National Protective Strategies, www.natprostat.com
London – 52 are dead and hundreds injured as suicide bombers detonate devices aboard three transit trains and one bus. Indications appear to link the attack to Al-Qaeda sleeper cells.
National Protective Strategies, www.natprostat.com
Associated Press
The Associated Press has reported that British and FBI officials investigating the London terror attacks have focused on an Egyptian-born chemist who studied in the United States and an 18-year-old Briton of Pakistani descent who is believed to have detonated the bomb aboard a bus. The joint investigation is following up on a possible al-Qaida connection.
News reports indicate British authorities are seeking a Pakistani Briton with possible ties to al-Qaida supporters in the U.S. They said he may have organized the attacks, leaving Britain the day before the bombings.
ABC News, citing unidentified officials, reported that the attacks were connected to an al-Qaida plot planned two years ago in Lahore, Pakistan. Names on a computer that authorities seized last year from Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, an alleged Pakistani computer expert for al-Qaida, matched a suspected cell of young Britons of Pakistani origin, most of whom lived near Luton.
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Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press
Philippine security forces are hunting 10 would-be suicide bombers and have already foiled a plot for a major attack, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s national security adviser said Tuesday.
Norberto Gonzales said he was worried about possible new attacks in Manila following the recent terror bombings in London and Egypt.
“From intelligence information we have gathered from our neighbors, we know that there are suicide bombers now in the Philippines, at least 10 of them, preparing for a terrorist attack,” he told ANC television as he pushed for passage of an anti-terrorism law.
He offered no other details about the alleged terrorists.
Gonzales also said Philippine security forces foiled a plot to bomb unspecified targets with the seizure of 1,320 pounds of explosives earlier this year.
At the time, police said bombings planned by the al-Qaida-linked Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group were pre-empted with the arrest of a suspected militant whose information led to the explosives cache in March. The military said the explosives were intended for terror attacks in Manila during the Easter holidays.
Terror bombings have hit the capital and other parts of the country in recent years. On Valentine’s Day, three almost simultaneous attack in Manila and the southern Philippines killed four people and wounded 63.
Several draft anti-terrorism bills are pending in Congress. Some would set up a contentious national ID system or allow electronic surveillance and arrests without warrants.
Gonzales’ announcement comes as Arroyo faces an impeachment complaint in the country’s legislature. The complaint, filed Monday, alleges she “cheated and lied” to obtain and hold power and could be impeached on four grounds.
Arroyo has denied manipulating the May 2004 poll by discussing vote-counting with an election official before she was declared the winner.
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CNN (08/04/05)
Ayman al-Zawahiri, second only to Osama bin Laden in Al Qaeda’s hierarchy, has released a videotaped message threatening to launch more terrorist attacks against the United States and United Kingdom. Al-Zawahiri’s message, broadcast Thursday on the Al Jazeera television station, makes apparent references to the July terrorist attacks in London, vowing that “more will come.” Al-Zawahiri also threatens the United States with attacks that will exceed the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks: “What you saw in New York and Washington…are nothing compared to what you will see next.”
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From FoxNews
Saturday, August 06, 2005
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran rejected Europe’s proposal for ending the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, saying Saturday it was “unacceptable” because it did not give the country the right to enrich uranium.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the package of incentives offered fell short of Iran’s “minimum expectations” and the government would send its official rejection to the Europeans later Saturday or Sunday.
“The European proposals are unacceptable … the package is against the spirit of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and against the provisions of the Paris agreement,” he said on state radio. “The proposals do not meet Iran’s minimum expectations.”
The Paris Agreement (search) was reached between Iran and Britain, France and Germany — the three European countries negotiating on behalf of the 25-member European Union. Under the deal, signed in November in Paris, Iran agreed to continue suspension of uranium enrichment and all related activities, including uranium conversion, until negotiations proceed for a political settlement.
Enriched uranium can be used in the production of nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.
Iran has accused the Europeans of wasting time, saying continued suspension depended on progress in the talks. Tehran says failure to make progress in talks does not prevent it from reopening the Isfahan uranium conversion facility.
