Here is a comprehensive and detailed report on Global terrorism from the Investigative Project.
General security, policy
1. British defense secretary: Iran could have nuclear weapon by 2012; Report warns of Iran nuke disaster; Iran summons US hiker Sarah Shourd for spying trial
2. U.S., EU eye anti-satellite weapons pact
3. Chinese national sentenced in Boston for illegally exporting electronics components used in military radar, electronic warfare, and missile systems
4. US warns of terrorist threat in Azerbaijan
5. ‘Jihad Jane’ expected to plead guilty in Philadelphia terrorist case
6. Blacklisted Canadian Abousfian Abdelrazik attempts again to clear name
7. Documents show Apache Junction man planned to take IEDs to the border
8. Edmonton terror suspect’s Canadian wife insists her husband is innocent; Arrest of Canadian ‘cuts the wound open’ for US soldier’s widow
9. Colorado man sentenced for mailing threats, including white powder, to gov’t officials
10. Terror charges filed in plot to blow up Dearborn Islamic Center
Air, rail, port, health & communication infrastructure security
11. TSA shuts door on private airport screening program
12. Governments go online in fight against terrorism
Financing, money laundering, fraud, identity theft, civil litigation
13. Two Lebanese currency traders deny U.S. charges of criminal links
14. Feds: Bradenton store owners bilked U.S. out of $857K in food stamp scheme
Border security, immigration & customs
15. DHS’s Napolitano claims U.S.-Mexico border violence is diminishing
International
16. Update on situation in Egypt
17. Egypt Internet shutdown underscores vulnerability
18. Niger elections start in return to civilian rule in Africa’s biggest uranium producer
19. Israeli Arab who spied for Hezbollah jailed for nine years
20. Al Qaeda leader kidnaps 21 Afghan tribal leaders in Kunar; Losses at Afghan bank could be $900M
21. U.S. diplomat says he killed two Pakistani men in self-defense
22. Islamists v moderates in Indonesia: Pop star’s video lands him in prison
23. Spanish police arrest Pakistani they say is linked to cell that forged passports for al-Qaida
24. Moscow airport attack: suicide bomber confirmed from N. Caucasus; deliberately targeted foreigners
25. Appeal trial opens for two Swedes convicted of “planning terrorist crimes” in Somalia
26. Scotland Yard investigates Islamic poster campaign targeting Home Secretary
27. Ex-British Airways employee pleads guilty to some terror charges in London
28. Attack on Danish cartoonist was act of terrorism, court hears
Comment / analysis
29. Thomas Joscelyn and Michael Ledeen: Tony Blair: To defeat al Qaeda we must also defeat Iran
30. Con Coughlin: Iran’s Weapons Smuggling Ring
31. Richard A. Falkenrath: From Bullets to Megabytes
32. Andrew C. McCarthy: Fear the Muslim Brotherhood
The Investigative Project on Terrorism Update is designed for use by law enforcement, the intelligence community and policy makers for non-profit research and educational use only. Quoted material is subject to the copyright protections of the original sources which should be cited for attribution, rather than the Update. Our weekly report, “The Money Trail,” derived from our Update, is a compilation of materials on terror financing and other related financial issues.
THE AMERICAS
GENERAL SECURITY, POLICY
1. Iran could have nuclear weapon by 2012 – Britain
LONDON | Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:22pm EST Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/idINIndia-54542220110131
LONDON (Reuters) – Western powers should work on the assumption that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by next year and an Israeli intelligence assessment of 2015 could be over-optimistic, British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said on Monday. Meir Dagan, outgoing director of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, said this month that Israel believed Iran would not be able to produce a nuclear bomb before 2015. But Fox, answering questions in parliament, said Dagan was “wrong to insinuate that we should always look at the more optimistic end of the spectrum” of estimates of Iran’s nuclear capability. “We know from previous experience, not least what happened in North Korea, that the international community can be caught out assuming that things are more rosy than they actually are,” he said. “We should therefore be very clear that it is entirely possible that Iran may be on the 2012 end of that spectrum and act in accordance with that warning,” he said…
AP Exclusive: Report warns of Iran nuke disaster
(AP) – January 31, 2011
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gnh1wz9MKoN7px0iL3n3dvrVMHSw
VIENNA (AP) — The control systems of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant have been penetrated by a computer worm unleashed last year, according to a foreign intelligence report that warns of a possible Chernobyl-like disaster once the site becomes fully operational. Russia’s envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, also has raised the specter of the 1986 reactor explosion in Ukraine, but suggested last week that the danger had passed. The report, drawn up by a nation closely monitoring Iran’s nuclear program and obtained by The Associated Press, said such conclusions were premature and based on the “casual assessment” of Russian and Iran scientists at Bushehr. With control systems disabled by the virus, the reactor would have the force of a “small nuclear bomb,” it said.
