with the Iraqi forces, said that at times they needed some additional prodding. “We did targeting on our own and some hand holding of the Iraqis,” he said.

In July, nearly two-thirds of the Iraqi counterterrorism missions were aimed at Iranian-backed militias, compared with just a fifth of all missions in the first six months of the year. In the first half of the year the Shiite-led government focused on Al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgent groups, according to Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, the military’s top spokesman in Iraq.

The operations and diplomatic efforts, according to American officials, significantly reduced the number of rocket attacks on military bases, particularly in southern Iraq where the militias most frequently operate. In a single day in July, a base in the southern province of Maysan was attacked with rockets 43 times. The attacks in southern Iraq were so bad in July that the United States military took the unusual step of bombing open swaths of desert with a C-130 gunship and an Apache helicopter in the middle of the night to try and deter the militias.

“We used them out here as a demonstration to say these are the capabilities we have and we are willing to use it to protect ourselves,” Colonel Crissman said.

The crackdown and the American use of force appear to have helped. In August, there were days when none of the American bases in southern Iraq received incoming fire.

“I wish U.S. service members could take full credit for being responsible for this but it’s absolutely a combination of things coming together, particularly the Iraqis acting against the militias,” Colonel Crissman said.

Ali al-Moussawi, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said, “Part of the reason for the drop in troop deaths has been the growth and development of the Iraqi security forces.

“Providing security for the citizens and every one inside of Iraq is the duty of the government, even the foreign troops that are in Iraq legally,” Mr. Moussawi said. “The security breaches we’ve had in Iraq are not because of the militias. The security breaches we’ve had have been suicide bombers and other kinds of attacks. That is what worries us now.”

Colonel Crissman and other military officials cautioned that the August figures did not mean that Iraq was suddenly safe, either for the United States military or the Iraqis. They said that as the United States began to withdraw its troops in the coming months, there would likely be a resurgence in attacks as militias and insurgents tried to claim responsibility for pushing the Americans out of Iraq.

As much as the Iraqis have clamped down on the militias, their security forces are still struggling to thwart attacks from Al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents. On Aug. 15, those insurgents pulled off a devastating series of coordinated attacks across Iraq, killing more than 90 people and wounding more than 300. None of those attacks, however, were aimed at Americans.

Since then, there have been several suicide bomb attacks, including one inside a mosque on Sunday that killed more than 30 Iraqi civilians.

REUTERS:Informants and phone taps seen key in hunt for Gaddafi

Informants and phone taps seen key in hunt for Gaddafi

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/31/us-libya-commander-idUSTRE77U26B20110831

Libya's new military commanders are using informants from among Muammar Gaddafi's entourage to track down the fugitive former leader, while tightening the noose around his last strongholds to force them to surrender.

Hisham Buhagiar, a senior official in the military body behind Libya's ruling National Transitional Council, is coordinating efforts to hunt Gaddafi, chased out of his Tripoli compound after a six-month uprising.

Buhagiar said he believed Gaddafi was either in the Bani Walid area, southeast of Tripoli, or in his hometown of Sirte, 450 km (265 miles) east of Tripoli.

"There are some groups who are looking for him and also trying to listen to his calls. Of course he doesn't use the phone, but we know the people around him who use the phones," he said.

"Usually we trace a lot of people who are not in the first inner circle with him, but the second or third circle. We're talking to them," said Buhagiar.

"Some of them know that the regime is falling, and they want to make sure they don't get hurt ... They want to strike deals. That's why we've created the white list. Everyone who helps us is on the white list."

Buhagiar belonged to an exiled opposition group, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. He underwent special forces training in Sudan and Iraq in the 1980s.

He later gained a masters degree in business at the University of Seattle in the United States and then returned to Libya to set up a textile business.

After the success of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, Buhagiar joined Libya's February uprising, and commanded the rebel fighters who descended on Tripoli from the country's western mountains.

Buhagiar now commands groups of well-trained personnel tasked with hunting Gaddafi. He showed Reuters intelligence reports detailing telephone numbers, locations and Google maps of target locations.

They have searched 10 locations so far, some outside the Libyan capital.

He said Gaddafi, originally a tribal man who acquired extravagant tastes over the years, could last in hiding longer than Iraq's Saddam Hussein did before U.S. troops found him months after he was toppled in April 2003.