The French, British and German foreign ministries declined to comment until they had received and studied Iran’s response, spokesmen said.
Asefi said the primary reason for Iran’s rejection was the European failure to include Tehran’s right to enrich uranium.
“We had already announced that any plan has to recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium,” he said.
New Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Saturday that his foreign policy would focus on good relations with the rest of the world, but he rejected outside pressure on his government to change course — an apparent reference to the growing international confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program.
Without directly mentioning the controversy, Ahmadinejad said his government respected international norms but “would not follow illegal decisions that violate rights of the Iranian nation.”
“I don’t know why some countries do not want to understand the fact that the Iranian people do not tolerate force,” Ahmadinejad said.
On Friday, the Europeans sought to entice Iran into a binding commitment not to build atomic arms by offering to provide fuel and other long-term support to help Iranians generate electricity with nuclear energy.
The proposal did not mention the previous agreement that allowed Iran to enrich uranium. Iran also insists it has a right to enrich uranium under the treaty.
The Bush administration backed the European offer, which came as a diplomatic effort to persuade North Korea into giving up its atomic weapons program stalled.
The European proposal offered greater economic, political and security cooperation if Iran agreed to the plan.
Iran has long claimed its nuclear program was solely for the peaceful production of electricity, even though it has vast oil reserves. Washington charged the real aim was to produce arms. The discovery of clandestine aspects of Iran’s program raised worries among other nations and pressure had mounted on Iran.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it would hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss safeguards in Iran. The agency has repeatedly warned Iran not to resume uranium conversion at its facility at Isfahan until an IAEA monitoring system is in place.
The facility converts raw uranium, known as yellow cake, into a gas that is the feedstock for enrichment. The IAEA board could refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for consideration of sanctions.
Asefi said the meeting will have no legal justification.
“It’s to bring political pressure on Iran. It’s a psychological war,” he said.
A summary of the EU proposal said the Europeans acknowledged Iran’s right to nuclear energy and promised to help it develop “a safe, economically viable and proliferation-proof civil nuclear power generation and research program.”
The 34-page proposal promised Iran a long-term supply of enriched uranium from other countries, on condition that spent fuel was returned. Iran also could buy peaceful nuclear technology, opening the door to such deals as Russia’s $800-million contract to build a reactor in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr and supply fuel.
In return, the Europeans called on Iran to make a “legally binding commitment not to withdraw” from the nuclear treaty, as North Korea did, and to agree to permit surprise inspections by the IAEA and abandon all uranium activities, including conversion, enrichment and reprocessing.
The EU nations also say Iran must stop construction of its heavy water research reactor in the city of Arak. Nuclear experts consider heavy water reactors a danger because they use higher-grade plutonium suitable for weapons use.
They say the Arak reactor can yield enough plutonium from spent fuel to make one atomic bomb a year.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164929,00.html
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Los Angeles Times
7 Aug 2005
With his nation shaken by last month’s bombings, British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday announced tough anti-terrorism measures that include shutting down radical mosques and deporting Islamic clerics who preach violence and hatred.
The plan is aimed at isolating religious extremists while giving wider powers to counter-terrorism forces in a country increasingly unnerved by militants. The proposals are an indication that the recent attacks on London’s transit system, the first of which killed 52 people, have caused the government to reexamine the line between civil rights and national security.
“Let no one be in any doubt, the rules of the game are changing,” Blair said during a 90-minute news conference.
In many ways, the measures run counter to Britons’ long-held view of their nation as one of the most open and multicultural in the world. The bombings, combined with mounting fear of global terrorism and jihadist rhetoric from fringe Islamic organizations, appear to have provided a political mandate for changes that only a few years ago would have been nearly impossible.
The prime minister’s objective is to rid the country of foreign Islamic militants and crush any extremist elements that remain. Blair said the government was working on agreements with other nations to guarantee that anyone Britain sent back to the Middle East and Africa would not be tortured or abused.
But emphasizing his determination to toughen anti-terrorism regulations, Blair said he would seek to amend human rights legislation if the courts didn’t support his proposals for deportation and banning certain political parties.