Iran summons US hiker Sarah Shourd for spying trial
31 January 2011 Last updated at 11:51 ET
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12327418
An American woman who spent 14 months in an Iranian jail has been summoned to Tehran to stand trial for spying, an Iranian government official has said. Sarah Shourd and two American men were arrested as they hiked near the Iraq border in July 2009. They maintain they were tourists but Tehran has charged them with spying. Ms Shourd was released on bail in September and returned to the US. Her fiance Shane Bauer and their friend Josh Fattal remain in prison in Tehran. Ms Shourd has said the trio were hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan and did not intentionally stray over the border with Iran. In Tehran on Monday, judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi said a court had summoned Ms Shourd to return and stand trial on 6 February. Iran has said she will forfeit $500,000 (£314,386) bail if she does not return to stand trial. It remains unclear who provided the money…
2. U.S., EU eye anti-satellite weapons pact
Limits raise worries
By Eli Lake The Washington Times 9:36 p.m., Thursday, January 27, 2011
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/27/us-eu-eye-anti-satellite-weapons-pact/
The Obama administration is negotiating with the European Union on an agreement limiting the use of anti-satellite weapons, a move that some critics say could curb U.S. development of space weapons in general. Three congressional staffers told The Washington Times that Pentagon and intelligence analysts said in a briefing Monday that the administration is looking to sign on to the European Union’s Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. The briefing followed the completion of an interagency review that recommends the United States sign on to the document with only a few minor changes to its language, according to two administration officials familiar with the review. That recommendation is awaiting final approval from the National Security Council…
3. Chinese National Sentenced to 97 Months’ Imprisonment for Illegally Exporting Electronics Components Used in Military Radar, Electronic Warfare, and Missile Systems
Department of Justice Press Release January 26, 2011 US Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts
Contact: (617) 748-3100
http://boston.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/bs012611.htm
BOSTON, MA—A Chinese national was sentenced today to 97 months’ imprisonment stemming from his conviction for conspiring over a period of ten years to export to the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”), and exporting to the PRC, military electronics components and sensitive electronics used in military phased array radar, electronic warfare, and missile systems. Several Chinese military entities were among those to whom the defendants exported the equipment. ZHEN ZHOU WU, 46, a Chinese national who traveled to the United States on an annual basis using business visas, was sentenced to 97 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to illegally export U.S. Munitions List parts and export restricted sensitive technology to the PRC over a period of ten years, illegally exporting electronics to the PRC on 14 occasions between 2004 and 2007, and conspiring to file, and filing, false shipping documents with the U.S. Department of Commerce from 2005 through 2007. Wu was also ordered to pay a fine of $15,000, a special assessment of $1,700 and forfeit $65,881.71…
4. US warns of terrorist threat in Azerbaijan
The Associated Press Saturday, January 29, 2011; 5:49 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/29/AR2011012903542.html
WASHINGTON — The State Department is warning Americans of a terrorist threat to Western targets in Azerbaijan and urging U.S. citizens to be vigilant in the oil-rich former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea. In a security alert issued Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Baku said there was a “potential for attacks in Azerbaijan, including against American interests.” It said the warning was “based on terrorist threat information.” It added that that U.S. citizens in Azerbaijan “should remain vigilant, particularly in public places associated with the Western community.”…
Warden Message, 1/29/2011, Security Alert
Embassy Baku Security Alert
http://azerbaijan.usembassy.gov/warden-290111.html
5. ‘Jihad Jane’ expected to plead guilty in terrorist case
By MICHAEL HINKELMAN Philadelphia Daily News Posted on Sat, Jan. 29, 2011
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7613
The woman who called herself “Jihad Jane” and who federal prosecutors say is a would-be terrorist has had a change of heart. Her attorney confirmed yesterday that the woman, Colleen R. LaRose, plans to enter a guilty plea in federal district court here on Tuesday. Defense attorney Mark Wilson said LaRose, 47, formerly of Pennsburg, Montgomery County, will plead guilty to all four charges against her. The charges include conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, lying to the FBI, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country (for allegedly plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the prophet Mohammed as a dog) and attempted identity theft (for allegedly stealing her ex-boyfriend’s passport)… LaRose, who has been in federal custody since her arrest in October 2009, allegedly recruited terrorists, tried to get Western women to marry them so that jihadists could get passports, solicited money for terrorists and visited terror websites from June 2008 to October 2009…
6. Blacklisted Canadian attempts again to clear name
CTV.ca News Staff Date: Saturday Jan. 29, 2011 8:00 AM ET
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110129/blacklist-Abousfian-Abdelrazik-110129/
OTTAWA — A Canadian citizen the United States has accused of being an al-Qaida agent is trying again to have his name taken off the UN Security Council’s terrorist blacklist. Abousfian Abdelrazik made his first application to be “delisted” in 2007, but was denied without explanation or ever facing his accusers. And though he’s been formally cleared of the terrorist allegations by CSIS and the RCMP, Abdelrazik’s lawyer, Paul Champ, is doubtful his client will fare much better with his second attempt… The difference this time is that the application will be reviewed by the UN’s newly appointed ombudsperson, former Canadian jurist Kimberly Prost, who will then report her observations to the Security Council’s 1267 committee…
7. Documents show Apache Junction man planned to take IEDs to the border
According to court documents, Jeffrey Harbin spoke of a “homemade grenade” he referred to as his “little baby.”