Saddam had been hiding in a hole in the ground near his hometown of Tikrit.

"Yes, Gaddafi could live in a hole. He's proud of being the guy who lives in a tent.

"He's an old revolutionary Stalin type, who will try to survive anywhere he can," Buhagiar said.

"I wouldn't think it will be too long before we find him. We are in the last chapter. After losing Tripoli he will not have any money, and that has been what has driven him along .... his supply lines are definitely cut."

POCKETS OF RESISTANCE

Buhagiar identified four areas still under Gaddafi's control -- Tarhouna, Sirte and Bani Walid in the north, and Sabha in the south -- which he said Libya's new leaders hope to take through negotiation rather than military assault.

"We believe that the revolutionaries in these areas are already in good numbers," he added.

Sirte is identified by many analysts as possibly the biggest challenge to anti-Gaddafi fighters trying to consolidate their grip on the country, but Buhagiar said some of the tribes there realized that Gaddafi was finished.

"People say Sirte is the most difficult place (to capture) because it is the birthplace of Gaddafi, but I don't believe so. I believe Sirte is 50-50, between the people who are really involved with him ... and the other 50 percent who know that Gaddafi is not good for the country and he should go," he said.

The biggest challenge is gaining the trust of people in pro-Gaddafi areas, he said.

"It's not so easy to convince them because they have been under the influence of Gaddafi's media for 40 years, and now we're trying to explain to them, that OK, we are not terrorists, we are good for the country," he said.

Another challenge for Buhagiar is to guard against an insurgency and sabotage by Gaddafi loyalists. There are fears they could soon orchestrate the kind of violence that rocked Iraq for years after Saddam's fall.

"It's possible. But we're also preparing ourselves. We are creating units that we know for sure cannot be infiltrated. And we're also trying to build our intelligence office. That's something we never used to do as it was always in the hands of Gaddafi or his government," Buhagiar said.

Pointing to one recent success, he produced a sheaf of identity cards of people he said were mercenaries of African origin recruited by a Libyan since Gaddafi's downfall and employed to undermine Libya's new leadership.

He attributed the success of the Libyan uprising to good organization and intelligence gathering, a skill he urged Syrians currently trying to depose their own authoritarian ruler, Bashar al-Assad, to follow.

"They have to organize themselves very well. Intelligence is very important. The more intelligence you have, the way you gather it, the accuracy, that's what helps you take the decisions. You can beat them if you have good information."

FOXNEWS:One of Qaddafi's Sons Vows No Surrender to Libyan Rebels

One of Qaddafi's Sons Vows No Surrender to Libyan Rebels

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/31/libyans-celebrate-muslim-holiday-qaddafi-ouster/#ixzz1WeJL02ly
Two men claiming to be Muammar Qaddafi's sons made conflicting appeals from hiding Wednesday night, with one of them calling for talks with rebel leaders and the other urging the regime's loyalists to fight to the death.

The dueling messages reflected the growing turmoil in Qaddafi's inner circle on the eve of the 42nd anniversary of his rise to power. This year, the dictator is a fugitive from opposition fighters who have seized most of the country in a six-month civil war. Now, they say they're hot on his trail.

The rebels are pooling tips about Moammar Qaddafi's whereabouts from captured regime fighters and others, and believe he is most likely no longer in Tripoli, said Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the rebels' military chief in the capital.

Rebel forces have been advancing toward three regime strongholds: the town of Sirte, Qaddafi's hometown, as well as the towns of Bani Walid and Sabha, the latter hundreds of miles south of the capital of Tripoli.

There has been speculation that Qaddafi is hiding in one of them.

In telephone calls to Arab TV stations within minutes of each other Wednesday night, two men claiming to be Qaddafi's sons sent messages to the Libyan people.

A man identifying himself as Seif al-Islam Qaddafi urged his father's supporters to fight the rebels "day and night." He told the Syrian-based Al-Rai TV station that residents of Bani Walid agreed that "we are going to die on our land."

He said NATO carried out several airstrikes in Bani Walid that killed people.

"All move right now," said Seif al-Islam, once considered the moderate face of the Qaddafi regime and the leader's heir apparent.

"Attack the rats," he said, referring to the rebels.

