 |
HavenWorks.com/terrorism/archive/2004 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Terrorism Archive
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
ARCHIVES NEWS Terrorism News History Archives Terrorism Archive 2003 Terrorism News Archives 2002 Terrorism News Archives 2001 Terrorism News Archives Terrorism News |
|
 |
|
 |
- "Failure
of 'imagination' led to 9/11: The 9/11 final report
assigns little blame, but cites many errors, and lays out bipartisan steps
to avert future terror acts." ... "Nearly three years after the attacks
of Sept. 11, a national commission blames no one agency or administration
for the strikes, but makes it clear that many errors occurred prior to
that fateful day." ... "It leaves open the question as to whether the attacks
could have been prevented, but in total it portrays a strike against America
that did not come out of nowhere. It was rather the result of a growing
threat that perhaps could, and should, have been foreseen." ... "Top officials
all told the 9/11 commission that they understood the dangers of Al Qaeda
- but commissioners in the end became convinced that there was uncertainty
at the top as to whether this was just a new and especially venomous version
of the longstanding terrorist menace, or whether it was indeed something
radically new." -By Peter Grier and Faye Bowers
-CSMonitor
- [PDF]
- "The
9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States. Official government edition."
(7 MB, 585 pages) ... "The Commission’s Final Report provides a full and
complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11th, 2001,
terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response
to the attacks. It also includes recommendations designed to guard against
future attacks." ... "An Executive
Summary (344 KB, 35 pages) of the Final Report is also available."
-GPOAccess.gov/911
- 
- 
- 
-
- 
Religion
- Osama
bin Laden
- "9/11:
The Iran Factor: The final report of the 9-11 Commission
reveals troubling new evidence that Tehran was closer to Al Qaeda than
Iraq was." ... "U.S. intelligence believes that in faraway Tehran, the
hard-line Islamist clerics who now exercise near total control over Iran
directed their border guards to help jihadists coming from Afghanistan.
And sometime between October 2000 and February 2001, according to the forthcoming
final report of the 9-11 Commission, eight to 10 of the "muscle" hijackers
of the September 11 plot were among those who benefited from this Iranian
good-fellowship." ... "According to a December 2001 memo buried in the
files of the National Security Agency, obtained by the commission, Iranian
officials instructed their border inspectors not to place Iranian or Afghan
stamps in the passports of Saudi terrorists traveling from Osama bin Laden's
training camps through Iran. Such "clean" passports undoubtedly helped
the 9/11 terrorists pass into the United States without raising alarms
among U.S. Customs and visa officials, sources familiar with the report
told NEWSWEEK." -By Michael Isikoff and Michael Hirsh
with contributions by Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle
-Newsweek 20040726
ed. via -MSNBC
Osama
bin Laden - "Intelligence
failures cited in 9/11 report: Doesn't conclude whether
attacks were preventable." ... "The report, to be released publicly tomorrow,
includes a list of 10 ''operational opportunities" that the government
missed to potentially unravel the Sept. 11 plot, according to a government
official who has read the document. Six of the incidents listed came during
the Bush administration and four were during the Clinton years, the official
said." ... "Another government official who has been briefed on the report
said the tally of missed opportunities includes the CIA's failure to add
two hijackers' names to a terrorism watchlist; the FBI's handling of the
August 2001 arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui, who has been accused of conspiring
in the plot; and several failed attempts to kill or capture Osama bin Laden."
-By Dan Eggen and Mike Allen
-Boston/Globe
via -WashingtonPost
-
- 
- 
- 
- 
- "Poor
Relations With Iran Turning Worse." ... "The Bush
administration is pressing Britain, France and Germany for strong measures
against Iran in response to its violation of a nonproliferation agreement
reached with the three last fall, a State Department official said Wednesday."
... "The issue is part of a deepening American concern over recent Iranian
activities that range from weapons programs to terrorism. To head off a
potential crisis, some analysts believe the administration should work
harder to promote a dialogue with Iran." ... "The United States believes
Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a view reinforced by Iran's recent
decision to resume construction of centrifuges. This is a key step in the
development of a uranium-based bomb, one that Iran promised the Europeans
last fall that it would not take." -By George Gedda
-AP via -Newsday.com
- 
- 
- "Iraq
Militants Take Six Foreign Truck Drivers Hostage, AP Says."
... "The hostages include two from Kenya, three from India and an Egyptian.
A group calling itself ``the Holders of the Black Banners'' said in a statement
given to the AP that it would kill one hostage every 72 hours."
-AP via -Bloomberg
-
- "U.S.
hostage head found in freezer: The head of slain
American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr., who was kidnapped and beheaded in
Saudi Arabia last month, has been found in a freezer [in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia], a Saudi Interior Ministry official said." ... "Two suspected al
Qaeda militants were killed during raids, the official added Wednesday."
... "Security forces found the head and a cache of weapons in a raid on
a villa Tuesday night and it was positively identified Wednesday morning."