Human rights groups and liberal members of Blair’s Labor Party immediately criticized the measures, which also call for making it a crime to “glorify” terrorism and for cracking down on websites and bookshops that distribute militant writings.
Critics said the plan would violate free speech and other civil rights.
“We don’t win by mimicking the profound authoritarianism of those who are plotting against this country,” said Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty. “I think it is very worrying that the prime minister has jeopardized our national unity today both in terms of community relations and in terms of consensus politics.”
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said Blair’s 12-point plan, much of which requires parliamentary approval, risked “inflaming tensions and alienating people.”
London Mayor Ken Livingstone said he supported tougher laws but added that Blair’s plan was “so vague that 20 years ago it would have meant banning Nelson Mandela or anyone supporting him.”
Conservatives largely embraced the proposals as a crucial shift in tone from a government they have viewed as too lenient on immigrants and foreign agitators. The plan is forcing Britain to reflect on how far to extend police powers, much as the U.S. did after the Sept. 11 attacks. The measures do not appear as sweeping as some imposed by the Bush administration, but they move Britain in a conservative direction in the area of civil liberties.
This nation has long prided itself on its multiculturalism, but after the July 7 bombings and the July 21 attempted repeat bombings, Blair’s plan seems to have found resonance. Nevertheless, it is expected to be rigorously debated in Parliament by liberal politicians who unsuccessfully opposed anti-terrorist legislation in 2002.
“Coming to Britain is not a right,” Blair said. “And even when people have come here, staying here carries with it a duty. That duty is to share and support the values that sustain the British way of life. Those that break that duty and try to incite hatred or engage in violence against our country and its people have no place here.”
Britain and the rest of Europe have long been frustrated by imams coming from the Middle East and preaching hatred of the West in neighborhood mosques. Clerics such as Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al Masri, who lives in Britain but faces possible extradition to the U.S. on suspicion of terrorism-related crimes, have been blamed for inciting young, frustrated Muslim men.
The suspects in the July 21 bombing attempts are believed to be British citizens of Islamic African descent who may have been radicalized by foreigners in Britain.
Blair called for banning the British offices of the group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has called for Europe to be ruled by Islamic law.
“There will be serious repercussions in terms of community relations if this ban goes ahead,” said Imran Waheed, a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain. “Our members are all for political expression, not for violence.”
Blair announced the plan as he fends off criticism over his foreign policy, especially the war in Iraq, which most Britons opposed. Islamic radicals, including Al Qaeda lieutenant Ayman Zawahiri in a video aired Thursday, have said terrorist attacks on Britain would continue because of Blair’s support for U.S. efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Blair said his counter-terrorism plan would deny Al Qaeda and other extremist organizations haven in Britain. However, he acknowledged the sensitivities it aroused and the political fight to come.
“Such action in the past has been controversial,” Blair said. “Each tightening of the law has met fierce opposition. But, for obvious reasons, the mood is now different.”
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Europe – United Kingdom
10 Aug 2005 – BBC News
It is only a matter of time before London’s financial centre is attacked by terrorists, police believe.
“Hostile reconnaissance” of the Square Mile has been disrupted a number of times but no arrests made, said City of London Police Commissioner James Hart.
While the security “ring of steel” had been extended twice since 9/11, only half of firms had made contingency plans, he told the Financial Times.
Business group the CBI said “good links” had been formed with police.
“There is an ongoing dialogue,” it told the BBC News website. “But more can always be done to raise awareness.”
While there was no specific threat against the City, the mindset of terrorists mean that it was an “obvious target”, said Mr Hart.
“If you want to hurt the government, hurt people at the same time, and you want to cause maximum disruption…where better to hit than at the financial centre?”
He said the City of London had been a target for terror attacks for 30 years, highlighting the number of times the area had been hit by the IRA.
“I think it is a matter of when, rather than if.”
Potential targets included prominent sites and business – “anywhere where the maximum damage can be inflicted on the financial systems,” he said.
The City of London police estimate that only half of City firms have made adequate provisions for a terrorist attack.