He said he was calling from a suburb of Tripoli and that his father "is fine."

The caller dismissed comments by Belhaj that another Qaddafi son, al-Saadi, was negotiating the terms of his surrender. Seif al-Islam said his brother was under pressure, in part out of concern for his family.

In a separate phone call to the Al-Arabiya TV station, a man identifying himself as al-Saadi said he was ready to negotiate with the rebels to stop the bloodshed. Rebel leaders have repeatedly said they won't negotiate until Qaddafi is gone.

Al-Saadi said he spoke for his father and regime military commanders in calling for talks. He said that the rebels could lead Libya.

"We don't mind. We are all Libyans," he said. "We have no problem to give them power."

The voice of Seif al-Islam -- who was reportedly captured by the rebels earlier this month only to turn up free and defiant in Tripoli -- was easily recognizable, but al-Saadi's was more difficult to confirm.

"The regime is dying," said rebel council spokesman Abdel-Hafiz Ghoga, reacting to the two statements. "Qaddafi's family is trying to find an exit."

"They only have to surrender completely to the rebels and we will offer them a fair trial. We won't hold negotiations with them over anything," he added.

Ghoga told The Associated Press later Wednesday that the rebels learned two days ago that Qaddafi and his sons Seif al-Islam and al-Saadi were in Bani Walid, but now he doesn't know their whereabouts.

Hassan al-Saghir, a rebel official who oversees an area that includes the southern city of Sabha, repeated an ultimatum for Qaddafi's supporters to surrender by Saturday but said there were no signs of that.

"I think they still think they are able to control the south," he said. "It is a desperate attempt and it will not last long."

Earlier, Belhaj said al-Saadi called him Tuesday to negotiate the terms of his surrender. Belhaj said he told al-Saadi he would be turned over to Libyan legal authorities after he turns himself in.

"We told him, 'Don't fear for your life. We will guarantee your rights as a human being, and will deal with you humanely,"' said Belhaj, speaking at his headquarters at an air base in Tripoli.

Asked by Al-Arabiya if he was offering to surrender, al-Saadi said: "If my surrender will put an end to the bloodshed, I will do that."

Also Wednesday, two Sabha-area rebel officials said the son of Qaddafi's intelligence chief was killed in fighting last week. Mohammed Ouydat, a rebel spokesman for Sabha, said the intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senoussi, one of Qaddafi's closest allies, has set up a tent in Sabha to greet mourners after the death of his son, Mohammed.

The younger al-Senoussi and Qaddafi's son Khamis were killed in a clash with rebels on their way to Bani Walid, Ouydat said. There have been conflicting claims about Khamis' fate and neither report could be independently confirmed.

Qaddafi's eight adult children have played influential roles in Libya, from commanding an elite military unit to controlling the oil sector. Al-Saadi, 38, headed the Libyan Football Federation, and at one point played in Italy's professional league but spent most of his time on the bench.

Qaddafi's wife, Safiya, sons Mohammed and Hannibal, and daughter Aisha fled to Algeria on Monday. Aisha gave birth to her fourth child Tuesday in Algeria.

Wednesday was the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Libyans marked it by weeping at the graves of those killed in the civil war, then celebrated their newfound freedom with morning prayers and joyous chants.

Men in their finest white robes and gold-striped vests knelt in neat prayer rows in Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, the plaza formerly known as Green Square, where Qaddafi supporters massed nightly during the uprising.

The prayer leader urged the crowd not to seek retribution. "No to revenge, yes to the law that rules between us and those who killed our brothers," he said. "Let there be forgiveness and mercy among us."

Women in black robes ululated, rebel fighters fired guns in the air and people burst into spontaneous chants of "Hold your head high, Libya is free!"

On Sept. 1, 1969, the 27-year-old Qaddafi emerged as leader of a group of military officers who overthrew the monarchy of King Idris. Qaddafi took undisputed power and became a symbol of anti-Western defiance in a Third World recently liberated from its European colonial rulers. A brutal dictator, his regime was unchallenged until the last months of his rule.

Sixty world leaders and top-level envoys will meet Thursday in Paris on Libya's future. The gathering is likely to focus on unfreezing billions in Libyan funds held abroad and reconciling differences over how to deal with the new Libya. The lessons of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and years of insurgent violence there will loom large.