-CNN
-
-
-
- Osama
bin Laden
- "9/11
Panel's Report to Offer New Evidence of Iran-Qaeda Ties."
... "The final report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks
will offer new evidence of cooperative ties between Iran and Al Qaeda,
including information drawn from intelligence reports suggesting that Iran
provided several of the hijackers with safe passage in the year before
the attacks, government officials said yesterday." ... "The officials emphasized
that the commission had no evidence to suggest that Iranian officials knew
of the Sept. 11 plot. But they said the evidence raised new questions about
why the Bush administration focused on the possibility of Iraqi ties to
Osama bin Laden's terror network after Sept. 11, 2001, when there may have
been far more extensive evidence of an Iranian connection." -By
Philip Shenon -NYTimes
-
-
-
- "9/11
Commission Finds Ties Between al-Qaeda and Iran:
Senior U.S. officials have told TIME that the 9/11 Commission's report
will cite evidence suggesting that the 9/11 hijackers had previously passed
through Iran." ... "A senior U.S. official told TIME that the Commission
has uncovered evidence suggesting that between eight and ten of the 14
"muscle" hijackers—that is, those involved in gaining control of the four
9/11 aircraft and subduing the crew and passengers—passed through Iran
in the period from October 2000 to February 2001. Sources also tell TIME
that Commission investigators found that Iran had a history of allowing
al-Qaeda members to enter and exit Iran across the Afghan border. This
practice dated back to October 2000, with Iranian officials issuing specific
instructions to their border guards—in some cases not to put stamps in
the passports of al-Qaeda personnel—and otherwise not harass them and to
facilitate their travel across the frontier. The report does not, however,
offer evidence that Iran was aware of the plans for the 9/11 attacks."
-By Adam Zagorin and Joe Klein
-TIME
US
- Afghanistan
- 
Military
- 
Terrorism
- Prisoner
- War
Crimes Act - Human
Rights - Death
Penalty - 
Politics
- "Memos
Reveal War Crimes Warnings: Could Bush administration
officials be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result of new measures used
in the war on terror? The White House's top lawyer thought so." ... "The
White House's top lawyer warned more than two years ago that U.S. officials
could be prosecuted for "war crimes" as a result of new and unorthodox
measures used by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism, according
to an internal White House memo and interviews with participants in the
debate over the issue." ... "The concern about possible future prosecution
for war crimes-and that it might even apply to Bush adminstration
officials themselves- is contained in a crucial portion of an internal
January
25, 2002, memo by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales
obtained by NEWSWEEK. It urges President George Bush declare the
war in Afghanistan, including the detention of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters,
exempt from the provisions of the Geneva Convention." ... "In the memo,
the White House lawyer focused on a little known 1996 law passed by Congress,
known as the War Crimes Act, that banned any Americans from committing
war crimes-defined in part as "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions.
Noting that the law applies to "U.S. officials" and that punishments
for violators "include the death penalty," Gonzales told Bush that
"it was difficult to predict with confidence" how Justice Department prosecutors
might apply the law in the future. This was especially the case given that
some of the language in the Geneva Conventions-such as that outlawing "outrages
upon personal dignity" and "inhuman treatment" of prisoners-was "undefined.""
... "One key advantage of declaring that Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters
did not have Geneva Convention protections is that it "substantially reduces
the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act,"
Gonzales wrote." -By Michael Isikoff
-MSNBC/Newsweek
James
Inhofe - 
Torture
- Politician
- US
- Military
- Prisoners
- Photographs
- Iraqi
- Human
Rights - 
Lawmakers
- 
Oklahoma
- "GOP
[Republican] senator labels abused prisoners 'terrorists':
Other lawmakers disavow comment." ... "A Republican member of the Senate
Armed Services Committee dismissed Tuesday the outrage over the abuse of
Iraqi prisoners by [United States] U.S. troops, saying Iraqis depicted
in widely broadcast photographs probably had "blood on their hands."" ...
""I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged
by the outrage than we are by the treatment," [Oklahoma Republican Senator]
Sen. James Inhofe said during a hearing on the [Iraqi] Abu Ghraib prison
scandal. (Full
story)" ... "[Republican] President Bush and other top U.S. officials
and leading Republicans have condemned the abuse of Iraqis held at the
Baghdad[Iraq's capital]-area prison, once a notorious torture chamber under
ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein." ... "Though he [Inhofe] called the
soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners "seven bad people," he added,
"I am also outraged that we have so many humanitarian do-gooders right
now crawling all over these prisons looking for human rights violations
while our troops, our heroes, are fighting and dying."" -With
contributions by Ed Henry -CNN
-
- 2004
ELECTION - "Unleashing
the Cheney factor: Joint 9/11 appearance with Bush
highlights debate about V.P.'s role." ... "When President Bush and Vice
President Cheney sit down together on Thursday for their long-anticipated
meeting with the 9/11 commission, it will cap a week that has, like no
other in Mr. Bush's presidency, been dominated by the White House's No.