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. Jan 28, 2010 10:53 PM Last Updated: 4 hours and 4 minutes ago
By: Rudabeh Shahbazi ABC15.com (Arizona)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7614
IPT NOTE: The gov’t press release is posted at http://phoenix.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/px012611.htm
APACHE JUNCTION, AZ – Court documents paint new details about how authorities intercepted a dozen homemade pipe bombs and other explosive devices from a white supremacist apparently headed to the border. Jeffrey Harbin was pulled over in Apache Junction on January 14 by Department of Public Safety officers. Inside his truck, they found improvised explosive devices along with explosive making powders and materials. According to the documents, he spoke of a “homemade grenade” he referred to as his “little baby.” Harbin was a known member of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white supremacist hate group…
Valley Man Indicted for Possessing and Transporting Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)
Department of Justice Press Release January 26, 2011 US Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona
Contact: (602) 514-7500
http://phoenix.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/px012611.htm
8. ‘Allah made me one tough cookie’
Edmonton terror suspect’s Canadian wife insists her husband is innocent
By Paula Simons, edmontonjournal.com January 30, 2011 6:55 AM
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Allah+made+tough+cookie/4192390/story.html
IPT NOTE: Court documents in the case, US v Faruq Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa, are posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/case/508
“It was like a slap in the face,” Cara Rain says. “It’s shocking. Surreal. Unbelievable.” For the last three years, Rain, a 35-year-old mother, has shared her life with the man she knows as Sayfi ldin Tahir-Sharif. She calls him Sayf — and safe is how he always made her feel. They lived together in her apartment in northeast Edmonton. Together, they raised her four children from a previous relationship: a 14-year-old son, and three daughters aged eight, six and five… And then, two weeks ago, the roof caved in on the life they’d made together, and on all her certainties. RCMP arrested her common-law husband. They searched the apartment. They seized his computer and Rain’s laptop, their bank records, their papers. Now, Tahir-Sharif is in segregated secure custody at thEdmonton Remand Centre, accused of being part of an international Islamic terrorist. American authorities want to extradite the man whom they call Faruq Khahil Muhammad ‘Isa to New York to face charges of conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and providing material support to terrorists…
Arrest of Canadian ‘cuts the wound open’
Stewart Bell, National Post · Monday, Jan. 31, 2011
http://www.nationalpost.com/Arrest+Canadian+cuts+wound+open/4194866/story.html
The death of Staff Sgt. Gary Lee Woods was a big deal in Lebanon Junction, Kentucky. On the day of his funeral, a giant American flag was suspended over the town between the raised ladders of two fire trucks. Uniformed soldiers carried his flag-draped coffin into the packed gym at Bullitt Central High School, and after the service, the Patriot Guard Riders escorted his hearse through rainy spring streets to Cedar Grove Cemetery. The family accepted Sgt. Woods’ death as his sacrifice for America. “You did everything you could possibly do to protect our country,” his grandmother Nancy Ratliff wrote on a Facebook tribute page. “God decided you had done enough.” But unbeknownst to the family, while they were grieving, U.S., Canadian and Tunisian officials were on the trail of an international network linked to the April 10, 2009 suicide bombing that had killed Sgt. Woods in northern Iraq. Christie Woods said she knew nothing about the police investigation until two weeks ago, when she got a text message telling her that a man had been arrested in connection with her husband’s death, and that he was a Canadian. Faruq Khalil Muhammad Isa, 38, an alleged member of the group responsible for the bombing, is to appear in an Edmonton courtroom on Wednesday for a bail hearing. He has been charged with conspiracy to kill Americans abroad and providing material support to a terrorist conspiracy…
9. Aurora Man Sentenced for Mailing Threats which Included White Powder to Government Officials
Department of Justice Press Release January 28, 2011 US Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado
Contact: (303) 454-0100
http://denver.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/dn012811.htm
DENVER—Jay Stuart DeVaughn, aka Jay Paige Edwards, age 42, of Aurora, Colorado, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge John L. Kane to serve 72 months (6 years) in federal prison for mailing threatening communications, including threatening letters containing white powder to the President, members of Congress, and the Argentine Consulate. DeVaughn, who appeared at the hearing in custody, was remanded. Following his prison sentence, DeVaughn was ordered to serve three years on supervised release. The issue of restitution to the victims of DeVaughn’s crime will be addressed at a future hearing… This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and the United States Secret Service (USSS)…
10. Terror charges filed in plot to blow up Islamic Center (MUGSHOT AND LATE UPDATE)
Published: Monday, January 31, 2011 By J. Patrick Pepper Press & Guide Newspapers (Dearborn)
This story was updated at 1:28 p.m.