French officials say leaders of Libya's interim National Transitional Council, the main rebel group, are "completely aware of the lessons" from the Iraq war and have emphasized reconciliation in an effort to avoid the kind of revenge killings that spilled so much Iraqi blood.

"We are going to turn the page of the dictatorship and the fighting, and open a new era of cooperation with democratic Libya," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told French diplomats.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/31/libyans-celebrate-muslim-holiday-qaddafi-ouster/#ixzz1WeJQABwM

WASHPOST:Israel braces for Palestinian statehood bid at United Nations

Israel braces for Palestinian statehood bid at United Nations

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/israel-readies-for-palestinian-statehood-bid-at-united-nations/2011/08/31/gIQAJ3sUsJ_story.html

JERUSALEM — Israel is preparing security forces as well as diplomatic and legal responses for a planned Palestinian bid this month for admission as a state to the United Nations, but officials say they do not expect a major eruption of unrest as a result of the move.

Despite intensive Israeli diplomatic efforts to head off U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state, a senior official involved in shaping the Israeli response said the government is resigned to the General Assembly endorsing the move later this month.

“We’re aware that we have very little ability to prevent it, because it’s the U.N., so we have to learn to live with it,” said the official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss the subject freely.

He described the United Nations as a body with an automatic anti-Israeli majority.

The official said Israel was preparing for fallout from the U.N. vote on three fronts: in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and possibly on Israel’s borders, in the diplomatic arena and in international forums.

On the ground, Israeli military and police forces are preparing for what the official called a “worst-case scenario,” in which masses of Palestinians march on Israeli checkpoints and West Bank settlements, and possibly on the country’s borders. Palestinians used such tactics in May, on the anniversary of Israel’s establishment, and in June, to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Middle East war, drawing deadly Israeli gunfire.

Security officials said that Israeli police and army forces have stocked up on nonlethal crowd-control equipment and carried out drills to prepare for mass protests, and that border units have been readied for possible marches to Israel’s frontiers. The army has trained rapid-response teams at Israeli settlements on how to deal with approaching Palestinian crowds.

Despite the preparations, the official assessment is that the U.N. vote will not trigger a major eruption of Palestinian unrest. Part of that expectation stems from plans by the Palestinian Authority to limit celebrations to the West Bank areas it controls and prevent confrontations with Israeli forces and settlers, which could turn violent.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called for peaceful demonstrations, and he has ruled out a third intifada, or uprising, against Israel.

In a recent interview with Israeli Army Radio, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said his “assessment and hope” was that the U.N. vote would pass quietly. Using similar language, the senior official who briefed reporters said he was “doubtful” that the extreme scenarios prepared for by the military would materialize.

The official said he did not think that the U.N. vote would alter Israel’s relations with other nations, but he cautioned that recognition of statehood would provide a strong basis for Palestinian legal action against Israel in international tribunals and other bodies. He said Israeli legal officials were preparing for such challenges.

In an op-ed article in the New York Times in May, Abbas wrote that U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state would “pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.”

The official who briefed reporters asserted that the Palestinians appear intent on avoiding negotiations and taking their case to the United Nations, “where it doesn’t cost them anything” because of the assured majority in their favor. Palestinian officials have said that their U.N. bid is a last resort as efforts to negotiate with the Israeli government prove fruitless and Israel continues to expand settlements on land they seek for a state.

U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state along Israel’s 1967 boundaries with the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be a “strategic mistake,” the official said, because it would entrench both the Palestinians and Israel in unbridgeable positions. Prospects for negotiations, he said, would be set back “many years.”

Washington also has opposed the Palestinian U.N. initiative, calling it a unilateral attempt to determine the outcome of a conflict that should be resolved through negotiations.

bbc:What is it like to keep top state secrets?

What is it like to keep top state secrets?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14714120

A secret world of people in the UK, many of them ordinary citizens, are living extraordinary double lives to help the government. But what is it like to live with the danger and loneliness involved and keep important state secrets, ask Peter Taylor and Richard Knight.

Throughout the many violent years that led up to the Northern Ireland peace process, Londonderry businessman Brendan Duddy and his family lived with an extraordinary secret.