2 man." ... "It was Mr. Cheney who used such red-meat language against
Democratic presidential contender John Kerry in a speech Monday that the
president of the host college publicly objected to "the content and tone"
of the vice president's remarks and offered Senator Kerry a similar speaking
engagement." ... "It is Cheney who is at the center of a long-anticipated
Supreme Court case, argued Tuesday, over his energy task force - and the
breadth of the zone of privacy in which the executive branch of government
may operate. Cheney has long advocated restoration of the White House's
powers to pre-Watergate levels." -By Linda Feldmann
-CSMonitor
-
-
- "Shi'ite
cleric threatens suicide attacks." ... "Militant
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ratcheted up his anti-American rhetoric
yesterday, threatening to launch suicide attacks if US forces enter Iraq's
holy cities to capture or kill him." ... "Sadr's remarks, made during Friday
prayers at the Kufa mosque, marked an ominous escalation in the standoff
between the cleric, whose militia has seized control of mosques and other
key sites in Najaf and Kufa, and US officials who have been threatening
to retake the southern cities by force." -By Edmund
Sanders-LAtimes
via -Boston/Globe
- 
-
- "Bush
eases years-long economic sanctions against Libya."
... "President Bush on Friday eased economic sanctions against Libya, ending
its status as a pariah nation and clearing the way for the return of American
oil companies." ... "Bush's order ending Libya's economic isolation gave
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi the reward that he wanted for agreeing in
December to abandon his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction." -By
Ron Hutcheson -Knight Ridder via
-SLTrib.com
-
- "House
OKs Speedy Elections if Attacked." ... "Under the
legislation, the House speaker could declare "exceptional circumstances"
when 100 or more seats in the 435-seat body are left vacant by a catastrophic
event, triggering special elections in affected districts that must be
held within 45 days." ... "While the final vote was decisive, many Democrats
warned that speeding up elections was not enough and, at a time of terrible
crisis, could expose Congress to weeks of lacking the manpower or the authority
to act. Many sought a constitutional amendment that would allow temporary
appointments of lawmakers before elections could be held." ... "Some warned
of the executive branch, possibly headed by a Cabinet secretary if the
president is killed, assuming dictatorial powers."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
- "Four
Killed and 148 Wounded in a Suicide Bombing in Riyadh."
... "A suicide bomber detonated a Chevrolet Blazer loaded with explosives
in central Riyadh on Wednesday, shattering the facade of a police building,
killing at least four people and wounding 148." ... "Saudi officials and
foreign embassies had been bracing for such an attack since April 12, when
a shoot-out in a poor Riyadh neighborhood led to a chain of bloody skirmishes
across the central part of the kingdom. In the last 10 days, six police
officers were shot dead, and security officials said that they had captured
five booby-trapped cars and arrested eight militants." ... "Wednesday's
bombing and the clashes preceding it represent a qualitative shift in the
ongoing war between the security services and Islamic militants believed
to be either directly connected to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda or inspired
by the terrorist group, Saudi officials and other analysts said. It was
a shift, they said, toward attacks by groups that are less organized, on
targets that are less easily protected." (1, 2)
-By Neil MacFarquhar -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- 
-
-
- "High
Court Hears Detention Cases: Policy on Terror Suspects
Challenged." ... "Facing the court in oral arguments over the detention
of al Qaeda and Taliban suspects held at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba, Solicitor
General Theodore B. Olson dramatically reminded the court that "the United
States is at war," that more than 10,000 troops are in Afghanistan, and
that the country faces an "extraordinary threat."" ... "But several justices
asked questions that implied they doubted Olson's assertion that Bush,
as commander in chief, may hold the suspects for interrogation at the base
in Cuba as long as he deems necessary, without judicial oversight." ...
""It seems rather contrary to an idea of a Constitution with three branches
that the executive would be free to do whatever they want -- whatever they
want without a check," Justice Stephen G. Breyer said." ... "The question
is whether the Guantanamo detainees have a right to ask a federal court
to order the president to give them a hearing --not whether the courts
must do so." (1, 2)
-By Charles Lane-WashingtonPost
-
- "Suicide
Bombers Kill at Least 58 in Southern Iraq." ... "Suicide
bombers killed at least 58 people, many of them children, in co-ordinated
strikes on four police stations that brought bloody chaos to Iraq's southern
city of Basra on Wednesday, witnesses said." ... "Near-simultaneous explosions
hit three police stations in Basra and one in the town of Zubair, 16 miles
south of the mainly Shi'ite city, the British military said." ... "Reuters
counted 55 bodies at one hospital. Among the dead were many children who
had been going to school in a minibus caught in one of the car bombings.