http://www.pressandguide.com/articles/2011/01/31/news/doc4d44e46419b6e142123864.txt
DEARBORN — A decorated Army pilot with a history of mental issues is behind bars for allegedly attempting to blow up the Islamic Center of America last week. Roger Stockham, 63, was arrested Jan. 24 with a car full of explosive fireworks in the parking lot of the mosque after driving here from his home in Imperial Beach, California. Police apprehended Stockham minutes after receiving a tip from the owner of a local bar Stockham had just left. According to the witness’ account, Stockham referenced an explosion at a mosque in the Dearborn area, the most densely populated Middle Eastern enclave in the U.S. When Stockham left the establishment, which is located near the mosque, the witness followed him outside and saw him taking pictures of the Islamic Center. Sensing the seriousness of the situation, the witness immediately called police…
AIR, RAIL, PORT, HEALTH & COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY
IPT NOTE: DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/editorial_0542.shtm ; DHS Blog http://blog.dhs.gov/ ; Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/dir/index-eng.aspx ; TSA Releases http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/index.shtm ; TSA Blog http://blog.tsa.gov/
11. TSA shuts door on private airport screening program
By Mike M. Ahlers and Jeanne Meserve, CNN January 29, 2011 2:07 a.m. EST
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/01/29/tsa.private/?hpt=T2
Washington (CNN) — A program that allows airports to replace government screeners with private screeners is being brought to a standstill, just a month after the Transportation Security Administration said it was “neutral” on the program. TSA chief John Pistole said Friday he has decided not to expand the program beyond the current 16 airports, saying he does not see any advantage to it. Though little known, the Screening Partnership Program allowed airports to replace government screeners with private contractors who wear TSA-like uniforms, meet TSA standards and work under TSA oversight. Among the airports that have “opted out” of government screening are San Francisco and Kansas City. The push to “opt out” gained attention in December amid the fury over the TSA’s enhanced pat downs, which some travelers called intrusive… But on Friday, the TSA denied an application by Springfield-Branson Airport in Missouri to privatize its checkpoint workforce, and in a statement, Pistole indicated other applications likewise will be denied…
12. Governments Go Online in Fight Against Terrorism
By ERIC SCHMITT New York Times January 31, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/world/middleeast/31terror.html
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — In the Netherlands, the jailhouse recantation of a convicted terrorist renouncing violence has circulated online. Counterterrorism officials say it could make disaffected youth think twice about joining violent extremist ranks. In Pakistan, the authorities are posting on YouTube gruesome videos of mosques bombed by Islamic extremists, to show that such attacks kill fellow Muslims. And here in Saudi Arabia, a government-supported program has enlisted hundreds of Islamic scholars turned bloggers to fight online radicalization by challenging the interpretations of the Koran posted on extremist social networking forums. In recent years, governments and allied grass-roots advocacy groups had largely ceded cyberspace to extremists, who use the Internet to recruit, raise money, spread their ideology and disseminate instructions on bomb-making and other terrorist techniques. Governments have carried out covert operations to undermine or take down extremist Web sites, but many pop back within days or weeks. Now these governments, often working with international organizations like the United Nations and European Union, and more quietly with private or nonprofit groups, are opening a counterattack to try to undermine the appeal of terrorists, expose their lack of legitimacy, and attack the credibility of their ideology and online messengers. Counterterrorism officials from more than 30 countries met here last week under the auspices of the United Nations and Naif Arab University to share tactics and strategies on how to use the Internet to counter the appeal of extremist violence…
FINANCING, MONEY LAUNDERING, FRAUD, IDENTITY THEFT, CIVIL LITIGATION
13. Two Lebanese currency traders deny U.S. charges of criminal links
Owners of both firms reject accusations of drug trafficking, money laundering
By Patrick Galey Daily Star (Lebanon) Friday, January 28, 2011
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=124218#
BEIRUT: Two firms designated by the U.S. Treasury for their alleged roles in an international drug trafficking and money laundering ring denied Thursday involvement in illegal activities. The U.S. government took the decision Wednesday to label Ayman Joumaa, as well as nine people and 19 companies connected with him as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers in a racket which reportedly netted as much as $200 million a month. Two Lebanese currency traders, Hassan Ayash Exchange and Elissa Exchange, which were both named in the Treasury’s designation, denied knowledge of Joumaa’s activities…
14. Feds: Bradenton store owners bilked U.S. out of $857K in food stamp scheme
Bradenton Herald STAFF REPORT January 31, 2011
http://www.bradenton.com/2011/01/31/2918638/feds-bradenton-store-owners-bilked.html
IPT NOTE: The indictment is posted at http://media.bradenton.com/smedia/2011/01/31/16/FoodStampIndictment.source.prod_affiliate.69.pdf
MANATEE — The owners of a Bradenton convenience store have been indicted on charges they bilked the federal government of more than $857,000 in a food stamp scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa. Majdi Juma, 29, Hikmat Juma, 38, and Nidal Juma, 40, owned and operated the Super Corner Food Mart, 909 First St. E., Bradenton. “From July 2008 through February 2010, (the defendants) allegedly conspired and schemed to cheat the (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) by purchasing SNAP benefits from SCFM customers in exchange for cash, minus a fee of approximately 50 percent of the total amount charged to the individual recipient’s SNAP account,” a news release states. “This is an illegal practice known as ‘discounting’ or ‘cash-back.'” Prosecutors allege the scheme cost the federal government $857,321. The multi-count indictment charges each defendant with a varying number counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, food stamp fraud and structuring financial transactions. If convicted of all the charges, they face up to 130 years to 155 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Bradenton Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