Duddy was, for decades, the secret intermediary between MI6, MI5 and the IRA. Without him it's unlikely that Northern Ireland would be where it is today.

"It took somebody with a lot of brains," says Seanna Duddy, Brendan's daughter. "He had what it took to go into a room, be in danger and keep his cool."

The threat to Duddy's life came not just from some members of the IRA who suspected he might be working for MI5, but from the loyalist paramilitaries who wanted to kill off any negotiations with the IRA - and perhaps anyone associated with them.

So the family could not breathe a word about the meetings between British intelligence officers and the IRA leadership that took place in the "wee room" in their family home.

"People had absolutely no idea," says Larry Duddy, Brendan's son. "Really close friends of my father for 50 years didn't know what he was doing.

"There's part of you wants to let the world know what your father did and there's another part that doesn't want anyone to know. I was quite happy with no-one knowing because it was the end result which was important."

Duddy finally did get the end result he wanted - peace in Northern Ireland. But his children made personal sacrifices as co-inhabitants of their father's secret world.

"When you came home from school you couldn't bring your friends home," says Seanna. "If everybody was out playing in the gardens or the roads nearby and it was our turn [for] our mammy to make tea, that never happened."

Attacks stopped

Most individuals who operate in the secret world do not involve their families. Many, in fact, tell no-one about their hidden lives, not even those closest to them.

Ali, a pseudonym, is a Muslim who was recruited by MI5 shortly after 9/11. When he spoke to the BBC it was the first time he had discussed his work with anyone other than his handlers at MI5.

He said he'd been able to stop some terrorist attacks but did not want to get into "the specifics". The impulse to share his successes or failures must, he says, be ignored.

"If you want to be able to help out doing this kind of work then you just have to hold those feelings in, which could be challenging but you learn with time," he says.

Ali is proud of what he does and of what he believes he has achieved. But he knows some in his community would regard him as a traitor and that his life as a Covert Human Intelligence Source - CHIS - is risky.

'Quiet satisfaction'

"I think it's quite evident that if some people would find out what I'm doing there may be people that probably would ignore it, there would be people who would try to do something about stopping me from helping out as well," he says.

"Therefore I'm careful and my handlers are being careful as well. And I've got my own brain... so I just have to be vigilant."

Steve, also a pseudonym, is a former undercover Special Branch officer who infiltrated the hard left to counter subversion. Steve adopted a cover story - known as a "legend" - and lived it for four years. He says his work put tremendous strain on both him and his wife, who knew his secret role.

"You're a police officer and you know your role, and you're briefed to do a role, and then you are operating as a political activist. You're living two lives, but you have to remember which is which."

Despite the pressures Steve says his years as an undercover officer were the best of his service. Ali continues to face significant risks but he also says, without hesitation, he would do it all again. The Duddy family made astonishing sacrifices for peace. Now they are able to view the transformation of Northern Ireland with quiet satisfaction.

Whatever you may think about the morality and ethics of those who live in the secret world, many are remarkable men and women. They are prepared to live with secrets, danger and loneliness, for what they believe is a greater good.

foxnews:Qaddafi Fled With Daughter Toward Southern Stronghold, Son's Bodyguard Says

Qaddafi Fled With Daughter Toward Southern Stronghold, Son's Bodyguard Says

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/30/qaddafi-fled-with-daughter-toward-southern-stronghold-sons-bodyguard-says/#ixzz1WaOBj6vz

Muammar Qaddafi was in Tripoli as recently as Friday but fled the liberated capital in the direction of the southern stronghold of Sabha in the same convoy as his daughter Aisha, who is now in Algeria, Sky News reported Tuesday.

Qaddafi met his son Khamis in a Tripoli compound last Friday, a captured bodyguard of Khamis said.

Qaddafi has not been seen since the rebels swept into Tripoli more than a week ago, and his whereabouts are unknown.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/30/qaddafi-fled-with-daughter-toward-southern-stronghold-sons-bodyguard-says/#ixzz1WaOEQqaB

If the captured bodyguard's statement is true, it would cast doubt on reports that the despot was holed up in coastal Sirte, which rebel fighters were preparing to capture. The rebel leadership announced Tuesday that loyalist-held towns such as Sirte had until Saturday to surrender.