Some 200 civilians and police were wounded." (1, 2,
3)
-By Abdel-Razzak Hameed -Reuters
-
- "Bombs
hit Basra police stations: Rush-hour blasts probably
caused by car bombs have hit three police stations in Iraq's second city
of Basra, killing at least 40 and injuring scores." ... "Two school buses,
one of them apparently full of children, were destroyed in one of the attacks,
an AP correspondent reports from the scene." ... "A British officer said
the three attacks had been near-simultaneous."
-BBC/News
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Poll
Shows New Gains for Bush: Lead Over Kerry Widens
On Issues of Security." ... "President Bush holds significant advantages
over John F. Kerry in public perceptions of who is better equipped to deal
with Iraq and the war on terrorism, and he has reduced the advantages his
Democratic challenger held last month on many domestic issues, according
to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll." ... "In a matchup, Bush held a lead
of 48 percent to 43 percent over Kerry among registered voters, with independent
Ralph Nader at 6 percent. In early March, shortly after he effectively
wrapped up the Democratic nomination, Kerry led Bush by 48 percent to 44
percent." (1, 2)
-By Richard Morin and Dan Balz with contributions
by Claudia Deane -WashingtonPost
-
- 
- "Spain
recalls its troops from Iraq: New prime minister
fulfills campaign vow." ... "Spain's prime minister yesterday ordered Spanish
troops pulled out of Iraq as soon as possible, fulfilling a campaign pledge
to a nation recovering from terrorist bombings that Al Qaeda militants
said were reprisal for Spain's support of the war." ... "Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero issued the abrupt recall just hours after his government was sworn
in, saying there was no sign the United States would meet his demand for
United Nations control of the postwar occupation -- his ultimatum for keeping
troops there." ... "Zapatero's Socialist Party won the March 14 general
election amid allegations that outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar,
by backing the war in Iraq, had provoked commuter-train terrorist bombings
that killed 191 people three days before the vote." (1, 2)
-By Daniel Woolls -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
- Osama
bin Laden -
"'Bin
Laden' tape offers peace deal with Europe." ... "Osama
bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, sought to split the US-led coalition
in Iraq by offering European countries a three-month respite from terrorist
attacks if they withdrew their forces and left the US to fight alone."
... "The statement said: "I offer a truce to them (Europe), with a commitment
to stop operations against any state which vows to stop attacking Muslims
or interfere in their affairs, including (participating) in the American
conspiracy against the wider Muslim world."" ... "It went on to say that
the truce would start "with the withdrawal of the last soldier from our
land," and said that the offer to implement it would last for three months
from the date of Thursday's statement. "Whoever rejects this truce and
wants war, we are its [war's] sons and whoever wants this truce, here we
bring it," it said." -By Mark Huband
-FT.com
- Osama
bin Laden -
"C.I.A.
Says Voice on Tape Likely bin Laden." ... "The CIA
said Thursday that a tape of a man identifying himself as Osama bin Laden
probably is an authentic recording of the al-Qaida leader." ... "The official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said the tape was probably recorded
in the past several weeks because of its reference to Israel's killing
last month of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin. In the tape, the speaker
vows revenge against the United States for the killing."
-AP via -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- Smallpox
- "U.S.
considers new smallpox vaccine: Scientists optimistic
about MVA." ... "Buoyed by promising results in animal experiments, government
officials are contemplating buying massive quantities of a new type of
smallpox vaccine to supplement the national stockpile already assembled
in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." ... "Scientists believe
that unlike any of the vaccines now available, the new vaccine may be effective
in protecting against the deadly infectious disease without the risk of
serious -- and occasionally lethal -- side effects." ... "As doubts grow
about the existing vaccines, scientists are increasingly optimistic about
the prospects for the experimental vaccine, called Modified Vaccinia Ankara,
or MVA." -By Griff Witte with contributions by Justin
Gillis -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
- 
- "Japanese
Hostages Freed in Iraq; Iranian Killed." ... "Three
Japanese hostages were freed Thursday, but the murders of an Iranian diplomat
and an Italian captive were chilling proof of the risks foreigners face
in Iraq, where rebels are battling the U.S.-led occupation." ... "America's
top general said talks were under way to try to bring peace to the embattled
Sunni Muslim city of Falluja and to avoid a bloodbath in the Shi'ite shrine
city of Najaf." ... "The three [Japanese] seized last week are Noriaki
Imai, 18, who wanted to research the effects of depleted uranium weapons,
journalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32, and aid worker Nahoko Takato, 34." (1,
2,
3)
-By Fiona O'Brien -Reuters
-
-
- "9/11
Panel Report Finds FBI Counterterror Efforts Lacking:
Freeh, Reno Argue Against Setting Up a Domestic Intelligence Agency." ...
"The commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks provided
details today of a number of shortcomings in the FBI's counterterrorism
efforts, saying the agency was not properly structured to root out terrorists
in the United States and that the Justice Department was not sufficiently
focused on the issue during the first months of the Bush administration."