BORDER SECURITY, IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS
IPT NOTE: US Customs and Border Protection releases, http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/ ; US Immigration and Customs Enforcement http://www.ice.gov/news/ ; Canada Border Services Agency http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html
15. U.S.-Mexico Border Violence Is Diminishing, Napolitano Says
By Jeff Bliss – Jan 31, 2011 12:10 PM ET Bloomberg News
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7615
IPT NOTE: Napolitano’s prepared remarks are posted at http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/speeches/sp_1296491064429.shtm
The U.S.-Mexico border is more secure than it has been in years, resulting in less violence and illegal immigration, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. U.S. border communities are not “out of control or overrun with violence,” she said today in a speech at the University of Texas at El Paso. “Illegal immigration is decreasing. Deportations are increasing. Crime rates are dropping.”…
Remarks on Border Security at the University of Texas at El Paso
Release Date: January 31, 2011 El Paso, Texas The University of Texas
(Remarks as Prepared)
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/speeches/sp_1296491064429.shtm
MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA
16. Egyptian Muslims call out for ElBaradei
Brotherhood seeks talks with Mubarak
By Ashish Kumar Sen The Washington Times 7:59 p.m., Sunday, January 30, 2011
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/30/egyptian-muslims-call-out-for-elbaradei/
A leaderless uprising in Egypt rallied Sunday around Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, with the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest opposition group, saying it will support him in negotiations with President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. “Political groups support ElBaradei to negotiate with the regime,” Essam el-Eryan, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, told Al Jazeera television as anti-government protests entered their sixth day on Sunday. The Muslim Brotherhood, which joined the protests after they were well under way, has begun to take a more active role. Mr. ElBaradei, who had been placed under house arrest since his return to Egypt last week, joined thousands of protesters who defied a government curfew in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Sunday. “What we started can never be pushed back,” he told them… “[The Muslim Brotherhood]…are no way extremists. They are no way using violence,” Mr. ElBaradei told ABC’s “This Week” program. “This is what the regime … sold to the West and to the U.S.: ‘It’s either us, repression or al Qaeda-type Islamists,'” he added…
Egypt’s Mubarak picks vice-president for first time
CAIRO | Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:38am EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/29/us-egypt-vice-president-idUSTRE70S2E620110129
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 82, picked his intelligence chief and confidante Omar Suleiman as vice president, a post Mubarak occupied before taking the top job and which has never been filled in 30 years of his rule…
Factbox: Omar Suleiman, new Egyptian vice-president
Reuters CAIRO | Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:44am EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/29/us-egypt-suleiman-trib-idUSTRE70S2J920110129
Egypt appoints former air force commander as PM
CAIRO | Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:22am EST Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/29/us-egypt-government-trib-idUSTRE70S2P620110129
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s president picked on Saturday a former air force commander and aviation minister, Ahmed Shafiq, as the next prime minister, ensuring men with military links are in the top three political jobs…
Egypt protests: America’s secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising
The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
By Tim Ross, Matthew Moore and Steven Swinford 9:23PM GMT 28 Jan 2011
The Daily Telegraph (London)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7616
The secret document in full http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7622
The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police. On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011. He has already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph…
Armed gangs free Muslim militants in Egypt
By Hamza Hendawi and Maggie Michael, Associated Press Sunday 30 January 2011
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/30/armed-gangs-free-muslim-militants-egypt/
Gangs of armed men attacked at least four jails across Egypt before dawn, helping to free hundreds of Muslim militants and thousands of other inmates as police vanished from the streets of Cairo and other cities. Egyptian security officials said that overnight armed men fired at guards in gun battles that lasted hours at the four prisons including one northwest of Cairo that held hundreds of militants. The prisoners escaped after starting fires and clashing with guards. The Egyptian security officials said several inmates were killed and wounded, but gave no specific figures. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information with the media…
‘We’re living on a volcano,’ experts warn
As with Iran in ’79, Islamists could hijack pro-democracy movements; ex-IDF research chief: “We’re on thick ice, but even that melts eventually.”
By YAAKOV LAPPIN 28/01/2011 Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=205580
Israeli security experts are casting an uneasy eye at the civil unrest spreading through the region… While no analysts here predict any immediate ramifications for Israel’s national security, some said mass protest movements that begin as pro-democracy uprisings could easily be hijacked by Islamists. “We need to understand that we are living on a volcano,” said Maj.- Gen. (res.) Ya’acov Amidror, former head of the IDF’s Research and Assessment Directorate. “Conditions can change from today until tomorrow. We must ask ourselves, what is the worst case scenario,” he said. “We are on thick ice, but even that melts eventually.”…
Egypt riots are an intelligence chief’s nightmare
Western intelligence in general and Israeli intelligence in particular did not foresee the scope of change in Egypt, which may require a reorganization of the IDF.