Qaddafi met Khamis at 1:30 p.m. local time Friday at his son's compound. Rebels attempting to capture the Tripoli compound came under unusually heavy and sustained gunfire, Sky News reported.

Qaddafi arrived in a sedan and after a meeting that lasted about 15 minutes with Khamis, swapped into a group of Land Cruisers along with his daughter.

The convoy was supposed to be headed south in the direction of Sabha, the bodyguard said he was told by his commander.

Neighboring Algeria confirmed Monday that four members of the Qaddafi family -- his wife Safiya, Aisha and sons Hannibal and Mohammed -- entered the country. But Algeria did not mention Qaddafi himself, and the bodyguard had no way of knowing if Qaddafi remained with his daughter or went in another direction.

Aisha gave birth to a baby girl in Algeria, AFP reported, quoting Algerian authorities. Algeria had close ties with Libya during Qaddafi's rule, and it has not recognized the rebel leadership.

Egypt's official MENA news agency reported that six armored vehicles, thought to be containing Qaddafi and his family members, crossed the Libya-Algeria border Saturday. The bodyguard, who is 17, left Tripoli in a convoy with Khamis and was captured by rebels after a NATO attack on the military convoy 37 miles outside Tripoli.

The bodyguard said Khamis was killed in the attack on his armored vehicle, which was reported by rebels Monday but was not independently confirmed. His body was not found. The bodyguard said many soldiers of the elite Khamis Brigade had given up arms.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/30/qaddafi-fled-with-daughter-toward-southern-stronghold-sons-bodyguard-says/#ixzz1WaOHAGhN

Tuesday, August 30, 2011 3:21 AM http://www.newsmaxworld.com/global_talk/Gadhafi_Saddam/2011/08/30/404911.html

Article Font Size

WASHINGTON � Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is on the run, his hometown under siege.

Now the pressure is on the rebels to capture Gadhafi before he can mount a revenge assault or inspire an insurgency that could last for years.

Gadhafi's wife and three of his children fled to Algeria on Monday. But there's no indication Gadhafi has left.

As U.S. forces learned in the 9-month-long manhunt for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, intelligence will be key to finding him.

But the rebels have limited intelligence help from NATO � and the White House has signaled it won't add to CIA intelligence assets there. That's according to three U.S. officials, speaking anonymously to discuss intelligence matters.

So the rebels may have to hope Gadhafi makes a mistake.

© 2011 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NEWSMAX:FBI on Heightened Alert for 9/11 Anniversary

FBI on Heightened Alert for 9/11 Anniversary

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/911-anniversary-fbi-alert/2011/08/30/id/409218

The FBI will be on heightened alert around Sept. 11 because of the possibility of attacks timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

“In the past, al-Qaida has not been fixated on anniversaries,” says an FBI official. “But from the material seized from Osama bin Laden’s compound, we see references to the 10th anniversary indicating it had significance to him.”

As a result, “Every office will be on heightened alert,” the official says.
No agents will be given leave during that period, meaning that all of the bureau’s nearly 14,000 agents will be on duty.

“We are going to treat that period as having significance,” the official adds. “But there is no information of a specific threat.”

However, evidence that terrorists remain intent on launching an attack in the United States came with the arrest of Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a 20-year-old college student from Saudi Arabia who allegedly was planning to blow up the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. He has been charged with attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

And it is the possibility of a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction that really keeps FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III awake at night.

“The possibility of a nuclear attack is relatively remote, but you can never dismiss it, because of the devastation that would occur,” Mueller told me in a rare interview for my book “The Secrets of the FBI.”

“A radiological attack is not so remote, because it’s relatively easy to get radiological materials and have some sort of radiological improvised explosive device. Although the damage would be far less than from a nuclear detonation, the threat is still there today.”

In fact, Dr. Vahid Majidi, chief of the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, says the probability that the U.S. will be hit with a WMD attack at some point is 100 percent. Such an attack could be launched by foreign terrorists, lone wolves who are terrorists, or even by criminal elements, Majidi says. As Mueller suggests, it would most likely employ chemical, biological, or radiological weapons rather than a nuclear device.

Even a WMD attack that does not kill a great number of people would have a crushing psychological impact.