Chief executives need to take a greater role in developing security policies, Mr Hart said.
“I need to get the matter of security on to their business agendas, so it is a little bit of a call to sharpen up.”
While many of the large City firms were taking the threat seriously, there was a need to “sensitise those people that are a little bit complacent about this kind of thing”.
Mr Hart said the larger firms needed to put “a friendly arm around smaller businesses within their shadow” as not all companies could afford sophisticated security staff.
It is often a problem of insufficient time and money that prevents smaller firms from developing contingency plans, the Confederation of Small Businesses said.
It called for expert advice and tax breaks to be provided to the companies, many of which “have become more aware of their need to plan for emergencies and, in particular, terror attacks”, since 9/11 and the London bombings.
Business lobby group London First says that 50% of companies are unprepared for a significant event, with small and medium companies particularly vulnerable.
It is estimated that 50% of firms that shut down temporarily in New York after 9/ll never reopened.
And the CBI says that only two-thirds of its members had conducted a strategic overall review of security in 2004, but it expects that after the London bombings businesses would take the threat more seriously.
National Protective Strategies, www.natprostat.com
Europe – United Kingdom
11 Aug 2005 – Reuters
Britain detained 10 people on Thursday deemed a threat to national security following last month’s deadly bomb attacks on the capital and said it planned to deport them.
Human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce said she believed Jordanian national Abu Qatada, accused by Spain’s top judge of being the spiritual inspiration for the Sept. 11 attacks on New York, was among those being held.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has been under pressure to take tough action against foreign nationals who incite terrorism after four British Muslim bombers killed themselves and 52 other people in attacks on London’s transport system on July 7.
The government spelled out plans last week to boot out hardline Islamists it believes are inciting or glorifying militant attacks and has signed agreements with some countries to return them, including Jordan.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the presence of the 10 foreign nationals was “not conducive to the public good.”
“We now have good reason to believe that we can get necessary assurances from the countries to which we will return the deportees so that they will not be subject to torture or ill-treatment,” Clarke said in a statement.
The detentions came the same day 10 people were due to appear in court under anti-terrorism laws over a botched attempt to bomb London two weeks after the first attack. All have been charged with keeping information from police hunting suspects.
Britain has said in court papers that Qatada, 44, is a “truly dangerous individual … at the center in the United Kingdom of terrorist activities associated with al Qaeda.”
He was sentenced in Jordan to life imprisonment in absentia for involvement in terrorist attacks there in 1998.
Clarke said the men were detained on Thursday by immigration officers backed by the police under existing powers available to him under the UK’s Immigration Act and would be held in prison.
“People have been whisked off to prison and we are being denied access to them,” said lawyer Peirce. “Now it’s suddenly fine to deport people who for years the government has said it was unsafe to do so. It’s quite extraordinary.”
Britain rushed through laws after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, giving police the power to hold foreign terrorism suspects indefinitely without charge or trial.
After the UK’s top court ruled this illegal, the powers were replaced with new legislation which allowed the government to impose restrictions on suspects including house arrest.
Britain is holding 10 people under these “control orders” including Qatada. The Home Office said some of those being deported were being held under control orders.
Clamour for the government to take action has grown in the last week after some foreign Muslim preachers condoned the July attacks on London.
National Protective Strategies, www.natprostat.com
11 Aug 2005 07:14:53 GMT
Source: Reuters
By John O’Callaghan
MANILA, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Indonesian suicide bombers may be in the Philippine capital, planning attacks on four targets with members of the homegrown Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf, national security adviser Norberto Gonzales said on Thursday.
Speaking a day after 26 people were wounded in two bombings in the southern city of Zamboanga that cast suspicion on Abu Sayyaf, Gonzales also said the Philippines could become “a major target” in a global expansion of militant violence.
“We have credible reports—and this is coming from sources of friendly countries and our own—that there are 10 suicide bombers being sent to the Philippines,” Gonzales told a briefing for foreign media.
“There are possibly two (Indonesians) in Metro Manila, possibly two, with two Abu Sayyaf.”