By Amos Harel Ha’aretz Published 21:41 29.01.11
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/egypt-riots-are-an-intelligence-chief-s-nightmare-1.340027
The events of the last few days in Egypt – apparently the most important regional development since the Islamic revolution in Iran and the Egyptian-Israeli peace deal of 1979 – are also an expression of the decision-makers’ nightmare, the planners and intelligence agents in Israel… The collapse of the old regime in Cairo, if it takes place, will have a massive effect, mainly negative, on Israel’s position in the region. In the long run, it could put the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan in danger, the largest strategic assets after the support of the United States. The changes could even lead to changes in the IDF and cast a dark cloud over the economy…
17. Egypt Internet Shutdown Underscores Vulnerability
The government ordered the shutdown of the country’s four ISPs, effectively blocking all Internet communications during anti-government protests.
By Antone Gonsalve , InformationWeek January 29, 2011 07:00 AM
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/policy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200056
The ease with which Egypt was able to shutdown the Internet to cut off communications during violent, anti-government protests demonstrates the Internet’s vulnerability in countries where there are few service providers. Egypt, where protests stem from frustration over government corruption, a depressed economy, and a lack of political freedom, started its Internet blockade this week by cutting off access to Twitter and Facebook. The sites are often used by protesters in troubled nations to organize demonstrations and stay a step ahead of police. On Friday, the sites were still inaccessible… The Egyptian government, which has been led by President Hosni Mubarak for 30 years, was able to shutdown the Internet relatively easy because only four ISPs operate in the country: Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, and Etisalat Misr. Renesys, an Internet monitoring body, said the ISPs went down separately within a 13-minute period Thursday night..
18. Niger Elections Start in Return to Civilian Rule
By Djibril Saidou and Jason McLure – Jan 31, 2011 8:27 AM ET
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7617
Voters in Niger went to the polls today to choose a new president and parliament in elections to restore civilian rule in Africa’s biggest uranium producer. Voting opened at 8 a.m. at 22,000 polling places across the West African nation. The country’s 6.5 million registered voters can choose from 10 presidential candidates seeking to replace junta leader Djibo Salou, a former head of an artillery squadron who ousted President Mamadou Tandja last year… The elections come as an al-Qaeda-linked group has stepped up attacks in the country and as Nigeriens are recovering from a 2009-2010 drought that put about 7 million people, almost half the country’s population, at risk of starvation…
19. Israeli Arab who spied for Hezbollah jailed for nine years
Ameer Makhoul was detained by the Shin Bet and police anti-terror units last May; struck plea bargain with prosecution.
By Jack Khoury Ha’aretz Published 09:40 30.01.11
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-arab-who-spied-for-hezbollah-jailed-for-nine-years-1.340113
The Haifa District Court on Sunday sentenced Israeli Arab activist Ameer Makhoul to nine years in prison and another year suspended sentence for charges of spying and contact with a foreign agent from the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant organization. Makhoul’s lawyers struck a plea bargain with the prosecution in October 2010, in which they asked for a reduced sentence of seven years, while the prosecution asked for 10 years – the maximum sentence for the charges against him. The verdict stated that Makhoul handed intelligence to a Hezbollah agent on Shin Bet installations in the Haifa region and on Mossad offices in the center of the country. He also attempted, the verdict said, to pass on information about a military base and sought details about the residence of Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin…
ASIA/PACIFIC
20. Al Qaeda leader kidnaps 21 Afghan tribal leaders in Kunar
By Bill Roggio Long War Journal January 31, 2011
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/01/al_qaeda_leader_kidn.php
A dangerous, dual-hatted Taliban and al Qaeda commander has kidnapped 21 Afghan tribal leaders in the eastern province of Kunar. Qari Zia Rahman, a regional commander who leads forces on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, summoned the tribal leaders to a meeting in the district of Marawara eight days ago, then kidnapped them. “The Taliban first called them for a meeting at a mosque and after a discussion, the Taliban took all the elders away to an unknown place,” a local Afghan official in Kunar told AFP. Qari Zai claimed the kidnapping in a text message sent to an AFP reporter, and demanded local Afghans end their cooperation with the Afghan government and security forces. “The reason behind this act is that some relatives, sons and close family members of these men, work in the Afghan army, Afghan police and some with NATO”, Qari Zia text read…
Losses at Afghan Bank Could Be $900 Million
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and JAMES RISEN New York Times January 31, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/world/asia/31kabul.html?hp