... "In a 12-page staff report issued before today's hearings, the commission
said that, among other failings, the FBI lacked the ability to carry out
"strategic analysis" of the terrorist threat, the kind of work required
to pull disparate bits of intelligence together and connect the dots to
pinpoint potential attacks." ... "In fact, before Sept. 11, "the FBI had
never completed an assessment of the overall terrorist threat to the U.S.
homeland," said the report, read to the commission by executive director
Philip D. Zelikow." (1, 2)
-By William Branigin contributed to by Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
-
- "Ashcroft
now under scrutiny: Report allegedly calls him 'largely
uninterested' in terrorism issues." ... "Draft reports by the independent
commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks portray Attorney General
John Ashcroft as largely uninterested in counterterrorism issues before
Sept. 11 despite intelligence warnings that summer that al-Qaida was planning
a large, perhaps catastrophic terrorist attack, according to panel officials
and others with access to the reports." ... "They said the draft reports,
which are expected to be completed and made public during two days of hearings
by the commission this week, show that FBI officials were alarmed throughout
2001 by what they perceived as Ashcroft's lack of interest in terrorism
issues and his decision in August 2001 to turn down the bureau's request
for a large expansion of its counterterrorism programs." -By
Philip Shenon -SeattlePI.NWsource
-
- 
- "Russia
mulls pull-out after hostages seized." ... "Russia,
a strong critic of the U.S.-led military operation in Iraq, has confirmed
that eight of its nationals working for an energy company have been taken
hostage in Baghdad." ... "An unnamed Foreign Ministry source was quoted
on Tuesday as saying that Moscow was now considering evacuating all of
its 500 or so nationals, most of whom work in Iraq's energy and power sectors."
-By Oleg Shchedrov -Reuters
- "9-11
panel wants CIA analyst to testify." ... "The commission
investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, rebuffed once previously, asked again
yesterday to interview the CIA analyst who wrote the Aug. 6, 2001, intelligence
briefing given to President Bush on al-Qaida's threat to the United States,
according to administration sources." ... "The commission wants to interview
the author of the article in the now-famous President's Daily Brief to
determine her purpose in assembling the document and how much information
she sought in doing so." -By Walter Pincus
-WashingtonPost via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
-
- "Chinese
hostages 'released'." ... "China was anxiously awaiting
confirmation last night that seven of its nationals kidnapped in Iraq had
been released." ... "The Xinhua news agency, which broke the news of the
kidnappings on Sunday, cited a Chinese merchant in Baghdad as saying that
the seven had been handed over to a Muslim association involved with hostage
release." ... "It was not clear what the seven latest victims of the hostage
drama sweeping Iraq were doing in the country." -By
Jonathan Watts -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
-
- "Seven
Chinese Kidnapped in Iraq; China Urges Rescue." ...
"Gunmen kidnapped seven Chinese citizens in Iraq in the latest spate of
hostage-taking and Beijing on Monday appealed to Baghdad to rescue them."
... "Fighting erupted in Falluja overnight in the first major breach of
an informal truce in the town where more than 600 Iraqis were reported
killed in a week of battles between U.S. Marines and Sunni Muslim rebels."
(1, 2)
-By John Ruwitch -Reuters
-
-
- "Japan
unsure of safety of hostages in Iraq as crisis drags into fourth day."
... "Optimism that three Japanese held hostage in Iraq would be quickly
released evaporated Monday, as Tokyo's top government spokesman backtracked
on an earlier statement and said authorities were no longer confident about
their safety." ... "The hostages[,] two aid workers and a photojournalist[,]
were being held by a previously unknown group calling itself the ''Muhahedeen
Squadron,'' which demanded Japan pull its troops out of Iraq within three
days or it would burn the three alive." -By Eric Talmadge-AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Top focus before
9/11 wasn't terrorism: Rice speech cited missile
defense." ... "On Sept. 11, 2001, national security adviser Condoleezza
Rice was scheduled to outline a Bush administration policy that would address
"the threats and problems of today and the day after, not the world of
yesterday" — but the focus was largely on missile defense, not terrorism
from Islamic radicals." ... "The speech provides telling insight into the
administration's thinking on the very day that the United States suffered
the most devastating attack since the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. The
address was designed to promote missile defense as the cornerstone of a
new national security strategy, and contained no mention of al Qaeda, Osama
bin Laden or Islamic extremist groups, according to former U.S. officials
who have seen the text." -By Robin Wright
-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC
-
-
-
- "Three
countries arrest 53 militants in coordinated crackdown."
... "Turkey, Italy, and Belgium arrested 53 militants in a coordinated
crackdown Thursday on a Turkish Marxist group considered a terrorist organization
by Washington, Turkey's Interior Ministry said." ... "Police in Istanbul
arrested 37 suspects of the Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front,
or DHKP-C, while security forces Italy and Belgium detained 16, an Interior
Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- 
- "Sept.
11 Panel Scrutinizing Past Testimony." ... "The staff
of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is conducting
a detailed review of all discrepancies found in public and private statements
by Condoleezza Rice and Richard A. Clarke in drawing up questions for Ms.