He said some of the information had come from suspected militants now in custody and a task force had been set up to track down the Indonesians. Four “sensitive targets” in Manila had been identified, he added, without giving details.
It was “not really confirmed” whether any of the Indonesians had entered the Philippines yet, but the concept of international terror groups using foreigners for attacks in the country was a new development, Gonzales said.
“This is the first time we are seeing that this time they are sending their own,” he said. “Perhaps we will be witnessing in the Philippines the same kind of escalation we are suspecting will happen in other parts of the world.”
The regional militant network, Jemaah Islamiah, taking advantage of porous maritime borders, has long used the southern Philippines as a training ground and safe haven but it is also believed to be funding and advising local militants.
Abu Sayyaf was mainly known for kidnappings for ransom before being blamed for deadly bombings in February and a blast on a ferry a year earlier that was the country’s worst terror attack.
Critics accuse the government of routinely exaggerating threats to show it is doing its part in the war on terrorism, to deflect attention from domestic problems and to curry more support from Washington, its main security ally.
“Only time will tell,” Gonzales said when asked about those criticisms. “Our role is to overreact.”
IMPEACHMENT PROCESS
Gonzales expressed frustration that a new anti-terror law before Congress was not a priority for legislators caught up in an impeachment process against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo over allegations of election fraud and corruption in her family.
The law would expand security forces’ search-and-detention powers to plug legal loopholes that now allow suspects charged with possession of explosives to post bail.
To deal with the international nature of threats and the dangers of more fearsome weapons, Gonzales said it was time for the Philippines to amend its laws and treaties to ensure “more active assistance than what the constitution allows”.
“We don’t have the know-how for meeting a threat of nuclear devices or large-scale biological weapons,” he said. “It’s time to discuss this before it happens.”
Gonzales said Arroyo’s cabinet had begun to examine the country’s mutual defence treaty with the United States and other bilateral pacts to improve cooperation, although he acknowledged that changes would require substantial negotiations.
South / Central Asia – Iran
13 Aug 2005 – BBC
US President George W Bush says he still has not ruled out the option of using force against Iran, after it resumed work on its nuclear programme.
He said he was working on a diplomatic solution, but was sceptical that one could be found.
The UN’s atomic watchdog has called on Iran to halt nuclear fuel development.
Iran, which denies it is secretly trying to develop nuclear arms, restarted work at its uranium conversion plant at Isfahan on Monday.
“All options are on the table,” said Mr Bush, when asked about the possible use of force during an interview for Israeli TV.
“The use of force is the last option for any president. You know we have used force in the recent past to secure our country,” he said.
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
Mined uranium ore is purified and reconstituted into solid form known as yellowcake
Yellowcake is converted into a gas by heating it to about 64C (147F)
Gas is fed through centrifuges, where its isotopes separate and process is repeated until uranium is enriched
Low-level enriched uranium is used for nuclear fuel
Highly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons
The BBC’s Jonathan Beale in Washington says the president wants to send a clear warning to Tehran, although in reality the US already has its hands full in neighbouring Iraq.
‘Cost them dearly’
The former Iranian President, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has expressed surprise at Thursday’s call by the UN nuclear agency, the IAEA, for Iran to suspend its nuclear activities.
The IAEA asked its chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, to report on Iran’s compliance by 3 September.
Speaking at Friday prayers in Tehran, Mr Rafsanjani said western opposition to Iran’s decision to resume its nuclear programme would, as he put it, cost them dearly.
“Our people are not going to allow their nuclear rights to be seized,” Mr Rafsanjani said. He said he was astonished that no country opposed the European Union-sponsored resolution, adopted by the IAEA, that urged Iran to stop any work on processing uranium for enrichment.
He emphasised that Iran’s decision to resume its nuclear programme was irreversible, and said his country could not be treated like Iraq or Libya. The IAEA’s 35-member governing body met in emergency session this week after Iran ended a nine-month suspension of work at Isfahan.
Iran insists it needs nuclear power as an alternative energy source, but Western nations fear it has plans to produce nuclear weapons.