“A singular lone wolf individual can do things in the dark of the night with access to a laboratory with low quantities of material and could hurt a few people but create a devastating effect on the American psyche,” Majidi says.

To hunt down terrorists, the FBI devised what Art Cummings, who headed counterterrorism and counterintelligence until last year, calls trip wires that might tip off the bureau to terrorist activity. For example, the FBI urges chemical supply companies to develop profiles that pinpoint large or suspicious purchases of chemicals that can be used to make explosives.

To supplement the trip wire concept, Cummings initiated a $350,000 project to, in effect, reverse engineer a terrorist operation. It looked at a potential terrorist incident and then worked backwards to pinpoint all the elements a terrorist might require to achieve his goal so that the FBI could be on the lookout for those clues.

“We set these trip wires, and when people come across them, we have abilities to report that, wait a minute, someone is buying dual-use technology or the precursors to make nerve gas or industrial strength peroxide,” Cummings told me for the book. “Someone does that, boom! We have an alert, either a HUMINT [intelligence from a human] alert from an individual or a technical alert.”

To be a terrorist, “You need communications strategy, you need to be able to raise money, you need to be able to move money, you need an organizational structure that allows for that to happen, and you need communications that go back to the mother ship,” Cummings says.
So the FBI looks at people caught by Customs with cash in excess of $10,000, he says.

“I’m going to correlate this person who is leaving the country with money with his communications. If he is raising money for Hamas and is communicating with the occupied territories, that is of interest.”

Then, he says, “You get the personal transaction reports from the bank and find he is depositing or withdrawing funds just under the $10,000 reporting requirement. You find he is a guy who is Palestinian, goes to a mosque that is dominated by Hamas supporters and Palestinians, and is wiring money on a regular basis to the occupied territories. Right there, I’ve just built a picture of a Hamas fundraiser.”

In the same way, the FBI has asked beauty shops and beauty supply stores to contact an FBI office to report purchases of chemicals like hydrogen peroxide in high concentrations.

“They are asked, if they have any suspicion of any kind whatsoever about people buying large quantities of such chemicals in industrial strength, to make a phone call to the FBI,” Cummings says. “Our guidelines are such that we’re not going to violate anybody’s civil liberties simply because they bought a certain amount of hydrogen peroxide.”

As lone wolves become an increasing threat, trip wires have become especially important. Lone wolves have no ties to existing terrorist organizations or networks.

With lone wolves, “You don’t have financial networks that if you look really, really closely you see a thousand dollars going to an operator somewhere,” Cummings notes.

“We don’t see it, because there isn’t someone sending that lone wolf a thousand dollars. This is very difficult, so we rely heavily on trip wires and HUMINT. These are the eyes and ears on the street. And we rely heavily on the lone wolves’ breaking out of that complete and absolute isolation. Human nature being what it is, they do. We’ve caught several recently who were pretty isolated, but they still wanted to talk and share their ideology with people.”

Trip wires led to the arrest of Aldawsari and thwarted the possible attack on former President Bush’s home and other sites.

The FBI received a report from Carolina Biological Supply on February 1, 2011 that Aldawsari had tried to buy large quantities of concentrated phenol, which can be used to make a deadly explosive. The order was sent to a freight company, which called police in Lubbock, Texas, where Aldawsari lived, and the police also notified the FBI.

In two covert entries of his Lubbock apartment, FBI agents assigned to Tactical Operations teams found a hazmat suit, chemicals for making explosives, and bomb-making paraphernalia. In his journal, the team found this entry: “And now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad.”

The subject line of one email message Aldawsari allegedly sent to himself said “Tyrant’s House” and included Bush’s Dallas address. Other emails listed “nice targets,” including reservoir dams, nuclear power plants, and hydroelectric plants. In addition, he emailed himself ways to construct an explosive device and convert a cellular phone to detonate an explosive device. The suspect posted jihadist sentiments on an extremist blog he created and made it clear he had been inspired by Osama bin Laden.

Aldawsari was arrested on Feb. 23 and faces life behind bars.
Mueller adds: “The biggest threat comes from individuals who have had some association with the United States, understand the United States, can move either individually or with others relatively freely into the United States and within the United States.”

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. He is a New York Times best-selling author of books on the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. His latest, "The Secrets of the FBI," has just been published. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via email. Go Here Now.
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