Rice when she testifies before the panel, probably next week, commission
officials said Wednesday." ... "The White House, they said, is hoping to
limit any political damage to the president by having Ms. Rice testify
quickly in the hope of ending the furor over the accusations made by Mr.
Clarke, Mr. Bush's former counterterrorism director." ... "Mr. Clarke said
in testimony before the commission last week and in his new best-selling
memoir that the Bush administration — and Ms. Rice, in particular — largely
ignored threats by Al Qaeda before the Sept. 11 attacks." (1, 2)
-By Philip Shenon and Doublas Jehl -NYTimes
via -Google-News
2004
ELECTION -
- 
- "Political
titles play an unusual role in this campaign." ...
"The influential role that serious, issues-based books are playing is unusual,
historians and political scientists say. "I can't think of anything close
to this happening during a campaign, at least in the 20th century," says
James Campbell, a political science professor at the State University of
New York at Buffalo." ... "The hottest book is Against All Enemies:
Inside America's War on Terror by Richard Clarke. The counterterrorism
expert served in the Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations. He
says the current administration paid too little attention to the threat
of terrorism before Sept. 11 and made terrorism more of a threat by going
to war in Iraq." -By Mark Memmott
-USATODAY
-
-
- Osama
bin Laden
- "Panel
probing terrorism faults 2 administrations: Says
efforts feel short; officials defend actions." ... "The US government had
substantial intelligence about key Al Qaeda figures indicating the possibility
of a catastrophic terrorist attack beginning in the mid-1990s, but failed
to act forcefully enough to thwart the Islamic terrorist network, the bipartisan
commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said in an interim report
yesterday." ... "Diplomatic initiatives urging other countries to bring
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to justice were unsuccessful, yet the Clinton
administration could not reach a consensus on a sustained military effort
to kill the terrorist leader or disrupt the organization's home base in
Afghanistan, according to the report released yesterday, at the start of
two days of public testimony from Bush and Clinton administration leaders."
-By Bryan Bender -Boston/Globe
- "9/11
panel blames Bush, Clinton failures in attacks."
... "The independent commission reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks said in
a preliminary report that the decision to use diplomatic rather than military
options against al-Qaeda allowed the Sept. 11 terrorists to elude capture
years before the attacks." ... "The panel, known formally as the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, presented its findings
as it began hearings with top-level Bush and Clinton administration officials.
The aim was to question officials on their efforts to stop bin Laden in
the years leading up to the attacks." -AP
via -USATODAY
-
- "Amid
Terror Debate, Public Hearings Open on 9/11 Attacks."
... "An issue that has dominated Washington since the weekend — the question
of what the Bush and Clinton administrations knew about the possibility
of terror attacks before 9/11, and how the Bush White House responded afterward
— is taking center stage in the capital today." ... "The public hearings
before the independent commission investigating the attacks of 2001 come
amid a furious debate caused by accusations in a book by a former counterterrorism
official, Richard A. Clarke. Mr. Clarke wrote that the Bush administration
did not heed warnings about Sept. 11 and that President
Bush pushed him the day after the attacks to look for a link to Saddam
Hussein." -By Terence Neilan -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
-
-
-
- 
- "Bush
Asks Allies for Unity on Iraq: No Nation Exempt From
Terrorism, President Says on War Anniversary." ... "President Bush yesterday
marked the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq with an appeal
for international unity after a year of division by warning that there
can be "no separate peace" with the West's enemies." ... "Bush spoke to
an audience of 83 diplomats, including those from such countries as France
and Germany, which opposed the war. But his remarks seemed directed toward
such countries as Spain and Poland, allies in Iraq that are now expressing
misgivings, and, in Spain's case, rethinking their cooperation with the
United States." -By Dana Milbank -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Spain's
ruling party swept from power amid anger of Madrid terror attacks."
... "Spain's ruling conservatives crashed to surprise defeat in elections
overshadowed by anger over terrorist bombings, becoming the first government
that backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq to be voted out of office." ... "The
win by the Socialists over President Jose Maria Aznar's favored Popular
Party Sunday came amid charges that Aznar made Spain a target for terrorist
by supporting the Iraq war." ... "Spain's incoming prime minister, Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has pledged to bring home the 1,300 Spanish troops
in Iraq when their tour of duty ends in July." -By
Daniel Woolls -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Spain
Studies Alleged al-Qaida Tape Claim." ... "Investigators
analyzed a videotape in which al-Qaida reportedly claimed responsibility
for the deadly railway bombings earlier this week amid criticism Sunday
that Spanish intelligence blundered in failing to foresee the attack."