KABUL, Afghanistan — Fraud and mismanagement at Afghanistan’s largest bank have resulted in potential losses of as much as $900 million — three times previous estimates — heightening concerns that the bank could collapse and trigger a broad financial panic in Afghanistan, according to American, European and Afghan officials. The extent of these losses make it clear that keeping the bank afloat — something the government has said it is determined to do — would require large infusions of cash from an already strained budget. Banking specialists, businessmen and government officials now fear that word of Kabul Bank’s troubles could prompt a run on solvent banks, destroying the country’s nascent banking system and shaking the confidence of Western donors already questioning the level of their commitment to Afghanistan. The scandal has severe political and security implications. Investigators and Afghan businessmen believe that much of the money has gone into the pockets of a small group of privileged and politically connected Afghans, preventing earlier scrutiny of the bank’s dealings…
21. U.S. diplomat says he killed in self-defense
By Karin Brulliard and Aoun Sahi Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, January 29, 2011; A06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/28/AR2011012806570.html
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – A U.S. official being held in the fatal shooting of two Pakistani men told a court in the eastern city of Lahore on Friday that he had killed them in self-defense. The official, based at the U.S. Consulate in Lahore, said the men had tried to rob him while he waited at a busy intersection in his car. A second consular vehicle that he summoned for help struck and killed a motorcyclist as it sped to the scene, police said. A judge ordered the official held in custody for six days for further questioning. Pakistani officials insisted Friday that the American, identified as Raymond Allen Davis, would receive no special treatment while possible charges of murder and illegal weapons possession are investigated… But other Pakistani and U.S. officials, who would not discuss the sensitive matter on the record, said that Davis was clearly in the country on a diplomatic passport and visa, and was immune from any prosecution. The U.S. government has demanded his release on that basis, officials said. In the meantime, the embassy has asked for consular access to him…
22. Pop Star’s S-x Video Lands Him in Prison
By ERIC BELLMAN JANUARY 31, 2011, 10:27 A.M. ET Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703439504576115640142656306.html
JAKARTA—One of Indonesia’s pop stars was sentenced to prison Monday for making s-x tapes that triggered a national outcry and a public debate about morals when they were leaked onto the Internet last year. The 29-year-old Nazril Irham—lead singer of a popular band called Peterpan and known to his fans and friends by the nickname “Ariel”—was sentenced to 3½ years in jail and fined $28,000 for two blurry, homemade s-x videos seen by Internet users across Indonesia, the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority nation… A court in Bandung, the capital of West Java, where Mr. Irham resides, said the trial proved it was Mr. Irham in the videos. It rejected the argument that the videos had been stolen and released without Mr. Irham’s permission, saying he hadn’t done enough to stop their distribution—violating the strict anti-pornography law that went into effect three years ago… The case became a sensation in Indonesia and underscored the continuing tension between its many moderate Muslim residents and an influential core of conservative residents who feel the country is becoming too secular, especially with the spread of the Internet…
EUROPE
23. Spain arrests Pakistani for links to al-Qaida
(AP) – Jan 28, 2011
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iw_FzxEVqkQAFTN3JPRxggifpm7Q
MADRID (AP) — Spanish police have arrested a Pakistani man they say is linked to a cell that forged passports for al-Qaida-linked groups. Police had been looking for the suspect since seven members of the cell were arrested in Spain in December and three more in Thailand, Interior Ministry said Friday in a statement. It named the suspect as 30-year-old Malik Imtanan Sarwar and said he was picked up Thursday in Barcelona. The statement said he worked with other group members to send stolen passports to Thailand to be doctored and later distributed to groups linked to al-Qaida, mainly Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terror group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai, India, attacks that killed 166 people. The ministry said the group also supplied forged documents to Tamil Tiger rebels who were crushed in 2009 by Sri Lankan troops after a quarter-century war for an independent state…
24. Moscow airport attack: suicide bomber confirmed from North Caucasus
The suicide bomber who killed 35 people and wounded 180 at Moscow’s largest airport was a 20-year-old man from the volatile southern Caucasus region, Russian investigators have said.
2:53PM GMT 29 Jan 2011 The Daily Telegraph (London)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7618
Federal investigators also said foreigners were deliberately targeted, marking an ominous new tactic in Russia’s losing battle with extremism. Islamist rebels from the Caucasus, a group of mountainous Russian provinces that are plagued by a separatist insurgency, had been widely suspected in the attack at Domodedovo Airport. Saturday’s statement from federal investigators confirmed a suicide blast involving a bomb containing shrapnel. While authorities say they know the identity of the perpetrator, they suggested they still don’t know who masterminded the attacks…
Moscow airport bombing: why a terrorist mastermind is sending chills down spines
When a man wearing a black baseball cap blew himself and 35 others up at Russia’s busiest airport last Monday ordinary Russians were sure it was the work of Islamist terrorists.