... "With a mourning nation voting in general elections overshadowed by
the attacks that killed 200 and wounded 1,500, officials said five suspects
arrested Saturday can remain in police custody for 72 hours, after which
police would need a court order for an extension." -By
Daniel Woolls -AP
via -Miami/Herald
- "Al
Qaeda Suggested in Madrid Train Bombings: 200 Dead,
1,200 Wounded in Rush Hour Blasts in Spain." ... " In the worst terrorist
attack in Spain's history, nearly 200 people are dead and more than 1,200
are wounded after 10 simultaneous bomb blasts ripped through four packed
commuter trains in Madrid Thursday morning." ... "Spanish officials initially
blamed the Basque separatist group ETA for the bombings, but now they're
pursuing other lines of investigation. Police have found a van with detonators
and an audiotape of Koranic verses near where the bombed trains originated.
And an Arabic newspaper in London said it had received a letter from al
Qaeda claiming responsibility." -NPR/News
- "A
Primer on the ETA." ... "Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna, translated
from Euskara, the Basque language, means "freedom for the Basque country.""
... "And the organization bearing that name, ETA for short, has been fighting
for freedom from Spain since the 1960s in an unrelenting campaign of bombings,
kidnappings and assassinations." ... "In that respect, today's devastating
attacks on commuter trains in Madrid were definitely in character. That
may be one of the reasons why Spanish government officials so quickly blamed
ETA, without offering concrete evidence or any claim of responsibility."
... "In another respect, however, the attack departed from ETA's pattern:
Never before has the organization killed and injured so many people in
a single blow." (1, 2)
-By Fred Barbash -WashingtonPost
- "Madrid
blasts kill at least 15: At least 15 people have
been killed in Madrid as several explosions hit the rail network in the
morning rush hour. Police cars raced to the Atocha train station in the
heart of the Spanish capital, where a blast destroyed carriages of a suburban
train." ... "Explosions were also reported on other trains - details are
unclear." ... "The cause is not yet clear, but police have been on the
alert for possible Basque separatist violence ahead of Sunday's general
election." -BBC/News
- Virginia
News - Sniper
- "Virginia
Judge Formally Sentences Sniper John Muhammad to Death."
... "John Allen Muhammad, of two men accused in the sniper-shooting deaths
of 10 people in the Washington, D.C., area in 2002, was sentenced to death
by a Virginia judge today for murdering a man at a gas station." ... "A
jury in Virginia Beach, Virginia, convicted Muhammad of capital murder,
terrorism, conspiracy and firearms violations in November for the death
of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, who was gunned down in Manassas, Virginia, in
October 2002. Meyers was the seventh sniper victim." -By
Chris Dolmetsch -Bloomberg
-
-
-
-
-
- "Five
Guantanamo Britons Fly Home, Fate Unsure." ... "Five
British men jailed for more than two years at the U.S. Guantanamo base
in Cuba headed home Tuesday -- posing anti-terror police a dilemma over
whether to release them to their families or keep them behind bars." ...
"The five, held since late 2001 or early 2002 with more than 600 others
suspected of fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan or supporting al
Qaeda, were expected to reach the Northolt military air base near London
around 7 p.m." ... "Police will take immediate custody of them, but if
they decide there is no case against them under Britain's tough anti-terror
laws, they may be freed in days, legal sources said." (1, 2)
-By Andrew Cawthorne -Reuters
2004
ELECTION - "9/11
election ads have Bush in hot water." ... "George
W. Bush tripped over the wreckage of the World Trade Center and stumbled
into controversy yesterday as he tried to take the high road with an expensive
advertising campaign for re-election but was immediately attacked for playing
politics with tragedy." ... "Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks lashed out at the President's first major TV ad campaign, saying
it was both insensitive and inaccurate." -By Doug
Saunders -GlobeAndMail
-
-
- Religion
- "Aum
guru gets death." ... "Aum Shinrikyo founder Chizuo
Matsumoto was sentenced to death today for masterminding a deadly reign
of terror that culminated in the 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway
system." ... "Matsumoto, 48, faced 13 charges involving the deaths of 27
people." ... "The key charges concerned a sarin nerve-gas attack in Matsumoto,
Nagano Prefecture, in 1994 that killed seven people and left hundreds injured;
the slayings of anti-Aum lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, his wife and infant
son in 1989; and the subway attack that killed 12 and sickened thousands."
... "Matsumoto, who went by the name of Shoko Asahara, is the 12th cultist
to receive the death sentence." -Asahi
Shimbun/English
-
-
- Anthrax
News
- "Tenet
Warns of Al Qaeda Threat: CIA Chief Says Group Is
Fragmented but Still Dangerous." ... "Despite U.S. success in attacking
al Qaeda's hierarchy, the network is still capable of "catastrophic attacks"
against the United States, and acquiring chemical, biological and radiological
weapons remains a "religious obligation" in Osama bin Laden's eyes, CIA
Director George J. Tenet told the Senate intelligence committee yesterday."
... "The most immediate threats include the possibility of "poison attacks"
and al Qaeda's ongoing effort to produce anthrax material, he said: "Extremists
have widely disseminated assembly instructions for an improvised chemical
weapon using common materials that could cause a large number of casualties
in a crowded, enclosed area."" (1, 2)
-By Dana Priest -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Guardsman
Charged With Trying to Spy for Al Qaeda." ... "The
Army has charged a member of the Washington State National Guard with attempting
to supply intelligence of Army organizations and weapons systems to the
Qaeda terrorist network, Army officials said on Wednesday. The intelligence
included details about military personnel, troop movement, tactics and
"vulnerabilities," the charges said." ... "Specialist Ryan G. Anderson,
26, a Muslim convert who Army officials said also went by the name Amir
Abdul Rashid, was charged on Feb. 12 at the Fort Lewis base south of here
[Seattle, Washington] with four counts of attempting to supply information
to the enemy, but the charges were not made public until Wednesday." -By
Sarah Kershaw -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "At
Least 36 Iraqis Killed in Car Bombing Outside Army Recruiting Center, Day
After Similar Attack." ... "A suicide driver blew
up his explosive-rigged car Wednesday outside an army recruiting center
in central Baghdad where hundreds of Iraqis were lined up to volunteer
for the military, killing at least 36 people, U.S. officials and Iraqi
witnesses said." ... "Iraq's deputy interior minister, Ahmed Ibrahim, said
47 people were killed and 50 injured. He told reporters "this crime" will
"not deter the people's march toward freedom.""
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Experts
Fear Ohio Highway Sniper Has Widened Target Area;
Latest Shootings Bring Total to 23." ... "A recent burst of sniper shootings
along an Ohio highway has been linked to earlier shootings 25 miles to
the north, leaving experts fearful that the gunman has widened his comfort
zone and is looking for more prey." ... ""This particular individual is
definitely getting more brazen," said Franklin County Sheriff's Chief Deputy
Steve Martin after authorities linked two shootings on Sunday to the string
of attacks that have terrorized the community for months and left one person
dead." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Car
bomb kills around 50 south of Baghdad." ... "About
50 people were killed and dozens wounded on Tuesday when a car bomb ripped
through a police station south of Baghdad, witnesses and hospital doctors
said." -Reuters
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
- -
"Al
Qaeda 'plan civil war in Iraq'." ... "The United
States says an al Qaeda operative is plotting to provoke a civil war in
Iraq as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed concern over divisions
among Iraqis on a plan to assume power." ... "U.S. officials in Baghdad
said U.S. forces had seized a computer disc that contained a letter outlining
the plan written by Abu Musab Zarqawi, who Washington suspects of links
to Ansar al-Islam -- a Muslim militant group operating in Iraq." -By
Joseph Logan -Reuters
via -Reuters.co.uk
-
- "Gore
Says Bush Betrayed the U.S. by Using 9/11 as a Reason for War in Iraq."
... "In a withering critique of the Bush administration, former Vice President
Al Gore on Sunday accused the president of betraying the country by using
the Sept. 11 attacks as a justification for the invasion of Iraq." ...
""He betrayed this country!" Mr. Gore shouted into the microphone at a
rally of Tennessee Democrats here in a stuffy hotel ballroom. "He played
on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous
to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took
place."" -By Katharine Q. Seelye -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "Moscow
Train Station Blast Kills at Least 30; Officials
Investigate if Attack Was Part of Terrorism." ... "An explosion ripped
through a subway car in the Moscow metro during rush hour Friday morning,
killing at least 30 people in what authorities were investigating as the
latest in a series of terrorist attacks." ... "The explosion occurred in
the second car of a subway train after it pulled away from the Avtozavodskaya
station, heading northwest to Paveletskaya station on the city's busy circle
line." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
- "Ricin
Find Stops Most Senate Business Capitol: Physician
Says No Evidence That Anyone Was Exposed to Ricin Enough 'To Make Them
Sick'." ... "A white powder found in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's
office tested Tuesday as an "active" form of the deadly poison ricin, forcing
cancellation of most Senate business in the second such scare from a lethal
toxin to hit the capital." ... "Between 40 and 50 Capitol employees were
quarantined briefly and decontaminated, said Senate aides who spoke on
condition of anonymity." ... "But officials have found no evidence that
anyone was significantly exposed to the poison enough "to make them sick,"
said Dr. John Eisold, the Capitol physician. However, he urged employees
to be alert for symptoms over the next 48 to 72 hours."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Iraqi
Kurds Vow Unity as Blast Toll Reaches 67." ... "U.S.
military officials said the number killed in Sunday's coordinated attacks
had risen to 67 -- from an earlier estimate of 56 -- and those wounded
numbered 247." ... "The attacks, the worst since a suicide car bomb killed
more than 80 outside a mosque in the holy city of Najaf last August, killed
several senior members of the main Kurdish parties --the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party." ... "The attacks were
especially hard on the KDP, which lost its veteran deputy leader, Sami
Abdul-Rahman, whose moderate views carried much weight." (1, 2,