By Andrew Osborn, Moscow 5:00PM GMT 29 Jan 2011 The Daily Telegraph (London)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7619
The evidence suggests they were right – but a photograph of the man suspected of masterminding the deadliest attack on an airport anywhere in the world has nonetheless shocked the nation. Staring out from the front pages of their newspapers this weekend is not the usual dark-skinned, heavily-bearded Islamist terrorist they have come to expect and fear but an ethnic Russian who looks like millions of Russians’ brothers, sons or husbands. The suspect, 32-year-old Vitaly Razdobudko, is one of the growing number of Russians who have embraced radical Islam, creating a security nightmare for Russia’s anti-terrorism squads. Inured to more than a decade of terrorist attacks on their trains, planes, schools, hospitals and theatres, ordinary Russians are facing up to an uncomfortable truth: the terrorists are now drawn from their own ranks, rather than exclusively from the impoverished Muslim population of the country’s North Caucasus region…
25. Swedes appeal Somalia terror plot conviction
Published: 29 Jan 11 07:42 CET AFP
http://www.thelocal.se/31716/20110129/
As the appeals court trial of two Swedish men convicted of “planning terrorist crimes” in Somalia opened in Gothenburg on Friday, a lawyer for the defence argued that Sweden’s anti-terror legislation does not cover the Al-Shabaab militia. Bille Ilias Mohamed, 26, and Mohamoud Jama, 23, were sentenced to four years in jail in December for “planning terrorist crimes” in Somalia. The court had said that the two Swedish citizens “had taken it upon themselves, and decided with the Somali Islamist Al-Shabaab militia to commit terrorist crimes in the form of suicide attacks.” As the pair’s appeal trial opened Friday, Mohamed’s lawyer Thomas Olsson said the case against his client was weak and that he doubted the Shebab could be considered a terrorist organisation according to Sweden’s anti-terror legislation, adding that the militia was a party in an armed conflict abroad…
26. Fatwa against Theresa May: Scotland Yard investigates Islamic poster campaign targeting Home Secretary
By Gavin Allen Last updated at 11:53 AM on 27th January 2011 The Daily Mail (UK)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7620
Posters issuing a fatwa against Theresa May have appeared in South London, prompting an investigation by Scotland Yard. The Metropolitan Police are seeking the source of the Wild West-style posters, which claim the fatwa has been issued ‘for the abduction, kidnapping and false imprisonment’ of various radical clerics. A fatwa can – but not always – be interpreted as an incitement to kill, and is an order issued by scholars in the Islamic faith. In Sunni Islam a fatwa is considered non-binding, while in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding. The posters appeared at the same time as the Home Secretary announced in Parliament yesterday controversial reforms of control orders for terrorism suspects…
27. Ex-British Airways employee admits terror charges
The Associated Press Monday, January 31, 2011; 3:10 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/31/AR2011013103828.html
LONDON — A former British Airways employee has admitted some terror charges ahead of his London trial. Bangladesh-born Rajib Karim is accused of deliberately seeking a job with the flagship airline in order to further an as-yet unspecified terrorist conspiracy. The 31-year-old pleaded guilty Monday to being involved in the production and distribution of a video on behalf of the outlawed terror group Jammat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh. He also pleaded guilty to funding associates in Yemen, offering himself for terrorist training abroad and encouraging others to do the same…
28. Attack on Danish cartoonist was act of terrorism, court hears
Jan 31, 2011, 15:51 GMT Deutsche Presse-Agentur
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/7621
Copenhagen – An attack on the Danish cartoonist who sparked outrage with his depiction of the Muslim prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban should also be considered as an act of terrorism, a prosecutor said Monday as the trial against his alleged attacker drew to a close. A Somali-born man is on trial for allegedly forcing his way into cartoonist Kurt Westergaard’s home a year ago. That attack was aimed at inciting ‘fear and chaos’ at large, prosecutor Kirsten Dyrman said in her closing remarks at the trial in Aarhus, western Denmark. The 29-year-old accused’s lawyer rejected this, arguing it was an attempt to frighten the cartoonist, adding that the prosecution had not been able to prove allegations of attempted murder. The defendant did not exercise his right to address the court before it adjourned. Sentencing is due later this week…
COMMENT / ANALYSIS
29. Tony Blair: To defeat al Qaeda we must also defeat Iran
Supporting the nation’s restive people is the key
By Thomas Joscelyn and Michael Ledeen
The Washington Times 6:25 p.m., Friday, January 28, 2011
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/28/tony-blair-to-defeat-al-qaeda-we-must-also-defeat-/
Thomas Joscelyn is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and senior editor of the Long War Journal. Michael Ledeen is Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and his blog, Faster, Please, is published by Pajamas Media.
30. Iran’s Weapons Smuggling Ring
Tehran’s attempt to arm Islamists in West Africa has intensified the regime’s diplomatic isolation.
By Con Coughlin Wall Street Journal OPINION EUROPE JANUARY 30, 2011, 3:51 P.M. ET.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703833204576113782116225262.html
Mr. Coughlin is executive foreign editor of London’s Daily Telegraph and the author of “Khomeini’s Ghost” (Ecco 2009).
31. From Bullets to Megabytes
By RICHARD A. FALKENRATH New York Times January 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/opinion/27falkenrath.html
Richard A. Falkenrath, a principal of the Chertoff Group, an investment advisory firm, is a former deputy commissioner for counterterrorism for the New York Police Department and deputy homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush.
32. Fear the Muslim Brotherhood
Andrew C. McCarthy January 31, 2011 4:00 A.M. National Review Online
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/print/258419
Andrew C. McCarthy, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, is the author, most recently, of The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America.
The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) is a non-profit research group founded by Steven Emerson in 1995. It is recognized as the world’s most comprehensive data center on radical Islamic terrorist groups. For more than a decade, the IPT has investigated the operations, funding, activities and front groups of Islamic terrorist and extremist groups in the United States and around the world. It has become a principal source of critical evidence to a wide variety of government offices and law enforcement agencies, as well as the U.S. Congress and numerous public policy forums. Research carried out by the IPT team has formed the basis for thousands of articles and television specials on the subject of radical Islamic involvement in terrorism, and has even led to successful government action against terrorists and financiers based in the United States.
